The New Normal - 17-2 - Interlude - Volkner

The New Normal – 17-2 – Interlude – Volkner

He couldn’t deny that his decision to take on Misty as his assistant was partially a spur-of-the-moment thing. Although he had made the offer, and didn’t regret it, the realisation of what he had done only set in later.

Taking on Misty as an assistant, and helping to train her, was different than just training up Gym Trainers. Here was a little girl who had voluntarily left her home behind just so that she could train under him. Not only that, but she was already the youngest sister of competent and famous Gym Leaders, who would have taught her much if she had just stayed. And he had uprooted all of that, even if it was partially at their own request.

Fortunately, his worst fears did not manifest. Even though he still didn’t think that he was the best of teachers, no matter what Jasmine or Flint tried to tell him, he saw that Misty was learning a lot under his tutelage, despite not getting any new Electric types.

This was the one thing he wanted to emphasise in particular – he was training her, not just gifting her a new and powerful Pokémon for her to use. Sure, perhaps down the line a new Electric type might be gifted to her, but for right now her focus was understanding the Electric type in its entirety. This was especially useful for her as she was undoubtedly going to be a partial Water specialist in the future – given the influence of her sisters and her (surprising) tutelage by Drake – and having a more thorough understanding of one of Water’s main weaknesses would definitely be of great use for her.

After all, if you can anticipate the tactics and moves that your opponent would use to counter your own Pokémon, then you’re able to turn that around on them too.

That was why he had outfitted her with a full team of common Electric type Pokémon, which right now consisted of a Shinx, a Magnemite, and a Flaffy, just so that she could get used to using them in battle.

Which was what they were doing right now – she was having a practice battle against one of his Gym Trainers.

“Flaffy, Thunder Shock!”

“Quick Attack, Eevee. Then Swift.”

He watched as the Eevee dashed to the side, dodging away from the Thunder Shock. Her Flaffy tried to fire off another Thunder Shock, but a quick Swift struck it first and interrupted the attack.

“Go for the Take Down, Flaffy!”

“Sand Attack and Dig, Eevee.”

Flaffy threw itself forwards and recklessly charged towards Eevee with a Take Down. However, Eevee kicked up a handful of sand that blinded the charging Flaffy before burrowing into the ground to avoid the attack. Then, before Flaffy could reorient itself, Eevee came bursting out of the ground with the supereffective Dig, knocking Flaffy down. A follow-up Quick Attack into a Bite finished the Electric type off.

As he observed from a distance, that battle revealed that Misty still had some bad habits that she needed to break, though they were nothing dire. First of, she fell for the trap that so many young trainers did – she assumed that because Flaffy was technically the most powerful member on her team – that she should make use of it in battle.

That wasn’t the case. Both Shinx and Magnemite had more advantages against an Eevee than Flaffy did. Shinx had Intimidate to lower Eevee’s Attack, and Magnemite’s Typing was resistant against most of Eevee’s common moves. Furthermore, she knew that both Shinx and Magnemite had speed training, whereas Flaffy hadn’t, making the latter the slowest out of the trio. Which proved to be detrimental when against the more nimble Eevee.

Her second mistake was not making use of her more powerful Special Attacks, which was Flaffy’s greatest strength over Eevee. In general, Electric Pokémon were not physical attackers, so going for that Take Down was a mistake.

It was then that his phone began to ring. It was Jasmine. Since he saw that his Gym Trainer was already relaying the same advice that he was about to, he stepped away and into his office to pick up the call.

“Hello? Did you need something?” He began.

“Do I need a reason to call you? Can’t a girlfriend just want to speak with her boyfriend?” Jasmine teased, and he felt his face going slightly red, “Anyways, I hope I haven’t caught you at a bad time.”

“No, no. It’s fine.” He said, “I’m not busy anyways.”

“Good. Because I wanted to confirm a rumour with you.” She said, “Is John actually leaving for Sinnoh soon?”

He blinked, “…He is, but how did you find out?” He had only known because Flint told him.

“There’s been rumours floating around the Gym Leaders.” She said, “But nothing was confirmed – at least until you told me.”

Whoops, sorry John.

“Please don’t leak it.” He pleaded. “I don’t want John and Cynthia to get mad at me.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep my mouth shut. I don’t want Lance roaring after me too – I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side.” She replied, “I was just thinking, given that it’s now possible for Gym Leaders to be appointable from any region… do you think I could become one in Sinnoh as well? Or vice versa?”

He turned silent. He couldn’t deny that he had been thinking of something similar. Just like John and Cynthia, he and Jasmine had similar problems with distance that affected their relationship. They were both Gym Leaders in different regions.

“…In all honesty, I didn’t have any plans for leaving Sinnoh.” He said, “I know I grumble about it a lot, but I like being Gym Leader of Sunyshore, and I don’t want to give this up. I know it sounds selfish of me—”

“No, don’t worry, I’m not mad. I feel the same way about Olivine too.” She responded, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief. He was very scared that he had just admitted to something horrible, “I was just airing out my thoughts. Hearing about John and his plans to move over to Sinnoh had just got me thinking.”

“Would you like for us to be together? Whether it be in Sinnoh or Indigo?” He asked.

“Of course!” She replied immediately, “But I’m not like John and Cynthia. Those two would move mountains to see their vision through. They’re both ambitious and greedy enough to shape the world to their liking; to get the result that they both want. You and I… we’re not like that. Not that it’s a bad thing, we’re just different people.”

“That’s true.” He nodded. Never in a million years would he have thought that it would be possible, and accepted by the public, for a region’s leaders to be held by a foreigner. But through their sheer will and ambition alone, John and Cynthia had made it into a reality. All so they could be together while maintaining their political power.

That was an insane level of dedication, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit that he couldn’t match it.

“So… for the time being, I’m happy just keeping things as we are – as I hope you are too.” She said, “Maybe in the future, we can find some way to close the distance between us. But not now. There’s no need to rush into things.”

“I agree.” He replied softly, “Although now that you put it that way, I can’t help but feel a little inadequate. Maybe I should have acted like John did and do everything I could to enable our relationship.”

“Aww. That’s sweet.” She giggled, “But I’m not dating John – I’m dating you. And for who you are. So there’s no need to compare yourself to others. I’m happy with who you are now.”

He really was dating the sweetest and most understanding person in the world. Things like this made enduring Flint’s teasing all worth it, “And I feel the same way about you, Jasmine.

“I wouldn’t trade you for the world.”

A.N. Been a while since we had a Volkner POV, but I felt like exploring a different long-distance relationship and how theirs differs from John and Cynthia’s. While John and Cynthia were willing to do almost everything they could to make their dream a reality, I wanted to show that not everyone shared that same level of ambition. Some could just be happy with less, and that’s perfectly fine too. Hope you enjoyed!