John's Team
Tyrant - Slaking
Vordt - Ursaluna
Smough - Snorlax
Klee - Blissey
Port - Mantine
Zephyr - Pidgeot
Klaus - Wyrdeer
Luna - Clefable
Pixel - Porygon-Z
Euphie - Sylveon
Ornstein - Obstagoon
Wraith - H-Zoroark
Winston - Lickilicky (Shiny)
The New Normal – 12-17 – New Foundations
With my battle against Dorothy over, I made sure they didn't need me for anything else before I promptly headed home to check out Winston's new evolution and to test out his new capabilities now that he was a Lickilicky.
But more than that, I wanted to get a head start on quashing any signs of overconfidence and arrogance before they could take hold in Winston – making sure that he hadn't allowed the newfound power to go to his head so that he would continue on his path to getting stronger.
Aside from his bravery, that was the characteristic that most impressed me when we first met, after all.
Thus, soon after I arrived home, I made my way to the training fields and instantly sent out my entire team, who naturally swarmed around Winston as they marvelled at his new evolution.
Winston was initially smug about it, and he was quick to regale the others about his convincing victory against Shedinja while Klee and Luna inspected his new form asking him to show off a few moves so that they could see what had changed. I let that play out as Winston continued boasting about his accomplishments, but then, without any prompting from me, Tyrant suddenly loomedover Winson.
"King…" My starter growled out, his menacing eyes staring deep into Winston's soul. "Sla. King."
That warning from Tyrant for Winston to stay humble quickly took the wind out of his sails and a brief look of fear appeared on Winston's face as he instinctively took a few steps back away from Tyrant.
That was…a little more aggressive than how I would have done it, and I didn't like my team to have to resort to scaring their fellow teammates, but I trusted Tyrant's read of the situation. And indeed, after that warning, Winston's subsequent retelling of the fight was a lot more subdued and grounded in reality. I hoped that was the end of that, and that no further reminders would be needed.
In the meanwhile, Klee reported back to me with her findings as she finished up on her cursory inspection of Winston's evolution.
Yes, Winston had definitely gotten a lot stronger with his new evolution. She told me that there was a noticeable growth in his endurance, strength, and speed, though of course we couldn't test whether his Special Attacks got stronger yet.
However, after seeing his last fight against Dorothy, I had new ideas about how I wanted to train him up going forwards. Now having seen him expertly manoeuvre his tongue in combat like an additional limb, I wanted to see if I could continue strengthening his attacks with his tongue.
With that in mind, I waited for Winston to finish with his retelling of the battle before I called him over, "Okay, good job on that last fight, Winston, but now that you're evolved, I'd like you to continue exploring just how far we can utilise your tongue attacks. I think that'll be an angle that most trainers wouldn't expect, giving you an advantage."
He nodded, so I continued, "I know you can use the elemental punches with your fist, but I want you to start practicing channelling elemental energy into your tongue as well. I want your tongue to be able to deliver attacks of all types, and being able to surprise an enemy and strike them with an elemental punch from your tongue would be an incredible advantage – and it would also allow you to block attacks simultaneously with your arms while you keep up the offensive with your tongue."
I had to hold back a chuckle at the thought of someone's Dragon getting whacked and licked in the face by a frozen tongue. That was pretty funny to think about.
"Not only that, but I want to make sure we incorporate your tongue into your movement capabilities as well." I added, "I saw you latch onto one of the support beams with your tongue to throw yourself around in your fight against Dorothy – and I really liked that. I want to see more of that, especially combined with your Rollout! You'll be incredibly mobile in a fight!"
In my mind, I visualized Winston being able to hurl himself around the arena like a pinball, quickly flying through the air as he used his tongue like a grappling hook to latch onto and pull himself around the fight – giving him an extreme amount of mobility that he could utilise to close the distance and dodge attacks.
If possible, I wanted him to be even betterthan Whitney's Miltank was at Rollout thanks to his tongue. Sorry, sis.
Winston nodded enthusiastically, understanding what I wanted from him as he immediately went off to start practicing as a familiar flare of determination ignited in his eyes. Of course, this was definitely not something he could accomplish so soon, so I made sure to explain that this was a long-term thing and something I hoped he would master eventually, thus there was no need to rush into things.
Meanwhile, I left Winston to his training as I moved on to Euphie. "Euphie, you made excellent use of Misty Terrain in that last fight – it did everything I hoped for and more." She let out a happy chime at that, "But we still need to work on your dodging skills. You seem to still struggle against fast attackers that get in close, and I think we need to continue training up on the power of your Hyper Voices to force back such enemies."
Even though I said that, inwardly I felt that Euphie was already in a pretty good position already. She wasn't as strong as some of my other Special Attackers, but I didn't need her to be. Right now, I felt that she was an excellent anti-Dragon Pokémon that hard countered opponents that relied on status moves, making her a very useful niche to have against certain opponents.
If both Winston and Euphie could just focus on improving themselves just that little bit more, then I was certain they would grow to be worthy of being peers with my Elite team.
The sun slowly went down over our training fields as I continued training up with our Pokémon late into the evening, but then I was suddenly interrupted when I received a call from Lance.
"Something the matter?" I asked him, thinking that it was unusual that he would call when we had just seen each other earlier this morning.
"Yes, unfortunately." He said seriously, which instantly put me on alert, "Flint from Sinnoh called me. Apparently, the Galactic Building has just burned down."
I nearly dropped my phone in shock, "…What? How the fuck did that happen?"
Was Cyrus making his move?
"I was surprised too, but Flint's confirmed that it's what happened." Lance replied, "From what he told me, it appears that Cyrus must have chosen to go on the run rather than allow the League an opportunity to scour through their files. They've burnt down everything. When they went in to see if they could recover anything, the Sinnoh League returned empty-handed."
I frowned, but I could begrudgingly understand the logic behind Cyrus' actions. Obviously, burning everything down wouldn't stop us from making a connection between himself and the terrorists, as he wouldn't have done something so drastic if he was actually innocent. However, by doing it this way, he gets rid of anything useful we might be able to find while he goes into hiding once more.
But there was a question I had to ask, "So what are Flint and the others doing now? Surely they must know that the sudden burning down of Galactic Building when they were under investigation is highly suspicious."
"Of course." Lance nodded, "Flint's already declared made an official declaration demanding for Cyrus to be found to answer for his disappearance. Cynthia hasn't arrived back at Sinnoh yet, but I'm sure further action will be taken once she does."
"I see…" I muttered, "So what does that mean for us? Are we going to be sent over there right away?"
"Not quite yet." He shook his head, "As stupid as this sounds, so far nothing has actually happened yet that would warrant immediate foreign intervention. Right now, the only thing that has actuallyoccurred was that a building has burnt down and a major suspect has gone missing. Sure, that suspect has ties to terrorism, but that by itself isn't justification for us to head over there immediately. For now we just have to trust the Sinnoh League to handle matters as best they can."
…He was right, but I didn't like it. Lance obviously could tell, as he continued placatingly, "Obviously, I'm not going to just sit there and wait passively for Cyrus and his band of terrorists to actually dosomething drastic."
"Therefore, I'm already in talks with Wallace to see if we can accelerate the formalisation of the Regional Union as quickly as possible to give us as much political capital as possible for a foreign intervention." He explained, "Not only that, but consider this a formal notice for you to stay on high alert. I want you to be accessible via phone 24/7. You and the other Elite Four members may be called to assist at anymoment, and I want you all to be ready to fly over to Sinnoh if you ever receive that call."
"Understood." I nodded firmly, "Just tell me when you need me."
As Lance hurried away to place other calls, I let out a proper sigh as I put my phone away. At this moment, I felt a mixture of anticipation and relief. Anticipation for the upcoming battles ahead, understanding that this was the calm before the storm, and relief for the fact that I knew that this would finally be the moment where we got to remove Team Galactic once and for all.
No longer will they be an annoyance that lingered in the back of my mind.
If Team Galactic was about to be rebirthed from the ashes of their Galactic Building, then I will make sure to stomp them back into the ground where they belonged.
Cyrus was going to get what he deserved.
(Steven POV)
….Apparently, they had picked an interesting time to come to Sinnoh.
He had come over because of Roark's surprising invitation to arrange some sort of secret business arrangement between them. The Gym Leader was vague about the details, but he understood that this was about some important historical dig that Roark wanted Devon Corp's resources for.
He wasn't stupid, so considering all this secrecy and the importance of the find, he guessed that it was either to do with something about Hisui, like another alternate Pokémon version, or a Legendary Plate.
But who knew that on the very first day that they arrived at Sinnoh would also coincide with the headquarters of their largest business burning to the ground – intentionally, at that. If the mostly verified rumours were to be believed.
Even without knowing the full story, he had followed enough of the news about the investigation into Galactic Company to know that this was a bad omen. Not only for Sinnoh (and he knew instinctively that this was simply the calm before the storm), but for his own company as well.
Businesses as large as Galactic Company were usually painted in the same brush as Devon Corp and Silph Co, as they were all about the same size. So when Cyrus was practically confirmed to be the illegal sponsor (if not the leader himself) of an international terrorist group? Well, that tainted all of their companies as well.
He was just glad that he was in Sinnoh right now. Otherwise, he would have to sit through all those meetings with the other directors about how Devon Corp could improve their public relations to reassure the public that they weren't some shady sponsors of terrorists as well. Even though they weren't and would never be! Public opinion was so fickle at times.
Still, despite all of this, the man next to him was completely unbothered as usual.
"Can I go fight Roark after you're done with your discussion?" Bruno asked him.
He had expected this question, "Yes, but only him for now. Please don't run off and try to challenge the other Gyms as well. The Circuit hasn't started yet, and there's no need to bother Gym Leaders on their days off like that."
Bruno frowned with dissatisfaction, so he quickly continued, "…But if you want, I'll see if I can make arrangements so that we can make an appointment for a fight. For now, why don't we spend a day or two settling down on the house I bought at Oreburgh City. It's a new place, so I'll need your help with decorating the place. Maybe you could also spend some time just taking in the sights of Sinnoh, and maybe catch a few Pokémon."
He had some on his mind as well, wanting to catch them himself instead of relying solely on the PSS system. Even though the newly caught Pokémon would unlikely be able to be used when he made his play to become Champion, they should be trained up in time to help defend against any potential challengers afterhe won.
Bruno let out a grunt at that, "Perhaps. But I know nothing about decoration."
He shrugged, "Me neither. Don't you remember my house in Mossdeep City? If it were up to me I'd just fill it up with cool rocks and call it a day. But this is meant to be a vacation home, so I'd actually like for it to looklike one."
His partner let out another grunt, but Bruno didn't contradict him as he heaved their luggage off of the boat. Steven didn't intend for Bruno to take his luggage for him, but Bruno wasn't saying anything so he just let it happen.
The man was most certainly strong enough.
Therefore, the two of them quickly made their way to Oreburgh City. They both flew on his Skarmory, since Bruno still didn't have a Flying type Pokémon that he could use for transportation. He had tried his best to persuade his friend, but Bruno simply wouldn't budge.
They actually made a quick detour to Veilstone City to check out the burnt remains of the Galactic Building, but there was little to see. Everything was cordoned off by the Sinnoh police, and they weren't allowing anyone near the burned down husk of what was once a shiny beacon of Sinnoh's greatest business.
Honestly, that was a depressing sight to see. He firmly vowed to never allow Devon Corp to be in that state. Not under his rule.
Small detour aside, it didn't take them that long to arrive at his lodgings in Oreburgh, where he descended next to the Pokémon Centre and made his way to his house that was next to the Oreburgh Mines.
Some of his richer 'peers' that he was unfortunate enough to be acquainted with would neverbe seen buying lodgings so close to a loud and dirty mineshaft, but for a fossil lover like he was, it was perfect. So long as you didn't mind the noise, but he'd experience worse. Some of the research facilities around Devon Corp weren't any better.
Needless to say, Bruno wouldn't have a problem with that either. Bruno had told him stories about how he used to survive in the wilds during his 'training periods', so a noisy lodging would be like a hotel to him.
Once they had settled into their new lodgings, the two of them split up. Obviously, Bruno would not be participating in the meeting with Roark, so like the training addict that he was the Fighting specialist quickly departed for the Oreburgh Mines to see if he could break a few boulders or something.
He didn't really want to think too much about the insanity that was his best friend.
In the meanwhile, since he had a bit of time before his meeting with Roark, he instead chose to do something sensible and went straight to the Oreburgh Mining Museum to have a look at their displays. It then took him a solid five minutes before he succumbed to temptation and asked if he could buy one of their fossils for himself.
Whoops.
Sure, most people could not afford to buy a fossil just like that. But he wasn't most people. He was Steven Stone.
So he ended up buying an Armor Fossil straight up, since he didn't currently have one in his collection yet. Devon Corp had already revived other Armor Fossils before, but those were all sent back to Sinnoh as part of the agreement. This one would actually be for himself.
With his new purchase made, and a few pictures taken for PR purposes, he decided that it was about time he headed over to Roark for their meeting. To his surprise, he found the Gym Leader standing outside of the Oreburgh Mine with an awed expression plastered on his face as he watched his friend punch straight through a boulder with his fist.
Having now been used to Bruno's absurdfeats of strength, he now found it amusing to see just how shocked people got when they witnessed Bruno's raw power for the first time.
Bruno turned to him as he sensed his arrival, "Steven. Have you finished your sightseeing?"
"Have you?" He shot back, "Looks to me you've attracted an audience." He extended a hand to Roark, "I'm Steven Stone. It's a pleasure to meet you in person, Gym Leader."
"Oh, likewise. And please, call me Roark." He replied, "I don't feel comfortable being addressed as a Gym Leader by someone that surpasses me in strength."
"Your performance in the Tournament was adequate." Bruno replied with his usual bluntness, "Your loss was not due to your own weakness, though there were much you could have improved on."
He held back a wince. Even though he was training up Bruno to be more 'diplomatic' for political situations, it clearly was still very much a work in progress.
Fortunately, Roark wasn't offended by it, "I know. I've been trying. I actually speak with Roxanne from Hoenn to exchange tips. It helps that we're both junior Gym Leaders, so we have a lot in common."
"Prudent." He nodded.
"Anyways, let's head to my office. We shouldn't discuss this in public." Roark said, and he followed after him as they relocated to the Oreburgh Gym. In the meanwhile, Bruno chose to head back into the mines for more rock breaking.
Once they settled into Roark's office, Steven spoke up first.
"Let's skip over all the secrecy." He said, "You wouldn't have contacted Devon Corp unless you felt that whatever you wanted to dig up was soimportant as to warrant our assistance. So let's not try to be coy, just tell us what you intend to find, tell us what you need us for, and we can come to an agreement quickly so we can get on with finding it as soon as possible. With the situation as it is in Sinnoh, I can imagine that things won't stay peaceful for much longer."
Roark frowned, "…You're right – I guess you are as observant as people say you are. Yes, what I've suspected to have found is the Iron Plate, judging from the extremely tough steel formations that I found on Iron Islands. Even with my father's Pokémon, we haven't managed to break through the reinforced steel, at least not with any sort of reasonable speed. That's why I made asked you over the phone whether Devon Corp had such specialised equipment for mining through tough materials."
"Well we certainly have that." He nodded, clamping down firmly on his burst of excitement as his inner archaeologist squealed at the thought of finding the Iron Plate, "Our specialised mining drills have never failed to drill through any material we placed in front of it – and trust me, we've done a lot of testing with those. So I think we can help with your needs – in fact, I'll go so far as to say that weare the only ones that COULD help you. Silph Co may be our peer, but they do not focus on mining inventions like we do. Not only that, but I doubt that even the famed Celestic Town Research Centre would have the equipment that we have access to."
And there was no need to mention Galactic Company. Not after what happened.
"Therefore, you truly came to ask the right business for help. But what are you going to offer us in return?" He asked.
"…How about you make me an offer?" Roark suggested, "I'll see if it would be doable."
Excellent.
"Then on behalf of Devon Corp, we want to set up a factory on the Iron Islands and purchase land to build a branch office at Canalave City. Not only that, but while we will happily surrender credit for finding the Iron Plate to you, we want to be credited and have ownership for anything else that we find within, whether that be Pokémon or otherwise."
It was a pretty aggressive and one-sided deal, but he knew that Roark had no choice but to accept it. He could tell that the Gym Leader was desperate to find the Iron Plate, for good reason, yet that also backed him into a corner. Like he had explained earlier, if Roark wanted to go through with his plans, Roark truly had no other option but Devon Corp.
Besides, he knew that Roark didn't have the authority to accept his demands just like that, since they involved the authority of Canalave. Therefore, Roark was going to need to speak to his father about it and get his agreement.
And when THAT happened, then Steven could suddenly swoop in and lessen his demands in an act of magnanimity, getting Devon Corp what they wanted anyways while also earning some goodwill with two Sinnoh Gym Leaders.
It would be a win-win.
"…I don't have the authority to agree to that." Roark eventually replied just like he expected him to, looking he like he had just been forced to swallow a bitter lemon, "My father's the one with influence over the Iron Islands and Canalave. You'll have to speak to him about it."
"Then I shall arrange the meeting." He nodded, "Don't worry. If your father agrees, then we can get right to finding the Iron Plate immediately. We at Devon Corp are never ones to waste our partners' time."
"…Fine then. I'll let him know to expect you." Roark replied, before letting out a sigh, "…I didn't intend to involve him in this at first, but I guess I have no choice now…I'll have to try to persuade him too…" Roark continued to mumble to himself.
He politely didn't comment on that as he stood up from his chair, "Well, if that's all. Then I'll be heading out now."
"Sure." Roark nodded, "Thank you for coming. Oh, and before you leave, I trust that you won't be spreading this around?"
"Of course not." He replied firmly, "Nothing will leak from my lips outside of Devon Corp. We take informational security very seriously. The onlyperson outside of Devon Corp who will know is my trusted friend, Bruno. But I give you my personal guarantee that he isn't one to have loose lips, and I expect him to be joining on the expedition as well – just for additional security."
Breaking that promise just wouldn't be worth it. It would only net them a short-term gain in exchange for a huge hit to Devon Corp's trustworthy reputation. And it was never a good idea to anger a Gym Leader, no matter how new.
With the serious talk done, he was tempted to ask Roark if he was free for a battle with Bruno after this, but seeing the tired and somewhat defeated look on his face, he decided that it was probably best not to. Bruno could make the arrangements himself at a later date.
As he stepped out of Roark's office, he let a small smile form on his face as he revelled in the joy of a good deal being made. But even then, he was actually happier that Roark had tasked him with finding the Iron Plate.
He reallyhoped that Roark was right about the Iron Plate, even though Devon Corp would still benefit regardless. Yet as an archaeologist, being in an expedition to find a Legendary artefact would be the highlight of his career. He idly wondered what the Plates could be used for – he really hoped he could be there to witness it for himself.
Either way, this trip to Sinnoh was really shaping to be something to remember.
A.N. A split chapter this time, as this is the final non-INTERLUDE chapter of Arc 12 – Change and Challenge (the next chapter will be a POKENET INTERLUDE). The storm has started to be seen over the horizon, and the respective Leagues are preparing themselves for what they know is going to be a war against Cyrus and his band of terrorists. Unfortunately, as the authorities often are, they're forced to be reactive for now. But once Cyrus makes a mistake, he is about to face the full force of the League.
As with Steven and Bruno, I wanted to do a little catch up with them while I lay down the foundations for the next Plate. As you can probably imagine, it's going to be important for the events to come. Also, I don't think I've shown off too much of Steven's more business-minded side, so I wanted to show that off here. Hope you enjoyed!
And to anyone who wants to support me, please check out my p atreon at CartecTNN where you can read 8 advanced chapters! Thanks to those who have supported me already!