"So Axel, have you heard about Brine?", asked Giovanni.
"No, who is he or she?"
"Of course, he had not heard about him. It is a piece of secret information.", rebutted Koga.
Giovanni turned towards Axel and said, "I thought Oak had told him about it. Listen, Axel, Brine is from the Unova region. He is 14 yrs old, the same age as you and he already has his 6th gym badge."
"WHAT?????", shouted Axel and stood up from the chair in surprise.
"Suhhh…. Calm down. This is secret information.", said Giovanni.
Axel took some deep breaths and slowly sat on the chair.
"Who is he? He is from one of the starter families? Or from the league?", asked Axel
"None of them. He started the same as you from a normal family and now he already had his 6th gym badge. That means…"
"He already has a Pseudo-king ranked Pokemon", Axel completed Giovanni's sentence.
This was a huge blow to Axel. In 1 year, the guy already had a Pseudo-king ranked Pokemon, possibly more than 1.
To be a Pokemon champion of a region, a trainer had to get the 8 gym badges, win the league, win against elite 4 and then the Champion. This was a universal rule. However, the requirements for the gym battles would be different from region to region.
For example, in the Kanto region,
For the first 2 badges, the gym leader would challenge as an intermediate trainer (all rare ranked Pokemons), for the next 3 badges, the gym leader would challenge as an advanced trainer (at least 1 elemental ranked Pokemon) and for the last 3 badges the gym leader would challenge as a master trainer ( at least 1 pseudo king ranked Pokemon).
However, it may not be the same for other regions.
In other regions, the first 2 badges, the gym leader may challenge as a beginner trainer or as an advanced trainer.
But the requirements for Unova region were the same as Kanto region. So, for Brine to have his 6th badge, he must have fought with the gym leader as a master rank trainer. So, he must have had a Pseudo-king ranked Pokemon.
Axel thought he was fast in training his Pokemon. He thought maybe Cynthia could compete against him. But now, a random nobody was progressing faster than Axel. This worried and surprised him altogether.
"So, who is he?", asked Axel.
"We don't know much more about him than this. He came from a middle-class family in the Unova region. The Unova region is trying to keep this a secret.", said Giovanni.
"Yes, I don't know what they are thinking. I even asked Alder about it but he just brushed it off saying that it was just a rumor.", added Morgan.
"But how could he progress so fast? I mean if he came from a middle-class family, he may not have had the resources just like me. I thought I was growing fast.", sighed Axel.
"That is what makes this case interesting. Do you know the reason why I wanted to tell you this?", asked Giovanni.
"You want me to work hard?"
"Yes, and I want you to be careful."
"Careful?"
"Yes, careful. You are now the current successor of Oak who is the Pokemon master. It is not a simple title. People would now start to target you. I don't know if the information about Brine is just a hoax or if it really is the truth. I mean, we got the information at a perfect time, just after you were crowned the successor. So, it could be a hoax. It is just that I want you to be careful.
You don't have any leisure time now. We know that we are forcing you to train harder which is cruel. You had just started your journey. But if you don't train harder, things would start to be a lot difficult for you in the future.", said Giovanni.
"Thank you sir, for the advice.", said Axel. His head was still spinning on Brine. Unlike them, he knew the future of this world. So, Axel could tell that there was no such prominent figure named Brine in Unova region. Was this really a hoax? Or was this a butterfly effect? He could not tell but he planned to train even harder.
"With that out of the way, I have sent you the gift to your hotel room. I won't tell you what it is. I want it to be a surprise. That gift should help you a bit on your Journey.", said Giovanni.
They then started to talk about normal things. But all of those normal things were far more interesting to Axel. After eating all the delicious food, Axel thought to return to his hotel room to check the gift sent by Giovanni.
Just when he reached his hotel, the receptionist said, "Mr. Axel, there is a parcel to you from the gym leader."
Axel nodded his head, signed the documents, and took the parcel to his room.
He opened the box only to find 5 notebooks with a letter attached. He opened the letter,
"Oh my fucking god…."