Revelations

"What is the meaning of this Giovanni?" Lance demanded, commanding order and gathering the focus of everyone onto him.

"Please Lance, surely even YOU can divine my intentions. Or perhaps you were more inept than I thought?" Giovanni said while shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head, as if couldn't be helped.

"Humor me." Lance said, glancing at me momentarily as he did so.

I could feel the dual intention behind his gaze, both that he needed to try and get me to 'safety', fat chance, and that he needed to buy time to arrange for a proper resistance.

Even now, I could feel Wendy, Kate, Steve and the other Rangers moving from amongst the crowds, all of them being disguised so that Team Rocket wouldn't know we were on to them. At the same time, the professors also started moving quietly, as they prepared to help with the evacuation.

"Very well then, I suppose I have the time." Giovanni said while pretending to check the time.

"Basically, by eliminating ALL of you here, then no one will be able to stand in the way of Team Rocket as we take over the entire Kanto and Johto regions, before expanding our influence to every region in the world! We already have branches in every region to harvest and stockpile pokemon, all they need is my command while every region is distracted and weakened by the loss of their Champions. AND, we are even allowing the broadcasts of the tournament to continue, so we can let the rest of the world witness your demises!"

"Wow.... A genuine villain monolog..." I muttered in disbelief.

"And you think WE would allow this?" Lance asked Giovanni, indicating to himself and the five other Champions present, all of whom appeared more than ready to do battle.

"Oh PLEASE Lance, don't insult the REAL Champions by pretending to be one of them." Giovanni sneered, confusing quite a few of us.

The most shocking thing though, was that Lance actually flinched when Giovanni said that.

"Shall I tell them all Lance? How you NEVER earned the right to be Champion of Kanto, and STILL lost the position shortly after?"

"""!?!"""

Shock, confusion and fear radiated from everyone around us as they hung onto Giovanni's every word, with each and every camera pointed at him as well. And Giovanni seemed more than happy to explain, practically looking gleeful in fact.

"A little over twenty years ago, Lance came to Kanto to challenge the then Champion Samuel Oak. Only he was completely and utterly defeated without even defeating a single one of Oak's pokemon! The only reason Lance became Champion of Kanto as well was because Oak didn't want the position, and readily stepped down so he could have it! And so, Lance became the first Champion in history to unite two regions, because of a LIE!

"Then, a few short years later, the now professor Oak sponsored two boys to take the League challenge! One of them was his own son, and the other was another boy from Pallet that lived next door. Not only did these boys smash every single record for challenging the League, but they both humiliated Lance and the Elite Four one after the other! The only reason Lance retained the Champion position was because one didn't want to remained tied down after beating him and the other, while the other refused to retain the position just because the first one didn't want it!

"And do you want to know the kicker in all of this? The true Champion of both Kanto and Johto, the man who left the position to his rival and then Lance, is Red Ketchum. Ace and Ash Ketchum's father!"

"""!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!"""

Shock filled the entire arena while I also felt every single eye on either me or Ash at the revelation, and Lance just radiated defeat from the big reveal.

"Is that true Lance?" Steven asked him in a serious voice, making everyone look to him for answers to Giovanni's claims.

"Yes, it is." Lance admitted, shocking everyone further.

"I did not want the people of Kanto or Johto losing their faith in me, their Champion, so I never revealed the truth." Lance said, but it was obvious the damage had already been done as the morale around us plummeted.

"Lance isn't a real Champion?!"

"He's a fraud!"

"And now we're all going to die!"

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Giovanni laughed as panic enveloped the ship, and the Rocket agents began to make their move as they attacked us with their pokemon.

"League trainers, move and follow the lead of the Elite Four and Gym Leaders!" Steven declared as he seemingly took command, urging the powerhouses into action,

"GET EM' BOYS!" Ordered a man standing at the forefront of the Rocket grunts, dressed in a suit with a red R on the chest.

"Go Arbok!"

"Go Weezing!"

"Go Raticate!"

"Go Golbat!"

"Go Houndoom!"

"Go Murkrow!"

Pokemon flooded the deck of the ship as the Rockets sent them out, along with hundreds of genetically modified Beedrill that filled the air around us.

"Are those supposed to be Beedrill?!" Lance asked incredulously.

"Their version of Beedrill." I answered, putting everyone on alert.

"No matter. Let us show these mere brats that we are not to be trifled with." Agatha declared as she tapped her staff on the ground, and suddenly the shadows came alive to form numerous ghost type pokemon.

"It is a shame to have to fight such interesting looking Beedrill!" Stated Aaron as he sent out his own pokemon, primarily a Vespiquen that housed a hive of Combee numbering in the thousands.

"If this all the force you've prepared, then this will take even less than I thought." Said one of the Gym Leaders from Galar, Kabu, as he let out his own pokemon, a Centiskorch.

One after the other the Gym Leaders and Elite Four that were present sent out their pokemon to do battle against the hundreds of pokemon that Team Rocket had brought with them.

"If one of their pokemon has a strange collar on it, then aim for that! It helps them control the pokemon they've stolen, and forces them to obey their commands!" I called out to them, before Lance grabbed my shoulder.

"As much as we appreciate the help, YOU need to get out of here Ace." He stated firmly, but I just shook off his hand.

"I don't think so." I snarled at him, now completely understanding WHY Lance wanted me away from this battle.

I already suspected my and Ash's father was Red for quite a while, since he was THE original protagonist of the original games. But I had no idea his significance in the League, or that him beating Lance was such a significant thing.

The only question was why Red being our father was suddenly so relevant. I highly doubted that Lance was unaware of this when we met back in Lavender town, and even after that he had no problem with me fighting Surge in Vermillion city.

"You have to Ace! Your father wanted me to make sure you and your brother are kept safe!" Lance stated urgently.

"Not my problem." I stated defiantly, before looking out over the rail of the ship. "Besides, I don't know HOW you plan to get me out of here."

Lance just looked at me in confusion, before I heard Ilene say through Lance's communicator, "Lance! We have more of them approaching from the sky and ocean!"

"What?!" Lance exclaimed, even as I felt my Sharpedo, two Gyarados, and both of my Milotic battling against a horde of aquatic pokemon below the ship.

Meanwhile, the night sky suddenly lit up as a massive airship appeared overhead, from which hundreds more Beedrill, Golbat and Murkrow appeared along with at least another hundred more Rockets flying around with jetpacks.

I raced to the edge of the ship to get a closer look at the airship, which dwarfed even the one that had been in Lavender town in size, while I also noticed six large masses breaking the surface of the water below.

"What are they doing here?!" I exclaimed when I saw the symbol on the submarines, an oval with a point sticking up on top, and the end of two bones sticking out of the bottom.

"Who is it?" Steven asked, before he too reacted. "Team Aqua?! This just got a lot more complicated!"

"Team Aqua?" Iris asked urgently as she joined us.

"One of the criminal organizations operating out of Hoenn. They worship Kyogre, and want to awaken it and flood the world to create an endless ocean." I explained as the hatch of the largest submarine opened, and a certain figure emerged from within. He was covered in muscle, wore a blue wetsuit, and even had an anchor hanging around his neck.

"In the name of the glorious Kyogre, TAKE THAT SHIP!" He roared out, and numerous people poured out of the submarines.

For the most part they looked like thugs, but they all bore the same symbol as the submarines, and all wore blue as a part of their uniforms. Several of them immediately began throwing grappling hooks up to catch the railing and climb up onto the ship, while a few more threw out pokeballs that revealed dozens of Wingull and Pelipper that filled the air along with the Beedrill, Golbat and Murkrow.

"Look out!" I said while grabbing Steven and Iris, pulling them back right as several Pelipper unleashed a Bubble Beam right at us.

*CRASH!*

"Hey! What was that for?!" Iris demanded indignantly.

"Obviously so that we can't mess with the hooks." I snapped as the Pelipper glared at us menacingly.

"We'll deal with this." Hudson said as he stepped by me, and shooed the Pelipper away while also glaring down at the leader of Team Aqua, Archie, menacingly.

"Do you two...know each other?" I asked while noticing the way Hudson's aura changed when he saw Archie.

"You could say that." Hudson growled as Misty and the water type Gym Leader of Galar, Nessa stepped up beside him.

I took a second to admire Nessa's ass in her skin-tight uniform, before turning my attention towards the battle going on behind us. And it was not good.

Instead of participating, all of the trainers in the stands were panicking due to the fact that the Rockets were actually trying to kill them, while the Gym Leaders, Rangers, and Elite Four were the ones doing almost all of the fighting. And even though they were all elite trainers and combatants, the sheer number of Rockets may very well overwhelm them.

If this kept up, then the Champions may also need to join the battle prematurely. Which would be bad since they would be needed if/when the true alpha Beedrill and Articuno showed up.

So, after shooting a dirty look at Lance that basically said 'I dare you to try and stop me', I leapt up onto an aura platform that I formed under my feet, and infused my voice with aura as I spoke.

"TRAINERS OF KANTO!"

My voice echoed out through the sounds of battle, and while those who were fighting did not look, the vast majority of the spectators did.

"TRAINERS OF KANTO, JOHTO, HOENN, SINNOH, UNOVA, KALOS, ALOLA, GALAR AND PALDEA! LEND ME YOUR EARS! Tonight we are being attacked by Team Rocket, a criminal syndicate of Kanto and Johto! They seek to kill us and take our pokemon to add to their ever growing army and wealth!

"They have stolen pokemon! Killed pokemon and people! Enslaved people and pokemon! And commited just about every single sin you can think of!

"And now they wish to do the same to us! To take your pokemon from YOU! To enslave them to their whims! Or even just sell them to the highest bidder! WELL I SAY NO!

"I say that if they want my pokemon, then they can have them when they pry their pokeballs FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS!"

By this point I held the attention of every single person who had been previously panicking, and I could see that the light inside their eyes had changed.

I pulled out my pokeballs, activating them all while also grabbing on to Onix's horn as he stretched skywards and roared out, lifting me up with him.

"ARE YOU WITH ME?!"