Hard Enough

Lance stared out of the windows of his office. Far below, Brock, Sabrina and their lawyer were still in sight. They stood out with how others made way for them. The lawyer was practically strutting alongside the two Gym Leaders while Brock and Sabrina walked close enough that people could mistake them for holding hands.

Brock paused, and for a moment, Lance wondered if their eyes had locked despite the distance separating them. Then Brock vanished in a teleport.

Despite his disappearance, his words echoed in Lance’s mind. My faith in you has taken some hits… they were simple words, but no less impactful for it. Lance gritted his teeth and turned away from the window. He wanted to roar and gnash his teeth at the disaster that dropped into his lap, but he’d learned control since his public defeat. Something that he’d had to spend long hours meditating with the elders to gain.

He liked Brock.

Lance felt that there was an understanding between them. An understanding that they lived in an imperfect world where issues arose. Lance merely considered it a vagary of fate that he was so often on the other side to Brock of late.

What could they achieve if they were on the same side, he wondered?

Lance shook off his idle thoughts.

He had work to do.

He immediately began reviewing the information that had been given to him by Brock. This would be a mere starting point.

Lance reached out and pressed a button on his office transceiver. A woman’s voice chirped up a moment later. “Champion, how may I help?”

“I want a memo sent out to the Records department regarding trainer numbers for the past five years. Also get me George, Dale, Marsha, Timothy, Matthew, and Clair. Inform Clair that I need her to bring Elder Chisoma with her.”

“Can do Champion!” chirped the woman as a staccato of keyboard clattering rang across the line before Lance hung up.

A pointed cough was ignored as Lance opened his emails and began to review what the Head of Permits had sent through as a preliminary notice.

Another cough. Lance didn’t look away from the email. “Kruger, I should think that you have better things to do than wait around. This issue will affect the entirety of the League.”

Kruger proved stubborn though, and he shook his head. “You let Brock get away with far too much.”

Lance stopped what he was doing, his pride warred with his mind for a moment before he bit out, “I made no deals and I only made suggestions on what was possible.” And it still left a foul taste in his mouth to act in such a way.

“And I know you, Lance. You will agree more than you would with another.”

“Brock has proven himself time and time again.” Lance raised a hand. “I don’t need to hear it. It’s plain to me with how you’re acting. Whatever grievance you’ve developed with him is compromising your professionalism. ”

Lance levelled an assessing gaze upon Kruger. “Do I need to be considering replacing more than just the Head of Permits?”

The threat lingered, and Kruger sucked in a breath. “I dislike how he has made us look weak.”

Lance snorted. “He stepped up when I was being prideful. I respect him more for it. In doing so he showed that I wasn’t invincible. Not all of us can have the legend of Samuel Oak.” Lance opened some emails and read through them. “I had grown complacent.”

Kruger grunted. “Very well. I will make sure that other… zealous officials are contained.”

Lance narrowed his eyes at Kruger’s back as the President marched out of Lance’s office. It seemed he’d need to keep a closer eye on this President of his. He didn’t want more complacency, or worse, to slip into his administration. That had already cost him enough.

Lance rubbed at the bracelet that contained the megastone he’d gotten from Steven Stone.

Steven Stone who’d turned right around and used the favour he’d bargained for faster than Lance had expected.

Lance let out a small rumble of displeasure as the elevator doors opened once again. Lance glowered as Lorelei entered the office, followed by Bruno. Agatha floated through the floor in a show of power that had Lorelei watching the older woman more than Lance. Lance shook his head at the elderly woman’s antics.

Agatha claimed the centre seat and inclined her head. “Champion, what might we do for you this day?”

Lance sighed and gestured for the other two to sit.

Bruno sat in a chair that was far too small for him. Lorelei folded herself into another chair, her glasses flashing as she observed Lance closely. Lance felt an instinctive need to show no weakness with an ice specialist in the room.

He straightened up and huffed. “It seems that our Head of Permits has allowed far too many international trainers to enter Kanto. This has been projected to cause a huge strain on the region’s infrastructure, as this number of trainers is unprecedented. According to him, the Permits Department did not have a procedure in place to prevent this, and so now we are left with trying to stem the flow.”

Bruno grunted. “Seems like closing the gate after the Tauros are already among the Miltank.”

Agatha cackled. “He’s not wrong for once! I doubt you’ll have many situations like this in future. Unless you plan on creating a run on us with any more losses!”

Lance focused his gaze on her. He wouldn’t miss the cutting remarks from the old woman. The end of the circuit and her retirement couldn’t come soon enough. Her replacement with Koga would make things much more straightforward. It would see them at three people for the Elite four due to Shafner’s resignation.

While he was replacing members, it might be a good idea to replace Lorelei as well. Then he just needed two trainers of suitable standing.

Lance fully expected a challenge from Walker, Shafner’s son, in the next few years. With Falkner taking over as Gym Leader he knew the man only had another two years before he lost the right to challenge the Elite Four.

Lance huffed. “Jokes aside, we need to have a response for this. I will be… reviewing the Head of Permits. He’s been in his position as long as you, Agatha. It might be time for someone that is more forward-thinking.”

That made the old woman narrow her eyes. The faintest flickers of a smile appeared on Lorelei’s face and Bruno remained unmoved.

“I’d make sure that who you assign the position to is up to the task. It is deceptively simple on first appearances,” Agatha said primly. “It’ll draw in fools and gobble them up!”

Lance flexed his draconic aura to get rid of the ghostly energies Agatha had loosened. Lorelei nodded, unmindful of the subsequent cold while Bruno merely snorted like a Tauros.

Truly, Lance couldn’t wait until Agatha was gone. He fully expected her replacement to be much easier to get along with. “I have a few people in mind and have a number of people already assigned to the task. In the meantime, I will have Elder Chisoma to sit in as an observer to preserve Gym interests.”

Agatha snorted. “Blackthorn interests you mean.”

Lance raised a finger. “I will also have Koga tapped to weigh in. I have no doubt that he has the best understanding of the situation. He will be a good balancer. But, if you do have some names I will review them,” Lance said, conceding the minor point to allow Agatha a small win that would help her calm down.

Agatha rattled off some names and Lance was surprised to find three of them being among those he’d already nominated. He nodded, pleased that his initial thoughts were on the mark. Perhaps a few of them could have slightly expanded roles within the League. It would need to be reviewed. He made a note to do just that later. Talent needed to be nurtured after all.

He turned to Lorelei. “Lorelei, I will also have you as part of the process. However, that is not all you will be doing.”

She raised a brow, coolly waiting for the task.

“Brock has been privately funding a resurrection machine. It has reached a level of function to the point that Brock has a small colony of ancient pokemon by the name of Lileep: A grass-rock type. I want an evaluation of the staff, the machine and other potential parties that could be offered the ancient pokemon to improve the genetic diversity.”

Lorelei tilted her head in thought. “The only one that comes to mind would be Erika. Other breeders wouldn’t have the security. The second you handed an ancient pokemon over to them they’d be in danger.”

She then flicked her eyes to Agatha. “Also only giving a Kanto Gym the rights to ancient pokemon would be a slap in the face to some. Perhaps our own Olivine city Gym could be considered? They have a storied past of being rock typed.”

Agatha snorted derisively. “Storied? I have dresses with longer histories than that Gym!”

“Agatha, Lorelei!” Lance barked out before they could start fighting in his office. “I will consider it Lorelei. I think it has potential. It will need to be reviewed and kept secret that we’re giving out any such deals.”

Lance clenched and unclenched his fists. The fact that the League was still leaky as a bucket used for bullet seed target practice galled him. His pride stung at finding such aspects of his life he’d apparently been a sleeping Dragonite on. So many improvements were made with his staff, the training they underwent, the policies and procedures, and still, documents and plans were slipped to people that had no rights to that information.

Lorelei bobbed her head. “Well, I suppose I can see to Pewter’s machine then.”

Lance turned to Agatha. “I want you to go and talk with our finance department and plan to have two tournaments made up away from the usual first badge gyms to make people spread out away from Pewter, Celadon, or Cerulean.”

“Lavender town is beautiful at this time of year,” Agatha said, unmindful of the blatant favouritism.

Lance had known what she’d suggest when he gave her that task. He grunted. “See that the other happens near Chrysanthemum city. They could do with some increased exposure.”

Agatha waved a hand at Lance in vague agreement before she sank through the floor. She cackled on the way out and the sound echoed throughout the room.

Bruno sniffed. “Want me to go to Saffron and call out some punks? Let people know I’m taking any and all takers?”

Lorelei pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered under her breath. "Urgh, you’re such a meatheaded fool sometimes Bruno.”

Lance opened his mouth to say that, that wouldn’t help, only to pause as he realised it actually would. Having an Elite Four member in a city and openly accepting challenges would be a large draw for said city. After all, trainers both young and old would find it hard to turn down a free chance at an Elite Four member. Saffron City would also have the infrastructure to deal with a large number of trainers, and Sabrina not changing her gym requirements should prevent her from being overrun.

“That…is actually a good idea,” he said, causing Lorelei’s eyes to bulge and her head to whip from scowling at Bruno to stare at Lance.

“You’re joking, right?” she said.

Lance smirked. “I might have you do the same soon.”

Lorelei grimaced, and Lance found himself liking the idea all the more for her displeasure. His pride was partially soothed by the fact that the proposal enraged the icy woman. He waved his hand. "For the time being, go handle those tasks. I want to stabilise the situation. Bruno, you have two weeks to roam around as you wish.”

Bruno grunted and marched off with a grin. Lorelei followed, shaking her head but otherwise following orders.

Lance turned his attention back to his computer. He had a small flood of emails come in during the past two meetings. He sighed. Tonight was going to be the first of a lot of long nights.

He just knew.

He really wasn’t looking forward to when the media caught hold of the situation.

He suspected he’d need to schedule a media release for tomorrow, and then an appearance in another day or two.

Karen smirked.

Across from her, Falkner scowled. The little birdy was about to have his wings clipped on live television.

Karen shot the camera a saucy wink and cocked her hip to the side. “So, ready to get sent back to school, little pidgey?”

Falkner’s scowl intensified. “You will not be talking so smugly after we’re done!” he said, his feathers obviously ruffled. It hadn’t been hard to get a match with him. Karen had already made a show of trouncing the four small Gyms of Johto. Now she was starting her true run. The other matches were just teasers to get her name out there. She’d been noted down thanks to their agents in Battlecast and her fights had gotten a little more screen time than they would have otherwise.

Due to that additional publicity, she had Gym Leaders like Falkner unable to reject her challenge lest they lose face. Then again, as the first of the big eight on the Johto side, him going first made it clear she considered him the ‘starting Gym’. Or as people liked to think, the weakest. That would have stung his pride worse than a Beedrill sneaking up on him.

Little Falkner's snarling and spitting for the cameras when she issued her challenge had certainly pumped up the crowd.

Karen had merely told him to set a time and place, like he was beneath her, and that she’d be there. She hadn't let up since, continuing to challenge other Ace trainers and openly train her Pokemon team in public places where friendly matches could occur.

So far, for Ace matches for actual points, she was on a sixteen-straight win streak. More than enough to catapult her up into the top hundred Ace trainers.

Today’s match was very much her true ‘coming out’ day. She had all eyes on her, just where she wanted them.

The referee raised his flag and dropped it. “Release!” he shouted.

Karen hurled her pokeball and released Gengar as her first pokemon. Falkner chose his starter— Pidgeot—as his first pokemon. Karen threw her head back as she realised the little fool had called it out on the ground.

“Oh, sweet darkness, you're too simple! This isn’t even going to be a match!” she said loudly.

She got more than a few boos from the home crowd, but she ignored them with a toss of her head as Falkner bared his teeth.

“Trainers ready! Fight!” said the referee.

“Pidgeot, use U-turn!” shouted Falkner like he'd played a perfect move to start the match.

Karen made a show of yawning. A bug move was so beneath her. Then again he probably thought he was being clever setting up for his combination one-two with his pokemon.

“Fling!” she said gleefully. The onrushing Pidgeot’s charge was sidestepped before Gengar slapped a handful of rocks across the Pidgeot's face causing it to flinch. The energy that Pidgeot had been building up broke apart and the move was disrupted.

As it flapped its wings to create space Karen grinned. “Thunderpunch!” she said. Her Gengar exploded from his position fist sparking as Falkner was left gaping at the display of speed.

“Protect!” he said, giving his pokemon a stay of execution.

Gengar’s fist slammed into the protective shell as Karen pointed at it dismissively. “Hypnosis.”

Once more, Gengar’s eyes glowed only this time in a pulsing pattern. The shell of the Protect crumbled, and a sleeping pokemon was revealed. Karen nodded once and another fist of electricity slammed forward to knock out Falkner’s pokemon.

The crowd gasped, and Falker clicked his teeth. Karen rolled her eyes. He must have thought his pokemon would have been able to handle more than one move(?) and come back into the fight. He obviously didn’t do enough homework on her. She’d practically gift-wrapped chances to check out her training sessions with her ‘public’ team.

Falkner ignored the cries of the referee as he returned his pokemon, selecting another quickly. Karen smirked at him. She loved how it was getting to him. His hand fidgeted from pokeball to pokeball. Eventually, he licked his lips and selected his second pokemon.

This one a Honchkrow.

Karen narrowed her eyes. Was he challenging her?

Falkner jutted his chin at her, and she huffed. “Alright, I see where this is going. I accept,” she said, returning her pokemon to send out her own Honchkrow. She didn’t care that it was tactically a mistake. This was about sending an Arceus be damned message.

Both of their pokemon locked eyes, and there was a moment as they glared, only for their trainers to sweep their hands up.

“Icy wind!” called Falkner.

“Thunderwave!” said Karen.

Electricity and ice blasted out of each of their respective pokemon only to meet in the middle and cause a divide. Both attacks negated the other but Falker pointed upwards.

“Get above it! Claim the skies Honchkrow!” he said.

Karen huffed. “Stay low, you're fine, Honchkrow.”

“Ha! A true master of their pokemon would know that flying types operate best from a superior vertical position!”

Karen yawned. “Are you done? I’m pretty sure if this takes too long your mother will be along to put you to bed.”

Despite themselves, a few of the crowd laughed as Falkner spluttered. “I do not have a bedtime!”

“Well, some of us don’t want to miss happy hour then!” Karen said, pumping her fist and getting more laughs from the crowd.

“Descend with Drillpeck!” ordered Falkner, his pokemon dropping on Karen’s.

Karen hummed. “Oh! Well, guess I should do something like Sucker Punch!” she said, causing her pokemon to flash black for a moment only to disappear as it repositioned to the other Honchkrow’s side and slam a dark wing into its opposition.

Falkner's pokemon crumbled and fell to the ground, only to be trampled by Karen's before it could recover.

Karen bared her fangs. “Thunderwave again!” Arcs of electricity slammed into the downed pokemon and locked it in place. Karen followed up with another order while Falkner was left reeling.

Karen’s Honchkrow cried out triumphantly when it slammed its own Drill Peck into the weakened Honchkrow. Falkner’s arm shot up with a pokeball in it to withdraw his pokemon.

He scowled. “You could have given me a chance to withdraw my pokemon. It wasn’t going to be able to escape with how you entrapped it.”

Karen shrugged. “Eh, I’m just making sure of it.”

Falkner hissed as he drew out his next pokemon, a Noctowl. Karen hummed and returned her Honchcrow. She was done proving who had the better Honchkrow. She returned her Gengar to the field and there was a murmur of confusion from the crowd. Noctowls were known to be strong psychic pokemon after all.

Karen didn’t care. Tonight was about style. She had the strength in wagonloads to walk all over Falkner. She just needed people to recognise it.

“Psychic!” said Falkner.

“Dark Pulse,” replied Karen. Gengar’s body exploded with dark energy, and the various loose rocks that had been affected by the Noctowl dropped. Noctowl itself took some damage and staggered back.

And that was all it took for Karen to slash her hand forward. “Thunderpunch!”

Once more Gengar closed the distance in the blink of an eye and once more another of Falkner’s pokemon was put in the ground.

“Return Noctowl! Go Fearow!” shouted Falkner, desperation entering his voice as he hurled his pokemon up into the sky.

Karen hummed. She knew from her own research that Fearow and Pidgeot shared a lot of moves. Such as U-turn, a clever move if you weren’t expecting it but something Karen had already demonstrated she had an answer to. So what would he do instead?

“Heatwave!” said Falkner, causing a gout of fire to be shot out of his pokemon.

“Dark Pulse again!” Karen ordered, making the two attacks clash before vanishing as both pokemon cut power to the moves. Karen grinned. That told her more than enough about the strength of the Fearow. It was true that both attacks covered a wide area, but to have them negate each other was telling.

“Now! U-turn!” shouted Falker as his pokemon was revealed to her, already mid-stab with glowing energy. Karen clicked her tongue.

“Thunderpunch but hold it!” she ordered. She knew her pokemon could endure the first hit. It was what came next that she needed a solid counter to.

Fearow hit and caused Gengar to grimace slightly, only for Fearow’s energy to break apart as it was returned via a specialised move, therefore not costing Falkner a withdrawal. It was a trite little strategy that looked good at the four-badge level.

“Pursuit!” said Falkner with glee as a Dodrio took to the stage.

Karen could see what he was aiming for. Most people might see the returning pokemon and return their own to change that match up and gamble on what came out. Pursuit would do a lot of damage to Gengar if that had been the case. These were good solid fourth badge and higher strategies.

“Meet it head on with your Thunderpunch,” said Karen harshly. Dodrio ran straight into the electric move and while two heads plunged on at Gengar, the centre head was slammed into the ground. The rest of the body followed suit a moment later.

The outer two heads took a moment to register the knocked-out central head, and both huddled over it protectively before a feedback of shock passed through to them and knocked them all out.

Karen grinned. “Cute move. But this is an Ace Challenge little boy. Step up your game!”

Falkner stared at his downed pokemon as he returned it. Then he looked up to the screen where he was four pokemon down to her none. His hand raised and clutched at his chest as his breathing began to speed up.

Karen clicked her teeth as she spotted this. "Urgh, this damn brat really can’t handle the pressure, can he? Urgh!” She chewed her thumb as she thought about what to do.

She tossed her hair and pulled on her dark energy and shot a tendril out to him. “Hey brat,” she said.

Falkner’s eyes shot up to her unable to resist the effects of her ‘Flatter’ to make him sit up and draw him out of his funk. She didn’t want him going to pieces on her. She needed him to be fired up to make it look somewhat interesting.

She put her arms under her bust and deliberately pushed them up. The cameras would no doubt pick up on it and get a few pulses beating faster as she wiggled her breasts teasingly. “Is little boy going to cry? Give up cause he’s getting spanked?” she taunted with a babyish tone.

Falkner reeled back, realising for the first time how this must look. The comparisons to his grandfather’s loss to Lance’s Charizard haunting his family. He clenched his teeth and a fire entered his eyes. “No, I’m not giving up!”

“Go Fearow! Once more, take to the skies!” he shouted, causing his pokemon to take wing. The crowd of locals cheered at his pick up.

Karen smirked and withdrew Gengar only to send out Weaville. Falkner’s eyes bulged and his gaze snapped to her. She grinned. She’d always had all the answers for his team.

His Fearow went down with a few icy winds that he tried to counter with Heatwave but it wasn’t enough with her pokemon now fresh and full of energy compared to his own.

When he revealed Xatu as his last pokemon Karen put it down in one move and considered it a mercy.

Falkner slumped on his podium and stared at the ground. Karen made a show of waving to the crowd as her pokemon walked up to accept some praise. Then she sauntered over to the morose Falkner.

“That was pretty pathetic. I can see why you’re thinking of running off into the hills like your granddaddy and your daddy did,” she said without preamble.

Falkner’s head shot up as she glared at her. “What do you know!?”

“I know you’re running the gym and just holding the fort, waiting for daddy to come home for you. You’re not getting stronger and changing things up. Your placement in the Ace rankings is the second lowest of any Indigo Gym Leader and that’s not saying much with the Cerulean sisters on that list.” Karen inspected her nails like it didn’t really matter.

“You were just a stepping stone for me brat,” she said. She stared straight at him and watched as his face morphed from rage to impotent despair and back again. Eventually, it cooled into something else. Karen could feel the dark emotions fill the boy as resolve took hold. She mentally nodded. Good, he had been smacked around by her but hadn’t been broken.

“I will face you again, and you will lose next time Karen!” he spat.

Karen tossed her hair, amused at his now useless show of resolve. “Good luck with that boy.”

She pointed upwards, raising her voice as she shouted the next words, “If you want a rematch then you’re gonna need to soar to the top! Cause I’m going all the way, and making an official run for the Championship!” She looked into the cameras and grinned.

“I’m hereby putting the League on notice! I’m not just going for Top Ace status! I’m coming for the best of the best! Watch yourself Lorelei cause you’ll be first when I’m done with the Johto Gyms!” she walked up to the now visibly excited camera crews for her post-match interview, pointedly not looking back at the roiling ball of emotions that was Falkner.

Ah teenagers, they made it so easy sometimes. She shot a quick message to Brock asking what he thought of her match.

He didn’t reply until the next day. ‘Ah! I forgot! I had to read the twins and Munchlax a story! Sorry! I’ll get the next one! How’d you do?’

Karen shut her transceiver away calmly, and in no way, shape, or form, threw a hissy fit.

Giovanni swirled his drink around before taking a leisurely sip. “The girl is playing with him”, he said to the other occupant of the room.

On the couch with his own drink, Blaine scoffed. “Bah! I could have told you that before the match started! This girl is practically screaming dark-type specialist. She’ll play with her food and tease them out. If she makes an enemy that will come for her later she’ll just think it’s good entertainment and stomp the brat back down!”

Giovanni nodded and changed the channel. He didn’t need to finish the match to know the result.

“Our sources at the League have announced that Brock has a working resurrection machine.” Giovanni kept a careful watch on his fellow Gym Leader.

Blaine didn’t flare up however and instead scoffed. “Grass-type pokemon as fossils! They’re so basic and unrefined! I would have no issue resurrecting them with my current machine! No recalibration needed! It’s not a proper resurrection machine until it resurrects something of complex cellular structure like another Aerodactyl! Then Brock will have a viable pure bloodline to work from before he looks to diverge!”

Giovanni nodded. “What do you know of Crowley? He’s apparently the lead scientist.”

“Hidebound. The man won’t accept case studies as evidence or proof. A diehard stickler for getting proper sample sizes before he announces anything properly. He also has no financial sense. The man throws good money at bad situations!”

The bald man then rubbed his moustache. “I had hoped to have him be signed on for Project Mewtwo actually… the man wouldn’t care about what we were doing but rather the science involved. He’d need to be silenced eventually like the others of course, but he’d have been tunnel-visioned on getting a result. Not that you needed him eh?” Blaine said with a tilt of his head and a raise of his glass.

“Project Mewtwo is operating wonderfully,” replied Giovanni. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without your mind Blaine.”

“Please! Save your platitudes for someone that cares for them. I enjoyed the challenge. The next trick would be to repeat it with another Legendary. We just need to recreate the entire lab!” Blaine said with a scowl.

“Project Mewtwo became emotional after gaining full consciousness for the first time.”

“How many of the controls were confirmed before his power expressed itself?” Blaine said carefully.

“Eighty-five percent of the controls and behaviours were imprinted. Project Mewtwo is compliant to me.”

Blaine nodded, his eyes distant as his fingers flickered lightly on his glass. “Be careful with it. A pokemon with the potential of a Legendary… It is more than I thought possible when you first approached me.” Blaine grimaced. “There will be a lot of heat if people realise what you’ve done.”

“We’ve done,” Giovanni said firmly.

Blaine locked eyes with Giovanni for a long moment before the bald man nodded.

They each took a drink to settle their nerves.

Blaine waved his hand. “Put out a call to acquire as many fossils as we can. If Brock is going to enter the Ressurection game we’ll just stymie the supply he has of fossils. We’ll need to send some grunts into Mt Moon to sniff around. Perhaps some others at Grampa Canyon as well.”

Giovanni accepted the suggestion with a nod. “We have enough interested parties willing to buy the ancient pokemon to make it a highly profitable venture.”

Blaine raised a finger. “Not Stone,” Blaine spat the name like a curse. “That whelp snuck an intern into my lab and had them steal the files regarding the machine's template. His recent success in establishing it for Devon corp is nothing short of corporate espionage!” Blaine put down his glass and Giovanni eyed the slight warping it now had. His eyes then turned to the couch that Blaine was sitting on. He relaxed once he confirmed it was fire-resistant.

Blaine continued his rant, “Worse still that I had him dead to rights before Lance stepped in!” Blaine threw back the rest of his drink.

“All for a fucking Megastone! Crafty of Stone to sell one to earn himself some protection. Unlike Lance, no-one’s broken Steven’s aura of invincibility.” Blaine grasped his hands forward like one would strangle someone.

“I’d have broken him over my knee! Shown him true firepower that you can’t buy!” he said hotly.

Giovanni stood and walked around the table to pour Blaine another drink with a new glass to help him calm down. “What are your options from here? I doubt you’ll let this rest.”

Blaine snorted loudly. “I have to sue the man! Sue him!? The nerve! It used to be once that if a man wronged you, you could burn him and send a message! For all the world was rougher, things were simpler before the war. Pompous shits like this Steven Stone would have known better than to steal from me!”

Giovanni nodded. “The price we pay for peace.”

Blaine snorted again. “Sue the man…” he muttered under his breath as he took another drink. He clicked his teeth and exhaled a gout of smoke. “Any thoughts on running a challenger or two against Steven?”

“None that we can trust. Our resources are tied up in other projects right now. It won’t be put forth as something important. We have some candidates that have the potential for Hoenn but sounding them out will require a delicate touch.”

Blaine nodded. “I’ll want front-row seats when we have someone slap Steven Stone back into place.”

Giovanni hummed. “Done,” he said easily. He considered the other item of business he wanted to raise. This too needed to be handled… Delicately.

“Has my mot… has the Madam contacted you recently?” Giovanni said carefully.

Blaine glanced up from his drink. “She making moves on your position again? No, not as yet. If she reaches out I’ll let you know what my price is for her and then for you.” He smirked as Giovanni nodded his head.

“That is acceptable. With that in mind, I have a gift, one that you can use straight away.” Giovanni reached into a case and withdrew a red box with a blazing inferno within. It smouldered and charred the table when Giovanni set it down. Next to it he set down a rock with red crystal growths protruding out of it. It pulsed with heat as well but it was nothing compared to the furnace next to it.

Blaine made no move to pick either up. “You found the Heat Rock? You do know I’d been looking for that rock to complete my research on the Magmarizer?” he said quietly. He snorted. “Of course, you know.”

“Indeed, congratulations on your success,” said Giovanni, standing and raising his glass to Blaine. “I imagine the research community will be taken by storm with your discovery, no?”

Blaine stayed where he was, staring at the Magmarizer before his eyes turned to the other gift. “Where did you get a Heat Rock?”

Giovanni sat down with a smirk. “We have fully established contact with Sinnoh through a fellow organisation by the name of Team Galactic. We were both interested in exchanging information and more, so here we are. Enriching each other and those that stand with us.”

Blaine snorted before he threw his head back and laughed. “Ha! That’s going to make you a very rich man Giovanni! Access to a new region! And here the League is all in a tailspin because they found Fiore! And Silph Co is claiming to have a perfect pokeball!”

Giovanni smirked wider. “Well, I’ll let them work on Fiore. As for the Masterball…” He considered Blaine for a moment and decided to give the man an innocent shrug. Blaine chortled as he picked up the Magmarizer and inspected it.

Giovanni tilted his head innocently. “Also, who said anything about just one region being discovered?”

Blaine snapped his head up. “Which region?”

“Orre,” replied Giovanni.

Blaine frowned, then blinked. Then he laughed, his head lolling back. This time he stood and offered Giovanni a salute with his glass.

Sabrina stared.

In her lap, the egg wiggled a little and bounced before settling down. Sabrina extended a hesitant mental touch to the egg. The Ralts that was still forming within gave a vague feeling of content and curiosity before their mind slumbered once more.

Sabrina withheld her disappointment that the small being within wasn’t going to hatch today. It seemed the twitches weren’t up to speed as yet. There wasn’t anything wrong with the egg of course. She’d had it checked multiple times and had taken to carrying it around with her for meals and when she slept at home.

When she wasn’t checking in with Brock she otherwise left it with her parents. Both of them were under strict orders to call her back the instant the egg looked like it was hatching.

Sabrina had never hatched a pokemon egg before. The closest she’d ever come to raising a pokemon had been her Alakazam which had been a young abra when she’d first taken over the Gym. They’d worked together for years and had a good understanding of each other. They shared impressions of how they were feeling, what foods they were eating, how battles had gone and more but Sabrina would have struggled to say they were close.

That had only started to develop more recently. The time spent together either meditating to control her power or to just relax had gained a new element to it. Alakazam had started to show her more of himself. She’d in turn done the same.

Now it wasn’t unusual for Alakazam to sleep in her family’s house on the couch at night,almost like an uncle. He enjoyed the late night shows and Sabrina had heard her mother complain about the puzzles in the newspaper already being done when she collected the paper in the morning.

Sabrina had tested a theory and presented a bookcase full of puzzle books. Alakazam had finished them all within the day and thanked her.

Progress.

Lately, Sabrina had felt like she was making progress herself. Now she just needed to make progress in other areas. Namely her relationship with Brock.

They would return to dating. Which would involve… Well more things than they’d done as trainers during their journey together.

She just needed to wait for things to settle down with Brock’s family. Sadly the recent flood of trainers wouldn’t lighten the load. Brock appeared to be able to handle it though. He had adjusted and was going to do fine, she was sure.

He had nice shoulders.

Sabrina felt her cheeks grow a little red and she made sure not to feed her feelings to the Ralts egg.

Things were developing nicely.

She rubbed the egg, and it twitched sporadically, like the occupant was more doing it to get as comfortable as possible than seriously trying to get out.

Sabina could wait for them. She was good at waiting for the things she wanted.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t anticipating what was to come so very soon in the future.