An Official Gathering of Gym Leaders

by: Jess

This story is inspired by my love of the gym leaders (especially those of Kanto) in the Pokemon video game series and Kanna-Ophelia's Christmas Party story. I only hope I can live up to her high, and rightfully so, writing standards.

I do not own anyone in this story save a few extra characters of no real consequence. All gym leader personalities are my own opinions of how they would act, based mostly on my impression of the game sprites. Only Brock and Misty will be portrayed as they were in the anime.

"Oh...shit!"
The expletive rang sharply throughout the halls of Indigo Plateau, alerting the other members of the Elite Four and prompting them to scurry toward its source in the great library. Once arriving, a distressed Lance met their gaze, pacing back and forth before the raging fireplace, reading what appeared to be a letter.
Exchanging concerned glances, the four talented trainers silently debated who would assume the daunting task of approaching the most powerful, and most petulant, of their group. Sighing deeply, Bruno stepped forward to speak, regretting the day when his two former teammates had left the Plateau in search of either spiritual enlightenment or attractive young men; he was never sure which. Now he was left with an insane party girl, a highly strict ninja, a nerdy brownnoser, and...Lance. He paused a moment to shudder.
"Hey, Lan—'Champion,'" he bellowed affably, "what seems to be the problem?" The fiery-headed young man halted in his frantic gait to look at his oldest remaining friend.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" he mocked, his voice rising steadily in pitch.
"Um...yeah," Bruno nervously replied. He was the first to admit that he lacked the clever, ornate language of his companions, and he feared his succinctness could be misconstrued as brusque, further infuriating the slim Champion.
"Well, my dear Bruno," Lance began, seemingly having calmed down since gaining an audience, "I have just received this letter from our colleague, Steven."
"Steven?" Will asked, confused.
"The Champion of the Hoenn League," Koga offered, finding his wispy voice, "However, what I don't know is why he would contact us."
"No one's contacted us," Lance reminded the former Fuchsia Gym Leader, "Steven obviously wants to confer with me..." He trailed off as Karen plucked the letter from his hand in the frank manner beloved in her mother.
"Hmmm...I see."
"What!? What is it!?" Will begged, looking as though he'd experience an embarrassing accident if Karen didn't relate the news soon.
"Steve wants to call together all the gym leaders in the Kanto, Johto, Orange, and Hoenn Leagues," the blonde told them, reading from the memo, "to examine possible routes to improve the badge earning system. Hm."
"Let's go then!" the masked trainer cried, "let's inform all the leaders that they WILL attend this summit..."
"Hold on a second, Will!" Lance snapped, trying to recover control over the room, "though we will inform the Kanto and Johto gyms, the Orange League doesn't fall under our jurisdiction."
"We'll have to contact Drake," Bruno muttered to himself, his mind drifting toward other trainers currently residing in the Orange Islands who may be interested in such a meeting.
"I doubt Drake will object," Koga stated confidently, just before Bruno suddenly shoved him aside.
"Lance! The Orange Islands! We can invite LORELEI!"
The dragon trainer started at the mention of the former Elite Four member, summoning memories from back in the days when his crazy schemes where actually challenged and shot down.
"My friend," he sneered, regaining his composure, "don't you mean 'Prima?'"
"Right, right, her alias," Bruno grunted, undaunted, "well we're at it, let's contact Agatha too!"
"Mom would love something like this!" Karen agreed, readying her murkrow to send word to the eccentric hag right away.
Groaning, Lance's heart dropped. He had hoped to make a show of his absolute power in front of Steven and the Hoenn Elite Four/Five, but with the old group back together, this dream was farfetched at best.
He sighed in resignation. At least I can take out my frustration on sixteen gym leaders, he reflected, before recalling a key piece of information, well, fifteen.