Hard Enough

The workout with Trixie had everyone gasping and sweating by the time we were done. I collapsed into a chair for a quick discussion with the team and watched as everyone else staggered, dragged themselves, or were carried in.

A.J. glared at everyone from the corner, his body barely functioning as Trixie deposited him. He’d tried to keep up with Trixie and when that didn’t work, he’d tried to keep up with me. Then he’d settled for Dennis. Eventually, he’d had to settle on hanging as close as he could to Yolanda. Most people laughed at his surly expression.

Rachel glowered right back at A.J., surprising a few people, but I just rolled my eyes. She could be so petty when she thought people were getting too close to her girlfriend.

It wasn’t… Well, actually, it very much was A.J.’s fault that he was too exhausted to walk and therefore needed to be carried, but I don’t even think girls registered to him in that way.

A.J. nodded at Rachel in respect, but that only made her glare harder.

Yolanda giggled from where she was sitting as I shook my head. Poor kid didn’t realise that Rachel thought he was trying to get carried by Trixie like she was, instead of just being a training maniac.

A.J. turned away from her, obviously confused as to why the usually bouncy and bright Rachel was almost hissing at him. I swiped my face with my towel and clapped my hands. “Alright team, brief one today. I’m hoping then we can enjoy the rest of our Sunday!”

This got a ragged cheer from the group.

I glanced down at the meeting minutes. “First off, Bianca has some news?”

Bianca stood up and lifted up a tray that held a trio of pokeballs. “Ladies and gentlemen of the Pewter Gym! I give you the first success of the breeding program!” She pushed the button on the front of the first, and a young Kabuto was revealed.

Everyone in the room straightened up despite their fatigue, understanding the significance of the trio of pokeballs. Another opened to reveal a new Omanyte that sank back into its helix-like shell.

The last pokeball opened and a young Aerodactyl was revealed. It hopped onto the table and raised its wings to roar in greeting. “Aero!” it screeched.

“The ancient pokemon eggs you gathered are starting to hatch?!” Stephen said, somewhat unnecessarily. Bianca raised two fingers up to form a V.

“Yes, they are! Elm is going to be so happy when I send in the documentation! Brock! You’re soon going to be the owner of another four Kabuto, six Omanyte and two more Aerodactyls, counting these few!”

Bianca put her hand on the aerodactyl on the table. It crooned and rubbed its head into her palm. “This little one is a girl and the daughter of Don!” She adjusted her glasses and smiled.

“But there's more! Crowley has been working with the samples Brock secured a few months ago and will be sending through another two pokemon from each of the samples he was granted by Pryce! So we’re getting a new bloodline to use to truly start setting up proper bloodlines and breeding groups!” she said.

I beamed at her, feeling suddenly much more energised. “That is fantastic news! I would like two to be allocated to the gym. We’ll train them up, and I think they will be great additions. The Aerodactyl, due to their rather draconic tendencies, I can’t see them as anything less than a fourth-tier challenge. That will open up a lot of opportunities for Gym trainers fighting at that level to use some truly different pokemon.”

A.J. perked up at that. “We don’t have to use those weak Zubat? nice!”

I snapped my fingers to return attention. “I will be reminding anyone that wants to take part in training the new Aerodactyl that you need to have a certain mindset typically with them. They will otherwise try to run right over you. Give them an inch, and they will take a mile from you. There are some texts on raising dragon pokemon in our computers and the bookcase, they will be required reading for anyone looking to ask me about it,” I said firmly.

Rocko raised a hand. “I’ve read those books, and I’d like to point out that I’m a good example of a trainer that doesn’t mesh well with Dragon pokemon and their training methods. I’m too lax.” Rocko waved a hand to Dennis.

Dennis blushed in a pleased way before coughing. “My methods can be more palatable for dragon pokemon, but remember they’re not true dragons, so you won’t have to stick too much to the training methods outlined in the books.” Dennis chuckled. “It’s not like we’re expecting to get a rock-dragon pokemon after all!”

A few people chuckled, but I smirked to myself. I couldn’t wait to find a Tyrunt, then we’d see some reactions. I chuckled to myself; I could just imagine how green with envy Lance would be if I beat him to find one.

I coughed and shook off my thoughts, returning to the moment.

Yolanda was squinting at me and I waved a hand at her, worried that my sister was onto me. She might not have mind-reading powers, but she probably had the best read on me of the people in the room.

“Excellent news. We’re starting to get a solid group of ancient pokemon,” I said, before circling the point on the form. “I’ve been toying with the idea and I think it might hold some interest for people… but I’m thinking of offering a challenge for just Ancient pokemon.”

I smiled and waved my hand expansively. “I’m thinking of calling it the Jurassic challenge?” I glanced around the room. “Thoughts?”

A.J. grunted. “Eh, will they be stronger?”

I sighed. “They’d be the same level, just with ancient pokemon.”

“Lame,” said A.J., deciding he wasn’t interested anymore.

Stephen was much more animated, however. “It would be an excellent draw for the Gym and highlight the work that we’re doing!”

Bianca coughed.

“That we researchers are doing!” Stephen corrected.

Bianca coughed again.

“That Bianca is doing,” Stephen said.

Bianca beamed happily.

I chuckled at their antics, but otherwise looked around the room and found general support otherwise. When I got to Georgina, she looked like she was bouncing some figures around.

“It would be a good idea to limit the number of spots… But that could also be a prestigious challenge; we should charge more for it as some people might try to exploit it by knowing precisely which pokemon can be used instead of the wider stable.”

I raised a finger. “That… is a lot of good points to consider, actually.” I checked with the others and found thoughtful faces but no one with anything more to say. “I’ll leave it up as a point on our internal systems and have it up on the wall for people to write any comments they come across.”

Rachel leaned to the side. “Use the pokenet! It’s the future! Go digital!” she said, pointedly looking at Dennis as she said this.

He sniffed. “Putting it up on the corkboard means everyone will look at it!”

Rachel groaned and mumbled something about an old man, which made him huff in mock indignation.

I snorted at their banter and waved my hand to indicate that I was moving on. “I have a note here about… the Pokemon Technical Academy. What is this about?” I asked, looking around.

A giggle ripped through Georgina and Alexa, with Alexa taking a moment of fake coughing to regather herself. “The Pokemon Technical Academy called back, and they want you to do a lecture. Along with blocking out some of the slots next month for their students to challenge the Gym as part of their assessments like you did in previous years.”

“Oh,” I said, tilting my head. “Don’t they usually organise that earlier in the year? Did the surge push them back?”

Alexa had a very smug look on her face. “I believe the issue was that I called them at the time to inform them of how busy you had become.”

I and a number of others blinked slowly, expecting him to say more. When nothing more came, I tilted my head further. Rachel was the first to understand what Alexa was saying.

“Oh they didn’t!” said Rachel.

Yolanda and Greta all nodded knowingly. Crystal, who looked lost, hurriedly copied them, only for her mother, Georgina, to lean over and whisper something.

“Those pricks!” said Crystal, at whatever she’d been told, earning her mother’s ire and a pinched cheek.

I raised a hand. “And may the rest of the class know what the issue is?” I said like I was the teacher with a group of whispering schoolgirls.

Alexa coughed and smiled. “They thought they were being snubbed because I was the person to reach out to them to tell them about the issue.”

I tilted my head as the girls in the room hissed in solidarity. I frowned. “What was the issue with that exactly?”

“That I reached out, a mere personal assistant, instead of you,” Alexa said, spelling it out for me.

“Oh, well…” I toyed with the idea of pushing back the applicants, but at this point, it would put the students out more, some of whom would be trying to test out for the circuit at the end of the year. “When are they booked in? I might have a word with the Principal about it.”

“Don’t; I have an idea how to handle it,” Alexa said with a smile that promised the man would be embarrassed, and she was looking forward to it. I decided to nod and accept it.

Salvadore raised his hand. “How do the Pokemon Technical Academy tests match up to earning a badge? I thought they didn’t need to do that?”

“Ah, that is a common misconception. They have a longer period of studying, but they still challenge at some Gyms. We merely have to test them at higher levels as a sort of validation process for the Academy,” I said, waving my hand back and forth slightly.

“The matches are more for the Academy if anything, despite being a valuable experience for the students by giving them practical experience. The Academy doesn’t need to do it every year, but they like to hold themselves above the standards set by the Pokemon League. They won’t be able to claim that, however, if they don’t set up these challenges. It is something written into their advertising and curriculum, which will get them in hot water if parents have to ask why they didn’t organise something this year for their children.”

“League Standards? What does it determine?” Salvadore asked.

“It determines how valid the graduation from the Academy is. If a certain percentage of the students aren’t able to pass a standardised test, the institute usually has to undergo a review to be recertified, and they need to have their teaching methods overhauled or intensified,” I said.

I shook my head. “I don’t expect it to happen, honestly. Pewter Academy is a very well-established facility that—” I eyed Alexa, “— usually has their heads on right with teaching students how to fight with a myriad of pokemon and situations. They do like to expound the type-advantage match up a bit too much in the early segments of their teaching, however, so expect that.”

Crystal sat forward. “Hey, Alexa? How are you going to mess with them?”

I considered saying that wasn’t something we should pursue, but I decided to hold back to hear what she had planned before I decided anything.

Alexa smiled, “It might cause the Principal to get a bit nervous if his… less academically inclined students were scheduled first.”

The youngest people in the room all tilted their heads in confusion but I chuckled as I understood the issue. “It would create the perception among people that his academy was at risk of failure and have him sweating, no?” I said.

Alexa nodded, and I rubbed my chin in thought. That… wasn’t too evil, was it?

I nodded. “I’ll allow it,” I said before gesturing to the next item on the cards. “Alright, I have secured a match against the twenty-seventh Ace trainer, Gertrude Goody; let’s run what we know about how she fights and workshop ideas. I’ll be facing her on Thursday at lunchtime,” I said.

That had everyone perking up and reading through the sheets.

“She’s got a Gengar!” A.J. said straight away. “And a Blastoise!” Then he wilted. “Oh, she was a former trainer that won Oak’s sponsorship.”

“Is there something wrong with that?” Greta asked pointedly.

A.J. shrugged. “Just don’t like that people get gifted pokemon like that.”

“I actually had to work really hard. I needed to be in the top three for my year along with attending a number of camps to demonstrate that I had the skills to care for my pokemon!” Greta said waspishly

I hummed, wondering what that meant for Damien.

Had he been a good actor who had dropped his mask when he was let out into the wider community of Kanto?

Had he fallen in with a bad crowd? Or had he always been bad and hidden it with a sort of low cunning that worked well when people observing the children were too obvious in their actions while having to watch a larger group of children?

Somehow, that didn’t seem right to me. I didn’t like to believe that he’d been that way. I preferred the nurture argument when the nature vs nurture argument reared its head.

“—think about that?” said Yolanda.

I blinked and realised that a number of people were standing and had been playing around with the whiteboard. Gertrude’s main pokemon roster was up on the board, with counters listed off along with a number of notable moves that I could expect. The Raticate on the list had a truly extensive list attributed to it, with the only counter listed against it as ‘Hypnotoad’.

I hummed. “Sorry, I was lost in thought, but this looks good; I'm not sure I will commit to all of these as you can’t always anticipate which pokemon will be called up. But we can estimate that fighting, grass, and water types are going to feature heavily when she comes.”

“How did you get her to accept the challenge?” Crystal asked.

“I offered a fairly sizeable pot if she won. Thankfully, with all the fights, I’m actually in the top forty these days so it isn’t too big a leap; with my being thirty-seventh I’m also guaranteeing television time for her.” I glanced at Rachel. “We’re advertising for it already, yes?”

Rachel shot me a thumbs up, only for her arm to wobble to the side. “Woops! Arm’s still tired from that workout!” she said, propping it up with the other. “But yes, I have the television channels running some dedicated marketing for her and reached out to her manager to use good shots of her in the promo.”

Rachel smiled. “Win or lose, she’s going to get some recognition and proper screen time. So it’s not a bad deal for her.”

I nodded at that and turned my eyes to the whiteboard. Blastoise, Gengar, Raticate, Ninetales, Dugtrio, Electrode, Pidgeot, Hitmonchan, Victreebel, Starmie, Vaporeon, and Exploud. Those were her heavy hitters.

“The Exploud rather stands out,” I commented.

Rachel waved her hands back and forth. “Oh! I know why that is! Gertrude ran into some issues when she went to Hoenn! She didn’t take her starter pokemon and she tried to start with only Hoenn pokemon, only to get robbed by Team Magma! It’s all part of her history. She absolutely loathes pokemon poaching because she lost her entire pokemon team while in Hoenn!” Rachel rifled through some sheets and tapped on a page at the back.

“She lost a Swablu, Vibrava, Crawdaunt, Shuppet, Snorunt, and a Vigoroth.”

I whistled. “Oh wow, that had the makings of a very powerful team,” I said, causing the younger kids in our group to perk up. Greta whipped out her pokedex and started looking up the pokemon mentioned, drawing in the others to inspect her findings.

“She had a dragon pokemon?” Crystal said in shock.

I snorted. “She had two. Swablu evolves into Altaria, a very powerful flying-dragon type pokemon.” I picked up the report we’d had printed off about Gertrude and gave it another look before paying the last page special attention. It was a page dedicated to the Hoenn police report regarding the theft of her pokemon.

I shook my head. “This girl is the cautionary tale of why you should at least keep two of your starter pokemon from your first roster and travel with people you can trust. Criminals will exploit weaknesses like this,” I said, tapping on the point about how she had not done either.

I flipped back to the front. “Impressive that she reached seventeenth despite the setback. She only has one sponsor?” I asked.

“Rough Housing, the camping supplies company,” Rachel said. “We’re going to let them put up some billboards around the edge of the gym for the match; really give them a good deal in sponsoring her.”

Yolanda beamed at me. “It’s nice that you’re setting her up to come off better from fighting you.”

I huffed and waved at the whiteboard. “I still have to beat her to earn the Ace points that I’m after.”

Yolanda nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t think that will be too much of an issue.” She tilted her head. “Maybe don’t beat her too badly?”

I huffed. “Yeah, let’s not count our pokemon before they hatch, yeah?” I waved a hand towards the whiteboard. “Selene is going to be one of the pokemon I use I think, but I will make a call on the others later.” I glanced at the rest of the meeting minutes.

“Was there anything else that needed to be brought up?” I asked. When everyone shook their heads, I clapped my hands. “Alright, the meeting is done. For those of you that still have some tasks, finish those; otherwise, enjoy your weekend.”

I stayed around to talk with Alexa and Georgina a little as the others limped away or, in Rachel's case, slugged her way out the door.

“Do you—” I said, offering her a hand.

“No! I’m good!” Rachel said as the door opened. “My ride’s here!” she said as Trixie stepped back in.

“Sorry! I stuck around to pick up my girlfriend,” said Trixie, shifting from foot to foot.

“Oh,” I said, glancing between the nervous Trixie and the smug Rachel. “No problem, if you wanted, you probably could have sat in on the meeting, we weren’t talking through anything too important that it needed to be only Gym trainers.” I waved a hand, “Also Sabrina cleared you for work in the Gym so don’t be a stranger if you want to hang out.”

Trixie merely smiled. “Oh I just made use of the weights room while I waited, so it was no problem!” Without even a hint of fatigue she scooped up Rachel and carried her away. The rainbow-coloured girl waved a hand before the door shut, and I turned back to finalise my discussion with Alexa and Georgina.

I signed off on some decisions before departing myself, and on the way I passed a cluster of gym trainers who were standing around the water cooler.

“So good to be paid to work out!” said one of the men.

“My pokemon are looking so good lately!” said another.

“I’m planning to use it to step into a corporate gig. They’ll see that I was a Gym trainer at Pewter and be all over me!” said a young girl.

I walked past them and gave them a nod. “Enjoy your weekend,” I said, deciding to keep it simple.

“Thanks! You too, Boss!” said the first man before turning to the girl. “Seriously, you’re making a mistake; signing on with a company won’t get you anywhere near as many perks as sticking around here will.”

I chuckled to myself, not really sure what to make of that conversation. I decided to leave them to their chat. They were more than welcome to talk like this. It was after hours, after all. I wandered through the gym, checking in on various doors, before taking a quick walk through the medical bay.

“Cle!” said Clefairy as Chansey roughly bandaged him up.

“Oh, hey, Clefairy, what’s going on? You got injured?” I said, suddenly worried that something had happened.

Clefairy pouted as Chansey pointed to a sign that pointed out that idiots wouldn’t be healed more than twice a day.

“Chan! Chan! Chan!” she said before tying off the bandage.

“He’s been in here three times today?” I said, translating what she’d said. When she nodded I turned towards Clefairy, who sheepishly looked away.

“You’ve been supervised, right?” I asked. He nodded before standing and clenching his fists.

“Clef! Fairy! Fair!” he said, punching a small fist forward.

I tilted my head. “You’ve almost got the Healing Wish combination worked out?” he nodded his head and stood before gathering energy about himself as if to demonstrate here and now. Chansey swatted him across the back of the head and pointed to another sign that read ‘no pokemon moves in the medbay.’

“She’s right Clefairy,” I said, as he wilted. I hummed in thought. “How are your other moves looking? Moonblast?”

Clefairy ran to a clipboard that had been sitting to the side, he grabbed a pen and scrawled on it for a moment. When he presented it to me, he did so with a proud look.

I took it, looked at what was written down, and nodded seriously before handing it back to him.

“I have no idea what you’ve written down,” I said, waving my hand at the squiggles he’d made.

“Fairy!” he said before coughing and rubbing the back of his head. Chansey huffed and slapped his pokeball into him, causing him to vanish. She popped him into a receptacle and then tapped away at the computer. It took a minute for the computer to process but it made a soft ding to signal it was finished.

A moment later, his profile was displayed along with the moves he knew.

“Copycat, Gravity, Meteor Mash, Pound, Moonblast, Brick Break, Healing Wish, and Endure.” I read off the list. I whistled. “That’s a good list of moves to have,” I said as Clefairy broke out of his pokeball and shook himself. He shot Chansey an unimpressed look before smiling at me.

“Think you could trade out Pound for something else?” I asked, knowing that it would be a tough ask for him to learn any more moves. I suspected that Copycat was helping a great deal. It also offered a lot of versatility that I wouldn’t mind keeping in his bag of tricks.

“Cle!” he said dutifully.

“Can you work with Quirrina and learn Baton Pass?” I asked.

“Fairy!” he said.

I smiled and knelt down. “Good, when you’re done with that we’ll spend the rest of the week working you over with Gravity and up your nutrient intake for a while…”

I rubbed my chin. “You’ve… well you’ve beaten out all my expectations with regards to your training and I think, if you want to, we could evolve you.” I offered him a hand. “That is, if you’re willing?”

He clenched his fists as his eyes sparkled. “Cle!” he shouted at me. I grinned. “Alright, I’ll lock in a day later this week. For now, work with Quirrinaon Gravity training and Rest, alright?”

He nodded furiously and skipped back and forth, much to Chansey’s annoyance. She made a show of clicking her tongue and pretending to read a magazine. Sadly for her it was upside down, and I could see her eyes tracking Clefairy as he hopped from side to side.

“ You know you have a lot of potential Clefairy, “ I said when he settled down. “Once you’ve evolved I think I’ll add some puzzles and other training methods for you. You have eight moves already and you might be a pokemon capable of more than that. Let’s see how far we can take you. So no slacking off once you evolve, alright?”

“Clefairy!” he said, his eyes practically sparkling.

I nodded back at him. “You’ve put in some hard work these last few weeks, buddy; I think it’s time to start using you in Ace matches after next week.” I made a mental note to also take him along to the Guardian training sessions I would have in the mornings. More experience would be great for him and he’d be a wonderful x-factor. Sort of like Koga owning a Charizard.

I stood and nodded to Chansey. When I left, Clefairy was already trying to run out the door, ecstatic at the news. I mentally started shifting gears, contemplating my other pokemon

Teddiursa would work to get a wider list of moves, and then I’d also have Cranidos and Tirtouga to work on, as well as Anorith.

I rolled the potential roster of pokemon I’d be able to lay claim to around, and toyed with the potential training timeline for achieving said team. As I did this I ambled towards the trainer lodgings I had in the gym. When I reached the common room I wasn’t surprised to find Rocko and Samuel already there, locked in an epic fight with what looked like Mariokart.

“No! No! You will not beat me with Bowser of all people!” screamed Oak as Rocko leaned back, completely at ease as he lazily thumbed the joystick on his controller.

I glanced at the screen and found that it was Samuel as Mario versus Rocko as Bowser.

“Good versus evil?” I said as I sat next to them.

“Yuuuuuup,” said Rocko as his racer came up on the final straight. “Evil for the win,” he said with a grin.

“Not today!” screamed Samuel with a manic expression, as his racer gained a blue shell. It fired off, and Rocko groaned as it smashed into him, stopping him from claiming the win as instead Samuel streaked across the finish.

“Ha! Yes! Victory!” shouted Samuel Oak like a maniac.

I snorted and picked up a controller, only for Rocko to grimace. “Sorry, bossman, we’re on something of a marathon showdown right now,” he said, gesturing to a board that showcased the entire racing list of the Mariokart world. It also listed off the positions they achieved and which racer they used.

“This seems… a little extensive,” I said neutrally. I glanced at Sam. “Does Daisy know you’re here?”

He nodded as he pointed to Rainbow Road. “That one! I’ll take Peach for this race!” he said, ignoring the question. I shrugged. He was an adult after all. I put the controller down as Rocko put his hand on his Gloom and rubbed its head, his eyes growing a little more lidded.

“I should demand that you play sober,” Sam grumbled good-naturedly.

“You know he plays better stoned, right?” I pointed out.

“I know! And that’s the problem!” Sam said, as Rocko selected his racer.

I watched them fight for another race, and when Rocko jumped over the edge to land ahead of Oak on the last lap to win, I stepped in to stop Sam from throwing a tantrum.

“I had a question for you if you don’t mind,” I said, my tone serious.

Rocko glanced at me. “Should I step out for a bit?” he said, glancing from me to Sam. I shook my head and gestured for him to stay seated.

Oak set his controller down and made it clear he was listening to what I had to say next.

I shifted and rolled my thumbs a little before just biting the bullet and asking. “What was Damien’s story?” I asked, unable to repress my curiosity.

Samuel sighed and sat back, lacing his own hands together. “Damien, yes. That boy is an interesting case. Did you know that his situation marks one of six failures on my part with handing out traditional starters to a trainer? I’d like to think those are good numbers considering that I’ve given out over a hundred and fifty such starters.”

He waved a hand. “Some years I give out more than just three if I think the students are particularly skilled and at risk of missing out. Ash Ketchum was one such boy. He just barely missed out on his grades, but he scored highly in other fields, and I saw potential in him.”

Rocko and I nodded, both of us having seen it ourselves. Ash was a quick study, able to work out tactics on the fly and adapt. I knew there was potentially even more with that on account of some time travel that may or may not be a factor. I had no idea and wouldn’t ever ask.

Samuel gestured into the air. “Damien is the son of a young businessman who was constantly away for his work, but there were expectations placed on him. Expectations that he seemed to be achieving. He scored exceptionally well at school thanks to tutors assisting him, and he worked hard during the parts of the camps that we graded. He had a cadre of boys that were his friends, but there wasn’t anything untoward.”

Samuel stared into the distance. “I think the issue came when his father was fired earlier this year. Momentum carried him over the line to achieve one of the starter pokemon… His relationship with his father soured, however… I won’t share the details, but the father is in prison and I have tapped the same police to take care of Damien’s situation. It doesn’t excuse how he treated Charmander, but… it does explain it. I’ve interceded on his behalf, and he will most likely be sent to a rehabilitation facility to care for pokemon injured by criminal organisations.”

“Ah,” I said. That… was a lot more than I was expecting. I’d been expecting a very different story. It would have been easier in some ways if he was just a bad kid, end of story, but that wouldn’t have been the truth. “Sorry if I overstepped.”

“I’m not,” said Sam, surprising me. “I’m glad that you’re curious about cases like this rather than being judgemental.”

“...” I opened my mouth before shutting it. “I don’t know what to say about that.”

Samuel merely smiled. “You don’t have to say anything. DO try to remain curious Brock, it’s a wonderful thing, curiosity.”

He picked back up his controller, “And now I shall reclaim the lead against you Rocko!” Samuel said, dropping the serious expression instantly and returning to being a fun-loving nerd in an instant.

I snorted and stood to leave them to their gaming marathon.

I made my way out to my home, where I found my family lounging around with various activities. I plopped myself down next to Tommy. “What are we doing?” I said, and he grinned as he told me what he wanted from me.

For the rest of the day, I slowly spent a bit of time with each of my siblings. When it came time for dinner I had most of them happily bouncing in their seats and looking forward to a fun evening.

Flint smiled at us all, and for a moment I almost felt like things were… right, in a way that they hadn’t been for so long.

Then Flint opened his mouth. “So, I was thinking it might be nice to go camping on Mt Moon soon? I hear that you take your siblings up there all the time? If you can come along, I think we can make it a family trip all at once.”

I paused. “Ah, I won’t be able to…” I paused. With my schedule easing off, I did have time… Heck, it would actually work out really well with Clefairy’s evolution that I was planning as well. A nice symbolism.

I still frowned. “I’m not sure it's a good idea to take the kids during the week with it being a school night.”

“Nope!” said Suzie happily. “It’s not school time right now! We’re on break for the next week!”

I blinked. “You are?” I glanced at the calendar and realised that they were right. That was weird. Usually, my break lined up with… Oh right, the surge of trainers had forced me to move it earlier in the year and my week break didn’t line up with the school holiday.

I’d… forgotten then. “Oh, sorry, I hadn’t realised,” I said, feeling oddly ashamed.

Suzie kicked her feet. “That’s okay! You’re busy! We understand!”

I chewed my lip and looked up to find that Flint was looking a bit dejected, as were some of the others, like Cindy and Billy. I licked my lips. “How about we do it? Head out during the week and stay the night? I couldn’t guarantee any Clefairy…” I trailed off.

Actually, that was a lie, I could probably get my Clefairy to lure out some of his family to play with my siblings… He might like the chance to reconnect. “Well huh, I could do that as well.” I looked to Flint. “How’s Thursday or Friday sound?”

Flint beamed at me. “Sounds great son!” he said.

I gave him a hesitant smile and ignored the weird feeling at hearing him call me son.

Instead, I turned my attention to Tilly, who was trying to feed Munchlax her meal. When I spotted Yolanda giving me a megawatt smile, I rolled my eyes at her.

Sabrina didn’t make an appearance, but I traded messages back and forth with her before going to bed. When the bedroom filled with a flash of light, I adjusted so that she could slip into my arms and fall asleep without a word being said.

Before the sun rose I once more was out training with the Guardians before making my way home to train some more with Yolanda and my pokemon.

I paid special attention to Teddiursa and the little guy seemed to delight in the attention. I had my elite pokemon rest up and like they’d done for the workout they’d gotten to watch, they’d laid down and watched the others train. It rather reminded me of people laying on divans watching gladiator matches, especially with how Bertha waved her hand about and warbled for Titan to fetch her some water and berries. She only got a flat, unimpressed look before he turned away, ignoring her antics. Sanchez decided to join her game and took up fanning her with a Lilleep until I caught him at it and had him release the grass type.

In the meantime, Quirrina worked with Clefairy, who I’d need to think up a name for fairly soon.

After breakfast, I strode into my Gym feeling good about the week. I had a plan and was making serious strides in improving myself and my pokemon. Most of the big names had come through the Gym, and things were starting to wrap up while my own personal goals were being reached.

I accepted the schedule from Alexa and saw a list of names and challenges listed off, only to stop as I realised I wasn’t done with interesting people.

There was a big name here that I recognised.

“Ritchie from Frodomar City, huh?” I said out loud.

This would be another of Ash’s future rivals making an appearance. I tilted my head. This was the kid that had a Pikachu, a Charmeleon, a Butterfree… what else did the kid have? I felt like there was something else that made this kid interesting, specifically to me.

Why was that? What made this kid interesting?

“Oh! This trainer has also requested some time with you this afternoon. They’ve even paid for one of their pokemon!” said Alexa, having noticed my attention on Ritchie’s name.

“Yeah? That’s rare for a trainer to pay the fee for time with me. What pokemon?”

“A Larvitar!” Alexa said.

I stopped. Oh damn, that was right. Ritchie had a Pupitar in the series, didn’t he?

“Tell Yolanda to sit in on this tutoring session; she might have some good pointers to add, and she might enjoy meeting another Larvitar trainer.” I tapped Ritchie’s name once again.

Well, that certainly made today much more interesting.