The New Normal - 15-17

The New Normal – 15-17 – Hanging Out

“…If I had known I would be meeting with the Champion of Sinnoh, I would have dressed up in better clothing.” Elesa muttered to me as we sat down at a restaurant together in Sunyshore City, “This is way too casual for a first meeting with a Champion.”

We were taking a break from our usual training session, and I thought that it might be good to actually spend some time in a more relaxed setting to build up mutual rapport. Besides, I always welcomed an opportunity to grow closer with another Gym Leader, especially one from Unova.

I made a show of looking her over, “You say that, but you’ve dressed up quite well – at least I could tell that you’ve put effort into your appearance. Besides, I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Cynthia isn’t one for formalities anyways. Not with something like this.”

Elesa snorted, “Maybe, but it’s not her opinion that I’m solely worried about. You know how the paparazzi are like – they love taking things out of context and then dramatizing them to point of warping the truth. They take one picture of us in this restaurant together, and then they imply that I’m dressed ‘a little too casually’ while speaking to a Champion, and the next thing I know is that there’ll be five different articles written about how I was being ‘disrespectful’ when speaking with a Champion and that I’m ‘letting the region down’.”

That sounds exactly like something those Carvanha would do, “…You sound like you’ve dealt with this a lot.” I replied sympathetically.

She sighed tiredly, “That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one. It’s bad enough when you’re known as a Gym Leader, but when you add in being one of the most famous models in Unova? Well that just adds fuel to the fire. I don’t think I’ve gone a week without my name popping up in some headline or another. It’s not as fun as you think.”

“Trust me, I can relate to that.” The familiar voice of my girlfriend came from behind us, “Thank Arceus that being an archaeologist doesn’t get me nearly as much media attention as other professions might. I already have the gossip rags ‘commenting’ on my beauty, even though it has nothing to do with my policies.”

“Well there is much to comment on.” I added with a shameless grin.

My girlfriend smiled at me, “Flatterer.” Then she turned to Elesa, “I know we’ve met formally, but it’s nice to meet you as Elesa the person, rather than as a Gym Leader of Unova.”

“Likewise, Champ­­—Cynthia.” Elesa quickly corrected herself when she saw the frown on Cynthia’s face, “And thank you for inviting me to this lunch together. I know you would have preferred it to spend it alone with your partner.”

“It’s alright, I wanted to meet you too as well.” She replied, “I know I’m not allowed to be too biased, but I wanted to know more about the person that my boyfriend is partnered up with for the rest of the tournament. So please, feel free to chat about whatever.”

At that, Elesa’s gaze bounced between the two of us, “In that case… I’ve always been curious about how the two of you even met or got together. Everything I’ve heard is about how big of a thing that an Elite Four and a Champion from two different regions are dating each other, but I’ve not heard any of the specifics. So, if it isn’t too personal, do you mind satisfying a girl’s curiosity?”

Both Cynthia and I let out fond smiles, sharing a knowing look with each other as we reminisced over how we had first met.

I gestured for her to go first, “…Well we met up for the first time in Sinnoh. You see, we had just opened our borders to Hoenn and Indigo, and John was sent over as one of the Indigo representatives. I wasn’t Champion yet, but it just so happened that my grandmother had formed a connection with John when she had visited Indigo through their shared interest in science. As a result, she offered me as a tour guide for when John came over, and he was offered to stay at the Celestic Town Research Centre.”

I took it up from there, “Naturally, we ended up spending a lot of time together. Initially, there was nothing inherently romantic about our interactions, nor did I set out from Indigo with the intention of finding a girlfriend in the first place. It kind of… just happened?”

I gently placed one of my hands on top of hers, “I still don’t know how to put it into words, but the more we spent time with each other, the more I came to enjoy her presence. And then it got to the point where, despite having to return to Indigo, I knew I would’ve regretted it if I didn’t say anything about how I felt about her.”

Cynthia snorted, “You say that, but I confessed to you first. Don’t you forget that.”

I smiled, “Yes, you did. And I thank Arceus every day for that.”

That caused the two of us to just stare into each other’s eyes for a moment. The memory of our shared confession flashing through our eyes.

Only for the moment to be broken off from a light cough from Elesa, who was unable to hide the smile on her face, “You’re both so sweet together it’s almost teeth-rotting.” She said, “But then how did you announce it to the public? Did you do it right away?”

“No.” I answered for the both of us, “We knew that announcing our relationship to the public would be a challenge, considering our circumstances…” I then went on to explain just how we had gotten together, and how the previous Tournament marked the official ‘beginning’ of our relationship.

Elesa looked suitably impressed, “…It must have been hard for the two of you, having to deal with so much public attention on something that’s supposed to be private. And that’s not even including the possible backlash that your relationship might have caused in your professional life.”

We shrugged, “It wasn’t easy, but we both knew what we were getting into.” Cynthia said, “So while it was a challenge, we just saw the reward as worth the difficulty and risk.”

She leaned into my shoulder, “As you can see, I’m very much satisfied with the outcome.”

“…Anyways, I think that’s enough about us.” She said as she pulled herself away, “I know you’ve probably spoken to John about this, but I haven’t had the opportunity to learn anything from him. So tell me more about you. What’s it like being a Gym leader and a famous model at the same time? You said it was rough.”

Elesa let out a faint huff, “Compared to everything you just said, it does feel like my struggles are a little more mundane in comparison.” She chuckled, “But despite all of the trouble with the paparazzi that I have to endure, I can’t deny that I enjoy juggling both roles.”

“Did you know that I’m seen as the role model for women around Unova?” She asked rhetorically, “A magazine once described me as the ‘epitome of beauty, grace, and strength’. It was a very high compliment, and I’ve done my best to live up to the responsibility. That’s why I have to be so careful with my image. Many women look up to me, so I always need to ensure that I act the part.”

What was implied but not said was that it likely made her one of the most powerful political figures in shaping public opinion in Unova – she was possibly the fashion icon of Unova. Combine that with her role as Gym Leader, and she was immensely influential to the right audience.

“That does sound like a lot of responsibility to live up to.” Cynthia acknowledged, and I recognised the subtle look of understanding that she had as she realised how important Elesa was for Unova, “Doesn’t it sometimes get tiring, having all that responsibility?”

“Mhm. It’s a bit different from the responsibility and burdens you have as Champion, I’m sure. But when it comes to my appearance and the like – it’s a massive deal. It’s why I’ve been agonising so long about changing up my image.” She gestured to her blonde hair, “Of course I change my looks frequently as part of being a model, but I’ve always retained my blonde hair. But recently, I’ve been thinking of changing it to black…”

She and my girlfriend proceeded to fall into a discussion about fashion and what certain styles signalled to an onlooker, and whether having dyed hair sent more of a message than keeping the original colour. Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t able to follow the conversation at all, and fell back on nodding politely from time to time to make myself seem engaged.

Despite being left out of the conversation, I was happy that Elesa seemed to be getting along well with the two of us. She had been nervous before meeting Cynthia, and a little distant when she was with me during our training sessions, but now that hesitation seemed to have disappeared entirely.

She was chatting with Cynthia as if she was catching up with a long time friend. And that was good for the both of them.

Ignoring the political advantages that my girlfriend could gain by befriending Elesa, I was just happy that she was making a new friend. She didn’t have too many of those.

Eventually, my girlfriend turned to me with a knowing look, “…I think we should put this conversation on hold for the time being. John looks bored out of his mind, and I know you guys have places to be after this.”

“Oh, sorry John!” Elesa apologised, “We didn’t mean to leave you out like that. We just got too wrapped up in our own conversation.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” I waved her off, “I’m just happy to see you two getting along. But you’re right, we should get going – we have other people to meet.”

As today was our scheduled rest day, both to give ourselves and our Pokémon a break from our intense training, I had tried to meet up with as many people as I could.

Hanging out with Elesa might have been my primary goal, but I also wanted to meet up with many other of my friends that I hadn’t seen in some time. Elesa offered to tag along, saying that she would welcome the opportunity to meet with other Gym Leaders in a more casual setting too.

So with that in mind, we set off from the restaurant and headed to our next destination. We made our way to Veilstone City, where we met up with a whole bunch of Gym Leaders. Originally, I had only intended to meet up with Roxanne, but she ended up bringing Flannery, who then decided to bring along Janine as the Fire specialist was partnered with Koga.

Too bad my sister or Sabrina wasn’t here though. They both had to remain in Indigo, helping to handle their respective Gym Leader’s duties since they were indisposed.

We found them standing near the Veilstone Game Corner, “John, over here!” Roxanne called out to me.

We greeted each other with a small hug, “Roxanne, it’s so nice to see you again. I hope your preparations are coming along well for the Tournament. And the same goes for the rest of you. I hope you’ve all been doing well.”

“Samson has been very patient with me, like you were.” Roxanne replied, “And I’ve gotten much stronger since the last time we fought together. You’ll see!”

“Glad to hear it. Maybe I can see it from myself if we match up against each other.” I smiled, before gesturing to Elesa, “And before I forget – let me introduce you to the Gym Leader of Nimbasa City, Elesa. She’s my partner for this Tournament.”

“Hello there.” Elesa greeted everyone politely, “John’s told me quite a bit about you, Roxanne. He praised you repeatedly about how you performed in the previous tournament together, and he especially complimented your work ethic. I can only hope that I can live up to the high standards that you’ve set.”

Roxanne blushed deeply, “He’s exaggerating. If anything, I didn’t think I worked hard enough. I definitely felt like there was more I could have done to make things easier for John.”

Flannery snorted, “You say that, but you made it to the end with him. And I know all about how you keep that trophy of yours polished and cleaned every week. You’re clearly proud that you won, so don’t try to undersell yourself.”

That only caused Roxanne’s cheeks to grow even more red from embarrassment. Meanwhile, I was just happy that she treasured our victory so heavily.

Janine nodded, “That’s right. Father always says that it’s good to take comfort in your accomplishments, so long as you do not rest on your laurels.”

Roxanne looked primed to respond, but Elesa cut her off with a chuckle, “You all get along so well. I don’t think us Unovans Gym Leaders are quite as friendly as you all are. And you’re from different regions too. Is this the same everywhere?”

“…Not exactly.” Roxanne was the one to answer, “We all try to be friendly with each other, I hope. A lot of us do get along well, and I’m honoured to call many other Gym Leaders my friends. But there are still those amongst us who I personally find… difficult to deal with, to say the least.”

“I guess that part doesn’t change no matter where you come from.” Elesa said wryly, “At least in more recent times the Unova Gym Leaders are more or less all cordial with each other. I don’t think there’s any obvious conflict between us. And there are some that I’m happy to call my friends.”

“Things have been friendlier overall in recent times.” Flannery agreed.

However, as the five of us just stood there talking, a growing crowd had begun to form around us as people caught on to who we were. They were politely keeping their distance for now, but we all knew that it was only a matter of time before we got swarmed.

Therefore, noticing this, Flannery suggested that we put the conversation on hold now and for us to move to the Veilstone Department Store, where Elesa had wanted to check out some of the newest fashion designs here in Sinnoh.

Honestly, we didn’t talk about anything important, and were all simply content to just hang out in a casual setting for once and talk about whatever random topic came to mind.

For example, at one point our discussion had devolved into talking about the best and worst kind of food that we could find in each region. Then it quickly shifted to us talking about which region had the best weather (Unova won that, by the way). And right after that we started discussing about the places that Elesa should visit if she ever decided to go to Hoenn.

It was a good time.

Personally, I was just happy to be able to catch up with Roxanne and Janine in person. And the fact that we were all chatting with each other like we were a couple of old friends was proof that they hadn’t forgotten about me either.

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

(Looker’s POV)

Ingratiating himself into the ranks of PLASMA was both easier and more difficult than he was expecting. He knew that the backstory that he had crafted for himself was specifically targeted to make him the perfect candidate for recruitment, but he had underestimated just how eager the Sages were to bring him onboard.

Speaking of the Sages, the ones that he had met so far were a far cry from the scheming and megalomanic madmen that he had expected to see. There were still hints of that insanity, but most of that was tempered by a genuine sense of justice and a desire to do the right thing. From what he observed, he couldn’t deny that their motivations were not fuelled entirely by a lust for power – for the most part, they were just misguided individuals manipulated down the wrong path.

Though that didn’t change the fact that they were still hypocrites. They were still willing to make use of Pokémon to further their goals – it was a classic case of them believing that the end justified the means.

Still, they were far from terrible people. And he knew that they were far from as villainous as he had expected them to be. So the more he spent time around PLASMA, the more he realised that they were nowhere near as evil as Team Galactic were under Cyrus.

And that was even more so for N, the so-called ‘prince’ of PLASMA. The young boy, for even though he was in his teens, he was still as naïve as a child. Pure-hearted and innocent.

However, N was clearly being groomed to be the posterchild for PLASMA and their ambitions. After all, N could legitimately speak to Pokémon, and what better way to know if your Pokémon were truly happy than by having someone who could genuinely communicate with them tell it to you?

And this was where he begun to see the dark and evil tendrils that had wrapped themselves around this originally benign organisation, and especially around N. The boy was the epitome of a person being manipulated and brainwashed into adopting a certain way of thinking. After his few conversations with N, he had learned that the boy was almost never allowed out by himself, and most of his life had been spent stuck confined to his ‘home’.

Though, given that John had told Looker about his meeting with N, the latter must have sneaked out a few times. Good on him.

Nevertheless, that painted a pretty grim picture of N’s life, and of the boy’s father figure – Ghetsis. Who was also the leader of the Seven Sages.

There were no good fathers that would leave their own ‘son’ confined to a base and restrict them from ever going outside. That spoke of someone trying to restrict the flow of information to a person, making them unable to form their own conclusions and rely solely on the information that they provided.

Ghetsis was clearly moulding the boy, and definitely not for the better.

This realisation only made his pity for the young boy to grow. N was not evil. He was just an innocent young boy doing what he thought was best for the world, as he had been taught to from his ‘loving’ father.

It was disturbing.

What was worse was that Ghetsis was not alone in this endeavour – the other Sages were also participating too. Either out of ignorance or malice, they were following along and accepting of Ghetsis’ instructions, and did not see anything wrong with what they were doing to N.

Which only served to further corrupt N and his ideals.

He had documented and reported all of this on his phone, which had a secret function that allowed for encrypted communications to take place while still being disguised as a normal phone. Besides this, he acknowledged in his report that he had not been taken to see anything truly secretive, having merely being shown around the more ‘public’ facilities and getting some basic training on his future role in the organisation.

However, that seemed to change today, as he was suddenly approached by a Sage that he hadn’t met yet – Zinzolin.

“So you’re our latest recruit.” The Sage spoke to him with a dismissive glance, “What was your name again?”

“Hilbert.” He replied, giving his fake name.

“Hmph. Alright. I didn’t want to do this, but Giallo said you were ready, and we could use a man like you to help us out for our next task.” Zinzolin said, “We’re going to be heading over to Sinnoh. There’s this new tournament that’s being set up that will have all the major Gym Leaders and Elite Four gathered there – with the entire world watching. We will be undertaking a few operations there to spread the message of PLASMA. You’ll be helping with that, so get your things packed and ready to go. We’ll set off by tomorrow at the latest.”

“Yes sir.” He gave off a ‘clumsy’ salute, which Zinzolin scoffed at before walking off, not even deigning to say goodbye. But Looker didn’t allow any dissatisfaction to appear on his face; on the contrary, his face was one of utter excitement as his eyes shined. To any passing onlooker, they would have thought that ‘Hilbert’ was completely ecstatic at being given his first major task.

Yet inwardly, he was already making up plans about how to turn this to his advantage. He had not expected to be included in such a big assignment so soon, as he thought that it would have taken longer to build their trust. However, this was definitely an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

Furthermore, his instincts as a veteran member of the International Police were screaming at him – Zinzolin was not a good man. From the very moment they had met eyes, he knew that Zinzolin was exactly like the power-hungry scum that he had spent his whole career arresting.

This was a man who cared not one whit about saving Pokémon. He was just in it for the power.

Which made it all the more important that he ingratiated himself with Zinzolin. If he was to find a way to identify PLASMA’s true goals and their crimes, then that was his way in.

So, making sure that his fake smile of excitement was still on his face, he made a show of skipping over to his room – acting like the clueless fool that he pretended to be – where he cheerfully hugged his Croagunk and began to relay to him the ‘good news’. All the while making sure that every single word of naïve excitement that he uttered to his Pokémon would be caught on the hidden recording devices scattered around his room.

This was to ensure that whoever was spying on him would see nothing else but a gullible and naïve fool, ready to do whatever he could to help the cause.

Completely unaware that he was a spy in their midst.

A.N. Definitely a more slice-of-life chapter this time, but I’m also setting the stage for the events to come in the Tournament. This time around, I won’t have PLASMA’s actions limited to just Unova. They’ll be adapting to the new situation too. Too bad for them, Looker’s on the case.

This is also the penultimate chapter for this arc, with the next chapter being the Pokenet Interlude. After this, there will be many battles coming as we head into the tournament, so you can consider this to be sort of like a ‘calm before the storm’. Hope you enjoyed!