The New Normal - 13-4 - Interlude - Daisy

The New Normal – 13-4 – Interlude – Daisy Oak

“Clef! Clef!” Her starter Clefairy chimed happily as she played around in the ranch with the rest of her grandfather’s Pokémon. Clefairy had been in a particularly excited mood ever since she had told her of her intention to become a proper full-time trainer and set off on her journey.

Yes, it had been a decision that she had been struggling with for the past few weeks. Even though she had told John and her grandfather that she intended to be a Fairy specialist, saying it and actually doing it were two different things.

Sure, she always planned to become a trainer eventually, but between her previous work at the lab, and now her work with John, it had made for a good excuse for her to delay her journey.

Or to put it another way, she was nervous.

It was strange for her to be, when her brother clearly wasn’t. Gary seemed to be counting down the days until he got to become a trainer, but she didn’t have his enthusiasm. If anything, she was worried about finally going on her journey and being completely independent. Even after the unfortunate loss of her parents, grandfather had always been there for them. To no longer have easy access to him was…scary.

But ultimately, the thing that helped her make up her mind was the fact that her Clefairy wanted her to become a trainer. Her Clefairy, while playful, wanted to be able to fight Pokémon at the highest level, and grow to be a powerful symbol for other Clefairy to follow. Once Daisy had told her about her goals to become a Fairy specialist, her Clefairy had become her first and biggest supporter – and she couldn’t possibly disappoint her biggest fan like that.

She had told her grandfather about her plans first, and the smile that he had on his face told her that she had made the right decision.

“You couldn’t have picked a better time for this, Daisy.” Her grandfather said to her, “The Gyms right now are all at a really good level to give you a fair but challenging experience. You’re poised to learn a lot from all of them, and the Fairy craze has also begun to die down, so not everyone there will be extra-prepared to deal with your Fairy Types like they used to be.”

“…Do you think I can get all 8 badges in one go?” She asked carefully. She knew that, as an Oak, there would be high expectations placed on her. She feared that she wouldn’t be able to meet them.

“Of course you can, but you don’t have to fret about it. It’s not a requirement.” Her grandfather replied easily, “Just take things at your own pace. If you’re stuck at a Gym, you can always come back or just call me for advice. I’d be happy to give it.”

He must have seen that she was still a little nervous, so he let out a knowing smile as he took a knee and placed a hand comfortingly on her shoulder, “I suspect your concerns stem from your relation to me, and the expectations that will accordingly be placed on you. As much as it pains me to say this, but there is little I can do about that. I can only apologise for the shadow that I have cast, and dearly hope you can get out of it.”

“But given that you are my granddaughter – and I have watched you grow for your entire life – I am certain that you will be able to not only get out of my shadow, but grow out your own one too.” He said encouragingly, “Don’t worry, Daisy. You will make for a fine trainer. One that will make us all proud. So go forth – and show the world the power of your Fairy Types.”

She smiled, but that quickly went away as she heard her annoying brother pipe up, “Yeah right! You better get all 8 badges or I’m going to leave you in the dust!”

She wanted to respond to that, but the look from her grandfather caused Gary to scramble away like the little Rattata that he was. Oak then stared at his retreating grandson with a wry smile.

“If I can give you some advice – you can treat the public just like you do with your brother.” He chuckled, “At times, they will probably annoy you and call you weird names. Just do your best to ignore them, just like you do with Gary.”

“And if they push you too far…well, then they’ll have to deal with me.”

Steel laced his voice as he uttered those words, underlining the subtle threat beneath them. The old flare of determination burned in her grandfather’s eyes – the same expression that he used to make whenever he spoke about why he had to end the war the way he did.

To anyone else, they would have likely shuddered or backed off after seeing her usually chippy grandfather like this. However, to her, she only felt comforted by it.

It was good to know that he would always jump to her aid, no matter where she was.

“Speaking of which, have you told John about this yet?” He asked, brushing off his earlier comment as if it was nothing, “You can’t go on your journey while still working for him. The opening ceremony for the Regional Union was just finished, so you could call him now if you haven’t already.”

“I haven’t.” She shook her head, “I’ll do that right away…he shouldn’t have a problem with that, right?”

“Generally it’s good practice to give your employers some advance warning before you quit.” Her grandfather replied, causing her to wince, “However, I’m sure John won’t have a problem with it. I’m sure he has other team members that can cover for your work.”

That was true. John’s personal team had expanded since they started off as just the three of them. In all honesty, now that she was about to quit, she admitted that she would somewhat miss the responsibility of handling important information to John. That didn’t mean it wasn’t boring at times, but she knew that it was important work, and she felt fulfilled while doing it.

Perhaps she could ask to return to her old role after she had completed her journey, if she had nothing better to do? It was something to think about.

She put her thoughts aside for a moment as she rang up John.

“Hey, Daisy.” He greeted, “Is there something the matter?”

“Yes. I wanted to let you know that I am planning to start my journey, which means that I won’t be able to continue working as part of your team of assistants.” She explained, “I am sorry about this. I should have told you earlier.”

“No, no, not at all. Really, it’s no problem.” He replied easily, “I’m honestly just glad that you’re about to start your journey! It must be an exciting time for you!”

“Thank you.” Was all she said, “I’ll make sure to do my best.”

“I’m sure you will.” She could feel him smiling, “I can’t wait to see the rise of the next Fairy specialist. And of course, I know that Oak has probably offered the same thing, but feel free to ask me for advice if you need it. And I mean it. As the one who may have pushed you into becoming a Fairy specialist, I feel like it’s my duty to make sure that you are able to succeed and fulfil your true potential. I hope you will consider me to be your mentor as you take your first steps into becoming a proper trainer. Just don’t go shouting that to the public – you probably don’t want the attention.”

“Of course!” She replied immediately, “That’s already more than I was expecting! Thank you!”

Truthfully, she had hoped that John would say those words, but she wasn’t sure if her relationship with John was merely an employer-employee relationship or a mentor-mentee one. He may have helped her with training in the past, but she was really happy that he had confirmed that they were the latter.

John was the trainer that most people her age aspired to be. To have him be her mentor was amazing, and she knew better than to announce something like that publicly. She was already going to be under heavy scrutiny as an Oak; she really didn’t need any more of it.

John let out a laugh, “No worries at all. Just make sure you don’t underestimate any of the Gyms. Especially Saffron. I heard my sister’s a pretty good trainer.”

She chuckled, “Please tell your sister to take it easy on me then. I’d hate to get stuck at Saffron.”

He laughed again, “No promises!”

They chatted for a bit longer before wrapping up the call. Just as she did so, she saw her grandfather walking up to her with a Pokéball in his hand.

He smiled at her, “You know, with all that extra training that you were doing with your starter, I figured that you were thinking about going on your journey. So I got you this, just in case I was right.”

Her eyes sparkled with interest, “What is it?”

“A Pokémon that I’m sure you would be happy to add to your team.” He stated mysteriously, “However, I’m not going to give this to you right away. Consider it as a reward – if you manage to beat and collect four Gym Badges, then I will gift this Pokémon to you. And no, I’m not going to tell you what it is. You’ll just have to find out for yourself.”

She pouted, but knew that her grandfather would be immovable. Still, she tried to guess what it was, but she came up blank. She didn’t even know if it was a Fairy type or not, since her grandfather (probably deliberately) didn’t specify if it was. So it could potentially be a Pokémon of a different Type that her grandfather thought would help round-out her team, since even specialists didn’t necessarily have all Pokémon of that one Type.

The only thing she could really assume was that the Pokémon must be powerful, or else her grandfather wouldn’t have waited to give it to her until after she acquired 4 Gym Badges. He always did things for a reason.

So she went online and tried doing some research to see if that would help her narrow down the options. Unfortunately, there were still so many to choose from, and even with a list of all the Pokémon in front of her, she still didn’t know what her grandfather intended to gift her. It could be anything from a Granbull to a Mawile, or even something completely different!

However, as wrapped up as she was in her own thoughts and research as she tried to figure out what that Pokémon was to no avail, she didn’t realise the passage of time. And before she knew it, the sun had risen on the next day, marking the beginning of the circuit and her journey.

After saying a quick goodbye to Gary, and a much more heartfelt goodbye to her grandfather, she finally stepped out of the lab as she took her first steps on her journey.

And thus marked the beginnings of the next Fairy specialist of Indigo.

A.N. Daisy Oak has been left on the backburner for some time, and I wanted to bring her back in the spotlight again as the circuit’s starting. She’s a little older than most at the start of her journey, but she won’t let that hold her back! She’ll show the world the power of Fairy Types.

And naturally, John’s going to be assisting her if she requires. Like Koga said to him all that time ago, it’s only right John to make sure that Daisy is able to be successful as an unofficial mentor. Hope you enjoyed!