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.

292. The New Normal - 13-6

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 - Lickilicky (Shiny)

The New Normal – 13-6 – Icy Rock

With my fight against Koga over, the two of us returned to the audience stands while Karen and Lorelei took our place. Surprisingly, I didn't see Lance anywhere here, so I figured he must have been dealing with something else.

Koga struck up a conversation with me as the two of us sat down, where we exchanged our thoughts about the battle that just took place.

"You didn't want to take any chances with me when you sent out your Ursaluna, right?" He said to me.

"Wanted to make sure that I won." I nodded, "And what better way is there to deal with an agile opponent than to overwhelm it with sheer number of attacks? No matter how fast you are, you can't dodge everything."

"Mhm. I do not disagree there; if I were in your position I would do the same thing." He agreed, "Though if our battle had been a standard one, perhaps there would be more opportunities for me to counter such a terrifyingly powerful Pokémon."

"Oh? How would you do that?" I asked, genuinely curious, "If you don't mind revealing it."

"It would have to involve a lot of switching around and a lot of set up moves – that's all I'll say." He said, "But I admit that it has been quite the headache trying to come up with ways to take down trainers like you or Lance, who have so many powerful Pokémon that you could bring to bear against me. My strategy doesn't work as well against those."

That made sense. You were only allowed so many switches in a battle, so it wasn't a reliable way to take down my full team of heavy bruisers.

Nevertheless, our conversation was cut short as the battle between Lorelei and Karen began.

"Go! Crawdaunt!"

"Glalie, freeze the field!"

Karen and Lorelei sent out their Crawdaunt and Glalie respectively. As per usual, Crawdaunt broke out into a sprint, dashing forwards with an Aqua Jet as it rapidly closed the gap against Glalie while firing off a Taunt. Yet even before the Taunt could land, the Snow had already been set up.

Despite this, Crawdaunt still closed in with a Brick Break, before a chunk of ice suddenly erupted out from the ground, knocking Crawdaunt back slightly as its charge was interrupted.

"Blizzard, Glalie!"

Now with the Snow setting in, an enormous Blizzard was instantly whipped up right on top of the Crawdaunt, who scrambled desperately out of the way as to not be caught inside it. Crawdaunt managed to slam a Brick Break into Glalie's face, but was then struck by a precisely aimed Ice Beam just as the Dark type was trying to retreat.

Small patches of frost began to grow over Crawdaunt's body, despite its resistance to Ice attacks. To make things worse for Crawdaunt, the Blizzard that had formed had yet to dissipate and was causing the temperature of the battlefield to rapidly plummet as it sent howling winds of ice blowing in all directions.

"Taunt and Dig, Crawdaunt!"

The Dark type did just that; reapplying the Taunt before burrowing away into the ground and out of the way of the Blizzard. The Taunt sunk in for Glalie, causing its eyes to grow red with rage as it began to lose control of its discipline.

In its rage, Glalie diverted more and more energy into the already-powerful Blizzard, turning it into a massive snowstorm that was quickly able to freeze over the entire battlefield in a layer of ice.

After a moment's pause, which I suspected that Crawdaunt used to buff itself up with a Swords Dance while underground, the Dark type burst out from the ground and brutally smashedGlalie with a critical Brick Break.

But Lorelei seemed ready for it.

"Use Blizzard on yourself, Glalie!"

Without any hesitation, a secondBlizzard formed right on top of Glalie, which also managed to catch Crawdaunt as well as the latter's momentum was locked from its earlier attack. Crawdaunt tried to jet away with an Aqua Jet, but it was rapidly slowed down by the Blizzard until it became completely frozen over – turning into a frozen statue that was completely at Glalie's mercy.

And Glalie didn't have much to spare.

"HYPER BEAM!"

Pushing through its injuries, Glalie reared its head back before unleashing a shining ray of condescend energy, cutting right through the snowstorm as it struck the frozen Crawdaunt dead in the chest. Crawdaunt could do nothing but let out a pained cry as it was blasted back by the Hyper Beam and pinned to the psychic shields around the arena.

As Crawdaunt was pinned, Glalie used the last of its energies to manoeuvre the first Blizzard on top of the pinned Crawdaunt, battering the already-injured Dark type with more cuttingly cold winds and freezing it over once more.

There was no need for a second Hyper Beam. The Crawdaunt was already knocked out, with Glalie nearly following suit but just managing to hang on.

The crowd burst into a loud and raucous applause as Karen's Pokémon was taken down. In the meanwhile, I was privately amazed by just how much Lorelei had grown as a trainer. In her 'debut' battle against Walker, her team was barely enough to scrape over the finish line and secure her place in the Elite Four. Against Surge, her performance was more dominant, but I still somewhat felt like Pryce was her better.

But now, she almost looked unstoppable in the Snow. The fact that her Glalie was able to nearly instantaneously freeze over a Crawdaunt, a Pokémon that resisted Ice, was testament to just how potent her Ice type attacks had become.

Even Karen looked a little surprised by this outcome too, judging by the perplexed frown adorned on her face. Still, she recovered quickly, and though the Snow was still coming down and the arena still frozen over, the two silently agreed to keep going regardless and sent out their next Pokémon.

"Come on out, Tyranitar!"

"Lapras! Show them what you've got!"

A vortex of sand was whipped up as Tyranitar landed onto the field, with a Sandstorm beginning to set in. However, before the Sandstorm could even form, a howling gust of cold wind dispersed the sands, forcing the Snow to remain in place.

"Cripple it, Tyranitar!"

"Blizzard, Lapras!"

Knowing it was unlikely to win the weather war, Tyranitar instead fired off a bolt of twitching darkness towards Lapras. The Blizzard that Lapras was trying to form was immediately interrupted as it stumbled from all the debilitating status conditions (consisting of Taunt, Torment, and a flinch from Dark Pulse) that it was just infected with.

Then the rocks came crashing down.

Lorelei's starter was buried under a huge avalanche of rocks, though lesser in number than the seemingly unending tide that Vordt managed to create. But before Tyranitar could follow up with a Thunderbolt, Lapras broke free by firing off a powerful Hydro Pump, shattering the rocks with a huge torrent of water that Tyranitar blocked with a Protect.

Now free, a Blizzard was once again whipped up right on top of Tyranitar, though this time Tyranitar tried to fend off the attack with a Flamethrower. Yet the Blizzard that formed was not a typical one, as the usually scorching flames were seemingly ineffective against the rapidly growing Blizzard; the sheer amount of Ice energy contained within was too strong for it.

Realising this, Karen switched tactics.

"Outrage and Earthquake!"

"TYRANITARRRR!" Unleashing a mighty roar to the skies, Tyranitar explodedwith draconic energies as it slammed its fists against the icy ground, instantly shattering the arena as a terrifying Earthquake split everything apart.

Lapras threw up a Protect shield to block the attack, but Tyranitar was far from done as a field of rocks erupted out from the ground and impaled Lapras from below that sent Lapras sprawling to the ground in pain. But as this was all happening, the Blizzard that Lapras had formed had completely engulfed Tyranitar, who remained too slow to move out of the way in time.

Large patches of frost instantly began spreading over Tyranitar's body. In desperation, Tyranitar let out another roar as it flared out all of its Dark energy, but it wasn't enough to disperse the Blizzard. Even its Outrage was nullified by the overwhelming amount of Ice energy battering into it. It even tried to fend off the cold with another Flamethrower, but that was like trying to stay warm with a candle.

Despite all of the might and strength that it had shown off against Agatha's Gengar, against Lorelei's strongest Pokémon and starter? Tyranitar's strength didn't transfer well. At the end of the day, Karen was a Dark specialist, not a Fire one. And unlike Crawdaunt, Tyranitar didn't resist Ice.

So Karen's once mighty Pokémon was also unceremoniously frozen over, and we all knew what was coming. Without being able to defend itself, Lapras was free to charge up a powerful Focus Blast, and devastate the frozen Tyranitar with a quadruply supereffective attack.

Though Tyranitar wasn't knocked out from that attack, valiantly demonstrating its raw resilience, it mattered little. Even after being broken out of its frozen state, Tyranitar was still heavily slowed from the lingering remnants of ice covering its form, and Lapras ruthlessly capitalised on this by bombarding the Rock/Dark type with further Focus Blasts.

Impressively, Tyranitar hung on for quite a bit longer – far more than I expected despite taking repeated hits by quadruply supereffective attacks, while even managing to fight back with a couple of hard hitting Stone Edges and Dark Pulses – but unfortunately for Karen, Lapras was just a little too tanky to be brought down from this.

Ultimately, Lapras managed to slowly bring Tyranitar down by slowing its speed to a crawl and repeatedly freezing the Rock type over and over again, until Lapras eventually claimed the win.

I joined in with the crowd's clapping at Lorelei's second win, this time more shocked than amazed. Out of everything I had expected from Lorelei, I truly didn't think she'd be able to defeat Karen's Tyranitar this cleanly. Sure, Lapras took some big hits, but a win was a win.

It made me begin to mentally reassess my Pokémon's chances against Lorelei's Pokémon. Obviously, her Glalie and Lapras were her strongest Pokémon, so assuming she didn't have too much hidden under her sleeve, this was as strong as she got. Her other Pokémon wouldn't be able to match this level of strength.

However, what she showed off today was veryfearsome and had to be respected. Previously, Lorelei's biggest weakness was the delay that it took to set up the Snow. But now, she had proven that even against the likes of Karen and her Taunts, she could still have the Snow reliably set up.

And she was trulydevastating within that Snow, managing to defeat one of Karen's strongest Pokémon just like that; though admittedly it was a poor matchup for Karen. I don't think Karen expected Lorelei to put up this well of a fight.

However, against something like Karen's Weavile, which was immune to being frozen thanks to its Ice typing, I felt like Lorelei would struggle significantly to deal with such a fast attacker like that.

Overall, I realised that winning the weather war against Lorelei was not just beneficial, but rather essential to beating her. That meant that Sunny Day and Rain Dances must be trained up for my team to counter the Snow. Barring that, I needed to completely overwhelm and shut down Lorelei's Pokémon before they could make use of the Snow. Perhaps very speedy and agile attackers that hit very hard would counter her too? Her Glalie didn't look all that resilient, honestly. Nor did Lapras, even if it was more defensively inclined.

Mentally jotting down my thoughts, I turned back to see that Karen and Lorelei had released their final Pokémon, having sent out a Houndoom and Froslass respectively.

And very quickly it was made apparent that, this time, there was no such dominance from Lorelei.

Houndoom immediately flooded the entire arena in a sea of black flames, melting the ice that had once covered the arena. Froslass tried to counter it with another Blizzard, but Houndoom's flames were on a different level. Not only was the Blizzard completely nullified before it could even form, but the Snow above was also dispersed as a Sunny Day transformed the weather.

Now deprived of her greatest asset, Froslass wasn't able to out speed the charging Houndoom, who caught up to Froslass with a Pursuit and bit down with a scorching Fire Fang. The frail Ice type let out a wail of pain and desperately tried to push Houndoom away with a Water Pulse.

It did nothing, and Houndoom regained some pride for her trainer as she Crunched down hard and unleashed a point-blank Fire Blast that explodedright on top of Froslass. The scorching flames enveloped Froslass' injured form, torching it into unconsciousness.

Without the defense boost from the Snow, Lorelei's Ice types were very frail.

Karen's quick victory was met with a stunned silence from the crowd. Many of them looked surprised and shocked that Lorelei would lose the final round just like that – especially after how dominant Lorelei had been for the past two rounds.

But that was about what I expected. Lorelei fighting without the Snow, and against a Pokémon that was faster than her, was like night and day. And Houndoom was a perfect counter to Lorelei's whole team.

Karen just reminded everyone that if she couldn't freeze you over, Lorelei was manageable. It was just finding a way to prevent that which was difficult.

Nevertheless, I was happy with the two battles that we showed off today, and Lance seemed to agree as he suddenly reappeared and took to the stage once more.

"CAN WE GIVE ANOTHER ROUND OF APPLAUSE TO THE ELITE FOUR THAT JUST BATTLED?!" He shouted, and the crowd erupted into raucous cheers once more. He allowed the applause to continue for a moment before stopping it with a wave of his fist.

"As you can see – thatis the strength of an Elite Four trainer. That is the level of strength that I wish every trainer here today will one day be able to achieve. Every battle that you witnessed today was performed by a trainer that has fully mastered the Type that they have spent hours, weeks, and years to train up and master. In today's battles, every one of them had shown off their own unique techniques that they have carefully honed themselves. At the highest level of battling, thisis what you must do. Your Pokémon cannot be simply copies of the most popular strategies available online. You must add your own unique flair to them. Or barring that, you must refine those strategies to the point where they become unique in how perfect your execution of them becomes."

He allowed the crowd a moment to process his words before he concluded his speech, "However, I have one last surprise for the many of you gathered here before we can fully open up the circuit. I understand that we might be running late – but I couldn't just watch my Elite Four fighting and be left out! I have to participate too!"

The crowd let out a collective shocked gasp, before they shouted out in excitement at the fact that the Champion was going to be in a battle. Occasions like these were always rare, especially when Pryce was Champion.

"And who will be my partner be?! Well, he might as well show himself now! Come on out – Brock!"

Karen, who had just returned to the spectator stands with Lorelei, whipped her head around with such speed I was afraid it was going to snap. Her mouth was left hanging open as she watched Brock walk onto the stage; any thoughts of her earlier battle long forgotten.

He looked visibly nervous, as if he had no idea why he had been called up for such a battle. Knowing Lance, Brock probably didn't know about these plans until the very last minute. However, I started to reconsider this as I watched Brock slowly gain back his confidence as he approached his spot in the arena. Perhaps he knew about this fight beforehand after all.

"That liar." I heard Karen whisper, "He should have told me that he had a fight like this! I could have helped him prepare!"

She whirled onto me, "Why did he not tell me?"

I had no idea why she thought I had the answer, but I humoured her with a shrug, "Maybe he just didn't want to rely on you. He could want to stand on his own two feet."

"Young Brock is currently not a Gym Leader; his Gym is still held in a regency. This may be his chance to prove himself suitable for the position." Koga agreed, "Win, or lose."

"…How strong is Brock?" Lorelei asked, "Obviously, Lance is going to hold back. I think. But it's going to be a slaughter out there if he isn't strong enough."

"He'll be fine. I know he's been training hard." Despite her words, Karen didn't look all that confident, "I just hope that Lance actually knows the meaning of holding back. I won't forgive him if he humiliates Brock on stage like this."

"I'm sure he knows how to hold back." I reassured, "Beyond all that bluster is a showman. Remember what Will said - Lance wouldn't be wearing that cape otherwise."

Karen looked to respond, but chose to remain silent as Lance spoke up again, "Some may be wondering why I have chosen to fight against Brock. Well, as the first Gym Leader of Kanto, he represents the first challenge that many of you will have to face. However, there has been a common misconception that just because the Pewter and Violet City Gyms represent the first Badges of their regions somehow means that their respective Gym Leaders are weak. And I know that with Pewter especially, those doubts are exacerbated due to the regency."

"Well I shall use this opportunity to dispel any and all doubt." He threw his arms wide, "Brock – SHOW ME WHAT YOU'VE GOT! BATTLE ME WITH YOUR BEST THREE POKÉMON! PROVE TO ME THAT YOU TAKE DOWN ONE OF MY BEST!"

I instantly understood what Lance was proposing. Like the rest of us, Brock would have three Pokémon. And Lance was challenging Brock to see if he could take down just oneof his Pokémon. It might not seem like much, but that would still be an incredible feat.

Lance didn't bother waiting for Brock's response before he sent out his Pokémon, "COME, DRAGONITE!"

I heard Karen let out a sigh of relief as Lance sent out one of his regular Dragonites…and not Emperor. The latter would have been wayoverkill. This was still winnable for Brock.

I watched as Brock's eyes met with Dragonite, and with visibly steeled nerves, he sent out his first challenger.

"Go, Sudowoodo!"

His Sudowoodo emerged from its Pokéball and instantly fired off a Taunt at Dragonite, who was all too eager to accept the affliction. Using the Taunt to fuel its own primal rage, Dragonite exploded forth with power, falling into a sharp dive as it looked to crash straight into Sudowoodo.

However, Sudowoodo was ready for this. Just as Dragonite got close to the ground, a minefield of rocks suddenly erupted from the ground that sent spears of stone stabbing into its body, causing Dragonite to let out a pained roar as it stumbled through the stony trap. Taking advantage of Dragonite's momentary disorientation, Sudowoodo hurled mud into its eyes with a Mud Slap, blinding the Dragon and causing its Dragon Claw to miss.

Enraged at this humiliation, Dragonite's aura instantly flared to the max as it triggered an Outrage; the sudden burst of draconic aura instantly burning away the mud that had been blinding it. Yet it was at this moment that Sudowoodo closed the distance, smashing it with a Foul Play that took full advantage of the sudden attack boost that Dragonite's Outrage just gave it.

Dragonite, a Pokémon that was known for being at the pinnacle of power, actually stumbledbackwards from the blow. Then Sudowoodo crashed their heads together one last time with a fully powered Head Smash, the powerful supereffective blow bringing Dragonite momentarily onto its knees.

Karen cheered loudly at that performance, and she screamed for Brock to finish off the Dragonite with an Ice Punch. As if he could hear her thoughts, Brock ordered exactly that.

Unfortunately, that was when his luck ended. Instead of bringing down the Dragonite, Sudowoodo's Ice-infused fist was caught by a snarling and enraged Dragonite, who was sending the Rock type a burning glare full of vengeful hatred.

Sudowoodo could only let out a surprised yelp before it was yankedtowards Dragonite and was brutally clotheslined, sending it to the ground. Then a massive Outrage-boosted fist came crashing down on its face, cracking a huge hole in the ground from the impact. Despite being literally pinned under a terrifying Dragon, Sudowoodo held on valiantly and did its best to counterattack with a Stone Edge, but Dragonite merely ignored its injuries as it continued pummelling the Sudowoodo with repeated Brick Breaks.

A final Iron Head put down the Sudowoodo. But it had done its job. For Brock, this was a marathon, not a sprint. Sudowoodo had forced an Outrage out of Lance, and had done some good damage. That was enough.

It seemed like he had taken some good lessons from Karen – and probably Sidney as well, from what Karen told me of their friendship.

His next Pokémon he sent out was a Rhydon, and he took advantage of Dragonite's injuries to rush in before it could take flight into the skies again. But this time, Dragonite was also ready for its opponent.

The two exchanged blows, with Dragonite delivering a powerful Brick Break to the face, while Rhydon countered with its own supereffective Ice Punch. Yet the difference in strength was clear, as Rhydon was the one to stagger backwards from the force of the impact.

"Dragon Rush, Dragonite!"

"Keep Ice Punching, Rhydon!"

With a roar, Dragonite moved, rushing into Rhydon and hitting it with the full impact of its charge. Rhydon skidded backwards, but its incredible defenses meant that it managed to barely catch the charging Dragon in its claws – while doing its best to break its charge by pummelling Ice Punch after Ice Punch into its side. But fuelled by Outrage as it was, Dragonite was almost completely ignorant of the pain it was feeling, instead sending Rhydon tumbling to the ground with a sneaky Low Kick.

However, as Rhydon fell to the ground, it surprised Dragonite by unleashing a point-blank Earthquake that managed to stumble the Dragon, sending the Aqua Tail that it tried to strike with to go completely wide. Exploiting this, Rhydon launched itself off the ground by propelling itself upwards with a rock, before slugging Dragonite with another powerful Ice Punch.

This time, both Pokémon came crashing to the ground. Even better, that last Ice Punch must have scored a critical hit, because it finally knocked Dragonite out of its Outrage as the confusion set in.

But even if it was confused, this was still a Dragonite that was trained by Lance. It might not be Emperor, but this was a powerfulbeast. The two Pokémon remained entangled on the ground; engaged in a chaotic brawl. The two Pokémon continuously beat down on each other, where Ice Punches and Brick Breaks were constantly exchanged with unrelenting brutality.

Yet the strength difference was too noticeable. Even without Outrage, Dragonite simply overpowered Rhydon. Eventually, despite its best efforts, Rhydon fell to Dragonite's overwhelming might, leaving Brock with only one Pokémon left.

But Dragonite was doing little better. Even if it had won, the injuries it had gained was really starting to mount. It breathed heavily, and its wings were so badly damaged that I doubted that it could fly any longer. It also walked with a noticeable limp, and there was a huge bruise covering its face.

It was on the brink of collapse. Brock just needed to finish the job. And judging by the blazing look of determination that he had, he knew it too.

"Go, Golem! Bring it down!"

Brock's final Pokémon wasted no time as it simply barrelled into the wounded Dragonite with a Rollout, sending it tumbling back onto the ground. The Brick Break that came in response from Dragonite nearly knocked the wind out of Golem, but the Rock type held firm and unleashed a point-blank Earthquake while it kept the Dragonite pinned under it.

Then, even as the Earthquake was still going, Golem released a Stone Edge from right below Dragonite, further impaling the Dragon with a barrage of sharp rocks.

However, despite the combo of moves, Dragonite refusedto go down. Its pride wouldn't allow it. And so, as the Earthquake petered out, Dragonite let out a defiant roar as it willeditself to keep fighting; to not be knocked out.

But Brock gave it no opportunity to make a reversal.

"Explode, Golem."

In a moment of pure decisiveness, Golem let out a mocking laugh as it suddenly detonated in a blinding burst of white light – sending out powerful shockwaves everywhere. Dragonite, who was caught face-first in the blast, had no opportunity to block or to resist the attack in any way. The explosion cared not for its defiance, and the Dragon was launched backwards through the air until it crashed into the psychic shields.

I watched as Dragonite's fallen form slid down the psychic shields – it had been knocked out.

It had taken three of his Pokémon to do so, but Brock had actually managed to take down one of Lance's Dragonites. A Pokémon that was thesymbol of Lance's strength.

Nor was Lance holding back at all. This was his Dragonite fighting to win, and it had lost.

I turned and saw that Karen was grinning wildly, and her eyes were locked onto the proud look of relief that was on Brock's face. It might not seem like much, but this was a massive achievement for him. To take down a Champion's Pokémon, even at the cost of three of his own, was a powerful feat. And everyone knew it.

The big smile on Lance's face confirmed my thoughts, though his next words would surprise me – in a good way.

"Brock! Congratulations on your victory!" He boomed out, "Despite the struggles that have ailed you, you have clearly not allowed them to take control of your life, and have continued to fight the hard fight and uphold the integrity of your Gym. Today was proof of that dedication, and I shall honour your efforts."

"From now on, the Pewter Gym shall no longer be held by a regent. Gym Leader Brock, you have clearly proven that you have the mental willpower and strength to be an effective Gym Leader. Therefore, I now deem your regency at an end, and for you to become a proper Gym Leader. Congratulations, you've more than earned it."

The loud applause and cheers from everyone was a demonstration of our collective approval for this decision. Brock had more than earned it.

"And now, I hope everyone watching has been sufficiently inspired by the battles before you! Because finally, I SHALL ANNOUNCE THE BEGINNING OF THIS YEAR'S INDIGO CIRCUIT! TRAINERS, YOUR JOURNEY HAS NOW BEGUN!"

"I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AT YOUR VERY BEST!"

A.N. Surprise! It's Brock! I thought it was about time that we had a demonstration of all the background training that he's been doing, and what better way to do so than in a fight with the Champion himself. He has grown much since the start of the story, and though it took three of his Pokémon to do so, he actually managed to bring down a Dragonite. And as a fitting reward, he's now actually the Gym Leader of Pewter without need for a regent.

As for Lorelei, we've not seen her at her best in some time, and likewise I wanted to show just how much her team has developed since all those chapters ago. While she didn't have the best showing against Lucian with her weaker Pokémon, this time she's shown off just how strong she could be if the conditions are right.

Yes, she is incredibly reliant on Snow for her Blizzards to be as powerful as they are, so she does have her weaknesses. But within the Snow, the ability to constantly freeze over your Pokémon is very difficult to deal with.

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!