Thanks for all the support on my Patreo-n so far! 3 advanced chapters at /xlucqs. I also posted the first two chapters of another story I have been working on, which is a MHA SI.

  discord:

  /VtKZqnMzmA

  Please join! Let's make it active and easier to speak with other members of the community! The community is growing and is quite active at the moment! If you wanna discuss about Pokemon, send artwork and memes, or just speak to other people, then go ahead and join!

  Also I should note that this chapter is quite small. However you know I always follow up with a much bigger chapter when that is the case. In fact, from now on chapters will be much longer on average. The last three chapters on patreo-n have been longer than 4000 words.

  Shelly's life had drastically changed in the past few weeks—so much so that she was almost having a hard time believing it was real. She had gone from a university teacher, someone well respected and loved, to an Admin of a villainous team—feared and hated across the region.

  Before she would wake up in her small, cheap apartment, her eyes fluttering awake to the sounds of trains speeding on tracks and morning commuters chatting below. Living next to a train station came with its downfalls—mostly the noise—but it was awfully cheap.

  "Save money early on in your life, and your older self will thank you." was what her dad always told her. It didn't matter much now though.

  After scrolling on her phone for a bit she would shake herself out of bed and begin the day. She was out of the house by 8am, ready to teach students about Water-type Pokemon.

  The university was nice. She still missed it sometimes—the colourful campus, the passionate lectures she gave, and the equally enthusiastic students. She even missed the tedious things. The marking, the assignment-making—it was a long and boring process, but there was a structure to it.

  It was a comfortable, stable structure, but it was the same stability that caused her to stagnate. She became satisfied with her position in life. The passion and obsession of getting stronger in order to achieve her dream which consumed every fiber of her being during the gym challenges and the conference league was no longer there.

  The stability slowly suffocated out the ambition that once pushed her forward.

  But right now, her life was anything but stable. It was chaos personified.

  She found herself often thinking back to the events of that night while sleeping in her bed. That party. The rich people. William…

  It was a decision which would affect the rest of her life, made in a split second. From the moment she took his hand, she knew her life would change—but she hadn't expected it to change this much.

  A complete 180.

  Things had changed, but at this point in her life, that was what she needed. Change.

  She just didn't know if this was the right place for it. William had promised she'd be able to achieve her goals—and those goals were to ensure the safety of Water-type Pokemon and their environment.

  It had been a dream ever since she was a young girl, sailing the seas with her father. The salty sea cleared her nostrils while the wind whipped at her hair and sent it flying in all directions. Her father would grab her and hang her off the ship with just the open waters below.

  She loved it, laughing uncontrollably as she flailed her legs against nothing but open air. It was something that would scare any normal child—but Shelly had faith in her father to never let her go, and even if he did, the sea would protect her.

  Across the trips and travels with her father she had seen lots of what the world had to offer. She had seen what it was like when the ocean was clean and healthy—the smiles on the Pokemon's faces as they thrived in their environment.

  But she had also seen the other side. The ugly side most people didn't like to talk about. Bodies of water filled with toxic waste and pollution and landfill. Areas of the ocean which were so degraded that it slowly poisoned the Pokemon living in it. Sometimes it wasn't even the environment— it was the people, they were the worst.

  Some Pokemon got desperate. Others got rageful. Some her father had to put down. It horrified her. No creature should ever have to live in that, slowly being killed as both body and mind were corrupted until they dropped.

  That was her motivation when she first wanted to become a trainer. The day she told her father so enthusiastically with joy about her goal he broke it to her that they didn't have enough money. Trainer school was far too expensive—especially for a single father.

  He had shattered her dreams. But then, seeing the dejected look on her face, he immediately built them back up.

  "If you want to get into trainer School, Daddy's going to have to work more hours. Which means you will have to join me. Are you okay with that?"

  It was a win-win. She got to spend more time out in the open waters, and she would get to go to trainer school. At the time, she never appreciated how hard her father worked to get her into trainer school— how many grueling hours of hard labour he had to endure to get the money for it.

  She never did get the chance to thank him, even when she realized years later.

  Shelly got the news while she was in trainer school. The ship her dad was on had been attacked by a group of wild and aggressive Gyarados. But the reason they were aggressive in the first place was not through fault of their own, but due to being attacked by a group of trainers and forced out of their habitat.

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  And when the ship came into view for those Gyarados, they couldn't distinguish between enemy and ally. They only saw humans—the same humans that attacked them. She didn't blame the gyarados—she blamed the people who attacked them and made them that way, the same people who caused all the problems she had seen over the years.

  Her father's death destroyed her—but it also strengthened her dream and the idea of bringing it into actuality. She made a promise that day to her father—that she would achieve it, for him.

  Shelly's goal was to progress through the conference league, gain enough attention, then gain a position in the government where she could make real change and bring about real policies. That Gym Leader role would have been perfect for that. But this is what she had become, of all things.

  If he saw me right now, what would he think?

  She never tried to dwell on the question too long, because the answer always made her sad.

  But…she had tried. She had done everything in her power to be good—but that day she learned that being good wouldn't get you results.

  Being good wouldnt help you accomplish the things you wanted to do—you needed the strength to do it yourself. Most people didn't care about anyone but themselves. They would do anything to stay on top and drag down those trying to make a difference.

  That was why Shelly took William's hand that day. He said he would show her how to make real change—how to achieve her goals.

  And if violence and power were the only way to do it, then so be it.

  It wasn't her that was wrong.

  It was the world.

  The only thing left for her to do now was to prove it—not just to herself, but to William as well, who had placed a lot of faith in her. Unlike many of the other members of Team Aqua, she didn't have to crawl and climb her way up the ranks like William once did.

  Instead, from the moment she joined she had been given the rank of Admin—much to the envy of many of the other members. They didn't listen to her. She had given them no reason to. But soon she would give it.

  But before she could do any of that, she had a meeting with her boss. As her shoes echoed against the concrete floor, she wondered if he had overstepped her boundaries earlier by expressing concern for William's health.

  "Sit," William gestured to the chair as she walked in.

  She sat down.

  The chair groaned beneath her. For a while, the creaking of the wooden legs was the only sound in the room. William's head was down, focused on a piece of paper—barely even acknowledging her presence.

  It was uncomfortable.

  The silence seemed to stretch on for an eternity. She fidgeted in her seat, the fabric of her clothing rustling against each other as her legs moved up and down in a therapeutic way.

  Then he finally spoke.

  "Take a look at this," he said, handing her a folder of papers enclosed in a binder, not even bothering to look at her.

  Shelly flicked through the pages, slowly and carefully scanning each one. As she flicked through each page, her mouth grew more agape—widening in horror at the contents.

  "How can she do such a thing?" Shelly asked. She clenched her fist, nails digging into her hands through her gloves.

  William finally looked up from his paperwork, and shrugged. "People will do anything for profit. Remember, that's partly why those rich folk at the party wanted to eliminate me. I was tanking their profits. When you simplify it down, most things are done out of greed."

  "But—destroying a Pokemon's home just to build a hotel? And requesting help to eliminate the Pokemon when they fight for what is rightfully theirs? Why isn't the government doing anything about this?"

  William gave her a look as if to say: "I just told you the answer."

  Of course. Greed.

  "We need to do something."

  "Not we," William pointed at her. "You."

  Her heart sped up. Not in nervousness— but anticipation. She glanced down at the contents again.

  Nastina. Coral Reef. Destruction. Reward.

  It made her sick.

  "How far can I go? The restrictions and what I can and can't do?" She asked, her voice rising with a confidence and fire she never knew she had.

  William smiled, "First and foremost you are working for Team Aqua. So as long as your actions benefit Team Aqua—then you can do absolutely anything you want."

  "Anything?"

  "Anything." William affirmed.

  Shelly didn't need to hear anything else. Within a second, she had stormed out of the room with a quick and powerful stride. Within five minutes, she had left the Team Aqua base, and within ten minutes, she was on a ship headed for Porta Vista.

  As the ship—one of Team Aqua's own, with their flag removed to avoid attention—left for Kanto, Shelly sat in the captain's quarters, going through the contents of the folder again. Occasionally she peaked outside the window to see if she had any company.

  Located in Kanto, Porta Vista was a coastal city located between Maiden's peak and Vermilion City. It was an island, slightly separated from the main bit of land of the region.

  The island of giant Pokemon to be exact—a place which really didn't cut any corners in describing itself. But catching giant Pokemon was not what she was here for. The report even mentioned that they were most likely not real Pokemon but artificial Pokemon made up of metal. Giant Pokemon were far and few between to exist in abundance on a small little Island. They were one-off occurrences.

  Her attention instead was set on Porta Vista. It was split into two different cities. Acapulco was a place mainly consisting of beaches—perfect for tourism. It was because of this tourism that Porta Vista was a very popular place with people from all over the world coming to enjoy the sunny beaches.

  And what's the perfect thing for tourists and travelers to go alongside the beaches? Hotels. A crude businesswoman named Nastina wanted to build—and had already begun to build the construction of a hotel in Hutber Port, the city next to Acapulco.

  The problem was this hotel was not constructed on land—but the sea.

  The place that was especially known for its coral reefs and marine life—a safe haven for Water-type Pokemon. And now Nastina threatened that safe haven, all for the sake of profit. The government didn't do anything—as soon as they heard the word profit, they were sold.

  There was now no one to help these Pokemon who were fighting back to protect their homes. It mirrored the situation which led to her father's death. These Pokemon would fight, probably be defeated eventually with superior firepower, and leave.

  They would leave their homes injured and afraid with memories of humans forcing them away from where they lived. Not if Shelly had anything to say about it.

  I'm going to do this for you father…

  She may have been a part of a villain team, but she was still a good person. She would still do what was right. This is exactly the kind of change she has been wanting to make ever since she was a child.

  The trip continued on in relative silence, with nothing but Shelly's thoughts to occupy her mind. The ship sailed smoothly across the salty sea, the journey going without any hiccups.

  Midway through, she stepped out onto the open deck, leaning over the ship's edge—just like she used to. She spotted a group of Carvahna playing in the water, a Sharpedo watching happily nearby. Then, she spotted a flock of Wingull using the top of a Wailord to rest their feet.

  Shortly after that she saw a large ship in the distance, carrying a bright blue N logo on the side as it sailed with speed. Neptune Shipping—William's company. They practically ruled the waters of Hoenn. This was how it was supposed to be—this was the natural order of things.

  Safe. Peaceful. Harmonic.

  All of it strengthened her resolve even further—to break away from the chains holding her back and finally take action. Just as Hutber Port came into view of her ship, her eyes gained a sharp edge to them.

  Right there and then she renewed the promise she made to her father all those years with much more conviction—a promise built with absolute certainty and determination to go through with it. Not to stumble or stop at any point no matter the adversity.

  That was what the old Shelly did. Not now. Not her. Never again would she go back on her dream and her ideals.

  And she would first prove it by taking down Nastina.