Everyone happily munched away at their lunches while the pokemon chowed down. A few people were talking, causing a soft susurrus to fill the room but otherwise, it was quiet for the most part.
That didn't stop me from feeling the very 'loud' stare Yolanda was directing at me.I looked up to see what she wanted.Yolanda shot Anita a look before flicking her eyes to me. Then she repeated the gesture. I rolled my eyes, well aware that she wanted me to have a conversation with Anita, and not just about the anxiety she displayed.I suppose from Yolanda's point of view, she might be afraid that I was being taken advantage of with a sob story.I had to admit that… that might be a possibility, but it was unlikely. If Anita had been the sort she would have taken the badge then and there, unknowingly earning herself a black mark on her record from me to the effect of not wanting to grow.Trent? If she'd chosen the badge at the end there? I'd have dragged him into a conversation straight away. I'd have talked a lot, and perhaps some of it might have resonated with him, but perhaps it wouldn't have. I couldn't detain kids for being kids. I could warn them of poor behaviour and if they did something warranting it I could arrest them, but kids being kids wasn't bad.The Journey was about growth and sometimes that meant growing to understand feelings and how to deal with themIf Anita hadn't been able to calm down and had continued to lash out… Yes, she'd tried to push, but in doing so she'd revealed how out of her depth she was, and that she had a much deeper story than I'd been expecting.For example, who had given her the Slaking? She'd mentioned a sister? What were the circumstances? I'd need her calm and willing to listen to find out more.Honestly, I was just glad she hadn't been able to get it to fight, cause if she'd been able to get that Slaking to follow her orders?Well then.If she'd wanted to push me, the kid gloves would have come off fast.There was a reason I always kept at least three of my Elite pokemon on hand at any given time.But they hadn't been needed.This time.Still, Yolanda wasn't entirely wrong, I did need to talk with Anita. I also needed to talk with Trent. I needed to capitalise on her calmer state of mind and expand the story.I considered Anita and Trent for a while, taking in their postures. They were still a bit shy, with how they were hunched in on themselves. They listened, laughed and were happy to be included, but they were still slightly on edge.I considered the issue as I ate through my 'jelly donuts', a smirk playing across my lips as I licked up any stray rice.I looked over to Alexa. "What's my afternoon look like?" I asked, knowing exactly what she was going to sayAlexa hummed, her eyes flicking to me before darting to the young duo. She brought out her tablet to scrutinise my schedule. "You have two later this afternoon," she announced, earning a thoughtful hum from me."Hmmmmm, it's been a while since I've done a patrol of Pewter City," I said, faux casually."Say," I slowly turned my gaze to Anita and Trent, as though I hadn't just planned out this entire discussion. "How would you like to come with me on patrol?"When they frowned, I dangled the pokeblock treat in front of them. "We'll probably have to swing by some places like the playground, the race track, and the shops," I said.Both of the kids blinked in surprise at that. "The race track?" asked Trent.I nodded. "Oh yeah, there are sometimes races there on the weekends, but they also have a lot of speed work for pokemon that need training in that," I said, alluding to a certain speedy raccoon.Zigzagoon didn't even lift his head from his bowl of pokechow. It might have been empty, but the little pokemon was licking it clean for all it was worth. Anita however perked up. "That'd be interesting! Can we?" she asked and I grinned.All according to Keikaku.I ambled along, with Anita and Trent walking alongside me. They stared openly at Gawain as he marched along next to them. On my side, Link happily skipped along. Three other pokeballs rested on my belt for later release, but for now, I just let things progress naturally."So, LaRousse City?" I asked leadingly. I frowned when both Anita and Trent twitched and shot me worried looks.I tilted my head. "I never got the chance to visit during my Journey when I was in Hoenn," I said, dodging around the topic. The kids both relaxed slightly."I think it was known for the waterway and the two rivers meeting up in it, no?" I asked.Anita nodded, her eyes darting off to the side while Trent stepped slightly forward, almost shielding her from my view, but only drawing further attention to there being an underlying issue here. "Yeah, it's known for the meeting points of the Liomo and Tico rivers. People like to say that makes it the place where Milotic likes to visit, and that's true. It has a really well-established contest scene, but it is also known for being highly advanced," he elaborated further with the air of one that knows how to sell the City.I nodded along. "Huh, Contests? I would have liked to attend that," I said, noticing how both of them relaxed as I was drawn away from the other feature that LaRousse City was known for. The Battle Tower.The Battle Tower was a site that was developed by the various battle clubs of Hoenn and La Rousse. LaRousse was a confluence point for many different factors had a lot of people and therefore trainers moving through, resulting in it being a great place to hone yourself. I had been planning on taking a pass through there towards the end of my pokemon Journey to sharpen up my team.Usually, it was the feature people mentioned when talking of the city, therefore making it glaringly obvious that these two were avoiding mentioning it.I played along, allowing myself to be drawn into discussing how the city got when it was time for the contest.When we reached the first destination for the day, I grinned as I grasped the three pokeballs I'd brought along just for this. "Teddiursa! Gible! Cranidos! Come on out!" I shouted as I released the three pokeballs for some of my youngest pokemon.All three appeared and blinked at what they found.The playground closest to the Gym didn't have all the fancy bells and whistles that other playgrounds did these days.It was simple plastic and steel, with a structure with swings, slip and slides, sandpits and open areas leading into a jungle gym.All three of my pokemon stared at it, unsure what to make of it. Gible and Teddiursa turned to me while Cranidos turned to headbutt Gible. I leaned down and intercepted the headbutt, nudging it off so that Crandios slammed into the soft sandpit, causing a small dust cloud to billow out.I coughed and waved my hand back and forth before nudging the top pocket. "Zubat girl? Think you can blow away this dust?" I asked.Zubat, who was happily nestled in my breast pocket, popped out and blew away the dust to reveal a very dirty-looking Anita and Trent, who hadn't been prepared for a sudden Sand Attack.I bonked Cranidos lightly on the head causing him to bray in challenge and attempt to nail me in the shin. "Sorry about him, he's a young pokemon," I said. "He takes a bit of care—" As I said that, I reached out and grabbed Gible to stop him from biting a hole in the jungle gym."None of that either," I said. "No biting here, this is a playground," I said, gesturing around us. I got back a round of blank stares. I turned to Anita and Trent. "I think I'm going to need your help for this," I said.They blinked and pointed at themselves. "Yup! I need you to help show my pokemon how to have fun." I waved a hand towards their belts. "You should do the same."I smiled as the pair of them released their pokemon, bar Slaking. I gave Anita another look. "Not going to include him?" I asked.She paused and shot the very delicate-looking playground a look as she chewed on her lip. "He might wreck it?"I nodded. "He might, but tell you what, anything he wrecks, you can blame on me," I said. Mentally I was banking on Slaking's rather well-established species trait of being rather lazy. Less so than Snorlax, but still, they were known to laze around a lot.Anita's had eaten with us, but food was usually one of the best ways to motivate any lazy pokemon. When he'd been done he'd curled up on a couch by himself and gone to sleep.Anita swallowed, straightened her spine and threw out her Slaking. Her pokemon appeared already in a lazing pose. He gave the playground a disinterested look, yawning.I watched Anita fret and hummed. The most powerful pokemon in her team was both a shield and a weight to her, it would seem. It alone, along with the single comment earlier, made me wonder about other aspects of her past for a moment.Eventually, Anita spoke up. "W-want to play with us?" she said haltingly.Slaking gave the playground another look, then gave Anita a look over before grunting and shaking his head. Anita looked toward me and I gestured to the shaded bench off to the side."W-well, maybe you'd like to have a rest?" she said, waving frantically at the bench.Slaking gave her another look before looking at the bench. Then it tilted its head and looked straight up at the sun for a long moment.After probably giving itself sun blindness it looked down and blinked a few times, before rising to its full height to amble over to the bench were it lay down and scratched its back.I shot Anita a thumbs up. It was baby steps, but it was still something Slaking would have wanted to do, which helped. "Alright!" I said regathering the energy. "Let's play!" I said dragging Gawain and Link into the game by tagging Link with a light slap."Tag you're it!" I said as I ran toward the playground.This caused the other pokemon to sprint away while Link pursued, resulting in a rather fun game. When it was obvious none of the pokemon were going to be able to catch Zubat I accepted a tag from Gawain only to jump as high as I could to lightly tap her. "You're it!" I announced triumphantly.Zubat chose to chase Anita then and the young girl sprinted her heart out, diving through obstacles, scurrying through tunnels and faking out like a champion tag player. I made a gesture to Link and Gawain notifying them of my intentions and for them to distract Anita. They nodded and prepared themselves accordingly.I decided to use the moment to sidle up to Trent."So, you've obviously been friends for a while, yeah?" I said, watching Anita finally get tagged, only for her to seek out Cranidos who was more than happy for an excuse to 'tag' someone else. Sadly for him he barely got any steam up in his charge before Gawain 'mistimed' a jump to get tagged.Gawain turned his gaze upon Anita and the girl cursed before taking off again. She had impressive cardio, I had to give her that.Trent nodded. "Yeah, we grew up together," he said easily."Ah, childhood friends," I said with a nod before continuing. "How long has she been putting you down for?" I asked nonchalantly, like I wasn't interested in the answer.Trent stiffened. "She doesn't—""During your match, she was very much bullying you, I'm sorry to say. It looks even worse after her… well, collapse."I waved a hand. "Now she doesn't have any pokemon that are mistreated or injured, which are the usual indicators for a bully or person that is far along on a spectrum, shall we say, but she does deride you and put you down.""It's not…" Trent started to say, only to grimace. "She's just under a lot of pressure.""Hmmm, nah," I said in response."Nah?" Trent parroted back at me.I nodded. "Yeah, nah," I said, enjoying the oxymoron and how it caused Trent to look at me in dumbfounded disbelief, now clearly unsure what I meant. Good, he was willing to listen."Her acting like that to you is bad, and I'm sorry to say you laying down and supporting it is enabling it. You need to call her out if she does it to you." I raised a hand. "It doesn't need to be in public, it can be in private," I suggested. "Consider how it makes you feel and tell her, but! Also consider that if she is using it as a method to calm herself down or build her own confidence, it's only a weakness for her."Trent stiffened, "A weakness?" he said.I mentally rolled my eyes. Trust a young kid in a pokemon world to focus on that and not on his own feelings. I'd probably have to circle around to that again if I got the chance. "Yes, she's introducing a weakness. For instance, what happens if she tries to do that to someone else?""She wouldn't!" said Trent firmly.I nodded along, letting myself be seen agreeing with him. "Yeah, most likely… but… what would happen if you weren't with her? Would she act out more? Or worse? She'd have an established habit of doing it that might make her fall back into it. So, if you were required to end your Journey…. Or you fell sick for instance… what might happen?" I said, painting some generic but still possible situations for him.Trent frowned, his jaw working as he chewed his lip. We watched as Anita was tagged and began chasing Link, only to find him teasing her with jumps that carried him away with deceptive speed."What should I do?" Trent said after another few moments in which Anita, tired beyond belief, gave up on tagging Link and instead moved to take a drink from the water bubbler in the shade.I grinned."Right, you need to draw a line in the sand and make sure she knows that you're worried about her behaviour. How it could affect her, and you. Make sure you stress your feelings on the matter," I said, trying to edge things back into the correct path."Yeah, she'll listen better if I do it that way!" Trent said with a nod.I held in a sigh. Alright, not how I wanted to help foster a healthy relationship, but—My thoughts were derailed as Slaking, who'd been watching Anita from the shade, sauntered over to her, and offered his hand. She blinked and then hesitantly tapped him on the hand, causing him to become 'it'.Slaking turned his gaze upon all the pokemon that had been toying with Anita and grinned. Gawain took off and Link hustled as fast as he could, while Zubat went high.Slaking charged after Link, causing the other pokemon to get out of the way.Thankfully Link was caught before anything could be damaged or injured. Slaking slapped Link and a sound like a balloon being struck sounded out, with Link floating up and away only to drift back down with a bemused look on his face.Slaking snorted and raised his chin. The powerful normal type gave the others a look before huffing and proudly stalking back to his bench. When he got there he nodded once at Anita. Then he lay back down and went back to dozing.Huh… alright, that was another thing I hadn't been aiming for but had gotten.I guess that makes two tasks… failed successfully?…Right, a win was a win regardless! I thought to myself as I ignored Link hopping his way back to tag another pokemon.I decided to cash out now so I whistled, "Alright gang! That's long enough, let's keep moving!" I called out.Gible jumped out of the sandpit, having been hiding himself there only to crow with delight. The other pokemon blinked and I saw a wave of surprise ripple through them. I frowned for a moment, only to realise that in the entire twenty minutes that they'd been playing, none of them had been able to tag Gible. He'd been too good with Dig to get tagged.Huh, that was neat to know. He must be watching my other pokemon like Sanchez when he practised more than I'd realised.Hmmm, clever little guy. I gestured for him to hop up into my hands and he did so like an overeager puppy. Trent, seeing the leaping mass of teeth, did the smart thing and bolted away. I merely reached out, catching Gible with a twist and flick of my hands to turn him before any teeth could latch onto me.I returned my other pokemon and tapped my shoulder for Zubat to land on. "Alright gang! Forward to the race track!" I called out.Anita returned most of her pokemon, leaving only Zigzagoon out to run around, while Trent simply returned his entire team. He was clearly still locked in thought, something that Anita didn't notice as she skipped along."Did you see that, Trent? I had Slaking playing along with the rest of the team!""Hmmm," muttered Trent."If I get him following commands, I might be able to use him soon!" she continued."Yeah," said Trent, his eyes distant.I decided to step in a little. "So, Slaking? You said your sister gave him to you? Is he your safety pokemon?"Anita nodded, suddenly much shyer. I tilted my head. "I gather there's a story there? Did you not want Slaking?""What? No! I wanted Slaking! It's just… well my sister is…" She shifted about and glanced around before whispering. "Gladys, my sister is Gladys!" she said with a put upon expression. Zigzagoon must have realised that his trainer was feeling down as he jumped up on her shoulder and nuzzled her cheekI raised an eyebrow and for the next minute nothing was said as Anita avoided looking at me.Anita must have taken the silence the wrong way as she huffed. "See? That's the issue, she's famous, and that causes—"I coughed. "Oh, actually no, I was waiting for you to elaborate, I… have no idea who your sister is," I admitted.Anita's head snapped up and she stared at me in disbelief. "You? What? No! You have to be lying!" she shouted.Trent roused from his internal turmoil, realising that something had occurred while he'd been lost in thought. He glanced at me, then back to Anita.In the meantime, I merely gave Anita a blank look."You… you're not lying? You don't know who my sister is, do you?" Anita asked as realisation slowly dawned."I take it I'm supposed to? What is she famous for?" I asked."She's the current undefeated Queen of the LaRousse Battle Tower!" Anita said. "I can't go anywhere in town without people asking after her! Everyone wants me to be just as good!""Ah," I said as some of Anita's hang-ups made some sense to me now. She was a younger sibling living in the shadow of her more famous sister. Hmmm, now that sounded a little bit familiar to me. Only I was on the other side of the equation."So…" I rubbed my chin in thought on how to broach this topic. "Fame… is relative, like a lot of things in life. Your sister Gladys? She might be a local celebrity, but that doesn't mean much when you travel further afield than home. You'll probably find there aren't many people that have heard of her that aren't from LaRousse, or that are dedicated to the Battle Club scene.""We call them Battle Towers in Hoenn," Anita corrected me absently. She then stared at me in shock. "You've never heard of Gladys Gulfiefort? Truly?" she asked again.I chuckled. "I'll repeat myself, fame is relative. Your sister is famous in LaRousse, but let me ask you this: Who would win between her and Steven Stone?"Trent and Anita both opened their mouths, only to pause and tilt their heads. I chuckled and began rattling off other famous names of Hoenn. "Drake, Glacia, Sidney, Phoebe?" When they shook their heads again, a look of understanding began to form in both of their eyes."What about the other Gym Leaders? Wattson, Winona, or Wallace?" I asked."She can beat them!" said Anita firmly.I chuckled. "Don't rate them by the pokemon you face at the typical Journey match level, but what they would bring forth if this was an exhibition match at least. Think about it like how my match with Lance went, if that helps. Everyone knows that it is easy to get my badge if you come to my Gym first, but what doesn't get mentioned to young trainers on their Journey is that we all have much stronger teams than are usually advertised," I said.Anita and Trent shared a glance. "We knew that!" they said, only to then refuse to meet my judgemental gaze.I chuckled and lifted up Gible to rub his belly. I was far too used to the problems that young trainers caused or got themselves into with their ignorance. They just didn't quite realise what they didn't know and how big the world was, even inside only the known three regions.It was a funny thing to be on the cusp of the internet age, knowing that the world was still going to get bigger while at the same time, much smaller.Hopefully it would lead to more well informed ten-year-olds challenging me.When we reached the racetrack, the kids forgot their existential revelations about the world and their places in it, as pokemon that were truly moving became visible.I watched a pair of Rapidash pacing each other, while on their backs jockeys urged their pokemon on. On the side of the track a trainer barked orders on how to improve the riders, stances or how to eke out another stride every ten metres for one of the blazing fire pokemon.They cleared the straight only for a herd of Rhyhorn to rumble past, making it seem like tanks were on the march with how they moved. On their backs trainers jostled and elbowed each other as their pokemon fought their way forward as much as they ran forward.Interestingly enough, for this type of race, most of the riders wore thick padding which made them look much bigger than they actually were. They all also wore some form of headgear, either a hardened riding helmet, or for the more savage trainers, a proper sports headgear that kept them as streamlined as possible.Something about watching the Rhyhorn herd fighting it out twinged something in my brain. Something about Ash and a Rhyhorn… but that didn't sound right. Ash caught a herd of Tauros in the canon cartoon timeline.Still, there was something there.I eyed the lead rider-Rhyhorn pair break away for the final hundred metres to 'win' the training bout. I chuckled as they bucked and played up their victory more like you would expect from a Tauros rider.Speaking of which, I noted the other part of the track that was a round arena where Rapidash and Tauros were ridden, only in this case it was for buckjumping and bullriding, which, with pokemon involved, was a much more deadly affair.I watched one rider get hurled across the arena, only to land on the ground and roll to their feet. "Ole!" they shouted, but a moment later a small man marched out and began chewing them out. Hmmm, it seemed they were in training just as much as the pokemon were.I rubbed my chin. I hadn't realised there was a Rodeo and CampDraft equivalent for pokemon. Nor did I realise that they were being run from a site next to the racetrack.I frowned. Hang on a second, I'd been here… I tilted my head. When was the last time I'd gone on patrol? Like a proper patrol?"Gym Leader Brock!" called a voice, causing me to snap out of my thoughts and find myself with a small crowd of people approaching. The man who spoke was the one that had previously been shouting at the rodeo bronco rider, or was it called something else?"Hello there!" I said as I shifted into my public presentation mask. "I have to say, I must have missed this facility the last time I came around on patrol," I said, indicating the arena."Heh! No! You wouldn't have missed it!" the man said with a nod of his hat. "That there is an as yet unopened centre of roughhousing!" He grinned and winked, "I like to think of it as Tough Tech, where we take young lads and lasses and give them an education into some of the harder sports around!"I nodded slowly. "That being… Rapidash buck jumping, Tauros riding…. And other events?" I said, unsure how to explain my understanding of a rather niche sport.What I'd said seemed enough to stun the short man and his entourage for a moment. "I say! I didn't know you were a fan! Most people aren't too aware of our sport!" He adjusted his bolo tie and nodded in a pleased manner. "Well, if Gym Leader Brock is known to be a fan, then I think we'll do a bit better than anticipated!" he said.I blinked. "You're not well established and yet you have… a new arena?" I said tilting my head. Something didn't make sense here. I decided to dig deeper. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your name, either."The man chuckled "My apologies! I'm Clark Candor! President and founder of the Rough Riders Association in Indigo! We've been something of a niche sport for a while, but the recent fairs that have been sweeping around Kanto this season have seen people reaching out for new attractions. Our sport is just that!" he said, lacing his hands into his belt as he puffed up proudly.I nodded slowly, adding two and two mentally to get four. "And that has led to a surge in popularity and money which allows you to do more," I said, glancing at the new 'unopened' arena."What about barrel races and flag events?" I asked, only to draw blank expressions. I glanced at the arena and saw some barrels. Perhaps they called them something else?"You know? Where you set up three barrels in a triangle shape and have the riders go through them from a standing start to demonstrate acceleration and agility? Or where you have a line of flags in a row and the rider and pokemon have to weave through them?" I offered, recalling events from my first life.When I continued to draw blank looks I realised I might have made a mistake.Clark Candor however beamed at me. "That sounds like a swell event! Agility and speed all in one!" he said. "Where'd you ever catch sight of that?"I waved a hand. "Oh you know, around."Clark grinned. "Seen anything else that would work for our sporting field?"I hummed, relaxing at his welcoming attitude. A few of the people, pokemon riders or event organisers judging by their attire, all seemed much more interested in what I had to say.So I decided to run with it. "What about flag events? Where you have rider and pokemon dart out to poles that are further and further out, grab a flag off the top while making a turn and then stashing the flags in a small catcher at the starting point?""Oh! I like it!" crowed Clark.I smiled, pleased that he was onboard with the idea. "When is your official opening?" I asked."A few weeks, we're doing a soft open now to check the facilities over and iron things out a bit, then we're going to have a big rodeo! Should be a real drawcard for Pewter, I reckon!" said Clark.I nodded, agreeing with the idea. "Well, be sure to invite me along, I'll bring my family and some friends," I said."I'll be sure to send you free tickets!" Clark said proudly.I smiled and nodded in thanks before glancing at Trent and Anita. "What do you two think about that?" I said, prompting their input.Anita blinked, having not expected to be called out. "Uh?" she said.Trent coughed, stepping forward slightly. "Uhm, will younger people be able to take part, or is it only professionals?"Clark whistled. "Now there's a good idea!" He snapped his fingers and one of the suited individuals who'd been jotting down things the entire time we'd been talking continued to write. "Write that down," said Clark."I have been, sir," said the woman and I blinked, realising she'd literally been copying my ideas. Huh, looks like I'd started a Gymkhana event that was going to be for all ages, Suzie was so going to want to join when she saw it.I couldn't wait to see her zipping around on the back of a little Ponyta. She'd be so cute.I coughed, noticing the time. "I need to keep moving, I'm sorry to say, but definitely contact the Gym, I'd love to hear more about this," I said as I waved goodbye to the group.I nodded my head towards the race track. "Sorry about that, let's go check out the race track and see if anyone can help out with your Zigzagoon's speed issue," I said.Anita nodded along slowly, her eyes tracking me in a very unsubtle fashion. Ah, she must not have thought about how I was somewhat of a local celebrity. Now she was experiencing it again."Sorry if that raised some bad memories," I said.Anita blinked. "Hmmm? Oh, no, you're nothing like Gladys when talking with the public," she said. "You also… asked for my opinion, that doesn't happen… ever with her.""Hmmm," I said. The more I learnt about her situation the more I pitied her and wanted her to avoid the pitfalls she'd been sprinting at. I glanced towards Trent, hopefully a softer approach might be all that is needed.I could show them part of the way, but I couldn't always hold their hands.When we reached the race track proper, it was quite easy to talk to one of the race trainers into watching Zigzagoon and Anita to get an idea of what was wrong. The man quickly had some ideas and was already working with Anita to deal with the issue.I sat off to the side with Trent, more than happy to be a spectator to a different style of training.Overhead a trio of Pidgeot flew, with two of the birds twirling around each other in a tight helix. I frowned when I spotted both trainers hop from the backs of their pokemon.I rose, instinct warning me to get moving now, I'd only have seconds to intercept them from that height—Before I could do that, both riders landed on the other person's pokemon and raised their hands. Oh, it was stunt flying. I sat back down and calmed my racing heart.Trent glanced at me. "You've never seen that trick before?" he asked.I shook my head. "Haven't seen the stunt displays much to be honest," I said. "Have to say that was rather scary to watch," I confided."Hmm, it wasn't very good,'' Trent said with a shake of his head. "They need to be tighter, it's actually easy to do it as a jump, really skilled riders can lock into a spiral and go back to back and sort of counter roll to put them in opposite saddles."I blinked, picturing the acrobatics and how tight the margin for error would have to be. "That would be impressive to see." I glanced at Trent. "Do you have much experience with it?""My cousins are stunt flyers and riders," he said."Riders too, huh?" I said with a whistle of appreciation. "I really need to get out more if I'm missing those sorts of shows," I commented. And didn't saying it make it feel true?I sighed and shook my head, deciding to sit back and enjoy the show while I had some free time.For a short walk around Pewter, I felt like I'd gotten a lot out of it.When I got home at the end of the day, everyone was in the dining room eating dinner. As I took a seat, Nanny Grav quickly slipped a plate in front of me. I raised my fork only to spot an undercurrent of tension in the room. I put the food back down. "What's wrong?" I asked."I don't want to go to school tomorrow!" said Cindy with a grimace as she nudged around the food on her plate."Why's that?" I asked."We have swimming class tomorrow and I suck at it!" said Cindy.I tilted my head and shot Flint a quick look. "But you're a really good swimmer?" I said.Cindy huffed. "Yeah, but we're not doing it for fun today, we're going to be competing in the swimming competition and this year I got signed up for the long-distance events! I have to swim a whole one hundred metres! That's four whole laps!" she said waving her hands about.I hummed. "You didn't get any of the shorter events?" I asked."No, they went to other kids… well, I do have the relay and the single twenty-five-metre swim but everyone's doing them! I just don't like swimming long events! Can I call in sick tomorrow?" she asked, looking at me hopefully."Don't quit!" chimed in Flint, cutting off Cindy's attempts to get to me with her refined in-strength baby doll eyes. Flint pumped his fist. "You just need to push through! This is a good chance to show your grit!" he said with an upbeat attitude."I can't do it!" Cindy wailed."You can't with that attitude," Flint and I said at the same time. I held back the shiver of uncanniness at us jinxing each other.From the side of my peripheral vision I saw Tommy straighten, excitement in his gaze as he opened his mouth to shout.I touched my nose and pointed at Flint. "Jinx! You can't speak until someone says your name!""Daddy got jinxed!" cheered Tilly, only to gasp, "Oh no! I said Daddy's name!" she said in horror.I snorted. "Daddy isn't his name," I said, only to earn a wall of incomprehension from the younger kids.Yolanda giggled while Salvadore looked up, tilted his head and opened his mouth. "Oh right, his name is—" he started to say, only for Cindy to lunge at Salvadore to silence him. She shot Flint a gleeful look.I chuckled, only to realise why Cindy was doing this.I coughed, ignoring Flint pretending to open and shut his mouth without saying anything as he played along with the game. "We are right though, Cindy, you shouldn't just give up and say you can't. Instead you should be like the Can Do—" I cast around for an appropriate pokemon and paused on Magikarp. "—the Can Do Magikarp!" I said with a winning smile.Cindy and all the other kids stared at me. "The Can Do Magikarp?" they asked."Munchlax?" said Munchlax, leaning back and staring at me with interest.I coughed, "Yeah? The Can Do Magikarp, have I not told you that story before?" I asked, knowing that I obviously hadn't.Cindy shook her head and I realised—judging from the looks I was getting— that I would need to perform the story now.I stood and began to wriggle and wiggle like a Magikarp would, all while laying out the story of the Can Do Magikarp.I wiggled my arms in a fish like motion, spearing them upwards while writhing. "And the little Magikarp continued to swim! Up and up the waterfall! Nothing could stop him! Not the rushing waters or the jeering pokemon below or around him!""Nooooo! Swim Magicup!" said Tilly with a passionate wail, waving her hands like she could urge on the fictional Magikarp.I smiled, but didn't chuckle like I wanted to. "So that little Magikarp continued to swim! With each slash of his tail the top of the waterfall grew closer! But! The water grew faster as it rushed over the edge! And it grew harder and harder! But in his mind, he stuck to the thought! I can do this! I can do this! And he began to inch his way up the waterfall!"I writhed my arms about and squirmed my body, deeply amused to see so many eyes watching my impromptu performance."And then! When he reached the top he leapt one final time, clearing the Torii gate at the top and silencing all the pokemon that doubted him!""Woah!" said Suzie and Timmy together."And with his strength proven to all! He evolved into one of the most powerful Gyarados of the land!" I said with a fist thrust upwards."Woah? Really?" said Salvadore.I coughed. "Maybe? It's a story, and the point is to not give up, if you push yourself you can do more than you realise!" I said, giving Cindy a soft smile.She chewed her lip and nodded. "Alright… I think I can do it," she said with a small nod.I sat back down feeling all the better for how I'd motivated my sister. I noted that Flint still couldn't talk and decided to take mercy on him. "So, Flint, are you going to the swimming event tomorrow?" I asked.Tommy, realising what I'd done, threw up his hands. "Argh! You ruined it!" he said, causing a chuckle from the older kids, myself and Flint.I shook my head and decided to just enjoy my dinner.
199
"Your new fans are back," said Jackson with a smile as I got ready for my next match.I glanced over and noticed Anita and Trent both sitting in the front row. "They're good kids then, must have good taste," I said with a fake obnoxious smile, cupping my chin with my hand as I pretended to look suave."Sure thing, I think it's just that you're the first established trainer to give them any time of day," he said.I shot Jackson an amused look. "If a trainer in the top twenty of the Ace rankings and a Gym Leader to boot gave you the time of day when you started out on your Journey, wouldn't you be leaping at the chance?" I said.Jackson couldn't refute that and I grinned for a moment before adopting my stern Gym Leader face for the coming challenger.The challenger I faced was perfectly generic in that they'd done the required reading for their first badge, coming in with a well-trained Mankey and Weepingbell against my rock-type pokemon.Anita watched on enviously, but when I gestured to the empty podium she merely mouthed the word 'soon'. I replied with a nod, more than happy for a young person to show some restraint instead of throwing themselves into something.It had been two days since Anita and Trent had both challenged me, and both of them, most likely at Anita's insistence, had been coming back to the gym daily. They'd been tousling with the local kids who had started coming around more and more of late.Speaking of young kids that threw themselves into things… "Where's A.J.?" I asked when I reached the top of the stairs, back at the trainer section of the gym.Yolanda and Crystal who were sitting around at the top shared an amused look, while Dennis coughed. "He's not working right now… he usually uses his lunch breaks to get some more battling in with the local kids," he said dutifully.I nodded, knowing there had to be more to it than that, judging by the girls' reactions. "Riiiiiight," I said leadingly.When Dennis merely smiled and nodded I turned to Yolanda, wondering what more she knew.Yolanda rolled her eyes fondly. "A.J.'s set up his challenge again." When I gave her a blank look she huffed. "You know? That 'I will win one hundred times before I set off'? He's doing mini versions of that each day, trying for twenty wins a day. Usually, he rushes over to the battleclub at the end of the day, or he sets up fights on the battle courts outside if the right people are here," she said."Hmmmm," I said thoughtfully. "He wins that often?" I asked, an idea for how to hit two Pidgey with one rock forming up.Yolanda nodded. "Yeah, he wins roughly twenty matches each day so far. I think going off to Goldenrod and Celadon has really made him stronger.""That's good," I said, before glancing from Yolanda to Crystal. "Have either of you beaten him?" I asked leadingly.That caused both of them to blink. "No?" said Yolanda thoughtfully. "I don't really have a team beyond Terra and Spot right now…""So do a two-on-two, or a dual pokemon battle," I suggested easily. I then turned to Crystal whom I knew had more pokemon thanks to her mother being freer with her money. "Or are you afraid you'll lose?" I taunted, baiting the trap further.Crystal narrowed her eyes. "No?"I nodded. "It's alright, he's a more experienced trainer, I'd be afraid of losing as well," I said, deliberately playing up the pity in my tone. That caused Crystal to sit up indignantly."He's not better than me!""I never said he was," I said easily. "That said…" I trailed off leadingly and Crystal scowled.Yolanda snorted. "You're not fooling anyone, Brock," said Yolanda with a sniff. "Stop baiting my friends into fighting each other!"I raised my eyebrows. "I'm just pointing out that you have a trainer who is dedicating himself to his craft, while you sit back and wait for things to come to you. You could learn a thing or two, and if you wanted to have an easier match, you didn't have to face him first off. I imagine it would rankle his pride if you beat him with two or three matches left to go for his twenty matches a day."Yolanda blinked. "What do you mean?"I smirked. "If he's set up a challenge like he used to have, then it's twenty victories in a row, not a day. So he might be fighting way, way more than people realise," I said, causing both girls to blink in shock.I pointed at them. "I think both of you should consider it, I'm going to be ordering Greta to start doing it each day regardless, as A.J. has the right idea of honing himself, even if he overdoes it… a bit," I said.Dennis coughed loudly, letting me know he was listening and thought I was understating A.J.'s… passion for fighting a bit more than I should."Feel free to take from the three-tier match pokemon," I said to Yolanda, who didn't have as many pokemon herself. I wanted her to test herself, and running face first into a better trainer in a controlled setting would be good. A.J. would learn that you couldn't always just grind for strength and that he'd need to be tactical. I'd probably need to have him run into the obstacle for a bit first before I demonstrated endurance battling with my Elite challenge.Yolanda started to smirk, and I realised she'd thought of a loophole. "Not Izumi," I said firmly, causing her to grumble but eventually nod.I smirked and glanced towards Trent and Anita, who were heading out with a pair of trainers themselves to get into a friendly match.Good, it seemed everyone had some goals and targets to improve themselves in the young crowd. Before I left, I tapped Yolanda on the shoulder. "Remember to remind Greta and A.J. that they're going to be going to Cerulean with me tomorrow, and to Saffron on Saturday.""Hmmm an easy match before you make them face Sabrina… wait she only takes four badges or more…" Yolanda said before coughing. "Oh right, Kong, I forgot about him," Yolanda with a small playful bonk to her head."I'm sure Kong is wounded, but yes, an easy match for Greta followed by a more neutral match. Whereas for A.J. it's going to be two tough matches if he wants to rely on his Sandshrew.""Then you're going spelunking with Dad, right?" Yolanda said leadingly.I nodded and noticed how much wider and more natural her smile had become. I huffed at her and poked her on the forehead. "Go bug A.J., " I said.Yolanda nodded before stiffening, an evil grin forming as she seemed to realise something.I considered what I'd said, before realising that Anorith and a few other pokemon were in the third tier and below roster. Hmmm, it seems like A.J. was about to face a few motivated trainers with plans to trip him up.It'd be good practice for him when he was older.It wasn't hypocritical when I said it, I'd experienced people sniping me, and A.J. would do well to realise that people could do the same to him. Seriously, he needed to catch some more pokemon!He still had the same pokemon he came to the Gym with!I gave the rest of the day's tasks a careful look over, considering times and distances before I nodded to myself. "Where's Greta?" I asked as I continued to weigh up the feasibility of what I was about to do. It would be showing an extreme degree of favouritism… unless I offered to do it with all of my sponsored trainers, or the ones that wanted it at least, but it would still be worth a trip.Plus it had been a while, I could write it up as doing a patrol.I continued to weigh it up in my head. Eventually, I turned to Dennis. "If I offered to take the kids to… the base of the Silver Range, do you think—"Dennis threw up his hands. "Are you trying to raise a year of monster trainers? If you do that for Greta and A.J. it will be bad enough! If Yolanda gets more options she's going to be spoilt for choice!" he said passionately.I blinked. "So… I shouldn't do it?""Maybe leave it to them to ask? Are you still considering giving kids like Gary Oak one of the Ancient pokemon if he comes back?" Dennis asked.I paused. Gary had been one of the only kids to ask. I quickly brought up his trainer form on the pokenet and found that he'd collected five major gym badges so far, along with Sophia, Kong, Manny, and Gray's, putting him at nine badges, with only Sabrina's left to acquire in Kanto.I whistled. "Huh, yup, I think he's going to earn it," I said looking at the comments about Gary. A lot of them were to the tune of 'cocky but has the knowledge and continues to develop well.'"He's also got a very wide list of pokemon," I said, noting that the Rhyhorn he'd gotten from us was now a Rhydon. He also had a Graveler. Nidorina, Nidorino, Arcanine, Magmar, Scyther, Doduo, Kingler, Eevee, Abra, Fearow, Horsea, and of course, his starter, which was now a Blastoise. I whistled. The kid had a good team of pokemon that was only going to grow stronger.I brought up Mia's trainer profile out of interest, and found that she had eight badges, with only Manny and Sabrina left if she wanted to match Gary's feat of all the Kanto badges. Her pokemon roster was also nowhere near as deep, with only five pokemon.That being said, they were good pokemon to have. Silly Mouse, her starter, a Raticate now, along with Farfetch'd called Sir Quacksalot, a Houndour called Ember, an Azumarill called Bouncey… and a Dragonair…I dialled Mia's number right away."Hiya Brock!" she said with a huge smile. Silly Mouse appeared on her shoulder with a fanged grin and waved a paw at me."Hey Mia and Silly Mouse," I said with a chuckle. "Congratulations on qualifying for the end-of-year tournament! Or at least the preliminaries," I said with a laugh.Mia nodded her head. "Oh, thanks! I only just got it!" She squinted her eyes at me. "Do they send.. like a message or something?"I shook my head. "No, I was just checking over your profile as it's been a few weeks now, no?" I said casually.Mia rubbed the back of her head. "Ahahaha! So… you know, then?" she said.I nodded. "So you have a Dragonair now?" I asked.Mia squirmed gleefully. "Yes! I do! And it's so cool and graceful! I found her when I was swimming around Vermillion Beach with my Azumaril! She was hurt and I nursed her back to health and she bonded with me and I just! I just! Oh, she's so great!""Anyone give you any trouble over having her?" I asked."A few people tried to pressure me when I brought her out in a match against another trainer a few days ago," Mia confessed. "They were getting really demanding about me trading them for her and I kept saying no. It got to the point where I threatened to have Silly Mouse Super Fang them!" She giggled, "Then Gary's girlfriends stepped in and fought them off before I could with their pokemon, they're really strong, you know?"I smirked. "Thus why they're Gary's girlfriends," I said leadingly."Oh! That makes way more sense than them just pitying Gary," she said."Hey!" called a voice that belonged to Gary.Mia giggled as Gary stomped over and glared at her. "I'm not pitiable! I'm handsome and suave!""Sure thing!" Mia said with a nod. "Say, where do you want to have dinner tonight?" she said quickly.Gary grinned. "Mr Mime's!" he said with a confident smile, only for a round of tittering to break out on their end of the call. Even Silly Mouse was chuffing with laughter.I hummed. "Nothing wrong with a flaming Tauros burger with some Miltank cheese," I said, offering my support to Gary."See! Brock's a man of culture!" Gary said.I nodded, before recalling the conversation that had prompted me to seek out Gary's information. "I see you're one badge away from completing the challenge I set you when we spoke after our match, Gary," I prompted.Gary blinked, then frowned. "The challenge you set down for me…" he said before brightening up as though someone had just shone a Flash on him. "You were serious about that?" he said, sounding like he'd just been promised an early and a normal Christmas."If you can do it," I said with a smirk. "Good luck against Sabrina," I said.Gary nodded seriously. "I'll do it! And then I'll be back to acquire my pokemon!" he said like he'd already defeated Sabrina. I merely hummed and glanced towards Mia."What're your movements?" I asked.Mia coughed. "Well, we're going to Saffron so Gary can train up to fight against Sabrina, but in the meantime I'm going to work with Kong, he said I had good potential and that if I stuck around for a couple of months he'd assign a pokemon to me! I think a Machop would be pretty swell!" she said.I merely nodded along, knowing that it would likely be much better than that if she impressed Kong. It wasn't widely known, but trainers who did work with him got pokemon. Impress him? He'd give you a much better fighting-type pokemon.I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the Circuit Mia had a Hitmonlee or a Hitmonchan for herself like Humphrey did.Speaking of which, I called to touch base only for him to be about to get into a trainer battle."Send me a record and good luck!" I said before hanging up.With two Pidgeys taken out of the sky with one rock, or rather phone call, I bid them goodbye after thanking Gary's security team for looking out for Mia.I checked over my schedule and found I had one more challenger before the break, with a final challenger in the very last slot. I huffed in annoyance as I read the note that the trainer wouldn't move the time slot earlier.Urgh, annoying, but that was the gig sometimes. I marched towards the medbay to collect a tier three team for this match as I read through the trainer's profile idly. When I was done I made a circuit around the gym and back to the top of the stairs.Only then did I signal Rachel that I was ready."From Lavender Town! Yvonne the Horror!" called Rachel with a grin.Huh, we usually didn't get trainers that altered or adjusted their intro. They were usually too focused on the coming match.A young girl stalked out, with her head tucked forward and her hands in her pocket, with a carefully curated air of one that doesn't care about what's going on around her, while also having an obvious chip on her shoulder.Oh no, a young girl with attitude, I thought to myself as I went through my normal scowling introduction and challenge.The girl snorted and something about the way she did it gave me pause. A snort shouldn't be a way of recognising people, but it was rather distinctive with how she almost tossed her head as she did it.Very dramatic and over the top."Trainers! Are you ready?" called Dennis from the referee stand.We both nodded and I sent forth my first pokemon. "Go! Lileep!" I shouted."Come out to fight! Gastly!" she called, sending out what appeared to be a leery cloud of gas.I paused at the selection. A snort of derision and a Gastly do not a trainer under Agatha make… However, there was an easy way to find out."Fan of Agatha's, eh?" I said with a wide, innocent smile.Yvonne shot me a furious look and I mentally ticked off another mark. Yup, this girl totally knew Agatha if she was reacting like that.No girl who had met and trained with Agatha would retain their hero worship. Agatha was a stubborn old biddy that trained hard. I'd hate to be a trainer under her purview."Curse," she said through gritted teeth."Ingrain!" I said, deciding to negate some of the effects of curse as best I could. "Then go into Mega Drain!" I barked."Tch! Going to make me work for it, are you?" she said. "Payback into Hypnosis!" she called, allowing her Gastly to take a hit of Mega Drain before it shot forward and launched itself through my pokemon, laughing as it did so."Astonich!" I called, making Lillep curl in on itself before popping out its frills and startling Gastly into stopping the Hypnosis. "Brine!" I said, following up with an attack as quickly as I could."Protect!" called Yvonne, and her pokemon blocked the attack earning a nod of approval from me. She didn't seem super comfortable with her Gastly at the start there, but she was warming up.That or she was adapting as we fought, which I'd have to test for. Shame she hadn't gone for a gauntlet, then I'd have been able to really put her through her paces."Sandstorm!" I ordered, using one of the only moves this Lileep knew that was rock-type to make things harder for Yvonne."Tch! Gastly return!" she called. She then kept me waiting as my Lileep slowly drained. She gained a smug look from what I could see projected on the big screen and she was obviously patting herself on the back, for playing to her strengths like she was with Curse still in effect.I was honestly impressed her Gastly had lasted through Curse, Mega Drain, and Astonish."Come on out Gligar!" called Yvonne.I blinked, having expected another ghost-type pokemon to emerge. A ground-flying type was a wonderful counter to this situation, and Yvonne demonstrated that straight away."Acrobatics!" she called over the howl of the Sandstorm, her pokemon rising with the roaring winds only to streak down."Blast it with Brine!" I called and Lileep, like a turret firing at an oncoming kamikaze plane, began unleashing blast after blast of watery gouts at Gligar.Gligar merely tucked one wing after the other, dodging the attacks before slamming home into Lileep and knocking out the first pokemon. With Curse in effect it only took the one normally effective move to knock out my pokemon.I withdrew the pokemon and nodded. "Nicely done putting on the pressure there, Lileep," I said, before selecting my next pokemon.While Gligar had been a good answer to Lileep, it wasn't going to be the same for my next pokemon."Go! Corsola!" I shouted, sending out my second pokemon, and specifically a water-rock pokemon."Urgh, wait, no this could work," Yvonne said only to scowl. "Sand Attack!" she shouted, calling for what I could infer as the only Ground type move Gligar knew.Gligar didn't even need to lower itself with the sandstorm still in effect, instead, it beat its wings and sent a spray straight into my pokemon's eyes. It caused Corsola to recoil and me to grimace, knowing I needed to get rid of that Sandstorm as it wasn't impacting Yvonne and rather played in her favour. Still, I wanted one other move first."Aqua Ring!" I called and my Corsola formed a ring of water that surrounded it. Much like with Lileep, I had options to extend the fighting strength of my pokemon with this move."Repeat!" Yvonne said, sending out another Sand Attack causing me to glower at her."Rinse out your eyes with the next move! Surf! Fire straight ahead!" I called, giving Corsola a line of attack while also denying the continued easy Sand Attacks by taking away the Sandstorm.Corsola bounced back and a wave formed up which, by my expectations, was rather pitiful. It barely rose to twice my height, but it was enough to threaten Gligar."Acrobatics! Get over the lip of that wave!" shouted Yvonne. Her pokemon jumped and performed a series of barrel rolls and twirls which I recognised as a flying-type method of building up quick speed. Then, just before it could be swallowed up by the wave it darted high, shooting over the wave.Sadly for Gligar it did so right where my Corsola, now without sand in its eyes, was perched.I didn't even need to bark an order as Corsola leapt from the wave, Tackling Gligar back down, allowing the wave to crash over them. I whistled, damn this sequence of moves was working out in my favour.Corsola emerged atop a bedraggled looking Gligar."Poison Tail!" snapped Yvonne, and her pokemon lashed out, stabbing its hooked tail into Corsola.Corsola wailed as purple lines began to form around the site of the injury. Damn, she'd been poisoned! "Water Gun! Finish it!" I called and Corsola unleashed a blast of water with a vengeance upon her foe, knocking Gligar out of the fight."Urgh!" Yvonne grunted in annoyance before clicking her tongue. "Nice going out there Gligar! You put them on the ropes for us!" she said as she returned her pokemon, before instantly throwing out a Beedrill of all pokemon.I raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her and pointed straight at the pokemon. "Ancient Power," I said. Corsola gritted her teeth, ignoring the poison that she was fighting through, even as her Aqua Ring healed her, to fire a trio of rocks at Beedrill.I leaned forward in anticipation. If Yvonne was this confident to send out a pokemon noted to be a bad match up, she must know how to leverage her pokemon. "Plan alpha!" she called and a shimmer took over Beedrill's form that instantly had me looking around. I'd faced too many Ninetails using this trick to fall for it.I therefore wasn't surprised in the least when the mirage Beedrill had left behind with Substitute broke, only for Beedrill to reappear in a burst of speed at Corsola's side. The lances on each of Beedrill's arms flashed out once, twice, thrice before going still, only for Corsola to whip around furiously and try to unleash a close-range Ancient Power.Once more it missed, but this time it was pure speed as Yvonne doubled down on Agility."Alright if that's not going to work," I said aloud, before waving a hand forward. "Surf," I commanded.Once more Corsola swept the field with a wave, with her riding it at the top.This time Yvonne had no issues with her pokemon flying up and over the wave. Yvonne shot me a cheeky grin that made me want to rattle her composure a little. So I smirked right back."Launch a Water Gun above you!" I barked and Corsola followed without a hint of hesitation.I then pointed at the orb of water, just before it started to let gravity reclaim it, I gave the next command. "Fire again!" I called. This time Corsola's attacks slammed into each other and a cascade of water fell upon the field, dampening it and causing a pseudo rain effect.This seemed to confuse Beedrill as it paused, hovering off to the side with lances raised in preparation.Yvonne narrowed her eyes, unsure what I was doing, so I repeated the action.When nothing appeared to be changing she scoffed and waved her Beedrill in. "He's stalling to keep his pokemon in the fight with Aqua Ring! Don't worry about it, Beedrill. Plan Gamma this time!" she said and I noted that this pokemon had obviously gotten a lot more attention than her Gastly and her Gligar, if it had specialised move combinations set up. The trick would be to simply learn what they were.Plan Alpha was simple enough and I suspected I knew what Gamma was.A moment later when Beedrill blurred in to deliver another hit to the side, twitching as water fell around it. It came in slower and this let me get Corsola lined up properly. "Ancient Power," I said dispassionately as Beedrill closed, stinger raised, only for Corsola to spin, lifting a trio of rocks to slam them into Beedrill.The move crumbled the bug type like I knew it would and Yvonne gaped in shock. "Huh? What!"She stared at her downed pokemon, unable to comprehend what had just happened. I hummed and gave Dennis a signal not to start the minute counter as I was going to hand out some pearls of wisdom."You don't spend much time with the Bug Catcher Chapter Houses, I take it?" I asked, rubbing my chin."Huh? No, why would I?" she then flushed as she realised how contrary that sounded. "I don't need them!" she said.I shrugged. "Eh, you sort of do, cause I get the idea that you went into the forest and got that Beedrill, who's very well trained might I add," I said, adding on a compliment to soothe her nerves for what was to come.Yvonne preened and I shot her a grim smile. "Sadly, it's you that's failed your pokemon, as there are two key things about Beedrill you don't know, which if you spent time in a bug-infested forest like say… Viridian, you'd know about.""Two things?" she asked with a scowl. "What two things?"I raised one finger. "If you'd spoken with any Bug Catcher Chapter House, they'd tell you in detail about the specific ways that Beedrills perceive the world. They have what are known as compound eyes, which allows them to track lots of things in tiny details. This can make it difficult for them during rain, as sheets of rain block their vision.""Oh," Yvonne said, understanding now what I'd been doing by having Corsola fire off Water Guns into the air before blowing them apart.I raised the second finger. "They also sense with very fine micro hairs spread across their body. Getting those wet can obscure perception and awareness of their three-dimensional space. The water also catches slightly on their hair and slows them down. It's not much, but it makes a difference, no?" I said with an open hand, indicating how her pokemon was down for the count while mine was still in the fight, albeit just barely.I gave Corsola a commiserating look and sighed. "I think she's running out of strength despite that rather fantastic showing. I withdraw my Corsola," I said, putting words to action."Brock is now down two pokemon, with one remaining!" called Dennis dutifully. "Trainers! Please send out your next pokemon.Yvonne scowled only to inhale and then exhale. "It's fine, it's fine. It's just a setback," she said as she returned her pokemon.I smirked and sent out my third and final pokemon, an Aron. It barked happily and did a flip in excitement."Hmmm I can't tell if you're mocking me or trying to show respect," she said as she sent out a Golbat like I knew she would. Yvonne only had four pokemon, after all."Absorb!""Metal Sound," I said, putting my hands over my ears.Aron grinned, inhaled and then exhaled, only the air that he'd inhaled shot through the holes adorning his body, causing a piercing metal shriek to cut through the air and causing Golbat to falter.I was glad I'd convinced Zubat to not come in for this morning's round of matches and instead work with Zephyr on her aerial combat. She would have hated this match, just as much as Golbat was right now, I assumed.With Golbat floundering, I had what felt like all the time in the world to level my hand and dispassionately order, "Rock Tomb."Rocks were kicked from Aron's feet onto Golbat's legs, causing the flying-poison type to buckle and shriek in pain and fright as it was hurt and weighed down."Shit! Golbat! Beta! Beta!" she called, and her pokemon let its mouth burst wide open, startling Aron from closing for a final exchange with what had to be Astonish used against me.Golbat then began to croon, causing a wave of purplish energy to radiate forward and into Aron, who looked steadily more and more unsure of himself."Metal Noise!" I barked, only for Aron to shake his head and roll to the side in confusion and pain.Yvonne exhaled in relief. "Still got a chance, drain chain!" she called, and her Golbat fluttered up before releasing green orbs that wafted into Aron and caused him to cry out in pain, before wafting back towards Golbat."Sandstorm!" I growled, not willing to let things simply remain like that. Aron twisted on a foot and kicked up a Sandstorm which once more caused the winds to howl. Unlike Lileep's efforts, this Sandstorm was much stronger."Urgh! Blow it away with Defog!" Yvonne called. Golbat flapped its wings hard and the Sandstorm that had been battering it died away.I smirked as I felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me as I said, "Another one!"Aron once more did a little break dance kick spin to stir up the winds, only for Golbat to take a modicum of damage before it could blow it away. Yvonne scowled, knowing that she was being forced into a routine that favoured me. I could see her furiously trying to find a way through but her mind wasn't drawing up anything.Eventually, it became too much for Golbat and it fell from the sky, not with a sudden harsh move but a slow, steady grind caused by the on-again off-again Sandstorm."Urgh! I can't believe you're this cheap!" Yvonne said, stomping her foot as she returned her fourth pokemon.I scoffed. "You brought a flying and a bug type against me. Now, you did so with good tactics in mind, but you've got things a bit too fixed. You need to be more adaptable and ready to adjust on the fly.""Urgh, great! I've lost now!" she said with a slump of her shoulders.I tilted my head, glancing up at the big screen. "Did you forget about your Gastly?"She blinked cluelessly and glanced up, answering my question that yes, yes she did. I put a hand to my mouth to hold in the laugh that was threatening to burst forth at her expense. It had been a while since a trainer had lost count of their pokemon or not tracked their health states.Usually it was when a pokemon was new.I shot Aron a look and found him gasping heavily, he'd done a lot of break dancing to whip up those Sandstorms, and while it had worked to clear out Golbat, it left him in an exhausted state."Aron! We're on her last pokemon, hang in there!" I called.Yvonne perked up as she realised she still had a chance at this. "Gastly! Go for Hypnosis!" she said, releasing her pokemon and having it go straight for a shutdown."Metal Sound!" I called. Aron inhaled again, only to totter to the side as the Hypnosis waves that Gastly unleashed caused him to topple onto his side and start snoring.I chewed my lip and hummed. I could force this to play out, but… I could see the writing on the wall. I'd had one shot and Aron had been too tired. I'd won a lot of battles, but lost the overall war. "I withdraw Aron, he's too tired and will want to remain asleep instead of fighting on," I explained.Dennis nodded and raised a flag towards Yvonne. "Brock's pokemon is withdrawn and Yvonne is therefore the winner!"A round of applause rang out for Yvonne and she perked up, only for a constipated look to sweep over her face as she caught sight of Gastly bouncing around happily. "G-good job, Gastly," she said.I tilted my head and lowered the podiums, watching the stilted interaction between herself and Gastly. Gastly seemed to adore her, but Yvonne wasn't reciprocating the feelings."Congratulations," I said, approaching her with a snoring Aron tucked under my arm. The poor little guy was all tuckered out."Thanks," Yvonne said, straightening up and shooting me a smirk. "Is this where you give me some more wisdom?"I shrugged. "I think I gave enough of that out there. I can't say much more beyond 'don't lose track of your pokemon's health states or your number of pokemon', can I?" I said with a smirk.That caused her to lose some of her attitude as she blushed. "Y-yeah, that's true." she shot Gastly a look and sighed. "Urgh, that old hag is going to be a nightmare when she learns about this match," she muttered to herself.I got the impression she hadn't meant for me to hear that. Then again, I could do something to help out."Want me to talk to Agatha about calming down a bit?" I said.Yvonne shot me a clueless look before snorting. "Yeah, sure you'll…" she trailed off as she looked at me, her mind calculating how I'd do. She must have been thinking something along the lines of 'I had beaten Lance in a friendly match, how would I do against Agatha?'I smirked, raising up my Xtrasciever and dialling a number, and when Agatha's face appeared with her signature scowl I shot her a grin. "Hey Agatha! It's Brock! I just met this lovely lady and she's won a badge from me! From what I can tell, I think you're being a bit too hard on her, lay off some, yeah?""That is none of your business. I'm glad she won against you, but we will review her match together," Agatha said pointedly.I grinned. "Ah, let her learn her own way and discover what works. In the meantime, I'm feeling like I need to blow off some steam, want to set up a friendly?" I said nonchalantly.I could tell that everyone in the crowd was leaning forward, ears twitching at this new development.Agatha snorted derisively. "It's a duel!" she said, "Tell your people to set it up in three weekends' time, I shall be there right after I wipe the floor with Bruno's little challenge the weekend before!" she said.Huh, so Bruno wasn't going to let her go without one last challenge? Made sense.Agatha nodded. "Goodbye for now," she said before hanging up.I lowered my arm and shot Yvonne a v for victory with one hand. "How's that? She'll be more focused on me now."Yvonne stared at me for a long moment before rocketing into my side to hug me. "I think you're my hero," she muttered quietly.I chuckled and hugged her back, making a note to have a serious discussion with Agatha if this was the sort of reaction her new apprentice had to some support.Had Karen gone through this sort of treatment?Hmmm, it suddenly explained a lot of her mannerisms.It didn't forgive them, but still, it explained them.I eyed Yvonne, maybe it would do everyone some good to distract Agatha. Then again, I was a bit of a sucker for young trainers looking to break out on their own. If I had to fight Agatha? Well, I'd thrown down with Lance.Agatha would just be another tough fight, and these days I looked forward to those more than I feared them.Yvonne let me go and smiled, looking much more relaxed and a little bashful. Her Gastly swooped in and cackled at her expression and I just chuckled.Hmmm, so, Agatha, eh?I could dig it.