CHAPTER 16 The impact

At the current timeline, The newspaper is more widespread than the Television communication coverage. The Television connection was prevalent in the big cities of all the regions.

The current coverage of television is only ten kilometers area around the main city whereas Floral Town situated fifty kilometers away wasn't in this area.

In other places they weren't so prevalent and newspapers were the main source of information exchange and orders issued by the League.

The statement about the qualifications for elite four position was published in the newspaper and was circulated throughout the every settlement under the Pokemon league control.

When Alex was entertaining the siblings as well as the young pokemons, their daily newspaper hawker had sent out the newspaper with the news pertaining to the statement the Pokemon league gave out.

When the hawker came,. Slowking sensed his arrival and appeared in front of him to take the newspaper.

The hawker handed the newspaper to the Pokemon since he knew the Slowking. This hawker had been sending newspaper to their family for years and so he knew that whenever Slowking was at home, he would arrive to take the newspaper.

He handed over the newspaper and left the area. As for why he cane to hand over newspaper now and not at early morning, the current Bart house is at a distance from the town and he first did his delivery in the town and then the outskirts.

Slowking teleported back to Michael with the newspaper.

There was a fixed sequence in which thd family members read the newspaper. The first person who read the newspaper was Michael, next was Arthur ,later Alex if he was at home and finally Gwen after she did the everyday household activities with the help of pokemons.

When Michael took the newspaper and was reading it on the dining table, his attention fell on the current headlines.

It read" The New Era of Monsters"

And within this headlines were the statement of the Pokemon league.

After reading this, the years of instincts he developed made Michael feel this matter was related to Alex and just at that moment his son, Arthur and daughter in law, Gwen arrived.

He looked up from the newspaper and told them to come to him," Arthur, Gwen come over here and look at this news. "

Then placed the dishes on the table and cane to Michael then looked over the his shoulder to see where his finger was placed.

When they read through the newspaper they were shocked at the news.

" Father, why did the league made such a decision? Is it really because the number of genius is too much and they want to cut down competition this way." Gwen asked her father in law.

" There is something more to this, isn't it father? " Arthur asked sceptic about why his father put do much attention to this.

Gwen too found things were a little awkward and her husband question made her feel this matter may be related to someone they all knew and the subconsciously the image of her son appeared in her mind.

Michael facial expression hadn't changed and he continued to look at the newspaper emotionless and then replied back," Yes, the fact that this news came a few days later after Alex's action makes me think that Alex is one of the main reason behind this sudden change in the trend. "

" If so then the second part of the trial may also have some relation with Alex. " Arthur said absentmindedly.

" If so then Alex cannot leave the house until he completely recovers. He cannot take a step away from here." Michael said with a strong voice.

" Is the thing that serious?" Gwen asked worriedly.

" I had led a company once. It is too different from the taking part in the Pokemon Tide. I lead the company of 100 people at the age of 25.

If it wasn't for your mother, Arthur then I would have been a broken person. She was my light.

I don't know how many people Alex led but I think he is suffering. I saw he was way too guarded even at home and even a slight noise made him vigilant.

That's what made me think Alex may have fought the battle but this news tells me things were much bigger than what he told us and didn't reveal us about. " Michael finally told them.

The duo father and mother were quiet when they heard that their son may be suffering and he hid something big from them which may be the cause of his suffering.

Their heart hurt knowing this and it was especially so for the pregnant mother.

She shouted out Alex's name and called him to the dining table.

On hearing her voice, Alex arrived there with his siblings and all of them had happy smiles on their face.

But seeing the serious expression of the elders of the family, Alex lost his smile and asked them directly," What happened?"

Michael motioned towards Slowking who teleported with the newspaper and handed it to his trainer.

Alex took the newspaper and he saw the headlines. He ran his eyes through the news and then his eyes widened. Alex then looked above the newspaper and met his parents and grandfather's gaze.

" So what do you all want to know?" Alex asked and looked at them emotionlessly. This news had reminded Alex about the nightmares he almost forgot when he was with his siblings.

He cannot appear broken in front of his parents and so he decided to hide his emotions itself.

This change made them aware that they were right on the mark but neither of the two parents know what to say to Alex and let their father take the charge.

" Did you lead the troops in the battle ,Alex? And is this matter related to you?" Michael asked

Alex remained quiet and turn revealed that he did lead the troops and about the matter how he talked about nor following the command of others and hence he lead the troops.

On hearing this Gwen broke into tears while the others just dropped their faces in pain.

The younger ones didn't know why their parents acted like that but opted to remain silent when Slowking motioned them to remain quiet.

The first one to recover was Michael who then tried to divert the topic and told everyone to start eating breakfast.

This breakfast wasn't as cheerful as they planned and there was a suffocating atmosphere over the dining table and everyone ate as fast as they could to leave the place.

And after eating everyone left. Alex took his pokemons to train and spend hos time and distract from those nightmares. He even took his siblings so he can play with them.

The parents looked at this and smiled softly and didn't say anything. They knew that Alex was in pain and they could only support him mentally.

According to Michael, it is something one should overcome on his own or else this shadow will inhibit his future growth and affect his path forward. They don't want to be obstacles in their son's future and remained quiet about this.

And like this Alex had spent a week in the farm and even Pidgeot had returned from Oak laboratory after healing and can recover at home.

Alex was currently spending time on nidorino, marill, poliwhirl and ivysaur who had just evolved to control their powerful body and abilities. He also spent his time bonding with Magikarp as he was nearing his evolution.

He wanted to bond so that there won't be much changes in their relationship after the calm and meek magikarp evolved into the frightening and aggressive gyarados.

These days of Alex were pretty calm compared to his normally hectic adventure but the world outside the farm wasn't so calm.

How was the outside wirld after the news circulated? How do people react? Stay tuned.

To be continued...