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The New Normal - 5-9
🕑 Added 2023-09-15 06:32:24 +0000 UTCThe New Normal – 5-9 – Concerns and Preparations
“Are things going to be alright for you, dear?” My mom’s worried voice snapped me out of my thoughts, “Do you think you can win?”
I fiddled with the letter in my hands for a moment as I pondered my mom’s question. Did I think I could win?
Admittedly, I was VERY taken aback by this sudden challenge. I would have thought that my strength within the Elite Four was cemented enough that none would challenge me. And yet, I had overlooked a few things in that assumption.
One, the only Elite Four members available to be challenged at the moment were myself and Agatha, as Will and Lorelei were still under their 1-month grace period due to their new appointments. Secondly, I bet Bruno was the type of guy that looked to challenge himself against what he saw was the strongest target around to test his strength.
Sure, Agatha might be considered by some to be stronger than me, but her way of fighting was so different from most trainers that, for a Fighting specialist likely focused on brute strength and discipline, she wasn’t a target for a test of strength. Thus, I realized that I was the only good option for him to choose.
“I don’t know yet, but I intend to find out.” I stated firmly, “I’ve too much riding on my position in the Elite Four to lose it now, so I’ll be making use of these 2 weeks to know everything I can about Bruno. And crush him.”
“Good.” My mother nodded, “Do your best. We’re cheering for you.” She then waved me off from cleaning duties since I had already eaten, and I quickly returned to my room and began to do some research on Bruno.
Quite quickly, I managed to find videos of Bruno’s previous battles, as he seemed to spend much of his time wandering around Indigo and participating in unofficial and official tournaments alike. Expectedly, Bruno’s team was very straightforward, and assuming that he didn’t make any new captures, then his team consisted of pure Fighting types with no dual types.
More specifically, I found that he favoured the use of primarily 6 Pokémon, a trio of Hitmonlee, Hitmontop, and Hitmonchan, as well as a Primeape, Hariyama, and his starter Machamp. He also had two Onix, but I was fairly certain that he mostly used those as weights rather than as actual battlers.
Still, despite how seemingly straightforward his team appeared to be; I knew that they were undoubtedly very well trained. I knew from my meta-knowledge that Bruno made it into the Elite Four, and managed to STAY within the Elite Four, so his strength must be formidable.
I also knew that he was the stereotypical martial artist, enforcing a very strict sense of discipline for him and his team. I was willing to bet that most mental attacks wouldn’t work on him unless they were particularly potent. My initial assessment of him was that he really was the ultimate close range fighter, and against most opponents the match was over if his Pokémon managed to get close.
With that in mind, I began to form a simple two-pronged plan to deal with his team. Since his team had no ranged attackers, beyond the use of thrown rocks, I could use my ranged attackers to slowly wear down his team and blast them down from a distance. Pokémon such as Zephyr, Luna, and Wyrdeer are particularly good choices for this.
Then, my remaining 3 Pokémon should be ones that should be able to win in a close-range fight outright, which were obviously Smough, Vordt, and Tyrant. I was confident that, despite their type weakness, they should be able to hold their own even against Bruno’s stronger attackers. Although, ideally, those stronger close-range attackers should be dealt with by my ranged attackers first.
And thus, with a plan in mind, I laid down on my bed and began jotting it down in my notepad so that I could refine it later. I did this for a few minutes before my phone began buzzing incessantly as I started receiving texts from people.
I reached over to check it and found out that practically everyone that I knew had texted me, wishing me luck for the upcoming battle. Apparently, the challenge had found its way to the relevant news channels and was now being broadcasted all over the world.
I ignored the temptation to turn on the TV and just quickly sent out replies to everyone thanking them for their words before I stared at the last message I received from Karen.
‘U better not lose. Or else how would I show my face if I was trained by a failed E4 member? Call me if u want to train together.’
A small smile formed across my face at her concern, before I put everything away and tried to go to sleep.
…And of course, that was when my sister decided to ring me up.
“John! Bro! You there?!” She shouted out into the phone, causing me to wince.
“Yes, yes, no need to shout. What do you want? It’s late.” I replied, slightly irritably due to my fatigue.
“No need to be grouchy, bro, it’s not even that late.” She remarked, and I could feel her sticking out her tongue at me. “Anyways, heard you were going to fight against Bruno. You ready for that?”
“Why, you worried?” I smirked, even though she couldn’t see it, “Don’t worry, I’m going to get to preparing soon. I won’t let myself lose like this.”
“Good! I don’t want to see you lose. But make sure you train up well, though, Bruno looks really tough! Maybe even Drake tough!” She replied, some concerning leaking into her voice.
“You’re right, Bruno is tough. But I’m going to be ready for him. I won’t let him get the better of me.” I reassured, before changing the topic, “Anyways, I heard from Koga that you’ve joined up with his daughter Janine. How did that happen?”
“Well…she just wanted to join! And I really wanted to spend time with a new friend as well and...” My sister began her signature enthusiastic rambling, spewing out whatever came to mind. But I was used to this at this point, and I simply listened to her speak about her new friend as I relaxed on my bed.
Eventually, she tired herself out and hung up. But I was already well asleep at that point.
========
Despite my upcoming battle, I couldn’t just neglect my duties to the Elite Four, and so I reluctantly dragged myself to the Indigo Plateau to report on my observations of Kanto’s Gyms from yesterday.
This must have been what Walker felt like when he was waiting for his challenge against Lorelei. I just hoped that mine wouldn’t end up the same way.
Still, I forced away thoughts about my upcoming battle as I entered into the building and made my way to Lance’s office. He immediately greeted me when I arrived.
“Ah, John, good luck once again for your upcoming battle. I would certainly be disappointed if I lost access to your wise council. Though, from what I’ve seen of your previous battles, I’m sure you’ll do fine.” He joked and we shared a small chuckle before he continued, “Anyways, Lorelei came in earlier to report about the Johto Gyms, but I want to hear what happened on your end. Anything interesting to report?”
“Yes, but not all of it is good.” I replied, and Lance frowned slightly as he gestured for me to proceed, “To start with the good news first, most of the Kanto Gym Leaders are either indifferent or warily supportive of you. They can see that you’ve done good things for Kanto’s economy, and you’ve made their jobs easier as the economic conditions of Kanto improve. I believe that so long as you continue with this, you’ll be able to earn their trust.”
“I see…” Lance said thoughtfully, “You said MOST of the Gym Leaders were either indifferent or supportive, was there any that disliked me outright?”
“Blaine and Surge, though the former seems to like you more than Pryce and the latter seems to just dislike Johtonians in general.” I informed him.
“Ah, those two. Well, that’s okay then, I was never going to get on either of their good sides, so it’s no matter.” He said dismissively with a wave. “Well, either way, I’m glad to hear that I’m more well-liked than Pryce, even if that isn’t a very high bar to clear. Are there specific requests or concerns that they wanted to address?”
I went through my conversations with the Gym Leaders before shaking my head, “No one had any specific requests, aside from general comments to keep up the good work. Like I said, I think most of them had similar comments about how an improved economy benefits them, as a better and happier populace means less complaints aimed their way, and also allows them access a larger budget to ensure that their Gyms could be run properly.”
“Right, I’ll make a note of that. Though, like I promised you, I have no intention of chucking Kanto to the wayside like Pryce did. Now more than ever, I can clearly see how foolish Pryce’s decision was to do so.” He stated with a shake of his head.
Then he clasped his hand together and leaned forwards on his chair, “So what’s the bad news. Because I’ve had some pretty unfortunate news from Lorelei too, and I REALLY hope that you’re not about to add to that headache.”
I gave him a rueful smile, “Unfortunately, I probably will.” I ignored his groaning, “I’m not sure what your inspectors are going to tell you, but I can safely say that just from my preliminary observations alone, I am VERY concerned about the state of the Pewter Gym, which only worsened after speaking with Gym Leader Flint.”
Lance let out a sigh, “How so?”
“I can list a few reasons.” I raised a finger, “Firstly, the Gym itself looks like someone stuck boulders onto a rundown shack, and it looks horrible and unprofessional.” I raised a second finger, “Secondly, Flint was a nervous wreck when he met me, and I don’t think that it was due to nerves alone. His paperwork looked extremely unorganized, so I would be very surprised if his paperwork was actually in good condition.” I raised another finger, “Thirdly, when I suggested that he asked for help from the League, he firmly refused such an offer and claimed that he could handle it himself, which I sincerely doubt.”
“Overall, I am almost certain that the Pewter Gym is not currently running to the standard expected of a Gym, and the League will likely need to step in to rectify this issue.” I finished.
Lance let out another sigh and dropped his head into his hands, “I see…thanks for letting me know in advance. I guess this is likely the third Gym that’s going to need some assistance from the League.”
“Wait, THIRD Gym?” I asked, confused.
“Yes. THIRD!” Lance growled out, “I don’t know what Pryce was doing when he was Champion, but he clearly didn’t keep an eye on the state of his Gyms. Lorelei informed me yesterday that, similar to your report on the Pewter Gym, the state of the Olivine Gym and the Mahogany Gym needs work and likely assistance from the League.”
Ah, I wasn’t that surprised about the Mahogany Gym, considering that it didn’t have a Gym Leader at the moment with Lorelei moving up to the Elite Four. But I WAS surprised to hear about Olivine Gym being such a mess; was that why Team Rocket was able to sneak away to Hoenn?
Unaware of my thoughts, Lance continued, “I’m probably going to have an urgent committee meeting to discuss the likely results for the inspection…in fact, I’m going to rush the inspectors to prioritize those problematic Gyms to see if they truly need the help.”
He turned back to me, “Anyways, thanks for coming in. I won’t hold you for any longer since I know you’d rather be training. Check your messages though, we might have a committee meeting soon.”
I nodded to Lance and made my way out, deciding to quickly return home so that I could begin my preparations for my fight against Bruno. I only had 2 weeks to prepare, and I intended to use the most of it.
As I quickly flew home, I sent a quick text message to Karen on my way back.
‘Are u free to duel tmr, have to train up for Bruno.’ I sent her.
‘K. Will see u there tmr. Have lunch ready! :)’ She wrote back.
With that sorted, as soon as I got home, I quickly made a beeline to the training fields and released my Pokémon there. They already knew about the upcoming match against Bruno, so they were all pumped and ready to go.
As I still needed to do more research about Bruno, I just set my Pokémon to engage in some high intensity general training for the time being while I continued researching Bruno’s previous battles. Thus, I found a nearby tree to lie back on and began browsing through his old battles on my phone.
From my research, I quickly confirmed my initial plan to use the same Pokémon that I used against Drake, namely Tyrant, Vordt, Smough, Zephyr, Luna and Klaus, an equal mix of bruisers and long-range fighters. However, unlike my battle with Drake, my priority right now was not to think of strategies to overpower Bruno.
While Drake and Bruno were fought similarly, Drake definitely leaned more into overpowering his opponents with the sheer power of his Pokémon, as befits a Dragon type trainer. However, Bruno differed from that as his Pokémon, while they certainly were formidable attackers, weren’t traditionally the strongest Pokémon around.
Instead, I found from my research that what set him apart from so many other Fighting type specialist was his Pokémon’s technique, honed extensively by almost insane levels of training. Despite first appearances, Bruno’s Pokémon were all surprisingly nimble fighters that were quick dodgers and were capable of using strategies other than just ‘hit the enemy as hard as you can’. Clearly, Bruno was more than just a musclehead.
Thus, my concern was not whether I could overpower Bruno’s Pokémon, since I remained fairly confident that my trio of bruisers were physically stronger than his, but rather if my Pokémon could win despite being not as technically skilled as his.
I needed to find some way to nullify Bruno’s technical superiority over me. If I could find a way to take him unawares, then that would be ideal.
Fortunately, I did have a few tricks still left that I had yet to show in my battle against Drake. And the most powerful of which was the fact that Luna was a Fairy type that was actually RESISTANT to Fighting type attacks. If I could nail him with a surprise Moonblast at just the right time, I might swing the tides of battle into my favour with a quick knockout.
Of course, using Luna in this way in such a public battle would definitely raise suspicions about her true typing, since a ‘Normal’ type should be WEAK to Fighting Type moves. But I figured that now was the best time to begin revealing this secret to the world, since I also knew that Euphie was getting close to being able to evolve into a Sylveon with her developing ability to manipulate Fairy type energy.
Once Euphie does evolve into a Sylveon, I was confident that it’ll prove beyond any doubt that Fairy types are a real thing. But that was an issue for later.
Deciding that I had done enough research for now, I got up and performed a few quick stretches before I walked over to where my Pokémon were just finishing up with a round of intense Gravity Training.
“Right, Luna, you’re going to be center stage for the battle.” I said to her as she squeaked in acknowledgement, “It’s time to show the power of your true type to the world. But first, I need to make sure you’re able to tank through even the most powerful of Fighting type attacks.”
Luna nodded and prepared herself, so I pointed towards Tyrant, “Tyrant, use Hammer Arm on Luna, full power.”
“SLAKINGGG!!” With a powerful roar to the skies, his fist descended like an anchor onto my braced Luna. Luna staggered backwards with a cry of pain, but she managed to stop herself from falling over entirely. That was good, but I needed it to be better.
“Good job, Luna.” I praised, “That’s a good start, but we’re going to need to keep practicing. Bruno is probably THE Fighting type specialist in Indigo, so I’m not going to take any chances. You’re going to be my trump card in this battle, Luna, so I hope you can step up to the challenge.”
Luna let out a cry of affirmation as she nodded solemnly to my words. She proceeded to quickly heal herself up with a Soft-Boiled and prepared herself for round 2. I nodded to Tyrant as he crashed down with another Hammer Arm into Luna, with similar results.
I allowed this to continue for some time before I moved onto my other Pokémon. Later, if Luna proved capable of comfortably tanking through Tyrant’s Fighting Type moves, I was going to make Luna try to endure against a Guts-Boosted Vordt. If she could comfortably tank through THOSE attacks, then I was confident that Bruno’s Pokémon should pose no issues.
In the meanwhile, I turned my attention to focusing on Vordt and Zephyr and had them pair up. For Vordt, his job was to try to hit a mobile Zephyr, while Zephyr’s job was to evade as many rocks as he could. This served two purposes. One, it allowed Vordt more practice in hitting a nimble and small target, which I suspected many of Bruno’s Pokémon would be, and two, it allowed Zephyr to get more practice in dodging past incoming rocks, which I was absolutely certain that Bruno would make use of.
My last pair consisted of Smough and Klaus, where I had Smough try to catch up to the much quicker and more nimble Klaus while Klaus tried to fend off the incoming Smough with only using Psychic. Once again, this was done for two reasons. One, I needed to make sure to make Smough have as much training as possible with fighting against a more mobile opponent, and two, I wanted to ensure that Klaus’ Psychics were as powerful as possible. Smough was the perfect training dummy for such purposes.
Of course, I made sure that my other Pokémon received attention too, even if they weren’t going to be used in the fight. In the distance, my trio of new Pokémon, Pixel, Euphie, and Ornstein were all sparring against each other.
It was a surprisingly even battle, though since Pixel was an evolved Pokémon with access to powerful moves, it was holding back a little. Ornstein had gotten quite good at wielding his secondary Dark typing and was trying to setup situations where he could strike with a boosted Payback or Assurance. On the other hand, Euphie was steadily getting the hang of manipulating Fairy type energy, and I could see a very dim pink aura surrounding her when she launched herself forwards with a Tackle.
I knew that her evolution into a Sylveon would trigger as soon as she was able to infuse her attacks with Fairy type energy. I couldn’t wait for that.
And Pixel was also starting to diversify its movepool too; it was beginning to make use of powerful supportive and regeneration moves so that it was no longer just a pure attacker. Pixel was making repeated use of Recover during his 2v1 battle during moments where Ornstein and Euphie were unable to attack him.
I could tell that this was the beginning steps of transforming Pixel into a mobile long-ranged artillery that was also able to sustain itself with a plethora of regeneration moves. And even better than that, I imagined that when it mastered the use of Conversion to freely switch its typing, it would be an impossible Pokémon to defeat.
Regardless, I reserved those thoughts for the future. Seeing that it was getting close to dinnertime, I spent the rest of the time primarily focused on my main fighters against Bruno and making sure that they were training properly.
I still wasn’t quite sure why Bruno had decided to challenge me, but I honestly couldn’t care less for his reasons. If he wanted a battle, then he was going to get one. My team and I would be ready-and-waiting to crush him and any other challengers for my title.
I WOULD NOT roll over for anyone.
A.N. A slower chapter this time focused on setup and John getting ready for Bruno. He’s not going into this unprepared and will do everything he can to hold his title. I hope that came out well.
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