Buying out a company that has been accused of treason is not considered a smart move in the world of business. Luckily Oscar Clayton is not a business man, rather a career criminal who saw a potent opportunity and had an unreasonable amount of money to burn. What drew Oscar to GMH wasn't its shady connections, but rather their bizarre desire to revolutionize various industries--for better or worse. In the past GMH's general business plan was to put their hands in a thousand different pots and hope they can succeed at whatever they try. This strategy has only worked twice.

GMH first created an innovative construction technique that allowed them to build Mauville into the 'city of the future' with efficiency without sacrificing quality. Later, their design for a new generator within the Mauville power plant was ahead of its time and allowed cleaner power for a much more reasonable price. Combined, these should have made GMH the next big name in Hoenn--however they couldn't quite reach the heights they desired. Hoenn already had its big names, GMH was too late to the party to join them. This no doubt contributed to their less than legal dealings, evidence of which were shredded before Mr. Clayton could come upon them during the buyout.

As said before, their criminal history did not interest Oscar. He wanted to take the company into the direction they should have gone as soon as they made that power plant: Energy! They should have been popping up power plants all across Hoenn, their generator design was one of a kind and with a few tweaks could easily be brought to the modern era. Naturally Oscar didn't simply want to grant the people of Hoenn cleaner energy, as one of the Beasts of Rocket he had much more sinister interests. Could you imagine what Rocket could be capable of if they had control over Hoenn's power grid? It would be an invaluable resource that could turn the tide should war break out! With GMH what would be a ridiculous plan is now a bold possibility, but it would not be easy to see it through. There was a reason GMH never took over the energy industry.

The Devon Corporation was Hoenn's great Titan, a massive conglomerate that had an iron grip on many of Hoenn's resources. For instance, they owned 99% of the power plants in Hoenn, the 1% being Mauville's. There was no way GMH would be able to overtake Devon if they built their own plants, so they first tried to collaborate with them. Naturally Devon had wanted the patent and exclusivity to the designs, which GMH was not willing to part with. Thus the deal never happened, and the energy tentacle of the Devon Octopus did its damnedest to undermine GMH to make sure they never stretched beyond Mauville.

After the Xurkitree debacle Devon should have been in a position to buy out GMH themselves to monopolize Hoenn's energy, and they likely would have if not for @alexander's untimely demise. With the company thrown into a sudden disarray, the Alola based company Infinity Industries was easily able to slip in and absorb GMH's corpse. Infinity Industries was founded by Oscar's parents and specialized in the mining of iron. The company was known in Alola for desolating a good chunk of Alola's natural landscape, and likely would have gone further if not for conservation laws limiting their mining to specific areas. These areas quickly dried up, making Infinity Industries little more than an above average construction company. Moving Infinity's assets to Hoenn, Oscar put himself in a good position to bring GMH back into the public eye. First however, he had to have the gaze of the people be on admiration and not an angry glare.

Oscar spent far too much time and money performing PR stunts to convince Hoenn that the GMH that betrayed them was gone. True enough the executives of the former GMH had been fired or arrested, but Oscar kept on anyone below those ranks including those who actually had talks with the Megaloplans. His ongoing reconstruction of Cycling road and the Mauville Power Plant were good starts, but what he really wanted to do was to share the clean energy generator with the rest of Hoenn. That should absolutely put GMH back into their good graces. Unfortunately, Devon still stood in the way. 

Oscar had no idea how to deal with Devon. The corporation was falling fast but unless something was done they would float by on their reputation alone. He had no doubt the league would bend over backwards to keep Devon afloat, but he naïvely hoped that if contacted Devon would be willing to make a deal for their energy resources. They never replied to Oscar's offer, which was an unofficial declaration of war in the eyes of Mr. Clayton. A war he wasn't sure how to win, until fate dropped a Xurkitree right into his lap. It wasn't hard to think of ways to use his newly acquired ultra beast. In fact, he found it rather humorous that ruined GMH would soon ruin Devon. What he needed to do was drain Devon of the public's trust, a task that could be easily accomplished if their services begin to fail.

Oscar first needed information about Devon and its power plants, which he obtained with the help of Lulu Flint. With these in hand he was able to formulate a devious plot: to dig deep beneath the power plants of Devon and use Xurkitree to sabotage their generators. It was a tad cartoonish, but whatever works works. His first target was the Lilycove power plant, it was a big enough city to cause a stir while not garnering too many questions beside 'What the fuck Devon?'. During recovery efforts as well? The backlash would be massive! Oscar used his Vikavolt to dig a hole, starting as far as Mt. Pyre and tunneling all the way to the power plant. This was to make the entryway easy to cover up and hard to come upon by chance. When the tunnel was beneath the power plant, Oscar sent in Xurkitree. Once in position Xurkitree Ingrained its long limbs into the bottom of the generator and began to over charge it. The disproportionate influx of energy caused the generator to--well, generate too much energy. Within the city, vital medical devices began to fail and energy bills skyrocketed. From the perspective of onlookers, it made it seem that Devon was throttling power to make a quick buck during trying times. 

Xurkitree stayed only long enough for the public to notice the rise in power, and before leaving it would drain the generator so that it would fail completely. Oscar retrieved it when the job was done, had the hole refilled, and got away with Devon taking a nasty hit to its PR. He planned on doing this to many of Devon's power plants, creating the narrative that Devon was no longer reliable or trustworthy. 

He hoped to have a hold on Hoenn's energy industry within the month. Perhaps an optimistic estimate, but like I said Oscar isn't a businessman. 

FERNANDO SILPH

Oscar watched the public's reaction to the incident in Lilycove, assured that their attention wouldn't be held for long. That was alright, Oscar just wanted to get his boot in the door. One crack in the facade would surely lead to more, if given enough pressure.

Inevitably the power plant would have to replace the generator, and that was quickly accomplished. During tests the new generator did fine, however when it was officially turned on the next day it lasted about twenty-six hours before failing again. An inspection by the city government found several couplets to be either too loose or too tight, bolts had fallen off, and vital circuits seemed to have been installed incorrectly. It appeared as if the power plant had installed the generator far too hastily, resulting in a haphazardly setup that ultimately didn't pay off.

In reality, Oscar had sent in an agent to sabotage the generator. This agent was none other than Emma the Ariados, a shadow pokemon with the unique ability to turn invisible using Camouflage. Using the blueprints of the generator he had gotten from Lulu, Oscar plotted out points they could sabotage to make it seem that it was the fault of the generator's builders. He taught these points to Emma, who then invisibly infiltrated the power plant at night and used her various spider bits to complete the ruse.

The city's findings were damning. While the power plant argued that the generator seemed fine on initial installation, it was hard to take them at their word considering their circumstances and lack of proof beyond documents they had written themselves. The power plant's second defense was that the city never formally inspected the generator before it was installed, and thus the power plant had no outside witnesses to its original state. The city rebuttaled that after years of loyal and competent service, they had trusted the power plant to get it right.

This back and forth was a messy display, from which the press fed ravenously. A power plant couldn't build their own generators right? The city had foregone an official inspection based off trust? Did Devon know anything about this? While the consequences of this scandal would not have any effect on the region as a whole, Lilycove itself became a hotbed of opinions. The city council should resign! The power plant should be held accountable! Devon should be held accountable!

Yes Oscar had managed quite a blow, but it still wasn't enough to win the war. While the press and Lilycove were in a tizzy, the rest of the region remained overall indifferent. And thus Oscar began phase two. Lilycove was to be a warning, a warning Oscar anticipated Devon not to heed.

FERNANDO SILPH

Oscar seemed content to orchestrate his scheme from the shadows, however he was no longer just a schemer. He could not afford the luxury of seeing through every step personally, not when the media has turned its eyes to Infinity Industries. With the power plants being mismanaged, many business speculators looked for who might be able to breathe new life into the industry. Being newcomers to the region, Infinity Industries had become a bit of a hot topic in these discussions.

Yet these same talking heads couldn't get over the crimes of GMH, regardless of how I.I. was restructuring them. It was that sort of inane dwelling that caused Oscar to undertake so much charity work, hoping it would change the tune of the public and media. Public appearances and lavish events didn't win everyone over though, and by this point the region would need more if they were to seriously consider I.I. to be a possible alternative to Devon.

Thus Oscar began the harrowing task of performing interviews. He had dreaded this from the moment he stepped into the spotlight, after all charisma was never his strong point. Yet he hired the best public speaking coaches he could afford, and overtime he gained the bare minimum amount of skill required to survive an interview. He hoped the rest would come to him with practice.

His first interviews were awkward, unnoteworthy, and not very informative. He had trouble not appearing stilted, answering questions like a robot that was too afraid to get the wrong answer. He eventually decided to loosen up and show off more of his private personality, which ended up saving his public persona. 'Comfortable Oscar' was affable and vibrant, but also crude and abrasive. He gave his honest opinion, regardless of the hands he stepped on by doing so. His coarse style both confused and charmed the public, it was apparently rare for CEOs to be this candidly boorish. He was especially popular among youths on the internet, who gave far more credit to his sense of humor than he probably deserved.

Yet what really got people talking was Oscar's entrepreneurship. It was clear that despite his persona he knew what he was doing. His critics could not deny that I.I. was pulling GMH out of the muck thanks to his his leadership. With their combined assets he was able to come up with several new designs that could revolutionize energy, though until those become a reality they were just fascinating dreams. Though in dark times like these, dreams weren't so bad.

When the topic of the power plant failures came up, Oscar would always point to Mauville's power plant as the ideal. Their generators were easier to maintain, the energy was cleaner, and they sure made less noise. However many were quick to point out the Mauville generator's flaws. For one they were much more expensive to build, and while their energy was cheaper than Devon's it was claimed to only be manageable thanks to Mauville's compact size. There was no proof that the generator would be able to provide the same service for other cities since it was made for Mauville.

Oscar would dodge criticism as if he were dodging cars on the highway. Yes, the current generator is expensive. Yes, the current generator was designed for Mauville. He would always say that he wasn't planning on sitting on laurels like Devon had been doing for decades. He wanted to innovate and change the status quo, a sentiment that was welcome as Hoenn stacked up more and more problems.

FERNANDO SILPH

The flash of cameras strained Oscar's eyes, yet his smile did not waver. He remained motionless, his frozen handshake with the mayor of Lilycove being immortalized over and over. Just moments ago he had finalized his acquisition of the Lilycove power plant, a move brought about by chance as the League decided to open up the power sector. Nothing wrong with a bit of healthy competition, although unhealthy competition was more efficient.

With GMH in control of a plant outside of Mauville, Oscar finally got the chance to prove the naysayers wrong. His new generator design was finished, months of planning and experimentation finally paying off. All that was required now was to watch and wait; the generator was quickly installed and onlookers watched with held breath to see whether it would be a success or disaster.

It wasn't really either, the generator had trouble getting power to the city's outskirts but otherwise worked beautifully. With noticeably cheaper prices, there were few complaints from the townsfolk. Some questioned how GMH was able to generate just as much energy as Devon's model but was able to charge less for it, but there weren't any noticeable cut corners or misgivings. Noticeable being the key word. Yet many would be able to turn a blind eye to sinister undertones in the face of cheaper, cleaner energy.

The change in the region did not stop there, as Devon's other plants were put up for sale one by one. These plants would be bought by other power companies, hopeful for a chance of proving themselves. In the end, the power sector had been split wide open. New generators were installed into every city except Ever Grande, which had an independent power grid overseen by the League. Most of the region would soon be enjoying cheaper, more efficient energy and the flaws of the Devon model were soon a thing of the past.

Something dark lurked under this shift though, a development that very few would take notice of. It all leads back to months earlier, as the Lilycove incident was being resolved. While Oscar made the round son TV and radio, power plants across the region were being examined to avoid any possible disasters. The generators shared many flaws, such as being unusually weak and missing vital parts. This made it appear as if many corners were cut to install them, but the truth is much more nefarious. While Oscar was in the spotlight, his Xurkitree, Vikavolt, and Ariados continued to sabotage Devon's generators. Vikavolt worked to sneak Xurkitree under the generators, and the Ultra Beast would overcharge them to weaken their output. Ariados would use her invisibility to sneak in and damage the generators, stealing various bits to make it appear as reasonably sloppy as possible. With GMH's promising result in Lilycove much later, many cities would opt to find new energy providers once the market opened up.

Power companies appeared in swarms to snatch up plants, inserting their own generators to help provide more affordable energy. If one looked close though, the designs of these new generators were all very similar with few differences to distinguish them. And if one looked even closer, they would see that these generators worked very similarly to GMH's new model. The explanation was deceptively simple, these new power companies were shells controlled by Infinity Industries. As soon as the market was opened, Oscar moved to make it into a monopoly once more--this time in his control. 

When it was all said and done, Oscar did not worry about his acquisitions being noticed. The public would probably be none the wiser, but it shouldn't take long before the more business savvy see through the shell companies. But it didn't matter, it was already too late to stop him. He knew that as long as his generators worked, no one would complain that he was in control. Unfortunately for those who would loath this move, his generators worked as intended. 

FERNANDO SILPH