A/N: Thanks for your reviews. JayFan27, yeah that does sound ridiculous, but I was just pointing out that the titles don't really mean anything special here.

Julie Togepi, nice guess, only problem is that Freyja's Pokemon are weak... very weak as a matter of fact. Duke Hamnet and Mr. Jennings were not wrong on that count.

Also, it occurs to me that I might not have specifically said this at any point in time, but the Gym Leader's special rules only count if they are being challenged, not if they're the one challenging the opponent. So Ash, in a fight, can't have the Hemlock Badge poison his opponents unless they challenge him to a Gym Battle. And as mentioned before, the Gym Leaders and their servants can't challenge Ash so, well, as you might think it will be an uphill battle.

"Speaking of the Elite Four," Ash asked. "Do you know what happened to them? Are they still alive or-"

"I have no doubts that Selena would have gladly killed them off," Freyja said. "Though, to be fair, I for one wasn't there to see it. And of course, if they could be killed."

"What do you mean, if they 'could' be?" Ash asked.

"Oh dear, you don't even know that?" Freyja asked in another annoying voice. "You do know how the Elite Four are chosen, no?"

"Mr. Jennings did tell me," Ash said. "One has to get all the Eight Badges and then challenges another one of the Elite Four. Once they're accepted, they give up their Badges."

"Correct. Now, as the Badges are stores of ultimate power, why would someone give them up?" Freyja asked. "Or did that never occur to you? Once they become one of the Elite Four, they no longer need Badges. The energy of the Eight Badges, which is dispersed throughout the land, becomes one with their very beings. They gain various powers, and it emanates through their Pokemon. Their Pokemon permanently retain certain special powers, and they can use them whenever they want, unlike our special rules. I do believe that Arthur had a Dewgong that could move through soil as if it were water, and Emily's Swampert was immune to Grass attacks. They would then wander Galea and other regions as per their whim, though they usually stayed out of the ways of the Gym Leaders, mostly spending time in their residencies north which belongs to the Eighth Gym Leader. Most of them, if you're wondering, were several hundred years old. Then again, I wouldn't want to get your hopes up. If anyone could find a way, it would have been Selena."

"Oh," Ash said.

"You still haven't touched your plate," Freyja muttered. "You're not still under the impression that it is poisoned, are you? Your Pokemon and your people have been wolfing it down for the last fifteen minutes."

Pikachu waved at Ash; Pikachu's face was now completely smeared with frostings of various types. Apparently Freyja wasn't the only one with a sweet tooth.

"Wait, but I still don't get one thing," Ash said, his appetite strangely absent (something he was sure that Brock and the others would be horrified to know). "If that's true, why don't they do anything, I mean, why didn't they do anything to stop all the bad stuff from happening with the wars between the Gym Leaders?"

"Bad stuff?" Freyja asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You know, the famines and killing," Ash said. Ash had no compulsion to delve deep into Galea's history, but the small bits that Mr. Jennings told him were enough to give anyone nightmares. And that was assuming, of course, that Mr. Jennings softened the bad parts for Ash. Anarchy, cruelty, looting, and slaughter of large populations of Pokemon and humans had been the norm for much of Galea's history.

And in Ash's opinion, the Elite Four were equally responsible for the tragedies for not interfering when they could have.

"Ah," Freyja said. "Most of them were not actually as lenient or merciful as you might think, and for that matter preferred to not involve themselves in the affairs of commoners. They were not saints, after all, you should probably remember they were once Gym Leaders like us, only far more resourceful, and as you can imagine this often entails far more cruelty. After all, obtaining all Gym Badges is the only way one can challenge the Elite Four. Unless of course you were to- OUCH!" Lady Freyja suddenly clutched her mouth.

"Are you all right, Milday?" Duke Hamnet asked. Everyone had paused and was now looking at her intently.

"I just bit my tongue," Lady Freyja said. She then glared at her Gym Badge. "I had forgotten I had made an oath on this not to mention those things because of him… never mind."

"Who's he?" Ash asked.

"His Majesty, he didn't like certain things being bandied about the land after the Elite Four's fall," Lady Freyja spat out. After having some more cake, and drinking what looked suspiciously like hot chocolate, she continued. "Anyway, when one is admitted into the Elite Four, he or she formally renounces their rights over the Eight Badges for the time being, and then vows to not interfere in Galea's politics without good reason, though I'm a bit hazy on the details on what counts as a good reason- do forgive me. Anyway, then, the Champion would initiate them and tell them a few pieces about the origins of the Gym Badges, though not the entire story- and after that most of them remained secluded within their offices for extended periods of times. Some of them went decades without going out, their minds immersed in some sort of project. I once pestered Emily about it a bit too much, to which she answered that it was something that ordinary people couldn't understand."

Ash thought that it still seemed like a waste given that they were giving up control over all of Galea.

"But... I was told there wasn't a Champion," Ash said.

"Oh yes, we hadn't had one for the last five hundred or so years," Lady Freyja said. "Being the Champion was a big responsibility, and included being free of all restrictions the Elite Four had, and inheriting the secret to the Gym Badges. But, to become the Champion, one would have to beat all the rest of the Elite Four in a row. And they squabbled amongst themselves for centuries, but none of them could manage it."

This had given Ash much to think about, but also confused him since Freyja herself seemed hazy on the details.

"Well, if you won't eat anything, let's get on with the inevitable and battle," Freyja said. She got up and said, "Clear the tables and prepare the arena for our battle."

Ash got up. Truth be told, now, with his questions exhausted his stomach did feel empty, but he thought that getting it over with was better rather than sitting around just to finish dinner.

Just then, one of Lady Freyja's ladies suddenly screamed.

Lady Freyja looked at her, annoyed. "What happened, Samantha?" she asked.

"Milady, the ground's moving by itself! There's something digging under it!" Samantha answered.

Ash didn't notice anything, though suddenly he saw there was something crawling out of a hole under Pikachu's chair.

It was a Weezing.

And then there was a dark, thick smoke cloud that obscured everything.

Ash felt the earth give way beneath him and found himself falling. He would have hit the ground hard if it weren't for the two Badges he had which cushioned his fall at the last minute. Something hit his back and by the "Pika!" it suddenly cried out he guessed it was his Pikachu, who had probably either followed him or had been sucked along with him.

As Ash removed his face from the dirt, he noticed that he was in a small cavern, where there was an old woman, at least seventy, standing in front of him holding a small lantern. Besides her were an Excadrill, a Dugtrio, and a Crobat.

She seemed old, but at the same time commanding and confident, much like Agatha of Kanto's Elite Four and was dressed in an outfit that seemed too old to make too much out of what it was. She smiled though when she saw Ash.

"Milord- Your Majest- I mean, Your Highness, whatever you wish to be addressed as, I apologize for stealing you away like that, but you must understand, you cannot do battle with Freyja, for you will lose. I understand you might be upset at my method of extraction, but I was far away from here and I have only just caught up."

"Who are you?" Ash asked.

"My name is Celera," she said. "Though you might have heard of my elder sister, Emily of the Four Heavenly Kings. I have much to talk about, but we must leave- and quickly, before Freyja finds us. You have to use your Badges to hide us from her own gaze for the time being."

Ash didn't agree. No, what came immediately was a huge burst of paranoia, like that time in the Gliscor's Nest, and he was already making a plan to escape all the way back up and finishing his battle when his Pikachu left him, and began sniffing Celera's boots. It then smiled and began nuzzling her.

"Pikachu doesn't trust people that easily," Ash muttered. The abnormal tide of negative feelings, perhaps brought on by the Badges, vanished and he found himself commanding the Badges to hide them- though he had no idea how that worked. If his best pal could trust her, so could he. "But what about my friends? I can't leave them behind?"

"You have challenged her to a Gym Battle, no?"

"Yes," Ash said.

Celera looked thunderstruck. "I had hoped that perhaps you wouldn't have- but no matter, if one good thing comes out of that it is that they can't be harmed. Now let us go, I can't take all of us away."


Aboveground, once the smoke had cleared, the first thing that Gulliver noticed was that Ash and his Pikachu were both absent.

"Sir Ash is gone!" Gulliver shouted. He turned to Freyja. "What'd you do with 'im, huh?"

Lady Freyja looked at Gulliver venomously, her voice having lost its honeyed tone. "I have done nothing, brat. I was so close! He was to fight me, and I was to win! How did he escape? Why did he escape?"

"Wait, you really didn't make this happen?" Gulliver asked.

"Are you telling us that this isn't some plan of your lord's?" Duke Hamnet asked.

The entire table erupted into confusion and chaos as everyone was waving their arms or shouting. It might have turned into a complete riot if Lady Freyja hadn't shot a bolt of lightning from her Badge which knocked over a large tree.

"Now, clearly the pretender has escaped," she said. "And I cannot find him using my Badge, meaning he has shielded himself. Thankfully though he has already challenged me to a Gym Battle, and being a Gym Leader himself, that means certain restrictions, namely, that he cannot leave my demesne until the battle is over."

"What?" Gulliver asked. That was something new to him.

"Find him!" Freyja barked. "Find him, and then I will finally battle and defeat him."

Her servants rushed to comply with the order.

A/N: Anyway, thanks for reading, and do review if you liked.

Also, you guys have been guessing for some time, well you can try again for another week, because the next chapter will reveal it. I will only add that Lady Freyja intended to fight a double battle, meaning that alongside with her Sheninja, there would be another Pokemon, which, used together, would be extremely hard to overcome no matter how weak they might be individually.