~Soutarou POV~
'Note to self… Having an Ash Ketchum or a gamerbody does not mean you can't sleep!...'
Soutarou's bags seemed to sink into his under eyes, forming deep dark lines. He felt extremely sluggish, but he didn't feel sad at all.
'Last night after putting Milotic to sleep by slipping in a warming pillow in my place and then convincing Ralts to go to sleep, I spent the entire night researching and pulling up official league information. Fortunately I'm classified as a promising talent so my access level isn't too low, but I still hit a snag…'
'But then I remembered there's a champion level trainer, Professor Oak, in the house and that psychic powers work on computers too… It took a while, but I cracked his account open and got top-secret clearance. Turns out there have been other Soutarous, but there's almost no sure way to differentiate the information on them. I don't know whose what and there's not a search by appearance yet. Though I did come across some horrifying information…'
'Lusamine, Melony, Wicke, Diantha are all Half-Step Master Level Trainers… That means they're each as strong as a canon Leon or Manga Lance at the very least… and then there's Cynthia… Cynthia's a fucking Master Level Trainer here… she's an absolute menace who's presence scared Team Galactic shitless here.'
'Turo and Sada aren't married, Colress is a League scientist and isn't a criminal at all, Honey is that Honey that should have been married to Mustard, not to mention all the nonsense going on. Canon is absolutely fucked!'
'Ok forget that for a second… CYNTHIA IS A MASTER LEVEL TRAINER!!! Even Giovanni doesn't qualify, forget Giovanni, Lance and Leon don't qualify to be the strongest people alive. And that bastard Pryce is even more menacing here… Bro beat Cynthia, Red, and Blue all together… Though it says Cynthia and Red were held back by having to protect civilians and that Blue went down too fast… still the Masked Man… SSS Grade Criminal and the only one at that in the League's history… No one knows his motives at all.'
'It seems it might have to do with Soutarou Summers instead of La Glace… Because Pryce's gym leader persona here is known for having a family of Lapras… and the youngest of that family is named La Glace…'
'What the hell is even going on. Did Arceus really wake up one day and say, "I choose violence?" Because this universe is messed up… forget that… the original Pokemon timeline had at max two master tier trainers and twenty-ish champion level trainers of which only two were close to master level…'
'Here? Three or Four Master Tiers… Sixty+ champion level trainers and that number isn't even accurate because no one knows the exact number that all the criminal organizations have in total… of which nine trainers are at half-step master level… in fact master level became so common that this world had to create a separate legendary level classification like… Soutarou Summers… Absurd… Arceus was definitely smoking something and I want some of it… because I'm so fucked!'
Soutarou clutched his forehead as he thought about the level to which this world was horrifying…
'Should I just give up?'
'Who am I kidding? If I can't perform even after all of this… then… all of these buffs and this system… Hey. Hey!~ Don't I look like Lusamine's husband? What about Melony~? Hehe… I just need to put up a performance….'
'Though honestly, they might come after me for being a fake or suspecting their 'beloved' for having a secret child without their knowledge… Still isn't this really bad? Doesn't Melony have a kid my age? Lusamine does too, right? Yeah Gladion was my generation if what I checked was right… Wait no Gordie should be older than me… Fuck it we ball!'
'Though on another note is it just me or am I becoming a conspiracy theorist? Soutarou Summers had the same birthday as me… November Twelfth. I'm not cooked, am I?'
'I swear staying up all night to learn more about this messed up Pokémon World is messing with my head to a different level… and I confirmed Mega Evolution and Terralizing don't exist yet, though Dynamaxing does and that Oleana already created the Dynamax Band, but then again I guess that's a bit different. Though the rumors or rather the legends of Mega and Terra do exist… But what I'm trying to wrap my head around is that… there might be both a Greninja Mega Evolution and a Battle Bond Aura Evolution… Man this is weird… I swear they retconned that… but hey Arceus threw so much else down the gutter that I'm not really surprised any more…'
'Still all the villain teams are intact… but they're so damn terrifying… Jessie is a champion tier trainer and as is Cassidy here. Though curious there was no mention of James or Butch. What's going on… Both are classified as higher end S rank criminals and their list of crimes is like a river, it just keeps flowing. Not to mention Ariana or rather Athena of Team Rocket is also a high end champion trainer, and Sird is outright declared a possible half-step master trainer…'
'Yep. That's a whole lot of nope. Team Galactic's nominal leaders are also Champion level, not to mention Team Flare that got super buffed, or the fact that Team Skull's actually a threat now instead of a local gang. Team Magma and Aqua were always insane, but now those two are actually a coalition… The only good news is that team Plasma is super weakened, they don't have N, Ghetsis, or even Colress. Colress is a publicly recognized League researcher with enough awards to claim second place after Professor Oak. Ghetsis is just straight up dead, as for N without Ghetsis' manipulation or even a functioning team Plasma, what's the big deal about him possibly having Zekrom or Reshiram?'
'But man… I have to say… Damn this is a pain in the ass…! Too many problems here…'
'Still I already had Sebastian contact Professor Sada last night. Professor Turo, while good, I likely will start at the baseline and if not the baseline I run the risk of clashing with Geeta and the Paldea League. Rather Professor Sada who's declared her neutrality and only cares for funding, for her research of going into the past, is a better choice.'
'So many answers, so many more questions, and so many headaches... I really hate this nonsense of constantly being stuck in a loop, where answers just open new questions and headaches. Though I suppose I also have my answer to a degree…'
'It's obvious the only solution to everything, all my problems… Is unbridled strength. If I was as strong as this timeline's Cynthia, Pryce, or Red- No scratch that if I was as powerful as Soutarou Summers I would be able to just force my hand into every problem and brute force it, if it didn't go my way.'
Sighing and plopping him in his bed, Soutarou continued to think, before his thoughts slowed, and his eyelids couldn't remain open any longer and fell asleep, with Milotic and Ralts both watching over him. Ralts gently used psychic energy to pull the blanket over her master, while Milotic just used her tail to smoothen it out and then tuck him in. The two pokemon just silently slipped out of the room.
~Ralts POV~
After sneaking out of the room, gently and soundlessly closed the door, before the pair of pokemon who usually bickered with one another, worked their way towards Sebastian's chambers with Milotic knocking on the door with the flat side of her tail. Sebastian opened the door to be met with the two pokemon who looked at him curiously before Ralts said, {Master is asleep. He just went to sleep. Please tell that old man to stay longer to discuss things with him. Master also said he felt a ghost type hanging around him, I also felt traces of ghost type energy… Could you help us investigate?}
Sebastian made a shushing motion and flicked a bit of psychic energy outwards before a shadow rose up from Sebastian's own shadow revealing a purple fuzzball with red eyes and a huge grin.
"Genga!~"
Soutarou's two pokemon narrowed their eyes at Sebastian with Ralts voicing their opinion and saying, {What's the meaning of this.}
Sebastian sighed and said, "It's secret protection, Gengar is an extremely strong Champion level pokemon who can keep Soutarou safe from the shadows. So for his own safety I assigned my Gengar to protection duty. He's not to spy or any of that nonsense. It's just for the young master's protection. I ask that you try to keep this from the young master, though if you must tell him, then at least just tell him it's a protector assigned by his late mother."
Ralts' eyes narrowed under its blue bangs, but it resolutely nodded with its orange horn bobbling up and down. Milotic on the other hand just followed Ralts' lead and the pair left the butler's room and headed to the open outskirts of the estate's grounds.
Where the pair faced off and Ralts openly beckoned with its pinkish white stubby hand to Milotic in a provocative way. Milotic responded with her tail and head lighting up with blue energy. The pair clashed, within reason aiming more to settle their feud privately, while also attempting to train, while their trainer rested. Ralts who could very clearly feel her trainer's intent had also shared the thought with Milotic who jumped at the chance to prove herself.
"Ralulu!"
"Miuuuuuuuuuu!"
Waves of water and spurts of it clashed with glowing purple and blue hued energy in a fantastical manner…
~Soutarou POV, Six Hours Later~
'Shit! Professor Oak is leaving early today! How could I have stayed up all night… Damn I'm a rude bastard, not even properly bidding the guest farewell.'
Soutarou rushed and ran his hands through his hair ruffling it and puffing it upwards, before throwing on a new set of pants and a shirt, slipping into his socks and then his shoes and dashing out of the room. Before slowing down in the back of manor where from a window he could see vague bits of psychic energy and water clashing continuously.
'Those two?!?'
Soutarou's other thoughts shut down and he rushed over to the back of the manor as fast as he physically could in worry, before being met with an interesting sight. A Professor Oak with a pencil hung on his ear, a clipboard in hand, a Sebastian with two meowstic deployed with towels in hand right by Oak's side as they watched Ralts and Milotic clash with vigor.
Oak glanced back and said, "Finally joining us? Your pokemon are quite ridiculous aren't they? This Ralts has more psychic energy than most Gardevoir. Not to mention how strong this Milotic is… I learned from Sebastian you've only had her for about a week? And you had her as a Feebas? How does that work? If you don't mind me asking, that is."
Soutarou scratched his head and said, "I don't particularly mind, but Milotic is a powerful evolutionary line… It's best that the method to evolve her isn't made public. Or rather published anywhere. The best way to evolve a Feebas into a Milotic is to simply make them feel beautiful and then they become beautiful."
Oak paused and said, "Is that really all there is to it?"
Soutarou scratched his head and said, "Technically yes."
Oak narrowed his eyes and nodded in understanding, before saying, "Seeing these two, I actually want to leave someone in your care, if you don't mind that is. She's a bit temperamental, much too strong for a new trainer despite her low level, and she's extremely distrusting of humans. More importantly just like your current Pokémon she's shiny, and as you may or may not know shiny pokemon are not treated well amongst their kin either and combined with the way her previous trainer treated her it's no question she'll take time to trust you. So I hope you can give her that love and care. Let's wait for those two to finish up before anything else."
Oak continued, "I must say though, I'm truly fascinated… Just how can a Ralts be so strong-?"
Soutarou interjected, "She's what we call an Alpha Pokémon… Generally speaking they're even rarer than shiny Pokémon, but they're essentially Pokémon who are on average larger, significantly stronger, and smarter. They generally have stronger base stats than a normal Pokémon, in the wild they also tend to be more territorial and aggressive. My Ralts is an Alpha Shiny Ralts, but by the metrics of Alpha Pokémon she's actually quite small. This is included in the data we're sending you."
Professor Oak's eyes widened and he nodded gleefully with interest lighting up in his eyes as he muttered suspicions and speculations about Pokémon and even the world they live in.
As Soutarou smiled awkwardly and added on occasionally as Oak continued to babble away while writing he continued scribbling and rambling. All before Milotic and Ralts stopped or rather seemingly stopped. Ralts mentally transmitted a curse at Milotic in response Milotic fired a Hydro Pump. Which Ralts teleported away from, dousing Professor Oak, making him look like a wet dog.
Soutarou on the other hand was perfectly dry, despite standing next to him and he thought, 'This old man is seriously unlucky…'