Hard Enough

“Poliwhirl, use Bubblebeam to finish it off!” shouted the last trainer for the day.

Moxy subtly gave me a look and I made a face as though I was ‘saddened’ that the trainer had used a pokemon move that was super effective against me. Moxy let the hit graze her and rolled backwards a bit more than strictly necessary. I grimaced and flicked a glance at the trainer but they were celebrating as I made a show of withdrawing my pokemon. They didn’t notice how ham-fisted my pokemon had been with throwing the match after I’d seen what I needed to grant them the first gym badge of their circuit.

“Graveler is unable to battle, the battle goes to Norris of Muscle Island!” announced Daniel calmly. I chuckled as he quickly grabbed the badge case and got ready to see the last trainer of the day off.

“Congratulations on your victory Norris,” I said, approaching the still celebrating teen as he flexed at the crowd, what few of them were still around. The last slot of the day typically saw some interest as people had just gotten enough time to come in after work so even with it only being a first badge challenge, Norris had been privileged to have a sizable crowd.

Sadly, it had gone to his head. “Oh yeah! I’m bad! The next stop is Tauros tantrum for some victory ribs! Then, we’re going all the way!” he shouted. I continued to hold out my hand, maintaining the patient focus needed for dealing with idiots that read too much into people giving them attention.

I could probably lay down a bet on this man not getting the required eight badges on this circuit at least. I had little to no doubt that he’d get at least four, but then even if he played it smart and challenged the lesser gyms for the last four badges he needed, he’d run into some serious resistance.

Then again, the circuit was all about maturing and making young trainers grow up. Perhaps he’d surprise me?

“Hey! Who wants to chow down with the man who beat Brock!”

My ability to believe in him was fading with every second in his presence. I lowered the hand that I had been reaching out with to offer a handshake. Norris obviously hadn’t done as much reading as some about how the gyms worked if he was still showboating like this. In truth, most regular attendees understood how the gym operated, and his antics were merely highlighting how stupid he was.

I could see a few girls giggling to themselves while eyeballing Norris. The poor fool thought they were impressed. I reached out and gave him the Boulder badge. “Any questions for me?”

“Nah, I’m good,” he said in a distracted manner. I clapped him on the shoulder.

“Well, good luck then,” I said before pushing him to send him towards the waiting group of girls.

Daniel snorted and shook his head. “Urgh, lucky!”

“Aren’t you married?”I asked as I rubbed my temple.

He stiffened and chuckled. “Oh! Right Heh! Guess it’s still weird for me. Don’t tell my wife?”

I huffed and waved him off. It wasn’t something I agreed with, but Daniel would have to sort his own problems out if it came to wandering eyes turning into anything more. I clicked my tongue and jerked my head towards the back. “Well don’t you worry about that, give the pokemon that fought today a look over, and we’ll go from there.”

“Does Don or your Scyther need a look over?” he asked. I shook my head and waved him off as Greta to the stairs. When I waved her forward she continued past the gate at the top. She bumped into Norris as he charged up the stairs. She scowled after him, but instead of saying anything turned away. I couldn’t help the frown that appeared as I watched her slump and mutter to herself.

“Hey, if you want I can get him to apologise?” I said as she got closer.

She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.” She shot Norris a look before grumbling, “Can’t believe those girls are going to hang out with him. Don’t they know he’s a muscle-brained idiot?”

“It’s because he’s a muscle-brained idiot, they're hanging out with him,” I said.

Greta blinked at me. “Huh?”

I pointed at their retreating backs. “Those girls are like Victribell in the wild. They lure unsuspecting prey in and then gobble them up. Norris is about to get drained of any money he has on him.’ I adopted a pose and a high-pitched breathy tone. “Oh, it would be soooo impressive if you got me jewellery~.”

Greta gaped at me before her eyes pivoted towards Norris. One of the ladies looked back and spotted us watching them. She gave a friendly wave and continued after the group. It was like watching a pack of Mightyena herding a stray Tauros.

“Shouldn’t we warn him?”

“Nope,” I said simply.

Greta looked visibly confused. “But aren’t they going to steal his money? That’s wrong!”

“It’s not stealing if he’s giving it to them.”

Greta considered this before shaking her head. “It still seems wrong not to do anything.” She got a determined glint in her eyes and looked like she was about to storm off and save Norris from himself.

“Sometimes you need to let people make mistakes. Honestly, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal if he gets tricked. He can cry about it, but at the end of the day he was the one that was…” I reconsidered my next words in light of Greta’s age, “or rather, wasn’t thinking with his brain. It’ll be a lesson for him if he chooses to learn from it. These girls know not to push for too much. Mostly, it’ll be something he laughs about later in life. If things get physical, then people like myself, or the police will step in.”

I rubbed my jaw. “That’s if the girls don’t just offer him a pokemon battle outside for him to show off against. They’re fairly strong as locals go.”

Greta instantly relaxed. “Oh, well I suppose that’s alright then.” I chuckled at the way that if they fought him for the money, instead of seducing it from him, everything was fine. It was a fairly standard perception of ‘the right way’ to earn money… at least in the pokemon world.

With outside knowledge, I couldn’t help but find it amusing how ‘working girls’ could be looked down on but if they beat up their prospective clients, it was merely a pokemon battle. Perfectly respectable as a means of earning money.

“So? I imagine you have some more questions built up since lunch? Or were Rocko or Dennis able to give you all the answers you wanted?”

Greta blushed. “I might have asked them… a lot of questions, but they were very kind to me. Sorry if they were supposed to be doing anything else?”

“If they were hanging out in the lounge or in the waiting area at the top of the stands to watch the fights, they were merely in a ‘ready’ state which lets them off work for the moment but they are expected to step up for some of the gauntlet runs or to duck into other areas if someone needs help.”

“Oh! That makes a lot of sense… So Dennis mentioned that he is rostered on the gym for a while and that some other trainers are out patrolling the various routes. What does that—” Greta began to bombard me about various topics. Such as what patrolling the routes entailed. Who ran the routes? How was this different from the Rangers? Why did we also do patrols within the city?

As she traded questions for answers, I led her into the medical bay that she’d chased her Bulbasaur through earlier. Chansey sat on the bench with a frown. She perked up when she saw me approaching.

“Nothing major to look after this time. Just the usual battle damage.”

“Chan!” she said with a click of her tongue. I shook my head at her.

“Moxy might have gotten some internal bleeding?” That worked to perk her up, as she accepted Moxy’s pokeball from me. She opened it and when Moxy appeared Chansey began running through a series of tests. I gave Moxy a bow of forgiveness.

I then propelled Greta out of the room. “I thought Chansey were supposed to all be loving and caring? That Chansey seemed kind of bloodthirsty?”

“Oh, she’s merely interested in being a triage nurse. She likes being in the thick of things. I think she would prefer a more…” I didn’t want to talk about blood too much with this young girl. Instead, I waved my hand. “Intensive care cases. She’ll get her chances, I have no doubt. Having her here is going to lighten the load on Nurse Joy and the pokemon centre.”

“Oh… alright.” She glanced over her shoulder before inspecting the room that we were now in. “That’s a lot of pokeballs!” She stared at the row upon row of pokeballs on display.

I selected a few from my belt and popped them into the set positions after consulting a clipboard and the number I had on each pokeball to make it possible to differentiate each pokemon. I made some notes on a computer terminal to the side for two of them before closing the computer for the evening. Greta chewed her lip, her eyes darting from the clipboard to the row of pokeballs, to the computer terminal.

“I was marking down the pokemon experiences. What they fought, how they did, and any notable differences, injuries or potential power-ups they might have learned.” I tapped on a small Aron head. “This Aron here has been growing larger recently and she recently learnt Iron Head which means that she’s not far from evolving into a Lairon.”

“You’re able to tell?” she said with surprise.

“Yeah.” I waved towards her. “You have a pokedex right?”

“Yeah, I got one from Professor Oak. Why?”

“Well, the pokedex can be used to look up information regarding certain breeds of pokemon. To encourage you to keep seeking out more experiences they lock some of the features behind a set number of sightings. The more you show that you’re catching or contributing to the pokedex, the more features you will unlock.” I rubbed the back of my head. “Or… that’s what I’ve read about them. I never got one myself.”

“Professor Oak did tell Gary and I that we should try and document at least thirty pokemon to get more information.” Greta chewed her lip. “Would you mind if I kept documenting your Gym battles… or could I look at some of the pokemon on your reserve?”

“Oh? Going to come back tomorrow?” I said teasingly. Inwardly, I was relieved that she hadn’t been scared off by today’s matches. In particular that one match with Don…

Greta nodded up and down, her hair bobbing at the gesture. “Yeah! I learnt a lot from Dennis, Rocko, and you! Also! Getting to watch so many different trainers was… just wow! So different! I might try my hand at the battlecourts outside as well to get some more experience!”

“Careful about that,” I said, raising a finger. “You need to look for some people in your range to fight. Check how many pokemon they’re carrying and what they look like. I’d typically try and aim for local Lads and Lasses as they’re all in a similar situation to you. If you challenge or are challenged by someone stronger you might end up injuring your pokemon and setting them back... Or worse,” I said carefully as I ran a hand over an Onix’s pokeball.

“W-what should I look for?” Greta said, fidgeting on the spot suddenly.

“Age can sometimes be the biggest predictor. Older trainers are typically people that have made lives from pokemon battles. So stay with the younger crowd until you feel confident in yourself. Or if the older person seems friendly enough.”

I chuckled. “I’m pretty sure there are a few grannies or grandpas out there as well that come around to spend time with ‘the youngsters’ as they call us,” I said with a fake old lady voice.

Greta giggled and I smiled. “They’re not so worried about winning, but having fun with people. Some of them will smack you around six ways to Sunday, don’t doubt that, but if you’re earnest and polite about wanting a match, they will show you tricks and really help you grow. They might even give you some pocket money if you impress them enough.”

Greta nodded her head slowly. “Huh, that makes a lot of sense.”

“If you weren’t around the gym itself, you might need to be on the lookout for trainers that have a chip on their shoulder and want to force fights.” I waved my hand. “That typically happens more often in the city, or near the battleclub, but occasionally people can get hot-blooded in the wilds or on the routes. Make sure you never use your whole team in those cases, and call any matches well ahead if it’s getting close.”

“Cause of the shock feedback right?”

“Got it in one.” I considered her for a moment. “Hey, if you want to record some pokemon interactions for your pokedex, follow me. It’s feeding time for the pokemon that are rostered to rest for the day.”

Greta skipped into the free-range area and gasped in shock when she found a small throng of pokemon munching at troughs. “Gonna record them?” I prompted.

Greta whipped out a signature red pokedex that looked like a large phone from my previous life. The camera glinted before a digital voice spoke.

“Onix. The Rock snake pokemon. Onix possesses a Rock-ground typing. Onix in the wild will roam underground and rarely rise above ground. It is said that if you suddenly feel the earth move underneath you, an Onix has passed close by. Onix typical—” I hummed as Greta read through the entry on the screen. When she had a minute of Onix eating through its large meal she turned towards another pokemon.

“Geodude. The Rock pokemon. Geodude have previously only been known as having a Rock-ground typing, but recent developments at the Pewter city gym have uncovered a variant with the Rock-Electric typing. Geodude are often found on mountain roads with half of their body buried in the ground so it can observe mountain travellers.”

“Your pokedex cites us for our work?” I said in shock.

Greta looked away from the pokedex. “Huh? Oh! It did, didn’t it? Professor Oak must have adjusted the entry to account for it!”

“Huh,” I said rubbing my chin, “Your pokedex is a lot more factual than I had heard pokedexs were.”

Greta giggled. “You can adjust the settings on your pokedex to make it anecdotal, research focussed, or battle-oriented. The battle-oriented mode is rather notorious for being excessive and rather simple. It works to give generalisations especially if you’ve never faced a pokemon before. It’s better to have the researcher mode applied and just spend time collecting information on pokemon before you fight them.”

“I can get behind that,” I said. I waved for her to continue and Greta once more raised up her pokedex to capture some images of the pokemon currently strolling around the eating area.

“Aron. The Iron Armour pokemon. It is known as Steel-Rock—”

“Graveler. The evolved form of Geodude. It’s typings can be—”

“Rhyhorn. The spikes pokemon. It is a Ground-rock typing. It is known for—” Once Greta was done, she had a pleased smile on her face. She set her pokedex away and turned only to find me feeding a few Geodude and having them show off their Roll Out attacks.

“Daaaaah! They’re adorable! Like rocky Growlithe!” she said with a squeal. I chuckled at the comparison.

“Yeah they can be like that but it’s mostly the food.” I paused when I heard a shutter sound. I had a suspicion but decided not to peer around for the likely culprit. “Want to try having them practise their moves? They should know how to do a Defense Curl, or a Roll Out rather well.”

I handed her some pokemon pellets and she tentatively approached a Geodude that perked up when it saw the treats in her hand. “G-geodude! Use Defense out!”

Geodude stared at her before kipping back over itself to perform a backflip. I snorted. “That… was actually kind of impressive.”

Greta flapped her hands about. “Oh! No! I mean Defence Curl! Defence Curl!”

This time, Geodude nodded and tucked himself into a ball. Greta sighed in relief at that, then tossed him a single treat that he gobbled down while eyeing the other pokemon nearby in case they thought to try something.

“Roll Out?” Greta asked after it was done.

It blinked at her before shrugging. Instead of rolling back and forth front ways, it did a cartwheel. The sound of the shutter clicking away sounded off in the background. I held in a chuckle.

“Hmmm, an interesting variation you’ve got it to do. Might need to use that to dodge in some of the upcoming matches.” I rubbed my chin and held in my laughter.

“Urgh! What am I doing wrong?!” she asked worriedly.

“You need to calm down. Pokemon … they’re highly empathic and will pick up on your nervousness. Sometimes they pick up the emotional cues more than the words we say. If you’re calm, they will be more likely to trust you. You’re doubting yourself right now, so they’re not sure what they should do. You need to be confident.”

“That’s easy for you to say! Urgh, I feel like I’ve made a fool of myself.”

I clapped my hands together to dust them off. I stood and Greta instinctively turned towards me. “Follow along with me.” I inhaled. “Deep breath, fill your entire lungs up. Then stand with your legs shoulder width apart. Make sure to have a strong stance. Ready to move but also grounded!” I said firmly. “You can be whatever you need to be, either a staunch mountain or a delicate willow, be whatever works for you.”

She adopted a fairly loose stance and her face turned a funny colour. The camera caught it but thankfully Greta didn’t yet know we had a follower. “You can breathe out, just control your breathing for the next little bit.”

She exhaled heavily before taking in another breath to replace the spent air. “In and out.” I led her through a mantra. Then I pointed towards the still watching group of Geodude. “Now! Breathe in and order them to Roll Out!”

“Geodude! ROLL OUT!” she said strongly enough that she had the entire group curl up and roll forward and backwards before popping up.

“Geo-dude!” they said as one.

Greta beamed at them. “Oh! Great work!”

I patted her shoulder. “Just like that. Might not need to be so strong in your orders in future though…” She wilted a bit and I pointed at her hands. “You don’t have enough treats for this entire group after all.”

She blinked at her hands and found them mushy with the treats she’d squished. I handed her some more and she giggled before making her way around to feed the waiting Geodude. They bumped into her affectionately.

“They really are like little rock puppies,” she said when she returned to me.

“Yeah, once you learn a bit about them, Geodude make for great pokemon to have on your team. Solid, dependable pokemon that can anchor or act as sweepers for any team.”

“Anchors? Sweepers?” Greta said, latching onto the new term and instantly questioning it.

I laughed at having walked into that one. “I would save that question for later.” I looked to where our follower was sitting with her camera aimed at us. “Hey Rachel.”

She lowered the camera. “Hi Brock! Nice work! Those were some great photos of you teaching little miss here! I think her face when that Geodude did a cartwheel will be very popular on the Gym’s pokenet page.”

She spun the camera around to display Greta with a gobsmacked expression. I looked very bemused.

“Oh! Ho-oh!” said Greta as she exploded into a blush. I merely laughed at her reaction. Rachel smiled before displaying some teeth.

“So, I need to talk to you about the Mayor’s party this weekend. Are you free right now?”

“Maybe later!” I said, nudging Greta away. Rachel sighed.

“It’s good for your image! You’ll have to start rubbing elbows with them more often sooner or later! Better now, with the first invite you’ve gotten!”

I grumbled, deciding not to tell her that this wasn’t the first invite I’d gotten. Merely the first that I felt I couldn't avoid.

Greta popped up next to me and watched my Public Relations Manager’s retreating form. “She seemed… nice?”

“She’s very pushy for me and the gym to establish a presence and keep a strong, positive image going forwards.” I tapped my chin. “Are you alright with having images of yourself put on the pokenet?”

“Sure!” Greta said easily, the previous embarrassment apparently long forgotten.

“I’ll have you sign some waivers before you leave.” I pointed towards the gym. “I think I might—” Before I could say anything more Greta’s stomach roared to life, announcing its displeasure at its empty state.

Greta’s embarrassment, only recently lost, returned twice as strong. “I-I-I’m so sorry!”

“Heh no, don’t worry about it.” I glanced to the side of the gym after checking my watch. I hummed in thought before realising the time. I looked up and blinked when I realised I’d walked around the side of the Gym towards my home. There I found Flint toying with some Lileep and eyeing the door.

I rubbed my forehead. I had honestly been hoping to use Greta to avoid having to sit down for dinner tonight… It wouldn’t have been the first time I skipped a meal and the kids wouldn’t be too bothered these days. Mostly I just didn’t want to have to deal with Flint and that whole… thing…

I sighed and realised Flint was still hesitating and that I’d need to step in. “Where are you staying tonight?” I said, expecting her to say the pokemon centre only for a nigglling thought to come to the forefront of my mind..

“I’ve been camped out for the last week! There are no rooms at the centre and the room rentals… well the ones that aren’t free are too expensive.” Greta sighed.

I nodded. “Too many trainers around. Great for all the people doing short term cheap rentals but yeah… hmmm. Now. I’d honestly give you dinner with my family but I have a whole… thing going on right now that I need to deal with so I can’t do that.”

Greta’s eyes flicked towards Flint who had perked up when he spotted me. He stopped toying with the Lileep, much to my newest garden feature’s dismay. “I… see?” she said with the tone of one that didn’t understand but knew better than to poke her nose into another person’s business.

I snorted. “However, I do have a number of spare rooms in the Gym itself. I’ll have Rocko show you them and you can either go out or help yourself to the communal food. Fair warning it’s only normal pokechow and cup noodles in the pantry of the kitchen with some cereal. If you stay with us though you’re more than welcome to check out the reserve in the morning.”

Greta stared at me. “Do I have access to a shower and a toilet?”

“Ye—”

“Yes! Oh Ho-oh yes!” she said quickly.

“Ah, frugality butting heads with cleanliness?” I said, amused at her reaction. She nodded and I chuckled. “No problem. And yes, you have access to a communal shower area with privacy cubicles. There is also a communal kitchen and living area. Rocko boards there but he has his own ensuite as do other trainers that sign on with the Gym longer term. Also, there is another of your Pallet town cohort there.”

“It’s not Gary is it?” she said with a pinched expression.

“No,” I said, amused at her reaction.

“He can never remember my name despite us going to the same school and sporting teams for years! Him and Ash just call me—”

“Green!” shouted a new voice. Greta’s face morphed into a wonderful picture of ‘Oh not this idiot again’ as I looked up and found Ash, Forrest, and Misty walking around the garden towards us. Ash waved. “ Hey Green! I saw your match! Sorry your pokemon got scared and ran away! Did you get a rematch set up?”

Greta put her hands to her face and screamed a little into them before dropping her hands. “Oh, of course it’s you Ash… And of course you saw that,” she said bitterly.

Ash nodded seriously, not picking up her hostile tone. “Yeah, looks like you need to do some more battling with him!”

I coughed. “Sorry to interrupt this… highly amusing reunion,” Greta shot me a look of annoyance, while Misty bit her lips. “But perhaps Ash and Misty could show Greta to the communal area. I’ll have Rocko give you a keycard to get around on your own. I have a thing to deal with.” I jerked my head towards Flint who shuffled about impotently.

“Oh! Did you—” I raised a hand towards Ash.

“We can handle this. Please, enjoy the rest of your night. Oh, and Greta? I’ll see you in the morning. I start bright and early.” She nodded her head and tugged Ash away while leaning around him. “Hi there! I’m Greta Evergreen from Pallet Town! What’s your story?”

I heard something about a bike and Ash before they made it through the hedges. I instead turned to Forrest. “You’ve had like all afternoon to have him talk with the others. Why is he still out here like a lonely Poocyhena?”

Forrest looked down and a suspicion formed in my mind. “You’ve been dragging him around all afternoon and showing off to him have you?”

Forrest nodded. “Sorry, it’s just… it’s great having him home and all to myself! I didn’t want to just give it up.”

I sighed, all too aware that, for a young kid that was probably a highly sound reason. I shook my head. “Well it’s not right that you’ve hogged him to yourself. What about Yolanda and Salvadore? They’ll be ecstatic to spend time with him,” I made sure to emphasise the next words. “Proper time alright? Give him some time with all of them. He already owes you time to go and get your starter, wait until then to monopolise him, ok? You’re back on Gym duties tomorrow. No doing it just to show off in front of him okay?”

I paused, almost ready to ask about a certain Onix and any training he might have been doing with it before deciding not to press. What was done was done. I’d bring it up another time.

Instead, I marched to the door. “Ready?” I said.

Flint opened his mouth but I didn’t wait for him instead marching straight into my home and seeing what chaos awaited me.

“—onslayer Munchlax! Save me!” shouted Suzie as Tommy and Timmy waved small foam swords about only for Munchlax to leap from the couch and eat them. I was rather amused at the cardboard helmet that they’d made for him that seemed to have horns on its head.

“Hey! No eating the swords!” shouted Tommy as he tried to pull them out of Munchlax’s mouth.

He spat them out and the boy’s groaned at how wet they were. I glanced around further and found Salvadore supervising, albeit from the couch with a book in his lap. Yolanda was staring intently at the incubator as the egg within bounced around.

“It’s… sooo close!” she said and I had to agree. It seemed it was about to hatch any day now.

The other kids were playing other games around the lounge room and I clapped my hands to get their attention. Yolanda perked up before repositioning herself so that she had the egg and the door in sight. I shot her a smile.

“Alright family! I have an announcement! Last night someone… well we found a certain someone and I think it’s important you all know he’s home.” I stepped to the side and gestured for Flint to step forward.

He did so carefully, like a man testing the ground under his feet before he trusted it to handle his full weight. Then he shifted from foot to foot before smiling into the room and the children that inhabited it. “Hello everyone! I’m home!” he said happily.

Salvadore was the first up and out of the couch. “DAD! You’re home!” he slammed into Flint and Flint wrapped his arms around them. I moved past when I saw Cindy slip from the couch. I caught her but she only had eyes for Flint as she got her feet under her and hit him from one side while Tommy hit the other.

Flint rocked back before he got a foot placed back. For a long minute there was a lot of babbling and tears as the four of them hugged. I sat on the couch and sighed, pleased that the kids were reacting well to his return. Then I realised that not all of the kids had run up to him. Instead, Yolanda had stayed sitting and was watching me. While Timmy, Suzie, Billy, and Tilly were all looking confused. I bit my lips as they continued to look confused.

Flint eventually broke the hug and looked up to see the rest of the kids looking at him.

“Suzie, Timmy, Billy …Tilly? It’s me, dad? Can I have a hug?”

Tilly, Timmy, and Billy both looked to me. I made a ‘go on’ gesture, albeit slowly and they hopped off to give him a perfunctory hug that he seemed taken aback by. Then he realised Suzie was still seated and watching me. She scooted closer.

“Brock? Who is that man?” she said, her whisper not at all that quiet. I coughed to hide the laugh I wanted to give. Yolanda groaned a little.

“That’s your… our father Suzie, do you want to give him a hug?”

She considered him before shaking her head. “Not right now. Maybe later.” She then tugged on my shirt. “Can I have a juicebox before dinner?”

I coughed again as Flint wilted and looked sad. Yolanda sighed. “Suzie, can you please give him a hug? I’ll hug him as well!” she said, ever the peacemaker.

Suzie scrunched up her face in thought. As this happened Munchlax took off his helmet and approached Flint spreading his arms wide. Flint tilted his head. “Uhm?” Flint looked confused.

“He wants a hug,” Suzie said as though it needed to be explained. “Don’t you want to hug your… kids?”

“Yes? But he’s not mine? I never did that with…” he shook his head. “No, I was only with your mother!”

Suzie blinked, while Timmy, Tilly, and Billy reeled back in shock. “But he’s like our brother.”

Yolanda facepalmed. “Just hug Munchlax Dad, please?” He did so with a highly confused expression. Munchlax laughed and then licked his face causing him to groan.

Yolanda then coaxed Suzie off the couch and towards Flint to give him a hug. Suzie jumped to the other side causing Yolanda to frown. “Uhm why?”

“Cause I don’t want Munchlax’s spit on my face! Duh!” she said as she hugged the dry side of Flint. I snorted. Oh, I was so telling Sabrina about this later.

Once everyone in the family had hugged him I clapped my hands and smiled. “Alright family! Let’s get dinner sorted! Everyone else you know what you have to do!” They sprinted off to clean their hands as I made up a quick and easy dinner. Flint hovered near me and I couldn’t help but notice that a stain on his shirt was one he’d had yesterday.

“Do… how many shirts do you have… actually how many outfits do you have?”

“Oh, uhmmm… most of them are rather worn down!” He said sheepishly as he realised where I was looking. I sighed and shook my head.

Yolanda, having cleaned her hands first leaned across the counter top. “Maybe we can go shopping early tomorrow morning! Before we have school and before you have to start work Brock! That’d be nice right!?” she said fixedly.

I raised a brow at her and she continued to stare. I rolled my eyes. “You’ll have to cook breakfast and get everyone up on time,” I said before raising a hand. “I’ll do their lunches though. I still need to see to the pokemon. Alright?”

Yolanda beamed like she’d just won the lottery and not barely gotten me to agree to go shopping before work with Flint and the kids. “No problem!”

I sighed and turned back only to grin when Salvadore entered. “So? "How long will you be here for Dad? You know, before you leave again?"

That made him splutter, like Salvadore had just sucker-punched him. I pointedly focussed on working the stove. Heh. Good one Salvadore. I reconsidered what tomorrow might be like and felt myself rather now looking forward to it. Hmmm, if today’s interactions were any indication, it might even be cathartic. I felt my smile turn a little dark.

It wasn’t wrong to see Flint get his comeuppance, was it?