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 – 7-10 – A Fairy New Reality
The week after the Fairy reveal was a barely contained mess, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. While the excitement and fervour of the trainers were at an all-time high, good policing turned out be an effective deterrent to prevent would-be trespassers from trying their luck and disturbing the delicate ecosystems that Fairy Types lived in.
Turns out that a large snarling Arcanine was quite the effective deterrent for most overeager trainers.
I knew that Lance had also made use of the opportunity to push through a vote to channel more funds into the Indigo Police. He was riding off the success of both the International Police project, which I've heard from Lorelei and Lance had been handling themselves well in Hoenn, as well as the recent successes in keeping the peace when the Fairy type got revealed.
A few reports that I got from Lance suggested that the trust in the Indigo Police was at a very high level; a dramatic turnaround from when they were hardly trusted during Pryce's regime. Many were singing Lance's praises on that front.
However, not all was sunshine and roses for the Champion of Indigo. Because it seemed like the Blackthorn clan were determined to sink him through being a complete political embarrassment like an anchor tied around his waist.
Ever since the Fairy reveal, those prideful Dragon fanatics decided to wage a war of opinion against anyone who was celebrating the downfall of the Dragon types. They stubbornly insisted that the Fairy type would and could not crush a Dragon type and that the entire thing was overblown for the sake of dramatics.
In their stupidity, the Blackthorns threatened to make use of their huge connections to stamp down on this 'conspiracy' and to 'reinstate the proper place of the Dragons'. But they pushed too hard, and they ended up awakening the REAL sleeping Dragon. Professor Oak.
And the man was on a mission to make sure that this 'misinformation' couldn't be spread around. I wasn't there to see it, but I heard second-hand accounts from Blaine that the old Oak was back.
The Blackthorns might have had their collective years of connections to rely on, but Professor Oak had himself.
And the fight for influence wasn't even close.
Before he even challenged the Blackthorns to a fight, Oak had proved once again why he was a force to be reckoned within the sphere of politics. With a single statement from him in the news, and all those that might have joined the Blackthorns on their idiotic crusade instantly reconsidered.
And then Oak dared the Blackthorns into a battle, knowing full well that they would be too prideful to decline it. And accept it they did, running headlong into the trap that everyone knew Oak had prepared.
At this point, everyone with a rational mind knew that the Blackthorns were about to have a lot of egg on their face; it was just a matter of how much. To be fair, not every Blackthorn was as stupid as this, but a good majority of them definitely were.
Personally, so long as the Blackthorns weren't actually going to be causing a fuss, I didn't really care about their upcoming embarrassment, but it WAS funny reading the messages that I was receiving from Lance and Giovanni, as they couldn't be any more different.
Lance had been avoiding any and all public appearances during this fiasco. And so was Clair. They both wanted absolutely nothing to do with this and were determined to just hide away until it was all over. Lance even complained to me incessantly about how angry and frustrated he was about all this stupidity. He held out for hope that the damage to the Blackthorn's reputation wouldn't be too bad, but we all knew that was a fool's dream.
I'm pretty sure if this went on for much longer then Lance might start picking up a drinking habit.
In the meanwhile, Giovanni was laughing his head off at the fact that the Blackthorns were about to eat some humble pie. He only regretted that Professor Oak hadn't tried to make the whole thing a bigger event. He wanted the Blackthorns to be so thoroughly humiliated that they wouldn't dare raise their heads in public again. Alas, he'd settle for he could get.
The single bright spot for Lance during this whole affair was that his show of neutrality seemed to be paying off. His complete lack of support for the Blackthorn's actions seemed to provide some degree of separation between himself and the rest of the clan, even if he WAS a Blackthorn himself. At least many in the public understood that he was tacitly disapproving of their actions by not backing them up.
His sterling reputation still took a hit. But it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.
Aside from all this stupidity, the other big headline that was spreading throughout Indigo was about the protests happening throughout Sinnoh. No one really knew what was going on there; but it seemed serious enough that many political analysts were expecting some major upheaval.
I was pretty confident that Lance knew more about what was going on, but that was because I saw him in frequent communications with his Sinnoh counterpart. The rest of us didn't know squat. Until now.
Today, Lance had finally decided to bring the rest of the Elite Four into the loop. It was going to be a private meeting held at the Indigo League, and we were all to attend alongside Bertha. Thus, I made my way to the Indigo Plateau once more, brimming with curiosity, as I pondered about what was happening over in Sinnoh.
As soon as I arrived, I was escorted by a waiting League official to a private meeting room near Lance's office, which was the room that he usually used to greet foreign dignitaries.
As soon as I opened the door, I realized I was one of the last to arrive. Lance, Bertha, and Will were already seated, deep in discussion. They only paused as they saw me enter.
"Hey John, welcome. Have a seat." Lance greeted as from the head of the table as he motioned for me to sit down. I picked a seat at random and sat down next to Will, who in turn was sitting opposite of Bertha.
As I sat, Lance gestured to Bertha, "Have you two met formally? If not, then this is Elite Bertha, from Sinnoh." He introduced me to her, but Bertha waved him off.
"Oh don't worry about it, we've met." She replied, "John and I spoke last time when he met up with Professor Carolina." I nodded my head in agreement, before I threw out an idle question.
"So, what were you talking about before I got here? Something serious?" I asked.
"We were just discussing the opportunities presented by Sinnoh." Will answered as he leaned forwards, "Sinnoh has many untapped markets for us to explore and I was just helping Champion Lance with my opinions. We want to see if there's any chance of any financial cooperation between our two regions. Or at least, we hope to at least encourage foreign investment from them."
"That's right." Bertha confirmed, "Sinnoh has been traditionally very isolationist. We've not had much opportunity to trade beyond our borders. Certainly not recently with our current administration. But many of the less narrow-minded people realize the potential that opening our borders to Indigo and Hoenn present, and we want to see how we could turn that opportunity into actual economic growth for the region."
"Which is why I planned to send Will over to Sinnoh along with you when you both head to Sinnoh." Lance added, "He'll have the opportunity to mingle with a few of their businessmen while you do your thing with their science and exploration people. Different roles for different people."
I nodded in understanding. It made sense. To my left, I could see that Will had a pleased grin on his face for being chosen for such a position. But again, it only made sense. Will, to his credit, was the most business-minded person out of the Elite Four. Lorelei and I weren't really trained for it, and while I'm sure Agatha could handle talking to businessmen, I highly doubted she'd even WANT to.
Plus, she was more likely to drive them off than to actually welcome them. She could not be trusted with such a role.
So, Will was the best and only choice we had. But I felt that Lance's choice was a wise one – Will was well-suited for this role.
And, truthfully, I realized that I had already gotten over my initial annoyance with Will and his frequent need to show-off. I understood that he wasn't ever malicious with it, and so I accepted that it was just a trait of his, and it wasn't done to look down on others. Showing off and loving the spotlight was just part of who he was. And frankly, it could be a lot worse.
If I could get used to Agatha's acerbic tongue, then Will's behaviour was easily tolerable.
As if summoned by my thoughts, Agatha came shambling into the room, with Lorelei following carefully after her. The latter doing her best not to accidentally bump into Agatha.
It was obvious why. It was definitely hard to tell with just a casual glance, but Agatha's steps were far more careful and deliberate. She seemed to be more reliant on her cane than ever before. This didn't bode well for her health.
Still, she let none of her weakness show on her face as she greeted us with her signature mocking tongue, "Oh? We have someone here actually my age for once. What a lucky find! You feel that weary creak in your bones yet?"
"I've still got a few years before I get there. And I'm in certainly no rush for that." Bertha shot back with her eyes locked on Agatha, surprising me with her sharp tongue. Was it a common thing about the elderly to able to whip out an insult or two?
"Bah, don't kid yourself lady, your hair is as grey as mine." Agatha retorted with a scoff, "Actually, at least mine still looks blonde. Yours is just grey. How…unfortunate." In the meanwhile, Lorelei wisely ignored the brewing argument and simply sat down next to Bertha, tactically denying the seat to Agatha so that she couldn't sit next to Bertha. A genius move.
"But I can still run up a flight of stairs if needs be." Bertha responded with a smile that didn't reach her eyes, like steel hidden in silk. "You seem to have trouble with even getting to your seat."
Agatha snorted and was about to let out another insult, but Lance cut in before things could devolve even further.
"Ladies, PLEASE settle down." He said forcefully, silencing the both of them. "While I'm sure your topic of discussion is fascinating, we have other topics at hand. Table that discussion for later, while you aren't wasting everyone's time."
"Feh." Agatha spat but sat down anyways. Finally, with everyone settled down, Lance could finally get to the heart of the matter.
"Now that we're all gathered here, I'm going to pass the floor to Bertha so that she may discuss the current ongoings in Sinnoh and how we can get involved." Lance stated before gesturing to Bertha.
"Thank you, Champion. Unfortunately, the political situation in Sinnoh has been…fractious over the past week or so. Tensions have been building up for quite a while now, and things seem to have finally reached a boiling point if you've been seen on the news, with rampant protests spreading across the region." She explained.
"Now, while I understand that the domestic politics of a foreign region is normally of little interest to the Indigo Elite Four, you need to realize that the underlying reason that the people are protesting is because they believe that the traditionalists, who have long held power in the Sinnoh Committee, have all lost touch with the needs and wants of the public." She continued.
"With that in mind, the rest of the Sinnoh Elite Four and I are all confident that the traditionalists are going to be losing their hold on their positions of power, and we're likely to be ushering in a new generation of Committee members very soon. And these new members are very likely going to be favourable to joining up with the international community." She explained.
"Why is why I've come here to speak to all of you now, and it's been what I've been discussing with your Champion for the past few days." She glanced at all of us, "Because we NEED to prove to the public of Sinnoh that opening our borders to the wider international community was a good idea. This visit HAS to be an enormous PR win." She finished.
"Indeed. I can corroborate what Bertha said with the things that I've been hearing from my Sinnoh counterpart, Champion Hayato." Lance commented, "A few trusted sources told me that he's in rather hot water because of all the protests. I'm not sure if I'll be dealing with him for much longer, honestly."
"Good riddance." Bertha scoffed, "He's no friend of mine. And I've known for him quite some time already. He was part of the reason the traditionalists were able to hold onto power for so long, so I'll be happy to see him leave."
"Hold on, so who would succeed Hayato if he were to step down?" Will asked, "Or do you already have plans for that?"
Bertha shook her head, "None, unfortunately, which is admittedly quite worrying. We floated the idea of getting one of the other Elite Four to step up to the position, but we couldn't agree on who that'd be. Without getting into too much details, but none of us would be very suitable as Champions. We don't really possess the influence or the overwhelming strength that is expected of a Champion, and the public would know that we were just a compromise candidate. They wouldn't really give us the respect and authority that a new Champion would need to steer Sinnoh through all of this chaos."
"In that case, would the committee decide?" Lorelei questioned curiously. "Seems like that would be the only option left."
"None of the Elite Four want THEM to be making the decision." Bertha shook her head, "But fortunately, with the current roster of committee members imploding any moment now, the committee should be heavily neutered for the most part, and I'm confident that us Elite Four can hold down the fort during this period until we can find a suitable Champion. Especially if this international cooperation thing becomes a huge PR success."
"We might still end up electing one of our own in the end." She added, "But I think Lucian did mention that he had someone in mind that he thought had the potential to take up the position. I haven't met them personally, but I hope his words come true. It's definitely going to be an unusual time for us."
Her words caused an image of a very popular character from canon to flash through my head, and I had to hold back a grin. Would she be able to claim her infamous title even with all the changes I've made? I certainly hoped so. She was far too iconic in her role to imagine her otherwise. Though that did bring around another question.
"Are any of the other Elite Four supporting the Champion?" I brought up, "Things could get really messy if they were." And it would bring the situation uncomfortably close to a civil war, was what I didn't voice.
"Fortunately, that's not the case." Bertha reassured with a smile, "I'm the oldest amongst the Elite Four, and the rest of them are considerably younger than me. The ideals of the traditionalists have never really appealed to them. Nor have they gotten along well with Hayato outside of a general respect for his strength. But they certainly don't get along politically and have frequently stalled or pushed back against many of his proposals."
"It also helps that our Elite Four have been slowly growing in strength, whereas Hayato has long since stagnated." Bertha added, "The strength difference is no longer as apparent as it once was."
"HAH!" Agatha barked out a harsh laugh, "The Elite Four not liking their Champion? Now THAT sounds like a familiar story to me!"
"Do you have a timeframe on when the borders are likely to open?" Lorelei asked with a raised hand as she changed the topic, "We've been 'told' that the borders were about to open for quite a while now."
"Yes, and I do apologize for that." Bertha replied with a frown, "Even I underestimated just how much of a stubborn arse some of those traditionalists could be. But while I can't give you an exact timeframe, I suspect that that as soon as the traditionalists end up falling from power, you'll get your open borders."
"Then John and I will be sent over soon then." Will spoke up, looking excited about the trip. "Do we have an itinerary planned? Because I can draft one up if need be."
"We'll have one drafted as soon as we can confirm that the trip is happening." Bertha answered with a smile, "But yes, feel free to suggest any ideas. We're more than welcoming of them."
"Well, I think the two-pronged approach that Lance brought up earlier is a great idea." Will said, gesturing with his hands, "It lets us cooperate in two vastly different areas, but both are of vital importance to the region. Business and scientific cooperation is always going to look good in the papers. And John has always gotten along well in the public eye." I shot him a nod for the compliment.
Bertha nodded, agreeing with Will's words. "I think we could use that as a baseline then. It'll make a good puff piece that we can use as a foundation for future cooperation."
Suddenly, another question settled into my head. "What about Hoenn? We've not discussed their participation yet." It would be awkward if we were trying to show off 'international cooperation' WITHOUT Hoenn being there.
"I will be bringing it up with them after this meeting." Bertha responded, "Sidney and I have already arranged to talk. He's going to pass my message on to Wallace who will make the final decision on that front. But I'm confident they'll look to tagalong to whatever plans you have."
After that, the discussion ended up being mostly between Will and Bertha. The former seemed to be an endless font of ideas and suggestions, while the latter seemed to have infinite patience to be able to listen Will's constant stream of thoughts.
Eventually, Lance put a stop to it because the meeting was starting to run on a little too long for his liking, and he allowed us to leave. But just before he allowed to us to leave, he gave off one final reminder.
"Will, John." He addressed the two of us, "Don't forget to keep on the lookout for any suspicious activities that you might be able to link to those lunatics. I don't expect you to engage in active investigation, but make sure you report anything suspicious to me. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir." We both replied, getting a nod from him and Bertha. She had clearly been read into the situation.
After that, I saw Will move to resume his conversation with Bertha, but the rest of us made our way out. Except, Lorelei decided to approach me.
"John, do you have some time?" She asked while we were standing just outside the League's headquarters. Curious, I turned to look at her.
"Yeah, sure, what's the matter?" I asked.
"I have a proposal I would like to push through the next committee meeting. But I'm trying to shore up support to ensure it passes through." She explains confidently, none of her old hesitation hidden in her voice. It seemed like her time in Hoenn in a proper leadership role really changed her for the better. Just like it did for me.
I nodded at Lorelei for her to go ahead, "I'm looking to establish a new organisation that aims to focus and crack down on financial crimes." She explained, "The creation of the International Police is a good start in combating crime, but we need to make sure white collar crime cannot be allowed to run free either."
I blinked, taken slightly aback. "Wow, you don't think things in halves do you?" I replied rhetorically, "When did you think of this?"
"…It's been in the back of my mind for some time now – ever since the inspections with the Gyms actually, but I got distracted with all the other events happening over the past few weeks." She admitted, "I just saw that we already had such a robust team of inspectors that we hardly use, so why not put them to work and make them more active in their efforts against financial abuse?"
"…That's…not going to be something people are going to like." I replied, "Most people would prefer for others NOT to stick their heads into their business. It's going to be a tough sell. It certainly wouldn't pass without Lance's approval."
"I know, but this is something I want to get passed." She nodded, her eyes brimming with determination, "I've fallen slightly to the wayside in the public's eye after my victory, and I've seen that there are some that still expect me to be replaced soon enough when another strong challenger shows up. But I've been training rigorously for the past few weeks, hoping to secure my position martially. And if I can just get this proposal passed through, then I'm sure that I can finally demonstrate with more than just words that I am MORE than just my uncle's niece – and that I have my own goals and ideas that are separate from his."
Hearing the passion and determination in her voice caused a small smile to unconsciously form on my face, "I see, that's a nice goal that you're working towards."
But, unfortunately, there was no such thing as a free lunch in politics, so I asked the inevitable question.
"And what would you offer me in exchange for my support?" I asked ruthlessly, crushing my sympathy. "That's assuming you can even get Lance on board, of course."
"Why don't you give me your price, and I'll see if I can agree to it." She suggested, "I don't know what your plans are, but I believe that there must be something I can offer you to help push those along."
I rubbed my chin thoughtfully; it was a decent idea. Unfortunately, Lorelei wasn't a political powerhouse just yet. Amongst the Elite Four, she still had the least influence to make use of. But that could very quickly change.
After a moment, I came to a decision. "I want your support for my plans to pass a proposal to allow Gym Leaders to be appointed from either region within Indigo. So therefore, you could have a Johto native running a Kanto Gym and vice versa."
This time, it was Lorelei's turn to be surprised, "…That was certainly not what I was expecting." She mumbled, "And you said MY plans were big."
I shrugged, "Like you said, I've been planning this for some time as well. But I think this would be the next big step into ensuring the unity of Indigo."
"I doubt such a thing would pass right now, though." She replied.
"That's okay, I wasn't planning for it to. And, like you, I need Lance to be onboard for such a thing too." I said, "Still, I do plan on announcing it sometime in the future. And when I do, I expect your political support for it. Do we have a deal?" I extended a hand towards her.
She hesitated, but only briefly. "Yes, we do."
Our hands clasped together, and a deal was struck.
A.N. A catch-up + foreshadowing/setup chapter; I wanted to highlight some of the events that took place over the timeskip and also start foreshadowing future plans to come.
As always, I hope you enjoyed the politics too. Lorelei's been out of the spotlight for some time, but she'll be making her way back in. I haven't forgotten about her! 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!
This chapter has been edited thanks to your comments. For those re-reading, the anti-corruption organisation has been changed to focus on financial crimes instead, as pointed out it should make more political sense this way. Thank you for your comments.