Hard Enough - Pokemon SI

[Viva01]

I sat atop a pillar of stone. Beneath me, the golden bricks that formed the beginning of the end of the path towards the Indigo Plateau. The pillars that led up to the plateau towered over all while in various states of artfully designed disrepair or dazzlingly wholeness depending on their position. It gave one a feeling of something older and so much bigger than yourself when you marched through it on the way to the Indigo League conference. It was here that the trainers who had earned eight badges when the circuit was open would be allowed to compete.

The tradition was that trainers should walk the entire path from the initial gate where a formal guard would stand and politely ask them if they had their badges. The guard would then inspect the badge and congratulate them on their achievements before inviting them to continue onwards. This would allow them to showcase their prowess to any going with them while also letting them go through a tradition that was based on an old legend.

Then they would trudge through the indoor lake and carefully controlled cave with pokemon habitats set up by rangers to emerge here. It typically took no more than a day or two if you left from Viridian.

"Pidge-ot!" I looked up to see another trainer soar overhead. It was only for tradition that anyone actually went through the entirety of Victory road. Most set themselves down around the stadium plaza and pokemon centre that held the village's worth of lodgings for the upcoming matches. For each trainer that existed that did things the traditional way, there was at least another that went about things differently.

Others could teleport in if they had the pokemon that had the ability or if they possessed the psychic strength. The only one that I knew of that could do that from Pewter was Sabrina, and she was considered a rare prodigy.

Then there was also the walking track. Which was more like walking over gentle hills that had been carefully manicured. The pokemon there were all rather weak as this was the route that would allow the trucks to supply the Indigo plateau. Further to the side of the road pokemon trainers could walk casually towards the League headquarters. I could see the glint of a few cars that likely had rich businessmen and local councillors. It didn't do to simply show up at such big events. You had to show up in style.

I hadn't bought a car myself. Without the need to lock myself into a car and get places quickly I had never seen the need. Most people were of the same mindset. Having a car was an extreme luxury that wasn't very practical. Pokemon could serve in transportation roles much more easily.

Instead of making a big display of my arrival though, I was going to simply wander in with a few other trainers. This was Celia's first circuit and I had recommended going the longer route to get the full appeal of the walk to the conference. It also gave her a chance to size up other trainers. I glanced towards the cave in time to see a fairly large group emerge.

I hummed a thoughtful note when I noticed that Celia was leading the group and talking rather animatedly. She seemed to have a lot of the group's attention. As they continued to approach I felt an itch of recognition at the others surrounding her. I was sure I had seen that young trainer at the bakery. And hadn't that trainer been a few years above Forrest? I looked over the others and spotted faces that had blurred into the background of Pewter city but that I knew in some way. The baker's daughter. The guy that liked to busk at some cafes on the weekends. Two of them had even taken a few odd jobs that I'd posted from the gym. Bruce? Trixie?

I stood up and adopted my… damn it, I did pose. I pushed down the embarrassment my habits had caused and took my pose. Arms crossed, legs at rest. I stared down at the approaching trainers.

"Welcome to the Indigo Plateau," I said, letting my voice carry in a well-practised manner.

As one the group stopped before looking around. Eventually, they looked up the pillar that I had chosen. I smirked as they had to shield their eyes due to the sun being at my back. Celia grinned at me before half adopting my pose. I lost some of the enjoyment before carrying on with the welcoming speech I'd decided on.

"Well done all of you for making it to the end of this year's circuit. I see quite a number of faces I recognise. Are all of you Pewter city residents?"

Only three of them shook their heads but I didn't single them out. "Well, welcome nevertheless. Are you ready for the last challenge in the coming days? I will be looking forward to all of your matches." I nodded before launching myself down towards them. A few gasped and one even reached for her pokeball to likely try and stop me from killing myself. I merely landed with a hard thump. I straightened and beckoned them on.

"Come on then, we've got some pokemon battles and they won't wait for us." I started walking up the golden road and smiled as I heard some whispers break out from behind me.

"Did he have a psychic pokemon stop him at the end?" "I didn't see a glow!" "What about a flying pokemon?" "Maybe the earth there is… nope it's as hard as everything else?"

A set of feet slapping into the pavement had me turning slightly. Celia scowled at me. "How do you do things like that?" She said loud enough that the whispers stopped and more than a few trainers hurried to close the gap to hear my answer.

"There's more to pokemon than simply training them to remember. You have to look inside for the energy. Like I've been telling you?"

Celia tilted her head. "Yeesssss?" I waved a hand at her.

"Don't let it bother you. You either have it or you don't, some people gain it through hard work but chasing it isn't going to help. Just keep working with your pokemon and one day you might find out the secret as to why Elites are more than just trainers of strong pokemon."

Celia mulled that over for a long few minutes before jolting as she glanced around. "Oh! Wait, I wanted to introduce some people to you!" She then lead a round of introductions for what I had correctly assumed to be Pewter city trainers that had completed the circuit. I smiled and shook hands. For a few, I even recalled some of their pokemon and their battling strategies.

"You did fix that issue with your Psyduck right?" I asked Trixie who nodded quickly. I considered asking a few more questions only for a gasp from people that had drifted to the front that had caught sight of the stadium.

I walked up, feeling nostalgic as I watched the gleam of desire take hold. This wasn't a 'small' stadium, like what was in the gyms for locals and travelling trainers to watch matches. The Pewter city gym was one of the facilities that were considered state of the art with the rebuild I had performed in recent years but it was still considered modest compared to the Indigo Stadium. This was the dedicated facility for battles between the cream of the crop. The stadium itself featured large metal workings that depicted pokemon holding up the roof while the entrances were large brightly coloured and signed to allow for the transition of huge crowds into and out of the facility.

I knew from experience that inside the stadium there were a wide range of seating available from the simple stands to the V.I.P lounges that overlooked the fights. There were also inbuilt concession stands for food with some people walking the stands as cryers to sell their goods. I recalled that Team Rocket had done just that during a few tournaments and made a tidy profit for themselves.

Hugging the stadium's edge, a wide thoroughfare allowed trainers and pokemon to walk easily. Buildings rose with steel and glass but not in ugly utilitarian styles. Twists and bends were forced into the harsh materials to soften the effects. Trees were spaced out with gardens and open areas for people to simply sit and enjoy time with their friends. A small river was set through the middle that wound through the Indigo 'city' with a number of small bridges. All of this lay before the entrance to the stadium itself which was a huge gateway that led to the indoor reception area where you could march six onix side by side without it being cramped.

It was a city in all but name that had been crafted by the sharpest minds with access to the deepest pockets. It held the hearts and minds of two regions. It stood as a shining symbol of what could be achieved when both worked together. This saw people flocking to it.

As we got closer large signs depicted the rules of the area. More than a few trainers were surprised to find that you were allowed to release your entire team here. There were no restrictions on size or typings. You were expected to be able to control your pokemon but this offered a freedom that wasn't seen in other cities beyond certain special events.

I was actually surprised when I saw that only three trainers took up the offer. I looked around to see the entire contingent I had walked in on evaluating the trainers and their pokemon. I then spotted that Celia looked as smug as a Meowth that had gotten into a cream factory. I gave her a look and she smiled. I nodded back before gesturing towards the frankly huge pokemon centre.

Instead of the more typical modest facility found in cities and towns around the regions, this was more like four centres pushed together. It was multistoried and housed the best equipment in two regions. The front of the centre was a large glass front that served as the entrance. People could enter from at least ten different doors and there were smaller doors around the side for other purposes.

Around the back smaller training areas were sectioned off with mesh fencing that had to be regularly replaced as pokemon worked out any final kinks in their movesets.

On the other side, large hotels and even some companies had set up headquarters here. The Plateau might see a surge during the end of the circuit but there was always a large number of people around. The place was a city where most people that spent time here didn't live here long term. Viridian, Pewter, Blackthorn and even Mahogany typically saw people ferrying in and out depending on their jobs.

It should be noted that very few people flew from the Johto side to the plateau unless they had a very strong set of pokemon. Most used a Teleport service. Mt Silver was after all, not a place to fall into as an Office Worker or Janitor.

Little children likewise should never set foot there.

Turning my thoughts away from memory lane I waved off Celia and the rest of the Pewter city trainers before turning towards a more grand looking hotel. I checked in and sat on the bed.

Now I had nothing to do but wait until later this afternoon when I would sit in on a press conference. I turned the lights out and sat in the dark, letting my mind slow before I drifted off. I had enough presence of mind to recall that I needed to call Forrest to check-in.

With me gone I had needed him to hold down the fort at Pewter city. A simple enough task for a few days I reasoned. To bolster him I'd even let him borrow some of the pokemon that I had journeyed with that I couldn't use anymore as a type specialist. I still had them, cause you don't just give away or let such pokemon loose into the wild or to other people. That leads to a lot more issues, and I wasn't ever going to be callous enough to sell what had been some of my closest friends as some trainers did at the end of their journeys. Forrest should be fine for a few days.

I sat in the dark and breathed in and out as time slipped by. Eventually, a phone call rang just as a buzzer lit up an alarm. I picked up the phone.

"Sir this is your courtesy call," said the operator.

"Thank you," I said, hanging up and setting about readying myself. Time to flip the script.

---

Lance's desk had perhaps eighteen to twenty mikes set up in front of it. I was reminded of a rather silly photo of my past life of two people at a press conference. With the other man barely having one.

If anything our 'talk' before the upcoming exhibition match was even more disparate. I had barely been given a table and had to request a microphone. When the aide had tried to wave me off I had stared at him and drawn on a minuscule part of myself to enforce that I would be getting a microphone. When he had it all plugged in I tapped it to check it was connected. I then looked up at him and offered a nod. Part of me cringed at the way I had forced him and another part growled at having to go to such lengths. I half toyed with the idea of giving him a heads up but I crushed that thought. I didn't owe him anything and I didn't want to give Lance even the slimmest hint of what was coming. To lift my mood I reached into a pack I'd brought for the conference. I laid out a briefcase to the side and a moomoo milk made from one of the only farms at Pewter on the other. I'd met the lady that owned it and the idea of giving her free advertising made me feel good.

Lon Lon milk best milk around~!

Between where Lance and I would sit would be a League official to oversee everything and get agreements that were really not needed, but still needed to be 'observed'.

The media arrived surprisingly after I did, and while a few looked at me there was not much interest in their gazes.

Apart from two of them.

I noted that PTN's representatives had very plastic-looking smiles on their faces. An old trick came to mind and I flagged another technician for a seating chart. They gave me a confused look before I explained what I meant.

I looked over the list and noted that the other reporter was from Goldenrod news. I shrugged that off idly and tried to memorise where the bigger names were. Seventy-Sixer FM was here along with Battlecast. Lifestyle mag that was based out of Celadon was here. Channel Twelve, J&K international and a league sponsored news called Pokenews were all seated in their places.

Two more reporters bustled in and looked around before noticing me. They also gave my suitcase a more lengthy inspection than others before setting themselves up with a microphone and video. They both put microphones onto the pile in front of Lance before laying down two mikes in front of myself. That got some eyebrows and I glanced from them to the seating chart.

"Sorry I don't see you listed here. What are your names and who do you represent?" I raised a pen smiling at the reversal of roles.

"Gwen Gallows!" "Mark Mannerly!" They both glanced at the other before sharing a smile. "Our uncle Jonathan told us to get good seats for this."

I frowned. Jonathan… It took a moment to recall that Pewter's Mayor was Jonathan. He seemed more fit to be called Mayor despite my trying to stand on a level with him in our previous discussions. I nodded at them and said no more. A few reporters shifted, unsettled by this change in what must have appeared to have been a fairly rote conference with the upcoming Champion. There were only this many reporters here because it was an announcement from the Champion.

They could sense something though. Some undefined reporter sense that must have ghosted up their spines making them twitch, like they should be writing something down.

I glanced at the clock and noted that Lance was late but I could tell from reading the room that not many people were unused to this. They didn't seem to want to really interact with me. I was content to sit but Gwen and Mark were twitchy. They were obviously smaller news outlets but with their knowledge that a scoop was coming they were champing at the bit to get underway.

"Gym Leader, think you're ready for the upcoming challenge?" Gwen asked when she saw me watching her.

"I think that I've done as much as I could to make sure that we put the best foot forward that we can. My Pokemon and I are very ready."

The reporters all shifted before deciding they might as well start with what they had as it would be better than doing nothing. "Think you've got any chance?" Followed up Battlecast's reporter.

"I think before I answer that question I'll need to have Lance here. Seems he's tardy though."

This got some confused looks. They were starting to wonder at my biting tone, it wasn't something said about the champion after all. The Champion was never late, he arrived precisely when he was meant to; was a common school of thought. The other reporters jotted down my words but Goldenrod's reporter had sat up taller, now eying Gwen and Mark before glancing at me and my suitcase. I could practically see the neurons in his brain firing before he stood up and grabbed another mike from his bag to put in front of me. I merely smiled at him. Before anyone could question or copy him the doors to the side opened and the League official walked in. He bowed to the group in greeting. "My apologies ladies and gentlemen, we had some errands to see to." He kept the door open and Lance sauntered in claim his chair.

He flicked his eyes to me for a second and at that moment I leaned forward and gave him a hard look that I'd perfected by staring down wild pokemon. He paused before shaking his head, dismissing me as he flared his cape. I felt his aura break upon my body but for others it had the effect of making him the centre of attention.

"Welcome everyone! I know this is a rather momentous occasion coming up for the trainers and also for myself. With this being the first indigo conference I have overseen, I am looking forward to what the younger generation will bring to show—" he began to talk through all the things he was looking forward to. It sounded to me like a very normal speech, bland if you would. It got the people to listen however. The reporters checked that their cameras were working and the press conference started. I watched him carefully, mostly ignoring the questions he was asked until the focus turned towards the reason for my presence here.

"—and of course, we will be starting things off with a nice friendly match."

"I wouldn't count on that."

The room went still as they registered I'd spoken. Lance blinked and turned his head. "I beg your pardon?"

I shifted from my relaxed position to put my weight on my elbows. I tilted my head and eyed him. "When this exhibition match was announced you were very outspoken in some of your comments." I made a show of plucking a sheet of paper, "Ah here it is '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'." I gave him a flat look. "Champion Lance, I find your words go too far. They are then an insult I cannot let stand. I will be accepting your challenge. Be sure that I have brought my strongest pokemon to this match between us. I can't accept you merely retracting your words. So, the question I have for you is if you're willing to put up."

Lance straightened and his eyes locked onto mine. The room stiffened as tension palpably ratcheted up.

"Gentlemen! Gentlemen, there is no reason that we should—" the League official stood and raised placating hands towards us both. Lance and I ignored him. He was irrelevant. The old adage of two trainers locking eyes? In moments like this, it was a law of the universe as much as gravity. Perhaps it was even an adage that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

"Oh? This is no time for a joke Gym Leader," he said eyeing e off.

"It's not." I held his gaze demanding he respond as he must.

"You… think you can challenge me?" He tilted his head, looking me over before straightening and leaning closer, "I am the champion, I did not get here from petty boasts Gym Leader. If you try this I will destroy your team," he said firmly.

I put my hand on the suitcase. "Care to lay down a wager on that?"

"Of course!" He growled. The media didn't even bother to ask questions. They were spectators now and were more than happy to let the show play out. They'd rouse when we were done tearing strips from each other verbally. With Lance accepting my terms on camera he could no longer back down.

"I wager ten million pokedollars," I said before he could 'set the bet'. Tradition would dictate that I accept what he laid out but I silenced everyone by flipping open the latches and revealing the sum of money in the briefcase.

Lance's eyes dilated before narrowing. He wasn't dumb. He could see that I'd led him into this and I was deadly serious.

The official spun on me, his mouth open before a wheezing gasp escaped his mouth as his eyes gravitated to the stacks of pokedollars.

Lance nodded once. "I accept."

I stood, pushing the money to the official. "I entrust my wager to the Pokemon League. You may count it but I expect to see a matching amount laid out for our match in two days."

"You'll see your money." Lance's eyes were now solely on me. "I certainly hadn't expected this from you Gym Leader Brock."

"You should learn to be more careful with your words in the future, Champion."

"We'll see." He nodded before looking to the still silent reporters. "This press conference is over. I will see you all in two days." He swept his cape and stormed out the door. The official gazed after him before looking down at the case of money in his arms. I tapped him and handed him the form that ascertained that the money was all there. The Pewter bank had almost had conniptions when I'd announced my withdrawal. In truth, I had a dummy amount of cash made up before having an official declaration set up. It had ended with them setting the money into an account with a code to access it.

The man recognised it before glaring at me. "You shouldn't have done that boy!"

"As I said, Lance shouldn't have said what he did. I'm merely calling him out on it." I sat down and gave the assembled reporters a contented smile. "Any questions?"

---

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

Please leave a like, and comment with your thoughts!

 

[Viva01]

"Shiiiiiiiiit!" Celia stared at the television in the pokemon centre open-mouthed. She hadn't had to bother people to get a spot on a couch and now she found herself agreeing with whoever had said that. She and all the other Pewter trainers that she'd gathered together for the last part of their journey were likewise transfixed as Brock laid down the law.

"Stone cold! Brock is stone-cold! I can't believe I ever doubted him!" another trainer, someone Celia had written off but still invited anyway said. She smiled at his reversal of stance. Agreement rang out from the group at large.

"What's going on?" A passing trainer said as they noticed the disturbance her group was making.

Celia stood up and waved. "Everyone turn to channel one! Lance is getting called out hard!"

Around the room, a few trainers did so only to gasp when they saw Brock and Lance locking gazes.

"Care to lay down a wager on that?" Brock's voice, if Celia's words hadn't already, forced everyone to shut up and pay attention. There was a gravelly quality to it that just made you sit up. Celia thought of it as his growl. It rarely came out as Brock was very relaxed and more willing to speak quietly. When he had to speak up he projected himself clearly without shouting. It made her squirm in her seat a little hearing him using it on the strongest trainer in their super-region.

"Of course!" Lance was no less intimidating. Celia sat as if an insanely powerful psychic pokemon had caught her in their control. She barely dared to breathe as lest these two powerhouse trainers notice her and turn their attention to her.

People choked on their spit and one guy even outright collapsed as Brock laid out the wager of ten million poke dollars. Celia nodded along before the amount registered. She blinked. What was going on? "How much did he say?" She questioned, testing her memory for faults. Perhaps this was tomorrow and she had been visited by a ghost pokemon that had munched on her dreams?

She pinched herself just in case before grimacing. Nope, not a dream. "Ten… million pokedollars…" The person next to her said. She nodded dumbly.

"Right, of course…" She blanked out for another second but Lance's nod forced her back to the ground Kanto.

"I accept." And just like that, one of the biggest pokemon wagers she'd ever heard of had been laid down. That was a crazy amount of money. Like stupid money surely. That would be enough to see Celia able to journey the world… like a hundred times over? She didn't even know how to reference that.

More words were exchanged but Celia felt sick, excited, and suddenly so unsure of just who her mentor even was. Brock had been that rich? She'd never really thought about how much being a Gym Leader paid. Who paid them even? Was Brock loaning the money? Was he going to be in serious trouble if he lost? What was even going on?

"—I'm merely calling him out on it." Brock sat in his chair and gave a satisfied smile. Celia felt weak even as her mentor gave out the most confident smile she'd ever seen. "Any questions?"

Celia found herself with so many.

"Are you for real?" someone asked. Celia blinked as Brock laughed, she quickly realised that had been one of the reporters.

"Yes, you'll find I am indeed very real."

"But, Ten Million? No way you have that money, even as a Gym Leader!"

Brock glanced over to the official. "May I borrow that case for this?"

The man handed it back reluctantly. Brock turned to demonstrate the case. "This is a protected case. You might not have noticed it but there is a certificate embedded in the top which is the real value. When I withdrew the money the bank manager looked like I had kicked their Growlithe in front of them."

"So you took a loan for this? Isn't that unreasonable? Your gym surely can't handle the debt."

"I'm not leaning on the gym for a loan, nor am I leaning on the bank for this. I never would have gotten approval. This is my own money."

"How did you earn it?"

"I have had the good fortune in my journey as a younger man to encounter some truly rare pokemon. If you care to investigate you will find I made most of that money through one transaction through pokenet when I sold an extremely rare example of an Onix. The rest have just been good decisions for me that have paid off. The purpose of that money was to merely show that I am undeniably serious about this challenge and I am forcing Lance to meet me." Brock shrugged. "He can't afford not to after all."

The press conference now with a missing champion continued as a one-man interview with a League official stewing next to Brock.

Celia stared at it and blew out a whistle. When Brock had apologised for 'stealing' the attention off her matches she hadn't realised he meant this way. She suddenly found herself way more interested in her teacher. She'd have to go visit him before his match in two days.

She might even go meet him in his room. Her mind began to play through potential scenarios only for someone to jostle her. She glanced over to see that everyone was looking at her. "Celia what was that?"

She blinked and realised that Brock wasn't the only one about to sit through an interview. Although perhaps inquisition might be the more apt term in her case as more trainers closed in to ask her everything she knew about Brock.

---

"Thanks for tuning in, I'm Chuck Chinto and in today's top news, bad blood at the start of the Indigo Plateau with the conference set to get underway! See it live here!"

On the prompter, the video events of the press conference played out. Chuck, now off-camera relaxes and glances at his producer. "Damn ballsy move of the kid. What angle are we taking on this one?"

The producer lifted their notepad and tapped it. "Neutral, simply state the facts. We're going to run with this for a bit. We're projecting interest to be high so we have a team looking into Brock and Lance. We've got another night to run a feature on both of them. Brock's got footage from his conference matches and also took part in the Sevii league and Hoenn if you can believe it." The woman gestured to the prompter as another technician indicated they would be crossing back to Chuck. Fingers counted down and Chuck adopted a serious expression.

"Shocking situations indeed! It seems the typically thick-skinned gym leader certainly felt the bite of the Champion's words. For this story, we thankfully have my co-host recently returned from the Plateau. What's your take Abby?"

"Chuck, in what appears to have been an insult gone too far, Champion Lance has been confronted by Gym Leader Brock of Pewter city. Most will know Brock as one of the earliest challenges in the League when you start your circuit on the Kanto side of the region. Pewter city as the 'first founded' city is even known as the traditional beginning of Kanto. For this reason, many people don't end up taking Brock on for a higher level challenge. This has given Pewter gym the unfortunate symbol of being a 'weak gym' with it being easy to get the badge. It was perhaps this that the Champion was referencing when he first spoke."

"Abby for a long while Brock refused to comment on the Champion's words and people had written him off. What made him lash out like this at the champion?"

"It may have been community pressure, or it might have been his pride."

"Sticks and stones but words will break through the stony exterior?" said Chuck.

"Hmmm quite Chuck," said Abby in response to the pun. "Brock is also a young gym leader. He was in fact the youngest to take up the mantle until Johto's Falkner took over from his own father. Now while these two gym leaders share uptake from their fathers. Brock's handover was anything but smooth if reports are to be believed. The young Gym Leader has faced a lot of criticism. We'll be doing an in-depth dive on Brock in an exclusive later!"

Chuck nodded seriously, letting his hair catch the light while watching Abby. "And what of the Champ? How is he taking this?"

"The Champion has yet to make any more comments. In fact, he might not even be at the plateau anymore as a Dragonite taking off over Mt Silver was witnessed and it was believed that Lance may have been riding it."

Chuck put his hands together and pointed them towards Abby's chest, symbolically getting to the 'heart' of the issue. "What do you think his chances are Abby? Lance is a powerhouse that won through a gruelling slog against the previous champion Pryce. What should we expect from Brock? Can he topple the Champ?"

Abby nodded her head before speaking. "That's the question on everyone's minds Chuck! One thing we need to remember is that this was meant to be an exhibition match that was for pride. Then Brock threw down what has been deemed the largest wager in history on his victory in this match. Experts have not been able to find any other cases where an individual stood to win as much from a single match. It is still a daunting task."

"If I stood to win ten million I'd assemble a team and have a shot at the Champion," Chuck said light-heartedly. His co-host Abby giggled demurely.

"As would I Chuck, but you also have to risk ten million!"

"I'm out then!" chuck raised his hands and backed off to show it was too expensive for him.

Abby flashed the cameras a practised smile that was no less genuine. "A lot of us would be! Now before I get caught in that angle of this match I'd like to return to the question you posed. Can Brock win? Unsurprisingly when we polled residents of Pewter and Blackthorn, two cities almost on opposite sides of the Silver range we saw mirroring opinions.

Both Abby and Chuck turned towards a display that was set up to their side. First, a well dressed Blackthorn man scoffed at Brock's challenge. Then a dirty farmer from Pewter appeared on-screen hollering about Brock and his ascendence. "—going all the way! Wooooh we love you Brock!"

This followed with people of all stripes and situations with poke centre nurses Joy and Joy from both cities both smiling and saying they supported their respective hometown 'boys'. Mothers and children both cheered for their respective representatives.

Abby grinned as the camera came back to her. "Looks like the people have their favourites as one would expect."

"Lots of hometown cheer taking over indeed!"

Abby nodded. "It wasn't just the hometown residents though as one reporter happened to find another Gym Leader from Kanto for his thoughts."

On the screen Surge appeared with a mike in front of him. "Brock? I'm backing him all the way! I think he can do it! When the champion laid down his challenge he kicked a lot of dirt from his ivory tower down on the Kanto side of things. He was putting down all of us when he was digging into Brock like that. I've worked with Brock closely ever since his daddy left, and I tell you I've never seen such a young talent. Pewter's in good hands and now if you'll excuse me I'm going to lay a bet down on Brock!"

Abby and Chuck shared a look. "Gym Leader Surge of Vermillion city, it seems, thinks Brock has a chance."

"Right again Chuck, this will certainly be dominating news for the next few days and probably beyond, I should imagine. We'll return to this story but now let's cross to Rebecca with the weather!"

---

"Is this the start of a new champion's origin story, or is Brock merely an up jumped Gym Leader that is about to walk away a lot poorer? I'm Joshua of PTN News and this is the big news of today!

"Experts and League officials were shocked today when Pewter city Gym Leader—" the channel changed and a new face appeared.

"Who does this man think he is? Challenging the Champ! You're supposed to apply through the League and await approval after winning enough recognition through tournaments! I never saw Brock win a tournament that mattered! The Sevii islands? Pah! Those are tourist attractions more than actual challenges!" Another press of a button, another channel.

"Is this the wake up call the young champion needed, do you think? A lot of people were very worried when he made his comments but it was written off. Now it seems his pidgeys have come home to roost."

Another of the show's co-hosts waved their arms about drawing laughter from the crowd. "I don't know about his pidgeys roosting right now! If anything they're up in the air flapping their wings! It's the League that has egg on their faces, you watch. If they have their way they'll get this whole thing called off!"

The remote was snatched from the first person's hand. Small hands fought over the remote only for an older set to slap them off. "Hands off Gary! I don't want to watch old fuddy duddy's talk about this! I need to see something way more important!"

"Sis! Not the lifestyle channel!"

"Shut up we'll swap back between the ads!"

The channel changed again to reveal a group of ladies on couches with a tea set up around them with floral gardens serving as their backdrop.

"When Lance and Brock were staring each other down? That moment. Oh, my, gosh! I was just weak! Weak at the knees!"

"I wasn't weak I was rather—" the host waggled her eyes "—fired up you could say!" The rest of the women catcalled at this and Daisy Oak sat back and hugged a pillow while Gary sighed as he felt his brain abandon him.

"I'd sure be on my knees if you know what I mean!!!"

Why did his grandpa only own one good tv? He couldn't steal the remote back from Daisy, otherwise she'd beat him up. He grumbled to himself. At least when the actual match was shown his Gramps was sure to watch too, guaranteeing Gary would get to see it. He glanced around for the old guy. Surely with gramps around, he'd be able to get the tv onto something actually good right? Or maybe even convince him to buy another, better tv? For his room?

---

Smoke curled around Kruger's head as he blotted out another line on his plan. He cursed as his cigarette gave up on him. Like a well-oiled machine his body unconsciously reached into his breast pocket His hand emerged with a box that he tapped to have another lined up and in his mouth. His hand then searched around the desk for a wayward lighter. When it failed to find it, the brain became aware and Kruger found something new to curse while blaming all his woes on young trainers with too much pride for everyone's good.

"Martha! Where's my lighter?"

"In your draw to the left sir!" Came the reply from his receptionist. He scowled when he discovered she was right. A tap on the door gained a grunt from him. "Sir, did you want to reschedule your talk with Gym Leader Pryce?"

Kruger considered that before shaking his head. "No, we need to sound him out on his thoughts and make him favourable to us. What's the media team's take on this?"

"Mostly the media is focussing on if Brock has a chance," she paused when Kruger snorted dismissively, "Some media channels are slinging their usual Muk but so far we are not taking any criticism."

"That's bad. No, that is even worse than bad! The League can't be seen as irrelevant! We're supposed to be the governing body! Lance as a young Champion was to see us returned to former strength as a body not cast us further into support roles!" Kruger thumped his desk. "What was the media team's take on my idea of disavowing the match as not in the spirit?"

"It wouldn't occur. Mayor Jonathan of Pewter has even mentioned that if we didn't allow it he'd be happy to let the fight take place at Pewter."

"And see the ticket revenue go to him!? Ha! Not likely!" Kruger plucked another form before wadding it up and tossing it. "Get another pot of coffee on and tell everyone else we're working through the night! We need to get ahead of this and be seen in control! I am not letting us slip back into irrelevance!"

"Yes sir!" Said Martha as she walked out to make the needed phone calls to keep staff on. Kruger mentally cursed the need to pay overtime but that was the job. Right now he needed an angle. He'd have to be seen running with it and being in fact favourable to it.

"Schedule another press conference!" he bellowed before remembering something, "And tell the technicians to get a prompter with my name on it! People think I'm just an aide of the champion, and not the chairman of the League! Again, we can't let that happen! Has anyone even mentioned me in the news articles?" He cursed the answer and settled in for a long few nights. He didn't know how but somehow he was going to come out ahead of this nightmare.

---

Lance knelt on a worn mat. Only a few candles lit the room but most people here were used to this atmosphere. When the clan gathered together for something serious they made sure to hold their meeting in their shrine within the cave that housed their dragon pokemon.

You needed to have a firm hand with Dragon pokemon yes, but you also needed to give them an austere environment to help soothe them. Shrine maidens held a certain appeal that both man and pokemon understood. This had been discovered and exploited in the olden times leading to the clan's strength that held even to this day.

They'd faced many threats. This would merely be the newest.

"You overstepped yourself, nephew!" Shouted an old weather-beaten crone. Around her shoulders, a small Dragonair wrapped itself like a scarf.

"Perhaps," said Lance.

"Perhaps!? Perhaps? Boy, you disparaged a Gym Leader from another region. Tensions are always simmering due to the differences of Johto and Kanto. The joining of the two regions is not that long ago in some memories! Your arrogance has led to flaring up of tensions and even a threat emerging to you!" Her aura lashed out like a slap and Lance flexed his own around him to stop it from hitting. He was no child to be scolded so.

"He's not a threat! I will handle it!" he replied, barely holding in a snarl.

"Will you be putting up the ten million?" another voice asked.

Lance grit his teeth. "I was hoping I could draw on clan funds for this, when I win I will repay it half again."

"Half! Arrogance upon arrogance! You want to draw on funds not your own in your time of need!"

Lance glanced to the side and saw his cousin and childhood friend. She met his gaze and held it. She wasn't attacking his actions but nor was she supporting him. He lifted his chin and she nodded. "Lance has the right of it. He needed to speak that way to show his strength with his new role as Champion."

"No. He did not." At this voice, everyone went quiet. There was no laced aura in the words. Everyone held their tongues and let the Eldest speak. The man rubbed his fine white beard and nodded to himself after taking a moment to think. "You have been arrogant young Lance, of this there can be no doubt. You have let the success you had swell your pride and this has seen you acting out. You are typically more in control of yourself. Your recent behaviour since winning? I was going to ask you to visit me after the conference but now you have been called out. This must be rectified now before you face Gym Leader Brock in two nights' time."

He stared straight through Lance. "Tell me, when you entered that press conference, you used your aura on those people did you not?"

Lance swallowed, his recent behaviour, now that it had been pointed out did cause him some shame. He was supposed to be the Dragon Master. If he let their energies affect him like this, how could he claim mastery? "I did, yes."

The Elder nodded before flexing his aura to chop Lance on the shoulder. It was not strong but it still stung. It was a firm strike of discipline. Lance had felt it many times in his youth while meditating with the Eldest to control his aura. Part of him rebelled at the idea that he should simply lower his head at being 'punished', but he knew that to be an irrational side of himself that he needed to control.

"You tried to use it on Brock as well. How did he… feel to you?"

Lance drew his mind away from the moment and cast back to the start of the conference. That had been the first sign that things weren't simply going to go the way he had deluded himself into believing. "My aura felt like it ran into a boul—no a wall, a cliff face? A cave?"

The Eldest rubbed his beard again. "Hmmm, multifaceted? Surprising to find that he has such skill. I wonder who trained him in Aura?"

The clan as one pondered this. Claire eventually spoke up. "It couldn't have been his father. The man never demonstrated it in the past and he departed before Brock took over."

"Hmmm yes. Yes, you challenged him. A young man and from what I have had read to me, I see a tale of a young man who has worked hard to grow himself and his gym strong. It must have stung to have you belittle him." No chop came with his words but Lance grimaced nevertheless. Painted this way he seemed like the villain.

"What should I do?"

The Elder sighed before raising his head to show dull, unseeing eyes. "You must win young Lance. While in the wrong you cannot falter. We will train you to regain control of your wayward energies and ready your best team. … We will also support you with our funding. Do not entertain a loss for now. If that should occur we will discuss what we can do then. For now, ready yourself to show the world Lance, the Champion of Indigo."

Lance and the rest of the clan straightened. Their paths were set.

---

Erika sat in an out of the way garden. It was a quaint little thing and she enjoyed the quiet moments. Thankfully the other girls that had come with her from her gym were also in a tranquil mood. Part of that might have been due to her Bellosom wandering around the garden, a sweet scent that calmed the mind wafting from her petals.

To most people, it would be unnoticeable. Only one of the other girls had noticed and she naturally was a quieter sort of girl. She gave Erika a grateful look as some of the more rambunctious girls settled down. Usually, they were all aflutter with gossip or being crass, or even harassing each other.

Running a gym that solely allowed female trainers brought challenges with it. Most of it was from the trainers themselves. Most people liked to think it was from the leering crowds that liked to daydream but they kept their distance and were usually rather shy. They were well behaved most of the time and could easily be chased off with her pokemon keeping a firm boundary for non-challengers approaching the gym.

No, most of the drama that occurred with her gym came from her girls. Some of them were wonderful, some of the rich socialites that liked to hang out at the Gym, some of them wanted tips and tricks on raising Grass types. None of them were rough sorts. She would not tolerate such around her gym.

But she did occasionally need to calm the mood. Something Grass types were perfect for.

And so she sat and enjoyed the turning of the season and the end of the circuit. This had almost become like a ritual for her since she became a gym leader last year. A nice calm garden before watching the opening ceremony in a few days.

There were numerous benefits to be had at such large events. Some of which was getting out of Celadon and having her right-hand woman close up the gym for the circuit. She liked raising the pokemon, and working with them, and even the battles were nice. It was such a joy to see young trainers rise to the occasion against her.

She could do without so much paperwork. Everything had to be documented and detailed. She found the entire thing mindboggling and was thankful for the reprieve.

And so here she sat, enjoying the 'roses' such that they were on a small holiday before watching the trainers that had gained all eight badges partook of the Indigo conference.

"ERIKA!" shouted a voice. The shrill tone acted like a set of razor-sharp garden shears straight through a perfectly trimmed hedge. At the completely wrong angle. As one all the girls and Erika shuddered before looking up to see one of their number sprinting towards them. "ERRRRRIIIIIIKAAAAAA!" The girl pumped her arms, and legs. Her hair flew freely behind her in the wind as she charged on, bellowing out each breath.

"EEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIKKKKKKKKKKAAAAAAAA!" Erika felt her eye twitch a little. Her girls could be such brats.

Erika reflexively prepared herself to hop to the side. Jill wasn't very good with her legs and it wasn't uncommon— Her leg spasmed and she fell in a tumble of limbs and hair. She rolled a little and stopped a few feet shy of Erika. She huffed and blew out a length of hair before righting herself and rounding on the nearest girl, still half-blind with hair in her face. She spat some grass out of her mouth before grabbing the girl's hands.

"Erika! You like! Have to hear the latest gossip! I was like! With Becky and Brittany at the pokecenter chatting up this total cutey and like he was into me more than Becky but Brittany was also trying to get his number and I was like please girlfriend! Don't go there! I'll cut you! But seriously I love that girl! So I was like don't step on my grass! Hahahaha!"

Erika sighed, letting the vapid gossip of the girl wash over her. She listened as it was amusing to let the girl talk if nothing else.

"Jill," Erika said cutting her off.

Jill stiffened her head glancing down at the hands she had in hers. "Eh? You're not Erika?"

"I'm over here," Erika said to the giggles of the group. Jill spun and Erika raised a hand. "Jill, what was so important?"

"I was getting to that!"

"Please if it's important enough to have you running like that, then I probably need to hear about it first… You and the girl's love lives can wait."

Jill shifted and mumbled loudly, "Just cause you can't…" Erika's glare cut her off.

"You were saying?" Jill coughed as the glare continued.

"Right! Uhm, the tv was on and they were showing Brock and Lance! Only! Only Brock wasn't rolling over for the champ! In fact, I think he's super angry! He challenged the champ and set a prize of ten million pokedollars!"

The group stirred at that. Erika merely nodded, well used to the girl's antics of inflating things to make for a good story. "Of course he did."

Jill gave her a pleading look. "Eriiiikaaaaaa! I'm serious!"

Erika merely nodded. "I'm sure you are."

"ERRRRRRIIIIIIIIKKKKKKKKAAAAA!" screamed two more voices. The Grass specialist looked up to see Britanny and Becky jogging up with frantic looks on their faces. Erika watched them approach. They didn't trip but they did collapse in front of her. They heaved in great gasps of air.

"O-oh my Go-gosh! Brock is pissed!" "Yah! He's got an insane prize pool set down!" Erika blinked as Jill's head bounced up and down.

"I just said that!"

"You weren't just inflating it for the story?" Erika asked curiously. She had to think about that. That was a lot of money. How much did it take to run her gym? She got a lot of deals from the parents of the girls that she helped train for putting up with them so… Ten million… that would be enough to run her gym for years wouldn't it?

She blinked and looked up to find the three new arrivals all gossiping with the others. "—it was so hot! Oh! Look Lifestyle ladies are having a chat about it! Eiiiiii!"

"Urgh those bitches—" "Andrea," chimed Erika.

The girl wilted. "Sorry!"

"Don't apologise merely stop swearing," she said to chastise the girl lightly.

Andrea bobbed her head before coughing. "I hate hearing those old skanks!" "They're only nineteen!" chorussed some of the older girls feeling the need to stand up for the older women as arrows struck home at them as well.

Erika hummed before rising to watch on one of the girl's rather clunky portable screens. She watched as Brock and Lance locked eyes like they were going to fight then and there.

"Oh dear…" She continued to watch and while she was impressed she also couldn't help but be worried. Brock was obviously upset about being dismissed as he had been.

Erika didn't quite know why it had bothered him. They'd… interacted during Gym Leader meetings on the phone before… Actually, she didn't really know him that well did she? There seemed to be a lot of media grabbing the story and running with it though.

She chewed her lip in thought. "I think I should meet him…"

The girls all looked up at her. "Really!?" Andrea said excitedly.

"Alone," Erika said firmly. She did not want to pour in with a group of girls and swamp him before his big match. The girls took this to mean something else though as they all tittered and ooooh'd like children. Erika rolled her eyes at them. "I need to meet with him first though… who could introduce us?"

One of the older girls raised their hands. "Surge knows him yeah?" Erika nodded slowly. "Well Like me and Surge are like… you know so I could tell him to introduce you!"

Erika almost asked what she meant before deciding not to. She didn't care what her girls got up to during their downtime. Good for her… and apparently Surge. She had her in, now she just needed something to gift to help make a favourable impression. She'd come up with something tonight for now she tuned in to listen to various shows explode as word spread about Brock's counter to Lance's Challenge.

That was bad. The media had found a potential issue and were stirring up trouble and no one seemed to care. She watched people declare their loyalties to their respective trainers as a frown marred her features.

This was bad. She really did need to see what Brock was like. Was he stirring up old tensions deliberately? Was this all about something deeper? Or was it just male pride?

She wasn't sure about a lot of what was going on but she was determined to at least find out some answers.

---

A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for their support! Also, a special thanks go to Raikor and Ab9999 who made this chapter a lot tighter with their betaing and editing!

I will be posting another chapter later on which will make chapter 13 the fight with Lance!

 

[Viva01]

It wasn't my alarm the next day that woke me up but rather the flash of a teleport. "Sabrina?" I said groggily.

"Bro—" she paused as her face went red, even as her eyes darted down and then back up before dipping down once more. I pulled the sheets up feeling oddly exposed. Sabrina twitched before turning her head. "I'll give you another ten minutes. I shall order you breakfast."

"Juice and tea! No coffee for me!" I called out to her back as she walked into the lounge of the hotel room I'd taken for my stay. It wasn't quite the penthouse but it was still more than enough room for me, and a few of my mid-sized pokemon if I desired.

I smacked my lips and lay back in bed. I'd allotted myself another hour of sleep and planned to… My waking mind prodded me. I really wanted to ignore it but it was operating on a level of experience with little siblings. It was like having an all too quiet house with little children in it. Or perhaps it was the prodding reminder that I should be doing something. Reacting in some way. Like I had failed to smile at Suzie or pat Sabrina on the head and offer her a spot next to…

I sat up. Sabrina was in my hotel room. I burst out of bed and cursed as the sheets snagged. I fell in a tangle before shooting back up to jump to the doorway where Sabrina was ordering breakfast. "Urgh damn it," I sighed as I ran a hand over my face.

I fully expected that the bellhop would sell the story that a woman visited my room and ordered 'breakfast' to the news before they even gave me said breakfast. Sabrina tilted her head, unaware of what she'd unleashed and perhaps, in a way, unable to understand. Her eyes raked over my form once more and I recalled how she'd earlier checked me out.

Part of me wanted to really perk up at having a beauty like Sabrina checking me out while I only wore shorts. I turned away cursing my hormonal body. "I'm going to have a shower!" A cold one I mentally added to myself... I felt a prodding of memory and sighed. "Just ask them to leave it at the door please?"

"I can do that. I have also ordered my own breakfast."

I waved at her, the 'gossip' would already be out. Instead of worrying about it I slipped into the shower in an attempt to get my mind up to speed for the rest of the day. At the very least it was breakfast with my ex.

Sometimes I really cursed past me's ideas and decisions. I could only blame hormones and lack of foresight when I'd agreed to be her 'boyfriend' years ago. She'd been so innocent in her reasoning that I hadn't seen the harm. I'd tried to be innocent about it, but a mature mind often led to different thoughts than that of a child. I'd been forced to discover the difficulty that came with having Sabrina as your girlfriend due to this.

I still cringed at having to explain what holding hands and kisses meant.

Then again, this was something that I could place at the seemingly societal issues of 'poor parents'. Or maybe I was projecting my own issues with Sabrina's admittedly lesser issues with her mother still being around, but being terrified of her when he first met? Her dad giving her space to sort things out hadn't really helped, but then again it would have been hard to interact with her being able to read your mind if she wanted. She'd intimidated most people until I came along.

I switched the shower off and chose some normal clothes to greet the day. I entered the lounge to find the breakfast that Sabrina had ordered floating towards a table where said woman was seated.

"Anyone out there?" I claimed a seat across from her with the small table between us.

"No, they were lurking down the hallway hoping to film me. I made them sneeze when I took our breakfast."

"Good, that's good I suppose." I wasn't really sure how to tell her that might have made it worse. I wasn't sure I'd understand their reactions and couldn't really account for it, so I instead pushed it aside for future Brock to worry about. Food first. Between bites of the meal, I looked up to find her own meal untouched. "What brings you over?" I asked, deciding to be direct with her. She always seemed to react best to direct questions.

"I was concerned you might have been 'freaking out' after yesterday's events."

"Huh." I took a sip of my juice and made a face at the pulp to water ratio the hotel used. "Thanks but I'm actually feeling fine. If anything it feels like a weight has been taken off my shoulders. Just getting to throw it in his face like that." I grinned as I recalled the way his eyes had widened. Another sip, another grimace. "I'll probably freak out a little before the match but I plan to treat it like any other match at a tournament." I looked around the room. I'd probably still need to find some form of distraction, however. I pointedly did not look towards her as I thought of ways to stay out of trouble and 'distract' myself.

"That is good. If you need, I can be there for you," Sabrina said earnestly.

I nodded and considered asking her to help with some PG distractions, before also considering who it was talking to me.

For all that she appreciated me being direct, she sometimes came at things like a hopped-up Pikachu or seemed to overthink things to such a degree she actually looked slothful in her reaction or she suddenly appeared next to you like her psychic types were known to do. "Sabrina, you know we're no longer 'dating', correct?"

Sabrina nodded slowly. "Yes, your reasoning was accepted at the time."

I relaxed before feeling a niggle over what she'd just said. I was about to question her further, but a knock on the door made me glance there before looking back at Sabrina. She glared at the door before clicking her tongue and teleporting away. I stared at the spot she'd vanished from before understanding what it meant

"Okay, so they're important enough that you're saying I can't ignore them eh?" I stood and walked to the door, opening it to reveal a hotel bellhop that looked past me, gaining a glare from me, before I noticed the other people with them.

"Erika?" I stared at her in surprise. We… didn't really know each other, so for her to seek me out raised some questions.

The small woman smiled up at me. Despite it being early in the morning, she was wearing a formal kimono that gave her the traditional beauty look she was famous for. It was immaculately styled and really worked for her. In her hands was a towering bento box that I was more used to seeing in manga.

"Annnnnnd me!" Drawled another voice that I was very familiar with. I looked up from the smaller grass specialist to see the Electric Gym Leader looming to the side with a grin. "Howdy Brock!"

"Hello Surge," I said with a sort of fond exasperation you only get when you realise you have a friend that is way higher energy than you were. But simply shutting the door would result in something that was way, way, more energy-consuming than just relaxing into things until you needed to fight against the flow. I looked back at Erika who I wasn't as familiar with, beyond the basic interactions over general check-ins with other Gym leaders during annual meetings.

Meetings that were, typically, a simple conference call with everyone reporting how the circuit was going for them. Also, something that usually was done quickly with little time for actual interaction. Gym Leaders were busy people after all.

"Hello, Brock!" She rushed to say while bowing only to stop as her bento box tipped precariously. "I came for the conference, but when I heard about your challenge to Lance I…" She paused for a moment to think about what she was going to say before continuing, "I thought I better come and talk to see how you're doing!" She offered a smile but when I merely raised an eyebrow at her she hurried to continue, "As a fellow Kanto gym leader, that is!" She rushed to add.

"Heh! Kanto represent! That'll make at least four gyms united against Johto pricks!" said Surge with a pump of his fist.

Erika gasped. "What?! No That's not what I'm here for at all!" She honestly appeared a little sickened by the idea.

Surge searched her expression for a moment before waving it off. "Eh, me too, don't worry about it!" He gave a wide, easy smile to show he meant no harm but Erika didn't seem to know what to say. I remained standing in the doorway watching the byplay with a raised eyebrow.

"Sooooo you both came to… check in on me?" I said, to move things along.

"Yup! Erika was interested in getting to know you." He waggled his eyebrows at me and I glanced at Erika who had stiffened. Surge huffed and continued, "So I brought her along." Surge walked past me and into the room. "I'm gonna order in some food! Erika! You want anything?" Surge started making himself so much at home he had already lifted the phone and popped open his signature Raichu to claim a chair.

She shifted back and forth, eyes sliding from me to Surge. She proffered up the towering bento box. "May I, Brock?"

I sighed and stepped to the side, "Sure, sure, come on in." I looked to Surge who sprawled onto the couch, his huge frame taking up most of the space.

"I don't mean to impose?" Erika said, still glancing from me to Surge.

"I was just about to have breakfast." I gestured in and she happily trundled into the room. She set her bento box down on the table and looked over my meal.

"Oh you ordered a lot, you must be hungry?" She asked. I glanced at the second plate and noted that the bacon and eggs had been arranged into a smiley face that made me chuckle.

"Growing lad! Growing appetite!" He then gave me a wink that garnered a flat stare from me. I looked back to Erika before returning to Surge. What on earth was he doing?

Erika gave me a confused glance before I waved her off, an excuse coming easily to my lips. "Actually, it's just that I'm used to eating with my family around and needing more food than just a meal for myself."

"Ah! Of course!" She chirped, happy to accept what I had said at face value.

"Would you like to have some of it?" Manners drilled into me from a previous life warred as they considered the issue of offering what had been Sabrina's food to another. But she had left, hadn't she? I looked around surreptitiously but Erika caught me glancing around as she sat.

"Is something the matter?" Surge narrowed his eyes before giving the room a sharp look over. I even saw his nose twitch as though he was sniffing quietly. Raichu stood and started sniffing the air, making me mentally curse at Surge for bringing it out.

"Nope! Just thought I left one of my pokemon out but they must have put themselves back last night while I slept." I waved at the food. "Let's eat, I'm starving!" With food in my mouth, I'd even have a reason not to talk so much and not appear so odd. I threw myself into Surge's side and pushed him to one side.

He didn't accept that without a fight though and tried to eject me from the chair. I now knew what he was up to though and was expecting him to use his weight only for my Rock energy to come to the fore and make me way too tough to handle. He huffed and leaned back, slightly dejected that he couldn't make me sit in the other chair that happened to be next to Erika.

I pointedly didn't offer him any of the food I had. But it didn't take long for the hotel to bring up some food for him along with a small tray to pick from that Erika selectively partook from. While waiting, Surge decided to take up the slack. The man apparently abhorred silence.

"So! I got a call up from one of my girls and she was all keen to meet up only she also brought along this here cutey!" He gestured towards Erika who looked slightly grossed out from having a man twice her age call her 'cutey'. I gave Surge a look to calm it down which didn't seem very effective.

"So I decided I'd bring her along! I was always gonna come check in on you of course Brock! And I thought, well, two's friendship but three's almost a party!" I sighed at him.

"Thank you for that… thoughtful gesture Surge but I'm fine."

"Heh! Fine he says! Nah Brock, you've got a huge match coming up! No way you've not got the jitters."

"I don't," I said firmly. One of the worst things you could do was think about how nervous you were supposed to be before a match. I just had to work through my own methods to stay calm. Which was usually just kicking back and watching some comedy. Surge nodded seriously before winking at Erika dramatically.

"I can see you doing that," I said seriously, pointing to his eyes.

"You're supposed to!" He said without any shame.

Erika giggled at our back and forth. Her laugh was like the tinkling of a little bell. "You two are obviously good friends."

"Oh heck yeah! Let me tell you of the first time I meet little boy Brock here!" Crowed Surge.

"Oh Darkrai… take me now," I said pleadingly. I glanced towards the bedroom. If I thought hard enough and pushed as much Dark energy out as possible could Sabrina save me? Sadly that wasn't an option, even if she was still lingering nearby. Surge alone would see her closing off due to being shy. She wouldn't come out with Erika here as someone she wasn't used to.

As much as it wasn't her fault, I was starting to feel like I should have just ignored Sabrina, well-intentioned as she had been, and stayed in bed.

Thankfully it didn't take long for to start digging into his own plate, and with food in hand Surge shut up… somewhat.

Erika ate with small nibbling bites while I cut through chunks of my breakfast before pausing to enjoy a drink. I was thankful I had already finished up my meal which helped me cut him off when he made too ridiculous a claim. "Please, I was not at all worried about facing you! Most of my team was Rock or Ground pokemon at the time!"

Surge sniffed and waved away the comment. I huffed before turning to Erika. "Don't mind Surge, he loves working stories for everything they're worth… And then some."

Surge raised a hand before shrugging and accepting the accuracy of that statement. Erika giggled at that before returning to her meal.

When they were done with their food I settled back and pulled a leg into my lap. It was time to address the Donphan in the room. "Sooooo…" I drew it out, "Was there something you wanted to talk about?"

Surge merely shrugged. "I was just coming over to hang out while I had some free time." I accepted that before looking at Erika.

Erika fidgetted at the attention, glancing towards the bento box. "I also thought I might show my own support, in a way? If you'd like, I prepared a meal for you to eat later, but I am ashamed to say I made too much?"

"Yeah Brock, she made up something for you to eat!" He nudged me in a 'friendly' way that made my face twitch a little. The implication he was attempting was not lost on me but I wasn't going to push for that. I'd gone to university and dated in my past life, I knew how such things worked and had more than enough self-confidence in myself that I didn't need to chase every girl that showed me some kindness.

"Thanks for that Erika," I said while blocking Surge's nudges. "I appreciate it. I don't really get many home-cooked meals that aren't burnt or just rice and some fish if I don't make it myself." It was both touching and slightly depressing to be reminded of that fact. Surge paused for a moment before deciding to settle down for the moment.

"Oh! I didn't mean to make you sad!" Her hands waved back and forth causing her sleeves to flap like a pidgey.

I waved it off. "No, no, it's good. Just caught me by surprise, is all."

Surge sniffed, cutting off her response. "Daww! You cute kids!" Surge gave us both fond looks before nudging me. "Say Brock, can I give you a word real quick-like?"

I was pretty sure about what he was going to say. "I'm sure I don't—" Surge leaned forward to loom over me, a hand on my shoulder. "Brock, quick chat." He looked over and waved his hand to Erika. "Please don't go anywhere! We'll be right back!"

This time I let him pull me up. He led me to the bedroom before rounding on me as soon as the door clicked shut. "Alright real talk bro, you should sleep with Erika. I know you had something with Sabrina. That's cool, she's hot, and it's cute, but Sabrina is also very scary. You need someone to keep you loose and ready for a fight against the champ. Best way to do this is to sleep with someone!"

I nodded at him before putting my hands together. "Surge, thanks for looking out for me but that's super inappropriate. I barely know her."

Surge pinched the bridge of his nose. "Brock, you're young, she's young, it's not supposed to be a Professorship thesis you're working out alright? It's simple, guy meets girl. Guy charms girl and offers to let her into his tent for 'warmth' and all that good stuff and they walk out in the morning after having a good night or day of it!"

"Surge I'm not—" "Brock listen to me, I fought in the war. You need to be in your best form. Don't go into something with any tension. I had troops that didn't take leave when they could and they went off the rails. You're practically your family's parent… No, that's wrong. You're the dad with all the kids but you ain't had any of the fun in making them! You're wound too tight! Got too much on your plate. Live a little! You need to blow some sparks, you'll fight better I guarantee it!"

I found I didn't really have anything to say regarding that. I'd always known about Surge fighting in the war between … pretty much everyone but to hear him talk of his own past like that wasn't something I was ready for. I almost wanted to step back into the room and see what in Kanto Surge was talking about. He seemed to think all you had to do was throw to people together and it was done. Erika in the whole thirty minutes we'd actually talked, come across that way at all. I almost wanted to ask if we were talking about the same woman.I licked my lips and swallowed my words before coughing. "I think I'm good"

He grunted and clicked his tongue. "Alright, I get it. You're shy. Listen, I can be a wingman for you, it's all good." Surge gave me a look before pointing at my bed. "But if I find you flub it…" he shook his head mockingly. "Don't make me go find a working girl…" I stared at hom in wonder. How did his mind work? I really couldn't help but wonder sometimes. He gave me a stern look, "Or a riled up Jynx to slip in later!" He flicked two fingers from me to himself. "I'll do it."

"Is that a threat or…" Was he threatening me with what he thought would be a good time? I was slightly worried he'd send in a Jynx tonight regardless.

He just flicked his fingers at me again before leading the way back out into the loungeroom. "Hey! Sorry bout that had to have some guy chat about tomorrow." He then made a show of looking toward the clock. "Oh, ghost types! Is that the time? Damn, this is gonna make it tough."

Erika tilted her head. "Make what tough?" She glanced between myself and Surge, obviously thinking something else had gone on in the bedroom. I mentally marked her down as having good instincts.

Surge rounded on me and tsked while shaking his head. "Brock, you know you're going on out to fight against Lance tomorrow right?"

I blinked at the strange segway. "Yes? I'm aware of that" I said

"You realise you're going to appear on international television, right?"

"Yeeeessss," I said, sensing a trap in his words but unsure where it would come from.

"You're going to represent your nation?" I raised an unimpressed look at him, "Your city?" I grimaced slightly, "Your family?" I straightened up and knew he had me right where he wanted me as something sparked in his eyes.

"Yeah I am," I said much more firmly. Erika made a sound of understanding that had me glancing at her before snapping back to Surge.

"Brock. I can't let you go out there looking like just another hiker that fell off a mountain and bumbled his way onto the Indigo Plateau!"

I stared at him. "You are worried about my look?" I said incredulously. Pointedly looking at his rumpled fatigues.

"Hey! This is military issue from the old days and the uniform of my unit! It's timeless!" He said defensively. He then twisted his hand towards Erika on the other side of the table, a grin stretching across his face. "Thankfully, we just so happen to have a woman's perspective."

Erika gave us a wide-eyed look that made me think she wanted to peer behind the couch in case someone else was standing behind herself. She coughed and straightened up. "If you will have me, I could assist?"

"Nice! It'll be awesome, just us Gym Leaders hanging out!" Surge crowed.

A thump of something falling over in my bedroom had everyone glancing towards the door. Raichu sat up and sniffed the air once again.

I sighed and pinched my brow, knowing who had been listening in.

It seemed I was not going to escape 'complications' in my future. Perfect. Had Sabrina still been back there when Surge and I'd gone to the bedroom or had she teleported out? I really hoped it was the latter. She'd have questions if it was the former. I wasn't sure how future me would handle that issue.

Future me was supposed to only have to deal with the immediate problem of beating the Champion like a drum. Somehow, beating up a Dragonmaster for dissing my gym and making my family sad sounded easy. Especially when navigating Surge's attempts to help.

"When should we go?" Erika asked obliviously.

Surge stood, "Let's go now!"

I merely held in a groan. Damn high energy people. Surge was probably a natural morning person.

---

"Try this!" was all the warning I got as another three shirts were flung over the top of the dressing room to fall on my head.

"I think that's enough!" I said but got no reply. I sighed and tried on another shirt, trying to envisage how that would go with some of the pants I had been practically ordered to buy. I had kept to the more ruggedised look with my clothing selections. Lots of pocket space with room to move.

Erika had attempted to drag me into a more formal shop, but I'd refused and then had to hold strong against her rather adorable pout. Sadly for her, I was used to better pouts from smaller children almost daily. My resolve had held strong. This only seemed to make her work harder at shops that I did express interest in.

Thankfully she'd been on my side when we'd walked past a military outlet. Surge had been like a child denied candy at not getting to dress me up in fatigues. He had made Erika pause with the promise of how good I might look suited up with formal army dress. I'd had to shout that 'offer' down while power walking to the next shop.

I looked at the sky blue shirt in my hands before shaking my head. "I don't think blue is really my colour!"

"Can I see?" I shrugged and walked out to show her. Erika looked me over with one of the shop's attendants that by now had cash symbols for eyes. They both shook their heads before the attendant pointed to another rack. "More earthly tones? Browns, greys, greens, burnt oranges or even browns?" Surge was off in another corner tangling with another clerk. I could see he was arguing over belts and pouches of all things.

Erika seemed to agree with the clerk's assessment and set off as I handed back the previous load.

I sat and exhaled, feeling oddly tired from the task that wasn't all that arduous. A soft weight was dropped on my head and I blinked as another voice spoke. "Try this."

"Sabrina?" I said before watching her step around a clothing rack to vanish. I glanced down at what she'd dropped in my hands. It was actually a pretty good combination. A darker undershirt that would be form-fitting and even offered to wick away sweat when I was working out. Then on top was a thinly woven burnt orange jumper. In fact, I seemed to recall a version of Brock wearing this look.

I took it to the changing room and tried it on. It looked really good on me. I stepped out in time to halt Erika in her tracks. "Oh? You found something you wanted…" She eyed it critically, "That's very nice actually?"

"Oh! A black undershirt! We have a range of those that also come in—" The attendant immediately rambled but when they were done I tugged the jumper and nodded. "Two of these for me and another black and green forest undershirt please."

Erika stepped forward. "You might look better with longer hair for this look. Ever thought of growing it out?" She gently tugged my hair before blushing. "Sorry! I usually do this with the girls in my gym!"

I waved it off, not bothered by the casual touch. I was used to not having a 'personal space' due to my family.

"No, I hadn't thought of growing out my hair before." I looked into the mirror and found I liked what I imagined. This outfit wasn't as practical for me with fewer pockets than my usual tactical vest I wore over a plain shirt, but for style, it was a clear winner. It made it funnier that it was Sabrina who was sneaking in her selection.

A few raised voices from the shop's entrance made me grimace as I realised that word had gotten around about my appearance. I collected up a few other shirts and singlets I had liked before placing them on the counter. Sadly the counter had a clear line of sight to the shop front and vice versa. The reporters didn't even bother waiting, they merely stormed into the shop. A few racks were pushed out of the way to make way to me.

"Brock!" "Brock!" "Gym Leader—" "Quiet down!" I shouted over the top of the reporters. "You! Fix that display you knocked over! All of you, go back outside if you're not shopping! I'm not running off, I'm just shopping. Wait outside for me to finish up." I turned back to the attendant that was now shooting me a thankful look.

"Ah, I forgot to apply your discount Gym Leader Brock. Your total now comes to—" I smiled and winked at the attendant. Knowing full well that no discount had actually been available. I nodded in farewell then glanced at Erika.

"You going to be alright dealing with this group? I'll need to handle them before we can continue." I then looked around to find Surge approaching with his own purchases.

"I'm fine staying with you. I'm a Gym Leader as well, and while I don't get this much attention normally, I have handled the press before," Erika said while pumping her fists seriously.

"Surge are you going to—" Surge shook his head as he approached. "Sorry I got a call that I need to attend to straight away." He gave me a serious look before turning to Erika.

"Hey, been great hanging out. Looks like I can leave Brock in your hands. He might not be showing it but I know he's freaking out. Don't listen to him claiming he's fine, alright. That's BS. What he actually means is that he is frenetic, insecure, neurotic, and emotional."

He clapped a hand on my shoulder to shut me up before I could speak. This time I wasn't ready for it and I buckled slightly, which stopped me from getting a word in. "You cute kids enjoy your lunch together!" He then handed back Erika her giant tiered lunch.

While Erika was too short to see it I noted the wrappers on the top tier. "What happened to the food?"

Surge coughed sheepishly when Erika glared at him. "Got hungry carrying it around? Anyway I got gym duties to see to so I'll leave you young ones to enjoy yourselves!" He nodded at Erika and turned to me. He gave me a wink that made my eye twitch. This guy!

He got out and when the reporters tried to close on him he gave them a stern look. "No comment! I have a gym emergency! Out of the way!"

I rubbed my forehead with exasperation. With Surge gone I just knew what people were going to assume with me and Erika being spotted together in the mall. I gave Erika another look. "Still up for this?" I said, gesturing towards the prowling reporters.

She swallowed before nodding stoically. I drew in a breath before nodding. I turned back and squared my shoulders before walking to the front of the shops, readying myself for another mini-press conference. I already knew what the first question was going to be.

"Gym Leader Brock, are you and Gym Leader Erika on a date?"

Called it.

---

I'd denied the insinuation between myself and Erika, not that it would stop the tabloids from printing their own theories on what we'd been up to. I just knew they were going to ignore that we'd been chaperoned by Surge for all intents and purposes. Other questions had flown, which were expected, such as my chances against the Champion. And others such as what my lineup would be, which I refused to answer. They'd repeatedly asked me, in various ways, throughout the ordeal If I was sure this wasn't a date I was on. The more they asked for it the more they'd likely get to print on it was my assumption.

I'd spotted Celia during this and nodded at her, she'd brightened up and given a huge wave. She'd initially started to approach only to balk when she registered all the reporters and cameras surrounding me. That had caused her to about-face with huge eyes. That had gotten a chuckle out of me… which I'd then had to explain to the reporters.

When I'd ended the impromptu interview I'd stepped on one of the landmines I really should have avoided. I'd announced I was going to go have lunch. Erika had then poured fuel on the fire by collecting her towering bento box. That had merely solidified my previous thoughts on this whole… day. That it was too complicated to be worth getting out of bed.

When we'd gotten away from the reporters and found a quiet spot. Erika had the bento box that we'd brought along with us down and began to lay out the various tiers. Steam wafted off offering the scents of well cooked and spiced curries with small dividers of rice. I could see multiple simple sushi dishes made up that made my mouth want to water. Erika had some serious skills in the kitchen if she'd cooked all of this herself. I was finding myself rather impressed with how Erika had rolled with the rather tumultuous day.

Erika saw my gaze on the food and seemed happy. She went about setting up a tasting tray as I got to lay there. Sadly I couldn't enjoy it without my traitorous mind supplying all the ways today could work out. I found myself less than pleased with a few of them.

I let out a sigh before rubbing my eyes. In some ways, it was easier to be ignorant of the implications and possible overtures. It was easy to walk through a landmine field when you didn't know it was there. I was probably overthinking things but… I should probably not set future me up for any more issues.

"Erika… I've got to be honest, today's been a lot of fun… and I'm probably making an ass of myself by saying this but… I'm not looking to get into a relationship with anyone right now." I kept my hands over my eyes so I didn't see the blow coming. If I saw it coming I might flex and use aura to block it out of habit. She might end up breaking her hand.

I fell silent expecting a slap only for the wind to quietly blow through the garden. I decided to risk a peek at her and found her blushing and tottering as if she was about to faint. She swept her hands up to hide her face when she saw me peeking at her From the depths of the fabric she said.. "I-is! Is that H-how it looks?" She sank into herself and like a flower closing up,.her kimono seemed to fold up over her hiding her from view.

"Uhmmmm," I said intelligently. "It did until now?" When she merely curled her legs up so her face could push into them and sigh loudly I decided to keep talking "I apparently have been reading way too much into… this?" I gestured at the secluded garden with the towering bento that she'd hand prepared herself.

Erika sprouted out of her hiding place and flapped her hands back and forth her face still red. "That's not what I was intending at all! I just wanted something to give you to make a nice first impression!" She glanced around and noted the picturesque gardens and our privacy. "Oh Bellsprouts, this does look like a date doesn't it?" She put her face into her hands and groaned.

"So you weren't trying to get me alone?"

She sighed hugely into her sleeves. "No. Yes? I'm not sure anymore. I think I was reading into it too much. I listened to my girls when they were gossiping and heard all the people cheering for you and cheering for Lance and thought it might cause tension and I wanted to know if you were doing that deliberately so I needed to meet you but I didn't know you so I had one of my girls call up Surge to introduce us…" She sucked in a huge breath before continuing "And you're not like that at all… you're doing this all because what Lance said effecting your family."

"O-oh uhm yeah?" I scratched my cheek at that and found myself now blushing.

Erika didn't look up. "It… it was kind of obvious. You check your phone for messages from or about them while we were walking around. You even said as much. You outright didn't even bother looking at light-toned clothes because they'd get so many stains on them."

"Ahaha? Did I say that? I don't recall?"

She huffed turning her head and looking at me her blush having calmed down. "I am really bad at this… even when I'm not trying to date someone…"

"Had some troubles?" I said, more to make conversation than to pry.

She flapped her hands about, her sleeves flapping about in frustration. "Yes! What is up with some of the guys that ask me out! They all get cold feet and ditch me on the first date! Do you know how embarrassing it is to be stood up and have half your gym know?"

"Wouldn't know, I'm a bit too busy these days to do anything like go on dates." I looked up at the sky, it was a beautiful crisp blue today. Only a few clouds ambled along. I could see a few pokemon with riders on them. I exhaled and looked down to find Erika watching me.

"Well that's a shame for some girls…" She blushed and straightened. "Not that I'm—" "I know it's fine Erika," I said with a chuckle as her blush returned.

She grumbled into her knees. "I'll have to tell the girls that you're not looking for anyone, I know a few of them were talking about seeking you out." I snorted amused by the very idea.

Anyone that tried would run into a very firm turn down. I'd had to explain as much to Sabrina of all people that I didn't have time for her, with the gym. Sabrina when I'd started being a Gym Leader and had to end our …relationship.

"Yeaaaaah, I have way too much on my plate these days." I started ticking things off on my hands, "There's this whole like challenge I have to deal with tomorrow, don't know if you've heard of it?" She giggled at my antics but remained silent to watch as I continued ticking things off. "There's going to be a lot of drama over this, win or lose for the next few months at least. I also have my gym, my pokemon, the trainers that are part of my stable. Hmmm what else?" I made a show of waving my hands before appearing to remember something, "Oh! Right! I have to look after my nine younger brothers and sisters." I lay back and looked once more to the open skies.

"I love my family but it's not something I can or will drop. For so, so many reasons beyond anything I'm willing to get into here."

I sighed again, "I can't date anyone right now and really make it work." I give her a small grimace, "Sorry for… reading into things so much. My bad."

Erika hummed thoughtfully at that before accepting my words. "Well, I can't say that I'm enjoying such insinuations," she drew herself up and sat primly, turning so her legs rested underneath her. "I shall have t forgive you… this time." She stared at me but the look was rather ruined by her twitching lips.

"That look doesn't work if I know you're holding yourself back from laughing. I've seen that on Yolanda too many times for it to work."

She giggled at me before shaking her head. "You're very mature aren't you?" She glanced at her towering bento box. "I wanted to meet you and see what you were like. This… this was a bit much wasn't it?."

I could only shrug at her. I eventually went with, "I mean, I liked it but it seems like a ton of effort?" She didn't respond beyond a hum. I glanced at the bento box. That had probably been the biggest thing that made me think 'date'. I'd read way too many manga in my past life not to connect dots into the wrong shape. Apparently, she was just a very traditional girl?

"Well, now that we've cleared that out of the way we can eat I suppose!" She said cheerfully.

Thankfully nothing else occurred after that. The food was good and I made sure to politely compliment her. We enjoyed our lunch together and I asked after how she'd felt the circuit went for her before we eventually drifted back to the hotel. Before she left, Erika patted me on the hand.

"Don't put yourself too down Brock there's going to be a lot of people cheering for you and I think you'll do wonderfully."

"Thanks Erika, today was great. I'll see you tomorrow." She bowed in farewell and I watched her walk off before heading up to my room.

Tomorrow, the symbolic flame of Moltres would be lit and the trainers would march before the assembled host to be welcomed officially.

And then I would fight Lance. I entered my room and called my family to check in on them. I'd do the same tomorrow before my match. It was good to hear their voices and hear that everything was going fine. Part of me unclenched. I'd half expected to have to fly back home tonight.

I lay on the lounge for a few minutes after that before closing my eyes and cycling through my rock and dark type energies. After half an hour I rose and decided to head to bed, but not before making sure the door was locked and barred. I entered the bedroom fully expecting to be able to lay down and go to sleep. But I didn't find myself too surprised when Sabrina teleported into the room. She turned a serious gaze upon me.

"I failed as a friend." She slumped slightly.

"Huh?" I replied, confused about how this wild Sabrina encounter was going, a somewhat normal state of affairs all told.

"Today when you said you were fine, I did not understand the significance." She looked into my eyes and I noticed how tired she was. Her hair, usually so straight, was out of place. She had small bags under her eyes and they were clearly a little red from strain. "I tried to stick around today but the crowds and all their emotions and thoughts were too much. I'm sorry, I couldn't help as a friend should have." She looked thoroughly put out. I relaxed a little, comprehension of Sabrina's point of view on this entire day now laid out.

"That's not a problem, it looks like just staying nearby was rough for you. I know you have a hard time of it with crowds, so don't stress yourself on my account."

"I will be there tomorrow… in the stadium… I should be able to handle the match… but there is something I can help you with tonight."

"Tonight?" Concern settled in as my mind slowly clicked on what she might be alluding to. Had anyone explained sex to her? Surely she had picked up thoughts of people and looked into it right? Or had she ignored those thoughts and decided they weren't important enough to look into? Sometimes you could never really know with Sabrina. This also fell at the feet of bad parenting. Did I need to have The Talk with her? That felt… vaguely wrong.

While I was pondering on this, she grasped my arm in her hands and tugged me over to the bed before pushing me onto it with gentle hands. My throat bobbed as I felt my body freeze and my mind began to race. Was she going to? She joined me on the bed, walking on her knees before positioning herself behind me. She then rolled us both on our sides so that I was the little spoon to her big spoon.

"There, you may relax well as we will 'sleep together'," she said with a slightly triumphant tone.

I turned my head. Was she? She actually looked smug. I felt suddenly disappointed with how this was turning out. That was quickly followed by guilt. Sabrina was naive. I shouldn't exploit her. It wasn't quite the same as sleeping with a drunk or drugged girl, something I'd always steered clear of but it still felt skeevy to contemplate.

I also didn't need the complications of mudding the waters once more with Sabrina.

Sabrina rubbed my head gently. "What are you doing?"

"Something my mother has started to... try to do with me." she remained silent a moment before continuing, "I have to 'not be creepy' with her and not tell her what she's thinking." I sighed. For a psychic as powerful as Sabrina that was a tough ask. surface thoughts could sometimes feel like people were shouting at her. emotions that were attached to them must have made it like an Escher painting that held so much more context than I could understand. Sabrina continued. "It's not as nice as now... but I understand the intention. She's trying, I don't like having to ignore her thoughts, but the physical sensation is nice, no?"

I felt my desires wither in the face of that reveal. "Is… Isn't that progress for you and her?" It sadly was from what I knew of her home situation.

Sabrina nodded from behind me. "Am I doing it right?"

"S'nice," I grunted and thought about that. It was nice. And it was also the only hug I'd received in ages. My siblings liked to get and give hugs but was this different? When was the last time I, as Brock, had been hugged by my Mum or Dad?

In that light, the hug was actually way nicer for the lack of them. "Thanks Sabrina." I bit my lip before tapping her arms. "Hey, when this fight with Lance is over, come over and I'll explain what Surge meant."

"I know what he meant." I stiffened in her arms. "But I know you as well, Brock. You didn't need that." She rubbed my head again. "Rest Brock, I don't mind. And I'll make sure you're not disturbed tonight."

I felt my heart thump a little at her words, her hands continued to rub and I slowly relaxed. "You're a good friend, Sabrina," I said back to her. Her hug tightened in response but she didn't say anything. I knew if I turned to look she'd have a large smile.

I went to sleep that night and found myself relaxing easier into the sleep than I had in many, many nights. Some part of me that usually stayed clenched relaxed more as sleep claimed me.

I didn't see Sabrina sit up slightly and squint at my front door, her eyes glowing blue for a few moments. Just as I didn't I hear the screams of shock or outrage from people down the hall. Another part of the hotel also got rather loud, I'd later learn. I heard nothing of this. Instead, I enjoyed the hug and comfort she gave.

I didn't see her leave before I woke up.

I awakened with a small indent in the bed and vague thoughts about what I should do. I rolled my shoulders and found them oddly loosened and ready.

She'd been right, I had needed that. It felt strange to be the one that got comforted. Usually, it was Sabrina that was overwhelmed with too many thoughts, her mind turning on her and her reaching out to me for a calm focus to centre herself lest she reverted to how she was so long ago. She'd been so calm she'd been scary and unemotional. And fragile. She had obviously been rather stressed from the day's events but she'd been able to push through her own stress to offer me comfort instead. If tonight's reversal didn't show me how she'd grown as a person, I couldn't think of a better example.

I resolved to do something nice for her in the future. She was a good friend to have. I smiled to myself as I stood, ready for the day and the coming match with the Champion.

---

A.N. Thanks for the support, comments and likes!

Special thanks to Ab9999 and Raikor for putting up with the revisions I put this through to tighten it up.

This chapter got reworked a lot to make it flow better. So extra special thanks to the patreon supporters that pointed out issues with it. It reads sooooo much better now.

The characterisations and the actions that drive it being a lot more fleshed out. The main brushstrokes remain the same but the tone has shifted a lot more.

As I promised I got this chapter out. Next week I promise, the Battle between Lance and Brock begins!

 

[Viva01]

The morning passed without any further incidents. I once more ordered a meal to be brought up to my room before changing clothes and heading to the gym to work up a light sweat. I tried to make it as close to my normal routine as possible.

Before a light lunch, I called home. The family was fine. Honestly, they were more than fine. With my going away to battle Lance, they had all set up in the lounge room with a whole plan for the day leading up to the match. I couldn't help but laugh. They couldn't demonstrate this level of planning while I was there; remove me and they had a three-act series of games before the match. I was impressed but was also realistic enough to know they'd start the first game and forget about all the other acts with some kids wanting to do other things or becoming hyper-focused on the first game. Rematches would surely be demanded. Forrest just didn't understand how little kids were.

The match was scheduled for early in the evening, which gave me just enough time to worry over my team choice. I had six pokemon line up with how I expected the match to play out. Now I could only worry over small details that could determine so much. Titan, Sanchez, Don, Shin, Bertha, and Selene. Each of them had a role to play. I didn't pull any of them out of their pokeball due to the chances of them being spotted. Anyone that was competent would be able to review my history of pokemon battles and expect certain pokemon on my roster. Some of them would no doubt be hard to find but there were videos in circulation for most of them. Sanchez, Shin and Don were going to debut in the eyes of the battle scene for actual televised events though. Titan and Bertha both had experience, while Selene had her own debut during gym matches.

As it reached three, I decided to go and familiarise myself with the arena. While I walked, I did so with a focus on the stadium that loomed over everything else in the region. Part of the stadium housed the Champion's office. I could almost imagine him sitting in his tower, looking down at me as I approached.

Lots of people noticed me. I could feel a great weight of focus settle on me. If anyone called out, I didn't notice. I kept walking forward to the stadium. On arrival, I wondered if they might turn me away as a ploy to mess with my mental state. The guards nodded, however, and waved me through. I was led to a prep area that was for me and a 'team' of other specialists. I had left all of them in Pewter. The room itself was large enough to house even the largest of pokémon. It served as a final checking area but it was also painted in flat, neutral colours that were likely meant to calm people down. It was a very neutral appearance with the walls having a few posters of 'Place your best foot forward!' and 'Bowing out results in less injuries! Consider your pokemon's long term health!'. I blanked it out. I'd had something similar when I'd matched up against Drake in the Orange islands

In the corner, a small computer rested with a transfer station on offer for those that wanted to perform any last-minute changes. Off to the side, a lounge and a basic television rested. I headed for that. Outside, parades were in action with lots of people being wowed by their daring displays of skill. Today wasn't a day for the competitors to fight but rather for shows to be put on. People were prowling around and enjoying a festival-like atmosphere. I couldn't allow myself to slip into that mindset; I'm here to win. I didn't need something loud that would have me reflexively looking around for my siblings out of habit. I needed quiet relaxation where I wouldn't be hassled.

I turned on the television to watch some daytime tv. The perfect, everyday normal event to set me at ease. Perfect to while away a few hours. I ended up leaving it for the computer area where I idly ran through some last-minute research on moves and pokemon that Lance might be able to call on. I was almost certain I knew which ones he would use, but it still niggled at me.

Half an hour before the starting ceremony began, an official entered with a very serious looking Officer Jenny. They both gave me their identification badges before Jenny stepped away to offer me some privacy. She remained in the room though as the League official spoke with me.

"Gym Leader Brock, we received your payment earlier." He had a list that he was ticking things off from. His pen fell to the next item on the list.

"I am here to lodge the six pokemon that you will be using to battle. As both yourself and the Champion have extended carrying capacities, you must lodge your claims. Do not ask what pokemon the Champion has lodged, I do not know and I cannot tell you. The team list is protected and placed in view of our team of security experts." He offered a humourless smile while glancing towards the stern Jenny. "Please record your pokemon, the order you release them is entirely up to you but you must not deviate from the six you record." I'd expected this, having been talked through the process with Surge.

I looked the form over, the question of 'what if you had more than one type of pokemon' dying as I saw a line next to pokemon name with registration numbers. I nodded. This was fairly standard for high stakes exhibition, championship or tournament matches. If others didn't have the license for a larger pokémon roster like myself, I would have an advantage over others that were maxed out at six pokemon. For fairness' sake, I had to pre-record my team roster.

Sanchez, Selene, Don, Shin, Bertha, and lastly Titan. These were the pokémon that were my strongest for this match. As I was representing Pewter City, I needed to do so with Rock-type pokemon. Otherwise, that list might have included some very different names.

When that was done I was directed onto the actual battlefield, or rather, just off to the side of it to await the Opening ceremony. I sat to the side of the main battlefield in a shaded bunker waiting for the ceremony to be over and the match to be called for. I was very much out of the sun but on display. The people that had come for their seats early noticed me. I waved at a few but otherwise settled in to wait.

There was the usual Growlithe and Ponyta show first however, with people and pokémon from all over the Kanto and Indigo regions appearing. When they entered, they did so with abundant pomp and flare. Growlithe leapt through rings, or hopped along on their hind legs for the crowds' entertainment. Ladies and men in skimpy clothing rode forth on various mounts, most of them Ponyta and Rapidash. People cried out or cheered at each pass. Particularly pretty pokemon or people got some catcalls and there was an air of cheer in the air as the performers worked their magic.

Others came in demonstrating skills such as the flying pokemon who performed synchronised aerial acrobatics to get things underway. The people and pokémon representing the various types marched forth with a variety of fashion displays on show. I happened to know — thanks to Yolanda's keen interest — that each year a variety of different local fashion designers were selected. They did it for the honour while also boosting their brand's exposure. Watching from the sidelines as they paraded, sashayed and galavanted in, I was suddenly much more thankful to Erika, Surge, and Sabrina for helping me update my wardrobe.

I got to watch a few large blimps, looking like balloons of various pokemon, be paraded forth. Pikachu was always a strong favourite but Jigglypuff also drew some cheers this year.

Thankfully, no Jigglypuff with their notorious sing ability actually appeared. I considered that a small mercy, or a sign of the Jenny's and other police personnel's dedication in patrolling the stadium grounds. Rare and shiny pokémon trotted along, their trainers smiling widely. Most of them I recognised as travellers from Hoenn so they weren't all that unfamiliar to me.

Fire pokemon paired up with fire acrobats and breathers in breathtaking synchronicity as they danced their way in, gouts of flame artfully unleashed at key intervals. A drummer marching in their centre made the entire stadium feel the beat as he pounded in time with particularly large tongues of fire.

A number of key League officials marched after them and waved as people applauded and thanked them for their efforts in contributing to the League and the conference. And then an announcer called for the competing pokemon trainers to enter.

It reminded me of the Opening ceremony for the Olympics to a degree but I knew it didn't have the same breadth. That would be saved for the World Championships, which was a tighter, more exclusive field. Still, the trainers, much like the Olympic athletes of my previous life, marched forward.

They didn't do it in city-states or even previous nations but as a single large cohesive unit. In the stands, people were crowded in. Normally there wouldn't be this many due to only being the opening ceremony. An event that was more a formality than actual entertainment.

The League's announcement of the exhibition match with Lance had resulted in more interest, which was probably their intention, but I had since learnt that my actions had made the exhibition match tickets one of the most in-demand items. Hawkers congregated out the front of the stadium and were even now selling their tickets in live bidding wars. There would be a lot of people watching through their televisions though, so the League and tv companies stood to gain the most from this event.

Now the match seemed to loom over the actual conference. Everyone shifted and I could tell there was more desire to simply get the ceremony over and done with. I eyed the assembled trainers and was amused how they had found exactly two hundred and fifty-two trainers.

Typically the best trainers were those that went on the journey to collect badges. It was the cheapest path to become a trainer but also offered the best experience. In the Indigo League you could journey through either Kanto or Johto before competing at the joint tournament. People that completed the entire Indigo 'set' for eight badges held a lot of prestige that served them well for later offers of employment. The badges weren't the only method of entering the League, however.

Some trainers could choose the more sedate, studious option of the Pokemon Academies or Colleges. Pewter city had a nearby establishment by the name of the Pokemon Technical College.

The last method, which I always forgot, was the League's own Admission exam. The difficulty of which could raise or lower depending on how many trainers completed the circuit with eight badges.

This always made the actual circuit the best method to guarantee a spot at the end. Even that wasn't a sure bet though. I hadn't experienced it yet, but Surge had told me of years when more waves of trainers descended on regions en masse, causing overflow and strain to the system with too many combatants for the final conference to be fair. For those situations, seedings and preliminaries were called into use. People that completed the circuit got preferential treatment, with the badges they earnt earning them more 'weight' to their seeding and chances of progressing to the tournament proper.

I waved when Celia walked into the stadium, making her smile even wider. When everyone was set up the announcer for the event took to his microphone and everyone turned their eyes to the now entering runner.

With one arm raised high, they carried a fire that symbolized the flame of Moltres. A pokemon that was said to embody the conference's virtues of passion and friendship. The Pokemon League's Competition President —A title I found far too grandiose— stepped forth and from his giant bushy beard, a smile emerged.

"Welcome, one and all! I'm Charles Goodshow and I'll be your competition host for the conference. We shall begin with the time-honoured tradition of the pledge! Please follow along after me!" He led the trainers through a slow but still short pledge, mainly stating they would act with honour and seek to better themselves and their pokemon while acting in good faith towards their competitors. As the last trainer finished speaking, the runner threw his flame into the giant torch.

The torchfire lit up with an audible whoosh and the crowd cheered their approval. I drew in another deep breath before exhaling. As slow and controlled as I could make it. The moment was almost here.

Charles nodded at everyone. "Thank you, trainers, for participating in this tournament! You more than anyone else will make this an event to remember! Now! I must ask for you to clear the battlefield. For those with tickets, please seek the north and south sides of the arena to reach the seating area. For those others… Well, you best run to get in front of a television!"

Celia turned to give me one last wave only to see me gesturing to her. She grabbed another person and dragged them over to me, making me chuckle as she approached "Learned about the companion rule, did you?"

"The what? I just didn't want this one to run off and get a good spot in front of the tv before me!"

I laughed, "Don't bother. You're one of my sponsored trainers so I'll vouch for you to sit in my bunker and watch the fight." I glanced towards the other trainer who'd barely had a chance to be angry at Celia before becoming startled at my presence. Her facial expression flickered through from shocked to thankful. "You can call me Brock…" I trailed off leadingly, watching as the brown-haired girl tugged on her ponytail in a nervous tic.

"June… My name's June, from Celadon…"

I nodded. "Well enjoy the perks of your friend knowing the Challenged tonight, you're going to get better than front row seats. You're getting bunker seats." I patted the long seats. "Come and claim a spot."

Celia had no trouble dragging June into the bunker. "Oohhh this is nice!"

"Yeah, perks of getting to take part in a high-level match," I said as Celia helped herself to the minifridge to the side. She tossed a bottle of water at June who yelped. Celia then sat but didn't drink, fidgeting instead.

"Are you ready for this?"

I nodded, giving her a confident smile while my stomach flopped about, "Sure am!" She nodded before licking her lips and settling down. It looked like she wanted to talk about something else but I didn't prompt her, instead looking back to Charles Goodshow who was amusedly watching the last trainer leg it out of the arena.

"Well now Ladies and Gentlemen!" He said after another minute of waiting, "We come to the final event of the night, and no doubt the thing you've all been waiting for!"

The crowd roared their approval as my face appeared staring straight at Lance. I recognised the image. It had been captured during our stare off when I'd announced my counter challenge. We looked like boxers squaring off. A giant flaming 'vs' appeared between us and I rolled my shoulders. "Wish me luck."

I received a singular boisterous and shy 'Good luck!" from both girls as I was announced. "THE CHALLENGED IN THIS EVENT IS THE PEWTER CITY GYM LEADER! THE HOLDER OF THE TRADITIONAL FIRST GYM OF KANTO'S CIRCUIT! THE ROCKY RUMBLER! GIVE IT UP FOOOOOOOOOORRRR" He dragged out the word like a pro, "BROCK!"

I emerged from the bunker fully and was hit by a solid wall of noise. I lifted a hand and felt the world slow down as I began to hyperfocus on the smallest things. My arms felt heavy even as I waved them to the crowd. Each action performed slowly, as my legs worked like automation, causing me to walk steadily forward towards the podium that would raise up to give me a good view of the field my pokemon would be fighting on.

Even the lights that were dancing on and off around the stadium weren't enough to distract me. They had spotlights on me but I could see past them. I could see people going nuts in the stands with their cheering. It appeared there were a lot of Pewter residents in the crowds as banners and flags with the boulder badge, or my face, were waving about. I directed a number of waves and even a small bow in their direction. This only made them louder.

I let my head turn and I noticed a section for Indigo Gym Leaders. There was a clear divide between Johto and Kanto Leaders with a wide gap in the middle.

From Johto, Claire from Blackthorn, Pryce from Mahogany, and Chuck from Cianwood watched me closely. Faces inscrutable, until Chuck shot me a huge thumbs up, which appeared to gain him a tongue lashing as Claire noticed and laid into him.

On Kanto's side I saw more in attendance. Blaine held the central spot followed by Giovanni, Sabrina, Surge and finally Erika. Oddly, Surge looked rumpled, his waves also looked rather stiff to my eyes. He had a tight smile as he waved back at me. Erika had bags under her eyes that I could just make out and also seemed tired. I was surprised to see Giovanni out in public as the man was rather reclusive. The same could be said of Sabrina in truth but she nodded at me. I directed a double-handed wave in their direction.

In the gap between both groups, slightly raised up above the Gym Leaders, sat the Elite Four. Or as it currently stood, the Elite Three. Agatha watched me with a smirk, behind her, a shadow twitched. It shifted into a strange shape and back again so fast if I didn't know better I would have doubted my eyes.

Bruno sat, body rigid and watching me stoically, his face akin to a mountain in winter as his eyes tracked me.

Lorelei sat primly and had what could only be described as a resting bitch face. That or she had smelt something off and was annoyed by it. Which wasn't impossible with how well known it was for Bruno to train. It wouldn't surprise me to learn the man might have forgotten to shower before coming.

Beneath them, the official that had stood between myself and Lance during the press conference was seated with two cases that clearly held the wager of this event. I noticed that they also had a plaque that made me think of a C.E.O's nameplate, but for some reason, it had fallen and didn't appear to show the man's name. I shrugged my head and turned to the front as I reached my destination.

"AND THE CHALLENGER IN THIS CASE! YOU KNOW AND LOVE HIM AS THE GRUELLING TRAINER THAT DEFIED THE ODDS! THE DRAGON MASTER HIMSELF! YOUR CHAMPION OF THE INDIGO LEAGUE!!!" The lights once more swept the arena before locking onto the entrance, just in time for his arrival. "LANCE! BLACKTHORN!"

Unlike me, Lance didn't wave. He stalked forward with his long cape flapping dramatically behind him. Each step caused a small puff of dust. He didn't wave to the crowd or indeed even acknowledge them. He only had eyes for me. I locked onto him as well and felt something stirring within my gut. My lips tugged upwards until I was baring a sharp grin.

When he reached the podium I saw him select his pokeball. I felt my own hand drift down. For a long moment, I held it there toying with what would happen. Thankfully the battleground didn't have to be a factor against me as a bare field was the accepted arena for this confrontation.

If I had been a Water specialist or otherwise, I might have filed for the arena type to be shifted but I had not needed to. The standard League challenge arena would suit my needs more than Lance in truth. I just had to use that small advantage and build on it. His starter was what I needed to worry about. Some of Lance's pokemon might be not as strong but I couldn't rely on that.

I had a plan for a certain run through of pokemon. I'd done the research on what he could bring to bear, along with theoretical pokemon for when he might be pushed.

It was possible that he'd bring out his Dragonite. A pokemon that is widely, and correctly termed a monster. It flattened organizations, let alone teams of pokemon. I'd never known about the Roughriders from the games. Nor the Raider Clan, or the Burning Men. Lance had wiped them out before challenging for the Championship role.

Should I deploy my best chance of countering that pokemon first? Or stick with my research? What did my gut tell me?

I took in a breath and considered the issue. Titan could and should be the one to face his Dragonite. It would take a heavyweight to match him. I knew this. Titan was my best shot. The best shot I had at sending a statement to all that looked at my gym and proclaimed it 'weak'. It would see each one of my siblings puffed up with pride and not looking so defeated. That was not to dismiss the rest of his team. though. Lance possessed pokemon that could and should roll through a team of Rock types. If he stuck with that thought process then his first choice should be his Gyrados.

So what was it going to be? Titan or Sanchez. Which should I throw out first? I watched Lance and noticed that he had reached towards his waist, and not his necklace where the very symbolic 'Strongest pokemon' was resting. That made things slightly easier.

Now I just needed him to play for keeps with what should be his best chance.

I grasped my choice and held it out. "Trainers, are you ready!?" shouted Charles Goodman from the centre of the arena.

I nodded, enlarging the ball in my hand with a deft touch of the button on the front. "Release together on one!" He turned towards the crowd and raised his hands, "Here we go, ladies and gentlemen. Let's start the countdown!"

"Three!" Lance and I locked eyes once again.

"Two!" We both drew back our arms, pokeballs and our first pokemon ready to go.

"One!" I planted my foot and hurled my pokemon out onto the field. Sanchez emerged with a mighty roar, arms spread wide like a luchador. "Go-go-golem!" He said before tweaking his moustache.

I looked up to see a large towering blue serpent rearing up before him. It bellowed out an inarticulate sound. A pressure swept through the arena as the mighty serpent pressed outwards with its aura claiming the territory with its emergence.

I grinned as I crossed my arms and settled into my pose.

"OH! AND LANCE LEADS OFF WITH HIS GYARADOS! SOMETHING SURE TO GIVE BROCK SOME TROUBLE! BUT BROCK COMES OUT WITH A VARIANT OF GOLEM!" I couldn't help but hear the announcer screaming his head off. I smirked, it probably looked cocky as all hell but it felt good to be right. The first matchup was in my favour.

During my journey, I hadn't made it as far as Alola. The lockdown of most regions saw to that. I doubted the League even started reaching out to the region yet. They existed, obviously, but were very hard to reach. You needed to chance out and risk life and limb to make it to new regions as an explorer. Some people dedicated their time and lives to rediscovering old routes to regions thought lost but it wasn't something that could be quickly achieved. It demanded huge manpower and hours of dedicated, institutional, attention to secure trade lanes with forgotten regions.

But that didn't stop me from trialling methods to get variant typings for 'regional' pokemon.

Having money truly was a superpower on its own. One that I had levered into a specialised breeding/rearing area for pokemon that I knew would benefit from exposure to higher voltages or constant magnetism. A specialty diet was added just to push things further.

Sanchez might have been the youngest pokemon on my team but he was also one of the best surprise shock punches I had. He'd also been able to handle the workload demanded of an Elite top six pokemon. From them, I expected their best, and he'd delivered. He took the beatings I had to give and rolled back in looking for more.

I doubted more than a handful of people in the stadium, or indeed currently those watching, would have any idea of what this golem represented. They'd learn soon enough.

The referee checked the descriptors I'd lodged just prior to the match of my selected team before nodding to indicate everything was above board. Then he raised his hands. A hush fell over the crowd as Sanchez and the Gyrados eyed each other off. Sanchez made sure to constantly toy with his moustache while smirking, which seemed to only aggravate the serpent.

I readied myself as the referee clenched his fists before dropping them swiftly. "Fight!" shouted the ref and Lance and I called our moves.

"Hydro Pump!" said Lance with a sweep of his hand.

At the same time, I ordered, "Dig into TP Sanchez!"

Both pokemon were already moving before we had even finished speaking, a clear sign of their 'level' of training. They barely needed orders, having gone through and experienced a lot with their respective trainer.

"Gyarados use Sur—" before Lance could flood the field Sanchez emerged with a loud "Golem!"

His fist crackled with lightning and I saw the look of painful realisation sink in on Lance's face as a move that was four times as effective than a normal move slammed home right into the serpent's head. That would have to be a critical in game jargon. The thunder punch impacted, causing a thwap to sound out even as a surging electrical zap carried over the stadium.

Lance's pokemon reeled back from the hit and fell backwards, writhing as electricity arced around their body. When it hit dirt, a thoom sounded throughout the stadium as air blew out from around it. Dust blew out and settled in the aftermath. The Gyarados was large enough not to be obscured. It surged back, a roar escaping it before twitching. It flinched and its mouth shut in a grimace. It tried to push on only to collapse as another arc of electricity coursed through its body. It lay still and the referee assessed it, waiting only a few moments before raising a green flag in my direction.

"Gyarados is unable to battle! The first point goes to Brock!" For a heartbeat, silence filled the stadium before the crowd went ballistic. Lance raised a Pokeball. Red light shot from it to Gyarados. The Gyarados was absorbed into it and I observed my opponent as he looked at the pokeball for a moment before nodding at it, accepting the defeat.

He looked up to see me watching. He'd been stoic until now but a slight frown had slipped in. His hand tracked to another pokeball before switching to a different one. I suspected that the ball held his Seadra, or if I was unlucky, he might even have a Kingdra. It was tough to judge which Lance would have but I suspected the second option as the most likely.

It fit his Dragon Mastery, and also should stack up well against my Rock-type.

The crowd continued to cheer and shout throughout it all but I ignored them.

Lance drew back his second pokemon and the crowd instantly fell silent as a Dragonite took centre stage.

---

A.N. Special thanks goes to my patreons for their support. I'd also like to thank Raikor, Ab9999, and Elnoorz for betaing and editing this chapter!

 

[Viva01]

While the crowd started to furiously clamour with each other over Dragonite's appearance, I relaxed slightly. This was not the Dragonite that was considered one of, if not the, strongest pokemon in two regions. One on one, many pokemon would find themselves losing. I hoped I had the answer in my own starter pokemon. I'd promised as much, but that was for later.

Still, I could relax slightly. This Dragonite didn't have the size, or the majesty that the other did. It was more juvenile. It still snorted and eyed off Sanchez with some contempt.

I had to keep my head in the match. Sanchez had taken an early lead with his one-two combo on Gyarados, but I needed to extend that. Like any other sporting match, you needed to continue to keep on the pressure. Dictating the pace was often one of the crucial elements to winning.

People began to murmur as they realized that this couldn't be Lance's beast.

"AND LANCE FOLLOWS UP WITH ONE OF HIS DRAGONITE! A POWERFUL SECOND MATCH UP!" The announcer's voice boomed over the crowd. The referee once more nodded and dropped their flags.

"Start!" It was a small space but if you were smart about using such breaks they could mean a lot. I knew people that deliberately tried to drag these switch outs as long as they could, having just used a costly technique like Hyper beam. It was a potential method for me to use and abuse but I had other options open for now.

"Soar high Dragonite!" Called Lance as he swept his hand upwards. Dragonite ascended and I clicked my tongue. Tactics shifted into place as I weighed what I could do.

"Stealth Rock," I said. Lance's frown deepened at the order. Sanchez dutifully obeyed.

Rocks appeared along the edge of the battlefield and began to hover just slightly. They became a small threat for the next match. Lance's eyes flickered up and down from my Golem to his Dragonite and I felt an inkling of understanding take root.

There was likely a chance this pokemon was more suited for speed than others of its kind. This could be applied on the battlefield in a multitude of ways. I eyed the circling dragon wondering if this theory held; It certainly appeared that way. It held distance at the absolute limit that the arena match would allow. This was mandatory to give the damage absorption mechanisms room to work.

"Aqua Tail!" Lance, it seemed, didn't want to wait for me to keep building up more stealth rocks.

"Rock Throw!" I shouted as the flying pokemon tilted as if on a hinge instead of flitting around at furious speeds. The Dragonite's body tilted as if on a dial while its wings fluttered minutely. It lined itself up with my pokemon. Then plummeted out of the sky, allowing gravity to claim it before snapping its wings shut and accelerating even faster.

Rocks tore themselves out of the ground around Sanchez as he directed them upwards. "Go-go-golem!" he chanted as more and more rocks took flight. I could almost imagine him serving as an old artillery commander with the over the top moustache and his bombastic attitude.

Rocks ripped through the air. The Dragonite expertly juked and barrel-rolled in response. It would have avoided a lesser pokemon's barrage but I had not allowed my Golem to be anything but exemplary. There would be no denying the onslaught that Sanchez was unleashing. Rocks rifled through the air with some hidden in the visual gaps of others, resulting in a harsh wall of stone that should have cut the dragon out of the sky.

The Dragonite proved its skill though, choosing which rocks impacted it and avoiding the worst. It continued to dive, taking glancing hits that allowed it to close. Sanchez held his position, glaring up in defiance as it closed. For a moment it looked like Dragonite would miss entirely only to slam into the ground and throw itself like some parkour sprinter straight at my pokemon. It whipped its body into a controlled spin and brought about its tail. A tail laced with water that whipped around to nail Golem.

Sanchez skidded to the side and shook the arm he'd raised to handle the strike. There was a divot that let me know that hadn't simply been shrugged off. Still, Sanchez was more than up for the fight, roaring his battle cry, "GO-GO-GO! LEM!" I relaxed my gritted jaw, pleased to see that our work had paid off. I nodded at him as he stood and pumped his arms back and forth. "Golem!"

"Rock thr—'' before I could finish the Dragonite accelerated out of close range, likely knowing that it would be destroyed without the speed to let it power through having boulders tossed at it. I hadn't even heard Lance give a command. With the Dragonite retreating, I decided to make the most of the reprieve by changing the order. "Stealth rock!"

Lance snarled slightly as his pokemon took a few moments to reach its previous soaring height. Time, that let me get off another potential trap. I observed the Dragonite, comparing its speed now to what it had previously demonstrated; It was roughly the same but as I watched I noted a slight hitch in its wingbeats. A tremor in its body. It was only a small sign but that was enough. Dragonite wouldn't be able to accelerate as quickly.

Looking at Sanchez revealed to me he hadn't gotten out of his two fights scott free. His body shook, with a slight tiredness now showing through in how he tracked the dragon.

"Sanchez go for another—" Lance punched his fist directly at my pokemon. His Dragonite was probably too far away for even a shouted command to be effective over the noise of the crowd but that didn't stop it from understanding the order. As soon as I saw the rapidly building ball of energy in Dragonite's mouth I shifted gears.

"Dig! Now!" Sanchez dropped into the ground. I relaxed slightly before bracing myself as Lance's Dragonite discharged the hyper beam. The arena held its breath as the beam impacted. Dust and small bits of earth flew up, causing everyone to lose sight of the arena and for the extractor fans to kick in. I turned my head slightly and shut my eyes, using other senses to detect any developing changes in the battlefield.

I felt a few small rocks knock into my body but I was used to harsher attacks from training with my pokemon. All trainers at this level were given damage absorbers but they were notorious in being limited due to a close proximity with the danger zone. It said a lot about this Dragonite's strength that they hadn't felt a secondary effect against myself or Lance would hurt us. They'd keep the podium's absorbers for the true heavyweights.

The second I felt the wind dying down, I looked back to the field with narrowed eyes. A large crater was now in the middle of the field. It wouldn't result in any pause with the match though.

That would come later.

I looked further up. spotting the Dragonite still high in the air, huffing and puffing, now visibly spent. My pokemon popped his head up as he'd been trained to do if he couldn't sense a pokemon actually touching the ground. It had been interesting to learn that teaching a pokemon dig didn't just convey the ability to burrow under the ground but to also detect where another pokemon was due to the minor vibrations that came from standing on the ground. Flying or levitating pokemon obviously had a much easier time evading Dig.

Sanchez stood fully and twizzled his moustache while watching the flying pokemon.
I needed to get moving. "Sanchez! Stealth Rock!" I could imagine the confusion that this command brought on from anyone watching but a cursory inspection of the field revealed that Lance hadn't been able to have the beam scour deep enough that it might have had an effect. He should have been targeting the sides of the field, to break up some of the floating rocks.

With this move, I had prepped the field to keep later matchups in my favour as much as I wanted to.

It wasn't a well-used technique with most people seeing it as useless due to the time required. I had the team to make it viable, so I capitalized on it. From the battles that I'd observed, Lance didn't face many trainers that utilised field effects. Something I planned to test. For now he ignored the floating rocks, sweeping his hand forward, "Descend on it again Dragonite!"

If he was going to try his hand again I was more than happy to show him the definition of insanity. "Rock throw Sanchez!"

"Goooooooolem!" Once more Artillery commander Sanchez called for the cannons, unleashing entire sections of rock. Something that was easier than last time due to the broken arena floor, thanks to Dragonite's Hyperbeam.

This time the Dragonite circled, zigged and zagged but the earlier tribulations had clearly taken their toll. It avoided the Arcanine's share of attacks except it wasn't fast enough to avoid them all. Rocks began to not only hit in a glancing manner but fully impact with body strikes, causing the Dragonite to wail before losing control of its flight. It crashed into the ground throwing up more ground as it caused a crater. crashing into the ground. The crash landing would have had to have only worsened its condition. I stared hungrily at the still dusty cloud where the Dragonite would have been

The stadium filled with a groan as the crowd of thousands leant forward in their seats. The air shifted as they drew in a breath and waited.

I held a hand up to Sanchez to signal a halt for the moment.

We all waited as the dust was blown away to reveal a downed Dragonite on its side. It shifted, its wings beating feebly as it tried to stand. Its body twitched and spasmed its mouth opened to bare its teeth.

For half a moment I thought it was about to roar its defiance as it rose on a single wobbly limb. Only for it the limb to give out on it. It slammed into the ground with a hard thump. It now only gave out a sad cry as it slumped further into the crater, unable to rise.

It couldn't and Lance was once more forced to withdraw one of his pokemon.

"AND ANOTHER POKEMON GOES DOWN!" Again there was a lull as the crowd became more than just part of the scenery. I held in a chuckle as I recalled the old games I had played on my Gameboy that even featured such calls from the crowd and announcer. Those had been long, glorious hours as a child. The old memory reminded me that I really was living the dream. I glanced about and smiled, letting my stern expression shift from pleased to actually happy.

"Excellent work Sanchez!" I directed my feelings toward my first pokemon out and he happily cheered back at me.

"Go! Go-lem!" He waved happily, even making finger guns at a few sections of the crowd and .

"TWO POKEMON DOWN! I DON'T THINK ANYONE EXPECTED THIS WHEN THE CHALLENGE WAS MADE CLEAR! BROCK IS SHOWING UP AND CLEANING UP! HOW WILL THE CHAMP RESPOND!?"

Lance gritted his teeth and his hand twitched towards his necklace before stopping. I wondered if he truly thought leaving his best for last would be his smartest move. I didn't know his team but I did know there was a certain prestige in simply forcing Lance to field his strongest, let alone beat it. I had to aim for that. Two to zero was a good start but I was nowhere near clear.

"Charizard!" Lance shouted as he tossed his next pokemon.

The crowd went nuts. I chuckled, knowing that while it looked like a dragon and knew dragon moves it wasn't really a true dragon… Unless Lance had access to mega evolution. I licked my lips as a cold chill broke out. Then I shook myself and looked within to the darkness. I centred myself once more before looking up.

If he had something like that, I had options. I highly doubted he did as of yet, but I definitely had options. Mega evolutions weren't a game over but merely another obstacle. Mega evolved Charizard was still something to keep in mind. I hadn't heard anything regarding that and held to the belief that I would have if it ever occurred. Then again, he had ten million reasons at least to bring it out right now.

I didn't see any bracelet on his wrist though, and the only necklace I saw was holding a greatball.

With Charizard taking the field, stealth rock activated. The referee was forced to instantly call match start as the trap began to impact the fire-type. It tried to take to the sky to avoid it but the move was dogged and quick enough to hit. It roared in annoyance but didn't take enough damage to truly injure it.

Lance seemed more annoyed as the rocks showed it wasn't able to ignore a move considered 'weak' by most trainers. It obviously pricked Lance and his pokemons' pride, enough to draw their ire. "Fire blast!" shouted Lance.

I grinned. "Explosion." Sanchez cackled even as the signature first generation fire move closed. He lit up and I locked eyes with Lance as he gaped. I had to hold myself from cackling along with my pokemon. As the explosion took hold, the damage absorbers on my podium and around the stadium lit up.

This was enough to force them to activate and I had to blink back stars even though I had looked away from my golem before it detonated. "OH!!! A CHEAP MOVE OR A WELL-TIMED SACRIFICE PLAY FROM GYM LEADER BROCK?!"

I scoffed at them even thinking the move was classified as 'cheap'. The only times it was not allowed or punished was if it was your last pokemon. Then it was seen as poor sportsmanship, or if your opponent was also on their last and had lost them, the win went to them. Anywhere else in the battle circuit? It was fair game.

"Go! GO! GOooooo….lem," said Sanchez before he fell to his knees, spent. He shot me a look and I raised two thumbs up. He smiled weakly and tried to reply with one raised hand only to fall. Before he hit the ground I withdrew him.

"Great work buddy," I said to his pokeball. I looked up to smile at the Charizard that was embedded into the ground. It had obviously not taken well to the explosion that swept the field. It must have crashed from the explosion. I grinned at my pokeball, Sanchez had done amazing. He'd even taken out the opponent with— Charizard stumbled forward but instead of falling down it took one step that turned into another. Then it flared its wings and roared out in rage, the flame on its tail blazing even stronger than before.

I whistled, impressed despite myself. It had taken a stage three stealth rock followed by an explosion and been able to walk it off. I could respect that. I'd respected it so much I'd bring out something special to counter it.

I withdrew a second pokeball for the next match. Time to show the entire world that I had prehistoric pokemon.

"AND NOW! We will pause for intermission as the arena floor is replaced. This replacement is brought to you by—" I stumbled and recalled that yes, after three pokemon were knocked out there was typically intermission in these exhibition matches.

I glanced at Lance and saw he too was rather annoyed at the forced pause. It might suit him a little more but not as much as if he'd been able to get off a hyper beam or something else. The effect wasn't exhaustion so much as damage. If anything he wanted to take his charged up Charizard and meet my next pokemon now.

I nodded at him and turned toward my bunker where Celia and June were staring open-mouthed at me. I nodded at them before stalking towards the fridge built into a wall. I grabbed a towel and rubbed off some dirt before taking a long gulp of water. Celia looked from me to the field, a dry sounding croak working itself loose.

"That was incredible," June said, her voice barely a whisper. I hummed.

"It was a solid start. Sanchez really brought everything I needed of him, and more." My body didn't want to settle and I sat only to feel a nervous tick demanding that I bounce my leg. I stood instead and walked around, working my arms through stretches as I forced myself to breathe. "Damn, I'm all worked up now."

I clenched my hands and relaxed them before shaking myself loose. I didn't want to be here, I wanted to be back out there throwing down with my pokemon against Lance's team. I looked over and saw Lance was much the same. It appeared Claire had made her way down to his bunker and was talking to him even as he stalked back and forth. His Charizard sat before the podium still on the field. Very pointedly still on display and on the field.

As a still 'active' pokemon with this match's rule, he wasn't allowed to go out of sight unless Lance was forfeiting him. There had been too many people that had switched out pokemon or used potions on them when they were out of sight. As a high stakes match, there was no way I or the League could let it happen. There was also the issue of reactivating the stealth rocks if Lance tried it. Said Stealth rocks were actually rather pitiful now that I looked. I'd need to have another pokemon reactivate them, which would cost me time. I played that over in my mind as I assessed the damage to my trap move.

I watched Machoke and Machamp haul broken rocks out of the way. The pokemon and the workers were extremely careful to not affect the few remaining floating rocks nor get close enough to cause themselves to become targets. It would probably make them work slower which was another reason that higher tier matches usually didn't see the trap move utilized. I had no doubt that the announcers and sponsors could run with the long break caused by slower reconstruction though. They seemed to be filling the screens scattered around the arena with highlights of the match so far interspersed with adverts.

"How are you able to stand up there like that? Can't you feel it?" Looking at Celia I noticed how she had her hands curled around herself. The small hairs all over her forearms stood at attention as if she'd been watching two powehouse electric types fight rather than Lance and I.

June seemed confused. I merely nodded at Celia. "Ah good, you're able to feel that? That's a subtle effect of battling someone like Lance."

"Is this what Elite trainer battles are like?" said Celia. "Do I need to be this level for the tournament?"

"Planning on taking on the champ when I'm done?" I smirk before shaking my head. "No, not actually. This is a bit of a slugfest with pokemon that can take and dish out beatings. There's strategy involved, obviously, but the methods vary depending on the trainers and the pokemon that they have access to. Don't rush into it. We'll talk about what you are feeling now after the tournament. It isn't something to worry over for now. Focus on what's before you."

"Play to my strengths, not my weaknesses?" I agreed with a nod before turning my hand over to show she was mostly right before switching topics. While June was Celia's friend I wasn't going to talk about Aura in front of her.

"What do you think of the match so far? I was hoping to take out his Charizard with Sanchez's sacrifice."

"Why'd you even sacrifice him? He was doing great!" demanded Celia as June nodded in hesitant agreement.

I considered that for a moment before waggling my hand. "I didn't think he had the legs to do as much damage to the Charizard. While on paper it would appear to be a better match up with fire-flying, his Charizard is his second strongest pokemon. It shows up in most of his matches and will not be something easy to take down. I was hoping the stealth rocks would have been enough to soften it up. If he had brought out anything else I wouldn't have made that call."

"I think it was a mistake."

I shrugged. "Perhaps. I didn't get what I wanted so maybe you're right. I didn't want to have Sanchez get forced underground though as I know Lance can take over the field with that Charizard and set himself up. So instead, I forced the issue."

"How… how would his Charizard have taken over?" said June. I gestured towards the field.

"If Sanchez got forced underground, I would have had more issues as Charizard could melt the upper layers of the arena. Which isn't a big issue but it would have been able to get rid of my Stealth Rock." Unlike the games, some moves could force the trap field effects to be wiped, as demonstrated by my own explosion. It just took more concerted effort to actually affect the field.

Celia and June seemed to mull that over. "Huh, you've thought about this a lot."

I nodded. "The momentum started back when I announced my challenge. There's not a ton of information about my team compared to Lance. I have a list of pokemon he can draw on with suspicions on some more. Being at the top is harder, with people being able to work out counters. That being said, Lance didn't get there because of a fluke."

"AND THE ARENA IS READY ONCE MORE! THIS BREAK WAS BROUGHT TO YOU—" I turned, ignoring the advertisements. I palmed my pokeball and locked eyes with Lance once again. I grinned at him. For a moment he grinned back, seemingly just as eager to return to the match as I was. I felt his aura sweep over but I continued to stride forward undaunted as his Charizard flared his wings and roared.

I waited for the podium to raise me up to level. The referee gestured to me and I drew back my arm for my next pokemon to take to the field.

---

A.N. Special thanks goes to my patreons for their support!

Specials thanks goes to Raikor, Ab9999 and Elnoorz for betaing and editing this chapter

 

[Viva01]

"Go Shin!" I hurled my pokeball with accuracy born from long hours of experience. It didn't seem like a large aspect of a pokemon match but you could set quite a lot up depending on where on your side of the field you deployed your pokemon. There was also the bounce-back feature that you needed to work in. It was actually possible to throw your pokeball and have it shoot back to a position nowhere near you. My Kabutops took to the field with a quick one two-step before flourishing his scythes.

The commentators instantly jumped on my choice. "OH! A POKEMON FROM ANCIENT TIMES! A KABUTOPS! THIS IS CERTAINLY A RARE SHOWING FROM THE PEWTER CITY GYM LEADER!"

Shin was raring to go. Across the field, Charizard grunted and blew out a flame before flapping its wings. The referee checked with us both before raising his flags and dropping them.

"Rock polish!" "Ascend!" Lance and I ordered over the top of each other. Lance clicked his tongue at the missed opportunity.

"Fire blast!" he tried to change things up.

"Hydropump!" I said to Shin. The two attacks impact and instantly I can see a potential trap with how the mist blocks sight of his Charizard. Lance doesn't react but I still decide to call out my next order "Dodge!"

This time Lance smirked, informing me I'd made a mistake with that call. "Fire spin!" is his answer.

"Rock polish again!" I call out even as a ring of fire drops from within the mist, grimacing as I do. Shin dodged the flame well but it only took a small tongue of fire to touch and for the burn to impact Shin.

I hadn't been able to find an accurate list of potential moves available to Lance's Charizard. I'm sure someone in the future would like to know about it having Fire spin. For now, it was going to bite me. "Shin! Zig-zag firing patterns!"

With the mist starting to dissipate I'd have more of a chance. I didn't have many good options with Lance knowing he'd be able to counter with fireblast for a while. That was a crutch though. It was only for a while. Also, the mist would weaken his Charizard gradually the longer he remained within it. I felt myself relax as my mind began to unravel the potential paths forward available to me.

Shin began to streak across the field, pause, fire off a hydro pump before changing locations. This forced Charizard to begin weaving in and out. Lance tried to have him shoot off some Fire Blast back but this made the air more sodden with water. It began to make both my pokemon and the Charizard difficult to target.

"Switch targets! Get the last of the floating rocks Charizard!" This order caused his pokemon to pause and I almost felt myself become psychic as I knew what would happen next. Shin stopped on a dime and from his mouth a dense ball of water built before launching out at highly pressurised speed.

Charizard tucked on a wing and dove low making the attack whiff. I inhaled and felt everything come together as it finally came within range. "Aqua jet!"

Lance's hand began to raise as water built around my pokemon. "No! Charizard gain alt—" Shin didn't blur so much as glitch across the space to slam straight into Charizard's side to launch it into the side of the arena.

It had taken a three-stage Stealth Rock, an Explosion, Mist weakening, and finally a two-stage empowered Kabutops hitting it like a truck with Aqua— "Chhhaaaaar!!!!" roared the pokemon as it staggered back to its feet . The flame on its tail pulsed from extreme to pitifully weak almost like a heartbeat. The Dragon in all but typing had its eyes narrowed as it stared straight at Shin. It raised trembling hands towards my pokemon. It was obvious it couldn't fight to anyone watching.

That didn't mean it was going to just stop fighting though.

I blinked in surprise before nodding in respect. This was obviously a Charizard that truly served as an exemplar for its species.

The crowd roared and urged it on. I turned to look straight at Lance only to find him looking straight back at me. "Shin, Hydro pump." shin stiffened,

"Kabutops?" he said, obviously concerned.

"We can't dismiss this dragon." A few people booed me but others heard my words. They held their tongues as Charizard took slow, lumbering steps forward like he was going to build up momentum for a charging tackle. Each step merely looked painfully slow after the earlier aerial acrobatics.

Shin bobbed his head once before lining up another shot. The Charizard saw the shot and staggered forward with a raised claw, delirious, but unwilling to back down. I felt something roil in my stomach but I knew I couldn't deny or demand Lance withdraw his pokemon. Some pokemon weren't like that. They abhorred being withdrawn from battle. Some pokemon didn't seem to have fight and flight. They only had Fight responses. To be a good trainer you had to identify them and develop methods for curtailing them.

You also had to have a good deal of faith that an opponent would recognise the fact that they wouldn't go down and act for the best. Lance himself was watching on stoically but I thought I had seen him nod in acceptance when I gave the order. For a moment I'd even thought I'd seen a smile. It really was too much of a beast to ignore. It seemed to be the type that had to be put down rather than it ever ceding a loss willingly.

When the dragon dropped to the ground the stadium went silent. As one we held our breaths. We watched the downed dragon, shared in hopes of this not being a tragedy.

The rise of the pokemon's ribs caused everyone to exhale causing the stadium's dust to stir as a small breeze swept through it at the synchronised action. I gripped the podium and shuddered.

"Kabu-tops?" said my pokemon. I waved off the concern.

"Sorry for that Kabutops, that Charizard wasn't simply going to accept going down. One of the issues of using Dragon pokemon. They're prideful beings. Like Don." That got an understanding nod from Shin, well aware of how Don could be. "You've probably got a rival in that Charizard now. If you ever fight it again it's going to try twice as hard to knock you out."

"Kabutops!" Shin brandished his scythes. I grinned before looking up at Lance as he stared at the pokeball in his hand.

"That happen a lot?" I called.

Lance nodded, "Yes. Charizard is very much a Dragon in temperament." He inclined his head. 'Most people don't like to recognise that in him." His expression turned amused. "And yes your shin has certainly earnt himself a rival on this day." He pushed the pokeball back onto his belt before sweeping his hand out, causing his cape to flourish. "But don't think I have forgotten my reason for being here Brock!" He tossed another pokeball forward.

"Go Dragonite!"

I held in my groan. Another Dragonite and still not his main? Dragonite's were huge commitments to train and Lance had three at a level he felt was appropriate for his best team? Insane. He was truly insane.

"OH! IS THIS IT!?" I shook my head but realised that the announcer shouldn't be that embarrassed that they'd mistaken this Dragonite for Lance's brute. I could see the sheen of polished scales and rippling muscle as the dragon idly flexed.

Once more the rocks rose up. The ref rose and dropped his flag once more. The stealth rocks swept inwards but before the rocks could hit fully the Dragonite's wings blurred and it shot upwards.

I cursed at the rapid acceleration this pokemon was showing out of the gates. It made the stealth rocks work for the hit but they were unrelenting in their pursuit. They impacted and Lance started things off. "Defog!"

This time the Dragonite stopped and its wings started to thump as it knocked the air away, beginning to blow away the field effects I'd so arduously set up.

"Hydro pump!" I watched as the Dragonite outright ignored the hit. "Again!" I ordered when I saw Lance was willing to accept the hit. The Dragonite merely turned in the air and continued to thump at the air with powerful wings.

Again and again, I launched more Hydropumps as the Dragonite cleared the field. I glanced at Shin and noted his lack of sheen. The way his scythes drooped and the size of the Hydropumps shot off, all this indicated that the burn from fire spin was taking effect on Shin. Making him weaker and weaker as time progressed.

"Thunder! Strike it down now Dragonite!" As soon as the last floating stealth rock was gone Lance cut a hand straight at where Shin stood.

"Aquajet out of there Shin!" I shouted in reply. Lance's Dragonite charged up a rumble of lightning before unleashing it, causing streaks of lighting to arc out in a huge area.

Shin was up to the task though and with each arc of lightning, he shot away. Lightning flashed and just as quickly Shin vacated the spots where the attacks were aimed. The powerful move's inaccuracy actually made it harder to deal with, as it denied Shin room to work with.

More than a few times I twitched as I watched my water-rock type ancient have to weave himself through the arcs of lightning. People in the crowd were lit up like Christmas lights as the flurry of lightning strikes landed. I couldn't hear anything over the booms of constantly releasing lightning bolts. Thankfully fighting against Surge had allowed me and my pokemon to get used to the sound at the very least.

You mostly had to grit your teeth and hope you didn't get tinnitus. The crowd ohh'd and ahh'd as discharges sounded throughout the arena, unmindful thanks to the damage absorbers once more taking some of the impact out of the sound for them.

Neither Lance nor I ordered another move, both of our eyes locked on the weaving, speeding, stutter-stepping Kabutops that shot around the arena. Pursued by lightning. I gripped my arms tight against myself, my heart swelling with pride as Shin demonstrated just why he belonged on my elite six over other options.

I bit my lip as I knew I'd only get another shot at the opening I'd trained for. "Now Shin!" his scythes instantly shone and bit into the ground. His momentum caused a huge gauge of rock to be torn up in his wake before he finally came to a harsh stop. He jerked roughly and I knew it had hurt. "OH?! WHAT'S THIS? BROCK IS GOING TO TRY AND ENDURE THUNDER WITH A WATER TYPE?!" shouted the announcer.

Around the arena, the crowd inhaled in shock. They stood in surprise as the lightning descended. It struck and Shin grunted as he used his Metal claw to induce a flow through his body and safely to the ground.

"IT'S DOING IT?! WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT?!"

"Dragonite! Iron tail!" The Dragon shot forward and forced my hand.

"Throw the rocks now Shin!" Shin ripped his arms up, lifting the rocks that had been skewered on his blades before flicking them at the charging Dragonite. The Dragonite wailed as it took the hits, only to power through and slap Shin aside.

My pokemon rag-dolled before struggling to get up. I almost saw the burn sap more energy from him. I raised my pokeball. Shin wasn't so prideful that he'd resent me for this later. He understood when he'd done enough and I'd make sure to convey that. "Nicely done Shin. That was a great first showing."

"AND BROCK WITHDRAWS HIS KABUTOPS AFTER TAKING OUT LANCE'S CHARIZARD! THIS MAKES THE SCORE FOUR TO TWO NOW IN FAVOUR OF BROCK, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!"

I smiled before palming my next choice. I just knew Lance was going to be green with envy when he saw this pokemon.

"Go Don!" My Aerodactyl took to the air screeching in a primordial manner. Dragonite flinched at the screeching dragon before narrowing its eyes while Lance stared openly at the pokemon.

"Where did you find that?" I merely shrugged my shoulders, then nodded to the referee. The crowd and the announcers were once more losing it as I revealed my third pokemon to be another ancient pokemon.

---

"Can you believe this Chuck?" said Brad in the announcer's box for the match as he stared at the resurrected pokemon. Next to him, Chuck flipped through an index on what was listed for Brock.

"He's certainly pulling out a lot of surprises here and now, Brad. None of the tournaments or the videos have shown him to have either of those pokemon. Nor for his Gym battles with people challenging his highest level Brad!."

"Interesting. How many more shocks do you think he can bring though?"

"Well, I for one wasn't expecting to watch an aerial showdown when it was announced that Lance was going to be facing Brock! Rock types don't make you think ancient flying dragons!"

"Till now that is!" said Brad before looking to the screen that was being highlighted by a producer. "And it seems the fanbase is starting to swing Chuck! At the start of the week people were saying it was going to be a clean wash with Lance sweeping the Pewter Gym in our polls! But things certainly have shifted!"

"Oh? What are they now?"

"Now, at least forty percent of people think Brock has a chance!"

"Oh! Good odds! I for one still think Lance has this. We've seen him field weaker teams but for the last pokemon! Let's see how that poll goes when his starter takes to the field!"

---

Don held his position as the flags went down. Then I ordered his first move. "Go for it, Don! Stone Edge!"

"Iron Tail Dragonite!" Lance said as Don surged forward. The Dragonite snorted, shooting forward to whip around and slap Don out of the sky with a harsh thwack. I grunted as the podium shook. Don staggered out of a small crater that he had been launched into and I saw a fire ignite in his eyes as the Dragonite gave another dismissive snort.

"Dance Don!" I said, knowing that I needed to bring Don up to parity with this Dragonite. Energy instantly swirled around Don. Lance glared as Dragon Dance took effect.

"Take it out with Thunder!"

"Sweep low and tear up the earth! Stone Edge!" This time, instead of hamstringing my pokemon, I ordered it to stay low enough that each flap of its wings saw it kissing the arena. In its wake, large hunks of the ground were torn up and the earth was thrown up into the air. Precisely like flak that attracted the lightning.

This resulted in lightning blowing the earth apart but leaving Don free. I watched the Dragonite continue to blast away before suddenly stuttering out. In the game, this would have been seen as running out of moves. In this world, Lance had pushed his Dragonite's reservoir of Electric energy too far and it now needed time to recharge.

"Dragon dance again Don!" I again capitalised on the momentary weakness. More purple energy built up within Don and when he moved now, each flap of his wing caused a harsh wind to blow about the arena. His eyes gleamed as he locked onto the Dragonite and his instinct demanded he attack now.

"Ice fang!" I ordered, making Lance hiss.

"Dodge it Dragonite!" This time it was the Dragonite that lost altitude to dive and dip around the landscape of carved rocks that had been leftover from its fight with Shin and now Don. I watched, tense, as Dragonite swept left and right through the field.

Only for Don to keep closing on him. I watched, surprised as Don began to gain more and more ground. The rate that he was reeling in the more deftly maneuvering Dragonite surprised me. Perhaps I hadn't needed to use the second Dragon Dance. Were Aerodactyl's better fliers than Dragonites? There wasn't a lot of information on that but it appeared that with Don powered up twice he was easily beginning to catch up to the Dragonite. Something that everyone seemed to notice as more and more people became vocal.

Don and the Dragonite only had eyes for each other though as they tore around the arena, pulling hairpin turns that had them spiral upwards before dropping like rocks to then loop-de-loop back around.

Dragonite tried to obfuscate the way it was flying by blowing huge dust storms in its wake only for Don to ignore the dust and charge after. It was probably something to do with being a rock type. Professor Oak or another of the researchers around the world would have a more in-depth understanding of the how, but it wasn't an issue for Don to see through the dust.

Lance clicked his tongue. "Dragonite! Turn and brawl! Use Iron Tail!"

Dragonite spun around, its tail glowing as it spun only for Don to barrel right into the attack with an open maw that had ice built up around it. Both hits connected but I could tell that Don had come off stronger from the attack.

"Dragon claw!" shouted Lance.

"Again! Ice Fang!" I was more than happy to meet Dragonite blow for blow here. I had empowered Don and already whittled away at the Dragonite with Shin. Now it became a slugfest with the two pokemon clawing and biting at each other. Don's wings even came into play, slapping his foe about the face to disrupt Dragonite as Don bit forward.

A particularly good bite saw Don clamping down. Don held on as Dragonite tried to beat its arms and head down on the attack. I leaned forward much like Don, smelling the metaphorical blood in the water. Lance likewise knew what would happen if this continued. "Dragonite crash land now!"

Before Don could unlatch Dragonite plummeted towards the earth, crashing them both into the ground. "Stone Edge!" I commanded, not really able to see what was going on but adamant that Don wasn't out of the fight.

Dragonite screeched as it was launched back to tumble before taking a kneeling stance. The dragon heaved in air while glaring at Don as my pokemon righted itself and flapped just above the ground. It seemed both were on their last legs. Lance swept his eyes from me to my pokemon before nodding.

"Hyper Beam!"

I had half a heartbeat to come to terms with the order and plan my next move. I knew a lot was riding on this call. Don wouldn't be able to do much against the next pokemon that was coming out. Heck if this Dragonite was an indicator I truly might have to play for my ace in the hole.

I could drag this out by possibly dodging but I didn't want to make things seem hedged. The ten million was a lot but, more importantly, I wanted people to respect me and my team. Here and now I had to earn that by showing that I could match Lance.

"Match it Don!" I said. Instantly energy built up in Don's maw as he locked onto his target. I tensed and braced myself, knowing exactly what was about to happen. Around the stadium, the damage absorbers flared up in readiness.

Dragonite fired off his Hyper Beam and half a heartbeat later Don matched it. Both beams of energy were on target. They slammed into each other and the earth bucked as the two attacks tore into each other.

The clash of energy didn't make any noise except the howl of the wind pushing away from the impact site. I watched as slowly but surely the beam of one of the pokemon pushed forward. I grimaced as I realised that it wasn't Don's beam.

Don seemed to sense this pressure. Like an inverted tug of war, or more accurately two sumo wrestlers throwing themselves against each other, the attacks impacted against each other. Don dug deep and the shifting balance slowed before stopping.

"DRAGONITE! PUSH ON!" roared Lance as he noticed how Don was fighting off the attack.

"DON!" I called out. "TAKE OUT THAT TWO-BIT DESCENDANT!" It wasn't how I'd normally refer to another's pokemon but Don was a crude pokemon that liked smack talk.

The beams from both pokemon intensified as more and more energy was poured forth. I looked to the Dragonite. Surely, surely they had to be running out of reserves. And sure enough, one of the pokemon inevitably ran out of energy. I grimaced as Don took the hyper beam and slammed harshly into the wall of the arena.

Dragonite stood on the other side shuddering and shaking but still standing. Don stayed down, his chest rising and falling, allowing the grip that had clenched my heart to relax.

"Aerodactyl is unable to battle, the—" A deep weary groan escaped the suddenly tottering Dragonite. Everyone watched in only for it to catch itself and flare its wings. It landed and more dust rose as everyone watched on. The referee coughed before lowering the flag in my direction. "Aerodactyl is unable to battle! We will now hold an intermission as three pokemon have been defeated!"

I withdrew Don and smiled at the pokeball as I idly walked back to the bunker, happy with his performance but dreading how Lance had now brought it to a three vs three match up. I had done well but I could feel Lance's team starting to inexorably pry my grip off control of the match.

The last few pokemon had all been able to endure despite having type advantages on them. They'd taken blows that had dropped some of Surge and Sabrina's pokemon. The hype surrounding these pokemon certainly wasn't just hot air. It seemed almost inevitable for Lance to simply outlast me with how things were going.

I continued to walk back and forth, not even paying attention to June and Celia. I could recognise that I was in a funk from the way things had slipped but I had to be realistic. Had I been expecting for this to be as easy as the games where you could line up perfect matchups and have stronger pokemon than Lance easily with hours of play? No, and that was a trap I had tried to avoid as I grew up after having my first losses handed to me. Something you could avoid entirely in the game with careful forethought. Still, the trap was there and I occasionally, like now found myself tripping over the difference between expectations versus reality. It was seeping back in and messing up my mental state.

I faced away from the girls and clapped my hands together, going through an old anxiety-release method from my past life.

When the match was called to resume, Lance looked much more in control of himself. I smiled at the presumed challenge. I'd gone through the stages of thinking I had needed. If this had continued without the break I would have probably had to use my minute delay before releasing pokemon but I was confident now. I could do this. I wasn't out of my depth.

If he wanted to bring the big guns, I could do that as well. He'd already brought out his fourth pokemon.

Time for me to answer and tear this match back into my grasp.

---

A.N. Special thanks to all my Patreons.

Also thanks to the James-Team Rocket crew who serve as my Beta's and Editors in Raikor, Elnoorz, and Thefood.

I will have another chapter out later this week.

 

[Viva01]

I resized a greatball from my hip and for half a second Lance perked up. Ah, so he had noticed that Titan's pokeball was a greatball variant, had he? He was twitchy for my 'Ace' to arrive. This match obviously was getting to him a bit if he was on the lookout for my starter pokemon as much as I was for his. Seems I might have shaken his cage with my early success.

"Go Bertha!" I shouted.

From the ball a large form emerged from mid-air to land on the ground with a quake rocking the arena.

From the light, a large bipedal, grey and rust-brown coloured pokemon emerged. She was a heavy beast covered in rugged armour that shifted with careful steps, each footfall causing a feeling of the world shifting as she adjusted her stance. On her head, two horns buzzed as they whirled to life. You couldn't notice it as much, but her fingers could also spin up like smaller, if blunter, drill rotors. She raised her arms and roared at her entrance.

"RHY! RHYPERIOR!"

"OH!? WHO'S THAT POKEMON?!" The commentators were leaning forward in shock. The air in the arena seemed to grow thin as a thousand lungs gasped in surprise.

Another commentator took up the silence as an invitation, "WHAT'S THIS!? NOT ONLY DOES HE HAVE ANCIENT POKEMON, BUT HE ALSO HAS AN ULTRA-RARE POKEMON! SOMEONE CALL A PROFESSOR! WHO IS THAT POKEMON!?"

I had been forced to spend almost two weeks searching up and down Mt. Mortar during the offseason to have her evolve. I had yet to encounter another trainer to have one so I was probably way ahead of the curve with getting my Rhydon a Protector or, rather as I'd found, a magma alloy hood that sparked her evolution.

Lance narrowed his eyes but didn't react otherwise. His Dragonite flourished its head back and forth in agitation. The referee glanced at both Lance and me before raising his flag. "Begin!"

"Ascend!"

"Track it Bertha," I ordered.

My pokemon lifted her head and slowly swiveled her head around. "Now, Stone Edge," She raised her arms and swaths of stone the size of normal Gravellers rose off the ground before being compressed into mere head-sized boulders. They launched upwards far faster only for Dragonite to dance around them, the dragon easily weaving in and out of danger despite Bertha's best attempts.

I scowled at the dancing Dragon. Apparently the break had done it a great favor in allowing it to somewhat regather its energy.

Rocks roared through the air but the Dragonite was like a leaf on the wind. Lance allowed this for a long minute before nodding to himself as the barrage stopped.

"Rest," he called out firmly.

His Dragonite didn't question him and instead shut its eyes while in mid-air. Notably, it did not stop flying and instead maintained its altitude.

"Stone Edge," I ordered. This seemed oddly disrespectful of Lance. The move was good to use in case his pokemon got worn down like Don had achieved but it should have made it a sitting duck.

This time the rocks soared up, closing on the slumbering dragon. Only for the pokemon to twitch a wing and fade to the side out of the strike zone.

I could only watch on in shock as each wave of rock that followed was almost as easily evaded.

A twitch or flap of the wing that saw it slowly losing altitude. A few rocks scrapped along the Dragon's side but none of the rocks struck cleanly, allowing the damage to actually occur.

I looked down to see a very smug-looking Lance watching me. I clicked my tongue.

A fusion move.

A move that was created from combining two or more moves together. This was a sign of just how highly trained this pokemon was in a speciality. Lance would have had to hone it in this move above all others. I had to admit it was an amazing trump card to pull during a high-stakes match. Then he'd combined it with rest. I suspected it might have been a flying-type move, rest and detect or sleep talk all merged together. There would be entire threads about this reveal on the pokenet later.

He must have trained this pokemon extensively to be able to evade in its sleep even to that margin. I could probably continue to fire up at it with Bertha's Stone Edge and get it to where it would be if Lance hadn't achieved Rest but that was not taking into account how much energy it would take out of Bertha.

There would be nothing stopping him from getting off another rest. I needed to force his hand.

I needed to swing for the stands with a home run.

I swept my arm up. "Bertha! Stop the barrage and hang ten!" Bertha snorted, the equivalent of a giggle for her. Around her, small boulders dropped to the ground showing she'd relaxed her control of them. Instead of grasping for rock, water rose up from the grates and surged towards her. The crowd shouted warnings, worried about some form of treachery.
Instead of fearing the water, Bertha grinned as she stepped back. Her position dropped into a wide stance as the wave surged up more like a tsunami.

It rose high and Bertha popped up on the top with her arms crossed. Her maw stretched wide as she stunned an entire stadium with her unexpected move.

"THAT ROCK POKEMON IS SURFING! I CANNOT BELIEVE MY EYES!" screamed the commentator over the roaring water.

"IT'S PUT HER IN RANGE!" cried out the other commentator, having caught what I was aiming for. If the attacks were too easily read and avoided I simply needed to close the distance. Something that Lance was not going to oblige me with.

"Dragonite! Awaken!" Lance shouted as my pokemon reached ten meters away from the slumbering pokemon.

"Dra?" The pokemon replied sleepily.

"Ice beam," I ordered. This time it was Lance's turn to look at me in shock while I shot him a smug look.

"Get out of there Dragonite!" He cried out.

In front of Bertha, a blue ball of energy built up before instantly discharging. The speedy dragon was quick enough to roll to the side but that didn't stop the ice from clipping it. It roared in pain at the hit and I was pleased to see part of its limb coated in ice.

That was going to pay out dividends for me. Dividends I planned to cash instantly.

"Get under the wave out of range! Hide in the swell!" In another fight and another trainer it might have worked. It was probably a good idea against others. It should have forced me to pick a side that the Dragon might appear from. I didn't want to play that game.

I'd fought against Priscilla at Mikan Island Gym's water race. I had shamelessly gotten to steal Ash's move of freezing waves.

"Aim at your wave!" Bertha instantly turned the ice beam onto the wave beneath her forcing the heavier part to sink even as the ice expanded outward. Now instead of forcing a fifty-fifty split I had entrapped Lance in the wave that was collapsing fast. He could only force his pokemon out of the wave through ice now. Something no Dragon would be able to shrug off.

With an idea of the next few sequence of events, I committed myself. "Jump up!" I ordered Bertha before the wave could collapse any further.

The frozen wave collapsed more like an avalanche upon Dragonite. "Get out of there Dragonite!"

The Dragonite shot towards one of the few openings it had available only for the ice that had frozen on its leg to catch onto the collapsing structure. It spun out into the wave and screamed as more ice collapsed upon it. Lance clenched his jaw.

"Hyper beam out of there!"

Before the ice could fully entomb the dragon and end the fight the hyperbeam punched upward and out, opening an avenue to rise. The attack was short-lived but it would have been enough for Dragonite to get out of danger.

Would have been, if not for Bertha sailing in from her previous jump. She performed a perfect unscripted bodyslam and used Dragonite like a stamp to leave an impression in the ground as ice exploded outwards. I honestly wanted to lean back and congratulate myself for everything going to plan.

"Dragonite! Gain distance!"

The smile I gave Lance was feral. Now, his pokemon was in the perfect strike range for my Bertha.

"Finish him," I said as Bertha raised the Dragonite up in one hand while the other hand's fingers spun up.

The finger drills whined as they spun up and she cocked her off-hand before it rocketed through the space and into Dragonite. The roar of pain it gave was high pitched before dying off quickly as Bertha held it up. It slumped in her grasp. In a darker world, I might have ordered another hit.

In this world, Lance merely raised his pokeball and withdrew his pokemon.

Bertha raised her fists and pumped them up and down before roaring out her triumph for all to hear. The crowd fell silent at the brutal power she had displayed. I grinned at her and nodded when she looked to me for praise.

"Excellent as always girl," I gave her a big thumbs up which had her pumping her fists more like a happy school girl rather than the giant brute she was. Then I directed her attention back to where her opponent would appear. Lance was now looking very annoyed. I shot him a grin. I'd once more reclaimed the momentum. In doing so I had revealed one of my aces but this was worth it. f

But only one of the aces regarding this pokemon. She had another ace up her sleeve that might just carry me through. Even without revealing that ace yet, people understood that she was a powerhouse. Lance continued to toy with his pokeball before lifting his hand towards the greatball on his necklace. I watched this play out for a few more seconds before chuckling.

"Really, you're dragging?" I said as I glanced towards the ice that was… very slowly melting.

Lance gave me a sardonic smile before selecting the pokeball. "It's a valid strategy. I had to use it against Pryce as he kept freezing the field in my bid to become Champion." Lance gestured to the field, "I'm surprised that you haven't had more pokemon use ice attacks so far."

"I had other options available for me." I settled into a relaxed pose as my gaze turned towards the clock. "Gonna run out your minute?"

Lance nodded watching the ice begin to trickle. The commentators quickly picked up on the tactic and I just knew that the people at home were being forced into an impromptu ad break. I rolled my eyes. Lance couldn't just throw out his pokemon now. It wasn't something typically used but it was certainly a valid tactic. Referees were allowed to give trainers a minute to make their selection between rounds. True field effects like Stealth rock or toxic spikes wouldn't fade over time like a field that had magma or even ice.

It was therefore worth keeping your cool and playing out the minute. Other matches wouldn't allow this break, demanding an immediate withdrawal and response from trainers. We didn't have to worry about that. The crowd got a little restless but that was something that you needed to learn to ignore at times. Allowing the whims of the crowd to dictate your pace was just a method of giving away matches.

I checked over Bertha and saw that while she had not taken any actual damage she had obviously had to use quite a few moves. She'd been much more mobile than most of her species were known for. She was more of a juggernaut, not that most people would know that with her current rarity.

"TEN!" I straightened as Lance's minute wore down. The field hadn't lost much of the ice but it had become more of a slurry rather than actual chunks that I might have been able to use.

"NINE!" I watched him sweep his cape out dramatically and the crowd roared as he worked up his throw to have it landing and discharging moments before he might have been penalized for his late send out.

I stared at the pokemon that was revealed instead of paying any attention to the cheering crowd that had enjoyed Lance's showmanship.

The Kingdra that appeared I had been expecting, but not this late into the match up. If he'd brought it out against Sanchez I might have been much further ahead now. Apparently, he'd been holding onto it in case I got this far along.

I had recalled that it was a water-dragon hybrid and hoped to one-two it with the Gyrados.

"OH! AND NOW IT'S THE CHAMPION'S TURN TO REVEAL A RARE POKEMON! WHO IS IT!?"

I blinked in surprise. Had Lance not revealed his Kingdra before? I ran back through the potential teams I thought he might have access to and I'd immediately added in the Kingdra along with the Aerodactyl. A pokemon that he apparently wasn't going to call out at all. Or did he not have it at all?

Had it appeared in the cartoon?

I watched the Kingdra bob up and down across from me. It stayed well away from the ice. Apparently, he'd never been shown to use it during a public setting until now. Lance was looking at me with a frown before shaking his head. For once I was glad of my normally non-expressive and narrow eyes that made it tough to cold read me.

Mentally, I was pumping my fist up and down. Foreknowledge for the win!

"Trainers! Are you ready!?" shouted the referee.

I resumed my pose and nodded. Lance copied me.

"Ready? Beg—!" "Impact driver!" I shouted before the referee could fully announce the start.

Bertha perked up at the order. Her feet slid apart and one arm rose up to point right at the ground. The other arm lowered to touch the ground as if she'd just performed a three-point landing.

This wasn't just a pose for style though.

Ideally, I would not have had Bertha be the one to face Lance's Kingdra. Ideally, it would have been Sanchez or maybe even Shin. That ship had long since been sailed by Lance holding the Kingdra in reserve. Apparently, because he'd never before been forced to call upon it. I hadn't realized that however, and instead thought it might come out as his third or fourth pokemon. Instead, I'd gotten powerhouses in Charizard and Dragonite.

Now I had it much later than I wanted it to be, where it might cause a lot of problems for me. Bertha was slow. She was a tank that could handle huge amounts of damage. More than almost any of my other pokemon.

Against a speedster like Kindgra I didn't like her chances with having to rely on ice beam. I doubted Surf would work in my favour. I might even lose if I wasn't careful. Unless I bucked up and swung for the stands again. Lance wasn't the only trainer that could create a Fusion move.

"Use Dragon's dance!" shouted Lance. His eyes locked on the raised arm. He could tell something was up but he obviously wasn't sure how it was going to come into effect.

The arm began to hum as it vibrated. The drills on each finger spun up faster and faster as the arm pulsed slightly.

"Hydropump!" ordered Lance. From the mouth of his pokemon a torrent of water shot forward and slammed into Bertha. I let it, swallowing at the super effective move hammering into my pokemon. I wished I had another option that could see her deny Kingdra it's speed. Instead, I held my pose and watched Bertha tank the hit. I clenched up and willed her to hang on.

"Hold, Bertha!"

She grunted. There was no doubt that she felt the hit but instead of the type advantaged attack knocking her out like it had with Lance's Gyrados, she endured. Her feet were dug in, this was a move I had practised with her time and time again. She just needed to endure the coming onslaught.

"Again!" shouted Lance as he leaned across the railing. His gaze was locked onto the heavily vibrating arm as a whine filled the air.

Once more the Hydropump slammed into Bertha and she groaned, her body trembled now as she shuddered. Her eyes drooped. "BERTHA HANG ON AND THIS FIGHT IS YOURS!"

Lance's eyes widened. "Bide? Kingdra! END IT NOW!"

I grinned. He only had it partly right. Bide formed only part of the move I was now using. Kingdra inhaled and I decided I needed to pull the trigger.

"NOW BERTHA! IMPAC—" I didn't get the chance to finish as Kingdra shot out his Hydropump.

Before it hit, Bertha unleashed the stored potential energy she had been building up. Her arm drove through the ground and from the impact site a blinding flash of light exploded outwards.

The arena rocked. The hit landed more like a meteor crashing home rather than a pokemon move. I braced and leaned into the quake. Lance's cape billowed outwards as he was hit by the shockwave. Around the arena, the damage absorbers shot into active states to take the hits.

The arena itself broke as fissures ruptured out from the point of impact. Canyons of the ground had been torn up revealing the underlying metal that stopped pokemon from merely disappearing into the ground during a match. Around the Kingdra spiked boulders had slammed up and rammed into the pokemon.

The Kingdra flopped to the ground. Out cold.

The crowd roared to their feet, a clamouring mass of people that had been shaken up from the attack forcing them to stand. I could see some play backs of the crowd getting thrown about with Bertha's attack.

"OH!!!! BROCK UNLEASHES A ONE HIT K.O!" shouted the commentator.

I exhaled in relief, only to hiss as a much larger body hit the ground. I looked up to see a ragged Bertha staring up at me with tired eyes.

"You did good girl. Better than good, even. Rest now." I raised her greatball and returned her. She shut her eyes as the red beam of light touched her and let herself fall into sleep.

I eventually looked up from the greatball to see Lance still observing the field. His eyes roamed across the large canyons of damage and he toys with his greatball on his necklace. His gaze comes up to meet me and I can see that I have forced his respect now.

We don't make any move to actually deploy our next pokemon.

We turn away for the final reprieve. There will be no more breaks after this. The next fight would see us putting our pride on the line. This was a battle of starter pokemon.

---

Thanks to all my Patreons. Your support means tons to me!

I'll have to admit that this chapter is actually a lot younger than any of the other chapters. When I was writing the fight and indeed a lot of the fights I work off references for what pokemon another trainer has access to. I miscounted Lance's pokemon and had to go back. Thankfully I was able to type up something that fit with this fight while unveiling Bertha, the cataclysm on legs.

Special thanks to Raikor, Ab9999, and Thefood who're acting as betas and editors.

Please leave a like, and/ or a comment with your thoughts 2nd chapter will drop soon!

Also, I'm very surprised at how Red Riot won a chapter with the vote for this month over things like DxD which you've got some chapters for.

 

[Viva01]

Celia stared at her teacher as he stepped off the podium. The field behind him was once more torn and cratered as if a series of battles had taken place instead of an exchange of attacks. For all that Brock said this wasn't the 'level' she needed to reach, experiencing it made her realise just how far she and her team had to go. When Shin had been burned she'd opened a pokeball to hug her Wartortle. June had copied her with her starter, Flareon. It helped knowing she wasn't alone in how… intimidating this was.

She'd never seen Brock this intense, this focused. It was surprising to see him rise to this level and force the Champion of the region to acknowledge his strength. She had no idea he was this strong!

That being said, she knew the Champion was powerful, but to see him working through the oppression Brock had set up? It was so scary! Trainers could get this strong? Celia was sure she'd seen the damage absorbers around the trainers flicker a little! It was completely different watching a match from the Champion in person instead of through the television.

This time when Brock came back to his bunker he swept in. He'd nodded to acknowledge them but the intensity of his focus was too much. Even simply claiming a bottle of water to drink kept the girls both silent. He'd said nothing, merely sitting with laced fingers before breathing in and out in a controlled manner.

The difference this time from the first intermission was only more marked in Celia's mind. The first time Brock had roamed, twitchy and energised. Like a caged Arcanine. Now he sat and thought heavily enough to weigh down even their tongues.

She shared a glance with June and swallowed before her eyes inevitably gravitated back to Brock.

He'd begun to toy with a greatball that he'd attached to a necklace.

That could only mean that Titan was going to be next. She felt herself squirming. The big pokemon was typically a great training partner for her pokemon, and had more than once been used to gauge how strong her team was. There was no doubt that he was strong, and sweet.

Brock had a lot of strong pokemon. And he knew how to use them! Arceus did she find that attra… Celia stopped that thought. She shuddered before trying to remember what she'd been thinking. She refocussed on how Brock was taking losing out his last pokemon.

She'd have to re-examine her previous ideas on how strong they were. Brock after all had more depth so it could only be assumed that his starter would be able to match.

She licked her lips and found that she couldn't wait for the next stage to start.

---

Sabrina let her attention shift from the mind of the trainer in Brock's bunker to Brock himself. Sadly she couldn't see him very well from her seating.

"Brock's doing great!" Shouted Surge with his typical bravado. The man didn't care about the number of bruises that had formed across his neck or arms. Sabrina had been forced to hear people project their views on how Surge had been intimate. This was always accompanied with waves of emotion that muddied the mind. Lust, disgust, disapproval, curiosity, spite, glee. People didn't understand how fast certain feelings could flicker out. It made things very annoying.

Erika, merely bobbed her head. Listless, but for the spark of intense interest as her eyes remained forward, waiting like so many others for the next match to start. "He's," a large yawn escaped her lips causing her to throw her sleeve in front of her mouth as she blushed, "He's done well," she said. Surge turned his head towards Erika.

"Ho? Someone tired? Had a late night?" his eyes wiggled.

Sabrina understood this to mean he was implying something sexual.

From the context given it likely meant that he thought Erika had slept with Brock and they had stayed up together last night. Sabrina allowed herself a twitch of the lips. The man was wrong. No such event had occurred.

Erika shook her head. "I think my room was haunted, I never saw them but some mischievous ghost pokemon kept moving my things about in my room."

"Huh," Surge said, scratching his head. "Didn't think the Plateau would have any of them. Better watch out Sabrina. We all know how Ghost types work against your type."

Sabrina turned to direct Surge an unimpressed look. "Do not presume such would bother me. I can deal with them." As soon as she said it Sabrina felt something run a finger up her spine. She flexed her focus behind her but the ghost vanished. Sabrina turned her head to look towards an old woman that was smirking. Sabrina narrowed her eyes at the woman but the old Elite four Ghost specialist didn't look in her direction.

When Sabrina turned back to Surge and Erika she found them discussing the match so far.

Erika hopped back and forth. "Brock has done amazingly! He's set up a team and a battle that is going to see him taking a huge advantage against Lance's Dragonite!"

Sabrina turned her head further, interested despite herself as Surge rubbed his chin. "Do you think he can win?"

Erika opened her mouth before shutting it and chewing her lips in thought.

Sabrina wanted to scoff openly. Brock would win. They'd gone through his encounters together. Erika had little idea of the training and behind the scenes work that had gone into preparing for this match.

Still, she didn't actually do that. Last night Sabrina could admit to being rather… petty. She had used her telekinesis from Brock's room to float items around Erika's room to give the girl a scare. Something she hadn't done in years. Not since she was young and her mother… Sabrina swallowed. She glanced at Erika's slightly baggy eyes before looking away.

She shouldn't have done that. She'd just been… She… She'd… she didn't like what was happening. She pointedly didn't look at Erika beyond small glances. She wasn't sure why she felt small when Erika yawned. It wasn't like anyone was around to catch or scold her.

Sabrina had lurked around but as soon as the crowd of excitable reporters had come she'd had to leave. Too many emotions and thoughts were practically being screamed. So many of them were wrong or contrary to what was actually being said at any one time. She hadn't liked it. But… that didn't make what she'd done right had it?

She'd attend enough calls that she thought she had known what Erika was like. It seemed that phone conversations were not substitutes for meeting with people. She'd hoped to cultivate such methods for developing relationships normally. Not with Erika though. She'd never thought of the girl that way. Or indeed any of the other gym leaders she talked with.

Erika had just seemed to be a formal girl. Nothing more and nothing less. Getting to sit next to her had revealed a few things. Sabrina hadn't pried into her thoughts. The girl was actually rather quiet most of the time. Which actually made her not objectionable to sit near.

"Heh! Well, I have no doubt about my man Brock! I even bet a ton of money on him!"

"You shouldn't bet Surge, it's not a good appearance for us to gamble! As Gym Leaders we need to be seen as role models!" Erika chastised tiredly. Sabrina watched them interact. She knew Surge well enough to know that he wouldn't be bothered by Erika thinking poorly of him. But Erika did believe. She tried, Sabrina easily noticed how Erika had ironed her clothes before coming. How she had done her make-up and held herself in a formal posture despite how she mentally complained about how it tired her further. Then she seemed to spiral into self-chastisement for not being able to do it naturally. None of which appeared on her face.

It was good that she didn't need to look at Erika to 'hear' her thoughts. Still it was odd to find herself… interested… interested in Erika? She considered that statement.

Erika was interesting, Sabrina concluded. She now felt a little bad about how she had acted. Perhaps she could do something for Erika one day?

Surge, ignorant as to how Sabrina was watching them, or perhaps quite the opposite and exulting in it, puffed his chest out as he waved his hand back and forth. "Nah! That's all crud! We're people too and it's a way of showing my support! I'm bound to make a ton of money cause I even bet on him before he made his announcement! There's going to be some downright miserable bookies in Goldenrod tonight you count my words!"

"Why did you bet in Goldenrod?" Erika asked with a tilt of her head.

Surge grinned, "So I can take some of those Johto punk's money!"

Sabrina glanced between them. Surge was unreadable to her. Erika was apparently worried about it for Indigo relations. Sabrina knew it to also be that Goldenrod had better odds against Brock. Sabrina let the comment pass. She had nothing that needed saying.

"Brock certainly looks good out there," Erika said, deciding on another conversation. Sabrina nodded her head, lips curling upwards as Erika mistakenly thought she was inadvertently complimenting her.

She didn't even need to step into the other girl's mind to know that she was patting herself on the back like an excitable Bellossom that completed a new trick. Truly Brock's earlier suggestions of reading some books to understand relationships and interactions had helped.

Sabrina felt like she understood more of the interactions going on despite all the extra information she had. She had her own library at home and even used her knowledge to be able to mend her relationship with her parents after they had… reacted poorly to her psychic skills.

With her knowledge built empathy, she'd been able to both talk with them and psychically link with them to make sure that no communication failure occurred. She was a master at getting her point across nowadays, and her parents were cordial with her instead of terrified as they had been years ago.

A marked improvement. Even her gym had grown stronger from her increased communication skills. Trainers had learnt more about their pokemon, and her Gym easily was one of the strongest in the Indigo league now.

It didn't matter that Erika was one of the most popular gym leaders. That mattered little, and no one really paid any attention to that sort of thing. Sabrina wasn't the worst there with most people finding Koga's hidebound standards of challenge and the inconvenience of reaching Blaine's gym meant she was third last. It didn't bother her.

At all.

She could be popular if she wanted.

She could make people outright love her if she truly wanted. But she didn't because that wasn't important to her and it didn't bother her.

At all.

"Are you alright Sabrina?" Sabrina blinked as Erika's voice sheared into her thoughts. Sabrina replayed the last minute of the conversation. Surge had been aggrandising himself while Erika had been trying to calm him down. Nothing of value was lost not listening in. But Erika had apparently seen her scowling.

"Ah don't mind her! She's just miffed Brock hasn't used Selene! Sabrina helped out training Selene and wants to see their pet project throw down!" crowed Surge.

Sabrina turned her head. "Selene is not a brute to be thrown out without thought. Brock understands this. He is merely holding her in reserve for the best moment."

"You helped Brock train for this?" Sabrina straightened in her chair and let her lips twitch slightly into a smirk.

"Yes, he asked for my help." There, that would allow Erika to learn of the difference in their standings in terms of her relationship to Brock. She was closer and better understood him than this girl that appeared out of nowhere. Despite her desire to not like the other Gym Leader she found herself… enjoying her presence? Perhaps it was because it gave Surge another target other than herself to be loud towards?

"Wow, that's really amazing!" Erika turned eyes that practically shone with adoration towards Sabrina. Sabrina continued to look away from her, feeling vaguely uncomfortable and slightly guilty about how she had acted last night. It was… nice having Erika looking up to her.

"He got me to help out as well!" Surge sadly couldn't keep his mouth shut. Sabrina acknowledged him with a stiff nod. Erika made a high pitched noise that reminded Sabrina of a kettle.

"Eeeee! You three are amazing! Joining up like that! I wish I could have helped out…" She wilted into her large dress and chewed on her lip. Surge pat the girl's shoulder.

"Hey this match up wasn't a good one for you. Lance has a few moves like that Gyrados and Dragonite knowing thunder that I could train Brock against!" He jerked a thumb at Sabrina and she glanced at the offending limb before he withdrew it. "Sabrina here brought out some curve-balls or some such along with training one of Brock's pokemon in control I think. Other than that, I'm not sure cause her top team is still a mystery. Ain't no one challenging Saffron's Elite challenge. But I'm sure you helped out… in your own way yesterday!" Surge's smirk was missed by Erika but Sabrina noted it with a roll of her eyes. Truly she didn't want to be able to read his mind. It would likely be a filthy place.

She did a reflexive sweep of the minds around herself. She always paused on Surge. His own mind stood out for the noted different feel to it. Somehow the man's mind was shielded from her. It felt nothing like another psychic's defences or the aura based defences she'd learnt few others possessed from self-mastery. It felt strangely mechanical. She noted it as an interesting oddity to research. Few people could defend against her mental prowess if she tried, quite a few she could feel right now, such as the ghostly creeping mind of Agatha situated in the Elite Four box. Next to her Bruno's forged mind through discipline stood out as something she had to be careful around.

Then there were the two on the trainers everyone was watching.

Lance's mind was not something she dared approach. To her he felt like a powerful beast suppressed tightly into a small space. She could feel his energy shift about as he sat waiting for the announcement to resume the match.

Directing her attention to the other, more familiar mind she found herself running into a rock hard shell that had been built up gradually. Sabrina knew she could tear through it and had done so in the past. She swallowed as she recalled the first time they had met and how much of an anomaly Brock had been to her. She hadn't liked that darkness he held deep within but it worked wonderfully in protecting his thoughts.

The absence of thought or emotions or other feelings had been alien to Sabrina. She'd been terrified at first as she'd felt herself grasping about for something familiar. She'd returned to herself and been shaken. At the time she could admit she had been arrogant. Self-assured in her might only to have Brock appear as if from nowhere. He'd been the first person able to tell her no in a long time. She'd struggled during their match furiously trying to detect what and how he was going to have his pokemon do during their match. Until she'd realised how peaceful the silence was.

With her focus on Brock the world had… gotten quieter. Without having half a hundred people's thoughts pushing at her she had felt herself slowly relax. She'd barely even noticed losing her match against Brock she'd been so distracted.

Brock… Brock was important. For many reasons she felt.

For now, she had to simply watch and will Brock to victory… she felt her mind struggle under the clamour of the thousands. When the match was done, she'd try and stay to talk with Brock but she knew it would be hard. She had set herself a duty however and she would stand by it.

She'd also make sure no one, absolutely no one, tried to cheat him of his victory.

---

Samuel Oak rubbed his chin in thought. To his left Daisy was actually leaning forward and paying rapt attention to the television instead of messaging her friends. A marked difference from normal televised battles, but Oak had a suspicion as to what was actually holding her attention. In her lap a typically flighty Abra lay placidly, something not unusual for the girl as she was much beloved by pokemon.

To his right Gary had his hands raised, he was as stiff as a statue and emoting more than most people were used to seeing from the cool kid of Pallet.

"This is insane!" His grandson shouted. Samuel merely chuckled, causing Gary to round on him. "I thought Brock wouldn't be able to mount a fight like this! He's supposed to be one of the easier people to win a badge off!"

Sam gave that proclamation a snort. "That's because most people don't fight him later on. Most people do the traditional route of the Heroes' unification walk." Gary chewed his lip and nodded.

Gary waved his hand at the television. "I mean yeah, but still? This strong? It's way—"

"Do so many people still follow that fudy dudy old story?" Daisy asked.

Gary bristled at being interrupted but a raised hand gently patting the air made the preteen subdue himself. "It is not a story it is part of Kanto's history, young lady so many people follow it even if unknowingly. The Pewter city gym should be venerated as the first gateway and tribe to join with the Hero. Many in the past followed this to honour the Hero and the companions he formed along the way." Samuel Oak wavered his hand back and forth, "Buuuut most only associate it with the gym circuit and the museum these days."

Gary squirmed and Sam continued on. "And to answer your question, I too am surprised by Brock's showing. He is doing excellently and truly drawing out some surprising pokemon."

"That Kabutops! And the Aerodactyl!! And that last one? Rhyperior! What the he—" A stern look from his Grandfather and an amused titter from Daisy stopped Gary in his tracks. He coughed before continuing, "What gives? I've never seen pokemon like that in your lab Gramps! How come?" Gary shouted. Daisy also gave Samuel a look at this.

"That's because I've never had them in the lab. I think I will be making a visit to Pewter, or be asking for Brock to send over some pokemon, as those are certainly rare specimens. I hope he accepts."

"Why wouldn't he?" asked Daisy.

Gary beat him to answer this question, "Cause Gym Leaders don't have to give out their pokemon for research like some trainers do. Don't worry though, if Brock says no I'll find some and catch them for my team!" This drew a chuckle from the older man and he wrapped an arm around his grandson's shoulders, getting a squawk from the young lad. "Not to worry, I think I'll be asking after Lance's Kingdra first. He's often interested in talking with me. A polite young man I've found him to be."

Daisy looked back to the television. "Who do you think is going to win?"

Gary stopped fidgeting in the hug and looked up, silently waiting for his grandfather's decision.

"It can still go either way honestly."

"Even though it's five to four?" said Daisy sceptically.

Sam nodded seriously, allowing his mind to begin picking apart what he had seen and begin to play out the options the trainers had along with what they could have or should have done. "Brock and Lance have both made a number of mistakes with their judgements of the other. As trainers that have not fought each other before, that is to be expected. They don't have a good enough feel for the other to know what they will do. Any subsequent matches between these two will be much tighter, or even more one-sided affairs depending on the work put in.

"Brock has anticipated Lance wonderfully with his call on Gyrados coming out first. The electric type Golem was a rare variant that paid huge dividends, and could have seen Brock three to one up. I suspect the match from there would have been much more different if that had been the case.

"Lance has not had the advantage of knowing what pokemon Brock could call up, as Brock actually only has three tournaments to his name prior to becoming a gym leader. In the first he only had to use a Lapras, a Golem, and a Rhydon. During his match in the Orange Island League he fielded a more diverse team with Noctowl, Lapras, Rhydon, Onix, and Pupitar. We barely have a register for Brock with his journey being cut short. His only Hoenn appearance during a competition, he only made it to the three on three rounds, losing with Noctowl, Lapras, and Lairon."

"Brock has a Lairon? Does that mean he has the fully evolved Aggron?!" Gary squawked in surprise, head swelling from the television to his Grandfather. "Is that going to be his last pokemon? Tyranitar or a… what Noctowl, Lapras or Aggron?"

Samuel shook his head. "I doubt it. Lance challenged Brock as the Leader of the Pewter Gym so he needs to use pokemon specifically representing his Gym. So Rock Type or rock-themed. Two of those pokemon are not like that." The older man noted both of his grandchildren still watching him, making him feel very pleased as they listened for once.

"For today's matchup, we still have to see his Onix I believe. This demonstrates that Brock has been very tight with his team line up though. I'd expect an Onix from Brock to be well trained and I expect Lance knows this."

He rubbed his chin as Daisy and Gary continued to listen. "Lance has had less time to train his pokemon and prepare them for this match. Something I believe Brock has taken advantage of. Lance also has had to deal with a number of type disadvantages from Brock that most were dismissive of. Brock was actually Lance's second-worst match up in the entire Indigo circuit."

"Who was worse?" said Gary

Daisy shivered theatrically. "Mahogany town's Pryce." At Gary's look she rolled her eyes. "Learn your geography twerp or my gift to you when you start your journey is going to be a map. Pryce is located in the mountains that are ice-covered. Ice is the biggest weakness Dragon's have." Gary nodded and Sam smiled at Daisy.

Daisy's absolute statement might not have been as true as it once had been. There had been that article that some professors were arguing over, but it needed to see a lot more research before it gained any traction. He'd need to push some of his sponsored trainers into looking out for certain… pretty pokemon. Gary and Ash wouldn't do it, so he might have to rely on Greta for that.

"—amps?!" Sam hummed and turned back to Gary.

"Sorry I was lost in thought over something. What were you asking my boy?"

Gary huffed, annoyed at being ignored. "I said, is there anything else you can tell us about the match?"

Sam nodded. From this match he could write a number of articles, but he doubted his grandson wanted to read those. He wanted easily digestible facts or insights. Sam made a note to make the pokedex he gave out focus on that for the next update. The current format was too unwieldy, some people preferred scientific facts while others merely wanted snapshot information.

"Well, both trainers should have had a few more pokemon with attack negators as Lance is notorious for his powerful attacks. Brock has also demonstrated he will use powerful one-shot attacks. If either had used protect or endure at the right time they would have again changed the tempo of the match. I will complement Brock as he has controlled the tempo wonderfully from the outset and when Lance has tried to come to grips he has evaded or landed a much more devastating blow than Lance was anticipating. Now he has to rely on his strongest pokemon."

"The Dragonite, his starter, yeah?"

"Indeed." Sam looked at the television "It could still go either way. Lance is that powerful with his Dragonite, but Brock has shown he is capable. Win or lose I think he has gained the respect he was owed."

"Yeah!" Gary pumped his fists up and down.

"This is pretty crazy, I never thought Brock would be like this. He's kind of being like… Rawr!" Daisy made the noise while clawing the air playfully. Then she giggled.

"What's that go to do with anything?" Gary blinked cluelessly. Sam chuckled, suspecting where this would go.

"It's just kind of crazy to see him all serious and growly. He was sooo much more laid back with the gym a couple of years ago when I challenged him!" She squirmed a little, "Him and Lance were just so intense during their pre-match meeting. They're kind of handsome you know? And both single! Maybe they're even—" Sam coughed loudly as Gary tilted his innocent little head in confusion as to what Daisy was alluding to. Daisy giggled to herself and hugged the placid Abra in her lap before pulling out her phone to message her friends as the intermission continued.

"Girls are weird," pronounced Gary. Sam nodded seriously and patted his grandson. Perfect, he'd be able to use the cheerleader plan for the security team. Gary would prove far easier to protect than Daisy had been.

---

Agatha tapped her cane as she felt the little brat in the Kanto gym leader section sweep the stadium with her psychic senses. The little fool didn't realise she should also be trying to detect what she couldn't detect. As a powerful ghost-type trainer, Agatha had no doubt she could walk right up to the girl and tweak her nose before she noticed her approach.

Psychic types! Pah! All over thinking fools that thought themselves too clever without the wisdom to contain themselves.

Next to her Bruno shifted before cracking his neck from side to side with a hideous pop-crunch. Further down, Lorelei shivered.

"Must you do that?" the prim girl said.

Bruno grunted and clenched his fists to demonstrate that yes, yes he did and he didn't have to really pay attention to what Lorelei wanted.

"Interesting watching Lance get his butt handed to him like this," said the muscle-bound fool.

"There's nothing 'interesting' about it at all. He is being led around and looking weak. This will not inspire confidence. He is going to make all of us look weak!"

"Just means more challengers," Bruno said before putting his knuckles under his chin. "Let em come. I get bored with no challengers."

Lorelei scowled. "You're not the first person they will face!"

"So toughen up." Bruno as ever was eloquent. Agatha smiled as Lorelei scowled. She, and everyone else at the Pokemon League, knew that the girl was on thin ice. Lance was just waiting to make a play. His natural dislike of Ice-types colouring his view of the young woman.

Sadly he was also trying to oust Agatha herself, but she at least had a plan for that. An apprentice that was more than ready to step up when she stepped down. It might seem different, but the strings of power would still be hers to tug on. Except now she wouldn't be someone people would immediately turn to. She'd been careful with her accumulation of power, but she'd have more freedom out of the Elite Four these days.

She knew Koga was due to be tapped with Blaine having only recently departed. The 'old guard' as it were, stood down finally. Agatha snorted. Only for appearances. But sometimes appearances were enough to cause certain types to rise up like Goldeen that had grown incautious after an Ursaring went still in a pond. The bear was still there but people forgot about it, unaware of the dangers that loomed over them.

She'd need to stay vigilant. The bad old days weren't as far off as people really thought they were. It only took a few dominoes falling just so. You just needed to be correctly positioned to know. The big players were always the ones that needed to have the most attention to their surroundings. Often, they formed part of the dominoes that could be targeted to start the toppling effect.

She looked at Lance and felt at his now raging Aura as it pulsed and writhed. Soon he'd unleash his most powerful Pokémon and she'd get a taste of his power once more.

She turned to the Pewter boy and tilted her head in consideration.

Now he'd been a surprise.

She wondered who his master was to teach him such basic control. His rock type energy was a strong armour that most wouldn't know of, but he had a certain conscious control. She'd seen a few rocks not caught by the barrier bounce off him during the explosion and leave no mark. He had to have an understanding beyond simply having highly trained rock types.

She'd mark him as one to watch and investigate. Karen might even make some overtures. The boy would probably be flattered with a young beauty like her paying him attention. Agatha glanced back as another sweep ran over her. Karen would probably have to chase off some strays, but that sometimes made it more enjoyable.

Crushing rivals for a man's attention was sometimes the better payoff in Agatha's opinion. Agatha paused when the boy grabbed a greatball off his necklace and for just a moment another pulse ran through the arena.

Oh? Now she sat up fully. "Lance might be in trouble here." That got Bruno and Lorelei to shut their mouths. Agatha began to re-evaluate her plans before signalling a servant for a drink. She might just get to enjoy this.

---

Flint sat at the edge of the Pewter city park party and wrung his hands. His eyes were locked on the big screen where his eldest was shown. Battling Lance of all things. When he'd departed he'd lashed himself mentally even as he'd finally been able to regather himself and relax from the constant hounding of his family and his gym.

He'd come back stronger. More whole. He wouldn't have the flinches that had put him off in his pokemon battles. He wouldn't lock up anymore during crucial moments.

He'd trekked out, first to find his beloved wife but the trail had run cold. Perhaps with her there and by his side they might have… He shook that thought away. He couldn't lean on Lola like that. He'd done it before and she'd struggled with his issues while pregnant with the first set of twins. He had to get stronger. That was what stood out to him.

When he was young he'd been able to handle the intense explosions and sleep like a babe as pokemon fought. When he'd left, he'd felt edgy. It'd gotten so bad he'd… he shook himself. The nightmares hadn't bothered him in months. He was better these days. He was sure of it. It was just that…

He'd spent too long away. It hadn't been something he was even conscious of. Now he was unsure how to come back.

Maybe it would have been better if he'd come back with Lola? Then, before he knew it he'd spent roughly two and a half years away from his family.

It had been a bit of a gut punch to realise how time had slipped away from him again. He'd first thought it'd be quick, in and out. Find his wife, come back, and relieve Brock. He shouldn't have dropped that on Brock. But it wasn't like he wouldn't have support. The teachers at the schools, and even the pokecenter would have helped out. Surely? Had he left notes for Brock? He'd been foggy about back then, just remembering Brock being angry over the mess.

He'd come back expecting to find things much as he'd left them. For Brock to be plugging along stolidly with the family clamouring for his attention as the man of the house. He hadn't had a plan, but Flint felt for sure he'd think of something when he got back to Pewter.

Then he'd come back and found the old gym abandoned and derelict. That had terrified him. A quick word had allowed him to make the track slightly out of town to a much different Pewter gym. Something sleek and new and entirely unfamiliar with the old boulder gym Flint had left behind.

Brock certainly hadn't been struggling at all. If anything, Brock was thriving.

The gym wasn't a cramped affair, but something that had an entire district of the city practically to itself. Huge fields for free-roaming pokemon and their trainers to relax. There had also been the option for people to rent stable space for themselves during a one year journey! There had been smaller battle arenas to practise in, and a modern stadium with damage absorbers fitted into the arena. There were even trainer rooms for people living at the gym!

The building itself was gigantic. It would have had to have been an architect's wet dream to design. Flint never would have paid for that, but Brock had apparently gone all in. There was a dedicated family apartment area near the side of the gym that was fenced off, and even had a garden. Out the back, the gym's dedicated pokemon had their own preserve with caves and canyons to roam through while others nest on the roof or peaks that Brock had set up for them.

The insides were all high tech and crisp clean areas. Flint had snuck in during a match to watch Brock lay into a late badge challenge and been proud of how easily Brock seemed to handle it.

He'd hesitated then. Unsure what to do. Brock had departed before he'd made up his mind that day. Flint didn't think it wise to pursue his son and instead retreated to camp in a field. He'd come back into town a number of times for food, not able to meet the eyes of a few old ladies that shot him damning looks over his appearance. He suspected a few even saw through it to who he was, which forced him to move further out of town as he tried to work out what he needed to do.

He'd decided to wait, only for the challenge to come down from the Champion. That might have offered a window to talk with his son, maybe offer to help train with him, but Brock was always on the go. Busy and focussed. Flint had known just from that what his son was going to do.

Now he was seeing that come into effect. It stung to see his son succeed like this. He was soaring so high. What did he need his old man back for? Flint found himself asking that question more and more these days.

Maybe he'd approach during the off circuit season. Brock would be free to talk then right?

Or maybe… Maybe if Brock los… He grit his teeth. No, he wouldn't wish that upon his son. He knocked on his head driving the thought out. Arceus, he had some issues if he was even thinking that way. He looked up at the big screen as the intermission finally came to a close.

In the Pewter park square the locals roared their approval as Brock stepped forward once more, a confident look on his face as he palmed the greatball on his neck. Flint felt the old sting come back. Another failure from him. Brock hadn't needed an Onix, he'd already had something better. Sure it would have taken longer to train up, but Flint knew Brock's starter was strong.

He sat down and watched his son march forward.

---

A.N. Special thanks to all my Patreons.

Also thanks to the James-Team Rocket crew who serve as my Beta's and Editors in Raikor, Elnoorz, and Thefood.

 

[Viva01]

I spun the greatball in my grasp. It was a nervous tick. I knew it, and so did anyone who spent enough time with me. That didn't stop me from doing it. It was a soothing rhythm. A motion that allowed me to centre myself with the memetic action that was practically muscle memory at this point.

Obviously, it didn't transfer to the pokemon within. Otherwise, during my first circuit people would have thought my pokemon were drunk with how disoriented they'd have been upon emergence.

The inner workings of the pokeball were vaguely understood. The broad strokes of how they worked were taught to the masses, but the small details were far too technical to understand without at least two degrees. It sort of reminded me of how people on Earth understood that phones sent signals, but had no idea how to make them. It was a poor metaphor considering that pokeballs had ancient equivalents with apricorns. Johto liked to claim that they were the traditional 'home' of pokeballs but too many other places also knew of the methods for me to believe that.

The history of the apricorn was actually fascinating to learn about. The ability to catch pokemon with apricorn balls had caused a huge cultural shift along with raising the carvers guilds high with prestige and money. Then being able to grant something to help you hold your pokemon close at hand, while lessening the strain of feeding your pokemon to a tenth of what you previously had thanks to the stasis effect? Game-changing.

While technology did play a huge role in those early models, most of their capabilities were powered by aura in the end. Old techniques handed down from masters to apprentices.

I spun the greatball in my hand and felt the aura that connected me to the ball.

Most wouldn't understand that all methods of capture used by trainers allowed for a bond to form using your aura. The only pokeballs I had heard of that didn't have this feature were the illegal balls used by criminal organisations. It tended to make the pokemon wilder. This helped criminal organisations control their minions. You couldn't simply steal the pokeballs as it would instantly flag you as a criminal to any authorities, thus forcing people to double-down, so to speak, with their organisation. The pokemon didn't have loyalty to their "trainers" and typically were more useful to simply point towards a target and release.

It also made it so that they didn't register on the pokemon league's network.

A network that automatically registered and recorded which pokemon you owned in real time. This had been a new development as of last year.

Lance would have to know who my starter was. As the Champion he would have access to my listings that even ordinary trainers, Police, and even Rangers were restricted from seeing. You didn't just give out top tier trainers' best pokemon to the wider public. As a Gym Trainer, mine was more well known but that was something of my own choice. I had created a system that challenged trainers for an appropriate level, but also helped keep me and my pokemon strong.

I stopped spinning the Great Ball and enlarged it with a press of a button. I refocused with a quick breath, in and out.

The momentum I'd had prior to this match was gone. Double knockouts late into the match did that. It was not ideal. I would have liked to have had the Stealth rock remain in play the entire match, but this was the situation now. I had to deal with that and adjust.

Regardless, I still had Lance in a tight spot. That was a big plus. Things had mostly worked out how I wanted them to. Ideally, Charizard would have been taken out with Explosion, but maybe that was asking too much. Shin and Don had done great. Sanchez had performed up to my hopes for him. Bertha had done exceptionally well in her first match against the Dragonite. Then she'd backed up her performance against a huge type and speed disadvantage that should have seen her fall without the counterpunch.

Now it all came down to this. I had two pokemon left to face Lance's most elite Dragonite.

I tightened my grip on the Great Ball and imagined how this was going to play out. I knew I had another option. I had trained to give myself more options in fact. I didn't ever want to allow myself only one course of action in a battle. Battles were often won or lost by giving yourself as many options while denying your opponent.

I thought of it as Game theory. A term I had encountered in my previous life with various games or high-end analysis. It wasn't something yet discussed openly and I was the only person so far to talk about it. Until proven otherwise, I considered it something discussed behind closed doors between Gym Leaders and their trainers. You needed to know what choices had been displayed, play odds, and lean into information. In truth, Game theory was simply a dramatic way of referring to targeted strategy.

I was allowing myself to be distracted. I needed to centre myself. At this level of competition, mental acuity was just as important as the pokemon battling.

I ran through the reasons I had to push for this. The reasons I had to win.

I had ponied up a lot of money for this. Ten million wasn't something to scoff at, I had worked hard for that with my questing for pokemon along with investing in and challenging notable pokemon trainers when I could in the early days.

That was a good enough reason, certainly, but not enough to have me grinding my teeth and keeping me up at night. It wasn't the reason I had trained with my pokemon an extra hour at least each day on top of my usual training.

Lance had cast doubt on my capabilities and competency. A dangerous thing to do at the Gym Leader level. Citizens looked to their gym leaders as icons and leaders of their respective towns. We were multifaceted; part political figures, part criminal deterrent, part superstars. Having the certifiable biggest and baddest man in Indigo, the king of the hill, say what he did? That was going to cause me issues and I had to react in some way. People in this world were culturally set to rise to challenges; they got glints in their eyes and set their feet more often than not. With my previous life's experience, I was very different from the norm.

I always liked to live and let live. I'd been annoyed by Lance's claims but I could work through it. My pride wasn't worth this trouble.

But Lance had made my family sad. He'd taken away their smiles and their confidence.

…

I had climbed mountains to allow them that.

I cooked, cleaned, and cared for them. I was a shoulder to cry on when that ache of abandonment reared its ugly head, the guide to look to when they felt lost. I tried to give them enough love to heal over any scabs from our parents ditching us. All in the hopes that they could smile, joyfully and without reserve.

I knew I couldn't always make things happy. A teacher I once had mentioned it being important that he didn't want his son to 'always be happy'. One emotion was not a harmonious mental state and simply chasing happiness would have meant them missing out on so many other feelings. But still… It had been gut-wrenching seeing them act so subdued. In truth it was like spending hours making a nice sandcastle and showing it to your siblings only to have the big beach bully come and kick it over.

But that was all metaphorically. My 'castle' hadn't been damaged, and really it was laughable.

It still pissed me off. I couldn't let them just take this on the cheek and turn the other way. I couldn't let my siblings think that it was alright to simply take that behaviour. Pride to most was a dirty word, but sometimes pride is what got you up in the morning. What made you look after yourself, made you demand more from yourself. Made you put in effort even if no one was watching. There was no one who was going to hand out a medal at the end of all of this and tell me I'd done something right or wrong or grade my work.

I wanted a lot of things. I wanted to be a good brother. I wanted them to be proud of me. I wanted to make things right and make the world bright and wonderful for them.

I wanted to win.

I opened my eyes and the world seemed to grow hyper-detailed to me. The crowd shifted forward once more as the Machoke's finished laying out the last adjustment to the wrecked arena floor.

I stood, sensing that the time was now. I knew now was the moment, so I stood.

I was right when a moment later, the announcers called out. "LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, THE STAGE IS SET, GET READY CAUSE THERE'S GOING TO BE NO MORE BREAKS! NO MORE DELAYS! THE FINAL MOMENT OF THIS EPIC SHOWDOWN IS NOW!" I started to move towards the exit.

"You got this!" shouted Celia as she watched me walk out of the bunker. I shot her a look. I knew Celia and June had been kind of freaked out at how quiet I'd been for the last few minutes.

"Thanks," I gave a nod. It was a small gesture but it made them grin. I'd thank them later for letting me work through my thoughts more earnestly, but I knew that they understood what I'd needed at the time was for calm and quiet.

I marched forward feeling each moment stretch out me as the crowd began to chant Lance and my names. I met his gaze and smirked.

Lance's aura washed over me and I strode on. The flood of howling, snarling energy parting to my steadfast mountain.

I was only ten metres out of the bunker, but the crowd was already the loudest it had been all night. Cameras were flashing out across the stadium, but they went ignored.

Across from me, Lance held my eyes as we each approached our podiums before being lifted up. The crowd began to chant the name Dragonite like that of a heavyweight world champion.

They'd wanted me to do well, but now they wanted to see the devastation. They wanted to see a beast unleashed and power incarnate. Lance's previous pokemon were strong. Lance's previous pokemon had more endurance than most, if not all, of their species.

Not one of them held a candle to the creature Lance was about to unleash.

"Drag-o-nite! Drag-o-nite! DRAG-O-NITE!"

Someone started to stomp their feet and clap creating a stomp-stomp-clap that I recognised as the easiest action to get a crowd behind. I reached toward the podium and tapped my fingers to the rhythm, ignoring how they chanted for another pokemon as I played out the 'we will rock you' opening beat in my head.

Part of me found it deeply amusing that they called for the Dragon while channelling a Rock song.

Lance drew back his arm. For a second I considered simply letting him take the field first but the demand to match him surged within and I matched him. I drew back my own arm into the classical pitcher position.

Both of our arms whipped forward, our voices roaring out our choice over a suddenly quiet arena as both Great Balls rocketed forwards.

"DRAGONITE COME FORTH!!" "TITAN! GO!!"

Twin forms emerged from radiant light. People rose from their seats in excitement as they coalesced into the towering forms of two pokemon.

Then they were knocked back into their seats as both Dragonite and Titan took to the field. It would be tough for someone who's never experienced it before, having a powerful pokemon in front of you ready and willing to do battle. Intimidate was a trait pokemon could have as a singular ability in the games but here, in reality, most powerful pokemon simply exude that as naturally as breathing.

If you've ever stared into the eyes of an apex predator not confined by a cage and known they were coming for you, you'd have perhaps a hundredth of an understanding of the chills that went down the crowd's spines. That was what having a pseudo-legendary stare you down was like.

Having two lock eyes? The crowd had not slunk back voluntarily; they'd done it in shock. They hadn't been expecting me to field a Tyranitar.

The instant both pokemon had appeared they'd only had eyes for their opponent. From there, instinct had kicked in and they'd unleashed their auras.

Both pokemon's energies clashed for a moment as they took the measure of the other.

I felt the world crack as energies most couldn't comprehend came to the forefront.

Dragonite's draconic aura exploded out as he leaned in and keened a battlecry. His wings flapped and gale force winds billowed out as dust was blown about.

Titan's landing onto the arena floor had sent tremors throughout the entire structure. Then he'd taken a step forward and everyone had felt the simple mass of him as the earth rumbled at his movement. His tail scraped against the ground and caused deep gouges, more from its natural movement rather than any intent.

Around him, dirt began to rise and swirl in eddies of wind that started small and began to grow. His dark eyes remained locked onto Dragonite and vice versa even as their mere presence on the battlefield caused the environment to shift.

If the proverb regarding two trainers was something to be mindful of, two pokemon on this level that had come expecting a fight locking eyes was many times as powerful.

Titan inhaled and then lowered his head, mouth opening as he did so to unleash a roar that sounded more like a Godzilla than a medium dinosaur. This was no mere pokemon's cry, but something far more primal.

Dragonite didn't back down and instead landed to impress his own weight onto the field before leaning in and growling. A thick purple aura emerged and billowed out unconsciously as it worked itself up.

Titan matched it. Dark brown energy spiralling up and shooting upwards to stake a claim. They were more like natural forces now than physical pokemon. Their aura impacted and a strain occurred at the junction point. A creaking, groaning noise emerged like glass being scratched by a rock. It was a brittle sound of reality shuddering as two powerhouse pokemon squared off.

Lance and I became mere extensions of our pokemon as we both allowed ourselves to simply be.

We ignored the gale-force winds and the small rocks that it hurled. Around us, the arena's damage absorbers activated due to the emergence of our pokemon. I knew the league officials were probably screaming into phones to adjust and I could feel a thrum as the backup generators started up in preparation.

In front of Lance and I, the shielding spluttered but neither of us cared. You didn't train pokemon like this and sweat the small stuff. If an attack was sent our way we would have to be capable of dodging or dealing with it.

You didn't stand on stages like this without being able to handle the heat after all.

Titan and Dragonite stopped roaring and the world took in a breath as neither pokemon immediately lunged for the other.

Lance and I looked at each other before waiting. The referee proved to be up to the task as flags were raised.

"T-trainers!" he said with a slightly high-pitched tone. "Ar-a-are you ready?"

We both nodded our heads.

"Fight!" his flags dropped. Lance and I acted instantly.

"Dragonite Steel Wing!" "Stone Edge Titan!"

Dragonite blitzed straight at Titan only for jagged rocks to punch up into him causing him to stagger and slow. He almost reached Titan. Almost being the operative word. "Giga impact!"

Lance's eyes widened. "Break!" instead of attempting to continue, Dragonite planted his legs and kicked upwards while his wings swept downwards. Titan merely held his position and chuffed a laugh. I shared a smile with him. I'd trained Titan to not react to that particular command. It was a wonderful way of making other trainers freak out and also test their reactions.

Lance scowled at me. "Hyper Beam!" he shouted back as his response.

I set my feet and braced for the blowout effects of what was about to come. A gigantic energy ball built up within Dragonite's maw before he jutted his chin forward unleashing a huge orange beam straight at Titan.

The crowd watched it descend and again as one drew in a breath.

"Protect!" I ordered moments before it hit.

Around Titan hexagons of energy formed up a sphere and the beam impacted.

The air didn't so much blow outward as it did explode outward in a shockwave. It carried with it rock and dirt that once more stopped any sandstorm that had naturally been forming.

Earth and small rocks impacted the barriers in front of both Lance and I and once more they flickered. Turning yellow to dark orange as the pressure wave that Dragonite had unleashed caused the barriers to come under strain. I held my stance even as the beam of energy continued to slam home against Titan's shell of hexagons. Wind buffeted me and rocks flew around the barrier to graze me but I didn't mind them. I'd had worse from Geodudes.

When the beam finally died out a dust cloud blew upward and dirt began to track back in as visibility dropped away. It wasn't so bad however that you couldn't see the still standing form of Titan glowering upwards as his Hexagon shell fell away.

Titan took a step forward to roar his defiance straight at Lance's pokemon. "Stone Edge again!" With Dragonite's energy spent I made my move while it was still weakened from the 'two turn move'.

Much like other aspects of my life these days however, the games didn't hold up to how things actually worked. Dragonite flapped his wings and began to weave at its higher altitude as Titan began to blast rocks the size of menhirs upwards. Towering pillars of stone flew upwards and exploded like flak shells trying to blow an aeroplane out of the sky as the dragon weaved expertly through the onslaught.

I held on. This was not like with Shin. This Dragonite was stronger and would endure more damage, it was easily as fast as any of the other Dragonites that had come before it. Everyone could see that.

But that didn't mean Titan couldn't knock him out of the skies with continued effort. Unlike Shin, Titan was the powerhouse of my team and that meant he had the endurance to keep firing off more and more rocks. He led shots and staggered rocks to make it all the harder for Dragonite to evade.

Like a leaf on the wind, it soared, wings flapping or cutting out to allow it to drop. It's form darting and flitting about like a pokemon a quarter its size. It had to take some hits, but it was extremely selective in what it tanked through and what it dodged.

The longer it was in the sky however the longer Titan was able to build up his sandstorm.

"Dragonite! Hurricane!" Lance's order saw his pokemon going into a tightly controlled spin that had it facing straight down. A vortex grew around the pokemon before an outright hurricane formed up, sucking any attacks I launched straight into the vortex and making it impossible to target the Dragonite in the centre.

Huge rocks were tossed about randomly and once more the damage absorbers of the arena activated. The crowd must have gotten quite the shock to see rocks hurtling towards them. Thankfully no one was going to get injured today.

I considered my options as I watched the hurricane disrupt the sandstorm once more. Lance wasn't going to let this turn into an attrition fight. Or if he was, it was going to be on his terms.

"Step into the hurricane and knuckle down!" With the wind roaring through the arena my words were carried off, but that didn't stop Titan from following them. I was vaguely aware of people standing up once again as my pokemon strode straight into the storm.

Most of the audience probably thought I was making a mistake. Those would be the people that forgot that the eye of the storm is the quietest place to be. Also, as a Tyranitar, Titan was damn heavy. He could take a little bad weather easily enough.

It was better to meet the storm head-on than try to dodge. He wasn't quick enough for that and a simple protect wouldn't dissipate the attack. I had to do something else.

Titan continued on straight into the hurricane, shrugging off the rocks that swung around to hit him. The winds swallowed him completely and for a moment all anyone could see was the raging hurricane. I couldn't see much with the hurricane in the middle of us. This was an obvious set up from Lance to deny me some options. I couldn't even see if he was directing his pokemon from where he was behind the hurricane.

"OH! HAS BROC—?!" I merely smiled as the words were heard only to be torn away as the wind picked up.

I couldn't see him but I believed in him. He'd know what I was planning even if he couldn't hear me.

For a long moment all anyone could see was the hurricane. Then, from the base of the hurricane a dark light shone forth. Like darkness swallowing light at dusk, it raced outward and devoured the space around it causing the hurricane to detonate outward right at the vortex's base. It instantly destabilised the hurricane and the winds shot outwards.

I barely even felt the wind buffet me and Lance appeared on our sides of the arena as the hurricane vanished. Behind him, his cape flapped like a flag in the wind. Both of us ignored the wind and rocks that blew around us.

I looked and found Titan rising from a crater and scowling upwards as Dragonite floated above him. The rapidly vanishing sheen of metallic energy informed me of a trap I'd unknowingly stepped into.

"You had your Dragonite waiting in the eye of the storm as well with a steel wing… I can destroy the storm and take a hit or ignore it and be round down eh?" I said to myself.

Lance must have set the move knowing I'd either have to endure it or negate it. Either outcome played into his hands. I considered that and began to run through options of what to do if he— "Again!" Lance commanded.

If Lance was going to play that game I'd have to try something else. I clenched my toes and grasped the railing in front of me before calling out my move as the winds began to build up once more.

"Fissure!" Unlike with Bertha, the organisers recognised the move for what it was and a thrum ran through the stadiums as more and more barriers lit up to protect the crowd. They hadn't been able to prevent Bertha's Impact Driver from causing a shakeup previously, but they knew to expect it this time.

They likely couldn't let all these attacks through. So far just the collateral damage was proving worse with the area already gouged and cratered in sections.

Titan raised a claw and his feet slid slightly apart as we'd practised. Within him, his energy roared to get out. The trick wasn't to let it out straight away but to focus it to a point. His claw swung down.

Then, the instant before impact, he spiked his energy into the very tip of the claw that was going to make impact. Titan hit the ground and the earth split like the ocean in the bible for Moses. Everyone became aware of the metal that held the actual training field as it became visible. It groaned hideously but only buckled slightly as the earth around it folded.

The earth on either side lifted upwards like two slices of bread between the hands of an invisible being. They rose slightly and then clapped together over the head of Titan with Dragonite right in the middle. The sound was more like a deafening bang than a clap and I had to shake my head afterwards as the two slices of earth crumbled before falling back to the ground in pieces.

I looked up and felt a grin slowly building on my face. "Was that…" The resulting dust made it difficult to see, but the arena once more proved it had accounted for this as small fans rose and gently began to shift the air to let the crowd see.

First, they saw Titan holding his stance but looking up with narrowed eyes.

The crowd held their tongues as more and more dust shifted. Eyes searched the debris field for where the Dragonite was only to find nothing. Worried murmuring filled the crowd but I spoke over them.

"Titan! Get ready to keep fighting!"

That made people redouble their efforts and a few seconds later it was revealed to them what I had seen and Titan had no doubt sensed.

A sphere of perfectly round hexagons surrounding a tucked-up Dragonite right in the middle of where the two slices of earth would have met with the most force. I clicked my tongue but nodded. I had hoped he hadn't had that move and the earlier bait and switch had me thinking he didn't. I hummed thoughtfully. He'd tried to bait me with that play by making it seem he didn't. Maybe then I'd commit with an all-or-nothing play and miss.

Instead, I had thrown down something that had forced him to reveal his hand.

"Ooooh? OH! OH MY SWEET PIKACHU! THE CHAMPION EMERGES UNSCATHED FROM WHAT HAS TO HAVE BEEN A DIRECT HIT FROM AN OUT AND OUT ONE HIT K.O! BROCK ROLLED THE DICE HARD AND CAME UP ALL SEVENS! ONLY FOR THE CHAMPION TO HAVE AN ACE UP HIS SLEEVE! OH! WHAT A MATCH-UP!"

The crowd found new life and began to chant names. "BROCK!" and "TITAN!" being called out just as much as "LANCE!" and "DRAG-O-NITE!" People called out cheers and jeers that mixed into a roar that was equal to the earlier showing by our two pokemon.

Titan and Dragonite eyed each other off before nodding their heads in respect. This only stirred the crowd up more when Lance and I smirked at each other. In some small way, we understood each other more from what was occurring before us. Both pokemon highlighted the dedication and style ingrained within their very being. It was strange to find that… we weren't all that different.

"I don't think you can do that move again!" Lance shouted to me. "Press the advantage Dragonite, Hurricane!"

I was tempted to call out that he underestimated Titan and I, but I knew his pokemon had the high ground and that was just begging for Murphy to step in. Instead, I merely gestured a hand. "Stone Edge, but don't hold back!"

Titan leered up at the hurricane that howled before him. Every bit a pokemon staring down something that seemed like a natural disaster. A rock formed up from in front of him, but then more joined it as more energy was pushed into the attack.

The crowd gasped as a difference was immediately noticed. Where before Titan was throwing maybe three menhir-sized rocks up at Dragonite, now he launched up to ten at a time. Titan became his own missile launcher.

"OH! IT SEEMS THE TYRANITAR WAS SANDBAGGING?!" I grinned at the altogether incorrect assessment.

Lance frowned, his eyes darting around the rocky field before biting back a curse when he saw my pleased expression. It might have stopped me from using another Fissure, but by breaking the field up I had made it easier for Titan to hurl sections of the ground straight into the hurricane at speed. Now Lance's defence became a target.

Instead of ordering his pokemon futilely, Lance plugged his thumb and forefinger into his mouth and whistled sharply. Dragonite instantly stopped the Hurricane. With a wave of Lance's hand it began to weave around the onrushing rocks deftly, speeding up as much as it could.

"Fill the sky! Force. It. Down!" I commanded. Titan followed through with rocks hurtling into the air, only leaving the area low to the ground safe for Dragonite to hover.

I watched the pokemon as it searched the sky for space to escape into should Titan turn his focus on not denying movement. On both pokemon, marks of damage had built up from the attacks they'd used, but I could tell Dragonite had taken a heavier toll. I needed to keep pushing though. I could feel the victory just within reach. I could win this. I could drag it out with Titan using Stone Edge after Stone Edge. Failing that I had another pokemon that was ready to float out and slay a Dragon if I needed her to. Both of these methods would work but it would take a long time and perhaps be rife with potential errors on both of Lance and I's parts.

Regardless, this was the most logical and surefire approach. But a part of me, the me that had been raised within the Pokemon world, disliked ending this battle that way. This was supposed to be a moment to prove myself without question.

I clicked my tongue as I decided to throw down once more. I wanted there to be no doubt in people's minds. I slashed my hand. Instantly Titan stopped his Stone edge. I waited until the final rock had fallen with a heavy crash. Lance eyed me as I put my arms across my body into my pose. Part of me noted that I had a number of tears across my very new sweater but couldn't for the life of me remember being hit by anything. I'd been too focussed on the fight for mere rocks to bother me.

"I think I know you well enough now to know you'll never surrender, yeah?" I called out with a grin.

"Of course!" snorted Lance.

I looked around at the crowd. "Want to do this the old samurai way? One strike that we each won't block. Think you can handle it?"

Lance looked over my pokemon before looking over the arena which didn't need to be any more in my favour. Even if he knocked out Titan, the field wouldn't reset. He was fighting uphill with the field easier for Rock-type moves. I had the high ground and had no trouble throwing boulders down at him if he decided to go that route.

He knew I could take him out by whittling him if I wanted and indeed I had just the pokemon for that in Selene.

Instead, I was offering a salve to his pride. Something that would potentially let him turn the tide perhaps. He huffed, "Let's see your best shot then Brock." He swept his hand out and his cape went wide as he called out his best shot. "Hyper beam!"

I grinned. My mind screamed that I should just protect and blast him with Stone Edge to finish it. It was a valid move and perfectly suitable to win the match. But that was what villains do, and I didn't want to be a villain. I wanted people to remember this fight for all the right reasons.

"Titan! Go!" I cast my own hand forth, a grin stretching my face as I shouted.

In the face of Dragonite's hyper beam, Titan strode forward. Like a mountain beginning to move it started slow. First a step, like a pebble preceding the boulders. Then, with the boulders came the soil before eventually, the entire cliff face gave out as an avalanche began in force.

Titan continued to pick up momentum, and each step caused the arena to quake as he sped up. A quarter of the way across the field Lance's Dragonite unleashed his hyper beam and Titan lowered his head to take the hit square on. He took two more steps as he did so and a corona of energy built up around his body.

The Hyper beam punched squarely into Titan and he was briefly stopped in his tracks.

The crowd was off their feet having felt the blow such was its power.

Despite that, it didn't stop Titan from advancing.

Slowly, millimetre by millimetre, he began to lean forward. Around him the corona of energy flickered before solidifying. He leaned further forward millimetres turning into inches as he refused to break here and now.

A roar of frustration escaped him as he struggled to put another foot forward.

But he did.

Then another.

And another.

And before people could rise from being knocked back into their seats Titan began to charge through the beam. He took each step, slowly building back up as the hyper beam tried to hold him off. From within Titan a glowing orange energy built like an inferno that grew stronger under the pressure. The steps became easier and soon Titan was outright sprinting straight into the beam of energy towards his foe, a roar escaping his jaws as he closed on his target.

The beam gave out just as Titan reached Dragonite and with a sudden boom Titan unleashed the Giga impact he had been building straight into Dragonite.

Dragonite rocketed back from the hit straight into the arena wall. Around it the damage absorbers flickered a bright red as their maximum threshold was reached.

Dragonite lay in the crater, its chest working like great bellows. It stood with a piteous cry of pain, staggering forward to get back onto the arena. With the flickering absorbers, I didn't dare order another attack.Titan raised an arm to me, instructing me instead to hold back. I trusted in him, knowing that he had seen something or understood something that I had missed.

The other Pseudo legendary staggered back onto the field and shuddered before locking eyes with Titan. Then it looked to Lance as its wings flapped weakly. Its body shook with tremors and its lungs heaved in breath after breath.

The act was done weakly, but I couldn't help but be touched. Despite being so worn down it still held on and looked to its trainer. This was a pokemon that if his trainer asked he would continue to fight.

Even if it killed him.

Lance smiled and shook his head. "You've done enough today old friend. We'll be ready next time." He raised his Great Ball and called back his pokemon.

The arena held its breath, not daring to believe.

Titan nodded as his foe vanished into red light. When it was gone he threw back his head and roared his triumph. And like that the referee raised his flags up before dropping Lance's down while raising mine higher.

"The champion's pokemon is unable to battle! Brock is the winner!!"

---

A.N. Thanks to all my patreons for your support as always! The next chapter will be the end of the first arc. If you've read carefully there will already be hints of what is possible with higher stakes matches but expect some fallout from this match!

Special thanks to Raikor, Ab9999, and Elnoorz who're acting as Betas and editors.

 

[Viva01]

The crowd was on their feet cheering and screaming. As everyone clamoured to make some form of noise I could only watch and take it in.

Some cheered the Dragonite's fall, just as others wailed for the icon's loss. It smashed together into an inharmonious symphony that was more a wall of incoherent emotion than articulated words.

I can only stare at the crowd in numb silence. Titan turned, his large reptilian face stretched in a gigantic grin. Then it clicks home. I unlock my arms from where I had crossed them over my body and I lean back, my mouth opening as I join the chorus of screams. Titan followed my lead as our roar of victory shook the arena.

That only made it even worse in the arena as the crowd got louder. I couldn't hear the announcers over the mob and flashes were irritating my eyes as cameras blazed. With the groan of machinery, my podium lowered downwards but I leapt off before it could level out with the ground. The small issue of Titan making the field a misshapen wasteland that had sunk below its starting point caused me to stumble as I caught my balance. I wasted no more time as I scrambled over chunks of turned-up earth and rock to reach my pokemon before throwing myself into a hug that would make a Japanese anime about cute little girls and their big brothers proud. Titan took the hit and merely warbled his joy as I tackled him.

"You did it buddy!"

He roared back and I laughed, knowing he was saying 'we' in his own way.

We continued to hug, ignoring the world and just allowing ourselves this moment. It's only when I needed to take a shuddering breath that I dropped from him to pat his flank.

I led the towering pokemon towards Lance where he's been standing next to his podium.

Around him debris is still littering the field, showing off the aftermath. I took a moment to take it in. It wasn't just the arena rectangle that was damaged. The other sections had rocks strewn about, a brief look around revealing that the podium I had been on actually had a boulder embedded into it and hadn't been able to lower as it should have.

Lance had an amused look on his face. Somehow, I'd been expecting it. In some way, I felt that I knew Lance the Dragonmaster a bit better after this battle.

"You're an incredible trainer Gym Leader Brock, and I must apologise for my words." He turned outwards to the watching crowd. "I doubt anyone will dare to think you weak in the future."

"Thank you, Champion Lance. It certainly helps to hear you say that." I extended a hand, which he took. We shook firmly, both of our eyes locked on the other, not in challenge but in understanding. The crowd once more makes itself known with the cheers that had been dying off renewing at the friendly gesture after an impressive match.

I glance to the side where a group of officials were entering the arena. The only faces that really stood out to me was Charles Goodshow with his gigantic grin. slightly in front of him to the side was the man that had entered with Lance during the initial pre-match interview, who I still couldn't match a name to. The other officials all had the air of being 'important' in the social circles they frequented but I couldn't attribute names to them.

With them approaching and the less fun 'official' part of the match about to start I couldn't resist a dig at Lance. I clenched my hand with his still firmly in my grasp. "You're still going to be paying me that bet by the way."

His face morphed into a grimace before he blinked and huffed at me. "I hadn't thought too much about that… the Clan Elders will be annoying to deal with, but I'll make it back soon enough."

I hummed in thought. "Sounds like ten million wasn't as much of an inconvenience as I thought it would have been."

Lance shook his head. "It's a not inconsiderable sum of money but you will come to learn there are plenty of people at our level that trade that around easily." He squeezed my hand back. "Welcome to the big leagues, I hope you're ready for the attention it will bring." Lance chuckled at my wince. We released the handshake and he gestured to the small group of League officials. Behind them, a horde of reporters and cameramen surged past onto the grounds to get an interview.

What followed was a lot of pomp where people that worked as administrators talked about how amazing the battle was. That it was a wonderful opening act, which would serve to— I honestly stopped listening as what I could only assume were career politicians rattled on. They'd been given a mic and a semi-captive audience, if I cared I probably would have kept an ear out for how they were trying to align the crowd.

I was just too buzzed though. During a pause, where the man had tried to take a breath, the horde of reporters pivoted from him like well-oiled machines, their microphones all pointed at me.

One reporter was quicker than the rest. "Gym Leader Brock! With this victory are you thinking of making a formal challenge to become Champion?!"

That made me pause. I'd been so focused on winning I hadn't played out all the scenarios of what it would mean to win. Lance had hinted at it earlier with making people aware I was capable of a higher level of pokemon battles, but having this outright asked made it punch home.

I was young and strong. At least that's how it must have looked to people looking in. The real situation was a little different.

I had a huge leg up on people because of my wider knowledge starting off. You never could quite grasp how much of a difference it would make with your life to have a solid base to start from. Understanding what was and was not important saved you so much time when you were young.

The games always pushed for two things. One, to catch all the pokemon in them. Becoming a 'pokemon master' in a sense, and becoming the Pokemon Champion. And now I was being asked specifically that.

Did I want to become the champion?

Visions of myself in charge of the league played out in my mind. I'd have the power, the money… a chipper tune cut through my thoughts as a small transceiver I had on my wrist signalled messages that were beginning to pour in.

Most were from my family. They cheered for me and were horribly misspelled in their haste to message me. I noted a few from the Gym trainers, Mayor, Officer Jenny, Joy, and the museum staff I gave patronage to. I looked up to the sea of expectant reporters. Their mics honed as cameras captured my image. Standing quietly off to the side, someone shifted, drawing my gaze. Sabrina stared back at me. I couldn't read her expression from so far away, and she didn't approach. She merely hung back and watched me.

And yet… It felt all too similar to me. I remembered reading authors in the past who often commented on the scrappy patchwork way history repeated itself.

"Gym Leader?" The group of reporters leaned in unsure of this non-reaction. Lance stepped up next to me, concern appearing on his face for a moment. I gave the crowd a smile as I swallowed down the feelings that were bubbling up.

"Heh, sorry. It's all still sinking in for me I guess. It was a lot of work to get here, you know?" I smiled at Lance as he retreated half a step. "It isn't easy to throw down against you Lance." He nodded in appreciation.

That wasn't enough for the reporter though, as he abruptly thrust his mic closer in. "But will you? Will you be making a formal challenge now that you know you can do it?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm needed at home." I waved the reporter off before he could ask a follow-up, "This was Lance and I putting things to rest in a controlled manner that people can understand. It also helped to put on a great show. I think this year's Indigo tournament is going to really be something special, with us only serving as the opening act."

The rest of the questions pass slowly from there. I was still way too amped-up from the recent match to give them my full attention. The way they repeated the same questions time and time again, not wanting some of the answers while furiously scribbling down certain things I said really made me wonder how much attention they were paying to what was actually being said and what they thought or decided they heard from my words.

Then I remembered that they were reporters. They were only here for a story, most of which had already occurred. Now it was the small follow-ups. Unless something else big took their attention they were practically halfway to printing. I decided to clap my hands and end things.

"Well I think I've given enough of my time. I need to get my team to the pokecenter for a comprehensive look over." I ignored the cries for more answers. One reporter even called out 'the people want to know more!' which almost got a laugh out of me for how cliche it was.
Instead of answering any more questions I bowed from the hips in semi-formal thanks and turned away. Titan followed, easily making all of the reporters rethink their approach. Having a pokemon that causes the earth to shake just from moving will do that.

Instead, the reporters pivoted only to find Lance had similarly departed. They didn't even give the League official any consideration before the group began to drift away, looking for actual subjects of interest for their interviews . Others headed off to the stands to catch some images of the still cheering crowd. I waved to the stands and made a slow loop around the arena. When I passed the bunker I gestured for Celia and June to come up but they both shook their heads adamantly, too intimidated by the still present crowd. I shook my head at them.

They'd have to get used to that soon, as they'd be the show which people would turn up to watch in the coming days. When I finished my lap I walked up to a group of annoyed looking officials. Goodshow broke away from them with his smile stretching his face. He proffered up the briefcase and offered me a handshake. "Congratulations once more on a wonderful victory!" He peered back at the other officials to see they were still too caught up in their own drama. "If you want, you can head off now."

"Thanks, Mr Goodshow. I was going to do that right away. Get my pokemon seen to." He merely nodded before waving me off. With the briefcase in hand, I marched towards the exit. Only then did Celia exit the bunker to catch up with me, leaving June to make her own way to her accommodation.

"Heh! Some match, yeah?" I said in greeting, tossing up the briefcase with my winnings in it only to catch it.

Celia makes a noise like a teapot boiling over. Her hands twitch towards the briefcase momentarily but then lock into her sides. "Brock! That's a lot of money! Don't you think you should be careful?!" she says through a locked jaw.

"Nah, it's just dummy money with the only actually important thing being the documents in here." I patted a pocket —not the actual pocket I had put the documents in though — before flicking the case up and over. "It's like the big cheques they give out for charity matches. Those are for show to put on walls more than to actually use to bank anything." I continued to work through the hallways that made up passageways of the arena. Eventually, I reached a door too small for Titan which made him warble disappointedly. I shook my head and patted him once before withdrawing him.

I pretty much needed to bring him back out of his greatball within another minute due to the crowd that was still waiting outside the arena. They greeted me with a huge cheer that only grew when Titan was released. I locked my face into a pseudo happy mask. I really should have just messaged Sabrina to teleport me to the pokecenter. I ignored the question that continued to be repeated over and over.

"Do you want to try for the championship?" By the fifth person asking this question, I recalled Selene being able to teleport me.

I really could be an idiot sometimes. Now it was too late; teleporting now would be a serious snub, and everyone was so excited to see me. I knew I'd feel bad for running off.

Titan just grinned and stalked down the boulevard, his wounds from facing down Lance's Dragonite on proud display and only serving to make him seem so much cooler. I waved at some people, signed autographs, and just generally smiled for everyone.

A five-minute walk to reach the pokecenter from the arena took half an hour. Most of the crowd knew better than to follow me into the pokecenter but more than a few trundled in before backing off when I made a beeline towards the front desk. The three Nurse Joys that stood behind the desk looked extremely amused as I gave them a smile they were all too wise to not see through.

"Congratulations on your victory, Gym Leader!" They chimed. A tray for six pokeballs was put before me with the clinical professionalism of nurses everywhere. "Please place your pokemon in these trays!" they said like I wasn't an old hand at this. It was probably one of those things they said more from habit than giving any thought to it. One Nurse stepped to the side and smiled very politely at the crowd. I got a little breathing room for that.

"Thanks," I said as I placed four pokeballs into the offered tray carefully, running my hands over them. My pokemon had done well. They'd done more than that in truth. I would have to reward them. I looked to one of the only empty pokeball slots and at Titan who studiously didn't meet my gaze. Then I jerked a thumb to the tray at Titan who grumbled once more. "No, no grumbling. Get in the ball so you can be assessed and treated." He continued to grumble as I withdrew him and added his greatball to the tray.

"Brock." I glanced up, surprised to see Lance next to me. Apparently, I'd been too occupied with handing over my pokemon to notice that Lance was standing in the waiting area.

Around us, the bubble of space grew wider as the crowd of people that were watching me veered away. They'd allowed me some privacy before but with Lance's approach, I noticed the space grow. As if we made more of a show but at the same time we were offered more space. Was it because it was Lance? I wasn't sure.

He leaned against the counter, nodding as the Nurses took my tray of pokeballs away. His eyes tracked the tray back to the adjacent room which you could look into from behind the counter. This was primarily because trainers tended to get rather anxious when pokemon that were injured left their sight. It generally didn't do to take them out of sight unless things were really, really bad.

The nurses each took a ball, placing them into a receptacle before a screen lit up with my pokemon's vitals. I grimaced as a number of minor red sections were highlighted. The other aspect of a high-level pokemon match was that there was practically a guarantee of injuries after the match. A glance to the side showed another two nurses working on a pair of screens with Dragonite displayed on them. When Titan's screen showed up I wasn't surprised to see he'd gained a trio of fractures along with the superficial wounds to his hardened skin. He also had a number of tears and injuries to some internal structures. All of which were highlighted in red.

It had been cool as hell to have him go head to head with a hyper beam but that came with some issues. Even winning didn't mean you'd get away clean.

Sometimes it meant you got away worse, in fact.

I considered this for another few minutes as Lance stood next to me. He'd also settled in to watch and wait for his pokemon to be healed it seemed. The recovery would take a bit of energy from them so it wasn't advised that you try and make pokemon like that go back-to-back across matches. When someone challenged the Champion they had to go through the gauntlet of the Elite Four. You could and should bring more than six pokemon but you were still allowed at least three days between each match.

I turned the question I'd been bombarded with since the conclusion of the match over in my mind.

Did I want to be the champion?

I'd have to deepen my pokemon pool of elites, even more if I wanted to actually have a chance. I had perhaps eight to ten that could classify that way but I couldn't use the same strategies I'd used tonight for the various Elite Four.

I turned it over in my mind, thoughts and plans coiling as I played with possibilities. I'd claimed victory, but if Lance had been prepared for the challenge and had as long as I had to get ready would he have walked away the victor? Being the champion had lots of glitter to the position. People hailed the champion far and wide. It was the ultimate position of status and prestige.

It wasn't a position you could ever rest easily in though.

I'd just proven as much.

Acknowledging that didn't fully curb the building hunger in my gut though. Nor the way it fought with part of me that knew I had to return to my gym. To my family that needed their older brother.

For now, another part whispered.

I stamped that out as the nurses returned with two trays, placing one before each of us. My own five pokemon were returned to me while next to me, Lance received his six.

"You're pokemon are healthy but highly fatigued. It is recommended that you allow them to rest with only light activity for the next week," said the nurse in her chirpy tone. "We hope to see you again!" She bowed and we both inclined our heads in thanks.

Lance tilted his head, "Care to grab something to eat?" I considered him. He gave a small twitch to the watching crowd before bringing up a hand, palm up. "Otherwise I might head home for the night, but I really think a burger and fries might be what I need. I know a place close by. My treat?"

I snorted and tapped the briefcase. "I think it's supposed to be my treat actually." I waved a hand in front of us. "Lead on."

Lance and I walked through the crowd to a rather fancy burger joint that reminded me of the retro seventies old shoppe that were considered iconic of the times. The plush cushions and large open area arrangement allowed lots of people to enter and leave. The people that were already inside were rather stunned when Lance and I casually sauntered in.

The man behind the till openly gaped as we both made a show of looking over their menu. I eyed the pokemon section before glancing at the ceiling. "Think your Dragonite would mind if I let Shin and Sanchez out to eat with us?"

Lance thought that over. "Your Kabutops and Golem? I think I could let out my first Dragonite but not the others. My Starter is certainly too tall. The first Dragonite I have is quite juvenile." I shared a nod as his eyes flickered to the ceiling. It was tall but not anywhere near tall enough for larger pokemon.

I made my order before asking for a larger booth. A waitress practically sprinted to make sure the table was clean before sweeping her hands towards the booth. Lance swept in with an imperious nod claiming one side before popping Dragonite out behind him. The juvenile pokemon appeared with a shake of its head before glancing around. It let out a soft croon of sadness as Lance patted it on the belly.

"You did wonderfully girl."

I claimed the other side of the table and released my two pokemon. Shin and Sanchez appeared, and like Draongite they both glanced around curiously. When they settled their gaze on me I raised a thumbs up before patting the chair. Shin chose to settle into a squat next to the chair while the golem happily claimed a seat next to me on the booth.

"Golem! Go! Go!" He cheered happily before shutting up as a frothy milkshake was dropped in front of him. Shin bowed his head as a lemonade was deposited where he could drink it, and Lance with his Dragonite each had a root beer dropped in front of them. The waitress that deposited them then bowed before turning to sprint back into the kitchen.

"People always like this around you?" I said while watching Dragonite happily suck through a large metal straw. The erratic flapping of her wings was actually rather adorable as it trilled happily.

"For the most part. I'd have to say I'm rather used to it. Blackthorn residents are typically more reserved, but I've been treated this way often. Both before and since becoming champion." He raised an eyebrow. "Is it different… as a gym leader? My cousin doesn't talk about that much, but she also doesn't leave Blackthorn often."

I considered that before shaking my head. "There's respect, certainly, but… well, with Pewter things are pretty relaxed. A lot of the old folk remember me as a kid running around the streets. The older Ladies often call in to check on my family. The city only got smaller after I took over as Gym Leader."

"Smaller? If anything Pewter has grown. I researched you after the initial challenge, and realized I'd made a mistake when I saw all you'd done. Your gym facilities are rather impressive."

"Thanks," I said before waving about helplessly, "Smaller was the wrong word… Maybe closer-knit is a better word?"

Lance made a noise that I couldn't really decipher. "Well, taking over for your father has worked out well for you then. It's good to hear that you're close with your city like that." Did I hear relief in his tone just now? "But you should probably expect things to start changing. You've shown yourself to be far more capable than people thought. Now people will have to reconcile their previous image of you with the revelation that you are strong."

He stared straight at me as he said this. He nodded slowly before continuing, "You'll face more challenges. People will see you more as a worthy test than they might have in the past. More people will come with teams prepared to battle you for one of their final four badges as opposed to their first badge."

The waitress appeared next to us causing Shin to jerk in surprise as she started offloading burgers onto the table, rattling off the order as she did so. When she was done she heaved in a breath, causing her face to slightly lessen in its red tone. Had this girl been sprinting through cooking our burgers? She smiled winningly at us both as I surreptitiously checked that the burger had actually had a chance to be cooked. "Is there anything at all I can do to help you further… sirs?"

I glanced over the meals before gesturing at the table. "Some cold water for the table as well, please."

"Sparkling water please," Lance cut in. The girl practically vanished to get our order. Shin turned his head after her.

"Kabutops?" Dragonite stopped drinking to shrug her shoulders. This was apparently enough for Shin as he nodded and returned to his meal. I glanced over to the small drinks menu that had been left on the table.

"Is sparkling water even an option?" Lance coughed at that, his eyes darting to the menu.

"I've ordered it here before?" I chuckled and waved my hand back and forth.

"Heh I think you're just used to fancier places in general." I shifted in my seat. I wasn't going to chastise him for it. He hadn't done anything wrong by asking and neither had the place by meeting his request.

It did however reveal that he was used to getting his way. Was this due to his clan or something else? I hadn't gone through Johto for my journey, and instead went for a quick trip to the Sevii islands before challenging the Orange islands and then Hoenn. Perhaps going to Blackthorn would have given me more of a sneak peek into how Lance was raised. Or perhaps it just highlighted the treatment the Champion received. "Not sure if I'll get that sort of treatment even in Pewter."

Lance hummed noncommittally as he cut his burger into quarters. "Your tactics were rather interesting against my team. It seems you anticipated me rather well."

I shrugged. "It was a fifty-fifty on which pokemon you were going to lead with. Having Gyarados out first suited me best with my plan so things were ideal to start certainly. Would have preferred you followed up with the Kingdra. Your pokemon are beasts though. Wasn't expecting Charizard to be able to tank Sanchez's explosion." Next to me Sanchez snapped a look at Lance and I.

"Golem!?" The pokemon was obviously stunned to hear he hadn't taken out his last foe.

I patted his shoulder. "Nah you didn't get him Sanchez. Charizard was really strong."

"Kabutops!!!" said Shin happily as he brandished his arms. He happily began to regale Dragonite and Sanchez of how he won his fight. Lance watched him for a moment as he chewed on his meal.

"Your pokemon are certainly strong. I must admit to being highly interested in your Aerodactyl."

I gave him a sly look. "Thought you might be. Ancient dragon and all that."

"It does rather fit with the template of pokemon I would be expected to field. Do you have a breeder lined up with him? I'd happily pay for a pokemon like that."

"I'm sure we'd be able to—" "Your water sirs!" Said the waitress as she heaved air in and out causing her chest to rise and fall in a rather distracting manner. "—sirs? Anything else you needed?" I coughed having zoned out. Lance likewise shifted before shaking his head. She bounced in place before nodding as she seemed to recall that there were in fact other people in the diner than us. She darted away, leaving us to share a look.

He coughed to hide a laugh while I chuckled openly. Then we turned our attention to our meals.

The rest of the meal went by rather well with Lance and I tentatively sounding each other out on how we think our pokemon did in the match.

"Surprised you don't have a Salamance yet," I said after drinking some water.

Lance nodded. "I do have some promising Bagon. I tried my hand with one a few months ago but they are not yet up to my standards. If you challenge me at the end of the next circuit I will have an even larger grouping of pokemon to draw on."

"Hmmm, that so?" I considered asking if another region had been located and 'opened' up yet but I doubted Lance would tell me. If he did it certainly wouldn't be in a diner.

"I would be interested, as would the rest of the Blackthorn Clan, in opening up options to have Aerodactyl breed. His specific breed would be a highly welcome addition to many of our trainers."

"Sure, I think I will need to line up an actual breeder for that. I doubt you want me just letting it happen naturally." Lance shook his head to show that no he would not.

"Do you have anyone in mind?"

"Not right now. I've had other things on my mind. Don has only recently reached a proper maturity despite being an 'ancient' pokemon.

"Is that so?" He said, smiling as he mimicked my words. I nodded and we let the conversation lull as we finished our meals, neither of us feeling the need to talk anymore. Part of me was surprised at how normal this felt. Fight a high stakes match, then go for burgers with your opponent afterwards. It was pretty nice.

When a few reporters came by I feared the worst but Lance gave them a pointed look and a small shake of his head.

"Huh, how do you get them to do that?" I asked when they kept their distance. When he raised an eyebrow I gestured at the empty space around us. "I sort of got swamped after our match but you just gave them a look and those reporters stayed clear of us. In fact, most people are giving us space."

"Mostly it is how I ask to be treated. Only certain people can casually approach me. Prior to becoming champion I made sure to be very clear that I didn't want anyone to be overly familiar with me. That has carried on since my rise." He gestured to me and smirked. "I'd suggest hiring a media representative going forwards to teach you certain methods. You'll need to find what works for you, but I suspect your approachableness might cause you some issues."

I clicked my tongue but filed the information away. It was good advice even if it wasn't the surefire easy answer I wanted. "Life can be complicated sometimes."

Lance merely shrugged. "Sounds like a you problem."

I paused to stare at him before laughing. "Nice one, yeah alright I'll see who I can talk with back home." I then scrunched up my wrapper before considering the now empty cans. Before I could do anything the overly helpful waitress zoomed by, collecting them before checking in that we were happy with everything. Lance merely nodded and dropped one hundred poke dollars on the table. The girl grinned as I matched him, my pride acting up.

"You know we kind of overtipped just then yeah?" I said once we were outside.

"I overtipped but I hadn't known she was going so far out of her way to get me sparkling water in the past." He nodded at me. "Once again. I'm sorry for my thoughtless words. Thank you for the wonderful match. I will be looking forward to a rematch in the future." He smirked and gave a short bow only to pause. His gaze locked on mine. "Brock, while you displayed great strength today in our match, you have also revealed some of your potential. People will expect things." He held his smirk, "When the time comes I hope I can call on you as a representative for Kanto for the World championship." Then, he turned away, cape flaring out behind him. He marched off towards some central buildings.

"Later Lance!" I called after him, he tossed a wave over his shoulder before I turned towards my own hotel.

I… hadn't really ever thought about the world championships before. But to have Lance of all people mention it, and certainly not as an idle thought, meant he fully expected me to be there in the mix. I whistled to myself and continued on home. I had a long road to go before then thankfully, but it held a lot more appeal than the previous suggestion of Elite Four status.

It was something to dream for and look towards. For now though, I'd call my brother to see if anyone was in bed yet before going to sleep myself.

My plans for tomorrow?

I honestly had no idea what to do. I spun the briefcase about before grinning. Cashing in on my efforts seemed a pretty good way to kill time though. Suddenly it seemed I had a lot more options open to me.

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A.N. Thanks go to my Patreons for the support they give!

Special thanks go to Raikor, Ab9999 and Elnoorz for betaing and editing this chapter to be much more polished than it was!

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