The New Normal - A Pokémon SI

by CartecFF

For most, becoming a member of the Elite 4 would be the culmination of their Journey. A great achievement that solidified your status in the annals of history. For me, it was just the start of my journey. Hopefully, everything stays Normal. A pre-canon self-insert into the world of Pokémon. Inspired by Hard Enough. Crossposted SB/QQ. Updates every Mon/Fri. Short Interludes on Wed.

5. The New Normal 1-5

John's Team

Tyrant - Slaking

Vordt - Ursaluna

Smough - Snorlax

Klee - Blissey

Port - Mantine

Zephyr - Pidgeot

Klaus - Wyrdeer

Luna - Clefable

Pixel - Porygon

The New Normal – 1-5 – Leaving for Hoenn

I groaned as I awoken by the tell-tale noises of a Pokémon battle. I had poorly slept the night before, undoubtedly because I had gone to sleep still full of thoughts regarding the yesterday night's events. From Pryce, Lance, and Giovanni, I still had not managed to process everything that happened.

I forced myself out of bed and looked out the window, seeing Whitney train with her Miltank while my Pokémon were either watching on or undergoing their own training in the distance. After rubbing the sleepiness out of my eyes, I noticed a small extra addition to Whitney's normal training routine.

My new tiny Porygon, Pixel, was training alongside Miltank, seemingly attacking with weak Tackles as it tried to imitate Miltank. I could see my Blissey, Klee, cheering Pixel on, doing a little hop everytime Pixel attacked.

Seeing my new Porygon reminded me that I still hadn't even begun to pack for my trip to Hoenn later this evening. The resulting scramble around my room as I haphazardly packed my luggage in mild panic was more effective than any coffee at waking me up.

The result of my scramble was one questionably packed luggage that would never pass my mother's standards, but she wasn't home at the moment and what she doesn't know won't hurt her.

"JOHN! WAKE UP ALREADY! GET DOWN HERE AND HELP ME TRAIN!" Whitney shouted from the fields, catching me by surprise and almost causing me to trip.

Hearing her shouts led me to hurry down the stairs into the fields as soon as possible, knowing that any more delays would cause Whitney to go with the Legendary option of telling mom and dad that I overslept.

Elite 4 I may be, but at home, your parents' always rules supreme.

I managed to rush to the field with a light sprint, just in time to see Whitney 'coincidentally' turning around to face me just as I arrived with her hands on her hips. She mustered up the most serious expression I believed possible before laying into me.

"John! I can't have you be sleeping in when you're about to go to Hoenn! I need you to help me train for as long as possible!" Whitney complained while pointing a finger at my stomach.

"And one more thing!" Whitney continued, before crouching down and picking up Pixel, "How could you come home yesterday and not tell me that you got a new Pokémon?! I was so surprised when I saw it today! I mean I thought it was a wild Pokémon so I tried to catch it but I couldn't catch it and was so sad until Klee told me that it was your new Pokémon and I hate you for not telling me." She rambled without pause.

In this situation, there's only one thing I could say. Sometimes, appeasement is the only option.

"I'm sorry." I bowed my head.

"Good." Whitney nodded, which she probably thought was her being magnanimous, "Now, what's he? She? Its? nickname?" Whitney questioned while stroking Pixel.

"Its name is Pixel, and yes, it has no gender." I explained, "It's a new Pokémon that Giovanni and his team of scientists discovered and created out of data."

"Wow! That's so cool!" Whitney gushed like the 11-year-old she was, "Giovanni must be so smart!"

I had mixed feelings about that statement. I didn't want to badmouth Giovanni, especially because I wasn't sure if Whitney had loose lips or not, but I definitely didn't want Whitney idolizing Giovanni or spending any amount of time around him. I might be friendly with him now, but I definitely didn't trust him.

"Yes, he is a great Gym Leader." I said diplomatically, before trying to change the topic, "But anyways, speaking of new Pokémon, Whitney, I had a question to ask you."

Whitney stared at me expectantly as she waited for my question.

"I know you're starting your journey in a few months. Do you want me to catch you some new Pokémon in Hoenn while I'm there? Or would you rather catch them all yourself?" I questioned seriously.

On the one hand, I wanted to help Whitney make the strongest team she could. On the other, I didn't want to take away the experience of going on a journey and catching her own Pokémon. It was a tough balance.

"Hmmmm…" Whitney mumbled to herself, closing her eyes, and tilting her head in thought, "I think I want to mostly catch my own Pokémon, bro, but I won't be able to catch anything from Hoenn until I get at least four badges, right?" Whitney asked.

"Yes, that's right." I confirmed. The current rule set by the League was that you needed at least four badges from your birth region to catch Pokémon or challenge Gyms from other regions. This rule caused me a few problems when I first started out too, as a Slakoth was not a native Kanto Pokémon. I had to explain many times that it had stumbled across my farm and that I hadn't caught it in Hoenn.

"Then can you catch me a cool Pokémon from Hoenn bro?!" She asked, hopping with excitement, "I want a Normal type Pokémon from Hoenn!"

"Of course." I promised, knowing of her unspoken desire to also become a Normal type specialist, "I'll catch you a 'cool' Normal type for Hoenn and have it sent to you before your journey. That way, you can train it with Miltank and allow them to get used to each other."

"YAYY! Thanks John!" She cheered and gave me a hug, which I returned. My hug became more serious as I realized that I was already leaving my family again for Hoenn after just having arrived back for a few days. Not that this was unexpected; I knew being a member of the Elite 4 would require me to travel a lot, but it still sucked regardless.

Breaking up the hug, I kneeled down and patted Pixel on the head before picking it up. I walked over to where my other Pokémon were training, and I noticed that my Snorlax, Smough, was on break from his gravity training. Perfect.

I called out to Smough to get his attention as he sat upright. I gestured to Pixel that I was still cradling in my arms.

"Smough, I need your help to train Pixel here." Smough tilted his head in response, "You see, I want Pixel training its Tackle move, and you'd be the perfect target for it to train with."

"Snor, lax?" Smough doubted, gesturing to the sheer size and strength difference between himself and Pixel.

"No, no, no Smough I didn't mean it like that," I shook my head, "I don't actually need you to do anything honestly. I just need you to meditate like you're practicing using your Slack Off while Pixel here tries to disrupt it with its Tackle."

Smough nodded at that before slumping back onto the ground and closed its eyes as it began its meditation. I looked down at Pixel, who was now squirming in my arms.

"You got that?" Pixel nodded before jumping free from me and Tackled against Smough with much enthusiasm. Sadly for Pixel, that enthusiasm didn't translate into strength as it merely rebounded off Smough's big belly and was knocked into the dirt.

Seeing that happen was such a funny sight that I had to hold back my own laughter. I didn't want to laugh at Pixel's attempts and ruin his enthusiasm. With any new Pokémon, encouraging good training attitudes at an early stage is crucial for their development.

"Good job Pixel! That was a great first attempt!" I praised.

Pixel gave me an odd look with its eyes that was tinged with some sadness. Clearly, it was upset at the pitiful damage that it dealt with its Tackle. Or at least I thought so, it was sometimes difficult to understand what a new Pokémon was saying because you haven't 'bonded' sufficiently with it yet.

I kneeled down as much as possible so that I was eye-level with Pixel, "No need to feel sad, Pixel," I said gently, "Smough is a really strong Pokémon that I spent years training. I wouldn't expect you to do much to him right now. But it would be REALLY impressive if you managed to hurt him. So keep trying! Never give up!"

Luckily, my motivation seemed to have hit the mark as I saw a fire ignite in Pixel's eyes as it Tackled against Smough's belly once again, with similar results. But Pixel filled me with pride as it merely got up and did it again, and again, and again.

Before long, we had an entire audience consisting of my entire team and Whitney's as we all watched and cheered as Pixel slam repeatedly into Smough, getting up and trying again after every failure to the sounds of praise and encouragement. After several attempts, Klee approached Pixel and checked it over for any injuries, before commanding it to rest for a while. Pixel protested this and tried to wriggle free, so I had to step in.

"Hey, Pixel, it's okay. A good training routine must have rests to allow yourself to recover and recharge." I lectured, before I switched to a lighter tone, "I know you want to get strong immediately, but if you don't take rests and train yourself too hard, you'll hurt yourself in the long run."

"Pory? Porygon?" Pixel seemed confused as my latest words contrasted with what I said previously.

"Yes, you can do both together." I clarified, "You can and should train as hard as possible, but you should also take rests to make sure you don't hurt yourself. There's no point in training so hard if you'll hurt yourself too badly to make use of training. Do you understand that Pixel?"

Pixel nodded a bit sullenly at that but allowed itself to be mothered by Klee.

"Don't worry Pixel!" Whitney encouraged, "All Pokémon are like this in the beginning. You'll be strong in no time, just like my Miltank!" Miltank mooed in support of Whitney's declaration as she began to flex her arms.

With Pixel now resting, the crowd scattered as the Pokémon returned to their training, except for Klee, who stayed to monitor Pixel. Whitney and I stepped back a bit and just watched our Pokémon train. They didn't need our instructions for this very general training.

"Hey, John, I was just thinking…if Pixel is a new Pokémon, does it mean it's not in the Pokédex?" Whitney suddenly asked.

"Yes, it isn't. Porygon are too new and there are too few of them, so their data have yet to be entered into the Pokédex." I confirmed, "Why do you ask?"

"Then, how do you know what basic moves it can learn?" Whitney questioned with a confused expression.

Ah, I understood what she was asking. Basically, every Pokémon had a list of basic moves that it could learn, even as a 'baby'. Advanced moves, like Thunderbolt, would have to be trained, taught via TM, or discovered through the Pokémon's trainer's efforts. The list of basic moves serves as a starting point for what moves you could train with to begin to develop those advanced moves.

However, if a Pokémon wasn't entered into the Pokédex like Porygon was, then a trainer would have to use trial and error to figure out what its' basic moves were so that they may develop them further into the corresponding advanced moves. For example, trying to teach a Porygon to use Water Gun wouldn't work, but Thunder Shock would. And later, you could teach it Thunderbolt by first mastering Thunder Shock. Then again, you could always tell your Pokémon to attack and then try to figure out what attack it was using to figure out what its basic moves were.

Of course, I knew Porygon's basic moves because I had meta-knowledge, but Whitney doesn't know that.

"Well, consider it a lucky guess." I said with a cheeky smile, which Whitney scowled at and started poking my sides.

I decided to placate her, "Okay, to give a serious answer. It was an educated guess based on the fact that most Pokémon either start with Tackle, Pound, or Scratch as one of their basic moves. So, you could always start with those if you don't know what a Pokémon's basic moves are."

Whitney nodded at this and took out her pink notepad before jotting it down, causing me to smile as I saw it. My pride as a role-model was growing!

I let Pixel continue practicing its Tackle against Smough for a little while longer before I could see it becoming almost too fatigued to continue. I ordered it to stop.

"Pixel, I want you to see how far you've come since this morning." I told it, while waving at Klee to come over. I pointed to Klee, "Before resting, I want you to use Tackle against Klee."

Pixel gave me a worried look that I chuckled at, "Don't worry Pixel, Klee is more than able to take it. You won't hurt her." I reassured.

Klee chirped in agreement as she stood straight and gestured at Pixel to come at her. Seeing this, Pixel threw off the last of its' hesitation as it Tackled into Klee with as much determination and force as it could muster.

The damage was still miniscule, but Klee visibly recoiled slightly at Pixel's attack. Pixel cheered at its success, before quickly turning towards Klee in concern that it may have hurt her. Klee giggled at that, patting Pixel on the head to reassure it that she was unharmed. Pixel's eyes visibly brightened at the praise it was receiving and it buzzed happily.

I was also happy to see that Pixel was already growing to care about my Pokémon and vice versa. Maintaining a good team dynamic was a necessity for any competent trainer, which was why many were so hesitant to catch new Pokémon in case they ruined said dynamic.

Also, unless you had a really large stable, you couldn't really catch that many Pokémon because Pokémon needed to occasionally spend some time outside of a Pokéball. We didn't have a suitable stable as our family farm wasn't that suitable, despite the spaciousness, because foreign Pokémon may interfere with the Miltank and Tauros and disrupt the farm's productivity.

Thus, despite literally being a member of the Elite 4, I wasn't actually able to catch that many Pokémon for the time being until I could afford to rent out or buy a stable to store more Pokémon. This wasn't that big of a problem for the time being, as I didn't really foresee myself expanding my team that much, but it was something to consider for the future.

Unfortunately, my musings were ruined by the sound of a stomach groaning. I instinctively turned to Smough, but then realized that the sounds were coming from my own stomach as my body reminded me that I hadn't had any food ever since I had woken up.

Fortunately, I checked the time and saw that it was lunch time anyways and that my parents should have been back in time to eat with us.

I called out to Whitney to tell her that it was lunch time, and we walked back together to the house to see my mom, alone, setting up the table.

"Where's daddy?" Whitney asked, as we both moved to help my mother set up the table.

"Your father is still stuck at a meeting with the distributors that has overrun." My mother replied, "He'll be back later but told me to send you his well-wishes, John, since he can't see you off to Hoenn."

I nodded sadly at that but understood that it was the price to pay for the increase in popularity that our family business was blessed with. Besides, I preferred my parents being busy dealing with these kinds of problems rather than dealing with the struggles of poverty.

Shaking away my negative thoughts, I returned to having a calm but happy lunch with my family that was slightly marred by the fact that it was my going to be my last meal with them for a while, again.

Once we finished, my mom ordered me to my room and to 'make sure I packed everything' as she handled the washing up with Whitney. I double checked my luggage and made sure that I had everything I thought I needed for my trip and convinced myself that anything I forgot could be purchased in Hoenn.

I headed back downstairs and said my goodbyes to my mom and Whitney, all of us trying not to tear up at my departure, before heading back into the fields and rounding up all my Pokémon and setting off on Port to Olivine City, where I had arranged to meet Karen at, for our ship to Hoenn.

Unfortunately, the frequency of volcanic ash being spewed by Mt. Chimney made travelling by plane to Hoenn unsafe. Thus, you were forced to go by ship, which was much slower and tedious.

I sent a quick text to Karen as I flew on Port, reminding her of our meetup. It was only a few minutes later that I received a garbled reply from Karen.

'hmMM?' she texted unintelligently.

'Did u forget?' I replied 'we have meetup at Olivine for Hoenn.'

'Oh fk shit ok I wake up now' she texted back. I chuckled at her text, her disorganisation seemingly so at odds with her more refined and sculpted appearance at the ceremony.

'Meet you there.' I texted dryly.

Not long later, I landed in the busy Olivine City. Fortunately, the lack of ceremony at my arrival and my unassuming clothes meant that no one recognised me as the newest Elite 4 member. Otherwise, I fear that I may have been swarmed with those seeking a picture and/or autograph.

I made my way to the Olivine Café and sat myself down with a cup of coffee as I waited for Karen to arrive. My luck held as none of the many sailors in the Café seemed to recognise me, so I remained undisturbed.

A few minutes passed before my phone vibrated as I received a text.

'where r u? im at lighthouse now.' Karen's text read.

'Coming now' I replied as I got up and left the Café and walked towards the lighthouse.

As I approached the lighthouse, I could see Karen's distinct figure leaning over the rails with a small luggage placed next to her, her yellow top and light blue hair separated her from the many sailors loitering about. Despite her windswept hair, her appearance had no sign of her rushed awakening.

Karen turned to me with her arms crossed as I neared her with a fake scowl on her face.

"You're late." She had the audacity to say to me.

"When did you go to bed?" I shot back.

"I'm not good with mornings." She confessed, averting her eyes away from me.

"I texted you at noon." I said dryly with a raised eyebrow.

"Afternoon is morning for me." She replied confidently, as if what she said wasn't completely outrageous. Before I could respond with sarcasm, she grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the pier where our ship awaited.

"Come on, we're going to be late." She declared, despite us actually being over half an hour early.

Nevertheless, I decided not to point that out and walked with her towards the pier. I thought that getting onboard early could only be a good thing anyways, less risk of being swarmed by fans that acted like starving Carvanha.

We showed our tickets to the bored guard waiting near our ship, which he barely glanced at before letting us in. As we went abroad the crowded ship with our luggage, Karen started to complain.

"Why is this ship so crowded?" Karen growled, "Couldn't the League have privately chartered a ship just for you?"

"Well, yes they could have." I admitted, "But I think they did this because they want to embarrass me and make me cause an incident. I think they were hoping I would cause a scene or prove myself incompetent, and that way, they can use that as a reason to kick me out of the Elite 4." I explained with a nonchalant shrug, though inwardly I was still as mad as Karen was.

"What?! But they've only just appointed you!" Karen nearly shouted, "Why do they want you to kick you out already?"

"Again, you're right." I replied, "But you need to realize that some of the upper administration of the League, and especially Pryce, favour the current status quo. My appointment and speech probably upset them, and thus they want me out."

"That sounds dumb. Don't they realize that embarrassing you in Hoenn might be damaging for Indigo's future?" Karen asked with a dumbfounded expression.

I shrugged again. "Politicians." I said simply. Though inwardly I didn't think many of them cared about Indigo at all. They were probably more concerned with their own positions.

"Hey, no need to swear." Karen snarked, before we both chuckled.

"Waittt a minute," Karen suddenly said with narrowed eyes, "I just realized you're also a politician now. Gonna start jockeying for favours and influence? Is that why you wanted to go with me? To find dirt on Agatha?"

I gave her a bewildered look at that before her serious expression broke and she started to laugh even harder, and I found myself quickly joining in.

We had to split up shortly after that though, because of course her room was in the first-class area whereas mine was in economy with everyone else. At least I didn't have to share my room, small mercies.

I looked around the small room that I would be staying in for the next couple of hours and sighed as I realized it was too small to release any of my Pokémon in besides Pixel. Then I saw a sign that said that Pokémon weren't allowed to be released inside of rooms and I sighed even harder.

So, before the ship set off and I lost connection to the Pokénet, I sent a few messages to my family and one to Karen asking her for her room number and giving her mine so that we could meet up.

Putting down my phone, I fell back onto the hard bed as I stared at the ceiling, my mind roiling with thoughts at my upcoming journey.

'At least Karen is coming with me', I thought with a smile.

A.N Thanks again for all the comments and support! After reading a few comments saying that it might be difficult to remember some of John's Pokémon's names, I've tried to make them clearer in the chapter. Hope it helps!