Hard Enough-Chapter 293 - Training Camp V

“When considering meta’s, you won’t always know what’s happening, as it is an ever-evolving situation for trainers engaged in Pokémon battles,” I said, finishing my lecture.

I tapped the whiteboard showing off the various Meta’s. I had a few more minutes to kill before the bell went so I decided to run it down by summarising. “Power, Skill, Control, Delay, Set up, Trick Play, and Environmental are all Meta’s that we’ve covered today.”

“Brock? How would you say the Meta has ‘evolved’ this year?” asked Mia while next to her, Silly Mouse dutifully scribbling on a piece of paper with a set of crayons.

“Hmmm, now there’s a question,” I said, crossing my arms and leaning back. “I’d say things have shifted back and forth for myself. My own style started with a reliance on power-baked Meta, which is best exemplified by my fight against Lance last year. A lot of the moves thrown about were head-on and reliant on powerful attacks on both our behalf.”

I tapped the whiteboard and extended it to the side to write down some new notes. “Now, I have had to adapt since then due to stepping into the Ace scene more seriously with a lot of adaptations that needed to occur for myself and my team. However, I will acknowledge that I have slid back into Power-based meta’s due to the discovery of Mega Stones. It becomes all too easy to hammer an opponent when you have a Mega Stone in your arsenal,” I said with a wry grin.

I got a round of laughs from the trainers, and I could see a few of them wanted to ask more questions. I pointed to Bugsy.

“You said you backslid. So that means you were moving away from a power style? What are you trying to move towards as your dominant Meta?” asked Bugsy.

I whistled. “I was trying for more set-up style with buffs, traps, and environmental effects, but well…” I rubbed the back of my head. “Empress joined the team fairly late into the season which was a huge boost, and a lot of my pokemon, such as Bertha, my Rhyperior, is set up for destroying a lot of different pokemon so I think I won’t ever fully shift away from Power Meta.”

I chuckled. “For a while, while I was moving up the Ace rankings, I could get away with merely using power to make a lot of pretty onerous mistakes that, if I’d fought against stronger opponents earlier, would have seen some losses added to my tally,” I said.

Honestly that was probably going to get harder with Sanchez getting his power up from Zapdos. I had so many options for powerful attacks it was hard to ignore when I fought anyone, it also played well into any fights I had, especially when it was a true battle with no rules or restraint in play.

I didn’t write that down though. If I mentioned getting into actual battles where you were throwing your entire team into the mix and how those were different I’d have League officials knocking on my door asking about my ‘training camp’ for a personal militia within hours.

So instead I just waffled about how it was better to sometimes chain smaller attacks together.

“—thereby chaining the attacks and setting up something greater. So higher tier matches that don’t merely rely on power can be something that actually results in stronger effects. They can also be more cost-effective as instead of merely throwing your pokemon into attack after attack and potentially tiring them out you end up with simpler orders and less energy being expended.”

I tapped the whiteboard, showing how things flowed along a chart into a bigger explosion compared to the straightforward ‘power method.

“I am more partial to the setup style as it also offers a bit more versatility against a wider array of pokemon teams, but there are counters to it as well so no Meta is perfect.”

Team Instinct all dutifully jotted down my words.

“Those were some good questions though,” I said as the bell rang. “Ten points to Team Instinct,” I said while internally thinking ‘Gryffindor!’

Note to self: Next year, make four teams and assign them different names. I could totally get away with Slytherin, Gryfindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff with their Pokemon counterparts.

The group at large all preened at that and people near Mia and Bugsy clapped them on the shoulders. “Nice one! That should put us into the lead going into this afternoon’s exercises!”

I straightened up. “Oh! Right! If you haven’t already done it, use the coming break to swap out pokemon that can be ridden! We have three different courses set up for land, water, and air. If you don’t have a pokemon for any of these, we have some pokemon on loan from the racing club that have specialised trainers in attendance!” I called over the sound of the ringing bell.

I had to resist the urge to assign homework. I had to admit I rather liked giving lectures like this and seeing the kids’ understanding of pokemon grow.They were all super attentive to what I was teaching which made it much more enjoyable.

It probably helped that all of them had been out of school for a year now and therefore they weren’t burnt out.

Also, I advocated for people to get into fights during breaks. That was probably the best selling point I could have for a bunch of young trainers.

I could see next year's advertising already. ‘Come to school, learn, get in fights, get rewarded for it!’

I gave Brawly a nod and walked out to find Teams Valour and Mystic already out sparring with each other on the battle courts.

When I passed by Flannery, I gave her a nod. When I’d gotten home after visiting the Celebi Shrine I’d taken her aside and discussed professionalism and the situation. To counter any flare ups of emotion she might have about it, I played a game of hypotheticals with her where she was acting as the Gym Leader.

Thanks to that approach I’d effectively smothered any fires before she could build up any indignation.

It also served as a wonderful teaching session for her as she out of all her friends was guaranteed to walk into Gym Leadership once this year was over.

She’d understood my point of view as a Gym Leader but I’d been able to soften things further by nudging her. “I still want to be friends with all of you by the way. I’ve no idea how that will work, maybe it is just without you and Brawly in the same space for a while but… I think you’ll eventually overcome this as just a rough patch,” I said which caused her to give me a pinched look but no comment.

I’d have to call that progress.

Roxanne… she’d been a different talk.

Mostly because she’d been all but ready to throw herself onto a metaphorical sword with how she wanted to apologise. She understood how unprofessional it had been but she was rather overthinking things. She’d started bowing before I could even say a word which had made the start intensely awkward as we’d been outside the battle courts.

I’d had to drag her away to somewhere private as this talk wasn’t something that needed to be public.

I’d sat with her and had to fight my way past her need to apologise for everything.

In the end, I’d offered her my sympathies and said that for what it was worth, I’d thought they were already dating.

“A lot of people thought that, so I just… I thought it was going to work out. I’m so embarrassed it worked out this way,” she said for perhaps the tenth time in our conversation since we’d started talking.

I just shrugged. “These things happen. Signals can get crossed sadly. Brawly and you might be a great couple in the future when Brawly is ready to do something serious… if he ever is ready for such a thing,” I offered a ‘what can you do gesture’ before whispering conspiratorially. “He’s a bit of a beach bum, you know?”

Roxanne had giggled at that and nodded. “I do yes,” she replied before looking up at the stars. “What should I do now?” she had murmured.

“Not a clue!” I’d offered back with a smile. “Best I can advise? Whatever you want to do. Do you want to talk about it with someone else? Do it? Date someone else? Go for it. It’s your life,” I said as I stood and left her sitting on the graveler. I’d made sure to send Flannery and Sabrina her way though so she didn’t get stuck out there.

As I pulled around the battle courts and found her engaging in a doubles battle with an intense look of concentration, I had to conclude that things had gone as well as they could last night, so I’d count that as a win and move on.

I had more lessons to give and more students to check on so I moved on with my day. Hopefully, my next lesson would be a big hit though!

Who didn’t want to learn how to ride pokemon and earn their rider’s license so they could get around quicker?

A lot of my ideas for the camp had looked so good when I put them to paper months ago… It was only now that I was seeing them unfold that I began questioning my own intelligence.

Having senior pokemon trainers that were going to eventually become Gym Leaders as Team Leaders had just made so much sense! Brawly, Flannery, and Roxanne were shoe-ins for Gym Leader positions in Hoenn after all!

The trips to the more dangerous areas of Mt. Moon and Viridian Forest resulted in no less than eight complaints from the Rangers. Only one of those complaints being due to Brawly and Blaire’s actions, and it was minor thanks to my efforts to heal up the defeated pokemon.

Apparently, showing off stronger sites for pokemon to a bunch of kids had backfired, with a few of them running around like lemmings.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the usual troublemakers that caused the issue with people like Ash, Misty, Forest, and Gary even working to control the kids that had leapt at the chance to nab a stronger pokemon.

Today’s training session was supposed to teach trainers how to ride Pokemon safely. We had instructors from the race club, several police officers, and a few fun courses for land, sky, and water-based Pokemon.

“Ash! Ash! Stop kicking your Tauros!” shouted Missy as she stepped behind her Rhyperior as the Tauros Ash had jumped on continued to buck and rampage.

“Yeehaw!” Ash crowed, enjoying the entire experience far too much.

“Ride me cowboy!” roared Rachel from the sidelines, camera firmly attached to her eye as she tracked Ash’s impromptu rodeo.

I could see several other kids riding their own Pokemon around, giving Ash confused looks while others looked envious.

“If this is how he rides a Tauros I’m worried about getting him to attempt anything on his Charizard or Pidgeot,” I declared.

A buzz of the tower seemed like it would be all too tame for one Ash Ketchum.

Ash shot into the air, legs kicking out wide with a grin that couldn't get any wider, stretching his face. “Yoo Yoo Yoo!” he screamed, waving his arm that wasn’t clutching the saddle for dear life.

I could see so many ways that this could go wrong for him, but at the same time, he was perfectly safe.

“Is it wrong that watching that kid makes me feel old?” I asked.

Rocko glanced up from his gameboy and considered the spectacle before us. He’d been happy to let me just talk at him for the last few minutes but this statement seemed to have drawn his attention. “Nah, sometimes kids can be tiring. It’s why I never want any. But… they can also make you feel young again no? That kid looks like he’s having a blast. He will remember this camp for the rest of his life though.”

I paused at that and considered Rocko’s words. “Huh, you know what, you’re right. He will, won’t he?”

“Yup!” Rocko grinned to himself. “Man, I come up with some wise stuff when I’m sober for two weeks straight!” he said, patting himself on the back.

I shot Rocko a look. “You stopped doping a week before the camp?”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to come across that way for the kids. Some of them are sharp as tacks, you know?”

“Huh,” I said, recalling that whenever Salvadore came out to play Rocko made a point not to ‘relax’ with his Gloom.

“Thanks for that, by the way.” I’d never really thought about it much as it was pretty harmless but then again, Salvadore and the other kids running around here were pretty impressionable, as shown by how the drama between Brawly, Flannery, and Roxanne had played out.

“Huh, you know what? We’re pretty close to shutting down for the Gym. Maybe I should look to join them rather than smother the fun stuff?” I said as I watched Pikachu leap out to join Ash in riding the Tauros.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Heck, even Tauros seemed happy with how big a smile it had as it kicked and twisted.

I noted that it very pointedly did not roll, thereby crushing Ash even though that would have been all too easy.

I hummed for a moment, considering how everyone was taking it. I’d tell him to get serious… in a few more minutes.

I settled in and allowed Ash to have his fun, he wasn’t at risk of actually hurting himself or anyone else. I had pokemon ready to catch him.

He’d probably just have a slightly harder time getting the license that came with pokemon riding which would mean he might not get to ride his pokemon in urban areas or villages unless he showed he had control over his pokemon.

Ah well, sometimes actions have consequences.

The final period of the day I had blocked off for another physical drill. This time it was something much closer to my heart.

“Who here has ever flubbed a throw during a pokemon match or during a capture?” I said starting things off.

A few people coughed and raised their hands. I snorted. “Well, if that’s the case, the rest of you either aren’t getting in many pokemon fights or you’re not trying to capture many pokemon from range and just walking up and tapping them.”

In effect, I was calling the kids who hadn’t raised their hands liars.

“Today is all about throwing pokeballs! Accuracy matters not just for securing a capture of a pokemon, but also positioning during a pokemon match.” I tapped the whiteboard I’d brought for this with two rectangular fields set out on it.

“The battle courts you’ve been using are much smaller, and this can lead to things being much closer combat with speedy moves meaning your reaction speed needs to be on point. However when you get to the Plateau you will all be fighting on a League official field which just happens to be what dimensions?”

I wasn’t surprised when Roxanne’s hand punched the sky first. I nodded to her to keep things moving.

“One hundred metres long, and seventy metres wide is the standard but there are fluctuations!” Roxanne stated.

I nodded. “Good, those are the length and width, there is technically one to two more numbers you need to keep in mind however, who knows what they are?”

I got a range of blank faces before Forrest perked up. “The height! How high the ceiling is for pokemon to fly!”

“Half correct,” I stated, nodding towards him.

That caused more hands to shoot up with Gary beating out the others by half a heartbeat. “The depth of the ground! So height, but the starting point is beneath the ground going upwards!”

“Excellent summary. People can go as high as one hundred metres but the depth of the actual field is ten metres, meaning that standard League fields are one hundred, by seventy, by one hundred and ten metres, meaning that you have effectively seven hundred and seventy thousand cubic metres of space to use when you fight.”

I nodded to the battle courts. “Those over there? Twenty-four by ten by twenty for length, width and height meaning you only have to account for four thousand eight hundred cubic metres of space.” I ignored how Roxanne’s hand, which had shot up in anticipation of an unasked question, lowered.

I coughed and nodded to her, Gary, and Forrest. “Fifteen points to Team Mystic for your answers.”

I wrote both numbers up on the board. “Who thinks there is going to be a difference?” I said, and I earned a murmur of agreement.

“You’d all be right as the distances that you might have grown used to throwing pokeballs at will be vastly different. What this means is that you need to either work out how to throw certain distances or know straight away you can’t throw that far, and therefore certain plays might not be viable for you right now.”

“How do we make use of the air space if we don’t have flying pokemon?” asked Hillary.

I smirked, “Got a heavy pokemon that can shake the field up with their entrance?” I asked, earning a nod. “Set your pokeball to release while it’s in the air and have them come crashing down,” I suggested.

Hillary perked up at this while others murmured in confusion.

I blinked and glanced around. “Everyone here knows about the feature that sets a timer for a pokeball to release, don’t they?”

A few people shifted, only for Misty to cough. “I’ve never heard of that!” she admitted.

Forrest shot her a slightly guilty look.

Ash tilted his head and crossed his arms. “You didn’t know something that basic? I thought everyone knew that?”

Misty whipped around, a snarl on her lips. “Not all of us attended Professor Oak’s training camps as kids, Ash!”

I coughed. “Well, we just discovered something that will just be added into a lot of the sessions this afternoon.” I showed them the small button on the side of the pokeball that they could then flick their finger on to get different timings set up on. Longer times required slightly longer flicks.

“It’s something you need to practise a bit as there is a bit of a skill to it,” I said. What I didn’t announce was that pokeballs could read the intent of when you wanted to release the pokemon if you had good enough aura control. That would just convolute things.

Just like if I were to mention the historical significance of using pokeballs as landmines or timed bombs with people leaving Electrode, Gengar, and Weezing behind in set locations it would be a bit too much.

I ran through the list of skills that I wanted people to work with. I paused right before sending people off to practise as a thought occurred to me as my gaze locked on Ash and Pikachu. “Before I forget! There is an interesting point I should raise for the two trainers who like to keep their pokemon out of pokeballs.”

Eyes turned to Ash and Ritchie. “Huh?” they both said with almost identical tones. I’d almost believe they were twins with how they act sometimes.

I gestured to them. “Most trainers will wait for you to send your pokemon out to the point that you want it to be, but that is not actually League official rules. That’s just them being polite. There is no requirement under the rules for them to wait for you to be ready. As soon as your pokemon is on the field, it is fair game.” I said, sweeping my eyes over the assembled crowd.

“It does not matter if you misthrow. It is at your opponent’s suffrage that you reposition or the match starts. The only time this isn’t applicable is at the start before the referee raises their flags, or during an Exhibition match where it is deliberately kept friendly.”

“But no one’s ever…” Ash said slowly.

“Just because they’ve never done it before doesn’t mean they can’t,” I said firmly before I clapped my hands together. “With that said, let's get out there and throw some pokeballs!” I announced.

I instantly had kids on their feet and sprinting towards the throwing areas. I cupped my hands and shouted, “I have areas set up with a few different types of fields prepared with pre marked areas for you to get a feel for what you will hopefully be fighting on next week!”

The kids all scurried to get onto the field, and I made a slow circuit, the earlier enjoyment returning.

A buzz on my wrist had me humming in thought before I shut the email down and glanced towards two trainers in particular. I stepped aside to make a call to my lawyer, forwarding him the documents I’d just received so that he could give me a cliff notes version of what they entailed.

When that was done, I discreetly tapped the two trainers on the shoulder and told them that I wanted to talk to them when things were done.

I chuckled when each of them approached at the end of the training session, only they didn’t do so alone but with all of their traveling companions.

I nodded at Misty and Bugsy before glancing at the tag alongs. “Well I was going to keep this private but if you want to include them I’m not against it.”

Misty and Bugsy shared a look before glancing to their companions. Forrest coughed. “We’lll leave if you want Misty.”

“Yeah, same!” said Ritchie to Bugsy.

Both young trainers shook their heads and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at how predictable they were. “Right, well, perhaps it’s for the best as both of you are about to be entrusted with something a little beyond the norm.”

I raised a hand to forestall any commentary as I led them further into the Gym and my personal office. Once everyone was settled, I drew out two stacks of legal documents and placed them in front of both Misty and Bugsy.

Both frowned, with only Misty picking hers up and starting to read. “What’s this about?” she asked.

I drew in a breath before exhaling slowly. “Misty, Bugsy? As you might have heard on the news, I have established a company dedicated to discovering Mega Stones.”

Forrest gasped, and his eyes widened, his mind jumping to conclusions as his eyes darted to the legal paperwork on the table. “You’re going to—” I held up a hand to stop him stealing my thunder.

“Misty and Bugsy? Both of you are earmarked as trainers who will be taking over your respective family’s Gyms for Kanto and Johto. I had previously pitched an idea to the League, who are major stakeholders in my company and they recently granted me legal rights to loan you each a Mega Stone.”

“We’re getting Mega Stones?” Bugsy gasped while Misty tilted her head.

“Loaned?” she asked.

I nodded. “Your suitability is also being assessed. Should no progress be observed they may be withdrawn without the hassle of having to purchase them back. Loaning with conditions is easier,” I said.

“It’s also more palatable for a lot of parties involved,” I said only to draw confused looks from most of the kids. I waved a hand to spare them the political subtext.

I reached into my desk drawer and opened a very specific part of the desk which housed a safe rated to handle ten Explosions from various pokemon without taking any damage to itself or its contents. I drew out two identical boxes which I opened to reveal two stones within each.

A keystone and a Mega stone.

“You are being trialled as suitable custodians for these stones, if you wish to in the future we will talk about purchase rights, but for now the League is extremely interested in empowering you both.”

Misty stared at the blue stone I was offering her while Bugsy’s hands rose slowly to accept his.

“Is there a catch?” Misty asked, hands twitching at her sides as she resisted the urge to snatch the box. Her eyes darted to the paperwork.

I nodded, glad that she’d asked before simply taking the box. “You are expected to document everything you do with the stone, even if it is just polishing it. That includes submitting any other sources of knowledge you might acquire.”

This earned me uniform confusion and I sighed as I opened and shut my hands in a show of exasperation. “Knowledge about Mega Stones are extremely scarce. Therefore anything surrounding them is extremely valuable.”

I wet my lips. “With both of your families having historical claims to the Gym there is a certain amount of assumed knowledge that is passed down. The League is interested in acquiring any scrap of insight your families might possess to further understanding of Mega Stones and their usage,” I stated.

I gave Misty a pointed look. “Your Grandfather is one of the only documented people to have knowledge with regards to Mega evolution before the recent display Sabrina put on, albeit it is under some heavy restrictions.”

“Grampa?” She said before her eyes widened. “Gyarados… he Mega Evolved Gyarados during the war… He always liked to brag that Gyarados was bigger back in the day, but we always thought he was giving a fisherman’s brag,” Misty said.

“Well, he might not have been bragging,” I said before brandishing the paperwork and giving Bugsy a pointed look to put the mega stone and keystone back. “Get a lawyer to look these over and talk about them with your families before you sign. Don’t expect these to be instant power-ups. They’re not. You’re going to have to work for them.”

Misty and Bugsy both nodded while the others just looked on. I gave the other kids in the room a smile. “It’s probably a good thing that you brought your friends in on this because if you do accept these, you’re going to suddenly be carrying some extremely valuable items around that people will attempt to claim from you should they know you have them.”

The kids all stiffened at that and I smiled. “ I know you’ll all have each others back on this.”

Misty clutched at the paperwork. “Which pokemon is that stone for?” she asked, nodding towards the stone in front of her.

“Blastoise,” I replied, then nodded to Bugsy’s. “And that is for Heracross.”

Both swallowed at that. They were both powerhouse pokemon.

“What happens if we don’t accept?” Bugsy asked, even as his eyes remained locked on the stone.

“You’ll be handed Non-disclosures on this, I should imagine, and others will be approached,” I stated simply.

Bugsy grabbed a pen and reached for the paperwork. I snatched the paperwork away from him. “Did you not just… No!”

I rolled the papers up and swatted the idiot bug specialist a few times lightly on the head.

“No! You go talk to your family and get yourself a lawyer!” I said before rifling through the pages and ripping out the ones that asked for his signature. “I’m keeping this,” I said brandishing the page at Bugsy.

Jules and Ritchie both bumped Bugsy when he looked at the pages with narrowed eyes. “Don’t do it man. Brock’s just looking out for you,” Jules said.

“But… Mega Stone!” Bugsy whined.

I shooed them out of my office, exasperated at how that had almost played out.

A buzz on my wrist had me smiling as I caught sight of the caller. “Hello Kaede,” I said in greeting.

“You must think you’re really cute,” she growled in response.

I tilted my head. “Well, thank you? I like to think of myself as ruggardly han—”

“Oh don’t play the fool! You booked up my first day with young trainers that were all from your damn training camp?”

“Yes?” I said. “That’s the wonders of the pokenet.”

“Did you have to book up all the slots?” Kaede whined at me and I laughed. “Welcome to being a Gym Leader. You should be thankful that you don’t have to switch up the level you fight at for each trainer you face, it’s then things get really tricky,”

“Urgh, well all of your kids earned their badges from what I can see. Congratulations for raising so many monsters. The local Nurse Joy had been hinting that I’d need to have my entire team ready to take a beating but I’d waved her off! Almost all of them had teams and tactics ready to face me and—”

I smiled to myself as I listened to a new Gym Leader complain about her first day. It was rather humorous all told, I might have done something similar with Surge once upon a time. Being on the other side of the equation was rather nice.

It also highlighted for me that Visquez hadn’t needed to complain when she’d taken over despite having no doubt a larger workload than Kaede to take over.

I listened to her grievances politely, nodding along and commiserating. When she was done I spoke up properly for the first time in twenty minutes. “Hey don’t worry, it gets easier especially when you have time to prep for everything. Hang in for the week and a half that is left and you’ll be home free,” I said.

“Urgh, ten more days of this?” she groaned.

I merely smiled and offered a helpless shrug. “You’re facing what? Eight trainers a day? That’s just eighty fights, and then you’re done and dusted.”

“Just eighty fights, he says,” she mocked.

I rolled my eyes. “Please! Eighty fights are chump change. I’ve had over a thousand fights this year!” And that was just a figure from the top of my head. I doubted it had reached two thousand, but I was confident I’d reached four figures in trainer battles.

I’d have to check the numbers eventually but this year had been pretty brutal, with the slow period being much smaller than normal.

Next year I wasn’t planning on doing anything extravagant, but then again, I doubted it would ever get this bad with the checks and balances placed on how many trainers could now apply to challenge a region set in place.

I flicked over the rest of my training camp plan. “Trust me on this, sink yourself into the work and before you know it the last week will fly by,” I said, knowing it was half true.

It would race by, but at the same time due to anticipating what was to come it would be tortiously slow.

I signed off with Kaede, bidding her good luck for the rest of the season before checking my schedule for tomorrow and the week beyond.

Right at the end of next week I had a large golden circle announcing my departure to Hoenn to watch Celia fight.

Before that, I had some other events though, like Ash’s final shot at earning the Bejewled badge. I gave my schedule a thoughtful look. Why had Sabrina blocked off my tuesday evening for a few hours?

I crossed my fingers and hoped it wasn’t anything to do with Mewtwo.

I didn’t need or want any Legendary adventures, not this close to my break.