Hard Enough

I eyed Flannery as we walked toward my office. “So you’re saying you found a base in Cerulean City?” I asked, somewhat sceptically despite knowing that Flannery wouldn’t jest about this.

I was sure the Guardians had swept through there in the last few weeks. How had they missed it and Flannery had picked up on it?

Flannery grinned. “We did some footwork around the City!” Her head bounced from side to side, delighting in being the centre of attention as she strutted. “And I just knew it would be something you’d be interested in!”

“Alright, so you want to show me on a map where it is for tomorrow?” I said, nodding along.

Flannery winked at me. “Yeah, that, and I'll show you something else. Something pretty cool,” she said, grinning wider if possible.

I eyed her for a long moment. Then I turned my attention to Roxanne, who looked a little embarrassed, while Brawly looked amused. So, something embarrassing for Roxanne but not something she’s protesting too much?

Flannery tried to push open my door, only for it to still be locked. She stumbled, face-planting into it. She stayed there, face pressed against the door.

When she took a step back she had a red mark on her face. She gave me an unimpressed look. “You lock your door?”

“Standard security procedures,” I said, my eyes flicking up to the red mark on Flannery’s forehead.

I stared long and hard; after all, it was common sense for such a secure room to automatically lock. I tapped the side of the door, unlocking the door with my keycard, causing it to swish open.

Flannery grumbled something but was quick to shake off her bad mood. “Alright! So, I know you’ve been worried about reprisal with Team Rocket, but I thought of something! What if they have no idea who it is that is raiding them?” she said.

I raised a hand to point out that wasn’t really an issue, but Sabrina pushed it down and shot me a look that caused a doubletake. Wait, did Sabrina want to go ahead with whatever Flannery had planned? Sabrina looked excited. Alright, it looks like I’d have to at least hear Flanenry out.

Flannery, unaware of what had just happened, drew out a pair of small cases from her backpack.

She turned them around and clicked open the latches before lifting the lid. “What if it wasn’t Brock or Sabrina attacking Team Rocket what if… it was the Hero Black!?” she said theatrically, revealing a black spandex outfit with a helmet that was the lovechild of every Mighty Morphin Rangers mask, coupled with a black theatre mask.

Sabrina inspected the case that was placed in front of her. I noticed the twitch of her lips and the slight wiggle she gave as Flannery gave out other cases to Roxanne and Brawly. Sabrina’s outfit was extremely bright yellow and seemed to be shaped like a Pikachu. I could tell she didn’t like what she was seeing now. Oh good, she was probably thinking through how ridiculou—

“Hmmm, I’d prefer a Jolteon mask,” Sabrina said, causing me to sigh and rub my temple. I shot my own mask another look to see what I had gotten.

The visage of a Houndoom snarled back at me.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Flannery… we’re not children.”

Brawly snorted as Flannery stomped her foot. “I know that! But this is serious! If we act as masked heroes, Team Rocket won’t know who to go after! This is a way of protecting your loved ones!”

She gestured wildly, and I knew she was trying to come up with a valid argument. “It’s pretty much what Lance is doing anyway with his G-men!” she said.

“The police have to know we’re good guys, though; we can’t just be vigilantes or we’ll cause others to copy us,” I pointed out.

Sabrina coughed. “Actually, we could probably be part of Lance’s G-men without much effort.”

Flannery bounced back and forth on the spot, her excitement growing. “There see! What Sabrina just said! If anything, we’re merely acting in support of what he’s already setting up!”

“I can make some calls. Don’t worry Brock, Lance will approve, as it’s very similar to what he’s already doing,” Sabrina said, raising her transceiver to begin typing out messages before she stepped out of the room to make some calls. Her costume floated after her.

I raised a hand to stop her only for the door to click shut. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

That… wasn’t really what Lance was doing, but he had established aliases for some of his Agents. That wouldn’t be possible with people like me though who are well-known public figures. It would work for Koga, who was a ninja. People would have to be crazy to attack him.

Then again, chances were he didn’t live where he listed… if he even listed his home address. It would make sense for officials to accept it as a personality quirk that he could get away with without too much complaint.

Heck Surge, Sabrina, Blaine, and the Cerulean sisters all had their own quirks that people knew to work around rather than trying to work through. Which… kind of let them all get away with a lot of things.

Honestly, I was kind of envious.

“I need a quirk…” I said aloud, causing Flannery to do a happy dance.

“Yes! That’s the spirit!” she said, snapping her fingers and then waving them towards the opened case. “Exactly! Cut loose! Live a lot! Punish crime! Be Hero Black and win the hearts and minds of the people!”

I rubbed my forehead, eying the mask. “A Houndoom though? That certainly isn’t a pokemon people will associate with me.” If anything, they’d think of Karen before me.

“Maybe we should go with a Honchkrow, or… well, I can’t say Graveler here…”

“No point having it be a pokemon you’re known for,” Roxanne said.

I nodded and pointed at Roxanne. “Yeah, that. We need to be careful with what pokemon we use.” I waved at the mask. “There's no point in wearing these if we’re just going to get spotted using iconic pokemon,” I said considering what sort of pokemon I could call upon for that purpose. Clefairy had been doing rather well and was ready to fight at a high level. The same could potentially be said of Sudowoodo as merely an uncommon pokemon.

Who else could I use? Izumi would work; I’d just have to not mention her name. Geodude were common pokemon for people to own after all. I paused as I considered another pokemon that I knew no one would ever associate with me.

Cypher, the Porygon would be perfect for fighting crime.

I paused as I replayed the last minute back through my mind.

Oh, Arceus, I was seriously committing to this, wasn’t I?

How did I find myself in these situations? I stared at Flannery. Yeah, it was probably her fault. Sabrina stepped into the room with her outfit on and a pleased expression on her face. She gave the room at large a thumbs up.

Flannery shot back a thumbs up, only to frown. “Hey! You have a key to Brock’s office?”

Sabrina gave Flannery a look that made the other girl realise how obvious that should have been.

Brawly chuckled. Hehehe, that makes sense! Anyway, for pokemon that people won’t associate with us, I have some good ones already! Plenty of people have Makuhita, Medicham, and Machamp!”

I raised my hand. “Not all of those at once,” I said pointedly, causing Brawly to shrug.

“What are your masks like?” I asked.

Flannery raised up an Arcanine mask that was snarling, making it seem very fearsome. Roxanne raised a Clefairy mask, and Brawly raised a Blastoise mask.

“Pretty choice, hey?” Brawly said, waving his own mask around.

Sabrina put her mask on and sighed. “I still want a Jolteon mask. Pikachu is too cute.”

I eyed the mask, agreeing with her that it was obnoxiously cute, but that only made it more appealing to me. It was strange to see Sabrina looking like this. “I kind of like it,” I said, rubbing the back of my head.

Sabrina hummed and tucked her hair into the mask. I sighed and toyed with the mask. “Ok… so.. Tell me about the Cerulean Rocket base?” I decided to give up on pretending I was going to not take part in this madness

That way, someone responsible could make sure things didn’t get too out of hand. Yeah, that made sense.

Sabrina teleported us onto the rooftop of the building across the street from our target the next morning.

Flannery bounced to the edge and peered over. “Perfect! Lights are still on, so the Rocket Grunts must be home!” She turned and pointed at us. “Remember that we need to use our code names from here on out, alright?”

“Copy that Red!” said Brawly as Blue.

“Y-yes!” said Roxanne in her pink outfit.

Sabrina and I shared a look before nodding. Yeah, maybe we’d just do the strong, silent type. Flannery turned to us and wilted when we shot her thumbs up and mimed agreement.

“Urgh! Spoilsports! Alright, so we’re going to use Yellow’s—” she said, making sure to emphasise the code name. “—scouting abilities for this. Yellow? Is there anything around us we need to be mindful of?”

I turned and started surveying the area, knowing that simply relying on Sabrina would be a poor trick that wouldn’t cover all the angles. Outliers like myself, as a dark specialist or ghost pokemon wouldn’t be picked up by Sabrina’s psychic senses.

I started observing the street, looking for any people or pokemon that seemed a little too casual.

I instantly spotted a Raticate who was merely pretending to scavenge in a tipped-over trash can. It didn’t make anywhere near enough noise for it to be actually scrounging, and it kept too much of a lookout.

“Got a sentry,” I said. “Raticate on the corner, watching the approach to the warehouse Red,” I said.

Flannery inspected the pokemon and pointed at Roxanne and Brawly to look around for any other pokemon or people that stood out. Brawly pointed out a house that had the blinds drawn, but a slit stayed open. “Kind of odd that the lady in there is still awake no?”

Sabrina turned her head in the indicated direction. “No, she’s a shift worker who has come home late. She’s catching up on the news before going to bed,” she said.

Roxanne shifted back and forth. “It’s rather disturbing how you can do that so easily.”

“I didn’t need to penetrate her mind for that. She is tired, and often tired people’s thoughts project themselves as the boundaries of their mind relax,” Sabrina said dismissively.

“Eh?” said Roxanne. “What do you mean?”

Sabrina turned her attention back to the warehouse across the street. “People think that thoughts only inhabit their brains, but that is often not true. It might not seem like it, but if we are with someone, we exchange more information than we realise. It goes beyond being able to see, hear, smell, or sense them consciously.”

Sabrina made a circle with her hand in the air and said, “There is a certain… mental presence to people that is constantly being emitted. These are thoughts, or the mind, if you will.”

“Really? ” Roxanne said, sounding deeply interested.

I had heard this before, but it was always fascinating to hear Sabrina talk about the metaphysics of the mind.

“Indeed, researchers that work with psychic specialists have determined that everyone has latent untapped abilities. We might not be conscious of the links that occur when we get within the range of each other, but they do exist.”

She made a gesture from herself to me. “Certain actions can make it easier to pick up on certain emotions and thoughts. These can be looks, actions, or even the intensity of emotions being felt. Most people experience this when they lock eyes with another.”

“Oh? The fighting spark is psychic?” Brawly said.

Sabrina inclined her head slightly. “Indeed, we exchange small portions of impressions with others all the time. However, a true understanding of another person is something that can only occur when we spend significant time with each other. When we walk through a crowd of people, we are entering into a multitude of different, overlapping fields of thought.”

Flannery tilted her head. “So sort of like how someone else's bad or good mood can impact us?”

“Indeed,” Sabrina said. “No one is an island or a fortress.” She indicated herself. “As a Psychic I have the ability to perceive this field of thought. Imagine, if you will, that I can see the thoughts being projected onto the surface of the mind, or the pond of thought that surrounds us all. This is how most mind-reading occurs. I am not intruding into the depths of their memories, or, as some science-fiction would have you believe, their personalities.”

Sabrina shook her head. “That takes serious effort, and more often than not, people can feel such intrusions.” She then shifted. “Using sight as a metaphor is rather limiting, as it doesn’t account for people projecting their thoughts ‘very loudly’. Sometimes the thoughts can be like rocks thrown at your house while you’re in the sitting room. You have no choice but to notice them,” she said rather firmly.

“Huh,” Flannery said. “Do I—

“Yes, as a passionate person, you are like a Tauros kicking in my door with the message trailing after it.”

Flannery wilted.

“You are not the worst I have experienced,” Sabrina said. “Some people are just naturally loud with their personalities being larger than others. Yours is one such mind. Erika is also rather loud.”

“Erika? She’s as quiet as a church-rattata! She’s got loud thoughts?” Brawly said before pointing. “Oh! Got one! That Murkrow has fought off a lot of pidgeys, but should be heading off to nest.”

“Good spot,” I said while Sabrina murmured something about Erika that I missed. “What was that?”

“It doesn't matter!” said Flannery. “Yellow! How many people are in there?”

“Seven. This seems to be a storage facility, and there are a number of pokeballs as well as Technical machines that Team Rocket Members can make use of.” Sabrina held up her hand in front of her. “I… can see something of a computer room with various video feeds… they’re tapped into the city camera system. I’m not sure of the purpose, though,” Sabrina said.

“Monitoring the city alone would make it worthwhile by itself for Team Rocket; it does allow them a certain… freedom of action with how they would be able to mobilise with being aware of the local police. Wouldn’t you agree?” I suggested.

“Alright, Yellow and Black, as the most careful, you will infiltrate the computer room,” said Flannery.

“Ah, their dark emitters just turned on,” Sabrina pointed out.

“Damn it! Suddenly competent bad guys?!” Flannery said with a huff.

I raised a hand. “Actually, I could probably send in Cypher if they’re plugged into the city grid,” I said.

Flannery pointed at me. “Good idea, Hero Black!”

I considered the warehouse and the subsequent cables leading towards it. There was a telephone line that was leading to the warehouse. I walked over to a powerbox and popped it open, releasing Cypher.

“Okay bud, here’s the deal. There are some bad people in that warehouse over there connected to the city network. I need you to infiltrate and protect the computers so that we can use those.” I considered him before deciding to increase his workload. “Keep the cameras on a loop as well, bud, for any that we appear on.”

Cypher spun over himself and then dipped into the cable through the electricity box. I glanced at the cords and found nothing suspicious that could be seen. Huh, I was suddenly very glad I had three Porygon living my computer network in the Gym with how I’d just used them to exploit a weak point.

I could only speculate on what would happen when Rotom entered the scene. Would Porygon and Rotom enter digital battles over cyber territory and resources? Then again, neither was going to be exactly ‘wild’ by any definition of the word.

Or maybe I just didn’t understand the virtual world. It might be worth talking about this with Oak or someone. What would happen for pokemon like Porygon and Rotom?

“Cypher’s in,” I said to the others, causing them to straighten up.

Flannery pointed out the pokemon. “Yellow, Pink, take those out, and then we’ll enter through the back of the warehouse.”

Sabrina nodded and tossed out a pokeball that levitated around behind the Raticate. When it opened, the Raticate whirled around, only to come snout to fist with a Makuhita.

Brawly tilted his head. “That’s an odd pokemon for you to have Sa—I mean! Yellow!” he said quickly to cover up his slip-up.

Sabrina inclined her head. “Makuhita is… an interesting addition to my team. I think she has taught me quite a lot. Thanks to her, I have a good idea of how to work with my Medicham.”

“Zip it on the type of pokemon we have,” Flannery reminded before nodding towards the Murkrow.

Roxanne released her Probopass and indicated the distant pokemon. Probopass narrowed its eyes, and Murkrow twitched. Its head swept around in a startled expression before it took flight.

“Pink?” Flannery prompted.

A moment later, Probopass unleashed a blast of lighting, revealing that Roxanne had merely guaranteed the electric attack against the flying type with Lock-On first. As Murkrow fell out of the sky, Roxanne raised a thumbs up to us.

Flannery nodded and waved a hand towards the warehouse. “Alright! Let’s go!” she said, leading the others over the rooftop and onto the street. When we got close to the door, I took point with Brawly. I raised three fingers and started a countdown before testing the door, only to find that it was unlocked.

Hmmm, not so competent bad guys, it would seem.

Brawly slumped. “Aw man, I thought we were gonna bust in!” he whispered plaintively.

I chuckled and waved Sabrina forward. “Three on the left,” she said before pointing to the right. “Two over there, but they have four pokemon out of their pokeballs. They’re inspecting them.”

“Take the group to the left; move together. The group on the right might put their pokemon away before we get to them, which will make it easier,” Flannery said.

I held in a chuckle. She was really taking the role of ‘leader’ seriously.

We stalked through the warehouse halls and found the trio idly flipping through reports near the computers. I suddenly felt much better about the idea of approaching this group first.

Flannery raised a hand and began a countdown. I braced, ready to sprint forward, only to frown and tap Flannery on the side. “Just walk in,” I said. “Be audacious.”

Flanery tilted her head before nodding and waving us forward. Instead of kicking the door in and storming forward, we walked through it like this was something we did every day. We got halfway across the room before one of the Rocket grunts looked up.

“What’s with the outfits?” he said with a tilt of his head.

Brawly stepped up to him and clapped him on the shoulder. “Oh, nothing much. We’re just heroes.”

“Wha—” the man said, only for Brawly to punch his lights out. The other Rockets sat up realising that we weren’t just quirkily dressed people but legitimate threats. One reached for a pokeball while the other moved to the computers.

I whistled, and Cypher leapt into action. He jumped out of the computer, surprising the Grunt. A Thunderwave blew out and zapped the Grunt causing them to fall with a rictus of pain.

Sabrina’s Makuhita intercepted the pokemon that the other Grunt released, dispatching the Rattata. Roxanne released a Graveler that tackled the Koffing out of the air before pummeling it to submission.

The Rocket Grunt clicked his tongue and mimed, raising his hands while walking up to us. “Alright, alright, I give you got me, I’ll co—” he said only to lunge towards a button.

I intercepted him in midair. “Not today!” I said as my hand descended on his head, knocking him flat to the ground where he lay still. I leaned down and exhaled in relief when he stirred. “He’s just knocked out!”

Brawly chuckled. “Nice one! But maybe next time use a heo move! Something like Hero Chop! Oh! Or darkness bringer!”

I barked a laugh. “Ha, I think this is already a bit over the top, honestly,” I replied.

Flannery snorted. “This from the guy that said we should just walk up to them? Bold as brass?” she said with a snicker. "Damn, that was smooth.”

I shrugged. “If we kicked the door in, they’d know what we were about. If we left it in doubt, they wouldn’t know until we confirmed it for them.”

“It worked; no need to justify it!” Flannery aid. She giggled. “Not today!” she said mimicking my voice. “I thought that worked pretty well for a Hero catchphrase by the way.”

The others chuckled as I grimaced.

When she was done teasing me, Flannery coughed and pointed at the computers. “Alright, Yellow, Pink, as the brains of this group see what you can get from the computer.”

Yellow pulled out a USB and plugged it into the computer. “Cypher, come here. There's a nice duck,” Sabrina said, drawing Cypher away from the twitching Rocket grunt.

Cypher spun away and entered the computer, breaking into it without missing a beat, before Sabrina started coasting through files, saving copies of certain documents and maps.

“There seems to be a supply run along with a list of acquisitions here. They have a number of stolen pokemon as well as technical machines. It seems they learn which trainers purchase useful items before ambushing them on the way out of the City.”

“Huh, that’s clever of them,” Flannery said. “Think you can handle this lot while we go secure the other two?”

I coughed. “Remember, there might be others still around.”

Sabrina inclined her head. “While I see nothing with regards to any Ghost pokemon or dark types on the roster, you are correct. Pink and I will trade out watching each other's backs while you inspect the rest of the building.”

Flannery nodded at that before waving for Brawly and me to follow her out.

We stalked through the hallways a little more cautiously now. We inspected a number of rooms only to find them full to the brim of Pokeblock, and pokefeed. One room had a medical set-up for what would ostensibly be to care for the pokemon. I didn’t like how haphazardly the equipment had been left, but unsafe healthcare practice was going to be the least of these people’s charges with being a known criminal organisation.

When we reached another room that was occupied, it took both groups by surprise, as they were moving to leave the room through the door we had entered through.

Our two groups blinked at each other, only for Brawly to wave. “Hi, you looking for—”

“Intruders!” shouted the strangely whiny voice of the smaller of the pair.

“Shit! Let’s roll out team!” Flannery barked as she released a Vulpix and a Growlithe.

“Ha! Let’s show them Rocket power, lads!” said the younger of the pair released an Arbok, a Nidorino, and a Muk, while the other released a Raticate and a Fearow.

I sent out Izumi, and Brawly sent out his Medicham. I pointed straight at the Fearow and Izumi knew what to do as the Flannery and Brawly fought with their own opponents.

We made short work of the other pokemon with Flannery needing some backup by using the obviously much weaker Fire types to her normal team. As the Rockets floundered at their pokemon’s defeat, I stalked up to the pair.

The first lunged at me with his fist raised. I dodged and shot a return right into his stomach. The other backed away, eyes wide with fear.

“No! No! This isn’t how it’s supposed to go! This was supposed to be how I fixed things! This is all that Charmander’s fault for being weak!” the kid whined.

I frowned, a memory stirring regarding a kid with a Charmander. “What’s your name kid?” I said pausing a few feet away from him.

“d-Damien?” he said nervously.

“Well, looks like you’re blaming others for your own shortcomings. Now, you’re going to be arrested, and you have a chance to fix things for yourself. Bad news? It’s going to involve a lot of work. Fess up to any crimes and work hard, and you can do better.”

“I’m not weak!” snarled the now-revealed Damien, the boy who had once owned Ash’s Charmander. He threw a punch at me, only for Brawly to catch it and force it down before I could.

“We’re all weak sometimes, kid; allow yourself that luxury and think about what I said,” I said, cuffing him to a fixed-in pole as Brawly frisked him.

“I’m not weak!” snarled Damien at my back.

I walked away, shaking my head.

Flannery waited until I was out of earshot of the kid. “You know that kid?”

“Nah, not really. I know of him, but that’s it.” I sighed. “Right now, I’m wondering if my knowing him at all might have been something that would have spared him this moment. He… didn’t make it to face me, from what I recall,” I said vaguely.

I’d never seen him, but seeing him falling in with Team Rocket.

It… wasn’t all that surprising I realised.

I did wonder how it had happened but I could make some enquiries. Oak would know.

I inspected the empty alcoves of pokeballs. There were only a few scones with actual pokeballs in them, but I had no doubt these were all stolen pokemon. This was a small facility at the end of the day, but it was still good to take it out of Team Rocket’s control.

“Let’s clean this place up and call the cops,” I said. “We’ll need to make some calls to make sure the right people get here first.”

“The local Jenny, yeah?” Flannery said with a nod.

“Yeah, she’ll do,” I said. "We need to make sure these Rocket Grunts get processed properly without being able to skate free.”

Flannery hummed. “Right, well, it seems like it’s time to see who Hero Yellow called in favours with, yeah?”

Officer Jenny dismounted from her motorcycle, with other officers moving to cordon off the street. A woman opened the door of her house to watch them in her dressing gown, but soon closed it when officers asked her to go back inside. A news van pulled up, and some reporters piled out, cameras and reporters primping for an early morning news article.

Jenny snorted. There always seemed to be spectators around for this sort of thing. She approached the warehouse, not sure what to expect. The caller who had made the claim had weaved a story of what to expect that truly beggared belief.

Then again, it wasn’t for Jenny to question; she merely enacted the law.

“Police! We’re coming in!” She roared into the warehouse.

She then had the officer enter through the front door. They did so with textbook strategy, moving quickly and with support, pokeballs in hand and ready to be sent out.

“Clear!” the first shouted.

“Clear!” barked another as they rounded the door, moving in the opposite direction.

Jenny joined in and they soon had the entrance checked over before moving deeper in. Jenny went left and found herself in a computer room where the caller had said they’d find Team Rocket and the ‘group’.

She wasn’t sure what to think as she opened the door.

She paused as the masked individuals turned towards her. The Black masked hero nodded in greeting while the Yellow crossed her arms under her bust. Pink shifted back and forth nervously while Blue laced his hands behind his head and demonstrated some rather glorious muscles as his arms flexed.

Red straightened and approached them. “Ah, Cerulean Police, excellent! Our contact informed you of the capture, I take it?”

Jenny nodded slowly, her mouth dry, as she realised the caller hadn’t been joking when they’d announced that Team Rocket had been taken in by a Hero group. “Y-yeah!” Jenny said.

“Excellent! We’ve been able to remove the passwords from the computers and have five Rocket Grunts locked up.”

The Rocket Grunt to the side sneered at them. “Heh! Cute try! Our lawyers will be hearing about this! You can’t storm in wearing masks and be upholding the law. We’re innocent! They dragged us here!” said the smarmy-mouthed man.

Jenny chuckled at that. “Actually, they can, seeing as they are part of the G-men group that Lance has been organising.”

The Rocket Grunt blinked. “What!? But that’s just a group of cops! Not these posers! And he hasn’t organised that yet!”

Hero Red rounded on the man. “These posers cracked your operation open like an unfertilised egg!” She then coughed. “So, no, you’re not walking out of this, thanks to a technicality.”

Jenny nodded, pleased that they’d set things up beforehand and were willing to go through the normal police procedures.

For a moment, when she’d first gotten the call, she’d worried they’d think themselves above that. What with calling themselves a ‘Hero’ group. She led the Heroes off to the side and debriefed them, all the while marvelling that this might be something new that she would have to get used to.

Before they left, she coughed politely. “So the rumours weren’t false? Lance is setting up a super cop division?”

Red and Black shared a look before Black coughed into his fist. “That’s on a need-to-know basis, I’m afraid. But…. they’re certainly paying attention to certain individuals. Keep up the good work, Officer Jenny.”

“Sir! Maam! Thank you for your work!” She saluted the group as they moved to the front.

Their exit caused the media outside to begin making a lot of noise. Jenny shook her head. It was going to be weird seeing the news later announcing the super-cop division, but it would be better than the news just talking about unsolved crimes.

She shifted, maybe… she might get asked to join?

She chewed her lip, which colour would she ask for? Blue would go well with… she shook her head and got rid of the idle thoughts.

She turned to the computers and started documenting the rest of the crime scene, glad that she wasn’t higher on the organisation chart in the force just yet.

They’d have to handle the press trying to get details on the elite police force Lance had set up.

The next morning, I pointedly tried not to listen to the news as I ate breakfast with my family. At my side, Sabrina fed Ralts, as behind us, the news blared on about a shocking reveal of the new Superhero division of Lance’s G-men.

That instantly had my family fleeing the table to inspect the news.

“So cool!” said Salvadore.

“Pretty!” said Suzie.

“Ha! There’s more girls than there are guys!” said Cindy.

“Ha! They suck at posing!” said Tommy causing me to twitch.

Oh, right. I’d tried to forget that moment.

We’d decided to not approach the press and instead remain aloof, but Flannery had still demanded we ‘hero pose’ before we departed.

Only it wasn’t something we’d practised, resulting in Flannery, Brawly, and Roxanne all adopting different poses that had nothing to do with each other.

“Awwww! Black and Yellow look cute!” said Yolanda.

I twitched. Sabrina and I had defaulted to raising our arms out from each other with our inner legs raised while standing next to each other. I still wasn’t sure why we’d gone with that pose, but we’d made things more awkward with how choreographed we looked compared to the others.

The news was extremely excited about the development, and lots of people were talking about what this would mean for police work going forward. Some people were sceptical, while others thought it was a bold new step in policing.

I sat up when the door opened and Samuel Oak walked in. Salvadore waved at him but remained glued to the TV. Sam made a beeline for me. “Brock! Sabrina!” He sat down next to us and smiled winningly, only for it to fall away.

“Like I said on the phone,” his face adopted a sad old man look. “I’m not mad; I’m disappointed in you both.” He shook his head. “Next time you go out, I want to come too. I don’t like that I wasn’t asked beforehand,” he said with a pout. Munchlax, who’d remained behind to eat everyone’s forgotten meal, choked on Salvadore’s breakfast. He blinked and whipped his head from the TV to us, and gasped. Sabrina raised a finger to her lips and Munchlax mimed zipping his lips shut.

I coughed and glanced over to find that even Flint had left us to watch the news, making our discussion private.

I turned back to Oak. “Sorry about that, but thanks for talking with Lance for us.”

“Well I might not be Champion, but I can see a good idea when it comes my way and make sure it gets the support it needs. Lance was rather amused that I wanted to add to his G-men unit, but he understood the need.” Sam grabbed some toast and began putting some spread on it.

“We’ll have to get you talking with my tailor before our next outing together. I have some ideas for Hero Gold’s uniform, but I think you could all use a wardrobe upgrade. Simple coloured latex, while eye-catching for some, doesn’t differentiate us from people off the street. A proper uniform will go far.” He patted my shoulder. “It was a good first run, though. I’ll talk to Hero Red.”

I sighed and shook my head. Sometimes my life was weird. I shot Sabrina an amused look and she smiled back at my tired look before giggling at something my family said.

Oh well, it was still a win for the good guys.

Sadly now I’d have to go make sure the bad guys didn’t cheat any more than they already had with Will’s match against Erika. I reached for another slice of toast myself, only for Sam to cough politely.

“Also, when were you going to talk to me about the volcano you’re building in your backyard?” Sam said, with a glint in his eyes.

Ah… damn, I thought to myself. “Have you ever thought about how Porygon are unique with their digital environment and what would happen if another artificial pokemon were to be created?” I said attempting a dodge.

Sam tilted his head, “I can’t say that I have… hmmm fascinating.”

I mentally fist-pumped. Brock used dodge and it was super-effective!

Sabrina giggled, knowing what I was doing as Ralts watched on in confusion.

It was a good start to the day.