Rewards distribution.

Prof. Oak stood up from his seat and walked towards the stadium's centre as the tournament ended.

"I can't say how happy I am to see all the talents gather in one place," he spoke in a calm tone, "as always, this training camp has been a success as it has given us few heroes who would change the world for better. Just like previous training camps, I will be giving rewards to the top three of this year's New Gen Tournament winners."

As he said that, a small platform was raised from the ground with three briefcases placed on them.

As Alan wondered what they would be, he heard a notification from his Pokedex.

[Ding: Pokegram Notification from Dad.

Alex: No matter what happens, make the choice that you believe is the best.

Alan: What do you mean?

Alex: Just remember, choose what you want, not what others say. Don't worry about the consequences.

Alan: I am so confused.

Alex: Do you trust me?

Alan: I will do as you say.]

Alan looked at his father with confusion. He could not understand why his father would say those words, but he would trust him just like his father had to trust in him.

Why would anyone force him to make a choice?

Alex gave a small smile and a nod before he turned to look at Prof. Oak.

"The winners, please come to the stage."

Alan got up from his bed, and just as Steven was about to help him, he was stopped by Cynthia, "you are suffering from backlash yourself; rest up!'

She placed a hand on Alan and helped him walk to the centre of the Stadium whole Sabrina was coming towards them as well.

She looked better than before as she had enough time to rest.

As the three now stood in front of Prof. Oak, he gave them a small smile, "congratulations for winning the tournament. Now give me your Pokedex."

Without saying much, the three took out their Pokedex and handed them to Prof. Oak, who did something before handing them back.

"I have updated your profiles and given you three the 6th-grade Privilege. With this, you can carry seven pokemons instead of six. I have also given you 100,000 League Points, which you can use in any league headquarters to exchange for resources or increase your Privilege grade."

They received their Pokedex's with surprise written on their faces. Getting a 6th-grade Privilege was not easy since one needed League points for them. And League Points could only be earned yourself but not given to you by your wealthy family.

Getting so many points so early was a great benefit.

"This is just the tip of an iceberg now for the main rewards," as he said that, he opened the three briefcases that were placed on the platform.

As he opened the first one, which was meant for Cynthia, a small blue orb appeared from within.

"This is an Aura Orb made by a Champion stage Aura pokemon," as he said that, he held it in his hands and before handing it to Cynthia, "this can help you raise the amount of Aura in your body while also helping you to train in it."

Cynthia was surprised by the reward as she, an Aura user, could not ask for anything better than this. With a pleased smile, she took the Aura Orb under the jealous eyes of many kids.

"For next reward," as Prof. Oak said, he looked at Sabrina before opening up the second briefcase and from with another orb appeared, but this time, it was purple.

"This is a Psychic orb made by a Pseudo Champion pokemon," he explained before he handed it to Sabrina, "you should have guessed it use?"

Sabrina emotionlessly nodded her head, but Alan could see the excitement in her eyes.

"It is the same as the Aura orb but for those who use Psychic powers," explained Cynthia as she saw Alan's slightly confused look.

"As for the last one," said Prof. Oak as he looked at Alan. This time he did not open the briefcase but looked at Alan as if he was judging the young man standing in front of him.

"Alan," he called.

"Yes, professor?"

"Since you did so well in the tournament, I will give you two choices," he said, surprising everyone, but no one said anything, either out of respect or fear.

"I will tell you what is in this briefcase and then the second choice; I will let you decide what you want to choose."

As he looked at the man in front of him, Alan suddenly recalled his father's words, 'Don't let anyone force you into what you want to choose.'

Prof. Oak opened up the briefcase and showed what was inside. A rich wave of energy washed over all those close to it as a small purple orb appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

It looked exactly like the one given to Sabrina, but for some reason, Alan could tell this was not the same, or at least it did not have the same usage.

"This right here is the orb condensed by my Alakazam. Its use is simple; if any pokemon with psychic talents consumes it, its potential will rise as well as its talent in psychic powers."

Alan took a large breath as he heard what his small orb was for.

It was a perfect item for Eve, and he could not believe he would be getting it as a tournament reward. But then he calmed himself down; there was still a second choice. He looked back at Prof. Oak, who smiled and told him about it.

"Your second choice will be," he took a slight pause before saying, "I will take you in as my apprentice and teach you about training your pokemon."

*BOOM*

A loud explosion happened in the minds of all those who heard what he said. All the adults had shock written on their faces as they looked not at Prof. Oak but Alan standing before him.

In his whole life, Prof. Oak had taken in three students; Red, Blue and Purple.

Every one of them had gone and become a Champion who was more potent than any champion ever seen. Now the same Prof. Oak was asking another person to be his student; this could only mean one thing.

'A champion candidate.'

Alan was so surprised that he forgot even to breathe as he stared at Prof. Oak, who was standing before him with a small smile.

He barely calmed himself down as he thought about his option. Did he even need to think? What was better? An orb or being the student of THE Prof. Oak himself?

He immediately spoke, "I will...." but then he stopped.

Oak, who saw this, made a slight frown.

"So what is your choice?" he pushed, but by now, something had come to Alan's mind.

"Prof. Oak, what do I need to do for it?" he asked immediately.

All those who heard made a confused face while Alex, watching this from the stands, gave a small smile.

"What do you mean?" asked Oak.

"There should be something, right? I am not even from Kanto Region, so why would you take someone from a different region as your apprentice?"

As everyone heard this, they once again made shocked faces. Why would Prof. Oak take someone from a different region as his student?

"Of course, you will have to change your citizenship from Elian to Kanto since you will be staying with me so I can teach you all about pokemon," replied Oak with a smile as if it was the most obvious thing.

Everyone immediately understood what was going on.

'He is poaching a talent from a different region.'

But they all could not blame him too. With the talent Alan had shown which region would not want him to be a part of them, he was sure to be a strong trainer in future. And they too would not be able to refuse if they were in his place; after all, it was Prof. Oak who was inviting him.

"I refuse," said Alan and the whole stadium fell in silence, "I will choose the first option and take that orb for my Eve," he replied with a smile.

Everyone looked at him in disbelief. Did this boy not fear the consequences of rejecting Samuel Oak?

But why would he? As someone who had a deep bond with his father, he had trusted him more than anything.

'Don't worry about the consequences.'

Alex had told him to do what he believed in and not care about anything else, and that is precisely what he did.

He was a ten-year-old, but that did not mean he was clueless like many of his age. He could already guess why Prof. Oak had asked him this, and there was no way he would comply with it.

In a region with hardly any talented people, what would happen if you took away their only champion candidate?

You make yourself stronger and weaken the other region.

He would not say he would give his life for Elian Region, but that also did not mean he would just walk away from it. But there was something even more important at work than just this.

His dream.

He always wanted to be a Champion, the Champion of the Elian Region.

Elian Region never had a champion, only elite four ever since it was founded. It was his dream to change that and be the first Champion of his region that born in the Elian region as well

A farfetched and childish dream.

But then again, he was a ten-year-old, nothing but a child. And just like any other child, he was stubborn with what he wanted. And so he made his choice.

"Thank you for the offer Prof. Oak," he said in a polite tone, "but I have a dream, and for it, I cannot change my Citizenship to Kanto Region."

Oak, who was surprised by the rejection as well, controlled his emotions before nodding his head.

"Then we will be going with the first choice," he said with the same kind smile and handed the orb to Alan.

Alex and Ellie, who saw this from the stands, gave a pleased smile before nodding their heads.

"With this the I announce the end of this year's training camp," he said in a loud voice, "You all will soon enter pokemon schools for two years and learn how hard it is to survive outside as a pokemon trainer, then when you turn sixteen, you will officially start your journey by getting the official training license."

"The road ahead would be difficult. Will you be strong enough to change your future? Or will you just watch as your peers do it? The decision will be in your hands; make sure you don't lose the next six years in just fun and games. Train Hard."

With that, he walked back towards his seat while Sabrina went towards hers. Cynthia helped Alan walk back into the Pokemon centre.

"You have some nerve declining Prof. Oak like that," said Cynthia, still shocked by his rejection.

"What can I say? I got those nerves from my father," he said with a small smile.

[Ding: Pokegram Notification from Dad.

Alex: Proud of you!

Alan: Why? I did what was best in my opinion.

Alex: You will know when you become the champion.]

"What are your plans?" asked Cynthia as Alan laid back. Steven was no where to be seen.

"I will train for next six years and then start collecting my team."

"You really don't know anything do you?" asked Cynthia as she shook her head and sat beside him.

"What do you mean?"

"We cannot enter wild areas or forests without a license, and the one we get from Pokemon School is just a beginner license which only allow us to do up to C-grade missions given by the league."

"Wait, doesn't that mean?"

"We won't make much progress in our levels during this time, while those with low potential pokemons will have enough time to gather resources by earning League Points from missions to increase the potential of their pokemon," explained Cynthia.

"So the only thing we can practice is our moves and I don't think we will gain much levels by fighting weak pokemons," said Alan and Cynthia nodded to his words.

"We also cannot own a second pokemon till then, it's a way to make balance," she said while thinking about something.

"Six years...."

"In a way, this training camp is the best fighting experience we could get by fighting strong people with high potential pokemons, but these idiots decided to have fun instead," she said while anger was visible on her face.

Alan could tell that if given a chance she would beat everyone to pulp for wasting this opportunity.

Alan nodded his head as he thought about the future.

Who knew what kind of changes would take place in these six years?

"By the way, since tomorrow is our last day in camp, everyone will be going to the Virindia City Bug Festival, wanna come?" asked Cynthia.

"Are you inviting me to come with you?" asked Alan with a sly smile.

"Tsk," Cynthia stood up and walked away but her words were still in the air, "I will wait for you at the City's entrance."

Alan gave a small smile as he looked at her walk away.

"Nice catch" a voice came from the side and once again Steven was walking towards him.

"Where were you?"

"I was away so I did not disturb your 'alone time'?" he said with a meaningful smile.

"Come on man," said Alan while shaking his head, "you now it's nothing like it."

"I have lived long enough to know how this will end up."

Another voice rang out and four people walked towards them. It was none other than Alex, Ellie, Devon and Lisa.

"You too?" said Alan as his father too joined hands with Steven to tease him.

While they were laughing among each other, from high up, Samuel Oak was staring in their direction with a bit of regret.

"You should focus more on the ones you have," said Carolina from the side, "this generation will be even stronger than the previous one."

She said while looking at Alan, Steven, Cynthia, Sabrina and many more.

So many talented children had gathered in this camp but it was sure that they were not the only ones. Many more who have not attended this camp and many who did not have good background to enter this camp will rise in their generation.

'But which one of them would be at the lead?'

Only time would answer her questions.

************

Author's Note: Many of you might not understand my choice of doing what I did in this chapter and would even call my decision Stupid.

For that I will say: I have the world background planned. Future events planned. The people planned. Their strengths planned. I will stick to that plan and keep going with it. I will only make small changes as suggested by many in the comment section as they don't change the 'main plot' of my story.

I hope you still enjoy the story.

Read Author's Thoughts too.