Hard Enough - Pokemon SI
- Thread starter Viva01
- Start date
- Users' Choice!
-
- Tags
- pokemon self insert
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- Texas
After further, exhaustive, research, I verified that in chapter 52, one of the Team Rocket people captured during the raid had a Purugly, a pokemon from Sinnoh. The Charti berry is from Sinnoh. Some kid with a Pidgey challenged Brock in chapter 72 with some kind of held item that was probably a Charti berry. In the Interlude at chapter 66, Giovanni gives Blaine a Magmarizer and a Heat Rock, both from contacts with Team Galactic, and said that Team Rocket has exclusive access to Sinnoh.
So the berry lady is definitely part of Team Rocket's plans. I wonder if the surge is as well and whether it's revenge for Sabrina firing some boulders into Viridian Gym.
- Location
- Argentina
One he stilk doesn't know Brock was involved.
Two, he wants to rule Kanto not leave it a wreck.
Three, we know the League was involved with the surge thing and that the mayor knew and didn't tell Brock because there is no way he could have organised the festival that fast.
Oh right, that kid who tanked one supereffective...
Oh that berry lady might be the source of the Focus Sash we saw a few chapters ago.
- Location
- Newfoundland
I wonder if there is a way for Brock to let Sabrina read his Mind so that he can show her all of the various Psychic Types that he has Knowledge of?
Garreon
Paldean Top Champion
- Location
- Mesagoza, Paldea
Anyone else wanna bet she put money on Lance kicking the ass of the "Interloper", she lost quite a bit and now she is Salty and trying to make sure people can get past Brock to make it look like him defeating Lance was a Fluke?
I mean Pokemon Battling is a Sport....and people can get really Petty over sports
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I've been thinking about what might happen when Ash shows up, and something came to mind.
Brock seems pretty deadset on not going on sabbatical to accompany Ash, though that might change if A) Flint returns and gives a good enough showing that it wouldn't embarrass the good name of the Gym for him to sub in, and B) Agatha says "just look at that kid's Aura, holy moly, Brock we need you to train him as a matter of national security", maybe with a side order of C) the Cerulean Sisters ask him to look after their baby sister. Still, he doesn't actually want to go, being comfortable where he is and generally happy with his life. But what if Yolanda goes instead? Her egg is due to hatch any day now and she's at the right age to go on her journey. Plus it would mean the kid wasn't overwhelmed by traveling with the Elite level gym leader.
Brock seems pretty deadset on not going on sabbatical to accompany Ash, though that might change if A) Flint returns and gives a good enough showing that it wouldn't embarrass the good name of the Gym for him to sub in, and B) Agatha says "just look at that kid's Aura, holy moly, Brock we need you to train him as a matter of national security", maybe with a side order of C) the Cerulean Sisters ask him to look after their baby sister. Still, he doesn't actually want to go, being comfortable where he is and generally happy with his life. But what if Yolanda goes instead? Her egg is due to hatch any day now and she's at the right age to go on her journey. Plus it would mean the kid wasn't overwhelmed by traveling with the Elite level gym leader.
Jordisk
<Unverified N00B>
- Location
- Blind Eternities
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
I thought it was pretty obvious that Forest will be the one to go with Ash?
It wouldn't even matter. Tanking one more hit from Brock only works if you have a game plan. A straight slugging match won't pass his one badge.
Garreon
Paldean Top Champion
- Location
- Mesagoza, Paldea
That is true, but the intention is still there
Forrest desperately wants to reconnect with his dad. He's not going anywhere so long as Flint is in the area. He also doesn't have a starter - because he wants Flint to give him one - so he kind of can't be the one to go with Ash.
Yolanda, maybe? But will her egg hatch in time?
Chapter 75 - Surfs up
Viva01
Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given
- Location
- Australia
Zephyr flew over Viridian as I chowed down on my breakfast with one hand. We had a good tailwind, but I'd urged him to go faster with the need to make up for the time I'd lost when I'd reminded the kids that the grannies were looking after them today. Suzie had demanded to come with me, and had latched onto my leg like a Shellder on a Slowpoke. She'd have refused to get off until I gave in and accepted that this was my new form and way of life.
Sadly, she vastly underestimated my strength and forgot that she was ticklish. So I had my leg back and was soaring away.
A buzz on my wrist notified me that Brawly was calling. "Brock! Where you at? Rocko and I are already out on the water!"
I quickly swallowed before replying, "Had some family stuff. I'm flying down your way now. What am I looking for? Is it where the river meets the ocean?"
"That's where I'd aim to start with, and then I'd head south. You'll see an island chain that will be where we're at!"
I signed off before shoving the rest of my meal into my mouth. I tapped Zephyr to line him up with the small river that ran from the mountain range near Cerulean, past Mt Moon and straight south to the ocean. Zephyr beat his wings before adopting a glide. I huddled in to help him stay as streamlined as possible before popping back up when we reached the mouth of the river.
There we hovered before orienting towards a distant island that quickly grew larger. When I got to it, I had my pokemon circle lower and lower until I spotted a group of people riding boards while on the beach more people lounged about. In the water around the people various pokemon bobbed. I could see Seaking, Golduck, Horsea, Staryu, and when I swept over the entire group I noticed a shadow in the water that had to be big enough for a Wailord.
I made for the beach. "Yo Brock! Jump in!" Brawly called out. I looked at him before looking down at myself. I had my swimmers underneath, but I'd need a moment to get through my upper layer of clothes. I tapped Zephyr towards the beach only to receive boos from some of the swimmers as I ignored their calls to leap from my flying pokemon into the water.
I snorted, unclipped a pokeball from my belt, and tossed it out. "Tide! Give them some waves!"
From roughly ten meters up, a very large Lapras appeared. The swimmers all jolted as they saw it. Tide cried out in glee before opening his fins wide. He fell and I grinned as people scrambled about only for a loud 'fwap' to sound out. From where my Lapras hit the water, a large wave formed up and lifted everyone in. Pokemon and people alike, none were spared.
Then the wave began to tumble forward. The surfers whooped with glee while some people grabbed onto their pokemon to ride along as the wave carried them. They raced onto the beach, with some sliding along the wet sand while others face-planted and became like strange moving trees as their legs and arms twitched.
One swimmer that was 'planted' was approached by a Psyduck, who poked at it before the swimmer twitched, scaring off the little psychic duck. He came up for air, spat some sand and laughed before diving into the surf.
I shook my head as Rocko and Brawly approached. "Nice entrance! That was a sweet wave!"
"Well that's good." I gestured around the beach. "You know everyone here?"
"As much as anyone can know people that like to share some waves at a new place. I've met a few, and they're all good people." Brawly shrugged. I hummed as I lifted my shirt and tossed it into a bag. I turned back and shook myself off. Brawly grinned. "Damn bro! You gonna catch some envy rocking up to surf like that!"
I glanced down at myself. "Something wrong?"
"Nah, you're just ripped as hell is all." He nodded his head towards a pair of swimmers that were openly staring. One girl even had her mouth hanging open. Brawly sniggered at their expressions, then stepped up and clapped me on the shoulders while grinning at the girls. "Sorry ladies! I'm gonna have to give him a vest to keep him safe! So the show's about to end!"
One girl pouted while the other accepted it with a nod. She then raised up a camera and took a picture of me before giving us a 'nice' gesture. Her friend smacked her on the shoulder in mock reprimand even as she leaned in to check out the picture.
I ignored them before donning the surfer vest Brawly had. He gestured to the boards. "Right, so how much do you know about surfing?"
I nodded like a sage and cupped my chin. "I know next to nothing!" I said without shame.
Rocko snorted. "He's all yours Brawly. I'm gonna go surf with Gloom." Brawly stiffened and shot Rocko some worried looks. His eyes slide from Rocko's retreating form to me as he wet his lips. It took me a moment to realise why Brawly might be nervous about Rocko's Gloom.
He tried to adopt a calm tone as she coughed. "He uhhh didn't mean—"
I waved it off. "I'm not worried about his life choices. I know, and he knows that I don't care as long as he's sober when work starts. If I need him for an emergency, I have to take him how he is or not call him."
That seemed to give Brawly pause. He blinked a few times and raised a finger before dropping it. "Huh, cool."
"It is what it is," I said before pointing at the surfboards. I made a mental note that Brawly had a terrible poker face. "So? Wanna teach me how to surf?"
Brawly's grin grew once more. "For sure!" And so I spent the next twenty minutes being instructed exactly how to paddle on a surfboard. Brawly made sure I had a longboard to practise on before he had me learn how to transition into a standing position.
"Okay, you need to be a bit smoother with your shift and snap up!" He jerked a thumb out onto the water. "Let's take you out into the shallows and get you practising that before I get you on some baby waves!" He then paddled out further, leaving me to one of his pokemon.
I spent the next half an hour having small waves splashed my way with Brawly's Poliwrath. The pokemon would walk up and prod me in certain positions and point out issues before getting on a surfboard of his own and showing what I was doing, and what I was supposed to be doing.
I eventually got a begrudging nod from the pokemon.
I turned in the water and began paddling out into the deeper water. In the time I'd been learning how to surf Tide had become a rest spot. With his size that meant he'd become a pontoon with swimmers lounging about on him while other pokemon leapt over or under him. He leaned his neck into the swimmers that were scratching at his neck while he also kept one eye open.
I closed in and sat up on my board before shifting around. Brawly grinned at me. "Nice one! You ready to try surfing properly?"
"I suppose, think I'm more ready to wipe out a lot." I scooched up, still not comfortable.
Brawly merely laughed, "Ha! That's half the fun! Just make sure you don't belly flop! Pokemon can handle it, but it'll leave a sting if you do! If you do it right, your wipeouts are some of the best fun you'll have."
I snorted at that, only for Brawly to put his hand below the water and shake it up. "I'm gonna set up a wave for myself. When you're ready, just wave your hand in a V under the water. Wailord will set you up. So paddle out and turn towards shore." He did as he said, paddling away from us before spinning.
A swell soon built, and Brawly grinned as he began paddling it in. From the angle we had, I got to watch as he paddled before kipping up to his feet.
Another surfer approached me, smiling happily while adjusting her swimsuit. "Hi there! I'm Billie! This your first time?" I nodded. "Nice! Well, watch what Brawly does! He's a natural at surfing!" she said, singing Brawly's praises. "Oh, he's about to do some cutbacks!"
I tilted my head but made sure to keep my eyes on Brawly as he rode the wave only to rise up and perform a fast turn at the top before dropping low and repeating the gesture. He did this a few times before lowering himself into the curling part of the wave.
"He's in the tube!" Billie informed me as my new friend surfed along the wave. He held his hand out and held it in the water before leaning forward and speeding up. He shot out of the tube and then launched himself up and over the wave to flip up into the water.
"Yeeeeow!" He cheered as he let himself flip over.
Billie laughed before dropping her hand into the water to call up her own wave. A set of bubbles signalled that Wailord had recognised the order.
She paddled out and got ready for her wave while Brawly glided back towards me. "Hey man! How was that?" I shifted on the board and nodded at him.
"It was uhm… solid?"
"Heh! You're such a landie Brock. We call it a sweet, or a sick ride! Not solid!"
I shrugged, "I'm a rock type trainer. Guess it shows."
Brawly hummed. "Yeah, but we aren't like our pokemon man." I merely nodded, if Brawly hadn't yet encountered aura, I wasn't going to inform him. Most people I had discussed it with prior to the Guardians thought I was a charlatan. Well,except Sabrina of course.
With my body in the water, I was feeling a small weakness, but it wasn't anything more than a slight stiffness. I wouldn't want to play water sports but I had been described as a brick in water in both lives so that was never a concern of mine.
Rocko swam out and deposited his Gloom onto the back of Tide. Brawly gave us both hesitant looks. "I'm still weirded out that you know and don't care man." I shrugged again, only for Brawly to squint at me. "Waaaait, do you also—"
I shook my head. "Nah, I've never huffed or smoked anything. Always been careful with my lungs."
Having asthma and being hospitalised as a child in a previous life had guaranteed I was never tempted, in both lives. Brawly stared at me before shaking his head.
"Damn, guess that's a sweet deal."
Rocko scratched at his belly and smirked. "Yeah, it's pretty solid."
Brawly and I shared a look and chuckled while Billie caught her wave. We watched her pull some moves of her own before crashing out when she tried to double back on the crest.
Brawly clapped me on the shoulder. "Wanna give it a try?"
I shifted back up onto the board. I had rather been enjoying just being a part of the group but… I did want to have a go. "Sure," I made the gesture under the water. Bubbles tickled my fingers that had me shivering, it was certainly one way to let you know something big was underneath you.
"Alright, so just paddle out? And catch it yeah?" I asked.
"Yah man! I'll tell you what to do!" Brawly said. Rocko raised a thumbs up and the people that had been playing around on Tide called out their encouragement.
"Baby Brock's first wave woooh!" "Don't screw up!" "Nah do it in a cool way!" "Do a flip when you wipeout!" I shook my fist at them before turning and paddling out in long strokes that worked muscles I wasn't used to working. I might have to try swimming with Shin and Shrek more.
I reached the point and paddled around until I faced the beach. Brawly waved at me. "Watch behind you for the swell!"
I glanced behind while trying to stay on my board. Eventually, a swell began to build up behind me. I lay low on the board.
"Not yet! Don't go now… Wait! Wait! Alright, paddle hard man! Go go go!" called Brawly.
I started paddling hard and felt myself being dragged back into the wave as it began to suck me in. It built, and I heard the wave cresting farther down from me.
"Try standing! Make it as smooth as you can!"
I nodded. Right, right. I needed to snap up but be balanced. I pushed up slightly, dropping my paddling and began to ready myself. I shot up onto my knees and wobbled horribly. I just hung on before standing slowly. With a tentative feel, I stood upright and waved to the crowd.
"I'm doing—" The board twitched under me, and I felt the board shift. "Shit!" I cursed as I lost control and was thrown. I slammed into the water and pushed down slightly to make sure I didn't get clubbed by my board. I let the wave pass and then rose up. I gasped in a lungful of air before looking around for my missing board.
"Nice one! You actually stood for a bit there!" Brawly shouted. I gave him a thumbs up.
Rocko cupped his hands. "Try doing it for longer next time!"
I shot him a rude gesture and swam towards my board before hopping onto it. I then turned to make sure I was out of the next person's wave only for them to wave for me to have another go. I shrugged and had another go.
I did just about the same before crashing out. They let me go again, and again, and again. After the fifth wave, I got a run of roughly five seconds before crashing out. When they gestured for me to run again, I shook my head and paddled over, strangely tired from riding the waves. I paddled over and set up next to Brawly and Rocko as another surfer paddled out.
"That was… pretty fun," I said between heaving breaths.
Brawly chuckled and clapped me on the back. "It was sweet Brock. Nice work for your first tries! We'll have you hanging ten proper soon!"
Rocko shot me a thumbs up and I sat up. "Right, well I think I need to work on a lot but yeah. I… wouldn't mind that." Brawly grinned and watched the next surf. I shook out my hair. "What's it like having a pokemon make up the waves instead of surfing naturally?"
"It's nice, convenient that you can pretty much set up anywhere and have a surf. Pretty much has me always having Wailord on my team but it's not the same." Brawly swept his hand out to the sea. "There's something just so honest about having to watch the waves and make a choice of if a wave is going to be right for you or too much even. You might spend hours out on the waves at a time with a natural surfing spot but that's part of the charm. You get so long where nothing but the next wave matters. It's really freeing."
That was kind of romantic to hear about. Romantic in the sense of being alluring and wondrous.
Brawly shifted and squinted out into the water. "Well, the waves and pokemon that is." He put his fingers into his mouth and whistled. "Hey! Who's on Sharpedo duty!? I see fins out there!"
A curse from atop Tide had one of the girls sitting up and grabbing from her belt. I coughed atthe free show she was giving having forgotten her top. Apparently, she'd decided to catch a tan. She gave Brawly and I gimlet looks as she put a hand over her chest. Rocko just yawned, unmindful of the show she was putting on. Brawly splashed me in annoyance but I merely huffed at him.
"Ah! Let me get that," I said before clicking my tongue in a pattern. Tide opened his eyes from where he'd been asleep a moment ago. "Tide, Hyperbeam."
Everyone that had been resting or playing about on his large shell sat up in surprise as he lifted his head and formed up a ball of energy in his maw. "Holy Ho-oh!" cried one girl.
Tide swept his flippers right as he discharged the beam towards the approaching fins. For a moment, I thought the fins stopped as if they detected the approaching attack but then the beam lanced into them and the water exploded upwards like the fist of an angry giant had punched down.
When the water cleared, a number of floating bodies appeared.
I nodded, "All good."
Brawly laughed loudly while the people that had been casually lounging on Tide stared at the pokemon that had been languidly resting with them. They obviously hadn't seen the scars on his flanks and front or else they might have realised he was a fighter. He turned his head at the people on his back and smiled at them.
"Nice one Tide!" I said shooting him a thumbs up. He splashed around himself with his flippers, trilling with glee before shivering slightly. He swept his long neck down and cleaned out his mouth with some water.
The girl that was supposed to be on Sharpedo watch was still standing. She stared up at Tide in awe. "Is this what it was like to be a naval commander during the old times? I swear I felt the power buildup before he fired that Hyper Beam." She shivered before bouncing from foot to foot. "Alright everyone! We're going to be running a patrol with Tide as our vessel! Who's with me!" She thrust her arm up and spun about maniacally
"Ahem!" I coughed pointedly, but she ignored that she was still giving everyone that cared to look a show.
Brawly shut me up by reaching over and pushing me off my board.
The rest of the morning passed by easily after that. I got a few chances to ride some waves and I felt like I made some progress in my surfing cred. Rocko agreed with me while Brawly grinned, merely happy to have me sounding like I'd come again.
The flasher girl had gotten to 'patrol' the ocean with Tide. Apparently, she had a small idea about Lapras being used in the past as patrolling vessels. They were apparently popular with coast guards until they were targetted by criminals resulting in the endangered status.
When I'd told her that Tide was a breeding male at the cove, she had been very interested. Brawly had smoothly slid in and mentioned heading there later in the week, resulting in getting her number and some plans to meet up later.
When the sun had gotten higher in the sky, I had decided that was enough surfing for me. The swimmers and surfers didn't begrudge me taking away their convenient meeting spot on the water but that was probably because Brawly had made Wailord rise up to fill in the spot.
I said my goodbyes and took off for home with Zephyr. I'd had to put on a lot more clothes before flying off. I was feeling pretty good as I soared home. I had a certain lightness of body now that I was out of the water but I'd also really enjoyed just hanging out with people that were so relaxed. There hadn't been anything that needed to be done or an event I was building toward.
Just waves and chill.
I snorted as I remembered the old saying for hooking up. I doubted Rocko was there for that but as I glanced over my shoulder I saw that a number of men and women sitting very closely on the island proper on a more private part of the beach.
Huh, waves and chill indeed.
Well, I suppose they had their fun for the rest of the morning all lined up. I continued north, not all that bothered with what I might be missing out on back in or around the water. I'd had enough fun for today to be happy.
I sighed expansively and spread my arms wide. The air swept through them, and I felt Zephyr bank around playfully. He must have caught my mood and was more than happy to comply.
I pat him on the back before coming to a quick decision. "Hey buddy? Want to do some loops and speed runs?"
"Noct!" he cried before flapping quickly to reach a safer height for aerial acrobatics. I grinned and locked my legs into the straps.
Zephyr rose before flattening out. Then he tilted forward and let his wings hang in front of him like some modern fighter jet. His wings glowed silvery as he channelled his Steel Wing to add more weight that saw him drop away.
He built up speed as he fell before twitching his wings to spiral off to the side. I hung on and grit my teeth at the feeling of being tossed and turned only for Zephyr to throw himself into a loop de loop. Then he flipped over so that we were flying upside down.
"Hahahahaha!" I laughed before letting my arms fall down. I looked down at the ground with my grin hurting it was stretching my face so wide. With the trees, ground and even the truck below me I felt… I paused as I registered the discrepancy.
"Zeph! Level out!"
"Noctowl?" he said, doing so while spinning his head about to check on me.
I pat his shoulder joint. "I'm fine. I just saw something weird. I stood in the saddle and stared down. "Is that a truck buddy?" His head rotated around to see where I was pointing before spinning back.
"Owl!" He nodded.
I nodded back. We weren't anywhere significant. There weren't any villages or discrete manors that I could see that sometimes dotted the landscape around Kanto. There seemed to barely be a road that the truck could rumble down. It wasn't a small truck either. I rubbed my chin and glanced off to the west where Viridian rested.
Viridian, where Giovanni was.
I narrowed my eyes. "We're following it Zeph stay out of their sight though." I glanced around to check that there weren't any other patrolling riders but I couldn't spot anyone. Or anything in the air. "Stay high just in case anyone's watching from the ground," I ordered, just to be sure.
Zephyr hooted once before once more ascending upwards. He reached his gliding height and from there we followed along after the small dot. It trundled along seemingly without knowing we were watching it.
For ten minutes, it continued on. With each minute it spent driving I only had more and more doubts that anything legitimate was occurring beneath me. Was this a poaching operation? Perhaps even a Team Rocket run operation?
I kept watching the truck until I suddenly lost sight of it. "Where is it?" I said aloud.
Zephyr circled wide; his much sharper eyes must have been tracking the ground as his head turned carefully before he adopted a hover. He turned his head and shook it sadly. I chewed my lip, staring at where I had last seen the truck.
"Land over there buddy. I want to check something." Zephyr did as ordered. I made sure to not withdraw him when we landed. I instead kept him close but not too close with my hand on another pokeball. I stalked along the road and stared at the recent tire marks that showed that the truck had existed and had been driven down this track.
And then suddenly it vanished in a patch of grass that was just oh so crisp. Far too crisp to be natural. I walked around that patch of grass. Then I checked the forest around me. There didn't seem to be any cameras watching me but I still felt exposed. This was very suspicious. I wanted to kneel and dig a little earth up but the hair on the back of my neck was standing up.
This entire set-up was unnerving. I checked Noctowl and found that he was also glancing around as if something was agitating him.
I clicked my tongue and decided to get out of there. But not before I marked it on my transceiver map for later review. I wasn't ready to investigate what I suspected was a hidden bunker. Not while no-one knew where I was. I'd have to ask around and find out if there was any information on someone buying and building something out here in the past.
But that might tip someone like Giovanni off. I doubted he hadn't covered his tracks and set up watchers on his potential interests.
Still, if this was a hidden bunker I had little doubt it was a Team Rocket base. But what would they…
Hadn't Giovanni had Mewtwo in a facility near Viridian? I glanced back over my shoulder and stared at the innocent patch of grass.
Was that what was under there? A Legendary pokemon?
I licked my lips suddenly very nervous. For some reason, I had thought that Giovanni might have made his facility that contained Mewtwo above ground and to the west, instead of east of Viridian. But wouldn't it make more sense to have it hidden in the southern parts of the forest instead? I had just barely noticed it and it was very out of the way.
I'd only spotted it thanks to luck. Or perhaps I was counting my pidgey before they had hatched.
Still, I had something to investigate. When I dared to, that was, it might be something for the Guardians to poke their noses into.
Now I just needed to decide if sticking my head into the metaphorical jaws of a Legendary was worth the risk.
My transceiver buzzed and I nearly jumped three metres into the air at the shock of the sudden noise. I answered and tried to calm my racing heart.
"Brock here, what's up?" I said.
"Hey Brock, it's Rachel, Sabrina's ready to go shopping for your outfits for next weekend!"
I blinked at the transceiver. I had mentioned it in passing to her hadn't I? And she would have… I chuckled, what had I been thinking, I'd basically offered her the date.. And it wasn't like I'd have wanted to go with anyone else after all. Hmmm, Sabrina dress shopping, that sounded fun.
"I'll be there soon."
A.N. Special thanks goes to my patreons for their support!
Special thanks goes to Raikor, Ab9999, Kurlinni, and Elnoorz for betaing and editing this chapter
Sadly, she vastly underestimated my strength and forgot that she was ticklish. So I had my leg back and was soaring away.
A buzz on my wrist notified me that Brawly was calling. "Brock! Where you at? Rocko and I are already out on the water!"
I quickly swallowed before replying, "Had some family stuff. I'm flying down your way now. What am I looking for? Is it where the river meets the ocean?"
"That's where I'd aim to start with, and then I'd head south. You'll see an island chain that will be where we're at!"
I signed off before shoving the rest of my meal into my mouth. I tapped Zephyr to line him up with the small river that ran from the mountain range near Cerulean, past Mt Moon and straight south to the ocean. Zephyr beat his wings before adopting a glide. I huddled in to help him stay as streamlined as possible before popping back up when we reached the mouth of the river.
There we hovered before orienting towards a distant island that quickly grew larger. When I got to it, I had my pokemon circle lower and lower until I spotted a group of people riding boards while on the beach more people lounged about. In the water around the people various pokemon bobbed. I could see Seaking, Golduck, Horsea, Staryu, and when I swept over the entire group I noticed a shadow in the water that had to be big enough for a Wailord.
I made for the beach. "Yo Brock! Jump in!" Brawly called out. I looked at him before looking down at myself. I had my swimmers underneath, but I'd need a moment to get through my upper layer of clothes. I tapped Zephyr towards the beach only to receive boos from some of the swimmers as I ignored their calls to leap from my flying pokemon into the water.
I snorted, unclipped a pokeball from my belt, and tossed it out. "Tide! Give them some waves!"
From roughly ten meters up, a very large Lapras appeared. The swimmers all jolted as they saw it. Tide cried out in glee before opening his fins wide. He fell and I grinned as people scrambled about only for a loud 'fwap' to sound out. From where my Lapras hit the water, a large wave formed up and lifted everyone in. Pokemon and people alike, none were spared.
Then the wave began to tumble forward. The surfers whooped with glee while some people grabbed onto their pokemon to ride along as the wave carried them. They raced onto the beach, with some sliding along the wet sand while others face-planted and became like strange moving trees as their legs and arms twitched.
One swimmer that was 'planted' was approached by a Psyduck, who poked at it before the swimmer twitched, scaring off the little psychic duck. He came up for air, spat some sand and laughed before diving into the surf.
I shook my head as Rocko and Brawly approached. "Nice entrance! That was a sweet wave!"
"Well that's good." I gestured around the beach. "You know everyone here?"
"As much as anyone can know people that like to share some waves at a new place. I've met a few, and they're all good people." Brawly shrugged. I hummed as I lifted my shirt and tossed it into a bag. I turned back and shook myself off. Brawly grinned. "Damn bro! You gonna catch some envy rocking up to surf like that!"
I glanced down at myself. "Something wrong?"
"Nah, you're just ripped as hell is all." He nodded his head towards a pair of swimmers that were openly staring. One girl even had her mouth hanging open. Brawly sniggered at their expressions, then stepped up and clapped me on the shoulders while grinning at the girls. "Sorry ladies! I'm gonna have to give him a vest to keep him safe! So the show's about to end!"
One girl pouted while the other accepted it with a nod. She then raised up a camera and took a picture of me before giving us a 'nice' gesture. Her friend smacked her on the shoulder in mock reprimand even as she leaned in to check out the picture.
I ignored them before donning the surfer vest Brawly had. He gestured to the boards. "Right, so how much do you know about surfing?"
I nodded like a sage and cupped my chin. "I know next to nothing!" I said without shame.
Rocko snorted. "He's all yours Brawly. I'm gonna go surf with Gloom." Brawly stiffened and shot Rocko some worried looks. His eyes slide from Rocko's retreating form to me as he wet his lips. It took me a moment to realise why Brawly might be nervous about Rocko's Gloom.
He tried to adopt a calm tone as she coughed. "He uhhh didn't mean—"
I waved it off. "I'm not worried about his life choices. I know, and he knows that I don't care as long as he's sober when work starts. If I need him for an emergency, I have to take him how he is or not call him."
That seemed to give Brawly pause. He blinked a few times and raised a finger before dropping it. "Huh, cool."
"It is what it is," I said before pointing at the surfboards. I made a mental note that Brawly had a terrible poker face. "So? Wanna teach me how to surf?"
Brawly's grin grew once more. "For sure!" And so I spent the next twenty minutes being instructed exactly how to paddle on a surfboard. Brawly made sure I had a longboard to practise on before he had me learn how to transition into a standing position.
"Okay, you need to be a bit smoother with your shift and snap up!" He jerked a thumb out onto the water. "Let's take you out into the shallows and get you practising that before I get you on some baby waves!" He then paddled out further, leaving me to one of his pokemon.
I spent the next half an hour having small waves splashed my way with Brawly's Poliwrath. The pokemon would walk up and prod me in certain positions and point out issues before getting on a surfboard of his own and showing what I was doing, and what I was supposed to be doing.
I eventually got a begrudging nod from the pokemon.
I turned in the water and began paddling out into the deeper water. In the time I'd been learning how to surf Tide had become a rest spot. With his size that meant he'd become a pontoon with swimmers lounging about on him while other pokemon leapt over or under him. He leaned his neck into the swimmers that were scratching at his neck while he also kept one eye open.
I closed in and sat up on my board before shifting around. Brawly grinned at me. "Nice one! You ready to try surfing properly?"
"I suppose, think I'm more ready to wipe out a lot." I scooched up, still not comfortable.
Brawly merely laughed, "Ha! That's half the fun! Just make sure you don't belly flop! Pokemon can handle it, but it'll leave a sting if you do! If you do it right, your wipeouts are some of the best fun you'll have."
I snorted at that, only for Brawly to put his hand below the water and shake it up. "I'm gonna set up a wave for myself. When you're ready, just wave your hand in a V under the water. Wailord will set you up. So paddle out and turn towards shore." He did as he said, paddling away from us before spinning.
A swell soon built, and Brawly grinned as he began paddling it in. From the angle we had, I got to watch as he paddled before kipping up to his feet.
Another surfer approached me, smiling happily while adjusting her swimsuit. "Hi there! I'm Billie! This your first time?" I nodded. "Nice! Well, watch what Brawly does! He's a natural at surfing!" she said, singing Brawly's praises. "Oh, he's about to do some cutbacks!"
I tilted my head but made sure to keep my eyes on Brawly as he rode the wave only to rise up and perform a fast turn at the top before dropping low and repeating the gesture. He did this a few times before lowering himself into the curling part of the wave.
"He's in the tube!" Billie informed me as my new friend surfed along the wave. He held his hand out and held it in the water before leaning forward and speeding up. He shot out of the tube and then launched himself up and over the wave to flip up into the water.
"Yeeeeow!" He cheered as he let himself flip over.
Billie laughed before dropping her hand into the water to call up her own wave. A set of bubbles signalled that Wailord had recognised the order.
She paddled out and got ready for her wave while Brawly glided back towards me. "Hey man! How was that?" I shifted on the board and nodded at him.
"It was uhm… solid?"
"Heh! You're such a landie Brock. We call it a sweet, or a sick ride! Not solid!"
I shrugged, "I'm a rock type trainer. Guess it shows."
Brawly hummed. "Yeah, but we aren't like our pokemon man." I merely nodded, if Brawly hadn't yet encountered aura, I wasn't going to inform him. Most people I had discussed it with prior to the Guardians thought I was a charlatan. Well,except Sabrina of course.
With my body in the water, I was feeling a small weakness, but it wasn't anything more than a slight stiffness. I wouldn't want to play water sports but I had been described as a brick in water in both lives so that was never a concern of mine.
Rocko swam out and deposited his Gloom onto the back of Tide. Brawly gave us both hesitant looks. "I'm still weirded out that you know and don't care man." I shrugged again, only for Brawly to squint at me. "Waaaait, do you also—"
I shook my head. "Nah, I've never huffed or smoked anything. Always been careful with my lungs."
Having asthma and being hospitalised as a child in a previous life had guaranteed I was never tempted, in both lives. Brawly stared at me before shaking his head.
"Damn, guess that's a sweet deal."
Rocko scratched at his belly and smirked. "Yeah, it's pretty solid."
Brawly and I shared a look and chuckled while Billie caught her wave. We watched her pull some moves of her own before crashing out when she tried to double back on the crest.
Brawly clapped me on the shoulder. "Wanna give it a try?"
I shifted back up onto the board. I had rather been enjoying just being a part of the group but… I did want to have a go. "Sure," I made the gesture under the water. Bubbles tickled my fingers that had me shivering, it was certainly one way to let you know something big was underneath you.
"Alright, so just paddle out? And catch it yeah?" I asked.
"Yah man! I'll tell you what to do!" Brawly said. Rocko raised a thumbs up and the people that had been playing around on Tide called out their encouragement.
"Baby Brock's first wave woooh!" "Don't screw up!" "Nah do it in a cool way!" "Do a flip when you wipeout!" I shook my fist at them before turning and paddling out in long strokes that worked muscles I wasn't used to working. I might have to try swimming with Shin and Shrek more.
I reached the point and paddled around until I faced the beach. Brawly waved at me. "Watch behind you for the swell!"
I glanced behind while trying to stay on my board. Eventually, a swell began to build up behind me. I lay low on the board.
"Not yet! Don't go now… Wait! Wait! Alright, paddle hard man! Go go go!" called Brawly.
I started paddling hard and felt myself being dragged back into the wave as it began to suck me in. It built, and I heard the wave cresting farther down from me.
"Try standing! Make it as smooth as you can!"
I nodded. Right, right. I needed to snap up but be balanced. I pushed up slightly, dropping my paddling and began to ready myself. I shot up onto my knees and wobbled horribly. I just hung on before standing slowly. With a tentative feel, I stood upright and waved to the crowd.
"I'm doing—" The board twitched under me, and I felt the board shift. "Shit!" I cursed as I lost control and was thrown. I slammed into the water and pushed down slightly to make sure I didn't get clubbed by my board. I let the wave pass and then rose up. I gasped in a lungful of air before looking around for my missing board.
"Nice one! You actually stood for a bit there!" Brawly shouted. I gave him a thumbs up.
Rocko cupped his hands. "Try doing it for longer next time!"
I shot him a rude gesture and swam towards my board before hopping onto it. I then turned to make sure I was out of the next person's wave only for them to wave for me to have another go. I shrugged and had another go.
I did just about the same before crashing out. They let me go again, and again, and again. After the fifth wave, I got a run of roughly five seconds before crashing out. When they gestured for me to run again, I shook my head and paddled over, strangely tired from riding the waves. I paddled over and set up next to Brawly and Rocko as another surfer paddled out.
"That was… pretty fun," I said between heaving breaths.
Brawly chuckled and clapped me on the back. "It was sweet Brock. Nice work for your first tries! We'll have you hanging ten proper soon!"
Rocko shot me a thumbs up and I sat up. "Right, well I think I need to work on a lot but yeah. I… wouldn't mind that." Brawly grinned and watched the next surf. I shook out my hair. "What's it like having a pokemon make up the waves instead of surfing naturally?"
"It's nice, convenient that you can pretty much set up anywhere and have a surf. Pretty much has me always having Wailord on my team but it's not the same." Brawly swept his hand out to the sea. "There's something just so honest about having to watch the waves and make a choice of if a wave is going to be right for you or too much even. You might spend hours out on the waves at a time with a natural surfing spot but that's part of the charm. You get so long where nothing but the next wave matters. It's really freeing."
That was kind of romantic to hear about. Romantic in the sense of being alluring and wondrous.
Brawly shifted and squinted out into the water. "Well, the waves and pokemon that is." He put his fingers into his mouth and whistled. "Hey! Who's on Sharpedo duty!? I see fins out there!"
A curse from atop Tide had one of the girls sitting up and grabbing from her belt. I coughed atthe free show she was giving having forgotten her top. Apparently, she'd decided to catch a tan. She gave Brawly and I gimlet looks as she put a hand over her chest. Rocko just yawned, unmindful of the show she was putting on. Brawly splashed me in annoyance but I merely huffed at him.
"Ah! Let me get that," I said before clicking my tongue in a pattern. Tide opened his eyes from where he'd been asleep a moment ago. "Tide, Hyperbeam."
Everyone that had been resting or playing about on his large shell sat up in surprise as he lifted his head and formed up a ball of energy in his maw. "Holy Ho-oh!" cried one girl.
Tide swept his flippers right as he discharged the beam towards the approaching fins. For a moment, I thought the fins stopped as if they detected the approaching attack but then the beam lanced into them and the water exploded upwards like the fist of an angry giant had punched down.
When the water cleared, a number of floating bodies appeared.
I nodded, "All good."
Brawly laughed loudly while the people that had been casually lounging on Tide stared at the pokemon that had been languidly resting with them. They obviously hadn't seen the scars on his flanks and front or else they might have realised he was a fighter. He turned his head at the people on his back and smiled at them.
"Nice one Tide!" I said shooting him a thumbs up. He splashed around himself with his flippers, trilling with glee before shivering slightly. He swept his long neck down and cleaned out his mouth with some water.
The girl that was supposed to be on Sharpedo watch was still standing. She stared up at Tide in awe. "Is this what it was like to be a naval commander during the old times? I swear I felt the power buildup before he fired that Hyper Beam." She shivered before bouncing from foot to foot. "Alright everyone! We're going to be running a patrol with Tide as our vessel! Who's with me!" She thrust her arm up and spun about maniacally
"Ahem!" I coughed pointedly, but she ignored that she was still giving everyone that cared to look a show.
Brawly shut me up by reaching over and pushing me off my board.
The rest of the morning passed by easily after that. I got a few chances to ride some waves and I felt like I made some progress in my surfing cred. Rocko agreed with me while Brawly grinned, merely happy to have me sounding like I'd come again.
The flasher girl had gotten to 'patrol' the ocean with Tide. Apparently, she had a small idea about Lapras being used in the past as patrolling vessels. They were apparently popular with coast guards until they were targetted by criminals resulting in the endangered status.
When I'd told her that Tide was a breeding male at the cove, she had been very interested. Brawly had smoothly slid in and mentioned heading there later in the week, resulting in getting her number and some plans to meet up later.
When the sun had gotten higher in the sky, I had decided that was enough surfing for me. The swimmers and surfers didn't begrudge me taking away their convenient meeting spot on the water but that was probably because Brawly had made Wailord rise up to fill in the spot.
I said my goodbyes and took off for home with Zephyr. I'd had to put on a lot more clothes before flying off. I was feeling pretty good as I soared home. I had a certain lightness of body now that I was out of the water but I'd also really enjoyed just hanging out with people that were so relaxed. There hadn't been anything that needed to be done or an event I was building toward.
Just waves and chill.
I snorted as I remembered the old saying for hooking up. I doubted Rocko was there for that but as I glanced over my shoulder I saw that a number of men and women sitting very closely on the island proper on a more private part of the beach.
Huh, waves and chill indeed.
Well, I suppose they had their fun for the rest of the morning all lined up. I continued north, not all that bothered with what I might be missing out on back in or around the water. I'd had enough fun for today to be happy.
I sighed expansively and spread my arms wide. The air swept through them, and I felt Zephyr bank around playfully. He must have caught my mood and was more than happy to comply.
I pat him on the back before coming to a quick decision. "Hey buddy? Want to do some loops and speed runs?"
"Noct!" he cried before flapping quickly to reach a safer height for aerial acrobatics. I grinned and locked my legs into the straps.
Zephyr rose before flattening out. Then he tilted forward and let his wings hang in front of him like some modern fighter jet. His wings glowed silvery as he channelled his Steel Wing to add more weight that saw him drop away.
He built up speed as he fell before twitching his wings to spiral off to the side. I hung on and grit my teeth at the feeling of being tossed and turned only for Zephyr to throw himself into a loop de loop. Then he flipped over so that we were flying upside down.
"Hahahahaha!" I laughed before letting my arms fall down. I looked down at the ground with my grin hurting it was stretching my face so wide. With the trees, ground and even the truck below me I felt… I paused as I registered the discrepancy.
"Zeph! Level out!"
"Noctowl?" he said, doing so while spinning his head about to check on me.
I pat his shoulder joint. "I'm fine. I just saw something weird. I stood in the saddle and stared down. "Is that a truck buddy?" His head rotated around to see where I was pointing before spinning back.
"Owl!" He nodded.
I nodded back. We weren't anywhere significant. There weren't any villages or discrete manors that I could see that sometimes dotted the landscape around Kanto. There seemed to barely be a road that the truck could rumble down. It wasn't a small truck either. I rubbed my chin and glanced off to the west where Viridian rested.
Viridian, where Giovanni was.
I narrowed my eyes. "We're following it Zeph stay out of their sight though." I glanced around to check that there weren't any other patrolling riders but I couldn't spot anyone. Or anything in the air. "Stay high just in case anyone's watching from the ground," I ordered, just to be sure.
Zephyr hooted once before once more ascending upwards. He reached his gliding height and from there we followed along after the small dot. It trundled along seemingly without knowing we were watching it.
For ten minutes, it continued on. With each minute it spent driving I only had more and more doubts that anything legitimate was occurring beneath me. Was this a poaching operation? Perhaps even a Team Rocket run operation?
I kept watching the truck until I suddenly lost sight of it. "Where is it?" I said aloud.
Zephyr circled wide; his much sharper eyes must have been tracking the ground as his head turned carefully before he adopted a hover. He turned his head and shook it sadly. I chewed my lip, staring at where I had last seen the truck.
"Land over there buddy. I want to check something." Zephyr did as ordered. I made sure to not withdraw him when we landed. I instead kept him close but not too close with my hand on another pokeball. I stalked along the road and stared at the recent tire marks that showed that the truck had existed and had been driven down this track.
And then suddenly it vanished in a patch of grass that was just oh so crisp. Far too crisp to be natural. I walked around that patch of grass. Then I checked the forest around me. There didn't seem to be any cameras watching me but I still felt exposed. This was very suspicious. I wanted to kneel and dig a little earth up but the hair on the back of my neck was standing up.
This entire set-up was unnerving. I checked Noctowl and found that he was also glancing around as if something was agitating him.
I clicked my tongue and decided to get out of there. But not before I marked it on my transceiver map for later review. I wasn't ready to investigate what I suspected was a hidden bunker. Not while no-one knew where I was. I'd have to ask around and find out if there was any information on someone buying and building something out here in the past.
But that might tip someone like Giovanni off. I doubted he hadn't covered his tracks and set up watchers on his potential interests.
Still, if this was a hidden bunker I had little doubt it was a Team Rocket base. But what would they…
Hadn't Giovanni had Mewtwo in a facility near Viridian? I glanced back over my shoulder and stared at the innocent patch of grass.
Was that what was under there? A Legendary pokemon?
I licked my lips suddenly very nervous. For some reason, I had thought that Giovanni might have made his facility that contained Mewtwo above ground and to the west, instead of east of Viridian. But wouldn't it make more sense to have it hidden in the southern parts of the forest instead? I had just barely noticed it and it was very out of the way.
I'd only spotted it thanks to luck. Or perhaps I was counting my pidgey before they had hatched.
Still, I had something to investigate. When I dared to, that was, it might be something for the Guardians to poke their noses into.
Now I just needed to decide if sticking my head into the metaphorical jaws of a Legendary was worth the risk.
My transceiver buzzed and I nearly jumped three metres into the air at the shock of the sudden noise. I answered and tried to calm my racing heart.
"Brock here, what's up?" I said.
"Hey Brock, it's Rachel, Sabrina's ready to go shopping for your outfits for next weekend!"
I blinked at the transceiver. I had mentioned it in passing to her hadn't I? And she would have… I chuckled, what had I been thinking, I'd basically offered her the date.. And it wasn't like I'd have wanted to go with anyone else after all. Hmmm, Sabrina dress shopping, that sounded fun.
"I'll be there soon."
A.N. Special thanks goes to my patreons for their support!
Special thanks goes to Raikor, Ab9999, Kurlinni, and Elnoorz for betaing and editing this chapter
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- Location
- Argentina
Well, saved by his future wife.
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
Sounds like a fair trade.
And some older things I apparently collected as quotes:
Why does it do double damage? Did Chou take damage from his own attack before?
At the local port in Pewter?
Ouch, they're using the American system in Kanto? And here I thought Pokémon was an utopic world.
Huh, never viewed Arons as dogs.
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Chapter 76 - Shopping
Viva01
Uncomfortable with all the hugs he is given
- Location
- Australia
Girls could be a unique mystery. When I had first met Sabrina she'd been a girl that had avoided going out in public as much as possible. It wasn't that she couldn't, but more that it was uncomfortable for her. Something we'd struggled with a fair bit during our time together when we'd been younger. I'd given her some help by being a 'safe zone' she could be around to stop thoughts flooding her mind. Back then, she would have stayed very close or been skittish going through towns. Nowadays she openly walked next to me and spoke of going out with Erika, or her mother, and I had to wonder how much I'd really helped at all.
I must have done something as obviously she was better than what she would have been like according to the anime but still… I felt a little envious that she seemed to have made better strides of late with others than she had with me when we'd been younger.
She'd been increasingly able to handle time with my army of little siblings.
She'd also seemed perfectly happy to sit with my little sisters and play dolls with them until I'd come back.
She appeared to be going out of her way to be nice to new people. Or, at least she'd reacted well to Rachel.
Rachel, who was walking along with a pleased little smile on her lips, all without Sabrina acting like a Meowth rubbed the wrong way. During our journey, Sabrina had reacted worse to anyone that tagged along. Perhaps it was a matter of maturity or just that Sabrina's tolerance had grown. Or maybe Rachel was just a nice girl according to Sabrina's senses.
I sent another glance towards Sabrina, she'd been playing with my siblings for at least an hour by the time I'd gotten home. This was followed by us walking in public instead of teleporting directly to the venue. I couldn't see any slumped shoulders or tiredness from her at all.
Still, it might pay to ask. "Hey, you alright?"
She turned her head and observed me as we continued along into town."I am perfectly well. Are you alright?"
"Bit tired from all the battles I've been going through this last week, but I feel good having gone surfing. It was fun despite all the times I wiped out." Sabrina tilted her head and her eyes flicked up and down my body.
I waved a hand back and forth, "I'm perfectly fi—" I cut off the word remembering that Sabrina associated fine with a cry for help. "Well. I am doing well."
She bobbed her head and continued to walk along. I looked back to find Rachel watching us with a happy smile on her face. I shook my head at her and she merely smiled wider. I huffed at her. "So, where are we going?"
"I looked around for the best tailor in town that does suits! They actually reached out to the Gym first, but not about their suits. Rather they wanted to know about the contests that you're going to run Brock!"
"I'm not running any contests," I said.
"Right now you're not, but you did have some plans to set them up, no?" Rachel said logically.
"Maybe." I rubbed my eyes in irritation. "Things have been rather hectic with the gym." I considered the other part of what Rachel had said. "So they're tailors that enjoy Contests? Who are they?"
Rachel grimaced. "Oh… well I'm sort of going against the girl code here but—"
I snorted. "There's no such thing as the girl code."
Rachel raised an eyebrow. "And you'd know this how Mr Brock?" she said pointedly.
"I'd know," I said firmly. I looked at Sabrina. "Back me up—"
"I can't tell you the girl code Brock," she said without inflection.
I flicked my eyes between them both. "You're both messing with me right?"
There was no such thing. I was sure I would have picked up on it before this. The guy code sure, but the girl code? I'd lived two lives and I was sure… "Nah, you're messing with me."
They continued to walk along and Rachel sighed, her head shaking in a sad 'what can you do' way that made my guts squirm. Alright, apparently I was wrong and it was a thing… at least in this lifetime.
And somehow Sabrina knew about it? Sabrina? The girl that hated having to deal with most people!? I eyed her suspiciously. Sabrina notably didn't meet my gaze. I hummed and glanced between them. Alright so there might be a girl code, but Sabrina probably hadn't known about it until now when she drew it from Rachel's thoughts.
So it might also just be something Rachel thought up.
But now Sabrina was going to think it was a real thing which would probably see it spreading… if it wasn't already a thing.
I knuckled my forehead. This kind of thinking always gave me a headache.
"Why would you be going against the girl code to talk to me about them?" I said, deciding to get back on topic.
"Oh, you used to go to school with one of them."
"One of them being a girl obviously?" I said scratching my chin and trying to recall any notable names or faces that had shown an interest in tailoring and/or contests, but coming up blank.
Rachel nodded while Sabrina now had her head turned to watch my reactions. I shrugged. "Can't think of them sorry. What was her name?"
Rachel sighed sadly and shook her head. "Solidad, Brock, remember her now?"
"Yeaaaaahhhh. Nooooo?" I said slowly trying to dredge up why that name did ring some bells. I couldn't think of a reason though.
Rachel gave Sabrina a look that was supposed to be a moment of shared female commiseration. Sabrina made an attempt at looking understanding but it looked more like she had a facial twitch.
I bit my lips to hold in a laugh. Rachel was obviously fully on board and Sabrina was cheating by using what she could 'see' from Rachel's mind but she certainly wasn't used to doing commiserating looks. Sabrina shot me a glare that I ignored.
It really was the equivalent of her pouting at me in truth. So all it achieved was making it harder for me not to laugh.
"Alright, so Solidad, who I went to school with. So, it's been years since I saw her, right?"
"Yeeeeah but you know you really shouldn't just forget a school friend like that Brock."
I shrugged. "Sorry I've had a lot happen since I was at school." That got a silence that was much heavier than I was expecting.
I grimaced as I realised I'd pointed out the whole 'Brocks family ran off on him' tragedy that I seemed to be tripping over so much of late. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean it like that, it's just, yeah. I've been busy so yeah."
"No, no, I understand, but yeah. Guess I just forget sometimes that you've had it rough."
I waved a hand. "Eh, I handled it. Lots of people have it worse than me."
Sabrina and Rachel shared another look. Sabrina's look was more like a grimace but it was progressing. I decided to move things along. "Alright so is Solidad home? She's not on a circuit herself is she?"
"Yes she was, but when I confirmed your booking they mentioned her. So they're expecting us. I explained that you are merely here for the suit but I don't doubt that they're going to ask about the Contest announcement that you made when we had you on the radio."
"Hmm, alright, I'd like some more heads up on this in future though," I said firmly.
Rachel coughed and blushed. "Sorry about that. I only got the heads up from them about Solidad this morning and you've been in and out."
I hummed. "Ah, that's fair."
"Gym Leader Brock! I Challenge you!..." A trainer emerged from the streets and pointed his hand straight at me before his gaze slackened. Then he frowned as his expression turned introspective. "Oh shoot! Did I forget to turn off the oven when I left home? The Vermillion fire department is going to be so mad!" The trainer turned and sprinted away from our group.
Rachel stared after him. "What… What just happened?"
I looked at Sabrina who had adopted an innocent expression. "Just trainers being weird, nothing that strange. Say how long till we reach the tailor shop?"
"Oh it's right there on the corner!" she said as she pointed right at a rather nice-looking shop with dresses and suits in the front window.
I whistled as I got a good look at their styles. They had tuxedos with black and white tie styles, then they had business suits, classical suits, and even some very nice looking casual clothes for men and surprisingly also for women. I glanced at the suit mannequins and found they had styled the women very nicely as well. The dresses took up another half of the shop so there was a clear divide. I spotted a couple of people lingering around some wedding dresses. They also had more 'evening' dresses and some more risque 'little red numbers' on display.
Overall I had to give my approval, I liked what I was seeing.
"Shall we?" I said, turning to find Rachel looking pleased with my interest while Sabrina looked over the displays.
We entered and a small bell tingled from the top of the door to announce our arrival. The store was tastefully open with more mannequins highlighting the various fashions that were on display with an entire wall set up with small labels. I stared at it for a moment before concluding that it was a wall solely for displaying fabric.
A man and a woman each wearing suits of their own glided up to us. "Welcome to the Monsoule's Haberdashery! I'm Monique and this is Matthew!" said the woman that had light blue hair next to her husband that had soft pink hair. They blinked when their eyes slid from me to Rachel only to stop on Sabrina.
They recovered wonderfully. "Welcome to our humble shop Gym Leader Brock, Gym Leader Sabrina, and Rachel."
They bowed at the waist to us and gestured to some comfortably arranged chairs. "Would you care to take a seat? We have magazines for the styles we can create and it serves as a nice place to chat and get to know what brings you to us!"
"Oh, uhm thank you," I said as Monique led us towards the chairs while Matthew ducked away and came back with a trolley with a tea set, biscuits and coffee ready to be deployed should we ask. I sat down feeling well cared for while also adding a zero to the price tag I could expect when I had a suit.
"So we understand that you have been invited to the Mayor's little soiree for the Pewter City celebration, yes? A nice formal event from what the invitation says," Monique began. I nodded as a magazine was offered to myself, Sabrina, and Rachel although the girls also received a magazine for dresses that were flicked through. Rachel took the dress magazine and happily flicked through it while Sabrina took an entire stack of magazines ranging from suits, dresses and everyday wear.
Monique looked thrilled at Sabrina's interest before she readjusted herself and waved her hand about. "Not too much formality really but I imagine you might want something that could be considered iconic? Or perhaps something more…" She flicked the magazine she was using to indicate certain styles to a much less formal style and instead show something off lazy or punkish. "Gauche."
I shook my head. "I'd rather stick with the suit all told."
Monique gained a much more heartfelt smile. "Excellent! A true gentleman! Do we have any idea of colours that could work?"
"Autumns with burnt orange suit him," Sabrina said while flicking through her own suit magazine. Monique and Matthew both blinked in surprise, their eyes swivelling from me to her.
"I agree with that. A lot of my wardrobe features those colours," I said not mentioning that Sabrina had heavily influenced this with my last shopping trip.
Matthew nodded, "I have some sample fabrics here!" I glanced at him.
When did he have the chance to do that? I glanced to the side and spotted Monique fading away to get another magazine of fabric choices for the ladies as Matthew held most of our attention. Ah, misdirection was applied to create a seamless flow of service.
I had to give it to them, they knew their business.
I selected a nice burnt orange, a black, and a brown fabric before Matthew gestured to a closed-off area. "If the gentleman would like to follow me we can have your measurements taken. He clapped his hands once. "Johnny! Some assistance for recording Brock's measurements?"
A smaller boy, about Salvadore's age, stumbled out in his own suit. He didn't wear it as well but his earnest attempt made him rather endearing. I glanced over and found Sabrina being led away by Monique. She looked rather excited instead of annoyed. She seemed to be handling this smaller group rather well.
I decided not to say anything. Sabrina was able to look after herself and make her displeasure known very easily if she wanted to.
Instead, I allowed myself to be measured and poked into various positions. Matthew had the tape measure flicking around like it was an Ekans. For a second I wondered if there might be some psychic energies involved before I pushed those thoughts to the side. Throughout it all, Matthew asked a deluge of questions such as how much I'd be looking to wear it, how I moved, did I sweat, or have sensitive skin, and more.
When they had everything settled they once more led me back to the sitting area. Matthew served up another cup of tea. "I'm sure the ladies will be along soon but ladies do have so much more to consider when buying good clothing, I'm sure you understand?"
I chuckled. "That has got to be the most polite phrasing of, 'Ladies take longer when shopping' I've ever heard."
Matthew gave a small laugh. "Ahaha, I know but the cliche has so much merit, or at least we try to give it merit here. We cater to all sorts of tastes so it can make it tough. Men already have an idea most of the time of what they want." He smirked, "Or want to be elsewhere. Women? Women want the experience."
I nodded and settled in to enjoy my tea. After five minutes I decided to broach the other topic. "Rachel informs me that your family has an interest in the Contests I am considering hosting?"
Matthew perked up. "Indeed! You see, our family migrated here almost a decade ago after we fell in love with the rustic charm of Pewter City!" He smiled at me grandly. "We also recognised that our skills were sorely in demand, and so have been greatly enjoying our time here. However, we greatly miss our beloved Hoenn past time of Contests. Something that is not as well regarded in Kanto." He made a sad face.
"It's slowly gaining some recognition, but Indigo is rather entrenched in their fighting so when we heard that you were looking to expand we were overjoyed!"
I put down my tea cup. "I think pokemon have more to them than fighting, and pushing the traditional fighting-centric culture that we have limits the opportunities for some people or pokemon."
Matthew beamed at me while his son stood nearby and watched us.
"You're a very forward-thinking young man Brock! Tell me, when were you thinking of running the event?"
He leaned forward and I almost thought he was hoping I'd say 'tomorrow?' but that would be crazy. I grimaced and shook my head. "I'm afraid we've only ever gotten a small bit of the planning done. Things have stalled as of late with the recent surge in gym challengers we've been facing."
"Oh," he said, his expression morphing as if I'd just told him his pet Butterfree was too old. I shrugged helplessly.
"These girls are going to be the height of fashion and draw all the eyes at the coming soiree!" announced Monique as she returned with Rachel and Sabrina who both looked very pleased with themselves. Accompanying them was a salmon-haired girl my age.
I blinked as my memory clicked. "Solidad?"
The girl perked up. "Brock! It's great to see you again! I haven't seen you since school!"
Monique and Matthew both glanced between us with pleased expressions. Rachel nodded at me while John rolled his eyes as Solidad bounced up to me and bowed. I noted she was wearing her own suit which was very well-tailored. The yellow colouring suited her. I recalled now that she would be a name that would mostly be a rival for May in the contest scene.
Hadn't she won a few of the contests? She stood out so she was probably going to become quite good. She had to be if I was going to recall her after all these years. Or did she play another role?
Monique nudged her husband. "Darling, you looked rather sad when we came over. Were you not able to get Brock a suit to make him look dashing?"
"No! No! We managed that my love, it's just the recent hardships that have delayed Brock's plans from hosting a contest in our hometown!"
Monique and Solidad gasped. John merely yawned. Matthew nodded at them before gesturing. "He has some plans but sadly lacks the time to develop anything more."
Monique held a hand to her breast as though the thought that a contest that I had vaguely promised not going ahead was painful to her. " Oh my, no, no, no, no that, that! We cannot allow that to be so!" she whirled upon me.
"Gym Leader Brock! Please! We must have a Contest in Pewter! We need to show the people of Kanto the charm of a proper contest!" I could almost see the fire in her eyes.
I raised both hands to placate her. "I'm sorry, but it's just not possible as things are. I can't give such an event the attention it would need!"
Monique stepped back and looked like she'd cry at this news.
Solidad scowled at the ground before perking up. "But what if we volunteered to help organise it? We could be… major sponsors! Yes! Then we could assist with the planning, and the advertising, and the invitations! If we were allowed to act as planners under you and run things by you we'd be able to lighten the load!"
Monique and Matthew both brightened at that while John got a fearful look. I suspected that he understood that he'd be part of the group 'volunteering' their services.
"Oh yes! Brock! We could do that for you! You could host it and be the person that would facilitate it and we could do the leg work to get Contests into Kanto properly!"
I rubbed the back of my head. "I'd like to contribute more than that. I wasn't going to plan anything too large as I don't really know how popular it might be."
"It would be very popular! I assure you Brock that there are a number of trainers both young and old dying to showcase their pokemon's skills in more artistic ways!" said Matthew.
I hummed and turned it over. Did I really need to have so much control over this? I wanted to let that aspect of pokemon culture grow as I could see the appeal. I bobbed my head from side to side. "Say I went ahead with this, what would you need to have decided? I'd need at least two months before the surge is probably over."
Matthew, Monique, and Solidad gasped in glee. I raised my hand. "IF, I went ahead with it."
Monique, whom I was learning was the spokesperson for her family's interests, stepped forward. "We would need a date, I suggest a weekend for the best chance to draw people in! We would need to organise some reputable judges for the events, we would need to advertise for the event, we would need to design a ribbon, and also I suppose set up a style for the contest itself."
I nodded before smiling. "Oh, I think a Tough style would best suit the Pewter Gym contest."
I got blank stares while Rachel facepalmed. Monique tilted her head. "Eh?" She blinked uncertainly. "A tough style? Whatever do you mean?"
I blinked. Was I misremembering contests? "Uhmmm don't you typically see the styles for beauty or cute pokemon? I was thinking of making the style for 'Pokemon that are 'tough or trying to appear tough for the cutesy factor. Or you know…" I trailed off as I got a room full of uncomprehending looks.
Thankfully Monique slowly turned thoughtful. "That… might be something rather niche and chic actually. Most contests do like to tout beauty as the be-all and end-all no?" She glanced at her husband and then to Solidad who nodded.
Monique bobbed her own head up and down. "Yes! Yes! I could see it now! Pokemon appearing tough! It would still have the traditional style but be a much larger draw for the Kanto crowd!"
She laughed. "Inspired Brock! You are rather more thoughtful of these things than I thought you would be. I merely meant the colour styling! I was going to suggest a brown with metallic trim but taking it further into." She swaggered her shoulders and hips in a fake macho way. "Tough!~ I love it!"
With a fire in her eyes, she nodded. "We will have to come over and continue planning things soon! Solidad will be our main liaison for this!"
Solidad perked up. "Heh! It'll be just like old times when we hung out after school and little league!"
I gave her a slow nod and she picked up on it. "Brock… you do remember me right?"
"I remember, I remember!" I said hurriedly.
Solidad frowned. "What position was I on the baseball field then?"
"Pitcher?" I said throwing blind.
"I was the catcher!" she growled. She stared at me. "Brock! Are you telling me you forgot me!"
"A little?" I said before I could stop myself. I was already kicking myself as she snarled and stormed away in a huff. Monique and Matthew both gave me very unimpressed looks.
Matthew coughed. "Shall we settle the bill now?" he said cheerfully.
He produced an invoice and handed it to me. I stared at it in shock for a moment. Then I looked up. "I'm really sorry about making her cry but… this is a bit cruel isn't it?"
He snorted a laugh. 'Brock, I am… displeased that you have not remembered my daughter spending time with you in the past but I am a professional." He gestured around the store. "I create great suits. That," he pointed at the invoice, "Is the cost of making such suits."
He then chuckled. "If I was petty I'd have doubled it. But not to worry, she'll get over it and come back determined to make a stronger impression so you can't forget her next time. Trust me."
I laughed nervously as Sabrina stopped leafing through her magazine and inspected Matthew and me critically. I suddenly felt like I was in danger.
"I'll have your suit made up in three days. I have all the materials and my pokemon will be able to help out." He tapped a pokeball and an Ariados appeared with a happy wag of its legs. "Can you call around … oh at least Thursday evening after your matches are over?"
"That would work wonderfully," I said while paying for the suit.
Rachel bounced up to me. "Cheer up Brock this is tax deductible! It's practically a write off!"
I shook my head and led her out into the now-dark street. "Remind me to have Georgina explain tax write-offs to you." I looked over to Sabrina who was still leafing through the fashion magazine.
"Did you enjoy yourself, Sabrina?"
She nodded slowly and gave me a small smile that I knew was the equivalent of something huge and heartfelt from another person. "Yes, that was… I like shopping… when there's not too many people I can relax more." She nodded to Rachel. "Thank you for your advice."
She then looked back at me with an expression that I couldn't quite place. "I will talk to you later, have a good evening." She stilled and I expected a teleport flash to occur only for her eyes to narrow as she stared into the distance. "You're going home after this, correct?"
I nodded. "Yeah? Why?" I said, suddenly worried something had happened.
Sabrina shook her head. "I think Forrest has it handled. You'll see. I'll leave it to your judgement and check in later tonight," she said cryptically before flashing away.
I hummed. "Well… I'm actually not sure what to make of that."
"She's… she's rather different from how I expected her to be," Rachel said tentatively.
"Oh? What did you expect?" I said putting emphasis on the last word.
"She has a rather distant personality and is infamous for being very inhospitable to people that come and challenge her. She's also known to be very powerful and very scary. Most people say to avoid challenging her gym because of it."
I hummed. "She just comes across that way. She tries in her own way, but her strength is, in its own way, the biggest weakness for her."
"What do you mean by that?"
"It's not something I should say more on but…" I considered it for a moment more. "Rachel, she actually seemed very relaxed around you. Usually, she's not like that. She had to take time to warm up to Erika who's a little flower that's polite to everyone she comes across. If she comes around maybe just try to be nice and see if she wants to be friends." I scratch my head. "She could use more friends."
"You're really good together," she said, watching me closely.
I couldn't stop the blush even as I shook my head. "We're not like that. We 'dated' when we were kids, sure, but that's nothing big. She just needed a friend and well… I was young so yeah…" I said, trying to play it off as the innocence of being a young boy. Most young boy's wouldn't have thought it meant anything to be boyfriend and girlfriend; it probably just meant you hung out together more. It wasn't something I could ever claim in this second life.
Rachel didn't seem to be buying what I was trying to sell her. She merely hummed and skipped along.
"Hey! Gym Leader Brock! I called my mother and checked! I didn't leave my oven on, so now I demand a challenge!" I shut my eyes and groaned while Rachel goggled as the trainer from before emerged.
I glared at him. "Make a booking! I don't accept challenges in my off time!"
"Oh come off it! You could fight me here and now! Just make an exception!"
I shook my head and continued to walk back home. "Oddish—" I heard the pokeball popping behind me. I looked straight over my shoulder and channelled dark energy into my eyes before 'expelling' it straight at the revealed Oddish.
The little pokemon stiffened as I gave it a Mean Look. Its eyes flickered around before pausing on me and quivering in place. The trainer gaped at the reaction and I turned my head away and kept walking.
"Huh, damn that was intense." Rachel said as she eyed me. I huffed at her and rolled my eyes. She blinked at me and I remembered that she wasn't like Forrest or Yolanda who knew when I did that. I waved her off.
"Night Brock, see you tomorrow!" shouted Rachel as she turned for her own home.
I waved back and rolled my shoulders. I was already running through the checklist of chores I'd need to do tonight. If I was quick about it I might even… I stopped in front of the main gym doors, half-turned towards the hedge to the side where I'd enter my family's home.
"Someone has left the lights on in the gym?" I said aloud.
I turned that over in my mind. That shouldn't have happened. No one had done that in a long while and the security guards usually walked around with flashlights when they made their rounds.
I frowned as I saw the lights flash slightly. I turned fully to the Gym and entered it. When I pushed through the doors next to the reception desk leading into the arena proper I found myself spectating a battle proper.
What in Moltres' name was going on here?
I flicked my eyes from Forrest on one podium with an Onix in front of him. To the other podium.
Upon it stood a boy that could only be Ash Ketchum with his Pikachu standing on his side of the arena.
In the middle, in the referee box, Misty stood tall with an exasperated look on her face.
In the stands a bunch of boys that I knew were Forrest's friends sat cheering for the fight. They were immaterial though.
Of more importance was Flint who was sitting front and centre in the stands watching Forrest and Ash fight.
I blinked.
For the life of me, I had no idea what was going on. None of this made any sense. I wanted to storm in and demand answers but the fact Ash had slipped into my gym had me rather stunned.
There had to be a story as to how this developed. I stood in the shadows and decided to watch on as things developed.
I'd wait, for now, but I'd be asking a lot of questions to find out how this whole situation came about.
A.N. Special thanks goes to my patreons for their support!
Special thanks goes to Raikor, Ab9999, Kurlinni, and Elnoorz for betaing and editing this chapter
I must have done something as obviously she was better than what she would have been like according to the anime but still… I felt a little envious that she seemed to have made better strides of late with others than she had with me when we'd been younger.
She'd been increasingly able to handle time with my army of little siblings.
She'd also seemed perfectly happy to sit with my little sisters and play dolls with them until I'd come back.
She appeared to be going out of her way to be nice to new people. Or, at least she'd reacted well to Rachel.
Rachel, who was walking along with a pleased little smile on her lips, all without Sabrina acting like a Meowth rubbed the wrong way. During our journey, Sabrina had reacted worse to anyone that tagged along. Perhaps it was a matter of maturity or just that Sabrina's tolerance had grown. Or maybe Rachel was just a nice girl according to Sabrina's senses.
I sent another glance towards Sabrina, she'd been playing with my siblings for at least an hour by the time I'd gotten home. This was followed by us walking in public instead of teleporting directly to the venue. I couldn't see any slumped shoulders or tiredness from her at all.
Still, it might pay to ask. "Hey, you alright?"
She turned her head and observed me as we continued along into town."I am perfectly well. Are you alright?"
"Bit tired from all the battles I've been going through this last week, but I feel good having gone surfing. It was fun despite all the times I wiped out." Sabrina tilted her head and her eyes flicked up and down my body.
I waved a hand back and forth, "I'm perfectly fi—" I cut off the word remembering that Sabrina associated fine with a cry for help. "Well. I am doing well."
She bobbed her head and continued to walk along. I looked back to find Rachel watching us with a happy smile on her face. I shook my head at her and she merely smiled wider. I huffed at her. "So, where are we going?"
"I looked around for the best tailor in town that does suits! They actually reached out to the Gym first, but not about their suits. Rather they wanted to know about the contests that you're going to run Brock!"
"I'm not running any contests," I said.
"Right now you're not, but you did have some plans to set them up, no?" Rachel said logically.
"Maybe." I rubbed my eyes in irritation. "Things have been rather hectic with the gym." I considered the other part of what Rachel had said. "So they're tailors that enjoy Contests? Who are they?"
Rachel grimaced. "Oh… well I'm sort of going against the girl code here but—"
I snorted. "There's no such thing as the girl code."
Rachel raised an eyebrow. "And you'd know this how Mr Brock?" she said pointedly.
"I'd know," I said firmly. I looked at Sabrina. "Back me up—"
"I can't tell you the girl code Brock," she said without inflection.
I flicked my eyes between them both. "You're both messing with me right?"
There was no such thing. I was sure I would have picked up on it before this. The guy code sure, but the girl code? I'd lived two lives and I was sure… "Nah, you're messing with me."
They continued to walk along and Rachel sighed, her head shaking in a sad 'what can you do' way that made my guts squirm. Alright, apparently I was wrong and it was a thing… at least in this lifetime.
And somehow Sabrina knew about it? Sabrina? The girl that hated having to deal with most people!? I eyed her suspiciously. Sabrina notably didn't meet my gaze. I hummed and glanced between them. Alright so there might be a girl code, but Sabrina probably hadn't known about it until now when she drew it from Rachel's thoughts.
So it might also just be something Rachel thought up.
But now Sabrina was going to think it was a real thing which would probably see it spreading… if it wasn't already a thing.
I knuckled my forehead. This kind of thinking always gave me a headache.
"Why would you be going against the girl code to talk to me about them?" I said, deciding to get back on topic.
"Oh, you used to go to school with one of them."
"One of them being a girl obviously?" I said scratching my chin and trying to recall any notable names or faces that had shown an interest in tailoring and/or contests, but coming up blank.
Rachel nodded while Sabrina now had her head turned to watch my reactions. I shrugged. "Can't think of them sorry. What was her name?"
Rachel sighed sadly and shook her head. "Solidad, Brock, remember her now?"
"Yeaaaaahhhh. Nooooo?" I said slowly trying to dredge up why that name did ring some bells. I couldn't think of a reason though.
Rachel gave Sabrina a look that was supposed to be a moment of shared female commiseration. Sabrina made an attempt at looking understanding but it looked more like she had a facial twitch.
I bit my lips to hold in a laugh. Rachel was obviously fully on board and Sabrina was cheating by using what she could 'see' from Rachel's mind but she certainly wasn't used to doing commiserating looks. Sabrina shot me a glare that I ignored.
It really was the equivalent of her pouting at me in truth. So all it achieved was making it harder for me not to laugh.
"Alright, so Solidad, who I went to school with. So, it's been years since I saw her, right?"
"Yeeeeah but you know you really shouldn't just forget a school friend like that Brock."
I shrugged. "Sorry I've had a lot happen since I was at school." That got a silence that was much heavier than I was expecting.
I grimaced as I realised I'd pointed out the whole 'Brocks family ran off on him' tragedy that I seemed to be tripping over so much of late. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean it like that, it's just, yeah. I've been busy so yeah."
"No, no, I understand, but yeah. Guess I just forget sometimes that you've had it rough."
I waved a hand. "Eh, I handled it. Lots of people have it worse than me."
Sabrina and Rachel shared another look. Sabrina's look was more like a grimace but it was progressing. I decided to move things along. "Alright so is Solidad home? She's not on a circuit herself is she?"
"Yes she was, but when I confirmed your booking they mentioned her. So they're expecting us. I explained that you are merely here for the suit but I don't doubt that they're going to ask about the Contest announcement that you made when we had you on the radio."
"Hmm, alright, I'd like some more heads up on this in future though," I said firmly.
Rachel coughed and blushed. "Sorry about that. I only got the heads up from them about Solidad this morning and you've been in and out."
I hummed. "Ah, that's fair."
"Gym Leader Brock! I Challenge you!..." A trainer emerged from the streets and pointed his hand straight at me before his gaze slackened. Then he frowned as his expression turned introspective. "Oh shoot! Did I forget to turn off the oven when I left home? The Vermillion fire department is going to be so mad!" The trainer turned and sprinted away from our group.
Rachel stared after him. "What… What just happened?"
I looked at Sabrina who had adopted an innocent expression. "Just trainers being weird, nothing that strange. Say how long till we reach the tailor shop?"
"Oh it's right there on the corner!" she said as she pointed right at a rather nice-looking shop with dresses and suits in the front window.
I whistled as I got a good look at their styles. They had tuxedos with black and white tie styles, then they had business suits, classical suits, and even some very nice looking casual clothes for men and surprisingly also for women. I glanced at the suit mannequins and found they had styled the women very nicely as well. The dresses took up another half of the shop so there was a clear divide. I spotted a couple of people lingering around some wedding dresses. They also had more 'evening' dresses and some more risque 'little red numbers' on display.
Overall I had to give my approval, I liked what I was seeing.
"Shall we?" I said, turning to find Rachel looking pleased with my interest while Sabrina looked over the displays.
We entered and a small bell tingled from the top of the door to announce our arrival. The store was tastefully open with more mannequins highlighting the various fashions that were on display with an entire wall set up with small labels. I stared at it for a moment before concluding that it was a wall solely for displaying fabric.
A man and a woman each wearing suits of their own glided up to us. "Welcome to the Monsoule's Haberdashery! I'm Monique and this is Matthew!" said the woman that had light blue hair next to her husband that had soft pink hair. They blinked when their eyes slid from me to Rachel only to stop on Sabrina.
They recovered wonderfully. "Welcome to our humble shop Gym Leader Brock, Gym Leader Sabrina, and Rachel."
They bowed at the waist to us and gestured to some comfortably arranged chairs. "Would you care to take a seat? We have magazines for the styles we can create and it serves as a nice place to chat and get to know what brings you to us!"
"Oh, uhm thank you," I said as Monique led us towards the chairs while Matthew ducked away and came back with a trolley with a tea set, biscuits and coffee ready to be deployed should we ask. I sat down feeling well cared for while also adding a zero to the price tag I could expect when I had a suit.
"So we understand that you have been invited to the Mayor's little soiree for the Pewter City celebration, yes? A nice formal event from what the invitation says," Monique began. I nodded as a magazine was offered to myself, Sabrina, and Rachel although the girls also received a magazine for dresses that were flicked through. Rachel took the dress magazine and happily flicked through it while Sabrina took an entire stack of magazines ranging from suits, dresses and everyday wear.
Monique looked thrilled at Sabrina's interest before she readjusted herself and waved her hand about. "Not too much formality really but I imagine you might want something that could be considered iconic? Or perhaps something more…" She flicked the magazine she was using to indicate certain styles to a much less formal style and instead show something off lazy or punkish. "Gauche."
I shook my head. "I'd rather stick with the suit all told."
Monique gained a much more heartfelt smile. "Excellent! A true gentleman! Do we have any idea of colours that could work?"
"Autumns with burnt orange suit him," Sabrina said while flicking through her own suit magazine. Monique and Matthew both blinked in surprise, their eyes swivelling from me to her.
"I agree with that. A lot of my wardrobe features those colours," I said not mentioning that Sabrina had heavily influenced this with my last shopping trip.
Matthew nodded, "I have some sample fabrics here!" I glanced at him.
When did he have the chance to do that? I glanced to the side and spotted Monique fading away to get another magazine of fabric choices for the ladies as Matthew held most of our attention. Ah, misdirection was applied to create a seamless flow of service.
I had to give it to them, they knew their business.
I selected a nice burnt orange, a black, and a brown fabric before Matthew gestured to a closed-off area. "If the gentleman would like to follow me we can have your measurements taken. He clapped his hands once. "Johnny! Some assistance for recording Brock's measurements?"
A smaller boy, about Salvadore's age, stumbled out in his own suit. He didn't wear it as well but his earnest attempt made him rather endearing. I glanced over and found Sabrina being led away by Monique. She looked rather excited instead of annoyed. She seemed to be handling this smaller group rather well.
I decided not to say anything. Sabrina was able to look after herself and make her displeasure known very easily if she wanted to.
Instead, I allowed myself to be measured and poked into various positions. Matthew had the tape measure flicking around like it was an Ekans. For a second I wondered if there might be some psychic energies involved before I pushed those thoughts to the side. Throughout it all, Matthew asked a deluge of questions such as how much I'd be looking to wear it, how I moved, did I sweat, or have sensitive skin, and more.
When they had everything settled they once more led me back to the sitting area. Matthew served up another cup of tea. "I'm sure the ladies will be along soon but ladies do have so much more to consider when buying good clothing, I'm sure you understand?"
I chuckled. "That has got to be the most polite phrasing of, 'Ladies take longer when shopping' I've ever heard."
Matthew gave a small laugh. "Ahaha, I know but the cliche has so much merit, or at least we try to give it merit here. We cater to all sorts of tastes so it can make it tough. Men already have an idea most of the time of what they want." He smirked, "Or want to be elsewhere. Women? Women want the experience."
I nodded and settled in to enjoy my tea. After five minutes I decided to broach the other topic. "Rachel informs me that your family has an interest in the Contests I am considering hosting?"
Matthew perked up. "Indeed! You see, our family migrated here almost a decade ago after we fell in love with the rustic charm of Pewter City!" He smiled at me grandly. "We also recognised that our skills were sorely in demand, and so have been greatly enjoying our time here. However, we greatly miss our beloved Hoenn past time of Contests. Something that is not as well regarded in Kanto." He made a sad face.
"It's slowly gaining some recognition, but Indigo is rather entrenched in their fighting so when we heard that you were looking to expand we were overjoyed!"
I put down my tea cup. "I think pokemon have more to them than fighting, and pushing the traditional fighting-centric culture that we have limits the opportunities for some people or pokemon."
Matthew beamed at me while his son stood nearby and watched us.
"You're a very forward-thinking young man Brock! Tell me, when were you thinking of running the event?"
He leaned forward and I almost thought he was hoping I'd say 'tomorrow?' but that would be crazy. I grimaced and shook my head. "I'm afraid we've only ever gotten a small bit of the planning done. Things have stalled as of late with the recent surge in gym challengers we've been facing."
"Oh," he said, his expression morphing as if I'd just told him his pet Butterfree was too old. I shrugged helplessly.
"These girls are going to be the height of fashion and draw all the eyes at the coming soiree!" announced Monique as she returned with Rachel and Sabrina who both looked very pleased with themselves. Accompanying them was a salmon-haired girl my age.
I blinked as my memory clicked. "Solidad?"
The girl perked up. "Brock! It's great to see you again! I haven't seen you since school!"
Monique and Matthew both glanced between us with pleased expressions. Rachel nodded at me while John rolled his eyes as Solidad bounced up to me and bowed. I noted she was wearing her own suit which was very well-tailored. The yellow colouring suited her. I recalled now that she would be a name that would mostly be a rival for May in the contest scene.
Hadn't she won a few of the contests? She stood out so she was probably going to become quite good. She had to be if I was going to recall her after all these years. Or did she play another role?
Monique nudged her husband. "Darling, you looked rather sad when we came over. Were you not able to get Brock a suit to make him look dashing?"
"No! No! We managed that my love, it's just the recent hardships that have delayed Brock's plans from hosting a contest in our hometown!"
Monique and Solidad gasped. John merely yawned. Matthew nodded at them before gesturing. "He has some plans but sadly lacks the time to develop anything more."
Monique held a hand to her breast as though the thought that a contest that I had vaguely promised not going ahead was painful to her. " Oh my, no, no, no, no that, that! We cannot allow that to be so!" she whirled upon me.
"Gym Leader Brock! Please! We must have a Contest in Pewter! We need to show the people of Kanto the charm of a proper contest!" I could almost see the fire in her eyes.
I raised both hands to placate her. "I'm sorry, but it's just not possible as things are. I can't give such an event the attention it would need!"
Monique stepped back and looked like she'd cry at this news.
Solidad scowled at the ground before perking up. "But what if we volunteered to help organise it? We could be… major sponsors! Yes! Then we could assist with the planning, and the advertising, and the invitations! If we were allowed to act as planners under you and run things by you we'd be able to lighten the load!"
Monique and Matthew both brightened at that while John got a fearful look. I suspected that he understood that he'd be part of the group 'volunteering' their services.
"Oh yes! Brock! We could do that for you! You could host it and be the person that would facilitate it and we could do the leg work to get Contests into Kanto properly!"
I rubbed the back of my head. "I'd like to contribute more than that. I wasn't going to plan anything too large as I don't really know how popular it might be."
"It would be very popular! I assure you Brock that there are a number of trainers both young and old dying to showcase their pokemon's skills in more artistic ways!" said Matthew.
I hummed and turned it over. Did I really need to have so much control over this? I wanted to let that aspect of pokemon culture grow as I could see the appeal. I bobbed my head from side to side. "Say I went ahead with this, what would you need to have decided? I'd need at least two months before the surge is probably over."
Matthew, Monique, and Solidad gasped in glee. I raised my hand. "IF, I went ahead with it."
Monique, whom I was learning was the spokesperson for her family's interests, stepped forward. "We would need a date, I suggest a weekend for the best chance to draw people in! We would need to organise some reputable judges for the events, we would need to advertise for the event, we would need to design a ribbon, and also I suppose set up a style for the contest itself."
I nodded before smiling. "Oh, I think a Tough style would best suit the Pewter Gym contest."
I got blank stares while Rachel facepalmed. Monique tilted her head. "Eh?" She blinked uncertainly. "A tough style? Whatever do you mean?"
I blinked. Was I misremembering contests? "Uhmmm don't you typically see the styles for beauty or cute pokemon? I was thinking of making the style for 'Pokemon that are 'tough or trying to appear tough for the cutesy factor. Or you know…" I trailed off as I got a room full of uncomprehending looks.
Thankfully Monique slowly turned thoughtful. "That… might be something rather niche and chic actually. Most contests do like to tout beauty as the be-all and end-all no?" She glanced at her husband and then to Solidad who nodded.
Monique bobbed her own head up and down. "Yes! Yes! I could see it now! Pokemon appearing tough! It would still have the traditional style but be a much larger draw for the Kanto crowd!"
She laughed. "Inspired Brock! You are rather more thoughtful of these things than I thought you would be. I merely meant the colour styling! I was going to suggest a brown with metallic trim but taking it further into." She swaggered her shoulders and hips in a fake macho way. "Tough!~ I love it!"
With a fire in her eyes, she nodded. "We will have to come over and continue planning things soon! Solidad will be our main liaison for this!"
Solidad perked up. "Heh! It'll be just like old times when we hung out after school and little league!"
I gave her a slow nod and she picked up on it. "Brock… you do remember me right?"
"I remember, I remember!" I said hurriedly.
Solidad frowned. "What position was I on the baseball field then?"
"Pitcher?" I said throwing blind.
"I was the catcher!" she growled. She stared at me. "Brock! Are you telling me you forgot me!"
"A little?" I said before I could stop myself. I was already kicking myself as she snarled and stormed away in a huff. Monique and Matthew both gave me very unimpressed looks.
Matthew coughed. "Shall we settle the bill now?" he said cheerfully.
He produced an invoice and handed it to me. I stared at it in shock for a moment. Then I looked up. "I'm really sorry about making her cry but… this is a bit cruel isn't it?"
He snorted a laugh. 'Brock, I am… displeased that you have not remembered my daughter spending time with you in the past but I am a professional." He gestured around the store. "I create great suits. That," he pointed at the invoice, "Is the cost of making such suits."
He then chuckled. "If I was petty I'd have doubled it. But not to worry, she'll get over it and come back determined to make a stronger impression so you can't forget her next time. Trust me."
I laughed nervously as Sabrina stopped leafing through her magazine and inspected Matthew and me critically. I suddenly felt like I was in danger.
"I'll have your suit made up in three days. I have all the materials and my pokemon will be able to help out." He tapped a pokeball and an Ariados appeared with a happy wag of its legs. "Can you call around … oh at least Thursday evening after your matches are over?"
"That would work wonderfully," I said while paying for the suit.
Rachel bounced up to me. "Cheer up Brock this is tax deductible! It's practically a write off!"
I shook my head and led her out into the now-dark street. "Remind me to have Georgina explain tax write-offs to you." I looked over to Sabrina who was still leafing through the fashion magazine.
"Did you enjoy yourself, Sabrina?"
She nodded slowly and gave me a small smile that I knew was the equivalent of something huge and heartfelt from another person. "Yes, that was… I like shopping… when there's not too many people I can relax more." She nodded to Rachel. "Thank you for your advice."
She then looked back at me with an expression that I couldn't quite place. "I will talk to you later, have a good evening." She stilled and I expected a teleport flash to occur only for her eyes to narrow as she stared into the distance. "You're going home after this, correct?"
I nodded. "Yeah? Why?" I said, suddenly worried something had happened.
Sabrina shook her head. "I think Forrest has it handled. You'll see. I'll leave it to your judgement and check in later tonight," she said cryptically before flashing away.
I hummed. "Well… I'm actually not sure what to make of that."
"She's… she's rather different from how I expected her to be," Rachel said tentatively.
"Oh? What did you expect?" I said putting emphasis on the last word.
"She has a rather distant personality and is infamous for being very inhospitable to people that come and challenge her. She's also known to be very powerful and very scary. Most people say to avoid challenging her gym because of it."
I hummed. "She just comes across that way. She tries in her own way, but her strength is, in its own way, the biggest weakness for her."
"What do you mean by that?"
"It's not something I should say more on but…" I considered it for a moment more. "Rachel, she actually seemed very relaxed around you. Usually, she's not like that. She had to take time to warm up to Erika who's a little flower that's polite to everyone she comes across. If she comes around maybe just try to be nice and see if she wants to be friends." I scratch my head. "She could use more friends."
"You're really good together," she said, watching me closely.
I couldn't stop the blush even as I shook my head. "We're not like that. We 'dated' when we were kids, sure, but that's nothing big. She just needed a friend and well… I was young so yeah…" I said, trying to play it off as the innocence of being a young boy. Most young boy's wouldn't have thought it meant anything to be boyfriend and girlfriend; it probably just meant you hung out together more. It wasn't something I could ever claim in this second life.
Rachel didn't seem to be buying what I was trying to sell her. She merely hummed and skipped along.
"Hey! Gym Leader Brock! I called my mother and checked! I didn't leave my oven on, so now I demand a challenge!" I shut my eyes and groaned while Rachel goggled as the trainer from before emerged.
I glared at him. "Make a booking! I don't accept challenges in my off time!"
"Oh come off it! You could fight me here and now! Just make an exception!"
I shook my head and continued to walk back home. "Oddish—" I heard the pokeball popping behind me. I looked straight over my shoulder and channelled dark energy into my eyes before 'expelling' it straight at the revealed Oddish.
The little pokemon stiffened as I gave it a Mean Look. Its eyes flickered around before pausing on me and quivering in place. The trainer gaped at the reaction and I turned my head away and kept walking.
"Huh, damn that was intense." Rachel said as she eyed me. I huffed at her and rolled my eyes. She blinked at me and I remembered that she wasn't like Forrest or Yolanda who knew when I did that. I waved her off.
"Night Brock, see you tomorrow!" shouted Rachel as she turned for her own home.
I waved back and rolled my shoulders. I was already running through the checklist of chores I'd need to do tonight. If I was quick about it I might even… I stopped in front of the main gym doors, half-turned towards the hedge to the side where I'd enter my family's home.
"Someone has left the lights on in the gym?" I said aloud.
I turned that over in my mind. That shouldn't have happened. No one had done that in a long while and the security guards usually walked around with flashlights when they made their rounds.
I frowned as I saw the lights flash slightly. I turned fully to the Gym and entered it. When I pushed through the doors next to the reception desk leading into the arena proper I found myself spectating a battle proper.
What in Moltres' name was going on here?
I flicked my eyes from Forrest on one podium with an Onix in front of him. To the other podium.
Upon it stood a boy that could only be Ash Ketchum with his Pikachu standing on his side of the arena.
In the middle, in the referee box, Misty stood tall with an exasperated look on her face.
In the stands a bunch of boys that I knew were Forrest's friends sat cheering for the fight. They were immaterial though.
Of more importance was Flint who was sitting front and centre in the stands watching Forrest and Ash fight.
I blinked.
For the life of me, I had no idea what was going on. None of this made any sense. I wanted to storm in and demand answers but the fact Ash had slipped into my gym had me rather stunned.
There had to be a story as to how this developed. I stood in the shadows and decided to watch on as things developed.
I'd wait, for now, but I'd be asking a lot of questions to find out how this whole situation came about.
A.N. Special thanks goes to my patreons for their support!
Special thanks goes to Raikor, Ab9999, Kurlinni, and Elnoorz for betaing and editing this chapter
- Location
- Miami
Oh dang! The anime bullshit caught up to him while he was distracted. Looking forward to the next chapter and all the fun it'll have.
If Ash is the same as canon I can't see him winning here, no sprinkler system nonsense in this gym.
verycoolname
Not actually cool
Forrest is going to take Brock's place on the journey with Ash? Neat. Probably good for Forrest, too.
SmashQueen
Professional duck-cat.
Not gonna lie, my first thought was Jesse and James hatching a plot here. Wouldn't be the first time they set up a business that was actually a good idea only to go "mwahahaha all of your pokemon belong to us!"
As for the fight, I'm betting the Onix is Flint's. Ash probably came up to the gym earlier, wanted a fight, did the Ash thing of getting confrontational with Forrest, and with Forrest's friends egging him on along with Flint right there, yeah, sure, he'd battle Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town! Meanwhile Misty was probably just "sigh, boys..."
But I guess we'll find out what happened next time.
frozenchicken
Does not have a custom title.
Ooh, these puzzle pieces fit together nicely.
We were wondering what would happen with Ash, what Forrest's ambitions would be, and when Flint would come back and possibly provide Forrest with the starter he wanted. Let's see how this all plays out.
We were wondering what would happen with Ash, what Forrest's ambitions would be, and when Flint would come back and possibly provide Forrest with the starter he wanted. Let's see how this all plays out.