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New Team

Part Seventeen

Upon waking the next morning, Ash is forced to reorient himself. Gone are the metal bars that once confined him. He is no longer in Kalos. He is now in rough and tough Orre. The people who sleep scattered near him are new friends and possible teammates. Ash sits up in his sleeping bag and takes a look around. The building allows sunlight to enter through the windows and Ash can see his surroundings. Across the room, he finds machines that have been destroyed and large holes in the ceiling where the floor above fell through. He wonders what kind of company once claimed this building. He pulls himself out of the sleeping bag to wander around.

"When I was a teenager, I joined Team Snaggem." The sound of Wes' voice pierces Ash's wondering. "I was told that I would make a lot of money, but I didn't realize that they wanted me to steal Pokemon from trainers. Honestly, I thought about it, but I couldn't imagine someone stealing my Pokemon from me so I knew it was wrong."

"So you quit?" Ash looks over to find him standing over a machine that appears to still work.

"Almost." Wes chuckles a little. "I stole their technology and blew this place up."

"That's quite a turnaround." Ash smirks looking around the room at all of the destruction Wes caused.

"Then I used their technology to steal shadow Pokemon." Wes points to the monitor of the machine. "We stole back well over fifty. We spent a year trying to purify them."

"How did you stop them from making more?" Ash looks at the list of Pokemon on the screen that Wes keeps in storage.

"Long story short, Rui and I infiltrated Team Snaggem and their brother gang, Cipher. We took out its leaders and stole back the Pokemon."

"What is Cipher?"

"They were a criminal organization here in Orre. They were partnering with Team Snaggem to steal Pokemon to turn them into shadow Pokemon. Rui and I took them out. Unfortunately, they reformed under new leadership. Another guy from the shadow Pokemon research lab took on that mission. Rui and I were busy purifying the dozens of shadow Pokemon we already had."

"So Cipher is back too?" Ash questions.

"It seems that whatever was left of Cipher and its technology merged with Team Snaggem. It's become a kind of hybrid organization." Wes begins to explain.

"And Team Rocket is behind all of it?" Ash asks.

"Team Rocket has a lot of small factions around the world, it seems. Team Snaggem mostly runs on its own but Team Rocket provides a lot of the funding while the evil that Team Snaggem does profits Team Rocket. It's a symbiotic relationship, but one side is far larger." Wes tells Ash while he fiddles with the Pokemon transfer machine.

"What do you think would happen to Team Snaggem if Team Rocket ceased to exist?" Ash asks, trying to see what Wes is doing on the computer.

"Their resources would definitely be limited." We just continues to type,. "I don't think they would survive another full blown attack."

"I'm going to take them out." Ash throws his fist in the air in determination.

"You're going to take out the world's leading criminal organization?" Wes finally looks at him with a frown. "I know you're a Pokemon Master, but you can't believe that you can get away with that."

"Not alone." Ash hypothesizes. "Maybe with your help and the help of some friends on the inside I know that we can figure something out!"

"Impossible." We shakes his head and continues on the computer.