I almost walked straight out to talk with Empress. But then I considered what I was about to do.
One does not simply walk up to a Pseudo-legendary pokemon and ask them to join your team.There were good odds that she'd be offended by my offer and trash the reserve. I pinged a message to the Gym trainers to return all the pokemon that were too weak before checking that none of the pokemon we stabled for our trainers were out and about. This caused one trainer to approach and ask why, which had me grimacing."I'm going to do something a bit risky. Tell me, you've been on the roster for looking over the stabled pokemon. Has Empress, the new Tyranitar sheltering here, ever threatened or approached them?" I waved my hand about, "Looking to eat them?"The trainer shook their head. "No, she's observed them, but we keep the stabled pokemon in a segregated paddock. Only time we pull them out is for the twice a week training that we have mandated."I raised an eyebrow. "And she respected the paddock fence like the rest of our pokemon do? She hasn't tried to walk up to it at all?"The trainer nodded, and I could only frown. This didn't make sense. She was respecting other pokemon that were around, but she went to snack on a caterpie? It had been fairly distant from its… person? Hmmm, then again they had said it was a wild caterpie… How would she know that? Did she smell it on the Caterpie? Was there some markings or feel to its aura that changed when it became captured?Wasn't she a wild Tyranitar? Certain behaviours weren't adding up."Should I call Jackson and Dennis back? They left already, sir," said the trainer nervously.I shook my head. "I think I can handle her." I'd just need Bertha to… I reconsidered that. I didn't want to come in and threaten her or put her on the back foot. I needed to be able to talk with her.I sent off another message, and a moment later, Sabrina appeared next to me. "Are you alright?""I'm good; today's been an interesting day for me." I rubbed my jaw in thought. "I was thinking of doing something and—""And you realised how risky it would be, so you thought it a good idea for me to be with you, Sabrina spoke over me.I coughed and nodded. "Yeah pretty much."She nodded seriously and levitated above me. She patted my head. "Good."She seemed all too amused and pleased, like I was a well-trained Growlithe that had just followed her training without prompting.I bristled slightly before snorting. "You didn't even hear what I was planning, though. How can you call it risky already?" She raised a dubious eyebrow, and I dropped my head. "Yeah, alright, there's a bit of risk." She continued to stare at me, and I sighed. "Alright, a fair amount!"She nodded. "Excellent. Admitting you have a problem is one of the first steps, according to the books I have read. Tell me what you're going to do."So I told her about offering Empress a place here permanently. How I was hoping to add a truly powerful pokemon to my roster.Sabrina pursed her lips in thought. "That… is not a terrible idea. Lance thought it was what you were going for eventually, and I thought you might end up seeing it that way, but I knew you didn't initially make the offer with this in mind.""Thanks," I said, pleased she knew where I had been coming from.She nodded. "Empress might still be hurting, and having her here might help. I would point out that she'll never be able to fight at anything beneath an Elite level; however, even then, I would be hesitant to use her as she is a wild pokemon. She will not lessen herself or hold back her punches."I waved my hand back and forth. "Yeah, about that, actually. I was thinking about it, and she's reacted a little too easily to being around other pokemon and people. She hasn't been as aggressive as I would have thought. Some of that is due to being fed regularly, I imagine."Also having Terra and Titan around to help her calm down, but she's too quick to pick up on certain things, like not eating her fellow pokemon. I hadn't considered it, but I wouldn't have been surprised to hear that she'd tried. She's only tried it once, and on what was an uncaught caterpie."Sabrina tilted her head. "That is irregular behaviour." She frowned. "How long are Tyranitar known to live for?"I rubbed my chin. "They're known to live a fairly long time, honestly. They're thought to live upwards of two hundred years old.""Thought to?"I waved my hand back and forth again. "The reports I have of them only have a few examples of them staying with a family line. So some of it is anecdotal. Documentation from before the war was rather lacking, especially in terms of scientific rigour. What is known is that if a trainer attempts to trade them or have another person, deemed unworthy by the Tyranitar, inherit them upon their passing, the Tyranitars are known to simply wander off after breaking their own pokeballs.""Hmmm interesting; this opens up another possibility," Sabrina said."Alright? I'm all ears," I replied."Brock, what happened to the Gym Leader of Pewter before Flint?" she asked. That pulled me up short. I scratched my chin."I'm not sure? I think he was reported to have died during the war?"Sabrina nodded her head. "Would Flint know this?"I inclined my head and gestured towards the house. Sabrina touched me, and a moment later we teleported into my kitchen, causing my family to gasp in shock. Flint flinched and knocked a few things around. I grimaced as pots and pans hit the floor."Oh goodness! Hello Brock! Sabrina! You startled me!" said Flint only to flinch as Billy and tilly upended their bowls, deciding to join in on the game. Sabrina caught their bowls and they clapped with delight.Sabrina's lips twitched upwards and I had a sneaking suspicion that she'd teleported in deliberately. Suzie hopped off her stool and approached Sabrina before raising her hands up. Sabrina lifted her up to hold her against her hip without a hint of strain.I decided not to chide her and instead coughed. "Can I ask you a question, Flint?" I said instead."Yeah! Sure thing Brock!" Flint said, suddenly much more upbeat and energetic.I made a circle in the air, indicating the building around us at large. "The Pewter City Gym wasn't always ours; did you know the previous Gym Leader?"Flint blinked and sat back. "You want to know about Brock?" he said.I blinked. "Uhm what?" This was news to me.Flint coughed. "Oh sorry! You were actually named after him. He was a great man! I'm surprised more people didn't name their kids after him but…" Flint shrugged and shook his head.Salvadore and Yolanda turned their heads from their food. I could practically feel their stares as they drank in this new revelation of Flint's history.I rubbed my chin. "I hadn't known his name was Brock… what sort of pokemon did he have?"Flint grinned. "Oh he had Steelix, Graveler, Pidgeot, Sandslash, and a Tyranitar!" He smiled widely at me as the others gasped in surprise. "You certainly won a lot of praise from the community when they learned you'd come back from the Silver Ranges with Titan. Everyone was thinking you were the next coming of him!" He laughed. "They were sort of right, I suppose!"I nodded. "Right... and with his passing, is it possible that his Tyranitar might have taken up a spot on top of the Silver Ranges?"Flint blinked slowly. When he spoke, he did so with careful deliberation. "You think Empress, as you call her, is, or was, an old Gym Leader pokemon?"I nodded. "Certain things, such as her willingness to allow people around her and the fact she has only tried to eat one pokemon in the entire time she's been with us, points to a certain level of… domestication."Flint rubbed his chin and nodded. "That would make a lot of sense, but she's not Brock's, old Brock that is, pokemon. He had a male Tyranitar and it was confirmed to have fallen alongside him during one of the worst fights in Pewter city.""Ah, I hadn't seen any records of that," I said.Flint inclined his head. "Again… the war isn't something that people like to talk about… I know a lot of records got accidentally misplaced or worse, so people couldn't avenge fallen comrades when things settled down." He stared off into the distance.What he'd just said made me stop and reconsider my previous stance. I'd always thought it was shortsighted and ridiculous that so many people didn't like talking about the war, but what if it had been a short-term measure to stop tensions from reigniting? Only it had become more by the time the next generation came around.It almost made sense after all.I nodded. "Right, well, thanks for that. I had a suspicion about her but that seems to be a dead end."Flint jolted, realising that he had lost himself in memory. "Hmmm, what's that? Oh, yeah, no problem."I ran a hand through Salvadore and Yolanda's hair before considering them. "Hey, can you all make sure that the others stay inside? I'm going to go talk to Empress and feel her out about sticking around on a more permanent basis."Both of them perked up, but Salvadore grinned. "That'd be amazing! Then you could be like Lance! Able to throw down multiple powerhouse Tyranitar during a match! Ha!"I chuckled and rubbed his head again. "Maybe, Let's not count our eggs before they hatch eh? I'll ask, politely," I stressed before pointing at the ground. "Alright, you hold down the fort here, kids."Yolanda turned to Sabrina. "You'll look after him?" Sabrina inclined her head and Yolanda relaxed. I stuck my tongue out at her and huffed before walking around to where Empress liked to camp out in the early evening.I approached openly with my hands visible. Empress barely looked at me; instead, her eyes were turned towards the lights of Pewter city."Hey Empress," I said to start things off.She glanced at me and grunted. She tilted her head and made an odd little noise before turning back to inspect the distant lights.I shuffled back and forth and glanced to the top of the plateau, where I could feel Sabrina's gaze boring into me. She was close enough to help if things went south, but not too close to threaten Empress.I swallowed my trepidation and decided to start talking. "It's been almost a week since you first joined us here; I thought I'd check in with you. How are you feeling?"Empress' claws dug into the ground, and she narrowed her eyes."Still raw, huh?" I said, adjusting my stance in case she felt like lashing out. I worked my jaw and considered how to go about this, I could lead her to water if I wanted to, drip feed her information and give it the right view to—"Tar! Ty!" she said, gesturing around at the other pokemon that were still out; all of them were part of my fourth badge challenge or greater. She pointed at a Lairon sparring with a Rhydon. She snorted dismissively before waving her hand in a sort of begrudging manner.I tilted my head. That sort of expression and gesture with Titan would mean… "You think the pokemon around here are pretty strong?" I said.She snorted dismissively and turned her head away only to chuff out a breath. Then she nodded slightly.I chuckled. "Thanks, that means a lot from you, considering how strong you are." I let a silence grow between us, once more wondering how I should approach this. What was the best way to do it? What could I stomach? I didn't want to manipulate her.Having a pokemon like Empress on my roster was a very large temptation. I shook my head and decided to work my way around to other topics that I should discuss first. "Hey, about today with caterpie, thanks for not eating—""Tyran, tar, tyran," she said, shaking her head and huffing. She then glanced around as if looking for anyone else before turning to me and bowing her head slightly. "Taaaaar," she said with a soft croon that I knew meant she was remorseful of her actions.This was yet another confirmation that she must have at one point grown up with people to know to apologise. Sure, she'd waited until it was supposedly just me and her, but she'd still done it. That had implications. She was proud, but not too proud."Oh, uh, thanks for saying that. And don't let it bother you. That Caterpie hadn't yet been caught properly so it might have seemed like a wild pokemon."She shot me a look that I couldn't quite understand. grunted and fell silent, her head rising and turning away once more. A thought occurred to me, and before I could stop myself, I blurted. "You eat many caterpie before? Are they tasty?"Instead of being offended, she got a thoughtful look on her large, scaly face. She made a thoughtful growl and scratched under her chin. She then pinched two claws together and puffed a small flame out of her mouth. She grinned.I stared and my mouth spoke up once more. "You like them when they're charred?" Empress nodded, and I stared harder.The implications of that comment alone. She knew how to cook her food.Tyranitar's also couldn't learn Flamethrower naturally, and the only fire typed pokemon in the Silver Ranges would have been Rapidash, Magmar, Entei —possibly—, or Moltres. All of whom had specific reasons they wouldn't want to be caught close to a Tyranitar's hunting grounds or vice versa.Even the implication that she could learn from observations spoke of a highly intelligent mind that usually was only demonstrated in trained pokemon."Empress… Were you a trainer's pokemon once upon a time?" I said.Empress sighed and stared far into the distance, her eyes not looking at anything but lost, much like Flint had been. She nodded after a while. "Tar, Tar, Tyranit, tar, Tyran," she started to say. Her words flowed out of her while she gestured. I got a vague understanding that she was speaking of a time long, long ago.I narrowed my eyes and considered what she'd said. "Long ago… before you were a Tyranitar?" I asked. She nodded emphatically. "Before you were a Pupitar?"She nodded again. "You were a trainer's pokemon as a Larvitar?" I asked. She considered this for a moment before waggling her hand."You were… you had a person that spent time with you?" She waggled her claws back and forth before glancing towards a rock face. She started scratching at it only for her claw to bite into the rockface too deeply and crumble it. Empress growled and clenched her claws, causing further damage.She exhaled deeply in a manner that had to be practised. She then started to trace a light picture that looked like it would take a long, long time to complete, with how detailed it was."Empress… Would it be possible to ask a friend to link us psychically so you could explain what you're trying to say?" I asked.Empress paused in her carving. She didn't move beyond that for a long minute, during which I held my breath.Eventually, she nodded."Alright, I'll call her over," I said, pinging my transceiver. A moment later, Sabrina was at my side. "Sabrina, this is Empress; Empress, this is Sabrina," I said. "You met back during our fight with that Moltres."Empress straightened and considered us before nodding. "Tar! Tyran!" she said, indicating us both and nodding in an approving manner.Sabrina shot me a look. "She thinks we make a good couple," I said. In reality, it had been something more like a good mate, but it was the same message in the end.I indicated Empress' head. "Are you able to draw in your dark energy? Sabrina won't be able to link us otherwi—" I started to say only for Empress to shuffle herself into Titan's meditative pose awkwardly.She fidgeted in a manner that let me know she was far from comfortable."You can just stand if you'd prefer?" I suggested.She huffed in relief and stood back up, kicking her legs out as she did so. Huh, I had never thought how flexible Titan would have had to have been to be able to cross his legs. I pushed that thought aside and gestured to Sabrina."Alright, so we're going to withdraw our dark energy so Sabrina can let us view your memories."Empress eyed her for a moment before lowering her head and allowing Sabrina to touch her temple. With her other hand, Sabrina reached out and touched my temple.A moment later, I wasn't standing in the reserve with them but rather in what appeared to be a hut. The wooden walls were rustic and rough, and dirt floors with a firepit indicated that it was an altogether rudimentary affair. The stretched skin hanging over the doorway kept the wind from blowing in. There was a table and even a basic hammock setup that was made of wooden sticks lashed together. Everything looked huge, like it was made for giants.Someone spoke, but the words were unintelligible, and I found my point of view toddling out of the hut. For a moment, light blinded me before the point of view shook itself, and a laugh made me look up to find a young girl smiling down at me.For a moment, I thought she looked a bit like Yolanda but then I started to note the differences. Her eyes were nothing like Yolanda's, her hair was dark, and her attire was rough—more fur and leather than the synthetic styles that Yolanda would wear.It put me in mind of the Hisuan style, but the fur that poked out around the edges didn't match. If anything, it looked sort of like that tribal style that the Pewter Museum had been displaying. The girl reached out, warbled something happily, and picked me up. I found myself oddly happy at the gesture, and a cry broke out of my lips."Tar! Larvitar!"Ah, so this was what it was like to be in a pokemon's memories. I looked around and was surprised to find that there was an entire village atop a mountain that was all too familiar.Another shout had the girl turning and jogging towards a larger hut that she quickly entered. The girl bowed to an older woman and then marched down a tunnel that led to a cavern with a large mural that was also familiar. This had been Empress' nest!The memory faded then, and I found myself blinking, suddenly back in the reserve with Sabrina stumbling and Empress snorting and shaking her head. I reached out and caught Sabrina. "Hey, are you alright?"Sabrina rubbed her head. "No, Empress lost control of emotions at the sight of the mural and her dark energy spiked and ejected me." she eyed me. "Are you not… no dark energy wouldn't have hurt you."I rubbed her temples gently. "No, it didn't hurt me at all. It merely disoriented me."I eyed her. "Still hurts?" She nodded and pushed herself into my hands. I chuckled and continued to massage her head. I turned my head towards Empress, who was shaking her head."You were a pokemon that lived with the tribe that lived in the mountains?"Empress stopped shaking her head and looked at me. She nodded her head. I whistled. "So you've been in those mountains a long time?"She considered me with narrowed eyes. Sabrina tapped me on the cheek. "Don't call her old; she's not that old; the impression I got was that her memory was not that long ago—pre-war yes, but not ancient.""But the tribal village I saw was said to be ancient," I pointed out.Empress tilted her head in a confused manner. I huffed and scratched my head, considering Empress. "Any chance you could tell us why the tribe left?"She made a twitching gesture that had me tilting my head. I glanced at Sabrina, and she shook her head. Empress shifted testily and lowered her head once again. Sabrina linked us once again, and I found myself falling into a memory.Fire, so much fire.In the skies above the burning village a Dragonite pack flew overhead, only for a roar to echo from Mt Silver and a very different pokemon to emerge. Bodies lay about the village. I had a moment to recognise a Moltres erupting from the mountain.The memory vanished once again. Sabrina stood to the side, lowering her hand. I put my own hand on her shoulder. "You alright?"She nodded. "She didn't want to go any further and raised her energy much slower this time." Empress looked to the side, her pride no longer there. I felt like I had more questions than before. What had the pack of Dragonite been doing there? Wild Dragonite were only down near Vermilion, not in…Unless they weren't wild Draognites but rather trained pokemon. I'd come to Empress to try and make sense, but I found myself with more questions than I had started with."So, you were that girl's pokemon I take it then?"Empress nodded her head. I sighed and kept myself from slumping. "So you set up your nest, waiting for her to come back?" I said. I was reasoning out her history. So, she'd been part of a tribe that probably didn't use pokeballs/ Sort of like Fiore. And they'd come into conflict with the Blackthorn clan.Empress frowned and tilted her head. She eventually shook her head. Instead she reached up and traced a line down her cheek. "Crying?" I said.She made a so-so gesture.Sabrina put a hand on Empress' body and looked up at her. "The girl didn't make it, Brock.""Oh…" I said. "So she stayed there because…?""It was safe at first, I imagine; she would have struggled at first, but then she would have grown strong." Sabrina rubbed the Empress's body lightly. "She remembers the girl sometimes." She stared up as Empress turned her head. "She remembered the girl when a young boy asked her for her son."I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "Oh, well." I paused when I realised Empress was also looking away sheepishly. We caught each other's eyes and I chuckled. She gave a hesitant smile of her own and relaxed.I shook myself. "Right, well, that answered a few questions. I wanted to check in with you honestly. You're happy here, yes?"Empress glanced around and considered the reserve, the various pokemon about, and the view. She slowly nodded. "Tar," she said, allowing a small smile to show on her scaley face."Right, well, if you want, you can stay here; I have no issues housing you, but I also wanted to offer another idea I had." Empress glanced at me; her eyes locked on mine. I held her gaze. "I'm looking to go into some serious fights in the future. Fights at least as serious as we were against Moltres."That got her nostrils flaring."I won't be going against Moltres, but there is almost a guaranteed chance of my having to face the pokemon that caused Moltres to awaken like it did."She growled and jerked her head. "Tar!""We learned that its name is Mewtwo, and it is a pokemon that a criminal organisation used to raid the Silver Ranges. They also did what they did to get to me. They knew I'd come up to check on you and used that," I said.Sabrina blinked in surprise, and I realised I'd let slip Mewtwo's name. Had I told her before this? Sabrina merely nodded, accepting the information. I mentally felt like I'd dodged an interrogation.Empress frowned and considered that. She then gestured from me to her.I nodded. "Now, I could ask you to stay here, and you'd be great as a threat deterrent. You'd ward off many of the threats that might come after me, but I want more." I clenched my fist. "I need more if I'm going to face down Mewtwo."I stretched out my hand to her. "Empress, I want you to join my team, work with me, and help me punish Team Rocket for what they've done."I locked eyes with her. "If you join me there are chances I will need to give you orders, orders that you will follow. This would mean you'd need to train with me and my team."I kept my hand outstretched. "Will you join me?"She stepped forward and loomed over me. Then she reached out with her claws and wrapped them around my hand. "Tyranitar," she said firmly.Sabrina smiled. "Congratulations to both of you," she said. She stepped closer. "Empress, my name is Sabrina, Brock's girlfriend. I look forward to training with you sometime in the future, and my pokemon will also be training with you. My pokemon will enjoy testing themselves against you."Empress blinked at this before giving a wide, fanged grin at Sabrina. "Tar!" she said, accepting the future challenge. I grinned and patted her on the chest."Alright, well, we train before the sun rises, usually. Titan is the leader in this. You come out tomorrow and join us, and we'll start from there." I grinned up at her. "It's going to be funny watching you work with him. Mother and son, neh?"Empress nodded, a pleased expression on her face. She then gave me a considering look. With a single claw she reached up and flicked a sharp edge into one of her joints. A red line appeared a moment later and I blinked only to stiffen when she reached out and traced a line of blood straight across my cheeks and nose. She then flicked the blood off, spraying me."Uhm? Thank you?" I said, uncertainly.Empress clapped me on the shoulders and waved her claws around my head in a circle. "Tar!" she barked before nodding once more. She lowered her head and licked me on the forehead. She then turned and marched off.Sabrina inspected my face. "It seems she has accepted joining your team, and decided to adopt you in turn.""So it would seem." I touched my now very wet face. "Does it look as bad as it feels?"Sabrina considered me seriously. "You have the biggest Miltank lick with how your hair is sticking up... and I'm not kissing you until you sanitise your face."I snorted and nodded. "That's fair."I trundled back home, only to find my family waiting for me in the lounge."Are you wearing make up?" Suzie asked, even as Flint blanched at the blood on my face."No, Empress did something symbolic to show she accepted me. Hang on- I need to change clothes and clean myself off." I got changed and then returned once I was clean. The kids hounded me about how it went and I told them she'd accepted but that it was a secret they weren't to share around. Tilly and Billy giggled as they made shushing gestures at each other.Timmy then announced that he wanted story time, much to my other siblings ire. I decided to tell them their bedtime story in the lounge room. "Hooray!" shouted Suzie. "Munchlax!" cheered Munchlax. Everyone got comfortable with Eevee claiming Yolanda's lap while Nanny Grav handed out hot chocolate. I rubbed my chin and considered what story to tell them.I smiled. "Long ago… there was a little Larvitar," I said to start things off. Terra perked up and the kids became spellbound as I told them the story of Empress.The next morning, I got to enjoy watching the moment when Titan noticed his mother had joined us. He shifted nervously and approached her subtly. My ears twitched as they broke into a discussion, only to break apart. Titan stepped up to me and stared at me with the most betrayed expression. I was confused until I noticed the other pokemon were snickering to themselves.Yolanda had to break off as she burst into giggles at the by-play.I shrugged. "Sorry buddy, she's strong, so I made an offer. She'll make a great addition to the team." I shot him a look. "If you're worried about having to order her about, don't be; I need to work on her with regards to that before anything else."Titan huffed and I got the feeling I'd missed the point of what was annoying him. He shook it off however and instead considered his mother as she copied Bertha doing some stretches. Titan nodded slowly, a conflicted look on his face. He then leaned in. "Ty? Ranitar?" he said, flicking a claw from himself to her.I considered him. "Who's stronger?"He nodded seriously. I snorted. "It'd be close, but I think you'd beat her in a straight match, but don't discount her. I imagine she's got more than a few tricks up her sleeve. Out of anyone, Bertha is the most at risk of losing her spot as second strongest," I said, pitching my voice so that Bertha heard me.Bertha paused in her stretch and looked over at Empress. Her grin widened, and she pumped her fist in mock threat.I snorted, it seemed if anything, Bertha welcomed the challenge. Empress straightened up and then looked from Bertha to Titan. She barked something, and Bertha blinked before waving her hand back and forth before laughing.Titan looked like he wanted to crawl off and hide.I hummed. "Did she just say that she'd test Bertha as a worthy mate for you?"Titan nodded, his face in his hands. I chuckled. "Well, I'm sorry that I didn't consider the team dynamic before I made the offer."Titan sighed and shoved me before barking out an order and having everyone fall in for the morning run. I took off with them, tapping Empress as I passed her. "Yolanda, catch up!" I called to my sister, causing her to run after me.When the warm-up was done I grinned. "Alright! Yolanda, let Terra down, we're going to work through Simon says! Empress! Follow along; this is part of the training to get used to commands that might be given."Yolanda gaped. "Brock! She's a fully evolved pokemon! You can't play Simon says with her!"I grinned. "It's one of the basic drills, but that just makes it all the more important." I nodded to Titan. "Alright, start up the others."Don, who'd been nearby, laughed and shrieked at us in a jeering manner. Empress narrowed her eyes at what must have been a taunt. I grinned. Well, if Don was going to offer himself up like that I could start things off with an order that Empress certainly wouldn't mind following."Alright! Everyone! Simon says! Whip around like we're using Iron Tail to smack away a pest!"I spun on the spot and was amused to hear a dull thwack. When I turned back, Don was still sailing away, and Yolanda was gaping. Terra fell on her backside, giggling.Empress snorted, more than happy with herself. I grinned.Alright, one small step to having her follow my orders. It would take a while, but it would be so gloriously worth it to be able to use her in a high-end pokemon match.Or throwing her out against Will.That would be just desserts for that sneak. By the time the morning's training was over, I felt like I'd made some significant progress with her. I tapped her on the side and pointed to the back wall of the Gym. "I'll have the matches for the day projected there. Yolanda, you're on Gym duty today instead of school again, yeah?"She nodded "Yup! No school for me this week!""Huh," I said, getting an idea. "I think I want you to sit down with me later when Will fights against the Cerulean sisters. Lots of people are writing them off, and while I don't think they'll win, I think we might learn something if we watch the fight.""Sounds good!" she said enthusiastically.I grinned. "We might as well set up the back screen for us to watch it with my Elite Team…""Oh! I like that!" Yolanda said."Nice," I said before considering something else she could do. "Also, do you think you'd be alright with no gym battles for today?"At her curious expression, I elaborated. "I want you to sit with Empress and explain what we do and why certain moves are good or bad. Also, explain to her what we're doing; I don't want her to think I'm weak with how some of these matches will go."Yolanda nodded seriously. "I can do that Brock!" she said, turning to start talking with Empress.I chuckled and wrapped an arm around her. "After breakfast, little sister, after breakfast."I walked with her back to breakfast, feeling much more upbeat about the future that was to come. While I didn't think the Cerulean sisters match would amount to much, that didn't mean I couldn't keep the motivation high in my team.If anything, seeing Will fight would motivate them further.
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The next day, I set up a few lounging chairs in the reserve along with a picnic basket. Yolanda deposited a few blankets and put Terra down next to Empress. Will's next match 'on his circuit' was about to start, and I had just about finished setting things up."Brock, do you think we packed enough snacks?" said Suzie from within a very fluffy-looking Flareon onesie. My family had heard I was going to watch the next match with Yolanda in the reserve. They'd taken that to mean that it was 'family time' and that they were therefore invited.I considered the picnic basket and nodded seriously. "I think we'll be alright. Munchlax will just have to eat vegetables, or else he'll make the other pokemon envious."Suzie reached over and pat Munchlax on the head as the gutsy pokemon sighed sadly.A ping on my transceiver had me glancing at it. I'd been expecting Sabrina to come around soon and was anticipating her message, only to blink in surprise when a message from Surge was shown.I called him, and his boisterous face appeared on the screen. "Heyo Brock! Thought I'd check in on you again! How's it hanging!"My eyes twitched. If I wasn't in front of my family, I'd give him the crude response he desired. Instead, I settled for a simple, "Oh, alright, I suppose; I'm with my family." I hurriedly added, "We're about to watch the Cerulean Gym match."Surge made a face. "Urgh, don't know why you'd want to watch that! Those girls are going to get stomped."I shrugged. "Might pick something up from watching Will, though."Surge snorted derisively. "Please! I got more of that asshole's style and tactics from watching his match with you. That whole thing was FUBAR I tell you! I think he had to be pulling at least three sly ones on the down low!"I nodded and considered how to respond. Something must have shown on my face, or my silence was too suspicious, as Surge's eyes narrowed. "You know something! What? Did you catch him in the act?"I grimaced. "I've raised it with Lance, but there were a few details that stood out to me as being wrong.""Come on, man! Don't hold out on me! How much of a slippery Ekans is this asshole?" Surge said. I sighed and sat down, relaying to him the evidence I had given Lance.When I was done, Surge's expression was thunderous. "Yeah, alright; he's an Arbok with a mean streak, raised by a group of Muk! Damn! And little Daisy is going to try to fight him? Poor girl doesn't stand a chance!""Daisy is the one who's going to fight him?" I said. "I thought they hadn't announced it yet?"Surge huffed. "She's the eldest, and she might be ditzy as hell, but she's got heart. She won't let her younger sisters take the beating that's coming her way. That and she likes to think she's chivalrous; it's why she dresses like the prince in their little shows."I stared at the transceiver. "How do you know she does that?"Surge smirked. "Their little shows are some fantastic first date options for me and the ladies. Gets them all wet! If you get me! Hahaha!" He guffawed at his joke as I rolled my eyes.He settled down and nodded. "Right, well, I'm gonna hitch a ride over to yours. Been meaning to talk to you face to face like. I'll join you and your family in watching the match!" he said casually. "Tell Cadet Tommy I want to see his best salute!" he shouted before signing off.I glanced up at Tommy, who was bouncing in place while his twin, Cindy, groaned in annoyance, only to gain a sly expression as she sprinted into the house. When she returned, she did so with a jar.When Surge walked around the side entrance with Alexa, with whom he was blatantly flirting, Tommy leapt to his feet. "Sir!" His arm shot up into a childish salute.Surge turned away from Alexa and adopted a serious expression as he looked over Tommy, like this was a parade ground rather than my backyard. "Hmmm good pose, nice straight spine, but when an officer comes around, you go into the standing pose unless there's a reason to salute, not before!"He stepped to one side. "At ease!" he barked before nodding as Tommy copied him.Flint, who'd been standing and watching this with a stiff expression, twitched.Surge raised a finger to make a point. "Remember! Salute the man, not the rank; anyone who says otherwise is full of shit!""Swearjar!" shouted Cindy gleefully as she held out the jar that she'd run into the house for. She'd been waiting to ambush Surge with this."Feh! In the army, there's never enough swearing!" he said only for Cindy to thrust the swear jar in his direction adamantly.He sniffed. "I suppose as an officer, I should set an example for the troops," he said.He handed Tommy a ten-pokedollar note. "As an officer, I don't handle dealing with civies. Cadet, pay the woman!" he said.Tommy nodded, drew out his wallet, put the note into it, and pulled out a pokedollar. He then shamelessly deposited it into the swear jar on Surge's behalf.Everyone collectively blinked.Then Surge howled with laughter. "Hahahahaha! That's a good one! Nice going, recruit! That's the sort of slippery thinking that'll see you doing well in the corps!""I think I'd rather you not promote the military as a lifestyle choice to him, Surge," Flint said tersely.He shot me an angry look, and I raised an imperious eyebrow. I could see where he was coming from, but he hadn't been here to help me get through the hurdles of being a Gym Leader. Surge was.Surge rubbed a thumb over his nose. "Yeah? That so? First, I've been told not to," he said casually, looming by dint of his unusually tall frame. He eyed Flint, and a glint entered his eyes. "Private Flint, right? You were a reservist, weren't you?""I made corporal before the end of the war." Some of the kids watched this back and forth curiously.For a few years, Surge had been like a well-meaning uncle who got too rambunctious. To see him and Flint talking like this was probably strange. I, personally, was finding it a bit too cathartic to stop. If anything, Surge was being downright polite.Flint shook his head. "But that doesn't matter. I just go by Flint now," Flint said, locking eyes with Surge.Surge nodded slowly. "Right, right. We never really got to talk. I'm Lieutenant Surge, Gym Leader from Vermilion. Never did get to meet face to face did we?""No, there was one video link meeting before Brock took over.""Hmmm, yeah… took over, that's one way to put it. Reckon we should talk about that one day." Surge flicked his eyes around and recognised how many small, curious eyes were watching him. "Just you and me in a bar, yeah?""I think I know what you're going to say," said Flint, his jaw tightening."Yeah, I'm sure you do, but it's worth saying out loud," said Surge. I felt a rush of gratitude toward the taller man. Somehow, for all his rough edges, Surge was a good man.Flint nodded tightly, and Surge relaxed. He glanced around and winked at the kids before turning back. "Dismissed!" he said to Tommy, who turned and played at marching off to the side for three steps. Then he raised his hands and ran around."Woob woob woob!" said Tommy, running back around Surge. "I got ten pokedollars!" he said tauntingly to Cindy, who gave chase."Not for long you don't! That was supposed to be mine!" she shouted.I snorted, and Surge grinned. "Cute kid!" He winked at Alexa. "Feel like making an honest man out of me and making a few of our own?"Alexa snorted. "That's not the worst pickup line I've heard, but it is far from the best." She turned, waved a hand over her shoulder and walked away. Surge watched her go.He turned back with a satisfied expression. "I hate to see them…" He paused suddenly, his eyes widening dramatically. "Brock… do you got two Tyranitar or is the beer I drank earlier off?"I glanced behind the chairs to find Empress and Titan standing behind us, watching the big screen we had set up earlier. "No, she's joined my team. Surge, this is Empress."Surge whistled as Empress inspected him before turning her head away. "Daaaaaaamn! Now you're talking! You're gonna flex on Lance hard when you make your run for Champion!"I snorted, and he shot me a look. "Oh come on! You'd be great at it!"I waved a hand at him and rolled my eyes. "I'm good here.""Urgh! Greatness is going begging, man!" he said with a shake of his head.I waved for him to take a seat, and he did so, but not before reaching into a bag he had at his side and pulling out a can of beer. He cracked it and chugged it. "Ah! Nice cold one fresh out the cooler!" He raised his drink in my direction. "You want one?"I waved him away, amused. Flint scowled at him and opened his mouth, only to close it and slump a little. Surge noticed and considered Flint. "You want?"Flint shook his head. "I think I should abstain going forward. Need to stay on the ball with the kids.""Huh," Surge said, before grunting and finishing his beer in a few chugs. He glanced around. "You got a Steel type that'll recycle these?""Lairon!" I shouted. When Knight whined, I shot him a look. "No, I'm not feeding you beer cans. You're one of my Elite pokemon. None of that for you!""He's big enough, ain't he?" said Surge as he cracked open another beer.I shook my head. "He's actually younger than Lairon. He's very much still a juvenile for his species; still growing.""Hmmm, righto then." Surge tossed his crushed beer can into the waiting maw of Lairon. To console Knight, I handed him some metal offcuts I got from the foundry, which I used for snacks for him.When the actual match started, I was interested to see Daisy square off against Will. I felt a spike of anger at seeing him flounce around. "What pokemon do you think he will lead with?" I offered up.Surge eyed Will with narrowed eyes. "If his Exeggutor was in fighting shape, I'd be shocked. It got pretty bodied against you. Also, the way he blew it up will have it feeling pretty rough. Not sure he'll even get the chance to use it against me.""Hmmm, good," I said, happy to hear that it had cost him. Most of my pokemon had almost been up and about the next day."Which pokemon will he use then?" said Yolanda thoughtfully, a notepad out."Hypno or Espeon?" I offered."He'd be the sort," Surge grunted. "But also a Slowbro, Xatu…" Surge scratched his chin. "Don't think a Gardevoir could stand him though.""Grumpig?" I replied.Surge snapped his fingers together. "Oh! I know! He'd have to have a Mr Mime! Those are creepy mothers they are!"I chuckled at his antics and watched as Daisy and Will stepped up to their podiums. I frowned when I noticed that the battlefield was the aquarium. "How'd they get the right to use that for the Ace challenge?""Will allowed it, the cocky son of a…" he flicked his eyes to Tommy, who was happily munching on some popcorn. "—B," he said, finishing lamely."Who do you think is his strongest team on paper?" Salvadore asked.I leaned back in my chair. "Alakazam for one," I said. "Then that Slowking; that had a lot of utility. Exeggcutor as well." I waved three fingers in thought with pursed lips. "I think that Jynx was a bit gimmicky with the Perish Song and Mean Look.""Medicham would be another," Surge opined. "It depends on how good his Espeon and Hypno are. They're both solid psychic types." He glanced around. "Speaking of psychic types, where's Sabrina?"I shrugged. "She's training with Erika."Surge chuckled. "Ouch! She thinks he's going to beat me?"I shrugged again. "Covering her bases," I said. I knew Karen, Koga, Lucy, and Agatha were all patrolling Cerulean City looking for anything unusual. They'd asked me to stay behind as I was too high profile and they wanted my pokemon to rest up some more. It had seemed like solid advice at the time.It still made me twitch in agitation. Even though I knew that nothing any of the Cerulean sisters could do would see them challenging Will, not unless they cheated.They just weren't serious battlers.A thought occurred to me. "How come they accepted this match? I thought they didn't usually do Ace battles.""Probably felt like they had to. With you standing up, they had to at least make an attempt. If not, their little sister will inherit a gym looked down on by everyone," Surge said before taking a slow sip. "More than it is at the moment anyway. Some families have it tough, inheriting bad situations and all." I glanced over and found him eying Flint."Huh, that's nice of them to do for Misty," I said, deciding to not touch on the obvious dig at Flint.Surge perked up. "You know her? She's a firecracker, that one! Little Forrest has found himself a good lass! She's got attitude!" He grinned. "You know she stared down a giant Tentacruel and made it ink itself?" he said."What's this?" asked Yolanda with a tilt of her head.Surge grinned and began to tell what sounded like an extremely exaggerated story of Misty facing down a giant Tentacruel.I snorted as my siblings ate the story up. I knew that wasn't the way it had gone down. Forrest had said as much after things had calmed down. Which reminded me. "Thanks for getting down to Forrest like that while I was out of contact."Flint stiffened. "Yes! Thank you for doing that for our family, Surge." He bowed his head, and Surge chuckled."Ain't no sweat off my back. It was damn interesting, is what it was."We fell silent when the screen showed that the match was about to start. Daisy tossed out a Seaking and Will tossed out…"He's sending his Exeggutor again?!" shouted Surge. "Or is he like Lance? Multiple of the same pokemon?"I eyed the fronds and shook my head. "No; see the fronds. They're wilted and damaged. That's the same pokemon.""I call tauros shit!" Surge said. He handed off a pokedollar to the swear jar without missing a beat when Cindy offered it to him. "No way he got that pokemon up to fighting fitness unless he poured a lot of money into it!" He shook his head before raising his hand up. "Even then, it wouldn't be worth it!"I nodded. "A sign of less depth than we thought?" I said, but I knew that didn't ring true. He'd shown lots of pokemon, or at least the ability to fund other trainers to get an idea of my team. This didn't make sense… unless."Hubris?" I suggested, watching as Will used a Leaf Storm to force Seaking under the surface of the water, only for the leaves to cut through the water.The Seaking went belly up and floated up to the surface, causing Daisy to pout and return her pokemon."Like, that was not what I was expecting from you for your first pokemon!" she said with a shake of her head. "Let's go Dewgong!" she called sending out her next choice. A Dewgong with a pristine white coat appeared and swept its tail through the water."Gong!" it called out before it frowned seriously."Is that one of her show pokemon?" I asked.Surge nodded. "It's not a bad choice, though. Has a good Ice Beam but yeah… it doesn't have…" Surge trailed off as Daisy had her pokemon perform a Blizzard that filled the arena.Exeggutor suddenly did not have anywhere near as stable a footing as previous. Will clicked his tongue and ordered a Psychic but it could only catch a few of the descending ice shards."Come on Daisy!" I shouted, pumping my fist, pleased to see Will getting some well-earned comeuppance for being so arrogant."Exeggutor! Use Rest!" he barked, causing all but one of the heads to fall asleep."Like, Encore!" ordered Daisy with a gleeful expression.I blinked, confused. Wait, that shouldn't work because… I gaped when I saw the last head of the Exeggutor close its eyes and fall asleep.Surge spat his drink making it burst out of him like a geyser suddenly erupting. He wiped his mouth and gasped. "Did Daisy just pull a slick move on him?!" he bellowed in surprise. "Damn girl!" he said.I had to nod in approval as she pointed and winked at the Exeggutor. "Like! Blizzard!" she said. This time the super-effective move rained down unopposed, and Exeggcutor was tossed into the water.It woke up due to the cold, but the Dewgong was already in the water."Like Ice Fang!" said Daisy with a weirdly fierce expression on the usually vapid girl's face.Her pokemon shot through the water and smashed into Exeggutor, causing it to shout in surprise before slumping.Will stared at this floating grass type for a long moment. Daisy did a happy dance. "Wooh go me and Dewgong!"She then turned and waved to the crowd. "And thanks Uncle! It worked a charm!" she said towards an extremely scarred man sitting next to Daisy's sisters. The girls waved exuberantly while the man merely glowered at the world harder.Will returned his pokemon and stared at it for a moment before glancing up and giving a bow to Daisy. "I must apologise, my fair lady; I underestimated you!"Daisy waggled her finger. "You could stand to do it more!"Will huffed. "Well, I'm afraid I shall have to take this more seriously from now on. Go Hypno, use Thunder Punch!" he ordered.The fist surged into the water and sparked up as it hit the water. Dewgong took the hit and cried out in pain.I clicked my tongue. Ah, the other reason he would be fine with the aquarium staying out. It made it somewhat easier for her pokemon to be electrocuted. Daisy's Dewgong revealed itself to have something of a glass jaw as it went down with a single zap."That's a weak-ass Thunder Punch!" Surge said disparagingly. He handed Cindy another pokedollar. "Still think that ass isn't a swear word," he muttered, as he handed off another note.He then tossed his empty can over his shoulder towards Lairon, who happily munched on it.Daisy returned her pokemon and selected another pokemon. This one had red stickers all over it, and Daisy seemed reluctant to release it. She shifted from foot to foot. The camera zoomed in on her and picked up on her whispers to the pokeball."Pleasepleaseplease, pretty please be good for me! I need you to behave!" she said before winding back her arm and hurling out her next pokemon. The light of the released pokemon was bright, and it reshaped into a huge form.I whistled as what had to be one of the biggest Gyarados I'd ever seen revealed itself. "Wow, I never knew she had that sort of pokemon in her team. I assume it doesn't listen to her?""It's her gramp's pokemon; the old Admiral was a wily sort and very strong. He was able to raise that beast from one of the Magikarp of his original Gyarados in his later years; he passed it down, so I hear."The Gyarados rose up and bellowed, causing the camera to shake at the noise being released. Gyarados turned to inspect Daisy who waved twitchily. "H-hi Gyarados! We're fighting someone strong! You up for it?" she said.Before Gyarados could reply, Will snorted and snapped his fingers. "Thunder Punch again."The super effective move was once again punched into the water and sparked up. This time it arced up the large pokemon's tail and caused it to roar in shock. It snapped its head around from Daisy to lock eyes on Will.Daisy perked up and pumped her fist. "Gyarados! Don't let them diss you! Use Crunch!" she said.Gyarados launched itself with a maw of glowing black energy.Will instantly realised he'd miscalculated. "Protect!" he said, causing his Hypno to cross his arms.Gyarados hit the platform that the Hypno was on and launched the platform up into the air."Dive down and surge up!" ordered Daisy."Hypno! Use Telekinesis to levitate yourself out of danger!" Will shouted to his now airborne pokemon as the Protect dropped aside. I noted that the hail was peppering it as it descended. Gyarados launched itself out of the water in an explosion of force, its fangs bared and eyes glinting with rage.Hypno just dodged the attack. And as it floated back down to another platform, Gyarados began to descend back into the water, and like a whale breaching, it caused a giant splash."Hypno return! Go Alakazam!" he said, sending out another pokemon."Another?" Surge said with a click of his tongue.I hummed in thought before shaking my head. "No, that one is different. The moustache isn't as long, indicating it isn't as old."Gyarados rounded on the Alakazam and both pokemon locked eyes.Daisy grabbed the podium to brace herself. "Twister!" she shouted. Her Gyarados snorted before spinning on the spot and forming a giant funnel of water. People in the stands started to don raincoats. Will raised a hand and braced himself against the sudden hurricane being unleashed."Thunder Wave!" ordered Will causing a lash of electrical energy to shoot out from the Alakazam's spoons. It was mostly absorbed by the onrushing Twister but some got through to splash against Gyarados. It only seemed to further enrage the pokemon.The Twister slammed home, knocking Alakazam back, and causing it to go flying into a side wall. It shook itself off, however, and teleported back to another platform.Gyarados turned with a snarl. "Gyarados! Use Dark Pulse!" ordered Daisy. Instead of doing that, Gyarados lunged with darkness-empowered fangs."Thunder Punch!" ordered Will, causing his pokemon to teleport underneath Gyarados and lunge upwards to throw a sparking fist of electricity into Gyarados' head.I grimaced as Gyarados thrashed about only to sway drunkenly, obviously affected by the two hits it had already taken.Daisy shifted from foot to foot as the hail started to stop falling. "No! Gyarados I need you to listen to me!" she said plaintively. "Use Hyper B—""Psychic! Throw that pokemon out of the water!" Will ordered, causing his pokemon to glow with Psychic energy. Then Gyarados glowed as it was lifted despite its size and hurled out of the water like a giant angler had snagged the serpent and was pulling it ashore. It slammed into the side wall and cracked into the wall. Gyarados slumped after the hit, and Daisy matched it dejectedly."Urgh the girl has dropped her head, she's letting him get to her. She's lost her fighting spirit." Surge shook his head and took another drink. "This won't last long," he said.He was proven right when Daisy's Starmie, Golduck, and Cloyster failed to last against Will's Alakazam or Hypno. Daisy slumped more with each defeat.Surge stood after it was all done and shook his head. "Girl needs to stiffen her spine a bit. She was still in the fight.""Most of her pokemon weren't as strong as that Gyarados," Yolanda pointed out carefully."Doesn't matter; she could have had a freshly caught Legendary pokemon following him out, but it wouldn't have mattered. She wasn't in it. She'd lost already, up here." He tapped the side of his head. "She stopped trying to find a way to win after she lost that Gyarados. You can't let that happen in battle; otherwise, you may as well have your grave already dug."Flint coughed pointedly, and Surge blinked. "What? They get what I mean!" he said waspishly.Suzie yawned. "It's alright; Sabrina will beat him."Surge huffed. "You wound me, Suzie girl; you wound me.""You'll live," she said as she patted him on the leg and then offered him a hug goodnight.I rounded up the other kids and they gave Surge a hug before heading in with Flint. Surge bid his own goodbye and I waved him off.Then I turned to Empress. "So, what do you think?"She warbled a tone, and I keyed up a replay. "Right, so one of the best things that gets demonstrated here is the importance of following commands. See how Will exploited Gyarados for using Crunch? Daisy was actually right in calling out Dark Pulse instead of Crunch. By going for Crunch against a pokemon that can Teleport, he put himself in a weaker position."Empress considered this while Titan nodded. Sanchez spoke up and waved his hand around, and I grinned. Good, my pokemon were talking about it. I glanced at my team of Elites, who had all stayed up to watch the match. I had to admit to feeling very pleased with myself.It was a loss for Daisy and the Cerulean Gym, but it was going to work out great for me.With Will's victory, the gleam in their eyes had returned.It was good to have a target in sight for them.I was proven right the next morning when my team put in a spirited training session where I could practically feel them getting stronger. Empress herself was extra attentive to my orders and seemed to accept them a bit easier as I had her hop and jump around, only to start unleashing some of the extremely potent moves she had learned during her years in the wild.I sent Daisy a message to congratulate her on her strong showing and she sent back a series of emojis that had me chuckling."Way too many winkie faces," I said to myself as I shut it off and headed towards my first match of the day. With the next match of importance being Surge's match, I was going to be ready to help out the moment something went down.I'd gotten confirmation that my challenge had been accepted by Gavin so now it was time to do a final check over before I selected my team. I'd also need to have a team ready for this weekend when Will went against Surge.If Will tried to cheat against Surge, I'd be ready to fall upon him like an avalanche.Daisy shook hands with Will. He smiled charmingly at her, and for a moment she wondered what he looked like underneath that mask. The rest of him certainly looked attractive enough… She shook herself. No, no, she wasn't going there.Will's lips twisted downward, and Daisy almost giggled. She stepped back a moment later as Jeffrey, her big, loveable guard dog of a gym trainer stepped in to put a delicate hand on her shoulder. He was such a knight in shining armour."Alright, fuck off lad," said Jeffery gruffly.Daisy pretended to swoon. Such a shame. If only he wasn't old enough to be her dad.It was like having a battle-scarred Arcanine of an uncle who looked and sounded fierce but was so soft when there was just family around. Sort of like her Gramps.Will's lips twisted into something ugly, and Daisy shook herself again, taking a step back. "Thanks for the match," she said, bowing her head. "Good luck against the other gym leaders!" she said chirpily.She turned and waved to the reporters and fans still hanging around. Will's crowd of supporters were chanting his name, and Will waved to them magnanimously. "Will! Will! Will!""Bad luck out there Daisy! We love you!" cried one voice during a break in the group's chanting.Daisy perked up and beamed. She gave the crowd another wave and stepped forward to talk with the reporters. She held her smile and pretended to let all the thinly veiled insults slide off her."What were you thinking when you stuck to the aquarium set-up?" said one."Did you think it would give you a fighting chance?" sneered another."Did you, heh, forget how electricity works?" another said with a raised hand, as if that was enough to hide the laugh of derision.Daisy kept smiling. If she let herself cry, they'd be like Sharpedo in bloody water. "Oh! We just thought we'd keep things the same, you know! Like, why change things around? This is our Gym, water battlefield and all!" she said, like she hadn't given it much thought."What were you thinking, bringing out that Gyarados? It obviously doesn't respect you!" said another."What were you going to do if it rampaged?"Daisy huffed and rolled her eyes exasperatedly. "Like, I had it under control! Grampy's Gyarados was just grouchy to start things off. He's something of a heritage pokemon so he's got his quirks! He did great though!" Daisy felt her eyes sliding toward Jeffrey, who had been ready to step in if Gyarados hadn't been willing to listen to her."Challenger Will! That's two of the Gyms now; are you going to keep this up?""Of course! There's a wonderful symbolism in challenging in the order that I am! I know what people will be waiting for!" Will said with a charming smile."So Pewter or Cerulean? Which match did you prefer? The heart-wrenching struggle that ended in a draw? Or the one-sided match?"Daisy continued to hold her smile, although she felt like dropping it when Will glanced over at her appraisingly. She felt dirty as he smiled at her."Well, I have to say I preferred today's match. My dance partner in Pewter left something to be desired with how it all ended up going down."Daisy held her smile and didn't snort in derision. It wasn't something she'd be able to get away with; she'd lost rather convincingly after all.When it was all said and done, she waved the crowd goodbye, sent Will off, and marched back to the private lounge. There, she found her family waiting for her. Violet had her boyfriend with her.Daisy collapsed into a chair with a long groan. "Like, you all owe me big time for stepping up and fighting that guy!" she complained. Jeffrey approached with a bottle of sparkling water and a lemon slice. Daisy shot him an appreciative smile.Violet and Lily nodded. "Yeah! Thanks big sis! That wasn't a match I wanted to undertake!""Why'd you accept it though?" asked Violet's boyfriend. "I thought Cerulean didn't take Ace Challengers, unlike the other gyms?"Daisy shrugged. "I guess I just wanted us to be taken seriously. Jeffrey patted her on the shoulder. "You did that lass, you got one of his pokemon which is a great showing."Daisy smiled weakly, finished her drink, traded some verbal barbs with her sisters, prodded Violet's boyfriend for any hotties he knew, and then retired to bed.She sat on the edge and resisted the urge to curl up into a little ball. She instead keyed a number into her transceiver.Misty answered quickly. "Hey… Daisy…" said her little sister.Daisy almost called her out for sounding so hesitant. The tease was on her lips, but then Daisy remembered what Erika had said to her when she'd mocked her sister the last time they'd had tea together. Her sister wasn't like Lily and Violet. They were sisters, but that didn't mean she should treat Misty the same way.Misty was her own woman."Hey, Misty," she said, allowing some of the tiredness to show. She wasn't a rookie trainer who would white out from having her team wrecked like that, but it still wasn't fun.Misty remained quiet for a long moment. "Thanks for accepting that challenge," she said eventually."Anytime little sis," Daisy replied, flopping back onto her bed. She yawned. "You still want the Gym after your journey's done, yeah? It's the least I can do to not give you a place people think is only a minor gym.""Y-yeah thanks. How'd you… I mean…" Misty started to say, only to rethink her words.Gosh, Misty was such an awkward Ponyta; she was still growing into her hooves, it seemed. Daisy knew she'd be beautiful one day, but damn if she wasn't awkward right now."How'd you get Gyarados to listen to you?" Misty said eventually."Oh, I've been trying to work with him, getting him used to me… I think I almost have him interested in doing a show with us. He doesn't want to be the bad guy, though, so I think I need to rewrite the script I had planned.""Oh? You're thinking of adding him to your show? Mum and Dad would have loved that," Misty said.Daisy rubbed at her chest, where an old, familiar ache was. "Yeah, yeah, they would have, and Grampa would have been all like, 'Urgh!' you know?"Misty giggled, and Daisy found herself enjoying the sound. She yawned again. "Well, I have to admit I'm pretty wiped.""Oh, yeah! Good night then!""Yeah, but before I go! Have you kissed him yet!?" asked Daisy with an amused lilt to her voice."Bwah! What sort of question is that? No! No, I have not! I mean, we're not like that!""Ooooooh, but you're thinking of it, aren't you?" said Daisy with a grin."Argh! Just! Go to sleep!" snarled Missy before she hung up.Daisy giggled before remembering she wasn't supposed to be teasing her sister. Oops. Oh well, she'd get used to being nice to her eventually, or Misty would learn to tease back.Wouldn't that be a day? She thought, as sleep claimed her.