The New Normal - A Pokémon Elite 4 SI by CartecFF

Chapter 55: 216-217

The New Normal – 10-11 – An Electric Atmosphere

Time quickly flew by when we were having fun. And the evening rays of light told us that we had been playing around for long enough.

Our stomachs also alerted us to the fact that we were actually pretty hungry. So despite the two of us still being soaked, we were tired enough from all that playing around that we had to drag ourselves to the same food stall to get some dinner.

Yet, ignoring all the tiredness, it was clear that we had a great time.

"I think that's enough of the beach for me for a while." She said to me over dinner, "It was fun, but it really took a lot out of me. I still have more to do after this!"

"Better than the cold, right?" I grinned.

"Well, you haven't really experienced a true and proper snowball fight yet, but I admit that there are more things to do on a beach." She relented.

"If we still have free time later, maybe I can bring you to walk around Mauville City." I said, "I still have a store to set up there."

"Sure, I won't turn down another date." She smiled at me, "I haven't really had a chance to experience much of the local cuisine here. Actually, I haven't been to much of Hoenn at all – this was the first time I could really leave Ever Grande City. I'm constantly stuck there due to all the meetings."

"Then I'll try to bring you on a tour of the place if you have time." I replied, "It'll just be like how you took me on a tour around Sinnoh."

"I'll see if I can find time for it, but I'm holding you to that." She responded.

Unfortunately, I couldn't spend the whole evening with Cynthia. Given that it was a rare opportunity for so many politically important people to be gathered in one place, and that she was the new Champion of Sinnoh, she had a lot of meetings and schmoozing to do. So she had to leave shortly after dinner.

Still, we should hopefully have another opportunity for a date again soon.

The next day flew by pretty quickly as well. While Roxanne and I waited for the rest of the matches for the first round to be over, I decided to focus on some individual training in preparation for my match against Lance.

Besides, I wanted to finally inspect Ornstein's new form and the potential that came with it.

It was amusing how Ornstein's evolution into an Obstagoon was ALMOST overlooked by the newspapers. Not that it wasn't a significant evolution, especially since the regular form of Linoone was not known to be able to evolve, but there were so many other possible headlines that the news of his evolution was buried underneath everything else.

The pairs that won, the pairs that lost, the pairs that should have won but ended up losing, everything was being reported. The news must be having a field day with all the headline-worthy events that were taking place. There was just so much drama to be had.

Though I was sure that the topic of my Obstagoon would resurface later, once things calmed down.

Not only that, but Giovanni also informed me of Archer's findings regarding Team Galactic and their movements. I was pleasantly surprised to hear about what they had discovered and what Giovanni had pieced together. I had hoped that Team Galactic would have gotten sloppy, but this was far more than I had hoped that Archer would find.

I was even MORE surprised about the proposed actions that Giovanni had informed me about. After thinking things through, I decided that to give my agreement and that he had my full support to go ahead with the plan.

Right now, the main obstacle that is preventing us from taking down Team Galactic is the shield of public opinion that they hide behind. Giovanni's plan was a step towards breaking down that shield and exposing the true face of Galactic Company to the world.

Bringing him and Archer on board for their 'experience' was really paying dividends.

Putting that aside for now, I ended up borrowing the training facilities kindly provided by Roxanne to test out Ornstein. Roxanne wasn't with me today, as she told me that she had plans that needed to be dealt with, and instead would meet up with me later for further preparations.

Therefore, with the free time given to me, I threw myself into training and released my team. They immediately surrounded the newly evolved Ornstein and inspected his form.

"Ornstein! Come here!" I called out towards my Pokémon, dispersing my curious crowd of Pokémon. Ornstein rushed up to me, tongue lagging in his mouth, and his eyes eager to show off his new form.

I could see why he was so proud of it. Unlike when he was a Linoone, his new form had muscles that were sculpted to be for more than just for speed; his arms were muscled and packed with enough strength that I felt could break a tree in half. Similarly, his chest was full of newfound bulk – giving him a level of endurance that he could have only dreamed of when he was a Linoone.

It was immediately clear to me that his newfound evolution into an Obstagoon had completely changed his role on my team, just as I hoped. He could now fight as more than just a Pokémon reliant purely on his speed, and was now able to muscle through powerful threats as well.

I grinned as I inspected his new form. It was finally time to train Ornstein to live up to his namesake.

"Ornstein, I want you to train against Smough." I ordered, "Test yourself and your new form against him. See if you can actually match him in a brawl."

Ornstein grinned eagerly before turning around and immediately rushing towards Smough without any hesitation. Smough blocked Ornstein's Brick Break with a palm, and retaliated with his own Hammer Arm.

However, whereas before Ornstein would have immediately be forced to dodge out of the way, this time Ornstein merely blocked the attack with a dark-infused arm before his whole body flashed orange and he struck back with another powerful Brick Break – this time further boosted by the Counter that he had just used.

Smough fell back with a pained grunt and a look of surprise on his face; he must have been too used to how Ornstein used to fight and wasn't expecting Ornstein to be able to outright block his attacks. On the other hand, Ornstein was grinning madly, clearly happy about his newfound ability to fight back against his old rival.

Yet Smough was always ready to adapt to new ways of fighting. Knowing that his rival could now block his attacks, Smough now took his opponent much more seriously, ramping up the ferocity of his attacks as he began to pummel Ornstein with a flurry of strikes.

Then Ornstein did something that surprised me – during one of Smough's attacks, Ornstein shouted at Smough, firing off a Hyper Voice that broke through Smough's concentration for a brief moment. That gave Ornstein just enough time to duck under Smough's swing before snaking out a leg and tripping up Smough, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Ornstein laughed out in celebration, only to immediately let out a yelp of surprise as Smough lunged at him from the ground and pinned Ornstein underneath him. Ornstein tried to struggle, but Smough's sheer weight was too much, and he was forced to tap out.

They continued their spars in a similar manner while I stayed back to observe. The more that I did, the more I was able to confirm that Ornstein would quickly become one of my more powerful Pokémon on my team.

He fought very similarly to Smough, relying on close range attacks to do most of his damage. However, Smough hit harder and was more durable, while Ornstein was much faster and had access to a wider range of disruptive moves than Smough. Once Ornstein mastered his new strength, I was going to see if he could train up his jump height so that he could be a surprise threat against would-be fliers.

I grinned as they continued to fight; he would be an excellent partner for Smough in a 2v2 fight. Just as I hoped he would be.

And now, between Ornstein's new powerful evolution, Pixel's mastery of Conversion, Klaus' continued mastery of his ability to Teleport around during fights, Wraith's improving sense of discipline and increasingly creative use of his Illusion ability, and Euphie's growing mastery of the Fairy type and her developing supporting move pool, I felt that my newer Pokémon were really coming together.

They were all slowly becoming Pokémon that I would be proud to have on my Elite team – and some were already there.

Still, I reminded myself to not get complacent about their training. My close call with Will had demonstrated that they were still somewhat lacking compared to my stronger peers, and so the training must continue. Not only that, but I also told myself to try to think up more creative ways to utilise their strengths, just to get that slight edge in battle.

It wasn't just enough to get them to be stronger or faster. Fighting creatively was an excellent way of compounding the strength of my team.

This was especially important for Zephyr, and I stared at my Flying type with a complicated expression.

Despite my best efforts, Zephyr was having trouble growing any further – it was almost like he had hit his limit in terms of what a Pidgeot could do. His strength, no matter how much I tried to train it up, just couldn't really match the level that I needed for really high-level fights. Flying fast to generate momentum could only compensate for so much.

He wasn't like Tyrant. Despite having a determined mindset to improve, Pidgeot as a species just weren't particularly suited to high level fighting. Still, I didn't let my thoughts show on my face – nor was Zephyr one to get jealous. In fact, he was happy to see the new additions get stronger, and he never expressed his dissatisfaction or concern about stagnating.

Yet I wanted to honour his determination, and I decided to train up his supporting movepool and his endurance, since his attacking power was already as high as it realistically could be. That way, he could still be used in certain niche scenarios.

The most obvious move to train up was Tailwind, something that I had previously underutilised. A properly setup Tailwind could give my slower Pokémon a huge advantage in a battle, both in 2v2s or after a quick swapping U-Turn from Zephyr.

The other move that I also wanted to train up for Zephyr, no matter how hard it would be, was Baton Pass. I was inspired by Cynthia's fight against ex-Champion Hayato and how Milotic's Baton Pass into her Garchomp swiftly won the fight for her. With Zephyr's incredible speed and flight, it wouldn't be difficult for him to set up with Baton Pass before passing on all those buffs onto a different Pokémon.

Of course, I knew that Pidgeot did not naturally learn Baton Pass, but I knew that Clefable do. The move wasn't great on Luna due to her slow speed and inability to set up safely, but she could help train Zephyr into knowing the move.

This was going to be a long-term thing. However, learning Baton Pass would skyrocket Zephyr's usefulness, making him a legitimate pick for me to use in high level battles. He had been one of my earlier Pokémon that I had caught, so he deserved better than to fade away in favour of my other Pokémon.

I made sure to tell him as such, and Zephyr squawked excitedly as he took off to begin his new training routine.

Lastly, I turned to Tyrant, who had already been sparring against a Guts-boosted Vordt. Vordt let out a primal roar as he crashed straight into Tyrant with a devastating Headlong Rush, which Tyrant did nothing against except to brace himself to meet the attack head on.

Tyrant winced from the impact, but he stood firm and managed to shove back. This pattern repeated itself over and over again, for I was training up Tyrant's endurance in preparation for his fight against Emperor. And having him tank the most powerful attack from a Guts-boosted Vordt was probably the best form of training that I could have for him.

We had already been doing this ever since Lance and I agreed to fight, so I hoped Tyrant would be ready when the time came.

Of course, that wasn't the only training I did with Tyrant. I had him practice the same strategies that we prepared for against Drake's Salamence – in the worst case scenario where Vordt lost to it in that battle all that time ago. I would make sure that Tyrant was ready for some aerial combat.

He was going to need it when he faced off against Emperor – to prove once in for all that my Pokémon were worthy to be Champions. To prove myself to be equal to them, and to fulfil my promise to my girlfriend.

Because she was a Champion. And what kind of partner would I be if I couldn't stand by her side, in both status or reputation?

=======

?The first round of matches for the Tournament had finally concluded. Among the 22 pairs of trainers that went into the first round, 11 would be making it to the second. That wasn't including the team that was chosen by the public vote to continue.

The Pokénet and the news were buzzing with posts about who made it to the next round and who were eliminated. As was the norm, there was a lot more focus on the 'losers', with many trying to dramatize their loss and what that meant for their positions and their futures.

I scoffed when I read through the posts. It was all full of overdramatized nonsense that I knew weren't going to lead anywhere. Not only was the Tournament explicitly done for fun, losing against your colleagues, who were all extremely respected trainers, was nothing to be disappointed about.

In comparison, Ornstein's new evolution into an Obstagoon continued to be buried within the many news articles and Pokénet posts. Not that I cared; I wasn't going out of my way to advertise it anyways.

With that out of the way, Roxanne and I were together once again as we waited for the announcement for who would be our next opponent for round 2.

"So...how was Flannery?" I asked as we continued to wait, "Is she doing okay?"

"She's doing better now, thanks for asking." Roxanne explained, "Flannery is just a very emotional person. So she's very easily excited and very easily disappointed. I knew she would be okay, but I just wanted to make sure she was. As a friend."

"It's good that you care." I replied approvingly, "I also feel a little bad about those who got knocked out so early in the Tournament."

"They should have used a point system." Roxanne said, "That way each pair could at least fight in a few matches before getting knocked out."

"I agree, but I think it was done this way because the planning for the Tournament was quite rushed." I pointed out, "And we needed to fit all the matches within the one week break of the Conference."

She nodded, "Maybe next year they'll reformat the Tournament, if one is hosted next year."

"Let's hope so. I thought this was quite fun." I agreed, "And it's nice getting everyone together like this."

"Were you surprised about who got knocked out?" Roxanne changed the topic, "There were a few pairs that I didn't expect would lose so quickly – no offense intended."

"No, I see what you mean." I nodded, "I didn't think anyone expected Blaine and Byron to be knocked out. Or Clair and Gardenia, for that matter. I definitely didn't expect them to lose."

"I remember those matches – they just didn't work well together." Roxanne recalled, "Blaine almost torched Byron's Pokémon during his fight, and Clair didn't bother with Gardenia and rushed ahead by herself without her partner and got punished hard by when Chuck threw her Dragonair to the ground."

Yeah, that sounded exactly like what Clair would do.

"It's harder to make use of overwhelming strength when you have another Pokémon to focus on and deal with." I commented, "It's all too easy for them to disrupt your attacks."

"Mhm...I first thought that the pairings that combined a strong and weak trainer would do the worst, since it would be harder to coordinate, but I guess I was proven wrong." Roxanne remarked, "In fact, most of them made it through the first round."

That was true enough. Pairs like Drake and the Waterflower sisters actually managed to work well together and dominate their foe. Drake brought out the best of the sisters and they dominated by abusing the Rain boost to Water type attacks. Just like what Pryce and Candice did with the Snow.

Or like Brock and Sidney, who despite their loss, managed to surprise the world with their effective teamwork that made up for Brock's weaker team. They had managed a narrow loss, but their efforts were so inspiring that they were basically a shoe-in to receive the public vote to be able to continue to the next round.

The projected votes weren't even close for any other pair. Brock's underdog story proved too strong and too exciting for the public to ignore.

In the meanwhile, Agatha and the Psychic twins had torn Phoebe and Erika a new one, proving why Agatha was the more proficient Ghost specialist. It was surprising how much stronger Agatha's Ghosts were compared to Phoebe's, though that might be because of her many years of additional experience.

So as odd as the pair of Agatha and the psychic twins were, they were extremely capable together. Agatha was the guiding hand that allowed the Psychic twins to make full use of their incredible talent. They were scarily competent.

Though that didn't stop people from poking fun at how odd they looked together.

"...OH!" Roxanne suddenly exclaimed, "I think they just published the next round of fights!"

I quickly got on my phone and went through the published lists for the next fights. I gave off an approving hum as I saw who our next opponents would be.

Samson and Winona.

"...A difficult pairing." I heard Roxanne mutter from next to me, "They're both Gym Leaders known for their experience and competence. Winona is a very experienced Gym Leader."

"Yes, but I don't think it'll be any harder of a fight than against Will and Flannery." I reassured, "For all of Samson's prowess, he's a weaker version of Will. And I don't think Winona is going to be much of a problem for me."

Winona was just another Walker – I knew how to beat that.

That being said, with my promise and agreement with Cynthia in mind, making it to the Top 3 had just become even more important for me. I was still going to try to train up my weaker Pokémon, but there would be less holding back now. I didn't want to push my luck too far – that battle against Will was a little too close for comfort.

And as much as I was confident in my chance of victory, I would play it safe.

"...Perhaps, and I do have the type advantage against Winona's Flying types." Roxanne said slowly, "Okay, I see that we have nothing to worry about. We have the advantage here."

"That's the spirit." I smiled as I stood up, walking over to the training fields, "Come, we need to get a head start on training and researching what our opponents are like. Since we have the advantage, we might as well make full use of it."

Roxanne nodded as she followed after me, "Yes, let's go. I intend to do better than in the first round."

======

?Roxanne and I intended to fully make use of the time before our match against Samson and Winona to train together and refine our strategies. And indeed, that was what we did for the first day.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, on the second day I got a call from Blaine. One that I really couldn't ignore.

"John! Hope I haven't caught you at a bad time." He greeted over the phone.

"Uh, could be better, but how can I help?" I replied.

"Oh right, you're still in the Tournament. I forgot about that." He said. Wow, he sounded salty, "Well I'm sorry for bothering you from training together with your partner, but I just thought to let you know that Shelly's coming over with what should hopefully be a working prototype of the Electirizer."

My eyebrows shot up, "Woah, already?! I'd thought that it'd take longer – wait, since when did you have time to work on this? I thought you would have spent the time training up for the Tournament with Byron."

"I didn't get along very well with Byron, so I just spent most of my time continuing to work on the Electirizer. It was better than spending time around that stubborn crank, at least." Yep, that was definitely some salt, "But never mind that. Volkner really pulled his weight, and thanks to him we made a breakthrough and now hopefully have a working prototype to test. Are you going to be there to check it out? Volkner will be there too."

"Sure, I'll be there." I nodded, "Can't miss out on this. I'll let Roxanne know that I'm gone for a bit."

"Good, because I want to make sure we can publish this discovery at the same time as Sam's discovery of the Protector." Blaine said, "It'll be better that way."

"Aren't you afraid we'll be upstaged by Oak? He's more famous." I asked.

"That's why I wanted the discoveries to be published simultaneously." He explained, "Trust me, if we publish it together, we won't be buried under the other news. Don't think I haven't noticed how your new Linoone evolution was swept under the rug."

"Wasn't trying to keep it hidden." I shrugged, "Anyways, I'll meet you there."

After quickly explaining to Roxanne why I had to dash, I met up with Blaine, a newly arrived Shelly, and Volkner at one of the many labs of Devon Corp that Shelly had borrowed for this demonstration.

My first meeting with Volkner was about as I expected it to be. It was brief, but not unfriendly. He wasn't impolite to me, but it was very clear that he was a little awkward around strangers. Still, I tried my best to make a friendly impression with him.

"Congratulations on getting through the first round." I said as I shook his hand, "I'm surprised you had all this time to work on the Electirizer while you're still in the Tournament."

"Most of the work I did before the Tournament started." He explained, "I practically got started as soon as I received the rundown from Blaine and Shelly."

"What he means he pulled a whole lot of all-nighters." Shelly interrupted, "I told you that you didn't need to push yourself this hard."

"And like I told you, sleep is for other people." Volkner replied, "Besides, I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway now that I finally have something interesting to work on."

"Well I won't complain about your hard work." Blaine said as he entered in the room, pushing a trolley that had a small lockbox on top of it. Unlike the lockbox used for the Magmarizer, this was heavily insulated against what was likely an enormous amount of electricity that the Electirizer endlessly emitted.

The lockbox was essentially one big lump of rubber.

"Right then, we're finally putting this to the test!" Blaine declared impatiently as he carefully unlocked the lockbox that stored the Electirizer.

Volkner nodded at Blaine's words and released his Electabuzz onto the field. Its eyes snapped towards the Electirizer, and it stared at it with greedy eyes as it strained against its ingrained discipline – like there was some kind of magnetic attraction between it and the Electirizer.

We all promptly put on safety googles while Volkner carefully put on some really thick, and specially made, insulating gloves before he carefully lifted the Electirizer from the box.

"Moment of truth." He announced as he pressed the Electirizer to the top of Electabuzz's forehead.

Immediately a bright white light exploded out from Electabuzz as small sparks of electricity started flying out. We all winced as the light blinded us all, but I could make out the excited smiles on everyone's faces as they eagerly awaited the evolution that came out of it.

The signature white light of the evolution didn't last for very long, and eventually we came standing face to face with our latest success. Volkner's newly evolved Electivire roared proudly as it revealed its new form to the world. Electricity crackled out from its fists and back, electrifying the air around it.

"...Amazing." Volkner exclaimed with awe in his eyes, "It looks magnificent."

Blaine snorted, "I still think my Magmortar looks cooler." Shelly immediately slapped Blaine across the head, "...But it does look strong."

"I'm just glad it was a success." Shelly said, "We can actually coordinate with Oak now for publishing the reveal. I'm sure it would be get a lot of attention."

I was confident it would – especially because it was worked on by people from all three regions. It was another demonstration of what could be achieved by working together.

"Are you going to test it out?" I asked Volkner, and he proceeded to do just that. We relocated to a small training field where Electivire proceeded to fire off a few attacks.

The large grin on Volkner's face told us all we needed to know about this newfound strength. Once he returned, we continued running a few more tests on Electivire – which Volkner helpfully revealed to us was its new name – just to make sure that there weren't any complications with the evolution.

While that was happening, Blaine brought up an important question, "So, we've already had two successes as a group by condensing a Type's energy into a small box. I would be more than happy to continue this partnership, but does anyone have any suggestions on what we could work on? Volkner, feel free to chime in too – you're part of us now."

I saw a small smile break out on Volkner's face at Blaine's quick acceptance of him, but then we all fell into a thoughtful silence as we thought through Blaine's question.

My mind quickly ran through all of the available evolution items that I knew about, and I realized that, including the Protector, we had already created/discovered all that was to be found. The remaining evolution items were either naturally made/found, or didn't apply to any Pokémon that we had access to within our regions.

The only potential exception to this was the Reaper Cloth, but I was pretty sure that was naturally found. Even if it wasn't, I don't think this was something a group of scientists would know how to work with.

Therefore, any further efforts into this would only waste time. And I didn't want Blaine or Shelly to go down a path that will ultimately lead to a dead end.

Shelly ended up being the first to speak up, "...I'm drawing a blank right now...but you're right. I don't want to give up on our partnership now that we've done our bigger projects."

"Then how about this." I suggested, "There's no reason to force ourselves to work on something together right now. But we're all friends here, we could always just ask each other for help and cooperate on different projects in the future."

"I think I'd like that." Shelly nodded, "I've actually got a few old projects of mine sitting on the backburner that I'm interested in getting back to. I could easily bring you all along as independent assistants to work on things with me – assuming I get permission from Mr. Stone."

"I would be fine with that." Volkner immediately said, "I'm always happy to work on something."

"Same here." Blaine agreed, "Just let me know."

"I'm no scientist, but I'm always happy to help too with whatever's needed." I also said, pleased to see that everyone was still eager to continue working together. "Just, please ask me AFTER the Tournament."

"Same." Volkner said, "I'm busy until after then. I don't intend to lose quite yet."

Shelly and Blaine both agreed, though Blaine did so with a bit more grumbling, "That's not a problem. We can get in touch over the phone with you just like we did before, Volkner."

"Uh...actually, I'm going to be in Indigo after this Tournament. For a little bit." He said sheepishly.

"Really? Are you here on holiday?" I couldn't help but ask.

He nodded, trying but failing to hide his embarrassment, "Yes...Jasmine asked me to come, so I really couldn't say no."

The three of us shared a knowing smile, but we all made a pact with our eyes not to tease Volkner about it, "Well I'm sure you'll love it here." Blaine smirked, "You're always welcome at the labs if you come on by."

"Same here!" Shelly grinned.

"Thank you, I'll make sure to visit when I have some time." Volkner said with visible relief at our lack of teasing, "I'll ask Jasmine if she wants to come along."

"We'll be happy to have her." Shelly said, visibly holding back a chuckle.

Volkner ended up talking a lot more than I suspect he wanted to about his upcoming visit to Indigo with Jasmine. It was beyond clear to the three of us that he was absolutely smitten, though we barely held back the urge to tease him about it.

But eventually Volkner and I had to leave and return to training. The two of us had another battle ahead of us, and neither of us intended to lose.

I chuckled to myself as I left, thinking that it was a good thing that we weren't fighting each other. With the power of love on their side, Volkner and Jasmine might just sweep through everyone.

The New Normal – 10-10 – Interlude – Archer

The terrorists were on the move.

Just like his boss had predicted, the criminals thought that they were safe – that the whole world's attention would be focused on the Tournament, and that the security measures would be relatively lax.

Oh sure, Cynthia may have ordered the Sinnoh Police to be on high alert, but career criminals like them were bound to know how to stay away from the authorities, especially if, as Archer greatly suspected, they were also being fed information from their spies.

Therefore, it was this arrogance or impatience, or perhaps from a general dissatisfaction at being kept inside for too long, they finally decided to venture out and advance their plans, thinking that none would be the wiser.

So they got sloppy. They got careless with hiding their tracks. Less paranoid when it came to their illegal operations, which mostly focused on theft or resource acquisitions.

He suspected that they were really starting to feel the pinch of the resource problems.

Unbeknownst to the criminals, Archer and his team had been waiting for this exact moment of complacency. He continued to stalk his targets at safe distance, being under strict orders to not attack these terrorists directly, and his team continued to collect information and piece together their plans while ensuring they remained undetected as they took down notes on all of the bases that the grunts led them to.

Though Archer knew that he was merely following the grunts, and that the bases that they had discovered were likely of little importance in the grand scheme of things, revealing their location and having them raided by the authorities was sure to cause a big headache for whoever was in charge of these terrorists.

And with every base he discovered, it would only be a matter of time before he narrowed down who the true identity of these criminals were.

But as his monitoring operations continued, Archer noticed a pattern in their movements. Ignoring their more routine criminal acts, he realized that the grunts were all gravitating towards the three famous lakes of Sinnoh.

And Archer's many years of honed instincts as a criminal was screaming at him that this was important. His many years of working for Giovanni allowed him to recognize the grunts' movements to be just like his own when he was scouting out a location for a potential raid, back when he still used to plan those.

It was no coincidence that they seemed to be getting closer and closer to the three lakes, but what could they be planning on doing with them?

With that in mind, Archer dove headfirst into researching the lakes, trying to suss out whatever reason that the grunts had for scouting out the lakes like they were doing. And he eventually stumbled across the existence of the lake guardians, the trio of Legendary Pokémon that supposedly resided there, though allegedly no one was ever able to catch a glimpse of them.

...This must have been what these terrorists were aiming for. Did they have some kind of scheme for luring out the guardians and capturing them? But for what purpose? According to what he read, the Guardians were weak compared to almost every other Legendary. They did not have the overwhelming strength to achieve their so-called goals of remaking the world, and he doubted that even the most delusional of criminals would fail to notice this fact.

No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn't find the answer. But that was fine. He was not chosen for his position for his ability to think of the bigger picture. That was for his boss and for John to do. His job was to just collect the information and present it to those who really could get a grasp on the criminals' true goals.

So with that in mind, Archer proceeded to report all of this to Giovanni. He knew that his boss was currently participating in the Tournament, but he didn't think this information could wait.

"...I see, thank you for letting me know urgently." Giovanni said, "I suspect that your suspicions are correct. However they plan to 'remake the world', I don't doubt that the Lake Guardians would certainly have a place in it."

"Then what's the next step, boss?" He asked, "Should we send an anonymous tip right away?"

"No, now isn't the right time. With everyone busy and distracted with the Tournament, the impact wouldn't be as big as we want it to be." His boss shook his head, "...We need to make sure that the Sinnoh government reacts appropriately to this threat. We have this single opportunity to really bring the pain down on these scum, and I want to make sure we get it right."

Archer nodded, and stayed silent as he allowed his boss to think.

"...The financial investigations of the businesses in Sinnoh are still underway, right?" His boss asked after a moment.

"Yes, but I hear that they're concluding soon." Archer answered. "The results should be published to the Champion shortly."

"The Champion will certainly give a press conference when the results are published. Release your information then." His boss ordered, "When that happens, the attention of the authorities will naturally be focused on dealing with these criminals, so this will just be adding more fuel to the fire. A fire that the League cannot ignore."

Then his boss' eyes gleamed cunningly, "...In fact, how combat-ready is your team?"

"As ready as they'll ever be, but we won't win against their numbers." He replied dutifully.

"Good, then I have another plan for you to enact." Giovanni grinned, "Once you finish releasing your information, I want you to provoke a fight between yourself and these criminals, since you know where their grunts' bases are. Make it look like it was a disagreement within their ranks. Make your fight as loud as possible so that the authorities are attracted to it. That'll cause far more problems for them."

"And if any of your team unfortunately gets caught, then make sure they know what to say." Giovanni added, "Have them 'leak' to the authorities that the terrorists intend to target the lake guardians so that their attention is focused there. The criminals won't be able to stay out of the spotlight after that, and the League won't be able to afford ignoring this threat. They WILL be forced to respond."

"Understood, I'll make sure the team is ready." Archer nodded, "Is there anything else?"

"Keep your eyes on the lakes. I want to know immediately if the terrorists decide to throw caution to the wind and decide on enacting their plans regardless of whether they get caught." Giovanni ordered, "If that happens, stall for time as much as you can, and call John directly. He'll sort it out."

It said much about his boss' faith in John that he commanded Archer to call John first before even informing him. Having worked for Giovanni for as long as he did, Archer knew all about his boss' desire for control, so to tell Archer to inform John first was a big deal.

"Will do." He replied, and the call with his boss ended there. Immediately after the phone call ended, he began barking orders to his team. Soon, the secret base was alight with activity as everyone started rushing around, all with serious looks on their faces.

They were gearing up for a fight.

The New Normal – 10-12 – The Second Battle

Blaine had offered us to join him for a dinner, but Volkner and I both declined as we wanted to return to our respective partners as soon as possible. So with that 'distraction' over, Roxanne and I were able to spend whatever time we had until the battle training together.

During our preparation, Roxanne actually asked if she could try to play a bigger role in the upcoming battle, since it appeared that we had the advantage against our opponents. I thought it through for a moment before replying that I was happy to oblige.

With some planning, we managed to come up with a strategy that should be able to hard counter whatever tactics that Samson and Winona had come up, and it would also give Roxanne a chance to shine.

Still, I kept one of my stronger Pokémon ready to use as backup. Just in case they were needed.

Now it was already the day of our second battle. I had arrived at Ever Grande City by myself because Roxanne had some urgent Gym matters to handle in the morning, and I had nothing better to do today because Cynthia wasn't available. So, with any intense training ruled out to prevent tiring out my Pokémon prematurely, I decided to become a spectator for once and watch a few battles while I waited for our match.

Our battle was in the afternoon, so there was plenty of time to kill.

I could have gone to Mauville City and check up on how our new store was being set up, but my parents reassured me there was no need for that for now. I just needed to be there during the grand opening.

So with that in mind, I headed to the VIP section of the spectator stands, since my position automatically granted me a seat there, and sat myself down as I waited for the morning's battles to begin.

Just as I sat down, I heard a voice call out from behind me.

"John? What a coincidence." I turned around to see Steven and Bruno sitting down next to me, "Didn't think you'd be here."

"Oh! Hello to you both. I didn't expect to meet you guys here." I greeted, "How have you both been doing?"

"It's been good. Bruno and I have been doing some great training in." Steven said, "I feel more prepared than ever. And this Tournament has been an excellent reprieve from the training."

"It would be better if we could have joined." Bruno grunted.

"Yes, yes, you've said so many times now, Bruno. But you and I both don't have the title for it, even if our strength might qualify." Steven placated.

"Maybe next year." Bruno rumbled, before falling silent again.

I blinked a few times as I watched their back and forth. Since when were these two so close together? And did Steven say that they were training together? Since when did that happen?

"...I'm sorry, I have to take it a step back for a moment. How did you the two of you meet?" I asked confusedly.

Steven shrugged, "It was quite a while ago now. I invited him to talk because I saw the potential in him, and thought that we could work together. Long story short, that's what we started doing. I think it's been a good partnership thus far, wouldn't you say so, Bruno?"

"I am content." He agreed in that blunt way of his, "Training with someone strong brings its own advantages. I have noticed my Pokémon fighting better since we started combining ideas – Steven is a good partner. It is useful."

"I see." I nodded, and now that I thought about it, it made sense. The pairing between the two was certainly odd, but I could see how their personalities complemented each other. I never would have expected these two to become friends in the first place, but now that they have, I felt that it was a fortunate coincidence for them to have met.

I shook those thoughts away as I realized that I had been just sitting there and staring at them, "...So, how have you been finding the battles so far? Any pairing caught your eye for being particularly noteworthy?"

"If you wanted to ask about Samson and Winona you could have just asked us directly." Steven chuckled, "But for your information, I didn't spend any special attention on them. I thought they were competent, but little else caught my interest."

"Their teamwork is merely professional, but no more than that." Bruno added, "They lack true cooperation, but understand the basics of working together. But competence should not be underestimated."

"I've spent more attention on the uneven pairings, especially those involving the Hoenn Elite Four." Steven admitted.

"Oh? I was interested in them as well. And how do you think they're doing?" I asked.

"Watching them fight like this has been very useful for me." Steven explained, "I'm used to them seeing them fight in regular battles, where they're more able to rely on their Pokémon's great strength or tried-and-tested strategies to secure them the victory. But with a new partner, they've had to work around them. It's been interesting seeing how they adapt."

"Some have adapted better than others." Steven continued, "Glacia and Fantina was a good example of what not to do. I still can't believe she lost on the first round. I had hoped to be able to study more of her matches."

I had forgotten about that, but Glacia and Fantina had definitely not gotten along well with each other. Their personalities clashed way too hard, and they kept getting in each other's way during the battle. Considering that they were both above average for their positions, that wouldn't have been an automatic defeat, but Giovanni and Norman had knocked them out of the Tournament.

Fantina had spent a little too much time showboating and overextended herself which caused Glacia's Glalie to be exposed and alone. Fantina must have thought she had time to dazzle the crowd while Glacia handled Giovanni by herself, only to be quickly proven wrong when both Giovanni's Donphan and Norman's Kangaskhan ambushed the Ice specialist and secured a quick knockout.

The fight just went downhill from there. Giovanni's Ground types proved to be less susceptible to Ice types than Glacia might have expected, and they were barely unable to reorient themselves before they ended up losing.

"...I was hoping more from Chuck when I watched him." Bruno sighed, "He may have won, but that was more due to Clair's recklessness than his own strength. He lacked discipline and focus. He was too energetic for his own good."

I didn't watch that fight between Clair and Gardenia against Chuck and Wattson, but even though I suspected that Bruno was being a little too harsh on his fellow Fighting specialist, I took his word for it.

"You said you were more impressed with Maylene and Koga, right?" Steven asked his training partner.

"Indeed. I feel a strong connection to Koga, as I can feel his strong will and discipline in every fight that he participates in." Bruno confirmed, "He may not be a Fighting specialist, but he is most certainly a martial artist. His tutelage of young Maylene has been one of the more interesting pairings for me. It is a shame that they lost."

"Oh yeah, I saw highlights of their match as well against Lorelei and Wake." I nodded, "I remember how their initial burst of aggression really gave Lorelei a wake-up call. No pun intended."

"Their teamwork was pretty impressive to look at." Steven agreed, "I don't think I've faced a trainer who's nearly as good at utilising pressure and momentum like Koga was. There were some points in the fight that Lorelei and Wake were genuinely about to lose. He really deserves to be more than a Gym Leader."

I shrugged, "Shame that it wasn't enough."

"Momentum and pressure can help make up for a deficit of strength, but it cannot entirely substitute it." Bruno stated firmly, "Ultimately, Maylene is still learning. Her strength was lacking, and that cost her team the fight. However, I believe she has learnt much from her time with Koga, and I look forward to challenging her in the future as well."

"You look forward to challenging everybody, Bruno." Steven chuckled, "But sad as I am that Maylene was knocked out, I was really glad for Brock and Sidney to have been voted in again to continue fighting in Round 2. Maylene might be an underdog as well, but Brock has by far the more compelling story."

"Oh? I didn't know you were so taken with their performance." I commented, thinking back to their unfortunate loss against Lucian and Surge.

He shrugged, "Crude as it might be for me to say this, but Brock's weakness forces Sidney to reveal his hand if they want a shot of winning. Lucian is no easy opponent."

"I'm sure Brock tries his best." I defended, "He's just a little young right now."

"Forgive me, I didn't mean to insult Brock." Steven apologised, "I just meant that working with a weaker partner has forced Sidney to utilise every trick in his arsenal as a Dark type specialist. He fights just like he did when he went all out against Karen. And I suspect, considering that their next opponent is Pryce and Candice, that Sidney might have to throw everything he can at them if they want to even hope to win. There is much I can learn from that."

That was a little cold for him to say, but I didn't begrudge him for it. These battles were learning opportunities, after all.

The sudden shout from the announcer drew our attention, "Let's continue this conversation later. I think we should concentrate on the match." Steven suggested, "I've been waiting to watch this one."

I nodded and quieted down. The match was between Volkner and Jasmine vs Lorelei and Wake, which explained why Steven was so interested. With his intention to become the Champion of Hoenn, any matches relating to the Elite Four, even the ones not related directly to Hoenn, were going to particularly interesting to him.

On my end, I was torn between cheering for the budding couple in Volkner and Jasmine, or my friend in Lorelei and Wake. Neither team were stronger than the other here – Volkner was basically an Elite Four in terms of strength – so I decided to stay neutral and just enjoy the match.

Since neither of us felt like providing any commentary to the fight, we all sat there in comfortable silence as we watched the fight play out. Volkner and Jasmine had sent out their Lanturn and Magnezone respectively, while Lorelei and Wake sent out their Froslass and Gastrodon.

But as the match went on, it appeared increasingly obvious that Volkner and Jasmine were coordinating better with their moves and generally had more synergy than Lorelei and Wake.

The most obvious example of this was regarding the weather. Obviously, Volkner and Jasmine – with their duo focus on Electric type attacks, wanted to set up the Rain. But while Wake wanted the same for his Water types, Lorelei wanted the Snow.

However, in my eyes, the smart thing to do was for Lorelei and Wake to work together to keep the Snow up. The Snow would only benefit Lorelei, but at least it would deprive Volkner and Jasmine of their crucial Rain.

Yet, for whatever reason, Lorelei's team was content to let the Rain remain, whether that was out of selfishness from Wake or consideration from Lorelei. Either way, I believed they were betting that the boost to Wake's Water attacks, and Gastrodon's immunity to Electric type moves, would make up for any power increases given to Volkner and Jasmine.

If that truly was what she was thinking, then the way the fight was going was proving her wrong. Because instead of focusing on Gastrodon, which was more of a support Pokémon than an actual attacker, Volkner and Jasmine jointly fired off an enormous bombardment of Thunders that completely devastated the surrounding area around Froslass.

Froslass might be known for her evasiveness and speed, but that meant nothing compared to the sheer artillery of Thunders coming crashing down around it. Without her Snow Cloak activated, Froslass was forced entirely on the defensive, and Gastrodon could do little to take the pressure off of its partner.

With Magnezone having used Magnet Rise, the only target that Gastrodon could hit with its supereffective Earth Powers was Lanturn, but Volkner had evidently trained it up to be able to as defensive as possible because Lanturn continued firing off Thunders even as it tanked through Gastrodon's Earth Powers.

Seeing this, I suspected that Gastrodon might not have been one of Wake's stronger Pokémon – and that it was only chosen because they wanted a Pokémon immune to Electric attacks. That would explain its lacking power.

However, what really caught my attention was how much Jasmine had grown at a trainer.

Back at Olivine, I thought that she was certainly strong, but only when compared to the average trainer. Now, she really was living up to her title as a Gym Leader, as her Magnezone sniped Lorelei's Froslass with a powerful Lock-On assisted Flash Cannon that blasted the Ice type out of the air.

With all of the glancing blows that Froslass had already took, the Flash Cannon took it down in one hit. To my surprise, there was no double KO with Destiny Bond – Lorelei must not have had the time to set it up.

"I wonder if I can beat Glacia if I let her keep the Snow up – just by brute forcing through it..." Steven suddenly mumbled to himself.

"Do not try." Bruno quickly shut that down, "Your strength is not so overwhelming that you will be able to accomplish that. The risk is too large."

"...I was hoping for a little more encouragement than that." Steven grumbled.

"You did not hire me to be your cheerleader." Bruno said bluntly, but there was a minute twitch of his lips that told me that he was joking.

The match continued between the two, and Volkner and Jasmine continued to focus down Lorelei while doing their best to ignore Wake. The next Pokémon Lorelei sent out was expectedly her Glalie, as it was the one of two Ice types she had that wasn't directly weak to Electric attacks (the other being Jynx).

Unfortunately for Lorelei, Glalie was even slower than Froslass, which really didn't bode well for her chances. Realising this, Wake switched out his Gastrodon for a Ludicolo, clearly hoping that its Rain-boosted Hydro Pumps would make a difference.

Except the second that he swapped, both Volkner and Jasmine changed targets to focus down the newly emerged Water type. Ludicolo might not be weak to Electric type attacks, but that didn't stop it from being blasted into oblivion.

Lorelei tried to fight back with Ice Beams and Blizzards, but both of Volkner's and Jasmine's Pokémon resisted her Ice type moves. At this point, Lorelei began trying to set up the Snow to stop the Rain, but it was far too late. The situation was far from salvageable at this point.

Ultimately, the Electric pair dominated the fight, and without any heroic or desperate tricks from Lorelei and Wake, Volkner and Jasmine proved to be the eventual victors.

It was an impressive demonstration of teamwork and understanding of each other's abilities. I felt that it was a well-deserved win from the two Gym Leaders, and it seemed like my viewing partners agreed.

While the next fight between Chuck and Wattson and Drake and the Waterflower sisters were being prepared (which I was near certain that Drake's team was going to destroy them), I returned to chatting with the two of them.

"So, back to you guys, how's both of your training been going?" I asked, "I assume since you've mentioned that you've been training together that it's going well?"

"It has." Bruno answered first, "I realized that my Fighting types could hit even harder. And Steven has taught me methods of making my Fighters more durable. If we ever have a chance for a rematch, John, you will find me to be a more challenging opponent."

"To be honest, I was surprised that you didn't ask me for a fight straight away." I replied amusedly.

"You are busy now. It would not be right to ask you for a fight when you are preoccupied." He said, "But I will not decline a challenge from you."

"Maybe some other time." I responded, "And what about you, Steven? Got any plans?"

"You already know of my ambitions to become Champion of Hoenn, so I don't need to reiterate that." He said, "Actually...I want to run a suggestion by you, John. Could you let me know what you think?"

That made me curious. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead."

"You've been in the Elite Four for a while, so you must have an idea on what the environment and mood is there." I nodded, "In that case, how likely do you think it would be to have a foreigner appointed to the Elite Four of Hoenn?"

His words caused my eyes to snap to Bruno. He gave me a wordless nod of acknowledgment, which only further compounded my surprise.

Steven wanted Bruno to join the Hoenn Elite Four?! What the fuck!?

Despite my inner turmoil, none of that showed on my face, "I don't think it will be very easy. I'm assuming you're going to be proposing after you've already become Champion of Hoenn?"

"Naturally." Steven confirmed, "I wouldn't have the political power otherwise."

"Well if the proposal came straight from the Champion then it would make things easier..." I said thoughtfully.

My face scrunched up in thought as I took a moment to think things through before continuing.

"...I can't say too much, but I have my own plans in the works which should hopefully set a precedent for you and make things easier." I eventually decided to reveal, "If it's successful, then you'll definitely hear about it and you can use it as a basis for Bruno's own ascension."

Understanding flashed across his eyes, "I see. Thank you for letting me know." Evidently having figured out what I had just implied, "That does make things easier."

"I'll be honest, this really wasn't what I was expecting." I commented, "I thought you would stay more local, Bruno."

"Steven managed to persuade me." Bruno replied, "And I do not think I would fit in well with the already established dynamics of Indigo. I am comfortable working with Steven, and would not mind continuing to."

"Ah, that makes sense." I nodded, holding back my surprise at just how much they well they got along with each other, "Well all the best to you. I hope it works out well."

"This is just planning for the future, but thanks." Steven said, "I hope your plans work out well too."

"And I hope you win your next match." Bruno added, "Perhaps you should contact your partner and meet up with her." He pointed at the time.

Oh shit. "Oh shit, yes I should. Thank you." I quickly exchanged my goodbyes and ran off to meet up with Roxanne.

Our match was right after Drake's.

=========

?Unlike in our first fight against Will and Flannery, this time Roxanne walked into the battle arena with firm and determined steps. She knew we held every advantage this time, so she held onto her confidence and brought it in with her.

That was good. Because she was going to be the star of the show today.

As we walked in, we exchanged a quick wave with our opponents. Samson waved at me with a cheerful expression, while Winona returned a short, but polite, greeting.

Although the announcer looked like he was starting to feel the fatigue of having to do back-to-back introductions of all these famous trainers, the reaction from the crowd was no less exciting. Especially now that there were fewer trainers to root for, many supporters of those who had fallen out of the Tournament had joined in and began supporting those that remained.

"Stick to the plan." Roxanne whispered to me, and I gave off a faint nod as I readied my Pokémon and waited for the announcer to finish counting down.

"FIGHT!"

"Get'em, Steelix!" "Come out, Luna!"

"Let the winds carry you, Swellow!" "It's your turn, Espeon!"

Steelix came rumbling out of its Pokéball, letting out a fearsome roar as it extended itself to its full height – towering over each and every one of our Pokémon. Both Swellow and Espeon turned and focused on the large, imposing figure of Steelix.

Just like we had hoped for.

While both Swellow and Espeon were momentarily distracted by Steelix's intimidating presence, Luna sneakily finished setting up her Gravity.

The instant that the Gravity intensified, a surprised shriek came out from Swellow as it fell helplessly out of the sky – as if an invisible hand from Luna was forcefully pressing down on it.

Seeing the opportunity in front of it, Steelix roared out as huge spears of rocks rose from the ground, waiting hungrily to impale the falling Swellow. In desperation, Espeon tried to rescue Swellow with a Psychic to shove it out of the way, but a well-timed barrage of Shadow Balls from Luna interrupted its' rescue attempt.

Realizing the painful doom that awaited it, Swellow struggled frantically and pushed back against the intense Gravity, doing whatever it could to avoid the sharpened pit of spears that awaited it. However, no matter how much it fought or writhed, it was not able to muster up the strength to push back against the strength of Luna's Gravity.

This was what Luna used to train up the likes of Tyrant and Vordt. Trained or not, Swellow wasn't able to resist it.

With a single move, Swellow's famed mobility was ripped away from it.

And so Swellow met a painful end as the devastating field of spikes shot upwards as they impaled themselves into the helpless Flying type, utterly shredding through its health. Then, with another roar of power from Steelix, the spears of rocks reversed themselves in the air and shot downwards – pinning Swellow painfully to the floor before an explosive Earthquake violently shook the ground and finished off the pinned Flying type.

Swellow lied broken on the ground. It was a poor end for a Pokémon that had yet to accomplish anything in this fight, but that was just how it had to be.

There was a moment of shocked silence at Swellow's swift defeat, and Winona visibly grimaced as she withdrew her fallen Pokémon, with self-blame written all over her face, even if it wasn't really her fault. It was just that my Pokémon were eminently suitable for taking down pesky Flying Pokémon like hers, while Roxanne's Pokémon, for all their sluggishness, possessed the right amount of power to achieve an instant knockout blow with a well-placed attack.

That was the core of our strategy. We knew with our team that Winona was going to be the weak link, so we were going to target her down first and force this battle into a 2v1. Even if Samson was harder to deal with, he would be overwhelmed in a 2v1 fight.

"Stand tall, Tropius!"

I had to fight down the urge to grin as Winona sent out her Tropius. Knowing what Pokémon she had; we predicted that this would be the one she'd send out once her Swellow was taken out. It was the only one of her Pokémon that wasn't made vulnerable or helpless by Luna's Gravity.

Unfortunately, it would not fare much better than her Swellow. We had planned for this too.

"Stone Edge, Steelix!" "Helping Hand, Luna! Boost your friend!"

"Magical Leaf, Tropius! Cut them down!" "Reflect and Psychic, Espeon!"

Proving that Will wasn't the only one with a powerful Helping Hand, the normal barrage of rocks transformed into a storm of boulders as Steelix received the Helping Hand boost from Luna. The bombardment of stone shot forwards, unfazed by the razor sharp volley of leaves coming its way. Sure, a few boulders were cut down, but that was hardly a drop in the sheer number of boulders coming barrelling their way.

The last second Psychic from Espeon did well to disintegrate many more, but Steelix's geokinesis was nothing to scoff at, especially not with the Helping Hand boost from Luna. And with the Gravity from Luna still in place, Tropius didn't have the mobility to dodge out of the way of the incoming cannon fire of rocks.

So, forced into this position, Tropius hastily summoned up a huge Leaf Storm that shredded through the Stone Edge, forming a barrier of razor sharp leaves that protected the Tropius. Luna tried to sneak in an Ice Beam to catch Tropius off-guard with a quadruple supereffective attack, but a Light Screen from Espeon blocked most of the damage.

Yet their focus on defense meant that Steelix now had space to snake forwards, his metallic form spinning through the air like a drill. Another Helping Hand from Luna caused Steelix to begin glowing with power, and its Iron Tail tore a trench through the ground as it swung its tail around like a heavy sledgehammer towards Espeon.

"Teleport out of there, Espeon!"

Espeon barely Teleported out of the way in time – it would have been smashed straight into the dirt like the frail Psychic type it was.

However, by Teleporting out of the way, that gave Steelix the freedom to slightly reposition its attack so that its tail came brutally hammering down onto Tropius, who was still trying to recover from its hasty Leaf Storm. Seeing the attack coming, Tropius instinctively tried to fire off a flurry of Air Slashes and Magical Leaf, hoping that one would flinch the Steelix, but they merely bounced off Steelix's sturdy metallic exterior.

The Iron Tail slammed into it, and Tropius let out a grunt of pain as its knees buckled from the sheer impact of the attack, then another merciless Iron Head caused its knees to collapse entirely. Espeon tried to support its ally with a quick Shadow Ball and Psychic combo, but Luna formed a Light Screen to protect Steelix while it finished off the wounded Tropius.

"Ice Fang, Steelix! Knock it out!"

"Helping Hand again, Luna!"

With the Flying type now crumbled before it, Steelix let out a roar as it bit down with its frozen maw, delivering a fatal amount of Ice into quad-weak Tropius with their combined power. A cry of pain was the last sound that Tropius made before it was knocked out of the fight.

A Grass Knot from Espeon finally sent Steelix tumbling to the ground, but it was far too late. The fight had already become a 2v1 in our favour.

And now with Espeon being the lone Pokémon on their side, we played it super safe. Steelix would rush forwards to corner the Psychic type, while Luna was in charge of healing it with Life Dew and protect the Steel type with Light Screens.

It was a typical tank and healer combo, but it was working out very well. Luna's supporting moves were truly making Steelix unbeatable.

Samson's Espeon made a valiant attempt to try to hold off our duo of Pokémon, but the battle was in the bag. Despite its attempts to mimic Will's Gardevoir by Teleporting around to make space while throwing out attacks, Espeon wasn't nearly as Psychically proficient as Will's were, and so its Teleports were simply slower and its attacks didn't hit as hard.

Its attempts were merely just stalling out the inevitable.

All the while, I stuck to my promise to Roxanne and maintained a supportive role while I allowed her to slowly finish off the fight. Espeon tired out much faster, thanks to its constant need to evade and Teleport, and after a minute or two of running away a Stone Edge from Steelix finally tripped up the Psychic type for long enough to be slammed into unconsciousness by another heavy Iron Tail.

Ultimately, the battle ended not with a bang, but with a slow whimper as Samson's second Starmie also fell to a surprise Rock Blast from Steelix.

We had won.

I let out a small smile as the loud cheers boomed out from the crowd. This was an absolutely textbook victory, and I was proud that we had practically planned that down to a fault.

Our teamwork had really shone brightly.

Likewise, the star of today's battle had a big grin on her face as she waved happily to the surrounding audience, most of whom were cheering her name.

Her Steelix had made a firm impression today.

While we celebrated, our opponents made their way towards us. I noticed immediately that while Samson didn't look too disappointed at their defeat, Winona was a different story.

She looked quite bitter at her pathetic showing.

"Well played from you guys." Samson spoke up, "I didn't realize that you could so effortlessly target down Winona like that. Neither of us expected it."

"We should have, but we overlooked the power of your Gravity." Winona added a little bitterly, "That's on us. We didn't realize the extent to which you countered my Flying types. All of our strategies were nullified by that one move."

"Nevertheless," Samson quickly interrupted, "Roxanne, you fought hard today. Your Steelix was an unstoppable monster."

"Thank you, but I can't take all the credit." She said humbly, "Without John's Clefable supporting me, my Steelix would have fallen to your Shadow Balls or your Leaf Storms."

Then she turned to Winona, "But, Winona...surely your Altaria could have fought back against the Gravity, right?" Roxanne questioned curiously, "I mean, I've seen how strong it is. Why didn't you use it?"

"Mhm, you're not wrong about that." Winona nodded, "My Altaria does have the strength to go against it. But I chose not to use them anyways."

"Why not?" Roxanne asked again, but I had already guessed the reason.

"It's about image." Samson answered for her, confirming my thoughts, "Altaria is her prized starter. It is her strongest Pokémon and a symbol of her strength as a Gym Leader. Were it to lose a battle, that would be a much bigger stain on Winona's image as a Gym Leader than if any of her other Pokémon fell. 'For fun' tournament or not, it wouldn't look too good."

"Which is why I didn't use it, because I believed that it would still have lost to John's Clefable regardless, especially with its Dragon type being weak to Fairy. Not only that, but Skarmory would do little better against your Earthquakes, grounded as it would be by the Gravity." Winona added, "I knew that the battle was lost as soon as you grounded my Swellow and knocked it out within seconds of the battle beginning, so everything after that was just me playing damage control."

"But should not fight at your strongest? To show off your strength?" Roxanne looked more confused, "Would that not be better?"

"That's what you're told to do, yes, but there are often far more considerations at play." Winona explained, "This Tournament is being watched by practically everyone around the world. The main prize for most of us is the chance for us to show off how strong we are and cement our status and reputations as Gym Leaders."

"But you cannot win every match. There are just some trainers that are just stronger than you." Winona continued, "In those situations, you have to figure out how to lose well. To lose in a way that isn't too embarrassing and keeps your reputation intact as best you can. It's crude and unpleasant, but my years of experience as a Gym Leader has taught me this."

"It might be difficult to hear, but Winona is right." Samson spoke up, "Knowing how to lose well and maintain your dignity is an important skill for a Gym Leader or an Elite Four." He gave me a pointed look, to which I nodded.

"Do you remember Shin?" I asked Roxanne.

"Yeah...oh, I see what you mean." She nodded, "Right...I understand. Thank you for teaching me."

"You don't have to thank us, we're just doing our jobs as your seniors." Winona chuckled, "And besides, you're the one that stomped me into the ground. You don't have to worry about losing with dignity for the time being."

Then she shot Roxanne a look, "But next time, don't think it'll be so easy."

And with those words, we parted ways. Roxanne and I exchanged one last parting wave to the crowd before we entered back into the privacy of the break room. I went to grab some food while Roxanne sat down on one of the armchairs, deep in thought. Yet she still had a pleased smile on her face from the afterglow of the battle.

I smiled at her happiness; I felt she more than deserved it. But more than that, I was happy that we got through the second round, even if I thought we got a little lucky with the matchup. Now, there was only one more fight to go before the Top 3 would be decided.

Even though I highly suspected that our next round wouldn't be so easy...they would not stop me from making it to the Top 3.

No matter who they were.

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