Hard Enough

“Muhahahahaha!” shouted Yolanda from atop the volcano.

I stared long and hard, having been told about this behaviour but fully expecting it to be a lie. A ruse. A fallacy that they’d used to lead me astray.

“Yes, good, but make sure to get the lean back right,” Sabrina said, correcting my little sister’s posture so she was leaning back slightly and looking just that slight bit more unhinged.

“I also like this pose,” Sabrina said as she slashed her hand across her mouth. “Ohohohoho!” she said, staring into the magma depths like someone she detests—probably Karen— was being slowly lowered into it.

“Ohhhh!” said Cindy and Yolanda; both of them clapped their hands and then turned to me.

“Outsider!” they cried. I tripped on a rock trying to flee only to lurch as I found myself laying on the floor next to my bed.

I sat up and glanced around. “It was a dream?” I said, checking to make sure Sabrina wasn’t standing just out of sight. I checked the clock on my bedside table and shook myself in frustration.

It was three o’clock in the morning, I had hours before I needed to be out doing anything.

I settled back down and tried to sleep, but the dream lingered. If Sabrina had been seen doing something... No, that wasn’t a question, I’d caught her doing plenty of embarrassing things during our journey.

She’d initially tried to hide it but she was an avid doll collector. When we’d gone through towns it wasn’t unusual for her to linger and find if there were any doll shops in the town. She’d usually buy out every doll she could find before sending it off. Initially, she’d tried to do this without me knowing about it.

Then I’d caught her, and she’d tried to whack me with a stick hard enough to make me forget, saying that she didn’t want me to think she was weird or childish. That had resulted in a ten-minute game of keep away with me shouting at her how I thought it was a fine hobby.

These days, Sabrina had a room that was more like a giant showroom for her dolls. She also had contacts with the dollmakers for direct orders for any limited edition dolls they made these days.

I quickly sent off a question to Sabrina to ascertain if she still bought dolls. Then I remembered the hour and realised she was probably asleep.

I blinked and stared at the ceiling. Why had I been thinking about her doll collection?

Oh right, Sabrina knew not to be embarrassed by things like this. She’d just own it.

Yeah, there would have been no reason for her ‘forget me stick’ or delete the memories if I caught her teaching my siblings to cackle maniacally into the volcano. She’d have just taught the girls to own it.

I nodded to myself and settled back down, safe in my logic.

I had a strange sense of deja vu as I marched up around to the back of the reserve to find Yolanda standing atop the volcano rim with Missy. Both of them were sipping something while they stared into the lava that bubbled up.

I approached cautiously. Sabrina, I could be sure of, but if Missy was doing it…

Missy noticed me and waved her hand. “Morning Brock! This is quite the engineering feat!” she said.

I nodded. “Yeah, it takes a specialised engine to turn the magma… or is it lava?”

Both girls tilted their heads. “Huh?” they said.

“It’s something to do with one of them being above ground… Eh, never mind it’s not important, but yes, Jennifer did get some people that were very good at their work to set this up.” I blinked as I realised both girls were lying on a pair of Graveler, while Growlithe lay across the girls’ laps.

“Hey, you dogs are supposed to be patrolling the perimeter,” I said with a fake grouchiness.

Both Growlithe shot up and barked before dashing away.

“Nooo Sir Barksalot!” Missy said.

I rolled my eyes. “You’re not calling them that,” I said.

Yolanda nodded along with me. "Yeah, Missy, I’ve already ordered tags for them, and we’re setting up a naming pool with my little brothers and sisters. They’re all super excited for it!”

I shot a finger at Yolanda. “Please tell me you didn’t,” I said knowing that there would be no way I could break my little brothers and sisters’ hearts if I denied them.

Yolanda shrugged. “Blame the timing of the Growlithe’s arrival. Jennifer was putting the final touches up on the volcano while you were out helping the League and she released the Growlithe. They patrolled the area and found our siblings.”

Yolanda tilted her head. “Or our siblings found them? Anyway, one thing led to another and then Jennifer was calming things down by suggesting that we each get to name a puppy.”

“Ah,” I said. I lowered my finger. There wasn’t much I could say about that, then, was there? That had been rather well handled, all told.

And speaking of pokemon. “How’s Munchlax and Eevee been since our trip up to Mt Moon? I know they kind of got beaten up.”

Yolanda bobbed side to side only to fall back as the Graveler she’d been resting on rolled away.

“Bluh!” she said as she fell to the dirt. She huffed as she stood up and coughed. “They’ve been well, I spoke to them about how things went down. Munchlax was a bit sad at first but then I pointed out all the ways that he helps by being a companion. Whenever Suzie, Billy, or one of the others is sad he’s there to give them a hug and help out.”

I nodded, only to then tilt my head. “How often… has that happened recently?”

“Not as much since Dad came home, but I think it was a really good idea catching him and making him part of the family,” Yolanda said.

I scratched my cheek. “I was half expecting them to be making their way out here for morning training sessions,” I said, ignoring the first part of that comment.

“Eevee might, but I think Munchlax is happy with his role in the family right now.” Yolanda shrugged. “I will talk with Eevee again, just to be sure. She doesn’t need to do anything if she doesn’t want to.”

“I should do that as well,” I said as I looked over at Yolanda. "Otherwise, good job. That was really considerate of you.”

Yolanda nodded and then sighed loudly. “I’d… kind of hoped that she would have been interested in getting stronger with how she came along with us.”

“Hmmm?” I said, prompting Yolanda to keep talking.

Yolanda waved her hand expansively. “It’s just… imagine if I could be one of those trainers that starts off with almost a whole team ready to go? Terra will take a while, but if I had Munchlax and Eevee, along with a Growlithe? I’d be unstoppable!”

I hummed. “I can’t say my first reaction is positive for that with the traditional start being one pokemon, but… you’re not wrong in that plenty of people do start that way.” I tilted my head. “It would be a good idea to look into… Actually never mind.” I shook my head, only for Yolanda to perk up.

“What? What’s your idea?” she asked.

“Well you could always try to catch a strong bug-type pokemon to offset Terra’s slow growth,” I suggested.

“A bug pokemon?” Yolanda said, blinking slowly.

I nodded. “Yeah, there’s plenty of trainers around that would be able to help you, plus they’re pokemon that grow quickly, so you’d have something strong when you set off.”

Yolanda frowned and then looked to the side. “You know… I never really thought about bug pokemon, I guess I just assumed I shouldn’t get one because some of my friends might find them creepy.”

It was my turn to tilt my head. “Crystal and Greta would be creeped out by a bug?”

Yolanda shot me an unimpressed look. “Hahaha,” she said flatly. “You’re sooooo funny,” she said. “I have more friends than just them!” she said, chopping her hand in my direction.

“Hmmm, I’ve never seen them?” I said jokingly.

“Just for that I'm organising a sleepover this week, and we're all going to camp out in the loungeroom!” she said.

“Sounds great,” I said, amused at how annoyed she was. “I’d love to meet your friends.”

Missy giggled, reminding me that she was here. I glanced at her only to find that she’d been swarmed by four Growlithe. “You two are so cute!” she said, glancing between Yolanda and me.

I merely chuckled and waved to Missy. “So, you ready to form up the hood? I have the components all set, we just filter it into a mould and then bake it over with… magma before putting it on Rhydon and having him take a dip.”

Missy sat up, Growlithe still hanging off her. “Let’s do it!” she said as she released her Rhydon and set out the mould we’d had made up to fit. Rhydon happily sat as we attached small pieces of the armour onto him. As it took shape I had to whistle in surprise.

“Playing to his strengths with defensive power?” I said attaching another segment of armour to the neck. We’d gotten the helmet put together and now we're creating an interlocking weave around his neck.

Missy nodded. “Yup, oh! Careful! I want him to still be able to turn his neck, but the idea of the positioning there is to create better odds that hits going for his head and neck just won’t have as much impact as they should.”

“Critical resistance?” I said, surprised.

Missy nodded. “There are quite a few trainers in the top ten who have pokemon like Izumi that are fully evolved and aim for such attacks. I’m covering my bases early,” she said.

“Nice foresight,” I replied. I made a mental note to find out which Ace trainers had such pokemon.

Yolanda, Terra and a few Growlithe pups watched us for a while. When we were done we stepped back and gave Rhydon a serious look over.

“Alright! Like we practiced, I need to see if you can do all the movements I hope for!” Missy said. She then led him through a series of callisthenics as I watched on. I rubbed my chin and considered the actions, or more specifically, the ranges of motion.

I then turned away and walked to the edge of the volcano. In hindsight, I should have done this earlier. “BERTHA!” I shouted. “I need you up here!” I called.

A rumble announced that Bertha had heard me and she stormed up the volcano. As the dust settled I blinked and sighed. “Put the Growlithe down,” I said patiently.

Yolanda giggled. “I was wondering where Spot and the other two were!”

I raised a finger. “You called a Growlithe, a pokemon known for its stripes…” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’m not sure I want to know,” I said firmly. Part of me actually liked that name.

“It was Sabrina’s idea!” Yolanda said with a grin.

I chopped a hand in her direction. “That makes too much sense!” I said, my faux-seriousness making her break into giggles.

Bertha put down the puppies and I directed her to stand next to Rhydon.

“Hmmmm, copy his movements please Bertha,” I asked, settling in to see what was and wasn’t accounted for. With a comparison point to what Rhydon would be evolving somewhat into, we’d have a better idea of what ranges were possible and I made sure to point out areas that I found were useful.

“The hands, large as they are, act as both shields and hammers, also the tail can be a highly useful point to reinforce without too much issue. Your pokemon has gone through gravity training so once he evolves the increased weight on these structures shouldn’t bother him.”

“Oh! Good point!” Missy said as she laid on a few more armour segments. Bertha watched for a few moments before realising what was going on. She then started pointing at all of the exposed parts and poking her finger into them.

“Rhy! Rhy Rhy!” she said.

I chuckled. “We’re not just slapping these on him willy-nilly Bertha, we’re going to be applying them in these points.”

Bertha huffed and sat down, acting like Suzie when she didn’t get second dessert. I chuckled and turned my head away only to pause.

“I should probably call Bianca and Stephen for this… shouldn’t I?” I asked, somewhat rhetorically.

Yolanda grinned. “Yeah, I think they’d like to see this!” Then she smirked. “Salvadore as well.”

I coughed. Some days they were always around and I just seemed to forget about them. Guess that shows how well they’d slotted in. I tapped out a message for all three of them with Salvadore being the fastest to arrive. The other siblings and Flint wandered in after him.

By the time the other two researchers had come, it was well and truly morning with the sun rising up and more than a few gym trainers having come by to feed the pokemon in the reserve.

When they were done they joined us.

Missy finally declared that she was happy with the protector arrangement and I glanced over to Stephen and Bianca, who each had a trio of cameras set up and were documenting the process while Salvadore had his Xtransciever out..

“All ready?” I called.

“Ready!” called the researchers. I waved Missy on and she swallowed fearfully.

“Alright Rhydon, take it slow wading into the—” Missy started to say only for Rhydon to roar and charge into the magma/lava.

I shifted over to Stephen. “Is it Magma or Lava?” I asked from the side of my mouth.

“Magma is below the surface, lava is what is exposed to the surface,” said Stephen absently.

“You didn’t know that?” said Salvadore, suddenly popping up next to me.

“What? No! Of course, I did!” I said coughing and looking away.

“Obviously Brock!” said Yolanda cheekily.

I huffed at her and turned my attention back to watching Rhydon wade into the lava with a grin as Missy stood as close as she possibly could to scold him.

Bertha merely laughed and waded in herself, her hide extremely resistant to the lava.

She hissed a little before sighing and grinning as she sat down, watching as Rhydon got lower and lower. Just as his neck was the only part of him left unsubmerged, he began to glow with the light of evolution.

“It’s working!” Missy said, her chastisement vanishing.

“Submerge him fully!” I said. “We don’t know if the work on his neck and head will need to be submerged to properly bind!” I called out.

“Oh! Shoot! You’re right! Rhydon! Kneel!” she called. Rhydon dipped down and vanished under the molten rock, but the glow lit up the lava making it obvious where he was.

I glanced around and hummed. “We should all step back and get some fire-resistant pokemon ready!” I said.

I tossed out a trio of pokeballs and released Shin, Shrek, and Selene. All of them rotated towards the light and they locked onto the target.

Everyone took a number of steps back and eyed me. “Why?” said Bianca.

I glanced at Bertha. “If he acts anything like Bertha then his evolution reveal is going to be rather… abrupt,” I said.

My pokemon leaned forward as everyone took another step back.

The glow died off and my pokemon leaned forward and inhaled, ready to blast any eruption of lava.

Rhyperior, Missy’s newest pokemon, gently stood. His grin stretched his face as small interlocking armour plates clicked together while he stretched his neck. He waded forward out of the lava. I tilted my head.

“Huh, alright it must have just been Bertha that erupted out when she evolved,” I said.

“Rhy!” Bertha chimed shooting up to her feet only to receive a pair of light blasts of water that caused her to stumble. She shot a betrayed look at the water pokemon and put a hand to her chest while pretending to be innocent.

They all snorted, not buying her act.

I whistled and jerked my head to indicate she should get out. Just because she could endure lava baths didn’t mean it was something she should do long-term.

She grumbled and wadded out, a clump of the lava having stuck to her due to the water solidifying it. She slammed her fist into a rock and shattered both rocks.

The newest Rhyperior emerged a moment later and I had to reach out and snag Missy to stop her from burning herself. “Careful, he’s fresh out of the oven, let him cool off first,” I said, waving a hand towards Shin.

Shin sprayed a light deluge of bubbles that burst upon contact and sent large plumes of steam up into the air.

Rhyperior shook his head and rumbled at the contact, annoyed but able to endure the weak powered move until he no longer steamed. I released Missy and she skipped forward to grab her pokemon by the arm. “Eeeeeee! Look at you! You’re so big now!” she said.

“He is!” said Bianca. “Quick! Bertha! Come over here and stand next to him. I want to compare the two of you!” she said eagerly.

I watched Bertha march up to the newest Rhyperior and inspect him.

Rhyperior preened at the attention, causing Bertha to pause and do a double take. Rhyperior jerked his head up and down a few times while crooning.

“Oh, I’ve seen Bertha do this before,” I said, feeling a sudden weight sink into my gut.

He would probably find Bertha attractive, wouldn’t he? I hadn’t thought about this. I glanced over to Bertha to see how she reacted.

Bertha blinked, only to throw her head back and roar with laughter.

I grimaced. “Oh, ouch,” I said, feeling bad for Rhyperior.

Stephen tilted his head. “Did he just—” he shot a glance to my watching siblings. “Solicit... her?”

Missy blushed and nodded, only for Rhyperior to jerk his head at Bertha. Bertha stopped laughing and shot him an amused look. She wagged a finger back and forth before pointing towards Titan.

Rhyperior looked over and started sizing up Titan.

I hummed at this new development. It seemed the new kid wanted to see how he matched up.

Titan snorted and flexed a claw. He then leaned down and picked up a pebble, then while looking Rhyperior dead in the eyes, he flicked it as hard as he could into the lava on the other side of the pool.

It caused a huge burst of lava to shoot into the air and made Rhyperior pause in his aggression and re-evaluate his chances. He picked up a pebble himself and flicked it into the lava.

He got a much smaller ripple. I held in a snort.

Yes, Titan had thrown it harder, but he’d also known where to throw his pebble to get the maximum effect.

Bertha patted Rhyperior on the shoulder and then skipped over to Titan.

I grimaced. “Double ouch,” I said, feeling bad for Rhyperior.

He sank to the ground and Missy patted him on the head, now within her reach.

“There there, we’ll find you a nice…” Missy glanced to Bianca for cues.

“Well Rhyperior is part of the Monster and Field egg group so he will have a surprisingly large number of potential mates that are available to him! There’s Snorlax, Blastoise, Feraligatr, Arcanine, Arbok, Raticate—” Bianca then proceeded to rattle off a large list of pokemon leaving Missy reeling, while Rhyperior perked up the longer the tirade went on.

“Well, as long as he’s got plenty more Magikarp to fish for,” I said with a laugh.

A chime and a robotic voice made me look to the side where I spotted Greta had arrived and had her pokedex raised. “Rhyperior, the Drill pokemon! Not much is known about this pokemon but it is a known evolution of Rhydon! The first modern discovery of this pokemon was thanks to the Pewter Gym Leader, Brock. It is a Ground-Rock typed pokemon that boasts tremendous power and endurance. Rhyperior has been shown to be capable of shooting smaller pokemon out of the holes in its palms, allowing it great range. Small drilled borings inside the palm holes improve accuracy! This Rhyperior knows Stone Edge, Protect, Earthquake, Megahorn, and Hammer Arm.”

Missy perked up. “Oh! Wow, you learnt Megahorn! You didn’t know that before!” she said proudly.

“A bug-type move,” I said. “That’ll help give him some versatility against a number of different pokemon.”

Missy pumped her fists, “Yosh! With this, we are so ready to kick things up another notch!” She turned to me. “After we’re done with the tournament coming up, can I take two weeks off?” she said bowing and clapping her hands above her head.

“Just file for it, you’ve got the time built up from the last few months for leave, I have no doubt,” I said with a wave of my hand.

Missy grinned and pointed to a flat patch of land. “Rhyperior! Let’s test out your new form!” she said. “Let’s destroy that training area!” she shouted gleefully.

My siblings cheered at this only to whine when I snatched them up. “Oh, no you don’t. You kids have school!”

“No we don’t!” said Cindy.

I snorted. “Ha! Fool me once, shame on you! I checked your school calendar.” I nudged her towards the house. “Go have breakfast! You can tell all the kids about what you witnessed!” I said.

That got her to trot away quicker. The others followed her quickly, just as eager to tell their friends about what they’d gotten to observe.

I turned back to my pokemon and waved for them to follow me down to the Elite training area where I led everyone through some light stretches and activities. The pokemon that hadn’t fought against Team Rocket and Mewtwo got to fight freely but others merely went through slow gliding motions.

Empress, I had paired with Titan to keep an eye on her as she worked through the poses.

I otherwise had to work with Lileep and Cradily more today, getting them up to snuff with powerful defensive moves while also having as much versatility as possible.

“Remember when you are making an explosive movement, you want to put your whole body into it suddenly. It’s not enough to just do it, it needs to be fast. The faster the action the less time a pokemon will have. You might not be quick in a race but you can still have explosive reactions. You want your body to be like a willow tree in how it can whip around.”

I raised up some baseballs that I had from training the kids during the off-season. “We’re going to practise catching these with a few Geodudes throwing every now and then, and then I am going to call for you to leap and I want you to do that fast. Don’t think, just react,” I said.

I then stepped back and joined the pokemon throwing baseballs at, or past the grass-rock pokemon.

A few times the baseballs hit but most of the time they were swatted down or ensnared well enough that I had no doubt that both pokemon would be great grapplers given time. I’d need to start matching them against larger pokemon to give them practice coming to grips with and disengaging pokemon on the fly.

“Leap!” I called and both of them twitched violently before leaping in different directions.

“Excellent!” I said, not commenting for now on the twitch of hesitation. That would come later.

I signalled the Geodudes to return to throwing. When Cradilly and Lileep were worn out I waved for Teddiursa to move into the middle. Empress shot me a pointed glare and I waved her off before working Teddiursa on some dodge training.

“We’ll start with two Geodude along with myself alright, bud?” I said tossing up a baseball.

“Tedd!” he said, clenching both fists.

I grinned and set him through his paces. For the next five minutes, he dodged, ducked, dived, dipped, and dodged as best he could. Empress gave me very pointed looks whenever I got in a hit, but I ignored her.

When I was done Teddiursa was huffing and puffing but seemed very proud of himself. “Nice work little guy, that was some good dodging out there. I think you’ll be up to four throwers next round, hop up on Empress’ shoulder for this next game,” I said.

I then marched back to the shed and got a very specific bag. Every single one of my older pokemon perked up and wandered over upon seeing the giant bulging bag.

“Alright gang we have twenty minutes to play tag with these! The pokemon with the least paint on them by the end is the winner but there is no soaring off or hiding underground or underwater. You have to stay in the open and on the reserves.

“Rhy! Rhy! Rhy!” Bertha said, nodding quickly and making a gimme gesture.

I very specifically did not give one of the balls to her.

Instead, I opened the bag and spun, sending balls soaring through the air in great arcs around me. I then bolted for cover, snatching up a ball and hurling it at Sanchez as I passed him.

His spherical body was making it tough for him to lean down.

An older golem rolled past him and laughed as they swept up the ball Sanchez had been trying for before throwing it at an Onix. I paused, wait, had that been Dwayne?

Onix caught the ball in its mouth and then spat it back.

Out of instinct, I dodged to the side and a cluster of balls that were meant for me sailed past.

I shot Bertha a smug look only to have to throw myself out of the way of another ball.

Izumi barked a laugh and nailed me with her next throw, only for Titan to basketball bounce a ball off her.

He grinned as he dribbled a ball around, leaving a trail of bright blue marks with each bounce.

It almost looked like he was trying to emulate a basketball player with his dribbling, except he tried to bounce the ball off smaller pokemon as he moved.

His little game resulted in him taking on an absolute riot of colours with the hits he was taking.

Empress only had a few colours as it seemed not many were willing to hit her.

Teddiursa was unhit.

I grabbed a nearby ball and lobbed it overhand to bop him on the snout.

He whined at the bright pink colouration and Empress whipped around and smacked a ball with her tail to nail me back.

I skipped to the side, dodging the ball. I exhaled in relief, that had been close.

“Teddi!” growled Teddiursa, pointing with a claw.

His ‘mount’, Empress, nodded and stormed after me, grabbing a ball for each of them to toss at me as they closed leaving me green and red for my efforts. When they tried again I leapt behind a boulder and found myself face to face with a mohawk touting Sanchez.

“Go! Go Golem!” he said.

I nodded and opened my mouth to form a plan only for him to slap a purple ball into my face.

I gave him a highly unimpressed look. “Et tu?” I said, making him tilt his head slightly. I snatched the ball from him and bopped him in the face.

He just cackled.

His cackling resulted in Dwayne, my former Elite Golem, rounding the corner with a set of balls in each hand.

The next ten minutes passed with many softballs being thrown my way and a lot of colour being spread around the reserve.

More than a few times I had to remind my Elite pokemon to ease up as this was supposed to be a game.

My new Zubat ended up having to give up on her attempts to tag Zephyr.

The larger flying type was easily able to keep the harassing Zubat from landing a hit.

Zubat ended up laying on a rock gasping for breath while Zephyr landed and lightly tagged her with a yellow ball before he flew off.

I might have been mistaken, but I thought I saw Zubat twitch with annoyance. If she’d had eyes, I would have assumed she was glowering. It seemed she’d found a target for herself though so I hoped that helped to motivate her.

By the end of the game, Cradily, who’d escaped being hit by a ball at all, was declared the winner. I then set my water-type pokemon to clean up with judicious uses of Surf. A few of my pokemon however wanted to keep the colour and I decided to roll with it for the day.

When I later unveiled Izumi in all her rainbow glory, one trainer had a fit thinking I was sending out a rare geodude against him. I just smiled and sent her out. When my next coloured pokemon came out it earned a small laugh from the crowd that had gathered for the lunchtime show of a fourth-tier challenge.

A colourful Sudowoodo was a rather amusing sight after all, and when he threw punches small bursts of chalk powder burst off him causing an accidental staggering of his foe.

The Ivysaur he’d been facing had been, until that point, doing rather well. Then, with the powder splashing over them they got blinded long enough for Sudowoodo to bash them into unconsciousness.

The trainer ended up having to send out a Seadra to sweep the field clean.

“Impressive,” I commented, eyeing the powerful water-type pokemon.

“Thanks, she took a lot of training!” the proud trainer said, her chest puffed out as far as it would go.

I chuckled. “Are you going to try and get her to evolve further?” I asked.

The girl wilted. “I want to but the only one that people know of is Lance’s, and what am I supposed to do? Just walk up and ask him?” she said.

I made a so-so gesture. “It isn’t the worst idea, but remember that most pokemon only evolve through a few methods,” I said.

The girl blinked up at me before reaching out and grabbing a notepad. “I’m listening,” she said eagerly.

I chuckled and set about detailing the methods of evolving most pokemon to her. I made sure to lean a little into the item description with examples of dragon-type items that might help and also how Kingdra was water-dragon typed.

The girl furiously scribbled all of this down like it was gospel before peeking up at me. “Uhm, I’ve heard that you’re doing an end-of-year camp for Pewter trainers… is there any chance others could join that?”

I smiled. “Yes, they just have to ask,” I said, tapping the side of my nose. “Talk to the receptionists about having your name put down but keep that a secret alright? I only have limited space,” I whispered to her.

She nodded seriously and I laughed before directing her to have a photo taken.

Later that afternoon Alexa walked up to me and handed me a small stack of papers. “What’s this?” I asked.

She smiled slowly and widely, in a manner that promised me great suffering. “The applicants for the camp at the end of the circuit,” she said. “At least the ones that have applied so far.”

“Ah,” I said, realising that once again I really, really should have kept my mouth shut.

Ah, hello, past actions; you’ve come back to bite me in the backside, I see.

I sighed and let my head fall forward. Alright, time to try and sort through this mess.