John's Team

Tyrant - Slaking

Vordt - Ursaluna

Smough - Snorlax

Klee - Blissey

Port - Mantine

Zephyr - Pidgeot

Klaus - Wyrdeer

Luna - Clefable

Pixel - Porygon2

Euphie - Sylveon

Ornstein - Obstagoon

Wraith - H-Zoroark

The New Normal – 11-11 – Politics in Action

With all of the preparations in place, Lance and I worked together to organise and have everything in place and ready in time for the next Committee meeting. There was no need to delay things any further; better to strike while the iron was still hot.

I walked into the meeting room with a confident smile on my face, ignoring the many stares and whispers that were directed my way. None of my preparations were subtle, and I was fairly certain that the many politicians in the room had all somewhat guessed my intentions already, so they were just waiting for the hammer to drop.

I think Agatha found it amusing to watch them squirm.

"You must be pleased with yourself." She told me as I arrived. I was surprised that she had arrived earlier than me, "I don't think I've ever seen you so active for any of your previous plans. Then again, none have been as ambitious as this."

"Did Karen tell you about what I was planning?" I asked, though I wasn't being accusatory. I didn't mind if Karen told Agatha.

But Agatha shook her head, "The girl had no need to. Or did you think I wouldn't be able to figure it out myself? I pieced everything together when you went to speak with that old Ice bastard."

"I did too. You weren't being very subtle with it, unless that was your intention." Will's voice came from behind us, and I turned to watch him saunter into the room, "Greetings again, John! I knew today would be an important occasion, so I dressed up particularly fancy today. Do you like the new look?"

…I blinked, but he didn't look any different. He literally looked the same as usual, but I didn't want to wipe the proud smile off his face.

"You look as immaculate as ever. I'm sure a reporter will make note of your attire today." I lied blatantly, and judging Agatha's rolling eyes, I wasn't subtle with it. Still, the pleased grin on Will's face told me that he bought it.

Though Agatha was not nearly as polite, "Bah. You look like the same preening ponce as ever. Maybe you should try wearing a different colour next time if you want to attract attention."

Surprisingly, Will didn't take it badly and tapped a finger on his chin, "Hmm…a change of colour might be good, but it could ruin my image. After all, purple IS my colour. Maybe I could try blue?"

Then he looked around, "Speaking of blue, is Lorelei going to be joining us today? I heard she would be."

"She is." I nodded, "I heard they've installed a video camera here and gave her a private room in Sinnoh to allow her to still participate in these meetings."

"Ah, that's good. It's about time we standardised online participation in Committee meetings, especially since we're going to be saddled with far more international duties." Will commented, getting another nod from me. "We shouldn't be missing out on meetings like this just because we're overseas."

And almost as if was coincidence, a member of staff came and plugged in a specialised looking laptop next to us, while another rolled in a large screen attached to a trolley. A few seconds later, and Lorelei's head popped up on the screen.

"Is this work—Oh, hello to you all too." She greeted us with a small wave, "I hope you weren't waiting for me."

"The Dragon is late as usual." Agatha scoffed, "Even though this is supposed to be his shared idea."

"A Champion has many duties he has to attend to. We can forgive a bit of tardiness." Will placated, but he just got another scoff from Agatha.

"Oh, that reminds me, thanks again for your introduction to your business contacts, Will." Lorelei said, ignoring Agatha's previous comments, "It made things a lot easier for me."

"Not a problem." He waved her off, "They wanted to meet with you anyways. I just helped facilitate the meeting. But I heard that they spoke well of you and were pleased to see that you were as neutral as you portrayed yourself. It freed them from their greater fears."

"You mean that they were happy that I wasn't like my uncle." She quipped, but there was no bitterness there.

"They didn't word it like that." Will replied, but I could tell he agreed with her words.

"Ah, I'm assuming you're talking about your Sinnohnian contacts?" I asked, getting a nod from Will.

"Yep, they wanted to meet Lorelei – for obvious reasons – and I just made sure they could arrange a more private meeting with her." Will smiled, "I'm personally happy to see that Indigo is integrating well with the businesses of Sinnoh—"

Whatever Will was about to say next was cut off as Lance swooped into the room, his cape dramatically flowing behind him as he practically marched into the room. The room quickly silenced as all eyes were locked onto Lance, with many waiting for what he was about to say.

Although, amongst the Elite Four, we were less impressed with Lance's 'performance'. I knew that Agatha and Lorelei both were rolling their eyes.

At least Lance had a keen supporter in Will – who eyes shined with intensity as he stared at Lance's flowing cape.

"Thank you all for waiting. I can tell that most of you are eagerly awaiting to see what our new proposal is going to be." He began.

"But you need not wait any longer – I will tell you here and now that the plan that John and I have crafted together is an ambitious one, yet it is one we hope that will tie the bonds of friendships and common identity within Indigo to become even more unbreakable. And to accomplish that, we will be slowly erasing the artificial separation that continue to distance our two regions."

Like we had planned, I'd be sharing the credit for the idea with Lance. It would be better for the both of us if he was the one to announce the idea. As always, I didn't care for the glory – as I had more than enough of it – I just wanted to ensure that this proposal would be successfully passed for the betterment of our region.

"That is why, thanks to John's unending passion and drive for internationalism, we have judged that Indigo is ready to vote on a policy that will shape the future of our region for the years to come. And that plan is – for the Gym Leaders of Indigo to be appointable from either Kanto or Johto!"

There were a variety of responses to Lance's announcement. However, even though there some expected noises of shocked outrage, especially from those who had campaigned on more traditional beliefs, the general reaction was fairly muted. Everyone here was likely a seasoned and experienced politician, so they were likely expecting something like this.

"To clarify, this does not mean that we will be changing any of the current inheritance rights of Gym Leaders. Gym Leaders will continue to be able to pass their position down to their chosen successor, within reason, as usual. However, what this DOES change is the fact that, if there were to be an open spot for a Gym Leader, that Gym Leader may be appointable from either Kanto or Johto – regardless of where that Gym is located." He explained.

"Like I said, I understand that this is quite the radical proposal, and is something that is definitely worthy of much discussion." He continued, forestalling any objections, "That I why I will not be holding a vote on this proposal today. Instead, as some of you may have already realised, we will be inviting the Gym Leaders to express their opinions and vote on the matter before we continue. It is only afterwards shall I put the vote to everyone in the Committee."

There were a few approving nods to that; no one liked it when a proposal was forcefully pushed through. Even if they knew I had likely set the stage in advance with my talks with the Gym Leaders, it still gave everyone a chance to think things over and express their own thoughts.

The latter was especially important for the politicians in the Committee. With how big of a proposal this was, and with us inviting the Gym Leaders, their discussion were undoubtedly going to be televised and reported on. That gave the Committee members an excellent opportunity to use that as a platform to express their own views in hopes to secure more votes for the next election.

"…And so the bomb is dropped." Will muttered, "I wonder how your proposal will be received."

"You will have my support as promised." Lorelei confirmed, and I shot her a thankful nod.

But Agatha was less encouraging with her words, "Have you learnt nothing from your time in the Tournament?" She mocked, "Inviting all of the Gym Leaders here is just asking for an argument to break out. And it'll be televised, no less."

"I'm sure they'll act more professionally in front of the cameras." Will replied, which I agreed with. Agatha just harrumphed.

"Then you have more faith in them than I do." Then a large grin appeared on her face, "Oh how I hope that they'll make a mess of a things. That's always funny to see."

The gears of politics moved quickly, which was further helped by the fact that the news were excitedly writing all kinds of headlines about the announcement of my proposal. Opinion pieces, discussions, and debates had spontaneously taken place throughout the region as many political thinkers talked about what this would mean for the future of the region.

The discussions weren't limited to only in Indigo. Hoenn and Sinnoh were quick to hear about the news and had joined in, throwing in their own opinions on the matter.

With the foreign regions, the main thing they were talking about was if, hypothetically, Gym Leaders could be appointed from ANY region. In other words, what if a Gym Leader for a Gym in Sinnoh could be appointed from Hoenn or Indigo, for example.

That was seen as a little too far for the time being, even with Hoenn, but it was an interesting discussion to be had anyways. And it did open up the possibility of such a thing being implemented in the future. When Wallace and Cynthia were asked about their opinions on the matter, they both said that they believed it would be a nice ideal to work towards, and something that could be considered for the future.

Returning back to the local scene, from what my team and I saw from the collected news reports and online, the initial reaction to the announcement from the public were generally favourable. Obviously, not everyone was in support, and there were a few minor protests that broke out that wanted to block this policy from going through.

However, many within the public were adopting a wait-and-see approach, holding on to their opinion until AFTER the Gym Leaders had their discussion and vote. It was clear that most of the public had a high degree of trust in their Gym Leaders, and would support their views accordingly.

That was perfectly fine with me. As long as the announcement didn't cause the public to turn immediately hostile against me, that was all I hoped for. And I at least had a few big fans of mine who were already supportive from the get go.

Thanks to all the attention that my proposal garnered, and the fact that the Committee unanimously agreed to have the Gym Leaders be invited as soon as possible, we actually managed to send out and invite the Gym Leaders on the day – meaning they could come in the very next day.

Was it a little rushed? Yes. Did anyone care? No. The Gym Leaders all knew what was coming, and they were all already prepared for the invitation.

As everyone huddled into the League building, the Committee room was packed to the brim with people, as news reporters, League officials, Committee members, all of the Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, and everyone else was crammed into a room that was definitely not fit to host this many people.

In the end, we decided to just move the whole thing to a different, and larger, room. It wouldn't make for good television if you couldn't make out any of the faces due to how squished everyone was.

That was where I found myself now. Standing next to my fellow Elite Four members in the repurposed training room with chairs and tables temporarily placed down just for this meeting. Though we were mostly here to spectate – this wasn't the time for us to add our contributions. Today was for the Gym Leaders to have their say.

"Smart thinking relocating to a training room." Agatha said to me, "IF and when the sparks do fly – at least the room is already reinforced." She cackled.

Despite her words, there didn't seem to be any sign of a brewing argument happening amongst the Gym Leaders. I spotted a few unfriendly stares, most notably from Surge to Pryce and vice versa, but nothing nearly as bad as Agatha was suggesting.

It was also interesting to see the dynamics of the Gym Leaders in full display, now that they were in their home turf. When we were in Hoenn, there was no posturing or power plays between them outside of your occasional 'friendly' jokes, because everyone knew that we were there to 'have fun' and, more importantly, because we were in foreign territory.

However, now that we were home, it was blindingly obvious that the jockeying for influence and posturing had long since begun.

Giovanni stood proud at the centre of pretty much everyone's attention. He was already influential enough before, but over the past year, with his public support of me, his famous charitable efforts, and his performance in helping drive off the false accusations levied by Team Rocket, meant that he had firmly entrenched himself as one of, if not the most, popular and influential amongst the Gym Leaders. Even amongst the Johtonians.

Speaking of the Johtonians, just like Giovanni said, the most influential figures were Pryce and Clair, where they competed for the top spot. It was very clear who supported who, as Clair had the Gym Leaders Thorn (who was probably Bugsy's uncle) of Azalea and Gym Leader Chuck of Cianwood standing close to her, while Pryce had Gym Leader Morty and Falkner's father of Ecruteak and Violet respectively standing next to him.

Notably, both Jasmine and Lewis, of Olivine and Goldenrod respectively, were standing slightly apart from them, as if to signify their neutrality. I could understand Jasmine's neutrality on account of her being a new Gym Leader, but why was Lewis neutral?

Still, it was a bit eye-opening to see how close both of them were in terms of influence. Honestly, I was surprised to see just how much support that Pryce still retained despite how he lost his position as Champion. I thought that Pryce's more abrasive attitude would have driven away potential supporters, but then I realised that Clair had the exact same problem.

She was arrogant and proud. It didn't help that she looked like she was looking down at the other Gym Leaders with disdain, even if that might not be her intention. She just had a really unlikeable resting bitch face.

By every metric, Clair should be dominating the Gym Leaders of Johto with her connection to Lance and her personal strength as a powerful Dragon trainer. Yet it seemed like she never managed to fully consolidate her leadership over the other Gym Leaders, which allowed Pryce to consolidate his own base of support.

Regardless, I was at least pleased to see that neither the Waterflower sisters or Brock were being looked down upon. I saw that they were invited into the small talk, and were generally treated like a fellow peer. Those two had come a long way when it came to their reputations, and I only hoped that that would continue to grow.

Yet I did notice that Lewis was surprisingly isolated from all the other Gym Leaders, with no one really willing to talk to him. He was definitely one of the older Gym Leaders here, which should mean that he would have the connections, but no one seemed willing to speak to him. Even weirder, I noticed a few less-than-subtle looks of disdain being shot his way by a few of his fellow Gym Leaders when he wasn't looking.

That was…strange. Perhaps there was a reason for it?

With all the posturing out of the way, the formal discussions could finally begin.

Giovanni led off first, "I see little reason why we need to discuss this topic any further. We have been promised that we would be able to evaluate and pass judgment on whoever is appointed to be the first foreign Gym Leader. They will act as a suitable test subject to see if this idea works. There is little reason to decline."

"My opinion on this likely does not need to be stated." Clair followed up, "After all, it is better to have a foreign Gym Leader than an incompetent one. This proposal would open up the talent pool to more suitable candidates, rather than those appointed for less-than-noble reasons. No one likes a useless Gym Leader."

"And you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Pryce sniped, "But let us not beat around the bush. I am not against this policy."

"I would have thought that you would hate this, knowing how prickly you are." Blaine pointed out.

"And you should think before you speak, or are you still plagued by that hot-headedness of yours?" Pryce fired back, then continued as Blaine bristled, "It is not impossible for one to change their opinions. And I have seen the winds of change blow through our region, enough for me to say that I am not against this new proposal. I am willing to support a test run, as Giovanni has mentioned. The power is still retained by us to remove an unsuitable candidate, so there is little reason to refuse."

"Like anyone would believe you of all people would have a change of heart, Pryce." Surge mocked, "Everyone knows you still have an icicle up your ass after your stint as Champion. We all know you're only supporting this because you're getting something out of it. Besides, I know I ain't as bright-eyed and trusting as John – I think this policy comes too soon. We have only started to mend our relations, we should give it a few more years before we reconsider this proposal."

"Let us keep this conversation as civil as possible, please." Samson quickly cut in before Pryce could respond, "There's no need to be so hostile."

"Eh, I don't necessarily disagree with Surge." Chuck piped up, "I also think this comes a little too soon. Should we not wait until later to push this through?"

"And if we wait longer, then we will simply be having the same arguments in a few years' time as we are now." Jasmine denied, "There will never be a 'perfect' time, but if we want to start overcoming our regional prejudices, then now is as good of a time as ever. Unless you truly believe that a person could not be an effective Gym Leader simply because they were not born in that region."

"Aye, I don't agree with that nonsense, that's true." Chuck nodded, "Oh well, objection rescinded."

"We have spoken much on our ability to remove the new foreign Gym Leader, but how many votes exactly would it take to remove them?" Koga asked, "Would a simple majority be enough? Or would it require a super majority? Or does it have to be unanimous?"

"I believe that is a discussion that we must have." Giovanni nodded, "In fact, why don't we take this one step further. Since we are all already gathered here today, should we not take this opportunity to formalise a new proposal that would help us ensure that us Gym Leaders remain competent in their duties?"

And then, to my surprise, Giovanni began to speak about his own proposal – where he proposed that the Gym Leaders should have the power to vote out any of their own if 5 out of the remaining 7 Gym Leaders of that region deemed them to be unsuitable. Should the League not agree with their decision, they must provide a reasonable and public explanation as to why they are NOT going to remove the Gym Leader in question. Failing this, then the denounced Gym Leader would be removed.

Of course, this would also apply to any new foreign Gym Leaders as per my own proposal. So instead of having a 'test run' where they could vote out the first foreign Gym Leader if they were incompetent like I initially suggested, they would simply have that power in general.

What shocked me was that ALL of the Kanto Gym Leaders quickly nodded in agreement, as if the entire thing had been planned from the very beginning. Giovanni must have already discussed this and prepared them in advance.

He had always intended to propose this.

Previously, the rule was that a Gym Leader could only be removed if 80% of the public voted to remove them OR if the Committee voted to remove them. With this new rule, it gave the Gym Leaders more of a say in policing their own.

Then, with none of the Johto Gym Leaders objecting to Giovanni's proposal, and instead actually being in support of it, his proposal had the unanimous consent of all of Indigo's Gym Leaders. And, by announcing it as publicly as he did, Giovanni had basically presented a fait accompli to the Committee. They were practically forced to agree to it.

I saw a few strangled looks on a few Committee members as they were outplayed, but personally I didn't really care about it. Gym Leaders being able to police their own was, as far as I saw, a perfectly reasonable rule to have. Meanwhile, the Elite Four next to me seemed to either be in agreement, or they met the new proposal with the same indifference. It wasn't hard to guess who was indifferent about it.

Moving on from this short distraction, the Gym Leaders returned to the original topic of discussion. There was a bit more back and forth, but it soon became clear that a conclusion was about to be made.

Ultimately, the current roster of Gym Leaders were mostly in support, either due to their own personal beliefs or thanks to my politicking. There was never going to be an unanimous agreement, but those that opposed my new policy weren't doing so vehemently. Perhaps the extra voting power that they just got from Giovanni helped smooth over any unpleasant feelings that might have arisen.

Eventually, the discussion was over, and the vote was held. Out of the 16 Gym Leaders of Indigo, 13 of them supported my proposal. Only Surge, Morty, and Lewis voted against it. Meaning that I had over 75% of the vote in support. I smiled as I saw it.

That was as huge indicator for the Committee that my proposal was a popular one, and I held on to the hope that a similar result could be produced there.

And Lance clearly felt the same way, as right after the Gym Leader vote was over, he quickly requested that the Committee vote be held within the next hour, as he argued that everyone was already here and they might as well not waste time.

I knew that he was just trying to capitalise on the momentum.

During the next hour, I made sure to thank all of the Gym Leaders that voted in support, and also speak to those who didn't to make sure there were no hard feelings between us. Surge was surprisingly friendly despite being my most vocal detractor.

"I know I ain't always right. Thinking was never my strong suit." He chuckled, "But you seem to have a good head on your shoulders, and if the rest of the Kanto Gym Leaders think you're good, then maybe I was just wrong. I trust you have our best intentions at heart, even if you're young, so I'll be there to help keep things calm if it goes tits up."

That was nice of him.

I also spoke with Morty, who also greeted me with a friendly smile, "I hope there're no hard feelings between us." He said to me, "I just don't think such changes need to be made. Gym Leaders are always tied to their own regions – that's just how I see it."

"Well I hope that I can change your perception on that soon." I replied, "Gym Leaders are pillars of our region, but there's no need to restrict them from being from a certain location."

He shrugged, "Perhaps. Ecruteak has always been conservative and traditional, so we'll be keeping an eye on how this plays out."

After the hour was over, the Committee members all reconvened for the final portion of this long meeting. They had spent the last hour deliberating amongst themselves, and now was the time to see if all that effort that I had spent to pushing this through would be successful.

Before the voting began, us Elite Four had one last opportunity to speak. I obviously gave one last firm statement of support, and Will and Lorelei both said that they would follow the will of the Gym Leaders.

And there was Agatha's 'speech'.

"Are you really going to be the one who will publicly disagree with the majority opinion of the Gym Leaders?" She challenged mockingly to the Committee members, "Is that something you have the guts to do?"

That got her plenty of offended looks, but she didn't care at all. Was it appropriate for her to say such things in such a formal setting? Absolutely not. Did anyone who mattered care? No, because we pretty much agreed with her.

And with all our speeches over, it finally became time for voting.

First came Giovanni's own proposal to grant Gym Leaders the power to vote out one of their own. As I expected, the Committee quickly voted it through, almost unanimously.

Then came my own. I felt my hands clutched nervously below the desk as I watched the yay's and nay's come in. Every time I heard a 'nay' I felt my hands clutching tighter and tighter.

But eventually, the votes were all gathered up, and one of the League officials announced the results. My mind instinctively skipped over much of the formality, and only focused on the final part.

"…Therefore, the Committee have chosen to approve this new proposal with a clear majority. From today onwards, the Gym Leaders of Indigo will now be appointable from either Kanto or Johto."

And with a bang of Lance's gavel, we had issued in the beginnings of what I hoped to eventually be a fully unified Indigo.

A.N. A very heavy political chapter again, but I felt it was needed to cover all of the conversations and discussions that would take place surrounding this issue. Considering how much of a big change this is, I felt that simply skipping over everything would be an injustice, and I wanted to challenge myself to write about an ambitious topic. But yes, the proposal is put in place!

But now that all the politics is over, we will be getting back to focusing on many other events within Indigo! Battles and other important events are upcoming! Hope you enjoyed!

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!