Making the News

5 a.m., next morning,

Tring… Tring.. Tring.. Tring.. 

Axel slept late last night so he had still not woken up. He opened his eyes with difficulty, switched on the light, and picked up his phone. He didn't even bother to see who it was.

"Hello, Axel speaking."

"What the hell did you do?"

The sound was so sudden that Axel sat on the bed.

"What? What happened?", asked Axel.

"What did you do to Roy?"

"Well, I did what you asked. I crushed him."

"I told you to crush him in battle, not his mental state."

"Red, what are you saying? I don't understand."

"Just read the newspaper from the Kanto region and Johto region. You are all over the news."

"Ok, just give me 5 minutes."

"No, take an hour. You are going to need it.", said Red and hung off the phone.

Red seemed pissed for some reason and Axel didn't know what it was. He looked at the phone and there were a bunch of notifications. The first notification was from Hakone times. Someone had sent him a message and the link.

Axel opened the link and it got him to the page of Hakone times. There on the front page was his face and Roy's face. The news went like this.

Roy Falkner's outrageous behavior towards Axel Blaze

Yesterday at 9 a.m., our hero Axel Blaze had a gym battle against the Violet City gym leader Roy Falkner from the Johto region. Obviously, Axel won the battle with ease but the behavior of Roy towards Axel was questionable.

As per Axel, it is customary for the gym leaders to introduce themselves in the waiting room. Roy didn't do it. Roy also started to say out loud that he was not serious in the battle that was why he was losing when he lost 2 of his Pokemon while Axel only lost one of them. He also proceeded to say that Kanto trainers are trash.

To save the face of Kanto trainers, Axel said that he could battle any 3 of his Pokemons with his single Pokemon and he did. Roy agreed to it and Axel won. 

The duty of the gym leader is to check if the trainers are capable. It is not to battle the trainers with full force and show off. However, Roy felt that he should not follow this rule when battling against Axel.

Axel is a famous trainer from the Kanto region. Was this a PR move from Roy's side to make Axel look bad? Or is this how the Kanto trainers are treated in the Johto region?

 If famous trainers like Axel could be targeted like this then what is to say about the normal Kanto trainers who want to participate in the gym battle in Johto region?

It was a full-page news on the first page. Almost all of the news channels were saying the same thing and this was the front page news of each of them. 

He also looked at the news from the Kanto times as this was one of the most popular news channels of the Kanto region.

The title and the news went like this.

GET OUT of the Johto Region!!!

In Yesterday's gym battle between Axel Blaze, the successor of the Pokemon master, and Roy Falkner, the gym leader of the Johto region, Axel Blaze was humiliated. Why? Because he was from the Kanto region.

Roy Falkner started to treat Axel in a rude way, not something one would expect from the prestigious gym leader. He started to say that the Kanto trainers were trash and they should not be allowed in the Johto region. He also started to say that he was not serious in this fight and that is why he was losing. 

In order to save the reputation of the Kanto trainer, Axel made a bold claim telling that he could defeat Roy with only 1 of his Pokemons while Roy could use 3 rare rank Pokemons as per the gym rules. 

And guess what?

He won!!!

But did that make Roy shut up? No!!! When Axel took a fairly stronger Pokemon, Roy started to say that this was not allowed when he himself agreed to the rules a few seconds before. 

All in all, Axel was not treated like a trainer in that gym stadium, and only cause he was a trainer from the Kanto region.

That begs the question. Are all the trainers from other regions treated like this in the Johto region? We don't know, but if famous trainers like Axel could be treated like this when it might be very possible.

However, we were curious. Why is the gym leader treating a trainer like this? We did some digging and found out that the Kanto region has bought some lands from the Johto region recently and Koga, our poison type gym leader is also the Elite 4 of the Johto region.

Now, if reasons as petty as this are enough for the gym leaders of the Johto region to be racist to normal Kanto trainers who have no idea or involvement in this, then it is not safe for Kanto region trainers or any trainers from another region to go there. 

Axel is a famous trainer and he also has the backing of the Pokemon master. So, they may not have the power to affect him but what about normal Kanto trainers?

So, we suggest that trainers should not go to the Johto region.

The news was wild!! He didn't know that he could have such an effect. Almost all the Kanto regions news channel were saying that Johto region was not safe to go. Some of them were even saying that Roy and the gym leaders would publicly apologize to Axel Blaze for their bad behavior.

He then looked at the news channels from the Johto region. The news from the Johto region was complicated.

Some of them were saying that Axel was the one who was rude to the gym leader and Kanto trainers are not taught to behave properly. While of them were neutral and some of them were taking the side of Axel instead.

Some of them even said that Axel should check how he talks to the gym leader. A gym leader deserves respect.

Then there were videos of Axel and Roy's battle. Some of them were cut out to make him look better. Some of them were cut out to make Roy look better but there was one full video where he battles Roy and then there was the interview. He clicked on it. He didn't look at the video but directly went to the comment section.

Regan: This is not how you talk to the gym leader. Axel was the one to talk bad.

Gary: No, you are wrong. A gym leader should be the one to check if Axel is a capable trainer. He didn't do it. He just said that he could defeat him and that got him.

There were a bunch of comments like this but the one comment that was pinned and had the most views and replies went like this.

Oggy: It looks like most of you are confused so let me say something. I am from the Sinnoh region and I have 5 badges now. So, I know the experience. Axel said that the gym leader didn't introduce himself in the waiting room and that got him angry.

If this is true then the gym leader is at fault. It is customary for the gym leader to come to the waiting room and introduce him/her. There are lots of trainers who challenge the gym for the first time. The introduction helps a lot and makes us calm. 

The gym leader also asks how good our Pokemons are and how we are training them. They also give advice on it. 

However, Axel is different. He is not famous just cause he is the successor of the Pokemon master, he is famous because he is a powerful trainer. Most of you may not know but it takes a lot of time and hard work to rank up your Pokemons to king rank and Axel has a tier 3 king-rank Pokemon. A Pokemon who is still unknown to this world. It looks like he found it somehow or evolved it differently. That deserves respect.

The King rank Pokemons are so rare that gym leaders may only have a couple of them. I can say for certainty that if Axel were to fight Roy with no rules and if Roy used his best Pokemons too, Roy might lose. Tier 3 king rank is not a joke. 

So, even if we are bound by the rules of getting a gym badge, Roy should have been more respectful to Axel. Because he had earned it.

That was a good reply. Axel wondered who this trainer was. He had a good head on his shoulders.

Since the reply was so good, he went ahead and commented on the reply saying that 'Looks like someone knows what is going on.'

This reply got a lot more famous and Oggy quickly became a sensation. Things were getting wild and now Axel was thinking how he would come out of this hotel and live a normal life. 

He called Red after reading all these things.

"So, you read it all?"

"Yes, how did things turn this way?", asked Axel.

"That is how media works Axel. We are not ready to take the Johto region right now and it is troublesome."

"What did Oak say about it?"

"Oh, he is very happy. He is saying that you deserve to be his successor."

"Really?"

"Yes, that old man is crazy. Axel, lay low for some time. There might be some forces that might take action against you.", said Red.

"Yes, I will keep that in mind."

"What are you planning to do right now?"

"Well, I was thinking of meeting Latias now. I think I am ready."

"If you want to go there, hire a team. Don't do there alone."

"Yes, but how do I do that?"

"Well, you can talk to Blue about it."

"Yes, that is a good idea. I will do that."

"Good, I am going off now. Have a lot of work to do."

"Yes, take care."

###

Axel went to the website of the league association saying that he would take the mission but he needed a good team for it. If he got a good reply by tomorrow, Axel thought to go on this mission but if he didn't he would go to that island.

"It looks like you are really in a tough place now.", said Shedinja.

"Yes, I just cannot believe that such a thing would happen.", sighed Axel.

Tring.. Tring.. Tring.. Tring….

He looked at the phone. It was a call from home. He didn't want to pick up the phone right now but he had no choice.

"Axel, what is going on? Are you safe?", asked his father in a concerned voice.

"Yes, I am. Why would I be in any trouble? By the way, I won the gym badge.", said Axel.

"Yes, we know that. You are all over the news. What are you going to do now? Do you want to come home?"

"No, I will figure something out. I don't know what I am going to do."

"Wait, your mother wants to talk to you.", said his father and handed off the phone to his mother.

"Axel, you were rude to that old man. I didn't teach you to be so rude.", said his mother.

"But Mom, he had it coming. He was the one who started it."

"But he is an old man. You should respect your elders."

His mom started to give a big lecture on how he was staying outside, so he had forgotten the rules of the house. As per his mother, Axel should not be rude to elders. That didn't make any sense to him but he just listened to it as he was being scolded by his mother.