This was the voice of Cynthia. Cynthia always followed her instincts and now her instincts were screaming for her to take this deal.
"Are you sure Cynthia? Lance trust me cause he is my close friend but why do you want to agree to it? You don't even know how much you have to invest and you don't even know what kind of benefits that you might receive in the future."
"Yes, I trust my instincts and I want to make this deal."
Now, Steven was the only one left.
"Ahh Damn it!! Now I have to do it too.", sighed Steven.
"You don't have to do it. No one is forcing you.", said Axel.
"I know that but if I don't do it and miss the chance and if things really go as you said then I will be the biggest fool. I don't want to be the biggest fool out here.
So, I also agree to this deal.", said Steven.
Instantly, Axel had gathered some powerful allies.
Getting help from the royal family was not a bad idea but there would always be some strings attached. They might ask for something in the future and he had to follow it.
"So, what is your plan? You have our support. What do you plan to do with it?", asked Steven.
"First of all, we need a good teacher. A teacher who is not only good in the theory of Pokemons but also practical on how to train the trainers and Pokemons.
As I said before, the school will only accept monsters. So, we will not be accepting greenhorns. We will only accept talented trainers who have very good potential.
Numbers don't matter to me. There might be only 4-5 students in a year but they must have some great potential."
"But will those genius students really to come our school? I mean we have not even opened it and it will not be popular at the start.", said Lance.
"That is why we will be personally recruiting those kinds of students in the early years. My conditions are strict. Students can only apply to the school till they are 15 years old.
If they are 14 years old, one of their Pokemons must be a rare rank Pokemon and if they are 15 years old, one of their Pokemons must be an elemental rank.", said Axel.
"That is just crazy!!! I understand the conditions if they were applied to people like us but to common people? That is just impossible.", said Steven. He was not wrong.
"That is why I said that there might only be 4-5 Students per year and we will personally take the initiative on selecting the students in the early years."
Cynthia turned towards Axel and said, "You said that we need a good teacher, right?"
"Yes."
"What should be the qualification of the said teacher?", asked Cynthia.
"He must at least have a king-rank Pokemon. Since we will only have very few students, one teacher is enough for the early years. But he must have a talent for teaching. That is the most important qualification.
So, if you have anyone in mind, then do tell me."
"Regarding the students, can we ask someone from our families too?", asked Lance.
"Yes, we can. When the public sees the effectiveness of the school through them, then more people will be interested.
But first, we need a teacher."
"And what about the school grounds? How big should it really be?", asked Cynthia.
"Oh, I want a whole city for the school but we cannot do that right now, can we? First of all, we don't have that much money and secondly, we don't have any students.
So, we will buy a big land before and the land should have a big lake and should be facing the sea on one side. I prefer it to be near Hakone City because I want to connect the school to day care in the future.
We will buy a huge land and then we will slowly start to develop. Now, the thing is, what do we need for some kick-ass school?", asked Axel.
Since the concept of the school was not so popular, none of them knew what they would be needed for a good school to operate.
"We might need training grounds?", said Lance not sure for himself.
"Good, that is a good point.",
Saying this Axel notes it down on a paper.
"Now, come on. I cannot do all of this alone. Give me some ideas."
Throughout the night they came up with various ideas and some of them were also very interesting.
Axel was happy with this arrangement. His vision for the school was far greater than what he was telling them but he could not do all those things right now. It needed time.
###
The next day,
"A… Axl.. AXEL.. AXEL… AXEL…wake up. Wake up fast.", came a voice that made him open his eyes in the morning.
It was not even 5 a.m. right now. He slowly opened his eyes and seeing the excited face of Agnes, he felt that something was not right.
So, he stood up from the bed and asked, "What happened? Is everything okay?"
"The news. Come and see the news first. Something interesting has happened.", said Agnes and ran towards the living room.
The living room was connected to the kitchen and as Axel washed his face and went down, he found out that everyone including Lance, Steven, and Cynthia was there looking a the TV.
Some of them had a surprised look and some of them looked worried. He didn't know what was going on.
As he went down, everyone noticed him.
"What is happening?", he asked.
Cynthia stood up and handed him the remote saying "See for yourself. I don't know if the world is ending right now."
The TV was already on and there was some news channel. Axel increased the volume to hear the news.
The reporter who was in the Kanto League city was standing behind the league office and speaking.
"We have just been informed that a big meeting is happening between the Pokemon master, Samuel Oak, the leader of the league, Romeo, and all the 8 major region and their kings and queens.
We don't know what the agenda of the meeting is but the meeting has been happening for an entire night. We will know about it soon enough."
Axel was surprised by this news. The leader of the league and Oak were like rivals and they were not on good terms.
But they were having a meeting with the kings and queens of the 8 major regions and he had no idea about it.
"Does any of you know what this is about?", asked Axel.
"If you don't know then how would we know? I believe that something happened suddenly and they were gathered on short notice. We don't know what the agenda of the meeting is."
"Then we will have to wait.", said Axel and sat on the sofa.
He did not have a good feeling about this.
Not only Axel and his family but the entire world was glued to the TV looking at the news. It was a big thing when the Pokemon master took action. But this time, not only him but all the main leaders of the world were having a secret meeting.
Such a thing had not happened for 100s of years.
Finally, the meeting seemed to end and they had called the press conference.
The reporters went to the designated place for the press conference. Axel could see that on the stage there were 10 people sitting on the chair. They were Oak, Romeo, and the 8 kings from the 8 major regions.
There were multiple flashes of lights from the cameras and finally, they were allowed to ask the questions.
"Sir, can you tell me what was this meeting about?", asked one of the reporters.
"Yes, it was on should we protect the peace of the world.", said Romeo.
"Sir, can you please elaborate?"
"Well, as you might have heard, there has been an increase in the rate of tide battles. This is not only a coincidence, the entire world is facing the same problem.
We have been working tirelessly on to know the reason for such a thing. Till now, we have not been able to find the exact reason for the rise in tide battles.
But we do know that we have to be prepared for it. So, the meeting was on how we can secure the peace of this world."
Romeo really deserved his position as the leader of the league. He knew how to speak and how to manipulate the audience with his words.
"So, what are the solutions that you have discussed?", asked the reporter.
This time as Romeo was ready to reply again, Oak gestured his hand to stop and he moved forward to the mike to speak.
"We have made reforms on how to treat the trainer and soldiers and how to train soldier and trainer. Of course, these are just suggestions provided to the kings of the regions and they are responsible for implementing it based on their choice.
We are also going to be focusing on exploring the unexplored islands and seas. I feel that there are a lot of secrets that have been hiding from us for a long time and now it is time to reveal and see them.
Finally, the age of humans to start their journey would start from the age of 11, not 13."
For a few seconds, there was silence because none of the reporters or the people who had been watching this news could comprehend it.
Then there was instant chaos.
All of them were asked multiple questions. Some of them were answered and some of them ignored.
But the people could still not believe such a harsh thing was announced. Multiple questions and doubts came to the mind but with the authority of someone like Oak and Romeo, they could not do anything to change it.
But a brave reporter did ask a question that everyone wanted to ask.
"Sir, the starting age ceremony of 13 years is already considered very early but now that you are decreasing it to 11. Isn't that very cruel? A lot of young trainers die before they get their second Pokemon because the forest and the wildlife are very risky.
Decreasing the age to 11 might be counterproductive. Is this decision based on the increase in tide battles? Is something big happening in the future that you are not telling us?"
"The reason young trainers die is because they are not prepared for the world. That is why reforms have been suggested to the kings of the regions for adequate protection and training.
And the reason for this? Yes, it is because of the tide battle. Right now, we can handle it but if things go like this, then we won't have enough trainers and soldiers to hold the tide battle. So, we will need more trainers in the future.
The world is getting more dangerous than before. I am not here to tell you this but also to warn you to get ready. Get ready for the future because it will not be flowers and rainbows from now on.", said Oak.
Oak was always direct but maybe this direct approach was needed. They could not hide these things from the common people now. These people had the right to know that the world was getting dangerous and they must be prepared for it.