A/N:
This entire journey has been supported by readers just like you, and you yourself. Whether monetarily on pa-atreon or with good reviews, or even just by the act of reading the story itself. I guess it's a good time to let you know that I just officially uploaded the very last chapter (barring any epilogues) on my pa-atreon page. Thank you so much for sticking with me so long. Oak might have ended, but I haven't. We just finished a poll on the same pa-atreon page that means the next story I'll be working on is a self insert into the body of Clark Kent in the MCU (Update; The first chapter of that, along with the first chapter of an SI into an OC firebender during the 100 year war are both live on pa-atreon right now). Feel free to follow or favourite my profile so you can get notified once that comes out. Thank you. Thank you all so much.
Since everyone is asking for one of these, here's a breakdown of the character names before we get into things
Broly - Kleavor
Quicksilver - Pidgeot (dead)
Kisame - Milotic
Igneel - Charizard
Kenpachi - Tyranitar
Ino - Gardevoir
Snorlax - Snorlax
Tsunade - Clefable
Gai - Hakomo-o
Magnezone - Magnezone
Hashirama- Trevenant
My father - the one from my first life, and if we were being realistic, the only one I've ever known - had a saying: "A good night will always be followed by a bad morning." Sounds pessimistic, right? Well, it wasn't. It was a saying about alcohol consumption and hangovers. Of course, I've since turned it into a guiding dictum for my life. I had an amazing night. The best night of my life - both lives, maybe. So the morning was bound to be something else. That's why I wasn't even surprised when Ino literally forced me into wakefulness.
"What's happening? What's wrong?" I asked her as I watched Alakazam do the same to Sabrina, who lay in bed next to me. My psychic just pointed at the door and fed me a stream of thoughts. ACE trainers. Fucking ACE trainers. A lot of them. I jumped out of bed without a second thought, stretching my hands out and melding my mind with Ino's, like a hand entering a glove. I quickly dressed in a bathrobe, and my Pokébelt was wrapped around my waist almost instantly. Not that the belt itself was going to be of much use. It was mostly empty. Ino had released most of the team and was ready to teleport them in at the slightest sign of violence. I was hopeful it wouldn't come to that, though. After the night I just had, I was in an especially positive mood and would be willing to let them leave with just an apology for their rudeness.
I walked out of the room and made my way to the gym's reception. It was quite a distance away, but it gave me time to put on my slippers and some underwear underneath the robe. I wasn't dressed for a fight, but I also wasn't going to be the one fighting - if a fight did indeed break out.
As I walked in, I stared at the team of ACE trainers. There were five of them, mostly presenting as male, with one visibly female. I smiled genially as I stepped closer to them. When they noticed me, they snapped to attention and turned away from the secretary, who was doing a fantastic job of delaying them by insisting they provide evidence that they complied with every bit of procedure.
"Donnell Oak, you are under arrest," one of them shouted, pointing a Pokéball at me. The rest followed suit.
"What am I being arrested for?" I asked, legitimately curious about what was happening. To the best of my knowledge, I hadn't done anything illegal in a while, and Kanto still needed trainers to represent her in the Tournament of Power.
"The murder of Agatha of the Elite Four. I advise you to return your Pokémon and come quietly," the first one spoke again. I silently named him Pink for the garish lapel pin he had on his trench coat. A trench coat over the ACE uniform was already a bit strange, but the lapel pin made it a million times worse. It took a few seconds for their words to sink in, and when they finally did, a chuckle managed to slip through my best attempts to maintain a serious façade.
Stepping even closer to them, I asked again, "Is there any evidence? Can I see a warrant?" I was reluctant to volunteer any information at this point. I never graduated uni, but I knew enough that all evidence was best saved for the courtroom. No need to give them details of my defense before I needed to.
One of them tried stepping forward to hand it to me, but Ino appeared between us and took the piece of paper from his hand before he could move more than a step. She appeared right where she left, with no fan
fare, and handed over the piece of paper to me. I could see the looks on the trainers' faces as they realized exactly where they were and who they stood before. Ino's display had reminded them that I was a trainer with the power to level a city, and I could see it in the way their postures shifted. The way their hands itched to grab extra Pokéballs, and the way the hands already on their balls seemed to hover over the release buttons. I guess they were still hoping this could be resolved peacefully.
Turning to the piece of paper in my hand, trusting Ino to prevent any misbehavior, I read the warrant and scowled as I realized it was valid. "My love?" Sabrina's voice rang out in my head. 'I'll have to be seeing you later, sweetheart. Don't interfere. One of us must remain free to act. I apologize, but I will be leaving you with much of the burden of proving my innocence,' I spoke to her with my thoughts. She retreated for a bit, and I straightened my back, turning to face the ACE trainers.
"Unfortunately, I won't," I said, and one of them was stupid enough to actually ask, "Won't what?"
"Won't come quietly, of course. If you want me, you'll have to take me. But trust me, it won't be quiet," I said, picking up the only occupied Pokéball on my belt. My smile made a few of them flinch, but showing the training they'd endured, their Pokémon were out before mine. But it didn't matter. Their blasts of red light mattered little, and the challenging roars their Pokémon let out were drowned out by Snorlax's own roar of challenge. He'd been asleep when Ino released the rest of the team, but since then, he'd communed with Ino through the Pokéball and was well aware of what was going to happen. One Primeape jumped right at him, hoping to overpower my monster with its glowing fists. Snorlax paid it little attention, snatching it out of the air and hurling it right out of the gym in the same motion. The other trainers and their Pokémon showed some hesitance after that exchange but still approached nonetheless. I approved of their bravery and stretched my hands, silently inviting the challenge. I didn't want a fight, but since it was inevitable, I might as well enjoy it.
The first ACE trainer signaled to the others, and Pink moved first. His Magmar unleashed a massive flamethrower from its arm cannons, but Ino appeared right in front of it and trapped the attack in a cage of reflections. The attack didn't succeed in breaking through, and Ino removed the shields before appearing right within its guard, the aura of Psycho Cut surrounding her spoon. I turned to Snorlax and watched him wrestle his way through three Pokémon.
The Hitmonlee and Hitmontop moved around him in unison, trying to flank him. The Typhlosion tried to draw all his attention while his teammates moved around him. They had done this before; my eyes told me. I could see the way they moved, never looking at their partners to verify their positions. The way each Pokémon did its part and trusted the others to do the same spoke of some level of experience. It was just tragic that the experience was being leveled against one of the few people in the world who it wouldn't affect. Surely, the League knew these trainers weren't strong enough to arrest me. It should be offensive. I should be offended.
Typhlosion tried to move in on Snorlax with each fist glowing with a different elemental power. Snorlax dodged the first two, and a wild haymaker crashed into the Fighting-type's head when it overextended in its pursuit of my wily Pokémon. Snorlax could be deceptively quick when he wanted to. He had an agility that belied his size, and he showed it when one of the Hitmon duo tried to distract him from following up his attack on Typhlosion. He weaved through their attempts to hit him and approached the prone Fire-type slowly and surely. Its back flared suddenly, with explosive power, and it shot at Snorlax like a bullet from a gun. The attack took us by surprise, but Snorlax had very little issue adapting and catching his opponent mid-air. They were around the same size, with Snorlax being just a little bit taller and much broader, but size was the only thing they had in common. In terms of strength, the Fire-type was still quite a ways away from matching up against my gluttonous friend. A Pokémon that had gone toe-to-toe with Bruno's starter before being chased off and had only grown stronger since joining my team was a bit too much for these no-name trainers and their Pokémon.
Snorlax drove that point home as he caught the approaching flyer and transitioned their embrace into a suplex. I winced as the floor shattered from the force my Pokémon had used to plant the Typhlosion. I'd be paying for all this damage, one way or another. In the aftermath, only Typhlosion's legs were sticking out of the ground, and Snorlax backed away, watching his handiwork with a proud smile. I smiled at him too and waited for the other Pokémon to attack. One of the ACE trainers whistled something at the others, and they all nodded. Typhlosion disappeared in a blur of red, and several more Pokémon appeared in similar flashes. I scowled as I saw their strategy. If quality fails, why not try quantity?
Sabrina's voice flashed in my mind, and I just nodded. I was right. She wasn't pleased with the damage to her gym and wasn't pleased at the thought that we were about to cause more. "We'll take it outside, love," I replied to her mentally, and Ino appeared at my side. I turned to look at the Magmortar and found it on the floor, bleeding from many cuts across its body. Ino was quickly becoming one of the deadliest members of the team. She took hold of my shoulder, and we appeared right outside the gym. Of course, I hadn't considered that we'd be teleporting right into an ambush. From a cloak of darkness, kept up by multiple Dark-types no doubt, appeared what looked to be a whole team of Pokémon Rangers. My mind was racing as I flickered my eyes from place to place. I could feel the dome of distortion over the entire area now that I was outside. Sabrina's psychic power drowned out anything that tried to impose itself on her domain. Now? I was outside. I wondered if this had been part of some sort of plan, but how could it have been? I whistled, and Snorlax jumped right out of the gym, straight at me, with three Pokémon clinging to his body. When he landed, he wasted no time in brutally dealing with them. We'd avoided any deaths so far, but with the number of trainers and thus Pokémon that we were about to face off against, I doubted my team would be willing or able to show such restraint.
A tense standoff broke out as the rangers and their Pokémon stared me down, and the ACE trainers ran outside to join them. "I will only give this warning once," I said, stretching my hands out wide and looking for all the world like I was in control here, despite the fact that I was wearing little besides a bathrobe and didn't have the slightest idea how I was going to get out of here beyond "beat everyone up till I get the Dark-type and teleport out of here." It was, all things considered, not the worst plan I'd ever come up with. It lacked quite a few things like details and everything apart from a vague idea of what I wanted, but it was enough. "My team and I will not be holding back from here on out. Cease this foolish attempt before I leave this place with the blood of your Pokémon on my hands. I'm sure that's not what any of us here wishes to happen." I delivered my warning, and as expected, none of them looked even the slightest bit hesitant about what was coming their way. They'd realize soon enough. When I finished here, I had to find whoever came up with this bullshit. We had a whole-ass tournament to prepare for, and they were sabotaging one of their strongest trainers. This just had to be a whole new level of stupid.
"Ino, the rest of the team," I requested of my right hand, and she disappeared from my side. She couldn't teleport out of the barrier, but teleportation within seemed to be possible with only the slightest bit of additional strain.
When she reappeared, it was with Igneel at her side. He looked bored until his eyes noted our opponents, and that voice of his was roaring a challenge to the heavens. I didn't bother trying to rein him back. What was the point? He took to the skies, and I felt the heat in the area nearly triple. In the time it took him to prepare himself, the rest of the team had arrived. The ACE trainers and Rangers seemed to be using the time it took me to set up to come up with a strategy. I nodded at the wisdom. If Oak's lessons taught me anything, it was that with the right kind of strategy and teamwork, nearly any foe could be overcome. It was cute that they wanted to apply this wisdom against me. I wasn't just "any" foe. I was going to thoroughly remind them of the difference between trainers at my level and trainers at theirs.
Surrounded in a cloak of fire, Igneel dove straight at some poor ranger's Bellossom. The flexible Grass-type did all it could to dodge the first charge, but the tail that lashed out the moment my dragon landed was enough to send it crashing into a tree. The Viridian Pokémon Centre was in the centre of town but was still surrounded by beautiful forestry. There used to be a few residential blocks around the gym, but they'd been destroyed and never rebuilt during the attack. The city was very much one that was in the midst of recovery, so it didn't surprise me that we had more than enough space to let loose to our hearts' content.
Kenpachi was the next to jump into the fray, moving with slow lumbering steps and gathering the attention of all the attackers as he moved. Gai and Broly took advantage of the distraction he caused to move in and out, causing as much trouble as they could with their devastating speed. Kisame lay on the ground next to me, keeping a watchful eye out for any attackers. 'Hashirama, use...' I started mentally, but found nothing where the thread of aura that connected me and my friend used to be. I felt my heart palpitate at that, and I wanted to just fold in on myself and cry. Ino's warm mental embrace might have been the only thing preventing me from doing just that. I screamed to myself in inner anguish and lost focus on the battle.
My attackers must have thought me insane like the rumors said, but for the first time in forever, I truly didn't care. Hashirama was gone. Just gone. Dead. Felled by an old bint with a misplaced grudge. An old bint they wanted to arrest me for 'killing'? Fuck them. Fuck all this. No mercy.
Kisame was the one to react most directly to my anger. Her eyes visibly glowed as she shoved a boatload of power into her mouth, gathering a sizable Hyper Beam. It was over in a flash. She blasted over a dozen Pokémon with that one attack, and even though it had been too spread out to take any of them out completely, it left them damaged enough for a pissed off Broly. I once compared Broly to a ninja because of his speed and deadly skill with his axe-hands. That resemblance had never shown through as clearly as it did today. He was gone before I saw him move, but what I did see was his effect. Stone axes weren't the sharpest of instruments, but one would have mistaken them for steel with the way Broly seemed to cleave through his opponents with no delay. Living up to his name, indeed. With blurry eyes, I watched Igneel change the weather itself as he shot massive bolts of fire into the sky. Another team move idea I'd come up with after applying some anime logic. The fire in the sky helped Kisame greatly as she created rain clouds thicker and darker than I'd ever seen her do before. The Pokémon that remained standing were quickly drenched as the skies began to weep an ocean. Every drop that fell from the clouds fell right into her control. The Pokémon around us didn't even realize it was over for them until each and every one of them had their heads surrounded in water bubbles and were very quickly drowned. Those who didn't need to breathe were quickly taken out by the rest of the team.
I nodded in pride, still as dry as ever. Kisame's control was enough to prevent even a single drop from touching me. "Well, that was quick," I snarked at the devastated rangers and ACE trainers. Most of their Pokémon were dead. Kisame hadn't bothered holding back and had actually drowned most of those caught in her localized water prison. It would have been sad if they didn't deserve it. Agatha had taken from me, and now I'd taken from all of them. Fair.
Of course, that's when things had to get weird. A powerful roar tore apart Kisame's rain clouds, and I just watched in shock as a figure on the back of a Dragonite landed right on the ground, creating a splash where it landed. The Dragonite was familiar. Muscular and thick. It was obvious whose Pokémon it was. Lance, the Champion of Indigo.
I watched as he stepped off his mount and walked forward, looking for all the world like a conquering hero. His red hair swayed in the remaining wind from my impromptu thunderstorm, and his cape was soaked through from the rain that still fell from the skies, even as the clouds slowly cleared up.
"Donnell Oak. Agatha was a friend of mine. You are under arrest," he declared. I scowled at his words, feeling the ache of the terrible lie, but I chose to ignore it. Agatha had no friends. He was here for some reason that eluded me. Indigo was already in the past. Mewtwo had taken care of that. He had come to accomplish a goal I couldn't begin to fathom, and the thought of fighting against the champion himself pained me almost as much as the circumstances surrounding it.
Yes, I desired to face him in a fair match, but not today, and not like this.
A/N: Ending the chapter here. Yes. Lance v Donnell. I think we all know how this one will go. Thanks for reading. Remember, you can read the rest of this story and the rest of my work up on my pa-atreon page. Same username as here.