The New Normal - 17-4 - Interlude - Drake

The New Normal – 17-4 – Interlude – Drake

As he watched his beloved starter go down to the single most powerful move he had ever seen, he felt a whole host of different emotions sprung up within him.

On the one hand, he was disappointed in himself. He knew that this was a battle he could have won, had he chosen to make different choices during it. The defeat of his Flygon especially was particularly regretful, as he knew he could have utilised his Ground type far better than he did. Or, had he chosen to be less stubborn with his Gyarados, then perhaps Bruno’s Annihilape could have been taken down more cleanly.

On the other hand, he was completely satisfied with the outcome of the battle. Despite the mistakes he had made, he knew that every single one of his Pokémon had given it their all in this battle. They had performed a grand last stand, and he couldn’t have been any more proud of them. He was also incredibly thankful to them, as they were willing to accompany this old man for all this time, even when he had long gone past his prime.

After all, he knew that his time in the Elite Four had been slowly drawing to an end. So what better way was there to bow out of his old position than with one final battle?

As he looked around the utterly destroyed battlefield, a small smile came to his lips. Yes, that was what the aftermath of a good fucking battle should look like.

The sounds of footsteps drew him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see Bruno walking over, “Well fought, Drake.”

“Nah, those should be my words.” He grinned, “I didn’t think you would take down my Salamence that way. Never thought I’d see something like that! That was fucking brilliant! How’d you even think of something like that?!”

“It was a move born from the desire to overcome the difference in natural strength between my starter and others.” Bruno replied, “As I have learnt when fighting against Steven, there were many times that even with all of the strength that Machamp possessed, it still was not enough to secure the victory. Therefore, I have been working on this combination of moves overtime to grant me a path to overcome this limitation.”

“However, because it is a created by combining both Counter and Reversal, it means that it requires a lot of setup before it can be utilised.” Bruno continued to explain, “Not only does it require my Machamp to be at low health, but it also needs to be charged up by enduring through a very powerful move as well. So it is not as versatile as I would prefer, and it is a very high-risk move.”

“Hmm… it does seem like the move that you can only pull out as a last-resort.” Drake nodded thoughtfully, before then patting Bruno on the shoulder, “But I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Last-resort or not, that attack was fucking powerful. I bet some other trainers will be shaking in their pants trying to find a way around that one.”

“We definitely will be.” Sidney’s voice cut in from behind, and the man approached with a smile on his face, “Hey, gramps. Didn’t think I’d see the day that you would lose.”

“Never to you.” He fired back, “I might have lost, but you still don’t have what it takes to beat me.”

Glacia smiled, “But you have lost to me.”

“I have.” He allowed, “But I still won more often than not.”

He caught the look of mixed emotions coming from his colleagues. Despite the way that they were teasing him, he knew that they were a little sad that he was no longer going to be in the Elite Four.

…He was honoured by their emotions. He knew what he was like. He was an abrasive fucker that freely spewed insults out of his mouth, and he didn’t see himself as all that friendly of a person to hang around with.

But despite all of that, he still managed to form a close relationship with all of his colleagues in the Elite Four. Even though he was so much older than them, and they had so little in common, they still treated him with the same level of friendliness and familiarity.

So he could say without a shred of doubt that he treasured his time in the Elite Four, and he was going to miss the stupid fucking antics that they got up to.

He thought back to a particularly memorable meeting in Wallace’s office from a while ago. Where Wallace was droning on about some kind of new policy that he couldn’t fucking remember what it was about, because he had fallen asleep half-way during it.

Then he woke up to find that Phoebe had been trying to draw on his face, Sidney was trying to stop her doing it, Glacia was giggling in the background and giving instructions to Phoebe on what to draw, and Wallace had his head in his hands as he realised that no one was listening to him.

He remembered chasing Phoebe around that room, accidentally knocking over a few chairs as he did. He remembered tripping over and nearly falling on top of Glacia, before Sidney caught him at the last second. He remembered the scolding that Wallace gave them all, which no one actually listened to because Sidney was secretly doing faces behind Wallace.

In hindsight, they were all such fucking children sometimes. He couldn’t believe that their group of four misfits managed to hold their position in the Elite Four for so long.

But that was why… he was sad to leave. Even though he knew his time was up. If not today, then some other person was going to eventually knock him down one day, once he grew as old and as weak as Agatha was.

So, despite the sadness that he might be feeling now, he was content to give over his position to Bruno, a man that he knew he could trust to take on his duties and guide Hoenn to a better future.

Yes, it was time for him to go.

His eyes met with his long-time colleagues, and almost as if they could read his thoughts from his expression alone, they all stared back at him with bittersweet smiles on their faces. Phoebe and Glacia both even had tears forming in their eyes, and even Sidney was struggling to keep the smile on his face.

And then, as one, they all fell into a deep bow as they all spoke.

““Thank you for your service!””

A.N. This was a bittersweet departure from Drake. I love writing Drake, and honestly he’s been one of my favourite characters to write, but from the very beginning I knew that, much like Agatha, his time in the Elite Four was gradually going to come to an end.

Not because he deserves to leave, but because, at the end of the day, Drake is a good man. He knew that Bruno was going to join the Elite Four no matter what, so instead of having one of his colleagues fight him and (most likely) lose their position, he was going to shoulder the burden himself. After all, like he said, he’s an old man now. It’s better for him to go instead of the young’uns, and he thinks that they’ll do a better job than him.

That being said, Drake might be gone from the Elite Four, but he’s definitely not going to be gone from the story. Now that Drake has his freedom once more, you’ll definitely be seeing him around. Hope you enjoyed!