115 King Onix

After we finished breakfast the girls and I hurriedly prepared to depart, which consisted mostly of me explaining to them how the Capsules worked, and how to use them.

Unlike Dragon Ball, where just anyone could use a Capsule, Silph co had implemented a security measure to ensure that none of the Capsules could be stolen, especially with pokemon or people still inside. This was primarily the use of biometric scanners built into the Capsule itself before they opened, and beside the control panel that could turn them back.

As the owner, of course my biometrics were already programmed into all three. But before we left I made sure to register all of the girls as well, and then passed the collapsed Capsules to them in case May and I returned late tonight.

Once all that was done, Misty, Dawn and Joy all took off walking down the coastline while May and I mounted Pidgeot, and Lucario did the same on Charizard. Unfortunately for Lucario his steel typing made him weak to the intense heat that was radiating from Charizard's body, but he was the one who insisted as a form of endurance training.

Soon the landscape was passing by underneath us as we swiftly flew over the increasingly jagged mountains, though not at Pidgeot's top speed of course. Otherwise Charizard would never be able to keep up.

With no sign of the Mounatin Kingdom readily appearing though, May and I decided to pass the time by scrolling through the comments of May's Expeditions.

She had posted a video before we left camp saying that she would be online in a couple hours or so, but instead of just another video she would be going live this time. Naturally, there were plenty of comments about how excited her followers were to see her live, along with some.....less than respectful comments.

***

Pokegal137: May is going LIVE!?!🤩

JustaJynx: Be careful May!

TricksterHarley: It would be such a SHAME if anything happened to dear May! 💢

Megasimp6969: May! please show us your 🍒🍑🌮!

AtypicalNoctowl: @Megasimp6969, Dude.... CHILL TF OUT!

***

These comments and more appeared as May and I scrolled through them, along with several requesting different places and pokemon they had heard about, a few of which caught my attention as well. There were rumors of unique pokemon that could be found all over the world, like an Onix made entirely of crystal instead of stone, a giant Wiscash that had evaded capture for over a hundrd years, or a Sudowoodo that was made of gold.

A lot of comments were asking May to do pieces on these incredibly rare pokemon as well, which I was more than a little interested in.

This continued until I sensed something on the horizon to the right.

"Hey May, I think theres something over in that direction." I said, pointing to where I could feel the powerful mass of auras. A look at Lucario told me he could feel it as well.

"Ok! Lets go down there and start the live stream then, so that they can see the moment we arrive!" May declared as she pulled her camera from her bag, and I sent my consciousness to Pidgeot.

Slow down and get ready to land Pidgeot.

"!?!"

Pidgeot looked back at me in alarm as my voice sounded in my head, which also made Lucario look over curiously since he could probably feel his alarm. I just smiled knowingly at both of them, not answering their obvious questions.

Regardless, Pidgeot slowed his speed and angled downwards so that we would land a short ways away from where I could feel the powerful auras.

"So are you sure Ace?" May asked me curiously as she put the finishing touches on her equipment.

"Yeah, it seems like it. I can feel numerous powerful auras, and people say the mountain kingdom is known for having powerful pokemon. Either way, you should get some good content from this place." I told her, while also hoping I would find another strong pokemon to add to my team.

"Alright then!" May declared as she set her tripod up, linking her Pokenav and camera so she could film while broadcasting live.

"3...2...1.... And go!"

"Hello everyone! May here, bringing you another exciting episode of May's Expeditions! Today I'm doing a special livestream as we explore the mysterious area known as the Mountain Kingdom!

"It's dangerous region found in the mountains of eastern Kanto, that is home to numerous powerful pokemon that supposedly hate humans. But don't worry, cause I have my super dependable and strong boyfriend her with me, Ace!"

As she greeted her fans and announced the purpose of this video, May used a remote that controled the tripod of the camera so that it turned to look at me, introducing me to her fans as well.

***

Pokegal137: OMG! He's so hot! 😍

Megasimp6969: NOOOOOOOOOO!

CheckmyArbok: Damn... She's taken...

Bren-tothe-dan: I knew I should have gone to Kanto with her....

Maximus123: @Bren-tothe-dan, Big bro is still the best!

***

My brow twitched at some of the reactions of them finding out May had a boyfriend, with most cursing me for daring to date the woman they admired. But I had to push down the urge to call them a bunch of worthless virgins live before everyone who was watching.

"Anyways! Just over this ridge is a whole herd of wild and powerful pokemon, that Ace and I will show you all now. But be quite, as none of them should know we're here." Saying that, May turned and started walking towards the crest of the small hill between us and the pokemon, while I grabbed the tripod and followed her.

Once we managed to peek up over the edge though, all of us were stunned by what we saw.

Gathered in a small valley below were more than a hundred pokemon of various species, each and every one of which radiating aura to show how strong they all individually were. Most were obviously training as they battled against one another all throughout the valley, while others were catering to the others by either tending to their wounds, or bringing them food.

However what caught my attention specifically was a truly massive Onix that rivaled, or even surpassed Brock's Steelix in size. And even more amazing was that I could see the other pokemon deferring to it, either catering to it or paying it respect whenever they went by it.

"What's with that Onix?" May asked curiously.

"It looks like the one in charge around here. Like a king or something." I answered, to which Lucario nodded in agreement.

"That does in fact appear to be the case."

I pointed the camera down into the valley as we watched the pokemon going about their business, until May hurried back in front of it as she continued,

"As you can see, there are a multitude of powerful pokemon down before us, all paying tribute to a massive Alpha Onix, like it is some kind of king to them. But aside from it, you can also see quite the variety of pokemon as well.

"There appears to be pokemon from the Geodude line, Machop line, Tyrogue lines, Spearow line, Ryhorn line, Mankey line, Kangaskhan, Onix line, Magby line, and even a couple from the Charmander line. They all appear to be living together in relative harmony, coexisting and helping one another in different roles just like any other society."

I watched with a smile as May, using her knowledge from growing up as the daughter of a famous pokemon professor, pointed out all of the interesting things that we could observe about the Mountain Kingdom from our vantage point. Things like how the entire group worked together in different roles, what those roles were, their apparant hierarchy, and significant habits that wild pokemon typically didn't possess.

And the entire time her audience was eating it up, with numerous comments and questions flowing constantly that I would occasionally repeat to May, allowing her to answer them to the best of her knowledge.

This continued until I noticed Lucario look up in alarm, before focusing his attention downwards. Before I could ask him what was up though, I could also sense what he had noticed right as the ground began to shake beneath our feet.

"We're about to have some company May." I told her, right before the ground erupted around us.

The three of us were showered in bits of rock and dirt as several rock and ground type pokemon appeared, a few Geodudes, some Dugtrio, and an Onix(not the king down below).

"Uhhh... Hello?" May uttered fearfully as the pokemon all glowered at us with undisguised hostility, while Lucario prepared to fight if need be.

"Please be at peace. We're not here to hurt any of you." I told them in a soothing voice, or at least I hoped it was. But it appeared that none of them believed me as the Onix began to growl and rumble threateningly.

"Um Ace... Translation?" May requested fearfully.

"They're telling us that humans aren't welcome here." I replied calmly, keeping them all in sight while also ready to grab my pokeballs if need be.

Before that though, I focused my attention on one of the Geodude that was showing the most hostility in it's aura towards us, and recalled what had happened with Sabrina last night.

I never had managed to read her mind, not even close. But I did manage to get a general grasp on how to read minds in general, so long as they weren't actively defending against me.

With my intent focused on the Geodude, I plunged my consciousness into it's mind to try and read it. And I had met no resistance! Instead, there was a surge of memories belonging to the geodude of when it belonged to a group of humans before finding refuge in this valley, humans that cruelly mistreated it and abused it in the name of making it stronger.

Though some of the training I put my pokemon through could also be considered abusive by some, like Charizard training to resist water type damage, they had all consented to it and endured it willingly. I never pushed them into doing something they refused to do, or risked hurting them in the process.

Geodude meanwhile had been routinely thrown into a lake to try and help it get over it's fear of water, which only made it's fear even worse since it was a literal rock that couldn't swim regardless of how much it tried. And that wasn't even including the times it was used as a practice dummy to train fighting type moves, which it was also weak against.

It had nearly died more than once under their cruel treatment, before finally being deamed useless and thrown away when it was incredibly weak. The only reason it survived was because it was discovered by a Machop that was out training, and brought it back to the valley to heal it's wounds.

"We're nothing like those people." I told the Geodude after pulling my consciousness back from it.

"DUDE!" It cried irritably in objection, having lost all of it's faith in humans.

"Even if you don't believe me, we haven't done anything to be attacked for. So either let us go, or you can take us to your king for him to decide."

"""!!!"""

To call the Geodude and the other pokemon surprised would be an understatement when I referred to their king, which they probably didn't expect humans to know about.

A couple of them then began conversing amongst themselves quietly, though they made sure to keep an eye on the three of us as they did so.

"What are they talking about?" May asked me in a voice just barely above a whisper.

"They're discussing what to do with us since I mentioned their king. Basically, they're suprised that a human would realize, and acknowledge, that there would be a king amongst pokemon." I told her in an equally quiet voice.

The microphone on the camera picked it up however, and that, along with May asking me for a translation earlier, was apparently sending the viewers into a frenzy since I could understand what pokemon were saying. There was a constant stream of comments and questions regarding that, along with those worried about the current situation.

If it weren't for the group of angry pokemon around us, I probably would've spent some time going through them all for a laugh.

After a couple minutes of deliberation, the group of pokemon turned their attention back towards us as the Onix began to growl at us.

"What now?" May asked.

"Now, we go and meet the king." I told her, before we were forced to march down to the valley with the pokemon surrounding us in case we tried something. Which was funny considering Lucario and I could deal with them if need be, AND Pidgeot was flying up above us.

But I was curious about this Mountain King, so I decided to go along with them.

Soon we entered the valley and gained the attention of the rest of the pokemon there, and they quickly surrounded us as they began crying and roaring at us angrily. But I just ignored them while focusing my attention on the only calm pokemon amongst the crowd, the king Onix.

Soon we were before him, and with a single deafening roar, the entire valley fell silent as they awaited it's decision. Then, a much quieter rumble came from it's throat as it demanded to know what we were doing there.

"Greetings king Onix. I am Ace, and this is my girlfriend May, along with my partner Lucario. We came here to see if the stories of the mighty Mountain Kingdom were true, and were amazed to find that the stories did not do this place justice." I replied to it, obviously doing all the talking while May continued streaming, and Lucario prepared to fight if need be.

There was another rumble as king Onix demanded to know what we intended to do now that we found this place, to which I smirked while saying, "Easy. If possible, I would like to add one or two pokemon here to my team with how strong they all are. But if not then, we will be on our way."

Immediately my words were met by deafening cries and roars of indignation and fury, as every single one of the wild pokemon around us became agitated, while one of the Machoke charged forwards and swung it's fist at me. I didn't even look back at it as Lucario stepped between me and Machoke, and caught it's fist in his paw, holding it in place without returning a single hit of his own. But I knew he was just waiting for me to give the go ahead.

King Onix then roared again to restore order, calming the surrounding pokemon once more before turning it's attention back to me. It then said in it's usual rumble that none of the pokemon here would ever agree to go with me due to the treatment many of them had received from humans in the past. Several of which were released or thrown away after being mistreated, while the rest of them were often attacked by greedy humans that sought only to possess them for themselves.

"I understand, but that is why I would like a chance to prove myself!" I declared in a voice loud enough for all of them to hear me, before I pointed at king Onix arrogantly.

"King Onix! I challenge YOU to a battle! If I win, then not only will the three of us walk out of here witout being attacked, but YOU will join me as a part of my team!"

Stunned silence met my declaration, as I readily challenged the strongest pokemon there to a battle.

"GOL!" A large Golem roared angrily as it started to step towards me to punish my insolence, only to be halted by a growl from king Onix. Who then went on to make a declaration to the rest of the pokemon gathered around us.

"What's it saying?" May asked me yet again to translate, to which I replied,

"Basically, he's saying that no one has the right to call themselves king if they back away from a challenge, and if he loses and joins me, it just means he was too weak to begin with." But, as he continued going and turned his attention towards me, I cocked a brow before a smile spread on my face.

"Also, he says that I have no right to come in here and challenge the king right off the bat. If I want to battle him, then I and my pokemon must prove ourselves by defeating three of his generals in battle."

I began to grow excited at the challenge, as this would be my team's first real battle ever since we fought Gengar. I knew several of them would relish the chance to test their strength after so much training. May however turned back to her camera, and excitedly declared,

"Do you hear that viewers?! Get ready to see an Ace versus king Onix matchup, right here! Will Ace win, or will he hit rock bottom? Stay tuned and find out here, at May's Expeditions!"