Hard Enough-Chapter 282 - Looking ahead

By the time I got home, it was late, or at least late enough that all of my little siblings were close to going through their bedtime rituals.

“I don’t wanna go to bed!” wailed Billy and Tilly together while Suzie marched past with the egg incubator clutched in her hands. Munchlax followed along while Eevee sat on the countertop in the kitchen, watching everything play out.

Flint and I raised our fists to each other and ran through a quick game of rock-paper-scissors.

Heh, good old rock, nothing beats— Flint met my rock with his own rock.

We locked eyes.

And repeated the round.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Neither of us wanted to back down, knowing that rock was best!

Male pride was on the line, and I wasn’t going to back down!

“I see that you’re challenging me… in a rock supremacy, eh Brock? You should back down!” Flint challenged.

“Like hell!” I wasn’t going to use something else. Not now. It meant too much. Even if I lost the game and had to look after the kids, I would win the moral high ground by sticking with my guns by choosing Rock.

Tilly, Billy, and Timmy crowded around us.

“Rock! Rock! Rock!” they chanted as Flint and I kept our focus on each other. Playing out another three rounds with each ending as a draw.

Alright, it was time to bring out the big guns! I decided with a smirk.

I shifted my weight and prepared for the final match-up as Flint narrowed his eyes, cottoning on that something was about to change.

“Scissors, paper, Ro—” we shouted, and as we brought our fists down, I slapped my offhand into my rock hand, making it a bigger rock. A boulder if you would.

Flint gasped in shock at this pro move, only for a pair of much smaller hands to cut between us before I could smash his puny rock with my boulder.

“Paper,” Yolanda said dryly.

Flint and I stared at her. I seriously considered pointing out that this wasn’t a three-person match, but Yolanda had a glint in her eyes that I’d seen in recordings of myself fighting a tough foe.

She wasn’t going to back down on this.

“There!” She announced with a wide smile. “You both lost. Now, go read everyone's stories and put them to bed!” She marched back to the couch and claimed the central position and the remote from an amused-looking Salvadore.

Flint and I shared a look.

“Where did we go wrong with her?” I lamented as I scooped up Tilly and Billy.

“I just don’t know,” Flint commiserated.

Yolanda stuck her tongue out at us and shooed us out.

I quickly got the kids ready for bed, read them a story and had them tucked up and asleep within twenty minutes. With the younger kids all tucked away, I sighed and mentally prepared myself for the talk that I’d been ignoring for too long.

Talking with Surge had ripped the wool from my eyes, though, and I knew it was a talk we needed to have.

Thankfully, the people I wanted to talk to weren’t going to be in bed yet, and having the little ones out of the way would only help with this talk.

I returned to the room to find Flint, Yolanda, and Salvadore sitting around the couch, watching a feature-length movie with Samurai Furret and Cowboy pokemon. Fighting against the forces of evil in Team Arbok.

Flint and Yolanda were watching the movie but Salvadore I noted was distracted by messaging on his Xtransceiver while referencing his pokedex.

I rubbed my chin as I considered him. He’d be ten soon.

Was that old enough for this talk? He was a remarkably mature kid, all told. In another life, I’d have said no and asked him to go to bed. But in this world? With Salvadore, as he was, I felt like I could trust him to understand what we were talking about, and if he struggled, well, it was a good enough place to sit and explain things to him.

“Hey so… I talked with Surge today,” I prompted.

Yolanda and Flint both blinked, looking in my direction.

“Oh?” Flint said, being one of the few who knew Surge wasn’t merely on holiday. “How is he?” he asked casually.

“Good, he’s good. He’s kind of pi—” I coughed and adjusted what I was going to say, “annoyed at me cause of how my fight with Agatha played out. Wants me to be more serious,” I said with a laugh.

“Heh, that does sound like him,” Flint replied.

I nodded and hummed as I considered the next point Surge had raised.

I could postpone this talk if I wanted to. Although I wasn’t looking forward to it, it was time to rip the bandaid off.

I loosened a long sigh and started the conversation I’d been avoiding for quite a while. “He also pointed out that… Well, I’ve been letting some things slip. Like…”

I flexed and clenched my hands. “What do you think will happen when Lola comes back?” I said, putting the issue out there.

The air in the room suddenly became heavier. The sounds of the movie continued to play out in the background, but no one was paying attention to them anymore. Salvadore let his Xtransceiver buzz, leaving the message unanswered as he looked from me, to Flint to Yolana.

Yolanda reached out and turned the television off absently but otherwise kept her eyes on me. I continued to stare at the opposite wall, not trusting myself to meet her gaze right now.

“What…” Yolanda started before faltering.

Flint swallowed. “I think it is obvious but worth saying… I would like it if our family could be whole once more.”

I grimaced. “I’m not sure if that’s possible. It’s not like a plate that you can drop, break, and then piece back together with glue. The different pieces have grown up, moved on, and I’m not sure if they’d all fit together so well anymore.”

Flint twitched but nodded, acknowledging the point.

Yolanda shifted. “I… still want to have her in my life. Things were good for a while there when she was around.”

I inhaled slowly and nodded. “How is she going to be when she comes back? I remember…” I swallowed to relieve a building tightness in my throat. “I remember she waved a lot of things off the last time she left,” I said, recalling the early days of my life in Pewter.

I didn’t like dredging up those memories. They weren’t fun times with the twins, both sets, and being extremely young and, therefore, extremely care-intensive.

I’d been months from leaving the Gym and going on my Journey, only for her to run off and Flint to chase after her.

I’d been able to focus a lot of training on Titan in that time I spent at the Gym back then, but nothing would have beaten the experience of being on the road with my pokemon. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

By the time she’d returned, there were only two months left in the circuit. I’d barely resisted the urge to depart then, regardless of whether there was any point in heading out.

If I’d left back then…

The world and my life could have been very different if Lola had stayed or if I had left.

Flint opened and shut his mouth while Yolanda gained a pensive look. “She did, didn’t she?” Yolanda said slowly.

I merely nodded as Yolanda worked through this.

Salvadore shifted. “Should I… go to bed?” he asked carefully, eyes drying around.

I hummed and gave him a look. “Do you want to? I thought I’d offer you the chance to sit in on this conversation, but it’s up to you,” I said, offering him a way out.

Salvadore frowned. “I don’t think I can add anything but… I want to hear this,” he decided.

I merely nodded before manning up and giving Yolanda and Flint proper looks. “I want to remain calm and talk to her when she returns. But from what I recall, she’s…” I considered how I was going to say this politely, but with the memories at the front of my mind, Lola’s personality was clear to me.

“A bit of a ditzy airhead that doesn’t take others' feelings into account,” I said flatly.

Yolanda raised a finger and considered arguing the point but found that she had nothing to say.

Flint coughed. “She can give that impression, yes, but she does care.”

I gave him a flat, disbelieving look, which caused him to flap his hands back and forth. “No! No, It’s true! She does! Like I bet when she comes back, she’ll have a huge pile of presents! Just because she couldn’t be here doesn’t mean she’s forgotten about you! She just… shows her love in different ways!”

“Hmm, I’m not sure if different is what this family needs any more of,” I replied, not pointing out that gifts wouldn’t solve years of neglect.

“It’s going to be… It’s going to need some adjustment, isn’t it if…” Yolanda shook her head. “I mean, when Mum comes home, right?”

I nodded slowly while Flint gained a slightly hopeful look. “Y-yes, that’s it!”

I grimaced and worked my jaw. It kind of stung to see them getting so hopeful when all I wanted to do was shut the door in the woman’s face.

Damn, but it would feel good to do that. I almost let a smirk slip out before my mind caught up with my fantasy and rained on it by pointing out that I’d have to let her in if for no other reason than my family.

In the anime, that would allow Brock to depart with Ash once more, but damn if I didn’t want that to play out at all.

I didn’t trust Lola with my family or anywhere near the gym.

I pushed down anger such an image conjured.

Calm, Brock, you need to do this for the family, I thought to myself.

Yolanda caught my reaction. “Brock… maybe we should… talk with someone about this?”

I blinked, having not expected that from her. Yolanda shifted in her seat. “At school, we have a guidance counselor and you never really need to talk with them, but… I thought, why not? And I ended up talking about how things in our family work. They’ve helped, especially since Forrest left.”

“I had no idea,” I said as I felt a lance of pain stab through my heart.

Yolanda smiled. “I’ve not said anything, and I didn’t want to bother you with this. But they’ve helped,” Yolanda put a hand on her elbow, curling in on herself slightly before shaking off the urge and straightening out. She met my gaze. “They suggested maybe we could talk with someone else, as a family? That way, when Mum comes home, we can be ready for her?” she said hopefully.

I shifted in my seat.

Damn, that was a good suggestion.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

And probably the best thing we could do.

It was also something I’d been avoiding as I had been repressing so many things that it felt like I didn’t have issues so much as subscriptions.

Where on earth was I supposed to start?

The whole being dropped into another person’s body? The idea of being way older in mind than I was in body? The fact that different realities existed and this had been a game/cartoon in my past life? That Lola, the woman who was supposed to be my mother, was neglectful to the point of being abusive?

“It might be a good idea,” I conceded. “She can’t really disagree if it’s something we’ve already got established and…” I shifted. “It isn’t like we might not all benefit from having someone to listen to us gripe.”

Yolanda beamed at me before turning her gaze upon Flint.

Flint squirmed. “Do we really…” he tried to say, but his words withered as Yolanda’s smile gained an edge that promised he would attend therapy or something would happen.

Salvadore snickered, only for Yolanda to snap her head to him. “I think it’s a great idea!” he blurted out as quickly as he could.

Flint huffed, and when everyone’s gaze swept back to him, he merely smiled. “It might be a good thing to have her talk and have the family there with her… Your mother has been in a bad headspace for several years now. I tried to suggest this in the past, but…” Flint rubbed the back of his head. “I’m not really good at reining your mother in.”

I snorted. Like that was news.

Yolanda shot me a look as if to say that I wasn’t helping, but I just waved her off. “Alright, we’ll organise a chat with a counsellor. And when Lola returns, I will… not bite her head off.”

I raised my hand to forestall any commentary. “I’m not sure if I want her living with us straight away however. I’d prefer she stay in a hotel. I’m not comfortable just letting her back in. Letting her in feels too much like we’re forgiving her for me,” I stated.

Yolanda swallowed and tucked her chin for a few moments as everyone in the room processed my announcement.

Flint gave a jerky nod. “That sounds fair,” he stated. “We’ll just have to make it clear. I.. I still have her transceiver number, she might check it if I leave a message saying as much. It might even get her to call me so yeah. We’ll do it that way Brock,” Flint said and a weight I hadn’t known was weighing me down lifted.

“Good, that’s um good.” I was glad that he was accepting that. Out of everyone, Flint would be the one that I knew would have to Lola’s demands most easily. I glanced to Salvadore. “Any questions or things you need explained?”

“Is Mum crazy?” he asked carefully.

“N-no, she’s just hurt” is all Flint hurried to say.

I leaned back and let him explain Lola’s history to Salvadore. I thought it was a rough life she’d lived, but that didn’t give her excuses for what she did to us—just reasons, or, as I felt, excuses. She needed help, but it wouldn’t come from us pandering to her whims.

When Salvadore was read into the situation, he stayed quiet.

Yolanda stood, “I think I’ll go to sleep now,” she said, not willing to restart the movie.

I nodded, feeling emotionally drained after today myself. Salvadore eventually moved to follow her but not before he looked to me. “Can I go to Pokemon Technical sometime this week? I’d like to see where Mum came from if that makes sense.”

I nodded. “I’ll have a word with the principal; they shouldn’t have any issues with that, though, just don’t say anything like you want to reclaim it in our family’s name. You’ll give the man a heart attack,” I joked.

Salvadore chuckled at that and nodded, leaving me with just Flint.

“Do you hate her?” he probed once the other two were well out of earshot.

“No, I just don’t hold her in my heart. I feel like letting her in is just inviting pain, and as the big brother, I’m not willing to see my siblings hurt like that.” I locked eyes with Flint. “Not anymore,” I stated.

Flint nodded slowly, understanding that he was also at fault but not flinching away from it like he might have in the past. “I’ll attend the counselling sessions,” he replied firmly.

I grunted and stood. “Well, this has been… a much longer, more draining day than I’d thought it would be.” I waved a hand absently in the air to indicate everything we’d spoken of.

I lingered for a moment. “Did you know Yolanda was talking with the counsellor?” I asked.

Flint shook his head, eyes dropping to stare at the door. I hummed, feeling oddly better that with how busy I’d been, I wasn’t alone in seeing that Yolanda might have been struggling.

“It’s a good thing,” I said firmly. “She’s always been mature enough to understand a lot more of what’s going on. Her having support outside us, it’s a good decision. Yolanda’s got her heart and mind in the right place, I think.”

Flint chuckled. “Guess that means we’ll have to follow her example eh?”

“There are worse people’s examples to follow,” I replied.

“Urgh, but my daughter?” he replied with a huff.

I smirked. “Guess that means I raised her well then no?” I said as a parting shot as I headed for bed.

I spent a moment working on some forms for the Gym and putting in an order for a pair of pokemon that might help out with security around the Gym. Arceus knew that most of the time the Growlithe pack spent more time in my house than they did patrolling like they should have. It was time to light a fire under them and spark some competition.

As I lay my head down, I sighed with relief. The talk about Lola… had gone so much better than I’d feared it might.

I exhaled sweet relief, pleased that so many items had been ticked off on my to-do list.

I shut my eyes feeling like I’d accomplished a lot today and I had a plan to keep ticking tasks off tomorrow.

“Cradily flatten yourself!” I ordered as Bertha swept her tail around to club the ancient pokemon.

Cradily bent like a willow in the wind, staying fixed to the ground by the smallest of margins while evading the blow. I shot Bertha a shot of smug with her big attack missing only for me to catch her continue the spin and attempt a punch where her club had failed.

“Energy Ball,” I commanded, and Cradily didn’t waste time by trying to stand, instead staying flat to the ground and meeting Bertha’s fist with a fast Energy Ball that sent Bertha staggering backwards.

She took two quick steps only for a patch of earth we’d torn up earlier in the fight to break under her, resulting in her tripping and falling on her back with a mighty thoom.

I grinned. “Excelleeeeeent,” I crooned as Cradily rose back up to sway lightly from side to side. The light damage that it had accrued from the fight began to fade the longer it bobbed from side to side.

I gave the pokemon before me a long look. It had been able to handle a few minutes of sparring against Bertha while she was going easy on it, which was still a strong indicator of its strength.

I ran its capabilities through my mind. This pokemon was an annoyingly strong tank that could soak up a lot more damage either by outright dodging, or taking a hit and then healing back up.

It also had the wonderful capability of absorbing all single-target water attacks, ignoring the damage said attacks would cause, only to then boost its special attack.

I could envisage a lot of uses for this pokemon, but the main idea that I kept coming back to was how if I were to use Cradily in a doubles or team fight, it would be Arceus sent in, denying water type moves from impacting my pokemon within a thirty-metre radius which was insane.

If Cradily had been around during the war, this Pokemon would have been featured in every coastal town due to its ability to defend against water types.

For any future fights I might have, Cradily would be a must for the ten pokemon I could take with me.

With all the work I’d been doing, maybe I could pressure the League or Lance to grant me the full twelve-pokeball carrying capacity that it allowed Champions?

Yeah, I mentally snorted, there were more chances of discovering a pig pokemon that flew than the League letting that restriction lift.

It really sucked that the only other person who’d have a Cradily would not have any such qualms with their team.

I looked over the Pokeball with the other Cradily. Both Cradily, I’d had training with my team to get to a level that I could ostensibly use them in Elite matches.

I’d reached that level today, I’d decided.

It was the bare minimum ‘level’ of strength for an Elite, but they’d both reached it. Therefore, it was time to honour the deal I had with Steven Stone.

If the marketing around the courier service I was hiring was to be believed, he'd receive his Cradily from me by tomorrow.

It was a bit of a shame for him that it didn’t have the same abilities as mine, but that was just chance playing out in my favour. With a veritable field of Lileep to train up, I was always going to be able to get the specific trait that was best suited for me.

“Excellent work Cradily, I think you’re at the level that I could start using you for some of the teamed Elite matches.”

Cradily swayed merrily, and I chuckled as Bertha stomped back into the field with a glint in her eyes that promised she was going to try and ‘avenge’ her poor showing from a minute ago.

“Bertha,” I called, shaking my head slightly. “That’s enough. Cradily did well. You’ve got a few things that you can still work on when it comes to closing out matches. That tail attack at the end would have worked if you’d keep it skimming the ground rather than just above it.”

Bertha huffed and nodded.

When a nearby boulder started shaking and laughing, she twitched in annoyance.

The ‘boulder’ unfurled to reveal itself to be a graveler that pointed at Bertha mockingly.

I knew how this was going to end, so I wasn’t surprised when Bertha grabbed the Graveler with both hands and hurled it into the water in the Pokemon training area.

“Graaaaaaav!” cried the thrown pokemon.

I clicked my tongue, making a note of which pokemon that was.

The Taunt training we were doing might be taking a little too well with some pokemon, if they felt the urge to attempt it against Bertha.

I returned to the still-celebrating Cradily. “I don’t yet have a name ready for you, but that doesn’t mean you won’t receive one. The other bit of bad news I have is that I don’t feel confident enough in my own capabilities to use you for the Gym’s Elite challenge this year. You have enough moves that aren’t Rock type that I feel like I’d flub the fight. I will use you for future Ace and proper battles, however.”

Cradily merely nodded along, not bothered by the potential snub of not featuring as one of the pokemon of the Pewter Gym.

I then turned my attention to Jormungangr, who was training in the background against Knight and Titan.

“Alright fellas! That’s enough for today!” I called and all three of them groaned in relief.

I joined them a moment later as Jormungandr’s Mega evolution faded. I felt at my reserves and found them to be pretty empty.

This was yet another aspect of training that I’d created after Surge’s talk. I was going to push myself with regards to Aura to see if I could develop more of it, or if possible

even do something as crazy as mega evolve two pokemon at the same time.

I’d never know if I didn’t try but first I needed to find another compatible mega stone. Until then, it would still be good training to hopefully extend the period of time that Jorm could hold his mega form for.

“Grab some chow gang, training’s done for the day. Rest up cause we got more fights coming this week!” I announced and my pokemon rumbled their agreement as they made their way off to relax.

I marched to the front of the Gym, leaving Bertha to announce the good news to the rest of the Elite pokemon. When I got there I was just in time to see a cloud of dust charging towards the gym.

The sound of hoofbeats was only just heard before a tall, fiery Rapidash appeared with a rider on its back. It stamped its feet and snorted, causing a wave of hot air to rush over me while small flames were left after each stomp of its hooves.

“Gym Leader Brock?” the rider queried as the pokemon took huge sweeping lungfuls of air.

“That’s me,” I replied.

“Security code alpha dash one, niner, six!” he replied, and I had to pause as I recalled the other reason this courier service was so acclaimed. They actually cared about package security. To the point that the courier company didn’t just scout fast pokemon and their trainers, but trainers that could fight and protect the package.

With this being a delivery for Champion Stone, there was bound to be interest.

I handed the pokeball over with a small band around it, that Steven would be able to open upon receiving it. “Here it is,” I said, and the courier secured it away before his pokemon spun about and sprinted away.

“Thank you for choosing Rapid Deliveries!” the rider called over their shoulder as they rode off.

I swept my hand in front of my face and waved off most of the dust, more than used to getting a faceful of dirt from my own pokemon.

I turned only to get a faceful of Zubat as she shot out of the sky and bodied me with a hug. “I was just about to come find you,” I mumbled into her body, which only served for her to tighten her grip on me.

I peeled her off my face. “With Ursaring getting ready for the next stage of his evolution, it’s time I focused on you, Gible, Cranidos and Tirtouga,” I said, bopping her on the nose. I held her up and chuckled at the hopeful waggle of her wings.

“First, I need to find out if my package has arrived,” I said, marching home.

As I opened the door, I called out to my family. “Hey, family? I was expecting a package to arrive today! Has anyone seen…”

I trailed off as I entered the lounge, only to find my younger siblings all crowded around the latest security features I’d thought to add to the Gym.

“Hound!” “Dour!” barked the two pokemon.

Timmy and Cindy both grinned at me. “We’re going to call them Buddy and Tazzie!” announced Cindy with all too much relish.

I facepalmed with the hand not holding Zubat. “I am not a smart man,” I mumbled into my palm. That was the only conclusion I could reach with hindsight.

What was I expecting to happen? The kids would see the new dog pokemon and leave them alone?

I sighed and adopted a stern expression. “Kids, these two need to actually secure the reserve, they can’t always be inside playing around with you.”

Cindy stared at me for a long moment only to be surprised when the pair of Houndour raced to sit before me. “Hound!” “Dour!” they both said from their new positions.

I tilted my head. “Huh, these boys—” Cindy coughed and pointed to the darker of the pair. “Tazzie is a girl,” she said firmly.

I coughed. “These two are going to work perfectly,” I said, leading the two new Pokemon out. I noted that as I was showing them the area they needed to patrol, the entire Growlithe pack made a point of turning up and showing off how vigorously they were defending the area. I merely chuckled.

Alright, this could work. Dark-type Pokemon are more active at night, so this should help boost security a little bit.

That night, Sabrina appeared with a teleport with Kirlia at her side, only for the Houndour to attempt to tackle her.

Sabrina and Kirlia both dodged effortlessly only for me to whistle and call the pair to heel. The Growlithe loitering around the loungeroom shot the Houndour smug looks.

“You acquired some Houndour?” Sabrina asked as she inspected the new pokemon.

“Yeah, boosting security a little more as some of these pokemon are getting a bit lazy,” I said deliberately needling the pride of the Growlithe pack.

Four of them instantly jumped up and ran outside to patrol. Sabrina’s lips twitched as the Houndour chased after them. “Hmmm not a bad idea,” she said as she claimed her place at my side on the couch.

“You should all tune in to watch my Gym’s channel tomorrow at four by the way,” she told the room at large. The kids all perked up.

“A strong challenger?” they asked.

Sabrina nodded and looked right into my eyes. “Gary Oak is finally running the gauntlet,” she announced and I whistled.

She was right, that would be a match I would be interested in watching. I checked my schedule only to find that timeslot blocked out already with a note saying Sabrina had asked for it a month ago.

I shot Sabrina a look which she ignored.

Damn, she’d known when he was going to challenge a month ago? I really hope the kid knew what he was getting in for trying to fight Sabrina for his final major badge with a gauntlet.

I was seriously looking forward to seeing how he’d developed since facing me.

That, and if he was worth giving an electric variant geodude to like I’d promised at the start of the circuit.