118 Long Live the King

Silence had descended upon the arena after King Onix collapsed in defeat, breaking only when Gyarados collapsed as well from his injuries and exhaustion. But, since King Onix had hit the ground first, it was unanimously our win.

"CHAMP!" Machamp declared, officiating our victory for everyone to hear.

"""..."""

And needless to say that the stunned silence continued even after that, as it was obvious NONE of the surrounding pokemon expected their king to lose. The same of which could probably be said of May's viewers, as her pokenav was completely silent despite the ongoing stream.

"Chansey, go and see to them." I ordered my pokenurse, who had been waiting on standby after she finished seeing to Sceptile.

"Chansey Chansey!" She declared in affirmation, hurrying forward to do just that as she spammed Heal Pulse. She had to use it several times just for one of them, as Gyarados spanned over twenty feet, while King Onix was easily nearing sixty.

Even with Heal Pulse covering an area of almost ten feet, it still took Chansey almost twenty minutes to heal Gyarados and King Onix enough to where they could get up. Not to their feet obviously, since neither of them had those.

Every eye was on King Onix, each waiting to see how he would take his losing the crown after being defeated. And when he turned his massive head towards me, he bowed it in resignation and acceptance.

"Welcome to the team." I said while reaching out to place a hand atop his head, though I made no move to grab a pokeball. That could wait until later so he can say his goodbyes.

I then turned towards Gyarados and said, "You did amazing out there Gyarados. Not bad for your first real battle."

"""!?!"""

My comment earned me numerous looks of disbelief from the surrounding pokemon, before they turned their attention towards Gyarados as well. Well, it's not like I lied.

Obviously I didn't battle with Gyarados when he was still a Magikarp, and I had only had a couple actual battles since he evolved alongside the other two. Other than that was the battle for Lavender, which was his only battle experience outside of training.

King Onix however had an intense aura around him as he looked at Gyarados, the desire for a rematch radiating from his entire body.

"Easy." I told the king while placing my hand on the side of his massive body, making him look back down at me as I continued, "You'll get plenty of chances for a rematch in the future."

"..."

King Onix was silent at my comment, before his competative aura began to receed slightly. But not entirely.

I then returned Gyarados to his pokeball for some rest after the intense battle, and sent him back to professor Oak's lab so that he was with the two females. I also did the same with Parasect after praising him for his victory, replacing the two of them with Cranidos and Tyrunt.

The two fossil pokemon were quite excited to see the mountain kingdom, and hurriedly went to try and find some other pokemon to play with, though they were regarded by the others warily.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHN!" King Onix roared suddenly, gaining the attention of everyone as I went to stand beside May.

"What's he saying now?" She asked me in a small voice, so as not to interrupt his speech.

"Just that he is proud to have been their king for all these years, but it is time for him to leave." I told her in an equally small voice, even as the now former king continued.

His speech went on for a couple minutes, mostly of him thanking certain pokemon for their service and loyalty for all these years, before moving on to a topic that interested me quite a bit. His successor.

The tension was palpable as they all awaited King Onix's verdict on who will become the new king, his gaze silently passing over the gathered generals as he contemplated between them. And then finally, King Onix moved until his head was directly in front of Machamp, and he let out a deafening roar.

Machamp stepped forwards as all of the other pokemon surrounding us also began to cry and roar as they hailed their new king.

"Long live the king." I uttered under my breath. But then something else happened that I had not been expecting.

Once the cheers began to die down, King Machamp approached May and I with an intense look in his eyes that made her stiffen next to me, though Lucario and I remained calm since we could sense no hostility in him. Instead, the newly crowned king stopped right before us, before two of his hands clapped us on the shoulder as he looked at the surrounding pokemon.

"Champ champ, Machamp!"

For a moment there was no sound as his words echoed throughout the moutains, before the other pokemon began to cheer.

"What did he say?" May nervously asked me in a quiet voice.

"We have been declared friends to the pokemon of this area, the only humans to ever be considered so." I whispered back to her, earning me an incredulous look in response.

His first official delaration concluded, King Machamp turned around and went back to raised platform that as once Onix's throne. There he sat down with the authority and bearing of a king, while all of the female fighting type pokemon began to gather around him.

"Wow... Wether human or pokemon, men will always be men." May said with a smirk as she looked between Machamp and I.

"Not all men." Lucario said pointedly, earning himself a dirty look from Combusken.

As we bantered Onix made his way back to us, his business finished.

"Oooooohn?"

"We can leave later if you want to say goodbye to a few more pokemon. We'll be flying on my Pidgeot, so there's no need to hurry." Pointing upwards as I said that, we all looked up to see a small dot flying high in the sky as Pidgeot kept a careful eye on us and the surrounding area.

"Fear!" The Fearow that had been amongst the generals cried out indignantly, seemingly offended that it's airspace had been 'invaded'.

I had a massive smirk on my face as it, and the rest of the Fearow present, all took off to go and try to show Pidgeot who was the boss aroundwhere it came to the sky.

"Ohn?"

"Nah, I'm not worried. Pidgeot is no pushover." I told Onix with some humor in my voice.

Shrugging about as well as a massive snake made of bouders could, Onix then went around to say his indiviadual goodbyes to some of the pokemon. And with things winding down, May suddenly declared as she turned back to the camera with a mic in her hand,

"And with that, the battle of both succession and respect have been won! As one chapter comes to an end on this mountain kingdom, another begins with the rise of a new king! Only time will tell what this means for this amazing kingdom of exceptional and powerful pokemon!

"For right now however, the time has come for this session to draw to a close! Thank you all for watching, and keep your eyes open for the next video! This May's Expeditions, signing off!"

***

SlumberingPsychic: Over already...

Megasimp6969: NO MAY! DON'T LEAVE USSSSSSS!

ChesterChespin: Amazing stuff! Can't wait till the next one May!

***

The notifications continued chiming as May said her farewells, before stopping altogether as she ended the livestream. I had no doubt that people were still commenting about everything though, as the entire livestream remained on her page as a full video once she ended it.

When that was done May looked at me, and declared, "I'm going to look around a bit since we're welcome here now."

"Alright. Just be careful if any of them try to fight you." I warned her, since some of them may try to challenge May after my earlier display.

"It's ok! I'll have Combusken with me!"

"Ken ken!" Combusken declared, decreeing that none would harm May so long as she was there.

I watched the two go on with warm eyes as they went to visit with some of the local pokemon, starting with the Kangaskhan herd.

I continued watching over May and Combusken for a bit while resting since I was still exhausted from the earlier battle, when a commotion drew my attention to the other side.

"BUKEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

With a screech I saw the Primeape I had battle earlier raging, apparently having just woken up after I knocked it out.

"What? Want another round?" I asked it with a smirk, angering it even further.

I sat here and watched as the Primeape rushed me in it's rage, not caring about the fact that we had been granted permission by King Machamp to be here. But, before it could hit me, someone appeared in it's path to slam a Force Palm into it's face, sending it back from their strength.

"If you want to continue fighting, then I will be your opponent." Lucario stated plainly as he stood before me, ready to fight if Primeape didn't stay down.

"BIGEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The pig-monkey screeched again in outrage at Lucario standing in his way, screaming for me to stop being a coward and fight it myself.

"Machamp!" Roared King Machamp, startling Primeape as he stormed towards us angrily.

"Prime prime! Primeape!" The fighting type quickly pleaded as it cowed before the newly crowned king, it's rage forgotten.

"Champ, Machamp!" The king declared, stating that he will not forgive those who defy his decrees, or try to attack their allies.

At his command two Machoke appeared and seized Primeape on either side, before dragging it away for punishment.

"Isn't that a little extreme?" I asked the new king.

"Champ."

"True..."

For a moment neither of us said anything, before I told him,

"I don't know if this means anything to you, but I belong to a group known as the Pokemon Rangers. We fight to protect pokemon from those that would hurt them, or use them to hurt others."

"???"

"I can arrange it to where they would send a group of Rangers out here to patrol regularly, and keep away groups of evil humans that would hurt your subjects."

"Champ?"

"Yeah, I can do that."

I may not have the authority to make the Ranger Union do as I want, but just giving them this location and the situation would be enough for them to start patrolling the area regularly, like they do for other areas that house rare and powerful pokemon, such as Squirtle Island.

Nodding slowly, Machamp motioned one of the Machoke over to tell them something in a low enough voice that I couldn't hear. Well, I could have if I wanted to, but I decided to wait and see what he was doing.

The Machoke in question took off after receiving it's orders, only to return a moment later with something clutched in it's arms.

"!?!"

I blinked at the appearance of a small bluish-grey egg with three brown ridges crowning it.

"Champ Champ, Machamp."

"Really?" I asked incredulously, while even Lucario blinked at the egg in surprise as I felt him probe it with his aura.

"One of yours?" He asked the king.

"Champ! Machamp Champ champ!" He replied, stating that after seeing how strong my pokemon were, he was confident that I could make his child powerful as well. He also said that the only way to become truly strong was to travel and face all kinds of opponents, not just remain in one place for their entire life.

"Thank you for entrusting me with this." I told the king with genuine gratitude, accepting the egg before gently placing it in my bag alongside my Dratini egg.

"Champ!" The king declared, telling me to take good care of his child before returning to his throne.

"Any idea when it'll hatch?" Lucario asked eagerly as soon as the king walked away.

"It feels pretty close to it already. Maybe another few days or so, but at the very least it'll hatch before Dratini." I told him, while closing my bag.

I could practically feel the excitment radiating off of Lucario at having another fighting type pokemon around to teach and train, especially one that could evolve into the powerful and versatile Machamp.

I shook my head at my partner's excitment as I went back to relaxing while watching over May, who was now playing with one of the younger Kangaskhan that looked as if it had just gotten old enough to leave it's mother's pouch. I also pulled out a pokeball that was grey with several blue lumps on it, which was called a heavy ball.

Heavy balls were pokeballs that worked better on heavier pokemon, like an alpha Onix that was nearly sixty feet long, and made entirely of rock. The funny thing was that the former King Onix STILL weighed less than a seven foot tall Snorlax...

But even then I didn't use it just yet. Instead I sat back and rested while watching Onix visit with his former subjects one last time, May playing with the young Kangaskhan, and Tyrunt and Cranidos interacting with the mountain pokemon.

***

*Later that night*

Professor Oak was in quite the good mood.

Today his grandson had acquired his third badge after defeating Surge in Vermillion city, and he had received a truly massive and impressive specimen of an Onix from Ace that he had captured in the mountains south of Lavender.

Honestly, Oak would be a lot more exasperated with Ace and his tendancy to find ridiculous pokemon if not for the fact that he got study them to his heart's content while they weren't traveling with Ace. The Ditto alone was enough to occupy Oak for several years, if not decades, let alone his Charizard, Parasect, Honedge, Vespiquen, and now this Onix.

In comparison to both Gary and Ace though, Ash was quite lacking if Oak was being truthful...

BUT, something Oak couldn't believe was that in the span of two days, Ash somehow managed to encounter both a Bulbasaur AND a Squirtle.

True, both were native to the Kanto region, and can be found if one was lucky enough, but they were still rare enough that one would normally never find one outside of breeder programs like the one Oak got his strarters from. The Squirtle, now Blastoise, that Ace had found was one of the exceptions, as he had managed to find one of the few wild sanctuaries that they resided in.

Ash finding two of them on the road back-to-back was improbable to say the least. What was next, Ash finding a Charmander in the middle of the road with a sign around it's neck saying 'looking for a new home'?

Oak shook his head of that line of thought as he continued looking over the data from Ace's new Onix, which was currently getting acquainted with the rest of his pokemon out back while his aides were preparing their dinner. Though for some reason it seemed as if Onix didn't get along that well with Ace's Gyarados.

He continued going over Onix's information, like his total length, weight, ect, until a chime at his phone drew his attention.

"Is it that time already?" He asked himself while checking the clock, before going to his phone to answer the conference video call. And when he answered, Oak found ten faces looking back at him.

"Good evening professors." He stated in greetings.

They were in fact the other pokemon professors that were famous in each of their respective regions all over the world. There was Oak's former student that had moved to the Johto region, professor Elm, professors Birch and Rowen from Hoenn and Sinnoh, professor Ivy from the Orange Islands, professor Juniper from Unova, Professor Sycamore from Kalos, professor Kukui from Alola, the grandmother-granddaughter professor duo of Magnolia and Sonia from Galar, and then finally another of Oak's former students that still resided here in Kanto, Bill.

"Good evening professor Oak, nice to see you join us." Professor Sycamore greeted him in return with a smile.

"We were starting to wonder if you were going to answer." Professor Birch stated humorously.

"That's right professor. Even Elm was on time for once." Said Bill, Oak's own student.

"Please Bill, it's PROFESSOR Elm now. And I'm sorry if my research is too interesting for me to put it down." Professor Elm replied in a wronged voice.

"Now now you two, let's not start bickering." Professor Oak said to pacify his two former students, before explaining his tardiness. "I'm sorry for the delay. One of my assistants had just caught a truly impressive specimen of Onix today, rivaling any I had seen before."

"You mean the King Onix from the mountain kingdom?" Professor Birch asked, surprising Oak.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"My May of course!" Birch happily answered while sending Oak a link to a video on pokevision.

Promising to watch it later, Oak turned his attention back to his colleagues as he observed, "I see you're all on board the SS. Anne."

His comment earned him several chuckles and shit-eating grins from the other professors, except for Elm, Ivy, Birch and Bill, since they had also yet to board the luxury liner.

"This ship is truly amazing. Just wait until you see it for yourself, cousin." Declared professor Kukui, who was currently lounging while shirtless under his lab coat.

"I'll never understand how you apparently never get cold, but speaking of cousins, how is Samson?" Oak asked curiously.

"He's doing fine. I left the lab to him while we were away." Kukui stated.

"I see, I'll have to make a trip out to Alola to visit him one of these days." Oak said while nodding his head sagely, thinking that maybe he could when his three current students finally made their way there.

"So how does the SS. Anne look? Are there a lot of trainers that have boarded it already?" Asked professor Ivy, who would have to travel to Vermillion city in order to board the luxury liner since it was not scheduled to stop in the Orange Islands.

"I'll say! It's a wonder they plan to squeeze more trainers from Hoenn, Johto and Kanto!" Professor Juniper stated with undisguised exasperation.

"You say that now, but I guarantee that you'll appreciate them all being there." Oak stated solemnly, causing the mood to shift in an instant since they all knew what he was referring to.

"Team Rocket, huh?" Professor Kukui uttered thoughtfully.

"Are you sure they're THAT much of a threat?" Professor Magnolia asked with skepticism in her voice.

"I'm sure..." Oak began, letting his words hang for a second before he continued, "Not only are they becoming increasingly aggressive by the day, they're becoming desperate since Ace has been undoing so much of their operation. The SS. Anne is too fat of a prize for them to ignore, regardless of the risks."

The rest of the professors either nodded or hummed in either contemplation or understanding, but it wasn't as if they were unsympathetic to the current plight of Kanto and Johto. They simply had their own problems with criminal groups infesting their own regions.

Hoenn had Team Aqua and Team Magma trying to awaken the ancient super pokemon Groudon and Kyogre, Sinnoh had Team Galactic harassing people while amassing power and technology, Unova had Team Plasma that were trying to 'liberate' all pokemon from human oppression, Kalos had Team Flare hoarding and stealing any and all resources, Alola had the thugs known as Team Skull, and Galar had the group of vandals known as Team Yell.

It seemed as if the entire world was caught in the grip of the greatest wave of controlled crime in history. Even the backyard of the Rangers themselves, Almia, was experiencing trouble with the rise of Team Dim Sun.

However, just as there was a unprecedented wave of crime growing in the world, so too was there a new generation of trainers rising to meet it head on.

"Well I dare these Rocket punks to try something! With Ace and Brendan on the job, they'll never know what hit them!" Birch declared with an uncharacteristically savage grin, perhaps recalling how his daughter had been argetted by Team Rocket five years ago.

"Don't forget Lucas and Barry. They have been excellent in taking the battle to those rascals from Team Galactic. Plus I doubt Dawn has slacked in her training." Rowen added after him.

"There's also Hilbert, Hilda, Nate and Rose!"

"Hey! Don't ignore my Calem and Serena!"

"Or MY Elio and Selene!"

"How about our Victor and Gloria?!"

One by one the esteemed professors, the world recognized authorities over all things pokemon, devolved into an argument over who's assistants were better. Of course Oak got immediate bragging rights when he announced that one of his assistants had already discovered a completely knew pokemon, which he readily dangled in front of the group without telling them either which of the three it was, or anything about the pokemon inquestion.