Champion

For a few minutes Zapdos and I analyzed one another, it to determine if I was a human that could be trusted or not, while I was refusing to back down in the face of it's awesome power. Even as my broken hand throbbed constantly.

As the silence stretched though, I suggested to it, "If you aren't sure if I'm telling the truth or not, then I can just share my aura so you can feel it for yourself."

As I said that I stepped forward towards Zapdos while channeling my aura towards it, all while Lucario watched us from behind with his body tensed, ready to jump in if need be.

Though it was equally tense, Zapdos allowed me to place my hand against it's beak while I channeled my aura to it, and both of our breathing and auras slowly began to synchronize. I channeled to Zapdos the sensations and emotions I had felt during my journey and interactions with the Legendary pokemon, Ho-Oh, Mewtwo, Gengar, Mew, and even Arceus.

At the same time, I also received a rush of sensations from Zapdos that were the culmination of it's entire existance.

I could recall the feeling of the wind beneath my wings, the power to create powerful wind storms, even tornadoes and hurricanes, just by flapping them. I could feel the energy coursing through my body, from my talons to each of my feathers, enough to vaporize even entire mountains at a whim. There were even the recollections of me clashing in battle against Raikou, where we competed to determine the TRUE Lord of Thunder.

I could also feel the connection with my two siblings, Articuno and Moltres, who I had clashed with numerous times in the past, but the idea of others hurting them infuriated me.

I was not sure how long Zapdos and I remained synchronized, seconds, minutes, or even hours. But when we had finished showing the other what we wanted, I broke the contact with it while pulling my hand back.

As I did so, I looked at myself curiously since I could feel there was something different about my own aura. As if Zapdos had left some of itself within me.

Channeling it just a little bit into my good hand, I noticed an electric current jumping between my fingers like a taser, which grew more powerful as I channeled more energy into it. But as I did so, I noticed that it was draining my aura faster than when I usually used my aura.

"Thank you." I told it sincerely, since it had obviously done so on purpose.

"..."

The Legendary bird just silently jerked it's head in a nod, now seemingly trusting me after we synchronized our auras with one another.

"Looks like everything worked out." Lucario said as he approached me from behind, looking me up and down as he analyzed the changes to my aura.

"Yeah, looks like." I responded, before noticing what Lucario had in his paw.

"How'd you get that?" I asked while pointing at my Pokenav.

"You dropped it." Lucario said while handing it back to me, which I was fairly sure I hadn't.

I put the Pokenav in my pocket with my good hand while Lucario approached Zapdos, his expression unreadable. And since Zapdos had experienced my emotions through my aura, it knew that Lucario could be trusted.

But then, a battlehungry look appeared on Lucario's face, as his aura began to spike.

"How about a battle, Lord of Thunder?"

In the face of Lucario's challenge, Zapdos just scoffed while snorting dismissively.

"Hey! Whats that attitude for?" Lucario demanded angrily at the Legendary's indifference.

"Zaaa."

"I'll have you know that I am 'worthy'! I fought with both Mewtwo and Gengar!"

"..."

"Don't roll your eyes at me!"

I stiffled my laughter as I watched Lucario bicker with Zapdos, taking a seat on one of the rocks to spectate while also nursing my broken hand. I'll have to wait until we get back to the Pokemon Center in Lavender to have it tended to, since if I had Chansey or Lucario heal it with Heal Pulse and Life Dew it may not be aligned right. And I would HATE to have to get it rebroken and realigned if that happened.

"OW!"

I looked up just in time to see Zapdos Peck Lucario on top of the head with it's needle-like beak, having seemingly grown annoyed with him bugging it for a battle.

"You should just smack him around a little. It'll be therapeutic." I told Zapdos with a smirk, to which it cocked it's head in contemplation before also smirking as electricty crackled all over it's body.

"Finally." Lucario exclaimed as the Legendary bird prepared to battle him, standing from it's nest for the first time since we arrived. And as it did so, I caught sight of something that made my jaw drop.

"Zap!" Cried out the little bird that had been under Zapdos with yellow and black plumage, a baby Zapdos.

"Oh my Mew..." I uttered in amazement, while Zapdos looked at me smugly from my surprise.

"Zap Zap!" The baby Zapdos cried as it approached me curiously, as this was probably the first time it had ever seen any other living being aside from it's parent. That raised a question that I hadn't really thought about until now, did all Legendary pokemon like Zapdos and such, in which there were several of, reproduce asexually?

As far as I was aware none of them had any actual genders, and any titles that reffered otherwise were just given to them by humans based on their appearances, like how Articuno was called the 'Lady of Ice' becaue of it's elegance and beauty.

Somehow though, I doubted that was a topic to truly discuss with any of the Legendary pokemon themselves.

So, instead of dwelling on it any further, I busied myself by using my good hand to pat and play with the baby Zapdos, before going through the arduous process of retrieving food from my bag to give to it. And all the while as I did that, Zapdos proceeded to whopp Lucario's ass up and down the mountain peak, before even sending him flying off the mountain at one point.

***

While Ace and Lucario was busy interacting with the two Legendary pokemon atop the mountain peak, the entirety of the population of the village below was gathered outside their gates as they watched the mountain worriedly. Except they couldn't actually see anything, since most of the upper half of the mountain was shrouded in thick storm clouds.

"What should we do, Speaker Damini?" One of the numerous acolytes that were gathered asked worriedly.

The question caused several heads to turn to the elderly man at the head of the group, who was dressed in symbolic yellow and black robes to mimic their lord, with a balding head of hair and eyebrows that had been dyed black and styled into lightning bolts. Mwanwhile, in his hand was a regal looking staff carved from the knarled branch of a tree struck by lightning, and topped with a brilliantly shining yellow orb.

"I can still sense our lord atop the mountain, so we can only wait and see what happens." He told them gravely.

They were of course referring to the young man and pokemon that had climbed the mountain earlier, and who they had tried to stop for two reasons. The first was because of the danger, as the Lord of Thunder allowed NONE to enter his home and leave unscathed.

In fact, there were many within their order that would make the climb during the twilight of their life, so that upon perishing they could spend an eternity serving their lord. Speaker Damini was also planning to make the climb in a few years time, but not just yet.

The second reason they tried to prevent the youth from making the climb, was because they knew not who he was or his intentions for approaching their lord. Normally none of them would worry for their lord's safety due to his great power being more than enough to protect himself. That however, was before the Lady of Ice was attacked and taken prisoner by the despicable Team Rocket.

The world was unaware of the actual truth, as they did not want to cause the faith in the Lady of Ice to waver, or to admit that the criminal organization had gotten their hands on a Legendary pokemon, but they and the League knew the truth about her current status. Speaker Lorelei, Damini's equivalent in the sect of Ice, was even working tirelessly to discover the location that they were keeping her at, but of course she had no luck.

With both of these reasons, they could not allow ANYONE to meet with the Lord of Thunder, but the youth and his pokemon managed to slip by them.

Now Damini and the rest of the followers of Zapdos could only wait and watch as the darkened sky repeatedly lit up with lightning, while thunder boomed and roared constantly. There was obviously a battle taking place within the clouds.

The wait seemed to take forever, though it was actually less than two hours, before the sky eventually fell silent. And while this worried some of acolytes and senior members of their sect, Speaker Damini was relieved since he could still feel the power of their lord atop the mountain peak.

But then, they were all stunned when the youth appeared alongside his pokemon shortly after the lightning and thunder died down.

"There he is!"

"How dare he?!"

"The nerve!"

Angry muttering and curses followed his appearance as the youth approached them, giving voice to the anger they all felt from a nobody going to disturb their lord. All, except Speaker Damini.

The Speaker's eyes were directly on the youth as he slowly approached them, and they widnened slowly as he realized something about him. Something that there was no precedent for.

He could sense the power of their lord within his body!

Speaker Damini could not believe his eyes as the youth got closer, and due to his stupification, one of the younger and more foolish members of their sect nearly caused the greatest of blunders as they stepped angrily towards him.

But Speaker Damini hurried forward ahead of him as he both declared and demanded, "You! You have been blessed by the Lord of Thunder!"

"""!!!"""

His words caused every single person there to pause, as they looked between the youth and Speaker Damini in disbelief. But then, all eyes turned towards the youth as he answered, "I guess? I mean, Zapdos and I became friends somewhat."

His words stunned every single person there.

Friends?

With Lord Zapdos?

The very idea was so completely foreign that none of them could wrap their heads around it.

It was then that Speaker Damini noticed the youth's hand, and asked worriedly, "what happened to your hand? Was it one of our attacks earlier?"

If they had actually hurt one who had been blessed by their lord, then it would devastate all of them. Speaker Damini more so than the rest, as it had been his pokemon that delivered the strongest attack out of all of them. But the answer they got was perhaps the most surprising thing they'd heard yet.

"No actually. Zapdos wasn't quite interested in hearing what I had to say at first, so I had give him a punch to get him to listen."

"""..."""

"You punched.....the Lord of Thunder...?" Speaker Damini asked incredulously.

"Yeah, in the face. I broke a bone doing so, but it felt satisfying."

"""..."""

Again, no one knew what to say, and silence prevailed throughout the settlement until the youth asked, "Anyways... Do you guys have any Thunder Stones for sale? I haven't been able to find any, and we've got a few pokmeon that need one to evolve."

"!!!"

"Thunder Stones! Bring the Thunder Stones!" Speaker Damini demanded suddenly, prompting a flurry of activity as several people moved to do as he decreed.

Soon, several sacks were dropped at the youth's feet that were filled with dozens of green stones with yellow lightning bolts on them.

"Please, take all that you need!" Speaker Damini requested, readily preparing to give all of the Thunder Stones they had to him.

"Oh. I only need a couple, and maybe a few more if we need them in the future..." The youth said as he picked up a total of ten Thunder Stones, while leaving the rest where they sat. "How much?"

"We do not want any money." Damini stated, as if offended by the mere idea of accepting money from him.

"You sure?" The youth asked, while the pokemon beside him cocked a brow.

"Of course! And please, as the one who has been blessed by Lord Zapdos!"

As he said that Speaker Damini removed the glowing orb from the top of his staff, presenting it to the youth with reverence in his eyes.

"We call this, the Light Ball. It is a mysterious item that we had discovered years ago. We know not what it's use is, but it possesses significant electric type energy. Unfortunately, the only pokemon that seems to benfit from being around the Light Ball are Pikachu, but perhaps the one blessed by Lord Zapdos will be able to find another use for it."

As he passed the orb to the youth, Speaker Damini did notice a flash of realization pass through his eyes. That alone confirmed that his decision to give the boy their Light Ball was the right one, despite him not being a part of their sect.

"Thank you. Now if you'll excuse us, we must be going." The boy said while placing the Light Ball and the Thunder Stones into his bag, before moving at inhuman speed without so much as giving them his name.

"Who is he?" Speaker Damini demanded as he left, expecting someone to be able to investigate the boy's identity.

"He is Ace Ketchum, Speaker!" One boy piped up, drawing everyone's attention to him.

"He is a trainer from Pallet town that is being sponsored by professor Oak, and is considered the top trainer in the Kanto region to keep an eye out for."

As he said this, the boy pulled up Pokevision on his Pokenav, and searched several videos of Ace and his battles.

They all watched the clip of Ace as he battled Hudson of Cerulean city, taking on his actual team before emerging victorious against them, with his Lucario taking out the massive Gyarados with a single hit.

"All of you!" Speaker Damini suddenly declared, gaining all of their attention once again.

"That boy, Ace Ketchum, is not just some trainer who happened to be in the right place at the right time, or who got lucky enough to stumble upon Lord Zapdos and receive his blessing! NO! He made his way right to the Lord of Thunder's nest, and earned his respect along with his blessing! He must have been sent here by none other, than Lord Lugia!"

"""!!!"""

Stunned silence met his declaration, but no one tried to refute him.

Lugia was the master of the three Legendary birds, Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno, the god of storms and the guardian of the sea. And despite their devotion to Zapdos, the sects of thunder, ice and fire all acknowledged and worshipped Lugia as the sovereign Legendary.

That was why they ALL hung onto every word Speaker Damini spoke as he continued,

"Think of the timing! Right now, after the Lady of Ice was captured and imprisoned by those disgusting Rockets, a boy appears to gain the favor of Lord Zapdos? Well I say that boy was CHOSEN! Chosen to be the champion of Lord Lugia and the holy trio! Chosen to free the Lady of Ice, and cast down those who dared to offend him!

"And then, when the Lady is freed, he will lead us to WAR against the heretics of Ho-Oh!"

"""YEAH!"""

A roar of cheers went up at Speaker Damini's declaration of war, both from the humans and the gathered pokemon as their bloodlust soared upwards at the mere thought of the followers of Ho-Oh.

"SO GO MY CHILDREN! GO AND SPREAD THE WORD TO OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF FIRE AND ICE! TELL THEM OF OUR CHAMPION! TELL THEM, WE PREPARE FOR WAR!"

The loudest cry yet sounded out at his words, as everyone gathered began to move while pulling the pokeballs from their belts as they all began to call out their pokemon.

Most called out flying type pokemon like Pidgeot, Fearow, Crobat, Noctowl, Gliscor, Yanmega, Braviary, Corviknight, and Kilowattrel to take flight in the skies; while others called out electric type pokemon to ride on the ground, like Manetric, Luxray, and Zebstrika.

With the appearance of their pokemon they all rode out, one group heading to One Island to find the followers of Moltres, while another made their way to the Seafoam islands to seek out the followers of Articuno. A third group meanwile was making their way to another chain of islands that was heavily restricted to outsiders, where the leader of their order could be found, Father Ranto.

Anyone not headed for these three locations were instead scattering to gather all of their scattered brothers and sisters, and inform them as to what was going on. They were gathering them for war.