The New Normal - A Pokémon Elite 4 SI by CartecFF

Chapter 19: 74-77

Chapter 19: 74-77

The New Normal – 4-16 – INTERLUDE: WHITNEY

"Use Rollout, Miltank! Win this for me!" She yelled out. Her Miltank mooed and obeyed as she dodged under a swipe of Tyrant's arms and crashed into him with her Rollout.

"Transition it into a Brick Break, Miltank!" She directed.

"PROTECT!" Her brother yelled out in panic.

Her Miltank's arm descended, slicing cleanly through the Protect shield and hitting Tyrant hard in the face.

"Finish it off with a Body Press!" Her Miltank mooed once again as she pounced onto the stumbling Tyrant, ready to finally finish it off and grant her the victory...

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Whitney groaned as she was forcefully snapped out of her dream by the wail of her phone's alarm. She cursed at how busy the Gyms were that she was forced to book her match for early in the morning. She was not as much of a heavy sleeper as Karen, but she doubted anyone liked being dragged out of the bed as soon as the sun rose.

It also didn't help that the beds in the Cerulean Pokécenter were nowhere near as comfortable as her bed at home; she should have taken the offer to stay at home with her family a few days ago so that she could enjoy the comfort of her own bed instead of being so insistent. But it was too late now.

Both she and Sabrina had handily defeated Flint for the Boulder Badge. And to be honest, he was kind of disappointing. Even though Whitney restricted herself to only using her Whismur, it was far too easy to just dodge around in a circle while firing off Echoed Voices until Flint's Geodude fainted.

Whitney had honestly expected more of a challenge, though she supposed it was only the First Gym badge and those were meant to be easy. Still though, Sabrina had utterly stomped the fight with her Kadabra, and she also made comments about how disappointingly simple it was.

Perhaps they would find more challenges later.

Then Whitney suddenly got a surge of new energy as she remembered what she and Sabrina had been doing yesterday. The two of them had been training around Route 5, and to Whitney's immense luck, she managed to catch two new additions to her team.

Yes, her brother had repeatedly told her to be careful with catching new Pokémon and to always ensure that they would actually fit her team, but Whitney was just too caught up in the excitement at the time. Oh well, at least from what she saw yesterday everything seemed fine between them.

But her Hoothoot and Jigglypuff were just SOOO CUTEE!!

Coupled with the fact that she had a Gym fight to catch against the Cerulean Gym, Whitney managed to motivate herself enough to force herself out of her bed to complete her morning ablutions. With that out of the way, she went to wake up her friend, since her match was straight after hers.

"Sabrina! Are you awake?" She knocked on her door, before she heard a thump like something had just been thrown at the door. Whitney frowned and knocked even louder this time. "If you don't wake up then we won't make it to the fight. Hurry up! We still need to eat breakfast!"

Eventually, her door unlocked itself and Whitney was greeted with the sight of Sabrina's room. She was still lying on the bed asleep, her black hair tangled in a great mess, looking nothing like her normally put-together appearance.

Evidently, she had unlocked the door psychically, and yet still refused to get up. Whitney sighed and decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Come on then, let's get you up." She poked and prodded her friend with her fingers, trying to tickle her awake. She saw Sabrina's mouth curl upwards as Whitney continued to tickle her, until suddenly Whitney felt a weight press down on her and she became unable to move her body.

Normally, losing complete control of your body like this would be a cause for concern, but despite the short time she's spent with Sabrina, Whitney was already used to it and simply sighed. Besides, she was starting to get the hang of breaking free from the Psychic hold.

"Come on, Sabrina, if you're already using this much Psychic power then you can wake yourself up. Also, how many times do I have to tell you that it's rude to restrain someone like that?" She scolded softly, causing Sabrina to frown and release her.

"...Sorry." Sabrina quietly apologized, but that was enough for Whitney to adopt a beaming smile. She never used to apologize for using her Psychic powers like this; it was a huge improvement!

"You actually apologized, WOOO!" She exclaimed happily as she hugged her friend, ignoring her muffled protests as Sabrina tried to bury herself deeper into the pillow. "We're making progress! Okay, come on then, let's celebrate this with a nice breakfast and another Gym Badge. Let's go let's GOOO!"

With much reluctance, Sabrina finally pulled herself out of bed and started to prepare herself for the day ahead. Since she never explicitly kicked Whitney out of her room, she stayed to observe how Sabrina used her psychic powers to levitate objects to her so that her hands could remain free; she was pretty jealous about that.

After Sabrina got ready, the two of them went downstairs to have a quick breakfast. They still had some time before their match, so they didn't need to rush through breakfast.

"Your brother is on the news again." Sabrina suddenly spoke up as she gestured to the TV. Whitney had quickly told Sabrina about who her brother was after they both got the Boulder Badge, but Sabrina was hardly surprised. Considering Whitney's far above average strength, Sabrina told her that it was obvious that her brother was likely a very powerful trainer.

Whitney didn't know if those high expectations were a good thing or not.

Regardless, Whitney turned and saw that, sure enough, there was a news report that mentioned her brother's recent participation in the first new policy of Lance's Championship.

"...coupled with the support of both Elite John and Elite Agatha, the Champion's deciding vote in the recent Committee meeting means that a new Elite Four member has been appointed, Will from Johto! There will be a swearing-in ceremony in two days' time, which will be streamed live on this channel. So please check it out!"

Huh. Her brother didn't tell her about this. But she supposed that a new Elite Four member wasn't something that she had to urgently know about. Was this what him and Gym Leader Giovanni were discussing at home? Either way, it was interesting, but nothing too important for her.

If it was important, then her brother would have likely called her on the phone by now.

Anyways, the two of them then continued to scarf down their breakfasts while they made some small talk.

"How are you feeling today, Sabie? Are you ready for the Cerulean Gym?" Whitney asked using the nickname she had given Sabrina. It had annoyed Sabrina at first, but now she was resigned to it. Whitney felt like she secretly enjoyed it but didn't want to admit it. Sabie was cute like that.

"All research points to the Waterflower sisters being far weaker than their father. We should have no problems." Sabrina stated casually, then sighed. "I had honestly hoped for more of a challenge."

Whitney tried not to let the disappointment show on her face as well, even though she completely agreed with her friend. All of her research pointed towards the new Gym Leaders of Cerulean not being the greatest of trainers. They seemed to be more focus on their, admittedly amazing, shows rather fulfilling their duties as actual Gym Leaders.

But Whitney would remain optimistic! Maybe the Waterflower sisters were just going through a few bad days; Whitney really wanted something that could give her Miltank the chance to go beyond her limits.

She put that out of her mind for a moment before she ate up the rest of her meal. She thanked Arceus that she was never a picky eater or else she likely would have starved to death on the first few days of her journey. Home-cooked food this was not.

A few minutes later, and Sabrina stood up from her seat, "Let's go. We should head there early." She said, and Whitney nodded, finishing up the last bite of her sandwich and joined her after wiping her mouth.

The two of them proceeded to the Cerulean Gym. She had seen it plenty of times since she had lived nearby, but it was still an impressive sight. Especially now that she had seen what the Pewter Gym looked like, which was just a large, slightly decaying, boulder; the Cerulean Gym had an artistic grandeur that really drew in crowds.

The inside of the Gym was no less grand. The Aquarium inside was amazing as always and was always filled with tourists. Whitney could see the appeal, though she would never visit one by herself.

Then the two of them entered into the main chamber of the Gym where the Gym fights took place, and she mentally kicked away all of those distractions. It was almost time for her Gym Fight!

The two of them waited patiently in the audience stands for a few minutes, though it didn't take long before it was their turn. Since Whitney went first last time, Sabrina had registered before Whitney this time around, so Sabrina went up first.

Before long, Sabrina had cleared through the very...'average' Gym Trainers practically unscathed. Her Natu blew past them without issue.

"Trainers, this will be a 2v2 2-badge match between challenger Sabrina and Gym Leader Daisy! There will be no switches!" The referee announced, but Sabrina looked as unfazed and as cool as usual.

"Trainers, are you ready?!" Both trainers nodded, "BEGIN!"

"Shellder, go!"

"Natu."

Oh? It looks like Sabrina was copying her strategy of not using her Kadabra first in order to make things more challenging for herself. Whitney smiled at that.

"Water Gun, Shellder!"

A small stream of water shot out from Shellder's mouth, but Natu was able to hop to the side and fire off a small Confuse Ray towards the Shellder. The ray of light struck the immobile Shellder head on, and things quickly devolved from there.

"Oh no! Snap out of it and Water Gun again, Shellder!"

But Natu didn't give Shellder to recover, and with a few quick blasts of Confusion knocked Shellder out and ended the fight.

And Daisy's next Pokémon fared no better either. This time it was a Seel, and while this time it managed to make use of the water within the Gym to manoeuvre around a lot quicker, Natu remained safely out of reach by continuing to fly high above the pool and eventually wearing down the Seel with Confusion. And just like that, Sabrina had won and earned herself the Cascade Badge.

And then it was Whitney's turn.

She similarly blew past the Gym Trainers without any difficulty; it was almost boring to see how her Whismur stomped past them with an Echoed Voice or two each. It was almost insulting to the training that she did!

...Regardless, she now found herself matching up against the Cerulean Gym Leader. Inwardly, she hoped that there would be a challenge.

"Trainers, this will be a 2v2 2-badge match between challenger Whitney and Gym Leader Violet! There will be no switches!" The referee announced, and Whitney forced herself to focus and to ignore the sense of inevitable disappointment in the back of her mind.

"Goldeen, come!"

"Whismur, it's your turn once again!"

Whitney chose to send out her Whismur instead of her newer captures as she felt that the latter weren't ready for a Gym Battle yet. As soon as the two Pokémon emerged from their Pokéballs, Whitney went on the offensive.

"Echoed Voice, Whismur!"

"Water Pulse, Goldeen!"

Violet tried to match Whismur's Echoed Voice with a Water Pulse of her own, but the sound waves fired off from Whismur actually blasted right through the Water Pulse, dispersing the water harmlessly onto the floor and slamming into the Goldeen.

"Echoed Voice again, Whismur!"

Whismur yelled out and fired off more sound waves at the Goldeen, who was still reeling from the previous attack. Thus, it was unable to form up any sort of defense and went down to the second Echoed Voice.

...That was disappointingly easy.

Whitney could see Violet grimace for a moment at Goldeen's defeat, but she didn't know whether that was out of shame or annoyance that her Pokémon fell so quickly. The Gym Leader withdrew her fallen Goldeen and sent out her next, and final, Pokémon.

"Come, Seel!"

...And yet another Seel came out onto the field, looking nearly identical to the one Sabrina faced. The Seel dove straight into the water to take advantage of its aquatic manoeuvrability. This turned out to be a huge mistake though, as Whismur's Echoed Voice actually travelled faster through water than through the air, and Seel was pummelled repeatedly by Whismur's sound waves.

In a last-ditch effort, the Seel leapt out of the water and tried to tackle into Whismur, but she dodged out of the way and slammed into it with a Pound to finish it off. Thus, Whitney was able to, quite easily, secure the Cascade Badge as well.

The two of them then made it out of the Gym, but Whitney was unable to hide the disappointment that she felt at her easy victory. Sabrina evidently caught on and tried to comfort her by awkwardly patting her on the shoulder, which caused Whitney to smile weakly at the attempt.

"...Thanks, Sabie. I'm ok, just thought that the fight was too easy." Whitney said sadly.

"I understand." Sabrina replied, before she levitated Whitney's phone from out of her belt. "Call your brother. You will feel better."

Whitney's smile turned thankful as she grabbed her phone out of the air and proceeded to dial up her brother. She agreed that venting to him would probably help.

"Hello? John speaking." Her brother said through the phone.

"John, are you free to talk right now?" Whitney said, trying to hide her sadness, "I want to tell you some things about my journey so far."

"Oh sure, sis, no problem!" John said happily, "Actually, are you still in Cerulean? If so, I'll pick you up and we can discuss at things over lunch if you haven't eaten yet."

"Oh, ummm...yeah sure!" Whitney replied, before she looked to her Sabrina and frowned, "Actually, is it okay if I bring a friend home with me? I'll feel bad if I leave her here by herself."

She could see Sabrina gesturing that she would be fine alone, but John responded first. "Sure! Feel free to bring your friend along. I'll be happy to meet them." Whitney let out a breath that she didn't even realize she was holding; it was nice to know that her brother was open to meeting her friends.

"Say, Whitney, where do you want to be picked up?" John asked, "Because if I just land in the center of Cerulean City then everyone's going to know who you are. I don't mind, personally, but it's up to you if you want that kind of attention."

Oh! Whitney hadn't even been thinking of that. While a part of her wanted to show off her relation to her brother, she realized that she had come to enjoy the anonymity for now and didn't want it exposed so quickly. So, she just told John that she would just walk home instead since it was pretty close. John accepted that and said that they'd be waiting for them at home, then hung up.

"Are you sure you want me at your house?" Sabrina spoke up, with an undercurrent nervousness under that usual blank fa?ade, "I do not want to be intruding, after all."

"It's okay! Don't worry about it." Whitney reassured with a hug, "Come on, let's get going."

Sabrina made no further protests and the two of them proceeded to head back to her home. The walk took about half an hour, but that time flew by as the two continued making small talk together and discussing the battle that had just taken place.

Sabrina pointed out that she was a little surprised by the fact that Whitney didn't rely purely on physical attacks to win, saying that the way that Whismur won was very different to Miltank's fighting style. Whitney replied that John had taught her to not tunnel-vision yourself down one singular fighting path, and to make use of the Normal type's large moveset to come up with various different techniques and fighting methods.

"You know, when you meet him, you should ask him for some tips. John might not be a Psychic specialist, but I'm sure he knows a few things that could help you." She remarked. Her friend hummed thoughtfully at that.

Soon enough, the two of them arrived at the gate of her family home. And, just like before, John was there to greet them at the door, but this time he was accompanied by Karen.

Whitney immediately took off into a sprint and grabbed her brother into a hug. Karen just waved from the side.

"Hey, Whitney, good to see you again. Who's your friend?" She greeted, and Whitney broke herself out of the hug to greet Karen.

"It's good to see you too, Karen. And this is my new friend, Sabrina!" She introduced her friend to the two of them. She noticed both Karen and John's eyes widen almost imperceptibly, but it quickly went away.

"Hello, Sabrina, I'm John. You probably recognize me from somewhere." John greeted, extending his hand for a handshake. Sabrina narrowed her eyes at John.

"I cannot read your mind." Sabrina simply stated, and this caused both Karen and John to chuckle.

"That's not surprising. Trainers at our level are pretty resistant to type energy, so being able to resist mind reading is quite normal." Karen remarked, "Though I finally recognize why you look so familiar. You're the daughter of the Saffron Gym Leader, right?"

Sabrina nodded carefully, and Karen continued, "Ah, yes, you're that prodigy with all of that Psychic talent. Agatha's heard of you. Hmm...speaking of which, are you able to read your parents minds?"

"A little bit. Though it is harder than with children. I can pick up fragments of their thoughts." Sabrina responded, getting an approving nod from Karen.

"Fascinating. No wonder Agatha was so interested in you." Karen praised, causing Sabrina to blush slightly, "But, like I was saying, if you continue to develop your own powers as a Psychic, then perhaps you'll even able to glean OUR thoughts as well in the future. That would be remarkably impressive."

John clapped his hands, "Right. That's enough talk about that for now; let's not scare off Whitney's new friend, shall we?" Karen looked away sheepishly, "Come, sis, let's have lunch together. We can talk about your journey over some food. I have some news to tell you as well."

Then Whitney and Sabrina were invited into the house and sat themselves around the dining table. John informed them that both their parents were out in Johto for the moment to handle some business matters, so he himself prepared lunch with Karen.

While the two of them prepared lunch, Sabrina was fidgeting awkwardly in her seat. Whitney turned to her with a look of concern.

"Is there something wrong?" Whitney asked her.

"No. Not really." Sabrina admitted embarrassedly, "...It's just that I'm not used to having people so openly welcoming of me, outside of my family. Between you and your family, it is...unusual."

Karen spoke up from the kitchen before Whitney could, "I can understand that. When I first got started as a Dark type specialist trainer, I got weird looks from everyone because of the stigma that's attached to Dark type Pokémon as being 'evil' and 'untrustworthy'. People were afraid of me, and distrusted me, just because I liked using Dark type Pokémon and cause I was an orphan."

Sabrina nodded, evidently listening with rapt attention as Karen continued, "But then I met Agatha, my mentor, who didn't care at all about the Dark type stigma and took me in as her own granddaughter." She reminisced fondly, "And then I learnt not to care about how others look at you, so long as I was still loved by those that I cared about. And besides, that stigma against Dark types is not as bad now."

Sabrina fell silent as she pondered over Karen's words. Whitney kept staring at Sabrina with concern, but then Sabrina turned to Whitney and hugged her. The hug was stiff and awkward, but Whitney could feel how thankful Sabrina was to Whitney for taking her up as a friend, and so eagerly returned the hug to her first and closest friend.

The two of them stayed like that for a while before she heard the signature click of a phone camera.

Whitney quickly scrambled away from Sabrina to see her brother smiling while holding up his phone, having taken a picture of their hug.

"BRO!" She shouted out, embarrassed. Next to her, Sabrina was blushing red as well.

"Don't worry, sis, I'm sure that our parents would love to frame this photo somewhere in the living room. They'd love to see you spending time with your first friend." He laughed.

In embarrassment, Whitney shot out of her seat to grab his phone, but her stupidly tall brother simply held his phone too high for her to reach. She retaliated by pounding his stomach, to no avail. The picture was already sent.

"I'll get you back for this, John!" She swore to Arceus, but her brother just laughed off her threats and patted her on the head, leaving her to fume silently.

"Okay, okay, enough teasing your sister. Lunch is ready, so let's eat." Karen calmed everyone down, and the two of them made their way back to the seat. But not before Whitney kicked her brother in the shin once more, making him fake hobble as he pretended that he was in pain.

Then the four of them sat around the dining table to enjoy some home-cooked lunch. Even though it was just some Tauros steak and Miltank cheese sandwiches, she really did miss this.

As they ate, John asked the two of them how they had found their journey thus far, and while Whitney initially wanted to hide her disappointment from her brother, Sabrina made the choice for her.

"It has been quite disappointing, to be honest, John." She announced, causing both her brother and Karen to frown. "Before we came here, Whitney and I had just won our Cascade Badge, but the match against the Waterflower sisters were very disappointing."

"...I see." John replied seriously as he listened to Sabrina's description. He put down his sandwich and wiped his hands before he clasped them together, "Right, this actually segues into what I wanted to tell you, Whitney."

Whitney gave John a curious look as he explained, "Actually, there will be a new policy coming soon that will reduce the number of badges required to travel and capture new Pokémon from other regions from 4 to 2. Which means that, as soon as it's passed, you'll be able to travel to Johto to capture new Pokémon. Hoenn might not get changed though."

I hesitated for a moment, but eventually agreed as I realized that getting Lance on board was necessary to ensure that the Contest Halls would actually be established in Cerulean. "Yes, sure. I will offer my public support for your International Police within reason, and I must be able to go over your proposal before it gets voted on by the Committee." I said to him.

"Agreed." Lance stated. "I had feared that some of the public and the committee might see my idea as overly dictatorial, so getting your public support on this would definitely calm their nerves."

He then asked if there was anything else he could help me with, and after I said no, he hung up after promising that he would discuss this idea with his counterparts in Hoenn and make sure that my proposal would come up in the next Committee meeting after this one.

I smiled as the call ended, pleased to see that there were no foreseeable problems with my plans. I really hoped to be able to enact my vision of Cerulean City; I think that it would both serve to help leave a family legacy behind as well as bolster Cerulean to become a vital pillar of Kanto.

Before I forgot though, I quickly dialled up Agatha as well.

"Oh, John? If you're looking for your girlfriend, I'm afraid you called the wrong number." Agatha answered with an audible smirk.

I ignored her, "Agatha, I have a new proposal that I want to get passed through the Committee. It involves building Contest Halls in Cerulean City and then inviting participants from Indigo and Hoenn to participate. I already have Lance on board, I just want to make sure that I would have your support, even if the two of us couldn't vote." I explained.

"Hmm...looking to play city builder, eh?" Agatha remarked, "Don't worry, boy, you'll get my support. I'll approve of your practice run. Now, is there anything else boy?"

I said no, and she hung up before I could ask what she meant by 'practice run'. Eh, probably wasn't a big deal.

"We're home!" My mom called out as she arrived home with my dad, shaking me out of my thoughts.

"Hey, just got back from Johto?" I asked as I turned around to greet my parents.

"Yeah, we had a look at the new location for the farm near Goldenrod. It looks good, and the price is acceptable, so we've already put a deposit down on it." My dad explained to me.

"Oh, great!" I remarked, "Glad to see that your efforts are going well too."

"How was your talk with the mayor?" My mom asked, "From what you said just now, it seems like it went well."

"Wait. Let us all get settled in first, and we'll discuss this over dinner." My dad cut in, and we all nodded.

Thus, over dinner, I proceeded to explain to my parents everything that I had discussed today with the mayor and Lance. I had already told them beforehand I was going to do so, since I needed their permission so that they would know about the potential sponsorship donation from our family business.

They weren't exactly eager to jump on board with the sponsorship discussions, but they agreed that the further development of Cerulean City could only be a good thing for us.

"Does that mean we're going to have a hall named after our family?" My dad jokingly asked, causing us to all laugh. We ultimately decided to table the discussion of sponsorships for later when more information was available.

After dinner ended, I headed up to my room and texted the Waterflower sisters using the contact details provided by Mayor Henry to ask if they were amenable to a meeting tomorrow. I emphasized that I was coming as a private citizen, and not under any capacity as an Elite Four member. I hoped that would ease any panic they might have had.

Just before I fell asleep, I got a text back from them letting me know to meet them early in the morning. I sent back an acknowledgement and went to bed.

I hoped tomorrow's meeting would be as fruitful as today.

The New Normal – 4-18 – The Waterflower Sisters

Early the next morning, I rushed off to Cerulean City to meet the famed Waterflower sisters. I honestly didn't know what to expect going into the meeting, as they were barely developed characters in canon and were regulated to an extremely minor role. I hadn't even met them during my first run through of the Gyms all those years ago, as they hadn't become the Gym Leader yet.

Despite this, I hoped to at least build friendly relations with them. Not only were they a cornerstone of Cerulean City, but I did intend to prevent any of their future problems regarding the Cerulean Gym as soon as possible.

I quickly arrived at the Gym and found no one there to greet me, which was a bad start. Still, I made my way inside of the Gym to see the Gym Trainers running around frantically as they got ready for the day ahead.

I couldn't help but comparing the conditions of the Cerulean Gym with Giovanni's Gym. Compared to the Viridian Gym, the Gym Trainers looked a lot more harried and disorganized, and I could see from some of the Pokémon idling about that they were far weaker than they should be, even for a Gym normally meant to be challenged at 2 badges.

Fortunately, I thought it wasn't unsalvageable. As I walked to the Waterflower sisters' office, I felt that many of their problems could be fixed just with some better organisation.

Soon, I arrived and knocked on their door, and was promptly greeted with a trio of 'hellos' and 'come in'.

"Hello all, thank you all so much for accommodating my private visit. I hope I won't be intruding." I greeted the teenage trio of sisters, who all seemed flummoxed and nervous to greet me. Oops?

"Oh, uh, thank you for coming!" The oldest, and blonde Daisy greeted nervously, her eyes shifting around slightly as she spoke. "I hope everything's been okay with you, Elite John."

"Yeah, we were kinda surprised when we heard you were coming." The blue-haired, and middle sister, Violet added uncertainly, "We really weren't expecting a visit."

"Of course! We are welcome to help you with anything, uh, Elite John." The pink-haired and youngest, Lily, continued anxiously, "So, uh, how may we help you?"

Wow, they were a bundle of nerves at the moment. I tried to calm them down, "Well, thank you for letting me visit regardless, and I apologize for how unusual this is." I said, "As I mentioned before, I'm not here in any capacity as an Elite Four, I'm just here as a citizen of Cerulean who wants to do his best to help out the Gym where possible."

Fortunately, that seemed to calm their nerves a bit. "Well, I'm glad for that." Daisy remarked after she let out a breath, "Are there any issues you see with the Gym you can point out?"

I tried to put on as friendly of a smile as possible, "Well, actually, yes. My sister had come through the Gym recently, and I'm sorry to say that she was fairly disappointed in the strength of your Gym." That caused all of the sisters to wince, "I followed on my sister's words with more research, and I realized that on the Pokénet that others have made similar complaints. Now, I really do hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries, but may I ask if you have noticed these problems as well?"

The sisters glanced uncertainly at each other before Daisy sighed and turned back to me, "Yes. Unfortunately, it's been pointed out to us by some of our Gym Trainers as well. Truthfully, we aren't at the same level as our dad; our interests lie more in the shows and contests, rather than as traditional Gym Leaders. We've tried to make do, of course, but I guess we just aren't doing enough." She shrugged.

"I mean, it's not like we don't put in the effort. But this isn't where our interest lies, y'know?" Violet added.

"Yeah, we don't want to disappoint our late dad, but we're not really cut out for this kind of thing." Lily finished sadly.

I nodded thoughtfully as I listened to them; this was about what I expected from what I knew of canon. But this was far from the worst-case scenario, I was glad to see that they were at least willing to put in the effort.

"Well, that's fine, and I'm sure your shows are very good." I praised, and they all blushed. "It's alright to not be the best at everything, especially since you're all very new to the position of Gym Leader anyways. Trust me, I know how that feels." That caused them to split into small smiles of their own.

"Now, the reason I'm here to offer my assistance is because I have ambitions to transform Cerulean City into one of the pillars of Kanto. And to do that, I want to ensure that the Cerulean Gym, a crucial element of our city, will maintain its stability and prosperity into the future. So, in this case, I would like to offer a helping hand to see if I can help solve any problems that you might have, if you'd have me." I explained carefully.

That seemed to catch the sisters off guard, and they seemed to silently communicate with each other before Daisy spoke up, "...Honestly, we would very much like the help. We're still very new into our positions of Gym Leaders, and there's a been a lot to manage that we're still very unsure of. Many of our Gym Trainers are new hires as well, and they don't have the experience to help out with the administrative aspect of the Gym."

"I see." I responded thoughtfully, "Could you let me know what those problems are? Maybe I could help you, or at the very least, find someone who I think is trustworthy to help."

The girls looked at each other again before Daisy spoke up again, "I think our main issue is being able to source and train up Pokémon that can fight at the 2-badge level. Our problem right now is that we either can't find new Water Pokémon to train up, or dedicate enough time to train them up, and the Pokémon that we do train up get misused by our Gym Trainers and they get too strong too quickly and eventually have to be retired because they become unsuitable for the 2-badge level."

"And we're not really sure how best to manage the Gym's finances. Running this Gym is more expensive than we thought, and we don't have much in our budget to buy all these new Water types for our Gyms. Our shows bring in decent income, but nowhere near enough for everything that we need." Violet explained.

"Also, because we need to spend all this time between managing the Gym and to perform our shows, we don't have any time in our schedule to train up our 8-badge team, so we've really fallen behind on that front." Lily sighed out as she finished.

I hummed consideringly as I pondered what they had just told me. It seems that while they were far from incompetent, they just didn't have the necessary experience to run the Gym effectively and the problems simply compounded on themselves.

However, I thought that most of their problems could just be handled if they just had a good administrator who knew what they were doing and could teach the three young sisters about how to manage the Gym appropriately.

I suspected that, in canon, they likely didn't receive this support and the Gym continued to spiral downhill as their unresolved problems continued to mount, until the sisters eventually gave up entirely on the Gym and focused on their performing passions. But I hoped that I could provide enough assistance that they would choose to instead split their focus between their performances and the Gym.

"It seems like most of your problems could be solved if you just got yourselves a good administrator." I told them, "If someone could be assigned to handle all of these problems, and free up time for you to properly train up yourselves and your Pokémon, then I'm certain that the Gym would be able to run far more smoothly."

The three sisters nodded, "Yes, we've thought of that too. But we don't really have anyone that we could ask to help us. As we said, our Gym Trainers are all young hires, and are all inexperienced. In fact, we've also had problems with our Gym Trainers being too tough or too weak on the challengers, and a few of them have problems showing up on time. It's a mess." Violet lamented.

A smile appeared on my face, "Well, you're in luck. I think I have just the person to ask for." The girls looked at me curiously, "Do you mind if I call Gym Leader Giovanni and explain your problems to him?"

The girls all gasped, "G-G-Giovanni? Uh, uh, you don't have to bother someone like him! I'm sure he's very busy!" Lily exclaimed anxiously, with the other two nodding in agreement.

I smiled, "No, no, I'm sure he's more than willing to help you." I turned serious, "But it does mean that you would have to explain your problems to him. Are you comfortable with that?"

The sisters all looked at each other, and after a silent agreement, nodded back to me. "We can trust someone as kind as Giovanni."

I had to really hold in my laugh that time; to think that Giovanni's name was now associated with trustworthiness and kindness. Still, I nodded back to them and made the call.

"Hello? Giovanni speaking." He answered.

"Giovanni, it's John. I'm currently in a meeting with the Waterflower sisters in their capacity as the Gym Leaders of Cerulean. I have been speaking to them about some of their problems that they're facing, and I was hoping I could get some assistance from you here." I responded formally, making him aware of the seriousness of this conversation.

"Oh? That's very interesting." Giovanni chuckled, "Please, go ahead."

"Mind if I move it to speaker?" I asked and switched to speaker after Giovanni agreed. "Right, I'll let the Waterflower sisters explain their issues to you."

And so, I stayed silent as I allowed the sisters to explain the problems to Giovanni. As I silently listened to their conversation, I reflected on how I truly felt that recommending Giovanni's assistance to the Waterflower sisters was the right and surprisingly trustworthy thing to do.

After all, it was not unusual for Gym Leaders to help out other struggling Gym Leaders if need be. And Giovanni doing so would just be furthering his image as a model and kind Gym Leader, which I'm sure he would be appreciate of. And, not only that, but by establishing public ties with Cerulean, Giovanni would also want to ensure that the Cerulean Gym is a success, or else his name would be tarnished as well.

And I'm sure he knew that as well, so I was confident that he wouldn't act maliciously towards the Cerulean Gym.

"...I see. I think I have a good understanding of the problem." Giovanni spoke as he finished listening to the sisters' explanation, "And I think I understand why John reached out to me. John, you're looking for someone who can help them with the administrative aspects, right?"

"Yes. And I know that you have some very capable subordinates of yours who might be free at the moment. Do you think Petrel could help out?" I asked.

"Petrel?" Giovanni chuckled, before he hummed thoughtfully. He replied after a moment, "Yes, I think that's a good choice. I was initially going to suggest another individual, but I like your choice more. Petrel hasn't had much to do at this point, and his role could easily be taken up by one of the Gym Trainers."

"Ummm...Sorry to interrupt, but who's Petrel?" Lily spoke up questioningly.

"Oh, Petrel is one of my most trusted subordinates who helps me with the administrative areas of the Gym. He's my administrative assistant." Giovanni explained, "I agree with John that he'll be a great choice for helping out with your Gym."

"Of course, you don't have to accept our help if you don't want to." I immediately interrupted, emphasizing to them that I didn't want to pressure them into accepting our help. "Actually, why don't we set up an interview for Petrel, and you can interview him for a job like you would for any normal administrative assistant. If you're happy with him, then you can make the choice to hire him yourselves."

"Yes, that would be better." Giovanni said, "I apologize if it seemed like I was pushing Petrel onto you."

The sisters' shook their heads, "No, no, it's fine. We didn't mind at all...and, um...yes, we'd really like to interview him for his help. We think we really need it." Daisy replied, and the others nodded.

"Excellent. I'll let him to know to come over when I get back from Hoenn." Giovanni accepted. Huh, he must be in Hoenn for that Porygon2 discovery. "John, thanks for arranging this. We'll speak later." He hung up the call after that.

I put away my phone and addressed the sisters, "Well, that's that. I apologize again if I was too pushy with this. But I really want to help make Cerulean City as best that it can be."

The girls waved me off, "No, it's fine! It's fine! We understand, and honestly, we're very happy that you came to check up on us. I think it would be worse if you just ignored us and left us with our problems." Violet said for the three of them.

"Well, thank you for your understanding." I bowed slightly, "I consider it my duty and pleasure to ensure that Cerulean City is as prosperous as it can be, so if you three need any more help in the future, with anything, please let me know. I'll try my best to help."

That got the three of them giving out murmurs of thanks.

"Oh, speaking of which, I do have some news for you. It's not confirmed yet, but I'm in the process of getting some new contest halls built in Cerulean, and we're going to be hosting people from around Hoenn and Indigo to participate in these competitions. I feel like this is something you'll be interested in, no?" I informed them.

THAT got their eyes gleaming excitedly, "WOW! That's amazing! We'd always wanted to have a contest hall of our own!" Daisy exclaimed eagerly, "Do you think we'll be able to participate?"

I shrugged, "I'm not sure, though I don't see why you wouldn't be able to. My job really is to just get the thing passed by the Committee, but Mayor Henry should be dealing with the actual running of it. I think if it passes and you let him know that you're interested in being a part of it, then he'll arrange something for you three." I told them.

The trio bobbed their heads excitedly, and I could see in their eyes that ideas were flickering through at a mile a minute. I guessed that this was a dream come true for them.

"Is there anything else I can help you with, while I'm here?" I asked them once more before I left, breaking them from their daydreaming.

The three of them looked to each other, before Lily stepped forwards hesitantly, "Um...could we get an autograph? And a photo?" She mumbled out embarrassedly, causing me to chuckle.

"Sure." Was all I said, and the girls quickly rushed around to grab a piece of paper and a polaroid. They quickly stood next to me, and we all posed for the photo, which I then signed after it was printed and developed.

They then thanked me once again before I left the Cerulean Gym, very pleased about the meeting. So long as the Cerulean Gym would never fall into disgrace, I was confident that I could transform Cerulean City into a pillar of Kanto in the future.

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

?As soon as I returned home, I made sure to dial up Mayor Henry and inform him of everything that happened.

"Mayor Henry, it's John." I greeted him on the phone.

"John, good to hear from you again." He replied, "How are things going on your end?"

"Better than expected." I told him, "I have Lance on board with the idea, and I'm confident that it will pass through the Committee."

"Excellent! We here in Cerulean would very much appreciate the new investment and tourism." He remarked pleasantly, "How was the talk with the Waterflower sisters at the Gym?"

"It was a very fruitful discussion, thank you." I replied, purposely leaving out of all the details from our discussion. I may like the mayor, but I didn't feel he should be privy to what was discussed.

Clearly, he knew where to draw the line and didn't push any further than that. "I'm glad. It's good to finally have an Elite Four member from Cerulean that is actually invested in the continued growth and prosperity of our city. Arceus knows that some Elite Four members are concerned with nothing else than their position and strength." Mayor Henry grumbled.

"I hope to be of service in the future as well." Was all I said, getting a chuckle from the mayor as he wished me good luck with my endeavours. We ended the call on that pleasant note.

With the phone call over, I figured that I had the rest of the day free before I had to attend Will's swearing-in ceremony tomorrow.

Deciding that I had nothing else better to do, I went to the training fields and quickly got to training. There wasn't anything new that I wanted to work on, so this session was more focused on just continuing what my Pokémon had previously been practicing.

More specifically, I had really doubled down on trying to perfect custom moves for my Pokémon. I felt that it was currently the best path forwards to developing my Pokémon's strength in a battle; providing a bit more power in certain moves could be the deciding factor in a match.

On that front, I was very pleased with Vordt's progress mastering the new Seismic Eruption. Seeing the move in action, I felt that it would serve as an excellent surprise finisher for a wounded opponent, since the tremors from the Earthquake make it difficult to dodge the subsequent spears of rocks. Perhaps I could have a few of my other Pokémon, like Tyrant and Smough, learn this move as well?

As I thought that, I also figured that I should probably advise Karen to start developing custom moves of her own, if she hadn't already started. I'm sure that watching that battle between Pryce and Lance must have sparked a few ideas in her mind by now.

My other priority was to ensure that Pixel, Euphie, and Ornstein were training themselves appropriately, and that they were developing healthily and not picking up on any bad habits. On that front, things seemed to be going smoothly.

Pixel was very pleased about its new power level and has thrown itself headfirst into its training to master its newfound evolved capabilities. Despite its' very wide potential array of attacks, I decided to focus on the more basic, but universally useful, attacks such as Psychic and the newly TM taught Shadow Ball. As soon as it got sufficiently proficient in those attacks, then I was confident in transitioning into more supportive and utility moves like Recover and Conversion.

Euphie hadn't lost her innocent curiosity, but after weeks of training, she's finally tempered some of that curiosity so that she could focus better on training. She was continuing to practice her Fairy type moves, and was now somewhat proficient in Play Rough, but she still took some time to gather up enough Fairy aura before she attacked. Still, pairing her up with Luna had proved itself to be a great decision.

Meanwhile, Ornstein was just as overly energetic and fight hungry as ever, but at least he actually listens to me now. He still recklessly challenges my Elite Pokémon, especially Smough, on the regular, but since he uses these challengers to push himself even harder with his training, I allowed it to continue. He was already very experienced with the more basic Normal and Dark type physical attacking moves, such as Payback and Headbutt, which was always good for practice.

Just as my Pokémon continued training, my phone vibrated as it received a message. I went to check it and saw that it was from Karen.

'What time should we meet tmr for the swearing-in ceremony?' She texted me. She was my plus one tomorrow for the ceremony. My parents had chosen to stay at home this time round, since the ceremony wasn't for me.

'I can't afford to be late, so let's arrive on time. Ideally, a couple minutes early.' I replied.

'Fine. At least it's in the evening so I don't have to wake up early. Besides, I do want to meet Will.' She wrote.

'Why? Scoping out your competition?' I remarked, smirking.

'Of course . Can't let myself be caught off-guard; you know?' She replied.

We made some small talk after that, but then I put my phone away and returned to training with my Pokémon. But as I did so, my thoughts wandered back to Karen and our relationship together.

Strangely, I didn't know where to place our friendship. Were we friends? Or did we want to be more than that? Sure, I had messed up at the beginning and was over-eager, but what were we now? We spent almost all of our free time together, and I was most certainly attracted to her. Likewise, I was fairly confident that the same could be said for her as well.

And then there were all the comments from Agatha about us being together. Even the densest of individuals would be aware that Agatha was trying to push the two of us together, likely for her own personal reasons. She had been increasingly obvious about her attempts recently, to the point where I didn't feel like she was even trying to hide it.

Not that my parents were any different. My mom especially had been giving me hints for a while for a while now that she greatly approved of Karen and had basically been treating her as her own daughter every time Karen came over. Even Whitney thought of her as a big sister!

What did that mean for the two of us though? I certainly wanted to advance the relationship, but not if Karen was uncomfortable with it.

After fretting over it for a bit, I decided that I would speak to her about it tomorrow at the ceremony. I felt like we had danced around the topic enough, and we should finally set clear lines of communication with each other going into the future.

With that plan in mind, I tried to pull myself back to focusing on my Pokémon's training, with little success.

Then, I was hit with the realisation that I had come full circle; I had attended my own swearing-in ceremony a relatively powerless teen where I was first introduced to Karen, and now will return to a different swearing-in ceremony as a powerful political figure in Indigo with Karen as my date.

It was nice to see how far I've come.