The New Normal – 8-6 – Interlude – Karen & Lorelei
(Karen POV)
Having just finished up with her usual meeting with Agatha in Lavender Town, Karen flew over to Pewter City with the pleasant breeze blowing past her face. She had regularly visited Brock and his siblings; it served as a nice break from the remedial training sessions that she had been doing over the past few weeks.
And yet, her mood remained pensive.
Since her victory against Sidney, her reputation had unsurprisingly skyrocketed. Many were now labelling her as the "Best Dark type specialist in the world". In her opinion, such a title was far too overblown and overly arrogant. She was NOT the best Dark type specialist in the world. She still considered Sidney to be her better on that front.
However, Agatha was not about to let this opportunity slip away.
The old crone jumped on her success, making it known to the world that Karen was HER apprentice and HER successor. That crafty elderly woman was quick to also use the opportunity to promote Lavender Town as THE place to learn how to fight like a proper Ghost/Dark type specialist.
Agatha was doing everything she can to shove the benefits and appeal of Lavender Town into the minds of the public and had forcefully roped Karen into helping out. Despite her grumbling, she didn't mind too much; she just saw this as a way of paying back Agatha for her teachings and helping the old lady finally work to achieving her long-time dream. Still, she couldn't deny that all this running around tired her out.
But despite all this, it wasn't the reason why she felt so concerned.
On her mind were two things - Lorelei's upcoming battle against Surge and John's recent draw against the unknown Cynthia. She didn't care too much about the former, but the latter was FAR more relevant to her.
She didn't care too much that the news had been reporting about John's draw against Cynthia, or how they were claiming that a draw for John was considered a loss for him. Although Karen admitted that she was also surprised at the outcome of the match when she had watched it live. She didn't think Cynthia was THAT strong of a trainer.
She definitely reconsidered her opinion of Cynthia now. As were most people.
To be fair to John, not everyone was lambasting him over his draw, and there were equally as many that were speaking up in support of John's actions for being a good sport as there were those that labelled him as weak. Besides, it was clear to any observant trainer that John was holding back.
That being said, Karen was more focused on not overlooking Cynthia's strengths and her incredibly diverse array of powerful Pokémon. When she was watching the match, Karen had wondered how Cynthia managed to train up all those different types of Pokémon without them clashing against each other. Even Agatha was impressed.
"You're lucky that that girl isn't going to be one of your contenders during this circuit's Indigo Conference." She had said, "I'm sure you'll put up a decent fight, but she would stomp you so hard into the ground they'd have trouble pulling you out of the rubble. Just look at what she managed with John."
"But John WAS holding back." She insisted.
"Sure, and I believe that too, but we haven't seen everything from Cynthia either, have we?" Agatha reminded her sharply, "I've seen plenty of 'great' trainers over the years. Many don't live up to the hype. But Cynthia…she'll be one to watch."
As her Honchkrow let out a cry to remind her of their imminent arrival, Karen shook her head and put those thoughts aside for now. She had spoken to John since the draw, and he didn't seem that overly bothered by it.
From what John had said over their call, he wasn't overly bothered by the fight because he found Cynthia to be a worthy opponent to fight and draw against. In fact, he spent most of the call describing the fight in detail and heaping praises on what Cynthia had accomplished as a trainer, as well as what they had done together around Sinnoh.
Karen supposed she should have been feeling relieved at that John was unbothered by the comments. But without being to fully explain why, she felt uncomfortable and wary at John's slew of compliments about Cynthia. The more John talked about Cynthia, the more that feeling grew. She didn't know what it was. Was it jealousy she was feeling?
Was this what feeling on the backfoot was like?
A voice in her mind whispered treacherously, "What if you lose him to her? Hasn't he been far less talkative to you recently?"
He was free to do whatever he liked, she argued back. But the voice just snorted, "That is the lie that you tell yourself. To make yourself feel better if he ever gets with someone else."
We'd still be friends, she tried, but she could feel the weakness in her own argument. The voice just cackled, "As if you would be content with a mere friendship. No, you always wanted more, but you were too scared and turned him down. Like a scared kid who knew nothing but the orphanage that she was raised in."
She gritted her teeth at her own inner thoughts, but then forcefully pushed them to the side as she got close to the Pewter Gym. Everything was fine, she told herself, and there was no need to let the kids see her unhappy, else they'd pester her with questions that she'd rather not answer. Besides, she was here to check up on them and make sure they were happy.
"Unlike yourself." The voice whispered once again.
She even brought a few gifts. And the new regent, a political toady and compromise candidate from the League, knew better than to stop her visits.
She could think about her problems with John another time. For now, she had kids to spoil.
(Lorelei POV)
Lorelei took a deep breath as she stood outside a plain-looking house around the centre of Mahogany. She had been doing everything she could to put off this meeting as much as possible but had finally run out of excuses. In the end, she found herself here, finally answering her uncle's summons.
To be completely honest, she didn't think she needed the help. This wasn't borne of out of arrogance, but rather because she really was confident at her chances at defeating Surge. She had only gotten stronger since the days where she struggled against Walker, and from her research, Surge was around the same level as him. Therefore, Lorelei would stay cautious, but she was optimistic about the upcoming battle.
But a very familiar voice broke her out of her thoughts, "Are you just going to stand outside all day, oh niece of mine? Or are you going to stop idling about and actually come inside?" Her uncle berated her in his usual aggravating tone, and Lorelei bristled.
"You know I could just walk away right now, uncle. You haven't exactly been deserving of my attention." She shot back, anger rising in her mind.
"Unless you want others hearing about your strategy against Surge, you better come inside." Her uncle merely continued, either ignoring or unaware of her anger. "I don't have all day; I still have to return to my Gym duties later. So if you could?"
Pride warred with reason. And pride won, "That tone of voice isn't granting you any favours. I guess you didn't really mellow out since your forced retirement. Or are you not enjoying your time as a Gym Leader?"
"Please, as if they would offer me any other position other than as Gym Leader of Mahogany, especially after you went and joined the Elite Four." Pryce scoffed, "No one else could fit the role, other than me. Just as I intended."
"And was destroying my reputation part of your 'plan', Pryce!?" She near-shouted, her anger flaring again, "Do you know how hard I struggled to make my way into the Elite Four just so that I could even BEGIN clearing my name of your stench?"
"It worked, didn't it?" Her uncle shrugged, brushing off her anger once again, "But never mind. I'm not here to discuss the past, I'm here to discuss the future."
"And what is there to talk about, dearest uncle?" Lorelei said sarcastically, "It's not like you were ever concerned with it in the past."
"Surge is not your true opponent." Her uncle continued, choosing to ignore her words once again, "You would be a fool to become conceited because of your incoming victory over him."
"Yeah, I knew that already–" She tried to say, only to be interrupted by her uncle once again.
"What you should be preparing for is whoever comes AFTER Surge." He said sharply, "Surge is merely a hot-headed fool with too little brain and too much brawn. He compensates for his lack of ability with his eagerness. But others will not lack this weakness and will simply be using Surge to scout out your recent potential."
"Are you warning me?" She asked, a mixture of confusion and curiosity.
"You may have distanced yourself from me politically, but you are still my niece." Pryce simply said, "Regardless of how you might feel about me, I AM invested in your success. And so, do not let yourself grow content. The true challenge has yet to truly appear. Both politically and otherwise."
"You mean like how you grew complacent?" She immediately shot back, and she knew it was successful as a scowl formed on her uncle's face. Taking that as the victory it was, Lorelei merely turned around, "Thanks for the invite, uncle. Maybe next time you can actually say things while still being polite about it."
Without saying goodbye, she simply walked away and moved away from her uncle's place. But as she left, her uncle's words continued swirling around in her mind.
Was he right?
A.N. I felt like there needed to be 2 POVs here, so I hope you enjoyed it. They both had a common theme, which was about the characters' personal relationships with others. Karen is realizing John might start looking elsewhere, and Lorelei and Pryce's relationship is still very much broken. But maybe it's on the mend.
Also, I would like to address the comments specifically on FF. Thank you to those who kept their comments constructive and civil. Sadly, FF doesn't allow me to respond without posting a chapter, so I had to wait until now to do so. I will try to address the relevant points here:
1. On Cynthia's strength/John's weakness - Knowing this fight was coming, I had previously highlighted that Cynthia's team was very strong. This was why you had the Lucian interlude and Cynthia interlude, and John made similar comments when he first saw her Lucario as he compared it to something he thought Bruno would use. Therefore, John was always going to be losing Pokemon to her team. Cynthia is very much on John's level despite her current lack of reputation, and this was what I wanted to show in this chapter as I have plans for Cynthia as hinted already. Though I do acknowledge the fight could have been better written on Klaus' end.
2. On the 'consequences' to John - It's a matter of public record that John's strength is proven and undeniable. His victories against Drake, Bruno, Giovanni, and his actions in Hoenn, have all cemented his strength in the public eye. Frankly speaking, to say that John's singular draw against Cynthia (who is a Conference winner) will destroy his reputation is a little too far considering all that has happened. The people do have eyes, and they would have seen Cynthia's strength in that match alone. That doesn't mean John's reputation won't take a hit, but it's really not as bad as some have described.
3. On the 'consequences' to Indigo - This one just confused me. The whole purpose of this fight is to attract attention to Indigo and Sinnoh and show off both sides. The draw here does not affect Indigo's or Sinnoh's negotiation position. Right now, Sinnoh is a mess politically and is wary of foreigners due to a proud tradition of isolationism. If John had curbstomped Cynthia (if he could), then that would piss off Sinnoh. The best thing to do is to make nice with Sinnoh, to show that we are as welcoming as they hope us to be. A show of strength/weakness is not going to affect the negotiation position because Indigo and Sinnoh are not entering this as enemies, but are trying to establish themselves as friends. This fight is just another cool thing to show the public.
Nevertheless, as the author, the failing is on my end for not communicating the above properly either through worldbuilding or otherwise. Further, the above are just my opinions on the matter and do not invalidate your opinions. I still appreciate the engagement I've received on the chapter and on the others. While I cannot promise that I will adhere to all your suggestions, I CAN promise that they will be kept in mind as I continue writing. Thanks as always!
Thanks to Allute for BETAing this chapter! Cheers man! 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!