John's Team

Tyrant - Slaking

Vordt - Ursaluna

Smough - Snorlax

Klee - Blissey

Port - Mantine

Zephyr - Pidgeot

Klaus - Wyrdeer

Luna - Clefable

Pixel - Porygon2

Euphie - Eevee

Ornstein - D-Zigzagoon

The New Normal – 5-18 – Following Up

I dragged myself out of bed early the next morning because I wanted to spend a bit more time with Euphie before I had to drop her off at Professor Oak's. After hastily putting together a quick breakfast, I met with the rest of my team in the training fields.

There was no training session today. It was just an opportunity for all of them to frolic around and enjoy the morning breeze. And of course, to say a temporary goodbye to Euphie, who I estimated would be gone for at least a few weeks.

Obviously, we could visit her any time we wanted. But it was still a separation of sorts. And Klee and Luna looked the most devastated.

"Blissey…" Klee whimpered sadly as she embraced Euphie, almost unwilling to let go.

"Clefable. Clefable." Luna stood to her side, patting Klee comfortingly on her shoulder. The scene WOULD have been very sad, if not for the fact that Euphie didn't appear sad at all, and instead was excited about having the opportunity to meet new friends.

"Eevee! Eevee!" Euphie replied reassuringly, trying her best to comfort the sullen Klee. She brought her tail up and wrapped it around Klee's arms in a tight hug, which seemed to soothe Klee's spirits.

I continued to watch as my Pokémon continued to spend some time together. After being sufficiently pampered by the two females, Euphie broke away and tried to rush up to her sparring partner and friend, Ornstein. The two of them immediately started chasing one another in what looked like a game of tag.

"Snorlax…Snor…" Smough said as he waddled up to me. I nodded at his words; I was happy to see that Euphie's temporary departure wouldn't put a damper on my Pokémon's moods. Though, according to Smough, Ornstein was a little upset at losing his friend and partner, but it was buried deep beneath his usual enthusiasm for a good scrap.

I guess this was the type of thing that you notice when you spend so much time around Ornstein, and Smough was easily the one who accompanied him the most as Ornstein's designated 'rival'.

"Slaking." Tyrant suddenly spoke up, and I must have been too distracted to notice his approach. "King…Sla…King."

I chuckled at his words; Tyrant was grouching like an old man and saying how all this was too much excitement for him, before making his way over to where Luna and Klee were cheering Euphie on. But I knew he was really just watching over everyone, and like Smough, was just making sure that my team wasn't going to be too despondent about the temporary separation.

An excited cry caught my attention, and I turned back to see Klaus running around with Euphie on his back. Euphie cried excitedly as she held on to Klaus, who seemed to be picking up speed as he galloped around the fields. In the air, Zephyr hovered protectively over the two of them, ready to catch Euphie in case she accidentally fell off.

"Ursa…" Vordt grunted, creating small pillars of stone that acted as steppingstones for Klaus to leap off of. Klaus shot Vordt a thankful nod, before he leapt from platform to platform before leaping into the air, Euphie cheering enthusiastically all the while as she clung onto Klaus.

"Eevee! Eevee!" Euphie chanted, begging Klaus to go again. Klaus gave off an amused huff, but then broke out into another gallop as he prepared to leap into the air once again. Then, with a sudden burst of inspiration, I decided to film this cute scene and send it to Karen and Whitney.

Hopefully it would be a nice distraction for Karen from her work at running the Gym. She had been complaining recently about Agatha practically dumping all of the work on her. From what I heard; she was practically running the Gym by herself. But at least she was doing a good job of it, even though she was severely overworked.

I guess those management training that Agatha drilled into her wasn't for nothing.

Thus, the rest of the morning flew by as I gave my Pokémon the opportunity to enjoy themselves before Euphie's temporary departure. In the end, the fun times came to an end, and I picked up a satisfied Euphie and headed over to Professor Oak's laboratory in Pallet Town.

A short flight on Port later, I landed safely on the outskirts of the Town. It really was a quiet place, with just the right number of buildings to give off a cosy, yet not depopulated, atmosphere. Honestly, I could see the appeal. Pallet Town was very idyllic.

I put aside those thoughts as I made my way to the gleaming white building, the odd one out int the entire town. As I went inside Oak's lab, I was immediately greeted by the receptionist and quickly ushered into one of the testing rooms, where Professor Oak was busy on his computer typing something up.

"Oh, hello John, thanks for coming." He greeted, "Blaine was just here a moment ago. I think you just missed him."

"Oh? That's a shame." I said, before settling down into a chair. "How're things going?"

"Since yesterday? It's been good." Oak replied, gesturing to his computer. "I already got started on collecting data on the Clefairy that we already had at the ranch. And I'm trying to secure lots of Pokémon for testing to update the Pokédex. It's why Blaine was here earlier; he was helping me acquire some harder to obtain Pokémon."

"Thanks for being so productive." I said, "I'm just here to drop off Eevee for you and pass you some notes I jotted down yesterday. Maybe this will help." I was careful to make to seem like my notes were done by someone who had no idea of the type's existence beforehand, only revealing moves like Disarming Voice and Play Rough alongside Moonblast.

"Fantastic." He smiled, getting up from his chair. "I need to take a break anyways. Let's head to the ranch where she'll be staying for the next few weeks."

I nodded and followed after him. As we walked through the lab, I felt that many of his co-workers were staring at Oak with curious stares. And I felt a question bubble to the top of my head.

I waited till we were outside before I sprung the question, "Does anyone else in your lab know what we're working on?" I asked, making sure my voice was barely above a whisper.

"Inevitably, yes. But they know better than to blurt this kind of stuff out." He whispered back, "Though I do intend to bring some of my assistants and former students on board once we made some more progress, just for their added expertise. Not to worry – I'll ensure they're all trustworthy."

I nodded, agreeing with his words. And I sincerely doubted anyone working here would go against Oak's orders. I could tell from what I saw that they likely respected him too much to do so.

We continued walking further into the ranch, and I marvelled at the sheer size of it. Everywhere I looked I saw a huge variety of Pokémon from all regions casually hanging about. I thought that it was easily larger than Pallet Town itself. I wondered if anyone else in Indigo had a ranch that was larger or matched the size of Oak's.

"We're here." He said as we entered one of the many fenced off areas of the ranch. Once again, I was stunned by the horde of different Pokémon just casually milling about the area.

"How do you keep control of all these Pokémon?" I asked distractedly as I looked around, "Surely you're going to run into discipline issues eventually when you have so many Pokémon interacting with each other."

Oak just shot me a smile, "A Dragon goes a long way in keeping the unruly pacified. After a while, they all learn to not cause too much trouble. And those who don't cause a fuss are rewarded. It's win-win."

That was an understatement if I ever heard one. I could imagine that Oak's Dragonite was a VERY large stick. If I hadn't seen Lance's Emperor before…I shook myself from my thoughts as I released Euphie into the ranch.

"Eevee…?" Euphie muttered confusedly as she took in her new surroundings. In the distance, a few of the other inhabitants of the ranch stared at Euphie curiously, obviously trying to learn more about this newcomer.

I was about to speak up, but Euphie shot forwards before I could, running excitedly towards the onlooking crowd. They were hesitant at first, but they quickly accepted Euphie into their ranks, and they all began chatting happily.

"Well, she sure is lively, isn't she?" Oak chuckled as the two of us watched Euphie chatting animatedly with the others.

"She is." I replied, "I'm sure she'll get along well with the other inhabitants of the ranch."

"Definitely looks like it." He smiled, "Anyways, I'll give your Eevee a day or so to get comfortable with her new living conditions before I introduce myself to her properly and get started on the testing. She knows what we're doing, right?"

"Yep, already told her. She knows and is comfortable with it." I confirmed. "I hope she enjoys her stay."

"I swear on Arceus that no harm will come to her." Oak says solemnly, "I will inform you as soon as possible when Eevee can be returned to you. You have my word."

I nodded, accepting the oath. The two of us made some small talk regarding the project, but everything important had already been discussed yesterday. So, he just went through once more about the kinds of testing he would do with Euphie, including testing her ability to Fairy energy and practicing using Fairy type attacks. Basically, the same as what I was doing before, just in a more 'professional' environment.

So, after just a bit, I started making my way back to Cerulean City where I had to attend my next appointment for the day.

From what I saw, Euphie was in good hands. I hope she'll be happy making new friends.

I had totally forgotten about lunch, so after a quick stop at the house to make myself a quick sandwich, I swiftly made my way to Cerulean City, fortunately still with enough time to spare. It wouldn't do to be late.

I landed just outside the city hall, and I quickly made my way inside before I got mobbed by the rapidly gathering horde of spectators and fans that had seen my arrival. Fortunately, none were reckless enough to try to force their way into the city hall just to get my picture.

Then, I entered the meeting room and was greeted by mayor Henry, accompanied by a small number of strangers, and my parents, who were also there.

To clarify, this meeting was a gathering of many important individuals within Cerulean to discuss the latest developments of the city. Hence, those in attendance were either important figures, like myself, the Waterflower sisters, and mayor Henry, or individuals who were of significant prominence within the community. This latter group included many affluent businessmen, which my parents were now a part of.

"Ah, John, thanks for coming." Mayor Henry greeted me with a smile. I responded in kind before shooting my parents a quick nod, to which they returned with a smile of their own.

I was about to initiate some small talk when the door swung open once more, revealing the three final members of this meeting.

"Hope we're not late!" Daisy said for her sisters as they all made their way in.

"Yeah! The Cerulean Gym Leaders are here, reporting for duty!" Lily chimed, before getting swatted by Daisy to keep it down. The newly arrived Gym Leaders exchanged cheerful greetings with everyone for a moment before we all settled down. I noticed that some were giving approving looks towards the Waterflower sisters, which I hoped represented that their new reforms have begun improving their reputation.

"Now that we're all here, I think we can safely begin today's meeting." Mayor Henry began as he swept his gaze across the room. "Firstly, I would like to greet all our newcomers. For those unaware, this gathering is to gather up the opinions of those with significant influence with Cerulean City to discuss matters related to the city."

It was flattery, but I could see many pleased smiles from his words. He continued, "As for today's meeting, our agenda is to discuss how we will move forwards with the nearly completed construction of the first new Contest Hall. Then, we will be moving on to discussing any future actions that you all think the Cerulean council should consider."

"Let's start with the first item." He declared, "With the first new Contest Hall nearly finished, the most important matter is about sending out the invitations." He turned to me, "John, could you send them out on our behalf for those in Hoenn? You're most suitable for it."

I nodded; I was going to do it anyways even if didn't ask. "Sure, that's no problem." I said, "I already planned to send them out to Elite Drake of the Hoenn Elite Four, amongst others."

"…you think Drake is going to come and participate in a Contest?" A businessman asked me, only to cause me to laugh. The absurdity of that image was too much.

"Of course not." I said after I calmed down, "I'm only writing it to him because he's a friend. I fully intend for him to pass it on to whoever in the Elite Four is interested. I'll probably also send one to Gym Leader Norman, even if he can't come."

"…Having someone within the Elite Four attend would definitely boost the prestige quite a bit." Mayor Henry commented, "Please let us know if that's the case. We'll have to prepare for such an arrival."

Then he turned to the Waterflower sisters, "Next, if I could ask the Gym Leaders to send out invitations to known Contest participants in Indigo…I understand that you are familiar with some of them?"

Daisy nodded on behalf of the sisters, "Yes. We're friends with a few of them, and many others can be considered our acquaintances. Leave that to us."

Henry smiled, "Good. Then I'll arrange for the city hall to send out an open invitation for the grand ceremony for residents of Cerulean. We'll make an event out of it. John, if you're able to participate?" He asked me.

I gave him a 'so-so' gesture, "I'll have to see. I would love to, but I have many other commitments that I might have to attend. I'll let you know."

"Of course, no worries. We all understand that you're a busy Elite Four member. Don't worry about this." He reassured.

"Hey, John." Lily spoke up, "If you have the time, would you like to participate in our show? We would really welcome it!"

Daisy looked at her sister in horror, "LILY! You can't just ask that!" She turned to me apologetically, "We're sorry John, you can ignore what my stupid sister just said. We understand that you're busy."

I chuckled, "No, no, it's fine." I waved her off, "I don't particularly mind, but like I said, I might be busy. I'll let you know in the future." I was about to leave it there, but the growing frown on Lily's face made me reconsider, "…And if I can't make it to the first event, I might join in on a future one."

Lily shot me a beaming smile, "REALLY!? That would be so cool! Thanks John, we'd love to have you." Daisy tried to calm down her rowdy sibling but shot me a grateful smile as well.

Admittedly, I didn't think I was a good fit to participate in Contests. However, I felt that doing it as one-time thing could be interesting. And I knew that Klaus, with his tendency to preen and show off, might be interested in this kind of thing. I'll have to ask him later.

A cough drew our attention back to the meeting, "Sorry to switch the topic, but what about our sponsorship and advertisement opportunities?" One businessman asked, and the meeting quickly devolved into a discussion about business opportunities. I mostly tuned them out, but I kept an eye out to make sure that my parents didn't need any assistance. They didn't.

Interestingly, Daisy was also an active participant in the discussion. I guess she was fulfilling her old promise about wanting sponsorships for their own show. I mentally wished her luck.

Several minutes later, and the business talk finally began to wind down.

"Great, I'm glad we got through that." Mayor Henry stated, "For now, let's table any further discussion until later. You can always reach out privately to discuss terms at a later date."

He took a swig of water before continuing, "And now, to the second topic on our agenda, the future of Cerulean."

He gestured to me and the Gym Leaders, "Recently, our status within Indigo has risen significantly as a result of these few individuals. Obviously, John's influence on us need not be stated, but the recent improvement of the Cerulean Gym in the public eye has been a boon for the city. We have benefitted greatly from their actions, so now let us discuss what we should do with our newfound prestige."

A local councilman raised his hand, "We could push for sole authority over Mt. Moon." His suggestion was met with gasps of surprise from nearly everyone, except for me and the Waterflower sisters. We were just confused.

Seeing our confusion, the councilman explained himself, "For years, we've been sharing authority over Mt. Moon with Pewter City. That's because Mt. Moon is unfortunately located right between our two cities, and we could never argue for holding sole authority over it as a result. And it's led to much inefficiency and communication problems."

"But now that Pewter City is having trouble with their Gym, and with our own high prestige, we could push for it. Finally bring it all under our jurisdiction." He finished.

Mayor Henry stroked his chin as he thought about it. "…Hmm. It's ambitious, but I see your point. We've been locked in a stalemate for so long that now is the best chance we have to break free from it. Arceus, even the Indigo League wants this over with."

"Are we able to patrol it and manage everything?" Another councilman asked.

"Easily." Mayor Henry replied, "The Cerulean police have received plenty of new funding recently. They should have no problems managing the entrance to Mt. Moon. The rangers can take care of the rest like they've always done. What does everyone else think?"

Many immediately signalled their agreement with the plan. Apparently, getting jurisdiction over Mt. Moon was a very popular topic amongst the Cerulean council. The purely businesspeople were rather apathetic, but they still saw the benefit of a more prestigious Cerulean City.

In the meanwhile, I took a moment to think about what I wanted to do here. But ultimately, while I didn't want Cerulean to overreach, I decided that this was the probably the next step forwards for ensuring the continued prosperity of the city. There were plenty of valuable resources and Pokémon that would be under our authority.

Eventually, I spoke up, "I agree with this. So long as the Indigo League doesn't disagree, I think pushing for sole authority over Mt. Moon is worth it." Others shared similar sentiments.

Mayor Henry nodded, "Then it's agreed. I'll speak with the Indigo League soon to see if we can successfully push for it. I'm sure that they'll be persuaded…"

He was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing. Embarrassedly, I realized it was mine. With reddening cheeks, I turned to turn it off before I saw who it was. It was Drake.

"Drake, how can I help you?" I said out loud, causing everyone to turn to me as they realized who I was speaking to. They all turned silent as they tried to listen in on our conversation.

"John. It's Team Rocket. They've struck again." He growled out, with unmistakable rage in his voice.

"Where?!" I demanded, my own anger rising at his words. The other members in the room were now looking at me with concern as they as they heard the tone of my voice.

"Devon Corp. No deaths, some serious injuries. They've stolen some stuff and a few files." He told me. "I'm at the crime scene now. The Hoenn Committee is panicking and thinks that this was just an act of corporate espionage, but my gut tells me that it's more than this. Call Lance, I want you over here as the expert. I'll let Wallace know; he won't say no. Get here as soon as possible. I'll meet you at Rustboro."

"Done. Talk to you soon." I quickly hung up. I quickly apologized to everyone before hastily leaving the conference room before I dialled up Lance.

"This is Lance speaking." He picked up.

"Lance, Team Rocket has just resurfaced and struck at Devon Corp. Drake is calling me over there to investigate with him." I told him without preamble. "He's getting permission from Wallace as we speak."

"…Understood. I approve. Head over there as soon as possible and let me know about the situation as soon as possible. You have my full support to crush this scum." He said seriously, a slight hint of his anger showing through.

Thanking him, I hung up the call and proceeded to take to the skies on Port to fly my way over to Hoenn. Normally, I wouldn't do this because flying such long distances places a lot of strain on your Pokémon, but in emergencies like these where time was of the essence then I had no other choice.

On my way there, I texted my parents that I was needed over at Hoenn for an emergency before I called up Giovanni.

"Giovanni, it's John. Team Rocket has just struck at Devon Corp, and I'm on my way there now with permission." I relayed to him.

"What?!" He shouted in surprise, "Right, okay, I see. Good luck out there. I'll try to see if I can find out anything for you, but you might be on your own. Please keep me informed."

"Will do. Talk to you later." I hung up and focused on maintaining Port's flight speed. Fortunately, I was confident that Port was able to sustain this speed for quite a while. He had far more stamina than your average transport Pokémon.

Still, as we flew over, my mind remained riddled with thoughts. Wasn't Team Magma or Aqua supposed to be the main villains of Hoenn. What was Team Rocket doing there instead?

Unless…unless one of those Teams took Team Rocket under their wing and enlisted their services. I could reasonably seeing that happening…but that also meant that the situation was DEFINITELY far more serious than just your average corporate espionage attack. Not that I bought that reasoning for even a second.

I just hoped that I would be there in time to stop their plans, whatever they might be.

A.N. Just letting you know that there will be a double upload on Wednesday with the Interlude. This is the penultimate chapter of the Elite Four Arc.

As I said before, I'm very excited to be bringing this arc to you all. I really hope you've enjoyed what you've read so far and will continue to enjoy the arcs to come. Thank you all so much!

This chapter has been BETAed by Allute! Thanks! And to anyone who wants to support me, please check out my p atreon at CartecTNN where you can read 8 advanced chapters! Thanks to those who have supported me already!