The New Normal - 15-1

The New Normal – 15-1 – Journey to Unova

A.N. As a little bonus, and because the Interlude fits better the other way round, you’re getting this full chapter today instead of on Friday. Friday’s chapter will instead be the Interlude.

Fortunately for both myself and the Sinnoh League, there wasn’t any immediate backlash from my victory over Alder. He really was as easy-going as he portrayed himself to be, and he really didn’t seem bothered at all by his defeat.

Although the same could not be said for the Unovan delegates that followed after him. It was beyond clear that they were displeased with their Champion’s actions, though at least they didn’t seem to blame me for the situation. After all, Alder was the one who challenged me, so they felt that the responsibility lied with their own Champion.

However, after the battle was wrapped up, Alder spent a few more days in Indigo visiting our many cities and exploring the region for himself. Us Elite Four members were assigned to accompany him on a rotational basis, with Lorelei and Karen accompanying him as he visited Johto, and Koga and I in charge of showing him around Kanto.

He made a show of inspecting all of the Gyms, exchanging a few words with the Gym Leaders of the cities that he visited as he did. He was like a kid in the candy store, and his eyes sparkled with genuine curiosity and amazement wherever he went.

I found that part of him rather commendable. It was so rare to see such a pure sense of wonder. For all that he seemed too carefree, I didn’t think there was a malicious bone in his body. Not only that, but he also made for great company. He was a very patient listener and always liked to drag you into a conversation about anything.

Therefore, I couldn’t help but like Alder, and my Elite Four colleagues agreed with me. He was just a very easy to like man with a lot of natural charisma, and as a person, I thought he would be a great friend to have. But as a politician and Champion… that was a different story.

However, after managing to at least explore most of what Indigo had to offer, the other Unova officials that accompanied him managed to finally persuade him that it was time to go. So as much as he wanted to stay, they had insisted that he had already stayed for too long, and that it was about time for him to head over to Hoenn.

Therefore, with a great deal of reluctance, Alder eventually did so – departing from our shores as he set off for Hoenn with the rest of the delegates from Unova. Though he did leave a few people behind to accompany Karen and I on our trip to Hoenn.

Which is where the two of us found ourselves now – on a long, boring ship ride to Unova. Since we were departing from Vermillion City, it would take us several days to reach our destination. Worse, even though the ship was sufficiently luxurious as it was meant for diplomats, that didn’t really mean much when there was still nothing to do while we were onboard.

Maybe my brain was just addled from being a career trainer, but despite the fact that there were plenty of entertainment facilities scattered across the ship, I didn’t care for any of it because it didn’t have anything to do with Pokémon battling. I had no idea who designed this ship, but I really, really hated the fact that the designer chose to focus on other facilities rather than setting up a reinforced training field for Pokémon battling.

Furthermore, since we were heading so far away from the mainland, there was no reception, meaning that we couldn’t even browse the Pokénet while we waited.

In the end, I did manage to come up with a method to train. I just had Klaus set up psychic platforms on top of the water while my Pokémon ran across them as a way of training up their agility.

At least it helped to pass the boredom, and it was definitely better than just sleeping, eating, or just staring at the waves.

Karen being with me also helped, and I made use of this opportunity to catch up with her.

“I haven’t checked up on Agatha and the Gym in some time.” I said, “How’s that been going?”

“Fortunately, after that little scare, Agatha’s health hasn’t given us any surprises. She’s still holding on, which is all I could really ask for.” Karen replied, “And as for the Lavender Gym, I think it’s surprised me, but in a good way. I thought she’d be little more than Agatha’s puppet, but she’s quite proactive in trying to improve the Gym. You must have heard about the new renovations and decorations that we’re putting up around the Gym to make it more interesting.”

“I have.” I nodded, “But I’ve heard that the Gym still isn’t considered to be very prestigious.”

“Well, it is quite new, so perhaps that prestige could grow in time.” Karen said, “But you’re right. I think one of the problems with the Gym is that a lot of a Gym’s prestige is inevitably going to be tied into the reputation of the Gym Leader. If the Gym Leader has a good and popular reputation, then the Gym will be held in the same light and vice versa.”

“However, the problem is that, even though I do think that Dorothy has done a more than competent job as a Gym Leader, she hasn’t really done anything to show off herself to the public.” Karen explained, “As far as most people are concerned, she’s just some Ace Trainer that Agatha plucked out of nowhere to take on the responsibilities of the Gym. Everyone knows she’s a formidable Ghost specialist and no one’s really complained about her leadership, but neither have they been very impressed by it either. Basically, she hasn’t had a big, showy achievement under her name yet, and so most of the Gym’s prestige currently relies on Agatha’s name and reputation alone.”

“I see… so I assume Agatha’s looking to correct this.” I said.

“Absolutely.” She nodded, “The old hag is worried that if she croaks, then the Gym might be taken away from Lavender not because of incompetence, but because a flashier potential Gym Leader shows up that catches the public’s eye. I always told her that she was being too paranoid, but she wouldn’t listen. So she’s now drilling Dorothy to be ready to take advantage of the next opportunity to boost her own image.”

She sighed, “Honestly, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that stuff anymore. Doing interviews and setting up battles to boost my own image was tedious. Now that I’ve proven myself and am in the Elite Four, those days are now behind me.”

“Speaking of that, do you have any particular plans for when we arrive in Unova?” I asked, “I know Lance told us to just make a good impression and to establish a line of communication, but I was wondering if you had any other specific goals that you wanted to achieve while we’re there.”

Lance was pretty liberal about what we could do there, since we weren’t able to communicate with him while we were there. Therefore, so long as we didn’t accidentally start a war, he trusted us to do the right thing.

She tapped a finger on the armrest, “…I guess one of my goals would be to probe for information about Alder’s reputation and if his position as Champion is stable. From the time I spent with him, I actually quite like the man – even if I think he’s a bit irresponsible as a Champion. But he actually seems genuinely friendly with us, and I’m concerned that if his position in Unova isn’t stable, then we might have to deal with a new Champion that is less willing to establish friendly terms with us.”

“I was thinking along similar lines as well.” I agreed, “I didn’t miss the lack of respect that some of the Unova League officials stared at Alder with. I hope that isn’t a premonition for things to come.”

I had no idea when Iris was going to replace Alder, or if even she even would after my presence affected things, but I hoped it wouldn’t be anytime soon. Working with a stable Unovan government would be easier.

Additionally, there was another objective that I hoped to achieve while I was there – I had to look into the whereabouts and activities of Ghetsis and Team Plasma.

Not that he was as much as a threat than Cyrus. For all his megalomania, Ghetsis at least wanted to have people to rule over and didn’t want to destroy the world like Cyrus did. Since the gist of his plan was to trick Unova to releasing all of their Pokémon while he maintained his own, and therefore giving him power over everyone, he was more of a wannabe dictator rather than a world-ending threat.

Still, not being as bad as Cyrus was a pretty low bar to clear. I was still going to try and put a stop to his plans before they ever got going.

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

After many long hours had passed on that ship, I could finally see the shoreline of Unova just in the distance. As we were notified by the Unovan delegates, they had sent fliers ahead of us so that the Unovan League were informed about our impending arrival at Castelia City.

And that was the other thing. Because we were the first foreign delegates to actually arrive on their shores, they didn’t actually have any standard protocols about our accommodations and the like. That’s why I overheard the Unova officials scrambling to make some very last-minute preparations ahead of our arrival.

Furthermore, unlike in Indigo, Hoenn, or Sinnoh, Unova didn’t actually have a port at their Pokémon League building due to the surrounding geography, hence why we were set to arrive at Castelia.

As the City of Grandeur came into view, I smiled softly as I stared up at the massive skyscrapers that extended high into the sky. The view of the skyscraper-filled metropolis was completely unlike anything you could see in our three regions, which explained the look of awe on Karen’s face.

“…Seeing this finally made it set in that we’re heading to a whole different region.” She muttered, “How would people even live in a city like this?”

I chuckled, “I imagine they live in many of those skyscrapers.”

“But surely they’d be crammed together like Remoraid.” Karen said, “That can’t possibly be comfortable.”

“They’re probably used to it by now.” I shrugged, “Besides, there are probably many other benefits to living in the big city like this. It’s probably very convenient.”

“…Sure.” She said, not quite believing me. But her disbelief made sense, even the busiest city of Kanto couldn’t match the sheer density of people that were in Castelia. Hence why apartments were a very rare sight in Indigo, and most people chose to live in houses.

Comments on the people’s living conditions aside, we remained silent as we slowly docked into Castelia City. A large gathering of people had amassed as they waited patiently for our arrival, and I spotted both Elite Grimsley and Elite Marshal amongst their number.

We made to greet them as soon as we got off board.

“Elite John, Elite Karen, Unova welcomes you warmly.” Marshal bowed politely, “We express our thanks for your kind treatment of our Champion.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grimsley frown at that comment, but I was tactful enough to not bring it up, “It was our pleasure. The arrival of your Champion was a welcome boon – it has allowed us to accelerate much of the diplomatic process.”

Marshal smiled civilly, “Then let us escort you to your residence for the duration of your stay here. We have already arranged for you to rest at our Pokémon League building. We hope these accommodations are to your liking.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but I’d like an opportunity to explore Castelia City while I’m here – if I may.” Karen suddenly said, “I’ve never been in a city as large as this, and I’m interested to see how it compares to the cities that I’m familiar with.”

Marshal and Grimsley shared a look, before the latter let out a small sigh that I nearly missed before he plastered on a fake smile on his face, “Then I’ll be happy to show you around. Please, come this way.”

Even without needing to communicate, I understood Karen’s intentions. In the information packets that we received, and from the comments we heard from Alder and the others, Castelia City was frequently mentioned to be Unova’s ‘most prosperous’ city. Therefore, it was a good indicator of the economic condition of Unova, which was why Karen wanted to inspect it for herself.

So while she did that, I left with Marshal as we flew over to the Pokémon League building. On the way there, I dropped him a question.

“I don’t mean this as an insult, but has your Champion informed you of everything that has happened while he visited our regions?” I asked.

“If you mean that he lost to you, then yes.” Marshal replied, “We received word of his defeat from the people that he had sent back. I always knew that Alder was impulsive, but I didn’t think he would be so bold as to issue a challenge to someone the moment he arrived – nor for him to lose like that. According to him, you trampled over his starter with yours. Hearing about that was definitely a big shock, to say the least.”

His eyes studied me carefully, but I didn’t sense any hostility from him. Some wariness, but not suspicion. It was like he was conducting a threat assessment of me in his head, just in case.

“…It was only because I caught him by surprise.” I offered, trying to make sure he didn’t think I was rubbing it in, “If we were to have a rematch, perhaps victory would be his.”

He simply nodded silently at that.

After moving on to more casual topics, we landed at the Pokémon League building shortly afterwards. Even though I had spent days lazing around on a ship, I was feeling incredibly tired, so I decided to rest up for the day before we got into any large discussions about the future relationship of our regions.

I used that opportunity to mentally run through the list of things I wanted to discuss with the Unova League.

Firstly, we had to somehow find a way to set up communication systems that could reach both regions, just so that we could easily communicate with each other. That would involve discussions about who would be in charge of construction and how the costs would be split. Then, Unova had made clear that they wanted to get involved with the PSS system and the Pokédex, so we would have to discuss how much they were willing to ‘pay’ for it – though I expected those payments would be political rather than monetary.

Lastly, we needed a discussion about open borders and the capture of Unova’s Pokémon. I didn’t expect them to agree immediately to those things, but I at least hoped that the latter could be approved so that Karen and I could catch a few Pokémon for ourselves while we were here.

But then, as I was brainstorming all this, I realised that I had overlooked something. While I couldn’t contact my friends and family back in Indigo, my phone would still be able to connect to the Unova Pokénet, which was filled to the brim with past news stories that I could study to get a better understanding of the situation of the region.

And that was what I spent the rest of my night doing, browsing through many past articles as I devoured every bit of gossip and news articles that I read. But eventually, I started to feel the exhaustion creeping up on me, so I decided to call it a night and get some rest for tomorrow’s meeting.

I hoped it goes well.

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

The meeting took up most of the morning, and it bled over into the early afternoon. But eventually, our discussions were wrapped up, and Karen and I plonked ourselves into the seats of a nearby restaurant as soon as it was over.

I let out a tired sigh as we sat down.

“…Could’ve been worse.” Karen said, though she was massaging her head with her hand, “We knew going in that we weren’t going to get everything we wanted.”

“I suppose so.” I relented, “But considering how friendly Alder was, I thought we would have an easier time with asking for open borders.”

“…You’re thinking a little too optimistically there.” Karen replied as she began flipping through the menu. “Even Sinnoh had a transitionary period before they opened their borders fully.”

I knew that, but I felt like I still should have tried anyways. Maybe we’d have more luck when the Hoenn delegation arrived.

“And besides, its not like we came out of that meeting with nothing.” Karen continued, “I know Lance’s going to be pleased that we came to an agreement about those signal towers being built.”

“Yeah, especially since they’re taking on most of the cost.” I chuckled, “He always likes saving money.”

In exchange for our Pokédex technology, the Unova League agreed to fund most of the construction. And it definitely wasn’t some cheap endeavour.

Furthermore, we also got them to agree to allow the two of us to capture whatever Unova Pokémon we wanted to, within reasonable limits. Karen had actually framed it as a way for Unova to ‘advertise’ their Pokémon to the trainers back home, since we’d be showing them off in our future battles. And besides, Alder had been given the same offer by all three of our Champions, so it was ‘only right’ for them to reciprocate.

“But did you notice the atmosphere of the meeting room?” Karen brought up again, “Shauntal was pretty cheerful, but I think she was our only ‘friend’ in that room. Grimsley did not look happy to see us.”

“I did notice that, yes.” I agreed, “Though he seemed far more displeased with me than he was with you. I’m pretty sure he was giving me the stink eye during the entire meeting.”

“Yeah he really didn’t seem to like you.” Karen nodded, “Do you think it’s because you defeated Alder?”

“That’s the only thing I can think of that would explain it.” I shrugged, “Or maybe he was just tired. Did you see the bags under his eyes? The man looks like he hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in days!”

And I didn’t think that tiredness was a recent thing either. Maybe Alder’s trip to Sinnoh wasn’t a carefully planned action after all, and more like Alder just wanted an excuse to slack off on his duties after passing everything over to Grimsley to handle.

I said as much to Karen, who let out a sigh, “…I guess that’s a telling sign of Alder’s leadership – or lack thereof, in this case. So it seems like Champion Alder isn’t as well-liked as we hoped he’d be.”

“There’s nothing we can really do about it.” I said eventually, “We just have to do our best to ensure that our agreements made under Alder’s administration aren’t going to be overturned by a new one stepping in.”

“Mhm, though we should definitely inform Lance about this development.” She responded, “But anyways, enough about all this politicking for the time being. We just got given the thumbs up to catch whatever new Pokémon we liked – and I’m definitely going to take advantage of that opportunity.”

“…Though I have no idea where to begin.” She admitted, “It’s not like I would know where to catch all these new Dark types when I’m in a new region like this.”

True. Even with my meta-knowledge, I didn’t remember a thing about where most Pokémon were located in Unova.

“We need a guide.” I stated, “Someone to help us out with locating the Pokémon we’d like to catch.”

“We could get one of the Elite Four to help us around.” She suggested.

“Maybe, but I think we should reach out to the Gym Leaders instead.” I proposed, “We haven’t interacted with them thus far, and I think it’ll be good to at least make some connections with the Gym Leaders as well.”

“Okay, I like that idea.” Karen nodded, “So who do you think we should reach out to?”

Well this is where my ‘research’ on the Pokénet and meta-knowledge came in handy. Out of the current roster of the Unova Gym Leaders, there was one Gym Leader that I especially wanted to get to know better, mainly because of what she would achieve in the future. On top of that, from what I read from browsing the Unova Pokénet yesterday, I knew that she was exceedingly popular with the public too. Therefore, even ignoring her immense potential as a trainer, she was still a useful figure to befriend if only so that we could make a better first impression with the public of Unova.

“I think we should head over to Opelucid City and speak to their Gym Leader.” I said, “I think it’ll be good to make friends with Gym Leader Iris.”

A small smile formed on my face, “I think that it’d be a friendship that would prove to be very useful to have in the future…”

A.N. Karen and John arrives in Unova! This chapter marks the start of Arc 15 – the Unova Arc – and was to set the stage for the events to come in Unova, and more about the region and its inhabitants will be explored in the future. Not only that, but there will be new Pokémon to encounter and possibly catch too.

And here is Iris! I couldn’t possibly write a plot about Unova without putting the spotlight on her. She’s going to be an important character moving forwards! Hope you enjoyed!