(Happy Guest
You're right he is very well respected and it wouldn't take much. I wanted to also say this. (you can tell me if you think I'm crazy or not) But why do I picture the prisoners that are trying to keep Delia safe as people that professor oak had also framed for crimes?)
I never even considered that, but that's a great idea. I'll see if I can work it in later. I'm not sure how yet, but I'll definitely keep it in mind.
Welcome back to the story, where we jump to the future and the gang are hopefully ready to enact their revenge. Sorry this took a little longer, life's been pretty crazy.
Seven years have passed since Ash first came to the Stralia Region and the time for revenge was fast approaching. Just as they planned Ash, Clemont and Brock had taken over the three remaining gyms in the Stralia Region, allowing them to automatically qualify for the upcoming Pokémon League. Brock and Clemont were Rock and Electric Gym Leaders like they had been in their hometowns, while Ash had decided to become a Fire Type Gym Leader. He realised he owned a lot of powerful fire types, which only got more powerful from the Stralia Region's intense heat. As soon as the drugs had left the systems of his Pokémon, Ash wasted no time in making them fierce combatants for challengers to overcome. Ash normally required challengers to defeat three of his Pokémon. Among the ones he most regularly used were Charizard and Infernape, but he always used his Stralian Starter, especially now that it had evolved from Echidflame to Lavana. It was now much larger in size and with its spikes always enflamed, it looked like an active volcano ready to erupt.
This sadly meant he didn't regularly use Pikachu for his Gym Battles, but if the trainers demanded a hard challenge he would be more than happy to oblige and would let them fight Pikachu. In addition to this Ash trained regularly with his Pokémon. They were now far stronger than they'd been seven years ago, with nearly all of them evolving to their final forms. Even Ash's Bulbasaur had decided to evolve to get stronger for him. The only one that had yet to evolve was Pikachu, which was fine by Ash, because he knew Pikachu liked being how he was.
The great distances between cities meant the group didn't get to see each other much. Ash, Brock and Clemont were busy with Gym Leader duties, while everyone else had their own journey to focus on. Dawn had taken it upon herself to introduce contests around the region. Now nearly every city held contests giving numerous Coordinators the opportunity to participate in the upcoming Grand Festival. In addition to her ribbons in other regions, Dawn now had five ribbons from Stralian Contests and with her now fully evolved Boxaroo by her side, she was a favourite to win the first Grand Festival of the Stralia Region. Bokagroo was a large greenish brown kangaroo like creature, with great jumping ability, a powerful tail, clawed feet with boxing gloves for hands. Its punches were so intense that a single hit could knock out most pokémon.
Bonnie and Max had both come of age and had decided to start a journey together as Pokémon Trainers. Max had asked Professor Gidyea if there was any way he could get a Treeko as his starter Pokémon. Thankfully, Ash sent this request to Professor Sycamore, who then sent a letter to Professor Birch of the Hoenn Region requesting one, under the guise that he wanted to do more studies on its ability to mega evolve. They managed to have one sent to the Stralia Region in time for Max's tenth birthday. Bonnie on the other hand had decided to not get a starter as she already had the beaver tailed, duck billed Platipes, which became her official starter when she reached the age of Ten. With Platipes and Dedenne on her side, she was ready to tackle the Stralia Region.
A lot of evolving had been occurring amongst the group. In addition to Dawn's Wallaleaf now being a Boxaroo, her Buneary had evolved into Lopunny and her Eevee had evolved into a newly discovered evolution. It was a poison type called Veneon, that had evolved during an encounter with a wild Copperfang. The creature's venom had been so severe, that it caused Eevee to evolve upon defeating the Copperfang and levelling up. A Veneon had dark purple fur, pointed ears and sharp fangs that regularly dripped venom. In addition to this it could also poison opponents with its claws and its stinger on the end of its tail.
In her travels Dawn had also caught a Lorikin, a beautiful rainbow coloured flying/psychic type which eventually evolved into a Loriscreech. The Lorkin's bright colours made it a favourite amongst the locals and was considered one of the most beautiful creatures in the region. Its relatively small size made it a great asset in battle. Being both small and quick allowed it to easily dodge the attacks of enemies, after which it could counter with powerful psychic type moves. The final new Pokémon Dawn had caught was a regional Spinarak, now Ariadose, a poison/dark type, who's venom was significantly more deadly than its mainland counterpart. It was black in colour with a large red spot on its back and was considered one of the most dangerous and feared spider like creatures in the region. Amazingly though Dawn still managed to show the creatures inner beauty through her contests.
In addition to most of Ash's Pokémon now being fully evolved he had caught a number of Stralian Pokémon. He'd caught the flying/fighting type Cassawar the large bird like pokémon with black features, a blue neck and a hard helmet like head. Ash's next catch was a rock/dragon type known as Thorgon, a dirt-coloured lizard looking pokémon with rock-hard, razor-sharp spikes running along its back. These spikes made attacking this creature nearly as dangerous as being attacked by it. Ash's final catch was a very rare pokémon known as a Thycanine. It had a brown wolf like appearance, but a coat that resembled that of a tiger with long black stripes running down its back. They were grass/ground types found on an island in the south of the Stralian Region. They were very nearly extinct, but Ash had been given permission to catch one due to its great battle strength. It could dig with great speed and its razor leaf was amongst the sharpest Ash had ever seen.
The island where Ash had caught the Thycanine was now Clemont's base of operation as a Gym Leader. The island was separated from the rest of the region, which meant challenges were less frequent giving Clemont more time to work on inventing. Despite this Clemont still devoted a lot of time to training. His Bunnelby had evolved into a Diggersby, his Chespin was now a Chesnaught and both his Magnemite and Magenton were now Magenezones. His Luxray and Helioisk were also much stronger from their training in the region. Clemont had also caught a number of native electric types, the most notable of which was an electric/dragon type known as Tasterrordevil. It was a small creature with black fur and like Dedenne, Pickachu and Pachirisu, it generated electricity through its cheeks. Despite its small size, it was not afraid to fight larger opponents. It was a fierce fire-spitting creature, who could deafen opponents with its ear-splitting screech. In addition to its abilities has an electric type, this made Tasterrordevil a diverse and formidable opponent.
Due to beginning their journey in the Stralia Region, the majority of Max and Bonnie's team included natives to the region. Bonnie's Platipes had become a Tsunatypus. It had grown considerably in size, now sported sharp teeth, was an extremely fast swimmer and the spurs on its back legs were so venomous they constantly leaked poison. Bonnie had also caught the black furred regional Buneary, now Loppuny, because despite them being pests she still thought they were adorable. She had also caught a Kookaberra, which had evolved into a Kookatacker. With its razor-sharp beak capable of bending steel, its muscle-bound feet and razor-sharp claws, this mighty creature of the sky could make even the most venomous snakes look like mere insects. One of Bonnie's most interesting catches was a water/ice type called Liosea. It looked similar to the Seel evolutionary line but was silver in colour, had a longer more pointed snout and lacked the tusks and horns. It was only found in the far south of the region. The last Pokémon she had caught was a Pickachu, which had evolved into the brown coloured, drill tailed, and part ground typed regional Raichu, which had ironically been a key factor in Bonnie winning a badge against Ash.
Max was also doing well in the Stralia Region. His Treeko was now a Septile and had caught a number of powerful local Pokémon. These included a Dengo, a dog like, red furred fire type that was popular with the Stralian Police Force. In addition to its immense fire power, it also had razor sharp claws and teeth with an exceptionally powerful jaw, making it a very formidable brawler. Max had also caught the water/ground typed blue scaled Stralian Sandile, which was now fully evolved as a Krookodile. This creature had been instrumental in his journey through the region. With its bone crushing jaws and tsunami like water attacks, few other trainers stood a chance against this creature. It also kept Max well protected from other dangerous water types when he needed to travel between islands. Max had a feeling that if he had to fight a mainland Krookodile in the upcoming Pokémon League, whoever he was battling was in for a rude awakening. Max's next catch was the iconic, reddish-brown, muscle-bound fighting type known as the Stralian Kangaskhan, which proved to be even more powerful than he'd expected. The most difficult pokémon Max had caught on his journey was an extremely territorial, black and white featured dark/flying type called Magpow, who had refused to listen to Max when he first caught it. Magpow only started obeying Max when it suffered a particularly humiliating defeat during a gym battle, where it had an advantage. It now obeyed Max's every word and had evolved into a Magpeck, which was the last pokémon you wanted to peck or scratch you. Max's last catch had been the brownish-yellow snake like poison type pokémon known as Copperfang, who's venom had been instrumental in winning many battles.
Brock had only made one new catch since coming to the Stralia Region. A rock/ground type known as Stoneanna, a large lizard like pokémon that was a white-orange colour which helped it blend into the region's vast deserts. It would leave you with a nasty bite after overwhelming you with its great strength and speed. Brock also used Stoneanna as the native mascot for his gym. Brock had decided against making many new catches because between running his gym, studying to be a Pokémon Doctor and training for the upcoming league he hadn't had much time for travelling. Nevertheless, he had made great progress with his training. His Geodude was now Golem, his Marshtomp had become a Swampert, his Chansey had become Blissey and his Croagunk had evolved into a Toxicroak. This final transformation had forced Brock to stop flirting with girls as he was all too familiar with how much an attack from a Croagunk hurt, he didn't want to even imagine how much a Poison Jab from a Toxicroak would hurt.
Gary had made the most catches out of the group, but more for research purposes then battling. He was so intrigued by the native animals of the Stralia Region that he'd caught over a hundred different species to research. He was particularly interested in researching how the climate of the region had affected some introduced species and not others. He was also eager to discover why the venom of poison types caused Eevee's newest evolution.
The group who had all qualified were now sitting at a large outdoor arena, waiting for Professor Gidyea to announce when the Region's first Pokémon League and Grand Festival would be beginning. Ash, Brock and Clemont automatically qualified for the League as Gym Leaders. Dawn had qualified for the Grand Festival with her five ribbons from Stralian Contests. Gary had followed Professor Gidyea's advice and done the Gym Challenge, earning all eight badges in the process. His battle with Ash had been a close one but had achieved victory using type advantages. It had been a long time since Gary battled competitively and was looking forward to testing his skills in the Stralia Region. He was also hoping for a rematch with Ash where he wasn't restricted to using one type of pokémon. In their next battle they would both be fighting at their best.
Even Bonnie and Max had managed to qualify for the league. Bonnie's Tsunatypus and Liosea, made quick work of Brock's rock types. She'd won her battle against Clemont using mostly her Stralian Raichu which was immune to electric attacks. A part of her wondered if Clemont had gone easy on her because she was his sister, but Clemont insisted that she beat him fair and square. Her battle with Ash had been a difficult one. She had only narrowly defeated Ash's Lavana with her Tsunatypus, despite having a double type advantage. This allowed Bonnie to truly understand just how powerful the sun in this region was, because she quickly understood she'd need more than a type advantage to beat Ash. Her Tsunatypus lost to Ash's Typhlosion, who then had a draw with Bonnie's Liosea, leaving them with one pokémon each. The chosen battlers were Ash's Charizard and Bonnie's Stralian Raichu. While Charizard was immune to all of Raichi's ground based attacks, it still felt the force of Raichu' electric based attacks, and with Raichu being part ground type, it was able to resist long enough to gain a narrow victory against Ash earning Bonnie her final badge.
Max's strategy had been similar in gaining gym badges from his friends. He had been able to defeat Brock by using his Septile and Stralian Krookodile. Max's Krookodile had also been his main method of defeating Clemont but he had decided to use Dengo when faced with Clemont's Magenezone. Like Bonnie, his battle with Ash had been a close one. His Krookodile had only just been strong enough to take out Ash's Talonflame, who despite having a type disadvantage against a water type, had proven trouble for Krookodile due to Talonflame being a flying type that was immune to ground attacks. The next battle was against Ash's Infernape and Max's Kangaskhan, with Ash's Infernape taking the victory from being the more experienced fighter. Max managed a close victory through using a strategy of evasion. His final pokémon had been Copperfang, who Max mostly ordered to just keep evading every attack that was thrown and would only attack when there was a window of opportunity to use Poison Fang. Thankfully this managed to badly poison Ash's infernape, who quickly fainted. The same strategy was used against Ash's Charizard, who's battle with Copperfang ended in a draw. This technically made Max the victor however, as Krookodile had never fainted from its battle with Talonflame, allowing Max to earn his final badge and qualify for the Pokémon League.
Now they were all qualified, they were eager for the traitors to get their invitation to the Stralian Pokémon League and Grand Festival so they could prove to the world that Ash was an honest trainer who never resorted to cheap tricks.
Professor Gidyea entered the stage to address the crowd.
"Thank you all for coming, as you all know I am Professor Gidyea, resident Pokémon Professor of the Stralia Region. I have invited you all here today to announce the beginning of what will be this region's first Pokémon League and Grand Festival. Furthermore, I would like to congratulate everyone here for qualifying and showing great strength and determination in your journeys, whether it be through becoming a Gym Leader, earning the eight required badges from gym battles or the five ribbons from contests. Everyone here today has made this region proud. As you know however, despite our region being large in size, we are small in population and there are not many of us here today to participate. Therefore, as I'm sure you may recall you won't be the only participants in the upcoming league. Later today I plan to send invites to the trainers and coordinators of the other regions, letting them know that if they are a League Member, Gym Leader or have qualified for a Pokémon League or Grand Festival, they are welcome to come and try their luck at becoming League Champion or Top Coordinator of this region. I expect you to make them all feel welcome, even if they are among the people we want to discredit, so we can clear the name of one of our own."
The crowd nodded. The whole region had been alerted of what was planned for the upcoming event and were eager to help in any way they could. Although Ash and his friends had been asylum seekers, the Stralia Region had accepted them due to the group being innocent, kind-hearted, and proving themselves to be honest, worthy and powerful trainers. This made the region more than happy to help the group clear their names.
"The League and Grand Festival will be starting three weeks from today, which'll hopefully give me enough time to write and send out the invites to the trainers of the other regions. In the meantime, feel free to train or rest however you see fit to prepare yourself for the upcoming competition. Thank you all for coming and good luck," said Professor Gidyea.
The crowd dispersed quickly after this.
"Well, that was a great speech," said Gary.
"Yeah, I'm amazed by how much he worked on his speaking so everyone present could understand him," said Dawn referring to the professor's lack of slang during the speech.
"It's taken seven years, but we're finally here," stated Ash. "Let's just hope all of this was worth it."
"I just hope we're ready for what's to come," said Max.
"We're as ready as we're ever going to be," said Clemont.
"My brother's right. We've all trained very hard for this, and we've become crazy strong because of it," stated Bonnie. "We can't back down now, we have to hit them with everything we have."
"Don't forget though, they'll also have been training over the last seven years, so we have to expect that they'll be stronger than we remember," said Clemont.
"That may be true, but I doubt many of them have trained in the conditions we have," said Ash.
"Ash is right, this Region's environment has been amongst the harshest and desolate I've ever seen," stated Brock. "So, something tells me that not only have we been training harder than the traitors, but also in more intense conditions. This should hopefully give us the edge when the time comes."
"Still though we need to be careful, they might surprise us," said Gary.
"Not only that, but we must remember that many of the League Members of the other regions have likely sided with Professor Oak and they're among the most powerful trainers in the world. Regardless of how much we've trained none of these people are going to go down without a fight, meaning we have to hit them with everything we have," stated Ash.
"No need to worry Ash, we've all worked hard for this day and we're going to make sure the traitors realise they were wrong about you and we're going to send them home defeated," declared Dawn.
"Yeah, we've come too far to lose now," said Brock.
"And we'll do it together, as a team," said Max.
"You guys are the best," said Ash, happy this group had supported him through all of this.
"But there's still one problem we haven't figured out," said Gary.
"What's that?" asked Clemont.
"While doing all this will help prove that Ash is an honest, worthy and rule abiding trainer, it won't necessary clear his name in the other regions. And it won't help us prove that it was Professor Oak who drugged Ash's pokémon," said Gary, who no longer referred to Professor Oak as his grandfather.
"Gary we've already discussed this," said Ash.
"Yeah, I know the best way will be to get him to admit to the drugging and record him saying so, but how are we supposed to do that?" asked Gary. "Something tells me that Professor Oak would rather die than reveal that Ash is innocent."
"Gary even if we don't get the confession, we have plenty of evidence to prove Ash is innocent," said Clemont.
"Perhaps, but do you really think Professor Oak won't do everything he can to discredit Professor Gidyea's findings?" asked Gary. "Something tells me that even though Ash agreed to compulsory random drug tests that won't be enough."
"Maybe not, but maybe it'll help put more doubt into his followers, which will lose him a lot of support, which is what he'll need more than anything if he wants to succeed," said Brock.
"I guess, but what we really need is a confession," stated Gary.
"You let me worry about that," said Ash.
"Why?" asked Gary.
"I've been discussing this with Professor Gidyea and we've both decided it's best to wait and see if anyone else from the other regions believes me over Professor Oak. He won't confess while any of us are present, but maybe, just maybe he'll let his guard slip when surrounded by people who are loyal to him," said Ash.
"Hmm, that's actually not a bad idea Ashy boy," stated Gary.
"Not only that, but Oak's guard will likely slip even more if his plan continues to fall apart, which will only make it easier to get a confession," said Brock.
"Let's just hope no one knows this invitation is a trap before they get here," said Dawn.
"I don't think they will," said Clemont. "Most of the world seems convinced that Ash is guilty, and most would probably also assume that every region has just accepted Oak's word as reality. I have doubts that any of them would believe Ash has been given asylum in another region, let alone been allowed to compete in another Pokémon League."
"Which means they likely have no idea what's to come," said Brock.
"They might not, but I have a feeling those who believe me will," said Ash.
"We can only hope," said Gary.
They decided to go see Professor Gidyea, to see what they should do next. They had become very familiar with Professor Gidyea's lab and his staff over the years and were permitted to visit him whenever they wanted. They headed to Professor Gidyea's office and knocked on his door.
"Come in."
Professor Gidyea was typing away at his computer.
"I had a feeling I'd see you guys today," said Professor Gidyea looking up. "What can I do for ya?"
"We were just wondering what we should do now until the traitors arrive?" asked Ash.
"What else? Train for your battles, practice for your contests, whatever you feel you need to succeed in the upcoming event, even if it's rest and relaxation," stated Professor Gidyea.
"Anything else?" asked Ash.
"What else can you do?" asked Professor Gidyea. "Time has come to clear your name, all you can do till then is be the best trainer or coordinator you can be to ensure ya beat the traitors in the Pokémon League or Grand Festival."
"But what about getting Professor Oak to confess that Ash is innocent?" asked Gary.
"We'll worry about tha' when they get 'ere," said Professor Gidyea. "If they get 'ere, they might find this whole competition a waste of time and not come. My point is, all we can do for now is wait and come up with a plan."
"He's right, the best thing we can do for now is to perfect everything we feel we need to do to defeat them. Until they arrive there's nothing else, we can do," said Brock.
"Alright, we'll get back to training then," said Ash. "Unless of course there's something you need help with."
"Nah mate I'm good. I'm gonna be spenden the entire afternoon writing letters to people in other regions letten them know they've been invited to this event," said Professor Gidyea turning back to his computer.
"Alright, just make sure you don't forget anyone," stated Ash.
"You won't need to worry about that mate, I'll be triple checking all the letters before I send 'em. We've come too far to make mistakes now," said Professor Gidyea.
"Well good luck with it. We're going to go plan our next move," said Ash.
"A'right mate," said Professor Gidyea continuing typing.
By late afternoon Professor Gidyea had finally finished composing the letters to send to the other regions. They included the other regions Gym Leaders, League Members and anyone who had qualified for a Pokémon League or Grand Festival. He'd even written invites to the other Professor's so they could come and watch the event and hopefully be convinced that Professor Oak had lied to them. As Professor Gidyea was putting the letters into the post, he just hoped everyone in question would receive their letters and agree to compete.
Thanks for reading. I know this chapter was a lot of telling rather then showing and I apologize for that, but I really want to get to the revenge aspect of this story. If I went into detail about the entire journey in this region, it would've probably taken me years to get here. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you think, all feedback is appreciated. I'm also considering doing flashback chapters at the end of the story showing Bonnie and Max's Gym Battles against Ash, Brock and Clemont, but I haven't fully decided yet, I'll see what happens. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.
Also, if you'd like me to clarify which Australian animals my original Pokémon are based on, simply message me and I'll be happy to explain.
