Special thanks to the folks on pa-atreon for making this possible. Now without further ado let's get into it.
I woke up in a bed that had become extremely familiar to Donnell in his younger days. I could tell where I was simply from the feel of the foam beneath me. The lab on the first floor. Oak's private lab that had also doubled as a hospital room for me in my younger days.
I wondered why I was here for a few minutes before it all came rushing in. I felt myself choke as tears built on my eyes. Tsunade. She'd been the happiest in the group. The most joyful by miles and she was gone. I cursed it all. Giovanni, team rocket, Oak, me. We were all to blame. Me, most of all.
I knew she wasn't ready. I knew it and all I saw was the type advantage. All I felt was the desire to dominate my opponents. To prove I was superior. I thought of myself as a purely rational actor, but my actions that night were the exact opposite of rational. I could have escaped. There were a thousand ways I could have left that ambush without a fight, but I didn't even consider the possibility of fleeing. It didn't come to mind as even the most fleeting of thoughts. All I saw was opponents in front of me that I needed to overcome.
My pride had cost me the price I was most unwilling to pay. Quicksilver's death hadn't been my fault, but this? I was to blame and that fact was clear from the beginning. My tears turned to full blown sobs as I mourned another one of my pokemon. At this point, there were few things I wouldn't give to see her again.
I don't know when I fell asleep again, but when I came to, it was to find Oak leaning right above me with a flashlight pointed at my eye. I leaned out of his grip and shot him a look of irritation. I couldn't get to say what was on my mind because I noticed the pokemon behind him. My entire team was gazing down on me with worried looks. My entire team. I stared at Tsunade's whole and living form like I was seeing a ghost.
She jumped across the space between us and I caught her with a scream of joy. I cared little for my state and jumped off the bed to swing her around in pure joy. She was alive! I don't think there's any news that could come close to making me as happy as this piece did.
I held her in my arms as tightly as I dared and the rest of the team took the opportunity to come crowding around me. Kenpachi lifted me up with a single hand and sniffed me a bit as if making sure I was ok before he let go of me and went to a corner of the room to watch. Broly was at my back like a silent protector. Kisame wrapped her body around mine like a boa constrictor. Hashirama and Snorlax stayed at my sides and looked content. Magnezone kept trying to zap Kenpachi while he flew about the room in excitement. Gaiwas silent and watching both Tsunade and I with a worried expression on his face.
Igneel was the only one not close. He was at a far off corner of the room, looking as miserable as he ever had. Even though I felt content with my team as we were now, I knew I had to talk to Igneel. Get to the bottom of his bad move.
I managed to extract myself from the pile of pokemon after a few minutes and I walked over to my sad dragon. As I got closer, I watched him become even sadder and adopt a remorseful look on his face. I walked right up to him and ignored the pain I knew was coming as I wrapped him in the tightest hug I dared. It felt like hugging a furnace but I bore the heat well and managed to hold on to him even as he hugged me back.
It didn't take a genius to figure out the reason for his bad news. Ok, that might be a bit untrue. Aura fuckery allowed me read my pokemon like books. He felt guilty for both Tsunade's and my injuries. The team crowded around Igneel and I, and I allowed myself to truly feel content.
XXXXXX
"I take it you've finished your reunion" Oak said as he walked into the room with a glass of water held in his hands. I thanked him as he passed it to me and I took a greedy drink of it. Hadn't realized how thirsty I'd been before the first drop of the cool water ran down my throat.
"Thanks for rescuing me" I said, addressing the elephant in the room.
"You have nothing to be thankful for. What father wouldn't help his son" I swallowed the urge to talk about exactly what kind of father he was. That pain was Donnell's, but I was now beginning to accept that Donnell wasn't as completely gone as I'd once thought. He still existed behind my conscious mind. I felt his wants and desires affect mine all the time.
Perhaps he saw something of my thoughts on my face because his next words were, "I know I haven't always been the best father, but one day, maybe you'll realize that all I do, I do for reasons greater than either of us." I gave him a confused look. The fuck was he going on about.
"Never mind that though, I have been remiss in my duties as a father, and now I want to apologize. I failed you, in more ways than one. I allowed you leave here all those months ago, completely on your own. Perhaps some part of me thought that if I didn[t help you on your quest, then you might give up and return to me of your own volition, but now I realize how untrue that is. You are indeed my son, all I've raised you to be" He took a breath and paused. I couldn't see where he was going with this failed apology.
"Now, I realize how wrong I've been. Allow me atone for my mistakes. You still have quite a few months till the conference. Train with me till then." He ended with a hopeful look on his face.
"No." I said simply and turned to the screen in front of me. I didn't see the hope die on his face as he left the room in disappointment, quite frankly, I cared little for it. I'd sworn all those months ago that I would make it to the top without his help. I would be DONNELL oak, not donnell OAK. The professor might have even meant his apology, but I cared nothing for it. I'd made it this far without him. I could get to the finish line on my own.
I was startled by a bright light off to the side, and I turned to see Ino had just teleported in. Her mind and mine became one for a few seconds, and she saw what had just happened, and I could feel her disagreement.
'Accept it' She said in my mind like it was the simplest thing in the world. I shook my head strongly and showed her all the memories I had of Oak's neglect, of all the times people assumed the fruits of mine and the team's hard work were all blessings from the great Samuel Oak.
'When you train me, and I battle, do I win, or do you?' She asked in at blunt tone of hers.
"It's not the same and you know it" I replied with a scowl building on my face.
She couldn't understand it. Oak had done so much. He couldn't just fix years of neglect and mistreatment with an offer to train.
'He's offering to start at least'. Her logic was sound and maybe that's what irritated me the most. The knowledge that she might ber right. She couldn't understand though. If we take his help here, then that just meant I was nothing. Nothing but a product of the legendary Samuel Oak.
'Is your pride so important to you?' she asked, unknowingly echoing a train of thought I'd had just a day ago. My pride. The thing that had risked Tsunade's life. Was this all for my pride? I gave Ino a look as I truly considered it.
Would this be for the good of my pokemon? Yes. Oak might be many things, but none could call him an incompetent trainer. He'd built a champion-level team, and that meant something. What ended up making my mind for me was a simple question. 'Would I be able to live with myself if one of my pokemon died because I refused Oak's training?' The answer to that particular query was a clear and resounding no.
I'd promised to not let my pride risk the lives of my pokemon ever again as I mourned Tsunade, and even though, she was alright, that didn't mean my promise was any less binfing than it would have been if she was truly dead. I couldn't let my pride get in the way of this. I turned to Ino and gave her a nod to show my acceptance of her words. She was right.
I got up from the bed and made my way to Oak's lab. That was the only place he was guaranteed to be. He looked up, surprised as I made my way inside.
"I'll accept your training" I said and watched as a smile bloomed on his face. In that moment, I could truly appreciate how much we looked alike.
"But I have some conditions" I continued.
"Speak them" He said, while still smiling like the cat that caught the canary.
"You do the training yourself. No pawning me off to a lab assistant or something-"
"I would never do that" He interrupted, and I merely gave him a look. We both know he'd pawned off most of my upbringing to various lab assistants through the years.
"Secondly, I want your 100%. When we're training, we're training. No research, no consideration, nothing. I want you to give it your all. No holding back." I said and waited for his reply.
"Since you have conditions, I have only one of my own" He said and I waited for him to speak his own condition.
"Your sponsorship with Silph. End it. You are Donnell Oak of this lab. You need no other sponsors." He said like that was the end of it.
"No." I said and enjoyed the way his eyes went wide in surprise. "You never once offered to sponsor me when I was starting out. Whenever I raised the matter, you brushed me off. I won't take your sponsorship. I don't want it. I've given my terms. Are you in?" I asked and watched him scowl for a few seconds before he brightened up and gave me a nod.
XXXXXX
"As a trainer, you've been a complete mess." Oak decided to start our first session with his regular bluntness. I tried to avoid getting offended and only raised an eyebrow at his statement.
"Don't get me wrong, your pokemon are powerful and talented. You're the weak link. It's clear for everyone to see in how you battle, and even in how you trained them. You have a passable grasp of basic tactics and have been able to come up with a few good ideas every once in a while to save yourself from defeat, but beyond that, you've been for all intents and purposes a rookie trainer. That would be fine, even expected, if you had a rookie trainer's team. But you don't. Somehow you've managed to build a team of powerful pokemon around you, and that is as much a blessing as it is a curse." He stopped to take a sip of the water beside him before heading right back into his rant.
"If you had a weaker team, then your flaws would have become obvious to you ages ago and you would have worked to fix them. THere's a reason why every trainer starts with a young starter pokemon. Both trainer and pokemon are supposed to learn and develop together. That allows them both to be much much stronger for it. You, on the other hand have managed to build a team of strong pokemon without developing yourself. It's the kind of problem I never thought I'd have to see. Pokemon only become strong under a strong trainer, after all. Since you've put the cart before the horse, we'll be spending the next few months more focused on you than your pokemon."
I got ready to cut him off at that, but he spoke over my attempt with ease. "You are the thing holding your pokemon back. There is no training that I can give your pokemon that will allow them match up while you still lead them, but I can train you to be truly worthy of them. To utilise every bit of power and skill they have to offer with precision and talent. Don't worry about your pokemon though. My team hasn't been entertained in a small eternity. They'll keep them in shape."
I nodded at what he said even though I didn't really understand his point about the difference between training me and training my pokemon. How else could he train me, but by having me battle with my pokemon.
"Now, five laps around the ranch" He said suddenly and I looked at him in shock till I had to swerve around a jumping growlithe. Oak's face was a picture of amusement as I took to my heels, chased by a pack of playing Growlithe.
XXXXXX- The Champion
"Multiple attacks. We almost saw Celadon fall the same way Vermillion did. A tournament that was supposed to announce the exploration of the league weas interrupted, and now we have a fire storm raging across the forests of Fuchsia. Do you truly want to tell us all these things aren't related?" I asked the head of the ACE trainers across from me.
ACE were the best of the best, but right now, they didn't feel like anything of the sort with this sudden display of incompetence. Vermillion's attack, Celadon's mess and even the Fuchsia disaster…all events that would be enough to unsettle the public for a year, and they all happened within the same quarter. At this point, it was a surprise that the region was yet to devolve into total anarchy.
The league was shown close to no ability to protect the people and they were seeing it surely and clearly. Dozens dead in a few months, and no leads on the possible culprit or culprits.
The only thing we had going so far was a name, Team Rocket. Our prisoners from the attack on the SIlph tournament said little willingly, but the authorization to use psychic power to pluck the information out of their brains came quickly and readily. The only issue was the two 'admins', as the other rockets knew them as. Their minds were heavily warded against intrusion, and the only way to break those barriers was by shattering the mind itself. It was easy to get authorization to scan their minds, but authorization to essentially kill them would not be forthcoming.
The courts had denied my request before even considering the potential value of the information these admins could have. THe grunts knew nothing of the attack on Vermillion, but half of them believed it to have been the organization acting through other tools. The admins would probably be the only ones who knew for sure. Once again, I lamented not being in Blackthorne. The elder would never hesitate like these weak Kantoans were insistent on doing.
The answers were right in our reach, and they lacked the balls to take them. I would have overruled them and gone ahead with the scan, but even my elite four were against doing what was necessary. Weakness was part and parcel of Kanto.
"So far, apart from the suspicions of the members of the Criminal organisation known as Team ROcket, we have nothing to connect any two of the incidents. I am simply suggesting that it would be more prudent to act as though all the attacks were seperate events in and of themselves. It prevents us from making assumptions that might hinder the apprehension of any of the suspects."
I see. He was speaking sense. "And what has your investigation into the fire yielded?" I asked to get things moving and be over and done with things. He didn't sound like he had any leads for me to test myself against, so he might as well offer up what he did find.
"We have been able to find that the fire was no accident. Although the suspicion was never taken seriously, we have now found conclusive evidence that the fire was caused by multiple fire type pokemon acting in concert. It was a deliberate attack. Of that we have no doubts. We've also been able to isolate the starting point of the fire and have managed to find a collapsed underground chamber. It was too ruined to obtain any useful information from, but it does offer a hint as to why the fires were started." He trailed off at the end with a swift salute.
I turned to my elite four and found them all considering the report. We'd all known the fire was no accident. It had spread too quickly to have been anything less than intentional, but the knowledge that thre had been some underground chamber in the forest was worrying. I was tempted to snicker as I thought of Koga combing through every inch of the forest and looking under every stone as he searched for more bases. The man was too much of himself to do anything less.
"Thank you for your report, agent." The president finally spoke when it was clear no one had any further questions for the man. We ended the meeting there and I left with a lot pon my mind.
A/N; Thanks for reading. We just finished chapter 37 on the pa-atreon page. Feel free to join me there if you feel like supporting my work. Same username as up here. The link's on my profile. I think I'll be having a timeskip on the next chapter. It only makes sense at this point, and I don't think I'll enjoy writing Donnell's training very much. How do you like the way the story is going so far?