CartecTNN
patreon
The New Normal - 5-2
🕑 Added 2023-08-21 05:27:25 +0000 UTCThe New Normal – 5-2 – Political Sparring
Unfortunately, politics rests for no one. And the day after my meeting with the Waterflower sisters I found myself at the Indigo Plateau sitting in and listening to one of the committee meetings.
I guess I shouldn’t be complaining that hard, as it was at least my proposal that they were currently discussing. And, considering the current mood of the members, it really looked like my proposal to reduce the number of badges was going to be passed. At least in Indigo.
“…While I am in full agreement that it would be beneficial to all parties that the number of badges required to travel and capture Pokémon from a different region from within Indigo should be reduced from 4 to 2, I am hesitant to approve of such a reduction for trainers travelling to and from Hoenn.” One of the Committee members stated.
He continued, “These trainers, when on foreign soil, are representing the Indigo League through their behaviours and actions, and I believe that we should ensure that these trainers are at least up to a certain standard before we allow them to be sent off like this.”
Many people nodded their heads at his words, which I too found was quite reasonable. It was a long shot for me to encourage more freedom of movement between Indigo and Hoenn, especially considering our recently deteriorated relationship, but I was happy enough with just lowering the restrictions for trainers when within Indigo.
Besides, this still worked towards my goal of creating a more united Indigo, so I considered this a win regardless.
I began zoning out as the political back-and-forth and posturing continued on for several more minutes, choosing instead to turn my attention to the other members of the Elite Four. That proved to be a far more interesting sight.
Agatha looked like she was about to fall asleep on the spot, with her face twisted with open regret of having attend this meeting in the first place. Perhaps if it was not for our agreement, she might not even have showed up at all! Lance was doing no better, despite him actually having a vote, and I could tell that his boredom was slowly growing as it looked like he just wanted to end this discussion as soon as possible.
Will and Walker were a story in opposites. Will actually looked interested, the only one out of the Elite Four to do so, and he seemed to be listening carefully to the arguments given by the other committee members. On the other hand, Walker while pretending to be interested, actually had a blank look on his face.
Unlike Agatha and Lance, his lack of attention likely did not stem from boredom, but rather it was probably due to his upcoming battle against Lorelei in a few days’ time. Understandably, with his Elite Four position on the line, Walker had other things to worry about. I wondered how high he evaluated Lorelei’s battling capabilities, and if he was confident about his chances of winning.
Out of respect for his previous apology, I had the tact to not ask him.
Eventually, the committee members finished their discussion and Lance stood up and finally announced that it was time for the Elite Four to give their opinions on the matter if we so wished. Since this was my proposal, I had to actually speak up and reaffirm my position. Agatha did the same, supporting me as per our agreement.
I reiterated my hopes that this would be a step towards properly uniting our two regions, and that we were finally setting aside our old grievances in favour of a brighter and more cooperative future. Agatha followed on from this and gave her support to my statement.
Will also took the opportunity to establish his political position within the Elite Four, and just like he brought up in his swearing-in ceremony, he stated how supportive he was of this reduction and how he hopes that with the greater influx of trainers between the two regions, he hopes that this would open the door to more ‘welcoming’ policies for businesses and foreign investment within Indigo.
With our speeches done, Lance began the vote count, with him in support of the reduction as per our previous discussion. Looking around, even without needing to count, it was obvious that the proposal was going to pass.
After Charles Goodshow went around and properly tallied up the votes, Lance spoke up once again.
“…and the committee has chosen. The proposal to reduce the number of badges required for trainers to travel and capture Pokémon from outside their originating region is to be reduced from 4 to 2 within Indigo. This proposal will be put into place within the following weeks. No changes will be made to the number of badges required for trainers to travel and capture Pokémon to and from Hoenn.”
A polite round of applause broke out from his statement, and Lance eventually wrapped up the meeting with people eventually leaving. Lance stopped the Elite Four before we could do the same.
“Can the Elite Four please meet me in my office? I would like to speak to you all before you leave.” We all nodded at this, and we all made our way to his personal offices at the top of the League building.
“Huh. It’s a strange feeling to not see statutes of Ice Pokémon everywhere.” Walker commented as we walked into Lance’s office. True enough, it was filled to the brim with symbols and statues depicting Dragons. As expected of a Blackthorn.
“Can’t let them forget who’s in charge.” Agatha mocked, “Men and their needs to always show off their egos. I hope you’re not like this when you grow up, John.”
I shrugged, “I wouldn’t know. I still live with my parents after all. I don’t really see the need for all this décor.”
“You still live with your parents?” Will asked, his face etched with surprise. “Why? Why would you do that to yourself? As a member of the Elite Four, no less.”
I turned to him in confusion, “Why wouldn’t I? I like living near my parents, and they have a big enough training field to train my Pokémon. Why would I need my own house?”
Will looked like I had just slapped him in the face, but Lance spoke up before he could respond.
“Right, leave your conversation for later. I don’t have much time until my next appointment, and I purposely scheduled this meeting just so that I could listen to the opinions of my Elite Four.” We quieted down and nodded, “So, for the next proposal that the committee would debate about, do you have any suggestions that you would like to recommend to me?”
Of course, Lance knew, and agreed with, my next proposal about setting up more contest halls in Cerulean, but we still had to pretend that I was just presenting my idea to him so that our ‘underhanded collusion’ would remain undiscovered.
“Yes, Lance, I actually had the idea to set up a few contest halls…” I proposed, explaining for the benefit of the others my ideas about wanting to set up new contest halls in Cerulean and how that would benefit and improve our Indigo-Hoenn relations.
Lance expectedly agreed with my proposal and said that he would bring it up. What WAS surprising was that Will did the same.
“I’m in full agreement with John here. I think that this would be a great opportunity for my frie-, I mean, other businessmen to get involved into the creation of these contest halls. I think that this also be an encouraging sight for any foreign businessmen, whether they are from Hoenn or from the newly discovered region of Sinnoh, that Indigo is willing to adapt to their culture and their business. Opens up many business opportunities for the future.” Will described.
“Is there a need to set up everything in Cerulean, though? Surely, we could develop these contest halls elsewhere. Perhaps in Johto?” Will added curiously, and I knew I had to speak up to defend my proposed location.
“Cerulean is well-known already to be the cultural center of Kanto. While Celadon can boast a larger population, it is far more of a commercial city than a cultural one. I think it’s best if we set up these new contest halls in a city that is already going to be receptive to such an idea.” I argued.
Will looked at me consideringly, his eyes flashing with interest and curiosity as he pondered my words. A hint of understanding flashed past his eyes, and his mouth widened into a knowing smirk.
“I see…well, I can certainly approve of such ideas, so long as these contest halls are going to be receptive to businessmen and investment.” He said, “I’m sure such a large undertaking will generate plenty of very profitable opportunities, right?” In other words, Will was saying that, if I wanted his support for the contest halls to be built in Cerulean, he wanted opportunities for his business ‘friends’ to invest into Cerulean City.
I gave him a calm smile, “I’m sure there will be. Although I can’t guarantee anything at the moment, I will hopefully be able to arrange things with the mayor of Cerulean.”
“Perfect. Then I’m sure that your proposal will be passed with no problems.” Will smiled back, our eyes met another as we both silently agreed to the deal. Inwardly, I was confident that, with Will’s cooperation tentatively secured, the proposal would pass as per my expectations with no problems.
Agatha was on board, and Walker currently didn’t have much influence to his name. And he was probably too distracted at the moment to even worry about these political matters.
“Well, I’m glad that’s sorted.” Lance interrupted, “If that’s all, then I think I’ve taken up enough of your time already. If there’s nothing else, you’re free to leave.”
With a quick by-your-leave, Walker quickly left. Agatha followed slowly behind him, and I was about to join her when Will tapped me on the shoulder.
“Elite John, would you care for a quick spar?” He asked me, his eyes filled with challenge. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever lost more than a few matches ever since I won the Indigo Conference last year, and I would really like to test out some of my newer acquisitions against some of your Pokémon. How about it, want to challenge yourself against me?” A hint of superiority leaking out of his tone.
My eyes twitched at his words; I felt condescended once again, even though I knew that he meant no harm. Still, inwardly vowing to knock him down a peg, I pretended to shrug nonchalantly at his proposal. “Sure, if you want to challenge yourself, who am I to stop you?” Also, I knew that this battle was a great way to test out Will’s strength and to shake some of my rust off; it has been a while since my last battle against Drake.
However, my main motivation was to just to wipe that annoying smirk off his face.
“Excellent.” His grin turned feral, “I can’t wait to show off my talents. Come, let’s make our way to the training field. Champion Lance, would you like to join us?”
Lance’s eyes gleamed with interest, and after a moment of hesitation, he pulled himself out of his chair and accompanied us, saying that the meeting could wait. Considering the huge grin that he had, I felt that he just wanted an excuse to avoid the paperwork.
We took the elevator down to the basements, where the reserved training fields were located. Obviously, we were able to just walk right in without needing to occupy it.
“So, how do you want to do this?” I ask Will as we arrived.
“Hmm…let’s make it more interesting. Let’s do a quick double battle. 2v2. No switches. What do you think?” He suggested, to which I agreed.
We informed Lance of our decision, who agreed to referee for us, and took our places opposite each other on the field. Unlike Will, who had probably planned for such a scenario and had likely made battle plans already for our match, I barely had a minute to come up with something. Oh well, if all else fails, there was always a tried-and-true strategy that I could use.
I stared down at Will, who had a smug glint in his eye. As if he was about to win something big. Realizing his plan to use me as a steppingstone, my annoyance flared, and I carefully schooled my expression to not give anything away.
“Trainers, are you ready?!” Lance called out, and I grabbed both of my chosen Premier Balls as I nodded alongside Will. My plan already in place.
Lance counted down for us, “Three…two…one…BEGIN!”
“Klee and Klaus, become the wall!”
“Espeon and Gardevoir, show the world your majesty!”
Klaus and Klee emerged from their Premier Balls and faced off against Will’s Espeon and Gardevoir. The first thing I noticed was just how immaculately groomed and majestic his Pokémon looked. Though behind that beauty was a font of strength that identified them as Elite Pokémon in their own right.
But I was going to teach Will a lesson for daring to think that he could use me as a steppingstone.
“Klee, go defense and Shadow Ball!” “Klaus, set up with Agility!”
“Blast them down with Psychic! Show off your power!”
With impressive reaction speeds, both of Will’s Pokémon fired off powerful blasts of Psychic that would have knocked back a lesser foe. Unfortunately for Will, Klee stepped up in front of Klaus and shrugged off those blasts like they were nothing, hardly even flinching from the miniscule damage inflicted, while firing off her own Shadow Balls that Will’s Pokémon nimbly dodged past.
I smirked at Will. Klee could devour Special Attacks like that endlessly.
In the meanwhile, Klaus, who was snugly hiding behind Klee and using her as a Pokémon-shield against the attacks, had used the space created to set up an Agility.
As soon as I saw the signature pink glow of the Agility fade from Klaus, I went on the offensive.
“Klaus, Megahorn the Espeon!” “Klee, cover Klaus with a Light Screen!”
Klaus shot out from behind Klee, abandoning his cover and charging straight towards Espeon using his boosted speed. A small shimmer of light formed in front of Klaus as he charged, forming a protective shield against opposing Special Attacks.
Will grimaced as he realized what my plan was, and he quickly barked out new orders.
“Espeon, Reflect and shield the two of you!” “Gardevoir, Focus Blast and blast that interloper back!”
Another shield of light flickered into existence in front of both of Will’s Pokémon, while Gardevoir started firing off volleys of Focus Blasts against Klaus. But Klaus continued forward, undeterred by the incoming fire of Focus Blasts, fully trusting in the Light Screen that Klee formed to protect him from the brunt of the damage.
That faith was quickly tested as the Focus Blasts collided into the Light Screen, but they failed to halt Klaus’ charge as a majority of the impact force was absorbed.
“Klaus, continue your charge!” “Klee, Helping Hand on Klaus! Boost him!”
“Gardevoir, switch to Will-O-Wisp and burn the Wyrdeer!” “Espeon, Brace and Protect!”
Small wisps of flames formed in front of Gardevoir in a circle, before they suddenly darted forwards and landed on the charging Klaus. The flames quickly spread and danced across his body, burning Klaus right before his Helping Hand boosted Megahorn crashed into Espeon’s Protect shield.
The shield flickered as the force of the impact coursed through it, but it stood strong with the help of the additional absorption from the Reflect. Additionally, the burn inflicted on Klaus cut his attack just in time to save Espeon from the attack.
But at such close distance, it made it very difficult for Espeon to dodge Klaus’ follow up move.
“Klaus, Thunder Wave the Espeon!” “Klee, Heal Bell and Shadow Ball the Gardevoir! Suppress it!”
A quick burst of electricity shot towards Espeon from Klaus, rapidly paralysing Will’s Espeon as I hoped. I had been briefly worried about Espeon having Magic Bounce, which would have reflected back my Thunder Wave, but it looks like I bet correctly that Will might not have trained his Espeon to have that ability.
Of course, Espeon’s Synchronize ability would have normally reflected the paralysis back at Klaus, but both it and the burn were soon purged by the rejuvenating chimes of Klee’s Heal Bell.
Gardevoir wanted to come and help, but it was distracted by having to dodge the supereffective volley of Shadow Balls shot out by Klee.
This was an ideal position for me to be in. With Gardevoir slowly being cut off from assisting Espeon due to Klee’s constant spam of Shadow Balls, I was free to overwhelm Espeon with Klaus. Especially with the paralysis, it was only a matter of time before the battle became a 2v1. And Will knew it.
But it seems like Will still had a few tricks up his sleeve.
“Gardevoir, Teleport and Helping Hand!” “Espeon, wait for the Helping Hand and Hyper Voice! Knock the Wyrdeer back!”
“Klaus, Protect!” “Klee, Softboiled and heal yourself!”
With a near-instant flash of pink light, his Gardevoir suddenly Teleported and reappeared next to Espeon, clapping its hands together to power up Espeon’s Hyper Voice. With the boost from the Helping Hand, Espeon’s Hyper Voice blasted back Klaus, who was unable to generate a Protect shield in time due to the surprise of the attack.
Klaus flew backwards and nearly slammed into the walls of the arena. That was far more damage than I was expecting, and Klaus struggled to pull himself back up.
More importantly for Will, this also put both of his Pokémon together again, where they were able to fight together. If I was going to win this battle, I was going to need to separate the two once again and defeat them piece-meal.
I knew that, unlike my battle against Drake, I didn’t have an advantage in support and utility moves. Will likely matched me one-for-one in terms of supportive moves, which was expected since he was a Psychic specialist. I didn’t dare underestimate Will and think that I could simply outsmart him in a battle of wits.
Thus, I was just going to play to my strengths.
“Klee, Seismic Toss the Espeon! Get close to them!” “Klaus, run around and fire off Shadow Balls!”
“NO! Stop that Blissey at once! Both of you, Psychic it down!”
Will quickly caught on to what I was doing and frantically tried to knock down my Blissey, who had now begun her, admittedly rather slow, charge towards his two Pokémon. But with Klaus distracting them with his own barrage of Shadow Balls, the two weren’t able to focus their attention at bringing down Klee and stopping her assault.
It was a brainless strategy, relying entirely on Klee’s natural bulk to tank through the attacks. But it was working.
And now Will’s Pokémon were staring down an unstoppable pink and smiling juggernaut that met all of his attacks with the same unfazed expression. It was almost a comical sight to see the ever friendly and cute Klee terrify an Elite trainer like Will as she continued shouldering past his attacks like they were nothing.
“Gardevoir, switch to Focus Blasts! You have to stop it!”
With ramping panic, Will ordered Gardevoir to swap to the supereffective, yet more demanding, Focus Blasts to hopefully bring down the incoming Blissey. But in his state of panic, he forgot about Klaus, and I quickly pounced onto that opportunity.
“Megahorn, Klaus! From the back!”
While Gardevoir and Espeon were too busy trying to bring down my charging Klee, Klaus pivoted on the spot and suddenly charged in from behind, forming a pseudo-pincer attack with Klee to surround Will’s Pokémon.
Realizing the desperate situation that he was in, Will was forced to go on the defensive.
“Gardevoir, Teleport away!” “Espeon, Protect and Endure!”
Gardevoir quickly blinked out and away from both of my Pokémon’s strike zones, while Espeon once again began to brace and formed a Protect shield to withstand the incoming attacks. Will was clearly hoping that moving to pure defense would allow Espeon to Endure past both attacks and give Gardevoir the opportunity to counterattack.
Alas, it was an overly optimistic dream.
Klaus slammed into the Protect shield at full force, no longer having a Burn to cut his attack in half. This time, the shield fractured as it failed to block the entire force of the attack, causing Espeon to be exposed to the incoming Megahorn as Klaus brutally collided into it.
Espeon was sent skidding across the ground from the super-effective move, right into the waiting arms of Klee, who expertly picked up the disoriented Espeon and jumped up into the air with surprising mobility, before slamming Espeon powerfully back into the ground in a well-practiced Seismic Toss.
To Will’s credit, Espeon still wasn’t out of the fight just yet, but the situation had turned from bad to worse for Will. He had a paralyzed Espeon with low health that was on the verge of fainting, and he had a Gardevoir that, while healthy and still capable of fighting, wouldn’t be able to stand up against both of my Pokémon alone.
Sure, he had a lot of regeneration options available to him, but my next actions quickly put a stop to any of those hopes.
“Klaus, charge at Gardevoir with another Megahorn!” “Klee, don’t let up on the Espeon and finish it with another Seismic Toss!”
“Gardevoir, keep Teleporting and Icy Wind! You have to slow it down!” “Espeon, Teleport and Morning Sun!”
Klaus immediately began a renewed assault as he began dashing towards Gardevoir, while Klee quickly pounced on top of the helpless Espeon, too injured from its wounds to Teleport in time, and leapt into the air with it before crashing down with it once again with a powerful slam.
Klee may be the most motherly and kind of all my Pokémon, but she was as good of a fighter as the rest of them. And, in the end, the repeated Seismic Toss proved too much for the Espeon, and it was knocked out of the fight before it could restore its health.
With that, the battle became a 2v1 and I was confident that my victory was assured. Gardevoir, despite all of its mobility afforded by its Teleports, was not strong enough to overwhelm both of my Pokémon and would eventually be worn down.
Admittedly, I thought that Will had the right idea in mind. His plan was to have his Gardevoir repeatedly Teleport away from Klaus to prevent him from landing a decisive Megahorn, all while firing off Icy Winds in hopes of slowing down Klaus enough so that he could no longer continue charging towards her.
I realized that I could easily end the match by just having Klee charge once again into Gardevoir, and the combination of both of my Pokémon would definitely prove too much for Will’s remaining Pokémon. However, I instead realized that this was a perfect opportunity to gauge Will’s level of training.
With my mind made up, I decided to ‘play with my food’.
“Klaus, swap to Shadow Ball!” “Klee, Softboiled to heal yourself then Shadow Ball as well!”
With both of my Pokémon firing off their own intersecting barrages of Shadow Balls, I was looking to push Gardevoir to its limits to see how much it could dodge with its Teleport, and how far its stamina went. I recognized that Gardevoir was not Will’s strongest Pokémon, but I wanted to see how far it was able to go.
In a way, this was both equal parts revenge and research. Revenge, because his showing off rubbed me the wrong way, even if it was petty of me. Research, because I figured that Karen and Agatha would both appreciate the opportunity to learn more about Will and his fighting style in preparation for Karen’s run of the Elite Four.
Returning to the battle, I watched intently as Gardevoir made an admirable effort at dodging the sweeping volley of Shadow Balls with its Teleports. To Will’s credit, it was probably the most impressive display of Psychic skill that I had ever witnessed. His Teleporting barely had any charge-up time and didn’t seem to disorient Gardevoir at all even while it blinked around the battlefield.
However, I noticed that Gardevoir seemed to struggle to form attacks in time to counterattack during the brief openings afforded by its Teleports. Perhaps Will hadn’t been properly training his Pokémon under high pressure scenarios?
Either way, even with Gardevoir’s impressive showing, it inevitably ran out of Psychic stamina and was unable to keep up its series of Teleports, quickly succumbing to the assault of Shadow Balls and quickly being knocked out.
Huh, was it me or did that Gardevoir seem quite frail? Was that another potential weakness? Something to make a note of later.
“ANNND…the fight is over. John wins!” Lance called out as he began to approach us with a pleased grin. “That was a great fight from the two of you. This was way better than sitting through yet another meeting.”
We both withdrew our Pokémon and offered him our thanks, though Will’s was far more subdued. Lance saw this and patted him on the shoulder, “Chin up, Will. Don’t you remember what Walker said? You’re in the big leagues now, you can’t expect yourself to be as dominant as you were once before. Still, that was a great performance. Good job.”
With his piece said, Lance waved the both of us goodbye as he rushed back to his office to attend his abandoned appointments. I decided that there was no need to rub salt on the wound and extended a hand towards Will.
“That was a good fight. Congratulations once again for making it into the Elite Four.” I praised. Will paused as he looked at my hand for a bit, before letting out a deep breath as he shook my hand.
“Indeed. I apologize for my earlier words. They may have been…too boastful. That was well fought from you too. I see I still have a long way to go.” He said, swallowing his desire to show off. “Thank you for the match. You truly are deserving of your position.”
Without saying anything else, he gave me a complicated smile before he quickly made his escape from the training arena while I watched him curiously. That…went better than expected. I thought he would be more resentful. Huh.
Either way, I hope that the battle had reminded him to not test me.
I re-released my victorious Klaus and Klee and made sure to properly praise them for their victory. Or at least, I tried to, because as soon as I released Klee she immediately gripped me in a tight hug and refused to let go, ecstatic as she was about her own victory. Still, I didn’t begrudge her for it and allowed her to indulge in the hug.
We spent some time like that as I made sure to acknowledge and celebrate their victory over Will’s Pokémon. It wasn’t a close battle, in all honesty, as I was confident that Klee could have tanked all of their Special Attacks without much issue.
With that done, I made my way out of the training area and started heading home, pleased with today’s events. Not only was I able to get a start on passing through my idea about the contest halls, but I was also able to reassert my strength in front of Will and Lance. Overall, a great achievement.
When I got home, I found my mom watching the news as they reported about the successful passing of the reduction to the 4-badge policy. My mom asked me a few questions about my involvement, and over dinner we chatted a bit as I discussed my intentions. I also made sure to text Whitney to inform her about this new opportunity.
Then, since it was already late, I made sure to send a quick text to mayor Henry to describe the discussions that took place today, and Will’s ‘proposal’ towards him. Then, I was about to settle into bed when I received a text from Lance. Curiously, I went to check it.
‘John, I’ve got good news for you. The Sinnohians are sending over scientists to Indigo to do some research on our Pokémon. But they’ve specifically asked to speak to you.’ He wrote.
‘Oh, that’s nice to know. But why do they want me specifically?’ I asked.
‘Apparently, they want to speak to you about your Ursaluna and Wyrdeer discoveries. They said that they’ll tell you more in person. They’re going to be arriving the day after tomorrow, and they said that this is the beginning of them opening their borders to us. Make sure to be there.’
Ah, it seems like my Hisuian evolutions have attracted some attention after all.
A.N. The first proper double-battle in the story! Hope you enjoyed it. It was also meant to show off Will’s particular strength, which was his evasiveness and large support move pool. But on the other hand, his pokemon are fairly frail.
This chapter has been BETAed by Allute! Big thanks!
