The New Normal - 8-12

The New Normal – 8-12 – Ignition

It had been a good few days after Lorelei’s victory against Surge. I spent the past few days both continue up with training my Pokémon as well as spending some time doing my duty as the Indigo representative. In this case, that meant welcoming the small group of people from Silph Co as they hashed out a deal with the Sinnoh League since it showed off good public relations between our regions.

And I pointedly did not bring attention to the one employee member that I was nearly CERTAIN was just Archer in disguise. Clearly he didn’t have Petrel helping him with his disguise this time.

Well that at least shows that Giovanni was taking things very seriously if he was sending Archer over. I approved of that, at the very least.

Photos were taken, as was expected, and I saw my picture in the papers the very next day under headlines that all spouted positivity about how successful opening of Sinnoh’s borders have been and how the new foreign investment was going to help the region.

It didn’t take a genius to see the influence of the current Elite Four behind it. But I hoped that these business ventures would turn out to be a success; I didn’t want Sinnoh to close up their borders again. Especially not with Team Galactic and their plans.

But the employees from Silph Co were not the only ones to arrive. Hoenn had finally sent over their representative in Phoebe, likely hoping to expand their influence and forge good connections just as we did. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet her as I was preoccupied with greeting Silph Co, and Will met her instead. Still, I was sure to find some time to speak to her later.

I was both glad and disappointed that they didn’t send over Drake. Glad, because sending over Drake as a DIPLOMATIC representative was insane. Drake was many things, but diplomatic he certainly was not. I was slightly disappointed, because I genuinely respected him and wanted to chat more with him.

Instead, I found myself with another repeat visitor.

“Hey John, nice to see you again.” The familiar face of Flint waved to me as I was training up my Pokémon.

“Oh? Flint? Surprised to see you here.” I remarked, “What are you doing here?”

“Just hanging about.” He said, though he quickly chuckled at the disbelieving look that I gave him, “Okay, maybe it wasn’t such a coincidence. I actually wanted to fight you. And it seems like you’ve picked out a good spot already – there aren’t any prying eyes to see us.”

“Oh really?” My eyes narrowed challengingly, “I’m not one to back down, but you have to admit that this came out of nowhere.”

“I’m not known as a hot-head for nothing.” He laughed, “Did you know I already challenged Will?”

“I did not.” I shook my head, “How did that go?”

“We drew.” He grinned, “Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”

I brushed off his attempt to rile me up, “So what did you think about Will? I’ve not actually seen him in a proper battle. I only duelled him once, but that was with both of us severely holding back.”

“Lucian’s better than him as a trainer and as a Psychic specialist.” Flint said immediately, “Though that isn’t an insult against him. I consider Lucian to be the strongest among the Sinnoh Elite Four, so the fact that Will is comparable to Lucian is an impressive achievement.”

“I sure hope you told Will that in person; he would have preened.” I smiled, “He’s always a sucker for compliments.”

“That’s exactly what he did.” Flint chuckled, “Anyways, enough about Will. Are you going to take me up on my offer?”

“Sure, but you still haven’t told me WHY you’re seeking me out to battle.” I replied, “I can see it in your eyes that you’re doing this for reasons MORE than just because you want to battle me.”

“Well, I DO want to battle you, but you’re right.” Flint responded, then he lowered his voice almost to a whisper, “I wanted to make sure Lucian’s eyes weren’t wrong.”

“Come again?” I asked confusedly.

“Lucian has great hopes for Cynthia.” Flint revealed, “He thinks that she has the potential to be our next Champion. I don’t disagree, especially after seeing her match against you. But I wanted to confirm YOUR strength with my own two eyes.”

“Ah, so when you have a measure of my own strength, then you can use that to judge how strong Cynthia is.” I realised.

“Exactly.” Flint nodded, then a smirk formed on his face, “So how about it? Famed ‘Hero of Olivine’? Ready to test yourself against a member of the Elite Four? Let’s make it a 3v3.”

A large grin split my face, “Of course. But the better question is - Are you ready to lose?”

He laughed, “Don’t hold back on me now!” Oh, but I didn’t intend to. If Flint wanted to use me as a means of measuring Cynthia’s strength, then I wasn’t about to let her down.

The two of us threw our respective balls, revealing Flint’s Flareon and my Vordt.

I could see the look of surprise he had on his face as he stared at Vordt. But he had to free himself from his surprise soon as Vordt came charging straight out of his Premier Ball, stealing a move from Tyrant.

As Vordt barrelled forwards with a terrifying Headlong Rush, Flareon was only narrowly able to dodge the attack with a desperate Quick Attack that JUST gave her enough space to avoid the attack while also leaving a trail of fire in its place. Yet that was not the end of Vordt’s assault, as he quickly redirected the trail of loose rocks that he had ripped up in his charge and slammed them into the unsuspecting Flareon.

Flareon winced as the sharp rocks crashed into her, but her natural instincts allowed her to still release a plume of searing flames towards Vordt.

That was a devastating mistake.

Instead of dodging, Vordt simply stood still and allowed himself to be scorched by Flareon’s flames, letting the embers dance across his fur as he was set alight.

Vordt released a savage snarl as the Burn triggered his Guts ability. He had just transformed Flint’s biggest strength as a trainer into a boost to his already overwhelming attack.

“Now, Vordt! ALL OUT!”

“URSA!!” Vordt let out a fearsome roar and he rocketed forwards with another Headlong Rush, ignoring the thick wall of white flames that Flareon had rapidly thrown up in his path.

The wall of white-hot flames would have scorched and incinerated most foes. But to Vordt, while the attack certainly hurt, it wasn’t enough to deter him.

“FIRE BLAST, FLAREON!”

However, Flareon wasn’t caught unprepared this time. As soon as Vordt’s charging figure broke through the flame wall, he was immediately met with another powerful orb of fire that detonated directly in his face. But the Fire Blast was special – it didn’t end there. As soon as the orb detonated, it turned into small globules of magma that dripped down and created a molten pool of lava that lingered on the ground.

Vordt released a pained grunt as he staggered backwards from the force of the impact, his charge interrupted. Flareon swiftly followed up with another torrent of flames that engulfed Vordt’s form and trapped him within, but instead of succumbing to the fiery vortex of pain and being helplessly trapped within, Vordt instantly transitioned and unleashed a devastating Earthquake that caused deep fissures to rip through the ground, tearing the makeshift battlefield apart with its sheer destructive power.

It didn’t matter that his whole body was scorched alight with searing flames. The pain of the burns only served to boost his own attacks.

Flareon shook violently as it was caught in the explosive tremors from the Earthquake. Boosted by Guts, it didn’t really matter HOW well trained Flareon was, it wasn’t going to be able to tank through this supereffective attack.

To add insult to injury, as soon as the Earthquake petered out and before Flareon could even collapse onto the ground, huge spears of rocks suddenly erupted from the ground around Flareon, the rocks mercilessly shredding through what remained of its health.

And so, Flareon fell.

“…huh, I didn’t expect that.” Flint admitted as he withdrew Flareon into its Pokéball, “I really thought my Flareon would be able to put up more of a fight than this. Now I’m starting to think I bit of more than I could chew.”

“You did a number on my Ursaluna.” I allowed, staring at the range of injuries that Vordt now sported, “Your attacks were pretty powerful.”

I wasn’t lying. Even though Vordt got a massive power boost from being burnt, it was clear that the Burn from Flint was doing way more damage than you would normally expect. Even as we talked, Vordt’s health was slowly ticking down.

Flint snorted, “Let’s not talk about a comparison in power when your Ursaluna took down my Flareon in two good hits.” He shook his head, “And people call me the ‘powerhouse’ of the Sinnoh Elite Four.”

He sighed, “Enough talk. I’ve disrespected your Ursaluna enough by talking while it slowly burns.” He withdrew another Pokéball.

“Fight hard, Lopunny!”

His Lopunny bounced onto the field, each hop of its legs revealing its agility and nimbleness. That being said, I just gave Flint a weird look. This wasn’t a Fire type!

Flint must have seen the look in my eye, because he refused to look at me, “Fake Out, Lopunny!”

Lopunny gave off an affirmative squeak as it leapt forwards, clearing the distance between itself and Vordt in a single jump. Vordt immediately started levitating a field of rocks to fire towards Lopunny, but it clapped its hands and flinched Vordt before he could.

Without needing Flint to give any further instructions, Lopunny moved quickly to land on the ground before jumping into the air again, this time spinning around and delivering a brutal High Jump Kick straight into the side of Vordt’s head.

Vordt roared out in pain as he fell backwards, the pain from the High Jump Kick too much for him to endure through. Before Vordt could recover, Lopunny ruthlessly kicked Vordt’s legs from under him with a swift Low Kick that caused Vordt to trip over.

However, Vordt was not about to let this one-sided assault continue any longer. Although Lopunny clearly out-sped him, Vordt had plenty of experience dealing with an opponent that hit hard and was faster than him.

Because if there was one thing besides his incredible attack that made Vordt so strong as my second most powerful Pokémon, it was his unyielding endurance. He could repeatedly take powerful hits and still be in a condition to fight back.

So while Lopunny WAS delivering strong back-to-back blows that should have sent a normal Pokémon reeling, Vordt was able to stay in the fight, refusing to succumb to its building injuries. Instead, his eyes remained alight with determination as he waited for a single opportunity to bring down the Lopunny.

Because, for all of Lopunny’s speed and power, Vordt had trained against Karen’s Weavile – who was both quicker and more powerful than it.

Therefore, as Lopunny leapt forwards once again to slam down with another vicious High Jump Kick while thinking that Vordt was vulnerable, it was instead painfully surprised as a sharp field of rocks burst forth from the ground, catching Lopunny completely off guard as it soared through the air into a minefield of jagged rocks.

With it being in the air, Lopunny was unable to reverse its momentum in time and its health was torn asunder as spike after spike of razor-sharp rocks ripped through it.

Oh how quickly had the tables turned. The healthy and eager Lopunny that had thought it was one attack away from winning had been shredded apart by Vordt’s well-placed trap – especially with the recoil damage from its failed High Jump Kick. And now it was the one on the verge of collapse.

And Vordt was never one to allow such an opportune moment to escape. Pushing through his own wounds, Vordt roared and rushed forwards, perfectly predicting Lopunny’s instinctive path of escape and delivering a critical knockout punch with a crushing Hammer Arm that smashed Lopunny straight into the ground, burying it into a hole that was created from the impact of the attack.

To add insult to injury, Vordt was about to fire off ANOTHER Earthquake right on top of the fallen Lopunny that would have most certainly been overkill, but Flint moved first.

“Woah, woah, I think my Lopunny got the message.” He said as he withdrew Lopunny into its Pokéball before Vordt could unleash his Earthquake. “…To think that my Lopunny would be knocked out in two hits as well.”

“I got lucky.” I shrugged. “If you hadn’t gone for a High Jump Kick, it wouldn’t have worked.”

“So in other words, I got too greedy.” He grumbled, but then he shot me a surprised look as I withdrew Vordt from the fight, “…Why? Your Ursaluna looked like it could continue to fight.”

“Eh, it’s injuries were building up.” I lied. Truthfully, he was right. Vordt WAS able to fight more. He had withstood Drake’s Salamence after all. But he had already secured two very convincing wins against Flint’s Pokémon. There was no need to show more.

Besides, I had come to realise that I was an exceedingly poor matchup for Flint. His Pokémon hit hard with their high-powered Fire attacks, but that wasn’t enough to compete against the raw endurance that my Pokémon possessed. Plus, his main form of defence using area denial was ineffective when my Pokémon could simply power through them.

That being said, he had deliberately asked me to fight at my best. His Pokémon would have put up a much better against showing against anything OTHER than my three bruisers. I figured that Lopunny would have been a decent match against Smough, but Lopunny was way below the level of Cynthia’s Lucario.

Though it was unfair to Flint, I kept comparing his strength to what I saw with Cynthia. And he came up short.

Putting those thoughts aside for the moment, I spoke up again, “Say, Flint, I was always curious. But why doyou only have a few Fire types? I feel like you’re torn between being a generalist or a Fire specialist.”

He gave me a complicated smile, “I…I’m not comfortable getting into it, but let’s just say that circumstances forced my hand. Just because you want to be a Fire specialist doesn’t mean you can actually catch Fire type Pokémon to join your team. And plus, I enjoyed having a few more types to experiment and think of strategies with.”

“Though you have to admit that it is a little odd that the Fire specialist has the Lopunny and not the Normal specialist.” I remarked.

He shrugged, “I’m not surprised that you don’t have a Lopunny if I was honest. You have to be REALLY lucky to get one to join your team.”

“Really? I know I’ve encountered a few.” I said, “But you’re right that they haven’t wanted to join me.”

“It’s not their rarity that’s the problem. It’s the fact that many of them are too cautious or are too unwilling to fight.” He explained, “There’s no point catching a Lopunny to train it to be on your Elite Four if it’s not going to be willing to fight for you.”

“Ah, I can see how that’d be problematic.” I nodded, “So how did you get yours then?”

“Luck.” He replied, “Found the 1 in a 100 Lopunny that actually wanted to fight and was happy to train. Maybe the same will happen to you?”

“Maybe.” I allowed, “Anyways, enough chat. I still have one more Pokémon of yours to defeat, don’t I?” I grinned smugly at him.

He shook his head with a small smile, “I can see my defeat from a mile away. But I stand by my words. I want to challenge you at your best. So don’t hold back on me now!”

I nodded, fully intending to comply. If he was going to be sending out his starter Pokémon, then I would honour him by doing the same.

“Come, Infernape!”

“Tyrant.”

Both Pokémon rushed out onto the field, charging towards each other as they got ready to slam their fists into the other. However, while Infernape was the faster Pokémon, the quick realisation of the sheer power difference between our Pokémon rapidly caused it to reconsider.

Infernape pivoted on the spot and chose instead to keep its distance and unleash a double vortex of swirling flames towards Tyrant – which looked like a combination of Fire Spin and Flamethrower together.

Infernape must have thought that it was safer at a distance. Unfortunately, distance could not protect you from Tyrant’s wrath.

Seeing the attack coming, Tyrant instantly leapt into the air with an Aerial Ace, spinning through the air with a surprising degree of grace as he also fired off a sudden Thunderbolt towards Infernape.

A rapid Protect saved Infernape from the incoming bolt of lightning, but it did little to block the follow-up Hammer Arm that came violently crashing down from the sky like a smite from Arceus. To Infernape’s credit, it Endured the blow and lashed out with a quick Low Kick to trip up Tyrant.

Tyrant grunted as he fell over, but not before he released a paralysing Thunder Wave that swiftly coursed through Infernape’s body, slowing it down significantly. Yet Infernape pushed through the effects and smashed a powerful Drain Punch into Tyrant’s face, draining his health and restoring its wounds.

And it wasn’t just a single punch. Blow after blow came hammering down on Tyrant’s form as Infernape unleashed what appeared to be an interesting combination of Close Combat and Drain Punch, each punch striking with incredible force that also healed up Infernape in turn.

That was until Tyrant did a kickflip off the ground, kicking Infernape hard in the chin with a powerful Mega Kick that broke through Infernape’s pummelling and allowed Tyrant to reposition himself. To Infernape’s credit, it recovered quickly and rushed back forwards with a Mach Punch, hoping to maintain its offensive momentum.

That plan was immediately torn apart as Tyrant cut off Infernape’s Mach Punch with a Sucker Punch of his own that caught the rushing Infernape right in the stomach, completely knocking the wind out of it. Then, blue light flashed across Tyrant’s eyes as he released a quick burst of Psychic, detonating swiftly in Infernape’s face and sent it reeling backwards for a moment.

A sadistic smile flashed across Tyrant’s face as he stared at Infernape’s reeling form. It was only exposed for a single moment, but that was all the time that Tyrant needed.

“SLAKINGGGG!!!” Showing absolutely no mercy for his opponent, Tyrant roared out as he suddenly exploded forwards in an orange blur – ruthlessly ramming into Infernape with a terrifying Giga Impact that created a deafening BANG upon impact. A spiderweb of cracks immediately split out from the point of impact, and the ground shook as if an Earthquake had been unleashed.

It was an absolutely ridiculous attack to make use of without any charging time.

The Giga Impact sent Infernape rocketing backwards like a missile, unable to even release a pained cry as its health was completely and utterly shattered by the Giga Impact.

And Tyrant wasn’t done yet. As if to showcase his ridiculous stamina, he wasn’t even winded from the earlier Giga Impact.

“KING!!!” Roaring after his fallen foe, Tyrant leapt into the air and unleashed a barrage of Thunderbolts at Infernape before it had even landed on the ground, shocking the Fire type with a painful burst of lighting – giving Infernape absolutely no opportunity to recover.

As Infernape collapsed to the floor from the crippling effects of the paralysis, Tyrant came flying out of the sky and ruthlessly and savagely slammed his massive body against Infernape, making full use of the momentum of his attack, which devastated the already-injured Infernape with a merciless Body Slam.

Not realising that his opponent had already been knocked out, Tyrant thundered out to the skies above as he prepared to pummel the fallen Infernape with a barrage of destructive Hammer Arms. However, Flint rescued his Infernape from that fate.

“Enough! I lost!” He shouted out, withdrawing Infernape from the fight. It was only when Tyrant saw that his victory was assured did he calm down; the battlelust rapidly leaving his eyes as he let out a proud snort.

“…Jeez, that was something.” He muttered, “Why didn’t you pull this guy out against Cynthia?”

“Well I think it was because he was holding back.” A sudden voice surprised the both of us, and we turned around to find Cynthia walking up to us with her hands on her waist.

I smiled as she approached, “That’s right. I didn’t want to show everything off in that fight, so I chose my weaker Pokémon. Though, what are you doing here, Cynthia? How did you find us?”

She shot me a look as if I was stupid, “Really? You didn’t think your massive Earthquake and then casual breaking of the sound barrier wouldn’t attract attention? Then you have Flint setting off huge pillars of flames everywhere. What did you thinkwas going to happen?”

I scratched my head sheepishly, “Okay, maybe I didn’t consider that.”

She snorted and rolled her eyes, “Yeah, I could tell. You’re going to have to tidy all this up after this, you know.”

I blinked, “Sure, but why just me? Flint contributed.”

“And if he hadn’t been tossed around by you I would agree.” She shook her head, “But I think he needs a Pokémon Center more than anything else.”

“Hey you know I’m still here right? Sheesh, it feels like you two are only talking to each other.” Flint spoke up, drawing both of our eyes. “But Cynthia’s right. I do have to visit a Pokémon Center. So thanks for doing the cleanup, John!” He grinned cheekily.

I grumbled, but kept my silence.

“Anyways, that was a humbling battle.” Flint added, apparently not leaving just yet, “I really didn’t think I would get defeated so easily like that.” Then he shot the two of us a knowing look, “Though I shouldn’t be surprised when you were fighting for Cynthia’s honour.”

“Oh? Is that what you were doing? Colour me surprised.” Cynthia grinned, immediately catching onto Flint’s insinuation, “I didn’t know you cared so much.”

“Haha, laugh it up.” I replied dryly, “I’m not the one that just had his starter tossed around.”

“Ouch!” Flint clutched playfully at his chest, before breaking out into a chuckle, “You got me there. Your starter really is something - Infernape stood no chance. And I had even trained him up to be more defensive than his counterparts.”

“Don’t take it too hard, Flint.” Cynthia spoke up, “John just happens to be the worst opponent for you to have picked a fight with, in the same way you frequently lose to Bertha. Just like her, his fighting style crushes yours. Explosive firepower doesn’t matter much when John’s Pokémon can tank through it.”

“And yes, John’s Slaking is an absolutely ridiculous Pokémon.” She added, ignoring how the two of us blinked at her succinct analysis, “Trust me, I’ve done the research.”

“…I can see that.” Flint nodded, then his smile turned playful, “Then does that mean I have a better chance when fighting against you?”

I grinned, while Cynthia burst out laughing, “You wish, Flint. I hope you train up well over the next few weeks. Because I’m not so easy to beat either.” She remarked.

“You sound so sure.” Flint responded.

I spoke up before Cynthia could, “Would she be telling you this if she wasn’t?”

Flint smiled at me, “Looks like you have quite a lot of faith in her, John.” He pointed out.

I smiled, unconsciously stepping forwards until I was side-by-side with Cynthia, “Of course. There’s no one else that deserves that position more.”

I turned to her, “It has to be you.”

A.N. So Flint kinda fucked around and found out. John’s strongest Pokémon aren’t called that for show, they REALLY are powerful. I wanted to highlight that even for an average/above-average Elite Four like Flint, he was completely dominated by John’s team. Sure, part of that is because Flint honestly has a terrible matchup against John’s specific choice of Pokémon, but the point still stands.

This chapter has been BETAed by Allute! Thanks!