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

The New Normal – 8-3 – The Daily Life in Sinnoh

The next week in Sinnoh were mostly ones of idle exploration, where Cynthia continued to show me the ropes of how I could get the most out of my time in the caves. She did not hold my hand, instead pushing me to do better and to go deeper yet always remaining close by in case she needed to bail me out of trouble.

Over these past few days, I learnt two things about Cynthia. One, she was actually an excellent teacher. No doubt she had picked up some skills from her grandmother, but she was very patient and educational about it. She knew when was the right time was to hold your hand and to provide guidance and when was the time to let go and allow you to work things out independently for yourselves.

It was only through her excellent teachings that we managed to explore further down as far as we did. She had showed me a few of the other ruins that they found, and I was still constantly amazed by both the historical significance of these ruins as well as the plethora of rare Pokémon that could be found near them.

However, none of them really caught my interest for me to add them to my team. Even the occasional Lopunny I stumbled across were far too feral and guarded for me to even consider them. Had I caught them, it would take me too long to try and discipline them – especially when they were already so set in their habits.

It just wasn't worth it.

The second thing I learnt about Cynthia was that not only were her Pokémon very formidable, but I had underestimated just how efficient her training schedule was. She maintained an organised but flexible schedule where she frequently woke up before sunrise to train with her team or study other's matches. She was making the most of her current lack of responsibilities to train up herself to an insane degree because she knew she would have less time later.

While many trainers also trained as hard as she did, she was the one of the few that managed to be efficient and disciplined about it.

Seeing how strong she was, I spent some time researching her reputation here in Sinnoh. I stumbled on a few small articles labelling her as a 'genius' and that she had won the Sinnoh Conference two years prior, but little else.

The fact that she wasn't in the Elite Four was baffling, considering her strength. Though, judging by a few of our conversations that we've been having, and a few details she let slip, I suspected that it was only a matter of time until she made her move. She had very ambitious plans that she kept close to her chest.

Watching her train so hard also inspired me to push myself a little harder too. Both with training my Pokémon and with my obligations and responsibilities that I needed to uphold as a representative of Indigo. After all, I couldn't just ignore what was going on back in Indigo.

Cynthia had unintentionally done me a favour there as well, helping to invite some other prominent names in the scientific community over to Celestic Town to meet and discuss possible future developments with me. They were all very excited to meet with me, and we turned the whole thing into a bit of a public event with pictures and everything. The whole thing was on the news.

That was why today I had to unfortunately beg off from another day of dungeon diving, since after my morning training I was now waiting for a call from both Will and Lance so that we could discuss current events. We had actually intended to make this call yesterday, but we were distracted by Lorelei's sudden challenge from Gym Leader Surge.

Karen had informed me about it, and I instantly went to do research on what I could find on Surge and the strength of his team.

From what I've see, he would give Walker a good run for his money, partially due to his type advantage, but I wasn't blown away by his chances. I suspected that he was only challenging Lorelei out of some form of national pride, maybe also due to some lingering resentment against Pryce, rather than as a calculated decision.

No offense meant to Surge, but he really didn't seem like the type of guy that thought very hard about his chances before taking action. He was like an Electrode, all explosive energy and little of much else.

Sure, Surge's team of Electric types were considered to be one of the harder ones to face off against amongst the Kanto Gym Leaders, but I wasn't quite sure if that would be enough here. Certainly, compared to Bruno, Surge was nothing.

I would be more concerned for Lorelei's sake if someone like Blaine had challenged her; not that he would. From what I hear he's been very happy playing around with his new project.

Before I could think on that for much longer, my phone started to ring. Seeing who it was, I carefully propped my phone up on the table and picked up, turning on the video.

I was immediately greeted by two other faces, as Will and Lance appeared on my screen.

"Good to see the both of you." Lance began, a small smile on his face. "How are you finding your work-holiday? I hope you're having fun there."

I allowed Will to speak first, "Things have been going excellently." He shared with a grin, and I didn't think he was boasting this time. "Many of the financiers of Sinnoh have been eager to accept the many opportunities that the opening of borders brings to them. They tell me that the Sinnoh markets have been stale recently, and they're very keen on bringing their unique goods and services to a foreign market."

"Would they invest into Indigo?" Lance asked, getting a quick nod from Will.

"Absolutely. Though they would have to do their due diligence first." Will replied, "But you can expect to see them investing into both Indigo and Hoenn soon. I believe some of the bigger businesses are considering entering into negotiations soon."

"Did you hear anything about Galactic company?" I asked, a little more forcefully than I intended.

Will shook his head, "I didn't hear anything about them, nor did I meet any of their representatives. Why'd you ask?" He shot me a curious look, and I had to fight down an instinctive frown at his answer.

Despite having spent most of my time here dungeon diving, I was not foolish enough to forget the threat that Team Galatic represented to the world at large.

Their public image was of "Galactic Company", which on paper was nothing more than a successful company that helped produce a lot of fancy tech for Sinnoh as well as help develop new and more innovative ways of energy generation. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Similarly, their CEO, Cyrus, was nothing more than an ordinary businessman that managed to hit it big with a few lucky successes. There were no scandals, no nothing. He wasn't overly elusive either; his lack of public appearances were treated as merely an introverted inventor hard at work.

Overall, they were the stereotypical ordinary big business.

And that was the problem. Galactic company was a pillar of Sinnoh's economy. I could not just level accusations against them without some serious proof, and even then, it might not be enough. It would be like levelling accusations against Silph Co or Devon Corp. Both were so vital to their regions that it would take a heavy amount of evidence to actually be able to implicate them.

When Silph Co was framed by Team Rocket, even with all the sensationalism and false rumours thrown around by the news, it didn't take a lot of effort to be able to shut down those rumours for good. I had no doubt it was the same for Galactic company.

Plus, as a foreigner, I would not be able to gather enough support to shut them down. Not even with Lance's support, if he even gave it to me.

Trying to break them by force wouldn't work either. As strong as I was, I was not going to be able to one-man-army the entirety of Team Galactic by myself. I would eventually be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

It was impossible for a single trainer to fight an entire region by themselves and win. Not without a Legendary – and even then, it was still a toss-up.

Unfortunately, I was once again forced to be reactive rather than proactive when it came to the dealing with Team Galactic. But I refused to remain idle; I would keep a watchful eye on them for any possible opportunities to expose them and do my best to think of alternate methods of fighting against them.

Returning to the conversation, seeing that no answer from me was forthcoming, Will moved on, "Though I would like to point out that the ongoing protests taking place around the region have really been hampering my efforts." He complained, "The lack of trustworthy leadership in Sinnoh has really scared a few potential investors and businesses from investing here."

"What about the Elite Four? I thought they had a handle on things?" Lance asked.

"They're doing their best." Will replied, "But the members of the current Sinnoh Committee are all very new, and there are many vacant spots still. They're not functioning as they should, and all the political power are practically in the hands of the Elite Four. They're doing a remarkable job managing everything, but they their ability to make decisions and pass policies is still limited."

Lance frowned, "That's frustrating, but not outside of our expectations." He tapped his finger on his table, "Well anyways, you dd great work there, Will. Good job." Lance complimented, making Will's smile grow wider. Then Lance turned to me, "So, what about you, John? Making friends over there? I saw you in the papers."

"Well, yes, but admittedly I've been having a bit too much fun with simply exploring the caves here." I said sheepishly, realizing that Will had accomplished a lot more than I had. "They're all very exciting to see, and I may have gotten too absorbed with them. I haven't even explored much of the region outside of Celestic Town!"

Lance chuckled and waved me off, "That's fine. There was a reason I sent the both of you and had you do different things. You both appeal to a different audience. I'm sure the more casual members of the public would find John's activities more relatable, while the more serious and business-minded folks would care more about Will's activities. It's a good balance."

"But how are you getting on with them?" He asked again, "Everything seemed good on the news, but you know how trustworthy they can be."

"They were very friendly." I answered, "Like what Will said, they all seemed very eager to share discoveries with Indigo and Hoenn. More than that, they're just happy to have access to more things to research about."

"Oh that's right!" I suddenly exclaimed as a thought popped into my head, "Will, you brought it up just now, but how were the other members of the Elite Four? I only saw Lucian when we arrived."

"Yep, they all came around to shake hands, though they didn't stay for long." He replied with a nod, "I was surprised at how young they all were, but in hindsight they're just around our age as well. Though I guess they do have Bertha, but she isn't here right now."

"Feels like every Elite Four just has to has one person that's been there for some time, huh?" Lance observed with a smirk, "We have Agatha. Hoenn has Drake. Sinnoh has Bertha."

I laughed, "I didn't see it that way. But that's very true." I turned to Will, "How were they? Friendly?"

"Very much so." Will nodded, "Even though they currently have a lot of pressure on them, they've still greeted me with friendly smiles that I could tell were real and wanted to get to know me better. They're all very close knit, and I feel like they all see each other as friends. Oh, and John, they said they would visit you soon as well."

"That's nice to hear – I would love to see them too." I nodded.

"Well, I'm glad you're all getting along nicely." Lance added, "But have the both of you heard any rumours about who the next Champion is going to be? That's my primary concern at the moment."

"Not a clue." Will shook his head, "I asked Flint when I saw him. He said they didn't have anyone on their mind at the moment, though I have an inkling that might not be the whole truth. But I knew they meant it when they said they didn't want to nominate any of themselves. I knew Lucian's name was thrown around as a potential candidate, but he refused because he didn't think he was strong enough to hold or deserve the position."

Lance sighed, "That's a shame, but I guess that's what I expected too. Let me know if that changes. That goes with you too, John."

We both nodded. "Well, thank you for the update. Let me go through what's going on here in Indigo…"

Lance gave us a rundown summary of what was happening back home. The only real thing that caught my attention was Lorelei's proposal about the anti-corruption bureau, which I expressed my support to, but that proposal would probably be delayed until Lorelei won her challenge.

A little surprisingly, Will expressed his support for Lorelei. He felt that she would "stomp over this reckless challenger". Lance agreed, stating that he knew Lorelei had been training heavily since her win against Walker. She had certainly not been slacking off.

What was a bit more shocking was when Lance revealed that Pryce had contacted Lorelei as soon as he heard about the challenge.

"…And how does that make you feel?" I asked Lance, knowing that he greatly disliked Pryce. Which I also did.

Lance had a complicated expression on his face, "I'm not sure. On one hand, Pryce is her uncle, and I have no right to interfere with familial relations like that. On the other, I'm wary about Pryce trying to spread his influence once again, though I hear he is mellowing out. But I trust Lorelei, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now."

"While I was not there when Pryce was Champion, so I do not share both your feelings about him, I feel that this could be a good opportunity for her." Will added, rubbing his chin. "For what it's worth, he's undoubtedly an excellent trainer and capable politician. Or at least he used to be. Still, there is much he could teach her."

I nodded, somewhat reluctantly. "I can't deny that. Let's just hope he teaches her the right things."

"I have full confidence in Lorelei to separate what's right and wrong to do, both in battle and in politics." Lance stated. "She won't allow herself to be guided down the wrong path."

"Oh, and one last thing regarding Sinnoh." Lance remarked, "Sinnoh is planning on opening their borders in stages. First to representatives like the two of you, then to businesses, then to the general public. They should be opening up to businesses shortly. THAT is assuming nothing bad happens."

We both nodded in understanding. It made sense for them to do it this way. Opening up Sinnoh directly to the larger public seemed like a bad idea to start off with.

We chatted for a bit longer before Lance eventually had to go to attend his next meeting. Though before he left, I expressed my concerns about the criminals and our lack of progress regarding them. I urged Lance and Will to keep a constant lookout regarding them; reminding them of the danger they posed to everyone. They both nodded in solemn agreement, promising to stay vigilant.

With the call over and done with, I met up with Cynthia once again in the cafeteria for lunch, where she was staring at me with a curious look.

"I don't mean to pry, but how are things going back in Indigo?" She asked as we sat. "Any need for you to be reassigned elsewhere?"

I smiled at her question, "Thankfully not. I much prefer to stay here if possible. I don't envy Will's task of mingling with the businessmen. This is much more my style."

"I have to do that on occasion as well…though I agree it's not my cup of tea." She nodded, taking a bite out of her food before she perked up once again, "Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, Flint says he's coming over later today to say hi to you. So is Lucian."

My eyes widened slightly, both at what she just said and the fact that she didn't include their title. "Already? It was just mentioned in the call just now."

"They both must want to meet with you again." She shrugged, "And you ARE all members of the Elite Four. It's only natural."

I nodded, continuing to chow down on food. "So does that mean no exploring today?" I asked.

"Probably not. Best not to keep them waiting." Cynthia responded.

"That's fine, I need to crack down on some training anyways." I replied, "Can't let myself slack off on that respect. Especially since you've been itching to battle me." I said with a challenging grin.

She met it with one of her own, her eyes alight with anticipation and excitement. "Likewise."

We met each other stares for a moment, revelling in our shared ambition to win. It was an amazing feeling to be able to battle against someone you KNEW was strong; especially when there were little stakes involved.

Soon enough we ended our staring contest and polished off our meals. We split off after that, both of us heading to different training grounds to undergo routine training of our Pokémon. I made sure to prioritize my relatively weaker Pokémon's so that they would be more capable of at the same level as my trio of bruisers.

I worked especially hard on Klaus, partially because of the fact that we were in Sinnoh and I wanted to show him off, but also because I felt that his Psychic abilities, like Teleport, could be expanded on even further. Being able to Teleport around in fights, like Will's Gardevoir could, was an amazing advantage that I previously neglected.

We had already been training on this for some time, and now Klaus was just about there.

I didn't know how long I spent training up my Pokémon, but I was interrupted by the sound of someone's whistling. Turning, I saw a man wearing a yellow shirt with a red afro that honestly clashed horribly with the surrounding greenery.

"Yo! Good work out there. Those are some impressive Pokémon - no wonder you won all those matches." The man who could only be Flint greeted with a wide and friendly smile, "I'm Flint, of the Sinnoh Elite Four. It's a huge pleasure to meet you. I've heard tons from Bertha."

Flint's friendliness was infectious, and I found myself breaking out into a smile as I immediately stopped what I was doing and went over to greet him, shaking his hand. "Thank you, Elite Flint. It's my pleasure as well. Thanks for coming over to meet me like this; I've been a little too wrapped up in the wonders of the underground."

He laughed cheerfully, "That's no matter. I'm used to stuff like this." His smile turned fond, "Volkner's like this too when he gets interested in something. Sometimes I can't pry him from the lighthouse."

He looked around at my team, "Anyways, like I was saying, this is a mighty fine team you got here. I'm not ashamed to say that it'd probably make mine look bad if we ever fought."

"Indeed. Will had told me, but seeing this is something else. Wyrdeer are a very unique type of Pokémon." Another voice cut in from the side, and I turned to see Lucian approaching with Cynthia walking next to him.

"Good to see you again, John. I hope you've been enjoying Sinnoh. Though from what I hear from Cynthia, that does seem to be the case." He greeted.

"I am." I nodded. "Cynthia's been an excellent host."

Cynthia's grin widened a little bit, and Lucian just chuckled, "THAT, I had never any doubt with. When Bertha told me about your arrangement in Sinnoh, I was confident that it would work out well."

"Are you close with Professor Carolina?" I asked curiously.

"Not as close as Bertha is, but yes. I would consider myself to be so. Same with Cynthia," Lucian replied, gesturing to Cynthia, "We both share similar academic passions, so it was natural for us to start conversation."

"Lucian is an excellent conversation partner about history." Cynthia commented, "AND a strong trainer. Though we haven't had much time to battle because of our respective duties."

I nodded in understanding.

"Speaking of battle, care to test yourself against one of us?" Flint leaned forward excitedly, "I know what I said earlier, but I'm raring to go for a battle against someone new and strong."

"Sorry, Flint, but I've already promised a battle with Cynthia soon." I replied, nodding to Cynthia, "Maybe next time." I told him apologetically, but instead of looking down, Flint grew even more excited.

"Woah! Already?! Sick! Can I watch?!" His eyes flashed with eagerness.

I shared a look with Cynthia, who merely shrugged. "I don't mind. There'll probably be reporters there as well to take some photos of the fight."

"That would be good." Lucian spoke up, "The public always loves a good fight, which I'm sure this will show off the strength of both regions to each other. And against Cynthia, I'm confident you'll both give us a good fight. It's a win-win."

I looked at Lucian curiously, wondering how he knew that Cynthia was a strong trainer. Even Flint simply nodded his head like he agreed with Lucian, implying that he knew about Cynthia's strength as well. Did this mean that she was already on people's radar of significant trainers already?

In hindsight, that shouldn't be all that surprising. You couldn't hide being THIS strong without someone catching on, unless you absconded yourself into the wilds like a certain someone I knew. Furthermore, considering that Lucian and Cynthia seemed to be friendly acquaintances, I guess he would have some idea of her strength.

"We could have the match for tomorrow." I finally said, "If everyone is happy with that."

"I'm fine with that." Cynthia replied, crossing her arms. "I can even get the news out to the reporters if you want a crowd."

I nodded, "Sure. As Lucian said, it'll be good for everyone. But what kind of format do you want it in? 3v3? 6v6?"

Cynthia tapped her chin in thought, "…3v3 sounds the best for me." She said after a moment. "We don't have to get too serious. I'd like to keep a few tricks up my sleeve."

"Sure, fine by me." I replied easily, wondering what kind of tricks she might have. I was beginning to suspect that she was saving those 'tricks' for a very important occasion.

Flint jumped up into the air excitedly, "ALRIGHT! I'll definitely be there to check out the fight. I think I'm going to be very pleasantly surprised by what I see." He looked pointedly at Cynthia, who only smiled back.

"Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to make it tomorrow. I have meetings to catch up on." Lucian said with a slight frown, "But perhaps Aaron could make it? I'll let him know."

"Oh, definitely get him to come; he wouldn't want to miss this." Flint nodded, "Maybe I could even drag Volkner away for a moment to get him to watch. He's been needing a spark of inspiration these days." He took out his phone and started tapping on it.

"Speaking about watching matches, are you going to be heading back to Indigo to watch Lorelei's match against Surge?" Cynthia asked with a tilt of her head, "Supporting your fellow member and all that."

"Yes, I heard from Bertha that the relationship between the Indigo Elite Four is quite close." Lucian added, with Flint nodding in agreement. "Always nice to hear people getting along."

"I won't be." I shook my head, "It'll be too inefficient. I'll probably just watch it in my room."

"No need for that. If you need a bigger TV, I have one set up in my room if you want to watch it there." Cynthia mentioned, "It's definitely better than the miniscule one you have in your room."

"Oh, sure. Thanks for this." I replied, slightly surprised but thankful. Watching the battle on a bigger screen was always better.

"Welp, I'll probably leave you two to your training. Can't wait to see what you guys deliver to us tomorrow." Flint spoke up, "Gotta head back soon anyways."

Lucian said the same, and we quickly exchanged a few more words before we made our goodbyes. Cynthia informed me that she would make the call for the reporters will come for the match tomorrow.

I wandered off back to the training fields and used whatever time I had left to continue training with my Pokémon, letting them know of the impending match tomorrow. I spoke more specifically with a few of my Pokémon that I had chosen to bring for tomorrow's battle, based on what I knew of Cynthia's team.

I suspected that this was going to be a tougher fight than most people anticipated for me. But I knew not to underestimate Cynthia and would be going into this battle with both eyes open.

After all, it was a rare opportunity for me to fight a future Champion.

A.N. A slower chapter this time mostly focused on set-up. But yes, the fight with Cynthia is here! Plus, John meets up with a few more members of the Sinnoh Elite Four. I've kept their canon roster the same for simplicities sake.

Furthermore, while John is going to be a little passive with Team Galactic again, I promise you he won't entirely be on the backfoot. He will have his moments to strike back and be a huge pain in their ass in the future.

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!