31 The Salvadors

Alan was first surprised, but then anger flared up inside him.

He immediately moved his body and appeared in front of Shin, taking on the full brunt of Ice Beam.

His back was now covered in ice as he had covered Shin with his own body. Gary, who saw this, suddenly realized his mistake; as much arrogant as he was, he knew that there were some things you should never do, and he knew he was in trouble.

"Are you alright?" asked Alan as he looked at Shin, who was looking at him with worry,

"Don't worry, I am fine."

He stood up and all the ice on his back was removed. A thin layer of Aura was seen in its place, which Alan used to block the ice beam.

"Stay here; I have something I need to settle," he said before he turned around, and his cold eyes stared into the very soul of Gary.

"Sigh," Alex gave a short sigh when he saw what was about to happen. Ellie looked at him with mysterious eyes, but he just gave her a nod with a reassuring smile.

*STEP*

"Did you think you can say what you want and do what you want?" Alan asked Gary as he moved towards him, one step at a time.

*STEP*

"Did you think just because your mother is a Champion level trainer, you can do anything you want?"

*STEP*

"Or that your father is a former champion, so it gives you the right to do what you want?"

*STEP*

"Or that I won't smash your face in the ground right now because I am afraid of your grandfather, who is a former champion?"

"Gary."

The Aura inside his body flared up.

"Samuel."

It wrapped around him, and his hair was blown upwards by the amount of Aura he had released.

"Oak."

He stood just a step away from Gary, releasing an intense amount of blood lust and Aura, which pressured Gary to take a step back in fear.

"Have you been underestimating me since I have been ignoring you a lot?"

"Y-you, stay away from me. You are in Oak Reside..." but before Gary could even finish his threat, a fist came flying towards his face.

*THUCK*

"Should we stop this here?" said Purple as she held Alan's fist in her hand, blocking it for Gary.

"M-mom, kick him out, he tried to punch me..." but Purple's glare once again shut him down.

Purple turned towards Alan as she spoke in a neutral tone, "since no one was hurt, why not drop this matter here?"

She was not asking but making a point; just as she was about to walk away with Gary, she heard a small chuckle.

"Kek."

Everyone followed it saw that it was none other than Ellie.

She was standing behind Alan right now; no one knew how she reached there so fast, but what everyone knew was that things might escalate from here.

"Oak," rather than calling him Prof. Oak as she always did, Ellie called him by his last name while she stared Purple into the eye, "do you remember the warning my husband gave six years ago?"

Alan was surprised by how his mother was standing behind him so suddenly, but then he showed a confused expression.

'Dad said something six years ago?'

Ash and Gary thought the same thing as they did not recall anything. Before today, they never even considered the Salvadors as anything.

Ever since Alex had started working in Oak Laboratories, Ash and Gary had believed that Alex was a talented researcher, nothing more, nothing less. But the way things were right now and how casually Ellie called Prof. Oak by his name, they knew that the Salvador family was not random researchers who came to work under Prof. Oak.

"In case you forgot, let me remind you about it," she said before she finally turned towards Prof. Oak, who showed a grave expression as if he knew what was coming next, "he said and I quote, 'never meddle with my son's affairs unless I allow you to. Never threaten him unless you want to die. Never try anything funny unless you want me to come for answers. Only those who are allowed to do that are from the same generation as him.'"

She turned towards Purple, "I did not say anything after that underhanded Ice Beam since Gary is in the same generation as Alan. But you trying to interfere and threaten my son..."

She walked closer to Purple and stood right in front of her.

"...are you underestimating me or overestimating yourself?"

She was not releasing any Aura, but just her presence felt suffocating. Not just for Purple but everyone except Oak, who could take it head-on.

Looking at all this, Red was glad that he had not tried to provoke Alex using Alan in front of Ellie.

'No wonder there is no champion in Elian Region,' thought Red as he looked at Ellie display her dominance. There was no pokemon battle, but this small display of strength was enough to prove who was stronger and weaker.

'Who can beat an Elite Four like her?' he said to himself while shaking his head.

The existence of one of the Elite Four of the Elian Region had always been a mystery. If the Elian Region itself was so weak and the Elite Four of the region were so weak, why was it that nobody defeated them to take on the title of the champion?

It was all because Ellie Salvador stood at the summit of the Elian League as the strongest Elite Four, who never allowed anyone to get past her and sit on the Champion position.

Red was one of the few who knew about Ellie's identity.

He then turned towards Alex, who was silently sitting at his place with the same soft smile, ' then there is him, whom even I know nothing about except that the Salvador family belongs to 'The Creed.' Even though Ketchum's are also part of 'The Creed,' I do not know who or what Salvador's are.'

"Ellie, we can talk compensation..." Oak tried to settle things, but Ellie did not back down.

"Apologize, and then we will talk about something else," she said as she stared at Purple, making her stand clear on what she wanted.

"Ellie, you should know she is..." Oak tried to explain Purple's position and power over Alan and how impossible it seemed to give what she was requesting.

"Then how about this," with a small smile, she looked at Oak, who knew this was not going to end well, "I will fight with her right now; whoever loses will agree to every condition asked by the winner?"

"This..."

"Or you can let Blue take her place; I don't mind that as well," she said with a small smirk while she looked at Blue, who was now standing behind his wife.

Oak gave a small sigh before he looked at Gary, who started all this and then at Purple, who tried to meddle in their affair. He was closest to them, so why wasn't it that he stopped Alan from punching Gary?

The only thing the punch would have done was knock some sense in Gary but blocking it had now led to where they were right now.

He would rather start a fight with a champion of another region than with Ellie Salvador.

No one dared to say it on her face, but she had two nicknames within the higher-ups in the Pokemon Alliance. And one of them was rather famous.

Ellie Salvador: The Tyranitar.

She was the last person everyone wanted to provoke since it would always end in a fight. And since the number of people who could beat here was few, she never feared anyone.

"I apologize," said Purple since she knew where this might lead to. As much embarrassed as she was, there was nothing she could do about it.

Satisfied by Purple's apology, Ellie walked back towards her seat, but she left words that stunned everyone, "make sure you punch him in the wild."

Alan followed his mother as he returned Shin to his Pokeball.

He could not believe that his mother just made the infamous Purple Oak, a champion-level trainer, apologize without even a fight.

'Is she stronger than Blue?' he asked himself, but then he looked at his father, 'then what about him?'

After his conversation with his father, Alan felt that he had come one step closer to knowing his parent's identity, but he again felt a heavy mist covering their identities.

'But who cares? At least I don't,' he thought with a shrug before they walked back to their rooms.

Tomorrow was a big day, and he needed to rest.

*******************

"You should have let me fight her," said Blue as he walked down the hall along with Oak and Purple.

"And then what?" asked Oak while shaking his head, "she is stronger than you think. She knows your full strength but do you know her's? Even with your Mega Blastoise, you might not beat her."

"We don't even know her Blood Bond pokemon since she never had the reason to use it. Then there is him," said Oak while he thought about Alex, "so far, I only know about his Mega Steelix, which he used today, and it was at Low Champion Rank. I don't know if it is his weakest pokemon, but I do know it is not his strongest."

"A pokemon comes and goes in Oak residence for six years, and I still can't track it; this should explain a lot about how strong Alex Salvador is."

"Alan is just as talented," said Purple from the side before the three of them sighed.

Oak looked towards the moon hanging in the sky. After all these years of work, he was tired, but he could not retire yet; Kanto needed someone to hold the fort.

*******************

"Have you packed everything?"

"This is the 13th time you have asked me the same question."

"And then answer me for the 13th time."

"Yes."

Alan walked towards the exit of Pallet town, followed by Alex and Ellie. As it was too early, Elizabeth was still asleep, and he wanted to leave before she was up since her tears might make him stay for the day.

"Make sure you stay safe and pick a lot of fights," said Ellie as she wiped the tears off her face.

"Are you listening to what you are saying?" questioned Alan.

"Make sure you call us at least once a month, so we know you are safe. I am sure Beth would be happy to hear all the stories you will have of your adventure," said Alex as he hugged Alan tightly.

Ellie came forward to give him a tight hug before handing him something.

"What are these?" asked Alan as he looked at the two scrolls in his hand.

"Your father gave you three gifts so far," said Ellie as she eyed Alex with an intent to kill, "and he did two of those without me knowing about them. I want to give something to you as well, so keep those scrolls with you."

"What are they for?"

"I heard Stella gave you a Metal Coat?" she asked, and Alan nodded his head, not hiding anything, "there are two pokemon that use a Metal Coat to evolve; Scyther and Onix. This scroll is a gift given to me by their colonies. You can go to their territories and request a pokemon duel. If you beat someone, the pokemon will follow you on your journey. This way, you can make good use of that Metal Coat."

Alan hugged his mother again as he thanked her for the gift. This would solve many problems since he could effectively choose his next Pokemon. He, however, returned one of the scrolls to her.

"I have already decided which one it is going to be," he said before Ellie could say anything, "I should leave now since I have a few things I need to take care of."

"Good luck!" they both said simultaneously, and Alan ran towards the exit of Pallet town. Very soon, he disappeared from their eyes.

A blue light flashed, and a pokemon appeared beside Alex.

"He will be fine, right?" asked Rio as he looked in the direction Alan had left.

"You care for him a lot, don't you?" teased Alex as he knew Rio did not like being told he was caring.

"Tsk, I just watched over the brat for six years because you asked me to," he replied with a displeased smile, "maybe you should have given him a Riolu, I could have talked to the tribe leader, and he would have agreed."

"Asked? More like forced him," joked Ellie, "haven't seen a Lucario stronger than you in my whole life."

"So you could help him train it under you?" asked Alex seeing through Rio's thoughts.

"Just admit you have a soft side for Alan," added Ellie from the side.

"Tsk. Say that to Alex," replied Rio with a smug face, "for someone who never wanted to help him, he has done it thrice in six years. Heh."

"Now, let's wait for his call so we can hear all about his adventures," said Alex as he ignored what Rio said and started walking back towards the Oak Mansion.