To everyone's relief, Aizen did not insist on going to the Pallet Town.
And at 6:48 am, they received a call from Cynthia, who informed them that the attack had been repelled.
Thankfully, she and Glacia were at the Indigo Plateau, where the Silver Conference was taking place.
The two quickly rushed towards Pallet Town when they received Hilda Oak's signal, and together with Daisy Oak, Blue Oak, and Samuel Oak, the six of them managed to thwart the plans of the enemies.
Three Team Doom terrorists had been captured, including their Cell Leader, and two lost their lives. Importantly, other than some minor injuries, there were no casualties on their side.
It was an overwhelming victory for them.
"They were expecting Mewtwo to come and help them, but he did not show up. For some reason, their communication devices were not working either, and their Shadow Pokémon turned on them as well," The Sinnoh Champion informed them, wearing a frown on her face. "Their goal was to distract us, make some of you leave the Cameran Palace. And their second goal was to kidnap Professor Oak and steal his lifetime of Research from the Laboratory. The three people whom we have captured are in a comatose state. Professor Oak is searching for poisons on or inside their bodies and any devices that could take their lives or make them go senile. The Cell Leader is the same man you encountered in Saffron City when they attacked SilphCo..."
After she finished her report, Joseph sighed.
"You broke into someone's mind?"
"Just one of them who was on the verge of dying." The Draegor Blood innocently said.
"Your Mega Metagross?
"No, I asked my Hatterene to break into his mind. She's more subtle."
"Cynthia..." The Old Stone sighed, but could not reproach the girl.
He was not upset that she had taken a life, but just felt unwell as she was still a child in his eyes. He did not wish her or any of the youngsters in the room to stain their hands with blood.
Then again, he realised that it was not something he could control, and Cynthia was Shinnoh's Champion, not a child.
"It helped us learn about their true motives. You did the right thing." Lance quickly said and looked around the room."Where's Sabrina?" He frowned.
"She stays at the Tree of Beginning," Aizen informed him, and the man understandingly nodded his head before looking at 'Ilene'. "Your Highness, I and my Ace Squad suggest that you do not attend the Annual Games Finals today. If these terrorists act during the Games, innocent lives would be lost."
"I feel the same way," The Cameran Queen furrowed her brows and nodded her head. "You are the Kanto Champion, and with Sir Joseph here, the two of you can oversee the Finals on my behalf."
"That's fine. We will inform the people that you are not feeling well. A fever..."
"There's no need to lie." She shook her head. "I am expecting a child, so you may inform the people that I have been asked to rest."
No one in the room knew about it, and their eyes widened in surprise.
Only Cynthia, who was on the call, did not show signs of shock.
"Congratulations, Your Highness, Prince Aizen..."
Lance was the first to regain his wits and immediately bowed to them and expressed his warm wishes.
Soon everyone else in the room stood up as well and did the same.
Riley and Bill gave the Orayen Prince tight hugs, and Joseph happily patted his shoulder.
"We have Lance and his Ace Squad here. I think Bill and Riley should head to Pallet Town right now. We have their Cell Leader and two other members. They might try to rescue them." The Prince looked at Joseph Stone, who nodded to his words.
"We will move the Prisoners to our secret hideout in the Seafoam Islands. It's not safe to keep them in the Oak Laboratory. I will personally go. Bill and Riley will stay here." The Old Stone said, and everyone agreed to it.
After breakfast, Aizen quickly made a call to Anira, and seeing her smile, he was immensely relieved.
Leaf and her Mother were unaware of the things that had transpired at dawn, and Hilda and her daughter brushed things off by telling them it was not a big deal. They were in their room when the enemies attacked, sound asleep, and the Orayen Princess had prevented their senses from picking up on the battle outside.
Lapras, Gengar, Archie, and Rinko had helped a lot, and all four of them were now recuperating inside the Laboratory.
Seeing that they were all fine, his heart was no longer restless.
By the time their call ended, Joseph had arrived at the Oak Laboratory, and then Anira asked him to be safe and left as she had to go and help prepare the breakfast.
At 10 am, when the Finals of the Annual Games were about to start, Joseph and his Mega Metagross returned to the Kingdom and joined Lance inside the Colosseum.
The rest of the Action Team was busy making preparations for tonight's Royal Ball.
Aizen and Sabrina quietly left the Palace and arrived at the Tree of Beginning.
The Moonheart let out all her Pokemon inside the Heart of the Tree, and then came out and sat against an Aura Stone as she started meditating.
On the other hand, the Orayen Prince called out his Pokémon and started their daily training.
"Scyther, you will help Scyther with his speed training, help him learn Aerial Ace, and Scyther, you will teach Scyther how to use Close Combat." He also showed them that he had both the Metal Coat and Black Augurite to help them evolve, and seeing the Evolution Items, both the Pokémon were very pumped up.
After watching them train for several minutes, and seeing that everything was fine between them, the Orayen Prince turned his focus to his Wartortle and Golbat, who were itching for a battle.
The Purple Bat was very close to its evolution, and if Aizen had not been distracting its mind by giving it new moves to learn, it would have already evolved by now.
"The two of you will battle against each other. You may go all out." He smiled at them.
Both the Pokémon were elated at his words and immediately rushed to another giant stalk to have their duel, away from everyone else.
"Chopper, you are up against Rhydon. The two of you will have your battle down there at the foot of the mountain."
The pair acknowledged his command, and the next they blinked, they found themselves teleported at the foot of the Tree of Beginning.
Over a thousand metres above, on the giant stalk, Aizen looked at the details of his Machamp, and he was happy to see that his Pokémon now had two abilities, Guts and Steadfast.
Usually, only the talented Pokémon belonging to certain species in their Final Evolution could have multiple abilities, and Chopper had two, which was a testament to its talent.
Thankfully, it had not unlocked No Guard, which was a very restrictive ability and could easily be exploited by enemies. Then again, he had trained Machoke in a way where the Pokémon had to focus a lot in the battles and had to learn when to dodge and when to attack. Only a reckless Machoke would have evolved into a Machamp with No Guard.
"Electa..."
Someone tugged on his vest, and he smiled at his Electabuzz, who was asking him to pay attention to her.
"You are up against me today, Elektra. Please give me a few moments."
The Pokémon obediently nodded her head and waited patiently for him to finish what he was doing.
Aizen inadvertently glanced at Diancie, who came out of the Tree of Beginning and whispered something in Sabrina's ear, which piqued her interest.
The Moonheart nodded in his direction before she teleported away with her Diance and Mega Alakazam.
He knew that it was not an emergency and closed his Pokédex before smiling at his yellow Pokémon.
"Come."
"Electa..." The Yellow Pokémon happily followed him down to a giant stalk.
And there, they had a very intense battle where the Orayen Prince tested the limits of his Pokémon.
Sabrina returned an hour later with her Mega Alakazam, just when he finished his spar with his Electabuzz and asked her to recuperate.
"Did something interesting catch your eye?" He guessed, and the Moonheart nodded her head.
"I caught a Munchlax," She told him and then took out her Pokedex to show him its details.
[Male]
[Ability: Thick Fat]
[Known Moves: Tackle, Chip Away, Amnesia, Defense Curl, Screech, Body Slam, Charm, High Horsepower, Belch, Double-Edge, Last Resort, Fissure]
"That's a great catch. Congratulations!"
"Thank you." She smiled at him. "There's one more if you want to catch it. Its sibling."
The Prince did not even think twice before nodding his head, and the Mega Alakazam teleported with him to the location where a cute Munchlax was peacefully asleep, unaware that its sibling had been through the battle of its life and was now captured.
Since it was in a deep sleep, Aizen did not bother waking it up. Munchlax were not too prideful creatures. He simply threw his Pokéball at it and smiled when he saw it struggle a little.
However, the ping eventually sounded out when the Pokémon decided that its sleep was more important, and as soon as he picked up the Pokéball, Sabrina's Mega Alakazam teleported them back to the Tree of Beginning.
The Moonheart stood by his side as he scanned his new catch.
[Male]
[Ability: Thick Fat]
[Known Moves: Tackle, Chip Away, Amnesia, Defense Curl, Screech, Body Slam, Charm, Bulldoze, Belch, Double-Edge, Last Resort, Fissure]
He was pleasantly surprised to see the same Known Moves except for one.
His mind immediately started running with the training regime for the Munchlax and the moves he wanted to teach it.
Thankfully, both the siblings were over three years old. They were old enough to be put through a tough training regime. And importantly, they were old enough to evolve into big and healthy Snorlax.
He was confident that he would have the big Pokémon on his team, ready for the Indigo Council in time.
However, keeping a Munchlax was quite expensive. It was certainly not a Pokémon that an average trainer could afford to raise.
He needed to arrange for special Food Pills for it before calling it out and starting its Training, and those Munchlax and Snorlax Special Food Pills that his Grandmother had invented were quite expensive. Still, they were not as expensive as the cost of food that a Munlax or a Snorlax would otherwise consume. The rest of the Pokémon on his team would have to starve at times if he did not get those Pills.
"Thanks." He smiled at the Moonheart, who planted a kiss on his cheek in response, something which amused him a lot.
The two then started the preparations for the lunch and also discussed the training programme for their Munchlax.