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 – 10-5 – A New Stage
(Cynthia POV)
It was time. Her battle against ex-Champion Hayato had finally come.
She wasn't nervous, far from it. She couldn't be, not when she was here to make a statement – to remind the traditionalists that their time had come to an end.
She knew that he was a Poison specialist, though his entire team did not solely comprise of Poison types. Though, as befits a man that championed the cause of Sinnoh traditionalism for so long, his Pokémon were all from Sinnoh.
"You'll do fine, Champ!" Flint patted her on the shoulder and grinned, "I know Hayato; he isn't got anything on you."
"I'm sure she knows that already." Aaron said, giving her a small nod, "Go on and crush him. He deserves it; its not like he's gotten any stronger over the years."
"Probably the opposite." Flint quipped.
She smiled at her colleagues, giving them all a quick nod of acknowledgement before she stepped forwards into the stadium once again. She smiled and waved as she usually did, until she found herself standing in front of a man that seemed to be staring at her with a steely look in his eyes.
"…So we finally meet." The aged Hayato said. He was getting on in years, but he seemed to have aged significantly since his departure from Champion. He didn't use to look quite this old.
"We do." Cynthia agreed, "I didn't expect we would meet so soon. It's quite the pleasure to–"
"Save me from your pleasantries, we both know they're false." Hayato dismissed, "I was deposed because enough of the public hated me enough to kick me out. I know your view of me is no different from theirs."
"Then why challenge me?" She asked with a tilt of her head, "Even if you won, that won't suddenly get you back the popularity you lost. You know this."
"I do." He nodded, "But my supporters have convinced me to prove one thing to you – that the traditions of the past are not wrong. That my strength, as the long-time representative of the traditionalists, has not waned."
He raised a finger and pointed at Cynthia, "I know you believe you are doing what is right for the region. Perhaps you are, and that you truly are on the right path. But all I can see is the recklessness of youth, formed by a lack of caution of the real dangers that your policies may cause."
"And by the time that you realise it, the damage will have already be done." He shook his head, "It is that recklessness that worries us. Sinnoh has been served well by the traditions that we have held so strongly to, and I must do whatever I can to ensure that we return to safer and more familiar times."
"…You really must be blinded by the past if you truly thought that Sinnoh was prospering while it held strongly to its traditions." Cynthia frowned, "I appreciate that you are doing this because you believe this is for the betterment of Sinnoh – and for that you have my respect – but I cannot deny that I believe you are misguided in your views."
"And I believe you to be the misguided one." He shot back, "Sinnoh is not a region that requires change."
"So we come at an impasse, one that must be solved through battle." She turned her back to him, realising that there was little else to say, "Enjoy your time in the spotlight, Hayato. It will be your last."
She couldn't hear whatever comment he made in response as she took her position in the arena. She clutched her chosen Pokéball in her hand; she was not messing around this time.
Her victory against Hayato had to be nothing less than a statement. The final nail of the coffin of the traditionalists to show the public of the Sinnoh that they were well and truly out of power.
The last hurrah of the traditionalists would not go out with a bang, but with a pathetic whimper.
"GO! Milotic!"
"Drapion, get to work!"
She didn't even have to give commands as Milotic immediately moved to set up a Safeguard, cutting off Hayato's greatest strength – the ability to Poison his opponents. Drapion took the opportunity and moved in close, pincers raised menacingly, thinking that it could win in a fight at close range.
It could not. For as sedentary and as passive that Milotic may appear, she was brutally strong when push came to shove.
So instead of the helpless and vulnerable target it was expecting, Drapion was suddenly bashed aside as Milotic's tail came crashing into its side with surprising agility. Drapion dug its sharp legs into the ground, trying to push against the surprising strength of Milotic, only to be met with a powerful torrent of Hydro Pump right to the face.
"Payback, Drapion!"
Even though it stumbled backwards from force of the Hydro Pump, Drapion flared up with Dark energy and rushed forwards, using the damage it took to fuel its next attack. Drapion rapidly closed the distance and slashed ferociously at Milotic; with each slash of his infused with a crippling amount of Poison.
Yet Milotic hardly seemed affected by the attacks; without access to its famed Poison, Milotic had more than enough endurance to muscle through Drapion's aggression. Especially since Milotic had secretly set up with an Aqua Ring when Drapion was busy being blasted in the face by the Hydro Pump.
Cynthia watched as Drapion continued to rip into Milotic with a calm and analytical eye, unbothered by the damage her Milotic was receiving. While it may appear that Drapion was currently overwhelming her Milotic, she could see the truth.
Drapion wasn't nearly able to overwhelm her Milotic with its attacks – it just lacked the power to do so. Considering that Hayato was a previous Champion of Sinnoh, that was a curiosity. It was almost like his team hadn't improved ever since his departure.
This was not the strength of a Champion's Pokémon. He was too reliant on his Pokémon's ability to Poison, which was where most of his training likely went to, and now that Safeguard had blocked it, his Pokémon's natural strength was unable to make up the difference. Or was her Milotic just tankier than she thought?
But that wasn't important for now. With another command, Milotic suddenly slithered to the side, dodging another Cross Poison from Drapion before a powerful Aqua Tail slammed into its side like a hammer. Drapion's head literally snapped to the side from the impact, and as it staggered backwards, Milotic darted forwards and crashed their heads together with a concussive Iron Head that disoriented the Drapion and caused it to flinch.
Drapion then exploded with Dark energy as it swung its claws around with a powerful Payback, only to hit nothing but air as Milotic had already fallen back. So instead of striking with a powerful counterattack, Drapion was blasted in the face with another torrential Hydro Pump that sent it skidding back and pinned against the psychic barriers of the arena.
As Drapion struggled to peel itself off the ground, Milotic took full advantage of this to begin setting up with Coil and Dragon Dance, constricting herself as she crucially boosted her Attack, Defense, and Speed.
She knew she could not replicate the jaw-dropping demonstration of brute strength that John accomplished with his starter, but she COULD defeat Hayato in a way that would make her victory look effortless.
And with his Drapion being so outmatched by her Milotic to allow her to begin setting up, and with a strong Safeguard firmly in place to deny Hayato access to his poison, she knew she was already on her way there.
Realising that keeping Drapion in the fight for longer was only going to allow her Milotic to continue setting up, Hayato withdrew his Drapion and sent out his Gastrodon next, which was one of his few non-Poison types.
He must have been thinking that Gastrodon would be able to nullify Milotic's Water attacks.
However, that assumption was quickly proven false as Milotic rushed forwards, surprising the notoriously sluggish Gastrodon as a Dragon Tail whipped through the air and smashed into the Ground type's face; the impact digging a trench through the ground while sending the Gastrodon face first into it.
Then Milotic swept her tail upwards, forcefully knocking Gastrodon into the air before darting forwards and immediately Wrapping herself around it. Gastrodon gasped in pain as Milotic ruthlessly began to squeeze, causing a painful squelching noise as Milotic painfully constricted the Gastrodon with her longer and stronger boy.
Gastrodon was literally having the air crushed out of it.
"Stone Edge, Gastrodon! Break free!"
She could see the desperation in both the trainer's and Pokemon's eyes as Gastrodon frantically tried to break free by launching a volley of sharpened rocks into Milotic. But her Water type merely shrugged them aside as she continued to choke the life out of the Gastrodon and – to add insult to injury – blasted it right in the face with a pulsating Dragon Pulse.
Knowing that his Gastrodon was completely and utterly helpless as it was being choked out, Hayato did the only thing he could do.
"Return, Gastrodon! Come out, Toxicroak!"
She shot Hayato a curious look as she stared at the newly emerged Toxicroak; he must have been running out of options if he chose his Toxicroak to be his next Pokémon.
But…that was fine, because she felt that this was time to reveal one of her trump cards. After all, she was here to send a message, and what better message to send but to show how impossible Hayato's chances of victory against her was?
Therefore, she made the order.
"Baton Pass, Milotic."
She watched as Hayato's eyes shot open with surprise as her Milotic was recalled into her Pokéball, only to be swapped out with her Garchomp – now with ALL of Milotic's previous buffs. Milotic weren't able to learn Baton Pass naturally, but she had practiced with her Togekiss to make this strategy a reality.
"GARCHOMP!" And now, as Garchomp's thunderous roar echoed throughout the arena, instinctively causing Toxicroak to flinch minutely in fear, she grinned tauntingly at her opponent. Facing a boosted Garchomp was every trainer's nightmare – and hers was no ordinary Garchomp.
It would be a slaughter.
Then Garachomp buried herself into the ground, only to erupt out seconds later as she effortlessly ripped through the Protect shield from Toxicroak. A desperate Ice Punch from the Toxicroak was expertly parried before Garchomp brutally clotheslined her opponent, crashing a powerful clawed wing into its neck and sending the Toxicroak sprawling onto the ground, choking on its breath.
Grabbing the fallen Toxicroak in her razor-sharp claws, Garchomp let out a menacing growl as her claws painfully dug into Toxicraok as she viciously clutched the Poison type's head in her hands as if she was trying to crush it with her boosted strength. A Sludge Bomb came her way, but she shrugged it off before her arm came down like a blur, smashing the Toxicroak head first into the ground.
Toxicroak struggled in her grasp, but her Garchomp was unrelenting as she ruthlessly smashed it down again and again and again, brutalising the Poison type as a small crater formed around them.
Garchomp then pressed Toxicroak to the ground before she let out a stomp, causing the hole that she had created to split apart and shatter as a spiderweb of cracks cut through the battlefield. As the tremors began shaking the entire arena, Garchomp kept Toxicroak pinned to the ground, forcing it to tank through the entirety of the sheer destructive power of Garchomp's boosted Earthquake.
Needless to say, with all of the buffs that Garchomp had, the Earthquake was very much overkill. Toxicroak had fallen within seconds.
And she knew that the rest of his team wouldn't last much longer than that.
(John POV)
Cynthia's battle against Hayato was just as dominating as I hoped it would be, with the latter having been soundly crushed by his replacement. Like the rest of the spectators, I was also surprised when she had revealed her Milotic's ability to Baton Pass her buffs, and I inwardly raised the threat level of her Milotic by a couple of stages.
The ability to pass on buffs to her already powerful Garchomp was staggeringly powerful. Especially the right kinds of buffs.
It was something to consider for my own team as well.
Of course, with Hayato soundly crushed by Cynthia in a dominating 6-0 victory that really highlighted the power of a fully buffed up Garchomp, that signified the last 'real' chance that anyone had of displacing Cynthia from her new position as Champion. Even though she still had other challenges waiting to fight her, everyone knew that they were only doing so as to not be left out. There was no real chance that they would win.
Therefore, Cynthia's position as Champion was all but confirmed.
Not only that, but Wallace had contacted us through the same conference call that he did before, with the same people attending, looking to speak about the Tri-Regional Tournament.
"I bring joyous news!" He said with a pleased smile on his face, "Though I may have run my assistants ragged, I can safely announce that the planning for the Tri-Regional Tournament HAS BEEN COMPLETED!"
"Is it still taking place in Hoenn?" Bertha asked.
"Have our partners been decided? What was the criteria for choosing the teams?" I followed up.
"Are the Champions still going to fight in 3v6 in the end?" Lance added, just as excited as everyone else.
"Ah, I can see that there is plenty of excitement to share around! Excellent!" Wallace grinned, "But to answer all of your questions, allow me to give you another rundown of what the Tri-Regional Tournament is going to entail."
Wallace then proceeded to explain that this tournament was going to take place over the course of a week, during the intermediary break between the Preliminary Rounds and the Finals of each region's Conference – as they all took place at the same time. Wallace said that he figured that would help maintain the public's excitement for the Conference and make it easier to generate hype. The announcement and invitations would be sent out after this meeting.
Technically, a Gym Leader or Elite Four could refuse to participate in this Tournament. But that was stupid on so many levels. As a Gym Leader and Elite Four, to skip out on such an event would be seen as cowardice.
Nothing about the format of the Tournament had changed from his initial proposal. The Champion battle at the end was still going ahead, to the joy of both Cynthia and Lance.
The only difference was that that Wallace had now confirmed that a small prize and a commemorative trophy awaited you if you made it to the Top 3. The trophy came in pairs, which meant that you were able to share it with your partner.
I suspected that the small prize pool came from the rushed nature of the Tournament's planning, so naturally everyone was scraping to save as much money as possible without cutting any essential corners.
The winner's prize was, frankly, hardly anything to be excited about, but the real prize was the prestige and fame that one could earn by being able to fight on such a big stage. Not that I needed any more of it; but I would still strive to win regardless.
Especially with the opportunity to fight against Lance on the line.
"I noticed that you still haven't mentioned about who we are partnering up with." I pointed out, failing to hold back my excitement.
"Patience, I was just about to get there." Wallace chuckled, "But I guess I can move on to the topic of who's partnering with who. Over the last few days I had carefully studied the strengths and teams of each and every participating Gym Leader and Elite Four and sorted them out into 3 different categories. The first category belonged to the strongest of trainers, the second belonged to those who had a more 'average' level of strength, and the last belonging to those that were newer and less experienced to their position."
"For the sake of privacy, and as to not offend anyone, I will be not be disclosing who falls into which category." He said, though I was sure that we could guess who fit into where, "But I have done my best to pair up – as fairly as possible – the teams that would be participating in the Tournament. However, given the above criteria, I suspect that many of you could already predict who your potential partner might be."
"I will be declaring who's partnered with who on the new website that will launch alongside the announcement." He stated, "Please find out there."
He took a dramatic breath of air as he finished his explanation, "Now, does anyone have any problems or questions that they would like to direct towards me?"
"Would certain Gym Leaders be offended that we've labelled them as 'weaker'?" Bertha asked.
Lance scoffed, "If they were offended then they just have to prove themselves to be strong. The Tournament is an excellent opportunity for that, after all. Having a poor reputation is your own fault, or merely a sign of inexperience. Both can be rectified with hard work."
"Indeed." Wallace nodded, "Anyone else?"
"I have none." Cynthia spoke up, "I think you've covered all your bases."
"I only have one question – do you have plans on hosting a tournament like this for next year?" Lance asked.
"I believe it would be too early to say." Wallace replied, "Let's see how this one turns out first. Personally, I think keeping it to a one-time thing would make the event more special. Plus, we can still have other tournaments like this in the future, but they should follow a different format."
"That's understandable." Lance nodded, "Then I have no other questions. You have our support. We will make our announcement jointly."
"Excellent! And if there aren't any other questions…" He looked around to the Elite Four that were present. None of us had anything else to add, "…Then I'll leave it here for now. I've already got a press conference ready in a few hours. Feel free to coordinate your announcement with us."
"Will do." Cynthia nodded, and the meeting broke up there.
Before I left Lance's office, I raised something I had meant to bring up earlier, "Oh, by the way, Lance, would it be okay if I took a week to visit Sinnoh again? Probably after the Tournament is over?"
"Visiting Sinnoh? What for?" Lance asked curiously.
"It's nothing serious, but I just wanted to do a little bit of cave diving and see if I can discover anything else in those caves that I ventured in before." I said easily, "You must remember the headlines when I discovered those long-lost Pokémon."
"Ah, I do remember them." Lance nodded, "Well…I'll keep your request in mind once the Tournament is over. If I think that there's a week spare, then I'll give my approval for you to head over. Do realise that I will probably saddle you with one or two tasks while you're there, though."
"Yeah, that's fine. I expected it." I said, "Oh, and I'm planning on heading there with Drake. If our schedules match up."
"Drake? Really?" Lance looked surprised, "I didn't think you'd be going with him. No offence meant."
I chuckled, "No, I understand. Drake doesn't seem like the type of guy that would do something like this. But I like the man, and I felt that it was a shame that we hadn't spent time together since we fought those terrorists in Hoenn."
"Drake is a respectable man." Lance agreed, "Well, it's not like I can tell you who you can or cannot spend time with. Just try not to cause that much of a fuss there. I know you're intending to visit more than just Drake – a certain someone springs to mind. Just know that I do not want to see an international incident in the news when you're there." He joked.
"I'll do my best." I laughed, "Anyways, thanks Lance. But I'm going to head home and get ready to see who my partner is."
"You know you're going to be paired with someone we–…less strong, right?" Lance said, trying to be diplomatic and not saying 'weak'.
"Of course." I nodded, "But that's part of the challenge. And besides, this is all supposed to be in good fun anyways. I'll do my best to win, but there's no need to deploy my Slaking from the get go."
"Good, because you better save your starter to face off against Emperor. We'll be waiting." He grinned challengingly at me.
"I haven't forgotten." I matched his challenging grin with one of my own.
Our conversation ended soon after that, and I immediately headed home and got to training. Excited about Tyrant's fight against Emperor, I spent more time than I usually would have with him to make sure that he was in the right place to take on Emperor.
There was no 'special' training that we did, not because I was being complacent, but simply because I had ALWAYS been training Tyrant to be able to take on Emperor. That means that there was no new tricks that I could teach Tyrant, not in such a short amount of time. It was all down to skill and experience now.
My other Pokémon gave Tyrant a wide berth as he trained, slightly intimidated by the oppressive aura of determination and sheer purpose that he was radiating. However, seeing Tyrant's determination only drove my other Pokémon to train harder, as to not let Tyrant be the only one pushing himself this hard.
I smiled as I saw this; I had raised a good team.
Eventually, the hours came and went, and I headed back inside for dinner, which was just in time for Wallace's announcement of the Tri-Regional Tournament.
I wasn't even listening to the announcement itself; not only did I already know what was coming, but my mind was completely focused on who my partner was.
I didn't care if they were weak. As Lance pointed out, that would have been expected. I cared FAR more about their character and if I could work well with them. After all, we weren't going to be paired with someone from our own region, so I might not be as well-liked as I was in Indigo.
"…Hey! The teams are out!" Karen suddenly called out from my left, having joined us for dinner today, "Go check already! You've been buzzing with excitement this whole dinner."
She didn't need to tell me twice, and I immediately hopped on my phone, going to the website and finding the list of participants and their respective partners. I scrolled down through the list until I finally found my name and who my partner was going to be.
I let out a grin of relief as I saw who it was.
"I can see the grin on your face, so you must have gotten someone good." Karen said curiously, "Who is it? There's no way they'd pair you with someone that was considered strong."
"They wouldn't." My dad agreed, "Champion Wallace spent so long emphasizing in his announcement that the teams would be fair and balanced."
"Still doesn't explain why he's grinning so much." Karen said, "So, stop being coy and spill the beans. Who'd you get?"
Deciding that I had probably teased them for long enough, I flipped my phone around and showed them who my partner was.
"…Roxanne? Isn't she the one of the newer Gym Leaders in Hoenn? The one who recently replaced Roy at the Rustboro Gym?" Karen asked.
"Oh, I remember her!" My mom exclaimed, "I remember that there was a whole fluff article about how she spends a lot of time as a teacher training up the new generation of trainers, on top of her duties as a Gym Leader. Many were saying that she's very mature and kind for her age."
"That's exactly why I'm so pleased to get her." I smiled, "Since the format of this Tournament is 2v2, and the whole purpose of the Tournament is to show off cooperation between the regions, it's important that you're able to work well with your partner."
"And you must be happy because you realize that Roxanne is someone you can work with." Karen finished my thought for me, "Well, I can't disagree; she seems friendly. I think you'd make an excellent pair. Better to be paired with her than someone more abrasive."
"Exactly." I nodded.
"Hmm, well I guess you had some good luck there. So, who did everyone else get paired up with? I'm very interested in who the old hag is teamed with." She leaned over my phone to look as I proceeded to scroll through the list.
I legitimately burst out in laughter as soon as I saw who Agatha was paired up with. Wallace must have done this on purpose to pair up Agatha with TATE AND LISA. The mental image of grumpy old Agatha spending time with the super young Psychic prodigies was too much for me.
Karen must have agreed, because she joined in on my laughter when I showed it to her.
"…Can you imagine the old hag standing side-by-side with those two when they take their picture?" Karen wheezed out between her peals of laughter, "She'd look so out of place! It'd be like she was their grandma!" Even my parents were giving off wry smiles of their own.
Joking aside though, that was a very formidable pair. Tate and Lisa were young, but they were true prodigies, which was why they were made into Gym Leaders in a rare exceptional case (though they were still supervised). Their only weakness was that, as they were ultimately still kids, they were still prone to immaturity and lacked a lot of experience in battling despite their talent.
But Agatha could easily make up for both these deficiencies. It really was a pairing to watch out for.
Other than that, I saw a few other notable pairings which really highlighted how much research and consideration that Wallace put into this.
Drake was paired with the Waterflower sisters, which I suspected had something to do with their shared Water specialty. Sidney was paired with Brock, likely owing to his familiarity with Dark types since he had trained with Karen. Lorelei was paired with Wake. Will paired with Flannery.
And then another laugh threatened to break out of my face when I saw that Pryce was paired with Candice. Those two could not have been more different in terms of demeanour, but it was still a powerful team.
Furthermore, I also saw Giovanni being paired with Norman, which was going to be interesting to see. A knowing smile DID break out across my face as I saw Volkner being paired up with Jasmine.
I wished them both good luck.
"So what are you going to do now?" Karen's voice broke me from my idle browsing, "Since you're paired up with Roxanne, are you going to start training with her?"
"Of course." I said as if it was obvious, "I said I'm planning on winning the whole thing, right? Training can't wait if I'm to be in the Top 3."
"It can wait until dinner's over at least." My mom cut in, "You better eat up quickly. The food's already gotten cold since you were so distracted."
Appropriately admonished, I quickly polished off what remained of my dinner before finally making a call to Drake.
"John! Did you see the pairings?" He immediately asked.
"I did, and it's actually why I'm calling." I replied, "But first, you happy to be paired up with the Waterflower sisters? Like I told you before, I can vouch for them – they're good people."
"I didn't have any doubts about that." He said, "You don't have to worry about them giving a weak performance. I promise I'll whip them into shape for the Tournament."
I chuckled, "No need to push them too hard."
"Of course, of course; I'm not some kind of harsh taskmaster." He chuckled too, "Anyways, what can I help you with? Or are you trying to find to contact Roxanne?"
"Yep, that's exactly it." I nodded, "Do you mind helping me get her number?"
"Already have it. I'll send it over now." He said.
"Oh, cheers. Thanks!" I said, "Oh – by the way, I already spoke to Lance about the trip to Sinnoh. He's okay with it, assuming we can find a block of time to go there."
"Wallace said it was fine as well, so maybe this fucking trip is happening after all!" He laughed, "…Well, I gotta go talk to those water sisters of yours. Don't worry, I'm sure they'll do your city proud by the end of this Tournament."
With the call over, he passed me the Roxanne's number and I moved to ring her up.
"Good evening, Elite John." A very polite and formal voice sounded through the phone, "I had expected this call, but thank you for reaching out to me. I'm Roxanne, and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Likewise, Gym Leader Roxanne. I do hope I haven't disturbed anything." I replied.
"It's perfectly alright; I just finished dinner myself. Can I assume that you're looking to discuss matters regarding the Tournament?" She asked. "You seem like the type that wants to win the whole thing."
"You're right, that IS my goal." I chuckled, "I fully intend to be in the Top 3 so that we can have the opportunity to face off against the Champions."
"I see…well I hate to disappoint you, John, but you can probably imagine why you were selected to partner with me." Roxanne said sadly, "Everyone knows your strength in the same way that everyone knows that I'm weak. I'm afraid that I'll be the anchor tied around your neck."
"Nonsense. Don't bring yourself down that much." I instantly replied, "Firstly, this Tournament is about teamwork, not necessarily about raw strength. I'm sure with the right amount of cooperation and training, we'll be able to take advantage of our respective strengths to make it to the top 3 AND have a good time. Plus, you wouldn't have been made Gym Leader if you are as weak as you say you are, so I'm sure that we'll able to come up with something that will allow you to utilise your strength."
"I'm always willing to learn." Roxanne responded firmly.
"Excellent, that's all I needed to hear." I grinned, "And I understand that you aren't able to come over to Indigo, and I'm likewise not really free to head to Hoenn so early. But I think we can arrange to host training sessions through the phone; see what each person can do and how best to work with each other. Would you be free tomorrow afternoon?"
"Evening would be better for me." She said, "Unfortunately, I have students to teach in the afternoon."
"Of course. That's perfectly fine too." I nodded, "Then let's talk further tomorrow evening. It'll be good to learn more about each other's teams."
"Absolutely. I'll look forward to it." She said before hanging up.
"She sounds nice." Karen smiled as I hung up, "I thought she'd be a bit more nervous, but she sounds quite assured herself. Must be why she's a teacher."
"Nice is all that matters." I stated, "I'm confident I can work well with her."
"You think some of the teams will struggle to work together?" Karen asked, before cutting herself off, "Wait, no, that's a dumb question. I've no doubt that there will be teams that can't work well together."
Then she laughed, "I still can't get over the old hag getting paired with the twins. I couldn't think of a better pairing. As soon as I head home, I'm definitely going to needle her about it."
"But who would you pair her with, if you could choose?" I asked.
She shot me an evil smile, "Why, Pryce of course! Can you imagine it? It'd be a complete disaster!"
I shuddered at the image. That was a civil war in the making.
A.N. Cynthia revealed a trump card - a Baton Pass-boosted Garchomp is absolutely no joke. And the Tri-Regional Tournament is underway! Yes, I paired up John with Roxanne. It just made sense to me given that Roxanne is supposedly quite junior as a Gym Leader, and someone I believe could work well with John. Hope you're happy with the pairing! Also, the other pairs with the other Gym Leaders/Elite Four will also be revealed in the future as well.
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!
