It hasn't actually taken as long as he thought it would, Bill quietly reflects as he puts the finishing touches on his very own Master Ball. Just a few months and here he was in his lab, having made the perfect Capture Device. If it had just been on his own, Bill is sure it would have taken longer, maybe even up to a year.

… But he wasn't on his own anymore. He had allies now… friends, even. He and Cam were friends, right? He liked to think so. Certainly, he couldn't imagine why else Cam would put the resources in to make sure Bill got what he needed to make his own Master Ball in such a timely manner. Unless it was a reward for his hard work in his position as the Champion's advisor, but then even that was another mark of the nepotism that came about as a result of his friendship with Cam, now wasn't it?

Sure, Bill had known Gary, Blue's dad, long ago. Sure, he wanted to see the kid succeed… but that didn't really mean anything. Blue himself didn't know Bill from Adam, save as that one Pokemon Collector guy. It was under Cam's suggestion that Blue had taken Bill on as his advisor and right-hand man. Not quite his assistant, thankfully, but it was close. A bit more official, a bit more powerful… and a lot more responsibility.

Blue was pretty damn self-sufficient, to be fair. Despite his youth, the Champion of the Kanto Region had been forced to do a lot of growing up in a very short amount of time. Anyone else, Bill thinks it might have broken them, be they child or man. But Blue was strong. Like his father. Like his mother. Like his big brother Cam.

Still, that didn't mean Bill's job was easy. No, he still had his hands full as the boy's right hand. Blue was the big guns. Bill was the man who took care of the little things that the big guns didn't need to bother themselves with.

Like for instance, they'd finally filled in that empty slot in the Elite Four at long last. For the first time, Kanto's Elite Four was a majority women, in fact. Though Agatha was making noises about finally retiring after so long, so they'd probably be replacing HER within the year as well.

Regardless, this new member was a woman named Karen, recommended by Cam himself. She was a total bitch to anyone she saw as 'beneath' her… which meant she was a total bitch to him, Lorelei, and Bruno. Agatha was the only member of the Elite Four she couldn't beat in battle, and Blue was… well, Blue. Even Karen had to back down in the face of the little monster after receiving a demonstration of the young Champion's power.

There was only one man in all of Kanto who had stronger Pokemon then Blue, and Karen had clearly already met him. Heh. Cam certainly got around; Bill found himself reflecting. Hopefully Agatha was willing to stay on with the Elite Four until after both Lorelei and Karen's pregnancies were done, because if it all happened at the same time, that would be a headache and a half… and one that BILL would be expected to deal with. Ugh.

Still, for now he was in his happy place, deep in his library, staring at his own completed Master Ball. A small smile spreads across Bill's face as he reflects on what it took him to get here. In the end… he was truly glad that he'd lost to Cam back in the Silph Co. President's office all those months ago. His plan, in hindsight, was a bit of a Hail Mary that might have come back to bite him in the ass even if he had succeeded.

Now? Now he had the best of both worlds. He was able to be the uncle to his dead friend's young son, and he had all of the power and influence he could ever have wanted.

Gazing down at the Master Ball, Bill grins. He still isn't entirely sure what he's going to use it on. He needs to prepare himself if he's going to go hunting for a Legendary Pokemon, no matter how perfect his Capture Device is. But… he wonders if it might be worth taking a vacation to Johto at some point down the line to make a play for the Legendary Pokemon Ho-Oh. Bill had heard the stories, after all. They said Ho-Oh was the keeper of Johto's three Legendary Beasts.

Wouldn't it be the feather in Kanto's cap if they not only broke free of Johto, but also stole their Legendary Attack Dogs from them? Yes… yes it would.

It would indeed.

-x-X-x-

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That's not something Shopkeeper Larry ever thought he'd be saying, truth be told. He was a Veteran of the Kanto-Johto War after all, and while he hadn't necessarily beaten Johto, he hadn't out and out joined them either! Sure, Kanto had joined Johto, but that was against their will, and had everything to do with that treacherous bastard Oak's decision to sell them down a river.

Larry was the kind of man who stuck to his guns! Who did what he thought was right! And who didn't take shit from no one! Or at least… he was until his Bike Shop got rolled by that Rocket Grunt all those months ago. After that, he'd been so shaken up that he'd turned around and sold the place, before getting a nicer, safer (or so he thought) job at a nearby Poke Mart.

Of course, THAT hadn't gone well either, had it? The Poke Mart he'd found work at, located halfway across the region in Viridian City, had been knocked over by the same Rocket, this time with a fancy promotion and a whole gang of Grunts backing him up!

Larry… Larry had been morose. He'd been beside himself. If he couldn't escape Team Rocket, what was he to do, really? He'd fallen into a great depression, until all of the hullabaloo regarding the Champion's Position had started. When Larry had heard about a child as young as eleven challenging the Elite Four, he'd found himself drawn to his television in spite of his depression, just to watch if nothing else.

When Blue had not only won but beaten Champion Lance as well and become the new Champion of the Pokemon League… well, that had certainly been an incredible sight, to be sure. Larry had found himself glued to the TV screen, and so had been there when word had come that ANOTHER Pallet Town Native, a young woman named Red, was also coming in to challenge the Elite Four and the new Pokemon Champion.

Now, Larry wasn't so sure all of that was on the up and up. Were challenges really supposed to happen that fast? He'd had his doubts, and when Red had beaten Blue, he'd had this bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, especially when Professor Oak of all people showed up on the television to give a speech about caring for one's Pokemon before escorting Red into the Hall of Fame.

Still, the real shock had come after, during Red's inaugural speech. Or, Larry supposed, it had really been OAK's inaugural speech. Regardless, Larry hadn't paid much attention to what all was said, because at one point the camera had panned to the audience, and he'd seen him. The young man with the pink hair who had destroyed Larry's life. He was there. He was in the Champion's Chamber, and no one was even arresting him! No one was taking him into custody!

It was then and there that Larry had known. There was no other choice. No real option. No matter how everything panned out, with Oak being taken into custody and Red being disqualified and Lance returning to Johto in disgrace while Blue became Pokemon Champion… Larry knew the truth.

That Rocket… that pink-haired menace… was the new ruler of the Kanto Region. He'd taken over behind the scenes, there wasn't a doubt in Larry's mind! And sure, Champion Blue really did seem tough as nails, especially with how he handed Lance his ass… but clearly he was just the Rocket's secret weapon! Maybe BLUE was a super trainer that the Rocket had genetically engineered behind the scenes! Larry didn't know!

What he did know was this… it was over. And… if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

"You ready, Trainee?"

Blinking, Larry stops staring at his new duds for a moment, looking up from the big red R emblazoned across his chest at the grizzled Rocket Quartermaster glaring at him with a gimlet eye. Swallowing, feeling small despite his service in the Kanto Military, Larry nods sharply.

"Yes sir! Ready as I'll ever be!"

Snorting derisively, the Quartermaster rolls his eyes.

"It's just some sorting, Trainee, nothing too hard. Now c'mon and I'll run you through the system, get you all trained up. You have prior experience, right? Should be a cake walk… unless ya lied."

Larry chuckles, and not at all nervously. After all, he hadn't lied. He had plenty of experience managing goods and services. His new title of Assistant to the Team Rocket Quartermaster might not mean much, especially when he was one of TEN such Assistants… but Larry was confident he could climb his way through the ranks and one day take the old man's job for himself.

Funny that Team Rocket would destroy his life and livelihood… but in the end, provide the only true path to sustainable employment and fulfillment for him. Still… it just went to show.

Can't beat 'em? Join 'em.

-x-X-x-

Over in the Hoenn Region, a man in a suit sits in his office, sipping some wine. Steven Stone, needless to say, would not agree with Shopkeeper Larry's philosophy. But then, he had never really been truly beaten. Nor had he met someone he couldn't defeat with the right… strategy.

Swirling his cup a few times, Steven Stone reflects on the happenings over in the Kanto Region these past few months. He's a little surprised that that Rocket Grunt he spied all those months ago on the S.S. Anne was in fact the Rocket Boss now. How had that happened? Somehow, Giovanni had been usurped. Somehow, Lance had been dethroned. Somehow, everything in Kanto and to a lesser extent Johto… had been turned on its head.

Not only had that Grunt become the Boss in a couple short months, but he'd managed to organize a coup that sent Lance running home with his tail between his legs. For a moment, Steven considers whether Kanto's current child Champion, Blue, was actually as strong of a Trainer as he seemed. Ultimately, he shakes his head and discards such a notion.

It was all some trick, somehow. Sure, Blue had beaten Lance on Kanto's national television, and even all the way over here in Hoenn, Steven had been able to get ahold of the recording. But you see, while it might have looked legitimate to your average layman, the Champion of Hoenn was a little more… aware.

Specifically, he had long been aware of the creature known as Mewtwo. Truth be told, he was almost loath to even call her a Legendary Pokemon, let alone a Pokemon at all. She was manufactured, an unholy amalgamation between human and Pokemon DNA. She was genetically engineered in a lab, and while Steven didn't necessarily think creating Pokemon in laboratories was a bad thing, he DID take umbrage with their playing God by making a Thing they couldn't control.

Was Champion Blue's victory over Lance legitimate? Or had the new Rocket Boss, this young man named Cam, simply used Mewtwo's immense psychic powers to force Lance and his Pokemon to lose the fight?

Steven didn't think much of Lance, truth be told. But even he didn't think the man weak enough to fall to a child of all things.

Cam and Mewtwo were the true threat. Blue was just the patsy. Still, not only would it be bad optics for Steven to try anything with the child Champion in charge of Kanto, but he also wasn't looking to get into a fight with either the Rocket Boss OR his lab experiment.

For now, he would keep his distance… and make sure nothing like what happened in Kanto could possibly be repeated here, in Hoenn.

-x-X-x-

… For all his aspirations, the best thing Giovanni had ever done was resign in disgrace. If he were any lesser of a man, that realization just might have been enough to send him over the deep end and make him kill himself.

As it is, he actually finds solace in the results of his actions. Leaving Team Rocket behind after his disgraceful back to back defeats to Blue and Red had been the hardest decision of his life, but at the same time he hadn't seen a path for him to stay. He was humiliated. He was nothing.

But… making Cam his replacement, Giovanni could admit, was a full spur of the moment decision. He'd already been on his way out. It wasn't like he'd planned to run into the young man on his way down the road. But he had, and then and there Giovanni had known what he had to do.

Hm. In the end, it was never going to be him. He could accept that now. Looking back, he had been chasing something that was never his to chase. Mewtwo, Kanto, all of it… he was only ever there to hold the reins until Cam came along.

Laying on a lounge chair on a beach in Alola, sipping quite the sweet, fruity drink, Giovanni could actually say he was at peace with that fact now. In the end, it was better to learn and accept that he wasn't going to be the one the easy way, rather than ending up in prison like Samuel, or in disgrace like Lance.

Sure, he was still in self-imposed Exile… but Giovanni could live with that. As his eyes drift to the side and he sees a few Alola girls playing in the surf a couple hundred feet away, the old mob boss chuckles to himself, noticing them glancing his way and giggling to one another as they check him out.

Yes, he could definitely live with this.

With a broad smile on his face, Giovanni raises his glass in a silent toast to Cam, wishing him all the best and all the luck in the world in his head.

He was going to need all the luck he could get. After all, strength beget strength.

-x-X-x-

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