The more things change, the more they stay the same. I wasn't sure how much I wanted to read into that as I stood at the entrance to the arena.
They said a picture could paint a thousand words, but the picture before me could say at least ten times that. Especially if you know all the parties in said pictureFirstly, I had the least guilty but largest in number who were Forrest's friends. They all wore loose clothes. They had caps on backwards and fake tattoos that must have seemed cool to them. Two wore gaudy necklaces with pokeballs on them. They sat slouched, slumped, or in sloppy positions one and all.They also all sported 'oh shit' expressions plastered across their faces. They had their feet up on the backrests of the chairs in front of them. A few of said feet still had mud on them and now on the backrests. It did not speak well that they didn't wipe their shoes on entering. They gave the impression of young hooligans that had been allowed to roam a little too freely with too little responsibility or consequence.Honestly, they were the easiest to deal with.I then had Misty chewing her lips and looking nervous. She was a young woman who still wasn't comfortable with herself but was obviously sticking to what had worked for her. Her demeanour, somewhat stereotypically, reminded me of a young Ponyta. A guilty Ponyta that was hunching into her shoulders. She should have known better than to let this match progress at night and unsupervised. Having experience with a gym… I would have expected better from her. But then again, she was still young. She had a tentative smile on her face as though glad that someone responsible was now present.I had Forrest on one of the podiums, still in shock that he'd lost to an electric type with the Onix he'd used for this match. He also sported a guilty look, but I could see a glimmer of anger in his eyes as he had himself half-turned towards Flint to make sure he hadn't run off while he lost sight of him. Forrest, like Misty, knew better though and had drawn in on himself. He was obviously expecting me to tell him off.That… was going to be a whole thing that the next person was only going to complicate.Flint was sitting as if he was made from stone.Fragile stone.The sort of stone you could put your fist through.I felt a great deal of annoyance at him just sitting there, but it was at least better than him running away in front of me. He might have slipped away on me in the past, but he wouldn't do so now. He was too locked in. It was too clear-cut that turning away now would be going too far. His eyes were slightly widened in surprise at my appearance. His face looked scruffy and worn as though he hadn't been looking after himself. Which made sense if he'd been camping out for ages. He had huge gray bags under his eyes, and while he was shocked, he was also drinking in the sight of Forrest and me.Which left the last and… theoretically, most simple yet most complicated person to deal with in the room staring up at me in shock.Ash Ketchum.He was still on his knees where he was cradling Pikachu. He had small tears in his eyes and looked shocked and overwhelmed. He was obviously so far out of his element and only just realising the depths he had jumped into. There was a lot going on but for now all that seemed important to him was his pokemon. He had Pikachu close to his chest to shield it from anything that might happen. His signature generation one cap was still turned around showing that he'd been putting his heart into the fight with Forrest only to be taken out with two pokemon.I drew in a deep breath, and everyone twitched in preparation for an avalanche that would likely appear from nowhere. I stopped at that reaction. I was many things. Annoyed, tired, mad, certainly…But I wasn't about to start shouting at them. I had always tried to avoid doing that in anger. It didn't serve a purpose, and if you were having to shout at someone to be heard they weren't going to be listening.It was better to speak clearly and definitively. Or just walk away and come back later for an actual discussion.I sighed and rolled my shoulders to loosen them. "Let's first get the pokemon seen to, hmmm?" I said, making most of the group relax. Flint continued to watch me with a hopeful expression.When I gestured towards the medical area Forrest began to move, raising his pokeball to return Onix. "Sorry Brock," he said as he ducked his head.I just shook my head. "I… we're gonna talk about this later but…" I gave the room another look as the podiums began to lower and people began to move. Notably, Forrest's friends all began to slip off to the side."Boys, I hope you're not thinking of leaving without cleaning up after yourselves," I said pointedly.They lurched to a stop and looked back. They'd left wrappers, bottles of drink, and mud where they'd been sitting. I pointed towards a side of the stands. "There are cleaning supplies in the closet at the back of the stands. See to that, and I might consider not dropping in to talk with your parents," I said, like I wasn't going to do just that anyway. They'd been running a little too seriously; it wasn't like they'd done anything truly bad— but the bluff worked as the kids turned and darted towards the supplies cupboard. I used my transceiver to unlock the door to the cupboard, continuing down to the arena floor.When I reached it, Misty and Ash were already standing together looking over Pikachu. Forrest stood off to the side. I looked up to Flint. "Are you going to join us?" I said casually.He must have realised the weight of the words despite the lack of tone. Or perhaps the blank way I said it spoke louder than any inflection I could have given them.Forrest shifted back and forth, eyes darting between everyone before settling on me.When Flint joined us I worked my jaw, then shook myself as I led the group to the medical area. I switched on some lights only for Chansey to be startled in her sleep and roll off the bed she had to the side of the room. Her arms raised in readiness as she checked the room over only to stop on our group with narrowed eyes."Chansey?" she said groggily as she straightened up, a facemask of cucumbers that I had no idea how she got, falling off. She must have gotten it from the gym trainers so I pushed that to the side as she picked the cucumbers off the ground."Chansey, I've got some injured pokemon for you to look over," I said. I glanced back at the group. "Or should we be going straight to the pokemon centre?"Misty shook her head. "None of the pokemon got that badly injured. Just wiped out of energy and roughed up some.""Hmmm, Chansey give them a look over please," I said.She nodded as she wiped away the rest of the facemask. I gestured to the beds, some of which were huge slabs to allow pokemon like Onix to rest on fully. "If you could put your pokemon on these beds please?"Forrest put the pokeballs for Onix and Geodude into small recesses that caused the pokemon in question to appear on beds. Ash copied him after a moment of hesitation, revealing his Butterfree and Pidgeotto. He put down Pikachu but remained within touching distance as the electric mouse watched Chansey approach and begin running her hands through his fur carefully. A few touches drew shivers and small cries of pain that had Ash glowering at the Chansey."Hey! Watch it! You're hurting him!" he said angrily.Chansey stopped what she was doing and glared at Ash. "Chan!" she said with a little huff of annoyance.Misty put a hand on Ash's shoulder. "Ash, she's mapping out his injuries and making sure Pikachu didn't break anything. It's not like the healing tables that just flush healing energies into pokemon; she has to check that nothing is out of order."I nodded and didn't volunteer that Chansey would have preferred to watch people in pain but not actually be hurt in any serious way. The phrase 'she liked to watch' best applied in Chansey's case.Chansey eventually settled with creating healing energy and feeding it into Pikachu causing the smaller pokemon to perk up. When she checked over the other pokemon she copied the actions before reporting back to Brock with a clipboard."Chanse! Cha! Cha! Sey!" she said as she tapped something out on the clipboard. On the board, small boxes were ticked that indicated the health of the pokemon before and after. I noted that all of them had clean bills of health but that they were still exhausted. She prescribed no fights for any of them for the next two to three days.She then wrote a note for herself saying she would need a vacation prescribed by herself. I chuckled at her joke before realising she wasn't joking. "Oh… Uhm I can give you tomorrow off? Maybe see if Yola… No, how about I send you with Alexa into town with a spending budget for yourself?" It might make tomorrow… more interesting than I thought it already would be but eh. We had procedures in place to take pokemon to Nurse Joy if we had to.Chansey perked up at that, her little arms flipping in happiness. Then she pointedly looked at her bed and then the door before looking at us."Alright! Alright, we'll let you get back to bed." I waved at Ash to collect his pokemon. As we walked out of the medical wing and to the front lounge, Forrest's friends had cleaned up and, thankfully, already left. Forrest dropped back to Flint. He opened and shut his mouth a few times before marching back up to me with a growl.If this hadn't been such a tense moment I might have teased him about having emotions as a teenager which would have helped relax him. Instead, we entered the employee lounge at the front of the gym. I gestured for everyone to claim a seat. Misty and Ash took a couch together with Pikachu between them with Flint on a chair next to theirs. Forrest sat to my right with a squirm."Alright… so I have half an idea of what's probably happened in the largest of brush strokes."I pointed at Ash. "You've come in thinking that you could enter and challenge the Pewter gym straight away but instead of that being the case there was a huge line of other trainers wanting to do the same thing. So you tried to find a way to skip the queue and face me to get the badge early so you can continue to the next challenge?"Misty looked to the side while biting her lips. She radiated amusement, letting me know that I had pretty much hit the nail on the head. Ash rubbed the back of his head. "Well, when you say it like that it sounds kind of bad…""Ash… right?" I said after a moment, for once recalling that I wasn't supposed to know his name and would be unfamiliar with the iconic pokemon character.He nodded, glancing back at me as I sighed. "It's something that is fairly common for young trainers to do. So I'm not surprised, but by doing it that way you're basically ignoring the rules. It's very disrespectful. I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not putting off the fight but there are a lot of people looking to gain the Boulder badge."I turned my attention to Misty. "You're Misty from Cerulean right? Daisy, Violet, and Lily are your sisters?"Misty opened her mouth before tilting it. She'd obviously seen the way I'd termed the relationship but couldn't put a finger on why it pleased her. She also noticed I didn't state who her sisters were, just their names. "Yeeeeahh?" she said carefully."When two knucklehead boys start to get too rowdy, you either make them walk away from each other, knock their heads together or let it play out." Forrest, who'd perked up when I'd mentioned where Misty was from slumped when he was described as a knucklehead. He slumped further when Misty nodded."I thought the last option was best?" she said timidly."Initially? I would have disagreed with you, but upon reflection and how things would have been rather tense at the time I can see that now."I looked at Forrest. "I'm guessing you got kind of worked up with your friends and decided to accept Ash's idea. You thought it was going to be a bit cathartic." Forrest nodded. "And you know it's not a good idea to go into pokemon battles looking to fight cause you're hurting right? All that leads to is…" I trailed off leadingly."You just hurting others…" Forrest finished. Without prompting he bowed his head to Ash. "I'm sorry Ash, I shouldn't have accepted your challenge."Ash scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "Ah! Well! I shouldn't have done what I did either! That… it was wrong." He bowed his head to Forrest and me. Misty sighed in relief.I nodded. "Good, I hope that we can call this settled then. Ash, Misty, wait until your scheduled matches. From what I did see of Ash's match, it wasn't bad and I think you have a good shot at winning your first badge if you keep working hard."I held up a hand to restrain Ash as he shot to his feet in glee. "I'm not going to advance your match. My pokemon have been fighting all week… and then some." I flicked my eyes at Forrest who coughed at the silent reprimand. "And it will not be happening. Wait until it's your time, and until then train up your team."I offered a shrug. "Or continue on and get your next badge and then come back. The number of trainers will otherwise continue to precede you unless you get ahead of it or ahead in badges."Ash scowled at that offer. "I'm not going anywhere without my first badge!"I nodded. "Hmmm well alright." I stood and showed an open hand towards the door. "Can I show you both out? I need to talk with Flint."Ash who'd been about to walk out stopped and turned around. "Uhm! What're you going to talk about?""I'm afraid that's private and between Flint and myself…" I shot a glance at Forrest. "And well the rest of our family.""Oh," Ash said. He hesitated, obviously knowing that he was crossing a line but not willing to leave things as they were. "He really helped us out by showing us around, so please don't be mad?"Misty stood and bowed her head as well. "He was very kind to us! So please don't be mad that he let us stay at your old gym!"I paused at that. "You're staying at the old gym?" I said thinking of how run down that place was the last time I'd been there. It would only be worse. "Yeah no. I have some rooms that I keep free. There should be a bunk room left, fortunately." I gestured to Forrest. "Can you take them there and I'll talk to them in the morning…"Forrest didn't move. "What are you and… dad going to do?"I sighed, long and low. Letting out how tiring this coming conversation was going to be. "We've got some history to get through… I think it would be best if you gave us a bit of time." When he stood slowly I shot him a smile.Flint spoke up, his voice tight with emotion. "We're just going to talk Forrest. Neither of us are going anywhere."That had him relax. "Alright. Cool, cool. Uhm Ash and Misty? How about we go get your tents first and then we'll set you up in a bunk room," he said, giving Flint and I a rough estimate of how long he would be away.I smiled at him as he led them out.Then I turned to Flint. I took another breath and let it out. "So…" I could say a lot of things here.I could do a lot more. Instead of punching him though I worked my jaw. I felt a dark urge to ignore my desire to keep things civil. It was harder than the time I'd been rubbed the wrong way by the Guardians and wanted to flip the table.Now, as then, I kept my composure. "You came back." There, that was better than 'you left'. It went unsaid of course, but still, it was a slightly more positive start to the conversation."I… I'm sorry Brock," He immediately threw himself to the ground. I hadn't expected him to drop to his knees and lower his head.I didn't like it. It was too easy. Too laced with the meaning of great regret. I didn't want a single action to be enough. I wanted more!"Get up! Off your knees and sit up! Face me damn you! Don't just beg for forgiveness!" I said with a hiss.I drew in a breath. Then I reached into my pocket and selected a single stone to roll around my palm. I pressed down on the dark urges to lash out. With him suddenly moving I had half a thought of kicking him away from my feet, but that wouldn't help things.Flint sat back in his chair but instead of looking in my eyes, he glanced down at my hand, a flicker of a smile formed on his lips before he let it fade."Sorry," he said but that only made me grimace.I grunted at him, "I don't want you sorry, I want you…" I grappled with what I wanted to say to him. "I want you to be there for the others. Forrest and Yolanda saw you around, and Salvadore isn't dumb." I waved a hand at the gym."You've been coming to the gym since the end of the last circuit and when I sought you out you vanished! Do you know how that looked to them? It was like you left all over again!"Flint flinched. "I left because you… well, I thought I wasn't welcome when I saw you with Billy and Tilly."I scowled at him. "Wasn't welcome? I was having to rely on a Machop to help get them back and forth! What in Kanto's mountains made you think that?""You did," he said, causing me to pull up short."What?" I said dumbfounded."Brock," He glanced down at my hand which now had a small handful of rocks rolling around to keep myself calm. "I can use aura as well… I felt how you were projecting your emotions at me. I wasn't welcome."I blinked. That… I hadn't… Had that been true? I remember being angry and tired and… that was months ago. What could I even say to that? I… I had scared him off cause I was angry?"Guess I owe you an apology then." I worked my jaw. "Sorry I scared you off." The words had more than a little venom in them. Flint grimaced but didn't flinch from them which just annoyed me a bit more. I wanted him to flinch and be hurt by them. My own words of going into a fight angry came back and I breathed and tamped down on my dark energy.Flint took in a slow, shuddery breath and relaxed from where he'd been grabbing at the couch. He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. "I shouldn't have left.""No," I said. The single word carried with it a lot of emotional weight. "You shouldn't have. You shouldn't have left either time.""No! You don't understand! I just!" He held out his hands. "I needed to find your mother and… either help or just have her back!""She's not my mother," I said.He gave me a confused look before shaking his head. "Brock, you don't understand, your mother needs my help. I keep an account open for her to draw funds from and occasionally she will draw from it." His hands flapped about uselessly. "She had drawn from it just after you got back from your journey and I thought I might be able to bring her back," he said hurriedly."Stop." I held up a hand. "I don't care about her. What I care about is our family—""She is family Brock! I was trying to keep us together!" He said leaning forward with a desperate air.I snorted. "You broke things up worse though." He flinched and slumped but I continued to speak slowly, "You did that by leaving. You should have stayed."Flint swallowed and made to say something only to slump back into his chair. "I shouldn't have left, and I'm sorry I left everything on your shoulders like I did."He looked up and made a show of looking about the room." But look at what you've done without me—"I held up a hand. "Don't." I pointed around us. "Me succeeding without you here does not negate you leaving."He opened and shut his mouth a few times before nodding his eyes haunted. "I- I, I guess you're right… I'm sorry!""Stop saying that! It doesn't help," I said, straightening up. I swallowed and clenched my fist. The pebbles in my hand crunched and I exhaled before loosening my hand to let the dust fall."Here's what's going to happen. You're going to come home." I leaned forward and laced my fingers together. "You're going to help out around the house and the family. I want you to spend time with them. Tilly and Billy have no idea who you are.""They don't remember me?" he said before getting a chagrined look. "Oh, they were very young when I left, weren't they?" I nodded tightly. Flint gave me a hurt look. "You didn't tell them about me?""What did you want me to tell them about you? That you ran away?" I said with a dark feeling of amusement.That got him squirming, I shrugged. "I think I've done a decent enough job of telling them of you in an abstract kind of way, but I think the others might have said something." I shrugged. "They once came back from day care and asked why they don't call me dad."He grimaced. "I thought Clare at the daycare would have known better.""Our situation is not typical. Most people have at least one parent. Not just an older brother." I laced and unlaced my fingers, now wishing I hadn't crushed my rocks if only for the lack of something to do with my hands that didn't involve forming fists. "So… are you coming back?"Flint blinked. "Of course!" Then he grimaced. "That is… if you'll have me."I held my peace for a moment. "It would be best for everyone…" I drew out my suggestion and saw the way that he tensed up as if expecting a blow. I exhaled. "If you came back and stayed. The others want and need you in their lives." He blinked."You? You want me back?" he said incredulously."I think it would be best for them," I said diplomatically. He caught on my words and blinked, nodding slowly."Right… right. That makes sense," he said, swallowing and watching me closely.I worked my jaw and considered what I should say next. I found myself drawing a blank. What was I supposed to say? What have you been up to while avoiding us? Part of me wanted to know but it was so linked with his avoidance that I couldn't find a reason to be interested in it. It was time wasted. No, worse than wasted. He had practi— I inhaled and shook myself again."Where were you staying tonight?" I said carefully."Oh… I cleared out some space in the old gym… Had my Golem shore up some walls with some rocks placed in the right spots and then… I have myself set up."I rubbed my head. "I…" I sighed loudly. "We have a room for you here.""You made a room for me?" he said, voice laced with emotion.I nodded, not trusting myself in saying that I knew he would come back. Perhaps that was what made it both easier and harder. The double-edged sword of knowing how things should play out to some degree. With that understanding, I had found myself somewhat counting down the days until Flint's return. Which was wrong on so many levels but still, I had done it.A knock on the door sounded like angel horns to me as Forrest returned and stuck his head in. His red cheeks showed that he had probably hurried Ash and Misty along to get back here as fast as he could. I stood up. "Want to talk with him?"Flint sat up as Forrest nodded and marched in. I clapped Forrest on the shoulder heading out. "He's going to stay with us alright so… don't hold back and say anything you need to alright? I'll give you some space."Forrest shot me a confused look, and I just shook my head. "I don't think it'd be good for me to hang around. When you're done, I'm going to be in the office."I left Forrest to talk with his father. When I reached the office I stared at my computer. If I wanted to I could listen and watch through the cameras. Part of me wanted to while the other was again demanding that I give Forrest and Flint their moment to reconnect.Before I could agonise over the choice any further, or stalk into the gym facilities to pound on the boxing bag, Yolanda walked in with a smile on her lips and the incubator in her arms. "Hey Brock! What are you doing?"I chuckled. I couldn't tell her I was agonising over moral decisions or contemplating murder, so instead I shrugged. "Adult stuff." When she frowned at me and huffed I laughed and waved her to take a seat. "Got some good news for you."She perked up. "What's that?""Forrest ran into Flint and got him to come back." She blinked in surprise. I waved a hand towards the front of the gym. "They're talking now. I had some time to talk with him earlier after I sorted out Forrest's… yeah." I waved my hand. "That's a whole… thing in itself but yeah."Yolanda watched me. "Are you going to be alright?""Yeah I'm going to be fine," I said, giving her a small smile. "Just going to be some changes.""Are you sure you're alright?" she said dubiously."Yolanda. I. Am. Fine." She continued to stare at me. Who taught her to be so doubtful?"Do we need to get your girl—""Sabrina and I are not… Oh forget it!" I said with a groan. She continued to stare. I could feel the doubt radiating off her.She hummed before putting the incubator down to the side where it wiggled once before settling down. Then she walked around the table and wrapped me in a hug. "Thanks for bringing Dad home Brock. I love you,""Love you too," I said back to her. She held the hug for a long while before settling back down in her seat. I tilted my head. "You're not going to go talk to him?"She gave me a smirk. "He can come to me."I chuckled and waited. In the end, Forrest ended up leading Flint right into the room and Yolanda's waiting ambush. Once more I gave them space. This time it only took five minutes before they both emerged with slightly redder eyes than they'd entered. Flint stared at the incubator and shot me a look."You really have done well Brock." I merely nodded and waved for him to follow.There weren't any more reveals to my siblings, as they were all asleep. Even Salvadore, with his hands still holding a thick book on science while another on math rested nearby. I moved through each room and adjusted things as they needed to be done while Flint watched on from the door.When I was done, I led him to the final room that housed a large room for a bed with an attached ensuite. On the way, we passed by a cabinet that held trophies I or my siblings had accumulated. I had the badges from my Kanto journey all on display alongside a certificate of my 'making it to group stages' for the Indigo League. Then there was a picture of me with my team after defeating Lindsay, who was Yuji's predecessor for the Orange Islands challenge. Titan looked so happy in the picture. He'd come in clutch and that had been one of his first matches as a Tyranitar. Next to it rested a case with the three badges I'd earnt from the Hoenn League. The five empty spaces were glaringly obvious to me. I had a trophy for best little league coach that sat amongst the others proudly.There were other trophies and family pictures on display. Forrest had a picture of himself with a few kids with a baseball bat over his shoulder and a best and fairest trophy. He also had a good report card and Yolanda had a picture of her at her guitar performance. Cindy had a picture at a flute session and a scattering of child art was in the cabinet for the others."I really have missed a lot, haven't I?" said Flint."Yeah, you have," I said simply. I opened the door at the end of the hall. "This is yours. There's sheets in the cupboard." I swallowed and shifted back and forth.Flint nodded then opened his arms as if to hug me. I nodded at him and stayed where I was. "Breakfast is usually at seven. Give me some time to lead in that you're here to the others and you can meet them then, alright?"Flint lowered his hands. "That… that would be wonderful thank you son.""Good night Flint," I said back before turning and marching to my bed. When I lay down I ended up staring at the ceiling for long into the night.I had Flint back but what would that mean?I wasn't sure. I only knew that things were going to change, and I could only hope that it was more for the better than the worse.Flint sat on the edge of the made bed and stared around at 'his' room. That… that hadn't been how he'd planned things to go but then again he'd never really had a plan on how to approach Brock or the others in his family had he?He sat back and looked up at the ceiling. He should probably be happy they didn't just punch him but instead they'd said what had to be said. Forrest had cried and hugged him which made things seem more hopeful.Brock… Brock had been so cold and closed off. Flint swallowed; he wasn't sure what to think of that.Brock had been very plain in drawing a line in the sand with how he'd called him Flint. Flint sighed and sat up. There wasn't anything he could do about the past now. He couldn't force things if Brock didn't want to talk. He'd just have to be there and present. Help out and be a father.Flint nodded; he could do that!A flash of light made him flinch back as old instincts warned him to throw himself behind cover. Part of his mind worried about the sudden teleport into his family's home and how that meant they'd overpowered the barriers that were meant to stop unwelcom—"Good evening Flint," said Sabrina.Flint blinked and adjusted himself from behind the bed. "You're Sabrina… from Saffron right? You're Brock's little girlfriend."Sabrina inclined her head. "Indeed, we are dating. Until you returned we were officially on a break." From behind Sabrina a shovel appeared with a flash of light and floated ominously."W-what's that for?" Flint said."I understand that it is necessary for the talk we are about to have," she said seriously, her gaze never wavering from him. "You will not be leaving Brock or his family again, Flint. Or I will make sure you can't."Flint felt chills run down his spine at the casual threat of violence from the clearly powerful psychic. "I… guess it's nice to see you care so much about my family?"Sabrina inclined her head. "Indeed. We have become close. Brock once spoke to my own family this same way when he knew they were… Not looking after me well enough." She tilted her head and assessed him carefully. "I think returning the favour to you helps to make my intentions for Brock clear, yes?""Crystal," Flint said, swallowing.Sabrina nodded her head once. "Good, welcome home Flint." Then she vanished.Flint sank back onto the bed, suddenly weak. Well, that made it clear that he wouldn't be leaving if he could help it. Flint licked his lips as he stared at the shovel that Sabrina had left leaning innocently against the wall.Did Brock know how terrifying his girlfriend was?
80
I woke up the next morning and rolled out of bed, smacking my lips and blearily reached for the water bottle I kept near my bed. The alarm had gone off and I needed to get up but today was one of those days that I just wanted to lay back down. The fact that it was a Monday only heightened that feeling. I groaned as I stood up, shaking out my limbs; I'd need to be ready for an annoying day and starting off on the wrong foot wouldn't help.It was still early, no one else would be up yet, but as a Gym leader during the circuit that didn't mean much. If anything it meant I had more to do. Gone was my long break where I could do other things such as baseball or spending time at home during the middle of the day. Sleep-ins were something I only got on Sundays if I was lucky. With everything that had happened over the weekend, I felt like I needed another break to recover.Not possible though; I had pokemon to feed, train, groom and check over. I clicked my tongue when I couldn't find my transceiver, only to spot it still on my arm. Why had I gone to bed with it still on?Oh.Flint was home.I huffed and ran that thought over in my mind.Flint was home, and according to the canon that meant I should head off with Ash.But that wasn't going to happen. There was no way I could leave things as they were with Flint. I'd made the Gym too big for Forrest. Just as the family couldn't be trusted wholly to Flint. Dumping that work on Forrest and Yolanda wasn't what I wanted to happen either.My family wouldn't do well if I left as abruptly as Brock had in the cartoon. It might have been a nice break from family duties for canon Brock but I wasn't going to just ditch them. They had already experienced enough life-changing events that I wouldn't have been surprised if they developed separation anxiety. It was a minor miracle that they hadn't and I didn't need to tempt fate by walking off. Me, as their only stable source of family?No, I thought to myself as I flipped through the transceiver's features to bring up the file I'd created detailing which Pokemon needed training today. I stopped when the names highlighted were my Elites.Oh. I really was out of it if I'd forgotten it was their turn. I hurried outside through the back of the gym, but not before knocking on Forrest's door. "Up, you're on roster for—" I stopped when Forrest emerged, rubbing at his eyes."I'm up, I'm up. I was just getting changed." He yawned hugely before smiling sleepily at me. He perked up as his head swivelled to the room at the end of the hall. "Do you think Dad would like to hang out?"I grunted. "Maybe, if he's awake."I turned and left Forrest to do what he wanted. "See to the pokemon," I said firmly, glancing over my shoulder at him. He gave a vague wave back at me but continued to stare at Flint's door.I half considered barking at him but bit down the impulse. It wasn't his fault I was annoyed. Or was it? Barely back for a night and he was already… No, that wasn't fair. Forrest was a kid and he wanted to spend time with his father. So, this was natural and to be expected. I exhaled as I stalked out of my home.It was way too early for this much drama and introspection.I gave the rocky area an inspection as I approached. While the Onix typically preferred to sleep in the tunnels that fed into the caverns under the plateau it wasn't unusual to find them sleeping out in the open either. Today just happened to be one such morning. Most of the other pokemon had huddled in next to them as living windbreaks that also gave off warmth. The Aron and Rhyhorn were happily dozing under one Onix, while Geodude piled up over the top of another.The few shelters that I had built around the area were like rocky igloos but they were more used for pokemon to play around in than they were for actual resting areas. It was only when it rained or snowed that the shelters were used for their main purpose, but again most of my pokemon preferred the cave system.Most, but not all. I did have to return some pokemon to their pokeballs when winter hit.I made a detour over to the wall. "Hey! Shrek!" I called out. A series of squelching noises heralded that I had a pokemon's interest. "Time for training!" I said.A large ribbit preceded a blue and white form landing in perfect three-point superhero landing. Then she winked at me.I scoffed at my Poliwrath. "I was talking to Shrek, Hypnotoad. You've been spending too much time watching television instead of training if this is how you're acting" I said teasingly.She whirled into movement, dropping to her knees to beg, eyes glimmering with desire to take part in the training. She cried out her name a few times and I rolled my eyes as she begged to test herself, to thrive, to be part of the team once more.I made a show of thinking it over and then clicked my tongue. "Alright, alright, you can come as well."Another form leapt over the wall and a second later a heavier body thudded down. This time on all fours. When the large frog-like face glanced back I rolled my eyes. "You two bored? You're not usually this enthusiastic. Or are you looking to show off to Hypno?" I put my hands up when Shrek barked a warning at me. But I noted he shot Hypnotoad a careful look as she perked up and fired off some punches. I chuckled and put my hands on both of them, patting them happily to show I'd just been playing around.They ribbited happily and leaned into the touch. "You guys sure you wouldn't prefer me to set you up with some breeders or—"Shrek tilted his head in thought, only for Hypnotoad to latch onto him. Her arm wrapped around his neck. Shrek locked eyes with me and slowly shook his head, a dopey grin on his face.Hypnotoad relaxed.I chuckled at her antics. When I'd gotten her during my first journey I'd thought the name Hypnotoad was rather clever with how she'd used her Hypnosis to lead lots of pokemon on in fights.She'd even retained the move after evolving twice into a water-fighting type. If I'd known she was going to take one look at Shrek and fall in love, I would have called her Fiona.Sadly, she hadn't let me rename her despite liking the idea of being named for a famous couple that had transcended all boundaries as a couple. She identified herself as Hypnotoad and would remain so. She was also why pretty much no one who tried to go through the swamp knew about Shrek.She either hypnotised them, or she used her forget-me-fist that usually made people not want to come back any time soon. I glanced up at the only now brightening morning sky.I popped a pokeball and Zephyr emerged with a silent flap of his wings. When he swung around his face took on a happy tinge as he saw Shrek and Hypnotoad out. He landed and hopped in front of them, hooting out his greetings and talking as we walked along. I let them continue for a while before clearing my throat."Zephyr, I want you to do a sweep of the skies. I have some training to do with all of you and a discussion that is going to be centred on some things that I don't want people learning about. So no eyes or ears on us while we're training, alright?"He bobbed his head and took off. I raised up my transceiver and began flicking through it until I reached the recorded music section. Shrek and Hypnotoad sat down and adopted relaxed poses. I hummed a refrain of what was to come and then hit the play button while holding my arm up high.A song performed by an inexperienced flautist was heard from my arm. It stumbled and dropped away in some parts, but it was more than enough to be used for the purposes of awakening my elite team. The song was a bit on the nose with my having adapted it from another of Nintendo's series, but in my defence what could be greater for waking giant pokemon up? The Sonata of Awakening was just what I wanted.The earth moved underneath me as I felt large bodies stirring. From where I'd come, the Onix raised their heads only to lower them in supplication as Sanchez walked out of a cave, his iron beard being stroked into a Fu Manchu moustache. His signature grin was wide as he jogged up to me. When he reached Shrek and Hypnotoad, he dropped onto his backside and sat like a kid in his favourite class at school.Shin was the next to emerge, low and careful as he watched the skies. Selene descended from the top of the plateau. Don rocketed out and up only to circle me in lazy swoops as the halting melody continued to play.And then, from the depths, Titan stalked out, a gentle expression on his face; Bertha and Knight followed in his wake. They walked up and settled down for the last part of the song as it piped off slowly. Then the recording ended, but not before my little sister's voice started. "There! I did the song is that what you—" the recording stopped there and I chuckled.I could have edited that out, but it felt wrong to do so. Instead, I kept it and it never failed to make my pokemon and I smile. Yolanda originally performed the flute piece. Since then Cindy had taken over as Yolanda dropped the flute for the guitar. It still embarrassed her that my Elite pokemon loved hearing her play to them above anything else.Titan yawned, and when he did, the term 'hugely' definitely applied. Within his maw, a pokemon could only make their final prayers due to the sharpness of his teeth. He sniffed and shook himself off. Knight rolled his neck, producing a chorus of metal plates sliding and grinding against each other.Every other pokemon shrunk back at the noise only to then glare at Knight as he smacked his lips. When he noticed the looks he coughed sheepishly and offered them a shrug, as if to say 'what can you do'?Bertha stalked over to a shelter and leaned down to call her name out. A moment later, a bleary-eyed Scyther darted out and followed her.Titan huffed at him but left it be, instead, he stood and barked once to signal that the team should be going through their training exercises. He then pointed to a distant rock. "Tyran!"He started jogging towards it, and soon the others were following or running past him. Sanchez rolled but he did so with his face sticking out the side instead of retracting himself into a ball of rock. "Go! Go! GO!" he shouted at the morning.I shook my head and twisted about, only when I felt limbered up did I dart after them. Titan had started them off and typically always led the morning routine. When we'd started out I'd explained to him that as the starter, he was something like the team captain, leading people and maintaining morale. I was, of course, the coach, calling the plays, substitutions, and training program.He'd taken that to heart, and ever since I'd caught my first Geodude, he'd been there leading the charge. Well, apart from those few months where he was a Pupitar, but that went without saying. During those months Sabrina had been very amused to see me running around with my pokemon with Titan slung over my shoulder or held aloft like a trophy. It had gotten too tiring for him to propel himself with the small bursts of movement a Pupitar could manage.I'd never had the issue of having to earn Titan's trust and respect when he evolved; I think those many, many hours of me carrying him when he wasn't able to stuck with him.I had to be smart about how I was running with giants like Bertha, Titan, and Knight storming forward. When we reached the rock we turned around and ran back. I drew level to each pokemon and watched how they were running. They seemed a little stiff to start but that was to be expected with having just woken up.When I'd gotten through the entire team I signalled Titan to lead them through some energy drills. Or Special Attack and Defence flexing, as I thought of it. Really, it was just them circulating their energy to get ready for a hard workout. Their energy systems needed just as much a wake up as their physical bodies did after all. I spent the time laying out food bowls for those that would need an earlier meal for those who preferred to do proper intensive exercise on a full stomach. Others that preferred nothing instead continued to lightly stretch.Sanchez was one of the pokemon that preferred not to eat beforehand. Instead, he danced about throwing punches and occasionally announcing himself in various fashions, like he was a Mexican wrestler from my past life, perfecting his craft.Don landed and devoured his meal, with Shin sneaking a few bites from the side. I knew when it was Shin's turn to eat, Don would return the favour.With my pokemon still lightly occupied, I glanced up in time to see Zephyr returning from a sweep of the perimeter. He hooted in greeting to everyone and dropped down next to me. "All clear?" I asked.He nodded seriously. Don raised his head and grunted something at Zephyr, only for Zephyr to shake his head. Don sniffed at this and shoved his face back into the bowl of food. I hummed but decided not to question the exchange, beyond noting that Don was now eying the skies occasionally.I clapped my hands together to signal that I had something to say. The group either stopped what they were doing or did it much more quietly. Sanchez threw some little punches but he watched me as he did so."Alright team, I've been monitoring a situation that's coming our way and I think I'm going to pre-empt it." The team's interest grew even more. Don's muzzle lifted out of the bowl of food to growl a question."There is a trainer like Karen. Some of you have had the pleasure of facing her before. She was part of the Guardian's initiation. You should know that her pokemon are considered strong enough to challenge for an Elite Four position. Something that she's now well on the way to achieving."This got a rumble of interest, with Don sniffing loudly. I held in a smile. "She may not have fared as well against you during the guardian initiation, but she is still a skilled trainer."I offered them all a smirk. "Just not up to our level."This got a cheer of agreement from my pokemon, it was always good to control when you talked your pokemon up, but you did need to do it. "Nevertheless her method of building up her reputation and advancing up the Ace trainer listings other people are going to use." That got them to quiet down. Bertha had a confused look on her giant craggy face."In her run for Elite Four status, she is targeting the gyms of Johto. Someone else is going to be targeting the gyms of Kanto. Starting with us, " I said.Bertha gasped before clenching her fists and shaking her head. "Rhyp!" The others all nodded along. I chuckled, which cut through their hype-up session."I know who they are," I said.That had them all leaning forward in interest. "He's trying to remain hidden and have us play our hands by sending other trainers through. That's why there have been so many Ace trainer challenges of late." I gave another smirk. "Which we've handled wonderfully."This got another round of growls and nods from my pokemon. Titan grunted to quiet things down. I nodded in thanks and continued. "Now, I've been aware of this trainer lurking for a while and I don't expect him to make an appearance any time soon but I can see that he's probing at us. He's going to be setting us up as his great unveiling. I for one have no interest in being a rock he just kicks around to make an entrance, so we're going to trip him up at the starting line."I slowly looked at each of my pokemon."For that purpose, I am going to be working with you all an extra day a week to plan out strategies and prepare to fight him. Some of your move pools are going to get worked on, and we're going to hone some to be up to my standards. This is due to his identified specialist typing being Psychic type."Don perked up at that and growled something with a gleeful look in his eyes. He still wasn't over Sabrina's Alakazam smacking him around so easily during the lead up to challenging Lance. He probably saw this as a good stepping stone to beating the powerful Psychic pokemon.Others looked to Titan straight away. They all knew that he'd be the strongest against any Psychic pokemon. Then again, I could have announced that we'd be facing Erika in a show match and they'd still look to him first before any other pokemon.I pointed to Titan, and then to Selene. "I'm going to be looking to the pair of you for this match up. Titan, you're going to be the anchor, but depending on what we can dredge up from his fighting style, I may or may not deploy you earlier in any match we have." I then indicated back to Selene."Selene, you're going to be the pokemon that we look to that will get us used to fighting against Psychic pokemon. You also have some strong moves in your arsenal that can help turn the tide in the coming battle. I will also be drawing Quirina for future training sessions. If we can keep honing him he might join the Elite team instead of being the four badge challenge team ace."Selene bobbed her head at my words. "Luna!"I turned to Knight who perked up. "You're also going to be one of my go to pokemon if I can make it work. You have some good dark-type moves that will counter him. I will be forming up a plan for the rest of you but at this stage there are three slots left for this match."I nodded at Don and his eagerness before grinning at Hypnotoad. "You might also develop a certain move but more on that later." She vibrated in place at that news and I chuckled."Good, now I've done some initial analysis and there is a move that I want to be on the lookout for that is called Synchronise. Synchronise is deadly as it doesn't just damage the pokemon out fighting but the entire team that share a trait with the pokemon. Therefore if I load up too many Rock-type pokemon we'll be in trouble. I don't want you coming out weakened before you even get onto the battlefield." this got a round of nods and some grumbles from others."For this purpose, I'm going to field a few different pokemon so that he can't just hit us for our Rock type."I indicated towards Hypnotoad and Shrek. "Shrek, Zephyr, Hypnotoad, Tide, and eventually Scyther, are going to be taking part in the coming Ace trainer battles so we're going to have to blow some dust off that's built up for the higher tier matches for some of you."Bertha clapped her hands and cheered something. I tilted my head at her and she made another expansive gesture. I considered it for a moment. "I'm getting the team back together?"She nodded and the other pokemon straightened up at that. Titan grinned and I hummed. It was true that it had been a while since I'd had all of my pokemon from my journey together. Not that it was possible any longer.Not since I lost my first Onix…I nodded, pushing the memories away at the same time."Yeah, it'll sort of be like old times won't it?" I glanced around the rocky plains. "I might need to expand the swamp to have a lagoon for Tide though." Shrek, Hypnotoad and Shin all perked up at that. I chuckled at them before waving my hand forward."Alright, alright, Selene I want you to pair up against —" Don screeched and flapped his wings to indicate he wanted to go first. Titan snorted at him, and Don looked annoyed but backed down when Titan sternly held his stare."—Shin, you're going first because a lot of your moves are physical and you'll need to practise working against a psychic pokemon." I then pointed to Bertha. "You're going to be working with Hypnotoad. Don you're against Shrek."Both pairs of pokemon locked eyes and I grinned as I started getting into it. By the time everyone was assigned a training partner or working through a drill for a move there was a chorus of chaos as pokemon unleashed moves at each other, dodged them, or otherwise worked their bodies and minds. I grinned.This was what it was to be a pokemon trainer.If Will wanted to try and be sneaky then I was going to be more than ready for him. I was going to assemble my Elite Team with no restrictions. This hadn't been the team I thought I would have by the time Ash rolled around. I'd gotten lucky in a lot of ways, and so, very very unlucky in others.Titan suddenly put his hand on my shoulder, and I was shocked to realise he'd snuck up on me. I glanced up and realised he was looking at me in concern. "Ty, Ty, tar!" he said, patting me slowly. I looked away."Yeah, I know. It just surprised me to think of the old team again." I looked over to Sanchez who was waiting for Titan. He was watching us, obviously confused as to what was going on but willing to give me and Titan space. I nodded at him before waving Titan forward to work with Sanchez. The two paired up and began to fight.I shook off the last of my maudlin mood and led Zephyr over to work with Scyther. Sycther grumbled about the match, but then locked eyes with Zephyr, and they began trading blows, or rather quickly attacking and dodging.After five minutes I called a break to their training and added some ankle weights to Sycther's ankles making him grumble some more. "You want to be strong don't you?I then moved on to the others. At the twenty-minute mark I called a halt for Shin, Don, and Knight. "I think I'll be using you all against a trainer today so don't get too tired. Light work for the rest of the session!" I barked out.When Don started acting up I pointed right at him. "Do you want to be the first pokemon I send out today or the last?" That made him behave.When the hour of training was done I had Titan lead everyone through a cooldown as I laid out their food. While they were eating, I walked back to look over the Onix that I had. There was one that I thought might be ready to evolve and possibly advance.I walked back to the field in the back with that thought running through my mind. It would be expensive due to the cost of the metal coat but I couldn't overlook it. I nodded to myself. It was time to act, to switch things up.I found I was actually looking forward to it, I hadn't gotten the chance before that Sceptile... I sighed and shook the mood away again. Instead, I kept planning out my team. I already had a steel type with Knight but having another join my Elite team would help be a good idea. It also helped that Steelix had a mega-evolution that might be possible to unlock one day. I just needed to get lucky with some megastones.I entered the area behind the gym to find Forrest rubbing down the Graveler that I'd dubbed 'Challenger' in my head due to how she acted with any of the Elite team nearby.She'd been fighting them nearly constantly when she'd learnt how far the divide was between herself and Sanchez. Finding out that he was technically the weakest of my pokemon, or at least the newest to reach the Elite status had shaken her. But then she'd started trying to challenge the likes of Shin, Don, and on one memorable occasion, Bertha. Only to be smacked around harder by them.Bertha in particular had been all smiles right up until the Graveler was laying down her challenge. Then Bertha had backhanded her straight into the plateau where she'd been embedded. She must have said something to piss Bertha off to get that reaction. Whatever it was, 'Challenger' hadn't tried climbing that particular mountain since.Then again, it might have also had something to do with Scyther scoring a win against her. I'd have to talk with her cause she'd been very depressed with that turn of events.Next to Forrest, Flint was indicating a number of things on the Challenger's body. I approached carefully."—see how she has a lot of sand built up in between her rock shell? Those need to be scrapped out when you're caring for pokemon like her otherwise it can irritate them."Forrest nodded as he used the tool to clean out Graveller's rocks. "We usually have the pokemon Harden and then use a hose.""That usually weakens their shell though and lowers their ability to withstand stronger blows," Flint said with a raised hand."That's why they have to use Harden first," I said, announcing my arrival. Flint glanced back and smiled at me."Morning! So…" He gave me a playful smirk, "Finally up eh Brock?"I cocked my head to the side before narrowing my eyes. "I've been up for a while now." He stopped smiling and coughed."Oh, I hadn't realised I was just teasing…"I grunted at him and glanced back over my shoulder where I'd been for the last hour. My elite team were rounding the plateau and a number of the Gym's pokemon were noticing. Challenger perked up only to look down at the ground and kick the dirt, grumbling as she did so.I got closer and was surprised when Forrest kneeled next to her face, getting on her level. "Hey, you're doing great with your training! You just need to have time. It's been great having that drive but you're trying to leap a gap too large right now. I'm gonna start giving you building steps from now on."She grumbled, but he reached out putting a hand on her. "Hey, you know you're a lot stronger than you were, right? I read a report about Missy taking you out only to have you take out a roaming swarm of Beedril no? Could you have done that a few months ago?"She shook her head. Forrest leaned in and clenched a fist in front of Challenger's face, "Well trust in me that you're getting stronger. You're getting a lot more experience, and it is showing! In a few more months you'll probably be a powerful Golem!." She perked up at that and Forrest nodded. "Yeah, keep that goal in sight, and we'll re-evaluate where you're at then yeah?"She raised her arms and bellowed her agreement at that. Forrest pat her on the head. "Now let me and Dad pamper you. You deserve it."Flint hummed in an approving manner while Forrest leaned in to work on cleaning Graveler out the old-fashioned way with a wire brush that Challenger seemed to like. I frowned, oddly conflicted at how Forrest was falling into what Flint told him but also proud that he was showing good skills with pokemon. I just hoped he realised that when you had more than three Gravelers or Golem to work on it was demanding too much to wire brush them all. You had to find other methods for treating sand in the cracks. I huffed and I let him do as he wanted.Instead, I checked over the other pokemon and then called out to Forrest that I was going to cook breakfast. Forrest waved back in a manner that let me know he'd barely heard me while Flint didn't react at all.I rolled my eyes. Fine, if he wanted to be like that I didn't need to chase him around. He was an adult.I quickly whipped up breakfast and had the family up and eating. Yolanda appeared with her egg in hand and a beaming happy smile that died a little when she looked around and didn't find who she was looking for.A dark part of me was pleased for half a second before I realised how horrible that was. "Sorry, Yolanda, Forrest has our… guest bailed up out in the pokemon area.Yolanda blinked a bit and scowled. "He does? But…" her eyes flickered around at the other kids before she sighed explosively. "That's so… what he would do, wouldn't he?"I nodded and ignored the way my guts wrenched as she slumped into her seat. Salvadore sat up. "Is Professor Oak here?!" he asked.I shook my head. "Nah, I don't think he is…" I trailed off. There had been that one time I'd come to ask Rocko something early in the morning about a report only to find him and Oak acting like zombies on the couch while playing on the console. Apparently Oak had challenged Rocko to a marathon match challenge or some such."Anyway, Forrest should be along with our guest soon enough and then they can take you to school…" I said. We then proceeded to go through the normal morning routine."Stop touching me! Brock! Billy is touching me!" screamed Suzie.Billy denied this straight away. "No, I'm not! I'm touching around you!""Leave your sister alone and finish eating your food," I said to them."I don't want eggs!" said Timmy, only for me to give his meal to Munchlax and for some cereal to be placed in front of Timmy. Timmy gaped at my solution as Munchlax happily devoured his second breakfast.Salvadore raised his hand. "Hey Brock in this part of the book they're talking about standardisation as being important for electrical systems. Why is that?"I stared at him. "I haven't got a clue little brother." I reached for the book and gave it a read only to find myself quite lost. "Maybe keep reading and come tell me if you find out the answer?"With a family of seven siblings to deal with for the morning, I barely got to watch the clock as it ticked down. Eevee was also in there darting around sticky or wet fingers to greet everyone. Nanny Graveler took up a spot near Billy and Tilly with a napkin to rub at their faces when they messed themselves up.Yolanda was the only kid that didn't have any issues. She instead was going out of her way to be helpful while keeping an eye on the clock. When it reached five minutes until the kids needed to be out the door, I felt like a heel as part of me was glad Flint had messed up. Another part was raging at him. I rubbed my temples and clapped my hands."Alright! Looks like Forrest won't be able to take you to school today! Yolanda!" I looked at her meaningfully. "Can you please take them? I'll talk to Forrest about this." I made sure to emphasise Forrest so that she knew I meant I'd be talking to Flint about this.From the front door, a knock sounded out and Yolanda sprang into action. "Hi there Da… oh, hi Daniel…" Yolanda said as she slumped off to grab her backpack and lead the kids out the door."Uhhhh hey there Yolanda?" he said, obviously unsure at her reaction. He looked to me and I grimaced and shook my head. "Just a thing. They have to get to school."He pointed after them. "Need me to escort them?"I shook my head. "Nah, don't worry about it. They're safe enough." Nanny Graveler rolled after them. Eevee tried to slip around her to follow the kids to school only for her to be deposited in my lap as the kids left. Eevee cried out for them but then settled down when I pointed out Munchlax was still here to play with.She darted off to do that. I directed my attention to one of my most recent hires as a Gym trainer, Daniel.He eyed the door with a thoughtful look, but I coughed. "What brings you around Daniel? We still have… oh we only have ten minutes now… Urgh damn it, Flint," I said as I stood and waved Daniel to follow me. He did so while taking in my home. I led him to the door that attached to the Gym from my house.Even from this side a keycard was needed to enter the Gym's facilities. "Surprised it needs that," Daniel said curiously.I huffed. "Kids will get into all sorts of places you don't want them. You're going to learn about that soon, trust me.""Heh, guess I will!" he said with an amiable laugh. I marched through to the others waiting for me before loading up the first profile on the schedule."Huh, girl from Pallet by the name of Greta Evergreen, then two gauntlet runs, followed up by a single challenge match before we have our showpiece for the day with the Ace challenge before lunch?"Alexa nodded her head, and I hummed, falling into the role of Gym Leader as I checked everyone's roster for the day and what we had scheduled in. I found Daniel lingering nearby and I looked up at him. "Aren't you on referee duty for the first match?""Oh! Right! Sorry boss!" he said before darting off.I shook my head. "Good to see I'm not the only person a bit frazzled from the weekend. Alright, time to face one Greta Evergreen."And ignore anything to do with Flint for the moment. Yeah, that sounded pretty good to me.