The New Normal - 16-9

The New Normal – 16-9 – The Elimination Stage

Although I was told by Cynthia to put the matters regarding PLASMA aside and focus on the Tournament, that wasn’t completely possible.

Naturally, the news was filled with articles about PLASMA’s cheating scandal and the questioning of most of the PLASMA members that had come over to Sinnoh. No formal charges were laid against them for the time being, and from what I heard from Cynthia, most of them seemed genuinely unaware of the horrific plans thought up by Zinzolin. They were just unwilling patsies.

Of course, the same could not be said for Zinzolin, and he was instantly placed under arrest. He was the first person to be arrested from Unova to be arrested on foreign soil, and naturally, this ran the risk of leading to a diplomatic incident.

Fortunately for everyone, the entire event which he cheated in had been broadcasted to the entire world. Therefore, even those in Unova could see that Zinzolin’s actions were very much criminal in nature. Furthermore, the presence of the Unova Elite Four right here in Sinnoh meant that they had the authority to instantly approve of the arrest as well.

Given that Zinzolin’s actions constituted a severe case of Pokémon abuse, no one was willing to let him walk free.

Still, the tournament had been delayed by a full day as many people scrambled to figure out what to do with Zinzolin. In the end, it was agreed that the interrogation would take place in Sinnoh as a matter of convenience, with Unova being allowed to attend the interrogation either in person or virtually, then he would eventually be transferred back to Unova to be judged there and would serve his time in a Unovan prison.

Meanwhile, for all of the other PLASMA recruits, since they had done nothing wrong they were sent back to Unova as well – escorted by members of the International Police. Of course, from now on members of PLASMA were forced to register if they wanted to come back to Sinnoh. But otherwise, for the sake of maintaining friendly relations with Unova, no other measures were taken for the time being.

It was a fairly light-handed approach, but it created a solution that didn’t step on any toes. And things quickly returned to usual, at least on the surface. I knew from Cynthia that there were more talks going on under-the-table, but I wouldn’t be privy to those.

Meanwhile, I had asked Elesa what she thought about the whole situation.

“Well I can tell you that if people would be outraged at Sinnoh if you simply arrested one of our own without proper cause.” She said, “However, Zinzolin’s actions definitely warranted immediate action – cheating in battles is just not something that is done. It’s against everything being a trainer stands for.”

“So they’re not angry at us for arresting him?” I asked.

“Some are, undoubtedly. You know, the nationalists and stuff. But those people will hate you no matter what you do.” She explained, “However, for the rest of us? Most of us are just angry at Zinzolin for tarnishing our reputation like that. We don’t blame you for taking action when there was cheating involved, especially with a substance that greatly endangered their own Pokémon’s health. What kind of cruel man does that to his own Pokémon?”

“A man with more ambition than sense.” I replied.

“Then good riddance to him.” She frowned, “People like him deserve to behind bars.”

Then she let out a sigh, “Let’s talk about something else. Hearing about Pokémon abuse like this makes me disgusted. So… on a completely different topic, did you hear about who won the public vote?”

I shook my head. Because I was so distracted with everything that had happened with PLASMA, I had almost completely overlooked all of the recent news regarding the Tournament.

Before the elimination stage began, there had been a public vote to see which eliminated pairing got to have a second chance at continuing now that the elimination stage had started.

Unlike last year, where the vote was almost completely one-sided in Brock’s favour, this year it was much closer. That’s not to say that there were fewer supporters and fans of certain partnerships, but simply because Brock’s backstory last year just resonated too strongly with the public, and they overwhelmingly supported giving him and Sidney a second chance.

In the end, Elesa told me that the pair of Gardenia and Morty won the public vote and were allowed to continue, causing me to wrack my memory as I tried to think of any reason why they would win over the other candidates. I came up blank, so I just asked Elesa if she knew.

“I think it’s because everyone could tell that they were ramping up after every battle.” She said, “At the beginning, I remember they struggled really heavily, probably because Grass and Ghosts don’t exactly share any natural synergies between their Types.”

I snapped my fingers, “Oh yeah, I remember now. They were really weak at first, but then they started emphasising more on making use of their shared Poison typing that most of their Pokémon had and began to make a comeback. I remember they only took their third loss because they unfortunately got matched up against Lucian and Lenora.”

“They probably would have won against anyone else.” Elesa agreed, “So that’s probably why they were given another chance. Not because of any backstory or anything, but because the public think they have the momentum on their side to go far.”

Personally, I could see it. Just because neither Gardenia nor Morty were considered all that strong compared to the rest of the competition, you couldn’t discount how important just having a good sense of teamwork with your partner could be for securing wins. So if they kept this up they had a real chance of making it far, despite their relative lack of strength compared to the rest of the competition.

Though hearing this also made me feel bad for Maylene. Despite being one of the newer and younger Gym Leaders participating in the Tournament, she had garnered a considerable fanbase for her hard-working personality and desire to improve. She might not be the strongest amongst us, but just like Gardenia and Morty were, she was growing stronger by the day.

However, being partnered with Clair had completely torpedoed her chances of winning the public vote – if only because no one wanted to give Clair a second opportunity after her recent behaviour. Even if they wanted to vote for Maylene because they were a fan of hers, many likely wanted to spite Clair even more. Therefore, Maylene and Clair were officially out of the Tournament.

Those pitying thoughts aside, after talking about the public vote for a little longer, Elesa and I refocused ourselves and returned to training up our Pokémon.

The elimination stage had been delayed for long enough, and our battles were resuming tomorrow. And later that evening, we learned who our opponents were going to be.

I let out a wide smile when I saw who they were.

We were against the only other Normal and Electric pair in the Tournament – Norman and Surge. That was most certainly going to be interesting.

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

(Norman POV)

“Heh. Looks like someone in the Sinnoh League’s got a sense of humour if they’re pairing us up against John and Elesa.” Surge smirked, “Are they really trying to have us show off the difference in our fighting styes?”

“I’m certain that the draws were random.” He replied, “I don’t think the Sinnoh League wants to face accusations of rigging this tournament otherwise.”

Initially, he did think that they might have matched up the 3-0 winners against those that managed the same, but then he realised that would just be like punishing those who had done well in the preliminary stage by giving them a ‘more difficult’ opponent. Therefore, he believed that the Sinnoh League kept the draws entirely random on purpose to make the Tournament more fair in its own way.

His partner let out a scoff, “Bah. I still think they might have rigged it in their favour after their last Tournament went so badly for them.”

“That’s just your natural distrust talking.” He said, already having gotten used to how Surge was like. The man was loud, brash, and extremely straight to the point. He was also an unashamed nationalist (though Surge would argue that he was just being patriotic) and tended to see the worst in others if they weren’t from Kanto.

That being said, the man must have mellowed out significantly with his vitriol, since Surge was actually pretty friendly with him when they were first partnered up. He had expected some hostility, but Surge had treated him quite well and they were able to quickly form a working partnership together.

Their Pokémon also worked well together. Surge’s Electric Types may not have been able to match the speed of Elesa’s, but he made up with that by having superior firepower. Out of all the Kanto Gym Leaders, Surge probably had the best Special Attackers amongst them – at least in terms of raw firepower. Combine that with his own Pokémon’s impressive physical bulk and power, which was also superior to most of the contestants here, and they had managed to clear through the preliminary stage with only a single loss.

“Hmph.” Surge didn’t deign to give that a response, “Enough chit chat. Our first battle is only in a few hours, so we need to make sure we go through whatever last minute preparations beforehand. Our opponents might be formidable, but a good soldier never backs down from a fight. That Unovan is the weak link – we must exploit it.”

Obviously, that was much easier said than done, and they both knew how difficult the battle ahead of them was going to be. Though they knew that John and Elesa weren’t invincible, as they almost slipped up against Drayden and Brawly, they still managed to recover and win in the end. Therefore, it wasn’t surprising that a good portion of the public thought that their performance had been the one of the most dominant amongst the participants so far.

Despite this, he couldn’t deny the rush of anticipation and excitement that he felt now that he was about to face off against John once again. He still remembered their first battle all that time ago, when John had only just joined the Indigo Elite Four. The John that he had met then was fresh-faced, innocent, and still naive to the ways of the world. He may have had the title of Elite Four, but it was clear that he was still learning to act like one. Yet even back then he was still strong; strong enough that his Tyrant had dominated his own Slaking in that battle that they had.

It had been a long time since then, and the man that he was about to face off against now was a completely different person. John had gone from success to success, with his strength continuing to grow along the way. He had even managed to fight and survive against a Legendary – that was how strong he had become.

But he hadn’t been sitting idly by either. As John grew stronger, so had he and his team. And now, he was eager to see how much the both of them had improved in the time that had passed.

Nevertheless, he knew that Surge was right. If they wanted to win, then targeting Elesa was definitely going to be the right thing to do. Knocking both of her Pokémon out as quickly as possible to allow them to fight John 2v1 was the best way to achieve victory. A part of him did want to duel John in a fair 1v1, but he couldn’t sabotage their chances of winning just to sate his own ego.

Therefore, they spent whatever time they had running through past videos of John and Elesa’s battles, and picked out the Pokémon that they felt would give them the greatest chances of victory.

So he walked into the arena feeling as prepared as he could ever be, even if he was a little surprised at the sheer audience turnout.

Their battle had been scheduled rather late in the evening as one of the last battles of the day, and most spectators tended to not watch those battles due to a lack of energy after a long day of screaming and shouting. However, it was very different this time, and he suspected that the fact that both pairs consisted of an Electric and Normal specialist had something to do with it.

The public always liked comparisons, and with John being one of two other Normal specialists in the Tournament, the public was eager to see who was better than who.

He put those thoughts aside. Now was no time for distractions – now was the time for victory.

He took a deep breath, feeling the familiar sense of focused calm surging through his veins, and steadied himself for the battle ahead.

It was time for battle.

“TRAINERS! ARE YOU READY!? THREE… TWO… ONE… FIGHT!”

“Get’em, Electrode!”     “Go, Exploud!”

“Stunfisk, it’s time!”      “Klee, you know what to do!”

His eyes widened at Elesa’s choice of Pokémon. They had expected an Emolga, as that was the Pokémon she was clearly the most comfortable and familiar with using. That’s why they sent out an Electrode and Exploud respectively – Electrode was Surge’s only Pokémon that could reliably outspeed Emolga and his Exploud could bombard a huge area all at once with its massive Boombursts.

They had thought that this pair would counter John and Elesa’s favoured strategy and secure a quick knockout. However, it looks like John and Elesa were trying something else this time.

And now they were faced off against her Stunfisk. Which, considering its Electric/Ground typing, meant that most of Electrode’s moves were completely ineffective against it – as it practically only knew Electric moves – meaning that Surge was going to be forced to burn a switch very early into the battle.

That was far from ideal, but it was too late for regrets now. He quickly turned to Surge, silently communicating with their eyes. They both realised that though their original plan was kaput, but they still needed to focus on taking down Elesa’s Pokémon first.

Hopefully, brute force would allow them to salvage their horrible start.

“Boomburst, Exploud!”     “Switch out, Electrode! Get them, Electivire!”

“Protect, Stunfisk.”    “Thunder Wave the Exploud, Klee.”

His Exploud roared out a deafening and powerful wave of sonic energy that flooded over the arena, but despite the massive power behind that attack, their opponents either blocked it or simply tanked through it. The Blissey didn’t even stumble backwards a little bit before it fired off a quick Thunder Wave that managed to paralyse his Exploud while it was stuck firing off the Boomburst.

But now Electivire was on the battlefield. It immediately rushed towards the Stunfisk with a deadly Ice Punch being readied on its fists, with its eyes blazing menacingly as it looked to bash it into the ground. Yet Stunfisk didn’t make it easy for Electivire as it unleashed a violent Bulldoze, causing the ground to shake heavily and slowing down the charging Electric type.

Meanwhile, John’s Blissey set up with a Reflect to shield against incoming physical attacks before it surprised Norman by charging towards his Exploud. Because of its paralysis, he knew that his Exploud would be too slowed to escape, so instead he tried to fend off the Blissey and blast it away with another explosively powerful Boomburst.

However, the Blissey just set up a Light Screen as it continued its charge, causing his Boomburst to be all but ineffective against it.

Then, now that the two of them were in striking distance of each other, his Exploud tried for a desperate Hammer Arm to punish Blissey for approaching it – only for a quick Psychic to interrupt the attack. As his Exploud slightly staggered from the blow, the Blissey wrapped its dainty little arms around Exploud and threw it right up into the air.

“NOW, ELESA!”

“THUNDER!”

Despite having to deal with Electivire’s flurry of attacks, Stunfisk somehow still had the space and battle instinct to unleash an enormous bolt of pure electricity that came thundering down like a spear of light, impaling right through his airborne Exploud.

His Exploud crashed down into the ground, right into a painful barrage of Focus Blasts that Blissey had prepared. The orbs of fighting energy detonated on his Normal type and sent it flying back into the psychic shields.

He frowned. John really was giving him a painful reminder that his Blissey was more than just a defensive support Pokémon. It was just as capable of hitting back.

Furthermore, as his Exploud was struggling to pull itself up from Blissey’s surprise pummelling, the other side of the battle had entered into a stalemate.

As their research had shown, Stunfisk did not hit hard at all. So even though Electivire was repeatedly hit by back-to-back supereffective Bulldozes, it had not taken all that much damage.

However, what it did accomplish was that it gradually slowed down Electivire, making it more difficult for it to land good strikes. Worse, attacks like Mud Slap would blind Electivire and lower its accurary, while attacks like Pain Split would heal up most of the damage that was dealt. Sometimes, it would even Bounce away to make distance and force Electivire to play catchup.

Despite its lazy and lethargic appearance, it was much more of a nuisance than it seemed.

Therefore, by stalling out the fight like it was doing, it completely ruined their plans to take down one of Elesa’s Pokémon first. And his Exploud was currently being tossed around like a salad by the Blissey. Its usually powerful Special Attacks – that were normally capable of bringing down even the toughest of opponents – found absolute no purchase when they struck the opposing Blissey.

He had resorted to trying to bring down Blissey using physical attacks instead, but Blissey was remarkably adept at fending them off – probably due to all the training it had done with John’s other bruisers.

Hammer Arms and Brick Breaks were forced back by Psychics. Crunches were blasted back by Dazzling Gleams. Take Downs were punished with carefully timed Focus Blasts. Because of this, Exploud was never allowed to land a good hit.

For his Exploud, the Blissey was an impenetrable wall.                    

With the benefit of hindsight, he realised that they should have swapped targets from the very start. Exploud should have targeted down Stunfisk, while Electivire focused on Blissey. But with Blissey’s unending onslaught of attacks, it gave Exploud no opportunity to change targets. So it was too late now, and his wounded and tired out Exploud was eventually taken down by a final Psychic to the face.

It had been unable to make a reversal.

So now, with their backs against the wall, Norman sent out his final Pokémon – his Slaking.

Yet, the very moment that his Slaking took to the field, John immediately switched out his Blissey and sent out his own starter in return.

““SLAKINGGGG!!!!”” Both of their Slaking roared out in unison as they charged towards each other – both of them only having the other in their sights.

This was it. His strongest Pokémon against John’s strongest Pokémon. It was time to prove once in for all just how much he had improved since their last battle against each other. Would his Slaking be able to cause the biggest upset ever seen by beating Tyrant in a 1v1?

It was time for a brawl.

However, so focused as he was on the clash of their starters that he almost didn’t hear or register Elesa’s declaration.

“I’m retiring my Stunfisk from the match! Go, Emolga! Helping Hand!”

Those last two words finally snapped him out of his reverie, and he turned to look at the other side of the battlefield to see what was going on. To his horror, Elesa had retired her Stunfisk (so it didn’t count as a switch) and instantly sent out Emolga to buff up Tyrant with a Helping Hand – skyrocketing Tyrant’s already ridiculous strength to even greater heights.

Meanwhile, Surge was stuck using his crippled Electivire, who was too slow and injured to effectively counter the incredibly agile Emolga. Furthermore, because they had burned their only switch swapping out Electrode earlier, that meant that they didn’t have a switch available. They would have to retire their Electivire if they wanted to send out their Electrode.

However, Surge hesitated for a brief moment. His partner was obviously reluctant to retire one of his strongest attackers when it hadn’t gone down yet and could technically still fight. But Norman realised that this hesitation was another costly mistake – the outcome of the fight would be determined by who won the battle between the two Slaking. And unlike Emolga, Surge’s Electivire in its current state could not provide much meaningful assistance.

Eventually, Surge did choose to retire his Electivire and send out his Electrode, but it was already too late. With the Helping Hand boost, Tyrant pulverised his own Slaking with an apocalyptically destructive Hammer Arm that rocketed his Slaking right through one of the psychic barriers – tearing a clean hole through them.

The crowd screamed in both excitement and panic, but Tyrant cared little for that as he received another Helping Hand boost and followed up with another almighty Hammer Arm that broke through his Slaking’s defences and buried it into the ground; with only its head sticking out like a Diglett.

This was not the honourable duel that he had expected and hoped for. This was a beatdown disguised as a brawl. A decimation of his own starter.

This was one Pokémon asserting its dominance over another, as if to remind him that his Slaking was no challenger. But merely another prey about to be broken by Tyrant’s fists.

John did not care about having a ‘honourable’ 1v1. And that was when he realised his final mistake.

Going into this battle, he had been wrapped up in the singular assumption that this was going to be a battle between two Normal and Electric specialists – with both sides trying to prove who was superior to each other.

That was why, in their original plan, they had anticipated the Slaking duel and would use it to occupy John so that Surge could take out Elesa’s Pokémon. They wanted to fight two separate 1v1s, with both trainers trying to show who was the better type specialist between them.

But he had foolishly failed to realise that such a way of thinking was just his ego talking. He had wanted to prove himself, to show off how much he had improved since their previous battle. He failed to anticipate that for John, there was nothing to prove.

The man was already the strongest Normal specialist in the world. There was no need for him to go out of his way to prove it. So to him, he just had to defend his title, and that meant using whatever buffs or tactics was necessary to achieve that.

Therefore, even with him retiring his Electivire to switch to his Electrode, Surge was unable to salvage the battle for their team. Even after landing a paralysis on Tyrant with a Thunder Wave, it didn’t matter. The damage had already been done to his own Slaking, and the brutal injuries it had suffered were far too severe.

No, they had lost this battle. Their run in the Tournament had come to an end.

And yet… the realisation of their impending defeat was not as bitter as he had expected it to be. It was disappointing, but it was also good to see just how far he needed to go.

After all, it was always nice to have a goal to be aiming for.

A.N. Instead of having the battle entirely from John’s perspective, I felt that it might be better to have it from Norman’s to give an alternative viewpoint of the battle and show off what it’s like fighting against John. I also wanted to highlight the difference in mindset, and how mistakes can compound on each other until you end up losing the battle.

To be clear, this was not to showcase Norman or Surge’s lacking battling capabilities. Don’t forget, they were always the underdogs coming into this battle, and they tried to come up with a plan to even out the odds a bit – it just didn’t work. Sometimes, that just happens, no matter how good your preparations are. That’s the reality of a battle. Hope you enjoyed!