230-234

The New Normal – 11-2 – Interlude – Whitney

Even though Whitney would have liked to spend more time with her parents and brother, she knew that they had their own things to do and wouldn't have time to play around with her.

A few years ago, she would have been sad about that. But now she had her own responsibilities and duties that she had to attend to, so now she could understand why they had to do the things they did. She herself had to return to the Saffron Gym to continue her duties as a Gym Trainer – asking for a holiday on such short notice was already taking advantage of their generosity.

So even though she had to return to Indigo alone, Whitney was filled with happy thoughts. Her parents were over the moon about their latest expansion into Mauville, and her brother had won a big victory that he completely deserved.

It was nice to see her family doing so well.

Therefore, after a day's journey on ship, she made her return to the Saffron Gym and resumed her duties there. Sabrina was quick to approach her upon her arrival.

"Welcome back." Her best friend smiled, "How was it?"

"You should've come!" She grinned, "Watching the match in person was so much better than when we watched everything on our phones! It's sad you weren't there!"

"Mother needed me here." Sabrina replied, "She had things to teach me."

Whitney nodded. She knew that Sabrina, like Janine, had already begun learning how to become an effective Gym Leader like her parents. The extra lessons did limit the time they were able to hang out together, but they always made time to train together.

Speaking of training together, "So how was my Girafarig? Did you guys get along?" Whitney had left her Girafarig with Sabrina while she headed to Hoenn so that it could train together more with Sabrina's Girafarig. Ever since she started working at the Saffron Gym, Whitney had been trying to develop its Psychic skills – especially after seeing the real potential of Psychic types while working as a Gym Trainer in a Psychic Gym.

"Of course we did." Sabrina replied, "And your Girafarig is making fast progress, if a little slower than my own. But yours seems to have far more stamina than mine. Either way, I think they're close in terms of strength. They both have grown a lot since we first caught them."

Whitney smiled, "That's good. Do you have time now? I want to see how they're progressing." Sabrina nodded, and the two of them walked over to the training fields where their Girafarig were already there practicing.

The two Pokémon had their eyes shut as a faint pink aura surrounded their whole body. But what they were really trying to accomplish was that they were trying to channel Psychic power with their tails.

This was something that Sabrina had pointed out to her some time ago. During one of their training sessions, Sabrina had identified that she could sense a faint hum of Psychic power radiating out from their tails. That wasn't too unusual, since it had been common knowledge that Girafarig's tail had a mind of its own and could act independently of the rest of the body.

But this led both Sabrina and Whitney to speculate that it might be possible for its head to fire off its own attacks as well.

They theorised that if they could train up the tail to also be able to attack, then that would suddenly add a whole new way for their Girafarig to fight back. It would allow them to fire attacks WHILE retreating, and could land follow-up attacks that their enemies wouldn't expect. In summary, they believed that it would make both their Girafarig a lot more powerful if and when they mastered this.

It was because of this that they both decided to dedicate a majority of their training time to have their Girafarig practice channelling Psychic power with their tails. It was a slow process – it clearly wasn't easy for them to do this, but since neither of their Girafarig noted any discomfort (in fact, the opposite was true), they both felt that this was definitely the way forward to forging a powerful Pokémon.

And now, after several long weeks of determined focus and lots of practice, she could see that they were both close to mastering this. It helped that by working together, they were able to learn from each other's mistakes and accelerate the process even further. Like Sabrina said earlier, they seemed to be close to mastering this.

"Giraf!" Then suddenly, Sabrina's Girafarig cried out as its tail began glowing a bright pink, humming with Psychic power.

Whitney was about to shout out her congratulations before the impossible happened – a blinding white light exploded out from Sabrina's Girafarig.

She shielded her eyes from the bright rays of light that suddenly flooded the training fields, but inwardly she was filled with shock. What was happening here?! Since when did a Girafarig have an evolution!?

Moments later, as the dazzling white light faded away, the training fields were silent as they all stared in awe at the newly evolved Pokémon that had appeared in front of them. It was more than double the height of her own Girafarig, and it literally towered over everyone there.

"Farig! Farigiraf!!" Sabrina's newly evolved Farigiraf called out in excitement and pride. Outside of its height, even Whitney could feel the thrum of Psychic power that radiated out of it.

Whitney lost the ability to speak for a moment as she just stared at Farigarif with shocked silence, still unable to fully process the fact that they had just discovered a new evolution.

THEY DISCOVERED A NEW EVOLUTION!?!

It was only the calming pat on the shoulders from Sabrina that had allowed her to regather her thoughts. She turned to Sabrina and found her looking as calm as ever, yet the slightly hurried movements betrayed her hidden surprise at what they had just discovered.

"We need to do some testing." Her friend said, her voice not sounding nearly as calm as she usually did, "I will tell mother, you stay here and help observe its new power level of this 'Farigarif'. I suspect we will be very pleased with what we find."

Whitney was about to nod her head when she saw Farigiraf suddenly lower its long neck towards her own Girafarig. They both had their eyes closed as a small link of Psychic power flowed from Sabrina's Pokémon into hers.

She watched slowly as the small orb of Psychic energy moved through her Girafarig, guided by the minds of both Pokémon, and slowly entered into its tail. Moments later, her own Girafarig's tail was shining with Psychic power.

And then the world exploded with light once more.

While Whitney was forced to shield her eyes once again, mentally she had shut down. She had no idea what was happening anymore. All she knew was that they had just accomplished two back-to-back evolutions that hadn't been discovered before.

She was so glad that Sabrina would be dealing with this with her. She wouldn't have a clue about how to handle this.

The New Normal – 11-3 – Back to Sinnoh

My stay in Hoenn ended up being wrapped up pretty quickly. I barely had half a day to reorganise my things before Lance told me that a ship would be waiting for us at Ever Grande City to set off for Sinnoh early in the morning.

Whitney had left earlier, so I ended up saying goodbye to my parents before I made my way to Ever Grande City with Karen. She had booked a ship home that was departing around the same time as ours, which was why we headed there together.

"This might be presumptuous of me, but do you have plans for after you win the Indigo Conference?" I had asked her as we ate breakfast at a café near the docks. We had arrived a little too early.

"I appreciate the vote of confidence." She chuckled, "As for my plans...you'll have to see. I think you'll be quite surprised."

I looked at her strangely, "Weren't you going to be challenging Will? I thought that was what you and Agatha had planned for."

"That was what we had planned for." Karen nodded, "But things changed. I realised that I needed to do more to prove myself, to show the world that I'm not just following in Agatha's footsteps. I need to show them that I can and will surpass her in my own way."

The way she spoke made me realise something, and my eyes widened.

"…Don't tell me you're planning on challenging Agatha? That's—" I was about to say more, but she interrupted me.

"Yes." She confirmed, "Like I said, it's something that would do wonders for my reputation. It's not going to be an easy fight to win, but I've been feeling especially determined recently. Perhaps it's after watching you and Cynthia show up the world like that." She grinned at me.

"Besides, there's another reason I want to fight the old hag." She continued, before dropping her voice into a whisper, "…I don't want her to be in the Elite Four anymore. Not because I think she's too weak for it or because she doesn't deserve to be there, but because I don't want to her health to worsen by stressing over the responsibilities of her position."

"At the same time, I know Agatha is someone who would cling on to the position stubbornly, refusing to give it up even if it does her more harm than good." She frowned, "But this way, if I'm the one overthrowing her, I think she'll accept it and finally give her time to rest. She's old, and yet she still refuses to retire because she doesn't want her precious Lavender Town to 'lose her protection'. My victory, if I manage it, will allow her to finally retire and receive the rest she deserves."

"I'll prove to her that she can leave things to me."

I smiled. That was a good reason to fight Agatha. I knew that, more than the boost to her reputation, wanting the person that raised her to finally be able to rest was the reason that resonated most with Karen.

With that in mind, I could rest assured that Karen's heart was in the right place, and that she would be able to muster up her full determination to win against Agatha.

She was going to need it. Agatha was a much more difficult opponent than Will.

We wrapped up our breakfasts soon after that and Karen left for her ship first, leaving me alone and waiting for my colleagues to arrive. I didn't have to wait long though, as I found the huge procession of the League suddenly storming their way onto the docks.

And in the front of that group were the people that I wanted to see. Lorelei, Drake, Lance, Wallace, and Cynthia were all headed my way.

A smile immediately appeared on my face as soon as I saw my girlfriend, and I didn't hesitate to take her hands into mine as she approached. The reporters that had followed the group instantly began taking pictures of this open display of affection, but we didn't need to hide ourselves any more.

Our relationship was public knowledge. And I couldn't be any more happier about not needing to sneak around anymore.

"…Good to see you here." I said softly, then I frowned when I saw the bags under her eyes, "It looks like you had a busy night."

"I did, sorry for not calling." She replied, "It's hard to coordinate things when you're not there in person. I'll be glad when I get back to Sinnoh."

"—Sorry to cut the two of you off, but we need to get moving." Wallace suddenly approached from behind, "The ships are about to leave."

The two of us nodded and followed after him, where we rejoined all of the other members of the League. Not all of us would be leaving for Sinnoh; Lance and Wallace were both going to remain behind for certain discussions.

So that left me, Cynthia, Drake, and Lorelei to be the ones leaving, not counting all the other officials and assistants that would accompany us.

Our pictures were taken a few times, and there were some boilerplate speeches about the benefits of working together and how we would going to help facilitate the continued prospect of Sinnoh and all other kinds of supportive words. Then we were off.

As the boat set off, I naturally joined Cynthia on the deck of the ship just so I could spend more time with her. Even though there might be further opportunities for us to spend time together in Sinnoh, even despite our duties, I was just relishing in the opportunity now that we no longer had to hide our relationship with each other.

And I knew she was going through some stressful times at the moment, so I felt I should do my duty as her boyfriend to help keep her mind off things.

Therefore, after a little cajoling, the two of just ended up sitting together on one of the lounging chairs on the deck of the ship, simply lying next to each other as we enjoyed each other's presence and chatted idly about a whole host of random topics.

Of course, our public display of affection drew some attention, but they were borne out of curiosity rather than anything else. Either way, we did our best to ignore them.

"Let them stare." Cynthia had whispered to me when I asked if she minded, "If this ends up hurting our reputation, then we simply have to fight to earn it back. Now that we've gone public, there's no need for us to hide our actions anymore. In fact, we might be able to win a few of them over like this. It humanises us."

"Or do you not like snuggling against me?" She pouted to me, and my response was to give her a light noogie, getting a shocked laugh from her. I then wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer against me in apology, which she gracefully accepted.

"…So how did the grand opening at Mauville go?" She asked me as she rested her head on my shoulder, "I feel bad for missing it."

"Don't worry about it, you were busy enough anyways." I waved her off, "Besides, we had a huge crowd anyways thanks to Steven and Bruno attending. I think if you came as well then the audience might have gotten too starstruck."

"There is such thing as too much of a good thing." Cynthia nodded wisely.

"…Hmm, did you know that I had once thought of opening a business?" She told me.

"Really?" I looked at her curiously, "What did you want to do?"

"Oh I never intended to run a business full-time; my passions were always towards the sciences rather than business." She said, "But I've always been interested in running an ice cream shop."

That was so absurd that I couldn't help but break out into a laugh, "An ice cream shop?! What?"

She grinned, "You know I love ice cream. So I just thought – if I liked eating it so much, why don't I just create my own?"

"To be fair, it was never a very serious idea." She admitted, "Just something that I like to think about from time to time."

"You must really love ice cream then." I smiled. That was so cute of her.

"Of course. Ice cream is the greatest dessert in the world." She declared passionately, "And I will fight you if you say otherwise."

"Hey, I didn't say anything." I put my hands up playfully, "I enjoy a good ice cream myself."

Then I had a thought, "You know, my parents are looking to expand into more milk-adjacent products. Ice cream could be one of them. Plus, we did just open a drinks shop in Mauville. I don't see why we couldn't open a specialty ice cream brand–"

"YOU MUST TELL ME IF YOU DO." Cynthia's eyes were SHINING as she shoved her face into mine, her face warped into one of almost crazed intensity, "I WILL be designing a flavour."

Then as she realised how close she was to me, she coughed and pulled back. Her face was tinged with a hint of red, "That is, if you don't mind. We might be dating, but I don't want to pull rank and demand you make something for me. I just would really appreciate it."

I burst out into genuine laughter, "You don't have to be shy about it. If ice cream is something that my parents do decide to expand into, I promise that you'll be the first to know. And yes, I'll ask if you can design a custom flavour."

She squealed with excitement and kissed me on the cheek, "That would be incredible! And I automatically volunteer my services as a taste tester if you need one."

I ended up laughing again as I returned her kiss with a peck on the lips as we both returned to a comfortable silence, the two of us just staring at the beautiful waves and the Pokémon that swam around within it. For a moment, the two of us forgot about our broader worries as we simply enjoyed the view around us.

I didn't know how long we stayed like that for, but the two of us ended up falling asleep with our heads resting on each other's shoulders.

We probably would have stayed like that if someone hadn't placed down two plates of food in front of us.

"Hm?" I rubbed my eyes as I yawned, carefully stretching my arms so I wouldn't hit Cynthia in the face. My moving around ended up waking her too, and the two of us both shared another yawn as we slowly reawakened. The sun had already turned orange.

How long did we sleep for?

"Sorry for waking you." A voice suddenly made me remember that someone had woken us up, and I turned to see the apologetic look on Lorelei's face, "I just thought you guys might be hungry so I ended up getting you some food. I didn't mean to wake you both up. You looked very cute together."

"No, it's okay. We appreciate it." I said for the two of us, reaching for the plates and passing one to Cynthia, "Especially since you got us some food. I didn't realise how hungry I was until I saw the food in front of me."

"Tell me about it, I skipped breakfast this morning because I was too busy to find time for it." Cynthia groaned as she quickly took a bite out the sandwich that Lorelei had brought, "Seriously, thanks for this. You're the best."

And then Cynthia demonstrated just how famished she was by devouring that sandwich in a few bites. I ate it at a more leisurely pace as I struck up a conversation with Lorelei.

"So, any thoughts about your work in in Sinnoh?" I asked her, "And I thought you would be going with the rest of your auditing team. Where are they?"

"We'll be meeting up together in Sinnoh. They're also heading there now from Indigo." She told me, "Truth be told, I'm equal parts nervous and excited. Excited, because this is my big chance to really prove my political chops to the world and actually make a difference. Which is also why I'm nervous."

"Understandable. Big opportunities are often accompanied by an equal amounts of stress." Cynthia said after swallowing her sandwich, "The most important thing to do is to not look nervous."

"Is that what you do? Just keep everything hidden?" Lorelei questioned.

She nodded, "Of course – or did you think I was someone who never got nervous?" She chuckled, "I get nervous just like every other person. But if you keep a confident face, then eventually you'll trick yourself into actually being confident."

"And think of it this way. You can't let your nervousness overwhelm you when you have a goal to achieve." Cynthia continued, "Like you said, this trip to Sinnoh is a big opportunity for you to prove yourself. So don't worry about failing. Focus on your goals and do your utmost to succeed and you'll find that the rewards will come quickly."

"Thank you, Drake said something similar to me when I talked to him earlier." Lorelei replied, "Although his advice was a lot more…crass."

"Where is Drake?" I asked while looking around, "I haven't seen him since we boarded."

"He was looking for the two of you but decided against it when he found you flirting together." Lorelei chuckled, "I think he's currently getting some rest."

Oops. Didn't mean to ignore him like that.

"Ah damn, I guess I'll just speak to him more when we arrive in Sinnoh." I said instead, "Also, Lorelei, don't forget that you're free to call me any time if you need help with anything while you're there in Sinnoh. I don't want to muscle in on your authority, but I'll be there if you need help."

"And I appreciate it, John." She responded, "But I'll do my best to not require your assistance."

"Though I actually do have a question of my own." Lorelei said as she turned to Cynthia, "I wanted to ask about my uncle."

"Pryce? What about him?" Cynthia asked curiously.

"How was his strength? You just faced him in a battle, which is a lot different from just watching him fight. In your opinion, has he deteriorated as much as the news and the public have claimed?" Lorelei questioned, "Don't get me wrong. The man is an ass, but he gives occasionally good advice. I just wanted a frame of reference from a third party regarding his strength."

I leaned forwards at her question. I was also interested in hearing this.

"Well I only fought his starter, so I don't have an accurate assessment on his whole team, but…" Cynthia tapped her chin, "He's certainly not as weak as the rumours make him out to be. Anyone who watched that fight could see that he was far beyond the level of a mere Gym Leader, and was easily a match for most Elite Four members and their starters."

"However, because I only fought one of his Pokémon, I can't tell how well his team works in a 6v6." Cynthia commented, "I just know that his Mamoswine would be a match for even a Champion's non-starter Pokémon. It's a powerful Pokémon, and shouldn't be underestimated."

"Your Garchomp was able to run circles around it, though." Lorelei pointed out. "From my perspective it looked like you completely outclassed it despite the massive Type weakness you have."

Cynthia snorted, "Don't take this the wrong way, but if my Garchomp would fall so easily then I wouldn't be Champion." I nodded at her words, "While my Garchomp may not be a match for Lance's Dragonite or John's Slaking in terms of raw strength, her speed and discipline more than makes up for that."

"Speaking of, we should really find a time to fight again." I said to Cynthia, "I'd love to see how my stronger Pokémon match up against yours."

She rolled her eyes, "Please spare my pride. If you sent out Tyrant I'd lose. I'm not ready for him yet."

"Then we can try with my other Pokémon. I'd want to see how well my Ursaluna could match up against your Garchomp, for example." I said.

"That would be a good test." Cynthia agreed, "Fine, we'll try to make some time for it in the future. And I was kidding about Tyrant by the way. I'd still want to challenge him with my Garchomp and see how well I'd fare against him, even if I know my defeat is certain."

"We'll see when we find the time for it." I grinned, excitement visible in my eyes, "Things will be different to our first battle."

"Speaking of finding the time for things, what are you and Drake planning to do while you're in Sinnoh anyways?" Lorelei asked, "I know you're going over there as a show of force, but then Lance said that you're free to do whatever unless you're called upon. So what are your plans?"

"I wanted to take him cave diving." I answered, "Not only do I really want to share just how cool it is, I'd figure that someone like Drake, who I know must love exploring, would find going deep into caves to be right up his alley."

"Plus, Cynthia had told me that they wanted to head deeper into the caves, and who better to bring along than someone as strong as Drake?" I said rhetorically, "It's just a shame that you can't join us, Cynthia. The three of us would be unstoppable."

"I just don't think I'll have the time for it." She shook her head, "I'd love to join you otherwise."

"I see…well surely cave diving isn't ALL you're going to do there." Lorelei pointed out, "Sure, I know it was originally meant to be your vacation, but still…"

"I'll help out with law enforcement work if need be. I'm always happy to tear down a few criminals from time to time." I smiled again, but this one lacked any humour, "Not to sound arrogant, but Drake and I are both quite experienced at raiding criminals at this point. So we'll be around if you call on us."

In fact, more than the cave diving, I was really hoping that we could secure some solid information to perform raids in. Even though I was excited about discovering more about the secrets that were lurking in the caves of Sinnoh, I still prioritised bringing down these terrorists more than anything else.

"Not to worry, John. I'm sure Lorelei and I will do everything we can to uncover where these terrorists are hiding." Cynthia spoke up, "My predecessor might have slacked off on his duties, but I will not do the same. There's a lot of work to be done, but I swear that Sinnoh will be terrorist-free." Lorelei nodded along in agreement.

That was the promise I wanted to hear. I trusted them to unravel the veil of public opinion that Team Galactic hid behind.

The three of us moved on to more idle topics after that, until Lorelei eventually left Cynthia and I by ourselves once again. Not that we minded, of course, and we spent the rest of the trip once again enjoying each other's presence before we were going to get busy again.

However, despite both of us not wanting this moment to end, it had to. And, before we knew it, we had arrived in Sinnoh. There was a small welcoming party for us, but no one really bothered to entertain them as both Cynthia and Lorelei, and their respective assistants, rushed off the ship and quickly got to work.

They both had a lot of work on their plates. I wished them all the best.

In the meanwhile, Drake and I exited the ship at a more sedate pace. Drake was looking around with an excited gleam in his eyes as he took in his surroundings.

"I remember visiting Indigo for the first time all that time ago. I was a whole lot younger then." He reminisced, "But the feelings of excitement and wonder never really goes away. I really should have come here earlier. No wonder Phoebe was boasting about how cool it all was."

"I felt the same way." I agreed, "Anyways, do you have anything you want to do first? Or should we head straight to Celestic Town?"

"Let's head straight there. I'm fucking tired." He groaned.

I looked at him strangely, "Tired? Doing what? Weren't you asleep this whole time? That's what Lorelei said."

He grinned, "She bought that dumb fucking excuse? HAH! No I didn't go to bed. I'm old, but I don't need my fucking beauty sleep like the others."

He shook his head, "No, I was busy diving underwater with my Pokémon."

I had a spit-take, "You did what?!"

He shrugged shamelessly, "Yeah, decided the ship was going too fucking slow for my liking and I was bored to death sitting on the ship with nothing to do. I didn't want to disturb you and Cynthia since you seemed so happy together, so I decided to make my own fun."

A chuckle escaped him, "The League officials tried to stop me, of course, but I just told them to fuck off. I know my way around the waves."

I blinked, that was a very Drake answer. "I see…and did you find anything interesting?"

He scoffed, "'Course not. I was just diving around to kill time. I wasn't trying to find some underwater ruins or anything. Though Arceus does swimming around by yourself really put into perspective how fucking slow the ship is. I swear we need to have faster fucking ships. It's intolerable."

Or maybe it was just you, Drake.

The man continued to grumble as we saddled up and made our way to Celestic Town, though he quickly silenced as he took in the view of Sinnoh, as awed as I was when I first came here.

It didn't take too long for us to arrive there, and we were greeting with a few familiar faces as soon as we landed. Before long, we were both escorted back to the Celestic Town Research Centre, where I was informed that they had already prepared my old room for me to stay.

As I entered into my old room, there was only one thing on my mind.

I was back at last.

The New Normal – 11-4 – A Rematch

It was already the evening when the two of us arrived in Celestic Town, so Drake made the executive decision to rest for the remainder of the day because of how tired he was. So finding myself alone, I spent the evening catching up with a few people that I remembered from my time here and asking about how they were doing.

More specifically, I was hoping to scope out how they felt for Cynthia and her new ascension as Champion, as well as my newly announced relationship with her.

"To be honest sir, most of us expected to see it." One of the scientists told me while we ate dinner in the canteen, "I think it was pretty clear that you guys were being more than friendly with each other."

"Yeah, we've known Cynthia for quite a while – I myself have worked here for over a decade, so we could tell she was acting differently around you." Another said to me, "I don't think you were surprising anyone with that announcement. Not here at least."

"So you guys have no thoughts or comments at all…?" I asked.

"Eh, we're probably not the best group to ask – biased as we are toward Cynthia, but we know you aren't the type to take advantage of a relationship or forget your duties because of it." They waved me off, "And besides, Cynthia has proven time and time again that she has the strength to become Champion. That's all that mattered in the end."

I nodded. In such a strength-based society, where showing that you had the martial might to hold your position was a very important factor for your popularity, many things could indeed be overlooked so long as you possessed the strength to back yourself up.

"And how has she been handling things in your opinion?" I continued to ask, "I just wanted to hear the changes she's implemented from you guys."

"I think she represents, in a good way, the change and reform that Sinnoh is currently going through." One of them answered, "She's tearing down a lot of the old policies that created the stagnancy that the traditionalists loved to enforce. And I don't think anyone here really blames her for the breakout of crime. That's clearly a problem that remained from the old administration, and her response to it proves that she's alert and on top of things."

"I believe that this is going to be her first major test." Another responded, "Since she's now working with many international actors to deal with this domestic threat, many people are going to be watching carefully to see just how she can handle all that has suddenly fallen on her lap. Will she be able to curb the criminal threat before it gets any worse? Will she fumble with international relations and set back all of the progress Sinnoh has made in recent times? Those are the questions that her critics will be looking to answer."

I nodded understandingly. Cynthia had momentum on her side with her clean victory over the Elite Four, and I believed her showing in the Tournament would have drawn no criticism either, but she was still very new to her position. Doing well here would solidify her reputation for the years to come, and floundering would only empower her critics.

That didn't mean that there were no second chances available – she was still very new and her personal strength couldn't be contested, but it would just make things much harder for her.

I was confident it wouldn't come to that, but I vowed to help her when and where I could.

"Anyways, John, how's your new Zoroark treating you?" A scientist asked me, changing the topic, "You know that we never managed to find that weird Sneasel evolution that escaped us that last time."

"Yeah, Cynthia did mention that to me." I replied, "Sorry to hear that. I would have loved to have caught it at the time."

"And speaking of my Zoroark, did you not see his performance against Agatha?" I smirked, " He did his team proud with that trick." That got a few chuckles from the group.

"Don't worry about it, we appreciated that you prioritized getting us out of there over some discovery." He said easily, "And besides, now that both Drake and you are both here again, maybe we can have the strength to make it further down? We've been told that he was interested in joining us."

"I certainly hope so." I grinned, "I've been itching for a good cave dive ever since I left Sinnoh. It's really an exciting thing."

"Speaking of which, Cynthia said you were planning on going on another big expedition soon." I mentioned, "Has it already been planned?"

"That's correct." The same man replied, "We've scheduled it to place a few days from now, since we wanted to work around when you'd arrive. We are doing all the last minute preparations now."

"That does mean that we'll have to get Drake some practice runs first." Another pointed out, "It'd be dangerous and unwise for us to bring him so far down when he has yet to adapt to the cave systems of Sinnoh. Even for a trainer as experienced as him, it IS a dangerous place and not for the uninitiated."

I nodded, "That's a good point, I'll make sure to bring it up with him so he can get some practice in. Though I wouldn't worry too much about Drake – despite his old age, he's quite adept at throwing himself into danger and getting out in one piece. I'm sure he'll do just fine."

"We'll have someone ready to escort and teach him the basics tomorrow." One confirmed, "I assume you have your own duties, so just let us know when he's free and we'll be happy to assist."

I thanked him for his help and our conversation continued like that into the night, before we eventually had to wrap things up as I went to bed early to get a good night's rest.

Early the next morning, I decided my itinerary for the day with Drake. We both agreed that it would be important for us to 'wave the flag', so we would both be showing up at the Sinnoh League as a display of support as well as to offer our help if they needed it.

I was also hoping to see if I could 'nudge' the analysts into looking in the right direction so that I could potentially save them some time.

After that, if they didn't need us for anything else, then Drake was going to be cave diving to get used to things ahead of our large expedition. I offered to go with him, but Drake said that he'd just head down with an escort as to not waste my time. I knew better than to try to argue against Drake's stubbornness, so I just told him to have fun. I had other plans that I could potentially handle. Chief among them was Pryce's request to catch an Ice type for Lorelei.

It wouldn't be impossible for Lorelei to catch her own Ice type now that she was here in Sinnoh as well, so I wanted to make sure whatever I got would be rare enough to satisfy Pryce. Just catching some random Snover wouldn't do, as it was likely something .0that she could easily catch her own.

I'd have to see if I could stumble into something truly rare.

Of course, after we finished off our breakfasts and began making our way to the Sinnoh League building, that was when I was hit by something that almost made me stood up while I was flying on Port.

My sister had sent me a message with a picture, showing herself and Sabrina standing next to a pair of Firagaraf.

"Look at what we discovered together! It's called a Farigiraf!" She had texted.

As soon as I saw the text message, my first thought was one of utter bewilderment – how the fuck did they manage that? Even though I had hinted towards this in the past, I didn't expect them to actually manage to discover the evolution so quickly. I thought it would take much longer than that, especially since I didn't actually know the specific method that would allow a Girafarig to evolve into a Farigiraf. Perhaps the mutual synergy between Sabrina and Whitney was more potent than I expected.

Well, I wasn't going to complain. And I immediately focused on what was more important. Which was on congratulating my sister.

"Congrats, sis! When did you manage this?" I asked her.

"Just yesterday. Sabie and I were both really surprised! We had NO idea it was going to happen!" She said.

"Did you already reveal the discovery to the public?" That was the most important question. I was obviously happy for her – this discovery was huge for the both of them. But at the same time, I was worried about the undue attention she might receive if she had. Luckily, her next text resolved my worries.

"No, Sabie's mom told us to wait for a moment while we confirm everything. She said not to rush through things." She replied, and I inwardly let out a sigh of relief. Thank Arceus that Katrina was there to step in.

"Did she tell you what to do next? And what you should expect when you publish this?" I texted back.

"Mhm. She warned us that the attention we get is not going to be all good. Also, because I'm just some Gym Trainer, they'll think that Sabrina did most of the work and I only coincidentally helped out." My sister said, "Also, she said that we might get many very stubborn scientists that will try to bother us just to get a better look at our new Pokémon."

"But don't worry bro, I'm safe while I'm at the Gym!" She continued, "We're just going to wait for Gym Leader Samson to return before making the announcement so that we can make a proper announcement about it. Then they'll keep out any nosy reporters from the Gym afterwards so I'll be safe."

I nodded. That was about how I would handle it too. I saw no problems with the way that they'll be announcing the new evolutions, and I said as much to my sister.

Still, I couldn't help but think of the consequences about this evolution, both good and bad. Ultimately, I was proud of Whitney and Sabrina for making this discovery. For all the undue attention they might get, this was undoubtedly a large feather in their cap that would really help them establish a proper reputation for themselves.

Coupled with their already impressive achievement of earning all 8-badges at such a young age, and their own connections, this gave them a solid foundation for them to really kick off their careers in the future.

I had to put that thought aside for the time being as we arrived at the Sinnoh League building, and Drake and I dismounted to the flashing of cameras from the group of reporters that had been waiting around the building. Evidently they had figured out that our arrival meant that something was happening, and wanted to get good shots for their headlines.

We quickly made our way into the building and were escorted to a large meeting room. Inside, there were a few members of the International Police and a few investigators from Sinnoh all working together. Lorelei and Lucian stood by to supervise them, though they both greeted us with small nods as we entered.

"How's everything going?" I asked the two of them, "Need any help from us?"

"Not at the moment." Lorelei shook her head, "We just had a briefing earlier this morning where we got a rundown of our duties and what we need to be investigating. We're going to be working together with the Sinnoh League to avoid any authority issues from cropping up."

"And we're deeply appreciative of the extra manpower." Lucian added, "It will save us a lot of valuable time to have extra eyes taking a look at everything. Especially with the very real threat of spies within our midst, having a 'neutral' third party is very helpful."

"Bah, I'm not good at all this numbers stuff." Drake scoffed, "Just point me at a threat and I'll take care of it. Isn't that right, John? It'd just be like old times."

I chuckled, "Yes, it will be. But this time, they won't get away from us." Things were going to end here in Sinnoh. I vowed that this would be the end of the line for them.

"Damn straight." Drake growled.

I turned back to Lorelei, "So are you all investigating the bigger businesses right now?" I asked.

"Yes, since we've narrowed them down to be the most likely culprits." Lorelei confirmed.

"We're starting from the top, mainly because the larger companies have the most paperwork to look at." Lucian said, gesturing to the paperwork scattered around the table and my eyes followed after him.

"…Is this the Galactic Company's paperwork?" I questioned.

"Yes, we've decided to start with them first." Lucian nodded, "There's been some public pressure from the big companies who are claiming that this audit is an overreach of our authority, so another reason we're starting from the top is to clear the names of the big companies first before they make a bigger fuss."

"Hmph. Corporations and their fucking greed." Drake grumbled, "Good on you for not bowing to public pressure. Damn them and their interference. We know there's a threat there, so they should be dealt with."

Well that was just perfect. I didn't even need to say anything and they were already on the right track, "Then I wish you all the best of luck."

Drake and I moved to leave the base, but that was when both of our phones started ringing in sync. We picked up and saw it was Aaron.

"Drake, John. Do you have a moment?" He quickly asked.

"What's the matter, son?" Drake answered, "We have time."

"Our recent arrests have just revealed that the terrorists have a small base of operations located in Floaroma Town, near Valley Windworks." He revealed, "Cynthia asked me to call you to see if you'd like to join in. It would be a good PR move to have a 'big success' just as you arrived, especially with the Sinnoh Conference running concurrently."

"So we're going to be puppets on a stage eh?" Drake replied, then grinned, "Not that I mind. I'll give your Champion her headline. Are you coming, John?"

"Absolutely. Just point us where to go." I nodded.

"Good. Then I'll meet up you guys there." Aaron said, "And remember, try to minimize collateral damage. We want this to be as clean as possible."

I shot Drake a look. It wasn't me that he had to worry about.

=========

​(Galactic Grunt POV)

She slammed down the phone in a rush as she shot out of her seat. Their brave informants had just informed them that the unenlightened were on their way here to disrupt their important duties.

Didn't they understand? They needed to be here to be able to obtain the vast sums of electricity from Valley Windworks in order for them to save the world. She didn't know which traitor ratted them out to the unenlightened, but she would do her duty to see the traitor punished for betraying the formation of a true utopia.

That was for later though, as she yelled out to her fellow members that a raid was imminent. Ever since the foul corruptors had begun ambushing their fellow members, it had caused further delays that was hindering their ability to create the utopia that the world deserved. With their loyal members being captured, they were all sent new orders to be ready in case of a raid.

Once a raid was imminent, they were to burn and destroy everything before the unenlightened could get their blasphemous hands on them. They would not allow the unenlightened to undo all of their hard work due to their ignorance and blindness.

That was why she was in the basement, making sure to destroy all of the files they had about their plans for Valley Windworks.

However, there was also an additional order. One that they all initially struggled to accept but bowed to the necessity of it for the greater good. In the case of a raid, their priority was not to escape. Unfortunately, their leaders had wisely realized that the chance of a successful escape was low, and the risk of an escapee accidentally revealing further hideouts was a real risk.

Therefore, they were instead ordered to create as much chaos as possible to discredit the reputation of the Sinnoh police as far as possible.

Their leaders had deemed the new Champion to be a willful participant of the stagnation and corruption that had infested their current world, and a woman stubborn enough to not be able to see the truth – to deny the paradise that they all deserved to enjoy. The public must be shown that the Sinnoh police were not to be trusted; they were merely the tools of the oppressors that blindly and ignorantly held them back from creating a perfect utopia.

The sound of a door being ripped off its henges brought her out of her thoughts, and she was immediately bombarded by the screaming sounds of battle echoing around her. Realizing that there was no more time to waste, she had her Pokémon speed up the destruction of files so that there would be nothing for the unenlightened to find.

After a few more seconds, and seeing that there was nothing left in the room but ash, she ran up to where the battle was taking place.

As she ran up the stairs, she prayed to their boss. If she were to fall here, then she prayed that her life would have purpose – that her sacrifice would be used to create another footstep for the creation of their paradise.

Her purpose now fortified, her Skuntank rushed into the fight, ambushing a Luxray that had been distracted with her colleagues' Purugly. A surprise Night Slash from her Skuntank staggered the Luxray just long enough for Purugly to hit it with a powerful Body Slam, sending the Luxray out of the fight.

That was when a Scizor suddenly dove in like a blur and slammed the Purugly into the ground, dragging the Normal type across the ground as it flew. She tried to move in to assist, but an Ice Beam from a Kingdra froze her Skuntank in its tracks, just in time for a Slaking to come barreling into the fight like a wrecking ball and crashed into her Skuntank with dismissive ease, barely even acknowledging it as it was knocked aside.

"SLAKINGG!!" The Slaking roared, and her Toxicroak instinctively tried to charge towards it and pummel it with its deadly poisons, only to find itself flying through the air a second later as it took a painful uppercut in the jaw that likely shattered its chin. A different Purugly sent a Body Slam into it – only for the Slaking to barely move an inch before it bashed Purugly into the ground with its fists, literally burying it so that only its head remained above ground.

Recognition flashed in her eyes as she saw the Slaking. Slaking were rare enough Pokémon, and there was only one trainer that was in the spotlight for using one.

John was here. And considering that there was a Kingdra, that meant that Drake was here too. She had seen the news, and knew they were both currently in Sinnoh.

The archenemy had arrived.

From what her fellow members that were in Hoenn had described, Drake and John were the ones most responsible for setting them back in creating the utopia that they so desired. If it wasn't for their despotic strength, then the unenlightened would have never been able to drive them out of Hoenn.

It angered her greatly to see someone misuse their strength like this. What was the point of Arceus granting you the ability to train up such strong Pokémon if you're going to use it to oppress those that just want to better the world?

She could imagine what she would do if she would have that kind of strength. She would ensure that it would never be misused like John and Drake were doing – and would solely dedicate that strength for a true cause, instead of the corruption and hedonism that those two indulged in.

That was when she saw him. The old man was standing by himself with a satisfied smile on his face, as if seeing the destruction of the faithful was somehow pleasing to him. He continued to walk into the battle without his Kingdra, arrogant enough to think that he was safe despite his Pokémon no longer being next to him as he continued to bark out orders.

And those orders led to devastating consequences for their Pokémon. His Kingdra took centre stage in their battle, ripping through an entire line of Skuntank with a single Dragon Pulse, before his Blastoise did the same as it froze over an entire group of Golbat that had been trying to flank around the unenlightened. She watched as his eyes blazed with evil as he tore through their loyal forces like a one man army.

And in this moment, she could see why the others had labelled Drake as the archenemy. The unenlightened had already outnumbered them, but the sheer malice that burned in Drake's eyes as he reaped a trail of destruction through their Pokémon was an affront to everything she believed in. She knew that she had to avenge her comrades that had fallen to this beast.

He deserved to be brought low for all that he had done to hinder their righteous cause.

So she snuck around, uncaring of the battle raging around her. Uncaring of the fallen and pained cries of her Pokémon and her comrades. Their sacrifices would all be worthwhile if she could end Drake, right here and now.

Then, having snuck close enough, she broke out into a sprint as she brandished a letter opener, her eyes were locked onto the back of his neck as she charged towards him.

Her feet brought her closer, and closer, and she was moments away from becoming a hero before she found the letter opener ripped out of her hand and a pained gasp to escape her lungs as she felt something strike her hard in the gut.

Then she was slammed into the ground with an arm clutched around her neck. She forced her eyes open to see what kind of Pokémon had caught her off-guard, only to be shocked to find not a Pokémon staring down at her.

But Drake himself.

"Did you think you could sneak up on me?" The monster growled at her, keeping her pinned down with his cursed strength, "Fucking lunatics. As if I would be brought down by a mere grunt with a letter opener."

He spat in her face, "Try harder next time."

Then a Clefable appeared over his shoulder, and with a flash of blue in its eyes, she saw only darkness as her head lolled back onto the ground.

The New Normal – 11-4 – Interlude – Lorelei

At first, she was a little nervous about what she was doing here – in a room filled with investigators and professional analysts. She was none of these things, and her only skillset that set her apart from the men and women here was that she was a better trainer than all of them. But that didn't mean anything when the task was to dig through paperwork and look through the minute details.

However, that nervousness disappeared when she realised what her true purpose was – and that was ensure that their regions were truly working together, and that Sinnoh wasn't just taking advantage of their help.

Basically, her job was to be a symbol of Indigo's authority, to ensure that her team was being properly respected by the natives here. And considering the looks of approval that she got from her colleagues when she had settled a few early disputes between the two groups, she was confident that she was doing her job properly.

It obviously helped that she got along well with Lucian, who she found to be a very able administrator and someone who knew how to lead people. He was also a very good fit with the group of investigators and analysts here, as he had a very keen eye for detail. Honestly, it was a little surprising to her that he didn't simply take up the mantle of Champion when there was a vacancy available, as she found him eminently suitable for the position. She made a mental note to ask why in the future.

She supposed that was the reason that Cynthia trusted him so much to be her unofficial second-in-command.

The next day, they had received the findings that they had uncovered from John and Drake's raid of that base in Floaroma Town. Unfortunately, none of that was really able to help her or her team. So as Lorelei entered the meeting room, she had expected to have to knuckle down with another day of difficult work.

But as she walked into the room early in the morning, she found a scruffy looking member of her team parsing through the paperwork in front of him. No, scruffy was an understatement. The man looked like he hadn't even gone home. And considering the large bags under his eyes, he probably didn't even sleep either.

"…I appreciate the work, but it's important to rest up." She said to him, "It's no good pushing yourself so hard when you can't work the next day."

"Thank you, Ma'am, but I assure you I'm used to this." The man responded, "I used to do long stakeouts that could last over a few days at a time back when I was an investigator under the Indigo Police. This is nothing. And besides, I think I spotted something that doesn't quite add up here."

"Really? What did you find?" She stepped up and looked over his shoulder. She kept her excitement down though, they had already been through so many false leads over the past day that it was hard to get excited about them anymore.

"Look at how much Galactic Company is spending on their R&D Department." The man pointed out, "I know they're a tech company, but isn't this way too high?"

"What makes you think that?" A voice appeared from behind her, and she turned around to see Lucian walking in the room. They shared an acknowledging nod before they turned back to the man.

"You see, I've had to perform my share of audits and investigations into Silph Co and Devon Corp in the past." He revealed, "Both companies are tech companies with a large focus on developing their own technology, yet even they don't spend nearly as much into the R&D department as Galactic Company is reported to have."

"…Could that be because the scale of what Galactic Company is researching is just bigger? They do research about alternative energy generation, after all." Lucian said.

"That could be the case." The man agreed, she should really ask for his name, "But then that makes no financial sense whatsoever. Big companies have big operational costs and overheads. And ultimately, the goal of every company is to generate as much as profit as possible to fuel further expansion. If they're throwing this much money into R&D, they won't be able to expand or generate much profit."

"Could be that Cyrus is just that charitable of a person?" Lucian suggested, though that argument sounded weak even to her.

But what was more curious was the utter befuddlement and confusion on the man's face, "…Charitable? What part of Cyrus makes you think he's charitable?"

Lucian blinked, "Ah, do you not agree? Well I understand that you're new to Sinnoh, but Cyrus is actually a well-known philanthropist—"

"I'm sorry to cut you off sir, but respectfully, I heavily disagree with your analysis of Cyrus." The man interrupted, "The moment I saw him on screen, every instinct of mine was screaming at me that he was untrustworthy."

He tapped at the paperwork in front of him, "It's why I've spent longer than I usually would to carefully scan through these files. My gut has never lied to me, and I know for certain that Cyrus is up to something nefarious."

Lorelei was surprised at the certainty that he used to describe Cyrus. While she had never met the CEO herself, she had heard people talk about him, and they had nothing but praise for him. It was why they were looking into Galactic Company first in order to clear their name, because no one truly thought that Galactic Company was involved with anything shady.

This man was the only person she knew who doubted otherwise.

"…I'll reserve my judgment on that one, but I can appreciate the diligence, if nothing else." Lucian replied diplomatically, who was obviously still unsure about the man's claims, "So, back on topic, what do we have now? Or is it only the fact that Galactic Company might be spending a little too much money on their R&D department?"

"I understand that it might be difficult to believe, but please trust me." The man nodded firmly, "This amount of spending is not normal. And what makes me even more suspicious is that they've tried to shuffle the money around, as if they were trying to hide it. Therefore, I believe that Galactic Company have intentionally reported false figures so as to conceal where they have truly spent their money."

She could see Lucian hesitating, so it was time for her to step in to back up her colleague, "Lucian, this is our first lead – one that hasn't led us down a false end. We should be diligent and look into it as far as possible. Call in other experts to check their own opinions. Discuss it as a group. We should explore every avenue."

"…Yes, my apologies. You're right. I let my biases get ahead of me for a second there." Lucian turned to the man and bowed slightly, "I still have my doubts, but I agree that we should look into every minor detail. A lot is at stake here, so we'll have a proper discussion about your hypothesis and see if it goes anywhere."

"That's all I ask sir, thank you for trusting me." The man bowed in return.

"Actually, I never actually got your name." Lorelei added, "Sorry, I know I should keep a better track of everyone on my team."

He waved her off, "It's fine, no one expects you to remember us all on the first day. We were just glad you stood by and stood up for us when you needed to."

The man extended a hand, "And the name's Looker. It's a pleasure to work with you."

The New Normal – 11-5 – Big Steps

To my surprise, things were moving much faster than I had expected over the next few days with our progress in uncovering the public shield that Team Galactic were hiding behind.

Lorelei had told me that thanks to her one of her subordinates, which I later learned was actually Looker, they had a lead that they were working towards that they hoped would provide some evidence of wrongdoing.

It wasn't anywhere close to a jackpot, but it was a good find. It also injected some much needed motivation and direction to the analysts, since now they actually had a direction to work towards instead of fruitlessly going through endless paperwork.

However, on Drake's and my end, we didn't have anything to do that could help them. Our raid at Floaroma Town didn't lead to any more clues, though I did hear that there were a few arrests that were made, but other than that it was mostly just used as a PR event like we were told it would be. So we were mostly paraded around as pictures were taken for the news to publish headlines about how we were 'fighting back hard' against the sudden spike in crime.

Which wasn't actually wrong.

And for once, I didn't mind too much that I was being used as a PR piece. I knew how important it was to reassure the public of Sinnoh that our joint efforts here were actually making a positive difference in improving the situation. Plus, I was keenly aware that the more the public could see about what I – and by extension the rest of Indigo – could accomplish with Sinnoh, the more accepting the public would be of my relationship with Cynthia.

I knew that despite Wallace's inspirational words in support of our relationship, there were still some that were on the fence about an Elite Four from Indigo dating the Champion of Sinnoh. I hoped that my continued support for the benefit of Sinnoh would help convince some of the fence-sitters that our relationship would only be advantageous to our regions.

I trusted that Cynthia and I were both working very hard to make our relationship a political reality.

Outside of that, Whitney and Sabrina ended up publishing their discovery about the new Farigiraf evolution, following advice from Sabrina's parents. It wasn't the most exciting of evolutions to have been discovered; Girafarig were never very popular Pokémon to be used in high level battling due to their relatively weak potential and rarity, but any newly discovered evolution was always going to be very popular in the news.

However, the fact that this evolution was endorsed by the Psychic Gym of Kanto meant that there was a lot of extra credibility to the strength of the evolution. That was certainly reflected in the large amount of activity on the Pokénet, where there was much discussion about the potential uses of Farigiraf and if it should become a staple in high level Psychic teams.

They very wisely pointed out that having a Psychic type that was immune to Ghost type damage was very valuable. Especially one that was relatively bulky compared to other Psychic types that also potentially doubled as a physical attacker if needed. There were only a few Psychic types that could actually fight back on the physical side of things, so having another option was very useful.

Of course people were comparing Farigiraf to Wyrdeer, since they shared the same type and were similar in many ways. In fact, that was the main points of discussion that I saw, with many arguing who was the better Pokémon between the two.

I didn't care so much about that and instead focused more on what this discovery meant for Whitney. The news had dug up her relation to me, and therefore were drawing comparisons with her discovery of Farigiraf and my discovery of Wyrdeer and Ursaluna. While that did put her under my shadow once again, it undoubtedly helped spread her name to the wider world.

Not to be arrogant, but the fact that she was seen as following in my footsteps was a good thing. I knew that she wanted to pave her own path, but I was happy for her to use my reputation as a stepping stone for her to get started. She wasn't going to become an overnight sensation from this one discovery alone, but I was confident she could build something up from this just like I did.

I would keep a close eye on this to see if there were any further developments. Fame could cut both ways, and while I was confident that Katrina and Samson would help, I wanted to make sure I was there to support my sister in case of any controversy came her way for whatever reason.

Moving on from all that, today was an exciting day for me. Since we had done all the flag waving that we needed to do, that meant that Drake and I's schedule were mostly free. For Drake, this meant that he was able to start doing some cave diving to get acclimatised to everything in preparation for our big expedition. I also joined in a few of those, since I wanted to remind myself about the potential dangers that I would have to stay alert for.

According to what the explorers told me, we were aiming to go even further than where we got to last time, thanks to the fact that we could rest and set off from the forward base from the get go. Still, that didn't make the expedition any easier.

Fortunately, though it came to little surprise to me, it turned out that Drake was predictably adept at cave delving. He took to it like a Salamence to the skies, and those that were tasked with guiding him had nothing but praise for his ability to adapt to the unusual and normally dangerous conditions of the caves.

"Even if I didn't know he was an Elite Four member, I would still be impressed by Drake's stamina." One of the explorers told me, "You would have thought that he had done cave diving for years rather than just a few days."

"I still dive with my Pokémon, son. And let me tell you that the waves around Route 132 and Pacifidlog Town aren't any less dangerous than the shit that you have to deal with in caves." Drake smirked proudly, "Have you tried running away from an angry Sharpedo when you're getting pushed into one by the oncoming waves? Good times."

"…How did you get out of that one?" I had to ask.

"I punched it in the nose and kicked it in the jaw to buy time for my Gyarados to deal with it." Drake grinned, his eyes taking on a nostalgic gleam, "That was one of my prouder moments."

The explorers and I shared the same look of bewilderment and confusion; all of us sharing the same silent agreement that we wouldn't prod into more of Drake's wild past.

With that insanity out of the way, we had gotten ready and heading towards the entrance to the caves once more, setting off for another expedition. Cynthia was unfortunately unable to join us due to having her own obligations to deal with, but she sent her well wishes to all of us regardless.

As we headed there, I noticed that a small little pink tent that was decorated with a Wigglytuff's face had been set up right outside the cave. I turned to one of the explorers with a questioning look.

"Oh? That?" He chuckled, "Yeah, we noticed that there was a group of Pokémon that liked to hang out outside the cave and munch on apples. No idea why they do so, but they seem like they were friends, so we built them this little tent that they can use to hangout. I think a Bidoof has joined them too."

"Yeah, they're like our mascot or something." Another explorer said, "Dunno what they're doing here, but they're cute. I see them roleplaying around like a guild or something."

I smiled, "I see. That's very fitting." I silently wished the new guild all the best in their adventures. Maybe one day they'll get to explore the very skies themselves.

The banter all cut off as we entered the caves. Without the reporters joining us, this time there was no excuses for unprofessionalism. As stacked and as experienced as our team was, we knew how important it was to manage our energy and make sure we didn't engage in unnecessary fights. So we all kept silent and alert as we carefully, but quickly, headed down the caves towards the forward base.

We got lucky this time round and weren't harassed by many wild Pokémon. A Hippowdon had tried to ambush us with an Earthquake, but it was swiftly spotted and taken out before it could wreak havoc through our group.

Therefore, we made good time as we arrived at the forward base, which had really been revamped and developed since I was last here. Instead of the ramshackle and haphazardly set up tents and equipment like it was before, the new forward base almost reminded of a military outpost, with sandbags, stocks of food, and a heavy patrol of trainers surrounding the perimeter to make sure that no wild Pokémon could come barrelling in and destroying everything in sight.

While we all took a quick break to rest up and restock on our supplies of potion and food, I spent the hour chatting to a few people that I recognised to pass the time. Drake did the same, though he mostly spoke to the Ace trainers that were in charge of the perimeter as he asked about the strength of the local wild Pokémon. We also switched to much more cold-resistant clothing and equipment.

After our hour of rest, we did another reminder of our route down before we steeled ourselves and set off into the darkness and icy depths once again.

The sudden drop to freezing temperatures, although expected, was an instant reminder of the dangerous adventure that we were about to head into, and our descent continued even slower and even more methodical than ever. Even Drake, who had been boasting about being as resilient as it came, quickly adopted a look of focus as the wave of frost enveloped him.

I didn't know how long it took, but we eventually found our way back to that big cave opening that we were in last time, which was where Cynthia and I ended up catching Wraith and Kleavor respectively. However, this time round, the opening didn't contain any undiscovered Pokémon, just the typical Pokémon you'd expect to see this far underground, such as Mamoswine, Probopass, and the like.

This was where we paused to take stock of the situation. In order to continue downwards we would have to cross through the large opening, but doing so would undoubtedly attract the attention of everything here. Which was why we had to retreat last time.

But Drake put it best, "We have to fight anyways, so might as well do it on our terms." He said, "Start off strong and scare them off with our power." A round of nods was his response.

So our group retreated back up the path for a moment to release our Pokémon in cover and out of sight, before we charged back into the fray surrounded by the roars of our Pokémon.

"Hydro Pump, Blastoise!"

"Hyper Beam, Smough!"

Our two Pokémon stood side by side as they both unleashed a torrent of water and energy respectively that ripped through all that they came across. The wild Pokémon were startled out of their idling as the twin beams wreaked havoc amongst their ranks, with many of them gasping or shrieking in surprise at the sudden attack.

Any Pokémon caught within the beam found themselves quickly pinned to the walls and mercilessly knocked out.

Then Vordt came charging forwards, the earth shaking and quaking as he did while he left a deep trench in the ground in his wake. Rocks were torn out from the walls as they flanked his charge, creating a storm of rocks that came hurling towards the unprepared wild Pokémon. Those that had managed to avoid the twin beams of Smough and Blastoise now found themselves facing down a barrage of rocks that were no less devastating in their terrifying power.

A lone Mamoswine that tried to stop him was shouldered out of the way and knocked onto the ground dismissively as if it was nothing more than an afterthought. Another Walrein was unable to escape out of the way in time and had a Hammer Arm smashed into its stomach, sending the wild Pokémon crashing into the nearby wall.

Since the opening was so large, we had all released our full roster of Pokémon in a show of intimidation and force, attacking quickly and in all directions to scare away the wild Pokémon before they could regroup and counterattack.

All that could be heard within the opening were the sounds of destruction and battle as we all unleashed every attack that we could. Drake's Gyarados was a whirlwind of violence and power as it rampaged through the wild Pokémon, joining my Vordt in creating as much havoc and chaos as possible as it tore through the ranks of the wild Pokémon with a storm of Aqua Tails and Iron Heads.

Unlike last time, this time the trainers accompanying us were far more prepared, and a violent barrage of Psychics, Flamethrowers, Ice Beams came firing in all directions as we pushed forwards as fast and as aggressively as we could, showing no mercy to whatever stood in our way.

All resistance was quickly and efficiently shut down. It didn't matter how outnumbered we were by the wild Pokémon, our assault was so surprising and brutal that it managed to send the fear of Arceus into their hearts and frighten them away.

Unorganised and undisciplined, the wild Pokémon almost unanimously decided that retreat was the better part of valour and quickly escaped from the opening, choosing to turn and run rather than fight; with many of them dispersing before they could get caught up in our ruthless assault.

The 'battle', if you could even call it that, hardly lasted over a minute. But the result was that the clearing had gotten even larger than before thanks to the wanton devastation that we had wrecked through it.

Loose rocks were slowly falling from the ceiling, new craters had been smashed into the floor and walls, while long trenches of destruction now marked the clearing.

It was fortunate that there was nothing of historical value here.

"Hmph. Cowards. They should have stood and fought." Drake grumbled as he withdrew his Pokémon.

"It was best that they didn't." I placated, "We had to retreat last time because we got so overwhelmed."

"Bah. It would've been a good fight." He frowned, but I knew he was just complaining for the sake of it. So after we withdrew most of our Pokémon, checked that the cave wasn't about to collapse on us due to our violent bombardment of attacks, we continued forwards, heading into now unexplored territory.

As we travelled further down, we had to deal with whatever remnants of the fleeing Pokémon that had just escaped our terrible onslaught. But since they were no longer in such big numbers, it was relatively easy to deal with them in their smaller groups.

No, the bigger problem had nothing to do with the wild Pokémon. Instead, it was the constantly dropping temperatures that seemed to grow colder with no end in sight. I could literally feel the frost seeping up my specialised cold-resistant clothes.

Fortunately, we had not come unprepared. Even as cold as it was, the experienced explorers were ready. Additional Fire Pokémon were sent out, using their natural heat to stave away the cold. Carefully insulated Heat Rocks were also taken out and stuffed into everyone's pockets. Some guy even took out a box containing a Magmariser to serve as a super-charged Heat Rock.

That last guy got some weird looks when he did so. A Magmariser was too expensive to be used as a mere Heat Rock.

Don't get me wrong, it was still freezing cold, and we were forced to stick near our Fire type Pokémon to even stay reasonably warm, but it was manageable and the explorers reassured us that we were at no threat of frostbite for now. I had never been so thankful to see a Rapidash before in my life.

"…I'll be happy to get back to Hoenn after this." Drake whispered to me as we slowly headed down, "I don't think I've ever felt so fucking cold in my life."

"That's why I told Cynthia that the beaches of Hoenn are way better than this." I whispered back.

"Fucking Mt. Chimney would be better than this shit." He complained, "Exciting or not, I prefer to be able to feel my fucking face."

I didn't disagree, but I kept my complaining to myself as I tried to keep as quiet as possible while we continued moving. It was at this point that one of our explorers spoke up.

"This cold isn't natural." He whispered to us, "That's something that we long suspected about these caves. We initially guessed that it might be due to all the Ice types living here, but even then, the temperature shouldn't be dropping this much so quickly. But now that we are actually here to take readings, we're sure that this cold cannot be normal."

Someone rolled their eyes, "I think the large ice crystals that are hanging off of every wall could have told us that. Look at them. They're the size of my arm! And there's thousands of them!"

He wasn't wrong. As kept heading down, the cave systems that we explored were literally entirely frozen over. This far down, everything was just ice and frost, and large pieces of ice were jutting out everywhere. The more haunting part of it was that there wasn't a single non-Ice type Pokémon in sight. It was then that a thought came to me.

"Hey…could you try melting the ice with your Infernape?" I asked one of the explorers.

He nodded and ordered his Infernape to do so. However, as the flames washed over the ice, the ice refused to melt. Even as Infernape powered up his Flamethrower so that it covered the whole wall, the ice remained as firm and solid as ever.

"…I think that just proves it." I pointed out, getting various nods of agreement from the group.

"Let me try." Drake stepped up with his Kingdra as it unleashed a Hyper Beam that cut into the walls. My eyes widened as the beam was only able to drill a small hole into the frozen wall, managing to penetrate – but not nearly as far as expected.

And this was from Drake's Kingdra, a Pokémon who's Hyper Beam was strong enough to have brought down many an Elite Pokémon in the past. There was no way regular ice would have been able to resist it – and would have simply been sheared through by such a powerful Hyper Beam.

This unnatural resilience proved that something wasn't quite right here, and everyone knew it.

The confirmation of this strange phenomenon caused a wave of tension to flood over the group. This was a whole different experience from finding ruins or a new Pokémon. This was something completely unknown, and none of us had ever experienced something like this before.

Still, we weren't cowards, so we swallowed whatever unease we might have felt and continued on our expedition, taking pictures as we went to document this phenomenon for future study.

Time passed slowly but tensely. The air only continued to grow colder and colder as we made our descent. Despite all of our preparations, the cold was starting to get to us, and there were a few muttered concerns that we might not be able to continue if it grew any colder.

Fortunately, that never became a concern as we suddenly stopped at an enormous drop that overlooked a huge clearing that was teeming to brim with Ice type Pokémon – as if we had stumbled onto a huge nest of them.

No, it was more than a nest. It was an army.

My gut was screaming at me that whatever was the cause of this unnatural coldness could be found down there.

However, besides their sheer numbers, there was another Pokémon that caught our attention as it lumbered around slowly like a massive block of sentient ice and rock, looking like a mini-glacier had just uprooted itself and grown legs. There were also a few, smaller Pokémon that looked like miniature ice spikes following after them.

The shocked gasps told me that I was the only one who recognised them for what they were. They were Hisuian-Avalugg and Bergmite.

The snap of a camera drew my attention away, and I saw that the explorers were very carefully leaning over the big drop to take photos of the new Pokémon. But Drake had a more considering look on his face.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked him.

"Whether we can take them all on." He answered.

"You can't be serious." One of the explorers said to Drake, "Don't you see how many of them there are? You might both be Elite Four, but you're incredibly weak to Ice types, Drake. And even if you weren't – we're still massively outnumbered."

"No, we can take them." He grinned, "We're not in a trainer battle right now. Didn't we already chase away a huge group by scaring them off? There's no way we can't replicate that once again. And, like it or not, but we need to get down there. I bet you we'll find something."

"I agree." I spoke up before they could argue against him, "I know everyone's a little tense from the cold, but put it this way, we've already spent the better half of a day just to get down this far. And there's every possibility that we won't be able to retrace our steps if we choose to head back up."

"Yes, we're outnumbered, but we're not fighting one on one right now. If we make use of wide-area attacks, we can overcome our huge number disadvantage." I said, before adopting a more aggressive tone as I pressed my point, "Look, we have an unknown Pokémon right below us. We already had one strange Sneasel escape us, we can't let that happen again. Even if we find nothing else, just being able to capture and document this new Pokémon would make the expedition worth it."

My words seemed to be reaching them, but Drake spoke up again before they could voice any more concerns.

"John and I are heading down there, whether you like it or not." He said firmly, "So show your bravery and fight alongside us."

"And I will be joining them." One of our more experienced explorers said, "I understand that we've been a little unsettled thanks to this freezing cold, but you need to remember your strength. Remember your confidence, and why you were chosen to become explorers. You knew the risks, and you knew that you were able to surpass them."

"…That's true…but once we drop down there, we won't be able to escape unless we drive the wild Pokémon out completely." One of them spoke up uncertainly, "There will be no retreating."

"Then you will just have to fight harder, wouldn't you?" Drake smiled viciously, "Look, John and I will have your back, and we realise that this is technically your expedition, but didn't you bring us down here because you wanted to make use of our strengths?"

He spread out his arms, "Well we're here now, so you better fucking make use of us."

The explorers had a brief discussion amongst themselves, but I watched as their faces turned from concerned and worried to ones filled with a familiar determination and resolve. They were no longer rattled by the cold.

A single nod from them told me what I needed to know.

A smile formed on my lips, "Then let's ready up. We have an army to scatter."