Hard Enough-Chapter 285 - Bitter end

I whistled in surprise at the way the match ended. “That was a pretty good showing for Kirlia. She was a bit of a raid boss at the end there with Gary having to juggle who took what damage. If he’d been better able to manage the earlier fights he’d have had an easier time of it against Medicham,” I commented.

Yolanda nodded, her notepad laid out before her. “There were a lot of little moments throughout that fight, wasn’t there?”

I nodded. “If Sabrina had allowed herself one more pokemon… that fight would have been a wash for Gary, but the four she used were plenty strong.”

A.J. stared at the screen I’d brought up to the side listing Gary’s trainer profile. “He’s strong and has a good mindset for fights.”

I shot A.J. a sly look. “He’ll also be coming here for the training camp,” I said, and a small smile flickered to life.

“Good, I want to fight him,” he stated.

Greta nodded along. “Same, it’ll be a good match,” she said. “Although I have to give it to Sabrina as well. She had a lot of clever plans set in play like with Disable and Teleport. I liked her use of Flash, I’m just surprised she didn’t do it again.”

“Gary probably would have been ready for it. The first time she used it, he was caught by surprise, but the second time, Gary had countermeasures in place with Dig, Quick Attack, and even Dark Pulse, depending on which Pokemon he used,” I reminded the group.

I waved a hand. “Still, it’s not a bad idea to review matches like this. In fact,” I sat up and loaded up some of the matches from other Gyms such as Celadon, Fuchsia, and even the fighting Gym in Saffron, although their pokenet page had far fewer details and looked to be very new.

On a whim, I looked up the Viridian Gym only to find a banner over the page proclaiming that it was currently being reworked and that a new Gym Leader would soon be arriving.

“Huh, was there an announcement about this?” I asked, indicating the screen.

“Oh! I bet it’s Kaede! Since the Golden Week tournament, she’s been getting a ton of support!” announced Greta, bouncing up and down in her seat. She shot me a look. “I know we were going to challenge Celadon during the training camp. but could I also try a fight against her?”

I nodded and before A.J. could ask, I nodded in anticipation of the next request as I loaded up the Cinnabar Gym pokenet page.

Unlike the Viridian Gym page, it listed that a temporary arrangement would be coming soon.

I whistled. “Might be that we need to include that for the training camp, but with there being limited slots I think we’ll need to hold a competition for it,” I said.

I sent Alexa a message to try to secure two or three days' worth of matches for each gym towards the end of the training camp.

That would be a great incentive for anyone who had yet to complete their badge sets or for those who merely wanted the full list.

I also sent a message to Kaede asking about her future postings, only to receive a call in response.

“Who told you? The League promised it would be a secret! That wouldn’t come out until Lance was back!” she growled.

“Hello to you, and you just did,” I said with a chuckle.

Kaede blanched. “O-oh, right, I guess it was silly of me but I just assumed that with Sabrina…”

I shook my head. “I hadn’t asked, but she probably could have worked it out if I’d asked her so you’re not wrong.” I offered a shrug. “We’ve been pretty busy, but I assume you’re starting to realise that these days.”

“Urgh! Just the paperwork is a nightmare! And that’s with the League fast-tracking everything for me!” she grumbled.

On the other side of the screen, not seen by Kaede, Greta, Missy, Yolanda and Crystal all bounced with excitement at the news that Kaede was going to be a Gym Leader.

“I can imagine. You’re really going to open the Gym with only a few weeks left?” I asked.

Kaede nodded. “We’re only going to be able to accept certain badge levels and I’m only going to be open three days a week as I still have other contractual obligations to fulfil.”

“Huh, rightio, do you know anything about who’s taking over Cinnabar? Is it Bruce?”

Kaede shrugged. “That’s the gossip that’s making its way around the League at the moment but I honestly can’t be sure of that so don’t quote me on it.”

“It’s not like there’s anyone else available,” I said.

Kaede shifted. “I actually had to fight a few people for the position. They said it was more to demonstrate that I was worth the position but I ended up fighting this old guy from Rota called Spenser in a three-on-three. He was pretty strong and then there was this young purple-haired girl called Anabel!” Kaede shook her head.

“She was tough! It was like she knew every move I was going to make before I did it. Thankfully I beat them both, however,” Kaede said.

I blinked. She’d just mentioned two of the Battle Frontier Leaders. Spenser of the Battle Palace, and Anabel of the Battle Tower, both were strong pokemon trainers.

“Did they have… what sort of pokemon did they use?” I corrected, not wanting to reveal that I knew more than I should about those two.

“The old guy had an Arcanine, Slaking, and a Crobat, but Anabel had a Snorlax, an Alakazam and a Salamance! Let me be the first to say it really surprised me coming from a girl like that!”

“Huh,” I replied thoughtfully. “Strong trainer, but no Ace records of her?” I prompted, already knowing the answer, as my mind whirled over what this meant.

Lance or the League must have been hoping to build up the prestige of the Battle Frontier a bit before opening it to the public. Having a ‘soft’ opening with two of the Leaders acting as Gym Leaders was actually a pretty good idea.

Kaede drew me out of my thoughts. “Y-yeah? Do you know her?”

“I think I know of her. She’s going to be one of the Leaders for something the League is cooking up for the border between us and Fiore,” I said casually. “I’ve met the woman that’s going to run one of the sites that people can visit, and she’s quite a strong trainer. She mentioned Anabel to me and you talking about her made me connect the dots. League’s playing an interesting game choosing to do things that way,” I said.

Kaede gnawed at her lip with her teeth. “I wonder if they even wanted me to win if they were setting me up like that?” she murmured.

I hummed. “It was possible that you were merely caught in the crossfire,” I muttered. “Some of the trainers that will take up positions on the Battle Frontier… I’ve heard some rumours they’ve got some crazy strong pokemon.”

“I’ll believe that,” Kaede muttered but gained a thoughtful look. “You think this might have been a play by the League to stop Bruce from taking up a position in Cinnabar?”

That caused me to frown. “That has some implications,” I said carefully. Was it the League stopping this, or was someone else pulling the strings? “I’m going to ask around about this because if this is a Blackthorn gambit, I really don’t like it,” I said.

That drew a hiss from Kaede. “Shit, you might be onto something!”

I held up a hand. “Woah, woah, Kaede, this is just conjecture. It could just be an idea passed around separate from the Blackthorns, but it’s worth poking around just in case. Have you…” I coughed. What was I thinking? Of course Kaede wouldn’t have said anything to Bruce of all people.

He was the one who most likely had the Charizard that she should have grown up with.

“Just don’t fly off the handle. It sounds like you’ve done well enough to keep things moving along, but if you end up getting challenged by a Fiorian by the name of Noland or any exchange from a guy called Brandon, be prepared for an insanely hard fight.”

Kaede nodded slowly. “I’ll keep my ears to the ground,” she said before giggling. “Which is kind of appropriate considering which Gym I’m going to be taking over.”

I smirked and nodded. “It sounds like you’re in the clear at the moment, but good call,” I stated. I ended the conversation and quickly sent messages to Lance and the Guardians.

Lance surprisingly messaged back that it was all above board and something that he’d organised. When I asked who he’d gotten to face off against Bruce he didn’t reply, causing me to narrow my eyes at my Xtransciever.

“Well that’s all kinds of sus Lance,” I muttered to myself. It seemed there were absolutely some backroom deals happening. I fired off my thoughts to Agatha, and Koga, and on a whim, sent them to Lorelei to put the Meowth out among the Pidgeys.

With that done, I turned to Alexa, who had approached me with a nervous tick. “Brock, we might have an issue with tonight’s Elite challenge,” she said carefully.

I tilted my head. “What’s wrong with it? It was Kathy from Goldenrod no? Did something happen to her?”

Alexa shifted. “She pulled out and within seconds of her slot being open we received a call specifically for that slot… from Chaz.”

I sat up. “Chaz from Lilycove? The Chaz that whited out last time he faced me cause he pushed too hard and I shut him down?”

Alexa nodded, her lips thinning as I spoke.

I put my head in my hands. “Ooooooh, seriously? That kid! If he’s not trying to look down his nose at me he's running headfirst into the wall with that pride of his!”

“Should I call him back and reject his challenge?” Alexa asked.

I considered telling her yes out of hand, before raising an actual hand and bringing up his trainer profile. It listed him as having gotten badges from Fuchsia, Cerulean, Vermilion, and Celadon before angling back up here. He already had four minor badges, so he had eight badges to make the cut.

I read over his Gym encounter notes carefully, ignoring the ones I’d written about him to see that he had mixed results.

He’d apparently been perfectly charming to Erika and Lily when he fought them. Visquez called him a snot-nosed punk who leaned into using Pokemon stronger than his skills should have allowed, but he was somehow managing it.

I scrolled further back and clicked my tongue at Grey’s notes on the kid as merely adequate. If that guy hadn’t been a rocket plant and had stuck around, Brock would have sent a message to get him to elaborate more on his encounter notes.

Koga surprisingly called Chaz out when they’d first fought as being set in his ways and toxic in a manner that was dangerous as he had a wonderful way of keeping up a mask. This was then followed by Janine writing a report about how he’d appeared harmless enough to her, but that she would consider her father’s wisdom carefully and begin checking trainers before they faced her.

I shook my head. The Fuchsia notes read more like a chat between a father and his daughter, with Koga admonishing Janine for being taken in by a mask.

I leaned back and considered the situation.

I just knew I was going to get some flak from this. “Deny his request and reimburse him the money,” I announced to Alexa, knowing that she wasn’t about to have a fun phone call.

“I’ll send an email to the League now that due to… previous interactions with Chaz that I deem facing him in a challenge to be…” I drummed my fingers in thought.

“Counterproductive to his growth as a trainer?” Alexa offered.

I pointed at her and quickly wrote that down, attaching Chaz’s encounter notes before sending it off.

I shook my head. I’d never had to do that in my years as Gym Leader, but perhaps there were instances where I should have. Guy-Bro’s last fight sprang to mind.

Alexa marched off, and I returned to the rest of my duties for the day. I considered calling Roxanne and offering her an earlier slot but decided against it.

Roxanne stood out to me when I first became friends with her. She was a meticulous planner who liked to have everything set to a schedule as much as she could. She was organised like that, and making an offer to her now would send her into a flap.

I wanted her to face me at her best.

So I’d just have to wait until then and process the last few trainers that were trickling in to collect the Boulder badge.

A number that was growing smaller by the day with no new first or second-tier badge challenges to replace it. Fewer trainers who’d missed out on starting when everyone else did was trying to make a last-minute dash across the line it seemed, or starting up their Journey for a better run next year.

They were instead staying at home and biding their time, a move I had applauded and recommended via my pocket page, where Rachel posted articles and even had a short question-and-answer session with me that we’d started to have time to make up.

We were seeing some good site traffic numbers, to the point that a few companies approached us about adding small ad sections to our pokenet page.

I looked over my afternoon and found that I only had two actual matches for young trainers coming up so I could head out and do some mid day training with Zubat, Gible, Cranidos and Tirtouga.

Otherwise, I blocked off my afternoon and collected the Pokemon in question, only to pause when a soft thump had me looking down to find ‘the triplets,’ as they were apparently known to my Pokemon.

“Tar!” “Tar!” “Tar!” they cried at me.

I blinked and tilted my head.

“You want to train and get strong as well?” I asked. They all nodded quickly and I hummed in thought. Well, that was certainly a thing. I looked up and found that Empress, Knight and Bertha were looking on with the last one giggling to herself.

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I chuckled and decided to take them all along.

With ten pokemon on my belt and an hour to kill, I made my way over to the Battle Club to find it was in full swing with youngsters and normal trainers all vying for fights.

Battle Clubs were rather interesting sites that were rather nifty for facilitating trainers looking to improve their skills. They weren’t as well developed as an actual Gym as they didn’t have a league-standard field or stands, but they did have lots of smaller fields.

The entrance of the Battle Club in Pewter City reminded me of a big Pokemon centre or hospital waiting area, with wide open spaces and lots of seating. The differences came with how along one wall, an entire area had been taken up with convenience stores.

Notably, however, it was not a Pokemon Mart but smaller stores that usually only sold meals or drinks.

My entrance earned a few twitches of surprise, but the staff and I were used to it. The registration desk receptionists barely batted an eye as I signed myself up for four quick matches. They did whistle in surprise when I marked down three different Larvitar for three of the matches while filling out the rest of the three-on-three matches with my other Pokemon.

“Titan’s been going out for stud, eh?” chuckled one of the receptionists with a wink that earned him a narrow-eyed glare from his fellows.

I just smiled knowingly. He could think that if he wanted but in this case, truth was far stranger than the fiction he assumed.

Not that I was going to mention that the triplets were genetic clones of their mother due to getting into a fight with a Legendary pokemon during a black ops encounter.

I signed myself up for some entry level matches instead of any of the ‘ranked’ system matches which looked like someone had just cribbed the Ace tournament point system and applied it wholesale to the battleclub system.

On the upper walls, televisions announced the best local trainers and the best in Kanto.

Surprisingly, I knew not just the top-ranked trainer but also a few other names on display.

It turns out that Karen had been filling her days fighting in the battle clubs when she couldn’t get Ace matches.

Also listed were Corey, Arthur, Neesha, Fergus, and Boss Doug, who’d all made the Golden Week tournament.

All of the Ace trainers had significant battle points listed next to their names marking them as professionals.

Interestingly, there was a huge points divide between Karen and anyone else, which made me theorize that she was getting into a lot of fights.

After all, unlike the Ace system that relied on tournaments and direct challenges, in a battle club you were randomly assigned matches, meaning you could face anyone on any given day if you signed up for ranked matches.

I had to admit it wouldn’t be a terrible way to test out a team before facing off against someone if you got lucky enough. If you tracked when and where the Ace trainers fought, you would also have decent odds of facing off against them without risking actual Ace points which would translate into sponsor confidence in yourself.

I’d have to point that out to Missy later, maybe even make a podcast about it with Rachel.

Thoughts of future jobs were pushed to the side when a voice called out. “Brock and Jimmy! Your match is about to start on court five!” called an attendant.

I stood up, as did a small youth whose eyes bulged out of his head when he locked eyes with me. “You!?” he gasped. “Gym Leader Brock?”

I mentally marked Jimmy’s age at around ten, meaning he was very much a youngster.

It was a good thing this kid wasn’t hanging around the routes like some liked to do, although I suspected a lot of those kids had either made it big or were flat-broke with how many trainers had swept through the routes this year.

I offered my hand to him politely. This wasn’t a Gym match, so I didn’t need to intimidate him. “Hey there, let’s have a fun match today! I have some young Pokemon that could do with a good introduction to Pokemon fights, so let's do our best!”

“O-oh, of course,” said Jimmy nervously.

We were led out onto a court where I did some quick last-minute stretches before selecting my first pokeball. On a small screen to the side, my face and Jimmy’s appeared along with the three pokemon that we’d selected.

Jimmy glanced at the screen only to choke on his spit. “You’re using a Larvitar against me?” he shrieked.

I nodded. “Yup, a young one so keep that in mind,” I said pointedly. I was also using Gible and Zubat but Jimmy’s eyes were locked onto Larvitar.

I’d held off on sending Gible out first, knowing that he’d get a bit of interest but people wouldn’t understand that he had just as much potential as any of the Larvitar.

People wouldn’t know that until we discovered a route to Sinnoh, though.

Jimmy coughed and looked at his own team which was Rattata, Pidgey, and Kakuna before becoming downcast.

“Hey Jimmy, eyes up champ! This isn’t for battle club points or even for money. This is just experience alright?” I prompted, earning a sigh of relief from him.

His eyes then tracked to the crowd gathered around our court.

I offered a helpless shrug. “That’s part of the experience as well I’m afraid,” I stated, as I waved a hand at the surrounding crowd.

Jimmy nodded seriously as the screen on the side started the countdown for us to send out our pokemon.

“Let’s go Rattata!” he ordered, sending out his best bet.

I replied with Larvitar. “Come on out, Larvitar!” I barked.

Larvitar appeared and immediately started growling at Rattata, in a rather cute fashion in my opinion.

Rattata raised an eyebrow, obviously unimpressed with his young opponent.

Jimmy perked up at his pokemon’s confidence, but I whistled sharply as Larvitar looked like it was going to attempt to jump the gun and start attacking.

“Larvitar! Hold for command!” I barked, and Larvitar stiffened, not used to hearing me give her orders. I mentally smiled. This was going to go the same way for pretty much all of them, I knew, but I still needed to establish myself as someone they’d listen to straight away; otherwise things were going to be especially rough for them today.

Larvitar tried giving me an imperious stare which I easily weathered.

I jutted my chin, indicating we should get to why we came here. Larvitar turned and grumbled in a show of defiance. Oh, yup, I had my work cut out for the rest of the upcoming fights.

“Rattata Quick Attack!” Jimmy shouted to start things off.

“Larvitar Rock Throw into the ground in front of you!” I ordered. Larvitar stiffened at the order but quickly followed through which helped set up a small dust cloud around her. “Now duck low!” I ordered just in time to watch Rattata lunge into the dust cloud from the Larvitar’s side, obviously going for a flanking attack.

With Larvitar ducked down behind dust, Rattata’s attack saw him tripping and spinning out of the dust cloud where he thumped into the ground.

Rattata stumbled upright only to stagger a little due to being a bit out of it.

“La! La! La! La!” Larvitar started to giggle at this, which caused Rattata to whirl about on her. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

“Tackle!” Jimmy shouted.

“Tackle,” I replied, deciding to let her have a taste of her first actual fight.

Both pokemon charged, slamming into each other a moment later before bouncing back. I held in a chuckle. I kept forgetting how adorable it was to watch young pokemon in their first encounters.

Both pokemon rolled around, with Larvitar able to use her greater weight while Rattata used his four legs to kick off. Rattata growled as he leapt back and I whistled sharply to get Larvitar’s attention quickly. “Leer!” I ordered, deciding to weaken Rattats defences.

Larvitar followed the order quickly.

“Quick Attack but go straight at it!” Jimmy ordered and I had to give him props. Head on was a better tactic than trying to be sneaky in this instance.

“Tackle!” I ordered, knowing I wouldn’t get anything from trying Rock Throw again.

Larvitar and Rattata once more slammed into each other, and this time, Larvitar stumbled back only to struggle to stand back up. I considered her for a moment before nodding. “Rock Throw,” I ordered, accepting that she wanted to push herself.

“Quick Attack, dodge!” Jimmy ordered, getting more confident.

Rock Throw missed and Rattata slammed into Larvitar, causing her to fall to the ground. She struggled, fighting against the desire to stay down only for her arms to give out on her. I returned her and gave her pokeball a small pat.

“That was an excellent showing against a much stronger opponent, good job,” I said.

I shot Jimmy a smile. “Ready to kick it up a notch? My next pokemon’s a bit further along,” I said.

Jimmy grinned as I sent out Zubat.

His smile didn’t last long after that as Zubat promptly blitzed Rattata.

When he sent out Pidgey I had her work on her aerial combat a little, which gave Pidgey a bit of a work out before I went on the offensive and dropped his pokemon quickly.

When it was time for Kakuna to take to the stage, I withdrew Zubat and instead sent out Gible.

“Harden!” shouted Jimmy.

“Dragon Breath,” I announced, causing most of the crowd and Jimmy to reel in shock as my little Gible unleashed a potent wave of fire.

Kakuna shrieked in surprise as the special attack tore through him, only for the light of evolution to flash out.

I whistled as Kakuna’s form shifted and changed.

“Hell yes! Let’s go Beedrill!” Jimmy called as his pokemon took flight.

I hummed, damn, it was a shame I hadn’t reversed the order, Larvitar would have done well here. Ah, well, time to show off Gible’s training with the older pokemon. “Gible, use Stone Edge.”

And just like that a rock hit a bug, ending Jimmy’s chances of winning the match.

He slumped and I marched forward. “Hey, don’t be down. It looks like you’re going to be coming into future matches a lot stronger with that Beedril, and from what I could see of Rattata and Pidgey they’re both close to evolving.”

Jimmy perked right back up. “Really? You think?”

I nodded. “I know so. I’ve got a bit of a good eye for these sorts of things, having faced a ton of them before. Are you going on your journey next year?” I asked which earned me a rapid nod.

“Well you’re going to be in a great position then with those three pokemon. Get used to your team along with crowds and you’ll do well. You have a solid core of pokemon to build off,” I stated.

“Thanks Brock!” Jimmy said before scurrying off. The room buzzed, announcing my next match to be against another youngster.

Time to see how the second Larvitar went. I’d use her sister and Gible in this match and then as per my plan for the day, keep to just Zubat, Cranidos, and Tirtouga who all had a bit of experience.

Everything went pretty well for me from there, with all of my young Pokemon getting a bit of vital experience. However, I was a bit worried that only one of the Larvitar got a win compared to her sisters, something the trio of little Pokemon argued about as we wandered back to the Gym for my afternoon matches.

“Vi! Vi! Vi!” giggled the second Larvitar, the one I’d used and the only one of the triplets to score herself a victory against a foe.

I found it rather interesting that they all had slightly different laughs, with the third laughing with “Ta! Ta! Ta!”

If any of these three ever reached Elite level, I would use that for their names, or find other famous triplet names to use.

The triplets started tussling with each other, and I sighed before tapping Empress’s Luxury ball to release her. She appeared, and the triplets all stiffened. Empress gave them all a stern look over.

“They all fought well, but only one had a favourable match-up for their first showing,” I announced to her, causing the two that lost to slump slightly.

“I think they did well enough to earn a treat though, as they all followed my commands without any issues,” I fibbed. They’d all baulked at the start of the fight but then gotten on with it, but that was semantics. A young pokemon with a lot of potential was expected sometimes to baulk when first given orders. It all came down to how you handled it.

“I think they can start appearing in first badge matches if they want to,” I suggested, causing all three to wiggle with joy.

Empress nodded slowly, shooting me a small smile. Through the bond, I got the idea that she had been thinking of a different sort of treat. I glanced over to a nearby park, which happened to have a small ice cream van parked out the front.

I chuckled but led the team over, where I promptly released everyone to enjoy a cone.

When Empress ‘spilled’ hers on Knight, I very carefully watched their interactions.

Knight had no idea he was being seduced, but Empress’s actions rather surprised me. They were much subtler than I’d been expecting of the older Pokemon.

I somewhat expected her to catch a pokemon, kill it and present it to Knight.

Then again he’d have probably been horrified by this, having never had to hunt on his own before. I shot Bertha a look. She was looking rather smug.

Maybe she’d—

I leaned back as my instincts flared causing me to dodge a strike from the side.

I whirled, expecting to see an assailant from Team Aqua, Magam or even Rocket.

Instead, I found myself staring at an angry-looking blond man.

“Chaz,” I said slowly. “What do you think you are doing?” I said slowly as incredulity warred with rage.

“You cad! You have the nerve to deny me my right to vengeance through formal channels but then wander Pewter eating ice cream with your pokemon! I will have—”

“Nothing!” I snapped as my anger overwhelmed my shock at his stupidity. “You will have nothing, you overgrown child! I do not need to accept your request as you obviously have bad intentions for fighting with me! Withdraw your pokemon now!” I snapped.

Chaz started to step back, only for his mind to catch up. I could see something flash in his eyes as pride warred with good sense.

Pride won out.

“No, I will not! I will have that fight!” He pointed right at me, and his Machamp surged forward.

His Machamp was promptly intercepted by Empress, who proceeded to body the other pokemon.

Machamp tumbled over itself before kipping up to its feet.

“Macherie! You have the advantage over it! Use Close Combat!”

“Empress,” I said, making sure everyone heard what I was about to order. “Catch it and use Outrage,” I commanded aloud.

Macherie charged in, all four arms primed to unleash devastation, only for the empress to catch two of them, dodge the third, and accept the blow from the fourth. The impact rocked her, but she held on, her eyes growing red with rage as she slammed her full might down onto Macherie.

Empress then proceeded to stomp Macherie into the ground, to Chaz’s growing horror.

“No! what? How?” he gasped.

He returned his pokemon only to flinch when he realised I hadn’t remained where I’d been during Empress’ brawl with Macherie.

I put a single hand on him and forced him to the ground by twisting his wrist into the small of his back.

I resisted the urge to break him as rock as dark energies swirled through me.

Arceus, it would be so easy.

“Chaz from Lilycove, you are under arrest,” I announced.

“No, no! I just wanted to—” he started to say, only for me to tighten my grip on his wrist, silencing him.

“There are acts of stupidity so great that they are unthinkable by any rational mind,” I said, my eyes flicking to the side where families huddled behind my other pokemon and the single Kangaskhan who typically stood vigil in the playground.

Chaz quailed as he realised what he’d done. “I-I just… I didn’t think—”

“No.” I cut through his protests. “You didn’t.” I ripped his pokebelt off him and raised a hand to the parents.

“Everything’s fine, folks!” I declared. “Just going to see this handled! Free ice cream on me, hey?” I said to help everyone relax.

That got a cheer from the kids and more than a few of them were staring at Empress and I both with stars in their eyes.

They weren’t alone in that, as the triplets alternated between their mother and I.

Huh, well, that was certainly one way to earn their trust. I doubted I’d see any issues with orders or training with them in future, judging by how they were looking at me.

When the police showed up, I handed Chaz over to them along with a description of what had occurred.

“That’s not true! I didn’t mean to endanger the public!” Chaz growled as he was pushed into a police car.

“Sir, you have the right to remain silent!” a police officer repeated as they pushed Chaz into the car to get him out of here. Before they left, I made sure to march up to Chaz and look him in the eyes.

“Don’t come back to Pewter,” I told him, letting some of the darkness wash through me.

Chaz leaned away from me in fright at what he saw and I felt more confident that I would not be seeing him a fourth time.

I collected my Pokemon and returned to the gym. Unfortunately, I was late for my first afternoon match, but the kid was extremely understanding when I apologised to him.

When I came out that night to check on all my pokemon I found the Larvitar trio acting out, Empress’ beat down of Macherie to Cindy, Yolanda and Terra.

I found that while the scene was adorable, it left something of a bitter taste in my mouth.

Maybe that was Chaz’s problem, he’d let the bitterness eat away at him?

My gaze paused on Yolanda momentarily and I worked at my jaw.

I marched away to make a call to a psych. I’d said to her face that I’d accept Lola back, but I knew I’d been lying. I’d only said it for her. I’d try for the family but… I wasn’t sure if I could.

I didn’t want to end up like Chaz, lashing out like he had, but at the same time, I wasn’t sure if I could simply let Lola waltz back in.

“Hey,” I said when the call connected, “I think I need to talk to someone about… a lot of stuff.” I felt like even that was an understatement.

After I made my booking, I decided to spend some time with my Pokemon, just goofing around. They always help make me feel better.

Titan knew right away I was feeling off, so he promptly tossed me up on his back and led a game of chase with me riding him. It ended up causing the Aron, and Growlithe packs to give chase while the Houndour merely turned up their noses and continued to patrol.

The silliness of it all made me laugh deeply and helped me relax, which was exactly what Titan had been aiming for.

I nudged him when he put me down. “Good thing you weren’t there when we got attacked, I’m not sure if you would have let that Machamp walk away with just a beating,” I said, and he nodded in a serious manner.

I settled down on a small boulder and allowed myself a moment to watch my pokemon play around simply. After the way things had gone this afternoon, it was what I needed.

In many ways, I was moving forward, but sometimes, there was nothing wrong with sitting and taking in the world around me.