John's Team

Tyrant - Slaking

Vordt - Ursaluna

Smough - Snorlax

Klee - Blissey

Port - Mantine

Zephyr - Pidgeot

Klaus - Wyrdeer

Luna - Clefable

Pixel - Porygon2

Euphie - Sylveon

Ornstein - Obstagoon

Wraith - H-Zoroark

The New Normal – 11-14 – A New Cave

Koga's unexpected challenges sent ripples throughout Indigo, as any challenge to the Elite Four always did. However, I noticed that the reactions of the public lacked the surprise that I had expected, since they likely thought that it was about time that Will received an official challenge.

Lance put it best, "Every Elite Four member will eventually receive a challenge from someone. It was only a matter of when. Therefore, with Will being the only amongst you to not be challenged, I suppose everyone didn't find it surprising when one finally happened."

"Do Champions get challenged often?" I asked curiously.

He instinctively sat up straight, but relaxed when he realised I meant nothing by it, "No, quite the opposite. It's a sign of a poor Champion if they get challenged too often. Unlike the Elite Four, Champions are expected to hold their positions for quite some time. A region that swaps their Champions too often are mostly considered unstable."

I nodded, understanding the reasoning. A Champion dictated the overall policy of the region, so having Champions be frequently swapped out and replaced spelled bad news for the decision-making ability of that region's League.

Returning back to Will, the reporters were having a field day with the news, and they set out to try and secure whatever interviews and sound bites that they could as they asked everyone about their opinions on Koga's challenge against Will.

I, obviously, wasn't excluded from their sights.

"Many within the public have observed that you and Will dislike each other. Would you be happy to see him go?" One reporter asked me while I exited the Indigo League building.

I scowled, "I have no idea where people got the idea that Will and I disliked each other. We are friends. All of us in the Elite Four are. It's why we're able to get along so well."

"Then are you going to be rooting for your Elite Four member during the upcoming fight? Does that mean you think that Koga is unsuited for the position?" That same reporter quickly backpedalled and changed tracks, although he was still trying to dramatize my answers.

I rolled my eyes, "I'm friends with Koga as well. I'll root for the both of them. I don't have a preference on who I'd want to win or who I think should win. I'm just excited to see a good fight. I'll be happy with whatever outcome."

"Are you not afraid of the changes that Koga might bring to the Elite Four?" A different reporter asked as another microphone was shoved into my face, "It's been evident that you hold a dominant position in the current hierarchy of things. Are you not upset that this might change with Koga's inclusion?"

I raised an eyebrow, "I'm not a power hungry tyrant who's looking to stay in power no matter the cost. The power granted to me was coincidental – not something I actively searched for. I'm grateful to have it, make no mistake, but if Koga's inclusion means I lose some of that power then I wouldn't mind. In fact, I'm interested to see what kind of policies he would bring to the table, if he were to win."

That led to questions being asked about what I thought those policies would be, but I quickly put an end to the interview and left. I had given them enough; there was no need to fall down the Buneary hole of speculation.

Although all this talk about Will and Koga made me think about Janine. Should Koga win, then that meant Janine was about to become Gym Leader of Fuschia. Would she be ready for that? She was competent enough for her age, but she was still very young. However, I thought that Koga was someone who only acted after carefully thinking things through. He wouldn't make a play for Gym Leader if Janine wasn't ready or be adequately supported.

Maybe Whitney was about to swap over to Fuschia earlier than she expected?

I'd just have to wait to see the result of the fight between Koga and Will. There was too much uncertainty for now. And ultimately, it wasn't any of my business to interfere with that.

Either way, the main event that I had to attend to today actually had nothing to do with battling. Instead, mayor Henry had just informed me last night that the Cerulean Cave was ready for its grand opening, and that all relevant preparations had been made for the relatively safe exploration of its depths.

I had informed Cynthia of the same, and she was just as excited for me.

"You know it means a lot to us, and me, that you're willing to go this far as to bring the tradition of cave diving to Indigo." She had said to me last night during one of our scheduled phone calls.

"It was something that I wanted to do anyways, even without you guys naming me as a honorary member." I replied humbly, "Just a shame that you couldn't come for the grand opening."

"Sorry, John. As much as I'd like to, I can't afford to head to Indigo at the moment." She said sadly, "I have to be present in Sinnoh to monitor the efforts of the Indigo and Hoenn delegation. It wouldn't be a good look for me to be sneaking off to Indigo while there are still active foreign delegates in Sinnoh."

"I understand; I just wanted to see you." I admitted.

"And I do too." She smiled, "Trust me, I'm doing my best to find another moment for us. We'll make the most of it."

"I hope you can come to Indigo one day in the near future. I want to properly introduce you to the family – have you spend some time around the house and stuff." I said to her, "It'll be nice for them to get to know you better and vice versa."

"That's a good point. And I'd love to spend some time seeing your home region with my own eyes – I'm sure I'll find many beautiful things there. Plus, I'd love to spend more time with your cute sister too and get to know her better." She chuckled, "She seems like a joy to be with."

"She is." I nodded, as if what she said was obvious.

She laughed, "Of course that's what you say. Anyways, I'll let you know as soon as I plan out when I can come over."

We made some small talk after that, but she also mentioned that even though she herself couldn't be going, instead her grandmother would actually be going in her place. That was pretty interesting.

With that in mind, I had arrived early and found myself hanging around the Cerulean Cave, inspecting the renovations as I waited for the grand opening ceremony to begin.

The entrance to the cave had been completely overhauled with a shiny new look. Instead of the old and decrepit look that it had before, the boulders and rocks had been smoothed out. A proper arch of rocks framed the entrance, with the words 'Cerulean Cave' clearly etched onto the archway. It even had small streams of water flowing down on either side of it as a symbolic representation of Cerulean City.

Plus, I knew that they had renovated far more than the entrance; the interior had also been upgraded too. Though I couldn't see inside the cave for the time being as it was still closed.

"John!" A sudden cry broke me from my thoughts, and I turned to see all FOUR Waterflower sisters running up to me, "Congratulations again for getting the proposal passed!"

"Oh hello, sisters." I smiled, "And thank you, I'm really glad my proposal succeeded. I appreciate your vote of support as well. Still, I thought you'd be coming a bit later."

"Misty here wanted to take a few photos." Daisy grinned as she elbowed the youngest of the sisters, "So we came early to accompany her."

"Caves are cool!" Misty exclaimed excitedly, "Way better than forests. I never liked Bugs." She frowned cutely.

"Caves are more dangerous though, so don't go wandering in there now." I warned gently, "Not by yourself."

"I know, but they're still better than Bugs. I really, really don't like Bugs." She repeated with a shake of the head, getting a chuckle from her sisters.

"You planning on taking a dive into the caves sometime soon?" I asked them, "There are plenty of powerful Water types in there I'm sure. Maybe some could join your team?"

"Maybe in the future." Lily replied, "We just got a new Pokémon to take care of, and I'm not sure if we can afford to divide our attention between multiple Pokémon."

"Plus, catching another powerful Pokémon might not be the best idea right now." Daisy added, "We still haven't fully disciplined our Gyarados yet, even with Drake's help. We're afraid that catching another powerful yet wild Pokémon might make the discipline problem worse."

"That's a reasonable concern." I nodded, "I struggled a bit with getting my Munchlax to obey me at first too, though that was due to laziness and not rage. But even if you decide not to catch anything, I'm confident that it'd be a good place to train."

"Mhm. We felt the same after reading the reports as well." They agreed, "We're planning on training here on a rotational basis, so two of us stay at the Gym while one of us trains our Pokémon here."

"I want to train too!" Misty piped up.

"Maybe when you're older and more experienced." Daisy said softly, "It's a little too dangerous for you right now."

"And you remember what Drake told you? He had you run through a few training methods." Lily reminded, "You should stick to that for now as he said. You don't want him to be disappointed with your Staryu's progress once you call him next."

Misty pouted, but reluctantly agreed with her sisters. Daisy saw that and leaned in to whisper to me.

"She's a big fan of Drake – thinks he's really cool and strong." She chuckled quietly in my ear, "She always wants to talk to him. I think she's his biggest fan."

I smiled, "I'm sure Drake is happy about that." She giggled at my response.

"Oh, nice to see everyone gathered here already." A voice appeared from behind us, and I turned to see Professor Carolina approaching us with a group of explorers following behind her.

"Professor Carolina." I greeted, "It's been some time."

"And yet it feels like whatever I do I still I hear all about you, either from my granddaughter or from the news." She chuckled, "Speaking of my granddaughter, did you know how surprised I was when she told me you two had gotten together? When I asked her to be your tour guide, let me tell you that a relationship was the last thing I had in mind."

"That doesn't mean I disapprove." She quickly said, "Quite the opposite really. She talks about you a lot, and she's happier for it. That's all that matters to me."

I blushed, "Well thank you for saying that – I'm glad you're supportive. You know, and it's my fault for not doing this earlier, but maybe you can join my family and I for dinner as I'm sure they'd like to meet you—"

I was cut off before I could finish my sentence as I felt someone hurriedly tapping me on the shoulder, "Elite John, could you please make your way to the front now. Mayor Henry has arrived and is waiting for you to join him on stage."

"Ah, understood." I nodded, and with a quick apologetic nod to Carolina, I joined the Waterflower sisters as walked onstage with the mayor, who greeted us all with a quick nod.

It was time for the opening ceremony.

(A Civilian's POV)

In all fairness, he admitted that he initially wasn't very interested in the opening of a new cave in Cerulean. He had lived in this city for all these years, and yet he never had any interest of exploring the Cerulean Cave, especially with how notoriously dangerous that it was.

And as someone who had given up on his trainer career shortly after it began, he was absolutely not fit to deal with any of the powerful wild Pokémon that many said were down there.

Still, he had an off day today, and he was attracted by the growing crowd of people that had gathered to watch the opening of the cave – which had been radically renovated so that it actually looked like something respectable rather than just some random hole in the wall. After all the renovations, the Cave actually looked like something that was artistically inviting, and it fit in with the general aesthetic of Cerulean City.

"Oh my. They've really made it look colourful and shiny." His wife said with a little amazement, "I feel like this would look really beautiful at a distance. I quite like it."

He nodded in agreement, but he held his tongue on giving out any compliments. It was a little too soon for that, and he still needed to see for himself if this whole thing was going to be a failed tourist attraction or not.

Then Mayor Henry took to the stage and began his speech.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Thank you all for coming to this grand opening of the new and improved Cerulean Cave! But it is not merely the opening of a new cave that will serve as excellent training grounds for already powerful trainers! This is also the start of an entirely new direction for our city, one where we demonstrate that our city has more than just the arts to offer!"

There was a quick round of applause at that, which Henry managed to savour before he continued, "But I know that you're not here to listen to my speech, so let's cut right to the chase! Everyone, follow after me! We're going straight into the new Cerulean Cave! It is now officially open to the public!"

That was a little surprising; he didn't expect that they would be given a guided tour of the place. The crowd's cheers had gotten considerably louder, so he tried to ignore them as he followed the Ace Trainers that were assigned to take the lead. They were told early on that they would only be hanging about on the upper levels near the entrance and would not be wandering further down for the sake of everyone's safety.

He did spot that Elite John and the Waterflower sisters were also accompanying them, with looks of wonder on the latter as well. Everyone knew that this idea to open up Cerulean Cave came from John, and he knew that many wondered if this would be another success under his belt.

Because make no mistake, even he admitted that John was the centrepiece to the many positive changes that have swept through their city. He didn't know it at the time, but John's ascension into the Elite Four was the beginning of Cerulean's rise from a forgettable city of the arts to growing to become one of the most prosperous cities in Kanto.

And with the changes to the Cave, it looks like they would be continuing on that trajectory of success.

The immediate area after you stepped in was meticulously built up, almost like a campsite. There were tents, beds, and supplies aplenty. There were also a heavy patrol of Ace trainers and Nurse Joys that secured the area, ensuring that no wild Pokémon were going to breach into the safe zone. Even as a person who didn't carry any Pokémon on him, he was fully confident that he would be safe here.

The Ace Trainers that were leading them then began to talk about what the Cave itself contained. They talked about how powerful the wild Pokémon inside were and how useful that would be for a potential trainer, and they talked about a lot of interesting geology and stuff that went completely over his head.

Though he did catch the fact that they would be barring any trainer below a certain level of strength from exploring this cave unattended, and that they would have to prove themselves before being allowed in by themselves.

"But what kind of Pokémon can we expect to find in there?" Someone asked.

"The more notable Pokémon that we've come across include a Gyarados, Snorlax, and Absol." The trainer answered, getting a shocked gasp from the audience. However, as the Ace Trainer continuing describing the many rare Pokémon that could be found within, he noticed that, just by coincidence, he found himself standing near to John as he stood listening to the Ace Trainers talking.

He always had a question that he meant to ask John, and now seemed to be the perfect opportunity for it. So he gathered his courage and approached the Elite Four member.

"…Excuse me." He began a little nervously, "I have a question for you, Elite John."

He smiled, "Shoot. I'm all ears."

"As a long-time resident of Cerulean, I know how much you've done for our city to bring it to the heights it currently enjoys." He said, and that was the unexaggerated truth. Everyone knew that it was mostly John's efforts that the city was able to grow as it did.

"However, a huge part of that success was due to you being able to make use of your influence as an Elite Four." He stated, "But what happens when to the city when you lose that? Do you have any plans for our city so that it doesn't fall back into stagnancy?"

That had always been his biggest fear, to see all their current success fall away because John was unavailable to continue lifting them up as he had been doing. Just like many other residents of Cerulean, they now had their taste of glory, and they didn't want to lose it.

"That's a good question, and I appreciate you asking that." John replied, seemingly unbothered by how direct he was, "But if your concerns are regarding whether Cerulean City will stagnate without my influence – then I truly do not believe that would be the case."

John gestured to the Waterflower sisters, "Even without me, I am confident and trust that the Waterflower sisters, and Mayor Henry, will look after the city in my place. Especially with the Cerulean Gym, you must have seen how much the sisters have grown in recent times to become a respectable pillar of our city. They will only continue to grow stronger and more influential, and they will ensure that the city never backslides or stagnates."

"Plus, with the Cerulean Cave opening up, diversifying our city so that isn't just known for the arts, I fully believe that the future of our city will continue to be bright. The Cerulean Cave will bring in many an Ace trainer, and I am certain that it will become a training hotspot in the future." John said with utter confidence, "Still, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, so I will continue to fight to improve our city one step at a time. I hope that, before my time in the Elite Four comes to an end, Cerulean City will be a city you and I can be truly proud of. And will stay that way for the years to come."

…He felt the genuine conviction in John's voice, making it clear that the Elite Four member believed every single word that he had uttered. Was it this passion that allowed him to persuade the other Gym Leaders to agree to his ambitious proposal?

That proposal had been a shock to everyone, though he was personally indifferent and he didn't give it much thought. His wife, though, had been so happy to see Indigo starting to grow closer. She had always been enthusiastic about forming closer relations between Kanto and Johto, and had always been John's biggest supporter. Outside of his strength, he personally could never really see why, but now he was beginning to understand.

You could see the honest idealism in John's eyes and the drive to make things better, all while lacking the usual arrogance that you might expect from someone so strong. It was hard not to trust someone like that.

Not knowing what else to say, he simply thanked John for his answer before he refocused his attention onto the tour, ignoring the knowing looks that his wife was giving him. He had missed everything that the Ace trainers were saying thanks to being distracted with his conversation with John, but they were apparently done with showing everyone around and were now bringing them into the gift shop.

He held back the urge to roll his eyes at the obvious marketing, but at least everything in the gift shop looked unique. There were many kinds of unique rocks, gems, and even non-revivable fossil pieces that were being sold here. His wife seemed to be interested, which was probably because they would make for interesting souvenirs and gifts, so they would probably walk out of here with at least something to commemorate the Cave's opening.

While he waited for his wife to finish looking around, he turned his attention back to where John was, where he was busy conversing quietly with the Waterflower sisters. He couldn't exactly overhear what they were talking about, but what was unmistakable was the trust and bond that the Gym Leaders had with their Elite Four member.

It was obvious that the sisters looked up to John as a sort of mentor figure, and John clearly reciprocated. They felt more like a teacher-student rather than an Elite Four and Gym Leader, which bode well for their future cooperation. It was no wonder that John was so trusting in them if he was treating them like students.

Seeing this, he let out a small sigh of relief. Today, he finally saw for himself that John was indeed a good man, and that he had genuine and realistic goals for the continued prosperity of their city. Even though John had a lot of overarching and wide-reaching goals that he didn't really feel concerned him, the Elite Four member never forgot about his own city and continued to seek ways to improve it.

Therefore, from today onwards, John had another supporter in himself.

May John stay in the Elite Four for the years to come.

(John's POV)

With the tour done, the Waterflower sisters and I left the cave, only to be immediately approached by a very cheerful mayor Henry.

"John! Gym Leaders! What a marvellous day it is, right?" He greeted us happily, "I hope you were as impressed as the public seemed to be with the new caves – especially you, John. Since this was your idea."

"I'm happy it seems to be a success." I nodded, "I'm confident that we'll see a steady influx of strong trainers coming here."

"Hm, it definitely seems like there will be." He agreed, "Did you see how everyone's eyes lit up when we mentioned that you could find powerful Pokémon down there? It was all that I hoped for! I'm confident that we'll be able to recoup our investment and turn a profit in a comfortable amount of time once the news spreads to all those other trainers!"

"Please let me know if you have any ideas floating around in that brain of yours. All of you." He grinned at us, "Cerulean City grows ever more prosperous with you fine individuals at the helm."

"Laying it on a bit thick there aren't you?" I chuckled, "Someone's certainly happy."

"Well I admit I'm being a little too enthusiastic – Cerulean City currently doesn't have the spare funds to accommodate another large investment like this one." He confessed, "So, actually, give it some time before you present another idea. I'll give it all the consideration it deserves."

"Awww…we wanted to ask for more budget for our contests…" The sisters whined.

"Surely your contests are successful enough already." Henry deadpanned, "I've seen the numbers. You really don't need the additional funding."

"Yeahhh….but we'd be able to pull off cooler shows if we did!" They exclaimed excitedly, only to get another tired sigh from Henry.

But before they could hassle the mayor any longer, all of our phones suddenly rang. My eyes shot up as I heard the sound.

This wasn't the usual text message or phone call. This was a region wide alert – only to be used in emergency situations.

Dread immediately set in for me, and I saw the horrified expressions slowly forming on everyone's face. I barely had the time to read the message when my phone rang.

"John, get over to Cinnabar Island." He ordered.

"Yes, coming now." I quickly replied to our Champion as I immediately released Port and hurriedly climbed on top of him as he took off. The sisters followed right after me, visible concern and panic on their faces.

The Cinnabar Volcano had erupted. And we had to evacuate everyone.

A.N. This was a long time coming. It was foreshadowed very long ago, and now it's finally happened. The eruption is here, and all the consequences that naturally follow it. John will have his hands full with dealing with this, and so will everyone else in Indigo.

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!