"Good job, Chief." Aizen smiled at his Pokémon, who had just perfected Close Combat in a battle against Electivire.
"Screeee!!!
The Eagle let out a proud cry and then winced as the electrical charges coursing within its body paralysed it again.
"You have earned your rest. Come back." Aizen recalled the Avian Pokémon and then smiled at Elektra, who was grinning at him.
The two shared a fist bump, and she mischievously sent electrical charges through him.
"Aizen."
"Yes?" He turned to look at Leaf, who was sitting on a rock and dipping her feet in the stream.
"Are you going to use Crobat and Lapras in the Lumiose Conference?" She curiously asked. "Their Lines are found in Kalos."
"Maybe. I already have my Kalos Team in my mind, and I will see if it needs any additions later on."
"Tell me!"
"No." He smiled at her.
"Are Rinko and Lux going to participate?"
"No." He shook his head, much to her surprise.
"But Lux loves battling." She looked at the Shiny Electric Pokémon, who was fighting against the Shiny Eevee.
"When I will head to Sinnoh, Lux will be my Team's main Electric Pokémon."
"Sinnoh?" She surprisedly looked at him and then started calculating. "So, Kalos, Unova, then Sinnoh?"
"Yes," He nodded to her, and Leaf then lost herself in her thoughts.
"And after Sinnoh?" She asked, quite sure that he had it all planned.
"Alola League is going to get Officially recognised by the Pokémon League Committee after the construction of the Manalo Stadium finishes. So, after Sinnoh, I will be taking part in the first Official Manalo Conference."
Leaf, who did not know about these things, quickly opened her PokéNav+ and started looking up the information on the Manalo Conference.
Her heart skipped a beat, and then she brightly smiled at him.
"Will you take me with you to Alola?" She hopefully asked, and he smiled at her.
"Taking another year off?" He guessed her intentions, and she nodded her head.
"I plan on staying in Kanto with Mom for the next two years now, but I will be participating in the 201st Indigo Conference to put my name right next to Anira's name on the Golden Wall." She brightly said. "Misty also plans on challenging the 201st Silver Conference."
"Oh?" He surprisedly looked at her and nodded his head. "And she will then challenge the Indigo Conference?"
"I am not sure." She shook her head and hopefully looked at him. "So?"
"You will be coming with me." He smiled at her, and then she quickly got up and rushed to him, jumping into his arms and sealing his mouth in a kiss.
"Thank you." She sweetly said, and he nudged his nose against her before he walked over and placed her back on the rock so that she could clean her muddy feet.
"You are welcome." He stole a peck from her lips and then looked at Lux and Rinko.
His little Shinx was tired now, lying on the ground and panting heavily.
Aizen smiled as he walked over to his Pokémon and scooped it up in his arms.
"Good job. Get some rest now." He said and sent Lux inside the Promise Ball.
"Yip!" Rinko, on the other hand, mischievously jumped up, stepped on his right shoulder, and jumped up again to go and sit by Leaf's side, watching her Raichu, who was surrounded by a few wild Pikachus, who were looking to mate with him.
Leaf giggled when the group of female Pikachu started dragging him away, and he tried to put on a show of resistance.
"You can stay with them for a few months." She told her Pokémon, who happily looked at her and then gave in to the advances of the group of wild female Pikachu.
After seeing his friend disappear into the forest, Rinko cutely yawned and closed his eyes, falling asleep by her side.
She gently combed his mane with her fingers for a few minutes but then got up to help Aizen with the lunch.
Suddenly, her PokéNav+ started vibrating, and she beamed a smile when she saw who it was.
"Misty!" She excitedly called out her name when she accepted the call, but was then shocked when she saw the scene in front of her.
Risa, her Dragonite, Alolan Ninetales, Raichu, Venusaur, Sylveon, Espeon, Feraligatr, Gengar, Gyarados, Heracross, Wyrdeer, Houndoom, Aerodactyl, Blastoise, Annihilape, Scizor, Magneton, and Poliwrath were all gathered on in the battlefield. It was the Team she had used in her Battle Frontier Campaign.
And the girl was receiving her Battle Frontier Trophy from the Chief Frontier Brain of Kanto and Johto, Pyramid King Brandon!
"Yes!!!"
Leaf, May, and Anira, who were all on the group call with Misty, screamed in excitement, and Aizen too was impressed that Risa had won the Battle Frontier on the very first try against the Chief Frontier Brain.
Battle Frontier was by no means an easy competition. It was one of the most respected Pokémon Battle Competitions, second only to the Pokémon Leagues.
Sabrina and Iris were present on the Battle Pyramid with Misty, and the three shared their thoughts on what they had witnessed.
Even the Moonheart praised Risa's performance, which was quite telling.
"We will receive the recordings of all of Risa's Battle Frontier matches in a few hours. I will share them with you!" The Orange Waterflower promised them.
Once the call ended, Anira and May soon returned to the camp on the back of their Ponyta and Galarian Ponyta.
The group had their lunch and then set off to reach the Eighteenth Ranger Tower by evening.
Since they were in a rush, they rode on the backs of the two Arcanine during the last ten kilometres, and it was because Leaf had received all the recordings from Misty.
As soon as they settled inside the Tower, they freshened up, had a light supper, readied some snacks, and then sat down to watch the matches on the large screen in the main lounge.
There were a total of 13 matches, and the group watched all thirteen of them on a conference call with Misty, Risa, and Iris.
Aizen watched with great interest as he witnessed Risa's progress and growth with each win against the Frontier Brains.
Her battle instincts were developing at a dramatic rate, and he noticed that she incorporated his battle style, Leaf's battle style, and also Egnar's battle style to match her own.
She was not in the least shy of using their battle tactics, and she and her Pokémon were pulling them off just fine, which was quite remarkable.
It was so evident to him that Leaf and Anira had trained the girl, and she showed the results in a remarkable fashion.
Aizen praised the girl and congratulated her on her first major victory in her Pokémon Journey, and then to everyone's surprise, he offered her the opportunity to represent Blanc Laboratory.
The girl was stunned at his offer, but then she brightly smiled and nodded her head, accepting it.
Misty then proudly showed the girls the result of her Pokémon Breeder's Examination and smiled when everyone congratulated her.
"So, Orange League Challenge next." Leaf happily said, but raised her brow when both Risa and Misty sighed.
"The Orange League Challenge is over for this year. Ash was the fifth Winner. We missed out, but we plan on taking it on in the first month of the next year," The Waterflower informed them.
"What's your plan then?" Anira asked and both shrugged.
"Sabrina has already collected all Badges, and she is planning on exploring the Sevii Islands with Iris and Misty's older sister, Violet," Risa informed them, and the aspiring Dragon Master brightly smiled and nodded her head, confirming her words.
"Risa and I have already explored all Sevii Islands, and we are not in the mood to go there again." The Orange Waterflower sighed, but then grinned. "Do you know that a new competition is going to be held on the Twin Island? A new stadium has been opened on the Island."
"Geminus Cup?" Aizen smiled, and Misty and Risa stared at him in shock.
"You know?"
"Yes." He chuckled. "It's a new battle competition where two Trainers enter as teammates. So, you and Risa are taking part in it?"
"Yes!!!" The girls excitedly nodded. "Ash and Brock are taking part too, but we will win it." Misty confidently said. "The first Geminus Cup will start next month."
Anira, Leaf, and May quickly checked the information about Geminus Cup, and the girl from Pallet Town pouted.
"Conference and Grand Festival Winners are not allowed? That's ridiculous."
Misty and Risa giggled at her comment.
"They want to give this tournament a unique identity, and they don't want accomplished Trainers taking the spotlight in the early editions," Anira said as she read through the details. "If the competition attracts enough tourists and participants in the next two years, they will create th Geminus Cup - Supreme, a separate competition, where only Official Conference Winners, Grand Festival Winners, and Geminus Cup Winners will take part in the competition."
"There already seems to be a lot of support for the Geminus Cup, and younger Trainers are expressing a lot of interest. No Conference and Grand Festival Winners give them hope of winning." Risa lightly said.
"The Winner of the Geminus Cup cannot take part in competition again either. The Geminus Cup - Supreme will be a different matter though. Conference, Grand Festival, and Geminus Cup Winners can participate and win the tournament as many times as they wish," Misty added. "Since Twin Island is part of both Kanto and Johto, Indigo and Silver Councils are organising it together. They have high hopes for it."
"The format is fun." May was excited when she read about it. "In the preliminary rounds, the pair will have to qualify on their own. Each preliminary match will feature double battles, three rounds, so, six Pokémons each. The Pair will only qualify for the Knock-Outs if they earn enough points in the preliminary matches. The points will be awarded after assessing the coordination between your Pokémon in every round, their condition, your battlefield control, composure, the showmanship, and the wins. So, this is truly a blend of a Conference and a Grand Festival. Even if you don't win a match, you can still score more points than the winner if they perform poorly in other criteria. This is my no means going to be easy."
"So that's why Grand Festival and Conference Winners are not allowed," Leaf nodded in understanding.
"Precisely."
Aizen smiled at the two girls on the call, and when Misty raised her brow at him, he teased her.
"Daisy and Lily are participating in the Geminus Cup. You know that, right?"
"So what?" She rolled her eyes. "We are still going to win it."
Risa giggled at her words.
"We will try our best. We know that we lack the experience in this format, but since this is the first ever Geminus Cup, we might just get lucky."
"Well, no harm in trying." He agreed. "And if you win, I will give you something good as a reward."
"Promise?" Misty smiled, and he nodded his head.
"Oh, Risa. Which Pokémon did you choose?"
"Elekid." The girl excitedly informed them, and the girls chatted until very late in the evening before going to their beds.
Leaf, however, had other plans. She sneaked into Aizen's room, and the two of them made love to each other, where she was left completely exhausted and slept like a baby in his arms.
And in the morning, she regretted her decision a little as she woke up late. Both Anira and May had found out that she was sleeping with Aizen.
The Princess did not speak to her during their late breakfast, and it tensed her up a lot.
Eventually, when they camped for the lunch, she requested Anira to accompany her on a walk, and there, she came clean to her best friend.
"I already knew."
Leaf was shocked at Anira's words.
"Brother does not hide things from me, and I am not an idiot."
"Anira..."
"I am just upset and disappointed with you that you tried to hide it from me. Misty did the same, but she came clean to me on her own accord."
Hearing her words, Leaf lowered her head in shame, but was soon relieved when the Princess hugged her.
"I hope you won't keep such important things from me again, Leaf. Especially now that you have decided to become a part of our family."
"I promise."
"Good. Let's go. We have to prepare lunch."
And just like that the two of the returned to the camp, wearing bright smiles.