Politics

This wasn't some new concept really as this was always how aura worked. It was your essence and reflected yourself to those around you when let out freely. If you leaned towards violence often or weren't afraid to kill it was reflected in your aura. That was why my team felt more dangerous than even those pokemon held by Cynthia or most of the other Gym leaders. Unlike them my pokemon were not new to violence and if anything were mired in it after Hoenn. While we all chose who to kill the fact remained that we could go from peaceful to murderous in a split second if we deemed it necessary.-

I kept my own aura tightly under control unlike my pokemon however so anyone who was around me didn't feel this from me. "And knowing that doesn't bother you at all?" he asked and I shook my head. "It's a choice Roark, always was. We chose this and don't regret that choice so why should it bother us?" I asked rhetorically. "Still I can't say that I would ever make such a choice if I could avoid it." he said with a sigh.-

"You aren't alone in that but someone has to make that choice or at some point the criminals will win. The fact is that you and them are playing very different games with only you not realizing it. Why do you think my methods are so effective? I am only a single person in the end so why has crime dropped so much after I made this choice?" I queried calmly. He held his chin in his hand while falling deep into thought before answering. "Because you flipped the board. You changed the game into one they couldn't win and that terrifies them." he said with a look of enlightenment.-

I nodded "The game they were originally playing was one that was rigged in their favor as they had almost no consequences for their actions, nothing they worried about happening as a result. I'm not saying treating your prisoners good is wrong as it's humane if nothing else but it makes it hard for the criminals to care about the consequences of their crimes which makes them even bolder. Makes them arrogant and rightly so. Why should they not be when the worst they'll get is a slap on the wrist and a long vacation?"-

"That changed when I introduced very real and very serious consequences to the game. My methods didn't quiet the criminals because they solely fear me as I am but a single person and thus my impact was pretty limited. No the reason they quieted up is because they fear the league would change their policies after seeing how my work kept the crime down in whatever area I was in. I have limited impact but the league? The league more or less operates in the entire world simultaneously and could really put the screws to them if it adopted my methods." I said seriously.-

"As much as I wish I could deny what you are saying it makes sense. Is that why Galactic tried to have you killed shortly after discovering your arrival in the region?" he asked and I shook my head. "They were less concerned about how the league would act so much as how much I would interfere with their operations. It was more a matter of personal conflict than something on a bigger scale. Of course they still likely don't know that their plans are doomed to fail even without my interference, not that I plan to stay hands off mind you." I said with a smirk.-

Roark left after that and I balled up my team minus Hades to leave the city since Galaxy wasn't going to remain quiet for long now that the lakes were being so heavily guarded. A clash was coming as the team needed to get the lake guardians if they wanted even a chance for Cyrus's plan to work out. With the lakes under watch they needed to break through and capture the lake guardians and this likely meant serious casualties for the league members there.-

The trick was that I had to figure out which lake they were going to hit first and thankfully I had the perfect tool for that, my crime checker. Pulling it open on my Poketch I looked over the map and immediately narrowed my gaze to Lake Acuity where the most criminal activity was shown to be. It made sense why they would choose that lake to start out with. It was a place that was frankly speaking VERY inhospitable. It snowed there year round and regularly had fierce snowstorms that trapped travelers to death if they were unlucky.-

There was no traveling during a blizzard as the fierce cold and wind would sap your energy faster than anything else so if a blizzard hit you had to huddle up and bunker down while praying it doesn't last longer than you have food for. Naturally this meant the place was quite barren as far as people went with the only real exception being Snowpoint city that was lucky enough to have a small mountain that blocked most of the winds and clouds. This meant it was habitable and besides being really cold not a terrible place to live.-

Acuity was a special feature of the area as well since due to the geothermal heat under the lake it stayed just above freezing temperature most of the year with a layer of ice over the top during the last three months of the year. The harsh conditions around the lake though meant that it was likely the least protected as it was simply too fucking hard to do so. There was something there of course but I highly doubted it was enough to stop Galactic's people from blowing the lake up.-

I actually felt bad for the lake guardians in this case as they were likely just relaxing in their homes and would never expect that they wouldn't even get to fight back as someone straight up blew up the entire place. Keep in mind these were godly pokemon so blindsiding them was likely the only way they would even be captured. Perhaps that was the whole idea in fact. It made sense that Cyrus wouldn't play fair in this regard since he knew he was weaker than the legendary pokemon.