John's Team

Tyrant - Slaking

Vordt - Ursaluna

Smough - Snorlax

Klee - Blissey

Port - Mantine

Zephyr - Pidgeot

Klaus - Wyrdeer

Luna - Clefable

Pixel - Porygon2

Euphie - Sylveon

Ornstein - D-Linoone

Wraith - H-Zoroark

The New Normal – 10-6 – Partnering up

As was to be expected, the announcement for the Tri-Regional Tournament dominated the headlines. It was the first large scale event that would involve all of the known regions, and every Gym Leader and Elite Four was allowed to participate.

ANYONE who was a fan of Pokémon battling was immediately drawn to the upcoming Tournament. Everyone had their favourite Trainers, and they all wanted to see who would end up in the Top 3.

Of course, much of the discussion was primarily focused on the partnerships. The forums were flooded with posts and theories about who people thought were going to be the best team. The fact that the battles were 2v2 also allowed for even further discussion, as many people started to think about who could work well together.

From what I saw, I was one of the favourites to enter the Top 3. But the public thought that was due to my personal strength alone. They didn't have a good opinion on Roxanne, who many thought was simply going to drag me down.

Thus, they theorized that if I won, it would be because my Pokémon managed to carry us through the battles 1v2.

I didn't like that. I appreciated their respect of my strength, but I didn't want to give off the impression that I would be ignoring Roxanne. As I had emphasized many times, this was going to be a team event. Roxanne and I would win together – it wouldn't just be me doing all the work.

The public had also pointed to some other teams as ones favoured to enter the Top 3. Drake and the Waterflower sisters were contenders, but like me, that was purely from Drake's strength alone. Agatha and the twins were another favourite, for a similar reason.

Either way, we would have to see about how they actually got along with each other when it came time for the Tournament itself.

And in the midst of all this discussion and excitement about the upcoming Tri-Regional Tournament, Cynthia's victory over Ex-Champion Hayato was almost brushed under the rug. Not that it was forgotten, its just that outside of Sinnoh, people had other priorities.

I heard as much from Cynthia when I spoke to her.

"People not caring about his defeat is perfectly fine." She told me, "After all, the point of a victory like this is so that the traditionalists aren't able to show that they're still relevant. If the public aren't talking about Hayato's defeat, then that plays into my plans as well. After all, I wasn't here to humiliate him – not like you did with Shin."

"Are people really not talking about it in Sinnoh?" I asked, "Surely it'll be more relevant there."

"The Tournament and the team lineups have predictably dominated much of the discussion on the news and Pokénet." She explained, "Congratulations, by the way. From what I know of her from research, Roxanne is a good partner for you to have."

"I didn't realise you already did the research on her." I commented.

"Of course I did." She stated, "You have that match against Lance, right? I'd be disappointed FOR you if you didn't make it into the Top 3. Of course I'd wanted you to get a partner that you could work with."

"And I don't intend to lose that battle." I replied with conviction, "It was hard enough to get an opportunity to fight Lance. I will make the most of it."

"Good, because I know you can do it." Cynthia said firmly, "I believe in you. Emperor may be seen by the public as the strongest amongst all Pokémon, but if there's anyone that can overthrow that title, it will be you and your Slaking."

"Show the world the strength that I see in you." She said, with her eyes locking onto mine even through the screen, "Prove that you are a Champion, whether you hold the title or not."

Her words caused a wide smile to break out on my face, "You always know the right thing to say."

"And I expect to be rewarded when I do get to see you." She smirked, "Count the days, John. We'll see each other again in Hoenn."

"I'll be sure to greet you most enthusiastically." I chuckled, "After all, do you remember what I said before about the beaches of Dewford?"

After all that boasting about how much superior the snows of Sinnoh were compared to the sunny beaches of Hoenn, I was determined to change her mind about this. No matter what, I'd find time to bring her to experience a proper beach experience.

"I'll make sure to pack appropriately." She smiled teasingly, but then I heard a knock on the door through the phone, causing Cynthia to look up, "Tsk, I have to go now. I'll wait for you in Hoenn." Then with one last smile, she ended the call.

I smiled as I stared down at the black screen of my phone. I couldn't wait to see her again.

However, that was for later. And today I had an unexpected meeting to attend to. Professor Oak had called, explaining that he wanted to show Shelly, Blaine, and I something. Considering who he had invited, I suspected that he had an evolution item to show us, but I had no idea what he had found.

So, with bubbling curiosity, I flew over to Pallet Town once more and arrived swiftly at Professor Oak's lab. As I entered his office, I seemed to have been the first to arrive.

"Professor!" I called out as I walked in, "It's been some time."

"Oh, John, I thought you'd be in a little later." He got up from where he was working, "Do you mind waiting a little bit for the others to arrive? That way I can show you three together."

"Sure, no worries." I sat down on one of the spare seats as I took a look around his lab. My eyes were immediately drawn to the copious amounts of notes that were written on a whiteboard, and the lone incubating egg that was placed on a desk. I couldn't tell which egg it was.

His handwriting was a little difficult to decode, but reading through the keywords, he was apparently trying to discover if there were any alternate Fairy forms for Pokémon that we had missed.

"Yes, it's a little side project of mine that I worked on right after the Fairy reveal." Oak spoke up as he saw the look on my face, "I had immediately gotten back into working on the PIT technique as soon as we had finished, but I wanted to focus on the Fairy type since its the newest."

"Plus, after your words with Daisy, I thought that I could gift her a new Pokémon if I ever discovered one." He shot me a grateful look, "Thanks for that, by the way. I had been a little unsure of how much I should push her to become a trainer, but I'm happy to see her so motivated."

"It's not a problem, Professor." I shook my head, "Koga encouraged me to train her up, and I thought that she had a lot of potential as a Fairy specialist."

"Well she's taking to it very well." He chuckled, "You know she constantly asks me questions about the Fairy type now? She's keen to learn everything about her chosen Type. Gary's a little less enthusiastic, but he's also training harder now that Daisy wins more of her fights."

"Any chances Gary wants to follow in her big sisters footsteps?" I asked. That would be a big change from canon for him.

"Not a chance." Oak laughed, "If anything, his big sister choosing to be a Fairy specialist has well and truly pushed him away from the Fairy type. He wants nothing to do with it, which is a shame. I hope he overcomes this little sibling spat of his – the Fairy type has many powerful Pokémon that I'm sure he would value in his team."

We continued to engage in some more small talk before the door to his office swung open once again as Blaine and Shelly entered the room.

"Oh, sorry if we're late." Blaine said as he stepped in, "We were just finishing up a call with Volkner."

"How is he?" I asked, "Do you guys get along well?"

"He's just as you said." Shelly nodded, "Very smart, and has a clear passion for working with machinery. Though he's quite the eccentric, and tends to get tunnel-visioned on one particular thing from time to time. He almost seemed lazy, if you didn't know better. He's just very disinterested in things he's not passionate about."

"Bah, having a few eccentricities is the norm around here." Blaine scoffed, "Anyways, Sam, what did you want to show us? You've already got my interest."

"Right this way." He escorted us to a corner of the room, where he had stored another familiar looking lockbox placed on top of a wheeled trolley. It was the same as the one Blaine used to store his Magmarizer. Just what did he find?

The three of us stared with unhidden interest as he opened up the lockbox…only to draw puzzled looks from the other two as he did.

"…What is that?" Blaine asked confusedly, "Did you make some kind of special training weight, Sam?"

"Is it okay if I touch it?" Shelly asked, receiving a nod from Oak. "Huh, that's surprisingly coarse. Rougher than I would have thought." Then she tried to lift it and it didn't budge an inch, "Woah! It's really heavy! And tough! What is this? It's really feeling more like a specialized training weight the more I look at it."

But unlike the other two, I immediately caught on to what it was. That was no ordinary training weight, that was a Protector – the evolution item for a Rhydon to evolve into a Rhyperior.

"Believe it or not, what you're holding onto is an evolution item." Oak explained with a grin.

"An evolution item!? For which Pokémon?" Shelly exclaimed in shock.

"I call it a Protector." He said, "And I've already tested it. It's used to evolve Rhydon into a new Pokémon I call a Rhyperior. Here, let me show you."

A bright white light formed in the room as Oak casually released his newly evolved Rhyperior into the middle of his office. An intimidating figure emerged in front of us, with its large, muscled, and powerful stature instantly becoming the centre of attention.

Rhydon were already known to be strong Pokémon. But a Rhyperior took it to a whole different level. THIS could easily be the ace Pokémon of any team. Even without much training, it could already be considered to be a powerhouse Pokémon.

I could imagine Giovanni salivating over it already.

"…Incredible." Shelly muttered as she carefully observed Rhyperior, "I can feel its power radiating out from it. How did you create something like this, Professor Oak?"

He rubbed his head sheepishly, "Well you weren't far off when you compared it to a training weight. I was actually trying to create a training weight that would allow for Pokémon to make use of to improve their strength training, but I went too far. This Protector is far too heavy and tough for most Pokémon to use."

"That still doesn't tell us how you made it." Blaine added, "How did you make it as a tough and heavy as it is?"

"Rock energy." Oak admitted casually, as if it was the easiest thing to do, "I just copied what you did with the Magmarizer and compressed a lot of Rock energy into a single item."

We all blinked at his nonchalant response.

"…No, no, no, wait a minute, Sam." Blaine rubbed his head tiredly, "You don't get to just glance over that explanation. How in Arceus did you manage to manipulate that much Rock energy like that? I had to build my own machine when I created the Magmarizer, and that took me months!"

He shrugged, "I don't know what to tell you, Blaine. I just built my own machine and then it just happened. It was a nice side project that I had been working on. I can even show you the machine later if you want to see it."

The three of us gaped at him. Even with my lesser understanding of science, I knew what Blaine had accomplished with the Magmarizer was no simple task. So for Oak to create the Protector by adapting Blaine's own methods – and so quickly – was nothing less than jaw-dropping.

Was this the genius of Professor Oak?

"…I shouldn't even be surprised at your antics, Sam." Blaine eventually muttered, "I should be mad. Actually, I don't know why I'm not. Well, congratulations anyways. It seems like you made quite the find."

"Do you have any plans to sell it?" Shelly asked, shaking out of her shock and taking up her role as a Devon Corp Director once again.

He shrugged, "If there's demand for it, then I see no reason why I wouldn't." The way he said it was so dismissive that it was as if the money and the fame didn't matter to him.

To be fair, it probably didn't.

"Well, that's all I really want to show you today." Oak turned his attention back to us, "So how's your own Electirizer project going? I hope it's going well."

That pulled everyone into a discussion about what was going on with the Electirizer. With Volkner brought onboard and actually working well with the team, that meant that they were making steady progress to creating a prototype. Blaine suspected that we would actually finish ahead of projections.

"Volkner hopes that we can get a working prototype done by the time the Tournament rolls around, which was quicker than we expected." Shelly said. "He hopes to use the Tournament to show off the new evolution."

"It would be a great marketing opportunity." Oak agreed, "Ah…it's a shame that I won't be able to participate in the Tournament. It sounds like great fun."

"I think many people are sighing in relief that you're not participating, Sam." Blaine muttered, "You'd easily be one of the Top 3 if you were."

Oak shrugged, "Oh well, I'll stick to cheering you guys on the sidelines." He looked at me and Blaine, "Who were you two partnered with again?"

"I'm with Gym Leader Byron, and John's with Gym Leader Roxanne." Blaine answered for the both of us.

"Byron…ah, he's the long-time Gym Leader of Canalave City, from Sinnoh." Oak nodded, "Well he's of similar age to you, Blaine. Maybe you can work well together as a defensive-offensive pair."

"Maybe…" That didn't sound very convincing from Blaine, but then the conversation switched over to the three of us bantering about the Tournament and the pairings.

My reminder that Agatha was paired up with the young twins got Blaine roaring with laughter and even elicited a few chuckles from Oak. Shelly got her few cents in – working with so many strong trainers had pushed her to train up her analysis skills even further.

Sadly, everyone had their own commitments to head to, so we had to cut our discussion short. I returned home and got to training with my team ahead of my meeting with Roxanne.

I had a really deep think about which Pokémon I wanted to highlight through this Tournament. This was an excellent training opportunity for my weaker Pokémon since it was rare for them to be able to fight so many experienced opponents like this; I couldn't afford to pass this up.

Therefore, I vowed to myself to primarily make use of Ornstein, Euphie, Pixel, and Wraith for this Tournament. With some good planning and teamwork with Roxanne, I believed that their strength and niche would be sufficient at overcoming any foe and bring me to the Top 3.

I acknowledged that, aside from Pixel, none of my chosen four Pokémon were really at the Elite level yet, though Ornstein was close to it. But I was confident that they all had their own niche, and were well-trained enough, to do well in the Tournament. Sure, I knew it was going to be an uphill battle for me in certain fights, but those were the moments where my Pokémon could most likely improve themselves.

I'd save my stronger Pokémon for emergencies if I really needed to use them, so I wouldn't be intentionally handicapping myself. After all, I didn't intend to lose.

So that was what I worked on for the rest of the afternoon, all the way until Roxanne called up. Moving to a video call, her image slowly flickered into existence on my phone.

"…John? Can you see and hear me?" She asked.

"Yep. It's a pleasure to finally see you face-to-face, even if it is over the phone." I greeted, "Now I understand we're both quite busy, so let's get right into it."

"Absolutely." She nodded, "I'll start by introducing my team." She picked up her phone and panned it over her team.

She had a Golem, Steelix, Sudowoodo, Relicanth, Shuckle, and her starter Probopass. A very typical lineup for a Rock specialist. Admittedly, her team really wasn't anything special; in fact, I'd consider it to be below average for a Gym Leader.

But I didn't begrudge her for it when I knew that her true strength lied in her role as an educator. The strength of one's team was not everything, even as a Gym Leader.

So I didn't let any disappointment show on my face, "Let me show you the team that I intend to bring into the fight." Then it was my turn to pan my phone around Ornstein, Euphie, Pixel, Klee, Luna, and Wraith, which I explained would be the main Pokémon I intended to be using. Though I also included Smough and Vordt just in case.

"…You don't intend to bring your stronger Pokémon?" Roxanne asked.

"I do intend to use them if I have to, but I want to primarily focus on these Pokémon for the time being." I explained, "If I were to use my stronger Pokémon for every fight, then there's every likelihood that I might be able to defeat our opponents by myself. That would leave you completely sidelined, which I don't want. The whole point of the Tournament is to work together, and so our victories will be a team effort."

"Of course, should we face an appropriately formidable opponent, then I will not hesitate to use my stronger Pokémon." I said, "I will not compromise our chances of making it into the Top 3 just because I want to train up my weaker Pokémon. You have my word on that."

She nodded, "Then you have my thanks. But…as you can see, my team isn't the strongest. Nor am I the most accomplished of battlers. However, I will defer to your superior experience in guiding us to victory."

I accepted being the 'leader' of us two, "Sure, I appreciate the trust. Now I think we should go through what our Pokémon can do."

Therefore, the two of us spent some time going over what our Pokémon did. I didn't find anything surprising from Roxanne's descriptions of her Pokémon; they all fought and were trained up to be your standard defensive Rock type. They had powerful moves and were highly durable, but were slow and immobile.

I did ask if Shuckle knew moves like Guard or Power Split, but Roxanne unfortunately explained that it wasn't very trained in those moves at the moment since Shuckle was a more recent addition. It was more of a supportive/defensive Pokémon than any niche offensive threat, which was fine. It would still be useful.

In summary, Roxanne had trained her Pokémon as she was likely taught to do. They were perfectly competent Pokémon in all respects, but there were no surprises. Her Pokémon were likely all textbook examples of how you should train them up.

It really suited her as a serious educator.

"…I was hoping to get my hands on a few of those newly revived fossils. I would love to be able to study them up close and hopefully add them to my team." She said.

"Couldn't you afford them?" I asked, "You ARE a Gym Leader."

She chuckled, "I could…but I couldn't really justify the cost. The fossils are still really new, and they're still really pricey. I'd just have to wait for the price to go down before I consider it."

Hmm…maybe I could help with that? I mean I could just ask Joseph, but I didn't want to freeload off of him either or take advantage of his goodwill. Something to think about for the future.

Putting that aside for now, I fell into careful thought about how we could work together as a team. One of the main difficulties was that we weren't really able to train together; she was in Hoenn, and I was in Indigo. Most of our training would be done separately, meaning that it was harder for our Pokémon to get used to and cooperate with each other.

Fortunately, the simplicity of her Pokémon's fighting style actually helped out here. With how little time we really had to work out a strategy, and with no idea who our opponents would even be, it was best to keep things as simple as possible. Thus, the fact that Roxanne's Pokémon were only really able to fight one way helped to not over-complicate things.

In fact, the majority of our discussions actually revolved around how I would utilize my Pokémon instead; since they all fought so differently from each other. Klee, Luna, and Euphie were primarily supportive Pokémon, Ornstein and Wraith were far more offense-oriented, and Pixel was a jack-of-all-trades.

And then Vordt and Smough were there if anything really needed to be beaten down.

"Your Pokémon are all so unique." Roxanne muttered, "They're all so different from each other."

"The benefits of the Normal type." I bragged exaggeratedly, "It's why we're the best type."

She rolled her eyes, but was unable to hide her amusement, "Since you have so much time to joke around, have you come up with a training plan on what we could work on?"

"Yes…this is what I think we should do." Then I went into explanation about how I intended to fight our battles. Knowing Roxanne lacked experience, I kept things simple for her. She would focus on what Rock types did best – to defend and to make use of large, destructive, area-of-effect attacks.

I was sure that this would surprise a few people, but I decided that I might take on a hybrid support/ambushing role with my own team – with a primary focus of crippling and taking down key threats or distracting them to allow Roxanne to hit her slow, but powerful attacks.

The main advantage of keeping the plan as simple as this was that it meant that we didn't have to rush into training up some complicated coordinated manoeuvre that would probably fail when it came time for the actual battle.

A simple plan executed well was better than a complicated plan executed poorly.

And judging by the look of approval on Roxanne's face, I could tell that she agreed, "I appreciate that you've kept it simple. It's something I've always told my students. It gets all too easy to get caught up in theories and step-by-step plans that don't take into account the many complications of a real battle. I was prepared to speak up should you have fallen into the same trap, but I was wrong to doubt you."

"Well thanks for the compliment." I rubbed my head, "So do you think you understand what you need to work on with your team?"

"Yes, I'll be focusing on making sure my Pokémon can attack as powerfully and as quickly as possible. I trust in their defences already, so making sure that I can fully take advantage of the opportunities you provide me would be the most essential thing to work on." She responded, "I'll be trying to maximize their power in the time we have left to prepare."

"Good. And I'll be working on my Pokémon's supporting moves even further to make sure that I can set up those opportunities for you." I returned with a nod, "Let me demonstrate what kinds of opportunities my Pokémon can create for you."

I smirked once we had gotten to what Pixel and Wraith could do; I was certain that the shock on her face at his Illusion ability would be replicated many times over in this Tournament.

And that was how the two of us got to work on training up ourselves for the Tournament. Plus, the more we talked, and the more I observed Roxanne and her team, the more confident I was in our chances.

Roxanne was a hard worker and an observant battler with a keen eye for detail. And that effort had translated well into her team. Like I said earlier, her Pokémon truly were nothing special. In a 1v1 battle, many teams would be able to exploit their predictability and easily crush them.

But here, with me as her partner, I was able to cover her Pokémon's major weakness. As long as I performed my job properly, I trusted her team to either be the ones delivering the knockout blow, or to buy enough time for me to do the same.

I grinned; this was going to be an exciting Tournament.

A.N. Oak shows off his genius once again! And accidentally flexes on Blaine, oops. My guy didn't make the Pokédex for nothing. I thought that out of everyone, he's the best one to get inspired by the Magmariser to create something unique of his own.

In the meanwhile, Roxanne and John hash out a plan. Roxanne truly is nothing special as a Gym Leader, but that's fine. There's nothing wrong with 'merely' being competent. And yes, I deliberately focused on John's weaker Pokémon for this Tournament because I really wanted to give them the opportunity to take the spotlight for once. Hope you enjoyed!

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!