The New Normal - A Pokémon SI

by CartecFF

For most, becoming a member of the Elite 4 would be the culmination of their Journey. A great achievement that solidified your status in the annals of history. For me, it was just the start of my journey. Hopefully, everything stays Normal. A pre-canon self-insert into the world of Pokémon. Inspired by Hard Enough. Crossposted SB/QQ. Updates every Mon/Fri. Short Interludes on Wed.

155. The New Normal - 8-7

John's Team

Tyrant - Slaking

Vordt - Ursaluna

Smough - Snorlax

Klee - Blissey

Port - Mantine

Zephyr - Pidgeot

Klaus - Wyrdeer

Luna - Clefable

Pixel - Porygon2

Euphie - Sylveon

Ornstein - D-Linoone

The New Normal – 8-7 – A Galactic Introduction

As soon as the match was over, I had hardly any more time to talk to Cynthia as she became THE target for all of the interviews. By nightfall, her name was spread across all of the worlds as everyone tried to get a clearer picture of WHO this new rising star was.

Questions came pouring in for her, trying to get to know more about who she was and how she managed to get so strong. There were plenty of overly dramatic news articles the next day about her, but I knew that it wouldn't last.

Our match wasn't done under any formal circumstances, and the hype would die down as soon as everyone cottoned on that we were both holding back. But even if the attention and spotlight would die down, Cynthia was doing her best to make full use of it. She had ambitions that she wanted to realize.

On the other hand, while people were quick to heap their praises onto Cynthia, I was subjected to several pointed questions about how I managed to draw against her.

It just all seemed overdramatic. It hadn't been that long since my battle against Bruno, and yet now some news sources were painting it as if I was on my way out of the Elite Four. Fortunately, the public were not all mindless drones, and I had seen on the Pokénet that I still received my fair share of supporters.

More importantly, those who were ACTUALLY important knew that this wasn't some indication of weakness from me. The messages that I received from Lance, Will, Karen, and my other friends were more curious about Cynthia and how strong she was rather than blasting me over my draw.

Besides, I no longer solely relied on my reputation of strength to remain in the Elite Four. My stance on internationalism, for example, was now developing momentum on its own and wasn't something that I solely had to take care of. Plus, the strong connections and friendships that I had cemented wouldn't be affected by this draw.

Still, I recognised that the perception of my strength would take a hit – but it was nothing I couldn't recover from in time. Plus, while I was still in Sinnoh, I could avoid most of the more pointed questions for the time being.

Nevertheless, during times where the public's attention was focused on me or someone close to me, I would do my best to lie low and let the attention die down for a few days before making any public appearances. Unfortunately for me, Cynthia had other plans.

"You want to take me on a tour of Sinnoh?" I asked her, "Why now?" When there were so many reporters after us, was left unsaid but understood.

"No point changing our plans because of some pestering. I refuse to let my plans be dictated by these nosy nobodies that try to muscle in on our business." She replied adamantly, "And besides, it's already been a few days since our fight, I don't see why you're still worried about the attention. Plus, you've been here for some time now, but you still haven't really explored beyond the measly borders of this humble town. Have you not wanted to see more of Sinnoh?" She gave me a pointed look that stated she would accept no refusal.

"Well of course." I responded, before offering a sigh. "Okay…let's just head out."

"Brilliant." Cynthia smiled, "I'm glad you said that, because I wasn't the only one hoping to drag you along."

"Wait, who else is there?" I questioned curiously.

"You probably didn't see because of all those reporters swarming around the two of us, but Flint came up to speak with me yesterday. Him and Aaron both." She answered. "Great conversationalists, the two of them."

"Anyways, Flint told me that he wanted an opportunity to speak to you for longer." She continued, "So I told him about my plans, and he agreed to join in. Figured we could make a day out of exploring some of the more prominent places of Sinnoh."

"Aaron couldn't make it?" I asked, a little disappointed. I was hoping to meet him.

"Unfortunately not. I think he's meeting your counterpart, Will, today. At least, that's what he told me." Cynthia said, "He did say to pass on his regards to you. He was very apologetic for not being able to greet you personally."

"That's fine, I appreciate his words regardless." I waved her off, "So, where are you bringing me?"

"If you're ready, we're meeting Flint at Jubilife." She told me, hurrying me along as she prepared to ride her Togekiss. Seeing that I wasn't going to be able to worm my way out of this, I followed after her on Port.

Our flight over there was pleasantly silent, with the two of us just naturally enjoying the relaxing and slightly chilly winds of Sinnoh breezing past our faces.

As Jubilife City got closer, Cynthia directed us to land near the southern entrance to the city, just a small ways off from what I recognized was the Trainers School. As we landed, I saw a small crowd of children and parents loitering around outside, with a familiar person with his distinct red haired afro in the middle.

"…Of course, the Fire type is one of the more powerful types." I heard him say as we approached, "But don't forget you need a balance of other types as well. Being a type specialist is all well and good, but you need to learn to adapt to your type's weaknesses. Can you tell me what that means?" He leaned down to ask one of the kids.

"It means you have to be able to win against Water types!" One of the kids answered enthusiastically, waving his arms excitedly in the air.

Flint let out a hearty chuckle, "That's right, kiddo! But don't forget about those Rocks and Ground types! Those are also powerful types against us Fire types."

"Is that why you lose to Bertha?" Another kid, this time wearing glasses, asked. Their parent instantly moved to admonish them for their rude question, but Flint waved them off.

"Hahaha! That's a good question. And yes, Bertha and her Ground types are really strong against me. But don't worry, I'm confident that I'll win next time!" His grin seemed to shine in the midday sun.

"But you don't even have that many Fire types!" Another kid shouted out, only to be berated by their parent. Flint seemed to turn a little embarrassed at that question.

"Yeah…about that…Let's just say that I didn't have that many opportunities to catch Fire types when I first started and leave it at that." He replied a little hesitantly as he scratched his head.

Cynthia and I stood around patiently as Flint continued to play around with the kids, but he must have eventually noticed our presence as, after humouring a few more questions, he waved his goodbyes and promised that he would drop in once again soon.

"Thanks for waiting, sorry about the hold up." He greeted us as the kids left, though some of them were giving us surprised looks of recognition as they saw us, "I thought you'd take a little longer to arrive. Volkner was supposed to be doing this; but he's being actually called away to do something for once."

"No harm done." I replied, "And I hope you enjoyed watching our match yesterday."

"I certainly did!" He laughed, "Like I said to Cynthia yesterday, Aaron and I were both REALLY wowed by the whole fight. Your fight was spectacular, even if you were holding back. And no offense intended Cynthia, but I didn't think you could hold up as well as you did."

"No harm done." Cynthia replied with a smile as her eyes roamed around the Trainer School, "You come here often, Flint?"

"Yep. Volkner and I both." Flint nodded, "Coming to the Trainer School often helps us give back to our communities and for what they've done for us."

There was a history there, but I wisely didn't push.

"That's very nice." I praised instead, "And I can understand the joy. I also found it greatly enjoyable to teach my sister about how to get stronger. Seeing her grow has been very rewarding."

"Yes, that's part of my motivation too." Flint agreed with another nod, "Anyways, enough about that. How are you finding the wondrous Jubilife City, home of the very Jubilife TV station! Where all your propaganda, I mean news, is broadcasted from!"

"It's very modern." I said, looking around, "Even Celadon doesn't compare."

"…I really need to explore Indigo properly one day to understand all your references." Flint said with a frown, "Still, I'm glad you enjoy it. We have much to see, and for all of its modernity, Jubilife isn't even in the top 5 most interesting places in Sinnoh."

"I agree. Let's stick to the itinerary." Cynthia added, checking her watch, "If we head out now, we'd still be on time."

"We have an itinerary?!" I blurted out.

"Of course." Cynthia replied, "I mean, why wouldn't we? We have people who want to meet you, so of course we needed to arrange a schedule."

"…And I wasn't informed about this, why?" I asked again, shooting them a look.

"Come on, you have to be a little spontaneous sometimes." Flint smiled, patting me on the back, "Anyways, enough chatter. Let's bring him over to the next place."

And so we were off once again, flying around in the skies of Sinnoh as we headed off to our next destination. As we flew, I couldn't help but think of why Flint was so insistent on accompanying us. I suspected that he had an agenda in mind, though I was confident that it wasn't one that was hostile against me.

I truly didn't think that Flint had a malicious bone in his body. He was just a little overeager.

Nevertheless, I put that out of my mind for now as I tried to guess where we were flying to. I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as soon as we flew in the opposite direction of Snowpoint City. Beautiful place or not, I was not dressed up warm enough to head over there.

But as we continued flying east, I felt like I had an idea of where we were going.

"Are we heading to Veilstone City?!" I shouted out so that my voice could be heard over the winds in sky.

"How did you guess!" Flint laughed, "But yes, we are! Will pointed out that there was someone that you really should meet, and I agreed!"

Oh shit. I think I knew who he was talking about. There was only one individual of any significance in Veilstone, besides the Gym Leader. "Are you talking about Galactic Company?!" I asked, looking to confirm my suspicions.

"You're really quite the mind-reader!" Flint's grin only grew, "But you're right again!"

"I think it'll be a wonderful opportunity!" Cynthia added, "I've seen your work with Devon Corp and Silph Co! I think Sinnoh would really benefit from this too!"

"Those were only luck!" I replied humbly, though I was trying to conceal what my repulsion and distaste about 'working' with Galactic Company. Working with Giovanni was one thing, but this was an entirely different matter.

Still, my personal distaste aside, the logical part of my brain reminded myself that this was a great opportunity to get the measure of what might likely be one of the largest threats to the continued prosperity of the world. I couldn't afford to pass this up.

So, with a fake smile plastered to my face, I made sure to conceal my dislike in the furthest recess of my mind as we began to land in Veilstone, just near the large and recognisable building of the Galactic Company. The headquarters towered over the rest of the city, making it clear that THIS was the crown jewel of Veilstone, surpassing even the Gym in status.

Already, there was an employee that was waiting patiently for our arrival, as if they expected us. Their cyan bowl cut was impossible to miss.

"I never understood why they all have those haircuts." Cynthia whispered to me as we approached, just quiet enough so that the person couldn't hear us. I smirked and nodded in agreement.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with unusual hairstyles." Flint protested defensively. "…Though I agree that it's weird that all of their employees are like this." He quickly quieted down as we got close to the employee.

"Greetings, esteemed ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the main offices of the Galactic Company." They greeted with a formal bow, "Please, if you could come inside. One of our administrators is looking forward to speaking with you."

"Thank you." Flint said for all of us. Then we followed the employee into the building.

The first thing I noticed as we walked was how high-tech and futuristic everything was. Even more so than Devon Corp. The whole building felt like it contained technologies that was a decade more advanced than anything else I'd seen before. Horrible intentions to destroy the world aside, their building was amazing to look at.

"Impressed? I was too when I first came here." Flint asked knowingly, "It's amazing what they've done with the place. We are very fortunate to have them here in Sinnoh."

"And their energy production serves as one of Sinnoh's most important pillars." Cynthia added, turning to Flint, "I believe the new windmills and solar panels being constructed in Sunyshore are supplied by them as well?"

"They are." Flint nodded, "And we have Cyrus' magnanimity and genius to thank for that. Having access to easy energy like this has been a huge boon for Sinnoh."

My smile faltered slightly at the praise that they were heaping onto Galactic Company. It was damning to realize just how good of a PR job that Team Galactic had managed to achieve. It was the same as what Giovanni had created with his own reputation and Silph Co.

I reminded myself how fortunate I was that I managed to 'convert' Giovanni towards doing more heroic actions before he could enact his canon plans.

That would have been a very uphill battle. At least we shut down Team Magma and Aqua's plans in Hoenn before they could set themselves up in the same way.

I missed the times where all I had to deal with was Team Rocket, who quickly and recklessly made themselves public enemy number one. That was far simpler to deal with, since we had the full backing and endorsement of the public. It was far more frustrating trying to fight back against a more insidious threat in Team Galactic.

But I shoved those thoughts aside for the time being as the elevator in the lobby opened up and a familiar-looking lady with unique and short red hair walked out. She was holding a clipboard and had donned a lab coat.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry for the wait. I'm Mars, one of the administrators and directors here at the company." She greeted us with a small apologetic bow as she extended a hand for all of us to shake, "And Elite Flint, Elite John, it's a huge honour to have two members of the Elite Four visiting us today. And Cynthia, the new rising star, it's a similar honour to make your acquaintance." She flattered, and we shook hands. It took every bit of self-discipline to keep the smile plastered on my face.

Despite looking like the average scientist, I knew better. It was hard to NOT show off my hostility towards a Commander of Team Galactic. More than that, my eyes shot to a beeping glowing yellow circle that was attached to her belt. I recognized it as another one of the teleporter pads that were scattered all over Team Galactic's buildings in the games. Did they create personalized ones for the admins as an escape mechanism?

"Thanks for having us Mars, and it's good to see you again." Flint replied with a friendly smile, "How is Cyrus by the way?"

"He's busy as usual. You know how it is with big companies." Mars responded with a smile of her own, "Oh, and congratulations on your battle, Cynthia and John. It was fantastic to watch. It only made us more excited when we heard you were coming to pay our humble company a visit."

"Also Cyrus sends his apologies for not being able to meet you all today. He's unfortunately been occupied with many other matters for the moment, and he just couldn't spare the time to meet you three." She said with an apologetic frown.

If I didn't know better, I would have thought that Mars was nothing more than your average, run-of-the-mill director of the company. Her act was so good that I had trouble reconciling the terrorist I knew she was to the 'friendly' person in front of me.

But only for a moment. Their insanity was impossible to forget.

"Something special in the works?" Flint joked.

"Something like that." Mars replied cryptically, "But anyways, would you care for a tour of our facilities? We can walk and talk."

"Before that, can I ask what that is?" I pointed to the teleporter pad on her belt, "It looks fancy."

"Oh, this?" She motioned to the pad, "This is just some new prototype we're testing. It's a one-person teleporter, meant to be used to get out of hairy situations. But we're still making improvements to it; the current version only is able to teleport you back if you're still in Veilstone. I can't say more than that, but we're looking to continue on improving it."

We all nodded, my companions suitably impressed by that piece of technology. After that, I had no more questions, so we got started on the tour.

And what a tour it was. The high-tech vibe of the reception area clearly wasn't just for show; the entire building was the same. The only difference was instead of teleporters, like in the games, they simply used very fancy and futuristic looking escalator instead to navigate between floors. But while my companions were awed by the sight of their interior, I tried to keep my rationality to see if I could spot anything incriminating.

Despite my best efforts, I could not. That wasn't the most surprising considering that Mars wasn't about to guide us into areas that she didn't want us being in, but I was still hoping for SOMETHING I could use. The lack of evidence was deeply frustrating. There was not a hair out of place.

"Is there something the matter?" Mars suddenly asked me as we neared the end of the tour, and I flinched as I realized that I may not have been concealing my inner frustrations as well as I had.

"Oh, it's nothing…sorry, I was just deep in thought." I pretended to scratch my head embarrassedly, but then a thought suddenly came to mind.

"Actually, and I do apologize for my curiosity, but where do you do your R&D? I've heard from my two companions that you've done great work with developing the future of energy generation here in Sinnoh. I was really interested in getting to see the researching developments taking place in Devon Corp, and I'd honestly love to be able to see the brilliant minds behind this." I flattered.

"I'm sure Cyrus would be very happy to hear those words; he's always taken great pride in this company's researching abilities." Mars smiled, though that quickly faded as she continued, "Unfortunately, a lot of our R&D areas are off-limits, even to guests of high status like you. We do hope you don't take offense to this, but you must understand that there are company secrets we would like to protect." We all nodded along. Unfortunate, but that was to be expected. My request was always a long-shot anyways.

"Speaking of development, there was something I'd wanted to bring up now that we're all here." Flint suddenly spoke up, turning to me. "And this was actually part of the reason I brought you along here today, John." I shot him a curious look with a raised eyebrow.

His face turned serious, losing his signature easy smile. "I don't know how much you know about the current political situation here in Sinnoh, but the idea of international cooperation is still a very new idea in our minds. And with Sinnoh being the newcomer on the international stage, many are worried that opening our borders might just leave us exposed to be exploited and left to the lurch." Cynthia nodded along in agreement.

"So far, we've been happy to have you and Will around to wave the flag and be a friendly face for the public, but that isn't anything concrete. It would be far better if we actually had formal agreements to solidify our cooperation." He continued, "Whether that be through business agreements or otherwise, it would do a lot to improving public opinion about this whole business. That's why we opened up to our borders to businesses as of today; the announcement should have been made in the news this morning."

"Therefore, I had hoped that by introducing you to Galactic Company, and knowing your penchant for internationalism, Lucian and I thought you would be the most amenable to helping us foster new business agreements with notable companies from Indigo." He said to me, "Of course, we'll be discussing this with Will as well."

"So what do the two of you think? Any chance you can hash something out together?" He asked both of us.

Mars and I shared a look, and I was proud of myself for not instantly shouting out "NO!". The last thing I wanted to do was to work alongside Team Galactic to do anything.

Luckily, Mars spoke up first, "…As it currently stands, I don't believe our company has the intention or ability to set up any branch offices in other regions. We're currently very occupied by our own projects and commitments here in Sinnoh…but we would be happy to work with any newcomer that wants to set themselves up in Sinnoh."

"That's perfectly understandable." Flint smiled easily, "And what about you, John? You heard Mars. Think you can have talk anyone into setting a few offices here in Sinnoh? I bet it'd do great for our economy to have foreign investment coming in."

"I know it's not my place to add to this, but grandmother has always said how big of an opportunity it was for branch offices to be established here." Cynthia said, "That foreign investment will always be put to good use."

In hindsight, this request from Flint shouldn't have been all that surprising, so I paused to think things through. I didn't have any problems with Flint's request, but that was not what I focused on.

My mind was on Team Galactic, and how best to cripple them. I suspected that the true reason that Galactic Company was unable or unwilling to expand was because all of their money was being funnelled into their less-than-legal projects.

However, after some time to think it through, an idea slowly formed in my mind. I had an opportunity in front of me.

"…I'll definitely look into it." Was what I replied, "I'll speak to a few of my contacts and see if they're up to doing something like this, but I can promise no guarantees. I'm just the spokesperson after all."

"Wouldn't you want your family's business to get involved as well?" Cynthia asked.

I nodded, "Yes, but we're definitely not ready to expand to Sinnoh at this stage. At least not anytime soon."

"Don't stress about it! You being supportive of the idea is all I hoped for." Flint patted me on the back, "We'll also be speaking to Will about this and see if he can make his own introductions. I really do hope something good comes out of this."

I smiled, realizing the pressure that Flint must be under to make this whole internationalism idea a success. And no wonder, considering that the political turmoil that Sinnoh was currently embroiled in was about this very issue. I hoped that I could make things easier for him.

"We'll look forward to the extra opportunities for trade and investment. We'll be looking forward to hearing more." Mars said pleasantly, and we all returned to 'friendly' conversation as we finished off the tour.

I kept up my pleasant smiles until we left the offices, and I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief when we finally exited the building. Keeping up appearances like this was tiring.

"You okay, John?" Cynthia asked me, looking concerned, "You were a little stiff there. You're usually more cheerful and eager when meeting new people. Something wrong?"

I blinked, not realizing that Cynthia had even spotted my unease, "No, nothing's wrong." I lied, and she let the topic drop, though I wasn't sure if she fully believed me.

Luckily, I was saved by my phone suddenly ringing. I reached for it and saw that Joseph was calling. Quickly excusing myself from Cynthia and Flint, I moved away as I answered it.

"Joseph?" I answered.

"John! Sorry for the sudden call, but remember that thing that I mentioned about the fossil machine and how it was nearly complete?" He exclaimed excitedly through the phone.

"Of course…wait, you mean to tell me you have it working?" I asked with widened eyes, surprise evident in my voice.

"Sure am! We just did a bunch of tests. And now we have 2 newly revived fossil Pokémon casually hanging about the labs!" He said eagerly, "Everyone here is over the moon about this! While this isn't as significant as your Fairy discovery, we're very excited to see this spread around."

"I imagine so." I smiled, genuinely happy for him, "But what kind of Pokémon did you revive?"

"We're calling them Lileep and Anorith, revived from a Root Fossil and Claw Fossil respectively." He told me jovially, "Lileep is a Grass/Rock type, and Anorith a Bug/Rock type."

"That's cool!" I said, trying to show off my enthusiasm even though I knew about this beforehand, "Do you have any plans of reviving others?"

"Not at the moment." He said, "We're still making sure that the revival process has gone through smoothly and that there are no health problems or any other complications. Better safe than sorry. But once the tests are done and we're sure everything's safe, we'll probably be reviving more Root and Claw fossils to make sure things are consistent."

"Perfectly understandable." I nodded, "I assume Steven is the lucky man getting to train up these fossils?"

"How did you guess?" He chuckled, "But you're right. We had them sent over to Steven as soon as we checked that it was okay to do so. I think he's more excited than I am about these fossils. He's always been more interested in geology than I was."

"I bet there are very few trainers that WOULDN'T be this excited about getting a new Pokémon on his team, especially something new and interesting like these are." I joked, "But actually, you called at a great time Joseph, because I do have something to ask you."

"Oh?" His tone had switched from jovial to business-like and serious, "Go ahead."

"I was just speaking to Elite Flint, and he was quite eager in trying to persuade me to have businesses set themselves up here in Sinnoh." I explained, "Knowing of my connections, he asked if I could help ask around and see if there's interest."

"Ah, I understand. I saw it in the news that the borders were open to businesses today." He responded, "Unfortunately, I don't think Devon Corp is very interested in setting up another branch office in Sinnoh at the moment, not when we set up one up in Kanto not too long ago. This was actually something we had recently discussed in a board meeting, and the other directors and I agree that such expansion would be too soon. Maybe we can come back to this issue in a few months' time, but not at the moment."

"That's perfectly fine, thank you for letting me know anyways." I replied, not at all disappointed. "And congratulations once again on the success of the fossil revival project."

"I have to thank our bright scientists on that one." He laughed, "Oh, and John, I haven't forgotten my previous promise to award you with a Normal type fossil Pokémon if we do find one."

"You really don't have to, but thank you." I said to him, despite knowing that a Normal type fossil Pokémon likely didn't exist.

We spoke for a bit longer after that before eventually hanging up. I didn't mind that Devon Corp wasn't able to invest, because my real target was someone else. If I was right, then I was about to gain a tool that could really mess with Galactic's plans.

I called up Giovanni.

"Giovanni? Are you free?" I asked him as he picked up the phone.

"John? What's going on?" He replied, and I began by giving him a rundown of Flint's proposal and asked if Silph Co was interested in setting up a branch office in Sinnoh.

"Hmm…I think this is something we would be interested in." Giovanni commented thoughtfully, "I'll have to check though."

I looked around to make sure there was no one around, "I think this would also be an excellent opportunity for you to find out where Proton went and hid." I suddenly said to him.

Giovanni fell silent for a moment, likely stunned at he was by my sudden change in topic.

"…What, exactly, do you mean by that?" Giovanni questioned after he regained his wits.

"We both know that Team Rocket has gone and ran off to Sinnoh, and the fact that they haven't been found is indicative that they must have had facilities here already. The fact that they seem to be very well-funded only emphasises this point." I explained, "If you could set up something here under Silph Co's banner and keep an ear on the shadier ongoings, maybe we could get a lead."

Giovanni let out a chuckle, "…And the true reason why you reached out to me has revealed itself. You want our Silph Co branch office to be set up to serve as a cover for a forward base." He sounded oddly proud there, "This is unusually sly of you, John, to be proposing something like this. You've caught me a little by surprise, but I don't disagree with your plan."

"However, answer me this. What made you propose this?" He asked me, pushing for an answer.

"Call it a gut feeling, but I greatly mislike this situation." I said, firmly and seriously. "You know as well as I do that these terrorists are a threat to the whole world. But they're also too well hidden for the legitimate authorities to find them. So we're going to need to be more flexible about our methods. They've gone to ground now, but we need to dig them up."

A base of operations set up by someone Giovanni trusted would go a long way in establishing a foothold for us to fight Team Galactic. Not only would it help identify softer targets that we could attack that would damage their operations while not bringing down the entirety of Sinnoh on my head, but also it would slowly unravel Galactic's operations and provide evidence that we COULD to order a large-scale assault.

It would take some time. But it was a big step towards what I wanted.

Giovanni's chuckle broke me from my thoughts, "I can already guess your thoughts. Fine, you can have your base. I'll speak to a few people to have it be set up as soon as possible. I'll keep you informed of anything I hear."

"That's all I ask." I replied back, inwardly sighing in relief, "Thank you for this, Giovanni."

"No need to thank me. We all do what we must to secure the future of Kanto." He responded.

As I put away my phone, I felt as if some weight had been lifted from my shoulders. The establishment of a 'listening' base was a good start. Now, if Team Galactic ever slipped up, the base in Sinnoh provided us a chance to hear about it and act on it.

Their time of safety and security hiding away in the shadows will soon be over.

As I walked back towards Cynthia and Flint, my eyes narrowed in slits as I glared at the Galactic Headquarters, their signature logo flying high in the sky. One day, I would bring these terrorists down. As soon as I had enough evidence to convince others, I would make sure to reveal them as the madmen that they were.

And their logo would be buried deep in the ground, serving as nothing more than the foundation for us to build up our collective prosperity.

A.N. Finally, Team Galactic is 'introduced' properly into the story. I wanted to highlight Team Galactic's current greatest strength – they have the trust of the people and the public. Unlike with Team Magma/Aqua/Rocket, the people will side with THEM unless proper reason can be found to discredit their reputation.

But this is both Team Galactic's greatest strength and weakness. They can't afford to do anything that could risk exposing them and ruining their reputation. That means their actions are forced to be slower and far more careful. Future battles against them will be done in the dark, not out in the open like with the other teams. I hope you enjoyed!

This chapter has been BETAed by Allute! 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!