The New Normal - A Pokémon Elite 4 SI by CartecFF

Chapter 42: 165-169

The New Normal – 8-14 – Hisuian Discoveries

As we watched the terrifying army of wild Pokémon stampeding towards us, I realized that, for the first time since we entered into the caves, we no longer had the raw numbers advantage compared to the wild Pokémon, since we had left behind many of the trainers to form and set up the perimeter around the forward base.

But there wasn't time to worry about that.

"Tyrant, Smough, protect us!"

"Garchomp! Milotic! Defend us!"

Tyrant came charging out of his Premier Ball with a powerful roar, smashing his fist straight into a Mamoswine that was trying to rush us down, before grappling onto his tusks and brutally slamming it into a wall.

At the same time, Garchomp swooped in from above, raking a Dragon Claw that ripped through the H-Zoroark before it could pounce on one of the explorers. The H-Zoroark struggled in Garchomp's grasp, but Garchomp was indifferent as it smashed it face-first into the ground and firing off a Stone Edge that ripped through the fallen H-Zoroark.

It didn't stand a chance.

My eyes instinctively went to stare at Garchomp, marvelling at its form and strength, but now was definitely not the time for it.

As that was happening, Klee and Luna quickly formed a Reflect and Light Screen to protect the entire group, and Smough and Milotic joined the front lines as they moved to repel the incoming onslaught of Pokémon. Smough followed in Tyrant's footsteps and slammed a Hammer Arm into an incoming Rhydon, stunning it for enough time so that Milotic could come in and fire off a Hydro Pump that blasted the Rhydon away.

I wanted to release my other Pokémon as well, but in the narrow opening we were currently trapped in, we just didn't have enough space to release all of our Pokémon, not with the other trainers' Pokémon also taking up space.

Then the earth shook, the powerful tremors throwing us all onto the ground as a massive Steelix erupted out from the ground with a Dig, completely knocking out a Gallade as it was taken by surprise. The Steelix then let out a deafening roar as its maw began to glow blue, a Dragon Pulse charging up from within.

But before it could fire it off, Lucario rushed in like a blur, smashing the Steelix with a Force Palm to the jaw. Steelix's head was snapped to the side from the impact, staggering it for long enough for Tyrant to leap over and grapple the Steelix before launching it away with a Seismic Toss. The large iron snake was sent crashing into a group of Gastrodon, knocking them over completely.

A pained cry caught my attention, and I turned to see one of the explorer's Leafeon go down to a Poison Jab from the Sneasler. Another Magmar tried to retaliate with a Flamethrower, but it didn't do as much damage as it hoped and the Sneasler was able to dive through the flames and pummel it down with a Brick Break. I grimaced, realizing that the Pokémon's unknown typing was causing these trainers to be caught unaware.

Fortunately, before the Sneasler could do more damage, Klee sent it flying with a powerful blast of Psychic, the extremely supereffective attack immediately knocking out the Sneasler as it crashed into an Abomasnow that was preparing to fire off an Ice Beam.

It was at that moment that the area around us suddenly dropped even further in temperature as a powerful Blizzard formed within our ranks, threatening to engulf us all in a vortex of frost and ice. I turned to where the attack was coming from, realizing that it was a Walrein that was channelling the attack.

"SMOUGH! GO!"

Being the closest Pokémon to the Walrein, Smough charged forwards, Body Slamming a few weaker Gliscor out of the way, its fists crackling with lightning as it delivered a devastating Thunder Punch straight into the Walrein. The paralysis immediately set in, interrupting its attack and saving us all from being suddenly consumed by a deathly Blizzard.

A cry from Klee spun me around, and I turned to see the Kleavor suddenly cut through a torrent of flames and knocked out a Flareon; its large Stone Axes came crashing down and smashing the unaware Fire type into the ground. But before it could choose its next target, Cynthia's Garchomp slammed into it with a savage Dragon Rush, crashing the two of them mercilessly into the wall before a ferocious Iron Head from Garchomp sent the Kleavor crumbling to the floor.

Then Tyrant made himself known once more as he pounced onto a charging Hippowdon, smashing down with an Ice Punch that buried the Hippowdon into the ground. Stones began flying his way from an opposing Gliscor, but a sweeping Ice Beam silenced the Gliscor for the rest of the fight.

Unsatisfied with his current tally count, Tyrant roared and dove right back into the fight, becoming a whirlwind of violence that savaged any unlucky enough to cross his path.

With Tyrant's 'distraction', our Pokémon had managed to secure a small moment to breathe as the wild Pokémon hesitated slightly, losing confidence as their survival instincts warned them of our strength. Taking advantage in a momentary lull in the fighting, I moved to Cynthia.

"Fight through? Or back off?" I asked, knowing that she was in command of the expedition.

"Fight through!" She shouted out determinedly, once again reestablishing direction and authority over the group, "Show of force! Drive them back!"

Taking advantage of the wild Pokémon's momentary hesitation, we all ordered our Pokémon forwards, eschewing our previous defensive stance in exchange for one of pure offense. We hoped to simply scare the wild Pokémon away instead of having to take them out one by one.

Not wanting to be left out, Cynthia's Garchomp led the charge this time, copying Tyrant as it rushed straight into the fray, charging and crashing through all that stood in its way with another Dragon Rush. Anything that came close to Garchomp became eviscerated with its deadly Dragon Claws or smashed aside by its Dragon Tails.

Even with all their strength and experience in fighting each other, the wild Pokémon were nothing compared to the likes of Tyrant and Garchomp. The two of them quickly tore a hole through the wild Pokémon's lines, and the momentum rapidly shifted in our favour.

Cynthia's Milotic unleashed a sweeping Hydro Pump, firing off a torrent of water that swept through the opposing Ground types and suppressing them for long enough for our other Pokémon to move in and knock them out. At the same time, Lucario and Smough charged forwards, a mixture of speed and power as they rampaged through the vulnerable Pokémon, throwing themselves forwards with as much aggression as possible.

A Mamoswine was kicked aside by Lucario right into the waiting arms of Smough, who smashed down with a Hammer Arm and buried the Mamoswine into the ground. Another uppercut from Smough sent another Rhydon reeling back in pain before a Flash Cannon from Lucario took it out.

Then a flaming Abomasnow was sent careening through the opening as Garchomp had hurled it through the air before it crashed into a unsuspecting group of Weavile who had been trying to flank around. In their distraction, they didn't see the powerful torrent of water from Milotic's Hydro Pump until it was too late, and they ended up being helplessly blasted and pinned to the wall.

Our aggression paid off. With the wild Pokémon being more prioritized on their own self-interest, they quickly came to the realisation that fighting us was no longer worth it. A few of them starting retreating, and we made sure to pursue them for a short while to make sure that their retreat would turn into a full rout – one where they all ran away panicked and afraid.

Leaving us with a wide open, but empty clearing in the caves.

"Check up on the wounded!" Cynthia ordered, "Form a defensive perimeter, look out for new threats!"

"Gather the wounded here!" I called out as Klee and Luna started in their healing duties, "Prioritize the most injured first!"

We organized ourselves efficiently and Klee and Luna were quick to start healing up those that had been badly injured or taken a hit during the wild Pokémon's assault. As we waited for the Pokémon to heal up, Cynthia approached me.

"This is a find of a lifetime." Her eyes were practically alight with excitement, "Never before seen Pokémon! Alternate types! I think I recognize that Scizor lookalike; I think there were records of them somewhere!"

"Should we secure a few?" I asked, eager to get my hands on the Hisuian Zoroark that had just been knocked out.

"We must." She nodded excitedly, but then she turned serious, "But we must not let our enthusiasm overcome us. We're still in very dangerous territory and we have wounded with us. Safety must come first. I suggest we capture a few of these and retreat back to the forward base. We can decide what to do with them afterwards."

She looked to the rest of the explorers, "Are we all in agreement?" Everyone just nodded back, most of them too tired or exhausted to say much else.

And so, we made use of their extra Pokéballs that we had brought along for this very purpose. I made sure to capture the H-Zoroark, while the others moved to capture the Kleavor and a few of the other rarer Pokémon like Mamoswine. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any traces of where the Sneasler had went. It must have been blasted back too far and retreated before we could secure it.

I noticed that it was a shame that we didn't see a Hisuian Avalugg anywhere. If anything, the freezing and frost-filled caves would have been ideal living conditions for it, but perhaps we got unlucky and that there were none around at the moment.

After making sure all of the new Pokémon were secured, and that our Pokémon were properly healed up, we quickly retreated out of the clearing, not wanting to test our luck any further. We promptly made our way back to the forward base, having to fight through a few small skirmishes, but nothing that mine or Cynthia's Pokémon couldn't handle.

By the time we returned to the forward base, the exhaustion seemed to hit me all at once, and I practically collapsed into one of the foldable chairs that they had set up. Cynthia was the same, and she let out a huge, tired sigh as she sat down into the chair next to me. But despite all the tiredness, we both shared satisfied smiles.

"That was totally worth it." She breathed out, "...Just let me catch my breath for a few minutes and we can inspect our captures."

"Fine by me. I'm exhausted too." I replied, slumping further into my chair. But it didn't take long for the whispers to spread around the forward base, and soon enough the entire base knew about our miraculous captures. Fortunately, the reporters had all left and the rest were all contracted to silence anyways, so at least this news wouldn't spread outside of here.

Realizing that we couldn't rest any longer, we both reluctantly pulled ourselves out of our seats and gathered up in one of the tents, hosting an impromptu meeting to discuss what we had just discovered.

The questions came as soon as we entered.

"Cynthia! Are we going to be declaring this to the public!? A new Scizor evolution would be incredible!" One of the explorers excitedly asked.

"No, you idiot! That clearly was a SCYTHER evolution! Not a Scizor! There was no metal!" Another denied.

"We should have stayed to capture that weird tall Weavile lookalike!" Yet another explorer called out, "We could have hunted it down and captured it!"

"We needed to get out of there, or were you not on your last Pokémon as well?" The meeting was quick to devolve into pointless arguments.

"Enough! Sit down!" Cynthia demanded, her forceful presence suddenly silencing them all. She glared at the group, and none dared to speak up, "I thought you were all experienced explorers, or has the thought of a new discovery suddenly robbed you all of your wits? Sit yourselves down, have a drink of water, and we can discuss this like civilised people."

The explorers all moved to obey, and a calm silence finally fell on the meeting. "Good, now I shall start. Can I please have a few Pokémon ready to restrain this...new Pokémon, in case it's still hostile?" She released her own Lucario, and I volunteered and threw out Klaus and Pixel. A few of the other explorers released their own Psychic types as well.

Satisfied with the lineup, Cynthia threw out a Pokéball, releasing her Kleavor into the room.

Having healed up slightly from its injuries, the Kleavor instantly snarled and threw itself at the nearest available target, being my Klaus. But it didn't get far before a huge amount of Psychic energy suddenly slammed it into the ground, restraining it and preventing it from moving a muscle.

"A shame..." Cynthia idly muttered, "I'd hope for it to be more obedient."

I made a show of looking Kleavor over, "It looks more like a Scyther evolution to me. No traces of metal anywhere that you would expect to see from a Scizor." I gestured to his large stone axes, "And the axes look a little too rocky for it to be made of metal."

Cynthia kneeled down to get a better look, ignoring the frustrated and vicious growls coming from the Kleavor, "I'm think I'm going to agree with you. This looks like a Scyther that has adapted to spending its entire life underground and has evolved to better fight back against all the Rock and Ice types that could be found there."

"Probably a Rock/Bug type then." I suggested, getting a few nods of agreements from the other explorers.

"Perhaps...but we need to do more tests regarding that." She commented, "Luckily we have all the equipment to do said tests here."

"But Cynthia, are we going to be publishing these findings?" An explorer asked.

"Yes, but not for some time. I want to make sure we have an accurate collection of data first." She replied, "No need to risk publishing false information, after all." Everyone nodded along with that.

We poked and prodded Kleavor a little longer, but eventually Cynthia withdrew it back into her Pokéball since Kleavor was getting increasingly frustrated with being restrained for so long. And deliberately angering a Pokémon was never a good idea.

"Your turn, John." I nodded to her and released the new H-Zoroark.

But instead of a white and red spirit being released, what came out was my Blissey. She looked around blankly for a moment, her face a picture of innocence. The Pokémon that were meant to restrain it didn't move as they simply stared confusedly, likely thinking that I released the wrong Pokémon.

"KLAUS, PIXEL! RESTRAIN IT!"

Not questioning my decision, both of my Pokémon immediately blasted it with a powerful wave of Psychic. 'Blissey' cried out in pain, and her form rippled, revealing the illusion for what it was. As the illusion faded, the other Pokémon snapped out of their confusion and joined in to restrain the H-Zoroark. Though that hard was made even harder by the fact that the H-Zoroark seemed to be nothing but pure rage and anger.

Our Pokémon strained themselves to keep it restrained, but it kept trying to break free with raw defiant determination. It was even worse than Kleavor.

"Fascinating. I have never seen a Pokémon like that, especially not one that could disguise itself." Cynthia muttered as she inspected the H-Zoroark.

"Think it is a different Pokémon species?" An explorer asked.

"Yes. Most certainly. It doesn't resemble anything we've seen thus far." Cynthia nodded, with me joining her.

"Another Dark/Ghost type then?" Another suggested, "It makes sense considering its ability to form illusions. Ghosts and Dark types are infamous for their tricks."

"Our Psychic attacks wouldn't have worked if it was a Dark type." I pointed out, "But my gut agrees that it is partially a Ghost type."

"Too many guesses, not enough evidence." Cynthia interrupted with a shake of her head, "The only thing I'm confident in at the moment is that this is a new species of Pokémon entirely. Which means more testing."

"I feel like we have had texts describing such a Pokémon in the history of Hisui, though." An explorer explained, "I'm confident that what we have here is a Pokémon that existed in the distance past. I'm pretty sure we've had descriptions about a notorious Pokémon known for its tricks and illusions."

"...Yes, I think I remember reading about that." Cynthia muttered, jogging her memory, "I even remember they had a name for it, but that escapes me at the moment." She gave the H-Zoroark another inspecting look.

"...Be that as it may, I think it would be prudent to decide what we should do next." One of the accompanying scientists spoke up, "Should we get the testing done now? Better to get this information jotted down as soon as possible."

"Yes, let's." Cynthia agreed, and the meeting broke up as a few explorers moved to rest while the rest of us headed to the tent that contained all of the testing equipment.

Testing proved to be as difficult as we imagined it to be, considering how uncooperative our new Pokémon were. Though that was hardly unexpected, and these scientists had clearly worked with ornery and aggressive Pokémon before because they hardly even seemed fazed at their defiance.

Kleavor went first, and since we already had a baseline to work with, it didn't take long for us to definitively prove that it was a Rock/Bug type. Everyone seemed pleased about the rare type combination.

"It looks like it has the potential to be an excellent fighter." I commented to Cynthia.

"Indeed. It'd be a fine addition to any team..." She muttered thoughtfully as she thought deeply about something. "By the way, has anyone gotten its name?"

"I'm pretty sure it keeps repeating 'Kleavor'. So that's its name." One of the scientists pointed out.

Cynthia's eyes shined, "That is a good name. I like it. Fits very well with Scyther and Scizor's names as well." The others muttered in agreement.

With Kleavor's test finished, we moved on to H-Zoroark. We had to quickly bring out the equipment made specifically to restrain Ghost types, and it tried but failed to trick us again with its illusions.

These tests took much longer, and it was only when I made the idle suggestion that we should test Ghost types moves against it that they realized that it was a Ghost/Normal type. That turned a few heads my way, as I supposed I didn't hide the naked interest in my eyes well enough ever since we caught the Pokémon.

We also confirmed the name to be a 'Zoroark', and that it WAS indeed a whole new species of Pokémon entirely. The scientists and explorers also confirmed that there were descriptions of a similar Pokémon having existed in the distant past, and that Zoroark was very likely the Pokémon they were describing.

Because of this, there were also talks about trying to honour its origins so that it would be called a "Hisuian-Zoroark", as a constant reminder of where it originated, but that ended up being too much of a mouthful. So after a brief discussion, it was decided that we would be sticking with just 'Zoroark'.

I might still call it a Hisuian-Zoroark in my own head though.

But then it came to the real question, "...Who should have authority over these Pokémon?" One of the scientists asked prudently, "Or would they just fall under the common authority of the Celestic Town Research Centre?"

Cynthia paused, tilting her head as she took a long moment to think things over. While she WAS in charge, it wouldn't be good to simply ignore the contributions of all the other explorers and scientists that jointly helped with this discovery.

"...John, are you interested in keeping control over your latest capture?" She eventually asked me.

"Certainly." I nodded immediately, "I'm very interested in being able to train up a Normal/Ghost type. I think it would be an excellent addition to my team if you would allow me to keep it."

"I know that my grandmother and Elite Bertha promised you that you could keep and capture whatever Pokémon you found here, and I have no intentions of going against that." She told me, "However, considering that these are very unique circumstances, I'm afraid I would have to ask you for a few conditions in return, though they shouldn't be anything too onerous."

"Go ahead." I replied, expecting this.

"Firstly, I want to continue doing tests with your new Pokémon until we have enough data to publish." She explained, "That means, if you return to Indigo, you would have to visit my grandmother's lab so that further tests could be performed. Especially regarding breeding." I nodded easily to that condition.

"Secondly, I would ask you to not reveal this Pokémon until we have made our official announcement." She continued, "It would make things much easier if we could have control over the narrative."

"I understand that I do not have the authority to impose these conditions on you, as you are a member of a foreign Elite Four, but you would be doing us a great favour if you could adhere to them." She finished, not too subtly reminding everyone else of my official position. Yes, if I wanted to, I could just walk out with H-Zoroark and no one could really do anything about it, but I didn't want to resort to that.

Besides, the conditions weren't harsh in the slightest. "I'm happy to agree to that." I said, "Thank you for allowing me to keep such a new and exciting Pokémon."

"Not quite yet, we still have more tests to run back at our actual lab." She chuckled, "Unfortunately, you won't get to keep your new Pokémon quite yet."

"What about Kleavor?" A scientist asked, who had been politely staying quiet during our discussion.

"Kleavor will fall under the authority of the Celestic Town Research Centre for the time being." Cynthia stated, "Once sufficient testing has been done, then we can decide on ownership."

"The same goes with any future undiscovered Pokémon that we capture from these caves." She added, "They will temporarily fall under the authority of the Research Centre until testing is completed. Authority can be decided afterwards."

Everyone else nodded. I was fortunate that most of the people here were scientists and explorers that prioritised the sciences rather than battling, as I doubt the latter would be nearly as nonchalant about losing an opportunity to have a new and potentially powerful battler on their team.

Even Cynthia, for all her self-disciplined, was practically radiating with unrestrained greed towards Kleavor. Not that I didn't understand, in her position I would love to include Kleavor onto my team as well – especially since it possessed a typing that she currently lacked.

But I put those thoughts aside as I felt around the Pokéball containing what was going to be the latest addition to my team. A Ghost/Normal type with the ability to form illusions was going to be an incredibly powerful Pokémon for me to have, and it was yet another potential counter against opposing Fighting types.

Of course, even though the H-Zoroark already seemed quite powerful already, that was marred by the fact that it had severe discipline issues and was still hostile to me. It was going to take some time to endear myself to it and for it to trust in me as its' trainer, and to get rid of whatever bad habits that it might have.

Still, that was a problem for the future. For now, I already had a name selected for my newest Pokémon. And it was quite easy to think of, considering that it was practically a spirit full of vengeance and anger.

Wraith.

The New Normal – 8-14 – Interlude – Pokenet Reactions

[THE INDIGO DELEGATION ARRIVES AT CANALAVE CITY?! ELITE LUCIAN GREETS ELITE WILL AND ELITE JOHN OF INDIGO!] by Sinnoh News

[Pictures of John and Will disembarking from the ship, being greeted by Lucian]

And so the time of the traditionalists have finally come to an end, as Sinnoh prepares to usher in a new age of wonder, excitement, and the unknown. Opening our borders for the first time to the wider international community is something that the public of Sinnoh have been asking for some time now, and we are finally seeing the results of our decisions today.

Elite Lucian was there at the ports of Canalave to greet the two foreign members of the Indigo Elite Four, the first meeting that we have hosted to a member of the international community. But while Sinnoh waited with baited breath to see the outcome of their delegation, having observed the meeting in person, this writer is cautiously optimistic that this entire venture might turn out for the better.

Elite Will and Elite John expressed nothing but respect for our cultures and our Elite Four member, never indicating whatsoever that they looked down on our fondness for traditions. But only time can tell to see if this newfound cooperation turns out for the better or not.

However, this writer sincerely hopes that the future of Sinnoh will be a bright one. The era of the traditionalists has led Sinnoh into an age of stagnancy and decay. So perhaps this influx of foreign peoples and opportunities will allow us to shake off the rust brought about by the traditionalists.

What do you all think about these newcomers? Let us know!

Comments

TangelaThoughts

Big welcome to all the Sinnohnians that are now able to join in on the Pokenet! We're pleased to have you!

LoveIsEterna

Many thanks! Hope you get to visit our lovely region some day! I bet you'll be impressed by the sights. And vice versa!

GodBidoof

Yeah! Can't wait for Pokémon sharing between our regions to become more readily available. I've already kept myself awake countless nights just theorizing on the strengths of all those Pokémon from Indigo and Hoenn! You guys have some real powerhouses!

ChatALot

OMA! Having new regions being introduced is so exciting! And finally being included in the Pokenet is SUCH a big deal! You don't know what it was like when I found out that there were a whole bunch of people just chatting away that I couldn't get involved in! I'm still going through all of the forums that I've missed and wow there's so much to discuss! Anyone know any of the good rumours and updates recently? I'm still catching up but it seems like there has been so many interesting events that has taken place in the two regions in the past. I can't believe you guys had to deal with terrorists and...

====================

?[ELITE LORELEI DEFEATS GYM LEADER SURGE IN AN OFFICIAL CHALLENGE! WINS A CONVINCING 6-4 VICTORY!!] By BattleCast

It looks like our rising star of the Indigo Elite Four has proven just why she deserved the position as she has handedly defeated her first challenger! Gym Leader Surge has always expressed his disapproval of the "corruption and nepotism" that "allowed" Lorelei to enter to the Elite Four, and he seems to finally have taken action to back up his words.

Unfortunately, the results were far from what he hoped for, and in fact his actions may have been more beneficial to Lorelei in the long run. But we here at BattleCast aren't here to discuss the political implications of this battle, only the battle itself! And what a show it was!

Lorelei really has seemed to have improved the quality and strength of her team since her last battle against Walker. There, it was clear that she was stumbling over the finishing line, barely securing her position. But here, she even had time to sacrifice a few Pokémon to slowly wear down Surge's final Raichu – playing it safe so that she could ensure herself the win.

A powerful statement from the Elite Four, and a sign that Lorelei really is walking in the footsteps of her infamous uncle. Who knows, maybe we could expect another Ice type Champion in our future?

What did you all think of the match? This writer is eager to know! Write it down in the comments!

Comments

IceColdSimp

THAT'S MY LORELEI!! SHOWING OFF HER POWER AGAIN!! I TOLD YOU ALL HER WIN AGAINST WALKER WAS MORE THAN A FLUKE!! WHAT NOW HATERS!?

FutureAce

...Anyone else was screaming at the screen for Surge to just SWITCH OUT his Pokémon? I know that Pokémon are meant to be able to fight for long periods of time, but he was just putting himself at such a disadvantage because he refused to switch!

Not saying Lorelei did a bad job, but Surge really made some crucial mistakes.

FlyingHigh

Unfortunately...this kinda has always been Surge's thing. Many have claimed that he's an overly stubborn man, so I guess we were just seeing that here.

It's a shame. His Pokémon are really powerful. But there must be a way to utilize them better.

TangelaThoughts

Surge, like his Electric type specialty suggests, has Pokémon that are all excellent at rapid burst offense. We saw there here too – but his weakness is that they run out of power really quickly and aren't able to sustain their offense for long.

Still, a good showing for a Gym Leader. But an even better one for Lorelei. I think less people are going to be doubting her position now.

AlluteNinja

Anyone else thinks that Will should be the next person to be challenged? Unlike with Lorelei, he didn't need to fight his way into the Elite Four and was just chosen. He really hasn't had an opportunity to prove his strength yet, and I feel like he may be tested soon.

SlugmaBalls

In that case, why hasn't challenged Agatha yet? It's been a long time since she has had a direct challenge, right? So why not her?

FlyingHigh

Because people aren't THAT stupid.

=============

?[ELITE JOHN DRAWS AGAINST A SINNOH TOURNAMENT WINNER! A FUTURE ELITE FOUR IN THE MAKING?! WHO IS CYNTHIA, AND HOW DID SHE FIGHT TO A DRAW?!] by Battlecast

[Pictures of Lucario defeating Smough]

Yes, the title wasn't clickbait. Elite John has actually met his match! And it was against an opponent that wasn't even an Elite Four or a Gym Leader. But rather from an up-and-coming trainer from Sinnoh. Though, eye-catching title aside, we here at Battlecast have the integrity to acknowledge that the match was done on friendly terms, so it was unlikely that John had used his full strength in that battle.

Nevertheless, his draw does come at quite a surprise, especially considering his dominant string of victories back in Indigo. So that leaves the important question - who is Cynthia, the trainer that drew against him? And what does she have?

Cynthia is the granddaughter of Professor Carolina, a renowned scientist and lead researcher at the Celestic Town Research Centre, in Sinnoh. For those less aware of what that position entails, it can be considered to be the equivalent of the Cinnabar Island Research Centre. Cynthia herself, according to our research, is also a prominent scientist, historian, and explorer in her own right, and is the definitive successor to her grandmother.

But despite her lack of a traditional trainer background, she has managed to win the Sinnoh Conference two years prior, only to disappear back into the sciences before she could make a true splash in the trainer world. Yet despite this achievement, her team is far more formidable than even we expected when performing our research. Using a Lucario, Roserade, and a Spiritomb against John's team, Cynthia might be the first high-level generalist trainer that we've seen since Professor Oak!

And from our further research, we could find that...[Click here to continue reading]

Comments

GeneralistGeneral

LETS GOOOOO!! We FINALLY have another high-tier generalist trainer, and clearly one that has some serious talent in her! I can't wait to see the rest of Cynthia's team and how far she's managed to train and push them!

AND she managed to match John in a battle one for one!! So cool!!

ANormalFan

Eh. It was just a battle for fun, not a serious battle. The outcome would be different if it was. John will have his moment to win again.

DragonPower

If there's anything that disgusts me more than a non-Dragon trainer, it's a trainer that has only dipped their toes in the power of Dragons and yet refuses to do the right thing and simply train up more Dragon types.

This trainer hasn't shown off a Dragon yet – but I would be furious to see if she was a dumb generalist trainer with a powerful Dragon type. So much wasted potential if that was the case.

FlyingHigh

Woah! Cynthia's strength is really impressive! And while I'm sure a few people will be pointing fingers at John for his loss to a 'nobody', I for one am just marvelling at the fight that we did get. Wonder how that would have turned out if they were both being serious?

Still, this was the man who beat Drake, and then Bruno, and yet Cynthia matched him! This is a trainer with a future ahead of her!

TangelaThoughts

My word! Who knew such a powerful trainer was just casually hiding out in Sinnoh? And to not even come from a prominent trainer family as well. That's honestly impressive! In John's case, I can already foresee his detractors looking to climb out of the shadows, but let's see how he deals with this.

Looking forward to see more from her in the future!

PianoLover

YEAH LETS GO CYNTHIA! Always knew she had it in her!

GodBidoof

I remember Cynthia during her time in the Sinnoh Conference. I thought it was nice that a generalist had managed to win the Conference since we rarely ever see those. Can't believe she grew so strong since then.

Still, very proud of Sinnoh for having produced such a trainer! Let's go!!!

The New Normal – 8-15 – Tabling the Results

Who knew that the feeling of having warm, fresh air breezing past your face could be so comforting? But upon returning from the cave systems and back to the surface, just being able to see the open sky and feel the wind on my face was nothing short of heavenly.

We all definitely needed a break from those freezing caves.

The reporters, who had returned earlier than us, immediately swarmed us and pestered us with questions. But this time, with tiredness streaking our faces, we didn't have the patience to deal with them and begged off.

The first thing any of this was head to the showers before getting a good night's sleep. None of us had the energy to do anything else before that.

It was only the next day when I had the energy to actually do things again. And the first item on the list was the missed call that I received from Lance.

So, I rung him up again, "Lance? This is John." I said to him as he picked up.

"John, I heard a little about the expedition you went on!" He replied cheerfully, "Was it successful?"

"I believe so." I responded, doing my best to hide what we had uncovered, "You got something for me?"

"I do. Unless you have something urgent that requires you to stay in Sinnoh for, we're going to pull you both you and Will back home by the end of the week." He informed me, giving me just a few more days to remain in Sinnoh, "You've stayed there for almost a good month, and Sinnoh have agreed for us to send a permanent diplomatic representative in both your places. They'll serve as our liaison to the Sinnoh League."

"I see. Truthfully, I expected this to have come earlier." I said to him.

"I've been pushing for a permanent representative for some time, but the Sinnoh League are...uncooperative at the moment. That delayed matters even further." He complained, "I just hope the Sinnohnians actually appoint an actual Champion soon who can rein in the Committee. Trying to organize things with them was such a hassle."

My thoughts went to Cynthia, but I promised to not say anything for the moment, "...I do too. Sinnoh needs the stability."

"Will had mentioned how he was almost accidentally caught up in one of those protests." Lance agreed, "You've been lucky to avoid them, staying in Celestic Town as you are."

"Oh – and speaking of Will." Lance continued, "Since you couldn't be reached yesterday, he told me to inform you that he'd be coming over to speak about something with you. I believe he mentioned something to do with business deals...?"

"Oh yes." I remembered, "Thanks. I'll talk to him. Is there anything else?"

"Yes. There is one last thing." He suddenly turned serious, "Are you in a secure location right now?"

"One second." I released Pixel and asked him to scan my room for any listening devices. Pixel buzzed back after a moment confirming no one was electronically listening in.

"...Go ahead." I finally said.

"Do you have any leads on where the criminals have been hiding out in Sinnoh?" He questioned.

Fortunately I had prepared for such a question, "Nothing concrete." I told him, "But I highly suspect that whoever is funding them must have access to massive amounts of resources. That points to big businesses."

"Why is that?" He pushed.

"Do you remember when we did all those raids in Hoenn, and then collated all that we found?" I asked, and he replied that he did, "What we never found in any of those raids that we performed was a way for these terrorists to be earning income. And from the psychic interrogations, we knew they weren't going on raids to acquire resources, nor did they have any fake companies set up in Indigo or Hoenn where they could funnel money into their criminal activities."

"...Meaning that they had to get their resources from somewhere else." Lance finished for me, "And you believe that whoever is backing them must be a big player in Sinnoh."

"Yes." I confirmed, "In my opinion, that's the only thing that makes sense. It's why they retreated to here, after all. That's why I'm asking if you could set up or conduct investigations in Sinnoh to locate who these backers are." I deliberately left out my arrangements with Giovanni.

I could hear his thoughts whirling as he processed my request.

"...I agree with you and it's been something that I also suspected as well. It just makes sense considering all that we know – especially when backed up by what we found out in the psychic interrogations, but we don't have the authority to conduct investigations in Sinnoh just yet." He said reluctantly, "A part of me wants to damn the rules and go hunting anyways, but our relationship with Sinnoh is too fresh and new for us to risk something like that. We could be dooming them to close their borders once again if I pushed too forcefully for something like that. That being said, I will keep pushing for it if I think the political climate warrants it."

I let out a sigh, expecting but still disappointed in his answer, "I understand...but we can't just sit around and remain passive. We need to do more."

Lance stayed silent for a moment, deep in thought. I could hear the gears churning in his brain.

Eventually, he could only say this, "We'll discuss this further when you get back to Indigo. I'm afraid my hands are tied for the moment. Perhaps once Sinnoh gets a new Champion, then we'll bring this topic up again."

"I'm not dismissing your suggestions out of hand, and I did promise to put this as our highest priority, but even with my position I do not have the ability to force this through in Sinnoh." He explained patiently, "We'll wait for a different opportunity, and I promise I place my full attention on this."

"Thank you, Lance. That's all I ask." I replied, realizing that this was probably the best outcome I could have hoped for.

"Nonsense, this is a problem that we're all concerned about. I appreciate your diligence." He said, waving off my thanks. "Anyways, just to remind you. Tie up any remaining commitments you have in Sinnoh. You'll be back home soon. Talk to you then."

Hanging up the call, I had a few mixed emotions roiling around within me. On one hand, I was happy to be heading back; I was starting to miss my home ever since spending so much time away from it. But on the other hand, I wanted to be there to witness Cynthia's rise, and I also wanted to do more explorations in the caves.

I had really enjoyed cave diving and wanted to do something similar in Indigo. But then I had a thought. There WAS a cave in Indigo, in Cerulean City, in fact, that had yet to be really explored or opened up. Cerulean Cave was a place known for its dangers and powerful Pokémon, so people had left it alone for the time being.

But could I do something about it to open it up to the public? I definitely had a few ideas on how that would go after seeing how Cynthia had done it here. It would make for an interesting landmark to have in Cerulean, and have our city be known for something more than just the arts. That was certainly something to bring up when I got home.

But that was for later. For now, I had to make my way back to the labs to continue running a few tests on my new H-Zoroark, Wraith. As I made my way to the labs, I spotted many scientists rushing around with excited smiles on their faces.

I smiled back to a few that I recognized before I approached Cynthia, "Hey, hope you had a good sleep."

"I feel SO much better." She confirmed with a large stretch, "Definitely not going to do something like that anytime soon, being both in charge and forced to exert myself so much is TIRING."

I chuckled, "Yeah, my legs are still sore." I gave them a shake as emphasis, before my smile turned serious, "Also, I just got the call from my Champion. Both Will and I will be heading home soon."

Cynthia visibly frowned, "...As we expected. Well, I hope you'll still cheer for me back at home."

"Of course." I nodded dutifully, though I swallowed the slight feeling of regret that rose to the surface.

"Thank you." She smiled, "Though...I assume there's going to be small leaving ceremony for when you do leave?"

"Most likely." I confirmed.

"Then that might be a good opportunity for me to make my announcement to become Champion then." She said thoughtfully, "I'll bring this up with Lucian and see what he thinks."

She shook her head, "Anyways, if you're leaving soon, would it be alright if we performed those extra tests later this afternoon? I can barely hold back the others' excitement at seeing a completely new Pokémon."

"Sure, I did intend to spend this morning trying to get my latest capture to be properly introduced to my team." I replied.

"I tried that this morning for a bit with Kleavor. It was not a fun time." Cynthia admitted with a frown, "These Pokémon are strong, of course, but they've spent too much time independent and fighting for every scrap of resources. I doubt they'd easily bend to a new trainer."

"I feared that would be the case." I agreed, "But, I'll still have to give it a shot. Wish me luck!"

"Good luck! And...let's have that talk later." She said as she waved goodbye to me. I blinked, but not wanting to dwell on the matter for now, I put those thoughts aside as I focused up and made my way to the more secure training fields.

I couldn't use the ones in the open because that would expose my new H-Zoroark for all to see.

I gave off an acknowledging nod towards the assistants running about as I entered into the training facility. Making sure the doors were properly secured – we didn't need a wild Pokémon running about, I released my team first.

"Okay team. You know we have a new addition." I addressed them, "But they probably won't be the most cooperative." There were some groans and grunts at that, "I don't expect you to play nice with them right now, but we need to establish obedience at the very least."

My team all nodded, and there were even smirks on my more battle-hungry bruisers. Ornstein tried to join them, but he was held back by Klee and Euphie, who didn't think Ornstein could win in a straight up fight against the new Pokémon.

"Lin! Linoone!" Ornstein protested, but I just shook my head at him.

"Now's not the time. I can't trust it to control its strength, and I don't want to see you hurt." I told Ornstein, trying to placate his desire for battle, "Maybe in the future."

Ornstein wasn't super pleased, but he had enough discipline to stand down for the time being, choosing to huddle near Euphie. Satisfied that my Pokémon were all ready, I finally released Wraith into the field.

Wraith emerged onto the field with a snarl, not even bothering to shroud itself in an illusion. Its white and red fur shined brilliantly as they reflected the bright lights of the arena, but any thoughts of its beauty was overshadowed by the aura of vengeful anger that surrounded it.

It turned to glare at me, its eyes shining with malice and rage as it recalled its ignoble defeat. It looked like it was moments away from rushing at me, but then Tyrant merely stepped in front of me with an amused snort.

Tyrant stared down Wraith with a raised eyebrow, as if to say, "You really want to do this?"

Wraith growled, but then it looked around and realized that it was surrounded by Pokémon that could easily beat it down if I gave the command. I could feel his malicious anger fighting against its survival instincts.

It was wary. Despite its anger, it acknowledged Tyrant's superior strength.

But then its anger won out, and it shot forwards with its claws slashing in front of it, only to be grabbed by the throat and immediately slammed into the ground by a nonchalant Tyrant. It snarled, trying to break free of Tyrant's iron grip with a Shadow Sneak, but Tyrant casually slammed it into the ground once again, interrupting the escape attack and knocking the wind out of it.

Yet, Wraith's raw defiance remained unbroken. Despite finding itself completely outmatched and outnumbered, it refused to stand down. It continued to struggle against Tyrant, desperately trying everything it could to free itself from his grasp. It even started to create illusions of itself breaking free and attacking me just to try to throw Tyrant off, but he didn't fall for any of them.

Instead, for every act of defiance, Tyrant would smash it into the ground once more, never letting Wraith out of his iron grip. It was a barbaric way of instilling discipline, but I saw that the anger was slowly fading away from its eyes as Tyrant continued to dominate it.

Because I knew that the one thing that any wild Pokémon would respect was pure force. This was just how things were.

Eventually, Wraith's defiance broke in the face of Tyrant's overwhelming and oppressive strength. It began to realise that Tyrant would only smash it into the ground if it tried to fight back or escape. So long as it didn't venture into our 'territory', we would not harm it in kind.

It took a little longer, but the hostility gradually cleared from its eyes as it settled down.

Realizing it no longer had overtly hostile intentions, I gave a nod to Tyrant who slowly released his hold on Wraith. Wraith stood up uncertainly, stumbling slightly from the pounding that it just took. Then it's eyes suddenly gleamed with sudden malice, and it broke it into a feral snarl as it leaped towards me – thinking that I was taken off guard.

Of course, that was when Tyrant YANKED Wraith by the legs and threw it to the floor once again before punishing Wraith's deception with another brutal beatdown that aimed to truly beat the defiance out of it.

It was only after the beatdown finished that I slowly approached Wraith, deliberately looking down on its now pained expression.

"Do you remember me?" I asked, careful to not show off any weakness or fear in front of it.

A low growl was my only response, but a nearly imperceptible nod of its head was my answer. "Good. Then you understand that you fought and lost."

It growled again, and its eyes flashed briefly with vengeance before a reminding snort from Tyrant held back any potential hostility. I didn't want to enrage it, but I needed to squash what remained of its pride, to get rid of the idea that it knew better.

Wild Pokémon were often strong, but they often performed poorly in fights. They did reasonably well in a fight of pure brute strength, but they had no creativity in their fighting style. Nor did they have much technique beyond just swiping at their opponents. It might have worked out for them when they were fighting other wild Pokémon in the caves, but for the level that we were going to be fight at, it wasn't going to be good enough.

It was why having a trainer was so essential for forging strong Pokémon. But there was one important question that I needed to ask.

"Do you have a pack?" I questioned Wraith. It, no he, I realized, stared at me for a moment before shaking his head. Good. It would be much more difficult to train him if I had unintentionally separated him from his pack.

"Would you like to get stronger?" I asked it directly, not bothering to sugarcoat my words. I gestured to Tyrant, "Would you like to get as strong as my team?"

He glanced warily at my team. But for all of his simmering anger and rage, he had just been given a very painful reminder of how outmatched he was. Yet his brutal beatdown was also a demonstration of the strength of my team.

It allowed him to acknowledge that he was outclassed he was.

And the greedy gleam in his eye was a familiar one to me. It was the greed of any Pokémon; the instinctual desire to grow stronger and to become the very best. And as soon as that gleam appeared in his eye, I knew I had him.

All I had to do was to reel it in, "My Pokémon are far from your average Pokémon. And I am proud to say that all of them are near the pinnacles of what their species can achieve." My team all growled and grunted in support. "I see your illusions, and the potential that it can bring. I promise that, if you trust me, if you allow me to nurture your strengths, you will find yourself growing as strong as the team that you see in front of you."

There was no need for anything fancier than that. I didn't need to flashy words to hook his interest when the strength of my Pokémon, and their easy defeat of him, were so fresh in his mind.

"Zor....Zoroark?" He bit out, still a little reluctant.

Smough translated for me, and I nodded. "Yes, your illusions. I won't be neglecting them, nor do I think they are weak. In fact, I think they are your greatest strength, and what would you set you apart from the rest of my Pokémon. Your illusions will be your strongest tool, and I intend to refine it even further."

Wraith looked confused, as if not expecting such a response. He stared at me warily, as if trying to decipher whether I was lying to him.

I gestured towards Klee and Luna, "Not everyone Pokémon on my team is strong because of their raw strength. Klee and Luna here are strong because they have the ability to make use of a large variety of moves to help support my team and cripple key opponents." I explained, "And they have both saved my life many a time, as well as defeating Pokémon traditionally much stronger than them."

I moved onto Pixel, "Pixel here is also not a Pokémon reliant on raw power, but rather on its large and versatile movepool as well as the ability to switch types."

Then I walked up to Wraith, who now trusted me enough not to step back, "So believe me when I say I will make full use of your illusions. If you would just allow me to help you train it up, then I guarantee you that you will be a powerhouse of your own. Only a few Pokémon could be your match. You are already quite strong, but now I will be aiming to refine that strength even further. I assure you that as your trainer, you will grow strong and proud."

Wraith continued watching me carefully, his wrathful eyes boring into mine. But after a moment, he gave off a minute nod as he accepted my words. I had enough experience to know that this didn't mean he was going to suddenly listen and obey to my every word, but I had earned enough of his trust for now for him to consider listening to me.

And that was enough for now, "Good." I smiled back, making sure not to show too much teeth, "Then let's get started with some sessions. I want you to spar against Pixel. Show me what you got."

Pixel immediately gave off an excited buzz as it floated forwards, while the rest of my Pokémon formed a protective ring around the perimeter of the arena. Tyrant finally released Wraith as Klee healed him up so that he could be in fighting condition.

"BEGIN!"

As I expected, Wraith immediately rushed in, while he also formed a basic illusion of himself trying to flank around to the side. But such a simple illusion wouldn't fool Pixel, and it blasted off a Tri Attack while it used Magnet Rise to fly high into the air, out of reach of Wraith's sharp claws.

Wraith used his speed to dodge out of the way of the Tri Attack before firing a blast of Shadow Balls towards Pixel, only to growl as they slammed harmlessly into Pixel. Wraith immediately switched to using Agility, only to be immediately punished as Pixel paralyzed it with a surprise Thunder Wave.

Snarling in frustration, Wraith's form shimmered before a horde of illusions appeared around the arena, all of them leaping into the air as they tried to bring down the flying Pixel. But Pixel simply responded by firing off a powerful Discharge, and the explosion of Electric energy ripped through all of the fake H-Zoroarks.

But despite being hit by a powerful burst of electricity, Wraith showed off his endurance as he forced himself through the Discharge, continued to leap through the air as he grabbed a hold of Pixel. Before Pixel could fire off another attack, Wraith came slamming down with a Brick Break that caused Porygon to emit a loud whirl as it began falling to the ground.

However, just before Wraith could strike with another Brick Break, the paralysis suddenly took of him, and his muscles locked up, buying Pixel a few extra seconds to complete its Conversion. Then, when Wraith finally muscled through the paralysis and struck down with a Brick Break, the attack was suddenly far less effective than before as Pixel had already switched its type to Fairy.

Not realizing he was doing far less damage now, Wraith was completely taken by surprise as Pixel shrugged off his attack and retaliated with a crackling Thunderbolt that blasted Wraith backwards and off of Pixel.

Wraith's form collapsed to the ground, and he looked like he was completely out of the fight. And Pixel cheered at its 'victory', only for Wraith to suddenly appear behind it with a Shadow Claw primed and ready to rake through the surprised Pixel.

Unfortunately for Wraith, his illusion tactic was too obvious, and he failed to hide the sound of his footsteps as he creeped behind Pixel. So, instead of finding Pixel's unguarded back, what he found was a Zap Cannon, ready and waiting for him.

"Zor!" He couldn't help but exclaim in surprise before an electrocuting ball of condensed lightning slammed straight into him – sending Wraith flying into the ground as a painful amount of electricity coursed through him. A critical hit!

This time, he collapsed to the ground for real. His once white fur was singing and burnt in a few places, and the bright red highlights were now more muted as the burnt remains of his fur stained them. The only signs of movement were from the twitching of his muscles from all of that lingering electricity that had entered into him.

Klee immediately perked up and rushed over to the fallen Wraith, happily healing him up and completely unafraid of being attacked in turn. Not that Klee was under any threat, she could and would body Wraith into the ground if need be. I took the time to play around with Pixel, celebrating its clean victory.

It took a few moments, but eventually Klee's careful ministrations were about to heal Wraith up enough for him to sit up.

"Zoroark..." He growled weakly, clearly upset by his defeat.

"You see what I mean? Your use of illusions was too simple." I told him, "That last trick where you faked that you fainted was good, but you didn't hide your footsteps, and there was still a slight shimmer in the air that gave away your position. That alerted Pixel to your plan, which is why it could charge up a Zap Cannon to surprise you."

"Zor..." He whined, upset at his failure. But I stepped in front of him, carefully kneeling down so that we were the same height. If before I intended to show strength, now I had to show compassion.

"But that was a good start. You already have the strength of a strong Pokémon." I praised him, "And I can help you with your illusions, make them better than they were before. Do you believe me? Do you trust in me as your trainer to help you grow strong, as strong as the rest of my team?"

Wraith was still sulking at his loss, but he still gave off a small nod.

"Good, because I'm going to work you very hard from now on." I offered a hand, and Wraith simply allowed me to pull him up to his feet. "Welcome to the team, Wraith. I hope you like your new nickname."

Wraith growled softly at me, but after a moment's hesitation, he grasped my arm in his.

The New Normal – 8-16 – A Conversation

I was satisfied with the good start that I had with Wraith, and I spent the next hour or so making sure trying to settle him in with working and training with the rest of my team.

It was a good thing that the more senior members of my team understood that Wraith's aggression was a temporary thing borne from wariness and a little bit of fear. It also helped that the more experienced members of my team helped reign in the younger members who may have been more unused to dealing with such a new, and potentially hostile, addition to the group.

Especially one that was more arguably more powerful than them.

With the morning training session done, I went back to the labs to fulfil my promise to Cynthia; allowing them to perform a few tests on Wraith. Unfortunately, being poked and prodded by various machinery was distinctly uncomfortable for him, and it really tested the limits of his patience and our newly forged bond between trainer and Pokémon.

Fortunately, the scientists were all experts at this and knew when to back off before they pushed Wraith over the edge, stopping just before he was about to lash out. And they all seemed very pleased about the data they collected.

"The scans shows that this is indeed the Pokémon that we've read about from the historical texts!" One scientist excitedly exclaimed, "It's almost a full match to the other preserved sample that we've collected in the past! This Pokémon is really from Hisuian times!"

"So we DID find something from back then." Cynthia hummed thoughtfully, "...I wonder if we can find other Hisuian Pokémon down there?"

"There was that one really weird tall and purple Weavile that we saw." One of the explorers who had joined in on the expedition pointed out, "Maybe that's another one?"

"We should schedule another expedition right away!" The scientist shouted immediately, "And we already have the forward base in place to make things easier."

But Cynthia shook her head, "Not at the moment, though perhaps I can have someone else to organize it." She said, before turning back to me, "Thanks for coming, John. You don't have to sit around to listen to all us eggheads discussing things. Isn't Will arriving for lunch?"

"I don't mind." I chuckled, "But yes, I think he is arriving soon—" My phone buzzed, and I checked it and found that Will had sent me a text stating that he had arrived. "What a coincidence. He just arrived. I'm going to go meet him." I waved them goodbye as I made my way to the canteen, allowing them to fall back into their scientific discussions.

At the canteen, I instantly spotted Will's eye-catching outfit; his purple and black heavily standing out amongst the normal white and light blues of the lab.

His eyes lit up when he saw me, "John! It's been some time!"

"It has." I smiled at him, "Let's catch up over lunch."

We moved over to one of the more private tables towards the side, just to avoid too many people from overhearing our conversation. Fortunately, the scientists were respectful enough to not invade our privacy, and our topics of conversation weren't particularly confidential either.

"Good job on getting Silph Co to agree to a deal to come over." He began the conversation as we ate our lunch, "It's been really helpful for me too."

"How so?" I asked, chewing on my food.

"Like I told you and Lance previously, I've been to establish business connections between our two regions as well." He explained, "But whereas before they were hesitant, seeing Silph Co take the first plunge and properly invest in Sinnoh has caused many of them to reconsider their hesitant approach. With such a big company already going ahead, they felt safe doing the same. Or more likely, they didn't want to miss out on whatever Silph Co saw."

"That's good. We need more connections with Sinnoh anyways." I nodded.

"Yes, which is why I'm trying to get Lance and Wallace to agree to a new tax policy that should hopefully encourage foreign investment to and from Sinnoh." He smiled, "But that might have to wait until the protests are over and the situation calms down a little. Political instability doesn't make for good business opportunities."

"...Though from the things I've heard from Lucian, that might be solved quite soon." He whispered to me, "I think you should know what I'm talking about, right?"

"I do." I admitted, realizing it wasn't a secret, "But we should leave that sort of business to them. It's just a shame that I couldn't stay to watch."

"True enough. Neither in Hoenn or Indigo have we seen someone challenge their way through the entirety of the Elite Four before." He commented thoughtfully, "That's definitely going to be THE event to watch."

"You think we'd have something like that happen back home? Where someone has to fight their way through us to challenge Lance for the title?" I asked curiously.

"...I sincerely doubt it." Will said after thinking it through, "There's only a total of 3 potential challengers in any given year, outside of the Gym Leaders. And you and I are already in the Elite Four. The only person who isn't is Bruno. And while I don't doubt his strength, not after your battle against him, he has already lost against you. I don't see him challenging Lance anytime soon."

I nodded at his explanation, "Maybe something like that'll happen in the future." I chuckled.

"Unlikely, though anyone foolish enough to do such a thing would surely be stopped by me!" He said proudly, puffing out his chest a bit. "...Anyways, do you have anything else to do while you're in Sinnoh? Anything to do with your remaining time here? Catch a few Pokémon, perhaps? I know I have."

"I only caught the one." I said vaguely, intentionally not describing just WHAT I had caught, "You?"

"Same, actually." He nodded, "I intentionally planned to capture more, but there just wasn't the opportunity. The Pokémon must have been overly intimidated and awed by the pressures of joining my grand retinue, I suppose." He boasted.

"Though I heard they're planning on making Sinnoh Pokémon more accessible to us from Indigo and Hoenn in the future. So, we can easily acquire more even without heading back here." Will explained. "It's like what they did with the Hoenn Pokémon."

"Oh, that's good." I responded, "I think my sister would be very interested in catching a few other Sinnoh Pokémon too."

"Oh yes, your sister. I think I heard a few things about her current journey." Will stated.

My back straightened, "Did you? What about her?"

He waved me off, "Nothing concerning, if that was what you were thinking. Just that she was quite the prominent trainer. After all, it's not so common to see someone as young as her collecting her 7th Gym Badge on her first run through of the Gyms."

I relaxed. "Yes. That was quite the shock to me as well. But I couldn't be prouder of her. I always hoped that she could make herself into a prominent trainer in her own right." A proud smile unconsciously formed on my face.

"She really is doing quite well." Will agreed, "Though forgive me if this is an overstep, but I believe she might need a bit more pizazz. She needs to dramatize herself a bit. Make herself stand out a bit more."

"What do you mean?" I questioned, giving Will a look.

"I know I may show off a little too much, but you cannot deny that my attire is not eye-catching." Will gestured to his outfit, "And eye-catching means memorable. Why do you think Lance dresses up in that cape of his?"

"Because he's that kind of guy?" I quipped.

"...Well, maybe." Will conceded, "But it also makes him memorable. You look at Lance and you recognize him as THE Dragon Master. It's iconic and memorable."

"I don't have a particular outfit though, and I'm popular enough." I argued.

"Yes, but you're very strong." Will countered immediately, "Strength is a recognizing factor of your own, plus you have your political achievements to add to your reputation. I'm not saying your sister isn't strong, but compared to her friends, she doesn't stand out as much as them from what I've seen. At least her friends have the 'psychic genius' and 'ninja-in-training' look."

I frowned, but Will continued, "Look, I REALLY don't want to interfere with your family, especially since your sister is still really young, but take it from me. One day, unless your sister achieves something as remarkable as you did, she'll want to curate an image for herself in the public eye. It'll really let her stand out and make her far more memorable."

"I'm not saying that this is something you have to discuss with her now, but just keep it in the back of your mind for the future." He finished.

"...I will. Thank you." I ended up saying, a little taken aback about how this conversation came to be.

"Your sister has great potential, from what I'm seeing." Will said, "Now it's all about refining that potential and getting her known in the public eye. A bit of fame goes a long way to establishing yourself as a prominent trainer, and it really opens up many opportunities for them. Try to give it a think, John. I truly believe that it'll be good advice for your sister."

I stayed silent as I went over Will's words. He definitely wasn't wrong. I still thought that Whitney and her friends were still a little too young to be worrying about this kind of thing, but this was something I SHOULD point out to them in the future. Yet I wouldn't pressure her into anything, it was up to her if she wanted to create an identity for herself like that or not.

I didn't follow that route, so I wasn't going to be a hypocrite and force her into it.

I returned to my conversation with Will, realizing that I had accidentally ignored him, "Sorry, just had a stray thought. You were saying?"

The two of us then continued with our casual conversation. I appreciated being able to catch up with him, and I felt like his time at Sinnoh had brought out his better side.

Our conversation lasted a while longer, but he eventually had another appointment to head to, so he told me to enjoy the rest of my time here in Sinnoh and then waved me goodbye, saying that we'd meet up again for the cruise home.

After Will left, I headed back to the underground training fields to continue training up with Wraith, thinking that I had nothing better to do at the moment.

It was then that Cynthia returned.

"Hey, John, remember that conversation we promised to have?" She said as she approached me, "I think we've put it off long enough, don't you think? We really should have a talk about our friendship going forward."

The way that she worded that...it was a conversation that I had been wanting to have for some time. Yes, now was the time for it. The moment of truth had finally come.

Anticipation rose from within me, "Oh — yeah, of course." I said slowly as I stood up, "Lead the way."

The two of us exited the canteen and found ourselves in a private spot outside of the labs, away from all prying ears and eyes. Ensured of our privacy, I was about to speak up when Cynthia beat me to it.

"I've never been one to beat around the bush, so I'll ask you straight up." Her eyes locked onto mine, "Are you interested in me?"

I blinked, taken aback by her bluntness. But that surprise turned to amusement as I realized how fitting this was for her. "I am. How could I not be?"

She smiled, "I see. Well thank you for your interest."

"...And? That's it?" I asked.

"I'm just kidding." She giggled musically, "But I thought my feelings about you were pretty clear. Did you think I would have invited you to do all those things if I didn't find you interesting to be around?"

"...It could be out of friendliness." I tried.

"Well then let me make it clear." She stepped up to me. Before I realise what was going on, her lips pressed onto mine.

My eyes widened with shock, but before I could even process that her soft lips were touching mine, she pulled back. My heart instantly yearned for more.

"Does that make things clear?" She smirked, and my eyes focused on the way her tongue licked around her lips unconsciously.

"...Yes, it does." I was still a little stunned, but I was pretty sure I had a goofy smile on my face, "...Wow, I wasn't expecting that."

"I'm not one to second guess myself." She shrugged, though there was a hint of red on her cheeks, "I've greatly enjoyed the time that we spent together. You don't look down on me, and I could tell in your eyes that you like me for reasons beyond just my appearance."

"I'm too used to dealing with people like that." She grumbled.

"Do you have people that judge you based on your looks?" I asked.

"Of course. They look at me and instantly label me as 'pretty blonde', and that's all I become for them." She frowned, "Then they try to ask me out. Not because they know anything about me, but simply for the shallow reason that I look attractive to them."

"Surely that's at least slightly flattering." I replied.

"It was at first." She admitted, "But then it just got tiring. My looks are something that I was fortunately blessed with. I did not work for it or really do much to achieve it, and compared to many other aspects of my life it's probably the area where I put the least amount of effort in. My looks are not what make me, me."

"You've worked very hard to be where you are." I said, "Only a fool would be blind enough to miss that."

She smiled, "See, you're the one that spots that. You see the whole package. You don't just see Cynthia the historian. Or Cynthia the trainer. Or Cynthia the potentially future Champion. I saw in your eyes that you fell in love with my determination, and THAT is the most flattering thing that you could have done."

A smile broke out on my face as well, "I couldn't help myself."

"And I deeply appreciate it." She smirked.

Then she let out a sigh, "Well I better do well to prove myself to be your equal, shouldn't I?" She chuckled, "It wouldn't do for the rising star of Indigo to have been ensnared by some no-name trainer in Sinnoh. Someone like you deserves a partner of equal status."

"I don't really care about that–"

"Yes, but others will." She interrupted, "Face the facts, John. You're the second most powerful person in Indigo, besides Lance. And even then it's a tossup. You're beloved by the public, and you're strong enough to keep your place in the Elite Four for years to come. Not only that, but you've been the backbone of the recent push for internationalism."

"In the public's eyes, you're too important to be dating some nobody." She said firmly, "That is the reality of politics. You can ignore it, but it would better for your ambitions."

I blinked; but eventually came to accept her words. Cynthia was always aware of the political realities. She had to be.

"It seems like you put a lot of consideration into this." I smiled, because I saw how much she cared.

"Of course, did you think I would go into this without thinking it through?" She raised an eyebrow, "You know that's how I do things."

I nodded, "I'll take your words into consideration. But like I said, nothing would change even if you didn't become the Champion of Sinnoh. I'm not THAT consumed by my ambitions."

"If you were, we wouldn't having this conversation." She smiled, but there was an edge there that also served as a reminder. One that I inwardly acknowledged.

"Still, you don't have to worry about that, because I will do my utmost to make sure I do win the whole thing." Then she leaned forwards closer to me.

"After all, I have another reason to succeed now, don't I?" She smirked at me, her eyes gazing deep into mine.

All I could do was swallow deeply. I might not have fallen for her looks, but damn.

The two of us continued walking around the lab, just enjoying the time that we spent with each other. After a small, but tranquil, moment of us just enjoying each other's company, she spoke up again.

"Tell me more about Karen." She said.

Ah, I expected this. "She's a friend. A very good friend." I admitted, "She's practically family to my parents and to my sister."

"I heard rumours that you two were dating." She said, "But knowing you, you wouldn't have been interested in me if you were. You wouldn't cheat on her like that."

"We never dated, but I WAS interested in her." I confirmed, "But she unfortunately wasn't ready for it. We came to an understanding."

"Should I be concerned about her jealousy?" She joked, but I knew it was a serious question.

I thought about it for a moment, before eventually shaking my head, "That doesn't sound like her, but I can't answer you for certain. I think she'll be sad, but she wouldn't hate you for it. She has a kind soul, and she wouldn't take it out on you."

"Sounds like you still like her." Cynthia commented with an assessing look in her eyes.

"...I think a part of me still does." I admitted carefully after thinking it over, "Had she not hesitated and we became a couple, then I don't think I would have any regrets with dating her."

"But I understand that the time for that has passed." I took Cynthia's hand into mine, clutching them softly, "I would happily be your partner. There's no need to consider what-ifs and what could have been. I chose you, because I found your determination and passion too dazzling to ignore. I would regret it if I passed you over, or if I wasted the opportunity in front of me. There's no need for me to doubt anything else."

"And I won't let those doubts surface." She smiled beautifully, and my heart skipped a beat once again as she directed that towards me. "It'll be difficult for us, since we're going to have to date long-distance, but I believe it can make it work."

"No. I WILL make it work." Her determination flared, "Believe me, John. I'm not one to let go of something when I've caught hold of it. This relationship will work, distance be damned."

That flare of determination caused my body moved on its own, as I returned the kiss that she had surprised me with before. This time it was my turn to catch her by surprise, but that surprise melted into passion as the two of us stayed like that for a moment with our lips locked together.

The soft feeling of her lips that I yearned for had returned. And the way her arms instinctively wrapped around my shoulders as she pressed herself against me was intoxicating. No, more than intoxicating.

It was addicting. Every part of my body didn't want this moment to end.

But end it had to, and we both stared into each other's eyes for a moment. "...I guess we just have to get the most of our time together in Sinnoh." I eventually.

Then something came to mind, "You know I'd have to tell Lance about this relationship, right? I don't know if you want to reveal it to the public or not, but I can't keep him hidden in the dark like this. Not when I'm in the Indigo Elite Four. He deserves to know that my judgment might be compromised."

"That's a very polite way of saying that you fell for me." She chuckled, before she turned serious, "But I agree. Even if I'd prefer to keep this relationship to ourselves, you should tell Lance as soon as you get back, and maybe speak with him about how you can juggle both your political responsibilities and this relationship."

She stared into my eyes, "It won't be easy. For the both of us. We don't have just distance getting in our way, but the realities of politics too. We both may have to make some sacrifices. But will you be happy to wade through all of that just for us to be together?"

"I will." I nodded firmly, as if I was making a vow. Like she said, things weren't going to be easy, but with my focus on internationalism and my achievements I was sure I could spin it in a way so that my relationship with Cynthia could be seen as another positive. And if not, then we would MAKE one.

But that was a problem for later. For now, it was just about being in each other's company.

"...Then do you have time now? I know this great restaurant in Sinnoh that I like to visit from time to time." She asked. "And perhaps we can walk around afterwards? Just to spend some time together?"

I took her hand in mine, smiling as I felt how her smooth hands clasped mine. "Of course, lead the way."