Latest Update: August 23, 2023
Summary: For most, becoming a member of the Elite 4 would be the culmination of their Journey. A great achievement that solidified your status in the annals of history. For me, it was just the start of my journey. Hopefully, everything stays Normal.
A pre-canon self-insert into the world of Pokémon.
Link: https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-new-normal-a-pokémon-elite-4-si.1076757/reader/
Word Count:230k
Chapters:68
The New Normal 1-1 – Returning Home
Flying home from winning the Indigo Conference definitely felt different. A lot of stress and anticipation had gone away, and I felt far more relaxed than I ever was before. Sure, I still had things to worry about, especially from my latest victory, but I can at least tell myself that I had not wasted this second life in the Pokémon world.
From my view up above on Port, I could already see the family home on the outskirts of Cerulean City, which the farm seemed to have grown larger since the last time I visited, and my parents holding up a large red banner that said, "Congratulations John!" and little Whitney was holding up her own small banner of "Best Elite 4 Member!" I smiled despite myself; it was always nice to see the support and encouragement that my family unhesitatingly provided to me.
Port landed safely on the edge of the farmhouse, and I was quickly glomped by my sister. Whitney had a beaming smile on her face and was babbling her congratulations to me. My parents also joined in the hug with their own smiles and I had to hold back tears at our joyful reunion.
"I'm home." I managed to eek out, eliciting small smiles from my family.
"Welcome back, John. We're so proud of you." My mother said while hugging me ever so tightly. My father also nodded and patted me on the shoulder in agreement.
"Mantine! Mantine!" exclaimed Port in happiness, making Whitney giggle as she ran over to pat my Mantine on the head.
After the moment of reunion passed, I was invited back home to have dinner with my family. As I saw the great piles of food that my mother had prepared for dinner, I smiled again at the newfound prosperity that my family had finally achieved through my own success. No more vegetable and rice dinners.
Whitney spent the entire dinner being super excited about my final battle against Shin, with my parents failing to try to curb her enthusiasm. She went on and on about how cool my Normal types were, and wanted to know everything that I knew. I happily doted on Whitney's enthusiasm as usual and answered as many of her questions as I could. She also talked about her new Miltank, which our parents had finally allowed her to begin training, and she asked for as many training tips as I could provide. I promised that before I left, I would oversee her training process and give her advice as needed.
"John, your swearing in ceremony is tomorrow, right?" My father cut in. I gave a hum to that as I shovelled more rice into my mouth.
"I don't mean to overly worry you John, but those Johto Elite 4 members might not be very welcoming to a Kantonian like you. Especially with your age." I frowned slightly at that, but it was not something that was unexpected, and I said as much to my father.
"You're right dad, but they will respect my strength if nothing else. Walker is on the way out anyways, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was replaced soon."
"And Agatha is from Kanto anyways, Jack." My mother said to my father before patting his hand with hers to reassure him, "John's already done so much and has gone so far, I believe he can handle a bit of politicking."
"Yeah!" my sister chimed in, "And brother's Slaking will beat them up if they're mean!"
We all chuckled at that. Whitney always had a way of bringing up the mood. She was such an innocent ball of boundless enthusiasm and positivity. As a reward, I patted her on the head while giving her a piece of meat from my plate that I knew she liked. She gave me a cheeky smile in response.
The remainder of dinner passed by uneventfully, though happily. As my parents somehow managed to coax Whitney to bed, my parents and I settled down in the living room to discuss the family business.
"Your mother has told me that the family business has been doing very well ever since you advertised it in your matches," father started, "She ran the numbers, and we agreed on purchasing more Miltank so that we can increase Moomoo milk production."
"The new Miltank have been doing well," my mother continued while looking down at the paperwork, "and honestly our profits from our Moomoo milk business are much larger than what Jack and I have initially predicted." She passed the paperwork to me.
I looked through the numbers on the account. It was clear that the small family business was small no longer. With me acting as free advertisement, the Smith's Moomoo milk was becoming a staple amongst trainers and its popularity was booming. We were selling our Moomoo milk directly to Pokéshops around Kanto, which was always a sign that something was in high demand and becoming mainstream.
Unfortunately, that meant that the demand for the Moomoo milk was much higher than what we could produce with our farm. I pointed this out to my parents and suggested that we buy more land.
"Yes, that's what Angela and I thought as well." My father said. "We've already filled in the paperwork to apply for the purchase of more land, but we want you to sign it before we send it in."
I was confused for a moment, and my mom caught on to that confusion.
"You see, John, many in the Cerulean council still know us as those poor country-hicks running a run-down farm. Those in the council look down on the Smith name, as it is both a common name and does not have an affluent reputation." My mother said with a slight grimace, as if remembering our poorly past, "However, if you sign it and make it clear who you are and the title you hold, that will make things much easier for us."
I unconsciously grit my teeth as I heard that and fought to prevent a scowl from showing. I knew how hard my parents struggled to raise myself and Whitney with their mediocre income, and I saw time and time again how many in Cerulean shunned and mocked us for our miserly lifestyle.
'No, you don't have to worry about it anymore.' I assured myself, 'I made it to the Elite 4. They won't look down on us anymore. I'll make sure my parents business thrives even more.'
I gave my parents a nod of agreement as I reached over to sign the paperwork. As I did so, I reaffirmed my vows to make sure that my family will be able to live prosperous lives and not have to worry about money ever again. I had already achieved great personal success, and now I had to make sure that I could share my personal success with my family.
After signing the paperwork, I asked what the plan was for the new land.
"Well, Jack was saying how we should wait until the new Miltank have adapted to the new land." My mother said, "We wanted to see how much space the Miltank have to roam and if we can manage the feeding and maintenance of so many Miltank with just us 2 in the long-term."
"Have you considered hiring a couple of employees to help with the Miltank?" I asked.
"Of course," my dad remarked, "But we didn't want to hire any before we needed them. We will see how many Miltank we can manage ourselves, and if we need more hands or if we want to purchase more Miltank than yes, we'll be getting a few employees."
I smiled at that, "It looks like we'll be becoming more than just a simple family business." I joked.
My father gave a small laugh at that, "yes, we're becoming successful businessmen." My mother leaned into my father as he said this, and they rested their heads on each other.
I knew that my dad had always wanted to run a successful business, and my mom was always supportive. I gazed upon my parents embracing with a solemn, yet happy, mien and I captured this image of happiness and stored it deep within my heart. This happiness was what I worked so hard to achieve. But this was just the beginning.
I would ensure my parents would want for nothing. I would ensure that Whitney would never have to worry about doing odd jobs just to bolster the family income. I would ensure that none would look down at my family with scorn and disgust ever again.
This I do swear.
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With the business discussion out of the way, my parents retired to bed for the night. I told them I would join them after releasing my Pokémon in the farm, as they were too big to fit in the house.
As I walked into the stables, I could see that the Miltanks were already asleep in various spots and positions around the stable. However, one Miltank that was far muscular than its counterparts was still awake, and it mooed at me when it saw me. I immediately recognised that this was Whitney's starter.
I gave a wave in response as I walked slowly towards it. I patted it on the head as it mooed quietly in appreciation.
"It's good to see you again Miltank," I started, "I can see that Whitney has already begun your training."
"Moo, mooooo, mil." I smiled in response to Miltank's bragging. Although humans were unable to understand precisely what a Pokémon was saying, those who spend enough time around a specific Pokémon will eventually unconsciously be able to understand and interpret what that Pokémon is saying.
"Yes, I can see that you're very strong now Miltank," I praised, "But don't get too cocky. There will always be Pokémon stronger than you. Always keep training and never give up." I admonished slightly with a waggle of my finger.
Miltank nodded at this, and I gave it another pat on the head in return. Then I grabbed the Pokéballs on my belt and released my Pokémon into the field.
Eight pokemon of varied sizes emerged onto the field with a white glow. I looked around with a proud nod as I watched my Pokémon all having their own prideful satisfactions on their faces. They were still cheerful about our recent victory, and deservingly so.
"Blissey! Blissey, Bliss!" Klee wrapped me in a careful hug of her own that I returned. Despite her rotund appearance, Klee was more than capable of crushing every bone in my body if she wished. Not that she would, she was always the most motherly of my Pokémon and often gave the most hugs.
Our hug was rudely interrupted with a loud groaning noise from Smough's stomach. Despite feeding him less than 3 hours ago, Smough unsurprisingly had an insatiable appetite. Snorlax in general were often prohibitively expensive to raise and maintain due to their eating habits, and if it were not for my successes, I would not have been able to raise him.
"Ok Smough I got it." I broke away from Klee's hug as I reached into my backpack for the giant Pokéblocks that I had specifically for Smough. I grabbed a few blocks that were half a square meter each and fed them to Smough, who ate them with relish.
Smough groaned happily at the food, which made me smile and I patted him softly on the belly. Seeing Smough's snack, Vordt also lumbered forward on all fours for a snack. It tried to persuade me by giving me its Baby Doll Eyes, but they aren't as effective as they were when he was a small Teddiursa. An Ursuluna looking at you with baby doll eyes just looks scary and unsettling, not cute.
Still, I thought about his request for a brief moment, before deciding to allow it as we were all in a celebratory mood. I fed him a few smaller Pokéblocks with some berries as a snack for Vordt.
As I gazed away from Smough and Vordt's happy eating, I watched Zephyr flying around as Pidgeots are wont to do with Port with Klaus galloping after them on the ground as usual. Despite its non-avian appearance and lack of wings, Klaus was actually able to chase after the two Flying Pokémon in the air through the creative use of Psychic shields that he leaped on to gain and maintain height. The three of them always had far too much energy to expend and loved racing each other, but I happily allowed it as it was good training for them.
In complete contrast to this, my starter, Tyrant, was predictably already asleep on the ground. While that was extremely common for Slaking, Tyrant was always an Early Bird, so he was much less lazy than his other Slaking counterparts. He was also a complete battle lover, and that offset much of his laziness as he actually often preferred to train and battle instead.
I looked around again to see Luna in a group with Klee and Miltank, gesturing happily with each other. They seemed to have become fast friends and were quick to share stories of their training with each other. I laughed softly to myself as I watched them communicate, imagining my two greatest defensive Pokémon training Miltank to be another unstoppable wall.
I sat down on the grass as I continued watching my Pokémon with content and pride. No matter what anyone tells me, I will always attribute my victories and successes to my Pokémon. Sure, I had an advantage with my past life meta-knowledge, but it was only through my Pokémon's strength and determination that carried me through both Kanto's and Johto's gyms to become the victor of this year's Indigo Conference and the youngest member of the Elite 4.
Before I headed off for bed though, I reached for my notepad as I went over my personal notes again. Everything in my notes was written in English, which differed from the standard Pokémon language that they used in this world. This meant that anyone who secretly read my notes would be unable to understand anything.
Contemplating my notes for a moment, I thought about my next steps in gaining more personal success. My rebirth into the world of Pokémon was an unexplained blessing that I would forever treasure and be thankful for, and I promised myself that I would make the most of it.
To that end, I have been making great use of my meta-knowledge to deliberately put myself in the spotlight and to generate popularity. So far, I have used my meta-knowledge to 'find' two new evolutions for Pokémon. Looking through the Pokénet, my victory in the Indigo Conference and my discovery of the new evolutions have brought me international recognition across all three regions, with many acknowledging both my strength as a trainer and my scientific mind.
In the future, I planned to release my 'discovery' of the Fairy type, using Luna as a shining example of the 'new' type. Of course, I had already informed my Pokémon about Luna's pure Fairy typing, as a few of my more observant Pokémon like Vordt and Tyrant have already sensed that Luna's typing differed from the rest. Luckily, my Pokémon had no problems with this and they also promised to keep it secret from other Pokémon.
However, I reminded myself to make sure that I stagger my discoveries, both because I only have a limited amount of meta-knowledge and because too many discoveries within a short period lessens the impact. Through careful planning, I should be able to stretch out my discoveries to maximize my own popularity.
Though it may seem overly calculating for me to do this, I inwardly justify my desire for popularity as I intend to use that popularity to both improve my family's business, and also prevent some of the disasters that the evil teams are always scheming with in the Pokémon world.
No matter how strong my Pokémon may be, they would be crushed all the same by a Legendary. And I highly doubt that I have the power of anime or protagonist power necessary to befriend and calm them, so I won't be taking my chances with them. It would be better for me to stop the evil teams before they awaken their Legendaries, rather than after.
And in order to stop the evil teams, especially the ones outside of Indigo, I would need to be a popular and respected public figure that people can trust. Thus, my selfish desire for popularity is actually a selfless desire to save the world from rampaging Legendaries!
At least that's what I tell myself.
I ended up putting down my notepad before browsing the Pokénet for a while. Already there were plenty of articles and comments about my latest battle and I could see that a couple of articles were spreading about my family's business, meaning that attaching the family's Moomoo badge on my jacket during the battle had paid off. Hopefully, that's going to lead to more sales in the future.
There was a ton of speculation about whether I would challenge Pryce for the title of Champion, but that was never in my plans. I was cautiously confident in my ability to beat Pryce, but even if I were to attain the title, many would see a 16-year-old champion to be unsuitable for the position and there would be much opposition. It would be safer to remain as an Elite 4 member for some time to both prove myself as a trainer and as a pillar of Indigo before making any future plans about becoming Champion.
Besides, being Champion was overkill anyway. Being the youngest Elite 4 member was sufficient enough for my purposes.
I ended up yawning, checked the time, and found that it was almost midnight. I looked around and saw that my Pokémon had dispersed into familiar groups, where they were either chatting quietly or sleeping. I said my goodbyes to them and went back into the house.
Before I went to into my room though, I quietly entered Whitney's room to make sure she was safe and asleep. I smiled as I found her snuggling her Teddiursa plushie that I bought for her years ago and sleeping soundly. I patted her softly on the head, making sure not to wake her, before heading back to my old room.
I performed a quick check to make sure that I had a good suit and tie for my swearing in ceremony tomorrow, and then went to bed. My old bed creaked loudly at my weight, and the mattress was clearly old and needed to be replaced.
Despite the fact that it wasn't the comfiest of beds, it was still good to be home.
Link: https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-new-normal-a-pokémon-elite-4-si.1076757/reader/