Asher's Team:

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

"Hey, you're that kid who's battling in the finals right?"

A man approached me and Sabrina, since we were trying to enjoy the morning before my battle and she had suggested to hold hands as we walked around a lake that was near our motel. When I asked her why, you wanna know what she responded with?

Because that's what couples do.

When given an answer like that, I just didn't know how to refuse. My girlfriend was so fucking adorable!

But, we were interrupted by some buff old guy with a Noctowl resting on his shoulder. Seriously, this guy was like half a foot taller than me and he had clearly had old people strength. I wouldn't go as far as to say that he was a body builder when he was younger, but he probably had a very active lifestyle.

"Yeah that's me, you need something?" I responded, and I could sense that the purple haired girl was annoyed that someone else was intruding on our little moment, if the way her grip seemed to tighten upon hearing his words was some sort of signal.

The man who looked to be in his sixties or seventies stroked his grey beard." Oh, it's nothing important, I just wanted to wish ya luck and hope that ya show the strength of Kanto out there. A Kantonian hasn't won the Conference in five years, don't want those Johtonians to think that we're weak. Ever since the war ended they've slowly been gettin cockier." He seemed to have some heat in those last words, his partner nodding in agreement with their trainer.

I raised an eyebrow at that." Really? Not in five years?" I've heard a little bit through the vine that Johto's trainers are generally stronger than Kanto's, but five whole years feels like a lot.

All he did was shake his head." Nope, Johto always did have the stronger trainers in general." He seemed bitter to admit that part, someone here doesn't like Johto very much." But, we've always had a far bigger population than them. Johto shouldn't be getting cocky, they might try and do something rash if... you know what forget it, just good luck and take home the gold." His eyes seemed to flash with some unknown emotion as he just continued on his merry way after asking me to win.

Once he'd walked by My eyes followed him briefly in confusion. What was that about?

"Any idea what he was talking about?" I ask Sabrina as we just continue on our trek, going in the direction opposite to the old man, and I keep an open ear.

She answered in a very monotone fashion after a brief pause." I believe that he may have been a veteran of the Indigo war; given the scars visible on his pokemon and his physique in old age suggested that he led a very active lifestyle. If he was, then that would explain why he told you to score a victory over a Johtonian such as Clair."

I frown upon hearing her answer. I've heard loose facts about this bog war between two regions, but never anything that goes into major detail about what happened. Apparently it raged on for over two decades, but... just how bad was it?

"You know, I've heard passing facts about this war stuff, but how bad was it actually? How many people died because of it?"

I wasn't an idiot. This was real life, and in real life people fight and people die. This world might not have guns, but a pokemon is worse than a gun in lots of different ways. Two entire decades is also a lot of time to build up a kill count, so just how many people bit the dust?

"Official records aren't very precise, however, an estimated 100,000 Kantonian pokemon trainers died over the course of twenty three years. However, that is quite a rough estimate, the actual statistic will be much higher. Afterall, the number of civilian deaths is largely unknown, and that isn't even taking into account the property damage endured in Kanto's cities and towns."

I grimaced at the figure. There were worst wars in my old world, I believe around 80 million people died in WW2. But, the population between both Kanto and Johto is only around 7 million. And when you factor in the amount of people who actually have what it takes to become good trainers then you get well... the entire trainer population involved.

Not everyone is cut out to be a trainer. Let alone a good one. Being a pokemon trainer is expensive, for example, five pokeballs will cost you a grand. Plus, when you factor in the food intake your pokemon need to sustain themselves and then some, well, being a trainer can bankrupt you. Plus, to be a good trainer you need to have the knowledge on how to train pokemon well, something not many people have talent in.

"Did they all participate willingly?" It was hardly even a question to be honest, in my old world legions of people were sent to war against their will. Children even. Like lambs to the slaughter. Then, you have to think about that comment on how Kanto had quantity where Johto had quality, so it was basically a guarantee.

I understood the logic behind it. They couldn't exactly afford to lose, so they did what had to be done. But, the fact they needed to was just fucked up.

Sabrina shook her head." No. Kanto was losing at one point, so they resorted to conscripting trainers and sending them off to battle."

I only sighed at that. Humans never change it seems. No matter what universe they're in there's always something to fight over. And, of course, they'll drag unwilling participants into these conflicts to fight for them.

"What were they fighting over?"

"From what I've read, their was always tension between the two regions, however Johto's constant pushing to economically dominate Kanto was by claiming our natural resources, and our denial to hand them over, is what incited the war to begin with. Many regions that did not want to participate in the war withdrew when they were called on to aid on both sides war efforts."

Huh, that's actually a bit interesting. I've heard from a few locals that the war was a result of material disputes, but I had no idea that other regions had reacted in such a way. To just cut ties like that because of a conflict over resources, to abandon all ties that come with contact with other regions just to avoid violence, I'm not a politics guy but that doesn't quite sound right.

Then again, maybe I'm just underestimating the magnitude of what really occurred.

My curiosity ate away at me, and the silence in the air felt heavy." Just how many regions cut ties with Indigo?"

My life has been one gigantic rush ever since I came to this world. The idea of checking out history in a book just wasn't really something I could prioritise. But, now that train of thought just sounds dumb. Obviously what I hear through word of mouth might be inaccurate or just downright false.

Sabrina paused for a moment, but answered me in her soothing voice very factually, as though she knew exactly what she was talking about." If I recall correctly, there were five regions that chose to withdraw. They were, the Hoenn region, the Orre region, the Ferrum region, the Fiore region and the Sinnoh region. Then again, there could have been more."

My mind momentarily shut down when I heard the word Sinnoh.

"I'm sorry what?" I blurted out, unable to contain myself at the mention of generation four. The point when, in my opinion, pokemon hit it's peak and arguably became the most iconic generation the entire series had ever seen, both in the games and the anime. The only question was, why couldn't a person travel to Sinnoh if the league knew they existed?

Travel between regions, whilst difficult, is entirely possible. Whilst planes are a big no-go, since just one rogue flying-type could be enough to snipe down a ship, boats are perfectly viable and can already be used to travel to other regions. Hoenn and Ferrum were actually great examples, so what's holding the league back?

But, Sabrina took my words literally and decided to repeat herself." I said that there were five regions that-"

"No, I got that part, but if there are other regions then why can't we just set up a travel route by boat and go between them as much as we want? Why hasn't the league relinked with them?"

The psychic girl merely sighed at my answer, as though what I'd just said was wholly ignorant." It isn't that simple, Sinnoh is reluctant to establish close links with Indigo because of the various intricate processes which that will entail. The bad-blood between Kanto and Johto is no help either. It isn't that we cannot traverse to these other regions, it's that most of them do not see the benefits which come from re-linking with us. Our technology is also mildly lacking when compared to theirs, so, at least for the time being, they remain undecided on whether to partner with us."

Geez... that sucks. Though, that does make a little more sense than these regions just being lost to time. Even thirty years ago, ships and planes have been around for a lot longer, they should have been able to contact them because they were in contact with them. Though, that does raise even more questions that I probably won't get answers to from Sabrina herself, but-

"Why haven't you told me about any of this before? It'd have been pretty damn useful to know that there were so many other regions just knocking around."

In response she just cutely tilts her head and answered, as though it were obvious." You never asked."

I opened my mouth to refute that... only to realise that she was kinda right. Other regions were something I'd never taken time to dive right into, and the only time I really asked was about the beginning when I came here. However, I didn't dive deeper than that. I just accepted what I was told at face value.

I didn't question it. I didn't do the research.

I'm an idiot.

"You know what? Fair enough."

"Alright, show me Earthquake!"

I had some time to burn apparently, since my match isn't actually starting until 7, so I decided to get a little bit of light training done, nothing too extreme since my team needs to have a good amount of energy to beat Clair, but time needed to pass by somehow.

So, we're doing Earthquake drills.

I only had Sebastian, Selena, and Lago out right now, and my Nido's were just trying to build up their resistance to the drawbacks of Earthquake.

Earthquake as a move is almost like vibrating the ground you're making contact with to extreme degrees and unleashing it in a powerful wave that can shake the ground itself. But, this isn't without difficulties, the blowback from performing this move is that a pokemon's muscles will stiffen and lock up for a few seconds so that the vibrations won't tear their muscle fibres.

My pokemon might be very strong, but their power is lacking in comparison. This is the problem with my training. Gravity won't help improve a pokemon's mastery over their different techniques, it will only improve their physical condition. My pokemon have been with me less than a year, no matter how much we train, our experience is lacking.

My two pokemon nodded and, within our makeshift battlefield, their bodies steadied as a shockwave was unleashed that shook the ground and when they met the two forces of earth dissipated and the ground wrecked itself.

My two poison-types let a breath out as their bodies both loosened and they were able to move again after maybe two seconds, though I could tell that they were feeling some fatigue from using Earthquake like this.

Giovanni is very knowledgeable about ground-types, makes sense since he's a trainer who used to be in the Elite Four, and is more than willing to give me some tips on how to best use Earthquake, since that move is his specialty. And his answer? Practice. That's it. Just consistently use the move to the point where your pokemon can build up a resistance to the vibrations.

"Alright that's enough. Both of you take a rest." I decided to recall them and let those two regain their strength for later.

I swiftly withdrew them into their respective pokeballs and placed them on my belt for later.

My starter didn't even need to be told what to do next, he just knelt down to the point where his hands were placed on the ground, and like magic the fissures created from the collision of attacks closed themselves up and within mere moments it was as though no damage had ever come to the earth surface.

Lago is a master of rock and ground-type techniques, in fact those were all I've put him through since he was a Rhyhorn. Because, whilst having versatility can be fantastic, one of my pokemon just needs to have the type of strength that comes from playing to your natural talents. That's what makes him my strongest pokemon.

Though, if I want to get stronger then I'll need to expand my team in the future. The ground-type has a lot of powerhouses that I haven't caught yet, and just off the top of my head I can already name some classics. Garchomp, Gliscor, Krookodile, Excadrill, maybe I could even try my hand at catching a Tyranitar, even though they aren't ground-types, their Sand Stream would be an amazing compliment to my team.

Then again, I might not be fortunate enough to come across any team members beyond generation three. I could forever remain within the boundaries of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire.

A truly tragic existence.

…nah that's just me being dramatic. If the canon timeline is even remotely accurate, then I can expect the other regions to all be available within the next few years. Old lady politics will do her work and I'll get my hands on some meaty mons! Patience is virtue, the world will all come together in due time, all I need is a little patience.

Though, the world may also be a whole lot bigger than I thought. Sabrina did mention three whole regions not talked about in the mainstream pokemon anime. That suggests this world might also have elements of the manga and games.

Admittedly, my memories are rather fuzzy on the side games, but Orre is actually a region I remember. The one from Pokemon Colosseum and XD, an excellent pair of games, and had an entire plot for shadow pokemon. Maybe I should check that place out one day, just a quick scan for Team Snagem and Cipher will do, they might not even exist for all I know.

Ferrum also rings a bit of a bell. I'm pretty sure that's the region where Pokken Tournament's plot took place, that whole spiel with shadow Mewtwo and such. Don't really remember honestly, the Mewtwo in that game just kinda had some sort of darkness stone on his shoulder. That's all I can remember.

Then there's Fiore... I don't exactly know where that region is. If I were to guess then I'd say a pokemon rangers game, then again I never even bothered playing those games. I mean, it's just fucking circles, how is that Pokemon?

Either way, each of these regions will probably have their own evil Teams, and/or bad guys who will want to take over their regions.

I rubbed my head a little. I'm probably just overthinking this shit, besides, all of that will be taking place in the future. I have a match later today, clouding my mind with all this convoluted bullshit won't help me one bit.

I suddenly felt a heavy and massive grey arm on my shoulder, and turning around I could only look up to see the titanic form of my starter pokemon.

"Rhyyy." He sounded like he was worried for me, a little anyway, mostly he probably just wanted to reassure me that everything would be fine. He's a great guy.

I suddenly placed my ass on the ground, with my giant of a starter suddenly looking like a titan at the sudden drop in height, and I just patted the ground right next to me.

"Sit down, I wanna have a little chat, just the two of us."

Lago is my starter, my first friend in this new world, and my strongest pokemon. Back when he was a Rhyhorn we'd eat just the two of us quite often, but as our team grew and grew, we ended up spending less time together.

Now, he was going to fight with me again in the finals. I want to know how he's really feeling.

The humongous Rhydon shrugged and walked besides me, before dropping onto his butt like me and shaking the ground in the process. Pokemon can come in all shapes and sizes, even if they're the same species, and I'd bet money that Lago is the biggest of his species in Kanto- the world even. He's over three meters tall for fucks sake! A Hammer Arm from him is like being hit by a truck!

I felt some pride as I appreciated how strong my starter really was. You could see the muscle on his grey rocky skin, the sharpness of his horn, and the longer reach of his arms than should be normal for his species. When I first got him he was actually a bit small for his species average, but right now? He was much more giant than a regular Rhydon.

Maybe if I picked a bigger Rhyhorn then my starter would be even bigger, but that doesn't matter much to me. The moment I saw Lago I saw that he was different to the others of his kind, most of them were really stupid looking things who wouldn't give me a second glance. But, Lago gave me his full attention instantly, and he had this spark in his eyes which the others lacked. He was smart, and that's a skill you can't really a pokemon like Rhyhorn.

I knew that I had to have him, so when Giovanni suggested that I pick a different one I didn't listen to him. I all but demanded that he come with me.

"It feels like it was just yesterday when Giovanni let me pick out a Rhyhorn from your litter, and I ended up picking the runt of the bunch." I teased that last little bit, he just rolled his eyes in response as we looked over the lake nearby. The water was absolutely crystal clear and the sun bounced off it like a mirror. There were some Horsea and Goldeen in there, I think I even spotted a few Staryu.

It was a nice lake, the price of land here can be unbelievably cheap, maybe I could make something like this in the future for any pokemon I might catch. I plan on expanding my team, and catching many more pokemon, so a guy can dream.

After a moment of silence I finally said, with sincerity." I'm glad that I picked you as my starter, anyone else just wouldn't have done the job like you, and when we kick everyone's asses and we're at the top of the world, when we're at the very summit of greatness, I hope you're the one who deals that final blow."

Since when did I get so fucking corny? I probably sound lame.

My Rhydon snorts a little, but still nodded and gave me a determined side-glance, as well as his fist to pump. Staring into his eyes, all I could see was his promise to carry me to victory.

And that made my heart pump and my face split from the grin which took shape on my lips.

I pumped his grey fist back and I only felt hype for the battle we were about to have.

This wasn't just about winning the Conference, it was about taking that next step forward to show the world who was coming. It was about crossing just one of a dozen benchmarks that we'll need to overcome on our journey. It was about proving to ourselves that, although we still have a long way to go, we've made great progress.

This was not the end of our story, but just the first step.

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