17 The Plot Thickens (Edited)

Axel had confusion written all over his face. Hearing the intensity of Mr. Koga's voice he thought that it must be something serious, but he didn't know what LAT really meant.

Understanding that Axel was confused, Mr. Koga explained, "The full form of LAT is 'League Associate Trainer'. Every gym leaders and Elite 4 members get to nominate a trainer that they think have the potential to be the Pokemon Master. And I want to nominate you.

Of course, this is an internal group and not revealed to the public. Other trainers could also fight in the league tournament and become the Pokemon master. But the league tends to groom a certain number of trainers to get a competitive advantage. This is mainly a political need. This generation's Pokemon master is from the Kanto region which is Samuel Oak.

So, the Kanto region has a high ground in making all the decisions of the world. But now, Oak is getting old and we need a new champion to uphold the tradition."

It took Axel almost 10 seconds to digest the news and after thinking about it he asked a question.

"Okay, I have some questions that I would like to ask first".

Mr. Koga was impressed that Axel gave it a thought rather than taking this chance immediately.

"Alright, go ahead", he said.

"First of all, you just met me, and granted that you saw my battle, but why do you want to nominate me this fast? Don't you want to give some thought about it."

Mr. Koga smiled and then replied, "I have a very good intuition, Axel. Did you know that my native land is a small village in Johto region? But I came to kanto region cause I thought that at my time Kanto region will flourish and this was before Prof. Oak became the Pokemon master.

Due to this, I became a gym leader in Kanto region and also an Elite 4 member in Johto region. Because of me, we now partially control Johto region cause I am an elite 4 member of it.

I had the same intuition when I saw you battle, and when I talked to you now. I feel that you are going to do something big in the future. I just want to invest in you cause of this reason."

Axel then asked again "Do I get some benefits by being a member of LAT? And are there any risks on this?"

"There are a lot of benefits of being a member of LAT. First, as a participant, you will get 10 million Poke dollars. You will also get a Pokemon that we will provide you. The Pokemon will be a native Pokemon of the Kanto region. Of course, being a member you will have to uphold the honor of it and there will be a lot of responsibilities on your plate.

There may be some risk and I am only saying this cause no one could predict the future but it wouldn't be much. If your contribution is high and you have performed well the league will protect you completely. No harm will come to your family so you can be assured of that." Mr. Koga replied patiently.

"It is a good deal for you. If you have high ambitions and dreams then this is the right way" Mr. Koga added.

Axel gave it some thought and agreed almost immediately after Mr. Koga replied. There is not much loss on his part. He will get the resources and the funding initially and if he did good, he would get additional benefits. It was always his dream to be the Pokemon Master.

Mr. Koga then said "Alright then, I will get the paperwork for you tomorrow. There are some rules that you have to follow. Like, since you are nominated by me, I have a condition that there should be at least 2 poison type Pokemons in your main team.

You already have Nidoran so think of another. Being a member of LAT, not only you will have to pursue to be the Pokemon master, but you also should have a side profession. But since you already are an assistant professor you could continue that.

And lastly, I would advise you to be selected by Professor Oak too. He is the Pokemon master. Also, he had selected Red and Blue in previous times and they both are former Kanto Champion now. So you being selected by Professor Oak will maximize your chances."

"If you don't mind me asking, why is everyone focused on the Pokemon master? This whole thing is to be Pokemon master and I understand it is a great thing to be but why does the Pokemon master control the governance of the whole world?" Axel asked curiously.

He found this unsettling. He had been watching news and videos and one thing that he noticed is that a decision made by Professor Oak had never been questioned. Whether it is good or bad. It had always been the final decision.

Mr. Koga then said "Have you noticed that gym leaders, elite 4, a champion, and the Pokemon master are the most reputed profession in the world? There are other popular professions like Pokemon breeder, Pokemon professor, Pokemon connoisseur etc but they are not the most popular and reputed professions.

Did you ever think that, though 80% of the Pokemon world is covered with forest and Pokemons, and 20% is a human settlement, humans have been living in harmony without their existence erased?" Axel nodded thinking about it.

He had heard from Professor Bourne that there had been wars between wild Pokemon and humans in the past and this still continues. Trainers in the borders still protect the settlement from wild Pokemon. It is called 'Pokemon conflict'.

In the borders, there have been cases of Pokemon mascaraing a whole city with no one alive and brutally killing and eating humans. This, of course, had not been revealed to the public because the league didn't want there to be any enmity between humans and trained Pokemon.

"It is because the Pokemon master gets the chance to meet Arceus. And the Pokemon master is considered as God among humans like Arceus is among Pokemons and they will have an equal standing." Mr. Koga said.

Axel was shocked when he heard this from Mr. Koga. He didn't know that being the Pokemon Master would mean that much.

Mr. Koga then continued, "It had been said in history that, there was an egg and it hatched after some time. Arceus came of it and created the Pokemon universe with its 1000 hands.

But, what is questionable is that Arceus only has the power to create Pokemon. It doesn't have the power to create humans. So, it is believed that Arceus was not the only one who created the universe. A human helped in that too. That human was the first Pokemon master.

This is of course a speculation cause this has not been mentioned in history. Only the Pokemon master and a Pokemon champion knew about the truth. This truth has been kept a secret since the beginning of humanity. No one knows why this is the secret though.

We don't know if this theory is real. We even don't know how a normal human could be compared to a god-like Arceus. Only the Pokemon master and Pokemon Champion know about it."

Mr. Koga paused for some time and let the news sink into Axel. He then continued again "In public, it has only been revealed that there are 2 Pokemon masters up till now. The recent one is Professor Oak. But we speculate that there must have been at least 2 other Pokemon masters before. Major parts of history have been missing so we can't be sure. This is the reason why Pokemon master is considered highly."

Axel was in deep thought after this. He thought that if he could be the Pokemon master and then meet Arceus then he could find out why he was reincarnated in this world. He could also find out about this system.

Mr. Koga then said again "Those discussions are for another time. Now the prize of the Rookie tournament for you is a 100 yr old poison barb. Poison barb helps in increasing Nidoran's poison power. Don't think it to be a normal item.

Nidoran could not take this poison barb as it is right now. Make it a lot stronger before giving it this item, maybe even evolve it, so it would be easier for Nidoran. Giving this item now may kill the poor guy. My Nidorino had been given 1000 yr old poison barb and it is one of the most powerful poison Pokemon till now.

Next would be the Pokemon that I should give it to you. I actually have a fully evolved Golem with me. As per the rules I am only allowed to give you a non-evolved Pokemon but seeing your battle I want to give you Golem.

This Golem is a very young and curious Pokemon. It evolved very fast and it has a monstrous potential. It always wanted to travel and have and go on an exciting adventure but I am a gym leader and this couldn't happen. So I am thinking of giving it to you. What do you think about it?"

"I don't want to accept it. Golem is a very powerful Pokemon and I am just a Beginner trainer. It would be hard to control Golem. I don't think I could do this at my level and plus it was your Pokemon before. I will not have the same connection that I have with my Nidoran." Axel said.

He was really happy that Mr. Koga wanted to give him a powerful Golem but he just knew that it would not fit in the team. So, he declined it.

"Okay then, I will give a young Pokemon with good potential.", Mr. Koga said.

"I have some good connections with people here and there. I think we could get good Pokemon for you. But you will have to wait for 2 days to get that Pokemon. Your poison barb and the money will be delivered to you at the same time in the Pokemon center. I think we should part now. Anything I could help you please tell me." Mr. Koga said

Axel thought for some time and replied "Actually it would be really good if I could get a Miltank. I think its milk would be helpful in the long run. Is there any way I could get a Miltank?"

"Miltank would be hard to get but I think Gogoat is being auctioned tomorrow. I could get the person in charge to not auction it and sell you directly at a lower price", said Mr. Koga putting a hand on his chin.

"That would be excellent Mr. Koga", said Axel. After exchanging pleasantries they exited the restaurant.

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Author note: After some calculations, I found out that Gym battles will take some time. I don't want Gym battles to be pretty weak like fighting Brock with only level 12 Pokemon. So I am thinking to add some exciting adventures in the middle. I have already thought something about it. but I would appreciate some of your ideas too.

Any exciting adventure that you guys want in this novel? leave in a comment below.