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 – 12-5 – Visitors from Sinnoh

A few days had passed since Will's appointment as the newest Gym Leader of Goldenrod as well as Koga's ascension into the Elite Four, and things were smoothly sailing along. Koga already had a long-time established reputation as a Gym Leader, and thus it wasn't difficult for many to accept him as an Elite Four member. Likewise, with Will's established strength and reputation as an ex-Elite Four, him settling in as a Gym Leader was far from difficult.

And while I hadn't received every detail from Will, I had heard that he had already established a solid foundation for the Gym and was in the process of revitalising and restoring its former reputation.

I kept a mental note to catch up with him again in the future. Despite no longer being in the Elite Four, there was no reason for our friendship to fall apart because of that. Furthermore, there was every chance that he would rejoin us in the future.

Aside from Koga and Will's ascensions into their new roles, the other topic that had everyone buzzing in discussion was that Cynthia had confirmed to me that she would be on her way from Sinnoh to visit Indigo.

Obviously, I couldn't be any happier about that.

That was why we were now gathered at Vermillion City, next to the ports, where we were awaiting the arrival of the visitors from Sinnoh. Agatha was here today, but unlike me, she clearly would rather be anywhere else. And she made sure to make that known.

"I don't know why you insisted that I had to be here. I'm sure John has enough excitement for the both of us." She grumbled.

"It'd be strange if you were absent." Lorelei replied, "People might talk about it."

"Bah, let them talk." She said dismissively, "Besides, isn't everyone going to be talking about John and Cynthia reuniting like a long lost couple? There won't be space in their headlines for me."

"Oh, I nearly forgot about that." Lorelei smirked at me, "No wonder you're so happy."

I shrugged, not letting their teasing get to me, "I'd be a pretty poor boyfriend if I wasn't this excited to see her again."

But then I remembered something and let out a grin of my own as I turned to Lorelei, "…Still, is it me, or are you also quite excited to see a certain glasses wearing Elite Four member from Sinnoh? From what I remember, you two spent a lot of time together…"

"—Shush, you." Lorelei huffed, "I didn't think I had to correct your memory, but the two of us were merely working together professionally. Just because we spent a lot of time together doesn't mean anything."

"I mean, I spent a lot of time with Cynthia and we ended up dating." I shrugged intentionally, "So clearly there's some correlation."

Then I patted her playfully on the shoulder, "Hey, now that I've set the precedent, there's no harm in pursuing a relationship with Lucian if that's what you want to do. Cynthia and I have already shown that an inter-regional relationship is possible."

Lorelei threw off my arm and shot me a glare, "Stop making assumptions. We're just friends."

I just laughed. Truthfully, I didn't actually know if Lorelei had a crush on Lucian or not, but I didn't think I was mistaken about that specific gleam in her eye that she had when she spoke about him

"I think we should refocus our attention on our visitors." Koga spoke up as he gestured forward with his head, "They are about to arrive."

Sure enough, the ship carrying the visitors and delegates from Sinnoh arrived into the port. We all fell silent as the ramp extended and our visitors descended from their ship.

Of course, at the front of the pack, was Cynthia. My smile grew even wider as I saw my girlfriend in person. For a brief moment, our eyes met each other, and the two of us shared a quick smile before she turned her attention to her fellow Champion.

"Champion Lance, thank you for welcoming us to your region." She said politely, "We have a lot to discuss."

"I'm sure we do." He greeted back, "And Elite Lucian, it's a pleasure to meet you again."

"Likewise, Champion." Lucian nodded, "And Lorelei, John, it's good to see you both in good health. And Elite Koga, congratulations on your ascension. How is Will doing?"

"Will is fine. I believe he is happy with his new place as Gym Leader." Koga replied.

"That's good, I ought to meet up with him when I'm here." Lucian smiled, "He was a great conversationist when he came over to Sinnoh. We really should catch up."

The introductions continued along similar lines, with Cynthia and Lucian introducing themselves to the rest of the Elite Four. Agatha was, for once, not as prickly as she usually was and responded rather politely to their greetings.

Then, with the introductions done, photos were taken, and then we escorted them to where they would be staying during their time in Indigo as we moved to the nearby hotel. It was the same hotel as we had offered to the original Sinnoh delegations – consisting of Cynthia's grandmother and her accompanying scientists – all the way back then, but the place had clearly been redecorated and renovated for more official use.

It wasn't as grand the last time I was here, but I supposed they needed to up the grandeur if this was to be the place to host foreign dignitaries. To be honest, this was already too grand for me, and all the luxuries on display was almost too gaudy to look at.

Give me my home or my room in Celestic Town any time over this.

Either way, that was none of my business, and after Lance had completed the necessary formalities of showing our guests around, we reconvened in one of the meeting rooms as we finally began our discussions.

Lance started us off, "So, I've heard a little bit about your plans to create something that would tie our regions more formally together. Why don't you go into more detail regarding that?"

"Certainly." Cynthia nodded, "Like I alluded to before, I have been laying the foundations for a plan to create an inter-regional organisation that would help foster and promote cooperation between us. The way that this organisation shall accomplish this is by laying out and formalising, in the written word, our terms of cooperation."

Lance nodded and gestured for Cynthia to continue, "We propose that the three regions share the following policies: open borders, the free transfer and access to Pokémon, and International Police support. Having these policies formalised and agreed upon by all three regions will serve as an excellent foundation to ensure our cooperation will be maintained long into the future."

I inwardly smiled as I listened to her words. These terms may seem basic, but ensuring that our regions will have their borders open for both trainers and Pokémon was paramount for preventing regions from becoming isolationist once again, which was something that I hoped to avoid.

"Is that all? I thought you would push for more to be collectively agreed?" Lorelei asked.

"No, we've discussed this, and we thought that this would serve as an effective baseline for what we should agree upon as a collective." Lucian stated, "If we try to propose too much, for example regarding policies to do with trade, then we risk making things too rigid. Our respective Committees need to agree to this, after all. So it's better to start off simple."

"I agree." Lance said, "This idea is still very new; we should implement ideas slowly rather than all at once."

"Speaking of which, do you have a name for this inter-regional organisation?" He asked Cynthia.

She nodded, "I do. I propose for it to be called the Regional Union, or RU for short."

Agatha scoffed, "I thought you would call it something more grandiose."

"No, simple is better." Lance disagreed, "And I don't mind the name. Unless Wallace has any objections, I think we'll run with it. Speaking of which, I assume you have already spoken to him about this and asked for his thoughts?"

"Yes, we've given him a small summary, but not in as much detail. We planned on doing that shortly after we explained things to you." Cynthia explained, "Between the three of us, Lance, we could jump on a conference call to him to hash out the details informally."

"I'll pass on the message." Lance nodded, "Let's try for tomorrow – that way we can get everything announced before you leave."

Cynthia gave her agreement to that, and then the discussions regarding the Regional Union continued for a little while longer. After that, we moved onto less political and more casual discussions.

Cynthia gave us an outline of her plans of what she would be doing when she was here, which included a lot of interviews with several of Indigo's most prominent news agencies, visits to Gyms, meetings with Committee members, and so on. Like she had told me previously, she really didn't have much free time on her hands.

However, as merely the accompanying Elite Four member, Lucian had far more free time. And I definitely didn't miss the way that Lorelei visibly perked up when she heard that.

"…So, if and when you do have some free time, what are you both going to spend it on?" She asked the both of them, "Are you just going to be casually touring around the place?"

Cynthia smiled, "I do, but I already have a tour guide in mind." She gave me a pointed look, "I'm sure he'll be willing to accommodate."

"I'm just happy to repay the favour." I chuckled.

"Yes, so I'll be left all by my lonesome." Lucian said with false sadness, "How cruel for my Champion to leave me all alone…"

"I would be happy to show you around." Lorelei offered, possibly a little too quickly. I couldn't help but smirk teasingly when she did so, and the rest of my colleagues from Indigo were quick to catch on joined in with their own subtle looks.

Lorelei pointedly ignored us, "…That is, if you don't have anything else in mind."

"No, I've not got any plans. So thank you. I'll take you up on that." He smiled back, apparently unaware of our teasing.

"Actually, speaking of which, I did hope to fight a few battles while I was here." Lucian continued, "I know Flint had the opportunity to fight against you, John, but I missed out. So I'd like to correct that – and would love for an opportunity to battle either one or all of you. Whatever works."

I nodded, "I don't mind."

"Me neither." Lorelei added, "It's been a while since I've had to fight a 1v1 battle against a tough opponent; I'd be happy to be yours."

"Likewise." Koga nodded. "I would like to see how different you would fare compared to Will."

"Actually, that reminds me." Lance spoke up, shooting a look at Cynthia, "Cynthia. We have yet to battle each other, haven't we."

"We haven't." Cynthia confirmed with a nod.

"Excellent. Then let us not waste this opportunity." He grinned excitedly, "While it might not be appropriate for Champions to battle each other, there is no need for the public to know about our duel. We could have it in a private setting, away from prying eyes. I've always to test our starters against each other."

"I am certain you will be most impressed." She smirked in reply, "You should not get too arrogant. Your starter has already lost once to my boyfriend, so perhaps we can make this a 2-0 against you."

He laughed, "We'll certainly see about that. Just let me know a time and place, and I will be there."

As the conversations continued, I inwardly chuckled in amusement at how eager everyone was for battling. Even though we had all ascended to the pinnacle of the Trainer world, we had never shed our desire for battle. And having a powerful trainer that you could freely practice against was too good of an opportunity for any of us to pass up.

"Also, I didn't forget, but good luck on your battle against your apprentice, Agatha." Cynthia said to her, "We will be watching your battle with great interest."

"Hmph, I was surprised you remembered, considering all this talk about battling I had thought you had forgotten about dear old me." She cackled, "Still, your words are appreciated."

"We hope that your battle will be as exciting as the one between Koga and Will." Lucian said.

She scoffed, "Naturally. I would not expect anything less between myself and someone I personally trained. You can be assured you will be suitably impressed."

Cynthia then turned to me, "Is Karen available at the moment? I'd love to see her, actually."

I was about to respond before Lucian politely coughed, "Cynthia, I think you have a few other meetings to attend to before you can go off on your own free time." He reminded politely, "As much as it might pain you, it's best to get those sorted out first before doing anything else."

She gave off a cute little pout (in my eyes) before sighing, "Fine, fine. I'll deal with those first." Then she slumped exaggeratedly back into her seat, to my amusement.

"And on that note, I have your other delegates to meet as well." Lance said as he stood up, "So I'm going to end this meeting here. You know where to find me if you need me. Otherwise, and once again, I hope you enjoy your stay here. I'm sure you'll find our region to hold the same level of beauty as yours."

After the meeting broke up, I found myself with a block of free time where I had nothing really to do, since I had chosen to be temporarily more hands-off with politics to let things cool down for a moment.

Usually, I would spend this time training up and/or sparring against Karen, but she was obviously unavailable for the moment as she was preparing for her battle against Agatha. Therefore, instead of merely having my Pokémon spar against each other, I decided to catch two Pidgey with one Pokéball and headed to the Cerulean Cave.

I realised that I hadn't actually explored the cave myself, which was an oversight from me. I partially blamed my busy schedule and my commitments, so now was a good time to make up for that. Therefore, without allowing anything else to distract me, I proceeded to head straight to the Cerulean Cave.

It didn't take me long to get through the various ID and strength checks; my strength wasn't going to ever be in doubt, they just had to make sure that I actually remembered to pack my Pokémon and enough equipment and food in case of an emergency.

But with that out of the way, I quickly headed down to the deeper levels of the cave, out of sight of the many Ace Trainers and tourists that were visiting at this time of day. I did bump into a few other cave divers, but with the poor lighting of the cave, I don't think they recognised who I was.

After all, a trainer using a Clefable wasn't THAT uncommon of a sight. Not when we were right next to Mt. Moon.

However, the sightings of other trainers decreased as I continued further down, until they disappeared entirely once we reached the lowest levels of Cerulean Cave.

Once there, I released the 'weaker' members of my team, consisting of Ornstein, Euphie, Pixel, and Wraith, and proceeded to give them their instructions.

"Okay team, listen up." I spoke to them, "There are a lot of strong wild Pokémon here, as close to your level of strength as you're going to get. I want all of you to split up and challenge them to a fight; right now, what most of you lack is experience fighting other Pokémon that aren't on our team. So, this is a chance to get some experience with fighting a larger variety of Pokémon so that you can build up your instincts without me directly commanding you."

They nodded as I continued, "I want you to fight as cleanly as possible. You are supposed to be stronger than them, so I expect clean victories. No messy fights, and try to avoid trading blows if you can avoid it. Do you understand me?"

My Pokémon all expressed their agreement and shot off as per my instructions. Normally, sending out your Pokémon alone like that might be quite the risk, especially against wild Pokémon of this level of strength, but I remained confident that my Pokémon would be up to the task. This wasn't borne out of arrogance, but rather the knowledge that I had trained up my Pokémon sufficiently enough to be able to handle the current level of threats.

Just to stay safe, I released Klaus so that he could use his psychic senses to identify if one of my Pokémon ever got into a spot of trouble. I also sent out both Tyrant and Klee as my bodyguards while I hung back, since it wasn't really realistic of me to follow after them when they all went in different directions.

Plus, Tyrant's sheer aura of intimidation was far too strong. Bringing him along would simply scare everyone off.

Of course, just because I wasn't able to directly see how my Pokémon were doing didn't mean that I wasn't able to get progress updates from them as time passed. As we had trained up, my Pokémon understood the need to report back to me every once in a while and also to touch up on any wounds that they might have picked up.

From what I observed and from what my Pokémon told me, it appeared that my Pokémon (except for Wraith, as he had previously been a wild Pokémon for most of his life) initially struggled with the unusual level of aggression and almost utter disregard for potential counterattacks that the wild Pokémon displayed, giving their attacks a very different edge compared to your typical trained Pokémon.

That really messed with my Pokémon's trained instincts. Even Wraith was a little unused to it, having not sparred against wild Pokémon in some time now.

However, once they adapted to that, I was happy to say that they were beginning to rack up valuable experience as they took down a large variety of different wild Pokémon of all different Types, all of which were at least strong enough to prove somewhat challenging for them since I wasn't there to command them and they were forced to rely on their own instincts.

This was excellent training for their combat decision-making abilities.

Satisfied with the progress we made today, I was preparing to wrap everything up and begin venturing back up to the surface and had just returned my 'weaker' members into their Pokéballs when I was suddenly approached by a lone Pokémon.

That wasn't strange in it of itself, as I had been approached by many wild Pokémon while I was idling about in the cave. However, every single one of them instantly reconsidered their decision when Tyrant let out a menacing growl.

Their honed survival instincts demanded no less.

But my eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when I actually got a better look at just what had decided to approach me. I took stock of its elongated tongue, and its unusually yellow skin colouration.

It was a shiny Lickitung.

That was already incredibly surprising it in of itself – shiny Pokémon were extremely rare, and highly treasured by breeders alike since breeding a shiny gave you a greater chance of hatching another. However, shiny or not, I had expected this Lickitung to instantly run away once it had caught on to Tyrant's aura of intimidation.

Yet it didn't – despite not even being evolved – and instead continued to approach me even after Tyrant let out another menacing growl. It was either brave or foolish, and I was having a hard time deciphering which one it was. I was already thinking about catching it for being a shiny, perhaps to sell or to keep it around for future use as a breeder, but now I was starting to consider something else for it.

So I decided to test it.

With a slight nudge to Tyrant, he leaned forwards, punching his fists together as he loomed over the Lickitung. Then he slammed his fists into the ground, causing the surroundings around us to shake as the cave violently reacted to his display of raw power.

I didn't miss the way that Lickitung slightly flinched at Tyrant's menacing approach. However, more admirably than that, it quickly recovered and took a step forwards, meeting Tyrant's glare with one of its own as it prepared itself for a fight.

Understanding my intentions, Tyrant let out a fearsome roar as his fist shot out like a bullet, throwing a lightning quick punch straight towards Lickitung that just barely missed its head and shattered the wall behind it.

Without any hesitation, the Lickitung took the opportunity and instantly charged forwards, throwing a punch of its own that smashed into Tyrant's face…and did absolutely nothing.

But, impressively enough, the Lickitung immediately jumped back as soon as it realised it wasn't strong enough, allowing it to narrowly dodge out of the way as Tyrant swung his other fist around.

Of course, Tyrant had intentionally missed those attacks. There was no way a Lickitung, even if it was stronger than the usual fare of wild Pokémon you would typically see, could actually out speed him. Yet it was not this Lickitung's speed or strength that had caught my eye.

It was its bravery.

Despite the terrifying aura that Tyrant must be radiating, it still took the chance to challenge him. It didn't let its fear overcome it, which is probably what allowed it to survive in such hostile environments while not having even been evolved into a Lickilicky yet.

That was also a bit surprising, considering that Lickitung naturally evolved into Lickilicky once they learned Rollout – which was a move that was quite simple to learn. But, in retrospect, considering the rather cramped environment of these caves, perhaps it simply didn't have the space, and therefore the need, to learn Rollout. Which explained why it hadn't evolved yet.

Either way, I decided to continue indulging my curiosity for a little longer as I gave Tyrant another command, "Test it further."

The Lickitung must have caught a glimpse of the violence in Tyrant's eyes, because it instantly threw itself backwards and narrowly avoided a Brick Break that would have smashed it against the wall. I watched carefully as the Lickitung considered trying to go for a counterattack, but its wisdom and survival instincts told it that Tyrant was no longer playing around.

It tried to run, but it had inadvertently cornered itself in one of the dead-end tunnels. Knowing that it was cornered, it took up a fighting stance once again as it stared down Tyrant, knowing that the only way out was through him.

That brave look in its eyes never faltered. Not even once. Not even after a surprise Bulldoze from Tyrant sent it stumbling to the ground before a meteoric fist crashed down just inches away from its face.

With that, I'd believed I had seen enough. "Tyrant, stop."

Tyrant immediately backed off at my command, returning to his position by my side as he hovered protectively over me. Seeing this, the Lickitung, which I realised was a he, relaxed as well and shot me a curious look.

"Why did you approach me?" I asked him, deciding to cut straight to the point.

"Lick! Lickitung!" With Tyrant serving as translator, I found out that he had approached me because he realised that I was the trainer of these Pokémon that had been running around challenging the nearby wild Pokémon.

"Were you interested in them?" I asked again.

"Lickitung. Lick, lick." He nodded, and after it was translated, I smiled at his answer. He had followed them because he wanted to see who had trained up such powerful Pokémon in hopes that he could grow in strength himself.

A few more questions later, and I learnt that he was apparently quite an experienced Pokémon, despite still being unevolved. But recently, he had discovered the existence of trainers, since they began venturing down here during and after the renovation of Cerulean Cave, and it was like a whole new world had opened up to him.

He explained how he had watched how other wild Pokémon that had fought and sometimes lost against the more powerful trained Pokémon, and how he wished to emulate their strength.

He then said something that really caught my attention. Basically, from what I pieced together from Tyrant's slightly broken translation, he had apparently approached trainers before me to try and challenge their Pokémon. He often lost, as he was merely an unevolved Lickitung, but then the trainer would almost instantly try to catch him.

But something in his instincts made him know that the trainers that were trying to catch him weren't actually going to train him, so he broke out of their Pokéballs and ran away. After that, he began being more cautious about approaching trainers, and that I was coincidentally the first one he approached since then.

He only approached me because he couldn't resist trying to fight against a Pokémon as strong as Tyrant. However, now he could tell that I was different from the other trainers, since I actually saw him for his fighting abilities.

Admittedly, if his bravery didn't catch my eye, I would have likely been the same as all those other trainers – only valuing it for it being shiny.

"So…if I were to tell you that I would train you if you joined me, would you believe me?" I asked him.

Tyrant translated my message for him, and the Lickitung stared at me for a long time before eventually nodding his head.

I then smiled, "Thank you. I promise to not betray your trust." And with that, I picked up a Pokéball, and tossed it at him.

The shiny Lickitung was quickly enveloped by a red light before being sucked into the Pokéball. Without even needing to shake, the Pokéball sealed itself with an audible 'click'.

Lickitung was caught!

Honestly, that was not an outcome that I was expecting when I came down here today. I really did think that my team was already well-rounded enough that I didn't need to catch any new Pokémon anytime soon. However, ideas were already flickering through my mind as I thought about how I would train up a Lickitung if I were to add him to my team.

Ironically, I realised that I could train him up like Whitney did with her Miltank, with a heavy emphasis on developing his Rollout so that he could be an agile fighter just like my sister's starter. Plus, I remembered that Lickitung had a surprisingly varied movepool that was just brimming with potential to be used. Combined with the right setup moves, then he was certainly going to grow into a powerful new member of the team.

And I had already thought up of a name for our latest addition, for the bravery he had shown.

Winston.

A.N. Yes, John finally gets another Pokémon on his team! I really thought about what Pokémon that John needed, and I saw an opportunity with Lickitung, and a shiny one at that! John doesn't currently have a Pokémon that fights like Whitney's Miltank, and I thought it would be interesting to see how John would develop a Pokémon like that and grow it into a powerhouse. Also, Winston is named after Winston Churchill – felt it was only appropriate. 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!