"I think it's amazing and I want another so they can punch each other!"
Hard Enough - Pokemon SI
- Thread starter Viva01
- Start date
- Users' Choice!
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- Tags
- pokemon self insert
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Chapter 197 - Anxiety Anita
Viva01
Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given
- Location
- Australia
Anita didn't want to reset the Gym for her entrance, so instead the podium shifted so she could step out onto it, and I stepped off to collect my own pokemon.
Jackson took my place. "Alright, little girl? You ready to throw down?" he asked.
"I-I'm ready!" she said nervously, her hand darting towards her pokebelt, pulling out a pokeball.
I frowned at the hesitance in her voice, she'd been much more assertive before. Where had that gone?
Salvadore, who'd stepped in for this match as referee, raised the flags. "Trainers, are you ready?" he asked.
When they both nodded he dropped the flags. "Release and begin!" he called.
Anita threw her pokeball only for it to soar way, way too far. "Argh! No!" wailed the girl as her Budew appeared right in front of Jackson's Rhyhorn.
Everyone blinked in surprise at the faux pas. I tilted my head, measuring the distance she'd just thrown and adjusting it for her age. I whistled. "Damn! That girl has an arm on her!" I said with a chuckle.
Salvadore coughed. "Uhm that's a… violation of starting area!" he said quickly before shifting and swallowing. "Uhm… shoot, what else am I supposed to say?" He said into the microphone as he chewed his lip in thought.
He perked up as he recalled the relevant rules. "Oh! Pokemon must begin within their half of the field when deployed! You may leave your pokemon on the opponent's side of the field when you defeat them or force a trade of pokemon but not before then! For violating this… you will receive… a pen—"
I cut off Salvadore, realising he was quoting the official League standard rules for a pokemon match. I coughed. "Sorry about that, Salvadore, that's the official League rules, but we as a Gym can show discretion if we choose," I said.
I coughed and shifted my attention. "Anita, you will receive a warning for this and no more, this time," I said calmly.
When Salvadore blushed and shot me a worried look, I made a patting-the-air motion to show I just needed him to calm down. I changed channels to his exclusive radio. "Easy tiger, that was the correct call officially, but this is a beginner's Gym match, let her know she did the wrong thing but don't burn her too bad."
I shot Anita a look and sighed. "She's already doing that enough for herself."
Indeed, the girl looked like she had withdrawn entirely into herself and was lost in a cycle of castigating herself.
Her hair had fallen over her face and she was curling in on herself, arms tucked in tight. I grimaced. Damn, it looked like she was having a panic attack.
I was getting an odd sense of whiplash. The girl had been loud and demanding when she'd been in the stands, but now that she was under pressure it seemed like her confidence was a thin facade.
This… this wasn't a good showing, but it didn't have to mean the end of her match before it even began. She just needed something to—
Before I could do anything a voice ripped through the silence. "ANITA! COME ON! FIGHT! DON'T LET THIS HURDLE STOP YOU!" roared Trent, her friend, from the stands. "COME ON! I KNOW YOU'RE BRAVER THAN THIS! YOU'RE THE BRAVEST GIRL IN LITTLEROOT TOWN!"
I hummed, looking towards the boy who was doing his best to raise Anita's confidence. Littleroot Town, eh?
I shot Rachel a look and made a pump-up gesture.
Rachel grinned. "YOU HEARD HIM FOLKS! LET'S GIVE THIS GIRL SOME SUPPORT!"
"Yeeeeeeeah, go little one!" called one woman instantly, and I made a mental note to send her some free tickets for food or drink for her help.
"It's alright, you're not out of it! You've got a good pokemon out on the field to start things off!" shouted another.
"You can do it! Go for the headshot!" shouted another person, their passionate shot garnering a small chuckle from the crowd.
My idea to give a single woman a voucher shifted, becoming an idea that came from a famous memory that had become a meme in my past life.
Specifically, the Oprah meme.
She'd get vouchers, and he'd get vouchers, and everyone would get food vouchers!
I held back from doing that right now through force of will, but still vowed I'd do it later, after Anita's match with me.
Anita lifted her head and gave a tremulous smile. "B-budew, step back until you're at the midpoint! S-sorry girl! I messed up!" she called. Her Budew turned and darted back on its stumpy little legs.
When she reached the halfway point it turned and skipped backwards rather than run past and then turn around. Hmmm, not bad. Not the best, but not bad in terms of awareness.
Jackson made a gesture to Anita. "Ladies first," he said with a slight bow.
Anita stiffly nodded and then shot her hand forward. "Bubeb!" she said, biting her tongue as she tried to give the command in a strong manner, only to mess up again.
I put a hand to my face and sighed. Oh dear, this girl… this was just not her day.
She shot her hand to her mouth and released an aborted squeal of pain before shaking it off. "Budew!" she said carefully. "Use Leech Seed!" she said.
Jackson leaned forward. "Rhyhorn! Use Tail Whip!" he called, going for the seemingly easy option.
Budew leaned forward only to twitch and release nothing. I blinked in surprise at the failed move, only to facepalm as I realised the issue.
Anita twitched, realising her mistake. "I meant Stun Spore!" she hurriedly said. Budew didn't know Leech Seed.
Jackson coughed as he understood she'd messed up again.
I ran a hand across my face. "This girl is just too in her head now," I said, watching as she struggled and fought against herself. She eventually settled into using Absorb and ending the match easily enough.
I was disappointed when she made no move to use a potion after the match.
When Greta stepped forward to be the next trainer in the gauntlet I tapped her on the shoulder. "Use Defence Curl and Roll Out as much as you can to force her hand a little more, alright? Pressure her," I said.
Greta nodded and did just that, sending out a Geodude who expertly dodged into rocks and then rolled rings around Budew, causing the little pokemon to grow confused as it spun around and around on the spot.
I frowned. "Come on, you have some of the pieces to fix this situation, what are you going to do?" I asked myself as I watched Anita struggle.
Jackson who'd made his way up to me shot me an amused look at my commentary of the match, but I ignored him.
From what it looked like, Anita grew too anxious to think clearly as she failed to correct her course of action, growing more and more flustered until Greta became bored of dragging the fight out.
"Finish it! Roll Out!" she called, making Geodude turn and hurtle straight into Budew, smashing into it and sending it flying across the field.
For a moment I recalled an event a few months ago, where another nervous girl had stepped into the Gym and failed to correctly order a Geodude.
With a little time, things had changed. Greta was now the confident one, with a new challenger appearing that was struggling.
Budew struggled to stand and Greta stiffened. "B-budew! Please keep fighting! I need you!" she called desperately.
Budew stood up on shaky limbs and glared at Geodude who merely scoffed.
"Come on girl! You got this!" called someone from the crowd.
"Dig deep!" "Shock us with something!" "Fight through!" called others, and I reaffirmed my desire to give the entire crowd free vouchers. This sort of positive support was something I needed to reward. They were good people.
Anita twitched and glanced at the crowd, an idea sparking in her eyes as she paused, only to snap her head back to her pokemon.
She swept her hand wide. "Budew! Cast a wide cloud with Stun Spore!" she called, and I sighed in relief as she finally switched up her tactics.
Geodude tore through the cloud of spores, only to spasm like it had been shocked, it lost its ball shape and opened itself out. With its momentum lost, it faceplanted into the ground and dug itself a furrow in the earth before it rightened itself. It glared hatefully at the Budew as Anita brightened up.
"Absorb! Get back in the fight!" Anita called, and with that, her Budew was able to return to strength while knocking out Geodude.
Greta glanced up at me, a fire in her eyes, and I nodded, silently agreeing that she could use her second pokemon.
Greta turned back, her second pokeball in hand even as Geodude was returned. I chuckled, imagining a wagging tail of glee thanks to how I wasn't holding her back.
When had Greta gained such a love for fighting?
Or was this more that she was learning about the joys of pushing an opponent and seeing them grow before you?
If that was the case, she might be well suited to become a Gym Trainer… or maybe even more in future.
In the games Gary had become a Gym Leader, after all… why couldn't another person from that generation take hold of the mantle of Viridian Gym Leader?
It was an amusing idea, at the very least.
Greta released her Aron. The little metal dog growled fiercely as it locked eyes on the beaten and bruised Budew.
"Ron!" it growled.
Greta swept her hand out. "Rock Tomb! Trap it first and then charge in!"
Rocks shot up out of the ground and pinched in on Budew, causing the little pokemon to cry out in pain and Anita to gasp. "Budew! Use Stun Spore, stop it getting close!"
"Leap high and commit!" Greta called, making her Aron jump up and through the expanding cloud of spores.
It burst out the other side, a sizable window of spores punched through. It locked up and twitched, only to continue soaring.
This move wouldn't have worked if Budew could move even a little, but thanks to Greta's earlier Rock Tomb, she'd secured herself a sure thing. Aron slammed into Budew and finally knocked the little pokemon out of the match.
I hummed. "A touch harder than it needed to be, but a good sequence of moves," I commented.
"Might need to make Greta fight higher level matches, third tier and such," commented Jackson.
I grunted my agreement, my eyes locked on Anita as she stared at her downed pokemon. I could practically see her world collapsing around her. I clicked my tongue. Alright, outside support wasn't working, what about another form of motivation?
I straightened up and stepped to the side and into the lights at the top of the stairs, arms crossed in my signature pose with my eyes cast in shadow as I stared down upon Anita.
I toggled the speakers. "So…. this is all you have to show me?" I said with a lazy drawl. "Hmph! Did you think that Budew would work here?"
Internally I wanted to cringe, but externally I continued to stare down at Anita.
Anita, a young girl who was obviously breaking before everyone's eyes, and here I was punching down.
The thing was, in a pokemon world, words like that?
"Budew is strong!" Anita said, her eyes regaining some of the fire that she'd had when she was in the stands. When she'd stepped onto the podium that fire had vanished after a series of blunders.
Now she met my gaze as she clutched at Budew's pokeball.
I sniffed dismissively and turned my gaze to Aron who was trying to shake off the Stun Spore. It wouldn't work sadly, but he might have a better chance at getting a move off.
Greta adopted an oddly familiar look of derision for Anita and the other girl bristled as she clutched at another pokeball. "Come out Zigzagoon!"
A small racoon-like pokemon took to the field and barked happily. Anita shot her hand forward. "Budew set us up! Take out Aron while it is weak! Tackle!" she called.
Ziagzagoon charged straight in and I could see Greta calculating what was about to happen. Her pokemon couldn't move well and her opponent was charging her.
She didn't need to move to come off better in this exchange.
"Harden!" she called and a glint swept over Aron's body as his defence increased right as Zigzagoon tried to tackle it.
A hard thump sounded out and both pokemon staggered back, slightly pained from the exchange, but considering how it was meant to go, Greta had done well.
I could see Anita growing flustered once more, but she had a touch more steel in her now and she was assisted by the crowd continuing to cheer on, buoying her confidence. "Circle it with Tail Whip!"
Her pokemon darted in close and ran circles in tight, its tail whipping into Aron and lowering its defence with each circuit.
"Bite it!" growled Greta, and Aron tried but failed as he was too slow.
With Aron weakened, Anita had her pokemon dart to the side and slam home another Tackle from a much better position than head-on.
I nodded. "Good, she learned from her first mistake," I said aloud, watching as she had her pokemon dart in and out to harass Aron until it toppled to the side.
Greta sighed as she returned her pokemon. "I guess I shouldn't have been so eager to charge in on the first pokemon. I won the first fight, but lost the match, as they say!" she bowed and marched away.
Jackson chuckled. "If this had been a two-tier or three-tier match, she'd have been able to use Dig to evade the attack."
"True," I said, "but then I'd expect more from Anita if that was the case."
I waited for Greta to step back before I began my advance down the stairs. As I passed her I whispered to her. "Excellent showing out there, talk to Jackson about higher-tier matches," I said quickly.
With that done I continued on, my eyes locked on Anita who still hadn't used a potion. As I did my signature jump across the railing to the podium, I took note of small details.
She didn't have many pokemon. She had four pokeballs on her belt, one of which I knew was knocked out. Zigzagoon was tired from earlier.
I also noticed other things, like the wear of her shoes, the slight tiredness in her eyes, and the slightly pinched facial features. She wasn't starved by any metric, but she had been roughing it for a while, I suspected.
Damn, I felt like an asshole beating down on her like I had.
But,] it was one of the things she needed at this moment. I was to be her barrier to overcome.
I locked eyes with her and felt the flickering flame of her resolve with but a look. I didn't say anything, I merely gestured towards the exit.
Zigzagoon growled at this and Anita straightened up. Hmmm, I suspected if I'd targeted her, she would have crumbled earlier, but by targeting her pokemon?
Well, that drew a response. Now her pokemon were making her act. It was… a solution, but not one that she should continue to rely on, lest her pokemon not respect her as their trainer.
That would need correction, but the help could come later.
"Let's rock! Anorith!" I called, sending out my Bug-rock type for the first time publicly.
Anorith appeared and wiggled her legs happily. "Anor-rith!" she called.
"Game face on, Anorith! This is a Gym Match!" I said, stopping her from leaping across at her new friend and instead crouching down in readiness.
Salvadore raised his flags before dropping them. "Begin!" he called.
Anita swallowed and stabbed a hand forward. "Sand Attack! Target those Bug eyes!"
"Water Gun!" I replied, blowing away the Sand Attack before it could do any damage.
Anita stiffened as the Water Gun continued on to slam into her pokemon, sending it sprawling. "Zigzagoon! No, keep fighting! Use your special move!"
I frowned at this, wondering what she meant.
I didn't have to wait long as Zigzagoon righted itself, only to throw itself into a head-long sprint straight at Anorith with Extreme Speed.
"Har—" I barely got to shout before Anorith was launched backward where she slammed into the back wall.
She slid down with a painful cry before shaking herself off and limping forward.
I shot Anita another look. Why had she not used that move earlier? It was a great move that might have spared her pokemon some of its energy.
"Yes! It hit!" Anita cried out with what sounded like pure relief.
I stared. Her pokemon knew Extreme Speed but had… accuracy issues? That didn't make sense to me. What was up with that?
I gave Zigzagoon another look and frowned at what I saw. "It's young, isn't it?"
When she gave me a blank look I clarified my statement. "Your Zigzagoon, it's quite young, isn't it? Only just out of being a baby pokemon if I'm correct? It always knew Extreme Speed as well?"
Anita blinked. "Uhhhh, yeah?"
I nodded and continued to observe Zigzagoon carefully. It had signs of some discolouration and patches where the coat hadn't grown in properly. It was obviously well cared for, with it being brushed, but it had some potential issues as well.
I shook my head and shut my mouth for the moment. With the information I had access to, I knew what I needed to do. "Anorith! Use Water Gun to leap on top of a boulder!"
Anorith, having just returned to the field of battle, did exactly that.
Anita tilted her head only to scowl. "I see what you're trying to do! And it won't work! Let's end this match!"
"Crouch down," I said simply as Zigzagoon began darting from side to side with Extreme Speed, my eyes barely able to track it as Anorith gained a confused look as she attempted the same action.
When Zigzagoon made to leap Anita realised what was about to happen and blanched. "No! Stop!" she called, only for it to be too late.
Zigzagoon leapt, only to soar right over Anorith who'd crouched earlier, representing a smaller profile to be hit.
Zigzagoon sailed up and up, looking excited for a moment, only for horror to dawn on its small racooony features as it realised it had misjudged its jump terribly.
I sighed. Young pokemon with strong moves weren't always a great combination.
It reminded me of Ash teaching his Gible Draco Meteor. Heh, when it was my turn to try it out, that was going to be fun.
With Zigzagoon unable to move as it fell through the air I only had to snap my fingers. "Water Gun!"
Anorith popped up, spinning and firing on a pokedime. The glob of water slammed into the falling Zigzagoon and sent it tumbling out of the battlefield where it failed to rise.
"Urgh!" Anita said with a quiver.
I hummed. It had been a good showing, but she needed more control of her pokemon and its moves before coming here, otherwise people could and would exploit her weakness.
She returned her pokemon and gritted her teeth. "Alright girl! Come on out!" From her next pokeball a Jigglypuff appeared with a twirl.
I tilted my head. Now here was a rarish pokemon to see on the battling scene. I gestured for her to go first and Anita chopped her hands across her body. "Use Sweet Kiss!" she said, and Jigglypuff made a kissing gesture at Anorith.
The pink heart wafted forward quickly and caught Anorith by surprise. I coughed as I tried to hold in a small laugh.
If this went how I thought it would, I might have another lesson to be taught right here.
Anorith gained a pinkish energy in her eyes and straightened up. "Rith?" she asked as she locked eyes on Jigglypuff. She was clearly confused about what was going on here.
I just chuckled. "Hug her," I said.
Jigglypuff puffed herself up, only to squeak in terror as Anorith did what she naturally did and leapt, legs spread wide as she sought to hug Jigglypuff.
Jigglypuff, now with Anorith attached to her face, panicked and rolled back and forth, slamming herself into the ground, only for Anorith to grab on harder, her eyes still glowing.
"Ah! Jigglypuff! Use Disarming Voice! Jigglypuff? Come on! Listen!" she called, only for her pokemon to continue freaking out and ignoring her.
A few people laughed in the crowd and Anita flinched, only to blush furiously as she looked at me. I shot her a smirk and she growled.
"JIGGLYPUFF! STOP MESSING AROUND AND USE DISARMING VOICE!" she shouted, using some of her earlier loudness to get her command through to her panicked pokemon.
Jigglypuff stood and a moment later a screech shot from the little fluffball, launching Anorith away and knocking her out.
Anita stared, shocked at how that had gone for her, only for Jigglypuff to buckle, having apparently worn herself out in her panic.
I returned Anorith, rather happy with her first showing.
She'd been deadly accurate with her Water Gun and I was overall happy with her matching two pokemon for her first appearance. She had some rough spots, but she worked out well for me.
I enlarged my last pokemon and released it. Onix took to the field with a loud roar and Jigglypuff gained a new look of tiredness as she realised she was going to have to face off against this towering giant.
"Bide," I said, deciding to toss an easy ball at Anita.
Anita twitched and a small smile appeared on her face, which let me know she had done her research and knew about this move. "Stockpile!" she called out and her pokemon opened its mouth and pretended that it was Kirby with a huge sucking action before swallowing some air.
When Onix didn't move she grinned. "Use Spit up!" she shouted, and her pokemon spat a wave of pink bubbles that shot out into Onix.
I sighed and shook my head as Onix took a huge hit by the look of things. The bubbles exploded into pink light, battering him with each hit, and when the light show vanished Onix looked to be on his last legs.
"Oh no," said Anita as she realised her mistake, right in time for Bide to be unleashed from Onix.
Onix swept his tail around with a mighty swing. Jigglypuff was blown backwards and cratered into the floor when she landed.
She didn't get up and Anita had to return her.
I scratched my head in bemusement. She'd done enough research, but had been unlucky enough to face off against a Sturdy Onix instead of a Hard Head Onix. Not that I expected her to know about that.
It was still bad luck for her.
Onix heaved in breath after breath, clearly on his last legs as Anita returned her pokemon. She swallowed and plucked out her last pokemon. "C-come on out Slaking!" she called.
I straightened up instantly, all humour in the situation lost as my hands went to Onix's pokeball even as I clutched at Don's pokeball. He was my fastest pokemon, and if she was going to sucker punch me like that other prick then I had an answer ready for—
Slaking appeared, lazing on his side.
He opened a single eye and snorted in disinterest before rolling onto his back and farting.
I raised an eyebrow as the sound echoed throughout the gym as the crowd fell silent.
I stared at Slaking before slowly turning to Anita who was blushing furiously.
I felt myself relax. She was just a kid.
Sure, she was a kid with access to a surprisingly powerful pokemon, but it wasn't a situation like it had been with Guybro.
I swallowed. "You can't order that pokemon around, can you?" I asked.
Anita licked her lips only to deflate. "No, no sir, I cannot… I didn't want to rely on him, but…"
I nodded and signalled to Salvadore.
Salvadore nodded. "Anita is unable to control her pokemon! Therefore this match is called in Brock's favour! The Gym Leader wins!"
Anita returned her sleeping pokemon and let her hair fall down over her eyes.
This reminded me a lot of when Ash lost because Charizard wouldn't follow his commands. It had sucked watching as a kid, but it had been a learning moment for Ash.
I caught a shudder run through Anita's form and knew without being told that the second the podiums were low enough, she was going to run.
This girl really was like Greta.
I jumped, withdrawing Onix as I did so and calling on some rock energy to propel myself across the battlefield quickly. When Anita leapt off the podium to run away, I was there to catch her.
"Ah?" she said, shocked out of her tears for a moment.
I smiled. "Hey, let's you and I talk before you run off, yeah?"
She nodded hesitantly and I carted her to the medical bay where I deposited my pokemon into waiting receptacles. Chansey bustled out and paused when she noticed Anita. Her eyes lingered on Anita's red eyes and wet cheeks.
"Chansey!" she said as she reached into her apron and brought out a handful of candy which she deposited in Anita's hand. She then patted Anita on the cheek and gestured at another receptacle bay.
"She wants you to put your pokemon there so she can look after them," I said, acting as a translator.
"Oh, sure thing," Anita said quietly, doing just that. She then shot me a look before hanging her head. "I messed up bad… didn't I?"
I hummed, considering how I should approach this. Before I got a chance to, the door rattled as something hit it. I heard a soft 'ow' from the other side.
"T-trent?" said Anita, some life coming back into her.
"Anita! Are you alright? Brock's not bullying you, is he?"
Anita spluttered. "No! I'm not being bullied! Shut up! Just go wait for me! You're making a scene and embarrassing me!" she said.
Trent coughed. "O-oh… alright, if you say so… You're sure he's not doing anything to you?" he asked, and I felt a vein twitch in my forehead. What the hell was this kid saying? I had half a mind to march over and say as much, but Anita just growled wordlessly.
The sound of scampering feet met my ears and I chuckled.
Anita smirked, only to blink and remember where she was. "S-sorry about that, he's just an idiot childhood friend of mine."
"Hmmmm," I said, deciding to not comment on the 'childhood friend' line she'd used. That raised flags in my mind, but I didn't want to touch on that. Instead, I wanted to talk about something else. "That fire you have with him? Where is it when you fight? You… you're very fragile, I get that it wasn't a great start with the overthrow, but things sort of spiralled for you there. Does that happen often?"
"It… happens a lot, actually, I just get so tense when I fight."
I nodded. "You feel like you need to consider every scenario? Do you feel like your mind is moving at a million miles an hour? Your heart thunders in your ears? Your breath feels hot?"
"Y-yeah!" she shot me a hopeful look. "Are you like that as well… who am I kidding? You're Brock!" she said with a slump.
I chuckled. "I wasn't always 'Gym Leader Brock', you know? Long before I fought Lance and won some fame, I had my own Journey where I had to learn things, you know? I went around feeling like I was doing great until I faced off against Blaine's challenge. I went in with my rock-typed pokemon thinking I had it."
I shook my head as I recalled how cocky I'd been. "Things started slipping through my grip very quickly. Blaine led me around by the nose. He's a wily one, and was… well, he was a nightmare to fight despite my type advantage. I ended up taking a month and three battles of Blaine taunting me before I won. After the second match, I remember becoming exceptionally tense and having issues with everything. Which in a volcano arena is a huge problem."
"Gym Leader Blaine really does that?" Anita asked.
I nodded. "Yup, by the time you … well I suppose you won't get the chance, with how things have developed, but when you would have gotten to him you would have had to face him with your best foot forward, which is not just about having your pokemon healthy, but also yourself."
I tapped the side of my head. "You have some things that are getting in your way, they're presenting a lot earlier than they did for me."
"Urgh, I'm so pathetic," she said.
I shook my finger back and forth. "Ah, that's the sort of thing you need to do away with. Let yourself be confident, without relying on pushing others down, eh?"
Anita frowned. I shot her a look. "For all that Trent was worried I was bullying you, some of the things you were saying could be seen as you pushing him around. Regardless of you winning or losing, you still acted that way. It might be a method of bolstering your self-confidence, but It's not a stable platform. What would happen if he left you, for example?"
"He wouldn't!" said Anita with a hint of desperation.
I shot her a sad smile. "I'm just raising a potential situation. You need some confidence in yourself and methods to manage when your mood is getting too much. Have you ever seen some of my matches?"
"Yeah, I've tried your clap breath… it didn't work for me, I just felt silly," she admitted.
I laughed. "Yeah! I can look pretty silly, can't I?" I said with a smile.
Anita giggled. "I don't mind feeling silly, if it would just work!" she said.
I hummed as I considered her words, before rubbing my chin. "Hmmm, the symptoms I described earlier, do you get a few, or all of them?"
Anita blinked. "Oh? The shortness of breath and the head spinning? Yeah, I get all of those when things get bad."
I hummed as I recalled another option. "You wouldn't mind feeling silly if you relaxed?" I said. When Anita nodded I smiled. "How do you feel about dancing?" I asked.
When she gave me a clueless look I elaborated. "Sometimes when I have baseballers that get too tense, I tell them to do a little dance routine to make them relax."
I demonstrated a funny little hop, skip shuffle where I pumped my arms while nodding my head with a goofy grin on my face as I did so. "You can do it with music if you want. Remember that the referee asks if you're ready, and it's not a bad idea to take the time to adjust if you need it. Getting yourself in the right mindset can make all the difference for a pokemon match."
"Can you show me that again?" asked Anita.
I gestured and she stood up and copied me through the sequence of silly dance moves. I hadn't needed to use this trick for any of my baseball kids in a while. I'd co-opted it from a rather famous hurdler from my past life and found it worked rather well.
Anita did the dance and laughed, relaxing as the movements helped her become looser and more open. I smiled, pleased that we had a potential fix for what was her major issue.
"Alright, with that out of the way, how do you think you did?" I asked.
Anita coughed, her foot kicking at the floor with her eyes watching it with great interest. "Not good. I flubbed things and the crowd needed to get me out of my head."
"You had the right pokemon for a sweep if you had a better plan coming in," I said. "That said, why did you go for the Gauntlet while Trent went for the straight challenge?"
"...." muttered Anita.
I leaned forward. "I didn't catch that I'm sorry?"
"I… was trying to play off my anxiety! We've been losing a lot of money lately, cause every trainer we fight is really strong! I wanted Trent to shut up 'cause he was being super pushy with me and I got mad and then… I signed up for the tougher fight against your Gym."
"Hmmm I see, well, you were close to beating me," I said neutrally. It also explained why she wouldn't have money for food and potions. "What's up with Slaking?" I asked.
"My big sister's Slaking is to protect us if we get in over our heads, but he won't fight for me!"
"Ah, you've tried to use him before this, no?" When Anita nodded I sighed. "You need to bring him out and establish a bond. Don't try to use him for fighting before you have that bond. Call him out for meal times and sit with him, talk with him. Do team activities if you want to have any hope of using him. Slaking are… well, they're very tough pokemon to use normally," I said.
"Oh, those are good ideas, thanks." Anita stood and collected her pokeballs.
"So, do you want my badge?" I asked, posing what seemed like an innocent question to her.
Anita blinked. "But I lost?"
I nodded. "You did, but you also demonstrated some skills with adjusting for some fights. You brought a grass type and while you were very reliant on him, you did demonstrate you know how to use typings to your advantage. You made some good adjustments when the fight couldn't just rely on this. You then had to fight through with pokemon without advantages. Honestly? If you'd had any other pokemon apart from that Slaking, you might have won. Onix was barely hanging in there from that Spit Up, " I said.
"O-oh… so I can earn your badge?" she asked with a frown.
I considered her. "I'm going to be cruel right now. I think you have demonstrated enough to eke out earning my badge at the first tier, but! And this is the catch, it's your call. It's up to you to accept if this is how you earn your first badge. It's yours, but if you want it to mean more than something you just scraped over the line for..." I trailed off leadingly.
Anita gained a conflicted look before shaking her head. "You're right. I don't want to earn it that way…" she said.
I nodded. "Right, well, with that said, I think we need to talk about you getting some work, 'cause if you and your pokemon are struggling from losses, then you need to settle down for a bit and let yourself recover. This Season is especially brutal. So, any guesses as to what you should do next?"
Anita nodded. "I should get a job?!" she said, looking adorably determined.
I grinned. "Nope! You should come have lunch with my trainers and I!" I said, putting a hand behind her back and marching her back out to the battlefield. There I collected Trent and led her up to the Gym trainer section where I let them loose on the fridge.
Within a few minutes they each had a trio of sandwiches and were talking animatedly with Greta and Salvadore while Jackson grabbed some pokechow to give to their pokemon.
At this point I had stood by, simply idling for a bit, waiting to get noticed as they settled in.
When Anita shot me a confused look, I glanced pointedly at her Slaking's pokeball and she understood my meaning that now was the best time to start building her bond with Slaking.
Just to make sure he behaved, I popped out Don and Hypnotoad.
Then I recalled my promise to myself. I marched over and tapped on my microphone, catching the crowd before it could depart for the lunch rush.
"Congratulations to the following people! You get free food vouchers!" I said, pointing at one kid only to then point at his mother.
"You get free food vouchers! You get free food vouchers!" I repeated this a few times before sweeping my hand over the entire crowd. "YOU ALL GET FOOD VOUCHERS! LUNCH IS ON THE HOUSE!" I called and the crowd cheered.
I grinned, knowing it would be an expensive bill, but sometimes it was fun to pay for extravagant gestures like this while knowing that I could absorb it.
It felt damn good being able to do something like this on a whim. I turned and marched back to sit and enjoy my own lunch, a happy little spark dancing in my chest.
A.N. Thanks go to my supporters!
It also goes to Twmmy and Mendelur for proofreading this chapter!
Jackson took my place. "Alright, little girl? You ready to throw down?" he asked.
"I-I'm ready!" she said nervously, her hand darting towards her pokebelt, pulling out a pokeball.
I frowned at the hesitance in her voice, she'd been much more assertive before. Where had that gone?
Salvadore, who'd stepped in for this match as referee, raised the flags. "Trainers, are you ready?" he asked.
When they both nodded he dropped the flags. "Release and begin!" he called.
Anita threw her pokeball only for it to soar way, way too far. "Argh! No!" wailed the girl as her Budew appeared right in front of Jackson's Rhyhorn.
Everyone blinked in surprise at the faux pas. I tilted my head, measuring the distance she'd just thrown and adjusting it for her age. I whistled. "Damn! That girl has an arm on her!" I said with a chuckle.
Salvadore coughed. "Uhm that's a… violation of starting area!" he said quickly before shifting and swallowing. "Uhm… shoot, what else am I supposed to say?" He said into the microphone as he chewed his lip in thought.
He perked up as he recalled the relevant rules. "Oh! Pokemon must begin within their half of the field when deployed! You may leave your pokemon on the opponent's side of the field when you defeat them or force a trade of pokemon but not before then! For violating this… you will receive… a pen—"
I cut off Salvadore, realising he was quoting the official League standard rules for a pokemon match. I coughed. "Sorry about that, Salvadore, that's the official League rules, but we as a Gym can show discretion if we choose," I said.
I coughed and shifted my attention. "Anita, you will receive a warning for this and no more, this time," I said calmly.
When Salvadore blushed and shot me a worried look, I made a patting-the-air motion to show I just needed him to calm down. I changed channels to his exclusive radio. "Easy tiger, that was the correct call officially, but this is a beginner's Gym match, let her know she did the wrong thing but don't burn her too bad."
I shot Anita a look and sighed. "She's already doing that enough for herself."
Indeed, the girl looked like she had withdrawn entirely into herself and was lost in a cycle of castigating herself.
Her hair had fallen over her face and she was curling in on herself, arms tucked in tight. I grimaced. Damn, it looked like she was having a panic attack.
I was getting an odd sense of whiplash. The girl had been loud and demanding when she'd been in the stands, but now that she was under pressure it seemed like her confidence was a thin facade.
This… this wasn't a good showing, but it didn't have to mean the end of her match before it even began. She just needed something to—
Before I could do anything a voice ripped through the silence. "ANITA! COME ON! FIGHT! DON'T LET THIS HURDLE STOP YOU!" roared Trent, her friend, from the stands. "COME ON! I KNOW YOU'RE BRAVER THAN THIS! YOU'RE THE BRAVEST GIRL IN LITTLEROOT TOWN!"
I hummed, looking towards the boy who was doing his best to raise Anita's confidence. Littleroot Town, eh?
I shot Rachel a look and made a pump-up gesture.
Rachel grinned. "YOU HEARD HIM FOLKS! LET'S GIVE THIS GIRL SOME SUPPORT!"
"Yeeeeeeeah, go little one!" called one woman instantly, and I made a mental note to send her some free tickets for food or drink for her help.
"It's alright, you're not out of it! You've got a good pokemon out on the field to start things off!" shouted another.
"You can do it! Go for the headshot!" shouted another person, their passionate shot garnering a small chuckle from the crowd.
My idea to give a single woman a voucher shifted, becoming an idea that came from a famous memory that had become a meme in my past life.
Specifically, the Oprah meme.
She'd get vouchers, and he'd get vouchers, and everyone would get food vouchers!
I held back from doing that right now through force of will, but still vowed I'd do it later, after Anita's match with me.
Anita lifted her head and gave a tremulous smile. "B-budew, step back until you're at the midpoint! S-sorry girl! I messed up!" she called. Her Budew turned and darted back on its stumpy little legs.
When she reached the halfway point it turned and skipped backwards rather than run past and then turn around. Hmmm, not bad. Not the best, but not bad in terms of awareness.
Jackson made a gesture to Anita. "Ladies first," he said with a slight bow.
Anita stiffly nodded and then shot her hand forward. "Bubeb!" she said, biting her tongue as she tried to give the command in a strong manner, only to mess up again.
I put a hand to my face and sighed. Oh dear, this girl… this was just not her day.
She shot her hand to her mouth and released an aborted squeal of pain before shaking it off. "Budew!" she said carefully. "Use Leech Seed!" she said.
Jackson leaned forward. "Rhyhorn! Use Tail Whip!" he called, going for the seemingly easy option.
Budew leaned forward only to twitch and release nothing. I blinked in surprise at the failed move, only to facepalm as I realised the issue.
Anita twitched, realising her mistake. "I meant Stun Spore!" she hurriedly said. Budew didn't know Leech Seed.
Jackson coughed as he understood she'd messed up again.
I ran a hand across my face. "This girl is just too in her head now," I said, watching as she struggled and fought against herself. She eventually settled into using Absorb and ending the match easily enough.
I was disappointed when she made no move to use a potion after the match.
When Greta stepped forward to be the next trainer in the gauntlet I tapped her on the shoulder. "Use Defence Curl and Roll Out as much as you can to force her hand a little more, alright? Pressure her," I said.
Greta nodded and did just that, sending out a Geodude who expertly dodged into rocks and then rolled rings around Budew, causing the little pokemon to grow confused as it spun around and around on the spot.
I frowned. "Come on, you have some of the pieces to fix this situation, what are you going to do?" I asked myself as I watched Anita struggle.
Jackson who'd made his way up to me shot me an amused look at my commentary of the match, but I ignored him.
From what it looked like, Anita grew too anxious to think clearly as she failed to correct her course of action, growing more and more flustered until Greta became bored of dragging the fight out.
"Finish it! Roll Out!" she called, making Geodude turn and hurtle straight into Budew, smashing into it and sending it flying across the field.
For a moment I recalled an event a few months ago, where another nervous girl had stepped into the Gym and failed to correctly order a Geodude.
With a little time, things had changed. Greta was now the confident one, with a new challenger appearing that was struggling.
Budew struggled to stand and Greta stiffened. "B-budew! Please keep fighting! I need you!" she called desperately.
Budew stood up on shaky limbs and glared at Geodude who merely scoffed.
"Come on girl! You got this!" called someone from the crowd.
"Dig deep!" "Shock us with something!" "Fight through!" called others, and I reaffirmed my desire to give the entire crowd free vouchers. This sort of positive support was something I needed to reward. They were good people.
Anita twitched and glanced at the crowd, an idea sparking in her eyes as she paused, only to snap her head back to her pokemon.
She swept her hand wide. "Budew! Cast a wide cloud with Stun Spore!" she called, and I sighed in relief as she finally switched up her tactics.
Geodude tore through the cloud of spores, only to spasm like it had been shocked, it lost its ball shape and opened itself out. With its momentum lost, it faceplanted into the ground and dug itself a furrow in the earth before it rightened itself. It glared hatefully at the Budew as Anita brightened up.
"Absorb! Get back in the fight!" Anita called, and with that, her Budew was able to return to strength while knocking out Geodude.
Greta glanced up at me, a fire in her eyes, and I nodded, silently agreeing that she could use her second pokemon.
Greta turned back, her second pokeball in hand even as Geodude was returned. I chuckled, imagining a wagging tail of glee thanks to how I wasn't holding her back.
When had Greta gained such a love for fighting?
Or was this more that she was learning about the joys of pushing an opponent and seeing them grow before you?
If that was the case, she might be well suited to become a Gym Trainer… or maybe even more in future.
In the games Gary had become a Gym Leader, after all… why couldn't another person from that generation take hold of the mantle of Viridian Gym Leader?
It was an amusing idea, at the very least.
Greta released her Aron. The little metal dog growled fiercely as it locked eyes on the beaten and bruised Budew.
"Ron!" it growled.
Greta swept her hand out. "Rock Tomb! Trap it first and then charge in!"
Rocks shot up out of the ground and pinched in on Budew, causing the little pokemon to cry out in pain and Anita to gasp. "Budew! Use Stun Spore, stop it getting close!"
"Leap high and commit!" Greta called, making her Aron jump up and through the expanding cloud of spores.
It burst out the other side, a sizable window of spores punched through. It locked up and twitched, only to continue soaring.
This move wouldn't have worked if Budew could move even a little, but thanks to Greta's earlier Rock Tomb, she'd secured herself a sure thing. Aron slammed into Budew and finally knocked the little pokemon out of the match.
I hummed. "A touch harder than it needed to be, but a good sequence of moves," I commented.
"Might need to make Greta fight higher level matches, third tier and such," commented Jackson.
I grunted my agreement, my eyes locked on Anita as she stared at her downed pokemon. I could practically see her world collapsing around her. I clicked my tongue. Alright, outside support wasn't working, what about another form of motivation?
I straightened up and stepped to the side and into the lights at the top of the stairs, arms crossed in my signature pose with my eyes cast in shadow as I stared down upon Anita.
I toggled the speakers. "So…. this is all you have to show me?" I said with a lazy drawl. "Hmph! Did you think that Budew would work here?"
Internally I wanted to cringe, but externally I continued to stare down at Anita.
Anita, a young girl who was obviously breaking before everyone's eyes, and here I was punching down.
The thing was, in a pokemon world, words like that?
"Budew is strong!" Anita said, her eyes regaining some of the fire that she'd had when she was in the stands. When she'd stepped onto the podium that fire had vanished after a series of blunders.
Now she met my gaze as she clutched at Budew's pokeball.
I sniffed dismissively and turned my gaze to Aron who was trying to shake off the Stun Spore. It wouldn't work sadly, but he might have a better chance at getting a move off.
Greta adopted an oddly familiar look of derision for Anita and the other girl bristled as she clutched at another pokeball. "Come out Zigzagoon!"
A small racoon-like pokemon took to the field and barked happily. Anita shot her hand forward. "Budew set us up! Take out Aron while it is weak! Tackle!" she called.
Ziagzagoon charged straight in and I could see Greta calculating what was about to happen. Her pokemon couldn't move well and her opponent was charging her.
She didn't need to move to come off better in this exchange.
"Harden!" she called and a glint swept over Aron's body as his defence increased right as Zigzagoon tried to tackle it.
A hard thump sounded out and both pokemon staggered back, slightly pained from the exchange, but considering how it was meant to go, Greta had done well.
I could see Anita growing flustered once more, but she had a touch more steel in her now and she was assisted by the crowd continuing to cheer on, buoying her confidence. "Circle it with Tail Whip!"
Her pokemon darted in close and ran circles in tight, its tail whipping into Aron and lowering its defence with each circuit.
"Bite it!" growled Greta, and Aron tried but failed as he was too slow.
With Aron weakened, Anita had her pokemon dart to the side and slam home another Tackle from a much better position than head-on.
I nodded. "Good, she learned from her first mistake," I said aloud, watching as she had her pokemon dart in and out to harass Aron until it toppled to the side.
Greta sighed as she returned her pokemon. "I guess I shouldn't have been so eager to charge in on the first pokemon. I won the first fight, but lost the match, as they say!" she bowed and marched away.
Jackson chuckled. "If this had been a two-tier or three-tier match, she'd have been able to use Dig to evade the attack."
"True," I said, "but then I'd expect more from Anita if that was the case."
I waited for Greta to step back before I began my advance down the stairs. As I passed her I whispered to her. "Excellent showing out there, talk to Jackson about higher-tier matches," I said quickly.
With that done I continued on, my eyes locked on Anita who still hadn't used a potion. As I did my signature jump across the railing to the podium, I took note of small details.
She didn't have many pokemon. She had four pokeballs on her belt, one of which I knew was knocked out. Zigzagoon was tired from earlier.
I also noticed other things, like the wear of her shoes, the slight tiredness in her eyes, and the slightly pinched facial features. She wasn't starved by any metric, but she had been roughing it for a while, I suspected.
Damn, I felt like an asshole beating down on her like I had.
But,] it was one of the things she needed at this moment. I was to be her barrier to overcome.
I locked eyes with her and felt the flickering flame of her resolve with but a look. I didn't say anything, I merely gestured towards the exit.
Zigzagoon growled at this and Anita straightened up. Hmmm, I suspected if I'd targeted her, she would have crumbled earlier, but by targeting her pokemon?
Well, that drew a response. Now her pokemon were making her act. It was… a solution, but not one that she should continue to rely on, lest her pokemon not respect her as their trainer.
That would need correction, but the help could come later.
"Let's rock! Anorith!" I called, sending out my Bug-rock type for the first time publicly.
Anorith appeared and wiggled her legs happily. "Anor-rith!" she called.
"Game face on, Anorith! This is a Gym Match!" I said, stopping her from leaping across at her new friend and instead crouching down in readiness.
Salvadore raised his flags before dropping them. "Begin!" he called.
Anita swallowed and stabbed a hand forward. "Sand Attack! Target those Bug eyes!"
"Water Gun!" I replied, blowing away the Sand Attack before it could do any damage.
Anita stiffened as the Water Gun continued on to slam into her pokemon, sending it sprawling. "Zigzagoon! No, keep fighting! Use your special move!"
I frowned at this, wondering what she meant.
I didn't have to wait long as Zigzagoon righted itself, only to throw itself into a head-long sprint straight at Anorith with Extreme Speed.
"Har—" I barely got to shout before Anorith was launched backward where she slammed into the back wall.
She slid down with a painful cry before shaking herself off and limping forward.
I shot Anita another look. Why had she not used that move earlier? It was a great move that might have spared her pokemon some of its energy.
"Yes! It hit!" Anita cried out with what sounded like pure relief.
I stared. Her pokemon knew Extreme Speed but had… accuracy issues? That didn't make sense to me. What was up with that?
I gave Zigzagoon another look and frowned at what I saw. "It's young, isn't it?"
When she gave me a blank look I clarified my statement. "Your Zigzagoon, it's quite young, isn't it? Only just out of being a baby pokemon if I'm correct? It always knew Extreme Speed as well?"
Anita blinked. "Uhhhh, yeah?"
I nodded and continued to observe Zigzagoon carefully. It had signs of some discolouration and patches where the coat hadn't grown in properly. It was obviously well cared for, with it being brushed, but it had some potential issues as well.
I shook my head and shut my mouth for the moment. With the information I had access to, I knew what I needed to do. "Anorith! Use Water Gun to leap on top of a boulder!"
Anorith, having just returned to the field of battle, did exactly that.
Anita tilted her head only to scowl. "I see what you're trying to do! And it won't work! Let's end this match!"
"Crouch down," I said simply as Zigzagoon began darting from side to side with Extreme Speed, my eyes barely able to track it as Anorith gained a confused look as she attempted the same action.
When Zigzagoon made to leap Anita realised what was about to happen and blanched. "No! Stop!" she called, only for it to be too late.
Zigzagoon leapt, only to soar right over Anorith who'd crouched earlier, representing a smaller profile to be hit.
Zigzagoon sailed up and up, looking excited for a moment, only for horror to dawn on its small racooony features as it realised it had misjudged its jump terribly.
I sighed. Young pokemon with strong moves weren't always a great combination.
It reminded me of Ash teaching his Gible Draco Meteor. Heh, when it was my turn to try it out, that was going to be fun.
With Zigzagoon unable to move as it fell through the air I only had to snap my fingers. "Water Gun!"
Anorith popped up, spinning and firing on a pokedime. The glob of water slammed into the falling Zigzagoon and sent it tumbling out of the battlefield where it failed to rise.
"Urgh!" Anita said with a quiver.
I hummed. It had been a good showing, but she needed more control of her pokemon and its moves before coming here, otherwise people could and would exploit her weakness.
She returned her pokemon and gritted her teeth. "Alright girl! Come on out!" From her next pokeball a Jigglypuff appeared with a twirl.
I tilted my head. Now here was a rarish pokemon to see on the battling scene. I gestured for her to go first and Anita chopped her hands across her body. "Use Sweet Kiss!" she said, and Jigglypuff made a kissing gesture at Anorith.
The pink heart wafted forward quickly and caught Anorith by surprise. I coughed as I tried to hold in a small laugh.
If this went how I thought it would, I might have another lesson to be taught right here.
Anorith gained a pinkish energy in her eyes and straightened up. "Rith?" she asked as she locked eyes on Jigglypuff. She was clearly confused about what was going on here.
I just chuckled. "Hug her," I said.
Jigglypuff puffed herself up, only to squeak in terror as Anorith did what she naturally did and leapt, legs spread wide as she sought to hug Jigglypuff.
Jigglypuff, now with Anorith attached to her face, panicked and rolled back and forth, slamming herself into the ground, only for Anorith to grab on harder, her eyes still glowing.
"Ah! Jigglypuff! Use Disarming Voice! Jigglypuff? Come on! Listen!" she called, only for her pokemon to continue freaking out and ignoring her.
A few people laughed in the crowd and Anita flinched, only to blush furiously as she looked at me. I shot her a smirk and she growled.
"JIGGLYPUFF! STOP MESSING AROUND AND USE DISARMING VOICE!" she shouted, using some of her earlier loudness to get her command through to her panicked pokemon.
Jigglypuff stood and a moment later a screech shot from the little fluffball, launching Anorith away and knocking her out.
Anita stared, shocked at how that had gone for her, only for Jigglypuff to buckle, having apparently worn herself out in her panic.
I returned Anorith, rather happy with her first showing.
She'd been deadly accurate with her Water Gun and I was overall happy with her matching two pokemon for her first appearance. She had some rough spots, but she worked out well for me.
I enlarged my last pokemon and released it. Onix took to the field with a loud roar and Jigglypuff gained a new look of tiredness as she realised she was going to have to face off against this towering giant.
"Bide," I said, deciding to toss an easy ball at Anita.
Anita twitched and a small smile appeared on her face, which let me know she had done her research and knew about this move. "Stockpile!" she called out and her pokemon opened its mouth and pretended that it was Kirby with a huge sucking action before swallowing some air.
When Onix didn't move she grinned. "Use Spit up!" she shouted, and her pokemon spat a wave of pink bubbles that shot out into Onix.
I sighed and shook my head as Onix took a huge hit by the look of things. The bubbles exploded into pink light, battering him with each hit, and when the light show vanished Onix looked to be on his last legs.
"Oh no," said Anita as she realised her mistake, right in time for Bide to be unleashed from Onix.
Onix swept his tail around with a mighty swing. Jigglypuff was blown backwards and cratered into the floor when she landed.
She didn't get up and Anita had to return her.
I scratched my head in bemusement. She'd done enough research, but had been unlucky enough to face off against a Sturdy Onix instead of a Hard Head Onix. Not that I expected her to know about that.
It was still bad luck for her.
Onix heaved in breath after breath, clearly on his last legs as Anita returned her pokemon. She swallowed and plucked out her last pokemon. "C-come on out Slaking!" she called.
I straightened up instantly, all humour in the situation lost as my hands went to Onix's pokeball even as I clutched at Don's pokeball. He was my fastest pokemon, and if she was going to sucker punch me like that other prick then I had an answer ready for—
Slaking appeared, lazing on his side.
He opened a single eye and snorted in disinterest before rolling onto his back and farting.
I raised an eyebrow as the sound echoed throughout the gym as the crowd fell silent.
I stared at Slaking before slowly turning to Anita who was blushing furiously.
I felt myself relax. She was just a kid.
Sure, she was a kid with access to a surprisingly powerful pokemon, but it wasn't a situation like it had been with Guybro.
I swallowed. "You can't order that pokemon around, can you?" I asked.
Anita licked her lips only to deflate. "No, no sir, I cannot… I didn't want to rely on him, but…"
I nodded and signalled to Salvadore.
Salvadore nodded. "Anita is unable to control her pokemon! Therefore this match is called in Brock's favour! The Gym Leader wins!"
Anita returned her sleeping pokemon and let her hair fall down over her eyes.
This reminded me a lot of when Ash lost because Charizard wouldn't follow his commands. It had sucked watching as a kid, but it had been a learning moment for Ash.
I caught a shudder run through Anita's form and knew without being told that the second the podiums were low enough, she was going to run.
This girl really was like Greta.
I jumped, withdrawing Onix as I did so and calling on some rock energy to propel myself across the battlefield quickly. When Anita leapt off the podium to run away, I was there to catch her.
"Ah?" she said, shocked out of her tears for a moment.
I smiled. "Hey, let's you and I talk before you run off, yeah?"
She nodded hesitantly and I carted her to the medical bay where I deposited my pokemon into waiting receptacles. Chansey bustled out and paused when she noticed Anita. Her eyes lingered on Anita's red eyes and wet cheeks.
"Chansey!" she said as she reached into her apron and brought out a handful of candy which she deposited in Anita's hand. She then patted Anita on the cheek and gestured at another receptacle bay.
"She wants you to put your pokemon there so she can look after them," I said, acting as a translator.
"Oh, sure thing," Anita said quietly, doing just that. She then shot me a look before hanging her head. "I messed up bad… didn't I?"
I hummed, considering how I should approach this. Before I got a chance to, the door rattled as something hit it. I heard a soft 'ow' from the other side.
"T-trent?" said Anita, some life coming back into her.
"Anita! Are you alright? Brock's not bullying you, is he?"
Anita spluttered. "No! I'm not being bullied! Shut up! Just go wait for me! You're making a scene and embarrassing me!" she said.
Trent coughed. "O-oh… alright, if you say so… You're sure he's not doing anything to you?" he asked, and I felt a vein twitch in my forehead. What the hell was this kid saying? I had half a mind to march over and say as much, but Anita just growled wordlessly.
The sound of scampering feet met my ears and I chuckled.
Anita smirked, only to blink and remember where she was. "S-sorry about that, he's just an idiot childhood friend of mine."
"Hmmmm," I said, deciding to not comment on the 'childhood friend' line she'd used. That raised flags in my mind, but I didn't want to touch on that. Instead, I wanted to talk about something else. "That fire you have with him? Where is it when you fight? You… you're very fragile, I get that it wasn't a great start with the overthrow, but things sort of spiralled for you there. Does that happen often?"
"It… happens a lot, actually, I just get so tense when I fight."
I nodded. "You feel like you need to consider every scenario? Do you feel like your mind is moving at a million miles an hour? Your heart thunders in your ears? Your breath feels hot?"
"Y-yeah!" she shot me a hopeful look. "Are you like that as well… who am I kidding? You're Brock!" she said with a slump.
I chuckled. "I wasn't always 'Gym Leader Brock', you know? Long before I fought Lance and won some fame, I had my own Journey where I had to learn things, you know? I went around feeling like I was doing great until I faced off against Blaine's challenge. I went in with my rock-typed pokemon thinking I had it."
I shook my head as I recalled how cocky I'd been. "Things started slipping through my grip very quickly. Blaine led me around by the nose. He's a wily one, and was… well, he was a nightmare to fight despite my type advantage. I ended up taking a month and three battles of Blaine taunting me before I won. After the second match, I remember becoming exceptionally tense and having issues with everything. Which in a volcano arena is a huge problem."
"Gym Leader Blaine really does that?" Anita asked.
I nodded. "Yup, by the time you … well I suppose you won't get the chance, with how things have developed, but when you would have gotten to him you would have had to face him with your best foot forward, which is not just about having your pokemon healthy, but also yourself."
I tapped the side of my head. "You have some things that are getting in your way, they're presenting a lot earlier than they did for me."
"Urgh, I'm so pathetic," she said.
I shook my finger back and forth. "Ah, that's the sort of thing you need to do away with. Let yourself be confident, without relying on pushing others down, eh?"
Anita frowned. I shot her a look. "For all that Trent was worried I was bullying you, some of the things you were saying could be seen as you pushing him around. Regardless of you winning or losing, you still acted that way. It might be a method of bolstering your self-confidence, but It's not a stable platform. What would happen if he left you, for example?"
"He wouldn't!" said Anita with a hint of desperation.
I shot her a sad smile. "I'm just raising a potential situation. You need some confidence in yourself and methods to manage when your mood is getting too much. Have you ever seen some of my matches?"
"Yeah, I've tried your clap breath… it didn't work for me, I just felt silly," she admitted.
I laughed. "Yeah! I can look pretty silly, can't I?" I said with a smile.
Anita giggled. "I don't mind feeling silly, if it would just work!" she said.
I hummed as I considered her words, before rubbing my chin. "Hmmm, the symptoms I described earlier, do you get a few, or all of them?"
Anita blinked. "Oh? The shortness of breath and the head spinning? Yeah, I get all of those when things get bad."
I hummed as I recalled another option. "You wouldn't mind feeling silly if you relaxed?" I said. When Anita nodded I smiled. "How do you feel about dancing?" I asked.
When she gave me a clueless look I elaborated. "Sometimes when I have baseballers that get too tense, I tell them to do a little dance routine to make them relax."
I demonstrated a funny little hop, skip shuffle where I pumped my arms while nodding my head with a goofy grin on my face as I did so. "You can do it with music if you want. Remember that the referee asks if you're ready, and it's not a bad idea to take the time to adjust if you need it. Getting yourself in the right mindset can make all the difference for a pokemon match."
"Can you show me that again?" asked Anita.
I gestured and she stood up and copied me through the sequence of silly dance moves. I hadn't needed to use this trick for any of my baseball kids in a while. I'd co-opted it from a rather famous hurdler from my past life and found it worked rather well.
Anita did the dance and laughed, relaxing as the movements helped her become looser and more open. I smiled, pleased that we had a potential fix for what was her major issue.
"Alright, with that out of the way, how do you think you did?" I asked.
Anita coughed, her foot kicking at the floor with her eyes watching it with great interest. "Not good. I flubbed things and the crowd needed to get me out of my head."
"You had the right pokemon for a sweep if you had a better plan coming in," I said. "That said, why did you go for the Gauntlet while Trent went for the straight challenge?"
"...." muttered Anita.
I leaned forward. "I didn't catch that I'm sorry?"
"I… was trying to play off my anxiety! We've been losing a lot of money lately, cause every trainer we fight is really strong! I wanted Trent to shut up 'cause he was being super pushy with me and I got mad and then… I signed up for the tougher fight against your Gym."
"Hmmm I see, well, you were close to beating me," I said neutrally. It also explained why she wouldn't have money for food and potions. "What's up with Slaking?" I asked.
"My big sister's Slaking is to protect us if we get in over our heads, but he won't fight for me!"
"Ah, you've tried to use him before this, no?" When Anita nodded I sighed. "You need to bring him out and establish a bond. Don't try to use him for fighting before you have that bond. Call him out for meal times and sit with him, talk with him. Do team activities if you want to have any hope of using him. Slaking are… well, they're very tough pokemon to use normally," I said.
"Oh, those are good ideas, thanks." Anita stood and collected her pokeballs.
"So, do you want my badge?" I asked, posing what seemed like an innocent question to her.
Anita blinked. "But I lost?"
I nodded. "You did, but you also demonstrated some skills with adjusting for some fights. You brought a grass type and while you were very reliant on him, you did demonstrate you know how to use typings to your advantage. You made some good adjustments when the fight couldn't just rely on this. You then had to fight through with pokemon without advantages. Honestly? If you'd had any other pokemon apart from that Slaking, you might have won. Onix was barely hanging in there from that Spit Up, " I said.
"O-oh… so I can earn your badge?" she asked with a frown.
I considered her. "I'm going to be cruel right now. I think you have demonstrated enough to eke out earning my badge at the first tier, but! And this is the catch, it's your call. It's up to you to accept if this is how you earn your first badge. It's yours, but if you want it to mean more than something you just scraped over the line for..." I trailed off leadingly.
Anita gained a conflicted look before shaking her head. "You're right. I don't want to earn it that way…" she said.
I nodded. "Right, well, with that said, I think we need to talk about you getting some work, 'cause if you and your pokemon are struggling from losses, then you need to settle down for a bit and let yourself recover. This Season is especially brutal. So, any guesses as to what you should do next?"
Anita nodded. "I should get a job?!" she said, looking adorably determined.
I grinned. "Nope! You should come have lunch with my trainers and I!" I said, putting a hand behind her back and marching her back out to the battlefield. There I collected Trent and led her up to the Gym trainer section where I let them loose on the fridge.
Within a few minutes they each had a trio of sandwiches and were talking animatedly with Greta and Salvadore while Jackson grabbed some pokechow to give to their pokemon.
At this point I had stood by, simply idling for a bit, waiting to get noticed as they settled in.
When Anita shot me a confused look, I glanced pointedly at her Slaking's pokeball and she understood my meaning that now was the best time to start building her bond with Slaking.
Just to make sure he behaved, I popped out Don and Hypnotoad.
Then I recalled my promise to myself. I marched over and tapped on my microphone, catching the crowd before it could depart for the lunch rush.
"Congratulations to the following people! You get free food vouchers!" I said, pointing at one kid only to then point at his mother.
"You get free food vouchers! You get free food vouchers!" I repeated this a few times before sweeping my hand over the entire crowd. "YOU ALL GET FOOD VOUCHERS! LUNCH IS ON THE HOUSE!" I called and the crowd cheered.
I grinned, knowing it would be an expensive bill, but sometimes it was fun to pay for extravagant gestures like this while knowing that I could absorb it.
It felt damn good being able to do something like this on a whim. I turned and marched back to sit and enjoy my own lunch, a happy little spark dancing in my chest.
A.N. Thanks go to my supporters!
It also goes to Twmmy and Mendelur for proofreading this chapter!
Norr
Misophist
- Location
- Any chair
I think Anita is the one who should be worried about Budew, not Greta. Greta's doing fine.
The slice-of-life segments of running a gym and mentoring trainers are some of my favourite parts of this fic.
Chapter 198 - Feedback
Viva01
Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given
- Location
- Australia
Everyone happily munched away at their lunches while the pokemon chowed down. A few people were talking, causing a soft susurrus to fill the room but otherwise, it was quiet for the most part.
That didn't stop me from feeling the very 'loud' stare Yolanda was directing at me.
I looked up to see what she wanted.
Yolanda shot Anita a look before flicking her eyes to me. Then she repeated the gesture. I rolled my eyes, well aware that she wanted me to have a conversation with Anita, and not just about the anxiety she displayed.
I suppose from Yolanda's point of view, she might be afraid that I was being taken advantage of with a sob story.
I had to admit that… that might be a possibility, but it was unlikely. If Anita had been the sort she would have taken the badge then and there, unknowingly earning herself a black mark on her record from me to the effect of not wanting to grow.
Trent? If she'd chosen the badge at the end there? I'd have dragged him into a conversation straight away. I'd have talked a lot, and perhaps some of it might have resonated with him, but perhaps it wouldn't have. I couldn't detain kids for being kids. I could warn them of poor behaviour and if they did something warranting it I could arrest them, but kids being kids wasn't bad.
The Journey was about growth and sometimes that meant growing to understand feelings and how to deal with them
If Anita hadn't been able to calm down and had continued to lash out… Yes, she'd tried to push, but in doing so she'd revealed how out of her depth she was, and that she had a much deeper story than I'd been expecting.
For example, who had given her the Slaking? She'd mentioned a sister? What were the circumstances? I'd need her calm and willing to listen to find out more.
Honestly, I was just glad she hadn't been able to get it to fight, cause if she'd been able to get that Slaking to follow her orders?
Well then.
If she'd wanted to push me, the kid gloves would have come off fast.
There was a reason I always kept at least three of my Elite pokemon on hand at any given time.
But they hadn't been needed.
This time.
Still, Yolanda wasn't entirely wrong, I did need to talk with Anita. I also needed to talk with Trent. I needed to capitalise on her calmer state of mind and expand the story.
I considered Anita and Trent for a while, taking in their postures. They were still a bit shy, with how they were hunched in on themselves. They listened, laughed and were happy to be included, but they were still slightly on edge.
I considered the issue as I ate through my 'jelly donuts', a smirk playing across my lips as I licked up any stray rice.
I looked over to Alexa. "What's my afternoon look like?" I asked, knowing exactly what she was going to say
Alexa hummed, her eyes flicking to me before darting to the young duo. She brought out her tablet to scrutinise my schedule. "You have two later this afternoon," she announced, earning a thoughtful hum from me.
"Hmmmmm, it's been a while since I've done a patrol of Pewter City," I said, faux casually.
"Say," I slowly turned my gaze to Anita and Trent, as though I hadn't just planned out this entire discussion. "How would you like to come with me on patrol?"
When they frowned, I dangled the pokeblock treat in front of them. "We'll probably have to swing by some places like the playground, the race track, and the shops," I said.
Both of the kids blinked in surprise at that. "The race track?" asked Trent.
I nodded. "Oh yeah, there are sometimes races there on the weekends, but they also have a lot of speed work for pokemon that need training in that," I said, alluding to a certain speedy raccoon.
Zigzagoon didn't even lift his head from his bowl of pokechow. It might have been empty, but the little pokemon was licking it clean for all it was worth. Anita however perked up. "That'd be interesting! Can we?" she asked and I grinned.
All according to Keikaku.
I ambled along, with Anita and Trent walking alongside me. They stared openly at Gawain as he marched along next to them. On my side, Link happily skipped along. Three other pokeballs rested on my belt for later release, but for now, I just let things progress naturally.
"So, LaRousse City?" I asked leadingly. I frowned when both Anita and Trent twitched and shot me worried looks.
I tilted my head. "I never got the chance to visit during my Journey when I was in Hoenn," I said, dodging around the topic. The kids both relaxed slightly.
"I think it was known for the waterway and the two rivers meeting up in it, no?" I asked.
Anita nodded, her eyes darting off to the side while Trent stepped slightly forward, almost shielding her from my view, but only drawing further attention to there being an underlying issue here. "Yeah, it's known for the meeting points of the Liomo and Tico rivers. People like to say that makes it the place where Milotic likes to visit, and that's true. It has a really well-established contest scene, but it is also known for being highly advanced," he elaborated further with the air of one that knows how to sell the City.
I nodded along. "Huh, Contests? I would have liked to attend that," I said, noticing how both of them relaxed as I was drawn away from the other feature that LaRousse City was known for. The Battle Tower.
The Battle Tower was a site that was developed by the various battle clubs of Hoenn and La Rousse. LaRousse was a confluence point for many different factors had a lot of people and therefore trainers moving through, resulting in it being a great place to hone yourself. I had been planning on taking a pass through there towards the end of my pokemon Journey to sharpen up my team.
Usually, it was the feature people mentioned when talking of the city, therefore making it glaringly obvious that these two were avoiding mentioning it.
I played along, allowing myself to be drawn into discussing how the city got when it was time for the contest.
When we reached the first destination for the day, I grinned as I grasped the three pokeballs I'd brought along just for this. "Teddiursa! Gible! Cranidos! Come on out!" I shouted as I released the three pokeballs for some of my youngest pokemon.
All three appeared and blinked at what they found.
The playground closest to the Gym didn't have all the fancy bells and whistles that other playgrounds did these days.
It was simple plastic and steel, with a structure with swings, slip and slides, sandpits and open areas leading into a jungle gym.
All three of my pokemon stared at it, unsure what to make of it. Gible and Teddiursa turned to me while Cranidos turned to headbutt Gible. I leaned down and intercepted the headbutt, nudging it off so that Crandios slammed into the soft sandpit, causing a small dust cloud to billow out.
I coughed and waved my hand back and forth before nudging the top pocket. "Zubat girl? Think you can blow away this dust?" I asked.
Zubat, who was happily nestled in my breast pocket, popped out and blew away the dust to reveal a very dirty-looking Anita and Trent, who hadn't been prepared for a sudden Sand Attack.
I bonked Cranidos lightly on the head causing him to bray in challenge and attempt to nail me in the shin. "Sorry about him, he's a young pokemon," I said. "He takes a bit of care—" As I said that, I reached out and grabbed Gible to stop him from biting a hole in the jungle gym.
"None of that either," I said. "No biting here, this is a playground," I said, gesturing around us. I got back a round of blank stares. I turned to Anita and Trent. "I think I'm going to need your help for this," I said.
They blinked and pointed at themselves. "Yup! I need you to help show my pokemon how to have fun." I waved a hand towards their belts. "You should do the same."
I smiled as the pair of them released their pokemon, bar Slaking. I gave Anita another look. "Not going to include him?" I asked.
She paused and shot the very delicate-looking playground a look as she chewed on her lip. "He might wreck it?"
I nodded. "He might, but tell you what, anything he wrecks, you can blame on me," I said. Mentally I was banking on Slaking's rather well-established species trait of being rather lazy. Less so than Snorlax, but still, they were known to laze around a lot.
Anita's had eaten with us, but food was usually one of the best ways to motivate any lazy pokemon. When he'd been done he'd curled up on a couch by himself and gone to sleep.
Anita swallowed, straightened her spine and threw out her Slaking. Her pokemon appeared already in a lazing pose. He gave the playground a disinterested look, yawning.
I watched Anita fret and hummed. The most powerful pokemon in her team was both a shield and a weight to her, it would seem. It alone, along with the single comment earlier, made me wonder about other aspects of her past for a moment.
Eventually, Anita spoke up. "W-want to play with us?" she said haltingly.
Slaking gave the playground another look, then gave Anita a look over before grunting and shaking his head. Anita looked toward me and I gestured to the shaded bench off to the side.
"W-well, maybe you'd like to have a rest?" she said, waving frantically at the bench.
Slaking gave her another look before looking at the bench. Then it tilted its head and looked straight up at the sun for a long moment.
After probably giving itself sun blindness it looked down and blinked a few times, before rising to its full height to amble over to the bench were it lay down and scratched its back.
I shot Anita a thumbs up. It was baby steps, but it was still something Slaking would have wanted to do, which helped. "Alright!" I said regathering the energy. "Let's play!" I said dragging Gawain and Link into the game by tagging Link with a light slap.
"Tag you're it!" I said as I ran toward the playground.
This caused the other pokemon to sprint away while Link pursued, resulting in a rather fun game. When it was obvious none of the pokemon were going to be able to catch Zubat I accepted a tag from Gawain only to jump as high as I could to lightly tap her. "You're it!" I announced triumphantly.
Zubat chose to chase Anita then and the young girl sprinted her heart out, diving through obstacles, scurrying through tunnels and faking out like a champion tag player. I made a gesture to Link and Gawain notifying them of my intentions and for them to distract Anita. They nodded and prepared themselves accordingly.
I decided to use the moment to sidle up to Trent.
"So, you've obviously been friends for a while, yeah?" I said, watching Anita finally get tagged, only for her to seek out Cranidos who was more than happy for an excuse to 'tag' someone else. Sadly for him he barely got any steam up in his charge before Gawain 'mistimed' a jump to get tagged.
Gawain turned his gaze upon Anita and the girl cursed before taking off again. She had impressive cardio, I had to give her that.
Trent nodded. "Yeah, we grew up together," he said easily.
"Ah, childhood friends," I said with a nod before continuing. "How long has she been putting you down for?" I asked nonchalantly, like I wasn't interested in the answer.
Trent stiffened. "She doesn't—"
"During your match, she was very much bullying you, I'm sorry to say. It looks even worse after her… well, collapse."
I waved a hand. "Now she doesn't have any pokemon that are mistreated or injured, which are the usual indicators for a bully or person that is far along on a spectrum, shall we say, but she does deride you and put you down."
"It's not…" Trent started to say, only to grimace. "She's just under a lot of pressure."
"Hmmm, nah," I said in response.
"Nah?" Trent parroted back at me.
I nodded. "Yeah, nah," I said, enjoying the oxymoron and how it caused Trent to look at me in dumbfounded disbelief, now clearly unsure what I meant. Good, he was willing to listen.
"Her acting like that to you is bad, and I'm sorry to say you laying down and supporting it is enabling it. You need to call her out if she does it to you." I raised a hand. "It doesn't need to be in public, it can be in private," I suggested. "Consider how it makes you feel and tell her, but! Also consider that if she is using it as a method to calm herself down or build her own confidence, it's only a weakness for her."
Trent stiffened, "A weakness?" he said.
I mentally rolled my eyes. Trust a young kid in a pokemon world to focus on that and not on his own feelings. I'd probably have to circle around to that again if I got the chance. "Yes, she's introducing a weakness. For instance, what happens if she tries to do that to someone else?"
"She wouldn't!" said Trent firmly.
I nodded along, letting myself be seen agreeing with him. "Yeah, most likely… but… what would happen if you weren't with her? Would she act out more? Or worse? She'd have an established habit of doing it that might make her fall back into it. So, if you were required to end your Journey…. Or you fell sick for instance… what might happen?" I said, painting some generic but still possible situations for him.
Trent frowned, his jaw working as he chewed his lip. We watched as Anita was tagged and began chasing Link, only to find him teasing her with jumps that carried him away with deceptive speed.
"What should I do?" Trent said after another few moments in which Anita, tired beyond belief, gave up on tagging Link and instead moved to take a drink from the water bubbler in the shade.
I grinned.
"Right, you need to draw a line in the sand and make sure she knows that you're worried about her behaviour. How it could affect her, and you. Make sure you stress your feelings on the matter," I said, trying to edge things back into the correct path.
"Yeah, she'll listen better if I do it that way!" Trent said with a nod.
I held in a sigh. Alright, not how I wanted to help foster a healthy relationship, but—
My thoughts were derailed as Slaking, who'd been watching Anita from the shade, sauntered over to her, and offered his hand. She blinked and then hesitantly tapped him on the hand, causing him to become 'it'.
Slaking turned his gaze upon all the pokemon that had been toying with Anita and grinned. Gawain took off and Link hustled as fast as he could, while Zubat went high.
Slaking charged after Link, causing the other pokemon to get out of the way.
Thankfully Link was caught before anything could be damaged or injured. Slaking slapped Link and a sound like a balloon being struck sounded out, with Link floating up and away only to drift back down with a bemused look on his face.
Slaking snorted and raised his chin. The powerful normal type gave the others a look before huffing and proudly stalking back to his bench. When he got there he nodded once at Anita. Then he lay back down and went back to dozing.
Huh… alright, that was another thing I hadn't been aiming for but had gotten.
I guess that makes two tasks… failed successfully?
…
Right, a win was a win regardless! I thought to myself as I ignored Link hopping his way back to tag another pokemon.
I decided to cash out now so I whistled, "Alright gang! That's long enough, let's keep moving!" I called out.
Gible jumped out of the sandpit, having been hiding himself there only to crow with delight. The other pokemon blinked and I saw a wave of surprise ripple through them. I frowned for a moment, only to realise that in the entire twenty minutes that they'd been playing, none of them had been able to tag Gible. He'd been too good with Dig to get tagged.
Huh, that was neat to know. He must be watching my other pokemon like Sanchez when he practised more than I'd realised.
Hmmm, clever little guy. I gestured for him to hop up into my hands and he did so like an overeager puppy. Trent, seeing the leaping mass of teeth, did the smart thing and bolted away. I merely reached out, catching Gible with a twist and flick of my hands to turn him before any teeth could latch onto me.
I returned my other pokemon and tapped my shoulder for Zubat to land on. "Alright gang! Forward to the race track!" I called out.
Anita returned most of her pokemon, leaving only Zigzagoon out to run around, while Trent simply returned his entire team. He was clearly still locked in thought, something that Anita didn't notice as she skipped along.
"Did you see that, Trent? I had Slaking playing along with the rest of the team!"
"Hmmm," muttered Trent.
"If I get him following commands, I might be able to use him soon!" she continued.
"Yeah," said Trent, his eyes distant.
I decided to step in a little. "So, Slaking? You said your sister gave him to you? Is he your safety pokemon?"
Anita nodded, suddenly much shyer. I tilted my head. "I gather there's a story there? Did you not want Slaking?"
"What? No! I wanted Slaking! It's just… well my sister is…" She shifted about and glanced around before whispering. "Gladys, my sister is Gladys!" she said with a put upon expression. Zigzagoon must have realised that his trainer was feeling down as he jumped up on her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek
I raised an eyebrow and for the next minute nothing was said as Anita avoided looking at me.
Anita must have taken the silence the wrong way as she huffed. "See? That's the issue, she's famous, and that causes—"
I coughed. "Oh, actually no, I was waiting for you to elaborate, I… have no idea who your sister is," I admitted.
Anita's head snapped up and she stared at me in disbelief. "You? What? No! You have to be lying!" she shouted.
Trent roused from his internal turmoil, realising that something had occurred while he'd been lost in thought. He glanced at me, then back to Anita.
In the meantime, I merely gave Anita a blank look.
"You… you're not lying? You don't know who my sister is, do you?" Anita asked as realisation slowly dawned.
"I take it I'm supposed to? What is she famous for?" I asked.
"She's the current undefeated Queen of the LaRousse Battle Tower!" Anita said. "I can't go anywhere in town without people asking after her! Everyone wants me to be just as good!"
"Ah," I said as some of Anita's hang-ups made some sense to me now. She was a younger sibling living in the shadow of her more famous sister. Hmmm, now that sounded a little bit familiar to me. Only I was on the other side of the equation.
"So…" I rubbed my chin in thought on how to broach this topic. "Fame… is relative, like a lot of things in life. Your sister Gladys? She might be a local celebrity, but that doesn't mean much when you travel further afield than home. You'll probably find there aren't many people that have heard of her that aren't from LaRousse, or that are dedicated to the Battle Club scene."
"We call them Battle Towers in Hoenn," Anita corrected me absently. She then stared at me in shock. "You've never heard of Gladys Gulfiefort? Truly?" she asked again.
I chuckled. "I'll repeat myself, fame is relative. Your sister is famous in LaRousse, but let me ask you this: Who would win between her and Steven Stone?"
Trent and Anita both opened their mouths, only to pause and tilt their heads. I chuckled and began rattling off other famous names of Hoenn. "Drake, Glacia, Sidney, Phoebe?" When they shook their heads again, a look of understanding began to form in both of their eyes.
"What about the other Gym Leaders? Wattson, Winona, or Wallace?" I asked.
"She can beat them!" said Anita firmly.
I chuckled. "Don't rate them by the pokemon you face at the typical Journey match level, but what they would bring forth if this was an exhibition match at least. Think about it like how my match with Lance went, if that helps. Everyone knows that it is easy to get my badge if you come to my Gym first, but what doesn't get mentioned to young trainers on their Journey is that we all have much stronger teams than are usually advertised," I said.
Anita and Trent shared a glance. "We knew that!" they said, only to then refuse to meet my judgemental gaze.
I chuckled and lifted up Gible to rub his belly. I was far too used to the problems that young trainers caused or got themselves into with their ignorance. They just didn't quite realise what they didn't know and how big the world was, even inside only the known three regions.
It was a funny thing to be on the cusp of the internet age, knowing that the world was still going to get bigger while at the same time, much smaller.
Hopefully it would lead to more well informed ten-year-olds challenging me.
When we reached the racetrack, the kids forgot their existential revelations about the world and their places in it, as pokemon that were truly moving became visible.
I watched a pair of Rapidash pacing each other, while on their backs jockeys urged their pokemon on. On the side of the track a trainer barked orders on how to improve the riders, stances or how to eke out another stride every ten metres for one of the blazing fire pokemon.
They cleared the straight only for a herd of Rhyhorn to rumble past, making it seem like tanks were on the march with how they moved. On their backs trainers jostled and elbowed each other as their pokemon fought their way forward as much as they ran forward.
Interestingly enough, for this type of race, most of the riders wore thick padding which made them look much bigger than they actually were. They all also wore some form of headgear, either a hardened riding helmet, or for the more savage trainers, a proper sports headgear that kept them as streamlined as possible.
Something about watching the Rhyhorn herd fighting it out twinged something in my brain. Something about Ash and a Rhyhorn… but that didn't sound right. Ash caught a herd of Tauros in the canon cartoon timeline.
Still, there was something there.
I eyed the lead rider-Rhyhorn pair break away for the final hundred metres to 'win' the training bout. I chuckled as they bucked and played up their victory more like you would expect from a Tauros rider.
Speaking of which, I noted the other part of the track that was a round arena where Rapidash and Tauros were ridden, only in this case it was for buckjumping and bullriding, which, with pokemon involved, was a much more deadly affair.
I watched one rider get hurled across the arena, only to land on the ground and roll to their feet. "Ole!" they shouted, but a moment later a small man marched out and began chewing them out. Hmmm, it seemed they were in training just as much as the pokemon were.
I rubbed my chin. I hadn't realised there was a Rodeo and CampDraft equivalent for pokemon. Nor did I realise that they were being run from a site next to the racetrack.
I frowned. Hang on a second, I'd been here… I tilted my head. When was the last time I'd gone on patrol? Like a proper patrol?
"Gym Leader Brock!" called a voice, causing me to snap out of my thoughts and find myself with a small crowd of people approaching. The man who spoke was the one that had previously been shouting at the rodeo bronco rider, or was it called something else?
"Hello there!" I said as I shifted into my public presentation mask. "I have to say, I must have missed this facility the last time I came around on patrol," I said, indicating the arena.
"Heh! No! You wouldn't have missed it!" the man said with a nod of his hat. "That there is an as yet unopened centre of roughhousing!" He grinned and winked, "I like to think of it as Tough Tech, where we take young lads and lasses and give them an education into some of the harder sports around!"
I nodded slowly. "That being… Rapidash buck jumping, Tauros riding…. And other events?" I said, unsure how to explain my understanding of a rather niche sport.
What I'd said seemed enough to stun the short man and his entourage for a moment. "I say! I didn't know you were a fan! Most people aren't too aware of our sport!" He adjusted his bolo tie and nodded in a pleased manner. "Well, if Gym Leader Brock is known to be a fan, then I think we'll do a bit better than anticipated!" he said.
I blinked. "You're not well established and yet you have… a new arena?" I said tilting my head. Something didn't make sense here. I decided to dig deeper. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your name, either."
The man chuckled "My apologies! I'm Clark Candor! President and founder of the Rough Riders Association in Indigo! We've been something of a niche sport for a while, but the recent fairs that have been sweeping around Kanto this season have seen people reaching out for new attractions. Our sport is just that!" he said, lacing his hands into his belt as he puffed up proudly.
I nodded slowly, adding two and two mentally to get four. "And that has led to a surge in popularity and money which allows you to do more," I said, glancing at the new 'unopened' arena.
"What about barrel races and flag events?" I asked, only to draw blank expressions. I glanced at the arena and saw some barrels. Perhaps they called them something else?
"You know? Where you set up three barrels in a triangle shape and have the riders go through them from a standing start to demonstrate acceleration and agility? Or where you have a line of flags in a row and the rider and pokemon have to weave through them?" I offered, recalling events from my first life.
When I continued to draw blank looks I realised I might have made a mistake.
Clark Candor however beamed at me. "That sounds like a swell event! Agility and speed all in one!" he said. "Where'd you ever catch sight of that?"
I waved a hand. "Oh you know, around."
Clark grinned. "Seen anything else that would work for our sporting field?"
I hummed, relaxing at his welcoming attitude. A few of the people, pokemon riders or event organisers judging by their attire, all seemed much more interested in what I had to say.
So I decided to run with it. "What about flag events? Where you have rider and pokemon dart out to poles that are further and further out, grab a flag off the top while making a turn and then stashing the flags in a small catcher at the starting point?"
"Oh! I like it!" crowed Clark.
I smiled, pleased that he was onboard with the idea. "When is your official opening?" I asked.
"A few weeks, we're doing a soft open now to check the facilities over and iron things out a bit, then we're going to have a big rodeo! Should be a real drawcard for Pewter, I reckon!" said Clark.
I nodded, agreeing with the idea. "Well, be sure to invite me along, I'll bring my family and some friends," I said.
"I'll be sure to send you free tickets!" Clark said proudly.
I smiled and nodded in thanks before glancing at Trent and Anita. "What do you two think about that?" I said, prompting their input.
Anita blinked, having not expected to be called out. "Uh?" she said.
Trent coughed, stepping forward slightly. "Uhm, will younger people be able to take part, or is it only professionals?"
Clark whistled. "Now there's a good idea!" He snapped his fingers and one of the suited individuals who'd been jotting down things the entire time we'd been talking continued to write. "Write that down," said Clark.
"I have been, sir," said the woman and I blinked, realising she'd literally been copying my ideas. Huh, looks like I'd started a Gymkhana event that was going to be for all ages, Suzie was so going to want to join when she saw it.
I couldn't wait to see her zipping around on the back of a little Ponyta. She'd be so cute.
I coughed, noticing the time. "I need to keep moving, I'm sorry to say, but definitely contact the Gym, I'd love to hear more about this," I said as I waved goodbye to the group.
I nodded my head towards the race track. "Sorry about that, let's go check out the race track and see if anyone can help out with your Zigzagoon's speed issue," I said.
Anita nodded along slowly, her eyes tracking me in a very unsubtle fashion. Ah, she must not have thought about how I was somewhat of a local celebrity. Now she was experiencing it again.
"Sorry if that raised some bad memories," I said.
Anita blinked. "Hmmm? Oh, no, you're nothing like Gladys when talking with the public," she said. "You also… asked for my opinion, that doesn't happen… ever with her."
"Hmmm," I said. The more I learnt about her situation the more I pitied her and wanted her to avoid the pitfalls she'd been sprinting at. I glanced towards Trent, hopefully a softer approach might be all that is needed.
I could show them part of the way, but I couldn't always hold their hands.
When we reached the race track proper, it was quite easy to talk to one of the race trainers into watching Zigzagoon and Anita to get an idea of what was wrong. The man quickly had some ideas and was already working with Anita to deal with the issue.
I sat off to the side with Trent, more than happy to be a spectator to a different style of training.
Overhead a trio of Pidgeot flew, with two of the birds twirling around each other in a tight helix. I frowned when I spotted both trainers hop from the backs of their pokemon.
I rose, instinct warning me to get moving now, I'd only have seconds to intercept them from that height—
Before I could do that, both riders landed on the other person's pokemon and raised their hands. Oh, it was stunt flying. I sat back down and calmed my racing heart.
Trent glanced at me. "You've never seen that trick before?" he asked.
I shook my head. "Haven't seen the stunt displays much to be honest," I said. "Have to say that was rather scary to watch," I confided.
"Hmm, it wasn't very good,'' Trent said with a shake of his head. "They need to be tighter, it's actually easy to do it as a jump, really skilled riders can lock into a spiral and go back to back and sort of counter roll to put them in opposite saddles."
I blinked, picturing the acrobatics and how tight the margin for error would have to be. "That would be impressive to see." I glanced at Trent. "Do you have much experience with it?"
"My cousins are stunt flyers and riders," he said.
"Riders too, huh?" I said with a whistle of appreciation. "I really need to get out more if I'm missing those sorts of shows," I commented. And didn't saying it make it feel true?
I sighed and shook my head, deciding to sit back and enjoy the show while I had some free time.
For a short walk around Pewter, I felt like I'd gotten a lot out of it.
When I got home at the end of the day, everyone was in the dining room eating dinner. As I took a seat, Nanny Grav quickly slipped a plate in front of me. I raised my fork only to spot an undercurrent of tension in the room. I put the food back down. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"I don't want to go to school tomorrow!" said Cindy with a grimace as she nudged around the food on her plate.
"Why's that?" I asked.
"We have swimming class tomorrow and I suck at it!" said Cindy.
I tilted my head and shot Flint a quick look. "But you're a really good swimmer?" I said.
Cindy huffed. "Yeah, but we're not doing it for fun today, we're going to be competing in the swimming competition and this year I got signed up for the long-distance events! I have to swim a whole one hundred metres! That's four whole laps!" she said waving her hands about.
I hummed. "You didn't get any of the shorter events?" I asked.
"No, they went to other kids… well, I do have the relay and the single twenty-five-metre swim but everyone's doing them! I just don't like swimming long events! Can I call in sick tomorrow?" she asked, looking at me hopefully.
"Don't quit!" chimed in Flint, cutting off Cindy's attempts to get to me with her refined in-strength baby doll eyes. Flint pumped his fist. "You just need to push through! This is a good chance to show your grit!" he said with an upbeat attitude.
"I can't do it!" Cindy wailed.
"You can't with that attitude," Flint and I said at the same time. I held back the shiver of uncanniness at us jinxing each other.
From the side of my peripheral vision I saw Tommy straighten, excitement in his gaze as he opened his mouth to shout.
I touched my nose and pointed at Flint. "Jinx! You can't speak until someone says your name!"
"Daddy got jinxed!" cheered Tilly, only to gasp, "Oh no! I said Daddy's name!" she said in horror.
I snorted. "Daddy isn't his name," I said, only to earn a wall of incomprehension from the younger kids.
Yolanda giggled while Salvadore looked up, tilted his head and opened his mouth. "Oh right, his name is—" he started to say, only for Cindy to lunge at Salvadore to silence him. She shot Flint a gleeful look.
I chuckled, only to realise why Cindy was doing this.
I coughed, ignoring Flint pretending to open and shut his mouth without saying anything as he played along with the game. "We are right though, Cindy, you shouldn't just give up and say you can't. Instead you should be like the Can Do—" I cast around for an appropriate pokemon and paused on Magikarp. "—the Can Do Magikarp!" I said with a winning smile.
Cindy and all the other kids stared at me. "The Can Do Magikarp?" they asked.
"Munchlax?" said Munchlax, leaning back and staring at me with interest.
I coughed, "Yeah? The Can Do Magikarp, have I not told you that story before?" I asked, knowing that I obviously hadn't.
Cindy shook her head and I realised—judging from the looks I was getting— that I would need to perform the story now.
I stood and began to wriggle and wiggle like a Magikarp would, all while laying out the story of the Can Do Magikarp.
I wiggled my arms in a fish like motion, spearing them upwards while writhing. "And the little Magikarp continued to swim! Up and up the waterfall! Nothing could stop him! Not the rushing waters or the jeering pokemon below or around him!"
"Nooooo! Swim Magicup!" said Tilly with a passionate wail, waving her hands like she could urge on the fictional Magikarp.
I smiled, but didn't chuckle like I wanted to. "So that little Magikarp continued to swim! With each slash of his tail the top of the waterfall grew closer! But! The water grew faster as it rushed over the edge! And it grew harder and harder! But in his mind, he stuck to the thought! I can do this! I can do this! And he began to inch his way up the waterfall!"
I writhed my arms about and squirmed my body, deeply amused to see so many eyes watching my impromptu performance.
"And then! When he reached the top he leapt one final time, clearing the Torii gate at the top and silencing all the pokemon that doubted him!"
"Woah!" said Suzie and Timmy together.
"And with his strength proven to all! He evolved into one of the most powerful Gyarados of the land!" I said with a fist thrust upwards.
"Woah? Really?" said Salvadore.
I coughed. "Maybe? It's a story, and the point is to not give up, if you push yourself you can do more than you realise!" I said, giving Cindy a soft smile.
She chewed her lip and nodded. "Alright… I think I can do it," she said with a small nod.
I sat back down feeling all the better for how I'd motivated my sister. I noted that Flint still couldn't talk and decided to take mercy on him. "So, Flint, are you going to the swimming event tomorrow?" I asked.
Tommy, realising what I'd done, threw up his hands. "Argh! You ruined it!" he said, causing a chuckle from the older kids, myself and Flint.
I shook my head and decided to just enjoy my dinner.
A.N. Thanks go to my supporters!
Thanks go to Twmmy and Meneldur for proofreading this chapter.
That didn't stop me from feeling the very 'loud' stare Yolanda was directing at me.
I looked up to see what she wanted.
Yolanda shot Anita a look before flicking her eyes to me. Then she repeated the gesture. I rolled my eyes, well aware that she wanted me to have a conversation with Anita, and not just about the anxiety she displayed.
I suppose from Yolanda's point of view, she might be afraid that I was being taken advantage of with a sob story.
I had to admit that… that might be a possibility, but it was unlikely. If Anita had been the sort she would have taken the badge then and there, unknowingly earning herself a black mark on her record from me to the effect of not wanting to grow.
Trent? If she'd chosen the badge at the end there? I'd have dragged him into a conversation straight away. I'd have talked a lot, and perhaps some of it might have resonated with him, but perhaps it wouldn't have. I couldn't detain kids for being kids. I could warn them of poor behaviour and if they did something warranting it I could arrest them, but kids being kids wasn't bad.
The Journey was about growth and sometimes that meant growing to understand feelings and how to deal with them
If Anita hadn't been able to calm down and had continued to lash out… Yes, she'd tried to push, but in doing so she'd revealed how out of her depth she was, and that she had a much deeper story than I'd been expecting.
For example, who had given her the Slaking? She'd mentioned a sister? What were the circumstances? I'd need her calm and willing to listen to find out more.
Honestly, I was just glad she hadn't been able to get it to fight, cause if she'd been able to get that Slaking to follow her orders?
Well then.
If she'd wanted to push me, the kid gloves would have come off fast.
There was a reason I always kept at least three of my Elite pokemon on hand at any given time.
But they hadn't been needed.
This time.
Still, Yolanda wasn't entirely wrong, I did need to talk with Anita. I also needed to talk with Trent. I needed to capitalise on her calmer state of mind and expand the story.
I considered Anita and Trent for a while, taking in their postures. They were still a bit shy, with how they were hunched in on themselves. They listened, laughed and were happy to be included, but they were still slightly on edge.
I considered the issue as I ate through my 'jelly donuts', a smirk playing across my lips as I licked up any stray rice.
I looked over to Alexa. "What's my afternoon look like?" I asked, knowing exactly what she was going to say
Alexa hummed, her eyes flicking to me before darting to the young duo. She brought out her tablet to scrutinise my schedule. "You have two later this afternoon," she announced, earning a thoughtful hum from me.
"Hmmmmm, it's been a while since I've done a patrol of Pewter City," I said, faux casually.
"Say," I slowly turned my gaze to Anita and Trent, as though I hadn't just planned out this entire discussion. "How would you like to come with me on patrol?"
When they frowned, I dangled the pokeblock treat in front of them. "We'll probably have to swing by some places like the playground, the race track, and the shops," I said.
Both of the kids blinked in surprise at that. "The race track?" asked Trent.
I nodded. "Oh yeah, there are sometimes races there on the weekends, but they also have a lot of speed work for pokemon that need training in that," I said, alluding to a certain speedy raccoon.
Zigzagoon didn't even lift his head from his bowl of pokechow. It might have been empty, but the little pokemon was licking it clean for all it was worth. Anita however perked up. "That'd be interesting! Can we?" she asked and I grinned.
All according to Keikaku.
I ambled along, with Anita and Trent walking alongside me. They stared openly at Gawain as he marched along next to them. On my side, Link happily skipped along. Three other pokeballs rested on my belt for later release, but for now, I just let things progress naturally.
"So, LaRousse City?" I asked leadingly. I frowned when both Anita and Trent twitched and shot me worried looks.
I tilted my head. "I never got the chance to visit during my Journey when I was in Hoenn," I said, dodging around the topic. The kids both relaxed slightly.
"I think it was known for the waterway and the two rivers meeting up in it, no?" I asked.
Anita nodded, her eyes darting off to the side while Trent stepped slightly forward, almost shielding her from my view, but only drawing further attention to there being an underlying issue here. "Yeah, it's known for the meeting points of the Liomo and Tico rivers. People like to say that makes it the place where Milotic likes to visit, and that's true. It has a really well-established contest scene, but it is also known for being highly advanced," he elaborated further with the air of one that knows how to sell the City.
I nodded along. "Huh, Contests? I would have liked to attend that," I said, noticing how both of them relaxed as I was drawn away from the other feature that LaRousse City was known for. The Battle Tower.
The Battle Tower was a site that was developed by the various battle clubs of Hoenn and La Rousse. LaRousse was a confluence point for many different factors had a lot of people and therefore trainers moving through, resulting in it being a great place to hone yourself. I had been planning on taking a pass through there towards the end of my pokemon Journey to sharpen up my team.
Usually, it was the feature people mentioned when talking of the city, therefore making it glaringly obvious that these two were avoiding mentioning it.
I played along, allowing myself to be drawn into discussing how the city got when it was time for the contest.
When we reached the first destination for the day, I grinned as I grasped the three pokeballs I'd brought along just for this. "Teddiursa! Gible! Cranidos! Come on out!" I shouted as I released the three pokeballs for some of my youngest pokemon.
All three appeared and blinked at what they found.
The playground closest to the Gym didn't have all the fancy bells and whistles that other playgrounds did these days.
It was simple plastic and steel, with a structure with swings, slip and slides, sandpits and open areas leading into a jungle gym.
All three of my pokemon stared at it, unsure what to make of it. Gible and Teddiursa turned to me while Cranidos turned to headbutt Gible. I leaned down and intercepted the headbutt, nudging it off so that Crandios slammed into the soft sandpit, causing a small dust cloud to billow out.
I coughed and waved my hand back and forth before nudging the top pocket. "Zubat girl? Think you can blow away this dust?" I asked.
Zubat, who was happily nestled in my breast pocket, popped out and blew away the dust to reveal a very dirty-looking Anita and Trent, who hadn't been prepared for a sudden Sand Attack.
I bonked Cranidos lightly on the head causing him to bray in challenge and attempt to nail me in the shin. "Sorry about him, he's a young pokemon," I said. "He takes a bit of care—" As I said that, I reached out and grabbed Gible to stop him from biting a hole in the jungle gym.
"None of that either," I said. "No biting here, this is a playground," I said, gesturing around us. I got back a round of blank stares. I turned to Anita and Trent. "I think I'm going to need your help for this," I said.
They blinked and pointed at themselves. "Yup! I need you to help show my pokemon how to have fun." I waved a hand towards their belts. "You should do the same."
I smiled as the pair of them released their pokemon, bar Slaking. I gave Anita another look. "Not going to include him?" I asked.
She paused and shot the very delicate-looking playground a look as she chewed on her lip. "He might wreck it?"
I nodded. "He might, but tell you what, anything he wrecks, you can blame on me," I said. Mentally I was banking on Slaking's rather well-established species trait of being rather lazy. Less so than Snorlax, but still, they were known to laze around a lot.
Anita's had eaten with us, but food was usually one of the best ways to motivate any lazy pokemon. When he'd been done he'd curled up on a couch by himself and gone to sleep.
Anita swallowed, straightened her spine and threw out her Slaking. Her pokemon appeared already in a lazing pose. He gave the playground a disinterested look, yawning.
I watched Anita fret and hummed. The most powerful pokemon in her team was both a shield and a weight to her, it would seem. It alone, along with the single comment earlier, made me wonder about other aspects of her past for a moment.
Eventually, Anita spoke up. "W-want to play with us?" she said haltingly.
Slaking gave the playground another look, then gave Anita a look over before grunting and shaking his head. Anita looked toward me and I gestured to the shaded bench off to the side.
"W-well, maybe you'd like to have a rest?" she said, waving frantically at the bench.
Slaking gave her another look before looking at the bench. Then it tilted its head and looked straight up at the sun for a long moment.
After probably giving itself sun blindness it looked down and blinked a few times, before rising to its full height to amble over to the bench were it lay down and scratched its back.
I shot Anita a thumbs up. It was baby steps, but it was still something Slaking would have wanted to do, which helped. "Alright!" I said regathering the energy. "Let's play!" I said dragging Gawain and Link into the game by tagging Link with a light slap.
"Tag you're it!" I said as I ran toward the playground.
This caused the other pokemon to sprint away while Link pursued, resulting in a rather fun game. When it was obvious none of the pokemon were going to be able to catch Zubat I accepted a tag from Gawain only to jump as high as I could to lightly tap her. "You're it!" I announced triumphantly.
Zubat chose to chase Anita then and the young girl sprinted her heart out, diving through obstacles, scurrying through tunnels and faking out like a champion tag player. I made a gesture to Link and Gawain notifying them of my intentions and for them to distract Anita. They nodded and prepared themselves accordingly.
I decided to use the moment to sidle up to Trent.
"So, you've obviously been friends for a while, yeah?" I said, watching Anita finally get tagged, only for her to seek out Cranidos who was more than happy for an excuse to 'tag' someone else. Sadly for him he barely got any steam up in his charge before Gawain 'mistimed' a jump to get tagged.
Gawain turned his gaze upon Anita and the girl cursed before taking off again. She had impressive cardio, I had to give her that.
Trent nodded. "Yeah, we grew up together," he said easily.
"Ah, childhood friends," I said with a nod before continuing. "How long has she been putting you down for?" I asked nonchalantly, like I wasn't interested in the answer.
Trent stiffened. "She doesn't—"
"During your match, she was very much bullying you, I'm sorry to say. It looks even worse after her… well, collapse."
I waved a hand. "Now she doesn't have any pokemon that are mistreated or injured, which are the usual indicators for a bully or person that is far along on a spectrum, shall we say, but she does deride you and put you down."
"It's not…" Trent started to say, only to grimace. "She's just under a lot of pressure."
"Hmmm, nah," I said in response.
"Nah?" Trent parroted back at me.
I nodded. "Yeah, nah," I said, enjoying the oxymoron and how it caused Trent to look at me in dumbfounded disbelief, now clearly unsure what I meant. Good, he was willing to listen.
"Her acting like that to you is bad, and I'm sorry to say you laying down and supporting it is enabling it. You need to call her out if she does it to you." I raised a hand. "It doesn't need to be in public, it can be in private," I suggested. "Consider how it makes you feel and tell her, but! Also consider that if she is using it as a method to calm herself down or build her own confidence, it's only a weakness for her."
Trent stiffened, "A weakness?" he said.
I mentally rolled my eyes. Trust a young kid in a pokemon world to focus on that and not on his own feelings. I'd probably have to circle around to that again if I got the chance. "Yes, she's introducing a weakness. For instance, what happens if she tries to do that to someone else?"
"She wouldn't!" said Trent firmly.
I nodded along, letting myself be seen agreeing with him. "Yeah, most likely… but… what would happen if you weren't with her? Would she act out more? Or worse? She'd have an established habit of doing it that might make her fall back into it. So, if you were required to end your Journey…. Or you fell sick for instance… what might happen?" I said, painting some generic but still possible situations for him.
Trent frowned, his jaw working as he chewed his lip. We watched as Anita was tagged and began chasing Link, only to find him teasing her with jumps that carried him away with deceptive speed.
"What should I do?" Trent said after another few moments in which Anita, tired beyond belief, gave up on tagging Link and instead moved to take a drink from the water bubbler in the shade.
I grinned.
"Right, you need to draw a line in the sand and make sure she knows that you're worried about her behaviour. How it could affect her, and you. Make sure you stress your feelings on the matter," I said, trying to edge things back into the correct path.
"Yeah, she'll listen better if I do it that way!" Trent said with a nod.
I held in a sigh. Alright, not how I wanted to help foster a healthy relationship, but—
My thoughts were derailed as Slaking, who'd been watching Anita from the shade, sauntered over to her, and offered his hand. She blinked and then hesitantly tapped him on the hand, causing him to become 'it'.
Slaking turned his gaze upon all the pokemon that had been toying with Anita and grinned. Gawain took off and Link hustled as fast as he could, while Zubat went high.
Slaking charged after Link, causing the other pokemon to get out of the way.
Thankfully Link was caught before anything could be damaged or injured. Slaking slapped Link and a sound like a balloon being struck sounded out, with Link floating up and away only to drift back down with a bemused look on his face.
Slaking snorted and raised his chin. The powerful normal type gave the others a look before huffing and proudly stalking back to his bench. When he got there he nodded once at Anita. Then he lay back down and went back to dozing.
Huh… alright, that was another thing I hadn't been aiming for but had gotten.
I guess that makes two tasks… failed successfully?
…
Right, a win was a win regardless! I thought to myself as I ignored Link hopping his way back to tag another pokemon.
I decided to cash out now so I whistled, "Alright gang! That's long enough, let's keep moving!" I called out.
Gible jumped out of the sandpit, having been hiding himself there only to crow with delight. The other pokemon blinked and I saw a wave of surprise ripple through them. I frowned for a moment, only to realise that in the entire twenty minutes that they'd been playing, none of them had been able to tag Gible. He'd been too good with Dig to get tagged.
Huh, that was neat to know. He must be watching my other pokemon like Sanchez when he practised more than I'd realised.
Hmmm, clever little guy. I gestured for him to hop up into my hands and he did so like an overeager puppy. Trent, seeing the leaping mass of teeth, did the smart thing and bolted away. I merely reached out, catching Gible with a twist and flick of my hands to turn him before any teeth could latch onto me.
I returned my other pokemon and tapped my shoulder for Zubat to land on. "Alright gang! Forward to the race track!" I called out.
Anita returned most of her pokemon, leaving only Zigzagoon out to run around, while Trent simply returned his entire team. He was clearly still locked in thought, something that Anita didn't notice as she skipped along.
"Did you see that, Trent? I had Slaking playing along with the rest of the team!"
"Hmmm," muttered Trent.
"If I get him following commands, I might be able to use him soon!" she continued.
"Yeah," said Trent, his eyes distant.
I decided to step in a little. "So, Slaking? You said your sister gave him to you? Is he your safety pokemon?"
Anita nodded, suddenly much shyer. I tilted my head. "I gather there's a story there? Did you not want Slaking?"
"What? No! I wanted Slaking! It's just… well my sister is…" She shifted about and glanced around before whispering. "Gladys, my sister is Gladys!" she said with a put upon expression. Zigzagoon must have realised that his trainer was feeling down as he jumped up on her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek
I raised an eyebrow and for the next minute nothing was said as Anita avoided looking at me.
Anita must have taken the silence the wrong way as she huffed. "See? That's the issue, she's famous, and that causes—"
I coughed. "Oh, actually no, I was waiting for you to elaborate, I… have no idea who your sister is," I admitted.
Anita's head snapped up and she stared at me in disbelief. "You? What? No! You have to be lying!" she shouted.
Trent roused from his internal turmoil, realising that something had occurred while he'd been lost in thought. He glanced at me, then back to Anita.
In the meantime, I merely gave Anita a blank look.
"You… you're not lying? You don't know who my sister is, do you?" Anita asked as realisation slowly dawned.
"I take it I'm supposed to? What is she famous for?" I asked.
"She's the current undefeated Queen of the LaRousse Battle Tower!" Anita said. "I can't go anywhere in town without people asking after her! Everyone wants me to be just as good!"
"Ah," I said as some of Anita's hang-ups made some sense to me now. She was a younger sibling living in the shadow of her more famous sister. Hmmm, now that sounded a little bit familiar to me. Only I was on the other side of the equation.
"So…" I rubbed my chin in thought on how to broach this topic. "Fame… is relative, like a lot of things in life. Your sister Gladys? She might be a local celebrity, but that doesn't mean much when you travel further afield than home. You'll probably find there aren't many people that have heard of her that aren't from LaRousse, or that are dedicated to the Battle Club scene."
"We call them Battle Towers in Hoenn," Anita corrected me absently. She then stared at me in shock. "You've never heard of Gladys Gulfiefort? Truly?" she asked again.
I chuckled. "I'll repeat myself, fame is relative. Your sister is famous in LaRousse, but let me ask you this: Who would win between her and Steven Stone?"
Trent and Anita both opened their mouths, only to pause and tilt their heads. I chuckled and began rattling off other famous names of Hoenn. "Drake, Glacia, Sidney, Phoebe?" When they shook their heads again, a look of understanding began to form in both of their eyes.
"What about the other Gym Leaders? Wattson, Winona, or Wallace?" I asked.
"She can beat them!" said Anita firmly.
I chuckled. "Don't rate them by the pokemon you face at the typical Journey match level, but what they would bring forth if this was an exhibition match at least. Think about it like how my match with Lance went, if that helps. Everyone knows that it is easy to get my badge if you come to my Gym first, but what doesn't get mentioned to young trainers on their Journey is that we all have much stronger teams than are usually advertised," I said.
Anita and Trent shared a glance. "We knew that!" they said, only to then refuse to meet my judgemental gaze.
I chuckled and lifted up Gible to rub his belly. I was far too used to the problems that young trainers caused or got themselves into with their ignorance. They just didn't quite realise what they didn't know and how big the world was, even inside only the known three regions.
It was a funny thing to be on the cusp of the internet age, knowing that the world was still going to get bigger while at the same time, much smaller.
Hopefully it would lead to more well informed ten-year-olds challenging me.
When we reached the racetrack, the kids forgot their existential revelations about the world and their places in it, as pokemon that were truly moving became visible.
I watched a pair of Rapidash pacing each other, while on their backs jockeys urged their pokemon on. On the side of the track a trainer barked orders on how to improve the riders, stances or how to eke out another stride every ten metres for one of the blazing fire pokemon.
They cleared the straight only for a herd of Rhyhorn to rumble past, making it seem like tanks were on the march with how they moved. On their backs trainers jostled and elbowed each other as their pokemon fought their way forward as much as they ran forward.
Interestingly enough, for this type of race, most of the riders wore thick padding which made them look much bigger than they actually were. They all also wore some form of headgear, either a hardened riding helmet, or for the more savage trainers, a proper sports headgear that kept them as streamlined as possible.
Something about watching the Rhyhorn herd fighting it out twinged something in my brain. Something about Ash and a Rhyhorn… but that didn't sound right. Ash caught a herd of Tauros in the canon cartoon timeline.
Still, there was something there.
I eyed the lead rider-Rhyhorn pair break away for the final hundred metres to 'win' the training bout. I chuckled as they bucked and played up their victory more like you would expect from a Tauros rider.
Speaking of which, I noted the other part of the track that was a round arena where Rapidash and Tauros were ridden, only in this case it was for buckjumping and bullriding, which, with pokemon involved, was a much more deadly affair.
I watched one rider get hurled across the arena, only to land on the ground and roll to their feet. "Ole!" they shouted, but a moment later a small man marched out and began chewing them out. Hmmm, it seemed they were in training just as much as the pokemon were.
I rubbed my chin. I hadn't realised there was a Rodeo and CampDraft equivalent for pokemon. Nor did I realise that they were being run from a site next to the racetrack.
I frowned. Hang on a second, I'd been here… I tilted my head. When was the last time I'd gone on patrol? Like a proper patrol?
"Gym Leader Brock!" called a voice, causing me to snap out of my thoughts and find myself with a small crowd of people approaching. The man who spoke was the one that had previously been shouting at the rodeo bronco rider, or was it called something else?
"Hello there!" I said as I shifted into my public presentation mask. "I have to say, I must have missed this facility the last time I came around on patrol," I said, indicating the arena.
"Heh! No! You wouldn't have missed it!" the man said with a nod of his hat. "That there is an as yet unopened centre of roughhousing!" He grinned and winked, "I like to think of it as Tough Tech, where we take young lads and lasses and give them an education into some of the harder sports around!"
I nodded slowly. "That being… Rapidash buck jumping, Tauros riding…. And other events?" I said, unsure how to explain my understanding of a rather niche sport.
What I'd said seemed enough to stun the short man and his entourage for a moment. "I say! I didn't know you were a fan! Most people aren't too aware of our sport!" He adjusted his bolo tie and nodded in a pleased manner. "Well, if Gym Leader Brock is known to be a fan, then I think we'll do a bit better than anticipated!" he said.
I blinked. "You're not well established and yet you have… a new arena?" I said tilting my head. Something didn't make sense here. I decided to dig deeper. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your name, either."
The man chuckled "My apologies! I'm Clark Candor! President and founder of the Rough Riders Association in Indigo! We've been something of a niche sport for a while, but the recent fairs that have been sweeping around Kanto this season have seen people reaching out for new attractions. Our sport is just that!" he said, lacing his hands into his belt as he puffed up proudly.
I nodded slowly, adding two and two mentally to get four. "And that has led to a surge in popularity and money which allows you to do more," I said, glancing at the new 'unopened' arena.
"What about barrel races and flag events?" I asked, only to draw blank expressions. I glanced at the arena and saw some barrels. Perhaps they called them something else?
"You know? Where you set up three barrels in a triangle shape and have the riders go through them from a standing start to demonstrate acceleration and agility? Or where you have a line of flags in a row and the rider and pokemon have to weave through them?" I offered, recalling events from my first life.
When I continued to draw blank looks I realised I might have made a mistake.
Clark Candor however beamed at me. "That sounds like a swell event! Agility and speed all in one!" he said. "Where'd you ever catch sight of that?"
I waved a hand. "Oh you know, around."
Clark grinned. "Seen anything else that would work for our sporting field?"
I hummed, relaxing at his welcoming attitude. A few of the people, pokemon riders or event organisers judging by their attire, all seemed much more interested in what I had to say.
So I decided to run with it. "What about flag events? Where you have rider and pokemon dart out to poles that are further and further out, grab a flag off the top while making a turn and then stashing the flags in a small catcher at the starting point?"
"Oh! I like it!" crowed Clark.
I smiled, pleased that he was onboard with the idea. "When is your official opening?" I asked.
"A few weeks, we're doing a soft open now to check the facilities over and iron things out a bit, then we're going to have a big rodeo! Should be a real drawcard for Pewter, I reckon!" said Clark.
I nodded, agreeing with the idea. "Well, be sure to invite me along, I'll bring my family and some friends," I said.
"I'll be sure to send you free tickets!" Clark said proudly.
I smiled and nodded in thanks before glancing at Trent and Anita. "What do you two think about that?" I said, prompting their input.
Anita blinked, having not expected to be called out. "Uh?" she said.
Trent coughed, stepping forward slightly. "Uhm, will younger people be able to take part, or is it only professionals?"
Clark whistled. "Now there's a good idea!" He snapped his fingers and one of the suited individuals who'd been jotting down things the entire time we'd been talking continued to write. "Write that down," said Clark.
"I have been, sir," said the woman and I blinked, realising she'd literally been copying my ideas. Huh, looks like I'd started a Gymkhana event that was going to be for all ages, Suzie was so going to want to join when she saw it.
I couldn't wait to see her zipping around on the back of a little Ponyta. She'd be so cute.
I coughed, noticing the time. "I need to keep moving, I'm sorry to say, but definitely contact the Gym, I'd love to hear more about this," I said as I waved goodbye to the group.
I nodded my head towards the race track. "Sorry about that, let's go check out the race track and see if anyone can help out with your Zigzagoon's speed issue," I said.
Anita nodded along slowly, her eyes tracking me in a very unsubtle fashion. Ah, she must not have thought about how I was somewhat of a local celebrity. Now she was experiencing it again.
"Sorry if that raised some bad memories," I said.
Anita blinked. "Hmmm? Oh, no, you're nothing like Gladys when talking with the public," she said. "You also… asked for my opinion, that doesn't happen… ever with her."
"Hmmm," I said. The more I learnt about her situation the more I pitied her and wanted her to avoid the pitfalls she'd been sprinting at. I glanced towards Trent, hopefully a softer approach might be all that is needed.
I could show them part of the way, but I couldn't always hold their hands.
When we reached the race track proper, it was quite easy to talk to one of the race trainers into watching Zigzagoon and Anita to get an idea of what was wrong. The man quickly had some ideas and was already working with Anita to deal with the issue.
I sat off to the side with Trent, more than happy to be a spectator to a different style of training.
Overhead a trio of Pidgeot flew, with two of the birds twirling around each other in a tight helix. I frowned when I spotted both trainers hop from the backs of their pokemon.
I rose, instinct warning me to get moving now, I'd only have seconds to intercept them from that height—
Before I could do that, both riders landed on the other person's pokemon and raised their hands. Oh, it was stunt flying. I sat back down and calmed my racing heart.
Trent glanced at me. "You've never seen that trick before?" he asked.
I shook my head. "Haven't seen the stunt displays much to be honest," I said. "Have to say that was rather scary to watch," I confided.
"Hmm, it wasn't very good,'' Trent said with a shake of his head. "They need to be tighter, it's actually easy to do it as a jump, really skilled riders can lock into a spiral and go back to back and sort of counter roll to put them in opposite saddles."
I blinked, picturing the acrobatics and how tight the margin for error would have to be. "That would be impressive to see." I glanced at Trent. "Do you have much experience with it?"
"My cousins are stunt flyers and riders," he said.
"Riders too, huh?" I said with a whistle of appreciation. "I really need to get out more if I'm missing those sorts of shows," I commented. And didn't saying it make it feel true?
I sighed and shook my head, deciding to sit back and enjoy the show while I had some free time.
For a short walk around Pewter, I felt like I'd gotten a lot out of it.
When I got home at the end of the day, everyone was in the dining room eating dinner. As I took a seat, Nanny Grav quickly slipped a plate in front of me. I raised my fork only to spot an undercurrent of tension in the room. I put the food back down. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"I don't want to go to school tomorrow!" said Cindy with a grimace as she nudged around the food on her plate.
"Why's that?" I asked.
"We have swimming class tomorrow and I suck at it!" said Cindy.
I tilted my head and shot Flint a quick look. "But you're a really good swimmer?" I said.
Cindy huffed. "Yeah, but we're not doing it for fun today, we're going to be competing in the swimming competition and this year I got signed up for the long-distance events! I have to swim a whole one hundred metres! That's four whole laps!" she said waving her hands about.
I hummed. "You didn't get any of the shorter events?" I asked.
"No, they went to other kids… well, I do have the relay and the single twenty-five-metre swim but everyone's doing them! I just don't like swimming long events! Can I call in sick tomorrow?" she asked, looking at me hopefully.
"Don't quit!" chimed in Flint, cutting off Cindy's attempts to get to me with her refined in-strength baby doll eyes. Flint pumped his fist. "You just need to push through! This is a good chance to show your grit!" he said with an upbeat attitude.
"I can't do it!" Cindy wailed.
"You can't with that attitude," Flint and I said at the same time. I held back the shiver of uncanniness at us jinxing each other.
From the side of my peripheral vision I saw Tommy straighten, excitement in his gaze as he opened his mouth to shout.
I touched my nose and pointed at Flint. "Jinx! You can't speak until someone says your name!"
"Daddy got jinxed!" cheered Tilly, only to gasp, "Oh no! I said Daddy's name!" she said in horror.
I snorted. "Daddy isn't his name," I said, only to earn a wall of incomprehension from the younger kids.
Yolanda giggled while Salvadore looked up, tilted his head and opened his mouth. "Oh right, his name is—" he started to say, only for Cindy to lunge at Salvadore to silence him. She shot Flint a gleeful look.
I chuckled, only to realise why Cindy was doing this.
I coughed, ignoring Flint pretending to open and shut his mouth without saying anything as he played along with the game. "We are right though, Cindy, you shouldn't just give up and say you can't. Instead you should be like the Can Do—" I cast around for an appropriate pokemon and paused on Magikarp. "—the Can Do Magikarp!" I said with a winning smile.
Cindy and all the other kids stared at me. "The Can Do Magikarp?" they asked.
"Munchlax?" said Munchlax, leaning back and staring at me with interest.
I coughed, "Yeah? The Can Do Magikarp, have I not told you that story before?" I asked, knowing that I obviously hadn't.
Cindy shook her head and I realised—judging from the looks I was getting— that I would need to perform the story now.
I stood and began to wriggle and wiggle like a Magikarp would, all while laying out the story of the Can Do Magikarp.
I wiggled my arms in a fish like motion, spearing them upwards while writhing. "And the little Magikarp continued to swim! Up and up the waterfall! Nothing could stop him! Not the rushing waters or the jeering pokemon below or around him!"
"Nooooo! Swim Magicup!" said Tilly with a passionate wail, waving her hands like she could urge on the fictional Magikarp.
I smiled, but didn't chuckle like I wanted to. "So that little Magikarp continued to swim! With each slash of his tail the top of the waterfall grew closer! But! The water grew faster as it rushed over the edge! And it grew harder and harder! But in his mind, he stuck to the thought! I can do this! I can do this! And he began to inch his way up the waterfall!"
I writhed my arms about and squirmed my body, deeply amused to see so many eyes watching my impromptu performance.
"And then! When he reached the top he leapt one final time, clearing the Torii gate at the top and silencing all the pokemon that doubted him!"
"Woah!" said Suzie and Timmy together.
"And with his strength proven to all! He evolved into one of the most powerful Gyarados of the land!" I said with a fist thrust upwards.
"Woah? Really?" said Salvadore.
I coughed. "Maybe? It's a story, and the point is to not give up, if you push yourself you can do more than you realise!" I said, giving Cindy a soft smile.
She chewed her lip and nodded. "Alright… I think I can do it," she said with a small nod.
I sat back down feeling all the better for how I'd motivated my sister. I noted that Flint still couldn't talk and decided to take mercy on him. "So, Flint, are you going to the swimming event tomorrow?" I asked.
Tommy, realising what I'd done, threw up his hands. "Argh! You ruined it!" he said, causing a chuckle from the older kids, myself and Flint.
I shook my head and decided to just enjoy my dinner.
A.N. Thanks go to my supporters!
Thanks go to Twmmy and Meneldur for proofreading this chapter.
- Location
- Scotland
It does fit many of the internal themes of the story, after all Pewter is a very rocky place so to survive and thrive you really do need to be "Hard Enough", or is that Tough Enough.
- Location
- Philippines
Frankly, given how much Brock has been contributing and encouraging in the city to develop, add to that his fame and being the "starter" city for most, I can easily imagine Pewter becoming the next Celadon eventually.
- Location
- Philippines
Not exactly that big of an issue considering all the Pokemon ways to get around them, and really, being the start of Journeys can end up meaning a lot over time.
That might be why it never had much historic expansion, but in a modern world that's much less of an issue, we never really see anyone struggle with travel. Sure trainers still wander slowly from gym to gym, but that's about the experience of doing so rather than an actual necessity.
Considering how easily many pokemon can dig through solid rock, they could literally expand Pewter into some of those barriers. imagine carving entire scyscrappers out of cliff faces or having old mines repurposed into underground streets and eventually entire neighborhoods that are under the surrounding mountains.
TimEd
Meteor maker
Consider how said mountain is Mt. Moon, and that becomes a harder prospect than it seems, because those spaces are most likely already pokemon habitats, resource rich, or both.
Good point, they'd pretty much be at war with the entire local wild pokemon population during that expansion. I wonder if the other large cities had to go through such conflict in the past to grow to their current size.
Yeah, Brock won't go for it even if he could.
- Location
- Scotland
I would imagine that to expand any settlement is a long, slow and very cautious process to avoid going to war with all of the local Pokemon. Rebuilding upwards would be significantly easier than breaking in new ground IMO.
- Location
- Philippines
Vertical might not be the solution either. Consider all the flying and Flying-type Pokemon, with all their migration patterns. Viridian Forest with its Butterfree, Beedrill, Spearow/Fearow, and Pidgey/Pidgeotto will not appreciate anything like skyscrapers, I feel.
But then again, expansion isn't always about expanding or building up. If I recall Pewter from the anime, it had the typical Pokemon town design of having really spread out buildings. They could just use all that free space.
Chapter 199 - Interesting developments!
Viva01
Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given
- Location
- Australia
"Your new fans are back," said Jackson with a smile as I got ready for my next match.
I glanced over and noticed Anita and Trent both sitting in the front row. "They're good kids then, must have good taste," I said with a fake obnoxious smile, cupping my chin with my hand as I pretended to look suave.
"Sure thing, I think it's just that you're the first established trainer to give them any time of day," he said.
I shot Jackson an amused look. "If a trainer in the top twenty of the Ace rankings and a Gym Leader to boot gave you the time of day when you started out on your Journey, wouldn't you be leaping at the chance?" I said.
Jackson couldn't refute that and I grinned for a moment before adopting my stern Gym Leader face for the coming challenger.
The challenger I faced was perfectly generic in that they'd done the required reading for their first badge, coming in with a well-trained Mankey and Weepingbell against my rock-type pokemon.
Anita watched on enviously, but when I gestured to the empty podium she merely mouthed the word 'soon'. I replied with a nod, more than happy for a young person to show some restraint instead of throwing themselves into something.
It had been two days since Anita and Trent had both challenged me, and both of them, most likely at Anita's insistence, had been coming back to the gym daily. They'd been tousling with the local kids who had started coming around more and more of late.
Speaking of young kids that threw themselves into things… "Where's A.J.?" I asked when I reached the top of the stairs, back at the trainer section of the gym.
Yolanda and Crystal who were sitting around at the top shared an amused look, while Dennis coughed. "He's not working right now… he usually uses his lunch breaks to get some more battling in with the local kids," he said dutifully.
I nodded, knowing there had to be more to it than that, judging by the girls' reactions. "Riiiiiight," I said leadingly.
When Dennis merely smiled and nodded I turned to Yolanda, wondering what more she knew.
Yolanda rolled her eyes fondly. "A.J.'s set up his challenge again." When I gave her a blank look she huffed. "You know? That 'I will win one hundred times before I set off'? He's doing mini versions of that each day, trying for twenty wins a day. Usually, he rushes over to the battleclub at the end of the day, or he sets up fights on the battle courts outside if the right people are here," she said.
"Hmmmm," I said thoughtfully. "He wins that often?" I asked, an idea for how to hit two Pidgey with one rock forming up.
Yolanda nodded. "Yeah, he wins roughly twenty matches each day so far. I think going off to Goldenrod and Celadon has really made him stronger."
"That's good," I said, before glancing from Yolanda to Crystal. "Have either of you beaten him?" I asked leadingly.
That caused both of them to blink. "No?" said Yolanda thoughtfully. "I don't really have a team beyond Terra and Spot right now…"
"So do a two-on-two, or a dual pokemon battle," I suggested easily. I then turned to Crystal whom I knew had more pokemon thanks to her mother being freer with her money. "Or are you afraid you'll lose?" I taunted, baiting the trap further.
Crystal narrowed her eyes. "No?"
I nodded. "It's alright, he's a more experienced trainer, I'd be afraid of losing as well," I said, deliberately playing up the pity in my tone. That caused Crystal to sit up indignantly.
"He's not better than me!"
"I never said he was," I said easily. "That said…" I trailed off leadingly and Crystal scowled.
Yolanda snorted. "You're not fooling anyone, Brock," said Yolanda with a sniff. "Stop baiting my friends into fighting each other!"
I raised my eyebrows. "I'm just pointing out that you have a trainer who is dedicating himself to his craft, while you sit back and wait for things to come to you. You could learn a thing or two, and if you wanted to have an easier match, you didn't have to face him first off. I imagine it would rankle his pride if you beat him with two or three matches left to go for his twenty matches a day."
Yolanda blinked. "What do you mean?"
I smirked. "If he's set up a challenge like he used to have, then it's twenty victories in a row, not a day. So he might be fighting way, way more than people realise," I said, causing both girls to blink in shock.
I pointed at them. "I think both of you should consider it, I'm going to be ordering Greta to start doing it each day regardless, as A.J. has the right idea of honing himself, even if he overdoes it… a bit," I said.
Dennis coughed loudly, letting me know he was listening and thought I was understating A.J.'s… passion for fighting a bit more than I should.
"Feel free to take from the three-tier match pokemon," I said to Yolanda, who didn't have as many pokemon herself. I wanted her to test herself, and running face first into a better trainer in a controlled setting would be good. A.J. would learn that you couldn't always just grind for strength and that he'd need to be tactical. I'd probably need to have him run into the obstacle for a bit first before I demonstrated endurance battling with my Elite challenge.
Yolanda started to smirk, and I realised she'd thought of a loophole. "Not Izumi," I said firmly, causing her to grumble but eventually nod.
I smirked and glanced towards Trent and Anita, who were heading out with a pair of trainers themselves to get into a friendly match.
Good, it seemed everyone had some goals and targets to improve themselves in the young crowd. Before I left, I tapped Yolanda on the shoulder. "Remember to remind Greta and A.J. that they're going to be going to Cerulean with me tomorrow, and to Saffron on Saturday."
"Hmmm an easy match before you make them face Sabrina… wait she only takes four badges or more…" Yolanda said before coughing. "Oh right, Kong, I forgot about him," Yolanda with a small playful bonk to her head.
"I'm sure Kong is wounded, but yes, an easy match for Greta followed by a more neutral match. Whereas for A.J. it's going to be two tough matches if he wants to rely on his Sandshrew."
"Then you're going spelunking with Dad, right?" Yolanda said leadingly.
I nodded and noticed how much wider and more natural her smile had become. I huffed at her and poked her on the forehead. "Go bug A.J., " I said.
Yolanda nodded before stiffening, an evil grin forming as she seemed to realise something.
I considered what I'd said, before realising that Anorith and a few other pokemon were in the third tier and below roster. Hmmm, it seems like A.J. was about to face a few motivated trainers with plans to trip him up.
It'd be good practice for him when he was older.
It wasn't hypocritical when I said it, I'd experienced people sniping me, and A.J. would do well to realise that people could do the same to him. Seriously, he needed to catch some more pokemon!
He still had the same pokemon he came to the Gym with!
I gave the rest of the day's tasks a careful look over, considering times and distances before I nodded to myself. "Where's Greta?" I asked as I continued to weigh up the feasibility of what I was about to do. It would be showing an extreme degree of favouritism… unless I offered to do it with all of my sponsored trainers, or the ones that wanted it at least, but it would still be worth a trip.
Plus it had been a while, I could write it up as doing a patrol.
I continued to weigh it up in my head. Eventually, I turned to Dennis. "If I offered to take the kids to… the base of the Silver Range, do you think—"
Dennis threw up his hands. "Are you trying to raise a year of monster trainers? If you do that for Greta and A.J. it will be bad enough! If Yolanda gets more options she's going to be spoilt for choice!" he said passionately.
I blinked. "So… I shouldn't do it?"
"Maybe leave it to them to ask? Are you still considering giving kids like Gary Oak one of the Ancient pokemon if he comes back?" Dennis asked.
I paused. Gary had been one of the only kids to ask. I quickly brought up his trainer form on the pokenet and found that he'd collected five major gym badges so far, along with Sophia, Kong, Manny, and Gray's, putting him at nine badges, with only Sabrina's left to acquire in Kanto.
I whistled. "Huh, yup, I think he's going to earn it," I said looking at the comments about Gary. A lot of them were to the tune of 'cocky but has the knowledge and continues to develop well.'
"He's also got a very wide list of pokemon," I said, noting that the Rhyhorn he'd gotten from us was now a Rhydon. He also had a Graveler. Nidorina, Nidorino, Arcanine, Magmar, Scyther, Doduo, Kingler, Eevee, Abra, Fearow, Horsea, and of course, his starter, which was now a Blastoise. I whistled. The kid had a good team of pokemon that was only going to grow stronger.
I brought up Mia's trainer profile out of interest, and found that she had eight badges, with only Manny and Sabrina left if she wanted to match Gary's feat of all the Kanto badges. Her pokemon roster was also nowhere near as deep, with only five pokemon.
That being said, they were good pokemon to have. Silly Mouse, her starter, a Raticate now, along with Farfetch'd called Sir Quacksalot, a Houndour called Ember, an Azumarill called Bouncey… and a Dragonair…
I dialled Mia's number right away.
"Hiya Brock!" she said with a huge smile. Silly Mouse appeared on her shoulder with a fanged grin and waved a paw at me.
"Hey Mia and Silly Mouse," I said with a chuckle. "Congratulations on qualifying for the end-of-year tournament! Or at least the preliminaries," I said with a laugh.
Mia nodded her head. "Oh, thanks! I only just got it!" She squinted her eyes at me. "Do they send.. like a message or something?"
I shook my head. "No, I was just checking over your profile as it's been a few weeks now, no?" I said casually.
Mia rubbed the back of her head. "Ahahaha! So… you know, then?" she said.
I nodded. "So you have a Dragonair now?" I asked.
Mia squirmed gleefully. "Yes! I do! And it's so cool and graceful! I found her when I was swimming around Vermillion Beach with my Azumaril! She was hurt and I nursed her back to health and she bonded with me and I just! I just! Oh, she's so great!"
"Anyone give you any trouble over having her?" I asked.
"A few people tried to pressure me when I brought her out in a match against another trainer a few days ago," Mia confessed. "They were getting really demanding about me trading them for her and I kept saying no. It got to the point where I threatened to have Silly Mouse Super Fang them!" She giggled, "Then Gary's girlfriends stepped in and fought them off before I could with their pokemon, they're really strong, you know?"
I smirked. "Thus why they're Gary's girlfriends," I said leadingly.
"Oh! That makes way more sense than them just pitying Gary," she said.
"Hey!" called a voice that belonged to Gary.
Mia giggled as Gary stomped over and glared at her. "I'm not pitiable! I'm handsome and suave!"
"Sure thing!" Mia said with a nod. "Say, where do you want to have dinner tonight?" she said quickly.
Gary grinned. "Mr Mime's!" he said with a confident smile, only for a round of tittering to break out on their end of the call. Even Silly Mouse was chuffing with laughter.
I hummed. "Nothing wrong with a flaming Tauros burger with some Miltank cheese," I said, offering my support to Gary.
"See! Brock's a man of culture!" Gary said.
I nodded, before recalling the conversation that had prompted me to seek out Gary's information. "I see you're one badge away from completing the challenge I set you when we spoke after our match, Gary," I prompted.
Gary blinked, then frowned. "The challenge you set down for me…" he said before brightening up as though someone had just shone a Flash on him. "You were serious about that?" he said, sounding like he'd just been promised an early and a normal Christmas.
"If you can do it," I said with a smirk. "Good luck against Sabrina," I said.
Gary nodded seriously. "I'll do it! And then I'll be back to acquire my pokemon!" he said like he'd already defeated Sabrina. I merely hummed and glanced towards Mia.
"What're your movements?" I asked.
Mia coughed. "Well, we're going to Saffron so Gary can train up to fight against Sabrina, but in the meantime I'm going to work with Kong, he said I had good potential and that if I stuck around for a couple of months he'd assign a pokemon to me! I think a Machop would be pretty swell!" she said.
I merely nodded along, knowing that it would likely be much better than that if she impressed Kong. It wasn't widely known, but trainers who did work with him got pokemon. Impress him? He'd give you a much better fighting-type pokemon.
I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the Circuit Mia had a Hitmonlee or a Hitmonchan for herself like Humphrey did.
Speaking of which, I called to touch base only for him to be about to get into a trainer battle.
"Send me a record and good luck!" I said before hanging up.
With two Pidgeys taken out of the sky with one rock, or rather phone call, I bid them goodbye after thanking Gary's security team for looking out for Mia.
I checked over my schedule and found I had one more challenger before the break, with a final challenger in the very last slot. I huffed in annoyance as I read the note that the trainer wouldn't move the time slot earlier.
Urgh, annoying, but that was the gig sometimes. I marched towards the medbay to collect a tier three team for this match as I read through the trainer's profile idly. When I was done I made a circuit around the gym and back to the top of the stairs.
Only then did I signal Rachel that I was ready.
"From Lavender Town! Yvonne the Horror!" called Rachel with a grin.
Huh, we usually didn't get trainers that altered or adjusted their intro. They were usually too focused on the coming match.
A young girl stalked out, with her head tucked forward and her hands in her pocket, with a carefully curated air of one that doesn't care about what's going on around her, while also having an obvious chip on her shoulder.
Oh no, a young girl with attitude, I thought to myself as I went through my normal scowling introduction and challenge.
The girl snorted and something about the way she did it gave me pause. A snort shouldn't be a way of recognising people, but it was rather distinctive with how she almost tossed her head as she did it.
Very dramatic and over the top.
"Trainers! Are you ready?" called Dennis from the referee stand.
We both nodded and I sent forth my first pokemon. "Go! Lileep!" I shouted.
"Come out to fight! Gastly!" she called, sending out what appeared to be a leery cloud of gas.
I paused at the selection. A snort of derision and a Gastly do not a trainer under Agatha make… However, there was an easy way to find out.
"Fan of Agatha's, eh?" I said with a wide, innocent smile.
Yvonne shot me a furious look and I mentally ticked off another mark. Yup, this girl totally knew Agatha if she was reacting like that.
No girl who had met and trained with Agatha would retain their hero worship. Agatha was a stubborn old biddy that trained hard. I'd hate to be a trainer under her purview.
"Curse," she said through gritted teeth.
"Ingrain!" I said, deciding to negate some of the effects of curse as best I could. "Then go into Mega Drain!" I barked.
"Tch! Going to make me work for it, are you?" she said. "Payback into Hypnosis!" she called, allowing her Gastly to take a hit of Mega Drain before it shot forward and launched itself through my pokemon, laughing as it did so.
"Astonich!" I called, making Lillep curl in on itself before popping out its frills and startling Gastly into stopping the Hypnosis. "Brine!" I said, following up with an attack as quickly as I could.
"Protect!" called Yvonne, and her pokemon blocked the attack earning a nod of approval from me. She didn't seem super comfortable with her Gastly at the start there, but she was warming up.
That or she was adapting as we fought, which I'd have to test for. Shame she hadn't gone for a gauntlet, then I'd have been able to really put her through her paces.
"Sandstorm!" I ordered, using one of the only moves this Lileep knew that was rock-type to make things harder for Yvonne.
"Tch! Gastly return!" she called. She then kept me waiting as my Lileep slowly drained. She gained a smug look from what I could see projected on the big screen and she was obviously patting herself on the back, for playing to her strengths like she was with Curse still in effect.
I was honestly impressed her Gastly had lasted through Curse, Mega Drain, and Astonish.
"Come on out Gligar!" called Yvonne.
I blinked, having expected another ghost-type pokemon to emerge. A ground-flying type was a wonderful counter to this situation, and Yvonne demonstrated that straight away.
"Acrobatics!" she called over the howl of the Sandstorm, her pokemon rising with the roaring winds only to streak down.
"Blast it with Brine!" I called and Lileep, like a turret firing at an oncoming kamikaze plane, began unleashing blast after blast of watery gouts at Gligar.
Gligar merely tucked one wing after the other, dodging the attacks before slamming home into Lileep and knocking out the first pokemon. With Curse in effect it only took the one normally effective move to knock out my pokemon.
I withdrew the pokemon and nodded. "Nicely done putting on the pressure there, Lileep," I said, before selecting my next pokemon.
While Gligar had been a good answer to Lileep, it wasn't going to be the same for my next pokemon.
"Go! Corsola!" I shouted, sending out my second pokemon, and specifically a water-rock pokemon.
"Urgh, wait, no this could work," Yvonne said only to scowl. "Sand Attack!" she shouted, calling for what I could infer as the only Ground type move Gligar knew.
Gligar didn't even need to lower itself with the sandstorm still in effect, instead, it beat its wings and sent a spray straight into my pokemon's eyes. It caused Corsola to recoil and me to grimace, knowing I needed to get rid of that Sandstorm as it wasn't impacting Yvonne and rather played in her favour. Still, I wanted one other move first.
"Aqua Ring!" I called and my Corsola formed a ring of water that surrounded it. Much like with Lileep, I had options to extend the fighting strength of my pokemon with this move.
"Repeat!" Yvonne said, sending out another Sand Attack causing me to glower at her.
"Rinse out your eyes with the next move! Surf! Fire straight ahead!" I called, giving Corsola a line of attack while also denying the continued easy Sand Attacks by taking away the Sandstorm.
Corsola bounced back and a wave formed up which, by my expectations, was rather pitiful. It barely rose to twice my height, but it was enough to threaten Gligar.
"Acrobatics! Get over the lip of that wave!" shouted Yvonne. Her pokemon jumped and performed a series of barrel rolls and twirls which I recognised as a flying-type method of building up quick speed. Then, just before it could be swallowed up by the wave it darted high, shooting over the wave.
Sadly for Gligar it did so right where my Corsola, now without sand in its eyes, was perched.
I didn't even need to bark an order as Corsola leapt from the wave, Tackling Gligar back down, allowing the wave to crash over them. I whistled, damn this sequence of moves was working out in my favour.
Corsola emerged atop a bedraggled looking Gligar.
"Poison Tail!" snapped Yvonne, and her pokemon lashed out, stabbing its hooked tail into Corsola.
Corsola wailed as purple lines began to form around the site of the injury. Damn, she'd been poisoned! "Water Gun! Finish it!" I called and Corsola unleashed a blast of water with a vengeance upon her foe, knocking Gligar out of the fight.
"Urgh!" Yvonne grunted in annoyance before clicking her tongue. "Nice going out there Gligar! You put them on the ropes for us!" she said as she returned her pokemon, before instantly throwing out a Beedrill of all pokemon.
I raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her and pointed straight at the pokemon. "Ancient Power," I said. Corsola gritted her teeth, ignoring the poison that she was fighting through, even as her Aqua Ring healed her, to fire a trio of rocks at Beedrill.
I leaned forward in anticipation. If Yvonne was this confident to send out a pokemon noted to be a bad match up, she must know how to leverage her pokemon. "Plan alpha!" she called and a shimmer took over Beedrill's form that instantly had me looking around. I'd faced too many Ninetails using this trick to fall for it.
I therefore wasn't surprised in the least when the mirage Beedrill had left behind with Substitute broke, only for Beedrill to reappear in a burst of speed at Corsola's side. The lances on each of Beedrill's arms flashed out once, twice, thrice before going still, only for Corsola to whip around furiously and try to unleash a close-range Ancient Power.
Once more it missed, but this time it was pure speed as Yvonne doubled down on Agility.
"Alright if that's not going to work," I said aloud, before waving a hand forward. "Surf," I commanded.
Once more Corsola swept the field with a wave, with her riding it at the top.
This time Yvonne had no issues with her pokemon flying up and over the wave. Yvonne shot me a cheeky grin that made me want to rattle her composure a little. So I smirked right back.
"Launch a Water Gun above you!" I barked and Corsola followed without a hint of hesitation.
I then pointed at the orb of water, just before it started to let gravity reclaim it, I gave the next command. "Fire again!" I called. This time Corsola's attacks slammed into each other and a cascade of water fell upon the field, dampening it and causing a pseudo rain effect.
This seemed to confuse Beedrill as it paused, hovering off to the side with lances raised in preparation.
Yvonne narrowed her eyes, unsure what I was doing, so I repeated the action.
When nothing appeared to be changing she scoffed and waved her Beedrill in. "He's stalling to keep his pokemon in the fight with Aqua Ring! Don't worry about it, Beedrill. Plan Gamma this time!" she said and I noted that this pokemon had obviously gotten a lot more attention than her Gastly and her Gligar, if it had specialised move combinations set up. The trick would be to simply learn what they were.
Plan Alpha was simple enough and I suspected I knew what Gamma was.
A moment later when Beedrill blurred in to deliver another hit to the side, twitching as water fell around it. It came in slower and this let me get Corsola lined up properly. "Ancient Power," I said dispassionately as Beedrill closed, stinger raised, only for Corsola to spin, lifting a trio of rocks to slam them into Beedrill.
The move crumbled the bug type like I knew it would and Yvonne gaped in shock. "Huh? What!"
She stared at her downed pokemon, unable to comprehend what had just happened. I hummed and gave Dennis a signal not to start the minute counter as I was going to hand out some pearls of wisdom.
"You don't spend much time with the Bug Catcher Chapter Houses, I take it?" I asked, rubbing my chin.
"Huh? No, why would I?" she then flushed as she realised how contrary that sounded. "I don't need them!" she said.
I shrugged. "Eh, you sort of do, cause I get the idea that you went into the forest and got that Beedrill, who's very well trained might I add," I said, adding on a compliment to soothe her nerves for what was to come.
Yvonne preened and I shot her a grim smile. "Sadly, it's you that's failed your pokemon, as there are two key things about Beedrill you don't know, which if you spent time in a bug-infested forest like say… Viridian, you'd know about."
"Two things?" she asked with a scowl. "What two things?"
I raised one finger. "If you'd spoken with any Bug Catcher Chapter House, they'd tell you in detail about the specific ways that Beedrills perceive the world. They have what are known as compound eyes, which allows them to track lots of things in tiny details. This can make it difficult for them during rain, as sheets of rain block their vision."
"Oh," Yvonne said, understanding now what I'd been doing by having Corsola fire off Water Guns into the air before blowing them apart.
I raised the second finger. "They also sense with very fine micro hairs spread across their body. Getting those wet can obscure perception and awareness of their three-dimensional space. The water also catches slightly on their hair and slows them down. It's not much, but it makes a difference, no?" I said with an open hand, indicating how her pokemon was down for the count while mine was still in the fight, albeit just barely.
I gave Corsola a commiserating look and sighed. "I think she's running out of strength despite that rather fantastic showing. I withdraw my Corsola," I said, putting words to action.
"Brock is now down two pokemon, with one remaining!" called Dennis dutifully. "Trainers! Please send out your next pokemon.
Yvonne scowled only to inhale and then exhale. "It's fine, it's fine. It's just a setback," she said as she returned her pokemon.
I smirked and sent out my third and final pokemon, an Aron. It barked happily and did a flip in excitement.
"Hmmm I can't tell if you're mocking me or trying to show respect," she said as she sent out a Golbat like I knew she would. Yvonne only had four pokemon, after all.
"Absorb!"
"Metal Sound," I said, putting my hands over my ears.
Aron grinned, inhaled and then exhaled, only the air that he'd inhaled shot through the holes adorning his body, causing a piercing metal shriek to cut through the air and causing Golbat to falter.
I was glad I'd convinced Zubat to not come in for this morning's round of matches and instead work with Zephyr on her aerial combat. She would have hated this match, just as much as Golbat was right now, I assumed.
With Golbat floundering, I had what felt like all the time in the world to level my hand and dispassionately order, "Rock Tomb."
Rocks were kicked from Aron's feet onto Golbat's legs, causing the flying-poison type to buckle and shriek in pain and fright as it was hurt and weighed down.
"Shit! Golbat! Beta! Beta!" she called, and her pokemon let its mouth burst wide open, startling Aron from closing for a final exchange with what had to be Astonish used against me.
Golbat then began to croon, causing a wave of purplish energy to radiate forward and into Aron, who looked steadily more and more unsure of himself.
"Metal Noise!" I barked, only for Aron to shake his head and roll to the side in confusion and pain.
Yvonne exhaled in relief. "Still got a chance, drain chain!" she called, and her Golbat fluttered up before releasing green orbs that wafted into Aron and caused him to cry out in pain, before wafting back towards Golbat.
"Sandstorm!" I growled, not willing to let things simply remain like that. Aron twisted on a foot and kicked up a Sandstorm which once more caused the winds to howl. Unlike Lileep's efforts, this Sandstorm was much stronger.
"Urgh! Blow it away with Defog!" Yvonne called. Golbat flapped its wings hard and the Sandstorm that had been battering it died away.
I smirked as I felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me as I said, "Another one!"
Aron once more did a little break dance kick spin to stir up the winds, only for Golbat to take a modicum of damage before it could blow it away. Yvonne scowled, knowing that she was being forced into a routine that favoured me. I could see her furiously trying to find a way through but her mind wasn't drawing up anything.
Eventually, it became too much for Golbat and it fell from the sky, not with a sudden harsh move but a slow, steady grind caused by the on-again off-again Sandstorm.
"Urgh! I can't believe you're this cheap!" Yvonne said, stomping her foot as she returned her fourth pokemon.
I scoffed. "You brought a flying and a bug type against me. Now, you did so with good tactics in mind, but you've got things a bit too fixed. You need to be more adaptable and ready to adjust on the fly."
"Urgh, great! I've lost now!" she said with a slump of her shoulders.
I tilted my head, glancing up at the big screen. "Did you forget about your Gastly?"
She blinked cluelessly and glanced up, answering my question that yes, yes she did. I put a hand to my mouth to hold in the laugh that was threatening to burst forth at her expense. It had been a while since a trainer had lost count of their pokemon or not tracked their health states.
Usually it was when a pokemon was new.
I shot Aron a look and found him gasping heavily, he'd done a lot of break dancing to whip up those Sandstorms, and while it had worked to clear out Golbat, it left him in an exhausted state.
"Aron! We're on her last pokemon, hang in there!" I called.
Yvonne perked up as she realised she still had a chance at this. "Gastly! Go for Hypnosis!" she said, releasing her pokemon and having it go straight for a shutdown.
"Metal Sound!" I called. Aron inhaled again, only to totter to the side as the Hypnosis waves that Gastly unleashed caused him to topple onto his side and start snoring.
I chewed my lip and hummed. I could force this to play out, but… I could see the writing on the wall. I'd had one shot and Aron had been too tired. I'd won a lot of battles, but lost the overall war. "I withdraw Aron, he's too tired and will want to remain asleep instead of fighting on," I explained.
Dennis nodded and raised a flag towards Yvonne. "Brock's pokemon is withdrawn and Yvonne is therefore the winner!"
A round of applause rang out for Yvonne and she perked up, only for a constipated look to sweep over her face as she caught sight of Gastly bouncing around happily. "G-good job, Gastly," she said.
I tilted my head and lowered the podiums, watching the stilted interaction between herself and Gastly. Gastly seemed to adore her, but Yvonne wasn't reciprocating the feelings.
"Congratulations," I said, approaching her with a snoring Aron tucked under my arm. The poor little guy was all tuckered out.
"Thanks," Yvonne said, straightening up and shooting me a smirk. "Is this where you give me some more wisdom?"
I shrugged. "I think I gave enough of that out there. I can't say much more beyond 'don't lose track of your pokemon's health states or your number of pokemon', can I?" I said with a smirk.
That caused her to lose some of her attitude as she blushed. "Y-yeah, that's true." she shot Gastly a look and sighed. "Urgh, that old hag is going to be a nightmare when she learns about this match," she muttered to herself.
I got the impression she hadn't meant for me to hear that. Then again, I could do something to help out.
"Want me to talk to Agatha about calming down a bit?" I said.
Yvonne shot me a clueless look before snorting. "Yeah, sure you'll…" she trailed off as she looked at me, her mind calculating how I'd do. She must have been thinking something along the lines of 'I had beaten Lance in a friendly match, how would I do against Agatha?'
I smirked, raising up my Xtrasciever and dialling a number, and when Agatha's face appeared with her signature scowl I shot her a grin. "Hey Agatha! It's Brock! I just met this lovely lady and she's won a badge from me! From what I can tell, I think you're being a bit too hard on her, lay off some, yeah?"
"That is none of your business. I'm glad she won against you, but we will review her match together," Agatha said pointedly.
I grinned. "Ah, let her learn her own way and discover what works. In the meantime, I'm feeling like I need to blow off some steam, want to set up a friendly?" I said nonchalantly.
I could tell that everyone in the crowd was leaning forward, ears twitching at this new development.
Agatha snorted derisively. "It's a duel!" she said, "Tell your people to set it up in three weekends' time, I shall be there right after I wipe the floor with Bruno's little challenge the weekend before!" she said.
Huh, so Bruno wasn't going to let her go without one last challenge? Made sense.
Agatha nodded. "Goodbye for now," she said before hanging up.
I lowered my arm and shot Yvonne a v for victory with one hand. "How's that? She'll be more focused on me now."
Yvonne stared at me for a long moment before rocketing into my side to hug me. "I think you're my hero," she muttered quietly.
I chuckled and hugged her back, making a note to have a serious discussion with Agatha if this was the sort of reaction her new apprentice had to some support.
Had Karen gone through this sort of treatment?
Hmmm, it suddenly explained a lot of her mannerisms.
It didn't forgive them, but still, it explained them.
I eyed Yvonne, maybe it would do everyone some good to distract Agatha. Then again, I was a bit of a sucker for young trainers looking to break out on their own. If I had to fight Agatha? Well, I'd thrown down with Lance.
Agatha would just be another tough fight, and these days I looked forward to those more than I feared them.
Yvonne let me go and smiled, looking much more relaxed and a little bashful. Her Gastly swooped in and cackled at her expression and I just chuckled.
Hmmm, so, Agatha, eh?
I could dig it.
A.N Thanks go to my supporters!
Sadly nothing epic planned for chapter 200 but still some fun things on the cards!
Thanks go to Twmmy and Meneldur for proofreading this chapter!
I glanced over and noticed Anita and Trent both sitting in the front row. "They're good kids then, must have good taste," I said with a fake obnoxious smile, cupping my chin with my hand as I pretended to look suave.
"Sure thing, I think it's just that you're the first established trainer to give them any time of day," he said.
I shot Jackson an amused look. "If a trainer in the top twenty of the Ace rankings and a Gym Leader to boot gave you the time of day when you started out on your Journey, wouldn't you be leaping at the chance?" I said.
Jackson couldn't refute that and I grinned for a moment before adopting my stern Gym Leader face for the coming challenger.
The challenger I faced was perfectly generic in that they'd done the required reading for their first badge, coming in with a well-trained Mankey and Weepingbell against my rock-type pokemon.
Anita watched on enviously, but when I gestured to the empty podium she merely mouthed the word 'soon'. I replied with a nod, more than happy for a young person to show some restraint instead of throwing themselves into something.
It had been two days since Anita and Trent had both challenged me, and both of them, most likely at Anita's insistence, had been coming back to the gym daily. They'd been tousling with the local kids who had started coming around more and more of late.
Speaking of young kids that threw themselves into things… "Where's A.J.?" I asked when I reached the top of the stairs, back at the trainer section of the gym.
Yolanda and Crystal who were sitting around at the top shared an amused look, while Dennis coughed. "He's not working right now… he usually uses his lunch breaks to get some more battling in with the local kids," he said dutifully.
I nodded, knowing there had to be more to it than that, judging by the girls' reactions. "Riiiiiight," I said leadingly.
When Dennis merely smiled and nodded I turned to Yolanda, wondering what more she knew.
Yolanda rolled her eyes fondly. "A.J.'s set up his challenge again." When I gave her a blank look she huffed. "You know? That 'I will win one hundred times before I set off'? He's doing mini versions of that each day, trying for twenty wins a day. Usually, he rushes over to the battleclub at the end of the day, or he sets up fights on the battle courts outside if the right people are here," she said.
"Hmmmm," I said thoughtfully. "He wins that often?" I asked, an idea for how to hit two Pidgey with one rock forming up.
Yolanda nodded. "Yeah, he wins roughly twenty matches each day so far. I think going off to Goldenrod and Celadon has really made him stronger."
"That's good," I said, before glancing from Yolanda to Crystal. "Have either of you beaten him?" I asked leadingly.
That caused both of them to blink. "No?" said Yolanda thoughtfully. "I don't really have a team beyond Terra and Spot right now…"
"So do a two-on-two, or a dual pokemon battle," I suggested easily. I then turned to Crystal whom I knew had more pokemon thanks to her mother being freer with her money. "Or are you afraid you'll lose?" I taunted, baiting the trap further.
Crystal narrowed her eyes. "No?"
I nodded. "It's alright, he's a more experienced trainer, I'd be afraid of losing as well," I said, deliberately playing up the pity in my tone. That caused Crystal to sit up indignantly.
"He's not better than me!"
"I never said he was," I said easily. "That said…" I trailed off leadingly and Crystal scowled.
Yolanda snorted. "You're not fooling anyone, Brock," said Yolanda with a sniff. "Stop baiting my friends into fighting each other!"
I raised my eyebrows. "I'm just pointing out that you have a trainer who is dedicating himself to his craft, while you sit back and wait for things to come to you. You could learn a thing or two, and if you wanted to have an easier match, you didn't have to face him first off. I imagine it would rankle his pride if you beat him with two or three matches left to go for his twenty matches a day."
Yolanda blinked. "What do you mean?"
I smirked. "If he's set up a challenge like he used to have, then it's twenty victories in a row, not a day. So he might be fighting way, way more than people realise," I said, causing both girls to blink in shock.
I pointed at them. "I think both of you should consider it, I'm going to be ordering Greta to start doing it each day regardless, as A.J. has the right idea of honing himself, even if he overdoes it… a bit," I said.
Dennis coughed loudly, letting me know he was listening and thought I was understating A.J.'s… passion for fighting a bit more than I should.
"Feel free to take from the three-tier match pokemon," I said to Yolanda, who didn't have as many pokemon herself. I wanted her to test herself, and running face first into a better trainer in a controlled setting would be good. A.J. would learn that you couldn't always just grind for strength and that he'd need to be tactical. I'd probably need to have him run into the obstacle for a bit first before I demonstrated endurance battling with my Elite challenge.
Yolanda started to smirk, and I realised she'd thought of a loophole. "Not Izumi," I said firmly, causing her to grumble but eventually nod.
I smirked and glanced towards Trent and Anita, who were heading out with a pair of trainers themselves to get into a friendly match.
Good, it seemed everyone had some goals and targets to improve themselves in the young crowd. Before I left, I tapped Yolanda on the shoulder. "Remember to remind Greta and A.J. that they're going to be going to Cerulean with me tomorrow, and to Saffron on Saturday."
"Hmmm an easy match before you make them face Sabrina… wait she only takes four badges or more…" Yolanda said before coughing. "Oh right, Kong, I forgot about him," Yolanda with a small playful bonk to her head.
"I'm sure Kong is wounded, but yes, an easy match for Greta followed by a more neutral match. Whereas for A.J. it's going to be two tough matches if he wants to rely on his Sandshrew."
"Then you're going spelunking with Dad, right?" Yolanda said leadingly.
I nodded and noticed how much wider and more natural her smile had become. I huffed at her and poked her on the forehead. "Go bug A.J., " I said.
Yolanda nodded before stiffening, an evil grin forming as she seemed to realise something.
I considered what I'd said, before realising that Anorith and a few other pokemon were in the third tier and below roster. Hmmm, it seems like A.J. was about to face a few motivated trainers with plans to trip him up.
It'd be good practice for him when he was older.
It wasn't hypocritical when I said it, I'd experienced people sniping me, and A.J. would do well to realise that people could do the same to him. Seriously, he needed to catch some more pokemon!
He still had the same pokemon he came to the Gym with!
I gave the rest of the day's tasks a careful look over, considering times and distances before I nodded to myself. "Where's Greta?" I asked as I continued to weigh up the feasibility of what I was about to do. It would be showing an extreme degree of favouritism… unless I offered to do it with all of my sponsored trainers, or the ones that wanted it at least, but it would still be worth a trip.
Plus it had been a while, I could write it up as doing a patrol.
I continued to weigh it up in my head. Eventually, I turned to Dennis. "If I offered to take the kids to… the base of the Silver Range, do you think—"
Dennis threw up his hands. "Are you trying to raise a year of monster trainers? If you do that for Greta and A.J. it will be bad enough! If Yolanda gets more options she's going to be spoilt for choice!" he said passionately.
I blinked. "So… I shouldn't do it?"
"Maybe leave it to them to ask? Are you still considering giving kids like Gary Oak one of the Ancient pokemon if he comes back?" Dennis asked.
I paused. Gary had been one of the only kids to ask. I quickly brought up his trainer form on the pokenet and found that he'd collected five major gym badges so far, along with Sophia, Kong, Manny, and Gray's, putting him at nine badges, with only Sabrina's left to acquire in Kanto.
I whistled. "Huh, yup, I think he's going to earn it," I said looking at the comments about Gary. A lot of them were to the tune of 'cocky but has the knowledge and continues to develop well.'
"He's also got a very wide list of pokemon," I said, noting that the Rhyhorn he'd gotten from us was now a Rhydon. He also had a Graveler. Nidorina, Nidorino, Arcanine, Magmar, Scyther, Doduo, Kingler, Eevee, Abra, Fearow, Horsea, and of course, his starter, which was now a Blastoise. I whistled. The kid had a good team of pokemon that was only going to grow stronger.
I brought up Mia's trainer profile out of interest, and found that she had eight badges, with only Manny and Sabrina left if she wanted to match Gary's feat of all the Kanto badges. Her pokemon roster was also nowhere near as deep, with only five pokemon.
That being said, they were good pokemon to have. Silly Mouse, her starter, a Raticate now, along with Farfetch'd called Sir Quacksalot, a Houndour called Ember, an Azumarill called Bouncey… and a Dragonair…
I dialled Mia's number right away.
"Hiya Brock!" she said with a huge smile. Silly Mouse appeared on her shoulder with a fanged grin and waved a paw at me.
"Hey Mia and Silly Mouse," I said with a chuckle. "Congratulations on qualifying for the end-of-year tournament! Or at least the preliminaries," I said with a laugh.
Mia nodded her head. "Oh, thanks! I only just got it!" She squinted her eyes at me. "Do they send.. like a message or something?"
I shook my head. "No, I was just checking over your profile as it's been a few weeks now, no?" I said casually.
Mia rubbed the back of her head. "Ahahaha! So… you know, then?" she said.
I nodded. "So you have a Dragonair now?" I asked.
Mia squirmed gleefully. "Yes! I do! And it's so cool and graceful! I found her when I was swimming around Vermillion Beach with my Azumaril! She was hurt and I nursed her back to health and she bonded with me and I just! I just! Oh, she's so great!"
"Anyone give you any trouble over having her?" I asked.
"A few people tried to pressure me when I brought her out in a match against another trainer a few days ago," Mia confessed. "They were getting really demanding about me trading them for her and I kept saying no. It got to the point where I threatened to have Silly Mouse Super Fang them!" She giggled, "Then Gary's girlfriends stepped in and fought them off before I could with their pokemon, they're really strong, you know?"
I smirked. "Thus why they're Gary's girlfriends," I said leadingly.
"Oh! That makes way more sense than them just pitying Gary," she said.
"Hey!" called a voice that belonged to Gary.
Mia giggled as Gary stomped over and glared at her. "I'm not pitiable! I'm handsome and suave!"
"Sure thing!" Mia said with a nod. "Say, where do you want to have dinner tonight?" she said quickly.
Gary grinned. "Mr Mime's!" he said with a confident smile, only for a round of tittering to break out on their end of the call. Even Silly Mouse was chuffing with laughter.
I hummed. "Nothing wrong with a flaming Tauros burger with some Miltank cheese," I said, offering my support to Gary.
"See! Brock's a man of culture!" Gary said.
I nodded, before recalling the conversation that had prompted me to seek out Gary's information. "I see you're one badge away from completing the challenge I set you when we spoke after our match, Gary," I prompted.
Gary blinked, then frowned. "The challenge you set down for me…" he said before brightening up as though someone had just shone a Flash on him. "You were serious about that?" he said, sounding like he'd just been promised an early and a normal Christmas.
"If you can do it," I said with a smirk. "Good luck against Sabrina," I said.
Gary nodded seriously. "I'll do it! And then I'll be back to acquire my pokemon!" he said like he'd already defeated Sabrina. I merely hummed and glanced towards Mia.
"What're your movements?" I asked.
Mia coughed. "Well, we're going to Saffron so Gary can train up to fight against Sabrina, but in the meantime I'm going to work with Kong, he said I had good potential and that if I stuck around for a couple of months he'd assign a pokemon to me! I think a Machop would be pretty swell!" she said.
I merely nodded along, knowing that it would likely be much better than that if she impressed Kong. It wasn't widely known, but trainers who did work with him got pokemon. Impress him? He'd give you a much better fighting-type pokemon.
I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the Circuit Mia had a Hitmonlee or a Hitmonchan for herself like Humphrey did.
Speaking of which, I called to touch base only for him to be about to get into a trainer battle.
"Send me a record and good luck!" I said before hanging up.
With two Pidgeys taken out of the sky with one rock, or rather phone call, I bid them goodbye after thanking Gary's security team for looking out for Mia.
I checked over my schedule and found I had one more challenger before the break, with a final challenger in the very last slot. I huffed in annoyance as I read the note that the trainer wouldn't move the time slot earlier.
Urgh, annoying, but that was the gig sometimes. I marched towards the medbay to collect a tier three team for this match as I read through the trainer's profile idly. When I was done I made a circuit around the gym and back to the top of the stairs.
Only then did I signal Rachel that I was ready.
"From Lavender Town! Yvonne the Horror!" called Rachel with a grin.
Huh, we usually didn't get trainers that altered or adjusted their intro. They were usually too focused on the coming match.
A young girl stalked out, with her head tucked forward and her hands in her pocket, with a carefully curated air of one that doesn't care about what's going on around her, while also having an obvious chip on her shoulder.
Oh no, a young girl with attitude, I thought to myself as I went through my normal scowling introduction and challenge.
The girl snorted and something about the way she did it gave me pause. A snort shouldn't be a way of recognising people, but it was rather distinctive with how she almost tossed her head as she did it.
Very dramatic and over the top.
"Trainers! Are you ready?" called Dennis from the referee stand.
We both nodded and I sent forth my first pokemon. "Go! Lileep!" I shouted.
"Come out to fight! Gastly!" she called, sending out what appeared to be a leery cloud of gas.
I paused at the selection. A snort of derision and a Gastly do not a trainer under Agatha make… However, there was an easy way to find out.
"Fan of Agatha's, eh?" I said with a wide, innocent smile.
Yvonne shot me a furious look and I mentally ticked off another mark. Yup, this girl totally knew Agatha if she was reacting like that.
No girl who had met and trained with Agatha would retain their hero worship. Agatha was a stubborn old biddy that trained hard. I'd hate to be a trainer under her purview.
"Curse," she said through gritted teeth.
"Ingrain!" I said, deciding to negate some of the effects of curse as best I could. "Then go into Mega Drain!" I barked.
"Tch! Going to make me work for it, are you?" she said. "Payback into Hypnosis!" she called, allowing her Gastly to take a hit of Mega Drain before it shot forward and launched itself through my pokemon, laughing as it did so.
"Astonich!" I called, making Lillep curl in on itself before popping out its frills and startling Gastly into stopping the Hypnosis. "Brine!" I said, following up with an attack as quickly as I could.
"Protect!" called Yvonne, and her pokemon blocked the attack earning a nod of approval from me. She didn't seem super comfortable with her Gastly at the start there, but she was warming up.
That or she was adapting as we fought, which I'd have to test for. Shame she hadn't gone for a gauntlet, then I'd have been able to really put her through her paces.
"Sandstorm!" I ordered, using one of the only moves this Lileep knew that was rock-type to make things harder for Yvonne.
"Tch! Gastly return!" she called. She then kept me waiting as my Lileep slowly drained. She gained a smug look from what I could see projected on the big screen and she was obviously patting herself on the back, for playing to her strengths like she was with Curse still in effect.
I was honestly impressed her Gastly had lasted through Curse, Mega Drain, and Astonish.
"Come on out Gligar!" called Yvonne.
I blinked, having expected another ghost-type pokemon to emerge. A ground-flying type was a wonderful counter to this situation, and Yvonne demonstrated that straight away.
"Acrobatics!" she called over the howl of the Sandstorm, her pokemon rising with the roaring winds only to streak down.
"Blast it with Brine!" I called and Lileep, like a turret firing at an oncoming kamikaze plane, began unleashing blast after blast of watery gouts at Gligar.
Gligar merely tucked one wing after the other, dodging the attacks before slamming home into Lileep and knocking out the first pokemon. With Curse in effect it only took the one normally effective move to knock out my pokemon.
I withdrew the pokemon and nodded. "Nicely done putting on the pressure there, Lileep," I said, before selecting my next pokemon.
While Gligar had been a good answer to Lileep, it wasn't going to be the same for my next pokemon.
"Go! Corsola!" I shouted, sending out my second pokemon, and specifically a water-rock pokemon.
"Urgh, wait, no this could work," Yvonne said only to scowl. "Sand Attack!" she shouted, calling for what I could infer as the only Ground type move Gligar knew.
Gligar didn't even need to lower itself with the sandstorm still in effect, instead, it beat its wings and sent a spray straight into my pokemon's eyes. It caused Corsola to recoil and me to grimace, knowing I needed to get rid of that Sandstorm as it wasn't impacting Yvonne and rather played in her favour. Still, I wanted one other move first.
"Aqua Ring!" I called and my Corsola formed a ring of water that surrounded it. Much like with Lileep, I had options to extend the fighting strength of my pokemon with this move.
"Repeat!" Yvonne said, sending out another Sand Attack causing me to glower at her.
"Rinse out your eyes with the next move! Surf! Fire straight ahead!" I called, giving Corsola a line of attack while also denying the continued easy Sand Attacks by taking away the Sandstorm.
Corsola bounced back and a wave formed up which, by my expectations, was rather pitiful. It barely rose to twice my height, but it was enough to threaten Gligar.
"Acrobatics! Get over the lip of that wave!" shouted Yvonne. Her pokemon jumped and performed a series of barrel rolls and twirls which I recognised as a flying-type method of building up quick speed. Then, just before it could be swallowed up by the wave it darted high, shooting over the wave.
Sadly for Gligar it did so right where my Corsola, now without sand in its eyes, was perched.
I didn't even need to bark an order as Corsola leapt from the wave, Tackling Gligar back down, allowing the wave to crash over them. I whistled, damn this sequence of moves was working out in my favour.
Corsola emerged atop a bedraggled looking Gligar.
"Poison Tail!" snapped Yvonne, and her pokemon lashed out, stabbing its hooked tail into Corsola.
Corsola wailed as purple lines began to form around the site of the injury. Damn, she'd been poisoned! "Water Gun! Finish it!" I called and Corsola unleashed a blast of water with a vengeance upon her foe, knocking Gligar out of the fight.
"Urgh!" Yvonne grunted in annoyance before clicking her tongue. "Nice going out there Gligar! You put them on the ropes for us!" she said as she returned her pokemon, before instantly throwing out a Beedrill of all pokemon.
I raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her and pointed straight at the pokemon. "Ancient Power," I said. Corsola gritted her teeth, ignoring the poison that she was fighting through, even as her Aqua Ring healed her, to fire a trio of rocks at Beedrill.
I leaned forward in anticipation. If Yvonne was this confident to send out a pokemon noted to be a bad match up, she must know how to leverage her pokemon. "Plan alpha!" she called and a shimmer took over Beedrill's form that instantly had me looking around. I'd faced too many Ninetails using this trick to fall for it.
I therefore wasn't surprised in the least when the mirage Beedrill had left behind with Substitute broke, only for Beedrill to reappear in a burst of speed at Corsola's side. The lances on each of Beedrill's arms flashed out once, twice, thrice before going still, only for Corsola to whip around furiously and try to unleash a close-range Ancient Power.
Once more it missed, but this time it was pure speed as Yvonne doubled down on Agility.
"Alright if that's not going to work," I said aloud, before waving a hand forward. "Surf," I commanded.
Once more Corsola swept the field with a wave, with her riding it at the top.
This time Yvonne had no issues with her pokemon flying up and over the wave. Yvonne shot me a cheeky grin that made me want to rattle her composure a little. So I smirked right back.
"Launch a Water Gun above you!" I barked and Corsola followed without a hint of hesitation.
I then pointed at the orb of water, just before it started to let gravity reclaim it, I gave the next command. "Fire again!" I called. This time Corsola's attacks slammed into each other and a cascade of water fell upon the field, dampening it and causing a pseudo rain effect.
This seemed to confuse Beedrill as it paused, hovering off to the side with lances raised in preparation.
Yvonne narrowed her eyes, unsure what I was doing, so I repeated the action.
When nothing appeared to be changing she scoffed and waved her Beedrill in. "He's stalling to keep his pokemon in the fight with Aqua Ring! Don't worry about it, Beedrill. Plan Gamma this time!" she said and I noted that this pokemon had obviously gotten a lot more attention than her Gastly and her Gligar, if it had specialised move combinations set up. The trick would be to simply learn what they were.
Plan Alpha was simple enough and I suspected I knew what Gamma was.
A moment later when Beedrill blurred in to deliver another hit to the side, twitching as water fell around it. It came in slower and this let me get Corsola lined up properly. "Ancient Power," I said dispassionately as Beedrill closed, stinger raised, only for Corsola to spin, lifting a trio of rocks to slam them into Beedrill.
The move crumbled the bug type like I knew it would and Yvonne gaped in shock. "Huh? What!"
She stared at her downed pokemon, unable to comprehend what had just happened. I hummed and gave Dennis a signal not to start the minute counter as I was going to hand out some pearls of wisdom.
"You don't spend much time with the Bug Catcher Chapter Houses, I take it?" I asked, rubbing my chin.
"Huh? No, why would I?" she then flushed as she realised how contrary that sounded. "I don't need them!" she said.
I shrugged. "Eh, you sort of do, cause I get the idea that you went into the forest and got that Beedrill, who's very well trained might I add," I said, adding on a compliment to soothe her nerves for what was to come.
Yvonne preened and I shot her a grim smile. "Sadly, it's you that's failed your pokemon, as there are two key things about Beedrill you don't know, which if you spent time in a bug-infested forest like say… Viridian, you'd know about."
"Two things?" she asked with a scowl. "What two things?"
I raised one finger. "If you'd spoken with any Bug Catcher Chapter House, they'd tell you in detail about the specific ways that Beedrills perceive the world. They have what are known as compound eyes, which allows them to track lots of things in tiny details. This can make it difficult for them during rain, as sheets of rain block their vision."
"Oh," Yvonne said, understanding now what I'd been doing by having Corsola fire off Water Guns into the air before blowing them apart.
I raised the second finger. "They also sense with very fine micro hairs spread across their body. Getting those wet can obscure perception and awareness of their three-dimensional space. The water also catches slightly on their hair and slows them down. It's not much, but it makes a difference, no?" I said with an open hand, indicating how her pokemon was down for the count while mine was still in the fight, albeit just barely.
I gave Corsola a commiserating look and sighed. "I think she's running out of strength despite that rather fantastic showing. I withdraw my Corsola," I said, putting words to action.
"Brock is now down two pokemon, with one remaining!" called Dennis dutifully. "Trainers! Please send out your next pokemon.
Yvonne scowled only to inhale and then exhale. "It's fine, it's fine. It's just a setback," she said as she returned her pokemon.
I smirked and sent out my third and final pokemon, an Aron. It barked happily and did a flip in excitement.
"Hmmm I can't tell if you're mocking me or trying to show respect," she said as she sent out a Golbat like I knew she would. Yvonne only had four pokemon, after all.
"Absorb!"
"Metal Sound," I said, putting my hands over my ears.
Aron grinned, inhaled and then exhaled, only the air that he'd inhaled shot through the holes adorning his body, causing a piercing metal shriek to cut through the air and causing Golbat to falter.
I was glad I'd convinced Zubat to not come in for this morning's round of matches and instead work with Zephyr on her aerial combat. She would have hated this match, just as much as Golbat was right now, I assumed.
With Golbat floundering, I had what felt like all the time in the world to level my hand and dispassionately order, "Rock Tomb."
Rocks were kicked from Aron's feet onto Golbat's legs, causing the flying-poison type to buckle and shriek in pain and fright as it was hurt and weighed down.
"Shit! Golbat! Beta! Beta!" she called, and her pokemon let its mouth burst wide open, startling Aron from closing for a final exchange with what had to be Astonish used against me.
Golbat then began to croon, causing a wave of purplish energy to radiate forward and into Aron, who looked steadily more and more unsure of himself.
"Metal Noise!" I barked, only for Aron to shake his head and roll to the side in confusion and pain.
Yvonne exhaled in relief. "Still got a chance, drain chain!" she called, and her Golbat fluttered up before releasing green orbs that wafted into Aron and caused him to cry out in pain, before wafting back towards Golbat.
"Sandstorm!" I growled, not willing to let things simply remain like that. Aron twisted on a foot and kicked up a Sandstorm which once more caused the winds to howl. Unlike Lileep's efforts, this Sandstorm was much stronger.
"Urgh! Blow it away with Defog!" Yvonne called. Golbat flapped its wings hard and the Sandstorm that had been battering it died away.
I smirked as I felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me as I said, "Another one!"
Aron once more did a little break dance kick spin to stir up the winds, only for Golbat to take a modicum of damage before it could blow it away. Yvonne scowled, knowing that she was being forced into a routine that favoured me. I could see her furiously trying to find a way through but her mind wasn't drawing up anything.
Eventually, it became too much for Golbat and it fell from the sky, not with a sudden harsh move but a slow, steady grind caused by the on-again off-again Sandstorm.
"Urgh! I can't believe you're this cheap!" Yvonne said, stomping her foot as she returned her fourth pokemon.
I scoffed. "You brought a flying and a bug type against me. Now, you did so with good tactics in mind, but you've got things a bit too fixed. You need to be more adaptable and ready to adjust on the fly."
"Urgh, great! I've lost now!" she said with a slump of her shoulders.
I tilted my head, glancing up at the big screen. "Did you forget about your Gastly?"
She blinked cluelessly and glanced up, answering my question that yes, yes she did. I put a hand to my mouth to hold in the laugh that was threatening to burst forth at her expense. It had been a while since a trainer had lost count of their pokemon or not tracked their health states.
Usually it was when a pokemon was new.
I shot Aron a look and found him gasping heavily, he'd done a lot of break dancing to whip up those Sandstorms, and while it had worked to clear out Golbat, it left him in an exhausted state.
"Aron! We're on her last pokemon, hang in there!" I called.
Yvonne perked up as she realised she still had a chance at this. "Gastly! Go for Hypnosis!" she said, releasing her pokemon and having it go straight for a shutdown.
"Metal Sound!" I called. Aron inhaled again, only to totter to the side as the Hypnosis waves that Gastly unleashed caused him to topple onto his side and start snoring.
I chewed my lip and hummed. I could force this to play out, but… I could see the writing on the wall. I'd had one shot and Aron had been too tired. I'd won a lot of battles, but lost the overall war. "I withdraw Aron, he's too tired and will want to remain asleep instead of fighting on," I explained.
Dennis nodded and raised a flag towards Yvonne. "Brock's pokemon is withdrawn and Yvonne is therefore the winner!"
A round of applause rang out for Yvonne and she perked up, only for a constipated look to sweep over her face as she caught sight of Gastly bouncing around happily. "G-good job, Gastly," she said.
I tilted my head and lowered the podiums, watching the stilted interaction between herself and Gastly. Gastly seemed to adore her, but Yvonne wasn't reciprocating the feelings.
"Congratulations," I said, approaching her with a snoring Aron tucked under my arm. The poor little guy was all tuckered out.
"Thanks," Yvonne said, straightening up and shooting me a smirk. "Is this where you give me some more wisdom?"
I shrugged. "I think I gave enough of that out there. I can't say much more beyond 'don't lose track of your pokemon's health states or your number of pokemon', can I?" I said with a smirk.
That caused her to lose some of her attitude as she blushed. "Y-yeah, that's true." she shot Gastly a look and sighed. "Urgh, that old hag is going to be a nightmare when she learns about this match," she muttered to herself.
I got the impression she hadn't meant for me to hear that. Then again, I could do something to help out.
"Want me to talk to Agatha about calming down a bit?" I said.
Yvonne shot me a clueless look before snorting. "Yeah, sure you'll…" she trailed off as she looked at me, her mind calculating how I'd do. She must have been thinking something along the lines of 'I had beaten Lance in a friendly match, how would I do against Agatha?'
I smirked, raising up my Xtrasciever and dialling a number, and when Agatha's face appeared with her signature scowl I shot her a grin. "Hey Agatha! It's Brock! I just met this lovely lady and she's won a badge from me! From what I can tell, I think you're being a bit too hard on her, lay off some, yeah?"
"That is none of your business. I'm glad she won against you, but we will review her match together," Agatha said pointedly.
I grinned. "Ah, let her learn her own way and discover what works. In the meantime, I'm feeling like I need to blow off some steam, want to set up a friendly?" I said nonchalantly.
I could tell that everyone in the crowd was leaning forward, ears twitching at this new development.
Agatha snorted derisively. "It's a duel!" she said, "Tell your people to set it up in three weekends' time, I shall be there right after I wipe the floor with Bruno's little challenge the weekend before!" she said.
Huh, so Bruno wasn't going to let her go without one last challenge? Made sense.
Agatha nodded. "Goodbye for now," she said before hanging up.
I lowered my arm and shot Yvonne a v for victory with one hand. "How's that? She'll be more focused on me now."
Yvonne stared at me for a long moment before rocketing into my side to hug me. "I think you're my hero," she muttered quietly.
I chuckled and hugged her back, making a note to have a serious discussion with Agatha if this was the sort of reaction her new apprentice had to some support.
Had Karen gone through this sort of treatment?
Hmmm, it suddenly explained a lot of her mannerisms.
It didn't forgive them, but still, it explained them.
I eyed Yvonne, maybe it would do everyone some good to distract Agatha. Then again, I was a bit of a sucker for young trainers looking to break out on their own. If I had to fight Agatha? Well, I'd thrown down with Lance.
Agatha would just be another tough fight, and these days I looked forward to those more than I feared them.
Yvonne let me go and smiled, looking much more relaxed and a little bashful. Her Gastly swooped in and cackled at her expression and I just chuckled.
Hmmm, so, Agatha, eh?
I could dig it.
A.N Thanks go to my supporters!
Sadly nothing epic planned for chapter 200 but still some fun things on the cards!
Thanks go to Twmmy and Meneldur for proofreading this chapter!
Unfortunate that she's less enthusiastic about winning with Ghastly. I'm guessing Agatha told her to stop 'wasting' her time with her other pokemon to focus on training with ghost types like ghastly . I get the impression that she'd be rather set in her ways as a ghost type specialist and would not want to deviate from what she thinks works best.
