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The New Normal - 11-3
🕑 Added 2024-08-02 11:00:30 +0000 UTCThe New Normal – 11-3 – Back to Sinnoh
My stay in Hoenn ended up being wrapped up pretty quickly. I barely had half a day to reorganise my things before Lance told me that a ship would be waiting for us at Ever Grande City to set off for Sinnoh early in the morning.
Whitney had left earlier, so I ended up saying goodbye to my parents before I made my way to Ever Grande City with Karen. She had booked a ship home that was departing around the same time as ours, which was why we headed there together.
“This might be presumptuous of me, but do you have plans for after you win the Indigo Conference?” I had asked her as we ate breakfast at a café near the docks. We had arrived a little too early.
“I appreciate the vote of confidence.” She chuckled, “As for my plans...you’ll have to see. I think you’ll be quite surprised.”
I looked at her strangely, “Weren’t you going to be challenging Will? I thought that was what you and Agatha had planned for.”
“That was what I planned for.” Karen nodded, “But things changed. I realised that I needed to do more to prove myself, to show the world that I’m not just following in Agatha’s footsteps. I need to show them that I can and will surpass her in my own way.”
The way she spoke made me realise something, and my eyes widened.
“…Don’t tell me you’re planning on challenging Agatha? That’s—” I was about to say more, but she interrupted me.
“Yes.” She confirmed, “Like I said, it’s something that would do wonders for my reputation. It’s not going to be an easy fight to win, but I’ve been feeling especially determined recently. Perhaps it’s after watching you and Cynthia show up the world like that.” She grinned at me.
“Besides, there’s another reason I want to fight the old hag.” She continued, before dropping her voice into a whisper, “…I don’t want her to be in the Elite Four anymore. Not because I think she’s too weak for it or doesn’t deserve to be there, but because I don’t want to her health to worsen by stressing over the responsibilities of her position.”
“At the same time, I know Agatha is someone who would cling on to the position stubbornly, refusing to give it up even if it does her more harm than good.” She frowned, “But this way, if I’m the one overthrowing her, I think she’ll accept it and finally give her time to rest. She’s old, and yet she still refuses to retire because she doesn’t want her precious Lavender Town to ‘lose her protection’. My victory, if I manage it, will allow her to finally retire and receive the rest she deserves.”
“I’ll prove to her that she can leave things to me.”
I smiled. That was a good reason to fight Agatha. I knew that, more than the boost to her reputation, wanting the person that raised her to finally be able to rest was the reason that resonated most with Karen.
With that in mind, I could rest assured that Karen’s heart was in the right place, and that she would be able to muster up her full determination to win against Agatha.
She was going to need it. Agatha was a much more difficult opponent than Will.
We wrapped up our breakfasts soon after that and Karen left for her ship first, leaving me alone and waiting for my colleagues to arrive. I didn’t have to wait long though, as I found the huge procession of the League suddenly storming their way onto the docks.
And in the front of that group were the people that I wanted to see. Lorelei, Drake, Lance, Wallace, and Cynthia were all headed my way.
A smile immediately appeared on my face as soon as I saw my girlfriend, and I didn’t hesitate to take her hands into mine as she approached. The reporters that had followed the group instantly began taking pictures of this open display of affection, but we didn’t need to hide ourselves any more.
Our relationship was public knowledge. And I couldn’t be any more happier about not needing to sneak around anymore.
“…Good to see you here.” I said softly, then I frowned when I saw the bags under her eyes, “It looks like you had a busy night.”
“I did, sorry for not calling.” She replied, “It’s hard to coordinate things when you’re not there in person. I’ll be glad when I get back to Sinnoh.”
“—Sorry to cut the two of you off, but we need to get moving.” Wallace suddenly approached from behind, “The ships are about to leave.”
The two of us nodded and followed after him, where we rejoined all of the other members of the League. Not all of us would be leaving for Sinnoh; Lance and Wallace were both going to remain behind for certain discussions.
So that left me, Cynthia, Drake, and Lorelei to be the ones leaving, not counting all the other officials and assistants that would accompany us.
Our pictures were taken a few times, and there were some boilerplate speeches about the benefits of working together and how we would going to help facilitate the continued prospect of Sinnoh and all other kinds of good words. Then we were off.
As the boat set off, I naturally joined Cynthia on the deck of the ship just so I could spend more time with her. Even though there might be further opportunities for us to spend time together in Sinnoh, even despite our duties, I was just relishing in the opportunity now that we no longer had to hide our relationship with each other.
And I knew she was going through some stressful times at the moment, so I felt I should do my duty as her boyfriend to help keep her mind off things.
Therefore, after a little cajoling, the two of just ended up sitting together on one of the lounging chairs on the deck of the ship, simply lying next to each other as we enjoyed each other’s presence and chatted idly about a whole host of topics.
Of course, our public display of affection drew some attention, but they were borne out of curiosity rather than anything else. Either way, we did our best to ignore them.
“Let them stare.” Cynthia had whispered to me when I asked if she minded, “If this ends up hurting our reputation, then we simply have to fight to earn it back. Now that we’ve gone public, there’s no need for us to hide our actions anymore. In fact, we might be able to win a few of them over like this. It humanises us.”
“Or do you not like snuggling against me?” She pouted to me, and my response was to give her a light noogie, getting a shocked laugh from her. I then wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer against me in apology, which she gracefully accepted.
“…So how did the grand opening at Mauville go?” She asked me as she rested her head on my shoulder, “I feel bad for missing it.”
“Don’t worry about it, you were busy enough anyways.” I waved her off, “Besides, we had a huge crowd anyways thanks to Steven and Bruno attending. I think if you came as well then the audience might have gotten too starstruck.”
“There is such thing as too much of a good thing.” Cynthia nodded wisely.
“Hmm, did you know that I had once thought of opening a business?” She told me.
“Really?” I looked at her curiously, “What did you want to do?”
“Oh I never intended to run a business full-time; my passions were always towards the sciences rather than business.” She said, “But I’ve always been interested in running an ice cream shop.”
That was so absurd that I couldn’t help but break out into a laugh, “An ice cream shop?! What?”
She grinned, “You know I love ice cream. So I just thought – if I liked eating it so much, why don’t I just create my own?”
“To be fair, it was never a very serious idea.” She admitted, “Just something that I like to think about from time to time.”
“You must really love ice cream.” I smiled. That was so cute of her.
“Of course. Ice creams are the greatest dessert in the world.” She declared passionately, “And I will fight you if you say otherwise.”
“Hey, I didn’t say anything.” I put my hands up playfully, “I enjoy a good ice cream myself.”
Then I had a thought, “You know, my parents are looking to expand into more milk-adjacent products. Ice cream could be one of them. Plus, we did just open a drinks shop in Mauville. I don’t see why we couldn’t open a specialty ice cream brand–”
“YOU MUST TELL ME IF YOU DO.” Cynthia’s eyes were SHINING as she shoved her face into mine, her face warped into one of almost crazed intensity, “I WILL be designing a flavour.”
Then as she realised how close she was to me, she coughed and pulled back. Her face was tinged with a hint of red, “That is, if you don’t mind. We might be dating, but I don’t want to pull rank and demand you make something for me. I just would really appreciate it.”
I burst out into genuine laughter, “You don’t have to be shy about it. If ice cream is something that my parents do decide to expand into, I promise that you’ll be the first to know. And yes, I’ll ask if you can design a custom flavour.”
She squealed with excitement and kissed me on the cheek, “That would be incredible! And I automatically volunteer my services as a taste tester if you need one.”
I ended up laughing again as I returned her kiss with a peck on the lips as we both returned to a comfortable silence, the two of us just staring at the beautiful waves and the Pokémon that swam around within it. For a moment, the two of us forgot about our broader worries as we simply enjoyed the view around us.
I didn’t know how long we stayed like that for, but the two of us ended up falling asleep with our heads resting on each other’s shoulders.
We probably would have stayed like that if someone hadn’t placed down two plates of food in front of us.
“Hm?” I rubbed my eyes as I yawned, carefully stretching my arms so I wouldn’t hit Cynthia in the face. My moving around ended up waking her too, and the two of us both shared another yawn as we slowly reawakened. The sun had already turned orange.
How long did we sleep for?
“Sorry for waking you.” A voice suddenly made me remember that someone had woken us up, and I turned to see the apologetic look on Lorelei’s face, “I just thought you guys might be hungry so I ended up getting you some food. I didn’t mean to wake you up. You looked very cute together.”
“No, it’s okay. We appreciate it.” I said for the two of us, reaching for the plates and passing one to Cynthia, “Especially since you got us some food. I didn’t realise how hungry I was until I saw the food in front of me.”
“Tell me about it, I skipped breakfast this morning because I was too busy to find time for it.” Cynthia groaned as she quickly took a bite out the sandwich that Lorelei had brought, “Seriously, thanks for this. You’re the best.”
And then Cynthia demonstrated just how famished she was by devouring that sandwich in a few bites. I ate it at a more leisurely pace as I struck up a conversation with Lorelei.
“So, any thoughts about your work in in Sinnoh?” I asked her, “And I thought you would be going with the rest of your auditing team. Where are they?”
“We’ll be meeting up together in Sinnoh. They’re also heading there now from Indigo.” She told me, “Truth be told, I’m equal parts nervous and excited. Excited, because this is my big chance to really prove my political chops to the world and actually make a difference. Which is also why I’m nervous.”
“Understandable. Big opportunities are often accompanied by an equal amounts of stress.” Cynthia said after swallowing her sandwich, “The most important thing to do is to not look nervous.”
“Is that what you do? Just keep everything hidden?” Lorelei questioned.
She nodded, “Of course – or did you think I was someone who never got nervous?” She chuckled, “I get nervous just like every other person. But if you keep a confident face, then eventually you’ll trick yourself into actually being confident.”
“And think of it this way. You can’t let your nervousness overwhelm you when you have a goal to achieve.” Cynthia continued, “Like you said, this trip to Sinnoh is a big opportunity for you to prove yourself. So don’t worry about failing. Focus on your goals and do your utmost to succeed and you’ll find that the rewards will come quickly.”
“Thank you, Drake said something similar to me when I talked to him earlier.” Lorelei replied, “Although his advice was a lot more…crass.”
“Where is Drake?” I asked while looking around, “I haven’t seen him since we boarded.”
“He was looking for the two of you but decided against it when he found you flirting together.” Lorelei chuckled, “I think he’s currently getting some rest.”
Oops. Didn’t mean to ignore him like that.
“Ah damn, I guess I’ll just speak to him more when we arrive in Sinnoh.” I said instead, “Also, Lorelei, don’t forget that you’re free to call me any time if you need help with anything while you’re there in Sinnoh. I don’t want to muscle in on your authority, but I’ll be there if you need help.”
“And I appreciate it, John.” She responded, “But I’ll do my best to not require your assistance.”
“Though I actually do have a question of my own.” Lorelei said as she turned to Cynthia, “I wanted to ask about my uncle.”
“Pryce? What about him?” Cynthia asked curiously.
“How was his strength? You just faced him in a battle, which is a lot different from just watching him fight. In your opinion, has he deteriorated as much as the news and the public have claimed?” Lorelei questioned, “Don’t get me wrong. The man is an ass. But he gives occasionally good advice. I just wanted a frame of reference from a third party regarding his strength.”
I leaned forwards at her question. I was also interested in hearing this.
“Well I only fought his starter, so I don’t have an accurate assessment on his whole team, but…” Cynthia tapped her chin, “He’s certainly not as weak as the rumours make him out to be. Anyone who watched that fight could see that he was far beyond the level of a mere Gym Leader, and was easily a match for most Elite Four members and their starters.”
“However, because I only fought one of his Pokémon, I can’t tell how well his team works in a 6v6.” Cynthia commented, “I just know that his Mamoswine would be a match for even a Champion’s non-starter Pokémon. It’s a powerful Pokémon, and shouldn’t be underestimated.”
“Your Garchomp was able to run circles around it, though.” Lorelei pointed out. “From my perspective it looked like you completely outclassed it despite the massive Type weakness you have.”
Cynthia snorted, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but if my Garchomp would fall so easily then I wouldn’t be Champion.” I nodded at her words, “While my Garchomp may not be a match for Lance’s Dragonite or John’s Slaking in terms of raw strength, her speed and discipline more than makes up for that.”
“Speaking of, we should really find a time to fight again.” I said to Cynthia, “I’d love to see how my stronger Pokémon match up against yours.”
She rolled her eyes, “Please spare my pride. If you sent out your Slaking I’d lose.”
“Then we can try with my other Pokémon. I’d want to see how well my Ursaluna could match up against your Garchomp, for example.” I said.
“That would be a good test.” Cynthia agreed, “Fine, we’ll try to make some time for it in the future. And I was kidding about your Slaking by the way. I’d still want to challenge him with my Garchomp and see how well I’d fare against him, even if I know my defeat is certain.”
“We’ll see when we find the time for it.” I grinned, excitement visible in my eyes, “Things will be different to our first battle.”
“Speaking of finding the time for things, what are you and Drake planning to do while you’re in Sinnoh anyways?” Lorelei asked, “I know you’re going over there as a show of force, but then Lance said that you’re free to do whatever unless you’re called upon. So what are your plans?”
“I wanted to take him cave delving.” I answered, “Not only do I really want to share just how cool it is, I’d figure that someone like Drake, who had a love of exploring, would find going deep into caves to be right up his alley.”
“Plus, Cynthia had told me that they wanted to head deeper into the caves, and who better to bring along than someone as strong as Drake?” I said rhetorically, “It’s just a shame that you can’t join us, Cynthia. The three of us would be unstoppable.”
“I just don’t think I’ll have the time for it.” She shook her head, “I’d love to join you otherwise.”
“I see…well surely cave diving isn’t ALL you’re going to do there.” Lorelei pointed out, “Sure, I know it was originally meant to be your vacation, but still…”
“I’ll help out with law enforcement work if need be. I’m always happy to tear down a few criminals from time to time.” I smiled again, but this one lacked any humour, “Not to sound arrogant, but Drake and I are both quite experienced at raiding criminals at this point. So we’ll be around if you call on us.”
In fact, more than the cave diving, I was really hoping that we could secure some solid information to perform raids in. Even though I was excited about discovering more about the secrets that were lurking in the caves of Sinnoh, I still prioritised bringing down these terrorists more than anything else.
“Not to worry, John. I’m sure Lorelei and I will do everything we can to uncover where these terrorists are hiding.” Cynthia spoke up, “My predecessor might have slacked off on his duties, but I will not do the same. There’s a lot of work to be done, but I swear that Sinnoh will be terrorist-free.” Lorelei nodded along in agreement.
That was the promise I wanted to hear. I trusted them to unravel the veil of public opinion that Team Galactic hid behind.
The three of us moved on to more idle topics after that, until Lorelei eventually left Cynthia and I by ourselves once again. Not that we minded, of course, and we spent the rest of the trip once again enjoying each other’s presence before we were going to get busy again.
However, despite both of us not wanting this moment to end, it had to. And, before we knew it, we had arrived in Sinnoh. There was a small welcoming party for us, but no one really bothered to entertain them as both Cynthia and Lorelei, and their respective assistants, rushed off the ship and quickly got to work.
They both had a lot of work on their plates. I wished them all the best.
In the meanwhile, Drake and I exited the ship at a more sedate pace. Drake was looking around with an excited gleam in his eyes as he took in his surroundings.
“I remember visiting Indigo for the first time all that time ago. I was a whole lot younger then.” He reminisced, “But the feelings of excitement and wonder never really goes away. I really should have come here earlier. No wonder Phoebe was boasting about how cool it all was.”
“I felt the same way.” I agreed, “Anyways, do you have anything you want to do first? Or should we head straight to Celestic Town?”
“Let’s head straight there. I’m fucking tired.” He groaned.
I looked at him strangely, “Tired? Doing what? Weren’t you asleep this whole time? That’s what Lorelei said.”
He grinned, “She bought that dumb fucking excuse? HAH! No I didn’t go to bed. I’m old, but I don’t need my fucking beauty sleep like the others.”
He shook his head, “No, I was busy diving underwater with my Pokémon.”
I had a spit-take, “You did what?!”
He shrugged shamelessly, “Yeah, decided the ship was going too fucking slow for my liking and I was bored to death sitting on the ship with nothing to do. I didn’t want to disturb you and Cynthia since you seemed so happy together, so I decided to make my own fun.”
A chuckle escaped him, “The League officials tried to stop me, of course, but I just told them to fuck off. I know my way around the waves.”
I blinked, that was a very Drake answer. “I see…and did you find anything interesting?”
He scoffed, “’Course not. I was just diving around to kill time. I wasn’t trying to find some underwater ruins or anything. Though Arceus does swimming around by yourself really put into perspective how fucking slow the ship is. I swear we need to have faster fucking ships. It’s intolerable.” Or maybe it was just you, Drake.
The man continued to grumble as we saddled up and made our way to Celestic Town, though he quickly silenced as he took in the view of Sinnoh, as awed as I was when I first came here.
It didn’t take too long for us to arrive there, and we were greeting with a few familiar faces as soon as we landed. Before long, we were both escorted back to the Celestic Town Research Centre, where I was informed that they had already prepared my old room for me to stay.
As I entered into my old room, there was only one thing on my mind.
I was back at last.
A.N. And John returns to Sinnoh! Hope you enjoyed the interactions that John had with everyone on the ship. This is definitely the calm before the storm chapter, and I wanted to have one more chapter where John can just hang out with Cynthia before the events unfold, especially now that they can do so in public.
Comments
The Tallest Tree
Cute moments with Cynthia. Nice to see. John and Drake's friendship is fun too
Simplexity
Alright good Karen challenge Agatha and take her place. Which means the only unproven Elite Four is Will. Who Koga might just oust to take his place. After that we have Steven making his championship run with Bruno most likely earning his place as well while Sinnoh has already gotten its shakeup for the time being even though Bertha is also pretty old. Then the Champs & Elite Fours would looks like this: Indigo (Lance) John, Karen, Koga, Lorelei Hoenn (Steven) Bruno, Phoebe, Glacia, Sydney Sinnoh (Cynthia) Lucien, Flint, Bertha, Aaron Though I do think there might be further shake ups. Will might not go calmly into the night, meaning Lorelai or Karen might have to deal with him later. Koga might not even try to become a member of the Elite Four, tbh it's a 59/50 chance. Janine is getting older amd he is grooming her to take his place but whether he uses that to become an Elite Four member and built up Fushia further as well as additional funding/protection to the safari zone or if he remains content as a gym leader. Drake might also be way too bored to just retire just like that though I feel like that's more unlikely. I will say though all of them would do really well in the Battle Frontier...just saying >.>
Cerber
And the adventure is on. Exploration and looting chapters are always a treat
