[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]the littleroot squadron recount what they can. she listens quietly, her foot slightly tapping against the tiled floor.

once MATIAS SILPH, Elinor Anderson, John Sullivan, and Kazimir Wynter finish, Callan Young begins his retelling of mt pyre.

she stays silent until he finishes.

and then, the floor is hers. she takes back control with a soft wave of her hand.

"thank you all. again, great work stopping rocket during the meteor plan."

the screen behind her shifts. a new slide takes over and it depicts a war-torn mt pyre. those involved in this portion of the plan would recognize the aftermath.

there's something odd to the footage, however. a pink slash rips itself into existence in front of the very head scientist at the head of the table. nearby, the faces of annalise henderson and paxton concordas are observing the scientist and what the slash contains.

"at the end of mt pyre, a pink slash appeared before myself and nearby league operatives."

her eyes sweep the table quickly, grim and serious.

"this slash into our reality showed a glimpse into sea hoenn."

she allows the information to fall, heavy, on their shoulders.

"sea hoenn has survived the meteor impact. they have begun mining the meteonite and in their hands, the meteor fragments have primal markings."

the slide continues to play on an endless loop as she continues.

"we are heading for a war from all sides. between rocket, megalopolans, and sea hoenn, it is imperative we formulate a plan to ensure the league are the victors."

once more, her eyes sweep the room. they linger on each face. FERNANDO SILPH, Katherine Fairburne, kyle lopez, Melody Miro, PENELOPE LIVY, annalise henderson, Callan Young, Elinor Anderson, Laurence Anderson, Eva Morales, MATIAS SILPH, Kazimir Wynter, and John Sullivan. she commits their reactions to memory.

"if you have any suggestions, now is the time to voice them."

with that, she opens the floor.

aqua.

what illeana reyes discloses is not news to matias for they had spoken about it briefly. despite that, he still pretends like he's processing the information for the first time, even going so far as to "tch," by the end of it.[break][break]

but then again, his frustration isn't really pretend.[break][break]

"and to think we offered them peace. those fuckers."[break][break]

his thoughts are shared freely amongst his peers, all of whom he'll have the privilege of fighting alongside. better to make friends than enemies.[break][break]

"the addition of rayquaza makes our fight with sea hoenn easier but illeana reyes is right. a war is coming from all sides and we must be prepared."[break][break]

he pauses.[break][break]

"we need to be the aggressors."

[attr="class","ooc"]MATIAS SILPH[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-virizion"]

[attr="class","icon"]

"What, is there no room for diplomacy this time around, Matias?"
[break][break]
Although meant in jest, the Malevolent's scarlet eyes shift between the silph and Melody Miro. Her tone is delicately venomous, her stare vicious in judgement. If anyone at this table still harbours some resentment—it's her.
[break][break]
But Katherine wouldn't be true to herself if she didn't play it off as nothing: so she does just that. She quickly moves on, focusing on the discussion at hand and leaving the snide remarks for later.
[break][break]
"It's not only bold, but it's also stupid to claim that this war would be easy. Like Eva Morales here just said," Katherine briefly gestures at Matias' better half, "it isn't a war against just Sea Hoenn, and even if it were, there are people here who nearly lost their lives in our last fight against them."
[break][break]
"Now, add Rocket to that equation. In fact, let's be bold and say we could handle both simultaneously, shall we?" Her hand slowly rises, keeping two digits pointed up to account for both factions. "Now, let's add the megalopolans who are apparently alive and still equipped with ultra beasts," a third finger points up. "The fourth would be, what? Arceus and the Dark Triad, yes?"
[break][break]
And fourth it is.
[break][break]
"That simply leaves us with... Hrm... Necrozma! Whenever it decides to come back, that is." There. That's their fifth.

[attr="class","bottom"]@ AQUA SUMMONS [break]

A lot was said.
[break][break]
From Callan Young Elinor Anderson to MATIAS SILPH , each person rattled off their own insights from the battles they'd experienced. The conversation trailed off, resulting in one she had initially anticipated the moment illeana reyes 's report grazed her desk.
[break][break]
"We're all in agreeance, then: war is inevitable with Sea! Hoenn. And, as we stand now, we're unable to combat a two-front war, much less a multi-front one."
[break][break]
No need to fuss over the details; better to focus on where opinions overlapped and capitalize there. Eyes shifting back over to Katherine Fairburne , Penelope continued, smiling as she said.
[break][break]

"So let's focus on what we can do."
[break][break]
Now focusing her attention between Head scientist Eva Morales and the rest of the table, the councilwoman clasped her hands together in front of her.
[break][break]
"If we go forward with a reconnaissance, I can recommend a few of my finest agents within the intelligence bureau," Gunner Graves 's name immediately came to mind, with paxton concordas following a few beats after the fact. Both were versatile, skilled men who'd make good of a mission like this. "As for whether we should move in toward Sea!hoenn or Rocket...I'll begin by stating the obvious: I'm no from a war strategist. But, I will say, I see no point in involving ourselves in a war against a realm we know little of while exposing vulnerabilities to those that still hide within our cities."
[break][break]
She paused.
[break][break]
"We know Sootopolis is weak. We know multiple of them have been defecting since METENO's descent. If we could only cripple their resources, force them into a state of recovery, we'll allow them no time to make use of our vulnerabilities when war between us and seahoenn comes to fruition."
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] @everyone[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]her lips twitch at MATIAS SILPH's echo of her sentiments, as if she wants to smile but won't allow it.

Elinor Anderson follows in agreeance and -- surprisingly -- so does Eva Morales.

Katherine Fairburne manages to touch upon a nerve with her speech. despite the factual air of it all, she can't help the way her lips settle into a displeased frown.

"while i do agree gathering intelligence on sea hoenn would be beneficial, it is not currently possible."

her eyes sweep away from katherine to find Eva Morales.

"dahlia goode has confirmed we have been unable to detect anything from sea hoenn's dimension since the meteor. the rifts could be interfering, but we're not certain yet."

she plans on investigating further. beneath rustboro, answers await.

PENELOPE LIVY and Eva Morales agree: rocket is the more likely target at this moment in time.

"we cannot forget rocket now has megalopolans on their side as well."

each outlook, no matter where they start, looks as grim as the rest.

"we will need to neutralize both parties to be victorious. i worry, however, that sea hoenn could either strike while we're at war with rocket or, perhaps, even join rocket against us."

her eyes narrow, mind processing.

"the commissioner and i agree we need more power than we currently have at our disposal if we are to defeat each threat we face. with the meteorite fragments possessing primal markings in sea hoenn's hand, their avatar abilities could be even stronger than what we faced last time."

it's clear as day: they're outmatched in their current state.

"cutting off sootopolis from supplies could be a start. we will need to ensure their forces, including the megalopolans and their ultra beasts, are as crippled as possible when we strike."

aqua.

"oh i wasn't talking about sea hoenn," is what he says in response to Elinor Anderson. his focus and concern lie elsewhere, and even if he wanted to attack sea hoenn he would not know where to begin. but as illeana reyes soon reveals, that option is not on the table at the moment for reasons beyond their understanding.[break][break]

no matter, then.[break][break]

"this war will not be easy, katherine is right, but it will be far more difficult if we're fighting it on their terms. we cannot be passive and reactionary the same way we have been. we need to be proactive. take the fight to them."[break][break]

he listens intently, then offers his thoughts.[break][break]

"we know exactly where their submarine is parked in sootopolis. we know the general layout of it. how to get in and out. so, along with cutting off their supplies, why not strike their base of operations?"[break][break]

dahlia goode had once approved a similar operation, though the goal then was to search and rescue a prisoner. he looks to kyle lopez and Melody Miro, wondering what their thoughts are.

[attr="class","ooc"]MATIAS SILPH[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-virizion"]

There was no need to add onto what MATIAS SILPH had said. She agreed with most of it as it stood. But, to illeana reyes 's point, she held a bit of contention.
[break][break]
"I think you're giving rocket too much credit here. They're able to remain because we let them."
[break][break]
They weren't sea hoenn's, or the elusive dark trd. They were a known threat with Intel leaking from a steady river's worth of defects. Treating them as more than they were was an insult to everything the league stood for.
[break][break]
"It might be impossible to fully extinguish them from hoenn," as with any resistance, the task was nearly impossible, "but there's no reason why we can't or, at this point, shouldn't act with all our strength."
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] @charname [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]while she agrees with MATIAS SILPH, she is not fully inclined to side with PENELOPE LIVY.

”with all due respect, councilwoman, the union of team rocket with the megalopolans is not to be underestimated.”

she looks more thoughtful than defiant.

”even with the intel we have, we do not know their full numbers, how many ultra beasts they have at their disposal, what technology they have or are recreating from their initial attack, or if they have found a way to bring more into hoenn.”

the three day war is still fresh in the mind.

”if we can gather more information on their involvement with rocket, that could help strengthen our approach. we could also visit general smohke for whatever information she might know as well.”

her point is clear: this is no longer just about rocket. they are no longer the only blight in this region.

aqua.