Pokemon: Arceus' Champion

"Now Scizor, use Metal Claw!"

"Scizor!" Declared the bug/steel type pokemon, it's metallic red carapace gleaming in the setting sunlight as dozens of copies surrounded their opponent, before one lunged forward at blinding speed to attack.

"Granbull, use Fire Fang!"

"BULL!" The bulldog-like pokemon barked angrily, already bearing numerous wounds from attacks that it had taken until now.

Flames erupted within Granbull's maw as the Scizor was about to attack it, before it lunged and attempted to close them down onto the Pincer pokemon.

"!!!"

Instead, the Granbull and it's trainer both went wide-eyed when it's flaming jaws snapped shut on absolutely nothing, before Scizor suddenly appeared behind it.

"Scizor." It declared with finality, before raking Granbull with it's powerful, metallic pincers.

"G-grann..."

Granbull groaned, before collapsing as it fell unconscious.

"Granbill is unable to battle! Ethan and Scizor win!" The kid who had been 'officiating' the match declared excitedly.

"I've told you before Billy, its GranBULL." Lyra said with undisguised exasperation.

"Well I like GranBILL!" Billy replied brattily, before sticking his tongue out at her as he hurried over to Ethan's side with the other young boys that had been watching the battle.

Lyra shook her head wryly, even as the girls flocked to her.

"You should have won Lyra!"

"Yeah! Ethan cheated with the type advantage!"

"He did not." Lyra told the little girl who said that firmly.

"The point of pokemon battles is to grow stronger with our pokemon, no matter the situation. Even if our opponents use a pokemon with every advantage possible against us, it is our job to try and secure a way to victory no matter what." Lyra told them patiently.

Of course, several of the younger girls still seemed upset from Lyra losing to Ethan. Except for one who was shyly watching Ethan from afar. The same girl Ethan himself would occasionally glance at when she wasn't looking.

The two of them continued humoring the younger kids for a little while, answering the questions they had about battling and showing some more of their pokemon, before Lyra noticed how late it was getting.

"Is it that late already?! Come on Ethan, we have to go help mom!" Lyra said, even as she dragged her younger brother away.

"Do we have to? Mom hired a bunch of help when we started our journey, and I still have work to do with my team before the conference." Ethan stated defiantly.

"Yes, IDIOT!" Lyra stated irritably, practically dragging her brother with her to their family inn.

Currently Lyra and Ethan had both returned to their home town, New Bark town, to train as they waited for the next Silver Conference, which would be held at the same time as the Indigo Conference for Kanto.

New Bark was similar to Pallet in that it was a fairly small town, as well as being the home of a respected professor, Elm. Unlike Pallet though, New Bark received a steady stream of visitors due to it's location on the main route connecting Kanto and Johto. So they were often the first stop somone made in Johto, or the last stop on their way to Kanto.

As such, their mother owned a very successful inn/hot spring that they grew up helping her manage. In fact, the only reason Lyra and Ethan even started their journey was because she wanted them to get out and see the world, and assisting professor Elm was the best way to help them do that.

Of course, it wasn't as if their mother was left hanging either, as there were plenty of kids and teens in New Bark that wouldn't mind earning some extra pocket money, on top of the few employees she already had on hand.

Either way, now that they were home Lyra insisted on helping their mother when they could so as not to feel like complete parasites during their stay. Ethan however just wanted to spend all of his time training his pokemon for the Conference, and then to take on the Elite Four afterwards.

Knowing better than to go against his 'big' sister though, even though they were less than a year apart in age, Ethan let her drag him across town in a scene that was very familiar to the town's residents.

Soon they arrived at their destination, a two story rustic inn called The Slumbering Snorlax, which had clouds of steam rising up behind it from the hot springs.

"I wonder if mom has dinner done yet?" Ethan asked out loud, right as his stomach started to growl.

Lyra just rolled her eyes at her little brother, even as he reminded her of Ash from the SS. Anne. But then thinking of Ash reminded her of someone else. Someone she couldn't wait to see again.

"What is THAT?!" Someone suddenly cried out, alerting Lyra as she and everyone else nearby started looking around for the source of the disturbance.

"UP THERE!"

Following the pointing fingers, Lyra and Ethan both looked up to a massive figure soaring through the sky.

"Holy Miltank..." Lyra swore as they beheld the ancient behemoth swooping down towards them.

"Is that an Aerodactyl?" Ethan asked, his hunger forgotten as both he and Lyra prepared to battle.

"..."

"Wait a second..."

"Isn't that...?"

At the same time, they both realized that the massive flying figure was not alone, AND that there were people riding on it. People they both recognized.

"Ace?"

"HEY THERE!"

Ace Ketchum yelled down to them as the massive Aerodactyl came in for a landing, along with a few other flying type pokemon that they both recognized and didn't.

***

As Aerodactyl landed in the middle of New Bark town, I quickly leapt off of his back before helping both Lillie and Chloe get down as well. Once they were safely on the ground, I turned to the pair of siblings who were hurrying to greet us.

"Lyra! Ethan!" I called out to them.

"Ace!" Lyra cried as she literally leapt into my arms. "Its so good to see you..."

"Its good to see you too." I told her with a wry smile.

"What are you doing here man?" Ethan asked as he approached me, his arm extended.

"What else? I'm here to collect the rest of Silver League Gym Badges." I answered while accepting his hand with one of mine, and showing him something with my other.

"All eight Indigo Badges, huh?" Ethan asked with a smirk, before he pulled out a similar case. "I ALSO got all eight Badges for Johto!"

"Nice~!" I whistled while looking over the Badges he had. Last I knew, Clair whooped his ass on the SS. Anne during the tournament, and she was the last one he needed to beat to qualify. Ethan must have gone back and challenged her to a rematch.

"So which ones do you need Ace?" Lyra asked as she too admired the case full of Badges.

"Well, I've already gotten a Badge from Falkner, Whitney, Morty, and Clair. So I need, to challenge Bugsy, Chuck, Jasmine and Pryce." I said while pulling out my second Badge case, and presenting the four Badges inside to the pair of siblings.

"Well at least you already have Clair and Whitney both done. The two of them are often regarded as the toughest Gym Leaders for challengers to face." Lyra said thoughtfully.

"Yeah. I'm also planning to try and get through the rest of them quickly to make the Conferences for both Johto and Kanto."

"If it were anyone else, I'd say they were insane." Ethan said while shaking his head.

"Wanna come with?" I asked the two of them.

""!?!""

"Really?!" Lyra exclaimed with her eyes lighting up.

"Yeah. I've never been anywhere in Johto, and neither have any of the girls. I'm sure May will look up every place on the way that's interesting, but I would still like a local who's already traveled the region to come with." I told her with a smile.

"Sorry, but I'll pass." Ethan answered before Lyra could say anything. "The conference is only a couple months away, and I plan to use every second possible to make my team stronger for it."

"I figured." I said wryly, beforelooking at Lyra.

"Of course I will!" Lyra answered excitedly, before ading, "I can use that greenhouse you have while we travel, right?"

"Naturally. If you want, I can even designate a corner of it to you to do whatever you want." I told her, patting the pocket that held my Capsules as I did so.

"REALLY?!" Lyra exclaimed happily, her aura radiating her feelings so intensly that I was surprised everyone else couldn't feel them.

I also wouldn't be too surprised if most, if not all, of the flower beds in front and around the inn were maintained by Lyra as well, as she seemed quite passionate about her gardening. Hell, even her starter was the grass type Chikorita.

"You must really like gardening, Lyra." Lillie said as she joined the conversation.

"Of course! When I was little I was walking through the woods when an Ursaring attacked me! I thought I was going to end up a snack in it's belly for sure! But then, a small figure appeared out of nowhere, and easily sent the Urasring running scared after a few quick moves!

"After saving me, the pokemon made the entire area bloom with endless flowers and berries, and played with me until it was dark and I had to go home. It was only later that I learned the pokemon was actually the forest deity, Celebi. Since then, I've always worked to fill the town with all kinds of plants and flowers like the ones it made bloom that day. And my dream is that, someday, I'll see Celebi again!"

By this point Lyra's eyes were sparkling from the story and the memory of that day, which was surprising to me to say the least. But I also couldn't help but to notice the looks May, Joy, Chloe and even Lillie were all giving me.

Hey, it wasn't like I purposely go looking for EVERY god I end up encountering!

"Oh my~. Talking about your dream again, Lyra?" Asked a mature voice as a newcomer joined the conversation.

Appearing from the inn was a mature woman with black hair tied up into twin loops, held into place by a red headband. And while I was sure she was wearing regular clothes under it, all it seemed like she was wearing was a long white apron with yellow and red diamond patterns on it.

"Mom! This is the guy I was telling you about! Ace Ketchum!" Lyra stated excitedly as she pushed me to the front for her mother to see.

"Ara ara~!" The mature woman exclaimed as she looked me up and down with the gaze of an appraiser.

"Nice to meet you ma'am." I said politely, realizing as I did so that was probably the first time I was actually meeting one of my girlfriend's mothers. May and Dawn's moms didn't count, since I met all of them at the same time, and I met Chloe's mom BEFORE I even met her. The only other parent I had met until now was Misty's father, who had immediately challenged me to a battle over his daughter.

"It is a pleasure to meet you too young man." She replied while shaking my hand, though I couldn't help but notice her glancing at the other girls behind me.

"There's no need to for any of this 'ma'am' business though. From what my daughter told me, you can call me mom if you like. Or if you rather, I wouldn't mind 'mommy'."

My brows shot up at that, and I saw Lyra appear horrified from her mother's introduction while the girls behind me all radiated disbelief. But the mature woman didn't give us any time to fully compute her words or intentions, as she ushered all of us into the inn to get us settled for the night.

***

At the same time, an airship hovered ominously over Ilex forest to the west.

"Are you sure about this sir?" One of the men operating the airship asked worriedly as everyone prepared for their operation.

"Of course. This is the area with highest amount of sightings. And when you're after something big, its always best to make them come to you." Sneered the man in charge, his entire upper face being obscured by the iron mask.

"Are our men in position yet?" He asked the operators.

"They'll be in place any moment sir!" One responded.

"Good..." The man, Vicious, drawled as he stood and made his way to the front of the command center.

"Everyone, this is the moment of truth. Our target is none other than the guardian of the forest!" Vicious declared as an image was displayed to them all, a blurry picture of something small and green.

"Take your positions!"

At his command, several agents stationed in the cargo bay stepped forward, the doors opening to display the forest spread out before them.

"Go Charizard!"

"It's time, Magcargo!"

"You're up, Camerupt!"

"..."

The fourth agent was silent as he looked out over the forest, thinking of everything that led to this moment.

He recalled the humiliation and assault he endured on board the SS. Anne, which resulted in him losing his trainer license and having all of his pokemon taken from him.

He recalled receiving an offer from a man named Butch afterwards, joining the criminal organization known as Team Rocket. A place where he could get his hands on some powerful pokemon, and get his revenge on the man who humiliated him.

His place amongst them was short lived though, as a few short days later they were almost entirely defeated, and he was arrested along with the others that were captured after the battle on the SS. Anne.

His story wasn't over though, as while he was being transported to a jail in Johto, the prison transport was attacked by the man they were all following now. Vicious. And Vicious gave them all a choice, rot in jail, or join him.

And now the young man found himself standing on the edge, literally, about to commit something unthinkable.

"This is all your fault, Ace Ketchum." He murmured to himself.

"Everything that happens, all that I do, is because of you and some weak, pathetic Chimchar. You can blame yourself, and the pokemon down there can blame you as well. Magmortar, stand by!"

"MAAAAAAAAAG!"

Magmortar roared as it joined Charizard, Magcargo and Camerupt, each one awaiting the signal.

"GO!" Vicious roared over the intercom, and fire rained down upon Ilex forest.