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The New Normal - 2-18
🕑 Added 2023-04-17 13:09:26 +0000 UTCThe New Normal – 2-18 – Victory Ceremony
After the conclusion of our battle, I was barely allowed to bask in my victory and give Vordt a nice tight hug before I was quickly escorted away from the arena and asked to make my way onto the stage.
I had wanted to speak to Drake and thank him for a battle well fought, but the League officials insisted that there would be time to mingle later and that it was more important for me to give a winner’s interview. At least they allowed me to heal my Pokémon before they made me have the interview.
A part of me wanted to tell them to stuff it; I was tired and way too excited and just wanted to calm down and celebrate my victory with my Pokémon. However, I knew that it wasn’t worth it kicking up a fuss at this stage, so I stifled a groan and sigh as I reluctantly followed their instructions.
My instinct to just run away was made even stronger as I saw the veritable sea of reporters and cameras that were aimed my way when I got to the stage. I was instantly blinded by the continuous flashes of the cameras, and I almost stumbled over a small step on the stage that I couldn’t see because of all the flashes. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Drake was also being dragged onto the stage, but he looked like he was about to pop a vein.
As I finally settled down in my seat, I adopted a blatantly false smile as I braced myself for the barrage of questions that I knew were coming; I could hope that they didn’t ask anything too sensitive or controversial.
Although that hope was slowly dwindling as I saw the hungry expressions on the faces of the reporters who swiftly swarmed me like unfed Snorlax with their microphones outstretched.
“ELITE JOHN! How does it feel to win against Elite Drake?” The questions began, “Did you expect yourself to win?”
“I feel elated, and very pleased with my Pokémon.” I answered as humbly as I could, I really didn’t want to see articles appear on the Pokénet about me bragging about my victory. “Of course, I have the fullest of respect for Drake’s team and was very thrilled and honoured to be given the opportunity by the Hoenn League to fight against such a strong opponent.”
I made sure to placate the Hoenn League and give them the credit for hosting the event. I didn’t want them to cause problems for me in the future.
“But were you confident in your victory against Elite Drake?” Another reporter pressed, “After all, you did win 6-3!”
“I was confident in my Pokémon to perform to the best of their ability.” I answered evasively, “And I was in no doubt that they would provide a good fight against Drake. But luck played a heavy factor in my 6-4 victory against Drake today, and if events had happened slightly differently, then perhaps today’s victor would have been Drake.”
That was true, Zephyr was very lucky that his final Hurricane was able to confuse Kingdra, which then allowed Smough to quickly knock it out. Also, if Flygon had decided to fly higher off the ground, then there was no way that Tyrant would have been able to knock it out so quickly.
And it was the quick defeat of Flygon that was the most important factor in securing my victory. I didn’t really have any good options for defeating Drake’s Flygon, as it wasn’t susceptible to my most common method of using rocks to knock down opposing Flying Pokémon. Thus, I would be forced to use Special Attacks like Ice Beam to hopefully snipe it down, but my Pokémon weren’t the most proficient at that.
Strangely enough, looking back with hindsight, Drake’s Flygon might have been the most problematic Pokémon on his team for my Pokémon to fight against. I made a mental note to see if I could train my team to be more able to fight against Flying type Pokémon who are resistant to Rock-type moves.
“Elite John! What did you think of Elite Drake’s performance in today’s battle? Do you think he might be unsuitable to be part of the Elite Four?!” Wow, I could feel the malice in that question. I turned to the reporter who asked and answered with the most serious expression as I could muster.
“Elite Drake is absolutely deserving of being a member of the Hoenn Elite 4.” I locked eyes with the reporter who asked, “The battle against Elite Drake just now was by far the hardest battle that I have ever had to fight in my career as a trainer, and I know for a fact that if I hadn’t gotten as lucky as I did, Drake would have been the one who won, not me.”
That reporter frowned and gave me an angry look as I clearly didn’t answer the question as he had hoped I would, but I ignored him. Besides the fact that Drake was a friend, there was no doubt in my mind that he deserved to be in the Elite 4.
Then, another one of the more excited reporters almost shoved their microphone into my mouth. “Are you going to be doing anything else this exciting while you’re in Hoenn?! Maybe another battle against another member of our Elite 4?! Who would you like to battle the most among the remaining three?!”
I politely pushed the microphone away from my mouth because I wasn’t sure that the reporter wouldn’t push the microphone down my throat if I started talking. When I made sure that the microphone was an appropriate distance away, I responded.
“I’ll be very honoured if I ever got the opportunity to battle against another member of the Hoenn Elite 4.” My smile turned genuine for a moment as I said that, before returning to the fake one that I often adopted for the cameras, “However, as much as I would love to have another great battle like the one I just had against Elite Drake, my Pokémon very much do need to rest and recover from their gruelling battle. However, if I was offered the opportunity to battle the Hoenn Elite in another show match sometime in the future, I would be very happy to accept.”
As soon as I finished answering that question, another round of microphones were pushed forwards. This time, I just selected one at random.
“Elite John, why were you sent to Hoenn in the first place? Did you just come on vacation like the Pokénet rumours suggest?”
This time, I gave myself time to think before I responded. I knew that the official reasoning by the Indigo League for my trip to Hoenn was never disclosed to the public, and I also knew what a shitstorm I could cause if I told them that I was here on an official visit for diplomatic reasons.
Since the Hoenn League has made it very clear to me that they didn’t receive any notice that the Indigo League was sending me on a diplomatic mission, it wouldn’t be long before the public realized that that the true reason that the Indigo League sent me here was to side-line me to Hoenn and keep me from interfering with the political affairs of Indigo.
I was so tempted to kick the hornet’s nest and stir up the shit for Pryce. The more vindictive part of myself, the part of myself that held my pride, wanted to get revenge for Pryce by telling the world about how he fucked me over. A part of me wanted to watch Pryce get the comeuppance he deserved. For the dishonour and the humiliation of sending me away to Hoenn.
But the more rational part of myself started to weigh the pros and cons of such a decision. I knew that the moment I did this, I would make an enemy in Pryce for life. There would be no going back for this, and I would irreparably damage my relationship with Pryce and a few other members of the Indigo League that supported my ‘trip’ to Hoenn.
Also, I felt like I would come off as whiny and immature if I ratted on Pryce at this moment, since many could simply say that this was ‘not a big deal’ and that I was just making a childish tantrum. Airing out the dirty laundry of Indigo like this might breed resentment and be seen as traitorous by those who supported Indigo, and many would say there would be more mature ways of handling the situation.
I clenched my fists as I had to hold down my anger and my need for revenge. Once again, I found myself needing to restrain myself for the sake of not making unnecessarily enemies. I hated the fact that I agreed with my more rational arguments compared to my more instinctual and emotional response.
But, for the sake of a united Indigo, I needed to not inflame tensions between Kanto and Johto and airing out Pryce’s dirty laundry right now would also create negative implications for Johto. Furthermore, it would shatter my political aspirations of fostering closer relations with the two regions.
On the other hand, I knew that my patience and resolve was waning quickly. I promised myself that the moment I got home to Indigo, I would speak with the right people to see if I can my revenge against Pryce. I wasn’t going to allow this humiliation to be swept under the rug and be conveniently forgotten.
No, now was not the time to expose Pryce. Today was one of celebration, to honour my victory against Drake. I wouldn’t ruin the festivities by stirring up a shitstorm right now; that would also end up annoying the Hoenn League as well. However, that didn’t mean I couldn’t throw out some hints in my answer.
“Thank you for that question. Champion Pryce sent me here.” I said without elaborating, setting up the bait for the follow-up question.
“If Champion Pryce sent you here, does that mean that you were here on official reasons? If so, why weren’t we informed about it?” The reporter asked the question that I was hoping for.
“I’m afraid that I wasn’t privy to the details as to why I was sent to Hoenn so soon after my appointment, I only followed their orders.” I answered technically truthfully, before deciding to twist the knife a little, “I’m sure Champion Pryce will be able to answer those questions if needed.”
The reporter backed away, seemingly satisfied with my answers. I had to fight down a smirk that threatened to appear on my face; I thought that I had given a very carefully crafted response that avoided immediately exposing Pryce’s misdoings while also leaving enough hints to imply that there was something nefarious going on in the background.
“Elite John! What were the special Pokéballs that you used for your Pokémon? Where did you get that from?” One reporter asked.
I grinned inwardly at the question, and I adopted what I thought was my most marketable smile as I answered, “Ah, these special Pokéballs are called Premier Balls. They were designed and created by Devon Corp, and they gave me a few when I visited them a couple of days ago.”
I took one of the Premier Balls out and started showing it to the cameras, “I really like their design, I think it looks really sleek and minimalistic. I believe having their Pokéballs with this design is a great way for more elite trainers to show their status by having their Pokémon in these Premier Balls. As you can see, I replaced all my old Pokéballs with these new Premier Balls and all my Pokémon are stored within.” I gestured to the other Premier Balls on my belt.
With that, I felt that I had marketed the Premier Ball sufficiently enthusiastically to fulfil my portion of the contract with Devon Corp. I hoped that these Premier Balls would sell well, as I’d get a nice chunk of income from my 5% of sales as per my contract with Devon Corp.
Afterwards, the next round of questions was comparatively mundane and were all focused on my match against Drake. Some asked about how I managed to get so strong, some asked if there were any training techniques that I could share, and another one asked if my family’s Moomoo milk business had anything to do with my success.
To the last one, I gave them a proper response by saying that my family’s Moomoo milk business was invaluable in providing support throughout my journey to being a member of the Elite 4, and I doubted I would make it to where I was without it.
While nothing I said was technically false, I only really meant that they had supported me emotionally, but if the public misconstrued my words and assumed something different…well that would only prove beneficial for the family business.
A few more questions later and we finally wrapped up my winner’s interview, and I was told to pose for a few pictures with the ‘trophy’ before I was finally allowed to leave, and Drake was forced to take my place and be the victim of the next barrage of questions. I gave him a pitying look and a smile as I left.
Finally free from the hound of reporters, I slumped slightly against the nearby wall and let out a sigh of relief. At this point, all I wanted to do was to find some Pokécenter and just relax and wind down in one of their rooms. Of course, just as I was thinking about this, my phone started ringing. I quickly forced down my annoyance though when I saw that it was Giovanni that was calling.
“John speaking.” I began.
“John, it’s Giovanni.” He sounded strangely happy, which was a bit unnerving. “Congratulations on your victory against Elite Drake. I think all of Indigo had their eyes glued to the broadcast, me included, and I could say that we were all very happy about your victory.”
From the tone of his voice, he was legitimately congratulating me and seemed happy for me. I was seriously weirded out by a happy Giovanni, but I tried to not let it show as I responded.
“Thank you very much for your congratulations, Giovanni.” I replied, “But I did get quite lucky with my match against Drake, and I’m not sure that I could secure another victory if I fought him again.”
“As humble as ever I see.” Giovanni chuckled, “Well, John, I didn’t call you just to congratulate you on your victory, but also on your restraint in not exposing Champion Pryce for his true reasons for sending you to Hoenn.”
I grinned as I heard this, glad to see that my decision to keep silent for the time being was not wrong. “Thank you, I didn’t think it was the right time to do so either, but could you elaborate on why you thought I shouldn’t have done so?”
“Of course.” Giovanni answered smoothly, “You see, John, if you had decided to expose Pryce’s actions at this moment, I guarantee you that while some of the public would have been sympathetic to your plight, many other members of the public would have just seen it as a childish outburst that ultimately demonstrates that you were unsuited for your position as the Elite 4.”
I nodded at his reasoning, since that was what I was thinking as well, before staying silent as he continued, “More importantly, as you still aren’t back in Indigo, you wouldn’t really be able to control the narrative and influence public opinion as well as the Indigo League and Pryce could. You would be at a huge disadvantage in the war for public opinion, and your reputation may be very quickly tarnished and irreparable.”
I grimaced, but understood what Giovanni was telling me. Fortunately, my patience had won out today and I hadn’t started a war against Pryce that I wasn’t sure that I would be able to win.
Seeing my continued silence, Giovanni kept going. “However, and I would like to applaud you for doing this, your response was vague enough to not immediately warrant a response from Pryce, but also hinted to all those starving reporters that there might be something to investigate. And, better still, even if they do discover something, you’d mostly be in the clear because you weren’t the one who ‘deliberately’ brought it up.”
Well, this is one of those times where I thank myself for not being ruled by my temper. Still, I reigned in my relief as I refocused myself and responded to Giovanni.
“Yes, thank you for your explanation, Giovanni, it was very helpful.” I remarked, “I’m very glad that I managed to avoid making a huge mistake.”
“Mmh, you did.” Giovanni replied before pausing slightly for a moment before continuing, “John, you’ve proven to be a valuable ally for me to have, and I could definitely see us maintaining our friendship for a long time.” My eyebrows shot up with surprise, “With that in mind, I have some important news for you.”
“What is it?” I asked, unable to stop my curiosity.
“Ever since your journey to Hoenn, Lance has been making moves to replace Pryce to be the new Champion of Indigo. He’s still in the preparation stages, but he’s been making it increasingly obvious that he intends to challenge Pryce. Just the other day he openly called out Pryce for trying to appoint Lorelei to be the next Gym Leader of Mahogany Town.”
“That’s quite the move.” I answered with open surprise; I didn’t think Lance would be making his move so soon. “Thank you for telling me this, Giovanni, but do you have anything in mind about what we could do about this?” I deliberated emphasized the word ‘we’ so that Giovanni could know that I was with him on this.
“Thank you for your support, John, I’m glad to see you understand the value of this information.” Giovanni spoke, “I wanted to discuss this with you more when you get back to Indigo, but I want to know what your preliminary thoughts are about this?”
I carefully thought about the issue for a few moments, Giovanni staying silent as he allowed me to think. A short while later, I stated my thoughts.
“I think that this is an opportunity for us to gain some important influence within the Indigo League.” I explained, “I think that, if Lance proves to be worthy of our support, we should support his challenge against Pryce so that we may extract more favours from him and increase our own influence in the Indigo League. We should especially prioritise extracting a promise from him that he would ensure that Kanto doesn’t stagnate and fall behind Johto like it has under Pryce.”
Giovanni remained silent, so I continued, “Also, while Lance is also from Johto, I feel like he would be more supportive of a united Indigo and is not in favour of the current status quo. Overall, I believe that he would be a better Champion to have for our goals of an improved Kanto.”
Giovanni gave out a considering hum as I finished, and I allowed him to think over what I had just said. After thinking it through, he replied.
“Though I am not as optimistic as you about Lance’s views for a united Indigo, I do agree that Lance would most likely be a better Champion to have than Pryce.” He admitted, “Of course, I am hesitant to act so quickly without knowing more, but assuming that my investigations into Lance prove fruitful and positive, then I see no reason why we shouldn’t follow through with your plan.”
“Thank you, Giovanni, I’m glad that we could see eye to eye on this matter.” I said with concealed relief, I really didn’t want Giovanni going against Lance, “Perhaps we should discuss this further when I return from Hoenn.” I suggested.
“Yes, we should.” He affirmed, “And with that, I think I have taken up enough of your time. Congratulations once again on your victory, John.”
I thanked him again for his words and we politely hung up on each other. As I hung up, I smiled down at my phone, happy to see that my connections to Giovanni had only strengthened during my time in Hoenn. I still didn’t fully trust him and would continue to remain cautious during any of our interactions, but the conversation we just had was another reminder of how useful Giovanni was as a friend, since he had a vast network of connections that I could make use of.
Knowing that Lance was going after Pryce’s position so soon was definitely a big surprise, but it also presented a huge opportunity for me to hopefully make use of. I quickly took out my notepad and reminded myself to at least speak with Lance when I returned so that I could get a better measure with him.
Just as I finished writing down my reminder, my phone rang again. My eyes shot up with surprise yet again as I saw who was calling, Champion Pryce.
“Champion Pryce, how may I help you?” I answered politely, keeping any hint of frustration and annoyance out of my tone.
“Elite John, well done on winning.” He said as coldly as ever. Though I didn’t manage to detect any hint of anger or frustration in his tone. “You did well in Hoenn, but now I need you back in Indigo.”
“Thank you for your words.” I replied, maintaining my politeness, “I’ll be happy to return to Indigo. Can I ask how I will be returning?” I was tempted to ask why I was being returned, but I didn’t want to risk aggravating him at the moment, so I kept the question to myself.
“A private ship will be chartered for you.” He answered blandly, “It will be departing the day after tomorrow in the afternoon. Don’t miss it.”
At this point, I could tell that Pryce genuinely wasn’t angry at me at all for winning against Drake or from my interview. He was just his normal unpleasant self, which was somewhat reassuring.
“Of course, I’ll be there. Is there anything else that you need of me?”
“No. There’ll be a welcome committee to meet you when you get back. I’ll speak with you then.” Then he hung up.
I frowned as I put down my phone. I was more confused than angry at the conversation we just had. What was that about? Why wasn’t he angry? Why did he want me back so soon? I had a few guesses, but did it have something to do with Lance’s actions?
I mulled over it in my head for a moment, before deciding that I didn’t have the answers and would only be able to find out more when I got back. So, I pushed those thoughts about politics of Indigo to the side and allowed myself to relax once again.
I quickly texted Karen telling her to meet me at the Ever Grande City Pokécenter, and I strapped myself onto Port as I started making my way there.
As I enjoyed the short flight from the stadium to the Pokécenter, it hit me that my journey in Hoenn was at an end, for now. I thought back over the many things that took place during my trip here, and I felt that I had accomplished much throughout my pseudo-exile. Obviously, I wasn’t about to thank Pryce for side-lining me here, but I did come to enjoy and appreciate my time in Hoenn.
I hoped that one day, I could return.
A.N And this is the end of the Hoenn Arc! I hope you’ve enjoyed it so far and was happy with John’s decision to not expose Pryce at the moment. Even I was tempted to have him do it, but I thought about how it would be seen and decided against it.
Comments
Dracontorrin
Well recedntly I became one time off Patron for another creator so I decided wth I will become you patron at least for this one month. will see in future if I keep this up :D to show my support ;-) nice story so far and rare at that as the "pwah" of normal types are underrated - in fact the Great Llama itself is normal type :D
Tyler A
Was hoping he could capture a Litleo
CSD2022
Loved this arc
