Yolanda had been adamant that they meet as early as possible. Terra, as a baby pokemon had other ideas and had promptly fallen asleep when Yolanda had picked her up causing the plan to be shifted back.
Yolanda had happily accepted the compromise and gone to bed with her new pokemon and starter. On the way to bed I'd made sure to tap Flint on the shoulder. "You probably need to get Forrest his starter as soon as possible seeing as Yolanda now has hers."Flint nodded. "Do you know what he wants?""An Onix from you," I said. Flint nodded and instead of turning to his room turned and began marching to the front door."I'll be back in the morning…" he paused. "If… that's alright?"I blinked and realised that if he wanted to he could leave again. It would almost be like he'd gone to get milk. I grunted. "Be back by morning," I said, turning away and feeling my stomach tighten. If Flint pulled a 'going for milk' now… I pushed the thought down. I had just decided to trust him a bit. I could extend this small olive branch to him, couldn't I?I nodded and pushed it aside. Come morning I'd have an answer either way.I lay down after checking that everyone was asleep and promptly fell into a meditative sleep. Rock Aura was perfect for slowing the body and forcing it into a sort of hibernation if you wanted to.It wasn't my alarm that woke me up the next morning but Yolanda kicking my door open."Brock! It's morning! Terra's eaten and done her business! Let's go let her meet her big brother!""Lar!!" cheered Terra happily.I blinked at Yolanda and leaned over to glance at my alarm. It was an hour earlier than I usually woke up which made it earlier than early in the morning.Yolanda coughed. "I couldn't sleep? Sorry? I actually didn't know it was that early…"She shifted on the spot and I couldn't fault her for her enthusiasm. I sat up and smacked my lips."I need… a minute to wake up…" a yawn escaped me and I ran my tongue over my teeth. I'd forgotten to brush them last night with all the excitement hadn't I? Urgh, yuk. I moved to my ensuite and ran some water to clear the sleep out of my eyes before I grabbed my toothbrush to scrub the gritty feeling off my teeth."Ha! I knew you were lying!" Yolanda said from where she was standing in the doorway. I blinked at her."Whuh?" I said intelligently. Yolanda's eyes flicked to Sabrina's toothbrush and her pillow on my bed. Terra was sniffing around my room with the curiosity of a newborn."Tar!? Larv!" she said as she crawled under the bed and found some underwear that most certainly weren't mine.Yolanda smirked at me and I rolled my eyes at her. "What? I like to feel pretty?" I said, digging deeper into the lie.She pointed at me. "Yoooouuuu! Just admit those are Sabrina's and you lied! No way you wear girl's clothes!""I'm a complex man, don't limit me!" I said, hiding my face in a towel lest my smirk give me away.Yolanda didn't say anything and when I straightened up she was looking at me with a tilted head. "You've worn girl clothes?""There are a few restaurants and places around Kanto, let alone Hoenn, that charge cheaper meals if you wear a dress." I wiped off the last of the water. Hadn't Ash worn a dress to challenge Erika in the cartoons?"Huh," Yolanda said before shaking her head. "Confess! They are and were your girlfriend's!" she said only to wince when she realised how loud she was being.I huffed. "Yeah alright, they're Sabrina's". I knelt down and looked under the bed. "Oh, she has a whole suitcase under there…" then I paused as I recalled something from last night. "Oh… she announced it last night to her Ralts didn't she…Yolanda giggled, her head bobbing up and down. "Yeah! You only just realised?" Yolanda knelt to see the suitcase. "Wow. I swear that wasn't there last time I looked.""When was that?"Yolanda didn't meet my eyes. "The… last time I was helpfully cleaning your room?" She then coughed. "So how long have you been dating Sabrina?" she said, leaning forward."That's…" I mean technically we were on break and I had said that one time that I couldn't do it while Flint… Did this mean we were back together in Sabrina's eyes?"You two are good together! I approve! Sister approval is given for you to date Sabrina!" she said with a nod.I dragged a hand down my face and sighed. "That's not… Urgh whatever. Yes! We're dating…." Yolanda giggled and I palmed her face causing her giggles to be muffled but not stopped. I huffed at her and released her, "Come on, I'll grab some food to help me wake up and then we can go get Titan up."When we reached the kitchen we found Flint asleep on the countertop with a blanket around him. Yolanda smiled fondly and adjusted his blanket to cover him and I paused when I noticed the pokeball clutched in his hand. "Looks like Forrest is going to have his starter pokemon."Yolanda nodded happily as I scrounged for some food. The rummaging must have woken Munchlax up as he walked into the kitchen, yawning and blearingly investigating."Munch?""Tar!" said Terra as she popped out to surprise Munchlax who jerked back and landed on his backside. Terra giggled to herself while Munchlax grumbled.I handed Munchlax a juicebox to help him get over it while I slurped up a breakfast shake that had me feeling a little more awake. "Right, let's go!" I said, leading Yolanda out and inadvertently waking Flint up."Huh?! What's that?" he said as he marched out."Go to bed dad, Forrest won't wake up for another two hours," she said kindly before rushing after me. I shut the door behind us and walked through the garden of sleeping Lileep before making my way to the cave system.When we got outside the cave I hoisted Terra and Yolanda onto my back. "No lights, you'll startle the pokemon that are still asleep. Titan will wake up fine but Don and some of the electric Geodude will react badly to light at this hour.""Sorry!" Yolanda said while wrapping me up. I just patted her elbow and channelled dark energy to my eyes allowing me to walk down the tunnels without issues."Tar?!" Larvitar said as she snapped her head up to look at me. Huh, interesting, she could pick up on what I was doing? She watched me curiously as we moved through the tunnels. I could probably have navigated them from memory at this point but with Rock pokemon a shift in the path was likely to happen from their passage so it wasn't a sure thing.When we got to the lowest section I deposited Terra back into Yolanda's arms as I had her stand off to the side. "Alright, I'm going to wake him up and then turn the lights on so you can see.""How did you see?!" Yolanda whispered. "I never knew you could do that!""Secret big brother power?" I said teasingly."Brock! Be Serious!""Hmmmm, secret… but one that you can technically unlock if you and Terra form a close enough bond. That's all I'll tell you for now."I could see her thoughtfully looking at her pokemon as I stepped away. Yolanda, by gaining a Larvitar, had stepped onto a path I'd already walked. She'd be able to avoid a lot of the pitfalls while getting my insight into her pokemon. If she wanted it that was… I really hoped she did though because I had a few journals of notes that I could offer her.I whistled a few times to announce myself before I got too close to Titan. Bertha wasn't with him today, apparently choosing to sleep in her own cavern. Titan was sleeping on a slightly raised stone that came up to my hip for his bed. When I whistled his eyes snapped open and I heard Yolanda's breath hitch as his eye gleamed in the dark."Hey Titan, it's me buddy. Sorry for waking you up so early but I have good news and a surprise!""Ty?" he rumbled as he shifted into a more upright position."Watch your eyes buddy. I'm hitting the lights." I moved over to the side where a switch was located before flicking it. The light flickered on slowly but it still was enough to cause Titan and I to shake our heads as we adjusted."Tar?" he said, flicking a claw at his eyes to get rid of the gunk in them."Tar?" said a much smaller voice.Titan blinked and tilted his head. I could see his sleeping mind comprehending the noise and the oddity of it but not matching it up to a pokemon he knew. He swivelled his head."Tar?! He barked out, causing Yolanda to step into view with Terra clutched in her arms.Terra wiggled as she spotted Titan and Yolanda almost dropped her only to kneel and deposit the little pokemon onto the ground. Titan stood as Terra waddled up to the base of the ledge to gaze up adoringly at Titan."Taaaaaaaarrrrrrr!" she said in awe.Titan shifted, his body shaking to loosen up before he stepped off the edge. He did so carefully, his weight coming down gradually so as to not shake the earth with his passing. When he reached the same floor as Terra he stood and looked her over.She was tiny compared to him. As a baby pokemon she hadn't even reached the 'typical' height of a normal Larvitar and seemed like a tiny figurine as he stared down at her."Taaaaaaaar!" she said again grinning hugely.Titan knelt and then lowered himself onto his belly so that his head was level with Terra. His head alone was bigger than her. He then extended his neck and sniffed her carefully. She giggled and tucked her head into her shoulders before leaning towards him and sniffing him back. She then darted forward and started to inspect the various parts of him while crying out in happiness. Titan shifted so that he could keep her in sight, his eyes were latched onto her and drinking her in like she was a wonder to behold.Yolanda danced from foot to foot. "Titan! Meet your little sister! Terra!"Titan glanced at Yolanda for a moment before smiling widely. I moved up and rubbed his head. "Terra is the name of an ancient Earth Titaness."Titan snapped his head to look from me to Yolanda before he wiggled with glee which caused Terra to shriek in surprise. He stopped only to resume when Yolanda and Terra giggled at his antics.He stood then and shifted about happily and barked his name out.This caused Bertha and Knight to wake up and investigate, which drew them into sniffing the new baby pokemon. Terra laughed happily when Bertha held her aloft with one hand. Yolanda shifted nervously as Bertha lofted the little pokemon about and I chuckled as Yolanda fretted over her baby pokemon.When I checked my watch it was only ten minutes before my normal wake up time so I hummed and looked up at Titan. "Want to show off for your little sister this morning?"Titan clenched his claws and punched the air causing a small quake. "Tyranitar!" he barked fiercely before grinning towards a suddenly nervous Knight. Bertha laughed and gave Terra back to Yolanda."Rhy! Rhy! Perior!" she called as she jogged head of us. I hummed. "Well, looks like they're not getting a nice calm song to wake up to this morning," I said casually as Bertha roared into the Ancient pokemon's cavern causing Don to shriek in protest and a scuffle to break out. I clapped Knight and Titan on the flank. "Escort Terra and Yolanda to the training area would you?"They nodded while I headed off to break up Don from trying to eat a laughing Bertha. Don wouldn't be able to hurt her and that would just enrage him more and make him harder to handle. Not that Bertha cared about that by the sound of her laughter.I set about breaking them up and then marched up to meet the rest of my bleary-eyed Elite team that were circled around Yolanda and Terra. Terra was once more squirming to escape Yolanda's grip but my sister wasn't having that happen again now that all of my big pokemon were out and close by. I nodded approvingly."Alright gang back it up! Give them some room! Titan! Start it off!!"Titan straightened up and barked out an order causing my pokemon to whirl about and start jogging towards a distant rock. Titan usually was at the back but I saw him sneak a Rock Polish before he sprinted to the rock much to the other pokemon's shock.He then sprinted back and bowled through them like pins at the bowling alley before hurtling back to Yolanda and Terra. I rolled my eyes at him and the others that were gaping at him. "Someone is motivated!" I shouted to the team.Titan nodded and puffed out his chest as Terra cheered for him. He then proceeded to out wrestle Bertha, Onix, Sanchez, Knight, Shrek, and Hypnotoad. He'd then eyeballed Tide and the others only for them to square up on him with Tide giving a warning bark,a Hydro Pump held ready in his mouth. This forced Titan to stop and calm down."Woah! Titan's motivated!" shouted Forrest as he walked around the plateau with a very young-looking Onix at his side. On his other side, Flint was walking with a pleased look on his face and a huge cup of coffee. He looked like he'd been up most of the night judging by the bags under his eyes. I offered a nod before noticing that Challenger was also with them.Challenger locked onto Sanchez who was sadly readjusting his iron sand moustache after the beatdown Titan had given him. She smirked and advanced, only for Titan to slide in front of her and lock claws with her. Challenger baulked at the new opponent only for Titan to not care and whip her around and hurl her away. He then adopted a hero pose.Terra applauded Titan causing him to get a pleased smirk. Yolanda merely stared at Challenger, who was looking more than a little shocked at her instant loss. She hadn't even gotten a chance to say anything about a fight before she'd found herself in one."Gooooolem!" said Sanchez as he shifted his moustache into a fake feminine haircut and swooned theatrically. Titan scowled at Sanchez's dramatics before Sanchez shifted his moustache back and slapped his knee at the joke.Terra stopped clapping and giggled at their antics with Yolanda joining her.I huffed. "Alright big guy, why don't we let you really show off and get the most out of your motivation with some resistance training. I'm not going to have an Elite team left otherwise. Selene fetch Chansey would you?"When Chansey arrived, she looked pleased at the battered appearance of my team. I merely pointed at Titan and made him move through a few fighting moves we'd worked out for him. "Gravity!"Titan instantly shifted downwards as the ground beneath him buckled. He kept his body unbent however and continued to move through the poses. His eyes sliding to Terra as she cheered him on. I snorted. "Right, with that handled I think I'll see to some of my other pokemon's training," I said aloud."And I can do the same for my pokemon!" Forrest said happily, moving away and leading his Onix to start working on some maneuvers. I considered shifting my focus before shaking it off and moving about the rest of my pokemon to give instructions.When I reached Onix and Scyther I had them play a game of tag with Scyther having to only target markings I put on Onix's sides.Both pokemon threw themselves into action and I nodded as Onix writhed to make Scyther work for his hits while Scyther had to work on his precision. Their game went on for a few minutes before I was disrupted by a new voice announcing itself."Tyranitar, the Armor Pokémon. Tyranitar has a heavily armoured body that can withstand powerful attacks and is able to crush a mountain with one hand," said a robotic voice that had me looking away from my pokemon. I found Ash staring at Titan in awe as my starter continued to move through his work out with little Terra cheering him on. Yolanda was now looking much more impressed so I decided to give Titan a moment to catch his breath and have a drink."Selene cut the gravity, Titan? Grab a drink!" I called out, making him nod and march off to the side where he discretely took some huge lungfuls of air to recover from what had to have been an intense workout.I moved over and patted him on the leg. "Doing alright? Or still trying to be a hero?""Tyran!" he said, snorting at me. I shook my head. "Well, now you can show off how good of a boss you are," I said before pointing him towards Don, Bertha who was trying to take over Terra's attention along with Knight, Shin, and Zephyr. Titan barked at them and happily made them scatter.I frowned, looking around only to find Don locked onto Pikachu who was sniffing the Stantler."DON!" I bellowed, making him startle and break off his flight so he didn't snatch up Pikachu. Ash blanched when he realised he'd been too focussed on the deer. Stantler himself bucked in surprise and ran off making me sigh."Alright, I think you need a time out if you're stalking like that."Ash approached. "Hahaha, thanks for that, he sure gave us a scare!""Yeah, sorry, he must have thought Pikachu would make for a good snack before breakfast.""Hahaha," Ash said as though I'd told him a joke. I raised an eyebrow at him and he stopped laughing. "Oh…" he said as he realised what I was saying.I offered a shrug. "Yeeeeaaaaah, Don's not what I'd call domesticated or tame. He very much will hunt if he's feeling hungry. That's why he gets fed twice a day usually."Ash nodded loosely and I clapped him on the back. "Don't let it bother you. How are you and Pikachu doing?""Good! But I was curious, how do I get Pikachu to fire off Thunderbolts like your Golem?" he said pointing to where Sanchez was performing Thunder on Zephyr with his Steel Wing grounded into the earth."Hmmm show me your Thunderbolt?" I asked, surprised that Pikachu could pull off such a move."Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on that rock!" Ash said, causing Pikachu to fire off a respectable lightning attack. I hummed and made an 'again gesture that took Ash a second to work out. "Go again, Pikachu! Thunderbolt!"When the attack was pretty much the same I nodded. "I'd say your pokemon still hasn't reached the necessary power threshold for Thunderbolt. It's impressive for a Thundershock, but it falls a bit short of that next level. The move that Sanchez is using over there is Thunder, a move further along the power chart.""Power chart?" Ash said, tilting his head.I scratched my chin. "You know how the big impressive moves are typically moves like Hyper Beam or Giga Impact?" Ash blinked at me cluelessly while Pikachu tilted his head, causing his ears to flop to the side. Misty and Greta who'd been talking a small distance away stopped talking and started paying attention."Right, well you typically have to work up to high power moves like Giga Impact or Hyper Beam. It's possible for it to be taught to pokemon early using Technical machines, but the results are almost always subpar without additional training. It's actually better to work along a chain of pokemon moves that lead into each other. Now for the sake of argument and familiarity, I'm going to use Giga Impact as an example. Giga Impact is a powerful normal-type move that hits really hard, however, what a lot of people don't understand is that it comes about from having a pokemon that knows Tackle."I made a fist and slammed it into my palm, "Tackle can then progress to Slam, or Body Slam, or even moves such as Double Edge. This trains the pokemon to throw itself into the attack while also building up energy channels for stronger moves. Some pokemon moves that use similar parts of the body are also able to be strengthened with this type of training. I'm doing something like that for Stantler over there," I said pointing towards my meditating deer pokemon.Zephyr was inspecting him and nodding every now and then before offering advice.Forrest, who'd sidled up to listen in, jerked in surprise. "I've heard you talk about this before but… what about the TM's you give out? Wont Mia and Silly Mouse be affected? And I know you've built up moves from TM before so what gives?"I raised a hand. "Excellent point, Forrest. Now, what I said earlier only applies to pokemon that don't have trainers and have to build up pokemon moves the natural way. Trainers can funnel a pokemon towards certain moves and make some moves stronger. Technical Machines allow people to skip those steps and this can result in the pokemon move initially being weaker. That doesn't mean you can't get the strength up to what would be seen naturally, however."I held a hand up to forestall Forrest. "How would you go about doing that?""Use the move lots?" Ash said with a tilt of his head. Misty groaned only to stop when I nodded."That's one way, there's another you can use."I was met with clueless expressions. "Order Pikachu to build up the attack for a Thundershock towards that rock, but not fire it off."Pikachu, use Thundershock but don't!" Ash said, making me grimace as Pikachu blinked before slowly building up an electrical charge that surged out of his body and zapped Ash. Ash's hair stood up straight but otherwise he was fine. "That was weaker than his normal thundershocks…" Ash said."Pikachu's not used to building up a charge or stressing himself in this manner. It takes a bit of work but you can also train energies with a build-up and hold method like we just tried." I whistled and Titan turned his head. "Come over here and show off your Dark Hold move," I said."Ty!" barked Titan as he moved over. He drew in a breath and then exhaled as dark energy built up over his body only to remain there."Oh wow it's sort of giving me chills to feel!" Misty said.I nodded. "Yeah, this is one way of building up a pokemon's special energy attacks." I hummed "It's also good for other tricks," I said pointedly towards Yolanda. Her eyes widened as she realised what I was alluding to before she nodded. I made a note that I'd have to spend some time with her… Her, and maybe Missy. Missy had shown that she was capable enough and interested in learning more from me."Anyway, Mia is aware of this with Silly Mouse and has been working on it with the move I awarded her from day one. Her Thunder is going to be quite strong by the end of the circuit.""Not as strong as Pikachu and me!" Ash declared before leading Pikachu off to practise the new form of training. Misty nodded with a thoughtful expression before wandering off herself. I rubbed my chin when she moved over to Tide's area and released her Staryu and began practising with it.I smiled towards Greta who finished writing her notes and likewise ran off to start working with Bulbasaur only to sheepishly come back. "We don't have a move like that…""Tackle is perfectly viable. Otherwise, try building up the strength of his Vine Whips." I pointed to where Chansey was standing with Bertha practising moving under Gravity. "Try lifting some rocks with his vines in that area, just go slow alright?"Greta nodded and moved off to do just that. I considered the groups of pokemon and saw that they were all training well. I considered the various trainers I had just given an impromptu lecture to. I was tempted to go talk with Ash but he seemed to be working through the lesson easily. Honestly, he was working through it the fastest with Pikachu working on eclectic attacks and also on doing a speedy tackle that informed me he was trying to get Pikachu to learn Quick Attack. That or he was trying something else out. Perhaps hoping to make his Quick Attack's hit harder?No, he had this lesson well in hand and as he released Butterfree to try other moves with another of his pokemon I decided against it. Instead, I turned to Misty who was looking frustrated."Hey Misty, how're you doing?" I said as I approached her."Fine!" she said through gritted teeth."Hmmmm," I said neutrally as her Staryu tried to hold in the water attack only to end up spiralling off like a children's spinning top. "How did you word it?""Like Ash did! I didn't do anything different!""Ah," I said.Misty scowled at me. "What's that mean?""You're not Ash. You're Misty. Pikachu is also not Staryu. Both of them will respond differently to different cues."Misty considered this with a thoughtful nod. "Staryu… don't hold it in… instead… think about the flow of energy as building up through your body like a pool of water being filled!"I nodded, as Staryu cried out and repeated the move. This time he held for ten seconds before a blast of water shot out. " Looks like progress," I said with a smile.Misty beamed "Yeah! Way to go Staryu!" She bowed to me. "Thanks for that Brock!""No problem, say, while I'm here, could I ask a question?" I said, alluding to the real reason I'd come over to talk with her."Sure?" she said."How come you didn't apply to challenge my Gym alongside Ash?"Misty blinked. "Oh, well I guess… I'm not really not doing a circuit I guess.""How come?"Misty fidgetted and glanced over at Ash. I waved a hand. "He won't hear us, and I'm aware of who your family is, Misty. I'd have thought it would have been a good thing to complete the circuit.""Really? I just hadn't really considered it before… Plus you know, I want to be a Gym Leader one day, won't it look bad if I fail against another Gym Leader?""It'd look worse if you never tried," I said. She was startled at that, having obviously not thought of what it might look like. She shot me a look and I shrugged. "But then again you could get away with it if you wanted. It's not something that's actually written anywhere. I was just surprised. I thought you wanted to take over the Gym from your sisters?""I do! They barely run it! When I take it over I'll give it the dedication it deserves!" She fidgeted "How'd you know about my goal anyway?""I have talked with your sisters, you know? They're aware of what you want. They mentioned in passing once that they'd drop things on you when you were ready.""Urgh, those stuck up bit…" she swallowed what she was going to say and coughed. "Well yeah, they're right. I want to be Gym Leader."I nodded. "Well going on a journey like this seems like the perfect chance to build yourself up." I pointed to her Staryu. "You can build up a team, make some mistakes without it mattering too much, learn how other people do things and how you do things."Misty considered that and I hummed before deciding she needed some time to think things over. "Give it a thought. I'd love to face a challenge from you. If you take over as Cerulean Gym Leader one day we'll have to have a match and you can be sure I'll bring my best pokemon." I pointedly looked towards Sanchez.Misty turned her head towards Sanchez and watched as he unleashed a powerful Thunder and obliterated a boulder. "Oh," she said.I patted her on the back. "Don't let that bother you though. Set goals and go from there. And feel free to ask questions. I get asked a ton already so don't feel like you need to hold back!" I said while looking towards where Greta was working with her Bulbasaur.Misty giggled at that and I moved off to work on a few others. When I made my way over to Stantler I found him looking a bit sad. "Still struggling with it bud?"He nodded sadly and I gave him a few rubs. "No problem. What I'm asking of you is tough. We'll keep working on it, but don't for a minute think I'm putting the blame on you. Let's take a step back and work on holding the Calm Mind move in your head and horns for now. We'll keep building from there, alright?"It would be worth— My alarm started to blare and I looked down before grimacing. "Alright gang! That's enough for today! Let's get you all fed and then I need to get my own breakfast!" I checked my transceiver and was relieved that I didn't have any Ace battles today. That'd be rough with my pokemon tired from a harsh workout. Titan leaned against the rock wall and heaved in air having apparently continued to go all out. Terra was just out of sight and when she walked around and chirped Titan whirled around and adopted an upright pose that made it look like he was still willing and able.I had no doubt about that. Terra had stars in her eyes when I returned and deposited Titan's food bowl. She licked her lips and inched forward only for Titan to nudge some food her way. He then devoured the rest. Terra looked over to the others eating and Yolanda quickly grabbed her up."No, you might be able to get away with it from Titan and Bertha but other pokemon won't like you stealing their food. Come on, I'll get you some food at home."I cupped my hands over my mouth. "Ash! Misty! Greta! I can't leave you out here! Turn in for now. We can meet up tomorrow for more training if you want!" The others marched up quickly and I led them to the breakfast table for what was becoming a regular occurrence now.Flint was thankfully already making breakfast which earned a nod of approval from me. I started making up the kids' lunches when a thought occurred to me. "Hey Ash, Misty? Why did it take you so long to reach Pewter if you were just coming from Pallet town."Ash shrunk into himself. "I thought that Samurai knew what he was talking about…"I tilted my head only for Greta to snort some milk out her nose. She hurriedly wiped her face with a napkin. "That bug catcher cosplayer?! His advice was the opposite of good! Literally! You listened to that?" Greta swept her attention from Ash to Misty who both didn't meet her gaze.Forrest leaned in. "What did he say?"Ash squirmed before adopting a stern expression. "The sun rises in the east and sets in the west! That means if you keep the east to your left you will be heading north!" he said with a pompous tone.Misty tilted her head. "Or was it the other way around? Keep East to your right?"Greta facepalmed and I chuckled. Forrest awkwardly tapped his fingers together. "If he said the first thing he was wrong. If he said the second then he was right… Uhmmm do you guys not have a compass?"Ash shrunk further into his seat and murmured something about Pikachu breaking it on their first day. I shook my head and made a note to give him an electric type resistant compass before he left Pewter.Greta groaned. "Urgh, I can't believe you listened to him! Gary and I had no problems ignoring that idiot! You should have been the same!""Gary just got lucky!" Ash said with a snarl before sitting back down. "Most likely…"I turned my attention to my schedule as I finished up making up the lunches for the kids. I started to switch into work mode as I considered what else I needed to do. Urgh, it was still only the middle of the week! I couldn't wait for the weekend!I paused as I realised that no actually, this weekend was the Mayor's ball. Wait, no… Sabrina was going to come with me. Sabrina who had…. Hmmm, I needed to address this before it got away from me.Sabrina's little declaration had escaped me last night. So… she thought we were back together. I tapped my transceiver and sent a message. "So we're together… right? I forgot to talk about that last night…""Yes," she sent back. I glanced around expecting her to teleport near me only for her not to appear. I shrugged and got through my morning chores and was about to walk into my office when Sabrina teleported to my side."Oh hey Sabrina, is something—" She approached and put a finger on my lips, silencing me."I have been talking with Erika and she told me I should make sure there is no doubt. We're dating, yes?"I nodded glancing down at the finger that was still on my lips."Good, in that case I will pick you up for the ball this weekend." She nodded and was about to teleport away only for me to grab her hand before she could."No," I said. When she blinked I hurried to elaborate. "No, you come over to my house and I'll organise something. We should make an entrance."Her lips tilted upwards. "Hmmm, very well, I look forward to what you come up with." she leaned back in and pecked me on the cheek before teleporting away.I rubbed at the spot where she'd kissed me and felt myself grow oddly hot. Alright, well good. That was… good. Yes.Damn. Now I needed to find something cooler than teleporting in for our entrance… Urgh, there had to be something for that right?That would be future Brock's problem. Right now I had to get to my first challenge of the day.Still, it gave me something to look forward to for the weekend. I just needed to reach it without too much going wrong.
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Cindy's sonata of awakening roused the pokemon the next morning and I started the routine warm up for them before jogging around the plateau. When I spotted the two rostered trainers on the breakfast shift, I jogged up."Morning Daniel, Jackson! Ready to start up?" I said loudly.Both men nodded their heads, and Jackson stretched to the side. "Which ones do you want me to take boss?""I'll give you the tougher job with the first badge pokemon for order practice and then have you limber them up. If any are too good though..." I trailed off.Jackson nodded, "bump 'em up and make a note of it! Roger boss! Little ones! You're with me. We got some fun games to work through. Come!" he said while rolling his arms around.Daniel bounced up and down. "Who've I got boss?""I'll give you the fourth-tier badge pokemon to train," I said. Technically they were the easiest to train as you didn't have to hold back with them. Daniel grinned."Ladies and Lads you're with me! Over to the plateau!" he led his pokemon off for a simple warm-up drill and practising of moves. Some of them would be working on their Digs, their Stealth Rocks and then going through their special movies. Challenger, the Graveler that was ostensibly Scyther's rival, was front and centre pushing to work hard.I hummed and turned to the two and three badge challengers. "Alright! Who's up for some trick moves?" A few of these pokemon were starting to figure out how to work Sand Attack and Rollout together while others had Defence Curl into the traditional Rollout down to an art form.This made them tough to close in on. I also had some of the stronger pokemon start to work Stealth Rock into their arsenal of moves while other pokemon like the Rhyhorn and Aron were working in metal moves or powering up their Tackles into Takedowns.In a different area of the field, some of the Onix were practising a different form of securing Bind by straightening out and rolling like giant logs over and over. A smaller group of Aron and Rhyhorn got a workout in by jumping over them, making it seem like a big game to them. I joined in and was rather enjoying myself as well."Let's join in Pikachu!" shouted Ash.I stumbled and had to throw myself over the next in a bit of an ungainly jump due to the surprise. A moment later I found myself joined by the pokemon protagonist as he and Pikachu leapt over the pokemon joining in on the training game I had set up."What does this training do?" he asked loudly."It strengthens the legs, along with having them judge distances and timings!" I said as I jumped over the next Onix."Ash where did you… oh… I should have known," said Misty as she walked up to me. I waved at her and Greta as I performed another jump. "Morning girls! Sleep alright?""Uhmmmm yeah?" Misty said while incredulously watching me hop backwards or sideways over the oncoming Onix while Ash and Pikachu got caught on top of one.They started running on it like one of those log tricks on a game show. Huh, I wonder if I could set up a gag game show for the trainers. Sabrina would find it funny. Maybe when the trainer surge settled down I could try it. Then again, it might make for a fun event with more people to take part in? I could do a charity event? I'd pitch it to Rachel and see what she thought. She was keeping busy taking lots of pictures with trainers and getting out awareness of some of the matches that were taking place around the gym.I kept hopping over the Onix while rubbing my chin."Awah!" shouted Ash as the Onix stopped rolling only to send him toppling over.I drew out a whistle deciding that was enough for the warm up. A short burst had all the pokemon stopping and hurrying over to grab some food before they got put away. Jackson and Daniel saw to that as I collected the food for my Elite team. I made sure to include another large bucket of food for my new Elite Onix that had joined the team in their training.Ash started to follow me, no doubt to hound me for a match only to get distracted as Greta started feeding an Aron from her hands "Who's that pokemon?" he whipped out his pokedex and got to scanning. I left him to it and saw to my own pokemon's needs.I found Titan sloughing off some mud while Bertha was happily wallowing in a mudpit that no doubt had to do with Hypnotoad or Shrek. I whistled. "Breakfast! Bertha get rid of that mud or no meal! You know the rules!"She grumbled and hopped out of the mudpit to shake herself off like a giant dog. The other pokemon groaned as they copped some of the flying mud. Don screeched when he had to dodge around some, while Selene merely blocked the oncoming mud with a barrier. Titan tapped Selene on the shoulder and she turned her attention to the rest of the splattered mud. It rose up and was thrown back into the pit leaving the area somewhat tidy and my pokemon mostly clean.I set out the meals on large metal plates onto a raised flat rock that worked as my pokemon's table. I felt like a bit of a waiter like this. REally all I was doing was piling the food up on colour coded plates. When everyone had their meal Titan barked out a cry and everyone began eating. I stood next to him and started laying out the important information for the day."Alright gang, there's only one Ace trainer challenge today. I think I'll be fighting them with Selene, Onix, and Don."All three pokemon perked up at this with Don puffing himself up. Selene merely bobbed her head while Onix leaned in and tilted his massive head. "Ooooon?" he said."Yeah, I'm going to back you now bud. I want to see what you've got. Advancing to this level means you will be called into action." I glanced at Shrek and Hypnotoad. "I think I will come over here tomorrow morning to remind myself of your move pools. Hypno, you kept your Hypnosis practice up yeah? I asked the surf lifesavers that needed to borrow you to keep working that into your training for a reason after all."Hypnotoad nodded her head and the swirl on her belly began to spin in a distracting manner that made me want to stare. I shook myself and nodded. "Good, I think I will have you two back into the roster soon. Might bring you out with…" I glanced over my pokemon and pointed to Shin.Shin perked up. "Might go for a water-style battle to throw some people off," I said with a smirk.I approached Titan. "Any problems buddy?"Titan chewed his food while rubbing his chin. "Ty, tyran… tar," He pointed to Hypnotoad and Don."They got into a tussle?"He nodded his large, scaly head, and I sighed. "Course they did. I'll work on some training programs this afternoon and show them what I want them to focus on. Might have Onix work with Don to give them both something different to work on, should keep them distracted."Titan grunted before going back for another mouthful from his plate. When everyone else was done I had most of them return to their resting areas. I returned Don, Selene and Onix for later though and also decided to keep Bertha with me today. I patted Titan as he returned to his cave earning a croon of goodbye.When I returned to the other area Jackson and Daniel had also started returning the pokemon into their balls. I hummed as large swathes of pokemon returned and were then placed into set up racks that would make it easy for the gym's trainers to adjust which pokemon they needed depending on the challenge we were going to face."Not as many gauntlet runs today so might be worth letting half stay out," I said before the boys could get too into it."That so? Hmmmmm," Jackson looked over the group before shrugging. "Reckon that'll do for them." He then pointed out three pokemon. "Those ones need to spend some time with Chansey and rest up longer as they're lame," he said, pointing out a Rhyhorn, a Graveler and an Aron. I watched the pokemon sheepishly try and hide their injury only to draw further attention to themselves."Yeah I can see what you mean," I approached and started probing the rhyhorn's front left leg. When he barked a cry and leaned away from me I grunted. "Hurt his middle toe… need to get that looked over. Might be out for the next few days." I stood up and dusted off my hands. "What's wrong with the others you think?"Jackson scratched his chin. "Aron's shell is cracked and Graveler has a rock mold I think… I'm gonna have to keep an eye on that in case it is infectious."I snapped over to Graveller and saw the odd reddish-brown patch. "Yeah good call, get em to Chansey to look over."All three pokemon groaned. I rolled my eyes and clicked my tongue, pointing to the backdoors of the gym. "Don't give me that sass! Go on now!"Jackson and Daniel laughed as they led the pokemon into the medical bay. I turned my attention to Ash, Misty and Greta."So that eager to get out and train again eh?" I said with a grin."Ash couldn't sleep in," Misty said with a slightly heated tone, before glancing happily towards my water pokemon. "But yes, watching your Poliwrath, Lapras, Swampert, and Kabutops train is just wonderful!"Ash nodded. "Yeah! Also, I wanted to see if you'd changed your mind at all!" He clenched his fists. "So have you, can I face you early? I've trained a heap since I last asked!" I could hear the sound of Misty's palm impacting her face along with Greta's giggling at Ash's obstinacy."Nope!" I said with no shame."Awwwww," said Ash sadly. Pikachu patted him on the leg consolingly."Give any thought on going to the next gym and then doubling back?"Ash straightened up. "Nope!" he said as though proud of not planning out his route a little more efficiently.I rolled my eyes at him but it was obviously lost on him. "What, are you trying to match the old Legendary Hero's route by getting your badge here first?""Legendary… hero?" Ash said with a confused expression. Pikachu matched his trainer in tilting his head."Pi pi ka chu?"I raised an eyebrow. "Never heard that story?" I said in surprise. Ash, Misty and surprisingly Greta all shook their heads causing me to make a little noise of surprise. "Huh, usually they tell it to kids in school."Misty tapped her lips. "I… think I remember something but… it's been years… It was the founding myth of Kanto wasn't it?"I nodded and Misty scrunched her face up. "Something about the route a young boy took to heal and bring together the land… I think?"I glanced at Greta to find her humming. "I know the first bit which is that the Hero of legend emerged from the south during a time when the land and people were fractured. They thought themselves whole but they were closed off from others and in their own minds…"She chewed her lip. "I know I'm garbling this horribly but I think the Hero loses a friend to the conflict and at first he wants to vow revenge only for his friend to be a gentle soul that asks for him to not cause more hardship but instead heal the land and people… The Hero then sets forth with their pokemon, which most people think was a Bulbasaur, while some others think it might have been a Rhydon for some strange reason." Greta shook her head.I smirked to myself having an inkling as to why Rhydon could potentially have been one of the first pokemon thought of for the Legend."Others claim Squirtle or Charmander of course but it's not really well known. What is known is that he first challenges Viridian's leader to see his way only for the leader to reject him and cast him out believing that no one would follow him. The Hero then comes north to Pewter only to have to flee through the forest and the pokemon reject him. The Leader of Pewter however arrives and saves the Hero. When he asks what the hero is doing the boy explains his goal. The Leader of Pewter laughed at the boy's dream and rejected it only for the boy to challenge him and lose. The Leader of Pewter at the time however is not unkind and advises the young boy how to grow stronger. The boy learns from this and challenges him again, this time winning and earning the Leader's respect."She then coughed. "At least that's how I think it goes? It was really long and I didn't have as much interest in it back then…""Oh it was long and boring!" said Ash with a fist meeting his palm as he understood why he probably hadn't heard of it. "I probably fell asleep during it!" Cue another facepalm and groan from Misty.I merely shook my head. "Well there are probably story tellers and songs about it being performed if you wanted to learn more. I think some of the older ladies like to do recitals in the park. You're not wrong that it's a long story, but it's good." I smiled at Ash. "You can pick up a lot if you pay attention to it," I said leadingly.Ash shrugged. "Yeah, I think I'd rather battle some other trainers. Poetry is sissy stuff!"I shrugged. "I wouldn't call it sissy. It's not useless to have a clever turn of phrase ready to use that rolls off the tongue. I rather enjoy it despite my lack of talent. But if you'd prefer to get into some trainer battles then go nuts, but just watch out cause some of them will be much stronger than the others. I'd recommend training up or catching another pokemon perhaps?"Ash frowned and I watched him. "Or, if you want, you can also sit in the stands today to check out some of the matches?"I reached into a pocket and drew out a notepad that I scrawled a note and then signed it. "Here, just show this to the Gravelers on the doors and one of the trainers will let you into the gym trainer section to watch the matches. Greta has watched a few matches already."I directed a look to her. "Would you say it was worth sitting in on?"She nodded her head sending her auburn hair bobbing up and down. "Yeah! So worth it! The atmosphere alone is completely different, especially in the Ace challenges! It's so cool having the stronger pokemon throwing down!"Ash perked up at this. "Strong pokemon?" he said.Misty shook her head. "Typical boy," she said. I nodded towards the back door."Want some breakfast again?"Greta and Misty raised their hands to politely decline only for Ash to grin. "Sure thing! Last one there is a rotten Exeggcute!"I laughed, chasing after him, causing Misty and Greta to be the rotten ones that came in the door together with haughty sniffs of disapproval. I grinned into my tea, not commenting on how they had both subtly tried to knock the other behind them on the way into the door.Breakfast was a rather loud affair with my sibling being led in by a happy-looking Flint. They happily munched away on their food and then took to entertaining themselves. It made for a very loud start to the morning but I was used to it."Flint! I'm putting the lunches in the backpacks! Make sure they go with the kids for school today!" I said as I did just that."Oh!? Anything I can help with?""Nope I have it handled. Do you know which schools to go to? I'll send Graveller along with you to—" I kept up a stream of chatter at him as I moved around the kitchen eating and cleaning where I needed to.Flint nodded along before coughing. "What does it mean when Suzie comes and puts her hand on me? I was leading them to school yesterday and got talking with an old friend I hadn't seen in years and she put her hand on my arm but then got upset with me.""Ahhhh," I said, understanding the issue. "I have them do that when they want something from me but i'm talking with someone else. If they want me they put their hand on my arm and I put mine on top of theirs. That shows that I'm aware of them but that I want to keep talking with the other person. It acknowledges them but says that, unless it needs to be handled right now, I'm doing something and will be with them in a moment. Helps them be patient.""Huh," said Flint thoughtfully. "Where'd you pick that up from?""Books," I said easily. Flint nodded and looked at a nearby shelf only to notice how many were 'an idiot's guide to' series for parenting."Mooooorning!" yawned Forrest as he slumped into the room. He sat down still in his pyjamas and scratched at his leg only to turn and find Misty sitting next to him. He hissed in surprise and almost toppled off his chair, only to catch himself at the last moment.Misty smiled at him. "Morning Forrest!"Ash swallowed his mouthful of egg. "Morning! Nice pyjamas!" Forrest twitched and glanced down at his brown and yellow pyjamas that were littered with different types of pokeballs. He opened his mouth to say something snarky to Ash only for Ash to grin and compliment him. "Are those limited edition Pokemon League PJs? I applied for them but wasn't able to win."Forrest stiffly nodded. "Yeah…yeah they are. I got lucky." He flicked his eyes to Misty to see if there was any scorn and relaxed when she merely hummed thoughtfully. He notably perked up when she gave them another look over. I chuckled in the background."I'll say! When they ran the competition for this cap I sent in like a bazillion letters to give myself a better chance!" Ash said, tapping the cap that, oddly, was sitting next to him but notably had no stains or smears on it. He must take good care of it.Misty turned her head. "Oh really? That's a limited edition? Huh, I'd forgotten about that competition." She put her hand to her face. "I only sent in one!""Oh, did you try for the swimsuit that's coming out?" Forrest asked.Ash perked up. "They have a swimsuit? I should send in for that as well!"Flint and I snerked loudly as Forrest coughed. "Uhm… it's a one-piece for girls with water pokemon…"Misty perked right up at this. "I'm definitely applying then!"Flint and I shared an amused look as Forrest offered to help. Flint put a hand to his chin. "Ah water types, truly they're a Rock type's greatest weakness."I snorted only to recall that Lola had once advocated for the gym to become a water-type gym and I lost the feeling. I turned back to working through what I had to and before long my family was packed away and Forrest was changed and ready for the day."So any gauntlet challenges?! I'm looking forward to having some matches!" he said.I rolled my eyes at him. "You got the morning off school to help out but there's no matches like that scheduled for today. How about you ride to catch up with the others and remind Flint that you're supposed to have gone and caught a pokemon together."Forrest sat bolt upright at that. "Oh! Yeah!"Ash also perked up. "Then we can have a proper match!"Forrest snorted. "Please my pokemon would crush yours in a one-on-one!""Well you drew to me last time, and I know how to beat you this time!" Ash said smugly."I'm not going to fall for that this time!" said Forrest hotly."Urgh boys!" said Misty as she looked at Greta with a roll of her eyes.I hummed and set my now empty cup into the dishwasher. "Well you go do that Forrest, and meanwhile everyone else is going to have to vacate. I have some paperwork to see to before the first match of the day and I don't want you lounging around the house. Why not go see if there are any trainers you might test yourself against? Use that note to gain entry later when you're ready."Greta, Ash and Misty all perked up and joined Forrest on his way out the door. I locked up and then turned to stalk through the house and give it a quick tidy up before moving on to the paperwork. Alexa met me in the Gym and I started to get into the day proper. I drew up an image I had enlarged a few nights ago."Alexa, when this trainer or these people around him enter the gym send me a message. They're scoping us out in preparation and trying to be clever about it.""Isn't… that a good thing to scope out the gym?" Alexa said carefully."It would be if they were just going for the Ace challenge which affects Ace standings points. I think they're bankrolling a few people to challenge me and then see what pokemon I have, what their moves are, and any tricks to watch out for specifically for their team," I said.She blinked. "How would you even… the psychic pokemon you've been facing?" she asked with a slight frown. I nodded. And she looked down at the picture of faces. "I have seen these people around… is what they're doing… illegal?""No, just highly unsporting. It's throwing money around to get results. If what I otherwise suspect also occurs? They're going to be trying to make a bid for the Elite Four. But they're uncertain about beating me and are trying to improve their odds by getting as much information specific to my team as they can." I pointed to the photo."I can't stop them from doing it unless something goes wrong, but it's worth having it documented and when they submit their details I will put it on their file for any employers or the league to review.""I'll notify you immediately if I spot any of these faces," she said seriously, staring at the photo to commit their faces to memory. "Are you going to do anything else?"I smiled and finished up the last form I had to do for the morning. I was well ahead of schedule with Flint taking the kids to school. "Me? Oh nothing out of the ordinary…" I smiled like a Meowth that had dividends coming due on their cream company buyout. "It just so happens that my ordinary elite training sees me interacting and sparring my pokemon against Sabrina from Saffron."Alexa straightened. "Oh! I see! Well, I'll be looking forward to your coming matches Gym Leader!" she said collecting the paperwork and setting about sorting it where it needed to go or sealing it in envelopes for later mailing.I got up and made my way up around the gym. The shelves of pokeballs were all being judiciously worked through with Jackson leading two other trainers in opening the storage port on each pokeball. It was a small button that clicked open and allowed you to attach an item to a pokemon. But we mainly used it to feed pokemon a small food capsule that would see them able to stay in their pokeball for a few days. It wasn't something you could use reliably for long periods of time as otherwise the pokemon atrophied from lack of movement and proper nutrients but it worked for large stables where the pokemon could be rotated.With that checked in on I headed up to the trainer lounge where I had a whole half an hour of sitting around waiting with Jackson and Missy.When it finally came time for the first match there was a small crowd that Missy was more than happy to hype up with her introduction. "From New Bark town! We have the challenger! Ethaaaaaaaan!"The crowd gave a few cheers and a good amount of applause before they turned towards where I was. I descended and they cheered for me. Poor Ethan swallowed heavily as the moment got to him. I leapt over the railing and landed on the podium to lock eyes with him."Trainer, are you ready?" I said as the podium lifted up, throwing on the cocky attitude that had Ethan firming up like a kid to a bully. I gave a small nod at him and my smile grew a touch more honest.In the middle of the field one of the new hires raised their flags."Go! Totodile!" Ethan shouted."Onix! Come on out!" I threw forth my Onix to start things off for the week. And just like that things clicked into place."Totodile, use Bubble!" "Onix! Sand Attack! Go for the eyes!" We both shouted as soon as the flags dropped.I grinned as Ethan set the field up with watery bubbles that stopped the sand attack from connecting and started to close on my pokemon."Onix, use Bide!" I said as I set up a trap. Either Ethan had enough strength to push through and knock my pokemon out or he would back off, or… if he wasn't up to snuff his pokemon was going to get smashed.It turned out to be the latter case as he pushed for the victory with his pokemon spamming bubbles into my pokemon that had it tighten up on itself before unleashing in a coiled whip that swung around and slammed Ethan's Totodile away.The Totodile slammed into the walls and hit the ground only to defiantly rise up with a growl. I nodded. "Your pokemon has endurance, but lacks strength." I said aloud."We've got plenty of strength! Totodile! Onix is on its last legs, use Bubble!" he said. His pokemon shot some bubbles and I grunted as they impacted. Onix at this stage was too slow and going into a Dig would have been a bit too rough for a first badge challenge. Ethan had obviously done some training with his starter but he needed to get their special attacks up. Bubble was a good move to create a visual field effect or stopping some other attacks but he would need more.Before Onix could become too spent from the bubbles impacting him I raised his pokeball. "Return Onix." I raised another pokeball and tossed it forth to reveal an Aron.The small metal dog growled.Ethan brightened up at the new pokemon and I hummed. Interesting, I thought, he must have a plan ready for Aron."Aron! Tackle!" I said, causing the small pokemon to throw itself forward into a sprint.As it closed in on the weakened Totodile Ethan pointed to the side. "Now! Roll to the side and use Mudslap!"The gator rolled and tried to follow through with the move but it couldn't do both well enough. The attack whiffed over my pokemon and Aron's attack just clipped Totodile sending him spinning away with a cry of pain. I breathed a sigh of relief. That move would have been four times as effective against Aron.It seems Ethan truly had done his research into the first-tier team I typically assembled. He just needed to spend more time training if he was so reliant on one pokemon. As that last move had been very rough.Despite taking the hit, Totodile straightened up. Ethan leaned forward and grimaced before raising his pokeball. "That's enough Totodile! We'll hold you in reserve!" I nodded at the move as Ethan returned his pokemon.He soon tossed out another pokeball to reveal a Mankey. It hopped from foot to foot as my pokemon growled."You've done your homework," I said.Ethan grinned at me. "I'm leaving here with a badge, Gym Leader Brock!""Well I'm not giving them away!" I said loudly back. "Aron, Growl to weaken it!""Close in with Karate Chop!" Ethan replied with.My pokemon growled and then leapt to the side as I ordered it to roll to the side. When Mankey overcommitted I punched forward. "Tackle again, Aron!""Take the hit and use Karate Chop to end it!" said Ethan.His pokemon did so causing the two pokemon to exchange hits with Aron coming off slightly worse for wear."Growl again!" I didn't really want to make this a slap fight but thankfully I had more options than just Tackle and Growl available to me."Aron, use Rock Tomb!" beneath the Mankey rocks ruptured upwards and threw Mankey up into the air before he was sent crashing down."Uh! Mankey hold on!" Ethan said in shock. Mankey got up and shook its head only to slap its face a bit and screech in anger. Ethan grinned, "Hah! That's it, use your Rage!""Rock Tomb again!" I said only for the hit to end up launching Mankey towards us. Aron gave a metallic yelp as the Mankey came down atop it and began hammering its fists into Aron's metal body.I raised my pokeball knowing how this would end. "That's enough! Return, Aron!"The small dog vanished from its beating causing Mankey to twitch its body side to side in search of its foe. When it spotted me standing with the pokeball it screeched and made to charge me. Thankfully I didn't need to punt a raging Mankey as Ethan quickly returned his pokemon and I nodded at him.I marched up to Ethan and looked him over. He seemed about Ash and Forrest's age but he had a bit more maturity to how he stood. Like he was confident in what he was."Congratulations on your victory and good match. That was a good showing out there. You really showed that you understand type matchings with the moves you used. You would have been able to do a lot of damage to my pokemon with Totodile." I handed him the boulder badge and he grinned."Want some advice?" I said carefully. Some kids got sort of touchy about beating you and then you offering advice. Ethan perked up though."If you have any for me, please!" he said happily.I nodded at him. "Your pokemon tactics aren't bad but I think you need to work on them a bit more before you come into a match. You had two for your Totodile it seems, but you need a bit more adaptability. There is terrain your pokemon could and should have used during our match." I point at the water and the rocks."It sort of feels like you settled for merely good enough before coming to this match."He laced his hands behind his head. "Hahaha! You got me there! I was too eager to get here but I'm glad I did, cause any longer and I might have had to wait an entire month!"I nodded at that before pointing out the last flaw I had seen. "You also try to charge your way through hits too much. Dodge what you can because you're not always going to know the effects of certain moves. I saw some good blocking and some attempts but then you dropped it to have Mankey just charge on through. Mankey can be a great berserker pokemon but don't fall into that trap and train them to contain themselves as much as you can before it becomes a Primeape. If not, you might find it pounding on you much faster than you're ready for."Ethan nodded his head. "Hmmm yeah that's… I hadn't considered that. Thanks!"I smiled. "No problem. You're a promising trainer and I think if you keep showing this level of thought you'll do well.""Not great though?" he said, catching my word choice."You're gonna have to dig deep for that," I said firmly. I rubbed my chin. "Think of coming back for the Elite challenge towards the end of the circuit and see how far you've come and how far you still have to go."He nodded. "I'll think about it."I hummed before taking a picture with him and his team. The Mankey tried to kick me only for me to slide my leg out of the way and for the Mankey to eat dirt. The flash went off perfectly and I chuckled knowing that would make a rather candid moment. Ethan seemed happy enough with it as he decided to accept it as it was instead of retake it.Then he was off.I returned to the podium.One down. At least five more before lunch.I settled in as the clock ticked down.And waited.….And waited.…And waited.I glanced at the clock and the restless crowd. Then I looked to the referee stand. The man shook his head and spoke into his mike. Around the gym his voice rang out."Would the next challenger to the gym please step forward for your allocated time?!" the man squinted at the form he had and then looked at me."Brock, I can't make out this person's name." His voice boomed around the gym and I chuckled as he sheepishly toggled the radio from 'gym-wide' to just me."Well let's give them another few minutes then just call it a forfeit from no show," I said. It wasn't common and I would have thought people would have been much more zealous of their time slot due to the trainer surge.In the stands, I could almost see Ash twitching to throw himself down to 'fill the slot'. Him and most of the crowd in truth.The time passed and the crowd continued to grow more restless. I sighed as people started calling out that they'd fill the slot. I looked at them and shook my head. I looked to the ref. "Call it from a ten count.""Alright. The Challenger has ten seconds to appear or their match is forfeit by League rules! Ten!"I glanced around and looked for anyone that was hurrying. In the tunnel Missy was looking around but she glanced back with a shake of her head."Four!""Three!"The crowd had taken up the chant."Two!""Stop! We got them here!" shouted Rocko as he emerged from the doors at the back of the gym. I frowned at him as he waved his hands behind him. The doors opened and from them, Daniel emerged and at his side the startled-looking trio of Jessie, James and Meowth stared at the arena they found themselves in.I blinked. What the hell were they… I trailed off as I felt a dark emotion surge through me. Had they been looking to steal from me? I'd known they were going to be no good thieves that sometimes stepped up to the plate when they had to but they were still crooks.Especially at the start of the story.I gritted my teeth and leaned forward. "What is going on?" I said.Damn it all I had been trying to be more active. I was trying not to be passive about things only to have this slip past my notice with the surge, and Ash, and Flint… damn it that was no excuse though!My tone must have conveyed how very close I was to anger as Rocko took a step back in surprise. Daniel, less used to me, stepped forward."Hahaha! Sorry boss, I was showing around my old friends here! I didn't realise they had challenged the gym!"What?Daniel knew Team Rocket? That instantly sent my mind burrowing after small instances that I had been ignoring in a fevered mad conspiracy web plot. Everything he'd ever said and done now became questionable.Jessie, ever the Leader of the trio, stepped forward when Daniel made to wave them forward."Hello! I'm sorry I am… Jessadia! Your Challenger!" she said confidently.I narrowed my eyes at her. There was a long tense moment where I ignored the crowd, ignored the others and stared into Jessie's eyes. She held my gaze despite quivering slightly. If anything she slowly became firmer in her stance and more resolved in her conviction to fight me.Interesting."Very well, step forth onto the podium," I said after giving it a moment's thought. Perhaps it was madness but I did want to see what she was made of. I'd decide what to do with her while we fought. Jessie didn't understand what was about to happen but her very character was about to be tested by this fight.She better not leave anything in doubt.