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Chapter Two

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The next morning was a blur. Breakfast was quick and tense and silent, and before Gold had even realized that he was done eating, he was whisked away to the initiation room. Lance's grip on Gold's shoulder was so tight that if Gold closed his eyes he could imagine that it was an Ekans using Wrap on him, and his gaze could slice through steel. Every Champion remained deathly silent as they followed behind Lance, not even their footsteps daring to make a sound. Gold's head was spinning—everything was so silently intense that it made him lightheaded.

When they finally reached the initiation, Gold was thrown into the seat closest to the door. Lance took his place in the seat furthest from the door, clasping his hands together impatiently. As the rest of the Champions took their seats, Gold noticed that the seat to his right was mysteriously empty.

As if Lance had read his mind, he answered Gold's question before he had even asked it. "Moon will be here in a few minutes. Once she arrives, we will begin the initiation."

"Okay," Gold choked out, stifling a cough for fear of making any more noise as the room settled back into silence.

Each Champion occupied their time by staring blankly either into the distance or at their hands. Gold, however, repeatedly scanned and studied the room, trying to answer the hurricane of questions pounding in his head.

Why is there so much that I don't know about the Champions? Gold asked himself, trying to rationalize with himself to ease his fear of the initiation. Probably for the same reason I don't know everything about companies like Silph Co. or the Pokémon Centers. I don't need to know until I'm a part of it. He decided to accept that answer for the time being, happy to let it ease his anxieties.

But, why would they advertise being Champion as just battling challengers and defending your title? It feels like a lot more than just that now that I'm actually a Champion, Gold thought, realizing with a sinking feeling that the mystery of the initiation was temporarily making him regret becoming a Pokémon Trainer rather than a Breeder. He tried to ignore the feeling, telling himself that it would fade once the initiation was done and over with.

Time was dragging on at Gastrodon's pace, and Lance's "in a few minutes" began to feel more like "in a few eons." He knew he was bound to get bored with nothing but a room and dead faces to look at, but each second began feeling like a punch to the face. He had no way of knowing how much time had really passed, and it was nearly torture not knowing when the deafening silence and painful dullness would end. He almost preferred whatever the initiation would be over the pure boredom he felt.

Gold was so entranced by his own thoughts that he nearly leaped out of his seat when the door slammed open. Moon came running in, face red and gasping for breath, being everything that the rest of the Champions weren't.

"I'm sorry I took so long," she exclaimed as she ran to her seat, "Toucannon got attacked as we were flying here, so I had to make an emergency stop to heal him before I could carry on."

"It's fine," Lance growled, his knuckles turning white as he smiled wryly at Moon. Moon took a moment to collect herself before looking at Gold, waving kindly at him. Gold waved back, doing his best to wordlessly tell her that he wasn't annoyed with her like Lance was.

Once everyone was silent and ready, Lance cleared his throat and stood up, placing his hands firmly on the table and staring directly into Gold's eyes.

"Before anyone may become a Champion, they must be aware of a few things." Lance's voice bounced off the walls as if he had spoken into a megaphone. "Firstly, absolutely nothing you hear or learn about may be disclosed to anyone not affiliated with the Pokémon League. You may only share information if you are given explicit permission by me and me only."

Gold nodded abruptly, staring wide-eyed as Lance gazed sternly around the room before continuing. He didn't know if he had imagined it, but Gold could have sworn that Lance's gaze trailed on Red for just a moment longer than anything else. Lance then laid his eyes back on Gold and cleared his throat once more.

"You are only nineteen: your title as Champion does not make you more knowledgeable than others. Trust our decisions, and know that everyone above you is working for the good of the world. Some of the things we do may make you question that. If you're ever in doubt, come to me and I will explain why we did something."

"Don't trust your gut over our reasoning," Lance continued. "You have never been in a position of power before; me as well as some of your fellow Champions have years of experience protecting our regions. If you fail to do this and try to play hero by 'exposing' us, you will be..." Lance glanced at Red, "punished."

Gold's face paled and he nodded profusely, taking a moment to glance at the frowning Red before snapping his gaze back to Lance. Lance smiled dryly.

"Gold, I just want to make sure you don't get any funny ideas," Lance said. "Many of the younger Champions don't fully understand what we do here, so we make sure they fully understand the consequences of doing something impulsive. Do you love your family?"

Gold eyes widened. He knew where Lance was going. "Yes."

"Your Pokémon?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Your friends?"

"Yes."

"If you truly care about them, you'll put your faith in the Pokémon League and do nothing to try and damage us. Do you understand what I mean?"

Gold nodded vigorously. "I understand."

Lance smiled contentedly. "Okay, great. Now for the final part of your initiation: the contract. Raise your right hand and repeat after me."

Gold complied.

"I swear, on my life and the well-being of everyone I love, to uphold the laws and ideals of the Pokémon League. I understand that everything I do is for the greater good, to better society, and to forge an ideal world for people and Pokémon alike." Each precious word slid off of Lance's tongue like poison, seeping into Gold's ears and leaving him feeling horribly conflicted. Everything he said was reasonable, but something about Lance's sharp gaze and the Champions' dead faces left Gold with a sour taste in his mouth.

Still, he repeated the words, receiving an applaud from Lance as the final word slipped off his tongue.

"Excellent," Lance concluded. "Don't underestimate the legal bind you've created by repeating the oath. It may seem powerless, being verbal, but you don't want to find out what type of bind you're in by breaking it. Just trust us, trust the people above you, and know that everything is for the greater good."

Gold nodded, smiling uncomfortably as Lance clasped his hands together.

"Well, it's official," Lance cheered, his demeanor changing almost instantly, "you're the next Champion of the Johto region. I'm released of my Champion duties, but I'm still involved in the Pokémon League as a whole. Now, you have the rest of the day to yourself. I'd suggest getting to know the rest of the Champions."

Everyone but Gold stood up, almost perfectly in sync, and hurried out of the initiation room like Minun running from a Purrloin. Gold was the last to get up, waiting for everyone else to leave before heading out himself.

As he stepped out of the room, the door clicked shut behind him. He could have sworn he heard it lock behind him as he walked towards the rest of the Champions.

Moon was the first to approach him. "Hey, Gold," she began, her rosy cheeks and bright eyes lighting up the dreary room, "I saw you on the news a few weeks ago when you helped dismantle Team Rocket. One of the reporters said you had seven badges, so I knew you'd be the challenger to beat Lance. Sure enough, here you are."

Gold smiled humbly, reaching out his hand to shake hers. "Thanks, Moon. I saw you on the news when you became Alola's first Champion, so it's cool to finally meet you." Gold couldn't help but think back to what Lance had said about Moon the day before, but he decided that Lance was weird and his opinions were weird too. Moon seemed nice, and he didn't want to judge her based on what he heard from Lance.

"I thought I should let you know something, though, since it took me by surprise when I became Champion," Moon started. "Your job will probably be a lot more than just taking challengers."

"What do you mean?" Gold asked, his lingering fear beginning to come true.

Moon must have sensed his worry, because her eyes widened and waved her hands frantically in reassurance. "Wait—it's nothing bad! It's just that you're basically Johto's leader, and you rarely get challengers anyways since most people get wiped out on Victory Road or at the first Elite Four member. As Johto's leader, or at least figurehead, you also need to calm down people if something bad happens in Johto. Beyond that, you basically get paid to chill."

Gold nodded, relieved. "Okay, I can deal with that. Also, what's up with this place? Why is it like a hotel for Champions?"

Moon laughed. "Yeah, it's weird. You never really get used to how weird it is. It's supposed to be a place that we only come to when we need to discuss important things, but since some regions are so far from here, people like me are forced to basically live here. You'll also have to live here, at least for a few months, since Lance will be needing you pretty often. After that, you can go buy a house in Johto if you want to."

Gold nodded, the conversation falling awkwardly silent. Gold frantically looked for something to talk about, not wanting the conversation to end. "So, how did the Pokémon League work for you if there was no Champion to battle?"

"Oh, I battled Alola's Pokémon Professor, Professor Kukui. He's the one who single-handedly organized the whole thing. I also got lucky and finished my Island Challenge at almost the same time he established the Pokémon League, so I didn't have to wait long to challenge it."

"That sounds so cool," Gold replied, awestruck by how radically different Alola seemed compared to Johto. "It would be for to try the Island Challenge on day."

Moon laughed. "You'd have to take on me to beat it, and I'm pretty tough. Well, it was really nice talking to you, but I should go and make sure Toucannon isn't still in pain." She smiled, politely excusing herself and leaving Gold to meet the other Champions.

He turned to Brendan next, happy to see that Brendan was eager to talk.

"Gold, it's so crazy to think that someone finally beat Lance," Brendan cheered. "How do you deal with three Dragonites? You should challenge Red sometime; you're probably the only person who could possibly beat him."

Gold chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of the next as Brendan rambled. "Well, I'd be surprised if I could faint even one of Red's Pokémon. Hasn't he been training on Mt. Silver? I heard the Pokémon there are crazy strong."

Brendan's face dropped, his smile disappearing faster than an Abra at the mention of Red. "Yeah, he's been—he's been training. He's definitely gotten a lot stronger recently."

Gold frowned, worried he upset Brendan. "Well... how's Steven? He's really strong, too, from what I've heard. I bet it's just as cool that you beat him."

Brendan plastered a new smile onto his face, that one not nearly as cheery as the old one. "Yeah, he was crazy hard to beat. It took me three attempts to finally beat him. Anyways, I need to go. You should go talk to everyone else."

Gold waved nervously as Brendan rushed out of the room, turning to face the rest of the Champions. They were speaking quietly amongst themselves, so Gold felt too awkward to approach anyone himself. Every time Gold finished talking to a Champion, however, one took notice and came to formally introduce themselves to him. Every conversation after Moon was awkward, and Gold began to wish he could be done with it. Luckily, no one seemed to be able to talk for long, so the room emptied rather quickly.

Eventually, the room was nearly empty, leaving Gold with just one more Champion: Red.

"Hey, Red," Gold started awkwardly, "I know you're mute, so I guess you probably don't want me to talk much, but it's really cool to meet you. You're my idol, I mean." He stumbled over his words, stretching out his hand nervously. Red smiled sweetly, nodding politely at Gold before shaking his hand. Then, he reached into his pocket, pulling a small envelope out and handing it to Gold.

Gold grabbed the envelope eagerly, realizing quickly that the envelope had writing asking him to open it in his room. Gold smiled once more at Red, saying his goodbyes and hurrying to his room. He nearly slammed the door behind him in his excitement, collapsing onto his bed and holding the envelope above his face. Red wrote me a letter? He thought in awe. I'm never getting rid of this.

He reread the message on the front a couple times. Red's handwriting somehow managed to be neat and sloppy simultaneously, as if he naturally had bad penmanship but tried to make it neat on the letter.

Gold sat up, flipping the envelope over and carefully peeling it open. He pulled out a thin slip of paper, tossing the envelope towards the foot of the bed and he unfolded the paper. Gold stared at the letter in curiosity for a second before reading it:

Gold,

Congratulations on your win. I'm sorry that I can't talk to you, but if I could I would be congratulating you and telling you about all the times I saw you on the news doing great things. You're a good person. Please don't let anyone change that no matter how powerful or scary they are.

Gold read the letter three times, his heart warming as he relished in the compliments his idol gave him. He adored every Champion he'd met, but hearing nice things from people like Red and Lance meant so much more to him. He was fifteen when Red dismantled Team Rocket and defeated Lance, and ever since then, he wanted to become as powerful as Red. To be told by Red that he was a good person was surreal.

After rereading the letter for the hundredth time, Gold finally placed it gently on his night stand and stood up from his bed. Gold realized just how much time undergoing the initiation and talking to the Champions had passed. The sun was beginning to set, and Gold was beginning to get hungry. Again, he hadn't had lunch; he was used to having three meals and another meal's worth of snacks in between, so skipping meals wasn't something he was fond of.

Gold quietly slipped out of his room, hopping down the stairs two at a time. He didn't know when dinner would be, but he hoped that he could at least get a snack if dinner would be a while. He glanced towards the dining room, seeing Lance setting the table. Gold smiled, his stomach growling as he headed towards Lance.

"Do you need help?" Gold asked.

"Not really," Lance responded flatly, "but dinner will be ready in a few minutes, so don't go off doing anything."

Gold nodded, turning around and heading towards the room he had earlier talked to other Champions in. The room was decorated with floor-to-ceiling windows and extravagant curtains, as if the room had been built for royalty. Gold remembered the rocky expanse he had seen just before the entrance of that strange building, and realized that they must be on the edge of some mountain.

"You know," Lance started, his gaze not leaving the table as he spoke, "if you look out that way, you can see Orre."

"Orre?" Gold asked.

"Yeah," Lance responded. "It's a pretty... underdeveloped region. There's no Pokémon League, and you can steal other people's Pokémon. I've heard you can only steal corrupted Pokémon, though, but no one knows for sure. No one knows much about Orre because no one wants to go there."

"That's... odd," Gold mumbled. "I didn't even know that place existed until now."

"There's a lot of things you don't know about," Lance responded darkly. "There's more regions than just the ones with Pokémon Leagues. There's Almia, Fiore, and Oblivia. They don't have trainers so much as Rangers who help keep their regions safe. And that's not all, there's a region called Ransei, too, but I don't know much about that place. All I know is that the region is shaped like Arceus, so most people believe that it's the holy land or the place life originated from."

"Wow," Gold said, completely in awe. "How come I never knew these places existed?"

"No one here cares about them," Lance explained. "They don't run things the way we do, and we have no reason to interact with them because they don't have anything we need."

"I'd love to visit them one day."

"Good luck with that," Lance scoffed. "I'm sure they'd think you're a colonist trying to build a Pokémon League. No one wants people from these regions to visit them. Anyways, dinner is ready."

Dinner was a blur. People kept trying to talk to him as they ate, but all Gold could give was halfhearted responses. All he could think about was all the regions he had never even heard of until that day. It shocked him to learn just how big the world was and just how little he knew. For all he knew, there could be even more regions that Lance hadn't told him about, and he had no way to see if they really existed. It made him feel small—less grandiose than becoming a Champion had made him feel—and helpless in an odd way.

Gold excused himself, turning down an offer of dessert in favor of going upstairs. That was the second night in a row that he had left them early, and he hoped that they would think that he was just getting adjusted to his new life.

Turning off his light, Gold didn't bother changing into pajamas before curling up under his bed. He tossed and turned for a while, the conversation with Lance replaying in my head.

I know so little about the world, Gold realized. How much do I not know about Johto?

Suddenly, he felt helpless.