The New Normal - A Pokémon Elite 4 SI by CartecFF

Chapter 41: 161-164

The New Normal – 8-11 – INTERLUDE – SABRINA & WHITNEY

(Sabrina POV)

After Janine's victory over her parents for the Marsh Badge, neither herself or Whitney had much difficulty against her parents for their own Marsh Badge.

Oh, she knew that her father had tried to make things harder for them, but he was still constrained by the limitations of the 6th Gym Badge. He could not pull off the raw power that she knew that he had, nor make use of his strongest Pokémon.

Her battle against her father was intense. They knew each other's tricks, and while she outclassed her father in terms of pure Psychic talent, her father had significantly more experience at fighting against other Psychic specialists.

But that's why she fought slowly, with methodical precision, focusing on wearing down and fighting extremely carefully as to not get caught up in her father's many tricks. She used the fact that she actually overpowered her father's Pokémon and was more efficient with her attacks to gradually achieve victory with her Psychic types.

It was not the grandest way to win, but it worked. And it was the totally opposite way of how Whitney won, which was to literally power through his Psychic attacks before and overwhelm her father before he could probably set things up.

Whitney's Miltank was powerful.

After their fight, she had seen clips of her fight against her father popping up on BattleCast, mainly in the forums dedicated to Psychic trainers. She felt a surge of pride at being recognized for her Psychic skills, which was only increased when Whitney gushed over the fact that her friend was becoming a 'well-known' trainer on Pokenet.

As always, she was endlessly thankful that Whitney took the chance to become her friend.

With their trio all winning, she asked the other two if she could hang around Saffron City for a little while longer to spend some time with her parents. Past her would have never suggested something like this, thinking that spending time with her parents was overly stifling and boring.

But now that she had gone on her journey with Whitney, she learnt to appreciate her parents and their love for her far more. And she was eager to talk about the many events that took place over her journey.

Whitney was more than happy to accompany her and spend some more time in Saffron. However, Janine asked if she could take the opportunity to head back to Fuschia to challenge her father. She stated that she felt that now was as good as a time as ever to challenge her father; to prove to him how much she had grown ever since she set off for her journey.

Sabrina felt bad for accidentally splitting the group like this, and she could tell even without reading her mind that Whitney was torn between accompanying Sabrina with her parents or cheering Janine on at Fuschia.

However, Janine insisted that she would go and fight her father alone. Though Whitney obviously wanted to support her friend, she ultimately respected Janine's decision and wished her all the best in her battle against Koga while the two of them remained in Saffron.

So as Janine left for Fuschia, Sabrina and Whitney spent most of that time with her parents, doing many things that Sabrina previously loathed in the past, but now found enjoyable thanks to Whitney's encouragement.

This included things like shopping trips, or simple meals outside with the family. They did a LOT more shopping than either had expected, and they ended up buying matching ribbons for each other. In the end, they bought 3 ribbons in total. One pink, one magenta, and one purple for Whitney, herself, and Janine respectively.

Whitney giggled and said that she couldn't think of anything more suitable.

Of course, they didn't only use their break to rest. During their short break, the two of them spent some time doing further research into Blaine's team and fighting style. Her parents saw this and gave a few words of warning.

"Blaine is not going to be easy." Her mother warned, "I've seen plenty of aspiring and talented trainers defeat your father, only to fall short and get stuck on Blaine. He has the unfortunate reputation of being more of a scientist than a trainer, but everyone forgets that he used to be a former member of the Elite Four."

"You may have been too young to have seen Blaine in his heyday, when he used to be in the Elite Four, but he is easily Giovanni's match if they were to fight at their strongest. Even with his disadvantaged type matchups." Her father added, "Here...let me try to show you."

He closed his eyes and Sabrina felt a slight tingle of Psychic energy try to push into her mind. She allowed the tendril of Psychic energy in, and her mind was suddenly assailed by a flash of images as her father tried to project his memory into her brain. A normal non-psychic may have been overwhelmed by the sudden invasion of thoughts, but Sabrina was more than used to this and easily accepted his memories.

She could see flashes of a Magmar torching the entire battlefield into a sea of flames. The torrent of fire so strong that it overwhelmed the incoming Hydro Pump from the opposing Blastoise. There was another image of a Torkoal unleashing a tidal wave of magma and rock that sent the enemy Lanturn wailing in pain as it was buried underneath endless tide of scorching rock.

The images continued to flash through her mind. But there was always one constant. A grinning Blaine, this time with a head full of hair, as he stood victorious over his opponent.

Time and time again.

She shuddered at the thought of him being her next opponent, even if he was going to be limited by the restrictions of the 7th Gym Badge. She was beginning to realize that their shared goal of clearing out all 8 Gym Badges by the end of this circuit was going to be very optimistic.

Her father must had read her thoughts, or maybe he simply guessed them based on her expression, as he continued, "You might not have noticed this, judging by your streak of success, but did you know that after the 4th Gym there is a significant jump in difficulty between the Gyms?"

"Really?" Whitney couldn't help but interrupt, "But why?"

"The first four Gyms are supposed to teach you the basics and fundamentals of being a trainer." Her mother explained, "That's why they're much easier to defeat. They're just meant to teach you to develop good habits in training your Pokémon, alongside some basic confirmation that you understand the type charts and stuff. The Gyms are supposed to be reasonable for you to defeat with just some training."

"But once you've beaten the 4th Gym, then the 'training gloves' come off, so to speak. The goal of the Gyms are no longer to train you, but to test you and to force you to push yourself to new heights. To put it more bluntly, it is meant to drill and hone your talents so that you can show off your full potential as a trainer. It would not be unusual for the common trainer to have to attempt and challenge the 5th and 6th Gym Badge multiple times before they can earn their badge. Just ask your father, he's seen it dozens of times now." Her mother described, with her father nodding along in agreement.

"Or, if I could speak more cynically, the purpose of the Gyms after the 4th Badge is to discover and weed out the exceptional trainers among this year's batch of trainers." Her father frowned, "I don't approve of this mindset, as I believe every trainer can achieve great things if given the opportunity, but that's just how things are set up."

"...So, we are considered unusual for being able to get so far on our first try?" Sabrina asked.

"No, not unusual. You're not unusual, but exceptional." Her mother chided, knowing that Sabrina didn't like to be called 'unusual'. "You make us so proud as parents to see you succeed like this. Don't ever let anyone downplay your achievement. Even if you struggle with Blaine, being able to reach us without a single loss is already incredible."

"But we wanted to defeat all 8 Gyms before the end of this circuit..." Whitney mumbled a little sadly.

Her father reached down and patted Whitney on the shoulder, "Having an ambitious goal like that is good...but don't feel upset if you can't reach it. I'm sure your brother would be very happy with you even if you don't manage that." Her father comforted, and Whitney slowly formed a small smile as he hit the nail on the head about her concerns.

She smiled too.

"Did you know that there are plenty of trainers that try to hire private tutors to get past your father's Gym?" Her mother added, shooting them both a smile, "I find the whole concept ridiculous, especially since they charge exorbitantly high prices for their 'training'. And half the time it doesn't even work. You don't know how glad I am to see you not relying on such services."

"And besides, you haven't lost yet!" Her father spoke up with a cheery tone, "Keep your chin up. Keep training hard and keep studying Blaine. Maybe you can even beat him on your first try! But if you don't, don't beat yourself up too hard about it. We all face roadblocks in our lives, and learning how we overcome them is part of growing up."

Whitney nodded firmly, accepting her father's words to heart. Sabrina just smiled; her friend always had more enthusiasm for the three of them. She knew that Whitney could bounce back even from a loss. And if she did fall into a slump, well Sabrina was confident that her brother could get her out of it.

Sabrina knew that the only thing Whitney could not accept was disappointing her brother.

After that enlightening conversation, they spent a few more days with her parents before they eventually had to say goodbye. Janine had finished up her fight against her own father, squeaking out a very narrow victory as her Golbat barely held on after Koga's Weezing Exploded.

Whitney had insisted to watch the recording of the match, and Sabrina couldn't help but think of how similar Janine's match against Koga was compared to her own match against her father.

The fight really could have gone either way, but Janine HAD won. And considering the bright smile and the sheer joy radiating out of her face when Janine had called them, Sabrina didn't think Janine cared about how close it was.

Sabrina was quick to share in her friend's joy, she had felt similarly when she had defeated her father.

She felt a little bad that Whitney couldn't experience something similar any time soon, because her brother wasn't a Gym Leader, but Whitney didn't seem upset about that at all.

Sabrina vowed to help Whitney grow and become strong enough for her to put up a good fight against her brother. Because she knew that was Whitney's dream.

Anyways, with Janine finishing up with her fight, they left Saffron City and decided to all meet up in Cinnabar Island. And Sabrina immediately wanted to leave as soon as she arrived.

Why was this place so hot and sticky?! She knew it was next to a volcano – but still!

At least the trio was fully back together, giving them the opportunity to continue spending time strategizing about how they would defeat Blaine.

As agreed, Sabrina would be challenging Blaine first, followed by Whitney, then Janine.

Right now, they were at one of the training fields near the Cinnabar Island Pokémon Centre training up her team with her friends. Since it was late in the circuit and Cinnabar Island wasn't the most popular of places anyways, this meant it was easy to secure a training field for the entire day.

Although Sabrina did note that there were plenty of scientists rushing about. Maybe there was something big going on? She was tempted to look into their minds, but her friend's frequent reminder to NOT casually invade someone's privacy stopped her.

The newest addition to her team, her newly caught Girafarig, was doing well and was quickly growing to become another valued part of her team. She and Whitney had expectedly taken opposite approaches with their Girafarig. She focused more on developing Girafarig's Psychic abilities, teaching it how to set up barriers and the like for her team. She really valued having a Psychic type Pokémon that wasn't weak to Ghosts and cold actually fight in close range decently well if needed.

She was taking inspiration from John's Wyrdeer in how she wanted her Girafarig to develop. Although being able to create and leap from barriers mid-air was going to take a lot of time to master.

On the other hand, following her Girafarig's more aggressive preferences, Whitney was training her Girafarig to focus more on the physical side, to effectively be the opposite of Loudred. Whereas Loudred mostly focused on Special Attacks but also had a range of physical moves as backup, Girafarig focused on mostly physical attacks with a range of Special Attacks as backup.

Sabrina suspected that Whitney was drawing inspiration from the same source as she was.

Speaking of Whitney's team, they had finally managed to find and acquire a Moon Stone so that Whitney's Jigglypuff could finally evolve into a Wigglytuff. The evolution was long overdue at this point. On Sabrina's part, she had finally decided that now was the best time for her Staryu to evolve into a Starmie, making use of the Water Stone that she picked up a while ago.

With Wiggytuff's new evolved form, and in the subsequent spars that took place between Wigglytuff and her Pokémon, it was immediately obvious that Wigglytuff was now able to do more than make use of status moves, as it now had the power to actually fight back offensively. Not only that, but Wigglytuff was now far more durable than her pre-evolved form.

But, if Sabrina could be honest, her Staryu's evolution into a Starmie was even more important, at least for their upcoming battle against Blaine. It gave her another fast Special Attacker that could hit really hard and blast Blaine's Fire types with powerful Water type moves. Even ignoring the advantageous type matchup, her Starmie hit even harder than Xatu, which was more focused on support moves.

Now, if only she could get her Kadabra to evolve into an Alakazam, but she knew that was some ways off.

However, even with all these new evolutions, the warning from her parents about Blaine's strength remained in her head. She had studied Blaine's past battles, so she knew that he was a hot-tempered trainer with a huge focus on devastatingly destructive attacks.

Personally, she saw him as very similar to Surge. Whereas Surge focused on speed and fast striking attacks, Blaine focused on raw power and explosive devastation, forcefully gaining control of the battle by setting the entire arena alight.

Even Whitney's Miltank, by far the tankiest of their Pokémon, would not be able to withstand such attacks for too long. No, they all knew that they had to somehow beat Blaine by trying to reduce his incoming firepower while knocking his Pokémon out before they succumbed to the scorching flames.

Sabrina felt bad for Janine, who had the hardest task out of the three of them. A good portion of her team were weak to Fire types, meaning that she had to be extra careful when going up against Blaine.

And so, as time ticked by, the three of them spent their days in Cinnabar Island, carefully training up their teams and trying to come up with a plan to allow them to conquer Blaine and earn themselves the Volcano Badge.

========

?To their surprise, their time training around the training fields did not go unnoticed by the local population. And it was to her shock that her group of friends were suddenly approached a long, black-haired scientist lady and a weird guy wearing sunglasses, a fake moustache, and a wig.

No, wait, he had a moustache. But he just chose to wear a fake one on top of his real one. Why?

Also, was the wig actually part of the disguise, or was it because he wanted to conceal the fact that he was bald?

Still, Sabrina had no idea who that guy was trying to fool. The disguise was so obvious that it would take an actual idiot to not see through it. In fact, if it was not for the very official looking scientist lady with the Devon Corp badge placed proudly on her lab jacket, Sabrina might have been suspicious of his intentions.

Just to be safe, she discretely tried to probe his mind, only to reel back in pain as she felt her mind searing with pain. Her mind felt like it was being scorched alive.

Suddenly, her thoughts about the strange man were flipped on its head. This was a powerful trainer.

She didn't know how she didn't see it before, but despite his attempts to look mundane, he was anything but. Was he here to spar against them? She readied herself for a fight, but then the lady spoke, and all the tension broke away.

"I can't believe this coincidence! Whitney, is that you?" The lady suddenly spoke as she approached her friend, shaking Whitney's hand. "I thought I recognized you! Never thought I'd actually meet you. Congratulations on making it so far in the circuit!"

Whitney still had an extremely confused expression on her face, and the lady must have seen that as she was quick to clarify, "Oh my, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Shelly. I work with your brother and am the branch head of Devon Corp here at Indigo."

Whitney's face morphed into recognition, "Oh! Shelly! Yes, John did mention you a few times! It's good to meet you, and thanks for helping my brother!"

"More like he's helped me!" She chuckled, "Anyways, this is my friend...uh...Ian!" Sabrina had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the obviously fake name.

"It's good to meet you." 'Ian' greeted them, "I must say, it's nice to see trainers working so hard to train up their Pokémon. You looking to challenge the Gym Leader?"

"We are!" Whitney exclaimed eagerly, "We're looking to beat him on the first try! But we know he's very hard, so we're training up."

"Oh? That's ambitious. Have you been beating the other Gym Leaders on the first try too?" Ian asked, but Sabrina narrowed her eyes at his question. She had a suspicion that he already knew the answer to that.

"Yep!" Whitney answered with a nod, "We hope to do so for every Gym Leader! And we hope that we can beat all 8 Gyms before the end of this circuit."

Shelly whistled, "That's quite the goal. I wish I was nearly half as ambitious back when I was on my journey. But good luck on that! I'm rooting for you."

"Wow, then you must be really strong trainers, right?" Ian suddenly said, in a voice that couldn't sound any more fake than he tried. Sabrina noticed that Janine had immediately stiffened up at his words.

But Whitney continued, utterly unaware, "Maybe? John always says that there is always someone stronger than you, so I don't think I'm that strong."

Ian nodded, "That's a good mindset to have." He pretended to think for a moment, "Tell you what, I've not had a good battle in some time, and truthfully, I don't like having to hold back so often. Would you be interested in a Pokémon battle?"

Whitney almost instantly agreed, but Ian continued, "Just to warn you. I've seen you practicing, and while I have no doubt that you are all very talented trainers, my Pokémon ARE stronger than yours." He let his gaze sweep amongst the three of them, "I have a proposal. I'll only be using one Pokémon against one from each of you, so it'll be a 3v1. If you can win, I'll give you something as a reward."

Now even Shelly was giving Ian a weird look. And Sabrina had a sneaking suspicion that whoever this trainer was, he was seriously underselling his strength.

"Why are you doing this?" Janine suddenly asked, "If you're so strong, why challenge us?"

Ian nodded as if he expected the question, "I've recently acquired a new Pokémon that I've been really looking forward to testing its strength. Unfortunately, both due to a lack of time and suitable trainers, I haven't had much opportunity to test out its strength to my liking. But I figured that if I fought you three together, I might have a chance to finally get my Pokémon's measure."

"How about it? Does something like this interest you?" Ian asked, falling silent as he allowed Whitney to ponder the suggestion.

Whitney turned to her and Janine, a silent question on her lips. But Sabrina knew what her friend was thinking. Whitney always sought an opportunity to improve herself, and what better way was there than to challenge an experienced trainer more powerful than them.

And so, both Janine and Sabrina nodded back to her friend, who only shot them grateful smiles as she turned back to Ian.

"We accept." She told him.

The grin that Ian had was positively feral.

"Excellent."

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

?(Whitney POV)

Whitney had a slight suspicion that this 'Ian' wasn't who he says he was. She knew she wasn't as observant as her friends, but even she could tell that he was not an ordinary trainer. Especially not with that proposal and the ferocious grin that he suddenly had on his face.

"Prepare yourself," Sabrina's voice psychically filtered into her head. "This will likely the hardest fight that we've ever fought." Whitney subtly nodded back at Sabrina as she readied her Pokéball.

"I guess I will be officiating then." Shelly shrugged and took her place in the centre of the arena. Janine and Sabrina walked over to Whitney's side of the arena as they got ready for battle.

"Shelly, could you ask the Joys to set up the psychic barrier around the arena?" Ian asked her, and Shelly nodded before dashing off to the nearby Pokémon Centre. She returned moments later accompanied by a few Psychic types and a special machine that quickly formed a protective barrier around the training field.

In the corner of her eye, Whitney saw Sabrina's eyes narrowing as the psychic shields were set up. If they thought this battle to be destructive enough, then what kind of Pokémon was Ian going to be using?

Whitney had never fought in a 3v1 before. In fact, this was likely the most unusual battle that she had ever fought in so far. But she was confident that with her friends by her side, there was no way she could lose a fight.

"Trainers! Are you ready?!" Shelly shouted out, getting nods from all the trainers.

"Miltank in front, Kadabra for support, Golbat to distract and wear them down with Poison." Sabrina mentally listed out their plan in their heads. Janine and her tapped Sabrina on the shoulder to show that they agreed.

"THREE...TWO...ONE...RELEASE!"

"Come on out!" The trio threw their Pokéballs as they released their respective starters, their pride and joy. Whitney couldn't help but grin as she waited to test her strength against whoever Ian would send out.

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"MAGMORTAR! ITS YOUR TURN AT LAST!" And that grin quickly disappeared as surprise filled her face. What was that? She had never seen that Pokémon before!

"It is likely a Magmar evolution, based on the appearance and name." Sabrina's voice remained calm as she spoke to her telepathically, but even then she could tell Sabrina was a little rattled. "Definitely a Fire type, but it might share a secondary typing we don't know about."

"Take to the skies and Confuse Ray, Gol-"

"Flamethrower! BURN EVERYTHING!"

Janine tried to Confuse the opposing Magmortar, but before Golbat could even take to the skies a huge stream of searing fire suddenly split the battlefield in half, creating a trench of scorching flames that split up their Pokémon. Her Pokémon were forced to dodge out of the way, but Magmortar had just gotten started.

Never letting up for even a second, Magmortar continued spewing out flames from its cannons as it flooded the battlefield with an ocean of flames. Within seconds, the battlefield had suddenly turned into a furnace that her Miltank was trapped inside.

But that didn't mean they weren't ready to fight back.

"Light Screen, Kadabra!" "Rollout and Rock Throw, Miltank!" "Circle around and Toxic, Golbat!"

A huge screen of light shimmered into existence in front of the team, forming a protective barrier that should hopefully lessen some of the power of the Magmortar's attacks. At the same time, Miltank curled up into a ball as she began rolling and launched a huge slab of stone straight towards the Magmortar. In the meanwhile, Golbat carefully circled around and tried to fire off a glob of pure poison at the opposing Fire type.

But Magmortar didn't even have to move as it simply launched an even more intense lance of flames at both incoming attacks, its flames now turning a dangerous blue as Magmortar ramped up the heat. Both the globule of poison and the incoming Rock Throw instantly melted as they touched the blue flames.

But even as her rock shield melted into nothing, Miltank continued charging forwards, fully relying on the Light Screen to offset some of the damage.

But the Light Screen wasn't able to block as much as they'd hope, as even her Miltank, her tankiest and strongest Pokémon on her team, staggered backwards and was almost forced out of her Rollout as the searing flames blasted her body. Miltank was instantly Burned.

However, her Miltank persevered, continuing to force herself forwards as she endured through the roaring flames.

Realizing her ally was in trouble, Kadabra teleported behind Magmortar and fired a Psychic to distract it. Magmortar stumbled as the blast of Psychic energy impacted it, but before it could recover, a barrage of Air Slashes cut into it, flinching and distracting Magmotar for long enough to give Miltank just enough of a reprieve for her to close the distance.

Magmortar let out a grunt and tried to retaliate with another blast of flames towards Golbat, but then Miltank slammed into it with a powerful Rollout that transitioned into another Body Slam as Miltank grappled the Fire type. Not giving Magmortar any time to recover, Miltank roared and crashed another Hammer Arm straight to the face.

Yet before Whitney could cheer – Magmortar suddenly caught one of Miltank's arms in its own, revealing that it was far healthier than Whitney thought, before countering with a flaming punch that dug deep into Miltank's stomach.

Miltank staggered back, and Magmortar stepped forwards with one of its fists glowing white as it moved to follow up, but another blast of Psychic knocked it off course.

Then Golbat swooped in from above with a Confuse Ray, this time succeeding to dazzle Magmortar with a dizzying array of lights.

Magmortar's attack went wide as it began to stumble around confusedly, and Whitney knew this was the moment to attack.

"Rollout into it, Miltank! Pummel it!" "Thunder Wave, Kadabra! Paralyze it!" "Brave Bird, Golbat! Hit it hard!"

"IGNITE!"

However, before her team could get close, Magmortar suddenly fired off a thick cloud of gas that spewed out around it. Whitney looked curious at what Magmortar was doing before Sabrina suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs.

"EVERYONE PROTECT NOW!"

Her Miltank, having trained with and trusted Sabrina, instantly responded by forcefully stopping her charge and forming a Protect shield. The shield barely formed in time before a deafening explosion shook the arena as Magmortar detonated and ignited the cloud of gas with its flames. The weak psychic barriers were hardly able to withstand the explosion as they instantly shattered.

Whitney winced and covered her face as she felt the huge wave of force blasting her back, her ears ringing loudly from the sheer power of the explosion, and her eyes blinded as a cloud of dust was kicked up and covered the arena. She could feel the sweat dripping down the side of her head as she felt the sweltering heat of the flames.

Worse, she couldn't see what was going on with all this smoke and dust obscuring everything.

Luckily, they had Sabrina, "Our Pokémon are still up, but they're badly injured." Sabrina told her psychically, "Miltank and Golbat were closest to the blast and took the most damage. I sense that Golbat may be unable to fly and Miltank may have almost been knocked out. Kadabra was able to Teleport out in time and was mostly fine.'

As the ringing in her ears slowly faded away and she processed her friend's words, and she studiously ignored how one attack nearly brought down her Miltank, her mind settled in what she had to do next.

"SLACK OFF, MILTANK! HEAL YOURSELF!" She shouted, hoping that Miltank could hear her words.

"ROOST UP, GOLBAT! DO THE SAME!" Janine ordered the same, putting their entire defense on Kadabra's shoulders. It was not ideal, but they had no other choice.

As the cloud of dust and smoke cleared away and the psychic barriers were reformed, the grisly sight of the battle revealed itself to them.

Miltank had been painfully blasted back, her body leaving a trench in the ground as the explosion sent her flying. Her arm wobbled badly as she struggled to even pull herself up, the other arm hung limply to her side. She had one eye sealed shut and her face was bruised and twisted in pain with black soot marks covering most of her face. She had evidently taken the full brunt of the explosion, as close as she was to the initial detonation.

Golbat was barely doing any better. It flailed weakly on the ground as both its wings were limp and refused to move and small wisps of flames continued to linger on its skin. It too had been blasted backwards as it fell into a small bed of loose rocks.

Neither Pokémon were in any condition to fight.

Fortunately for them, Magmortar did not escape from its own explosion unscathed. Its once pristine arm cannons were now marked with scratches and scars, and the flames on its head and shoulders no longer burned as intensely as they once did.

Yet despite all this, Magmortar's eyes were still burning with fighting spirit as it took a step forwards, eager to continue the fight.

"Fire Blast, Magmortar! Finish them off!"

"Psychic, Kadabra! Hold it back!"

Seeing that two of its opponents were busy healing up from their injuries, one of Magmortar's arm cannons flashed as an enormous ball of white fire formed within them. Forming a vicious smile, it fired off the searing ball of pure flame straight towards Miltank – the opponent it saw as the greater threat. As it flew, the ground crackled and burnt as the orb of white flame scorched everything its proximity.

To make matters worse, the Fire Blast was accompanied by another lance of flame as Magmortar unleashed a second Flamethrower as well, intent on finishing the fight right here and now.

But Kadabra Teleported in front of Miltank and retaliated with a powerful blast of Psychic, his eyes closed as he dedicated every bit of concentration in fending off the incoming flames, but the sheer power of Magmortar's attacks forced Kadabra back.

Kadabra remained defiant as he continued to dedicate every last scrap of Psychic power he had into the holding back the attack. Kadabra's entire figure began to glow a bright blue as Psychic energy began to leak out of him as he strained his Psychic power to the limit. His singular spoon wobbling uncertainly as it was unable to withstand the sheer amount of Psychic energy being channelled through it.

Just to buy an extra few seconds for Miltank and Golbat to finish healing up.

Despite all that, it wasn't enough. Kadabra was STILL giving ground.

In that moment, Golbat had also finished healing up. While it was still badly injured, it had at least regained enough strength to assist Kadabra. Determined to help its friend, it shot forwards, diving under the Flamethrower as it sliced Magmortar's side with an Aerial Ace, doing enough damage to cause Magmortar to cut off its Flamethrower.

Golbat quickly circled around and landed a glob of Toxic on the distracted Magmortar, badly poisoning the Fire type and turning its once bright red form into one far more pale and sickly.

However, while that did put Magmortar on a timer, there was still the incoming Fire Blast to deal with. Even without the support of the Flamethrower, the Fire Blast was still gradually moving forwards as Kadabra collapsed onto his knees – his reserves of Psychic energy bottoming out.

And Miltank was still healing herself up and was still immobile. She could not dodge in time.

Whitney grimaced, realizing the situation was doomed.

It was then that Janine suddenly spoke up, surprising them all, "Golbat! FORM A PROTECT AND DIVE INTO THE ATTACK!"

Never once even questioning its trainer, Golbat let out an affirmative screech as she fell into a dive and launched itself straight into the path of the Fire Blast. All of the trainers, and the small crowd of spectators that their battle had inadvertently attracted, stared with widened eyes as Golbat sacrificed itself for the good of the battle.

A Protect shield formed around Golbat as it crashed into the Fire Blast, sending an enormous explosion of flames to erupt at the point of contact. The flames scorched the entire arena, sending the small crowd of spectators screaming for cover as the arena was invaded by an army of fire that spread out in a wide cone.

As a thick cloud of black smoke covered everything, Whitney's first instinct was to turn to Janine and check if Golbat was doing okay. But a sudden mental shout from Sabrina cut that off.

"Magmortar is charging up another attack, but Miltank is back up!" She said urgently, "Get Miltank to dodge in any direction and rush it down! Kadabra is exhausted and we can't win at range!"

There was no time for other thoughts. Whitney immediately shouted out Sabrina's orders, yelling them out in hopes that Miltank could hear her.

And not a second later, a huge spear of flames suddenly cut through the thick clouds of smoke, narrowly missing Miltank who had barely scrambled out of the way. Before Magmortar could fire off another shot, Miltank instinctively ripped up a large slab of rock off the ground and hurled it blindly into the smoke towards where she thought Magmortar was.

A sudden grunt of pain emerged from within, showing that Miltank had somehow landed a lucky hit on Magmortar.

Miltank then formed into a ball as it dashed forwards with a Rollout, dispersing the heavy cloud of smoke as she rolled through the many flames that lingered around the arena. As the smoke cleared off, Whitney adamantly ignored Golbat's unconscious figure as she stared right at Magmortar, who had apparently fallen over from the impact of the previous Rock Throw. It was barely able to pull itself up when Miltank came crashing in with another powerful Rollout, her eyes alight with rage at her fallen ally.

Magmortar's head spun as Miltank smashed a Brick Break right into its face. It tried to fight back with a Fire Punch, but Magmortar was also becoming exhausted, and the attack came slow enough for Miltank to catch pummel it with a Hammer Arm first.

As Magmortar was knocked back, Kadabra suddenly fired off a beam of white light towards Magmotar.

"Kadabra got off a Guard Split! Magmortar's defense has been heavily lowered!" Sabrina explained for Whitney, who immediately knew what to do.

"GO ALL OUT MILTANK! NO LETTING UP!"

With its defense heavily lowered from the Guard Swap, Magmortar no longer had the durability that it once had to defend against Miltank's attacks. Coupled with the intensifying Toxic that was spreading throughout its body, it was unable to react in time when Miltank suddenly picked up its entire body and threw it over her head, slamming it down into the ground once again with a suplex.

"MILTANK!!!" Miltank let out a feral roar as she stomped on the ground, unleashing a powerful Earthquake that sent supereffective tremors throughout Magmortar's body, throwing its prone form up and down into the air as the ground shook violently.

But despite all of the punishment it was receiving, Magmortar refused to be knocked out like this. Using whatever energy it had left, it raised one of its arm cannons towards the stomping Miltank. Quicker than Miltank could react, flames came roaring out of its arms as a huge spear of blue flames threatened to engulf Miltank.

"Ally Switch!"

However, just before the scorching flames would have blasted and knocked Miltank out, her body shimmered in place as she disappeared, only to be replaced by a heavily injured Kadabra. Accepting his fate, Kadabra simply closed his eyes as he was took the full brunt of the incoming Flamethrower, instantly collapsing as he was blasted back by the attack and sent crashing into the psychic shields. Faint embers of smoke wafted off his unconscious body.

But Kadabra's sacrifice bought Miltank one last opportunity to finish Magmortar off. Having been teleported right behind Magmortar, Miltank recklessly and brutally slammed into Magmortar's fallen form with a devastating Body Slam, sending the two of them falling through the ground as the impact cracked and pinning the Fire type underneath her.

Magmortar let out a pained grunt, but once again tried to raise its other arm to blast Miltank with another jet of flames. But Miltank moved first, letting out another defiant moo as she crashed their heads together with a ferocious Zen Headbutt.

Not giving it another chance to recover, Miltank rained down a brutal barrage of blows as Hammer Arm after Hammer Arm came crashing down on Magmortar's wounded form, finally knocking the monster of a Fire type out.

"...I can't believe it! But Challenger Whitney, Sabrina, and Janine are the victor!" Shelly declared after shaking herself out of her stupor. Following on from that, a huge roar of applause came out from the impromptu spectators, and Whitney looked around and saw that large crowd had somehow gathered during their fight, attracted to the exciting sounds of battle.

But more importantly than that, she turned to her friends, and was relieved to see the bright smiles on their faces. A big smile broke out around her mouth as well as she shared in the happiness and relief of their shared victory.

That was easily the hardest fight that they've ever had to fight in.

She knew it was only a matter of time, but this was the first opponent that she couldn't simply overpower with her Miltank. Magmortar would have utterly destroyed Miltank in a one-on-one fight. Even in a 3v1 fight, they were barely able to scrape off a win.

And now that she was thinking straight, she found it odd that Magmortar never bothered to set up the sun with a Sunny Day. It would have been a very easy way to boost its own Fire attacks, and they didn't have a way to counter it at the moment since none of their Pokémon knew Rain Dance.

But Whitney put that thought aside for now as she withdrew her victorious Miltank into her Pokéball, patting her Pokéball gently as she gave her Miltank her well-deserved rest.

The sounds of footsteps caught her attention, and she looked up to see Shelly and Ian approaching her. But it wasn't Ian anymore, because his disguise had all burnt or fallen off during the fight, and her eyes widened as she realized who their opponent was.

How in Arceus did she not figure this out sooner?! She whirled to look at both her friends, only to see none of the surprise she would have expected on their face. Was she the only person that didn't know?! WHY DIDN'T THEY SAY ANYTHING?!

"That was a great battle, kiddo!" A grinning Blaine spoke up, "First time in a while that I could show off my Pokémon's full potential. This was definitely way more exciting than your standard Gym battle."

"You still held back though." Sabrina interrupted, her eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion, "You only made use of simple moves."

Whitney nodded. He didn't even use Sunny Day!

Blaine only responded with a shameless grin, "Well of course I did! It wouldn't have been fair to you otherwise. But that doesn't mean I lied, that fight made my fight boil in excitement. You just don't get that kind of feeling when you're forced to hold back so much in a Gym battle. And you gave me the opportunity to properly test out Magmortar's capabilities in a fight, even if it was holding back slightly."

"That Magmortar was a Magmar evolution, wasn't it?" Janine spoke up, "I am guessing that this is a project you've been working on, right?"

"That's right." Blaine nodded, "You'll see this in the papers soon, but yes, I created the Magmarizer specifically as an evolution item that allows Magmar to evolve into a Magmortar...In fact, you three have just done me a huge favour in helping me advertise the power of this new evolution! You could say that this whole thing was a burning success! HAHAHA!" Blaine laughed out loud as Shelly palmed her face, failing to restrain a groan at Blaine's bad puns. A feeling that Whitney earnestly agreed with.

Blaine shook himself out of his laughter, "Anyways, I did say that I would reward you for a prize for winning." He said as he rummaged through his coat, before pulling out three identical red badges that gleamed in the afternoon sun. "I'm sure I don't have to explain what this is. But it's yours. You've more than showed off your fiery spirit today!"

"Are you sure that's okay? We didn't even fight your Gym Trainers...and this wasn't supposed to be an official Gym battle!" Whitney couldn't help but protest, her desire to just grab the badges overruled by her desire to do the right thing.

But Blaine just scoffed, "You would easily beat my Gym Trainers in a fight; they'd hardly be much of a challenge to you from what I've just seen. And as for the fact that this wasn't 'official'..." He mimed making air quotes, "You three have more than proved your capabilities to be deserving of the Volcano Badge." He stated.

"Not only were your Pokémon all individually very strong, especially at your young ages, but the fact that you were able to work so well in a team and had so much trust in each other is proof of both your talent as trainers and the trust that you have in each other." He said seriously, his joviality gone, "I noticed during your fight that there were moments where your Pokémon all displayed an unwavering sense of trust and obedience to not only their trainers, but also to the others as well. Any kind of trainer who can foster that kind of relationship between their Pokémon is more than deserving of the 7th Badge, you can take my word for it."

He looked each of them in the eye, "Each and every one of you have done your parents, and brother, proud. This I am certain of. I look forward to seeing what you three would be able to achieve in the future." He handed over the Volcano Badge to each of the stunned trainer, placing it in their hands.

Janine was able to break out of her shock first, "Thank you, Gym Leader Blaine." She said, falling into a bow. Sabrina and Whitney quickly followed her, and the three of them bowed to the chuckling Gym Leader.

"No need to thank me." He said, "You all achieved this from your own hard work. As I said, I wish you all the best with Giovanni. Make sure to not to rush – and challenge him only when you're confident that you're ready. He's the last hurdle for you three, but I'm confident you all will be able to surpass it."

And then Blaine left, leaving the trio alone with a smiling Shelly.

"Ignoring the bad puns, I don't have a single doubt that whatever Blaine had told you was false. I might not be a good trainer, but even I could see the potential that you three have within you." She said to them, "Your friendship only nurtures that. And I too, am excited to see what you three will do in the future. I'm rooting for you."

She patted Whitney on the head before walking away. All Whitney could do was stare down at the Volcano Badge sitting gently in her palm.

But she was broken out of her thoughts as she felt a hand resting on her shoulder, and she turned to see Sabrina staring at her with a smile on her face. Whitney shot her friend a smile of her own, before reaching over and pulling Janine into a big group hug.

They earned their 7th Badge! Just one more to go!

The New Normal – 8-12 – Ignition

It had been a good few days after Lorelei's victory against Surge. I spent the past few days both continuing to train up with my Pokémon as well as spending some time to do my duty as the Indigo representative. In this case, that meant welcoming the small group of people from Silph Co as they hashed out a deal with the Sinnoh League since it showed off good public relations between our regions.

And I pointedly did not bring attention to the one employee member that I was nearly CERTAIN was just Archer in disguise. With how...less professional it looked, he clearly didn't have Petrel helping him with his disguise this time.

Well that at least shows that Giovanni was taking things very seriously if he was sending Archer over. I approved of that, at the very least.

Photos were taken, as was expected, and I saw my picture in the papers the very next day under headlines that all spouted positivity about how successful opening of Sinnoh's borders have been and how the new foreign investment was going to help the region.

It didn't take a genius to see the influence of the current Elite Four behind it. But I hoped that these business ventures would turn out to be a success; I didn't want Sinnoh to close up their borders again. Especially not with Team Galactic and their plans.

But the employees from Silph Co were not the only ones to arrive. Hoenn had finally sent over their representative in Phoebe, likely hoping to expand their influence and forge good connections just as we did. Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet her as I was preoccupied with greeting Silph Co, and Will met with her instead. Still, I was sure to find some time to speak to her later.

I was both glad and disappointed that they didn't send over Drake. Glad, because sending over Drake as a DIPLOMATIC representative was insane. Drake was many things, but diplomatic he certainly was not. I was slightly disappointed, because I genuinely respected him and wanted to chat more with him.

Instead, I found myself with another repeat visitor.

"Hey John, nice to see you again." The familiar face of Flint waved to me as I was training up my Pokémon.

"Oh? Flint? Surprised to see you here." I remarked, "What are you doing here? Thought you were busy."

"Just hanging about." He said, though he quickly chuckled at the disbelieving look that I gave him, "Okay, maybe it wasn't such a coincidence. I actually wanted to fight you. And it seems like you've picked out a good spot already – there aren't any prying eyes to see us."

"Oh really?" My eyes narrowed challengingly, "I'm not one to back down, but you have to admit that this came out of nowhere."

"I'm not known as a hot-head for nothing." He laughed, "Did you know I already challenged Will?"

"I did not." I shook my head, a little surprised, "How did that go?"

"We drew." He grinned, "Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

I brushed off his attempt to rile me up, "So what did you think about Will? I've not actually seen him in a proper battle. I only duelled him once, but that was with both of us severely holding back."

"Lucian's better than him as a trainer and as a Psychic specialist." Flint said immediately, "Though that isn't an insult against him. I consider Lucian to be the strongest among the Sinnoh Elite Four, so the fact that Will is comparable to Lucian is an impressive achievement."

"I sure hope you told Will that in person; he would have preened." I smiled, "He's always a sucker for compliments."

"That's exactly what he did." Flint chuckled, "Anyways, enough about Will. Are you going to take me up on my offer?"

"Sure, but you still haven't told me WHY you're seeking me out to battle." I replied, "I can see it in your eyes that you're doing this for reasons MORE than just because you want to battle me."

"Well, I DO want to battle you, but you're right." Flint responded, then he lowered his voice almost to a whisper, "I wanted to make sure Lucian's eyes weren't wrong."

"Come again?" I asked confusedly.

"Lucian has great hopes for Cynthia." Flint revealed, "He thinks that she has the potential to be our next Champion. I don't disagree, especially after seeing her match against you. But I wanted to confirm YOUR strength with my own two eyes."

"Ah, so when you have a measure of my own strength, then you can use that to judge how strong Cynthia is." I realised.

"Exactly." Flint nodded, then a smirk formed on his face, "So how about it? Famed 'Hero of Olivine'? Ready to test yourself against a member of the Elite Four? Let's make it a 3v3."

If this was how he wanted to play it, then so be it. A large grin split my face, "Of course. But the better question is - Are you ready to lose?"

He laughed, "Don't hold back on me now!" Oh, but I didn't intend to. If Flint wanted to use me as a means of measuring Cynthia's strength, then I wasn't about to let her down.

If Flint was expecting a battle that would be on a similar level as the performance I had with Cynthia, then he was in for a rude awakening.

The truth of the matter was that Smough, Vordt, and Tyrant were on a different level to the rest of my Elite Pokémon. The latter two especially were MUCH stronger, even if they all shared the same title as an 'Elite' level Pokémon.

So if he wanted to test me, then I wasn't going to hold back this time. I would come out swinging.

The two of us threw our respective balls, revealing Flint's Flareon and my Vordt.

I could see the look of surprise he had on his face as he stared at Vordt. But he had to free himself from his surprise soon as Vordt came charging straight out of his Premier Ball, stealing a move from Tyrant.

As Vordt barrelled forwards with a terrifying Headlong Rush, tearing out the ground as he did so, Flareon was only narrowly able to dodge the attack with a desperate Quick Attack that JUST gave her enough space to avoid the attack while also leaving a trail of fire in its place.

Yet that was not the end of Vordt's assault, as he quickly redirected the trail of loose rocks that he had ripped up in his charge and slammed them into the unsuspecting Flareon.

Flareon winced as the sharp rocks crashed into her, but her natural instincts allowed her to still release a plume of searing flames towards Vordt.

That was a devastating mistake.

Instead of dodging, Vordt simply stood still and allowed himself to be scorched by Flareon's flames, letting the embers dance across his fur as he was set alight.

Vordt released a savage snarl as the Burn triggered his Guts ability, transforming Flint's biggest strength as a trainer into a boost to his already overwhelming attack.

"Now, Vordt! ALL OUT!"

"URSA!!" Vordt let out a fearsome roar and he rocketed forwards with another Headlong Rush, ignoring the thick wall of white flames that Flareon had rapidly thrown up in his path.

The wall of white-hot flames would have scorched and incinerated most foes. But to Vordt, it was just another barrier for him to break through, and he was VERY proficient at breaking through things. It would certainly hurt, but it wasn't nearly enough to deter him.

"FIRE BLAST, FLAREON!"

However, Flareon wasn't caught unprepared this time. As soon as Vordt's charging figure broke through the flame wall, he was immediately met with another powerful orb of roaring fire that detonated directly in his face. But the Fire Blast was special – it didn't end there. As soon as the orb detonated, it turned into small globules of magma that dripped down and created a molten pool of lava that lingered on the ground.

The searing flames burned brightly as it engulfed Vordt, and he released a painful grunt as he staggered backwards from the explosive detonation, cancelling his charge.

Flareon swiftly followed up with another torrent of whirling flames that spun violently in a vortex of fire, sending tendrils of flames lashing out at all sides and trapping Vordt in a damning prison of fire.

Yet Vordt was not some helpless prisoner. Despite being subjected to a fiery tornado of terrible fire, Vordt roared out and unleashed a devastating Earthquake that caused deep fissures to rip through the ground, tearing the makeshift battlefield apart with its sheer destructive power.

It didn't matter that his whole body was scorched alight with searing flames. The pain of the burns only served to boost his own attacks.

The Earthquake came with such devastating speed and power that Flareon was completely unable to dodge out of the way in time, and the Fire type shook violently as it was caught in the shattering and explosive tremors from the Earthquake. The Guts-boosted Earthquake tore through Flareon's health; it didn't matter how well trained Flareon was, it wasn't going to be able to tank through this supereffective attack.

To add insult to injury, as soon as the Earthquake petered out and before Flareon could even collapse onto the ground, huge spears of rocks suddenly erupted from the ground around Flareon. Flareon let out a cry of pain as the sudden shards of rock eviscerated it on all sides, mercilessly delivering the final blow to an already injured Flareon.

And so, Flareon fell.

"...Huh, I didn't expect that." Flint admitted as he withdrew Flareon into its Pokéball, "I really thought my Flareon would be able to put up more of a fight than this. Now I'm starting to think I bit of more than I could chew."

"You did a number on my Ursaluna." I allowed, staring at the range of injuries that Vordt now sported, and the flames that continued to dance across his body, "Your attacks were pretty powerful."

I wasn't lying. Even though Vordt got a massive power boost from being burnt, it was clear that the Burn from Flint was doing way more damage than you would normally expect. Even as we talked, Vordt's health was slowly ticking down.

Flint snorted, "Let's not talk about a comparison in power when your Ursaluna took down my Flareon in two good hits." He shook his head, "And people call me the 'powerhouse' of the Sinnoh Elite Four."

He sighed, "Enough talk. I've disrespected your Ursaluna enough by talking while it slowly burns." He withdrew another Pokéball.

"Fight hard, Lopunny!"

His Lopunny bounced onto the field, each hop of its legs revealing its agility and nimbleness. That being said, I just gave Flint a weird look. This wasn't a Fire type!

Flint must have seen the look in my eye, because he refused to look at me, "Fake Out, Lopunny!"

Lopunny gave off an affirmative squeak as it leapt forwards, clearing the distance between itself and Vordt in a single jump. Vordt immediately started levitating a field of rocks to fire towards Lopunny, but it clapped its hands together and flinched Vordt before he could.

Without needing Flint to give any further instructions, Lopunny moved quickly to land on the ground before jumping into the air again, this time spinning around and delivering a brutal High Jump Kick straight into the side of Vordt's head.

Vordt's head snapped to the side with an audible CRACK.

Before Vordt could pull himself together, Lopunny ruthlessly kicked Vordt's legs from under him with a swift Low Kick that caused Vordt to trip over. Then it finished off its combo of attacks by SMASHING its knee straight into Vordt's face.

However, the light in Vordt's eyes told me all I needed to know about his fighting spirit. He was not about to let this one-sided assault continue any longer. Although Lopunny clearly out-sped him, Vordt had plenty of experience dealing with an opponent that hit hard and was faster than him.

Because if there was one thing besides his incredible attack that made Vordt so strong as my second most powerful Pokémon, it was his unyielding endurance. Vordt was not the second strongest on my team for nothing. To think that a mere Lopunny could think that it could bring down Vordt so quickly was almost insulting, when he had taken on the likes of Drake's Salamence and had won.

So while Lopunny WAS delivering strong back-to-back blows that should have sent a normal Pokémon reeling, Vordt remained determined, refusing to succumb to its building injuries or to allow the pain to distract him from his true goal.

His eyes remained burning with constrained rage that was just waiting for that single opportunity to erupt and bring down the agile Lopunny.

Because, for all of Lopunny's speed and power, Vordt had trained against Karen's Weavile – who was both quicker and more powerful than it. Lopunny was merely a lesser substitute.

But Lopunny remained unaware of all that, instead it chose to leap forwards once again to slam down with another vicious High Jump Kick, thinking that Vordt was vulnerable. Perhaps both Pokémon and trainer must have thought that Vordt was more injured than he was, simply because the large burn marks that scorched his form made him seem like he was on his last legs.

So Lopunny leapt forwards, with a leg extended eagerly as it looked to finish off its opponent with one final coup de grace to bring down my Ursaluna in a flawless victory.

However, that was arrogance.

So instead of hammering down with a High Jump Kick, Lopunny was instead painfully surprised as a sharp field of rocks burst forth from the ground, catching Lopunny completely off guard as it soared through the air into a minefield of jagged rocks.

With it being in the air, Lopunny was unable to reverse its momentum in time and its health was torn asunder as spike after spike of razor-sharp rocks ripped through it. Lopunny did her best to reposition herself, but it was too late.

Barely dragging itself out of the minefield of rocks, Lopunny stumbled onto the ground uncertainly – with a visible limp in its step.

And Vordt was never one to allow such an opportune moment to escape.

"URSAAA!!!!" Roaring forwards in a blitz of speed, Vordt became a terrifying beast as he charged like a predator looking to rip his prey apart. Lopunny instinctively tried to hop backwards, but Vordt had predicted its movements and crashed headfirst into Lopunny, slamming straight into the much smaller Normal type with his full weight behind him.

The air escaped Lopunny's lungs as it found itself pinned to the ground before a brutal Hammer Arm came crashing down from above like a hammer, striking with such force that it sent a spiderweb of cracks spreading out from all sides and burying Lopunny's head into the ground as if it was a nail.

Not satisfied with just that, Vordt slammed his front legs into the ground once again as he prepared to unleash ANOTHER Earthquake right on top of the fallen Lopunny to ensure its defeat, but Flint moved first.

"Woah, woah, I think my Lopunny got the message." He said as he withdrew Lopunny into its Pokéball before Vordt could unleash his Earthquake. "...I really thought I had you there with a faster Pokémon."

"I got lucky." I said humbly. "If you hadn't gone for a High Jump Kick, it wouldn't have worked." That wasn't exactly true, but it DID make things easier for me.

"...I thought your Ursaluna would be squishier than that." He grumbled, but then he shot me a surprised look as I withdrew Vordt from the fight, "...Why? Your Ursaluna looked like it could continue to fight."

"Eh, it's injuries were building up." I lied. Truthfully, he was right. Vordt WAS able to fight more. He had withstood Drake's Salamence after all. But he had already secured two very convincing wins against Flint's Pokémon. There was no need to show more.

Besides, I had come to realise that I was an exceedingly poor matchup for Flint. His Pokémon hit hard with their high-powered Fire attacks, but that wasn't enough to compete against the raw endurance that my Pokémon possessed. Plus, his main form of defence using area denial was ineffective when my Pokémon could simply power through them.

That being said, he had deliberately asked me to fight at my best. His Pokémon would have put up a much better against showing against anything OTHER than my three bruisers. I figured that Lopunny would have been a decent match against Smough, but Lopunny was not at the level of Cynthia's Lucario.

Though it was unfair to Flint, I couldn't help but compare his strength to what I saw with Cynthia. And he came up short.

Putting those thoughts aside for the moment, I spoke up again, "Say, Flint, I was always curious. But why do you only have a few Fire types? I feel like you're torn between being a generalist or a Fire specialist."

He gave me a complicated smile, "...I'm not comfortable getting into it, but let's just say that circumstances forced my hand. Just because you want to be a Fire specialist doesn't mean you can actually catch Fire type Pokémon to join your team. And plus, I enjoyed having a few more types to experiment and think of strategies with."

I nodded easily enough, letting the topic drop. "Though you have to admit that it is a little odd that the Fire specialist has the Lopunny and not the Normal specialist." I remarked.

He shrugged, "To be honest, I'm not that surprised that you don't have a Lopunny on your team. You have to be REALLY lucky to get one to join your team."

"Really? I know I've encountered a few." I said curiously, "But you're right that they haven't wanted to join me."

"It's not their rarity that's the problem. It's the fact that many of them are too cautious or are too unwilling to fight." He explained, "There's no point catching a Lopunny to train it to be on your Elite Four if it's not going to be willing to fight for you."

"Ah, I can see how that'd be problematic." I nodded, "So how did you get yours then?"

"Luck." He replied, "Found the 1 in a 100 Lopunny that actually wanted to fight and was happy to train. Maybe the same will happen to you?"

"Maybe." I allowed, "Anyways, enough chat. I still have one more Pokémon of yours to defeat, don't I?" I grinned smugly at him.

He shook his head with a small smile, "I can see my defeat from a mile away. But I stand by my words. I want to challenge you at your best. So don't hold back on me now!"

I nodded, fully intending to comply. If he was going to be sending out his starter Pokémon, then I would honour him by doing the same.

"Come, Infernape!"

"Tyrant."

Both Pokémon rushed out onto the field, charging towards each other as they got ready to slam their fists into the other. However, while Infernape was the faster Pokémon, the quick realisation of the sheer power difference between our Pokémon rapidly caused it to reconsider as a glimpse of fear entered its eyes as Tyrant shot it a menacing smile.

It was a smile that promised pain and violence.

Infernape pivoted on the spot and chose instead to keep its distance and unleash a double vortex of swirling flames towards Tyrant – which looked like a combination of Fire Spin and Flamethrower together.

Infernape must have thought that it was safer at a distance. Unfortunately, distance could not protect you from Tyrant's wrath.

Seeing the attack coming, Tyrant instantly leapt into the air with an Aerial Ace, spinning through the air with a surprising degree of grace as he also fired off a sudden Thunderbolt towards Infernape.

A rapid Protect saved Infernape from the incoming bolt of lightning, but it did little to block the follow-up Hammer Arm that came violently crashing down from the sky like a smite from Arceus. To Infernape's credit, it Endured the blow and lashed out with a quick Low Kick to trip up Tyrant.

Tyrant grunted as he fell over, but not before he released a paralysing Thunder Wave that swiftly coursed through Infernape's body, slowing it down significantly. Yet Infernape pushed through the effects and smashed a powerful Drain Punch into Tyrant's face, draining his health and restoring its wounds.

And it wasn't just a single punch. Blow after blow came hammering down on Tyrant's form as Infernape unleashed what appeared to be an interesting combination of Close Combat and Drain Punch, each punch striking with incredible force that also healed up Infernape in turn.

That was until Tyrant did a kickflip off the ground, kicking Infernape hard in the chin with a powerful Mega Kick that broke through Infernape's pummelling and caused an audible SNAP as Tyrant shattered Infernape's chin while also allowing him to reposition himself.

To Infernape's credit, it recovered quickly and rushed back forwards with a Mach Punch, hoping to maintain its offensive momentum.

That plan was immediately torn apart as Tyrant cut off Infernape's Mach Punch with a Sucker Punch of his own that caught the rushing Infernape right in the stomach, completely knocking the wind out of it. Then, blue light flashed across Tyrant's eyes as he released a quick blast of Psychic that sent Infernape reeling back for a moment.

A sadistic smile flashed across Tyrant's face as he stared at Infernape's reeling form. It was only exposed for a single moment, but that was all the time that Tyrant needed.

"SLAKINGGGG!!!" Showing absolutely no mercy for his opponent, Tyrant roared out as he suddenly exploded forwards in an orange blur – ruthlessly ramming into Infernape with a terrifying Giga Impact that created a deafening BANG upon impact. The ground brutally split apart from the point of impact and shook violently from the aftershocks of the attack as if an Earthquake had been unleashed.

It was an absolutely ridiculous attack to make use of without any charging time.

The Giga Impact sent Infernape rocketing backwards like a missile, unable to even release a pained cry as its limp body was thrown backwards like an unwanted lump of meat.

And Tyrant wasn't done yet – nor was he winded at all from the Giga Impact. Recovery times were for other Pokémon.

"KING!!!" Roaring after his fallen foe, Tyrant leapt into the air and unleashed a barrage of Thunderbolts at Infernape before it had even landed on the ground, shocking the Fire type as spears of lightning came raining down on top of it – giving Infernape absolutely no opportunity to recover.

As Infernape collapsed to the floor from the crippling effects of the paralysis, Tyrant came flying out of the sky and ruthlessly and savagely slammed his massive body against Infernape with a Body Slam, while also clutching onto Infernape's head and dragged it across the ground.

Then Tyrant lifted Infernape by the head and SMASHED the Fire type head first into the ground, pounding it into the ground in a savage display of utter dominance. Each time Tyrant smashed Infernape into the ground, the ground would crack and shatter some more, until a small crater was formed using Infernape's head.

There was nothing that Infernape could do in the face of Tyrant's unrelenting and merciless pummelling. Not when it was being pummelled into the ground so hard that it could never muster up the concentration needed to make a proper counterattack.

"Enough! I lost!" Flint shouted out, quickly withdrawing Infernape from the fight.

As soon as Infernape was released from his grasp, the battlelust rapidly faded from Tyrant's eyes and he let out a proud snort, satisfied with his overwhelming victory. He even had the audacity to grin cheekily at me.

It took a moment for Flint to pull himself together from that very swift defeat. "...So...that was something." He eventually said with false levity, "Why didn't you pull this guy out against Cynthia?"

"Well I think it was because he was holding back." A sudden voice surprised the both of us, and we turned around to find Cynthia walking up to us with her hands on her waist.

I smiled as she approached, "That's right. I didn't want to show everything off in that fight, so I chose my weaker Pokémon. Though, what are you doing here, Cynthia? How did you find us?"

She shot me a look as if I was stupid, "Really? You didn't think your massive Earthquake and then casual breaking of the sound barrier wouldn't attract attention? Then you have Flint setting off huge pillars of flames everywhere. What did you think was going to happen?"

I scratched my head sheepishly, "Okay, maybe I didn't consider that."

She snorted and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I could tell. You're going to have to tidy all this up after this, you know."

I blinked, "Sure, but why just me? Flint contributed."

"And if he hadn't been tossed around by you I would agree." She shook her head, "But I think he needs a Pokémon Center more than anything else."

"Hey you know I'm still here right? Sheesh, it feels like you two are only talking to each other." Flint spoke up, drawing both of our eyes. "But Cynthia's right. I do have to visit a Pokémon Center. So thanks for doing the cleanup, John!" He grinned cheekily.

I grumbled, but kept my silence.

"Anyways, that was a humbling battle." Flint added, apparently not leaving just yet, "I really didn't think I would get defeated so easily like that." Then he shot the two of us a knowing look, "Though I shouldn't be surprised when you were fighting for Cynthia's honour."

"Oh? Is that what you were doing? Colour me surprised." Cynthia grinned, immediately catching onto Flint's insinuation, "I didn't know you cared so much."

"Haha, laugh it up." I replied dryly, "I'm not the one that just had his starter tossed around."

"Ouch!" Flint clutched playfully at his chest, before breaking out into a chuckle, "You got me there. Your starter really is something - Infernape stood no chance. And I had even trained him up to be more defensive than his counterparts."

"Don't take it too hard, Flint." Cynthia spoke up, "John just happens to be the worst opponent for you to have picked a fight with, in the same way you frequently lose to Bertha. Just like her, his fighting style crushes yours. Explosive firepower doesn't matter much when John's Pokémon can tank through it."

"And yes, John's Slaking is an absolutely ridiculous Pokémon." She added, ignoring how the two of us blinked at her succinct analysis, "Trust me, I've done the research."

"...I can see that." Flint nodded, then his smile turned playful, "Then does that mean I have a better chance when fighting against you?"

I grinned, while Cynthia burst out laughing, "You wish, Flint. I hope you train up well over the next few weeks. Because I'm not so easy to beat either." She remarked.

"You sound so sure." Flint responded.

I spoke up before Cynthia could, easily remembering the words that she had previously said to me.

"Would she be telling you this if she wasn't?"

The New Normal – 8-13 – Explorers of Time

With the battle with Flint over and with him retiring to have his Pokémon healed up, Cynthia turned back to me.

"I'm glad you seem to believe in me." She said with a cheeky smile.

"Why wouldn't I?" I shrugged, though I was also smiling. "Anyways let's talk and work at the same time. I need to clean up the fields."

So that's what we did. I had Smough and Tyrant help tidy up the field, while Cynthia continued to talk.

"Oh, by the way, John, did you know that I've been organising an expedition into the caves under Snowpoint City?" She said.

"I did NOT know that." I remarked, a little surprised, "Since when did you have time to organise it?"

"It's been something in the works for a while, even before you got here." She informed me, "But we thought that now would be a good time. Because you're here."

"Me? Why?" I asked.

"You see, this expedition is huge. We'll be bringing a group of over 50+ trainers and scientists to delve together into the caves to set up a forward base – that would allow future explorers to have an easier time to resupply and rest instead of having to travel all the way back up to the surface." She explained.

"Okay, I understand that. And I suppose you want me to come along for the extra security, right?" I said.

"Exactly." She nodded, "I've seen how your Pokémon are capable of not just fighting, but also healing and supporting others. That'll be very useful to bring along, since you'd be a huge help to buff up our security. So would you please come with us?" Her eyes seem to shine as she begged me with her eyes.

Damn. "You don't need to beg, I'd say yes anyways. A big expedition that goes far down into the caves? I'd be a fool to decline!"

She grinned, "Excellent. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some last minute preparations to sort out. I'll leave you to your cleanup." Then she left me alone as she rushed back to the labs. I just shook my head and focused back on tidying everything up.

I quickly learnt that Cynthia was really underplaying how much work was required to organise a huge expedition like this. Not only did she need to acquire the necessary manpower, but they had to do repeated checks to confirm that the safety and stability of the caves was suitable for such a large endeavour.

There were many safety checks that needed to be done.

Plus, to add on to the complexity of everything, the defense of the huge bagging training that we would be bringing along needed to be organised and planned. And the strength of the security team of trainers that would be bringing along had to be tested to make sure that we could actually defend against the inevitable onslaught of wild Pokémon that would undoubtedly be attracted and aggravated by the large group of people suddenly entering their territory.

That task was made worse by the fact that the wild Pokémon that could be found within the caves were more than a match than your average trainer, and we needed to have extra trainers on standby to set up the perimeter for the forward base when everything was set up.

Later, Cynthia mentioned to me that if it wasn't for the fact that the Celestic Town Research Centre was THE largest and most prestigious research lab in Sinnoh, they would never have been able to organize or even fund this expedition. But Cynthia adamantly believed that such an expedition would finally unlock the secrets of whatever hid within the caves below Snowpoint City.

I didn't know how she found the time to do all of this while also prepping for her not-so-secret ambitions to challenge the Elite Four, but she seemed to be no less determined nor tired whenever I saw her.

The whole 'last minute' preparations ended up taking a whole two days. I did my best to help her whenever I felt like she needed it. I obviously wasn't as familiar as her with the resources of the lab, but I was able to help with organising and testing the Ace trainers that we'd be bringing along to make sure they were up to scratch.

We couldn't afford any weak links. Not when we were about to enter into very dangerous territory.

Overall, despite how busy everything was, I was very excited for this expedition. Everyone had been chatting about how they hoped to find all sorts of rare Pokémon when we ventured deep into the caves beneath Snowpoint, and my mind flashed across to a few Pokémon I had really hoped to add to my team.

It was a slight disappointment that I hadn't managed to find any Pokémon that were particularly interested in joining my team thus far, but I was hoping that would change soon.

And so, after many hectic days of planning, the expedition force was finally ready to set off. Reporters had also been invited to join in the initial stages of the expedition to take some photos and to allow the Celestic Town Research Centre to not only show off their prestige, but also to hopefully encourage and generate interest in their readers about what they were doing.

Mostly for funding purposes.

Once again, as I followed the large expedition group into the caves, I spotted a Wigglytuff, Chatot, Loudred and Bidoof casually waving at us while munching on Apples. It was as if they were wishing us good luck as we entered into the mysterious dungeons below.

Odd, but I made sure to wave back.

As soon as I entered into the caves, I released my two Pokémon as I was asked to, Klee and Luna, both to support and to protect the weaker members of the group from the wild Pokémon. My other Pokémon were less suitable as they either lacked the wide supporting capabilities, or they were simply too large. But as we delved into the caves, I found myself assaulted by two different threats, one from wild Pokémon, and one from the overeager reporters who stubbornly insisted on getting an interview with me even as we were in dangerous territory.

It was like they had no sense of danger.

Fortunately, practically everyone told them to shut up and to ask questions later when it wasn't so dangerous, and that got them off my back for the time being. And the danger was very real, as the second that we entered into the deeper part of the caves systems, it was like we were assaulted by a constant onslaught of attacks from all sorts of wild Pokémon.

They were furious at our intrusion into their territory.

All sorts of powerful Pokémon, including many Drapion, Hippowdon, Gligar, Probopass, and many others charged and blasted against our defensive line, bombarding us with Earthquakes, Flash Cannons, Pin Missiles and the like. But we were well prepared for this, and we retaliated with overwhelming force. For every one wild Pokémon trying to attack us, we shot back with 4 or 5 of ours. In these smaller engagements, the numbers were heavily skewed in our favour, but even then, we were constantly pressured and strained as we often had to fend off attacks from unexpected angles.

It only took one stray attack to suddenly knock out an unsuspecting expedition member, especially the weaker auxiliary staff – many of whom were not Pokémon trainers. That was why Cynthia had arranged for many Psychic types to be on rotation to constantly maintain a defensive barrier around the entire group.

The most dangerous part of the expedition was when we entered into what we thought was an empty room, before an entire horde of wild Pokémon suddenly appeared and swarmed us out of nowhere. It was like a monster house!

"Life Dew! Heal up the frontline!" I ordered both of my Pokémon as the sudden swarm of Pokémon crashed and mauled a few of our Pokémon that were taken unaware.

"Aura Sphere, Lucario! Make some space!" Cynthia was also there, leading from the front as Lucario forcefully repelled the initial assault. The Aura Spheres detonated powerfully on the many rock and Dark types that tried to ambush us, forcing them back and allowing our downed Pokémon to recover and rejoin the fight.

Fighting in confined spaces like this was dangerous. Not only was the threat of friendly fire EXTREMELY likely, but we had to watch out in case we accidentally caused a cave-in from the collateral damage of our attacks. And so, while it might be common practice to use large sweeping moves to clear out a large group of Pokémon like this, we couldn't afford to do so because doing so might inadvertently collapse the roof of the cave on us.

Then, with our frontline healed up and restored, Klee and Luna switched to a more offensive role and slammed the groups of wild Pokémon with powerful Psychic and Ice Beams that reaped through their numbers, freezing and slamming swaths of wild Pokémon into the walls and forcing them out of the fight. All the while the many other Psychic types in our group moved to maintain the Light Screen and Reflect barriers.

With our Elite Pokémon thoroughly overwhelming their greater numbers, it didn't take long for the wild Pokémon to scatter once they realized that they weren't about to win the fight. We allowed them to scurry away as we quickly checked to see no one had been injured in the ambush.

Once we had gotten out of that trap, we continued on. But as we progressed, I slowly realised that the threat of the wild Pokémon was not the only thing we had to look out for. Rather, it was the treacherous terrain.

The slippery ice-covered rocks, the occasional falling stalagmite, and even the ever-present darkness. Accompanied by the biting cold, combining all these factors together was just a recipe for disaster and forced us to slow down significantly.

There were many times where we had to catch someone with our Psychic types before they slipped and fell down a large hole. The reporters were the main victims of this, since they both lacked the experience and spatial awareness to keep themselves from slipping. This was only compounded by the fact that the wild Pokémon continued to hound at us, and I personally felt that they were acting more aggressive due to sensing our vulnerability.

Eventually, and we were behind schedule because of just how many interruptions we had from either wild Pokémon or the treacherous terrain, we arrived at the area that had been scouted and marked out for the forward base.

Camps and supplies were promptly set up, with the lab equipment being prioritized due to how big and bulky they were. In the meanwhile, the rest of us formed a large perimeter around the area much like the ones we did near the entrance to the caves. Everyone worked swiftly and efficiently; the training that we did was put to use as the forward base was rapidly established.

And everything had to be set up properly. We were in very dangerous territory, with so the perimeter had to be well-defended by a range of powerful trainers and their Pokémon. Repels were scattered and sprayed liberally as an extra layer of deterrent to ward off any potential threats, while Berries were stored in a specially sealed container to not accidentally attract any wild Pokémon.

While everyone was running around, I noticed that Cynthia had taken some time to rest, sitting herself on top of a rock that her Lucario had carefully melted the ice off, and so I used that opportunity to approach her.

"You doing okay?" I asked her as I walked up.

"Tired." She replied with a sigh, "But otherwise, I'm doing fine. I didn't expect us to run into quite so many wild Pokémon though. I had expected a lot, but even then..."

"We were making quite the ruckus when we were heading down." I pointed out, "It's not surprising for us to have attracted so many wild Pokémon as a result."

"True." She nodded, "But I'm mostly just glad we got to set up this forward base in one piece. So long as this base can hold, I'd already consider this expedition a success."

"I'm still surprised you had the time and energy to organize all this." I continued while looking around, casually watching as everyone ran around to set up the base, "I thought you might not have the time for it, considering..."

"Just because new considerations have popped up in my schedule doesn't mean I can simply ignore my previous commitments." She stated, "This expedition has been in the works for some time. Yes, my personal ambitions are important too, but I had a duty to fulfil as a member of the Celestic Town Research Centre."

I smiled despite myself, "Very admirable."

"Thank you. Oh, and I think you ought to know that my preparations to become Champion are currently being made." She told me, her voice lowering slightly so no one could overhear her.

I nodded, "How's that going?"

"Less than I hoped, more than I feared." She explained, "I did research on how the other Champions from Hoenn and Indigo came into power. While I don't have the unshakable foundation and backing that Lance did with the Blackthorns, nor the sheer charisma and on-stage popularity of Wallace, I have made some connections with a few of the movers and shakers of Sinnoh - thanks to a few introductions from Lucian. But not as many as I hoped."

"But Sinnoh desperately NEEDS a Champion, and I at least have the backing of the Elite Four, as you could probably tell." She continued, her eyes narrowing with determination as her voice filled with resolve. "If I calculated this correctly, then that should be enough to ensure a smooth transition, so long as I give off a sufficiently eye-opening and unquestionable display of strength."

The determination in her voice once again sent something through me. And having felt this feeling so many times, I was starting to realise what that was.

But I tried to push those thoughts aside for now.

"...Then it's all down to your performance against the Elite Four." I pointed out.

She nodded. "We'll all be fighting at our strongest to demonstrate my strength to the public. There won't be any sandbagging – the public will know the difference. And, truthfully, most of my support is dependent on my own personal strength as a trainer. They wouldn't have supported me otherwise."

"Honestly, I'm surprised there weren't other contenders for the position." I pondered curiously, "I would have thought the title of Champion would have been very alluring."

"Strong trainers don't just grow on trees." She chuckled, "And the other two Sinnoh Conference winners...they aren't at the level of strength needed to become Champion. Far from it, in fact. Usually, that means that the Committee ought to pick who the next Champion should be, but they're in no position to do that at the moment with all the chaos and deadlock that they're in. So, by luck or chance, I found myself to be the first real contender for the position in some time."

"I see. That sounds like a pretty fortunate coincidence then." I commented.

"It was, so I'm not going to let this opportunity go to waste." She agreed, "I've already pushed this back as much as I could to shore up my political standing, but after this expedition is over, I'll be making my official challenge."

She ran her fingers through her hair and flicked it back as she spoke, and my eyes unconsciously followed her movements.

"All hail the new future Champion." I chuckled, trying to play off my staring.

Cynthia looked at me for a moment before laughing, "Yes, I hope so as well. But I'm not na?ve enough to think that simply being Champion is the end goal. I am aware of the numerous responsibilities that are piled on a Champion, especially with Sinnoh in the state that it's in, but I WILL manage those responsibilities. The public will expect nothing less."

That last sentence was why I believed she'd be a great Champion, "I'm sure you'll do an excellent job." Was all I said.

"Thank you." She smiled.

"It's a shame I probably won't be there to see it, since I'll likely be sent back after spending so much time here." I said with a bitter smile. I knew it was only a matter of time before I was sent home.

Cynthia stared at me for a moment. An unknowable look passed through her eyes, and we ended up staring into each other for a moment.

It took her a moment before she spoke up again, "...Yes, that is quite a shame." She said slowly, "Actually, now isn't the right time for this, but would you like to speak later? I have something I want to talk to you about. It's important."

There was something in her voice that caused a shiver to run up my spine. Or was that from the look that she was giving me? I didn't know if I was overthinking it or not, but I thought that her expression was a mix of both determination and something else.

My heart beat in my chest, and I responded a second slower than I normally would. "...Of course. I think I have something to get off my chest as well." I replied, shooting her a slight smile.

Was it because I was being sent home soon; that my time in Sinnoh was running out? Or was it because I had stopped trying to blind myself to what I knew I was feeling deep down.

But either way, there was no denying it now. The truth was laid bear with how I recognised that I could never seem to peel my eyes away from Cynthia, and how her determination never failed to spark something within me.

The truth was...I liked Cynthia.

Though I was taken in by her looks when I first met her, as most people would have been, her looks had little to do for why I had become attracted to her. She was far more than her appearance may imply.

Her unyielding determination and passion was what drew me to her. Seeing her drive herself forwards, pushing to claim what she wanted, that was what I was entranced by. Her force-of-will and personality was magnetic, and I found myself wanting to see more of it.

Out of all the incredible individuals I have met during my time as an Elite Four, Cynthia still stood out proudly amongst them all. In my eyes, I saw her to be a person of both strength and intellect, who would use her hard-work and unwavering spirit to pave the way for Sinnoh's rebirth into a stable and prosperous region.

I was absolutely sure of it.

I was blessed enough to consider her a friend. One that I hoped that I could maintain for the years to come. But now I was starting to hope for more than that.

My fists clenched behind my back.

Cynthia nodded, unaware of my thoughts, "Well enough of that. We have an expedition to finish, don't we? I think we both have rested enough."

I shook off my thoughts and agreed, and the both of us started helping out the other expedition members with setting up. She resumed her duties as the leader of the expedition, while I checked on the perimeter crew to make sure there wasn't any risk of wild Pokémon breaking in.

Overall, despite my limited experience with setting up a defensive perimeter, I was satisfied with what I saw. There was a small army of Pokémon constantly on rotation to defend the forward base, with each Pokémon at least at the level that I would expect to see from Conference finalists. It must have been very expensive to have so many capable trainers on demand to be used as a perimeter guard like this, but when you were the largest and most prestigious research centre in all of Sinnoh, I suppose that you could have access to such resources.

It didn't take long for the forward base to be built up enough for it to be deemed safe, which was done under careful supervision. Once the base was sufficiently set up, a small group of more experienced explorers, myself, and Cynthia broke off to head further into the unexplored caves, hoping to find something cool or an important piece of history.

And so, after a quick rest, we set off, heading deeper into the increasingly freezing caves below. Fortunately, we had brought Fire types specifically to ward off the cold, but in turn that increased the number of wild Pokémon attacks against us as the sudden warmth attracted many hostile visitors.

This time, the reporters weren't going to be following after us. With them, wisely, deciding that they weren't about to subject themselves to THIS level of danger. So they stayed at the forward base, hanging around for some pictures and interviews. Therefore, since we didn't need to escort them or any additional equipment, we could actually move much faster than before, even despite the increasingly treacherous terrain and conditions that we found ourselves in.

It was immediately clear to me why it was so important to set up a forward base. This far down, it was practically a treasure trove of new and unexplored ruins, filled to the brim with undocumented history and rare Pokémon. In fact, the 'rare' Pokémon might as well be considered as common considering how often they showed up.

Yanmega, Mamoswine, and even a few Lickylicky could easily be found just stomping around in the caves, which would all be considered very rare Pokémon above ground. We even saw a group of Garchomp fighting over territory, all of them very strong and battle-scarred. We made sure to avoid them.

The explorers had enough discipline to not stop and gawp at each and every ruin that we walked past, even though I knew that every scientific bone in their body itched for them to do so. But we had a different priority; to go deeper than we ever could before. To explore every unknown crevice within these freezing caves.

After who knows how long of careful exploration, though it was probably just under half a day as we were slowed down by the occasional breaks that we had to take to stave off the increasing tiredness and exhaustion, we stumbled onto a huge open area, filled to the brim with nothing else but wild Pokémon. There were no ruins here, just inches and inches of freezing cold rock that encased the entire zone.

And the startled gasp of one of the scientists drew our attention. We followed to where he was pointing at, and all of us gasped in shock.

I was probably the only one that could fully comprehend what we were seeing.

Right in front of just, slightly in the distance, was a Kleavor minding its own business. But that wasn't all. A Sneasler was battling a Mamoswine, its poisonous fists slamming repeatedly into the Mamoswine, who tried and failed to run it through with its large and menacing tusks.

It took all of their collective discipline and survival instinct for them to not immediately rush forwards to inspect all these new Pokémon. And that quickly proved to be the correct decision, as Cynthia's Lucario suddenly growled as it turned to face the nearby wall.

Cynthia and I turned to look at the wall, and Klee and Luna both stiffened slightly as they suddenly threw themselves in front of me. Barely a moment later, the wall began to shimmer as a recognizable form suddenly appeared in front of us, its Illusion fading from sight.

And with a ferocious and vengeful howl, the Hisuian Zoroark's eyes glistened maddeningly towards us, its razor sharp claws shining menacingly from the light reflecting off the ice. At the same time, its howl alerted all of the wild Pokémon within the cave, all of whom suddenly turned to us and glared at the sudden intruders that had entered into their territory.

Almost as if they had planned it beforehand, the wild Pokémon roared out and charged at us, forming a deadly stampede that looked to barrel straight through us. With the Hisuian Zoroark leading the charge as it leapt straight towards one of the explorers who was unlucky enough to be the closest to it.

My hands instinctively went to the Premier Balls on my belt. We were going to have to fight our way out of this one.