The brochure I had in my hand proclaimed the festival to be a 'Celebration of Pewter city! Brought to you by Mayor Jonathan! Celebrate for a month of Pewter city at its finest!'. I glared at it as I walked my way into town.
Around me, my siblings ran about. Some were happy to stay close to me and my older siblings, while others sprinted away only to run back just as quickly. Timmy was one such child. He was occasionally tripping over something, only to stand and give me a look.I nodded at him, happy he was 'being tough' and not just falling to the ground to cry. Timmy brushed himself off and returned to chasing after Tommy. Next to me, Suzie huffed at the twin's antics while skipping along, her actions made me lightly swing my arm as she held my hand. Next to her, Munchlax copied her, a glimmer of hunger on his face as his eyes were locked forward.We all knew he'd probably act up, but I had enough money to afford a Snorlax an-all-you-could-eat buffet for a few days. As a lesser version of his evolved form, Munchlax wouldn't be able to get into too much trouble.Cindy had also said she could totally handle it. I was looking forward to the lesson she was going to learn.Yolanda, Forrest, and I all shared dubious looks at that before assigning Salvadore as her helper to lessen the drama that I'd face at the end of the night. That left Tommy, Timmy and Suzie to look after, with Billy and Tilly being deemed too young for this expedition. The grannies would handle them while ostensibly Forrest and Yolanda would look after the other three. I had one of the grannies lined up to meet me at the festival, though.We made the walk from our block of land without any hassles, apart from Tommy tripping Cindy and having to be separated before we got into the heart of town. For this festival, the town square had been rented out, and I could already see semi-permanent stalls with various vendors selling their wares.Entertainers wandered through the streets with their pokemon. A few of the acts looked very familiar from those that I'd seen at the Indigo League's opening ceremony. They'd likely been hired on.The entire square was full of people I recognised and obvious tourists. And then there were the trainers. It reminded me more of the sideshow for the local town's show from my past life, only larger due to the inclusion of pokemon. Then I spotted the Ferris wheel and the tiny pocket Ponytas. Huh, it was actually exactly—"AAAAAAAAH!!! THEY'RE ADORABLE AND I MUST HAVE SIXTEEN OF THEM!" screamed Suzie as her eyes locked onto the tiny Ponytas that had been bred to be tiny and cute.The ultimate little girl's weak spot that translated into wrenching open wallets for guardians everywhere. Granny Babs chose that moment to appear right in front of the Ponytas. She waved at us cheerily before noticing the tiny Suzie sprinting straight at her. She opened her arms and braced for what she must have assumed was going to be a heartwarming hug.She lowered for impact, only for Suzie to duck under the questing arms with a textbook slide that she must have picked up from coming to baseball practice with me over the winter. Granny Babs arms closed on air, and she blinked down at them before opening them and glancing behind her."Yeah! Pocket Ponytas!" cheered Suzie. Granny Babs rounded on Suzie while I directed a formal bow to Yolanda, who was looking mortified while staving off her giggles."Good luck! Here's Sanchez, don't give him too much sugar cause he gets silly on that stuff." I handed over Sanchez's pokeball with small lightning bolts across it before rising from the bow and grinning mischievously at her. "Remember, anything you can keep of the six hundred pokedollars is yours!""How much did he give you for us to use tonight?" said Cindy as she sidled up to Yolanda with a ruthless glint in her eyes as I jogged away.I could feel the evil eye on my back as Yolanda calmly stated, "He didn't give me anything. Must have given it to Forrest." I chuckled as I popped open Zepyhr's pokeball.From within my Noctowl appeared with a mighty cry. I hopped on his back, and we ascended above the rooftops in short order. The birds-eye view of the festival showed that it not only operated within the city square but even spilled over into outlying streets. I could see that some of them had road-closed signs while others had been kept open.I made a slow loop of some residential areas. It didn't seem like anything was happening in any of the houses. I also couldn't see anything that stuck out as 'suspicious activities'. I passed another trainer on a Fearow and realised they were a police officer. I gave a nod before continuing my patrol of the city. It wouldn't hurt to be thorough for now.I didn't see any people around or people running while carrying goods that had no purpose being moved at this late hour. I did spot a purse-snatcher but an Officer was already in hot pursuit and had them to the ground before I could even get near.The afternoon slowly trickled into a still early twilight, and I turned Noctowl towards the festival.I was dreading this a little.Should I make a flashy appearance or merely waltz in quietly? Would either matter?In the end, I decided to land in one of the less densely populated areas and make my way into the festival.I reached the fourth stall —a stall where you could pick a floating rubber psyduck and win a fabulous prize!—when it happened. "Gym Leader Brock! I challenge you for your badge!"I looked to where the voice was, and I was not surprised to see a young trainer. He was roughly dressed. Smirking as if he'd just spent all day combing around my 'hiding spots' to find me and had successfully located me. He even had a pokeball in hand."Sorry kid, schedule a match at the gym. I don't accept challenges outside my hours. I need time to rest just like my pokemon do." I waved him off and continued to the side, unbothered to all outward appearances."What are you, scared?!" he shouted, glaring at me.I let my head turn to lock eyes. "Nah, just don't have to fight." Then I broke my look and sauntered past him. "Schedule a time. Then I'll face you."It wasn't the first time I had faced this sort of behaviour. It was always more frequent at the start of the circuit before vanishing as young trainers became aware of how things differed from gym to gym. They all, dare I say it, matured from having to walk, fly or ride around all of Kanto and prepare their own meals."Hey wait!" called out the trainer that had challenged me. I didn't wait and merely continued to walk.A few locals heckled the kid and one rather dapper gentleman stepped forward right in front of the kid. "Ha! Young whippersnapper! Think you can just stride into our fair Pewter and challenge the Gym Leader! Let's go! You and I, two pokemon each!"I chuckled. Of all the ways that things could have played out, that was the best.I continued on, observing the stalls and the variety of attractions on offer. There were a number of large tents set up for pokemon shows where trainers had their pokemon perform various tricks like having a Growlithe do backflips or chase a man dressed like a clown around.I watched one rather good rendition of a clown policeman chase after a criminal only to have his Growlithe bite the wrong person. This then resulted in the man's shoe being stolen by the Growlithe before a chase that mirrored the earlier perp chase ensued. I could practically hear the Yakety sax song playing over the top of it. It was hammy as any comedy routine I'd seen in either life, and people loved it.They particularly liked it when the show was over and Officer Jenny and her Arcanine stalked in. She glared at everyone assembled before nodding, adjusting the clown's uniform and badge and proclaiming. "It's hard work on the streets, Officer! Keep it up!" She then gave another nod and marched off while the clown and his Growlithe saluted her. The crowd loved it, and I caught Jenny giggling to herself as she moved away."Gym Leader Brock! I—" I rolled my eyes and repeated my line for the second time that night as a trainer ambushed me."Sorry kid, schedule a match at the gym. I don't accept challenges outside my hours. I need time to rest just like my pokemon do.""Eh?!" I liked it when they were merely shocked at my rejection. It was most likely these were the sorts that struggled with their confidence, and my sudden appearance sparked them to throw out the challenge. Sadly for them, I couldn't give them a sop for their confidence by accepting.That way lay ruin due to good intentions. I had to be firm with them all.No one was getting an official match for the badge out of me tonight."Gym Leader!" "Brock!" The locals all waved to me and a few people clapped me on the shoulder as I passed them by. When I reached the square proper, I found an entertainer dancing on the stage in bright pink and blue colours as behind her an Eevee, a Jolteon, a Vaporeon, and a Flareon moved in time with her singing. I whistled, that was one cashed-up performer.I had no doubt that a lot of parents were going to face a lot more begging for the insanely popular Evolutionary pokemon. It would be educational for the kids and parents as to how expensive those pokemon actually were.Surprisingly, no one that I knew had a Sylveon. It stumped me how that was possible, as surely a pokemon that had been raised alongside its trainer for a long while would have had a 'love' relationship with them.That had been one of my earlier investigations when I learnt that the 'fairy typing' was not an officially recognised typing as yet. The fact that Sylveon was a thing should have blown that secret wide open.And yet, no one seemed to have one.I hadn't investigated too much, but I did have a hypothesis on it.I believed that the earlier threshold of 'friendship' was being triggered first and foremost, making it tougher for people to become' 'loved' and therefore causing the fairy-type evolution for Eevee. Which… Sounded very flimsy to me, as surely someone out there had an eevee that had loved them?Then again, they were rare. It was impressive to see four of the pokemon but a glance at the sponsors for the event made me snort."Eevee Family Trust indeed," I said aloud. Next to me, a man nodded while his daughter stared avidly from atop his shoulders."I like their performances, but the way they make everyone want them is kind of annoying," said the man."Shhh daddy!" said the girl as she swatted him, never once turning her eyes away from the cute pokemon. I nodded at the man in commiseration. With the mystery of how the performer could have four of the pokemon resolved, I continued to wander.The Eevee Family Trust was a breeder 'farm' for lack of a better term that had almost all of the eevee which could be found for sale. They made a huge profit from said sales while also making sure any pokemon, unless specifically asked/paid for, would be passed on as incapable of breeding.Perhaps that also factored into why there were no Sylveons around?The next stop I made also had my siblings merrily chomping away so I dropped into a seat next to them. "Golem!" Sanchez greeted from within a mane of fairy floss that had his head just poking out of it."You fed him sugar?" I asked Yolanda."Yeah, he used Baby Eyes on me," she said, not meeting my gaze."He doesn't know that move," I said rationally while nodding towards Cindy, who was now recounting how she'd ridden the Ferris wheel three times!"Well, he's really persuasive?" Yolanda said hesitantly. I gave her an unamused look.She bit her lip and let her eyes water. I snorted and shook my head but let the issue drop, they were having fun. Granny Babs cleaned off my sibling's faces and I inspected them and their ill-gotten gains. Each of them now had a show bag with various toys and lollies. All of them, cheaply made, while being pricey as all hell.And the mayor wanted a month of this? I think the parents were going to want to strangle him by the end of the week with how much sugar kids were going to be getting."What happened to Munchlax?" I asked as I collected up everyone's loose rubbish."He tackled Sanchez and started eating his candyfloss mane. Sanchez couldn't fight him off due to his position, and he ended up eating all of it. Sanchez got really sad ,and Munchlax started lining up on the Candy floss merchant. So he got returned to his pokeball instead," Yolanda said, raising the pokeball in question that twitched as if the pokemon inside desperately wanted out."Good call." I lounged with them for a while more, only to have someone approach."Gym Leader Brock!" called a new challenger. Yolanda giggled as I groaned into my hand.I turned. "I'm not accep—""Can I have your autograph?" said a tiny child while their mother hovered nearby. I relaxed instantly, a smile forming."Sure thing, who do I make this out to?" I plucked the pen and paper pad and wrote out a message and signature to the kid before sending them off to their mother. I sat back and glanced around, hoping for more of this positive reaction.Apparently, I was now popular enough for children to ask for such things, as before a minute passed, I had a small swarm of children asking for my signature and photos with me. From age five to ten they all crowded in, offering up various items for me to sign while their parents either assisted, hindered or lingered."Now, my Herbie, he's such a dear, would you mind signing his pokemon cap for him?" asked a nasally-toned mother. I deftly did as asked only for her to give a smile that looked entirely too plastic. "Great! Now, can you sign his—" And that is how I had to put down a limit of one signature per child that was present.When that was done, I looked around to find my own family starting to nod off. "Alright, gang let's get you all home for bed. I need to do another few runarounds, but home time for all of you first I think.""I'm not—" Timmy gave out a huge yawn while rubbing his eyes, "—sleepy!""Nope you are. Come on, first two up get carried home.""Munchlax!" cried the gluttonous little pokemon before throwing himself into one of my arms. That gave everyone pause. I looked to Yolanda who was staring at the pokeball in her grasp."He? What? When did he get out?" Yolanda looked from the ball to her surroundings. I had to wonder what mischief my pokemon had gotten up to in the time he had been free but when no vendors approached with a list of all the things my pokemon had eaten I shrugged it off."Alright, one arm is claimed, who wants the other?""Munchlax can't have one of your arms! That's not right!" Timmy stopped to argue. Suzie had no problem leaping onto my other arm and plopping her head on my shoulder."Suzie and Munchlax!""What!?" cried Timmy before leaping onto my back to dangle from my neck. I huffed before offering Munchlax to Yolanda before repositioning Timmy into the now vacant spot in my grip."So everyone have some fun?" I asked the group at large.Yolanda nodded before raising her hand," I was wondering if I could stick around for a little longer?" She kicked the ground a bit. "I know Forrest is sticking around and the festival is going to have fireworks soon…" She chewed her lip but perked up when I nodded."Sure, just don't go off anywhere and stay close to the square. Your transceiver all charged up?" She nodded, placing Munchlax on her hip before skipping to a stand that appeared to be a ball toss. I chuckled darkly.Poor carnies were in for a shock when she unleashed a blistering fastball. On the way out, I ended up seeing a number of the kids I coached during the off-season and their parents earning another round of greetings and goodbyes before I could depart."Gym Leader Brock! I challenge…" I turned and gave the kid a highly unimpressed look. They paused before coughing. "I'll find you later.""Good thinking, get a scheduled match lined up kid," was all I said before heading home with Tommy, Cindy, Salvadore, Timmy, Suzie, and Granny Babs. When I reached home I turned the kids over to the awaiting Granny who Babs joined for a cup of tea while the kids went about their nightly bedtime rituals.Instead of walking back as I had at the start, I once more opened Zephyr's pokeball and took flight.This time, I spotted a few things that had me investigating closer. One such act had me diving low onto a house that had no lights on, but multiple flashlights searching around.I approached the house from the front and saw the door wasn't open before trudging around the back to find it broken down.I toggled my transceiver and rang a number. "Gym Leader Brock at hundred and three Pebblebry road. Break and enter in progress. Moving to detain. Send pick up." I then tossed a pokeball over my shoulder before popping another in front of myself."Hold for now Shin. Izumi, you're with me.""Geo!" said Izumi quietly as she hopped up onto my shoulder. I marched straight past the broken door and into the unlit house, unperturbed by the darkness. When I happened upon the first would-be criminal searching through a jewellery case I walked up and tapped him on the shoulder.He whirled around to reveal he was wearing a ski mask pulled low. He had all of a moment to lay eyes on me before Izumi performed a straight right that saw him flopping to the ground."Bert? That you tripping over in there?" Another voice called from deeper in the house.I blinked away the momentary blindness from the flashlight before marching on in. A quick return to true night vision being one of the many perks that came from training myself with Dark type energy that I had so far learnt.Another flashlight preceded the partner in crime walking out into the hallway. "Bertram I swear if you've…" He trailed off as his eyes alighted on myself. "Oh… uhm, evening Gym Leader! You would not believe it, but we forgot our keys!"I nodded seriously before pointing right at him. "Tackle." Izumi launched herself straight forward to lay the other man out. When he was down and held firm by Izumi I patted him down. "Ya, you're right I don't believe you. Police are on the way."A thumping of feet announced yet another person remained but I didn't bother to hurry. The police would likely already be out the front, but he wasn't headed that way."Take them Shin!" I called out and sure enough as soon as the running feet crunched on the outside gravel a loud. 'Oof!' was called out. I suspected they had run right into Shin. Or vice versa.I patted the burglar on the back of the head. "Stay here, and be good. Don't add any charges of resisting arrest alright? You'll have your rights read to you in a moment when I hand you off.""Wait! Does that mean you're doing this illegally? I'll walk! Ha!"I pat him on the head again. "Nope! Gym Leaders and Gym associated trainers are fully deputised to make arrests for police. If a police unit is not present or the lock up is full I can even hold you for a set period of time on the Police's behalf.""What? They never said anything about that in school?"I glanced around at the burglary site. "You listened in school?"His grumble was more than enough of an answer so I moved to secure the other two before carrying them out the front where a police van was parked with two police officers and a pair of Growlithe waited."All yours officers; it might be worth checking if there's anyone else. The third one was smart enough to let me pass him before making a run. Might be another hiding out."The police practically bristled in excitement at that before they turned on each other. "Shotgun!" shouted the one on my left before clicking his fingers and leading off the Grolwithe while I helped the leftover policeman by loading up the burglars in their car.The entire operation took all of five minutes and by the time ten minutes were up. The police were on the phone with the owners to inform them of what had occurred. I waved to them, returned my pokemon and lifted off with Zephyr to continue my circuit.I started to head towards the square when a series of spotlights flashed upwards to mark out a 'no fly' zone.Unlike the games, if you wanted to fly your pokemon around it wasn't a simple HM that you needed but rather an extra test and license. It was much like a learner's driving test from my old world with laws such as; not buzzing residents of the cities, keeping aware of electrical powerlines, and never flying over certain mountain ranges or islands in each region.Or, as was important now, during celebrations, being aware that fireworks could be set off. It was thus highly recommended that you do not fly during such events or if not possible, remain well out of the marked-out zone lest you create a tragedy.A number of fliers buzzed around the square before beginning to circle as the police worked to clear the no-fly zone.I decided to land instead of pushing through and potentially delaying the show.This saw me landing near a stall that was well and truly on the outskirts of the festival. Strangely the woman stiffened when she saw me and threw a towel over her goods in an action that was far too frantic for my liking. I looked straight at her."What was that?""What was what?" said the woman in a far too innocent tone. She smiled guilelessly like a pro. I stared at her face, trying to place it. I had a list of swindlers and hoodlums to be on the lookout for. She had a freckled face with a cute button nose that was currently being tickled by some loose strands of her strawberry blonde hair. She looked more like a farmer than a crook.Then again, people did have make-up and hair dye so she could be anyone if she was skilled enough. I stepped closer and the woman swallowed firmly. "E-evening Gym Leader! Anything I can do for you tonight?"I stared before relaxing and smiling. "Yeah, you can give me your name. You know me and have me at a disadvantage."Her eyes widened at that before she spluttered. "Oh, I'm no one special. I'm just a simple berry farmer selling her produce!" I looked down and saw that yes, she was in fact selling berries. Zephyr approached and hooted at a few before turning his neck to look right at me."Can I see your papers? How come you're not closer in? And your name?" I prompted once more."Oh! Papers! Right." She leaned over and handed me a clipboard. "Names Kelly Meadows! I started up a farm."She scratched at her arm nervously. "Had some trouble getting workers for a while there but I got some help just a while ago! Ha!" she said with a slightly manic look in her eyes before she shook it off. "Had to rush to get my stock put together since I'm not from one of the big farms so the Mayor didn't let me know about the festival. I only found out I was missing out a few days ago! Took a bit of time to get the farm sorted out so I could come in. Got my sister looking after things now."I nodded. She had most of the normal berries you saw sold, such as Oran, Chesto, Peacha, Leppa, Razz and Bluk berries but also some ones I wasn't familiar with such as Pamtre, Watmel, Charti, Liechi and Spelon berries.I handed the sheets back over after spotting the seal of approval, "This seems to be in order. Sorry for startling you. Were you packing up for the night?" I said, glancing at the towel she'd thrown over some of her produce.Kelly smiled widely. "Oh! Um, yup! I was packing up."I hummed, unsure with her answer, before having Zephyr bump me and bob his head towards some Oran berries. "Mind If I buy my pokemon some food?"Kelly perked up. "Oh!? Well, I'm not packed up yet! Sure, how many berries do you want?"I pointed towards the Oran and Watmel berries that Zephyr was interested in. Then two of my pokeballs popped open and Knight and Bertha loomed over me to stare hungrily at the berries."Three boxes," I said without missing a beat. "How much?"Kelly paused before nodding quickly. Her smile turned much more genuine which made me glance around for something off. I couldn't find anything. Perhaps it was me overthinking things after coming from that crime scene?"Uhm you got five hundred pokedollars for that?" she said before blushing. "Sorry! Of course you do! I watched you beat down the Champ!""Thanks," I said, opening up my wallet and handing over five crisp hundred pokedollar bills that featured the face of the original shrine maiden of Bellsprout tower. One Fiona Flowers, renowned for her skill with grass types and a historical icon for Johto.When I grabbed one of the boxes before pointing two other boxes out for Knight and Bertha each to carry. I stepped back, tossing two berries to Zephyr. Then I let out the other four pokemon I had on me. Izumi, Shin, Chou, and Sanchez all locked onto the last box of berries before claiming their own to chow down. I turned back to find Kelly watching with fascination."Do alright for yourself out here?" I said more to make conversation than anything. I noted that she was still holding the money in her hands."Oh…. no not really. I'm only getting people coming and going from this way unlike the other big fruit stalls further in near the entertainment." She wilted slightly at the confession.I hummed, giving her stall another look over. "Need something to keep people around. Maybe get a friend to buy another stall next door and get a pond with a flimsy drop chair over a pond. Crowds love that sort of thing." I circled a finger around her produce. "If you had a juicer and some cups you could also sell some juice to people and their pokemon. Fresh juice always goes down well."Kelly perked up at that. "Huh, that's actually a good idea." She gave me a furtive look. "Thanks Gym Leader." She scratched her cheek. "Make me feel sorta bad now."I tilted my head. "Why's that?"She stiffened. "Oh! Uh! Cause I was cheering for Lance to win is all!"I snorted. "We all have our favourites; I won't be annoyed at you going for him over me." I then shot her a wink. "Maybe cheer for me next time, yeah? Then you won't feel so bad."She laughed at that. I checked on my pokemon to find them circling Izumi whose smaller mouth didn't let her devour her pile as quickly. She used one arm to warn off the larger pokemon while shovelling berries into her mouth."Annnnnnd I think I should be off soon." I returned my pokemon, bar Izumi, who relaxed at not being pressured. She made quick work of the last few berries before hopping onto my shoulder. I half considered making a joke about her weight, but my instinct flared up and warned me away from the terrible idea. I shot Kelly a nod before walking in further. "Might see you around Kelly, good luck with your sales!""Thanks for the sales and the idea! And I will cheer for you next time!" she shouted after me.As I approached the square, a raised platform flashed with lights, and an announcer raised his hands dramatically just as some fireworks launched into the sky. The still-present festival goers oohed and ahh'd as the light show began.I marched on, spotting a few people I knew, including Lawrence, my Lawyer. He waved me over."Brock!" said the tattooed-up Lawyer. "Meet the apple of my eye and my sweet, sweet lady love! This is Tanya!" he gestured to a woman and I greeted her politely before smiling at Lawrence."You're a lucky man Lawrence," I said before clapping him on the shoulder. "I'll leave you to enjoy your night. I have to go find my younger brother and sister. Find out if they're still here before heading out. I'll be in touch soon though."Lawrence and his girlfriend Tanya let me go without any issue but a number of others greeted me having been made aware I was present."Gym Leader—" a firework went off, cutting through the trainer's challenge. I promptly used that as an excuse to outright ignore them. Amusingly enough, it seemed to work as they couldn't call out for me to stop thanks to the fireworks.I eventually found Yolanda talking with a few of her friends. She had a nice mask of a Tyranitar on her head while she peered upwards. Munchlax was right at her side holding her hand, his gaze fixed upwards even as his jaws worked at the large slab of meat he held.I approached and tapped Yolanda on her shoulder. "Hey," I said before glancing around. "Seen your brother?"Yolanda shook her head before gesturing in a direction. "Might be over near the bike racing set up?"I headed off in that direction. I hadn't actually spotted that during my last pass of the square. If I had missed that, perhaps there was a lot more to this festival.I stopped when I found Forrest lined up on the slope for the mountain bikers to ride a set course. He had his helmet on, which let me relax a tiny amount, but he soon had me clenching in fear as he sped down the slope to perform a number of speedy actions that saw him bunny-hopping small hills and skidding around tight corners. When he was done I sighed in relief alongside another man.I chuckled. "At least he's good enough. I hopefully don't have to worry about him crashing out.""Yeah, kids surprise you. don't they?" said a familiar voice as I stared at Forrest lining up for another go."Ha! Yeah, I just wish he…" I trailed off as my mind registered where I had heard that voice from. I whipped around. "Flint?"The spot next to me was empty. I turned fully around to see if I could spot him slipping away. Overhead more fireworks went off and I cursed. I wouldn't be able to jump up onto Zephyr. A nearby bike starting platform for the mountain bikers though would serve as a higher vantage point so I leapt from the ground to grab onto the railing. The biker atop it squawked in fright at my sudden appearance, but I paid them no mind. Instead, I stared out into the crowd to look for the shabby appearance of Flint walking away.I licked my lips as I failed to find anything. There were plenty of people still moving about, despite others standing and watching the sky above. I passed my eyes over Yolanda and found nothing.I growled in annoyance and thought about what to do next. It was a shame Janine was gone; otherwise, I would have had her track him down instantly. I was considering calling Sabrina when another firework went off. The crowd roared their approval, and I sighed.Calling Sabrina into this crowd would just be hurting her. There would be too many thoughts if she had to seek out Flint from among them. I wasn't even sure if that had been him. I think that annoyed me the most. I continued to search for any sign Flint was present only to not find anything.I eventually had to give up. I trudged back to Yolanda to find Forrest wiping off his face with a towel. They looked at me and blinked. "Brock? Is something wrong?" Yolanda said carefully.I blinked, surprised they'd caught onto my mood. Then I huffed. If anyone was going to detect it, it would be them. I waved about the crowd. "I thought I spotted Flint. I…"Yolanda perked up at that before looking around. "Want to keep looking?" she said hopefully.I almost said no, but her hopeful look made me hold off. "Sure Yolanda." We spent another hour walking around through the festival but came back without spotting Flint once again. I ran a hand across my face as we walked home. Yolanda held herself upright as she carried a snoring Munchlax back home."It's a good thing! He's coming closer right?" she said tightly. We hadn't seen anything and now I felt like a schmuck for getting their hopes up when I wasn't even sure I'd seen anything.I nodded. "Yeah, I think it is." I considered it for a moment before pointing at Forrest. "He was watching you I think. You were pulling some good moves on your bike."Forrest perked up at that. "Really? Heh." He smiled widely and I spotted Yolanda smiling wider as well. They must have been happy that their father might have possibly been showing some interest in us. I decided not to dampen their mood by reminding them that I wasn't sure if it had even been him. It might have been some other shabbily dressed man.… Which said things about what I expected of Flint, but that was neither here nor there.Before I went to bed, I diverted to Forrest's room. There I knocked on the door and waited until he called out to me. I found him still awake and working a cloth over his bike. "Really? You should be doing that downstairs in the workshop.""Heh, sorry Brock!" He said shamelessly. I glanced at that backpack he'd stored it in and grimaced. Evidently, he should have done it before folding it up because his backpack was filthy. I gave him a look before shaking my head. "Leave it for tomorrow." I then tapped his desk."I've been meaning to talk to you as well. You're not picking up your jobs around the gym like we talked about."Forrest didn't meet my gaze. "Sorry! I just, I wanted to hang out with my friends.""It's been a few times now Forrest. You said you wanted to take on a bigger role, even possibly one day take over for me. That means you need to do the jobs you're assigned and learn how to run the gym.""I try but there's so many jobs!" he said suddenly. He shook his head. "How do you do so much?" This time he met my eyes."I don't do it alone but I worked my way into it," I said honestly."Sorry for letting you down… I didn't mean to." His lip wobbled, and he scrubbed at his eyes to wipe away any tears. I stepped up and hugged him."Hey, hey. No, it's cool. You're still learning, don't beat yourself up over this stuff. There is a lot and if I didn't have as many people helping me out I'd be drowning as well. Things are tough with the surge and Dad and the family but we can get through it alright.""Right, right!" He said before sniffing wetly. "Right, I'll start getting serious tomorrow."I snorted and knocked him on the head lightly. "Bratty little brother. You were supposed to get serious ages ago."He stuck his tongue out at that before I grabbed a pillow and swatted him. "Go to bed." I then pointed at his muddy floor, clothes, bike, and backpack. "And clean those up tomorrow." I pushed him into bed. "Now go to sleep before I summon a Gengar to make you go to sleep!"He snorted at my faux macho tone. "Night bro.""Night," I said as I made my way out. I lay down and relaxed. I might not have found my dad but I couldn't consider today to be fruitless.And tomorrow? I'd get a day to just hang out with a friend. I smiled as I fell asleep, very much looking forward to my upcoming surf lesson with Brawly.
75
Zephyr flew over Viridian as I chowed down on my breakfast with one hand. We had a good tailwind, but I'd urged him to go faster with the need to make up for the time I'd lost when I'd reminded the kids that the grannies were looking after them today. Suzie had demanded to come with me, and had latched onto my leg like a Shellder on a Slowpoke. She'd have refused to get off until I gave in and accepted that this was my new form and way of life.Sadly, she vastly underestimated my strength and forgot that she was ticklish. So I had my leg back and was soaring away.A buzz on my wrist notified me that Brawly was calling. "Brock! Where you at? Rocko and I are already out on the water!"I quickly swallowed before replying, "Had some family stuff. I'm flying down your way now. What am I looking for? Is it where the river meets the ocean?""That's where I'd aim to start with, and then I'd head south. You'll see an island chain that will be where we're at!"I signed off before shoving the rest of my meal into my mouth. I tapped Zephyr to line him up with the small river that ran from the mountain range near Cerulean, past Mt Moon and straight south to the ocean. Zephyr beat his wings before adopting a glide. I huddled in to help him stay as streamlined as possible before popping back up when we reached the mouth of the river.There we hovered before orienting towards a distant island that quickly grew larger. When I got to it, I had my pokemon circle lower and lower until I spotted a group of people riding boards while on the beach more people lounged about. In the water around the people various pokemon bobbed. I could see Seaking, Golduck, Horsea, Staryu, and when I swept over the entire group I noticed a shadow in the water that had to be big enough for a Wailord.I made for the beach. "Yo Brock! Jump in!" Brawly called out. I looked at him before looking down at myself. I had my swimmers underneath, but I'd need a moment to get through my upper layer of clothes. I tapped Zephyr towards the beach only to receive boos from some of the swimmers as I ignored their calls to leap from my flying pokemon into the water.I snorted, unclipped a pokeball from my belt, and tossed it out. "Tide! Give them some waves!"From roughly ten meters up, a very large Lapras appeared. The swimmers all jolted as they saw it. Tide cried out in glee before opening his fins wide. He fell and I grinned as people scrambled about only for a loud 'fwap' to sound out. From where my Lapras hit the water, a large wave formed up and lifted everyone in. Pokemon and people alike, none were spared.Then the wave began to tumble forward. The surfers whooped with glee while some people grabbed onto their pokemon to ride along as the wave carried them. They raced onto the beach, with some sliding along the wet sand while others face-planted and became like strange moving trees as their legs and arms twitched.One swimmer that was 'planted' was approached by a Psyduck, who poked at it before the swimmer twitched, scaring off the little psychic duck. He came up for air, spat some sand and laughed before diving into the surf.I shook my head as Rocko and Brawly approached. "Nice entrance! That was a sweet wave!""Well that's good." I gestured around the beach. "You know everyone here?""As much as anyone can know people that like to share some waves at a new place. I've met a few, and they're all good people." Brawly shrugged. I hummed as I lifted my shirt and tossed it into a bag. I turned back and shook myself off. Brawly grinned. "Damn bro! You gonna catch some envy rocking up to surf like that!"I glanced down at myself. "Something wrong?""Nah, you're just ripped as hell is all." He nodded his head towards a pair of swimmers that were openly staring. One girl even had her mouth hanging open. Brawly sniggered at their expressions, then stepped up and clapped me on the shoulders while grinning at the girls. "Sorry ladies! I'm gonna have to give him a vest to keep him safe! So the show's about to end!"One girl pouted while the other accepted it with a nod. She then raised up a camera and took a picture of me before giving us a 'nice' gesture. Her friend smacked her on the shoulder in mock reprimand even as she leaned in to check out the picture.I ignored them before donning the surfer vest Brawly had. He gestured to the boards. "Right, so how much do you know about surfing?"I nodded like a sage and cupped my chin. "I know next to nothing!" I said without shame.Rocko snorted. "He's all yours Brawly. I'm gonna go surf with Gloom." Brawly stiffened and shot Rocko some worried looks. His eyes slide from Rocko's retreating form to me as he wet his lips. It took me a moment to realise why Brawly might be nervous about Rocko's Gloom.He tried to adopt a calm tone as she coughed. "He uhhh didn't mean—"I waved it off. "I'm not worried about his life choices. I know, and he knows that I don't care as long as he's sober when work starts. If I need him for an emergency, I have to take him how he is or not call him."That seemed to give Brawly pause. He blinked a few times and raised a finger before dropping it. "Huh, cool.""It is what it is," I said before pointing at the surfboards. I made a mental note that Brawly had a terrible poker face. "So? Wanna teach me how to surf?"Brawly's grin grew once more. "For sure!" And so I spent the next twenty minutes being instructed exactly how to paddle on a surfboard. Brawly made sure I had a longboard to practise on before he had me learn how to transition into a standing position."Okay, you need to be a bit smoother with your shift and snap up!" He jerked a thumb out onto the water. "Let's take you out into the shallows and get you practising that before I get you on some baby waves!" He then paddled out further, leaving me to one of his pokemon.I spent the next half an hour having small waves splashed my way with Brawly's Poliwrath. The pokemon would walk up and prod me in certain positions and point out issues before getting on a surfboard of his own and showing what I was doing, and what I was supposed to be doing.I eventually got a begrudging nod from the pokemon.I turned in the water and began paddling out into the deeper water. In the time I'd been learning how to surf Tide had become a rest spot. With his size that meant he'd become a pontoon with swimmers lounging about on him while other pokemon leapt over or under him. He leaned his neck into the swimmers that were scratching at his neck while he also kept one eye open.I closed in and sat up on my board before shifting around. Brawly grinned at me. "Nice one! You ready to try surfing properly?""I suppose, think I'm more ready to wipe out a lot." I scooched up, still not comfortable.Brawly merely laughed, "Ha! That's half the fun! Just make sure you don't belly flop! Pokemon can handle it, but it'll leave a sting if you do! If you do it right, your wipeouts are some of the best fun you'll have."I snorted at that, only for Brawly to put his hand below the water and shake it up. "I'm gonna set up a wave for myself. When you're ready, just wave your hand in a V under the water. Wailord will set you up. So paddle out and turn towards shore." He did as he said, paddling away from us before spinning.A swell soon built, and Brawly grinned as he began paddling it in. From the angle we had, I got to watch as he paddled before kipping up to his feet.Another surfer approached me, smiling happily while adjusting her swimsuit. "Hi there! I'm Billie! This your first time?" I nodded. "Nice! Well, watch what Brawly does! He's a natural at surfing!" she said, singing Brawly's praises. "Oh, he's about to do some cutbacks!"I tilted my head but made sure to keep my eyes on Brawly as he rode the wave only to rise up and perform a fast turn at the top before dropping low and repeating the gesture. He did this a few times before lowering himself into the curling part of the wave."He's in the tube!" Billie informed me as my new friend surfed along the wave. He held his hand out and held it in the water before leaning forward and speeding up. He shot out of the tube and then launched himself up and over the wave to flip up into the water."Yeeeeow!" He cheered as he let himself flip over.Billie laughed before dropping her hand into the water to call up her own wave. A set of bubbles signalled that Wailord had recognised the order.She paddled out and got ready for her wave while Brawly glided back towards me. "Hey man! How was that?" I shifted on the board and nodded at him."It was uhm… solid?""Heh! You're such a landie Brock. We call it a sweet, or a sick ride! Not solid!"I shrugged, "I'm a rock type trainer. Guess it shows."Brawly hummed. "Yeah, but we aren't like our pokemon man." I merely nodded, if Brawly hadn't yet encountered aura, I wasn't going to inform him. Most people I had discussed it with prior to the Guardians thought I was a charlatan. Well,except Sabrina of course.With my body in the water, I was feeling a small weakness, but it wasn't anything more than a slight stiffness. I wouldn't want to play water sports but I had been described as a brick in water in both lives so that was never a concern of mine.Rocko swam out and deposited his Gloom onto the back of Tide. Brawly gave us both hesitant looks. "I'm still weirded out that you know and don't care man." I shrugged again, only for Brawly to squint at me. "Waaaait, do you also—"I shook my head. "Nah, I've never huffed or smoked anything. Always been careful with my lungs."Having asthma and being hospitalised as a child in a previous life had guaranteed I was never tempted, in both lives. Brawly stared at me before shaking his head."Damn, guess that's a sweet deal."Rocko scratched at his belly and smirked. "Yeah, it's pretty solid."Brawly and I shared a look and chuckled while Billie caught her wave. We watched her pull some moves of her own before crashing out when she tried to double back on the crest.Brawly clapped me on the shoulder. "Wanna give it a try?"I shifted back up onto the board. I had rather been enjoying just being a part of the group but… I did want to have a go. "Sure," I made the gesture under the water. Bubbles tickled my fingers that had me shivering, it was certainly one way to let you know something big was underneath you."Alright, so just paddle out? And catch it yeah?" I asked."Yah man! I'll tell you what to do!" Brawly said. Rocko raised a thumbs up and the people that had been playing around on Tide called out their encouragement."Baby Brock's first wave woooh!" "Don't screw up!" "Nah do it in a cool way!" "Do a flip when you wipeout!" I shook my fist at them before turning and paddling out in long strokes that worked muscles I wasn't used to working. I might have to try swimming with Shin and Shrek more.I reached the point and paddled around until I faced the beach. Brawly waved at me. "Watch behind you for the swell!"I glanced behind while trying to stay on my board. Eventually, a swell began to build up behind me. I lay low on the board."Not yet! Don't go now… Wait! Wait! Alright, paddle hard man! Go go go!" called Brawly.I started paddling hard and felt myself being dragged back into the wave as it began to suck me in. It built, and I heard the wave cresting farther down from me."Try standing! Make it as smooth as you can!"I nodded. Right, right. I needed to snap up but be balanced. I pushed up slightly, dropping my paddling and began to ready myself. I shot up onto my knees and wobbled horribly. I just hung on before standing slowly. With a tentative feel, I stood upright and waved to the crowd."I'm doing—" The board twitched under me, and I felt the board shift. "Shit!" I cursed as I lost control and was thrown. I slammed into the water and pushed down slightly to make sure I didn't get clubbed by my board. I let the wave pass and then rose up. I gasped in a lungful of air before looking around for my missing board."Nice one! You actually stood for a bit there!" Brawly shouted. I gave him a thumbs up.Rocko cupped his hands. "Try doing it for longer next time!"I shot him a rude gesture and swam towards my board before hopping onto it. I then turned to make sure I was out of the next person's wave only for them to wave for me to have another go. I shrugged and had another go.I did just about the same before crashing out. They let me go again, and again, and again. After the fifth wave, I got a run of roughly five seconds before crashing out. When they gestured for me to run again, I shook my head and paddled over, strangely tired from riding the waves. I paddled over and set up next to Brawly and Rocko as another surfer paddled out."That was… pretty fun," I said between heaving breaths.Brawly chuckled and clapped me on the back. "It was sweet Brock. Nice work for your first tries! We'll have you hanging ten proper soon!"Rocko shot me a thumbs up and I sat up. "Right, well I think I need to work on a lot but yeah. I… wouldn't mind that." Brawly grinned and watched the next surf. I shook out my hair. "What's it like having a pokemon make up the waves instead of surfing naturally?""It's nice, convenient that you can pretty much set up anywhere and have a surf. Pretty much has me always having Wailord on my team but it's not the same." Brawly swept his hand out to the sea. "There's something just so honest about having to watch the waves and make a choice of if a wave is going to be right for you or too much even. You might spend hours out on the waves at a time with a natural surfing spot but that's part of the charm. You get so long where nothing but the next wave matters. It's really freeing."That was kind of romantic to hear about. Romantic in the sense of being alluring and wondrous.Brawly shifted and squinted out into the water. "Well, the waves and pokemon that is." He put his fingers into his mouth and whistled. "Hey! Who's on Sharpedo duty!? I see fins out there!"A curse from atop Tide had one of the girls sitting up and grabbing from her belt. I coughed as her chest bounced around unhindered by any top. Apparently, she'd decided to catch a tan. She gave Brawly and I gimlet looks as she put a hand over her chest. Rocko just yawned, unmindful of the show she was putting on."Ah! Let me get that," I said before clicking my tongue in a pattern. Tide opened his eyes from where he'd been asleep a moment ago. "Tide, Hyperbeam."Everyone that had been resting or playing about on his large shell sat up in surprise as he lifted his head and formed up a ball of energy in his maw. "Holy Ho-oh!" cried one girl.Tide swept his flippers right as he discharged the beam towards the approaching fins. For a moment, I thought the fins stopped as if they detected the approaching attack but then the beam lanced into them and the water exploded upwards like the fist of an angry giant had punched down.When the water cleared, a number of floating bodies appeared.I nodded, "All good."Brawly laughed loudly while the people that had been casually lounging on Tide stared at the pokemon that had been languidly resting with them. They obviously hadn't seen the scars on his flanks and front or else they might have realised he was a fighter. He turned his head at the people on his back and smiled at them."Nice one Tide!" I said shooting him a thumbs up. He splashed around himself with his flippers, trilling with glee before shivering slightly. He swept his long neck down and cleaned out his mouth with some water.The girl that was supposed to be on Sharpedo watch was still standing. She stared up at Tide in awe. "Is this what it was like to be a naval commander during the old times? Damn, I swear I could feel the build-up of power before he fired off that Hyper Beam." She shivered before bouncing from foot to foot. "Alright everyone! We're going to be running a patrol with Tide as our vessel! Who's with me!" She thrust her arm up and spun about maniacally"Ahem!" I coughed pointedly, but she ignored that she was still giving everyone that cared to look a show.Brawly shut me up by reaching over and pushing me off my board.The rest of the morning passed by easily after that. I got a few chances to ride some waves and I felt like I made some progress in my surfing cred. Rocko agreed with me while Brawly grinned, merely happy to have me sounding like I'd come again.The flasher girl had gotten to 'patrol' the ocean with Tide. Apparently, she had a small idea about Lapras being used in the past as patrolling vessels. They were apparently popular with coast guards until they were targetted by criminals resulting in the endangered status.When I'd told her that Tide was a breeding male at the cove, she had been very interested. Brawly had smoothly slid in and mentioned heading there later in the week, resulting in getting her number and some plans to meet up later.When the sun had gotten higher in the sky, I had decided that was enough surfing for me. The swimmers and surfers didn't begrudge me taking away their convenient meeting spot on the water but that was probably because Brawly had made Wailord rise up to fill in the spot.I said my goodbyes and took off for home with Zephyr. I'd had to put on a lot more clothes before flying off. I was feeling pretty good as I soared home. I had a certain lightness of body now that I was out of the water but I'd also really enjoyed just hanging out with people that were so relaxed. There hadn't been anything that needed to be done or an event I was building toward.Just waves and chill.I snorted as I remembered the old saying for hooking up. I doubted Rocko was there for that but as I glanced over my shoulder I saw that a number of men and women sitting very closely on the island proper on a more private part of the beach.Huh, waves and chill indeed.Well, I suppose they had their fun for the rest of the morning all lined up. I continued north, not all that bothered with what I might be missing out on back in or around the water. I'd had enough fun for today to be happy.I sighed expansively and spread my arms wide. The air swept through them, and I felt Zephyr bank around playfully. He must have caught my mood and was more than happy to comply.I pat him on the back before coming to a quick decision. "Hey buddy? Want to do some loops and speed runs?""Noct!" he cried before flapping quickly to reach a safer height for aerial acrobatics. I grinned and locked my legs into the straps.Zephyr rose before flattening out. Then he tilted forward and let his wings hang in front of him like some modern fighter jet. His wings glowed silvery as he channelled his Steel Wing to add more weight that saw him drop away.He built up speed as he fell before twitching his wings to spiral off to the side. I hung on and grit my teeth at the feeling of being tossed and turned only for Zephyr to throw himself into a loop de loop. Then he flipped over so that we were flying upside down."Hahahahaha!" I laughed before letting my arms fall down. I looked down at the ground with my grin hurting it was stretching my face so wide. With the trees, ground and even the truck below me I felt… I paused as I registered the discrepancy."Zeph! Level out!""Noctowl?" he said, doing so while spinning his head about to check on me.I pat his shoulder joint. "I'm fine. I just saw something weird. I stood in the saddle and stared down. "Is that a truck buddy?" His head rotated around to see where I was pointing before spinning back."Owl!" He nodded.I nodded back. We weren't anywhere significant. There weren't any villages or discrete manors that I could see that sometimes dotted the landscape around Kanto. There seemed to barely be a road that the truck could rumble down. It wasn't a small truck either. I rubbed my chin and glanced off to the west where Viridian rested.Viridian, where Giovanni was.I narrowed my eyes. "We're following it Zeph stay out of their sight though." I glanced around to check that there weren't any other patrolling riders but I couldn't spot anyone. Or anything in the air. "Stay high just in case anyone's watching from the ground," I ordered, just to be sure.Zephyr hooted once before once more ascending upwards. He reached his gliding height and from there we followed along after the small dot. It trundled along seemingly without knowing we were watching it.For ten minutes, it continued on. With each minute it spent driving I only had more and more doubts that anything legitimate was occurring beneath me. Was this a poaching operation? Perhaps even a Team Rocket run operation?I kept watching the truck until I suddenly lost sight of it. "Where is it?" I said aloud.Zephyr circled wide; his much sharper eyes must have been tracking the ground as his head turned carefully before he adopted a hover. He turned his head and shook it sadly. I chewed my lip, staring at where I had last seen the truck."Land over there buddy. I want to check something." Zephyr did as ordered. I made sure to not withdraw him when we landed. I instead kept him close but not too close with my hand on another pokeball. I stalked along the road and stared at the recent tire marks that showed that the truck had existed and had been driven down this track.And then suddenly it vanished in a patch of grass that was just oh so crisp. Far too crisp to be natural. I walked around that patch of grass. Then I checked the forest around me. There didn't seem to be any cameras watching me but I still felt exposed. This was very suspicious. I wanted to kneel and dig a little earth up but the hair on the back of my neck was standing up.This entire set-up was unnerving. I checked Noctowl and found that he was also glancing around as if something was agitating him.I clicked my tongue and decided to get out of there. But not before I marked it on my transceiver map for later review. I wasn't ready to investigate what I suspected was a hidden bunker. Not while no-one knew where I was. I'd have to ask around and find out if there was any information on someone buying and building something out here in the past.But that might tip someone like Giovanni off. I doubted he hadn't covered his tracks and set up watchers on his potential interests.Still, if this was a hidden bunker I had little doubt it was a Team Rocket base. But what would they…Hadn't Giovanni had Mewtwo in a facility near Viridian? I glanced back over my shoulder and stared at the innocent patch of grass.Was that what was under there? A Legendary pokemon?I licked my lips suddenly very nervous. For some reason, I had thought that Giovanni might have made his facility that contained Mewtwo above ground and to the west, instead of east of Viridian. But wouldn't it make more sense to have it hidden in the southern parts of the forest instead? I had just barely noticed it and it was very out of the way.I'd only spotted it thanks to luck. Or perhaps I was counting my pidgey before they had hatched.Still, I had something to investigate. When I dared to, that was, it might be something for the Guardians to poke their noses into.Now I just needed to decide if sticking my head into the metaphorical jaws of a Legendary was worth the risk.My transceiver buzzed and I nearly jumped three metres into the air at the shock of the sudden noise. I answered and tried to calm my racing heart."Brock here, what's up?" I said."Hey Brock, it's Rachel, Sabrina's ready to go shopping for your outfits for next weekend!"I blinked at the transceiver. I had mentioned it in passing to her hadn't I? And she would have… I chuckled, what had I been thinking, I'd basically offered her the date.. And it wasn't like I'd have wanted to go with anyone else after all. Hmmm, Sabrina dress shopping, that sounded fun."I'll be there soon."
76
Girls could be a unique mystery. When I had first met Sabrina she'd been a girl that had avoided going out in public as much as possible. It wasn't that she couldn't, but more that it was uncomfortable for her. Something we'd struggled with a fair bit during our time together when we'd been younger. I'd given her some help by being a 'safe zone' she could be around to stop thoughts flooding her mind. Back then, she would have stayed very close or been skittish going through towns. Nowadays she openly walked next to me and spoke of going out with Erika, or her mother, and I had to wonder how much I'd really helped at all.I must have done something as obviously she was better than what she would have been like according to the anime but still… I felt a little envious that she seemed to have made better strides of late with others than she had with me when we'd been younger.She'd been increasingly able to handle time with my army of little siblings.She'd also seemed perfectly happy to sit with my little sisters and play dolls with them until I'd come back.
She appeared to be going out of her way to be nice to new people. Or, at least she'd reacted well to Rachel.Rachel, who was walking along with a pleased little smile on her lips, all without Sabrina acting like a Meowth rubbed the wrong way. During our journey, Sabrina had reacted worse to anyone that tagged along. Perhaps it was a matter of maturity or just that Sabrina's tolerance had grown. Or maybe Rachel was just a nice girl according to Sabrina's senses.I sent another glance towards Sabrina, she'd been playing with my siblings for at least an hour by the time I'd gotten home. This was followed by us walking in public instead of teleporting directly to the venue. I couldn't see any slumped shoulders or tiredness from her at all.Still, it might pay to ask. "Hey, you alright?"She turned her head and observed me as we continued along into town."I am perfectly well. Are you alright?""Bit tired from all the battles I've been going through this last week, but I feel good having gone surfing. It was fun despite all the times I wiped out." Sabrina tilted her head and her eyes flicked up and down my body.I waved a hand back and forth, "I'm perfectly fi—" I cut off the word remembering that Sabrina associated fine with a cry for help. "Well. I am doing well."She bobbed her head and continued to walk along. I looked back to find Rachel watching us with a happy smile on her face. I shook my head at her and she merely smiled wider. I huffed at her. "So, where are we going?""I looked around for the best tailor in town that does suits! They actually reached out to the Gym first, but not about their suits. Rather they wanted to know about the contests that you're going to run Brock!""I'm not running any contests," I said."Right now you're not, but you did have some plans to set them up, no?" Rachel said logically."Maybe." I rubbed my eyes in irritation. "Things have been rather hectic with the gym." I considered the other part of what Rachel had said. "So they're tailors that enjoy Contests? Who are they?"Rachel grimaced. "Oh… well I'm sort of going against the girl code here but—"I snorted. "There's no such thing as the girl code."Rachel raised an eyebrow. "And you'd know this how Mr Brock?" she said pointedly."I'd know," I said firmly. I looked at Sabrina. "Back me up—""I can't tell you the girl code Brock," she said without inflection.I flicked my eyes between them both. "You're both messing with me right?"There was no such thing. I was sure I would have picked up on it before this. The guy code sure, but the girl code? I'd lived two lives and I was sure… "Nah, you're messing with me."They continued to walk along and Rachel sighed, her head shaking in a sad 'what can you do' way that made my guts squirm. Alright, apparently I was wrong and it was a thing… at least in this lifetime.And somehow Sabrina knew about it? Sabrina? The girl that hated having to deal with most people!? I eyed her suspiciously. Sabrina notably didn't meet my gaze. I hummed and glanced between them. Alright so there might be a girl code, but Sabrina probably hadn't known about it until now when she drew it from Rachel's thoughts.So it might also just be something Rachel thought up.But now Sabrina was going to think it was a real thing which would probably see it spreading… if it wasn't already a thing.I knuckled my forehead. This kind of thinking always gave me a headache."Why would you be going against the girl code to talk to me about them?" I said, deciding to get back on topic."Oh, you used to go to school with one of them.""One of them being a girl obviously?" I said scratching my chin and trying to recall any notable names or faces that had shown an interest in tailoring and/or contests, but coming up blank.Rachel nodded while Sabrina now had her head turned to watch my reactions. I shrugged. "Can't think of them sorry. What was her name?"Rachel sighed sadly and shook her head. "Solidad, Brock, remember her now?""Yeaaaaahhhh. Nooooo?" I said slowly trying to dredge up why that name did ring some bells. I couldn't think of a reason though.Rachel gave Sabrina a look that was supposed to be a moment of shared female commiseration. Sabrina made an attempt at looking understanding but it looked more like she had a facial twitch.I bit my lips to hold in a laugh. Rachel was obviously fully on board and Sabrina was cheating by using what she could 'see' from Rachel's mind but she certainly wasn't used to doing commiserating looks. Sabrina shot me a glare that I ignored.It really was the equivalent of her pouting at me in truth. So all it achieved was making it harder for me not to laugh."Alright, so Solidad, who I went to school with. So, it's been years since I saw her, right?""Yeeeeah but you know you really shouldn't just forget a school friend like that Brock."I shrugged. "Sorry I've had a lot happen since I was at school." That got a silence that was much heavier than I was expecting.I grimaced as I realised I'd pointed out the whole 'Brocks family ran off on him' tragedy that I seemed to be tripping over so much of late. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean it like that, it's just, yeah. I've been busy so yeah.""No, no, I understand, but yeah. Guess I just forget sometimes that you've had it rough."I waved a hand. "Eh, I handled it. Lots of people have it worse than me."Sabrina and Rachel shared another look. Sabrina's look was more like a grimace but it was progressing. I decided to move things along. "Alright so is Solidad home? She's not on a circuit herself is she?""Yes she was, but when I confirmed your booking they mentioned her. So they're expecting us. I explained that you are merely here for the suit but I don't doubt that they're going to ask about the Contest announcement that you made when we had you on the radio.""Hmm, alright, I'd like some more heads up on this in future though," I said firmly.Rachel coughed and blushed. "Sorry about that. I only got the heads up from them about Solidad this morning and you've been in and out."I hummed. "Ah, that's fair.""Gym Leader Brock! I Challenge you!..." A trainer emerged from the streets and pointed his hand straight at me before his gaze slackened. Then he frowned as his expression turned introspective. "Oh shoot! Did I forget to turn off the oven when I left home? The Vermillion fire department is going to be so mad!" The trainer turned and sprinted away from our group.Rachel stared after him. "What… What just happened?"I looked at Sabrina who had adopted an innocent expression. "Just trainers being weird, nothing that strange. Say how long till we reach the tailor shop?""Oh it's right there on the corner!" she said as she pointed right at a rather nice-looking shop with dresses and suits in the front window.
I whistled as I got a good look at their styles. They had tuxedos with black and white tie styles, then they had business suits, classical suits, and even some very nice looking casual clothes for men and surprisingly also for women. I glanced at the suit mannequins and found they had styled the women very nicely as well. The dresses took up another half of the shop so there was a clear divide. I spotted a couple of people lingering around some wedding dresses. They also had more 'evening' dresses and some more risque 'little red numbers' on display.Overall I had to give my approval, I liked what I was seeing."Shall we?" I said, turning to find Rachel looking pleased with my interest while Sabrina looked over the displays.We entered and a small bell tingled from the top of the door to announce our arrival. The store was tastefully open with more mannequins highlighting the various fashions that were on display with an entire wall set up with small labels. I stared at it for a moment before concluding that it was a wall solely for displaying fabric.A man and a woman each wearing suits of their own glided up to us. "Welcome to the Monsoule's Haberdashery! I'm Monique and this is Matthew!" said the woman that had light blue hair next to her husband that had soft pink hair. They blinked when their eyes slid from me to Rachel only to stop on Sabrina.They recovered wonderfully. "Welcome to our humble shop Gym Leader Brock, Gym Leader Sabrina, and Rachel."They bowed at the waist to us and gestured to some comfortably arranged chairs. "Would you care to take a seat? We have magazines for the styles we can create and it serves as a nice place to chat and get to know what brings you to us!""Oh, uhm thank you," I said as Monique led us towards the chairs while Matthew ducked away and came back with a trolley with a tea set, biscuits and coffee ready to be deployed should we ask. I sat down feeling well cared for while also adding a zero to the price tag I could expect when I had a suit."So we understand that you have been invited to the Mayor's little soiree for the Pewter City celebration, yes? A nice formal event from what the invitation says," Monique began. I nodded as a magazine was offered to myself, Sabrina, and Rachel although the girls also received a magazine for dresses that were flicked through. Rachel took the dress magazine and happily flicked through it while Sabrina took an entire stack of magazines ranging from suits, dresses and everyday wear.Monique looked thrilled at Sabrina's interest before she readjusted herself and waved her hand about. "Not too much formality really but I imagine you might want something that could be considered iconic? Or perhaps something more…" She flicked the magazine she was using to indicate certain styles to a much less formal style and instead show something off lazy or punkish. "Gauche."I shook my head. "I'd rather stick with the suit all told."Monique gained a much more heartfelt smile. "Excellent! A true gentleman! Do we have any idea of colours that could work?""Autumns with burnt orange suit him," Sabrina said while flicking through her own suit magazine. Monique and Matthew both blinked in surprise, their eyes swivelling from me to her."I agree with that. A lot of my wardrobe features those colours," I said not mentioning that Sabrina had heavily influenced this with my last shopping trip.Matthew nodded, "I have some sample fabrics here!" I glanced at him.When did he have the chance to do that? I glanced to the side and spotted Monique fading away to get another magazine of fabric choices for the ladies as Matthew held most of our attention. Ah, misdirection was applied to create a seamless flow of service.I had to give it to them, they knew their business.I selected a nice burnt orange, a black, and a brown fabric before Matthew gestured to a closed-off area. "If the gentleman would like to follow me we can have your measurements taken. He clapped his hands once. "Johnny! Some assistance for recording Brock's measurements?"A smaller boy, about Salvadore's age, stumbled out in his own suit. He didn't wear it as well but his earnest attempt made him rather endearing. I glanced over and found Sabrina being led away by Monique. She looked rather excited instead of annoyed. She seemed to be handling this smaller group rather well.I decided not to say anything. Sabrina was able to look after herself and make her displeasure known very easily if she wanted to.Instead, I allowed myself to be measured and poked into various positions. Matthew had the tape measure flicking around like it was an Ekans. For a second I wondered if there might be some psychic energies involved before I pushed those thoughts to the side. Throughout it all, Matthew asked a deluge of questions such as how much I'd be looking to wear it, how I moved, did I sweat, or have sensitive skin, and more.When they had everything settled they once more led me back to the sitting area. Matthew served up another cup of tea. "I'm sure the ladies will be along soon but ladies do have so much more to consider when buying good clothing, I'm sure you understand?"I chuckled. "That has got to be the most polite phrasing of, 'Ladies take longer when shopping' I've ever heard."Matthew gave a small laugh. "Ahaha, I know but the cliche has so much merit, or at least we try to give it merit here. We cater to all sorts of tastes so it can make it tough. Men already have an idea most of the time of what they want." He smirked, "Or want to be elsewhere. Women? Women want the experience."I nodded and settled in to enjoy my tea. After five minutes I decided to broach the other topic. "Rachel informs me that your family has an interest in the Contests I am considering hosting?"Matthew perked up. "Indeed! You see, our family migrated here almost a decade ago after we fell in love with the rustic charm of Pewter City!" He smiled at me grandly. "We also recognised that our skills were sorely in demand, and so have been greatly enjoying our time here. However, we greatly miss our beloved Hoenn past time of Contests. Something that is not as well regarded in Kanto." He made a sad face."It's slowly gaining some recognition, but Indigo is rather entrenched in their fighting so when we heard that you were looking to expand we were overjoyed!"I put down my tea cup. "I think pokemon have more to them than fighting, and pushing the traditional fighting-centric culture that we have limits the opportunities for some people or pokemon."Matthew beamed at me while his son stood nearby and watched us."You're a very forward-thinking young man Brock! Tell me, when were you thinking of running the event?"He leaned forward and I almost thought he was hoping I'd say 'tomorrow?' but that would be crazy. I grimaced and shook my head. "I'm afraid we've only ever gotten a small bit of the planning done. Things have stalled as of late with the recent surge in gym challengers we've been facing.""Oh," he said, his expression morphing as if I'd just told him his pet Butterfree was too old. I shrugged helplessly."These girls are going to be the height of fashion and draw all the eyes at the coming soiree!" announced Monique as she returned with Rachel and Sabrina who both looked very pleased with themselves. Accompanying them was a salmon-haired girl my age.I blinked as my memory clicked. "Solidad?"The girl perked up. "Brock! It's great to see you again! I haven't seen you since school!"Monique and Matthew both glanced between us with pleased expressions. Rachel nodded at me while John rolled his eyes as Solidad bounced up to me and bowed. I noted she was wearing her own suit which was very well-tailored. The yellow colouring suited her. I recalled now that she would be a name that would mostly be a rival for May in the contest scene.Hadn't she won a few of the contests? She stood out so she was probably going to become quite good. She had to be if I was going to recall her after all these years. Or did she play another role?Monique nudged her husband. "Darling, you looked rather sad when we came over. Were you not able to get Brock a suit to make him look dashing?""No! No! We managed that my love, it's just the recent hardships that have delayed Brock's plans from hosting a contest in our hometown!"Monique and Solidad gasped. John merely yawned. Matthew nodded at them before gesturing. "He has some plans but sadly lacks the time to develop anything more."Monique held a hand to her breast as though the thought that a contest that I had vaguely promised not going ahead was painful to her. " Oh my, no, no, no, no that, that! We cannot allow that to be so!" she whirled upon me."Gym Leader Brock! Please! We must have a Contest in Pewter! We need to show the people of Kanto the charm of a proper contest!" I could almost see the fire in her eyes.I raised both hands to placate her. "I'm sorry, but it's just not possible as things are. I can't give such an event the attention it would need!"Monique stepped back and looked like she'd cry at this news.Solidad scowled at the ground before perking up. "But what if we volunteered to help organise it? We could be… major sponsors! Yes! Then we could assist with the planning, and the advertising, and the invitations! If we were allowed to act as planners under you and run things by you we'd be able to lighten the load!"Monique and Matthew both brightened at that while John got a fearful look. I suspected that he understood that he'd be part of the group 'volunteering' their services."Oh yes! Brock! We could do that for you! You could host it and be the person that would facilitate it and we could do the leg work to get Contests into Kanto properly!"I rubbed the back of my head. "I'd like to contribute more than that. I wasn't going to plan anything too large as I don't really know how popular it might be.""It would be very popular! I assure you Brock that there are a number of trainers both young and old dying to showcase their pokemon's skills in more artistic ways!" said Matthew.I hummed and turned it over. Did I really need to have so much control over this? I wanted to let that aspect of pokemon culture grow as I could see the appeal. I bobbed my head from side to side. "Say I went ahead with this, what would you need to have decided? I'd need at least two months before the surge is probably over."Matthew, Monique, and Solidad gasped in glee. I raised my hand. "IF, I went ahead with it."Monique, whom I was learning was the spokesperson for her family's interests, stepped forward. "We would need a date, I suggest a weekend for the best chance to draw people in! We would need to organise some reputable judges for the events, we would need to advertise for the event, we would need to design a ribbon, and also I suppose set up a style for the contest itself."I nodded before smiling. "Oh, I think a Tough style would best suit the Pewter Gym contest."I got blank stares while Rachel facepalmed. Monique tilted her head. "Eh?" She blinked uncertainly. "A tough style? Whatever do you mean?"I blinked. Was I misremembering contests? "Uhmmm don't you typically see the styles for beauty or cute pokemon? I was thinking of making the style for 'Pokemon that are 'tough or trying to appear tough for the cutesy factor. Or you know…" I trailed off as I got a room full of uncomprehending looks.Thankfully Monique slowly turned thoughtful. "That… might be something rather niche and chic actually. Most contests do like to tout beauty as the be-all and end-all no?" She glanced at her husband and then to Solidad who nodded.Monique bobbed her own head up and down. "Yes! Yes! I could see it now! Pokemon appearing tough! It would still have the traditional style but be a much larger draw for the Kanto crowd!"She laughed. "Inspired Brock! You are rather more thoughtful of these things than I thought you would be. I merely meant the colour styling! I was going to suggest a brown with metallic trim but taking it further into." She swaggered her shoulders and hips in a fake macho way. "Tough!~ I love it!"With a fire in her eyes, she nodded. "We will have to come over and continue planning things soon! Solidad will be our main liaison for this!"Solidad perked up. "Heh! It'll be just like old times when we hung out after school and little league!"I gave her a slow nod and she picked up on it. "Brock… you do remember me right?""I remember, I remember!" I said hurriedly.Solidad frowned. "What position was I on the baseball field then?""Pitcher?" I said throwing blind."I was the catcher!" she growled. She stared at me. "Brock! Are you telling me you forgot me!""A little?" I said before I could stop myself. I was already kicking myself as she snarled and stormed away in a huff. Monique and Matthew both gave me very unimpressed looks.Matthew coughed. "Shall we settle the bill now?" he said cheerfully.He produced an invoice and handed it to me. I stared at it in shock for a moment. Then I looked up. "I'm really sorry about making her cry but… this is a bit cruel isn't it?"He snorted a laugh. 'Brock, I am… displeased that you have not remembered my daughter spending time with you in the past but I am a professional." He gestured around the store. "I create great suits. That," he pointed at the invoice, "Is the cost of making such suits."He then chuckled. "If I was petty I'd have doubled it. But not to worry, she'll get over it and come back determined to make a stronger impression so you can't forget her next time. Trust me."I laughed nervously as Sabrina stopped leafing through her magazine and inspected Matthew and me critically. I suddenly felt like I was in danger."I'll have your suit made up in three days. I have all the materials and my pokemon will be able to help out." He tapped a pokeball and an Ariados appeared with a happy wag of its legs. "Can you call around … oh at least Thursday evening after your matches are over?""That would work wonderfully," I said while paying for the suit.Rachel bounced up to me. "Cheer up Brock this is tax deductible! It's practically a write off!"I shook my head and led her out into the now-dark street. "Remind me to have Georgina explain tax write-offs to you." I looked over to Sabrina who was still leafing through the fashion magazine."Did you enjoy yourself, Sabrina?"She nodded slowly and gave me a small smile that I knew was the equivalent of something huge and heartfelt from another person. "Yes, that was… I like shopping… when there's not too many people I can relax more." She nodded to Rachel. "Thank you for your advice."She then looked back at me with an expression that I couldn't quite place. "I will talk to you later, have a good evening." She stilled and I expected a teleport flash to occur only for her eyes to narrow as she stared into the distance. "You're going home after this, correct?"I nodded. "Yeah? Why?" I said, suddenly worried something had happened.Sabrina shook her head. "I think Forrest has it handled. You'll see. I'll leave it to your judgement and check in later tonight," she said cryptically before flashing away.I hummed. "Well… I'm actually not sure what to make of that.""She's… she's rather different from how I expected her to be," Rachel said tentatively."Oh? What did you expect?" I said putting emphasis on the last word."She has a rather distant personality and is infamous for being very inhospitable to people that come and challenge her. She's also known to be very powerful and very scary. Most people say to avoid challenging her gym because of it."I hummed. "She just comes across that way. She tries in her own way, but her strength is, in its own way, the biggest weakness for her.""What do you mean by that?""It's not something I should say more on but…" I considered it for a moment more. "Rachel, she actually seemed very relaxed around you. Usually, she's not like that. She had to take time to warm up to Erika who's a little flower that's polite to everyone she comes across. If she comes around maybe just try to be nice and see if she wants to be friends." I scratch my head. "She could use more friends.""You're really good together," she said, watching me closely.I couldn't stop the blush even as I shook my head. "We're not like that. We 'dated' when we were kids, sure, but that's nothing big. She just needed a friend and well… I was young so yeah…" I said, trying to play it off as the innocence of being a young boy. Most young boy's wouldn't have thought it meant anything to be boyfriend and girlfriend; it probably just meant you hung out together more. It wasn't something I could ever claim in this second life.Rachel didn't seem to be buying what I was trying to sell her. She merely hummed and skipped along."Hey! Gym Leader Brock! I called my mother and checked! I didn't leave my oven on, so now I demand a challenge!" I shut my eyes and groaned while Rachel goggled as the trainer from before emerged.I glared at him. "Make a booking! I don't accept challenges in my off time!""Oh come off it! You could fight me here and now! Just make an exception!"I shook my head and continued to walk back home. "Oddish—" I heard the pokeball popping behind me. I looked straight over my shoulder and channelled dark energy into my eyes before 'expelling' it straight at the revealed Oddish.The little pokemon stiffened as I gave it a Mean Look. Its eyes flickered around before pausing on me and quivering in place. The trainer gaped at the reaction and I turned my head away and kept walking."Huh, damn that was intense." Rachel said as she eyed me. I huffed at her and rolled my eyes. She blinked at me and I remembered that she wasn't like Forrest or Yolanda who knew when I did that. I waved her off."Night Brock, see you tomorrow!" shouted Rachel as she turned for her own home.I waved back and rolled my shoulders. I was already running through the checklist of chores I'd need to do tonight. If I was quick about it I might even… I stopped in front of the main gym doors, half-turned towards the hedge to the side where I'd enter my family's home."Someone has left the lights on in the gym?" I said aloud.I turned that over in my mind. That shouldn't have happened. No one had done that in a long while and the security guards usually walked around with flashlights when they made their rounds.I frowned as I saw the lights flash slightly. I turned fully to the Gym and entered it. When I pushed through the doors next to the reception desk leading into the arena proper I found myself spectating a battle proper.What in Moltres' name was going on here?I flicked my eyes from Forrest on one podium with an Onix in front of him. To the other podium.Upon it stood a boy that could only be Ash Ketchum with his Pikachu standing on his side of the arena.In the middle, in the referee box, Misty stood tall with an exasperated look on her face.In the stands a bunch of boys that I knew were Forrest's friends sat cheering for the fight. They were immaterial though.Of more importance was Flint who was sitting front and centre in the stands watching Forrest and Ash fight.I blinked.For the life of me, I had no idea what was going on. None of this made any sense. I wanted to storm in and demand answers but the fact Ash had slipped into my gym had me rather stunned.There had to be a story as to how this developed. I stood in the shadows and decided to watch on as things developed.I'd wait, for now, but I'd be asking a lot of questions to find out how this whole situation came about.