"We can add them as a reserve member."
"A reserve member?"
All the commanders were in a meeting with Axel in the meeting room.
"Yes, as of right now, we cannot handle more members. We have to pay 70 billion Poke dollars in the tide just for 120k members. Additionally, we don't need a large number of members at this time.
So, we will take those members are reserve members."
"Reserve members? But what do we do with those reserve members?"
"The reserve members are those members who will not be counted as original members. We will take 40% of the commission from them instead of 20%. They will also participate in the tide battle, but the original members will be responsible for it first, and they will also receive training from us for 3-6 months.
At the end of six months, if they fulfill all the requirements, such as having at least two pseudo-king rank Pokémon, and the captains select these members for the team, then they will be chosen. If not, then they better try next time."
"Sir, I don't think that these new soldiers and trainers will like that. Because they will have to leave their original job to become the reserve member."
"Ashmita, I don't care if most of them don't want to join us after this. First of all, we don't need them. Secondly, some of these soldiers might be spies of the league. So, putting this restriction will do us good."
"What should be the size of reserve members?"
"Not more than 40k."
"Ok, sir, we will do it."
"The reserve members would not know all of our secrets. Especially the secrets of our trap system, our team, and their composition. First of all, a thorough background check will be done, and only after that, they will get access to those things."
The process didn't go smoothly. Some of them were so angry with the requirements that they vowed never to join the mercenary team again. However, there were still many trainers and soldiers who were interested in joining.
Axel was not going to take part in this interview. He had other plans. First of all, he decided to train his young Pokemon seriously. He saw how well the young ones performed, and he realized the immense potential they had.
But first, he needed to have a meeting with Prince Kymar and King Barden.
Just as he was about to call Kymar for the meeting, Ashmita came to his room with an urgent message.
"Sir, you are all over the news again."
"Sigh, what happened this time?"
"Sir, it is about your kidnapping."
"Huh? Are you sure?"
###
"Today, ….. Falkner of the Violet City gym shared a surprising truth with us. The truth was that among the many people involved in the kidnapping of the Pokemon master successor Axel Blaze, he was also responsible for it.
According to Roy, he was jealous of Axel, and since Axel had damaged his reputation, he sought revenge.
The police have arrested the gym leader and have taken for further questioning."
Axel could not believe that Roy was the one who did the kidnapping. He had many people on his hit list, the league being one of them, but never Roy. It was just a minor disagreement, and that guy did such a thing?
Axel wanted to make Roy suffer as much as possible.
Suddenly, his phone buzzed, and it was Red.
"Red, tell me where he is right now. I want to meet him."
"Wohhh, Axel, calm down first. I know that you are angry, but you cannot just publicly kill a gym leader. It will go against the royal family of the Johto region, and you don't want to mess with them."
"Then what do you want me to do? Just stay here and do nothing?", asked Axel in a strict tone.
"First of all, think. Why, suddenly out of nowhere, a gym leader of the Johto region tells the media to get arrested?"
"Someone set him up."
"Yes, you are correct, and that someone is the league."
"What? So, the league is behind this, too?"
"Of course, it is. It is Gerad, not the league. Oak had a conversation with Romeo, and he got the information. But that is not all. There is another party that is involved in this."
"Who?"
"The Seven Deadly Sins. Have you already forgotten about them? You destroyed one of their bases once. Do you remember?"
"How do you have so much information about this all of a sudden?", asked Axel.
"Because I was there when police started to investigate Roy. Now, you have two other organizations involved in this, and you are not strong enough to take action against anyone. So, what are you going to do about it?"
There was a pause for some time, and then it was Red who spoke, "You stall for time and strike them when they are weak. Like, the league is weak right now, and you have the opportunity to strike them and make them weaker. You cannot eradicate them, but you can slowly make them weaker and weaker till they give up."
###
The next day,
Everything was about the league right now. A young man in his twenties was watching the news on TV with his family. He was startled to see the content of the news.
"After the investigation by the police with Roy, the former gym leader of Violet City, it has come up that the league was also responsible for kidnapping the young prodigy.
No official statement has been received from Axel and his family. But knowing that the higher management of the league are jealous monsters will break the heart of countless people in the world...….
Since the police force was a part of the royal family, they had asked what to do with the information. Axel had suggested releasing the news to the media, further damaging the league's reputation.
###
"OAK!!! YOU MONSTER!! You said that you would save us, but now see what you have done.", shouted Romeo over the phone.
"HAHAHA, do you think that I will save you when you were also the one who was involved in kidnapping my successor? Are you crazy? Crazy that I will side with you over my successor, or crazy that you thought that you would get out of this mess alive by kidnapping my successor?"
Oak's laugh suddenly turned into threats, and Romeo didn't know how to respond. Romeo knew that Oak hated his guts, even without this situation, and the only reason Oak had not interfered with the league was due to the league's importance in this world.
Yet, now, Oak was trying to threaten him.
'What is going on in this madman's mind?', thought Romeo.
"Oak, let's get serious. What do you want from me?"
"Now we are talking. First, I want you to hand over Gerad to me, and you can pick up a new head of the Kanto region, but I must approve of the said person.
Secondly, you must give access to Axel and his team on all the mysterious caves and islands that you know of, and finally, give me 1 trillion Poke dollars as compensation and the eggs of some rare Pokemon."
"That is absurd. The knowledge about those mysterious places is the work of my ancestors and mine for 100s of years. I cannot give all of them to you."
Romeo had no problem handing over Gerad to Oak, but it did pinch him to get approval from Oak. He also had no problem with the money and some eggs. He had a lot of resources. He was the head of the league. But he didn't want to give information about those mysterious places. These were his trump cards.
But Oak was also not backing down. Finally, he agreed to provide access and information about the mysterious islands and caves in the Kanto, Hoenn, and Johto regions.
"But how are you going to help me on this?", asked Romeo.
"Simple. Just blame it all on Gerad. That is the truth, and hold a press conference with you, me, and Axel, and Axel will also admit it. It will not restore the reputation of the league, but you will get a breathing time.", said Oak.
"Ok. But first, I want confirmation from Axel himself."
###
"Oh, Hell no!!! I am no longer going to sit near that monster. I might just break his neck.", said Axel, clearly disagreeing with Oak's proposal.
"Axel, listen to me. I made a sweet deal for you. You can get access to those mysterious caves and islands that the league had been hiding for so many years. You can improve rapidly with your team. Also, you cannot take the league down in just a few weeks. They are already weak, even if you do some damage control."
It was a good deal. Axel will agree to blame it all on Gerad, and the league would pay compensation. But Axel didn't give a damn about compensation. He had his honor. He could still feel how L would torture him every day. He cannot forget that.
"Okay, we will not have a press conference, but we will set up a meeting with Kanto Region news, and you will just tell the truth. You also know that Romeo and others had no hand in this.
You have done this because the whole world wants to know your view."
Finally, Axel agreed.
###
It was a well-lit room with good lighting, a luxurious sofa, a big window, and some cupboards. Axel was sitting on the couch with a small smile. He had been appropriately groomed. His suit looked perfect, and his hair was combed correctly.
Next to him was a beautiful girl wearing a long skirt and a white shirt, with some files in her hand.
He was going to give the interview to Kanto Region News.
"Hello, Mr. Axel. It is nice to have you on board.", said the lady.
"Thanks, Mira. The pleasure is all mine."
"This might be your first regional interview, correct?"
"Yes, it is, but I am not nervous about it."
"Haha, of course. You are the successor of the Pokemon master and also the first Knight of the Kanto region. It should be me who should be nervous in front of you, Mr. Axel."
"Oh please, you don't have to be and please call me, Axel.", said Axel.
"Now, on to the question. How was your first official tide battle? The team must be quite happy to have such a positive result. With only 54 deaths, that might be a new world record."
"How can we be happy when our friends are dying? It might only be 54 deaths in the grand scheme of things, but it was still 54 of my members dying in the tide battle. So, no, the team is not happy about losing 54 members in one tide battle."
"But protecting the lives of everyone in the team is just impossible, isn't it?"
"Why will it be impossible? The only reason we had those deaths was because we suffered from an unexpected stampede from the herd of Tauros. If we had been ready for that, none of my members would have died."
Axel's statement had suddenly changed how people looked at the tide battle. Till now, all of them thought that it was a bloody battle, where soldiers sacrifice their lives to protect their homes.
But Axel's words gave them the luxury of thinking that they could win the tide battle without losing any soldiers. The face of regret on Axel's showed how much he cared for his members, and this also highlighted the stark difference between him and the league.
"So, what would happen to the families of those dead members? Surely you have provided them some compensation, right?"
This was a question that Axel had instructed Mira to ask, as he wanted to advertise his mercenary team. It was an idea of Krishna.
"Yes, the family of each dead member will get 18 million Poke dollars and also a pension of 50,000 Poke dollars every month. I know that the money will not bring them back, but that is the only thing that I can do for their family."
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A/N: There are more than 60+ advanced chapters in pa-treon along with two new side stories of the novel. If you are interested in reading more and getting ahead in the story, subscribe to my pa-treon channel.
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