Team Imperium

Team Imperium is an organization based in the Antoria region. A branch of the team appeared for the first time in the "What if England was a Pokémon region?" video as the villainous team in the Tuxon region, but the main part of Team Imperium appeared in Antoria in the "What if Italy was a Pokémon region?" video.

## Mission

Team Imperium's goal is to preserve the Poké Roman heritage and the old Poké Roman ways. Their members are all descendants of the ancient Poké Romans. In the Antoria region, they run the Vatican museums and Rome's Gym. They also hold gladiator-style Pokémon battles in the Colosseum to honor their ancestors.

However, three years before the events in the "What if Italy was a Pokémon region?" video, a group of extremists, led by Nero and including Brutus and Sophia, attacked the Tuxon region, believing that any territories once conquered by the Poké Romans were rightfully Team Imperium's, and attempting to conquer Tuxon by awakening Toxygen.

## History

### Tuxon region (*What if England was a Pokémon region?*)

In the Tuxon region, the player (Elizabeth\George) encounters Team Imperium for the first time in the Princeton-based town. As they're in the abandoned prison with Looker, they encounter two Team Imperium Grunts, who are looking for "something" in the building. The player defeats them and the two run away, not before declaring that the player has sealed their fate when they decided to defy Team Imperium, "the rightful rulers of the region".

Later on, in the Bath\Bristol town, the player arrives at the Roman baths following the cries for help of a tour guide, and finds out that Team Imperium has taken over the place. The player battles several Grunts and then finds the admin Brutus relaxing in the water. After trying to shoo the player a couple times, Brutus jumps out and confronts the player. He says that after setting out the team's secret base he took over the Roman baths just to relieve the tension, and claims that Team Imperium is helping the region by taking it over. He then challenges the player to a battle, frustrated that he's revealing too much information due to him being so worked out. When defeated, he seems really upset and, after vowing vengeance to the player, he rallies up the Grunts and they march away. As they get out of the town, they also blow up the bridge to the Stonehedge area.

It's right in the Stonehedge area that the player meets Team Imperium again. There are in fact Grunts scattered around in the area when the player arrives, and in the center of the ruins, Victoria stands surrounded by Grunts as Sophia interrogates her, having mistaken her for "a witch" who can summon the ancient dragon. As the player sneaks near, a Team Imperium Grunt notices them and yells about an intruder. Sophia (along with everyone else) then notices the player, and sends a couple Grunts against them. Once the Grunts are defeated, Sophia explains Team Imperium's goal and gets annoyed when she realizes the player didn't really listen. She then challenges them to a battle, and upon losing she calls for the Grunts and they march out of the ruins.

When the player arrives in the Nottingham town, they find it filled with Team Imperium Grunts. A crowd is gathered below the balcony of a castle, and as the player approaches, Nero steps out onto the balcony. He proclaims that he shall bring the region to the state of "perfection" that happened 1.000 years prior, thus saving the region from the "erroneous" Pokémon League, and explains that everyone who joins Team Imperium will be at the top, while anyone who opposes them will be forced at the bottom. The crowd isn't too pleased, but the Team Imperium Grunts close in on them and Nero explains that if they willingly give away their Pokémon, they'll be spared from the rain of poison. People start freaking out and the Grunts start taking their Pokémon by force. Suddenly Robin, who watched the scene amidst the crowd, proclaims that he will defend the people of his town. Nero is perplexed at the fact that Robin wears tights during winter, but simply orders the Grunt to take him down, then disappears inside the castle. The player helps Robin fend off the Grunts, then the two rush inside the castle, where they battle some Grunts and then go to confront Nero, who is sitting on a throne. The leader of Team Imperium, seemingly uninterested, asks the two not to waste his time and either to battle him or leave. The player faces Nero while Robin blocks more incoming Grunts, but after being defeated Nero, still unimpressed, declares the battle to have been a huge waste of effort on the player's side. He says he feels like the player won't bow before him, but vows to force them to once he'll become king of the region. Afterwards, he and the Grunts leave the castle.

When the player arrives in the Brighton city, they notice that the castle is strangely locked and that some lights are on inside it. They make their way into the castle through the sewers, and they find a great number of Team Imperium members inside, as well as a lot of high tech machinery. After battling through the many Grunts around the castle, the player arrives in the throne room, where Brutus and Sophia are working on a contraption with a strange purple liquid inside while Nero sits nonchalantly on the throne. Nero sarcastically congratulates the player on finding their secret base, and comments on the incompetence of the Pokémon League for not being able to do so. He then observes that the player must have understood their plan, and explains that he needs to revive the ancient dragon to be able to conquer the region. He then leaves the place, ordering Sophia and Brutus to stall the player while he goes to "claim his prize". After the player has beaten Brutus and then Sophia, Brutus starts monologuing about the fact that maybe he keeps losing because he's joined the wrong side and that perhaps he's a "bad guy". While Brutus spills out his backstory (how he was abandoned as a child and raised by Lycanrocs, who in turn abandoned him before Nero found him), Sophia leaves. Soon Looker arrives and shuts down the purple machine, which snaps Brutus back to reality, but Looker manages to put him under arrest. Brutus then starts blurting out information to convince Looker not to arrest him, including the fact that Team Imperium planned on capturing the unicorn legendary, but eventually didn't, because Nero thought the poison legendary would overpower it. Looker arrests him anyways, but thanks him for the information.

After the player has captured Equarius (the unicorn legendary), they head to the Stonehedge location, which is filled with Team Imperium Grunts, with Nero standing in the middle of the ruins alongside a machine similar to the one found in Team Imperium's hideout. He thanks everyone for coming, especially the Gym Leaders and Elite Four, then claiming that he will banish the latter once he becomes king of the region. While the Pokémon League members battle the Team Imperium Grunts, the player makes his way to Nero, who scoffs at them, commenting that even they are stronger than their Pokémon League. Nero then battles the player, claiming that if they impress him, maybe they won't banish them. After the battle, however, Nero laughs and says that he has already won, as the dragon is about to be reborn, and that he was merely trying to stall the player.

Toxygen then emerges from the machine, and the player has to defeat it. Once defeated, the dragon flies away, and Nero is arrested by Looker. Amidst the celebrations of the crowd, during which nobody listens to Nero, suddenly Nero shocks everyone by revealing that Team Imperium has been helped by a member of the Pokémon League, who sent him a letter explaining in detail how to conquer the region and resurrect the legendary. Looker then brings Nero away.

At some point, Nero was exiled for eternity on the Pontine Islands, while Sophia joined again the peaceful part of Team Imperium in Antoria.

### Antoria region (*What if Italy was a Pokémon region?*)

The player (Patricia\Giorno) first meets with Team Imperium when they run into Sophia in a prehistoric building in Sardinia. Sophia asks the player if they recognize the art in the ruins that surround them, and then introduces herself, but she's abruptly cut off by Marco tearing down a wall. Sophia is soon baffled at Marco's awful ways and at his will to destroy the ancient ruins just to get out, but she keeps herself from battling him and instead asks him to follow her to the exit and never come back. Before leaving, she gives the player half of a coin with Impereagle carved on it.

In Rome, the player has to face Team Imperium members in the Colosseum, including Sophia, in order to gain the second half of the coin to access the Gym. Once he accomplishes that, he enters the Vatican museums and meets with Julius, who tells them about Team Imperium's history and goals. He then runs into a portrait of Nero, at the sight of which he gets enraged and orders somebody named Mario to take down the painting and go burn it. Sophia then intervenes, explaining the history of the extremist branch of Team Imperium in Tuxon. Julius then claims Nero has been punished appropriately for shattering his trust in him, but as he notices Sophia looking somewhat gloom, he calms himself down and challenges the player to a Gym battle. After the player wins, Julius hands them a small red gem, which fits in the Impereagle coin the player has, turning it into the Imperium badge.

Team Imperium also has a role in the Razzo episode in the postgame. After the player has beaten the League, Julius calls them and asks them to come to his Gym, where he explains to them that one of his allies has told him that Team Rocket is going to harm one of the two legendaries of the Antoria region, and asks the player to go to the Etna volcano on Vittoria Island to stop them.

Later on, after confronting Antonio on the volcano, Julius calls the player to hear how is the mission going. He panics as he hears that the legendary has been already brought to the Pontine Islands, and remarks that he can't do much, as they have had to let Team Rocket build a warehouse in those islands (which are private islands owned by Team Imperium) in exchange for them not doing anything to Team Imperium members. He prepares a boat for the player in order for them to get to the Pontine Islands, and begs them to free the legendary.

Once arrived on the Pontine Islands, the player meets Nero, who listens to the troubles going on and while he says he can't do anything about that because he's in exile, he tells the player where the warehouse is.

After the Razzo Episode is complete, the player can explore the islands and they can challenge Nero to a Pokémon battle.

## Common Pokémon

All members use Electric and Poison-type Pokémon; the Grunts commonly use Pokémon such as Pikachu, Mareep, Shinx, Gulpin, Salandit and Whirlipede.

## Notable Members

Julius is the leader of Team Imperium, and Sophia is possibly a high-ranking member, and formerly an admin in the extremist branch. Nero was formerly the leader of the extremist branch before being exiled in the Pontine Islands, and Brutus was an admin in such branch before being arrested.