The New Normal - 19-8

The New Normal – 19-8 – A Festive Meeting

It didn’t take long for us to head to the meeting area where Darach was waiting for us, and as soon as we got there, a small smile formed on my face as I immediately recognised the other person that was there.

Caitlin stood there, her arms crossed together as Darach held up a parasol for her that shielded her from the sun.

With her pure white outfit that stood out heavily from the green wilderness surrounding her, and eyes that looked filled with boredom and impatience, she looked every bit like a sheltered noble lady that was accompanied by her dutiful butler.

Seeing her like that caused an errant thought to spring to mind, as I realised that I didn’t know anything about Caitlin. Of course, I knew of her potential to become one of the greatest Psychic specialists in the world, but aside from her talents as a trainer, I knew nothing else about her.

Considering the way she dressed and acted, and the fact that she had a personal butler, I greatly suspected that she had a more-than-wealthy background. But was that from her family? Or did she earn her way to wealth through her own actions?

As we approached, I supposed we were about to find out.

“Ah, our guests of honour.” Darach greeted us first with a polite smile on his face, “Cynthia, John, thank you so much for accepting our invitation. We are very fortunate for your company.”

“It’s not a problem, Darach.” Cynthia replied, “And I hope you’ve come to enjoy your new duties as a butler.”

“He is serving me, so of course he is.” Caitlin harrumphed as she extended out a hand to both of us, “Champion, Protector, it is a pleasure to meet the both of you. Although I would have preferred to have met in a more… proper environment, I suppose this would have to do.”

“What she means to say is that she has been very eager to meet you, but couldn’t find the confidence to do so.” Darach added dutifully, “It was only because of my insistence, and a little bit of coincidence, that we got to meet today. She was very happy when she had heard you would be coming over.”

“Darach! That is untrue!” Caitlin whirled her head to her butler, “I was just trying to say that a meeting between such important individuals should be done in more luxurious circumstances. Meeting in the middle of a crowded field like this is not how things should be done. Not for people of our positions.”

“And what my lady is trying to say is that she is unused to being outside and would feel much more comfortable if she was indoors.” Darach explained with a smile, “She is a… sheltered individual.”

“I am not!” Caitlin fired back, “Please do not make up such lies about me in front of the two greatest people in Sinnoh. I may allow you to run your mouth, but you are currently tarnishing my reputation.”

She turned to us, “Please, push all of what my impudent butler has just said out of your mind. He says the most random things at times. He hasn’t been fully trained up yet.”

“If you say so, my lady.” Darach cut in smoothly, as if he hadn’t heard what Caitlin just said, “Now, before we go off on any more of a tangent, shall we head over to a nearby stall? Surely it would be more comfortable than standing up.”

I was too busy being amused by the back-and-forth between Caitlin and Darach, so Cynthia had to nod for me.

But, as we were walking, I couldn’t hold it back any longer and I allowed a short laugh to escape me.

“You guys are too funny.” I said with a chuckle, very much amused with their antics, “I didn’t know butlers were allowed to expose their lady’s secrets like that.”

It had become very clear that their relationship was not a typical one – it was definitely not as simple as a butler and his master. Caitlin might seem like the latter, but from their interactions just now, it was very clear that their relationship was more equal than I first thought.

And Caitlin confirmed it seconds later, “Hmmph. He is impudent, but I suppose that this is the privilege of someone that deserves to stand next to me. After all, he has a storied history of competence, and he has lent his assistance to my august self on more than one occasion. I suppose it is only right that he gets to express his own thoughts.”

“We did not get along very well to begin with.” Darach admitted, “It might be unorthodox, but after I proved my strength to her with a battle, she began to treat me with much more warmth.”

“It was only because I saw for myself that you weren’t a mere sycophant looking to ride on my coattails.” Caitlin said, “I saw that you had attached yourself to me not because you wanted to benefit off of me and wealth and abilities, but because you wanted to serve. I respected that, and gave you the respect you deserved.”

“So as you can see, we don’t have the most normal of relationships.” Darach continued on smoothly, “But I do hope we aren’t making any kind of bad impression because of this.”

“Oh, believe me, that is far from the case.” Cynthia replied, “If anything, seeing the bond between the two of you is refreshing. You are far from the only wealthy person that I’ve met, and I can promise you that some of them… they think they are owed the world simply because they were born to the right parents.”

“Ah.” Darach nodded slowly, “I think I know exactly what you are referring to. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, my lady’s personal circumstances have always made her… different, to the rest of her peers. Which I have had the unfortunate pleasure of having to interact with.”

“Of course I would be.” Caitlin flicked her hair back, “Being born a talented Psychic would naturally separate me from the rest of the common chaff. My talents are not something money can buy.”

“Wait, so what is it that you can actually do?” I asked, “My sister is best friends with Sabrina, and she’s already a very talented Psychic. How do you differ from what she can do?”

“Well, I do not know what your friend is capable of, but often times when people find out I am psychically gifted they automatically assume that I can accomplish anything with my mind – that is simply not true.” She explained, “I have some basic telekinesis, and I do have the ability to read the surface thoughts of others, but this never applies to any competent trainer. Their bond with their Pokémon protects them, and no matter how talented I may be, a Psychic Pokémon could easily do everything I can but better.”

“However, her natural psychic talents makes her have an extremely high affinity with Psychic type Pokémon.” Darach said, “To the point where I would consider her to the one of the pre-eminent Psychic specialists in the world.”

That was the perfect segue for me, as it was her talents as a trainer that I specifically wanted to focus on, “How strong is she?”

“Very capable.” Darach replied, “I was actually—”

“Excuse me, but I think I can talk about myself, thank you very much.” Caitlin quickly interrupted him, as she cleared her throat with a ‘A-hem’ before continuing, “Although I was never in the public eye, I can assure you that I am a most capable trainer. In fact, I would not consider it to be an exaggeration to say, ever since I filled out my full team, that I have been undefeated in my time as a Psychic trainer.”

Of course, neither Cynthia and I took that at face value, “But what kind of opponents have you faced off against? If you’re undefeated back in Unova, surely the public would know about you?”

“That’s because they do not understand enough to appreciate my talents—”

“What she means,” This time it was Darach’s turn to cut off his master, “Is that many of her opponents were specifically invited to fight her in a private battle. Admittedly, these opponents have not been paid to lose against her – quite the opposite, they were paid to give her a real challenge, and they were even incentivised to try and win with a prize for any victories. Furthermore, all of these trainers were respected and skilled Ace trainers that had a proven history of Conference successes. In that respect, my lady has triumphed over all of them without a single loss. And she fights me to an even level.”

That last part was saying a lot, considering that Darach was strong enough to become a Frontier Brain.

“But if she’s only fighting Ace trainers in private battles, that means she hasn’t really fought against the Gym Leaders or Elite Four.” I pointed out.

“Yes, that is exactly right.” Darach confirmed, getting a pout from Caitlin, “She won’t ever admit it, but she’s a little too sheltered to reach out for those kinds of battles. But I’ve been slowly encouraging her to leave her shell, and that’s why we’re on this trip to Sinnoh.”

“You said that it was for a vacation.” Caitlin argued, “That’s the only reason why I agreed.”

“I lied for your sake, my lady.” Darach replied smoothly, completely unashamed at what he had done, “It was the only way you would come. And you weren’t unhappy when I revealed my deception to you anyways, so I suspect you were also in agreement as well.”

“Be quiet.” Caitlin quickly shushed him, “I think you’ve mouthed off enough for one day. I hope you’re happy after thoroughly embarrassing me in front of the Champion and the Protector. They probably think less of me now because of you.”

“We don’t mind at all.” I chuckled, before changing the topic so that I could ask the question I’ve been meaning to ask for a while now, “So actually, why did you ask to see us? I assume you had a reason other than just wanting to say hi.”

“Yes, that’s correct.” Darach nodded, “We actually came to ask you personally, Champion Cynthia, if there was any availability in the Battle Frontier. Not as a Frontier Brain – I know that my lady is not qualified enough for that – but as one of their employed trainers. I believe that would give my lady plenty of experience with battling against many different trainers.”

My eyes widened slightly. I was surprised at that request – I would have thought that they were about to request something else.

Cynthia must have felt the same, as she shot them a curious look, “Is that all? You know you could have applied directly to the Battle Frontier. If you applied based on your own merits, I’m sure you would have gotten in anyways – if Caitlin is as talented as you say she is.”

“We agree.” Darach nodded again, “But, if we could be fully transparent with our intentions for a moment, we were just looking to make a connection with you.”

“I have great aspirations and ambitions.” Caitlin continued, “But I recognised that I was lacking in the right connections to assist with those aspirations. Currently, my political sphere contains only of wealthy sycophants that only provide lip-service to me in order to further their own interests. I do not have any solid allies, and I am looking to change that. So when Darach said that he knew you, and that you were coincidentally going to be at the same Festival that we were attending, we both realised that it would be best if we reached out and ask you for this favour.”

I nodded, understanding their logic. In other words, while they could easily have gotten into the Battle Frontier by themselves, they deliberately wanted to owe Cynthia a favour so that a connection would be built between us.

And I didn’t begrudge them for making use of a connection like this – everyone did so, and at least they were very upfront about it.

Cynthia agreed too, as she also nodded, “I’ve no problem with that. I always regretted that we couldn’t get Darach as a Frontier Brain, so I’ll put a word in for you. But you’ll have to work your way up the ranks yourself.”

“That would be most appreciated.” Caitlin replied formally, giving us both a small bow, “Of course, if you ever need any assistance with anything related to Unova, please do not hesitate to give us a call. My family may not be able to rival the wealth of your Mr. Stone, but we are no less affluent.”

“Old money?” I asked.

“Very.” Darach was the one to reply, “They’re practically nobility, if that still existed.”

Ah. That said a lot then. Well, that probably explained a good portion of why Caitlin was able to remain in the Elite Four for so long. If she was truly from such a powerful and affluent family, then their influence alone would be enough to support her continued time in the Elite Four.

…Which made her all the more enticing to get to know better and form a connection with. Caitlin and Darach were not the only ones making political calculations, as Cynthia and I were too.

Today was a pretty good start, but I really hoped we could foster this connection into something more. And seeing the familiar gleam in Cynthia’s eyes as she gave me a quick look, I knew she was feeling the same way.

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

Despite this small detour, we eventually had to split off from Caitlin and Darach as it was time for the Festival to begin in earnest.

The first big event that was to be hosted was the marathon, which also doubled as a hike. We would be running (or more likely, jogging) up Oni Mountain. We could be accompanied by our Pokémon, but ONLY if doing so wouldn’t give us any kind of physical advantage.

It wasn’t really a race, but it was still a test of one’s endurance.

We were going to be running up the entirety of Oni Mountain, all the way up until we reached the summit. And that wasn’t all, as many small mini-games were setup throughout the entire course that we had to complete before we could make it up to the top.

This was all done to showcase the natural beauty of Kitakami, as the entire thing was going to be broadcasted to the rest of the world. Naturally, as Cynthia and I were the most famous people here, we would be the heavy focus of the broadcast.

Unsurprisingly, many people wanted to see us in action. But we weren’t the only ones doing this. A small distance away, I spotted both Thorton, Archer, Dahlia, and Palmer participating too, alongside Flint, Volkner, and many other prominent trainers.

I remembered that the organisers wanted all of us to run together in one large group, but that was deemed logistically impossible. Everyone ran at their own pace, and it wouldn’t be convenient for some people to have to slow down to wait for the others. Besides, there was truly too many people here participating in this marathon, so that wouldn’t be feasible either. Instead, everyone just gathered into small groups.

Despite the heavy focus on televising this event, I didn’t think too much about it. I was just really here to have fun, and maybe have the people laugh at my expense when they see me physically struggle.

Because that was exactly what happened. The entire marathon was scheduled to take several hours to complete, and by the end of the first hour, I was dying, and so was Cynthia.

We were both physically fit – being a trainer helped a lot with that, but I came to learn very quickly that there was a massive difference between being fit and being able to jog up a mountain. Especially one as steep as Oni Mountain.

I had personally, never, jogged up Mt. Silver or Mt. Coronet. Every time I’ve had to traverse through either of those locations, I was assisted by my Pokémon. And both of those mountains had some built-in infrastructure to help with ascending or descending the mountain.

Oni Mountain had none of that. The organisers didn’t build anything that would make things easier for us. It was just a truly gruelling experience all around. It didn’t help that the sun was out in force, making the whole place just unnecessarily hot.

So by the time we reached the second checkpoint, both of our faces were drenched with sweat, and exhaustion lined our whole form. The normally photogenetic form of Cynthia was completely gone, replaced with a shambling and panting mess of a person that was visibly struggling to maintain their pace.

However, despite our exhaustion-laden forms, we were still doing pretty well all things considered, and we were definitely near the front of the pack. At the very front were the locals, the ones that had done this hike up Oni Mountain probably over a thousand times in their life. They weren’t even breaking a sweat as they lightly jogged ahead of us.

The mini-games and water breaks definitely helped with recovering our stamina.

“…I’m already dreading tomorrow’s papers.” Cynthia said to me as we both chugged down our drinks, “I can’t wait to see what kind of unflattering photos show up there.”

“I still think you look good, though.” I chimed in cheekily.

She snorted, “Nice try, but I won’t accept that right now. I know I look like a right mess, and I can’t wait to see my exhausted face all over tomorrow’s headlines.”

“Well if it’s any consolation I’ll be right there next to you.” I said, “So they’ll laugh at the both of us together.”

She smiled, “True.”

And as the hike went on, I started to get used to the exhaustion, and things started to feel easier. My legs were probably going to be sore for the next week when this was all done, but I couldn’t deny that this was at least an unique and enjoyable experience, and I just spent the time chatting with my fiancé as we helped each other push through the marathon.

So even though we were both tired, it was a very enjoyable time for the both of us. So as we chatted, joked, and laughed together,  the sounds of the rest of the runners and the cheering of the crowd faded away into the background, and it just became the two of us as we jogged alongside each other.

Which is why I was completely taken aback when a loud and sharp whistle pierced through the air.

“IF EVERYONE CAN HOLD YOUR POSITIONS FOR JUST A MOMENT! WE’RE PUTTING THE MARATHON ON HOLD WHILE WE DEAL WITH AN UNEXPECTED INTRUSION OF A WILD POKÉMON!” One of the nearby Jennys shouted out, “PLEASE BEAR WITH US! THE SITUATION WILL BE HANDLED SHORTLY!”

Instantly, as our experience taught us, both Cynthia and I sent out two of our Pokémon each – Klee and Pixel for me, and Lucario and Togekiss for her.

“What’s wrong?” Cynthia was immediately in full work mode as she approached the Jenny, “Is the situation handled?”

The Jenny shook her head, “No. Apparently the intruding Pokémon is one we’ve never seen before, and it broke out of a hole in the mountain that we previously didn’t know about, but it isn’t hostile. But as per our orders, we paused the marathon just in case to keep everyone safe.”

“Good thinking.” I replied, “But where is it? We’ll help deal with the situation.”

The Jenny hesitated for a moment, and I could tell that she was instinctively about to refuse – probably because they had the situation handled – before she remembered who exactly she was talking to and quickly changed her mind, “Of course. If you just head down that way.” She pointed in a direction, and we quickly flew off in that direction.

It didn’t take us long to find the source of the commotion, as a large squad of Jennys and Rangers had all surrounded one singular lone Pokémon – which had clearly just broken out of some hole in the wall. It didn’t seem immediately hostile, but it was shooting wary looks at all the humans nearby, as if it didn’t know what to do with them.

But even at a distance, its distinctly round and green appearance, as well as the teal mask on its head, already told me everything I needed to know about who this was.

Ogerpon had just woken up.

A.N. I know the introduction of Caitlin took up a good portion of this chapter, but since I was introducing a new character so late into this story, I felt like it deserved some screentime so that the new connection feels earned. Initially that section was much shorter, but I didn’t like that version because you didn’t get to see or know enough about Caitlin. I hope you liked the descriptions.

And yes, Ogerpon is here, as I’m sure many of you have guessed. More things to come in Kitakami! Hope you enjoyed!