Hard Enough

Detective Pikachu had saved the day. That hadn’t been enough for my siblings and I’d ended up reading two more books before arriving late to the meeting. I’d apologised, but everyone understood where I had been. Or in the case of the new hires, had been informed of what I’d been doing.

I hadn’t done anything formal to start the meeting and instead dove right into the nitty-gritty. I laid out how things were looking for the next month or two as it currently stood.

“—in light of the frankly huge surge of trainers we’re going to need to have everybody on deck and active,” I said to the trainers in the meeting room.

Crystal was in the corner happily petting Selene as the moon pokemon ate her dinner. Georgina sat next to them happily watching on.

“I honestly feel like we’re going to need more than just our current team can deliver. So there’s going to be some shifting around that I will be discussing tonight.” I pointed to the daughter-of-my-accountant turned pokemon-trainer-wrangler.

“Crystal, great work for handling the trainer courts. Damage was kept to a minimum?”

“Yup!” she said, petting Selene.

I pointedly didn’t ask her to clarify if she meant property damage or damage done to trainers. Georgina waggled her hand in a so-so gesture and I resolved to assign some money to fix them up by tomorrow.

I flicked through the notes I’d made from a quick walk-through of the gym. I still needed to patrol the actual area but that would have to wait until the morning. With more people testing us, I might need to hire on more staff for security. I already had two people on at night and one on during the day but perhaps another on each shift wouldn’t be a bad idea?

The patrol outside the Gym I could do during a morning run with my pokemon before the day started.

“As I mentioned to Alexa, I’m extending the gym hours to work through more trainers so we can get them out of Pewter and on the road.”

I looked around. “I know it’s going to be difficult but with the extended hours, you will all be earning the bonus rate for overtime hours at time and half-pay. That includes the entirety of Saturday so make some plans for when it’s time to pay your taxes cause you’re going to be in a much higher bracket.”

I waved towards Georgina, “See Georgina if you need it explained to you.” I’d mentioned it offhandedly at lunch, while waiting on hold with the airport, and she’d taught me things about taxes.

She really was a terrifyingly smart woman with how she somehow taught you things you had no interest in.

“I’m going to be posting some more temporary jobs as well. Alexa, I need you to get in contact with the list of trainers that I’m sending through to you. They reached the shortlist last time but didn’t make the cut. I need them now to run gym duties, and also fulfil patrols of Pewter to assist the police.”

I flicked to another page and sighed, “Along with also making sure the wilds are safe for the new trainers wandering about the routes for the first time.” The room at large shared a grumble at all the duties that were expected of a gym trainer.

“How come we don’t just have the Rangers and the Police take that over?” asked Daniel.

“These are duties that we as a Major Gym are expected to take care of. This is to allow us to continue upholding the Gym’s agreement. Failing to uphold them can create tension with the league and could even lead to a review of our gym license. It’s by no means easy for the League to strip us of our license, or even renegotiate, but it’s not something I’m going to allow to be counted against us.” I glanced around before smirking. "It also comes with some privileges."

“What sort of privileges?” Daniel said while scratching his neck.

Janine bounced in her seat. “Oh! Your gym signed on under the old charter?”

At my nod Janine beamed. “Excellent! With how new your Gym’s facilities were I thought you were under the new agreement! So that means you get preferential tax rates, a roster of pokemon that act as a reserve for the city in emergency times, and a political voice.”

I nodded. “Yeah, my family earned the Gym charter after the war. Though I have no idea what they did to deserve that,” I grumbled to myself.

Forrest looked interested, but I made a gesture to show we could talk about it later if he wanted. Instead I waved the issue away. “Anyway, that’s beside the point.”

I coughed to reset people’s attention.

“We hold a prestigious position in the Indigo conference, and that means we have duties to perform alongside it. If things lapse, lots of people look to the Gym before the Rangers or the police. We’re the first point of contact for a lot of trainers who further serve to keep things calm… most of the time.” I added on at the end.

“We do have some overlapping responsibilities with other regional organisations, such as the Police, Rangers and local government, but that is by design. We work with them, we’re not and never should be antagonistic towards them and vice versa. We’re not beholden to them though, and they can’t order you about any more than a civilian. In some instances, you actually have better legal standing than civilians as long as you’re acting in good faith. I might have Lawrence come in and talk to us about that one day.”

I tapped the stack of papers in my hand, “Until then, our focus is on dealing with this surge. The influx of trainers is going to put a strain on us. We need to be ready for what that will mean.”

I pointed to Alexa. “Alexa, I’m promoting you to be my personal assistant. Your duties will remain the same until we can get another receptionist or two, they will work under you and alongside Bethany. You’ll be in charge of the receptionists along with getting my schedule streamlined and making calls while I’m busy.” A few people blinked in surprise at that and I grimaced. “I spent way, way too much time chasing my tail today.”

Alexa nodded seriously and I continued. “I’m doing this to try and take some work off my shoulders as I need to be either out and about or in the gym taking challenges. I can’t keep trying to call up the League or other people. We’ll talk about an increase in salary and if this needs to be permanent in a month’s time.”

Alexa smiled happily. “Should I schedule in the talk for you?” she said teasingly.

I nodded at her before lowering my finger to the next names on my list that I’d jotted down while waiting on hold. “Rocko, Dennis? You’re going to be the point of contact for trainer-related issues. I want you to talk to any newcomers about duties and roles that well need to be taken over. I expect with this surge that we’ll need another four trainers taken on temporarily to cover our duties.”

“Janine,” I said and she shot to a standing position. “You… you might need to talk to your father. I’m not sure if he’s going to want to recall you with this surge occurring as he will be under strain as well. We’ll have to talk with him. Otherwise, perhaps I have you doing security work?”

She got a conflicted look but slowly nodded her head. “I will mention it to him tonight.” I gave her a tight smile and moved on.

“Lastly, and this is for everyone, we will be blocking out three days of the gym’s schedule in a month’s time as we will need to catch new pokemon.”

“That soon Brock?” asked Rocko, sitting up with a worried expression. I scratched my cheek.

“I’m hoping I’m being over dramatic here, but yeah it looks like it’ll be that soon. We’ll need to block out at least one day specifically for evaluating where we’re at with our pokemon roster. How strong they are, what badge level they’re appropriate against and if the Gym’s roster is spread out enough for our needs. As always, I know we’ll be short on first badge challenges but we might get lucky with some pokemon like Izumi and Moxy.”

“Actually, Moxy is pretty close to evolving I think? She’s been putting on mass lately and is being picky with what rocks she devours for her evolved form.” Rocko said. Dennis grimaced at that.

I shared a look with them before shrugging. “That’s fine. She’s wanting to grow steadily but she might be a pokemon that we look to hand off to or sell to a trainer”

I gave the group a glance. “There will also be a number of pokemon that will be too strong for certain challenges but those can always be sold unless any of our trainers form bonds with any pokemon in particular. If you have a favourite or notice a pokemon whose disposition stands out to you, by all means, make a note and bring it up in later meetings.” I glanced at Rachel.

“Can you post a notice on our pokenet page that we’ll be doing a sell-off on the last day of the break?”

“Oh yeah! That’d be popular! I could do it like an auction if I get enough hype for it!” Rachel jotted down my suggestion along with her own thoughts.

I coughed. “Make sure to also put up some flyers on the community notice boards in the city and local towns.”

Rachel grumbled to herself about people not knowing how good they had it with pokenet access and I nodded in silent agreement while Rocko and Dennis rolled their eyes.

I made a circle in the air. “I will be scheduling more meetings that I hope are short at the end of each week. I want you to consider any issues that you’re encountering and bring them up even if they seem small. If they’re urgent I want you to tell Rocko or Dennis as soon as possible alright? The earlier we identify an issue, the earlier we fix the issue. Any questions or items to raise for now?”

No hands were raised, so I clapped my hands together. “All right people! If you want to head out for dinner, I’ll reimburse you, otherwise, you’re free to head out.”

“Keep your receipts! If you want reimbursement, get receipts!” Georgina was quick to chime in.

“To Mr Mime’s house!” proclaimed Crystal loudly. Rocko laughed while Daniel rolled his eyes. Janine lingered at the door until I gestured for her to stay for the next meeting. As the others bounded off for a night at Mr Mime’s finest family restaurant, I chuckled before stacking some sheets of paper together.

Alexa approached me and laid out my schedule as it currently stood. I pointed out a few people that needed to be rescheduled along with some blocks of time I wanted her to block out for other duties or, more importantly, family time.

“Oh, can you also call the Pokemon Academy and tell them they need to book in now due to the large numbers of trainers we’re facing right now?”

When we were done, she headed off, and I leaned back into my chair and rubbed my face. A vibration on my wrist had me sighing loud enough to echo through the now-empty room. One meeting down, two more to go.

[/hr]

I clicked accept on the video link. The link held everyone in a lobby until all eight invitees were logged in before opening the video and sound. My image appeared to the side as nine other faces appeared before me.

I started things off, “Good evening, this is Brock from Pewter, with Janine from Fuchsia shadowing me as an apprentice.” Next to me, Janine bowed stiffly to the transceiver.

“Like Daisy, Lily and Violet are here!” “From Cerulean of course!” “Yuh!” chimed in three voices as the blonde Daisy, the red-haired Lily, and the blue-haired Violet waved into the camera.

“Lieutenant Surge from Vermillion! How’s everyone this evening?!” crowed Surge. On his shoulder, Raichu smirked into the camera.

“Good evening to all from myself, Erika at the Celadon gym,” Erika said with a small bow. Behind her, the gardens that featured throughout her gym could just be made out as her background.

“Sabrina, Saffron city,” Sabrina said. She had no special features to her video and said her words quickly with a flat tone.

“Koga from the Fuchsia gym. Good evening.” The ninja-styled expert inclined his head, his eyes searching over his daughter before relaxing minutely.

“Hmmm yes, hello everyone! Blaine here!” said Blaine from a room that looked to be full of other computers and items that seemed to belong in a mad scientist’s lab.

“Giovanni here, Viridian, Surge stated that this meeting was being called by you Brock? What seems to be the issue? The circuit is only a week old? Issues already?” Giovanni didn’t bother to let anyone else talk and instantly took control of the meeting.

I inclined my head. “Yes, I’ve been facing a surge of trainers and I know from records that the League has allowed roughly four times the normal amount of trainers to undergo the circuit this year. This is straining our resources as lots of people have arrived at Pewter.”

“A surge you say?” Giovanni said. “Have you ever experienced a surge in trainer numbers? I believe the last was during your father’s stewardship of the gym.”

“It was. He recorded having to face roughly twelve trainers a day and that took him three weeks to work through.” I glanced at my schedule and grimaced, “I am reporting that I currently have all of the next month booked full, with sixteen trainers a day booked in.” I leaned forward. “That’s included half days on Saturday for an extra six battles.”

Daisy tilted her head. “Sixteen by five, plus six… you’re going to face… over three hundred, nearly three-fifty trainers in the next… month…” Daisy blanched “And then they’re going to be coming here!” Lily and Violet stiffened at that, glancing at their sister.

“What?!” They both said. “You’re pulling our leg right, Brock? You can’t have that many trainers in the first month! That’s way too many! Right? Brock?”

I gave them an apologetic look. “I’m expecting more to turn up. If the worst case occurs I might face close to seven hundred trainers before the third month this year.”

Daisy, Lily and Violet began hyperventilating. “Like, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! That’s way too many trainers!”

Koga clapped his hands. “Girls! Control yourselves! You are Gym Leaders! You are also in a much better position as you will be able to bolster each other and process the trainers much faster!”

The Cerulean girls nodded before swallowing. “We’re going to need more pokemon… like way, way more… and some more trainers to help out… Can any of you—”

“I would be happy to assist you ladies in this time of need,” said Giovanni.

I felt a chill run down my spine as Giovanni smiled like a Persian that had just ransacked the cream warehouse. Visions of all the ways that could turn out terribly ran through my mind. I glanced at the girls and saw them relaxing. Like Pidgeys thinking the Persian was going to keep them safe.

“I might be able to send someone over,” I heard myself saying. Giovanni looked at me and for just a moment his brow creased.

“Same here girls!” shouted Surge.

Erika shifted. “I’m not sure some of my girls would be able to help out as much. But I can send you three of them! Or five! I have quite a few!” That had me stopping and reassessing. Erika had that many Gym trainers?

“Like thanks so much guys!” “Yeah, you guys are the best!” “Thank you!” cried the Cerulean sisters into the camera as they slumped into their chairs.

I mentally wondered if it was worth asking about Misty. Was she still with Ash? Had they met each other or had events drifted enough to not have them meeting each other? Would she get called in to handle the gym now?

I wasn’t sure but I knew that I certainly did not want Giovani helping out the naive trio of sisters. I had no doubt that would result in Team Rocket all but running the place in name.

“Hehehe,” chuckled Blaine, cutting off any further discussion. Everyone frowned at the man but he waved his hands back and forth. “Hehehe! Ha! Well, this certainly wasn’t something I expected to occur when you defeated Lance Brock, but then again, success breeds its own problems!”

“It seems a bit ridiculous for my victory to cause this level of response,” I said reasonably.

Blaine huffed. “Oh you simple child, your match was televised to the international community! The world is a larger place than you understand!” he said with a chuckle. “I have no doubt a huge number of people would have seen it and young trainers had the entire off-season to make plans. It’s not every day that you get to challenge a Champion. But a man that has beaten a Champion?”

He leered at me over the top of his glasses. “Brock, Brock, Brock, there are going to be lots of trainers interested in wanting to say that they’ve beaten you. Your badge has a lot more value these days.”

He grinned “I hope you raised your prices at least! You’re in for a long start to the circuit!” He threw back his head and cackled. When he was done he grinned. “I only take challengers with four badges that can reach me and make it worth my time. Good luck to the rest of you!” And just like that, he disconnected.

“That was rather…” Erika mumbled aloud.

“That is how Blaine is,” Giovanni said before tapping his desk to signal he had more to say.

“Brock, what Blaine said is correct. I have been looking through the information you sent to Surge earlier and it shows a large spike in Johto, Hoenn, Sevii and Orange region trainers coming here. This is going to be a tough period, but we’ll get through it. I will not be lowering the challenge level as I wish to preserve my badge’s value but it may be worth reaching out to the four minor gyms along with the Admissions Exam Board to notify them of the issues that will be arising. Does anyone have any issues with including the four minor gym leaders in future meetings?”

None of us raised any complaints and Giovanni nodded once. “Very well, I will get in contact with them. Brock, how long can you handle the current workload? Do you need any more trainers like the Cerulean gym?”

“We’re coping,” I said, resisting the urge to glare at the man for having the gall to attempt such a thing with me. I’d need to watch for any plants coming my way and make sure to keep security as tight as I could. Challenges like this would lead to tough times but also the occasional opportunity. I just had to make sure I wasn’t someone else's opportunity.

Erika voiced her support of drawing some trainers away as did Surge. Sabrina chewed her lip only for Koga to speak up. “I will lower my own gym’s standards for now, but I will shorten Janine’s time with you. It might be a good test run to have her handle the first, and second badge challengers.” He turned to his daughter, “Janine, make the most of your next week.”

“Yes, father!” she said.

A buzz on my wrist had me glancing down and grimacing. It was late already, and I still had other people to talk with. “I’m going to have to sign out as I have to talk with the Mayor. Thanks for attending and for doing what you can everyone.”

“Thank you for alerting us to the situation. We will remain in contact,” Giovanni said as others chorussed their own goodbyes. I hung up with a nod. I stood and shuffled some papers into a folder before stuffing it into a backpack. “Thanks for that Janine… would it be possible for you to occasionally poke over to Cerulean to check up on the—” I was cut off as Sabrina appeared in a flash.

Janine reared back and threw out a pokeball with Beedrill punching forwards only for Sabrina to arrest the Beedrill’s attack with psychic energy. Beedrill buzzed harshly and broke out, reading to strike again only for Janine to call the pokemon back. Sabrina stared at the younger girl.

“Oh, I apologise, I didn’t mean to startle you,” she said.

Janine bristled. “I wasn't scared!”

Sabrina merely glanced at the Beedrill still in the room. Janine flushed and returned the pokemon. I hummed, a small note of concern rearing its head. If Beedrill had gone for a bug-type move would Sabrina have been able to stop it? Or a dark-type move?

I pushed the thought aside and instead shook my head. “Alright let’s calm down. Sabrina, I assume you just wanted to check up on me?” Sabrina nodded and I gave her a smile. “Right, give me a moment?” She nodded again and I turned to Janine.

“Hey I’m going to talk with Sabrina but could you check in on the Cerulean girls later? I don’t trust Giovanni.”

Janine nodded. “I know why, I will do so!” she said before offering me a bow. Then she pulled out a smokebomb. I raised my hand to stop her; I didn't want smoke lingering in my office.

“Don—” was as far as I got before she threw it. Instead of it exploding it was caught in a psychic grasp.

Janine was already dashing out the door but she stumbled when she realised she was clearly visible. “What?!” she said as she skidded to a halt only to whip around to glower at Sabrina. “Stop that!” she said, her leg twitching like she wanted to stomp it.

I bit my lips to stop myself from laughing. I coughed. “Uhm, please don’t throw smoke bombs in my office in future, Janine.”

Janine blinked before blushing. “Ah, that is reasonable.”

I nodded and gestured to the door. When the door closed, I huffed a laugh. Sabrina tilted her head at me as though curious about my reaction.

I wagged a finger at Sabrina. “Don’t bully her.”

Sabrina hummed before stepping up to me. “Brock? Are you alright?” she said, her eyes checking me over.

“I’m fine.” She narrowed her eyes and I held up a hand. “Just harassed. I have a lot to deal with with this whole trainer surge… or well I’m calling it a flood honestly.” Sabrina stayed quiet before looking to the side.

“I could lower my challenge level and allow…”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Sabrina… No offence, but I think you’d scare a lot of people off because you don’t exactly hold back when you fight.”

Sabrina tilted her head. “Why should I?”

I chuckled. “Nah, you shouldn’t. You do you. If a trainer challenges you then they should be ready for a tough match. I'll talk to Sophia, Manny, Kong, and Grey, they already see first-badge challengers and a bit more attention sent their way might be good for them.”

I tilted my head. “Think you can drop in on the Cerulean sisters when you’re able to?”

“… “ Sabrina watched me with narrowed eyes.

“I’m just worried they might pick up some people that won’t have their gym's best interest at heart.”

Sabrina continued to stare at me. Her eyes felt like they were boring into me. “You want me to look into them? You’ve usually wanted me to refrain from looking into people’s minds.”

I worked my teeth back and forth. “I… I don’t want you to stop, just not be flagrant about it. Be mindful I guess? I can admit that I don’t like the idea of you doing it with no regard, but for certain scenarios,” I opened a hand up and shrugged, “it's a warranted tool. You don’t have to if you’re not comfortable with it, but I just…” I scratched the back of my head searching for what to say.

“Is there any reason you’re asking me to do this now?”

“I trust you,” I said simply. Sabrina blinked before a light dusting of red appeared across her nose.

“Ah, I apologise I thought you might have…” I glanced away from the wall to her, “Never mind!” she said quickly at my curious look.

It took me a moment to realise why she was acting strangely. I’d asked her to look into the potential trainers for… “Oh, I’m not interested in the Cerulean sisters. I just don’t trust Giovanni.”

Sabrina nodded. “I understand. I will investigate them if I find anything.”

I clicked my teeth. “Alright, just be careful, you know what I’m worried about with Giovanni.”

“I know, but I’m not garnering as much attention. They didn’t detect me when I threw those rocks through his gym,” she said. She flicked her hair. “Don’t worry, I will let you know if I discover anything. If they attack me or mine, however, I will not hold myself back.” She squeezed my hand once before stepping back and disappearing in a flash of light.

I ran my hand over where she’d squeezed. She’d counted me in that, hadn’t she? Part of me wanted to call her back to clarify while another laughed at the willful ignorance I was trying to use.

Another part then tagged in and reminded me that I was now very, very late with meeting with the Mayor.

I started to run only to pause as I recalled I too had a psychic pokemon capable of teleporting.

“Selene! I need to be teleported to the mayor’s house,” I said.

“Luuunatone!” she cried before bumping into me. The world vanished as she wrapped me up in psychic energy. I held in my dark energy so as to not disrupt the teleport. We appeared a moment later in front of a fancy manor. I could see a light on in a room.

I rapped smartly on the door with the knocker. A few moments later I heard shuffling from inside and within a minute a woman’s face peered out at me.

“Gym Leader Brock? This is a late call out for my husband.”

“Ah no, I called him to meet up. I need to fill him in on something.”

The Mayor’s wife tutted at me. “Oh silly! It probably could have waited or been done over the phone. Don’t let him string you along now.” She gestured to a door. “He’s through there. I’ll bring some snacks if you’re going to be here long.”

I watched her glide away, amused at how very different she was from the rather forceful personality of the mayor. I opened the door and stepped through.

“Mayor Jonathan, we’ve got a situation.”

Jonathan looked up and snorted. “You’re late Gym Leader!” His words were harsh but his grin took the sting away. The words also felt like he was quoting something but I couldn’t place it having not watched all that many pokemon movies.

“I think you’ll find I arrived precisely when I should have,” I said, twisting an old quote to my own needs. Jonathan observed me before snorting.

“Feh! You’re learning at least. Very well, tell me what the situation is.”

And so I spent the next hour laying out the issues that would likely arise from the coming trainer surge. Within a few minutes, Jonathan’s wife — Who, I learnt was named Caroline— came in with milk and cookies. She then glided on out leaving me to take up the story once more.

Jonathan listened intently throughout; When I was done he drummed his fingers on his desk.

“You’re projecting four times the trainer volume to come through Pewter cause of how you kicked Lance in the tail? Heh! Nice, we’ll be rolling tourism!”

I shok my head. “Mayor, idle or frustrated trainers are known to cause damage if they can’t get access to what they want. They’re young, headstrong people that are more likely to find their own entertainment.”

“Pewter City can supply that!” Jonathan said while expanding his hands. “We have attractions! Natural ones even! Mt Moon! The canyons and hot springs! We’ve got the tunnels and the forests to the south. People should want to spend more time here as it is!”

His chest puffed up, and I could almost feel him rattling off those exact words at some town hall meeting to sway the people that turned up to such events.

I hummed, not taken with his plan. “I think we need to process what we can and get the other trainers to move on.”

“Move on!? No way! Get 'em to stick around! I can come up with distractions! Heck, you should capitalise on it and run that Contest I heard people talking about.”

“It’ll put a strain on the hospital, the police, the pokecenter, even the food market,” I said before addressing the second point. “That is only in the early stages of concept planning. We barely have an idea on how to run such an event.” Part of me wondered who had mentioned it to the Mayor as I hadn’t said a word of it in months.

“I’ll have someone swing around for you to talk with. I know a young lass whose family were avid Contest goers in Hoenn. As for the other issue? Don’t you worry about the civil side of things, you just handle the Gym and its duties.” He gave me a sly look, “Any chance you want some of them taken off your plate?”

“No. Thank you for the offer, however, I think I will be able to handle things sufficiently,” I tightly said as if he wasn’t trying to entrap me. This wasn’t how I was expecting this to go.

“Brock, you have to see things from my perspective. This is your first surge and it sounds like it's going to be rough. I think for the moment—”

“I said I’ll handle it.” I glared at him but the man gave me a mulish look.

“How?”

“I’m hiring more staff and have systems in place. Not, that it’s your business. Perhaps you should handle the civil side of things. I thought it courteous to inform you of something that would affect you.”

Jonathan patted at the air. “Brock, Brock, Brock, I apologise. I’ve pushed too far. I can see that. Thank you for the information, we’ll be able to handle it better knowing it's on the way. I’ll schedule a talk with the Chief of Police and the other services to give them a heads-up. Was there anything else you wished to discuss tonight?”

“Not unless you were interested in setting up routes for trainers to move to other cities, to space things out”

“I think that means I should see you out then,” he said affably. I nodded tightly and made my own way out. Caroline who’d apparently been staying close perked up when she saw us leave the office.

“Oh Brock! I was thinking you might appreciate an invitation to my gala in a few months. I could never quite get your father to…” My face must have turned to granite as she stopped talking for a moment.

Her tongue darted out and wet her lips and Jonathan moved to her side, suddenly much more aware of me. Caroline smiled tightly. “Oh, well never you mind that! I’d feel terrible if I didn’t extend the offer to you. You’d be a hit with some of the young ladies making their debut this season!”

I made a noncommittal noise, unaware that we’d had such events while also feeling that agreeing would mean I’d be like a Meowth on show for Caroline.

I beat a hasty retreat home and reviewed the day to come. Thankfully when my head hit the pillow I was quick to fall asleep.

The next morning I was up and running hard on the outside perimeter inspecting the fences and warning signs that were up. I had very different terrain to both sides. On my left a swamp haunted the land with willowy trees and fronds while to my right rocky landscapes proved perfect for my rock pokemon. Some of whom were running along the fence. In front of me, the road was well maintained which allowed me to somewhat keep up with my pokemon as they rumbled along.

A honk had me turning around to find a motorbike approaching. When it neared it slowed down and I waved to Officer jenny.

“Jenny, morning!”

“Morning Brock! How’re you doing today?”

“Pretty good, gotta get a few things done though with the trainers coming in.”

Jenny relaxed. “Oh good, the Mayor told you about the surge coming your way?”

I blinked at that, something about the emphasis of the words stood out to me. “The Mayor, told me?”

“Yeah! He got some figures of incoming trainers and spoke with the chief and a few other community leaders last night. I assume he spoke to you?”

I stopped and spat to the side of the road earning me an unimpressed look which I ignored as I felt dark feelings stir. “I told him about the damn surge. Urgh! Politicians!”

“Oh… well yeah, that is what politicians will do. Next time, just tell the Chief of Police yourself.”

I sighed and exhaled the darkness. In a way, Jonathan had spared me a lot of time. It rubbed me the wrong way that he’d stolen the credit for himself. But… I had to agree with Jenny.

“Yeah, I’ll remember that,” I said.

Jenny nodded, “Well, I wanted to come out and check up on you. Good to hear that things are on the up and up. The rest of the squad and I are going to be on patrol. Who should we touch base with if we have any issues?”

“Probably Rocko, Dennis or Alexa.” I wiped some sweat off and stared into the swamp.

“Alexa?” asked Jenny in surprise. “Thought she was acting as a receptionist for you?”

“Promoted her to PA.”

“Ho? Good for her, hope it sticks. Say I was—” before she could finish her radio squawked and she snatched it up.

“Jenny here!”

“......”

“Trainers are doing what in the park?”

“.....!”

“I’m on it!” She slammed it in before whipping her bike around the road she’d just come down.

“Gotta go Brock! Trainers are fighting in the middle of the memorial garden, and someone’s painted graffiti on the hospital!” Before I could even respond, she roared back down the road. I coughed at the dust cloud I found myself in.

A loud croak from the swamp made me turn to see large yellow eyes watching me. I nodded amicably. “Morning Shrek.” My Swampert ambled out and nuzzled up to me. I patted him and sighed.

Somewhere in the next month, I had to deal with Ash and… my father. Compared to them, Jonathan stealing credit and being himself really was a minor detail.

I still had chores to do and trainers to handle. Most notably this morning was teaching Missy how to handle gravity training and Janine with aura training.

I also needed something. … A response to the League. At this point, I didn’t care if it was negligence or something targeted.