December 25, 1999. Unknown location.
Within a classified location belonging to Magma Industries, hiding its R&D division from its competitors, A man with crimson hair and black eyes read through the files while listening to the recordings silently before chuckling out as he heard a certain someone straight up expose the entire UN Security Council and then proceed to cuss them out rather badly.
"Looks like the old man has not lost even a little bit of his fire, eh?"
"So it would seem. However, this could be a problem for our plan."
Maxie Matsubusa, the founder of Magma Industries, the former member of Monarch, and a former citizen of Hoenn, turned to one of his two most trusted assistants with an amused look.
"Why do you think that? Courtney."
The woman with dyed lavender hair and natural lilac eyes stared at her boss before speaking her mind.
"With Elder Kaito choosing to directly expose the existence of the Three Gods, it is clear that Hoenn's convening this time around succeeded, and they established contact with the Green Sun. This could mean trouble for our goals of awakening the Moving Mountain and having him assume control of the trio."
Maxie chuckled at his assistant's words.
"While you are right that The Green Sun's forgiveness of Hoenn's ancestors could prove to be a real threat to our plan, it does not necessarily mean the end of our goals or that we can't plan around him."
Maxie pointed to the screen and started typing out on the keyboard, highlighting the various countries and lands that he and his best friend/rival controlled through various means.
"While old man Kaito's and the Council's actions have indeed thrown a wrench into our existing plans, they have also inadvertently boosted our list of allies and significantly increased our reach into the so-called superpowers of the world."
"Already, the Russians have reached out to us so that we can help them create countermeasures for the 'weapon' of Hoenn, just like how their counterparts from the USA have done just a few hours before them."
"Similarly, the other nations across the Pacific Ring of Fire have reached out to either AET, Magma Industries, or other such tech giants to help protect themselves. Especially those countries that have previous grudges with Hoenn."
Courtney hesitated before speaking again in a low voice.
"Will we really help those people fight against our homeland?"
Maxie nodded without hesitation.
"Of course. But only on the surface. We will bait them with the promise and extract resources from them with the promise that the defence system they want will come to them in five years at most."
The man grinned viciously as he thought of the people that he called 'barbarians'. The same kind of thinking that got him and his followers, along with Archie and his followers, expelled from Hoenn in the first place.
"The fools won't know that this technology will always be 'five years away'. And soon enough, it won't even matter anyway, once we awaken the Moving Mountain fully from his slumber and the imprisonment from the Green Sun."
"The world will finally regain the shape it was originally supposed to be and will be handed over to its rightful owners."
Courtney nodded her head and continued with her report.
"We have a new stream of recruits that our people scouted out as potential 'Inner Circle' material."
Maxie's eyes flashed with caution.
"Did you screen them thoroughly?"
"Yes, sir."
"And the psyche eval? We don't want a repeat of that idiot Thorne and his goons. They cost us a lot of resources and manpower, not to mention nearly exposing our technology to the Elders of Hoenn."
"It is only because of our careful planning and compartmentalization that we managed to escape from those old men and women back home."
Courtney's eyes flashed with a cold light at the reminder as a certain man equal to her position felt a chill go down his spine on the other side of the world.
"Rest assured, I have personally looked over the reports this time around to make sure none of them are as mentally unstable as Aris Thorne and will not do something so foolish as to attack the trio to get their body parts for their experiments."
"Good. One time was one too many. We can't risk exposing ourselves before we are ready."
Maxie felt extremely lucky that the foolish actions of Aris Thorne to literally harpoon the Green Sun to make off with his scales for his 'research' did not incite a thorough extermination campaign from the council of Hoenn, given how those guys tend to adore the god in question.
Hell, he even felt lucky that the Green Sun was just as reasonable and relatively benign as he was portrayed in the older legends of his people. Because if he were not, there was no telling what he would have done in retaliation for this slight made by that radical idiot whom Maxie made the mistake of recruiting into Magma Industries.
However, this did serve as a lesson to Maxie and his people. A lesson that just because someone has several doctorates and is lauded as a genius does not mean that they are stable enough to be used for their goals.
That is why psyche evals are now one of the main screening processes for anyone wishing to join Magma Industries.
As the two continued their discussions, the doors to the room opened, and a man wearing the Magma Industries Security Corp's uniform walked in.
"Sir, we got a call from our boys in Japan. We found him."
Maxie jumped to his feet at those words with excitement.
"Are we sure it is him? This won't be the first time Monarch made a bait and switch maneuver before with him to get a hold of our location or information on our operations."
The man nodded with a confident smile.
"We are sure, sir. We really did find Shaw. He is currently being held in a Monarch facility disguised as a retirement home near Mount Fuji."
Maxie smiled excitedly at those words.
How could he not feel happy after finally finding the man that he had been looking for since 1982? The man who was the only survivor of Monarch's attempts to reach the realm of the Titans.
Colonel Leland Lafayette Shaw III. One of the three original leaders of Monarch. The successors of Eiji Serizawa, who helped found the organization in the first place, all by himself and a group of other independent scientists, before they were officially folded into the United States Army.
"Get the plane ready. Also, tell our guys to be ready to distract Monarch long enough for a private meeting with the Colonel. After that? We will see."
"Yes, sir."
With that, Maxie leaned back happily in his chair.
"This is the best Christmas gift anyone's ever given me."
"Sir, most of us from the homeland don't celebrate Christmas, remember?"
Maxie chuckled at those words from his closest confidante and childhood friend alongside Tabitha, Archie, Matt, and Shelly.
"True. But it is the thought that counts, right?"
With that, the room fell into silence as the man started to plan out his next move.
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Maxie Matsubusa: (Click here for image)
Courtney: (Click here for image)
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Author Notes:
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