Asher's Team:

Lago - Rhydon
Crust - Golem
Sebastian - Nidoking
Selena - Nidoqueen
Seraph - Clefable
Barret - Dugtrio
Sonic - Sandslash
Death - Marowak
Colossus - Steelix

I have to admit it, Charlotte's a pretty good trainer, way better than most of the other idiots in this tournament anyway, and if it were someone else then I don't doubt that she would have won. But, sadly for her she ended up facing me, and I can tell just from looking at her face that she knew she wasn't going to walk away from this as the winner. I still had Barret left so even if she managed to beat Selena- which she won't- she still has to deal with yet another one of the monsters I carry around with me, and by then it'd be too late for her to make a comeback, my victory was a sure thing at this point.

Still though, this match was quite the eye opener for me, I haven't really fought any notable fire-type trainers other than Blaine, and that was with his seven badge team, one that was extremely inferior to his real elite team, so I haven't given the type much thought. They're pretty strong as it turns out.

Maybe I should get a fire-type of my own, what pokemon are there that have both the ground and fire-types again? Lets see, Camerupt and... Primal Groudon.

…well I guess I'll have to either skip out on the fire-type, or try and capture a legendary. To be fair that second one isn't as impossible as some might think, I've got time and I know where and when Groudon will be hanging around. All I need to catch him is risk throwing Hoenn into an eternal drought, so very very fun times there, hahahaha.

Okay, moving on from my plans to capture legendaries, Charlotte is on her last pokemon here, who is she going to pick? Will it even matter? Should I be worried?

Charlotte seemed to stare at a pokeball she'd plucked from her belt and then back at me, she almost seemed resigned, her electric blue eyes lacked the shine they did earlier and her movements were without enthusiasm. Even from the opposite end of the court where we stood she looked a bit pathetic.

Selena also seemed to notice this and stared back at me with a look that said 'what is this girl's deal? Is she actually going to continue like this?' In response I just shrugged to her. If she didn't want to win then she wouldn't win, it's not my fault for taking advantage of that.

With the entire crowd practically on the edge of her seat Charlotte just sighed sadly before turning to the referee and shocked me to the very core with her next words.

"I surrender, there's no chance of me winning, Asher is the winner."

...wait WHAT?!

I stared at the blonde woman on the other side of the battlefield with my eyes wide and my mouth hanging open a bit from sheer disbelief. Did- did she just forfeit? Is she just going to throw in the towel?!

Charlotte didn't meet my gaze as her eyes trailed to the floor, I could tell that she was ashamed and embarrassed, but still, she didn't withdraw her decision. That told me she wasn't going to fight.

I opened my mouth to laying into her for just surrendering like that... only for nothing to come out when I realised how hypocritical that would be. Didn't I kind of do the same thing when I chose to retire Sonic? Didn't I also choose to spare my pokemon the unnecessary pain when they couldn't take anymore?

I thought about it for a moment and then closed my mouth. I shifted my gaze from my opponent to my pokemon, Selena's eyes reflected exactly what she was feeling in that moment: understanding. My Nidoqueen was a sweetheart, she liked fighting but she hates an uneven fight, so she probably understood why Charlotte would want to spare her team the unnecessary pain.

"Oh, I don't think any of us saw this coming! Charlotte Silvio has forfeited this match, it looks like Asher Blight has advanced to be among the top 4 competitors of this years Indigo Conference!"

At the announcers words the booing of the audience then started. They were all clearly not fans of Charlotte's decision to cut her losses and save her pokemon the pain, the blonde girl seemed to wilt like a flower at their harsh words and hung her head down.

I felt something inside me seethe in anger at that. Whilst I can't say that I like her decision I know all too well the responsibility that comes with being a trainer, your pokemons health is your number one priority and if it means swallowing your ego to save them the pain then you should be able to do it in a heart beat. She has my respect in a way for throwing in the towel like that, when you're this far into a tournament turning back can be a very difficult thing to do.

Yet they all seemed to think that they could judge her for that.

I allowed myself to glare at the audience as I made my way over to the announcer's stands nice and slowly, whilst I didn't think about the consequences of what I was about to do, and the audience didn't seem to notice me as they continued to jeer at Charlotte.

I have two options right now, one I can just scamper off like a little asshole and let the crowd just take the piss out of a really good trainer, or I have option B of doing something really stupid that could get me in shit with these little NPC's. A smart person would just choose option A, but well... I'm kind of an idiot like that. I love making scenes and I hate it when a decent person, a rarity in any world, is humiliated like this. It just doesn't sit right with me.

I definitely respect Charlotte a lot more than any of these bozos that's for sure. Which is why I don't feel bad about doing this.

The announcer noticed me approaching him and he spoke out from where he was sitting down and accidentally talked into the microphone and alerted the thousands of people in this stadium of my current position.

"Hey, what are you-" He spoke out only for me to snatch the microphone off the stand so that I could properly address the crowd inside of this stadium and teach them a lesson.

I ignored the thousands of eyes- even more if you count television- that were currently on my back as I spoke to the announcer and casually told him." I'm just gonna borrow this real quick."

The announcer seemed to sputter as everyone in the stadium set their eyes on me, including Charlotte, only for me to tell them all off." Sorry about interrupting your fun, I just find it a little hard to hold back when someone is acting like an asshole right in front of me, I figured I'd tell you what a bunch of idiots you guys all really are."

The crowd seemed to stir up at my words, but I ignored them as I continued with my bullshit rant. Truth be told this was kinda fun." The truth is, your all just whining like little bitches because you got less violence than you were hoping for, none of you know what being a good pokemon trainer is like because you're all up there and the ones who actually know what they're doing are all down here. Charlotte knows what she's doing, she's a good trainer, unlike all of you, and she considers the welfare of her team to be more important than her own ego, so she decided to quit and save her pokemon from the unnecessary suffering, and the fact that you all jeered her like that tells me that you don't really care about what she was thinking, you don't consider things that deeply do you? Cos if you did then you'd know that she made the right move. So, why don't all of you just keep your mouths shut and lay off her for it, yeah?"

The announcer, Charlotte, and the audience were all openly gaping at me for my words. It's really not hard for me to see why, I just openly swore like a sailor on national television and took an entire stadium of people down a notch, I can't lie that felt amazing though, I can kind of see why people did this in my previous world. You know how good it feels to humiliate an asshole when he runs his mouth off? It's like that but way better.

I didn't even give them a chance to call out my words as I continued my monologue on why they all suck so much." I mean honestly, an entire stadium of people acting children, aren't I meant to the child here? Why don't you all actually grow some spine of your own and not just go with the flow, maybe whilst your all at it you could also grow some brains, so that you'll be more than a bunch of faceless Mareep, anyway I hope you actually take a moment to think about what I've told you, maybe then one of us will have benefitted from this little conversation."

After essentially scolding an entire crowd worth of people I threw the mic onto the lap of a gaping announcer before making my way over to Selena so that I could finally return my pokemon. After doing so I decided that my time inside of this stadium was done, and so I turned around and walked away from the now silent crowd before they could break the silence that had been forged.

This probably won't bite me in the ass later.

Over in Vermillion City a man named Surge was currently laughing his heart out, he was tall, very tall in fact, he was 6'5 with golden blonde hair with a muscular figure which he earned from his many years as both a Gym Leader and a soldier who was fighting in the Indigo war. Though the war ended just a decade ago Surge does his best to fulfil his duty as a Gym Leader, and his duties as a father.

His little seven year old girl then asked her mother with big innocent eyes." Mummy, what's a bitch?" She asked, clearly very curious as to what that word meant.

Hearing her daughter say a swear word for the first time his wife immediately felt a migraine build up on her forehead, Surge's laughter also died down a little at his daughter swearing, yet he still had a broad smile on his face as a result of listening to a kid just scold an entire stadium like that.

The size difference between Surge and his wife was honestly a bit staggering, he was over six feet tall, a giant of a man, and Marie, his wife, was just 5'2. Though Surge never hated that his wife was short, she was perfect to him in every way, he loved everything about her from her dark skin, to her grey eyes and her charcoal hair. She was the one who was there for him when he-

Surge quit his laughter at the unpleasant memory of what he was like after the war. He was in a sorry state after the Indigo war, he was the best that Kanto had to offer, in terms of power his electric types reigned supreme, yet that never did him any good when it came to saving his friends, he learned the hard way that even the strongest can fail, that even if you can't lose you can still be destroyed, he lost all of his friends in the fight for Kanto and once the war ended he turned to the bottle for comfort. Yet his Marie was there for him when he needed to be pulled out of that hole he'd dug for himself, he hasn't touched a bottle of bear for over eight years. he doesn't need the stuff anymore.

He has to admit though, being a parent has softened him up, he still has nightmares from time to time, but he can safely say that he's put the past in the past, he has no need to go through another war, even if he isn't a soldier anymore he still tells his Gym trainers to call him lieutenant Surge, why you might ask? Because he earned that title, and he'd be damned if he didn't use it.

Anyways, he was watching the Indigo Conference with his family and he has to admit that he was utterly... disappointed. For the most part anyway. Sure there were a handful of decent trainers in the mix, but a handful just won't cut it when you're in the real world. At times Surge wants to curse the Indigo League, they're handing out trainers licences like candy at this point, back before the war only the strong made it as a trainer, the weak had no place on a battlefield, and the quality of your average trainer was leagues higher than it is now. Surge did admit that a few caught his eye though.

He saw a dragon specialist- that brings back unpleasant memories- that was apparently was a member of the Blackthorn clan, Clair if he remembered right, and there was also a flying-type user who was doing well, his name was Falkner, a Johtonian if he remembers right, and lastly there was that ground-type specialist, what was his name? Oh, it was Asher wasn't it?

Well the boy really was something else, he could tell that the boys pokemon were really well trained, that Sandslash was really tenacious, and that Nidoqueen was impressive, from what little he saw of it, plus the boy had balls, Surge would give him that, he basically scolded an entire stadium for calling out that fire girl and just walked away like nothing happened. He hasn't laughed like that in years!

He was actually curious about if that kid was going to win the Conference, Surge could tell that he was good, especially for a boy his age, and he just needed two more wins to take home the gold, if he faces that flying-type boy he could be in some trouble though, Earthquake is the bread and butter of any ground-type, that won't be working on any flying-types. He better win though, this boy has got to show those Johto punks that Kanto is a place for the strong.

At the thoughts of the region right next to his own Surge frowned. Johto was a subject that he tended to avoid, there was a part of him that would simply always hate that place, and to an extent the people who live there, he knew that not all Johtonians were bad, but to him they'd always be the ones who took everything away from him, be it his friends, his hope, or even his starter.

Surge shook his head though. No use in lingering on the past. He needs to stay in the present.

He stared at his tiny little girl and his beautiful wife as Marie tried to get his daughter to stop repeating the swear word over and over again and allowed a smile to stretch across his face. This was enough for him.

Samuel Oak chuckled lightly at the spectacle of a hotblooded young boy more or less telling off an entire stadium. The next generation sure is feisty, Samuel will give them that, then again he wasn't actually all that much better when he was a young lad all those years ago, time really does fly by, now he isn't a youngster anymore. But, rather he has grandchildren of his own.

His eight year old grandson, Gary, was practically awestruck by the match he'd just witnessed, the boy even abandoned that cool kid façade he always put up in front of other children his age in favour of practically shaking with excitement, Samuel personally thought it was a much better look for the boy, it makes him look a lot like his fa-

The professor instantly abandoned that train of thought, it never does a man much good to dwell on the past, his son has been gone since before the Indigo war ended, or rather he ended it, and he resigned as Champion, he never cared for the title, he was needed at the time so he stepped up to stop the struggle, for both Kanto and Johto's sake, but despite his incredible strength as a trainer he couldn't even save his son and daughter-in-law. The very least he owes his dead son is the safety of his children.

Gary saved him from his own depressing thoughts by asking with an immense amount of child-like curiosity." Hey grandpa, I didn't know that Sandslash could get that fast! How come you never told me they could zip around like that?!"

Samuel gave that question a snort." Well clearly that Sandslash isn't exactly ordinary, that trainer must have done some impressive training to get their speed up to that level." He mused as he answered his grandchild's question.

However, Gary didn't drop the subject and asked again." But, I thought that Sandslash were really common! How come that one was so strong?!"

Sam, who had long since gotten used to his grandson's extremely boisterous voice, simply snorted at that." A pokemon's strength isn't determined by their rarity, that Sandslash is a good example of how a pokemon doesn't need to be rare to be strong, if you're really a good enough trainer then you can make any pokemon on your team a powerhouse, remember that Gary."

His grandson looked like he was in thought for a moment and then nodded, as though he were accepting his grandparents reasoning.

Daisy seemed to observe their interaction with a deadpan at her brother's loud mouth and overall childishness, but she didn't comment as she turned to the screen and asked." What's that guys name again? He seems interesting."

He didn't question his thirteen year old granddaughters sudden interest in a boy around her age as he just answered." Asher Blight, a ground-type trainer, apparently he's done well in his last few matches and a lot of people are even saying that he has a good chance of winning this years Conference. He's also a sponsored trainer of Giovanni's, so we could expect him to use a few more pokemon that he hasn't shown yet."

Daisy then looked to the ground for a moment, she looked up and asked." Grandpa, there's something I want to ask of you. Would it be okay if you taught me how to be a pokemon researcher?"

Samuel was surprised by her words. He wasn't against the idea but he felt a need to know why she would ask that, whilst Daisy isn't some prodigy who made it to the Indigo Conference on her first try she was still a talented trainer in her own right, she managed to get seven badges on her first run, an impressive feat for a completely new trainer, if she actually went for some of the lesser Gyms then she would have actually made it to the Conference itself.

Seeing her grandfather's confused look Daisy instantly began to explain her reasons." Look, being a trainer is awesome but... I don't think that's what I want to do with my life, I love pokemon but battling isn't everything that they can do, I want to learn everything that I can about pokemon, please teach me."

At her reasoning Samuel immediately found himself relating, he liked pokemon battling but he loved pokemon in general much more, it's the reason that he took a break from pokemon battling in his youth to become a pokemon researcher, and after a while he eventually became the pokemon professor of the Kanto region. If Daisy wanted to follow a path similar to his own then he wouldn't stop her, in fact he'd encourage her every step of the way.

He smiled at her." Alright, if that's what you want to do with your life then I'll be happy to help you, but you should be ready to learn, I cannot teach you if you aren't willing to be taught." He spoke that last part seriously. He loves his grandchildren, but he can't teach someone who will be a lazy student, they need to work with discipline in mind.

Daisy was surprised by the serious tone which leaked into his usually kind-hearted and polite voice, but she nodded with determination after a moment.

The television then interrupted their conversation." Next up we have our final match of the day, this battle will be between Daniel Bryce, and Clair Blackthorn, whoever wins this match will be the last semi-finalist of this years Indigo Conference, the match will begin in just half an hour. Be prepared for an intense match folks!"

At the mention of the name Blackthorn Samuels good mood faltered slightly. That clan was a name that gave him nightmares for years after the Indigo War ended, they were one of the main enemies that Kanto faced back when he was still the Champion, and whilst they haven't done anything to Kanto in nearly a decade Sam couldn't help but let a spark of hatred ignite in his chest at the bad memories he began to recall.

He takes pride in not being someone that's quick to anger, he's never believed that violence was the only answer to any problem that comes his way, yet there is a part of him that will always hate Johto for what they've done to him, they've taken his wife, his son, and his daughter-in-law, yet... if he let that spark grow then perhaps the war would still be going on. If he let that spark grow then he might have let those innocent Johtonians die back then. If he let that anger control him then what kind of example would he be setting for the next generation?

He may always hate Johto, but that doesn't mean his grandchildren should, hatred should be something that adults deal with. For their sake he will let bygones be bygones.

Still though, Johto has been growing increasingly pushy in recent years, whilst Pryce might be Indigo's Champion at the end of the day he is Johtonian, and if a war really were to break out again then it doesn't take a genius to figure out who he'd choose to side with. So, Samuel hopes that another war will never break out.

He hopes that not just hopeful thinking though, tensions are high, all it takes is for one fool with too much power to make the first shot for a chain reaction to occur, just because that chain has been broken once doesn't mean that it can't be started again, and if that happens then Kanto will once again despair.

"-grandpa, grandpa!" He snapped out of his daze at the loud words of his very vocal grandson and realised that he'd spaced out.

"Yes Gary?" He asked with his attention now on the boy.

He seemed mildly annoyed at being ignored, but he still repeated his question." Can we stay up a bit longer? We really want to see the last match."

At that Samuel looked at his watch and realised that it was nine O'clock, usually the two of them would be in bed by now, but then again if he sent them to bed now he'd never hear the end of it from the two of them.

He stared back at the Growlithe-eyes his grandchildren were flashing him and sighed, though he couldn't stop himself from smiling. He spoils them too much." Alright you can stay up, but after the match is done it's straight to bed."

Gary seemed to grin in victory at that whilst Daisy shot a grateful look his way as they all turned back to the TV to watch the Conference together as a family, this was nice.

Samuel could only hope that it would last.

If you enjoyed reading this story and want to read more then just head to my P atreon at The Magician 565 to read 8 Chapters in advance.

To any of you reading this, those on my P atreon included, I want you to know that any future chapters I write will be 4-5k words minimium, I just looked over my work and saw that my chapters were just a bit too short for their own good.