The New Normal - 19-6

The New Normal – 19-6 – INTERMISSION

(Whitney POV)

As was tradition whenever there was a big announcement or reveal that would affect the entire region of Indigo, the Gym Leaders of their region would gather together to host a discussion about how they would collectively respond to the changes.

It was something Giovanni always loved to host, and as the man himself told her during one of their conversations:

“It’s about being acknowledged and recognised.” He said, “I might be known as the strongest and most influential Gym Leader, but those are just words – soft power. It’s all meaningless unless you actually put it into action. That’s why I host these meetings, both to serve as a way to facilitate conversation and discussion between us, but also as a reminder to everyone about my status and influence. You’ll have to be good at doing this if you want to be a successful Gym Leader one day.”

“Are you teaching Silver the same thing?” She asked about her friend.

“Of course.” Giovanni nodded, “Though he’s a bit young for it now, I will be training him so that he will become a proper successor. I know he doesn’t have the patience for it at the moment, but being able to do things like this is very important if you want to maintain your influence. Gym Leaders that focus only on battling will never become all that influential.”

“Just look at Volkner.” He continued, “The man is probably the strongest Gym Leader in the world – even I admit I would struggle to win a fight against him. But despite his strength, his lack of interest in playing politics, or wielding his political influence, causes him to be unable to obtain the leadership of the Sinnoh Gym Leaders.”

“…Knowing Volkner, he probably doesn’t even want it.” She replied, thinking about all the stories that her brother had said about Volkner, “I don’t think he cares very much for politics.”

“Some people are like that.” Giovanni agreed, “But having influence is always useful – you’ll understand that if you ever come across a situation one day where you NEED to have influence but don’t have it.”

She had kept that lesson to heart as she upheld her duties as the Head Gym Trainer of the Goldenrod Gym. So even though she was technically subordinated to their Gym Leader, Hayden, she always tried to make sure that she could participate in many events as she could – to be seen by the public as doing something. As being relevant and competent.

She wanted to associate the name ‘Whitney’ with the Goldenrod Gym in the public’s psyche.

That was why she had kindly asked Hayden for the opportunity to join in on the next Gym Leader meeting held by Giovanni. Fortunately, Hayden had accepted, which is why they were both at Viridian, about to step into one of the meeting rooms that Giovanni had booked for this meeting.

“You can speak up and voice your opinion if you feel like its warranted. I won’t keep you silent.” Hayden said to her as they walked into the meeting room. They were the first ones here apparently, as Giovanni had likely stepped out for whatever reason, “Just… try to match your opinions with my own. We don’t want the others to feel like there’s any disagreement between us.”

“Sure.” She nodded, “And again, thanks for bringing me along.”

He shrugged, “It wasn’t an issue. Giovanni didn’t have a problem with it, and I felt like it was good for you to get used to these kinds of meetings for when you become a Gym Leader.”

Oh, she would definitely do her best to do so. Within the Goldenrod Gym, it was basically an open secret that she was eying to take on the position of Gym Leader, which would supplant Hayden from his position.

Normally, having such an ambitious Head Gym Trainer would not be good for a Gym Leader. Many of them preferred having their own chosen successors take their positions, so they could keep control of the Gym within those that they had influence over (whether that be family or otherwise).

But Hayden was not your usual Gym Leader – as in, he had ‘lucked’ into his position when Will ascended to the Elite Four. The man didn’t actually want the position, but he held onto it out of a sense of duty and because, at the time, there was no better choice.

Furthermore, Hayden was not a particularly strong trainer. Not weak, but he had nothing that stood out. He was a perfectly competent and, in the words of Sabrina, a boring Psychic specialist.

And this had been noticed by the public as well. They acknowledged Hayden’s administrative skills, but his strength was just ‘fine’. They didn’t see it as anything impressive, which unfortunately, did negatively impact the prestige of the Goldenrod Gym.

According to the opinion polls that they held, the Gym’s prestige had taken a slight backslide ever since Will left the position when he moved back up to the Elite Four. And out of all of them, it was Hayden that had taken that the worst, as he only had the wellbeing of Goldenrod in his mind.

That was why he was okay with her ambitions, because he knew that she would be a better Gym Leader than he ever could be, and could bring Goldenrod to higher heights than he could – he said so as much to her.

…She remembered that conversation very well. She remembered being awed and impressed by the humility that he showed.

It took a very special kind of person to be so accepting of one’s own failings, and to prioritise the wellbeing of a city over their own personal achievements. It was not something she could do herself, which is why she still held Hayden in so much respect.

She inwardly promised to make him proud when she took over his spot as Gym Leader. She would not disappoint him.

The sound of other people entering into the room snapped her out of her own thoughts. The Gym Leaders and Dojo Leaders had all arrived one after the other, and she greeted all those that she recognised – obviously, Sabrina (who came as an ‘assistant’ to Samson, much like herself) and Janine were among those people – before quietly taking her seat next to Hayden as the meeting began.

“…Right then, I’m assuming you all got the memo about why I’ve gathered you here today.” Giovanni began, “For those who didn’t bother to read it – or more accurately, forgot to get their assistants to read it out for them – shame on you.” There were a few chuckles at that, “But it’s about the Mega Evolutions. Sadly, none of us here have gotten our hands on a Mega Stone, so the process of Mega Evolution is not something we can utilise in our Gym Battles for the time being.”

“Given that we might be seeing Mega Evolutions in our own Gym Battles in the future, Champion Lance has asked us for our opinions on the matter.” He continued, “He wants to know what kind of contingencies or policies we would like in order to preserve the fairness of our Gyms now that Mega Evolution is in play. Our decision today might shape the battling scene for the years to come, so we should approach this topic carefully.”

“I’ll go first then, since I’ve already given this topic some thought.” Dorothy spoke up, “There should be no Mega Evolutions allowed until you earned your 8th Gym badge. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, we here all know that trainers who haven’t yet earned their 8th Gym Badge occasionally would have trouble controlling their own Pokémon. If you add a Mega Evolution on top of that, then we might see situations where a Trainer will be unable to control their own Mega Evolved Pokémon, which would be disastrous, to say the least. Having it be a requirement that you must earn 8 Gym Badges so that you can prove your ability to handle a Mega Evolved Pokémon is very reasonable.”

“The second reason for this is because it prevents lucky trainers – those who have Mega Stones – from simply powering through our Gyms with brute force.” She continued, “Our Gyms are meant to be a test, an examination of a trainer’s own skills. Admittedly, we will always get trainers that have managed to obtain powerful enough Pokémon to brute force their way through our Gyms anyways, but denying them the use of Mega Evolution would make that harder.”

“Good points.” Erika agreed, “But would they accept that though?”

“Of course they will. Most of them won’t even be able to acquire a Mega Stone in their lives – they won’t be affected by such a rule at all.” Pryce replied dismissively, “And for those that do have one? They’ll just have to learn to suck it up.”

“…I wouldn’t put it that way, but I agree that this shouldn’t be a hard rule to pass through.” Jasmine said, “Clair, do you think Lance will think the same way?”

“I think he’ll go along with whatever we agree on today.” Clair replied, “He was pretty insistent that he wanted to listen to the voices of the Gym Leaders.”

“As he should. I’d be pissed if he made a rule regarding Gym Leaders without consulting us first.” Surge grumbled.

There was a bit more back and forth between everyone, but it was pretty clear that they all unanimously agreed to ban the use of Mega Evolutions until the acquisition of the 8th Gym Badge. The Dojo Leaders were also in agreement too, since they only offered post-8 Badge challenge anyways.

“So are we agreed on this?” Giovanni asked everyone, “Does everyone think it is right for us to forbid the use of Mega Stones until they have acquired their 8th Gym Badge? And no sooner?”

There was a round of agreements from everyone in the mood, and it didn’t seem like anyone was going to object, which allowed Giovanni to continue with a smile, “Excellent. I’m glad that was sorted out without any fuss. I’ll be reaching out to the other Gym Leaders from the other regions to make sure that this is something they can agree on as well. Now that we’re all part of the Regional Union, we should all try to unify our policies as much as possible.”

It was then that Brock raised a hand, “What do we do if we are the ones that have a Mega Stone? When will we be allowed to use it?”

“I think using it only for 8th Badge challenges is reasonable.” Samson replied, “It wouldn’t be fair if we could make use of Mega Evolutions in battles where we’ve banned our challengers from doing the same. Besides, considering the power of these Mega Evolutions, I doubt we would ever use them in our regular Gym Battles anyways.”

“Wait, does that mean that Giovanni and Clair will be able to use it for their challengers?” Janine asked, “Or is it only for those who have already acquired 8 Badges and are just challenging us again for the prestige?”

“The latter is more suitable, I believe.” Giovanni answered, “We will make that distinction clear. Mega Evolutions are only for those who have already earned their 8 Badges. Not for those who are looking to challenge for their 8th Badge. The same rule applies to us.”

The discussion went on for a little longer, but to Whitney, it looked like most of the important matters had already been wrapped up in the first few minutes of conversation. Everything else was just filler – as if everyone was trying to ‘look’ busy. And she was already growing bored just listening to their meaningless rambling.

Well, she guessed she understood why Hayden’s favourite saying was – “This could have been an email.”

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(Drake POV)

The Festival of Masks was really proving to be a big event. Usually, the event was only really hosted for probably around a hundred or so people at most, since that was basically the entire population of Kitakami.

However, now that this was going to be a League-sponsored event, the scale of everything had completely turned around. Now, the entire Festival had to be massively sized up to accommodate the thousands of people that were going to come and participate in the event.

At first, the locals had panicked and were alarmed at the sheer number of visitors. Even with the League’s assistance, they didn’t think they could handle so many people at once, nor were they accustomed to doing so.

That was why they had roped him into helping out. Apparently, they ‘trusted’ him to handle negotiations with the League, and to make sure that the event and the large influx of people wouldn’t cause damage to their beautiful region.

In other words, they had brought him on as a security officer. It was not the worst role he could have taken, in all honesty.

At least they didn’t try to have him play politics. He didn’t retire just to be thrown back into that shit again.

Of course, before he could actually help out, there was something that he had to go through first.

“Master Drake.” One of his ‘students’, one of the members of the Kitakami Ogre Clan, called out to him, “The ritual is ready for you.”

“And as I’ve said a dozen fucking times, you don’t need to do this for me.” He grumbled back, “Your thanks was enough.”

“No, we do this because we believe in honouring those that have taken their time to better our community.” The man replied, “We do not do this because of who you are, but merely what you have done for us. It is very rare for a stranger and outsider to display such level of concern for us.”

He snorted, “All I’ve done is train you lot. That’s not a whole lot of ‘concern’ to me.” He was trying to downplay his own actions – he really didn’t like being thanked.

But the man shook his head, “We can see otherwise.” The man insisted, “Please, Master Drake. We insist. Follow after us.”

Realising that he wasn’t going to win this argument, he let out a reluctant sigh as he followed after his ‘students’ as they escorted him to a special and culturally important location for the locals of Kitakami.

He had heard bits and pieces about what they were about to show him, as it was related to the Festival of Masks. Basically, they were about to head to the graves of the Loyal Three, and he was to be ‘blessed’ by them – which, according to the traditions of Kitakami, would grant him ‘Kindness’, ‘Success’, and ‘Fortune’.

Truthfully, he didn’t believe in such rituals, as he had first-hand experience of how little the Legendaries of the world truly cared about them – even Regigigas, for its stated goals of protecting humanity, only cared about the collective, not the individual. But their apathy was to humanity’s benefit, as any kind of Legendary intervention often led to destructive and disastrous results for humankind.

Therefore, he had very little faith that the Loyal Three, Pokémon that weren’t really deserving to be called a ‘Legendary’ based on their lack of raw power alone, would actually be able to grant him their respective blessings.

Of course, he had the tact to not say any of that out loud. Blunt and sailor-mouthed he might be, but disrespecting a foreign culture like that was just not done.

So instead, he pretended to listen interestedly as his students regaled him with the tales of the Loyal Three as they walked to the Three’s Monument. Once they were there, a village shaman was already there waiting for them, and in front of her, was a plate of white coloured mochi – ones that he recognised were the signature dish of Kitakami.

It was their aptly named ‘Kitakami Mochi’.

He was actually happy to be offered some. He had tried to ask to try some when he had stayed in the village, since he was curious to see what the fuss was about, but he was refused. Not because he was an outsider, but because the Mochi was only meant to be eaten on very special occasions, including the Festival of Masks, as they were meant to be served as offerings to the Loyal Three – or in special occasions like this.

He had tuned out the shaman’s speech, but he made sure that he didn’t look bored as he kept his head down and munched down on the offered Mochi.

It was… a very unique taste. Not in a bad way, but it was like nothing else he had tasted before. It tasted neither sweet nor bitter, nor sour or salty. It almost liked eating flour, but for some reason, he felt good just by eating it.

Huh. It was weirdly nice.

Eventually, after a few more minutes, the ritual was over and he walked away ‘blessed’ by the Loyal Three. The other locals that had attended were all smiling at him, and another one of his students – Muramasa – walked up to him with a similar smile on his face.

“You’re one of the first outsiders to be welcomed to our village.” He said to him, “I hope you understand why I insisted you go through this ritual. I know you are not someone for traditions, but I know you respect ours nonetheless, and I had to make sure that the other locals understood this too.”

“So you did this so that I would be accepted here?” He asked. Obviously, the Clan Leader was an influential man of the village.

“Yes. That was the purpose.” His student confirmed, “The others of course already know of your contributions to our village, but this just demonstrated to them that even our very Legends support your stay as well.”

“Well thank you, then.” He appreciated the gesture, “But now that’s it’s over with, let’s get back into the planning. Tell me, what’s the plan for the Festival? I already know the events, but what arrangements do you have to prevent interference from wild Pokémon?”

There were certain events that had been planned, such as the hike up Oni Mountain, which was going to be an absolute nightmare to properly secure. Even the battle arenas that were going to be set up had to be cleared out and patrolled in advance as well, because unlike in mainland Sinnoh, most of the surrounding wilderness of Kitakami was still largely inhabited by wild Pokémon.

“The Sinnoh League have already promised to send their Rangers and Jennys to help us out. Apparently they’re going to be field testing a new device? It’s supposed to be used to help tame and calm down wild Pokémon.” His student replied, “But we were unsure about their deployment. We are not used to their presence, and we are unfamiliar with how they operate. Hence your assistance.”

That was easy enough for him. He had done this multiple times before, so none of this was new to him.

So he wasted no time in taking charge and helping to organise the security around the Festival. The law enforcement members of the Sinnoh League were initially very surprised to see him suddenly ordering them around, but whether out of respect for his past position or simply because he had a very persuasive voice, they didn’t question his orders at all and just followed through on whatever he suggested.

Oni Mountain was vigorously patrolled, and most of the Pokémon within were either carefully (with approval of the locals to know that it was okay and wouldn’t disrupt anything) driven out, or they were captured if they wanted a trainer. Larger threats, like particularly strong wild Pokémon, were ‘encouraged’ to leave using the strength of his Pokémon.

At first, he was worried that this aggressive reclamation of territory from the wild Pokémon would cause long-term damage to the surrounding ecosystem. But the locals had repeatedly reassured him that such actions needed to be done anyways.

“Oni Mountain is a little too close to Mossui Town anyways, and the strength of the wild Pokémon there means we occasionally we get a strong invader that comes rampaging across or close to our town that needs to be stopped.” The Clan Leader had explained, “So now that we have the manpower to do so, making Oni Mountain safe from wild Pokémon will help to safeguard Mossui Town in the future and also pave way for a potential expansion. So don’t worry, the Kitakami Council have all approved of this action.”

That gave him the peace of mind to continue with his actions. And actually, things went much more smoothly than he had expected. There weren’t actually as many Pokémon here as he had expected, and those that were didn’t really have the strength to be a challenge to either his own team or the Jennys/Rangers either.

And once that was done, the patrols were all put in place, while every nook and cranny of the surrounding areas were secured with checkpoints to make sure that no wild Pokémon could sneak in and accidentally injure the participants.

It took over a week’s worth of preparations, but the result was worth it. And he smiled to himself as he watched the Jennys and Rangers all moving around like a well-oiled machine.

It was always nice seeing a job well done.

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However, unbeknownst to Drake, the large-scale movements on Oni Mountain had awakened something that had long since been left to slumber.

A Pokémon that had been framed and scorned for an act that it did not do. A Pokémon that bore the timeless resentment of the people that it had once tried to protect. A Pokémon that just wanted to live with the people that it once admired, but was now driven to isolation.

It had heard the noise. It had felt the hive of activity taken place above it. And for the first time in centuries, it began to stir.

A.N. This whole chapter was setup for the events to come. I added in a Whitney portion because I wanted to highlight her own actions as well, and because I felt like it’s been some time since she’s been in the spotlight. I haven’t forgotten about her!

However, I’m sure most of you will be able to pick up the events to come. This chapter was foreshadowing! Hope you enjoyed!

Also, I do apologise for the delay. I am sick, but I will try to ensure that the chapters won't be delayed by too much. Sorry in advance!