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The New Normal - 2-6
🕑 Added 2023-03-15 01:10:01 +0000 UTCThe New Normal – 2-6 – Thoughts and Discussions
We made our way silently to the Pokémon center, my new Zigzagoon egg still in my hands, but my head was roiling with thoughts. I had kissed Karen as a spur of the moment kind of thing out of pure excitement at her comment, and I immediately realised that it was a mistake to have done so. But the fact that I even kissed her did bring up questions in my mind. Was it a kiss that was done out of excitement? Or was it the beginning of something more? Was I ready to accept that it might be the latter case?
Upon reflecting on my actions throughout the previous days, I admitted to myself that I did enjoy spending time with Karen. However, we’ve only known each other for a short while, and I really didn’t want to rush into things. I realized that I was probably acting on my hormones too much, leading to my mistaken actions, and that I wasn’t thinking over things rationally like I usually do. I already had enough on my plate as is with my newfound position as an Elite 4 member, I didn’t need to create more distractions for myself that would stretch my attention even thinner.
We kept our silence as we entered the PokeCenter, and I distractedly greeted the Nurse Joy before depositing my Pokéballs for Smough and Tyrant to be healed up. Technically, Klee could’ve taken up the healing duties instead of bringing them to a Pokécenter, but healing took a lot out of her, so I found that just making use of a Pokécenter was easier.
After that, we went to the nearby vending machines to grab some dinner and we made our way to our reserved rooms, courtesy of Norman. We quickly settled into my room and made sure the egg was placed safely before we sat down to eat our meals. After a moment of quiet eating, Karen spoke up.
“Ok, this honestly shouldn’t be that awkward.” She began with a false bluntness that I felt was a façade to hide her nervousness, “It was just a kiss on the cheek, and I’m probably overreacting, but I need to ask what that kiss meant.”
“Well honestly I wasn’t thinking that hard when I did it.” I admitted while scratching my head, “I was just so excited at your comment that I kissed you, I didn’t really mean anything by it.” I shrugged.
My tone shifted to become more serious and nervous, “I can only apologize if that made you uncomfortable. However, I am willing to say that I still value you as a friend, Karen, but I’m not ready for anything more yet.”
Karen let out a big sigh in relief, which I wasn’t sure if I should be offended by or not, “That’s good…Oh, shit, sorry I didn’t mean it that way.” She quickly backtracked as she saw the hurt spread across my face, “Look, John, I’ve only known you for a short while. And, while yes, I realize that I’m probably to blame as I can be a bit of a flirt thanks to Agatha’s teachings, I do only see you as a friend, and I would rather keep it that way for the time being.” She looked away and couldn’t meet my eyes.
“That’s understandable, and I was thinking the same thing too.” I told Karen honestly, who was looking back at me, “Honestly, I think you’re a great friend, Karen, despite only knowing you for a few days. And I will take the blame for making this situation as awkward as it is. But I’d like to spend some more time with you in Hoenn getting to know you better for the time being.” I admitted with a slight blush.
“Sure, I’d like that too.” Karen said and gave me another one of her sincere smiles. Damn, she really needs to stop doing that.
We held each other’s gazes for a bit before we both simultaneously broke into laughter.
“That was such a stupid thing to be worried about.” Karen laughed out.
“Yes, we really made a big deal out of nothing.” I responded with a smile as I was filled with relief. Inwardly, I hated how my teenage hormones made me act like this. I vowed to myself that I would try harder to keep a lid on them so that I wouldn’t act up like this again. Oh, the horror of going through puberty a second time.
With that little bit of relationship drama out of the way, we both settled in and finished our dinners while returning to our regular small talk. We had a few discussions on how we wanted to infuse the egg with Dark type energy and how we were going to document our experiment.
Though, with both of us airing how we wanted our relationship to move forward for the future, I felt that a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I was happy to be friends and spend time with Karen, but anything more needed to wait until much later.
With dinner done, I split up with Karen as she returned to her own room to start preparing to go to sleep while I headed down to the reception to pick up my healed Pokémon. Pokécenters in this world healed quickly like the games, unless the Pokémon was severely injured to the point where its life was threatened, then they took more time to heal.
“Here you go, sir.” The Nurse Joy greeted me as she returned my now healed Pokémon to me.
“Thank you very much.” I said in response and returned Smough and Tyrant’s Pokéballs to their rightful place on my belt.
“I hope you don’t mind me saying this but thank you for having that battle with Gym Leader Norman.” The Nurse Joy suddenly said to me, which caused me to adopt a look of confusion.
“Uhhh, you’re welcome?” I said confusedly, “I didn’t think it was such a big deal.”
“Well, you might not know this as someone who isn’t from Hoenn, but Gym Leader Norman was not actually born here in Hoenn. He’s actually from Olivine City in Johto but married his wife who is from Hoenn.” She explained, “Which meant that when he was made Gym Leader at Petalburg, there were some that looked down on him because he was a foreigner.”
I frowned when I heard that, I had forgotten that bit of trivia from canon. After my talks and battle with Norman, I considered him a friend, and I was mad for him on his behalf.
“But I watched your battle with him today on the Pokénet, and I’m sure many others have done so as well.” The Nurse Joy continued, “He might have lost, but he did really well today and really showed why he deserves to be the Petalburg Gym Leader. Hopefully, with his good showing from today, he’ll have more respect from the people of Petalburg.”
I nodded as I understood what she was saying. Basically, the situation that Norman was facing was very similar to what I was currently facing as the newest member of the Elite 4. We both had to prove to the public that we deserved our positions through a display of strength and ability.
Although, the fact that Norman was a foreigner and was still able to become a Gym Leader of Hoenn did make me consider a few things that I could apply in Indigo for the future. I thought about how, in canon, Whitney became the Gym Leader of Goldenrod. Could I encourage her to do the same here? If so, it would prove to be a great boon for my goal of achieving unity between Kanto and Johto. It was a very far off goal, but I hoped it would work out.
I broke myself from my thoughts and thanked the Nurse Joy for her explanation but said that she didn’t need to thank me because it really wasn’t a big deal and that I was happy for Norman.
After that, I made my way back to my room, got myself cleaned up, and collapsed on my bed. It’s been a long day. Just before I fell asleep though, I texted my parents to make sure everything was okay and let them that I was doing fine and double checked to make sure the egg was in a safe position. I quickly got a text back that everything was fine, but Whitney had seen my battle against Norman, and she really wants to talk about it soon. I told her I would do so later, then I put my phone away and quickly fell asleep.
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I found out quickly the next morning that the disadvantage of travelling with Karen was that she absolutely refused to be woken up in the mornings. I had already gotten ready and bought breakfast, and yet she still hadn’t left her room yet. I was pretty certain that she hadn’t even woken up yet.
She remained absent even until I finished my breakfast, so eventually I lost my patience and decided to knock on her door and force her awake. After a full minute of knocking on her door, I was finally greeted with the sight of a newly awake, and utterly dishevelled Karen.
“Let me die.” She told me dramatically with barely opened eyes.
“Well, good morning to you too.” I said dryly and she merely groaned unintelligently in response. She really was acting like a zombie, hell, she even looked like one too at the moment.
“Come on, I want to start making our way to Rustboro City today so that I can discuss things with Devon Corp.” I nudged her, but seeing that she remained unwilling I changed tactics, “Come on, didn’t you catch a new Corphish yesterday? Wouldn’t he be excited to come out and play? If you go back to sleep like that, he’ll be very sad in his Pokéball.”
“Ughhhh, fine, let me go get ready.” She finally conceded as she rubbed her eyes sleepily and closed the door on me.
Admittedly, I was worried that she would just close the door and immediately go back to sleep, but not too long later she made her way down and somehow didn’t look like a freshly revived zombie. She had a quick breakfast and then we left for Rustboro City, but we decided to go the scenic route and walk through Petalburg Woods rather than just fly straight to Rustboro.
We quickly bought a few more supplies at the nearby Pokémart before we head off for Petalburg Woods, our luggage transferred into big rucksacks that were far easier to carry. I had also bought an incubator for the egg so that it could hopefully remain undamaged and stored it safely in my rucksack as we travelled.
Karen considered releasing her new Corphish as we walked, but I told her that it might be better to save Corphish’s energy for some potential battles and training in Petalburg Woods, since I was planning to do the same with Pixel, and she agreed.
By noon, we had already made it to the entrance of Petalburg Woods, and we both decided to have a quick lunch before we made our way in. If we had stopped to eat within the woods, we might have attracted a few too many Pokémon with the smell.
With lunch wrapped up, Karen and I released our Corphish and Porygon respectively. From my memory and the research that I did on Petalburg Woods, it was mainly inhabited my weak, ‘lower-level’ Pokémon and it was a suitable area for new trainers to go and train in. Thus, the wild Pokémon there should be at a suitable level for our new captures to battle and train with.
Sure enough, we had only just ventured into Petalburg Woods for a few minutes when a lone Shroomish approached Corphish with a challenging expression. I saw Karen give it a quick glance before nodding and gesturing for Corphish to step up.
“Corphish! Cor!” Corphish snapped his claws in what he thought was a show of aggressiveness, but to me it only looked cute.
“Shroom! Shroomish.” Shroomish growled back, and both Pokémon started circling each other as they continued posturing.
Deciding that the two had done enough posturing, Karen gave her first order. “Okay Corphish, show me what you can do. Hit it with a Slash!”
Corphish charged forward and sliced Shroomish with one of his claws, eliciting a cry of pain from the wild Pokémon. However, Shroomish countered and slammed into Corphish with a Tackle of its own.
“Keep Slashing Corphish!” Corphish surprisingly didn’t wince at the Tackle from the Shroomish and continued Slashing at it until eventually the Shroomish fainted.
“Good job Corphish!” Karen praised, “That was a great first battle!” Corphish raised his claws in the air as he cheered and puffed out slightly at his victory.
“Pory?” Pixel suddenly called out, “Pory. Pory pory.” With Pixel being so new to my team, I still struggled with understanding what it was saying. Pixel evidently caught on to my confusion as it began to gesture with its head towards the fainted Shroomish.
“You want to fight that Shroomish?” I guessed, but Pixel shook its head at that, “OH, uh, you want to fight a Shroomish?” Pixel nodded excitedly and I had to think about it.
Not to look down on Pixel, but I really didn’t feel like it was ready to fight a Shroomish yet. It was still very new to battling, and I really didn’t think it was ready until it got more training in with my own Pokémon. Still, I saw the value in getting some hands-on experience for it, so I made a compromise.
“Hmm, Pixel, I don’t think you’re ready to take on a Shroomish just yet.” I said carefully and I saw Pixel predictably wiggle in frustration, “But, I think I’ll let you battle a Wurmple if we find one. I think you can handle that.” Pixel’s frustration was quickly replaced by excitement and joy as it cheered out with a mechanical whine.
With Pixel’s sudden request sorted out, I nodded to Karen who had been waiting patiently and we headed deeper into the woods. I hung back with Pixel as we watched Corphish take on a few other wild Pokémon, such as Poochyena, Tailow, and Zigzagoon. Sadly, we didn’t come across any Slakoth’s, which I suppose wasn’t that surprising considering that it was supposed to be rare.
Luckily for Pixel, though, we soon ran into a Wurmple and Silcoon pair that was just minding their own business. Sadly, Pixel was too excited to battle and decided that them ‘minding their own business’ was an insufficient excuse to avoid battling, and so quickly approached them and challenged them to fight.
I could tell from the Wurmple’s expression that it was clearly reluctant to battle, but Corphish had joined in on Pixel’s enthusiasm and wanted to continue his winning streak. Thus, the two wild Pokémon had no choice but to fight.
I let Corphish deal with the Silcoon as I focused on aiding Pixel in its battle against Wurmple. “Okay Pixel let’s go. You can do this. Tackle it!” Pixel beeped in response and charged at Wurmple like it had practiced so many times against Smough and rammed into the small Bug type, landing a good blow and knocking the Wurmple back a few paces.
“Keep using Tackle, Pixel, you got this!” Wurmple fired back a String Shot to trip up Pixel but Pixel powered through it with another Tackle that, this time, managed to knock out the Wurmple. Overall, it really wasn’t that exciting of a battle for a trainer at my skill level, but Pixel definitely saw it as the most exciting thing to ever happen to it and was cheering happily as its victory.
“Congratulations Pixel, you won your first battle!” I patted Pixel on the head over its victory against a wild Pokémon that really just wanted to be left alone, and I saw that in the corner of my eye Corphish had already wrapped up his battle with the Silcoon. Despite how simple the battle was, I felt that it helped Pixel get into the right mindset for future training and ensured that it saw that it was making progress and steadily getting stronger.
With the battle wrapped up, we continued making our way through Petalburg Woods mostly uneventfully. Any wild Pokémon that we encountered would either be handled by Corphish or Pixel, and both Karen and I were ready to release our much stronger Pokémon just in case we ran into anything that our two newer captures couldn’t handle. Sadly, we didn’t encounter any Slakoth’s. If we did, I’d definitely catch another one to send to Whitney.
It was late in the evening when we managed to make our way out of Petalburg Woods and into the outskirts of Rustboro City. I asked Karen if she wanted to slow down and camp out for a night or speed up so that we could make our way to Rustboro and hopefully find a room in the Pokécenter. She decided on the latter, so we withdrew our now tired and battered Pokémon and quickened our pace as we walked to Rustboro City.
We arrived just as it started to turn dark, and luckily, we were both able to find rooms for the night at the Pokécenter. We were both pretty tired from today’s walk, but I told Karen that I wanted to get started on our experiment with the egg. She agreed, and we both had a quick shower and scarfed down our dinners before we both went back to my room to check on the egg.
“Okay, how are we doing this?” Karen asked as she carefully inspected the egg. I could tell that she was both equal parts excited and nervous about the experiment.
“Well, it’s not like I’ve ever done this before.” I replied, to which she frowned at. I guess she was hoping that I had a more confident plan or something. “Wait, let me release my Blissey so that she can make sure what we’re doing is safe.”
I released Klee into the room, and she immediately hugged me as she always did. But, this time, she had a look of surprise as she saw Karen sitting next to me. After a short pause for Klee to inspect Karen, she immediately let go of me and glomped Karen with a hug of her own. Karen was briefly surprised at the hug, but eventually returned a hug of her own to Klee.
“Wow, she’s a real hugger, isn’t she?” Karen remarked.
“Yeah, she is. She’s almost a second mother to me.” I said fondly. I watched the two hug for a while before I coughed to regain their attention. “Okay, Klee, sorry to disturb you but I need you to make sure that we aren’t going to be damaging the egg.”
Klee turned back to me with a questioning look, as if asking why we would even consider hurting a Pokémon egg.
“No, we’re not going to be harming the egg on purpose, Klee.” I said placatingly, “But, Karen and I came up with an idea on how we could discover a new evolution line for a Zigzagoon. We think that if we can infuse the egg with Dark type energy, then we can create an alternate form of Zigzagoon that would be a Dark type. But we need you to make sure that we aren’t harming the egg while doing so.” I told her.
I could tell that most of what I said flew over Klee’s head, but she understood the ‘not damaging the egg’ part and so nodded and proceeded to carefully inspect the egg and started monitoring it.
“Ok, Karen, I want you to use your most skilled Pokémon at manipulating Dark type energy.” I told her, and she nodded and thought for a bit before releasing her Umbreon. With two Pokémon and two people sharing one room at once, it was starting to get a little crammed.
“Umbreon?” The Umbreon barked out confusedly. Karen began explaining to the Umbreon what they were doing with the egg as I turned my attention back to Klee.
“Any problems?” I asked Klee, and fortunately she shook her head. I looked back at Karen, and she gave me a nod to show that Umbreon understood its, no his, assignment.
“Ok, are we ready?” I asked the Umbreon, and I got a nod in return as it began to release a very faint and weak burst of Dark type energy that slowly seeped into the egg.
I saw that Klee’s eyes were narrowed in focus as she continued staring at the egg, making sure that there was nothing going wrong and that the Zigzagoon inside remained healthy and unharmed.
“Should we send another pulse of Dark energy?” Karen asked Klee. Klee went over the egg once more before giving a careful nod. With that, Umbreon sent out another weak pulse of Dark energy towards the egg that was also quickly absorbed.
We repeated this process a few more times, each time double checking with Klee to make sure that things remained safe. Although we had allowed a few pulses of Dark energy to be absorbed by the egg, we noticed no noticeable change in the egg’s outer appearance, nor did Klee or Umbreon notice any changes happening to the Zigzagoon inside the egg.
We decided to stop it there for the night, both because we didn’t want to accidentally damage the egg by sending too much Dark type energy in a short period of time, and also because it was getting late.
I was about to return Klee to her Pokéball but she waved her hands as if she wanted to say something.
“Bliss…Blissey Blissey?” My eyes widened as I listened to Klee’s suggestion. Of course! I totally forgot that I could use Klee’s Fairy type moves to disperse any excess Dark type energy in case the egg absorbed too much of it.
“Thank you, Klee, that was a great suggestion. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.” I praised Klee, giving her a thankful hug that she returned before I withdrew her back into her Pokéball. Karen gave me questioning look, but I just shook my head at that. She let it go but asked me a question of her own.
“So, what do you think of the today’s process with the egg?” She asked with a bit of disappointment. I guess she was hoping that we would make noticeable progress today.
“Well, I wasn’t that surprised that nothing occurred honestly.” I told her, “I didn’t think that a night’s work of infusing Dark type energy would be enough to change a Pokémon’s typing while they are still in an egg. It probably takes a lot more work than that.” I answered honestly.
“That’s true.” She nodded her head in acceptance before letting out a sigh. “I guess I was just really hoping that this experiment would work out. Not just because we’d be able to discover a new Pokémon if it really works, but also because it’d give me the fame that I need to prepare for a run for the Elite 4.” Karen admitted.
I rubbed my mouth thoughtfully at that. I hadn’t previously considered how Karen would run for the Elite 4, but now that she had explained it makes sense why she wants this experiment to work out. But I remembered how, despite my discoveries of two new evolutions, I still didn’t have much personal influence so when I was made an Elite 4, they side-lined me to Hoenn.
I told her my thoughts and I got a sad nod in return.
“I know that. But your discoveries still gave you a measure of personal influence for when you eventually became an Elite 4. If I also made a big discovery, then if Walker does retire or get kicked out and a spot becomes open on the Elite 4, then having this discovery would make me a better candidate to be chosen. I would show another aspect of myself that isn’t just my ability at battling…I would be known as something more than just being Agatha’s apprentice.” She said seriously.
I could tell that she was a bit bitter and nervous about her chances of joining the Elite 4, and I could certainly empathize with her. I gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulders, and she gave me small smile as thanks.
“I believe you can do it, Karen.” I told her sincerely, “Regardless of whether this experiment is a success, I truly believe you can make it to the Elite 4 on your merits alone, and not just because you are Agatha’s apprentice.”
“Thank you, John.” She said with a slight frailness that I hadn’t seen on her before, “I hope that one day we can both be in the Elite 4 together.”
“Yes, that would be great.” I said with a slight chuckle, “In the meanwhile, I’ll support you all the way.”
I decided to take a risk and give her a gentle hug to reassure her, and luckily, she returned my hug. We stayed like that for a while before she eventually calmed herself and thanked me for my reassurance before heading back to her room to sleep.
I stared briefly at her retreating back before I got up and showered and prepared to go to bed. With a quick check on the egg and a few texts to my parents, I fell onto my bed as all the exhaustion seemed to hit me all at once and promptly fell asleep.
A.N A bit of a slow chapter, but I hoped to clarify John and Karen’s relationship as well as just giving them a few more moments together. They aren’t ready to jump into a relationship, but I hope that I showed that they still care for each other despite their short friendship.
Also, I know that Corphish isn’t supposed to have Slash unless it comes via an egg move. But that’s just dumb. It has claws. It will use them.
