The Red Ascendant 5 (Patreon)

The Red Ascendant 5 - or ‘It is now my duty to protect' (Pokémon, Zirca 2036 OC-I)

Kingston hated these halls.

The Champion had been so keen to keep the old League Manor, but had taken great joy in ‘refitting’ them with the kind of pristine and pure white and formal gray that turned this into a ‘fine institution’.

A slanderous choice considering the rotten structure of the league itself, but enough to keep the bastard smug while ‘celebrating’ within the walls of this unpleasant hole in the mountain.

This was not where he was supposed to meet Vos. That was not the plan, so to speak. But the recent circumstances had led him to make some ‘creative changes’ to their schedule- something he was sure the Champion was going to be quite ‘glad’ to learn about due to the relevance of his recent discovery.

The guards were surprised by his presence, but they were keen to not risk stopping him from merely walking inside and reaching the dining room. It was a ‘common feature’ for the Champion to invite the Elite Four to eat at the manor. This time, it was meant to be an ‘informal’ lunch to discuss ‘boring affairs’ that saw no major developments.

Not a novelty… but the one he bore as a news was definitely unprecedented.

His stroll finally ceased as he reached his destination. Kingston’s gaze was soon aimed at the large table with the five chairs used being distant from one another, except two- the one for the Champion and the one for the ‘last line defender’ in the E4s.

“Kingsty!?” A loud and infuriating voice greeted, food spurting out of the oaf’s mouth. “My man! I didn’t know you were going to join us!”

Rudri, the first of the E4s and the Ice specialist. He was a showman to the bone, even when there were no cameras rolling to record his foolish attitude while talking and interacting with others. Then again, the idiot had two modalities, talking and eating- which was ironic considering how his physique was able to ‘hide away’ how many carbs he consumed.

“He was not,” Another voice responded, this one owned by ‘The Empress’ herself, Aysha D’Navari. The Fire Specialist was once the ‘second-in-command’ before that role was ‘claimed’ from her by the current last defense and… she was quite fine with it.

Her relationship with Vos was never much beyond formal understanding through the workplace. She was no good person, but she had the moral qualms to hold back in case of extreme reactions to enemies.

“Aysha is… correct. You were meant to speak with me at a latter time, Kingston.”

Vos Xavion, the Champion, spoke up finally and he sounded quite ‘bored’. It was easy to spot annoyance and boredom out of him after spending years to keep his hide from being tanned the legal way.

The Champion had been in charge for seventeen years now, a powerful man that started at 16 and carved Zirca into a ‘stable’ but militaristic country. The rule of the strongest was crystallized within the notion of ‘only the worthy ones can survive the unfairness of the land’.

“My apologies, but I was also told that you would have preferred to be given urgent news at a proper time, especially if those may endanger your reign.”

The simple sentence was enough for him to gain the full room’s attention. Kingston knew what he was doing and merely nodded at them all as he approached the table, walking around it and then stopping before Vos.

His posture was less slouched on the chair, a curious glint flashing through the slight shadow offered by his hat. Kingston merely turned to behind the champion where a wireless screen was set for presentations. It was active, but unused… until a simple click from his phone.

Eyes darted to the screen as a report with pictures all conserved in a photo was shown first.

“I was sent by the Champion to investigate the recent activities led by ‘The Devil’ against some men of Dorado. What I found was that Zephiel was not pushed out by Suzuen, but a trainer that had reached Santa Devante on that very day.”

“Aaaaand?” Rudri asked flatly. “Like, Kingstly- I get it, a random guy took care of the horned bastard but I don’t think this is-”

“Let him finish.”

Vos’ voice silenced the showman on the spot, and it was clear that he had picked up something odd about the report. Some bits were written in such a generic manner. An ‘unconscious’ coverup from the looks of it.

“When I went to visit Suzune in his hospital room, I was sent with two purposes. The first, and the official one, was to check on his conditions and thank him for his service, while the second purpose was to understand what had happened as the attack was ended quite swiftly as the civilians’ toll had been less than half to the other assaults led by Zephiel. I needed a name, and that individual ended up visiting Suzuen himself. He appeared innocuous to many, but I recognized him from somewhere else and… further investigated the matter.”

The next click brought up camera footage, with the individual in question walking through the streets with an unfamiliar blond man. Yet, for some reason, one of the E4s looked… surprised? She didn’t make it clear, but the low-toned giggles made it clear she was nervous or close to that.

“Who is that, Kingston?” Aysha asked, clearly not up to play this game while-

“I think I know who that is…” Dorado, the oldest of the E4s, remarked. The man flashed a grin, eyes briefly glancing in Vos’ direction as the Champion was now standing- Kingston hadn’t even noticed this change as the white-uniformed man seemed fixated by the individual he was bringing up.

“He introduced himself to me and others as Evan Morris. He is a ‘newcomer’ to Zirca, yet he made it clear he had spent some time in Kanto and that his team had fought the Gyms there.”

There was a pause, and then he delivered the truth.

“I think he is actually Red.”

And silence ‘conquered’ all. It was expected, predictable and yet not something Kingston was keen to impose on others. Rudri had the most ‘expressive’ reaction, while others managed to produce a more muted response to this.

Vos was… nodding at this.

“Do you have more proof?”

Can you show me more goodies?

He could already hear the ‘true’ bastard ask him with that flat question, and Kingston nodded.

“I decided to linger a little longer after learning of this, in the hope of gaining some proof so it was not just a… ‘theory’. And this is what I managed to get from the cameras of a nearby training field.”

One last click, and footage was soon shown.

“Nidoking, go!”

A Pokemon Battle was what Vos would have seen as the ultimate evidence. And as Evan deployed his Nidoking, something seemed to click in Vos’ brain as a small grin appeared on the usually scowling face of the fully-uniformed champion. It was a ‘persona’, a mask of his, that he adopted just when he was donning that outfit.

But as soon as a Pokemon fight worthy of his attention was brought up, that scowl would make way to his false smile. And it was there, at full force.

“This is going to be a fun spar.”

Kingston knew the champion would have agreed to this, and he let the footage unroll on its own.

Facing a Primarina with a Nidoking sounded quite dreadful, but it was actually the best option Evan had to damage his opponent. The starting moves usually dictated the pace of the battle, but it was clear that a degree of ‘dissonance’ manifested between two different styles- the fast-paced and brutal Zircan doctrine faced the stern and resilient one of Kanto.

Kingston was familiar with both as he had the ‘chance’ to face Lance and his E4s back when he was still working as Kanto’s Champion. That was ages ago, and, even then, it was after Red’s first appearance.

He remembered learning of him before he started his own Pokemon journey, how a 10 years-old child just decimated the League Circuit, destroyed Team Rocket in Kanto and secured himself a record that Vos was extremely irked about as the youngest trainer to be seen as a ‘Champion’.

Then again, times were different and ‘becoming a Champion’ was far more complicated. An example of this being the choice to be made after beating the ‘previous’ Champion: Stay and replace, or leave and let the previous one take care of the rest? Red picked the latter, Vos decided on the first option at the expense of having quite the ‘questionable’ regent before he became of age.

Which is why this was important to Vos to learn what happened to Red. To him, it was imperative to ‘beat him’. It wasn’t the same as it had been with that kid from a while ago, Kent Villeneuve… it was different. This was the kind of ‘kid’ that Vos wanted to genuinely challenge in a proper Pokemon fight.

Still, back in the fight, Primarina was the first one to act.

Sparkling Water was a rather dangerous move to anything that was weak to Water-Type attacks, and the Ground-type Nidoking was part of that list. Still, the attack was a ranged one which could be 1) dodged (which was impossible for Nidoking due to his limited mobility) or… 2) countered.

A purple liquid erupted in a wave right from Nidoking as the Poison-Type attack collided and detonated together with the approaching move, Sludge Wave creating a wall of smoke and… a Thunder-based rebuttal that came close to fry the Primarina if she hadn’t jumped away in time to dodge the powerful Electric-Type attack.

“W-What?! I thought your Pokemon was a Poison/Ground-type!”

“Tonto,” Dorado muttered, shaking his head at that ignorance.

“Isn’t it?” Rudri asked with some confusion, causing Aysha to sigh. “What? Don’t tell me you knew because that’s-”

“Nidoking can learn some Electric moves via TMs,” Vos interrupted with an explanation, appearing amused. “It’s not a tactic used by many, but it makes sense that a Pokemon so ‘troubled’ by many weaknesses would have something able to cover for his Water-related one.”

“To put it in simple words, I taught him that via Disc. You know, the TMs.”

“But the type-”

“It’s a special thing for Nidoking and a few other Pokemon of his caliber. This is not going to be an easy fight, Emille.”

“Well, I guess we will have to show you how strong we are!”

Cheesy, but it was getting Vos giddier by the minute.

The first clash was just the beginning. In the end, the moves each Pokemon had at their disposals were fully revealed. Nidoking had Thunder, Sludge Wave, Mega Horn and Dragon Pulse.

Primarina had Sparkling Water, Hydro Pump, Moon Blast, and Ice Beam.

This clash should have ended with Primarina as the lasting winner, but… there wasn’t exactly a rule of engagement in regard to distance. So, Evan shook his opponent and those witnessing this fight through the screen with a single command.

“Nidoking, now go and restrain her with a hug!”

Rudri exploded in chuckles, with the rest bemused by the shock flashing from the enemy trainer as Nidoking rushed fast to catch the Primarina off-guard. One thing that was not missed to any of them was that the Primarina was stacked with ‘Special-type’ attacks.

They weren’t good in close encounters unless well-aimed and precisely-used to prevent any ‘Stab’ effects. From that close, being restrained in the embrace of a thick-skinned Nidoking, Primarina had no means to get out of that hold without damaging herself too against him.

And the boy, Emille seemed to pick up on this.

“T-That’s not fair.”

“I told you it’s getting late and we’re getting nowhere. The match is over.”

There was a bit of a stalemate between the trainers… but Emille gave up. It was a win alright- a rusty one for ‘Red’, but enough to draw general consensus from the E4s and the Champion of one thing.

“This could be Red,” Vos confirmed, his smile now more prominent. “And he is competing in the circuit. Correct?”

Vos was almost purring and Kingston… nodded. “That seems to be the case.”

“Good- no, great. Let’s make sure to ‘welcome him’ properly then.”

Kingston knew this was going to shake things up a lot but… if Evan was really Red, then Vos’ reign of terror may soon come to an end. Hopefully.

—--------d-d-d-d—------

AN

Reference for Vos and the Elite Four.