Kapitel 158: The Royal Entourage

When we finally returned to the SS. Anne, atop Pidgeot's back, Clair was fairly worn out and I was feeling pretty fucking famished after the liberal use of aura since our battle began. First I had to use most of it to subdue Tyrantrum when he decided to act out, then there was me synchronizing with Charizard during his battle against Dragonite, and then there was the aura I had to use to save Clair when she fell into the ocean. Not to mention all the aura I pumped into her afterwards.

The biggest problem we had though was Clair's lack of dress, since she didn't have a change of clothes on her and her cape could only do so much to conceal her body...even without us using it for certain dubius purposes.

So, we had Pidgeot drop Clair and I off on the balcony to her own suite so that she could rest after cleaning up a little, and I could rejoin the ship in a less conspicuous manner.

"Thank you again, for saving me." Clair said as we entered her room.

"Don't worry about it, I'd say you already 'thanked' me enough earlier." I said with a smile, making the dragon tamer blush. I was enjoying this contrast to her usual public persona of a tough dragon woman.

"But still..." Clair said, placing her hands on her lower abdomen while her aura shifted through numerous different feelings at the same time, shame, trepidation, and excitment being the most prominent amongst them.

I had to admit, I myself wasn't too sure what to feel about the possibility of me impregnating Clair. On one hand it was still an unknown if I even COULD have children in this life or not, while on the other I had just potentially made my first (known) child. Maybe I should look into child custody laws and such in this world, just in case some of my previous one nighters come calling soon.

I shook my head of those thoughts for right now though, and gave Clair a quick kiss to distract her.

"Just keep me informed of anything that happens. I may not be around all the time, but I also don't really care for ignoring a child I know about." As I said that I thought about my own absentee father in this life, who's name was still an unknown to me, while I only got a glimpse of his face when I was first born.

"Of course." Clair replied, though I could sense some kind of complicated feeling going through her as she said that. Probably worrying about the women of her clan if I was around TOO much. I'll also have to look into the Blackthorn dragon clan when I get a chance.

"And here, take this." Clair said as she handed me something, which was a Badge that looked like a dragon's head. "Its the Rising Badge, which I give to those who beat me. I have only given out a handful of these Badges before, with most people who acquire one having done so by challenging one of the weaker members of my Gym."

I nodded sowly while admiring the Badge, which so few people truly earned. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only reason so many people managed to 'earn' them was because Clair was required to hand them out to those that met a certain standard, regardless of if they could beat her or not. Otherwise Johto would face a severe lack of capable and qualified trainers.

"I'll have to put it in my display case in my house with the rest of my Badges after we get off the SS. Anne." I said while tucking it into one of my bag pockets with the rest of the Badges I got today until later. I still needed to buy a new case for the Balance Badge I got from Norman, which was a part of the Hoenn League.

"You have a house?" Clair asked as she tried to clean herself up.

"Yeah. It's a Capsule I got from Silph co after I exposed all of the Team Rocket agents that had infitrated them and were stealing their technology. I also got a greehouse and a mobile Pokemon Center, but the latter more or less belongs to the Nurse Joy traveling with me."

"Amazing... I'll have to look into these Capsules myself soon. I still have a hard time believing that trainers can actually take an entire house with them on their journeys now. Usually they just camped out since even mobile homes couldn't go everywhere they need to as they traveled."

"Oh yeah! Last I heard, Silph is also developing a tent that possesses the same tech as our bags, expanding the interior so that a single small tent could easily fit numerous people/pokemon with ease."

"I swear... Next thing we know all of the new trainers will be too soft since they have too many comforts readily available.." Clair said while shaking her head with a sigh, which did interesting things to her titties as I watched them with my undivided attention.

"Ehem!" Clair suddenly did a fake cough, bringing my attention back up to her face that was now a slght shade of red due to where my attention had been focused.

It was just as well though, since another sound permeated the room afterwards.

*GRRRRRRRR!*

"Hehe, sorry about that. Using my aura takes up a LOT of my energy." I explained with an awkward chuckle as my stomach roared for food.

"Pft! I guess you're human after all!" Clair said with a giggle, though her blush returned as I stepped close to her, and put my hands on her hips.

"If you ever need me, for ANYTHING, don't hesitate to call. Doubly so if you want to do some more baby-making." I said with a smirk, before punctuating my comment with a kiss before Clair could reply.

It probably would have been a perfectly romantic moment, had I not then proceeded to ferociously grope Clair's delectable ass at the same time.

"!!!"

"You jerk..."

"Yep!"

I didn't even deny it as we separated, and I made my way to her suite door to go and find the others. Just like lunch, we were all having dinner together as well.

It took me but a few minutes to zero in on where they were all at, and when I got there I was surprised to find a small pile of food already waiting for me.

"Since you used a lot of aura today, I thought you would bee REALLY hungry." Joy explained as she gestured to the food.

"Joy, I well and truly love you." I said without a single ounce of hesitation, making my little nurse turn completely red in an instant even before I pressed my lips against her burning hot cheek, and proceeded to dig in to the food.

"So....how did everyone's battles go?" I asked between bites.

"Well, you know how my last one turned out..." Ethan said bitterly, referring to his match against Clair.

"Yeah, did you win?" Lyra asked me, having also been present when Ethan lost.

"Yep~!" I said while pulling out my new and shiny Rising Badge.

"Nice!" Nate exclaimed as he admired it.

"Elio and I challenged our first Gym Leaders today as well." Selene said as she and her brother produced matching Badges that looked like a heart, which I believe was the Mind Badge given by Tate and Liza of the Mossdeep Gym in Hoenn.

"Cool! Did you battle them together?" Ash asked curiously.

"Yep~! Since they're twins, they either accept two challengers at a time, or you have to use two pokemon at once for a double battle!" Selene explained, before Elio added,

"But they're also psychic, so it become hard to battle when they begin to read your mind and stuff."

"I see..." I said while glancing at Ash with a widening smirk.

"Huh? What is it Aniki?" Ash asked when he noticed my gaze.

"How about you and me go and challenge Tate and Liza ourselves tomorrow Ash? Aura twins versus psychic twins?"

In an instant Ash's expression changed as his aura flared like a bonfire.

"Alright! Me and Aniki battling together! No one will be able to beat us!" Ash declared in excitment, making me wonder if I should have waited until tomorrow to mention it to him. Since Ash was liable to demand we go challenge them right now.

"I also still need to challenge them." Brendan said as he pulled out his Badge case, which was still missing two of them.

"You're lucky though. Neither Gym Leader that Lucas and I need to challenge are on board..." Barry lamented while his friend nodded in agreement.

"I just hope we can catch the next one at Snowpoint city when we return to Sinnoh." Lucas said with a wry smile, though I could tell he was still enjoying himself on the SS. Anne regardless.

"What about non-Gym battles, has anyone been having those?" May asked curiously.

"Of course. But unless they're vetran trainers then there's hardly anyone aside from Gym Leaders worth mentioning." Hilbert said, though I saw Hop's expression darken as he probably recalled Bede.

"I heard there's one trainer who's shooting up through the ranks despite only actually having a couple of battles. Apparently most of her opponents all gave up before they even battled." Rosa said as she pulled out her Pokenav, and showed us a picture of the trainer in question.

She was pretty cute, with an outfit that seemed like a mix between cute and punk. She had black hair, with part of her bangs styled to nearly cover one of her eyes, with ribbons in her hair that matched her pink dress. But aside from her dress, she was also wearing a black choker, matching her thick-looking black leather jacket.

"Marnie..." I said, reading her name while also glancing over some of the other information available.

"Oh! We know about her! Right Victor?" Gloria quickly said said when she realized who we were talking about.

"Yeah, she's one of the top trainers in the Galar League right now. Of course, that's not saying a whole lot right now, seeing how many trainers have quit because of Team Yell."

"Right, the vandals." I said, recalling them from the discussion when we all first met.

"Yes... and the worst part is that there's talk that they are on board the SS. Anne as well." Victor added as an afterthought.

"Great..." I said while massaging my temple in frustration. "The last thing we needed was to deal with ANOTHER group of morons while dealing with ACTUAL terrorists."

"Speaking of morons, did you hear about that guy you dropped off the back of the ship?" Hilda asked with a smirk.

"No? What happened?"

"Maybe they're still playing it!"

Saying so, Hilda hurriedly turned on the tv mounted to the wall nearby.

"I'll start it from the beginning~!" Hilda declared, with the program she turned on starting with a montage of clips for today's battles.

I was surprised it was put together so well so quickly, and some of the shots they got genuinely amazed me, like the ones they got of my race against Falkner, or my battle against Clair. There were also some really cool shots of the others with their battles today as well, like Ethan's Typhlosion before it was defeated by Clair's Dragonite, or Calem with his Greninja as they battled against Piers of Galar.

When the montage finished we saw a trio of people sitting at a desk like commentators at a sporting event.

"Good evening and welcome back to the SS. Anne as we recap the first day of the Inter-League Tournament! I'm Gabby of Gabby's Corner for all of you who aren't my usual viewers, here with two VERY important guests! First up is the man who is known as the world authority on pokemon, professor Oak of Kanto!"

"Hello everyone. It is my pleasure to be here tonight." Professor Oak said with his usual grandfatherly smile.

"And secondly is the streaming star of the Paldea region! Introducing, Iono of the Iono Zone!"

"HEYYYYYYYYY EVERYONE~! Your beloved idol Iono here~!" Declared the young looking girl sitting beside the professor and Gabby, who's attire reminded me of a Magnemite.

"Right then! First thing first professor, how do you think things have gone for the first day of such a large tournament?" Gabby immediately asked.

"I think things are going exceedingly well." Professor Oak readily answered. "The goal of this tournament is fostering bonds between the trainers of different regions, all in the hope of achieving a sense of unity like none our world has ever seen."

"Very well said professor. And I have to agree that the goal of fostering bonds is going well, at least from what we've seen so far with all of the battles that have taken place, as well as the rush to the trading hall the other day." As she said that, Gabby played another few clips that showed the different battles that had taken place, presumably before the tournament even started. At least I assume so since my battle against Barry was shown as well.

"Ohohoho~! But not everything has been smooth sailing~! What else would you call a trainer dropping another trainer over the side of the ship~?"

As Iono brought it up, Gabby then played the footage people captured of when I confronted Paul, dragged him across the ship, and dropped him off the back of it.

"Well, I don't think it's fair to hold this one against them. Especially when you are aware of what that young man had done to his own pokemon." Professor Oak said as a dangerous light flashed through his eyes.

"Indeed! Not only did the young man who did this get off scott free, but the man he dropped, Paul of the Sinnoh region, was even promptly disqualified from the tournament, and recent information states that he was even stripped of his trainer license along with all his pokemon!"

"Yep yep~! Apparently he had a history of abandoning any pokemon that didn't meet his standards~! But that's not all~! In this case, he even told his Chimchar to jump ship and swim to shore! That poor thing!"

As Iono grew agitated from reporting what Paul had done, both professor Oak and Gabby nodded in agrement as the former said,

"Indeed. I am just glad that one of my students, Ace Ketchum, was present to save the poor pokemon."

"Yes! And we have some GREAT footage of the entire scene!" Gabby declared, before yet ANOTHER clip played that started with Chimchar approaching the railing, before climbing it and jumping off the ship. Then they caught me diving down after it, before reappearing a few moments later as Pidgeot carried the two of us back up to the ship deck.

"That truly is an impressive student you have there preofessor! Not only is he basically a hero, but he went and defeated a Champion ranked pokemon, and is leading the rankings by a large margin!"

As Gabby declared it, she produced an image of the rankings ranked top to bottom. My name was at the very top of course, with more than two hundred points thanks to my battles today, mostly the ones against the Gym Leaders, and my battle against Cynthia last night.

Also in the top rankings was Lucas, Gary and Brendan, each with over a hundred points apiece, while Barry, Calem, Nate, Hilbert and Victor were all training slightly behind at just under a hundred points with a few other trainers, like the girl we had been talking about earlier, while Elio, Ethan, Ash and Hop were all a fair bit lower. Chances were that it was because they either didn't battle that much today, or they had suffered a defeat or two, which I knew Ethan and Hop both did.

Meanwhile the girls that were participating in the tournament also appeared scattered throughout the rankings, with May and Misty being the highest ranked amongst them with points in the eighties, while Dawn was a short ways behind them.

After giving everyone a moment to actually see the current ranking, Gabby then said, "I also see that your grandson is pretty high up there professor Oak! Care to comment?"

"Naturally I am very proud of Gary's progress, especially with the great strides he has made in the last couple weeks. I feel as if he is maturing greatly as a trainer compared to before, and if he continues like this while applying both himself and his pokemon, I can see him even surpassing Lance and myself in the future. Possibly sooner rather than later."

Though his expression remained neutral I could feel a rush of emotion go through Gary at his grandfather's words, which probably meant more to him than professor Oak realized. Not that Gary would ever admit it.

"He and Ace aren't the only ones to look out for though~!" Iono suddenly declared, stunning everyone as she pointed out one name in particular, even though they were a little lower in the rankings than the rest of us.

"That's right! I'm talking about YOU, May Birch!" Iono declared dramatically.

"ME!?!" May exclaimed in shock. Then, as if she heard her, Iono nodded as she continued,

"Yes, YOU! Don't think I haven't seen your viewer count steadily increasing May! You and your Blaziken are becoming quite the hot topic in the streaming community, especially since your content is about traveling to amazing places and seeing amazing pokemon! BUT! Only one of us can stand at the top of the streamer world! So that's why I challenge YOU! Tomorrow, we shall see who is better between the two of us! Meet me if you dare!"

May just gaped at the screen incredulously from the challenge, while I couldn't help but to smirk.

"So? Are you going to let her call you out like that?" I asked her.

"Of course not! Bring her on!" May declared as she rose to her feet with fire in her eyes.

"That's my girl!" I declared, giving her ass a nice smack like I was trying to pat her on the back.

After that we watched the program go on for a bit longer, in which they mostly just discussed eye-catching battles that had taken place today, along with a few other trainers they felt people should keep an eye on. When it seemed like there was nothing else too intersting that they were going to talk about, Lillie asked me shyly,

"Hey Ace, can we see the Chimchar you saved earlier?"

"Hmm... I guess, but I don't know how it'll respond to there being so many people." I answered, pulling it's pokeball out as I did so. I had kept it on me even as I rotated my pokemon throughout the day since catching it, because I didn't want it to freak out by suddenly waking up back at the lab.

But, we were all going to have to actually meet it sooner or later.

To try and lessen THAT impact though, I let Ralts out first.

'Need...?' She asked telepathically, while those who hadn't seen her before just gaped.

"Is that a shiny Ralts with Telepathy!?!" Max exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yep. And yes I do need you Ralts." I told her, before quickly transmitting my memories of Chimchar to her. "I hope that you can help me keep Chimchar from freaking out.

'Will...!' She stated while looking up at me with determination, pumping her little fists as she did so.

"Alright then, here he is!" I stated, before releasing Chimchar from it's pokeball.

"Char?" The little monkey uttered as it appeared in the middle of the crowd.

"Char?!" It exclaimed in fear from seeing us, before trying to climb up a nearby lightpole.

"It's ok. None of us are going to hurt you." I called up to Chimchar, before Ralts followed up.

"Ralts. Ralts ralts, ralts!" She explained out loud to it for me, telling Chimchar how she and her mother met me after being trafficked by bad humans.

"Char?"

"Ralts!"

For a moment Chinchar didn't do anything as it looked between Ralts and I, before slowly climbing down the lightpole and approaching me cautiously.

"Its ok, I'm not going to hurt you." I said while channeling peaceful and good-natured vibes to it via my aura.

"Ralts!"

With a declaration, Ralts used Teleport to go from the deck to my shoulder in an instant, telling Chimchar to 'come on!'

"Char..."

Though hesitant at first, Chimchar approached my legs before I stretched my hand down towards it in offering.

"Thats right. Come on up." I said to encourage it, still channeling my aura towards it.

Chimchar looked between my hand and I for a moment, before accepting it as I pulled it up into my lap.

"There you go. Would you like something to eat?" I asked, pulling a plate of cut up fruit closer for it to see.

"Char!"

I picked up a piece and offered it to Chimchar, who quickly took it out of my hand before chowing down.

"Char!"

Soon enough Chimchar had completely relaxed as it grew more comfortable around us, even as I petted it's head with my other hand while it ate.

"Is it a boy or girl?" Dawn asked curiously.

"Boy I think." I answered.

"Char!" He declared, stating 'thats right!'

"He's so cute!" May exclaimed.

"Char char! Char!"

"He says 'I'm not cute! I'm the manliest man there ever was!'" I translated for them, making several of the girls giggle at how cute they thought he looked.

"Chimchar was my first pokemon, and I can tell you that that guy looks like he's gonna become a beast one day!" Barry stated while looking at Chimchar with an evaluating gaze.

"Oh he is. I'm going to make sure of that after we see what he's capable of in training tomorrow."

"CHAR?!?"

Immediately Chimchar went on the alert as I mentioned training, his body tensing as his aura grew erratic.

"Ralts." Ralts said in a soothing voice, trying to calm him while transmitting memories of my training sessions to Chimchar. As she did that, I also took a peak into his mind to see what 'training' had consisted of for him until now.

What I saw in his memories hardened my hatred of Paul as I saw him basically directing his other pokemon to mercilessly beat Chimchar to the point where he couldn't even stand, only to chastise him for not doing better. The worst part? Paul never even TRIED to help Chimchar get stronger, he'd just insult him or tell him to 'do better', and then have him beat up all over again.

Though some of my pokemon also undergo such training, like Charizard, it was because of how strong they already were as we tried to build up their defenses. Plus I always had Chansey on standby if she needed to heal them, and I never FORCED them to undergo such training.

I then wrapped my arms around the only slightly calmed down Chimchar, smothering him in calming aura as I said to him, "I would NEVER treat you like that Chimchar. Any trainer who simply tells their pokemon 'do better' is no real trainer. Ask any of my pokemon, and they'll tell that my training is hard, but I won't ever do what Paul did to you."

"Ralts!" Ralts declared, patting the top of Chimchar's head herself in reassurance.

For a moment there was only silence as everyone watched Chimchar and I, not wanting to disturb us. And then...

"We're going to go on ahead." Daisy suddenly whispered to me, as she made to stand with the rest of the girls.

"Already?"

"Yeah. I think Chimchar needs less people around him right now, plus its been a busy day today. See you back at the room?"

"Yes, I'll be there shortly." I answered her, earning me a kiss before she followed after the rest of the girls. Curious how they ALL left at the same time, and are ALL heading in the same direction.

My mind would normally run wild with the ideas if I didn't have a traumatized pokemon to take care of. If I ever get the chance, I'm going to fucking throttle Paul.

The guys and I sat out for a little over an hour longer as we all Tauros-shitted and such, even playing a few hands of poker after I got Chimchar to calm down completely. Naturally, I cleaned them all out.

Did I need the money?

No.

Did it feel good taking it?

Hell fucking yes!

Unfortunately they all started to get wise after the fifth round, at which point Gary revealed how NONE of professor Oak's aides, or the professor himself, dared to gamble against me due to all the times I emptied their wallets in the past. Well, at least he waited until the others started to wise up on their own.

Soon after that the guys started dispersing as well, including Ash and Goh as they returned to their own room. Tracey meanwhile hung out with me a little bit longer along with Arven, both giving me tips on how to help Chimchar over the next few days after all of the trauma he had experienced from Paul.

By the time I also headed back to my suite all of the activity on the ship had become quite subdued due to how late it was, with only the bars still having a decent amount of people left in them. But even they were emptying since all of the trainers didn't want to get too wasted for the tournament tomorrow.

I did sense something rapidly approaching the SS. Anne in the distance, but immediately forgot about it as soon as I opened the door to my suite.

"!!!"

I was immediately greeted by fifteen pairs of eyes looking at me, all belonging to women in various states of undress while the sixteenth person present, Sonia, was currently in the process of removing her pants.

"Did my birthday come early this year?" I asked with a wide smile, making some of the girls shuffle awkwardly as a few among them tried to cover whatever might be exposed.

"Nooo... We're just playing truth or dare." Misty said while rolling her eyes, though I tell there was some kind of deeper meaning within her words and intention.

I mean, I COULD read her mind to see what that was, but I was focusing too much on Sonia's ass to do that, even as she tried, and failed, to cover it.

"I see... Room for one more?" I asked, not even waiting for an answer as I made to join them.

***

At the same time, a helicopter was rapidly approaching the SS. Anne before descending to land upon one of the now empty arenas. Waiting to receive said helicopter was all of the Champions, Lance, Steven, Cynthia, Iris and Kakui, along with a couple of the professors, including professor Oak.

Instead of immediately landing though, the helicopter hovered high up in the air for a moment as four figures dropped from it, not at all minding the height. Two of them were humans dressed in renaissance style clothing that included armored bracers, while the other two were bipedal pokemon with blue and black fur.

The moment they landed on the deck of the ship, the four figures went on the alert as they glanced in every direction, before finally the helicopter began to descend after some unseen signal. And once it was securely on the deck, two figures exited it while accompanied by their pokemon.

The first was an older man who was dressed similarly to the two from before, accompanied by his own partner pokemon, another Lucario. The second however was the one who drew the attention of everyone present.

Dressed in a flowing gown of pink, she had long flowing blonde hair that was held into place by a circlet of gold with emeralds, which matched her piercing green eyes that seemed as if they could see right through you. Which, they basically could.

Meanwhile a Mime Jr. stood on her shoulder, mimicing each of her movements and facial expressions perfectly.

Lady Ilene, the current queen of the small nation of Rota, took a long sweeping look at everything around her the moment she stepped off of the helicopter, seeing far more than one could normally thanks to her aura sense.

Though unable to wield aura like her Guardians and their partner pokemon, which Rota had the highest concentration of Lucario of anywhere on the planet, Lady Ilene had inherited a powerful aura sense that had been passed down through her ancestry since the founding of Rota itself.

Even now, she was able to easily sense and analyze the aura of every single person and pokemon aboard the SS. Anne, and as she did so she frowned from the sheer number of 'dark' auras that held malicious intent onboard.

But, intermixed amongst them was an aura that dwarfed all others, appearing as a miniature sun surrounded by mere torches. A sun that radiated lust more than anything, but a sun nonetheless.

"Lady Ilene, it is a great pleasure to see you." Lance said as he stepped forward from the group of Champions, being the only one who had previous dealings with the literal queen.

"Lance. I am thankful that you were able to host us on such short notice." Lady Ilene said as she extended one of her fair hands, which Lance accepted as he planted a respectful kiss upon her fingers.

"Of course. We had anticipated one or two VIPs joining us at the last minute, and prepared accordingly." Lance stated, right as a pair of League employees came forward to take her luggage to her suite. Though even as he said it, Lance couldn't help the slight feeling of annoyance from how last minute the report of her arrival was. They were truly lucky there was a suite available.

This was naturally noticed by Lady Ilene, but she ignored it due to being used to such things. Instead, she focused on the numerous dark auras plaguing the ship, as well as the sun of lust, and asked, "Is there somewhere we can speak privately Lance? There are a few matters of urgency that I wish to discuss, as soon as possible."

"Of course." Lance, before following Steven as his fellow Champion led the way to one of the private meeting rooms, which he had Koga sweep several times a day for any bugs that may be planted.

Along the way they held introductions since everyone else present had never met her before, though what truly caught her attention was the aura of the female professor known as Ivy. Though normal at a glance, Lady Ilene noticed a concentration of aura centered within her womb that matched that of the sun she was able to sense, even now.

The same thing happened again when they came upon a familiar face, the cousin of Lance that Lady Ilene had met once before in the past. Except she too possessed a significant concentration of aura within her womb, though she couldn't help but to notice this aura felt different compared to the aura in Ivy's womb, while still being a part of the same sun.

"Clair! Good timing. You remember Lady Ilene?" Lance said to his cousin as soon as they saw her outside the room they were about to enter.

"Of course! It is an honor to see you again, Lady Ilene." Clair greeted her in a respectful manner, though Lady Ilene noticed that her movements appeared quite stiff.

"The honor is mine Clair. You appear to be in good health." Lady Ilene greeted in return, before they were all ushered into the meeting room, Clair and the Aura Guardians included.

"Now then, what did you wish to speak about, Lady Ilene?" Lance asked as soon as they were all settled.

"I came to discuss a surge of criminals coming into my kingdom from the south, reprobates calling themselves Team Rocket. But I can see they are plaguing Kanto as well, I sensed at least fifty the second I stepped onto the ship." She said as soon as she had the floor. But for once Lady Ilene was surprised, since no one aside from Clair seemed surprised by this information.

"Yes... We know the criminals are gathering secretly on the SS. Anne, preparing for an attack on all of us. Presumably once the Tournament is over."

"And you are allowing this?"

"Of course. The more that gather now and participate in the attack, the closer we are to wiping them all out once and for all." Lance declared as a vicious gleam appeared in his eyes, reflecting in his aura.

"I see... That is good to hear. If they are wiped out during this attack, then perhaps they will cease their excursions into my territory. Now for the other reason I have come here, Ace Ketchum."

Though Clair appeared surprised as Lady Ilene brought up Ace, no one else from her side was as their expressions and auras remained completely calm and collected. As if they had been expecting her to ask about him. Lance in particular was completely unreadable, which was quite the rare occurance in Lady Ilene's life.

"No." He suddenly said, catching her off guard.

"No, we cannot discuss him?" She asked slowly, curious as to what Lance meant through his flat out refusal.

"No, you cannot HAVE him." He corrected.