Hard Enough

Sabrina used a watering can on the small garden of Lileep. The Lileep wriggled with glee, and Sabrina appeared content.

I couldn’t help but stare.

Something about that scene seemed off, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. It wasn’t that the plants were chirping and responding to the nutrient-rich water. I’d long since gotten used to seeing that happen with this being a pokemon world. Perhaps it was such a strangely domestic scene for Sabrina to be enjoying?

I suddenly wanted Lileep, and not just for my pokemon roster.

If anything, I should get more grass-type pokemon for my front garden. Then people would be a lot more cautious when they stepped on my petunias.

Sabrina patted the garden of Lileep and put her watering can down. “These will be good pokemon for your gym,” she declared.

I hummed and glanced over to where Lawrence was flicking through at least a tree’s worth of paper. Crowley was floating about in the background of his lab. When I’d deposited the money into his account he’d been more than happy to proclaim that he’d have the resurrection machine fully operational, not just partially, within the next few months!

“—perhaps we need a better focusing lens to extract the genetic information?” he said as he toggled through the program he used with the machine.

The machine itself took up half the room we were in at the back of the museum. It was a giant metal contraption that reminded me of the early computers that used punch cards and there was a strange amalgamation of that, that linked up to a modern laptop. The assistant consulted a large file as she adjusted a number of punch cards and then drew out a trio of lens that apparently magnified the computer's analysis engine.

A chamber on the other side of the room housed a fossil with a very recognisable helix pattern.

“He will arise,” I said to myself.

Sabrina tilted her head. I waved her off and she shrugged before asking, “How much are you going to sell these for Brock? I think I wouldn’t mind having a few for my garden.” She floated a few Lileep around her and they squirmed and wiggled in a manner that I assumed meant they enjoyed it.

“For you and Erika I would sell them pretty cheaply, all things told. Then I’d ratchet it up for others though. Maybe I shouldn’t even charge you?” I scratched my chin.

“Erika as well?” Sabrina said with a tilt of her head. She squinted at the Lileep. “They’re grass type?”

I nodded and turned to Crowley. “Where did you find their fossil?”

Crowley waved a hand at the back. “There are plenty of ferns that have been fossilised and root fossils that people don’t find very interesting.”

I nodded. “Yeah… That might change with this discovery,” I said. I glanced at the old amber that sat as paperweight. “You realise this is a pretty significant discovery, right Crowley?”

Crowley scowled. “By my standards, I will not consider it a success until I have the capability to resurrect anything from ancient times! We already have the helix, dome, amber, root, and claw fossils that we can resurrect!” Crowley stood, one foot resting on the table in front of him. He looked like an explorer statue.

Sabrina glanced about the room before clapping politely. Crowley nodded in thanks and sat down.

Lawrence coughed. “Brock, as your lawyer, I have a few concerns, but I also think I have found a few methods for you to evade the resurrection act!”

Sabrina glanced at him, patting the Lileep as she spoke up, “Is it because these are plant-based instead of animal as the act is limited to?”

Lawrence stumbled. He blinked. “... Yes actually.” He sighed. “Haven’t you ever heard of building dramatic tension?”

Sabrina blinked at him. “This is not a courtroom.”

Lawrence sighed. “Some people don’t enjoy drama enough. There’s… there’s a certain gravitas at revealing this information at critical times see?”

Sabrina gave him a blank stare.

He sighed and waved the sheaf of papers at me. “But, she’s right. The resurrection act doesn’t apply to plant pokemon that have been resurrected. Interesting bit of oversight.” He tapped the table. “We can make some serious arguments for you retaining and selling the Lileep if you wish to. This will be something the League will have to protest though and it will be throwing Muk back and forth for a while. We should get it on a technicality though”

Lawrence stared at me. “I can do it if you want me to. Otherwise, I can work to get concessions in other areas.”

I drummed my fingers and glanced from Lawrence to Sabrina who remained neutral. She nodded as I considered what I wanted.

“Go for the concessions,” I said before gesturing to him. “I think between you, and Lance being amiable we can come up with something that works. I want to retain a lot of them and I think keeping Bianca around would be good. I have a lot of plans for future fossil pokemon. I want us set up for that,” I said, revealing some of my future plans.

Sabrina tilted her head. “You think there will be others?”

I nodded confidently. “There will have to be. I think fossil pokemon will see a major return, and I want to be on the forefront of that.”

Lawrence wrote that down. “Alright. I have a goal to argue for when things are laid out!” He then clapped his hands together. “So! When are we off to the League’s headquarters?”

I chuckled at his and Sabrina’s back and forth. “We’ve got everything here locked down?”

Lawrence shot me a thumbs up. “I’m confident you have all the advantages!”

I hummed and picked up the incubator with the Aerodactyl egg within. On my hip, a new pokeball with my newest pokemon in Lileep rested. The gym would be getting at least another ten which would be a new draw… I frowned as I realised that would only make my gym more popular.

It’d have to be future Brock’s problem.

I shook my head to get rid of the mood that had overcome me. “Alright, Sabrina? Think you can get me and Lawrence to heaquart—” Alakazam appeared next to her. A moment later, I found myself in the foyer of the Indigo League headquarters.

This was where much of the governance occurred and it was attached to the side of the main stadium. At the top, I knew Lance had an office as that was now considered the ‘traditional’ office of the pokemon Champion. It had the same prestige as the houses of some country leaders of my previous life. Or perhaps it was most similar to the Oval Office of the U.S?

It was ‘traditional’ in that it had only been five years since its creation. The League liked to hype it up as much as they could and people loved getting the prestige of ‘earning’ a tour.

Lawrence shifted and glanced up through the glass roof of the foyer towards the office that was bracketed in golden statues. They used to have ice-type pokemon like Sneasel and Frosslass, but now Dragonite and Charizard bracketed the office.

“So, how are we getting up there?” said Lawrence. Around us, a number of people in suits and professional attire rushed through the front and towards elevators. All of them notably avoiding the central elevator.

I huffed at him. “I have my ways.” I then made a show of raising my transceiver and dialling Lance’s number.

“Brock?” Lance said as he answered the call. I could see from the background that he was in fact, in his office. Then again I had shot him a message that I’d been dropping in to talk business this afternoon.

“Hey Lance, good to come up? Have that issue to talk with you about.” I then raised up the incubator. “Also, guess who produced an egg?”

Lance’s eyes locked on the egg, and he grinned. “I’ll key the elevator to let you up!” he said, sounding like a kid that had just been told Christmas was coming early.

Lawrence stared at me. “That’s way less impressive than you made it sound!”

Sabrina leaned around me. “Did you want me to overwhelm the anti-teleport features in the office and appear that way?”

Lawrence coughed. “Let’s not go committing crimes!” He glanced down at the pad that we’d arrived on and realised it was a teleport terminal for these purposes. “We should get moving.” On other pads in the corners of the room, some Kadabra and a single Gardevoir teleported in. The Kadabra all paused when they registered Alakazam floating next to Sabrina. Sabrina herself got a few looks from the psychic pokemon.

The Gardevoir that had come in with a finely dressed gentleman tapped the man on the arm and floated over to take Sabrina’s hands in hers. She trilled a greeting. We paused, and I was expecting a ‘conversation’ to break out. Instead, the Gardevior merely smiled and nodded her head before floating back to the gentleman, who inclined his head amicably towards us.

I gave Sabrina a glance. She smiled her small smile. “Gardevoir detected that I have a Ralts egg and she thinks that the egg will hatch soon.”

“Oh! Well, that’ll be a great day for you,” I said. “Congratulations on finding an egg. I know they’re tough to get a hold of.”

Sabrina nodded. Lawrence shot me a look before he broke into a sly grin.

Sabrina blinked as her eyes darted to Lawrence in a tell-tale manner. “Thank you for investigating that for me, Brock.”

I coughed, realising Lawrence’s thoughts must have leaked, and informed Sabrina that I’d been making enquiries for a Ralts egg. Obviously for her. I waved it off as I stepped up to the central elevator and pushed the button. Around the room people stilled as the elevator dinged as it opened for us.

As the doors shut we caught a few of the carrying whispers. “Two gym leaders and a punk?” “Who’s the mohawk guy?” “Maybe going to replace Lorelei?! He could be some super strong trainer from Kanto!” I shot Lawrence an amused smirk. He was beaming a huge grin.

“This is going to be so good for my reputation with the other lawyers!” he said as he preened, spiking up his mohawk.

I chuckled and Sabrina continued to bounce slightly with a still-happy expression. She was likely still considering Gardevior’s news. The elevator shot upwards and when it opened, Lance was in front of it with a wide smile.

“Welcome!” He smiled at me, nodded at Sabrina, paused, then dipped into a formal bow, then he smiled at Lawrence quickly, only to stare openly at the egg in my hands. “Is that it?!”

I chuckled and handed it over. “Congratulations on your purchase of an Aerodactyl egg. It’s not been neutered so that we can slowly grow the population back up.”

Lance’s head snapped up and he blinked at me. “You didn’t chemically neuter it?”

I shook my head. “Nah, I spoke about it with our resident expert and we’re all for spreading the gene pool around as much as possible. If it’s a girl I know she listed off a number of pokemon that should be viable. Most of them are flying types.”

“Pidgeot?” Lance said with a frown.

“No actually,” I reached into a pocket and drew out the form Bianca had written up from her research. “Our breeding expert listed Farfetch’d, Swablu, Altaria, Hoot-hoot, Noctowl, Wingull and Pelliper along with Crobat as being potential partners that she could find with the work she did with Don.”

Lance hummed. “That is good news,” he said with some cheer. He gestured back into the room and indicated some chairs in front of his desk. There was a notable distance from the chairs to the front of the desk that created a sense of supplication when talking with Lance behind his desk. When he set the egg down to the side and laced his fingers together he looked quite intimidating.

His aura of professionalism was somewhat lost with how his eyes kept darting to the side where the egg sat. He kept one hand on the incubator, stroking the glass idly. I smiled.

“So, now that the fun part is over, we need to talk business,” I said to start things off. I gestured to my right hand side, “You know Sabrina, Gym Leader of Saffron, of course.” Lance offered another bow and turned his attention to Lawrence.

“This is Lawrence Wright from Pewter. My Lawyer,” I said simply. Relishing in the lapse as Lance worked through what I’d said.

Then Lance shot me a look. “You brought your lawyer?”

“Don’t leave home without one?” I joked. I chuckled as Lawrence preened.

Lance nodded. “Right! So you mentioned that there has been an issue with the number of approved licenses for this year’s Indigo competition? I admit I’ve been looking into other tasks this morning and haven’t been able to give this any attention so please, enlighten me to the issue.”

I opened my mouth only for Lawrence to take over. “Champion Lance the issue is that the League has approved roughly six times the normal pokemon permits so far.”

I raised my hand to interject. “Permits, not Licenses. They’ve been letting far, far more people into Kanto. The League has approved what appears to be any and all international applicants!”

Lawrence began laying out papers with graphs that compared last year's numbers of international applications compared to this year's numbers. “The Pewter City Gym is already booked for the next month with five and a half days of work a week, with an average of about fifteen to sixteen trainers a day.” He tapped a table on the papers for Lance to look over.

“Brock has already discussed the issue with the Mayor to facilitate a greater spread of trainers to other Gyms. Koga, Erika, Surge, the Cerulean Sisters, Sophia, Manny, and Grey have all agreed to open their doors for first-level badges but there is still going to be a significant strain on the system with these numbers!” Lawrence tapped at a few lines of the papers he’d laid out for Lance.

Lance’s frown deepened. “This… This is highly concerning.” He set the papers down and looked at us. “I’m happy that you’ve already acted to manage the issue, Brock.” He scowled. “This is going to have a flow-on effect to the end of the circuit conference, isn’t it?”

I grunted and nodded. “At least. But the more immediate concern is that this will put a huge strain on my trainers, pokemon and myself. I am going to be fighting more trainers in three months than I typically fight in two years of running a Gym, Lance. This is a monumental failure on the League’s behalf… And after the recent audit,” I trailed off as Lance frowned.

“You think this is maliciously inspired…” He sat back and groaned. Then he tapped a button on his computer’s transceiver. It dialled for a moment and a grouchy voice answered.

“This is Kruger,” said a male voice before pausing, “I meant to say, President Kruger! Yes! This is President Kruger, who’s this?”

“Kruger,” said Lance, not bothering with the title. “It’s me, I need you to come up to my office. Grab the Head of Permits for the circuit as well.”

“Lance? What’s this about!” said Kruger. I sat back and got comfortable as Lance scowled at the screen.

“What it’s about is the issue of there being a trainer surge that might break the entire gym structure of Kanto! Get him here now, this is unacceptable!”

Kruger stared at Lance’s glowering face for a moment before swallowing and nodding tightly. “I’ll fetch him.” The screen went blank as he hung up.

Lance inhaled and exhaled for a moment. “My apologies for that unsightly scene.”

I shrugged. “No problem for me.”

Lance nodded only to frown as he turned his attention to Sabrina. “I'm sorry to say this, but I feel I should ask. Why are you here, Gym Leader Sabrina?“

Sabrina tilted her head. “I’m a concerned party,” she said as though that was obvious.

Lance held up a finger, only to lower it as he conceded the point. “That’s true. I would have thought the Gym’s that usually only faced challengers with four badges or more would have not been as affected.”

Sabrina shook her head. “There is going to be a large shift and I am contemplating lowering my standards for this year to three badges… I am still unsure of the value in this as it will cheapen the value of overcoming my gym.”

Lance grimaced. “Yes, you’re right about that. That’s going to have a lot of people protesting because there’s so much stock placed in earning the more selective Gym’s badges.”

The door to the elevator pinged and two men marched in. One man wrung his hands and his eyes darted about. The other looked annoyed and his bushy moustache was practically jutting out to the side. He looked familiar.

Hadn’t he been at the press conference when I’d laid out my challenge?

“Kruger,” Lance said with a nod. Kruger nodded and his eyes glanced around at the assembled group. We in turn watched him, and it took me a moment to realise that he was looking for a chair that didn’t exist. None of us offered our spots.

“You… Summoned me Lance?” said Kruger, his moustache twitching irritably. Lance narrowed his eyes.

“I have been informed that there have been…” He worked his jaw. “There’s no other way to say it, a reckless amount of permits approved for this year's gym circuit.”

The other man, ostensibly the Head of Permits, wiped at his wet brow. “There’s no way to control the number of people applying from within Kanto!”

“I am not speaking of the Kanto applicants but rather the number of international permits. You have so far, it would seem, approved every trainer to apply for the Kanto circuit.” Lance stared the man down.

“We’ve never limited them in the past! We don’t have a policy for that!” he said weakly. Lance didn’t look impressed.

“As Head of Permits that should have been your duty to establish,” Lance said coldly.

The man’s gaze flickered about the room as though he was seeking some support from any of us. We merely watched him. He slumped. “I… I have no excuse, I’ve been at this job for years and this is unprecedented.”

Lance inhaled and exhaled. “You have been negligent in your duties. This is an unforgivable failure. Consider yourself on notice. We will be reviewing your entire department. I want you to suspend granting any more permits.”

The man opened his mouth to protest only for Lance to stare him down. He swallowed and dabbed at his head with a handkerchief. “Very well, I will need some more staff.” He managed to cough out.

Kruger coughed. “I will see to the—”

“No,” Lance said, raising a finger towards Kruger while conotinuing to stare the Head of Permits down. “There have been entirely too many failures and oversteps by the League of late. Special measures are going to have to be taken with appointing people that can complete their duties competently. I have been greatly disappointed by my League’s performance.”

Kruger straightened. “That is—”

“The truth. I am the face of the League as its Champion. The recent events that we have allowed have gone too far. I don’t doubt that measures will have to be taken to support Kanto.”

Lance stared at the Head of Permits. “You may leave. Start writing up what needs to happen and I will be along after I am done here. If there are any emergency changes that need to occur then I expect an email to be sent to myself, and,” he held a finger, “my Elite Four.”

The man hurried off. Kruger watched him as Lance turned to his computer and began typing up an email. He spoke as he typed. “I’m going to send a memo to my Elite, Agatha, Lorelie, Koga, and …” He paused. “Well, I’m sure I’ll find something for Bruno to do.” He coughed and sent off the email. He then turned back to us.

There was a silence that was rather awkward as if no one knew how to proceed. Lawrence seemed a little star-struck. Kruger was still standing there and looked like he was holding himself back from spitting something rather than saying anything. Sabrina looked like she wanted some popcorn, and Lance was rubbing his temples and breathing in and out.

I coughed to remind the room that we were present. “And that’s a good time for me to re-enter the conversation I should think.”

Next to me Lawrence blinked and jolted. Apparently, he’d been drawn into the drama as well. Sabrina lounged, unmindful, more like a Meowth ready to watch a show play out than a fellow Gym leader.

Kruger turned to me. “You think you can make demands?!”

I nodded. “Yes, rightly so, I should think.”

Lance chuckled. “Alright, I’ll bite. What are your demands?”

I smiled and sat back. Lawrence almost preened as he opened the briefcase that he’d brought, for what I suspected was entirely for dramatic effect. “We’ll start with lowered taxes and even grants being set up. Trainers from Kanto will need a lot more support in the face of so much international competition.”

Lawrence tilted his head looking so much like a Pidgeot asking a question. “Unless you wanted the world to think we couldn’t make a strong showing?”

Lance shook his head. “No, so far I can understand where you’re coming from. A half percent reduction in tax—”

Lawrence laughed. “Oh! Champion Lance I’m not going to waffle, we need at least a three percent decrease in tax on all Gym incomes!”

Kruger hissed. “All of them!? Are you mad? That’s hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pokedollars that the League won’t be able to use next season! How will the Rangers function!? The administration!? The transport crews?!”

Lawrence shrugged. “Well, that sounds like an issue for next season, you still need to make it through this one.” He shrugged as though to say, ‘them’s the brakes’.

Lance hummed, “I think this will need to be a discussion between a number of interested parties. I don't think Blaine and Giovanni would want to be spoken for after all.”

I nodded, conceding the point. I wanted to strike while the iron was hot. “I’m going to be empowering Lawrence as my stand-in to represent Pewter’s interests. He knows all of the salient points.”

When Lance raised a brow at this I shrugged. “I have a gym that is going to be very, very busy for the foreseeable future.”

I circled a hand through the air. “One of the changes that I will need to stop the bottlenecking of trainers is for the League to sponsor and run a number of small tournaments in other cities. Draw trainers away from Pewter, for now, to let things calm down. Perhaps Celadon or Fuchsia for example?”

Lance glanced at the report that had been handed to him and nodded. “That will be done. I’ll see if we can divert any incoming trainers to the Johto side of the Silver range to also lessen the load. With numbers like this… The Johto representation will be only a fraction this year.”

I hummed, unmindful. That would be one side effect, yes, but it wasn’t something I needed to worry about.

Lance glanced at Kruger, “I’ll also appoint new staff to support the Head of Permits within the day and will reach out to the Gym Leaders to set up a meeting to discuss further measures. May I see your demands now?”

Lawrence smiled genially. “Oh no, I think I’ll wait until the meeting proper. You have the first of our suggestions.”

Lance grunted. “Very well, I will offer a formal televised apology regarding this failure on my League’s behalf.”

I nodded slowly, then laced my fingers and brought forth my aura to show what I was about to say had weight behind it. “That’s twice now Lance. I think you need to get things in order.”

Lance frowned at me but Kruger spoke up first, whirling about to face me. “What is that supposed to mean!?”

I continued to stare at Lance. “Lance, I like you. You’re a great trainer and I think you’ve implemented some great initiatives with how you’ve increased funding and training for the Police and Rangers. But this whole situation?” I waved my hand at the offices that rested below us.

“I might not be the only disgruntled trainer that considers if things need to change. I don’t want to believe such a situation is needed though.” I raised a hand to soften the words I’d said. “I still believe you can correct it.” Then I lowered my hand. “But my faith in you has taken some hits.”

Lance worked his jaw for a bit before nodding. “Very well, I… I can see where you are coming from. This is a stain that I will be working to cleanse.”

Kruger stiffened. “Champion!?”

Lance held up a hand, “Brock is correct Kruger. I expect there might be a number of people making runs at the Champion position this year. It would make sense after all.”

He sighed. “I understand and apologise once again Brock. I’m sorry it came to this, and I thank you for your continued belief in me.”

He paused to see my reaction. When I nodded, he smiled tightly. “Well, I suppose I have a few things to see to now.” He shot my group a searching look. “Unless there was something else?”

Sabrina continued looking smug as Lawrence coughed politely. “Actually, Brock will be announcing the sale of a number of rare ancient pokemon beyond the ones currently on his roster. He has been funding a researcher and the man has created a working machine that has reached the… first stage of effectiveness.”

Kruger inhaled sharply before something flashed in his eyes. “The Resurrection Act stipulates—” he started to say only for something to flick into his mouth and make him splutter. It reminded me of someone swallowing a fly from my old world. Something that I didn’t have to worry about in a pokemon world. Sabrina radiated innocence as Kruger spluttered.

“About that,” said Lawrence with a flash of teeth.

When the loophole Lawrence had found was announced Lance nodded with a small smile. Kruger turned increasingly green, before settling into a puce colour. “This! This is ridiculous! The intent of the act was to support the development of a viable population! Selling them like this will work against everything the act was created for! You’re not just side-stepping it as much as you are wiping your feet with the paper the act is written on!”

Lawrence shrugged, “That’s how the Law is you’ll find. But the intent of the Resurrection Act is based on the premise that an entire fossil needs to be used to create one pokemon. With the Lileep, a grass-rock pokemon, the machine does not require a large sample to recreate the pokemon. They’re remarkably robust in that regard, so you won’t be able to make that argument as it won’t be long before they are merely rare and not under threat of extinction.”

Kruger’s mouth flapped open and shut before he clenched it. “And I suppose this is acceptable to you Lance?!”

Lance merely shrugged. “This is merely how the law was recorded under Pryce. Brock...” He stared at me and I felt him re-evaluating me. “How would you feel if I were to offer you a sponsorship for a Lileep breeding colony? You have the history of successfully rearing ancient pokemon. You also have the rock typing that all fossils are proposed to possess. Your gym has strong security along with housing a resident breeding expert.”

He nodded before raising up a finger. “However, before any of this can be locked in, the resurrection machine itself will need to be examined. I will have…” He chewed his lip. “Lorelei. I will have Lorelei inspect it as one of my Elite Four. If you reach the stage of resurrecting any type of pokemon we can see about—”

Lawrence coughed, looking oddly pleased and ashamed to have cut the Champion off. “That may be up for discussion actually! As you’ve mentioned, Brock can simply take the pokemon as they currently stand as they’re not covered under the Resurrection Act. This will be a talking point in our meetings going forward.” Lawrence then shot me a look as if telling me to agree to nothing. Lance grimaced and I took a moment to realise that with Lance saying it, Lawrence had leverage for that discussion.

Then Lawrence looked back to Lance like he was a Pidgeot that had sighted prey in the open. “Other points such as the recent League’s… negligence towards Kanto? That will be pertinent for the League and Pewter Gym to discuss.”

Lance sighed. “Of course, yes, it will be. Anything else?”

I shook my head. “No, I think I’m good, what needed to be said has been said.”

Sabrina inclined her head. “I will be attending the meeting when you call it.”

Lance shot her an amused look and I got the feeling he was very much underestimating her due to how quiet she’d been today. “Well, I’ll be sure to message you. Expect it to be within the next few days.”

I stood and offered Lance my hand. “Glad we could talk it out.” I looked into his eyes and gave him a nod. He gave one back and I tried to soften the tension further. “Feel free to come around when you can by the way. I’m sure people would get a great kick with having you show up.”

“I’m sure they would,” he said.

We left Lance and Kruger to their work. I marched out feeling remarkably good about how that had gone. Lawrence had a grin plastered on his face and Sabrina floated slightly which got a lot of people flinching when they realised what they were seeing.

I chuckled. I might have a lot of work ahead of me, but I was going to make certain I got as much as I could from this fiasco.

Life was simpler when I just had to focus on pokemon battles and dealing with trainers.

I glanced over my shoulder at the Champion’s chambers at the top of the tower as we left. I really, really didn’t want to have to unseat Lance and take over running the League.

I had enough on my plate.