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The New Normal - 9-11
🕑 Added 2024-04-26 06:20:01 +0000 UTCThe New Normal – 9-11 – Power Projection
Overall, I was pretty satisfied with my crushing performance against Shin, to the point that I even hoped that he would challenge me again just so I could have a repeat performance. Alas, I had to make do with relishing in the despair that was painted on his face as he left the match.
But I didn’t myself indulge in my victory too much. As soon as the battle was over, my first priority was to check up on my sister to see if she was doing okay. Luckily, a few days after my defeat of Shin, and she was showing significant signs of improvement and recovery.
Her smiles had returned.
With both Klee and the Nurse Joy’s overseeing her Pokémon’s recovery, they were able to get her Pokémon back into tip top shape quicker than I expected. I had been worried that her cruel defeat against Shin would have traumatized my little sister, but frequent visits from her friends, Karen, myself, and our parents over the past few days seemed to have brought her back to her usually cheery self.
But she had undoubtedly been changed from the experience – now she and her friends seemed to be warier against those that approached her. Overall, my parents and I agreed that it was a positive change, despite the unfortunate circumstances that it took for her to learn them.
Fortunately, her Pokémon’s recovery was just in time for Whitney to continue her journey through the Open Qualifiers. From what I saw, the trio’s progress through their first few battles could be said to be a…mixed bag. Sadly, their earnestness, innate talents, and friendship were unable overcome the literal years of experience and training that other trainers had on them, and I truly didn’t think they would be able to make it through the Open Qualifiers all together.
It would only take one bad matchup against an Ace trainer to end their run.
Of course, they went into this knowing that they would not be able to get far, and their parents and I have been showering them with praise for even managing to secure a few wins. At their age, even making it this far was already VERY impressive, and even a few observant analysts have taken note of their performance.
One nice thing that happened was, by coincidence, my parents had ended up meeting up with Sabrina’s parents one day at the Indigo Plateau when they were cheering on their daughters. One thing led to another, and SOMEHOW Koga was also roped in for a nice celebratory dinner at our place after the girls’ run of the Indigo Conference was over.
I had no idea how they managed to get Koga to agree to this, but the girls seemed very happy to hear it. Karen was invited as well – my parents and Whitney were always happy to spend more time with her.
I didn’t forget to thank Karen profusely for spending so much time with Whitney despite having the Conference battles to do. I really owed her one.
However, the thing that seemed to dominate the news were the numerous discussions and debates about my fight against Shin that lingered in the public’s mind for some time. Many wanted to know the reason behind our obvious rivalry, at least on my end. On Shin’s end, it was fairly obvious for most people to identify WHY Shin had wanted to get me into a ‘friendly’ fight; his jealousy and envy were plain for all to see.
But MY reasons were still hidden.
And they would stay that way. I was not about to drag Whitney and what happened to her into this mess. She didn’t want me to make a big deal out of it, so that was that.
There were some criticism levelled against me for ‘going too far’ with my beatdown of Shin, with some claiming that I should have ‘held back for a more even fight’ and that I shouldn’t have ‘humiliated’ Shin.
But that was exactly the point.
For the near future, Shin’s reputation as a trainer was over. In a society that values strength and glory so much, such a humiliating loss would forever be an irremovable stain on his record. His achievement of reaching the finals of the Indigo Conference would be forgotten, overshadowed by his utter defeat against me. Exactly as I hoped for.
And I hadn’t heard hide or hair from him since.
But despite the small amounts of criticism against me, the overwhelming majority saw this as a huge display of strength on my end. Sure, it was just a ‘friendly’ match, but my victory was so memorable that people were now considering me to be stronger than Agatha, since the latter hadn’t had a real challenge in some time. There was even some discussion arguing if Tyrant was stronger than Emperor.
Coupled with the previous ‘revelation’ of the true extent of my political connections, and it was made abundantly clear to the public that my star was on the rise, and would only keep going up.
Many bought into the hype, with some political analysts even claiming that my level of influence was equivalent to those wielded by a regular Champion. I thought that was a little overhyped; by my estimates Lance was still more politically influential than I was.
However, it appeared that Lance took notice of this, because he rang me up to speak to me about it.
“John, congratulations on your victory. I assume you got what you wanted out of it?” He greeted over the phone. Though I noted that his tone was a little more guarded than usual.
“Thank you, and I have.” I replied, “What seems to be the matter?”
“Listen, John, on behalf of our friendship, I would like for you to answer truthfully.” He said, slowly and carefully, “Do you intend to challenge me for my position as Champion? Because if you do, I would like for us to come to an agreement that would allow for the continued prosperity of Indigo so that a conflict between us wouldn’t tear apart all that we’ve built.”
I was momentarily taken aback at the question, having not expected to be confronted so directly like this, but I took a moment to pause and reflect on my answer. Before, I did not think I had the capabilities to be Champion, as untested and as new as I was. But now, in light of my new achievements and connections? It was a serious consideration.
Assuming I could actually earn it, the advantages of being Champion were obvious, beyond the glory and fame. I would be THE most senior power in Indigo, making it even easier for me to shape Indigo to my vision and help bolster international cooperation throughout the regions. I would also have an easier time rallying support to crush the criminals over in Sinnoh as soon as they popped their heads up.
But…now that I think of it, wasn’t that already happening? Lance was also pro-internationalism and was working hard to root out the terrorists as well, so nothing would really change in the long-run if I became Champion.
In terms of achieving my goals to crush Team Galactic and to create a more unified world, I didn’t think I could do much better were I take his place.
And there were plenty of downsides to becoming Champion, one of which was Lance himself. Despite our current friendship, I understood that Lance was ultimately not going to be satisfied playing second fiddle to anyone. If I took his place, he would simply return to the Elite Four, and I knew he would test me repeatedly to earn his place back – his pride demanded no less.
Furthermore, even if we were to come to an agreement to not interfere with our political goals, that kind of conflict was still going to be harmful in the long-run. I didn’t want to waste a huge amount of effort fending off potential challenges, all of which I would have to take very seriously and would distract me from my actual goals.
That wasn’t my only concern of course. Being Champion placed you under heavy public scrutiny and responsibility, far more than being in the Elite Four. I had seen the piles of paperwork that were scattered across Lance’s desk every time I entered his office, and I had no intention of dealing with that on a daily basis.
More importantly, being a Champion was heavily restricting. I could not get away with all my travelling, all my explorations, if I were to become Champion. I knew that I would be restricted to Indigo, like Lance was, and forced to deal with everything from there. My cherished freedom would be taken from me.
Ultimately, being a Champion would grant me very little, and make me lose a lot more. All of the benefits I could earn by being Champion were either miniscule or irrelevant in the long run.
Extra fame for my family business, more fame and glory, more control over the direction of the region; none of these ‘advantages’ were actually that useful for me. On the other hand, becoming Champion would actually make me lose out far more than I believe I could earn.
Therefore, I concluded that it was far better for me, and my goals for Indigo, to stay as the secondary power in Indigo, relying on my considerable ‘soft’ power, than to push to be Champion and bring myself and Lance into conflict.
“I do not.” I finally responded to Lance, and I swore I could hear a breath of relief from him, “I have no intention of challenging your leadership.” Not unless you give me reason to, was left unsaid but understood by him.
“That’s a relief.” He chuckled, his relief audible, “Seeing how the news was praising you recently, I thought you might be considering it.”
“Either way, I’m glad that you’re not.” He continued, “However, this recent upsurge in your popularity has given me the opportunity to honour one of my previous promises as Champion.”
“…Which is?” I asked curiously.
“In the upcoming Committee meeting, I will be pushing forwards to host a proposal granting the Elite Four the power to directly vote for the proposals created by the Committee.” He explained, to my surprise, “That way, you lot in the Elite Four can rely on more than just soft power to get your proposals heard in the Committee.”
I blinked, “…Not that I’m against this, very much the opposite, but why do this? Is this to placate me and the others or something?”
“Partially.” He admitted, “But there’s a bigger reason for it as well. I’ve always had the intention of bolstering the power of the Elite Four so that they can serve as a check for the Champion’s power. After all, I do not want what happened with Pryce to repeat itself ever again. And while this might seem like I’m crippling my own power, an announcement like this paints me in a very positive light – that I’m a Champion willing to compromise and negotiate, and to show that I’m not just consolidating all the power in my hands. THAT is definitely not an impression I want the public to have of me.”
“…This isn’t a small decision to make.” I said carefully, “I appreciate this, but are you sure about this?”
“Absolutely.” He confirmed, “And more than that, I hope to spread my example to the other regions as well. You saw how problematic things can get when the Committee gets stubborn or stupid and refuses to do the right thing. I hope that by following our region’s example and giving more power to the, usually more sensible, Elite Four would stop problems like what happened in Hoenn and Sinnoh as the Committee would be less able to stonewall ideas.”
I nodded, “That’s a good reason. You sure something like this would pass?”
Lance laughed, “I wouldn’t have brought it up if I wasn’t certain. And besides, it’s not like you Elite Four are going to go against this, so I’m sure that it’ll pass through successfully.”
“Well, once again, I’m thankful that you’re looking out for us.” I remarked, “I guess I’ll see you at the Committee meeting. And also, I do appreciate you coming to speak to me about this so openly. I’m glad you care as much as I do to ensure the prosperity of Indigo.”
“I care about this region as much as you do.” He chuckled, “And John, keep up the good work. I’m thankful to have you as a trusty second.” Lance said, before hanging up the call.
A pleased smile formed across my face as I put away my phone. I thought I made the right decision to not contest Lance.
He was proving once again to be a Champion worth following.
==========
“…Please raise your hands if you approve of the Champion’s proposal to grant voting powers to the Elite Four for future Committee proposals.”
Hands went up, and just like Lance predicted, the proposal passed through. There was a polite round of applause, but I ignored that as I continued my conversation with my fellow Elite Four members.
“Times really are changing.” Lorelei commented with a smile, “Back when uncle was still Champion, I could never have foreseen something like this passing.”
“Well it’s come a little too late. I’m a bit too old to take advantage of this.” Agatha spat, but there was no real heat in it.
“I’m glad that he’s done so.” Will added, “I think this would set a good example for other regions to follow. I might be biased, but I think it’s a good thing for the Champion to share more of their power.” He turned to me, “But…I’m guessing he only did this after speaking to you, John? Did you pressure him?”
“We spoke, but he already had an idea to do something like this already.” I replied.
“Bah, you could have pressured him by pretending to challenge him to become Champion.” Agatha muttered loudly. “Let the Blackthorn squirm in his seat.”
“I told him I had no intention of becoming Champion.” I said to Agatha, and the other Elite Four listened intently, “It just didn’t serve my interests. I’m happy enough where I am.”
Agatha looked me over critically, before a small smirk broke out on her face, “But you would if Lance ever displeased you.”
I shrugged, “Perhaps…but Lance and I have an…implicit understanding. We’ll continue to work together for the greater good of Indigo.” The other three all nodded, understanding that there was not about to be conflict between myself and Lance.
The Committee meeting ended soon after that, but the approval of a proposal of THIS magnitude needed to be announced to the public. So Lance prudently set up a press conference to make this momentous announcement.
“In light of the many achievements that my illustrious Elite Four have achieved over the past few months, I felt that it would be best to finally grant them the power that they deserved. With the passing of this new policy, the Elite Four will be granted the power to vote directly in Committee meetings.” Lance declared, to the applause and approval from the crowd.
“Champion Lance! Why did you decide to pass on such a policy now?” A interview asked him.
“For the very simple reason that I did not want a repeat of Pryce’s later years.” He replied, “Therefore, by diluting my power as Champion, I hope that this would allow the Elite Four to serve as a more effective check on the Champion’s power. I did not do this for me, but I do this to ensure that our prestigious Indigo League is able to function smoothly in the future.”
“Would you suggest this policy be implemented in other regions as well?” Another asked.
“Yes, if at all possible.” Lance nodded, “While I wouldn’t dare to influence the domestic policies of foreign regions, I do believe that this is a suitable idea to implement to prevent an…ineffective Champion from keeping their policies in a chokehold.”
The questions went on, with many directed at Lance as the reporters continued to scrutinize Lance’s decision for passing through this policy. Many were trying to understand why the infamously prideful Lance was willing to share his power.
Naturally, many heads were turned my way, and questions were shoved in my face as the reporters could smell the potential for drama and punchy headlines.
Unfortunately, I gave them none when they asked me about it. “I am very appreciate of Lance taking this step on behalf of the Elite Four. Lance has always treated the Elite Four as his trusted advisors, and this proposal is simply another demonstration of his trust in our abilities. I believe I can say for all of us that we’re all very thankful for it.”
I repeated those few lines to practically every question I was asked, expressing my support for Lance’s decisions. Some of the more ‘bold’ reporters asked me directly if I wanted to be Champion, but I firmly stated that I didn’t. Some even asked me why I wasn’t seeking out the position, but I rebuffed those questions and said that my reasons were my own.
With the announcement over we split apart, but before I could head home and continue training with Wraith, Blaine had asked me to drop by at Cinnabar Island to discuss something with him. So that was where I was headed.
Quickly arriving at his lab, Blaine and I exchanged quick greetings before we got down to business.
“Shelly not here today?” I asked, “I thought you guys were always working together.”
“Nah, she’s off to do some of her managerial duties.” Blaine shook his head, “But you can consider her to be read in on anything I’m about to discuss with you.” I nodded.
Blaine then motioned towards the few whiteboards that he had hanging on the wall, all of which were littered with numbers and diagrams that I could hardly understand, “As you can see, the Electirizer design is coming along well. I was able to transfer a lot of what I used to build the Magmarizer and put it to use here. It’s been very smooth going, and we’ve already identified that this Electirizer is most likely used to evolve Electabuzz into something new.”
“Of course, we’re still very much in the theory stage. Trying to make a prototype is still going to be a lot of work.” He explained, “We still need to find a method of concentrating that much Electric energy into one small container, and Shelly and I are still working out how to do that.”
“Think you could talk to Surge?” I asked, my mind wandering to the first and only Electric type specialist I knew, “Surely he would know.”
“Feh! We damn well tried, but Surge said that he wasn’t interested in ‘nerd shit’.” Blaine spat, “Especially not when we told him that we would have to be siphoning off a whole ton of electricity from Vermillion. He hung up the phone after we told him that.”
I nodded, not overly surprised at Surge’s reaction. He really didn’t seem like the type to be interested in this stuff. Especially not with the siphoning electricity part.
“So that’s why we’re stuck. We have all this theory, but we aren’t able to find a way of actually concentrating all that Electric energy to create a prototype.” Blaine grumbled, “And unfortunately, neither Shelly nor I have any ideas or connections that would help us with creating a prototype. But you have a bigger network than us, so we were hoping that you might have something that could help us.”
I took a moment to think about it, my mind rummaging through the many areas of Indigo to see if I could think of something that could help. Obviously, there were other power plants aside from the ones in Vermillion, but we would likely run into the same problem. Elite Four or Gym Leader, no local council would be too pleased with someone just siphoning away unknown amounts of electricity for a project. And even if they were, the asking price they would demand would be prohibitively expensive.
I wracked my brain for solutions, until eventually something clicked in my head.
“…I think there’s this abandoned power plant in one of the routes, but its known to attract many Electric Pokémon to live there.” I said, “If we could clear out the Electric types and take temporary authority over the plant, I think we could refit it to help create Electirizers.”
Blaine look interested, “Where is it?”
“Uh…let me check.” I went to my phone and did a quick search, “Okay, so it says its…at Route 10. Which is…next to Lavender Town.”
Blaine immediately winced, “Fuck. Is the plant under the authority of Lavender Town?”
“Yes.” I replied, showing him my phone, “Even though it’s been abandoned, it still falls under Lavender Town’s authority.”
Blaine let out a huge sigh, “…Well, it’s an idea, at least. Repurposing an abandoned power plant for our purposes would probably be an easier sell than to repurpose an existing one. The only issue is that if I made the call to Agatha, I think she’ll hang up before I’ll be able to explain myself.”
I chuckled, “I can make the call for you if you want. But are you sure about this? Abandoned or not, this would be a huge expense. We would need to have something to show for it.”
“Shelly and I are confident in our conclusions. But we still need to scout out the area first, and as much as it pains me to say this, we should speak to Agatha first to make sure we aren’t stepping on anyone’s toes.” Blaine said reluctantly, “She can be a petty bastard.”
I didn’t disagree, but I didn’t voice it either. Instead, we quickly discussed the terms that we would present to Agatha.
After the discussions were had and the terms were confirmed, I dialled up Agatha.
The phone rang for an unreasonably long time before she eventually picked up, “Who is it?” She asked impatiently.
“Agatha, it’s John.” I greeted immediately, knowing full well if it wasn’t me she would have hung up by now. “I have a proposal I’d like to bring up on behalf of the Cinnabar labs.” I switched my phone to speaker so that Blaine could listen in.
She snorted, “You mean your small little circle of science friends with Blaine and that Devon Corp director? That’s where you ran off to after the Committee meeting? What about them?”
“We would like permission to scout out and hopefully make use of the abandoned power plant located in Route 10, near Lavender Town.” I explained, “We hope to repurpose it to aid in creating a prototype for our most recent project-”
“Right, right, using it for your project blah, blah, blah. You don’t need to bore me to death. I get it, this is the same as your Magmarizer thing.” Agatha interrupted impatiently, “So what are you going to offer me for it? Because our previous deal for my political support doesn’t cover this.”
I gave Blaine a questioning look, and he quickly wrote ‘share profits’ on a piece of paper. I nodded, “We could give Lavender Town a cut of the profits, the value to be discussed as soon as we can confirm the functioning of the prototype.”
“That’s not good enough.” Agatha denied, “But I have a better proposal. Lavender Town shall sponsor your efforts, and will pay for all the refitting and reconstruction costs for the abandoned power plant to turn it into something you can work with. In return, we shall receive 70% of all profits until our investment is returned, then that figure drops to 40% for everything beyond that.”
“30% of the remaining.” I countered with an approving nod from Blaine, “Plus an agreement to give Devon Corp full autonomy to handle the sale of the final product and to acknowledge Blaine as the sole creator and patent holder of the product, and for him to receive a cut of the profits accordingly.” I regurgitated the previously agreed terms that Blaine had told me he and Shelly had agreed to.
Agatha chuckled, “Relax, I wouldn’t DARE to try to take credit away from little ol’ Blaine. The man was always too attached to his own creations. Is he listening in right now? I bet he’s grinding his teeth as usual.”
She was right on the money, because Blaine was grinding his teeth. And he was grinding them even harder now that Agatha was poking fun at him. But I simply ignored her comment and continued, “So do we have a deal?”
“We might.” She said teasingly, “I would have to send someone to visit the plant first to see just how much reconstruction would actually cost. Also, I would need to know what YOU need specifically to create your thing, and how much that would cost. But should everything look fine, then I see no reason to decline your offer. Not when you’ve given me a perfect excuse to expand the town.”
“Thank you, Agatha. I hope to hear the good news from you soon.” I hung up the phone, and Blaine let out a sigh of relief.
“That hag is exhausting to deal with.” Blaine grumbled, “I’ve known her for half my life, but she never gets any easier to deal with. In fact, she’s only gotten worse over the years.”
“She’s not too bad when you get to know her better.” I tried, but I only got a disbelieving look from Blaine.
He shook his head, “Anyways, thank you for speaking to Agatha on our behalf. Arceus knows she would never have been so generous if I asked for it.”
“Don’t mention it.” I waved him off, “I haven’t been participating in this project as much as I wanted to, so I hope to make up for it.”
Blaine put an arm on my shoulder, “Relax, John. Neither Shelly nor I ever expected you to be able to help with the creation of the Electirizer itself. We know you don’t have the scientific background to understand the finer details – and that’s fine. We brought you on because we wanted to copy what you did with Samuel with the Fairy reveal. To secure funding and support from the people necessary to actually have this project running.”
In other words, I was the political backer.
“I thought you had Shelly and Devon Corp for that?” I asked.
He shook his head, “Shelly’s mentioned many times that she hasn’t really been able to foster the political connections that she’d like. Ultimately, her status as a representative of a foreign business does her no favours here. But you’re a completely different story.”
I scratched my head, “Well…I appreciate it.” I coughed, and blatantly switched the topic, “Are we going to head to scout out the power plant soon then? I’ll let Agatha know as soon as possible if we are.”
Blaine nodded, “I’ll let Shelly know and I’ll get back to you on a time. We’ll all go together.”
With the more serious topics settled, we ended up talking about how the Magmarizer project has been doing since products hit the shelves. It wasn’t a very popular product, but that was expected. It was an extremely niche evolution item used to evolve ONE specific Fire type Pokémon. Its use case was very limited.
However, that meant we could charge an utterly exorbitant amount for it. The only people that were going to buy it were dedicated Fire specialists or those that had way too much money to spend anyways, so we knew that these people would pay premium prices for it.
Blaine and Shelly were perfectly happy to milk them for all they were worth.
Thus, even though sales were low, profits were still high enough to justify the investment into this project. Blaine explained that it shouldn’t be long before both Shelly and he were able to recuperate their costs for production and distribution.
After that, I ended up retiring from the conversation and returned home. Both my parents were home, staring intently at the TV that was broadcasting the Open Qualifiers. They both had a small frown on their face, and my mom seemed busy texting someone over the phone.
“Something the matter?” I asked as I stepped into the house.
“Sabrina just lost. She’s out of the Indigo Conference.”
A.N. Oof. One of the girls are out.
And yes, John’s star is on the rise because of the public recognition from his crushing victory against Shin, but he declines being Champion. I hope John’s inner thoughts provide a sufficient reason to why he’s not interested in being Champion. It actually saves him so much trouble if he stays where it is.
Comments
Tank45
Sooo, someone is gonna catch Zappy Bird so they have a way to hold off whatever legendary inevitably gets provoked.
The Tallest Tree
I wonder if this will become a self reinforcing process. The elite 4 have more political power now, so it stands to reason that the competition to join and stay as elite 4 will grow stronger. Which means more powerful trainers joining up which justifies the expansion of their powers politically which in turn pressures the Champion to keep growing stronger if he wants to stay leader. Also the Gyms. With a stronger Elite 4 the pressure is on the Gym Leaders to grow too otherwise the Elite 4 will be too strong in comparison and it will erode their soft power but also prestige forcing them to either cede power or get good... interesting
