Hard Enough - Pokemon SI

Viva01 · Apr 6, 2022

Chapter 1 - Gym Leader Brock

I didn't get to instantly understand all the memories of my first life upon my insertion.

I didn't get to meet any almighty being, or anything randomly omnipotent. Which, considering my new circumstances, would have been wild. Arceus as a god was crazy to consider.

Instead, I slowly formed into an overly mature child. That didn't stop me from being caught in the wonder though. Being reborn into a world of pokemon will do that. There was a romance and a vibrancy to this world. Pokemon themselves made up the largest part but the people themselves were more upbeat. The most simply of things had more to them.

I'd easily spent vast amounts of my previous life engaged in the pokemon media. I wasn't a diehard by any metric. I was a fan for sure. Enough so that I knew things about the world. I'd had to test certain things at the start, such as which iteration of the pokemon world I was in. There was after all a world of difference between the various anime alone, then the games, and finally the manga.

An equivalent of the anime was perhaps the best outcome for all involved, ergo, me.

It did leave me with questions. Lots and lots of questions. Some of which I'm not sure I wanted asked, let alone answered.

I wanted some sleeping Entei to just keep slumbering. I wanted to live my second life for all that it was worth. That… had been possible with the occasional hitch. Thankfully I'd been able to put my knowledge of the pokemon world to great use.

In the past, I had another name and another life. Another world that, while mundane, was engaging, enjoyable, and mine. This second life I would treat as an extension with a new name much like a new situation. It would be no different than going to college and getting a new name that other's knew me by, assigned to me. That's at least the way I rationalized it to myself.

These days, I went by Brock.

Brock as in the Leader of the Pewter City gym.

"Go Graveler!" I shouted. Pokeball discharging my chosen partner for this match.

"Go Nidorino!" shouted the challenger. The small rabbit-like rhino came down with a shake of its head that sent the overly large ears flapping. I let a small grin come out. It always amused me seeing pokemon that I once prized on my team with the game used against me.

"Graveler! Rollout into an Earthquake!" I called. I might have favoured the pokemon originally but that was never a reason for me to go easy on them.

"Leap up Nidorino!" called my opponent with grit teeth. I braced myself as Graveller ended his first attack to slam both palms into the ground, calling out his name as he did so to cause the arena to shake. In the wild it wasn't uncommon to be walking around and lose your footing. Dampeners around the arena stopped it from affecting the watching crowd. I considered it money well spent, and the crowds that frequented the gym since I installed them, judging by the steadily growing number of regulars, agreed. I had even started making decent money selling tickets for some of the pre-booked matches.

In my old world pokemon fights were often compared to cockfighting. A cruel sport marketed as pitting two animals against each other. This was incorrect. Perhaps in some other universe it was true with a grimdark world where everything was… well you'd know if things were that bad.

Perhaps it was Arceus in this universe, or something else, but actual 'blood' occurring in most fighting was rare. It still happened and was more a sign of a pokemon being pushed to their limits. Death during a match was extremely rare. You had to be careful of course, as most incidents of this were typically from people that threw out top tier pokemon against rookies. Something that was extremely frowned upon, if not outright punished if found. Most pokemon had good enough instincts to know when to get out of a fight either by ignoring a trainer's orders against a more powerful pokemon, or by staying down when they hit the ground.

The exception to his rule was typically in the wild with untrained pokemon, or with criminal organizations.

Criminals aren't big on following rules and social norms. Funny that.

"Nidorino! Use swift!" Called out the trainer I had largely been ignoring.

I refocused on the task at hand. I could admit to myself I was coasting in this fight. It was only a fourth badge standard match instead of anything exotic. It was the end of the circuit and this trainer wouldn't be able to make it for this round of the league unless he had a pokemon well versed in teleport, along with having already gone to the places he needed to earn the Indigo qualified gyms. So far the trainer wasn't impressing me enough that I could see them passing.

"Defense curl," I finally answered after taking a moment to recall which moves this Graveller had.

"Thunder!" came the reply from the trainer, unknowingly sinking his chances of me passing him.

I stoically stare as the thunderbolt descends upon Graveller, who earths it by digging his feet into the ground slightly. When the flash vanishes, my pokemon is revealed unphased by the light show.

"Eh?! It was ineffective!?"

"Dig," I say, ignoring the antics of my foe. Talking isn't a free action after all. My opponent is flustered and compounds his earlier mistake. "Nidorino focus! When it pops up near you, go for Poison Sting!"

The pokemon dutifully nods before bracing. I huff in amusement. Leaping and using Swift would have been a better move, which would have shown more understanding of his pokemon's strengths rather than bracing. Then again the fact that swift is a move that will never miss unless very specific moves are used is not as well known, I have found. Having some knowledge of the moves from the games has been a rather large boon.

Graveller's fist shot out of the ground right under Nidorino, launching it into the air. "Jump after it and seismic toss it!" I push for the finish and the other trainer can only watch on as his pokemon is knocked unconscious.

The next fight of the challenge went even quicker with his Pidgeotto being a poorer choice for my gym. "Rock Throw," I said to end it.

His pokemon fell from the sky and just like that, the match ended. He raised a pokeball withdrawing the downed pokemon as each of the raised dias we were standing upon sank back flush with the floor. I marched up to Graveller and checked her over.

The other pokemon trainer slouched up to me, "So… how'd I do?"

I gave him a look and shook my head. Then I employed one of the best things that I had been taught. Instead of me telling him, I started our fight review with, "You tell me what you think you did well, and then bad?"

He wasn't getting a Boulder badge from me today, but maybe next year he might have another run at the league circuit. The badges won each had a two-year validity for the end of circuit tournament after all. I stretched and checked over the rest of the schedule. No other trainers had come in to challenge me but that was to be expected.

I waved to the crowd as they began to filter out. They knew no one else was scheduled in. The previous trainer had booked his time a few days ahead. I weighed up doing some talks with the crowd versus gym duties. I spotted a familiar face, covered in a beard with a hobo beanie. I almost thought I could smell them from where I was standing but shook the thought off. I considered talking to them for half a second. A roiling of emotions played out in my gut. Instead, I let my body turn me to the training area. I didn't want to deal with… that, right now. Too many issues. Instead I wanted to focus on something else.

The lighter intensity and more sporadic trainer battles meant more time available for some of the dedicated staff or the people that had signed on with us.

It wasn't just pokemon that needed to grow in this world. Another lesson trainers learnt as they progressed. It also helped to have locked in employment in a field they had experience in. Also warm, clean beds for those that lived in the gym's housing were extremely nice. For people that had spent a year or two on the road, that was a pretty nice draw. I'd checked each gym's facilities when I'd been a trainer myself to get an idea of what was offered. Most of them were the traditional apartment blocks of Japanese urban cities, and those were considered good. I prided myself on having a bit more than that and it showed in how I typically always had at least four employed trainers. If they weren't employed by me then they were 'sponsored', which implied more mentoring and less me delegating tasks to them.

I entered the door to a more ruggedised gym that was broken into different training areas. It was part training facility for humans and part environment training space. I had a small pool along with a moat that ran along the edge of the room. Some pokemon bobbed around and tried to swim against the current while others simply bobbed along. In the middle pokemon traded pointers and lifted weights. Others dashed about or used their abilities against training dummies.

Further back I had an area for an open plan office with a conference room along with my own room for paperwork. Most of the time I spent I tried to keep out of the office however as trainers all preferred to be interacting with pokemon. That or training themselves.

The trainers I employed worked with some of the gym's pokemon about the training area. Coaching them in the required moves that would allow them to be effective for certain badge level matches. There also needed to be a good deal of mentoring and counselling. It wasn't good for the pokemon to simply use them for low-level fights and ditch them. That created resentment and bad blood with pokemon growing more aggressive.

Typically those ones faced a much more skewed win-loss ratio. Good pokemon at this level didn't stay low level for long. You needed a certain type, and those needed care still as the ratio still applied to them. Rare was the pokemon that didn't care about losing.

I nodded to the ironically named 'Rocko', a local trainer that had been one of the first to apply when I'd taken over the gym. He was laid back enough to be an easy hand with the low-level pokemon that stayed there. He waved back languidly before patting the head of a Geodude that bumped into him for attention.

I instead turned to one of the trainers that weren't employed but rather 'sponsored' by the gym. Celia was a local that had garnered my interest and then the gym's sponsorship with her showing at a local 'little league' where pokemon of a certain level were loaned out to fight. She'd accepted the prize of having her female nidoran from the tournament become her starter. She'd completed her circuit and now was in training for the Indigo League that wasn't far off. I think she had good prospects.

She waved before tilting her head towards her pokemon. I waved her off and nodded to a side room where the computers were set up. "Let's do some match review and scouting for your opponents." That got a more fanged grin. She likely was dreaming of the day that would soon come where she would be 'off the leash' so to speak. Having completed her circuit rather quickly she had been hanging around Pewter for a month now. The Level of trainers here that could actually challenge her were few and far between. So most days she trained with her pokemon and came up with strategies. One of the things only recently implemented was the tracking of all trainers' pokemon that they use along with movesets. This allowed for a much more competitive level of scouting if people were willing to put the time in.

Typically not something you could do when you were on the road, but in a gym with computers? It was more than easy enough. Celia already had a good understanding of most of her rivals' teams and strategies from previous sessions.

Before I could leave the room another of the Gym's trainers entered. "Leader! Finished your match already sir?" Dennis asked as he marched up to me.

I nodded, "Yeah, the kid made too many mistakes for me to let him through." I gave his dusty pants and shirt a look over, "Did you clean up the path for me tomorrow?"

"All taken care of Leader!" He said, doing everything but saluting at me as I dismissed him. The guy really would fit better with Surge, but I doubt his wife wanted to move. Turning back to Celia I caught her giving me a pleased look.

"What?"

"Nothing, I just think it's sweet you're taking time off to go hiking with your brother! I wish I had a big brother like you!"

I rolled my eyes, "Instead you've got me as a boss. Which is probably better. You get paid you know?" She nodded happily and skipped ahead, her skirt frill flapping with each hop. She winked when she noticed me watching her. I rolled my eyes at her again before gesturing at the computer. We both settled in for some work. She'd have it pretty easy from now on for any duties required of her. I was pretty much coasting now that the circuit was coming to a close, and wouldn't be asking too much of her.

Soon I'd have what could almost be called a holiday with the 'slow' period of the less flashy gym duties for four months. I'd quickly learnt that being a gym leader wasn't a job, it was a way of life. I surprisingly enjoyed it. There was a constant level of work that was both exhilarating and tiring. There was a level of respect and recognition throughout the community I'd only associated with famous actors, athletes or politicians in my past life. I really liked it.

It made me wonder what I'd do when Ash Ketchum came around.

I knew that was close timeline-wise. It was something that, along with a few other things would need to be discussed with Forrest tomorrow. For today I focussed on the task before me that I could handle. Tomorrow I'd hike up Mt Moon and show Forrest —my younger brother — one of the secrets at the top.

Turns out it wasn't just a meteorite and fairies using it in ritualistic evolution ceremonies that made Mt Moon special.

A.N Special thanks to Raikor for editing and acting as a sounding board.

This has been something that has been persistently gnawing at me for a while now. So I have done up a lot of chapters and am slowly releasing them. If you want to read ahead go to my Patreon or if you just want to support my work.

This is the story that I have in my plot bunnies thread so you can look ahead for an idea of how the early arcs are going to go. I have expanded on them to a huge degree. I will be slowly releasing chapters weekly at this point.

Viva01 · Apr 13, 2022

Chapter 2 - Mt Moon fireside chats

Rocks bit into my hands as I climbed to the summit. Forrest trailed me, his face was almost planted into the rockface as we ascended Mt Moon.

"Brock! Why are we doing this again?"

"Climbing mountains builds character!" I shouted back.

"Ever-ever notice building character means hard work?!"

"Ha! That's how you know it's working!" I chuckled. We continued to struggle upwards, the sun slowly dropping closer to the horizon. The final leg of the climb was completed just in time for me to pull my brother up the mountain with a locked grip.

Forrest heaved in air while bent over, prompting me to nudge him. "Straighten up. You'll get more air standing upright. We're pretty high up so it's important to get as much as you can with each breath."

Forrest waved me away, "I'm good, I just need a second."

I held in more pointed instructions. I've told him enough times now that he should be doing it. At twelve, going on thirteen, he's probably at that phase where he won't listen just to spite me. I considered that while selecting a particularly good looking rock to lounge on as the sun continues to dip lower.

"So we came up here for th—" He straightened up finally, taking a deeper lungful of air, "Oh hey that h-helps." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. With how I looked no one typically ever noticed. I had found that I typically had to work to not let my face rest idly. "What're you smiling about?" Forrest said as I watched him slowly regather himself.

"Heh, nothing, just smiling I guess."

Forrest considered that for a moment with suspicion before selecting his own rock to perch on. "It's actually a nice view."

"You thought I would have dragged you up here for no reason?" I asked.

Forrest huffed, "No Gym Leader Brock." I huffed back at him, settling back while ignoring the need to return his sass with some of my own. The sun slowly dipped under the horizon and pokemon that had been at flight began to roost, creating a wonderful shimmer across the valley that we had spent the day trekking through.

Pokemon that only liked to operate in the brief window of twilight emerged and acted rapidly. Hunting prey or darting through trees for forage. Other pokemon of the night slowly roused. It made for a wonderful atmosphere and my younger brother seemed to agree.

Before the sun set fully, I stood, dusting my hands before opening up the backpack to begin setting out the tent that practically unfurled itself. "What're you feeling like for dinner?" I said.

"Roast meat with a side of gravy baked vegetables," said my all too clever brother.

I merely nodded, "Right, stew it is!" Forrest rolled his eyes but didn't offer a complaint. I filled the quiet by talking through my process, more for my own recollection than to actually teach Forrest how to cook. I paused with a ladle of stew close to my nose. Then again maybe it would be important for Forrest to cook with how Dad had been last time he was left to look after us. I chewed my lip in thought before sighing and pushing the thoughts away. The food needed my attention. I'd have to make some plans for our family. I marked that in my 'future Brock concerns'. There wasn't a lot I could do, nor should I do it now. This was supposed to be for Forrest.

"You've been sighing a lot lately," Forrest said languidly. His body propped up on a rock, "Seriously, is something wrong?"

I tapped my fingers together. I'd long ago decided to not tell others about my previous life. I'd probably end up in a mental hospital if I told anyone for one. Then again Pokemon was a Japanese concept. I snorted at the oft-repeated joke regarding mental health and the Japanese never bringing it up before pushing it aside. It was a bad joke.

"Forrest… what do you want to do in the future?" I said.

"Me? Well, be a trainer at the gym! I'll work for you!" He replied without any doubt that this would be the way things went. I merely nodded and served up the stew.

"Right, right… Say… If I… If I wasn't gym leader anymore, what then?"

Forrest went still, his bowl raised slightly to slurp from. He didn't say anything. Huh, never thought of that possibility did you? Forrest licked his lips, "Are… are you at risk of being...audited bro?"

I snorted at the obvious fear of the thought that the Pewter city gym would face an audit of all things. Then again big companies in my old world would likely have the same reaction if such was hinted at. Then some words would have been spoken in select ears… I shook my head to alleviate his fears and get back on track. "Nah nothing like that. It's just," I searched around for something that would make sense, "I spotted Dad skirting around the city. He's been coming and going every few weeks now. Checking in on us from afar. Apparently some of the teachers from school spotted him as well and mentioned it." Forrest frowned but didn't say anything. I let the quiet linger. Around us some pokemon shifted and the sound echoed but it wasn't unpleasant. Eventually, I prompted the conversation, "I think he might be looking to come back home."

Forrest clenched his hands tightly and scowled into his bowl, as if it had suddenly become a Muk instead of a tasty stew. "He'll try and oust you as gym leader?"

I shrugged, "He might." I was mostly working off the Anime, with how it played out. Things were supposed to be alls well that ends well weren't they? I had to push down the voice the niggled at me though.

"You're better at it than he ever was," Forrest muttered, not eying me. Part of me from my past life knew what he was doing. Some 'guys' didn't like to look each other in the eye when showing emotion or talking about sensitive topics. The older me might have allowed, it but the older brother in me made me do what I did next.

"Hey," Forrest looked up so I smiled and looked straight in his eyes, "Thanks bro, that means a lot." Forrest blushed, shooting his eyes back into his bowl.

I held in the chuckle, not wanting to undo something positive. Old memories certainly came with advantages. Being older mentally than people expected me to be had huge payoffs. Wishing that you had the knowledge of thirty or forty year old you as a twenty-year-old was a common thing. Getting that chance? I'd abused it for all it was worth. This was doubly true for me knowing where certain pokemon were. Where certain environments were. Or even how pokemon evolved.

Not all of it translated perfectly. Trading a Graveller or a Haunter for example wasn't what was required. It gave me an idea into the process though. Still, my experiences allowed me to be better prepared for certain things. I remember falling apart the first time I faced an angry woman as a teenager. I'd had to do that more than a few times after rejecting trainers 'their hard-won badge despite losing'. 'Tiger Mums' and Karens' were a universal experience it would seem.

The point of this, was that I think I had a better relationship with Forrest. Heck, I put in a lot of effort with all my siblings. I liked to think I was treating them as well as, if not better than my canonical counterpart. I just had to balance being a successful gym leader. I'm not sure Dad ever had that first appellation to his title. That would have made things worse I suppose.

"Is it wrong if…" Forrest said haltingly. "I don't want Dad to be Gym leader?"

I hummed at that. "He doesn't have to be." I decided not to say anything about not taking him back.

Forrest relaxed at that. "Oh, good, yeah that's good. You'll be the leader and he can…" He grimaced. "Look after our younger siblings?" I shared his grimace at that idea. "How would Tilly and Billy even recognise him?"

I shook my head. Forrest had pretty much hit a huge issue on the head. I didn't have a good way of just, following Ash. I'm not sure if Brock was ever aware of the issues with leaving his family to his father, but again, Anime knowledge didn't focus on those glossed over problems. I found myself… Not really wanting to go despite knowing that I was supposed to. Ash was… Well, I couldn't say he was a hero of mine growing up. It was more a story I liked tuning in for. I didn't recognise with him, so much as finding him entertaining and occasionally frustrating. Again, Anime versus real life though.

"Are you going to be alright with Dad back?" Forrest asked. He said it so quietly I almost didn't hear him over the crackle of the fire we had between us. I frowned. He sounded so… unsure of himself, just saying the words. Like he was treading on something delicate.

I had to really focus then. How did I think of our… father?

I laced my fingers together and hid the grimace as best I could behind them. I couldn't really be objective and I… didn't really want to be. Whenever the kids had asked about Dad after he'd initially ditched us. I'd tried to be casual. Telling them that everything was fine. But I knew I'd been edgy. How long had it been before they'd stopped asking about him at all? I didn't know. It was only a few months ago that Tilly and Billy had called me 'Dad', forcing me to correct them.

A glow from a nearby crater shook me from my maudlin thoughts. This hadn't gone how I'd thought it would. I'd need to approach the topic of letting Forrest take over the gym another time. Just like I'd need to also push the topic of our father to later.

"Hey Forrest come on let's go! The thing I wanted to show you is starting up!"

"Huh?! Where?" He whipped his head around and squinted. I coughed sheepishly.

"Oh right sorry! Forgot you needed more light to see." I pulled out a flashlight and gestured him towards the crater. It took about five minutes to walk there carefully and by the halfway point Forrest was practically vibrating in excitement.

"Okay, now keep quiet, they're used to me coming up here but you don't want to call out and startle them. They're going to do their thing and then go. We're just here to watch alright?"

Forrest nodded and I led him up to the ledge for the first secret of Mt Moon to be revealed to him.

A.N. Thanks to @Raikor for reading through this and editing it.

Also a shout out to my patreons for supporting me!

Viva01 · Apr 19, 2022

Chapter 3 - Mt Moon and back again

Beneath us, Clefairy frolicked. They swarmed out into the crater and bounced around with leaps that arced too much. They acted as if for them gravity was a suggestion. Like they were on the moon instead. What was most striking though, was that there weren't just a few dozen as shown in the anime. No, tonight there were at least two hundred of the small fluff balls bouncing around with their signature cries. They poured out of tiny crevices that should have been too small for even them.

"How do they fit?" I was happy that Forrest hadn't forgotten to keep his voice down.

"Pokemon moves aren't just useful for battling or for contests you know?" Forrest nodded so I continued, "Pokemon like Clefairy have an honestly diverse set of moves. They also can learn some of them, very very early on into their life cycle. Sing, Sweet Kiss, Disarming Voice, they're all useful moves. Minimize though, that's what's happening here. The Clefairy use it to get around the cracks and even escape predators. Clefairy are really quite shy. Most wouldn't come out if we got too close."

"The girls would love them." He looked at me, "Wait hasn't Yolanda been up here with you before? How come you never caught one for them?"

I chuckled. "Lots of people would like a Clefairy Forrest. They'd pay lots of money for them. If I was really looking to profit off them I could almost set this up as a preserve and farm them." I had to admit that the temptation had been there in the early days.

Forrest shifted, looking away from me. "Sometimes you think of things that just wouldn't occur to me. I was talking about just catching one for Tilly."

"That's a good thing." He looked back frowning, so I elaborated, "Not being too greedy. I sometimes think too far, I guess you could say. Just because you have a tool or a piece of knowledge. It doesn't mean it should be used." I gestured to the Clefairy as they began to bounce into each other doing what I'd learnt was a greeting ritual. Apparently, they only came out on nights with clear skies and full moons. "They shouldn't be used like that."

I watched them as they continued to bounce around seemingly without a care in the world. Forrest didn't have any questions seemingly content to watch them. It took a while but eventually the crater was full of Clefairy.

"Then again, people trying it wouldn't find them as easy targets. For all that they look cute and adorable," I state without commenting anymore. People of this world had no trouble understanding that small and fluffy did not mean weak. For all that they had Fairy in their name and typing. None of the pokemon down there were 'weak'. It still created a mindset that they would be gentle. Tourists had had the same issue with the 'Fairy penguins' of my first life. I recalled a few articles warning people off from touching them and how other tourists had been mauled by the animals in fact.

Forrest made a curious noise but I waved him off. He merely rolled his eyes at me before ignoring me for the show the Clefiary were now putting on.

They drifted into loose spirals each layer rotating around a seemingly random boulder. They began to drift back and forth slowly. One foot, then the other, slowly and simply. They continued the swaying motion for a good minute until another pokemon emerged from cracks in the crater. This pokemon was their larger, more evolved form. "Clefable!" it cried out, raising a hand and beginning to conduct the crowd around it. The Clefairy slowly began to match movements. Their names cried out as one to a steady metronome.

I noted Forrest swaying in time with the back and forth gesture of the Clefable. I tapped his shoulder. "Don't get too caught up in it little brother."

"Huh!? " He startled, blinking rapidly.

"If you're not used to it, or not watchful, Pokemon moves will catch you out." He nodded at that. I turned back to the swaying dance. The Clefairy had begun to work in concert. Swaying back and forth and weaving in and out of each other. Threading gaps so close together that I knew they just had to be using Minimize to make it work. It made for a simplistic but nevertheless elegant dance.

Each Clefairy had a chance of passing in close to the meteor. The singing continued and slowly the light of the moon collected on the stone. It was a gradual process. Like the Clefairy had been filling a tub of water with little more than a child's shovel. The meteor continued to steadily grow brighter in luminosity.

Eventually, at some point, it must have passed a threshold, as some of the Clefairy began to glow as evolution took hold. Each time this occurred a bright corona of light shot out from within them. Prior to leaving on my own journey, I'd learnt this was due to aura swell. During the light show, their body shifted and grew. This was considered a 'rule' for all pokemon evolution.

Forrest and I watched on as one or two Clefairy at a time evolved. Not all of the assembled Clefairy did though. In total only two dozen of the two hundred evolved into Clefables. The dance continued though and each had their chance close to the meteor before it lost its glow.

When the meteor faded, I had a moment of disconnect before I blinked and my vision returned. "Woah, that was crazy," said Forrest from next to me.

"Yeah, this happens most clear full moons."

"Only then?"

"The Clefairy need meteors or 'Moon Stone' to do their ritual. I know some Pokemarts will condense rocks like that into single-use items that certain pokemon like Clefairy use to evolve but this is one of the more natural ways."

"Huh, cool." He was quiet for a moment, "I can't see anything. Are they going to leave before I get my night sight back?"

I considered that as I watched the Clefairy congratulate the Clefable. "Probably bro. And it's night vision."

"You ever going to teach me how you're able to see so well at night?"

"Perks of being the eldest."

"Ha ha, very funny."

"Would you believe in healthy living and carrots?" That only got another disbelieving snort.

"You're going to have to tell me one day."

"Not until you get on my level."

"Urgh! What does that even mean!?"

I faked a sage-like tone of voice, "In good time young master you will understand if you contemplate on my words!"

"I'm going to back up and turn a light on. See you back at camp."

I waited a moment, listening to him trudge off. Beneath us, the Fairy pokemon slipped into the cracks in the cave system. The last Clefable atop the meteor looked in my direction and waved. I waved back before glancing towards my brother. "You know camp is the other way right?"

His cursing was like music to my ears.

I grimaced as rocks broke off and my brother slipped slightly. Cursing as he did so.

"Make sure of each hold little brother!"

"Couldn't we have hiked down?"

"Didn't you want to be home before lunch?" I asked. If I looked up I would have been able to see him, but my brother only had a bit of the light from the just rising sun to use.

"What if I fall?"

"You'll make a big crater and I'll have to use Titan to dig you out!"

"Brock!" He cried shrilly.

"Forrest! Trust me, alright. I wouldn't bring you this way if I didn't have… oh dear."

"BROCK!? What was that?!"

"Nothing! Nothing. I just remembered that I left Zephyr at home."

"So who'll catch me if I fall?"

"... How about just don't look down?!"

"BROCK!" He screamed.

"Okay, okay! Sorry! I still have Selene and Quirina!" This announcement was met with Forrest kicking rocks at me. "Hey! Don't be that guy! You've already caused enough avalanches with your voice!" A few more rocks came my way but they weren't really ever a threat. Forrest still muttered at me darkly for the next ten minutes it took to descend to the bottom of the rock face.

From there was a simple enough hike back to the base of Mt Moon and then on towards Pewter city. On the way, I observed the area. There were a good enough showing of Ratata, Geodudes, Pidgey, Pidgeotto and more if you keep an eye out for them. Forrest only has eyes for the mountain we just scaled.

"Huh, it's pretty big isn't it?" I glanced back at the towering landscape that I knew was only a point of the range that lead north before branching east and west into a longer ranges that separate the Kanto region from the Indigo Plateau, Kingdom of Rota and other regions further. You could hike it if you wanted and people often did but it is a journey assigned months on foot. Most sail around it. You could even fly around it faster still.

But never over it. Never, over it.

I nodded at what Forrest was talking about. "Yup, in truth it was about thirty minutes of climbing up it along with the two-hour hike. Going down it took us a lot less and we'll be home by—" I juggle some numbers, "—maybe nine?"

"Woah…"

"That training you do with me and my pokemon pays off no?" I nudged him as we shared a grin. He bumped me back. A rustle of bushes didn't make us snap to attention but it did stop us from roughhousing. He relaxed a little more when a man breached the thick hedge and strides out onto the path leading to Pewter.

"Ha! Oh but that was a good trek through the wild!" The man was just as wild as the forest he likely came from, with leaves littering his thick black beard and his clothes being rather dirty. He either was a bit of a slob with his camping set up or had been out of touch with civilization for a while now.

He rolled his shoulders and looked both ways. He stopped when he saw us watching him. "Oh ho! This is perfect! I return from my communion with nature and find the perfect test! Pokemon trainers! I challenge you! What say you!?"

I nudged my brother forward and stepped to the side to act as a judge. His glare is deflected with a shrug. "What? I'm on holiday since yesterday, I plan to enjoy it. You show me your stuff little bro!" I smiled at the hiker, "Name?"

"Bron!"

"Trainer Bron as a challenger you release your pokemon first! Trainer Forrest the wager is league standard unless you want to alter it?"

Forrest considered Bron for a moment before shaking his head. I hid a smile. It was the right call. League standard was really only a hundred poke dollars but if the guy had been out for longer he might not have much. He would need his money to reequip if not.

"Go! Carebear!" Bron shouted, releasing an Ursaring that roared before settling into a ready stance. I gave it a quick look, observing the small details that gave away how powerful some pokemon were. Things like the luster of the coat. The gleam in the eyes. The size of the pokemon. Even the way it sat back spoke of a well-trained pokemon. It wasn't everything but a suspicion began to build as to how this match would go.

I looked to Forrest, and saw him considering his options.

"Go Onix!" I held in the sigh and instead kept my face neutral.

Analysing a Rock-type was a slightly more nuanced affair. You typically had to look over the coarseness of their bodies. Sometimes rougher edges were preferred to impart scratch or smoother bodies were required for speedy pokemon. These were things that were determined through the types of training that pokemon were put through. Care from the trainer also factored in a lot more. Rock-types should also have a weight to them that forces the ground to buckle slightly as they show that they have a greater density compared to their surroundings.

Lots of these features were lacking in Forrest's Onix.

"Pokemon and trainers, ready?" I waited for their nods, then slashed my hand downwards. "Fight!"

"Onix use—" "Hammer arm!" roared Bron. His Ursaring shot forward and slammed into Onix send it flying into the earth with a dull roar. I continued to watch, saying nothing, but checking Onix over as it rose and resumed a fighting pose.

"Dig Onix!"

"Carebear brace for payback!" called Bron. His bear settled into a stance that had its legs slightly shifted. Perfect for a quick evasion. I watched carefully as Forrest ignored the signs.

"Go Onix!"

The smallest shift of pebbles announced Onix's eruption. It was still enough to have 'Carebear' launch to the side and swipe with their claw rending Onix and sending him tumbling. I glanced at the small graze Carebear had suffered. It was as good a trade as I expected might happen. Onix struggled to rise.

"Onix!" called Forrest. Onix tried to rouse only to slump down as unconsciousness overtook it. I raised a hand toward Bron and the man nodded, his Ursaring standing down. "Onix is unable to battle. The winner is Carebear and Trainer Bron!"

"Nicely done!" Bron high fived his pokemon while my brother withdrew Onix. I gave my brother a pat on the shoulder.

"Better luck next time little bro." I then nudged him over to pay the man using the transfer feature of the pokewatch. When he came back he looked a bit glum. At first I didn't say anything knowing that it never felt good to lose, but this wasn't the first so he'd be used to it and bounce back soon enough. When his mood didn't pick up by the time we reached the outskirts of Pewter I nudged him again and shot a questioning look his way.

"Uh yeah, I'm alright. Can't believe I just lost like that though. I should have been able to put up more of a fight."

I waved it off, "Eh, no worries. You've still got a lot to learn." Even as I said it I realized how true it was. Forrest was likely in a better position with being an assistant for me. But the gym was also bigger now. Not that it had ever been exactly small, but the point stood out in my mind. He had it better than his canonical contemporary. That didn't mean he was going to just be able to step in as Gym leader if I left though.

He still had a lot more to learn. I considered that for a bit before shrugging and offering some advice. "It wasn't really an issue. That Pokemon was way stronger than I think you realized—" Forrest perked up as I began to talk him through some pointers. He might not be ready today but there was still plenty of time. In fact, I had an entire end of circuit split to spend with my family. I planned to make good use of it. Training would still be there. But I had a lot of plans to spend my break with my family.

Tomorrow would come soon enough. Today? Today I was just going to be the best big brother I could.

A.N Once again, thanks go to Raikor for editing and beating, and to my Patreons for supporting me.

Viva01 · Apr 26, 2022

Chapter 4 - Training and family time

"—ning listeners! It's a wonderful fifteen degrees to start the day here in Pewter city! We've got chances of clouds coming later in the afternoon! If you're looking for a picnic I'd suggest going early before the autumn storms roll in!" The rest of the radio host's announcement was lost as I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I felt around in the dark for some clothing and tugged them on. Then, half hoping and half knowing, I reached back into the bed and found an empty spot.

I huffed and shook my head. I should know better by now. I stood to shake out my limbs. I bustled through the still dark house and into the entryway where shoes were stacked in mountains despite the wall of shelving I'd invested in. I kicked on my own shoes while my hands worked through the pile, sorting them quickly as had become a habit.

"Arceus forbid Cindy loses her shoes again," I muttered as the last set of shoes was assigned their slot. I straightened, ignoring the voice of reason that pointed out I'd need to do it all over again by lunchtime.

For my morning workout, I ran to one corner of the land we owned, a line of Geodudes, the ones I had mentally marked down as future four badge fighters, woke up and came after me. It was an interesting situation as a gym leader. You needed to find a balance for the number of pokemon you held, and you needed to hold a number of pokemon for all stages and types of challenges that you could face.

It was an Arceus-sent-blessing when you could find a pokemon that was content with their current level or that wanted to hold where they were. Pokemon, I'd found, innately wanted to fight and grow as strong as they could. Both trainers and pokemon had come to understand very early in our shared existence that working together resulted in better growth. Rare was the pokemon that could grow strong without a dedicated trainer. Most only reached what was known as third badge strength. A blessing, as that meant, in game terms, pokemon rarely got over level twenty-five.

I sprinted through the small avalanche of Geodudes and skipped over a pair of Onix that were slowly rousing to begin their steady circuit. A Graveler that had been awake since the back door opened grinned at me and raised her top arms in defiance. I dove low and tackled her before beginning the other part of my morning workout.

Wrestling.

I rolled the Graveller over only to cop a number of punches to the abdominals, forcing me to tense up before I twisted to break the hold. I grabbed the lower arms, bracing with my legs. "Oryah!" I shouted as I threw the Graveler over my head.

The ground rumbled as the hundred-kilogram pokemon was flipped. I felt the strain but grinned, backing off to let my sparring partner right herself. Then we went straight back to it. The Geodudes caught up, breaking into their own sparring matches while I tumbled with their evolved form. Other pokemon slowly trickled in. After another toss of the Graveler, I raised my arms and shouted a victory/challenge shout that had a number of my other pokemon perk up.

A Rhydon stepped in with a glint in his eyes. This time I let him charge me. I didn't catch him in a hold but instead dodged, knowing full well the difference in power that came from Rhyhorn's secondary evolution. I closed and worked the body, my knuckles thumping into the side with dull impacts that weren't going to win me the match, but obviously stung Rhydon's pride in having me make the blows. Its arms swung ponderously at me. I ducked, dodged, dipped, dove and dodged as I had practised. A laugh at the thought of the old movie quote made me almost take a punch to the shoulder.

I dug deep though, fighting on. Rock type pokemon didn't lack fighting spirit after all. As the Leader of the Pewter City gym, I just needed to bring it out.

A yawn from a young-sounding voice made me nearly take another hit. "Huh, he almost got you Brock," mumbled a sleepy sounding voice.

"Morning Forrest, which workout are you doing today?" I asked my younger brother. He shrugged and gestured to the perimeter where three Onix were slowly making their loop. I grunted and landed another one-two combo in an earlier hit spot. "Need to keep the elbows in close and lean into some hits a bit more Rhydon." I said to my sparring partner before shouting out to Forrest, "Alright, but take 'backpack' with you. You need more than intensity in your training."

Forrest didn't have enough time to voice a protest as 'Backpack' the geodude, leapt from where she had been fighting off an Aron to drape herself like a scarf over Forrest's shoulders. He came awake at that as his body buckled.

"Broooooock!" He groaned before his eyes widened as I gestured to a number of lazying Aron. He took off running as they nipped at his heels. "Brock!!"

I ignored him, rolling under a punch before spotting an opening in my current opponent. "You're mine Rhydon!" I shouted as I rose into an uppercut that landed right on the pokemon's lowered chin. The punch rocked the bipedal rhino back and then it tumbled. I smirked and raised another fist in silent victory. This time not announcing my victory.

With my body heaving, sweat dripping down my form, and the knowledge that I'd inflate some pokemon's opinion of themselves if they got to be the one to lay me out, I decided discretion was better than valour, so I walked off. While the Rock typing wasn't known for pride like the Dragon typing, you still needed to manage them. A task that grows in scope when you go from your usual team of six to a small army of pokemon that each gym is expected to have on hand. I settled back and watched Forrest outsprint the chasing Aron. The Rhydon that I'd beat settled in next to me.

"Right Rhydon, that was a good match up but I think I need to work on you with—" Living in the Pokemon world with the Pokemon cartoon-like physics enforced by passive aura had some definite perks.

Being able to throw living boulders, carry pokemon that you outright shouldn't, outrun professional sprinters in my old world, all while having the stamina to do it for over an hour were just a few that came to mind. People, in general, were more durable. I chalked it up to Arceus after poking at the question for a while when I'd been growing up for the second time. I found that you still needed to be smart about it though. You couldn't just 'believe', you needed to work at things. The belief that you could do something helped a fraction, but I'd found that aura certainly played its part.

Most people didn't think it was so literal when people mentioned 'growing' alongside their pokemon but there was a link. Not just in being better as a person but also in becoming stronger in various ways. It all depended on how a person worked at it. Which led to the last part of my training. I left the battling pokemon to it while assigning the strongest to be the referees. A concept that held no small amount of prestige as it allowed others to acknowledge that they had the power to end most fights easily.

Tomorrow I'd spend more time watching for bad habits developing in my pokemon's fighting methods. Today though, I finished out my workout by entering the cave at the center of the property.

The cave was dark as all unlit caves are. There was still a glimmer and sparkle here and there of various gems, crystals and growths that I had shoved into the walls after having the place made up. In a few hours, these gems would work to spread light through the cave but even then darkness would continue to pervade it. I walked past some still slumbering pokemon, patting the living mountains as I did.

In another section of the cave sparks arced about, dancing down geodes before flashing back, highlighting the warning markers that I had installed into the area. This was my special project that even I didn't walk into without care.

Forrest and the rest of my siblings had been amazed when I'd shown them how electricity could benefit certain Rock types. But it was not these pokemon I was here for. Just as I ignored the stairs that went up to the peak of the plateau I'd made or the depths I'd carved out. Instead, I went to the deepest chamber and settled in to meditate. The area was large but already occupied.

I could just make out the towering form of Titan, my starter pokemon. I patted him, finding him already awake and kneeling in contemplation. "Tyranitar?" he said in greeting.

I knelt next to him, joining him in meditation. "Morning Titan." It was a slow process of developing my Aura strength. But most paths to strength, without noticeable negatives, had that issue of time being the biggest factor.

I felt for the energy within myself and settled in. I'd known from day one of my awareness fully returning, that Aura could be used by people. I just had needed to find a method to train and control it. In the end, I had copied another cartoon by emulating the beings that were already using it.

I'm sure Toph would have called me 'punk', or some such name, but been mildly pleased with how she'd inspired another rock user. That being said, I didn't settle for just rock aligned energy.

After all my starter was a dual-type. So why couldn't I be the same?

Rock-type energy was easy to pull on.

Dark-type energy was different though. You needed to feel for it. I'd struggled with more than a metaphorical handful initially. I'd plateaued for years, making me doubt my method entirely.

Then I'd returned from my journey and it had become all too easy.

I had gone on a pokemon journey like so many others. It was considered something of a rite of passage. A coming of age that forces you to fend for yourself. Growing up is both the result, and the process. It was an ancient custom that seemed to span all the world in which many people have dedicated their lives to understanding a social phenomenon where a tradition was close to universal. Only very small out of the way places don't push for it. Most of them were island nations where the chain of islands saw you able to pop in and out of home only if you had the right pokemon. The whole point of heading out into the wild had been to grow and mature.

I think I had been forced to grow more mature from my return home. Then again, the freedom of the journey compared to a position as a pseudo-parent had been a harsh contrast.

I went on my Pokemon adventure when I turned twelve and had gotten to experience the wonders and joy that came with that journey. It had been tough back then, but I'd known and prepared for it. Just as part of me had known, feared and prepared myself for what I knew would eventually happen.

My parents leaving had stung… My mother walking off had been a critical strike as there had been no reference for when it occurred. I had a rough estimate for Flint. He'd been around to at least give Brock his Onix in the cartoon. That had given me time to form a plan. I'd planned to use the two years I'd bargained for from Flint as insurance and preparation.

My adventure would see me traveling for longer than the average trainer. It had seen me range further afield than most as well. This had resulted in me being able to lay claim to a lot of more rare types that I happened to know the location of. The foreknowledge that wouldn't have been relevant for another six to ten years had been capitalized on, and now I could lay claim to a truly powerful team with some depth.

I'd taken part in the Kanto conference, the Orange league and then gotten half of the Hoenn region circuit. I'd loved every moment of it. My old world had nothing that could compare to the freedom of going on a journey with friends in the form of pokemon or others that you made during your trip. Each day was a different challenge. A pokemon journey was rite of passage and a year-long hike, then add in with something like a gap year and you'd still fall short.

As a trainer, you experienced complete control of your life for the first time. I had seen others fall into the traps this brought but my experience in organising and managing going on holidays in a variety of different climates had been put to great use. You could go to sleep exhausted from having hiked too far to wake up the next morning in a clearing of grass types, or overlooking an ocean teeming with water-types.

And then I'd been called home. I had asked for more time initially. I'd argued the closeness of the Hoenn conference with how strong my team was. I hadn't won the Indigo conference but recent battles had all cumulated in a streak of wins. I'd been riding high on those with the caution of training tempering my team. Flint had been adamant in needing me back. I'd known this was potentially coming and dreaded it. I still agreed to return. I had raced home, slightly bitter at calling my journey short from the planned two years to just shy of a year and three months.

I returned to find him haggard. I also found out he was almost giving away badges. That had been the first argument we'd had. Then I'd returned home and found a number of worrying signs that indicated that things had not been going well there either.

Beer bottles stacked up around the bin. Dirty little brothers and sisters. Empty fridges with ready-made meals, at most. Dirty dishes stacked up around the sink. It told me a worrying tale without words.

Forrest had learned how to cook and go to the shops.

I'd settled in as quick as I could before setting to work cleaning the house and my family. I'd gotten them to an acceptable level before rounding back on Flint. He'd been cagey throughout the talk. I'd tried being objective with him, but seeing Tilly and Billy so small had been scary. Flint hadn't seemed to notice or listen when I'd pointed this out. He'd instead gotten a faraway look.

Sure enough within five days of my return, he vanished into the night. A letter of apology with the contact details of support services was all he left behind.

I had always known how things would end up.

It had still stung. I tried to help out where I could but part of me hadn't been sympathetic to his plight. If you have ten kids, it was going to be hard work. I could see that he wasn't coping when I left. That didn't mean I was going to forgive him so easily. The guy had support with neighbors and friends who were aware of the situation. While I had been there I had pitched in where I could, but he had totally taken advantage of this by leaning on me more and more with each visit home.

And now? I had to run everything. I'd prepared for it, but still been caught unaware of how tough it would be. Suzie and Timmy, now four years old, had been in nappies. Forrest hadn't been ready to leave for his journey and could really only provide the barest of support. Yolanda had known something was wrong but had been too young to help out but in the smallest of ways.

I'd done everything but call support services. I didn't want to risk the chance they'd take away the youngest and find them foster homes, or as was more common I had since learnt, spend their lives growing up in an orphanage.

I had overcome the issue.

"Ty! Tyran!" Titan poked me as he felt my Aura surge. I got it back under control and nodded to my guru. He nodded at me before gesturing to the gemstone that now held small flickers of light, indicating that it was time for me to head out and see to my family. I went through some cool-down exercises. Mentally pushing the heavy feelings I had drawn back down and repeating to myself that everything was fine now.

When I was settled and feeling light in mind and body I rose up to stretch out. Titan pat me on the head before I left reminding me, in his own way, that everything was fine. I chuckled but gave the giant lizard a hug for his efforts. Then I departed the cave system to see to the rest of my morning's chores.

I worked the frying pan. Behind me, the sounds of slowly rising siblings filled the house. Some had already been drawn in by the smells of the kitchen, only for me to send them back out to wash up or collect another sibling. As the oldest, I had to set the rules. Only the youngest of our family of ten was allowed to remain at the table after the third and fourth eldest, Yolanda and Salvadore had deposited them.

"Brock! Suzie's got my toy!" "No! It's my toy!" screamed two of my sisters. I merely continued to work at the grill. "Brock! Tell her to let go!"

"Suzie! Now's not the time for toys! Just put it in the toybox and come for breakfast! Same goes for you Cindy!" In true childish fashion, the both of them ignored me and instead raced into the kitchen. "No running in the house!" I called out with an increased firmness. That made them slow up but then they danced around me. A sizzle and spit of oil made them leap back, remembering the last time they'd been stung by the stove.

I turned and levelled my best big brother look on them. "Do I need to call Graveler in here?" I asked. They both shook their heads and sat down, where they continued to tug at a toy. "Hey! Toy! Hand it over, you both don't get to have it. I've already had to stitch Mr Muggins twice this week. If I have to do it a third time I'll put him away." I made sure to only have a firmness with my tone when I scolded them directly. Kids were sensitive to raised or growly voices.

My announcement did not get obedience. Instead, it got some tears and screeches. I merely remained strong and deposited the toy on the counter. "You'll get him back after breakfast, now let's eat." I settled in and started hoeing into the eggs with some spinach on the side. Around me the others had small bits of toast with their meals.

I didn't glance to the empty seats that sat to the side of the dining room. I had built the gym with enough room for a family of twelve when I'd planned it out. It had gotten too depressing having the extra empty chairs at the table though so I had them moved to the lounge room where the kids piled toys or books on them.

A clatter of cutlery broke me from my thoughts. I glanced about to see most of my siblings were finished which meant it was on to the next task. "Alright! So we're going to school now! I packed all the lunches last night!" I reached into the fridge and frowned as I saw that we were way down on groceries.

I ran that back through my mind before turning to the two youngest. "Have you been feeding the Munchlax that comes around again?"

Tilly nodded her head while Billy shook it. They then swapped roles with Tilly shaking her head while Billy nodded. I sighed not at all surprised. Munchlax were pretty cute and very docile when offered food. Small children like Tilly and Billy… or indeed any of my siblings would attract them for the leftovers and scraps they would get following them around. I paused as another suspicion formed before a thought occurred to me. "Is the Munchlax in the house right now?"

Both nodded slowly. I sighed and looked at the rest of the family. "Does anyone want to catch it for themselves?" Salvadore raised his hand hesitantly.

"Does this count as a starter pokemon?"

"Not unless you want it to. I think it'll be more of a family pokemon. Depends where it wants to be when your journey rolls around." He nodded and then glanced between myself and Forrest.

"Can I have a pokeball?" Forrest handed him one and the twins shot up to lead him to the future cuddle companion. I dished out the lunches for the day. I now had to add grocery shopping to the list. Just another chore for later in the day.

A.N Thanks to @Raikor for editing and to my patreons for their support!

Viva01 · Apr 26, 2022

Dramatis Personae

Brock Family Brock's pokemon Pewter City Employees

The SI and main character of the story. He is the gym leader of the Pewter City gym and the start of the story.
- Arrived in the pokeworld when he was 10
  - Went on his journey when he was 12
  - Returned to run the gym when he was 13 and change
  - Start of story he is 16 and 8 months old
(top row) Salvadore(9), Yolanda(10), Forrest (12 turning 13), Tommy (7), Cindy(7),
(bottom row) Suzie(4), Timmy(4), Billy(3), and Tilly (3)
Flint Lola Forrest Yolanda Salvadore Tommy Cindy Suzie Timmy Billy Tilly
- Flint - Flaky father that ran off on Brock and his family
- Lola - Flaky mother that ran off but not before giving birth to Billy and Tilly.
- Forrest -
  The second oldest brother 12 years old at the start of the story
- Yolanda -
  The third eldest. 10 years old at the start of story.
- Salvadore
  The fourth child. 9 years old
- Tommy
  The eldest set of twins.
  7 years old, twin to Cindy
- Cindy
  The eldest set of twins.
  7 years old, twin to Tommy
- Suzie
  The second set of twins.
  4 years old, twin to Timmy
- Timmy
  The second set of twins.
  4 years old, twin to Suzie
- Billy
  The third set of twins.
  3 years old, twin to Tilly
- Tilly
  The third set of twins.
  3 years old, twin to Billy
- Brock's Pokemon
  - Titan - Tyranitar - His starter pokemon
  - Sanchez - Alolan Golem -
  - Aerodactyl - Don
  - Rhyperior - Bertha - Trained in critical strikes with One-hit K.O's
  - Kabutops - Shin - Speedy hydro pump user
  - Lunatone - Selene - Psychic-type Pokemon for Teleport and powerful psychic attacks.
  - Aggron - Knight
  - Solrock - Quirina
Dennis Rocko Celia Jackson Rachel Raul Lawrence Wright Georgina Glass Crystal Stephen Bianca Daniel Missy Alexa Bethany
- Dennis is a militant man that enjoys the chain of command and the following of orders. Forms should be filed int triplicate and on time. He is a serious man but understands others don't like this as much. he doesn't begrudge them this, and is indeed close friends with Rocko.
  
  He is happily married with one child, and another on the way.
  
  Has a Machoke.
- Laid back trainer that is a veteran of the Pewter City Gym. signed on when Brock started up the larger gym. He enjoys relaxing with his Gloom and playing video games. Things might be a bit messier but they get done to a satisfactory manner at the least. Great with handling trainers and soothing ruffled feathers.
  
  His team consists of Gloom, Kangashkahan, and Pidgeotto.
- Celia is the Gym's sponsored trainer from Brock's secof full year as a Gym Leader. She has a very high potential as a trainer.
  - Won the right with a little league tournament that garnered her a Nidoran female starter.
  - Brock showed her how to evolve it after her third pokemon victory in a Nidoqueen
- Jackson was the Gym's first trainer to be sponsored. He is older than other applicants at fifteen but he demonstrated great knowledge and the ability to handle a variety of pokemon. He has since signed on with the Gym as a trainer and works as a trainer that ranges out to check in on Brock's interests.
- The PR/Media officer for the Pewter Gym. She has a dynamic bubbly personality and she is determined to get people using the pokenet more than they do as she knows it has a lot of potential!
  - Bit of a motor mouth - extremely pleased to be hired on with the gym as thats a big ticket name in Pewter/Kanto especially with Brock's defeat of Lance
  - She has an Arcanine and Magnemite
- - Lawrence or Law Wright as he is known is the Lawyer that is hired on retainer for the Pewter City Gym when Brock gets annoyed at the lawbooks he has no chance or memorising. Instead her hires Lawrence
  - "I'd almost dismissed Lawrence as a professional when I'd first met him. In my defence, I'd never seen a lawyer with a mohawk. It didn't strike me as acceptable in a courtroom for one. But I was quickly proven wrong. In fact, no one else batted an eye at the man in a tailored suit with his outrageous mohawk when we walked from his office to my gym to review my paperwork. I ended up chalking it up as a pokemon/anime world difference from my last and shrugged it off."
  - Lawrence has a history as a biker and in fact still goes on cycling holidays up and down the bike road along with other journeys that see him on some form of bike.
  - Is known as 'Pideotto-man to the younger siblings He has no issue crowing and acting like a bird pokemon for a child's amusement.
- - Mother to Kris/Crystal
    - Single mother that has taken on the role of accountant with the gym.
    - Saving up money to have Kris go on a journey
    - Smart woman that is polite but reserved until she gets on a race track!
    - Has no issues with having Kris earn pocket money around the gym with acting as an assistant but doesn't want any dedicated work for her.
- A precocious girl that likes to test people's boundaries. Introduced herself as Lord Kris instead of Lady to get a reaction from Brock. Has become very clsoe friends with Yolanda. Has also started helping out around the Gym and will sometimes break up or redirect fights to the battlecourts.
- - Pokemon assistant for Professor Oak
  - Prefers to travel the wilds and routes to investigate pokemon and how they change from interacting with people.
  - INterested in the link of people and pokemon
- - Pokemon trainer from Proffessor Elm
  - Works at the gym to set up a breeding programme. Has incubators in the back of the gym and inspects the pokemon that are mating.
  - Works to get the ancient pokemon documented.
    - Bianca was a rather curvaceous-looking woman with a satchel slung over one shoulder that hung low as she held her bow. Her blonde hair was plaited in what was locally known as a Hoenn braid. In my past life it was a french braid
- New hire for the Gym. He is a former Ranger that has recently gotten his girlfirend pregnant.
- A young train about to go Pro on the Ace Trainer circuit and she's done well in the past. She's a resident of Pewter and she wants to learn more tips and tricks before she goes for Pro. She's very intersted in learning how to evolve her Rhydon into a Rhyperior.
- A young woman that once worked at the Daycare for children. Now she works as a receptionist for the Gym.
- An older woman that instead of retiring has sought out more work. She had to get hearing aides for her work but she knows the ins and outs of recptioning more than she does her own hand some days!

Viva01 · May 3, 2022

Chapter 5 - The challenge laid out

"Yoo-hoo Mr Gym leader! Good morning!" "Brock!" "Pewter city rocks!!"

I waved as I walked down the streets of my city, acknowledging the various people that called out to me as I went. I was a well-known face and there had been a lot of community uproar when my dad had left.

There had been lots of wagging tongues back then. Lots of people had doubted me. Lots of well-meaning people who 'just wanted what was best for me and my family' had leaked out of the woodwork. So, so, so many critics. The people that actually knew me and helped could thankfully be counted on two hands but it had been a frustrating time in my life. Hard work along with a solid performance record I had been able to retain the position while holding onto our house. Taking care of my family was still a challenge as with Dad gone I was the only one my little siblings could look to.

I didn't even want to touch the issue of my mother.

Right now I was looking to pick up some of them from school after getting groceries. Which now included Munchlax chow. A whole three bags full. I smiled when I got to the usual pick up point. The usual crowd were all there with many of the mothers smiling and waving. The fathers nodded in greeting and the few stray people my age gave shy smiles. I merely nodded, ignoring the giggles that my huge hiking pack I was carrying garnered. It was a now typical sight that the residents of Pewter had gotten used to.

Just because I could carry the various groceries my small tribe of a family needed didn't make it easy. Unless you played it smart. It looked dorky as hell but it worked. One man had once commented on it only for me to shut him up by asking him to hold it while I tied up my shoe. His nearly being crushed by something that I carried with ease had shut them up that day.

I thankfully didn't have the 'Brock' habit of swooning and throwing myself at women like he did in the cartoon. I certainly appreciated them more in this life, but they all also stayed very fit even with office jobs. It was rare to see overweight people in the pokemon world and most of the time it was more a 'muscled look' than actual flab.

"Brock, nice to see you! Johnny was telling—" said one woman as a group approached me.

Women approaching me and talking about pokemon or getting 'tutoring' for their kids wasn't unusual in my city. I was all too happy to help. Heck, I still coached the little league baseball team, so that only gave parents twice the opportunities and number of reasons to seek me out. Thankfully Baseball season was run only in the off circuit timetable, and really only took up two and a bit afternoons. All the sports ran at the same time in truth. Making it a tough market to be in, but baseball was one of the most popular. It was something I'd have to look into in a few months time once the conference was over.

"Hey Brock who do you think is going to win in tonight's match up?" asked a dad that was glancing at a newspaper. He likely had the odds section opened judging by the numbers that were being shown along with the pictures of various Ponyta, Rapidash, Growlithe and Arcanine littered across the page.

"Who's fighting?"

"Bruno and Agatha!" announced the man. This led to a mutter being picked up as people began talking about the implications of the match. I merely leaned back, happy to not comment. Honestly, I think the man was more looking to strike up a conversation than actually asking for my take.

I picked up my bevy of little sisters and brothers from the school and waved them to their friends and the mothers. Then it was off to the nursery where the youngest twins were, then a short walk home accompanied the entire way by the tirade of noise that comes with having small children being forced to remain within close contact.

"Nuh-uh! I'm not touching you!" said Tommy as he faked moving at Cindy before pulling back.

"Brock!"

"Stand on the other side away from him Cindy. Tommy stop harassing her, show me how fast you are instead by running to that Ratata and back."

Tommy sprinted off, happy to show off while the Ratata that had been going through one of our neighbour's garbage bins shrieked in surprise before dashing away. The rest of the kids laughed before they began telling me of their day and what they learned. I made sure to compliment and praise good behaviour as the parenting guide had suggested. I made them dinner and set them to work on their homework before going through with my own gym paperwork. The day spent at school and the more serious air letting all but the youngest settle down. Each of us was in the same room with our work while a Geodude rolled around and played with the youngest kids. The newly acquired Munchlax happily devoured snacks thrown his way.

My own 'homework' such that it was, was both mundane, interesting, and boring at the same time. I rushed through the tedious paysheet for trainers that were working for the Gym, most of them currently on holiday with the circuit winding down. I only had three of them on instead of the eight that I could. Two of whom I'd be expecting to finish up with at the end of this season.

I had some plans for how things would play out in the future. There was a big question looming in my mind though of if I should let canon play out. I had already changed tons of things, both in major and minor ways. I'd exploited the knowledge I had to set my family up in a better position.

You only had to look at the state of the art gym that I'd had designed and created which my family now lived in. I wouldn't ever feel guilty about this but it certainly would add some possible wrinkles. I'd only have felt guilty if I hadn't used the knowledge I possessed. I wouldn't ignore that I also wanted to be in a stronger position than the canonical Brock but regardless, I wouldn't have been able to look myself in the mirror if I hadn't made myself as strong as possible.

"Mind If I put on the League channel tonight Brock?" asked Forrest

I grunted from atop the paperwork, "You know you're supposed to be taking over some of this if you want to be training to take my position one day right?"

Forrest squirmed in place before looking away. "Well yeah, but… It's still a way off right?"

I nodded, my thoughts on this still undecided. Yolanda glanced up from her homework. Part of me wanted to stay but part of me urged myself to take off. Another part despised that part. That'd make me sorta like Dad and… her. Instead of voicing the fluctuating turmoil, I instead nodded and settled in for the rostered match. "What's scheduled? Any matches?" I felt an earlier memory tickle at my thoughts but Forrest was quicker.

"Bruno is challenging Agatha for the fourth spot in the new champ's roster instead of being third!" he said in a rush.

That got a hum from me. "Hmmm, Lance is letting them fight?" Forrest nodded as he turned on the TV showing the team roster for each. I eyed the pokemon that were being displayed along with who would be most likely to come out first from each. From what I knew Bruno would go in strong and fast. Honestly, Agatha was a terrible matchup for him. The two Gengar's stood out to me and I huffed before returning to my work, "Agatha wins, three K.O's to six and those three against her only because of fatigue."

Forrest of course voiced his own thoughts. This sparked some discussion from Yolanda and Salvadore who both had their own opinions.

"Hey, don't argue!" I off handly said when they got a bit too excited. That only made them quieten down until the match started. Then they called out the moves they'd order along with cheering on their respective 'team'.

I glanced up at the start to watch Machamp take the stage. It made for an impressive pokemon. Sadly it was k.o'd fast by Agatha's first Gengar. I returned to my work absently glancing up occasionally. Yolanda nudged me just as I was about to finish the last few sheets of paperwork. "Bro! You were right!"

I glanced at the clock in the corner and snorted, "Nah, I expected it to take longer despite the score. Was Agatha's Gengar that strong?"

Yolanda nodded smugly, pleased by the showing of female prowess that let her lady it over her brothers. I let it play out, amused by her antics. I was just about to announce that it was bedtime only for a new announcer to appear.

"And now a word from the newest and hottest Champion in recent years! The Dragon master Lance!" said the far too excitable caster.

The new darling of the League made an entrance to a table for an obviously planned post-match news release. Set in front of him a small pod of reporters bristled with paper, pen, microphones and recorders locked onto the champ. I'd seen a gossip magazine at the supermarket that announced him as the latest 'most eligible bachelor' in Indigo, as the joint Kanto-Johto region was known. Johto loved him while Kanto merely appreciated his strength. He'd knocked off the previous champ who'd also been a Johto champ. There hadn't been another Kanto champion for the region since one Samuel Oak retired after holding the position for fifteen years. An eternity in the pokemon world.

People thought Lance would be the man to do that. They even tipped him as a heavy contender for the next World Championship which would be held in four years' time. So far only five regions had linked up reliably but there were rumours of another region being reliably secured in the next year or so. Hoenn was slated as the next region to host the championships regardless. Having not been nominated to participate in the tournament, I hadn't had to worry about the last one despite being a gym leader for it. The Sevii islands had run a pretty great tournament from what I had seen. There was talk of Kanto putting in a bid while others talked up the Orange Islands being the next site for the championship matches. I knew to be on the lookout for either a man named Steven Stone, or a woman named Cynthia.

Laughter from the room at large reminded me that the rest of the family was still watching the tv. I'd only missed some joke that apparently wasn't that funny judging by the look on the male host's face. The female was all but swooning with Lance smiling charmingly at her.

"Well, I suppose it's time for me to get to the crux of tonight's announcement. While Agatha and Bruno's match was a wonderful showing I thought I'd make the announcement that come the end of the current conference I will be hosting a few exhibition matches!"

The crowd of reporters was suitably excited about this. "Champion Lance Who's going to feature in these matches!?" "Will you be fighting for auditions into your Elite Four?" "Is it true you're evicting Agatha and Lorelei!?" Lance gave them a self-assured smile before continuing, "For these, gym leaders from the major sixteen gyms from our joint regions will be on offer, with some smaller gyms being on the table. Others might also win the chance if the public show enough interest in watching me match up against them."

I hummed at that. It wasn't something shown in the games and only touched on lightly but it was possible to earn four badges from the 'Big Eight' while earning the other four from smaller gyms. That would then allow you to qualify for the League at the end of the circuit.

The fighting gym in Saffron was currently like this but there was lots of pride on the line if you wanted to be taken seriously. Elitists liked to gain all twelve if they could. It was interesting that Lance was allowing smaller gyms to earn more recognition for themselves. There were also potential ramifications for it.

A wheel divided into twenty-four segments was brought onto the stage by some Machops and Lance smiled at the camera. I could see all the major gyms on show alongside the smaller less familiar gyms. My own boulder symbol stood out to my eye.

"Oh, oh! Brock, you might get a chance to fight the champ!" said Forrest excitedly. The rest of my family all sat up and voiced their own excitement with more than a few asking for autographs that I said I'd get regardless. As a Gym Leader, I had a seat at the conference that I could use if I wanted.

"And spin!" shouted the male host with the best game show host voice I'd heard in a while. Lance grabbed the wheel with both hands and gave it a toss that saw it blur into a spinning mess. The man tilted his head before laughing, "Well that looks like it will take a while to handle so let's have a word from our sponsors!"

Small icons flashed across the bottom of the screen talking up pokefood and Silph Co, who had sponsored the man. Lance couldn't stop the look of distaste flashing across his face momentarily. I chuckled, that'd teach him for not simply letting the wheel spin once or twice before settling; instead of showing off his aura enhanced physique.

"—for when you need more than a flashlight you need Flash! A pokemon technical move provided for you by the scientists of Silph Co.!" The man glanced away from the camera to Lance who had a distinctly blank expression. "And it looks like we're slowing down now!"

Around me, the vibrating, bouncing children stilled in anticipation. I saw the Masch Badge get ticked over along with the Volcano badge. I could already see where it will likely finish and my eyes are wide as I lean forward. The wheel comes to a stop and the Boulder badge rests under the pointer.

"YOU GET TO FIGHT LANCE!" immediately my brothers and sisters explode as though an Exploud was among them. I chuckle and decide to just let them have the moment to celebrate. They'd have a lot of energy now but they were kids moments like this were pretty big. Even I was feeling a bit caught up in the good cheer—

"Tch!"

The sound from the tv cut through our celebrations. As one we returned our attention and found the hosts caught in surprise as Lance showed an expression as if he'd just stepped in Snubbull dung. The hosts both had expressions of shock but the man recovered quicker.

"Ah? Champion Lance, are you not happy with having the Pewter city gym as your first match?"

"My thoughts are that I don't want to waste the viewers at home or in the stadium's time with such a match. If I wasn't at least willing to let the weaker gyms have a shot I might reroll but in fairness, this will be good for Pewter I suppose."

The host flapped his mouth open and shut a few times before nodding. "So you think the Pewter gym isn't worth the fight?"

"Please, 'Rock Types'? They wouldn't be able to last against my Dragons. I have pokemon in my arsenal that could clean sweep that gym alone. Give me Saffron, or Cinnabar island." Beside him the woman that was supposed to be a 'Co-host' swooned'.

"Well you heard it here folks Lance, Champion of the Indigo region is vowing to clean sweep the Pewter Gym! As for the redraw Lance I'm sorry but that's the luck of the draw I'm afraid. Now that date for this will be in a month's time—" I switched the tv off.

The room was outright silent now with none of the previous energy that the kids had been showing. Their fires doused with the careless arrogance Lance had shown. I didn't remember this from him in the anime. I could probably conjure up a mountain worth of excuses for him but found myself not wanting to.

"So looks like I'm going to have to beat the champ hmmm?" I said to the room. This caused a stir, but the kids merely smiled before saying that they'd get ready for bed.

A part of my pride felt a sting that forced me to sit up and watch as my family slunk out of the room.

None of the kids wanted stories that night. I tried to keep things ticking over like normal. Stories of my journey or mythic pokemon were offered and rejected as the kids stayed quiet.

I departed for bed myself only to find myself not tired. I turned my mind towards the tasks I'd have to do tomorrow. It didn't help. My mind kept coming back to how quiet the room had been when he'd clicked his tongue.

That moment, so casually given. So… Callously given.

I think that was the poorly placed footstep that would see the first pebbles rumbling down the mountain. My mind shifted as I started to plan how I'd dump an avalanche onto Lance.

A.N. thanks once more to my Patreons for their support, and @Raikor for his edits

Viva01 · May 10, 2022

An Exhibition match.

Something that was used to highlight the abilities of two trainers without anything of worth at stake. Merely reputation. They're supposed to be used to highlight the trainers. Bolster attention and bring revenue for the League with television rights.

You only got offered Exhibition matches in certain instances. Matches could be set up between gyms. Between Elite Four. Or sometimes if you were an Elite trainer, with enough of a following, and you wanted more attention you could set up an Exhibition match. These were the ones that people typically knew of when asked about Exhibition matches. Charities could, and did, set up matches for trainers to take part in. Corporations sponsored tournaments with advertising and ludicrous titles or prizes on offer. People watched them avidly, and a good showing could see support building. Or it could do the opposite if you crumbled under the spotlight.

Merely reputation.

I lay in bed considering that for a good long while. I liked to think I was a pretty relaxed guy. In another life, I might have been a water bender for wanting to just go with the flow. Family had meaning to me, nothing like a certain infamous street car racer, but it was still important.

I kept thinking back to that moment of silence and how aware I had become of it. I scrutinized it so much I could almost paint a picture of each of my sibling's reactions as they understood what had happened. Even my youngest siblings had been aware to some degree that something had occurred. Something significant enough to see them go quiet.

My mindset often worked the wrong way with this world. The Pokeverse followed certain anime troupes you could even say. Calling someone out as weak was a direct challenge. There were more people around that would fire invectives and denials before demanding an instant battle with pokemon.

There were more hot-blooded people out there then there were calm rational types. I liked to think I was the latter. I wanted to simply roll over and ignore this. It shouldn't bother me if Lance was hot-headed and prideful. He was a Dragon Master. With the training he probably underwent there would have been a greater shock if he was controlled and reserved in his mannerisms.

Ideally, the Champion was supposed to be someone that was looked up to by all the young trainers. An example for all to aspire to while standing as a shield against criminal elements. They represented the best of the League. In this case that meant the Johto-Kanto region. Or as it was more widely known. The Indigo League.

When powerful pokemon rampaged that caused emergency situations Lance and the Elite four were the best responders. Not necessarily the first. That typically came down to roaming pokemon trainers. Then Gym trainers if it was within their shire.

The world of Pokemon wasn't always fun and games. So far I had only been called in for such situations twice, but both felt more like natural disaster containment than merely pokemon battles.

The best of the pokemon world. That's what the Elite Four and the Champion were supposed to be. To a lesser degree this applied to the gym leaders of course, but we were more like favorite local trainers. It was rare that other cities favored another's leader over their own. Loyalty like that was almost taught at the schools. Not formally of course, but word of mouth had more impact than a lot of people understood. Repeat words enough and they held a place in people's minds. Back that up with actions? Gym Leaders were celebrity super cops in a way. It was a poor analogy, I was aware, but it merely highlighted how nothing in the original earth had anything quite like being a Gym Leader.

Heck, I'd even heard versus debates about gym leaders versus different regions. Maybe it even went as far as war deterrents or guarantees. That was something I never really liked to consider. Not many did.

The Indigo region hadn't always been one region after all. It was only through bloodshed and war that unity had been forged roughly thirty years ago. Surprisingly few people had first-hand experience with those fights. Then again unsurprisingly few survived when Pokemon and Elites threw down.

Nowadays things are different. It hadn't even been taught all that much at school. There was a lot more to it of course but that wasn't my issue right now. Everything running through my mind was just a distraction.

I had to deal with an upcoming match with Lance.

Had this happened to the Canon Brock? I tossed it over. I needed to get out of that mindset. The emergence of what was supposed to be canon was plaguing me, and it was pushing my thoughts away from the real issue at hand.

Lance had called me weak on live television.

Meh, so what? I've had worse from worse. I knew I had a thick skin in more than the literal sense. So what if Lance didn't think anything of the gym? So what?

That got a twitch from me. Alright, so I liked what I had done. But that shouldn't be enough to keep me up at night. I've been in pressure situations before. Could it be that it didn't just affect me?

Who else would his declaration affect?

My Gym trainers for sure. The sponsored trainers as well would face scorn for this. Pewter gym had gotten slapped with the title of 'weakest'. That stung. I worked hard as a trainer. For that I wanted him to apologize. But that wouldn't be enough would it?

I played with that thought. That niggling thought. Lance's apology wouldn't be enough.

You couldn't retract words like that. You had to do something. What would be an appropriate reaction though?

I recalled the quietness of my siblings. They'd looked stricken. Ashamed and saddened. I ground my teeth remembering that. The way they'd looked down and away. They had been so excited before that. Then that energy had been sucked away. When I'd voiced my own nonchalance they'd not believed me.

The sting in my chest got worse. So that was probably a big factor. My family didn't think I could do it. They were some of my most diehard supporters and they had been stunned into silence. It hurt more than just my pride as a trainer, I could handle that, the wound to my pride as a big brother though? I was their rock. Their shelter from the storm. And they thought I'd not be enough.

Something within my chest wanted to burst out, march to the top of Mt Moon and roar out a challenge with bloody hands thumping on my chest while lightning crackled overhead.

I snorted at that before toying with the idea. It was entertaining in a manner that relaxed my snarling spitting hindbrain. It made me smile. Slowly my body unclenched, and slowly sleep took hold. That night I dreamt I was an Onix, surging out of the earth to snatch up a bird of some sort in my maw before disappearing into the cool earth. I woke up and knew what I needed to do.

I did my normal morning rituals, if I was a touch sharper in my actions training with my pokemon, no one commented. Some of the pokemon merely stepped forward with more eagerness. Pokemon were typically marvellous battle junkies after all. It was their way. I used that to work through my frustrations alongside a plan. Then I stepped into my cave and walked up to the towering form of my Starter.

"Hey Titan, something happened—" I talked through it with my starter and he listened. He probably didn't understand all of it, but the act of talking through my thoughts helped. He was a good listener. Grumbling in anger with me when I was annoyed and he gave a large fanged grin when I laid out my plan.

Then I left his cave before frowning when I noticed Forrest wasn't out doing his chores. I sighed and marched to his room. "Forrest! No sleeping in, you have chores!" He stumbled out blearily. For a moment I considered stopping him then and there, reminding him in some way that I was his big brother and that he should have more faith in me! I let him go instead.

I didn't need to tell them so much as show them. So I left Forrest to it before marching to the kitchen to feed my siblings. Their quieter, subdued morning antics tugged at my heart and I felt surer than ever of what I was going to have to do. While it wouldn't be as meaningful I decided to announce my intentions to them first and foremost.

I clapped my hands. "Hey gang, about last night." They looked up, some of them with food stuck to their faces but universally all eyes locked on me. I took a pose and gave them a thumbs up. "Your big brother is going to take care of all of this." The younger kids all grinned, relaxing as I made my declaration. That was enough for them.

The more knowledgeable of them, Salvadore, Yolanda and Forrest bit their lips. I gave them a look and raised a fist towards them one after the other. "Your big brother promises. Big time promises even. I'm going to take care of this."

They thumped each side of their own fists against my own before giving a hesitant smile. "Alright but you know he's Lance right?" I didn't let my smile falter.

I scoffed, "Salvadore! Your lack of faith disturbs me! For that you get to clean the dishes. Yolanda and Forrest! You deal with Tilly and Billy!"

"WHAT!?" came their response as they both shouted at me. "WE DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!"

"Your betrayal was clear on your faces! I can read minds! It's a big brother power!" I declared as I marched out before they could voice any more protest. I'd probably need to swing past later to clean up after them, as they'd do a bad job of it in rebellion. I'd just make them have to do it again. It was a learning opportunity, is what I would claim. Character building and such.

I entered my office and activated the computer before toggling a video call. Two windows opened up and a dial tone rang out as I waited. After a few minutes, not a bad waiting period, all things considered, one call connected.

"Little man! Twerp! Ha! I thought you were going to call me. I take it you heard the big bad Lance talking smack last night then?" Said the boisterous voice as on the screen a tanned face leered back at me. His blond tips shot straight upwards in a way that just had to be gelled. I likened it to Guy Fieri.

I inclined my head in the face of his more bombastic greeting "Lieutenant Surge." I ignored the way the man swelled slightly. He loved being referred to with that title, even above his gym leader title.

"Heh, yeah thinking of talking shop about this, yeah?" I nodded my head again.

"Yeah, I was hoping to get your thoughts but I made this a conference call."

"Eh who else did you—"

"Gym Leader Brock. Gym Leader Surge."

I nodded, ignoring Surge's slight wilting as I looked at my — I supposed ex was most appropriate?— and greeted her, "Gym Leader Sabrina, thank you for taking the call. I need to plan how to demolish him."

A.N. Thanks goes to my Patreons for their support, along with @Raikor for his editing and Beta reading. Please leave a like, or comment!

Viva01 · May 17, 2022

Chapter 7 - Gym Leader talks

Sabrina was easily considered one of the toughest gym leaders in the area to secure a badge from. The others were Giovanni of course, Blaine and Koga.

She had a known policy of not accepting anyone with less than three badges, which made all of her matches mean a lot more. It also meant that she faced far fewer challenges than other gym leaders. This made her no less popular to face however, and most sought to add the Marsh badge to their collection if for no other point than a point of pride. It was a mark of a good trainer if not a great one.

She wasn't alone in having a slightly different set of requirements to challenge her gym. Again however more often than not it was those seen as the 'toughest' that had their quirks.

Blaine was technically the toughest opponent to face. Which was to be expected as a retired Elite Four member. He'd taken over the old Gym upon his retirement and also taken up a research facility. One that was highly restricted according to the gossip and news surrounding the man. He was held in the same regard as Professor Oak though. Which said things to those that understood that Oak was a class of his own.

Koga was a ninja with poison types as his speciality. He was ruthless in his battling style and the smallest of slip-ups in his matches were capitalized on. Fuschia enjoyed the multiple attempts that it took trainers to secure his badge as the man typically became a roadblock with trainers needing to set aside weeks if not months to work on bettering their skills. Koga also typically knew each trainer by name before they even reached his city. You typically were greeted at his gym with a profile on yourself along with all of your weaknesses made abundantly clear. It was highly unnerving, to say the least. Then they asked if you wanted to continue your challenge. It reminded me of the Black ops psychological warfare methods I'd read of in the past. Needless to say, everyone respected Koga and his information network.

Giovanni had Earth pokemon. His other quirk was that he had limited availability at the start of the circuit. It annoyed everyone, but he was seen as a 'Philanthropist' and he got away with things like that thanks to his charitable contributions to the local community. I always made sure to be very relaxed around him. You couldn't always tense up and watch him too much. I suspected that I wasn't the only one in my circle of Gym leaders that at the very least suspected he was not on the up and up, but proving that was much tougher. He also paid out more handsomely for any takers of his gym challenge, with certain caveats. Caveats, such as wearing helmets that monitored vital signs or taking part in experiencing the pain that pokemon go through during fights to throw you off. He then would take handsomely from you if you lost.

By comparison, the other four gyms —Pewter, Cerulean, Vermillion and Celadon— accepted any and all takers who entered our doors. This made us seem 'weaker' in some eyes. Less exclusive. Being comparable to Cerulean as it currently stood wasn't a good thing. The Cerulean sisters were great performers. They had the best Contests around by far. But their battling aspect was sadly lacking. They didn't have enough depth for their gym with dedicated trainers or with pokemon to handle more than four to five trainers a day.

The other four gyms were invariably standoffish to the big gyms despite any attempts on our part to reach out to them.

Of all the gym leaders in the Kanto region however, I seemed to click best with these two.

Sabrina, the Psychic mistress of Saffron, and Lieutenant Surge, the Thunderbolt of Vermillion.

Surge had been one of the only people to reach out to me when I had taken over my father's gym. He'd been brash, arrogant, and altogether way, way too loud for my liking at the time, but I'd realized after the fact that he had taken time out of his schedule to come over and give me pointers in his own way. Some of it was not really applicable and some of it was gold that had seen me not faltering… as much during my first circuit as a gym leader.

Weird to think that had been almost three years ago now.

Sabrina… well I'd just have to mark our interactions as 'complicated' and leave it at that for now. I respected her despite any previous annoyances and emotional issues I had with her. She just operated differently.

"Gym Leader Sabrina, thank you for taking the call. I need to plan how to demolish him."

She inclined her head, a usual behaviour for her. She usually disliked talking at all, and forcing her to talk by using the phone usually resulted in short calls. Her usual form of communication was thought projection, which had initially not worked on me. Which had made my challenge for her gym rather awkward and educational for both of us at the time.

"Heh! So you've called both of us huh? Well I suddenly feel like a third wheel!" Sabrina and I both said nothing to that which merely encouraged Surge to fill the void. "You need to meet this challenge Brock! Lance might be the Champion but there's a way to speak to gym leaders, and that was way out of line!" Surge started to build himself up. One of his pokemon must have been nearby as sparks started to fly as he spoke. "You need to step up to the plate and swing for his jaw!"

I ignored the mixing of sports metaphors. "I agree, thus the call."

Sabrina's gaze intensified on me and for a moment I thought I felt an itch in my mind flare-up. I shook it off. Sabrina was too far away to link with, wasn't she? Surge leaned forward. "Ho? It sparked something in you did it? Made you feel the pulse? Get your blood running hot!"

I rolled my eyes. "No, I was watching it with my family. They heard everything."

Surge leaned back, a spikey Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder and growled. "Huh yeah, that would get me out of sorts as well. Just thinking about those snot-nosed little brats tearing up and sad cause of what Lance said. That's starting to make me fired up!" He launched out of his chair and started yelling about how he wasn't going to stand it. He would march down to the League office at Indigo and demand Lance fall on his sword and apologize for disrespecting me and my family like that. His pokemon again got caught in his wake and between breathes a growl of 'Chu!' punctuated his tirade.

"Surge! I have a plan. I don't need the league to arbitrate for me. You know how that would go anyway."

Surge sat down at that, suddenly quiet but the gleam in his eye gave away his interest. "Oh got a plan? Let's hear it then." He settled but there was a certain twitchiness that spoke of him wanting to act. Or ambient current from his electric types forcing him to move.

"Well first off, I thought I'd bounce my thoughts off of you both as sounding boards. You're both… objective on this topic," I almost said level headed but with the pseudo-American Surge, you could never really say such a thing. The man was a livewire. Sabrina merely tilted her head to show she was listening.

"Lance is new as Champion, so that's why he wouldn't have made the challenge the way he did. He's also Johto region raised, so he's biased towards them. I was going to run a meeting with the press later where I'd say how happy I am to get the exhibition. I'll play along as a simple trainer but also make no comments about his statement. I'll need to placate the mayor. Then I'll meet in front of Lance before the tournament and demand he puts up or shuts up."

"How?"

Surge halted, his mouth open, likely to ask the same question only to realize Sabrina had beaten him to the punch. He stayed quiet.

I worked a thought over in my mind. Here, Surge was right. Go big or go home. "Ten Million poke dollars as a wager enough you think?"

The video call went dead quiet. Surge swallowed as his Pikachu gaped before rolling backwards as if stunned. It landed with a dull 'Piiiikaaaa'. I smiled at the reaction. That was a lot of money. Enough to run a Pokemon Gym for at least two years with a full trainer complement.

"It would suffice," said Sabrina in her typical toneless manner. You had to watch her closely for the small twitches and tremors that were her 'emotes'. She'd twitched when I announced the sum and now seemed pleased judging by the small twitch of her lips.

"That's… a lot of moolah Brock," I noted Surge hadn't called me kid this time. "You gotta be good for it. Don't gamble it if you can't afford it. The banks don't gamble like that. I can get in touch with some people if you need?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I can afford it. And it shows how serious I am. I can liquidate some assets and take the money along. I'll need to go to the Conference with my sponsored trainer Celia. Then I'll make the announcement the day before the match. They'll keep our fights to the start of it, no?"

"It is what they have done in the past," Sabrina said. She then tilted her head back. "You should merely say 'No comment' when a reporter talks to you." She paused again before nodding. "You will require a sparring partner."

"I'm down for that!" shouted Surge before nodding as the Pikachu leapt back only to be knocked off by a much larger Raichu that punched the air. "Reckon you'll ask anyone else?"

I shook my head. "I trust you two the most with this. I'm going to go into training with a few of my pokemon before setting up the best six that I can. I already have somewhat of an idea though. Sanchez could use your support Surge."

"Yeah, an Electric and Rock type Golem is something I never thought I'd see. Heh! I should get me one of his kids it'd stump a few people seeing me throwing down something they'd expect from you."

"As to any other gym trainers…" I pressed on, "I'm not sure about Blaine or Koga… Giovanni would only make money off of me, but he does have some powerhouse pokemon." I looked to Sabrina. "Sabrina, think you can put the pressure on some of my pokemon?" She inclined her head with a small twitch of her lips upwards.

The talk went on for a few more minutes, hashing out dates that they could come to the gym to help me train. I wanted to hit Lance for all that he was worth and I'd only get one shot at this. I signed off and sat back only to stiffen when a flash of light erupted in the corner of my office.

"Brock," said Sabrina as she stepped forward. I blinked in surprise at the dark-haired beauty. She was wearing what had become her signature style with red shirt and miniskirt over tights that covered almost all of her skin. Her ruby red eyes swept over me.

"Hey Sabrina." I glanced back at the talk we had literally hung up from just a moment ago. "What's up?"

"I wanted to check on you. Are you… well?"

"Mostly annoyed and a bit angry I guess. I just didn't like the way it made my little brothers and sisters act. Heck, they're still acting a little out of sorts." I sat forward in my chair only to huff a laugh when Sabrina stepped up and placed her hands around me. "You're… Are you hugging me?"

"Yes, I am hugging you."

"Thought you didn't like touching like that?" In any interactions, we'd had I'd always had to initiate, which made things slightly weirder even when she'd asked for it. Holding hands and hugs weren't supposed to make you cringe.

"It is something I am working on. I understand that this helps as you are emotional. Hugs help."

I smiled, enjoying the moment of having some support, both emotionally and physically. Eventually, I had to speak my mind. "Did you read that in a book?"

"...yes. I have been working on my social skills." There was a moment of hesitation that I interpreted as 'do you think I am improving?'.

"You're getting really good at it. Funny how social skills can be weak or strong no? Before long you'll be a socialite at all the fancy Saffron parties."

Sabrina physically shuddered and I had to hold in another chuckle. She wouldn't appreciate being 'laughed at'. She did like laughing though. "Hey what do Haunters eat for lunch?"

"I have no idea?" She said, leaning back to see me.

I grinned. "Boo-longa sandwiches. Get it?" She bit her lips and looked away. "How do you get a Pikachu onto a bus?"

"Stop it!" She said while stepping back and hunching in on herself.

"You poke'em'on!"

"Pfft!" She said while hunching in on herself further.

"Did you hear of the pokemon pirate? It was an Arrrrrr-bok!"

"Pu! Hahaha!" Sabrina gave up on holding in her laughter as I grinned and mercilessly continued to tell her worse and worse jokes. She eventually sat on me and buried her head into my shoulder. "Those were terrible jokes."

I hugged her and rocked her back and forth. "Yeah, they were. But they made you smile."

She touched her face and nodded, "Urgh. You're not supposed to find such jokes funny."

"Said the books?"I asked. She nodded, getting a shrug from me. "Who cares? You shouldn't. If you find them funny then laugh. You're cute when you're enjoying yourself."

She sat back and stared into my eyes. "Are you flirting with me?"

"A little. Mostly I'm just enjoying myself with a friend."

She sighed and stood. "I feel like I have made a fool of myself acting this way."

I merely smiled at her. "Thanks for coming Sabrina. It means a lot." I offered a hand towards the door. "Want to stay and have an early lunch with my family?"

Sabrina shook her head quickly. "No. I have duties to perform. I will speak again with you soon." She vanished in a flash of light and I sat back in my chair. I pushed aside the disappointment and glanced towards my computer.

She was right. I also had jobs to take care of, beyond just plotting Lance's defeat.

A.N. Thanks go to my supporters on Patreon. They reached a goal I had set and so I will commit to trying to release 2 chapters a month on patreon, eventually I will have the stories on QQ, SV, and SB follow suit. I'm mostly setting up contacts with artists and editors as I will be trying to have an artwork a month but I also need a small team of people to help speed through the editing stage of release. Thanks go to Raikor for betaing this chapter.

Viva01 · May 24, 2022

"There." I paused the video of Celia on the computer and tap her eyes. "See how you're projecting your intent? When you have your Marowak dig you begin looking to where you want them to come out."

"No way people can notice that!" Celia exclaimed. "We're over a hundred metres apart and there is no way people can see where I'm looking!" She crossed her arms shaking her head to emphasize her disbelief.

I shake my head back. "You'd be wrong. Lots of trainers have had to go through living in the wild where their instincts are honed and their sight picks up more. It's not so much where you're looking, as your focus that they're picking up." I drum the table before snapping my fingers. "Micromovements, is what they're called. Small tells that others can read into and detect what you're going to do before you do it. It mostly comes up in professional sports players but it can still appear for pokemon battles. Watch some of the semi-professionals, and then watch the Elites for the difference."

I load up a few more videos and pause them before asking her what would happen next. I made sure to mute the sound. She got only a few right but she now sported a more thoughtful expression. "You and other gym leaders typically strike a pose and hold it for the duration of the fight…"

"I don't strike a pose," Celia stared at me then stood and adopted an at-rest position with her arms crossed just under her chest. I had to avert my eyes. Once again I caught the smirk with its double meaning. I didn't want to crush her feelings but sometimes I couldn't help but think it would be easier be blunt with her. Hopefully, she'd outgrow it.

"You pose. I just never realized it had more meaning than looking cool." I chose to grunt at that, pleased despite hearing that holding my body still had appeared to be me posing. "I'll have to think on this… Will the people at the Indigo League go this far? It seems a little niche." Celia considered the video of herself and how much she revealed through simple actions.

I wave my hand back and forth in a so-so gesture. "It's about giving you as much information as possible. If you're aware and studying it I think that will be enough for this year. You could also learn to abbreviate certain commands with your pokemon for more advantages. Announcing what you're going to do all the time isn't the best strategy."

"You realize you're the only person who does that right?"

"Only for the higher badge challenges," I said back. "It's all about getting those small advantages. You'd be surprised how they pile up eventually. It might be milliseconds of advantage but often our victory can be determined by the smallest of windows."

Celia nodded at this reasoning. "Right I can work on that."

"Don't try it on all your moves and only throw them out sparingly to start off with. Too much will confuse your pokemon. Keep it simple—" "Stupid," Celia finished the phrase and I nodded. She wrote this down in a small diary that she kept on her for our tutoring sessions before fidgetting with her pen. I knew Celia well enough that she had a question on her tongue. Typically it took a while for her to voice them though. I busied myself with looking up research articles by a few pokemon professors regarding Dragon pokemon. They hadn't yet gotten around to fully legitimizing that 'Fairy typing' was a thing but there was some serious research being put into that. There had already been a lot of anecdotal evidence but it seemed funding had only just come in for this recently. I grinned to myself as I clicked through the articles.

I couldn't wait until it came out that certain puffballs that were floating around as only 'Normal' were actually super effective against Dragon typings.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Celia said.

I closed the computer and looked towards her. "I was wondering when you were going to ask me that question, you know?" She flushed but I waved off her stammered apology. "It's fine. It's fine. I normally would merely ignore it. You have to grow a thick skin as a Gym Leader. There are tons of people out there that will say terrible things. Heck some of them might even be justified. Some will just say it though regardless of if it's true. There's now a lot of people out there saying how weak I am."

"What!? No! You're really good as a Gym Leader! Don't believe those idiots!" Celia stood and clenched her fists as though she was ready to beat confidence into me. I merely waved her back to her chair.

"Celia. I can't always present myself at my best. Nor can my pokemon. Sometimes I make mistakes. I try to limit the frequency and the severity as much as I can but I'm not perfect."

Celia mumbled something that I couldn't hear so I merely shrugged at her. "Lance's words shouldn't bother me."

"Shouldn't?" she said.

"Yeah. Normally I'd have ignored him. Gone about things business as usual." I glanced to the shut door before looking Celia straight in the eyes. "Celia, I'm going to apologize now but I'm going to have to make a spectacle of myself for the Exhibition match. A lot of attention is going to be dragged away from you and the other trainers."

"You're going to fight for real?!" She sat upright at that, a gleam entering her eyes at my words.

"Yeah, I'm training just as much as you these days. I've called in some favours and also have two of my fellow gym leaders working with me."

"Oh wow. Good, I can tell people to back off from being such Houndooms to you."

I shook a finger. "Don't do that."

"But! But they're putting down the reputation."

"Sometimes it's moments like this that help to let you know who will have your back in tough times and who are fair-weather friends that will float off like Drifblim as the wind changes. It's good to know now rather than in an actual emergency."

That drew a smirk from her before she got a thoughtful look. "If you need to, you don't need to waste—" "Ututut! Nope. You're not wasting my time. Sometimes teaching others helps to remind and deepen the lesson."

"Huh?" Celia said with a cute head tilt.

"If you have to teach something you typically need to make sure you know what you're talking about enough to impart it. It's a great way to learn content for anything really. You set yourself up as a teacher and you really need to broaden your understanding cause sometimes you'll get questions. Sometimes you'll have never even considered the questions and have to do more research resulting in you widening your understanding of a topic even more."

"Huh, wow. I never thought of that before."

I gestured around us. "For that, I blame the hyper-specialization that occurs with most fields. There is some great technology but there isn't as much crossing of minds and broad education for people unless you go into that field. We speed through our initial education to get to our pokemon journey before setting into something." I shrugged. "That's the way it happens for most people. It has its upsides but also its downsides."

"You're really smart Brock." She said while twirling her hair in between her fingers. I merely shrugged.

"Nah I just think about things and am fortunate I guess."

Celia was about to say something else when a phone buzzed on the wall. I plucked it up.

"Gym Leader! The Mayor is looking to talk to you again!" I groan while Celia began to giggle her head off having obviously heard the loudspeaker that is Dennis. My ear canal would feel this for a while.

"I'll be with him as soon as I can Dennis."

"Sir!" I rubbed my ear after hanging up before tapping my nose.

"Fair weather friends?" I prompted.

"Ooooooh the Mayor?" she said.

I nodded and headed out the front of the gym. A microphone was instantly in my face.

"Brock! What are you going to do with the Champion of the League shining a highlight on your failings!?" "How long do you expect to be Gym Leader with this level of scrutiny!?" "Do you have any hope of giving a good showing?" "Is there any truth to the rumors of your gym charter being revoked?"

I raised a hand and narrowed my eyes. Instantly a lull fell over the crowd as they suddenly found themselves swallowing their tongues. "As I have stated previously, no comment." I paused on one of the reporters and pulled open the bag I had grabbed before departing the gym. From within I pulled a form.

"PTN reporter Joshua, this is a restraining order for harassing my little siblings at school. I am fair game as Gym Leader. Do not harass my family, if you fail to comply with this restraining order the police will be informed." I swept my gaze over the rest of the reporters before nodding at them as Joshua's sudden paling was caught on camera. "Good day ladies and gentlemen." I extracted myself as the piranha's turned on one of their own for the story.

I jogged on toward the center of the city where the large marble building that served as City Hall was located. I waved at some of the Pewter City residents that noticed me but used the old trick of wearing headphones to make it seem like I couldn't hear their questions that had begun to get repetitive a little under a week ago when the match had been announced.

When I entered I made a show of taking off my headphones. The receptionist ignoring me as I waited for her to notice my arrival let me know how this was likely going to go. I merely adopted a polite expression before checking my watch. I turned towards the door and instantly she whipped her head up at me.

"Gym Leader Brock, please take a seat the Mayor will be with you soon."

I returned her fake smile. "I have twenty minutes before I have other business to attend. If the Mayor needs me he can make an appointment. I've got room in my schedule in a few days."

The receptionist's nostrils flaring let me know enough about her to know that I'd just ruined her little potential treat. She'd have later locked this moment away in her dusty cupboard of a mind only to be recalled, polished and gleaming as a moment that she'd gotten to flex on a Gym Leader which would have made it all the sweeter. By rejecting the concept of social superiority that I should bow and scrape to the Mayor I'd probably made an enemy in her. She'd find all the petty ways she could to hurt me later on. I didn't have time for her and the Mayor's little games though.

I glanced again at my watch. "Is he free now or should I have my crew send a time I'm available?"

I could see her furiously working through her options, leafing through her procedures and manners to find some way to restore her little world. She sniffed pointedly when her speaker buzzed and the Mayor's voice called through, "Trixie, send through the good Gym Leader. I can talk now."

I merely nodded as she gestured towards the doors. I then almost ran into them as she failed to unlock them. I took a deep breath in and considered escalating. For a moment I tapped into the pool of energy. My hands opened into flat palms. It was so tempting. It'd be so easy.

A harsh thunk of the door unlocking sounded out and I pushed the door again. The energy within was exhaled out as the door closed behind me. I refocused towards the actual person I'd come to see.

The Mayor of Pewter city had chosen to sit at the lounge instead of behind his desk. The man was the quintessential 'hiker' from the Gen I iteration. The only difference was that he was a solid wall of muscle. The man didn't have hands as much as he had twin mauls. His hair wasn't so much a beard as a mane. And yet the man had coated himself in fur to the degree that I had to wonder if Hagrid from Harry Potter had fallen for a Discworld Dwarf.

"Mayor," I said as a greeting, watching as the muscle and hair twitched in greeting.

"Gym Leader," he said back. He rubbed his chin causing some parts of his mane to stick out oddly. His eyes searched me from the dark caves of his face before a smile stretched his face. "So, you're not just a good battler eh Brock?"

I considered that for a moment before replying, "I suppose I haven't had many chances to prove myself before have I… Jonathan?" I used his name as a test. He merely nodded his head.

"Indeed you've done well as Gym Leader since your father abandoned you with your family. If anyone has been paying any attention to you they'd be mad to call you into question." he gestured at the seat to show I could sit. "You've taken a disaster on so many fronts, and turned it into a shiny gem. You're playing coy sort of gives the game away though." He tapped a newspaper section that highlighted the odds of the match. "How much should I bet on you?"

I rubbed the back of my head in consideration. For a long minute neither of us spoke before I considered the man that seemed so in his element. Like an old lion in the savannah, he was in his element. I liked that thought, the old lion of Pewter, it should be a nickname for the man. I had to admit it was a pleasant surprise after the last week I'd had to hear him being open.

"How much have you got to bet?"

His smile turned feral before nodding at me. "Anything the city can do for you? We have some Rangers that I'm close with. Ones that head out to the silver mountains and north in the wild ranges even. They'd have some pokemon that could test you."

"I've already got some plans in place. Thank you for the offer though. I'd prefer if you could get the reporters to stop hounding me as much."

"Not an undoable task. I can certainly talk to their managers about how they've been lingering." He rubbed his chin. "You alright if I have some support pieces made up? Start a grassroots surge before you do your thing?"

"Do my thing?" I asked curious about how much he suspected.

He smirked. "You got a look about you. You're not defeated or letting it tumble over you. If you'd come in here looking like you were just out for a stroll, or at the park letting the kids play on you it'd show. Instead you got your hackles up."

"Is the receptionist deliberate?"

He clicked his tongue. "Nah she's a hire that I had to do cause of," he waved around at the office, "Politics." I made a noise of understanding before agreeing to the idea of some articles slowly filtering into the public. It felt rather strange planning such things regarding myself but perhaps this was a sign that I wasn't just anyone anymore.

Later that night, after dealing with the Mayor, I turned the conversation over in my head. Despite coming in as nominal social equals I couldn't help but feel slightly worried about how the man had taken control of the conversation. He hadn't shown any of his cards before peeking at mine in a way. He might have been bluffing for all that I knew.

He'd agreed after my initial comment to 'bet all that he had and more', very well. He'd also made a good show of getting some Rangers in to take over gym duties. That might have seemed like a harmless gesture but I understood that you needed duties to justify certain things. It might help now but it would hinder me later with what I could have a voice in. If I couldn't win while doing my job properly I didn't deserve the victory. Also, I shouldn't allow that sort of behavior to creep in.

I wasn't sure if that had been like a Tentacruel feeler testing the waters before diving in with other 'helpful' suggestions, but my mind couldn't help replay the talk over in my head. I eventually sighed, sitting up and turning on the computer to write down my thoughts. I'd need to handle myself at least this well or better in future. Being a Gym Leader meant rubbing elbows with the Movers and Shakers. That meant politics. I wondered for a moment if I needed to hire or have someone train me for that. How did I currently 'score' in such a setting? Did I even want to blend in or should I force them to flow around me? I wrote all of this down in my virtual diary for later reflection.

I paused every now and then to play with a handful of pebbles that I left near my bedside. I let the feel and sound of them clacking into each other wash over me before writing another section.

After an hour of jotting down my thoughts and toying with my Rock-type energy, I found I had no issues falling asleep. I knew tomorrow would be better. That alone made things seem brighter for me. I also had a lot to look forward to with it being a training day with Surge and Sabrina.

A.N Thanks to all my patreons for their support. Thanks also go to Raikor.

Please like and leave some comments!

Viva01 · May 31, 2022

In a field, well out of view from any prying eyes, Lieutenant Surge swaggered. It made one wonder about life. Sadly this was no 'if a tree falls in the wood' situation. Surge made sure there was someone to hear him before he got started.

"You ready for the pain Brock! I'm bringing the thunder!" He held a pose and leered while I stared. Then an idea came to me. A terrible, horrible, no good idea. I checked around in case anyone else was actually here. Specifically Sabrina. Before adopting a counterpose. "You think you're tough enough to handle the avalanche?"

Surge's grin grew and his hand swept out. "Nice! But words won't save you from the sparks I'm sending out! Go Raichu!"

"Match him Shin!" I selected my own pokemon. From the pokeball an ancient pokemon emerged and brandished his scythes at the orange electric mouse. Raichu growled, tail whipping back and forth.

Surge whistled obviously wanting to say something but holding back. He settled for clicking his fingers. "Toss a rock to signal the start?"

I nodded, raising a rock and lobbing it up well within our field of vision. Neither of us bothered to turn our heads to focus on it. We tracked it more from the movement in our peripherals. When it touched the ground Surge swept his hand forth and bellowed his command, "Raichu Thunder!"

"Stab your blades into the ground! Metal Claw!" I countered. Shin's blades sank into the ground just before the electrical attack impacted. It didn't negate all of the damage but it did help out. "Rock Polish Shin!" I added just as the attack dissipated.

Surge slashed his arm, "Thunder wave!"

"Dig!" Shin obeyed before the attack had any chance of threatening him.

Surge grimaced before he snapped his fingers. "Swift!" Stars formed up above Raichi. I grimaced at that, but had to accept it as Raichu's attack hit. I couldn't block it with another move this time. Before Raichu could launch any more Shin popped up behind it though and slashed for all he was worth.

Raichu was launched across the field before rolling to its feet with an angry growl.

"Rock Polish," I said once more.

"Urgh, again?" said Surge as he eyed his Raichu. "Extreme speed!"

"Match it," I ordered only to find my Kabutops current top speed to be well short of what I need to keep him even with Raichu.

Raichu slammed into Shin and I grit my teeth as small sparks zapped into Shin. "Dig!" I said while reprimanding myself for the sloppy play. I should have just gone for another dodge with dig rather than trying to match up. So what if Surge got off a swift? It wasn't more of an irritant.

Surge nodded his head and as I had expected ordered another swift before bellowing. "Extreme speed to the other side of the field!" This saw him dodging the attack from my Shin. I clicked my teeth at that before eyeing the field. "Shin! Metal Claw into Hydrojet! Drag your blades along behind you!"

Surge frowned at me as my pokemon surged forward with a watery envelope surrounding him. I could tell he was tempted with the water in play but I could also see him judging the metal claw attachment. "Use swift again!"

"Go into Dig!" I ordered once more. Now that the field had large gouges across it I knew Raichu couldn't rely on speed to escape this hit. Surge's follow up swift again did little before his Raichu took another solid hit that saw it tumbling across the field.

He clicked his tongue and raised his pokeball. "Good match, wasn't sure you were serious with your pick of Kabutops." Shin happily crowed at that praise before hustling over to me. I plucked a rag off my belt to rub his already glossy rock shell. Surge chuckled as Shin crooned into the cloth. "Hell of a pokemon to have in your roster."

"He's not the only of his type that I have," I revealed.

"Seriously?" Surge stared at me and I grinned. His expression turned into outright gaping as I popped two more pokemon to show off my Omaster, and Aerodactyl. Omaster glanced around before waving her arms about happily while Aerodactyl snorted and took off to circle the area.

"Don! Circle up high and see if there is anything I need to be worried about. Pokemon or people alright?"

"Aero!" screeched my flying type as it caught a thermal to soar.

"Damn Brock. You going to use all of them?"

"Shelly's not up to the others in combat strength." I leaned down and rubbed at Omaster's shell. "She's alright for the four and up matches but she's not one of my top six." Shelly merely nodded at this before tapping Shin for his attention. The two pokemon began to talk to each other and I turned to Surge. "I think if anything Don is going to be the one that Lance is most jealous of."

"Is it Dragon typed? I assumed Rock-Flying."

"It looks close enough though, no? You know Lance has a Gyrados and a Charizard right?"

"Yeah, beast pokemon, both of them. Gyrados knows thunder so watch out for it yeah?"

"I have an easy matchup for that. I'm hoping he tries to bring it out first. If not, I have someone that can set up for me."

"Heh that Golem of yours?"

I nodded before holding out a pokeball. "Speaking of which, I had an egg hatch the other day."

Surge perked up. "That what I think it is?" I nodded and handed him the ball. Like a kid at christmas Surge instantly opened his present to reveal a Geodude.

"Geo-dude!" Surge looked over the pokemon appreciatively before rubbing a hand over the rougher top. He drew it back and tilted his head in thought before drawing back his hand.

"Magnetic rock?"

"You'll need to feed him some electrically charged rock in his diet and keep him in a charged environment." I smiled at the little guy, "Think that's going to be an issue for you?"

"Heh! No way! Thanks! How am I gonna pay you back for this?" He gestured to the pokemon that was happily thumping his chest and demanding a fight from Shin. My Kabutops spat a tiny glob of water only for the Geodude to flinch before roaring as the 'challenge' was accepted. "Heh! I like this punk's spirit! He's an electric type that's for sure!"

I grinned at Surge's pokemon before handing him a sheet of paper. Surge read through it before frowning. "Hehe Shiny types or King variants? Yeah, I can see this guy being worth one of them. Corsola? You don't have one of them?" I shook my head in answer. "Nosepass, Bonsly and what the hell…. Roggenrola? Rockruff? Carbink? Never heard of those pokemon before, where the hell'd you hear of them?" He looked up from the list.

"I keep an ear out. Their original regions might not have opened their borders officially yet so the League won't have announced them."

"More like your psychic girlfriend knows and told you?" Surge said leadingly.

"I have done no such thing," said Sabrina appearing at my side with her teleport. Surge flinched back, his arms pinwheeling before he fell onto his backside. From the ground, he gave her a scowl.

"You been lurking long?"

Sabrina didn't deign to offer a response for that, outright ignoring her fellow Gym Leader. Don screeched and plummeted from the sky at Sabrina's sudden arrival.

"Don! No! Friend!" I said, shouting as loud as I could.

Sabrina eyed him for a moment before popping a pokeball to reveal an Alakazam who hovered in front of Sabrina.

"Don!" This time he listened and wheeled away. I sighed before shaking my head. "Sorry about him, I'll need to use him in a fight today. He's very aggressive when he's brought out and with Shin getting a chance he probably wants to throw down himself to prove he's still strong."

"I would be fine with that." She placed a hand on Alakazam's shoulder and the hyper-smart pokemon nodded to her before smirking upwards.

"Before that, think you can set some time up for my Selene and Quirina? I need to work out which of them will be fighting."

"Selene is better," Sabrina didn't even hesitate to voice her opinion. I opened my mouth before nodding.

"Yeah actually, Quirina wouldn't work well with Lance's matchups. Selene is in then."

"My Alakazam wants another rematch against Titan." The Alakazam in question didn't turn but I felt its attention focus on me nevertheless.

I smirked, "After he fights Don, and if he's still up for it, sure." The challenge in my tone made the Alakazam snap to look at me before scoffing as he redirected his attention up towards the circling Don. "First let's train Selene." With a press of a button Selene floated upwards.

"Luuuunatone!" greeted the pokemon. Sabrina smiled as her eyes glowed slightly as a link formed between her and my pokemon. Surge walked up to me before nodding.

"Reckon I'll head off before someone spots I'm missing from Vermilion."

"Thanks for coming Surge, Shin needed the match up."

"Yeah, didn't seem that way. Your Pokemon are going to shock a lot of people. I'm surprised at how much depth you've got for all of them having a rock type."

"People underestimate them cause they only see Geodudes and Onix, with a lot of trainers facing them for the first badge challenge. They think they're weaker than they are in truth."

"Reckon Lance will know about Titan?"

"I'd love for him to be that proud, but I don't think he got to be Champion from not crossing his t's and dotting his i's."

"Shame. It'll be a shock for a lot of people that didn't track you beyond your Kanto circuit. They probably think your Rhydon is your starter."

I grinned at that before nodding. "Sure… my Rhydon."

Surge squinted at me before shaking his head. "I won't satisfy my inner Meowth right now but I know that look." I merely nodded and tapped my nose. Surge chuckled as he opened a Pokeball to reveal a Fearow that had a saddle which he swung up into.

"See you at the conference Brock!" He said before taking off. I waved him off before turning back to the next round of training I had lined up for today.

"So what should we be working on with Selene?"

Sabrina gave me a look. "We will be working on her versatility with her psychic powers." Selene bumped into Sabrina with a happy trill before straightening when Sabrina gently pushed her away.

"You may begin by levitating as many items as you can, nothing can be the same shape or size." I watched for a few minutes before understanding that I was very much superfluous. It was still interesting to watch the three psychics train themselves.

Selene flagged first. Alakazam nodded at her efforts but you could tell she was exhausted with how she wavered with her hovering. Sabrina stared at Selene for a moment before nodding herself. "You have done well. Rest and consider what you've learnt today." She glanced towards me then before looking at her Alakazam. "I believe Alakazam was promised a fight?"

I tugged out a whistle and blew it. Sabrina placidly watched me as we waited for Don to return. With anyone else this would be very awkward. I'd grown used to silence with Sabrina. She was a very deep thinker. You could say something offhand and she'd contemplate it from a variety of different angles for hours. Sometimes she'd dredge up something you said days ago. Or she'd just sit and think. It was one of the things she liked about having me around.

She'd told me once that I was good for that. A comfortable quiet. Apparently being able to hear people's thoughts made her life rather frustrating. I could only get a vague idea of what that might be like. She likened it to having a constant crowd shouting over themselves in a small room. In this case the room just so happened to be her mind. As a child it had pained her.

And then along had come a boy with an inkling of an idea regarding Dark-type energy that made him a 'quiet' mind. Soothing almost.

At the time I had been focused on beating her with my pokemon. Then she had marched up and given me the Marsh badge only to announce she was going to join me for the rest of the circuit. And there I had been trying to lessen my footprint on what was supposed to be canon.

I shook my head before looking her over.

The small smile was enough to let me know how she was doing. "Anything planned for when the circuit is over?"

"I will be joining you at the Plateau," she said firmly before brushing her hair over her shoulder. "Otherwise I have nothing of note."

"Your family isn't doing anything?"

"Mother thinks it would be a good idea to go to the beach together as a… Family…"

"Don't like that idea?"

"It's very bright at the beach and I don't like the looks and thoughts I get when I go there."

"Ah, shame you'd look…" I trailed off before my tongue could talk me into a trap. Sabrina arched an eyebrow.

"I'd look?" Sabrina of course didn't relent.

"You'd look very nice."

"Nice," her voice had gotten flat and I knew she was fishing in her own way but that didn't stop me from tripping myself into the trap.

"You'd look… attractive. You're a very attractive woman Sabrina alright?"

She stared at me for a moment before nodding her smile back in place before she looked away. "Thank you." The quiet returned.

I squatted down and watched a slowly growing black dot form into Don. I now found myself willing him to speed up for the coming fight.

"You are also quite attractive."

I looked back to her studiously not looking at me. "Hmmm thanks Sabrina." I half turned before looking back only to shake the idea off. She wanted me to go to the beach with her, didn't she? I turned that over in my head. I really shouldn't encourage her. I was still squeamish having 'dated' her as children. I didn't want to encourage her or offer something that I couldn't give. Don arrived and thankfully ended my mental torment.

He hovered and eyed the Alakazam with hate filled eyes. Alakazam made things worse by huffing and dismissing him. I grinned knowing what the hyper-intelligent pokemon was doing.

"Keep your cool Don, he's toying with you before the fight. This is just banter." Don glared at me before recalling our own training sessions. He growled before flapping and waggling his legs in a provocative manner. I had no idea how that translated but I didn't expect anything too refined from an 'Ancient' pokemon.

It got a narrowing of eyes from Alakazam so it must have done something.

"Ready?" I asked Sabrina.

She nodded once. "Alakazam, Psybeam."

And like that the next match began. Sabrina had not bothered with any 'fair start' like Surge had been.

Don folded his wings but the attack was fast. Knocking him out of the sky with a mere grazing blow.

"Get off the ground! You're a sitting Farfetch'd there!"

"Gravity," Sabrina continued her onslaught making it harder for Don. I'd asked for as much but I knew Don was going to have a tough time with this match up. He struggled to get his legs underneath himself.

"Stone Edge! Make him move!" Don glared at the Alakazam that was holding him down with the power of his mind. For a moment I thought he was going to launch himself forward to attempt a take-down instead of listen but rocks formed and fired off.

"Teleport," said Sabrina tonelessly.

Rocks flew into the spaces Alakazam had been only for him to dodge easily. "Don you need to act faster! Lance's Dragonite is one of the best pokemon around! If you can't handle an alakazam I won't be able to use you!" I said. Mentally it was a much different story. Alakazam with teleport would technically be harder to fight. I'd need to make sure Don fought some speedy flying types but right now was about getting him faster in his siring sequence. Don responded like I knew he would Rock blasts flying faster.

I swung my arm into a blank area. "Fire there!" Don did as I asked and he was rewarded as Alakazam teleported into the hit. He took the blow and was hurled back. When he rose he made a show of dusting himself off and scoffing.

Don growled. "Leap up now while he's distracted!" This time don was able to leap for the skies, unhindered now that Alakazam wasn't focussing the gravity onto him.

"Dragondance Don!" My pokemon tipped himself into a tailspin before alighting with a small growl. Sabrina made a gesture and her pokemon formed a barrier in front of himself.

"Stone Edge again!"

"Psychic," replied Sabrina. This time the attack came in the form of Alakazam grabbing the stones that had formed Don's attack and hurling them back at him.

"Evasive maneveurs Don! Go Lo—" I cursed as he went high. In doing so he made it easier to spot his profile. "Don get low! You're easier to hit in the sky! Close to the ground you can throw up dust and obscure yourself with turn about!"

This was not something I would be able to do in my match with Lance. I obviously had a lot of small kinks to work out to get Don's battling up to snuff. Don took a stone to the wing and dropped before regaining control. He adopted the new dodging pattern and while he didn't have the thermals to work with he was able to throw up dust and rocks as chaff for attacks meant for him. This meant Alakazam had to work for it more. "Dragon dance again!"

"Psybeam!"

"Drop to the ground! Create a sinkhole!" Don hit the ground this time dodging the attack before glaring at the alakazam. I was quick to follow up before Alakam's attack ended. "Go close while using Stone Edge around the area!"

Alakazam suddenly found it much harder to teleport as Don closed on him. "Psybeam again!" ordered Sabrina.

"Ice fang before he hits!" I bellowed. Don's jaws snapped onto alakazam's shoulder and ice flowed down the limb making the super-intelligent pokemon flinch. "Again!"

Don got in another hit. "Finish it, Psybeam." Sabrina stayed calm. Her Alakazam raised a hand and pointed the palm right at Don. Don was blown off and landed hard into the ground.

I looked down into his crater as he weakly struggled before slumping down. "Good fight buddy. We both need to get better."

Across from us, Alakazam must have used recovery on himself. Sadly for him, the ice didn't vanish revealing he'd been partially frozen from Don's attacks.

Don might have ended up losing but he put up enough of a fight to deny Alakazam his rematch against Titan. Which set Don in a nice frustrated state and much more pliant for the next week at least of training I could put into him. I had multiple points of information that I needed to address for both of us.

It might have seemed cruel to set Don up like this with a match I didn't expect him to win. But sometimes it was important to crush a pokemon's pride to get them to listen to you. It wasn't a method I liked to use but one of the best to use to get some serious training in with Don in the lead up to the fight with Lance.

I didn't have time to be nice with Don's pride. I needed him working hard, not strutting around with a chip on his shoulder.

He might have lost but that was all according to plan.

I toyed with the spreadsheet to play with the gym's earnings and expenditures. If I accounted for the amount of food that I could save with an expedition while trading off human resources required I might come out slightly ahead which would be worth it for a few planned trips. I could enlist a few of my siblings to trade out for Rocko who had put in for leave and then—

My door opened up and a voice called out to me.

"Big brother?" I looked up to find Suzie rubbing at her eyes and yawning hugely. "You're not asleep?"

I resisted the urge to give a sarcastic reply before nodding. "Yeah, I had some work for the Gym to catch up on. Got a lot on my plate Suzie. What's up? How come you're still awake?" I almost asked if she'd had another accident but knew that would only anger her. She hadn't had any accidents in a few months now.

"I had a bad dream," she said directly to the floor. I huffed.

"That's alright. We all have those sometimes."

"Even you?" She peeked up at me. I nodded.

"Want some warm milk to help you relax? Then you can brush your teeth again before bed."

"I don't have to brush my teeth if I drink milk! It's white like my teeth!" Her logic was probably perfect for a five-year-old.

"Ha! I wish it worked that way, but no you brush your teeth if you eat or drink anything."

"Even water?" I paused, stumped before shaking my head.

"Ah, actually not water. Water gets a pass." She considered that deeply for a long moment before eventually nodding.

"I want a cookie as well!"

I sighed. "Milk and no cookie."

"Milk and cookie, otherwise it's just weird!" She waved her arms about in what been to emphasize the 'weirdness' of no cookie and milk. I caved and gave her another nod.

After giving her the cookie and her milk which I enjoyed alongside her I led her up to the bathroom. There I oversaw her brushing her teeth atop a stool just for her while I did my own. Then I settled her into bed in the room she shared with Tilly. Before I got a chance to leave she spoke up again.

"Can I have a story?"

"Another story?" I said pointedly while staring at the Detective Pikachu's adventure book I had read earlier.

"I want a real story. One about pokemon!" she said while crossing her tiny arms. I noted the emphasis on 'real'. So nothing that would qualify as 'little girl' material but still age-appropriate.

I considered that before moving back and sitting down with my back against the wall. "Would a story about the prettiest rock type pokemon be enough?"

"Graveller?" she said, likely thinking of the maid like pokemon that was probably asleep in the older girl's room.

"No, even prettier. It's so pretty that this pokemon is known as the Jewel pokemon, but it is also one of the toughest pokemon out there. It has to do with the diamonds that make up its body."

"Diamonds! Really? Wow, that must be a pretty pokemon!" Her eyes widened as her little mind began to imagine what such a pokemon must look like.

"Yup! If any trainer had it, they'd do great at contests just from how pretty it is!"

"What's its name?" Suzie said, snuggling down into her blanket and watching me.

"Diancie. Diancie the Rock Fairy type pokemon."

"There's not a Fairy-type pokemon. I know, I learnt about that in school!"

"Really? They taught you that at Pre-school? I'm impressed!" Suzie puffed up her chest before nodding. I made a show of looking left and right, "Well I'm going to tell you a secret. Can you keep it for me?"

"Yeah!" She said seriously. I smiled, not really minding if she blabbed like I expected her to a friend. People wouldn't take her too seriously until the official position statement from the League was released in a year or so.

"There's going to be a new typing announced soon."

"The Fairy type!?" She said, understanding what I meant immediately. I nodded.

"Yup! Pokemon like Clefairy aren't just Normal-type."

"Wow! What are they strong and weak against?" I nodded, pleased at her serious question.

"They're weak to Steel, and poison, with Dark, fighting and bug not being as effective. But guess what?"

"What?"

"They're super strong against Dark, Fighting and… Dragon types which they're immune to damage from."

She gasped. "You could use Diancie against Lance and beat him up!" She shot up. "We need to get you a Diancie! Where do we go to get one?!"

I put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Hey It's alright. My pokemon and I have been working hard. And I'm sorry to say that Diancie are super, super rare."

"As rare as Legendary pokemon?"

I shook my head. "Not that rare, but they're up there." Technically with the games, Mythical pokemon were tougher to get but Suzie didn't need to be told that. She needed dreams and thoughts filled with potential rather than cold harsh truths.

"Do you think you'll ever get a Diancie?"

"I'd love one but I think I'd have to give it to someone."

"Who?"

"You, " I said before bopping her nose. "Then I know you'd always be safe. If I ever get one I'll make sure to give it to you alright?"

Suzie grinned and gave me a hug. "Sure big brother."

"You'll go to bed now?"

"Alright, thanks for the story."

I stroked her hair before stepping out of the room. "Good night Suzie, love you."

"Good night Brock, I love you!" she said before shutting her eyes. I watched her for a moment before moving to the office.

For a moment, I thought I saw a light flicker on around a corner but none of them seemed to be fluttering. In the office, I reviewed the spreadsheet. It was as good as I was going to get it. I had everything as ready as I could get it. Now I just had to go to the Indigo Plateau for the conference that was coming up and throw down my challenge to Lance.

A.N. Special thanks to my patreons! I'd also like to thank Raikor for editing and beating this chapter.

Please leave a like, and comment with your thoughts!

After thinking about it for a bit I will hold off on releasing double chapters outside of patreon but only after another month. This is just an easy way for me to bolster the lead that the story will have with pateron.

Hard Enough - Pokemon SI

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Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given

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Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given

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Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given

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Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given

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Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given

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Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given

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Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given

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Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given

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Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given

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Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given

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