Taking stock of the initial situation inside the hideout took a lot longer than Anya had initially wanted, there was no one to explain the whole situation and she had to do everything from a scratch, the result was the meager amount of information collected in Anya's department due to the fact that the whole "League" branch was brand new. It did not come as a surprise to Anya that the department was in fact bare bones.

  Anya did find a folder named 'The Personnel Roster' on the front cover under the title was a small interesting placate stating, 'Only for the eyes of the department head'. Peeking inside the folder, all she found was a single piece of paper and on this paper was the profile of a single employee.

  Reading through the profile she found out about the person who was referenced in many of the other documents, she was code-named as 'Pandora' with the title of 'Chief of Staff' attached on her, from the description Pandora was not a person who Anya had seen before around the Rocket Corporation building, either she was a new hire or a import from another branch, it wasn't told.

  Properly developing such a major branch of Team Rocket was anything but easy, the personal notes written by Giovanni to her, informed that Anya should only be in contact with the 'Chief of Staff' or a trusted Second-in-Command when issuing orders or acting as 'The Mastermind' to keep appearances. She was to meet Pandora in a few days and give her an initial instructions to get things properly started.

  There was even some guidance on how to not act as suspiciously with proper mannerism and techniques. It was mostly valid information, but some of the clauses could only be applied to a Human physique, but on the other side, Anya being a Pokémon who could be singled out in an instant anywhere brought out some additional benefits and difficulties. For example when meeting Anya for the first time, no one could really tell which of her actions were natural for her species or not.

  A thick and heavy 'Guide for Criminal Masterminds' book caught Anya's eye, picking the heavy book and setting it on the table with a thud she found the sturdy metallic latch with a place for a lock, she opened the tome, the first page caught her off guard, the whole thing being hollow and a single lock and a key along with a small note inside stating 'Appearance, presentation and environment matters', an advice given in practicality was appreciated instead of all the monotonous reading she had done for the past few hour.

  Deciding to call it quits lest she go insane before even getting the whole department running properly.

  -----------------------------------------------

  Not really understanding on how long Anya was actually been underground and finding out that it was already the next morning came as a surprise to her. Seeing her co-workers just entering the building was quite bizarre to her, as for the past two years she had usually been the first one to arrive, she startled many of her co-workers by greeting them with the new text-to-speech device, finding small amount of joy in their surprised faces.

  Leaving the building had never felt so refreshing, she was not sure if her half-plant physiology being contact with the morning sun or just the difference in the air quality compared to the stuffy air of the underground office, but she welcomed the burst of energy either way.

  The oddities didn't end just yet, she was on her way home when a wild Pidgeot suddenly descended from the clouds grabbed hold of Anya with its two large talons and flew up before Anya could even react, something in Anya's head froze as she ascended, she unconsciously feared that struggling might cause the Pidgeot to release its grip on her and make her fall. After the initial shock of being abducted, Anya soon got control of her body back and she shouted at the Pidgeot.

  "[Hey! What gives!?]", either the Pidgeot didn't hear her or more likely was just plainly ignoring her, but she did not dare to annoy the Bird Pokémon any more, she did not want to find out if she would survive the fall or not.

  The flight didn't last too long and they were descending fast the moment they passed the forest's edge, soon arriving on a small clearing. Having her feet back on the solid ground gave Anya some relief and distraction of being suddenly abducted and she gave a glare at the Pidgeot who landed next to her, which was promptly ignored. Anya wondered what was the true purpose of this sudden detour.

  "[Can you now tell me what this is all about?]" Anya questioned the Pidgeot yet again. This time she at least got a response from the sizable bird Pokémon as the Pidgeot turned its head towards Anya.

  "[I was supposed to bring you here yesterday before nightfall, but you suddenly decided to stay inside the whole night]" he said with a tired voice "[I had to patrol around the building the whole time, so that I would not miss you leaving, your normal timings have been quite similar go in by dawn and leave somewhere after mid day]" he continued. "[I hope the deal I made is still valid, my livelihood depends on this deal]" uncertainty showing in his tired voice.

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  It took the better part of an hour for anything to happen, Anya had started to doze in the warmth of the sunlight after the initial adrenaline rush had died down, even the Pidgeot seemed to have fallen asleep, if what the bird had said was true and he had been truly awake and actively patrolling through the night, then it was understandable that it was time for a quick nap. A white shape had appeared at the edge of the clearing and soon a pair of Ninetales entered, their white fur gleaming almost golden in the sunlight. The larger of the Ninetales was moving towards them proudly emanating an air of superiority and confidence while the other, smaller one was following after the first one visibly vibrating in excitement, with its tails swaying erratically.

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  The appearance of the Ninetales stirred Anya from her dozing, by pure luck Anya was looking at the correct direction, if they had come from any other way, she wasn't sure if she could have noticed them otherwise. When the pair of Ninetales finally got closer Anya felt a sense of familiarity stirring inside her something in her body recognized both of the foxes, her mind jumbled mess and seeking for some answers.

  The larger Ninetales had reached nearby, sat down in front of Anya and the Pidgeot, who was still asleep.

  "[Greetings]" said the Ninetales in a calm familiar male voice, the other smaller Ninetales settled few steps behind the first one, its eyes looking Anya over curiously, a hint of what Anya would call restlessness was also noticed on the Ninetales.

  The Ninetales waited patiently for Anya to collect herself and answer

  "[H-Hello]" Anya answered nervously, her mudled mind still looking for strands of recollection, before soon a thought struck her and she finally remembered who this Ninetales was, it was the same one he had seen when she had first arrived in this world. Her mind connected the strands that if this Ninetales was the one who she thought he was, then the other one should be the young Vulpix, now evolved to a splendid looking Ninetales.

  Anya took a more proper position and moved on top of her knees before redoing her greeting, with a proper and respectful bow to emphasize her greeting a bit more.

  "[Greetings, to you too]" she kept the pose a bit longer, before lifting her head, her body relaxing, when their eyes met. She could see that the Ninetales gaze too had softened.

  There was a short silence as Ninetales took a look at the sleeping Pidgeot, before catching the Anya's eyes afterwards, something that passed as a mischievous smirk appeared on the Ninetales's mouth. The whole thing did not even get started before the Pidgeot stirred from its sleep. The bird Pokémon made a huge silent yawn and opened its eyes, only for her mouth to stay open as his eyes registered the pair of Foxes looking at him like a juicy drumstick.

  "[Ahem]* The Pidgeot cleared his throat and puffed up his chest "[I have brought the quarry, as requested, though I have to state, it doesn't look too appetizing, not enough fat nor meat]" he said as he gestured one of his wings at Anya.

  It was Anya's turn to be baffled, she did not believe the Ninetales were actually going to eat her, but that has to have been a misunderstanding between the Fox and the Bird.

  Anya looked towards the Ninetales, the smirk still on his mouth, Anya knew, it was all part of the same prank, she just didn't know she was actually one of the targets of the said prank until now.

  "[All pranks aside, You have accomplished your part of the deal, so we will honor ours, You, your mate and your spawn may for the coming year roost and hunt in our territory, as long as you respect our rules or the year comes to an end. You may leave now]" He said in a proud voice, all hints of playfulness was gone and in place he was speaking someone with authority in his voice.

  The Pidgeot lowered its head in respect. "[Me and my mate are very grateful for giving us this chance, thank you]" he said, relief apparent in his voice.

  Few acts of gratitude later, the Pidgeot took flight and was soon out of sight, leaving Anya with the pair of foxes still in the clearing.

  Breaking the awkward silence left behind by the Pidgeot, Anya found the courage to open her mouth.

  "[How have you both been?]" she said as her eyes found the smaller Ninetales, who seemed to be on his limits, holding back his growing excitement. "[It has been a while, hasn't it?]" She said with a soft smile.

  With a small nod from the larger Ninetales, the smaller one pounced at Anya, but before actually tackling Anya, his pounce stopped right in front of her, as if remembering that his larger size and mass might harm the receiving end of his charge and awkwardly stood there, not knowing what to do as his tails swished in indecision.

  Before he could do anything, Anya had chosen to take the initiative and sprang forward, carefully placing her cutters around the Ninetales neck and giving him a hug. "[I missed you too]" she said as she released her hold, her gaze meeting the other Ninetales, whose hardened eyes, belied that this was just a social visit.

  "[So, why the occasion, what changed and what do you need of me?]" Anya asked somberly.''

  ---------------------------------

  Once again sitting on her knees in front of the Ninetales, this time the smaller Ninetales laid next to her, his head happily resting on Anya's lap.

  "[So, let me get this straight, the seer of your pack, a Ninetales who calls herself the Sun Seer, has seen a vision of an upcoming disaster, but the only things she was sure was that there it was going to start in the next 5 to 10 years, which in itself is pretty vague along with that the fate of the world is at stake.]"

  "[And what exactly was the point of giving me this information? I appreciate the gesture, but it feels like there is going to be a big but thrown in to the mix]"

  The Ninetales listened intently and stood silent for a moment before answering.

  "[Well, not exactly, my orders were only to inform you of the said disaster seen by the seer and from what it understood, that was the only requirement. Somehow the pieces fit together to save us from the danger, I don't really know anything else, I am not well versed in precognitive capabilities and future sight to understand the deeper meaning of such information.]"

  Multiple thoughts crossed Anya's mind, five to ten years was a long time, the timing kind of matched with Ash being around 10 years of age, which meant that the disaster might be related about mewtwo or any other odd world breaking shenanigans that coincidentally happen to follow Ash. Knowing that the world operates a bit differently than what Anya had initially expected in comparison to the animated series, she was not even sure if the disaster happens before Ash goes on his journey, It was still a possibility due to the 5 to 10 year time window given by the Sun Seer.

  "[There is just a single thing still bothering me, about all of this]" Anya said to the Ninetales.

  "[Go ahead, I will try to answer with the best of my abilities]" He answered in all seriousness

  "[Since when did you guys start to use names?]"