Chapter 58: 225

Chapter 58: 225

The New Normal – 10-17 – The Dual Champions

Lance and I walked off the battle arena together, though we both stayed silent. Not out of awkwardness or because we were uncomfortable, but because we both were thinking carefully about the battle that just happened.

Or more like we were both engraving it into our minds, and had still yet to snap out of the adrenaline and rush of the fight.

Either way, we weren't about to continue fighting in the remaining 2v5. That just wasn't on the cards right now – not with our strongest Pokémon either badly injured or fainted and because we were just both so out of it at the moment that we couldn't really concentrate on another fight.

It took me until we had left the arena entirely for me to regain some of my wits.

"...It was a good fight, Lance." I finally said to him, "I'm glad it happened."

My words seem to have snapped him out of his own thoughts, "Hm? Oh, yes. Apologies. I was thinking deeply about something." Then he extended an arm for me to shake, "I should have done this earlier. But you deserve it. Well done, John. I truly didn't think I would see Emperor lose in a battle of strength, but that just goes to show that I still have much to improve."

"Thank you, but that match could have gone either way." I did my best to remain humble, fully aware that the fight was an extremely close one. "You could have won the rematch."

"Perhaps, yet it was still your victory. I won't make excuses for myself." Lance shook his head, "You won fair and square. You matched me at my best and won. It was your undisputed victory, close as it may be. But it was your victory nevertheless."

He placed a hand on my shoulder, "I may be prone to indulging in my pride, but I'm not going to be bitter about this loss. I saw what your Tyrant could do. I saw his strength with my own two eyes, and I witnessed his every blow. His every attack. His every grunt of exertion. Tyrant truly is deserving to be the Pokémon that toppled a Champion."

I was taken aback by the honesty that I felt in his words. I had thought that Lance would have been a bit bitter at his defeat. Show match or not, it wasn't great for a Champion to ever lose a match. To anyone.

Even if the battle was between the two most powerful Pokémon anyone had ever seen in their lives.

I assumed he would be more upset at his loss, yet I couldn't be more wrong. He seemed almost proud of me, which I thought was odd, until I saw the excited gleam and hunger in his eyes.

I realized at that moment that he was excited because he finally had another goal. He had someone that he could test himself against. Someone that could serve as his rival and goal. Because before his defeat, he was at the top of the world. The Champion acknowledged by other Champions.

But it was lonely at the top.

So I smiled at Lance, understanding what he must be feeling. "Thank you, Lance. Truly. It means a lot to be acknowledged so highly by someone like you."

"Then take my words to heart, but don't let yourself grow stagnant because of it." He advised, "I will be looking for that rematch one day. And I do hope that your Tyrant will grow even further."

"He will." I promised, and we shared a silent vow with our eyes to fight once again in the future.

"...Good. But don't forget – you might have matched my starter in a battle, but in a proper fight you would still have to deal with the rest of my team." He pointed out, "So don't get too cocky."

I nodded firmly, "I understand." And truthfully, I wasn't entirely confident that I could defeat his whole team cleanly. I'd have a shot of winning, but not a very good one. I felt that his team were collectively more powerful than mine.

That was my new goal. With Tyrant having proven himself, I wanted my team to do the same. I might have taken down Lance's starter in a 1v1 fight, but I wanted to get my entire team to the point where they could comfortably defeat any of the Champions in a full 6v6 battle. I would ensure that my team, not just my starter, would be known as the strongest.

Yet there was one other thing on my mind, "Is this defeat going to cause you problems?" I asked him.

He chuckled, "It's nothing I can't handle. It would only be a problem if you intended to replace me as Champion, but I'm assuming you're holding on to your previous statements about not wanting the position?" I nodded, "Then I have nothing to worry about. The Blackthorns will continue to support me as always, and I know that the Committee don't have the spine to jump on this opportunity so long as you all in the Elite Four continue to support me. Nothing will really change after a week or two."

"At most I'll get trashed in the papers for my defeat, but that's hardly of consequence, especially not when it was you that defeated me." He continued, "I appreciate the concern, John, but I'll be fine."

Well since Lance seemed confident, there was nothing else I really needed to say. But there was still one more thing, "Also, just to give you a heads up, but assuming Cynthia also wins her match, then we will be making a public announcement of our relationship at the closing ceremony."

He grinned, "Ah, so it's finally happening then. Well, I wish you both the best of luck. Though considering your victory just now, I doubt you'd need it."

I smiled back, "Thank you, but for time being I want to get a better view of the fight." I said as I began walking out of the waiting room, "I'm going to head to the viewing area and try to find my family. Want to come along?"

He shook his head, "No, I'll head out by myself. I don't want to intrude on your time with them. My presence might make things a little awkward."

Accepting that, I gave a quick farewell to Lance before heading to the VIP viewing area where I believed my family was watching. As I looked around for them, I noticed that the next match had yet to start, because they were still tidying up our mess from the previous fight and quickly rebuilding a new arena because we had so utterly destroyed the last one.

Oops.

It took me some time to find where my family was sitting, especially with how crowded even the VIP area was, but I did eventually spot and sat down next to my family, who was also accompanied by Karen - all of whom greeted me with wide and large smiles.

"John! You did it!" My sister was the most excited out of everyone there, "You actually did it!"

"Why do you sound so surprised?" I chuckled, "Did you think I would lose?"

"Well, no...but that's Lance's starter Dragonite! Everyone knows how strong it is!" Whitney waved her hands desperately as she tried to explain, "Even if I knew Tyrant was strong – I really didn't think you'd beat it...but I'm happy you did!" She quickly tacked that last part on, almost like she had just remembered that she was speaking to her brother.

Despite her questionable support for my victory, I was still happy to hear her words regardless. Still, I had to tease her, "Tyrant would be disturbed if he heard about your lack of faith in him."

"Okay, let's not tease your sister. I think you got the point across." Karen spoke up and rubbed my sister's head, "Congratulations, John. It was the greatest fight I'd ever seen. The old hag agrees, even if she tried to hide it. She's still a little salty that you defeated her."

I grinned, "Tell her to not hold it against me, please. I had a battle with Lance that I had to get to."

Then my mom, who had been waiting around with increasing impatience, finally couldn't wait and pulled me into a really tight hug, "Oh I'm so proud of you John. I never thought that this would where you'd end up when you went on that journey all that time ago. We thought we failed you when you had a Slakoth of all things as a starter because we couldn't afford a better one for you."

I smiled in my mom's embrace, "It's fine. I chose him, remember? I could have taken another Pokémon, but I was confident that Tyrant was right for me."

"And he sure was." My dad nodded, "Who would have thought that you would end up beating Lance's starter in an one on one fight like that? Do you know how crazy and loud the crowd went when you won? It nearly shattered my eardrums."

"I wasn't really paying attention." I admitted, "I was still running on adrenaline."

"Yeah, bro, dad's right. The reaction from everyone was INSANE!" My sister explained, "It was like the world was holding their breath when Tyrant threw down Emperor for that last time. We all were waiting to see if Emperor would be getting up or not."

"I'm pretty sure you secured some serious fans for life." Karen added, "I know for a fact that everyone treated you as the underdog going in, thinking that you'd put up a good fight but still lose. But then you actually won. That basically cemented your reputation around the world as being one of the strongest trainers still active."

I couldn't deny that I was pleased to hear that. To be acknowledged like that was a dream come true. Not only for me, but for Tyrant as well. It was what he and I had worked so hard for, and he had finally, truly, gotten the recognition that he deserved.

What kept me grounded was the knowledge that I still had to get my other Pokémon up to Tyrant's level, which was my new goal. I was greedy – I wouldn't be satisfied with just Tyrant being acknowledged as the strongest Pokémon out there, I wanted EVERYONE on my team to be viewed the same way.

Then a pinch on the cheek forcefully dragged me out of my self-praise, "Don't let those compliments worm their way into your head." Karen reminded me, "You only beat him one on one. You still haven't defeated his whole team yet."

I pulled myself away from her, freeing my cheeks, "I know, I know. But it was nice to win anyways."

She rolled her eyes, "That I have no doubt. To be fair, if I was in your position, I would probably be too excited to sit down."

Then she coughed, "Anyways, enough about that. I think the battle that your girlfriend is fighting in is starting."

My sister passed me her drink as I sat down to enjoy the match in front of me. After that gruelling battle against Lance, it was nice to be on the spectator's side for once.

Plus, I had to root for my girlfriend. If I won, then it was only fitting if she won as well, right?

"...LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE ARE BACK! I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THAT INCREDIBLE, NO, UNFORGETTABLE BATTLE BETWEEN LANCE AND JOHN, BECAUSE WE STILL HAVE ANOTHER FIGHT HERE FOR YOU! YOU'VE ALREADY BEEN INTRODUCED, SO LET'S NOT WASTE ANY MORE TIME AND GET STRAIGHT INTO IT!"

"IT'S CYNTHIA AND WALLACE VS DRAKE, DAISY, ROXANNE, CANDICE, AND PRYCE! AND IT'S TIME TO BATTLE!"

"THREE!...TWO!....ONE!...FIGHT!"

Wallace and Cynthia sent out their Milotic and Garchomp respectively. In the meanwhile, Drake sent out his Salamence, Daisy her Gyarados, Roxanne her Probopass, Candice her Froslass, and Pryce his Mamoswine.

They had all chosen their starters. This was going to be a fun fight.

==========

(Cynthia POV)

As she expected, they all chose to send out their strongest Pokémon. But after watching the battle between John and Lance, she was extra determined to put on a performance worthy of what they had just seen.

If John could do that much, then there was no way she would be found wanting.

Her Garchomp had already burrowed into the ground while Wallace's Milotic took centre stage and drew attention to itself. A harsh Sandstorm was immediately whipped up around the arena.

In the meanwhile, Drake's Salamence had taken to the air, just as she expected. While that would put it out of range of most of her attacks, it also created distance between Salamence and her Garchomp.

And she was going to put that distance to good use.

Without any warning, her Garchomp came bursting out of the ground, catching Froslass completely by surprise as she had just finished setting up the Snow. Seeing its ally in danger, Mamoswine roared and rushed over to impale Garchomp on its menacing tusks, but Garchomp had already smashed a dizzying Iron Head into Froslass, before following up with a quick Shadow Claw that ripped through and savaged the dazed Ice type.

Froslass was given no quarter – no opportunity to fight back.

At the same time, Probopass was blasted by a powerful torrent of water as Milotic unleashed a Hydro Pump that hit it head on, with the Rock type taken by surprise as it was too focused on trying to hit Garchomp. Probopass whirled painfully as it was overwhelmed by the gushing tide of water, forcing it back.

Froslass was hardly doing any better, and the combo of attacks from Garchomp had nearly taken it out of the fight already. But then Mamoswine came charging in with its tusks gleaming menacingly in the Snow, forcing her Garchomp to meet the new challenger head on with a Brick Break.

But Pryce's Mamoswine wasn't an Ex-Champion's starter for nothing, and it shrugged off the Brick Break before it tried to impale Garchomp with its razor sharp tusks.

That was when another Hydro Pump came crashing into Mamoswine's side, suddenly knocking the Ice type away. This bought enough time for her Garchomp to burst forwards with a Dragon Rush and finish off the injured Froslass with a devastating Crunch, snapping down on the Ice and Ghost type hard with its deadly jaws.

Froslass tried to break free, but Garchomp was unrelenting, and another vicious Shadow Claw eviscerated the struggling Froslass.

The frail Froslass fell, not having achieved anything but set up the Snow and replacing the Sandstorm. Cynthia felt a little bad for her friend, but now wasn't the time for this.

This was the strategy that she had come up with Wallace. Being outnumbered as they were, they HAD to begin the battle with a blistering offense to take down their weaker foes and cut down their huge numbers advantage. That would be her role, while Wallace was in charge of stalling out one of the bigger threats that they faced.

That was the only way they could win.

Plus, knocking out Froslass didn't mean her starter would have a moment of reprieve. Turning to Milotic, she saw that it would no longer be able to assist her Garchomp with further Hydro Pumps – as it was now being entangled with both Gyarados AND Salamence pummelling into it from both sides.

As they predicted, Drake's Salamence was the real problem. Impressive though Milotic's defenses may be, Salamence hit very hard, and it was savaging Milotic with a relentless maelstrom of violence.

Each rake of Salamence's claws and each impact from its tail sent Milotic skidding back with a wince, while Gyarados stepped in with a Thunder Fang, assisting Salamence in their attempt to completely suppress Milotic.

Yet Milotic wasn't Wallace's starter for nothing. It had already set up an Aqua Ring that Wallace had previously informed Cynthia would heal far more than a regular Aqua Ring. Plus, despite the injuries that it was taking, considering how powerful Salamence was, the fact that Milotic was tanking through both their attacks at all was extremely impressive and a testament to its unbreakable defenses.

It was only due to the addition of Gyarados' that kept Milotic pinned. It was clear to Cynthia that Salamence alone would struggle to overwhelm Milotic.

So with that in mind, Cynthia recognised that Gyarados was her next target. She knew from her research that it wouldn't be able to withstand more than a few Thunder Fangs from Garchomp and would go down pretty quickly.

But she needed to find a way to separate her Garchomp from the dogged pursuit of Pryce's Mamoswine. As she quickly ran through her options, Roxanne's Probopass had recovered from its earlier pummelling and valiantly tried to slow down Garchomp by unleashing its own volley of Flash Cannons and Earth Powers – yet they were little more than an annoyance to her Garchomp. Ultimately, Probopass was too slow and weak to be anything else.

Therefore, she realised that she couldn't afford to waste time trying to engage Mamoswine in a brawl. Even if she'd win that, it would take too long and Milotic would be knocked out way before that. Simply Digging away wouldn't do, because that was just asking to get annihilated by an Earthquake.

In the end, she decided to take something from the previous fight between John and Lance.

"OUTRAGE! RUSH THOSE TWO DOWN!"

Her Garchomp exploded with draconic energy as she instantly blitzed forwards, slamming hard into the Probopass before another Brick Break sent it crashing into the ground. Not even giving Probopass another look, Garchomp immediately pivoted on the spot, dodging past an Ice Beam, and rammed into Mamoswine – who was unprepared to take a powerful hit so soon and staggered backwards.

Then another Brick Break from Garchomp smashed powerfully into the top of Mamoswine's head, causing it to flinch and have its head bashed into the ground. An Earthquake instantly followed, causing Mamoswine to collapse onto its knees and fall over while also dealing some heavy damage to Probopass as well, even though it wasn't the primary target.

Without needing her to give any orders, her Garchomp instinctively recognised the opportunity in front of it and rushed down Probopass to finish it off with a final 4x supereffective Brick Break, shattering its defenses and taking it out of the fight.

"NOW! GO ON GYARADOS!"

"PROTECT, GYARADOS!"

Using the small window of opportunity that Garchomp's sudden burst of aggression provided, she turned on the spot and flew forwards towards Gyarados, who had pre-emptively set up a Protect shield.

Unfortunately for Gyarados, that meant that it was no longer attacking Milotic. Milotic took full advantage of that and fired a sweeping beam of Ice towards both Salamence and Gyarados.

Salamence was forced to pull up and cancel its next attack, while the Ice Beam bounced harmlessly off Gyarados' Protect shield as it was expended.

And that was when Garchomp crashed straight into the Water type, tackling it with fangs crackling with thunderous energy.

Gyarados let out a growl of pain as Garchomp crunched deeply into it, her fangs releasing a painful amount of electricity that surged into the Gyarados. Salamence instantly changed targets and dove into Garchomp's back, but Milotic moved with surprising swiftness to interrupt Salamence, putting itself in the way of the Dragon's charge – which it easily tanked.

Pissed off at being ignored, Mamoswine let out a roar and formed enormous spears of ice that came piercing down out of the sky in a rain of Icicle Spears that blanketed where the fighting was happening.

The spears of ice rained down indiscriminately, hitting both friend and foe with equal measure. Salamence was barely able to disengage and avoid the attack, but Cynthia had Garchomp commit to finishing off Gyarados as quickly as possible.

"Thunder Fang again, Garchomp!"

I arrived to where I was supposed to be, where I found the rest of the Top 3 and all the Champions staring at me, many of them with amused looks on their faces.

I raised my hands, "In my defence, Lance said I could go sit with my family." I shamelessly placed the blame on our Champion.

He just responded with another shameless shrug, "I forgot that you needed to come here earlier."

Pryce scoffed, "It's not like a Blackthorn to forget about a moment to show off. You must be losing your touch – and your strength." He taunted.

Lance's eyes narrowed, "I don't want to hear that from you, Gym Leader. Or did I imagine it when I saw your Mamoswine get run around in circles by Cynthia's Garchomp? A Dragon beating your Ice type, no less."

"I think we can table this discussion at a later date." Wallace smiled genially as he interrupted Pryce before he could fire back, "We're about to be on stage – it's no good if we look grumpy when we're on it."

"But I always look grumpy, especially since we lost." Drake muttered, getting a consoling pat on the back from Daisy as the rest of us chuckled. It helped ease the tension.

At that point, the big doors opened, revealing the hastily repaired arena and exposing us to the shouts of the crowd once again. There was also a newly setup podium set up as well. One League official tried to order us to walk onstage in neat lines, but practically everyone ignored him as we walked forwards at our own pace in one big group.

We weren't children.

I took this opportunity to walk next to Cynthia, "It's time for the announcement." I whispered to her.

"Yes, I already told Wallace that we had something to announce. He's okay with it." She whispered back. "And I've already run everything past my Elite Four. They're happy with it too."

That was good, "So no further troubles?" I asked.

She shook her head.

That reassured me, "Also, my family wants to meet you after this." I said to her.

"I was just thinking the same." She nodded, "Is Karen going to be there too?"

"She's here as well." I confirmed, hoping that this wouldn't cause issues.

"Then I'll be happy to meet her as well." Cynthia replied, "Let's talk about that later. We have an announcement to make."

I agreed and carefully distanced myself from her as we arrived at the podium. The Champions stood on the higher step, while the rest of us stayed one step behind.

There was only one microphone, but apparently the Champions had already decided that, as the host, Wallace was going to be one making the speech today.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT THAT YOU HAVE SHOWN TO OUR PARTICIPANTS THROUGHOUT THIS TRI-REGIONAL TOURNAMENT! WE HOPE YOU WERE SUFFICIENTLY ENTERTAINED!"

"AS THIS TOURNAMENT WAS MY BRAINCHILD, I WAS ECSTATIC TO SEE JUST HOW MUCH PEOPLE SEEMED TO HAVE ENJOYED THIS EVENT! AND SO I ASK THIS OF YOU – WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE ANOTHER TOURNAMENT LIKE THIS HOSTED SOMETIME NEXT YEAR?!"

The crowd SCREAMED their approval. They wanted a redo of this event next year as much as I did.

Wallace smiled as he spread his arms wide, "THEN SO BE IT! I WILL BE DISCUSSING THIS MATTER WITH MY FELLOW CHAMPIONS TO SEE IF WE CAN HOST ANOTHER TOURNAMNET JUST LIKE THIS IN THE COMING YEAR! I CAN ALSO PROMISE THAT IT WON'T JUST BE THE SAME REHASH OF THIS TOURNAMENT, BUT WE WILL BE LOOKING TO SHAPE THINGS UP SO THAT YOU MAY ALL GET A NEW AND EXCITING EXPERIENCE EVERY TIME!"

That got the audience hyped up even further, with many of them cheering in support for Wallace as he worked up the crowd. Wallace allowed himself to bask in the attention for a moment before he continued.

"BUT BEFORE THAT, WE MUST CLOSE OUT THIS ONE AND HONOUR THOSE WHO HAVE MANAGED TO CLIMB TO THE VERY TOP OF THEIR PEERS TO FACE THE CHAMPIONS IN BATTLE! PLEASE GIVE A HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE TO THE TOP 3 PAIRS THAT MADE IT HERE!"

And then came the moment for pictures as we were shown off to the crowd. For the lesser known Gym Leaders with non-established reputations, this was a big moment for them to get their faces out there and for them to build up their reputation. The trio of Roxanne, Daisy and her Gym Leader sisters, and Candice were all waving cheerfully to the crowd as they made the most of this opportunity.

Even the oldies were playing nice, since anyone valued the opportunity to remind the public that their strength hadn't been slipping. While Drake and Pryce all had storied histories with a series of established victories, it was still nice to demonstrate to the public that they were still as strong as their reputations might suggest.

Especially for Pryce. The man proved that he even though he dropped to becoming a Gym Leader, his strength was still worthy to be a match for a Champion. Or at least an Elite Four.

With that done, the 'prizes' were awarded. Wallace had to scrap the idea of the smaller, category-based prize awards this year due to a lack of time, so the overall reward was just money and a trophy for each of the pairs.

For what it's worth, the trophies were well-made, embossed in gold, and were individually customised. Mine and Roxanne's had the symbol of a Rock Type and Normal Type paired together, just like the rest of the Top 3 did with their own respective Typing. I didn't see a reason to keep it, so I generously allowed Roxanne to keep it displayed at her Gym. Better that than for it to be placed in my home where no one would really see it.

The money was...less remarkable, especially after it was split 6 ways. I was pretty sure the whole point was for them to give us one big cheque for each pair and have our picture taken while holding it, which was what happened. None of us would actually be keeping the money after all – it was common practice to donate such monetary rewards to charity at events like these.

However, that didn't stop Drake from calling Wallace a cheapskate under his breath.

With the prizes dished out and relevant photos taken, Wallace gave one final reminder that the Finals for the regions' respective Conferences were due to begin tomorrow and that the public had more to look out for. But before the Tournament could wrap up, Wallace had one last thing to announce.

"BUT BEFORE WE CAN FULLY WRAP UP THIS TOURNAMENT, I BELIEVE THAT OUR OTHER TWO VICTORS TODAY HAVE SOMETHING TO ANNOUNCE TO YOU ALL!" He gestured with his hand as Cynthia and I stepped to the podium.

The rest of the Top 3, who were uninformed of our plans, looked at us questioningly, but we ignored them. This was it.

"Thank you, Wallace." Cynthia began, "But John and I have something to announce to the public. Something that neither of us expected to happen, but were very glad that it did." The crowd looked confused, but her next words quickly silenced that confusion.

"John and I have recently started a relationship together." The crowd audibly gasped, but Cynthia pressed on before they could interrupt, "It is one built on mutual admiration, respect, and love, and was wholly independent of politics. And in the interests of transparency, we have decided that now was the most appropriate time to reveal it to the public."

I quickly followed up, "As we acknowledge the potential conflicts of interest at play here, we have both taken steps to minimize the possibility of bias from the two of us. On my end, I have already discussed this and came to an agreement with Champion Lance, and I have limited my own participation in any votes regarding any dealings with Sinnoh. Of course, this does not affect any deals that are for our mutual benefit or cooperation, and I will continue to work towards bringing our two regions closer together for the benefit of all."

"Likewise, I will be doing the same." Cynthia continued, "I have agreed with my Elite Four to reduce my voting power on any proposals directly involving Indigo to match those of my Elite Four. That way there can still be a fair vote on the benefits and disadvantages of such policies, while limiting the amount of personal bias that may influence our decisions."

"And therefore, these measures will help to ensure that we may continue our duties as we normally would, but we hope that we have your support and encouragement for our relationship moving forwards. Our relationship may not have been borne out of political considerations, but we do hope that this can serve as one of the many foundations for our respective regions to form a tighter bond between each other. We understand that a relationship between two high ranking figures have never happened before, but we hope to be able to set the standard and prove that a relationship like ours can and will work; both for us and for the benefit of our regions." I finished.

This was the same as what we had discussed beforehand, and we both were making full use of the momentum of our victories, and our individual reputations, to bring the public onto our side.

For me, I was very confident that my colleagues would likely stay neutral to this announcement and would not cause a fuss about it. More importantly, I knew that Lance had promised neutrality, which was good enough for me. Plus, on top of my victory just now, I had my strength and reputation to rely upon to generate goodwill. And my push for internationalism also helped significantly in this respect, since it was something I had championed even before I met Cynthia.

In the meanwhile, Cynthia told me that she had garnered a lot of trust and support within her Elite Four. Lucian apparently was especially supportive because he thought that this was an excellent opportunity to pull Sinnoh even closer to Indigo and thus would help Sinnoh settle in as being part of the international community. That, and her personal strength was more than proven, especially after this victory. Her position as Champion was easily considered to be stable.

As always, this society favoured strength, and having sufficient strength could stave off many a critic.

However, just as we both finished with our statements, Wallace unexpectedly took to the stage once again.

"...When the two of them told me they wanted to make an announcement, THIS was certainly not what I expected. I thought we were about to have another fight on our hands from our two victors." He chuckled at his own joke.

"However, let me the first to congratulate this new couple." He smiled at us, "I have always encouraged bringing our regions together – indeed, the main purpose of the Tri-Regional Tournament was to foster and encourage more international cooperation and to have the public cheering for members of different regions."

"So I see this relationship between two of our most prominent members of the two Leagues to be a remarkable step forwards in helping to build a prosperous and functional international community – full of cooperation and unity."

"But most importantly of all, I APPLAUD their bravery for making an announcement as momentous as this. I APPLAUD their integrity for choosing to voluntarily sacrifice some of their political power to ensure that there is as little bias as possible. And last, but certainly not least, I APPLAUD their love! For is it not the dream of every man and woman to find a partner that would fight to keep your relationship intact?"

Wallace stepped behind both of us and raised our arms into the air, clasping them together, "SO I SAY WE SHOULD CHEER FOR THIS NEW COUPLE! WE SHOULD CHEER FOR THIS NEW BRIDGE OF FRIENDSHIP THAT HAS BEEN BUILT BETWEEN THEIR REGIONS! AND WE SHOULD CHEER FOR THE PROSPERITY THAT IS SURE TO COME FROM THE UNITY AND HARMONY THAT THEY BUILD!"

THAT got the crowd worked up into a frenzy of approval. Wallace had said everything Cynthia and I had wanted to say but couldn't – because it wouldn't be right for those words to have come out from our mouths.

I immediately pulled Wallace into a hug, "Thank you." I whispered to him. He had done us a huge favour.

"You don't have to thank me." He replied with a smile as he patted me on the back, "I meant every word I said. I admire your bravery, and I truly think that if you can overcome the barriers between you two, then it will do wonders for our shared goal of creating a truly international community. Besides, it was only a matter of time before a relationship like yours popped up. I want it to go well, to set an example for the future."

"You sound like you knew about our relationship beforehand." Cynthia replied, though the gratitude and relief in her voice was unmistakable.

He chuckled, "I'm very good at spotting those. I figured there was something between you two as soon as I saw you watching his battle against Lance."

With that said, Wallace returned to the podium and finally wrapped up the closing ceremony, officially ending the Tournament. But at this point I doubted anyone was paying attention. They were likely buzzing about discussing my relationship with Cynthia.

Luckily, with huge thanks to Wallace, this appeared to be as good of a start as I was hoping for.

All of us exited the stage together, and the responses from my peers were mixed, though all positive. Drake slapped me across the back again with a cheeky grin, and Lance joined in and nearly toppled me over. While Candice was fussing all over Cynthia and asking for as many details as possible.

Roxanne and the Waterflower sisters were a mixture of curious and supportive, while Pryce ignored everything and grumbled. He was allergic to happiness.

But as we re-entered the waiting room, I realised that this also marked the end of my partnership with Roxanne.

"Thank you for being a wonderful and cooperative partner." I told her, "It made the Tournament a whole lot more interesting for me. And I hope it was for you as well."

She snorted, "I should be the one thanking you for bringing me this far." But then a small smile formed on her lips, "But I agree. This whole event was truly magnificent, and it wouldn't have been the same without you. We should really keep in touch. Oh, and congratulations once again, John. Both for your victory in battle and otherwise. You must be very happy." She tilted her head at Cynthia.

I chuckled, "Thank you. I'm as happy as you think I am. It went better than expected, both the Tournament and the announcement. And of course, I'll make sure to tell you if I'm ever in Hoenn again. I'll visit you at your Gym." We exchange similar promises together before the group split up from each other. Though Cynthia and I both thanked Wallace once more before leaving.

Cynthia and I made our way to where my family was waiting, but as we were heading over we were both suddenly stopped by Karen, who had been waiting for us just outside the staff-only zone.

I could feel the moment that Cynthia and Karen locked eyes together, but sparks had yet to fly. Instead, they appeared to be eyeing the other up, as if to take each other's measure now that they had finally met in person.

I knew this was the moment to stay silent. This wasn't for me to interfere with.

"It's a pleasure to meet you in person, Cynthia." Karen began, and I couldn't detect any sarcasm in her words, "That was quite the announcement. But I'm glad things went well and that you're taking care of John for us."

She chuckled, "He hardly needs baby-sitting. His victory against Emperor proved that well enough. Still, I'm always happy to accompany him as his partner."

"...It seems like your relationship has a lot of challenges that it has to overcome." Karen said slowly, "It sounds like things might be a little difficult."

"We're making it work. It probably won't be easy, but we're going to handle things on step at a time." Cynthia responded as she clasped her hand in mine. "We expected such challenges, and we will do what we can to overcome them. I'm not about to give up, and neither is he."

Cynthia smiled at Karen, "I'm just glad that he has good friends like you at home as well. I should have said so earlier, but thank you for being there for him in my absence. John told me how much time you guys spend together. You're practically family, I heard."

"I'm very thankful that his sister has taken a liking to me." Karen said, her voice taking a slight edge, "I'm very protective of her, you see."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Cynthia said. "From what John has told me, little Whitney is a very sweet girl. I won't do anything to make her unhappy."

"Anyways, from what I've read up on you, and from what John has told me – you seem to be looking to join the Elite Four soon?" Cynthia asked rhetorically, "I assume you'll be making a challenge if and when you win this Conference."

"I have plans to that effect, yes." Karen confirmed, "I hope to become peers with John."

"That's a good goal to have." Cynthia praised, "It'd be good for John to have more friends around his level."

Cynthia took a step forwards, "I look forward to welcoming you into the Elite Four, Karen. Having another friend in the Elite Four will be very useful to John in his fight for internationalism. I do hope you help him to bring Sinnoh and Indigo even closer together. It'll make our relationship a lot smoother."

From the way Karen's lips flattened slightly, there was definitely something I was missing here. The two of them exchanged nothing but friendliness with each other, but my gut was telling me that there was a little more subtext behind their exchanges than I could catch.

It wasn't exactly sarcasm, but more like...posturing? It was hard to tell.

Either way, I thought this had gone on for long enough, and I coughed to grab their attention, "Right, I think that's enough for the introductions. I think we should stop wasting time and introduce Cynthia to the rest of my family as well."

The two of them nodded and followed after me to where our family had been patiently waiting. As soon as Cynthia caught sight of my parents, she quickly made a beeline to them and introduced herself to them with a friendly smile on her face.

They were all very surprised at the suddenness of the public announcement, but were ultimately encouraging of our efforts. They appreciated the fact that we didn't need to hide our relationship anymore.

Especially my mom. But I suspected mothers' were always like that.

Of course, as soon as my sister started asking her questions, it was already too late for Cynthia. She was trapped to be subjected to an endless onslaught of questions from my family, where they began inquiring about every little thing they could think of.

I shook my head with a smirk. I was just thankful that Cynthia had the patience to deal with my well-meaning, if overly curious, family.

Seeing that my family's attention was firmly focused on Cynthia, I turned to Karen, who had been standing a small distance away with a blank look on her face.

"Something wrong?" I asked her. "You don't look happy."

"I'm wary, not unhappy." She clarified, "But I know that it's just my self-doubt acting up again. I know that you and your family won't replace me with Cynthia."

"She wouldn't do that. Cynthia knows how much I still value your friendship." I said to her. "And Whitney would never replace you."

"I know, she said as much." She replied, then she smirked at the look of confusion that had appeared on my face, "Or did you not realise from our conversation just now? She was marking her territory, though she wasn't rude about it."

"I think I must have missed that." I admitted, "Still, are you upset about it?"

"Not really." She shrugged, "I definitely expected this. Someone as headstrong and determined as her would do no less."

Then she smiled, "If anything, seeing how far the two of you are willing to go to make sure your relationship works out was just another reminder that I have my own dream to accomplish. A goal that I must achieve. So there's no time to wallow in self-doubt or what-ifs. I made that mistake once, and I'm not about to let it happen again."

She turned to stare at the arena, which was now being cleaned up, "...With the Tournament over, it means that the Finals are going to be starting soon. That means my break will be over and I'll be back into the fight."

I nodded, "Good luck with that."

"Thank you, but I shouldn't need your luck." She replied with conviction, "The old hag finally deserves to rest, you know? And it's my job to make sure that her retirement can happen in peace. She deserves no less."

Her eyes blazed with certainty, "So watch me, John. You've been my mentor and friend for long enough. Now will be the time that I finally become your peer."