John's Team

Tyrant - Slaking

Vordt - Ursaluna

Smough - Snorlax

Klee - Blissey

Port - Mantine

Zephyr - Pidgeot

Klaus - Wyrdeer

Luna - Clefable

Pixel - Porygon-Z

Euphie - Sylveon

Ornstein - Obstagoon

Wraith - H-Zoroark

Winston - Lickitung (Shiny)

The New Normal – 12-13 – The Change of the Guard

"…And so marks the end of an era." I heard Lorelei mutter quietly, "The last of the old guard is finally retiring."

There was a moment of silence at that, as we all paid our respects to the departure of someone of Agatha's calibre. Like her or hate her, she had been a vital element of our leadership for decades, and today was the day she was finally able to pass over her duties.

"You don't think she'll try for a rechallenge?" Lucian asked after the moment passed.

I shook my head, "No, she got what she wanted. A powerful defeat, and a strong victory for her successor. I think it's about time she had her deserved rest."

"Then we should head down there to congratulate their victory." Lance said as he stood up, but I quickly held out an arm to stop him.

"Give them a moment." I gestured to the scene below us, where both Karen and Agatha were clearly engaged in some heartfelt conversation, "I think they'd appreciate if we didn't interrupt them."

The two of them were currently hugging it out, which was unexpected but still brought a smile to my face. I didn't think that Agatha would usually approve of such 'public displays of affection', but I guess today was a special moment for the two of them.

Arceus, even seeing like this was getting me a little emotional too.

"…She looks happy." Lorelei mumbled, then she chuckled, "Do you think they know that the cameras are still focused on them at this moment?"

Lance laughed, "Probably not. Agatha would never be caught dead hugging someone on camera otherwise."

"Do you think we'll be in her place, one day?" Cynthia asked.

"I hope so." Koga replied, "I already had a moment where I passed on the Gym to my daughter. If one day I could pass on the position of the Elite Four to her as she surpassed me, whereas I returned to being the Gym Leader, then nothing would make me prouder."

"…I think I'd like that too." I admitted, "I haven't really thought about a successor, but I think I'd want to pass the torch onto someone that I care about too."

Obviously, I was still young, and I didn't need to think about a successor for a long time. However, if my plans with Cynthia ever came to fruition and I were to move away from the Indigo Elite Four to live with Cynthia, I would like it if I could experience what Agatha was feeling right now.

Even though a part of me acknowledged that Whitney was a Gym Leader in canon, a part of me would be equally as happy if my sister was strong enough to succeed me in the Elite Four in a few years' time. Likewise, though I did not want to claim all the credit, Daisy was the closest thing I had to an apprentice as well. Maybe she could succeed me in the future.

Similar sentiments were expressed by everyone else, until Lance eventually broke through the moment, "I believe we've stalled for long enough. Let's head town there before the reporters get too impatient and try to break through security."

"Dibs on not speaking to the reporters." Lorelei immediately said, "John, take one for the team this time. Everyone knows you're friends with Karen."

Fuck. "Fine. I'll be today's offering."

We finally made our way down to the arena, where Karen and Agatha had already wrapped up whatever emotional conversation they just had. I noticed that Karen's eyes still had the remnants of a few tears, but I was polite enough to not bring that up.

"Congratulations, Karen." I spoke first, giving her a pat on the shoulder, "That was a wonderful fight."

"Thank you, John, but we both know I could've done better." She replied, sounding like her regular self, "If some hag didn't make it so difficult for me – my victory would have been all the more convincing." She shot Agatha an aggrieved look as she said that.

"Oh please, I have a reputation to live up to." Agatha fired back, "No one's going to believe it if you had dominated me. I'm not that weak, and you're not that strong – so keep that ego in check. Or do you want your time in the Elite Four to start off with accusations about you having been 'gifted' the position? Do you want to be swarmed with challenges?"

"However, considering that you were this year's Indigo Conference winner, that means the selection of potential challengers is less than usual." Koga pointed out.

I nodded; the past three Indigo Conference winners were Will, then myself, then Karen. So there were no potential challengers there, though she could obviously still be challenged from any of our Gym Leaders.

"If any of those fools try to pick a fight with you, Karen, then make sure you squash them in my place." Agatha laughed, "I don't want them to think they can raise their heads now that I'm gone. Be sure to remind them of their insignificance."

"…And so it falls to the younger generation to clean up their elder's messes." Karen remarked dryly, her tone laced with sarcasm as she gave Agatha an unamused look, "You got it, boss."

Then the shouts of a few of the Jennys told us that the reporters were not going to be held back any longer. Lance clapped his hands, "Right then, we should get to those interviews. Hope you have your answers ready."

"Oh I have my answer right here." We all turned to Agatha, and instantly saw her already sinking into her own shadow, "I'm not dealing with those Carvanha. Good luck out there." Then she disappeared with her usual mocking cackle.

"…Of course….why did I expect anything different?" I muttered, mostly to myself. Though I got a few chuckles from the people next to me. "She just left us to the Mightyena."

"You mean, she left me to them." Karen sighed, "If she's not here then I'll have to answer the brunt of the questions. Guess that's what I get for winning. Oh well, let's get this over with quickly."

With a signal from Lance, the reporters were finally let in, and they instantly swarmed around Karen, shoving their microphones in her face.

"Karen, Karen, where is Agatha?" One of them quickly asked her.

"She's already left." Karen replied with a wry smile, "Your questions will have to be directed to me instead."

"Then can you explain why Agatha has run off? Is she unwilling to explain the reason for her defeat?" Now THAT was a daring question, and not something anyone would have dared ask if Agatha was still around. She was gone barely a few minutes, and yet the reporters were already rushing in like Carvanha seeking out prey.

Karen smiled at the reporter, but her smile didn't reach her eyes, "Perhaps you could ask that question to Agatha when you next see her. Please tell me how that works out for you."

"However, I will take this opportunity to make something very clear." She stated seriously, laying down the law, "I will not tolerate any insult against my mentor for such a defeat. Everything I have learned, and that I am today, is because of her."

"Today, she did not lose against me. Instead, what today has shown was the moment that Agatha was finally to allowed to pass on the burden that she had carried for so long to someone she deemed worthy – to the successor that she had raised and taught. Today was the day that Agatha's decades of excellent service for Indigo finally comes to an end, and she deserves nothing less than the utmost respect afforded to her for her efforts. I hope that everyone will understand that, moving forwards, and that there will be no such insinuations to the contrary."

There was a solemn silence in response to Karen's words as her stern eyes swept across the reporters, sending everyone a powerful warning to keep their mockery to themselves. She took the wind out of the sails of several reporters who clearly wanted to dramatize Agatha's loss and publicly embarrass her in their headlines.

The rest of the Elite Four and I just nodded approvingly; Agatha's defeat deserved to be treated with respect, not with jeers and taunts.

"…But was this battle planned between the two of you?" One of the reporters found their voice first, "Did you two come to an arrangement beforehand?"

"We obviously discussed my intention to challenge her beforehand; I wouldn't just drop something like that on her unannounced." Karen answered, "However, after I expressed my intent, we went our separate ways when it comes to the preparation. I will say with utmost certainty that the two of us fought in this battle with our all to prove who was more worthy of being in the Elite Four. We held nothing back as we clashed, mentor against student, to see who would come out on top. I am very happy to say that I did."

"And what are your plans now that you've won?" Another reporter asked, "Are you just going to continue through with Agatha's previous policies?"

"That would be an oversimplification." Karen corrected, "I am my own person, and while I may share similar interests to Agatha in terms of what we want to achieve, we have different ideas on how they should be executed, but I know you won't believe me from just my words. Instead, I will prove it to you with my future actions and policies. Just sit there and wait patiently – you'll get your headline soon enough."

"And how about you, John?" The reporters were quick to turn to me after their instincts told them that they couldn't really get anything else out of Karen, and they chose me amongst all my colleagues as the latter had 'casually' pushed me to the front, "Agatha has been your colleague ever since you joined the Elite Four. How does it feel that you are now the only remaining member of the original Elite Four lineup since you joined?"

Oh, I hadn't even realised that. To think that I was the only one remaining now. Lance, Walker, Agatha…they had all left the Elite Four for newer pastures. And even Will joined and left too.

Wow. So much had changed, huh. Time had really flown by.

Nevertheless, I shook away those melancholic thoughts as I responded to the question, "I think Karen already put it quite well – Agatha's departure should be met with applause and a little sadness, as she has been nothing but an excellent Elite Four member that has served our region for decades and has been a strong pillar of leadership all throughout her time."

"However, as much as I am sad to see her go, I am also happy for her." I continued, "She deserves the rest, and I know Karen will do her utmost to live up to her mentor. Karen is well-deserving of her position, and I look forward to working with her for the future."

The questions continued on a similar note, though eventually we managed to pry them off us with the excuse that they could find out more after Karen's first Committee meeting, which was scheduled to take place in a few days' time, where she would be laying out her first policies in detail.

But for now, I think Karen would much rather celebrate her victory rather than thinking about all that.

Naturally, as soon as she was able to escape from the reporters' incessant questions, I invited Karen for a celebratory meal over at my place. My family had all been watching the fight, and they were all too happy to congratulate Karen for her victory.

I had half-expected for Karen to want to spend time with Agatha, but apparently not.

"Agatha and I have had our emotional moment together – and I think I've exhausted Agatha's emotional battery for the time being." She chuckled to me when I asked her, "I think she'd much rather be left alone."

I obviously extended an invite to Cynthia as well to have dinner with us, but unfortunately she had a conference with some people from Hoenn and Sinnoh that she couldn't get out of. Lucian, the good man, had offered to take her place so that she could attend, but apparently the meeting was going to consist of and require the attendance of all three Champions since it was something to do with the Regional Union.

Apparently, they were also going to be finalising both the proposed articles of the Regional Union and where the headquarters of the Regional Union was going to be located.

It sucked, but my girlfriend really couldn't avoid it.

Nevertheless, Karen and I returned home to a grand dinner, and the whole thing was a happy affair as we celebrated her victory against her mentor. My sister and parents peppered her with questions and congratulations in equal measure, but unlike when dealing with the reporters, Karen was more than happy to answer them as she described her fight in detail and her thought process through it.

"It was vitally important that I didn't get suckered up to Agatha's pace during the fight." She explained to my sister, "It's just like she taught me – whenever you fight against someone that does something better than you, which in this case was her bag of tricks that her Pokémon had, don't try to match them in their area of strength. Instead, flip the table and create other scenarios for yourself where you'll be able to leverage your strengths instead."

"It's why I had to leverage my switches as I did to keep maintaining an advantageous position against her." She said, "In particular, I knew that Tyranitar would make-or-break my fight against her, so I couldn't afford to waste him."

I decided it was about time to ask a question that had been lingering on my mind for some time as well, "So what's going to happen with Agatha? Is she going to move to 'take charge' of the Lavender Gym behind the scenes?"

"Yes, that about sums up her plans." Karen confirmed, "It'll be like a semi-retirement for her, and she's already explained to me that she plans to slowly loosen her iron grip over Lavender Town as time goes on to pave the way for change to happen – splitting the responsibilities between me and the new Gym Leader of Lavender."

"Have you met them before?" I asked.

"I have." She nodded, "But I doubt you'd heard of them before. Her name's Dorothy – she's a veteran Ace Trainer that Agatha's supported in the past. You could consider her a semi-apprentice, since aside from me Dorothy was one of the few trainers that the old hag semi-regularly interacted with."

"I didn't think Agatha would bother training someone up aside from you." I said, a little surprised.

She shrugged, "I guess she just wanted to have more Ace Trainers on hand to help Lavender Town out if anything bad happened. And to be honest, I haven't interacted much with Dorothy. We mostly live our own separate lives. But what I do know is that she's practically the perfect little puppet for the old hag – she listens to her very well. She'll make a fine Gym Leader, with her strings held tightly in the old hag's hands, of course."

Yes, I didn't really expect anything else from her.

The questions kept coming even after I finished up with my dinner. However, considering that this was one of the rare moments where Whitney was home and available, I took the opportunity after dinner to ask her to assist me with training up Winston together.

It had been some time since I had actually spent a moment together with Whitney as brother and sister, and who else could be better at training a Pokémon with their Rollouts than her Miltank?

So there I was, standing watchfully in the training fields as Miltank began to teach Winston about all of the ins-and-outs of using Rollout. Sure, the act of rolling around was simple enough, but Miltank was trying to demonstrate the advanced techniques when it came to using Rollout – such as how to suddenly shift your momentum in mid-air, adjusting your speed on the go, or bouncing off the ground while rolling to dodge attacks.

It was pretty difficult stuff to be starting off with, yet Winston and I both were confident that he could achieve it, considering that he already had plenty of experience with moving around while in a fight. Despite his rotund looks, Winston wasn't a slow and immobile Pokémon.

With the Rollout training going well, I was sure that it wouldn't be long before Lickitung would evolve into a Lickilicky. I eagerly awaited for that to happen.

There wasn't much I needed to supervise there, so I switched my attention over and focused on Pixel and its new capabilities. And now that it had gained such a massive spike in its Special Attack, I felt that we could really focus on something that would make its moves terribly annoying to fight against. It was an old idea that I had left floating around in my mind for some time, and now I felt it was finally time to put it in action.

It involved Tri-Attack. It was a move that I didn't really use much on Pixel, for the simple fact that it wasn't ever going to be supereffective since it was a Normal type attack. Previously, there were many other moves that were often the better choice.

However, my idea was for Pixel to be able to change the Type of Tri-Attack to match its current Type, while also maintaining the various statuses that the move could inflict, which included a Burn, Paralysis, or even Frozen. After all, I knew that Tera Blast was a move that could switch types, so this wasn't outside the realm of possibility, especially with the newfound power that Pixel was now able to draw upon.

Between this, and boosting its Conversion speed so that it could switch between types even faster, I knew that Pixel's position in my Elite team (in terms of strength) was about to increase significantly. In my mind, its power and flexibility, if fully realised, would allow it to match Pokémon such as Wraith and Klaus, even if they fulfilled different roles.

Nevertheless, this boost in power for Pixel was well-timed. With Agatha's departure today, without trying to brag, I was now undoubtedly the trainer that the public mostly considered to be the strongest amongst the Elite Four.

And that meant that those who wanted to test themselves against the best amongst us will now see me as the target to fight. That included potential challenges from the Gym Leaders, as well as future Conference winners.

I wanted to make sure that I could win convincingly when the time comes. As the longest-serving member of the Elite Four now (and wasn't that a thought), I had a reputation to maintain.

Therefore, I continued to train up my Pokémon long into the night. That was until a phone call interrupted us.

"Cynthia? Is something the matter?" I wasn't expecting a call from her now.

"I've got good news for you." She said, "I just got out of a surprisingly fruitful meeting."

"Oh?" I asked curiously, "Care to share?"

"Well I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise…just kidding." She giggled, "I just got out of the meeting regarding the Regional Union, and the Champions and I are in agreement that we could start putting the proposal in front of the Committee in the next meeting. I was insistent that we move fast on this, because I know full well that a proposal as ambitious as this can be stalled out for an eternity unless we act fast, so the next Committee meeting has been pushed up to tomorrow morning."

I agreed. "So the location has been decided and everything?"

"Yes. And I think you'll like it." She smiled, "It's going to be in the Sevii Islands."

I blinked; the Sevii Islands? That was a place that I hadn't heard of in a long while, and from what I remembered of it, it currently contained a whole lot of nothing. Unfortunately, for all the progress and developments we've seen in mainland Indigo, the Sevii Islands had been left to the wayside during all that.

"But why there? Not that I disapprove." I quickly said, "I'm just curious – the Islands are pretty barren of anything."

"Because we realised that the Islands, while they may technically fall under Indigo's jurisdiction, are distant enough from mainland Indigo that placing the headquarters there would make it seem like the Regional Union isn't just another Indigo-run organisation." She explained, "Furthermore, the Sevii Islands are also geographically equidistant to both Hoenn and Sinnoh, which adds to the symbolism we wanted to demonstrate."

I nodded understandingly; that made a lot of sense. And as I thought things through a little more, I realised how beneficial having the Regional Union be headquartered in the Sevii Islands would be. While the Islands may be empty and undeveloped right now, having something as prestigious and as important as the Regional Union there could easily change that for the future.

"Oh, and I almost forgot. There's one other reason why I'm so insistent on pushing forwards for the Regional Union to be established so quickly." Cynthia continued, "Remember how I explained that Flint was hard at work back in Sinnoh trying to dismantle the web of political alliances that Galactic Company had built around themselves?"

"I remember." I stated, "How's that going?"

"Well, he's done a good job – to the point where I'm considering that it might be okay if I choose to pull the trigger on the operation to raid Galactic Company right away." She said, "However, the thing that is holding me back is that I'm painfully aware that IF Galactic Company are really the secret backers of the terrorists that plagued both Indigo and Hoenn, then such an operation might start a war."

"I am not afraid of that, yet I would be remiss in my duties if I did not ensure that Sinnoh is as well prepared as it can be for such an outcome, since who knows what kind of vile tactic they might pull out when they're exposed and cornered like this. Therefore, one of the things I will propose as part of the Regional Union's articles is a scenario where in an 'international emergency', a region can choose to request assistance from the others to jointly combat this threat. So if Galactic Company prove themselves to truly be the scum that we suspect them to be, then they will have to face the combined might of all three regions."

"They've bought enough time with their stunt – but once the Regional Union is set up, I will not hesitate to do what needs to be done." She stated firmly, "No matter what they come up with, they will be brought to justice once and for all."

Thus, the pieces were being set out, and a war that had been a long time coming was starting to take shape at last.

A.N. A calmer chapter after the big fight that we just had, and a bit of setup for what's about to come.

Also, yes, Dorothy is an OC that I had to create for the sake of the Lavender Gym. But I felt it only be natural that someone who is considered the 'shadow ruler' of Lavender Town as Agatha is would certainly have more than a few connections to prominent trainers that she could call upon in situations like these. Don't worry, you'll be meeting Dorothy soon, and her personality will be expanded a bit.

And as promised, now that the domestic situation in Indigo's political scene has been settled, the attention now returns back to the looming threat of Team Galactic. The fight is coming. 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!