Meeting VIPs

As we entered the great hall a cacophony of voices greeted us from the hundreds of trainers, and dozens of pokemon, already within, each one discussing their pokemon and their excitment for the tournament.

Several glances were directed our way as we entered with our large group, but they quickly shifted a second later to focus on more interesting things.

"I think this may even be worse than Surge's warehouse and the trading hall yesterday..." Lucario told me from behind, obviously trying to adjust to number of emotions that were running high.

"Just think of it as training." I told him, leading the girls forward to mingle and join the crowds.

"Wah.... So many people..." Joy uttered while threatening to be overwhelmed.

"Just think of them as patients." I told her, as Joy always performed better when there was a medical task at hand. Plus, knowing how clumsy she could be when nervous, it was very much a possibilty that she would trip and flash her panties to the entire hall.

"Come with me Ace." Giana suddenly said, hooking her arm through mine and trying to pull me forward. "This is a good chance to introduce you to some people."

I frowned as I planted my feet, jerking Giana back due to her being unable to move my body. And yes, I DID still have all of my training gear on under the suit. I even swapped my weighted boots out for some Power Anklets.

"If you have some people for us to meet, then we can meet them as a group." I said, gesturing to the girls behind us. Everyone else had more or less scattered, but Misty, May, Dawn, Joy, Chloe and Daisy were all still following us, as they could very well be considered my dates.

"Very well." Giana said, leading the way for us.

Soon we encountered a elderly looking man dressed in a purple striped suit with spiked silver hair, though from age or being his natural hair color, I couldn't tell.

"Greetings Mr. Stone. I would like to introduce you to a rising star of the Kanto region, Ace Ketchum."

The man, who I realized was the head of the Devon Corporation in the Hoenn region, looked me over before flashing me a genial smile.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Ace Ketchum. I am Joseph Stone, founder of the Devon Corporation. Though my greatest achievement recently seems to be fathering a Champion! My Steven!" Joseph Stone offered me his hand as he spoke, and I could see a gleam in his eye as he looked at me. I wonder if he had found out I was the one who gave Silph co the idea for Capsules?

After Joseph Stone, Giana led me around to meet numerous high profile people from various regions. Among them was the owner of the Pokestar Studios in Unova, who immediately wanted to sign girls and I on as potential stars, then the president of the Poketch company in Sinnoh, who readily gave me a free Poketch in Ranger-red. Apparently he was hoping that, with my increasing fame, me wearing one would be a form of free advertisement in the Kanto region.

But then, there was someone she introduced us to from the Galar region.

"Ace, I'd would like to introduce you to Chairman Rose. He's not only the Chairman of the Galar Pokemon League, but also the president of Macro Cosmos. You could say that he is effectively the most powerful person in Galar."

I had to keep my expression neutral in the face of this man's aura, which was very telling regarding his personality.

He radiated a cool, calm and collected aura, as well as being completely sure of himself with seemingly boundless confidence. None of these were 'bad' quaities when it comes to a leader type person, but I could also tell that he was filled with a drive that left no room for doubts, regardless of the damage he could cause.

"It's an honor, Chairman Rose." I said while offering a hand and flashing a smile at him.

"The honor is mine. I've heard great things about you young man." Rose said while accepting my offered hand, and returning his own warm smile.

He then turned to the woman behind him, and asked, "Oleana, would you please go and bring me and my new young friend here some refreshments? I think I would like to discuss a few things with him."

"Of course Chairman." She replied in a tone full of something nearing reverence, which tracked with the way I saw her aura clinging to his possessively.

Personal attendant who was a little TOO devoted to their boss? Check.

"Would you mind if we moved a little off to the side?" He asked while indicating a corner where hardly anyone else was, which would give us privacy to talk.

"Of course!" I said, gesturing for him to lead the way.

After we had followed him the man turned towards me and said, "I'll be frank. I want to endorse you for the Galar League, and participate in it."

"..."

I genuinely didn't know how to respond to that, as the last thing I expected was to be scouted right now.

"Thank you for the offer, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline." I told him as politely as possible.

"Is that so? I'm sorry to hear that." Chairman Rose said with what seemed like genuine sadness. Though I preferred his reaction to that of his assistant behind me, who felt as if she was about to gut me where I stood for DARING to turn down his offer.

"If you ever change your mind, feel free to contact me through this number." He added while pulling a card out from within his suit.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you." I said while accepting the card, and putting it into one of my own pockets.

Having apparently said everything he intended to, or perhaps cutting himself short in the face of my rejecting his offer, Chairman Rose quickly excused himself afterwards to rejoin the party.

"I don't trust him." Lucario said the moment he was out of earshot.

"I know." I said, making the others look at us curiously.

"Really? Why don't you trust him?" Misty asked, while I just noticed Giana studying Lucario and I.

"His aura. I could feel that there was quite a bit he wasn't telling us, especially when he offered to sponser me. There was definitely a hidden reason behind doing so."

"Indeed. Not to mention that he felt completely and utterly immovable as far as his convictions were concerned." Lucario added.

"But would that be a bad thing? Having convictions and standing by them can be considered a good thing." Giana asked.

"In most situations, you would be right. In this one though, I got the feeling that Chairman Rose would even watch the world burn around him if he thought it would achieve his goal. Convictions aren't bad, but a person needs to know when to take a step back."

Giana was silent as she digested what I said, while the rest of us made to rejoin the party.

We wandered around for a little bit, talking to some trainers from around the world and snacking on some of the food and drinks that were available. It was right as I finished eating some caviar than an middle-aged looking man approached me, completely bald with a white bushy mustache and round sunglasses.

"Hey there youngster! I thought I might meet you here!" The old man exclaimed with energy that didn't match his appearance. And while I had never met him before, I knew exactly who he was.

"It's an honor to meet you Blaine." I said while shaking his hand. Of course, the man was the Gym Leader of Cinnabar island. And from what I saw in his aura, there was nothing to worry about regarding questionable alliances.

"No need to be so stiff, it's a party after all! Besides, I had been wanting to meet you after hearing about you from my old friend, Fuji."

"Oh!" I exclaimed in realization, recalling the old man that I had gotten Cubone from back in Lavender town.

"Indeed! He told me quite the story about a spirited youngster who saved even an old man like him. And who also avenged his oldest friend..." The mood turned briefly somber as the topic turned towards Marowak, who had been shot to death by Proton during the attack.

"Anyways!" Blaine said, waving away the somber mood as he continued. "Ever since hearing from him, I've been looking forward to when you finally made it to my island for a Gym battle! But it appears as if fate brought us together even sooner!"

"Indeed. And I very much intend to battle against you for the Volcano Badge before this cruise is over." I told him seriously, making the old man smile.

"Excellent! I've also been wanting to have a battle against you, especially after hearing about your peculiar Charizard."

As he mentioned Charizard I felt a spike in the old man's aura, indicating his excitment at the thought of meeting my starter. Not that I could blame him though, seeing as Blaine WAS a fire specialist.

"How about tomorrow afternoon, when the sun is the highest?" I asked him, as a fire type pokemon would most powerful under the intense sunlight.

"Sounds like a plan to me." The old man stated, his aura sharpening and intensifying in anticipation for the coming battle. "Just don't expect me to hold back back youngster."

"If you do, then I'll just have to kick YOUR ass after the battle is over." I told, making him smirk.

"Excellent!"

With our battle arranged, the old man took his leave to let us enjoy the party some more.

At one point we met up with Misty's father Hudson, who caught us up on everything happening at the Cerulean city Gym ever since we left, such as the repairs from the damage caused by Team Rocket being completed. He also told us that his other three daughters, Daisy, Violet and Lily, were all heartbroken that they had been unable to join him on the SS. Anne. Apparently Lance had personally invited Hudson on board to help in the battle against Team Rocket, as he was a vetran when it came to naval battles.

After him we encountered Koga, who was dressed formally instead of in his ninja garb, along with his daughter Janine.

I had to fight the urge to laugh out loud as Janine pretended to introduce herself to me, before actually introducing herself to the girls. Though she did glare at me whenever I toyed with the idea of revealing that we had already met a while back, as if she could read my mind.

After separating from Koga and Janine we wandered and mingled with some more people, mainly trainers from different regions, before a hush began to settle throughout the hall. One by one everybody turned towards the stage at the end of the hall, where we could see several figures rising up from underneath on platforms.

When they stopped rising there were three rows of people standing up over the crowds, allowing everyone to see them even before the spotlights began focusing onto them as numerous drones with cameras appeared in the air above us.

At the bottom row were the Gym leaders of every region, Hudson, Blaine, Koga, Whitney, Falkner, Clair, Tate/Liza, Norman, Gardenia, Fantina, Chilli/Cilan/Cress, Korrina, Valorie, Piers, Nessa, Kabu Iona, and Larry. In the middle were the members of the Elite Four present from each region, Lorelei, Agatha, Phoebe, Aaron, Grimsley, Wikstrom, Hala, Olivia, and Hessal. And then finally standing above everyone else present were the Champions that were present, Nemona, Kakui, Iris, Cynthia, Steven, and in the center was Lance.

"Greetings all! And welcome to the SS. Anne for the first ever Inter-League Tournament!"

Lance's voice boomed through the now silent hall, reaching every single one of us along with what I presumed to be a good portion of the ship.

"Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Almia, Fiore, Unova, Kalos, Alola, Galar, and Paldea! For the next three days all of you from these different regions will challenge one another in a series of battles in order to earn points!"

As Lance trailed off, Steven stepped forward and continued, "That's right! For every battle fought, the participants will either gain or lose points based on the results! The eight trainers with the highest number of points will move on to the finals on the fourth day!"

Cynthia this time picked up, "Not only will you all be able to challenge one another though, but even those you see here standing in front of you, Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and even Champions, are eligable to be challenged as well! The more powerful the opponent, the more points you stand to gain if you manage to claim victory!"

"But don't let the promise of points cloud your vision." Iris said with a smirk. "The more points you stand to gain, you also risk losing by losing the battle."

"So think carefully about who you challenge!" Professor Kukui stated with a wide smile. "Get too greedy, or think too highly of yourself, and you could end up falling short of earning a spot in the finals!"

"Plus not every person you challenge HAS to accept your challenge! Everyone is free to deny challenges made to them if they feel like it." Nemona declared before holding out one of her pokeballs. "I on the other hand welcome any and all challengers! So feel free to challenge me as much as you want!"

Though I shook my head wryly at Nemona's words, everyone else in the hall began to mutter and discuss the specifics of the tournament amongst themselves. Lance allowed this to continue for a moment before raising his hand for silence, which quickly descended upon the hall once more.

"As of this moment, all six of us officially declare the tournament open! But that is not all!"

At Lance's prompt, Cynthia stepped forward and directed a look right at me.

"Last night I was issued a challenge by a participant of the tournament! So what better way to begin this tournament than with a match featuring none other than a Champion?!"

A cheer went up from the crowds as their collective excitment spiked from the prospect of getting to see a Champion battle in person, even as League employees began shuffling them to either side of the hall. Lucario and I on the other hand moved to the point on the opposite end of the hall from where Cynthia was standing, the girls and Ash following us.

"You're so lucky Aniki!" Ash exclaimed with obvious jealousy at the fact that I was getting to battle a Champion...again.

"Just make sure you pay attention Ash. You and Riolu." I told him, to which Ash readily let his Riolu out.

As we were talking, the very ground began to shift as the last of the people had moved to the sides, turning the great hall into a large arena with the sides being converted into viewing stands. The lights and camera drones above shifted as they focused on Cynthia on her end, and me on mine while Lance walked out into the middle.

"This will be a one on one battle bewteen the Champion Cynthia, and the challenger, Ace Ketchum!" He declared, acting as our referee.

There was a brief moment as the people cheered for both of us, some calling for me to put up a good fight, and others expecting me to lose instantly. But I just ignored them while focusing all of my attention on Cynthia at the other end, even as I slipped my hand into my pocket to slide the ring within onto my finger.

"Send out your pokemon!" Lance ordered, and Cynthia pulled out one of her pokeballs.

"I choose you, Lucario!"

"LUCAAAAAAAAA!"

Cynthia's Lucario cried out as it appeared in the arena, it's aura surging around it like a raging bonfire.

"Show em how its done partner." I said.

"Of course." Lucario replied as he leapt up into the air and made a flip before landing in the arena opposite Cynthia's Lucario, which I surprised to see that my Lucario towered over hers by at least a foot. Then, in the same fluid motion, both Lucario and I stripped off our jackets, leaving him completely bare while I still had my white undershirt on, before throwing them back out of the way.

There were no weights on Lucario's body this time, though he usually entered battle with them on, as this time we were going against a Champion. And unlike with Nemona, who I hadn't known was a Champion, we were going completely serious from the start.

"Champion Cynthia ready?" Lance asked.

"Ready!"

"Lucario!"

"Challenger Ace Ketchum ready?"

""Ready.""

Mine and Lucario's voices called out in harmony, as we synchronized our auras completely. There was no 'he' or 'I', only US as we stared at Cynthia's Lucario.

"Then begin!" Lance called out.