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The New Normal - 15-10

The New Normal – 15-10 – Gyms and Dojos

The ‘controversy’ involving Bruno was very quick to die down as his critics swiftly realised that they weren’t about to win over the public, which was to be expected since Steven manufactured the whole thing.

However, thanks to the discussions that stemmed from it, which reinvigorated the discussions about whether foreigners could be made into League Officials in other regions, it also led to the topic of the ‘Mi...

The New Normal - 15-9

The New Normal – 15-9 – Controversies

As we hoped, the opening of the Battle Frontier was a great success, with trainers from all three regions flocking to the newly opened Battle Area to check out the new facilities and experience the three Battle stages for themselves.

From the statistics that Cynthia told me after the first three days of opening, Palmer and his Battle Tower was unsurprisingly the most popular, as his was the most traditional of the currentl...

The New Normal - 15-8 - Interlude - N

The New Normal – 15-8 – Interlude – N

“SO ARE YOU MY ENEMY, N?”

Ever since their fateful conversation, those final parting words from John’s Slaking continued to echo around his head. He agonised over them, spending many sleepless nights mentally debating with himself as to whether the path that he had followed – the path that Ghetsis had promised him was for the betterment of the wider world – was truly ...

The New Normal - 15-8

The New Normal – 15-8 – The Battle Frontier

Things had gone by quickly ever since our return from Unova, though not to my surprise. The first thing between our regions that was rushed through was the construction of the transmission towers – apparently, all of our regions were dedicating a lot of resources to getting them set up as quickly as possible, so I knew it was only going to be a matter of time before we could actually communicate with them digitally. That...

The New Normal - 15-7 - INTERLUDE - POKENET REACTIONS

The New Normal – 15-7 – INTERLUDE – Pokenet Reactions

[THE FIGHT BETWEEN BRUNO AND STEVEN ENDS UP WITH A HUGE SURPRISE?! THE NEW EVOLUTION OF PRIMEAPE!?] By Battlecast

[Pictures of Annihilape]

Ever since the Hoenn Conference began, the fight between Steven and Bruno have been highly anticipated, with both trainers having been widely considered to the strongest contender to be the ultimate victors.

And while many must have hoped that their battle ...

The New Normal - OMAKE - Pokemon: The Animation - Public Reactions

The New Normal – OMAKE – Pokémon: The Animation – Public Reactions

[Review of the Pokémon: The Animation – a much desired remake of the original anime?!] By Earlier Access

After many years of waiting and public demands, the Pokémon company has finally given us what we wanted – a remake of the original Pokémon anime, with better animations and quality as enabled by modern technology. But more importantly than that, they’ve also redone the entire plo...

The New Normal - OMAKE - April Fools : Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

The New Normal – OMAKE – April Fools : Pokémon Mystery Dungeon

He had no idea why, but he had always wanted to climb Mt. Coronet. To reach the very top, and see the world from above.

But he knew he was no brave Pokémon. He was merely a Bidoof. A Pokémon known for their weakness and frailty. So in order to achieve his long-held dream, he knew he had to get stronger. And to him, the only way to do so was to join the Wigglytuff Guild.

He had been rejecte...

The New Normal - 15-6

The New Normal – 15-6 – The Rise of a Stone

After our ‘conversation’ with Ghetsis, the rest of our explorations around Unova just wasn’t as interesting in comparison. That wasn’t to say that the sights were boring, far from it, but the reminder that there was another madman on the horizon did sour our mood a bit.

Furthermore, my time with Unova was fast approaching its end, and it was soon time for Karen and I to return home. That was exp...

The New Normal - 15-5

The New Normal – 15-5 – Exploring with Drake

After the battle was over, the mood of the Unovans noticeably dropped as they suffered through two back-to-back defeats. We tried to bring up the mood again, but they clearly weren’t feeling it at the moment, and after a few more polite words, they left us soon after that.

I did feel a little bad for them. Despite Grimsley’s less-than-subtle challenge to us, my gut told me that he wasn’t one to do so out of ma...

The New Normal - 15-4 - Interlude - Grimsley

The New Normal – 15-4 – Interlude – Grimsley

A frown slowly formed on his face as he saw a look of grim determination settle on John’s.

He admitted that his performance in the first fight against Karen and Drake was… lacklustre, to say the least. He had underutilised his Bisharp, not expecting for Karen to field a Pokémon that was so fast that his Bisharp would be taken down before it could really utilise its moves.

He had underestimated the optio...

The New Normal - 15-4

The New Normal – 15-4 – Clash of Elites

I wasn’t entirely sure what my Pokémon were saying to him, but I could feel the love and affection that they had for me radiating through our bond. That was enough for me.

After speaking with Tyrant, N seemed to stare blankly at me – like his mind was filled with thoughts – before quickly bidding goodbye and wandering off to who knows where. He was clearly conflicted with what he had heard, and I sup...

The New Normal - 15-3

The New Normal – 15-3 – A Fateful Meeting

The next two days in Unova passed by relatively uneventfully. Karen and I spent most of the time hanging about with Iris or engaging with meetings with the Unova Elite Four. I could have spent that time meeting with the other Gym Leaders of Unova, and we did make arrangements for that to happen, but I felt that it was not as important as forging a deeper connection with Iris.

I also went out to try and catch an Audino,...

The New Normal - 15-2 - Interlude - Steven

The New Normal – 15-2 – Interlude – Steven

The Hoenn Conference had begun, and as planned, he and Bruno both entered into it. It was inevitable that they would battle against each other; he had planned it that way. After all, what better way was there to prove that he deserved to be Champion than to beat and overcome his one and only rival?

Besides, he truly wasn’t being arrogant when he felt that none of the ‘normal’ trainers that he or Bruno would fi...

The New Normal - 15-2

The New Normal – 15-2 – Unova Explorations

Thankfully, Iris was pretty quick to accept our request to meet, and so Karen and I quickly headed to meet up with her at her Gym at Opelucid City. We had already been given provisional flying licenses so that we could legally fly around Unova, though we needed to at least report in where we were so that it would be easier to find us in case we go missing.

Thanks to my memories of Unova’s geography, it didn’t take...

The New Normal - 15-1 - Interlude - Alder & Iris

The New Normal – 15-1 – Interlude – Alder & Iris

(Alder POV)

He let out a content sigh as he reclined on the luxurious armchair that had been generously provided to him in his new accommodations in Hoenn. Unlike Unova, it was immediately obvious that the Hoenn League were very used to receiving foreign guests, for why else would they construct such magnificent rooms for them to rest in?

And they even had the forethought to install air cond...

The New Normal - 15-1

The New Normal – 15-1 – Journey to Unova

A.N. As a little bonus, and because the Interlude fits better the other way round, you’re getting this full chapter today instead of on Friday. Friday’s chapter will instead be the Interlude.

Fortunately for both myself and the Sinnoh League, there wasn’t any immediate backlash from my victory over Alder. He really was as easy-going as he portrayed himself to be, and he really didn’t seem bother...

The New Normal - 14-10 - INTERLUDE - Pokenet Reactions

The New Normal – 14-10 – INTERLUDE – Pokenet Reactions

[THE INDIGO ELITE FOUR’S GAUNTLET RUN! A SHOW OF STRENGTH FROM THE INDIGO LEAGUE! WERE YOU THERE?!] by Battlecast

[Snapshots of the gauntlet run containing various images of the Elite Four fighting. Lance is featured most prominently.]

Ever since the reveal that both John and Koga had participated in the raid against a Legendary in Sinnoh, many have you have been eagerly clambering for an opportu...

The New Normal - 14-9

The New Normal – 14-9 – Champion Alder

Though I wasn’t there personally, the rest of the Indigo Elite Four and I were still kept in the loop about what was happening over in Sinnoh thanks to Lance. According to him, both he and Wallace had virtually joined into a meeting with Alder and Cynthia, where they began discussions about establishing preliminary relations between our regions.

It was your usual fare – an exchange of basic information and making verb...

The New Normal - 14-8 - Interlude - Archer

The New Normal – 14-8 – Interlude – Archer

For most of his adult life, he never would have thought that he’d be doing anything with his life that he hadn’t been explicitly ordered to by Giovanni. After everything his boss had done for him, and for the region that he so dearly loved, there was nothing he wouldn’t do to repay back what he felt he owed.

This was why both Petrel and Ariana were so loyal to Giovanni as well. All three of Giovanni’s closes...

The New Normal - 14-8

A.N. I forgot to mention this last chapter, but because the 1st of March marked the second anniversary of TNN, and because I had the free time, I will be uploading a bonus chapter to Questionable Questing later in the day – taking place right after/during Chapter 13-18. It is marked as ’13-18X’ and is NSFW. So feel free to head over there if that’s something you’re interested in.

The New Normal – 14-8 – The Unovans

From what Lorelei ...

The New Normal - 14-7

The New Normal – 14-7 – Newcomers

Unsurprisingly, discussions on topics as radical as increasing the number of Gym Leaders beyond the traditional eight Gyms took a long time to reach a consensus. Even after a few weeks had gone by, we weren’t anywhere closer to coming to an agreement.

However, at least the idea of having ‘minor Gyms’ seemed to have gained some traction amongst the Committee and Gym Leaders. There were many that were against an outright e...

The New Normal - 14-6 - Interlude - Cynthia

The New Normal – 14-6 – Interlude – Cynthia

Taking a step into the meeting room, she felt all four pairs of eyes quickly dart towards her – curiosity present in each and every single one of them.

She could understand; she had been deliberately vague in why she had chosen to invite them. If she weren’t Champion, she doubted any of them would have entertained her request at such a short notice.

Nevertheless, they had come. And it was time to introduc...

The New Normal - 14-6

The New Normal – 14-6 – Changes

I could almost hear the collective sigh of relief being released from the spectating crowd as Tyrant finally went down. He had been an unstoppable monster, knocking down opponent after opponent as if he was able to just shrug off his exhaustion. And worse for them, he always seemed to have just enough energy to take down one more opponent.

I couldn’t count the number of times that the commentators thought Tyrant was a...

The New Normal - 14-5

The New Normal – 14-5 – The Gauntlet

So many things had happened in the last few months after Team Galactic was taken care of.

Like I had hoped, there was a return to normalcy, which was the perfect opportunity for me to start working on my more ambitious plans once again. So even though things were peaceful, I was actually swamped with work, of my own accord, because of how many things I was juggling at once.

Starting from the most important of these wa...

The New Normal - 14-4 - Interlude - Whitney

The New Normal – 14-4 – Interlude – Whitney

She had nearly spent a whole year at the Saffron Gym, and she could say that she very much enjoyed her time here.

There was much that she had learned, and was still learning, and she was very thankful for Gym Leader Samson for being so accommodating with her. Especially because she knew that the Saffron Gym already had plenty of competent trainers filling its ranks. Gym Leader Samson had a good system in place, and...

The New Normal - 14-4

The New Normal – 14-4 – Professorships and Stones

(Blaine POV)

The process of being a Professor was an arduous one, as befits such a prestigious title, and was not something that most could be able to realistically achieve. Professors were expected to be one of the foremost experts on Pokémon in any given region, and on top of that they were also expected to specialise in their own specific field.

It was often the case where you would have to b...

The New Normal - 14-3

The New Normal – 14-3 – Perspectives on the Future

(Civilian POV)

As a Sinnohnian, he had always wanted to visit Indigo – ever since the region had been newly ‘discovered’ alongside Hoenn. But it had taken a long time for him to finally persuade his parents to let him go on this trip. Normally, his parents were much more laid back with their parenting, but after the events at Spear Pillar a few months ago, they had gotten very worried for his sa...

The New Normal - OMAKE - Ingame Snippets - Legendaries Awaken DLC

The New Normal – OMAKE – Ingame Snippets – Legendaries Awaken DLC

[NEW POKÉMON DLC OUT NOW: LEGENDARIES AWAKEN! LEGENDARIES FINALLY MADE AVAILABLE!] by Earlier Access

[DLC trailer attached]

The long awaited DLC to the biggest and most successful Pokémon mainline game is here. After they released an entire Mystery Dungeon ‘spinoff’ game to flesh out the story, it was only natural for them to continue on their hot streak with a DLC. And before you ...

The New Normal - 14-2

The New Normal – 14-2 – Recovery and Plans

With the awards ceremony done, that basically wrapped up everything that we really had to do in Sinnoh. Despite wanting to obviously spend more time with my girlfriend, I realised that I had spent way too long in Sinnoh – and it was about time I returned home.

Besides, there was much work for Cynthia to do as well, and her reputation had taken a blow for allowing Cyrus to get away with summoning a Legendary – even...

The New Normal - 14-1

The New Normal – 14-1 – Reaping the rewards

There was a lot to do after the events at Spear Pillar had concluded. Cyrus might be gone, but the chaos that he caused still lingered. Even after getting a good night’s sleep, much of the exhaustion that had built up from the battle still lingered in my bones, and there was still too much to do for me to just give myself another rest day. Everyone was running around trying to restore order and reassure the public that e...