Chapter 3
"You look really nice in that suit, Lillie." Ash comments after he is wearing a prince outfit with a silver vest and a black jacket over it.
"You mean it? I mean, you can thank Pandora for making this dress for me." Lillie says with a smile. "Funny since she was the Leader of Team Portal."
"Yeah, turns out that she is my aunt and she just wants to find Dad." Ash chuckles as he looks at Ashlie. "And you looked really good as well, Ashlie."
"Thanks, Papa." Ashlie smiles at her father. "But Mama, are you sure you're going to be fine?"
"What do you mean by that? Ashlie?" Lillie asks.
"Uncle Gladion of course..." Ashlie says as it causes Lillie to frown, Lillie says, "Ever since that happened, he hasn't been a part of the Aethers. Since I'm going to battle as well, so it will be sooner or later that I'm going to face him in a battle."
"Ash, Lillie." Just then, the door opens and reveals Delia (Because the Ice Type Leader is also called Aurora, so I'll just use Delia for Ash's mom) and Lusamine. Delia says, "No matter what happens, you have all of us by your side."
"I know, they are not going to arrest me, considering we have the International Police by our side as well." Ash says with a nod. Thinking of the time when two members of the International Police, code names Salt and Cinnamon, were spying on Ash and Lillie from the journey of Ceolis. After becoming the Champion, they stopped stalk them and invite them to the house located in Party City and ask for the whole truth.
"By the way, there will be an exhibition match against a randomly chosen opponent from the 8 region's Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champions. So who are you going to choose?" Lusamine asks.
"Do you really need to ask? Of course, I am going to choose Pikachu and Greninja." Ash says as both Pokemon nod in agreement.
"Now if you guys are done, you should all head to the stadium now." Delia says as the whole family leave the dressing room.
At the stadium, it is crowded with people from all over the 9 regions. A Nosepass is holding a microphone and he says, "Welcome everyone, this is Nosy Nosepass from the Nosy News! And I am grateful to be invited to become the emcee of the World Tournament!"
As the Nosepass is talking, the traitors are sitting at their own seats and Max grumbles, "Really? Of all the Pokemon, they choose Nosepass to be the one that is the emcee?"
"I wonder what's the deal of this region? Everything is quite weird and strange." Goh mutters.
After introducing the other regions, Nosy Nosepass says, "And now, I should introduce the Ceolis Region's Elite Four and Champions of the region! From the weakest to the strongest, first of all, we have our very strong bodybuilder, the Fighting Type member: Arnalda!"
The crowd cheers as Arnalda steps to the field. "Next, we have the owner of our famous Underwater Hotel, the tough Water Type Trainer: Triston!"
Triston walks up to the stage as he shows his pride, and Misty mutters, "He? A Water Type Trainer? I bet he is weak compared to me."
"Overconfident I see..." Dawn mutters.
"And our third Elite Four member, we have the head of the Rangers located in the Ceolis Region! Seamus, the Grass Type Trainer!" The crowd is surprised to see a short person walking to the stage. But he doesn't mind the ridicules of his height, since what matters is the heart.
"And finally, we have the strongest and youngest Elite Four member, our Psychic Type member Peach!" As the small boy walks up to the stage, he is waving to the crowd. Everyone is surprised considering he is only what? 9 years old, but in truth, he is already older than they thought, but his own powers cause him to stop aging after 9.
"And finally, I will like to introduce the Champion of the Ceolis Region, he is the son of our first Champion, Ceolis, and with his help, he has stopped Team Portal and done a lot of things to help everyone in the region! Please welcome our Champion and his wife: Ash and Lillie Ketchum!"
The traitors are watching in horror as Ash and Lillie are on the stage. Both of them have Pikachu and Snowy by their side, and the Ceolis natives are cheering wildly.
"What is a criminal doing here!" "Yeah! Get out of the ring! Kidnapper!" "A person who abused Pokemon doesn't deserve to become a Champion!"
The hated comments are from the 8 regions, Ash and Lillie hear this and they are frowning, but the traitors aren't yelling with them, considering they are shaking with fear.
"Shut up! You don't know anything about our Champion!" "Yeah! He is innocent! He was framed!"
And the ones from the Ceolis Region are trying to back Ash up. Nosy Nosepass looks at the situation and quickly gives the microphone to Ash.
"Enough!" Ash roars as the whole crowd stops. Ash clears his throat and says, "So before the whole Tournament starts, I know most of you are surprised to see me standing here as the Champion of Ceolis. After the worldwide broadcast delivered by Professor Oak 15 years ago, I guess I can't blame you. According to him; I abused my Pokemon, attacked my friends when confronted about it, and kidnapped the daughter of the President of the Aether Foundation. Countless rumors have been spread about me, I am sure, some of them are entirely absurd. On top of that, my trainer's license has been revoked in all regions that chose to do so 15 years ago, with Ceolis being the exceptions. So if that all was true, I'd let you go right ahead and boo me off the stage right now."
The crowd begins to boo and jeers again, and Ash gives the microphone to Lillie, who says, "I am the daughter of the President of the Aether Foundation, I was very mad at the rumors saying that my lovely husband killed me, and I was also mad that some of you said that I am faking Lillie Aether with plastic surgery. But I am the real Lillie Aether, and I love Ash Ketchum that much to stay by his side for all the hatred that you gave him."
The haters continue to have a conflict, with the ones who believed the lies of the traitors going back to insult Ash, hoping to get him out of his Champion position, but the traitors are panicked since the story that they had fabricated all those years ago was coming apart. Especially Gladion, who realizes that the person in front of him is his real sister, and she is not happy with him at all.
"Enough of this!" Just then, Lance and Raymond steps to the stage and Lance says, "As the Champion of Johto, I can attest to the fact that this young man is telling the truth! Raymond here is not only the Gym Leader in Ceolis, but he is also a famous Judge who has been solving a lot of cases with crimes. He has given Ash a trial to prove himself, and with the International Police at present, we have found out that none of the crimes are true!"
"With Professor Oak perished some years ago, there is no way we can tell that he is lying. But I can dare say that all the Champions and the other Professors are standing by my side, not to mention the International Police as well. Messing with me means messing with them. Am I right?"
The haters from the 8 regions begin to panic after seeing that how the Professors and the Champions are nodding in agreement, and the traitors are now panicking once more.
"However, since the ones who spread the lies are here in this tournament, it would be a shame not to let them partake in it. So I won't be telling who are the ones that spread the lies. But for those who have been spreading false news about me, I am going to say that you will be facing charges of false accusation."
"That brat..." Misty says in anger as the other traitors are furious as well.
Nosy Nosepass says, "Now back to the tournament, we will be having a special guest to battle our Champion Ash in a two on two double battle. And the lucky star is...the Galar Champion: Leon Dande!"
After a while, Leon and Ash are standing at the sides of the field, and Leon says, "That was quite a surprising opening, don't you think?"
"I know. I'm glad that it goes well." Ash says. "And thank you for believing me after all these years."
"No problem, now let's show them a Champion Time that we get!" Leon says as he sends out Charizard and Dragapult.
"Pikachu! Greninja! I choose you!" Ash says as Pikachu jumps from the shoulder while Greninja appears from the Pokeball.
"You may have your first move, Ash." Leon says.
"Then I'll go with Water Shuriken on Charizard, Pikachu, use Iron Tail on Dragapult!" Both Pokemon start to go offensive, but Leon smiles, "Dodge the attack with Phantom Force, and Charizard, block the attack with your Thunder Punches!"
Leon's both Pokemon manage to dodge or block the attack without taking that much damage, and Pikachu is hit by Phantom Force.
"Greninja, use Night Slash on Dragapult! Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash yells, and the attacks finally get in contact with both Pokemon.
"I think we shouldn't hold back, should we?" Leon says as he activates his Dynamax Band and yells, "Charizard, Giganatamax time!"
Ash notices how Leon already summons his Gigantamax Charizard, and he says, "Then how about a double surprise! Pikachu! Gigantmax! Greninja! Let's show them our true power!"
The crowd is in shock as Pikachu and Greninja have become stronger as they are either in Gigantamax form or in Bond Phenomenon. Leon says, "A Pokemon abuser won't be able to activate them, which proves more that you are not a criminal."
"You're right." Ash says as the crowd starts to cheer for both of them at the same time.
"Charizard! Use G-Max Wildfire!" "Pikachu! G-Max Volt Crash!"
As both attacks are charging, Greninja is using Double Team to dodge Dragapult's Dragon Darts, and he goes for Water Shuriken again, which sends Dragapult to the wall.
Both Gigantamax Pokemon are continuing their attacks, with Pikachu's Max Steelspike raising his own Defenses and Charizard's Max Lightning trying to hit Greninja, but failing as he just hits one of the copies.
After the three turns of Dynamaxing is gone, Ash says, "Time to finish the match! Pikachu! Greninja, let's use our combo! Electric Shuriken!"
Greninja is charging the shuriken with electricity from Pikachu and the Electric Terrain made by Charizard's Max Lightning, and the attack crashes into Dragapult and Charizard at the same time, causing them to both get knocked out in the end.
"And there you have it, folks! Won't you say that was an amazing way to kick off the tournament?" Nosy Nosepass asks and the crowd cheers.
"I can't believe it! There is no way that loser could have battled so well against the undefeatable Champion Leon!" Bonnie yells.
"I don't know, just how did he become the Champion anyway?" Kiawe asks.
"We will be looking into this, that is for sure." Brock says as the others nod.
But unknown to them, two girls are looking at each other, as they have determined eyes and they whisper something to each other without others knowing.
Here is a new chapter, and Ash manages to prove his innocence in this chapter, but I admit, because of the plot, I am not going to let the people in eight regions know who the traitors are. During the tournament, I will try to write the battles with different people from the Ceolis Region and their interactions with the traitors and other people who believe Ash is innocent. I hope you like this chapter.