The New Normal – 2-12 – INTERLUDE: WHITNEY
Whitney took another look through her notes as she allowed her Miltank to rest for a moment from her training. She wanted to make sure that she was training Miltank properly and that she was focusing on the things John told her to focus on.
Speaking of John, she knew that he was doing some cool things in Hoenn. She watched on the news that he won a big battle against the Normal Type Gym leader of Hoenn. She couldn't remember his name, but he had a Slaking too! Of course, John's Slaking was much stronger, but it was still a cool battle to watch. She hoped that John was doing well there.
Although she didn't know why John had to go to Hoenn so soon, but she saw that daddy and mommy weren't that happy that John had to leave for Hoenn. She wanted to know why, but when she asked if there was anything wrong, they all denied it and said was that there was nothing wrong and that they're happy that John is doing so well over there.
Maybe this is one of those things that John keeps saying that she'll understand when she grows older; he said that it was something called 'politics'. She didn't like that explanation, but no matter how much she weaponized her pouts John refused to explain further, so she was forced to let it go. She had tried to think about it and figure it out by herself, but she just didn't understand.
She returned to focusing on her notes, her head hurt if she did too much thinking on 'politics', and she was still supposed to be training her Miltank. Whitney had set a strict schedule everyday for training her Miltank; she really wanted to impress John when he got back home! John had always told her that she'd be a powerful trainer like him one day, and while she didn't know where he got his confidence in her from, she promised him that she would live up to it.
Looking back at her Miltank, she could see that her Miltank was far more muscular than the other ones that were on the farm. Compared to the ones that the family used for Moomoo milk, her Miltank was larger, her muscles more obvious, and her posture was far less lazy. She was proud of how much progress Miltank and her have made together, and John has told her multiple times that she was way too strong for a trainer with no badges.
She hoped he was telling the truth; she couldn't wait until she got 4 badges and could explore and catch Pokémon from other regions.
Yet, she still remembers his repeated saying that there are always stronger opponents, and while she did find it annoying to hear that phrase over and over again, she understands that he's only saying it for her own good. She knew that, as strong as her Miltank was, she would stand no chance against any of John's Elite Pokémon, so she shouldn't get comfortable with her training.
"Mil, miltank?" Miltank suddenly called out questioningly and brought Whitney back from her distracting thoughts once again. She inwardly shook her head as she forced herself to refocus, she really shouldn't let her mind wander like this.
"Sorry Miltank, I was just thinking about a few things." She muttered out, "Anyways, we still have a bit of time in today's training session, so why not practice on your….Rollout!" She exclaimed and Miltank gave out an affirmative moo before curling up into a ball and rolling around the fields and practiced slamming into rocks.
As Whitney watched Miltank practicing her use of Rollout, she remembered that John had told her that it would be great if her Miltank got really good at using Rollout. She could still remember his teachings as she had made sure to write them down.
'Rollout is a very important and versatile skill for your Miltank to learn. It has both offensive and defensive uses, you can use Rollout to dodge out of the way of attacks, and also use it as a means of closing the distance between yourself and your opponent and get in range to land other attacks on them.'
'You can also use Rollout to quickly transition into another move. The most common example is going from a Rollout into a Defense Curl so you can dodge an attack and then boost Miltank's defenses. Similarly, you can go from a Rollout and use the momentum from the Rollout to transition into a powerful Body Slam. Be creative with it!'
With John's words in mind, Whitney tailored and adjusted her training with Miltank so that, instead of making Miltank constantly smash into rocks with Rollout to train its power, she got Miltank to practice transitioning from her Rollouts into her other moves.
She discovered quickly that Miltank found it difficult to transition from a Rollout into a Body Slam or a Headbutt, and she frequently lost her balance as she attempted to do so. Despite the difficulties, Whitney was actually somewhat glad that she found out that Miltank was struggling with this now, because at least she found out the problem now and could try to improve on it so that it wouldn't remain a problem when she actually started her journey.
Nearly an hour passed as Whitney and Miltank continued focusing on her Rollout. The more she watched Miltank use Rollout, the more she understood what John was trying to tell her. On paper, Rollout seemed very simplistic and wasn't a move that needed a lot of practicing, but it had so many different uses that Whitney was now more determined than ever to train Whitney into mastering Rollout.
She saw it clearly now; she would make Rollout to be her Miltank's signature move.
Eventually, Whitney had to stop training with her Miltank because it was time for lunch. Normally, she would have made a fuss about needing to stop training with her Miltank, but she knew that today John had promised to call because he had something important to tell the family.
It was probably something to do with the family business, and while Whitney didn't really understand what they were talking about or why it was important, her parents and John always encouraged her to sit in and listen to their discussions so that she could learn more about it. She liked that; she really hated feeling left out.
She arrived back home and saw that daddy and mommy were already seated at the table and that everything had already been set up. She dutifully washed her hands before she sat down and enjoyed a nice lunch with the two of them.
It was a simple fare, some rice with meat and veggies, but although it felt like forever ago, she still remembered how difficult even such a simple meal was for them to eat when she was younger and before John went on his journey. That's why although the meal was simple, she never complained about it because she knew how much better it was then what she had previously.
As they ate their meal, someone switched on the television, and they were all idly listening to the news. Suddenly, a piece of news caught their attention.
'…and there has been reports of an increase in crime throughout Indigo as a group of thugs have been seen terrorising the public and stealing Pokémon. But, onto happier news, the Hoenn League has just made a very exciting announcement declaring that they are going to be hosting a show match next week in Ever Grande City between the Hoenn Elite Four Drake and the Indigo Elite Four John! They have announced that this will be a full 6v6 fight between the two Elite Four members. Officials from Hoenn have stated that they would hope that this show match would be able to demonstrate the strengths of both regions and that it would also foster better relations between them.'
'As always, tickets can be bought online or in person at the Hoenn League headquarters at Ever Grande City, and they're first come first serve. Of course, the show match will also be broadcasted live on this channel, so feel free to turn up and watch it live on our channel on the day.'
Whitney's eyes widened in her surprise as she listened to the newscaster. Is this what John was going to call them about? A battle between him and a member of the Hoenn Elite Four?! Whitney was both shaking in glee and excitement while also being worried for John.
Would John be strong enough to beat a member of the Hoenn Elite Four? She knew that he had never actually fought against an Elite Four member before, so is his team strong enough? She thought so, but she knew that there were plenty of strong trainers out there as well. She looked to her parents, who also had similar expressions of surprise and shock, though it was far more muted than hers, and asked them.
"Do you think John can win?" She must have looked very worried because her dad was giving her one of those comforting smiles that he always did whenever she was upset.
"He'll be fine. John's been training for a very long time, and I'm sure he will at least put up a good fight against Drake." Her dad said gently.
"Your father is right, dear, we're worried about John too, but I choose to believe that he'll be fine." Her mom added, "Besides, he did make it into the Elite Four, and he did recently win that battle against the other Normal type Gym Leader, so I'm sure John knows what he's getting into."
Whitney could only nod at that, not fully reassured but understanding that worrying about it wouldn't accomplish anything. Almost on cue, the family phone started ringing. It was John. They set up the phone on the table so that they could all see John's face on the video camera and vice versa.
"Hello?" John greeted normally with a wave, as if he didn't have a huge battle against another Elite 4 member to prepare for tomorrow.
"JOHN! How could you not tell us that you were going to fight Drake?!" She shouted into the phone, "Are you going to be okay? I mean Drake's pretty strong and although I know you're strong too I'm not sure that you can beat him and I don't want to see you lose like that and…" She couldn't help but start rambling and venting her worries at John.
John allowed her to continue for a few moments before he interrupted, "It's okay, Whitney, calm down." He paused to allow her to take a deep breath and calm herself. Her parents just stared at her silently with knowing smiles, "Don't worry too much Whitney. I can't tell you that I'll win for certain, but I do think that I have a solid chance. So, while I appreciate your worry, don't stress yourself too badly about this, sis." He gave her a smile as he said this.
"Whitney was just worried for you." Mom cut in, "After all, we did just find out a few moments before you called."
John scratched his head at that, "Sorry, I forgot to mention it to you. I've been pretty busy ever since coming to Hoenn, especially now that I have to also prepare for my battle against Drake. It definitely hasn't been a vacation."
"Has everything been okay there?" Dad asked, glancing at Whitney briefly for some reason before continuing, "I know that you were sent there to be side-lined, but have you been managing? No problems so far?"
"Well, I wouldn't say there had been no problems at all." John grumbled, and she knew that he was referring to the fact that he was sent there by himself and that there was no ceremony to greet him. She didn't really understand why that was so important, but she knew that her parents and John were upset about it.
"But besides that, things have been going well here." John continued more happily, "I actually managed to talk with Devon Corp about a few things and they want me to advertise their new Pokéball design." He showed off a white and red coloured Pokéball, "It's called a Premier Ball, and I've been asked to sponsor it in return for 5% of all sales on it for the next three months."
"That's great, John!" Mom congratulated, "It's always nice to earn a bit more money and having connections with Devon Corp would definitely prove useful for the future. Good job!"
"Yeah…actually, since we're on the topic of business, I wanted to talk to you about a few ideas that I had regarding how we should develop our business in the future." John said seriously as he took out a notepad. Whitney looked around and saw that her parents had also turned serious and had also taken out some paper.
"Go ahead, John, we're listening." Her father said after they prepared themselves.
"So, I had a few ideas for our short-term development. I had an idea for a marketing campaign for our Moomoo milk. What we could do is that we could start putting small pictures of Pokémon or important trainers on our bottle caps that wouldn't be visible until you opened the bottle. Then, we could advertise that you could trade in a certain amount of bottle caps for a full scaled poster of said trainer or Pokémon." John explained.
"That way, it'll allow us to tap into my popularity as a member of the Elite Four, and people can be incentivised to buy our Moomoo milk so that they can start collecting bottle caps for posters that they want of my Pokémon. If this idea proves successful, we can also expand it later on to include other important trainers like the other members of the Elite Four or even Gym Leaders and their Pokémon. As long as we give them a cut, they should go for it, especially since it also boosts their own popularity."
Mom and Dad took a few moments to write a few things down on a piece of paper before they tapped their pens in thought. She didn't really understand what John was saying, but it sounded smart.
"I think that can be a pretty good idea, John, and I don't think it'll be super expensive to do either." Mom commented with a thoughtful expression, "If we start with only photos and posters of you and your team, that'll definitely bring down costs. The only major expenses would be producing those large posters, but even then, our business is doing well enough that we can afford such an investment. What do you think, Jack?" My mom turned to my dad.
"I like the idea, John. It's definitely a new take on things. I agree with Angela that it wouldn't be too expensive to set up." Dad paused for a moment as he thought about it some more, "I think I'm going to agree to it. We can definitely get started on finding a company to produce our posters for us, while also discussing with the Pokémarts about allowing people to exchange their bottle caps for posters."
I could see John smiling as our parents accepted his proposal. "That's great! I'm glad you like it and I do hope it works out. Once I get back from Hoenn, which I suspect would be pretty soon, we can sort out the posters for me and my Pokémon then. We'll start small, with just me and my team, and if customers are receptive to our new marketing strategy, then we can discuss expanding it to include more trainers and Pokémon after that."
"Why do you su- suspect that you'll be coming back pretty soon, John?" Whitney interrupted with a curious expression. "Did the Champion say something to you?"
John shook his head, "No, no, he hasn't said anything to me. But if I stay around in Hoenn for too long after my show match against Drake, people will start asking questions about what I'm still doing there. It'll make sense if Pryce decides to recall me after the show match to avoid those kinds of questions from being asked…not that I'm going to let him sweep everything under the rug."
Whitney tilted her head in confusion at that; even with John's explanation she still didn't really understand, but when she turned to her parents, they were all nodding in agreement, so maybe it's just a grown-up thing.
"Oh yea, and I had another idea that I thought of during my time in Mauville City." John continued, addressing our parents once again. "Mom, dad, have you taken a look at the potential of the new Mauville City?"
Our parents looked at each other questioningly before shaking their heads. Mom spoke up, "No, we haven't, John. Could you tell us what you were thinking about doing with Mauville City?"
"Well, it's still under construction at the moment, but it's going to a very big building once it's finished." John explained, gesturing with his hands to try to show how big it was. "It's a very deluxe and modern building, and I'm almost certain that it's going to be turned into a huge shopping mall once it's done. It's definitely going to popular with both locals and tourists alike once it's finished."
"I think that we could definitely consider setting up a shop here for our Moomoo milk business, but this time focusing on creating drinks and more novelty drinks that use our Moomoo milk. I think that setting up such a shop in such a busy and popular location for tourists will be very profitable." John finished.
"Do you have any idea of the rent and construction costs for setting up a shop there?" Dad immediately asked.
"No, I don't." John denied with a shake of his head, "As I said, Mauville City is still under construction for the time being, with only the Gym and food hall being currently finished. But, in the future, I can guarantee you that it'll be a popular place to have a shop in. That's why I'm suggesting that we should keep an eye on it and get in early while it's still cheap so that we can maximize our profits there. It's not something that we need to be immediately concerned about, but something to consider for the long-term."
"I agree with John." Mom declared after a moment to think, "Listening to what John has said, I think that, considering how confident he sounds about how popular Mauville City is going to be, setting up a shop there would certainly be profitable, and it would also allow us to have a foothold in Hoenn that we can eventually expand from."
Dad clearly was still a bit uncertain about this idea, but a considering look from Mom eventually got him to concede. "Fine, I do think it's a bit of a risk expanding to Hoenn so soon, but I guess you did say that this was something to consider for the future. I'm just not too sure that we have enough supply of Moomoo milk to sustain this."
"That's true enough." John said with a frown, "I was also worried about having insufficient supply to meet our demand levels, especially if my suggested marketing campaign takes off. I did have a solution though beyond just buying more Miltank and expanding the farm."
"Oh?" Dad asked curiously, "Do tell."
"Well, did you know that my Slaking is able to breed with Miltanks?" John announced, and Whitney's eyebrows shot up in shock as she heard this.
Of course, she knew all about Pokémon breeding and the different egg groups, it was pretty much compulsory for her to learn as the daughter of a pair of Miltank farmers, but she never thought that John's Slaking would be capable of breeding with Miltanks. She must have overlooked this when she studied the tables for the egg groups.
She looked towards her parents but found them to be calm and completely lacking the shock that she felt. Huh, maybe it wasn't that weird.
"No, but I see your point." Dad mumbled while rubbing his chin, "I can't believe I overlooked this when considering the breeding of new Miltank. I always imagined that our Miltank would be breeding with the Tauros that we have, but I can totally see the advantages of having our Miltank breed with your Slaking."
"Yes, exactly. In fact, my Wyrdeer and Ursaluna are also capable of breeding with our Miltanks. So, and I've already checked with my Pokémon and they're happy to do so, we could easily have my eligible Pokémon breed with the Miltank and advertise the next batch of milk as from a 'Elite-level stock' of Miltank. That way, we can kill two Pidgeys with one stone and both increase our supply of Miltank in the long-run while also bolstering sales." John explained.
"A fine idea." Mom complimented, "I also didn't think about using anything other than our Tauros to breed with our Miltank. I guess that it's just been so commonplace to pair Tauros with Miltank that I didn't even consider any other options. Good catch, John."
Whitney stayed silent as she happily listened to her parents and John continuing talking about the family business and ironing out the details. She dreamed about being able to participate one day and help out like John was doing. She knew how much her parents had struggled to provide for her, and so she wanted to make sure that she could pay them back somehow.
After a short while, John had finished talking to their parents and they knowingly passed the phone to Whitney so that she could talk with John about how she's been training her Miltank.
She spent the next few minutes gushing to John about the progress that she had made with her Miltank. She saw John nodding appreciatively as she talked about how she's focusing on using Rollout as a way of transitioning her moves. He praised her for remembering what he's said and not focusing too much on brute strength. She liked it when he praised her; she felt that she was making him proud.
Before John had to leave to continue preparing against Drake though, he reminded her once again that 'Psychic beats Fighting' and that training your mind and being creative is more important than just focusing on brute strength. Whitney could understand that, and she told John that she'd keep it in mind before John eventually had to go.
After hanging up, she asked her parents if she could continue training with her Miltank now that lunch was over. She'd thought they'd say no, but they were either too distracted or busy with John's new ideas that they let her continue training until dinner.
What luck! Whitney did a little hop as she quickly made her way back to the fields to continue training her Miltank. After all, they still had to practice Rollout until they mastered it.
A.N A slower chapter focused on the business side of things, and of course Whitney's training progress. She's been a minor character for now, but I hope to develop her into the Gym Leader we all know eventually.
Also, to differentiate between the shorter Interludes and the full chapter INTERLUDES, the full chapter ones will be in full caps in the threadmark.