Arc 1: Otherworldly Roots

Three

Caesar parried Joseph's attempts to get a scratch on him. A few days had passed since Joseph started training with the whip sword. Caesar did see some improvement in Joseph's footwork and technique. However, he was too much of a novice to damage Caesar. Caesar came from a long line of warriors, and as such he trained in the ways of multiple weapons ever since he could hold one. Due to owning pokemon being against the ideology of the Fiore region, people tended to instead specialize in honing their abilities. Conflicts here were always between people. Pokemon were never part of them.

Caesar blocked another attempt from Joseph to damage him. Then immediately he understood what Joseph was planning and jumped back.

Just as Caesar jumped back, Joseph pressed the button on his whip sword to change it to whip form. He wanted to catch Caesar off guard and get some damage on him.

"Hah…hah…dammit," Joseph panted, "I know I am new to this but seriously? Not even one hit?"

While Joseph may have sounded like he was complaining, he was attempting to engage in some friendly banter with Caesar. He respected Caesar as a person and knew that it was the lack of skill that caused Joseph to be unable to hit Caesar.

Caesar knelt and offered Joseph a bottle of water, who was sitting on the ground after training.

"Here. Let's take a break for now."

Joseph accepted the bottle and chugged it down. He had no experience with any type of weapon. And he had to be above average if he was to enter the Alliance and stay safe there.

"So Caesar. Why did you agree to train me?"

Caesar pursed his lips before responding.

"I will be honest. To us, you seem like a divine intervention of some kind. Someone who will tip the scales of this war in our favor. And also, you seemed like a pretty chill dude."

After saying that last sentence, Caesar grinned and gave Joseph a thumbs-up.

Joseph grinned back. He knew that if everything went to plan, wholesome moments like this would become few and far between.

Caesar then stood up and offered Joseph a hand up, which he accepted.

"Ok, Joseph. No slacking off. Get into a ready stance."

Joseph then took the stance. His left foot was in front of his right foot. His left arm was guarding his face while his right arm had the whip sword in the whip form. He was gently grabbing the whip area with a firm grip on the handle.

Caesar meanwhile had katars in each hand. These were short push daggers with an H-shaped grip. This particular weapon was one of Caesar's personal favorites. He then took a similar stance to Joseph, however, both his hands were equidistant from the rest of his body. The fighting style with katars relied on precise movement and immediate knowledge of where the opponent would attack from.

"Joseph, come at me!"

Joseph then launched forward. He had improved in his physical traits after training so he was able to accomplish feats he was unable to before. Joseph flicked his right wrist and let the whip launch towards Caesar. He knew the attack likely won't hit Caesar. However, depending on the course of action Caesar took in response to the attack, Joseph would change his follow-up accordingly.

Caesar parried the whip attack with the katar in his right hand. Seeing this, Joseph pressed the button on the whip sword, transforming it into sword form. He knew that the weight of the sword would be more than what Caesar could handle with the katar. However, Caesar predicted this and let go of the right katar and quickly hit the sword away with the left katar. While parrying was difficult with a katar, it was easier to hit it out of the way due to a human wrist being weaker in the sides. After Caesar did this, Joseph was forced to back up, losing some balance from that hit. Caesar then grabbed his right katar mid-drop.

Joseph looked over towards Caesar, "Man you can't be dropping your weapon like that! That is just unfair."

Mid-battle banter was something the two of them did to lighten the mood at times.

Caesar then smirked, "Can't let myself get hit, can I?"

The two then continued to spar. Joseph attempted to get a scratch on Caesar while Caesar blocked every attack of Joseph's.

XxXxXxX

Twin doors were opened. A man with purple hair stepped through the doors to meet 8 people sitting at a large rectangular table. Each person was someone important–no they were not just important. They were the champions of the regions of the Alliance.

The purple-haired man looked at each person with a sharp look in his eyes. These 8 people were responsible for leading the crusade against the regions of the Confederacy. This man, while not supporting the actions they did at all, was an important asset to the Alliance.

"Paul. When requesting this meeting, you said there is something of urgency. Please enlighten us on what it is."

The purple-haired man–Paul–looked over to the source of the voice. There spoke a dark-skinned woman with black hair. She was the champion of the Unova region, Iris. Taking a seat at the very end of the table, facing the person sitting at the head, Paul responded to Iris.

"I have received a report talking about a surge of Ultra Wormhole energy in the Fiore region. However, the wavelengths are nothing like we have ever seen before. The foci of the graphs are much higher and lower."

Paul passed around papers with the aforementioned graphs. He could hear low gasps from a couple of people and even saw one person rub his eyelids.

A champion with spiky red hair, Lance, spoke up, "If these readings are indeed correct, then we must deploy a squadron to investigate the source of these readings."

Replying to Lance, a gorgeous blonde woman, Cynthia, spoke up, "Lance, don't forget what happened to the last group we deployed. Out of the 30 people we sent, only 4 returned alive."

"But these numbers cannot be just overlooked," replied Lance, "I will personally go and see the source if needed."

Sighing, a man with light steel blue hair replied, "Lance, we know you are worried. But think of it calmly. What if this is another Anabel situation? How would we then be able to know who it could be? Do you not remember the complications that arose when we discovered her origins?"

This man, Steven Stone, knew from personal experience the impacts of a possible human Ultra Beast. While he knew deep inside that it would be best to confirm who or what the source of this energy was, his personal experiences led to him wanting to remain ignorant.

Finally, the person at the head of the table spoke up, "I think we should wait first, Lance. I have been to the other side of Ultra Wormholes and almost always, these things are from destroyed worlds. This causes them to often be rampaging beasts destroying everything in their path. I do not want to lose any men for this. Let the people of Fiore deal with this problem. Honestly, I want to know how the people of Fiore can deal with an Ultra Beast without pokemon heh."

This person was the World Champion and the champion of the Alola region. The legendary trainer who has not lost a single match ever since beating Leon, Ash.

Ash then glanced over at Paul, "Paul you are dismissed."

Paul glared towards Ash and walked out of the room.

XxXxXxX

"Hikari, it played out just as you had thought. The champions did not send anyone to Fiore. You are safe for the time being."

"Thank you, Paul. You always deliver positively."

Paul was an agent for Fiore. He once saw a change in the demeanor of the champions and immediately knew something was wrong. The outgoing Lance suddenly stopped battling as often. The studious Steven Stone stopped exploring the unknowns of the world. The history-loving Cynthia stopped going to museums. The draconic Iris stopped being an exclusively dragon-type trainer. The superstar Diantha retired from acting. The passionate Leon stopped posing and entertaining in his battles. The compassionate Geeta stopped advising challengers she defeated. And finally, the man with an unbroken resolve, Ash, gave up on being a Pokemon Master.

"How is Joseph's training progressing?"

Paul inquired on Joseph's status to better gauge the potential that he had.

"Caesar has been providing great training. Joseph finally got a hit on Caesar half a day ago. We will soon send him to the Alliance."

"Thank you, Hikari."

Paul sighed in relief and hung up the connection. He looked towards the sky where the true origin of all the issues came from. Paul then flashed a fearless grin.

"Just you wait, Arceus. I think someone will fuck you up hard."

XxXxXxX

"And that is another ace?! How did you do that?"

"Years of practice."

A lanky blonde man with glasses and a sporty woman with light bluish white hair were currently in the middle of a golf match. However, looking at the scoreboard, it was clear who was winning.

"Do you want a mulligan on the last shot?"

The sporty woman looked at the blonde man while asking this question.

"C'mon Kahili. We both know that even if I miraculously hit a hole-in-one, I will be well above par."

The blonde man was Molayne, one of Alola's elite four and an expert on space.

"Hey, you heard of the decisions made by the Champions, right? On how we shouldn't investigate the Ultra Wormhole energy detected in Fiore."

Kahili glanced at Molayne before hitting another hole-in-one, "Yeah. The Champions would never listen to us. So let me tell you. I sent some flying types as soon as I got knowledge of the energy being present. The origin of the energy is a single man."

Molayne was shocked. This was the possibility that the Champions did not play to consider. They were too cautious for their good.

"So wait. If a person is the source of the energy do you think…they got to him?"

"Yes," Kahili replied, "I am certain of it. You know, I used to play golf with many of the rangers in Fiore. If they are still the same types of people that they were before. No, I know they are the same types of people they were before. The rangers took in the man and are likely training him at this very moment."

Molayne was shocked at this possibility but decided to inquire further.

"So wait. Are they training him to defend their nation more? They have fended off the attacks from the Alliance amazingly."

Kahili then glanced at Molayne, "No. They are preparing him for a more offensive mission. If they are smart, the man is being trained by their best warrior, Caesar. I think they will use the man for a covert mission on the Alliance. Molayne, if you hear stories about a completely unknown man suddenly rising the ranks of battling, you will know what he is."

Molayne then knelt on the ground and pondered for a second, as if he wanted to structure his words properly, "I assume you are sharing this with me because you trust me to not leak this to the champions."

"Yes Molayne," Kahili replied, "Ever since the appearance of Arceus, the Champions have…changed. Ash is not the same energetic person he was before. And also in all honesty, did the people of the Confederacy ever do anything wrong? They just kept with tradition and refused to use pokeballs. I challenged you to golf to let you know about my opinions on this issue. And that I am planning to, once again, explore the world. I think it is best for me."

"Wait, you are leaving? But you have responsibilities here in Alola. What if someone finishes the Island Challenge and challenges us? You will be in a completely different part of the world! I can't have you leave yet Kahili!"

Molayne started crying after he finished. He could not imagine Kahili leaving him. Not after everything they had gone through together.

Kahili went closer to Molayne and hugged him. It was hard for her to leave as well, but the reality was their positions at the moment were useless. It would be best for both of them to pursue newer things.

"Molayne. You know that no one has done the Island Challenge for years now. We both know that we are too talented to just be sitting around doing nothing," Kahili started walking away from Molayne, "I hope to see you sometime on my journey. You are irreplaceable to me."

Molayne started looking over towards Kahili, "Kahili….I-I still love you!"

Kahili stopped for a second, thinking for a bit before responding, "I know you do. If you want to, let's get married when I return."

"I accept. However, I will not just wait for you, Kahili. I will achieve great things. Just you wait."

Kahili giggled a little, "I'll hope to see you in the news then!"

And so, Kahili walked out of Molayne's sight. These two began their journeys for self-improvement.

XxXxXxX

"Let's fucking gooooo!"

Joseph was celebrating his triumph. He had finally gotten a hit on Caesar. After many weeks of trying, he had done it.

Caesar walked up to Joseph and offered a handshake which Joseph gladly took.

"Joseph you may have gotten a hit on me, but you still have not defeated me. You have much to learn," Caesar continued, "However I think it is time for you to finally enter the Alliance and climb the ranks. Make sure to never forget the techniques I taught you. They will save your life one day."

The two of them then walked back towards Hikari's mission room. She seemed to be on a call, however seeing Caesar and Joseph, she gave a farewell.

"Remember when your audience with the Champions happens, do not forget to tell us about the possibility. Knowing them, the Champions would not send anyone. Good luck."

Hikari then hung up and looked over towards Joseph and Caesar.

"So. I assume it finally happened."

Immediately after hearing that Joseph started grinning.

"Hikari, it was amazing. I attacked him, he predicted my attack, however I predicted his prediction. But he predicted that I predicted his prediction. And then I predicted that he predicted that I predicted his prediction. It was amazing!"

Joseph was still giddy with excitement. To him, it felt like he passed a test after studying hard.

Caesar then calmed Joseph down, "Hikari I request we send Joseph over to the Alliance soon. The sooner we get info, the better."

Hikari nodded, "Yes. I'll arrange things to send Joseph over there in 2 days."

Hikari then looked over at Joseph, "Joseph can you leave us for a bit? Caesar and I have to discuss his upcoming mission."

"Roger Hikari!," replied Joseph while walking out.

Once the coord closed, Hikari looked over towards Caesar, "Caesar I want you to start notifying the other regions of the Confederacy about the news. We can start with the only region that had catching pokemon legalized, Orre. From there we will go to the other regions."

Caesar pondered for a second, "Orre. Ok, I will go there after Joseph leaves."

Hikari nodded approvingly, "I know I can count on you. How is your father, William doing?"

"He's doing great," Caesar replied, "After retiring a couple years ago, his health improved exponentially."

Hikari smiled at the good news and then looked over towards her computer, "It looks like everything is finally beginning, doesn't it? Everything we worked towards finally will come to fruition."

Caesar smiled softly, "Yes it does."

And that is chapter 3 done. This chapter is more of a setup chapter for things to follow up. I decided to have other characters' perspectives appear as it would allow the world to feel more alive. Make sure to fav, follow, review, share, etc. Cya later.