Ch.37

As Nidoking charged Mamoswine he appeared to be charging up a 'Superpower', one of the strongest fighting type moves. Mamoswine prepared an Earthquake at the charging Nidoking. Thankfully even with an injury, Mamoswine was able to finish first rearing up again and slamming into the ground. 

However, just as Mamoswine slammed into the ground Nidoking jumped into the air momentarily. Though this let him avoid the Earthquake that passed under him. Then he flung his right hook, which Mamoswine was unable to dodge. Thankfully Mamoswine still had time to block the attack with his remaining tusk. 

As Nidoking smashed his arm into Mamoswine's tusk, it shattered on impact breaking into thousands of little pieces. Amazingly it did however fully tank the damage letting Mamoswine avoid taking the hit and actually getting hurt. Unlike Elephants, Mamoswine's tusks are purely ice meaning they have no real connection to Mamoswine. 

'Mamoswine, blast a Blizzard now!' I say quickly seeing this happen right as the tusk shatters. 

Mamoswine then quickly charges up his ice-type energy, while Nidoking still right in front of Mamoswine, charges up another 'Superpower'. They appear to have finished at the same time, with Mamoswine letting out an extremely cold blast of ice all around himself. Just as he released his Blizzard, Nidoking appeared to have swung his arm at Mamoswine. Right as the Blizzard blasted out we heard both Pokémon cry out in pain. 

"Stop!!..." Professor Oak says before anyone can do anything else. 

"Now, it appears that Mamoswine is unable to battle. So that means the winners are Giovanni and Nidoking," Professor Oak says once the Blizzard clears showing a collapsed Mamoswine. Nidoking did appear very injured, as it seems the point-blank Blizzard was a critical hit against him as well. 

I then recall Mamoswine while stabilizing him, before nodding my head to Leo who walks out into the battlefield. He stares down the Nidoking who is not even a King Rank, along with Leo's recent buffs, this will be a very quick fight, hopefully. 

"Now you both can start," Professor Oak says seeing everyone just staring at him to begin the battle. 

"Leo, buff up," 'Though they seem to attack right away, so be prepared to dodge,' I say to Leo even though he's been watching the fights too. 

Leo then immediately uses Leer and Howl, though just as he was finishing Howl. Nidoking ducked his head down, with ground-type energy surrounding his horn. Nidoking then charged at Leo, using Drill Run. Nidoking appeared to be charing him like a rhino would from my last life, reckless forward at full speed. 

Leo however, with extremely superior speed, sidestepped the attack at the last moment. Then released a jet of flames onto Nidoking, which looked more like a blowtorch at this point. Right after the blast of flames, we see Nidoking who is extremely burnt and hurt as he stumbles before righting himself. Just then Giovanni withdraws Nidoking, seeing the state he is in. 

"Giovanni withdrew Nidoking, the winners are Lucas and Leo," Professor Oak says seeing this happen. 

"Well, what are you waiting for? Bring out your last Pokémon," Professor Oak says seeing Giovanni standing there looking at me. 

'Oh, fuck did I make it onto Team Rocket's hit list… I'd really rather not have the headache of dealing with them right now,' I think as Giovanni is eyeing me with a judgmental look in his eyes. 

"I forfeit," Giovanni says taking both Professor Oak and me by surprise. 

"His Pokémon are already in the King Rank, I'm sure thanks to his father and you. Which means only a handful of other people will be able to challenge him. I only have one King Ranked Pokémon and I'm sure he has another at King Rank. So we both know he will win, now we just have to see how far he will go," Giovanni says to us while Professor Oak just grunts and I'm thinking. 

'From what I believe I know about Giovanni, he pretends to be weaker than he really is. Plus he is the hidden leader of Team Rocket, so maintaining his fake identity as a gym leader is a must for him. Overall, his choice to leave is surprising, I can only hope he doesn't target me now seeing how strong I've come. Then again he probably won't having seen my connections now,' I think to myself after hearing his reasons. 

"Yeah, yeah. Just give him his badge and you can leave," Professor Oak says before turning to the other researchers and ushering them back to the lab. 

"Here is your last badge, Trainer Lucas. I look forward to seeing how far, you go," Giovanni says handing me the Earth Badge. 

Then without waiting for me to respond, Giovanni walks away to head back to his home. I just watch him walk away before turning to Professor Oak who is staring at me after having made everyone return to work. 

"Come on, I had the items prepared for you. You can grab them and then do whatever, as you have a week before you need to get to the tournament. I already had you placed in it, so you don't have to worry about signing up," Professor Oak says while gesturing for me to follow him. 

He brings me up to his personal lab on the top floor of the building. There I can see a large box on his desk. He walks over and motions for me to open it. I walk over and look at the very finally made box made what appears to be platinum laced with gold, almost like the box itself worth is several hundred thousand Poké dollars. After observing the fancy box I open it up. 

Immediately I'm greeted by three Emperor Ranked Items, with the names of the items labeled below them in silver plating. The first one was a scale from a Charizard. The second one was an Orb, which apparently was the Eye of a Dusclops. With the last one being the horn of a Glalie. I stared at the three items for a bit taking in the fact I just received three extremely rare items. 

"I know I promised four, but you never told me what the fourth one you wanted. So just text me what you want whenever and I'll get it for you. As for the money, it should be arriving in your account in an hour," Professor Oak says as I just nod my head absent-mindedly. 

"Thanks," I finally say after coming out of my stupor. 

"Don't mention it, kid. We already agreed on the price of letting me learn more about your two rare Pokémon. Plus someone needs to remove my son from his spot, he's becoming too arrogant," Professor Oak says while I realize that Blue has probably gotten the same items and more, so his Pokémon must be as strong as possible for their rank. 

"Well, goodbye now," Professor Oak says pushing the box into my arms and practically pushing me out of his lab. 

As I stand in his elevator he goes back to his desk typing away completely forgetting about me already. I then head over to his house to say goodbye to his wife. Arriving I see Cherry in the living room reading a book and sipping tea. Hearing me arrive she stands up smiling at me. 

"Lucas, done with your battle? Did my husband give you what he promised?" Cherry says seeing the box still in my hands. 

"Uhm, yeah he did. I just wanted to say goodbye before taking my leave. Also, can I leave the box here?" I say not wanting to lug it around, plus with the money I have and will receive, I'll have more than I know what to do with. 

"Sure!" Cherry says with her chipper attitude. 

Then I remove the items before handing them to my Pokémon in the front of the house. After that, I turned to Cherry saying goodbye, and she told me to visit any time and to keep in touch. Seems she really does see me as a grandchild of hers, which is nice as I've never had a grandparent before. As my Dad's parents were already gone by the time he found me. 

"OK, so we have one week before the tournament starts. Which means we have a week to get to the Indigo Plateau. In the meantime, all of you focus on absorbing the items. Hopefully, you can finish them before our first battle," I say to my team as we all start heading to the Indigo Plateau. 

'I know Leo is already Maxed out, but Professor Oak told me if that is the case, then the items will help push your levels higher. So hopefully he will get closer to Emperor Rank. As for the others, Mamoswine should be able to finally break into King Rank. With Annihilape becoming even stronger,' I think as Mamoswine goes back into his Poké ball which he can still absorb the item in thankfully. 

While I hope onto Leo's back, with Annihilape inside my shadow. Then Leo begins running at full speed, which is now around triple a normal Arcanine's speed. This means Leo can now run just over Mach 1 (780 mph, 1255 kph). Plus along with his stamina, he can sustain his max speed for just over twenty-four hours straight. Thankfully with my powers, I'm able to hold onto Leo and not even feel the wind affecting me. 

With a sonic boom, we left Pallet Town heading to our destination. After ten minutes, we already passed by Viridian City which I could only tell from the direction we were heading. As everything was a blur since we were moving too fast for my eyes to even register what we were passing. 

Within several hours we arrived at the Indigo Plateau, and if not for my powers our sudden stop would have sent me flying off of Leo. Unlike the anime or games, the Plateau was the headquarters of all the Pokémon League across the world. So this place was a small city in itself. However, the only people who lived here were the Pokémon League Leaders and other extremely high-ranking members of the military and research centers. 

As we arrived I saw the dozens of large buildings surrounding the main one which appeared to be a modern-day castle. It had several dozen towers surrounding the main part of the building which looked like a mix between Hogwarts and the empire state building. This was by far the weirdest architectural design I've ever seen. 

There were already several hundred people filtering into the mini-city as they wanted to witness the tournament. Then there was another entrance for the trainers, which I walked over to. This line was very quick, as trainers had to sign up online which would put them into the system. Then our trainer card was all we needed to enter. 

"ID, please," the military guard standing by the trainer's entrance asks me as I approach. 

Next to the guards where two Arcanines though they were only half the size of Leo and only Earl Ranks it appears. The two Pokémon were looking at Leo with awe and respect, while the guards had a professional face on. I then handed my ID, after the guard scanned it and then nodded handing it back to me seeing everything in order. 

"You may enter," the guard says as I nod my head walking inside to see this place is even crazier inside. 

Looking around it felt like I entered New York City, but several thousand years in the future. But at the same time, it blended in with nature perfectly, as Pokémon could walk around without issue, regardless of their size. Though only trainers, staff, and military members were allowed to have more than one Pokémon out with them. 

"Well, lets head to our designated room, settle in and then check out this place," I say to my team who is looking around too. I let Mamoswine out seeing several Onix going about without issue.