Hard Enough

“Looks like I should have been paying more attention to what’s going on around me as well.” My words echoed a little as I glared at the pamphlet.

Brawly tilted his head. “Uhm? What do you mean?”

I gestured at the pamphlet. “I had no idea the mayor was going to be running something like this.” I ran a hand across my face before scratching at my still-wet hair. “Damn that man. I asked him to help me get trainers out of Pewter and to other locations, instead of lingering around.”

“Why would you want them gone?” Brawly said cluelessly.

“Because trainers that haven’t got something to do, or feel like they are being denied something get… well, they start to have ideas which are usually bad. Like knocking on my door at ten o'clock at night. Or challenging me in the middle of the supermarket. Or breaking into the free-range reserve area that I let my and other stabled pokemon have as their space. They see the signs and choose to ignore them.” I stared, but at nothing in particular, my mind remembering the incident from last year that caught a trainer literally staring at the signs before shrugging and climbing across the two fences that separated public land and the gym’s land.

“That ah… happens a lot?”

I sighed, “At least once every circuit so far. I honestly think with this surge of trainers in Kanto it will be worse.” I frowned when I realised Brawly had a notepad out and was jotting something down. “Are you… writing down what I’m saying?”

He nodded. “Oh yeah! I want to be a gym leader one day, right? But I still want my own privacy and a chance to enjoy life. So I’m totally going to have my house separate from the gym! Keep it as basic as I can. Self-sufficient.” He looked up from the notepad. “Any other hints of things to avoid?”

I felt my eye twitch as an urge to smack the notepad out of his hands grew. I huffed at him instead, and shook my head, causing droplets of water to splash out. “If you want some serious insight, then by all means stick around for the closing of the gym and I’ll show you around.”

“Really?! That would be gnarly!” he said with an incredulous look.

“Yeah, no skin off my back to have another trainer looking into how things work.” Plus, I wouldn’t mind making a connection with a man that had an extremely good chance at becoming the Dewford Gym Leader. I’d be watching his career very closely to learn how that might work out.

“Sweet! Man, I’d love that! Expect me to be there! For now, I gotta go make a booking for the next shot I have to take at you!”

I was about to wave him off when something he had said early drove me to speak. “What did you mean earlier?” He gave me a clueless look, so I elaborated. “You came in without your starter? Did something happen?”

Brawly’s expression flashed and at that moment I knew how the fun-loving off the wall surf loving trainer looked when angry. So something must have happened.

Or more specifically, someone.

“We got into a fight. I think I understand what you mean when you talk about Trainers getting up to no good when they're idle.”

He clenched his hands into fists. “I encountered this guy, really fancy clothes and he was talking trash to a lot of trainers. Lots of people were backing away from him though. He then started talking trash about me, and so I accepted his challenge. He proposed a one-on-one match and I sent out Hariyama…”

Brawly glared at the ground as if it had offended him. “Turns out this guy was a psychic specialist, but he had a mean streak. It wasn’t enough to just beat me, he had to taunt and flatten me.”

Brawly slumped. “Hariyama got injured. Too much psychic energy throwing him around. He’s tough and would have bench-pressed that Onix of yours, but he couldn’t handle that guy's pokemon.”

I frowned, annoyed that there was someone that was going around doing such acts in my city. “What was his name?”

“Will,” Brawly said with a scowl.

I nodded slowly, not letting the inner turmoil play out. Will was the name of a prominent Psychic trainer that had the potential to become one of the Elite Four members for the Indigo region. I chewed my lip, I’d need to make some calls, was this someone that was part of the Guardians? As someone that I knew had the potential to be an Elite Four member I had no doubt there would be a file on him. And if they didn’t? Well, that would be another matter entirely.

His actions against Brawly raised some serious concerns. I’d need to find out more about him, and it sounded like I needed to do it soon. I had a suspicion about why he might be here, though I really hoped I was wrong.

“I’m going to make some calls.” I shivered and sneezed to the side, remembering that I was currently shirtless, standing before Brawly. I glanced to the side and saw a small crowd still in the stands taking pictures of me.

Damn it. There were certain parts of fan clubs that you didn’t want to entertain or ‘feed’. Me being shirtless was just asking for trouble. Damn it past me! Why did you take your shirt off? I glanced back to the podium.

“... Where are my shirt and jumper?” I pointedly looked around before looking at the amused-looking Daniel. “Daniel? Did you see where my clothes went?”

"Some chick leapt the stands, sprinted over, and stole them while you were having your moment with Brawly."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Why… Why did you not stop her?”

“Didn’t want to get in the way of your moment. It's just some clothes anyway," he shrugged. “Little harmless theft is all.”

I gave him an unamused expression. “As your boss, theft is bad, mmkay? Don’t just watch it happen, especially with my stuff. I should make you sit through some retraining with Alexa.”

Daniel got a sly smile. “Me and Alexa in a room for an afternoon? Yes please!”

I shot him an annoyed expression. “Should I tell your wife you think that?” He blanched at that and didn’t meet my gaze.

I scoffed at him, unwilling to tie Alexa down like that for too long. I instead turned back to Brawly. I shook my head. “Lesson one, good help is hard to find.”

Brawly laughed but still wrote it down.

I still had to deal with another twelve trainers that day.

The first of whom ended up being a young lass with a Jigglypuff as her starter. With this being her first badge challenge for her first badge I had to rein in my eagerness.

Something I didn't quite manage, as when I leapt from the railing in the stands to the podium in the arena, I sent out a much larger shockwave than usual. The poor girl clenched her jigglypuff to her chest in fright, and the pokemon squeaked. They both looked terrified before the match had even started.

I felt a little bad, so I made sure to play up my ‘bad guy’ vibe that had her stiffening up. I thought I'd gone too far when she looked like she was about to forfeit, only for her Jigglypuff to leap forward and puff up in a threat display.

It was adorable. I heard a number of squeals of delight and saw a few flashes of light that indicated some people were taking pictures. I grinned happily letting the tension drop as I flicked up a pokeball.

“Alright then, let’s do this!” I said exuberantly, helping the girl relax.

I sent out a Lileep to test her and she adopted a fighting pose. “Let’s go Miss Strong!”

I grinned. “A fan of Celia and Mr Powers I take it?” I said as Daniel raised the flags. The girl nodded quickly, and I hummed as the flags dropped.

“Double Slap Miss Strong!” said the lass, making her pokemon charge.

I could practically see Mr Powers overlapped atop Miss Strong. This girl had done her homework. She made good use of Jigglypuff’s natural mobility and the move Minimize to avoid my pokemon’s Wrap.

Then she followed up with the tiny puffball slamming into my pokemon with multiple Double Slap to lay out Lileep.

To test her further, I plucked another pokeball and tossed out an Onix. She showed much better composure than what she started the match with, as she raised a pokeball and returned her pokemon before tossing out a Poliwag.

And with a few narrow dodges and some Bubble attacks, she claimed her first badge.

When the girl got her badge at the end, I made sure to get a picture with her and collect her transceiver number to forward to Celia. I imagine Celia would love getting a chance to talk with a fellow Jigglypuff lover.

From there, I was much more settled, and I was able to get into the rhythm once more.

I even managed to score a break right at the end when the last trainer I was to face decided to not show-up. It was something I was used to as a healthcare worker in my previous life.

Dennis, on the other hand, treated it like a personal affront with how worked up he got. Then again, even Rocko got put out if people ‘no showed’ on us. From my past life’s experience, I considered their reactions amusing. They failed to understand that sometimes, life got in people’s way, or that they could have flat-out forgotten.

Bad luck kid. I wasn't filling that slot, but rather using it to catch up on paperwork and see if there were any other known names kicking around besides Brawly. I loaded up the list of approved licenses for Kanto, and my eyes drifted over the mass of names of the hometowns they came from before stopping on a few that very much stood out to me.

Bugsy from Azalea. In the near future, he would be known as Azalea's Gym Leader. I knew he’d get it as his grandfather currently ran the Azalea Gym.

Flannery from Lavaridge, and right next to her was Roxanne from Rustboro. Both of them would one day be gym leaders. I considered them very interesting, due to how far afield they were from home. Had they come because of my actions, or was that vanity talking?

I passed over the rest of the names without finding anyone of importance before I stopped on a report that had been sent in from the port. It was included as an idle note. No more than a comment from a harbourmaster that mentioned the Devon Corporation.

I tapped my finger on the screen. Why did that stick out to me?

I tapped the screen and typed the name into the computer to learn that the Devon Corporation was a company from Hoenn. It was also, more notably, embroiled in legal battles with the Cinnabar Island research facility for corporate espionage claims by said facility. According to the news article, the Corporation's C.E.O. and Champion of the Hoenn region, Steven Stone, would be meeting with League officials and the Cinnabar Head of Research Blaine to settle things down.

I sat back. That was huge news. Steven Stone was in Kanto? That was news in and of itself, but the fact that he was fighting legal battles with Blaine of all people was even more shocking.

Wow. Just wow. I sat there for a moment processing what that meant.

Suddenly, all of Blaine’s suspicious looks when I first announced my ancient pokemon made a lot more sense.

I was still stunned, but then I felt relief that he was here for Blaine and not me. I chuckled and shook my head. Steven Stone had more reasons to come to Kanto than just little old me.

Damn, I must be getting a big head if I instantly assumed he felt he needed to come and fight me. Then I paused. Shit. not only did I have Mt Moon nearby, I had also been a big deal in the news while having ancient pokemon.

Alright then, maybe it was paranoia, but I had a lot of reasons for him to come to me, didn’t I? I eyed the report and shot off a quick email to the security company to order another guard for the Pewter Museum for the foreseeable future.

I also decided to pen a note to Alexa that I wanted to be informed of any developments regarding Steven Stone for the foreseeable future. I’d be able to keep one eye open that way. Just in case. Then I considered the other avenue for information that was available to me.

I reached into the locked drawer in my desk and drew out the holopad. It booted up and I tapped out a search regarding any and all information regarding one ‘Steven Stone’.

I started flicking through pages of information. Apparently, he was considered ‘old money’ in Hoenn as his family had made it rich many generations ago during a mining rush. His family had then transitioned from mining into sales and more. His family’s rise to riches was considered a point of pride for them, and they documented most of that journey on their corporate website. I noted that some of the historians we had tapped for review of these notes had a commentary regarding how certain richer mining sites had seen lots of battle and that the family had also needed to be strong battlers.

Further queries into The Devon Corporation revealed it to be a publicly traded company in which the Stone family owned a controlling stake. In the years since its inception, it has grown to be the primary mining operator for metals, oils, and processing in Hoenn and the surrounding regions. They had also branched out in recent years, selling running shoes, medicine, PokeNavs and variations of pokeballs that they claimed patents for.

I placed a watch order on any news regarding Steven Stone in the Guardians only to find that he already had three from Koga, Agatha, and Karen. I added my name to the list and shut the holopad off, having learned a little but not as much as I’d hoped for.

I then clicked onto my own computer and penned a note to be informed if Bugsy, Flannery, and Roxanne challenged the gym. I strongly suspected that was a when rather than an if, though.

Then I started looking into another trainer, one that I was feeling a little worried about.

Will was someone who, at least according to the games, would become an Elite Four member. I don’t recall him ever being mentioned in the cartoon, however. I quickly ran into an issue with how little there appeared to be of him at tournaments.

He didn’t have anything linked to his trainer profile, but for older trainers, that wasn’t a surprise, as the system was still new.

So I had to turn to other methods of gathering information. I pulled out my transceiver and called a number. It rang three times before being connected. “Oh? Miss hearing my voice that much Brock?” Karen said upon answering.

“Haha, no, sadly this is a more serious call. You know, from our little group get-togethers and such.”

The line went quiet for a moment before Karen spoke up again. “Give me a second to get away and somewhere private.”

“Sure sure. How are the gyms going for you? I missed your fight with Falkner, who’s next? Hannah from Goldenrod right? Ready for her?”

“Urgh keep up Brock! I already challenged and flattened her! She constantly used delay-heal-attacks that slowly built up. I beat her, but it was frustrating. It's gotten a lot of attention, though, and lots of people have been talking about it. It's good to see you’ve been watching me, Brock. Do I look good on tv?”

“Fishing for compliments is not a good look,” I said as I signed off on some forms for more food for the stables.

I then picked up another sheet to find that it was a roster of duties as proposed by Rocko. I glanced it over before adding some chores to Forrest’s list while checking to make sure Yolanda wasn’t overcommitting.

Unlike Forrest, who was in an easier stream of schooling and technically valid to go to work or on his journey now, Yolanda still had a full course load. I also added in a round of refereeing for Salvadore. He'd requested more work around the gym, so he'd get his chance next week.

I’d start him off with two hours shadowing Rocko for the referee role, and then helping patrol the outside courts. Crystal would probably tag along with him.

She’d become something of a guard of the court. Then again, I think that might have had something to do with getting to have Selene as ‘her’ pokemon for the duration of her shift.

“—and I made sure to tease him quite well before crushing him beneath me!” Karen gloated.

“Uhuh, that’s nice,” I replied, putting the completed form in the out tray for Alexa to collect before reading over another form to approve Rocko’s selection for a trainer that had made the shortlist. I gave it a look before signing off on it.

“Brock… are you even listening to me right now?”

“...” I coughed. “I am now?”

“Brock, you should treat women that show you any attention with more respect!”

“Oh well, sorry, just got lots to handle here.”

“Urgh! Fine, I understand you are busy. Spoil my fun, why don’t you? Also I’m somewhere private now. Go ahead. What did you want to talk about regarding the Guardians?”

I grimaced at her instantly assuming the phone line was secure. I was most likely being paranoid, but I’d read tons of spy fics and it was best to always assume someone was listening rather than not. “I fought a trainer today, but he’s not the interesting one… well he is to a degree, but he’s not the important person. He told me about a trainer that I’ve had some trouble looking into. He is apparently a psychic trainer by the name of Will. Heard of him?”

“...Hmmm that name does ring a bell. I think he’s on the Ace circuit but I’ve never faced him. Prissy guy, yeah?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said carefully, having never actually laid eyes on him.

A clatter of keys let me know Karen was also in front of a computer. “Hang on, I have Agatha’s login and can use her clearance level to see if there’s anything else.”

A few more moments of clattering occurred before Karen returned. “Fucking Darkrai! What is this guy's deal? There’s something here… He’s from Hoenn but moved around. There’s not actually a listed place of origin, but he has been moving in a lot of circles but doing it quietly.”

Some more clicking and Karen hummed. “Kay, says here that he mostly rubs elbows with the big rich types. The Pokemon League has made some commentary about him on their ‘private files’,” she said with a snort. “It says that they really, really like him as it helps them push their multinational approach and that having him so high up in the Ace rankings is a good thing. Feh!”

I considered that, and for a moment I wondered when that was a bad thing. Was it to people like Karen and the rest of the Guardians? I wondered —jokingly— for a moment if I wasn’t a bad guy.

"We have here confirmed reports that he acts as a gofer for some rich types. It took us a long time to figure out it was him, and many promising trainers having their teams wrecked. He’s vicious when given the chance."

Okay then. I thought to myself. Never mind, I'm only on a slippery slope, not an outright baddie.

“Urgh! Get this? He’s already defeated a number of other elite trainers and has some crap about ‘Rangers liking him’ in his official record. I can't see this ponce going into the wilds and slumming it. Urgh! People will eat this trash up!”

The clatter of keys picked up, and I was forced to wait as I continued to work through my paperwork. “Oh? Oh! I think I have something here! There’s a little comment about him being seen at the League Headquarters only to storm out later.”

"Hmmm, that’s interesting,“ Karen said. “I already know they have Koga lined up for one spot with Shafner’s resignation. So that leaves two spots free.”

"Lance’s gone through with pushing Lorelei out?” I said with surprise.

"Well, he’s certainly toying with the idea and people know it!” said Karen with glee. “Hmm you realise this will make Sabrina look bad if they go with him for an Elite Four position, yeah?”

I frowned at the transceiver. “Sabrina probably wouldn’t even want that position.”

“Who cares? It’s about people’s perceptions! Elite Four is better than Gym Leader.”

“Hmmm,” I said noncommittally. I agreed with her but knew it wouldn’t matter as much to Sabrina. I got a long minute of silence. “Hello?”

“Can’t believe people think you should be in the running for Bachelor of the Year! Urgh!” She huffed before sighing. “But seriously, Will looks like he is going to be putting his name in the running. The League seems to have broken ties so the question is, who’s backing him now? They get their guy into the seat and Will gets to claim one of the most prestigious positions around. As a psychic pokemon specialist, he’d be dangerous in a position of power like the Elite Four.”

Karen continued. “He’s going to be challenging you and her, you do realise that right, Brock? If I was him? I have no doubt that Sabrina is going to be saved for last. It adds a certain suspense that makes people sit up and pay attention while making it clear who the best psychic trainer in the Indigo region is.”

I nodded along, agreeing with Karen. He could craft a mythos around himself with the right timing and public exposure. The right words in any reporters’ ears could spark interest. A chance of there being a dramatic narrative around it? Some reporters would even consider trading their starter pokemon for such a scoop.

Karen brought me back. “Brock, you’re going to be the first domino. His opening act. Sabrina could be his coup de grace to get him the Elite Four position. You? You get to be the hot item that gets his name out there.”

I sat back at that. I didn’t like the sound of that. To know I would be little more than a springboard for him to launch off. In my mind, I could imagine him lining up the various Gym Leaders like steps that he’d stomp his way up.

Similar to the Pokemon games actually. He’d fight his way through us and not look back until he was able to look down on us.

I drummed my fingers. I could understand the reason for Will approaching it this way. Hell, I could also almost respect it from the angle of promoting international cohesion, with someone that wasn’t from Kanto or Johto into the Elite Four. But with the way things were falling into place and with what I’d heard from Brawly, I don’t think I could agree with their selection.

Cohesion was a good thing. But if the messenger was someone that punched down, wouldn’t it be an issue in the long run? It would even weaken the message by being a terrible, and highly visible example of it not working. This was especially true considering the relative youth of the Pokemon League in general.

“I think I’m going to go learn more about this Will.” I clicked off his profile, lacking as it was and began flicking through my schedule. “Huh, He’s not listed on my schedule?”

“Really?” Karen said, her incredulous tone carrying. “I would have thought he’d be pushing for it quickly. Hmmm, keep an eye out yeah?”

“Will do.”

“Also keep an eye on me!” Karen said cheerily, “Cause I’m going to be going into a tough match with Chuck in a week or so. I’m going to use him to boost awareness further. You can be sure that will be a shot over any other contenders for the Elite Four position to get their acts in order if they haven’t already. So expect a proper challenge from Will and people like him soon.”

I considered that and thought on who she had left to face. “Cianwood, which is Chuck, Mahogany who is Pryce; and Blackthorn who is… Clair?”

“Yup! But you missed one, which is Ferros of Olivine who uses Rock-type pokemon. They’re all going to be tough, but Chuck has the best advantage against me so he’s going to be the one I use to lock in people’s support and show them that I’m serious about making this run for Elite.”

I nodded along at that. Unlike myself, none of the Johto Gym Leaders had made any waves lately that others could ride along. If I hadn’t been here fighting Lance, Will might have had to rely on fighting someone else big to make a splash.

That sparked an idea. “Hey, any interest in fighting—” “I’m not fighting Will for you,” Karen said.

I scoffed, “Heh, no, I’ll fight him myself; don’t worry. Instead, I happened to come across an interesting piece of information about Hoenn’s Champion being in Cinnabar. That got any potential for you?”

“Steven Stone is in Kanto? How is that not in the news? He’s uber-rich and strong!”

I pulled up an article and considered how small it was compared to other articles on the pokenet page it struck me as odd. Dare I say it was almost, hidden? “I think the Devon Corporation is keeping the news off the front page. He’s here to handle a lawsuit with the Cinnabar Research facility.”

“Huh. Thanks for the heads up. I hadn’t planned on trying my hand against other Elites like Lance, Bruno, or Koga, cause that might mess things up for my formal challenge. But Steven… People would like to see him fight.” There was a moment of quiet before a dark chuckle emerged from the transceiver: “Agatha would be positively gushing over me if I beat him! Might even agree to finally teach me some more Aura tricks.”

“She doesn’t teach you much?” I asked, curious about the oldest current Elite Four member.

“She did, but she’s been much more sparing in her training in the last year. She keeps some of the good stuff for herself and keeps telling me to develop my own tricks, the old crone.” The words were harsh but said with a slight affectionate tone that really made me wonder how close Agatha and Karen actually were.

“Well, I haven’t made any breakthroughs, and the way things are going, I doubt I’ll get any actual time to make any progress, let alone keep up my training.”

“Heh! This is why you should just make a formal challenge for the Elite Four position. Knock Bruno off his perch and have an all-new, all-star team for the Indigo Elite Four!”

“Yeeeeah, we’ll see,” I said evasively. I still had to make up my mind on what to do with Forrest and Flint, let alone Ash turning up. “I got a lot on my plate right now, I’m going to go meet up with a trainer and make nice. I’ll be watching for your next Gym challenge, so good luck!”

"Alright, but I won’t need it! Expect to be amazed!” The line clicked off, and I sat for a moment, looking over the work that still had to be done. I considered it before shaking my head. It’d still be there tomorrow and the day after.

I’d go and talk with Brawly instead, something I was actually looking forward to. It's strange how you can almost become friends from a single match, but that's Pokemon for you.