Hard Enough

Breakfast on Monday was slightly different than usual. The family were still eating at around the same time, and I had a few newspapers laid out which I was reading through to keep abreast of the latest developments regarding Lance’s announcement.

On a local newspaper, the headline read ‘Vote of no confidence passes for Mayor Jonathan! Time for a change!’.

Jennifer had kept me informed of this and I’d happily told her to go for the throat when news broke. Mayor Jonathan had made his bed months ago and was now having to lay in it.

None of this was too unusual. The unusual part was how my siblings clustered around Yolanda.

“You’re going to come back with presents, right?” asked Cindy, as she tried to adopt a cutesy tone of voice.

Yolanda stared at her sister. “Does coal count?”

I snorted and I caught Flint’s lips twitch upwards before he smothered it and coughed. “Now Yolanda, that’s being unkind.”

“Is it?” Yolanda said with a tilt of her head. “Where’s my favourite hairbrush? My hair ties? My limited edition clefairy jumper?”

Cindy reeled back. “T-that! This and that aren’t related! I said I had no idea where those were!”

Yolanda snorted. “And if I checked the bottom of the clothes pile in your cupboard, they wouldn’t be there?”

Cindy didn’t meet her older sister’s gaze. “No?” she said with a dull whimper.

It twinged my heart to see her acting like this.

It wasn’t very effective on Yolanda who merely snorted. “I’ll have to see about getting a gift for you,” she said.

“What about me?” asked Salvadore.

“I’ll find something interesting in Celadon, I’m sure,” replied Yolanda confidently. I nodded. Beyond the huge department store, there were a number of boutique bookstores that Sabrina and I had enjoyed visiting on our way through Celadon.

I hadn’t needed to stop thanks to already having the badge from Erika’s predecessor, a woman named Rose that may have been an auntie, I believe.

I leaned forward. “What about me? Anyone going to ask me to get them something?” I asked.

My little siblings turned as one with blank expressions. “But you’re going to do it anyway?” said Tommy.

I blinked. “Well… I might not?” I said.

My little siblings stared at me. I could see the disbelief clearly in their gazes. They turned their attention back to Yolanda. I slumped. Was it a good thing, or a bad thing that they were so sure of themselves with me?

Flint’s shoulders hitched up and down a few times. I huffed at him only to pause as I felt someone tug at my shirt. I looked down to find Munchlax staring up at me with Baby-doll eyes.

“Munch?” he said while pointing at his open mouth.

I snorted. “Sure, I’ll get you some good food,” I said deciding, that I’d make a point of making it extra nice just for his asking.

A rocky fist slammed onto the table next to me and I looked down to find Nanny Grav with a magazine cut out about a clothes steamer that could be deployed in a cupboard thanks to miniaturisation technology.

It was on sale.

I glanced up at Nanny Grav and she nodded seriously. I had to blink. “You can read this?” I asked.

Nanny Grav pinched her fingers together and made a so-so gesture. Salvadore leaned around Yolanda. “She watches the educational channel while we're at school or she watches it with us. She’s picked up a lot!”

“Huh,” I said, impressed with her. I looked at the cost and had to whistle in surprise. This certainly wasn’t something that you’d find in any run-of-the-mill house. A quick glance at the other products on sale had me tilting my head.

“Hey? Who ordered this magazine?” I asked, glancing around and discovering a small stack of other magazines on a side table that I hadn’t really paid much attention to until now.

“Oh! I set that up for Nanny Grav!” Salvadore said.

Flint and I stared at him. “When?” we said as one.

Salvadore, suspecting he might have blundered, stepped back slightly and coughed. “I did it when you… gave me your card to buy those scientific journals and magazines? She was with me and found one about household goods and cleaning supplies…”

Flint and I shared a look. I twitched my head in a ‘do you want to explain it to him’ gesture, only for Flint to shake his head slightly and wave me on.

I coughed. “Right, well, what you did was nice first off, but you should have asked first. That wasn’t your money to spend, and you shouldn’t have just assumed that you could spend it. What if I needed that money, or had plans for it?”

“But you don’t? You’re rich?” Salvadore said. Flint shifted at that and I could see a flash of worry forming in his eyes. I felt the same way. I didn’t want Salvadore, or indeed the rest of my family to become entitled. While they weren’t going to need anything, they needed to be grounded in their views on money, I felt.

“Yes, but again, that’s not the point. Let’s say I saw that charge and thought someone had hacked my account. I cancelled my card and cancelled all payments to the magazine company.” Then you and Nanny Grav would be waiting around for magazines that wouldn’t come and you might blame the magazine company where it’s been an issue of something not being expressed clearly.”

I moved my hands so they were apart. “It is a gap in communication that starts small but can play out bigger. As it is, I might rethink handing you my card in the future as I’m not sure you might buy something else with it.”

Salvadore blinked and considered this. “Oh, I... didn’t think about it like that.”

I nodded, pointedly not looking at all the other eyes watching this interaction and noting down how it went. I was sure they were forming their own opinions of it. I made sure to turn to Nanny Grav who was contritely crushing her magazine as she wringed it in her hands.

“I’m not mad, Nanny Grav, it isn’t an issue, and I think you should keep getting magazines, and if you’d like other things, then ask me or anyone else in the family. It’s just that if I’m paying for it, I don’t want to have it snuck past me.”

Nanny Grav nodded at this, and I shot Flint a look. He nodded and mirrored me.

“Hmmm~,” hummed Yolanda happily as she watched me and Flint share a proud parent moment.

I rolled my eyes and stood. “You done? I think it’s time to meet up with the others so we can be teleported to Celadon.”

“Yup!” said Yolanda, as she picked up her backpack. It had enough clothes in it for a week and then some. As an official pokemon trainer backpack, she could store a staggering number of items in there if required. A bare week spent in a hotel wasn’t going to test her too badly.

I said my goodbyes, making sure that Gible was well situated with my fourth badge team before finding Rachel, Greta, Missy, and A.J. all set to depart. Zubat fluttered down onto my shoulder and for a moment I considered making her stay at home before shrugging. She was small enough to not be a bother and it would be good for her to watch the matches in person so to speak.

“You’re late!” said A.J. grouchily.

I shrugged. “Sorry about that; you can’t really rush little kids sometimes." Yolanda hummed knowingly but didn’t say anything about how it was, in fact, me being too slow with some of the tasks I needed.

A flash of light stopped any further probing of who was at fault as Sabrina appeared and looked us all over. “Ready?” she asked.

“Yup!” I said, and with another two pokemon being released from Sabrina, our group vanished in a Teleport for Celadon city.

Celadon City was set up for the tournament, with a good deal of the hotels being booked out. With our Teleport points, we didn’t really need to stay in Celadon, but I wanted to give Missy, Greta, and A.J. the most authentic experience of being at a tournament.

There was also more to gain from staying with the chance to spend time talking with fellows. I had no doubt we’d learn a lot from the immersion with the various trainers.

“Hey! Fight me!” said A.J.

Or in A.J’s case, get into a lot of fights to test himself against some trainers that were well out of his weight class.

I stared as A.J. used his newly evolved Raticate to tangle with one of the Ace trainers. Yolanda stared with dead eyes while Missy just laughed.

Greta sighed. “I’d heard about this, but I hadn’t thought he was this bad,” she said.

“It’ll make some great photos and video content!” Rachel said as happily took some video footage to create a montage reel for A.J.. When she wasn’t doing that she wandered around gossiping with other people.

At first, I thought she was just talking about fashion and other things that Celadon was known for, but by keeping my ears open, I picked up that she was subtly prompting conversations to learn who was around for Ace trainers.

With that in mind I took to watching, A.J’s rather onesided fights with a new light. He might not have meant to do it, but there was information being picked up from these fights with how people fought.

It wasn’t a true indication of their skills, by any means, A.J. for all that he was a gifted trainer, didn’t have the diversity, experience, pokemon, or tricks that Ace trainers had picked up. But that didn’t stop me from garnering an idea of how some people fought, or how they acted. Most telling was their general character with how they responded to being challenged by someone that they saw as so beneath them.

“So, what are you looking for when you make your challenge?” I asked after his next defeat.

“Hmmm, oh, well you have to take in their clothes, their posture, the glint in their eyes, also if they have a hardness in their eyes. Also when you call out to them, they will sometimes give themselves away. Here watch—” He started to move towards one trainer only for my hand to shoot out and grab him.

“No more fighting; I wanted you to talk through your method. Yolanda and Greta have been missing what you’re doing,” I said, eying his twitching hands and giving his eyes a quick look into.

“I haven’t missed anything Brock!” said Yolanda, perking up straight away, “He’s been charging in to test himself and his pokemon for the last hour and slowing our progress to getting checked in!”

I waved a finger. “He’s not just doing that. There’s a bit of an art form to challenging the right people if you can. Now, I’ve been watching his fights and picking up some small details from the Ace trainers that he’s been fighting, but before that, and more specifically for yourself, his process of picking a match needs to be considered.”

I waved a hand about us. “Some people ignored A.J., some accepted him, and some sought to crush him.” I held up a finger, “But, and this is important, those rookie crushers were surprisingly rare.”

Yolanda tilted her head and glanced towards A.J. who had his hands stuffed into his pockets and was looking away with a faint smirk. He was obviously pleased I was complimenting him. Greta rubbed her chin knowing that this was something she’d be dealing with soon. I expected her to challenge or accept some challenges while we were here after all.

I had included her to deliberately take her out of her comfort zone.

“Now, A.J. had to have some cues to look for. Care to repeat them?” I said, gesturing towards Yolanda.

A.J. repeated himself and for the rest of the walk to the registration tent Yolanda, Greta and A.J. played a game of ‘guess if this would be a good match for you’.

“That one?” Greta said pointing causing the man being pointed at to perk up.

“No, he’s got an eagerness to him, also don’t point,” A.J. said while lowering Greta’s hand. “Just point with your chin or use clock directions like the one at eleven o’clock,” he said.

Yolanda nodded. “Seems solid, I don’t think I could win but I’d learn a thing or two and it looks like they wouldn’t push things too far.”

I nodded, pleased that they were all getting into the nuance of making the right challenges. In the games, it had all been about locking eyes with a trainer. In a real setting? Things like that could still play out but there was also the need to approach someone or accept their challenge.

I was happy to have achieved my two goals.

I’d gotten Yolanda and Greta to think a little more about this aspect of being a pokemon trainer, and I’d also distracted A.J.. With him distracted he wasn’t challenging people and slowing us down. Or, more importantly, he wasn’t passing out. He’d fought and lost a lot of pokemon within the last hour and he was rather close to whiting out having lost five straight matches like he had.

I caught Yolanda’s frown while they were talking and her eyes roaming his body, noting the pale colouration in his face, the slight tremor, and the creeping lethargy. When we passed by a cart selling food, I made sure to buy everyone something warm for them to eat and drink which had A.J. perking up.

When I reached the registration tent, we drew a few eyes with people pausing in recognition. I hummed, an idea of what was to come being hinted at as some people raised cameras or transceivers to snap up pictures. I tapped Yolanda, Greta, and A.J. before handing them a map of the tournament grounds.

“Can you two meet up with Rachel and set up the tent for us? We’ll be representing Pewter so I had a tent made up.”

Yolanda gave me a flat look and I coughed. “Alright, I asked Rachel and Alexa to get one made up!” I said with a huff.

Yolanda nodded before accepting the bag with the Gym’s emblem on it. A.J. perked up only for Greta to grab him by the back of the shirt and drag him much to his shock. I chuckled, pleased to see Yolanda wasn’t the only one for whom training was paying dividends to.

“That’s Sabrina’s boyfriend!” said a few people, making me pause before the entrance of the tent.

Well, that hadn’t been how I was expecting people to recognise me, but… well, with Sabrina’s star blazing so bright, it wasn’t surprising that people might have that view. I stepped into the registration tent and a hush fell over the people inside as I lined up.

It didn’t stop the whispers though.

“Shit! Brock’s here!”

“That makes seven of the top thirty!”

“I thought Chrysanthemum would have drawn more away!” said the first voice.

“It’s invite-only! Not for plebs.”

“And people like Brock, Masked Owl, Julia, Leo and Scarlet?” said the other.

I hummed, so those were the other top thirty trainers? There were one hundred and eight spots and seven of us were from the top thirty spots? It might be hubris, but I wasn’t worried about facing off against trainers in the top thirty to twenty position. I’d noticed that the difficulty increased significantly with my last two matches which were both top twenty.

I felt like the top ten… or even the top five would be where the strongest Ace’s would be.

When I reached the front of the line, the attendant asked for my trainer number, and I rattled it off easily. With a few clicks and a clatter of keys, I had officially completed my registration.

“You will be notified in half an hour when registration is finalised. You may attend the randomisation in person, or you may watch it through the link sent to your transceiver!” chirped the attendant, handing me a lanyard with my trainer ID and the words ‘ Tournament trainer’ printed in gold letters.

“Nice,” I said, turning and walking out of the tent and straight into an ambush from the media.

“Gym Leader Brock! What are your thoughts on Sabrina’s Mega evolution?”

“Who’s running the Gym while you’re fighting in this tournament?”

“How involved with the Team Rocket action were you!?”

“Where’s Sabrina?”

“Are you thinking of proposing anytime soon?”

“Do you have any commentary on Lt Surge’s injury!?”

“Which pokemon are you going to be using?”

“Are any new pokemon going to be revealed during the tournament?”

A wave of questions washed over me and a firing line of cameras went off, snapping pictures of me and almost causing me to stagger in the face of the sudden onslaught. Zubat opened her mouth and screeched, silencing the wave of reporters and making a few sound men grab their at their headsets and rip them off.

I shot my hand up and put a hand on her. “Easy girl!” I said. “Sorry! You startled her!” I said.

A few of the reports shot me dirty looks but I felt like they’d deserved that ambushing me like they had.

“Good work girl, I’m only pretending to be mad, you’re making them mind their manners,” I whispered quietly to her. I might just have to keep Zubat around more often if this was how she reacted.

I reached for my Xtransciever and tapped a button three times. With the ping sent out I knew that I’d get some backup in a few minutes, or potentially moments if Sabrina was free. That or Rachel would close in on me.

I smiled widely until then and saw to the needs of the crowd.

“Hello there! Thanks for coming out today!’ I said, only to catch sight of a harried-looking woman who was trying and failing to shift the crowd of reporters. “I might have to ask that we relocate to the side however as we’re blocking the main entrance and exit of the registration desk. I don’t want anyone to miss out so, let’s just shift a bit,” I said, miming a shove to the side.

The attendant shot me a thankful look as I led the crowd of reporters to a small green space where a few picnic tables had been set up. I claimed one of them and smiled gesturing for others to set themselves up.

Within a few moments the media circus had reestablished itself, and they had returned to attack positions with their microphones posed.

My Xtransciever pinged and I shot it a hopeful glance only for Sabrina’s message to confirm she’d just started a match and wouldn’t be able to bail me out for another twenty minutes at least. I huffed. She must have been facing someone with skill if it was going to take twenty minutes. Sabrina could dispatch people who weren’t up to standard within five minutes if she needed to and that was accounting for after-action talks with the trainer.

With the nebulous knowledge that I would have to rely on Rachel saving me. I decided to dip my toes into the pool of questions by starting with the easy ones.

“I want to assure everyone that the Pewter City Gym is still in operation and is being managed by some of our best trainers. For the duration of the Celadon Tournament, we have blocked ourselves out from accepting Gym challenges. This is to allow, myself and other Gym trainers to experience what a true ace Tournament is like, and to also allow the Gym to go through some repairs, refurbishment and decorating for this weekend.”

“What’s next weekend?” asked one reporter.

“I’m glad you asked,” I said, slipping into the rhythm of being interviewed. “Pewter Gym, if you have not been paying attention, will be hosting a Contest!” I said.

“What about Sabrina attracts you to her?!” shouted one frantic-looking reporter.

I almost chuckled. Perhaps Sabrina had used some foresight with her questions. I smiled straight into the camera, gave my true, and practised answer.

“She’s got many attractive points about her beyond the obvious. Her mind and her body are amazing but pale in comparison to the depths of her heart. She’s an extremely kind individual and I’m fortunate to have her in my life.”

“Where were you during the recent League action?”

“I was in the thick of it,” I said. While raising a hand. “For operational security, I can’t divulge many details but I can tell you that fighting was fierce,” I said.

“What do you say about rumours that people were injured and killed? Guns were reported to be used?” said one reporter.

I hummed, surprised about the news of deaths, that little factoid hadn’t been revealed to me but it also hadn’t been something I’d looked into.

“I wasn’t aware that people died,” I said.

“Even though they were mostly Team Rocket?”

“They were still people.” I sighed. “I imagine there were more pokemon on that list as well?” I said and when he nodded I shook my head. “A shame,” I said, bowing my head and remaining silent.

The reporters copied me for a moment before the man coughed. “What about the guns?” he asked.

“I’m surprised you learnt about those, many have been seized,” I said neutrally. I wasn’t about to reveal I’d been shot at. This was a question we hadn’t considered and I might have failed to mention it to Rachel or my family.

“What are your thoughts on Steven’s revelation of his Mega-evolution?” The questions continued to come and I wondered how many they’d get before I could leave or I’d be rescued.

Rachel eventually saved me by dint of merely stepping in with a clipboard and a claim that she had serious Gym business. By that point, I was starting to get into the more hard-hitting, or particularly ‘fluff piece’ questions from the reporters, so I was glad to have an out.

I waved to the crowd and stepped away, spotting more than a few envious looks from other Ace trainers. I stepped back towards the microphone. “I’d sure be interested in what other Ace trainers’ takes were on the tournament,” I said, throwing a potential bone towards some of them.

Hopefully, they’d get a bit of screen time and turn that into something.

I marched off with Rachel. “Did you catch much of that?” I asked, stroking Zubat to calm myself down. It had been rather nice having a pokemon with me during the ordeal and her species notoriety for reacting to bright lights and noise had forced the reporters to keep calm and not shout.

Rachel nodded, raising up a small screen. “—you’ve heard it here from Brock! Now let’s hear from other Ace trainers! Hello there madam!” said a perky-looking Battlecast presenter.

I snorted and Rachel grinned. “You were handling yourself great. Nice work building up with the easy lobs first and then working on the other stuff.”

“I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised that people are more interested in Sabrina and I’s relationship,” I said.

Rachel just giggled. “The power couple of Kanto!” she chimed, leading me towards the tent that Yolanda, Greta, Missy and A.J. had assembled while I’d been registering. “Are we going to attend the randomisation?” she asked.

I hummed. “I think… it might be a good idea,” I said. “I heard a lot of people talk about the Chrysanthemum tournament that’s on about now, so maybe we need to help draw some attention back.”

I pointed at Yolanda. “Care to stick around here with A.J.? Missy, Greta and I will go sit for the ceremony and see who I’m going to face.”

Yolanda gave me a salute and I grabbed a drink to keep myself fresh. “Rachel, someone asked me about a catalogue of Mega stones, has that been circulating already?” I asked.

Rachel hummed. “I heard that question but wasn’t sure what to make of it, give me a moment.” She quickly began scrolling on her transceiver before making an ‘ah-ha!’

“Here! There’s a forum with some anonymous people citing that Steven is selling Megastones to the highest bidder or to people that he wants to do business with. They’re unsubstantiated but claim to be part of his former pokemon training team,” she said.

A.J scoffed. “Pokemon training team! Urgh! I hate that he’s a champion and can get away with that!” he said.

Greta shrugged and Yolanda looked thoughtful before turning to me. “Any truth to those claims?”

I sighed. “Yes he has a catalogue, I don’t think he showed me all of it when I came around but…” I sighed. “He did try to trade me a Mega Stone for something I wasn’t comfortable with, but he lowered his asking price quickly enough.”

Yolanda looked worried. “What did he ask for and what did you give him?”

I considered not telling her before shrugging. Yolanda was mature enough to tell. “That special cave,” I said, causing Yolanda’s breath to hitch in surprise. I waved a hand. “He asked for that but I worked him down to one of the Cradily that I personally trained.”

“Hmmm typical he doesn’t even train his pokemon!” said A.J. with a scowl. I shrugged, usually it wouldn’t work but when you had that many demands on your time, perhaps you delegated.

I finished my drink and waved for the girls to follow as I made for the central tent.

Once again, people perked up with our arrivals and when I marched up to the front and claimed a seat it was only a few moments before someone had placed a camera in front of my face to catch my reaction. When I looked around the room I found only one face, or rather mask, that was familiar to me.

Masked Owl, or rather, Walker, was standing with his back to a wall glowering, at everyone. When we locked eyes, tension formed and I knew I was in for a good match if I drew him.

A man wearing a flamboyant suit strode onto the stage. It took me a moment to recognise him as the official who had been the master of ceremonies for Erika and Will’s fight. “Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and pokemon of all ages, types and regions! Today marks the seventh annual running of our fair city’s tournament. I’d like to take a moment to thank all of the staff, volunteers, and trainers taking part! I hope to see this continue to grow, and I know that you will do us proud!” he said with a huge smile.

“And now! The moment you’ve all been waiting for!” the man gestured and a large orb filled with balls was shown. “For a true and unbiased randomisation, we are going to be running a lottery-style pick, with the balls falling into one of various channels that are visible!”

I hummed. I could already think of a few ways to cheat such a system with heavier balls, or the use of psychic pokemon but then again that was the sceptic in me. It didn’t mean they were doing anything of the sort.

I watched as the orb spun up the huge number of balls, all of them with numbers on them. Soon enough they fell into a host of tubes forming a chaotic order that was then projected up onto the listings.

Within a minute all one hundred and eight balls had been registered and the format was listed out on a large screen.

“Thank you for bearing with me! Trainers will soon be sent their matches but you can, if you’re keen-eyed, pick out your number from the back of your registration slip!”

I glanced at mine and hummed. Sixty-four. I waited and soon enough the lists autofilled with names.

The Master of Ceremonies continued to smile as the list was finalised. I felt my transceiver buzz and I opened the message file to find a name with an Ace trainer profile linked to it.

Carlos Goldman? Ranked one hundred and thirty on the Ace rankings? I tilted my head and looked over his pokemon. Hmmm, he had been active for a few years and he didn’t seem all that impressive. I clicked on some other links and found the bracket listings and within a few minutes of work, I had a good idea of who I’d potentially be facing.

Rachel squinted at the list. “Any big names on your side of the bracket?” she asked.

I tapped a name low on the bracket list. “If things go as I hope? I’ll be facing Masked Owl in the round of sixteen,” I said with a pleased expression. “He seems to be the highest-ranked person here as a top-ten-ranked trainer,” I said before a thought occurred to me.

I tilted my head. “How come he wasn’t invited to the Chrysanthemum tournament if it is considered more prestigious?” I asked.

Rachel hummed. “From what I have picked up. Masked Owl is a bit aloof and something of a loner. He doesn’t have any support crews like most Ace trainers or us, he just comes to his fights himself. So no one is really hyping him up or helping him. He is also not well respected by the rich money types that frequent that tournament. His whole Mask gimmick is not well received.”

“Hmmmm,” I said, contemplating how I felt about Walker doing what he was.

I didn’t like the mask either, but that was mainly because it seemed he was hiding in plain sight with it. I had little doubt Lance knew… actually, on second thought. Lance probably had no idea what Walker was doing in the hopes of getting to challenge him. Lance had other things on his plate.

“Well, it’s a bit of a shame that we’ll fight in the preliminary matches and not at the final, but I suppose that’s the hazard of these types of draws. The two heaviest-weighted trainers can end up fighting each other.” I scratched my chin. “Shame they didn’t do seeding.”

Rachel coughed. “Actually due to Masked Owl’s flying type specialisation, he wasn’t seen as the favourite. There are a number of electric-type specialists in the round before your match with him and people have been turning their attention to a dark horse by the name of Scarlet!”

I tilted my head, intrigued. “Let’s talk back at the tent,” I’ll do some prep work on Carlos and decide which pokemon I will be using.” Rachel merely followed along.

“Just send out Titan, Empress, and Bertha from the get-go!” said A.J. with a firm nod.

I sighed. “I don’t think I want to bully Carlos, that seems a bit… unfair, to send out my literal strongest pokemon,” I said.

Yolanda hummed. “I would have rated Shrek as one of your strongest due to his showing against Will actually.”

Greta shifted and glanced around, not comfortable enough with her own thoughts to offer them up. Hmmm, I’d have to work on that, get her used to offering up suggestions.

Missy made a circle gesture. “A Tyranitar is a Tyranitar, and Bertha is Bertha.” she said with a firm nod.

“Hmmmm, I think I want to try testing myself a bit more.” I held up a hand to forestall any complaints. “I think I will send out some pokemon that haven’t been getting as much chance to shine. Like Shin, Hypnotoad, Jorm, Or…” I considered my options.

“Bertha?” prompted Yolanda.

I frowned. I had used her… Well, I hadn’t actually used her in a while to be honest, which rather surprised me. “Huh, I haven’t had to use her all that much, have I?” I blinked in surprise.

With how loud she was as a pokemon I was always aware of her but I hadn’t used her all that often.

“Yeah, I think I will use her in the first round if I get the chance to. Might use these first few rounds to give some pokemon that haven’t had much fight-time just that,” I said, liking the sound of that.

A round of fireworks boomed, signalling the start of the first matches. I glanced towards a map that we had pinned up, double-checking where I would have to go later this afternoon. The map showed that the grounds for the tournament had eight battlefields, along with the main stadium.

On each battlefield matches would be running nearly constantly to make up this rounds sixty-four matches that were to take place.

“There are going to be a lot of matches, aren’t there?” Yolanda said, somewhat mirroring my thoughts.

“Yeah, but things will get lengthened out again when they reach the round of sixteen, there will be a lot more strategy and that also opens things up for longer matches. They will double, if not triple in duration on that day.”

“How many fights do you need to win to reach that?” asked Yolanda.

I opened my mouth only to pause as an idea flashed up. “I’m not sure,” I said with a smirk, “How many matches do I need to win to reach the round of sixteen?” I said.

Yolanda rolled her eyes and started working on the math. When I could see she had the answer I held up a hand and made her write it down. I then turned my eyes open Missy and A.J. Greta’s hand shot up and I shook my head. “Let them answer sorry Greta,” I said knowing she was clever enough to have worked it out already.

Missy huffed. “It’s like being back in school!” Missy said.

A.J. scowled. “I don’t need to know that! I just need to win!” he said.

I shook my head. “But it will impact your strategy if you don’t know this. How many matches do I need to win before I am able to use six pokemon? This is important to know as when I use one pokemon I can’t use them with there being a carry over for the first round of six,” I said firmly. It also served as a good test of his mathematical ability.

If he couldn’t answer this I might have to send him to school a few days a week.

A.J. raised his fingers and started muttering under his breath. “Alright one hundred and eight, each round halves it…” Fingers started to drop and soon enough he had his answer.

“Three rounds to get to full team matches?” he asked.

When I raised an eyebrow, he coughed and straightened up, “You need to win three matches,” he said more convincingly.

I nodded. “How many matches do I need to win to take it all?”

“Seven,” A.J. said much more firmly.

“I like the sound of that, seven matches. Makes it lucky, no?” I then turned my attention to Rachel. “You were saying earlier that Masked Owl isn't the favourite despite being the highest ranked here. Who is the favourite to win it?”

“Well until you arrived people were talking up Scarlet, who’s a generalist but she has an Ampharos that knows a good spread of moves and has won this before. She has a number of different pokemon such as Vilplume, Pidgeot, Hitmonlee, Seaking, Starmie, Seadra, Raichu, Fearow, Tauros, and even has a Chansey.”

“A fighting Chansey?” questioned A.J. with a tilt of his head.

I nodded. “Well, that’s a potential threat then. Chansey can be powerful pokemon with the right set up, just like some of those other pokemon.” I drew up the brackets and saw that she was on the opposite side to myself and Masked Owl. “If everything goes right for both of us she will have six matches to review, my fighting strategies and pokemon as well.”

Missy nodded along but coughed. “Let’s focus on Carlos first. I wouldn't want you to go out the first round because you weren’t aware of some things, like the reduction to only three substitutes instead of six that a full match would allow.”

I nodded at that and started doing what I could in readiness. In truth, I was confident I could sweep the first few rounds. My first challenge would come with Masked Owl, but before that, I had to endure a few quick matches to reach him.

I found myself smiling as a small dream I’d long forgotten about rose to the forefront of my mind.

We’d never won a tournament during my Journey.

I licked my lips, it had been years, and my team was a lot more established now.

Could we do it this time? I sat forward and began getting serious, the others responding to my shift in posture to stop joking around as much. We still had our fun, but by the time my match with Carlos was called, I was determined to take the fight to him and then keep going.

It had been a long time since I’d wanted something.

But here and now? I wanted to win, and that felt damn good.

I gave the board with Carlos’ pokemon roster.

Poliwhirl, Magmar, Fearow, Beedrill, Butterfree, Machop, Breloom, two Vileplume, Raticate, Dugtrio and Graveler.

I crossed off some pokemon as terrible options for him to use and came up with an idea of what he’d use. Or rather, what I’d use against me as my best team of three.

“Bertha… Gawain…” I licked my lips. “Shrek,” I said, deciding on a strong team to start things off.

It was time to see how well I’d do.