A/N: Thanks guys for all the reviews, favorites, and follows!
Ralmon, you've made some good points, but I'm not sure you read beyond chapter 1 so I'm not commenting a long answer to your review.
Julie Togepi, thanks, and that's not the last surprise that you'll be getting from Selena.
Mew29240, the idea for Kalos was actually a very recent one. I had to have people outside find it, so water currents seemed to be the best way to do so. That's true about Linnea, but also about most of the other Gym Leaders. As for time, I'll just say that time is flexible between Galea and the rest of the world, sometimes moving slower in one and then slower in the other... I'll comment on it later. As for Team Flare, whoops, because I've been way off then but it shouldn't make a difference.
Also, I will let you know that Alan Lazar will become important later on, but nothing more than that.
The meeting between Ash, Duke Hamnet, and Mr. Jennings ended without reaching any definitive conclusion.
While Ash was still against the idea of conducting what could be a long and protracted siege against some people who really had nothing to do with Linnea, he couldn't deny that they needed the grain, and they would probably need it fast. Not to mention, with his training regime, he wasn't that confident of his Pokemon yet. Roserade was still his strongest, but in those terms it looked like Pikachu was set to surpass her quite soon.
His Pokemon were playing/training near a small tree and stopped when he approached to swarm around him.
"Hey there guys!" Ash said. If there was one thing that hadn't changed in Galea, it was that being with his Pokemon usually made all his worries dissipate.
After five minutes during which Ash blabbed about what had happened and the quagmire he had found himself in, Pikachu looked at him understandingly.
It occurred to Ash then just how much he wasn't up to this whole task. He wasn't a master strategist, or organizer, or, truth be told, that much good of a Trainer either.
And of course, he couldn't help but think what his friends and family would think. Would they approve of the plan to lay siege to Aroughs, and potentially cost people and Pokemon their lives?
Honestly, he had never had a real discussion with anyone about what was right or wrong. No, he just somehow always knew what was right and did it. But Galea had put ideals he had held before in question…
His thoughts were interrupted as something in the air moved towards them. His head whipped around reflexively to see it was Crobat, but he relaxed when he saw that Celera was getting off of it. She must have been back from… well, wherever she had gone off to.
"Nice to see you again, Ash," she said. Unlike most everyone else, Celera had dropped the whole 'Milord' or 'Majesty' phrases to refer to Ash and just called him by name at his own insistence. Thing is, while it was kind of cool for a while, it did get repetitive quick, not to mention it just didn't feel right.
Maybe it was because her elder sister was an Elite Four member that Celera didn't seem completely awed and overwhelmed by Ash.
"Nice to see you too," Ash said. "Where were you?"
"I had gone to find this," Celera said and tossed a very old book towards Ash. It was handwritten and seemed to be a journal of some sort.
"That's Sheldon's diary," Celera said.
Ash thought the name sounded familiar, but it took him a moment to remember that he was supposed to be Arthur's- one of the Elite Four's- apprentice. Ash flipped through it again and tried reading it. The handwriting was horrendous and nearly illegible in certain areas, not to mention it seemed that Sheldon had spilled what looked like coffee over some of the pages.
"I can't read most of it," Ash said, trying to make sense of it.
"I couldn't either, but Sheldon said he wrote like that on purpose so no one besides him could read his handwriting. But, I did sort of learn to read it. Sheldon had chosen to fight Linnea like I had decided to fight Freyja, but he lost like I did and fled, only that Linnea managed to seriously wound him. I managed to get him across the border to Freyja's domain, but then we were harassed by her followers who were chasing us, and we lost a lot of stuff on the way, including that journal. I didn't want to go looking for it afterwards because it was lost on the way towards Alamut and I thought I might be caught, but I went to look for it now," Celera said. "I thought it might help you, since Sheldon did fight Linnea and wrote a bit about his battle. And there are some hand-drawn maps of her realm and accounts of passageways and such."
"Oh," Ash said, surprised. "That's great." He didn't say it with much enthusiasm though.
"What's bothering you?" Celera asked.
Someone besides Ash might have been more discreet about blabbing their problems to someone they didn't know that well, but then, Ash was Ash and had never really felt the need to not say what he wanted too.
So, Ash told Celera bout the planned siege on Aroughs, and how he felt about it.
"Thing is though, that it just feels wrong," Ash said. "I mean, it is one thing to attack the Gym Leaders, we have to and they haven't been good rulers, but this is just a normal city. And we can't steal their grain…"
Ash expected Celera to react like Mr. Jennings and Duke Hamnet. It was easy to spot that both of them thought that Ash's misgivings were both meaningless and childish, and would have to be ignored for the common good, except of course they didn't dare outright say that to Ash's face.
Celera didn't say it to Ash's face either, but that wasn't because she was scared to talk, but rather because she had a different opinion. "Well, look, child, I'm not going to pretend to have the magic solution to all of your problems…. But I have to kind of agree with you."
"Really?" Ash asked, surprised.
"Sure," Celera said. "The Gym Leaders throughout history have been nasty, and I mean really nasty people. Even my elder sister, who I admired, was forced to do things I'm sure she never wanted to do."
That brought out a question from Ash. "Wait- didn't you say once that the first Elite Four Champion left? What do you mean by 'left?' I think Mr. Jennings mentioned it once but I wasn't listening-" Pikachu rolled his eyes at this point "-and I remember him saying that there was period of peace among the Gym Leaders when she came to power."
"Oh, now that's a long story," Celera said while sitting down in the grass next to Ash. She released her other Pokemon to move around as they pleased. "And I mean really long, with lots of regional variations and different editions depending on who you want to believe. But, in the gist of it, the Gym Badges have a long history- longer than anyone can remember. No one's sure where they came from, but they were always there and there was always fighting over them. Until one day, many thousands of years ago, a woman unified all eight territories and became the first and only Elite Four Champion Galea has ever had. She crowned herself Empress, and it is said that when she took all eight Gym Badges into a special cave located in the Eight Gym Leader's domain, something happened and something was revealed to her. She went on to distribute the Gym Badges to warlords she thought were worthy, and forbade warfare among them except for the Gym Leaders challenging each other- so they couldn't form armies, it would simply be one-on-one. The Empress, since she was the first person to become one of the Elite Four, wasn't bound by their usual oaths and rules and freely interfered in the day-to-day workings of Galea. But, as time went on and she realized that she had somehow become immortal, she though that the entire world could benefit from a ruler who would never die and maintain law and order throughout. So, she raised a huge army and ordered them to attack a neighboring region called Kalos."
That got Ash's attention. "Wait, you mean Kalos? The Kalos, the same one where I was?"
Celera raised an eyebrow. "I'm assuming yes… but I don't really know what you're talking about since I don't know what you call Kalos."
Ash rather hurriedly gave her an account of what Kalos was like, with recent memories of his trip there and Selena bringing a wave of nostalgia over him. It had all happened so recently… and yet seemed so distant and far away in this new land.
"Well, I don't know exactly if they're the same," Celera said. "But I think remember reading something about Kalos' geography, and what you describe sort of seems to fit the picture. Plus, if they're both called Kalos they should probably be the same place?"
"I guess," Ash said. "So, what happened? With the Empress' army, I mean."
"Oh? The Empress didn't want to leave Galea herself for some reason. Some speculated it was because the Gym Badge's powers are confined to their own regions, and perhaps she would lose her abilities if she left Galea? Anyway, the army was defeated by the king of Kalos. The Empress, enraged, raised another massive army some years later, but that was mostly destroyed in a typhoon and few of its members reached Kalos," Celera said. "Truth be told, I think deep down, she just wanted to rule the whole world. I think while she claimed to love peace, and maybe she had unified Galea partly for peace, she was actually also very ambitious and becoming Empress meant there was no where else to go but outside Galea, and that talk of unifying the world for its own good was just talk. But, those two failures had sent millions to their deaths, and the age of peace she had brought with her reign was soured by these two wars. The Empress attempted an attack on Kanto- yes, I'm guessing it is the same place as your home region- but the population had been depleted badly by two wars and she couldn't find enough soldiers. After that, she grew secluded and stopped really reigning over Kalos in anything but name, and once again, the wars between regions cropped again. They were united by some people throughout history, and from them the Elite Four emerged. As such, Galea has usually gone through a cyclical period- there is constant war, then someone comes up and unites all the regions, becoming one of the Elite Four, there's peace for some time, and then that someone goes into seclusion into whatever 'project' the Elite Four were focused on and there is war yet again. I guess in a way the current Gym Leader's reign is a deviation from all that, with sustained inter-domain peace, albeit a sour one riddled with hundreds of stories of abuse of power and oppression."
Ash blinked. That was a whole lot to take in. "Huh- I never really heard about Galea though back in Kalos." Then again, Ash didn't really pay much attention to history or tourist sights during his adventures, so it was possible that he'd missed something.
"After a few hundred years though, the Elite Four Champion, the Empress, simply left," Celera said. "People give a large number of reasons why she left, but I think that she was simply bored. I can sort of see it- there's no where to go once you're at the top, and her attempt to unite the whole world didn't work out so well. So, the story goes that she simply up and left, and from that day onward the Elite Four were never able to choose another Champion from among themselves."
"Mr. Jennings said that there were rumors that another Champion was there," Ash said.
"Oh yes," Celera said. "I've talked to some more people- it is so much easier to socialize when you're not a hunted criminal." She laughed. "But, yes, I've also heard the rumors, but like I've told you before, I can't see it happening."
Ash suddenly jolted up as if he had been shocked. "Yeah, I remember you saying that for someone to have challenged the Elite Four, he would have to battle and defeat all the Gym Leaders, but no one had done that or you'd have known. But, I think Freyja was about to mention that there was another way to challenge the Elite Four- but she had sworn not to tell anyone and bit her tongue before she could."
"That's news to me," Celera said. "I certainly have never heard of something like that… but I suppose it could be true?"
"I don't see why the Eighth Gym Leader would make them swear to hide it unless it was important somehow," Ash said. "And when you think about it, the whole thing about the Elite Four is shrouded in mystery- especially if you think it all happened just after a new Elite Four Champion was crowned."
"Yes, but what could it all mean? If there was a new Elite Four Champion, what does that have to do with everything that happened? And if there was a new Champion, why didn't they fight with the Elite Four against the Gym Leaders, and just where is the New Champion now? If by chance there was a new one, and I think that that is a very, very, long shot, we've got to ask those questions too" Celera said. "Anyhow, no one knows what happened to the Empress. Some say that she ascended to some higher plane of existence, others say that she got tired of life, sailed to a remote land, and died as she no longer had the support of her powers away from Galea, though that theory only works if you assume that the Gym Badges don't work outside Galea- something no one's ever tried so no one knows. Others say that she's still out there somewhere, meditating on things other people simply can't understand."
"If she was out there, she'd probably have done something to save Galea from the Gym Leaders, right though?" Ash said.
"Probably," Celera said. "Unless she no longer cared so much she couldn't bother. So anyway, that's her story out of the way."
"Yeah, sorry we got off topic," Ash said. "I mean, we were talking about what to do about Aroughs and we suddenly got lost."
Celera nodded. "I'd just like to say a few things about that first. First of all, don't take this the wrong way kid, but I don't think you've really realized how bad the food shortages are. Your meals haven't stopped, but I've been around the countryside, and even the people here are feeling the pinch and the people here can herd and forage, so I'm guessing the people in your other territories are feeling even worse."
Ash looked like he'd been shocked again. "What? But how come anyone hasn't told-"
"Now, now, hold your Rapidash," Celera said. "It isn't really that bad with emancipated children wandering the streets and I don't think anyone has died of hunger yet, though it might get there soon, so I'm just saying, we need grain. The others probably didn't want to distract you too much with details and so they didn't tell you, or might have assumed that it wasn't serious enough to mention. And remember, though stealing is deplorable, what they're doing to us- starving us out, is worse in my opinion."
"So you're saying I should go through with the siege?" Ash asked.
"I'm not saying you should, but if you don't want Trainers to start eating their own Pokemon- or worse, each other, then you have to do something very soon. And unless you think you're powerful enough to go and knock out Linnea within a couple of days on your own, that's not going to happen, right?" Celera asked.
"Right," Ash said.
"On that topic though, I tried reading some of Sheldon's notes and I do have some information," Celera said. " Sheldon only fought five out of eight of Linnea's Pokemon, and they were a Lilligant, a Kricketune, a Golduck, an Elektross, and a Flareon. He said that most of her Gym Trainers weren't too tough, except for her tutor, Li-han. Li-han managed to take out two of Sheldon's Pokemon, and Sheldon kept muttering along the way when I was helping him about how he could've won if it wasn't for him."
"Okay," Ash said. That gave him some idea of what Linnea could do.
"But then again, I get where you're coming from," Celera said. "You don't want to hurt people- but I'm sure you could find a way so that you could minimize damages. And remember, no matter what you do, with the destruction and terror that the Gym Leaders have caused, you could never be worse than them unless you really went off the deep end. But you don't need to use them as a metric though- look, I've never really been an ends justify the means kind of gal, but there's no backing out now, Ash, and we have to do what we have to do in order to overthrow the Gym Leaders."
"The only thing is, I've never really had these problems before," Ash said. "Not before I came here. Here… everything's different- everything's just so much more, well, cruel."
Celera's face fell. "You don't know a lot about us Galeans if you think that we enjoy torture and murder, but of course, you've mainly only known the Gym Leaders, so who can blame you?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean it like an insult," Ash said. "It's just that I've always been sure that what I'm doing is the right thing. And Mom, and Professor Oak, and Brock, and Misty, and even Gary- I mean, we were all good people. But…. now I would really just kind of hope that the adults would take over, but then I remember that I'm somehow in charge."
"Power is never without price," Celera said, her eyes tinged with sadness.
Someone besides Ash might have asked Celera what was wrong based on her expression, but of course, Ash was Ash and carried on as he had most of his life: oblivious to most things around him.
Ash took one good look at his Pikachu, and he had made his choice. He got up. "I'm going to talk to Duke Hamlet. I have to talk about the siege."
"Just remember one thing," Celera shouted to him. "Remember what the Gym Leaders have done! And remember that no one has ever conquered Galea by being all touchy-feely and soft!"
Ash found Duke Hamnet in his office, who immediately jumped back guiltily on seeing Ash. Reason being was that he was using the telephone to play a game of chess with Mr. Jennings to see who was better, and the thing was that he was afraid that Ash might chew him out for using such a high-end service like a telephone for playing board games.
His fears proved to be unfounded however, as Ash was actually glad that Mr. Jennings was there as well so he could skip on having to inform both of them separately.
"So, I've decided that we should go through with the siege," Ash said. "But first of all, I've heard from Cel- uh, I mean, other people that the food shortages are getting serious. Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Duke Hamnet seemed to be genuinely wondering what it was that Ash was talking about. "Well, there's nothing seriously wrong, Sir. There's been no incidences of grain riots or anything worse happening."
Ash realized that Celera's definition of 'serious' and what constituted as a serious crisis for Duke Hamnet and Mr. Jennings didn't match.
"Well, whatever," Ash said, leaving the topic. "But, if we're going to get through with the siege, I have some conditions. First of all, if we're going for grain, we're only going to take what used to belong to Linnea's government and we're not going to be raiding private stores. Also, we're going to keep a small reserve for Aroughs in case things get bad."
"Well, of course, Sir," Duke Hamnet said. "The ultimate goal, is, of course, to take Linnea's territory, and we will have to integrate those people into our own at one point in the future."
"No quartering of our soldiers in their homes, and we won't take anything that we don't immediately need. Also, we won't be actually attacking the city," Ash said. "At least the civilians. We'll threaten them and all, but I don't want any actual missiles or attacks made."
Mr. Jennings stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Are you saying that you don't want a single casualty? While we can try, and I do support being non-aggressive, that seems to be a bit extreme."
Ash shook his head. "Those are my conditions."
"In that case, we should begin," Duke Hamnet said. "I do believe that Aroughs would simply choose to surrender, but we should probably at least make it seem like we could pose a threat if we wanted too. There are some siege machines left over from what Thomdolt was making, they're mostly rejects that he couldn't sell to Selena but I'm assuming that they still look like they could work. Then, we'll need people, and tents, and other supplies…"
"Not to mention a quick way to get grain back," Mr. Jennings said. "By boat would be preferred, but there are no rivers connecting our realm with Linnea's, at least, none that pass near Aroughs so we'll have to do the best we can."
Ash nodded, and then returned to his part in the whole scheme: training his Pokemon.
Because all the grain in the world wouldn't matter if he lost to her in a Gym Battle.
A/N: Thanks for reading, and do please review if you liked!
