58-61

The New Normal – 4-4 – Interlude – Lorelei

Training to defeat a member of the Elite Four was much easier said than done. Especially when there was no one around to support you while you did so.

For the past week or so, her life has been an exhausting balance between maintaining her duties as a Gym Leader, while fervently training for her battle against Walker. Her life at the moment was sustained only through pure spite, determination, and an overdose of coffee.

To that end, she had to ensure that she knew every little detail about Walker and his strengths and weaknesses.

And one of the more important things that she noticed was how Walker relied on hit and run tactics like a crutch. In fact, all of his Pokémon seemed to fight in the exact same way. They would first fly up high into the air, and then make use of the space to either buff themselves up to the point where you couldn't resist their attacks, or to slowly ground you down with long range moves while staying out of your reach.

It was, at its core, a very basic strategy, but Lorelei couldn't deny its effectiveness. In order to beat it, you would have to either have superior long-range firepower to be able to disrupt his setup moves and bring down his Flying types, or you would need to have some way of challenging Walker while in the air, in his field of expertise. And while Flying types weren't the greatest of powerhouses, their mobility and flight allows them to dodge through many powerful attacks if given the opportunity to.

Of course, you could just beat Walker using sheer volume of firepower or strength. She recognized that the other Elite Four members would hardly break a sweat at defeating Walker, just by using their overwhelming strength or firepower. Even her uncle, who Lorelei thought was long past his prime, would find it a simple matter to defeat Walker. But Lorelei recognized that she lacked the raw strength of those in the Elite Four.

Thus, she understood that, for her to win, she needed to take full control of the battlefield with her Ice moves and prevent Walker from taking advantage of his superior mobility and flight. Since she lacked any Flying types, she knew that there was absolutely no point trying to contest Walker in the skies.

In practical terms, that meant training up her Pokémon to prioritize their ranged Special Attack and large area-of-effect moves, as she predicted that those would be the moves that would be most effective against Walker. His Pokémon were mostly superior in speed and agility compared to hers, so her best option was likely to blanket the entire battlefield in Ice and hope that his Pokémon gets caught up in it.

Coupled with her type advantage, and his Pokémon's lack of endurance, a well-targeted attack from her should be able to bring down most of his Pokémon, or at least slow them enough so that her Pokémon could get in range to finish them off.

Luckily, or annoyingly, her connections to Pryce as her uncle actually proved their worth for once, as they allowed her to secure an important item from Sinnoh that would have been unavailable to her if she was not family. She was gifted the package because she was her uncle's niece, and the gift, likely from a notable politician in Sinnoh, was probably to butter up her uncle for some political reason or another.

Normally, she would be upset about the corruption, but she kept her mouth shut in this case. The Dawn Stone in front of her was a very precious possible trump card she needed to secure her win against Walker.

With one hand, she carefully lifted the Dawn Stone out of the box, and with her other hand, she released her most recent capture, a Snorunt.

"Snorunt?" Her Snorunt questioned, before her eyes gleamed interestedly as she stared at the Dawn Stone. "Snorunt! Snorunt!"

"Yes, Snorunt. It's finally time for you to evolve." She replied, slowly moving the Dawn Stone towards her Snorunt and pressing it down on her forehead.

Instantly, a bright white light filled the room as her Snorunt's figure slowly started to morph and change. As the light faded, a newly evolved Frosslass was revealed to the world.

"Froslass! Fros! Lass!" Froslass cheered at her new evolution while inspecting herself and her new form. Lorelei allowed herself to smile for a moment and indulge in her Pokémon's happiness, before reality caught up with her and she smothered her smile.

Her newly evolved Froslass was certainly going to be a nice surprise addition to her team, especially since she knew that Froslass was going to be the fastest Pokémon that she had, but she recognized that she was also the least trained.

With whatever time she had left before the match, she would have to train her new Froslass as much as she could to ensure that she would be able to match up against Walker's Pokémon.

There was no way she could actually train up Froslass to surpass Walker's Pokémon in terms of training, so she knew that she was going to be mostly relying on pure surprise to offset her Froslass' lack of training.

But she also needed to challenge Walker as soon as possible, right after the battle between Lance and Pryce, both so that she could use the time to train and so that none could challenge him before her. Not that she cared who won between those two; at this point she was solely concerned about digging herself out of the pit that she was in.

It was a race against time, but she was determined to win. She couldn't afford to lose.

The New Normal – 4-5 – Playing for the Crowd

Karen was expectedly very excited to hear about D-Zigzagoon's successful hatching, and eagerly came over the next day to check up on him. As soon as she laid eyes on Ornstein, she wouldn't let go of the little guy and spent a good moment just excitedly examining him.

"I want one of my own." She said immediately. I promised Karen that we could redo the process with another Linoone egg to hatch another D-Zigzagoon for her.

That wasn't the end of the surprises though, as she also proudly showed off her newly evolved Weavile. She told me that she had paid close attention to her Sneasel during her time in Mt. Silver and noticed that her Sneasel would frequently challenge other Sneasel's and pick up bits and pieces of other Sneasel's claws after every victory.

"I didn't see what happen after we won our 9th victory, since I was blinded by the blinding white light as my Sneasel began to evolve." She said to me, "Honestly, his evolution came by quicker than I expected, maybe because my Sneasel had long been ready to evolve. I probably spent more time trying to locate wild Sneasel to defeat." She remarked humorously.

She did ask when or if we were even going to publish these notes regarding Sneasel's evolution, and I figured that, due to the small sample size, we should probably just bring it up as a possible research topic and submit our notes as a data point. But that was for later.

The both of us spent the next few days acclimatising to the latest changes to our teams, with me having to split my focus between getting Ornstein to actually focus on training, while also trying to develop Euphie's Fairy affinity.

On one hand, Ornstein was too busy trying to get into fights and wasn't focused on my training, and while he was nowhere as disobedient as he was the moment he was born, he was still driven by his instincts to fight everyone and everything that he laid his eyes upon, especially Smough for some reason. I knew that this bad habit of his was going to take a some time to break.

On the other hand, Euphie was just a bit too playful and too easily distracted to really knuckle down and focus on training as well. I believed that she saw the training for developing an affinity for Fairy to be too boring, and so always wanted to distract herself by playing around with Whismur, Pixel, and now her new overly energetic friend, Ornstein.

However, I was determined to eventually get through to the both of them and actually make them want to train on their own volition. I knew that I had a fantastic opportunity in front of me with both the newly hatched D-Zigzagoon and Eevee to mould the two of them to create two more powerful and versatile Elite level Pokémon for my team, so I wanted to make the most of the early stages of their development to really get as much efficient training done as possible, since like with human babies, newly hatched Pokémon are most receptive to new techniques and training while they were still young.

And, judging by her natural curiosity, I was increasingly certain that Euphie was a rather newly born Pokémon as well.

In the meanwhile, Karen was spending most of her time testing out the strengths of her new Weavile. There was a little initial awkwardness between trainer and Pokémon, as Karen had to get used to Weavile's increased stats, but she was able to quickly adapt and give commands that matched Weavile's new capabilities.

As I watched Smough and Weavile duel once again, what was immediately noticeable was that her new Weavile hit a lot harder and quicker than before, and I could see that Smough was occasionally struggling to resist against so many quick and hard-hitting attacks, whereas before Smough could pretty comfortably shrug most of them off after a small break.

But despite the boost to his speed and attack, Weavile was almost equally as frail as it was before it evolved. Overall, his evolution still didn't really change his role in Karen's team, which was to be a fast and agile attacker that could deal large bursts of damage but was frail and easily knocked out.

Based on my observations, I judged that her Weavile was now easily her second strongest Pokémon, just trailing slightly behind her Houndoom. Though Karen and I did notice that during our testing with Weavile, Corphish was sending envious looks his way, likely eager for his own evolution. Karen immediately went to reassure him and promised that his evolution would come soon enough.

Later, we spent some time compiling our shared notes for the D-Zigzagoon project, wrote up an article, and sent it off to the scientific community for it to get peer reviewed. Karen was very confused yet excited about the whole publication process, and while she pestered me with increasing impatience to publish it, she ultimately left it to me as I had the experience after I published my articles about both Ursaluna and Wyrdeer. She was clearly very eager to make her entrance into the scientific community.

I had double checked the article multiple times before I eventually submitted it, because I wanted to make sure our entire process was as detailed as possible to avoid criticism from those snobby and detailed-oriented scientists. Such a big discovery like this was bound to attract plenty of criticism and envy from some of the scientists, so I wanted to give them as little ammunition as possible.

Just like they did with Vordt and Klaus, I informed Karen that they were probably going to send a few scientists over to poke and prod at Ornstein to actually verify my claims, which was going to be annoying. Secretly, I hoped that Ornstein would bite one of the scientists if they ever got too nosy.

I also made sure to add as many warnings as I could fit in the article to remind all the undoubtedly overeager scientists about the inherent risks of the process. I knew that there were bound to be those that would ignore the warnings and incite tragedy, and there was nothing I could do about it, but I wanted to at least avoid being blamed for it.

However, now that it's been sent off, there was nothing I could do about it anymore. Thus, I tried to stop worrying about it and focus on the show match that was taking place later this afternoon.

I had done SOME preparation, and now it was just a matter of putting up a good show for the crowds.

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

​"Are you ready for this?" Giovanni asked me casually. We were both standing backstage waiting for the announcer to call us onto the arena. Giovanni had temporarily redecorated and closed the Viridian Gym so that it could be used as the venue to host the charity match. He had also set up many charity stalls around Viridian City, effectively turning this one charity match into a city-wide charity event. Access to which was included in the ticket.

I even saw an impromptu tournament being hosted outside that anyone could participate in so long as they paid a small fee, everything except a small prize pool going to charity of course.

Still, I think Giovanni had underestimated just how many people would be coming to this show match, and he had really torn up his Gym in order to make more space for the crowd to fit in. Perhaps he overbooked the tickets?

"Yeah, sure." I answered distractedly, still looking around at just how many people were in the audience right now. It looked so crowded that I was worried we might have a few accidents from overcrowding. At least Karen wasn't here, she was busy doing something with Agatha at the moment.

"Hey, why are there so many people here? I didn't think that this many people would be interested in watching a charity match in person. Don't most people prefer to watch it at home?" I asked bewilderedly.

Giovanni coughed awkwardly. "I…may have suggested that I would buy and give away several tickets to the public as my own contribution…and I may have overestimated just how many people were going to come. Petrel has been running around in a panic trying to reorganize the Gym to fit everyone in."

I couldn't help but laugh at his admission, and luckily Giovanni took no offense and laughed with me. It was nice to see that even someone of Giovanni's status could make dumb mistakes like this.

"ANNNNND WELCOME TO TODAY'S CHARITY SHOW MATCH BETWEEN TWO OF OUR GREATEST AND MOST ESTEEMED INDIVIDUALS OF KANTO! THANK YOU FOR YOUR MANY DONATIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS!!" The announcer's voice suddenly boomed out, interrupting any further conversation as cheers rang out throughout the Gym. "NOW, PLEASE WELCOME, OUR GRAND HOST, AND ONE OF TODAY'S PARTICIPANTS, THE GREAT GYM LEADER OF VIRIDIAN CITY, GIOVANNI!!"

Giovanni straightened up and walked out into the roaring crowds, easily basking in the attention and the limelight like he always belonged there. He waved evenly to the crowds as he walked slowly to his side of the field.

He looked every bit like your generous philanthropist, and a model Gym Leader. Oh, if only they knew.

The announcer waited for the applause to die down before he continued, "ANNNNND HIS OPPONENT, THE YOUNGEST MEMBER OF THE ELITE FOUR, THE HERO OF OLIVINE, ELITE JOHN!!"

I tried to keep my cringe from showing on my face as I walked out. Arceus, who wrote these nicknames? Luckily, the immense cheering from the crowd kept that out of my mind. Although I tried my best to not get a big head, I couldn't help but smile widely at all the attention I was getting.

This was finally the time where I could feel that I had finally made it in life, and that I hadn't wasted the Arceus given second chance in this life. My family was doing so much better now, my Pokémon were strong and respected, and I was a beloved figure in Indigo and was working hard to improve Kanto. A part of me, taking in the full excitement of the crowd, wanted to just sit back and rest on my laurels.

I took a deep steadying breath to refocus myself and reminded myself once again to not become arrogant. I knew that all of my successes could easily be washed away if I didn't remain diligent. I shook my head and began waving politely to the crowd just like Giovanni did.

Eventually, both Giovanni and I were at our positions, and we waited for the announcer to start the match. Unlike the match against Drake, I was completely calm. In my head, I treated this match as just another, slightly more intense, training session.

"TRAINERS, ARE YOU READY?!" The announcer finally calls out, and we both nodded our heads. "THEN LET'S COUNT DOWN TOGETHER!!...THREE...TWO...ONE!" Giovanni and I threw our Pokémon out at the same time.

"Rhydon, do your best."

"Luna, give them a show!"

Our two chosen Pokémon could not be more different. Giovanni's Rhydon landed with an audible thump as it let out a powerful bellow, showing off its power and strength. Conversely, Luna emerged gracefully with a cheerful wave towards the crowds.

"Earthquake, Rhydon! Split the ground!" Giovanni ordered, wanting to start off strong. Rhydon gave out a grunt and stomped his feet repeatedly, causing a tremor of energy to erupt into a large crack in the ground that seemed to rush towards where Luna was.

"Tank through it and Grass Knot, Luna!" Despite the ground shattering around her from the Earthquake, Luna stood firm as her eyes glowed green, summoning small tendrils of vines that wrapped around Rhydon's legs, causing it to trip over and plant its face into the ground.

"Get close to it and Brick Break!" Despite this being a terrible idea in a serious fight, I nonetheless ordered Luna to get in close and start brawling. In the corner of my eye, I saw that Giovanni give me an odd look at the move, but Luna didn't even hesitate and began rushing towards the fallen Rhydon.

"Get up and Dragon Rush, Rhydon!" Rhydon broke free from the vines and sprinted forwards while surrounding itself with a Dark Blue glow as draconic energy rapidly formed around it. Seeing the move, I just smirked and ordered Luna to continue her assault.

The two Pokémon quickly collided together, but to the huge surprise of both Giovanni and the rest of the crowd, Luna came out almost completely unscathed by the attack and took advantage of Rhydon's surprise by landing a vicious chop to Rhydon's neck, causing it to stumble backwards.

"WAIT, IT LOOKS LIKE JOHN'S CLEFABLE JUST CAME UP UNSCATHED?! DID THAT CLEFALBE JUST PUT UP A PROTECT SHIELD?!" The announcer shouted out curiously, but I ignored him and continued giving commands.

"Drain Punch now, Luna!" Without allowing Rhydon to recover, Luna smashed a fist solidly into its face. Small particles of energy were extracted from the attack, healing up Luna from whatever damage it took from Rhydon's previous attacks. Giovanni eventually steadied himself and shouted out.

"Hammer Arm, Rhydon! Don't let yourself lose to a Clefable at close-range!" Rhydon forced itself off the ground and slammed one of his arms powerfully into the side of Luna's head. But to both trainer and Pokémon's surprise once again, Luna shrugged off what was supposed to be a supereffective hit.

"Drain Punch again!" As she was barely fazed by the attack, Luna was able to quickly drive her fist straight into Rhydon's stomach. Even more energy was drained away from Rhydon as Luna healed to full health once again.

"…what is going on here?! Never mind, Rhydon, Dig and get away from that Clefable!" Giovanni ordered, slightly flummoxed and losing his signature cool. Rhydon quickly separated from Luna and dug its way into the ground, safe from the power of Luna's fists.

It was still a mistake. There were many things I could do at the moment, but I decided to play it to the crowd and make things more exciting. "Luna, Belly Drum! Start setting up!"

Making use of the space from Rhydon's retreat, Luna began beating her chest as she powered herself up and rapidly maxed out her attack. Her Belly Drum was a little sloppy but considering that I had only taught it to her in a few days in preparation for this match, it was good enough. I was certain that it was the right move though as I listened to the crowd scream in excitement; they loved the high-risk, high-reward battle style that they were seeing.

On the other hand, Giovanni's eyes tightened in both surprise and alarm as he watched Luna setting up. He probably never thought that I would use a Clefable as a brawler like this. I shrugged inwardly; he was the one who told me to showboat a little!

We both knew that he needed to think of something quickly before Luna became too strong to stop. If this was a proper battle, Giovanni was running the risk of having Luna being able to buff herself so much that she would be able to sweep through his team. However, I wouldn't have allowed that to happen since that would be boring for the crowd.

"Rhydon, come out and keep your distance with Stone Edge!" No longer wanting to contest my buffed bruiser of a Clefable, Rhydon leapt up and emerged from the ground on the far side of the arena, almost as far away as possible from Luna, before beginning to hurl rocks towards Luna.

"Luna, Rock Smash to break the rocks and get close!" In a very strange and unusual display of martial ability from what was basically a cute pink fairy-looking Pokémon, Luna continually bashed through the hail of rocks with her glowing fists, looking like an unstoppable pink juggernaut as she steadily made her way towards the Rhydon.

"Earthquake as well, Rhydon!" Showing off its training, Rhydon also created a powerful Earthquake while continuously firing rocks at Luna. The addition of the Earthquake caused Luna to occasionally lose her balance as the arena cracked and shattered around her, causing her to be struck by rocks as she failed to break them in time.

However, it was too late. Luna was now in striking distance for the finishing move.

"GIGA IMPACT, LUNA! END IT!" Luna let out a melodic cry as she suddenly burst forwards, moving faster than anyone expected, surrounding herself with a purple and orange aura that seemed to disintegrate the incoming rocks as she charged past them.

"BRACE AND PROTECT!" Giovanni tried, and Rhydon did try to get itself into a defensive stance, but it was too late. Luna smashed into it like a speeding comet, breaking past its hastily created Protect shield like it was nothing, and the force of the impact blasted Rhydon straight into the psychic shields of the arena.

The maxed-out attack Giga Impact was too much for Rhydon to handle, despite its normally impressive defenses, and it slowly slid down the psychic barrier, unconscious.

"ANNNND GIOVANNI'S RHYDON GOES DOWN TO WHAT WAS A VERY UNUSUAL BRAWLING CLEFABLE FROM ELITE JOHN!" The announcer called out amidst the cries of excitement from the audience, "I HAVE CERTAINLY NEVER SEEN SOMETHING LIKE THAT BEFORE! WHAT AN INTERESTING WAY OF FIGHTING FROM OUR ELITE FOUR MEMBER! GYM LEADER GIOVANNI NOW HAS 30 SECONDS TO SEND OUT HIS NEXT POKEMON!"

Luna was cutely hopping and waving to the audience, looking nothing like the terrifying monster that just took out Giovanni's Rhydon in one hit. I was more than satisfied with her performance since we had only decided to practice fighting like this just for this show match. It was not every day that you saw a Rhydon get knocked out by a physical attack from a Clefable, and the crowd was eagerly lapping it up. I allowed her to bask in the limelight a while before I withdrew her.

"I'm retiring my Clefable from the match!" I announced while looking at Giovanni, who just gave me a nod of understanding as he realized that I didn't intend to humiliate him by sweeping him with a Clefable. We both knew that I could.

"AND ELITE JOHN HAS ALSO DECIDED TO RETIRE HIS CLEFABLE! WHAT A DISPLAY OF SPORTSMANSHIP!" The announcer declared, "BUT NOW BOTH TRAINERS HAVE 30 SECONDS TO SEND OUT THEIR NEXT POKEMON!"

I didn't even have to think about it as I readied Klee's Premier Ball.

"TRAINERS, ARE YOU READY FOR ROUND 2?!" We both nodded. "ANNNND BEGIN!"

"Klee, do your best!"

"Nidoqueen, it's your turn."

Just like with Rhydon and Luna, there was a clear contrast between the powerful and intimidating Nidoqueen, and the seemingly innocent and weak Blissey. But unlike with Luna, I knew and predicted that this matchup would be absolutely terrible for Klee. Between Nidoqueen's Poison typing making her immune to Toxic stall, and Klee's horrible physical defenses, I knew that this was going to be an uphill battle.

Which was exactly why I had sent out Klee in the first place; it would serve as excellent training.

"Psychic, Klee! Keep your distance!" I knew that the only way for Klee to win this matchup was for her to constantly keep away from Nidoqueen while attacking with as many Special Attacks as possible to deter her from approaching.

"Dig to avoid and get closer to it, Nidoqueen!" Nidoqueen rapidly dug into the ground and just narrowly avoided being blasted by Klee's Psychic. Normally, I would instantly respond with an Earthquake to do double damage to a digging Pokémon, which usually would be an instant knockout. But, with Klee's pitiful attack, I wasn't sure if Nidoqueen would even feel the attack coming, forcing me to be a bit more creative.

"Reverse Gravity!" Klee shut her eyes in concentration as she began manipulating the surrounding gravity around herself. Demonstrating the sheer expertise in the move from hundreds of repeated uses when we were training, she surrounded herself with a pink glow and started to levitate herself into the air as she reversed the flow of gravity around herself, just in time to avoid Nidoqueen's Dig attack.

The crowd gasped in surprise and shock as they watched as Klee floated just far enough above the ground so that Nidoqueen couldn't reach her. Giovanni was equally as surprised as the rest of the audience as he stood momentarily frozen, with mouth agape, as he witnessed the absurdity of a flying Blissey.

Eventually, he shook himself out of his surprise and ordered, "Stone Edge, knock it out of the sky!"

"Don't let the rocks fly with Gravity! Keep them down!" I instantly countered, and Klee suddenly heavily intensified the Gravity around the arena, causing Nidoqueen to buckle on her knees and making it so that Nidoqueen's geokinesis was utterly crushed by the sheer intensity of the Gravity.

Seeing how futile it was to continue with this course of action, Giovanni switched tactics.

"Dragon Pulse, Nidoqueen! Shoot her down!"

"Light Screen, Klee!"

Infuriatingly, for Giovanni at least, Klee easily created a screen of light that shimmered into existence in front of her which had no problem blocking the incoming Dragon Pulse. I gave out a smug grin towards Giovanni, who looked like he was getting increasingly frustrated at being unable to deal with Klee. Sure, I hadn't actually done any damage to Nidoqueen either, but I was definitely winning the mind games.

Ah, the joys of having a fully trained Blissey.

In full fairness to Giovanni, he wasn't one to let his actions be dictated by his anger or emotions like a lesser trainer would. He quickly reigned himself back in and calmly gave the next order.

"Superpower. Launch yourself forwards, Nidoqueen."

"PROTECT!"

Quickly understanding what Nidoqueen was about to do, I urgently shouted out for Klee to form a Protect shield. But it wasn't enough. Nidoqueen was outlined in a light blue aura as she channelled energy into her arms and legs, before she leapt up like a rocket, seemingly ignoring the intense gravity trying to weigh her down and launched herself into Klee.

Nidoqueen devastated past the Protect shield, which put up a good, but ultimately insufficient resistance, before she grabbed onto Klee with both arms and forcefully slammed her down into the ground as if she was trying to vent all of her previous frustrations with that one attack.

The two of them crashed back down into the arena, and I knew that I had to get Klee away from Nidoqueen.

"Klee, get up and Psychic, NOW! Get away from her!" Despite her injuries, Klee managed to fire a blast of supereffective Psychic energy that knocked Nidoqueen off of her and, using that tiny window of space, managed to scramble away on her pudgy little legs.

"Brick Break, Nidoqueen! Don't let it get away and keep up the pressure!" Wanting to end the fight here and now, Nidoqueen recovered quickly, and her arms glowed brightly and threateningly as she chased after the escaping Klee.

"Icy Wind, Klee! Slow her down and keep getting away!" Klee let out a breath of freezing winds that wrapped around Nidoqueen.

"Break through it and Brick Break!" Frost crystals rapidly began to spread across Nidoqueen's body, but it wasn't enough to stop her advance as she continued to power through the Icy Wind. I could have ordered Klee to just cancel the attack and kept running, but I wasn't certain that I would have another opportunity like this to knock out Nidoqueen in the future. My win was guaranteed if I could just freeze Nidoqueen like this.

Yet, it was definitely the safer and more sensible option to just run and continue stalling out the Nidoqueen with Klee's plethora of regeneration and defensive moves, but it was also a lot more boring to watch. So, I decided to play to the crowd and take a risk, keeping silent and allowing Klee to continue her attack.

Thus, it was now a matter of seeing if Nidoqueen would freeze over first before reaching Klee, or if Nidoqueen could power through the freezing winds and knock out Klee with a supereffective blow.

The audience watched with bated breath as Nidoqueen slowly closed the distance as she pushed forwards through the Icy Wind, her face lined with exhaustion as she struggled through each step. Yet her arms were glowing ever brighter; the channelled power clearly visible and radiating outwards from her claws.

And Nidoqueen took another step forwards, one arm raised above her head.

And then she suddenly kicked forwards, giving her just enough reach to land a devastating Brick Break that struck down critically on Klee's head. I knew it was over.

Klee was unconscious before she even hit the ground. There was not even a need for a follow-up move.

"OH! AND WE HAVE A ONE HIT KO FROM GIOVANNI'S NIDOQUEEN! WHAT A RIVETING AND NAIL-BITING PERFORMANCE FROM BOTH POKEMON! WHAT A SHOW OF DETERMINATION! BUT NOW, ELITE JOHN NOW HAS 30 SECONDS TO SEND OUT HIS NEXT POKEMON!" The announcer's voice boomed out, inciting a deafening cheer and applause from the audience. I could even make out a few of the louder voices from the crowd.

"THAT WAS AMAZING!"

"IT WAS SO CLOSE, I THOUGHT JOHN'S BLISSEY HAD IT THERE!"

I smiled despite Klee's defeat. I was definitely going to find a recording of this video and show it to Klee later after she recovered; she would love to see just how happy she made people with her performance. I was confident that she wouldn't be upset by this defeat as we both knew going into this battle that it was supposed to be entertainment first. And what a performance she gave.

Of course, I would not dare do something like this with my more serious Pokémon like Tyrant or Vordt, or else they would lose all their respect for me.

"I'm retiring my Nidoqueen." Giovanni called out as he withdrew his Pokémon. I couldn't tell if he had done so out of sportsmanship, or if Nidoqueen was too frozen to fight whatever Pokémon I sent out next. I gave him the benefit of the doubt this time.

"AND GYM LEADER GIOVANNI RETURNS THE SPORTSMANSHIP BY RETIRING HIS NIDOQUEEN AS WELL! WELL, FOLKS, IT LOOKS LIKE ITS DOWN TO THE FINAL SHOWDOWN BETWEEN THESE TWO TRAINERS, WHO DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO WIN?!!" The audience screamed and shouted once again, all of them calling out who they thought was going to win.

As I took in the excitement and the atmosphere of the crowd, I suddenly had an idea. I gestured towards one of the Gym Trainers who were currently employed to help run the event, and when he approached, I asked if I could have a microphone to address the audience. The Gym Trainer gave me a curious look but didn't say anything as he went to fetch one.

He quickly returned and passed me a microphone, and I walked into the center of the arena to address the audience, who gradually quieted down as they realized I was about to give a speech. I tapped the microphone a couple of times to make sure it was actually on before I began.

"Before we begin the final round, I would just like to thank every single one of you who donated money to help those who had been injured in the attack and with the rebuilding of Olivine City. As someone who was there during the attack, I can say with utmost certainty that every single Pokédollar that you donate will be appreciated, and I hope that I am not being too presumptuous when I say that your donations will have made a difference." That got a huge applause from the audience.

I gestured for Giovanni to come over as I continued, "However, I would be remiss if I did not thank Gym Leader Giovanni with coming up with and hosting this event. Giovanni is a paragon of what a model Gym Leader should strive to be, and his goodwill, hard work, and charitable intentions are all things we should strive to emulate! Please give a big round of applause for Gym Leader Giovanni!" This time, the cheers and applause from the audience threatened to break through the glass windows of the Gym as Giovanni received a standing ovation. It was so loud that I had to fight to keep a wince from showing on my face. But more importantly than that, I turned to Giovanni and studied his expression.

As he basked in the applause and cheers of the audience, he was standing a little straighter and looked proud, and dare I say it, even happy, at the attention he was getting. That was good; I wanted him to remember that doing good things could grant you the love and adoration of the people. He didn't need to always lurk in the shadows with underhanded deals, he could get what he wanted just by using his now massively improved public reputation to legitimately get things done.

As Giovanni bowed towards the audience, I hoped to have demonstrated to him that things had changed, and that he had no reason to turn to crime to get what he wanted. To the public, he was a hero in his own right, and there was no need to dirty his hands any further.

As soon as Giovanni stood up from his bow, I passed him the microphone in case he wanted to say a few words. As I did so, he patted me twice on the shoulder, and I felt that was all that I needed to know that I did the right thing.

"Thank you, John, for those very kind words. I hosted this event because John had told me about the horrific incident that happened in Olivine, and as any good Kantonian should, I stood up and decided that something must be done to help them. If Kanto is supposed to be joined in a union with Johto, then is this not the best time to prove our unity? To prove that Kanto will make the effort to support our friends in need? We may have had our differences, but Kanto will not standby and allow thugs to freely terrorise our great union!"

He waited for the applause to die down before he continued, "Once again, thank you to all those who have donated towards such a common cause. For those of you who want to contribute, but do not have the funds to do so, please consider volunteering for the Viridian Public Works Venture. We have many public works projects that require more hard-working hands, and you will be fairly compensated for your efforts! Thank you to those who have contributed already! You have done your region proud." He bowed once again as the applause and cheers hit the roof. Before he went back to his spot, he gave me a subtle nod that I returned.

We then both made our way back to our positions as the announcer said a few encouraging words as well. I ignored him and distractedly fidgeted with Klaus' Premier Ball. To be honest, I didn't really care at the moment if I won or lost the next round; seeing Giovanni's reactions had showed that I had already won.

But, for Klaus' sake, I would give it my all.

"TRAINERS! ARE YOU READY FOR THE FINAL ROUND?!!" We nodded for the last time. "AND…BEGIN!"

"Klaus, just like we practiced."

"Nidoking, show them the power of the Viridian Gym!"

For the first time, my Pokémon's entrance actually matched the majesty and grandeur of Giovanni's. Both Pokémon were clearly strong and powerful, and both were great representations of their respective trainers.

"Agility, Klaus! Start circling it!" I began the battle as Klaus enveloped himself in a pink glow as he started picking up speed while continuously circling around the Nidoking, preventing it from landing an easy shot.

"Toxic Spikes, Nidoking! Spread them out!" Understanding that I was trying to make use of Klaus' increasingly boosted speed to overwhelm Nidoking, Giovanni decided to limit the available space by scattering Toxic Spikes everywhere, threatening to inject their poisonous barbs into Klaus.

As the available safe space on the ground steadily shrunk due to Nidoking, I decided that Klaus had done enough setting up.

"Klaus, to the air and Psychic!" Using his old trick of creating Psychic platforms to leap into the sky, Klaus was able to jump from platform to platform while avoiding the Toxic Spikes on the ground and fire off repeated blasts of Psychic towards the Nidoking.

"Stone Edge, Nidoking! Fire them and block those Psychic blasts!" Nidoking roared out and lifted large stones into the air and launched them at Klaus and into the path of the incoming Psychic blasts, forming a solid wall of stone that threatened to crash into Klaus.

However, Nidoking clearly underestimated the power of Klaus' Psychic as that wall of stone shattered like glass as the powerful waves of Psychic energy ripped through them like they were barely an obstacle, before slamming supereffectively into a very surprised Nidoking and causing it to slide backwards from the impact.

"Again, Klaus!"

"Ice Beam, Nidoking! Target the platforms!"

Nidoking recovered quickly and immediately fired off a very fast beam of Ice straight at the platform that Klaus was standing on, causing it to break and Klaus to fall out of the sky before he could fire off another Psychic.

"MEGAHORN NOW, NIDOKING!"

"Psyshield Bash, Klaus! Meet it head on!"

Even after falling, fortunately not on any of the Toxic Spikes, Klaus managed to prop himself upright and channel Psychic energy into his horns just in time to block Nidoking's Megahorn. One horn met two antlers as the two Pokémon battled against each other in a competition of strength.

Klaus' legs were buckling slightly, but he held firm and pushed back against Nidoking's assault, his horns now slowly glowing a brighter pink as Klaus continuously channelled a veritable tide of Psychic energy into it. On the other hand, Nidoking's horn slowly began to dim as he lacked the ability to continually channel Bug type energy into it.

It was this difference in type familiarity and strength that decided the winner, as Klaus was more comfortable with using Psychic energy and had much greater reserves than Nidoking, allowing him to eventually overwhelm Nidoking and slam it backwards, leaving the Nidoking wide open to a follow up attack.

"Psyshield Bash again, Klaus! Hit it as hard as you can!"

"No! Prot-"

But Giovanni was unable to finish giving his command before Klaus rushed forwards, using all of that stored up momentum from having to push back Nidoking, and smashed into Nidoking with as much force as he could muster, instantly folding Nidoking in two and sending it flying backwards towards the psychic barriers of the arena.

"Psychic and finish it off!"

Wanting to make sure that Nidoking was down for good, Klaus fired off another blast of Psychic that exploded on Nidoking mid-air, knocking it out into unconsciousness.

"ANNND…THAT'S IT FOLKS! GIOVANNI'S NIDOKING HAS BEEN KNOCKED OUT! MEANING THAT ELITE JOHN IS THE WINNER! FOR THOSE INTERESTED, PLEASE STICK AROUND FOR THE OTHER UPCOMING FIGHTS!"

I waved and bowed to the crowd as they cheered my name and celebrated my victory while I made my way towards Giovanni.

"It was a good match, Giovanni." I told him as we clasped hands together.

"Yes, you fought well. Congratulations on your victory." He replied back, seemingly pleased despite his defeat. We made sure to smile for the cameras as our photos were taken. I was certain that our photo would end up on the headlines tomorrow.

The New Normal – 4-6 – INTERLUDE – POKENET REACTIONS

[GYM LEADER GIOVANNI OF VIRIDIAN CITY ANNOUNCES UPCOMING CHARITY SHOW MATCH AGAINST ELITE JOHN! ALL DONATIONS WILL GO TO THOSE INJURED AT OLIVINE AND THE REBUILDING OF THE PORT!] by The Indigo Post

Just moments ago, Gym Leader Giovanni made the exciting and very much welcome announcement that he will be hosting a charity match to raise donations for those who have been injured by the dastardly attack by Team Rocket at Olivine City, and to help fund the necessary repairs of the historic trading port. The event will be hosted next week at Viridian City, and you can buy tickets right now!

Gym Leader Giovanni has also promised his own contribution to this cause and has promised to give away free tickets to the event to a few lucky guests. In the press conference hosted by Giovanni, he had this to say:

"…I could not sit back after I had seen the devastation and the heartbreak that had occurred in our great city of Olivine. The ports of Olivine are the lifeline between Kanto and Johto, and it is the duty of every good Kantonian to help repair and improve the future of our region. Thus, I quickly reached out to Elite John, who easily agreed to help out with this charity event. We both sincerely hope that those interested will donate their money towards a good cause."

This is just another item in a long list of charitable actions that Gym Leader Giovanni has sponsored or proposed over the past few weeks. Already, his Viridian Public Works Venture has seen significant numbers of people join up. When questioned by our interviewers, many of these volunteers expressed their happiness and thankfulness to Gym Leader Giovanni for providing them with a stable income and productive work where they are also able to help out their communities.

This writer finds it inspiring and remarkable that a Gym Leader and businessman like Giovanni is so willing and eager to sponsor charitable programs like this, and hopes that other leaders of Indigo will take note and emulate his heroic actions.

Comments

FutureAce

Already bought the ticket as soon as I heard the announcement and thank Arceus that I did because these live tickets are running out quick! Honestly not sure how we're all going to fit inside the Viridian Gym, but I missed out on watching John's match against Drake live in Hoenn, and I'm definitely not going to miss this one!

ANormalFan

Hi all! In light of the recent explosion in popularity regarding Elite John, I've decided to set up an unofficial fanclub for him. You can find it here. Please check it out if you're interested, we'll be discussing and following events regarding Elite John, and we might even have giveaways and stuff to matches like this one!

Of course, I bought my own ticket!

KantoRepresent

Also bought a ticket. Remember that if the tickets are sold out, you can still donate to the cause. People have been harmed by the foul terrorists of Team Rocket, and we should do our bit to ensure that they are well-compensated for their injuries!

DragonPower

…but are the trainer's Dragon-type Pokémon going to receive compensation? I'm still donating on the off-chance that my money could be used to help a poor Dragon-type recover more quickly from their injuries and become a majestic beast once again.

FearTheRat

Also bought a ticket! Excited to see a match against one of the more powerful Gym Leaders against a member of the Elite Four. Anyone have any predictions about how they'd match up?

My money's still on Elite John, the guy beat Drake!

SlugmaBalls

Definitely going to place my vote on Elite John here. Don't know much about Giovanni besides his reputation as a good Gym Leader, but yeah, John beat Drake. Not going to top that in my mind.

And, do people remember John crushing all those mooks in Olivine? No way he's losing.

FightClub

We literally have a Fighting Gym here in Indigo and we chose to match the Normal guy against the Ground type Gym Leader? Whoever hosted this event clearly wasn't thinking.

RockGetGrunt

How are people receiving the compensation? Can anyone receive the compensation if they were injured in the event? Some of my friends were injured but they don't know how to receive it.

FlyingHigh

If your friends were there and injured during the attack, their names should have been registered by the Indigo Police so that they could interview you and check on up you. Your friends should be on that list.

RockGetGrunt

@FlyingHigh …that's disappointing. I don't think my friends want to be on any kind of list, so thanks anyways.

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

​[AN EXCITING SHOW MATCH BETWEEN GYM LEADER GIOVANNI AND ELITE JOHN! ELITE JOHN WINS 3:2!] By BattleCast

[Edited highlight video of the fight, speeches edited out] [Picture of Giovanni and John shaking hands at the end]

Although we here at BattleCast don't usually focus on the political aspects of our fights, we feel like we should make an exception for this match and announce that the donations to charity from the show match have exceeded Giovanni's initial goals for the event. Thank you to all those who donated, we here at BattleCast are certain that it'll make a difference.

But, returning to the battle itself, we got a very unusual match from Elite John! While it looks like Giovanni went with his expected team of a Rhydon, Nidoqueen, and Nidoking, Elite John seems to have chosen a much more uncommon trio of Clefable, Blissey, and Wyrdeer.

And when we got to the battle itself, things got even weirder from our Elite Four member. We saw a Belly Drum punching Clefable, who somehow hit hard enough to knock out Giovanni's Rhydon! Then, even more crazily, we saw a flying Blissey by making use of Gravity to lift herself up into the air! This writer has certainly never seen something like that before, and even though Blissey did eventually lose to Giovanni's Nidoqueen in a nail-biting display of willpower, I think that memory of a flying Blissey will forever etch itself into the minds of many.

Ultimately, Elite John proved himself to be the victor by showing off his famed Wyrdeer, battering aside Giovanni's Nidoking with practiced ease. Perhaps this was why he chose to hold back on his more powerful Pokémon to make the match fairer between the two of them. This writer certainly isn't going to complain; the match was plenty interesting enough!

We here at BattleCast will be releasing a more detailed analysis of their fight soon, so please stay tuned for that, dear readers!

Comments

SlugmaBalls

I was hoping to see some more cool and badass moments from John's team, but all we got was his Clefable and Blissey. I thought they were pretty weak stuff at first, but then Clefable Giga-Impacted Rhydon into the wall and I thought that was the coolest thing I've ever seen.

Flying Blissey was cool too, though she lost. Then Wyrdeer came up and destroyed Nidoking. Was still one of the COOLER matches between Gym Leader and Elite Four.

ANormalFan

WOOOOOOOO John won! As expected, but he won with STYLE!

FutureAce

@SlugmaBalls It was WAYYYYY cooler if you were actually there at the event. Everyone was so hyped and stuff; it was great! And then John and Giovanni gave these really inspirational speeches and it really fired everyone up. They are such cool people!

Yeah, it was no John v Drake, but ARCEUS was it still COOOOOOOL!!!! Never thought I would see a Clefable actually dominate a match before!

FightClub

I don't know what John was thinking trying to get his weak Clefable to imitate what its Fighting type betters are able to do so easily. If he wanted to get a Pokémon that could throw hands, why not choose an actually good Pokémon??

And what's worse, can't believe Giovanni actually lost to that weak thing. Really shaking my head at the weakness of our current Gym Leaders. I TOLD YOU ALL we should have gotten Gym Leader Chuck to fight.

TangelaThoughts

I was VERY surprised to see Clefable beating down on Rhydon. I have absolutely no idea how she managed to do that after tanking what should have been one very powerful Dragon Rush and a supereffective Hammer Arm.

If you look at the video, it really looks like Clefable just shrugs off both attacks! Did it form a Protect shield like the commentator said?! Very confused.

EDIT: Got too absorbed into the battle, but huge props to both of them for stepping up and continuing their charitable efforts. These two are becoming real heroes nowadays!

FearTheRat

@TangelaThoughts It was probably just from very good training from John. He was good enough to train his Normal types, Pokémon that are seen as traditionally average, to beat Drake's combination of powerful Water types and Dragons. I don't think seeing his Clefable being able to shrug off two attacks like that is a big surprise.

GeneralistGeneral

Yeah, I agree with @FearTheRat, definitely just some good training on John's part. Or probably some kind of defensive move that we just didn't see. Or even maybe just bad execution on Giovanni's part.

ILoveGoldenRod

Thanks to everyone who donated! Hope that the League can rebuild Olivine Port to be even bigger and better than it used to be! Big thanks to Gym Leader Giovanni for hosting everything! What a great Gym Leader!

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

​[ELITE JOHN MAKES HUGE NEW DISCOVERY ABOUT POKEMON FORMS? NEW WAY OF CREATING NEW POKEMON?!] By The Indigo Post

A new scientific paper has just been released by our beloved Elite John! In it, he described how he had worked with Agatha's apprentice, Karen, to carefully create a new, previously undiscovered form for a Zigzagoon that is Dark/Normal type! This has been verified by a team of scientists who have checked up on the now named 'D-Zigzagoon', and they confirm that it is a truly genuine new form of Pokémon with no defects or abnormal mutations.

Previously, we had all thought that the common consensus was that Pokémon could have different forms and evolutions based on their gender, but we have never seen a completely different form like the way Elite John has presented.

Elite John has repeatedly claimed, both in his article and in interviews, that he doubts that he has created a completely new form of Pokémon, but rather he has just rediscovered a form that has been either lost to time or from the war. He also insists that recognition should rightfully be shared with his research partner, Karen, who he says was instrumental in making the discovery. Gym Leader Norman from Hoenn's Petalburg City was also credited for providing the egg used in the experiment.

More importantly, John has also frequently warned any aspiring scientists to please be careful when trying to replicate his methods. He cautioned those without the right scientific knowledge to not attempt the experiment and reminded everyone who wanted to experiment on their own to remember to have safety measures in place to not accidentally harm the Pokémon egg, and to perform frequent checks to ensure no lasting damage has been done.

However, this writer is more than excited to see what kinds of new Pokémon forms are going to be discovered through the use of Elite John's methods, which has now been colloquially coined as the "Parent, Intent, Type (PIT) Technique". With John's method being verified by scientists from all over Indigo, this writer hopes that we can see a boom of new Pokémon discoveries in the near future!

Comments

ResearchMagnet

I have read through John's published article, and I can say that despite how crude and haphazard John's process was, he seemed to have lucked out with this admittedly fascinating discovery. This will open up new horizons for the discovery of new Pokémon! I cannot even begin to imagine what kind of discoveries would make now that actual professionals will be doing the researching.

Leave the intellectual work to us and stick to battling.

VeryBalanced (Verified POG)

I would like to take this time to thank Elite John for crediting me with providing the egg, though I saw it as an unnecessary display of thanks. However, I would also like to repeat the same warning that I told John when he first informed me of his plans to infuse the egg with Dark energy.

Please be careful – make sure the egg is safe after each infusion and take things slowly, do not get overly excited and infuse too much energy in one instance. It may end poorly for you and the Pokémon within the egg. Please stay cautious, thank you.

DragonLady (Verified POG)

The Blackthorn Clan are looking to hire some scientists to work and explore the PIT Technique on various Dragon eggs. Rest assured that all safety protocols will be scrutinizingly followed to ensure no harm comes to these valuable eggs.

If you would like to apply, please click here. We would like to also extend our thanks to Elite John for discovering this technique and wish him the best on any future experiments he may embark on.

ANormalFan

WHAT A THING TO READ IN THE MORNING!! Was John doing all this while also trying to settle into the Elite Four AND fighting against all those people?!! He's built different for sure.

FightClub

So, the guy has finally discovered something useful after all. Why aren't the scientists immediately infusing every egg they find with Fighting type energy? Imagine something like a Fighting type Donphan or something! Would probably be the most used Pokémon ever!

NotTooMuchWater

As my username implies, I really hope we don't discover even MORE Water types. I don't hate Water types, but we already have enough, don't we?

FearTheRat

I'm just really excited to see how this is going to affect the battling scene. Will there be a huge boom of discoveries forcing everyone to adapt to new Pokémon quickly? Very interested to see how this goes.

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

​[INDIGO LEAGUE WARNS: DO NOT ATTEMPT THE PIT TECHNIQUE UNLESS YOU ARE A QUALIFIED EXPERT OPERATING UNDER STRINGENT SAFETY PROCEDURES!] by The Indigo Post

The Indigo League has just issued a warning and a ban against any and all trainer and scientists who attempt to make use of the PIT Technique without the necessary safety procedures in place. The Indigo League have also announced that the technique must only be performed in certain pre-approved research facilities that have been verified by them. Anyone caught doing so illegally will be subjected to a heavy fine and possible imprisonment time.

This new policy was created after there has been widespread tragedy regarding amateur and ultimately reckless attempts at the PIT Technique without following safety protocols. Reports indicated that an estimated three hundred Pokémon eggs have been irreversibly damaged or destroyed by individuals who have improperly attempted the experiment.

The Indigo League spokesperson had this to say when asked about why they were implementing such a policy:

"It is the unfortunate reality that, with every new discovery, many will believe themselves the next one to find the next big thing. With John's discovery of the new D-Zigzagoon, and sharing how he had done so, this had unsurprisingly caused many to try their hand in hopes of discovering a new form of Pokémon in their own right. However, most of these attempts were not done by professionals, but by overeager trainers who hope to get famous off of a lucky break, and inadvertently damage or even destroy their eggs when they push too hard and don't get lucky. This policy is to target those reckless trainers, in hopes of ensuring that more eggs don't get damaged in the future."

When they were asked if Elite John was to blame, the spokesperson had this to say. "While Champion Pryce has not commented on this issue, I can say that the committee have mostly been supportive of Elite John and do not blame him for this turn of events. They refer to the fact that John has given numerous warnings, and yet the people still did not heed them. Thus, the committee hopes that this new policy will serve to discourage future trainers from experimenting like this on their own."

We at the Indigo Post share our hopes that future trainers will not carelessly experiment on their Pokémon eggs and sincerely hopes that our readers will absorb this message and spread it on our behalf. If you would like to see which facilities have been verified and approved by the League to undergo these experiments, click here.

Comments

ResearchMagnet

I hope none of you fools were dumb enough to experiment on your Pokémon eggs. Who am I kidding? Of course, you were. And you probably broke your egg while doing so too. Idiots. This is why I said to leave it to the professionals. You can't all get lucky like John did.

Gardevoir34

OMA I'm so glad that my friend got me to stop before I could accidentally harm my Meowth egg. I was trying to infuse it with Dark energy because I've always said that cats were evil and wanted to do it as a joke. But I never knew they could harm the egg like that!!! OMA!!!

ResearchMagnet

@Gardevoir34 You're very lucky that your friend isn't nearly as foolish as you were. Experimenting on a Meowth egg and infusing it with Dark energy just because you thought they were evil is beyond idiotic.

AttractIsNotConsent

WHY ARE PEOPLE NOT POINTING FINGERS AT JOHN FOR CAUSING ALL THIS?! Pokémon have died just because he wanted to publish his 'theories' to make himself more famous!! I don't know why you're all so willing to forgive him for causing so many deaths! He's a murderer!

ResearchMagnet

@AttractIsNotConsent I can feel my IQ dropping to the level of a Slowpoke the more that you type, so I will only deign to respond to you just the once. It is the DUTY of every reasonable citizen to share their scientific knowledge to the wider world for the greater good. To hide it is to withhold progress from society, and that is a far greater crime than all of these deaths combined.

TangelaThoughts

Ok, I'm not about to support what @ResearchMagnet just said, because honestly that's an inhumane perspective, but I also am not about to cast blame onto Elite John just for publishing his article as he did.

He gave ample warnings; many just chose to ignore them. The way I see it, it may actually be the responsibility of the League for not implementing this proposal sooner to prevent such tragedies from happening in the first place.

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

​[THE NEW LEAGUE CIRCUIT IS STARTING! HAS EVERYONE PACKED THEIR BAGS AND RECEIVED THEIR POKEMON!?] by The Indigo Post

It is that time of the year again to celebrate the restarting of the League Circuit! Trainers above the age of 11 may register as trainers at their nearest Pokécenter to enter into this year's circuit.

Please remember that certain Gym Leaders only accept challengers that have a certain number of badges or above. Please double check that you meet those requirements before issuing a challenge to those Gyms as to not waste time. For any returning trainers from previous circuits, those requirements and Gyms have not changed for the upcoming circuit.

As always, the recommended traditional routes regarding the Gyms of Kanto and Johto are as follows:

[Graphic to show the order of Gyms that the Gyms should be challenged in for Kanto and Johto respectively, which are the same as the games]

A reminder for anyone who has yet to receive a Pokémon, but who would like to enter into the circuit, to apply to your nearest Pokémon laboratory or Gym to receive a starter Pokémon! Your starter Pokémon selections may vary based on which Gym you choose to visit, so decide wisely!

As always, please treat your fellow trainers with dignity and respect, and to report any signs of improper and/or abusive behaviour from any trainer towards their Pokémon. Thank you! And we wish to see you the best among you at the Indigo Conference!

Comments

TheRealBoss (Verified POG)

As the final Gym of the Kanto Circuit, I would like to remind any prospective challengers on behalf of myself and Gym Leader Clair that receiving your final 8th badge is both an achievement, and a responsibility. Receiving your 8th badge means that you are technically qualified to join the upper ranks of the Indigo League, and thus you will be held to a much higher standard than others.

Please ensure that you are content with these heavier responsibilities before you make the challenge.

DragonLady (Verified POG)

Following on from Gym Leader Giovanni's statement, the 8th badge challenge is always the most stringent and toughest to collect out of all of the badges. Therefore, please do not feel discouraged if it takes multiple tries before you can earn your 8th badge.

It is MEANT to be tough. It is MEANT to challenge you. It is MEANT to prove to the Indigo League and the wider world that you have what it takes to win the Indigo Conference and make it into the upper echelons of the Indigo League.

So, prove to us that you can take those defeats and power through. We will be waiting.

FutureAce

I always get so excited every time a new circuit rolls around! I've spent the entire off-circuit training up my Pokémon, and I'm definitely going to get my 8th badge this time around, just you wait!

GroundedForLife

WE LOVE YOU GIOVANNI! <3 <3 YOU'RE THE GREATEST GYM LEADER IN KANTO! CAN'T WAIT TO FIGHT AGAINST YOU FOR MY 8TH BADGE!< p>

TangelaThoughts

With all of the changes happening in the leadership of the Indigo League, I hope that it won't have a direct impact on the circuit. However, so long as the Gym Leaders aren't affected, there should be no problems.

The start of the circuit is going to be wild with Lance vs Pryce battling for the title of Champion.

FearTheRat

OH man, I can't wait for the Indigo Conference from this year's circuit. With all those changes up top in the League, we're bound to see some interesting people entering the conference for a chance to make it into the Elite Four or even as Champion. That's going to be SICK!

SlugmaBalls

Mannnnn I wish we had some cool action like that in Hoenn, but I guess we don't have all that political infighting that you guys have. Wallace is pretty cool, and I would like him to stay.

ILoveGoldenRod

Wishing everyone luck! Hope to see you at the Indigo Conference! Hope a Johtonian wins this time!

KantoRepresent

Wishing everyone luck! Hope to see you at the Indigo Conference! Hope a Kantonian wins again!

EDIT: Lost to a Johtonian because Kanto has poorer connection speed, just another example of how Kantonians are structurally disadvantaged because of our poor infrastructure.

ILoveGoldenRod

@KantoRepresent Cope and seethe.

AreYouSlowBro

…Wait the circuit is starting already?! Where did all the time go?

The New Normal – 4-6 – Interlude – Shelly

Despite the hints that John gave her that he was working on a scientific experiment regarding Pokémon eggs, Shelly was still taken aback at WHAT John had truly been working on. The idea that there were still hidden, undiscovered forms of Pokémon that were just waiting to be discovered lit a fire under her, as well as almost every other scientist around the world.

Though it was tragic that many amateurs tried to recklessly replicate John's successes, only to be met with disaster and misfortune. Hopefully, now that there were new rules in place to prevent such reckless experimentation from taking place, she hoped that it should prevent many future tragedies from occurring.

Fortunately for her, she was in a position where she was able to continue her experiment under League-approved conditions.

She had sent a request to Mr. Stone asking for the expansion and construction of new facilities that would allow her a place to perform the experiment as per League-approved guidelines, and Mr. Stone was quick to accept and even provided the funds to do so. Construction should hopefully be underway shortly!

Despite the massive popularity of John's new experiment, she did not feel jealous of his luck or scientific successes. After speaking with John a few times in person, she saw that he was someone who was able to see things differently, able to connect dots that other people couldn't see or realize needed to be connected. It was a commendable ability, and something that Shelly would always admire.

Besides, she still considered herself blessed that she was able to be working on the Porygon project, despite not being at the joint-research facility. To her, it was getting the best of both worlds. She was allowed to explore new scenery and Pokémon while not feeling so stifled by the overly familiar Hoenn environment, and at the same time be able to work towards discovering more about Porygon and its potential evolution and uses.

As a Pokémon made of pure data, many foresaw that Porygon, if it could be mass produced, would have many applications in cyber-security and cyber-warfare, as well as just the general maintenance and organisation of data. That was mostly outside her expertise, as she was more interested and knowledgeable about developing Porygon as a Pokémon and as a battler.

Suddenly, her computer pinged as she received an email in her private email account. Shelly frowned as she went and read the very familiar email and its repeated proposition.

She remembered receiving the first email from this mysterious sender a while ago. It was a simple email, detailing how they wanted to better the world and how they needed a scientist to help them with their goals. It was a slightly unusual job offer, with a more lucrative salary than the one she got from Devon Corp, but Shelly's scepticism won out, and she politely declined it.

But then more emails started coming, but this time they weren't job offers. They were just simple emails asking for her professional opinion on certain topics, mostly revolving around how to improve the world. One common topic was about how to reverse the damage done by humankind onto the environment. It was an enlightening back-and-forth, and Shelly admitted to herself that she enjoyed the intellectual discussions over email, despite not knowing who exactly she was speaking to. Slowly, her scepticism began fading away.

They never moved away from intellectual topics, though the other person often mentioned how freeing it was to explore the world and see more of it. They claimed that, in order to properly understand the damage that humans were causing to the world, one needed to see it with their own eyes. At the time, Shelly partially agreed; she WAS feeling stifled in Hoenn and would have welcomed a break from the region.

But then she had a lucky break and was sent over to Indigo to as manager of the Viridian Branch office, both giving her a promotion and her wish to work in a different environment. That was exactly what she had wanted, and she very much enjoyed handling all of the new responsibilities and duties that she had been given.

And then she became the first point of contact with John and his Porygon. That, in turn, bolstered her influence within the Porygon project and she became an important researcher of the project. THAT had reignited her scientific mind and she threw herself headfirst into the work and project, becoming too busy to even think about the notion about exploring the world and her mysterious online conversation partner.

So, to see another email from this mystery person brought up weird feelings. According to their most recent email, they were beginning to start a very important scientific project, and this was the last chance to join. They never specified what it was doing, citing security concerns, but they promised that it would be extremely intellectually stimulating. Of course, a hefty salary was included.

If Shelly had been stuck as one of many simple project managers in Hoenn, she may have accepted the offer. She could see herself as being too stifled by the mundanity of her job and might have taken the risk and jumped onto this new and exciting opportunity.

But now, with her new responsibilities and projects in Kanto, she couldn't see herself leaving her job. She enjoyed it, and it fulfilled her. She saw no reason to give up such a wonderful opportunity for the unknown.

And so, without needing to think deeply, she wrote an email declining the invitation, and returned to her work on figuring out how to evolve a Porygon.