Hard Enough by Viva01

I finished crossing my t's and dotting my i's on the last summary report for the day.
This was rather easy thanks to my earlier wisdom of setting the Gym up with multiple-angle cameras which allowed for me to have highlights recorded and played back for later logging for trainer profiles.
With the benefit of hindsight I was able to point out a few more things in the reports for the various trainers.
Still, the standouts for today were Joe and Giselle. Joe for the effort he put in and his return to the fight after literally breaking down.
That was never easy. Sometimes when your mental game was done it was impossible to actually muster up a scrap of anything. Still, he'd been able to scrounge up something that I could charitably call an attempt to fight on.
His resistance, despite what seemed like overwhelming odds, led to a resurgence in a lot of trainers for the later half of the day. More and more of them put themselves out there and went the distance, resulting in more trainers earning passing marks from me.
Then, Giselle made her mark by reaching for the second hardest challenge that I had to offer.
I could only thank my lucky stars that she hadn't gotten it into her head to attempt an Elite Challenge.
Perhaps she had more wisdom than that?
I suspected it was more of a case that she hadn't considered it, despite the advertising and wide coverage the two matches I'd had so far had gotten.
Starting things off with Bertha had been exceptional luck. Battlecast had supposedly run her match a few more times with the viewer ratings being extremely high.
That had fed into more advertising for the next match which had been a quick hit-and-run match with Shin who won a fair amount of praise for his battle. His dashing in and out had people on the edge of their seats as after watching Bertha's power and endurance, Shin's much faster, more brittle fighting style had stood out.
I was getting some good feedback for this and these were still fairly straightforward fights. I was really looking forward to getting Jorm, or Sanchez out onto the field, or Gawain.
And then of course there was still Titan to come.
He might not look it, but I knew he was itching to show everyone how much he'd grown since last year. Last year he'd just been categorised as a Champion tier pokemon, but this year? With how our bond had grown? I was anticipating being able to pull off some tricks that would blow people's minds.
Then again, I wouldn't have to wait long as next week was the mid-year shut down, or Golden week where some people got to relax. I wasn't among those numbers as I was going to be taking part in the top ten mid-year match-ups for the Ace circuit.
Thankfully this year's tournament was not going to be taking place in Indigo which, while iconic, wasn't a great place to take young kids. Instead, we'd be going to Chrysanthemum City, a new up-and-comer in cities with it having breached ten thousand humans in its registered population a few years ago.
Since then, it had exploded onto the scene.
With it being an island city with beautiful beaches I was rather looking forward to the downtime along with my family.
I paused as I clicked out of Giselle's report. My family did remember that we were going didn't they? I had told them… at some point. I started to feel a headache come on as I realized I might have forgotten that little detail with how busy I'd been.
Ah well, no time like the present to tell them.
I rose from my desk, stretching as I did so, a yawn ripping out of me. When I exited my office I took a step out only to twitch when Rachel skated past.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I called after her, my mind conjuring up various health and safety issues that leaving her to her own devices would result in.
Rachel spun around on the spot and made her way back to me, grin in place. "Yeah I am! With these babies I am speed! I can almost skate down Trixie you know?" she said confidently as she twirled around me.
I tracked her with my eyes, not turning my head or body. That would only lead to vertigo and her winning. Instead, I merely grunted. "Somehow I think she might be letting you get close," I said.
Which had to be true, considering that I was still run down when I used my 'cheat' with rock stepping ability which carried me further with every step I took.
Trixie was a freak when it came to physical accomplishments.
Somewhere, somehow, I just knew at this moment, she was training.
I smiled to myself and watched as Rachel paused to take a breath, having winded herself performing so many tight turns around me.
"So, what was with you asking the girls to sit in with Giselle?" I said.
Rachel shrugged. "Girl needs some friendly faces to wake up to."
I raised an eyebrow. "Two of those faces, she fought not that long ago and Crystal… she's a bit of an acquired taste I would have thought."
Rachel waved her hand. "Pish posh! She's just an excitable lass is all! Anyway, Greta and Yolanda balance her out, they're all nice girls and Giselle, she could do with some age-appropriate company."
I tilted my head before deciding to not prod the issue any further.
Rachel had obviously spotted something of note or formed some sort of idea about Giselle. Whatever it was, I'd leave it to her for now unless it became relevant to me.
"How's things looking with the pokenet page over the recent highlights?" I asked.
Rachel bobbed her head up and down, sending her rainbow hair bouncing. "It's doing well. We're getting a lot of hits with Bertha's fight but Shin's getting some traction. I've got some more orders coming in for Bertha's toy due to people buying out Bertha's toy."
"Ho?" I asked, surprised by this little tidbit as I began to move towards my home.
Rachel kept pace with me, happily chattering away about how sales had been influenced by the various events and showcases that had been put on. Titan's doll remained the top seller but others had their own peaks.
As I passed various other employees in the hall I gave them a nod.
When I passed the security guard he waved, while from his shoulder a blocky duck-like pokemon peered out.
Cypher warbled happily as I passed by before quacking for the guard to head in one direction.
"Found something?" I asked, worry rising to the fore only for the guard to laugh.
"Nah, Cypher just wants to be walked sometimes. He will randomly sweep the Gym which is good as it gets out of a predictable routine."
Huh good to see them taking their duties seriously.
I waved them on and entered my home with Rachel skating through the door after me. "Going somewhere?" I asked her.
"Yeah I want to see if the girls are all getting along," she said. I raised an eyebrow in silent question only for Rachel to wink and wave me to lead her through the house.
As we did so, I could only chuckle and shake my head as the noises of a household with seven kids bounced around until it reached us.
"Lovely bunch of coconuts!" chanted Tilly and Billy as they held onto each other and Munchlax with what looked like a conga line.
"DAD!" shouted Tommy as he marched out of his room with a book in his hands. "Did you know? That Kangaskhan poops are as big as my head!" he shouted proudly.
Rachel shot me a stunned look and I merely rolled my eyes which Rachel didn't react to. I decided to instead ignore it and what Tommy was up to right now.
"Thanks son!" called Flint from a door that I knew led to a toilet. I grimaced when I noticed that the door was slightly ajar.
"Close the door!" I called back over my shoulder and Flint obliged.
"Brock's home!" called Suzie as she sprinted out of her room only for the sound of something crashing down followed by a cry of despair to ring out.
I had been in this situation enough times to know what came next.
"Brooooooooock!"' screamed Timmy as he hurtled out, causing more crashing sounds in his wake. "Suzie broke the tower we were making!"
"And you broke the rest of the town?" I asked redundantly.
Timmy backtracked from me to his room and peered in. "Ah! Suzie, look what you did!" he cried.
I sighed. Right, it was going to be like that was it?
"Both of you contributed to it but that doesn't matter, how about we play another game?"
"Yeah!" They cheered.
I smirked. "Not before you pack up your toys," I said.
Suzie hesitated while her twin charged back in to clean up the playroom.
"Yes Suzie?" I asked.
"Brock, can I look at the egg?" she said with wide eyes. That gave me pause. I eyed her.
"You're interested in it, are you?" I asked neutrally.
Suzie nodded. "Yeah," she said.
I rubbed my chin, a thought forming up. Togepi would be a good pokemon for a young girl, and would eventually become a powerhouse of a pokemon if things went her way.
"Only after you clean your room," I said firmly.
Suzie turned and sprinted off so quickly I thought for a second she'd used Extreme Speed. The sound of toys hitting walls came from her room but when I poked my head into the room it looked like she'd simply been throwing them at the wall to make them fall into the toybox.
I watched, amazed at the sudden, intense motivation as Suzie slapped together a puzzle, correctly I might add, stashed it on the right shelf and then began packing away all the books they'd had out.
Timmy stared at his sister and decided to do perhaps the smartest thing he could and get out of her way. He inched over to his bed and began patting it down. Then he took a step away from it and nodded. "All tucked in!" he said.
I stared at the crumbled mess of bed with clothes and toys that littered all over it.
Next to me, Rachel broke into giggles. "Oh my gosh, they're too cute!" she said as Timmy looked at me with a smug expression.
I sighed and gave him a thumbs-up. "Good try bud," I said. It was true after all, as a five year old even an attempt at making the bed was good. "Make sure you… fluff the pillows," I said waving my hand at the pillows that were on the floor.
Timmy grabbed the pillows and threw them on the bed before performing a textbook-perfect judo chop on all of them. "It's not violence when it's styling!" he chanted.
I raised a finger. "Uhmmm what?" I said. I was obviously missing something.
Flint approached and peered over my shoulder to see what was going on. "Oh, he's copying my show. I like watching a renovation television show and one of the competitors this season is a Martial artist. He has a lot of funny moments like that. Timmy rather enjoys watching, don't you Timmy?"
Timmy nodded and adopted a fighting stance, then with every word he said he threw a punch. "Gingham is the style that speaks to the heart!"
What?
I stared at Flint in judgement. "Riiiiight," I said before noticing something. "Did you actually wash your hands or just dip them in water? They're still dripping!" I said, leaning away from him.
"Just a rinse is all I need," he said.
Suzie and Timmy stopped cleaning and punching the air to stare at Flint in disbelief.
Then as one, they levelled fingers of accusation at him. "Dirty old man!"
Rachel clutched the wall as laughter shook her frame, her feet skittered out from under her due to her roller skates so she sank to her knees as she wheezed out her laughter. "Always worth coming in here!" she said to the floor.
Flint, now chastised, slunk back to finish washing his hands.
Timmy marched after him. "Here! I'll show you how to do it properly!" he said and I could soon hear the sound of Timmy singing Happy Birthday out loud.
Rachel tilted her head, staring at the bathroom from the floor. "What's that about?"
"It's a way to ensure good hygiene," I said. No way would I be able to explain how my standards were much higher than others due to enduring Covid lockdowns in a past life.
Rachel nodded and then made to climb back to her feet. I glanced around. "Any Growlithe inside?" I asked Suzie.
Suzie instantly stiffened. "Nope!" she said with all the skill at lying a five-year-old could muster.
I nodded. Then I put my fingers in my mouth and whistled.
Instantly, five Growlithe appeared, dashing down the hallway or spilling out of rooms. I noted one must have been in Suzie and Tilly's shared room as they appeared before me. I pointed at Rachel, the rainbow-haired woman's eyes grew wide.
"Brock Don't you—"
"Lick," I commanded and the Growlithe set about their task with great enthusiasm, knocking Rachel to the ground.
Sabrina chose that moment to appear. She gave Rachels downed form a look before ignoring her. I met her with a smile. "Hey you," I said.
"Hello," she said, giving me a soft kiss on the cheek before turning her gaze upon my siblings and Flint who was returning with dry hands and a proud-looking Timmy.
Flint eyed Rachel and made a half-hearted attempt to help only to shrug. "Ah well, she's gone to a better place," he said with faux sadness.
"The farm?" said Timmy innocently. I coughed at Timmy's stepping on a small landmine.
I hadn't really been able to convey what happened to my original Onix to them very well, so I'd had to settle for being sent to the farm.
I turned my gaze upon Suzie, mentally deciding to handball that conversation to Flint in future.
I raised a querulous eyebrow at her.
Suzie coughed. "I only brought Lady inside," she said.
Next to me, Sabrina let out a single chuckle before smiling. She could probably hear some very interesting thoughts being broadcast right now.
"Yes I see," I said with a slow drawl, "I'm sure it wasn't a group project to sneak the Growlithe inside."
Timmy and Suzie shifted. They both looked away, not willing to meet my gaze.
I eyed the other puppies as they licked and slobbered Rachel's downed form.
Spot made sense if I was expecting Yolanda here, as was Hepheastus, Lady was accounted for, which just left Mr Woofers and… Spyro? I thought, eyeing the more tufty-looking puppy pokemon.
Which left Cuddles, Snuggles, Sirius, Clifford, and Agni out patrolling.
I glanced along the hallway a little more before giving Sabrina a look. She could tell me but I didn't need to be a psychic to know that odds were that there were more dogs in the house.. And probably one or two pokemon who should be on the reserve.
Probably asleep in one of my siblings's beds.
I shook my head and gave the room another look over, ignoring the wet sounds of slobbering and hysterical laughter from Rachel a moment more before I whistled low once.
"Heel," I said and the Growlithe stopped. They even went as far as to line up with their chests puffed out proudly. I eyed the Growlithe.
Lady had the shiniest, smoothest coat. Spyro had his tufts that made him look wild and horned. Spot had… the most stripes… Hephaestus had the shortest hair but the shaggiest feet.
And then there was Mr Woofers.
I stared into his dopey dog eyes. He was perfectly at attention like all the others, but you just couldn't take him as seriously. Not with how his tongue was perpetually stuck to the side.
He was the most lovable derp I had ever had the joy to own.
I nodded and Sabrina levitated treats above all of their noses. They quivered on the spot only for me to nod. "Take," I said and they all snapped the treats out of the air expertly.
I then turned my attention to my siblings. "Alright, let's round up the rest of the troops," I said. When Suzie started to open her mouth I preempted her. "And we'll grab the egg as well, alright?" I said.
Suzie vibrated in place and I chuckled.
"Damn you're cruel boss," said Rachel as she clambered to her feet. Her face and neck were particularly wet and her hair was stuck up in odd places. I rather liked the rainbow cow, or in this case, Growlithe lick appearance she had.
I raised my Xtransicever and took a photo before turning the image to show her. She giggled at it. "Oh send that to me! I can't wait to show Trixie! Oh! I'll post it on the Gym's pokenet page as well! Security Growlithe at work I think I'll call it!" she said proudly.
I laughed and Sabrina broke a smile.
We led the kids through the halls, collecting more siblings along with Cuddles and Snuggles who'd been napping in Tommy and Billy's bed respectively.
At my room, I opened the door only to stare at the guts of Agni who was snoring away in my bed.
I glanced at Sabrina. "I keep my door locked when I'm not in it," I said.
Sabrina's facade of innocence broke and I snorted. "Very funny," I said before whistling to wake up Agni. The little Growlithe joined us, his vibrant red coat standing out among the others and making him look like he was on fire as he moved.
I collected the egg carrier only for Suzie to seize it. The rest of the walk to the communal areas then became a crawl as Suzie insisted on carrying the egg herself, talking away to it the entire time while Sabrina and I watched on.
"She's very good with it," Sabrina said as Suzie set the carrier on the couch before curling around it, still happily telling the egg all about her day.
I nodded, the idea of who to give the egg to solidifying in my mind. It would be years before Suzie needed a pokemon herself, but you could never have too many friends.
When we reached the kitchen I found myself looking upon an odd scene.
Yolanda, Greta, and Crystal were all sitting at the bench with a huge bottle of soda pop in front of them. Eevee was in the middle with a very smug look on her face as Yolanda stroked her fur gently while Terra was happily sitting in Greta's lap.
The odd part wasn't that there were a small tower of other bottles stacked to the side indicating the girls, and the pokemon as well I presumed, had drunk enough sugar to give them at least an acute case of Hyperglycemia.
Nor was it the empty plate that Munchlax was licking clean while sniffling sadly, indicating he hadn't gotten enough of the treat.
The odd part was Giselle sitting among their number.
I blinked. "Uhm hello girls?" I said tentatively.
The gaggle of Growlithe I'd brought with me trotted in and a few sniffed at Munchlax while Mr Woofers hopped up into Giselle's lap.
The girls giggled at this but Mr Woofers must have put some pressure on something as Giselle twitched and her hands shot up to her mouth only for Mr Woofers to intercept them in his quest for pats.
I could only watch as my brain kicked into gear that something was about to happen.
I watched as Giselle's eyes bulged and her mouth rippled only to widen.
Sabrina must have felt her premonition kick in as she deftly ducked back into the hallway while I stood in front of Giselle.
Giselle then unleashed a gigantic burp. The noise alone practically slapped me in the face and I felt my hair jostle slightly with the wind Giselle let loose.
The noise filled the room with a loud rattling before echoing out into the hallway.
I blinked and wiped my face out of reflex. Ah good, it wasn't wet.
Giselle stared at me in mortification.
"Hello there?" I said carefully, worried what else I might get greeted with.
Giselle sunk into Mr Woofer's fur.
Greta bit her lips and Yolanda put a hand to her mouth. Crystal had no complications with throwing her head back and roaring with laughter. "Oh my sweet Arceus! Brock's face! Right in his face!"
"Stop… please," Giselle whined as she held Mr Woofers up only for another small burp to escape her lips.
I felt my lips twitch. Sabrina glanced into the room to see if it was safe and I coughed painfully.
"Don't worry it happens," I said consolingly. Giselle peeked up at me and I smiled encouragingly but she only seemed to grow more mortified.
Sabrina coughed and I sighed. "How about I leave you girls alone, " I said, deciding that I'd be imposing if I stuck around.
Rachel skated into the room before I could leave. She glanced around and then grinned at Munchlax who was still staring at Giselle with an impressed look on his face.
"Damn impressive little princess! I didn't know you had that sort of Hypervoice in you!" Rachel said. "I even got a recording of it cause I was messing around with my transceiver!' she said happily as she pressed something on it only for a huge burp to echo out once more.
Crystal fell on the floor with how hard she was now laughing and I sighed as Giselle looked ready to bolt.
"Let's not embarrass her too much, " I said suggestively. I gave Rachel a look and she paused realising that something was playing out.
She glanced around and took in the room before nodding. "Ah right, probably won't need this taking up space," she said before making a show of deleting the video file.
Giselle then shot me a grateful look and nodded. Sabrina coughed and I glanced away to see what she had to say, only for Sabrina to smile knowingly.
Giselle's hand shifted and I saw Yolanda twitch in surprise as something clattered to the ground.
I glanced down. Huh, one of the rocks we kept around the house had fallen to the ground. I picked it up and tossed it into a stack that I kept in a bowl next to Giselle.
Yolanda looked from the rock to Giselle in surprise.
I paused. Alright, I'd missed something here.
Sabrina floated a stool over for herself to claim before waving me off. "I think I might enjoy some girl talk," she said.
I nodded slowly and decided to retreat to the loungeroom where the rest of my family were.
Flint had pride of place and apparently the remote as the television was airing a show where a karate gi wearing man was demolishing a wall.
"Open plan living is a must for this build and will increase the value!" shouted the man with each punch.
Timmy and Billy happily copied him, kicking and punching cushions across the room.
I nodded slowly. Yeah, this checked out as a pokemon styled television show.
Flint glanced over to me as I sat down. "I think we're going to have to control what we feed Munchlax from now on," he said.
I snorted and bit my lips. "Yeah… sure, Munchlax will need to watch his diet," I said. I felt my Xtransciever ping and I opened it to find a video message from Rachel. Huh, turns out she hadn't actually deleted it before sending off a copy.
I saved it to a separate blackmail folder with a chuckle.
I was just starting to get comfortable when a soft grumble made me peak over the back of the couch where Zephyr was revealed with a nest of blankets curled around him.
He stared at me, caught in my loungeroom.
"Huh," I said. Of all the pokemon I was expecting to find in the house. My usually very serious and extremely stoic Zephyr wasn't at the top of the list.
I'd been expecting—
Sanchez tumbled past with a happy rumble only to cough and stand when he caught sight of me. I huffed. "What?" I said before deciding to just ignore them. Sanchez barked a laugh and moved to join me on the couch, leading to all of us watching a show about renovations with a man who blended martial arts with demolition.
On a whim I decided to message Janine asking her what she thought about.. "What's this show called?" I asked Flint.
"They call it Renovation Rambo," he said before offering me some popcorn, which I took a handful of before offering some to Sanchez and Zephyr. Zephyr happily pecked it out of my hands, trilling as he did so.
I sent off the message and was extremely amused when Janine sent back a wall of text. I slowly read through it before nodding and sending her back a summary which amounted to the show being a disgrace to building codes and an accident waiting to happen, but sadly the man was extremely well controlled with his strikes and also sly enough to use pokemon that could telekinetically support the roof and walls that might buckle as more pressure came down on them.
I tapped Sanchez and then gave Zephyr a look. "Feeling ready for next week lads?" I asked.
Sanchez shot me a thumbs up while Zephyr perked up. Unlike the Elite Challenge, I would be making use of him for some of the matches as a way to change things up from my typical water-rock dominant teams.
The show ended and I had to admit to being rather amused by it and the antics it inspired in the boys. Suzie I noted had spent the time snatching wayward pillows to construct a little house around herself and the egg to keep it even warmer.
I decided to leave them to it, as a glance outside revealed that there was still a bit of light out.
"Hey Zephyr, want to go for a fly?" I suggested.
My Noctowl perked up and I grinned. A flight sounded like just the thing to end the day. Although just to share the fun I decided to lead Zephyr out into the reserve before calling for Don, his daughter, and Zubat to join us.
Don didn't seem to know what to make of this offer, but I simply waved him up into the sky. I'd had to show him some stick recently and it was time to have some carrot to keep our bond strong. If that happened to mean he got to show off to his daughter, well I could use that fatherly pride of his to just make it that much more special.
And there was no way I was breaking little Zubat's heart by not including her.
We took off and I caught sight of Rachel zipping home. I resisted the urge to swoop her and instead directed my pokemon to loop out to the south and over Viridian forest.
It made for a rather nice afternoon and when I got back, I found the girls were waving farewell to Giselle who was stepping into a limousine much to Crystal's surprise.
I landed and offered a wave of farewell myself as I marched up to the group and joined them walking inside. Greta and Crystal broke off for their own arrangements and I nudged Yolanda.
"So, new friend?" I said.
Yolanda nodded with a thoughtful look. "She's… different but in a good way." Yolanda smirked. "I think Crystal doesn't realise how lucky she is though, there've been a few instances when she's pushed Giselle I think."
"Oh?" I asked. "Is that alright?"
Yolanda shrugged. "She needs to learn that sometimes she can be a brat. I try pointing it out but she sometimes slips into old habits."
I nodded and grabbed a drink of water. Sabrina's eyes glinted and I hurried to swallow what was in my mouth only for Sabrina to say, "Crystal's going to learn that when you talk shit, you sometimes get hit."
I snorted and water shot from my nose causing Yolanda to burst out into giggles.
I shot Sabrina an annoyed look before snorting what was left of the water out of my nose. "You're playful this afternoon," I said, moving in to kiss her only for her to hold out a hand.
"I'm not kissing you until you clean up a bit," she said.
I rolled my eyes. "picky, picky!" I said like she was being onerous as I went and did just that.
When I got back, it was just in time for Sabrina to reveal that Ralts had evolved.
"Woah!" shouted Suzie in shock as Kirlia now stood taller than her… especially with how Kirlia liked to stand on her tiptoes.
Various children tried to get in close only for Kirlia to display her new capacity to move by twirling and dancing around them.
More than a few children ended up with booped noses. The kids wrinkled their noses before giggling.
Terra waddled in with all the noise and Kirlia tiptoed over her to her friend/rival. She towered over Terra and looked down her nose.
Everyone watched as Terra stared up at her friend only to start beaming with joy.
"Lar! Larv! Itar!" She then began hopping from one side to gesture with her stubby little hands at various points. I got the impression it was like a friend finding another and gushing over how pretty they had grown.
Kirlia smiled wider and wider until she started to blush when Terra found more and more things to compliment.
"Kiiiiiiirlia!" said Kirlia with a flap of her hand as she demurred.
Terra then hugged her friend and Kirlia's eyes bulged as she realised she'd made a terrible mistake.
Like a professional tackler, Terra grabbed Kirlia by the ankles and the much taller pokemon had a moment to realise what was about to happen.
Her eyes bulged as she toppled, her legs taken out from under her. With Kirlia on the ground, Terra was all over her patting and nuzzling into her and the various new bits.
The kids decided to get in on this and Kirlia could only wail and reach out for Sabrina who merely smiled on.
I chuckled and Yolanda shot me a look. "You knew?"
I nodded. "I forgot to mention it," I said which made me pause. "Oh, did I mention we're going to Chrysanthemum Island next week for Golden Week as well?"
"What?!" "Where?" "Why?" "Yeah! Island vacation!" shouted various members of my family.
Flint levelled an unimpressed look at me. "You really should have mentioned this earlier, Brock," he said.
I coughed. Ah, turns out I had let that slip.
Whoops?
227
Lance watched as the Kabutops swept over the battlefield, scythes flashing. He paused it as it carved into its foe. The blade bit into the Magnemite's body and despite the threat that the other pokemon had to Kabutops, it was the Kabutops that emerged triumphant.
Lance had watched this fight play out when it was live and he'd not noticed this point.
He made a note of it on his growing list that was titled "Brock's Kabutops - Shin". He had all the observations he could written out before him. Its known typing, move set and even more were laid out before him.
Under each move, he had a subsetting for different ways that Brock made his pokemon use them. From the Metal Claws helping the Kabutops reduce damage done to it through electrical attacks.
Although Lance thought it was a bit rich that a trainer had dared to bring an Electric type against Brock.
Of all the pokemon they could have faced, Kabutops was on paper the best pokemon due to not having a ground typing with its rock. Still, others would have been able to resist.
Lance pressed play on the recording and continued to observe the match.
A door clicked open and a woman called out, "Hello? Lance? Are you in here?" called Clair.
"I'm here," replied Lance as he continued to watch the match while pausing every now and then to make another note. He ignored that the opening door led to the balcony.
As Dragonriders, it wasn't unusual to 'pop in' on a person's balcony. It was in fact one of the design features that the clan insisted on these day's for new buildings.
Clair entered and took a moment to take in the scene.
Lance knew what she would see. Here he was, on one of his rare day's off as Champion, sitting in front of a screen documenting Brock's strengths and weaknesses.
Clair didn't say anything that might come across as judging. Instead, she moved to sit on the couch next to him only to reach out for the stack of papers that rested next to his own handwritten notes.
Clair flipped through it for a few minutes as Lance finished up his own observations.
"So? What's this about then?" she said, indicating the two stacks.
Lance sighed. "I wanted to test an analyst that has come into the League's employ. I wanted them to detail all the pertinent points regarding Brock's recent Ace match." He then indicated his own handwritten notes. "Then I sat down and did my own. Now I'm going to read through what the professional found and see if they are worth hiring."
Clair nodded thoughtfully. "What are you going to do when it becomes an important match for yourself? There's potential for rather damaging deception, no?" she said reasonably.
"There are others that monitor this sort of thing but when it comes to matches that truly matter? Like actual Champion challenges, I will do the work myself."
"Got a report or two of these for Brock and Sabrina now I imagine," Clair said casually.
Lance snorted. "Everyone in the Gym Leader roster has them." Then he grimaced. "Some of them are, or rather were grossly out of date and needed to account for changes."
"Hmmm me too?" Clair said, perking up.
Lance turned and made sure to lock eyes with her. "Yes, you are a potential threat to me as another Dragontamer."
Clair narrowed her own. "I'm a Dragonmistress," she said firmly.
Lance snorted and broke the lock. "Tam-ato, Ta-mato," he said only to get a sniff of annoyance from Clair.
Lance raised his hand. "Peace, peace, I didn't ask you here to talk to you about this. I wanted to get another read on something that has reached my ears. He reached to the other side of the couch and pulled out a folder with a few sheets of paper.
He held them out to Clair. "Read this," he said tiredly.
Clair took it, eying it like he'd given her a brightly coloured Ekans. It was an apt enough description.
Clair opened the folder and began reading through it. A frown marred her features. "Koga is already… Bruce is doing what?!" she said, shooting to her feet.
Lance raised a hand. "Read until the end, it will answer a lot of questions you might have had because Bruce had a lot of the same questions," said Lance.
Clair's nostrils flared and she shifted her fiery gaze from Lance to the document that had caused the reaction. She inhaled and exhaled a few times and continued to read.
Lance changed the channel onto Battlecast and was pleased to see he hadn't missed the live broadcast.
"—live from Pewter Gym! We have Brock once more defending his Gym's honour and that of the undefeated Elite Challenge! Against him is trainer Ethan! This young trainer is on his first circuit and is a resident of New Bark Town! You know what that means!"
"Johto starters!" chimed in the co-host, earning a nod from the other.
Lance hummed, drawing up his transceiver to type in Ethan's trainer number to see what the young man's record was. He whistled at what he found.
This young man had some serious potential. He'd come into the circuit with only Professor Elms backing, which was nothing like Oak's level of support with funding and pokemon stabling.
Elm only offered stable rights. That and of course the signature starter pokemon for Johto.
Still, young Ethan had advanced well, and garnered a great deal of praise from the various Gym Leaders he'd fought. Interestingly, he'd been one of the last few trainers that had gotten around to challenging Blaine.
In a normal circuit that would be impressive with how early he'd achieved victory but then again, with his starter fully evolved it made sense Ethan would push himself to challenge against Blaine.
He had sadly not been able to get a victory against Giovanni to complete a full set of eight major Gym badges before Giovanni had been revealed as the crime lord he was.
Lance flicked away from the reports and instead opened up the page that listed the entire roster of pokemon that Ethan had to call upon.
Feraligatr, Exegutor, Vileplume, Pidgeot, Spearow, Rapidash, Machoke, Dugtrio, Farfetch'd Tauros, Persian, Primeape, Raichu, Muk, and Lickitung.
It was a good list of pokemon and should offer Brock a good challenge. Now the question would become, if Ethan had done enough, or as others were discovering, spread themselves too thin?
Clair set the folder down before the draw for which pokemon Ethan would be facing began.
"That absolute snake!" spat Clair. "I can't believe the nerve of him! To take the care and support that our family has given him and suggest this?"
Lance nodded, his lips forming a thin line. "Indeed, the Elders, when I reveal this to them will be wroth. The Head Elder…" Lance frowned. "I'm not sure what he will think of this… rank betrayal," he said.
Clair bared her fangs. "The nerve of him to do this after acquiring the rights to evolve and acquire some of the pokemon he has!"
Lance sighed. "As you read… he is not in the wrong to do as he did. It is just—"
"Morally bankrupt?" suggested Clair.
Lance chuckled. "I was going to say dubious morality but your description is rather apt," he said. "Morally Bankrupt," he said, tasting the words. "Yes, for Bruce, that rather fits."
Clair nodded, her gaze on the stack of papers before she twitched and adjusted them into a perfectly neat tower. "Alright, so we have a report from Koga acting on League interests detailing that Bruce is reaching out to the Kanto Dragon society."
As she said this both Blackthron's snorted in contempt before she continued. "And he is seeking out options to get their support for him to claim one of the Major Gym positions, specifically Cinnabar, but if he can get Viridian he will accept that as well."
Lance threaded his fingers and poised, eyes held firmly on the television as Brock's pokemon was randomised. He exhaled in annoyance when the familiar face of Bertha was shown once more. "Tch, bad luck Ethan," he said to himself.
"Lance, this is serious! Focus!" she said reaching for the remote only for Lance to stop her.
"I know this is, and I am treating it seriously. Tomorrow morning we have a talk lined up with the Elders, all of them to share this information."
Clair flicked her eyes towards the television. "Could you turn off the television?" she said with a growl. "Take this seriously, please?"
Lance sighed and did so. With what he'd read of Ethan's team he suspected he wasn't going to have a good run against Bertha. "Very well," he said, not expecting much. Bertha would wreck most of the team that Lance suspected that he would use with her Ice Beam alone.
While the match would no doubt be entertaining, he wasn't convinced that Ethan would have a chance.
"So," Clair said, indicating the papers. "We have a cousin that wants to start a new Dragon styled Gym in Kanto, with Kanto organisation support, anything else I missed?"
Lance sighed. "The situation is rather worse than that. There are few clansmen that have supposedly been swayed by Bruce's view of things. He's gathered those that have typically been assigned lesser duties and asked them to come with him. As they have a level of familiarity with Dragon pokemon they would form a solid core for any Gym he hoped to create."
Clair growled. "Malcontents? In our clan? We live with some of the best conditions there are! None of them even have to work if they don't want to due to clan investments! Next you'll tell me they're—"
Lance nodded. "This is why it's being raised with the Elders as quickly as they can be gathered."
"As quickly as they could be gathered? This is an emergency!" Clair continued.
"One that requires everyone to be read into the situation," Lance said firmly. "WE are at risk of civil strife within our clan and factions breaking off!" he said, slamming his hand on the table. He stopped, feeling his aura press down on Clair and while she held and met his gaze he could feel her tremble at the effort. He gave her a nod and retracted his aura. "Sorry, I've been vexed about this and while my instincts scream at me to drag Bruce out and tar and feather him I can't."
Lance worked his jaw. "Everything he's doing is… above board, also… there is some precedent with the ancient texts which he can even use if we're going to try and apply Clan law internally," said Lance.
Clair reeled back. "What? The Blackthorn clan has always been singular!" she said.
Lance shook his head. "No, we haven't," he said.
Clair frowned and Lance sighed, standing and waving for her to follow. "Come, I can't take the texts out of the Clan archives and I won't send you down a bunerary warren looking for them."
He walked quickly out of the apartment, which was one of the nicer, newer buildings that had been built into the cliffs of Blackthorn City at the rear of the Blackthorn's lands. It gave the resident a glorious look over the city and down route forty-five on a good day.
It also had a large balcony that allowed Lance to take off and land there whenever he desired.
Sadly, Lance wasn't going to be flying anywhere and instead would be taking the elevator to a sub-basement where the archives were located. Clair fidgeted as the elevator played that familiar annoyingly calming music. Lance resisted the urge to hum along as they descended the required twenty levels.
When the doors opened they emerged in a tunnel that was ancient in appearance with how the rock walls had been hewn into shape. Various dragon forms were etched into the walls with the artist depicting how dragon's showcased their rage.
Lance always found it interesting that the first pokemon depicted was Gyarados, a pokemon that was only water-flying. Then a Golduck, and then a Horsea before a Dragonair appeared.
The Dragonair was the pokemon that definitely had longer-lasting impacts, but the Gyarados? That was where the Blackthorn's Legend had begun.
It had earned itself a place of honour through being the Clan's first acquisition when they had first settled near the Lake of Rage with the Gyrados that spawned there having many seasonal disputes that made most people avoid the area.
Rowena, the founder of the Blackthorn Clan however, hadn't. She'd seen potential and spent an entire year learning the ins and the outs of the pokemon. Then she'd captured a Magikarp and shown it how to be strong, legend had it that she'd made it crest the waterfalls that fell into the glaciers of Mahogany Town.
She'd had her Magikarp fight through literal black ice in the depths of winter. It had been how they earned the name Blackthorn due to all the blackthorns of ice that Magikarp had ploughed through to reach the top of the waterfall.
When it reached the top, it had soared high and evolved, supposedly casting the valley in a light like a sun at midnight.
The Gyrados that had emerged had been truly impressive, to the point that she'd used it to tame all the other Gyrados and clam the Lake of Rage for the first time.
From Gyrados, Rowenna had sought out others, only to find few pokemon like it. Dragonair however had been a find and happily enough she'd been able to breed it with a Golduck she owned.
It wasn't something that the Blackthorn clan liked to advertise but they had in truth started as water type trainers instead of their vaunted Dragons.
The transition had been steady. Thankfully for the Blackthorn clan Rowena's Dragonair has been a prolific breeder and to this day it was said that almost every true Blackthorn Dragon was based off Rowena's Dragonair.
Clair merely glanced over the cave wall markings, not knowing the significance of what she passed. Lance would forgive her as he led her into a new structure.
"Lance Blackthorn, Champion," he said when a soft beep chimed out.
The door leading into the facility opened with a swish and Lance felt warm air blow over him. When he entered through another door after decontamination was completed, he nodded at the woman behind the desk. "I'll be reviewing the tablets," he said to her. He then inclined his head towards Clair to indicate she'd be joining him.
"As is your prerogative, Champion," replied the woman, turning her attention back to her work. Lance gave it a quick glance over. Hmmm cataloguing war-era documents.
He decided to keep moving lest he grow distracted. He led Clair though the towering shelves and to a back wall that he swept along before stopping at a section. Then he slowly reached out and clasped hold of a number of stone blocks.
"That old?" said Clair incredulously. "Those things are ancient! There's now way they would hold up nowadays!"
Lance shook his head. "To outsiders no, but to the Blackthorn clan which is ruled by elders who take older as often better? They will uphold these as they are our traditions," he said. He deposited a slab of rock in front of Clair and claimed a seat for himself. "Read them, I need a second set of eyes to see if I missed something."
Clair made a face as she picked up the first tablet and began to read the ancient script.
This was another thing that just any outsider wouldn't be able to manage. Only trueborn Blackthorns that were born into the clan were taught to read Ancient script. It was a requirement for those who wanted to rise up the ranks.
Clair read slowly and Lance raised an eyebrow. It seemed she'd fallen out of practice.
She made her way through them slowly and Lance decided to busy himself by browsing the shelves nearby for something to read. He happened on a rather interesting treaty written on a scroll about ancient Blackthorn members clashing with the tribe known these days as 'the Crushers'.
Hmmm, that was actually relevant with some of the sightings he'd made recently. Instead of moving back to sit with Clair, he sunk down onto the floor with his back to the shelves to begin pouring over them.
"On the seventh day of the black sun, the ravaging clan was tracked back to the mountains to be revealed to be none other than the Crushers…" he read, slowly working his way through the archaic text.
Clair eventually finished but found him with a stack of his own while he had his notepad out. "Urgh, you really are a history nerd sometimes, I can't believe you read those things for pleasure."
Lance made a face. "This isn't pleasure reading, this is simply me making progress, moving. I dislike sitting idle." He tapped the stack of scrolls. "These are actually extremely relevant for another matter I have been looking into but nevermind that. Tell me, what did you find?"
"There's precedent and should you call Bruce out on what he's planning, he can literally activate it as you suppressing him which led to the schism in the texts," she said. "It's a 'fig leaf' excuse though, and for him to be able to claim compensation in assets of the clan is just… we need to get this off the books!"
"It has only ever happened once that the clan experienced a person dissatisfied with their position. It's actually this case that led to the Clan adopting such a supportive structure and the comforts many enjoy today with the pooling of resources."
Clair hissed. "It's still going to cause a huge issue. Now that it's been raised it might continue to be raised! On paper, he will be creating a 'secondary branch but we all know he's not going to follow anything the Clan asks of him. Once he has what he wants he can break off and then the Clan can't do anything!"
Lance nodded. "Right, so you had the same reading as I did." He put his head back against the shelves. "So, we can't confront him lest he trigger it, but if he continues to run his course he's going to use a big event to no doubt make a big deal of himself and still force the issue."
"We need to shame him, but not be seen contributing to it," Clair said suddenly.
Lance blinked looking up at her in shock. That hadn't been a suggestion he'd expected her to utter. Clair looked just as startled. "If we can't do it, we will need to rely on someone else."
She wet her lips, perhaps we need to make a larger deal of the Golden week Ace Tournament than normal?" she suggested.
Lance nodded slowly. "Brock's going to be there," he said slowly.
"As is… Karen," said Clair distastefully. "She's a known quantity with how she's going for Elite Four position. Brock has a proven ability to best Dragons that has only gotten stronger with that Clefable on his team."
Lance nodded. "It's a solution but let's see if we can find others. I don't want to put all our eggs in one clutch," he said, rising and signalling for her to return to his apartment with her. The elevator was calming this time as they traded suggestions back and forth rather than standing in silence with bubbly music playing.
When they reached the apartment, Clair broke away to make a pot of tea to calm themselves further.
Lance fished out the remote and turned the television back on.
The battlecast announcer was shown. "WHAT A MATCH! IF YOU MISSED IT, YOU REALLY WILL BE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE RERUN!"
The other announcer bounced back and forth. "I have to give it to Ethan! I was not expecting that Muk to come out first and to set the tone of the fight with a huge Toxic! That really forced Brock's hand. It suddenly became a much closer thing and you could see Bertha was struggling!"
"Urgh! So many clutch moments where it could have gone either way!"
"Tune in for the rerun at seven after the final Ace match of the circuit before the Golden week break! It's Bruce versus Carr in what many are tipping as the finals of next week playing out early! How will these two face off knowing that they're destined too next week!"
Lance felt his face morph from one of stoic resolve to disgust tinged with annoyance. So, not only had he missed an interesting match, but Bruce was going to do a little victory lap and drum up some more awareness with a match before the tournament.
Everyone else in the top ten rankings was avoiding matches due to not wanting to give their opponents more of a read on them.
Well, everyone but Brock. But Brock was extremely atypical for a number of reasons. At first glance, he should have an easy-to-counter team, but then you started getting into the moves that said pokemon had along with their training.
Lance had watched more than a few matches where Brock's starter had gone up against fighting type pokemon and prevailed, something that should have been avoided Brock would sometimes lean into, exploiting people's expectations and defying the odds.
And while the Elite challenge appeared to broadcast a lot of his strengths it also showcased something else.
All of Brock's pokemon, his rock type pokemon, were at least approaching Elite Four levels in terms of strength. Some of that had to be the Elite challenge pushing them to be stronger.
It made Lance want to challenge himself in new ways instead of simply sitting and waiting for worthy foes. He needed to create conditions that challenged him so that when the fetters came off, his pokemon could truly shine.
"Ooooh looks like you missed out," Clair said rather redundantly as she set down the teapot.
Lance gave her a gimlet stare. If he hadn't had to escort her to the archives for the ancient texts… He exhaled through his nostrils and waved a hand. "I'll watch it later, after Bruce's match" he said even while a bitter taste filled his mouth.
He didn't want to but he felt he should watch it, just in case there was something he could pick up from Bruce.
Who knows, perhaps Carr would surprise him and deliver a shock last minute victory to claim the top seeded position going into the tournament.
Stranger things had happened.
Clair poured the tea, "What do you make of the claims that the Kanto dragon society made?" she said.
"Less than nothing, they are just trying to entice Bruce by the prospect of seeking out the fabled Kanto hidden home of dragons. The claims that the pokemon are close to the cycling road is a blatant reach. If anything I'd expect the land to be somewhere close to the Safari Zone. There is more than enough proof of Dratini with the extremely rare Dragoniar appearing there to give us an idea that the habitat is somewhere close to Fuchsia."
"So it could be to the northwest of Fuchsia?" prodded clair from behind her teacup.
Lance worked his jaw. "Surveyors have trodden through those lands many times and found nothing. Dragonite are not known for being able to hide their habitats well. It must be a preserve that is maintained by a more powerful pokemon such as Lord Rayquaza."
"Not Mew?" Clair said with a thoughtful tone. "If what we've learned about fairy typing it is possible that Mew, as a capricious trickster pokemon might have a paw in hiding a valley of dragon pokemon from people interested in it, no?"
Lance blinked. "I hadn't considered that before, that…" He stared out over the balcony, "makes entirely too much sense, but it might be fitting details to suit our expectations. There has only been a few sightings of the pokemon and it being pink and exceptionally powerful as it dispatched flights of Dragon tamers while appearing to play…"
Lance sighed. "Alright I can hear it," he said.
Clair just smirked at him.
"It does fit, I will review some of the files and stored items that Team Rocket had. If they still have a DNA sample I might be able to get a fairy typing for it," Lance said.
Clair sipped her tea in a manner that was all too pleased for Lance's liking. "Anything else catching your eye?" he prompted.
"Just how desperate the Dragon Society is to get to establish an actual Gym for Dragons, " she replied as she set her tea down. "It seems like they pooled a lot of resources for this pitch and while Bruce is taking them for all they are worth, I have to admit to being surprised with what they've put together."
She made a show of lifting the stack of papers detailing the meeting and flipping to a point that detailed specific Gym plans that would cater to a Dragon's needs rather well.
"Some of these facilities are impressive and if I didn't know how… fanatical they were about Dragons I would wonder if they hadn't bribed one of the handlers in the creche."
Lance shook his head. "No such luck, then I could get them for something and stop this cold from another angle." Lance waved a hand at the notes. "That right there is the combined and collective work of a group of people desperate to host Dragon pokemon in Kanto. Some are doing it out of their love for the typing, and others are doing it to have a firm counter to our Clan. They hope to create something like we have," he said gesturing expansively,
"They have tried to entice Professor Oak more than a few times," said Lance conversationally.
Clair paused, her eyes dilating with fright. While the Blackthorn clan had the claims for the best at raising dragons and the current Champion, there was some serious debate on if they actually had the strongest Dragon in Kanto due to the existence of Samuel Oak's Dragonite.
Lance wasn't in a hurry to find out, choosing instead to follow the ancient teaching of letting sleeping dragon's lie. He shrugged. "He never accepted their offers, obviously," he said.
The pair of them shared a nod, relaxing marginally despite them both knowing there wasn't much threat of Samuel Oak breaking away from his retirement. The idea bandied around in most circles was that he'd won and continued to win by doing nothing but being an ever-present threat.
If he was roused, then he might cause waves but he was more than content to explore scientific mysteries about pokemon these days.
Clair frowned and lifted the stack of papers. She didn't read through them again, merely hefted them with a thoughtful frown.
"So, Koga found all of this information out from an extremely secretive meeting?" she said thoughtfully.
Lance could only sigh and nod, knowing where this line of thought was leading.
Clair's eyes flickered about the apartment. "How do we know he's not watching us at the moment?"
"You really don't." Lance sighed and stared down at his cup of tea.
There were days when he wished he was allowed to drink something a little stronger. Sadly he had to maintain an image for the youth of today.
You did not want to inspire drunks with pokemon that were capable of levelling buildings after all.
Lance settled in to wait, ideas and plots forming in his mind as he attempted to keep the ship that was Kanto even and stable even as it seemed everyone wanted to upset things.
Lance felt more than a little envy on days like this for Samuel Oak.
It made a lot of sense that the man stayed retired.
He wasn't a fool.
228
Cindy entered her room with a serious mein. She made sure to march right into the middle of it and give everything in it a serious look over. Her brow scrunched up like the few times she'd seen Brock getting annoyed at some paperwork.
"Hnnnnnnn," said a small voice behind her.
Cindy ignored the voice. Just like she ignored how she could see Suzie and Yolanda in the mirror behind her, with Munchlax trailing along. All of them were copying her.
She ignored them… for a whole five seconds!
Then she turned and pounced on them. "Stop that, you guys!" she whined. "I'm trying to be serious!"
Suzie nodded, frown firmly in place. "Yeah! Super serious!" she said, crossing her arms.
Munchlax leaned forward to see what pose Suzie had adopted and took that pose himself. "Munch!" he said with a nod.
Yolanda went limp and boneless in Cindy's arms, causing Cindy to topple backwards. "Argh! No! Stop it! You're ruining my storm off!" she said.
She hadn't and still wasn't impressed with Brock leaving things to practically the last minute to tell her that they were going to Chrysanthemum Island for Golden Week. She had started to make plans with her friends, and now she was going to spend that time with her family!
Yolanda caught herself before she could hit the floor. "Calm down, Brock's just been busy," she said calmly.
"I wanted to spend time with my friends!" Cindy said, crossing her arms and turning away. "I have to spend my holidays with you guys all the time!" she said with a whine.
Yolanda gave her a flat look. "We are your family, you should spend time with us," she said.
Cindy huffed. "I have band practice as well! I wanted to make it into the wind section!" she said reaching for another reason.
"You could always stay with them for a sleepover?" Yolanda suggested.
"And miss out on the beach?" said Cindy, aghast at this line of logic her sister was using.
Yolanda rolled her eyes. Cindy stuck out her tongue. Yolanda rolled her eyes harder.
Suzie, glanced between them. "Can't Cindy's friends just come with us?" she asked with all the innocence of a child.
Cindy opened her mouth to refute this, only to pause. Why couldn't she do that?
Yolanda made a face. "Sometimes adults get weird about people buying holidays for them."
Suzie shrugged. "Can't hurt to ask?" she said.
Cindy liked that idea. If she was super smart about how she asked, they would have to say yes!
She just needed to make a call… which she couldn't do as she didn't have a transceiver. "Yolanda, lend me your transceiver," she said, holding out her hand expectantly.
Yolanda raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her. "Maybe you should ask Dad and Brock first, seeing as they're the ones that are going to be paying for this."
"We're rich, we can afford it," said Cindy dismissively. She held her hand out, only to see that Yolanda had firmed up and looked like she was about to start giving her a lecture.
Cindy huffed and made for her second option. She marched across the hallway and pushed open Salvadore's door. "I'm borrowing your transceiver!" she announced.
Salvadore looked up from a model that he'd gotten from Brock on his last run to Cerulean. With tweezers and the giant goggles in hand, he looked like such a dweeb. On his bed, Hephaestus looked up and yawned at her.
"Cindy, you can't just-" Yolanda started to say, only for Cindy to slam the door in her face. She grinned when a soft 'whump' sounded from the other side.
Salvadore peered at her. "Am I going to get in trouble for lending you my Xtransicer?" he asked.
"No!" Cindy said firmly as she ripped the transceiver off Salvadore's wrist and began spinning through the contacts. "Why don't you have Brittany's contact information?" she asked.
"Cause I'm not her friend?" said Salvadore, still peering at her through his giant goggles.
Cindy groaned as the door opened to reveal Yolanda with a red nose. Behind her, Suzie and Munchlax played a game of running into a closed door. "And we go whump!" said Suzie before falling on her bum.
"Hooray!" said her little sister, Munchlax echoing her cheer.
Yolanda towered over Cindy. "Little sister, do you have anything you want to say for yourself?" she said with a frosty tone.
Cindy swallowed. "Let that be a lesson to you?" she said carefully.
Yolanda's eyebrow twitched. Salvadore peered from her to Yolanda to Suzie. "I am so lost on what's going on," he said.
Yolanda twitched and Cindy leaped to the side, only to curse as she realised mid leap that her sister had grown wise to her evasive manoeuvres. Yolanda grabbed her out of the air and began dragging her.
Cindy did the only reasonable thing she could. "YOU ARE HURTING ME!!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "LET GO OF ME!"
Eevee, who'd been napping in Suzie's room, appeared, with her ears tucked into herself and a glower raised at Cindy, but Cindy didn't stop. Yolanda was getting in the way of her getting her friend to come and hang out instead of spending more time with her family!
Brock opened his door, a shirt draped over him with loose pants pulled on. He looked goofy as anything. "What on Kanto is going on?" he shouted over the top of Cindy.
"SHE'S HURTING ME!" shouted Cindy.
"I AM NOT!" Yolanda shouted back.
Brock sighed. "Great, just great." He then opened his hands and clapped them together.
He did it just once, but the echoing bang filled the hallway and caused both Yolanda and Cindy to shut their mouths and stare at him in shock. His annoyed stare kept them quiet.
Suzie chose that moment to stagger into a hall cabinet, a ball falling from the top and smacking her right in the head. She fell to the ground and sat there, stunned.
Brock shifted focus straight away. "Hey Suzie, you alright?" he asked.
Suzie sat there for a moment, blinking.
Then her eyes teared up, and she wailed in pain.
Before Brock or anyone else could move, Sabrina was there in a flash.
She scooped Suzie up and tucked her away before disappearing with another flash.
Brock lurched, caught in the act of moving towards their crying sister only to stop. "Huh, right, that's sorted then," he said as the sound of Suzie's crying shifted to another part of the house.
He then turned his attention back to Cindy and Yolanda.
"Alright, now, what's going on with you two?" he said.
Cindy rushed to get her truth in first, only for Brock to hold his hand up. "Yolanda first," he said.
Cindy snarled. "No fair! You always let her talk first!"
Brock ran a hand over his face. "Just… urgh, I was moment's away from having… well, relaxing," he said. He inhaled and gestured with his whole hand to Yolanda. "Yolanda gets to talk first because she's older and has a lot of my trust, with how earnestly she works in the Gym and at home."
Cindy pouted and looked away.
Brock inhaled and exhaled again. "What did the book say about this?" he asked, seemingly to himself.
Yolanda shifted. "I wanted to come get you because—"
Brock held out his hand again and stopped Yolanda this time. "Sorry, no, let me work on this first please, Yolanda."
Yolanda nodded slowly and Brock smiled back at her. Then he looked at Cindy. "Cindy, I'm sorry that you feel you don't get as fair a treatment. I have to admit that I don't give you as many chances to prove yourself like I do Yolanda. For things like this, it's not a bad idea to change it up, but remember, I want you to be as honest as possible with me, yeah?"
He crouched down and looked right into her eyes. "You can be honest with me, right?"
"...okay," Cindy said, feeling like this was unfair. Somehow using a book had let Brock cheat.
She shifted. "I was feeling kind of annoyed because I'd made plans with my friend to hang out next week, and I also have a recital that is coming up, and—" Cindy let everything that had happened since dinner spill out.
Brock stayed where he was, crouched down and listening, nodding along.
"—and then Yolanda grabbed me," she finished.
Brock hummed. "Alright, thank you for being as honest as you could with me." He turned to Yolanda. "Anything you'd like to add?" he asked.
Yolanda rubbed her nose. "She slammed the door in my face, and I was just going to bring her to you or dad to ask about having her friends come over."
"You know, the whole invite your friend idea is pretty great," he said. "I never get much of a chance to meet your friends!" he said with a winning smile. Then he gained a serious look. "But before we announce that to the others, do you have anything to say to each other?" he said.
"Sorry," said Yolanda and Cindy to each other.
Yolanda gave her a smile and Cindy matched her. Brock looked from one to the other. "Alright, let's tell the others, and then we can make some arrangements, alright?" He rubbed his chin. "It might be a bit late to get so many rooms, but there's no reason we can't make it a camping trip!" he said.
Cindy gasped. "What? No! I want to stay in a resort with a pool!" she said.
Brock snorted and waved his hand. "I'm just messing around," he said, only to drop the smile. "Or am I?" he said, standing quickly and marching into his room.
Cindy stared after him. "Which is it?" she called, only for Brock to grin evilly at her.
"Muhahaha!" he said, closing the door.
Yolanda giggled and moved off. "Camping might be nice," she said aloud.
Cindy stared after her.
Billy and Tommy marched past with the stupid poop book. "And it's as big as your head!" said Tommy.
Meanwhile Sabrina and Suzie floated down the hallway, with Selene and Kirlia bobbing after them, all of them nibbling on a cone of ice cream.
Salvadore chose that moment to peek out of his room, his giant goggles that magnified his eyes still in place. "So, everything's back to normal?"
Cindy grimaced. On second thought, maybe she didn't want her friends seeing how weird her family was.
The television shone brightly in the dark room as the sole occupant lazed on the couch.
The room suddenly brightened, as an explosion on the television caused a shockwave of light, even hours after the event the powerful move caused people watching the battle to blink back tears.
Not Carr, though. He just continued to stare at the screen lifelessly.
He'd lost.
It had been a while since he'd last lost, and he found that he really didn't like the taste it left in his mouth. He'd been on a serious win streak of late.
He'd gotten to Corvo, beating that Johto loving dunderhead with barely three pokemon. Then Matthew, Debra and Leo for a quick hop step up the ladder that had seen him winning four matches and a few easy points to rise up the Ace rankings.
Those wins, while beneath him, had made his points look inflated for when he'd gotten the chance to fight that absolute idiot Fergus. His stupid friend Neesha had then gotten involved, and after beating both of them like drums, he'd gotten to fight Corey.
Corey had been better.
He had a good spread of pokemon compared to a lot of others that clung to type specialisations.
Those were outdated and foolish lines of thought, and if there was one thing that Carr hated, it was fools.
He would never abide letting himself slip into such terrible habits. He might present the facade of a Steel type expert, but that was just a front.
His Forretress were to be used as threats and set up experts. As נug-steel they offered a fair amount of versatility.
His Skarmory was a powerful fighter that covered a lot of the weaknesses flying types usually had.
And as for Steelix? Well, that pokemon had some serious power and tricks that people were only just now getting to see, due to Brock using his so openly.
The damn fool. Carr spun a pokeball on the tip of his finger, enjoying the weight of it balanced perfectly.
He obviously didn't care that he was revealing a good deal of Carr's hidden techniques.
Well, he was a fool on that point at least. On a lot of other points, though, Carr couldn't help but admire Brock.
The information that Steelix could Mega-evolve was certainly welcome. Carr allowed himself to grant Brock a slight pass for being a useful idiot.
Carr just needed to keep his ear to the ground about any shipments or deals being made.
Brock had ownership of fossil pokemon. A huge money-maker right there.
Then he had information on some rare evolutions and variant pokemon. More money for him.
He also had Professor Oak supposedly eating out of his hands, so he'd be having those useless academics open their doors for him as well.
Brock had a lot going for him.
And for that, Carr kind of hated him.
He'd once had a lot going for him. He'd had backers and rare pokemon and even a plan all lined up.
Then things had gone tits up when that absolute tool Giovanni had overplayed his hand, thinking he was hotter shit than he really was. Although, it had been a surprise to learn that Giovanni of all people was the big boss.
Carr had initially surmised that it was someone like the founder of Silph Co. whom everyone wrote off as a dandy these days.
Carr didn't trust that, though. No way you created a business like Silph and then just gave it all up.
Carr didn't believe that for a moment. And Carr knew he was right more often than not. It wasn't every day, after all, that a fourteen year old made it up the Ace rankings as high as he did.
He might have been wrong about Giovanni, but he still thought something stunk about that Silph sneak.
Carr was smart, he knew it. He'd proven it by sneaking into a few courses, picked up a course book and the next day sat the test just to see if he could. What he'd discovered?
He was damn smart. Easily in the top 95%, if not more. They just hadn't created a test for him.
He was smart, and when he was done, he'd make sure other people knew it.
Carr hadn't let himself get caught up in the avalanche of arrests.
Carr spun another pokeball on the tip of his finger and grinned.
He'd known that Team Rocket had a profile on him, and very specific notes about what levers they had to control him.
Blackmail, bribes and all that.
He'd let them think that, let them think he was a joiner, a real 'yes' kid.
Meanwhile, he'd slipped a Porygon into their system and had it sit in waiting. The instant Carr had seen the way things were shaking out after the Saffron incident, he'd given his little Dataduck the go-ahead to purge his files.
A knock sounded on the door, and Carr grinned.
Him, and a few other select agents who could prove useful. He'd gotten a lot more than he'd bargained for with his failsafe, and now he had options. More options than any former Rocket member, he liked to think.
He now had the ability to call up and use certain agents. It wasn't like they could naysay him, with the blackmail he had over their heads. One word, and off to prison they'd go. Heck, the Government would probably reward him!
And if he felt like it, he might even visit the Orre region that some of the files mentioned.
"You may enter," he said, making sure he sounded extra smarmy. It would annoy the agents he'd selected for this mission and make them further underestimate him.
The door opened and Butch and Cassidy entered. Both of them grimaced when they looked at him, and Carr grinned indolently. These two were useful agents. They had exemplary records with scores and missions.
Carr had been rather surprised. With Dataduck in the Team Rocket system he'd been able to filter out some reports and he'd learned about these two.
With what they'd achieved, he was honestly surprised that they weren't administrators.
They just had the misfortune to come under a boss that had been envious of their success. The man had claimed it for himself, with Giovanni never questioning it.
If Butch and Cassidy had a bit more smarts, they might have realised they needed to create some openings in the Admins roster to secure their advancement. That's what Carr would have done.
But then again, they weren't on his level. "I have a job for you both," he said as the door shut behind them.
Butch and Cassidy shared a look. "Alright?"
Carr caught the pokeball. "..." he gave them a pointed look.
"Ah, what's the job… boss?" said Cassidy, nudging Butch. "Yeah, boss," said Butch.
Carr allowed himself a smile. It was too easy to rile them up.
"I want you to hire another person, a professional thief, if you would. I have a target for them. You'll need to set up some intermediaries, as there is a risk of it getting back to you if you're not careful."
Butch frowned at this. "Even if we're not the ones doing the hit?"
Carr levelled a flat look at him. "Yes, because the target is Brock."
Cassidy blinked. "Oh, meaning Sabrina might be involved…" she said rather redundantly.
Carr huffed. "If you need me to sketch it out for you, yes. Don't let this blow back on you, or more importantly, me," he said.
Butch sniffed. "We have some contacts… What's the objective?" he asked.
Carr smiled and raised a picture of Brock. He tapped on something, and both Butch and Cassidy whistled.
"That's risky, little man," said Butch.
"It's boss," said Carr pointedly. "I shouldn't have to remind you again," he said, his tone sharp as it could go. If Butch wanted to play this game, he could play it.
Cassidy knew better and lowered her head like a good little minion. "You don't, we'll make the arrangements," she said.
Carr flicked his hand and dismissed them.
Only then did he sit up and start his own work. He had some contacts of his own that he was going to set on a secondary objective. A picture of a trio of trainers flashed up on his transceiver and Carr took a moment to glower at their stupid smiling faces. He clicked send on the order, wiping his hands of the affair.

With that done he turned his attention to his actual work. Becoming the number one Ace trainer, sadly, wasn't going to be as easy.

He grinned. It shouldn't be too much of a challenge for a genius like himself, though!
It was all about making the right steps.
He flicked his hand and released Dataduck. He pointed at the computer in the corner. "We're on a hardline that the local Pokemon League office is tapped into. I want you to go in and get me all of the competition's pokemon rosters. All of them, not just the publicly shared list," he said.
Step one of his genius plan?
Stack the deck in his favour and peek at the cards everyone had in their hands.
Meowth stared into the distance.
Somehow they'd gotten themselves a very amiable backer. They were on the straight and narrow. They were honestly doing well for themselves. They had good fat bank accounts that were in the green, or the black, or whatever it was called.
No one was hunting around for them.
Or at least, it seemed that way these days.
And yet still… "How do we end up in these situations?" said Meowth, trying valiantly to ignore the canoe they'd found themselves in.
… while in the middle of the ocean.
Jessie grunted, pulling her oar forward and stroking it to propel them. "I don't know, blame James and his propensity to buy pokemon he really should know better about!"
James stopped still, turning in his seat and setting the canoe to rocking.
Meowth hissed and prepared himself to leap atop Jessie's head. It wasn't rational, he knew that. If he did that it would set her to flailing and then then be sure to end up in the drink.
But he couldn't stop himself from flexing his claws as instincts he'd honed screamed at him to get ready to move.
James went very still. "Sorry Meowth," he muttered. Then he looked past Meowth to Jessie. "This is hardly my fault! You're the one that decided it would be a good idea to mess with the twerps. Then they blew us away, like they always do!" he hissed.
"Brock wants us to test his kid brother! That's like, the only condition he gave us!" Jessie replied hotly.
James snorted. "I'm just saying that you could have probably done it on your own!"
Jessie huffed.
Meowth swallowed down his fear. "Well, what I want to know is why neither of you have your transceivers out calling for extraction. We're not exactly crooks, so we can do that, you know?"
James and Jessie both paused as they realised how true that was. Both of them raised their transceivers.
"Mine's out of battery," said James sheepishly.
The boys turned their attention to Jessie only for her to hang her head. "It's damaged, I can't get reception," she said.
Meowth sighed, looking up into the blue sky, "Sometimes I wonder if we're doing something wrong when we're doing good, but it turns out it's not a matter of us doing good or bad. It's just us, we're unlucky. When I get back, I think I could buy a thousand lottery tickets and still not win anything."
James gave him a sympathetic look. "To be fair, the lottery isn't meant to be won. That's the reason they make it so hard," he said.
Meowth shot a glare at him. "I was being poetic!"
"Urgh, you and your poetry!" Jessie said. "I swear I've caught you calling your girlfriend like every night since we left Pewter!"
James turned around. "You have a transceiver?" he asked hopefully.
Meowth nodded. "I… left it on the charger this morning, 'cause we were planning on staying the week," he said.
Everyone hung their heads. Meowth looked up at the distant island. "At least we're not lost," he said.
Jessie and James both nodded as they continued to row the canoe. They'd gotten very used to finding their way in the wilderness, even before Team Rocket Academy. They'd been aces at that course.
Now it was coming in clutch as they made their way back to their accommodations.
Meowth sighed and looked over the edge of the canoe, only to gasp and throw himself to the other side. "There's something in the water!" he screeched before either of the lunks could reprimand him.
Both Jessie and James steadied the boat while peering out.
A dark shape under their canoe made them stiffen.
"Is it a Gyarados?" suggested James.
"It might be a Wailord?" offered Jessie hopefully.
"S-So we're only slightly at risk of being launched into the air instead of blasted? I hate water and this is why!" Meowth whined.
The trio watched the dark shadow under their boat shift back and forth before it slowly seemed to grow closer.
The trio leaned back and prepared themselves for the worst. Meowth readied his claws while James and Jessie put their hands on their pokeballs.
The shadow resolved itself into a fish pokemon, brown with red spots.
"Canth!" said the ugly squinty eyed pokemon.
Meowth and James tilted their heads. "Who's that pokemon?" they said.
Jessie hissed in surprise and shifted her grip to another pokeball before hurling it straight at the pokemon. "Get in the ball!" she roared.
The pokeball hit the pokemon and it dissolved into a red light that filled the pokeball which landed on the water and floated. It wobbled a little, only to then crack open and for the pokemon to reappear.
"Reli!" growled the brown fish. It then slowly dove back under the water.
"Shoot! James! Don't let it get away! Bombard it or something!" she shouted as she stood, stripping to her bra and panties.
Her shirt flopped onto Meowth and he spluttered. "What's gotten into you? And keep your clothes on!"
Jessie whipped her head around and glared at James and Meowth. "Don't wait, just do as I ordered! That's a rare pokemon that Brock is highly interested in! It's a Relicanth! If we capture that pokemon, we've hit pay dirt!" she said.
From her purse she pulled out a small scuba breather with some goggles before leaping up high and arcing into the water.
Meowth stared after her before snapping his head around to watch as James copied Jessie. "Eh? You too?" he shouted.
"Jessie needs help! You hold down the fort here! Try not to let us float off!" he said, diving in after Jessie.
"What?! I'm a Meowth! Leave me… and you're gone," said Meowth.
He swallowed and looked around. He was a Meowth, stranded at sea with no one else around.
This was easily his worst nightmare.
Meowth clutched at his chest as he felt his heart begin to beat faster. He roved his eyes from side to side fearfully.
This was it, this was how he died. He'd capsize the canoe and end up drowning far from land, just as he had a shot at it with Mittens.
He'd had it all planned out, go straight, earn enough from an acting career and buy a white picket fence that him and Mittens could move into. Then Bosco could live in the basement and Jessie and James could live next door.
Now he was done. A Goner.
He had no shot.
His breaths came faster and faster as he looked around, waiting and watching for whatever was going to do it. Knock him into the water.
"Are you alright?" asked a flat voice.
Meowth rolled, making the canoe rock.
He clung to the bottom of the canoe for a second before slowly looking up, deciding to be brave. Even if it was the last time.
He hoped they at least had a small parade in his honour…
He found himself staring into the face of a Magikarp.
Meowth shot to his feet. "Like hell I'm dying 'cause of you!' he shouted, pointing straight at the stupid fish face.
Magikarp blinked dolefully. "I… suppose?" said the Magikarp.
Meowth nodded before shaking his head. "I mean, who the hell are you and what are you doing out here?" Meowth snapped.
Magikarp looked at his fins and then looked back up at Meowth. "I'm a Magikarp and… I don't really get to control where I go in life…" he said.
Meowth opened his mouth to mock the other pokemon, only to feel something. What was it? Empathy? Or indigestion, maybe?
Meowth licked his lips. "Ah… yeah, that happens," he said eventually.
"Yeah," said Magikarp, "It sucks. Me and Feebas hate it."
Meowth looked around only to find another smaller, and if anything, even less impressive pokemon staring up at him.
"H-hi?" said a young voice.
Meowth blinked. "Hi there," he said, deciding for once that it wouldn't cost him anything to be nice.
It wasn't like there was anyone around that could see him, after all.
"Are you alright?" said the little Feebas. "You sounded like you were in trouble."
Meowth growled. "I wasn't in trouble! I was just... practising my breathing."
Feebas tilted her whole body. "Was the screaming part of it?"
Magikarp's tail twitched and Meowth had the sneaking suspicion that the stupid fish was laughing at him.
"Yes, it was," he said, doubling down on his lie.
Feebas nodded, and then rolled on her side in the water. "Waaaaaah! I'm doomed! Waaaah!" she shouted, causing water to be splashed around.
Meowth felt like he should step into the cold dark waters and let them claim him now.
He'd been wrong.
This, this was how he died.
Not because of fear, but shame.
He'd need to kill himself… after killing any witnesses. He eyed the fish… weren't Magikarp and Feebas a specialty dish in some parts?
Magikarp twitched again. "Feebas, that's enough," said the stupid fish.
Feebas righted herself and Meowth caught sight of an ugly scar down her flank. "Ah, alright. Sorry if I did it wrong, Meowth," she said.
Meowth coughed. "Yeah, well, it takes practise to get good at it," he said firmly, unsure why he was committing to the lie.
He shook his head, only for a fin in the water to make him stiffen. "Sharpedo!" he shouted, pointing at the fin. Both Feebas and Magikarp turned, extremely slowly to look. In doing so, they revealed they each had scars over their bodies.
"Oh, we're done for!" said Feebas, wilting.
"Yup, he's probably done playing with us," said Magikarp.
Meowth flicked his eyes back and forth at them before turning to the Sharpedo charging in.
He couldn't say why he did it, or even how, but somehow, someway, he lifted an oar and just as Sharpedo leapt up he brought it down, smacking the even stupider fish pokemon back where it came from.
"Get out of here! Leave them alone!" he shouted as he dispatched the Sharpedo with a deft slap.
Sharpedo reared back and soared out of the water, leaving Feebas and Magikarp to gape in awe.
The Sharpedo landed a little ways away with a splash, before righting itself quickly. "Well, well well, what do we have, a brave little puss all alone in the ocean."
The Sharpedo grinned. "You're gonna need a bigger boat, pussycat!" he roared as he charged, teeth bared.
"Like hell I do!" shouted Meowth as he did the opposite of something smart and instead leapt at Sharpedo from the boat, fangs and claws extended.
Sharpedo baulked in surprise as Meowth slashed his claws into something soft before kicking out with his feet to leap back.
A stab of pain in his feet let him know that hadn't been a good idea.
He landed painfully and growled. "Get out of here punk! You don't scare me!"
Sharpedo shook itself only to grin, its eyes dilating. "You're bleeding…. Hnnnnnn, you smell tasty!"
Meowth growled, knowing things were looking bad.
"Leave our friend alone! He might be weird but he's nice!" shouted Feebas.
"Yeah! Leave our weird friend alone!" parroted Magikarp.
Meowth was suddenly much less sure of himself.
The Sharpedo twitched, snapping his fangs into the water. "Shut up! You're next! I'm done playing with each of you!" he said, before turning back to Meowth.
Meowth prepared his fangs for another clash, not willing to go down easily.
Then he spotted a shadow in the water and he grinned. "Hey Sharpedo? You like snakes?" he asked.
Sharpedo had all of a second to blink before Jessie's Arbok shot out of the water with fangs sparking madly. "Don't mess with my friends!" snarled the snake before it slammed into Sharpedo.
Sharpedo twitched and spasmed, only to go limp as Arbok held on long enough to knock him out.
Arbok let go and spat a wad of blood. "Urgh! He tastes disgusting!" he said. Then he turned to look at Meowth. "You alright, little kitty?"
Meowth scoffed. "I had it covered."
Arbok looked like he wanted to argue that, but then Feebas chimed in. "Oh, he was incredible! He leapt out and slashed up Sharpedo with his claws like a hero!"
A moment later Jessie and James emerged looking triumphant. "Meowth! We just scored big!" said the red head.
Meowth grinned. "Nice! Now let's get back to shore and count our cash!"
Jessie grinned. "I'll do us one better! Relicanth! Come out and tow us to shore!" she said as she scrambled into the boat, before helping James after her.
Meowth balanced from side to side as the canoe rocked. "Woah, careful!" he said.
When Relicanth emerged and steadied the boat, Meowth sighed in relief. Jessie glanced around "Looks like you made friends," she said, eying the floating Sharpedo.
Meowth grunted and looked at Feebas and Magikarp. "Well, nice meeting you both, good luck living in the ocean!" he said.
"Thanks for helping us live for another day!" replied Feebas cheerfully.
Meowth twitched as he realised that with him gone, these two had no chance out here. It was honestly a miracle they'd survived this long.
He shot them a look before sighing. "James, Jessie… Can I ask a favour? Reckon these two can join us?" he asked.
The human pair shared looks with each other before shrugging. "Sure?" James said easily, tossing out a ball and catching Magikarp. Jessie did the same for Feebas.
Meowth gave them both nods.
There, he'd done his good deed for the year with that act. Now those two were part of the Team Rocket rehab tour.
Shame they were both so ugly.
"Onward! To Chrysanthemum Island!" he shouted to get them underway.