Hard Enough

I chewed on my gum as my aviators glinted in the afternoon sun. Before me, my once hopeless baseball team of miscreants and minors were chasing a victory. They were in position for one of the last pitches they’d get a chance at.

I rubbed my chin in thought and made a vaguely stroking gesture. Next to me, my manager made the actual gestures they were supposed to follow. I’d spent a lot of time pushing him to train his body just as hard as his mind and while he put in the effort he was academically brilliant when it came to absorbing and analysing data. Child prodigies in this world seemed to be all over the place if you cared to look. Or maybe I was just lucking out. Two kids like this in the same team did not a trend set.

“What are our odds Manny?” I asked.

“George isn’t on point today so I think the batter will have a better chance of getting two of his runners off base.” I looked at the kids on first and third base and grimaced.

“Trade him out?”

Manny flicked through his sheets before shaking his head. “He’s the best matchup we have. If Tomas was more accurate…” He quickly adjusted his glasses before glancing over his sheets.

“George! Swap it out for Tomas!” I made a sign to the umpire and he nodded his head before signalling we were trading pitchers.

I hummed. Beside me, Manny shifted back and forth. “I said if he was more accurate. Not that we should trade him out!”

“Eh, gotta give him some more experience. I think he’s put in some good effort over the season.” I patted the top of my head while next to me Manny lifted his right foot to scratch it.

“Really, a fastball?” I asked.

“May as well give him the best chances of a catch or a strike,” Manny said.

I nodded and the kid got into position. On the sidelines, parents and siblings called out for their families. In the dugout, Karen was leaning back with her feet kicked up watching on. She’d led no small number of chants with the parents against the opposing team's coach that got them twitching and glowering back at Karen.

Food sellers walked along the lines happily pitching their wares. The more lucrative of them had Machoke to carry their goods. Today’s opposing team had an Elekid, their team’s namesake, sitting out in front of the crowd stirring up trouble while across from me the opponent’s coach glared at me. The Elekid was cute but it had nothing on a fully painted-up Titan as he sat on our side. The kids — both my little siblings and the team— had loved getting the chance to paint his scales in their colours. I rather liked the way the girls had painted some pretty flowers on his flank that he couldn’t see but made the girls giggle whenever they saw them.

“She is taking this way too seriously,” I said more to myself than anyone else. I eyed the opposite coach as she furiously spoke with the next kid she was going to send out to bat.

“She’s not just a coach but also a minor gym leader in Johto,” said a husky voice from behind me.

I sighed as I realised Karen had snuck up on me once again. “Oh so this is not just about beating my team but also showing me up?” I said to Karen. Beside me, Manny bristled.

“Hey get back in the dugout! You’re only the offensive coordinator, not the coach!” Manny said, trying futilely to push her back. When she flicked him on the forehead he stumbled back and glowered impotently at her.

I merely rolled my eyes. Almost half a season together butting heads and they couldn’t play nice. I grabbed the smaller boy and directed him to the other side of me. “Leave it for now Manny,” I said.

Manny didn't say anything but he did lean around me to glower at Karen as he made a sign for the next pitch.

“Strike Two!” called the umpire as our catcher tossed to second when the runner on first tried something only to catch the ball again when it was hurled back at him.

“Yooooooou’re out!” claimed the umpire as our catcher swatted the oncoming runner.

Manny fist-pumped. Karen punched forward and I nodded. Alright just needed two more… just two more…

“Two more, yeah? And then another few rounds of that and we can hoist the big trophy?” Karen said with a grin.

I nodded. “Yeah, we’re in the running for the Indigo Little League trophy…” I rolled my shoulders in agitation. Karen shot me a look.

“What’s the matter, think we’re not good enough?”

“I think we need to play our best today and a few of the kids are off cause of the trip being sort of rough… Otherwise, I think this would be much more in our favour,” I said.

She hummed as she considered what I’d said.

A hard crack sadly followed my words as Tomas’s pitch was struck along the ground. Sadly the batter was either skilled or lucky enough to space it into the area of two of our outfielders. Who promptly ran into each other. Manny and I both put our hands to our faces.

“Well it’s certainly not our offence that’s falling short,” she said as the batter made it all the way to third base before they threw the ball in.

I gave her an unimpressed look. Our batting had already been strong before her arrival. All she did was lighten the load slightly. Honestly, with Jamie on the team, I wasn’t surprised to have found myself hoisting the Kanto Little League cup a week ago. Now at the next level, things were tougher.

Instead of saying anything of this though I cupped my hands together. “Sally! Crowley! You alright?” They waved at me and I waved back. “Alright walk around a bit and call for the ball as we practised!”

Karen made a K sign at the opposing coach as Tomas threw a ball. Across from me, the other Gym Leader’s glower seemed to intensify instead of being happy meaning she’d definitely seen the gesture.

“Why have you been pi—” I shot a look at Manny and he gave me a look as if to say ‘I know what you were going to say and don’t mind’. I coughed “—poking the Primeape with the opposition Coach? Why the K?” I asked Karen as we watched Tomas strike out the next kid.

I pumped my fist. “Nice Tomas, one more!”

“Well she’s our opposition first of all. Second of all she’s trying to play herself off as a ‘Dark Type’ Specialist so you could say it’s personal.” I could hear the disdain in her voice.

“And the K?”

“Her Daddy fought in the war but fought is a stretch. Her family earned a lot of respect and were looking to establish themselves as one of the big eight of Johto before it was proven her father didn’t fight in the battles he claimed and in fact never even stepped foot on a battlefield.”

Having half an inkling of how bad that was in my old world I whistled lowly. “Huh,” I said intelligently. “So you’re going to, what, distract her from coaching her team?”

“That’d be a bonus! But I want her spitting fire like a Magmar when I talk with her.” Karen winked “I think it’s time I spread my wings and made my run with the Ace Leaderboard. I will set up a match and then make a showing against her that will make it clear who the best Dark type gym is straight up. From there I’ll fight some other big name Ace Trainers along with challenging the gyms that have Ace challenges set up in Johto.”

“Don’t lose,” I said simply. It was something lots of gyms wanted to reach but it typically took a number of years or you had to inherit an already set up system and team from a family member to run Ace Challenges. Some gyms like Cerulean didn’t offer the Ace challenge but others such as Viridian, Saffron, Fuschia, Vermilion, Cinnabar and of course myself, did for Kanto.

In Johto… I wasn’t sure who offered them, but I could probably suspect Blackthorn and Mahogany gyms at least. I’d need to do some research on that.

The drawback for the trainers, if they lost, was that they lost a sizeable down payment as it was expected you were worth the time of the Gym Leader’s using their best pokemon against you.

You had to pony up anywhere from ten to thirty times the standard fee for each gym. Against Giovanni? You were measuring an expense of roughly a hundred thousand just to face him once.

Your match would also be televised with Battlecast which could be live or delayed depending on the gym’s agreement. Viridian for example always delayed to offer up prime time snippets during the circuit even if the match ran at midday.

This helped the gyms capable of this level of pokemon battle to rake in a lot of money.

“Please!” she threw her hair over her shoulder and lifted her chin at the opposing woman. “Little girl doesn’t stand a chance.”

“You’re Karen from the Indigo League… you placed second against Lance…” Manny stared at Karen while rubbing under his nose.

I blinked in surprise. Wait? Karen had been the other finalist against Lance back when he made his run of the circuit? That was news to me but then again I didn’t really chat with Karen all that much. So that meant if she’d challenged at the same time she would have faced Sabrina when Sabrina was back from Hoenn with me… I’d asked Sabrina about Karen and she hadn’t even remembered Karen.

“Come on Tomas!” shouted Manny, disrupting my musing.

Tomas sent in a slider and I clicked my tongue when the umpire shook his head. “Ball three!” the batter grunted in annoyance and reset himself. Manny scratched his foot again.

Karen watched Manny hoot and holler. “Got a good memory on you there kid. Usually, people don’t remember further back than three years ago, or more specifically the winners.”

“It’s your hair… you had a really scary Houndoom,” Manny said while watching the pitch.

“I still have him.” She gave Manny a proud smile only to click her tongue as the next batter got to walk, advancing the first runner onto second base.

The next kid stepped up from their team and I knew from Manny’s stiffening we were in trouble.

The kid proved my trust in Manny’s analysis right as he smacked a hit deep into the field and I clicked my teeth as they got a solid lead for the first time today. We traded out pitchers after that but started to slowly bleed runs.

By the eighth, we were down six runs. When the kids returned to the dugout I clapped them on the shoulders and directed them to the drinks bucket that I had stashed with juice and waters.

“Jaimie you’re in last… but first I want Craig… George… and Manny to get your helmets on.”

Manny squawked. “Coach! I’m the manager!?”

“And your mother and father didn’t come all the way to Bloomingvale to watch you flip sheets around. Get your helmet on and swing for the stands! Have some fun!” I said.

Manny stumbled off. “I’ll need to watch their pitcher and determine the..” He trailed off as he walked away leaving me alone with Karen. I waved to Manny’s parents before pointing to their son as he donned a helmet.

“MY BOY! WOOOOOOAAAH!” It turned out Manny’s father was the foreman in the local steel mill of Pewter. That meant that by definition he was big, burly, and loud.

However, he was out shouted by his wife who was two heads smaller and a quarter his weight. “YEEEEEEEEAHHHHH MANNY!!!! GO MANNY!! GO GO GO GO!!!” I smirked as I sent Manny out first.

Karen sighed, muttering under her breath. “Making my job to bring us that Trophy a bit hard Brock.” I huffed at her as she patted Manny on the helmet a touch roughly.

“Just bunt it and get a run for your stat sheet. Make it on base brat!” That instantly had him refocusing on something other than trying to swing big and something much more reasonable.

He stepped up to the plate and raised his bat into a terrible position. Karen and I both cringed. “Yeah you were the one in charge of him,” she said, pushing me under the Tauros stampede.

I rolled my eyes at her but didn’t comment. Instead, I watched as he swung out on two pitches before lucking out into a hit. He startled badly before his mother roared at him to run like the wind. He started running while holding his bat over his head. The first baseman didn’t know what to do.

It must have looked like Manny was threatening him as he leapt out of the way instead of standing his ground and catching the ball as it was tossed in.

I whistled. “Huh, he did it.” I shook myself before nodding seriously. “I mean of course he did!”

Karen snorted into her fist. When the next kid swung out she spoke up. “You free at the end of the week?”

“I have a training session with my trainers. One of the only big sessions I’ll be able to get in with most of them before the circuit kicks off.”

Karen sniffed. “Leave a Lady in the cold, why don’t you? Just dump it on an older trainer. I want to fight to see how you’ve been going with empowering your pokemon with rock and dark type moves. Or were you lying when you offered me a date?”

I huffed at her. “... I might do that,” I said after thinking about it for a bit. I could and should delegate, and it wasn’t that important a session. I nodded. “Alright, I’ll fight you before the weekend.” I might have Celia stick around to watch and instead have Rocko run things. She’d be off soon and Jackson would be back so a high-level match would be a good show for her to motivate her.

“Tomas! Go get us a hit!” I sent out the kid that was easily the worst batter I had on my team. Well, worst now after Manny. He hadn’t changed much from day one. He’d gotten better at pitching, fielding and his one skill with the bat.

“It’s a bunt!” shouted the opposing team’s coach after the fact as Tomas sprinted to first and Manny hurdled towards second.

“Go go go Manny! Go Tomas!” The fielders didn’t know who to throw to and I grinned as both of them made it to base. I turned to the rest of the team before pointing at Craig.

“See if we can get a run or bases loaded kay?” He nodded seriously, his face locked in a scowl. “Hey relax your grip a bit as well!” I shouted after him. He did for all of a second before taking a huge swing that hit nothing but air.

“Impressive swing. Shame he didn’t hit it,” Karen said snarkily.

“Keeps closing his eyes,” I said while watching Manny and Tomas who were getting twitchy. “Manny get back!” I shouted. The pitcher twitched and turned to find Manny hadn’t moved. He glowered before hurling another pitch straight over the plate.

I clicked my tongue and watched Craig get struck out. I nodded to my ace. “Jaimie.”

The girl nodded and marched past her team, getting cheers as she moved to the plate. She took a few experimental swings while her eyes marked where people were on the field. I could almost see her working out the field in her head and matching how and where was safe to hit to.

She watched the first straight over the plate without a twitch. When the umpire called strike one the other team cheered. Karen tilted her head. “She’s cool under pressure.”

I nodded, watching as the kid lined up for the next shot. She breathed in, resettled her grip, and then let loose.

The park filled with a solid ‘crack’ as she swung through at just the right time and sent the ball sailing over the back fence. The kids on both sides stood and stared as Jaimie leisurely ran around the field. When Tomas got to Manny he pushed the smaller boy to remind him to get going.

Manny sprinted like he’d been hit with a Weedle’s poison sting. He got a loud round of cheers as he crossed home. As did Tomas a few seconds later. Jaimie happily rounded it out to both team’s praise, albeit begrudgingly from the home team of Bloomingvale that we were facing.

Karen for once had nothing bad to say merely watching the girl with a thoughtful look. “She really is great isn't she?”

“Yeah, she is. Shame I didn’t have another of her. But she’s going to be getting a lot of interest from the scouts.” I was sadly proven right on the first part of what I said when the next kid was caught in the outfield, resulting in us going down two down. Then we struck out. They then extended their lead and despite Jaimie repeating her homerun with bases loaded, we couldn’t catch up in the final round.

I still lead the team in cheers for the winners before having us funnel them off. The other coach worked out what we were doing and reciprocated which I found nice. When we shook hands at the end I grinned at her. “Great game coach!”

She grinned back at me. “Not a problem, You were a good test for my kids. Still doing the whole ‘everyone gets a chance to play’?” she said while nodding to Manny who was blushing as Jaimie talked with him. Heh cute, looks like he had a crush on the sporty girl.

I shrugged. “They’re a good bunch of kids.” Perhaps it was the old health worker in me but I wanted to encourage the kids to keep up their healthy habits. That baseball was the best translation to throwing a Pokeball was widely understood.

Pewter city itself had no less than four teams. We’d beaten the locals and gotten to advance to the regional Kanto league. We’d won that tournament and now were playing in the finals. Which was honestly pretty great. Making the finals in the Indigo Little League was nothing to scoff at. This was my best showing and I was rather pleased to add some small silverware to my office. “Hey, you’re the Bloomingvale Gym Leader as well right?” I asked.

She got a bit stiff at that before tilting her head. “Yes, yes I am, Danica Nightfall is my name. Nice to meet you Brock,” she said after clenching her jaw for a moment. She extended her hand for another handshake and I clasped it again, amused at the repeated gesture. “We’re not one of the big eight but still valid for the League circuit, I’m… happy to know you’ve heard of us. I know you didn’t go for a Johto circuit when you were on your journey.”

I nodded. “Yeah, the shared pokemon population and limited timeframe I had made me want to range further afield once I had proven I could handle myself.” I tossed a thumb over my shoulder. “Sorry about Karen,” I said knowing that Karen wasn’t going to be apologising for her antics.

Danica snorted as her eyes shot to where Karen was smirking. And just like that two trainers locked eyes, and I could almost feel the acknowledgement and unwritten statement forming between them. They would be fighting, and soon.

I watched them for a moment more before turning away. I clapped my hands to attract my kids’ attention. “Alright, Let’s get our medals and celebrate how far we’ve come! Karen’s paying for the local Miltank’s Milk bar!”

Karen broke her staredown to splutter at me and I grinned and shot her a wink. Surprisingly she did actually catch the gesture but then again, aura was wonderful for conveying intent. Dark type was particularly good at showing playfulness with slightly malicious undertones such as kicking her in front of the Taurus herd.

The kids all cheered as if they had won the game instead of losing. I grinned only for it to get wider when Manny’s mum took up the cheer with the parents.

“Yeah!!! Coaches shout for the arcade games!” This got the kids cheering harder. I blinked as I realised I’d just been kicked after Karen by Manny’s mother. Sneaky woman.

I now knew where Manny got his size and smarts from. Before I departed with the kids Karen tapped me on the arm. “Three versus three at your gym. I’m going to go have a chat with Miss Nightfall.” A Look of dark amusement played out across Karen’s face and I made a note to pencil in some time to watch her and Danica’s match. Hopefully, it would be shown live.

I nodded and continued on. Titan carried half the team on his shoulders as we tromped our way down to the local Miltank Milk bar each kid had a medal around their neck for coming second in the tournament and overall things were ending on a high note. Honestly, we’d gone much further than I thought we would have. They were a good group of kids.

I was amused to see the Pokemon Academy official approach Jaimie and her mother for a scholarship and was pleased when they accepted.

When we were done I had to drag Karen with me to the register to pay the bill. The till operator had a megawatt smile that didn’t dim at all as thick wads of pokedollars were presented. She gave back a scattering of coins which I let Karen nab.

When we were done the kids all departed with their parents and hopped on the bus for those whose parents couldn’t be here. Karen tapped me on the shoulder.

“See you later!”

“You too,” I said, finding myself looking forward to the coming match against her. The end of the next week couldn’t come fast enough.

I stretched my arms over the top of my head, enjoying the way my muscles felt. It had been a few days since Trixie had last been around, so I was feeling fairly recovered. When the front door buzzed I hopped up and opened it, ignoring the slightly colder wind blowing. Karen and another man stood in the entrance. Karen’s glowering look was answered by my raising up a frankly huge cup of coffee.

She stared at it. “Tell me that’s straight black right?”

“Yup, it’s also the biggest they had… which is apparently called a bucket,” I said, glancing at the man accompanying her.

Karen waved her hand back. “This is Tony, my publicist.”

“We’ll take photos and videos. Add anything good to highlight Karen,” he glanced over at me. “We’ll have to blur you…”

I frowned, feeling slightly offended. I wasn’t ‘dressed up’ by any measure but I didn’t look bad.

Karen snickered into her bucket. “Relax Brock, it’s to hide our relationship until I’m ready. I need to make my own name without hitching it to yours right now.”

“No one knows about you and Agatha then I take it?” I said as I led them into the arena. I glanced at Tony only to realise just how big this guy actually was. He easily had two heads over me and I could only compare him to Surge, who was the largest man I knew. “Also I will have someone take you to the security wing where you can make use of the cameras in our gym.”

Tony perked up at that only to let his glower reclaim his face.

When we got into the arena I waved at Celia who I’d told to stick around so she could watch this match. The same applied to Forrest who I’d gotten to come along as well. Although he wasn’t meeting us and had instead claimed a good seat to the side and was sitting with his legs kicked up so he could doze. I whistled at him and he waved back sleepily.

I scowled at him but didn’t get any further response, making me shake my head. He’d regret not coming down here in a few months when Karen was announced as an Elite Four member. I had to wonder if he’d remember her.

Karen marched up to me and looked over the field. “Urgh… it’s early.”

“Nah it’s perfect! There’s nothing better than having a match in the morning!” I said hopping over the edge before jogging over to my podium where I began setting up the arena. Karen stared after me.

She glowered at me from over the top of her drink. “Brock, when I said you could set something up for us to have a match I didn’t mean to schedule it in the morning,” she said followed by a giant yawn.

I shrugged and swung my hands about as the podium began to rise up. “Eh, I have things to do today beyond just fighting you. And you know what they say. Early Pidgey gets the Caterpie and all that jazz.”

“Urgh! You’re a morning person, I should have known…” she said as she walked around to the stairs which she proceeded to stalk down. “Which doesn’t fit with you being a partial dark type. I would have thought the rock made you slower to get going in the morning.”

I dropped into a leg stretch with a side lunge. “Nah! I’ve always been something of a morning person!” I blamed my family in my first life.

Growing up in the country demanded that most people get up before the sun. The habit had remained when I’d gotten older and carried through into my second life. “What’s the matter? Not up for it now?”

“Urgh, at least you know how to treat a girl.” She slurped from her ‘bucket’ and let out a slightly breathy moan of delight as she reached her podium. I coughed, highly conscious of the watchers in the form of Forrest in the stands and Celia and Tony in the camera room. I did not want to give Karen a video of me checking her out.

“So what’s up with Tony?” I said as I twisted about slightly to get more warmed up.

Karen stretched out her neck. “He’s my publicist, like he said.” When I merely raised an eyebrow she rolled her eyes. “Gyms aren’t the only people that have support crews Brock. I also have a small team that helps keep me sharp along with getting me the best things.” She took another drink. “Like I deserve.”

At my hum of interest she rolled her eyes. “I also have some girls that I spar with over at the Battleclub fleecing some punks. Tony’s support is different though cause he sucks in fights.

I huffed at her. “So, how do you want to do this?” I selected a pokeball and enlarged it. It was interesting to watch Karen’s entire demeanour change. She went from sleepy to switched on with an intense expression as her eyes roamed over the field once again. This time instead of her eyes merely passing over it they catalogued everything. Then her gaze turned towards me and I felt something ripple over me.

I pulled up some of my own energy and felt my own body firm up as my feet suddenly felt more rooted into the platform underneath me. I felt like I could stand against the world and it would break against me. Karen tossed her coffee cup over her shoulder carelessly. The splatter of wasted coffee merely making her smile wider as I scowled.

“You’re cleaning that up,” I said firmly.

“Make me Brocky boy~!” she said with a sing-song as she selected her own pokeball.

I grunted and flicked my head. “On three?”

She nodded and we counted down together before unleashing at three. From my pokeball Knight took to the stage with a snort, his heavier weight causing a shudder to cause a rumble through the podium. In the stands, Forrest sat up as the chairs shook slightly. His legs were dislodged from where they rested.

Across from me a much smaller light appeared with a white cat like pokemon. The pokemon bristled as it locked eyes with Knight. “Absol!”

I hummed in consideration. If she had the chance, this would be a wonderful pokemon to use as a stall out pro. I could recall it featuring in the games and online pokemon competitions as they typically had good defense and health pools. Then again that was with specially designed pokemon. Breeding pokemon like that wasn’t possible just as IV training wasn’t something that actually happened in this world.

I knew it was a Dark type with some ghost moves which suited Karen with her apprenticeship under Agatha.

“Curse!” Karen called out to start things off. Absol’s body shimmered with dark purple energy before the energy field tore itself in half. Absol lurched.

I swore.

And she can just do that, I thought to myself. “Damn dark types, Knight return!” I barked, raising his pokeball and returning him which was one of the most convenient ways I had to stop the curse from taking effect.

I selected another pokeball and tossed it out. Karen was obviously making me play games so I would shake things up. “Go Titan!” I shouted releasing the greatball from my neck in a practised gesture.

Titan emerged like an angry god. He roared and the air vibrated at his power.

Karen whistled. “Well hello to you too,” she said. “Curse him Absol!”

“Earthquake,” I commanded to my pokemon as the energy built up once more around Absol.

“Break off and AA!” Her pokemon crouched low and when Titan stomped her pokemon leapt only to hover in the air and then blur back to a rock as the earthquake ended.

I whistled. That had been an impressive use of aerial ace.

“Sandstorm,” I said after considering the field.

“Curse him Absol,” Karen said threateningly.

The slowly building sandstorm that had emerged with Titan’s appearance whipped up and became a proper storm worth its name. The wind whipped around us and I narrowed my eyes more than usual to ward off the loose sand. I could just make out Karen’s form and the shapes of our pokemon.

Absol had a large energy field around it and was once more building up an energy field. I hummed before raising my pokeball. I had at least forced her hand a bit with the field effect this time and while it was anticlimatic there was no need to commit and weaken my pokemon right now. Karen was forcing my hand and I was letting her but that wouldn’t be for long. Her pokemon had taken two curses now to force the change out from me. Absol didn’t have a ghost typing. Was this Agatha’s influence or had Karen trained her pokemon to handle curse better than other pokemon? Still, her use of it was reckless.

Unless her plan was to see what my pokemon choices were now?

Hmmm that wouldn’t be a bad idea actually.

I decided to go for something risky. She had wanted to see how I beat Lance hadn’t she? So I would show her with a pokemon technically weak to her.

“Go Selene!” I shouted as I whipped her pokeball forward. Selene appeared and wobbled in the sandstorm before floating up and around.

“....!” said Karen, her words lost in the wind as she must have deliberately not spoken up. Her pokemon shifted into a more upright position but that appeared to be it.

“Selene Moonblast!” I shouted. In front of her, a large orb of pink energy built up. I saw Karen stiffen and order something.

Her pokemon twitched and another dark energy built up around Absol from what I could see. Karen slashed her hand and over the howling winds I heard her shout . ”No not — one!” to her pokemon.

Had her pokemon just disobeyed? This was one of the issues with having a sight obstructing sandstorm in play. It was strong enough to grind down opposing pokemon but to do that it had to be strong enough to cause issues with sound and sight. I’d have to ask later what she’d been intending.

The pink orb of power slammed into her pokemon and sent her Absol hurtling back. I pumped a fist at that. While Selene might have been a poor choice on typings she made it up in moves that she could pull. A fairy-type move? Perfect for slapping down dark types.

Her Absol stood only to be buffeted in the wind. A red beam of light shot out from Karen and I clicked my tongue. Her pokemon was withdrawn before I could go for the kill.

She must not have been feeling too confident.

Her next pokemon emerged and I could make out the canine shape with the horns on her head. I didn’t need to hear to know she had called out her Houndoom.

I wasn’t sure which was her starter. The Houndoom or her Umbreon, but I suspected I knew why she had sent her pokemon out.

“....!” I heard words on the wind but again could not decipher them.

It didn’t stop me from shouting an order of my own. “Psychic!” I shouted to Selene.

From the vague Houndoom like shape a fire lit up the sandstorm before it rapidly expanded and became a literal inferno that exploded outwards. The sand was blown outwards due to the flamethrower Hounddoom had unleashed. The front of my podium and the edges of the arena lit up as the barriers for our safety activated. Around us, rocks were now glassed from the heatwave that had swept the sand away. In front of Selene, a wall of fire pulsed in her psychic grip.

I was about to order her to throw it back before thinking better. “Smother it,” I said instead.

Odds were that tossing it back would only empower the fire-type pokemon if it had the ability flashfire. Karen’s rather pronounced click of the tongue let me know I was right. She grinned at me. “Thought you might oblige a lady Brock.”

I snorted at her in amusement. “I think it’s going to take a bit of sandblasting to get the glass off Karen,” I said in reply.

Karen eyed my third pokemon. “So Aggron, Tyranitar and Lunatone eh? Hmmmm I’d say the last one is your most deadly so I think I’ll be taking her out now! Use Nuuuu!!” she said, dragging out the order in a practised manner.

“Selene, get ready with future sight!” I ordered.

Around both pokemon energy built up and it was only a few seconds later I realised she’d used nasty plot to boost her pokemon. Specifically her ‘Special attack’ stat.

“Selene build up with Calm Mind!” I ordered, preparing for the next play.

“Use Darkpulse!” called Karen. Her pokemon once more erupted but this time in darkness.

“Fire off Moonblast! Create a passage of safety!” I commanded.

Selene built up her moonblast once again but this time she almost seemed to hold it close to herself as she shot it and herself forward. The attack slammed into the onrushing dark pulse only to open up a passage through for her.

“Crunch!” ordered Karen as suddenly her Hounddoom was emerging from the side. She must be used to having her pokemon fire off a pulse and then change positions. It made sense she would create an opening with opponents losing sight of her pokemon in the small window.

I couldn’t copy the trick I used against Lance due to dark pulse stopping teleport dead. I’d done as much the first time I faced off against Sabrina. Her Kadabra's tricks of teleporting and controlling the field was no use in the face of Titan’s Dark Pulse. It wasn’t something I was going to replicate with my pokemon.

Instead, I had to accept that Selene had been caught out. She was tackled to the side but she’d already passed through the pulse so she couldn’t be slammed into it as well. She warbled in pain as the dark energies and fangs of the Houndoom tore into her.

I had to grit my teeth. “Use ROCK TOMB!” I shouted trying to get the order to her through the pain she must have been going through. She responded wonderfully as two rocks shot up out of the ground and caught the Houndoom about the leg.

It wasn’t as strong as it should have been but I suspected that had to do with being caught in the jaws of Houndoom.

“Dark Pulse!” shouted Karen.

“Rock Tomb again!” I had hoped that Selena’s attack would have forced Houndoom to drop her but sadly he seemed to have a trap for a jaw as it remained locked on my pokemon.

Dark energy erupted once more from Karen’s pokemon just as more rocks snapped up around Houndoom’s leg. This time the attack reached all the way up to the hip. It made Houndoom cry out in pain and drop my pokemon but instead of floating back upwards she dropped to the ground, too spent to rise.

I made a signal to Karen which she accepted. If we had a referee they’d have announced I was withdrawing Selene from the match.

Overall I was happy with how she’d done. She’d fairly savaged two of Karen’s pokemon despite the match up.

Houndoom limped back in front of Karen and growled. It tried to shift positions but I could see it was uncomfortable.

I selected Titan’s pokeball from my necklace once more and felt my anticipation build. She’d used her strongest to take out Selene. Now I was going to dunk on her with Titan. I was just winding up to throw his pokeball when an alarm blared out through the gym. I growled at the interference before stiffening.

“Shit! That’s a gym alert! The Gym is under attack!”

Karen gave me a look that conveyed how little that meant to her. I threw myself over the podium and began running for the security room, only to pause as the loudspeakers rang out with Celia’s voice.

“Brock! The gym’s wall has been breached to the west! People are charging in and there seems to be a large… aircraft?” Celia said only for another voice to speak up.

“Zeppelin, an oddly streamlined one at that,” said what had to be Tony’s —Karen’s publicist— voice.

Forrest had bolted down to me. “Brock? What should I do?”

I worked my jaw and considered him. I wanted to storm out with Titan at the front of my team with me ordering them to lay waste. But then I rethought that order. Things started clicking into place. Jenny had mentioned that Team Rocket had been sniffing around and Team Rocket meant Giovanni. Giovanni who had a Legendary. I needed to be careful. But I couldn’t let this simply pass without acting.

I just had to not be dumb.

“Forrest, take Knight and lock down our house. If anyone tries to enter there you blast them,” I said tossing him Knight’s pokeball. He caught it and hurriedly ran to our house. The rest of my family would be safe at school. If Giovanni tried something there he’d draw far too much heat.

At least I assumed he would, the darker part of my mind supplied. I clenched my jaw and cycled my rock energy to keep myself calm as I stormed towards the security room.

Karen hopped down from her podium to join me. When she landed she stumbled. I half turned in concern but she waved me off. “I’m fine, just an awkward landing!”

“Right let’s get to the security room and see what we’re dealing with,” I said to her as we broke into a jog. I opened the normally locked door in advance with a tap of my transceiver before I even reached them. When I reached the security room I still practically slammed into it.

“Report!” I barked to Celia. My eyes swept the room to find her and Tony sitting in front of a set of monitors that showcased Team Rocket. They had grunts and one rather dressed-up man fighting a number of my pokemon. The spread of water and grass types with dewgongs, Starmies, and Victreebels meant they had come ready to fight my pokemon.

They weren’t ready for my electric typed pokemon with the variant geodude I had along with the pair of Onix I had that breathed dragon breaths to create limited mobility for Team Rocket to advance. A Rhydon and trio of Tauros emerged and started using rock and earth moves to counter these attacks while reclaiming space for themselves.

I found myself rather pleased with how my pokemon were acting. The newest Graveller had planted herself in front of a number of weaker Geodudes and was using Rock Throw very deftly. Scyther was on the field blitzing in and out to harry Team Rocket like we’d been practising. He was getting a good deal of attention as a rare and popular pokemon, but so far whenever he was in danger he either buzzed away or another of my pokemon was able to block for him.

These Team Rocket members were having to work for each step they gained but they were still advancing. These were obviously not the Team Rocket that most people from my world initially thought of with Jessie and James. These were the professional hardened criminals.

That didn’t mean I wouldn’t be keeping an eye out for them, however. Jessie and James were names that now jumped to the top of my list to research with the looming circuit.

That was for later. Right now I was facing off against a criminal organisation that had set its sights on my gym. I narrowed my eyes and considered everything I knew. Next to me, Karen leaned forward.

“We gonna get em?”

“I plan to do more than just get these ones,” I said as I felt a plan form in my mind.

“What the hell’s the hold up?” shouted one of the Rocket Grunts only to duck as a rock hurtled through where his head was.

Another grunt that was squatting down behind a boulder nodded to the newcomer. “Welcome to the trenches boyo.”

“What the hell was that?” said the first grunt.

“That was a Geodude,” said the second grunt, now lighting a cigarette.

“A what?”

“Geodude,” said the second as he puffed out a ring of smoke.

“No fecken way that was a geodude! Those pokemon are weak as hell!” claimed the newcomer only to lean out to look.

He threw himself into the wall as another rock ripped its way through the air. “That’s a feckin Geodude!”

The squatting man nodded his head. “Makes sense why management wanted us to take a run at the Pewter gym’s pokemon if this is how strong they are. Damn well trained.” He plucked a pokeball from his belt and nodded behind himself. “Gonna gas it up then blow it up. You got the capture device?”

The younger grunt grabbed another device that was more like a lantern with a circle opening where a black pokeball with green marking on it rested. “Yup! Knock it out then I’ll capture it.”

“Koffing gas it up!” A pokeball was tossed out and from it a Koffing arose, trails of smoke beginning to billow out of the purple pokemon.

“Kooff—” The pokemon’s cry was cut off sharply as it took a rock to the face. It was blasted back towards the grunts who scrambled over themselves to get away from the gas the toxic pokemon was spewing out.

“Damn it Boxer! I told you that wasn’t going to work!” squealed the man with the capture device.

“The shit you did!” shouted ‘Boxer’ as he ran swallowing his cigarette as he did so lest the flame ignite the koffing gas.

From atop the nearby plateau, I chuckled while Quirrina hovered next to me. He’d given Karen a pointed glower when we’d arrived via the hidden tunnel from the medical bay. It was unfortunate timing that Selene was knocked out but I’d deposited her with Chansey before locking things down. Celia was now holding the back entrance of the gym.

I glanced around to see another pair of Rockets being bodied by the small herd of Rhyhorn I had. Shin and Scyther shot in and knocked them down with the back of their blades. The Rocket’s cried out. “Damn it where are the electric pokemon we were promised against these ones?!” cried out one.

I hummed in interest. Now that was— An electrical surge shot up over the wall on the southern side where the swamp was only to cut out quickly.

I smirked while Karen frowned. “What was that?” she said.

Before I could reply an Electabuzz and a Voltorb were hurled through the wall making me sigh as a loud ribbit sounded from the swamp. A trio of Rocket grunts ran through the break only to book it to the west and out of the fight, ignoring the others' cries for them to come back and fight.

From the swamp a large blue pokemon emerged on all fours.

“SWAMPERT!” cried out Shrek as he lined up on the earth pokemon and began blasting with Hydro Pumps. The impact of having one of my Elite pokemon joining the fight was immediate with Rocket pokemon going flying.

Karen rubbed her chin. “I’d heard that you had one of those but never saw you use it… Thought you didn’t have very long in Hoenn?”

I smirked. “I’m very efficient,” I said smugly, turning my attention elsewhere.

With that area taken care of and a number of the grunts looking frazzled, it didn’t seem like it’d take much more for them to run away. Scyther and Shin were cleaning up with my Rhyhorn working well with the Aron I had to harass a group that had come in from the north. The western group that had entered had been stalled and were being pushed back.

Which left only another group that was trying to sneak towards my sheds where I kept the food for my pokemon. I decided I didn’t want any of that.

I was just about to order Quiirina to carry me down when I heard something. I tilted my head and glanced around. This time I looked up and spotted a small dark spot in the sky. I narrowed my eyes.

…That shape.

“Don! Take out the Fearow!” Don appeared with a screech that had all the rockets looking up and spotting me on the edge of the plateau.

“Go Arbok!” “Growlithe!” “Raticate!” “Machoke!” “Weezing!” “Magnemite!” “Venomoth!” “Purugly!” cried out a number of Rocket grunts and the one rather stylishly dressed man.

That last pokemon had me snapping my head to the cat pokemon. That wasn’t from a region that was open to anyone. I hadn’t even heard of the Sinnoh region being discovered and I had a secret society feeding me information. How did a Rocket Executive have that pokemon?

It being here had quite a few implications. None of them good.

I glanced at the trainers before me as they unleashed their pokemon. I raised another pokeball. “Sanchez go!”

My moustached pokemon landed on the side of the slope and instead of allowing his toes to dig in he allowed himself to slide with his hands crossed over. It… actually looked pretty cool.

“Thunder,” I ordered. Sanchez tweaked his moustache and winked before punching the sky and unleashing lightning bolts upon the pokemon. Instantly the Venomoth, Growlithe and Raticate dropped as paralysis took hold.

Sanchez continued to slide forward.

“Arbok, use Toxic!” shouted one of the grunts.

“Leap over it and shake them up!” I said in response.

Sanchez bent at the knees before throwing himself up and over the sizzling poison. “Go-lem! Lem! Go!” He raised his hand and I grinned knowing what was to come.

Sanchez leaned forward just enough to allow his hand to reach the ground as he slammed into the ground in a picture-perfect three-point landing. A classic for any person that had watched a superhero movie. Sanchez just so happened to love movie night and with younger siblings Superheroes were a safe bet to regularly feature.

The fingers slashed across his eye as he winked with a sideways V made me think he’d been spending a bit of time watching the girls' choices in superheroes. It didn’t make him any less dangerous as a huge ripple of earth flexed outward from his landing point sending pokemon flying. The only pokemon left unmolested was the Magnemite that hovered forward with its eyes locked in a glare.

“Quirina, take it out with Flamethrower,” I ordered my Solrock.

Quirina hovered forward and spat a gout of flame that stopped the Magnemite dead in its tracks.

“Hey you can’t use more than one pokemon!” shouted one of the grunts.

I snorted down at him before looking at all the pokemon that I was facing. I could probably have Sanchez continue to body them but I wanted this wrapped up cleanly. “Turn about’s more than fair. Shrek, small area of effect Rainy Day. Sanchez use thunder. ”

Rain poured down and Sanchez grinned as he threw his hand up to the skies theatrically. Then from the rain five bolts of lightning shot down onto pokemon to lay them out. The Rocket grunts all took steps back at that.

“Signal for the blimp! We need to get out of here!” shouted one of them. Another raised a clicker and pressed a button. Instantly a whirring noise filled the air as a large metal zeppelin rose from the west. I opened my mouth to shout an order to blow it from the sky before remembering the plan.

Instead, I pointed to the trainers. “Sanchez, take them out!” but I didn’t order any more Pokemon forward. I was surprised when the back door of the gym opened and Bianca and Stephen stormed out with pokeballs in hand.

“Stay away from the gym!” they both shouted.

From Bianca, a Ditto and a Pidgeot emerged and from Stephen a Porygon and Swablu took to the field. The Ditto glanced around and grinned when it spotted Purugly causing Bianca to gasp in surprise. A red pokedex emerged from her hip and I saw her mouth beginning to dictate something to it. Stephen spared the new pokemon a glance before ordering his pokemon to attack with tri-attack and aerial ace.

Celia emerged trying to grab an obviously enraged Selene as she hovered out. Behind Celia, Chansey stalked out with an annoyed look only to stop when she noticed the number of injured pokemon hiding behind rocks. She ducked back into the gym and then sprinted out to start administering care.

“Luuuunatone!” cried Selene as she started to throw rocks at the now thoroughly fleeing Team Rocket members.

I whistled to catch her attention ”Celia! Let her go! Se—” before I could order her to Selene teleported to my side and nuzzled up to me. I frowned at the feeling of something circling around Karen spike up.

“Are you passively emitting?” I asked, eying the ‘zone’ she was emitting. Goosebumps rose over my skin as I felt her energy. “So that’s a common trick?” I said.

She gave me a look like I’d just said something very stupid. I coughed into my fist.

“Right, forget I said anything.” In front of us the Rocket Grunts were being hurled around. The Magnemite was trying to absorb any stray electrical attacks from Sanchez even as the metal zeppelin closed in. I nodded as the zeppelin closed in.

“Want to follow after that and take it down when it reaches their base?”

Karen tilted her head. “I was wondering why you weren’t blowing that out of the sky… it didn’t make any sense to me.”

“Ah, I wouldn’t have been able to get away with it if I didn’t have Don blinding them.” I pointed up at two now very, very distant dots that were trading attacks.

“They had watchers?” Karren bit her thumb and scowled. “Hmmm I didn’t want to openly advertise our connection but it might be for the best.” She shot me a look. “Would you mind letting me take point on the raid of their base?”

I considered what she was asking me. She hadn’t wanted to advertise our connection and that was probably not a bad idea. It did reek of duplicity but it also took into account that if people knew of our connections they’d think less of her or expect her to act on my behalf in future. Karen entering the Elite Four would potentially offer a lot of benefits to me as an unknown.

Or maybe I was looking into it too much… I scratched my head. Life had gotten a lot more complicated since Lance’s challenge.

“Sure, you take point and deal with the authorities.” Perhaps the smartest thing would be to let her handle it. I waved towards the Zeppelin that the Rocket grunts were piling into. “After you?”

Karen grasped two pokeballs and enlarged them before sending them both out. “Crobat! Murkrow! Track that zeppelin and when it lands send Murkrow back to lead us there!” I watched as Team Rocket fled with their tails between their legs. I felt a sting of envy at her Crobat, especially after having a shiny zubat slip through my fingers on my last trip up to Mt Moon.

Celia glanced up and waved. “Brock! Sorry I couldn’t stop Stephen or Bianca from running out as they wanted to help out!” I gave her a wry smile. I had no doubt she did as well. She glanced down at the ground and coughed.

“Uhm otherwise the Gym is secure with no pokemon or pokeballs missing! I have called Rocko and he’s coming back now with the others!” she said.

I nodded, proud she’d thought of that step on her own. “Alright when he gets home inform him he’s in charge and that I want them to patrol around the gym and city for the next few hours. We’ll check the pokemon that were outside. I’ll call Dennis to join me.”

Celia hopped from foot to foot “What are you going to be doing?”

I nodded towards the fleeing zeppelin. “We’re going hunting.”