CartecTNN
patreon
The New Normal - 9-1
🕑 Added 2024-03-22 07:20:01 +0000 UTCThe New Normal – 9-1 – The Indigo Circuit
“It’s so much warmer here.” Will muttered to me as we stood near the railings of the boat, facing towards the docks of Vermillion City in the distance.
“I prefer the cold, but Sinnoh was a little too cold at times.” I agreed, “You ready to return to your usual duties?”
“Of course!” He replied instantly, his head bobbing up and down, “Fulfilling the duties of an Elite Four is an honour!” He said pompously.
“…Though I admit that I might be a little out of practice with how long we spent in Sinnoh.” He admitted sheepishly, “It’s very different when you have less pressure on you.”
“I get it.” I responded, especially because Will must have known that he was due to be challenged sometime soon, but I didn’t need to bring that up, “You got any plans for when you get back? Personal ones, I mean.”
He rubbed his chin, “Not that I can recall. Most, if not all, of my plans revolve around business meetings and catching up with associates, especially with what’s going on with the events at Sinnoh. I have a few friends I’d like to meet up with, but those aren’t so urgent.”
“You read about that Pokémon storage thing?” He asked me.
“I did.” I nodded, “Very interesting stuff. I look forward to seeing it in use. What about you?”
“…I’m having a little trouble thinking about the possibilities right now, but I at least know that it opens a lot of new avenues for businesses in the future.” He said, “I think I’m going to speak to a few of my business friends to see what they think. Maybe we can hold a conference to discuss the implications.”
I nodded, expecting nothing less from the business-minded Will. Before our chatter could continue, the blare of the ship’s horn notified us of our arrival to Indigo. Now that we were closer, we could see many people had gathered along the Vermillion City pier and were waving huge banners at us, many of them congratulating us for our efforts and our safe return.
I couldn’t help but smile. As nice as Sinnoh was, especially since Cynthia was there, it just couldn’t replace the feeling of home.
A short moment later, the exit ramp from the ship descended, and we made our way off the ship, finally stepping on the ground of Indigo, of home, once again.
“Welcome back.” Lance smiled at us, hosting the welcome ceremony once again.
But to my astonishment, there was one other person with him, “Yes, yes, enough with the sentimentality. Everyone knows how nice it is to be home blah blah blah. Let’s get a move on.” Agatha said sarcastically, “And John! You have visitors!”
I gave her a curious look before my eyes widened with surprise as four familiar figures walked up to me. Or, more precisely, three figures walked up to me and one immediately went and glomped me.
“WELCOME BACK BRO!” The cheery voice of my sister shouted out as she wrapped me in a tight hug. I instinctively wrapped my arms around her too as we shared a familial hug, one that we hadn’t shared in quite some time.
“Whitney? What are you doing here?” I still had to ask.
But instead of Whitney answering, Sabrina replied in her stead, “Whitney knew that you were coming home, so since we were mostly in the area, she begged us to come so that she could see her beloved brother.” She tried her best to maintain her usual stoic expression, but the slight twitch of her lips betrayed her smirk.
Whitney pouted, “Hey! I didn’t word it like that!”
“But you don’t deny begging us to let you visit your brother?” Janine challenged, joining in on making fun of my sister.
Whitney pursed her lips, but didn’t respond as she instead chose to just bury her head deeper into my stomach.
“They all seem very excited to see you.” Karen spoke up, chuckling over the antics of my sister and her friends, “You seem like quite the popular man.”
Karen’s appearance caused a complicated expression to form on my face. I owed it to her to provide an explanation, especially since I valued her as a friend, but it wasn’t going to be easy.
“Indeed he is.” Lance said as he walked up with Will and Agatha, unknowingly cutting off what I was about to say, “I was going to ask how you were doing, but I can see that you’re quite preoccupied at the moment.”
“Sorry.” I said as I tried to extract myself from Whitney’s grasp, “Was there anything you needed me for?”
Lance shook his head, “No, nothing so urgent. And definitely not anything we can’t talk about over the phone. I’ll leave you to your friends and family, we can talk later.”
“Wait, Lance.” I called out to him before he could walk away, “I have something to speak with you about, in private. But it’s not immediately urgent and can wait for later.”
He shot me a curious look, but then nodded slowly, “I see. I’ll await our conversation then.” Then he walked off with Will. Agatha lingered around and gave me a searching look, but otherwise just left me alone as she slowly hobbled after the two of them.
I turned to Karen, “Any idea what that was about?” I asked, but she just shrugged back.
“You think the hag tells me everything?” She asked sarcastically.
“…She is very scary.” Sabrina suddenly whispered out, visibly shivering, “Her presence…how can you guys not feel it?”
“I did not feel anything out of the ordinary.” Janine said, “It’s not like you to be this unnerved, Sabrina.”
Sabrina just shook her head, “…I envy you for not being able to sense it.” All of us fell into an awkward silence at that, none of us really knowing what to say.
But fortunately Whitney decided to speak up, blatantly changing the topic. “Anyways, John! You need to hang out with us! It’s been so long since we went out together! You don’t have anything to right now, right?”
I shook my head, “Not right now, no–”
“Then that’s great!” She quickly interrupted me, grabbing my hand and dragging me along, “Let’s go then! There’s this restaurant that I’ve always wanted to eat at. And since you’re paying, I can finally go!”
“Since when was I paying?” I chuckled.
Whitney just rolled her eyes at me, “Of course you are! What kind of big brother lets their little sister pay for them?”
“She’s got you there.” Karen laughed, with Sabrina and Janine nodding sagely next to her. These brats – none of them even had siblings!
Obviously, I caved and just followed after my sister and her friends as they brought me to the restaurant that she mentioned. It wasn’t nearly as expensive as I feared; my sister knew better than to make me treat her to something overly expensive. Even if I COULD afford it.
Over lunch, we got to chatting about what we all had been doing. They were most interested in my adventures in Sinnoh, so I started off with that, making sure to leave out anything that I wasn’t allowed to reveal just yet.
“Wow!” My sister exclaimed, “I want to do some cave exploring too! It sounds so fun!”
“It’s quite dangerous.” I chided, “I wouldn’t recommend it until you got stronger.”
“I’m plenty strong.” She pouted, “Just ask Sabie and Janine! We’re looking to clear out final Gym badge, if we can.” She then went on an explanation about how they went through all of the Gyms, with Sabrina and Janine adding bits and pieces here and there. Karen and I just nodded silently as we listened to her journey.
I did my best to not think about my upcoming conversation with Karen.
“I’m glad you’re having so much fun, Whitney.” Karen smiled at her, “You seem more energetic and confident than before you left. I mean you weren’t bad before, but now I really feel like you’re starting to come into your own.”
“Couldn’t agree more.” I nodded, rubbing my sister on the head and messing up her hair, “I’m very proud of you, Whitney.” I told her sincerely.
She blushed and looked away from me, “Thanks, bro.” She mumbled. Both Sabrina and Janine just shot her cheeky smiles, but I wasn’t done yet.
“And the both of you two, thank you for taking care of my overly energetic sister.” I bowed to them, ignoring the “hey!” from my sister. This time the two of them joined Whitney as they also grew a blush.
“It’s no problem. We’ve been very happy to travel together as well.” They told me, “Whitney is a natural leader, and she helped us stay focused and determined on what we want.”
“Speaking of which, what DO you want?” Karen cut in, “You mentioned getting the 8th Gym Badge from Giovanni, but what are you going to do after if you’re successful?”
The girls shared a look, a silent conversation passing through the trio. Eventually, Janine spoke for the three of them. “We’ve agreed to try our hand at the Indigo Conference. We probably won’t make it very far, since we don’t know if we can even get past Giovanni…but we wanted to give it our best attempt. See how far we can go right now, and how far we still need to go.”
Karen’s eyes widened, “That’s very early of you. While it isn’t extremely uncommon for trainers your age to already have cleared 8 badges and get into the Indigo Conference, it certainly is rare enough for it to be noteworthy.”
“I wasn’t that young when I attempted it.” I added.
Whitney rolled her eyes, “Yes, but you swept past your conference and got into the Elite Four.” She said dryly, “I’m not quite at your level yet, John.”
“I was also sixteen.” I pointed out, “You’re still just 11. You have time to catch up. In fact, I think you’re already doing better than me.”
“I feel like you’re understating your achievement there, John.” Karen said wryly, “I wasn’t at your level a year ago, and I’m the same age.”
“Hold on.” I suddenly interrupted, “Is the Indigo Conference already starting up this soon? Time must have flown by when I was in Sinnoh.”
Karen nodded, “Yes, the qualifiers are starting up in like a month or something.” She looked at me weirdly, “Don’t you remember? We even spoke about it.”
“Must have slipped my mind.” I shrugged, “Is it in the same format?” I asked, to which everyone nodded.
The format of the Indigo Conference was split into the open qualifiers, where it was an open invitation for all trainers that had collected all 8 Gym Battles at any point in their trainer career to participate in. For experienced and talented trainers, this stage was more of a chore to go through than anything else, as you had to take part in multiple 1v1 battles just to pass. To use Karen as an example, she should have no problems here, but it would be just a huge waste of time.
Then the next stage was the Preliminary rounds, with 256 trainers at the start. The preliminaries consisted of 2v2 (but not double) battles, where to head onto the next stage you needed to secure 3 wins. I felt that Whitney and her friends would likely struggle here, as any trainer that reached this level would be decently competent and may have a trick or two up their sleeve.
The final stage was the Finals. This took the top 32 and pitted them randomly against each other in 3v3 battles. Up until the finals, which was a full 6v6. This was the most intense part of the tournament, and the battles that attracted the most views since this was where all the high-level battles were at. I personally didn’t struggle at all with the Indigo Conference until entering this stage.
But I was fortunate that my year didn’t have that many powerful trainers. And due to the luck of the draw, I never faced off against Lorelei. Shin ended up defeating her, but if I was honest, then he wasn’t that much of a challenge either. Though I doubted Karen would get so lucky during her run. I suspected a few powerful trainers might be making another attempt this year.
I broke myself from my thoughts, “Anyways, so what are you three doing after the Indigo Conference? Got any plans for afterwards?” I turned back towards the trio.
Sabrina answered this time, “I think Janine and I are likely going to have to return to our Gyms and work on our duties there. Both of our parents have expressed their intention to train us to be their successors.”
I was about to ask about Whitney, but Whitney spoke up first, “But don’t worry bro! They said they’d speak to their parents to offer me a job there! I might get to work as a Gym trainer at one of their Gyms!”
My eyes widened, “Really?”
Janine nodded, “Both of us reached out to our parents. Unfortunately, Father said that they didn’t have space within the Gym to accommodate Whitney this year, but Sabrina’s parents were happy to let her join.”
“That’s a great opportunity.” Karen exclaimed, “Running a Gym isn’t easy – I would know since Agatha dumped it all on me, but you’ll get to learn a lot. Working with low level Pokémon can occasionally open your mind to creative new ways of fighting. And you’ll learn some important leadership skills, which I’ve found to be plenty useful.”
“My parents said the same.” Sabrina agreed, “And it will be nice training if Whitney ever wanted to be a Gym Leader in the future too.”
“That’s not very likely.” My sister said with a smile, though I could see that it was a brittle one. Maybe she was feeling left out because she wasn’t a successor of a Gym like her friends?
Well that wouldn’t do at all, “Hey, if you work hard, Whitney, then maybe you can end up being a Gym Leader too! I didn’t expect to become an Elite Four when I started my journey, and look where I ended up!” I tried to reassure her.
Fortunately, it looks like my efforts had succeeded as my sister’s smile turned more genuine, “Thanks, bro. I’ll try my best.”
“It’ll be so nice if you three all became Gym Leaders.” Karen chuckled, “What a power bloc you three would be.” I laughed at that.
We continued to chat some more, returning to our forgotten lunches and quickly chowing through them. But eventually I had enough of beating around the bush.
“Karen, can we talk?” I suddenly asked, and Karen shot me a look of surprise at my tone.
“Something wrong, bro?” My sister turned to me, realising the serious look I had on my face.
“It’s just between me and Karen.” I tried to smile back, patting her reassuringly on the head. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it doesn’t affect you.”
Whitney stared at me uncertainly, but I ignored that and stood up from the table, walking a small distance away with Karen until I was sure no one was able to eavesdrop on our conversation.
“…So, what is it you want to talk about?” She asked, trying but failing to hide her nervousness, “It’s not like you to interrupt your sister when she’s in a good mood.”
“Because I felt like I owed it our friendship to tell you in person as soon as possible.” I responded.
I looked her dead in the eye, “I’m seeing Cynthia. Romantically, that is.”
Karen physically took a step back as if I had hit her. “Wha–what?!”
The shock had hit her intensely. Her eyes widened and her mouth gaped open like a Magikarp. I didn’t say anything as I allowed her to process my words.
It took a moment for her to steady herself, but she managed a response, “…And how long ago did you two become a thing?”
“Very recently.” I admitted, “We had a conversation just before I left Sinnoh. I wanted to tell you then, but I felt like it was better if I did it in person.”
“I see…” She mumbled out as she closed her eyes. She didn’t look very happy about this, not that I was surprised about that.
It hurt to see her like this, especially since I still thought of Karen as a very close friend. But I had made my choice.
“Despite that, I still really value our friendship.” I added, hopefully trying to reassure her. “I understand that things might be…awkward for a while, but I would really regret losing out on our friendship.”
“…No, I understand.” She sighed out, and I purposely ignored the tears that threatened to leak out of her eyes, “I…I’m sorry, John. But would you mind…if you gave me a moment to process all this? I’m…I’m not sure on what to say at the moment.”
“You can have all the time you need.” I said gently, “And to make things clear, this doesn’t change my open invitation for you to visit my house or Whitney at any time. You are always welcome to spend time with my family.”
The smile she shot me was brittle, but sincere, “…Thank you, John. I…I’ll speak to you later, I guess?”
“Of course.” I tried to smile reassuringly, “Let’s talk soon.”
I watched as Karen walked away, before she released her Honchkrow and flew off into the distance. As soon as she left, I let out a big sigh.
That didn’t go as badly as I feared, but I still didn’t like doing it. I didn’t like seeing Karen upset. I stood there for a moment, simply staring out at the open skies for a moment before I finally decided to return to Whitney and her friends.
“Where’s Karen?” Whitney immediately asked me.
“…She had to go.” I began evasively, before letting out a sigh. There was no point hiding the truth. “Whitney, the truth is – I’ve began dating Cynthia.”
“…Oh.” Whitney exclaimed, and the looks I got from Sabrina and Janine were no less surprising, “Do you regret it?”
“…Not at all.” I shook my head, “I’m just sad Karen was going to be hurt by it.”
I thought Whitney was going to berate me for making her ‘sister’ upset, but instead Whitney just reached out and pulled me into a hug, “Then you don’t need to feel sad. I know Karen. She’s strong. She’ll get over it.”
Whitney turned to me with a brilliant smile, “Besides, I know that you both will stay friends. So don’t worry about it, bro, everything will be okay.”
This time I felt my own tears forming in my eyes. How in Arceus did I get such a lovely sister?
Unfortunately, our moment was interrupted as my phone started to ring. I gave my phone a look of annoyance that quickly turned to surprise as I saw who was calling.
“John here.” I picked up.
“John, it’s me.” Professor Oak greeted, causing me to stand up straight, “It’s nothing urgent, but would you mind coming over to my place in Pallet Town? It’s the house next to the lab. I’ve got someone to introduce to you, following on from what we talked about before about you building up a team of assistants for you.”
Oh yes! I nearly forgot about that, “Sure, I’ll head there right away. Thanks for the reminder.”
He chuckled, “Not a problem. See you there!”
I put away my phone and saw the questioning looks on everyone’s face, “Professor Oak just wanted me to meet his granddaughter.” I explained, “I’ve been thinking about finally putting a team of assistants together, and he asked me for a favour to recruit his granddaughter as an intern just so she could learn the ropes.”
“Oooh! How old is she?” My sister asked excitedly, “Is she nice? Is she a good trainer? If she’s the granddaughter of Professor Oak, then she must be strong!”
“In order, I don’t know, I don’t know, and that doesn’t mean she has to be strong.” I responded dryly, getting a pout from my sister, “But that’s why I’m meeting her now.”
“Aww….we wanted to ask you to battle us…” My sister whined.
I patted her on the head, “Maybe next time. I definitely won’t be sent off on any overseas trips anytime soon, barring any emergencies. So I’ll definitely be around.”
“You promised!” My sister pointed a finger at me, though she quickly lowered it as she rubbed her chin, “Maybe we can get Karen to join? Make it a 2v3?”
I shot her a complicated look, “…Depends if Karen wants to. Maybe we should give her some time to herself for now.”
“That’s fine.” Whitney nodded, “And don’t worry bro, I’ll talk to her and make sure she’s okay. Leave it to me.”
“Thank you, Whitney.” I said sincerely, “Then I’ll entrust her to you.”
=====
It didn’t take me long to get there. I landed just outside the lab and walked to the nearby house. It was an unassuming place, looking like every other house in the small town. It didn’t even have any extra security features or any obvious luxuries that a man of his wealth and status might have invested in. It was a very humble home that wasn’t at all what one would expect for someone as legendary as Professor Oak.
But I suppose that’s why he chose this house in the first place. The humbleness must have been part of the appeal.
I only had to knock on the door a few times before it swung open, and I was greeted with a very diminutive little boy.
“Elite John? Grandpa is in the back.” The young Gary Oak greeted me. He was a small one, and didn’t dare show me any of that arrogance and pompousness that he had in the show.
Maybe because he knew this wasn’t the time and place for that.
“Thank you.” I nodded towards him and made my way back to the back parlour. The house was more spacious inside, and it was well-furnished with rather luxurious furniture. Yet, it still didn’t give off a feeling that it was overly gaudy, weaving a fine line between luxury and humble.
Entering the back parlour, I found Professor Oak sitting there calmly sipping a cup of tea while a girl, who could only be Daisy Oak, vibrated nervously next to him. She was young – still much older than Gary, but looked like she just entered her teens.
“Ah, John! Thanks for coming on such short notice.” Professor Oak stood up and greeted me.
“It’s not a problem.” I turned to look at Daisy, “Is this Daisy?”
Daisy squirmed a little under my gaze, but Oak just laughed, “She is. She’s just being a bit shy now. She’s usually better than this when meeting strangers. It must be your status.”
“…He’s also going to be my first employer.” I heard Daisy whisper.
“You’ve worked jobs for me before.” Oak pointed out.
“Those don’t count.” Daisy denied, “Working with someone else is different….Uh, no offense, Elite John.”
“Please, just call me John.” I smiled, trying to not seem so intimidating, “And I’ll be happy to have you on the team. Speaking of which, I do actually need to get that team sorted. I still haven’t actually returned home to speak to my parents yet.”
“Oh! I’m so sorry for dragging you away from that.” Oak apologized, “I didn’t realize.”
I quickly waved him off, “It’s fine, I was just having lunch with my sister anyways. And I did promise to meet and talk to you about Daisy anyways.”
“Well, at least I hope I haven’t bothered you too much.” Oak responded a little embarrassedly. “Anyways, have you a plan for what Daisy is going to be doing?”
I froze. I hadn’t actually really thought about that yet, “Uh…I don’t think I’ve really thought things through. I just thought I needed a team of assistants to help me out with things, help take calls and keep a track of things. That sort of stuff.”
Oak gave me a knowing smile, “It’s okay, I didn’t know how to administrate and lead people at first. Doing so in battle is one thing, but doing so in an office setting is a very different story.”
I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks, but Oak continued, “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. But you had the right things down. So what kind of calls did you hope for your assistants to take? What kind of things would you like to check up on?”
“I guess I realized with all my political connections I need some way of easily keeping in touch with what’s going on.” I answered, “I’m juggling quite a few things at the moment, and I would also like a finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the Indigo League just in case I need to step in.”
“For example, when I was in Sinnoh, I practically lost track of everything that was going on here. If not for Lance and his updates, I would have been completely out of the loop.” I explained, “So, I preferably would like to have a small team or something just monitoring the Committee at all times and reporting back to me on their actions. Nothing too complicated for now.” Daisy perked up at the last part.
“That could easily be done.” Oak nodded, “I’m sure your parents could find you people for that quite easily. Just tell Lance that you’re hiring a small team of assistants, literally one or two people, and just get them to work alongside Lance’s own secretaries or assistants. He’ll get the extra hands, and you’ll get your information. That’s what I taught my Elite Four to do.”
“And even better, you could get them to set up a PO box for you for people to reach you with. You currently don’t have anything like that at the moment, right?” Oak asked, and I shook my head, “Excellent! Then that’ll give you the public a way to communicate with you in a way that gives a professional amount of distance between you and them. It’s a great way to expand your influence and make you more likeable.”
I blinked, “That’s a great idea. I’ll be stealing that.” I chuckled, “Though, if my assistants were to shadow Lance’s, wouldn’t that come into issues with confidentiality?”
“You really overestimate how many documents a Champion gets that are for his eyes only.” Oak said wryly, “And even then, his assistants are trained to separate those documents away from prying eyes. You’ll be fine.”
“Is there anything else you wanted to ask?” Oak asked with a smile, “I might be out of the political game, but I do enjoy the occasional discussion.”
“No…not at the moment.” I replied after thinking it over, “Thank you for all the advice. And Daisy, sorry for that display. I should have been more prepared.”
“It’s fine.” She told me, “It’s nice to know that even the Elite Four can also make mistakes.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her bluntness, “Yes, that’s very true. So there’s no need to be afraid or intimidated when working for me, you got that? I’m human, just like everyone else.” This time she nodded at my words, and I gave her a smile. I was glad that she had gotten over her nervousness.
I turned back to Oak, “Right, I think I should speak to my parents about who to hire on. But I’ll get back to you as soon as I figure that part out. I won’t forget about Daisy.” I got up from my seat and began to leave.
“I’m sure you won’t.” Oak stood up with me and patted me on the shoulder, “It’s good to see you making waves. Though, if I could give one last piece of advice.” I nodded.
“Your integrity is THE most important thing you could have as a famous trainer and politician. Don’t EVER lose it.” He advised me seriously.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I replied solemnly.
“Good. Then I’m reassured that Indigo is in safe hands.” He smiled. “Keep up the good work, John, and welcome back home.” I thanked him once again before exiting his house, but only after waving good bye to Gary, who had been trying to eavesdrop on our conversation through the door, and made my way back home.
It was good to be back.
A.N. A slower chapter this time, but mainly to have John catching up with a few characters and bring him back into the swing of things. Events should start picking up soon!
Comments
The Tallest Tree
Oak being Oak is always great to see. Hope John cultivates that relationship well as Oak has lots of wisdom to share. Also I'm glad the Sinnoh arc is over. Honestly felt like the worst part of this story for me. Felt very close to dropping this fic entirely which I don't want to do as I've been following your work since pretty much the beginning. Glad that it's over and done with and hopefully on to better things.
Cerber
John getting it on with both of them at the same time would have been great, but the setting doesnt really allow it. Oh well, you snooze you lose Karen. I wonder how this will affect her elite four chances. It feels she eont make or maybe she will get a new determination and do something else?
