Hard Enough
Chapter 248: Dark plans

“Alright Brock, we need to talk strategy against Karen,” said Kaede.

I raised my eyebrow at her. “You don’t want to talk about what I suggested during my interview?” I asked.

Kaede sighed. “That Rapidash has already sprinted out of the barn after setting it on fire,” she said.

I nodded at the common phrase. “Still, sorry if you didn't want people to know. For what it’s worth, I think you’d make a great Gym Leader, and we do need you,” I said.

Kaede sighed. “The worst part about that? Is that you’re earnest in your suggestion, and that… I can’t say that I’m not tempted.” Her smile turned decidedly sinister. “Especially if I hold the eighth gym position above Bruce.”

I raised a hand. “Those are more traditional placements than anything serious,” I said, but Kaede ignored me.

Cindy, who’d claimed the position next to me on the couch to watch the drama play out, giggled at our antics.

Kaede’s grin faded. “Also, what was going on with your tactics that match? You were nothing like that against me!” she said with a double-armed chop through the air.

I quirked an eyebrow, was it just me, or was that not the chop that Samurai Furret used in their show? I shot Cindy a look and judging by the stars in her eyes, I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed the mannerism.

Kaede continued, unaware of our thoughts, “What happened to our plan of sending Gawain out first?” she said.

I shrugged. “You controlled the pace a bit more, so I wasn’t able to establish myself or implement certain moves. The same couldn’t be said for Bruce, as I started with a great match-up with Shrek against his Charizard.”

As soon as I said it I knew it was a mistake, as Kaede’s eyes narrowed and her fists clenched. Her eyes flickered to the kids about the room though, and she didn’t say anything.

I once more held up a hand to acknowledge it was a touchy subject.

Not wanting her to linger on it or let an awkward silence build, I said, “I trusted my instincts about Bruce’s pride. If there was anyone that might potentially have a Mega Evolution in Indigo, it would be him,” I said, before reassessing that statement. “Well, Lance would be the primary candidate, actually,” I said, correcting myself.

That did not improve Kaede’s mood at all as she looked like she sucked on sitrus berry raw. “You just… urgh, no. Don’t worry about it,” she said with a shake of her head. “So, Karen’s fight tomorrow will take place at around seven in the evening, with your event featuring on primetime. So this time we have plenty of time with no other restrictions.”

“Good, I wouldn’t mind checking over my pokemon after the last two matches,” I said. I needed to sit down with them and alert them ahead of time about how the bond had grown.

I didn’t want to have any situations like what could have happened to Gawain. Don alone was probably going to take a while to adjust to the sharing of sensations and ideas.

Hypnotoad I expected to be like Bertha, in that she’d be excited more than anything.

“Hmmm, you will need to do a serious review of Karen’s matches,” Kaede said.

“Heh, Karen will love that I’ve not seen many of her fights, bar the match against Steven Stone,” I said.

This was obviously not the right thing to say as Kaede glared at me. “You have… so much to look into, then. Do you even know who her strongest pokemon are, or which will be threats?”

“She’ll have Gengar, Honchkrow, Espeon, Houndoom, Vileplume and Absol as her primary six. I will need to watch out for Destiny Bonds, Perish Songs, Mean Looks, Spite, Hex, and other moves such as status effects,” I said, rubbing my chin in thought.

Kaede blinked. “I thought you hadn’t—”

“I haven’t seen her fights, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know her or what pokemon she has as part of her complete roster.”

“She’ll have more than those six,” Kaede said firmly, to which I could only nod.

“That’s obvious,” I replied. I took a deep breath and leaned back on the couch, considering what I should say. Of everyone in this tournament, Karen was the person I perhaps had the best idea about. The same was sadly true for her with regards to me, though. The Guardian training sessions were a bit of a double-edged sword like that.

“Karen… she’s got a bit of a niche being a tricky opponent, you could say.” I perked up, with a wide grin. “With her tactics, I don’t think she’ll be much of a fan favourite,” I said with a slight bounce in my seat. “I’m looking forward to not being the heel of the fight for once!”

Cindy giggled at this. Kaede shook her head. “Sometimes I wonder how I lost to you.”

“My pokemon had greater depth, something that Karen also possesses, as she threw down with Steven Stone and forced his hand on a few things,” I said easily.

The doorbell ringing made me look up. I glanced around to see if anyone had invited a friend over, but none of the kids reacted. Hmmmm, I continued to look and none of them so much as glanced at me. Pointedly so.

Ah, they wanted me to get the door, didn’t they?

Just because nothing had been organised didn’t mean that it was probably just one of my siblings' friends coming around to hang out.

I rose and gestured for Kaede to remain seated, making my way to the front door. I opened it expecting a child.

Instead, I came face to face with Walker and Falkner.

“Oh, hello there?” I said.

Walker nodded his head while his son, Falkner, bobbed his upper body into a slight dipping bow. “Gym Leader Brock,” said Falkner.

I afforded him a small bow in return with a smile. “Gym Leader Falkner,” I said, leaning into his formal attitude for an appropriate response in a bow of my own. As I rose I twisted to the side. “Please, come in… I’m sorry to say that the apartment is a mess,” I said, glancing at Falkner’s very nice attire which reminded me more of a festival outfit than everyday wear.

Walker I noticed had adopted a similar outfit, so perhaps it was a family style?

I felt almost underdressed in my jeans and sweater. Especially with all the stains and markings that had been left on me due to small, grubby hands.

Munchlax trundled up next to me and tilted his head at the new faces. “Munchlax?” he said.

“They’re friends and work colleagues,” I said to the little pokemon.

“Munch!” he said. He then reached into a patch of fur under his armpit and drew out what looked like a rolled-up bag of chips, which he offered to Walker and Falkner.

“Uhmmm, no thank you,” Falkner said, shooting me a confused look.

I sighed and waved Munchlax back into the apartment. “Thanks but no, we’re good, could you get the kettle boiling?” I asked, deciding to get him out of the way and helping. “Please,” I said, gesturing to the father-son pair to follow.

We walked into the sitting room where Kaede blinked in surprise at seeing a former competitor. Walker also blinked in surprise. “Kaede?”

“Walker? Or do you prefer Masked Owl?” she said with a tilt of her head. In her lap, Furret put his paws over his eyes and mimed forming a mask with them as he peered out.

Walker coughed. “I’m done with that ruse… not that it worked very well,” he said with a sigh.

I gestured for everyone to sit down and began to walk to the kitchen, only for Munchlax to waddle out with a tray with cookies, a steaming teapot, and mugs for everyone in the room.

… including all of my siblings. Everyone sat up, ready to join in on the tea party.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Little brothers and sisters, I think I need the room,” I said.

None of them moved, and I gave them a look.

“I need to have a grown-up talk,” I clarified when I got only confused or annoyed looks.

My siblings rose but not before pilfering the tea tray. Munchlax watched them go and gave me a placid smile. I mirrored it back. “Sorry buddy, I know you love tea time, but maybe set up another with my siblings?” I said.

He accepted this with a nod and then took the entire tray of cookies. At my look, he considered us all for a second and then laid down four cookies for each of us before walking off with the rest. Furret barked after him, but Munchlax merely ran off quicker, not willing to give up any more of his loot.

“Well, your family is… charming,” said Walker politely.

I nodded. “They can be that when they want to,” I replied. I then poured some tea. “So I suspect that both of you, along with Kaede, are here for the same reason,” I said.

“Oh?” asked Walker and Kaede at the same moment. They shared a look with each other.

I nodded. “You don’t want Karen to win and are coming over to do what you can to make sure that’s the case.”

Walker and Falkner blinked at this before bobbing their heads as one. “That is indeed the case, although I must apologise if this is us overstepping ourselves.”

“I have no problem with you joining my team,” I said.

“Oh,” said Walker. “I was expecting to have to state our case more,” he said, scratching at his head.

I chuckled. “It’s kind of obvious that Karen can be… a bit much when she wants to be.”

“You know her?” said Falkner.

I considered what to say, using my tea to buy myself some time as I took a sip.

In the end, I decided to just run with it. I nodded. “We’ve trained together a few times. She has spoken with me a few times. Do you recall some of the earlier raids that were conducted against Team Rocket during the winter?” I asked.

Falkner frowned. “I was focusing on training my roster then, so no… I was aware something occurred for you, but not that Karen had been involved.”

Kaede shook her head. “I knew you’d trained with her and taken part in that raid together. I’m guessing that she didn’t use all of her tactics against you back then.”

“Well, I mean, that was literally months ago now. I expect she’s adapted and grown a lot since then. After all, haven’t we all?” I said with a smile.

Falkner shifted and looked away, only for Walker to subtly put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “You have grown, son,” he said firmly.

Falkner blushed at this and bobbed his head up and down in thanks. I smiled, enjoying the moment, only to scowl when Flint leaned around the door to mouth ‘you have as well’.

Urgh. I made a point to put a hand to my eyes and show him I very much was not looking and that he was embarrassing/annoying.

He retreated with an amused chuckle.

Kaede coughed, her expression pinched and slightly sickly looking. “As touching as that was…” she said while wearing a face that said it was anything but, “we need to consider the tactics that Karen will use and which pokemon are truly the most likely to be used.” She turned to me. “Which raises the question of if you’re willing to let Walker and Falkner assist you?”

I glanced back and both of the father and son pair straightened in their seats. I smiled. “Welcome aboard,” I said, without having to think about it too much. They were trustworthy people.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

A rumble from my stomach made me pause. “Ah, I probably need to have a proper meal before we do that, though. Is anyone up for some Cheri Charizard? I’m feeling like a bit of spice would be nice,” I said while firing off a quick message to Sabrina. I had yet to hear from her and how the investigation had gone.

Instead of her flashing into the room as I was expecting, I got a brief, ‘check channel six news,’ from her.

I frowned, looking around for the remote. On the television, a news crew were revealed with what looked like a serious cohort of police leading out a large group of people from a warehouse.

“—just in! Sabrina has led a series of raids across Kanto, targeting pokemon trafficking groups and sellers of illegal boosting agents! Through her skills she has been able to lock down numerous sites and identify previously missed criminals!” announced a blonde reporter.

A flash behind the woman was all the warning the woman had before Sabrina was next to her. The woman’s microphone levitated out of her grasp and in front of Sabrina where she adopted what I recognised as her ‘public speaking’ face.

“It is not so much that these criminals were missed as they were taking steps to elude police and myself. I would also like to state that my skills were marginal in today’s arrests, with other groups contributing more to these arrests,” said Sabrina.

I blinked. Huh, she’d taken Jessie, James, and Meowth and employed them in a direction that I hadn’t considered before.

The reporter’s eyes darted to the floating microphone clearly considering taking it back only to glance at Sabrina and think better of it. Instead, she leaned in to speak. “Ah! Thank you for joining us, Gym Leader! Can you tell us anything about the various sites you’ve raided? So far we’re aware of Pewter, Saffron, and Viridian.”

“The only other site of criminal activity that our new… taskforce has been able to identify and act on has been Cerulean. Some facilities and products were locked down. Other sites are currently being evaluated,” replied Sabrina.

“Some people are saying that you have started to employ your psychic abilities more to assist police. What would you say to that?” asked the reporter as she held a hand to her ear and pantomimed that someone else was feeding her the question, even though I could see no earpiece.

Sabrina gave the woman a long, blank stare and the reporter shifted guiltily. When it was obvious that the reporter had overstepped Sabrina began speaking, “I have always assisted the police to the best of my ability. Unfortunately there are methods that criminals use to make themselves seem more benign or even to elude my senses. Through new methods, we have identified them and been able to act.”

Sabrina then looked straight into the camera. “Your time is running out, criminals around Kanto. I suggest that you present yourself to the proper authorities. We will find you,” she said, her eyes glowing slightly in a manner that I thought made her look damn powerful and extremely sexy.

“Huh,” I said. “So that’s where she is,” I said, before sending off another message to Sabrina, informing her that we’d be getting Cheri Charizard’s and what she wanted.

A list of items followed and I chuckled, only to look around at my guests who were staring at me.

“What? This is normal for us,” I said, nodding at the television.

Kaede put one hand on her chin and the other on Furret had also been staring at me. “I suddenly am rethinking being a Gym Leader,” she said.

“It comes with a lot of perks,” I said before looking to Falkner and Walker. “So what would you guys like to order for dinner? My treat!”

They shared a glance and coughed. “We’ll have the combination special with extra spelon spice,” they said, causing me to stare.

“Damn, that’s intense,” I said, tapping out the order. I ordered my own mild dish with Kaede joining in. I stood and waved a hand for them to follow me. “Come on, if we talk shop up here my family will try and run off with Furret again. So let’s eat in the boardroom where we can talk shop,” I said.

I led the group to the planning room and talked Walker and Falkner through my process. When Missy joined me I added her order on to ours and settled back to fire off a series of messages to check in with A.J. and also Mia, who I suspected was around but still hadn’t turned up.

A.J. replied with a ‘busy’ message, which led me to fire off messages to Forrest once more. Mia responded with a small story about coming to the island to challenge herself and her team.

Silly Mouse was showing off his smarts and was now up to seven moves, which Mia was using to win a lot more matches than normal.

When I asked if she wanted to catch up she wrote back saying she’d love that after my match as she didn’t want to get in my way.

“Brock, can you be serious about this, you should be reading through the information you have,” Kaede said, catching me typing another reply to Mia.

I sat up. “Sorry, I was just working on some Gym Leader duties,” I replied.

When she raised a dubious eyebrow at me I waved a hand. “No, honest, as a Gym Leader you can take in and train several young trainers, giving them better starts than they might otherwise have gotten. I run a mini-tournament at the start of the year and everything. Mia is one of the winners of a full sponsorship on my part and I’m just checking in with her.”

Kaede paused. “You can sponsor trainers through the gym?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I currently have like…” I rubbed my chin and counted them off. “Nine? Trainers, with three of them being completely sponsored. I should be able to take in a few more next year, with how well things have been going. The orphans in Pewter will be really happy!”

Kaede didn’t reply to this, instead, she continued to stare at me like she’d never seen me before. “I didn’t know you did things like that. Can… all Gym Leaders do that?” she asked, with a hint of something in her voice.

I nodded. “Yeah, with gym facilities that are good enough, you can help stable other trainers’ pokemon. I went out of my way to build a big facility with a reserve for that reason,” I said. I rubbed my chin and chuckled. “You know, if you were able to claim the Viridian Gym you’d probably have access to facilities even better than mine, considering that Giovanni… well he wasn’t exactly ever hurting for cash,” I said.

Kaede continued to give me a blank stare. Then she surprised me by bowing from the hip so that she was bent ninety degrees to me. “Please! I want to be a Gym Leader!” she said.

Now it was my turn to stare. What was… Oh, wait. Kaede was an orphan with a horrible start as a trainer, so my story about being a Gym Leader and getting to impact others’ lives by offering more sponsorships probably would have resonated with her. It wasn’t like that was something that many other gyms did.

Heck, Sabrina only took in people who were interested in training their psychic abilities.

Kaede… was eighteen. So, if she’d started her journey as early as possible, then she’d have been ten in Johto. Which would have been very rough. Damn, now that I thought about it, Kaede had clawed her way up from nothing.

She was the definition of a self-made woman.

“You don’t have to bow, Kaede,” I said first. I stood and smiled at her. “You know, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of you being a Gym Leader. I think you more than anyone else would be amazing, you’d have a lot of lessons that I wouldn’t know how to teach, and you seem to have your heart in the right place, if I’m guessing what you’ll use your expanded stable for,” I said.

Kaede gave me a watery smile and I clapped her on the shoulder.

The moment felt good and it was only broken when someone shifted and a stack of papers toppled over. I glanced over to find Falkner looking extremely sheepish.

“I- sorry! I was just… I hadn’t considered how I should be helping my community… hearing your efforts and Kaede’s ideas has humbled me.” He bowed. “Please! Allow me to voice my own support, paltry as it might be!” he said.

I shook my head. “Don’t discount yourself ,Falkner, you took over when you were young and by all accounts had things pretty rough. Allow yourself time to grow,” I said.

Falkner smiled bashfully, only for his father to reach out and put his hand on his son’s shoulder.

Once again father and son shared a loving and supportive moment.

Kaede and I shared a look coupled with a grimace as I took my hand off her shoulder. Damn, they’d ruined the moment for us.

I gave her a sickly smile and a frankly lacking thumbs up before I moved things along with a quiet, “I’ll uhhh, check on our order,” I said while Kaede busied herself by looking over Karen’s pokemon roster.

I looked it over.

Houndoom, Gengar, Sneasel, Honchkrow, Absol, Umbreon, Vileplume, Banette, Mismagius, Sableye, Froslass, Mightyena, Sharpedo, Cacturne, Shiftry, Gyarados, Crawdaunt, Primeape, Machoke, Medicham, Skarmory, and Nidoqueen.

The outliers from her typical dark type specialisation were the main pokemon that stood out to me from the others. The ghost pokemon made the most sense if you understood that she was Agatha’s granddaughter.

Heck, even through a certain lens Gyarados made sense, due to how it Mega Evolved. Not that there was a known… no, that wasn’t true. Cerulean had evidence of using one during the war, so there was no way Agatha hadn’t passed the knowledge along about Gyarados… that or Karen had done her research for every pokemon she could claim that had dark typing attached to it.

When the food turned up I had everyone sit down so we could run over what we had worked out thus far.

Walker was the first to summarise. “She uses foul language quite a lot at the start, but she can be serious when the fight starts. The main thing to be watchful for is that most of her pokemon are defensive specialists. I rewatched the match against Steven Stone and her Umbreon… held out for much longer than I expected. That pokemon is a powerhouse in its own right.”

I nodded, recalling something to that effect from her match.

“She also used her Absol to good effect, no? I seem to recall that Steven Stone had to alpha strike it to take it down?”

That drew a round of nods. Everyone had highlighted that moment as significant, but when you had a pokemon that could perform Perish Song, that made all too much sense.

I tapped my fingers on Umbreon.

“I think due to the nature of some of her pokemon, especially this Umbreon, I need to include Bertha once again. She’s too much of a counter to ignore,” I said. I then tapped on Karen’s roster. “She also has some moves that I can quickly re-teach her that counter some of these grass types,” I said.

We began to trade around notes and it quickly became clear that for all the fights that Karen had taken part in, most of the serious information about her fighting properly came from her showcase match against Steven Stone where she’d used delays, tricks, and even specialised commands on more than one occasion.

We rewatched Vileplume twirl and unleash Drain Punch and Solar Beam more than a few times.

I nodded. “No way she’s not including that pokemon. It pairs up too well with Sunny Day for her Houndoom to ignore,” I said.

It joined the list of most likely pokemon to face and I responded with Tide which drew a bit of scepticism.

“Ice-type moves, plus he can handle status moves better than any of my other pokemon,” I said. Which neatly negated the risk of her Gengar getting off a Toxic or two. For that matter, Jormungandr was placed on the list of pokemon.

We tossed around more suggestions and eventually, I decided to lay out my team's make up.

Titan, Hypnotoad, Bertha, Jormungandr, Tide … and finally Zephyr.

Although once again I was toying with Link being a fill-in, only to discard it as a bad idea.

“Why Zephyr?” Kaede asked.

“He has his own status attacks he can use, while knowing a fairy type move that can run rampant against Karen’s dark types. It is also yet another counter to Karen’s grass types in case I decide to keep Thunder for Bertha.”

Right as I finished saying this, Sabrina made her appearance with a flash. I smiled and indicated the chair I’d left out for her with a tray of her food.

She claimed it and floated the spiciest sauce we had over to herself, while glancing at Falkner and Walker for a moment before nodding. “Looking to topple Karen through Brock? Clever,” she said with an approving nod before taking a bite.

Falkner nodded slowly, slightly awed by Sabrina’s casual displays of telekinetic ability.

“How are you eating that?” he said, causing me to pause.

Ah, he was impressed that Sabrina was eating the spiciest meal on the menu, and then adding more spices to it.

“I enjoy the tingles and sensations that come with it,” she said.

“She cheats,” I said with a soft smirk.

Sabrina turned her head and pointedly swallowed her mouthful of food. I realised what she was going to do an instant too late. I leaned back only for her to lunge as she made to kiss me.

She paused right before actually kissing me though, the threat implicit. She leaned back, pleased at having gotten a reaction out of me.

For my part, I licked my lips, only to feel a sting from getting that close to Sabrina.

Damn, had she breathed on me or what?

How many Scoville was her meal?

My tongue burned and I coughed. I pushed her back further and felt my eyes beginning to water.

“Alright, you got me,” I said as I grabbed up a glass of milk. I swallowed it quickly and felt the pain fade. I shot Sabrina a pretend-annoyed look. “I thought you promised not to do that after that one time?”

“I remember no such promise,” Sabrina said haughtily, taking yet another bite of her dish.

“Uhmmm, what was that?” Missy said, slightly worried at my flushed appearance as I took another pull of my milk.

“Sabrina hates when I imply she cheats,” I said.

When Missy continued to look confused I elaborated. “She also once ate her dish and kissed me. Back then I didn’t think any better of it, and she burned my mouth.”

Walker chuckled. “Heh, psychic type burnt a rock type,” he said, nudging his son.

I shot them an unimpressed look, toying with the idea of reminding them what their preferred typing’s major weakness was.

Sabrina flicked her hair. “I am merely reminding Brock that I do not cheat,” she said, shooting me a look. “I am in control of my emotional reactions and state of being. If food is spicy, I am able to control myself and enjoy the sensations more than some,” she said.

She made a point to take another bite of her food, chew and then swallow. “I do not cheat, this comes from my self-mastery,” she said. She then offered me a peace offering of her spring rolls. “I… hadn’t considered how the spices would linger that one time after a meal. I now carry..”

I playfully interrupted by flicking some rice at her, which she merely caught in the air with her mind before dropping them on her plate. “Don’t waste food,” she replied with a smile. She then took out a mint and a cloth, chewing the mint and wiping her lips with the cloth.

She gave me a kiss on the cheek which, now that she was safe, I accepted.

Missy giggled. “Cute!” she said while glancing between us.

Sabrina shot her a pleased look before glancing at the stacks of paper. “So, what have you worked out so far regarding Karen?” she asked as she returned to her meal.

I coughed when Kaede shot me a smug look. “We have been working through the information Brock has available to him, while he handles other duties. We have several tactics such as Fake Outs, Pursuits, and Taunt that she has had her pokemon use numerous times.”

I hummed. “I won’t be able to use Link and his Healing Wish,” I said casually.

Kaede blinked. “Your Clefable knows that move?” she said.

I nodded. “Yeah, I taught him a special variant of it,” I replied. “He’s crazy dedicated and worked it out months earlier than I thought he would.”

Kaede continued to stare at me. “So, you knew about Healing Wish?” she said.

I nodded. “Yeah, I wasn’t expecting you to use it, though. Also, your adaptation was really good for keeping pokemon that you had already used in the fight,” I replied.

I raise an issue with it however. “You wouldn’t have been able to use it against Karen though, for one simple move that I know she’ll have at least two of her pokemon know,” I said while glancing at Sabrina.

Karen, as a Guardian, knew about Link’s ability, so it would make sense that she had countermeasures in place, even if she hadn’t demonstrated them during training as yet.

“What move?” asked Kaede with narrowed eyes.

“Snatch,” I replied. “It would allow one of her pokemon to steal the healing energy for themselves and flip your strength into their strength,” I said. I sighed. “Which is a bit of a shame, as I think Link would be perfect to fight against a lot of her pokemon.”

“You could just use him in other ways,” Sabrina suggested.

I hummed, not as convinced.

Sabrina put aside her meal and turned in her seat so she was fully facing me.

She looked me in the eyes while taking my hand in hers. “Brock, Karen will needle you about any emotional issues you have to get you angry and not fighting as you should,” she began.

I nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think I will be able to handle it,” I said slowly.

Despite saying that, my mind considered Sabrina. She was in support mode, like what we were about to talk about might seriously piss me off. I knew her well enough to pick up the cues.

So, that meant there must be something I wasn’t thinking about that she’d picked upon. So, what was it?

“Karen is going to needle you about your mother,” Sabrina said, ripping the metaphorical band-aid off.

I stared at Sabrina and all I could think for a single moment in time was ‘fuck’, right before I felt dark emotions rise up within me.