Hard Enough
Chapter 249: Dark beginnings

The thing that I disliked about what Sabrina had said was that she was one hundred percent completely correct in that Karen could and probably even would do it.

Karen knew about my family problems. She’d teased me all of once before I’d laid down that I would not accept any teasing about such subjects. I’d not thought anything more of it since then.

We’d worked as Guardians and trained with and against each other enough times to have a rather amicable relationship - if not friends, at least comrades in protecting Kanto.

Or was this going to be a case of that was that and this was this to Karen?

Specifically, this was me standing in the way of Karen’s dream of getting to challenge the Elite Four and even Lance if she advanced well enough.

I’d joked about not being the heel for once and with all the battles I undertook as a Gym Leader, it was often easy to get typecast into the role.

But my fights where I acted as a barrier for other trainers to overcome were nothing compared to what Karen would do if she targeted my family.

And despite that, I couldn’t help but think it was her best play.

It would in a sense merely be her using every tool at her disposal to achieve her goals.

Sadly her toolkit just happened to feature dubious barbs, personal attacks, cheap shots, fake-outs, and all-around annoying tactics.

All of it was legal, of course.But that did nothing for me in the moment as I had to deal with the rising dark emotions that warred within me.

Rage battled with wrath and annoyance while denial reared its head, only for cold logic to shut things down.

If Sabrina hadn’t grabbed my hand I might have balled both hands up into fists. Instead, I clenched my jaw and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry for bringing it up,” she said, and it was then I realised how supportive she was by preempting an issue.

I shot her a half-hearted smile, my mind still processing what it would mean to have my family’s ongoing drama in my face.

“No, you’re right that she most likely will do it,” I said.

Sabrina shot me a dubious look, understanding that part of me still hoped that Karen wouldn’t.

I exhaled and relaxed, giving her hands a soft squeeze. “Thanks for bringing it up.“ I glanced off to the side and huffed. “It just took me by surprise, and… Yeah, I just realised how blind I was about a huge big glowing button that Karen has been sitting on.”

No one said anything and I reached up with the hand not grasped in Sabrina’s hands to rub at my temples.

“She’s going to use it,” said Falkner resolutely, chiming in for the first time. I shot him an annoyed look but he met it without fear.

Sabrina nodded along to what Falkner said, “Falkner is right. Karen is the type to use such a weakness. I wanted to bring it up now. I thought it was important to discuss this with you now so you could determine some methods of controlling your response, no matter how vile what she says to you will be.”

Walker coughed. “I… have a few questions,” he said.

Everyone turned their heads to the former Johto Gym Leader turned Ace Trainer. “Ahh, it is perhaps poor form, but… what is the issue with your mother?”

I grimaced at her being referred to me in such a way. “She’s not my mother,” I said firmly, denial clear in my tone. “She bore me into the world, but she has lost the right for me to address her in that manner,” I said.

Sadly, from what little I recalled of her, she was… very airheaded and would not accept such a restriction. Her flighty attitude sadly matched what I recalled about Brock’s canonical situation with Lola.

Lola was perhaps one of the only people Brock ever threw shade at, but for a kids’ cartoon series, they couldn’t explore the neglect too much, except as a gag.

Having lived through her disappearance and the fallout that followed, I wasn’t laughing.

There was nothing funny about having to take over a gym and deal with a family at the same time, all while just a teenager.A family which included a set of twins in their terrible twos and another set that was just learning to crawl, and were extremely dependent on others.

I rolled my shoulders and considered what to say. “Lola, she… has many issues from the previous war, which… have developed into a lot of issues, which by no means exonerate her style of parenting, or lack thereof. Lola has always been a flighty woman, and she had run away seeking adventures many times while I was a child. When I was about to start my journey she flew off, leaving us.”

I waved a hand towards the penthouse where my family resided. “Flint tried to handle things for a while but quickly fell out of his depth and chased after her. He got her back, but by the time he did so, I had lost my chance at making a serious run at my Journey that year. With my family’s state, I held back and departed the next year. I got a year and a half but—” I said, only for Sabrina to correct me.

“A year and five months,” she said.

I nodded but continued on with my tale. “—Once more Lola had flown off on an adventure leaving Flint in charge of the family.” I rolled my neck from side to side, agitation and annoyance as memories rose up. “He recalled me from my Journey to help out. I was back all of a few days when he vanished into the night once more, chasing after Lola.”

I looked up. “He didn’t come back for another two and a half years and even then, it took others to give him the nudge to return properly. Lola still hasn’t come back, and she has never sent a message giving any indication she’s planning on doing so despite Flint’s assurances that she will return.”

I shook my head. “At this point, I frankly don’t care, she doesn’t really fit into the family I’ve formed for myself and my siblings these days,” I said, giving Sabrina a meaningful glance.

A pleased smile bloomed along with a small blush on her cheeks.

For a long moment, everyone else in the room processed what I’d said.

Missy shifted. “I… knew most of that as some of the employees asked about your situation, especially with how you interact with Flint,” she said. “Rocko and Dennis make sure people know not to bug you about it,” she said.

I merely nodded. “It must seem weird to some of them. I didn’t know those two were handling that topic,” I said thoughtfully. “I’ll have to thank them,” I said.

“I… knew that your mother wasn’t present once more and that your family certainly was… dysfunctional,” said Kaede. “My research into you uncovered as much, but I had no idea it was like that.”

“Sorry for asking,” Walker said with a cough. I noticed that Falkner seemed pleased, but I gathered that was because for once it wasn’t him putting his foot into the awkward situation.

I shook my head. “No, we kind of need to talk about it seeing as, like I said earlier, Sabrina is right. Karen is going to bring it up. I need to find peace with that and work out a strategy to go forward,” I said.

Kaede coughed. “Wouldn’t her using such methods poison the well for her? I can,” Falkner’s jaw clenched and ground loudly, causing Kaede to carefully hold up her hands to show she meant no harm to the young man, “understand that she would get away with it against others for the entertainment value… but Brock, you are currently Indigo’s golden boy.”

Falkner nodded at this slowly, and Kaede continued. “You’ve done much for the League and have stood up against many challenges. If she did what she did to Carr or… others,” she said, pointedly not looking at Falkner. “Who would cheer for her?”

“There would still be some,” I said, pinching my fingers together while leaving a small gap. “A small, niche group, but they would still support her,” I said. “It might make her goal of becoming an Elite Four member harder, but…” I shrugged.

Kaede nodded slowly. “She did have that announcement a few months ago, and so far she has risen up the ranks while demolishing the Johto Gyms. There would be quite a few Kanto supporters just for that,” Kaede pointed out as Falkner grimaced.

Sabrina stepped in. “She can’t be as vile as she was against Carr.”

This drew everyone’s attention.

Sabrina raised a finger to indicate her point. “There is a limit to what will be deemed acceptable. A personal attack she can get away with once or twice at most. The referees of the competition are most likely already annoyed with her. She bought herself some slack with her demonstration of her Mega Evolution instead of throwing down against Joshua.”

“Huh,” I said, only now grasping that Karen’s decision to announce her Mega Evolution in the last match had been much more calculated than I’d thought.

I had no doubt some people were disparaging her, but it had two benefits: to silence her detractors, and also allow her more leeway in the next fight.

“Urgh, it’s a shame we can’t fight fire with fire,” Falkner said.

Walker shook his head. “That is not the way we should approach this. Sinking to Karen’s level is not what we are about. We should strive to be better, to soar,” Walker said grandly.

I would have nodded along, if not for my mind catching Falkner’s words. “There… might be some potential there, actually,” I said.

Walker frowned, no doubt thinking I was ignoring his advice to ‘soar above the issue’, but that was much easier said than done.

I raised a hand to signal I needed to speak first. “I’m not going to be vulgar about it. I’m just going to point out that she has some issues with regard to her own family.”

“Shame,” muttered Falkner quietly, but not quietly enough as his father shot him a disappointed look that Falkner evaded by finding the wall of the board room particularly interesting.

“What are you going to say?” asked Kaede, who as a firm disbeliever of my preparation skills, was ready to doubt me.

I considered her for a moment before sighing. “What I’m going to say is something to the effect of—”

The next morning had me rising early, with the sun just beginning to peek over the horizon, to train with my pokemon. Zubat sat on my shoulder, having been scooped up from where she’d fallen asleep next to me on my pillow.

While the alarm had roused me, Zubat’s fangs in my face had well and truly woken me up this morning.

When I entered the dining room I was somewhat surprised to find Yolanda sitting at the breakfast table, head bobbing back and forth as she tried to stay awake.

At her side Spot sat, while Terra stood on the table, her little arms working to hold Yolanda up.

Yolanda’s lips twitched and an extremely fake-sounding snore rang out.

Ah, she was faking it to play around with her pokemon. Spot kept nuzzling into her while Terra tried to shake her slightly.

“Tar! Lar!” whined Terra.

Spot was quickly growing fed up with Yolanda ignoring their combined efforts and opened his mouth to nip her ankle. I whistled and his head snapped around to me.

“No biting her unless it’s an emergency,” I said. I then directed a look to Yolanda, “No more teasing them, let’s go,” I said waving my hand. Yolanda rose, causing both of her pokemon to gasp in shock at her.

That lasted all of a second before they barked and growled, trying to admonish her for her trickery.

A flash of something swept through the penthouse and both pokemon quailed in fear.

I tilted my head, having missed whatever that was. Yolanda bowed her head in the direction I’d come from. “Sorry Sabrina! We’ll be quiet!” she whispered.

Something else flashed out and swept over me, causing me to chuckle as Yolanda breathed out in relief.

“Come on,” I said, tugging her out the door. As I closed it behind me I put a hand to her shoulder. “I’m surprised you’re still training on your holiday,” I said.

“You’re still training with your pokemon,” she pointed out.

I nodded. “Yeah, but then again I’m also taking part in a tournament, so I kind of need to,” I replied.

“Oh, so you’re saying that I shouldn’t train?” Yolanda probed.

I wobbled my hand back and forth. “I’m not saying that, I’m more saying that this could be a good time to focus on light duties or just have fun with your pokemon.”

“I’ve been doing that a lot lately. I want to do something serious!” Yolanda said with an expression that was set in stone. I felt more than a little proud that she could achieve such a look.

“Alright, well don’t discount building up your bond becau—”

“It leads to a lot of stronger abilities and more capability with your pokemon! I know! I just want to do something cool with Terra and Spot is all! Can we learn Earthquake or Fire Blast already?” she said.

“Hmmm, I know how to help with one of those, Fire Blast is a bit much,” I said, giving her a raised eyebrow. It probably said something about me that I had no issues giving out lessons on Earthquake while balking at Fire Blast.

Yolanda’s eyes widened, “Really? You’ll let me learn Earthquake?”

I nodded. “Yeah, you’re smart enough to know not to throw it around in restricted areas like the reserve,” I said as we advanced towards the training area.

As we did, Yolanda tilted her head, a question forming in her gaze. “How is it that you have all your pokemon here?” I shot her a look and opened my mouth, only for her to wave her hand in the air.

“Not all of them obviously, but you have your Elite team, right? That’s more than your ten pokemon carry capacity. How are you doing that?”

I nodded. “Ah, that’s actually due to the nature of this land, this land is part of a reserve that you can rent from the hotel,” I said, gesturing behind us.

“Thanks to our rental of the penthouse for the week, the training area was included. It’s one of the perks of the hotel. I am able to ‘stable’ most of my pokemon here to have them accessible.” I grimaced as I recalled Don’s antics. “Well, I can stable them, but whether I should is another question,” I corrected.

At Yolanda’s curious look, I shook my head. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I said.

When I made it to the top of the hill most of my pokemon were already waiting for me, having heard our approach. I waved, giving the pokemon that had fought over the last few days a look over.

I could tell from how Knight was favouring one leg that he wouldn’t be able to fight today. The same was true of Gawain, who was extremely stiff in his movements. Selene looked to be hovering at half the height she normally would.

Link was still bouncing around with no issues, which was pleasing to see.

Shrek was hopping from foot to foot without any issues.

Bertha looked sleepy, but also very pleased with herself. I flicked my eyes from her to Titan. She’d had some instructions after I’d started handing out Technical Machines.

I’d been ignoring a rather potent move that Titan was capable of, which Bertha was more than an expert in. If those two got to hang out a little more? Well, I’m sure they had made a few memories, at the very least.

I turned my attention from the pokemon that had fought yesterday to the rest, only for my attention to lock onto Titan who, despite not being my tallest pokemon, still stood out to me.

I noticed that I wasn’t the only one looking towards him, as Yolanda was also staring as he simply stood watching the sunrise. Feeling our gazes, he turned and nodded happily.

He reached out to me through our bond and welcomed me, letting me know how good he felt and how he knew today would be a good day.

I smiled. While Selene as a psychic type had the best ability to relay information, she still didn’t have the same ability to be understood that I had with Titan.

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I greeted him back and informed him of my intentions to let the others know about how things had changed.

Without saying a word I slowly looked at each and every pokemon of my Elite team.

Shin stiffened in surprise, clacking his blades together before greeting me. Through him, I felt a nervous energy that I queried. He ducked his head, unable to lie through our bond.

Ah, I could see he was worried he’d be replaced. I sent soothing waves of comfort, reminding him of all the fights we’d had and how I expected there to be more opportunities in the future for him.

He perked up.

Others noticed this and slowly, pokemon by pokemon, I made my way through them.

Don was shocked into silence as I fed him my feelings while holding tightly to my rock energy, making sure to feel like a mountain with each thought I fed him.

He nodded meekly, interested in this new turn of events, before perking up as I reminded him how well he’d done in the last fight.

Zephyr greeted me happily, raising his wings and promising to share the joy of flight when we next took to the skies. I found myself rather looking forward to that.

Tide’s wandering attention snapped to me when I greeted him through the bond. The lingering attraction he had for a Lapras back in the cove vanished in shock, which quickly turned to sheepishness when he realised I could feel and somewhat understand what was going on in his mind. I merely conveyed my amusement, happy for him that he had made a new friend. Or harem member, as was more the case. I decided to move along before too many thoughts of that nature got shared.

Hypnotoad was very excited by this new development. So excited that she did a backflip and did a high five with Bertha. She quickly began feeding me potential ways to use her in the fight today, and I laughed as she indicated her swirling stomach. She knew enough about Karen’s specialisation that she had correctly inferred that she was a prime candidate for today’s match.

I fed her back my own anticipation. I was looking forward to putting her through her paces. I’d had a small grasp on my improved bond yesterday and been able to pull some moves off faster. Today? Today I hoped to grow on that again.

This new depth to the bond I had with my pokemon, or perhaps in myself and my aura, meant that I should be able to do more. I had a niggling feeling that giving orders faster and more clearly was merely one facet of this, however.

This level hadn’t even been hinted at by the primers I’d been provided by the Guardians.

Was this new to them as well, or something they held back?

I doubted that others hadn’t achieved this before, but I knew it had to be rare. The ability to use aura was already rare, after all. So, what did that mean?

Was I special? Unique?

I doubted that. There was no way that people like Koga, Agatha, Lance, or even… well Oak, hadn’t achieved this level of bond with their pokemon. Or was I just expecting them to have?

I’d need to ask them, see if there was some wisdom I could draw upon to understand what I’d achieved.

For now, it was a great advantage in battle, but I knew there had to be more to this.

I glanced at the younger pokemon, my bond with them was minuscule, but still, I could glimpse it now and gain vague feelings from them.

Zubat was unsurprisingly the strongest, with her feelings being all rapid fired at me.

Interestingly, Gible also had rather intense emotions, most of them being happiness, though. Heh, he was a chirpy little guy, wasn’t he?

Teddiursa had a serious feel to him, which felt like he was trying harder than he needed to. I locked eyes with him and found him standing with his little paws crossed over his chest. Behind him, Empress towered.

I shot the pair an amused look and fed Empress a quick impression of how thankful I was for her carrying the last exchange against Kaede.

She nodded slowly, her head cocking as she reevaluated me. Some memory in her shifted and I felt something click within her. She bobbed her head, acknowledging me and rumbling a greeting that almost seemed… ritualistic.

I saw flashes of a tribal society and how two warriors fought each other for a headdress? The memory was old and uncertain, apparently it was from her time as a Larvitar, which… had to be decades ago at least, by my measure.

I bobbed my head back at her, making sure she felt my acknowledgement of her through the limited bond we had. I felt the bond grow just a touch at that gesture and my lips twitched. I gave the powerful pseudo-legendary another nod before looking to another pokemon.

Cradily was one of the only older pokemon I had that I didn’t really have a bond with. It stood off to the side, feeling more like part of the scenery than part of my team. I’d need to work on that.

That, and the other Cradily which I’d promised to trade to Steven Stone.

Huh, if Steven Stone had asked me to train up a Cradily for him, what had he gotten Bruce to do in exchange for two Mega Stones?

Was he trying to get himself a Charmander? Or perhaps another pokemon trained up? Were there any steel-dragon pokemon?

None that I could recall, thankfully. Such a pokemon would be very powerful.

Then again, it wasn’t like such pokemon weren’t possible.

Sabrina had already proven that my knowledge regarding potential pokemon was no longer perfect or all knowing, to say the least.

I nodded to a distant landmark and began to jog, sending out an order to the group at large, my mind turning over other potential forms of payment Steven could extract from Bruce. I directed Titan to scoop up Cradily and had the grass-rock type pokemon fire off random bursts of Acid to keep my pokemon looking around and paying attention instead of drifting off.

Well, random sprays at most of my pokemon, except around Knight and Gawain, who were both struggling after yesterday’s match.

We finished the run and I directed everyone to partner up and run through some stretches. I walked through them, checking for any more lingering aches and pains.

When Knight kept stumbling I had him step aside so I could administer some potion to his body to ease the pain he must be experiencing.

I called Gawain over to join me after another few minutes as he faltered. The only reason I hadn’t taken him out was his pride demanding he try to push on. It seemed he’d taken to the ideals of a knight rather more seriously than I’d intended.

“Brock?” Yolanda said, reminding me she was here.

“Oh, sorry Yolanda, you want to work on Earthquake still?”

“I did… but then…” she waved a hand to indicate my pokemon. “You’ve not said a word to anyone and they’re all just…” she waved a hand about again. “How are you doing that?”

I shot her a smirk. “I deepened my bonds with my pokemon,” I said glibly.

Yolanda brow twitched. “What does it mean for you?”

I considered Yolanda for a while. I’d promised to teach her and Forrest along with Missy things about aura. Now was as good enough a time as any other to share a lesson.

I gestured to my team. “Since my fight with Kaede, something has changed. I’m better able to convey information without having to talk. I can feel my pokemon’s emotions and intentions to a degree.“

I pointed without looking straight at Titan. “With Titan, it’s even more. I can basically understand what he’s saying with others and we have a better understanding of each other. There is also a degree of sensory sharing… it is sort of like a Mega Evolution without the evolution, if I’m being honest,” I said.

Yolanda nodded slowly. “Can I work on my bond today?” she said, flipping her earlier desire instantly in the face of this new information. I couldn’t help myself, I laughed.

“Sorry,” I said, raising a hand to forestall any hurt feelings. “It’s just you won’t reach this point for a long time, unless I miss my guess. It’s something you need to work at for a while with numerous pokemon. You’ll need your aura as well, but first, have some fun,” I said, not wanting her to put the Ponyta before the cart, as it were.

I waved a hand and called over Shrek, Titan, Empress and Bertha. “Who wants to teach Terra and Yolanda how to perform Earthquake?” I said.

I instantly had all four’s interest.

“You’re going to have them train me?” Yolanda asked.

“Demonstrate, but they will also have better insight into how it feels, which is important for Terra,” I said.

I had Bertha lead the lesson, but within seconds I knew it was going off the rails as her emotions spiked and she became bombastic.

Titan, Shrek and Emperess all voiced their disagreement with her, barking a laugh, chopping the air, or outright stomping their feet. Empress’ foot stomp notably caused a slight quake, which Terra rode out with a wobble and a giggle.

Bertha shot the other three annoyed looks before she huffed.

I coughed. “You don’t need to imply it’s magic Bertha, just tell Terra how you feel when you channel your ground-type energy before unleashing an Earthquake. Also, a small demonstration isn’t out of order,” I said, working to keep her on task.

Bertha slumped slightly but nevertheless did as asked.

I turned to Yolanda. “Also, it doesn’t just need to be channelled through the feet. For Larvitar, Pupitar or Tyranitar there will be a natural instinct to generate it with a stomp, but it isn’t actually needed.”

“No?” asked Yolanda.

I shook my head. “It helps propagate it into the ground, along with keeping it as part of the pokemon’s movepool more easily, but that’s due to psychosomatic tricks,” I said.

“O-oh?” she asked uncertainly.

I considered what I said. “Ah, psychosomatic means the interaction of the mind and body, so you can do a movement or set an action to trigger a response mentally. An easy one I can think of for us is rubbing your tongue on the roof of your mouth can be soothing or even help stop a sneeze.”

Yolanda blinked and her face shifted. “Huh, it works,” she said after another moment.

“Rhyperior!” said Bertha, crossing her arms and indicating her tail to Terra, and Yolanda stepped forward to involve herself with the lesson. I turned my attention to the other pokemon in my roster.

“Tide, you’re going to be up today thanks to your special ability to slip out of status effects when you’re wet,” I said. My giant Lapras preened at this and I made my way around to the others, making sure they were used to the feel of the bond and how they’d receive orders through it.

From a cursory run-through of their abilities, I knew there was a lot that I hadn’t used with them as yet, like the ability to give out orders faster. I needed to relay orders and make the most of this.

I worked with them, testing the limits and speed with which I could give orders. Don and Zephyr were perhaps the most impacted, as I could grant them greater awareness of their flight paths, and what small adjustments would mean for them with angles of attack or even how to abort strikes at nigh on the last moment.

Another shockwave rippled out and a cheer rose up from the team that I’d assigned to Yolanda and Terra.

I turned to find Empress leaning down and nuzzling into Terra who was giggling, while Yolanda danced around them. “You did it! You did it! You did it!” she cheered.

This looked so enjoyable, that Bertha decided to join Yolanda, causing her own quakes to ripple out with each hop, skip, and twirl she did around the mother-daughter pair.

I chuckled as Yolanda realised she had encouraged Bertha, but Empress quickly ended Bertha’s antics with a harsh bark.

“Sorry,” Yolanda said to Empress with a bow before darting in and snatching up Terra for a hug. She grinned as she twirled around and this time Spot danced around her feet in celebration. When she was done her stomach rumbled and she blushed.

Then she glanced around. “Oh, sorry for taking your pokemon during your training session!” she said.

I waved it off. “We can do some more work after breakfast,” I said. I glanced about the reserve, “Speaking of which, I think it’s time I fed the team, give me a hand?” I said.

Titan and Bertha quickly formed up a raised platform where I could lay the bowls and trays of food out, and before long all of my pokemon were happily munching away.

I waved to Yolanda to follow me back to the hotel. Yolanda kept shooting me a look as we walked.

“What?” I asked after the third instance of catching her peering at me with a smile before looking away.

“I’m just happy you’re my big brother,” she said with a smile.

I blushed and waved a hand at her. “Aww, you!” I said.

She leaned in and hugged me. “And I’m going to become just as strong as you one day!” she declared.

“Ohoho? Well, you better watch my match this afternoon closely so you know just how far you have to go!” I declared.

Yolanda bobbed her head up and down. “I will!” she said, her eyes flashing with determination.

I shot her a smile. I kind of hope she did it, but then again, maybe I should be encouraging her to aim higher?

Yolanda hopped along, obviously feeling good. “So! What tricks do you have to be aware of against Karen tomorrow?” she asked with the air of a teacher getting ready to grade a student’s response.

I raised an eyebrow, huh, interesting, she probably had kept track of Karen’s matches as a strong female rising up the ranks. I decided to humour her as we walked. “So Umbreon has the most tricks, with it being known as a ‘super tank’ that is a sponge to damage. It has the ability to fall asleep and wake up quickly which helps it out alot! There is also Houndoom who has some potent—” I began rattling off some traits that I’d worked out last night with Kaede, Sabrina. Falkner and Walker.

Yolanda listened and then happily chimed in with a rather clever point. “You might have missed it as she’s only done it once, but watch out for her Absol when it uses Perish Song, as she can swap it out with Baton Pass to a pokemon that is already weak.”

I frowned. “That sounds like a terrible idea,” I said.

“It would be if the other pokemon isn’t able to get off Destiny Bond,” she said.

“Ah,” I said. I nudged Yolanda. “Thanks, I missed that,” I said mentally marking it down as a move that would help only if she was already ahead or looking to deny a strong pokemon like Bertha.

Hmmm, there might be some potential for me to use Perish Song myself though, if the situation was right… Especially if I could... well that would be kind of evil, but... I rather liked the idea. I'd need to float it past Tide later.

I toyed with the idea for a while before glancing at Yolanda once more.

“What else do you know?” I asked and she beamed at me.

When we reached the breakfast table Yolanda’s smile was fixed in place and I had my own pleased smile.

Yolanda really would be a terror when she went on her Journey if she could advise me on things like this already.

When it came time to depart for the match, I walked through the city with my family, their friends, and my cohort of support staff. One thing that stood out to me was how my siblings all clustered around a package that they were trying to keep out of my sight. Each time I turned they closed in on themselves like a pack of Tauros around their young when a Mightyena pack was spotted.

I let it be, knowing that it was something they wanted to ‘surprise me’ with later. I shot Sabrina an amused look before flicking my eyes behind me.

She patted my arm. “Let them have their fun,” she said. I just nodded, wondering what they’d made. Perhaps another banner with my face on it for them to cheer with?

Instead of sating my curiosity, I marched on.

As soon as I got to the actual street, I noticed a change.

Where before banners showcasing all of the trainers taking part had hung on poles and bannisters about town, now only those of Karen and myself could be found.

There were so many people around that it made the walk up the main street much slower than I’d planned, with almost everyone calling out to me.

“Are you going to Mega Evolve today?” shouted more than one person.

“Is Bertha coming out again?” called a trio of women.

“Please! Use Gawain! We love him!” chanted a cluster of kids that must be the local Bug Catcher Chapter House.

“Empress is the best! There is no contest!” chanted another group as I got closer to the stadium.

My family took it all in and Suzie clambered up onto my shoulders to take in the festival-like atmosphere. “Wow! They have a Sanchez mohawk!” she shouted, pointing to a group of bikers that had beards and moustaches in various shapes, all of which Sanchez had adopted over the past year.

The closer we got to the stadium the more dense the crowds became, with people beginning to part around me like I was a boulder in a stream as I advanced.

People waved and cheered and roared with passion.

I smiled and waved, as my family took it all in from slightly behind me, or in Suzie’s case, atop my shoulders.

“Wow,” she whispered. “There’s a lot of people cheering for you, big brother!”

“I know,” I replied, glancing up at her. “And it’s nice isn’t it?” I said.

She nodded. “Uhn! Everyone knows how amazing my brother is!” she shouted, throwing her hands up in the air.

I grinned and led our group through the priority gate. From there most of my family had to break off but Yolanda, Crystal, Greta, and Missy came with me.

The rest of my family approached me before they headed for the stands. “Brock! We got you something for tonight!” said Salvadore proudly.

I raised my eyebrow and accepted the package that was held up by no less than six different sets of hands. “Alright, colour me intrigued,” I said, ripping it open to find a jacket with a fur lining to it that made it look almost tribal.

Along the front and back, two Tyranitars were etched into the leather in roaring poses. The zipper was a Noctowl with its wings extended up above its head, while each button was a small Geodude.

I whistled. “Wow! Where did you find this?” I asked, stunned at the amazing piece of clothing that they’d handed me. This was not what I’d been expecting.

Their little faces lit up with delight at this and Salvadore beamed. “We spoke with Mrs. Monique and she sorted it out for us!”

I nodded. That made a lot of sense. I slid the jacket on and found it fit me perfectly.

I raised my arms and flexed with it. “Damn, this is amazing,” I said. I almost felt like a shounen character getting a power-up with this costume change.

Which… now that I thought about it, I had grown stronger as a trainer through this tournament. I knelt down and wordlessly opened my arms.

My family piled in for a hug and I laughed. “I love it!” I declared loudly.

They cheered and broke off. “Wear it to the fight! We’ll be watching!” they shouted as they moved off. I waved and when they left my sight I turned towards the waiting attendant.

“Alright,” I said, accepting their silent urging to go through the normal procedures of locking in my team and allowing the pre-match show to get properly underway.

I licked my lips and reconsidered the team I’d assembled for this fight.

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

All of them had their parts to play, but what would be important now would be who would come out first.

We’d tossed around the idea of Karen trying to repeat her earlier feat of Mega Evolution early on. but I’d waved it away as too risky for her this time around. She knew I was more experienced with Mega Evolutions, so it couldn’t be her only ace, or one she threw out recklessly.

I toyed with the fur peeking out from the sleeves of the jacket, willing away the time before my match talking shop with my entourage of trainers. I kind of missed having A.J. here, with his blunt insights and point of view.

Also, without him, my entourage was entirely made up of girls.

Damn, I needed more guy friends. I tilted my head, wondering what Brawly was up to.

Why didn’t I have…

My mind conjured up Surge, sitting in an interrogation room with a bright orange jumpsuit.

Right…

Maybe I should call him?

Damn, I hadn’t spoken with Visquez since that initial call… I was kind of dropping the ball there, wasn’t I? I sighed. Now wasn’t the time to think about such things.

I pushed them to the side and turned my attention to watching the prematch entertainment that was being fed to my waiting room.

When the time came to head out I rose, gave the girls a nod, Sabrina a kiss and then turned and marched out. The steady thrum of my heart made me realise that I was looking forward to this.

For months now I’d been working with my pokemon, growing and learning.

I’d wanted to see how far I could go, and it turned out we could go pretty damn far.

When I reached the end of the tunnel I was asked to wait as the announcer introduced me.

The introduction itself was lost as the crowd roared and stomped as I stepped forth.

I looked around, waving and smiling. My off hand clenched and twirled small pebbles in my pocket, as I focused on just circling my rock energy.

My smile grew when I caught sight of my family with their banner in the mid-section with Kaede, Walker, Falkner and a few other notable trainers sitting and watching on.

I held up a fist above my head and the crowd if anything got louder. I looked at the awaiting podium and an idea formed in my mind.

Feeling cocky, I did the signature entrance leap I used at my gym from metres away to land on the podium before rising up to my full height, only to find no one waiting for me on the opposite podium.

Sadly I’d been the first called out, meaning there was no opponent to lock eyes with.

“And now! The Dark Rapidash of the tournament, but also the hidden gem! Give it up for Karen of Lavender Town!” shouted an announcer as I tried to push away my embarrassment.

The cheers were still present for her, but they didn’t have the same volume behind them. Karen sauntered out with her trademark smirk, barely deigning to even look at the crowd.

She did a small stutter step and suddenly she was a few feet forward and standing on her own podium, a flash of something flaring to my senses.

Was that her version of movement with dark energy? I’d never seen her do that.

Karen and I locked eyes and the world faded away.

I tilted my head and raised my eyebrows in question.

Karen opened her mouth and the crowd fell silent, waiting for what she was going to say. The drop in noise caught her attention and she looked around. There wasn’t any cringing or curling in on herself as she realised how many people were watching and waiting.

There was however hesitation, as she paused on my family. Something flickered through her eyes before she looked back at me. She chewed her lip.

She searched my face and I realised she was actually having to think about it.

Eventually, she nodded, her eyes staying locked with mine and I realised that against all expectations, she wasn’t going to target Lola.

I nodded back and just like that, I felt my entire body unclench as tension I hadn’t even realised I’d had was released.

She snorted. “So? Upgraded your wardrobe finally? Got sick of looking like a tree in fall?” she taunted and I blinked.

Well, I certainly hadn’t been expecting her to comment on my fashion decisions.

I glanced over her attire, shit. I needed something to say otherwise I’d look like I was slow. But fashion insults? Damn, what had Monique said to that one girl that got too big headed during the contest?

I smirked and raised my chin. “Says the woman that looks like she shops at the pokemart, did that top go on clearance ,cause no one else wanted to wear it?

nstead of reeling at my response Karen grinned wider, making me think that trading barbs with her wasn’t the smartest call. She was feeding on the energy, and I could feel dark energy beginning to radiate out of her. “Hoho, should have known you’d work it out. Good to see you’ve got some bite in you. Don’t be a bitch about it, come at me hard, Brock.”

She leaned forward and licked her lips playfully while her eyes darted to a section of the stands that had to be where Sabrina was sitting. “I can take it, just don’t be surprised if I blow your socks off!” she said with a fanged grin.

I snorted. “After I’m done here, I’ll go back to ignoring you,” I replied coolly.

That got a twitch of her brow and I mentally marked it down as a point for me.

We both grabbed our first pokeballs as the referee went through his spiel, albeit with a pointed request. “Keep it friendly you two, I don’t want to see anything like previous matches,” the ref said while pointedly looking at Karen. “Let’s make things entertaining,” he said.

I nodded and the referee accepted that. “Very well, send out your pokemon,” he said, holding up his flags.

I hurled out my first choice. “Go, Tide!” I commanded.

“Let’s go, GENGAR!” roared Karen as her pokemon took to the field.

Both pokemon locked eyes and the flags dropped, signalling the start of the match.