Chapter ten (HK PKMN)

The screening rounds of the Lily of the Valley Conference thankfully didn't take long... Harry just had his Pokemon sweep his opponents teams.

Harry, Ash, and Paul all made it to the preliminaries... so did Tobias, the one who exploited Legendary Pokemon. The lighting of the flame was just performed and the announcer began speaking....

"And with the lighting of the Sinnoh League flame, the Lily of the Valley Sinnoh League is officially under way! And now its time to announce the Sinnoh League first round match ups... so here they are!" The announcer said.

"Ash, do you see the guy in the red coat and grey-ish hair?" Harry asked from beside his brother.

"Yeah...."

"He has a Darkrai, Latios, Latias, Entei, Raikou, all three Legendary Birds, and a Cresselia.... Promise me that if you battle him that you will use your strongest Pokemon and battle cautiously.... I'd like you to test your skills and also show the viewers the power of regular Pokemon and the power of hard work."

Ash thought about it and then nodded okay.

Ash defeated Nando and his next opponent, advancing to the Top 16.

Harry's next opponents were quite lacking, and he advanced to the Top 16.

In the Top 16 Paul defeated some annoying kid named Barry, advancing to the Top 8, and Ash defeated Conway, someone who was stalking Ash's girlfriend Dawn and advanced to the Top 8. Harry, however, had easily won his place in the Top 8.

The Top 8 would battle it out tomorrow, but for now Harry was spending a little time with his brother.

"You already pick out your Pokemon for tomorrow's battle?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, you?" Harry replied.

"Yeah... what if Tobias defeats one of us?" Ash asked.

"We try avenging the others defeat, but don't plan to lose. I intend to defeat him and possibly compaign to outlaw legendary Pokemon from competitive battling. So far all Tobias has done is exploit the power of his legendary Pokemon to defeat children and destroy their dreams. It's all Darkrai doing the work so far. The legendary Pokemon, several endangered species, all deserve better than to be exploited for Gym Badges and money... if enough of them die then those species will be extinct or it will become a mere matter of time until they do. All trainers have a responsibility to look out for Pokemon and to treat them well."

"Yeah, but will the Pokemon League listen?"

"The Trainers within the organization will and possibly some others who can be persuaded by a good logical argument, but, if need be, then I'll speak the language that I speak the best... the language of force. I doubt that I'll have to wage war with the league though... once I speak out others will join in support. Legendary Pokemon are endangered and overpowered, and it isn't a byproduct of hard work by both the trainer and Pokemon, but due to the legendary Pokemon's own unique advantage. Besides, get enough support for the idea and they'll just cave in to save face and keep making money."

"Why would you start a war though?" Ash asked, more than a little shocked. "I get wanting to protect the Pokemon and make competitive battles fairer, but to wage war...."

"It won't take long to settle the matter with a short albeit brutal war. Mega Evolution isn't the greatest power that I can call upon Ash... there is another so powerful and dangerous that I would only use it in a life or death situation. I'm not even telling anyone of its existence." Harry paused to let that sink it. "Don't worry about it, there won't be a war. It's just a simple political issue."

Ash nodded, pleased about that.

"Wanna spend a few months training in Cerulean Cave after this?" Harry asked. "There are plenty of strong Pokemon there and you can even work towards completing your Pokedex while catching Pokemon strong enough to win Gym Badges with."

"Sure, is it safe and am I even allowed?" Ash asked excitedly.

"You'll have to be accompanied by someone with permission and I'll have to make sure that the Pokemon you bring are all strong enough to survive, but I know that several are."

"I'd love too! I heard that after Mount Silver that's the best place to train in Kanto!"

"It is and you can check off over ten Pokemon by catching them there. We can't camp inside though, the Pokemon will attack us while we are sleeping.... It's the same on Mount Silver. Between battling Elite trainers, Elite Four level Pokemon, sleep deprivation, exhaustion, and dwindling supplies, Mount Silver is the ultimate test... thankfully or unfortunately you aren't able to access it and don't have to worry about that...."

"Is it really that hard?" Ash asked in shock.

"Yes," Harry replied before elaborating. "I managed to find a few places to camp there, but sometimes the Pokemon got in and attacked the Pokemon I had guarding me during a four hour shift." Ash looked shocked, but they moved onto other topics.

As Harry predicted, Ash defeated Paul, but Harry was displeased that he did it so narrowly. Harry defeated yet another person and secured his place within the Top 4 with Ash, Tobias, and Harry's next opponent. Unfortunately, Ash was against Tobias next. Thankfully he prepared for the worst and brought his best as promised. Harry was proud of his little brother.

Tobias' Darkrai was barely beaten, but Latias was beaten by Gyarados' Ice Beam and a close range Hyper Beam. Tobias' Latios narrowly defeated Ash's Gyarados, but was defeated by a fresh Tyranitar, and Tobias' Cresselia was defeated by Dark Pulse. Unfortunately, Ash didn't make much more progress. Tobias' Articuno defeated Tyranitar, but was beaten by Pikachu who fainted shortly thereafter. Ash never got a chance to wear Tobias down further, and Tobias' Raikou managed to barely sweep his remaining Pokemon.

Harry was extremely impressed with his brothers performance and he noticed that a lot of other people were too. Ash noticed it too... and if he didn't then the applause he received made it very obvious. Opinion was slowly shifting against having legendaries in competitive battling and they were known to be vulnerable now more than ever. The people just needed one more little push and they would support banning them from Gym Battles, league tournaments, conferences, and the Elite Four and Champion-level.... Harry would give them that little push.

Harry had defeated his previous opponent and would defeat Tobias. The large level disparity between his and Tobias' Pokemon would enable Harry to put them into the Pokemon Center for a few days or weeks.... It was unsavory, but necessary. It was time for the weak to grow stronger within structured limits... and not by exploiting the power of legendary Pokemon to pretend to be stronger. Besides... Tobias needed to learn some humility and be put in his proper place.

Now, it was time for the final battle of the Lily of the Valley Conference.

"This will be a full six-on-six battle with substitutions allowed and will have no time limit. The winner will leave here the winner of the Sinnoh League, win one million Pokedollars and other prizes, and will gain the right to challenge the Elite Four and the reigning Champion, Cynthia." The announcer said.

"This battle is between Hadrian Ketchum from Pallet Town, former champion of the Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn leagues, and a world record holder for having won three league conferences in a row, three time national record holder for having one Pokemon fainting during Indigo Plateau Conference, and no Pokemon fainting during Silver or Ever Grande conferences.... He's currently nationally ranked in the Top 20 trainers for his defeats of Steven Stone and recently Cynthia herself in a friendly battle, which she forfeited." The announcer paused for the applause and shock. "And his opponent, Tobias from our very own Sinnoh region, who won all eight badges and most of his matches with his Darkrai."

The referee took over from there. "This battle will be a full on six-on-six battle, with both trainers allowed unlimited substitutions and the battle will have no time limit. Furthermore, when one or both trainers lose three Pokemon, there will be a short intermission." The referee said and Harry and Tobias both nodded in understanding.

"Trainers send out your first Pokemon!" The referee said. Tobias sent out his Darkrai and Harry sent out his Blaziken.

"Battle begin!" The referee said.

"Dark Void!" Tobias ordered and Harry let it hit....

Blaziken was unaffected, much to the shock of most watching.

"Nice try, amateur hour!" Harry replied mockingly. "Brick Break!"

"Dar--" Tobias tried speaking, but Darkrai was quickly punched into a wall... unable to battle. Almost everyone was shocked by how easily Darkrai was beaten... but none more than Tobias.

"H-how?!"

"There called levels, Toby! Well, that, and exploiting the power of legendaries aren't a viable substitute for actual skill." Harry said, to Tobias' anger and a lot of peoples amusement.

"Go Cresselia!"

"Return Blaziken," Harry replied. "Go Absol! Use Mean Look!"

With his prey trapped, Harry had Absol go on the attack and even added Perish Song to be redundant... it wasn't necessary.

"Cresselia is unable to battle! Tobias, send out your next Pokemon!"

"Go Heatran! Use Stone Edge!"

"Counter!" Harry replied and Heatran took immense damage from that. "Water Pulse!"

Heatran countered with Magma Storm, which was evaded with Detect and followed up with Water Pulse and Dark Pulse... defeating Heatran.

"Heatran is unable to battle. Since Tobias has lost three Pokemon we will take a short break." The referee said.

"What is your problem with me?" Tobias asked, deciding to be mature and work this out.

"You're a thirty something man using legendary Pokemon, endangered species, to destroy the dreams of ten and eleven year old children.... You aren't even using any normal Pokemon. You're using all legendaries, exploiting their power that has little to do with you, and are encouraging others to take a short cut like you have. You're a symptom of a problem and you can't even say that your wins are truly a team effort. Your strategies are all basic and uninspired, and are consistent with those of experienced wild Pokemon. It's not just you. I encountered another trainer who exploited the power of legendaries and people mocked him to his face."

Tobias realized from Harry's tone that people were mocking him behind his back and sighed before walking away, knowing that there was no way to change their opinions about him. Tobias cared for his Pokemon and only caught the ones that he found impressive, but his dream of using legendary Pokemon to achieve his dream of becoming champion wasn't appreciated or respected by others.... Oh Tobias understood their feelings, but this was his dream. He was always fascinated by legendary Pokemon and their powers and he empathized with those who had their own dreams ruined, but he had invested over twenty of his thirty-two years in this and he wasn't giving up. He would fight for his dream just as his opponents fought for theirs.

The break ended and the battle continued....

And then Tobias made a colossal mistake... he sent out a Legendary Bird, Zapdos.

"Go Charizard!" Harry said, deciding to let history repeat itself, if possible.

Tobias ordered Zapdos to use Thunder, but was surprised that it had no effect. Charizard used Hyper Beam and followed it up with Giga Impact... and with Charizard being the equivalent of a level 210 Pokemon and having over 130 levels on Zapdos it wasn't a surprise to Harry that Zapdos was defeated.

"Zapdos is unable to battle! Tobias, send out your next Pokemon!"

Tobias was visibly shocked, but he only had his Legendary Birds left and was beginning to wonder if the story of Harry's Charizard defeating another trainers Legendary Birds was actually true.

Moltres was defeated next, with its Ancient Power attack easily countered with Dragon Claw.

Tobias sent out his Articuno and had it use Blizzard, Hail, and Reflect in an attempt to prolong the battle and wear Charizard down, but he knew that his chances of victory were almost non-existent.

Unfortunately for Tobias, Harry simply had Charizard use Flare Blitz to reduce the effects of the Blizzard and Hail, and heavily damage Articuno in the process. But Harry wasn't done yet, he ordered a close ranged Flamethrower, blasting Articuno onto the ground albeit still able to battle.

"Blast Burn," Harry ordered calmly.

Tobias and the audience all watched as Tobias' dreams were destroyed by a single fateful Blast Burn.

"Articuno is unable to battle! Hadrian Ketchum of Pallet Town is the winner!"

"I hate to say something until it gets annoying, but Hadrian has done it again!" The announcer said. "This is Hadrian's fourth championship win! Not only that, but Hadrian has also just matched his own previous accomplishment at the Silver Conference and none of his Pokemon have fainted during the entire Lily of the Valley Conference! This is his fourth league win in a row and Hadrian Ketchum Pallet Town has become the first in history to achieve this."

"Hadrian has just set two more national records.... No Pokemon fainted during the Lily of the Valley Conference. A national record. No Pokemon fainted during three League Conferences... a national and world record. The young mister Ketchum is a truly exceptional trainer!"

President Goodshow and the Sinnoh Champion Cynthia both came forward to present Harry with his winnings.

"Congratulations on winning the Lily of the Valley Conference, Hadrian, and on continuing your historical winning streak." President Goodshow said.

"Congratulations, Harry," Cynthia said with a smile.

"I present you with your trophy; proof of your victory, and one million Poke dollars will be transferred into your account. Your winning the Lily of the Valley Conference grants you the right to challenge Sinnoh's Elite Four and Cynthia at any time you desire, and you will bear the title Champion of the Lily of the Valley Conference until next year."

It was time for training and Ash Ketchum wanted only one thing... to fight at the level of Cynthia. Ash was very thankful that his brother was agreeable... but Ash was warned that it would be very difficult.

Harry selected some of Ash's Pokemon that could survive the training and make good progress during it. Ash's Infernape, Gyarados, Torterra, Aggron, Metagross, Heracross, Donphan, Buizel, and Staraptor were all selected.

It was pointed out to Ash that he needed more Fighting-type Pokemon and his Infernape was intensely trained with both of its types in mind... Infernape learned Blast Burn, Solar Beam, Close Combat, Brick Break, Thunder Punch, Stealth Rock, and was now level 80.

Gyarados learned Thunderbolt and was now level 82.

Torterra learned Frenzy Plant, Solar Beam, Crunch, Stone Edge, Giga Drain, Seed Bomb, Light Screen, Protect, Grass Knot, and was now level 80.

Aggron learned Thunder and was also level 80.

Metagross was taught the basics in psychically redirecting attacks and learned Giga Impact, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, and was raised to level 80.

Heracross learned Counter, Brick Break, Reversal, Toxic, Venoshock, Focus Blast, Rock Slide, Shadow Claw and was now level 80.

Donphan learned Giga Impact, Gunk Shot, Stealth Rock, Stomping Tantrum, Seed Bomb, Stone Edge, Toxic, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, and was now level 80.

Buizel learned Hydro Pump, evolved into Floatzel, learned Ice Beam, Brine, Protect, Toxic and was now level 75.
Staraptor learned Final Gambit, Roost, Steel Wing, Heat Wave, and was now level 75.

Ash was thankful for all the help Harry gave him and he knew that he benefited a lot, but he was also kind of disappointed in himself for needing it.... Ash decided to work harder towards his goal after this and learn as much as he could from his brother for now.

Apart from all of that, Ash learned that Gible had been waiting to evolve, wanting to grow as powerful as he could without it, and finally evolved into Gabite. On Harry's suggestion, Ash asked Infernape to teach him Flamethrower to counter his Ice-type weakness somewhat. Ash was surprised and overjoyed when his Gabite evolved further into a Garchomp.

While Harry was training his brother, he wasn't neglecting his own interests. Far from it, in fact. He had acquired a Druddigon, level 66, and freshly caught, an Axew, Deino, Litwick, Cryogonal, and a Tepig. All were raised to a minimum of level 25 and evolved appropriately.

Harry's wealth had continued to grow and so had his plans.... Legendary Pokemon would soon be banned from official competitions due to Darkrai requiring weeks in the Pokemon Center and nearly dying. Harry hated that they needed to be seen as vulnerable and underpopulated, but it was necessary.

But that wasn't all Harry was doing....

Harry had spent the last few weeks working to complete the Kanto and Johto Pokedex's... getting a Togepi via trade was somewhat easy. Catching Unown, irritating and tedious, and then he just released them all. Catching the Johto starters at each stage was insanely boring, but it was done. Catching Raikou and Entei? Hard to find them, but easy to defeat them.

Locating Suicune? Act of providence. Defeating and catching it? An act of awesomeness between both trainer and Pokemon.
Harry was close to completing the Kanto Pokedex and the Johto Pokedex, but catching Ho-Oh would be difficult... as would locating it too battle it.

Mew was hard to track too, but Harry had finally managed and it was promptly trapped with Mean Look from Gengar.

"Hello, Mew..." Harry said tiredly, having been up for more than a day. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to let me catch you?" Harry asked. "If you did, then I'd let you go afterward. I just need to catch you complete the Pokedex and eventually become a Pokemon Master."

Mew's response was using Psychic to try attacking Gengar, but Gengar used Destiny Bond and followed up the move with Shadow Punch and capitalized on the shock from the attack and used Hypnosis... putting Mew to sleep.

So began the brutal Toxic/Hex/Nightmare/Dream Eater/Venoshock combo that defeated Mew.

Harry threw a Poke Ball and Mew was easily caught.

After having Mew and Gengar healed, Harry teleported to the Oak Corral and wasted no time in knocking on the Professor's front door and was thankful that it was day time.

"Hello, Harry," Professor Oak said in greeting. "What brings you by?"

"I did what not even Red could do, Professor," Harry replied tiredly. "Go Mew! I completed the Pokedex."

"Harry, this is historical! You're the first in history to do this! It's only regional completion, but that is still exceptional!" Oak said, causing Harry to smirk.

"If I catch Ho-Oh and evolve Togepi then I'll have the Johto dex completed too... I might just go for national completion and mastery. It's far more reasonable than global completion."

"Harry... if you become the Champion of a region then you'll be a recognized Pokemon Master.... The first person from Kanto to achieve it... Red never managed to catch Mew and Blue was merely close, but he needed to catch Mewtwo and Mew.... I knew that you were destined for great things, you constantly worked to improve yourself, but I never expected so much from you while you were still so young."

"And now I shall use the power of Mew's cuteness to pick up girls and I shall fulfill my dream of having a bunch of wives... my master plan." Harry said, to Oak's amusement. "I'm kidding. They'd spend all of my money on trendy overpriced clothes." Harry said, causing Oak to laugh. With Harry's taste in girls that would actually be true!

After a small and private party, where Mew was cuddled with by the women and children of Pallet Town and Harry's most recent accomplishment was celebrated, Harry went to sleep... having went 34 hours without any. Most knew better than to wake him up... but there were a few exceptions....

Pokemon thieves.

Harry was extremely paranoid and his magic woke him up due to alert charms and anti-theft spells placed upon his Pokemon. His Pokemon were soon safe and back in the Oak Corral and the thieves were bound, had all useful knowledge ripped from their minds, and then were sent away... where Harry burned them all alive.

It took him two more hours... two hours that were spent brutally murdering low lives in disguise, purging their influence and powerbase, and killing their clients and followers. Any stolen Pokemon were delivered to the nearest Officer Jenny and the poached Pokemon were all set free. It was a very productive two hours, but Harry was soon back to sleep... dreaming of his future adventures in Unova.