Exchanging Information

(A.N. I had to redo the entire list of Ace's pokemon from scratch, so there were a few I accidentally missed along with the Manectite and the Ampharosite he got from Surge. I went back and added them to the list, and updated it on the first chapter for everyone.)

The four of us followed professor Rowen through the halls of the ship until we reached the place where everyone else was waiting for us at, though Lucas, Barry and I were talking the entire way.

The three of us were sharing some of the stories of our own adventures along with bragging about our different pokemon. Of course, I also added both of their numbers to my pokenav, while they did the same with mine so we could communicate in the future since they planned to return to Sinnoh from the SS. Anne.

I had to admit, it was nice actually making friends with a couple other guys. Though Dawn apparently began to feel left out as we talked, so I patted the top of her head and she became contented.

"Here." Professor Rowen said as we arrived, cutting the conversation between the guys and I short as we prepared ourselves. After all, we were going to be meeting the professors from almost every major region, along with the Champions of those regions.

It was safe to say that there was no greater collection of VIPs right now in the entire world.

The professor opened the door, and we were greeted by a crowd of people that was almost overwhelming. Almost half of them were dressed in lab coats, while the majority of those who weren't appeared to be similar in age to myself, maybe give or take a couple years. The rest of those gathered however gave off the most intimidating collection of auras I had seen yet.

I immediately recognized Lance of Kanto, Steven Stone of Hoenn, Cynthia of Sinnoh, and of course, Nemona of Paldea. But also sitting with them was a dark-skinned girl who looked as if she were my age, at the MOST, along with one of the professors.

"Greetings Ace, we've been waiting on you." Lance said as soon as he saw me.

"This is him? But he's just a kid." The dark-skinned girl said irritably.

"Who is this sassy lost child?" I asked professor Oak while pointing at her.

There was a round of snickers from my question, while I'm pretty sure I saw the vein on her forehead pulse.

"What was that, brat?" She asked, emphasizing the 'brat' part.

"Iris, that's enough." Lance said in a tone that sounded like it was a warning.

"Humph!" Iris harumphed at him, but didn't say anything more.

"Please excuse Iris, she only recently attained her Champion title." Lance said tiredly.

"You could say she still has certain areas she needs to mature in." Cynthia said with a slight smirk, crossing her arms under her impressive breasts to emphasize them.

Iris paled at the display, literally reaching up and squeezing her own nonexistent tits right in front of everyone. I'd almost feel sorry for her if she hadn't called me a brat previously. And if my eyes weren't glued to Cynthia's glorious tatas...

"Ehem!" Professor Oak cleared his throat, drawing attention to himself as he said, "I believe some introductions are in order."

He then pointed at one of the other men in a labcoat to start with, and said, "Ace, this is professor Elm of the Johto region, as well as a former student of mine. And these are his two assistants, Ethan and Lyra." (A.N. I used Gold and Crystal in an earlier chapter, but going through all of the wiki pages to make this chapter I decided I like Ethan and Lyra better. So that's who'll they'll be from now on.)

"From one student of professor Oak's to another, its a pleasure to meet you." Professor Elm said as we shook hands.

"Its an honor to meet you too professor. As well as your assistants." I replied, shaking his hand before doing the same with Ethan, and then gently kissing Lyra's.

After them I was introduced to everyone else in the room, starting with Brendan and his brother Max, the latter of which was professor Birch's other assistant. At first Brendan seemed quite terse towards me, but it soon became apparent why when I saw him glance at May.

I had already met both Barry and Lucas, which the professor was excited to learn that I had traded some pokemon with them that he didn't usually get the chance to study. And he became doubly excited upon learning about the Alolan Muk I had received, which we could try breeding with my Grimer once it evolved.

Then I was introduced to professor Ivy of the Orange Islands, who didn't have any assistants currently like the other professors.

Professor Ivy was a mature woman with purple hair that carried a mellow, almost sleepy, expression with a matching aura. But there was also a natural seductiveness to her as well, as indicated by the fact she was literally only wearing a bikini under her lab coat, and the slight smirk she gave me when I obviously checked her out.

After professor Ivy was Professor Juniper of the Unova region, along with her assistants Hilda, Hilbert, Rosa and Nate. As with the previous groups, I greeted the guys by shaking their hands, and kissing the hands of the girls. I had to admit, both Hilda and Rosa were quite fine, the former in her tight little booty shorts, and the latter in frilly shorts that would have been WAY too revealing had she not been wearing leggings underneath them.

Then was professor Sycamore of the Kalos region, accompanied by his two assistants, Serena and Calem. I repeated my earlier greetings with them as well, while also taking note of Serena even before she excitedly expressed her interest in meeting me. Apparently she was a fan from the numerous videos that were posted of me on pokevision, and I'm pretty sure she even flashed me her panties under her skirt. Then again maybe it wasn't on purpose, as I doubt anyone without aura enhanced vision would have noticed.

Next was the professor duo of Magnolia and Sonia from Galar, along with their three assistants of Gloria, Victor and Hop. I was more than a little surprised to hear that Hop was the younger brother of Galar's current Champion, Leon, who was reputed to be the strongest Champion on the planet. No offense to him, but I would have to call Tauros-shit until I met Leon myself.

Unfortunately neither professor from Paldea, professors Sada and Turo, were present due to them being too busy with their work. However their son Arven was present, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here at the moment.

That just left professor Kukui of Alola, and his assistants Elio, Selene, and Lillie.

Two things shocked me upon being introduced to them.

First of all was that professor Kukui was not only the professor of Alola, but also the Champion of the entire region as well. Secondly...

"Its nice to meet you!" Lillie said to me excitedly.

"Its a pleasure to see you again as well." I said back to her, confusing Lillie as she seemingly tried to place where we met before. "I believe we met when I did a fly-by earlier, and you lost your hat."

"!!!"

A look of amazement appeared on her face while I could also feel the surprise of the others, probably from recalling seeing me as I circled the ship.

"Oh! That was you!" Lillie exclaimed, before beaming as she said, "Thank you again for saving my hat!"

"It was my pleasure, plus it WAS my fault you lost it to begin with." I answered wryly, before finally taking my place with professor Oak and the group that was here with him, Gary, Ash, Tracey, Goh, Misty, Joy, Chloe, and myself. As I did so though, both Lucario and I kept our eyes on Lillie's bag. Or more specifically, the alien-feeling aura within it.

"And to top things off, these are the other Champions that are also riding on board." Professor Oak said, continuing on with the introductions. "You already met Lance, of both Kanto and Johto. This is Steven of Hoenn, Cynthia of Sinnoh, Iris of Unova, and Nemona isn't the official Champion of Paldea, but she is here to represent her."

"It is an honor to meet all of you." I said respectfully to each of the Champions, shaking both Lance and Steven's hands, while kissing Cynthia's like I had for the rest of the ladies. Iris held hers out expectantly with a smirk, but I just ignored her.

She actually looked cute when she puffed her cheeks in a pout.

Nemona however didn't require any nicities, since we had already met and battled earlier.

As soon as I sat down Lance leaned forward and stated in a serious tone, "Now that the introductions are out of the way, its time to discuss the important matters."

Though there were a few eye rolls and sighs from some of those gathered, there were also several serious looks from Steven and Cynthia, as well as a few professors.

"Ace..." Lance began while looking at me. "I want you to start by telling us everything you know about Arceus."

"""???"""

For the most part, as in nearly everyone not a part of my group, there was only confusion from the name that none of them had ever heard before. However, I did notice both professor Rowen and Cynthia share a look.

Oho?

"No offense Lance, But I thought we gathered here to discuss the impending attack on the SS. Anne?" Professor Sycamore asked.

"We are, but there are bigger and more important things at work here as well. We need to discuss them here and now, with all of these big name people in the room." Lance said, which only made everyone more curious.

"If I may Lance..." Professor Rowen began. "How did you hear of this name, Arceus?"

"I would also like to know." Cynthia stated as a matter of factly.

Lance didn't answer them, instead turning towards me and saying while spreading his hands, "The floor is yours Ace."

His words made every single eye turn towards me, some with expectation or curiosity, while I could practically feel both professor Rowen and Cynthia burning a hole through me with their looks.

Thanks for putting me on the spot Lance.

"Firstly, I'm going to start by saying that I have no intention of arguing with anyone if they belong to a specific cult or belief. If you're willing to listen to what others are trying to say, then great. If not, then either shut up or get out now." I said while pointing to the door.

It may seem extreme or unnecessary, but I knew for a fact that certain people may even be willing to attack or kill me because of what I know about Arceus and the creation trio. Hell, I already had the cult of Ho-Oh after me because of Charizard.

Even after a moment no one moved to leave, so I took that as the go ahead to begin with my story.

"Several years ago a pokemon appeared to me in my dreams, a pokemon unlike any that we've heard of before. A pokemon by the name of Arceus..."

I then went through the story of who Arceus was, as well as everything we had learned from Dragonite back at Bill's lighthouse.

Thankfully everyone was silent as they listened to my whole story, from who Arceus was to the warning that I had received from him, and then to him selecting me as his 'champion' to keep the world from being destroyed.

Even as they stayed silent though, I could see the varying reactions through their auras that bellied their disbelief, incredulation, and even some mild panic.

"This is a joke, right?" Hilda asked as soon as I had finished speaking.

"I wish. Then I wouldn't have to worry about fighting Legendaries every other week." I commented with a dry laugh.

"What are you talking about?" Professor Magnolia demanded.

"Well lets see.... I had to fight, and nearly died against, the true alpha Gengar back in Lavender town, in which nearly the entire town had witnessed to an extent. In fact, I actually was comatose for three days afterwards. Then, only a couple days after I woke up, I went to go visit Zapdos and he tried to vaporize me until I punched him in the face and mentioned my connection with Arceus. And then even before all of that, I encountered the genetic clone of Mew, which Team Rocket created and weaponized in their goal of domination. Oh, and thats not even considering the non-violent encounters I've had with Legendary pokemon, the true alpha Dragonite, Ho-Oh, and even Mew."

I almost felt as if I needed to help nearly everyone pick their jaws up off of the floor with each consecutive bombshell I had just dropped, though there were a few professors that were looking at me like I was suddeny VERY interesting to them.

"Not to be a naysayer, but do you have any form of evidence to back up these stories you're telling us? I mean, there are no shortage of people who thought they encountered a Legendary, or just flat out lied to gain clout." Steven pointed out, earning himself numerous nods of agreement.

"Of course." I stated, pulling out my pokenav and playing the two videos that were on it.

First was the footage of me punching Zapdos, then the video that was recorded of our encounter with Mewtwo. And then finally I ended with the actual photos I took with Mew just the other day.

"Is this proof enough?" I asked him, to which Steven just silently nodded.

"I know how you feel Steven. Believe it or not, Ace actually used Mew when he battled Morty of the Ecruteak city Gym." Lance told him with a far away look in his eyes, once again making everyone look at me in alarm.

"I already told you before Lance, Mew only did as I commanded because it wanted to play, and following my commands were the 'rules'." I told him with undisguised exasperation.

"The intent doesn't matter. The fact remains that no other human on this planet, that anyone knows of, can say that they have had Mew follow their commands." Professor Magnolia stated, earning her several nods of agreement from the other professors.

"We're getting off track." I stated, trying to change the subject. "The fact is that I KNOW the world is going to be threatened in the near future, and there are criminal organizations running amok in nearly every single region with little no regard for the Legendaries or the death and destruction each of them could induce. Lavender town is a perfect example of this."

A somber silence descended upon the room as everyone digested this, as I was in no way sugarcoating what was at stake.

"So what can we do?" Lucas asked, looking to me with eyes full of intent and determination. And with a quick glance around the room, the same could be said for ALL of the regional 'protagonists'.

"We begin with communication and identification." Lance stated while standing, drawing all eyes back to him.

"All of us here know what is going on, which means we need to work together to try and stop it even if it means focusing our efforts on our respective regions. As Ace pointed out, the primary groups responsible are the criminal organizations infesting each region. Team Rocket has not only engaged in numerous heinous acts and crimes all throughout Kanto and Johto, but they have also engaged in illegal research and cloning, creating a brand new legendary while also trying to capture more."

"As far as I'm aware, they have both Articuno and the true alpha Beedrill under their control right now." I added, earning me a few more looks, but Lance just nodded at me in affirmation.

"In Hoenn, Teams Aqua and Magma have been running amok, preaching their goals of expanding the land and raising the seas regardless of amount of damage and casualties they would induce in the process." Steven shared, though we knew that already.

"I've battled them a few times myself. Unfortunately they genuinely believe in their ideals, and that anyone who stands in their way is an 'enemy'." Brendan added his own experiences.

"It helps that you can typically guess what kind of pokemon they're going to use though, because of their respective team names." Max put forth in an attempt to join the conversation.

"I've also fought the group in Sinnoh a few times, Team Galactic."

"Oh yeah, THOSE guys!" Barry added from Lucas' comment. "They dress like they're spacemen and go on about 'creating an ideal world'. Sounds like a load of Tauros-shit if you ask me."

I furrowed my brows at the thought of Team Galactic, since they could easily be considered the most dangerous group of them all. What with their target, either Dialga, Palkia, or maybe even Giritina, all being cosmic level threats.

"Thankfully we only have Team Plasma in Unova, though they ARE getting to be pretty annoying." Iris added thoughtfully, though I personally didn't agree with her. If Team Plasma was actually an antagonistic organization from the games, then there must be more behind their motives than simply 'liberating' pokemon from oppression.

"Team Flare in Kalos claim to be trying to 'make a beautiful world', though all they seem to be doing is stealing and hoarding as many resources as they can." Professor Sycamore stated.

"They seem to be focusing on energy more than anything though. They recently tried to draw enough energy from the Lumiose city power plant to plunge half the city into a blackout, before moving on to bombing a pokeball manufacturing plant after raiding it." Calem continued, painting more of a picture of what they were after.

"In Alola we have Team Skull, who act in a manner resembling your Team Rocket. They go around stealing pokemon and shaking people down for money, but I would say they're far less organized and malicious. If anything, they're just a group of thugs that like terrorizing people." Professor Kukui said thoughtfully.

"Its the same with Team Yell in Galar." Professor Magnolia picked up. "Except instead of going around stealing pokemon and such, they have been attacking promising new trainers making their way through the League circuit. If it was merely challenging new trainers to battles then it would not be such a big deal. But they have instead escalated their actions to the point that some trainers have been hospitalized and even crippled due to them. The League is starting to worry that no youngsters will want to become trainers when so many of them have been attacked."

"Wow... and here I thought Team Star was bad..." Nemona uttered in disbelief.

"Team Star?" I asked, my brow twitching slightly at the mention of ANOTHER criminal group to deal with.

"Hold up, its not what you're thinking." Nemona quickly stated. "Team Star are a group of bullies in Paldea that like picking on the students of Naranja Academy. They DO cause trouble, but only like a bunch of delinquent kids. Nothing like any of these hardcore criminal groups."

I let out a sigh of relief that my worries had been unfounded, while Lance continued on after he had finished writing down the names/regions of the different criminal groups, along with their supposed goals.

"This is a good start. Obviously there are some Teams who appear to be a bigger threat than the others, but we can't dismiss ANY of them until we know their full plans for sure. Thats why all of us should focus on gathering and sharing intel on both them, and the Legendaries of each region after returning home from the SS. Anne. And as such, I have a little job for you specifically Ace."

I cocked a brow at that as Lance passed me a folder, which I opened to see a file on none other than Misty's father, Hudson. After him was Blaine of the Cinnabar island Gym, and even Koga of the Fuchsia city Gym. They weren't the only ones though, as there was also Falkner, Whitney and Claire from three of the Johto League Gyms, while Lorelei and Agatha were also present.

From Hoenn were the Gym Leaders Norman and Tate/Liza, along with Phoebe of the Elite Four. From Sinnoh was Fantina and Gardenia, the Gym Leaders of Hearthome and Eterna cities respectively, and Aaron of the Elite Four. From Unova was the triplet Gym Leaders of Chilli, Cilan and Cress of Striaton city, along with Grimsley of the Elite Four.

From Kalos were the Gym Leaders Korrina of Shalour city, and Valerie of Laverre city, and Wikstrom of the Elite Four. Alola meanwhile didn't have Gym Leaders, but Hala and Olivia of the Elite Four had both accompanied professor Kukui instead. From Galar was Piers of Spikemuth, Nessa of Hulbury, and Kabu, all of which were Gym Leaders. Finally there was Iono of Levincia city, Larry of Medali city, and Hassel of the Elite Four.

As I eyed each of the files I had received, Lance explained, "These are all of the Gym Leaders and Elite Four members who are traveling aboard the SS. Anne along with the rest of us. I want you to meet them, and see if theres anything telling in their auras about any possible allegiances we don't know about."

Ah, there it is.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Iris snapped at Lance irritably, but she wasn't the only one either. Steven, Cynthia and Kukui all appeared offended by what he was obviously implying.

"He means that we already have at least three League members here in Kanto who are aligned with Team Rocket. With those kinds of numbers, it wouldn't be too out there to suspect that League members in other regions may sympathize with the criminal groups as well." I explained, though that appeared to do little to appease them.

I couldn't blame them though, but we had to be sure before moving forward and potentially enlisting the help of League members in different regions.

"Does that mean you suspect our dad?!" Max declared angrily, with both him and Brendan appearing particularly offended.

Right, if Brendan was the protagonist of Hoenn, then Norman of the Petalburg city Gym was his and Max's father.

"We don't actually suspect anyone, but with this many League members on board we would be fools not to have them checked."

"Well then, you can just go ahead and cross my dad off your list!" Max declared haughtily.

"Alright then." I said, 'relenting' just to pacify him. I would already know anyways when I inevitably meet him and see his aura.

"We can also cross off Hudson, obviously, and Koga as well." I added.

"I know you met Hudson back in Cerulean city, but why would you eliminate Koga already as well?" Lance asked curiously.

"Because he's been spying on us this entire time, under your orders I presume." I answered blankly.

"!!!"

I could feel alarm from the spare aura in the room, making me smile wryly at them with humor.

"You can come out now." I said, looking directly at the seemingly blank stretch of wall.

The wall then crumbled, reveal that it was fake with a middle-aged looking man dressed in ninja attire behind it.

"What gave me away?" He asked with a bitter tone, probably because it hurt his pride to be discovered so easily.

"Your aura. It doesn't matter how good you are at hiding or killing your presence, you can't hide that from us." I said, pointing to Lucario and myself.

"I see... I shall have to remedy that." Koga responded with determination in his eyes.

Yeah, good luck with that.

Seeing Janine's father though, I suddenly grew curious about something as I asked Lance, "If there are so many Gym Leaders on the SS. Anne right now, does that mean we can challenge them to earn Gym Badges we haven't gotten already?"

"""!?!"""

Immediately the tone in the room shifted as ALL of the 'protagonists' directed their attention to Lance, who smirked as if he had been expecting my question.

"Naturally. However, I would wait until after tomorrow night before challenging anyone."

"Why's that?"

"Because," Cynthia said, "tomorrow night is when the Inter League Tournament starts, or the ILT. However, instead of breaking everyone up into brackets right away, the preliminaries will go on for three days as all of the competitors battle each other to earn points. The eight trainers with the highest amount of points will then go on to the finals of the tournament itself."

"Thats right! BUT, as a special bonus, we are even allowing contestants to challenge League members in matches! This means you can also challenge Gym Leaders and members of the Elite Four if you wanted, even though none of them are actually participating in the tournament. Though you have to remember that they CAN refuse the challenge, and each loss will make you lose points, so you shouldn't just go around challenging them recklessly." Iris added with a smirk.

"I see..." I uttered thoughtfully, before asking, "And what about Champions?"

Yet again the tone shifted in the room at my question, to which I saw all five of the Champions, Nemona especially, smirk.

"If you want to." Steven said challengingly.

"Alright then." I said, standing and approaching them, before facing one in particular.

"Cynthia, tomorrow night after the tournament begins, I challenge you to a one one one match. My Lucario, versus yours."

Cynthia grinned broadly at my challenge as she leaned forward, and answered, "I accept."