Sir Fredrick panted as he burst into the open fields which were smothered in berries of all varieties. It was vital that this message reach His Majesty the Eighth Gym Leader, the Emperor of Ten Thousand Years, Arceus' Favorite Among Men, the Celestial One, etc. etc.
His Majesty's entire domain was an island located to the far north of Galea. It was isolated from the rest of the main continent by a strip of sea controlled by Selena, and as telephones and other electronic devices went haywire around the place for some reason, the rest of the people living on the mainland had very little idea- if any, of what went on in His Majesty's domain.
As such many rumors- mostly untrue, circulated around about the island and what went on in there. Sir Fredrick had visited the mainland once- to deliver a message to Sir Ash Ketchum, and while in a tavern there he had heard the oddest stories about his homeland- namely that there were rivers of honey that flowed through the place and people with backwards feet lived there!
Sir Fredrick shook his head and proceeded through the huge maze of berry plants all of which belonged to His Majesty.
His Majesty, much like Vanessa, had decided to completely abandon the idea of actually running his territory and simply reserved all the land near the foothills of the peaks where the headquarters of the Four Heavenly Kings used to be for himself and stayed there. It was only a small fraction of land compared to the rest of the island so no one could call him overly greedy- and it was necessary so that no one would attempt to make the climb up- not that many could make it through Victory Road anyway.
Fredrick finally saw him, who was tending to a Pecha Berry plant like it was his own child.
"Milord," Fredrick said and bowed. "The Senate bears a message for you."
His Majesty didn't reply for a full minute, but Fredrick had long since been accustomed to that. Fredrick had learned that there was something odd about His Majesty, mainly in how he talked to other people- something that was perhaps a product of living in near-complete isolation from all human contact for extremely long stretches of time.
"Do tell me," His Majesty finally said and bid Fredrick to stand up.
His Majesty was an extremely tall raven-haired man who liked to wear a crisp business suit that had been all the rage in the region of Unova a long, long, time ago when he had been there. He was extremely handsome with a face that stood timeless thanks to the Celestial Badge that he carried. As always, his entire demeanor awed Fredrick.
"The Senate recently met," Fredrick explained once he found his voice. The Senate was the body that His Majesty had chosen to form to govern the island. It was a democratic body and every single citizen of the island older than sixteen years of age could vote whenever it met.
Such a thing was an oddity in Galea and only existed because His Majesty knew how corrupt governors could be and assumed that the people were more than capable of learning how to manage themselves. When he had first ordered such, the population of the island had been a meager twelve thousand people but had now swollen to one hundred and forty thousand at this time. As such, it was nearly impossible to convene the Senate as it used to be- even though only a small fraction usually bothered to show up. There were plans being made to convert the Senate into a republic body, but those plans were still being considered.
Of course, even though the Senate existed, His Majesty still had complete control over the island and could veto any decision they made but used this ability so rarely that the Senate was for all practical purposes what ruled the island.
However, there were times when the Senate knew that it needed His Majesty and (infinitely more importantly) the power of his Badge to lead them in a certain matter, and never had a time come like this when they truly needed it.
"Milord, the Senate has begun to hear the most distressing of tidings brought from the outside world," Fredrick said. "And there is the matter that a few days earlier, a snowstorm somehow hit the island even though it is the height of summer. And there have been unusual sightings from the sea- ships from Lady Selena's domain have been wandering quite close to our borders. They seem to be loaded with weapons, according to some reports."
His Majesty didn't respond and instead turned to inspect another berry plant. Rather than respond to Sir Fredrick's request, he said, "Tell me one thing, Fredrick. You were once a Gym Leader, and a good one, were you not?"
"Yes," Fredrick said. It was actually one of the reasons why the Senate trusted him so much, and although the Senate was a democratic body, usually Fredrick ended up getting his way since he was so popular and people usually looked to him as His Majesty's right-hand man though he had never officially been given such a designation. As such, whenever the Senate wanted to talk to His Majesty, Fredrick was always chosen to deliver it. "I take it you remember, of course, Milord, given how you deposed me yourself?" Fredrick tried not to let too much sarcasm leak into the words.
"So tell me this then," His Majesty said after quite some time. "What is the value of life, in your opinion?"
Fredrick was confused. "I, well, life is important, Milord," he said lamely.
"Such a simple statement, and yet so true," His Majesty replied. "What could be more precious than life? Throughout mine, I've held but one weakness- an ability to kill even the minutest of creatures if I can help it. Life in all forms should be revered. One of the very first things I did upon claiming this Badge was to ban capital punishment throughout the island."
Fredrick nodded. That was all true, but what did it have to do with what was going on?
"And yet," His Majesty added, his features darkening, "there are times when I believe that it is necessary, or even justified to take life." He then paused. "If only I had killed Selena when I had got the chance. I may have defeated her, but at the last second I hesitated with the finishing blow. While I can believe that every person deserves a second chance, I can also say with near certainty that if there is a single person in all of Galea whose death is justified, it would be that of the witch sitting just south of my borders."
His Majesty then turned his gaze towards the sky. "What is happening, Sir Fredrick, is that the Barrier has been greatly weakened. I have heard, from my network of spies who send me news via Wingulls and other birds, that there have been odd occurrences happening not only here, but all across Galea. A ship disappeared near the border to end up in the desert far away. It has snowed for some reason on our island, somehow a horde of Darumaka appeared out of the ether and razed a village, and Pokemon not native to Galea at all have suddenly been spotted."
His Majesty's face darkened even further as he said, "I've regretted sparing her life several times- but always persuaded myself that it was the right thing to do. But that woman has plotted against me from the very beginner. She had brought a child- this Ash Ketchum- from outside and to do so she harmed the Barrier. She probably didn't even notice how much damage had been done to it, but it has spread and even more was done when another force from outside broke through. It needs mending urgently, otherwise, while there are several scenarios possible, the most likely one would be that all of Galea will collapse on itself and the gravitational force generated by the collapsing spatio-temporal matter will cause it to be reduced to nothing larger than a grain of sand." His Majesty said this with such levity- as if he was talking about how the weather might be the next day.
Fredrick gulped. "What are we to do?"
"Selena, no doubt, is preparing a fleet to strike at us," His Majesty said. "That is the first problem we must deal with."
A bead of sweat slid down Fredrick's face. "Surely you jest Milord- the treaty would forbid such an action!"
"The treaty is no more," His Majesty said. "Her forces will arrive, I think, within the next week." He then smiled. "Do not look so worried- this is all only bad news if there were no one to stop her. I will face her in battle when she comes. I will defeat her- and end her like I should have. And I will finally unite all of Galea by gathering the eight Gym Badges together, I will fix the Barrier, and finally, after such a long time, we will have peace."
Fredrick wasn't very convinced. "Selena is very strong sire- are you certain we're up to the task of defending ourselves from her?" What he really meant to ask was if His Majesty was sure that he could overcome her.
"Oh, she's had over thirty years to plan for this," His Majesty said. "But then again, so have I. There's been a benefit to leaving my duties for the Senate to perform- it frees up all of my time for training and bit of my hobbies on the side. I have been practicing for over thirty-two years, right here near Victory Road which leads up to the Elite Four's Headquarters. Selena was powerful, true, but her greatest weakness is that she believes that she has achieved it all- that it is physically impossible for someone to outdo her or even to equal what she has become. So what has she done? She devotes her time to endless scheming, to fiddling with new toys so she can spy on others better, and to teaching." His Majesty snorted. "Some teacher she is- one who thinks she's mastered it all. I cannot wait to see her expression when we finally fight. The others have long since believed that I have done nothing but while away my time all these years… but then again most of them are currently imprisoned so I believe that that in itself shows how much that they know and how much their opinions mattered."
"What should we do right now then?" Fredrick asked.
His Majesty frowned. "Given that she's going to try and invade us, a counter-invasion would be the proper way to respond. But given that Constantinople's population far outnumbers our own and we do not have a fleet ready, we must prepare instead to receive her attack. Tell the Senate that they are dissolved from this moment onward- I will be personally overseeing the defense and matters of the state from now on until the threat has passed."
"Yes, Milord," Fredrick said. "And what of the Barrier? What can we do about it until you obtain all eight Gym Badges?"
"I can attempt to prop it up, so to speak, for a while," His Majesty said. "But Selena will not dare delay- even she must realize that she doesn't have too much time left before the Barrier collapses and swallows her up too. She will come to me, and she will be the one to challenge me. We do not need to worry about that."
"And what of Ash Ketchum?" Fredrick asked.
His Majesty shrugged. "He is not a problem. Most likely, I believe, when Selena tells her the truth he will surrender his Badges to her of his own volition, and even if he doesn't, he is hardly a problem right now compared to Selena. We need to strengthen our borders- I take it that our navy is as underdeveloped as it always was?"
"It is nothing to be proud of," Fredrick said. "Even though we have more ships than we did a few years ago."
"Then a sea battle is out of the question then," His Majesty said. "We must play to our strengths- her Badge will be weaker in my territory than it is in her own. I may be able to sink most of her ships- though of course she would have planned for that and must have several Water Pokemon available. She could probably push far into our territory if I were not there."
"Just a suggestion, Milord," Fredrick said. "But why not create a barrier like she has around her own domain? With the Elite Four Champion's power on our side-"
"There's no point," His Majesty interjected. "I need her Badge to fix what has happened to the Barrier, so it is necessary that she come and attack us so I may defeat her. Not to mention she's a crafty one and I don't believe any barrier will stop her indefinitely."
His Majesty then began examining his berry plants for the next ten minutes before he finally said something. "For our battle plan, evacuate everyone near the coast and shift them here, where they will be safe inland. Any fighters that we can manage to find- and by that I mean any Trainer willing to put up a fight can be recruited into our army." He turned towards Victory Road. "After all, the Pokemon within there are strong enough to be useful even in an amateur's hands. Have lots of Poke Balls delivered to me- I'm going to need them to go on a catching spree."
His Majesty then turned his gaze towards the mountains- Victory Road was a punishing path that led to the place where the Elite Four and the Elite Four Champion used to live. It was there that the new Elite Four members would learn the secret contained deep within and later on recluse themselves. It was there that he had faced, and defeated Arthur, Emily, Ashley, and Gregor of the Elite Four not once, but twice.
Fredrick was saying something, but His Majesty was far too lost in his own thoughts to notice.
It was up in those hills, that, when the Elite Four had found out that the Gym Leaders had gathered against them- they, rather than fighting, had decided to flee Galea like Rattata jumping off a sinking ship. They had hoped to flee to some other region and beg the people there for help- but had been caught, defeated, and imprisoned before that could happen.
"… and sir, we do not have materials for artillery which we believe the enemy might have, there is enough wood but it does not rival the new technologies which Selena might have," Fredrick said.
His Majesty hadn't heard most of the conversation- but he wasn't about to ask Fredrick to repeat himself. "Tell the Senate to look into it- I do not want to be burdened with minor details. If there are no new artillery devices, we will simply have to make do with old-fashioned ones." The words were spat from his mouth with an underlying anger that surprised both Fredrick and His Majesty.
"Sire... you just ordered the Senate dissolved yourself," Fredrick said.
"Oh," His Majesty said and frowned, getting more irritated by the minute, but composing himself enough to say, "I simply meant that I will be interfering in their decisions more, of course I still want the Senate to remain and function as it always has. Go tell them this- I need to look into certain matters for now."
Fredrick wanted to protest and ask for him to actually do something- but once Fredrick took a good look at His Majesty's face and combined it with his tone, he knew that the Gym Leader wasn't even truly listening anymore. Fredrick nodded, bowed, and then took his leave.
His Majesty watched Fredrick leave. A wave of guilt rose up in him- he shouldn't have been so rude, and those complaints were genuine. But this was quashed as he knew that he had bigger issues to handle.
His Majesty took a deep breath. He couldn't help but pause and wonder… he had said that he would kill Selena now if it were necessary and it was almost certain that the time would come, but a large part of him rejected the idea, even though he was able to rationalize it perfectly within his head. He could rationalize why he would do so completely, and yet when he thought about it he felt his head throb and deep down, knew that it would not be so easy.
It seemed that it was just not who he was as a person. Killing, no matter how much he justified it, seemed to be something quite beyond him.
But, he thought with a malicious grin which would've made anyone watching him wonder why he was smiling to himself like that- he was definitely at the very least going to enjoy tormenting her. That, at the very least, was something that she deserved and something he could dish out without feeling any guilt.
He was sure that even now, she was busy putting the finishing details to her fleet and was preparing to sail across and take his territory in what she surely must believe to be an easy victory.
His Majesty smiled as he contemplated the thought of crushing her… and he also considered not defeating her so easily. No, perhaps he would let her army advance onto his island and stay there for a week or so, watching as they struggle to survive off the land but giving her a false sense of hope and security before he moved out to eliminate her.
He stretched his arms. It was time for all those years of training to pay off.
A/N: And at last we reach the Selena chapter! We can finally get to learn important stuff! *throws confetti*
Thanks for reading, and do please review if you liked!
