When Gary returned to the gym he felt more than ready for the coming challenge. He walked in with his best pokemon at his side. Squirtle was practically strutting after the last few days of fighting other trainers. They'd made some real strides together, and Gary had let his pokemon know how pleased he was with their progress.
"Go Gary go!" The girls gave them one last cheer before entering the reception once more. This time there were a lot more trainers lingering around. Gary couldn't help but pat himself on the back from his earlier foresight to use the car to get ahead of others and get a lead on Ash.He still hadn't seen Damian or Greta who'd chosen Bulbasaur yet. Not that they mattered as much. It was Ash he had to stay ahead of.When he made it to the front the receptionist greeted him with a smile. "Ah! If it isn't Gary Oak from Pallet town. Are you ready for your matches?""You betcha!" he said with a pump of his fist. The woman nodded."Sign here and then you can go through the main trainer doors. You will be called out for your match. Good luck!" she said as Gary signed the form.When he turned to the door he found himself staring down at stonework that featured a roaring Onix and a beckoning Graveller."Squirt!" croaked his pokemon fiercely.Gary nodded to it. "That's right Squirtle! Let's go!"They walked through the door to find a large hallway that had benches along the walls. On each wall rules were listed for what was and was not allowed at the gym. Posters with Machamp pumping up before a match with large crosses over them. On the other the side pokemon overcoming incredible odds as they fought through for the win decorated the wall. Some faces and pokemon came up on a wall-mounted screen along with the date they had won their badges.Gary smirked. "I'm going on this wall!" he said. Squirtle nodded seriously.When Gary got close he found an older girl with a headset on with a clipboard in hand. "Gary Oak from Pallet town? Ready for your match?""Yes!" he said, slightly annoyed at being questioned once more.She shot him a grin. "How do you want to be introduced? I'm the hype stylist and have a whole range of intros ready! I'm going to use it to announce you to the crowd. So did you want a standard intro?"Gary almost nodded his head before what she said registered. "Any introduction?"She smirked. "Gotta be short and sweet."Gary felt a grin stretch his face. "I know exactly what I want." He then whispered it to her causing her to snicker."Nice one kid. Alright, I'll wave you in when I'm done warming the crowd up," she winked at him.Gary nodded back, more than happy to wait as he was introduced to the world."Annnnnnnnd Now! Ladies and Gentlemen! The greatest trainer to come out of Pallet since the Champion of old! He's running oh so hot! The one! The only! GARY MOTHER—a loud beep cut over the woman for a moment—ING OAK!"Gary grinned as people laughed and cheered him on. Gary looked forwards and found his path lit up with a bracketed set of lights that let him walk down through the crowd from the high position. People clapped and whistled. A few people cheered and used the actual nickname he'd tried to slip in. The girl didn't seem to mind the swearing at all. That was way cool."G! A! R! Y!" spelled out his girlfriends who had claimed an entire section of the stands at the front for him.He waved at his adoring fans and put his hands to his lips. "Mwah! Mwah! Thanks for coming!"He reached the arena itself and walked onto the battlefield. He wouldn't get a podium yet but he didn't mind. You worked up to having the podium for the big matches. Across from him a trainer from the gym strode forward.The guy looked very laid back. He had ridiculously tanned skin and blond hair that made him look weird. Gary had been expecting a hiker-styled trainer, not someone that looked like they just came in from the surf."Sup little man, ready to throw down? I'm Gym trainer Jackson, your first match up!" He gave a wink and a thumbs up.Gary merely sniffed, selecting his pokeball. "Go Rattata!" His pokemon landed with a ready pose, mouth open and tail up and alert."Ho? Someone is eager. Alright, ref you ready?"Gary looked up to see a kid around his age as the referee. She kind of looked like Brock. Maybe a sister or something? The kid raised her flags and Jackson tossed out his own pokemon."Let's do this Geodude! First match, first win, coming up!" The geodude that appeared raised its arms and roared before punching the air in front of it."Heh! You wish, old man!" snarked Gary as the flags dropped. "Rattata! Go into Quick Attack straight up!" Rattata sprinted forward and launched into a tackle that threw the geodude back."Grapple with it, Geodude!" shouted Jackson. The Geodude swept its arms together only for Rattata to leap backwards."Nice one Rattata! Now, use Tail Whip!" He'd looked up a few matches and while he didn't really see the reason online, a number of people seemed to agree that this was a good move near the start of a match.Geodude shifted slightly and dropped its arms as it glowered at the tail that twitched back and forth. Gary nodded. "Another Quick Attack but circle it and take it from its weak spot!"Just like they had practised and practically perfected against other trainers, Rattata sprinted around the slower pokemon to get in the blind spot."Geodude, use Defence Curl," said Jackson as Rattata closed in on its back. A small shell of energy surrounded the rocky pokemon and this time Rattata's attack didn't seem to do as much damage."Back out and Tail Whip again!""Geodude, Tackle!" Jackson swept his hand, and the Geodude leapt forward on the offensive."Dodg—" Rattata tried to skip out of the way only to have the wider grasp of the Geodude come into play. Rattata was launched backwards from the hit but quickly shook off the hit. "Hang in their Rattata! Give it another Quick Attack!"This time Jackson's Geodude wasn't able to ignore the attack with a Defence Curl. Rattata was quick enough to slip in and nail the pokemon in the back where it was weak. Gary pumped his fist as the geodude wavered and fell unconscious. "Yes! That's the way, Rattata!"Jackson withdrew his pokemon. "Nice work kid, time for another challenger to take over!"Jackson turned and walked out as the referee raised her flag towards Gary. "Gary mother—" the beep cut over her words "—Oak of Pallet town was victorious and will advance to the next challenge."Gary grinned as the crowd giggled. Jackson, who had been steadily walking away, turned and rushed over. Gary could just make out the whispered conversation. Apparently, she wasn't supposed to swear, and the announcer really shouldn't have done what she did. Gary could see the pink-haired woman laughing while shooting worried glances up towards the back of the stands.The referee blushed and nodded before waving to the next challenger. "And now from the Pewter City Gym! Forrest!"A kid that looked like a mini Brock strode forward. This time Gary was certain the other kid was Brock's brother. The older kid sniffed and raised a pokeball. "You're a thousand lightyears too early to take on Brock!""That's not—" Gary raised a finger to correct the kid only for a pokeball to be pulled back and loosened. "Go Sandshrew!""Stay out Rattata! You've got this!" shouted Gary."Begin!" shouted the ref."Sandshrew! Use Sand Attack!" shouted the boy."Rattata, evade with Quick attack!" Sadly, unlike with a normal tackle this attack was much tougher to dodge and his pokemon got a spray of sand to the eyes. It then missed a step and took a tumble. It rose and rubbed at its eyes in frustration which was apparently what Forrest had been waiting for."Use Rollout!""Rattata! Roll to the side now!" Thankfully Gary's pokemon obeyed him and threw itself out of the tumbling path of the now rolled up Sandshrew. The pokemon rolled past only to spin in place and pivot like a maddened pinball at an arcade."Rattata, get ready to leap again!" Gary ordered as he eyed the spinning up Sandshrew. The Sandshrew bit into the ground and began rolling. Gary licked his lips.Just a second longer…"Now!"Once more his Rattata leapt to the side and evaded."Arc around!" shouted Forrest, causing his pokemon to not lose speed and instead turn in an arc that saw it lining up on Rattata much faster now."Jum—" this time Gary was too slow and his Rattata took the hit head on. It went down with a cry and Gary had to sigh as it collapsed, unable to rise up. The ref raised a flag in Forrest's direction."The Gym Trainer has defeated Rattata! Withdraw your pokemon and send out your next pokemon!""Haha! Yes, nicely done Sandshrew! We're schooling this kid!" shouted Forrest.Gary twitched. "Alright no more Mr nice guy! Go Squirtle!"Squirtle leapt from his side and onto the arena as Rattata was taken off. Gary gave the pokeball a quick pat. "Don't worry buddy Squirtle's going to avenge you!""Squirtle!" shouted the turtle pokemon. Across from him, the Sadshrew continued to spin slowly, staying in the rollout-ready form."Go Gary go!" chorused the girls as a number of them stood and began another routine, pom poms flailing around. "Fight! Fight! Fight!" The crowd rose to cheer with them at that and Gary found himself really pleased that he'd been able to charm the girls so well."You've got this Gary!" called a voice that almost had Gary taking his eyes off field. Had that been gramps?"Begin!"Gary snapped back to the match and swept his hand out. "Layer the area with Bubble!" His pokemon instantly began to fill the space between them with bubbles that would act like landmines."Circle wide, Sandshrew!" The rolled up pokemon spun around the danger zone and instead came at Squirtle from the side."Leap back and keep up the bubbles!" It was a shame he didn't yet have a stronger move, but he knew from talking with trainers for years at his Gramps' lab that water-type moves were super effective against rock types.This time the Sandshrew was coming on too fast and raced right through the bubbles. It kept up enough speed however to clip Squirtle on the way through. It spun up and onto its feet before shaking its head and giving a small cry of pain."Squirtle, go again!" Squirtle shot off another round of bubbles straight into the back of the Sandshrew putting it down."Tch! Good work Sandshrew!" said Forrest before withdrawing it. Gary grinned as the crowd shouted at his victory. Forrest selected another pokemon. "Go Diglett!"A mole pokemon very similar to the pokemon that Gary had gained appeared and chirped out its name. The flags rose, then dropped, and the battle resumed."Mudslap!" called Forrest."Withdraw!" shouted Gary causing his pokemon to turtle up by pulling in its head and limbs into the shell. The mud thwacked onto the shell but should have mostly avoided having any effect on his squirtle. "Now, use Bubble again!"The Diglett took the hit and Gary pumped his fist."Use Scratch!""Keep up the bubbles!" Gary commanded firmly and just like that the mole pokemon was taken out. Forrest slumped slightly and Gary grinned. "Ha! That'll teach you about using lightyears the wrong way!" he saidForrest gave him a look of confusion before groaning. "Oh, damn it you're right!" He put his hands to his face. "Urgh! I've been using that line for a week!"The referee giggled at him and then coughed. "Trainer Forrest you may leave the field. Challenger Gary, are you ready to face the Gym Leader?"Gary held up one hand and plucked a potion out to use to clean off his Squirtle's shell. It probably wasn't that bad but it paid to go into a fight as strong as he could. "Alright, I'm good now."The Referee raised a flag and lights around the stadium fell dark with an ominous 'Choom' that echoed as people fell quiet. Each light fell until Gary found himself alone in a sea of darkness. The ground underneath his feet rumbled and he swallowed."You challenge the Pewter City Gym?" said a voice that filled the room.Gary looked up in time to see another light turn on and land directly on Brock as he stalked forwards, his face locked into a frown as if Gary was beneath him. Gary straightened his back."I am! I'm here to claim the Boulder Badge!" Gary said.Brock descended to the lower seats but when he came to the divider, instead of dropping the stairs, he leapt over the edge and landed in the trainer section of the arena in a perfect three-point landing. Despite himself, Gary was impressed.Brock rose up, and Gary was suddenly reminded that there was a guy that had taken on the Champ and won. He swallowed as he stared across the field at Brock."Are you ready?" A pokeball enlarged in his grip and Gary nodded.Brock swept his pokeball forward and then caught it as it opened and bounced back. Gary's heart pulsed as Brock revealed a Geodude that punched the air before crying out a roar."Begin!" shouted the ref after checking them over once more. "Squirtle, attack with Bubble!""Izumi, evade and use Tackle!" Gary wanted to say that wouldn't work Rock pokemon were too slow.Then the geodude hopped around the various bubbles that his Squirtle was using and launched into the turtle's shell. "Squirtle!" he cried in shock before staggering back with a low growl. Geodude grinned."Geodude, use Iron Defence!" called Brock. Geodude clenched up and a small circle of energy formed around its body."Quick, use Bubble again!""Now Rollout to the side!" commanded Brock before Geodude could be hit by the slow hitting bubbles. It tightened into a ball and rolled to the side before spinning about and straight at Squirtle."Dodge it by jumping!"Geodude swept past where his Squirtle had been before arcing around. "Create a wall of bubbles! Squirtle!" Gary was surprised he was being pushed this hard. Brock wasn't a push over and despite the type advantage he was being pushed to connect with an attack. He'd need faster options or some way to guarantee the hit.That made him decide to change things up, by turtling up. "Use Withdraw! Then foam yourself up with bubbles like in the bath!""Squirtle?" his pokemon said in confusion."Just do as I said!"Geodude rolled around the bubbles and came straight on as Squirtle ducked its head back in and foamed up the shell. This time he allowed the hit but Geodude obviously took it worse as it popped a number of bubbles.Geodude reeled back with a harsh cry before falling to the ground and groaning. For a second Gary thought the pokemon looked at Brock, but Brock merely nodded and made a stern expression before raising his pokeball. Gary felt something within him unclench as Brock withdrew his pokemon. That had been closer than he would have liked. That pokemon was strong!"You have a good bond with your pokemon and can adapt well," said Brock as he selected another pokemon.Gary grunted at that. "Course we do! Squirtle and I are gonna go all the way!""Hmmm is that so? Well, you still have one more pokemon to overcome before you get my approval. Go Onix!"From the pokeball a huge snake appeared and roared in rage before turning its head to look down upon Gary and his Squirtle. "Ooooooooooonn!" It screamed before settling back."Trainers, are you ready?" Gary nodded, knowing that he'd have to settle this with Squirtle, his other pokemon wouldn't be able to handle things if it got past him. Maybe they could wear it down but he didn't want to barely win, he wanted to crush this gym challenge!"Begin!""Onix, use Rock Throw!"Gary opened his mouth to counter with Bubble, only to realise how bad that would play out as large rocks rose up and were thrown forward. "Squirtle run! Get out of there!"His pokemon leapt forward and waddled for all its worth as rock pummelled the ground behind it. "Onnnn!" roared the giant pokemon as it was denied the chance to crush his Squirtle.Gary gritted his teeth before seeing how it hadn't moved, and now Squirtle was kind of close to its tail. He'd need to get way closer though to make a hit get through. "Squirtle! Jump on its back and run up to blast it with Bubble!"His Squirtle didn't question him this time thankfully and to the surprise of everyone made the leap on a single bound before latching onto a much higher segment."Shake it off, Onix!" ordered Brock."Hang in there and you've got this Squirtle!" Gary countered. He clenched his fist as the giant snake threw itself about, a few times he saw his little guy hanging on as bubbles continued to pound in before Onix gave one last mournful cry and collapsed to its side.The ground rumbled and Gary threw his hands up."Yes! We did it!""Gary! Gary! He's our man! If he can't do it, no one can!" cheered the girls."Way to go Gary!" cried out the voice. This time Gary was able to look but he couldn't see who he was expecting to see. Had his Gramps actually come?Gary waved to the crowd. "Thank you, thank you! Squirtle and I will be here for another day or so! Autographs can be gained from the pokecenter!" he said to his adoring fans as they cheered for him."Isn't that right… Squirtle?" He glanced about for his starter only to see it still laying on his side. Gary gasped as onix was removed. He sprinted forward realising that his pokemon might have gotten crushed from hanging on where it had!"Squirtle!" He sprinted over to it and swept it up in his hands. "Hey! Hey Squirtle you okay buddy?"His pokemon gave a weak, "Squuuuirtle?""Ha! Ha you're going to be alright buddy!" Gary said as relief swept through him. He cuddled his Squirtle and relaxed."May I check him over?" asked a deep voice. Gary looked up to find Brock kneeling down with a concerned look and a potion in his hands."Oh? Uhm sure, if that's okay with Squirtle!" His pokemon nodded slowly. Brock reached out, not taking Squirtle from Gary but rather running his hands around the shell and face. He pressed lightly on each limb and watched for Squirtle's face for any reaction.In the end his Squirtle merely yawned loudly. "Heh. I think the little guy's just all battled out!"Brock stood and waved to the crowd that had stopped cheering when Gary had cried out.Brock spoke loudly, "He's okay, just tuckered out from his fights!"The crowd clapped at that and breathed their own sighs of relief. Brock offered Gary a hand up and Gary took it to stand still feeling slightly off balance at the fright. It was also weird to have Brock suddenly there and helping out."Uhm, thanks for that," Gary said quietly."No problem. I'd advise some rest and let the Nurse look him over, but I doubt there's any issues. That was a good battle plan though.""I was worried he might have gotten hurt from it," Gary said"Nah, Squirtle's healthy, that means his shell can stand up to a lot of abuse. Just make sure something like a Kingler doesn't get him in its claws. Then you might be in trouble. Normal force from a large pokemon merely falling on it? Not as much of a risk. Once he's a Blastoise? Forget about anything damaging his shell except the most powerful pokemon."Gary considered that and said, "Huh, that's… good to know, thanks.""You had some good plans with laying out bubbles but your mobility could do with some work.""Squirtle's kind of slow right now, I know."Brock wavered his hand. "Eh. There are a number of ways around that. I use water moves to make Shin move faster but you can also use techniques like rollout only more like a spin for your Squirtle. Try it out some time, yeah?"Gary nodded again. "Hey yeah, that would work. Thanks!"Brock nodded before turning to the referee who was now holding a small case. Gary noted with her standing next to Brock that she was obviously related to Forrest and Brock. She opened the case in her hands. Within the Boulder badge sat on a cushion. Brock picked it up and offered it with both hands towards Gary."Congratulations on your victory, you have demonstrated the skills and knowledge to a degree that I hereby recognise you officially earning the Boulder badge.""Yes!" shouted Gary. He punched the air with one hand raising the badge while the other held Squirtle as it waved its arms about in celebration.[/hr]I stared at Gary Oak as he celebrated. A few people still called out to me saying I'd put on a good show which was part of what being Gym Leader was about. But mostly, I tried to make it worth it for new trainers.Trainers like Gary.
He'd done well. I'd pushed him to the limits of what I could justifiably do as a first badge challenge, and he'd done great. It was strange to see a kid that, in the games and cartoons, would rise up to Champion level. And here he was just starting out on his journey, but then again, each day trainers that potentially had the same chance walked through my doors. This was just a name I knew that would do well given the chance."So want to get a victory photo?" I asked as he waved to his… Huh, he actually had cheerleaders. That was kinda weird.Gary nodded. "Yeah, my girlfriends can join in!" he said with a wave as they trundled down giving giggles that sounded fake to my ears. Part of me twigged at him referring to them as his 'girlfriends'. Was this… was this safe for Gary?I gave them all looks as they approached, but none of them got touchy with him. One even noticed my attention and approached. "Great match Gym Leader!" She smiled, and I grunted at her, wondering what her plan was.She glanced back at the girls. "Looks like he really learned a lot from battling you. I don't think I learnt as much from battling your dad when I started out."I grunted again and swallowed down how that was the point of being a good gym leader. She didn't say anything for a moment before shaking her head and pulling out her purse. "My card."I frowned as she offered me a business card.I glanced at it, uncertain how it would change… Oh?It read;'Fiona Riley'Bodyguard, Nanny, Protective services for Youths'Discreet, League approved, and Experienced'Her number was listed and I accepted it to give it a more serious look over. "You're not his girlfriend?""Oh, I like to think we're friends with him but well," She gave Gary a fond look as he made poses that had the girls that were distracting him coo over, "He's still very young no?""Ah, you were hired by Professor Oak then?""We actually approached him. Sometimes it pays to do some legwork. He approved, pending our ability to stay close to Gary.""Huh, I might have to hire you for Forrest…" I trailed off as I saw him lingering and looking on enviously at Gary and his 'girlfriends. "Right never mind that. Maybe for Yolanda's turn on her journey.""Oh?" she looked over to see Yolanda watching off to the side in amusement, "She helps out in the gym? Isn't that just precocious!" Fiona said.It had been innocent, but with a touch of mischievousness. "Well she'd be more than welcome to come with us… but she might learn more than you bargained for. Girls tend to pick some things up a lot earlier after all." She cocked her hip and smirked at me.I gave the cheerleaders another look over as a suspicion formed in my mind that they would be, as the historians of my old world liked to say, 'All very, very good friends'."I see," I said neutrally. Then again I had over-thought a lot of things with women so maybe I was just… Yeah no. These women were all in a group relationship and Fiona was basically reminding me that while to Gary it was just 'weird girl stuff', a young girl would notice and understand what was going on. Girl's typically matured much earlier after all.I hummed in thought. I didn't really want to think about how exposing Yolanda to a wider view of the world, particularly that part of people's lives might affect her. There were some things a big brother didn't need to know. Or was I supposed to know that as her pseudo-parent?I pushed that aside for now, and instead posed for the camera as we took a photo and sent it off to Professor Oak to signify Gary had passed one of the challenges on his circuit. I shot said man a pointed look as he stayed sitting up in the stands. He hadn't stopped clapping since Squirtle was announced as alright."Hey, before I go," Gary said near the exit. I raised an eyebrow in an invitation for him to ask his question. "Any chance I could buy or earn one of your ancient pokemon?"I hummed at that, "I might consider it, but you'd have to do both. Buy and earn it. Wouldn't want a bad trainer to have access to a rare pokemon like an Omanyte or Kabuto. Tell you what, you earn another four badges through the other Gym's gauntlet challenges without losing once, and I'll consider it."That would most likely have him facing the Cerulean sisters, Surge, Erika, Sabrina or Manny. Sophia in the small town on the Cycling road was also a possibility. A few of those names would be tougher than the others."Alright! I'm out of here!" Gary said.I shook the thought off and waved Gary away. "So long Gary, come back if you want a tougher challenge!""Count on it! I'm coming for that Bejewelled badge!" cheered Gary as he and his protective detail departed.And just like that Gary Oak was gone.I hummed at the odd feeling. I'd seen countless other trainers do exactly that. It was a strange feeling to be the roadbump that they passed over. They were supposed to clear it and move on. It made me remember my own journey. Passing a gym was a serious milestone.For some reason Gary doing it made it all the more poignant. I sighed and shook my head. I had another six matches at least to handle. I clapped my hands together, exhaled and inhaled before turning to prepare for the next gym match."Brock! Brock! I think I need your help!" Alexa's voice chirped from the radio I had at my hip in case of emergencies.I plucked it up and spoke into it, "What's the matter?""There's… a lot of trainers here.. Like a lot… I can't count them all. Is this normal?"I frowned. That didn't sound right at all. I turned towards the reception area. Just another thing to handle hopefully. When I arrived and looked through the one-way mirror I had to gape."What the hell?"Usually, you only saw twenty or thirty trainers queuing up. But now? Now trainers were jammed into the area and spilled out into the outside area. There were at least a hundred trainers milling about. Some were arguing, jostling each other as they moved about, and some were already storming off with another trainer to have a fight outside at the battle courts. Their eyes having locked.This was not normal at all.Janine appeared at my side and tapped me on the ribs. "Sharpen your awareness…" she trailed off. "What is going on?"I bit my lip as a horrible conclusion formed in my mind, "A trainer surge… shit." Then something struck me as odd."Wait, you mean these trainers snuck up on you?" I said teasingly.Janine blanched. "What!? No! I just don't have an information network established yet!"I raised a brow at that. "Are you setting up spies in my city?"Janine squirmed before coughing. "I think I hear Dennis calling me back to the office to finish up my paperwork!" She threw a smoke bomb and ran away.I chuckled, feeling a bit better as I turned back to my newest problem. I'd need to find out what was going on here. This was highly unusual for so many trainers to turn up at once.
62
A trainer surge was the term used in the event of a sudden spike where the trainers that you would normally see over an extended period of time —say a month or even three months—descended on a gym all at once.When I looked at my schedule, which was quickly filling up, and at the still-waiting trainers, I knew something was off.There was a feature on the webpage that linked into our booking sheet that allowed people to use the pokenet but most people either came to the gym and made their booking in person, or they called. The only people I could think that actually called for setting up Gym meetings however was the local pokemon academy. People still hadn't grasped Rachel's work with the pokenet page and stuck with what they knew worked.This meant that an already booked month of matches with what I was already looking at was raising red flags. I stared out at the sea of people that were still waiting to book in, let alone challenge me today. I only had another five matches for the day. It was only the start of the second week. This was abnormal, and part of me wondered how many people were actually coming.Just how popular would my gym be? Rachel had suggested more people but how was I to anticipate them? I chewed my lip. There… there was a wayMy eyes paused on a number of the pokemon that were idling around at their trainer's feet or shoulders. Their cries merely added to the cacophony of noise.I tapped Alexa on the shoulder. "Open the schedule book up for an extra two hours a day from Monday to Friday and run a session on Saturday from eight till twelve."She nodded, fingers flying on the keyboard accompanied by a furry of clicking from the mouse as she got to work. As the computer slowed down a small digital duck face appeared in the corner. I tapped on the screen. "Need you to keep the system from crashing Cyber, think you can sit on this computer for now?"The small cyberduck spun its body around in a nod before backflipping off the screen."What the?" said Alexa in surprise. She turned to look at me. "What was that?""That was part of our cyber security team. I own a few Porygon's that sit in the system and defend it from malware or viruses. They can also make sure things are running smoothly." I pointedly didn't tell her that they also stop people from copying large segments of information about the gym or my own findings.People can read and take notes but that takes a lot longer and puts them at greater risk of discovery. Someone coming in to steal information was more likely to try copy-pasting it onto an external before bugging out."I'm going to make some calls, how long before the next fight?""Twenty minutes?" Alexa said as she checked my schedule.I gave a short nod before jogging up the ramp to a doorway. I swiped my keycard over it before repeating the gesture at my own office. I shut the door before pouncing on the computer.'Local port office' I thought to myself as I looked up the phone number. I had an idea that wouldn't leave me alone and I was hoping I would be wrong.I'd seen the normal Hoot-hoot, Pidgey, Rattata, Oddish, and Bellsprout. I thought I'd even seen a girl with a Bulbasaur timidly holding onto her spot at the back of the line. A cyndaquil had also been present. All of that was considered normal and wouldn't have me worried.Those trainers from my brief sweep of the gym only made up a third of the current host. And that caused red flags in my mind.I'd very much noticed the Shroomish growling at another pokemon, the Vigoroth bouncing on its toes and looking around in anticipation. The Ninjask buzzing back and forth, the Aron barking, the Plusle and Minum playing underfoot. I would have had to have been deaf to not hear the Loudred shouting.And those were only the pokemon that I could see. All of these Pokemon were very much not found in this region."Port office, how may I help you?" came a crisp response a few rings into the call. I noted that there was no video for the call so they must have been operating under an older system."Hi! It's Brock from Pewter City. I was hoping to talk to the records department?" I said."G-gym Leader Brock? Of course! If you want I can get the Harbour master to help you! He iss a big fan of yours!" said the voice.I chuckled. "I don't think I need to disturb him. I need to talk to someone in records as soon as possible.""Very well, I'll transfer you now!" the phone dialled in my ear and I clicked my tongue after waiting a minute. I started typing away at my computer as I investigated the other vectors that people could enter Kanto from.The ships were the safest method, but some people did come via plane. I knew there wasn't currently a land route to Hoenn because there had to be at least two regions between us… also Hoenn was mostly surrounded by water from what I understood. Any region between us wouldn't be passable as yet. They'd be regions that were considered wild by the Rangers. I opened a tab for the Ranger home office just in case.I had just started to find the numbers for the people I would need to call when the call I was on was picked up. "Port record department, Gladys speaking?""Hi Gladys, it's Brock from Pewter City gym. I had a question I needed answered." I already had a suspicion but I wanted confirmation."Hmmm yes? What was your question?" said Gladys in a dry tone that all but informed me she wasn't a fan and was only asking as it was expected of her."Could I see a record of the new arrivals for the Kanto circuit? I think what I'm looking for is the average arrivals for the last… let's say, three months." That would be long enough to be just after my exhibition match. "Actually could I get the average for the last few years as well, if it wouldn't be too much to ask for?""... that's quite a bit of information to work through you realise?""I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."Gladys clicked her tongue. "I will check if I can with my superior. Who did you say you were?" she said in the tone of 'I don't have to do this but I don't want to cause trouble by saying that'. She'd probably shoot it off to the Harbour master in her own time. I made a note to call the front desk and prompt her to make sure it got done in a somewhat feasible time frame.I then jotted down the phone numbers of the other port offices. I'd have to deal with Fuchsia and … Neon City next? Then also call the airport for who to talk with about arrivals from them. Surely someone would be tracking that sort of information? Who though?A buzzer went off and I grimaced, I'd barely started on an email. I got up though, and when I passed the off-duty lounge I stuck my head in to find Stephen in his hiking gear blearily drinking some coffee. Missy was also there, lazying about on the couch with what looked like a fashion magazine. I couldn't see Daniel who I knew should be about somewhere. Then again, he might be dealing with medical appointments with his wife."Missy, I need you up front to help Alexa, we've got…" I actually wasn't sure what it was officially called. "A flood of trainers coming in and I need everyone sorting them out. If Alexa doesn't need help I need you to supervise the trainers on the courts.""I can help!" shouted a voice from behind the couch. Crystal popped up, a few sheets of paper flying up as she stood abruptly. I glanced down."What were you doing just now?""Just some homework the school gave me!" She kicked it into a pile before grinning at me. "I can work through it whenever I want now! Perks of straight A's at school and impressing the teacher! I get half days!"I raised a finger, unsure what to say. Should I congratulate her or call her school to check that she wasn't skiving and actually lying to me? Missy coughed a laugh into a raised hand. Stephen glanced up from his coffee. "Can I help?"I stared at him. "You're not one of my trainers. I can't ask that of you.""Ah, but I can use this for Professor Oak. He always wants me to observe trainers and pokemon interacting. The growing bond, such as it is! He's always looking for more data points or potential outliers!"A more insistent buzz on my wrist made me nod. "Sure! Talk with Rocko to see where we can use you. I need to get to a gym match." I looked from him to Crystal who was bouncing in place."And thanks." I started to walk off only to pause as I remembered something. "Crystal do you have a pokemon?"Crystal slumped. "Not yet, no?"I plucked a pokeball off my belt and tossed it to her without looking at it. "Take Selene, she's smart enough to understand what you'll need help with and can back you up in a pinch." I gave the room another look over. "Anyone seen Jan—"I reached behind me more out of cliche than any actual instinct and found myself palming Janine in the face.We stared at each other in surprise before I removed my hand from her face. "You need to be less predictable," I said as she nodded tightly. I then tapped my transceiver. "Can you call your father about Fuchsia port and if he's heard anything about how many pokemon trainers have arrived in Kanto?"She nodded and hurried away. I decided not to point out how red with embarrassment she was. I was too busy to stop and tease her. Instead, I got out of there, my mind already on the jobs I would need to get done in the next break. Behind me, Crystal released Selene while squealing with joy.I clapped my hands and pressed them together. I stared at the point at which they connected intently, my focus solely on them as everything else was pushed to the side. I felt muscles in my arms and neck clench up with how much pressure I was exerting. I held them for a moment longer before releasing them, looking up and inhaling a huge breath of air.I felt the giddy rush of new air in my lungs surge to the needed parts of my body. My mind blanked for a moment and then I returned to the moment. The weight of my thoughts vanished as I stood just out of sight. I was a moment from entering the arena where the crowd could spot me.Dennis shifted next to me. He'd seen this method of dealing with stress more than enough times to recognise it. He'd at first been sceptical of my claims but had tried it, and nowadays he even used it himself when he thought I couldn't see him."..." He opened his mouth and I shook my head."Can't talk about it right now. Got a gym match." I clicked the radio twice to signify I was ready.This was only a first gym badge but that shouldn't make it any less special. I wanted trainers to enjoy the moment, and not feel like my dealing with them was a chore I didn't want to do. This was the start of their journey in so many ways and the first obstacle so many worked towards.I stalked forward and barged through the gym doors, eyes lighting up on the trainer that stood tall against me. I immediately noted how he held a full six pokemon team on his belt. He also had richly decorated clothing along with being a bit older than normal for people starting out. I glanced at the screen subtly and noted that he had specifically asked for the single gym badge challenge and nothing else.I approached silently. When I stood across the arena floor from him I raised an eyebrow. This kid was obviously better off than the normal trainer. He hadn't revealed any of his pokemon. A sign he was used to pulling them back in cities. In the wild, you always kept one pokemon out for safety. But in the city the main threat was from trainers. So having one member of your team already out before the match risked revealing your hand early."You've come for the first gym challenge?" I said, testing his response.He nodded and smirked. "I'm here for the badge Brock! I'm not leaving here empty-handed!"I nodded at him before looking to Yolanda who was acting as the referee today. She had argued with me a few years back about wanting to help out more and I'd tried the argument of 'keeping her grades up'. She'd turned up at the next school term with a drive that saw her acing her exams and gaining the right to take part in the family business and some days off a week from school.Damn, I wished I'd had that sort of option in my past life. Then again Pokemon alone would have been pretty awesome.I caught the kid across from me shooting her a wink that she flatly ignored as she raised her flags. I breathed in, channeling my rock energy. Don't let him get to you. Don't send out Titan just to make him piss himself. Be the bigger man."Go Onix!""Heh! This'll be easy!" the kid said, taking way longer than he should have to eye off my selection. "Go Tentcruel!"I stared at the trainer and his pokemon. It was obviously a strong pokemon with how its skin glistened in the Gym lights and the tentacles were nice and wide. Way stronger than a first-level gym badge entailed. He shot another wink at Yolanda as she raised the flags. "Doing anything in five minutes?"Yolanda dropped her flags, ignoring his antics. "Begin!""Onix use Bide!""Use Ice Beam!" shouted the trainer. I pinched the bridge of my nose."Oh kid," I murmured to myself as the attack slammed into Onix. My pokemon reeled back with a cry before landing on her side. I held myself still, rubbing at the bridge of my nose. He'd used a move that I was damn near certain Tentacruel didn't learn on their own without a TM. He'd used an ice-type move against a rock Gym, sure he had the Ice bonus for using it against Onix's partial Ground typing but… He had so many better options available to him, and finally, he was already celebrating.Kids like this made me fear for the future. The kid pumped his fist and did a stupid dance where he grabbed his heel and pumped his knee. I was happy to watch him as Onix slowly rose back into a fighting position."Yeah! Take that! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!" He stopped mid-leg pump as he realised his move hadn't one shot my Onix. "Hey, what gives?! That should have knocked your pokemon out!"I stared at him. "Unleash Bide Onix." My pokemon called up a white ball of power before firing it straight at Tentacruel. The kid merely gaped as it slammed into his pokemon and threw it to the ground."Hey no! That's cheating! You're… you're cheating!""And you're using a pokemon vastly stronger than this level challenge requires. You have a type advantage with your water type but chose an ice type move instead. Something rock types have a strong defence against. Or were you targeting Onix's ground typing?" I said only to get a blank look. I shook my head. "Well, regardless, you could have probably knocked my pokemon out with a one-two hit but you were too busy celebrating."I stared at the kid as he shrunk in on himself. "Also, you've failed to realise your pokemon is still able to battle."The kid snapped his head to see that his Tentacruel was doing as I said, emerging from the wall of the gym with tentacles raised. "Oh. I mean! Oh! Yeah! We're bad!"I facepalmed as he regained his swagger. "Use Ice beam again and take him out this time!""Onix Endure," I said, deciding I wanted to shake this kid's cage a little more. The attack landed, but once more my Onix rose up causing the kid's face to whiten."Oh… not weak to it…" he said to himself as he recalled what I'd said.I looked from him to my Onix that was barely holding on. I ground my teeth and raised my pokeball."Onix return.""Eh?" I ignored the kid as I patted the pokeball. I didn't need to hurt one of my pokemon to teach a kid a lesson. Not with this Onix. It was too weak. Yolanda dutifully raised a flag."Gym Leader Brock has withdrawn his Onix. The first battle goes to the Challenger!"The kid seemed a bit stumped at the anticlimax. "Does that mean I won?""It means you won the fight yes," I said from my side while drawing out another pokeball. I held it up in front of me and stared across the field at him. "I'm going to be honest kid. You've done nothing to impress me or demonstrate you deserve my badge, even as your first badge.""Hey! That's not right, I just have to beat you!"I shook my head. This wasn't the games where you could sit in the grass for a couple of hours and work on rattata or another pokemon only to then approach the Gym. This was real life. Then again from what I was seeing from this kid, I doubted he had trained his pokemon. They obviously listened to him so I was starting to think there were family-reared pokemon that had been gifted to him."That's only at the higher levels where strategy and skill have to be present to have a chance of winning. At this level, as you're demonstrating, you can walk in with a much stronger team. You are failing at the smallest hurdle however. Think about what I said previously, and you'll understand!" I wasn't going to spoon-feed the kid anymore. He had the type advantage; he just needed to use it.Instead, he was trying for flashy moves and gaudy stunts.I tossed out my next pokemon. "Go Izumi!"Yolanda twitched at the name before eyeing off the pokemon I had selected. The kid rubbed his chin. I could almost hear the gears in his mind creaking as he tried to think back."I had the advantage with my pokemon?"I nodded slowly before gesturing to Yolanda. I'd given the kid long enough now."Begin!""Rock Throw! Hit em hard Izumi!" I called out. Izumi heard the hidden command to not hold back and unleashed a blistering rock right into Tentacruel's head. It screeched once again and flopped back."Eh? Oh sharpedos! Use Poison Jab!"My face met my rising hand. "Rollout to evade," I said around my palm. I really couldn't watch any more of this.I wasn't surprised when I was able to snipe his Tentacruel down. When he threw out a Cacnea I felt my hopes lift."Pin Missle!"I resisted the urge to face-palm again. I was suddenly just so done with this entire challenge. I could see Yolanda watching me while biting her lips. At least one of us was enjoying the moment."Rock Throw again!" Once again Izumi took a moment and sniped a headshot that sent the Cacnea reeling as it was knocked out."Cacnea!" screamed the kid."Cacnea is unable to battle!" Yolanda said.The kid grunted and returned his pokemon before tossing out an Arbok. I took a deep breath and tried to hold in a glare. The Arbok flinched slightly as it looked up at me."Rock Throw, again!" Izumi's rock shot forth but this time the Arbok dodged making the attack miss. Izumi narrowed her eyes and one-two'd another Rock Throw straight at Arbok, miffed she'd missed. This time it took two headshots to knock out the giant snake but he made us work for it."Argh! Arbok!? What!? What's going on?! That pokemon made it to the quarter-finals last year?!"I rolled my eyes as I got confirmation of the strength of his pokemon."Go Gloom!" His next pokemon made me wish I could believe he'd make the right call. He partially had to call any move but a grass attack with Gloom."Sleep powder!" he said with a huge sweep of his arm."Dig into rock polish," I said. Izumi vanished and I watched as my opponent struggled with what he should do with my pokemon effectively out of his reach. He hesitated and mumbled to himself, making it clear he had no idea what he was doing.Izumi shot out of the ground and smashed into his pokemon sending it flying."Rollout," I said. Izumi rolled up tight and accelerated.The kid gasped. "Urgh!? Poison powder!"I eventually had to signal for Izumi to 'take a dive' after she took out his Gloom. I doubt Izumi even got poisoned, but she couldn't be too strong against a pokemon trainer at this level. When I recalled her I stared across at the challenger as he raised his hands. His Squirtle, the last pokemon available to him, looked very confused as to how it had won.He had one shot for me to let him slide through with a badge. The most basic of basic questions. I wouldn't ask it straight away but I could easily slip it in. He'd made some not-terrible moves but when you were all but tripping over the right answers I found his performance very lacking."Kid, do you think you earned the badge?" I said when we got close."Heh? I won didn't I?" he said proudly."What strategy did you use?" I said, undaunted by his reaction."Use strong pokemon!" he said.I held up a finger, "What makes them strong? Why use Tentacruel, Cacnea, or Squirtle against my Gym? What made them the best choices?"He stared at me for a long minute. Again, I could see his mind ticking over, the cogs of his mind grinding at being called to use.I made a note to call whoever this kid's teacher was. They'd apparently let him skip past some glaring basics that I was damn near sure could be learned passively. I had a chart detailing strengths and weaknesses in the kitchen! I knew Tilly understood grass, water, fire interactions in pokemon for Arceus' sake! There were kids games in school yards about this! I'm pretty sure there was a guy whose entire job was to stand around out the front of my gym and sell advice for Arceus' sake!The kid shrugged and I sighed hugely. "Kid, you may have won this match but that is not all it takes to earn a Gym badge. You've fallen short of the required understanding of your first gym badge. I will not confer a Boulder Badge on you today."He blinked in shock, his lips quivering. "You! You can't do that!"I grimaced, "Actually, I have to. Go back to your lodgings and learn about how pokemon typings work before challenging again. You had this in the palm of your hand and you failed that, or any other method of earning the badge.""This is taurosshit!""No, this is the challenge everyone faces. Strong pokemon do not make a strong trainer. These pokemon respect you enough to listen but you're doing them a disservice right now."That pulled him up as he looked down at his Squirtle. That had me relaxing a bit. He wasn't a bad kid, just not educated where he should have been. He nodded. "Alright, I'll come back and challenge you again!""Sounds good, but hey you won so you at least get to collect the payout for winning. So just treat this like a lesson and not a defeat okay?"He nodded and blinked furiously. I could tell the kid was not far off crying. He sniffled piteously, giving a wet sniffle that had as much chance of moving a mountain as it did to make me change my decision. I led him to the door and pushed him through it.He blinked in surprise. "Wait, you're not going to reconsider?" he said as I turned to leave.I glanced back and saw that his tears were all gone. Huh, I hadn't been sure he'd been using totodile tears. Suddenly, I had way fewer reservations about not giving him the badge. "Nope! Have a nice day!"I shut the door and walked off. I felt no guilt as I put him out of my mind. I grabbed the hastily scrawled list in my office and began making more calls to port officials. I needed information and soon.I set my watch for the next challenge to start and raised my transceiver up and began making those calls. Over the course of the rest of the day, I got to talk to a number of record keepers and the Harbourmaster. When I called the airport I got rebuffed after being passed up to the Airport Manager. I'd gotten to talk with the man but he'd been a gruff no-nonsense kind of man."Brock I'll level with you. I don't think you have any right to that information! I'm not required to do it as it will frankly create more work for my people and I'm paying them to do their jobs not assist you on flights of fantasy!"I gave the man an incredulous look but had to leave it be. He was right, sadly. I also had other issues to deal with right now. "What was your name again?""Levi Layman, Field Commissioner of the Saffron airport!""I'll be sure to remember that when I tell people precisely how… helpful you've been." I let the words linger but the man didn't seem to notice how one could interpret my words."So are you not going to do anything to assist me in my inquiry?""No! Now stop wasting my time!" he said before hanging up on me. I grimaced; that had been a dead end for me.I called the League when I'd sat down and had some time to really think who would have access to that kind of information. The League, perhaps upon reflection, should have been my first call.And then I'd spent an entire two breaks between challenges stuck on hold. The League did not have good music for getting stuck on hold. Dennis had seen me do my stress release technique three more times in one afternoon.I'd had to wonder if I needed a personal assistant with how run around I felt. If anyone had asked me that question even this morning, I'd have laughed. Now I was finding myself stretched thin and considering it.I had a lot of issues that had been little chores that would have been easy to deal with. I walked up to the lounge behind the receptionist's desk. Looking out at the sea of pokemon trainers I had to conclude that things were not improving. If anything they were getting worse as more trainers trickled in.I was going to have to make a lot of calls and do a lot of changes in a very short space of time. I stepped out to talk with Alexa."Alexa I—""Gym Leader Brock I challenge you!" I looked up and found a young boy trying to vault the desk to get in my face. I called up my dark and rock energy. The next words out of my lips had enough edge to them to cut a Steel type."Get. Off. The. Desk. Now."The boy froze, his eyes dilating as his hindbrain kicked in that he was in danger, but he had no idea how or from where. I raised a hand and pointed outside where trainers were waiting. "Go to the back of the line. Now." He slid back away from me and slunk away. When he got out of sight I exhaled the energy. Around me, the room was silent as people watched me like one would watch a Slaking that just ambled into a children's play area.I looked down to find Alexa staring at me with a gobsmacked expression. "Sorry, you probably had that handled. I've had a bit of a trying morning." I flicked my eyes up at the lined-up horde. "As you have as well, I imagine."Alexa merely nodded, her throat bobbing up and down. I sighed. "Sorry, shouldn't have done that." I sighed, licked my lips and continued. "Schedule a meeting for everyone in the gym after we close up. I need to talk to everyone and make some changes.""Right I can do that… also Bethany called and she has another lady set up to watch her grandchildren now and is coming in for the rest of the day."Just as she said it I heard a hustling click-clack of a walking stick and a mumbled, "Make way there, old woman coming through! Make way."Bethany emerged from the crowd and beelined up to the desk, popped the latch to let herself in and claimed her chair next to Alexa. She then logged onto the computer, cleaned her glasses and laced her fingers. If I hadn't flexed my energy earlier I probably would have flinched as she pushed her hands forward.Her joints clicked like a typewriter firing at full speed as she stretched out her hands. I could only imagine her skeleton popping and locking as she performed what was apparently her pre-work warm-up ritual. She soon had the sign in front of her desk pulled down and her glasses settled on her nose."NEXT!" she said without any care for the spectacle she'd become.I patted the table and nodded at her and Alexa. "Looks like you've got this. Any issues I need to be aware of right now? Otherwise, write them down for the meeting so we can address them."Alexa gave me a tight smile. "There's going to be a lot of those."I mirrored her before heading off to the next challenge. By the end of the day, I started to get some information back from Harbourmasters, Record department heads, and a small email notifying me from the League to 'be on the watch' for larger than normal trainer numbers for this circuit. That had gotten a snort from me. Oh, larger than average they said. Hahaha, oh I was going to have words with them.I opened the emails and noted the various files that had been sent through from the other immigration points. A porygon appeared before I could do more than look and jumped into each file to check it for anything dangerous. They glanced around, the various parts of their body breaking apart to bounce around like an old screen saver. They sometimes did that when they fell asleep on a still-active computer. This was done to scan the documents and emails I'd received. It reformed and nodded before shooting off-screen and back into the Gym's data network."Thanks, Cypher," I said as I looked through the files. It didn't take me long for a frown to appear. I didn't like the numbers I was seeing. I started making notes as my heart plummeted. This… Someone had to know about this. I looked at the numbers and found myself wondering who had done this.Someone had to have been advertising the trips and the challenge of coming to Kanto for this circuit. It struck me as very worrisome that this hadn't been made available to me before I'd flagged it with the League. There's no way you could have nearly four times the number of normal trainers arriving while not informing the gym leaders.I paused at that and quickly typed up an email for Sabrina, Surge, Erika, Manny, Sophia, and even Koga to see if they had been informed prior to the start of the circuit to expect such increased numbers.I glanced back to the email from the League. They were late with their email and it was missing a lot of details. Was this someone from the League once again coming after me? This felt like a third action after the last two audits. I had someone coming after me and they were very much doing it from the shadows of bureaucracy.I wanted to dismiss it, but there were far too many coincidences that I happened to be caught right in the crosshairs of.I needed to get through a meeting with my own staff to address this oncoming flood of trainers. This was certainly not a surge. There was not going to drop-off in numbers for at least a few weeks or months. Lots of trainers hanging around in one city was just asking for issues to crop up.I rubbed my forehead. So, I had to talk with my people. Talk with the other Gym Leaders. And probably get a late call in with Mayor Jonathan."Brock!" Cindy entered my office having just made it back from school. I smiled tiredly. How had this day gone on this long? It felt like it'd been a week rather than a day with Gary's arrival and then seeing all those trainers, and that snot-nosed brat, alongside all the call ups I'd done.Cindy, of course, had no idea what I'd been going through in the last eight hours since she'd seen me. She had a huge smile and a large book in her hands. I smiled at her, knowing what she was about to ask."Can you read me a story?"I really didn't have the time for it, but… her hopeful smile… "Sure, Cindy, let's get your brothers and sisters. I have enough time for one story," I said as I crushed the whimpering part of my mind that loved sticking to schedules and preplanning. Damn the trainer flood and all the jobs I still had to handle. I had my family to see to first and that was more important. The meeting could wait. They'd understand."So what are we reading tonight?" I said as I fired off a quick message that I was going to be ten minutes late for the meeting."Detective Pikachu!" Cindy said as she raised up the bookI laughed to myself, remembering a popular movie from my past life. "Right! Of course! Let's see how close I can get to Ryan Reynolds' voice.""Who?" said Cindy.I chuckled and waved the question off. I had a lot on my plate coming up but for now, I pushed back on it for something more important.Reading Detective Pikachu to my family.63Detective Pikachu had saved the day. That hadn't been enough for my siblings and I'd ended up reading two more books before arriving late to the meeting. I'd apologised, but everyone understood where I had been. Or in the case of the new hires, had been informed of what I'd been doing.I hadn't done anything formal to start the meeting and instead dove right into the nitty-gritty. I laid out how things were looking for the next month or two as it currently stood."—in light of the frankly huge surge of trainers we're going to need to have everybody on deck and active," I said to the trainers in the meeting room.
Crystal was in the corner happily petting Selene as the moon pokemon ate her dinner. Georgina sat next to them happily watching on."I honestly feel like we're going to need more than just our current team can deliver. So there's going to be some shifting around that I will be discussing tonight." I pointed to the daughter-of-my-accountant turned pokemon-trainer-wrangler."Crystal, great work for handling the trainer courts. Damage was kept to a minimum?""Yup!" she said, petting Selene.I pointedly didn't ask her to clarify if she meant property damage or damage done to trainers. Georgina waggled her hand in a so-so gesture and I resolved to assign some money to fix them up by tomorrow.I flicked through the notes I'd made from a quick walk-through of the gym. I still needed to patrol the actual area but that would have to wait until the morning. With more people testing us, I might need to hire on more staff for security. I already had two people on at night and one on during the day but perhaps another on each shift wouldn't be a bad idea?The patrol outside the Gym I could do during a morning run with my pokemon before the day started."As I mentioned to Alexa, I'm extending the gym hours to work through more trainers so we can get them out of Pewter and on the road."I looked around. "I know it's going to be difficult but with the extended hours, you will all be earning the bonus rate for overtime hours at time and half-pay. That includes the entirety of Saturday so make some plans for when it's time to pay your taxes cause you're going to be in a much higher bracket."I waved towards Georgina, "See Georgina if you need it explained to you." I'd mentioned it offhandedly at lunch, while waiting on hold with the airport, and she'd taught me things about taxes.She really was a terrifyingly smart woman with how she somehow taught you things you had no interest in."I'm going to be posting some more temporary jobs as well. Alexa, I need you to get in contact with the list of trainers that I'm sending through to you. They reached the shortlist last time but didn't make the cut. I need them now to run gym duties, and also fulfil patrols of Pewter to assist the police."I flicked to another page and sighed, "Along with also making sure the wilds are safe for the new trainers wandering about the routes for the first time." The room at large shared a grumble at all the duties that were expected of a gym trainer."How come we don't just have the Rangers and the Police take that over?" asked Daniel."These are duties that we as a Major Gym are expected to take care of. This is to allow us to continue upholding the Gym's agreement. Failing to uphold them can create tension with the league and could even lead to a review of our gym license. It's by no means easy for the League to strip us of our license, or even renegotiate, but it's not something I'm going to allow to be counted against us." I glanced around before smirking. "It also comes with some privileges.""What sort of privileges?" Daniel said while scratching his neck.Janine bounced in her seat. "Oh! Your gym signed on under the old charter?"At my nod Janine beamed. "Excellent! With how new your Gym's facilities were I thought you were under the new agreement! So that means you get preferential tax rates, a roster of pokemon that act as a reserve for the city in emergency times, and a political voice."I nodded. "Yeah, my family earned the Gym charter after the war. Though I have no idea what they did to deserve that," I grumbled to myself.Forrest looked interested, but I made a gesture to show we could talk about it later if he wanted. Instead I waved the issue away. "Anyway, that's beside the point."I coughed to reset people's attention."We hold a prestigious position in the Indigo conference, and that means we have duties to perform alongside it. If things lapse, lots of people look to the Gym before the Rangers or the police. We're the first point of contact for a lot of trainers who further serve to keep things calm… most of the time." I added on at the end."We do have some overlapping responsibilities with other regional organisations, such as the Police, Rangers and local government, but that is by design. We work with them, we're not and never should be antagonistic towards them and vice versa. We're not beholden to them though, and they can't order you about any more than a civilian. In some instances, you actually have better legal standing than civilians as long as you're acting in good faith. I might have Lawrence come in and talk to us about that one day."I tapped the stack of papers in my hand, "Until then, our focus is on dealing with this surge. The influx of trainers is going to put a strain on us. We need to be ready for what that will mean."I pointed to Alexa. "Alexa, I'm promoting you to be my personal assistant. Your duties will remain the same until we can get another receptionist or two, they will work under you and alongside Bethany. You'll be in charge of the receptionists along with getting my schedule streamlined and making calls while I'm busy." A few people blinked in surprise at that and I grimaced. "I spent way, way too much time chasing my tail today."Alexa nodded seriously and I continued. "I'm doing this to try and take some work off my shoulders as I need to be either out and about or in the gym taking challenges. I can't keep trying to call up the League or other people. We'll talk about an increase in salary and if this needs to be permanent in a month's time."Alexa smiled happily. "Should I schedule in the talk for you?" she said teasingly.I nodded at her before lowering my finger to the next names on my list that I'd jotted down while waiting on hold. "Rocko, Dennis? You're going to be the point of contact for trainer-related issues. I want you to talk to any newcomers about duties and roles that well need to be taken over. I expect with this surge that we'll need another four trainers taken on temporarily to cover our duties.""Janine," I said and she shot to a standing position. "You… you might need to talk to your father. I'm not sure if he's going to want to recall you with this surge occurring as he will be under strain as well. We'll have to talk with him. Otherwise, perhaps I have you doing security work?"She got a conflicted look but slowly nodded her head. "I will mention it to him tonight." I gave her a tight smile and moved on."Lastly, and this is for everyone, we will be blocking out three days of the gym's schedule in a month's time as we will need to catch new pokemon.""That soon Brock?" asked Rocko, sitting up with a worried expression. I scratched my cheek."I'm hoping I'm being over dramatic here, but yeah it looks like it'll be that soon. We'll need to block out at least one day specifically for evaluating where we're at with our pokemon roster. How strong they are, what badge level they're appropriate against and if the Gym's roster is spread out enough for our needs. As always, I know we'll be short on first badge challenges but we might get lucky with some pokemon like Izumi and Moxy.""Actually, Moxy is pretty close to evolving I think? She's been putting on mass lately and is being picky with what rocks she devours for her evolved form." Rocko said. Dennis grimaced at that.I shared a look with them before shrugging. "That's fine. She's wanting to grow steadily but she might be a pokemon that we look to hand off to or sell to a trainer"I gave the group a glance. "There will also be a number of pokemon that will be too strong for certain challenges but those can always be sold unless any of our trainers form bonds with any pokemon in particular. If you have a favourite or notice a pokemon whose disposition stands out to you, by all means, make a note and bring it up in later meetings." I glanced at Rachel.
"Can you post a notice on our pokenet page that we'll be doing a sell-off on the last day of the break?""Oh yeah! That'd be popular! I could do it like an auction if I get enough hype for it!" Rachel jotted down my suggestion along with her own thoughts.I coughed. "Make sure to also put up some flyers on the community notice boards in the city and local towns."Rachel grumbled to herself about people not knowing how good they had it with pokenet access and I nodded in silent agreement while Rocko and Dennis rolled their eyes.I made a circle in the air. "I will be scheduling more meetings that I hope are short at the end of each week. I want you to consider any issues that you're encountering and bring them up even if they seem small. If they're urgent I want you to tell Rocko or Dennis as soon as possible alright? The earlier we identify an issue, the earlier we fix the issue. Any questions or items to raise for now?"No hands were raised, so I clapped my hands together. "All right people! If you want to head out for dinner, I'll reimburse you, otherwise, you're free to head out.""Keep your receipts! If you want reimbursement, get receipts!" Georgina was quick to chime in."To Mr Mime's house!" proclaimed Crystal loudly. Rocko laughed while Daniel rolled his eyes. Janine lingered at the door until I gestured for her to stay for the next meeting. As the others bounded off for a night at Mr Mime's finest family restaurant, I chuckled before stacking some sheets of paper together.Alexa approached me and laid out my schedule as it currently stood. I pointed out a few people that needed to be rescheduled along with some blocks of time I wanted her to block out for other duties or, more importantly, family time."Oh, can you also call the Pokemon Academy and tell them they need to book in now due to the large numbers of trainers we're facing right now?"When we were done, she headed off, and I leaned back into my chair and rubbed my face. A vibration on my wrist had me sighing loud enough to echo through the now-empty room. One meeting down, two more to go.[/hr]I clicked accept on the video link. The link held everyone in a lobby until all eight invitees were logged in before opening the video and sound. My image appeared to the side as nine other faces appeared before me.I started things off, "Good evening, this is Brock from Pewter, with Janine from Fuchsia shadowing me as an apprentice." Next to me, Janine bowed stiffly to the transceiver."Like Daisy, Lily and Violet are here!" "From Cerulean of course!" "Yuh!" chimed in three voices as the blonde Daisy, the red-haired Lily, and the blue-haired Violet waved into the camera."Lieutenant Surge from Vermillion! How's everyone this evening?!" crowed Surge. On his shoulder, Raichu smirked into the camera."Good evening to all from myself, Erika at the Celadon gym," Erika said with a small bow. Behind her, the gardens that featured throughout her gym could just be made out as her background."Sabrina, Saffron city," Sabrina said. She had no special features to her video and said her words quickly with a flat tone."Koga from the Fuchsia gym. Good evening." The ninja-styled expert inclined his head, his eyes searching over his daughter before relaxing minutely."Hmmm yes, hello everyone! Blaine here!" said Blaine from a room that looked to be full of other computers and items that seemed to belong in a mad scientist's lab."Giovanni here, Viridian, Surge stated that this meeting was being called by you Brock? What seems to be the issue? The circuit is only a week old? Issues already?" Giovanni didn't bother to let anyone else talk and instantly took control of the meeting.I inclined my head. "Yes, I've been facing a surge of trainers and I know from records that the League has allowed roughly four times the normal amount of trainers to undergo the circuit this year. This is straining our resources as lots of people have arrived at Pewter.""A surge you say?" Giovanni said. "Have you ever experienced a surge in trainer numbers? I believe the last was during your father's stewardship of the gym.""It was. He recorded having to face roughly twelve trainers a day and that took him three weeks to work through." I glanced at my schedule and grimaced, "I am reporting that I currently have all of the next month booked full, with sixteen trainers a day booked in." I leaned forward. "That's included half days on Saturday for an extra six battles."Daisy tilted her head. "Sixteen by five, plus six… you're going to face… over three hundred, nearly three-fifty trainers in the next… month…" Daisy blanched "And then they're going to be coming here!" Lily and Violet stiffened at that, glancing at their sister."What?!" They both said. "You're pulling our leg right, Brock? You can't have that many trainers in the first month! That's way too many! Right? Brock?"I gave them an apologetic look. "I'm expecting more to turn up. If the worst case occurs I might face close to seven hundred trainers before the third month this year."Daisy, Lily and Violet began hyperventilating. "Like, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! That's way too many trainers!"Koga clapped his hands. "Girls! Control yourselves! You are Gym Leaders! You are also in a much better position as you will be able to bolster each other and process the trainers much faster!"The Cerulean girls nodded before swallowing. "We're going to need more pokemon… like way, way more… and some more trainers to help out… Can any of you—""I would be happy to assist you ladies in this time of need," said Giovanni.I felt a chill run down my spine as Giovanni smiled like a Persian that had just ransacked the cream warehouse. Visions of all the ways that could turn out terribly ran through my mind. I glanced at the girls and saw them relaxing. Like Pidgeys thinking the Persian was going to keep them safe."I might be able to send someone over," I heard myself saying. Giovanni looked at me and for just a moment his brow creased."Same here girls!" shouted Surge.Erika shifted. "I'm not sure some of my girls would be able to help out as much. But I can send you three of them! Or five! I have quite a few!" That had me stopping and reassessing. Erika had that many Gym trainers?"Like thanks so much guys!" "Yeah, you guys are the best!" "Thank you!" cried the Cerulean sisters into the camera as they slumped into their chairs.I mentally wondered if it was worth asking about Misty. Was she still with Ash? Had they met each other or had events drifted enough to not have them meeting each other? Would she get called in to handle the gym now?I wasn't sure but I knew that I certainly did not want Giovani helping out the naive trio of sisters. I had no doubt that would result in Team Rocket all but running the place in name."Hehehe," chuckled Blaine, cutting off any further discussion. Everyone frowned at the man but he waved his hands back and forth. "Hehehe! Ha! Well, this certainly wasn't something I expected to occur when you defeated Lance Brock, but then again, success breeds its own problems!""It seems a bit ridiculous for my victory to cause this level of response," I said reasonably.Blaine huffed. "Oh you simple child, your match was televised to the international community! The world is a larger place than you understand!" he said with a chuckle. "I have no doubt a huge number of people would have seen it and young trainers had the entire off-season to make plans. It's not every day that you get to challenge a Champion. But a man that has beaten a Champion?"He leered at me over the top of his glasses. "Brock, Brock, Brock, there are going to be lots of trainers interested in wanting to say that they've beaten you. Your badge has a lot more value these days."He grinned "I hope you raised your prices at least! You're in for a long start to the circuit!" He threw back his head and cackled. When he was done he grinned. "I only take challengers with four badges that can reach me and make it worth my time. Good luck to the rest of you!" And just like that, he disconnected."That was rather…" Erika mumbled aloud."That is how Blaine is," Giovanni said before tapping his desk to signal he had more to say."Brock, what Blaine said is correct. I have been looking through the information you sent to Surge earlier and it shows a large spike in Johto, Hoenn, Sevii and Orange region trainers coming here. This is going to be a tough period, but we'll get through it. I will not be lowering the challenge level as I wish to preserve my badge's value but it may be worth reaching out to the four minor gyms along with the Admissions Exam Board to notify them of the issues that will be arising. Does anyone have any issues with including the four minor gym leaders in future meetings?"None of us raised any complaints and Giovanni nodded once. "Very well, I will get in contact with them. Brock, how long can you handle the current workload? Do you need any more trainers like the Cerulean gym?""We're coping," I said, resisting the urge to glare at the man for having the gall to attempt such a thing with me. I'd need to watch for any plants coming my way and make sure to keep security as tight as I could. Challenges like this would lead to tough times but also the occasional opportunity. I just had to make sure I wasn't someone else's opportunity.Erika voiced her support of drawing some trainers away as did Surge. Sabrina chewed her lip only for Koga to speak up. "I will lower my own gym's standards for now, but I will shorten Janine's time with you. It might be a good test run to have her handle the first, and second badge challengers." He turned to his daughter, "Janine, make the most of your next week.""Yes, father!" she said.A buzz on my wrist had me glancing down and grimacing. It was late already, and I still had other people to talk with. "I'm going to have to sign out as I have to talk with the Mayor. Thanks for attending and for doing what you can everyone.""Thank you for alerting us to the situation. We will remain in contact," Giovanni said as others chorussed their own goodbyes. I hung up with a nod. I stood and shuffled some papers into a folder before stuffing it into a backpack. "Thanks for that Janine… would it be possible for you to occasionally poke over to Cerulean to check up on the—" I was cut off as Sabrina appeared in a flash.Janine reared back and threw out a pokeball with Beedrill punching forwards only for Sabrina to arrest the Beedrill's attack with psychic energy. Beedrill buzzed harshly and broke out, reading to strike again only for Janine to call the pokemon back. Sabrina stared at the younger girl."Oh, I apologise, I didn't mean to startle you," she said.Janine bristled. "I wasn't scared!"Sabrina merely glanced at the Beedrill still in the room. Janine flushed and returned the pokemon. I hummed, a small note of concern rearing its head. If Beedrill had gone for a bug-type move would Sabrina have been able to stop it? Or a dark-type move?I pushed the thought aside and instead shook my head. "Alright let's calm down. Sabrina, I assume you just wanted to check up on me?" Sabrina nodded and I gave her a smile. "Right, give me a moment?" She nodded again and I turned to Janine."Hey I'm going to talk with Sabrina but could you check in on the Cerulean girls later? I don't trust Giovanni."Janine nodded. "I know why, I will do so!" she said before offering me a bow. Then she pulled out a smokebomb. I raised my hand to stop her; I didn't want smoke lingering in my office."Don—" was as far as I got before she threw it. Instead of it exploding it was caught in a psychic grasp.Janine was already dashing out the door but she stumbled when she realised she was clearly visible. "What?!" she said as she skidded to a halt only to whip around to glower at Sabrina. "Stop that!" she said, her leg twitching like she wanted to stomp it.
I bit my lips to stop myself from laughing. I coughed. "Uhm, please don't throw smoke bombs in my office in future, Janine."Janine blinked before blushing. "Ah, that is reasonable."I nodded and gestured to the door. When the door closed, I huffed a laugh. Sabrina tilted her head at me as though curious about my reaction.I wagged a finger at Sabrina. "Don't bully her."Sabrina hummed before stepping up to me. "Brock? Are you alright?" she said, her eyes checking me over."I'm fine." She narrowed her eyes and I held up a hand. "Just harassed. I have a lot to deal with with this whole trainer surge… or well I'm calling it a flood honestly." Sabrina stayed quiet before looking to the side."I could lower my challenge level and allow…"I raised an eyebrow at her. "Sabrina… No offence, but I think you'd scare a lot of people off because you don't exactly hold back when you fight."Sabrina tilted her head. "Why should I?"I chuckled. "Nah, you shouldn't. You do you. If a trainer challenges you then they should be ready for a tough match. I'll talk to Sophia, Manny, Kong, and Grey, they already see first-badge challengers and a bit more attention sent their way might be good for them."I tilted my head. "Think you can drop in on the Cerulean sisters when you're able to?""… " Sabrina watched me with narrowed eyes."I'm just worried they might pick up some people that won't have their gym's best interest at heart."Sabrina continued to stare at me. Her eyes felt like they were boring into me. "You want me to look into them? You've usually wanted me to refrain from looking into people's minds."I worked my teeth back and forth. "I… I don't want you to stop, just not be flagrant about it. Be mindful I guess? I can admit that I don't like the idea of you doing it with no regard, but for certain scenarios," I opened a hand up and shrugged, "it's a warranted tool. You don't have to if you're not comfortable with it, but I just…" I scratched the back of my head searching for what to say."Is there any reason you're asking me to do this now?""I trust you," I said simply. Sabrina blinked before a light dusting of red appeared across her nose."Ah, I apologise I thought you might have…" I glanced away from the wall to her, "Never mind!" she said quickly at my curious look.It took me a moment to realise why she was acting strangely. I'd asked her to look into the potential trainers for… "Oh, I'm not interested in the Cerulean sisters. I just don't trust Giovanni."Sabrina nodded. "I understand. I will investigate them if I find anything."I clicked my teeth. "Alright, just be careful, you know what I'm worried about with Giovanni.""I know, but I'm not garnering as much attention. They didn't detect me when I threw those rocks through his gym," she said. She flicked her hair. "Don't worry, I will let you know if I discover anything. If they attack me or mine, however, I will not hold myself back." She squeezed my hand once before stepping back and disappearing in a flash of light.I ran my hand over where she'd squeezed. She'd counted me in that, hadn't she? Part of me wanted to call her back to clarify while another laughed at the willful ignorance I was trying to use.Another part then tagged in and reminded me that I was now very, very late with meeting with the Mayor.
I started to run only to pause as I recalled I too had a psychic pokemon capable of teleporting."Selene! I need to be teleported to the mayor's house," I said."Luuunatone!" she cried before bumping into me. The world vanished as she wrapped me up in psychic energy. I held in my dark energy so as to not disrupt the teleport. We appeared a moment later in front of a fancy manor. I could see a light on in a room.I rapped smartly on the door with the knocker. A few moments later I heard shuffling from inside and within a minute a woman's face peered out at me."Gym Leader Brock? This is a late call out for my husband.""Ah no, I called him to meet up. I need to fill him in on something."The Mayor's wife tutted at me. "Oh silly! It probably could have waited or been done over the phone. Don't let him string you along now." She gestured to a door. "He's through there. I'll bring some snacks if you're going to be here long."I watched her glide away, amused at how very different she was from the rather forceful personality of the mayor. I opened the door and stepped through."Mayor Jonathan, we've got a situation."Jonathan looked up and snorted. "You're late Gym Leader!" His words were harsh but his grin took the sting away. The words also felt like he was quoting something but I couldn't place it having not watched all that many pokemon movies."I think you'll find I arrived precisely when I should have," I said, twisting an old quote to my own needs. Jonathan observed me before snorting."Feh! You're learning at least. Very well, tell me what the situation is."And so I spent the next hour laying out the issues that would likely arise from the coming trainer surge. Within a few minutes, Jonathan's wife — Who, I learnt was named Caroline— came in with milk and cookies. She then glided on out leaving me to take up the story once more.Jonathan listened intently throughout; When I was done he drummed his fingers on his desk."You're projecting four times the trainer volume to come through Pewter cause of how you kicked Lance in the tail? Heh! Nice, we'll be rolling tourism!"I shok my head. "Mayor, idle or frustrated trainers are known to cause damage if they can't get access to what they want. They're young, headstrong people that are more likely to find their own entertainment.""Pewter City can supply that!" Jonathan said while expanding his hands. "We have attractions! Natural ones even! Mt Moon! The canyons and hot springs! We've got the tunnels and the forests to the south. People should want to spend more time here as it is!"His chest puffed up, and I could almost feel him rattling off those exact words at some town hall meeting to sway the people that turned up to such events.I hummed, not taken with his plan. "I think we need to process what we can and get the other trainers to move on.""Move on!? No way! Get 'em to stick around! I can come up with distractions! Heck, you should capitalise on it and run that Contest I heard people talking about.""It'll put a strain on the hospital, the police, the pokecenter, even the food market," I said before addressing the second point. "That is only in the early stages of concept planning. We barely have an idea on how to run such an event." Part of me wondered who had mentioned it to the Mayor as I hadn't said a word of it in months."I'll have someone swing around for you to talk with. I know a young lass whose family were avid Contest goers in Hoenn. As for the other issue? Don't you worry about the civil side of things, you just handle the Gym and its duties." He gave me a sly look, "Any chance you want some of them taken off your plate?""No. Thank you for the offer, however, I think I will be able to handle things sufficiently," I tightly said as if he wasn't trying to entrap me. This wasn't how I was expecting this to go."Brock, you have to see things from my perspective. This is your first surge and it sounds like it's going to be rough. I think for the moment—""I said I'll handle it." I glared at him but the man gave me a mulish look."How?""I'm hiring more staff and have systems in place. Not, that it's your business. Perhaps you should handle the civil side of things. I thought it courteous to inform you of something that would affect you."Jonathan patted at the air. "Brock, Brock, Brock, I apologise. I've pushed too far. I can see that. Thank you for the information, we'll be able to handle it better knowing it's on the way. I'll schedule a talk with the Chief of Police and the other services to give them a heads-up. Was there anything else you wished to discuss tonight?""Not unless you were interested in setting up routes for trainers to move to other cities, to space things out""I think that means I should see you out then," he said affably. I nodded tightly and made my own way out. Caroline who'd apparently been staying close perked up when she saw us leave the office."Oh Brock! I was thinking you might appreciate an invitation to my gala in a few months. I could never quite get your father to…" My face must have turned to granite as she stopped talking for a moment.Her tongue darted out and wet her lips and Jonathan moved to her side, suddenly much more aware of me. Caroline smiled tightly. "Oh, well never you mind that! I'd feel terrible if I didn't extend the offer to you. You'd be a hit with some of the young ladies making their debut this season!"I made a noncommittal noise, unaware that we'd had such events while also feeling that agreeing would mean I'd be like a Meowth on show for Caroline.I beat a hasty retreat home and reviewed the day to come. Thankfully when my head hit the pillow I was quick to fall asleep.The next morning I was up and running hard on the outside perimeter inspecting the fences and warning signs that were up. I had very different terrain to both sides. On my left a swamp haunted the land with willowy trees and fronds while to my right rocky landscapes proved perfect for my rock pokemon. Some of whom were running along the fence. In front of me, the road was well maintained which allowed me to somewhat keep up with my pokemon as they rumbled along.A honk had me turning around to find a motorbike approaching. When it neared it slowed down and I waved to Officer jenny."Jenny, morning!""Morning Brock! How're you doing today?""Pretty good, gotta get a few things done though with the trainers coming in."Jenny relaxed. "Oh good, the Mayor told you about the surge coming your way?"I blinked at that, something about the emphasis of the words stood out to me. "The Mayor, told me?""Yeah! He got some figures of incoming trainers and spoke with the chief and a few other community leaders last night. I assume he spoke to you?"I stopped and spat to the side of the road earning me an unimpressed look which I ignored as I felt dark feelings stir. "I told him about the damn surge. Urgh! Politicians!""Oh… well yeah, that is what politicians will do. Next time, just tell the Chief of Police yourself."I sighed and exhaled the darkness. In a way, Jonathan had spared me a lot of time. It rubbed me the wrong way that he'd stolen the credit for himself. But… I had to agree with Jenny."Yeah, I'll remember that," I said.Jenny nodded, "Well, I wanted to come out and check up on you. Good to hear that things are on the up and up. The rest of the squad and I are going to be on patrol. Who should we touch base with if we have any issues?""Probably Rocko, Dennis or Alexa." I wiped some sweat off and stared into the swamp."Alexa?" asked Jenny in surprise. "Thought she was acting as a receptionist for you?""Promoted her to PA.""Ho? Good for her, hope it sticks. Say I was—" before she could finish her radio squawked and she snatched it up."Jenny here!""...""Trainers are doing what in the park?"".....!""I'm on it!" She slammed it in before whipping her bike around the road she'd just come down."Gotta go Brock! Trainers are fighting in the middle of the memorial garden, and someone's painted graffiti on the hospital!" Before I could even respond, she roared back down the road. I coughed at the dust cloud I found myself in.A loud croak from the swamp made me turn to see large yellow eyes watching me. I nodded amicably. "Morning Shrek." My Swampert ambled out and nuzzled up to me. I patted him and sighed.Somewhere in the next month, I had to deal with Ash and… my father. Compared to them, Jonathan stealing credit and being himself really was a minor detail.I still had chores to do and trainers to handle. Most notably this morning was teaching Missy how to handle gravity training and Janine with aura training.I also needed something. … A response to the League. At this point, I didn't care if it was negligence or something targeted.