(A/N: New : Takeru Shiba! Thanks for joining the team! Bonus Chapter!!!)
DragonCrest —Investigator Headquarters
Agent Liam and the Director sat across from each other, tension hanging in the air between them.
"Any results from the Team Rocket investigation?" the Director asked, fingers steepled before him.
"None," Liam replied with poorly masked frustration. He had leveraged Interpol's extensive resources and databases yet again, but found absolutely nothing. No criminal organization called Team Rocket, no sound wave technology causing Pokemon to flee? not a single shred of evidence existed.
It was as if none of it existed in this world.
Well, that wasn't entirely accurate. He had found "Rocket", a domestic shipping company that happened to call its elite employee squad "Team Rocket." Hardly the criminal masterminds they were searching for.
"What about the Team Magma investigation? Any progress there?" the Director pressed.
"Nothing new," Liam admitted.
Both men fell silent, the weight of their failed investigations pressing down on them.
"Should we consider the possibility of a parallel world?" Liam finally suggested, his voice barely above a whisper.
A criminal organization hiding completely from Interpol's watchful eye was unlikely but possible. A second organization, Team Magma, doing the same stretched credibility.
But now a third organization? Team Rocket?
The parallel world theory was starting to seem more plausible by the day.
No, it couldn't be. Yet it had to be! There must be a parallel world explanation. Nothing else made sense anymore.
These past weeks, Liam felt like he was investigating phantoms. He'd tried 850 different approaches, various investigative techniques, countless sources, and repeatedly came up empty-handed. It was maddening.
The Director sighed softly. "Let's review the new footage first."
He turned his laptop toward Liam. "This video comes from a secured location in a resort archipelago. They uploaded it to Interpol servers this morning, requesting our assistance."
The video showed John single-handedly infiltrating Po Town. As with previous recordings, John's face was partially blurred, and only the first half of the battle appeared, specifically, the portion where John used only Greninja against his opponents.
Ten minutes later, the video ended.
The Director and Liam exchanged bewildered looks.
"Team Skull?" Liam's mouth twitched involuntarily.
Was the universe mocking them? First Team Magma and Team Rocket, and now Team Skull?
Where were all these criminal organizations coming from? How had intelligence agencies worldwide missed their existence?
Most tellingly, the individuals in the video spoke with distinctly estern accents, explaining why the Archipelago authorities had forwarded the video to Interpol, requesting Draconian assistance.
"This is your priority assignment for the coming weeks," the Director stated firmly. "Investigate Team Skull."
Liam covered his face with one hand, his expression pained. After a long moment, he exhaled deeply, as if reaching a decision. "This is the last time. If I can't find anything concrete, I'm submitting an official report recommending we classify these videos as evidence of parallel world phenomena."
The Director nodded solemnly. "I'll personally sign off on it when the time comes."
"Now, you'd better review this carefully." The Director slid the laptop closer to Liam and restarted the video.
Liam massaged his furrowed brow with his thumb while studying the footage intently.
Watching Greninja's movements, a spark of inspiration ignited. Judging from the Surf move the Pokemon executed, this had to be an Elite-level trained Greninja.
There weren't many Elite-ranked trainers worldwide, and even fewer specialized in Greninja. This narrow focus might finally yield results.
After conquering Po Town, John found his Alolan journey becoming somewhat monotonous.
All that remained was completing the island trials, defeating the kahunas of the final two islands, and finishing the captains' challenges on each island.
Two trials awaited him on Ula'ula Island and Poni Island, which would award four Z-Crystals upon completion. Additionally, each kahuna would provide two Z-Crystals, adding eight more to his collection.
John tallied his progress, he'd already acquired two more after clearing the Po Town dungeon.
That would make eighteen Z-Crystals total, perfectly corresponding to the eighteen Pokemon types, since the final kahuna Hapu on Poni Island offered a choice of Z-Crystals. With that, John's primary objective for visiting Alola would be complete.
Yet he wasn't ready to leave the region just yet. Instead, he headed to the "fifth island", the artificial structure known as Aether Paradise, headquarters of the Aether Foundation.
John wanted to determine if he could trigger the Ultra Wormhole storyline.
Unfortunately, nothing activated the dimensional rift, though he discovered that Beast Balls, specialized Pokeballs designed to capture Ultra Beasts, were available for purchase at Aether Paradise's entrance.
They weren't cheap, about a hundred Pokedollars each.
John figured his inventory had plenty of space, so he invested $10,000 in a hundred Beast Balls, storing them for future encounters.
"Almost time to wrap things up here," John reflected, mentally reviewing his Alolan objectives.
He'd acquired the Z-Crystals and Z-Ring he came for.
He'd obtained the dragon pseudo-legendary Totem Salamence, and when he eventually collected 120 Totem stickers, Professor Oak would offer him another batch including the Kommo-o.
The pattern seemed clear, Professor Oak offered five redemptions per playthrough.
If Po Town consistently yielded ten Totem stickers with each clear, John could eventually acquire all ten dragon pseudo-legendary Totem Pokemon.
By next year, he might establish an Dragon Sanctuary at his Ranch, featuring Totem Salamence, Totem Kommo-o, and Totem Goodra as its crown jewels!
That would be something to work toward.
For now, it seemed his immediate goals were accomplished. There would surely be a way to open Ultra Wormholes eventually, perhaps on his next visit to Aether Paradise after another Po Town clear.
John suspected this might be connected to storyline progression in his home region of Hoenn.
He directed his Pokemon to use Fly to Hau'oli City and departed Alola by plane.
Hoenn would be his next destination.
If the level 75 recommended Po Town dungeon had been so manageable, perhaps he could tackle the level 80 Team Magma and Team Aqua dungeons now.
John boarded the plane at 8:00 AM.
Twelve hours later, at 8:00 PM, he arrived in the Hoenn region.
He spent thirty minutes harvesting berries across various Hoenn locations, then visited the Pokemon Center to heal his team and rotate his active roster.
With preparations complete, John headed straight for Lilycove City.
Between the Team Magma and Team Aqua base dungeons, John naturally prioritized Team Aqua. After all, rumor had it a Master Ball could be found inside, the ultimate capture device that never failed.
A prompt appeared before him:
[Enter "Team Aqua Base" dungeon? (Yes/No)First-time completion rewards availableRecommended entry level: 80]
"Enter!" John commanded, his heart racing with anticipation.