John's Team
Tyrant - Slaking
Vordt - Ursaluna
Smough - Snorlax
Klee - Blissey
Port - Mantine
Zephyr - Pidgeot
Klaus - Wyrdeer
Luna - Clefable
Pixel - Porygon
The New Normal – 2-7 – Devon Corp
I woke up the next day feeling refreshed and excited for the day ahead; today was the day that I was going to head to Devon Corp to discuss the joint research plan with them. I texted Giovanni to let him know that I was in Rustboro and that I was going to visit Devon Corp before noon. I got a quick 'okay.' back from him.
I also texted Karen and let her know that I was leaving and that, unfortunately, she couldn't accompany me to this meeting. I didn't wait for a response from her as I figured that she was probably still asleep and not going to visit Devon Corp was probably a good thing for her as it allowed her to sleep more. Sometimes, I could relate to that.
With breakfast eaten and my new egg appropriately secured and stored away safely in my room, I made my way to the Devon Corp building. I had expected to need to wait at the reception for a few moments before anyone would come and see me, but apparently Giovanni had called ahead and told them to expect me, which meant that I was promptly escorted by a nice lady at the reception to the CEO's office. It was moments like these which made me appreciate my connections with Giovanni…if only I could trust him.
After experiencing one of the smoothest elevator rides ever, I was standing in front of the door with the sign 'Joseph Stone, CEO' hanging ceremoniously on it. I knocked softly on the door and after receiving a 'come in' I opened the door and was greeted by Joseph Stone.
"Ah, Elite John, it's a pleasure to meet you. Giovanni told me all about you." Joseph greeted kindly.
"Mr. Stone, it's an honour to meet you too." I replied politely. Suddenly, my nervousness came back to me, and I started to become worried that Joseph would refuse my proposal or that I would blunder my speech. I ruthlessly quashed that nervousness though; I was a member of the Elite Four, and I forced myself to act like one.
"No, it really should be me saying that to you, Elite John. My son, Steven Stone, is a huge fan of yours." He responded back.
"Oh?" That name certainly piqued my curiosity. I knew that Steven hadn't become the Champion of Hoenn yet, so I had been wondering when he would make his challenge for the position. "Is your son a trainer?" I asked as I pretended not to know.
"Oh yes, he's an amazing trainer, especially for how young he is. I actually think he's of similar age to you. Very talented, much better than I was at his age." Joseph gushed fondly, "I might be biased as a parent, but I think he has real potential at making it into the Elite Four! Maybe he'll become the greatest Steel type specialist in Hoenn!"
"Steven is a Steel Type specialist?" I asked, pretending to be curious.
"Yes, he is. And his team is very strong! Oh, you know his starter, well it's now a Metagross, and he also has a…." Joseph began listing Steven's team and how strong they all were.
I gave an exasperated smile as I listened to Joseph ramble and gush for minutes about Steven's talents as a trainer and how proud he was of him. Although I didn't really care too much about his praise for Steven, his very obvious love for his son was a good indicator that he was a good person deep down and that I could trust him and work with him in the future. It was very difficult to fake love like that.
After a few minutes, Joseph suddenly widened his eyes and coughed embarrassingly.
"Uh, sorry about that. I can get quite passionate when talking about Steven." He said awkwardly.
"No, it's fine." I allowed, "And, honestly, your praise for your son has made me interested to meet him one day. Especially since you said that he was a fan of mine and that we're of similar ages. Maybe after our discussion, we can arrange for a time for us to meet?"
"Absolutely! Yes, I think he would love that." Joseph agreed immediately with a bright smile, "I'll be sure to let him know after our discussion."
Joseph's face then lost all of his earlier cheerfulness as it became serious. "Alright, I think we've wasted enough time with the pleasantries." I nodded, straightening up as I listened carefully. "From what Giovanni has told me, you wanted to set up a joint research project with scientists provided by myself and Giovanni to see if we can discover how we can mass produce this 'Porygon' and if we can find out how to evolve it, amongst other things, is that right?"
"Yes, that's correct." I confirmed, "And Gym Leader Norman of Petalburg City has already given preliminary permission for us to make use of a currently unused plot of land in Petalburg to build the research facility."
"That's good, finding the land for these projects is often one of the hardest and most expensive steps." Joseph commented with a thoughtful look on his face, "do you know how we will discuss the division of costs? Who is going to pay for what?"
"Uh, no I don't know anything about that." I admitted with some embarrassment, "But, Gym Leader Giovanni did want me to call him when I met with you, Mr. Stone. So, with your permission, I'd like to video call him and add him to this discussion. I'm sure he'll be able to answer the more logistical questions."
"Yes, that's fine. Please call him now." Joseph said, and I grabbed my phone and dialled Giovanni.
"Hello?" Giovanni answered through my phone.
"This is John. I'm currently meeting with Mr. Stone, and I will be switching to video call so that you can join in on the conversation." I told him.
"Yes, do that." He replied, and I swapped to video. I balanced my phone on a small cigar box on Joseph's desk so that we both could see Giovanni and he could see us via the camera.
"It's a pleasure to speak with you again, Mr. Stone." Giovanni began easily, "Has John brought you up on our proposal?" I could hear the emphasis that Giovanni placed on 'our', but I didn't mind. After all, his scientists were a vital component of my proposal.
"Yes, he has." Joseph responded, "He has told me that you were willing to send out your scientists to collaborate with mine in order to undergo further research about Porygon. He has also told me that Gym Leader Norman was amenable to allow us to set up a research building in Petalburg. So far, I do like what I'm hearing, but I had a few logistical questions that John told me to ask you about."
"Of course, please, go ahead." Giovanni smoothly replied. The two of them began discussing how they would handle the more administrative aspects of my proposal. They talked about how many scientists would be sent over, how they would be paid, who would pay for the rent for the building, and so on and so forth.
Listening to them hash out the details made me very glad that I didn't need to think of these things. I may be a good trainer, but these logistical matters were far out of my field of knowledge. Thank Arceus Giovanni was more than capable of handling these matters; I would have fumbled them so hard.
However, I made a mental note to myself to learn more about how to handle these administrative matters in the future; I didn't want to rely on Giovanni or others to deal with these matters for me forever. Learning how to talk logistics could prove fruitful for my future plans as a member of the Elite Four.
After several minutes where I just sat there silently and listened as Joseph and Giovanni went back and forth as they negotiated the finer details, they eventually came to an agreement about how the joint research project will go forward.
Essentially, each side will be paying the salaries of their own scientists. However, Giovanni wanted to ensure that the project would be headed by someone under his employ, and in return, he would be paying for the construction of the research facility. Joseph agreed with these terms, and they metaphorically shook on it.
Joseph said that he would forward the proposal to Norman after the meeting and asked if we had any other topics to discuss with him, since he didn't even have any other meetings for the rest of the day.
"I do, actually." I suddenly spoke up, "Mr. Stone, from my understanding, Devon Corp currently doesn't have any branch offices set up in Indigo, is that correct?"
"Ah, I see where you're going with this." Joseph replied thoughtfully, "You want me to set up a branch office in Indigo? Do you have a place where we could do this?"
"Well, I was thinking that, in light with your newfound cooperation with Giovanni, why not set up a branch office in Viridian?" Even through the video camera of my phone, I could see Giovanni's eyes light up as his mouth morphed into a feral smile as he heard my proposal. That was good, I wanted him to know that I was someone who would pay back their debts and favours.
"Yes, that's a good idea." Joseph responded, then he sighed. "I can't believe I didn't make this offer myself, it seems so obvious in hindsight. And I assume that you are okay with this, Gym Leader Giovanni?"
"Of course, John's idea is a huge gift for me." Giovanni answered with a hint of something in his voice that I couldn't quite place. "Oh, and John, you should sign off on this project too using your position as a member of the Elite Four. It'll allow you to get the credit and it'll also ensure that no one can demand Devon Corp to move their branch to Johto."
Ah, I understood where Giovanni was saying with this. He wanted to ensure that Kanto would reap the benefits of Devon Corp's move, not Johto. And to do this, he needed my influence as an Elite Four to deter the Indigo League from demanding that Devon Corp should move to Johto instead of being set up in Viridian.
"Of course, I will sign off the proposal when it comes." I told them, before something concerning sprung to mind, "However, what about Silph Co.? Wouldn't they make a fuss about having to compete with Devon Corp?"
Giovanni gave out a surprising bark of laughter when he heard this. Joseph and I turned to him in confusion before he coughed and regained his composure. "My apologies, I shouldn't have laughed at that." He said, "But I can assure you both that Silph Co. will not make a fuss about it. That is my guarantee."
Joseph nodded happily at that, thinking that Giovanni's statement was innocuous. I nodded too, but I had my suspicions that Giovanni's 'guarantee' was because he had dirt on Silph Co., or members of their board, that he would use as leverage to ensure their cooperation. If that was true, then while I wasn't super comfortable with the idea that Giovanni was blackmailing or threatening people, it really wasn't something I was going to pick a fight about.
I knew that these were the risks of working and collaborating with Giovanni, and for the most part, I can wilfully ignore these kinds of under-the-table activities. Sure, I found these kinds of actions unpleasant and would be extremely enraged if he ever tried to blackmail or threaten me or my family, but I can generally overlook it unless they escalate further into more extreme forms of crimes such as openly stealing Pokémon from others and general thuggery, like what Team Rocket was doing in the games. That would be crossing the line.
It was a bit hypocritical of me, but I justified it by thinking that the use of blackmail and bribes were all too common in politics anyways, so what Giovanni was doing was not too different from how other politicians acted behind the scenes. Admittedly, it was a flimsy justification, but it was what I was sticking to for now. I didn't want to, nor could I afford to, alienate Giovanni over a dispute of morals right now.
Focusing back on the discussion, I listened carefully as the two began discussing the details of how they would set up the branch office in Virdian, and I made sure to write down notes on their discussion. I wanted to be able to at least talk about the finer details if I was ever asked about it by a reporter so that I could present myself as a mature member of the Elite Four that was actively helping out the economy and knew what they were doing.
They finished their discussions after a few minutes, and after confirming that there was nothing else that needed to be discussed, Giovanni thanked us both for our time before hanging up the call. I was putting my phone away before Joseph spoke up.
"John, would you like to have a tour of Devon Corp?" he suggested, "I have some free time, and I wouldn't mind showing you around."
"I would love to." I replied instantly, a bit of my excitement leaking through. "I hope it isn't too much of a bother."
"Nonsense!" Joseph said happily as he stood up, "Please, come with me. I have a few projects that we are working on that I wanted to show you."
Joseph then took me to the elevator which deposited us on the second floor. As the elevator doors opened, I was faced with a horde of scientists rushing about as they some of them fiddled with a gigantic machine that had so many attached components and pipes that it looked like something out of a Steampunk novel.
"This is my personal pet project." Joseph declared eagerly, "It is what I call the Pokémon Producer. Its purpose is to be able to regenerate a Pokémon Fossil to the Pokémon that it was before it became a fossil. I intend to use it as a means of reviving long-forgotten Pokémon and make them available in our world once again."
"That's amazing!" I said honestly, "Is the machine working?" I asked hopefully.
"Unfortunately, it's still a work-in-progress." Joseph shook his head sadly, before brightening up. "But I hope that we can get the machine working within the next few years. I really wanted to be able to give Steven the first ever revived Fossil Pokémon as a gift!" He said excitedly.
Joseph then spent some time talking about science stuff with the scientists and thanking them for the hard work. After he was done, he escorted me to a different floor of the building. This time, instead of a gigantic machine, I was faced with a huge snaking conveyor belt covered in Pokéballs.
"This is where we do most of our research and development for our new Pokéball designs." Joseph told me, "I brought you here because we've just come up with a new Pokéball design that I wanted to show you." He gestured for us to move forwards towards a line of white and red Pokéballs that I recognised were the Premier Balls from the games.
"This is our latest design, what we call the Premier Ball." He picked one up to show me. "They are functionally identical to the Pokéball, and are essentially just redesigned Pokéballs, but we were hoping to market them to Ace trainers as some kind of status symbol for themselves and their Pokémon. I was hoping that, with your assistance, John, we could start marketing them right away." He explained.
"What would you need me to do?" I asked non-committedly; I wanted to know more about this before committing anything.
"Nothing much, but I was hoping you would allow us to transfer your Pokémon from their current Pokéballs into these Premier Balls and then use them in a battle. That way, we can begin an advertisement campaign that would suggest that these Premier Balls were for ace trainers that wanted to let others know how strong they were." He detailed, and to me it sounded like a pretty standard marketing campaign for a 'luxurious' product.
"I'll do it." I accepted after thinking about it for a bit, "But I want 5% on all sales of the Premier Ball for the next three months."
Joseph stared at me tightly as he thought about it. I met his stare unflinchingly and after a few seconds he extended his hand, which I shook. "Deal, I accept. But you must give an interview or a public speech talking about the new Premier Balls and how you like them." He countered.
"That's perfectly fine, I accept." I responded.
"Good, I'll have someone draft up the contract for you to sign later." He told me. He then reached for his phone and texted someone briefly before turning back to me.
"Ok, with business out of the way, I do actually want you to meet someone." He said, "She's going to be the one that I plan to appoint to run the branch that will be set up in Viridian. I felt like you should meet her as I assume that you'll be in contact with her the most when you return to Indigo."
I nodded at his words as they made sense. Joseph escorted me to a small office in the corner of the Pokéball production line and knocked on the door.
"Come in!" a female voice shouted out.
Joseph opened the door and as I stepped into the office my eyes nearly shot out of their sockets as I saw the person sitting inside. She was wearing a blue shirt that remained visible under her lab coat and had wavy black hair with blue highlights that looked purposely untamed. Alarm bells started ringing in my head as I immediately recognised who she was.
"John, this is Shelly. She'll be the new branch manager for the branch that will be set up in Viridian. It'll be announced formally later." Joseph introduced.
"Uh, I am?" Shelly asked confusedly.
"Yes, sorry for the short notice Shelly. Don't worry, you'll be mostly doing the same things there." Joseph apologised, "But you told me at the recent senior meeting that you had wanted to 'spread your wings' a bit and travel, so when John here made the proposal, I thought you were an appropriate pick for this."
"Oh, yes, I remember saying that. And sure, I don't mind going." Shelly shrugged casually, "So, who is this, Sir?" She gestured to me.
"Ah, this is Elite John of the Indigo Elite Four. I presume you'll be seeing a lot more of him as you take up your duties in Indigo." Joseph responded and I waved politely at Shelly, who had a look of surprise as she was introduced to me.
"It's nice to meet you, Shelly. I hope we can work well together in the future." I politely told her, concealing my surprise and shock deep within me. I didn't want to alert her to my suspicions anytime soon.
"Oh? You're very interesting, Elite John. It's nice to meet you." She said with what I thought was a friendly tone, "Though, I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing in Indigo at the moment, so if you have any questions for me at the moment then I'm afraid I can't help you."
"No, it's alright." I replied, "I don't have any questions for you right now either, but I expect that I'll be speaking to you more in the future if I have any proposals for Devon Corp."
"Exactly, so don't worry about it, Shelly." Joseph chuckled, "I'll be sending you the details later so that you'll have an idea about what you're working on. I just wanted you to introduce the two of you together because you'll likely be working together on something in the future." He explained kindly.
"I see, well thank you Sir for the heads up." She told Joseph formally and gave him a slight bow, before turning back to me. "In that case, I look forward to working with you more in the future, Elite John. I know from your reputation that you have an intelligent mind, especially at such a young age, so I would be glad to listen and discuss any ideas that you have." She extended her hand for me to shake.
I shook her hand and stepped back to allow Joseph and Shelly to discuss a few things about her upcoming move to Indigo. All the while, I started to pick my mind as I tried to remember what in Arceus was Shelly doing in Devon Corp? Wasn't she supposed to be a Team Aqua Admin? What was Team Aqua doing right now? Had they even formed yet?
Going through my memories, I recalled that Shelly was a scientist working at Devon Corp before she eventually left to join Team Aqua. Does that mean that Team Aqua hadn't formed yet? Did Shelly currently believe in Team Aqua's vision of flooding the world with the power of Kyogre in their idiotic quest to wipe out humanity? What about Team Magma? What were they doing?
There were too many questions going through my head that I didn't have the answers for, so I forcefully shelved them away for the time being as to not leave myself distracted.
Soon enough, Joseph and Shelly had finished their discussion and we left Shelly's office. Joseph then asked if I wanted to have my Pokémon transferred from my Pokéballs to the new Premier Balls right away. I accepted and he brought me over to this machine that would do the transferring.
As we waited for my Pokémon to be transferred, he told me that, sadly, Steven was not in Rustboro at the moment and that he would be unable to meet me. However, he said that, perhaps in the future, we could meet up. I told him that I'd love to meet him one day and talk to him about our experiences as a trainer.
With a small 'Ding' that signified the completion of the transfer, I picked up my new Premier Balls and released each of my Pokémon one by one just to make sure that it was working properly. Luckily, the floor had high ceilings so that my larger Pokémon wouldn't accidentally smash their way through the ceiling as they were released.
After testing each of my new Premier Balls, I thanked Joseph for the tour and for considering my proposals and he told me that he would send over the Premier Ball contract shortly via email.
Suddenly remembering about Whitney and Karen, I asked if I could have a few Premier Ball to spare so that I could give them to my friends and family. Joseph happily agreed and gave me a case of 10 Premier balls. I thanked him once again and, seeing that nothing else needed to be discussed, I said my goodbyes and made my way back down the elevator and eventually left Devon Corp
I sent out a text to Karen telling her that I had finished my business and that I'd be waiting for her at the Pokécenter. Luckily, she was actually awake and responded affirmatively so I made my way there.
Overall, I was very happy with the discussions that took place with Joseph. I managed to pay back Giovanni for gifting Pixel to me, and I was also able to hopefully improve my credentials as a member of the Elite Four. Also, with the establishment of the joint research project and the future branch offices, I hoped that this will improve relations between Hoenn and Kanto as the two nations become more economically linked to each other.
However, the issue of Shelly was still unresolved. What in Arceus was I going to do with her? Did I even need to do anything?
A.N Many thanks for your comments on my previous chapter – I'll definitely be keeping them in mind. As for this chapter, I hope I've conveyed that John is starting to really kickstart his career as an Elite Four member and getting stuff done.
I also hope that I've shown that staying 'friends' with Giovanni is a big part of why he's able to do all these things. Giovanni might be 'evil' and 'untrustworthy', but he's undoubtedly useful.
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!