Hard Enough

Traversing the wilds in the pokemon world was a skill. It required that you have a level of awareness of your surroundings beyond just your sides, like you would when walking a route. The routes didn’t advertise it, but there was a natural deterrent with the trees. Some Rangers even planted certain species of shrubs that deterred stronger pokemon or acted as irritants for larger pokemon.

People were often surprised by the number of Pokemon they encountered when forced to traverse caves and "long grass" areas. To them, that was unnatural. In truth, it actually reflected the wilds as they were supposed to be, but these areas were still being screened by rangers.

In the wild, you could face any number of pokemon coming from the trees, the bushes, the tree canopy, the ground, or even the sky. Each and every angle saw a potential attack avenue that you had to be aware of. Trainers' belongings were frequently stolen or beaten up by pokemon that attacked them from behind.That was a normal ambush instinct for wild pokemon.

There were, of course, ways to mitigate this. Repel’s helped push most pokemon away. Most wild pokemon would evade the cloying scent that came from using repel, and your own pokemon could be trained to handle it. However, that didn’t account for some pokemon that ignored or sought out the irritant in their environment to remove it.

It was a numbers game. The deeper in you went, the more powerful pokemon became. In the deep wilds, it was sometimes recommended that you don’t use repel. One in ten became a guarantee of eventually being hunted down by the local area’s alpha. An example for this would have been one of the peaks of the Silver range belonging to Titan’s mother.

So you needed to rely on other methods. One of these was making sure to keep a pokemon out that could handle challengers. Being strong yourself had an effect on the pokemon. I had linked this to pokemon being able to sense that you were not one to be messed with unless desperate or very brave.

Sadly, that still meant a good portion of pokemon would face off against you while travelling through the wilds. Some of them might want to be caught, but others would just want to fight and grow stronger. Pokemon understood that most humans could bring out more potential from them and develop stronger and more varied methods than their natural instincts allowed.

The other method of going through the wilds without having to face too many challenges was to do it fast.

Flying worked well in most instances, but if you didn’t have that option, you either needed to be highly skilled as a bike rider, if the conditions allowed, or you needed a pokemon to carry you.

With the requirements of needing something fast and strong, I had to go back to an original rock type; an Onix that I was seriously considering evolving into a Steelix. While it didn’t have what I wanted in a pokemon to be part of my top six pokemon for a tournament-style battle, that didn’t mean it was useless. As evidenced by my riding it along with Dennis at my back. He even had his Machoke out behind him, acting as a rearguard for us on the giant rock snake.

Onix suited the gym with people’s expectations. Sadly, Onix were large and easy to hit with most attacks which meant they either needed to be much faster —a tough ask due to being one of the largest pokemon around on average— or they needed to be much more resilient. I’d seen them as a staple in my gym but never as one of the Elite.

Since my induction into the Guardians, I was re-evaluating their worth. The current state of pokemon battles meant they didn’t get as much of a chance to play to their strengths. That wasn’t their fault. It was like grading a fish on its ability to dig.

There were plenty of old pictures of Onix rampaging during the pokemon war. Some people even still associated them in that way. Brutish, warlike beings. In pokemon fights that weren’t constrained by things like collateral damage or rules, Onix would be a powerhouse. Steelix even more so.

I hadn’t paid to have an Onix get a metal coating due to the cost in the past. Now it was merely a matter of getting some time to see it done. Then my Onix would earn a nickname and become one of my strongest pokemon. It wouldn’t be one of my type of pokemon due to evolving but it also opened the door for potential mega-evolutions.

I resolved to book some time for this Onix to be treated soon while playing with potential names for him.

Alongside us Karen rode a larger-than-average Houndoom through the forest. Specifically, not her starter pokemon. Flanking her, two other trainers rode Arcanine and Rapidash after her. She had called them up and identified them as Molly and Annabelle. Apparently, they worked as Ace trainers in her employ. I designated them as support crew in my mind, much like Rocko, Dennis, and the other staff I had. Often, it paid to have others run errands for you as a high-level trainer.

There were quite a lot of perks for Ace trainers with these sorts of arrangements. However, it also served to show that Karen had some support in place, with Molly and Annabelle expecting her to rise up the ranks.

I leaned back and rode Onix as he rose up to flick his tail. The flick caused a Gloom to be smacked aside before it could make more of a nuisance of itself. The Gloom had enough sense to run for it before the two fire types could leap over Onix to beat on the grass type.

Karen and I continued forward as Annabelle switched sides to flank me on the right. Dennis tracked her, and I leaned back and pinched him. "You’ve got a wife," I said, ignoring the weirdness of me, as Brock, chastising another for gaping at a woman.

Dennis spluttered a denial, but I ignored him and hid my grin. It was probably hard to suddenly find yourself surrounded by three beauties without knowing it was coming. Karen was easily the hottest of her crew, but if Molly and Annabelle hadn’t been introduced as Ace trainers I would have thought of them as 'Beauty Molly' and 'Beauty Annabelle' in my head.

I kept myself looking forward, scanning the oncoming trees and rocks as Onix did a marvellous job slithering around them. I glanced back and noted that he wasn’t leaving too much of a trail.

Nor was he causing any dust to rise from his passing, despite slithering faster than I could run.

Karen continued along at my side with her pokemon seemingly unbothered by the pace. She glanced up where her Murkrow was flying ahead occasionally and offered some course directions when we were too out of line.

"So I couldn’t help but notice that little powerhouse of a geodude back at your gym. They were surprisingly devastating with their rock throws."

I nodded, "Yeah, Izumi’s a special case."

"Training up a normal golem for yourself and making it as strong as it can be before evolving it?" Karen asked.

"Ah no. She’s not that. She’s a rescue. A trainer a year or so ago came to ask about what they were doing wrong with her not evolving. She’d won tons of matches and was friendly enough with them but wasn’t evolving."

Karen listened at my side, her Houndoom bounding a rock to keep her close.

"Turns out she had ingested a rather large amount of Everstone during their travels." Karen winced. Unlike the games, it was widely known that if you wanted to restrict or stop a pokemon from evolving for a while or like Eevee from evolving in certain circumstances, then you had to get it to wear a necklace or bracelet. Or, eat a very, very small dose of Everstone crushed into their food.

For Rock types that could be dangerous though as Rock types absorbed and formed parts of their body with the minerals they ate. Eat enough of a certain type of mineral and you had a pokemon that sometimes carried those traits.

It was why the crystal Onix I sold at auction had gone for as much as it had.

"So it won’t ever get any stronger?" asked Molly, having listened in.

I waggled my hand in a so-so gesture. "In the traditional sense, yes, but I find that she’s probably one of my most used pokemon. She’s highly intelligent and is able to utilise a lot more strategies than most pokemon. She can match up easily to one of my six but doesn’t have the endurance to outlast them, nor the power. She does have some of the best aim though and her ability to hit weak points is unmatched."

"Critical hit ratio?" asked Annabelle from my other side.

I glanced from Annabelle to Karen at the words. "Annabelle’s a bit shy with her words around men. She means, what are Izumi's chances of hitting such strikes?"

"I’d give her fifty-fifty odds in general in a match if I call for it. It’s tough to say though as some pokemon can force a miss or I don’t use her that way. She features from my first badge challenge through to my final badge challenge. She doesn’t feature in the Elite Challenge though as people don’t want to see those types of matches."

"Isn’t that a bit unfair on new trainers to face such a strong pokemon?" Molly asked.

I waved that off. "Nah, she can fake a knockout on herself like a champ and has grown to be one of the best pokemon to use for the gym. She’s not slighted by taking a dive on younger trainers but if she’s dismissed or threatened by trainers owning pokemon they have no way of controlling she can pull them into line."

Dennis chuckled at this. "I’ve seen her flatten a Taurus some kid had that was rampaging around. Kid asked for the first badge gauntlet to make some money and flattened all the pokemon we use for that level then tried talking smack only to lose out big."

"It helps to have little checks like that in place I find," I said while chuckling at the memory.

"Izumi?" asked Annabelle. I again looked to Karen for translation.

"Why call her Izumi?" Karen said.

"I knew a lady that was impaired like her but still an absolute terror in a fight. I thought it appropriate," I said in answer.

"Krow! Mur-Krow!" cried the small black crow pokemon as it descended on us. We all slowed to a stop as the pokemon gestured for us to stop. A few moments later it was joined by a Crobat that looked straight to Karen before pointing behind it.

"Bat!" said the pokemon causing Karen to nod before dismounting.

"Alright, Murkrow and Crobat have tracked the Rocket’s Zeppelin to a base nearby. We should be careful of any traps on the way in."

I returned my Onix and landed on my feet lightly. Dennis raised his own pokeball and I shook my head. He stiffened before nodding once. "Sir!" I raised a finger to my lips.

"Oh, right, sorry sir!" he said at a much quieter level.

Karen and the other girls giggled before gesturing for us to continue on foot. We approached and ended up having to weave around some passive vibration detectors. I spotted a number of plants that gave off noxious fumes to pokemon and then stopped when I found a number of bones scattered around the area.

"Bit archaic…" I said, shifting through the bones with my feet.

"Cheap if they're this deep in the wild. Fight a few locals. Use their bones to warn off others. Predators establish a territory much the same way if they’re big enough," Molly said while lifting a part of a skull. "Looks like Pidgey’s evolutionary line."

"This would have disrupted the local ecosystem terribly!" growled Dennis. I agreed, but continued on after Karen who had paused at the bones for only a moment.

When we came close enough to spot the building, we held ourselves still in the treeline out of sight.

"It’s nothing but a big warehouse."

"Cheap and easy to set up," I said, almost parroting Molly’s earlier words.

Karen nodded. "They’d be able to subdivide it if they needed but this is also something that can hide what they’re doing here." She turned and knelt down. "Brock, could I ask you to check for any tunnels with your pokemon?"

"Easily done. Want me to make an entry for us?"

"No, I want you to check first then maybe make your entrance from within. If you can get close enough without disrupting or letting them know, we can enter from the sides." She gestured at the four different sides, allocating herself and the other three.

"I want us to hang back a little. Crobat and Murkrow will watch for any stragglers. My team will hit hard and try to stop any people from teleporting out."

I raised a hand. "We could probably wait until we get some Police here as well for more support."

Karen and the others stared at me with Karen nodding eventually. "That… would work, but I’m worried they’ll leave or might have the local police on their payroll."

I drummed my fingers on my thigh. "Set up, observe. Make a call, and if they make any sudden changes we spring the trap? Tell the police we’re on our way instead of here already?"

Karen considered that before again, nodding slowly. "That should work."

"We should synchronise watches," I said, pulling out my watch.

Karen huffed at me. "This isn’t some little spy game."

"No, but if we decide to message each other and say ‘break in’ at ten o’clock we all want to be on the same page." Karen blinked at that.

"Surprised you thought of that," she said while checking her watch against mine.

"I’ve watched movies." I didn’t say which movie or that it was even a movie from this life.

I backed out of sight as Molly, Annabelle and Dennis forwarded me their details so I could message them if I detected something.

"How close can you get?" asked Karen.

I put my hands roughly a metre apart. "I’ll get closer than that even by having Bertha form up a sheet of rock. Should be able to hear and even poke my nose up to see what’s around."

Karen hummed appreciatively at that. Then she glanced around. "Also… Thank you for letting me take over this operation. It’ll help get my name out there for my build-up."

"Don’t mention it," I said before releasing Bertha.

She appeared and made to roar out her name only for me to shush her. "Shhh! Shhh! Sorry! Sorry girl, we’re not fighting Karen right now! We got attacked by Team Rocket!"

She gasped at that and glared around, likely looking for a member of said team to clobber.

"We’re about to raid their base. I need my best digger to form a tunnel underneath them." I paused for a moment. "There will be concrete, so think you can be careful when drilling through it?"

Her arm and horn spun up quickly as she nodded.

"Nice, alright let’s go!" Bertha practically swan dove into the ground. In moments, dirt was flying out of the hole before it began to be pushed into the sides as she became more careful.

"You going after her?" Karen gave me a quizzical look.

"You don’t just follow a digging pokemon into a tunnel. Give her a few minutes to shore up the walls so it doesn’t collapse." I knelt down and got comfortable.

"Ah, that makes sense."

I waited for a few minutes until she popped her head up and gave me a thumbs up. I looked at Karen. "You can make that call now." I followed one of my heavy-hitters in. After barely a minute’s walk, we reached a point where Bertha turned and put one of her massive fingers to her lips.

"Rhy!" she hissed in a facsimile of shushing. I held in the chuckle to nod. She then scraped out the last bits of concrete before putting a claw to it and shaping a large circle that she lifted slightly. Instantly, I could hear people talking and machines working.

One of the voices was barking orders "Shift that box of supplies over there! Make sure to use your Machoke; I don’t want you dropping it again!"

"I wanna use the forklift!" said a whiney voice.

"Forklift is busy, don’t give me cheek!" said the first voice.

I crawled up to find myself staring out from the ground towards the inner parts of the warehouse. I checked my transceiver and was happy to see that it was registering a single bar of reception.

I quickly sent a message reporting what I was seeing. Another look showed that we were in a safe enough location away from foot traffic. We appeared to be in the shadow of two containers.

I patted Bertha on the back. "Nice selection. Can you check for any tunnels through the concrete?"

She nodded, putting her other hand to the side. She focused for a few moments before shaking her head. "Any doubt?" She snorted and shook her head more empathically. I sent a message to Karen to that effect.

There appeared to be around ten Rocket members working away from where I could see. A set of stairs led to a storied office section on one side. That was going to be the side Molly came in from. I made sure to mention this as I continued to watch.

For a few minutes, I watched them load supplies around for later processing. Pokemon continued to saunter around the warehouse, helping out or generally laying about, it seemed. These usually got badgered into some task within a few minutes of ‘lazing’ by a white-clothed man with the emblazoned red R on the front.

It looked like we had an executive. I watched them very closely. If anyone here had strong pokemon it would be them. They’d be Karen's or my first target.

Said Executive had green hair that they’d chosen to slick back. I wondered if they’d be able to help point us towards Giovanni. That got me a bit excited. I didn’t think I’d ever sit easy while Giovanni was lurking.

Then again, I doubted he got everything he had from being lazy. I could only hope for the best while making plans for now… I’d also need to be on the lookout for any further retaliation coming my way for this. I chewed my lip as possible weaknesses came to mind that I might need to shore up. First and foremost being my siblings.

The Rocket Executive—who I still hadn’t learnt the name of— stopped what they were doing as a ringtone went off from their wrist. They looked at it before raising it up to their faces.

"Yeah, Proton here… What?! How far out?! Shit!" Proton cursed.

I fired off a message for the group, not liking what he was saying already. Sure enough, he hung up and glanced around with a snarl. "We’re stung! Everyone we’ve got to get moved ASAP! I want us boots off the ground in the next ten minutes! We got cops on their way here in the next thirty!"

Instantly the warehouse’s activities stopped with people beginning to sprint for different crates. Another ran into the office. I clicked my teeth. Turns out Karen had been right.

Karen must have read my message as another pinged on my wrist. I read it.

"Go. Now!"

I tapped Bertha. "Loud and hard." Bertha rocketed up into the base, and the first pokemon that turned to address her was instantly flattened as she landed a heavy Horn Drill using her arm.

"RHYPERIOR!" she cried as I unleashed my entire team.

Onix wrapped around me and formed a protective wall as Shin stood atop him. "Shin! Go into the offices and disable anyone from destroying anything in there! Disable them!" Shin brandished his scythes once before charging off. A returning Rocket opened the door only to be tackled so hard Shin would have been recruited as an offensive tackle had he been born human in my old world.

Karen reenacted the Kool-aid man by blasting through the wall with her Umbreon and Houndoom at the front. Their eyes glowed instantly upon everyone.

Proton turned to me and growled. "Gym Leader, you’re persistent, aren’t you?" he then five pokeballs out, revealing Machamp, Wartortle, Weezing, Arbok, and a Kadabra.

Another wall was burst through with Annabelle leading her Rapidash alongside a Victribel that began wrapping people up. Proton paused as Dennis joined the show with his Machoke and Primeape.

"I think I know when I’m outmatched. Kadabra! Get us out of here!" Proton said. A glow formed around him and the Psychic pokemon only for Karen’s Umbreon to stalk closer, eyes glowing harshly despite it being the middle of the day.

"Umbre!" said the dark type. Karen stepped forward with her Houndoom, behind her, her healed-up Absol, and Weaville raced off to the sides.

"Shit!" called Proton, glancing around. "Destroy any documents!"

And just like that, it became a melee in a metal house as attacks began to soar. Onix tanked a few hits only for Shrek to body the Machamp. They fell to the ground as they both began pummeling each other, only in Shrek’s case, he was able to bring his mouth to bear as he shot blasts of water into the Machamp.

"Bertha, leave Shrek with that Machamp and keep those grunts pinned!" I didn’t want those Grunts causing any issues or trying to run. She roared as she stormed forward.

"Selene, throw down some Barriers!" My moonrock pokemon hovered for a moment before her eyes glowed, and barriers began to form around us. "When you’re done with that, get the crates as well!" She bobbed once to show she had received the order. I turned back to Proton only to find him being laid into, with Karen’s pokemon taking over the fight. His Wartortle was already laid out.

"Weezing Explosion!"

"Gengar use Destiny Bond on his Kadabra!" said Karen with a laugh.

I didn’t even see the ghost pokemon form out of the air before it leapt into the exploding Weezing, tanking the hit and passing out only for Proton’s Kadabra to also go down. The barriers took the brunt of the explosion and I grunted as a small ringing occurred only to vanish quickly.

"Triple shit! This is going to see me demoted!" Proton shouted.

Arbok whirled about only for Shrek to reappear, having knocked out his opponent.

"Boss! Got Rockets trying to run!" called Dennis as he scrambled out after a trio of grunts that had evaded Bertha. Annabelle began tying up some of her captured trainers. She’d sadly gotten close enough to the office that she was taken by surprise as the wall to the second-story office broke open and a Graveller rolled out.

"Onix, protect Annabelle!"

My pokemon threw himself forward and crossed most of the room to wrap himself around the young trainer before the Graveller could land on her. Her own pokemon turned on the threat instantly.

Then someone tried to cheap-shot me.

I had barely a moment to raise my arm and leg as a large rock hurtled into me. I skidded backwards, and for a second, the warehouse went still as eyes turned towards me. I straightened and dusted myself off before glaring at the Grunt and his Dodrio. They’d likely just used a mirror move on me from one of my pokemon.

His face was locked in a smirk, only to blink and stare as I cracked my neck from side to side. "Really, you tried to use a Rock Throw on me?" I said.

Titan stepped out from behind a container from where he’d been taking care of some other pokemon to lay a fist on the bird’s body. It squawked as all three heads whipped around, only to croak as he slammed it into the ground.

The trainer quailed as Titan loomed over him. But his eyes spun back to me. "How the hell did you shrug that off? That should’ve laid you out at least?"

I snorted and shrugged. "Healthy eating."

Proton clapped his hands. "Woah alright woah! Criminals we might be, but I am not letting things get out of hand! We don’t do hits! Arceus, Tommy, you trying to get the League down on all of us bodying the Pewter gym Leader!"

He raised his hands and knelt on the ground. "We surrender. I’ll be asking for my lawyer before I say anything though!" he made sure to say the last to all the grunts still conscious.

They all got a knowing look that made me suddenly wonder if superhero worlds weren’t the only places that had a possible problem with ‘revolving door’ for villains.

Still, something he said caught my attention. "What is this? Criminals, with rules?"

Proton grinned. "I’ll give you a freebie. It’s called organised crime for a reason. Gotta have rules and limits otherwise things get much worse for everyone."

"With a few bad eggs sometimes thrown in?" I said, looking towards ‘Tommy’ who’d just tried to snipe me. I had to give him chops. It was a good move and probably would have worked on another trainer. I just happened to be able to reinforce myself with Rock aura.

Proton didn’t say anything else, merely smiling from where he knelt. When Molly came out with a stern expression, I noted Proton only getting a smugger look. "They had electrodes connected to most of their computers… Only got a few." That had him losing some of his smugness.

"Secure them and take some photos of the place. Police should be here soon enough," said Karen.

I grunted and stalked outside to check on Dennis only to find him in a running battle with two grunts that were trying to flee.

"Go Don!" I shouted as I released my most vicious pokemon onto them. When he was done with their pokemon I had a moment where I hesitated. Then I shook myself. For a moment, it felt like I could almost feel their fear. I didn't need that, though I could tell just by looking at them.

"Don, hold! Let Dennis tie them up." Don snorted and stood over both grunts as they lay on the ground. Dennis shot me a worried look but I just shook my head and gestured for him to get on with tying them up. When he was done I stalked around and calmed myself. Part of me was sad no one else tried anything that might have let me let loose on them.

When I reached Karen, I scowled at Proton and he lost his smirk. Karen bumped me. "Hey, what's up with you? We got them. Smile Brock."

I grunted and waved her off before something that hadn't stood out at the time, but that had niggled at me, now came to mind. "How come your Gengar was affected by the Explosion?"

Karen snorted. "That Gengar? Please, I got plenty of them. They're set up as sacrifice pokemon so I can take out people fast without risking myself what with them being ghost types."

Ring Target was an item that made the holder lose its immunities... but to use it in the manner Karen had... "That's... cold," I said.

"Nah, dark~," said Karen with a smile.

It ended up taking at least another half an hour. We ended up cracking open some of the containers to reveal shelves of pokeballs of all sorts. I hummed in consideration, this had not been an insubstantial hit. I could already see the total for goods recovered adding up to at least six figures. It depended on which type of pokemon they had stolen.

When I’d prodded Proton about the strange cat pokemon he’d gotten a very fixed look of ‘I will not talk’. Sadly, the other man, that was dressed differently from the grunts that ‘owned’ the pokemon likewise didn’t talk, despite having been unconscious when Proton gave his orders to stand down. He was obviously higher in the organisation than a grunt but not an executive. What did that mean when coupled with the Purugly?

Officer Jenny was the first to bound in, closely followed by a pair of snarling Arcanines. Then came the Machamps with billy sticks that outright bent as they flexed them at the Rocket grunts. I didn’t need to understand pokemon to know they were asking the Grunts to ‘make their day’.

"What in the world were you thinking going in like this!?" snarled Jenny from where she stood.

Karen stepped to the front and smiled. "We were stopping them from getting away. We made the call and told you we were in position. Within a few minutes of us making that call we observed them getting ready to pack up and depart. So… perhaps someone from your establishment slipped them a tip?"

Jenny scowled. "I’m not going to stand that sort of statement! My fellow police officers are loyal to the force!"

She pointed straight at Karen. "How do I know one of you didn’t leak the information!? That’s a much more likely scenario! You could have tampered with the evidence!"

I stepped forward and patted the air to calm things down. "Jenny, Karen was able to track Rocket from their raid on my gym. We went into hot pursuit from there and called you the first chance we had. We’ve taken what photos we can and have secured a number of Grunts, an executive, and a good amount of their documents and information. We don’t need to be at each other's throats. We can review how things went down later. Karen will be sure to lead you through things. It’s all above board." I decided not to comment on how her view of the ‘force; might not be as shared among the rank and file as her and her cousins.

Jenny continued to glare. "I don’t know you Karen, but you look like trouble! Brock!" She turned to me and softened. "You, I know, and if you’re vouching for her I guess I’ll let it slide for now."

"What, being an Elite Ace trainer isn’t enough these days? Brock says something, and—"

Karen’s carrying whisper was ignored beyond a small tick in Jenny’s eye that showed she was not pleased with the Dark trainer’s needling.

I continued to smile and led Jenny around to show her the spoils. Proton merely smiled at our approach. When Jenny perked up he sing-songed "Lawyer!"

Jenny looked like she wanted to sic the Machamps onto him at that, but she contained herself with roughly handcuffing him and reading him his rights.

I stepped outside, and an officer approached me for a report that I dutifully filled out. Dennis was likewise detained with paperwork. Jenny eventually sidled up to me. "Was she telling the truth? Did they get a tip after she called us?"

I grimaced and nodded. "I observed and overheard the Executive Rocket get a call that stated you were thirty minutes out. He tried to escape with a Kadabra but Karen’s pokemon stopped that."

Jenny gritted her teeth and cursed. She drew in a deep breath of air, nodding her head. "Right… right, damn, alright! I’ll have to do some investigating on my end. Thank you, Brock." She glanced into the warehouse. "Any of those your pokemon? We got a heads up about your gym and had just gotten there when we got the call about this place"

I shook my head. "They didn’t get any of mine. I just didn’t want them to get off trying to attack me like that."

A small frown formed as Jenny considered something. "Why did you call him an Executive?"

I paused, realising I had let my game knowledge colour my term of addressing Proton.

Something about that niggled at my mind but I couldn’t think why. "I heard the Grunts call him that?"

Jenny accepted that easily enough. Jenny patted me on the shoulder. "Well, good work. We should be able to get these pokemon back to their rightful owners and if not, the Safari zone will be able to assign them to environments suitable to them."

She then tilted her head. "Another important question... What should I bring for Tommy and Cindy's birthday? They gave me an invite the other day... if that’s alright?"

I groaned. I once again vowed never to have as many children as my parents in my head. I had two days to get a cake organised, party decorations set up and entertainment along with gifts. But... despite this, I didn't want to.I just could not care about that right now.

"Sure, sure, Jenny, they'd love that," I said tiredly. Jenny frowned, and I realised that she'd been trying to lighten the mood. I waved her off, however and headed outside. I released Zephyr to fly back to the gym, I'd have to see to that still. I only had another two weeks until the circuit started now but there were still plenty of things to see completed before then.

This latest distraction had been resolved and hopefully, Giovanni would get the message to not try this again. The question was, did I want to leave it at this? My gut churned, and I realised I couldn't leave it just at this. He'd tried something on me. I needed to let him know I wasn't going to let that stand. The issue remained that it was Giovanni, and it wasn't a simple thing to 'warn him off'.

My transceiver buzzed, and I answered it. "Rachel, what's happening?"

"Uhmmm Brock there's a lot of reporters and police asking questions... are you coming back soon?"

"I'll be back soon," I sighed. And then there was that to also handle... and the day had started so promisingly. My transceiver buzzed again, and I glanced at it thinking it was Rachel messaging me details.

Instead, I saw the caller's ID: Sabrina. Oh, it looks like she found out about the raid—that was good.

Right?