CartecTNN
patreon
The New Normal - 7-12
🕑 Added 2024-01-01 12:48:54 +0000 UTCThe New Normal – 7-12 – Scientific Summit
Even though some time had gone passed, the hype around the Fairy type had yet to die down. In fact, it was still going strong as many trainers continue trying to experiment and train with the new Fairy types.
According to Karen, there were apparently many new trainers that had originally failed to beat her, who were now trying to challenge her again for the 1st Gym Badge with a newly captured Fairy type in hand. Most of the time, it went the same for them.
Fairy types did not give you any advantage over Rock types, after all. And if anything, more often than not their lack of familiarity with the strengths of the Fairy type actually made their performance worse.
Initially, I had mostly thought to ignore the craze, just sitting low and allowing it to die down. I didn’t see a need to take a proactive approach, so long as no chaos broke out. But Oak had different ideas.
“We should capitalize on this opportunity.” He told the Fairy group one day in a conference call that he hosted, “Currently, the public’s interest in science is all the way up with the back-to-back new discoveries of the PIT Technique and the Fairy type. We need to make use of this and fully cement their interest.”
“How are we going to do that?” Shelly asked.
“I plan to host a scientific panel that would be open for the public to ask us whatever questions they like, but hopefully with a focus on science.” He explained, “We need to show the public that we’re there and engaged with them, and we aren’t just sitting in our labs working independently on scientific research without their input. If we can get them involved and thinking, then we can get them invested.”
“And getting the public invested means we get more research grants.” Blaine smiled, “John, you think you can flip that with Lance to push for more public funding for us poorly scientists?” That got a round of snorts from the rest of the call. If anything, the scientists gathered here today were the LEAST poorly.
“I can definitely give it a try, but I think Lance has his own problems to deal with for the moment.” I shrugged. It was an open secret that Lance was on the outs with the Blackthorns at the moment, and was busy wrangling them back under his authority. Even after a week since their humiliation against Oak, they still hadn’t gotten over it yet.
“Bah, who cares about his problems?” Blaine grumbled, “I know you’re friends with him and all, but that’s his own fucking problem to deal with.”
“Let’s table that for now.” Oak said, ever diplomatic, “Are you all on board for hosting a scientific panel? We can host it at the Indigo Plateau, I’m sure I can get that arranged.” We all gave our agreement to that.
And so, barely a few days later, Oak already had everything set up. He clearly still had a lot of influence with the Indigo League to be able to hold a public panel on the League’s doorstep with such notice. The event was also heavily publicized, and fully open to the public. I had heard from Shelly that a few scientists from Hoenn had also decided to make their way over here to join in as audience members.
I even heard that the Elite Four would be attending, though not Lance. Apparently he had something to do on that day.
Regardless of what it was, the panel was still underway. And once again, the 6 of us, Professor Oak, Myself, Gym Leader Blaine, Director Shelly, Professor Carolina, and Professor Elm had all taken our places on a long table that had been specifically set up for this panel. In front of us were rows after rows of seats for the public, and we sat there patiently as we waited for them to fill up.
In the VIP seats that were set up, I saw Lorelei and Will sit down. Agatha was notably missing, but I didn’t think she would be interested in something like this anyways.
We made small talk while the public were still arriving in, but we had to watch what we said. The multitude of cameras facing us were doing their best to capture our every word, whispered or not.
Eventually, everyone had gathered inside, and Oak started us off. “Thank you for joining us once again today. We know you might be tired of seeing our mugs when its not been long since our press conference revealing the Fairy type, but I hope you don’t mind seeing us again.” He joked, getting a few polite laughs from the audience.
“Anyways, we’ve decided to host this panel today because we wanted to be able to discuss freely with you and answer any questions that you, the public, might have.” He explained, “We hope to help address any concerns and let you know about the future direction of our plans. Alternatively, feel free to give us your suggestions about what we could work and look into, and we might consider it.”
That drew a substantial applause from the crowd. As Oak mentioned to us, scientists were very often left outside of the public eye, their work mostly unknown besides the very big discoveries that we rarely make. So to have a prestigious lineup of scientists actually willing to engage in open communication with the public was a wondrous opportunity for them.
I suspected that Oak was doing this to also boost the reputation of scientists in the public eye. While scientists were always respected, I was confident that he wanted to promote scientists to be more in the spotlight. To be more recognized for their efforts. And this was just one of the many steps he was going to take to achieve this.
The applause died down shortly later, but Blaine spoke up before the questions began, “Before you guys start unleashing your flood of questions at us, I would like to make my own personal announcement.” That caught everyone’s attention, and the room quickly fell silent once again.
“Before I worked on the Fairy project with Professor Oak, I had spent a lot of time trying to develop my own evolution item. It took me a few tries to get it right, but I finally have the working version ready for mass production.” He explained to the gasps of the crowd.
“I won’t reveal what it is yet – but I’m already in talks with some large businesses so that it can hit the shelves shortly.” He announced, “Please look forward to it. I’m sure it’ll be quite the hot topic.” Shelly visibly facepalmed at the joke, but he got a healthy applause despite the terrible pun.
With that, the questions began. A few were initially directed at Blaine in hopes of figuring out what he had been working on, but they quickly shifted away when the realized that Blaine was not going to be forthcoming with his answers.
Unsurprisingly, Oak was saddled with the brunt of the questions. The Fairy type was still THE thing on everyone’s mind, and everyone wanted to see if the famed Professor Oak had any additional insights that they missed. THAT, and they really wanted to ask about Oak and his beatdown of the Blackthorn’s representative. But he diplomatically avoided that question before things could get heated. He had no intention of fuelling those flames.
To my surprise, he directed a question at me, “I think that question about the Fairy type’s battling ability should be directed to the one who’s been battling with it for the longest.” He turned to me, “John, what do you think about the potential of Fairy types in battle? How do they battle like?”
I felt everyone’s attention snap to me, but I took my time to think through my answer before responding, “I understand that everyone’s perception of the Fairy type is that they are the ‘type that destroys Dragons’. So it makes sense for people to think that the Fairy type are just a stronger version of Dragon types. But that perception of the Fairy type is completely wrong.”
“In terms of pure and raw strength, the Dragon type is always going to be one of the strongest types available. There is a reason why Dragon types are still so coveted. But the reason that Fairy types are able to beat them in a straight up fight is purely because the type advantage that Fairies possess over Dragons. Without it, the Fairy type could not match up in a raw beatdown against another Dragon type, because that’s not where their strength lies.”
“Think about the Fairy types that you know. The Ralts line, the Clefairy line, the Togepi line. Before the discovery of their true typing, none of you would have thought of those types as your traditional powerhouse types. Even at the high level, they were mostly supportive Pokémon with a wide range of supportive moves that were invaluable in any team, but they are not frontline fighters.”
“The strength of the Fairy type are the same. Clefable is a valuable member of my team BECAUSE of her range of supportive moves, AND because of her resistance and strength against Fighting types. I intend to train up my new Sylveon to be the same. If anything, I find the Fairy type to be remarkably similar to the Dark type. But with a bigger emphasis on status and defensive moves over more aggressive disruption.”
As I finished with my explanation, I found the audience all listening to me with rapt attention. I didn’t realize how everyone fell silent as people simply listened to my breakdown with the Fairy type. Even my panel members were staring at me with various degrees of proud smiles.
Surprisingly, it was Will that broke the silence, “So, John, from what you’re saying, the Fairy type can be similar to the Psychic type?” He raised a question.
“That isn’t an inaccurate comparison.” I nodded, “Fairy type Pokémon often share a lot of similar moves with traditional Psychic types. Though the Psychic types still have access to more of the Psychic supportive move pool. But Fairy types compensate for this for having access to other supportive moves too.”
Will nodded, satisfied with my answer. This only prompted another question to be thrown at me, “Elite John! Would you now consider to switch to being a Fairy specialist instead of a Normal one?”
I frowned, “Absolutely not. I could never throw away my Normal type Pokémon for something as useless as a title. I have a few Fairy type Pokémon on my team sure, but I’d still classify myself as a Normal specialist.”
“What would you say differentiates a Normal specialist with a Fairy one?” Someone else asked.
“Normal types are typically stronger in a frontal fight. Think of Snorlax and Slaking as great examples of this. As I’ve said, Fairy types often take a supportive role, with a bigger emphasis on ranged attacks compared to your typical Normal types. But the flexibility and versatility of both types are a common feature, which is why I think I’ve settled so well in adapting Fairy types into my team.”
“Then will you be adding more Fairy types to your team in the future?” The same guy asked again.
I shrugged, “Depends if I find a Pokémon that wants to join me - I won’t turn them down. But I don’t have any Fairy types on my mind at the moment that I specifically want to add to my team. I’m content with what I have so far.”
Before I knew it, the revelation of my knowledge of the more practical uses for the Fairy type made me the main star of the conversation. There were still many questions directed at the rest of the panel, but now a lot of them were directed my way. They must have been realizing that my role here was more than just as a placid observer as a mere hanger-on. I was knowledgeable in my own right.
It was strange to see – but I could physically FEEL my approval in the eyes of the scientific community rising the more I spoke. Despite my connections to quite a few higher-ups within the scientific community, I had always known that I was still considered to be an outsider to a majority of the more lower rung members.
After all, I wasn’t a scientist by trade. Nor did I have the education to back it up. The scientific community had always been plagued by elitism. And I found it ironic that even as a member of the Elite Four, I was still not ‘elite’ enough for those elitists.
But I was confident that, by the end of this conference, that opinion of me would change.
I didn’t know how long we spoke for about the Fairy types, but my bottle of water was almost fully depleted before we moved onto talking about the PIT technique. What I hadn’t realized until just now was that apparently there were a lot of money and resources being thrown at the PIT technique in hopes of finding a new type.
The discovery of the Fairy type may have temporarily overshadowed it, but the PIT technique was still making its rounds in the scientific circles.
Once again, questions were directed my way as the person who discovered this technique to see if I had any insights. But this time, I allowed the other scientists, ones that were far more familiar with the fundamentals behind evolutions, to field the questions.
Professor Elm and Blaine were the most knowledgeable with this, “It may seem crude and overly simplistic, but John’s words when he first discovered the PIT technique; about how Pokémon that possessed a lot of moves in another type were more likely to possess an alternate form, it rings true. The idea of alternate types had always been in the mind of many scientists, but we just didn’t fully realize what it took to unlock this extra potential of our Pokémon.” Professor Elm explained.
“Then do you have any ideas in mind for what alternate forms could exist and be discovered?” He was asked.
“I’m working on a few ideas of my own, yes.” He revealed, “But I won’t know until the eggs hatch to see if they’ve worked or not. And that won’t be for quite some time. Of course, the public will be the first to know of any successes I find.”
“Once again though, DO NOT try this at home.” Oak warned prudently, “We do not need a repeat of what happened when the reckless and uninformed try their hands at something this delicate. Please spare yourself and your Pokémon the pain, and DO not attempt this outside of League authorised conditions. Thank you.”
“Elite John, are you going to be working on another Pokémon with the PIT technique?” Someone asked me.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have any plans to for the moment.” I replied, “My success with the D-Zigzagoon and the subsequent formulation of the PIT Technique was a massive coincidence. But I simply don’t have the time to focus on something that takes as long as and as much effort as the PIT technique. So I’ll be leaving most of the work to the full time scientists.”
“I intend to refocus my efforts into the PIT technique too.” Oak spoke up, “Now that I’m done with the Fairy type, there are a few ideas I wanted to try to see if anything comes out of it.”
After several more rounds of questions, we got to the political aspect of the conversation. Blaine, as Gym Leader, took the lead this time. “Part of the reason why we wanted to host this discussion is because we wanted to show off just how much we can achieve if we all worked together and dedicated our resources into the scientific field. We had hoped to show, not only you members of the public, but also those decision makers in the Committee to demonstrate the benefits of having good programmes to fund the field of science.”
“While training and battling should always be at the forefront of our minds, science must come at a close second and should never be neglected.” He continued, “So for those of you who want to see more of these discoveries, go pester your local councillor today and ask them to provide more funding to the sciences.”
I took this opportunity to speak up too, “I’ll be introducing a new proposal in the Committee soon to request for the addition of new grants for our hard-working scientists. If it wasn’t for them, then our society would stagnate and so many secrets of both society and Pokémon would remain undiscovered. So I hope I can have your support in pushing for this extra funding!”
That brought the panel to an end, and I shared a smile with the rest of my fellow panellists and colleagues over the background of a thunderous applause from the audience. We had worked really well together, and we all shared a mutual wish to continue our cooperation in the future, one way or another.
We all turned and bowed to the cheering crowd, and I even saw Will and Lorelei both standing on their feet as they both cheered at us. I knew instinctively that I had their support when it came to my new proposal.
And with this new proposal, I was confident that I had earned some crucial goodwill and reputation from the scientific community.
==========
(Lance POV)
He knew today was the day that John and Oak were hosting a huge panel where they would be discussing and answering questions about their scientific discoveries. And while he was far from a scientist, he would have still much preferred to be there. He had always wanted to ask his own questions and see what insights he could draw from them for his own Dragons.
But instead, he was forced to deal with this nonsense.
“…So explain to me why you chose to sit out of it instead of proving the clan with your support?!” One of the Blackthorn elders scowled furiously at him, “Did you forget who helped you become what you are today?! Or have you forgotten that you have only managed to become Champion with OUR blessing?!”
He could feel Clair tensing up from where she was seating next to him, but he stayed silent. The younger him would have been shaking in fear at being stared down by one of the Blackthorn elders, but he had grown up since then.
“ANSWER US! Or do you think your silence can somehow absolve you of your GUILT?!” Another elder demanded.
“But, honoured elders, do you not see that cousin Lance made the right decision in the end?” Clair spoke up in his defence as he remained silent, “The Fairy type has proven, beyond all doubt, that it is the counter to Dragons. But so what? We can adapt. And we can still prove that Dragons are indeed the strongest type. It’s not like we’re suddenly seen as weak because of the presence of a new type. But now, because of your prideful insistence, we were seen as laughing stocks because we tried to make an display of force when one wasn’t unnecessary.”
“Foolish girl. Do you not understand how that can be seen as weakness?” One of the elders spat viciously, “Dragons ARE the backbone of our clan. We owe our position in Johto solely because it is ONLY US that have mastered the strength of the Dragons. We tamed them, brought them under our will, because that is what makes the Blackthorn name MEAN something. THAT is why our name is spoke with reverence and fear. To allow a type to be known to ‘counter’ us rubs at our very pride. At the very essence of what makes us a Blackthorn.”
“Which is why Lance’s failure to support us in such a crucial time is the ultimate betrayal of our values.” The elder’s glare turned his way. “The Champion that we propped up should have helped us. NEEDED to have helped us. But instead he cowered away, valuing his own position more than he valued the clan that raised and birthed him. A coward, and a false Dragon.”
As soon as the elder finished, Lance calmly stood up from where he was sitting. Before the elders could question what he was doing, he simply released Emperor into the middle of the small clearing that they had gathered in.
“DRAG! DRAGONITE!” His Emperor emerged with a mighty roar that caused the trees that surrounded them to shake violently, and the ground below to wobble and crack. The other Dragons that the elders had previously released all immediately pushed their heads against the ground at the appearance of a true alpha.
But Lance seemingly ignored all of this as he just stepped forwards, walking slowly towards the still seated elders, his eyes never leaving theirs.
“You have fear in your eyes.”
A simple statement. But one that managed to undermine their argument. If they were the proud Dragon trainers that they claimed that they were, then why were they afraid of Emperor?
“Do you remember why you chose me to become Champion? Why was it that, among all of the many ‘wise’ and ‘noble’ elders of the Blackthorn Clan, you chose ME to be your representative amongst the Elite Four?” He said, turning his gaze away from the elders. Instead, he addressing the many spectators from the Blackthorn Clan that had been invited to watch this ‘interrogation’.
“Because, despite all of your many attempts, not one of you managed to beat Pryce.” He stated slowly and clearly. “It didn’t matter how much pride you had in your Dragons. You couldn’t even beat a greying old man that was so consumed by his own ego that he couldn’t even see what was in front of him. And yet THIS was the man that you failed to defeat with all your vaunted Dragons.”
“And I crushed him.” He continued, emphasizing the word ‘crushed’. “Even when he pulled out a new Pokémon that I had never seen before, I still thrashed his entire team. Do you know why? Because even though I have my own pride, I know better than to blinded by it.”
“Because that’s what you all are.” His gaze fell back on the elders, “Blinded by your glorious past that you cannot see how the world has shifted around you. Your so-called Dragons have gone weak, and your so-called ‘young prodigy’ was unable to defeat even a single Clefable.”
He motioned to the cowering Dragons around him, “Look at them. Look at how they cower. Not one of them strong enough of will to stand up to Emperor. THIS is what the Blackthorn name has been reduced to now. Blinded elders with more bark than bite, dependent on Dragons that they have long forgotten how to train. You were fortunate that I didn’t join in your idiotic ‘war’ against the Fairy type, because at least the Blackthorn name hasn’t been fully tarnished. Because of ME!”
The elders grew wroth at his words, but he ignored them once again as he kneeled down so that he was now face-to-face with one of the leading elders of the clan, with Emperor perfectly looming over menacingly behind him. “Look at me. I am the face of the Blackthorn Clan now. After this disaster, you NEED me, for the Blackthorn name would be mud without me.”
“You claim that I should answer to you – that I owe my loyalty to the proud and illustrious Blackthorn Clan.” He shook his head slowly, “But I do not see that clan in front of me. All I see are blinded fools desperately trying to claw back whatever prestige by riding off the coattails of their Champion. But I am not YOUR Champion. I am LANCE! Master of Dragons! And I answer to no one.”
“Not even you.”
A.N. Have a Happy New Year! I hope you all have had a good 2023, and that happy times await you in the coming year! Thank you so much for sticking with this story so far. I am always grateful for your support.
Please note that there won’t be an Interlude chapter this Wednesday. I have very big chapters coming out next to make up for this, so please enjoy that instead.
And Lance cows the Blackthorns, proving himself to be the true alpha behind the clan and solidifying the mighty power of the clan behind him. Because even if he’s young and ‘going against tradition’ by disrespecting the elders, he has the one thing they lack. Strength.
I hope you liked how that contrasted with the more scientific first half. John was doing the same thing there, solidifying his position among the scientific community by finally having a suitable platform to demonstrate his knowledge in front of the public. He won’t be dismissed now as being a ‘fake scientist’.
This chapter has been BETAed by Allute! Thanks man!
Comments
Galen Tanner
Oops I miss read the quote but answer to no one is similar both are great lol
Galen Tanner
Hot damn lance be so cool in your story lol those elders had no chance I really like that phrase “I am a master of dragons I bow to no one not even you
SailorOfHouseThunderBird
Great chapter. I'm looking forward to seeing if ResearchMagnet has a 180 on his opinion of John, or if he's going to be stubborn about him and get crapped on for it. Either would be entertaining.
