The New Normal - A Pokémon Elite 4 SI by CartecFF

Chapter 26: 100-103

The New Normal – 5-14 – Interlude – Pokenet Reactions

[A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES! ELITE JOHN ISSUED OFFICIAL CHALLENGE BY CHALLENGER BRUNO! WHO WILL WIN?!] by The Indigo Post

We got some exciting news today that threatens to knock over the entire political scene of Indigo as Challenger Bruno has issued an official challenge to Elite John for his position in the Elite Four! If John is unseated, who knows how that will change or affect the political landscape of Indigo!?

But first, as many of you are likely asking, who is Bruno and does he have a shot at winning? After doing some research on our mysterious challenger, we can find that he's not so mysterious after all! Though many of our readers may have forgotten, Bruno is actually the winner of the Indigo Conference from two years ago and is a Fighting type specialist who uniquely only used pure Fighting type Pokémon. But he never went onto making a challenge towards the Elite Four, choosing instead to withdraw to somewhere unknown to continue his training.

That is some hardcore dedication to training!

Considering that he is now here to challenge Elite John, we can safely assume that he has completed his training and is now ready to test himself against a worthy opponent.

Looking at his previous team that he had used to narrowly win the Indigo Conference, Bruno fielded a trio of Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, and Hitmontop, followed by a Primeape, Hariyama, and a Machamp. Since he has continued to only use these 6 Pokémon during the many fighting tournaments that he had participated in during these two years, this writer suspects that this may be the team that Bruno employs against John as well.

This writer is very excited to see what happens and who will come out on top, especially after Lorelei's defeat of Walker. Will we see another shake-up in Indigo? Who will win? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Comments

FutureAce

Woah! This came out of nowhere! Really didn't expect John of all people to be challenged. I mean, I get that Bruno has a type advantage over him, but surely there were easier targets for him to choose if he just wanted to get into the Elite Four?

After all, John BEAT Drake. Doesn't Bruno know how strong Drake was?

FlyingHigh

Bruno couldn't have challenged anyone but John or Agatha at the moment, since Will and Lorelei are still protected by their one-month grace period. But you're right. Wouldn't it be smarter for Bruno to just have waited for the grace period to expire before making a challenge? Seems like he jumped the gun to me.

ANormalFan

LETS GO JOHN! Can't wait to see him smash another contender to the ground! Honestly, I have to thank Bruno for giving us the opportunity to see John in action again. We haven't seen much of him since his battle against Giovanni!

KantoRepresent

Really hope John doesn't lose. He's been a huge part of restoring Kanto's economy and losing his influence in the Elite Four would be a deathblow to our recent recovery. Plus, Bruno replacing John would mean that the Elite Four would be unfairly balanced towards Johto, which is unacceptable!

Rooting for John to win!

FightClub

FINALLY! SOMEONE WITH THE BRAINS TO USE THE RIGHT TYPE TO ACTUALLY WIN A FIGHT! JUST YOU WAIT ALL, BRUNO IS GOING TO CRUSH JOHN AND HIS PATHETIC TEAM, BEFORE BEATING UP LANCE'S DRAGONS AS WELL! AND BRUNO KNOWS WHATS UP WITH A PURE FIGHTING TYPE TEAM. NO IMPURITIES HERE!

FIGHTING TYPE CRUSHES ALL! YOU ALL FOOLS WILL SEE THE TRUE STRENGTH OF THE STRONGEST TYPE! ALL HAIL THE NEW ELITE FOUR MEMBER! ALL HAIL THE STRENGTH OF FIGHTING TYPES!

TangelaThoughts

Wish we knew more about Bruno outside of his battling abilities. He's obviously a capable battler, but just in case he does actually win I'd want to know more about his political leanings and what his plans are for Indigo. Being an effective member of the Elite Four is more than just being a good battler, after all!

FightClub

THAT'S JUST COWARD TALK! Being in the Elite Four should only be about STRENGTH! Who cares if you can 'talk' and 'be political'! The Elite Four is about WHO IS STRONGEST!

AND FIGHTING TYPES ARE THE STRONGEST OF ALL! FINALLY WE WILL BE ABLE TO HAVE AN ACTUALLY STRONG TRAINER IN THE ELITE FOUR! INSTEAD OF THESE DISGRACES WITH THEIR WEAK TYPINGS!

FlyingHigh

...Are you really calling AGATHA a disgrace?!

===========

[ELITE JOHN HOLDS HIS POSITION! DEFEATING CHALLENGER BRUNO IN A BRUTAL BRAWL!] by BattleCast

In a match that deserves to be watched by everyone, John has managed to hold his Elite Four title and defeated the challenger Bruno in a brawl that was equally as exciting as the match that we got between Champion Lance and Ex-Champion Pryce! This was really a showdown between two excellent close-range fighters, and Bruno really put up a show today!

Throughout the first few rounds of the fight, there were moments where this writer believed that Bruno could turn his initial disadvantage around to winning the match. Bruno's Pokémon really showed off their trainings and skills, managing to overcome the inherent weaknesses found in his entire team of pure-Fighting types.

That move of his that managed to dispel John's Psychic attacks? And to use it with such casual ease? Incredible! And really speaks to the training that Bruno must have undergone with his Pokémon. This writer didn't even know it could be done! It really goes to show just how much Bruno has managed to push the limits of what it means to be a Fighting type specialist.

But John definitely had a few tricks up his sleeve too! This writer has no idea what John did to train his Clefable, but it was able to almost shrug off Bruno's devastatingly powerful Fighting type attacks, which should have been supereffective!

Not only that, but John then reminded all of us how and why he earned his position in the Elite Four by sending out his powerful Ursaluna to finally crush Bruno's hopes of winning the fight by knocking out Bruno's Hariyama in a very tense and exciting all-out brawl between the two. The two really gave us a powerful showing of what it means to fight at the Elite level as they both hammered the other with back-and-forth exchanges of devastating attacks.

Though John's Ursaluna came out the victor in their final exchange, Hariyama certainly proved itself to be a formidable opponent for Ursaluna to face. And this was the Pokémon that defeated Drake's Salamence! A well-known and dominant powerhouse!

And then, to top this already excellent battle off, Bruno made a direct challenge to John for the two of them to duel with their starters. John accepted, and we discovered a previously forgotten side of John's Slaking; its sheer variety of moves. While you may be forgiven for thinking that John's Slaking was nothing more than a VERY powerful brute, John reminded the world today that his Slaking WAS a capable long-range attacker with a huge versatile movepool that he could capitalize on even when not engaging in close range.

That was, until John secured his victory with a savage beatdown of Bruno's Machamp after tanking through Machamp's onslaught of attacks.

With the match over, we here at BattleCast have been analysing the...[Click here to continue reading]

Comments

ANormalFan

@FightClub HAHAHAHHAHA WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR MIGHTY FIGHTING TYPES NOW?! Bruno lost! Who's the fool now? LOL!

FlyingHigh

I just went on FightClub's profile, and I think he deleted everything since I can't see anything. Uh, guess he couldn't stand up to the shame after his previous declaration? RIP, you won't be missed.

ANormalFan

HAHAHA! Who's the coward now! Running off in shame because he looked bad HAHAHAHAH!

DragonPower

This is why Dragon types are better! You won't ever see a Dragon trainer running off in shame like that! We're too strong for that! This is what happens when you support the wrong type! HAHAHAHA!

FutureAce

WHAT A BATTLE! I really thought Bruno had a chance for a second there, who knew that Slaking could actually use Special Attacks like that? The article was right – I thought it to be nothing more than just another physical fighter in his team!

And after seeing Lance's starter Dragonite, I'm starting to wonder who is stronger! Oooh this is so exciting!

KantoRepresent

Thank Arceus that John won. I was wracked with worry that he might have lost and that Johto would once again continue to oppress Kanto again. Luckily that didn't happen.

ILoveGoldenRod

Chill, dude. Just learn to celebrate a cool victory like the rest of us. Johto will have its chance to shine again later anyways.

EDIT: Though I am curious on what Bruno would be like as an Elite Four member if he won. What kind of policies would he try to bring in?

TangelaThoughts

Welp, that was a battle. I've seen a lot of people heap praise on Slaking, deservingly so, but I'm curious on how Clefable managed to withstand Bruno's attacks for so long? That's more impressive to me.

Definitely don't think we will be seeing any more challenges to John for the future. Not after that performance. John really crushed it there, and his strength was clearly on full display. In my opinion, he's easily the second strongest amongst the Elite Four so far, tied with Agatha.

Maybe it's time for one of the other Elite Four to be challenged next? My vote is on Lorelei! Maybe even Will – he's not been tested either!

SlugmaBalls

Huh. After watching that battle, I'm no longer as disappointed at Drake's loss to John now. I mean, that was crazy. John's Slaking is insane. How in Arceus did it get so strong?

But now I'm wondering how a fight would go between Drake's Salamence and John's Slaking. Slaking doesn't have Ursaluna's geokinesis, so maybe Salamence could kite him in the air?

Gardevoir34

I'm petitioning for a fight between Bruno and John. No Pokémon. Just themselves. And their sweaty bodies...

FlyingHigh

@Gardevoir34 Absolutely not. And I hate you for putting that image in my head.

The New Normal – 5-15 – Strategies and Schemes

Surprisingly, my parents weren't home when I got back from my match against Bruno. Though they did send me a text saying that they watched my final duel between our starters and congratulated me for my victory. I lumped those in with the rest of the congratulations I got from practically everyone I knew.

Lance in particular was very happy about it. "I'm glad that you won, John. We don't need any more reshuffling in the Elite Four anytime soon." He told me. "We, as in the rest of the Elite Four, watched your match together. I swear I heard Will breathe a sigh of relief when you won; he said he didn't want to work with a musclehead like Bruno."

"Bruno didn't seem that bad." I tried to defend him, "He just...doesn't seem very interested in dealing with politics."

"That's already bad enough." Lance deadpanned, "Anyways, I'll leave you to your rest. You more than deserve it. We can talk soon."

I went to bed straight after that phone call, too tired to do anything else. The next morning, my parents had returned home from whatever they were dealing with, and I found them stumbling towards the breakfast table looking like they hadn't slept a wink. Which might have been true.

To be fair, I wasn't looking much better either. After I came down from the high of my victory against Bruno, I was quickly reminded of the MANY responsibilities and meetings that I had pushed back in favour of my continued training, and I had spent the entirety of last night trying to sort through those in order of urgency to see what I had to address first.

"You doing okay there, son?" My dad asked as he practically collapsed into his seat, "You look as bad as we do. Thought you'd be happy about your victory. Oh, and congratulations again on that."

"Thanks, and I was. Until I remembered about all the meetings that I had missed." I grumbled tiredly as I idly fiddled with the TV remote. "I have a meeting to get to with the Sinnoh scientists later."

"Ah. Well, good luck with that." He said tiredly, visibly holding back a yawn, "Hope you get used to adult life soon. It isn't as fun as you might have thought."

I nodded, "How's the business looking? You handle the stuff from yesterday?" I asked.

My dad sighed, "Things are going well, it's just busy. Expanding means making decisions and doing last-minute organisation when things inevitably go wrong. It's just very tiring, but things are going fine with the Johto branch."

"Oh, well good luck with that." I said. "I could help, but I'm not sure if I have the time."

He waved me off, "Don't worry about it. You just focus on your own business. Your mom and I can handle it..." He said as he broke out into a yawn.

The two of us fell into a comfortable silence as we waited for mom to serve breakfast. We let the TV play idly as we waited. Coincidentally, the news was playing a re-run of their interview with Bruno yesterday, where he thanked everyone for a great battle.

He also stated that he did not intend to make any further challenges before the year was up and that he reaffirmed his promise to seek greater challenges to test himself. He would not let one defeat stop his strive for improvement.

I was about to tune the TV out before they switched over to something far more interesting.

'...And following on from John's victory over Bruno, we have some exciting news to share as well. According to anonymous reports that our network has received, which has also gained traction over the Pokenet, the Sinnoh League are looking to open their borders soon! We haven't heard much official word from the Sinnoh League, but when we reached out to Elite Bertha for confirmation, she simply said that she was 'unable to comment' and did not outright deny the claims!'

'This is some very exciting news for the whole of Indigo! We might be seeing access to the new region of Sinnoh and their Pokémon very soon!'

My eyes blinked blearily as I listened to the newscaster continue to explain the wonders of Sinnoh and how the opening of their borders would affect us. It was a pleasant surprise to hear that the borders were opening; this might have been a development that I had missed while I was busy training for Bruno.

...I guess I could just ask Professor Carolina for more information.

Soon enough, my parents and I finished up with our breakfasts before we left for our separate jobs. I made my way to Vermillion City, where Professor Carolina and the rest of the Sinnoh scientists have set up a temporary facility there.

It took a bit of time before I found their facility, but eventually I landed just outside of a non-descript and plain-looking apartment building that really didn't look like a research facility at all. The only way I recognized it was because of a small sign planted out front that read "Kanto-branch, Celestic Town Research Center".

I made my way in, and the newly hired receptionist at the front barely even glanced at me before gesturing for me to follow her, evidently expecting my arrival when I had contacted them last night.

I was promptly delivered directly to Professor Carolina's office, which I entered after a short knock on the door.

"Ah, John, congratulations again for your victory. Please, come in." Carolina said as she got up and greeted me.

"Thank you. And I'm sorry for being unavailable for the past 2 weeks." I responded.

"Nonsense. You had your own priorities." She waved me off, "Anyways, now that you're here, could you please come with me to the experiment room. We can talk as we walk."

I nodded and followed her out of her office. As we walked, I looked around and found the interior of the building to be surprisingly modern, looking nothing like the plain exterior suggested.

Carolina speaking up pulled me back from my sightseeing, "Also, I hope that you have a free afternoon. There's someone who wants to meet you after we get done with all the experimenting."

I shot her a curious look, "Sure, I'm free. But who is it?"

"Just someone with the authority needed to approve a few things we might be discussing." She said cryptically. My eyes narrowed with further curiosity, but I let the topic slide for now.

"Right...well, anyways, can I know what we are going to be doing today?" I asked.

"Ever since our last meeting, my team and I have been busy gathering as much data as we could from back home at Sinnoh and here in Indigo." She explained, "Mainly, we prioritized gathering data regarding the native Ursaring and Stantler to see if there are any particular differences between them. There aren't."

She continued, "Now that we've done that, we've been looking to try to recreate the conditions listed in your article to see if we can replicate your evolutions. Unfortunately, scientists aren't the best at getting powerful and prideful Pokémon like Ursaring and Stantler to obey them, so we've been having a bit of trouble on that front." She said, chagrined.

"But, to hopefully streamline that process, we want to run some tests on your Ursaluna and Wyrdeer to see what they look like and how they compare to their unevolved forms." She finished.

"Oh, sure. No problem." I said, before shooting her a hesitant expression as I looked around the room. "But...I'm not entirely sure if this building is built for something of Ursaluna's size."

"Don't worry, we've taken that into account when the construction was done here." She reassured me. "And that's why we're heading to the basement. It's much safer that way."

I nodded and the two of us fell silent as we made our way to the basement for the tests. Once we arrived, Carolina immediately began barking out orders to the scientists and they all scrambled to get things ready for my Pokémon.

As I waited for them, I suddenly had a thought that I immediately brought to Carolina.

"Say, if your scientists are having problems with training the Ursaring and Stantler, why not hire some professional trainers to help you with that." I suggested. "They likely would have much more experience than your scientists and would probably help make sure things are being done correctly. Training powerful Pokémon and researching them are two different skillsets, after all."

Carolina looked at me contemplatively as she thought about my suggestion. After a moment to think, she responded. "It's been suggested by one of my scientists before, but it was initially shot down as we wanted to have more control over the process. But...now that we're running into problems, I could see the merit in what you've suggested."

She tapped her finger on her elbow, "...I'll bring it up at the next meeting. Thanks for the suggestion." She said to me.

"The trainers you hire might be more incentivised if you let them keep the Ursaluna or Wyrdeer that they manage to evolve." I added. "That way, you can ensure that they'll put their all into training them, all the while you get to monitor them and their progress. Or, you could even add in a condition that after their evolution that they would have to report in every once in a while, for further testing."

Carolina nodded, "That seems prudent, yes. We don't particularly need to keep an Ursaluna or a Wyrdeer on hand, just their data, so this would serve to get rid of two problems at the same time."

And this meant that they wouldn't need to ask me to come in all the time just to monitor my Ursaluna or my Wyrdeer. As much as I didn't mind coming in, I felt that this was just the most reasonable course of action that they could pursue.

With that out of the way, and with the equipment finally set up, I released Vordt and Klaus for them to analyse and then spent the next half hour patiently waiting for the scientists to do their thing.

Amusingly, both Klaus and Vordt wore pleased expressions as they allowed the scientists to poke and prod them with their science machinery. Especially when a random scientists would gasp or make awed expressions as they studied them. Nothing too dramatic, but just enough to let me know that they were suitably impressed by what they found. Perhaps my Pokémon felt like this was a type of 'showing off' for them? Strange, but not unwelcome.

The scientists carried on for a bit longer before they were finally done with their tests, and Vordt and Klaus were returned to me. A few of the scientists trundled off to inspect their latest results, but Carolina and I stuck around so that she could speak to me further.

"Thanks for waiting." She said as she approached me, "And if you could make your way to my office first, I think our latest guest is waiting for you there. I'll join you shortly." She gestured to a nearby intern to escort me.

I nodded and made my way to her office, before I was greeted by a very surprising sight as I found Bertha sitting there patiently in her office.

"Ah, John, it's nice to meet you again." She said kindly, her eyes crinkling as she spoke.

"Oh? Didn't expect to see you here, but it is nice to see you." I admit, "You must be the one that Carolina said wanted to meet me."

"Yes. I had a few things I wanted to discuss with you." She told me, "But first, how have you been? I saw your recent battle against Bruno, very good work on that."

"Um, thank you. It was a tough fight, but I'm glad I got through it." I replied, before I remembered about today's news report about the rumours from Sinnoh. "Say, Bertha, do you know anything about that report about Sinnoh opening their borders?"

"Ah, yes, of course I do." She smiled conspiratorially, "I'm just officially not allowed to say anything. Though, unofficially...that's another matter."

Oh, I was beginning to understand, "So, hypothetically, is there any truth to the matter?"

"Hmm...how do I put this..." She muttered, "Traditionally, it is well-known that the current Committee in Sinnoh are staunchly against the opening of our borders and have been frequently stonewalling such attempts out of some ridiculous idea of traditionalism. However, there have been reports that there is a growing desire from the public that disagrees with this view."

I nodded in understanding, so she continued, "...In more recent times, this growing desire has swelled up significantly, and it has become a major point of contention within our political circles. These rumours about us opening our borders may simply be an attempt to increase the pressure on the Sinnoh Committee to stop being so stubborn and to open our borders."

Right, I understood what she was trying to tell me. Basically, to get around the fact that the Committee members were trying to stall their opening of borders with Indigo, there was an idea in Sinnoh to subvert the Committee and push for the opening of the borders regardless.

I wasn't entirely sure if Bertha was supportive of such ideas, but considering her behaviour and the way she described the situation, I strongly suspected that she favoured them. But seeing that she was purposely being vague about her own leanings, I didn't push her any further.

Then Bertha leaned back casually on her chair and switched topics, "Anyways, I had another reason to invite myself over, which I'm sure Carolina will bring up when she gets back."

"Yes, I did." A voice suddenly said from the door, and I turned around to see Carolina coming into the room. "Thanks for waiting, John, and nice to see you again Bertha."

She continued as we nodded, "Returning back to the topic at hand...John, I have not forgotten our previous promise to grant you access to Sinnoh's ruins. After speaking it over with Bertha, she has agreed to submit a request to the Sinnoh League to grant you permission to come over as a temporary explorer to the Celestic Town Research Center."

"What that means is, assuming permission is granted, that you'll have access to any ruins that are under the umbrella of our research center." She explained, "I'll be happy for you to capture any Pokémon you find, so long as the capture of which doesn't affect the ecosystem that they were found in."

Bertha cut in, "I don't exactly have a timeframe of when you could be sent over here. It might be after the border opens, or before it. It would depend on both the decisions of the leaders of both regions. Sorry if that crushes your hopes a little."

"I don't mind. I'm just thankful for the opportunity regardless. Even so, I'm definitely very happy with the arrangement." I replied with a smile, "And, not to sabotage anything, but why invite me over like this?"

"Us Sinnoh natives have always prided ourselves on our region's rich culture and history. There's no harm in creating a positive impression in showing that off to an influential member of the Indigo Elite Four." Bertha smiled wryly. "Especially when that Elite Four member has been known to promote unity and international cooperation." Which she supported, was what she didn't need to say.

"Besides, we have been trying hard to get a head start in integrating ourselves with the rest of the international scientific community." Carolina added, "Even if its just for show, having you working alongside us, with your strong scientific reputation, would only help us grab a foothold within the scientific community. It's a win-win for everyone."

"Well, like I said, I'm not about to say no." I grinned, "But I probably would have to arrange things with Lance to make sure I'm actually free to head to Sinnoh." No need to risk stepping on any toes.

"We can send a joint message together." Bertha responded, "We can phrase it as 'developing inter-regional relations' or something. I'm sure he wouldn't say no. It's our own Committee that I'm more concerned about".

I nodded, though I felt like I had to bring something up, "That's true, but I do also have my own commitments and meetings, even outside my usual duties as a member of the Elite Four. Meaning that I might not be able to head out to Sinnoh for very long – maybe no more than 2 weeks at a time."

As much as I'd like to take a vacation in Sinnoh to just explore the ruins and capture new Pokémon, my earlier decisions to take a bigger role in the development of Cerulean and the continuous strive for greater unity in Indigo means that I'm not able to just set aside those political commitments for too long. I'd have to return eventually to check up on things.

But even then, two weeks was more than enough time to really get things done in Sinnoh. It gave me enough time to explore the region and/or catch whatever Pokémon I wanted to add onto my team. Overall, it was still an excellent opportunity.

Luckily, Carolina seemed to be understanding, "That's alright. We took into account that you may have had other commitments, and I promise you that the Celestic Town Research Centre can easily accommodate you regardless of your own personal schedule. It's really no burden to us to host you there."

I thanked her for her consideration, and we got started talking about the arrangements for my journey to Sinnoh. Bertha informed that she would be sending messages to both her League and to Lance to request for permission for me to head over.

After that, Carolina and I fell into a discussion about the ruins that were available to be explored. She explained that the Celestic Town Research Center had access to not only the Celestic Ruins, but also the large and mostly unexplored cave network connected to the North, near Snowpoint. She told me that the cave network was a relatively new discovery, and that they hoped that they could make some interesting discoveries regarding it soon.

"If you don't mind, I could employ a tour guide for you." Carolina says to me, "You probably need someone who would be more familiar with the layout of the ruins, since they can be pretty dangerous to someone who is unfamiliar with cave exploration, so the use of a tour guide is probably prudent."

"Oh yeah, sure. No problem." I replied, curious about who she would employ. "I'll leave it in your hands."

We continued discussing a few matters for a bit longer before Bertha excused herself since she had other duties to attend. Similarly, Carolina realized how much time had gone by and said the same, saying that she had to get back to her research. After a quick exchange of thanks, we parted ways.

I headed home with a slight skip in my step; I was very happy with the arrangement to head to Sinnoh. I wasn't sure WHEN I would be allowed to go, but just being able to be given the opportunity to head to Sinnoh and catch whatever Pokémon I found that I wanted to include to my team, was more than enough for me.

As soon as I got home, I was about to head back to my room to sort out my other meetings before I received a phone call from an unexpected caller. Joseph Stone was calling.

"Hello?" I answered.

"John, it's Joseph. I hope you're doing well, and congrats on the win!" He said cheerily.

"Thank you, and yes, I'm doing well. How can I help you?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to let you know that my son, Steven, is in Indigo right now." He said, surprising me, "I don't really need you to do anything about that, this is just a courtesy call after all. But if you don't mind, could I share your number with him so that he knows who to contact if something goes wrong? I'll give you his as well."

It was an...unusual request, but I didn't see the harm in it, "Sure, no problem. Is he looking to challenge the Gyms?"

"He sure is. Said that he's doing it as warm up before he goes and challenges the Hoenn Elite Four." Joseph boasted proudly, "He might be making a public statement soon, though I'm taking my hands off it. He said he wanted to achieve things himself."

"I see, well thank you for telling me." I reply, "And it's been good catching up with you."

"Nonsense, I heard from Shelly that you've done much for our new branch in Viridian and with the research into Porygon. I'm very thankful for your contributions." He chuckled.

"Anyways, if you need anything, please let me know. I'll do my best to accommodate you." He told me, and after exchanging numbers with him I thanked him before ending the call.

Steven Stone being in Indigo was definitely an interesting thing to note. I made a mental note to at least speak to him while he was here. No harm making acquaintances with a possible future Champion.

After that busy day, I collapsed into my bed as I idly browsed through the Pokénet, just to see what people were talking about. Unsurprisingly, there were many articles about my match against Bruno, but there was also an article or two about Karen's recent actions in Pewter.

I read through and smirked. Apparently, she had done a complete overhaul of the Gym, ripping everything out by the roots and starting all over again. She performed a full audit, practically replaced all of the current staff, and was leveraging whatever personal connections she had to fill in as staff members.

It was still slow going, but I could foresee the success of Karen's efforts here. I made sure to send Karen the article – she deserved to know she was doing well.

Besides that, many were trying to analyse the reasons for my victory. Something that I noticed was that many were trying to deduce the reason behind Luna's initial victory. That reminded me that I still had a lot to improve on in terms of my team's training; I had apparently not covered my weakness to Fighting types as well as I thought I might have. That needed to be worked on.

And I probably needed to train up my 'weaker' Pokémon up a bit more. The fight against Bruno showed that there was much to improve on with Zephyr, Luna, and Klaus.

Furthermore, the more observant pointed out in a few articles that there were inconsistencies in the fight that couldn't be attributed to just 'good training'. They suspected that there was more at play here that they simply didn't understand yet.

I frowned; I figured that the secret of the Fairy type was about to be realized soon. But the question was, what could I do about it?

The New Normal – 5-16 – INTERLUDE – Whitney

Whitney slowly stirred awake after a good night's rest, feeling refreshed and relieved from yesterday's journey towards Saffron City from Celadon. Ever since Janine had joined their little group, they had been taking things much slower as she had said.

Firstly, they had spent a few days earning Sabrina and her Flying Licenses at Celadon. Whitney easily aced those tests, but Sabrina had a bit more trouble and had a couple of close calls. But they both passed.

Then, with their licenses secured, they each shilled out to rent a single large Fearow to carry them from city to city, as they didn't have a Flying type which was large enough to actually carry the three of them. Whitney vowed to train up her newly evolved Noctowl to be able to do so; renting Pokémon was expensive!

And so, the three of them had slowed down and spent a few days helping Janine collect the first few Gym badges. They went in the recommended order, but wow was she surprised when she found out that Karen was Janine's opponent in Pewter. Clearly, she had slacked on reading the news to miss out such a momentous appointment.

She was happy for Karen, though. It seemed like she fit in well with her new role.

Janine still had no problem defeating Karen of course; the latter was restricted to making use of 1st badge Pokémon. But still, she remembered the smug smirk on Karen's face when she knocked out Janine's Koffing with a Self-Destruct from her Geodude. That really took Janine by surprise.

And the surprises didn't stop there. The Waterflower sisters were also a much greater challenge than before, fielding a greater variety of Pokémon that were definitely more well-trained than when Whitney faced them. However, she didn't let herself become jealous of that, instead choosing to be thankful that her brother seemed to be making great strides in improving Cerulean City.

Even with those changes though, Janine proved herself to be a talented trainer and swiftly earning herself the Thunder and Rainbow badge. All the while, Sabrina and Whitney continued to train up their Pokémon, especially their newer captures, so that they could have a more well-balanced team.

And thus, this was where they found themselves now. With Janine understandably choosing to leave Fuschia City for later, probably before Giovanni, they had made their way to Saffron City to prepare to face off against the Saffron Gym, and Sabrina's parents.

She was excited to meet Sabrina's parents! Especially if they had any more embarrassing stories about Sabrina's childhood. Those were always fun.

She felt even better when she realized that her alarm had yet to ring, meaning that she still had a few precious minutes to snuggle and just enjoy the comfiness of the blankets.

Of course, that hope was quickly dashed.

"You have awoken. Please get up." A voice appeared next to her, and Whitney was startled awake, almost falling out of the bed in surprise.

That surprise quickly turned to annoyance as she realized who this intruder was.

"Janine...please don't just break into my room." She sighed out, taking a breath to calm herself down, "You know we've talked about this."

Janine looked down at the floor sullenly, "Sorry...I am just used to being ready to go before sunrise. It is typical of ninja to always be prepared."

Great, now Whitney felt bad. Putting up a reassuring smile on her face, she patted Janine gently on the shoulder. "I'm not mad, just surprised at your sudden entry. If you want to wake us up normally, please just knock on the door."

Janine nodded, so Whitney continued in a brighter tone, "Anyways, feel free to stay if you like. I'm going to get ready for today."

Whitney then went about her morning ablutions. While doing so, she idly thought to herself that, sometimes, interacting with her friends was more akin to herding Meowth more than anything else. She smiled wryly at the realisation that she was likely the only sane person of her group.

Despite this, she wouldn't trade her friends for anything. In her eyes, their weird quirks were just part of what made them so unique.

As she was almost done with her morning routine, she spoke up once again, "Janine, why don't you go wake Sabrina up? You know how she gets in the mornings."

Janine frowned but nodded, "...Her psychic powers are annoying to deal with."

Whitney let out a chuckle, "She's doing better now. She was a lot more...loose with her power originally."

"That might be the case, but being unable to make use of my nin- training is frustrating. I swear I will find a way to push back against her psychic hold." She said as she left the room.

Mentally, Whitney wished Janine the best of luck on that front. She knew that Janine was undoubtedly her father's daughter and was easily the most physically trained girl that she knew. But Sabrina's psychic prowess was on another level entirely.

Still, she was on Janine's side. Sabrina had been getting a little too smug with her developing psychic powers. Maybe some humility would be funny.

Anyways, she finished off her morning preparations and made her way down for breakfast. Knowing the other two's antics, they would join her shortly.

Sure enough, just as she found a seat at the Pokécenter's cafeteria, the other two made their way down, looking like a study in contrasts. Sabrina looked utterly pristine, without a hair out of place, while Janine looked like she had just come out of a Hurricane. It was clear who the victor was.

The three of them ate their breakfast silently for a moment before Janine broke the silence, "We are visiting your parents today, right?" She said to Sabrina.

"Yes." She confirmed, with a hint of nervousness in her voice. "It...will be nice to see them after so long. I hope they will be happy with my progress."

"Of course they will!" Whitney said immediately, patting Sabrina on the shoulder reassuringly, "You've gotten far stronger. And I've overheard some of your conversations on the phone. Relax, they'll be happy to see you!"

Sabrina shot Whitney a small smile, and the trio returned to finishing up their breakfast. At first, Whitney suggested that they meet up with Sabrina's parents as early as possible, but Sabrina surprisingly disagreed and said she wanted to at least spend the morning training up their Pokémon even more first.

Whitney suspected that Sabrina just wanted to show off as best as she could, so easily agreed. They could meet up later in the afternoon anyways.

Thus, after breakfast, the trio made their way to the training fields, where they all released their Pokémon.

She broke out into a smile as she gazed upon the newly evolved form of her Noctowl, which had evolved in one of her training sessions during the time Janine was going through the Gyms. Her Jigglypuff, however, had sadly yet to evolve. She had yet to locate a Moon Stone, and while her brother did offer to help her look for one, Whitney asked him to give her some time to try to find one herself.

And besides, she felt like she should train up her Jigglypuff more before initiating the evolution. Jigglypuff was still her weakest Pokémon, and she felt like a lot more work could be done securing the basics before she evolved.

Speaking of evolved, Sabrina had also recently evolved her Natu into a Xatu, as well as catching a new Staryu. Whitney knew that Sabrina was tempted to capture a Drowzee, but Whitney successfully persuaded her to catch a purely physical attacker next for a more balanced team. Sabrina agreed.

"So, are we sparring again?" Janine asked as she approached with her starter Golbat, Ariados, and Koffing following behind her.

"Standard pairings." Whitney nodded, "Loudred still needs more practice handling your fast Golbat."

"I want Xatu to face off against your Ariados this time." Sabrina added, "I need to work on her attacks."

"Then since Kadabra needs to continue meditating, Miltank against the rest? I kinda want to train his decision-making ability." Whitney asked, getting nods from everyone.

Thus, they all split up to their assigned groups and begun sparring against each other. Whitney focused on her own Pokémon for a moment and was very pleased to see their different and diverse fighting styles.

Jigglypuff was a cute little ball that constantly tried to whittle you down with a myriad of status effects. If she wasn't putting you to sleep, she was trying to paralyze you and generally being a huge nuisance. She didn't have much power, but she was supremely annoying to deal with. Even more so when she got more training and more power.

In the meanwhile, Noctowl and Loudred fought rather similarly, though Noctowl was far more mobile and had more supportive moves like Jigglypuff did while Loudred just brute forced everything with hard hitting Special Attacks.

Then there was her Miltank, who was a perfect mix of brute strength and endurance. Even now, she was rather easily dealing with the small horde of weaker Pokémon trying to bring her down; using Rollout to dodge out of the way of a Hypnosis before narrowly missing a Body Slam against Staryu. Even with a huge numbers disadvantage, she was holding her own.

Of course, her friends' Pokémon were just as well-trained as hers. And, as she continued training with her friends, she began to truly understand what John meant about the benefits of having rivals and friends that she could train with.

Every time they hosted this joint-training session together, Whitney was motivated to push her Pokémon to surpass her friends'. Not out of some desire to be better, but just because of the friendly competition that such an atmosphere naturally fostered. It was this desire to catch up, to not fall behind, and this shared brainstorming of ideas, that made their collective strength rise together.

Time passed as the training session continued. Despite the intensity of the training, Whitney felt like there was a distinct sense of meditative calm that settled on them all. She felt that this was a good sign that while their training was tough, it wasn't pushing their Pokémon to the point of exhaustion.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Sabrina approached her, "Hopefully we can start on Gravity training soon. Your brother was most vocal about its effectiveness." She said with a pointed look to her meditating Kadabra.

Whitney nodded; Sabrina's Kadabra was currently the Pokémon best suited to learning Gravity due to its psychic prowess. Jigglypuff could eventually learn it too, but her psychic proficiency was far too lacking for the moment.

But just as Whitney began fantasizing about the new heights that she and her friends could push their Pokémon to with the use of Gravity training, a rude voice barked out from behind her.

"OI! What are you lot doing training here with such shitty Pokémon?!" She turned around and saw two teenagers walking towards them, both sneering at them.

Sabrina's face immediately blanked at their words, and Janine looked like she was about to pounce on them. Despite the provocation, Whitney maintained a cheerful expression, "How can we help you? Is our training disturbing you in any way?"

"Yes, it is. Your Pokémon personally offends us." The same person said with an arrogant smirk. "Not a single Fighting type between the three of you when you're in the home of Kanto's greatest Fighting Gym."

"What Fighting Gym?" Sabrina spoke up, raising a curious eyebrow as she pretended to look around, "I only know of the Saffron Gym, and that's a Psychic Gym. Or are you referring to the Dojo that styles itself as a Fighting Gym even though it isn't one?"

The more vocal of the duo narrowed his eyes as Sabrina, a hint of recognition flashing in his eyes. "Ah, I know you. You're the daughter of the usurpers. The so-called Psychic prodigy that everyone says will become the new Gym Leader."

He spat on the ground, "Newsflash kid. You're old news. Master Kiyo will beat you and your family into the ground and reassert himself as the true Gym Leader of Saffron, as it should be!"

"Oh, and how do you think your master can defeat the Gym Leader? Has he not lost repeatedly before?" Sabrina replied with false curiosity, needling the duo even further.

They sneered, "Aren't you supposed to be able to read minds or some other nonsense? Come, read ours and find out just how badly your precious parents are going to lose."

Sabrina shook her head, "Unfortunately, your thoughts are incomprehensible to me. I cannot lower myself to your level to understand them. You have my sincere apologies for your stupidity." She mockingly bowed to them.

Whitney burst out laughing despite herself, which only caused the two to grow in ire. After a moment, the two looked at each other before nodding in agreement.

"We challenge you to a 2v2 match." The more vocal one said with an arrogant grin, "We'll prove to you the sheer superiority of the Fighting type." He turned to Whitney, "And you, girl, you're the one using those dumb Normal types like that Elite Four member does, right?"

He sneered, "Well, if you're such a fan of that cheating fool-"

"Enough." Whitney interrupted with a cold voice, her eyes no longer possessing any of the cheerful light that it used to. Her face was carefully blank, with only a small, unnerving smile that failed to reach her eyes. The duo shut their mouths at Whitney's sudden interruption.

Her fists clenching reflexively as these bastards dared to insult her brother, and she allowed a little of that anger to leak out of her voice, "We accept your challenge, isn't that right, Sabrina?"

Sabrina took one look at her and nodded immediately, so Whitney turned back to Janine, "Officiate this for us." Janine stared at her uncertainly, but eventually nodded as well.

One of the duo scoffed, "And how do we know your friend won't play favourites? This isn't fair-"

"Be quiet." Whitney cut him off once again, before signalling to her Miltank to step up in front of her; Sabrina copying her with her Kadabra. "Release your Pokémon. Don't waste any more time." She commanded.

One of them looked a bit more uncertain at the sudden shift in demeanour, but the loudmouth simply formed a smug smirk as he released his Pokémon. The other soon following.

A Primeape and a Machamp emerged, flexing their muscles threateningly at her Miltank and Kadabra. But their attempts at intimidation failed to unsettle her Pokémon.

Inwardly, behind all the anger, Whitney was actually excited to face off against two fully evolved Fighting types. She had watched John's battle against Bruno and had taken copious amounts of notes about how to deal with Fighting types. And now, she hoped to put some of those strategies to good use.

"Trainers, are you ready?" Janine's voice sounded out through the training field. The four of them nodded, "BEGIN!"

"Split them up but focus down Primeape. Get ready for Ally Switch." Sabrina's voice filtered into her mind. And Whitney grinned as she figured out Sabrina's plan.

"Miltank, Rollout! Start building up speed!"

"Machamp, Rock Throw the Kadabra!"

"Primeape, close in on Kadabra!"

Miltank immediately began rolling around the battlefield as he rapidly picked up speed. The two Fighting types seemed content to ignore her as they both prioritised bringing down Kadabra, which they understandably saw as the greater threat.

But Kadabra wouldn't make things easy for them as it casually Teleported out of the way of the incoming Rock Throw before blasting the Primeape back with a Psychic. Primeape winced in pain but powered through the supereffective attack while constantly closing the distance. It seemed like, unlike Bruno's Pokémon, this Primeape wasn't able to disperse Psychic attacks like Bruno's did.

"Get ready." Sabrina said to her in her mind, and Whitney gave a mental nod in confirmation.

"Miltank, rush them from behind! Slam into them!"

"Machamp, block the Miltank! Close Combat it!"

"Primeape, grab hold of the Kadabra and Cross Chop! Don't let it escape!"

Miltank began to roll in from behind like a speeding boulder. Machamp immediately stepped between Miltank and Primeape and readied itself to smash the incoming Miltank with its hardest hitting move. Even with all of Miltank's training, tanking through a supereffective Close Combat would severely injure her.

That was why they had no intention of allowing such a thing to happen.

"Now."

Suddenly, a flash of light pink light engulfed both her Pokémon as the use of Ally Switch swapped their positions. Suddenly, Primeape was faced down with an unstoppable rolling Miltank while Machamp was caught offguard with a powerful Psychic blast to the face.

Machamp stumbled backwards from the sudden attack, giving Kadabra the opportunity to aggressively Teleport right behind the Primeape. At the same time, Primeape was smashed backwards as Miltank crashed into it with the full momentum of her Rollout.

Primeape fell backwards from the brutal impact from the Rollout, right into the waiting arms of Kadabra, who immediately capitalized on this opportunity by blasting it with yet another supereffective Psychic. This time, the blast of Psychic managed to knock Primeape into the sky, where it flew helplessly through the air.

"NO!" Primeape's trainer yelled out, but the onslaught of attacks wasn't over yet. Showcasing the move she demonstrated against Koga, Miltank performed a small hop and slammed into the ground powerfully, launching herself up into the air.

"Body Slam! Finish it!"

Grappling the vulnerable Primeape in the air, Miltank shrugged off its ineffective punches before savagely slamming the two of them back into the ground, with Primeape pinned powerlessly beneath her. The impact formed a small crater in the ground that kicked up a small mound of dust, which eventually cleared to reveal a victorious Miltank standing over a fallen and unconscious Primeape.

In the meanwhile, Machamp had been trying and failing to catch the Kadabra with its attacks, the latter always Teleporting out of the way just before they could land. In a fit of anger and frustration, its' trainer demanded that it switch targets to Miltank.

Machamp immediately began rushing the Miltank, but Sabrina apparently had no intentions of even letting it land a hit on her.

"Prepare for another Ally Switch." And Whitney gave a small nod to confirm.

"Miltank! Brace yourself!" She ordered, and Miltank instantly adopted a defensive posture as she braced herself for Machamp's incoming assault. Of course, this was all a bait.

Seeing Miltank taking a defensive stance, Machamp's trainer doubled down, "GO ALL OUT! CLOSE COMBAT!"

Machamp threw itself recklessly into its next attack, lowering its guard completely as it dedicated everything into offense.

"Now."

And then another pink light flashed across the arena as Miltank and Kadabra swapped positions once again. With what looked like a taunting grin, Kadabra fired off yet another Psychic that detonated harshly on Machamp, launching it backwards into Miltank's waiting arms.

"Seismic Toss, Miltank! Suplex it!"

With a guttural moo, Miltank grabbed hold of the stumbling Machamp by the waist and threw it over her head with a suplex, slamming it powerfully into the ground. Without needing further commands, Miltank immediately crashed their heads together with a supereffective Zen Headbutt, before pounding on Machamp's fallen figure with her fists until Machamp fell into unconsciousness.

The battle was over. It was a perfect victory.

"And Whitney and Sabrina are the winners!" Janine declared with a smile. "Congratulations!"

The two Fighting type teens looked shocked at their defeat, but the vocal one recovered quickly as his mouth returned to its usual sneer. "Fucking cheaters. I guess you can't expect anything more from a bunch of Psychic and Normal type trainers."

The two of them returned their Pokémon to their Pokéballs before turning around, "Screw you all, we're leaving. I'm going to see if anyone recorded this match and post it online to expose you all for cheating, just you wait."

His friend(?) whispered, but loud enough that Whitney could still hear it. "Wait, didn't you delete your FightClub account after Bruno lost?"

"...Shut up." He bit out, "Let's just go." The two of them walked away from them, their voices slowly fading away.

Whitney stared at their departing figures for a moment before suddenly glomping Sabrina into a tight hug. "That was AMAZING! We completely stomped them! Your plan was so good!"

Sabrina struggled to break free from her hug, but eventually just allowed it to happen. "Your Miltank did much of the heavy lifting. Kadabra just had to use Psychic."

"It was a coordinated team effort. You both did very well." Janine added with a smile, "I hope I can fight at that level one day."

"Of course you can!" Whitney responded encouragingly, "In fact, let's get on that right away!"

But Sabrina cut them off with a cough, "Um...I think we have to go meet my parents now."

Oh, whoops! Whitney had completely lost track of the time! A quick glance at her phone showed that it was already afternoon, and they were supposed to meet Sabrina's parents for lunch! Oops!

They quickly returned all of their Pokémon to their Pokéballs before getting them all healed up at the Pokécenter. Once that was done, they made their way to Sabrina's house, which was appropriately next to the Gym.

Sabrina visibly grew nervous as they drew nearer, so Whitney was quick to pat her reassuringly on the shoulders, reminding her that there was nothing to worry about.

A short walk later, they arrived at the steps in front of the house. However, before they could even knock on the door, the door swung open, revealing both of Sabrina's parents, smiling widely.

"HONEY! You've grown up so much!" Sabrina's mom immediately pulled her daughter into a tight hug. "And these must be your friends! It's so good to finally meet you!"

Her husband was less animated, but no less happy about their appearance as he extended a hand towards them. "Forgive my wife. She gets excited sometimes. I'm Samson, and my lovely wife is Katrina. It's a great pleasure to meet the both of you."

Whitney and Janine shook his hand and introduced themselves, only to elicit a laugh from Samson, "No need to introduce yourself. I already know who you are. Both the esteemed daughter of Koga and the brilliant sister of John. I'm very glad that Sabrina has made such good friends."

They both blushed at the praise, which caused another bark of laughter from Samson as he gestured for them to head inside. "Please, make yourself comfortable. As soon as my wife finishes messing with my daughter, she'll prepare lunch for all of us."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, the three children made their way over to the dining table and settled down into the chairs. Idly, Whitney noticed that even though Sabrina's family lived in a much nicer looking house than her own, it didn't spark a single sense of jealousy within her. That made her proud.

Eventually, Sabrina's parents brought out the food and jointed them at the dining table, where they broke out into casual conversation.

"So, how did you all start travelling together? Sabrina only really told us the basics. She's cagey like that." Her mother teased.

Sabrina frowned and remained silent, so it was up to Whitney to pick up the slack, "Well, I was at Pewter City idling in line when..." She fell into a summarized explanation of their meeting and their journey thus far. It probably wasn't the most interesting of topics, but Sabrina's parents listened to it intently as if it was some kind of formal declaration.

After Whitney finished her story, Sabrina's mother clasped Whitney's hands with hers, "You cannot believe how glad we were when Sabrina told us that she had made a friend. We were so worried that she would go through her journey by her lonesome, with everyone too scared of her Psychic powers to approach her. We are so very grateful that you could see past that and befriend our daughter." She shot Whitney a grateful smile that had her blushing profusely.

"Please stop embarrassing her." Sabrina said with a sigh.

"Nonsense. She should know her worth." Katrina replied, before turning to Janine. "And Janine, thank you as well for accepting Sabrina for who she is. I'm sure Sabrina probably frustrates you at times, so thank you for your patience when dealing with her."

Sabrina grew visibly more annoyed at her mother's words and was about to unleash her Psychic powers to get back at her, but her father flicked her in the forehead before she could do so.

"No psychic powers at the dining table. You don't want to accidentally launch a plate at the TV like you did last time, now do you?" Her father scolded.

Properly reprimanded, Sabrina slumped into her seat and silently continued to eat her lunch. Whitney chuckled at the interaction, glad to see that Sabrina's family was a lively one, despite the difficulties of raising such a prodigious daughter.

"Oh, and speaking of which..." Katrina spoke up as she turned to look at Sabrina, "What are your plans for the next few Gyms? Are you going to be challenging us next? We can schedule you in for tomorrow if you are." Samson nodded in agreement.

However, Sabrina shook her head, "No, we're planning to head to Johto after a quick stop here."

"Johto? Why there?" Samson asked, "Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just curious."

"We want to catch a few Pokémon there and get stronger before we continue our Gym challenges." Whitney explained, "We've been rushing through the Gyms quite a bit, and some of our newer Pokémon need more time to train up. Plus, maybe we can get lucky and catch a full roster before we return."

"Ah, so you do have a plan for it." Samson exclaimed thoughtfully. "Well, if that's what you want to do, I won't gainsay you." Then he broke out into an excited grin, "But when you do come up, don't expect me to go on easy on you. I'll make you earn that Marsh Badge."

Sabrina let out a scoff, "You wish dad. We'll beat you." Before shooting her parents a proud smirk.

The conversation quickly devolved into casual, but enjoyable chatter, and they all began to relax. Before long, Sabrina's parents had to cut the meeting short and return to their usual duties at the Gym, but they were told to come over any time if they wanted to visit.

Overall, it was a very nice meeting, and Whitney was really glad to finally be able to meet Sabrina's parents. She knew that Sabrina was too, even if she disguises it with the occasional reprimand.

She knew that, with their lunch meeting over, they would now be making their way to Johto. They had already registered and collected their permits to be allowed to catch Pokémon, so they were all set.

Johto, here they come!

The New Normal – 5-16 – Interlude – Proton

The facility was filled with a sense of anticipation as the final preparations were being made for their raid against Devon Corp that was going to be launched very soon. And thus, instead of continuing to train up the grunts as was his usual duties, he was instead forced to accompany his boss to participate in the last-minute prep.

"...We've confirmed that the data and files are indeed there." Maxie's voice filtered through the digital screen of their computer. "Tabitha almost exposed himself doing so, so I hope you're ready to execute the plan." Maxie glared at his boss, though it was simply ignored.

"Relax! The team is trained and ready for deployment. Isn't that right, Proton?" Archie said as he gestured towards Proton, who stood forwards.

"Yes, as you may have read in my previous reports, the old Team Rocket has integrated well into Team Aqua and can act efficiently as one cohesive unit. Or at least, as best as we can considering the dwindling funding and time constraints." He said formally. Normally, he hated this using this stuffy language, but it was better than wasting time when Maxie had his dumb sensibilities triggered by his normal way of speaking.

He withheld the urge to curse as he pushed forwards, "And, I am confident that the grunts are proficient at performing hit-and-run operations, and that they will operate at a professional level. I am assured that they have gotten rid of their more impulsive actions."

He was overselling it a little, and left unsaid was the fact that he had literally beaten it out of them in some cases. But his boss didn't complain, so who was he to say no to free beatings?

"Good. And so, are we still running with the plan of having Tabitha grant them entry?" Maxie asked with some concern.

"Yes, it's the best way to do it. While the main Devon Corp building is no fortress, we'll be able to avoid causing a lot of property damage if we were simply let in." Archie explained with a nod, "Less heat on us that way."

"True...but I'm loathe to sacrifice Tabitha's position in the company." Maxie grumbled as his head fell into his hands. Tabitha, the fat lump who was also in the call, shared a frown with his boss. But, after a moment, Maxie shook his head as he gathered his resolve. "No matter, we must all make sacrifices for the greater good. And yes, we can't afford to generate too much heat with this attack. We cannot afford for the League to escalate too harshly, not at the moment."

Archie let out a huge sigh, "I thought we already went over the plan to trick the League. We are going in as Team Rocket to throw them off. Then, we'll be sending off some of our stolen info to our corrupt director at Silph Co and frame them for the attack. Make it look like one big act of corporate espionage gone wrong. Calm your tits, Maxie, we already planned for this. We even got lucky with that stupid silver spoon heir being in Indigo."

Maxie spluttered, "Well, yes, but...fine." He straightened up his tie, "As much as it pains me to do this, I'll trust in your judgment...THIS time."

Archie smirked, "Don't worry your brainy little head, we got this. Even I know the stakes here. We've already discussed it plenty of times that we need this to be a clean operation-"

"No unnecessary violence, no hostages, no excessive property damage." Maxie interrupted, listing each item off his fingers. "We need the League to think that this is JUST an act of corporate espionage. NOT terrorism. That way, we can buy time to launch the operation for the Orbs before they their guard up and come down on us like an avalanche. The events at Indigo should have taught everyone here a lesson here on what happens when you play with fire."

Proton could feel everyone's eyes shoot to him at that comment, and he visibly withheld a snarl. Yes, he overplayed his hand back in the Indigo League, but he was forced to due to a lack of resources. Hiding and laying low wasn't an option back then.

It frustrated him that these colleagues of his would dare to lecture HIM on how to run a team? Sure, they had good ideas at times, but they mostly stayed afloat due to the funding they received. But they didn't know how to run a criminal gang besides just spending resources. Unlike Proton, they never had to make hard choices when they had everything given to them.

Even the threat of cutting off funding was more a temporary concern than anything else.

It really pissed him off. And his anger was made worse by the fact that the ONE opportunity that he was finally let off the leash, they weren't allowed to brutalize anyone. No, the two bosses drilled it into his head that he had to behave. Well, screw them! It's not like a bit of violence would really be that bad for them. Not too much; he wasn't stupid, but just enough to let him satisfy his urges.

"...Is that understood, Proton? You'll be leading the mission, so I expect the best from you." Archie spoke to him, wearing a friendly smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Yes, boss. Understood." He simply said, withholding the urge to roll his eyes. He just wanted to just be done with this stupid meeting already.

"Good, then I think we can safely adjourn this meeting." Maxie nodded, "Go through your final preparations. And best of luck. The future of this world rests in our hands."

"Yes, it does." Archie replied seriously. And this time Proton couldn't resist the urge to roll his eyes. Even after all this time, he never could understand his boss' fanatical devotion to this goal. It was always a ridiculous sight to him.

Still, at least this meeting was finally over. He pushed himself off his chair and made his way back to the underground training yard, putting on his mask to conceal his identity. There, he found HIS grunts training with a good mixture of Pokémon from all 4 regions. At this point, he figured that their mysterious backer likely had some connection with the new region, but he didn't care to look into it any more than that.

The Pokémon they supplied were of good stock and obedient, which was all Proton was concerned with.

Letting his gaze fall over his grunts, he couldn't help but smirk viciously as he watched them train. Like he told the others, his grunts were much better trained than when they had made their embarrassing retreat out of Indigo. And now, they were far above the level they were at previously.

They would definitely be a match for your average trainer, especially if they ganged up on them. And, against more proficient trainers, a group of his grunts would be able to beat them down without much issue. And this army was under his command. And soon, they would finally be put to use.

Proton let out an evil laugh as he was filled with anticipation. This was going to be fun!

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