ANSWER TO QUERY: Anabel will be introduced quite late in the story and she will have a sort of a mixed timeline that I have made.
Chapter 21: Introductions and Champion Talks
Frost along with Rain had just entered the Champion Suite when he heard Cynthia mention something interesting. While Rain closed the door behind them Frost asked
"I suppose all of you have already been introduced." as he eyed the group of people sitting on the couch.
Rain on the other hand was looking at the two Rangers sitting in the group who were trying to not make eye contact with her as she whispered to Frost
"I left these two alone for half an hour god dammit and they blurted shit out."
"Relax I was planning to tell everyone anyways." Frost whispered back.
"Rain are you done talking if yes please join us." said Diantha as she took a sip of water from her glass.
Frost started to walk closure to the group as he observed the situation. Ash, Diantha, Cynthia were sitting in order on one of the couches whereas Stone and Ember were on the opposite one.
[Where's Steven] he thought as he finally laid eyes on the man sitting on the farthest sofa (from Cynthia) glaring at Frost with a scowl on his face.
[Well he already doesn't like me, why is he so quiet?] he wondered as Cynthia gestured both Rain and him to sit down.
Frost quickly chose the only single sofa in the area meanwhile Rain joined the two Rangers who had now slightly paled in comparison.
"Hello everyone I am Miss Cynthia's escort you can call me Frost the women on the sofa is Rain she is Miss Diantha's escort and the two trouble makers Ember and Stone I am sure have already been introduced." Frost said beginning the conversation.
All the Champions in the room were still staring at the group of Rangers sitting down not responding with anything other than a nod.
"So…..." Ember tried to make conversation but was quickly shushed by Rain.
"Stop talking Ember."
"Yes Ma'am." as she stopped.
Although Cynthia realized that Rain just calmed down the women who was making a ruckus beforehand with such ease didn't say anything as she continued to eye Frost with much greater interest than ever.
Sensing the curiosity of the Champion's Frost sighed as he asked the Champion's
"How much did these two tell you all?"
"I was hoping you would ask that." said Diantha with a wry smile.
"Nothing really they just said you were their team's leader three years ago where you guys did the most 'dangerous stuff' before you left to go do something else." added Ash
"To be honest I was hoping for more info but they just kept saying that they aren't at liberty seriously why the secrecy." said Cynthia while still smirking at Frost.
Frost looked at the two Rangers in question as he replied while stressing on a certain word.
"I see well that is alright I suppose but I was hoping that I get to do the introductions when EVERYONE arrived."
The two didn't respond as Cynthia chuckled lightly as all she say was two children getting scolded by adults.
[I didn't really think he was a leader type of guy but now that I see how Ember and Stone are acting around him….] she thought when Diantha added
"So what do you guys actually do? I mean I have met plenty of Rangers beforehand but never have I met a bunch like you lot."
Frost and Rain who were currently glaring at their fellow Rangers looked towards Diantha and responded.
"Well I have already told Cynthia the slightly longer version but the short version is that we are elite Rangers." Frost replied.
"So what is this 'Dangerous Stuff' you guys do?" asked Cynthia.
Rain and Frost knew the question was coming as Rain answered swiftly
"Nothing too over the top Champion just usual Ranger things like catching smugglers or poachers."
Ash who was looking at the two knew arrivals replied politely
"Can you stop lying please it's too obvious."
Rain was a bit shocked by the boys quick response as she defended.
"And why would you think that?" she asked equally politely.
[Damn the kid's Aura is annoying, this can go out of hand if we don't approach this carefully.] thought Frost quickly.
"Well I can't really explain but you might say it is a gut feeling." he responded with a smile.
"I suppose even your gut…." Rain was about to continue when all of them heard knocking at the door.
"I think it's the rest of them." added Stone who was awfully quiet ever since Rain arrived.
[Not the best timing but it did save us.] Frost thought as he stood up to open the door.
Cynthia and others saw Frost walk to the door and the moment he opened it they heard such a loud screech that Pikachu who was sleeping on the couch at the moment had woken up suddenly.
"LEADER OMG OMG!" came as a Female voice shortly followed by a young looking girl with green hair jump onto Frost who was still halfway in opening the door.
Frost avoided this 'attack' swiftly purely because of his reflexes he said
"Leaf mind the surroundings.."
When said girl saw the group of people in the room she immediately composed herself and replied
"Ahem.. hello everyone my name is Leaf nice to meet you all." in a friendly tone.
[Well she seems nice.] thought Cynthia looking at the newest arrival.
Frost was about to shut the door but soon realized that Leaf wasn't alone.
"I apologize for my subordinates display Mr. Alder." said Frost.
When the Champion's heard that name all of their backs stiffened as although Alder was a very playful individual he was still the eldest and the most wise person among them so all of them held a sense of respect for the man.
Alder entered the room and saw all the faces and said
"Wow I suppose the party has already started without us."
Leaf who had just introduced herself also added
"Also I am the escort for the Unova Champion."
Once again Frost was about to close the door but he saw another two people standing outside and said after sighed
"Good everyone in is here."
All the eyes in the room were now at the final guests.
A man boy slightly shorter than Frost as Cynthia observed with golden blonde short hair unlike her own bleached blonde ones.
[That means Lance is also here.] she thought with a smirk.
"Hey Leader how is it going." the blonde asked in a slightly lazy voice while entering and being closely followed by the Dragon Master himself who was eerily eyeing Frost who had kept the door open.
Ash was the first one to greet the man.
"Lance I told you to come along with me."
"True I didn't think the flight would get delayed by day." replied Lance
"Speaking of flights Cynthia are you alright I heard what happened/" he continued.
"I am perfectly fine Lance, I was saved by him." Cynthia replied while pointing at Frost who had now finally closed the door.
Lance looked at Frost yet again but this time with a smile as he raised his hand, Frost accepted the handshake as he thought.
[His grip is a strong one he must train a lot] Frost deduced as he also returned a firm handshake.
Both men stared at each other for 2-3 seconds before Lance spoke
"You must be this 'Frost' character I have heard from Spark."
"I am glad my subordinates haven't forgotten about me." Frost replied while looking at the blonde boy with a smile.
"Leader can we sit now, I am tired." asked Spark.
"My bad please we were just getting started anyways." replied Frost while gesturing towards the sofa.
Hearing those words Cynthia's eyes narrowed
[Just getting started?, What is he up to?]
When all of the Champion's had greeted each other Lance had taken Frost's seat and all of the group was there now.
Frost who was still standing looked over to Steven and asked
"Please if you could join all of us here that would be great." with a gentle smile that almost made Ember swoon but was hit on the head by Rain.
Steven grunted at the request as he brought a chair along with him and sat next to Alder.
When everyone was settled Cynthia resumed conversation
"Coming back to the earlier topic..." but was soon interrupted by Frost.
"Cynthia I gonna have to take over for a while if you don't mind?" he asked politely.
With a little reluctance Cynthia gestured him to speak.
"Ahem.. first of all I would like to give my regards to all the Champions that are present here on the behalf of the Pokemon Rangers ." he said.
While everyone was busy listening to Frost Rain who was bit worried about the fact on whether Stone and Ember didn't say anything unnecessary in her absence.
"The reason why I set this meet up was of course to get acquainted with each other as well as inform you all about the status of your meeting." he paused to let his words sink in and continued.
"You have your meeting at Lumious Tower today in the evening and we ( said while gesturing to the five rangers sitting opposite to the champions) are given the duty to do so. All of you have free time till 6 PM and afterwords we will be leaving for Lumious Towers, is that clear." he said in a slightly authoritative voice looking towards the Rangers.
The five people nodded shortly after and Cynthia was slightly surprised.
[He is giving orders to his team while informing us about the plan.]
Alder on the other hand had also noticed the same and smiled while listening to the man speak.
Lance questioned
"So are you guys gonna stick with us throughout this, I mean don't get me wrong but why are the Ranger Corps bothering themselves with small jobs like escorting people?"
Frost internally smiled as he had heard the same question from Cynthia before as he replied.
"Well that is something even I don't know." he said wryly.
At this statement although the Champions were not surprised but the Rangers including Rain were in quite a shock but they didn't say anything to interrupt the flow of the conversation.
"Now that that's out of the way do you guys wanna ask us Rangers something?" Frost asked as he turned towards the six Champions in the room.
All the champions were in the front seat now and were confused of the situation.
There was a short silence before Lance who was looking at his fellow Champions said
"Would you all mind giving us a moment of privacy all of us need to get our facts straight before we ask something."
Frost just smiled and replied "Of course we will be in the balcony for the time being if that's alright with you." he asked while looking at Ash whose room was in question.
"Please be my guests." Ash added while stroking the Pikachu sitting on his lap.
"You heard them people give them space." said Frost and as if one cue all the other 5 rangers stood up to leave for the balcony.
WITH THE CHAMPIONS
"So what do you guys think about them?" Diantha asked the group.
"They are unique I'll say that much." chimed Alder.
"I don't trust anyone of them especially that Frost guy." said Steven who was silent this whole time.
"Oh shut up you don't like him because he helped Cynthia run away from you." teased Diantha while the rest of the group chuckled but Ash intervened.
"Actually I am also uncomfortable around him."
"Why kid what's wrong?" asked Alder with concern.
"Actually all of them have it in them." Ash said grimly while looking at Cynthia who was sipping water.
"What is it Ash?" asked Lance.
"It's their Aura, Ash told me that my escort's Aura is weird so I told him to check the others while he is at it." Added Cynthia.
"So whats your verdict?" asked Steven while looking towards Ash.
Ash felt a little uncomfortable with the gaze of all the Champions towards him but still replied.
"It's not good news ii can tell you that." he said with a sigh.
"They all have a distinct Auras obviously but the key similarity is that it's….. volatile." he continued.
"Volatile? Ash they are not they are not a science experiment, be clearer." Lance demanded.
"Lance what he is trying to say is that their not showing their true self as Diantha and I were talking about it while coming here, these people although look and probably are on the good side but they are definitely hiding their true nature." concluded Cynthia while taking the lead.
"I agree with Cynthia." said Lance while looking at the talking Rangers in the Balcony.
"The thing is that I tried to get some information on them beforehand and literally found nothing, like nothing I tried Ranger records first but then thought if there is anything but..."
"There is nothing I tried as well." cut in Steven.
"Frost told me that their type of Ranger's are supposed to have their personal info classified for security purposes." added Cynthia.
While Diantha Alder and Ash were just listening carefully Lance said
"That is what I was told about by my escort Spark but here is the thing after getting nothing from Ranger Database I told the G-Men to go even deeper public records , birth records, hospital records anything and you know what happened." he said dramatically.
"What happened?" Ash asked obviously curious.
"Nothing, these guys whoever they are, are literally non existent." Lance completed.
"So who are they really because these are the guys that have been assigned to protect us." asked Diantha with concern.
"I don't know and I am pretty sure none of you guys do?" Lance ended his speech.
"Alder we need your experience right about now." Ash asked the older man.
Said man sighed as he replied
"Whenever your fancy toys fail you always look at me."
"So what do you think, where can we find info on them?" asked Steven impatiently.
"It's obvious kids the best way to get information is from the source itself."
"You think they are gonna just tell us who they are?" asked Diantha.
"Did you even try properly because except Cynthia and Ash I think none of you even properly chatted with their escorts." he added with a smirk while Cynthia smiled at the veteran trainers observation.
[He is right no one properly talked with their escorts, damn old age hasn't slowed Alder down one bit.] Cynthia thought.
"What how does that explain anything?" asked Lance.
"Cynthia darling take it away." Alder sighed.
"Sure… well when I was at dinner with Frost yesterday evening, we had a chat." Cynthia said.
"Wait what?" came a joint reply from all.
"Cynthia you went to dinner with that guy." Diantha exclaimed while Steven gritted his teeth now even more angry at Frost.
[I axed my own foot here.] sighed Cynthia internally.
"Well that is not the point here what is the point is that I had a good long chat with him there and long story short he told me that the request of the assignment of the Ranger's as escorts came directly from the PLA that too from Mr. Goodshow." she said.
"So we ask the old man then." said Diantha.
"Wait there is more, Cynthia and I had tag battle against each other with the escorts later as well." said Ash.
"Wait you guys battled." asked Lance looking surprised.
"Yes and I am not gonna lie both Stone and Frost are good at that." added Cynthia.
"Especially Frost, although I am a bit ashamed to say it but his Greninja beat Pikachu fair and square." Ash added while rubbing the back of his neck.
Everyone except Alder and Cynthia had their Jaw drop after which Lance continued
"Damn now that is something else how have we not heard of a guy who can beat a Champion in a one on one type scenario in a bloody pokemon battle for Arceus sake."
Alder just laughed at this.
"Hey this isn't a laughing matter." said a now angry Steven.
"Sorry it's just that both Cynthia and Ash just proved my point that nothing is better than a practical approach." said Alder while wiping a tear.
"Alder did you also battle her… Leaf I think was her name." asked Cynthia.
"As a matter of fact I did and though she could not beat me I will say with a bit of training she can reach elite four level easily." Alder concluded.
This left the group even more shocked as all of them turned their eyes to the Balcony.
[Just who are these people?] Cynthia asked herself.
Author's Notes:
Sorry for this massive delay, I will try to update as soon as possible from now on. Review the story as it also gives me motivation to write more just a side note the Character Leaf is a orignal one and not the one you guys are thinking about.
Until next time.
PEACE