The New Normal - A Pokémon Elite 4 SI by CartecFF

Chapter 48: 189-192

The New Normal – 9-11 – Power Projection

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with my crushing performance against Shin, to the point that I even hoped that he would challenge me again just so I could have a repeat performance. Alas, I had to make do with relishing in the despair that was painted on his face as he left the match.

But I didn't myself indulge in my victory too much. As soon as the battle was over, my first priority was to check up on my sister to see if she was doing okay. Luckily, a few days after my defeat of Shin, she was already showing significant signs of improvement and recovery.

Her smiles had returned.

With both Klee and the Nurse Joy's overseeing her Pokémon's recovery, they were able to get her Pokémon back into tip top shape quicker than I expected. I had been worried that her cruel defeat against Shin would have traumatized my little sister, but frequent visits from her friends, Karen, myself, and our parents over the past few days seemed to have brought her back to her usually cheery self.

But she had undoubtedly been changed from the experience – now she and her friends seemed to be warier against those that approached her. Overall, my parents and I agreed that it was a positive change, despite the unfortunate circumstances that it took for her to learn them.

Fortunately, her Pokémon's recovery was just in time for Whitney to continue her journey through the Open Qualifiers, and her Miltank carried her during the days where her Pokémon still were healing.

However, from what I saw, the trio's progress through their first few battles could be said to be a...mixed bag. Sadly, their earnestness, innate talents, and friendship were unable overcome the literal years of experience and training that other trainers had on them, and I truly didn't think they would be able to make it through the Open Qualifiers all together.

It would only take one bad matchup against an experienced Ace trainer to end their run.

Of course, they went into this knowing that they would not be able to get far, and their parents and I have been showering them with praise for even managing to secure a few wins. At their age, even making it this far was already VERY impressive, and even a few observant analysts have taken note of their performance.

One nice thing that happened was, by coincidence, my parents had ended up meeting up with Sabrina's parents one day at the Indigo Plateau when they were cheering on their daughters. One thing led to another, and SOMEHOW Koga was also roped in for a nice celebratory dinner at our place after the girls' run of the Indigo Conference was over.

I had no idea how they managed to get Koga to agree to this, but the girls seemed very happy to hear it. Karen was invited as well – my parents and Whitney were always happy to spend more time with her.

I didn't forget to thank Karen profusely for spending so much time with Whitney despite having the Conference battles to do. I really owed her one.

However, the thing that seemed to dominate the news were the numerous discussions and debates about my fight against Shin that lingered in the public's mind for some time. Many wanted to know the reason behind our obvious rivalry, at least on my end. On Shin's end, it was fairly obvious for most people to identify WHY Shin had wanted to get me into a 'friendly' fight; his jealousy and envy were plain for all to see.

But MY reasons were still hidden.

And they would stay that way. I was not about to drag Whitney and what happened to her into this mess. She didn't want me to make a big deal out of it, so that was that. As much as I wanted Shin's reputation thrown into the gutter, I respected my sister's wishes more than my need for revenge.

There were some criticism levelled against me for 'going too far' with my beatdown of Shin, with some claiming that I should have 'held back for a more even fight' and that I shouldn't have 'humiliated' Shin.

But that was exactly the point.

For the near future, Shin's reputation as a trainer was over. In a society that values strength and glory so much, such a humiliating loss would forever be an irremovable stain on his record. His achievement of reaching the finals of the Indigo Conference would be forgotten, overshadowed by his utter defeat against me. Exactly as I hoped for.

And I hadn't heard hide or hair from him since.

But despite the small amounts of criticism against me, the overwhelming majority saw this as a huge display of strength on my end. Sure, it was just a 'friendly' match, but my victory was so memorable that people were now considering me to be stronger than Agatha, since the latter hadn't had a real challenge in some time. There was even some discussion arguing if Tyrant was stronger than Emperor.

Coupled with the previous 'revelation' of the true extent of my political connections, and it was made abundantly clear to the public that my star was on the rise, and would only keep going up.

Many bought into the hype, with some political analysts even claiming that my level of influence was equivalent to those wielded by a regular Champion. I thought that was a little overhyped; by my estimates Lance was still more politically influential than I was.

However, it appeared that Lance took notice of this, because he rang me up to speak to me about it.

"John, congratulations on your victory." He greeted me, "I assume you got what you wanted out of it?"

"Thank you, and I have." I replied, though I noted that his tone was a little more guarded than usual, "What seems to be the matter?"

"Listen, John, on behalf of our friendship, I would like for you to answer truthfully." He said, slowly and carefully, "Do you intend to challenge me for my position as Champion? Because if you do, I would like for us to come to an agreement that would allow for the continued prosperity of Indigo so that a conflict between us wouldn't tear apart all that we've built."

I was momentarily taken aback at the question, having not expected to be confronted so directly like this, but I took a moment to pause and reflect on my answer. Before, I did not think I had the capabilities to be Champion, as untested and as new as I was. But now, in light of my new achievements and connections? It was a serious consideration.

Assuming I could actually earn it, the advantages of being Champion were obvious, beyond the glory and fame. I would be THE most senior power in Indigo, making it even easier for me to shape Indigo to my vision and help bolster international cooperation throughout the regions. I would also have an easier time rallying support to crush the criminals over in Sinnoh as soon as they popped their heads up.

But...now that I think of it, wasn't that already happening? Lance was also pro-internationalism and was working hard to root out the terrorists as well, so nothing would really change in the long-run if I became Champion.

In terms of achieving my goals to crush Team Galactic and to create a more unified world, I didn't think I could do much better were I to take his place.

And there were plenty of downsides to becoming Champion, one of which was Lance himself. Despite our current friendship, I understood that Lance was ultimately not going to be satisfied playing second fiddle to anyone. If I took his place, he would simply return to the Elite Four, and I knew he would test me repeatedly to earn his place back – his pride demanded no less.

Furthermore, even if we were to come to an agreement to not interfere with our political goals, that kind of conflict was still going to be harmful in the long-run. I didn't want to waste a huge amount of effort fending off potential challenges, especially from Lance himself, all of which I would have to take very seriously and would distract me from my actual goals.

That wasn't my only concern of course. Being Champion placed you under heavy public scrutiny and responsibility, far more than being in the Elite Four. I had seen the piles of paperwork that were scattered across Lance's desk every time I entered his office, and I had no intention of dealing with that on a daily basis.

More importantly, being a Champion was heavily restricting. I could not get away with all my travelling, all my explorations, if I were to become Champion. I knew that I would be restricted to Indigo, like Lance was, and forced to deal with everything from there. My cherished freedom would be taken from me.

Ultimately, being a Champion would grant me very little, and make me lose a lot more. All of the benefits I could earn by being Champion were either miniscule or irrelevant in the long run.

Extra fame for my family business, more fame and glory, more control over the direction of the region; none of these 'advantages' were actually that useful for me. On the other hand, becoming Champion would actually make me lose out far more than I believe I could earn.

Therefore, I concluded that it was far better for me, and my goals for Indigo, to stay as the secondary power in Indigo, relying on my considerable 'soft' power, than to push to be Champion and bring myself and Lance into conflict.

"I do not." I finally responded to Lance, and I swore I could hear a breath of relief from him, "I have no intention of challenging your leadership." Not unless you give me reason to, was left unsaid but understood by him.

"That's a relief." He chuckled, his relief audible, "Seeing how the news was praising you recently, I thought you might be considering it."

"Either way, I'm glad that you're not." He continued, "However, this recent upsurge in your popularity has given me the opportunity to honour one of my previous promises as Champion."

"...Which is?" I asked curiously.

"In the upcoming Committee meeting, I will be pushing forwards to host a proposal granting the Elite Four the power to directly vote for the proposals created by the Committee." He explained, to my surprise, "That way, you lot in the Elite Four can rely on more than just soft power to get your proposals heard in the Committee."

I blinked, "...Not that I'm against this, very much the opposite, but why do this? Is this to placate me and the others or something?"

"Partially." He admitted, "But there's a bigger reason for it as well. I've always had the intention of bolstering the power of the Elite Four so that they can serve as a check for the Champion's power. After all, I do not want what happened with Pryce to repeat itself ever again. And while this might seem like I'm crippling my own power, an announcement like this paints me in a very positive light – that I'm a Champion willing to compromise and negotiate, and to show that I'm not just consolidating all the power in my hands. THAT is definitely not an impression I want the public to have of me."

"...This isn't a small decision to make." I said carefully, "I appreciate this, but are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely." He confirmed, "And more than that, I hope to spread my example to the other regions as well. You saw how problematic things can get when the Committee gets stubborn or stupid and refuses to do the right thing. I hope that by following our region's example and giving more power to the, usually more sensible, Elite Four would stop problems like what happened in Hoenn and Sinnoh as the Committee would be less able to stonewall ideas."

I nodded, "That's a good reason. You sure something like this would pass?"

Lance laughed, "I wouldn't have brought it up if I wasn't certain. And besides, it's not like you Elite Four are going to go against this, so I'm sure that it'll pass through successfully."

"Well, once again, I'm thankful that you're looking out for us." I remarked, "I guess I'll see you at the Committee meeting. And also, I do appreciate you coming to speak to me about this so openly. I'm glad you care as much as I do to ensure the prosperity of Indigo."

"I care about this region as much as you do." He chuckled, "And John, keep up the good work. I'm thankful to have you as a trusty second."

A pleased smile formed across my face as I put away my phone. I thought I made the right decision to not contest Lance.

He was proving once again to be a Champion worth following.

==========

?"...Please raise your hands if you approve of the Champion's proposal to grant voting powers to the Elite Four for future Committee proposals."

Hands went up, and just like Lance predicted, the proposal passed through. There was a polite round of applause, but I ignored that as I continued my conversation with my fellow Elite Four members.

"Times really are changing." Lorelei commented with a smile, "Back when uncle was still Champion, I could never have foreseen something like this passing."

"Well it's come a little too late. I'm a bit too old to take advantage of this." Agatha spat, but there was no real heat in it.

"I'm glad that he's done so." Will added, "I think this would set a good example for other regions to follow. I might be biased, but I think it's a good thing for the Champion to share more of their power." He turned to me, "But...I'm guessing he only did this after speaking to you, John? Did you pressure him?"

"We spoke, but he already had an idea to do something like this already." I replied.

"Bah, you could have pressured him by pretending to challenge him to become Champion." Agatha muttered loudly. "Let the Blackthorn squirm in his seat."

"I told him I had no intention of becoming Champion." I said to Agatha, and the other Elite Four listened intently, "It just didn't serve my interests. I'm happy enough where I am."

Agatha looked me over critically, before a small smirk broke out on her face, "But you would if Lance ever displeased you."

I shrugged, "Perhaps...but Lance and I have an...implicit understanding. We'll continue to work together for the greater good of Indigo." The other three all nodded, understanding that there was not about to be conflict between myself and Lance.

The Committee meeting ended soon after that, but the approval of a proposal of THIS magnitude needed to be announced to the public. So Lance prudently set up a press conference to make this momentous announcement.

"In light of the many achievements that my illustrious Elite Four have achieved over the past few months, I felt that it would be best to finally grant them the power that they deserved. With the passing of this new policy, the Elite Four will be granted the power to vote directly in Committee meetings. Henceforth, they will be able to shape and guide the Committee and their policies, giving them a much more substantial voice in choosing the direction of the future of our region!" Lance declared, to the applause and approval from the crowd.

"Champion Lance! Why did you decide to pass on such a policy now?" A interview asked him.

"For the very simple reason that I did not want a repeat of Pryce's later years." He replied, "Therefore, by diluting my power as Champion, I hope that this would allow the Elite Four to serve as a more effective check on the Champion's power. I did not do this for me, but I do this to ensure that our prestigious Indigo League is able to function smoothly in the future as well."

"Would you suggest this policy be implemented in other regions as well?" Another asked.

"Yes, if at all possible." Lance nodded, "While I wouldn't dare to influence the domestic policies of foreign regions, I do believe that this is a suitable idea to implement to prevent an...ineffective Champion from keeping their policies in a chokehold."

The questions went on, with many directed at Lance as the reporters continued to scrutinize Lance's decision for passing through this policy. Many were trying to understand why the infamously prideful Lance was willing to share his power.

Naturally, many heads were turned my way, and questions were shoved in my face as the reporters could smell the potential for drama and punchy headlines.

Unfortunately, I gave them none when they asked me about it. "I am very appreciate of Lance taking this step on behalf of the Elite Four. Lance has always treated the Elite Four as his trusted advisors, and this proposal is simply another demonstration of his trust in our abilities. I believe I can say for all of us that we're all very thankful for it."

I repeated those few lines to practically every question I was asked, expressing my support for Lance's decisions. Some of the more 'bold' reporters asked me directly if I wanted to be Champion, but I firmly stated that I didn't. Some even asked me why I wasn't seeking out the position, but I rebuffed those questions and said that my reasons were my own.

With the announcement over we split apart, I decided to pay a visit to Blaine. He had called me beforehand asking me to visit him at Cinnabar whenever I had the time, so that was where I was headed.

Quickly arriving at his lab, Blaine and I exchanged quick greetings before we got down to business.

"Shelly not here today?" I asked, "I thought you guys were always working together."

"Nah, she's off to do some of her managerial duties." Blaine shook his head, "But you can consider her to be read in on anything I'm about to discuss with you." I nodded.

Blaine then motioned towards the few whiteboards that he had hanging on the wall, all of which were littered with numbers and diagrams that I could hardly understand, "As you can see, the Electirizer design is coming along well. I was able to transfer a lot of what I used to build the Magmarizer and put it to use here. It's been very smooth going, and we've already identified that this Electirizer is most likely used to evolve Electabuzz into something new."

"Of course, we're still very much in the theory stage. Trying to make a prototype is still going to be a lot of work." He explained, "We still need to find a method of concentrating that much Electric energy into one small container, and Shelly and I are still working out how to do that."

"Think you could talk to Surge?" I asked, my mind wandering to the first and only Electric type specialist I knew, "Surely he would know."

"Feh! We damn well tried, but Surge said that he wasn't interested in 'nerd shit'." Blaine spat, "Especially not when we told him that we would have to be siphoning off a whole ton of electricity from Vermillion. He hung up the phone after we told him that."

I nodded, not overly surprised at Surge's reaction. He really didn't seem like the type to be interested in this stuff. Especially not with the siphoning electricity part.

"So that's why we're stuck. We have all this theory, but we aren't able to find a way of actually concentrating all that Electric energy to create a prototype." Blaine grumbled, "And unfortunately, neither Shelly nor I have any ideas or connections that would help us with creating a prototype. But you have a bigger network than us, so we were hoping that you might have something that could help us."

I took a moment to think about it, my mind rummaging through the many areas of Indigo to see if I could think of something that could help. Obviously, there were other power plants aside from the ones in Vermillion, but we would likely run into the same problem. Elite Four or Gym Leader, no local council would be too pleased with someone just siphoning away unknown amounts of electricity for a project. And even if they were, the asking price they would demand would be prohibitively expensive.

I wracked my brain for solutions, until eventually something clicked in my head.

"...I think there's this abandoned power plant in one of the routes, but its known to attract many Electric Pokémon to live there." I said, "If we could clear out the Electric types and take temporary authority over the plant, I think we could refit it to help create Electirizers."

Blaine look interested, "Where is it?"

"Uh...let me check." I went to my phone and did a quick search, "Okay, so it says its...at Route 10. Which is...next to Lavender Town."

Blaine immediately winced, "Fuck. Is the plant under the authority of Lavender Town?"

"Yes." I replied, showing him my phone, "Even though it's been abandoned, it still falls under Lavender Town's authority."

Blaine let out a huge sigh, "...Well, it's an idea, at least. Repurposing an abandoned power plant for our purposes would probably be an easier sell than to repurpose an existing one. The only issue is that if I made the call to Agatha, I think she'll hang up before I'll be able to explain myself."

I chuckled, "I can make the call for you if you want. But are you sure about this? Abandoned or not, this would be a huge expense. We would need to have something to show for it."

"Shelly and I are confident in our conclusions. But we still need to scout out the area first, and as much as it pains me to say this, we should speak to Agatha first to make sure we aren't stepping on anyone's toes." Blaine said reluctantly, "She can be a petty bastard."

I didn't disagree, but I didn't voice it either. Instead, we quickly discussed the terms that we would present to Agatha.

After the discussions were had and the terms were confirmed, I dialled up Agatha.

The phone rang for an unreasonably long time before she eventually picked up, "Who is it?" She asked impatiently.

"Agatha, it's John." I greeted immediately, knowing full well if it wasn't me she would have hung up by now. "I have a proposal I'd like to bring up on behalf of the Cinnabar labs." I switched my phone to speaker so that Blaine could listen in.

She snorted, "You mean your small little circle of science friends with Blaine and that Devon Corp director? That's where you ran off to after the Committee meeting? What about them?"

"We would like permission to scout out and hopefully make use of the abandoned power plant located in Route 10, near Lavender Town." I explained, "We hope to repurpose it to aid in creating a prototype for our most recent project-"

"Right, right, using it for your project blah, blah, blah. You don't need to bore me to death. I get it, this is the same as your Magmarizer thing." Agatha interrupted impatiently, "So what are you going to offer me for it? Because our previous deal for my political support doesn't cover this."

I gave Blaine a questioning look, and he quickly wrote 'share profits' on a piece of paper. I nodded, "We could give Lavender Town a cut of the profits until you make back the investment, the value to be discussed as soon as we can confirm the functioning of the prototype."

"That's not good enough." Agatha denied instantly, "But I have a better proposal. Lavender Town shall sponsor your efforts, and will pay for all the refitting and reconstruction costs for the abandoned power plant to turn it into something you can work with. In return, we shall receive 70% of all profits until our investment is returned, then that figure drops to 40% for everything beyond that. Of course, the powerplant will remain under Lavender Town's authority."

"30% of the remaining." I countered with an approving nod from Blaine, "Plus an agreement to give Devon Corp full autonomy to handle the sale of the final product and to acknowledge Blaine as the sole creator and patent holder of the product, and for him to receive a cut of the profits accordingly." I regurgitated the previously agreed terms that Blaine had told me he and Shelly had agreed to.

Agatha chuckled, "Relax, I wouldn't DARE to try to take credit away from little ol' Blaine. The man was always too attached to his own creations. Is he listening in right now? I bet he's grinding his teeth as usual."

She was right on the money, because Blaine was grinding his teeth. And he was grinding them even harder now that Agatha was poking fun at him. But I simply ignored her comment and continued, "So do we have a deal?"

"We might." She said teasingly, "I would have to send someone to visit the plant first to see just how much reconstruction would actually cost. Also, I would need to know what YOU need specifically to create your thing, and how much that would cost. But should everything look fine, then I see no reason to decline your offer. Not when you've given me a perfect excuse to expand the town."

"Thank you, Agatha. I hope to hear the good news from you soon." I hung up the phone, and Blaine let out a sigh of relief.

"That hag is exhausting to deal with." Blaine grumbled, "I've known her for half my life, but she never gets any easier to deal with. In fact, she's only gotten worse over the years."

"She's not too bad when you get to know her better." I tried, but I only got a disbelieving look from Blaine.

He shook his head, "Anyways, thank you for speaking to Agatha on our behalf. Arceus knows she would never have been so generous if I asked for it."

"Don't mention it." I waved him off, "I haven't been participating in this project as much as I wanted to, so I hope to make up for it."

Blaine put a hand on my shoulder, "Relax, John. Neither Shelly nor I ever expected you to be able to help with the creation of the Electirizer itself. We know you don't have the scientific background to understand the finer details – and that's fine. We brought you on because we wanted to copy what you did with Samuel with the Fairy reveal. To secure funding and support from the people necessary to actually have this project running."

In other words, I was the political backer.

"I thought you had Shelly and Devon Corp for that?" I asked, not offended by his words.

He shook his head, "Shelly's mentioned many times that she hasn't really been able to foster the political connections that she'd like. Ultimately, her status as a representative of a foreign business does her no favours here. But you're a completely different story."

I scratched my head, "Well...I appreciate it." I coughed, and blatantly switched the topic, "Are we going to head to scout out the power plant soon then? I'll let Agatha know as soon as possible if we are."

Blaine nodded, "I'll let Shelly know and I'll get back to you on a time. We'll all go together."

With the more serious topics settled, we ended up talking about how the Magmarizer project has been doing since products hit the shelves. It wasn't a very popular product, but that was expected. It was an extremely niche evolution item used to evolve ONE specific Fire type Pokémon. Its use case was very limited.

However, that meant we could charge an utterly exorbitant amount for it. The only people that were going to buy it were dedicated Fire specialists or those that had way too much money to spend anyways, so we knew that these people would pay premium prices for it.

Blaine and Shelly were perfectly happy to milk them for all they were worth.

Thus, even though sales were low, profits were still high enough to justify the investment into this project. Blaine explained that it shouldn't be long before both we were able to recuperate their costs for production and distribution.

After that, I ended up retiring from the conversation and returned home. Both my parents were home, staring intently at the TV that was broadcasting the Open Qualifiers. They both had a small frown on their face, and my mom seemed busy texting someone over the phone.

"Something the matter?" I asked as I stepped into the house.

"Sabrina just lost. She's out of the Indigo Conference."

The New Normal – 9-12 – Calm Conversations

"Oh...damn. Is Sabrina doing okay?" I asked concernedly to my parents.

My dad gestured to my mom, "She's talking to Sabrina's parents right now."

"Don't worry, Katrina says that Sabrina's doing fine." My mom spoke up as she saw me walk in, "A little disappointed, but not devastated."

"That's a relief." I replied, "How did she lose?"

"She just went up against a trainer that was just far beyond her level." My dad explained, "There was nothing underhanded about her defeat, if that's what you're worried about. Just bad luck to be matched up against someone strong."

"...Well, I'm glad that it wasn't from anything nefarious." I sighed. I did NOT want a repeat of what happened to Whitney. "So, what's happening now?"

My mom shrugged, "It's up to the girls and what they want to do. You know we're proud of them for what they've already achieved, so we're going to stay hands off."

"And we trust you to keep Whitney safe, or to get revenge when needed." My dad added, his face forming into a frown, "I hope we don't see Shin anytime soon."

Considering what Giovanni hinted to me, I think the problem had been dealt with. "There shouldn't be. I doubt we'd see him again."

With that, the conversation turned to the upcoming dinner that we were planning to host. With Sabrina's defeat, we decided to push forwards the dinner and frame it as a 'celebration of their achievements' – just so Sabrina wouldn't feel down about being the first to lose.

My dad and I left sorting out those details to mom before we both retired for the night.

The next day, I had to drag myself out of bed early as I was woken by a phone call. Apparently Blaine and Shelly were both free NOW and wanted to check out the power plant on Route 10. Agatha had also said that she'd be sending Karen to scout it on her behalf, since she didn't have a match scheduled for this morning for the Open Qualifiers.

So I made my way over to Route 10 on Port, arriving there after only a short moment; I had forgotten how close the abandoned power plant was to Cerulean City. As I landed, I noticed that the exterior of the power plant was still in good condition. You wouldn't be able to tell that the power plant had been abandoned if you just looked at the exterior alone.

Blaine and Karen were there already, seemingly in casual discussion. Though they both perked up as soon as I arrived.

"John, sorry for waking you up early." Blaine greeted, "I got a little too excited to see if this power plant is really suitable for what we want."

"It's fine. I had a free day anyways." I replied, before I waved to Karen, "Hey there, just you today?"

"The others are coming – I just came early because I was already up to train with my Pokémon." She greeted with a smile.

"So early?" I asked.

She shrugged, "Had a moment of inspiration that I wanted to work on. And the Open Qualifiers aren't really that much of a challenge to me anyways."

"Be careful – don't get overconfident." I warned.

"Bah, it's not about being overconfident or not." Blaine interrupted, "I watched her fight against Sidney – she won't lose to some scrub. Else she'd be an embarrassment to the old hag."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence." Karen said dryly, "But it's true that I don't see myself struggling. Sorry to hear about Sabrina though – nothing happened right?"

"Yeah, just a regular loss. I heard she was doing fine." I reassured, dispelling the hint of worry in Karen's voice.

"Oh you're talking about little Whitney and her group of friends?" Blaine asked, though my attention shifted as I saw the signature flash of light from a Teleport appear behind him. "I know them. They were basically burning with potential. HAHAH!"

"...It's way too early for your stupid puns, Blaine." Shelly muttered as she stepped out of the Teleport, getting an exaggerated frown from Blaine, "But I can't disagree. I'm not much of a trainer, but your sister is one to watch. Oh, and thanks again John for getting all this together. Saved us a lot of hassle."

"Not a problem, and I'll make sure Whitney gets your compliments." I smiled, but the flashes of more Teleports cut me off as I realized that this was the rest of Karen's contingent from Lavender Town Teleporting in.

Quick greetings were exchanged with everyone, and we headed inside the abandoned power plant.

Our Pokémon flanked us as we walked in. The place was swarming with Electric types, but fortunately none of them looked all that powerful and none dared to challenge the combined might of our group; they simply scurried away and avoided us.

These wild Pokémon were not nearly as strong as those living in the caves of Sinnoh.

We stuck together as we approached the main line of machinery, which had long been abandoned. Blaine spoke up as he swept his gaze over everything, "...This is a lot more than I expected. These parts don't look nearly as rusty as I thought they might."

He turned to Shelly, "Shelly, think we can work with this? You know more about machinery than I do."

Shelly considered his question, "Hmm...I think we could repair this to a functioning state to generate electricity, but it's not going to be anywhere near enough for our purposes."

She walked around as she continued inspecting the machinery, "However...judging by what I can see...the fact that most of this is still reusable still saves us a lot of time and effort. We probably wouldn't need to buy everything again, just the custom parts. Mind you, those custom parts are going to be pricey."

Karen took the opportunity to speak up, "How much would those parts be then? Oh, and just to ensure that there isn't any confusion, I'm here on Agatha's – I mean, Lavender Town's behalf – to facilitate an agreement between us. I have been given the authority to negotiate and make agreements as necessary."

The group from Lavender Town nodded at Karen's words, but I saw that their eyes remained fixed on her – and not in a friendly or supportive way. No, my gut told me that they were evaluating her – either on behalf of Agatha or not – and were testing to see if she could hold her own in a negotiation like this.

Considering that her connection to me was an open secret, was this a test to see if she could stay unbiased and reasonably serve the interests of Lavender Town despite our connection?

"We understand." Shelly replied for the three of us, "As for the parts, like I said, they'll be pricey. Everything must be custom made to be able to concentrate the sheer amount of Electric energy that we need to create an Electirizer. Standard equipment just wouldn't work."

"We'd have to build these parts ourselves as well." Blaine added, "You wouldn't be able to find anything like this directly on the market. That's where most of the funding will have to go to – aside from the funds used for the renovation of this power plant."

"And how much would that actually be, in actual figures?" Karen questioned.

"The amount needed for the custom parts would be almost impossible to fund for a small group of scientists. However, I'm sure that with the funds available to both Lavender Town and Devon Corp, it would merely be a drop in the bucket – assuming I can get approval." Shelly explained, "As for the costs for renovations – I haven't a clue. But just by looking around I can already see that there are quite a few areas that aren't up to safety protocols, so it probably isn't going to be cheap either."

"I'll leave that to my own evaluators to judge then." Karen nodded.

The back and forth continued for some time, with Karen often the ones asking questions about the finances and the expected construction time for a working prototype. On our end, we let Shelly handle the questions – she was the most experienced out of all of us when it came to finances and costs of distribution.

While those two continued to negotiate and haggle, Blaine and I continued to investigate the power plant and see if there was anything else of note that we could spot.

As we walked, I noticed a faint thrum of power radiating through the abandoned building. It was almost unnoticeable, but it was as if the very walls of the building themselves were infused with Electric power.

Knowing what I knew about the power plant from canon, I suspected that there was a reason why the entire building seemed to radiate with a powerful aura of electricity. But the source of that power was currently not here – and I wasn't sure if it would return anytime soon. Nor, as I suspected, had it been here for some time.

I couldn't say I was disappointed about that. To say that its presence would have been an unnecessary and headache-inducing complication would be an understatement.

Overall, we found that clearing out the Pokémon could be done quite easily – since none of the Pokémon that hung around seemed to be very powerful – but the whole place really needed some touching up. Years of abandonment have not been too kind to its interior, and the power plant looked like it was one bad hit from falling apart.

After that, it took some more time, but Shelly and Karen eventually came to an agreement. The final result was very similar to the agreement we hashed out with Agatha, with Lavender Town to receive 70% of the profits until their initial investment was returned, then 30% afterwards. However, we also confirmed that this whole facility would be turned into an exclusive specialized production factory for Electrizers, which would be rented to Devon Corp. Likewise, security and authority would still fall under Lavender Town's jurisdiction, and they would remain the landlords.

There was also a separate discussion about the rent, expected deadlines to demonstrate results, and other business matters, but we left that to the professionals to deal with. Even Karen didn't join in – she left it with those that were actually trained to deal with this minutiae.

Blaine let out a breath as we exited the power plant, "...Glad that's over with. I never had the patience to deal with this aspect of business. At least all that's left now is to actually produce the results. I hate negotiations like that with a burning passion." I couldn't tell if that pun was intentional or not.

"I thought you would have to deal with them quite often as Gym Leader." Karen commented, "I certainly had to when I was temporary Gym Leader."

"That's cause you were new and untested, and didn't have staff that you could rely on, no offense." Blaine replied, "That's why I hire people for my Gym that handle all this stuff for me. If I had to deal with that nonsense, AND the battles, AND my work as a scientist? I'd be completely overwhelmed."

He turned to me, "Take it from me, John. Hiring those assistants of yours was probably the best idea you've had yet. Any time you can get someone else to do the boring work for you is always a good idea."

"Wow – you sound like Agatha." Karen muttered, and the horrific look that appeared on Blaine's face was comical. He looked like Karen had just insulted his whole family, his Pokémon, and himself all at once.

I couldn't help but laugh.

===========

?Shenanigans aside, our group eventually split up after Shelly was done talking. She and Blaine had to return to the labs to actually work on the Electrizer project, and to build those custom parts that they mentioned. I asked if I was needed, but they said that they didn't need to waste my time on this.

Similarly, Karen had to head off to fight in yet another Open Qualifiers match. She was nearly through with them, and her position in the Preliminary Rounds was all but secured.

So – with nothing that needed my immediate attention, I decided to head home and continue training with my Pokémon. Of course, as soon as I got home, my mom dropped me the news.

"Whitney and Janine both got knocked out of the Open Qualifiers today." My mom said to me as soon I stepped through the door, "They're doing okay, but we've decided to push forward the dinner and have it be hosted tonight."

"...Wait, what happened? I feel like you skipped out on a lot of that." I remarked confusedly.

"Oh, they were just sadly outmatched. Whitney went up against someone with a trio of Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise and lost. Janine lost to a trainer that had 2 Flygons." My mom explained, "I'll let them explain more over the dinner. Everyone's coming over."

Okay. I can imagine why they lost. Still, I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. However, as soon as I thought that, I quickly pushed that thought out of my mind.

My sister and her friends didn't deserve for me to think of them like that. I'm sure they worked as hard as they could, and we should rightfully be proud of them.

Then I realised something, "Hold on, they're coming over on such short notice?"

My mom smirked, "Koga agreed to it, and everyone else was okay. Don't underestimate your mother's ability to gather people up for a dinner. Friends and family come first! Now come over and give your dad a hand with the cooking."

There was nothing I could say to that, and since my dad had already been drafted, I was also forced to accept the forced conscription and joined him in the kitchens. The two of us shared a brief look of commiseration before we wiped it off our face and got to work.

Food was cooked. Drinks were made. Rooms were cleaned. It was a lot of work to do in the few hours that we had before the guests arrived. But dad and I knew better to voice our complaints to mom. And I wasn't even allowed to get my Pokémon to help out because mom didn't 'trust them to not destroy the kitchen'.

...It was ONE time! And it was her fault for leaving bananas out where a Vigoroth could see it. That was just asking for it.

Regardless, tables were set and the food was all prepared. I was just glad that my mom did the majority of the cooking beforehand – my dad and I were...only adequate at cooking. And with such an esteemed list of guests arriving, it would be embarrassing if the food was bad.

Eventually, it turned evening, and the first of our guests began arriving. Unsurprisingly, the first pair of guests arrived perfectly on the dot.

"Gym Leader Koga, Janine, thank you both for coming." I greeted at the door, "I'm sorry about your loss. Please, come in."

"It is fine, John. I knew that I would lose eventually." Janine replied.

"It was within our expectations, but I am proud of my daughter's journey regardless of her defeat." Koga added as they both stepped into our house, causing a smile to break out on Janine's face.

"Oh my! Gym Leader Koga!" My mom exclaimed excitedly, making sure to straighten out her clothes as she ran over, "Thank you for coming!"

"It is my pleasure." He replied firmly, but not unkindly, "You have my gratitude for hosting this celebratory dinner. It is...much more than I would have arranged with Janine." He admitted.

"Think nothing of it." My mom waved him off, "Janine's been such a great friend to Whitney, so how could I not celebrate their achievements together? Getting all 8 badges in their first circuit at their age! Incredible!" Janine lowered her head to try and conceal her blush. It wasn't very successful.

And that was how Koga got roped into a conversation with both of our parents. I was afraid that it was going to be a very awkward affair, but Koga turned out to be a good conversationist – he was just very to the point.

He actually turned out to be knowledgeable on a large range of matters, and the three adults ended up talking about the current state of the economy of all things while they waited for the others to arrive.

Fortunately, our next guest arrived soon as the signature screech of a familiar Honchkrow echoed through the outside of our house.

"Whoof. Almost didn't make it in time." Karen sighed out as she withdrew her starter, "Match almost ran late."

I instinctively reached out and helped her with her coat, "Why? Difficult battle?"

Karen snorted, "Of course not. The kid was just late and we had to wait for him. Then he tried to play all defensive and wear me down. So I turned the tables on him and confused and paralyzed all his Pokémon and wore them down at a safe distance."

"Sounds petty." I replied without any heat.

"I can be." She chuckled before heading inside as she greeted everyone at the table, making sure to congratulate Janine on her journey.

The final guests arrived shortly after that with the flash of a Teleport. "We're here!" I could hear my sister's shouting out.

"Yes, you are. Welcome back, sis." I greeted, as she squeed and ran over to give me a big hug.

"I hope you don't feel too bad about your loss. Sorry that I wasn't there to see it." I said into her shoulder.

"Nah, I'm okay. I was just worried if Sabrina turned out to be the only one who didn't need to make it to the Preliminary Rounds, but I guess there's no need to be worried about that." She remarked happily.

"I would have been happy for you anyways." Sabrina cut in.

"Nope! We're doing it together! We're not leaving you behind in the Open Qualifiers if we got to the Preliminary Rounds. I don't like that." Whitney shook her head, "It's together or nothing."

As Whitney and Sabrina fell into a back and forth about this topic, I made sure to greet her parents, "Thank you for coming. I hope my mom didn't pester you two too much." I joked.

"Don't be. In fact, it made us very happy to see your parents so openly inviting." Katrina replied with a smile, "It's been some time since we got invited to a dinner like this."

"The downsides of being a Gym Leader, unfortunately." Samson mumbled, "We're too often placed on pedestals; idolized and worshipped. But that idolization leads to distance. I'm just glad that it doesn't appear that Sabrina will have to deal with that when she grows up." He turned his gaze knowingly to Sabrina and Whitney, who were still bickering.

I smiled, "I hope so too. The three of them really are close."

"Anyways, please, come in. You're just in time for dinner." I invited the four of them into the house.

That led to a big round of greetings from everyone. I was a little surprised at how familiar Samson and Koga seemed to be, but I supposed they had both been acquainted for some time as Gym Leaders. In the meanwhile, Katrina and my mom began gossiping as if they hadn't seen each other for years, despite them literally having just talked on a phone barely hours ago.

The dinner quickly split into two different groups of conversations as we all tucked into the food. I joined the 'kiddie' group with Karen, Whitney, Sabrina, and Janine, while the parents began chatting together in the big adult group. From what I overheard, the adults flip-flopped between talking about something more serious and gushing about their kids.

On our part, Karen and I simply listened patiently as we allowed the trio to spew out everything that they had done over their journey. Even though most of what they did we already knew from their phone calls and text messages to us, it was just nice to see the sheer happiness and excitement that glistened in all their eyes as they reminisced about their journey together.

The pure joy that radiated out of them was infectious, and I couldn't help but break out into a wide smile.

THIS was why I had always wanted Whitney to go on her journey, because I knew that she would make friends and bonds with Pokémon and trainers that would last an eternity. Even if her friends weren't future Gym Leaders, I still would have been happy for her making friends that she trusted regardless.

Eventually, as dinner progressed, the conversation groups joined up again as questions were passed around. It was then where Whitney brought up Daisy Oak, and how she had been training as my assistant.

"I totally forgot about that." Samson said as he chewed on some food, "I saw it on the news, got surprised, then forgot about it. How is little Daisy Oak doing?"

"She's very smart." I replied, "But I suppose that partially comes with who her grandfather is. Oak has raised her well. It's a little bit of a shame that she doesn't really want to be a trainer, because she really does have the potential for it."

"Then it may be your duty to encourage her." Koga spoke up, "She may not be enthusiastic about being a trainer now, but there is every possibility that she might want to pick it up in the future. As you say, she has the talent and potential for it, so why not nurture it?"

I blinked, "...I didn't think of it like that. I thought it would be better to respect her wishes. She DID say that she wanted to achieve all 8 badges, but that was it."

"She does not hate training, does she?" Koga asked, and I shook my head, "Then clearly she must have some passion for it, especially if she is aiming for all 8 badges. Achieving all 8 badges is no easy task, or else we would not have gathered here today to celebrate our daughters' wonderful achievement." The trio smiled at his praise.

"So, if you have some time, try to train up Daisy Oak." Koga continued, "I know that mentoring is something you favour, or else your sister would not be as strong as she was. Daisy may end up not being a trainer in the end, but since you have already taken her under your wing, should you not do all you can to make sure she can fly?"

I was briefly taken aback by Koga's words, but then I nodded firmly as I realized how right he was, "I will. Thank you for opening my eyes."

Koga shook his head, "No need to thank me. It is the duty of the experienced to advise the young. And even if you are in the Elite Four, forgive me for saying, but you are still a young soul."

"And it is the duty of women to get the men to do the washing up." Katrina cut in, dispelling the sombre and reflective mood that had set in, "Look at all these unwashed plates! Get to it!"

The men all collectively groaned but knew a losing battle when we saw one. So we all – yes, even Koga – got up and started doing the dishes while the womenfolk turned on the TV and pretended to laze around on the couch.

But they ended up joining us in helping us to clean up – joking or not, it wasn't the best look to have 2 Gym Leaders and an Elite Four member doing the washing up while you lazed around. And with the help of 3 Psychics and 2 Ninjas, everything got tidied up real quickly.

Koga and Janine ended up leaving the house at that point, having a habit of retiring early for the night. But the rest of us hung around, simply chatting or watching TV. Karen had an arm around both of the kids as I sat next to her, idly texting away with Cynthia as I casually listened in on their conversation.

I was chatting away with Cynthia about today's gathering, and how we were celebrating my sister and her friends' achievement of obtaining all 8 badges.

'Make sure you pass them my congratulations as well.' She texted, 'I hope they're not feeling too bad about losing. They've done better than many others their age. Far better.'

'They aren't too upset about it; they know we're proud of them.' I wrote back.

'That's good. If I ever get to visit you in person you'll have to introduce me to your sister and her friends.' She texted, 'You've always praised them and their potential so highly that I'm eager to see it for myself.'

'More excited than to see me?' I jokingly texted.

'Are you fishing for compliments? Because you already know the answer to that.' She shot back.

I was about to text back when the voice of the newscaster caught my attention.

"...And this just in! We have a magnificent announcement to make today! Scientist Bill has announced today that he has released his new invention, the PC Storage System, which is now available to be bought and used on the open market! That means that everyone can now purchase the new system on their very own computer! This opens up a whole new avenue for Pokémon transfers and Pokémon storage in general! How will the world change from this invention?!"

Even before the newscaster finished speaking, I had already shot out from my seat as I dialled Lance, ignoring the curious looks I got as I did so.

I had already realised the implications. And they did not bode well.

"Lance, I was just about to call you. You saw the news?" I asked with a deep frown; the earlier look of relaxation from the dinner disappearing from my face.

"Yes." He growled, "I had been reassured by Bill that he would not release his invention to the public like this. He PROMISED that it would be released in small waves, so that we could manage the impact. This was NOT within our plans."

So someone messed up, but that doesn't matter right now, "This is going to be just like the PIT technique all over again. Or even the Fairy reveal." I warned. The unrestrained release of the PC Storage System might mean that everyone would suddenly get access to be able to transfer and receive Pokémon wherever and whenever they wanted.

Thinking about the consequences of that power, and how it could be maliciously exploited, was nightmarish. We needed to act fast.

I could hear Lance sigh, "No. It will be worse."

The New Normal – 9-12 – Interlude – Lance

There were times where being Champion was a slog, where you were forced to handle the myriad of mind-numbing responsibilities placed on you. There were times where being Champion was fun, like when you could do all the speeches for the important events.

And then, there were times where being Champion meant stepping up to the plate and getting things done, to instil order and stability during times of chaos.

This was one of those times.

Inwardly, he apologized to John for so abruptly hanging up on him. But there were things to be done.

"Get me a conference call with Wallace and Lucian from Sinnoh." He ordered one of his assistants, and the man scrambled to get it done.

He turned to another assistant, "You, get me the head of the Indigo Police. And get me Lorelei and her new department."

As his assistants set off to make the necessary preparations, he gave himself a moment to breathe in and vent his frustrations. It wasn't meant to be like this; he had been reassured by Bill that his invention wouldn't be made available to the public instantly. Like he told John, it was meant to be released in waves, just so that they could control and manage the chaos.

Because an invention as enormous as this was BOUND to get out of control. But this was even worse than the PIT Technique. The Pokémon Storage System fundamentally changed the way that businesses, trainers, and even the League dealt with the transportation and supply of Pokémon.

The discovery would open up whole new ways to transport Pokémon, both legitimate and otherwise. He foresaw a huge increase in Pokémon captures as trainers who were previously unable to catch as many Pokémon now would be encouraged to catch more, either for themselves or to sell them to the highest bidder.

Lance knew from the very beginning that the chaos that this invention would create was going to be more than the Fairy type reveal and the PIT technique reveal combined together. That was why he let out a big sigh of relief when Bill agreed to releasing his invention in controlled waves with League oversight. But now it appears like he had celebrated too soon.

He had underestimated Bill's recklessness.

And it wasn't like he could directly block the release of the invention anyways. Bill's creation was privately owned, which had received its funding from certain businesses. The League weren't allowed to interfere in what Bill could or couldn't do it with it – to do so would be a grave overreach.

At most they could place restrictions on it, which was what he was rushing to do now.

His assistants came running back in, and a laptop was placed in front of him with a conference call already being hosted. In it, he saw his counterparts from Hoenn, Wallace, and the temporary representative of the Sinnoh League, Lucian, already there. They all had the same look of concern.

And that was the worst part of this problem. It wasn't just contained to Indigo.

"Lance, I heard the news." Wallace spoke first, his usual bright and showy expression long gone, "Do you know anything else about how this happened?"

"I'm afraid not." Lance shook his head. "I was as surprised as you all were with this release. But we can get back to our regrets or mistakes at a later time, now we need to organize a complete and full response to this situation before things get out of hand."

"I suggest mobilizing everyone." Lucian spoke up, "All the Elite Four, all the Gym Leaders, all the police. Install order as much as you can short of declaring martial law. We need to make a big show to the public with the relevant announcements and warnings to let them know that it's not all fun and games, and that we're taking this very seriously."

"Important Pokémon locations need to be locked down." Wallace agreed, "Poachers were already a big problem when the Fairy type was revealed. This will be equally as bad, especially now that selling Pokémon illegally just became all the more easier."

"New departments would have to be set up to monitor these transactions." Lance nodded, "The current plans and systems that we have to monitor Pokémon trading are not going to be sufficient with the Pokémon Storage System coming out. We're going to have to invest a lot more into monitoring these trades to stop any illegal activity."

"Should we issue an outright ban on using the program for trading for the time being?" Wallace asked carefully, "At least until we can implement some degree of control on the trading?"

"An outright ban is not going to go over well." Lucian warned, "We need to play it smart. If we act too heavy handed, we suddenly get a lot of the public angry at us for 'restricting their freedoms'. And, at least in Sinnoh, we cannot afford to lose more of the public's trust. Issuing a ban would be seen as an enormous overreaction – and the public are only going to view it as if we're taking a new toy away from them. Maybe a restriction would be fine, but not anything more."

Him and Wallace nodded at that.

"We will also need to implement new temporary policies to ensure that habitats aren't accidentally destroyed by over-catching." He pointed out, "Have the Jennys assigned to areas not currently restricted and have them be ready to step in if trainers are catching too many Pokémon. Each region will have to deal with that on a case-by-case basis."

"We'll get the Elite Four and Gym Leaders on this." The other two agreed.

And so the call between the three representatives of each region went on for a long time. By the end of it, they all came out of it tired, haggard, and with a massive headache.

But there was no time to rest. Each second they wasted potentially led to more damage and chaos being done in their regions.

Lance himself only gave himself time for a quick sip of water before he started making more calls, this time to the Jennys, as he explained to them their new orders. Then he called the Elite Four and the Gym Leaders, and forcefully drafted them with their new duties.

Lance knew that this was going to be a test of how well-liked he was as Champion and whether he was able to foster the right connections to put the right people in the right place.

Each and every single one of them needed to pull their weight to ensure that they could get themselves out of this crisis mostly unscathed. And, as Champion, he knew that there were going to be several sleepless nights ahead of him as he scrambled to put out the fires that he knew were about to spread across his region.

But he accepted that responsibility. He knew that there would come a time when a crisis would break out during his term as Champion. And this was merely going to be the first of many. Yet, no matter what may come, Lance would be ready. He would do his duty and guard his region from whatever threatened to harm its prosperity.

Because a Dragon always protects his hoard.

The New Normal – 9-13 – The Pokémon Storage System

It had only been a day since the Pokémon Storage System, otherwise known as the PSS, was released to the public and able to be bought by anyone. And already it was finding its way into all of the major cities as businesses, Pokémon Centers, and practically everyone else tried to get their hands on it and explore the new possibilities it offered.

With the PSS suddenly granting people with the ability to trade, store, and sell Pokémon without needing to be there in person, this rapidly opened up many possibilities for both legal and illegal actions as the smuggling and the selling of illegally-caught Pokémon became so much easier.

The latter was the biggest issue. It was like all of the poachers and illegal traders started coming out of the woodwork as soon as the PSS was released, greed blinding them to their recklessness.

In just a day, the release of the PSS managed to spread chaos across the entire region as poachers and greedy trainers ran rampant.

I was really starting to think these poachers had lost their common sense, because I caught EIGHT of them alone just today. Many of them were trying to catch Clefairy on Mt. Moon, thinking that they now had a much easier way of selling them if they could just get their hands on one.

They would find it much harder to sell them off once they were in prison.

The ONLY saving grace out of all this was that the PSS required a specific kind of computer to be installed in. The version that Bill released was designed to be used in those specialized computers in the Pokémon Centers, not your average laptop or home desktop, meaning that we could at least control where people could access the new systems. This also had the added benefit of making it much easier to catch these criminals while they were trying to transfer or sell off their illegally-caught Pokémon.

But even then, I was completely wiped out from the tiredness from a hectic day of patrolling, which had started practically at dawn and went long into the night, and I let out an exhausted breath as I collapsed into our couch at home.

I had just spent the day scrambling around and patrolling Mt Moon and Cerulean City, always scanning the skies on Port for any potential poachers and trespassing trainers while also helping out the Jennys to protect certain areas where Pokémon lived to make sure they weren't being over-caught.

While dealing with illegal poachers was the main priority, another problem was trying to manage the trainers that were now going out of their way to catch extra Pokémon just because they now had 'more storage' for them.

There weren't any specific laws preventing trainers from catching whatever Pokémon they liked, but there WERE laws on making sure trainers weren't catching so many Pokémon as to disrupt the local ecosystem.

And judging from the events of today, there were MANY trainers out catching Pokémon. Most of these trainers weren't new trainers, but rather they were already-experienced trainers looking to catch a few extra Pokémon to fill out their team since now that they suddenly had an easy way of storing the Pokémon that they didn't use.

That wasn't a bad thing, but most of them often got idiotic and lost their common sense when it came to how many Pokémon they should catch.

You had idiots catching five to six extra Pokémon because they thought they could, even though the PSS explicitly warned trainers that long-term storage of Pokémon within the PSS was a bad idea. I didn't care about their idiocy, but what the League and I DID care about was the fact that they threatened to ruin a few of the more delicate Pokémon habitats around the region.

We had to coordinate with the Jennys and the rangers to run a very strict monitoring and patrolling regime to stop over catching.

To make things worse, the dumber idiots would try to catch one of those powerful Pokémon in Cerulean Cave, thinking that the increased strength and rarity would make them more valuable and worth a higher price. I wasted almost an hour today trying to rescue one of those idiots who ran into the cave without any Pokémon backing him up, as if he was asking to become Pokémon food.

It was very annoying trying to rescue someone from their own stupidity, since they began blaming me for stopping him from "striking it rich". What a guy.

I knew it wasn't just me that was busy. EVERYONE had been running themselves ragged over the past day as the PSS was carelessly released to the public.

I heard from a few of my Gym Leader friends, like Blaine and Giovanni, that they had been completely swamped with trying to keep everyone in line in their respective cities and to crack down on poaching and overexcited trainers.

Even Karen, despite her lack of official responsibilities and her need to fight in the Open Qualifiers, volunteered and was deputised to help out the rapidly overwhelmed Brock in Pewter City. I knew she was still there, helping out by preventing overeager new trainers with swarming the 'beginner' areas and catching too many Pokémon since they were easier to catch.

However, the trainers and poachers were only one part of the problem. The other, and much more nefarious aspect, was the fact that companies could be doing the same thing, just on a much bigger scale. Companies that previously had to transport Pokémon by ship or by truck were now able to simply trade their Pokémon instantly.

That was fine, but some were doing it illegally without the relevant permits.

I knew Lance had been rushing around expanding our monitoring systems so that illegal trades could be prevented. But it was a race against time. He even had Lorelei and her new organisation out in full force to undergo the necessary investigations to ensure that the businesses of Indigo weren't abusing this new invention.

Long story short, everyone was being overworked. But there was no time for rest, as Lance had called in an emergency Committee meeting tomorrow to discuss the passing of new regulations that should hopefully restrict the use of the PSS to more manageable areas.

He informed the Elite Four and the Gym Leaders that he was planning to force companies that intended to use the PSS to obtain the new licences before they were allowed to make use of it. Furthermore, he was going to restrict the public from accessing the PSS only to League-approved places, which mostly meant Pokémon Centers.

His plans would make it so that the PSS would be more controllable, placing enough restrictions on it so that people wouldn't be able to so easily exploit it. While at the same time keeping the functionality and usefulness of the PSS so that it could be used as it was intended.

It helped that even scientists were beginning to realise how reckless Bill had been, and had silently distanced themselves from him. To Lance's joy, hardly anyone was crying out for 'overreach' when they saw the consequences of the PSS laid out in front of them.

However, there was still going to be some backlash to the restrictions, but Lance had said at this point that he couldn't care less about that. He was firm about the necessity of his actions.

It also helped that we all backed our Champion to the hilt.

========

?I got whatever sleep I could before I forced myself out of bed the next day. As I briefly listened to the news while I chowed down on my breakfast, I realized that the other two regions, Hoenn and Sinnoh, were also suffering from the chaos.

I took the small moment of rest to speak to Cynthia as I ate breakfast.

"...You look like crap." She said to me as my face appeared on her screen.

"That's hurtful." I replied dryly, barely having enough energy to be sarcastic, "So how're you faring in Sinnoh?"

"Surprisingly alright." She said to my surprise, "Lucian told me about what you guys are facing over there. We don't nearly have as many instances of PSS abuse as you guys do."

"...Well, that's lucky of you." I said after a moment, "Why do you think that is?"

"Arceus knows." She shrugged, "But if I had to guess...it's probably due to the fact that our tendency towards traditionalism means we're more hesitant to try new things. That includes businesses as well."

"Huh. That's actually pretty funny." I commented, "Never would have thought that a reluctance to change might actually be useful for once."

"Yeah, that'd be pretty ironic." She agreed, "But it's bought us some time to pass the necessary regulations in Sinnoh. I heard you guys were doing the same?"

"Yep, which is why I have to head to this Committee meeting right after I finish my breakfast." I responded, "I hope this all blows over soon."

"It will. This isn't some terrorist attack, it's just some overexcited and reckless trainers. Once the arrests make themselves known, they'll calm down." She explained, "You just have to weather these few days. And the John I know would be able to do so."

A smile spread across my face at her words; she really did know the right things to say.

"You really do make it sound easy." I chuckled, "But thinking objectively, I don't disagree with your optimism. If the restrictions are as effective as we hope them to be, then honestly the situation was far from as bad as it could have been. Effective leadership from all of us have really saved us here."

And now, all of the regions were cooperating together, which I saw was an unintended benefit from all of this.

Either way, I couldn't continue chatting with my girlfriend for much longer and dragged myself to the Committee meeting.

Within, I didn't think I heard a single word of what was being said as I struggled to stay awake through the damn thing. New voting rights or not, my eyes refused to stay awake, especially since I knew what they were going to be voting on. My other Elite Four members were in a similar position.

Lorelei's normally put-together hair was frazzled and she never bothered to readjust her crooked glasses. Will's usually immaculate costume was crumpled and had a few coffee stains on it. Even his hair, which was normally meticulously combed, was left unchecked.

And then there was Agatha, who didn't even show up.

"You guys doing alright?" I asked them, to which both of them shook their heads.

"Exhausted doesn't even BEGIN to cover it." Lorelei muttered, "Between my responsibilities running my new organisation and my duty to help out with the Jennys, it's like I've been running a marathon for the past day." She let out a tired sigh, "It really seems like I chose a bad time to become a leader."

"I don't think I've done this much patrolling in my life." Will added, "I wasn't tied to an area like you were, John, so I was ordered to patrol practically wherever they needed me. That meant running from city to city, all across Indigo. I'm absolutely knackered."

I nodded, "I heard you had to patrol practically the whole of Johto." I said to him.

"And some of Kanto too, just because I didn't want to say no." He confirmed, letting out a breath laced with exhaustion. "You never realize just how many Pokémon that trainers are able to catch if given the chance to go wild. You think the forests of Viridian or the Safari Zones are overflowing with wild Pokémon, but then you get a horde of smugglers charging in and catching everything in it trying to quickly strike it rich and suddenly you're left with much fewer Pokémon."

"Ugh. The obvious smugglers are the worst." Lorelei grumbled in agreement, "It's like the thought of quick money has turned their brain to rot. I've personally arrested over a dozen of them in just a day alone; and yet there still seems to be more everywhere I look."

"Their numbers should hopefully die down after the initial overexcitement wears off." I pointed out, repeating Cynthia's words, "The first few days are always the worst."

"I hope so." Will muttered, "We don't really need all this added work on our plate. Let's hope we can sort this business with the PSS out quickly. But I remain confident that these restrictions should do the trick."

"I'm just glad that the bigger businesses seem to be playing nice." Lorelei sighed, "I was worried that the big titans like Silph Co were going to be making a ruckus about not wanting the restrictions to be in place, but they seem to be cooperating well with the League thus far."

That was probably because Giovanni knew unrestricted use of the PSS would harm Kanto more than it would benefit him. And for all that Giovanni was a businessman, he was a nationalist first. The chaos that the release of the PSS created did not benefit him. So while he never confirmed anything to me explicitly, I suspected that he had a big hand in keeping a few more notable businesses in line to not make a fuss.

"Chaos and over-catching is just bad business for everyone." Will spoke up, unknowingly confirming my thoughts, "I suspect that with the entire world out on the prowl trying to lock down on any abuses of the PSS, only the foolish would try to exploit it right now. The small bump in profits from abusing the new program would not be worth the trouble they would get into. Let alone the reputational damage."

"I hope that the businesses are all able to think as rationally as you do." Lorelei wanted to say more, but she was interrupted as the voting finally began.

Fortunately, the vote passed without much fanfare. It was beyond obvious that Lance had browbeaten the Committee into giving him what he wanted. He was throwing the full weight of his political power at this problem, with the Blackthorn clan fully backing him. No one in the Committee dared to vote against the proposal.

Not that they would, even if they might have wanted to. To anyone watching the news, it was obvious that the regions had all came up with a joint plan on how to tackle the crisis and would be implementing the same solutions together. Therefore, with the entirety of the known world following one course of action, it would be utter stupidity and political suicide to try and fight against this.

Even those in the Committee that had financial ties, who may have had interests that conflicted with the newly added restrictions, knew better than to speak up right now. They had to pick their battles, and this was certainly not one of them. Not when the world was united as one.

Despite all of the chaos that unfolded, I saw this as a huge win for internationalism. This was proof that we could work together to achieve a common goal.

So, with the proposal passing without any issues, Lance immediately moved to hold a press conference where he basically repeated the same statements that Lucian had made earlier. He announced the new restrictions, urged everyone for patience and caution and to keep their trust with the League as we worked to sort out these problems.

"...The new discovery of the PSS is obviously a great advancement for all of our society. I'm certain that the more business-minded and creative of us will find many ways to put this new invention to good use. However, it is also important to not lose your sense of rationality – to become too eager to explore the possibilities of the new invention that you begin being a disturbance to not only those around you, but society as a whole."

"It's been barely over a day since the release of the PSS, and we've already had to arrest hundreds of trespassers and would-be smugglers trying to break into restricted areas that are being guarded by the Jennys. Not only that, but we've had to step in around many areas where trainers had gotten too over-eager to catch new Pokémon to keep in their newly available storage boxes, disrupting and potentially permanently harming the fragile ecosystems and habitats of the local Pokémon population."

"For those of you planning to do the same, let this serve as a warning and a reminder that the League will always stand ready to punish those who break the law and indulge in their greed. For those who won't be, let me reassure you by promising that the League will do its best to restore order and to protect the Pokémon and their habitats that we all care and love."

"The PSS is an excellent and amazing invention that would bring a lot of convenience to how we transport and store Pokémon. But we have to make sure such a powerful tool is properly wielded, with the right amount of restrictions to prevent it from being abused and turned into something that could cause more harm than good."

His speech concluded not long after that, and Lance only bothered with a few questions before making his leave. He had said all he needed to say, and now was time to get back to dealing with all the other issues that had cropped up.

On my end, I had to head to a meeting with mayor Henry and the local council of Cerulean to discuss our future actions going forwards and how best to safeguard our local wild Pokémon population. A quick lunch was scarfed down, then I was once again off on Port to Cerulean City.

As I flew over the familiar city, the one biggest change that was obvious was that there was a significant presence of Jennys in the area. Around the outskirts of the city, practically everywhere you looked there were a few Jennys making sure that people weren't getting too excited with their Pokémon catching and that order was maintained.

Nodding to a few Jennys that were still on patrol, I made my way inside the council building, just in time for the meeting itself. As I entered the conference room, I saw everyone else had already gathered inside. I was the last to arrive.

"Sorry for the holdup." I apologized as I took a seat, shooting a quick acknowledging nod to my parents and the Waterflower sisters.

"It's not a problem." Mayor Henry shook his head, "You're just in time, actually. We were just talking about the effects of the recent patrols and the current situation here in Cerulean."

I nodded, "Any fires needed to be put out?"

"No, things have been calming down, especially now that we know we're getting some good direction from the higher-ups." Mayor Henry explained, "Plus, everyone's more willing to put in the hours and overtime when we know that those in charge are also working hard to deal with the threat. Honestly, I foresaw the worst when I heard the announcement yesterday, but things really haven't devolved as badly as I feared."

"Everyone's been doing good work." I agreed, "If nothing else, trust that the Champion and all the upper leadership are doing their best to work through this current situation together. The new regulations were just passed."

"Bah, not a fan of these restrictions." A businessman spoke up, "The League shouldn't be interfering in private business. We should be allowed to do what we want."

"It is a necessary measure. Without it, we would not be able to monitor those who abused the PSS." I defended Lance, "Besides, this is hardly an overreach by the League. If anything, we're stepping in to protect smaller businesses – ones that would be much more heavily disadvantaged if all the big businesses were allowed to make use of the PSS with impunity. This way, the restrictions should allow the League to have some oversight on how the PSS is being used and be able to step in to stop any abuses. I can assure you that this is FAR more beneficial to you than the alternative."

The businessman didn't look completely satisfied with my answer, but nor was he angry. He gave me a look that said 'we will see', before returning silently to his seat.

"So what should we do next, John?" Daisy of the Waterflower sisters asked, "Is there anything else we could help with?"

At their question, I realized that everyone had turned their way. The Waterflower sisters, my parents, all the wealthy businessmen. Even mayor Henry, the person nominally in charge of the people here, was looking to me for direction. To ask about how I would lead them and the city.

So I made sure to really think through my words before speaking, "Just to confirm, is the situation in Cerulean considered stable?" I asked Henry.

He nodded, "Mhm. I can confirm from the reports received that, while things were hectic to start with, thanks to the hard work of the Jennys and with your assistance with the patrols, most of the activity from smugglers and over-enthusiastic trainers have died down. The presence of the Jennys always serves as a good warning. And besides, Cerulean isn't known to have many Pokémon habitats living around here anyways, outside of Mt. Moon. So there's less to protect, at least compared to some other cities."

"Then I think we have an opportunity on our hands." I explained seriously, clasping my hands together, "I know that some other cities are going to be struggling with dealing with the consequences from the release of the PSS. Both in Kanto and Johto. Off the top of my head, I know that Pewter City is under a lot of pressure due to their need to supervise and patrol both Viridian Forest and Diglett Cave, along with all their other responsibilities."

Despite the name, Viridian Forest was under the authority of both cities, due to how large and sprawling it was. But even with Viridian's help, I heard from Karen that Pewter was still struggling.

"And so, I propose that we should take the first step as a region and offer assistance to any region where needed." I stated, "Whether that be a temporary loan of funds, more manpower from the Jennys, or anything else that they could reasonably request from us. We should provide it in their time of need."

"If we could pull this off, this would be a huge PR win for us as a city." I pointed out, "We would be able to show the whole region that WE were willing to help out our neighbours when they needed it. Not only that, but we could easily inspire others to join in to do the same. It wouldn't be too expensive either, as I predict that this whole incident should blow over in under a week."

"I intend for this call to action to transform into a unifying call of an entire region – where everyone will step up to provide help to those who need it." I continued, "If we are able to unite, then this crisis would be resolved all the quicker, and we can return to our normal lives."

A murmur of approval went around the room, with their heads nodding. My parents just shot me a proud smile, while Lily spoke up, "That's a great idea! I kinda felt a little bad for depriving Mt. Moon from Pewter City, so I'm glad we could do something to help them back."

"And it'll help restore relations between our two cities." Mayor Henry added, "Yes, that's a wonderful idea, John. But are you sure it'll light the spark that you want? Our efforts won't be nearly as impactful if it was just us offering the help."

"I'll make sure of it." I affirmed, "Assuming we agree, I'll make the announcement myself right after this. I know my words will be listened to." I was confident that the cities in need would never turn down a helping hand. Following that momentum, more cities would join in, and the call would quickly spread across Indigo.

This plan would work out.

More importantly, if the call did indeed stretch and spread across the entirety of Indigo, then it would be an incredible step forward in unifying the hearts and minds of the people of Kanto and Johto into one. To forge a shared identity.

And it would be another step into creating the Indigo of my vision.