John's Team
Tyrant - Slaking
Vordt - Ursaluna
Smough - Snorlax
Klee - Blissey
Port - Mantine
Zephyr - Pidgeot
Klaus - Wyrdeer
Luna - Clefable
Pixel - Porygon2
Euphie - Eevee
Ornstein - D-Zigzagoon
The New Normal – 5-11 – Gym Troubles
As exciting as Tyranitar's evolution was, it didn't change the fact that I still had to train up for my match against Bruno. We spent the next few days continuing to train together, and Karen discovered with increasing joy just how much of a powerhouse her Tyranitar had become.
As soon as he got used to his new body, it was easily THE most powerful member of Karen's team. Sure, her Houndoom might be more versatile and nimbler, but in terms of raw power, nothing hit as hard as her Tyranitar. Over many consecutive spars with my own bruisers, Tyranitar managed to hold his own against all but Tyrant, which was definitely a very impressive accomplishment.
It truly was a Pokémon worthy of a future Elite Four trainer.
The best part was that he was nowhere close to reaching his limits, and still had much to grow. Once Tyranitar got more proficient at fighting in close range, I was sure that he would become even more fearsome.
On that note, I had intended to pair off Tyranitar against Tyrant today to see how far they could push each other, but Karen was called away by Agatha in a very last-minute phone call last night. Apparently, something very important had come up and Agatha wanted Karen to be able to take advantage of the opportunity.
When I asked what it was about, Agatha just said that I would be informed very shortly and that it wouldn't be bad news. I spent the whole night pondering about what it could be, and it was only this morning when I received a call from Lance that I realized what it was about.
"John, we need you at the Indigo Plateau as soon as possible." He said urgently, "The Committee is hosting an emergency session about the Gyms."
Oh shit. "Is it as we feared?" I asked while I dashed out of my house.
"Yes. Actually, it's worse than that." He growled, "Come quickly. I'll explain when you get here."
Hanging up the phone, I quickly got on Port and flew quickly towards the Indigo Plateau. I suspected that whatever was troubling Lance likely involved the Pewter Gym, and if canon serves, then I could understand why he had called an emergency meeting. Damn it Flint!
One quick flight later, I landed outside the League building and quickly made my way inside before I was greeted by a very annoyed looking Lance.
"Thanks for coming here so quickly." He said to me hurriedly, "The meeting is starting soon, but the gist is that Gym Leader Flint has apparently run out of his Gym, leaving it to his 13-year-old son, Brock for the time being. And things aren't going well."
That was a colossal understatement if I ever heard one, but I kept my mouth shut considering how mad he currently was.
"So…what's the plan?" I asked.
"No idea." Lance admitted with a frustrated frown, "I pity Brock, but the last few days have seen a surge of complaints from the trainers at the Gym's mismanagement. The Committee is meeting to decide what to do next. Anyways, make your way to the committee meeting, I'll join you in just a moment."
I nodded to him and made my way to where the committee meeting was being held. Looking around, I could see practically everyone had arrived by now, including the other Elite Four members.
I gave a few quick nods to my colleagues in the Elite Four, but Lance arrived before I could say anything to them, the room quickly quieted down as he did.
Lance spoke up from the lectern, "Right, let's not waste any time here. You should all have been briefed about the issues concerning the Gyms, which is why we are hosting this emergency meeting. My apologies if you didn't; we've been trying to move very fast on this and I haven't had the time to inform everyone."
He received nods from around the room and continued, "Firstly, we're starting off with the problem concerning the Pewter Gym, since it's more urgent. To summarize, the supposed current Gym Leader of Pewter, Flint, has run off from the Gym for unknown reasons. I do not care WHY he has run off, but interviews with his 13-year-old son and the current Gym Leader, Brock, suggest that this isn't a temporary thing, and he is unlikely to come back in a short period."
Many people began grumbling, but Lance ignored them, "Worse, the report from the Inspectors have come back, and the Gym has been horribly mismanaged even before this disaster. This issue is only being compounded by the fact that Brock, to no fault of his own, is utterly unable to run his Gym. We have received a mountain of complaints from trainers about the Gym, and thus we must act NOW to resolve this issue."
Lance turned his gaze to the committee, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we need a solution. Putting aside Flint's irresponsibility for now, standard procedure indicates that the League appoint a regent to the Gym to oversee and support the Gym until the Gym Leader turns 16 and reaches their majority. Once there, the committee will once again decide whether to entrust the Gym to their continued hands, or to pass on the Gym to someone more suitable. Do we all vote in favour of this? As a reminder, as this matter involves a Kanto Gym, only those representing Kanto may vote."
Many hands went up at Lance's suggestion, which was unsurprising. What was going to be more debated was WHO would be appointed as regent to the culturally significant Pewter Gym. It was a prestigious position to have, and I was certain there would be a fight over it.
As expected, the vote easily passed through. "Good. Now then, we move onto the matter of WHO we should appoint for this position. Does anyone have any suggestions? And please, one at a time."
The committee almost immediately descended into chaos as everyone from the Kanto contingent of the committee instantly began nominating themselves or someone that they were politically connected to. It was almost like watching the beginnings of a brawl, with how the committee members were glaring each other and vying for Lance's attention.
I rolled my eyes and began to tune things out before I heard a very familiar quiet cackle from my right. Turning to the noise, I saw Agatha staring at the committee members with an evil grin on her face.
Then she slammed her walking cane against a nearby chair, toppling it over and drawing the gaze of everyone in the room.
"My word, you lot truly are rude aren't you. You wouldn't even let an old lady speak. Look at what you made me do just to get your attention." She cackled mockingly, ignoring the glares that she was getting for her interruption. She turned to Lance; her voice laced with sarcasm. "Oh, Champion Lance, if you could allow this old Elite Four member to speak."
Lance raised an amused eyebrow and gestured for her to proceed, which she did with a large and confident smirk on her face, "It seems like the committee, as usual, is unable to decide and choose instead to waste everyone's time by squabbling over it." She received more glares, "However, instead of having them fight over it and creating more unnecessary delays, why not give the position to me, at least temporarily?"
"You?!" Lance asked with surprise, which was likely shared by everyone in the room, me included. "YOU want to be become regent of Pewter? Why?"
"Not just me alone, but I'll be getting my apprentice to assist me." She said, and this time my eyebrows rose to my hair, "As for the reason, who else is it going to be, Lance? Everyone here knows that I'm more than experienced enough, and it prevents these idiots from having to fight over it and wasting more of everyone's time."
"And it's not like the others could do it. They don't have the experience." She pointed out, "No offence intended to our dear new Elite Four members." She said, shooting false smiles at us. We all brushed her off.
Lance looked curious, "…That may be true, but are you sure you want the position? Especially because it's only temporarily. It just seems quite sudden. And will you be able to handle both your duties as an Elite Four member and as regent?"
"Of course. I might be old…" She gestured to her walking cane for emphasis, "But I'm not about to quit the Elite Four just yet, even if many within the committee probably want me to fall down a flight of stairs." She cackled, receiving more unamused glares from the committee.
She continued, "As you said, I'll just be holding the position temporarily. A few months at most to make sure that the Gym doesn't fall apart before the committee makes a decision. In the meanwhile, you lot in the committee would be free to bicker and shake whatever hands you need to before you all can agree to appointing a more permanent regent to the position."
"And how do we know that you're capable of running the Gym?" An unknown committee member spoke up, rather foolishly in my opinion.
"Are you deaf? Do you need your ears fixed? Or perhaps you should get a new pair of eyes as well since you clearly seem to be blind." Agatha retorted with a mocking sneer, "And you all call me old. I know how to run a Gym, I can guarantee you it's much easier than what I've been doing with Lavender Town all this time."
She tapped her cane on the floor, "Besides, if that fool Blaine could run a Gym where he always has his head in some project or another, then I can guarantee you that I could do it too. And since you clearly weren't listening properly, my apprentice will provide the necessary youthful energy and enthusiasm where I lack. The Gym will work fine underneath our oversight."
"But you aren't even a Rock type trainer!" A different committee member said, equally foolishly I thought.
"Bah! If you think that I need to be a Rock type trainer to handle a first Badge Gym, then you need to reconsider re-entering schooling. Or is the old rumour true that many committee members earn their positions without having ever fought a Gym battle in their life?" Agatha scoffed dismissively, "Any other foolish questions, or can we move the discussion back to Champion Lance so we can finally vote and get this out of the way?"
The committee grumbled, but they eventually went silent, and a satisfied Agatha turned back to Lance and gestured for him to continue.
Lance gave her a nod before he addressed the committee once again, "As per Elite Agatha's words, we'll be moving onto the voting stage. Does the majority agree to appoint Agatha as the temporary regent of Pewter for 2 months until a more permanent one can be found?"
At this point, I felt that the Kanto portion of the committee understood where the winds were blowing, even if it bristled them to do so. Even though Agatha's appointment to regent was unusual, the fact that it was ultimately a temporary appointment likely soothed a few ruffled feathers. I bet they would have fought against it much harder if Agatha's appointment was to be permanent.
Regardless, after a few more murmurings from the committee, a majority eventually agreed and voted for Agatha's temporary appointment as the regent of Pewter Gym, to very tepid applause. Then, in an attempt to limit the inevitable political gridlock that comes with fighting over a position, Lance stated that if the committee failed to agree on who would become the permanent regent after those 2 months, then Lance will be given authority to appoint whomever he liked.
This put an effective deadline on the discussions, since I was certain that no one from Kanto would want a Johto Champion to be making decisions regarding a Kanto Gym. And I idly wondered who would become the new regent afterwards. Plus, I hoped, for Brock's sake, that he would be given the opportunity to learn as much as he can to hopefully salvage the Gym's reputation ever since Flint left it in the dust.
I turned to Agatha, wanting to speak to her, but she signalled to me that now wasn't the time and that we would speak later. I just nodded.
With the discussions regarding the Pewter Gym over, Lance moved on to the next topic. "Unfortunately, the Pewter Gym was not the only Gym in need of League intervention. The next topic is regarding the newly vacated Mahogany Gym, and what we should do with it."
Many eyes snapped to Lorelei, who seemed to shrink into herself in embarrassment. However, as if a switch had been flicked, her expression changed and she forced herself to stand tall, staring down haughtily at all those questioning gazes, as if to dare them to speak out against her or question her decision. It worked, and many within the committee averted their eyes elsewhere.
But with me standing so close to Lorelei, I knew that her haughty façade was just that, a façade. She seemed like she was desperately trying to project strength; likely from understanding how shaky of a position that she was in and was trying to deter those from questioning her position and strength within the Elite Four. I approved.
Which reminded me of the fact that Lorelei was sent to inspect the Johto Gyms. I wondered how that went? I doubted many of her interactions would have been friendly as mine were with the Kanto Gym Leaders.
Regardless, I refocused myself as Lance continued speaking, "With Lorelei having moved up to the Elite Four with no immediately apparent successor, a replacement Gym Leader MUST be found. Does anyone from the Johto section of the committee have any suggestions?"
It was amusing to see how the Johto members of the committee darted their eyes around nervously as they all seemingly tried to avoid answering the question. Some even shot Lorelei expectant glances, as if hoping that she would speak up on their behalf.
The reasons for their actions were obvious; no one wanted to be the person to suggest Pryce to become the Gym Leader. Not because he wasn't suitable; he clearly had the reputation and the experience to handle a Gym. But rather, it was because no one wanted to be seen as the person to support Pryce, not after his reputation was torn to tatters after his fall from grace. After all, many in the public still hadn't forgiven Pryce for his gross mismanagement of Indigo.
It was so bad that many of Pryce's ex-supporters, at least those who hadn't been already voted out and replaced, were refusing to raise it up. None of them were fanatical enough with their support of Pryce that they were willing to risk their political careers like this.
Even Lorelei was staying silent, which to be fair wasn't all that surprising considering how badly she was almost screwed over by her uncle's actions. I guess she was very reasonably nursing a grudge against him.
After a moment of silence, where no one volunteered to say anything, Lance let out a huge sigh. "Fine. I can guess the reason for your hesitance, so I'll be the one to say it. I may have my differences with him, but I cannot deny he is suitable for the position. Therefore, I am willing to put aside any previous animosity with him, and thus am nominating ex-Champion Pryce to become the new Mahogany Gym Leader. Please vote on it."
I raised an eyebrow, impressed by how Lance worded it. The way he phrased it made it seem like he was willing to put aside his grievances in order to acknowledge his former rival and offer him a prestigious position. Furthermore, I figured that giving a position like this to Pryce would help placate his older supporters, both within the committee and the public, since Pryce still had people who even now were hoping for his reinstatement as Champion.
He probably did this intentionally so that if and when this gets released to the news, it would likely show Lance in a very positive light for being forgiving and not holding on to unnecessary grudges.
Likewise, now that someone else had nominated Pryce, the Johto committee members all jumped to vote in favour of his appointment. With Pryce's appointment having the Champion's blessing, none wanted to miss out on the bandwagon. They likely wanted to be similarly seen as being 'forgiving' and 'soft-handed'; all good adjectives for any politician seeking to stay in power.
I noticed that Lorelei wearing a complicated expression on her face. Maybe she didn't want to leave her uncle in the lurch, or did she fear a resurgence of her uncle's authority over her?
Either way, Pryce was easily voted and appointed to become the new Gym Leader of Mahogany. Hopefully he had learnt his lesson after his eviction from being Champion and had or was in the process of turning over a new leaf.
With those 2 more urgent emergencies out of the way, Lance also announced a few more positive news to the committee. "Finally, I have some more positive announcements to make for the committee. Fortunately, the report from the inspectors regarding the Olivine Gym have not been as bad as initially feared, so League intervention is not directly at such a time. Instead, with the Gym Leader of Olivine stepping down, they have nominated young Jasmine as their replacement, as per the previous wishes of the Gym Leader."
The committee broke out into hushed whispers, but Lance continued, "As Jasmine has already reached her majority, the League need not send and observer to oversee their management of the Olivine Gym. Instead, we will be monitoring the Gym regularly to ensure that it has not received too many complaints. We wish Jasmine all the best as the new Gym Leader."
That got a few polite claps from the committee. As for me, I was pleasantly surprised to see Jasmine appointed as Gym Leader; I liked what I saw when she bravely helped me out during the attack at Olivine. I wished her all the best.
Lance waited for the applause to die down before resuming, "Lastly, there have been no other concerns or complaints, beyond some very minor paperwork errors, from the other Gyms of Indigo. I am proud to say that the Indigo Gyms are running optimally, and that we at the League see no concerning issues regarding this year's circuit."
That got another round of applause from everyone. "And that's all I have to say regarding today's Committee meeting. Thank you all for coming."
With that done, everyone started making their way out. Before I left though, I approached Agatha to ask her a few questions.
"Was this why you pulled Karen away so urgently?" I whispered to her as we began leaving the League building. We had stayed back for long enough that none were around to overhear us.
"Of course." She replied, some exasperation in her tone. "Once I overheard from a few sources of mine that Lance was about to host an urgent meeting like this…well the idea just sprung to mind. It seemed like a waste to let this opportunity go. Besides, it'll be better for the Pewter Gym if we were assigned to them over some fool picked by the committee. They run things too by the book." She smirked.
"This is a fantastic opportunity for me too." She continued, "Taking control of a Gym like this – even if temporarily, is great optics. I have plans for this regarding Lavender Town – but you don't have to know about that." Her smirk turned into a mysterious smile; obviously hiding more than she was saying.
"And I won't actually be doing much of the work – I'll leave it to Karen to sort things out. It'll be a good test to see if she can learn on the fly." She added smugly. "Besides, the position is only going to be held for 2 months anyways. That's short enough that she'll be free to pursue other things before the Indigo Conference occurs. It's not a big commitment."
"And I suppose the fact that it allows you to train up Karen in things other than battling is just a perfect coincidence which just so happens to be useful for a potential run for the Elite Four, isn't it?" I replied rhetorically, rolling my eyes. I left out the fact that Agatha was practically dumping all of the work on her. That was just a given, knowing Agatha.
"Naturally. We don't want people to think that Karen is undeserving of her position because she won based on pure strength alone." Agatha said, "I intend for her to be my successor in every way that matters. No doubt such a task would stress her out significantly, especially as I will be doing little else but observing her actions, but that is the price that she agreed to pay when she said she would follow in my footsteps."
"She'll be the de-facto regent for a majority of the Gym's decisions." Agatha continued explaining, "She'll either make something or herself, or she won't, and I'll take up the reins in her place and readjust my plans to account for her incompetency. Either way, I'm able to advance my own plans."
I nodded, unsurprised at the harshness of her words. In Agatha's eyes, time was running short, and Karen had to be whipped into shape sooner rather than later. I expected future preparations to follow a similar path.
"It does mean that Karen will have less time to train, though." I pointed out.
"You say like that is a concern." Agatha shot back with a grin, "I heard from her about her newly evolved Tyranitar. It's about time she got something that could actually stand up and take a hit. Good job on that, by the way. You helped her evolve it earlier than I expected."
I quickly accepted her thanks which she waved off, "Don't think anything of it, boy. It was part of our deal, after all. Your help in exchange for my support. Speaking of which, I was fully expecting your relationship to have progressed by this point. And yet you and Karen still aren't making kissy eyes at each other. What went wrong? Or do your eyes wander elsewhere?"
My eyes bristled at her words, though at this point I knew she was intentionally trying to rile me up, "We actually spoke about it." I said, meeting her stare as I tried to project a sense of calm. "I'm not sure if she told you the reason, and I won't be the one to disclose it if she hasn't, but we've come to an understanding about how things will proceed in the future."
"Ah, it's to do with that nonsense about her hang-ups, isn't it." She bit out with an annoyed sigh, "No need to respond, I already know all about. Unfortunately, despite my sage advice, she stubbornly refuses to listen to me and continues holding on to her past experiences." Despite the harshness of her voice, a hint of worry lingered in her tone. She still cared.
But I couldn't help and let out my own sigh, my true feelings coming to the fore. "I can't say I'm completely satisfied with that response, but it's not like I have my eyes on anyone else at the moment." I admitted, and Agatha sported a devilish grin at my words. However, I thought I spotted a glint of relief as well.
"HAH! She must have been glad to hear that." She barked out a laugh, "Well, as her guardian, I won't deny that I'm pleased to hear it, though I personally wouldn't blame you if you looked elsewhere. Obviously, I'd prefer you didn't – both of you are my greatest investments, after all, but my plans are adaptable for a reason. I can work with whatever happens."
"How do you mean?" I asked, though by this point I had an idea of her intentions.
Agatha just shot me another mysterious smile before her shadow elongated and she disappeared into it, leaving me all alone at the entrance to the League building.
I let out another sigh. At least whatever she was intending likely wasn't malicious. With that small comfort in mind, I flew back home and got ready to continue my training and preparations for Bruno.
Today's meeting about the Gyms were undoubtedly important, but I was honestly more concerned about winning my match. The match was only a week away, after all.
And I had a title to defend. And a challenger to crush.
A.N. AND some more politics regarding the Gyms and what happens when they're mismanaged. I really struggled with this chapter and went through many revisions, so I hope you like this final version. The League isn't about to leave the Pewter Gym hanging, so they're going to be stepping in now to help out.
Thanks to Allute for BETAing this chapter! Cheers! 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!