The New Normal - A Pokémon Elite 4 SI by CartecFF

Chapter 45: 178-181

The New Normal – 9-4 – An afternoon in Lavender Town

My press conference made the headlines the very next day, as I expected it to. The news, as they were wont to do, were all busy discussing the implications of this discovery, trying to play up this 'revelation' of my connections and what that meant for my ability to influence politics in the future.

They had unofficially labelled me as the 'foreign representative' of Indigo, stemming from my myriad of foreign connections and my pursuit of internationalism. By the same token, thanks to all the news coverage, I realised that the public perception of me in Indigo had changed.

Previously, I was seen and praised for being a popular Elite Four member with a strong influence in Kanto. But now the public saw that my reach and influence went further than that.

In actuality, my influence and power didn't actually change. However, by stepping into the spotlight like this, this made the people perception of me change for the better. This newfound image that I had was useful for my future plans.

Long gone were the times where I was looked down upon and questioned because of my young age. My draw against Cynthia was almost irrelevant. Now the media were saying that I was the secondary power in Indigo, just behind Lance. They claimed that while Lance still had the edge politically, I was his 'right arm' when it came to international politics.

I didn't mind the analogy. Although I didn't deliberately plan to angle myself this way, I found that I was satisfied with the reputation that I had built up. Plus, if that position and reputation allowed me a better opportunity to combat the plans of Team Galactic when they finally slipped up? Well, then all the better.

Besides all of the political stuff, I finally found myself cleared of my backlog of appointments at last. The last meeting with the interviews was my last immediate task that I had to go through, and now I was finally able to have a bit of free time. At least until my future commitments reared their head once again.

It was well-timed too, because I finally received a text back from Karen asking if she could meet up with me and 'talk'.

...It was a conversation that was bound to happen, so I figured it was best if we got it out of the way as soon as possible and clear the air between us.

That's why I found myself waiting around Lavender Town, where we had decided to meet up. Apparently Karen had wanted to show me something there.

It didn't take me long to spot her, as she was hanging about just outside the Pokémon Center. I noticed that she had taken the effort to dress up, but nothing overly eye-catching.

And at least she didn't possess the sad smile that she had before.

"Hey, how've you been?" I asked gently, trying to gauge her current mood.

"I'm okay." She replied, and I could tell it was mostly the truth, "Come – this isn't the right place to talk. Let me show you a great place to eat. I haven't had breakfast yet and am starving."

I nodded and followed after her. She brought us to this nice hole-in-the-wall restaurant, which was clearly family-owned, and looking like it had been in business for quite some time.

"The old hag used to bring me here all the time." She told me as the two of us sat down and ordered food, "The food's great, even if it is a bit out of the way."

I couldn't disagree. The food was indeed excellent, and the two of us just spent a bit of time just enjoying the food. I could see that the chef and waiter, who were obviously family, giving Karen a familiar look. She must have been a regular here. They even deliberately distanced themselves from our table so we could discuss things worrying about them overhearing it.

I was definitely going to leave a big tip. Who knew that small restaurants like these could have service this excellent?

Eventually, the two of us finished with our food, and the conversation began to flow as we digested the food.

Karen kicked it off, "So...I've had time to think things through...and I admit that I made a mistake turning you down all that time ago. I...was led by my fears, and I foolishly allowed those fears to dictate my actions."

She bowed her head at me, "I know I should have said this earlier...but I'm sorry if my rejection hurt you."

"There's no need for that." I said softly, "I understood your reasoning, nor have I ever blamed you for it."

"It was still immature for me to do so. And now..." She sighed, "I can see the consequence of my actions. I should have grabbed onto the opportunity when I had the chance."

A frown formed on her face, "...So I lost."

I stayed respectfully silent, simply giving Karen the space to process her emotions. There was nothing I could say to comfort her.

After a small moment of silence, Karen spoke up again, "Are you happy with Cynthia?"

"I am." I responded immediately, "She makes me happy. Very happy."

"...Then there's nothing more I need to say." She replied, but even as she tried to hide it I could tell that she was still a little bitter about it. "Though, if I could ask, what made you attracted to her?"

"Her determination and her drive. The fact that she wanted to achieve something." I answered, "I couldn't help but fall for her because of that."

"I'm sure her looks helped." Karen added dryly.

I smirked, "Well...I have nothing to complain about on that front."

Karen then paused for a moment, staring at me with a scrutinising look in her eyes before letting out another sigh, "You know, before we met up today, a part of me thought that I could win you over again. That your relationship with Cynthia was born on a shallow foundation, because you might have only fallen for her looks. That perhaps, given the distance between the two of you, that you would fall out of love with each other."

She shook her head, "But after speaking with you now...I can see that I was wrong. You really do care about her, don't you?"

"I do." I said sincerely, "New as our relationship might be, I don't see it breaking apart anytime soon. At least, I don't intend for that to happen."

"I agree." Karen said with only a hint of reluctance, "But...I'm happy for you, John. I'm glad you found someone that makes you happy."

She swallowed, "And...And...I'm not vile enough to forcefully step between you and her. Even if a part of me wants to. I know the consequences of doing so – that it would cost me more than just your friendship."

"I've seen the effects when a third party gets in the way of a loving couple. I saw it all too often when I was younger." She sighed, "I wouldn't let myself repeat those actions."

I smiled comfortingly as I gently patted her hand, "Thank you, Karen. Your kindness is why I still very much value you as a friend, Karen. You're a good person, and I sincerely don't want anything to change between us."

"I know, and I'm very thankful for it." She replied a little sadly, "...Thank you for clearing the air, John. I feel a little better now that we've talked things through."

I had a feeling that things weren't as peachy as what she was saying, but that wasn't anything I could call her out on. She would be a saint if she could move on so quickly.

"Anytime." Was how I replied instead, "I'm just glad we could repair things with each other."

Then I remembered something, "Before I forget, I actually got you something from Sinnoh." I took out the bracelet that I bought and handed it over to her.

It was a relatively simple thing, but it was decorated with small black pearls that gleamed in the light. It also had a small little etching of a Honchkrow, which I thought was perfect for Karen.

Karen held the bracelet gently, "Thank you John. I like it a lot." She smiled as she carefully put on the bracelet, rotating her wrists to get a better look at it.

Then she smiled at me, "Let's take this conversation somewhere else. I think we've loitered around long enough – and I still have something to show you."

I nodded and followed after her.

The two of us stood up from her chair, where she insisted to pay for me. I protested this, of course, but she said that since she was the one to invite me, she was to pay. I reluctantly accepted.

Then we both stepped out of the restaurant. Small talk dominated the conversation as we stepped away from the previous heavy and serious topics. The initial awkwardness at our reunion had disappeared, with only the friendly familiarity of two close friends remaining.

After a bit of walking, we had finally arrived at our destination. In front of us was the beginnings of a construction site, and I blinked repeatedly in confusion. At first, I was confused, unsure what Karen was trying to show me.

"What in the world am I looking at here?" I asked, blinking my eyes.

Karen must have seen the confusion on my face, because she broke into a small laughter, "This is my latest project. Or more specifically, this is what I finally persuaded the old hag to approve. It's the building of a radio tower."

That only ramped up my confusion, "A radio tower?"

Karen nodded, "Yep. The old hag refused to see sense at first – kept saying stuff like the radio tower didn't fit the 'aesthetic' of the town. But I convinced her that in order to keep Lavender Town to be more than just a sleepy old town that would be eventually forgotten, we had to modernize and start adapting to the new age."

"Wait, back it up a bit. Since when were YOU able to make decisions like this?" I questioned.

"Oh, well...I guess for some time now?" She tilted her head, "You know the influence Agatha has on this town. She'd always told me that she'd do her best to allow me to inherit some of that influence. So she likes to float ideas to me from time to time – but she recently has involved me far more than she used to. Hence the radio tower."

"But if I'm really going to fill in her shoes, then I'm going to have to actually fight my way into the Elite Four." She said, "Currently, my position in Lavender Town is solely due to Agatha's influence. But after I make it into the Elite Four, then I'll have some actual political power to back up me up."

"But would you try to follow in Agatha's footsteps regarding the development of the town?" I asked.

"Eh. I think the fact that I've decided to build a radio tower is a good enough answer for that." She replied, "Agatha was focused on protecting the town, and was content with the status quo. But I've seen what you've accomplished with Cerulean. I KNOW how far a city can be developed when you really put your mind to it. So I'm aiming for bigger things."

"That's going to be a personal project of mine after I make it into the Elite Four." She said, her eyes lined with conviction as she stared at her new project, "I've got a few plans that I really want to implement, but yes, I'm going to make sure that Lavender Town will be one of the major cities of Kanto in the future. THAT is my goal."

I couldn't help but smile, "I like it. I think you'll do great with that."

She returned it, "You know, Cerulean City isn't that far away from Lavender Town. Maybe something to consider...?"

"Make it into the Elite Four first, and then we'll talk." I gently rebuked, "Don't get too ahead of yourself."

She nodded, "You're right. Can't put the cart before the Ponyta." Then she swivelled her head towards me, "Say...now that you're back, we should restart our training sessions. I want to get back into our own habits. I've already lost the once, but I don't intend to lose again."

THAT was the Karen I knew. She was back.

"Of course. Feel free to come over anytime. I'm sure my parents and sister would be happy to see you over once again." I replied, then I remembered something, "...Actually, I did tell Cynthia I intended to have her join in virtually with my training sessions. Would you be comfortable with that?"

Karen hesitated, but then a look of resolve came over her, "Yes, I'm okay with that. I think I'd like to meet her, even if it's over the phone. And I don't want to be seen as avoiding her."

I nodded gently, "I appreciate the effort. Especially since Cynthia said she wanted to meet with you too." I told her, "Oh! And I nearly forgot Whitney said she wanted to battle against the two of us. Her and her friends."

"Sure, I don't mind. Do you mean right now?" I nodded again, "Then sure, we can call her up. You know I could never turn down little Whitney."

I chuckled and called up my sister, where we quickly arranged to meet for our battle. Hearing that Karen was with me, Whitney asked again if we could have that 2v3 battle, and I easily agreed.

We quickly flew to Viridian City, where the trio had been training hard for their upcoming battle against Giovanni. They wanted to clear through Giovanni on their first try, but with the time gradually ticking down before the end of the circuit, they didn't have much time left.

That was why I hoped that they could learn something from our battle – or at the very least, put them in the right mindset to face Giovanni.

We spotted the trio waving at us soon after we landed near the Pokémon Center. My sister was the first to rush up to me.

"John! You're finally free! Let's go lets go!!" She practically pushed me to the training fields. I allowed myself to be pushed along as Karen giggled and followed suit, before starting a conversation with Sabrina and Janine about something related to their Gyms.

"So, are how we doing this, sis?" I asked Whitney, "How many Pokémon for each side?"

"2 for you, 3 for us!" My sister replied, "We want up to train up our secondary Pokémon – so I think that's fair."

"Are you sure? You know our Pokémon are going to be stronger than yours, right?" I sought to confirm.

My sister patted me on the arm, "We have to challenge ourselves somehow – so don't hold back! Just don't use Tyrant or Vordt please; we won't learn anything from that."

I chuckled at that, but reassured her that I wasn't about to turn this battle into a stomp.

Not long later, the five of us took positions on the training fields. We had luckily not yet drawn a crowd, but I was sure that once our Pokémon started battling, our disguises would easily be seen through. I could only hope there were no interruptions.

We didn't have a referee, but it didn't really matter. "ARE YOU READY?!" I shouted out to the other side. They gave us an affirmative shout back, and I traded knowing looks with Karen; we already knew what Pokémon we would employ.

"Then let's go! Come, Zephyr!"

"Go! Crawdaunt!"

"Fight! Loudred!"

"Your turn, Starmie!"

"Ambush them, Ariados!"

On our side of the battlefield saw my Zephyr and Karen's Crawdaunt facing off against a trio of Loudred, Starmie, and Ariados.

Recognizing the need to remove their numbers advantage, both Karen and I burst into action.

"Aqua Jet into Starmie, Crawdaunt! Smash it down!"

"Into the air and Tailwind, Zephyr! Boost our speed!"

With a rapid flap of his wings, Zephyr formed a gust of wind that trailed behind both of our Pokémon, allowing Crawdaunt to burst forwards with an even greater rush of speed as he slammed into the Starmie, smashing a powerful Knock Off before Starmine could react with a Thunderbolt.

Loudred immediately tried to blast Crawdaunt away with a deafening Uproar, but a quick Air Slash from Zephyr managed to flinch it and draw its attention away. Unfortunately for us, Ariados moved too quick for Zephyr to catch it, and Ariados managed to prevent Crawdaunt from following up with a Night Slash by pouncing onto Crawdaunt and slashing down on his back with a critical X-Scissor.

Starmie tried to take this opportunity to free itself from Crawdaunt's claws and retaliate with a Thunderbolt, but Crawdaunt recovered far quicker than it expected and surprised Starmie with a quick Dark Pulse from one its claws. Then Crawdaunt spun around and threw his entire weight into a devastating Crabhammer that hammered into Ariados' side with, sending the Bug tumbling weakly away.

But not before the Bug managed to return a Toxic gift, badly poisoning the Crawdaunt.

"Commit to Starmie, Crawdaunt!" Karen ordered, recognizing the threat that Starmie posed to both of our Pokémon with its powerful Thunderbolts. The Tailwind came into good use once again as Crawdaunt rapidly closed the distance, slashing through an attempted Confuse Ray from the Starmie before snapping down on the Starmie with its Dark-infused claws in a supereffective Crunch before it could escape with a Rapid Spin.

In the meanwhile, Loudred was continuing its long-range duel against Zephyr. But this was where the difference in speed came into play. Zephyr's superior speed meant that, even if Loudred could hit hard, it greatly struggled to even land a glancing blow on Zephyr. All the while Zephyr continuously managed to chip away at Loudred's health with his barrage of Air Slashes.

Now, I could have taken the risk to bring down Loudred by having Zephyr commit to a Brave Bird, relying on his aerial mobility to dodge out of the way of Loudred's powerful sonic attacks. But I had a partner in this fight – so there was no need to take the risk.

Instead, I was going to have Zephyr practice fighting in a more supportive capacity – and to cause further chaos.

"Hurricane, Zephyr! Break up the battlefield!"

Zephyr let out an affirmative squawk and two large tornadoes began forming in the air, before they started to tear through the battlefield, splitting into halves. Loudred easily dodged out of the way, but the tornadoes kept going – and I saw the moment that Whitney's eyes widened with alarm as she realized what I was aiming for.

"SABRINA, INCOMING!"

Sabrina's head snapped to the incoming attack – but knowing what was coming and being able to do anything about it were two different things. With Starmie already in a terrible position with trying its best to fend off an extremely aggressive Crawdaunt, it had absolutely no time to avoid the Hurricane that was tearing its way towards them.

Every attack Starmie tried was either fended off or interrupted by a swift attack from Crawdaunt. Its attempts to try to trip up Crawdaunt with a Grass Knot were disrupted as Crawdaunt easily punished the attempt with a flinching Dark Pulse. Nor did Starmie have the time to fire off a Thunderbolt.

The only reason Starmie was still in the fight was because of the assistance from Ariados, where Janine made full use of Ariados' mobility and range of disruption attacks to distract the Crawdaunt and prevent him from landing the finishing blow.

A String Shot here and there, followed up by the occasional surprise X-Scissor or Cross Poison prevented Crawdaunt from fully committing to bringing down Starmie.

But Ariados was always forced to rely on hit-and-run attacks.

It was an ambush attacker, used to attacking rapidly in short bursts before scurrying away to safety. However, this was a fighting style that Karen had mastered, and with an almost instinctive level of understanding, she seemed to always know when Ariados was going to attack and retreat, and would always order Crawdaunt to respond accordingly.

Janine was visibly frustrated at this. But no more than Sabrina, who had a pinched expression on her face as her usual Psychic strategies utterly failed her at dealing with Crawdaunt. Especially because her powerful telepathy was being disrupted by Karen's repeated use of Dark type moves.

And the situation for them was about to get worse as the two tornadoes suddenly cut through their fight, forming a deadly wall of gale winds that briefly isolated Starmie with Crawdaunt. It was only for a moment, but that was all the time Crawdaunt needed.

Without Ariados to assist it, Starmie was completely unable to stand up to the ruthless pursuit of Crawdaunt.

"Night Slash, Crawdaunt! Finish it!"

"Recover, Starmie! BUY TIME!"

But with the Tailwind continuing to boost its speed, Crawdaunt never gave Starmie a moment to breath as it chased after the retreating Starmie and landed a flurry of Night Slashes that slashed and ripped through what remained of Starmie's health, and a final Crunch clamped down powerfully into Starmie's side, finally knocking it out of the fight.

But Crawdaunt had no opportunity to celebrate his victory as Araidos suddenly erupted out from the ground below, ambushing him with a critical Dig that briefly knocked Crawdaunt into the air. Ariados capitalized on this by following up with a merciless X-Scissor, landing a deep cut that was a direct critical hit on Crawdaunt.

"PAYBACK, CRAWDAUNT!" Karen tried.

"UPROAR, LOUDRED!"

Dark energy rapidly gathered within Crawdaunt, but just as he reoriented himself to retaliate with a brutal Payback, a sudden blast of sonic energy came crashing in from the side, launching the badly damaged Crawdaunt spinning through the air before collapsing limply into the ground, knocked out.

Whitney had realized that Crawdaunt was currently the bigger threat to her team, and chose to take an opportunity where Zephyr needed to circle around to support her friends and take out the rampaging Crawdaunt.

That left the fight in 2v1. With my fresh Zephyr against a wounded Loudred and Ariados. Despite their numbers advantage, their greatest counter to Zephyr, Starmie, had already been knocked out of the fight. And neither of their remaining Pokémon were very suited to dealing with a fast and nimble Special Attacker that was Zephyr.

If this was a real fight, I would have continued to pepper them both down with Air Slashes, making full use of Zephyr's mobility to just wear both Pokémon down. Ariados had no good ranged options available, and Zephyr had already proven that he was easily able to dodge Loudred's sonic attacks.

But I wanted to see just how far I could push the trio. So I committed.

"Set up, Zephyr! Boost yourself up and get ready to dive!"

I saw Whitney's eyes narrowed at me as she understood what I was going for. In reply, I raised a single finger, indicating that I would give her once chance to fight back. She nodded and ordered the attacks from Loudred to stop and instead to brace itself for what was to come.

The three of us waited patiently as we all stared at Zephyr, waiting for his Agility and Work Up boosts to finish up. As soon as he did, I made the order.

"DIVE! BRAVE BIRD!"

Zephyr let out a screech and shot down like a missile, blitzing through the air with such speeds that my eyes had trouble following him. I had rarely been able to witness Zephyr at his fastest like this, since most opponents would not dare allow Zephyr to set up to the max like this. With all his boosts, I believed he could easily have reached the level of my more powerful Pokémon.

But for now I focused on what Whitney and Janine were going to do. Interestingly, I saw Sabrina step in close to them as well, her eyes flashing a shining blue as her Psychic powers went into overdrive. Was she tracking Zephyr using her Psychic senses?

As Zephyr dove down like a meteor, Loudred stepped forwards, its legs apart to steady itself, and it closed its eyes and took a deep breath. Then, its eyes snapped open, and its opened its mouth as wide as it could as it unleashed an ear-shattering Uproar that caused the air to physically vibrate and distort around the sheer power of its sonic waves.

But it must have known that the attack wouldn't be enough, even after it dedicated every last scrap of energy into it. Its eyes and fists clenched as it began to bellow out even louder, turning up the intensity of its attack even further as it demanded even more power from itself.

And this seemed to be a catalyst for Whitney's Pokémon. Its desire to grow stronger was so overwhelming that Loudred's entire body began to glow white. Its figure morphed and grew as the signature light of evolution surrounded it.

A second later, and an Exploud appeared on the scene. Its earlier Uproar had transformed into an overpowering Boomburst, and the raw explosive power of its sonic attack even managed to cause the trees surrounding us to sway and their leaves to be ripped off their branches.

But Zephyr was unstoppable. Even with Exploud dedicating everything to turn its Boomburst into the most powerful attack possible, Zephyr had endured past stronger attacks than that.

He had trained up against the likes of Vordt and his supereffective barrage of Rocks, and had to endure against the likes of Drake's Kingdra. For all of Exploud's dedication, it was not at the level that could bring Zephyr low.

And so Zephyr came crashing down, smashing through Exploud with his unstoppable Brave Bird and silencing the explosive Boomburst once and for all. Exploud was sent skidding across the ground; its limp body having dug a trench in the dirt.

But Zephyr had not come out unscathed. The recoil damage and the devastating sonic attack had left him disoriented and reeling – and I was pretty sure he was now deaf. Yet he still had the presence of mind to take off into the skies again, narrowly dodging out of the way as Ariados failed its ambush with a Dig and Cross Poison combo.

Without needing me to command it, Zephyr then spun around in the air and smashed Ariados with a supereffective Wing Attack before it could scurry away, putting the Bug in the ground and ending the fight.

It was our victory.

However, before I could speak up and congratulate Whitney on her evolution, my eyes snapped towards the sound of someone clapping.

"What a fight!" Giovanni walked up to us with a small smile on his face, politely ignoring the shocked expressions on ours. "I came out here wondering who was causing such a ruckus with their battle, and here I find a few familiar faces."

"Ehehehe...Sorry, I might have gotten a bit carried away." Whitney apologised sheepishly as she rubbed her head, though her attention was clearly focused on her the Pokéball holding her newly evolved Exploud.

"There's no need to apologize, I wanted a break away from my work anyways." Giovanni replied with a shake of his head, "You must be training up for our battle, aren't you?"

The trio all nodded their heads, "Well I think that's excellent. And if I could be honest—" Giovanni was about to say more before he realized the growing crowd that were starting to gather around us.

His face turned into a grimace, "On second thought, let's move this conversation indoors. I have a meeting area in the Gym, if you all don't mind following me?"

The trio shook their heads and walked after Giovanni. I joined in after them after sharing a look with Karen to make sure that she didn't have something urgent she needed to go to. She didn't, so the two of us followed up after them.

It was only after we entered the break area did Giovanni speak up again, "Sorry for not saying this earlier, but I really wanted to introduce someone to you."

Sabrina must have detected who Giovanni was referring to, because her eyes snapped towards one of the doors. On cue, the door opened, and in came a very nervous looking Silver.

"Um...hello?" He mumbled, looking nervous and completely overwhelmed by all these strangers.

But Whitney seemed to have taken an immediate liking to Silver as she broke out into a friendly smile, and started patting the empty spot next to her on the couch. Giovanni, Karen, and I all shared a knowing look as we saw this.

Oh boy. Here we go.

The New Normal – 9-4 – Interlude – Cynthia

Although she was not someone that was prone to arrogance, she was pretty confident in saying that Aaron was just not at her level.

Especially after her Lucario just decimated his Scizor in under a minute.

The normally speedy and agile Scizor quickly found its match against her Lucario, who was not only faster in many ways, but was able to punch and strike with far more precision and force. Even after taking down his Heracross, her Lucario was still rearing to go, and his Fire Punches and Blaze Kicks remained as deadly as ever, burning a swath through Aaron's team.

Despite Scizor's best attempts to circle around and rely on hit-and-run attacks, her Lucario reacted faster. Each exchange was heavily in Lucario's favour – her Fire attacks were far more punishing than Scizor's Fighting ones. And she never let go of the momentum, always pressuring Aaron's Scizor and doggedly pursued it with Lucario's repeated use of Extreme Speed until Scizor eventually made a mistake, which resulted in a Fire Punch crashing fist first into Scizor's face that sent it careening into the ground with a thud as its metallic face was caught ablaze.

Scizor thrashed on the ground in a fruitless attempt to put out the fire, but it was no use. Another Blaze Kick smashed into its chest, causing a visible dent to appear on its steely exterior that instantly silenced the Scizor for the rest of the fight.

And now the score was already 3-0, with her Lucario already sweeping through his earlier Yanmega and Heracross.

She could see that the crowd was going wild at yet another victory for her Lucario. They likely didn't have high expectations for her going in; mostly attributing her draw against John as a fluke that happened in a friendly match. So they failed to recognize how strong she was.

But now they must have reversed their earlier opinion, as they were all now chanting her name and cheering at her every success. On the other hand, Aaron was frowning deeply, likely upset at his string of losses and his poor performance.

She ignored all of that though. All she focused on was the status of her Lucario – was it strong enough to keep fighting? Or would her chances increase if she withdrew it?

A more prideful trainer would have kept it in the fight, trying to rack up as many victories as possible with her Pokémon in a display of strength. But she was never a prideful person – she liked to think herself more practical than that.

And she knew that her Lucario had reached its limits already.

"I RETIRE MY LUCARIO!" She announced, drawing gasps of disappointment from the crowd as they hoped for Lucario to perform a clean sweep of Aaron's team. That was always an unrealistic expectation; Aaron wasn't nearly weak enough for her to do that.

Still, with the lead that she had it was all about maintaining that momentum. She didn't want to give Aaron any opportunity to setup or reorient himself. He was on the ropes, and she was going to make sure she gave him one last push to topple him over.

"GO! VESPIQUEN!"

"TOGEKISS! YOUR TURN!"

Her Togekiss immediately began setting up with a Calm Mind as it flew high into the sky, and Aaron's frown became more pronounced as he watched her Togekiss setting up.

Vespiquen did her best to fight back, but she had already worked out a plan with Togekiss beforehand to completely dominant the opposing Bug type. She recognized Vespiquen to be a defensive Pokémon, relying on her superior defences to slowly wear down the opponent. But Vespiquen were slow Pokémon, despite being able to fly.

His Vespiquen was more suited to fighting against grounded Pokémon rather than other fliers. And her Togekiss heavily punished this fact by refusing to fight the way Vespiquen wanted to fight, and repeatedly scorched it with a barrage of Flamethrowers and ignited Air Slashes.

His Vespiquen was visibly outmatched.

Aaron obviously spotted this – but he was unable to do anything about it. His only other powerful Flying type, Yanmega, had already gone down earlier, and Vespiquen's litany of injuries meant that it was already too late to switch. THIS was why she had waited until now to deploy Togekiss – because she knew that Aaron would have nothing left to counter it with.

It didn't take long for Aaron's Vespiquen to fall. Plus, just like she had hoped, with all of the buffs that Togekiss had already set up thanks to Vespiquen's inability to punish it, the Flygon that Aaron sent out next, which was normally Aaron's second strongest Pokémon, struggled to take down her Togekiss.

She gave off a small nod as she watched her Togekiss' dominant performance. She really had to thank John and Professor Oak for piecing together the secrets of the Fairy type – it really had solved a few inconsistencies that she had spotted with her Togekiss earlier on. And it gave her yet another weapon to take down those Dragon types.

After a short exchange of attacks where Flygon tried to grapple onto her Togekiss while her buffed Togekiss tried to batter Flygon down from a distance, the result was both Pokémon going down, leaving the match at 5-2.

And then came Aaron's starter and ace – his Drapion. She had seen the recordings; his Drapion was an utter powerhouse at close range. Combining brutal and hard-hitting close-range combos with powerful and debilitating poisons that could bring down even the strongest of foes overtime. It was one of the greatest 'bruiser' counters she had seen; every aspect of his Drapion was designed and trained to take lumbering threats.

Unfortunately for Aaron, he only had the one Pokémon remaining. So Cynthia played it extremely safe, sending out her Spiritomb to wear it down with Burns and Pain Splits before ultimately going down to Drapion. Then came her Milotic, who simply took advantage of the crippled Drapion to repeatedly blast it with a torrent of powerful Hydro Pumps, bringing down the big bruiser of a Dark Type.

It didn't matter how much Drapion tried to rip and tear into Milotic with its poisonous claws, her Milotic stood like an unbreakable wall of fortitude, tanking through the crippled Drapion's blows with little issue. 'Greatest bruiser' or not, Drapion fell all the same.

Sure, she could have sent out Garchomp. But she was saving her starter for later. There was no need to show them off now.

Was her victory flashy or dramatic? Of course not. But the crowd cheered loudly regardless, recognizing the planning and skill that she displayed in securing her victory.

"AND THE CHALLENGER CYNTHIA HAS CRUSHED ELITE AARON, WINNING WITH AN UTTERLY CONVINCING 6-3 VICTORY!!" She briefly hear the announce scream out, but she had already tuned him out in favour of running over the battle in her head. She already spotted a few improvements she could have made.

"...I can't say I'm not a bit bitter, but congratulations on your victory." Aaron said to her after the match was over, "Lucian really wasn't overhyping you when he told us that you were strong. I guess I should have listened a bit harder."

"You fought well." She simply replied. "But I did prepare very carefully about how I would defeat you."

That caused Aaron to let out a snort, "Yeah, clearly. You really didn't leave anything up to chance against me. I don't think I've lost this hard in a long time."

He shook his head, "You better keep up this kind of performance against the other three, otherwise I'd look like a weak fool."

She smiled, "I'll do my best. I certainly intend on repeating my performance here."

"Good, just don't forget I'm considered the weakest of the Elite Four for a reason. I'm just the beginning. The other three in the gauntlet won't be as easy to beat as I was." Aaron reminded, but he wasn't bitter about it.

She nodded – his words were true enough, but she was already thinking about how she would be defeating Bertha next.

One down, three to go.

The New Normal – 9-5 – Training for a Crowd

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. My sister – being the little pink ball of sunshine that she was – was able to quickly put Silver at ease.

Oh he was still very shy about suddenly being surrounded by older girls, but he soon relaxed as he realized that they really meant him no harm.

I think my sister really enjoyed being able to play around with someone that was younger than her.

And her friends were no less welcoming. Sabrina had taken up the role of showing off a few basic Psychic tricks while Janine was trying to one-up her by showing off some impressive dexterity as she showed off how her fingers could bend way more than they reasonably should have.

All-in-all, they were a perfect distraction for a nervous Silver and allow him to settle in to what should hopefully be his new friends.

Karen had even joined in – releasing her Umbreon to entertain and make sure Silver was comfortable. Karen was much better with young children than I ever was.

"They seem to be getting on well." I pointed out to Giovanni as he stepped closer.

He let out a relieved breath, "That was exactly what I was hoping for. To my shame, Silver has lived quite the lonely life thus far. He never really got an opportunity to make friends because he was always on the move with Ariana. I don't blame her for it, of course, but it has made Silver more isolated than lonely than I would like."

"I'm trying to correct that now." He continued to explain, "And I hoped that at least introducing your sister to him would allow him to get more comfortable around others. If he makes friends with your sister – all the better."

"My sister does seem quite taken with him." I chuckled as I watched them play and chat.

"Thank Arceus for that. Your sister is too nice for this world. I don't think I've ever seen someone so cheery." Giovanni praised, letting out a small smile, "How did she even turn out this way?"

"Luck, I suppose." I shrugged, though I couldn't help but smile.

He shook his head amusedly, "In any case, I hope you don't mind if I try to get Silver to spend more time around your sister and her friends. I'd always thought that she'd be a great role model for him, and I'd love for him to try to emulate her."

"I have no issues with that." I said, "Besides, I'm not about to tell Whitney who she can and can't spend time with. She and her friends are mature enough to know that already. And if they think Silver is someone they want to spend time around, I'd more than welcome it as well."

Knowing my sister, it was almost guaranteed that she would befriend Silver at this point. But like I said, I didn't see that as a bad thing. On the contrary, I thought that maybe Silver wouldn't turn out to be such an edgy, strength-obsessed brat if he got along with the cinnamon roll that was my sister.

Either way, I didn't believe Giovanni dragged me in here ONLY to introduce Silver to Whitney, "So...any news?" I asked him. He knew what I was referring to.

"Not here." He said, gesturing with his head to his office. I gave him a small acknowledging nod and followed after him.

Karen gave me a questioning look, but I just shook her head. She nodded back; understanding what we were talking about was not for her ears.

We secured the office door behind us before Giovanni began, "I received a report from Archer regarding the criminal activities in Sinnoh. It seems like your hypothesis was correct – whoever's funding these terrorists are big money, with everything pointing towards them being one of the bigger businesses in Sinnoh. We haven't narrowed it down to which one yet, but we now know where to look. The amount of money being moved around allowed us to cross out the small and medium sized businesses."

My eyes went wide, "Wow, that was fast."

"Archer tells me that their backer had gotten a little sloppy." He explained, "They've been moving around too much money too quickly for them to properly hide it, and it left them slightly exposed to Archer's investigations. But at the same time, Archer has also told me he's forced to move slowly – he can't be sure that the lead is a real one or a trap meant to expose any possible investigators."

"...So are we going to find evidence on who it is soon?" I pressed. I wanted to expose Team Galactic as quickly as possible. And the MOMENT I had just the slightest bit of evidence I could use against them, then I would pounce on them HARD.

"From my experience, these kinds of things don't move that quickly." He shook his head, "If the lead turns out to be a false one, then it's back to the drawing board. The issue is that we're unfamiliar with Sinnoh, and Archer is forced to set up the infrastructure all by himself. That really slows down our ability to make moves or investigate matters."

"And another thing slowing us down is the fact that our target is clearly highly entrenched in the criminal underworld. They've been around for a VERY long time – or at least have a surprising amount of influence. That fact only forces Archer to act more carefully; we don't want to accidentally expose our operations and spook the target to go into hiding." Giovanni added.

"Any chance Archer would get exposed?" I asked concernedly. Archer was currently our only real way of exposing Team Galactic for the time being, so losing him and his team as an asset would hurt.

"He's more careful than that. He'll be fine." Giovanni replied confidently. "Don't worry, we're confident that we're on the right track. It's just that it might take some time to uncover what we want to find."

I frowned, but accepted that there was nothing really I could do about it. If or when Cynthia became Champion, then I would potentially have another avenue to shut down Team Galactic. But to my great annoyance, Team Galactic was still too trusted and beloved in the public eye so that any unsupported accusation from me would not be believed.

But I hoped to at least put Giovanni, and therefore Archer, on the right track for his investigation, "Has Archer looked into Galactic company?" I asked, taking a risk.

"They're someone we're already looking at." Giovanni confirmed, "Why, you suspect them?"

This was going to test the goodwill and trust that I had built up with Giovanni up until this point. I knew that my answer would be circumstantial at best – and nonsensical at worst, but it was important for me to nudge him onto the right target.

So I maintained my confidence as I answered, "I visited their headquarters before. I didn't think anything was suspicious then. But then I met Cyrus in person, just when I was shopping. And the entire time that I spoke to him my gut was screaming at me – telling me that there was something wrong with the person in front of me."

"I understand that it was only a gut feeling, but my gut has not led me wrong yet." I said seriously, "Even with that strange meeting with Cyrus, I didn't think much of it initially, but that feeling has now been screaming at me ever since you confirmed to me that their backers are likely one of the bigger businesses of Sinnoh. Galactic Company has both the resources and the manpower to be a secret backer of these terrorists. AND they have been around in Sinnoh for a long time, enough for them to be entrenched into the criminal world should they choose to be."

"I know this is conjecture, but if I were you I'd be looking closer into Galactic Company." I pressed, "Even if you dismiss my gut feeling, they are still one of the few large companies in Sinnoh that are a perfect fit for the descriptions you just provided. We should look into them."

Giovanni frowned thoughtfully, but it was a good sign that he didn't immediately dismiss my words. After what felt like an eon of thinking, Giovanni responded with a casual shrug, "This was your plan to begin with, and I haven't been there in Sinnoh to verify your words. Still, there's no harm with us looking into Galactic Company first if that's where you believe is where we should look first. They ARE the largest."

"I'll get in touch with Archer and tell him to follow up on this." Giovanni said as I held back the urge to let out a relieved sigh, "Maybe it'll help him to narrow down his search."

"Thank you, Giovanni. Please give Archer all my well wishes and my thanks for his efforts and hard work." I nodded to him, "I do hope you'll find something."

"I have my full trust in Archer to find something, I wouldn't have sent him there otherwise." Giovanni explained confidently, "And now that we're narrowing down where to look, rest assured that Archer will dig up something. Like I said, it'll just take time, but he won't fail."

I nodded, having done all I could for now. I had pointed Giovanni and Archer in the right direction, and I hoped that they could find something to prove my words right and dig up some incriminating evidence that we could use.

I was pleased that we were taking further small steps towards exposing Team Galactic.

With that serious talk done, we returned to the other room, where Silver continued to get along well with the girls. This time, Ariana had joined in, and was currently chatting with Karen.

That actually brought something up I had always wanted to ask Giovanni, "...Say, if it isn't too personal, what is your relationship with Ariana? Are you husband and wife, or...?"

He chuckled, "I was wondering when you'd ask. But we're not officially married, just partners. Before, we had wanted a ceremony, but that obviously got put off with...everything that happened. And now we both decided that it's a bit too late to host one, and we're more than content with what we have now."

"Why are you asking? Did something happen with you?" He smirked at me, "Come to think of it, you seem happier than when I last met you. I first thought it was because you were just happy to be back, but perhaps I was mistaken."

I scowled, and Giovanni chuckled, "Well I won't press you if you don't want to talk about it. Though if I could give you a word of advice..." His face turned serious, "It might be hypocritical for me to say this, considering my past actions, but I suggest you think REALLY carefully before you put aside your relationships in favour of something else."

He leaned forwards slightly, "I can promise you that in almost every scenario, your relationships, whether that be platonic, familial, or romantic, should come first."

"That sounds like a lesson that came from experience." I joked, but I knew he was being fully serious.

"It was." He nodded back firmly, "I made that mistake when I was younger, and I'm still regretting that to this day. So I'm doing my best to make up for it." He gestured towards where Ariana and Silver were. Though judging by the slight smile that suddenly adorned Ariana's face, I don't think Giovanni was being as quiet as he thought he was being.

I thanked him for his words and promised to keep them in mind. He just patted me encouragingly on the shoulder.

Regardless, we didn't spend that much longer hanging around at Giovanni's office. He had his Gym duties to attend to, and it was starting to get pretty late. I left with Karen and the trio, inviting them all back home for dinner. Karen accepted, but the trio turned us down in favour for more training. Apparently they had a sudden burst of inspiration they'd like to start working on, so I left them to it.

So Karen and I flew back towards my home. On the flight back, I tried asking Karen what she was discussing with Ariana, but that seemed to only make her embarrassment return and she adamantly refused to answer me.

I wondered once again was that was about – but I didn't think an answer would be forthcoming.

===========

?I had invited Karen over for dinner, and the two of us enjoyed a nice dinner with my parents. My mom was especially pleased that we had 'repaired' our friendship, but she was considerate enough not to push Karen or I for answers at the moment.

Karen retired for the night shortly after dinner, but I stayed up to speak to Cynthia as was my usual routine. We didn't speak for very long as we both had to wake up early tomorrow.

Cynthia had her battle against Aaron, and I was duty-bound to watch it live.

Next morning, the world realised that she ended up stomping Aaron in a 6-3 victory, which was pretty much what I thought was going to happen.

The public was ecstatic over her dominant victory. After her match against Aaron the public perception of her had went from 'oh, let's see how far she goes', to 'she might win it all'. Though there was still a healthy dose of scepticism since this was just her first win.

I was confident that if she could repeat her performance against Bertha, then the public would REALLY consider her to be an actual contender to be Champion.

But, likely as a result of her victory, I received a text this morning from Professor Carolina asking me to come over. She explained that she had wanted to discuss the publicising of our discovery of Kleavor and Zoroark respectively.

So I headed over to her lab and promptly greeted her at her office. After a quick exchange of pleasantries, Carolina got right into the heart of the matter.

"Did you watch Cynthia's match against Aaron yesterday?" She asked.

"Yes, it was a remarkable performance." I replied, "I think many were very surprised by her victory."

"My granddaughter was always an overachiever. I guess I should have expected nothing less." She chuckled proudly.

"Regardless, both she and I thought that this would be a good time to boost her popularity even more." She said, "We figured that we could start showing off our newest discoveries now, while Cynthia's name is still really hot in the news."

That was about what I expected, "Sure, I'm okay with it. Does that mean I get to start training with my Zoroark in public now?" I had been eager to continue training with Wraith without all the restrictions. It had been difficult to keep him concealed from prying eyes.

"I'll do you one better. I want you to deliberately start training with him in the open, where reporters can see." She told me, "I'll be publishing our discovery into the scientific journals right after this meeting. That way, we can quickly generate interest and hype around what the two of you have found. Cynthia will do the same with her Kleavor."

Oh, she didn't mention this to me yesterday. Though likely because we only talked for a few minutes, "She planning on keeping it on her team?" I asked curiously.

"Of course she is. A powerful Rock/Bug type like that? Especially when she lacked those exact types? There's no way she would have passed on the opportunity." Carolina exclaimed. "Though I hear it still has a long way to go with its training and discipline, so don't expect to see it in any of her upcoming matches. It's far from ready for those."

I shrugged, "Same here. But that's why I'm looking forward to getting more training done with him. Do you have a place where I should train? Or can I pick my own?"

"We won't dictate that to you, just that you make it obvious enough to catch the public eye." She said to me, "But you're free to train your new Zoroark as you see fit. From the moment you walk out of this door, consider your obligations to the Celestic Town Research Center to be fulfilled. That new Pokémon is now yours." I nodded appreciatively at her words.

"Of course, we won't turn you down if you allow us to do a few more tests, or lay a few eggs." She smiled wryly, "More data is always appreciated, even if we manage to catch another one."

I didn't have a problem with that, so I followed her into a nearby room where a few more tests were performed on Wraith. The scientists seemed especially excited at studying his illusory abilities, and tried to discover what differentiated it from Kecleon's camouflaging.

With that done, we exchanged goodbyes and I immediately got to work with training with Wraith. I decided that training just outside of the lab, at Vermillion City, would demonstrate an obvious enough connection with my latest acquisition.

So I wandered over to the Vermillion Pokémon Center completely undisguised, and I already was drawing attention just by doing so. When the following crowd overheard that I wished to reserve a training ground to make use of, that only piqued their interest even further.

I didn't let my spectators wait for too long, and I could hear their gasps and shock as I released Wraith and a few of my other Pokémon onto the field.

"Wraith, no illusions." I whispered to him, making sure my voice wasn't overheard, "We don't need to advertise that particular strength just yet." The fact that the Zoroark species was able to use illusions would be included in the public report that Carolina was publishing, but I wanted to keep the extent of his illusory powers a secret until I could put it to use.

Every advantage counted, after all.

Immediately after sending Wraith out, the cameras began to flash as all of the spectators took out their phones and tried snapping images of Wraith. To Wraith's credit, even if he was unused to this amount of attention, he didn't lash out against them. Or he would have, but he understood that Smough was currently looming over him, and he dared not act out under Smough's watchful gaze.

But I put the spectators out of my mind and began a normal training session. This one was mostly focused on both Ornstein and Wraith. I wanted Ornstein to develop his Dark type powers even further and maximize the impact of his Dark type attacks. Similarly, I wanted to train up Wraith's resistance to his only weakness.

Wraith was NEVER going to be a bulky Pokémon, but I at least wanted to train him up to make sure he wasn't a complete glass cannon.

The two of them training together actually went better than expected, since they were both speedy Pokémon with a love for hit and run attacks. Of course, Wraith was far stronger than Ornstein, but Ornstein was far more used to training against more powerful opponents and he didn't have any of the bad habits that Wraith still had, such as Wraith's frequent habit of overextending himself when he tried to land an attack.

Wraith also had a distinct lack of supporting moves, likely due to them being rather unnecessary back when he was a wild Poekmon, but this was something I intended to rectify as soon as possible. Likewise, his teamwork skills severely needed work, and that was why I arranged for Wraith and Ornstein to try to fight against Smough.

It didn't go so well – Wraith was just unable to keep up or work with Ornstein and the two of them fell completely out of sync with each other. Smough was quick to punish this lack of coordination.

Oh well, I expected this to take some time. This was the drawback of capturing an already trained Pokémon onto your team.

As we continued training, I noticed that a few of my growing crowd of spectators had tried inching closer, obviously warring with themselves to ask a question. I spotted a few reporters in the crowd too, but they seem content to hang back and just film the sparring sessions for now.

But I knew it was only a matter of time before someone would approach me for questions. So I did my best to ignore them and continue with my training for now – I had Wraith take a rest while I focused on training up Ornstein to get proficient at using Belly Drum to setup, which would temporarily allow him to match the power of my stronger Pokémon.

I didn't know how long it was, but like I suspected, I was eventually approached by an overeager reporter.

"Elite John! What is that Pokémon?!" He practically shouted out the question at me as he came close.

I did my best to give him a patient smile, "It's the recent discovery that I made with the Celestic Town Research Center called a Zoroark – I found him during one of our cave explorations together with Cynthia. You can find more information about it in the article that's just been published."

"So even though you captured it while working with the research center, they just let you keep it?" He questioned. And now that SOMEONE had approached me, that gave the others the bravery to follow suit. So I soon found myself surrounded by cameras and microphones in what became an impromptu interview.

"They're nice people. I was very happy to work with them." I simply answered, trying to do my part in promoting my girlfriend's reputation. He frowned at my unsatisfactory answer, but I wasn't going to elaborate. Too much praise would seem disingenuous.

"Then what does your new Pokémon do?!" Another reporter asked, "Is it strong?"

"You can find out more in the article." I replied, "And of course he is – any Pokémon can be strong with the right training."

"Are you saying that it is the fault of the trainer and not the Pokémon when someone fails to beat a Gym?" Someone immediately pounced on my answer, looking to start up drama.

I simply let out a sigh, why did these people have to be like this, "If you're going to twist my answers like that, then we're done here. I think you've seen enough anyways." Before anyone could stop me, I withdrew my Pokémon back into their Pokéballs and flew away on Port, ignoring their cries of protest, immediately setting off from home.

I would continue my training there, away from the crowd of reporters. I had done as Carolina asked, and I didn't intend to spend more time answering questions like that.

With all the filming they did, there was no way the reveal of Zoroark wouldn't be in the papers tomorrow.

I shook the thought of all those reporters out of my mind and began to strategize about how I would train up Wraith, now that I had free reign to train him however I liked.

Already, I could see the huge potential of Wraith, just waiting to be utilized. He was going to be an excellent addition to my team in the future, I was sure of it.

And now, with my cleared schedule, I had plenty of time to train not just Wraith, but all my Pokémon. With the reputation that I had managed to foster, I needed to make sure that my strength could live up to it. There would be no further draws allowed.

Only victory.

The New Normal – 9-6 – INTERLUDE – Whitney

They had been throwing their all into their training, but while they pushed their Pokémon hard, they were always careful never to overly exhaust and tire out their Pokémon. It wasn't healthy to do so.

But now, after having spent whatever time they had left training up their Pokémon to be as powerful as they could be with all their training and sparring, the three of them knew they couldn't put it off any longer.

If they were going to be in time to participate in this year's Indigo Conference, then they were going to have to make a formal challenge and defeat Giovanni.

Were they fully prepared for the fight? It was difficult to judge. As the final Gym Leader of Kanto, Giovanni was a major roadblock that Whitney knew many trainers failed to overcome. Some would never be able to conquer Giovanni, no matter how many times they tried. Many others gave up before then.

He was the final wall that served as the gatekeeper for the Indigo Conference.

So they knew they were rushing things when they decided to challenge him during their first year of their circuit. She knew that her brother had successfully done so, but she didn't find such comparisons helpful.

And even then, her brother was still much older than her during his attempt, and he had been training with his Pokémon for far longer than her. He had told her that his Slaking was pretty much fully grown and trained by the time he even fought against Giovanni. In contrast, her Miltank still had some ways to go.

But that was part of the challenge and the appeal. They all recognized that if they wanted to get decently far into the Indigo Conference, then they would have to push themselves like this. Barring herself, Sabrina and Janine were both going to be Gym Leaders in the future, and they would have to live up to the expectations and demands of said role. Getting used to the pressures of a difficult fight was par for the course.

That was why, after a short rest day of little training to allow their Pokémon to fully relax and reinvigorate themselves for the upcoming fight, they finally walked into the Viridian Gym – this time as official challengers.

As they headed inside, Sabrina nudged her with her shoulder and gestured with her head to the seating area, where a happy Silver was waving excitedly at them. She did her best to put a smile on her face and wave back, trying not to let her nerves get to her.

Technically, even if she or her friends lost against Giovanni this time, they still had one or two more tries against him before the open qualifiers for the Indigo Conference began. So while she didn't necessarily have to win on her first try, she was still determined to. She and her friends had successfully defeated all of the Gym Leaders on their first attempt, and it would be quite disappointing to fail on the final hurdle.

As agreed, she would be the first to fight against Giovanni. And while she was friendly with Giovanni and even had a meal with him at her house, she knew that he was not going to go easy on her because of their connection.

He would hold to his duty as a Gym Leader.

They didn't have to wait long before she was called to the front. Both her friends gave her encouraging pats on the back before she walked forward to meet Giovanni, who was already standing there with his arms crossed. As she walked to take her place, a sullen trainer walked past her with a drooping head. He had just been crushed by Giovanni, and for a moment the fear grew in her mind as she imagined herself in the same position.

It didn't help that the battlefield in front of her had yet to be fully repaired. The ground was still scarred and shattered from their earlier battle, a great demonstration of the overwhelming power that she knew Giovanni possessed.

But she quickly shook that off. John wouldn't be scared here. And she had her friends watching behind her. She wouldn't lose in front of them.

They would ALL succeed. Together.

As she took her spot opposite Giovanni, the referee moved to speak up, but he was quickly silenced as Giovanni raised a lone arm.

"Whitney, it's very good to see you. I always knew that you had the potential to face me ever since I first met you." Giovanni told her with a friendly smile, catching her by surprise as he completely shattered his image of being a stoic and stern Gym Leader. That got the crowd whispering, and she could just barely make out that they were wondering how they knew each other.

"Oh! Um...Thank you, Giovanni, but I'm just trying to my parents and John proud." She mumbled out, a little less confidently than she would have liked. The arena was being repaired as they talked.

He just chuckled, "I'm sure they would be plenty proud already. You've even got a fan in my son. Isn't that right, Silver?"

"YEAH! GO WHITNEY!!!!!" Silver cheered shamelessly, ignoring the stares from the other audience members that turned his way. But she saw that a few of the more opportunistic audience members immediately started shifting their way towards Silver, obviously wanting to befriend the son of a famous Gym Leader.

But her friends were already on it. Sabrina simply sat next to Silver and stared at them deeply with her bright blue eyes, as if daring them to approach. They didn't.

All the while Silver remained completely unaware and innocent of the Ekans that surrounded him. But that was for the better.

She turned back to Giovanni with a slight smile, "Your son is nice – he's kinda like the younger brother I never had."

"Your parents aren't that old, maybe that—" Giovanni let out a cough as he quickly cut himself off from whatever he was going to say, "Never mind that, ignore what I just said. Let's not go into that conversation."

Whitney tilted her head confusedly, but didn't question him further. Then, as the arena was fully repaired, Giovanni's mood dropped, and his face turned serious once again. "I think that's enough talk. Are you ready, challenger Whitney?"

She nodded, and she forcefully shoved aside all other thoughts as she stared down Giovanni, a Pokéball already clutched in her hand.

This was it. This was going to the hardest Pokémon battle of her life so far. But it was also her greatest opportunity to show her family just how much she had grown. If she was going to stay at the same level of her friends, who would both turn out to become Gym Leaders when they grew up, then she could not fail here.

"THIS IS GOING TO BE A 8-BADGE 3V3 MATCH BETWEEN CHALLENGER WHITNEY AND GYM LEADER GIOVANNI! TRAINERS, ARE YOU READY!?"

She would defeat Giovanni, here and now.

"BEGIN!"

"Go! Wigglytuff!"

"Test your mettle, Sandslash."

A Sandstorm immediately set in on the battlefield as Sandslash entered the battlefield. But even as visibility began to go down from all of the sandy winds, the polished sheen of Sandslash's razor sharp claws remained clearly visible. They gleamed threateningly, underlining the threat that Giovanni's Sandslash radiated despite its small stature.

Whitney knew from her studies that her Wigglytuff would not be able to take more than a few hits from those claws before going down. So she was going to have to play to her strengths.

"Start off with a Reflect, Wigglytuff!"

"Swords Dance now, Sandslash."

"Interrupt with a Taunt!"

Before Sandslash could even start setting up, Whitney replicated Karen's favourite trick and shut down that attempt before it could get going. Sandslash's eyes rapidly grew enraged, and it couldn't help itself but rush towards her Wigglytuff.

"Metal Claw, Sandslash!"

Understanding that there was no dissuading his Pokémon, Giovanni instead opted to hit as hard as possible, taking advantage of Steel's supereffectiveness against Wigglytuff's newly revealed Fairy type. And in the Sandstorm, Sandslash was moving even faster than usual thanks to its Sand Rush ability.

Not for long though.

"Skill Swap, Wigglytuff!"

This time taking a page from Sabrina's methods, her Wigglytuff's eyes flashed blue for a moment before a Psychic link shot out from Wigglytuff, latching onto the charging Sandslash. Within an instant, Sandslash's tripped over itself as it suddenly lost its ability and boosted speed, while her Wigglytuff sped up considerably under the Sandstorm.

And she took full advantage of this brief moment of confusion, "ICE PUNCH!"

"Rollout backwards!" Giovanni tried.

She had to fight back a smirk. Trying to use Rollout against her? Bad idea. Her Pokémon probably had more practice with the move than most other trainers.

They knew how to hit a target in Rollout.

And so, with her now boosted speed, Wigglytuff charged forwards and caught up to Sandslash in an instant. Sandslash immediately curled into a ball and attempted to roll away from the Incoming Ice Punch, but Wigglytuff easily predicted its movements and smashed her fist straight into the retreating Sandslash.

The fist caught Sandslash at an awkward angle, and it tumbled out of its Rollout with a pained groan, disoriented slightly by the supereffective punch. Continuing to use her superior speed with Sand Rush, her Wigglytuff followed up with a barrage of Ice Punches as she took full advantage of Sandslash's disorientation.

Blow after blow landed on the vulnerable Sandslash.

But in her eagerness to deliver a pummelling, she had overextended. Suddenly, Wigglytuff's next Ice punch was parried by claws plated with Steel, knocking her arm wide and leaving her completely exposed. Before Wigglytuff could recover, Sandslash stepped forwards and raked a powerful Metal Claw across Wigglytuff's body, slashing through her supereffectively.

She winced; if only her Wigglytuff could hit harder, then Sandslash wouldn't have been able to fight back like that. But there was no time for those kinds of thoughts now. She had to extract Wigglytuff from this situation.

"ROLLOUT BACKWARDS!"

"Punish it with an Earthquake, Sandslash!"

Despite the pain, her Wigglytuff threw herself backwards and transformed into a rolling ball, making full use of all that Rollout training that she did with Miltank and quickly making her escape as she rolled away from the Sandslash. Sandslash countered by lifting its claws into the air as the ground began to shake violently, but Wigglytuff once again demonstrated her mastery of Rollout by simply hopping into the air before she could be caught by the tremors from the Earthquake.

"Reflect, Wigglytuff!" She ordered, trying to set up the Reflect again after it had been previously interrupted by her need to Taunt the Sandslash. It was essential that this be set up.

"Enough is enough. Overwhelm it with Stone Edge, Sandslash."

But Giovanni moved swiftly to punish her attempts to set up. The incoming storm of rocks was devastatingly overwhelming. Even with the defence and shielding from the Reflect, Wigglytuff let out a cry of pain as she was constantly battered by the barrage of sharp rocks that endlessly slammed into her.

To make matters worse, in the corner of her eye she could tell that a few rocks were lingering ominously around the battlefield, just waiting to strike at her next Pokémon. Giovanni had managed to sneak in a Stealth Rock in his Stone Edge.

But that was a problem for later, "PSYCHIC!"

With ease that came with repeated practice, Wigglytuff immediately fired off a Psychic that shattered the incoming rocks, buying her some much needed breathing room. But in that brief moment where she was focused on the rapid volley of rocks and the ever-present Sandstorm, she had lost track of Sandslash.

Her eyes widened with alarm as she predicted what would happen next, "PROTECT NOW!"

But her Wigglytuff couldn't react in time as Sandslash came erupting out from the ground with a Dig, slamming into Wigglytuff from below. Then it immediately followed up with a dual slash from its Metal Claws that, despite the Reflect shield, still shredded Wigglytuff's health. Just as they trained, Wigglytuff instinctively unleashed a point blank Hyper Voice that slammed into Sandslash, and the Sand Rush gave her the speed to smash another desperate Ice Punch to Sandslash's face.

Yet Wigglytuff's lack of power showed itself once again, as her Ice Punch didn't hit hard enough to cause Sandslash to flinch – allowing it to counter with a Poison Jab that smashed into her mouth, silencing her Wigglytuff.

Unfortunately, her Wigglytuff was never the tankiest of Pokémon, and she came crashing into the ground after taking that deadly combo of attacks.

"Earthquake and finish it off, Sandslash."

"THERE'S NO NEED!" She interrupted, "I'm retiring my Wigglytuff."

Giovanni immediately raised an arm, and Sandslash quickly cancelled its Earthquake as Whitney withdrew her near-fainted Wigglytuff back into her ball.

She let out a calming breath. Though it looked like she was on the backfoot, she had always recognized that besides her recently evolved Exploud and Miltank, none of her remaining Pokémon were really able to match Giovanni's Pokémon one-on-one like this.

So the priority was to do as much damage as possible and, more importantly, set up some key moves that would help her real powerhouses to win the fight.

That was why establishing that Reflect was so crucial for her next Pokémon.

"Come, Exploud!"

Her Exploud stomped onto the field to signal her arrival, but that was rudely interrupted as the Stealth Rocks that had been set up earlier suddenly jabbed into her sides. Using this brief moment of distraction, Sandslash immediately rushed to face down the new threat, incorrectly assuming that it could face Exploud the same way that it took down Wigglytuff.

It was wrong.

"Boomburst!"

"Dig to dodge, Sandslash!"

Sandslash immediately burrowed in the ground, intending to use the ground as a cover to dodge out of the way of Exploud's attack. But the Boomburst was not a regular attack that could be so easily dodged, as the pure physical force of the sonic waves literally ripped the ground out in front of it.

The Boomburst tore out a huge trench in the ground as it blasted Sandslash out of its Dig, sending it flying from the sheer power of the attack alone.

"Protect, Sandslash!"

"Hit it again, Exploud!"

As Sandslash flew through the air, it tried to set up a Protect shield in hopes of buying enough time for it to reorient itself. But that was a fool's dream, as Exploud had more than enough stamina to simply unleash another deafening boom of sonic power. So while the first was partially blocked by the Protect shield, Exploud simply set out another booming wave of ear-shattering energies that crashed painfully against the defenseless Sandslash.

Sandslash even tried lifting its claws up in a desperate attempt to block out the tidal wave of aural energy, but it was a futile attempt. Sandslash's mediocre Special Defenses were nowhere near sufficient to allow it to withstand the power of tanking through repeated Boombursts, and it soon fell to Exploud's unrelenting onslaught of attacks. It was doomed the moment it had gotten caught in one of her Boombursts.

Withdrawing his Sandslash, Giovanni wasted no time in sending out his next Pokémon.

"Rhydon, it's your turn."

Whitney blinked; not having expected to see Rhydon this early. She would have thought that Giovanni would have saved this for his last Pokémon. Why was he sending it out now?

"Dig, Rhydon!"

"Punish it with an Earthquake, Exploud!"

To Whitney's complete confusion, just like its teammate before it, Rhydon immediately began burrowing into the ground. But all that did was to give her an easy opportunity to do heavy damage to it with an Earthquake.

The ground shook and ripped apart at the seams as Exploud's Earthquake resonated explosively through it. But despite the damage, Giovanni made no effort to change course, instead just continuing to stare at Whitney with an implacable look on his face. But, upon closer inspection, it looked like he was giving her a really subtle look of warning.

The realization of what Giovanni's plan was hit her a second too late, and Rhydon came ripping out of the ground as it bodied Exploud with its Dig.

To Exploud's credit, it was ready for the surprise attack and recovered quickly enough to narrowly dodge out of the way of the incoming Hammer Arm. Exploud immediately tried to counterattack with an Ice Fang, but Rhydon moved quicker, slamming a harsh Brick Break to the face and sending Exploud reeling backwards.

A frown fell on her face as she realised that that she had underestimated Giovanni's willingness to sacrifice his Rhydon's health just to sneak an attack in. No, it wasn't that much of a sacrifice anyways thanks to Rhydon's impressive defense.

"Close the distance, Rhydon! Don't let up!" Rhydon roared and rushed forwards, rapidly closing the distance.

"Ice Beam, Exploud! Hit it hard and make some distance!" She knew she had to deter Rhydon's approach. Her Exploud was still too frail to take hits like that.

A beam of Ice was instantly unleashed from Exploud's gaping mouth, but Rhydon did its best to ignore it as it raised an arm in a partial attempt to block the attack. It wasn't very successful, and Rhydon let out a painful grunt as the Ice Beam began to freeze over one of its arms.

But it bought Rhydon enough time to smash a Hammer Arm straight down onto Exploud's head, forcing Exploud's to eat dirt as her head was pummelled unceremoniously into the ground.

But Exploud wasn't completely helpless, and it spun around to deliver a quick Low Kick that knocked Rhydon's legs out from under it. As Rhydon stumbled, Exploud forced her head off the ground and fired an Ice Beam that blasted Rhydon straight in the face.

Rhydon growled in pain as its vision was blinded by the frost crystals that spread rapidly across its face, and it flailed its head wildly to try to shake off the crystals of ice. But another Ice Beam caught it in the chest, forcing Rhydon onto its knees from the pain of taking two back-to-back supereffective moves.

Her Ice Beams were devastatingly effective.

Another Ice Beam came charging up in Exploud's mouth, looking to finish off the vulnerable Rhydon. But that was when the ground shook violently and an eruption of rocks suddenly shot out from the ground and ripped through Exploud, causing her to grunt painfully as the rocks ripped through her; delivering a critical hit that left its Ice Beam forgotten as Exploud staggered backwards to her knees.

Following up from that expertly delivered Stone Edge, Rhydon groaned as it tried to force itself to its feet to finish off the wounded Exploud – yet it remained trap within the cage of ice that kept it pinned to the ground, forcing Rhydon to carefully burn away the ice with a Fire Punch. At the same time, Exploud struggled but forced herself off the ground as she took laboured and pained breaths.

It had been a quick and brutal battle that left both Pokémon seeing better days.

The tubes scattered across Exploud's face were hanging limply, and the hits that she took to the jaw left her mouth bruised and unable to fully open. On the other hand, Rhydon was hardly doing better, with many patches of frost still scattered across its frame as an arm hung limply to its side. Even after having freed itself, its movements were still slow and stiff from the lingering vestiges from all of the Ice that it was struck by.

In moments like these, it was commonplace for the trainers to stare each other down, allowing their Pokémon to take a breath while trying to predict whatever move the other was going to use and making a perfect counter to finish off the other Pokémon.

But Whitney wasn't going to do that, and she didn't give Giovanni even a single moment to think.

"BOOMBURST, EXPLOUD!"

She saw the slight alarm in Giovanni's eyes as Exploud opened her mouth as wide as she could and unleashed a roaring explosion of noise, sending a tidal wave of aural energy towards the unprepared Rhydon.

While Ice Beam would have done more damage, Exploud was more familiar with Boomburst and could fire it off far quicker and with less preparation.

She was following an adage that she had learnt from Janine; it was better to hit fast and for less damage than to not hit at all. And in a situation where both Pokémon were basically on the verge of defeat, whoever struck first had every advantage.

And Janine's words proved true. Caught unprepared like this, the slowed Rhydon had to cancel whatever it was planning as it shifted to pure defense, digging its heels into the ground to try to resist against the incoming tide of powerful sonic energy.

However, despite normally resisting the Normal type attack with its Rock type, Rhydon was already so wounded that it could no longer hold its ground as Exploud's last burst of concentrated sonic energy overwhelmed its defenses and launched it backwards, helplessly flying through the air until it crashed unconscious near the edge of the arena.

Exploud collapsed onto her knees, gasping and wheezing as she expended the last of her energies. Yet she had done all that she needed to, and Whitney sent a relieved and thankful nod towards her Pokémon before also retiring her from the fight.

Exploud's endurance may still need more work, but her offense was unquestionably solid.

"You've done quite well for yourself, Whitney." Giovanni smiled kindly at her as he withdrew his fallen Rhydon, "It's been a long time since someone so young has managed to push me to my final Pokémon."

"Thank you, but I know the fight isn't over yet." She replied.

"True enough, and I know you're just itching to make use of your Miltank, so I won't disturb your concentration any longer. Let's see how you deal with this." And with that, they both threw out their final Pokémon.

"Miltank! Time to shine!"

"Swampert."

Whitney's eyes widened – she was NOT expecting this. Since when did Giovanni manage to get his hands on a Swampert? She didn't know Giovanni even had a Swampert. Was he training this up to be on his main team?

She stared questioningly at Giovanni, but all he did was give her a knowing grin. Could he have been reading her thoughts?

But a reassuring Moo came out from her partner, and she forced herself to focus on the fight. Her partner was right, those were thoughts for later. She gave a nod back to Miltank, telling her that she had her head back in the fight.

Surprise or not, she trusted that her Miltank would handle it. After all, Swampert was not Tyrant.

"Go for it, Miltank!"

"Muddy Water, Swampert!"

Shrugging off the annoyance of the Stealth Rocks, Miltank immediately broke out into her now signature Rollout as she started rolling across the battlefield, rapidly picking up speed as she charged towards the Swampert. In response, a huge tidal wave of brown and blue was unleashed, threatening to swallow Miltank in an endless wave of water.

But Miltank simply bounced off the ground and into the air, easily avoiding the tidal wave before she was caught up in it.

"Hydro Pump, Swampert! Shoot it out of the air!"

A blue, swirling vortex of concentrated water started gathering in Swampert's mouth before a sweeping torrent of water blasted across the battlefield. But without even needing her to give any instructions, Miltank suddenly stopped herself in mid-air and slammed into the ground, continuing her rollout as she tunnelled into the ground before she could get hit by the Hydro Pump.

"EARTHQUAKE, NOW!"

Caught off-guard by Miltank's ridiculous mobility, Swampert tried to fire off an Earthquake, but it was too late.

Miltank had reached her target.

Swampert was sent reeling as Miltank smashed into it with the momentum of her fully charged Rollout, before transitioning into a Hammer Arm that sent Swampert's head crashing to the ground as Miltank brutally dragged its head across the coarse and rocky surface.

Swampert immediately tried retaliating by snaking out with its fists, aiming straight for Miltank's soft belly, but Miltank caught its arm with one of her own before lifting Swampert into the air with her arms and suplexing it over her shoulder, slamming it painfully into the ground once again.

And just like she had watched John's Slaking do countless of times in all of his battles, Miltank was trained to give Swampert no quarter. No chance to breathe. No opportunity to counterattack.

All it could do was to suffer through Miltank's endless pummelling.

Whitney knew that Swampert was probably the more powerful of the two Pokémon on paper. Miltank still had a long way to go before she could match the power or raw battlelust of John's Slaking. But what she lacked in power, she could make up for in pure, violent brutality.

A Hammer Arm came crashing down once again straight into Swampert's face, cutting off the Ice Beam that it had been charging up in its mouth. But she didn't hit hard enough to stagger Swamper through its massive defenses, and Swampert lashed out with a Low Kick, trying to trip up Miltank and buy it time to recover.

But despite tripping over, Miltank managed to hang on by grabbing onto Swampert's shoulders and smashing a savage Zen Headbutt into its face, keeping up the momentum of her attacks and never allowing Swampert an opportunity to reorient itself. Another Hammer Arm met Swampert face-first as she bashed a fist into the Water type, creating a hole in the ground.

Yet even in the face of such a brutal offense, Swampert proved incredibly resilient as it tanked through another Hammer Arm to the face from Miltank and counterattacked with its own surprise Brick Break, striking deep into Miltank's stomach.

The Normal type let out a pained groan, and Swampert forced itself up as it delivered a powerful uppercut to the chin that had Miltank's head snapping back.

Her eyes narrowed as it looked like Swampert was about to regain the momentum. However, both trainer and Pokémon knew that to give up the momentum right now to Swampert was to lose the battle. Swampert was the better Pokémon.

The momentum HAD to be regained. They could not afford to fall onto the backfoot, and both trainer and Pokémon knew it.

"GIGA IMPACT! FINISH IT!" Whitney shouted, knowing that this would be the moment that she could finally take the first step into achieving her dream.

And despite not being able to read minds, in that one moment, Whitney could FEEL the connection that she had to Miltank suddenly glowing with intensity. As if her hopes and dreams were suddenly transferred over into Miltank.

Even though Miltank wasn't looking her way, she knew that – in this single moment – the two were in perfect sync with each other.

Both Pokémon and trainer had the same dream. Had the same goal. They were raised together, they had grown up together, and they spent almost every waking moment with each other. The bond between trainer and Pokémon had long surpassed the traditional bonds of a trainer. They were family. They were partners. They were one in the same.

And they WOULD NOT LOSE!

Even though she was being knocked backwards, Miltank forced herself to regain her stance as her eyes suddenly grew alight with raw energy, with raw determination, before she exploded into an aura of orange and white. She left a huge gouge in the ground as she shot forwards, the pain from the Brick Break long forgotten, ripping through everything in her wake as she collided straight into the wounded and surprised Swampert, carrying it alongside her as she continued her charge.

If Swampert was the final barrier from her achieving her dreams, then Miltank would SMASH past it.

Swampert let out a painful wail as the two of them slammed into the Psychic barrier, causing a spiderweb of cracks to spread out from the point of impact while the barriers flickered uncertainly.

But it didn't end there. Ignoring all of its built up exhaustion and injuries, Miltank was roaring with energy as she remained empowered by the hopes and dreams of her trainer.

Suddenly, a white light filled the room once again. But it was not the familiar white light of an evolution. It was the threatening white and orange light of Miltank charging up yet another Giga Impact.

Having seen Tyrant do so effortlessly over and over again, Miltank was now following in his steps.

And with a deafening explosion and the sound of the psychic barriers shattering before her, Miltank charged forwards once again, blasting forwards like a rocket to the stars themselves as she crashed into the Swampert for the final time with another Giga Impact.

The psychic barriers surrounding the arena were shattered. And with it, so was Swampert. She had broken through the final barrier on her path.

She had won.