Hard Enough-Chapter 292 - Training Camp Days IV

Sweat trickled down Blaire’s forehead and into his eyes as he stared at the Solrock that he was facing.

It was lighting up the field with a Fire Spin so strong that it had people in the stands leaning back. Mason and Ron were among them Blaire knew, he could see them sitting up there with their mother who’d taken the time off work to come and watch.

On the field, the second pokemon he’d ever caught for his team charged fearlessly through the flame, stinger extended like a lance, like a knight torn from history. It glinted in the light with a small flash of purple before rocketing forward.

“ROCK SMASH!” Blaire bellowed as the move connected.

He didn’t have to actually announce it, not after the hours of training they’d put in to give Beedrill some bite against rock pokemon, but it felt right. He felt in that moment like he was one with his pokemon as the Solrock faltered.

Only to counter by bobbing down, so as it hit the ground it launched a spike of rock right into Beedrill that finally did him in.

Blaire cursed to himself. Damn it! He’d assumed that Solrock was Rock-fire typed! It must be Psychic like Selene!

“Your pokemon has guts,” Brock complimented from the other side of the arena.

Blaire nodded while returning his pokemon and giving it the praise it deserved. “You did great..” he trailed off as Brock’s Solrock wobbled suddenly.

Brock stiffened. “Ah, I thought for a moment it was a trick of the light.” He gave Blaire a long look, “You’ve given your pokemon a small item to hold, haven’t you? A barb of some sort?”

Blaire was about to shake his head only for his hand to drift to his hip. There had been that time last year where he’d gotten tagged by something while he’d been swimming… 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

“Ah,” Brock said. “I can see you know what I’m talking about. You’ve encountered and given your pokemon a Poison Barb, very clever.”

He felt his mouth drop open.

How did Brock know that It was a tiny thing he’d found and toyed around with before accidentally poisoning himself as a kid! Weedle had wanted it though and kept it with him.

Ever since then Blaire had noticed that his pokemon had a tendency for physical poison attacks to land. He’d never thought it was due to the barb though! Was that even still an item? His Weedle had evolved holding onto it!

“I thought cause Weedle evolved with it, it was just absorbed into Kakuna which led to why Beedrils poison attacks were so potent!” Blaire said.

Brock stared for a long moment before tilting his head. “You know what… I’m not sure what happens in those cases. I’m going to have to ask some specialists on evolution about it. I had assumed the Poison Barb was still being ‘held’.”

Brock shook his head. “Well, you’ve just blown my mind and given me a field of inquiry I’ve never really considered.” Brock put a hand to his chin. “If it’s a Kakuna it doesn’t really have arms so it would be holding the item within the cocoon which would mean that it would…” Brock began to mutter to himself.

Blaire shifted, unsure what to do. Brock had obviously gotten distracted with this revelation. Blaire looked to the young referee, Salvadore, only to find him writing his own notes.

Ah, it would figure that Brock’s family would share interests like this.

Blaire was about to cough only for a voice to call out from the crowd. “You’ve got him right where you want him! Quick! Finish him while he’s distracted!”

Blaire jolted and quickly flicked out his next pokemon. Sandslash took to the field and locked eyes on Solrock only for Brock to click his fingers.

“Sunny Day,” he said without missing a beat.

“Oh no! It was a trap!” shouted the voice from the stands and for some reason Brock started chuckling.

“Bulldoze into Throat Chop!” Blaire shouted knowing that the first move wouldn’t do anything beyond closing the gap between him and his foe. If Solrock hadn’t been levitating he might have gone for Earthquake, but that wasn’t going to be possible.

Brock didn’t keep Solrock merely hovering there though. “Fade back into Solar Beam,” Brock announced, his voice lacking any trace of laughter in it.

Sandslash leapt only to find himself charging head-first into a powerful Solar Beam that blew him out of the air and knocked him out. Blaire cursed in his mind and knocked a fist against his head. Damn it! He’d have been better off staying cautious. Brock might look distracted but that didn’t mean he was. He was a veteran of hundreds of pokemon battles and Gym matches! Of course he wouldn’t actually be distracted.

Blaire clenched his fists. He’d gotten too caught up in the moment and actually listened to the crowd’s suggestions instead of just treating it like white noise like he should have.

Alright, alright. This wasn’t terrible. He’d lost his Seaking and his Vileplume and was now down Beedrill and Sandslash meaning that he only had two pokemon left with Pidgeotto and Raticate.

Blaire palmed his best option and sent out Raticate. Hopefully training with Mia and Gary was about to pay off big time, he thought as his pokemon landed on all fours.

“Quick Attack!” he called to get his pokemon moving. One thing Mia had advocated for was to make sure Raticate stayed low when it was going for speed but when trying for more tricky plays to stand upright as a lof attacks typically came through Raticate’s Tail or hind legs.

“Earthquake,” Brock responded, having his pokemon slam itself into the arena and send out a shockwave.

“Leap into a Shadow Ball!” Blaire shouted and he began to jitter excitedly as Raticate cupped its front paws and unleashed a small ball of purple energy straight into Solrock.

“Psychic,” Brock ordered a second later and Blaire flinched in surprise as Raticate was snatched out of the air and hurled into the ground with a boom.

That Shadow Ball seemed to have barely rattled his Solrock, but it should have been super effective!

Blaire swallowed. He’d known Brock’s strongest badge team was good, but it was another thing entirely to realise there was still a gap between it and Blaire’s team which was worrying.

Raticate emerged, hurt but a glint of defiance in his eyes. “Alright Raticate! Quick Attack into Crunch! Use those teeth!”

“Earthquake, with Stone Edge follow up” intoned Brock levelly.

Raticate streaked across the field only to stumble as the field shook and broke apart once more, only for rocks to rise out of the ground and begin launching at Raticate.

Desperation drove Blaire to shout the next order. “Use the rocks to jump forward!” he called, recalling a match up between Mia and Forrest while they’d been resting on their Mt Moon trip.

It had been intense but surprisingly Mia and her Raticate had emerged victorious thanks to this very move!

Raticate hesitated for a heartbeat before leaping into the air, scrambling atop the first rock and then jumping to the second only to slip and fall off. Damn! His Raticate wasn’t as good!

Raticate fell, agonisingly short of his target with a heavy thump where he went still. Blaire felt sick. “Raticate?” he called desperately only for Raticate to surge up, leading with his teeth only for Brock to click his fingers.

A Protect formed around his Solrock, denying the final gambit from Raticate as he faceplanted into the Protect before falling to the ground where he collapsed.

Blaire didn’t hesitate to return him but it did leave him in a sticky situation.

He now only had one more pokemon left to deploy and it, unlike his Beedrill, did not have any special tricks up its sleeves.

“Let’s go P-Pidgeotto!” Blaire stuttered. People in the crowd sighed audibly and Blaire could tell they were writing him off.

Brock shifted into his signature pose. “Is this all? Are you giving up now?” he said tauntingly.

Blaire shuddered. He’d heard that facing Brock was a different experience from just talking with him, but experiencing it was another thing entirely. Brock was no longer the caring mentor that saw to your needs and offered support.

If anything he loomed large and stared you down. Any mistake was punished and even went as far as to taunt people.

Blaire found he didn’t care for it but what could he do… a thought occurred to him.

“Pidgeotto, use Agility to evade! Tire it out!” he said hesitantly. People were already writing him off and were thinking him down and out. What if he played into that?

Instead of perking up and glaring at Brock he curled in on himself, assuming a meek position. Part of him cringed knowing his little brothers and mother were watching but it was his only shot!

Blaire forced his pokemon to stay moving, going faster and faster as much as he could to make sure Solrock couldn’t lock it down with an easy Stone Edge.

“Psychic! Grab it from the sky!” Brock ordered and Blaire floundered for a moment before desperation gripped him.

“U-Turn! Change directions against the Psychic!” he ordered and surprisingly instead of coming to a halt, Pidgeotto did just that.

A murmur of surprise came over the crowd. They hadn’t seen someone use Bug moves against Psychic pokemon before.

Blaire swallowed knowing it was now or never. “Aerial Ace in close!” he commanded and Pidgeotto vanished in a blur of speed only to reappear behind Solrock.

“Now! Steel Wing!” Pidgeotto’s wings began to glow and Blaire leaned forward in anticipation.

“Protect,” ordered Brock and Blaire stiffened in surprise that Brock would risk it like that!

The Protect rose and blocked the attack leaving Blaire gobsmacked only for it to drop a second later and for Brock to jut his chin. “Finish it,” he ordered and Pidgeotto found itself suddenly facing a wave of rocks.

“A-aerial A—” Blaire stuttered only for his order to come too slow and Pidgeotto be blown out of the sky.

A groan of disappointment ran through the crowd who’d started to cheer for him with his seeming counterattack. Blaire slumped, exhaustion washing over him as he returned his downed Pidgeotto. “You did great,” he said more for the look of it than putting any heart into it.

Brock didn’t hesitate to march across the divide. “You know…” Blaire cringed knowing that he was about to be berated but Brock’s tone stayed light in tone. “You’ve got some serious potential as a trainer. But I think you need to find a way forward from here.”

“What do you mean?” Blaire said, head snapping up to look at Brock.

Brock rubbed his chin and looked towards the stands. “You’ve been so busy looking after your brothers I take it you haven’t spent as much time on yourself have you? Now, they’re not negatives, often having your family close can be a good thing but you’ve been sacrificing yourself for them over and over haven’t you?”

“I… have but they need it!”

“Hmmmm, debatable, but then again what you’ve done isn’t bad. It’s quite praise worthy, but perhaps it’s time to step back from them and walk your own path a while hmmm?”

Blaire shifted but found he didn’t have anything to say to that.

Brock tilted his head and glanced at Blaire. “You were thinking about giving up after this match didn’t you say? Why? When you’re so close to going the whole way?”

“I don’t think I’m—”

“Good enough?” Brock said. “Nah. I’m going to stop you there. I think you’re good enough. So it comes down to if you believe in yourself.”

Blaire blinked. “I don’t think I can…”

“What about believing in me, who believes in you then?” Brock clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m going to trust you and extend you the right to challenge the Viridian Gym for its badge. If you win, come back and earn your badge from me.”

“I think you can do it. You’re this close,” Brock said, holding up his thumb and forefinger only a few millimetres apart.

Brock then offered up his palm. “I’d spend some time working with your team in nonstandard orders. They baulked at the unusual orders instead of following through, just as you faltered right at the end there. You had me on the ropes, but then you let off the pressure slightly when your pokemon hesitated. Get your pokemon to believe in you and follow you no matter how odd the order might seem at the time. It’s not all just straightforward fighting and calling moves. For there to be a real partnership you need to watch for threats they can’t see or be aware of. You also need to have them pounce on opportunities they wouldn’t consider.”

“That… makes sense… I was surprised at the end when you went for another Protect,” Blaire said.

Brock chuckled. “I usually wouldn’t risk it, but then again when you’re in tough fights sometimes it’s better to have a go. You get me?”

Blaire nodded and Brock indeed once more. “Good man.”

“I want you to succeed Blaire,” Brock squeezed his shoulder, and Blaire ducked his head, “and I know you can do it.”

Blaire had never had an older brother, so maybe this was what having a dad would be like?

He swallowed. “I’ll try.”

Brock nodded. “You’ll try, and therefore you’ll grow. From there, success will follow, or it won't, but you will be better for trying.”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Brock gave a wry smile. “But you’ll succeed, I have no doubt.”

Brock’s eyes flicked behind Blaire. “Now, my next opponent is raring to go. Go grab a drink and something to eat. You’ll need the energy after such a hard match. Go sit with your family and if you can, watch closely. Misty’s a strong up and comer, don’t just watch the fight, watch how she gives orders, track her line of sight if you can. See if you can guess what’s going to happen. Be active.”

Blaire stumbled towards a waiting red haired nurse who collected him up and had him and his pokemon being fussed over by various Chansey. “Thanks Nurse,” he muttered, causing the woman to stiffen.

“Oh, I’m not a nurse… I’m just helping out,” the woman said with a wave of her hands in denial. She then shoved some food at Blaire. “Eat this to regather your strength.”

Blaire didn’t really get what she had been talking about so he just accepted the snacks while hiding his grimace of distaste. Salt and Vinegar chips? Yuck! He was so giving those to Ron!

Instead of asking for another flavour and being rude, he decided to just nod his head. When his pokemon were healed and handed back to him Blaire paused, feeling like he should say something to the older girl.

“If you’re not a nurse…” Blaire licked his lips, unsure where he was going with this. “Guess that means you’re a good person then,” he said for lack of anything else to say. “Thanks,” he said as he departed, missing the huge blush and giddy smile that spread over Jessie’s face.

He made his way up to watch Misty of Cerulean City take to the stands with a strut in her step and a glint in her eyes.

“She’ll make a wonderful Gym Leader,” murmured Blaire’s mother, causing him to blink.

“What?” he and his brothers asked.

Mum shot them an amused look. “Didn’t know that, did you? That’s Misty, youngest sister of the Cerulean sensations. She’s also the most serious of the four sisters with regards to battling. It’s an open secret with the residents of Cerulean that the older sisters are all waiting for Misty to garner some experience. Then they will step back and let her take over the Gym.

“Let’s go Kingler!” Misty shouted, sending out a crab with a giant claw.

“Give him the claw!” shouted Pete Pebbleman. “THE CLAW!” he made snapping motions with his hands and Blaire’s mother and several others giggled at Pete’s antics.

“I had no idea!” said Ron who’d been placed on Team Valour.

Brock met the challenge with a Cradily only for Misty to open the fight by having her pokemon slam a claw into the field and catapult itself across the field.

“Kingler! Use Guillotine!” Misty bellowed and her pokemon’s giant claw spread itself wide as it angled down, going straight for Cradily’s neck.

“Protect!” roared Brock straight away only for Misty to grin impishly when her attack merely thunked into the Protect.

Everyone frowned. Mason tilted his head. “It failed?”

Blaire gasped. “She baited him with a fake order! She didn’t actually use a one hit K.O move out of the gates! She wanted to force Brock to use Protect first!” he said as he gained a very clear understanding of why Brock had told him to watch Misty closely.

“Nice trick there Misty,” Brock complimented, dropping the stern visage to give her a nod of respect.

“Oh, but I’m not done yet!” Misty replied before slashing her hands in an X formation. “Go now Kingler!”

This time there was a marked difference as energy built around Kingler’s claw and he pulled back for another strike.

“Astonish~!” Brock cheekily called right as Kingler was about to lunge forward. Cradily beat Kingler to it and Kingler flinched and just like that Cradily was wrapping itself around Kingler’s body. “Gotcha!” Brock singsonged.

“Kingler use Hammer Arm to get it off!” Misty called and her pokemon fought through the grass type restraining it to slam Cradily into the ground.

“Giga Drain!” was Brock’s response and from close range green energy bubbles wafted into Cradily.

“Keep your big claw down to keep Cradily Pinned and use your off hand for Metal Claw!” Misty ordered and Blaire blinked as the much smaller claw shot around and hammered Cradily in the skull/bulb knocking it out with what had to be a critical strike.

Huh, she hadn’t panicked and had stuck to her tactics.

Blaire was suddenly extremely thankful that he’d gotten to fight her sisters.

It seemed like in a year or two Cerulean’s Cascade Badge was going to get harder to earn.

Blaire wasn’t surprised when Misty swept her way through Brock’s strongest normal badge team and earned herself the Boulder Badge.

“Yosh! Indigo Plateau here we come!” shouted Misty as around her a team consisting of Starmie, Seadra, Kingler, Blastoise, Slowbro, and a Psyduck celebrated.

Blaire looked down at the notepad he’d been using and nodded. Brock had been right. Watching her match had been informative. There were only two more matches before they had to leave for Viridian but Blaire stayed in his seat and watched them all, watching and learning as much as he could for his eventual rematch against Brock.

Sadly this meant he didn’t get up for the bathroom like he should have, nor did he grab something to eat like he needed to.

This led to him lagging further and further behind in the group as they marched towards the Viridian forest. When he eventually had to stop, Dennis approached him. Blaire tried to hide it but he was starting to get the shakes and Dennis took all of one look before grimacing.

“Hmmm, right. You’re spent from your match earlier today… best we get you home,” announced Dennis with a firm nod.

“I can take him!” announced another. Blaire looked over to find Brawly of all people stepping forward. “You should stick with the team Dennis… I… I can look after him,” he said with a small nod.

Dennis rubbed his chin. “Hmmm ten points to Team Instinct. Good stuff Brawly. Look after the young guy alright?” he said. When Brawly nodded Dennis marched after the slowly disappearing groups.

“Hey, Blaire right? Nice match earlier today.”

“It was pretty rough,” Blaire prevaricated.

Brawly just shrugged. “Eh you have rough days. Learn from it and you’ll be fine.” Brawly rooted around in his pouch and drew something out. “Protein ball? I made these myself for after big swims so I have energy for the rest of the day. Want one?”

Blaire nodded, accepting the protein balls. They were surprisingly tasty. “I thought they’d taste like cardboard,” he said before he could stop himself.

“Heh! Those are the mass produced garbage. All the nutrients and goodness are drained out of them. These are only a day or two old!” Brawly crowed. “Give it like an hour and you’ll be back on your feet, trust me!”

Oddly Blaire did start to feel a bit better and within twenty minutes he was regretting not having eaten the snacks the not-nurse had given him. “Urgh I wasted this opportunity,” he said.

“How so?” Brawly asked.

“I’m missing out on learning about the forest and what pokemon are in the dangerous places!” Blaire said.

“Hmmmm cool story, but…” Brawly offered an open palm. “How would that help you right now?”

Blaire opened his mouth only to falter. Brawly was right! Going on an excursion wasn’t going to help him right away! It might be interesting with the Rangers showing little tricks for tracking pokemon in certain environments and spotting hidden berry bushes but that would only matter if he wanted to become a Ranger or he continued his journey!

He needed to get stronger!

“Ah, I see you’re getting some spirit in you! Nice! Hey, with me watching your back how about we rustle up some fights. I think your Pidgeotto could do with some attention and the other’s wouldn’t suffer from fighting here either!”

Blaire nodded, liking this idea only to blush. “I’ve never wagged from school before,” he admitted.

Brawly laughed. “I’ve done it a ton of times if there was a good tide!” he declared shamelessly. “Come on, let’s do a training montage for you like in the movies!” Brawly said, playing around with his transceiver for a moment. Music began to blare out of it a few moments later loudly.

Blaire grimaced. “That is going to scare off the weaker pokemon and draw in the tougher pokemon you realise… oh you’re doing that deliberately, aren’t you?”

Brawly kept fiddling with his transceiver but coughed for some reason. “Huh? Oh yeah! Totally!” he said as the music began to pump.

Blaire perked up, releasing his pokemon. “Alright team! It’s training time!” he shouted just in time for a rustle to announce the first pokemon in the form of a charging Caterpie.

“Pidgeotto! You’re up!” Blaire said as he found himself rather liking the idea of ‘wagging’ to get stronger.

It ended up being an easy match up with Pidgeotto smashing Caterpie back into the forest around them only for a Weedle to charge in. followed by a Pidget, then a Pidgeotto, and even a Kakuna which swung itself on String Shots to try and hammer Pidgeotto out of the sky.

Brawly kept them moving around to draw in different pokemon and even threw in advice every now and then.

“I thought you were a fighting type specialist?”

“Yeah? And that means I need to know a lot about the pokemon types that mine are weak against! I wouldn’t intern with Falkner, but I still watched a lot of him and his family’s pokemon matches. There’s also a chick out of Hoenn by the name of Winona! She’s well worth watching!”

Brawly smirked. “She’s also easier on the eyes than them.”

Blaire coughed and nodded before shooting Brawly a look. “Didn’t you get in trouble for girl problems?”

“Haha! Guess I did but it’s all water under the bridge for me. I just hope it will get that way for Roxy and Flannery… and Brock,” he muttered the last name quietly but Blaire still heard it.

Blaire decided not to ask, it wasn’t his place and he’d never had so much as a girlfriend!

A harsh buzzing had both Brawly and Blaire stiffen for a moment. A large swarm of Beedrill entered the field and Blaire’s Beedrill rose to meet them.

“Yeeeeeah, might be a bit more than he can handle safely,” Brawly said, sending out some of his own pokemon. “Hariyama, Hitmonchan, Machamp defense work!” he called before flicking another pokeball behind him only for a giant Wailord to appear behind Blaire and brawly.

“So nothing sneaks up behind us,” he said to Blaire, causing Blaire to realise he hadn’t really been paying any attention behind himself during the last few fights. Good thing he had Brawly here!

Pidgeotto, Beedrill, Raticate, and Sandslash threw themselves into the fight. Blaire decided to follow Brawly’s example with his Seaking and Vileplume by having them hang back.

Beedrill gleefully tore into his fellow pokemon while Pidgeotto made short work of any that he came against. Raticate and Sandslash darted about, slashing and tackling pokemon out of the air in a great show of teamwork and Blaire found himself stretched having to shout orders for not just one of his pokemon but all four. It was tough watching four fights at once!

“Hitmonchan!” Brawly said, and suddenly Hitmonchan lunged, throwing a punch that sparked. The punch connected with a Beedrill that had risen into the air and been about to drop down upon Raticate while he’d engaged with another. The hit sent the Beedrill flying back.

“Keep your eyes moving and your head on a ballpoint Blaire! Don’t just turn it! Look up and down in situations like this!”

Blaire hurriedly did as ordered and spotted another trio of Beedrill starting to copy the other’s antics. “Pidgeotto! Rise and cover the skies!” Again Pidgeotto was quick to dispatch those pokemon and Blaire felt a smirk come on as he decided ‘turn about’ was fair.

With his Pidgeotto able to assume a higher position easier, he began dive bombing clusters of Beedrill and before long they had the entire swarm either knocked out or in retreat.

Blaire felt his heart thundering in his chest. That had been terrifying! But also exhilarating!

“Ha! WE did it!” he shouted and his pokemon joined him in celebrating. Pidgeotto raised its head and crowed it’s delight only for a golden light to sweep over it’s form.

A moment later Blaire was left gaping as his Pidgeot emerged! It was huge!

“Pidge!” crowed the powerful flying type.

Brawly whistled. “That’s a big old bird! Nicely done there Blaire! You showed those pokemon who was boss!”

“Rather handily I’d say,” said a familiar voice.

Blaire looked up only to find Brock flying sitting atop the Wailord with a large Noctowl at his side.

“Oh! Hey Brock! We were just—” Blaire raced to make an excuse. This was the first time he’d wagged and what basically amounted to the principal had caught him!

Brock held up his hand. “I got Brawly’s message and I think it was actually a good idea. Although I’m not sure the Rangers will enjoy you flattening an entire area of pokemon like this.” he directed a flat look at Brawly before sighing. “Come on you two. Let’s clean this up and then you can join me on my patrol.”

Brock drew out a few potion bottles and tossed them to Brawly, Blaire, and whichever pokemon could hold them in grips.

Blaire found it rather amusing watching his Raticate toddle around and spray each of the Beedrill he’d knocked out before marching on, leaving the Beedrill extremely confused.

Despite the task Blaire still heard Brock and Brawly talking with each other.

“Hey, wanted to say again I was sorry man, I should have handled that better.”

“For what it’s worth? I think you did one of the most mature things by saying no. If you weren’t interested or ready then it’s for the best.”

“O-oh thanks I guess?” Brawly said shooting Brock a confused look.

Brock just shrugged and kept spraying the downed Beedrill. One of them tried to jab him after he’d healed it up only for Brock to slap it. It crumpled into the ground and Brock grimaced. “Oops,” he said.

Brawly just chuckled. “Are we good man?”

Brock nodded. “I understand a lot of what happened and am going to chalk it up to miscommunication. You’re a friendly guy. The girls thought there was more there and honestly I thought there was. When I heard she’d confessed to you I was a bit confused. I’d thought you were already dating.”

“Did it really look that way?” Brawly asked with a tight expression.

“You did spend a lot of time with her in a very buddy-buddy sort of way and you looked like a cute couple, especially with Flannery making sure to give you two space and not come between you.”

“You think we’d have been good together?”Brawly asked.

Blaire tilted his head. Were they talking about what had caused that big brawl to break out and the Team rivalry? Blaire hadn’t really given it much thought that the Team Leaders at the time were dating or not dating.

Someone had even suggested they were all dating but then broken up.

Most of the girls liked saying it was Brawly’s fault but Blaire hadn’t cared to listen.

Now, with two older guys talking about dating, Blaire decided it might be worth listening in.

“Yeah, I mean I had assumed you were and thought it was great for you both. Sort of like a Hoenn power couple,” Brock said.

“Yeah… I just… I feel like we’re going in different directions so… well I thought it would be best not to start something I felt was just going to end. You get me?” Brawly said.

“Hmmmm, again, if that’s how you felt, then good call. Did you say as much to Roxanne?”

“Not like that? I don’t think she was really listening after I said no honestly.”

“Ah, yeah that checks out, Roxanne’s the sort to overthink things,” Brock said.

“Yeah… guess I chalk that up to miscommunication and learn huh?”

“Yeah, also? Friendly advice? It doesn’t sound good you ‘meeting up’ with Sheila after what happened with Roxanne.”

“That! I was just… yeah, alright I can maybe see your point of view, now.”

“Yeah, it ended up blowing up way more than it should have. It could have been smothered a lot sooner if things had played out differently. This and that were separate incidents but…” Brock waggled his hand.

Brock paused, looking around for any more downed Beedrill only for there to be none. Blaire realised it was now very obvious that he was eavesdropping so he quickly pretended he was inspecting a tree.

It was a very interesting tree, he thought, trying to project the air of someone focussing on the tree rather than the older guy’s talk.

“Sorry about basically firing you, I sort of had to but…”

“Nah, I get why you did it. Bleed tensions and… we had goofed. Our issues caused issues with the camp even after you told us to pull our heads in on day one,” he said.

Brawly then rubbed the back of his head. “Is Sabrina still pissed with me?”

“She’s not happy, and honestly? I’m not sure beyond that. She spends a lot of time talking with Erika and her group so I’m not sure what she’s learned and how that might have taken in her mind.”

“What do you mean about that?” Brawly asked.

“She used ‘Brock, we need to talk’ on me to elicit a reaction but she also experimented with it on the girls in Erika’s club, sent them all into conniptions in the name of social science.”

“That is…” Brawly’s face shifted between a grin and a grimace. “I’m not sure if I should call that diabolical, or genius, or comedy gold. Damn that girl of yours is scary!”

“She would like hearing that from you I think,” Brock said with a chuckle.

Blaire frowned, unable to understand what they were talking about so he decided to speak up. “What’s so bad about a girl saying we need to talk?” he asked.

Brawly and Brock both paused and looked at Blaire pityingly before sharing a look. “Well this wasn’t the sort of education I was planning on giving during camp, but walk with me while I inspect a shrine and I’ll teach you what I know about dating and girls.”

“And I’ll fill you in on all the stuff he misses!” Brawly said with a winning smile.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Brock asked with a raised eyebrow.

Brawly smirked. “I’m just saying, you’ve only dated one girl, no? And she’s basically got you as good as married with kids at this point.”

“That… shut up!” Brock replied, shoving Brawly who just laughed happily before he turned his attention to Blaire.

“Right, so the thing about girls is, they can be crazy!” Brawly started.

For some reason, Brock facepalmed at this statement. “Brawly… no…”

Blaire chuckled, rather enjoying how his day was going. It could have gone better like if he’d earned his badge but this… this was nice too.

It felt strange returning to the Forest Guardian Shrine that had started his Journey with his brothers.

Blaire made sure to stop and pray before it and in an odd way he felt like he’d gone full circle since the start of the year.

Brock spent a while inspecting the shrine and the surrounding areas, but eventually just shook his head and waved off Brawly’s questions about if something was wrong.

When they all left Blaire gave the shrine a final look. It was weird coming back here. He emerged from Viridian much like he had with Brock last time, with a strange feeling of pride in his chest.

He’d struggled this last year, but he’d also grown a lot. Brock was right, he was so close to the finish line. Why give up now?

Oddly enough, maybe the visit to the Shrine had been just what he’d needed more than anything else today?