130-133

The New Normal – 7-6 – A Learning Moment

Not wanting to accidentally forget about it, I called to double check with Oak as soon as I woke up the very next day to check that I could actually speak to Lance about it. He quickly gave his approval and mentioned that he had already spoken to Carolina as well, who was also okay with it. He further informed me that he was looking to publish the Fairy reveal in a week's time while he went through all the final checks and reviews.

He did apologize by saying that the delay was due to wanting to check through his findings again to make sure he didn't miss anything. He was especially concerned about the fact that he didn't find a single Fairy type in Sinnoh out of all the Pokémon that Carolina brought him, and wanted to double check that he didn't make a mistake somewhere. But I was quick to respond that there was nothing to worry about; we all had no problems with him wanting to make sure things were thorough.

With that conversation done, I moved to call Lance. Though, in hindsight, I may have called him a little too early because I could hear him yawning through the phone.

"…Lance here." He said with a sleepy voice. He must have just woken up.

"Sorry for calling you so early, but I do have something important to talk about." I said apologetically.

He sighed, "Go ahead…it feels like the workload keeps piling up these days." He muttered to himself, "So, what's the matter?"

"I need you to keep this a secret." I began seriously, "And that means no telling this to ANYONE. Not your family, not the other Gym Leaders or Elite Four, and definitely not the Committee. I know it's a lot to ask, but can you do this for me?"

"That's quite the thing to drop on someone." He remarked as I could feel the sleepiness leaving him, "What is it that you're working on?"

"I'm not doing it alone. I've had the help of Professor Oak, Gym Leader Blaine, Head Researcher Carolina of the Celestic Town Research Centre, and Branch Head Shelly of the Indigo Branch of Devon Corp." I stated, namedropping a few very big names on him to hopefully demonstrate the importance of what we were doing.

It seemed to have worked because Lance had momentarily fallen silent. "…I see." He managed to say after a moment, clearly taken aback by the collective prestige of the participants. "Alright, if Champion Oak says so, then I'm not about to gainsay him. I swear that I will keep this a secret and treat this matter with the utmost seriousness." He swore to me.

"Now, what is it that you need my help with, because I doubt you'd just tell me something like this on a whim." He asked.

"You're right. We do need your help as Champion." I confirmed, "The five of us have been working together to discover a new type, and we've been successful. But we need your help with dealing with the fallout when it does get revealed."

Silence descended on the call again. I thought that I might have just given Lance a heart attack. After a while of continued silence, I genuinely thought Lance had passed out or something.

"Lance, you there?" I asked with concern.

"…I am." He eventually spoke up. "Arceus, this is not something I had expected to hear this early in the morning. Couldn't you have at least waited another half an hour or something?" He grumbled.

He let out a huge breath, "Right, okay, so you discovered a new type. That's already a big deal, but why do you think there's going to be fallout? Did you discover any new Pokémon too?"

"Well…yes and no." I replied, "We only discovered one new Pokémon, but what we DID discover was that plenty of existing Pokémon were actually misclassified. There were many Normal types, for example, that were actually this new type that we've called the 'Fairy' type. Similarly, there are many other Pokémon that were actually a dual type of Fairy plus another type." I explained to him.

"…Shit, okay I can see why that it's a problem." He said after he processed my words, "So the five of you think that there's going to be a rush of eager trainers looking to catch some of these newly reclassified Pokémon."

"Exactly." I nodded, "We fear that there's going to be some serious disruption of public order over the next few days or even weeks after this news goes out. There's a huge risk of these trainers accidentally destroying carefully cultivated ecosystems of Pokémon and their habitats. We can't let that happen."

"How popular do you think this new type is going to be?" He asked prudently, "I mean, will people REALLY be flocking to collect them? Even if its new, if the type matchups aren't very impressive then maybe this new type won't be as popular as you think it might be?"

Oh, this poor summer child. "Fairy types are immune and supereffective against Dragons." Was all I said, ruthlessly tearing away his misplaced optimism.

The sound of a glass shattering on the floor could be heard through his phone. His soul must have shattered alongside it as, despite not being able to see him, I swore that he must have frozen in place. A part of me wished I could see his face right now.

"…Your new type. Is supereffective. And IMMUNE. Against DRAGONS?!" He whisper-shouted at me. The shock and disbelief evident in his voice.

"Yes." I confirmed.

Then there was even more silence. I could hear the poor man's heart restarting. It took a moment, but Lance.EXE managed to reboot.

"…Fuck." Was all he said as I heard him collapsing into a chair.

Poor Lance, this was a going to be painful series of revelations for him. I didn't know whether to feel bad for him or laugh at his reaction. The schadenfreude was real. To his credit, despite the sheer scale of the revelation that I just dropped on him, he was holding it together. Though it was a close thing.

"…And how many Pokémon are going to be reclassified to include this new type?" He asked hesitantly, as if dreading the answer that I was going to give.

"Maybe around 2 dozen?" I guess-estimated. "As I said, most were previously classified as Normal types but have now since been proven otherwise."

"…Okay, that's less than I feared." He sighed out. "But, if this doesn't breach confidentiality, could you let me know which Pokémon are going to be reclassified?"

I had already discussed this with Oak, so I knew I was in the clear to reveal this. I listed out to him all of the Pokémon that Oak had found. Lance listened to all of this silently, but I could tell that the gears were whirling in his head.

He seemed to have gotten over his initial shock, and now was in full Champion mode preparing to run damage control.

"Okay, I can immediately think of the two greatest areas of concern." He said, fully serious now as all of the earlier shock had completely left his voice. "One, Mt. Moon is a known protected habitat of Clefairy. We can't have trainer run roughshod over that and destroy the delicate ecosystem that they have."

I hummed my agreement, and he continued, "Secondly, I'm going to have to inform my counterparts in Hoenn about this. I don't think Wallace would be happy if we sprung this on him without any warning. I don't think the Ralts line is super rare, but it'd be good to inform him just in case. I'm sure he could keep a secret."

I agreed. Wallace was a more than competent Champion. I had my faith that he wouldn't let things slip like this.

"Now that I think of it, I saw a report on my desk informing me that Mt. Moon was recently moved under the jurisdiction of Cerulean City. I assume that's your doing." He questioned.

"It was, and I've already made my own preparations to possibly minimize the damage done to Mt. Moon after this reveal. But I fear it's not enough." I told him, "That's why I wanted your permission to request for more of the Indigo Police to help out."

"Hmm…" Lance fell into deep thought as he pondered my request, "Give me a moment."

I heard the sounds of a chair scraping on the floor as he got up from his seat. The sounds of papers ruffing could be heard as he flipped through what I assumed were a few reports on his desk.

After a moment, he spoke up once again. "Can I get back to you on this? I appreciate you warning me, but I simply don't have the information on hand right now to tell you if we can allocate more of the Indigo Police over to Mt. Moon."

"I'm sure we have the numbers." He continued, "But I would have to speak to a few other people to get a better handle of the full deployment layout of the Indigo Police. I promise to get back to you by tonight."

"That's fine. I appreciate it." I replied, "Just keep me in touch."

We shared a few more pleasantries before we hung up. Despite his initial shock, which was entirely forgivable considering what I had told him, Lance's ability to pull himself together and come at the problem rationally was another mark in his favour of his capabilities as a Champion.

Still, I hoped I hadn't frightened him too much when I told him that there was going to be a new type running about that was immune to Dragons. The trainer in him must have been panicking.

Hm, I wonder if he was going to make any changes to his team to adjust to this new information. Only time would tell on that one.

But with that discussion over and done with, I remembered that I had other commitments to attend to for the day, though they weren't anything urgent. Thus, I took my time preparing breakfast by myself before eventually heading over to Viridian to speak to Giovanni and Silver.

I was going to fulfil my promise to Silver while also speaking to Giovanni on behalf of Blaine. Hitting two Pidgey with one stone.

Once again, I landed outside the Viridian Gym before making my way inside. At this point, my visits to the Gym had become a frequent enough occurrence that the Gym Trainers just simply nodded at my entrance, not reacting with any more surprise.

Quickly arriving at his office, I swung open the door to find both Giovanni, Ariana and Silver waiting for me.

"Ah, John. You're early." Giovanni looked up from his pile of documents. At the same time, Silver shot up from where he had been studying next to Ariana as soon as he saw me come in.

"Are we here to fight?!?" Silver exclaimed excitedly, his previous shyness long forgotten, "I'll be ready to beat you!"

"Calm yourself, Silver, you're tearing up the textbooks." Ariana chided with a tone that knew that her words would fall on deaf ears. She turned to me, "I'm sorry about Silver. He's been especially enthusiastic ever since you offer to battle him."

"I hope I haven't caused you any extra trouble then." I replied smilingly before turning to face Silver, "But yes, Silver, I'm here to fulfil my promise. However, I'm going to need a moment to speak with your dad first."

"Understood. Ariana, would you mind?" Giovanni asked his partner? Wife? I still wasn't really sure on that distinction.

"No fair! I want to listen in too!" Silver complained, but a stern look from Ariana silenced any further complaints. Ariana shot Giovanni a nod before escorting the sulking Silver out of the room.

As soon as Silver left the room, Giovanni's head fell into his hands, "That boy will be the death of me."

I chuckled amusedly, "He's just enthusiastic. And isn't it every child's dream of becoming a strong trainer? I don't believe he's acting unusually."

"I suppose it could be worse." He said with a sigh, "And, in a way, it's my fault for not taking charge of his education sooner. Ariana did her best, but she had a lot to juggle as a single mother."

"…Do you regret it, leaving them by themselves?" I asked hesitantly, suddenly venturing into personal territory.

"…Sometimes." He answered after a moment, "I still maintain that it was likely the best decision at the time. But I'm now more aware of the consequences of such a decision. If I could turn back time…maybe I would have taken a different path." He spoke in a way so unlike his usual confident tone, sounding vulnerable and melancholic. But I was sympathetic; abandoning family could never be easy.

He let out a huge breath, "But enough of my past. What did you want to speak about?"

I accepted the forceful change of topic, "Two things. First, I wanted to make sure you were informed with the situation with Team Rocket." Despite his origins, I had no doubt that Giovanni WAS an ally against Team Rocket now.

"I know about their involvement and flight from Hoenn, as well as their true plans." He said to me with a frown, revealing that his intelligence network was still as strong as before, "They've headed to Sinnoh, right?"

I nodded.

"Damn bastards. Since when in Arceus did Team Rocket associate themselves with fanatics and lunatics looking to end the world?!" He grumbled frustratedly. "We were supposed to be a group that helped the stability of Kanto! Not try to end the world!" I held in my doubts about 'helping the stability of Kanto', but I wouldn't deny their original purpose was at least more sane than what Team Rocket were doing now. Even if that was a very low bar to clear.

"Please keep me in the know regarding them. I don't want the world to end as much as you do. And I don't trust these idiots to have enough of a braincell to NOT doom the world." I just nodded again.

"The International Police seem to be doing good work though." I reassured him.

"Yes, I saw the reports." Giovanni agreed, "They're well trained – I'll give them that. But that's to be expected of Kanto's finest. I can only hope that Hoenn will reciprocate the favour."

"Also, the other thing I wanted to speak to you on behalf of Blaine." I told him, changing the topic.

A smile bloomed on his face, "Blaine? What's he doing now?" He chuckled; his voice tinged with familiarity as his previous anger disappeared. "Another big science project that he's roped you into?"

"Something like that." I replied evasively, not wanting to get into the details of the Magmarizer, "He wanted to discuss the possibility of selling his recent discovery to Silph Co., and you seemed to be the go-to intermediary."

"Ah. This again." He said fondly, "I'll let him know then. I assume that the reason he asked you to deliver the message was because he wanted to inform me of your involvement as well."

"I guess." I shrugged, "Maybe he thought you'd be more receptive if it came from me."

"True enough." Giovanni nodded, "I've worked with Blaine a few times in my capacity as a director of Silph Co. His projects are…hit and miss most of the time."

"Were they failures?" I asked, curious.

"Not exactly." He shook his head, "It's just that while Blaine is undoubtedly a brilliant scientist, he's not much of a businessman. What HE thinks is interesting is not necessarily what the public finds interesting. And ultimately, Silph Co is a BUSINESS, not a research centre. His ideas aren't always the most suitable for our needs."

I could understand that, the interests of businesses and scientists don't always overlap. "Well you can feel free to take a look at his new research item. Honestly, I'm not sure how well it'll sell, since its use case is very specific, but it is an extremely important discovery." I mentioned.

"Is it now? Interesting. Well, I'll definitely have a look." He hummed, "Actually, is Devon Corp looking to be selling this item too? Knowing Blaine, he wouldn't just sell it to us."

"They most likely are." I confirmed, getting a frown from Giovanni.

"Well, that changes things." He muttered, "Anyways, I'll look into it. Now, let's not keep my son waiting. I'm afraid he'll make a scene if we get him to wait too long."

I nodded and followed him out of his office. But instead of bringing me to arena where the Gym battles were hosted, he instead brought me to a private elevator that descended into a hidden basement.

"It looks like some kind of secret lair." I commented. Giovanni let out a cough at my statement, his eyes shifting uncomfortably.

"…There might be a time when it was intended to be used that way, yes." He answered awkwardly, "That time has long since passed though."

Despite myself, I couldn't help but chuckle. Of course, he would build a secret underground facility for his evil plans.

"Looks very dramatic." I pointed out.

"…I was a younger man when I had this built." Giovanni admitted sheepishly, "In hindsight, not my proudest moment." I laughed again.

As we arrived, I was greeted with the sight of a large room that was clearly to be used as a private training facility. Everything was state-of-the-art, which I personally felt was a bit overboard for something that would never see the light of day.

But I guess it wasn't my money to spend. And to be fair, I'm sure that this was hardly a drop in the bucket of Giovanni's wealth.

"You're here!" Silver shouted as he ran up to us, Poké ball in hand. "Let's fight! Let's fight!"

"Sure!" I replied, "How are we doing this though? How many Pokémon do you have, Silver?"

"Just the one." He replied, "Father and mother won't let me have more." He said bitterly.

"You'll get more when you're older." Ariana placated, "But you need to learn how to handle them better first."

"But some of the other kids already have 2 or 3 Pokémon already!" Silver whined, "I want to be as strong as them too!" I wisely stayed silent as I allowed the parental argument to occur.

Giovanni scoffed, "You mean those children with Caterpie and Kakuna and Weedle? You'd crush them easily."

Silver shook his head, "No, but I mean I saw that boy last time with a Ponyta! I want one too!"

"Didn't you beg me to give you a Nidoran?" Giovanni asked with a frown, causing Silver to pout. "I promise you'll get more Pokémon later. Now, let's not waste any more of John's time. Didn't you want to battle him?"

"Oh yeah!" Doing a complete 180 in mood, Silver rushed to the other side of the arena "It's going to be 1v1 John. And I'll crush you!"

I saw Ariana roll her eyes at her son's antics, "Please take it easy on Silver." She muttered to me.

"I will, don't worry." I replied. "How strong would you rate his strength though? Just so I know what to use."

"Nothing particularly special even for an underage trainer." Giovanni commented ruthlessly, "There's a lot of work to be done with him. But that arrogance of his has got to go."

I wisely did not bring up the hypocrisy in that statement, "Sure, I'll try to match his level then."

I wandered over to my side of the arena while Ariana moved to the centre as the unofficial referee.

"Trainers, are you ready?!" She declared, and Silver eagerly stepped forwards in a pitcher's stance as he got ready to release his Pokémon. I just stood casually as I palmed Ornstein's Pokéball.

He might be a little weak to handle a Nidorino, but I might as well make this a training moment for him.

"RELEASE!"

"Nidorino, crush them!"

"Ornstein, maintain your discipline!"

Both Pokémon emerged from their Pokéballs with a running start. But while Ornstein carefully maintained his distance like I taught him to, Nidorino rushed straight towards the weaker Ornstein.

"Poison Sting, Nidorino!"

"Snarl, Ornstein! Keep your distance!"

Not stopping its charge, Nidorino reared backwards before firing off a small volley of poisonous needles towards Ornstein. But Ornstein was already dashing out of the way, continuing to circle around the Nidorino as he responded with a snarl of Dark Energy.

Nidorino, either unable to or uncaring about the attack, simply took it head on. It flinched slightly, but clearly was able to simply shrug off the attack even if it lowered its Special Attack.

"Fury Attack, Nidorino! Chase it down!"

"Snarl again! Keep dodging!"

I wasn't used to this – the power disparity was too tilted in Silver's favour. I was forced on the defensive as Ornstein kept trying to circle away from the charging Nidorino. Even despite landing another Snarl at the approaching Nidorino, Ornstein's attack just lacked any power to halt its approach.

To make things worse, Nidorino was actually slightly faster than Ornstein. Silver seemed to have neglected training Nidorino's evasiveness by focusing heavily on speed and power. And, right now, this blunt method of fighting was paying off.

With Nidorino slowly but surely closing the distance on Ornstein, I knew it was only a matter of time before he was caught. And with such a limited move pool, I didn't have many options to make use of to try and deter Nidorino.

But I still had one trick up my sleeve. I waited patiently as Nidorino continued chasing after my fleeing Ornstein, but just before it could slash at Ornstein with a series of Fury Attacks, I made my move.

"Payback, Ornstein! Hit it hard!"

Dark energy started radiating around Ornstein just as Nidorino caught up to him and slashed at him with its front paws. Ornstein flinched backwards, hurt by the damage, before the dark aura around him exploded and he slammed into the Nidorino with a fully powered Payback.

Nidorino stumbled backwards, reeling from the power of the blow. I quickly followed through.

"Assurance, Ornstein! Smash it!"

"Keep up the Fury Attack! You can tank it!"

But before the Nidorino was able to recover, Ornstein slammed a dark-infused paw that impacted the centre of Nidorino's face, dealing critical damage. Nidorino skidded backwards, crying out in pain, but my gut was screaming at me that it wouldn't be enough to bring it down.

A part of me wanted to pull Ornstein back, but I knew that now was the best opportunity to bring down the Nidorino while it still hadn't fully reoriented itself.

"Headbutt, Ornstein! Knock it down!"

"Horn Attack, Nidorino!"

Unfortunately, I had overestimated Ornstein's power here, because Nidorino recovered much faster than I was expecting. Before I could change the order, Nidorino crashed into Ornstein with a powerful Horn Attack, sending Ornstein flying backwards as his wails of pain echoed throughout the arena.

I winced as I took in Ornstein's condition. As much as I had trained him, Ornstein was still a young and basic Pokémon. His endurance was always going to be poor. With just one attack, Ornstein looked like it was about to fall over. This was bad.

"HAH! I'M GOING TO WIN! HORN ATTACK AGAIN, NIDORINO!" Silver boasted with a smug grin as he cheered his Pokémon on.

However, Silver's taunts seemed to have given Ornstein a second wind as he struggled to but successfully pulled himself off the ground. His face was one of rictus fury, as if completely insulted by Silver's earlier words. His expression screamed that he refused to go down like this. Not in his first proper battle.

I respected my Pokémon's determination. But I knew that determination alone couldn't win a match. Ornstein was swaying slightly even as it stood still, so I knew there was no chance it could outrun the approaching Nidorino.

Thus, there was only one real course of action. It would all be up to him now.

"Payback, Ornstein. It's all up to you now."

"ZIG!" He shouted out in reply. Dark energy rapidly gathered around his small figure, swelling up to a size that I hadn't seen before. His face was one of painful concentration, as he began to channel more Dark energy than I had ever seen before.

Yet Silver seemed ignorant of this, as he stared at Ornstein with a boastful smile, already anticipating his victory. And, true enough, even with all this Dark energy being gathered, it would be all for naught if Ornstein couldn't survive the blow.

But then, just before Nidorino could slam into him, Ornstein seemed to explode with energy. My eyes snapped to him, only to see that a bright white light was expanding outwards from within the haze of Dark energy.

"NO! SMASH IT BEFORE IT EVOLVES!" Silver shouted out in desperation, realizing what was happening.

Nidorino burst forwards with renewed haste, clearly sensing the urgency from its trainer. Ignoring the energy radiating out of the new evolution, it charged straight into the centre of the light as it tried to finish off Ornstein with one last Horn Attack.

The blinding white light of the evolution prevented me from seeing what was happening. But, barely a second later, the cries of Nidorino could be heard as its figure was flung unceremoniously backwards, dark aura still clinging to its body from the attack.

The white light dissipated to reveal my new D-Linoone, his face filled with satisfaction despite its litany of injuries.

"LINOONE! LIN!" He cried out confidently as he stood his ground against the Nidorino, as if daring it to charge him again. But there was no need to, because Nidorino had already been knocked out by the previous attack.

"NO! THAT'S NOT FAIR! HE-"

"AND JOHN IS THE WINNER!" Ariana declared, deliberating interrupting her son's complaints, "A well fought battle!"

I could hear Silver began to complain about his loss, but I ignored him for the moment as I approached my newly evolved Pokémon.

"Well done, Ornstein. That was really impressive." I praised honesty, carefully rubbing his fur as to not aggravate his injuries.

"Lin! Lin!" Ornstein chimed happily, excitedly inspecting his new form. With this new evolution, Ornstein suddenly became a Pokémon that could viably be used in a battle with more training. The increase in his speed from the evolution was an enormous boost to him, and finally unlocked his potential of being one of the fastest Pokémon on my team.

Of course, it'd still be a while before he could matchup against my stronger threats. But at least he and Pixel would be on more even ground now.

"YOU CHEATED!" Silver shouted, interrupting me from my thoughts. I was about to respond before Giovanni cut me off.

"Silver." Giovanni warned sternly, his tone broking no argument as he stared at Silver. "Do not."

Silver stared at his father defiantly, but that only lasted for a moment. His defiance quickly broke down into anger and tears, and he ran off crying. Letting out a sigh, Ariana quickly moved to follow Silver to comfort him.

"I think I'm going to have to deal with this." Giovanni said reluctantly, "I'm sorry, but you could you let yourself out?"

"No worries, hope you get it sorted." I said easily, not wanting to get involved in this family drama.

"Thanks, John. And I'll make sure to speak to Blaine soon." He said before he walked off and chased after his son.

I made my way out too, filled with thoughts about the ups and downs of fatherhood. Once again, I wished Giovanni all the best with Silver. He seems to be trying, but suddenly entering Silver's life as his father after abandoning him for so long must not have been an easy task.

As I got onto Port to return home, I quickly shook those thoughts out my head. My main priority right now was to get Ornstein all healed up, and to show off his new evolution to the rest of my team.

I can't wait to see what he's capable of now.

The New Normal – 7-6 – Interlude – Karen

"Okay, is everyone ready for the night?" She asked with a smile, trying to conceal her tiredness as she addressed the youngest of Brock's siblings.

"Yesh!" The little ones replied with toothy grins. With a satisfied smile, she playfully chased after them as she escorted them to bed.

She didn't have to do this; she was only supposed to be the temporary Gym Leader, AND she had a battle against Sidney soon. She was not their mother, not when she was barely a few years older than Brock.

But she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she left it all to Brock to handle all of his many siblings. Yes, she was tired to the point of exhaustion, but seeing the little smiles that the young ones gave her was all the reward she needed.

Even Agatha, big grouch that she was, didn't stop her from helping out. And she secretly knew that Agatha tried to buy them things when she wasn't looking.

'Not so cold hearted after all.' She chuckled to herself as she made sure to tidy up after the little ones before she left their room, only to be stopped by Brock.

"You don't have to do this." He said to her once again. He had repeated this statement many a time, but her response would always be the same.

"It's okay, I want to." She replied patiently, ruffling his hair. He stared at her, trying to express his annoyance, but she knew that he was just trying to conceal his embarrassment. She held back the urge to laugh; she didn't want to step on his dignity any more than she already was.

"Have a good night, Karen!" Yolanda called out from the sofa where she was watching TV. It wasn't just her on there, her other brothers, Salvadore and Forrest, were also squished up against her. All sharing one TV on a sofa that hardly fit in the room.

Karen waved them all goodbye as she hid her frown at the sight of the siblings all cramped up together in their too-small house. One day, she swore to herself, she was going to help them move into a bigger house. If Agatha wasn't planning on doing that already.

Damn their parents. Their house was a perfect size for a NORMAL family, but not for TEN CHILDREN! What the fuck were Flint and Lola thinking having 10 children!?

They probably weren't thinking very much at all, in all honesty.

And yet, after having so many bloody children, the two of them decided to fucking run off on them. That really brought up some really unpleasant memories that Karen would very much have liked to suppress. But if she ever got her hands on the either of them, she was going to feed them to her Houndoom.

Her blood boiled just thinking about it.

She walked the long way back to the Gym just so that she could cool herself down. If there was anything good that came out of their parents' recklessness, was that all of their children were good kids. Innocent, respectful, and polite. Brock had a huge weight on his shoulders, far too much for a 13-year-old kid to bear, and yet he was doing his best to shoulder the burden, never once complaining about it.

She sighed. Even then, she felt that Brock was forced to grow up too fast. But at least he was doing an admirable job of it.

"You're brooding." Agatha suddenly spoke up, and Karen realized she had already arrived back at the Gym in her absent-minded wandering.

"Just thinking of the kids." She admitted with a frown. One that was soon shared by Agatha.

"Hmph. You're getting too attached." She remarked, but Karen knew that she was just putting on a façade. Agatha cared as much as she did.

John tried, but he didn't understand. Not really. For all that he suffered through due to poverty, he still had the unconditional love of his family. That was more than many others had. Not that she blamed him, of course, but she couldn't deny being slightly envious of his familial relationships.

"…Perhaps. But if not me, then who?" She finally said, the sadness leaking from her tone. And wasn't that the depressing truth. Even after all they had already went through, Brock and his siblings were STILL at risk of losing the Gym. The improvements done by Karen and Agatha would not be credited to them, so they would still have to prove themselves to be capable of running the Gym when Brock reached his majority.

She could only hope that the improvements that they made would make that job easier for Brock. Karen had already pre-written a glowing review of Brock's performance thus far. It was the least she could do, though she feared that it might not be enough.

"It's good that you care." Agatha replied uncharacteristically softly, lacking her usual grouchiness.

Karen sighed; of course she cared. The little ones reminded her all too well of her own past and abandonment. And even if she couldn't do much, she would do her best to ensure that they wouldn't feel as bad as she did back then.

Agatha, almost as if she could read her mind, stayed silent as she simply stared at her with a concerned look in her eyes. Karen appreciated the care, but she didn't want to be pitied about this right now.

"You want to buy something for them tomorrow?" She suddenly blurted out, "I mean, we could buy them something nice for dinner or something."

"…Sure. Why not. The little ones have worked hard enough." Agatha replied after a moment, nodding her head.

The two of them just sat in silence for a moment, the silence communicating their emotion well enough.

Eventually, Agatha broke the silence. "How are your preparations going for your match against Sidney?"

"It's been doing well. I've studied up hard, and I think I have the beginnings of a plan in place." She replied, thankful for yet another change in topic to something that was less emotional.

"Good. This match will propel you to new heights if you can win. It'll give you an opportunity to stand on your two feet." Agatha remarked with a nod. "Your victory would cement your status as THE up-and-coming Dark type specialist, and my plans could advance all the quicker."

Then Agatha sighed, exposing a rare moment of weakness as it became her turn to be emotional. Something she really only did when it just the two of them. "I don't know have much time left...I can only hope you can succeed me in time."

Karen only nodded, understanding the words that Agatha was not saying. They both tried to hide it, but they were both painfully aware of the borrowed time that Agatha was on. Agatha's age was catching up on her, and the reminder of Agatha's mortality was a bitter one.

Her fists clenched tightly as her eyes narrowed defiantly.

She would win. She HAD to repay Agatha for all that she had done for her; for all of the training and opportunities that Agatha had provided her that she was lucky enough to receive. She WOULD succeed here, because she needed to continue on Agatha's legacy, just as she knew Agatha wanted her to.

She would do it for Agatha. For the woman that picked up some orphaned kid and raised her like a daughter.

The New Normal – 7-7 – INTERLUDE – Whitney

Although they had decided to visit the Safari Zone, they had chosen to take the slower, but more scenic route to get there. The views were too good to pass up on, and they really needed the break anyways. So the three of them simply took their time to explore and see the many fantastic sights of Johto.

And what a sight it was.

If Whitney were to list every single thing that awed and wowed her during her slow trip towards the Safari Zone, she'd never be able to stop. But instead, she'd chosen to stick to the truly memorable moments during her texts to her family.

One of the major highlights was easily Ecruteak City. It was a city that just radiated with culture and history; and everything there seemed to be steeped in tradition. Kanto had Fuschia City and their ninjas, of course, but in Whitney's opinion, Ecruteak was the far more interesting and awe-inspiring sight.

And that wasn't even including the Kimono girls. Ninjas were cool and all, but the Kimono girls were something completely special. There was just this unmistakable feeling of tranquillity whenever they performed their dance. Even Janine, despite her best attempts to hide it, was impressed, to her unsuccessfully hidden shame.

Whitney had to spend quite a while telling Janine that it was okay to think a different city was cooler than your own. Arceus - for the better half of her life she had to live with the fact that she was born to the one city that had nothing really special going for it besides some water shows.

At least she heard that her brother was changing things up now. Maybe Cerulean City would feel very different when she went back home? That would be cool.

Aside from Ecruteak though, the other really cool place to visit for her was Olivine. She was most certainly being biased, but she was very interested in seeing the place where her brother fought off all those Team Rocket grunts.

She and her friends had even posed next to the small plaque that was built next to the ramp that her brother had stood on as he fended off the hordes of Team Rocket Pokémon, honouring the charitable donation made by both him and Giovanni. She giggled pretty hard as she sent him the photo.

This was also one of those times where she was very glad she looked nothing like her brother; her brother was unsurprisingly very respected here and she didn't want to get swarmed by those trying to thank her in her brother's place.

She appreciated praise, but not when it was unearned.

While they were there, Sabrina suddenly asked a very interesting question. She asked HOW they would have defended the ramp with their Pokémon if it was them. This turned out to be quite the enlightening moment for the three of them, for different reasons.

Even if they assumed that their Pokémon were all at the Elite level, like John's were, they understood that they would have struggled to hold the ramp like that. In Whitney's case, against THAT many Pokémon, she simply didn't have enough hard hitters that could sweep through a horde like that.

Yes, Loudred could evolve into an Exploud and get stronger, but she really needed another Pokémon that could fulfil the role of a heavy hitter on her team. Likewise for her friends, they also realized they needed to make some changes too. Sabrina recognized that she needed another Pokémon that could really hold the line as a frontliner, aside from her newly caught Slowpoke, and Janine needed a Pokémon that could actually brawl without relying on evasion, as you couldn't rely on dodging when you were outnumbered to this extent.

Whitney was glad that everyone took these revelations positively and used them as goals to strive towards. Even with her limited experience as a trainer, she felt that always being to look ahead and stay optimistic was always one of the traits of a good trainer.

Anyways, after all their travels throughout the western half of Johto, they had finally arrived at the Johto Safari Zone. But instead of going inside, they decided to make camp just outside like so many other trainers have done.

According to what John had told her, which was corroborated by what she read online, the Safari Zone was a little bit of a scam. 500 Pokédollars was not the most expensive entrance fee, especially not after their Gym winnings and their own personal wealth, but considering that even catching a single Pokémon inside the Safari Zone couldn't be guaranteed before your time was over? That sounded like a quick way to lose all your money for very little gain.

So instead, they did the smarter thing and camped outside in the designated camping area where many of the Pokémon that you could catch in the Safari Zone could also be found. The campsite was specifically built there to accommodate the extra trainers that frequently came to the Safari Zone in order to prevent them from overcrowding the Pokécenter. That way, they could escape paying the entrance fee and they'd also be able to catch the Pokémon at their leisure, without having to worry about any time limits.

It was a bit of a loophole, but no one seemed to be doing anything about it. So they didn't bother caring about it either.

And with a Pokéshop, Pokécenter, and a food store nearby, they could stay here forever if they so choose. And for the better half of a week, that's what they did. They even had public showers that, while not ideal, meant that they could at least stay clean during their stay here.

At first, they just spent time looking around, seeing what kinds of Pokémon were available and in what quantities. The internet helped, but there was nothing like seeing and getting a feel for it yourselves.

And there were quite a few Pokémon that drew their collective interest. Whitney wanted a Tauros, Sabrina a Girafarig, and Janine a Nidoran of either gender. They were all Pokémon that, after their realizations at Olivine, they felt could hope round off and better balance their teams.

And after sufficient scouting and some simple training sessions with their Pokémon to ensure that their skills didn't decay, they all set off individually to find and hopefully catch their desired Pokémon.

Whitney had set off to the west of the Safari gate, near the forests. She had seen a couple of Tauros hanging around that area the previous day, so she hoped that she could hopefully persuade one to join.

She had done her research and knew that wild Tauros, as in ones that weren't bred specifically for farming, were a lot bulkier and ornerier than their domestic counterparts. Both very useful traits when it came to battling.

Unfortunately, her enthusiasm to seek out a Tauros did not translate into any tangible gains. After spending what was likely the better half of an afternoon slowly and carefully trudging her way through the forest, she couldn't find a single Tauros. Oh, she found a couple of other rare Pokémon like a Vulpix and Hoppip, and a Pineco almost knocked her on the head, but no Tauros.

She had even released her Miltank as both as an obstacle remover as well as a show of strength to hopefully attract a Tauros, but no luck. They had either hidden away or had left the area.

After giving it a few more hours, she eventually headed back to her camp. Despite her failure, she didn't let herself become disappointed; it was only the first real day of searching after all. And they had plenty of time anyways.

As she returned to their campsite, it was already late in the evening, and Sabrina and Janine were already back and cooking up some food.

"No luck." Sabrina said as a statement before she could, then frowned as Sabrina realized she must have instinctively read Whitney's mind again. Whitney didn't mind this time.

"No luck." Whitney repeated as she settled down with the two of them. She took a whiff of herself and scrunched her nose; she really needed to shower.

"I didn't find anything either." Sabrina remarked, trying to comfort her. "Only Janine got lucky."

"You did?!" Whitney exclaimed excitedly as she turned to her friend, "What did you get?! Come on, show!"

With some hesitance, Janine withdrew a Pokéball and threw it, releasing a small figure next to her.

"Nido? Ran?" The little female thing squeaked adorably, causing Whitney to squee happily.

"She's so cute!" She almost ran over to hug the small Pokémon, but a reminder of how bad she smelt stopped her in her tracks. Ew.

"Found her near the bridge trying to fetch some water." Janine explained, trying but failing to keep a smile from forming on her face, "She seemed shy at first, but I managed to persuade her after releasing my Ariados. Apparently, my Ariados was the strongest thing she had ever seen here, and she wanted to join because of that."

Whitney didn't find that surprising; it was a common enough occurrence. Strength was something most Pokémon aspired to have, and Janine was certainly far from a 'common' trainer.

As it was already getting late, they ended their cooing over Janine's new Pokémon early as Whitney quickly went to clean herself off before returning for a nice, relaxing dinner, only after which they all were tucked in to sleep in their sleeping bags. The very next day, the three of them went back on the hunt again, only this time Janine was looking to train up her newly caught Nidoran on a few easy battles.

Unfortunately, luck was not on Whitney's side once again. After a full day of drudgery, all she had to show for it was a few glimpses of a small herd of Tauros before they ran off too far for Whitney to catch up on them.

The next day went even worse. She had managed to finally catch up to a Tauros, and had gotten her Miltank to try to talk to him in order to convince him to join the team. But the Tauros simply snorted at her, before running off to rejoin the herd. The Tauros didn't even spare her a glance as he galloped off.

At this point, Whitney was getting pretty disappointed. She was beginning to suspect that the Tauros living here just weren't interested in joining up with a trainer. They probably were content with living within their herds and did not want to separate from them.

Her disappointment must have been fairly obvious because Sabrina immediately wrapped an arm around her shoulder as she sat down for dinner.

"It's not your fault." She tried to comfort, but all Whitney let out was a sigh.

"…Thanks, Sabie, I know." She said, unable to keep the tone of defeat out of her voice, "There was nothing I could have done...Still, I WAS pretty excited to catch a Tauros. I guess you don't always get lucky."

"Try again tomorrow?" Janine suggested, awkwardly trying not to bring up her own successes into the conversation.

But Whitney shook her head, "No…I don't think these Tauros are interested in joining up with anyone. Maybe I'll just follow one of you tomorrow or something. Wish you luck that way."

The conversation fell silent at that. Whitney frowned as she never intended to make things awkward like that. She tried to revive the conversation, but Janine spoke up before she did.

"What do you girls all want to do in the future?" She asked suddenly.

Sabrina shot her a weird look, "Succeed my parents at the Gym. Like you would." She replied as if it was obvious.

Janine blushed, "That's…I meant what do you want to do BEFORE that? Would you want to challenge the Indigo Conference?"

Whitney blinked. She hadn't really thought of that. She always wanted to be as great of a trainer as her brother, but she didn't really think about how'd she reach that. She had just been focused on training up her Pokémon to be as powerful as they could be.

But DID she want to challenge the Indigo Conference? She had a good understanding of her brother's and Karen's strength and knew she was nowhere close to reaching them. It would take far more than a year for her to be a worthy opponent for them.

"…It would be good to try." She replied eventually, "I don't really have anything better to do. We probably won't get very far, but I'm sure we'll learn a lot from the experience."

Sabrina nodded, "I agree. We might have had success with the Gyms so far, but we struggled against your father, Janine, and he was only the 5th Badge. We definitely won't get that far in the Indigo Conference, but we will get stronger from our struggles."

"That's a good plan." Janine replied, and the three of them collectively agreed to give it a shot.

"Then what do you two plan to do after getting all the badges?" Janine asked again, "I assume Sabrina is going to help out at her Gym, same as me, but what about you Whitney?"

Whitney frowned again as she thought over the question. Once again, she hadn't considered it. And it was a good question too; if she wanted to keep up her training then she'd need to secure some sort of income if she didn't want to rely on her parents or brother's money. She'd need a job or some form of steady income if she wanted to sustain her training.

The problem was she didn't know where that money would come from.

And then suddenly, Sabrina dropped the perfect answer for her. "Why don't you work at a Gym? One of ours?"

It was like something had clicked in place in her brain. "THAT'S PERFECT!" She shouted out excitedly, "That would be so nice if we could work together! And that way, we can stay in close contact! Oh, and maybe I can rotate from your Gym to Janine's every once in a while! That way I can spend time with both of you!"

Janine held a finger up to her chin, "…I don't think Father would mind. He has expressed…interest in you as a trainer. I think he would be happy to see you work there, assuming you can meet his high expectations and standards."

"I think similarly." Sabrina joined in. "I know my parents would be very happy to have you. They were very happy to meet you as my friend. They thought you could take care of me." Sabrina blushed a little at the confession, "They should have no problem accepting you."

Whitney grinned as she pulled the both of them into a tight hug, squeezing them in appreciation. "Thanks girls! I'm so excited to work as a Gym Trainer. It's going to be so different working on the other side of things."

She wondered what kind of Gym Trainer she'd be. Would she be like one of those nice ones that were always helpful and gave out tips whenever she defeated someone? Or would she try to be as strong as possible to forcefully encourage trainers to do better?

Before she could lose herself in her thoughts, she felt a sudden force grabbing hold of her as she was forcefully separated from her friends.

"You stink." Sabrina said, using her psychic powers to hold her at arm's length while she held her nose with the other. Janine, the traitor, was nodding alongside her.

Whitney pouted, "You hugged me first! So I thought it'd be okay!" But her arguments apparently fell on deaf ears. Grumbling, she went to clean herself off before eventually settling down for the night, her earlier disappointments long forgotten. She went to sleep dreaming of happy thoughts as she imagined what she would be like as a Gym Trainer.

The next day, she had her friends rock-paper-scissors to decide who'd she join. A quick victory later, which she was pretty sure that Sabrina got by cheating, she followed after Sabrina in her hunt for a Girafarig.

Sabrina had explained to her that she had found a few lazing about near the edges of the forest, which is where they were headed to now. Sabrina hoped that, by following the tracks, she'd hopefully be led to where the Girafarig were idly grazing about and get an opportunity to catch one of them.

They walked slowly, but carefully, as they made their way there. Both of them had a Pokémon out, their Miltank and Kadabra respectively, both as a demonstration of their skills and potential as a trainer while also serving as a display of force to scare off the weaker Pokémon from harassing them.

After an unknown amount of time walking silently, Sabrina suddenly halted and held out a hand to stop Whitney.

"Something's wrong." She whispered as her eyes glowed slightly, a tell-tale sign that she was using her Psychic powers.

Whitney's eyes darted around as well, trying to find out what was wrong. But all she could see was more of the same, a dense forest with a few Weedle and Caterpie minding their own business. She didn't know what the fuss was about.

But before she could ask Sabrina, she suddenly grabbed hold of Whitney's arm before dashing towards a small opening in the trees. Taken by surprise, Whitney nearly tripped over a fallen twig as she was dragged along by Sabrina.

"W-What's going on?!" She asked Sabrina, her panic rising at her sudden movement. Behind them, Miltank was hovering over protectively as she too scanned the surroundings.

"A fight." Was Sabrina's answer as the entered the clearing. And sure enough, Whitney was met with the sight of a pair of Girafarig huddled close to each other as they were stared down by a herd of angry Tauros. They were slowly backing away while their horns flashed with the occasional burst of Psychic energy, trying to deter the Tauros away.

It wasn't working. The Tauros, as if in sync, all let out a dismissive snort as they stepped forwards, inching ever closer to the retreating Girafarig. The pair of Girafarig, despite appearing strong, were no match when completely outnumbered by Tauros like this.

And then suddenly, a Tauros charged forwards. This began a domino effect where all the other Tauros quickly joined in, forming a small stampede that descended upon the pair of Girafarig.

Without even thinking about it, both Sabrina and her charged in, their Pokémon quickly following after her, as they went to protect the Girafarig from the mini avalanche of Tauros. Not needing to utter a command, the lead Tauros was forcefully halted in its tracks as a powerful Psychic slammed into him, knocking him out of his charge and causing him to fall over.

However, as the Tauros was in the very front, as soon as it fell over, this caused the other Tauros that were charging forwards behind him to trip over his fallen figure, causing a cascading effect that practically broke the charge in one fell swoop.

Not wanting Sabrina to do all the work, she quickly commanded Miltank to join in.

"Rush in, Mitank! Help them out!"

With a bellowing moo, Miltank rushed into the fray and, in a whirlwind of disciplined violence, assisted Kadabra in knocking out the many fallen Tauros that scattered around the clearing. Within mere seconds, and a whole lot of fists and blasts of Psychic to the face, the entire herd of Tauros had been knocked out, with nary a scratch on any of their Pokémon.

"Phew. That was a lucky hit, Sabrina. Who knew they'd fall over like that?" Whitney said as she wiped some sweat off her brow.

"I did." Sabrina said matter-of-factly, but Whitney was familiar enough with her to tell that she was being smug about it.

Rolling her eyes at Sabrina's antics, Whitney decided to ignore her for the moment as she went to check up on the pair of Girafarig.

"You doing okay?" She asked the two of them. They both nodded at her, causing Whitney to smile, "That's good. That wasn't a very fair fight of them. Why were the Tauros after you two anyways?"

"Giraf! Far! Girafarig!" One of the Girafarig explained, with the other nodding along in agreement. She didn't understand what they were saying, but fortunately she had Miltank to play translator.

"Mil. Tank. Tank." Miltank translated to her, basically explaining that the Tauros were getting ornery and were looking for a fight. And amongst the Pokémon that lived here, the Girafarig were really the only ones that could put up a fair fight against them.

"Girafarig! Giraf!" The same Girafarig explained, to which Miltank helpfully translated that they were testing out their Psychic powers before they accidentally caught the Tauros' attention, leading to the situation they saw.

"I see. So that was what I detected yesterday and earlier." Sabrina commented as she walked over, "I figured I was tracking the both of you through your latent Psychic energies."

"Giraf? Far?" The quieter of the two Girafarig's suddenly spoke up, looking at Sabrina.

"Yes." Sabrina nodded, with Kadabra helping her with the translations mentally, "Kadabra is my Pokémon."

"Girafarig? Farig? Far?" The same Girafarig asked, staring intently at her Kadabra. Instead of replying, Sabrina simply shot the Girafarig a smile, before releasing her full team of Psychics into the clearing.

Her Xatu, Staryu, and Slowpoke emerged from their balls, immediately greeting the two Girafarig with a small show of Psychic power.

"Girafarig! Girafarig!" The quieter Girafarig started to say excitedly, nudging at the other Girafarig as it pointed towards Sabrina and her team. But the other Girafarig shook its head.

"Giraf! Girafarig! Far!" Instead, it gestured towards Whitney and her Miltank with its head. In a sudden bout of great luck, Miltank translated for Whitney that they both had been looking to get stronger, and realized they had to try to tie themselves to a trainer in order to do so. And both of them were suitably impressed by the duo's display of power, as well as their kindness for immediately rushing in to help them out, that they wished to grow as strong as them.

But now, they disagreed with who to join.

From what Miltank explained, the quieter Girafarig wanted to join Sabrina, because it believed that Psychic power was the dominant way of getting stronger. However, the more talkative one wanted to join Whitney, because it was awed by the strength of Miltank and believed that physicality was the more dominant way of gaining strength. Yet, neither wanted to be separated from the other, at least not for long periods of time.

Realizing that there was a simple solution to the problem, Whitney stepped in before an argument could break out.

"How about you just join the both of us? One each?" She suggested, "Me and Sabrina are really close friends, so if you're worried that you'll be separated, you won't be. Even if you can't always be together, I promise that Sabrina and I will visit each other often, so you won't ever leave each other side for long. I swear!" And to emphasize her closeness to Sabrina, she quickly wrapped her in a big hug as she squeezed her friend tight.

Sabrina let out a squawk of protest, but ultimately let it happen. She was too used to Whitney's antics at this point.

The two Girafarig fell silent at her proposal, both of them staring at each other as they exchanged a silent message psychically. After a moment, they seemed to nod in agreement, before they both turned to their respective trainers.

"Giraf? Girafarig?" They asked the both of them in sync, requesting to join their team.

With a happy smile on her face, Whitney held out a Pokéball and simply allowed the Girafarig to capture itself. In the corner of her eye, she saw the other Girafarig disappear in the same red light as hers did. Not a second later, the Pokéball snapped shut, marking the success of their latest capture.

It wasn't a Tauros, but Whitney was very happy with her new capture nonetheless. It seems like her luck had returned after all.

The New Normal – 7-8 – The Fairy Reveal

It was the week after the grand reveal of the Grand Fountain Hall when I had received the good news from Oak; it was finally time to reveal the Fairy type to the world.

I had finished up the necessary preparations for to get ready for the reveal. I personally attended many meetings with Mayor Henry to ensure that Mt. Moon would be properly secured. That proved to be far harder than expected; organizing the movements and patrol schedules of an entire city's worth of Jennys and rangers was no easy task.

At least I had my personal authority to make use of to ensure that they actually listened to me.

In the end, I left it to the hands of the professionals, since they were the ones who actually knew what they were doing. They didn't need me interfering and trying to micromanage everyone and screw everything up. Thus, I simply stayed back and asked questions to make sure that, as far as possible, Mt. Moon would be impenetrable to the large majority of the public.

Lance helped out a lot here as well. He finally got back to me a day or two ago with confirmation that he would be able to mobilize additional Jennys and rangers for the security of Mt. Moon. Those were vital in shoring up the weaker areas and also to give the current rotation of Jennys and rangers a chance to take a break every once in a while.

It wasn't the only place that gained additional security, of course, as other known areas with a higher density of Fairy types were similarly protected.

He also, prudently, began drafting up a new law to be implemented as soon as the Fairy type was revealed. The new law was a temporary order to severely increase the financial punishment for trespassing into restricted areas, in hopes of further discouraging the populace from their reckless attempts to catch Pokémon of the new type.

He also informed me that he had already contacted Wallace about the impending reveal so that he wouldn't get blindsided. Wallace had apparently copied Lance's actions, choosing to mobilise the Hoenn police to secure key areas to ensure that the any Fairy ecosystems wouldn't be irrevocably damaged.

But it wasn't all good news, as Lance also delivered a warning to us. He mentioned that the reveal of a type that strongly countered Dragons would be VERY poorly received in Blackthorn, to no one's surprise. He told us that it was fortunate that Oak would be the one doing the reveal, as the elders of the Blackthorn clan probably still respected him too much to publicly gainsay him.

If the reveal had come from a lesser source, like me, there would have been a ton of pushback from the Blackthorn clan and their associated interest groups. Lance himself disapproved of this, but his loyalties were too conflicted to do anything about it.

However, right now, with Oak taking the lead on this, and with a huge number of big names from the scientific community attached to this, Lance expected any pushbacks from the Blackthorns should be far more subtle and less intense than usual. He didn't know what the Blackthorns would do as a result of the reveal, but he told us to expect that there will be many people looking to downplay the power of Fairy types in the future.

After all, for a clan that built its name, reputation, and legacy on the power of Dragon types, the reveal of the Fairy type was a big smack in the face for them. Thus, it was in their interest to maintain the powerful reputation that the Dragon type currently had. At least, that's how Lance justified it.

I was comforted by the fact that looked like Lance had no intention of joining in on their opposition. That saved me a lot of potential headache.

Regardless of the plotting of the salty, the Fairy reveal pushed on. And finally, today was the day that it was going to be revealed to the world.

Professor Oak had done most of the heavy lifting for today. He had reused his previous actions for when he revealed the creation of the Pokédex. So, instead of just publishing everything onto as a scientific article, we were ALSO going to do a simultaneous press statement to properly announce the event to the whole world. He had already made all the arrangements for the press to come to his lab for the interview.

Everyone who had participated in the project would be in attendance, and Oak had ensured that everyone would get a speaking role where we would all get to list our contributions. This was going to be a big thing, and Oak wanted to ensure that everyone got the credit they deserved.

There was also going to be a demonstration, something to visually wow the audience and to showcase the power of Fairy types. The entire reveal was going to be one big spectacle, with all the nitty gritty scientific details relegated to the science forums for more in-depth discussion. Disproving the naysayers came later; today was all about making a big splash.

I wrapped up breakfast and headed off to Professor Oak's lab. The interview was scheduled to be at noon, so we had an hour or two to go through any last-minute preparations. Not that we really had any, everything important had already been pre-discussed over the past week.

As soon as I arrived there, I noticed that the entire lab was empty. In fact, there was even a sign on the door that said that the lab was temporarily closed today and that all workers could enjoy a free day off. How nice of him.

Entering the building, I made my way to Oak's lab where I could hear the distinct sound of chatter leaking through the door. True enough, as soon as I walked in I could see that everyone was already there and that I was last to arrive.

"Oh? Am I late?" I asked as I greeted them, making sure to emphasize my nod to Elm. It was my first time meeting him in person.

"Nah, I just came earlier to speak to Sam about a few things." Blaine replied. "You ready for today?"

I shrugged, "Not much I can do about the preparations now, I just hope I've done enough. The last thing we need is for Mt. Moon and other key locations being overwhelmed by overeager trainers."

"We've done our best. It's now up to the capable hands of the Indigo Police and the rangers. I'm sure they'll have a handle on this." Oak reassured, "Also, John, we really need to get you in a lab coat. It'll be weird if you aren't wearing one."

True enough, I looked around and saw that everyone else but me was donning a lab coat. So yes, it would be very strange if I was the only one not wearing one.

"Mind if I borrow one?" I asked, getting a nod from him as he began to rummage through a spare closet for one my size. Thank Arceus he found one that fit me; I wouldn't want to be showing up to a press conference that would be televised to the whole world with a poor fitting lab coat. That'd just be embarrassing.

"Well glad you boys are busy - I don't really have anything to do on my end." Carolina remarked with a shrug. "Who knew Sinnoh really didn't have a single unique Fairy type?"

"At least you have the Togepi line there." Shelly pointed out, "And who knows? Maybe you'll find one later."

"Does Joseph know about what's going to happen?" I suddenly asked, remembering that Shelly actually had to answer to someone.

Shelly wiggled her hand, "He knows bits and pieces of what we're doing. He knows it's big, but I told him for confidential reasons I wasn't allowed to reveal the full picture to him. But he understands and hasn't been pushing me for anything, which I'm glad for. Although…he's been pretty distracted recently on one of his own projects, so maybe that's why he didn't question me further. He's normally more curious than this."

I gave Shelly an inspecting look. I think I knew what she was referring to for the project that Joseph was working on. Before I left Hoenn, he had told me he was close to finishing off the Fossil machine, so maybe that was close to being done? If so, then it was a very fortuitous timing for such big reveals to be happening back-to-back.

Without any more pressing issues to concern ourselves with, we naturally fell into making comfortable small talk, mostly just catching up with each other and talking about our lives. It was nice that, despite all of us having high positions in society, we were still able to converse about our lives like regular people.

Though considering who I was with, it should have been obvious that the conversation would devolve back into science once again.

"…Think an electric version would work?" I heard Shelly ask Blaine as they both stared at his phone. They were obviously referring to the Magmarizer and their ongoing attempts to create an alternate version.

"Maybe. It wouldn't be easy to harness that much electricity into a small object though…" Blaine muttered. "Damn. If only we had an Electric type specialist that WASN'T Surge. We won't be able to persuade that musclehead to anything for us."

"Would a water version be easier then?" Shelly suggested, but that only caused Blaine to frown.

"Condescending water energy like that is no easy feat either. It took me ages to be able to manipulate that much magma energy into such a small container…" I stepped away from their conversation after that.

"…The Sinnoh League would likely extend an invitation to you if you asked, you know." I heard Carolina speaking to Oak. "Your reputation precedes you even there."

But Oak simply waved her off, "I'm afraid I don't really have the energy to move around so much anymore. My bones just aren't as strong as they used to."

Elm snorted, "You can at least try to think of a better excuse than that. You were always more energetic than I could ever be."

Carolina nodded, "Too right. Or did you forget that we are of similar ages? And yet I can tell that your bones don't even make a sound when you get up. Mine creaks and pops like mad!"

"You're starting to sound like Agatha." He chuckled before their conversation got side-tracked into the discussing struggles of the elderly, which both Elm and I wisely backed away from.

There were somethings I didn't need to know about.

==================

​Carolina had actually kindly brought in some lunch for the five of us, so we dug in as we waited for the interview to begin. Cynthia was a really lucky girl if THIS was the quality of food she got to eat on a daily basis.

No offence mom, but you're being outclassed.

Before long, it was finally noon. With lunch happily consumed and digested, we made sure that we were all presentable before we headed towards the entrance of the lab, where the interview was being hosted.

As soon as we appeared we were bombarded by the signature flashes of cameras as the reporters rushed to take our photo. They didn't know what this was about yet; but considering the people participating they assumed that it must be a big deal. They would soon find out just how big of a deal it was.

Oak took to the stage first, as it should be. He was clearly very experienced in making public statements like this, and his presence dominated over the sea of reporters, causing them to quickly quieten down in anticipation as they waited with baited breath for what Oak was about to say.

"Welcome, one and all, to what I believe will be a historic announcement." He started, speaking slowly to emphasize the gravitas of the situation, "Today, me, and the many fine scientists behind me, have managed to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, a new Type of Pokémon that we have yet to explore."

That got the reporters whispering again, before they all quickly quieted down as Oak silenced them with a wave of his hand.

"To give a little background on the discovery, and how we got here, many weeks ago I was approached by John as he pointed out an observation of his to me. He was fresh off his battle against Bruno, and he had informed me that he had noticed a strange oddity regarding his Clefable." He paused dramatically, as if to build up the tension of the crowd.

It seemed to have worked, as the reporters were all listening intently to his next words, utterly fixated on what he was about to say, "I, of course, eagerly accepted the challenge to discover what caused this unusual interaction. But I did not go about this alone. Besides me, John had brought in the many other brilliant scientific minds that you see behind me to jointly research this unique phenomenon to see what we could learn from it."

"Those of you who have kept a close eye on my activities for the past few weeks know that I have made many acquisitions of a huge variety of Pokémon throughout this time. And that is because the scope of the discovery was so large, the changes it brought so wide spanning, that I had to check through each and every Pokémon to verify what we had found." He explained, his voice rising as the tension built even further.

"But now, with all of our research done and our verifications complete, we can finally announce what the team has been working to prove for the past few weeks. And that is…" He paused once again, as his eyes swept over the audience to make sure that he had their full attention. "…that we have discovered a new Type for Pokémon! What we call…the Fairy type!"

Shocked gasps erupted from the crowd as the Oak's declaration reverberated through them. As soon as they got over their collective shocks, there was a unanimous demand for an explanation of the specific details of the type.

But once again, Oak demonstrated his ability to control the crowd as a quick wave of his hand immediately silenced them all. It was as if he was wrangling them like a shepherd to his flock. Only when silence descended did Oak continue with his explanation.

"I can assure you that everything I say to that has been extensively verified, further details of which can be found in the publication of the article that will be done as soon as this press interview is over." He stated, "However, I think showing off the power of the new Fairy type would be better with a more practical demonstration."

As planned, Oak stepped back from the podium into as he withdrew a Pokéball. Similarly, I stepped to the side as I held out a Premier Ball, waiting to release my Pokémon as planned. The audience instinctively moved backwards as they realized what was about to happen.

"Watch and observe the power of the new type! And this new Eevelution!" Before the crowd could react to that sudden announcement, Oak released his Dragonite as I released Euphie.

His Dragonite emerged onto the scene with an audible thump. Up close like this, I could see the numerous scars that were scattered across its body. Despite not radiating as much raw power as Lance's Emperor, it gave off a very different aura of danger. A danger that was refined and sculpted with years of experience on real battlefields.

This was no celebrity battler, but a real war veteran that had fought for its life in real engagements. Its presence, as it stood there, was both terrifying and awe-inspiring. Lance's Emperor might be the stronger Pokémon, but the experience in this Dragonite's eyes made him the deadlier of the two. Who knew how many fell to its claws?

This was the Pokémon I heard the legends talked about. What this Dragonite managed to accomplish with Oak could be seen as no less than Legendary.

Yet, the audience was more shocked with the unexpected reveal of this new Pokémon. I felt their gaze locking on to Euphie unwaveringly, as if to study every little minor detail of her appearance and movements. Especially since Sylveon was an Eeveelution. All Eeveelutions have been powerful Pokémon that are frequently sought out by competitive battlers looking to dd another strong addition to their team, and this was no different.

"THIS! Is Sylveon!" He declared dramatically, this time shouting over the top of the crowd, "And we will be showing off the Fairy's type most distinctive feature. WATCH!"

"Dragonite, Dragon Pulse."

Unlike Emperor, who made a big show of charging up the beam with a deafening roar, there was hardly a sound that came out from Oak's Dragonite. The beam of draconic energy simply came rushing out, with no posturing or warning whatsoever. If Euphie hadn't been ready for it, she would have easily been taken by surprise.

Not that it would have mattered, considering her typing. With a smile, she simply stood firm to not get pushed back by the inherent force of the attack, but otherwise was practically unaffected by the powerful Draconic beam.

The audience's shock grew as the implications of the performance began to set in. This was no weakling, but a powerful Dragon Pulse from a veteran Dragonite. Trained by the famed Samuel Oak. And this new Fairy type Pokémon was so easily able to shrug it off with ease.

Of course, we were playing it up a bit. Even with Euphie's Fairy typing, getting blasted by a Dragon Pulse by such a powerful Pokémon would still stagger her. But Dragonite had enough control over its Dragon Pulse to make it look like Euphie was simply tanking through it with ease.

"BEHOLD! THE GREATEST STRENGTH OF THE FAIRY TYPE!" Oak stated with his arms outstretched as he played it up for the crowd, "It is a type completely immune to Dragons! Almost completely unaffected by its attacks! And what's more, it's also supereffective AGAINST Dragons as well, making it the ultimate type to counter one of the stronger types in the world!"

The reporters were now frantically writing all of this down, their professionalism barely able to conceal their shock. But amongst the sea of reporters, there were some of them that were visibly frowning at the discovery. I suspected that these were the ones that had tied to Blackthorns.

Well, they could cope and seethe all they liked. They weren't going to change shit.

Not wanting to overshadow the entire message with his Dragonite's presence, Oak quickly returned it to its Pokéball before stepping back from the podium entirely, allowing me to take the stage in his place.

"This was one of the phenomena that I discovered as I had been training up my Clefable, so you can see why I would bring something like this to the attention of Professor Oak." I said rhetorically, "Not only that, but the Fairy type is also resistant towards Dark, Fighting, and Bug type moves. Similarly, it is also supereffective against Dark and Fighting, on top of Dragon. Overall, it is a very versatile type, and more details regarding the Type chart can be found as always in the article that will be published."

The reporters began scribbling everything down once again, with many of them inching to raise their hands and ask us questions, but Blaine stepped up before they could. "Of course, we aren't stupid enough to just test it out on one or two Pokémon. We made sure to expand our test range and identify other Fairy types that were previously hidden amongst the three regions. For instance, in Indigo, Clefairy and its evolution line are all Fairy types, and Jigglypuff and its evolution line are all a hybrid of Normal and Fairy."

Elm went next, "The Fairy type can be trained and raised just like any other type. They don't have any special properties besides the uniqueness of the type, so they can be bred just like usual. So you don't have to try to apply the PIT technique to have the Fairy type apply to your Pokémon. They were already that type."

Shelly stepped forwards after him, "As for Hoenn, those of you may be pleased to hear that the Ralts line through to Gardevoir, which was previously thought to be a purely Psychic type, has been discovered to actually be a hybrid of Psychic and Fairy. And yes, we have tested to make sure that this Fairy typing is not something that is unique to just Indigo, but something that we have overlooked across all regions."

Carolina went up last, "Unfortunately, for those of you who may be viewing this from Sinnoh, or have a deep interest in Sinnoh Pokémon, we have not found a single Fairy type that is unique to the Sinnoh region. The only partial exception to this is Togekiss, which is a Fairy and Flying type just like Togetic. However, we are confident that this simply means that there may be more Pokémon in Sinnoh that we have yet to discover that may indeed be a Fairy type, and we're very interested into being able to look into it further."

Oak stepped up to finish things off, "Accordingly, the Pokédex will be updated to reflect these changes and discoveries. Truthfully, though my colleagues disagree with me on this, one of the things that we discussed was WHY we had missed such a momentous aspect of these Pokémon for so long."

That brought up a few questioning whispers from the audience as they began to consider the question. And it was a valid question.

Oak continued before they broke out into hushed discussions, "I believe that, part of the reason why we had missed this was because of an overreliance on the Pokédex, and the submissions provided within. Unfortunately, I must share some of the blame with this, as I may have missed out on such a type during the creation of the first addition of the Pokédex, leading to many others overlooking it as they simply assumed that the information that was provided by the Pokédex was correct."

"Yet now, I hope that mistake will be corrected." He said, heavily emphasizing the final word. "And, while this may be an arrogant statement of me to make, but if this mistake really was the case, then I can only apologize for my failure to check things through. Either way, we can now move on to the questions."

The horde of reporters immediately erupted, with many trying to shove their microphones at the patiently waiting Oak. Others, perhaps more cunningly, were trying to sneak an interview with the remaining four of us to try to get a comment on something. We were all experienced enough to refuse any of these attempts.

In the meanwhile, Oak was handling the bulk of the questions with incredible patience, despite the mundanity and drama-seeking nature of most of the questions. The reporters were all trying to find good quotes that they could use for their next big headline.

And it was undoubtedly going to be a big one.

Oak spent some time answering some questions, before eventually wrapping up the interview and thanking them all for coming. He gave another reminder that a more detailed version of everything that we mentioned here could be found in the article that we will be publishing.

And with that, the interview came to an end. The whole world suddenly knew about this new type that had been previously overlooked by everyone. And I knew what they were likely thinking about.

How would the revelation of the Fairy type affect the world?