Kapitel 130: Destiny

As night slowly transitioned into morning, Gary Oak was lying in bed with his mind racing over everything that had transpired that night. And the most prominent thought in his mind, was his own goals and destiny.

Gary thought he'd known what his destiny was for nearly his entire life, after he'd first learned of their family history from his own father, Blue Oak.

Though he had only seen his father a handful of times throughout his life, Blue was Gary's idol, the person he admired most in the entire world. From him, Gary learned the specifics about their family throughout the history of Kanto.

Though the Oak family had made a name for themselves throughout the history of Kanto, the most prominent pieces were in recent history, starting with Samuel Oak being a former League Champion. Of course, professor Oak being a former Champion was no secret, anyone with access to the history of Kanto would be able to find THAT out. But what WAS a secret outside the League was that he had never actually lost the position of Champion.

A Champion for a region can only be chosen through a battle, meaning the current Champion must be defeated by a challenger. Of course there was a difference in the way some regions handled this, like the Paldea region where the Champion would not step down after being defeated, but would instead chose a successor once their term was up from amongst those who had defeated them.

What the Kanto and Johto regions did not know though, was that professor Oak was NOT defeated in battle.

Instead, after thoroughly defeating Lance, the Champion of Johto, he had stepped down and handed the position to Lance willingly, and announcing to the Kanto region that he had lost. Of course this was back before battles were broadcasted, so there was no recording of the battle to refute their claims.

Hearing this for the first time had shook Gary to his very core, making him wonder what else he was unaware of. But the surprises his father had for him didn't end there.

After resigning from the position of Champion, his grandfather estabished himself as a prominent pokemon professor, and then sponsered a couple of kids from his hometown a few years later. His own son, Blue Oak, and a neighbor kid that Blue had grown up alongside, Red Ketchum.

Right out the gate the two were fierce rivals, battling even mere moments after first receiving their starter pokemon, Blue a Squirtle, and Red a Charmander. However, that batte, as well as every single one afterwards, resulted in Blue's loss.

They both then set out on the League challenge, smashing every single record as they made their way through the Gyms, until they finally reached the Indigo Plateau.

Back then the Conferences didn't exist yet, so anyone who acquired the eight Gym Badges was qualified to challenge the Elite Four, and the Champion.

Blue shot his way through the Elite Four, defeating them rapidly and decidedly before moving on to the next one, finally challenging, and then defeating, Lance himself. Finally, the Oaks had regained their rightful spot. Or so it seemed.

Moving right behind Blue was red, who also challenged the Elite Four, and defeated them just as decisively, along with Lance, before moving on to challenge Blue once again. And the result this time was the same as every other time that they battled, Red won.

However, Red didn't want the position of Champion, and readily stepped down. Blue, not wanting the position simply because Red didn't want it, also stepped down before the two of them resumed their journey, allowing Lance to take the position once more.

Of course none of this was published, since it would make their still reigning Champion, Lance, look weak. But that didn't change the fact that the TRUE Champion of both Kanto and Johto was Red Ketchum, and his heirs were Ace and Ash.

Hearing this story as a child, Gary swore two things to himself. First was that one day, HE would become a Champion too, and secondly that he would NEVER lose to a Ketchum.

That was why both of his losses to Ace hit him so hard. It made it feel as if he were doomed to follow in his father's footsteps, and constantly be overshadowed by a Ketchum.

But then, his entire world was turned upside-down.

Not only did Gary lose to Ace Ketchum, AGAIN, but he had also learned the true extent of Ace's goals and destiny.

To Ace the League, which was considered ther pinnacle of trainers everywhere, was nothing more than a footnote in his destiny. Instead, his eyes were turned towards the Legendaries and literally saving the world from destruction.

It was like something from a movie, and Gary NEVER would have believed it if not for the topic being brought up by an actual true alpha. But it was true.

And so now it appeared that history was about to repeat itself, with ANOTHER Ketchum swiftly rising to the ranks of the Championship, only to turn it down for something bigger and better that none of them could see.

The question was, would Gary be content to fall further and further behind, fading into obscurity like his father had? Or would he adapt and move forward to the heights that the typical trainer could scarcely even dream of?

This was what Gary continued pondering as he lay on the bed in Bill's guest bedroom, his sleep eluding him the entire time.

It was when the sun began to slowly light up the horizon, that all of the thoughts were forcibly driven from Gary's mind.

"SEEEEEeeeeeeEEEEEEeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

"GAH!" Gary cried out as he clamped his hands over his ears as a piercing wail assaulted them, while similar cries came from Bill's living room, where Ash and Tracey were asleep on his couches.

When it was FINALLY over, the door to the guest bedroom was slammed open as Ace himself marched in.

"Up and at em private! Time to get moving!" Ace declared to Gary, before moving on to making sure Ash and Tracey were awake.

"Whaizzzit!?!" Bill slurred tiredly as he stumbled out of his room, dressed only in a pair of tighty-whities.

"Vapor?" His Vaporeon asked as she too appeared from within his room.

"Sorry about the rude awakening Bill. I'm just getting these lazy-bones up and at em for training." Ace declared, to which Ash groaned in annoyance from the lack of sleep.

"Oh....Ace....." Bill slurred tiredly, before he seemingly realized something. "Oh right! You were going to help Gary and Ash train this morning!"

As he was also curious about Ace's training methods to produce such powerful pokemon, Bill hurried back into his room to get dressed so he could spectate.

Ace however turned back to the three of them, Gary, Ash and Tracey, And said, "I expect all three of you ready to go in five minutes. Every minute you're late is an extra lap of running. Let's go!"

To show his seriousness, Ace then started a stopwatch as he exited the lighthouse, where Gary saw the girls and his pokemon waiting for him.

Gary then hurriedly dressed in a loose t-shirt and shorts to make it outside just in time, while Ash was already waiting, and Tracey was a minute late.

"That's an extra lap for you Tracey." Ace said, making him groan tiredly while Gary scrutinizied all of Ace's pokemon that were gathered around him.

Not only were there the ones he'd battled against him with last night, Pidgeot, Snorlax, Gastly, Parasect, Blastoise and Charizard, but there was also Lucario, a Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Onix, Machop, Eevee, Absol Miltank, Tauros, Chansey, Vespiquen, and a LOT of Combee. There was even some kind of weird pink blob.

The sight of so many pokemon made Gary frown since it was significantly more than the ten pokemon carry limit Ace had, but he held his tongue since Ace himself DID say that he was a registered breeder. And pokemon registered as breeder pokemon wouldn't count against their carry limits.

That was also without counting the newborn Dratini, which Joy was currently bottle feeding at the side with what looked like Miltank milk. Obviously, it was too young to participate in their training for the moment.

So instead of making any remarks, Gary focused on Ace's Nidoking, Onix, and Vespiquen, all three of which were obviously alphas alongside his Pidgeot, Gastly, Parasect, Blastoise, and Charizard. Seriously, where was Ace getting these things?

"Wow Aniki! You have so many cool and strong looking pokemon!" Ash exclaimed in excitement as he looked them all over.

"That's not even all of them either!" Ace declared proudly, before turning serious.

"But first things first, call out your teams as well." He commanded, to which both Gary and Ash nodded in affirmation.

""GO!""

Crying out at the same time, fourteen more pokemon joined the group.

With a carry limit of only six, Ash's Pikachu joined the crowd alongside his Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Fearow, and Riolu. Gary meanwhile had a carry limit of eight. So not only did he have the six pokemon he had used in his battle against Ace the previous night, Aerodactyl, Raticate, Kadabra, Arcanine, Victreebell, and Blastoise, but he also had his newly acquired Umbreon, and his own Nidoking.

The two kings looked each other up and down when they saw one another, both posturing as if daring the other to do something. Unfortunately for Gary's Nidoking, Ace's was obviously an alpha, and easily had at least twice the mass and strength of his own.

"Now then, let's start with some warmups." Ace stated, before leading them in a series of exercises. Even his pokmeon were following his lead as best as they could, as obviously some of them were unable to replicate the stretches Ace was doing. So Gary, Ash and Tracey followed along as well with their own pokemon.

It was only when the warmups finished that Bill appeared, now fully dressed and ready for the day despite the bags under his eyes. But you'd have never guessed how tired he actually was as he excitedly admired all of Ace's pokemon that he hadn't seen the night before.

"Amazing! I don't think even Brock's alpha Steelix matches this Onix in size!" Bill exclaimed as he looked up and down the entire length of the pokemon.

"Of course! Before joining me, Onix was the king of an entire hidden kingdom deep in the moiuntains. You can find the details on May's Pokevision channel, May's Expeditions. Though of course we didn't divulge the actual coordinates."

The Onix seemed to puff itself up with pride at Ace's words, if that was even possible for a being made of rock, before something happened that stunned everyone.

The seemingly unimpressive little pink blob that Gary had noticed earlier suddenly changed, as it grew exponentially until it was roughly the same size as Onix, with it's body gaining a rocky exterior and serpentine figure.

"What the-!?!" Bill exclaimed as there were suddenly TWO massive Onix right before him, identical in every external way, size, shape, and even the distinguishing marks on the boulders making up their bodies.

"THAT Bill, is a Ditto." Ace said with a smirk from their stupified expressions.

"""Ditto?""" Ash, Gary, Tracey and Bill all Chatoted back at him in confusion.

"Yep, Ditto. It's a pokemon I discovered a while back. Their unstable gentic makeup allows them to completely transform into any pokemon they see. And I mean COMPLETELY, as in they gain the same moves as the pokemon they've Transformed into, as well as their abilities. Professor Oak has already confirmed with the ones he has at his lab, biologically, theres no difference between them and the pokemon they turned into.

"Not only that, but we are also testing potential uses in breeding programs with critically endangered pokemon. I already gave one to Brock to test with some of his fossil pokemon. Unfortunately though, theres a limit to how long they can hold their Transformation for, as well as the fact that they have to SEE the pokemon they want to turn into. They can't Transform from memory, and they typically can't fight as well as the pokemon they turn into."

As Ace finished explaining exactly WHAT a Ditto was, all four of the guys were staring at it in utter awe. It was a pokemon that was revolutionary as far as general applications were concerned, and it also meant that by having one you also had access to basically every single pokemon on the planet.

"So THIS is the pokemon professor Oak was talking about..." Bill said with stars in his eyes.

"The professor mentioned them?" Ace asked curiously.

"Not in detail. He was just bragging about how accomplished his own assistants were compared to the other professors. All he'd told us was that one of you discovered a brand new pokemon that would turn the world of science on it's head. I thought he was exaggerating, but this... Can I have one Ace!?!"

"I'll have to think about it." Ace replied with what sounded like a polite refusal, before saying with a serious tone, "But right now, we have more inportant things to focus on! Chansey!"

"See see!" Ace's Chansey cried as she prepare to use a move, a move that they ALL experienced a second later as the atmosphere became suffocating, and Gary began to struggle just to keep his head up, let alone move his body.

"What....is...this.....Aniki...?" Ash asked, giving voice to the question on all of their minds.

"This is just a little extra Gravity." Ace said as if it were obvious, even as he continued to move around as if it were nothing. Hell, even his pokemon with the exceptions of his new Eevee and Snorlax were completely fine as well, and the latter was only struggling due to it's own weight.

"You....do....this...every...day...?" Gary questioned.

"Yep. It was hard at first, but I eventually adapted. Hell, I can even wear my weighted clothing under the Gravity as well." As he said this Ace pulled up his shirt to show off the weighted vest underneath, along with his weighted boots and wristbands.

"Enough chit-chat! Let's go!" Ace declared, leading them in the actual morning exercises, since all they'd done so far was the warmups.

By the time they all had breakfast, Gary, Ash and Tracey were all unable to move even a single muscle, and they all understood how Ace's pokemon became so strong. If they were enduring THAT every day, then it would be inevitable.

***

"Well, they're gone already..." Bill said in sorrowful voice, gazing towards the west from the top of his lighthouse.

Though one would think that Ash, Gary and Tracey would be unable to move after such an intense workout, Ace had his Chansey use Heal Pulse on them to repair their battered muscles, and Heal Bell to sooth their fatigue. This, combined with the idea of training while she was using the move Gravity, was mroe than enough for Bill to understand just how Ace and his pokemon became so strong in such a short amount of time.

And seeing this, he was more than excited to see what would become of the Eevee he gave Ace.

But the thing that got Bill excited the most, was Ace's Ditto.

Such a pokemon was completely unheard of. And if Ace's theory about it's applications in breeding programs were true, then it would become one of the most valuable pokemon in the entire world in the near future.

But then there was also Ash's Pikachu, which was extraordinarily ordinary in every way biologically, but was fairly powerful for still being in it's second stage. And that was BEFORE it touched the Light Ball.

Afterwards Bill ran a few tests on it, and discovered that Pikachu's physical strength and lightning output had practically doubled, making it easily on par with a regular Raichu. But that was only at the moment.

He would have had to do a few more tests, but was unfortunatey unable to, but Bill suspected that Pikachu's growth would become unprecedented compared to the others in it's line. It was quite possible that Ash's Pikachu would become the strongest of it's line in the entire world, so long as it continued on it's current path of growth.

"So much is happening in the world..." Bill muttered to himself, as well as to his partner.

"Vapor?"

"Just think about it Vaporeon! The Legendaries on the move, and a being that stands above even Mew! We're so lucky to live in this era!"

Vaporeon just smiled as she nuzzled closer to Bill, enjoying the touch until he moved a few moments later. As much as he wanted to continue standing there with her, there was so much to do, and so little time to do it.

First and foremost, Bill had to contact the League and professor Oak. Though he understood why Ace had kept silent about himself until now, they had to know the truth.

After that Bill had to try to arrange an expedition to the North Pole to try and find Rayquaza. It was a seemingly impossible task, but would be even more so if left entirely to Ace alone.

AND THEN, there was all the data he would have to go over regarding Ace's pokemon, as well as his own observations. Not to mention Ash's Pikachu.

"Haaa... so much to do!" Bill sighed, but he would've had it no other way as he hurried down the stairs with Vaporeon following behind him.

***

Giana was pensive as she sat on the balcony of her suite, pointedly ignoring the mess that her room was now in after Leon's latest visit. (A.N. NOT the Leon from Sword and Shield. I didn't realize there was a literal Champion with that name until someone mentioned it and I started playing Sword a few weeks ago.)

He hadn't molested her this time, but Leon had brought a group of League trainers to search every single part of her room, even raiding her underwear drawer, for evidence of her connection to Team Rocket. If she'd known they would go that far, Giana would've bought some Snorlax-sized dildos and other sex toys when they were last docked in Hoenn to stash in there. Maybe a massive strap-on with Leon's name on it or something?

Regardless, Giana had managed to keep them from finding what they were looking for by stashing the data stick in her panties when they searched her room.

Crude, yes.

But the maneuver had done it's job by preventing them from finding anything to incriminate her with, especially after she'd chucked her communication devices off her balcony into the surf below.

A part of Giana just wanted to be done with this whole charade and return to base, but doing so would be the same as admitting her guilt. And while Giana wasn't worried about being captured or imprisoned, she was hesitant to throw away her public face.

Giovanni was already exposed, and he was rapidly sinking along with Team Rocket as they experienced failure after failure. Giana refused to go down with them.

That was why she decided it was time to start making arrangements.

At that moment there was a distortion in space as two people and a pokemon appeared within her suite. She knew there were no bugs within, so there was no probem with them being here as long as there were no visitors.

"Sabrina, Ariana." Giana said, greeting the two women.

"Giana! You've grown since the last time I saw you." Ariana said enthusiastically to which Giana just cocked a brow.

"Don't look at me like that! We both know you're the daughter I never had, or wanted." Ariana said dismissively as she searched for a place to sit. "I see you've redecorated..."

"You can thank the League for that." Giana explained as Sabrina returned her Alakazam to it's pokeball, and stood to the side attentively.

"That's also paart of why I called the two of you here." She continued, before passing the data stick to Ariana. "It's only a matter of time before they find it."

"Is everything we need on it?" Ariana asked as she accepted it.

"As much as I could get considering what happened in Viridian city." Giana replied dryly.

"Well, considering our track record lately, we need as much as we can get."

As Ariana said that Sabrina and Giana shared a brief look, before the latter said to the older woman, "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that."

Ariana looked at Giana curiously at that.

"Oh really? About what exactly?"

Giana paused as she prepared herself, before finally saying, "The future of Team Rocket."

"???"

"What about it? After the SS. Anne we will quickly find ourselves on top once more, especially once all the League members on board perish."

A sadistic smile graced Ariana's lips at the thought of their seemingly imminent rise to power. And Giana had to admit, with two Legendary grade pokemon under their control, she understood why Ariana would be so cocky. But she didn't know everything.

"And what if we AREN'T 'on top'?" She asked her, earning a sharp look from Ariana.

For a moment the older woman studied Giana, seemingly trying to figure out what was going through her mind to suggest such a thing.

"Are you saying, that you intend to abandon Team Rocket if things don't start improving?" Airana asked in a dangerous voice.

"Team Rocket has been on a losing streak for months. We have a fraction of the forces we used to have, we lost several sources of income after Giovanni was exposed, and a base at the same time, we no longer possess the omega weapon, AND we have gotten to the point where we were forced to hire Team Aqua to come in and do our dirty work for us. Does any of that sound like the winning side?"

As Giana trailed off Ariana remained silent as she slowly digested everything she had said.

True enough, things have not been going well. And by 'going well' she meant it was one massive fucking disaster after another.

Their entire presence in Pewter was wiped out by Brock, the Rangers and the Jennys, their excavation unit was wiped out in Mt. Moon, and then another unit was cornered to the point they sent the omega weapon. The same omega weapon that abandoned them shortly afterwards, after destroying the entire Viridian hideout, exposing Giovanni, and killing all of the staff within.

Around the same time one of their recruitment operations was eliminated by a couple of bungling martial artists, and all of their bases in Cerulean were systematically destroyed by the Bloodless Butcher, who no one still knew the identity of. And then you could cap it all off with the complete failure of the Lavender town operation to capture the true alpha Gengar. Not only did they lose their airship, but also one of their Executives, and every single man, woman, and pokemon that participated. Even if they weren't killed, all of the survivors fled and abandoned Team Rocket entirely.

Oh yeah, there was also the fact that every single one of their spies that had been inserted into Silph Co was discovered, meaning they were no longer able to continue stealing their research.

Yeah, their recent track record was nothing but one disaster after another.

"Very well, you have my attention. I doubt you'd bring this up if you didn't already have some kind of plan in mind." Ariana said as she turned her attention back to Giana.

"Indeed. The three main points are that we would need to ensure we still have a majority of control over the funds Team Rocket is receiving, we would have to consolidate the personel we are willing to keep while cutting away the dead weight, and finally we need a change in leadership."

Ariana nodded slowly in contemplation before saying, "The money and various assets we have should be easy enough to gain control over since you're Giovanni's heir, the only tricky part would be gaining control over them without him knowing what we were doing. As for cutting away dead weight, all we need to do is nothing as Giovanni and those loyal to him dig themselves deeper and deeper. That just leaves the question of who will be the new Boss."

As she got to the part of the new Boss of Team Rocket, Ariana narowed her eyes at Giana. "I suppose you would name yourself the new Boss?"

Ariana expected Giana to immediatly make claims of how she deserved the position of Boss, seeing as she was Giovanni's heir and such. But surprisingly, she did no such thing.

"I may be Giovanni's clone, but that does not mean I share his narcissism and inflated ego. I am perfectly capable of knowing when to take a step back for someone else. And in this case, I believe I already know the perfect canidate for our new boss."

As she said that Sabrina readily stepped forward and pulled out her Pokenav to show Ariana the image of a certain someone on it.

"!!!"

"Are you insane!?!" Ariana demanded upon seeing who Giana chose.

"Not at all." Giana answered simply, having already expected this type of response. She then continued before Ariana could protest,

"In the short time he's been active he has amassed strength, funds, and authority that would be nearly impossible for anyone else to gain in the same timeframe. He turned one of our own agents into his personal spy, and used the information they provided to effectively dismantle our hold over a good portion of the Kanto region. And in doing so, he has also solidified his role as the one leading the charging in destroying us.

"Not only that, but his own strength as well as that of his pokemon is proving to be unmatched. As far as League battles go, he's undefeated, and the only losses he's sustained since receiving his license were at the hands of Legendary pokemon. Not to mention he would also be willing to take on Legendaries with his bare hands.

"Adding on to that, he also has the full support of three of the world's top researchers of pokemon, the League, the Kouga clan, the Rangers, and Silph Co. Not to mention that he also has an ownership stake in one of Silph Co's newest and most sought after products, which has been expanding his personal funds significantly. And on top of all of that, he's the firstborn son of a League Champion."

Even as Giana listed off everything about her chosen canidate for their new boss, Ariana didn't care. True, all of these accolades would be more than enough for them to scout someone into their organization, and even start them off as a high-ranking officer or agent. But when you considered the amount of damage he had done to them personally...

"I don't care Giana. Yes, he's more than qualified. But that won't change anything that he has done to us, or us to him. I thought you were smarter than this, but I guess this was a waste of time."

Finished speaking, Ariana stood and made her way to the door, probably to explore the ship a little bit after everything they had discussed, even if it menat exposing Giana. But, right as she grasped the doorknob, Giana suddenly added,

"What if I told you that he has received blessings from Ho-Oh, Zapdos, and the true alpha Dragonite, performed mega evolution with omega weapon, and meets semi-regularly with Mew itself?"

"!!!"

Ariana looked back at Giana in alarm when she heard that, seeing both her and Sabrina looking at her with complete seriousness. She then fought an internal battle, before releasing the doorknob and returning to her previous seat.

"Please, continue."