The New Normal - 17-13

The New Normal – 17-13 – Kitakami

Reports about Kitakami kept flooding in. For practically a whole week, every single news station was talking about something new that they had discovered about Kitakami. Whether it be something about their local culture, rare Pokémon sightings, or an interview with one of the locals, Kitakami was always at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

An unintentional consequence of this was that the news about PLASMA had been completely shoved to the side for the time being. There was still the occasional report about what was happening over in Unova, but those were greatly overshadowed by the recent interest in Kitakami.

However, that didn’t mean that our efforts at cleaning up PLASMA had stopped – or that the rest of the public had forgotten about PLASMA’s ill deeds. We were still working hard in trying to locate Ghetsis, N, and the remaining Sages that had escaped us, and there were plans in the works to hold a public trial for the captured Sages.

That had been Lucian’s idea. He too acknowledged the need to completely and utterly destroy PLASMA’s public reputation, so he argued that the best way to do so was to literally broadcast their crimes live on television and show the world just how hypocritical and vile PLASMA truly were.

Needless to say, I fully agreed with such a plan. But that trial wouldn’t be hosted yet – we all wanted to gather more information as we were still processing through all of the arrests made, and with everyone’s attention still on Kitakami, it wasn’t a good time for something like that. The public was still hungering for more juicy details about the new location, and it was best to wait until some of that excitement died down.

Though there was one person that was especially eager to check out this new area for themselves – Drake.

Now freshly retired, the man had been doing a lot of wandering around ever since he had stepped down from the Elite Four. I had invited him over to teach at the newly renovated Snowpoint Trainer School, but construction hadn’t finished on it yet. And that wasn’t something that would take up more than a few hours of his week anyways, so he had plenty of time to himself.

I had heard that he spent a lot of time around Sunyshore, making himself a nuisance to Volkner as he helped Misty to train, but other than that he seemed to be just enjoying life.

Therefore, now that there was a new area to explore, one that promised plenty of new and interesting sights and Pokémon for him to check out, there was no reason for him to not take a look at it for himself.

However, not all of this interest in Kitakami was a good thing. First of all, the people living there were unused to the sudden surge of attention that they got. Aaron, who was our liaison there, had reported back about the growing dissatisfaction of the locals about the behaviour and attitude of some of the tourists that had come over. He said that they had little respect for the culture of Kitakami – and sometimes went even as far as openly trespassing onto private property just so they could ‘check it out’ for themselves.

It was especially bad because Mossui Town was not built to sustain such a large amount of people at the same time. It was a very small town by design, and only really had resources to sustain its current population. Now that it was suddenly host to more than several times the original number of residents, there was a serious food and resource shortage there – since most of the food were either grown or scavenged.

As a result, the local food shops all had to close down because they had to keep their food for the actual residents. Furthermore, because many tourists didn’t recognise the fact that the residents of Mossui Town lived in conjunction with the wild Pokémon surrounding them, Aaron explained that there were many incidents where a tourist was injured because they reacted inappropriately to the presence of a wild Pokémon and caused the wild Pokémon to retaliate.  

Needless to say, even though it had only been a week since Kitakami was in the spotlight, everything was one big mess. And Cynthia was in the thick of it, trying valiantly to resolve this clusterfuck.

I felt bad; I had watched her spend two back-to-back nights burning the midnight oil as she tried her best to establish some semblance of order in Kitakami. But it was tough, especially since the locals of Kitakami were becoming more and more discontent with us the more time we spent there.

Right now, she had implemented a stop-gap measure where a group of Sinnoh police and rangers were out there in force to patrol and establish some kind of order in Kitakami. They were tasked with making sure that the visitors didn’t infringe on the local’s private space, and that they behaved in a reasonable manner.

Furthermore, the number of visitors to Mossui Town was severely limited. You could still explore other areas of Kitakami, but only a certain number of people were allowed in places where there were people living there.

None of these measures were ever intended to be permanent, but since Kitakami was experiencing an unnatural boom in its popularity which would hopefully die down in a few weeks’ time, it was just to make sure that the locals wouldn’t suffer any further damage from all the newcomers.

For Cynthia’s sake and others, I hoped it could all be resolved soon.

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(Drake POV)

He didn’t think he would ever admit this out loud – but it turns out that his dislike of watching the news has finally bit him in the fucking ass. Usually, back when he was still in the Elite Four, if it was an emergency, someone would call him to give him the details. But now that was no longer the case. And because of this, he had completely missed the announcement of a whole new, mostly unexplored, region of Sinnoh called Kitakami.

And he had only found out when John called him up and asked him what he thought of it.

…That had been a pretty embarrassing moment. Though John was polite about it, he could tell that his friend was shocked that he didn’t know about Kitakami, since it was all over the fucking news for the better half of a week.

In his defence, he was doing a lot of brainstorming with Misty about how she could become a better trainer in the future, so it wasn’t like he had time to go watch TV or something.

Technically, he could have checked his phone, since it was also connected to the news. But that was only something the young kids do. For old grumps like him, the phone was only for calls and texts. Everything else was too complicated.

However, once he heard about it, he knew that he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to visit this new location for himself. So with barely a second’s thought, he made his way to Kitakami as he flew over on his Altaria and arrived there just before midday.

He had known beforehand that it was going to be crowded, but he truly underestimated just how popular this place was going to be. Even with the new restrictions on the number of people who could visit Mossui Town, the place was packed with people. He could see why the limits were needed; Mossui Town was small. Too small.

Therefore, he decided to skip over the town entirely, and instead decided to explore the wilderness. Fortunately, he had remembered to don a disguise for this trip, because he didn’t want to be recognised while out and about in public. He might no longer be in the Elite Four, but his past fame didn’t go away, and he was fucking tired of dealing with overenthusiastic fans that ‘demanded’ to speak with him.

So instead of his usual sailor getup, he swapped that out for an unbuttoned shirt and short pants.

He landed right next to the large mountain that was seemingly in the centre of Kitakami. From what he remembered of the maps that had been published, this was supposed to be ‘Oni Mountain’. There was no particular reason why he chose this spot over the others – he just fancied some mountain climbing. After all, it had been some time since he had last been very physically active.

Life or death battles against Palkia don’t count. Even though that battle made him more terrified than he would ever admit, getting thrown around while space warps around you like you were in a fucking laundry machine doesn’t count as physical exertion. It only counts as an ass beating.

As he landed, he quickly realised that the strength of the wild Pokémon surrounding him were not nearly as high as he had expected. The nearby wild Pokémon mainly consisted of Growlithe, Pichu, and Bonsly. There were probably other Pokémon in the surrounding caves, but either way, these weren’t Pokémon that were strong enough to be a threat to his main team.

Luckily, he had brought over a few of his newer additions along for the journey, including his newly acquired Dewott, and this would be the perfect opportunity for them to get some more training in against wild Pokémon.

So that was what he did. As he hiked his way up the mountain, with the goal of reaching the summit, he would occasionally take breaks as his Dewott fought against every wild Pokémon that seemed like they wanted to challenge him.

However, even though he only made use of Dewott, the nearby wild Pokémon was still a little too weak to pose a challenge for it. Both Growlithe and Bonsly were weak to Water types, and Pichu, despite being an Electric type, were just too weak to pose a threat.

He wasn’t bothered about this though. His main objective for coming here was not to train up his Pokémon, but rather to see the sights for himself. Getting some good training could always come later.

Therefore, he slowly and steadily made his way up the mountain. Probably under an hour later, he had made it to the summit. And he wasn’t even panting – which meant that he was still in good shape!

From all the way up here, he could take a good look around at the rest of Kitakami. As he took in a breath of fresh air while he admired the view, it really felt like he was young again – hunting through the wilderness purely because he wanted to experience of exploring uncharted territory for himself.

Kitakami was a beautiful land, and the fact that it was untouched by civilisation only added to its natural charm. And it better stay that way, for the wilderness of Kitakami didn’t deserve to be chopped down and turned into buildings and shops. That would ruin everything that made Kitakami what it was.

He made a mental note to make sure that those in power wouldn’t do something as foolish as that. He’d speak to John soon and ask him to keep an eye on things.

However, the sounds of footsteps approaching him broke him out of his thoughts, and he turned around to see someone approaching him wearing a strange mask on his face.

“You are not one of ours.” The masked man said.

“Well, I’d think that was pretty fucking obvious, considering I’m not wearing that stupid mask you have on your face.” He shot back, “Is that meant to be intimidating? Or is it a cultural thing? If it’s the latter, then I apologise for not knowing. If it’s the former – then you look fucking ridiculous.”

“It is a tradition of Kitakami to don such masks.” Ah fuck, him and his big mouth, “However, I am not offended. Instead, I shall ask you a question. Where are you from? You are not like the other tourists that I have met.”

“And what makes you say that?” He asked, “I’m just an old man climbing a mountain. I was just here for the sights.”

He didn’t want to reveal who he was and make a big deal out of it; he wanted to maintain his anonymity.

But the man just shook his head, “I was watching you on your journey up. You move and act like a trainer far more experienced than any that I’ve seen so far. In fact, I am certain that you are a better trainer than me.”

Drake let out a snort, “You seem to have a high opinion of yourself.”

“My words do not come from arrogance, but fact.” The man replied emotionlessly, “Much like you, many other trainers have recently made their way through the wilderness of Kitakami. They were good trainers, but none moved or acted in the same way that I’ve seen you do. You are much, much better than they are.”

“Okay – say that I am what you claim. What do you want from me then?” He questioned.

“A battle.” The man stated firmly, “As I said – I am the greatest trainer in all of Kitakami. Therefore, their safety is partially my responsibility. Now with all of the recent newcomers, who do not understand our culture and our traditions, I fear the worst may occur. So I must know if I have the strength to protect them if the time comes.”

Ah. That was an admirable mindset to have. He would do the same in the man’s position.

“I see. That is a good reason for a battle. In that case – I shall honour your request.” He said, “But I shall not be holding back here. Are you prepared to face off against me at my strongest?”

The man nodded, “I am.”

“Good.” The both of them held out a Pokéball in their hands. But before the battle began, the masked man fell into a bow.

“My name is Muramasa. I lead the Kitakami Ogre Clan. May our battle be joyous.”

“I’m Drake – just a retired old man.” He grinned, “And likewise.”

Then the battle began.

“Crawdaunt!”

“Flygon, get’em!”

The masked man sent out his Crawdaunt, while he responded with his Flygon. The Crawdaunt acted as he expected – it had tried to blitz him down with a hard-hitting Crabhammer into Night Slash.

And judging by the way that it moved and the way that its eyes blazed with confidence, this seemed like a move that was used to ensure a quick takedown.

Perhaps it would have worked against the plethora of wild Pokémon that it might have gone against. But against his Flygon? It had seriously overstepped.

A Bug Buzz sent out a wave of painful sonic energy its way, dealing supereffective damage against Crawdaunt and interrupted its charge. Before Crawdaunt could recover from its stumbling about, Flygon rushed down and smashed it hard with a Dragon Rush, before a follow-up Thunder Punch bashed it into the ground.

To its credit, Crawdaunt didn’t flinch from the blow, and tried to fire back with an Ice Beam. However, his Flygon was too fast for it and dodged out of the way mid-air before slamming down on the ground with its tail as it unleashed another Earthquake.

Crawdaunt barely threw up a Protect in time that managed to block the hit, but it could do nothing to stop the incoming Dragon Pulse that blasted it straight in the face – sending it skidding back across the ground.

Before it could recover, a final Stone Edge erupted from the ground, impaling the Water type in a field of sharp rocks.

Crawdaunt was done. It was out of the fight already.

“…My eyes truly did not deceive me.” The masked man muttered as he watched his Crawdaunt get knocked out, “You are very much as formidable as I thought you were.”

“Do you want to continue?” Drake asked, “Or do you want to call it here?”

He normally would never want to stop a battle early. But in this case, given the admirable intentions of the masked man, he didn’t want to crush his morale any more than he had to.

“I think I’ve seen enough.” He replied, “And despite what you said earlier, I can tell that you’re still holding back anyways. Sending out the rest of my team won’t change a thing – the gap in our strength is just too large. Nevertheless, I thank you for the battle. You have given me the opportunity to visualize where I must get to if I am to continue serving in my duties to protect Kitakami.”

“It’s not an easy thing to do.” Drake said.

“It is not.” Muramasa agreed, “However, if not me and the Kitakami Ogre Clan, then there is no one else that could rise to the occasion. Before, all we had to face off against were the occasional incursion by ornery wild Pokémon. But now, with all this attention on us, both good and bad, our duties will be more important than ever. And now that I know that my strength isn’t good enough, I must work even harder to make up for this.”

Hearing this, Drake hesitated. Despite being retired, he did actually have a decently busy schedule. However, that kind of sentiment really resonated with him. It was like he had always said – those with strength ought to be the ones to protect those weaker than them.

In the end, he made a decision.

“…I intend to spend some time in Kitakami anyways before I have to head back. But while I’m here, I could give you a few tips on how you could get stronger.” He said slowly, “An old fuck like me might as well be useful for something.”

Even behind the mask, he could see Muramasa’s eyes widen, “You would do this for me? For a person you have never met before?”

“Normally, my answer would be fuck no.” He admitted, though his tone grew softer, “But I know what it’s like to be in your position. A long time ago, when this old man was younger, I was in the same spot as you are in now. Fortunately, things went well for me. So I hope it goes well for you too.”

“…Who are you really, Drake?” Muramasa asked, “I know you are a formidable trainer, but you speak with more than just experience. You must have been a very capable trainer in your prime.”

“Some might say that I still am in my prime.” Drake replied with a chuckle, “But you’re right. You deserve a proper introduction from me.”

He took off the hat that he was wearing as he fell into a small bow.

“As I said, my name is Drake. Formerly of the Hoenn Elite Four.” He said, “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Muramasa.”

“Ah… so that is why the name sounded familiar. I think I overheard one of our other clan members mentioning you before. You are certainly a prestigious individual.” Muramasa said, “But if you’re serious about your offer for assistance, then I will gladly accept. I will eagerly learn all that I can from a man of your reputation.”

Drake raised a hand, “Please – save the flattery. I don’t give a shit about that. I just offered to help because I saw myself in you, that’s all. I don’t want you sucking up to me like some fucking bootlicker. I dealt with enough of those shits back when I was still in the Elite Four.”

“Duly noted.” Muramasa chuckled, “However, we still haven’t discussed what your payment is for this help. There is no way I could just accept your assistance for free.”

“Just teach me more about Kitakami. I might not be some smart and bookish scholar, but I have my interests too from time to time.” He replied, “I’m sure there are many things there are to learn about this place.”

“Of course.” Muramasa nodded, “I would be more than happy to.”

And so the two of them left the mountain and returned to Mossui Town, where thanks to Muramasa’s approval, he was able to skip over all of the checkpoints and enter straight away.

One of the things that he spoke with Muramasa about was that he wanted to keep his identity hidden to the other villagers. He didn’t want them to fawn over him just because of his past reputation.

If he was staying here for some time, then he wanted to be welcomed thanks to his own merits.

A.N. Drake might be retired, but I’ve always had a plan for him after he stepped down from the Elite Four. As promised, he won’t be left on the bench forever. Naturally, with Kitakami now open to exploration, he would obviously get involved, and I felt that this was a very in-character decision for him to make that matched his interests. He might be a cranky old man, but he does have a heart. Hope you enjoyed the direction that I’m taking with him!

Also, as for the strength difference between Muramasa (the ‘canonical’ name of the ‘final’ Ogre member you fight in Kitakami) and Drake, I felt that it was only right that he was no match for Drake. The land of Kitakami has just recently been exposed to the outside world, so there is no chance that even the ‘strongest’ trainer amongst them could be a match for someone like Drake. So hope you enjoyed! Next chapter will be the Pokenet Interlude as we wrap up this arc!