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The New Normal - 4-18
🕑 Added 2023-08-07 13:22:34 +0000 UTCThe New Normal – 4-18 – The Waterflower Sisters
Early the next morning, I rushed off to Cerulean City to meet the famed Waterflower sisters. I honestly didn’t know what to expect going into the meeting, as they were barely developed characters in canon and were regulated to an extremely minor role. I hadn’t even met them during my first run through of the Gyms all those years ago, as they hadn’t become the Gym Leader yet.
Despite this, I hoped to at least build friendly relations with them. Not only were they a cornerstone of Cerulean City, but I did intend to prevent any of their future problems regarding the Cerulean Gym as soon as possible.
I quickly arrived at the Gym and found no one there to greet me, which was a bad start. Still, I made my way inside of the Gym to see the Gym Trainers running around frantically as they got ready for the day ahead.
I couldn’t help but comparing the conditions of the Cerulean Gym with Giovanni’s Gym. Compared to the Viridian Gym, the Gym Trainers looked a lot more harried and disorganized, and I could see from some of the Pokémon idling about that they were far weaker than they should be, even for a Gym normally meant to be challenged at 2 badges.
Fortunately, I thought it wasn’t unsalvageable. As I walked to the Waterflower sisters’ office, I felt that many of their problems could be fixed just with some better organisation.
Soon, I arrived and knocked on their door, and was promptly greeted with a trio of ‘hellos’ and ‘come in’.
“Hello all, thank you all so much for accommodating my private visit. I hope I won’t be intruding.” I greeted the teenage trio of sisters, who all seemed flummoxed and nervous to greet me. Oops?
“Oh, uh, thank you for coming!” The oldest, and blonde Daisy greeted nervously, her eyes shifting around slightly as she spoke. “I hope everything’s been okay with you, Elite John.”
“Yeah, we were kinda surprised when we heard you were coming.” The blue-haired, and middle sister, Violet added uncertainly, “We really weren’t expecting a visit.”
“Of course! We are welcome to help you with anything, uh, Elite John.” The pink-haired and youngest, Lily, continued anxiously, “So, uh, how may we help you?”
Wow, they were a bundle of nerves at the moment. I tried to calm them down, “Well, thank you for letting me visit regardless, and I apologize for how unusual this is.” I said, “As I mentioned before, I’m not here in any capacity as an Elite Four, I’m just here as a citizen of Cerulean who wants to do his best to help out the Gym where possible.”
Fortunately, that seemed to calm their nerves a bit. “Well, I’m glad for that.” Daisy remarked after she let out a breath, “Are there any issues you see with the Gym you can point out?”
I tried to put on as friendly of a smile as possible, “Well, actually, yes. My sister had come through the Gym recently, and I’m sorry to say that she was fairly disappointed in the strength of your Gym.” That caused all of the sisters to wince, “I followed on my sister’s words with more research, and I realized that on the Pokénet that others have made similar complaints. Now, I really do hope I’m not overstepping my boundaries, but may I ask if you have noticed these problems as well?”
The sisters glanced uncertainly at each other before Daisy sighed and turned back to me, “Yes. Unfortunately, it’s been pointed out to us by some of our Gym Trainers as well. Truthfully, we aren’t at the same level as our dad; our interests lie more in the shows and contests, rather than as traditional Gym Leaders. We’ve tried to make do, of course, but I guess we just aren’t doing enough.” She shrugged.
“I mean, it’s not like we don’t put in the effort. But this isn’t where our interest lies, y’know?” Violet added.
“Yeah, we don’t want to disappoint our late dad, but we’re not really cut out for this kind of thing.” Lily finished sadly.
I nodded thoughtfully as I listened to them; this was about what I expected from what I knew of canon. But this was far from the worst-case scenario, I was glad to see that they were at least willing to put in the effort.
“Well, that’s fine, and I’m sure your shows are very good.” I praised, and they all blushed. “It’s alright to not be the best at everything, especially since you’re all very new to the position of Gym Leader anyways. Trust me, I know how that feels.” That caused them to split into small smiles of their own.
“Now, the reason I’m here to offer my assistance is because I have ambitions to transform Cerulean City into one of the pillars of Kanto. And to do that, I want to ensure that the Cerulean Gym, a crucial element of our city, will maintain its stability and prosperity into the future. So, in this case, I would like to offer a helping hand to see if I can help solve any problems that you might have, if you’d have me.” I explained carefully.
That seemed to catch the sisters off guard, and they seemed to silently communicate with each other before Daisy spoke up, “…Honestly, we would very much like the help. We’re still very new into our positions of Gym Leaders, and there’s a been a lot to manage that we’re still very unsure of. Many of our Gym Trainers are new hires as well, and they don’t have the experience to help out with the administrative aspect of the Gym.”
“I see.” I responded thoughtfully, “Could you let me know what those problems are? Maybe I could help you, or at the very least, find someone who I think is trustworthy to help.”
The girls looked at each other again before Daisy spoke up again, “I think our main issue is being able to source and train up Pokémon that can fight at the 2-badge level. Our problem right now is that we either can’t find new Water Pokémon to train up, or dedicate enough time to train them up, and the Pokémon that we do train up get misused by our Gym Trainers and they get too strong too quickly and eventually have to be retired because they become unsuitable for the 2-badge level.”
“And we’re not really sure how best to manage the Gym’s finances. Running this Gym is more expensive than we thought, and we don’t have much in our budget to buy all these new Water types for our Gyms. Our shows bring in decent income, but nowhere near enough for everything that we need.” Violet explained.
“Also, because we need to spend all this time between managing the Gym and to perform our shows, we don’t have any time in our schedule to train up our 8-badge team, so we’ve really fallen behind on that front.” Lily sighed out as she finished.
I hummed consideringly as I pondered what they had just told me. It seems that while they were far from incompetent, they just didn’t have the necessary experience to run the Gym effectively and the problems simply compounded on themselves.
However, I thought that most of their problems could just be handled if they just had a good administrator who knew what they were doing and could teach the three young sisters about how to manage the Gym appropriately.
I suspected that, in canon, they likely didn’t receive this support and the Gym continued to spiral downhill as their unresolved problems continued to mount, until the sisters eventually gave up entirely on the Gym and focused on their performing passions. But I hoped that I could provide enough assistance that they would choose to instead split their focus between their performances and the Gym.
“It seems like most of your problems could be solved if you just got yourselves a good administrator.” I told them, “If someone could be assigned to handle all of these problems, and free up time for you to properly train up yourselves and your Pokémon, then I’m certain that the Gym would be able to run far more smoothly.”
The three sisters nodded, “Yes, we’ve thought of that too. But we don’t really have anyone that we could ask to help us. As we said, our Gym Trainers are all young hires, and are all inexperienced. In fact, we’ve also had problems with our Gym Trainers being too tough or too weak on the challengers, and a few of them have problems showing up on time. It’s a mess.” Violet lamented.
A smile appeared on my face, “Well, you’re in luck. I think I have just the person to ask for.” The girls looked at me curiously, “Do you mind if I call Gym Leader Giovanni and explain your problems to him?”
The girls all gasped, “G-G-Giovanni? Uh, uh, you don’t have to bother someone like him! I’m sure he’s very busy!” Lily exclaimed anxiously, with the other two nodding in agreement.
I smiled, “No, no, I’m sure he’s more than willing to help you.” I turned serious, “But it does mean that you would have to explain your problems to him. Are you comfortable with that?”
The sisters all looked at each other, and after a silent agreement, nodded back to me. “We can trust someone as kind as Giovanni.”
I had to really hold in my laugh that time; to think that Giovanni’s name was now associated with trustworthiness and kindness. Still, I nodded back to them and made the call.
“Hello? Giovanni speaking.” He answered.
“Giovanni, it’s John. I’m currently in a meeting with the Waterflower sisters in their capacity as the Gym Leaders of Cerulean. I have been speaking to them about some of their problems that they’re facing, and I was hoping I could get some assistance from you here.” I responded formally, making him aware of the seriousness of this conversation.
“Oh? That’s veryinteresting.” Giovanni chuckled, “Please, go ahead.”
“Mind if I move it to speaker?” I asked and switched to speaker after Giovanni agreed. “Right, I’ll let the Waterflower sisters explain their issues to you.”
And so, I stayed silent as I allowed the sisters to explain the problems to Giovanni. As I silently listened to their conversation, I reflected on how I truly felt that recommending Giovanni’s assistance to the Waterflower sisters was the right and surprisingly trustworthy thing to do.
After all, it was not unusual for Gym Leaders to help out other struggling Gym Leaders if need be. And Giovanni doing so would just be furthering his image as a model and kind Gym Leader, which I’m sure he would be appreciate of. And, not only that, but by establishing public ties with Cerulean, Giovanni would also want to ensure that the Cerulean Gym is a success, or else his name would be tarnished as well.
And I’m sure he knew that as well, so I was confident that he wouldn’t act maliciously towards the Cerulean Gym.
“…I see. I think I have a good understanding of the problem.” Giovanni spoke as he finished listening to the sisters’ explanation, “And I think I understand why John reached out to me. John, you’re looking for someone who can help them with the administrative aspects, right?”
“Yes. And I know that you have some very capable subordinates of yours who might be free at the moment. Do you think Petrel could help out?” I asked.
“Petrel?” Giovanni chuckled, before he hummed thoughtfully. He replied after a moment, “Yes, I think that’s a good choice. I was initially going to suggest another individual, but I like your choice more. Petrel hasn’t had much to do at this point, and his role could easily be taken up by one of the Gym Trainers.”
“Ummm…Sorry to interrupt, but who’s Petrel?” Lily spoke up questioningly.
“Oh, Petrel is one of my most trusted subordinates who helps me with the administrative areas of the Gym. He’s my administrative assistant.” Giovanni explained, “I agree with John that he’ll be a great choice for helping out with your Gym.”
“Of course, you don’t have to accept our help if you don’t want to.” I immediately interrupted, emphasizing to them that I didn’t want to pressure them into accepting our help. “Actually, why don’t we set up an interview for Petrel, and you can interview him for a job like you would for any normal administrative assistant. If you’re happy with him, then you can make the choice to hire him yourselves.”
“Yes, that would be better.” Giovanni said, “I apologize if it seemed like I was pushing Petrel onto you.”
The sisters’ shook their heads, “No, no, it’s fine. We didn’t mind at all…and, um…yes, we’d really like to interview him for his help. We think we really need it.” Daisy replied, and the others nodded.
“Excellent. I’ll let him to know to come over when I get back from Hoenn.” Giovanni accepted. Huh, he must be in Hoenn for that Porygon2 discovery. “John, thanks for arranging this. We’ll speak later.” He hung up the call after that.
I put away my phone and addressed the sisters, “Well, that’s that. I apologize again if I was too pushy with this. But I really want to help make Cerulean City as best that it can be.”
The girls waved me off, “No, it’s fine! It’s fine! We understand, and honestly, we’re very happy that you came to check up on us. I think it would be worse if you just ignored us and left us with our problems.” Violet said for the three of them.
“Well, thank you for your understanding.” I bowed slightly, “I consider it my duty and pleasure to ensure that Cerulean City is as prosperous as it can be, so if you three need any more help in the future, with anything, please let me know. I’ll try my best to help.”
That got the three of them giving out murmurs of thanks.
“Oh, speaking of which, I do have some news for you. It’s not confirmed yet, but I’m in the process of getting some new contest halls built in Cerulean, and we’re going to be hosting people from around Hoenn and Indigo to participate in these competitions. I feel like this is something you’ll be interested in, no?” I informed them.
THAT got their eyes gleaming excitedly, “WOW! That’s amazing! We’d always wanted to have a contest hall of our own!” Daisy exclaimed eagerly, “Do you think we’ll be able to participate?”
I shrugged, “I’m not sure, though I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to. My job really is to just get the thing passed by the Committee, but Mayor Henry should be dealing with the actual running of it. I think if it passes and you let him know that you’re interested in being a part of it, then he’ll arrange something for you three.” I told them.
The trio bobbed their heads excitedly, and I could see in their eyes that ideas were flickering through at a mile a minute. I guessed that this was a dream come true for them.
“Is there anything else I can help you with, while I’m here?” I asked them once more before I left, breaking them from their daydreaming.
The three of them looked to each other, before Lily stepped forwards hesitantly, “Um…could we get an autograph? And a photo?” She mumbled out embarrassedly, causing me to chuckle.
“Sure.” Was all I said, and the girls quickly rushed around to grab a piece of paper and a polaroid. They quickly stood next to me, and we all posed for the photo, which I then signed after it was printed and developed.
They then thanked me once again before I left the Cerulean Gym, very pleased about the meeting. So long as the Cerulean Gym would never fall into disgrace, I was confident that I could transform Cerulean City into a pillar of Kanto in the future.
============
As soon as I returned home, I made sure to dial up Mayor Henry and inform him of everything that happened.
“Mayor Henry, it’s John.” I greeted him on the phone.
“John, good to hear from you again.” He replied, “How are things going on your end?”
“Better than expected.” I told him, “I have Lance on board with the idea, and I’m confident that it will pass through the Committee.”
“Excellent! We here in Cerulean would very much appreciate the new investment and tourism.” He remarked pleasantly, “How was the talk with the Waterflower sisters at the Gym?”
“It was a very fruitful discussion, thank you.” I replied, purposely leaving out of all the details from our discussion. I may like the mayor, but I didn’t feel he should be privy to what was discussed.
Clearly, he knew where to draw the line and didn’t push any further than that. “I’m glad. It’s good to finally have an Elite Four member from Cerulean that is actually invested in the continued growth and prosperity of our city. Arceus knows that some Elite Four members are concerned with nothing else than their position and strength.” Mayor Henry grumbled.
“I hope to be of service in the future as well.” Was all I said, getting a chuckle from the mayor as he wished me good luck with my endeavours. We ended the call on that pleasant note.
With the phone call over, I figured that I had the rest of the day free before I had to attend Will’s swearing-in ceremony tomorrow.
Deciding that I had nothing else better to do, I went to the training fields and quickly got to training. There wasn’t anything new that I wanted to work on, so this session was more focused on just continuing what my Pokémon had previously been practicing.
More specifically, I had really doubled down on trying to perfect custom moves for my Pokémon. I felt that it was currently the best path forwards to developing my Pokémon’s strength in a battle; providing a bit more power in certain moves could be the deciding factor in a match.
On that front, I was very pleased with Vordt’s progress mastering the new Seismic Eruption. Seeing the move in action, I felt that it would serve as an excellent surprise finisher for a wounded opponent, since the tremors from the Earthquake make it difficult to dodge the subsequent spears of rocks. Perhaps I could have a few of my other Pokémon, like Tyrant and Smough, learn this move as well?
As I thought that, I also figured that I should probably advise Karen to start developing custom moves of her own, if she hadn’t already started. I’m sure that watching that battle between Pryce and Lance must have sparked a few ideas in her mind by now.
My other priority was to ensure that Pixel, Euphie, and Ornstein were training themselves appropriately, and that they were developing healthily and not picking up on any bad habits. On that front, things seemed to be going smoothly.
Pixel was very pleased about its new power level and has thrown itself headfirst into its training to master its newfound evolved capabilities. Despite its’ very wide potential array of attacks, I decided to focus on the more basic, but universally useful, attacks such as Psychic and the newly TM taught Shadow Ball. As soon as it got sufficiently proficient in those attacks, then I was confident in transitioning into more supportive and utility moves like Recover and Conversion.
Euphie hadn’t lost her innocent curiosity, but after weeks of training, she’s finally tempered some of that curiosity so that she could focus better on training. She was continuing to practice her Fairy type moves, and was now somewhat proficient in Play Rough, but she still took some time to gather up enough Fairy aura before she attacked. Still, pairing her up with Luna had proved itself to be a great decision.
Meanwhile, Ornstein was just as overly energetic and fight hungry as ever, but at least he actually listens to me now. He still recklessly challenges my Elite Pokémon, especially Smough, on the regular, but since he uses these challengers to push himself even harder with his training, I allowed it to continue. He was already very experienced with the more basic Normal and Dark type physical attacking moves, such as Payback and Headbutt, which was always good for practice.
Just as my Pokémon continued training, my phone vibrated as it received a message. I went to check it and saw that it was from Karen.
‘What time should we meet tmr for the swearing-in ceremony?’ She texted me. She was my plus one tomorrow for the ceremony. My parents had chosen to stay at home this time round, since the ceremony wasn’t for me.
‘I can’t afford to be late, so let’s arrive on time. Ideally, a couple minutes early.’ I replied.
‘Fine. At least it’s in the evening so I don’t have to wake up early. Besides, I do want to meet Will.’ She wrote.
‘Why? Scoping out your competition?’ I remarked, smirking.
‘Of course ;). Can’t let myself be caught off-guard; you know?’ She replied.
We made some small talk after that, but then I put my phone away and returned to training with my Pokémon. But as I did so, my thoughts wandered back to Karen and our relationship together.
Strangely, I didn’t know where to place our friendship. Were we friends? Or did we want to be more than that? Sure, I had messed up at the beginning and was over-eager, but what were we now? We spent almost all of our free time together, and I was most certainly attracted to her. Likewise, I was fairly confident that the same could be said for her as well.
And then there were all the comments from Agatha about us being together. Even the densest of individuals would be aware that Agatha was trying to push the two of us together, likely for her own personal reasons. She had been increasingly obvious about her attempts recently, to the point where I didn’t feel like she was even trying to hide it.
Not that my parents were any different. My mom especially had been giving me hints for a while for a while now that she greatly approved of Karen and had basically been treating her as her own daughter every time Karen came over. Even Whitney thought of her as a big sister!
What did that mean for the two of us though? I certainly wanted to advance the relationship, but not if Karen was uncomfortable with it.
After fretting over it for a bit, I decided that I would speak to her about it tomorrow at the ceremony. I felt like we had danced around the topic enough, and we should finally set clear lines of communication with each other going into the future.
With that plan in mind, I tried to pull myself back to focusing on my Pokémon’s training, with little success.
Then, I was hit with the realisation that I had come full circle; I had attended my own swearing-in ceremony a relatively powerless teen where I was first introduced to Karen, and now will return to a different swearing-in ceremony as a powerful political figure in Indigo with Karen as my date.
It was nice to see how far I’ve come.
A.N. Hope you enjoyed the conversation with the Waterflower sisters. I had always planned from the beginning to get Giovanni’s aid in helping out the Cerulean Gym, and I felt that Petrel was a suitable person for the task. Might have an Interlude in the future about Petrel’s POV in handling the Gym.
This chapter has been BETAed by Allute! Cheers!
Comments
Vtec
Somewhere around 9-10 years old. Still very young!
Call0013
Hmm, how old would Misty be at this point?
