Meeting Cynthia Again

"If you know English then yes, that is exactly what I am saying.", replied Garemond.

Ryker got quickly angry after hearing it and he was ready to teach this man a lesson.

"Guys, guys, Why don't we just calm down. This is a party hosted by my father and all of you are equally invited. So, why don't we let bygones be bygones? Alright?", asked Steven as he came in between to mitigate the fight.

Ryker also knew when to stop. So, he turned around and let this matter go. Ryker and Axel were not the best of friends. In fact, they were rivals but since both of them were from the same region, he had to protect Axel. Besides, he felt bad about Axel since he had been kidnapped.

"Axel, I am sorry that I was not there for you. I just thought that you needed some space, so I didn't disturb you.", said Lance as he apologized for not calling.

Axel didn't mind about it. Others also asked if he was okay and apologized for what happened to him.

"So, we meet again, Axel.", came a girly voice from behind. Axel could see that Ryker had a stiff back as if he had seen something horrible. Axel turned around to see who it was.

"Yes, I guess we did. Thanks for helping Shedinja. I heard the entire story.", said Axel.

"You don't need to mention that. It would be boring if something bad happened to you. I will be going to meet with the Stone family right now. I will see you soon.", said Cynthia and went on her own way.

"Damn! That was very scary.", said Ryker as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I just don't understand why you are so scared of her.", said Axel.

"Dude, you have only just met her. We all know her since we were kids. You don't know how scary she is.", said Ryker.

"Is this really true?", asked Axel.

Lance was the one to step in.

"Yes, it is true. Cynthia had been like a different breed. Since she was also from a famous family, we also met but she was not a girlish type of a girl. Even when she was a kid, she was obsessed with fights and training. During that time, her Gabite was like a nightmare to all of us.", said Lance.

"But why? I mean I can understand that she is stronger than all of you but that should not make you guys feel so scared, right?"

"Yes, you are right. If she was just stronger then that would not have been a problem. The problem was that she was strong to the point that we already knew that we could not even come close to her in this lifetime.

She would take a handicap while fighting us and even win easily by dominating us. One time she said that her Gabite would not use any physical attacks but still, I lost that battle very harshly.

I don't know how you were able to win against her and I commend you for that. Your Charizard really is a different breed but I have to say that you need to be wary of her.

She doesn't mean you any harm but she is very competitive. For the longest time, she had been searching for a rival and since others could not even beat her a single time, she had been waiting for someone like you.

So, the bottom line is, you are on a roll now."

Axel never thought that the things were so serious.

"Yes, Lance is not lying. Today, there will just be a battle between Kanto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh region and both of the regions would be targeting us.", said Hymer.

"And why would they be targeting us?", asked Axel.

"First of all, Kanto is the strongest region. So, they will be testing us if the young ones are also in the same league. Secondly, right now, you are the strongest trainer because you defeated Cynthia. So, they will be targeting you."

"Does that mean I will have to fight against Cynthia again? I don't want to do that.", sighed Axel.

If he fought Cynthia, it would not be an easy battle. It would be very difficult and he just wanted to relax right now.

"Hey, whether I like it or not, you are currently the leader of the young faction of the Kanto region right now. Don't look so disappointed thinking about fighting Cynthia.

I also heard a rumor that the Garchomp of Cynthia had recovered and it had reached pseudo-champion rank."

"Pseudo-champion rank? Are you really sure?"

Even Axel didn't have any Pokemon at pseudo-champion rank. Reaching Pseudo-champion rank was not a joke. It would take a lot of time.

"It is just a rumor but there is a high chance that it might be true. If she uses a pseudo-champion rank Pokemon, then are you sure that you can win?", asked Ryker.

"I am not so sure.", said Axel.

Charizard could use its overpowered move to temporarily reach pseudo-champion rank but it was only a temporary fix and could only be used for 3 minutes. Also, since it had reached tier 3 king rank, he didn't know how powerful the move had become.

"Then if Cynthia asks for a battle, then just say no. You cannot afford to lose here right now.", said Ryker.

All the teammates of the Kanto region agreed to this. Axel was surprised by their reaction. It was just a battle and even if he lost, it would not mean anything. It would only mean that he would have to train harder. That was all.

Ting.. Ting.. Ting...

Came a sound and Axel looked in the direction to see a fat long man with a bit of white hair in a tuxedo ringing the champagne glass with a spoon.

The man looked everywhere and was satisfied that he got everyone's attention.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, and my dear Pokemons. I am Joseph Stone, your host of the evening. First of all, I would like to thank all of you for spending some time to come to this get-together event that I normally try to host every year.

I have called some of my closest friends and families to this event and I am happy that most of you have arrived.

Now, I won't beat around the bush. There are a lot of unique foods and drinks that are here to make you curious. Go explore them till your heart is full.

On to the main point, I unusually struggle to do something new in these events to make it interesting. As usual, the elders would have a private meeting of their own and the young ones could do whatever they like but could not interfere in this meeting.

Yet today, such would not be the case."

"Oh that is going to be interesting.", commented Lance.

Axel was also somehow interested in this.

"Our young ones have grown and they are now going to become adults. So, they also should shoulder the responsibility in the future. That is why the young ones could also attend the meeting but if you guys want to attend this meeting then you will have to impress us."

"Impress.. how?", asked one of the young ones.

"A Pokemon battle. But not the battle between your strongest Pokemons. No, that would not be very interesting. The battle would be between common-rank Pokemons.

So, for those who don't have common rank Pokemons are already out and could not attend the meeting.", said Joseph.

One of the kids from the Kip family was furious to hear it. Because he didn't have any common rank Pokemons, so he asked, "But why common rank Pokemons? I have a pseudo-king rank Pokemon. Wouldn't that be enough?", asked the kid.

"A very good question and one of the questions that I was looking forward to answering.

Today's meeting is going to be a high-level meeting. So, even for the young ones, only those who are mature and capable enough could enter.

Choosing a common-rank Pokemon for this battle is for a simple reason. All of you are from prominent families and you are blessed with a lot of resources and money that normal people could not enjoy.

With those resources, if your Pokemon could not reach even pseudo-champion rank then you should just quit being a trainer.

Having a common rank Pokemon suggest that you are thinking of the future. Being a powerful trainer is a continuous process. If you are not capturing new Pokemons and training them but just gloating by looking at your pseudo-king rank Pokemons, then you are not thinking about the future. You don't have any vision and those types of trainers would not achieve so much in the future.

If I have cleared your doubts then I will speak about the second requirement. The trainer must at least be a rare rank human."

Most of them had a common rank Pokemon with them. So, they were not worried about getting in the play but when the second requirement came, only the cream of the crop trainers were left standing. Because it was very hard to be a rare rank human.

Not everyone had a system like Axel.

"Now, you might be thinking, why rare rank human? This is a very harsh condition. Then let me answer your doubts on this too. Having a powerful Pokemon is essential but if the trainer is lazy and not powerful, then the Pokemon would also not respect him/her.

All of you think that the requirement is harsh. But it is not. With the resources that you guys enjoy, all of you would have reached rare rank by now. The only reason why so many of you have not reached rare rank is because you guys are lazy and never considered to train your body.

In ancient times, humans could literally fight Pokemon in the battle. It was said that the first Pokemon master was as strong as Arceus. But since we have started to take the help of Pokemons, we have neglected to train ourselves. Let this be a lesson that everyone must train their body.

Now, if you have fulfilled all the requirements, you can apply for this competition. Of course, the winner would also get a handsome prize and if we, the elders are happy with your performance, then all of you who are participating in this competition could attend the meeting.", said Joseph.

###

Axel thought that Joseph was just a very good businessman but after hearing him, he knew that there was something other than just a businessman in him. The father of a trainer like Steven would not be so simple.

At first, he didn't want to attend this meeting but after hearing Joseph, he got excited. He decided to participate in this competition.

###

The meeting was going to be held after 3 days and the competition would start from tomorrow. Axel also got himself registered and there were not so many people that were registered for the competition.