Chapter 9: 34-37

Name：The New Normal - A Pokémon Elite 4 SI by CartecFF Author：
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Chapter 9: 34-37

The New Normal – 3-2 – A Chilly Conversation

I sat down in the chair across from Pryce, who was continuously staring at me as if he was trying to observe my every movement. Being in someone's office like this reminded me of the time I was invited to speak with Giovanni. It was admittedly rather unnerving to be the subject of Pryce's cold stare, but I was no longer the fresh newbie member of the Elite Four who was insecure about his position.

No, after my victory over Drake and with my bolstered relations with Giovanni, I knew that my position was far more secure than it was the last time I met with Pryce before I went to Hoenn. I would remain respectful, but I was not going to be intimidated.

I held Pryce's stare for a moment, until he eventually eased up and leaned backwards, no longer trying to intimidate me.

"Firstly, before we move on to the main topic that I would like to discuss with you, I would like to give you my sincere apologies for sending you to Hoenn on such short notice and in such poor conditions." He began, although I noticed that his face had no trace of guilt or apology at all.

"John, I did not do this out of some malicious intent to move you away. You must understand that, as the newest and youngest member of the Elite Four, there were a few in the Indigo League that were worried that you would let your newfound title go to your head and cause problems for Indigo. Thus, we had to send you there as a sort of test to see if you would be suitable for the position in the long-term." He explained.

I thought about his explanation for a moment, and I eventually found them to be unsatisfactory. Whether that was because his reasoning didn't really make sense to me, or because of the lack of sincerity in his tone, I just couldn't get myself to believe in his words. My gut was screaming to me that Pryce was lying to me, but I didn't let my suspicions show on my face.

"You've changed." Seeing that I wasn't saying anything, he continued. "You seem much more confident and surer of yourself. That's good. A proper member of the Elite Four should be confident in themselves, just like you are now."

I only nodded in response and stayed silent once again. His tone of voice was as cold and as unfriendly as usual, and so even though the words itself were complimentary, it was very difficult for me to treat them as such. Also, a part of me suspected that he was just trying to flatter me so that I would react positively to his request.

Seeing my silence, he kept going, "You have also made great strides for Indigo in furthering our relations with Hoenn. I'm sure that the business opportunities that you have created for the two regions as a result of your cooperation with Devon Corp will easily prove fruitful in the future. It seems like my decision to send you to Hoenn to test out your capabilities was successful, then. I would be happy to keep you on the Elite Four for the future as well."

Okay, now I was almost certain that he was trying to flatter me. In fact, his attempts to praise and compliments me were so stiff and unnatural because of his constant monotone voice that it was almost comical to listen to. I supposed that Pryce really hadn't had the need to compliment or praise someone in a while.

...I wonder what that says of him as a person?

Deciding that I had to actually respond to Pryce's comments, I finally spoke up, "Thank you for your words, Champion Pryce." I remained respectful even though I knew his words were insincere, "I hoped to prove that I deserved to be a member of the Elite Four and that I would work hard for the benefit of Indigo. I am glad to be recognized for my efforts."

Pryce frowned slightly at my response, before he quickly pulled his face back into his usual neutral expression. I guess he was hoping that his words would have caused me to react more favourably towards him. But he was delusional if he thought that anyone would have been comforted or enthused by anyone speaking with his tone of voice.

If he truly wanted to appear like he was giving me genuine praise, he should probably stop speaking with his cold and monotonous tone of voice.

"Well, regardless, let's get on with what I wanted to speak about today." Maybe seeing that his words weren't having the affected that he was hoping for, Pryce skipped over the pleasantries and moved to what he wanted to speak about.

I sat up straight and leaned forwards as I focused on his next words; I knew that the next few moments of our conversation would be extremely important to shaping the future of Indigo.

"I'm sure that despite your recent return from Hoenn, you surely must have seen the news on the Pokénet that Lance has recently attacked me for my rightful appointment of my niece as the Gym Leader of Mahogany?" He asked rhetorically, but I nodded anyways as he continued, "Ignoring the ridiculousness of that claim, what you might not know is that my sources tell me that this is just the beginning of Lance's attempts at discrediting me in the public eye before he makes his eventual challenge against me for the position of Champion."

Of course, I already knew all of this, but I still tried my best to look surprised at this revelation. Luckily, Pryce didn't seem to have caught on to my fake surprise and kept speaking.

"I hope you can understand the severity of the situation which I am describing, John." He continued, "The fact that Lance is seeking to make himself the Champion already shows that he is far too ambitious for his own good. As if a Dragon type trainer could ever defeat the likes of me. It only adds to his arrogance to think that his Dragons could ever defeat my team of Ice types." I hid my disbelief at his confidence that Lance had no chance of defeating him. Despite Lance's type disadvantage, I KNEW that Lance was far stronger than Pryce perceived.

Pryce fixed a serious look towards me, "You understand that this cannot be allowed to happen, right John? For the good of Indigo, Lance must not take my place as Champion. I will not allow him to take it away from me."

Before I could even nod in response, Pryce carried on, his speech turning more and more passionate until it almost turned into a rant. "I have been Champion for a very long time, John, and Indigo has prospered under my leadership. There have been no wars, no big protests, and no big issues that have managed to threaten the peace of Indigo. That is all due to my leadership, and because I remained as Champion. John, if I were to lose my position as Champion to a militant like Lance, what do you think would happen? I couldn't imagine how Lance's short-sightedness will doom the many achievements that I have accomplished."

Pryce kept on going and I actually ended up tuning Pryce out as he continued with his ranting and self-praising, to the extent that I wasn't even sure if he was talking to me or talking AT me.

But WOW. Listening to Pryce's speech was eerily familiar to me. I definitely felt like I had heard someone saying something very similar to this not too long ago. I spent a few moments trying to place that sense of familiarity before the realization finally hit me.

Pryce's current rambling speech was just like the rant that Giovanni gave when I spoke with him for the first time all that time ago!

With that realisation, I ended up comparing both of their words, and found that the two of them mirrored each other quite well with their power complexes. On the one hand, based on my memory of Giovanni's rant, I could feel in his words and demeanour that he was genuinely passionate about maintaining and furthering the prosperity of Kanto at any cost, and that he wanted and needed power in order to make sure that he could work towards improving Kanto. He was a true nationalist, to the point of obsession, but I respected him for that regardless.

On the other hand, Pryce was clearly focused on maintaining power as Champion as his first priority. Sure, he also occasionally looked out for the prosperity of Indigo, but that was just the side product of his actions in trying to maintain his title as Champion. Pryce only served Pryce. Perhaps he felt differently at first, and perhaps he had once strived to be a great Champion for Indigo's sake. But that man is now gone, leaving only the withered husk of selfish ambition that was the current Pryce. A man now so consumed and possessed by the need to maintain his power at any cost.

Ever since becoming an Elite Four, I worked hard in hopes of bettering Kanto and Indigo as a whole, and to do that I was determined to work for the better of Kanto and improve its economy so that the Kantonians wouldn't become discontent and cause problems like forming or joining Team Rocket. In that way, I could see the similarities between myself and Giovanni. We both needed power in order to be able to enact the changes we wanted. Unlike Pryce, who I was certain wanted power for the sake of being able to wield it.

It was at this point that I recognized that I could never forgive myself if I chose to support a man like Pryce, a man who was willing to do everything and anything to keep his position as Champion. I didn't dare to think of all the other underhanded actions that Pryce must have taken over his long reign as Champion to maintain his position.

And I felt that it was this difference between the two that made me gravitate towards Giovanni more than Pryce, even though I knew that Giovanni was probably a worse person than Pryce and had done worse and likely more illegal things in the past.

Was it wrong of me to be more trusting and supportive of Giovanni despite his likely affiliations with Team Rocket? Probably. I didn't trust either of them, not completely, but Pryce was just so utterly repulsive to me that I really couldn't see myself supporting him.

I hadn't even spoken to Lance yet, but I could see that a future with Pryce remaining as Champion would be bad for the future of Kanto AND Johto. No, Pryce needed to be removed as soon as possible.

To explain how the Indigo system functions, basically, the Champion serves as the leader and face of the Indigo League. The Champion is mostly responsible for setting the overall direction of Indigo and can pass proposals to a committee for approval. The Elite Four and the League officials serves as the arms that supports and enforces the Champion's policies.

The Champion also doesn't have the power to directly appoint members of the Elite Four or Gym Leaders. Instead, they sit on a committee consisting of many high-ranking League officials where the Champion has a large, but not majority, vote. There, the committee decides who to appoint into the Elite Four, which sometimes also includes promoting a Gym Leader into the Elite Four. The Champion may also directly dismiss a member of the Elite Four by defeating them in a Pokémon battle with no more than 2 losses suffered by the Champion, or by sitting on a committee to vote them out through a majority vote.

However, the Champion can be removed in two ways. The most common way was through a Pokémon challenge, where a challenger who had defeated all of the current members of the Elite Four in any order may challenge the Champion and replace them if the challenger wins. If the challenger is already a member of the Elite Four, they may challenge the Champion directly without having to deal with the other members of the Elite Four. This encourages prospective Champions to join the Elite Four first to gain leadership experience before trying to become the Champion. Similarly, any Gym Leader can challenge an Elite Four member and replace them if they win.

Alternatively, and this applies to any member of the Elite Four as well, the Champion may be removed if 80% of the public votes to remove them. Thus, the Champion is incentivised to remain popular with both the Elite Four and the public, as if the Champion is hated by the Elite Four, then they can simply refuse to obey the Champion's orders with little consequences if the public or a majority of the committee doesn't vote to remove the offending Elite Four member. Likewise, and often linked with the previous scenario, if the Champion is unpopular with the public, then the public can directly vote to remove them.

With these checks and balances in place, it hopefully serves to prevent a Champion from becoming a dictator and taking full control of Indigo. That's how Pryce was held in check for the past couple of years but holding him in check doesn't mean that he wasn't going to continue causing damage to the future of Indigo through his constant enforcement of the status quo and the subsequent resulting stagnation that followed.

I knew that he still had a large support base that was still interested in keeping Pryce as Champion, mostly to serve their own interests, but that was always going to be the case with any reigning Champion. With that in mind, I recognized that, realistically, Pryce could only be removed through a direct confrontation in a Pokémon battle. But I had to be careful with the way that Pryce was removed.

Thus, I had to ensure that Lance obtained enough support for when he replaced Pryce so that there wouldn't be too much opposition against him, which would stifle his policies and heavily distract Lance during the early periods of his reign. Therefore, it would be best if Lance could prove himself to the public that his challenge for the title of Champion was done out of goodwill, to benefit both the public and the people of Indigo, and not because he was power-hungry.

He would have to prove that Pryce was unsuitable to remain as the Champion, and that he had an overall direction and goal that would suit and benefit the future of Indigo.

This meant that I had to check with Lance to make sure that he actually had the support base necessary to be a successful Champion in the long-term, but for now, I refocused myself so that I could actually respond to Pryce, who was finally wrapping up his rant.

"...And, it is because of this, Elite John, that I am seeking your support to ensure that Lance doesn't end up destroying the very pillars that make up and support Indigo." Pryce finished with a darkened expression.

I matched his stare with a blank one of my own, pretending like I had just listened to his possessed ramblings. However, since I had made my choice that to not support Pryce, keeping my true allegiance from him was paramount. This meant keeping his suspicions down for the time being and placating him with words that he would want to hear before extracting myself from this conversation before I gave anything away; I wasn't ready to fight a political battle against Pryce at the moment.

"I can certainly understand your perspective, Champion." I responded, carefully controlling the words that I used to technically avoid lying while not giving him any explicit promises for support, "I can certainly understand your motivations and where you're coming from; especially with how hard you seem to be working towards achieving your own goals. Furthermore, I understand that Lance may be untested as a Champion and may bring the instability you so fear to Indigo. While I may not have the level of political awareness required to fully understand the scope of the situation, I will happily defer to your expertise."

I tried to cover up my intentions with my flowery language and flattery, and luckily Pryce bought into it and seemed pleased by my answer.

"John, I'm glad to see that you see the truth of things." He pretended to say pleasantly, and I had to hold back from rolling my eyes. "I assume that I can count on your support for the future?"

"I will always work for the betterment and interests of Indigo, Champion Pryce, and I thank you for your words once again." I answered with a smile, while not actually giving any explicit promises of support.

I concealed a smirk as Pryce failed to see through my veiled words and nodded, his face never even breaking into anything that could resemble a genuine smile. I guess this was the other reason I disliked Pryce, he was just so cold and unfriendly that it was hard to bond or have positive feelings for. Idly, I wondered if this was the result of years of being the most powerful person in Indigo.

I then decided to take a risk and ask a few more questions towards Pryce, both so I could hopefully learn more about his support base and also to try to trick and convince Pryce into thinking that I was asking these questions because I wanted to know more about his other supporters so that I could support him better.

"Champion Pryce, may I ask about the other Elite Four members? What do they say about Lance's challenge for your position?" I questioned.

Pryce actually scowled at my question, but I could tell he wasn't scowling at me. "Among the remaining Elite Four, only you and Walker have the sense to do what's right. Agatha insists on playing as the petty ruler of Lavender Town, and she stubbornly refuses to do what's right and provide me the support that I should be receiving."

I saw Pryce's fist clench momentarily as he continued tightly. "At least she isn't supporting Lance either, but I'm suspicious of her intentions. Normally, I would ask to send you to investigate and to learn more, since you have a reason to talk to her through your connections with Agatha's apprentice, but you're too young and inexperienced and she'd see through you in an instant."

"I understand, thank you for the information, Champion Pryce." I simply said back, keeping the smile on my face despite the backhanded insult that he just gave me.

Just earlier he was praising me for having grown and matured, but now that he thought that he had my support he was back with the condescension. Sure, he probably wasn't wrong because Agatha most certainly would see through my intentions and know that I was sent by Pryce, but Pryce's two-faced attitude was just another factor that rubbed me the wrong way.

A part of me wanted to say more and ask a few more questions, but I decided that I should end the conversation here while Pryce still believed that I was on his side. Thus, seeing that we were both silent, I spoke up and asked him if there was anything else he needed for me to do as the Champion.

"Just one more thing." Pryce requested sharply. "What will you be doing next after you leave here?"

I told him truthfully that I was feeling tired and wanted to go home to see my family as soon as possible. As he heard that, he simply shook his head and told me that the conversation was over and asked for me to make my way out.

I gave him a polite goodbye and left his office. Of course, since Pryce's offices were located in a private area that for security reasons was inaccessible to the common people without a Kadabra to Teleport you, I had to then request to be teleported to the entrance of the Indigo League building.

As I left the building, I was texting my family saying that I was coming home before I was spotted by a few members of the public that recognized me and politely if they could have an autograph and a photo. Seeing that they were being polite, I indulged a few of them before I told the rest of them that I was tired and needed to go and left before I was overwhelmed by the growing swarm of people who all wanted the same.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I soon found myself in the air riding on Port, away from the crowd of people and slowly making my way home. As I flew on Port, I went over the entire conversation I had with Pryce and reaffirmed my choice in not supporting him. I wasn't certain that I made the choice entirely rationally, but I knew that I could not endure working for Pryce in the long-term.

It was a short flight, but I quickly found myself circling over my family farm. They had clearly received my text as I saw the entirety of my family standing out in the open waiting patiently for my return.

A smile broke out on my face and a familiar warmth spread throughout me. The familiar atmosphere and scenery served as a reminder of my true allegiances, and why I worked so hard to strive for a better Kanto and Indigo. It was this image of peace, filled with freely given familial love, that formed the foundation for all of my actions.

I landed on Port and the moment I stepped down from Port, I was immediately hugged by a pink blur that revealed itself as Whitney.

"Welcome home, John!!" Whitney beamed excitedly, and I quickly gave her a one-armed hug while my other hand rubbed her head. Soon enough, my parents joined in on the hug while saying similar sentiments.

"Thanks, sis. I'm happy to be home." I told her.

The New Normal – 3-3 – Unpleasant Discoveries

Home was always a place where I thought I could sit back and relax and allow all of the accumulated stress that I had built up over the past few weeks to fade away. Initially, my return home this time was no different.

After our family hug was over, I was almost immediately pestered by questions about how I was doing from my parents and demands for training from Whitney. I begged off the both of them and told them, since it was getting late and I hadn't actually eaten anything, that I would address a few questions at dinner, but I wanted to go to bed earlier because I was awfully tired.

Whitney pouted at that. Clearly, she had wanted me to help her with her training as soon as possible. Normally, I would be more than happy to, but I really did just want to rest for the moment.

Thus, after a quick dinner where my parents and I had a short, but pleasant conversation where we both caught each other up on what was going on with our respective lives, I quickly found myself laying down in my bed and fast asleep.

In hindsight, I wished I had at least skimmed through the Pokénet before I went to bed last night. That way, I wouldn't have been caught by surprise during lunch the next day while we all sat together and watched the news.

I nearly choked on my rice as I heard what the news was reporting.

'There has been no new information about the new gang of criminals that have been terrorising the streets of Indigo as of late. Our hard-working Jennys have reported that they have arrested several members from this 'R' gang, but they have yet to unearth the true leadership that are behind this slew of criminal activity. However, at this point the Indigo Police is certain that these criminals are a part of an organized crime group and have announced a monetary award for any relevant information regarding this group.'

"What's wrong, John? You look like you just saw a Ghost." My mom commented with concern as she watched as my eyes nearly shot out of their sockets. I wasn't able to answer her at the moment as alarm bells were ringing loudly through my head.

What the fuck was this? Why is Team Rocket on the news and stealing Pokémon already? Didn't Giovanni say that he was cancelling the project? Did he lie to me? Questions were running through my brain at a mile a minute, and I was tempted to rush to my room in a panic.

I forced my panic down, "Just...something came up." I answered unconvincingly, before trying to fish for some information. "Do anyone of you know anything about this recent crime wave? Has it been on the news for a while?"

"I think so..." My father responded, "We've been quite busy the last few days, but yes, I think it came up in a couple of headlines. Why?"

"Just something on my mind." I answered evasively, my mind a mixture of confusion and anger towards Giovanni. I didn't understand what he was doing, and my mind screamed for answers.

"Sorry, I'm not hungry." I said quickly as I stood up, ignoring their questions of concern before I dashed back to my room, locking the door behind me.

A part of me felt bad for brushing off my parents like that, but I was way too distracted at the moment to care. I hastily fetched my phone and dug through the Pokénet to see if there were any previous news reports that I missed when I was travelling back from Hoenn.

Sure enough, there had been a few reports regarding Team Rocket and their acts of Pokémon thievery. That seemed to be all they were doing now, which was a cold comfort, but at least that probably meant that they were still in the beginning stages of their criminal activities.

"Hello, this is John."

"Elite John, this is Lance." His strong voice sounded out. "Are you free to talk right now?"

"Yes, just give me a moment." I signalled to Whitney that I would be busy, and I walked away slightly so that I wouldn't be disturbed by the sounds of Whitney's training. "Okay, yes, I'm here. How may I help you, Lance?"

"I understand that you have spoken to our Champion Pryce recently." Lance began, "I assume that you both spoke about my attempts at becoming the Champion?"

"Yes, we did." I answered easily, not seeing any reason to deny it.

"And I also assume that he has requested for your assistance to stop me from becoming Champion?" Lance asked.

"Yes, but I wasn't entirely certain that supporting him was something that I wanted to do." I risked, since I thought that it was the quickest way of getting Lance's attention.

"Ah, yes, I'd thought so." I could feel the smirk on Lance's face. "I saw how you looked at Pryce when you got off that ship from Hoenn. You were almost glaring at him at times. So, I didn't think you'd be supportive of him."

Huh. Lance seems more observant than I first thought, though I didn't let my surprise show in my voice. "Well, maybe I'm just being cautious about the whole thing, but I wanted to know your perspective as well." I replied with false meekness, "I only want to do the best for Indigo, so I want to be making an informed decision before I do anything." I added.

"That's an excellent mindset, John." Lance chuckled, "And, on that note, would you care to meet up with me at the Blackthorn Gym as soon as possible, if you're free now. I would like to discuss things with you in person."

I groaned inwardly at the fact that I would have to be travelling again, but I quickly sucked up my complaints and told Lance that I was free and would meet him there as soon as possible. He thanked me for being able to come over so soon, and informed me that his cousin, and Gym Leader, Clair would be there in the meeting with him.

Since being accompanied by his cousin wasn't that weird for such a meeting, I easily accepted and told him that I would be there as soon as possible.

I hung up the call with him and immediately went to tell Whitney that I had to be go and meet someone soon. She was upset that I had to leave, but she showed off her maturity by saying that she understood that I was a busy brother and that she'll forgive me if I help her out tomorrow as well.

I chuckled and told her that I would certainly try my best and thanked her for understanding. I also got her to relay to our parents that I was heading off to meet up with Elite Lance.

Then I strapped myself to Port before we took off for the Blackthorn Gym, using the flight time there to ponder about what I would be saying to Lance. Obviously, I had hoped to go through the possibilities and plan things out with Giovanni first, but after the Team Rocket incident I was starting to become increasingly wary about my overreliance on him.

I may have been too dazzled by the benefits he brought me and forgot about the dark underbelly and consequences of working with a man like Giovanni. The resurgence of Team Rocket was a timely reminder that I had to ensure that I was independent from Giovanni, regardless of our friendship together.

With that in mind and lacking any other information about my upcoming meeting with Lance, I ultimately decided to wing it and go in blind. I would just hope that I could react to whatever requests and situations he would throw at me. After all, I could just not agree to anything if I really wanted to play safe.

Strictly speaking, Lance didn't actually need the support of the Blackthorns or myself to become the Champion. Technically, any prospective Champion could earn the title so long as they defeated the Champion and the rest of the Elite Four, and the latter was only a requirement if they weren't already in the Elite Four. With all the research that I had done on Lance and Pryce, and from what I knew of canon, I was confident that Lance would have no issues defeating Pryce in a Pokémon battle.

However, the public are evidently wary of being led by someone who doesn't know what they're doing, and so gaining the support of the Elite Four, Gym Leaders, and other important groups are important to make sure you don't get voted out by the public or get stonewalled by the committee.

Likewise, gaining the support of the Elite Four is especially important as the Champion and the Elite Four often work closely together on a lot of matters, so getting their public endorsement is a good sign for the public that the candidate actually knows what they're doing and is suitable to be the Champion.

Just over an hour later, I found myself flying over the outskirts of Blackthorn City. In the far distance, I spotted a few moving dots of what I suspected were flying Dragon types that were just casually flying about. It was a sharp reminder that this was the powerbase of the powerful Blackthorns, the clan of Dragon masters that have built up their power here for hundreds of years, and who were the greatest supporters of Lance's possible ascension to Champion.

It was humbling to see that, regardless of my achievements in Hoenn, they were a tiny speck compared to the support that Lance had as a representative of the Blackthorns. Even Giovanni's underground network likely was dwarfed by the influence of the Blackthorns. It made me slightly jealous, but I had long accepted that even the world of Pokémon was unfair and that some were just luckier than others.

However, I pushed away those feelings of jealousy as I finally landed at the entrance of the Blackthorn Gym. As the 8th Gym and the final gate for the Indigo Conference, it was undoubtedly a popular Gym for trainers to either challenge directly or to loiter around to challenge others to improve themselves.

Also, with the abundance of Dragon types in the area, many trainers hoped that they would be lucky enough to catch one if they just stayed around for long enough. It was normally a fruitless effort, and heavily frowned upon by the local Blackthorns, but that didn't stop those who were more fanatical for a Dragon type of their own.

I made my way into the Blackthorn Gym, and I was quickly spotted and escorted by one of the Gym trainers that had been evidently told of my arrival. They greeted me politely and escorted me to a large conference room which I assumed were for the Gym Trainers to use.

As soon as we arrived, the Gym Trainer informed me that the two Blackthorns were inside and that the room was completely soundproof. I thanked them and they bowed deeply before leaving.

I stood in front of the door and tidied up my appearance slightly before I finally walked in. As soon as I walked in, both Lance and Clair stood up and greeted me politely with handshakes and we exchanged the usual pleasantries before we seated ourselves in the very expensive leather chairs.

"Thank you for coming over so quickly, John." Lance started while Clair remained silent, "I didn't want to waste any more of your time, so let's just get right to the point of our meeting."

I nodded and Lance continued, "We Blackthorns have always sought the title of Champion, and with our power and influence, we felt that it was the only title worthy of our status in Johto. However, with Oak and even initially with Pryce, we acquiesced to their leadership because we saw that they had a good handle on Indigo, and our interests were not harmed."

"However, with Pryce's complete mishandling of the situation, coupled with his passivity over the last few years, the Blackthorn clan has finally decided that it can tolerate no more and have sought me out to become their representative as the Champion of Indigo since I was already well-positioned to do so. Thus, I ask you, John, what would it take for me to gain your support for my bid to become Champion? Please, do not hold back." He asked directly, and I felt his intense gaze lock directly onto me.

It was like a Dragon sizing up his potential prey, looking for any signs of weakness or hesitation. But I was no meek prey to be devoured.

I kept my calm and thought about it for a moment before deciding to just say what I felt in my heart. "Before we begin Lance, I want to make something very clear. I will not suffer that indignity again where I was unceremoniously sent to Hoenn. That is not a request. You should know that it was because of my lack of personal influence that allowed Pryce to send me over to Hoenn, and I want your guarantee that such an event would not occur again under your reign as Champion."

"Done." Lance agreed easily. "I thought that it was foolish and overly paranoid for Pryce to have sent you to Hoenn in the first place. In fact, the whole incident disgusted me. A trainer of your strength should not be subjected to such humiliation, and so it is an easy promise for me to not subject you to the same thing. Please be assured that, even if you did not make me promise this, I would not side-line you the way that Pryce did." Lance stated, and I was starting to see why Lance became Champion in the future; I could tell just from his voice alone that he certainly had the charisma needed to win over the public.

Regardless, I was thankful for his words, but before I could keep going, I was interrupted by Clair.

"But why did you choose to support Lance over Pryce?" She interrupted curiously. "Surely you could have made the same demands of Pryce and he would have easily agreed." She narrowed her eyes at me. "So why are you supporting Lance over the man who has been Champion for the past decade?"

I took a quick look at Lance and saw that he appeared unbothered by Clair's questioning, and instead continued to observe me intensely, so I suspected that this was the tactic they agreed upon to fish out more information from me. Though it was a fair question; I could technically ignore it, but I saw no reason to be rude at the moment.

"That's simple, Gym Leader Clair." I addressed her evenly, "I found Champion Pryce to be generally unpleasant to be around. When he spoke to me, I noticed that he was utterly unconcerned about working towards the benefit of Indigo and was solely interested in maintaining his position. His act of sending me to Hoenn is just one of the many examples of this. So yes, while Pryce would have offered similar things for my support, I told myself that I couldn't work with someone that would doom Indigo just to keep himself in power." I explained.

Clair didn't seem to react at my explanation, but I could see that Lance was nodding in agreement. I had to hide a wry smile when I saw it; it appears that Lance shared my distaste for Pryce. Perhaps that was why he was aiming to be the Champion.

I waited a few moments to see if Clair was going to speak up again, but after I saw that she had no intention of doing so I returned to speaking to Lance. "Furthermore, unlike Pryce, I could tell that you were, at least, not doing this solely for your own benefit. You are not simply seeking power for the sake of power; else you would have acted long ago instead of waiting until you received orders from the Blackthorns. Not only that, but you at least aren't willing to sink to the lows that Pryce is absolutely willing to; your earlier explanation made that clear enough to me."

Neither of them responded to my remarks, though I noticed that Lance's smile became a bit less rigid. I continued. "With that in mind, if you would like my support, then I would request that, as Champion, for you to ensure that Kanto would not be left behind Johto economically. You must have seen that, under Pryce, Kanto has been allowed to fester while Johto has reaped all the benefits." I paused to allow Lance to nod. "I want there to be more balance between the two regions, and I hope that as Champion, you will work to create and maintain that balance. Furthermore, there will be also other proposals that I will be announcing towards the public in the future, and where reasonable, I will want your political backing on those areas as well."

Though his chances were high, it was not a certainty that Lance would become Champion. Thus, having the political support of the Blackthorns would still me to push forward my agenda even if Lance's bid fails.

I could see that Lance was thoughtfully mulling over my request and was carefully considering what I was asking for. He was also giving some discreet side glances to Clair, which I wouldn't have caught if I wasn't carefully observing his every movement. I also glanced at Clair, only to see her deep in thought as well. I guess that my request was more complicated than they had initially expected.

I allowed them to think things through before eventually Lance spoke up.

"What do you think that would look like, in your mind?" Lance asked, and I was glad I had at least thought things through before coming here.

"Well, under Pryce, many new businesses over the years have decided to establish themselves in Johto rather than Kanto, because the infrastructure of Johto has been more developed than Kanto thanks to Pryce. While that isn't the most alarming of issues in the short-term, I foresee that if this imbalance remains, then in the future Johto will remain economically dominant over Kanto, and Kanto's economy will suffer greatly and cause widespread unemployment. Thus, I am asking for you to ensure that, as much as possible, new businesses and investments are equally balanced between the two regions so that Kanto can catch up and not remain destitute. Most of my proposals will be aiming to correct this injustice as well." I explained carefully but strictly.

"That's a very interesting perspective." Lance spoke up, "Forgive me for my curiosity, but why are you making this one of your requests? Why is the imbalance and its potential consequences your concern?"

I paused to think things through for a bit before responding. "It's because if and when the Kanto economy suffers, it is the common people that have to endure the consequences. And when the common people are collectively going through hardship, they turn to crime when the government fails them. They start getting more radical ideas, and they start believing that perhaps Kanto would be better off separating from Johto."

I could see that both of them were grimacing at my words, so I knew that I was on the right track. "You surely must know about the recent crime wave that's spreading throughout Indigo." They both nodded. "I'm not saying that the crime wave is directly related to Kanto's neglect, but you can see how easy it is for the discontent to start rallying against the government if that's what they think is the only option available to them. THAT is what I'm trying to prevent, and that is my price for my support for your bid to be Champion." I described sincerely, speaking from my heart.

Lance looked at me thoughtfully, as if he was seeing me in a new light. Clair looked a bit more uncertain and was giving side glances towards Lance. I watched as Lance tapped his fingers on the table momentarily before responding.

"I underestimated you, John." He admitted with a pleased smile. "I never realized your love for Kanto and its citizens, it's refreshing to see someone who genuinely cares for once and isn't just looking for votes. You also managed to explain yourself very well despite being in the presence of an Elite Four and a Gym Leader."

I wasn't sure what he was getting at, so I stayed silent and nodded politely, allowing him to continue.

"I understand the point that you're making, and I agree with your evaluation. It would not be in the interests of Blackthorn to allow Kanto to continue its' current rate of deterioration. Although we may be primarily concerned with the interests of Johto, we aren't blind to fail to see that an outbreak of crime and a serious imbalance between Kanto and Johto would also be bad for our interests. In fact, a few of our elders thought that the recent crime wave was due to the misfortunes of Kanto. So yes, I can agree with your proposal, and I promise that, if I am made Champion, I would work to maintain a sense of balance between both regions." He declared authoritatively, and his voice oozed with charisma. Lance really was a natural leader, and hopefully, someone I could respect.

"Thank you for your promises, Lance." I responded politely and formally, "However, we both know that it is not a certainty that you will become Champion." Lance frowned but remained silent. "Thus, I will also request that you open up Blackthorn City to start exclusively selling my family's Moomoo milk in any Blackthorn owned Pokéshops, since Blackthorn City is notoriously stringent on what goods are sold there. If you can agree to everything I have requested today, then in return, I promise to support you in your bid for Champion." Left unsaid was the fact that this would be a great way to tie our new friendship together.

Lance took some time to consider that last part, but a nod from Clair seemed to make up his mind as he reached forwards, and we shook hands.

Of course, just because he made a promise to me right now doesn't necessarily mean that he'll be sticking to it in the future. So, while I couldn't exactly relax just yet, I at least was comforted by the fact that I managed to extract some kind of agreement from Lance.

Clair's expression seemed to ease off as we made our agreement, but she still spoke up. "Okay, considering that you have now promised to support each other, what can we expect your support to look like?" Though I was certain they already had an idea, since they had directly sought me out, but I suppose she just wanted to hear me say it verbally.

I straightened myself up again as I replied to Clair. "It depends on what you need me to do, although it must be reasonable. I could honestly tell you that if you're hoping that I could help you attract the other members of the Elite Four to your side, then I'm sorry to say that while I could try, I can almost guarantee that I won't be able to sway Walker, and even I know that Agatha is notoriously stubborn and implacable." I told them honestly.

Lance chuckled and shook his head at that. "No, and I didn't expect you to be able to do so anyways. Even I couldn't persuade Agatha, and I certainly wouldn't want the support of someone as undeserving of the title as Walker." He grumbled bitterly as he clasped his hands together. "But I do hope that you'll be publicly declaring your support for me. I have some issues that I will using to attack Pryce with, and I hope you will support me on them."

"What issues are they?" I asked curiously.

"First, I will be blaming Pryce for trying to side-line you to Hoenn and then trying to hide the information. His actions have and will damage our relations with Hoenn in the future, and hopefully we can divert most of the blame onto him alone." He raised a single finger as he started listing them off. "Rumours have already been spreading throughout the upper echelons of the Hoenn League, which I assume is your doing, so he won't be able to just sweep all of this under the rug."

He waited for my nod and raised another finger and continued. "I also intend to use the recent crime wave to demonstrate Pryce's incompetence and the consequences of his actions. As much as I find it distasteful to capitalize on the suffering of the citizens of Indigo, I believe that it is undoubtedly partially Pryce's fault that has caused these people to turn to crime, and so I will also use this to attack him. But I will be looking to clean up these scums soon enough. They will be brought to heel, one way or another." Lance let a bit of his anger leak through as he said that.

I frowned at Lance's words. However, I understood that no matter how unpleasant it was to 'exploit' this recent wave of crime for political purposes, this kind of thing was done by politicians all the time, and I shouldn't blame Lance for doing the same. Though since Lance was just pointing fingers instead of actively making the situation worse to push forwards his agenda, I was alright with it. Besides, I believed that at least this would be done for the greater good. Thus, I simply nodded in reply.

It also had the added benefit of adding more pressure towards the Indigo government to deal with and crack down harder on Team Rocket, which I saw as a benefit. At this point, I didn't really care if that would cause Giovanni problems, as neutering Team Rocket was my greater concern. I thought that since Giovanni created this mess, he could now lie in it.

I then reminded Lance that he couldn't only be seen to be attacking Pryce without offering solutions himself, but fortunately Lance was prepared and had his own proposals at hand. He said that, to counter any negative consequences from Indigo's failure to inform Hoenn about my visit, he will be looking to allow and encourage more businesses and investment to set themselves up in Indigo, just like how I did it with Devon Corp.

He predicted that Indigo's reputation in Hoenn would be damaged momentarily because of the scandal, but he thought that after he took up the position as Champion and gained enough of the public confidence, he would be able to prove that Indigo remained united, and the damage would be repaired. He also told me that he would be working closely with Hoenn shortly after he became Champion to reassure them that we were still cooperative and to dispel any ill-feelings.

Likewise, and also to deal with the crime wave, Lance said that he would propose to Hoenn that they should work together and coordinate their police forces together, which should help repair any damaged relations between our two regions. Lance said that he hoped that one day an international police force could be set up to ensure the proper policing of crime.

He told me that he envisioned this would be a separate organisation different from the current Indigo Police in that they'll be mostly working against greater threats normally beyond the scope of the rangers and the police.

I was worried that this proposal might be stepping on the toes of the current Indigo Police, but Lance reassured me that the Blackthorns would have that handled. I took that to mean that he would be leveraging the influence of the Blackthorns to ensure that it will pass through smoothly. He hinted that he would likely be looking at increasing the funding that would be given to the Indigo Police in order to secure their cooperation.

If that was the case, then I had no problems with either of his proposals as I thought they were all reasonable solutions. Honestly, I was less concerned about his ideas of creating an international police force, and was more focused on making sure that Lance would maintain the economical balance between Kanto and Johto.

We then spent some more time discussing how we would be able to help each other. Clair occasionally added a few things, but I was starting to notice that she wasn't really that interested or capable at handling these things. I could also observe that she wasn't as unfriendly as she made herself seem to be, as most of her concerns were aimed at reducing the collateral damage to the public of Lance's challenge to Pryce.

Part of our discussions involved debating over when and how I should reveal my support of Lance. I warned Lance that if I revealed my hand too early, Pryce would do everything he could to discredit me and neuter my support for him. I wasn't about to support Lance if it meant shooting myself in the foot politically. Lance said that he understood, and that he had accounted for that before he came and asked for my support.

"We will wait until I have attacked Pryce on sufficient issues so that the public realize that Pryce's credibility is no longer as sturdy as it used to be and begin questioning his legitimacy as Champion." Lance explained. "Once his credibility has been questioned by the public, then he wouldn't be able to discredit you so easily. It is at that moment when you will make your announcement of your support for me, which should both be an opportune time to drive the nail further into Pryce's coffin and also prevent you from suffering from too much backlash from Pryce and his supporters."

I agreed and accepted his plans, pleased to see that he wasn't about to make demands of me. He then asked me what I would be doing after this meeting, and I said that my main priority was just spending time with my family, but I would also look to help out to crack down on the recent surge of organized crime.

I did ask if he knew anything, but both Lance and Clair said that all they knew was that the members were a part of organized crime. They didn't know who the leaders were nor where they were based. However, the both of them did say that they wouldn't allow criminals to act with impunity and said that they would be more than happy to assist me if I found out anything, which I thanked them for.

After that, Lance asked me if I had questions for the two of them, which I said that I didn't after thinking it through. Then we wrapped up our meeting and the two of them thanked me for my support, and we exchanged a promise to honour our agreements. Lance also informed me that he will be writing to the clan shortly to allow my family's Moomoo milk to be sold in Blackthorn, and that they should contact my parents shortly.

Additionally, as a show of good faith, he wrote an initial order for their Pokeshop, authorized in his name, for an order of Moomoo milk to prove his sincerity. I thanked him.

I then managed to slip out away from the crowd from one of the Gym's side entrances, before I hopped onto Port and made my way back home again.

Overall, I was more than happy with how the meeting played out, more so that I didn't need to depend on rely on Giovanni at all to get through it. I was happy to foster good relations with Lance, and I hoped that this would be the start of a long-lasting friendship. I felt that I had earned his respect, both with my victory over Drake, and now with me being able to stand up to the two of them with my requests. Not only that, but I had gotten what I wanted. A promise to end the stagnation that was currently plaguing Kanto, as well as his political support on any of my own proposals, and a reaffirmation that I would not suddenly be kicked off the Elite Four. Sure, they were just promises, but there were no such thing as contractual agreements in politics.

After all, I had no intentions for removing Lance as Champion, so I hoped we wouldn't have any conflicts of interests in the future.

Of course, my enthusiasm was stifled by the fact that Team Rocket was still a very huge problem that I didn't currently have any solutions for, but I had to take my wins when I got them.

I just hoped I would finally have a week or so to actually relax and unwind, but I knew that, with the current political climate of Indigo, it was a fool's dream.