Scyther parried the blow, and Shin, making sure not to over-commit, brought his second blade into play. I watched their exchange closely with a camera positioned on a tripod in front of me. For minor technique pointers, it made a world of difference to be able to highlight moments where my pokemon had done something right or wrong.

I was able to film at least two minutes of fighting before I noticed something.

“Hold!” I shouted. Shin and Scyther stopped, both of their blades ready to arc towards each other.

Scyther’s eyes flickered around for what I had noticed and Shin dropped into a relaxed pose. He bowed to Scyther and tapped the rock that he was now next to. I nodded and walked up.

“Shin’s right Scyther, he’s got you positioned in a bad spot. But not just because of the rock that he’ll be able to flick at you with his next sweep but because there is a gouge in the ground behind you that will trip you up when you take another step back.”

“Ka! Kabu!” said Shin as he pointed out another advantage he had. I hummed and reached down to the ground, my fingers running across the pebbles judgingly.

I stood and dusted my hands. “Hmmm, I’m going to have to disagree. The ground being slightly flaky might not have played into your favour.” I looked up to Scyther.

“Were you aware of it?” Scyther shook his head and I glanced up as Shin perked up. “Alright, if you knew he didn’t know, it would have worked as a surprise.” I inspected Scyther’s facial alignment and stood in his position before nodding.

Scyther buzzed his wings angrily. And I rubbed his head. “Hey, calm down you lasted two minutes in a melee which is great! In physical strength, you’re doing great. You’ve really been working well with the gravity drills! Your form is enough that I think we should reduce the amount working on the skill with your blades and instead work on your energy pool and endurance as much as possible.”

Scyther gave me a shocked look and I rubbed his head. “Hey, hey remember that your weapon of choice is going to change so we’ll need to reteach you if you adopt too many techniques with a longer blade. You have the groundwork and a great understanding for when you face pokemon with swords.” I gestured to him and Shin who were the original sword pokemon.

“Remember there are going to be a lot of sword pokemon.” Bisharp, Gallade, Zacian, Sir’fetch’d, Aegislash, were just some of the pokemon that came to mind. Scyther’s training would see him be a wonderful counter against those on skill alone.

“When we get enough of the augurite Scyther, we’re going to have to learn all you can against as many humanoid pokemon as possible. Your axes will give you a lot of advantages. I have a friend I made on my journey that owes me.”

Scyther perked up. “Scyther?”

“She’s the fighting type specialist I met in Hoenn that I lent Hypnotoad to. She made a lot of money on fighting matches while using Hypnotoad to spar with her own pokemon. She’ll send over some fighting types for you to practise against.”

“Scyther!” Scyther bounced from foot to foot in a much more upbeat mood.

I pat him on the head and moved over to the other training area where Titan was sliding and repositioning while Bertha, Knight and Selene fired rocks and various energy attacks. Onix rested to the side watching carefully. I was having him and Sanchez rest up as I planned to use them in an Ace match alongside a few others from my Elite team.

Yesterday, I’d spent most of the day locked in meetings with the gym trainers. Rocko and the others had been stunned when I announced Daniel’s status as a traitor. Apparently, Rachel had held onto that until the meeting. She’d merely sat to the side chewing her lips.

I’d had to lay out new rosters, and changes in who did what on which days to make sure things flowed. The usual things that happened when a trainer was sick or had a long-term duty to perform. I’d… I’d honestly prepared this earlier in the year with Daniel in mind for when… His fake child arrived.

Helen was gone when I’d gotten back to the gym. I had shot Joy a brief message to see if she needed anything from me. A statement or otherwise and she’d merely replied asking if I wanted to do anything.

My gut had roiled and clenched with the idea of pursuing anything that I’d have to squint and turn my head to consider just or fair in any sense of the word. Any money she got would be hers to keep but I’d not pay a pokecent more.

I decided to wipe my hands of it and leave her be.

It was just money.

And that was that.

It was someone else’s problem to deal with in a few simple messages.

It almost felt far too quick and clean. I wasn’t sure what to think of that honestly, so I focussed on other things.

Daniel, I had been told, was continuing to cooperate. Only some of the methods of getting to him had recently changed. Sabrina had informed me that she would be remaining close to him for the next few days. Apparently, there were too many unknown faces that happened to start sniffing around the League headquarters, mapping out the land instead of blindly rushing in.

Instead, of inviting an attack at Headquarters and kicking a Beedrill nest with the media. Lance had relocated to a secure facility that only a few people knew of.

I accepted it. When I’d asked about her Ralts she’d chewed her lip and hung up. I’d been shocked when she didn’t bring Ralts over but instead left Ralts with her mother with careful instructions.

Sabrina had confessed that it was due to my dark energies possibly harming Ralts. That had made entirely too much sense despite my desire for her to look to me for these sorts of things. Then again I was busy as well and it probably would have fallen to Yolanda. Who… would have enjoyed it as Terra seemed to delight in having another young pokemon to play with, but Ralts just didn’t share that sentiment.

I’d also slipped some questions to Agatha and Koga about the Viridian facility only for them to remind me not to approach it and to let them handle it when Team Rocket relaxed their guard.

Other than that, the gym had been cleared out of any trace Daniel had been there. Yesterday afternoon I’d walked around with Rocko and two of the three porygon I’d owned working out if there were any hidden microphones or cameras that might have been planted.

When we didn’t find any, I had a long period of paranoia. I was considering sending for Janine before I stopped. I’d realised then that I might have just foiled any attempt to plant surveillance in my Gym by having Janine around for as long as I did.

So I no longer had Daniel, or Helen, or nebulous Rocket threats to worry about. I simply had Gym matters to deal with such as facing off against challengers and training my pokemon.

“Your pokemon are strong,” said a gravelly voice.

I held in the urge to sigh.

And also deal with my… Flint situation. I glanced over my shoulder to find Flint hovering a bit behind me.

“Yeah, we’ve been working hard.” I left it at that, turning to watch as Titan ducked under a rock then slide to the side under a wave of mud Bertha unleashed on him only to have a rock that Selene had been controlling be placed under his foot. She then ripped it out as he tried to place his foot on it, which caused him to stumble.

He took three hits quickly after that that he would have been able to evade. Bertha’s mudshot to his eyes was particularly petty. I whistled to Shrek to clean him off and my Swampert swaggered up and gently rinsed his friend off.

Titan shook himself off and shot Bertha an unamused look which she responded to by bonking her head.

“What is she doing?” Flint asked as Bertha acted all cutesy.

I chuckled. “When I started travelling with her I let her and a lot of my pokemon watch television when we were staying in lodgings. She always liked watching those magical pokegirl cartoons.”

Bertha had also demanded that Sabrina sit with her and watch them. Sabrina had preferred to watch quiz shows that Selene eventually picked up on. Bertha had continued with her selections when it was her turn and when she’d eventually become bipedal as a Rhydon she’d adopted some of the mannerisms.

“Oh, alright then.” His eyes turned towards Shrek and Titan who were conversing.

Shrek must have said something particularly funny as Titan threw his head back and laughed. “Ty! Ty! Ty!”

I snorted, which drew the two pokemon’s attention. I waved them off.

Flint decided to keep talking. “Your water-type pokemon are really strong! You know, your mother favour—”

“I don’t care,” I said, cutting off the conversation. “I didn’t catch them because of her. They’re my team. If they happen to be water types then they are water types. They could have been fire types and one was before he asked to be released. The fact that I have so many water-type pokemon is just circumstances playing out for us to meet and grow closer. It has nothing to do with her.”

“Brock…” He shifted and I heard the pebbles crunch as he readjusted.

“Leave it,” I said.

“You must have picked up some good things from her to have…” he once more trailed off but this time it was because I was looking at him.

“Leave. It,” I said, biting the words out as my insides became dark as the deepest of caverns under the earth.

I was mostly annoyed that it was true. I did have an easier time training and using rock and water types. I had come across her notes on training water types when I’d moved my family out of the old Gym.

She’d written… Well it was sort of a travelogue. She appeared to have written prolifically in it and about all sorts of things. Her meals for the day, her mood, any strange dreams she’d had, but most of all about her pokemon and how she trained them. She wrote a lot about how to train her water pokemon and how she made them bore through rock for a fight or how you used certain moves for greater agility. How you trained pokemon to put out fires or create safe drinking water.

There’d been a few sections that I hadn’t been able to read. Something about filling pans up in corners of streets and watching them for ripples. Another heavily scratched-out section had only had one part of it legible with her describing how hard it was to clean her pokemon which struck me as odd.

I’d wanted to burn the book when I first read it. There had been no mention of her family, which struck me as deeply insulting. Just her mood, her meals, who she talked to, where she went in vague detail, and then her pokemon.

I had seriously thought about it before realising how that would put me in the same group as certain other notable book burners. People that hadn’t liked what others wrote.

It wasn’t even what she’d written that annoyed me, but what she’d not written about. Upon reflection, it really wasn’t a surprise to understand why I had so much ease calling up dark energies. I had more than enough fuel to ponder on after all.

It wasn’t until I was copying out a training plan to use that I came across a date that marked the diary at five years before my birth. So my feelings on that had been misplaced.

So Flint complimenting my water types wasn’t wrong. I had used her teachings to make them stronger. But she didn’t own good training ideas. She hadn’t given them to me. I’d had to drag them from her leavings while ignoring the annoyance that came with reading her old journals.

Flint stared at me and slumped once more becoming a shell. He pushed a stone around and glanced up ready to say he’d leave me be. I could see it in how he was turning away from me.

I grit my teeth and offered an oran branch.

“See those rocks Scyther is playing with?” I said, putting aside my musings.

Flint perked up. “Hmm? Yes? That’s augurite, a variation of Augite.”

“A what now?” I asked.

“It's a rock that contains samples of titanium, aluminium, sodium and other trace elements. It can be found in formerly volcanic areas or areas with still active volcanoes with iron deposits close to them.”

“Huh, interesting. I’ve noticed that Scyther has been collecting a lot of that sort of rock. Think you can point me where to find some more locally?”

“I could show you?” he offered and I shifted from foot to foot. “Or point it out on a map. I think I have a good enough idea of the local geology for that,” he said hurriedly.

A silence grew when I nodded and I struggled for what to say. I didn’t want to go hiking with him. He apparently wanted to obviously but…. I shook that off and cast around for something else to say.

“Forrest’s Onix looked good, I might let him use it for the first badge fights if he wants to try it out.”

Flint snorted and I frowned. “What? What’s wrong with letting him use it there?”

“He doesn’t want to hold back Brock. He’s going to take his pokemon to the battle courts not fight for the Gym. It would also be bad for his starter to get used to the idea of losing like that.”

He was right. I hadn’t considered that. I nodded and grunted to show I accepted that reason.

“I…” Flint began. “I also have noticed that when he talks of the gym he feels rather constrained. He mentioned quite a bit that he has been annoyed with having to hold back.”

I snorted. “Forrest is currently getting to fight any trainers up to a fourth badge level. He knows a lot of techniques and good matchups. I haven’t given him any of the stronger gym pokemon that’s true, but he’s got a way to go before he bridges that gap.” He needed to have more fights and in different settings to truly make that leap however.

I scratched my head. “I have noticed he’s been disinterested in some of the duties around here or with the lower badge fights though.” I shrugged, “that’s just part of being a gym trainer though. You have to hold back against the rookies. We’re not about crushing them but teaching them.”

“Hmmm,” Flint said.

I worked my jaw. “Hmmm?” I mirrored back to him, questioning what he meant by that.

“It’s just that… Is Forrest being a Gym trainer what he wants?”

“We spoke. He’s my second. If I were to step over he’d be first up to take over. He said he wanted that.” I paused after that. Something I’d just said rang false. Why was that?

“Brock, did he ever say that?” Flint said carefully.

I nodded slowly but felt less sure. We’d had that talk on Mt Moon that felt so long ago. Had he said what he wanted? He’d wanted to be the Gym Leader… but that was a memory of a cartoon wasn’t it? Was I associating and projecting what I knew he wanted? That had been a much older Forrest.

And it had been a cartoon Forrest.

…They weren’t the same. I’d messed up by knowing what he wanted. Anticipating a desire that hadn’t ever occurred to him but had seemed locked in for me. I’d thought I’d been helping him.

I clicked my teeth. “I should probably talk with him.” I’d already decided that I wasn’t going to wander off with Ash. I couldn’t leave my family and Gym with Flint and dumping it in Forrest’s lap wasn’t a good idea. I’d long since worked that much out.

What did it mean for Forrest? What did that mean for Ash? What did it mean for the world? … Or for me?

I’d been bouncing between event after event for so long that I hadn’t stopped in gotten my breath back in a while. I’d been barreling ahead like an avalanche caught up in my own momentum.

I clicked my jaw together. Damn, Daniel getting caught was doing me a lot of favours.

“He should be getting ready to go on a journey honestly.”

I blinked and looked at Flint. “With you having just gotten back? That’s a bit harsh,” I said scathingly.

Flint flinched. “He doesn’t need me holding his hand. He needs some time on his own.”

“But he wants you in his life, just like all of my siblings do!” I snapped. “Sending him off for a journey when you’ve just gotten home wouldn’t be smart. He wants time with his father damn it, Flint!”

Flint blinked at that and the traces of a smile appeared before vanishing. “You’re right. But I also think he should consider the journey. Maybe next year? If he still wants to spend time with me he can drop in and out.”

I hummed. “Next year would be a better year. This year’s circuit is crazy tough. Just making it to the conference showing will be a sign you’re a good trainer.”

We stood there with not much else to say. It was still awkward. I decided to end it. We’d spoken and that had been… good? It was like walking a path with lots of rocks on it. You knew you were going to step on a geodude eventually. You just had to hope where you were going was worth the hassle of having to fight all those annoyed geodude.

“I should get back to training my pokemon. Can you handle breakfast? Cindy will want a fruit platter. Also, the twins’ lunchboxes have their names on them and are stacked by height. If they can’t reach them, then they’re trying to grab the wrong lunch box. Also, don’t let Eevee out of the house with you. I got a message that she followed the kids to school and disrupted their classes.”

“Ah right…” Flint said intelligently. “Sorry!”

I huffed, about to ask that he stop saying he was sorry and start doing but I bit it off deciding not to hash on with that again and instead walk away. “Right, thanks for the talk. Tide, Shrek are you both ready to fight today? We’ve got an Ace coming in, and I suspect they’re going to be coming in strong!”

Both pokemon nodded. Titan remained where he was. When Flint left Titan came and wrapped me in a hug. Shrek was quick to join the hug. Then Bertha was there and Knight was wrapped around us. Onix offered a tentative pat with his tail.

It was a nice if very rough hug. I had to channel my rock energy to withstand the pressures I was being put under but that came from having supportive pokemon in general. You had to handle their love and sometimes that was with what should have been bone-crushing hugs.

Don pointedly snorted something that I suspect was ‘Losers!’ which got a lot of glares from the group.

I chuckled and let the hug break off before sorting out the team. I was still feeling a bit out of sorts. Thankfully, the first match of the day would be the perfect way to work off some of that built-up pressure.

If William was watching from the stands today, I planned to send a message. I headed back to my house to have breakfast with my family. On the way I caught sight of some electricity arcing around the training fields to the side of the Gym.

I’d wondered where Ash had gotten to.

Apparently, he’d gotten an early start to the day as well.

When we opened for the day, I wasn’t surprised to spot a lot of media trying to poke their cameras in places that they didn’t belong. The security staff had to prod a few people away before they got the message but there was an air of interest in learning ‘what had happened’ that caused the Gym to be shut down.

I didn’t go out to talk with the media. I had Rachel who’d done that earlier, so instead, I could focus on the upcoming match. Today’s first match would be the perfect way for me to blow off some steam with an Ace trainer match up. I had my team picked out and was curious to see how they’d match up. A few of them I knew to be solid but for Onix this would be their first proper showing as part of my Elite.

I still needed to think up a good name for them.

When we opened the doors to the seating area there were a lot of people surging in with prepaid tickets. I narrowed my eyes when I spotted a, now familiar, face in line. I reached over and tapped Missy on the shoulder. “Hey, instead of doing that paperwork can I get you to do something?” she stood up and listened as I pointed out Will and what I wanted her to do. She had a confused expression on her face but accepted my order with a determined nod. When I’d announced Daniel’s status as a traitor, she’d been shocked and had later approached me to try to state that she wasn’t the same. She must have felt worried she was tarred by association with him but I waved it off.

Rocko sidled up to me. “You alright boss?” he said carefully watching me without making it too apparent.

I clicked my tongue. “Not really, but I’m looking forward to getting back to normal Gym work. I think this match will help let me blow off some steam.”

Rocko gave me a smile. “Heh, well that’s good to hear. Looking forward to the show you put on!” he said raising a fist which I bumped with mine. “If you otherwise wanna chill we can Smash or go for another surf sometime yeah?”

I grunted. “Yeah, that might be nice.” I clapped him on the shoulder and made for the stairs to claim the high ground with the announcements.

Rachel once more had the microphone in hand as the crowd was seated. They weren’t seated for long as Rachel shouted her greeting

“GOOOOOOD MORNING PEWTER GYM! ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE!?”

She got a few cries and made a show of shaking her head. “I’M SORRY! I DIDN’T HEAR YOU! I SAID DO YOU WANNA RUMBLE!?”

This got some more cheers but Rachel wasn’t happy. “DID I STUTTER?! I WANT YOU TO SHOUT THE ROOF OFF! WE’RE NOT HERE FOR YOU TO SIT DOWN! GET UP AND SHOUT! ARE! YOU! READY! TO! RUUMMMMBLLLLLLLEEEEEE!?” she screamed into the microphone while increasing the audio around the gym.

The crowd rose to their feet, caught in the challenge and roared their approval. Rachel grinned, she was in her element. Like an Onix in a tunnel or a Geodude rolling downhill.

“That’s more like it! Today, we have a challenger from far off Hoenn! They’ve come all the way to throw down. He’s a rising ranker in the Ace circuit, can he overcome today’s challenge!? Give it up for, Ace trainer Frank Higgens!” she whipped her hand to the side and I got my first proper look at Frank.

I’d checked his pokenet roster and he had a good spread of pokemon from Hoenn that were scattered in with some pokemon more commonly found in Kanto or Johto. He’d done a tour of Hoenn before coming to Johto. Then he’d gone pro. He was obviously hoping to boost up a few ranks by coming against me.

I stepped up to the edge of the stairs and clicked the radio for Rachel to indicate I was ready.

“AND NOW LADIES, GENTLEMEN, AND POKEMON OF ALL AGES! GIVE IT UP FOR YOUR HOMETOWN HERO AND GYM LEADER! BROCK!”

She pointed to me and a musical rift that we’d started using rang out and the crowd stomped twice before clapping once. I marched forward and found myself so, so glad that they no longer chanted 'we will brock you’ anymore.

I marched down at a steady pace before leaping across the intervening space. I was feeling more than ready for this. When I landed on the podium I locked eyes with Frank and felt my heart thunder in preparation.

In the middle of the stadium in the referee’s box Jackson raised the flags.

“Trainers! This is an Ace challenge! This is a six on six pokemon challenge. Trainers are allowed to only make six withdrawals. Any use of withdrawals to dodge a pokemon move that otherwise would have hit will result in that pokemon being considered withdrawn from the match entirely. No potions are allowed and there will be no intermissions or breaks. Are you ready?”

We both nodded and Jackson winked at me. “Trainers, select your pokemon and on my count down from three release them!” I nodded double checking my belt and the layout of my pokemon one more time.

“Three!” he said and the crowd joined in as his flags were raised. I selected my choice and enlarged the pokeball.

“TWO!” boomed the crowd. I drew back my arm.

“ONE!” I eyed the spot I wanted my pokemon to be released, a subtle nuance for fighting depending on which pokemon you were sending out.

The flags dropped and the crowd roared "ZERO!" as both mine and Frank’s pokeballs were hurled out.

Onix appeared in the midfield for my side of the arena. On Frank’s side, right up close to the middle a Rhydon appeared. I hummed, that almost seemed like a taunt to bring such a pokemon here. I almost wished I’d released Bertha as my first pokemon.

He had to know I had a Rhyperior which would have completely upstaged his Rhydon, surely? I frowned as I noted how sweaty his pokemon was. It looked in great health otherwise, but why he had used it before his gym… I cursed as a suspicion formed. First match of the day and no need to sit around and wait.

Jackson swept his flags in and out before sweeping them once more. “Begin!” he said.

“Onix Iron Tail,” I said deciding to go with something that would be effective against the other pokemon. Onix’s tail glowed as he lunged, landing slightly forward before starting to turn to whip his tail around.

Frank smirked. “Fissure,” he said confidently.

I clicked my teeth as I was proven right. Rhydon’s fist punched into the ground and a fissure was ripped through the field that slammed into Onix. Onix writhed in pain and collapsed into the ground.

There was a moment of stunned silence before the crowd realised what Frank had just done. More than a few rose and started booing him, but he ignored them watching me with a smirk.

I glowered at him. If this had been a more high stakes match then I would have demanded that he be observed prior to the challenge, but so far no one had dared be this cheap in an Ace challenge. Guess there was a first for everything.

Onix opened his eyes and whipped his tail around to batter the unsuspecting Rhydon with his iron tail. I had known Onix had the innate ability to endure hits that should put him down for the count in one go. In the games it was known as ‘Sturdy’, here researchers called it Tenacious and believed it to be part of a pokemon’s nature rather than an ability. I wasn’t sure what it was properly but I knew how to use it.

I grinned as my Onix reared up, trembling and weak but still defiant. “Onix! Cover!” I ordered.

Onix slumped rather than slithered behind a boulder as around the arena a Sandstorm whipped up, obscuring where my pokemon was. I could almost feel Frank glowering at me from the other side as suddenly rocks became potential threats. I knew roughly where his Rhydon was but Onix had thankfully chosen a good spot to huddle up.

Sadly, I hadn’t taught him any moves like Rest that he might have been able to use. This wasn’t how I wanted his first showing to go. Frank’s use of Fissure made me want to flip the table and send out Bertha instead of my prepared team of six, to hell with her being tired.

I breathed in and out though, and steadied myself with rock energy. I had a plan, and Onix taking a hit that would have knocked out anyone else on my team wasn’t a bad thing. If anything, it showed how useful he’d been. No one else would have handled that as well as he did.

I raised a pokeball. “Return Onix,” I said. On the big screen the announcement was made and I was startled when it showed that Frank was returning his Rhydon as well.

Interesting, Onix might have done more damage than I’d thought with that trade of blows.

“Go Shrek!” I said, releasing his pokeball. I missed what Frank shouted but was able to spot on the bigscreen that a Ludicolo had been chosen.

Hmmm, not ideal but still not bad. I could make it work.

“— Dance!” I heard through the sandstorm. I frowned as I considered what was about to happen.

“Shrek, Bulk Up,” I said, happy to use the delay of Frank clearing the field. Making the field wet played into my strengths today more than it would weaken me.

When the rain swept through the arena I got a bit wet but that was just part of taking part in a pokemon battle. The rain fell over my pokemon who looked like he’d just spent a few days in the gym as his muscles flexed and he puffed slightly like he’d had a jog.

Frank made a twitch towards his belt before shaking his head, apparently confident in this match up.

“Giga Drain!” he ordered. Ludicolo bounced from foot to foot as a series of green bubbles wafted out at Shrek.

“Reposition and Rock Smash,” I said. Shrek leapt, more than hopped away from the threat and positioned himself to use some of the boulders to hide from the Giga Drain. I eyeballed the angles and called out Ludicolo’s position. Shrek cocked back his fist in readiness for the order.

“Twenty metres, one o’clock!” I said and Shrek’s fist rocketed into the boulder.

The rocks blasted out like they’d been hit by an explosion rather than a fist and Frank startled but still had enough presence of mind to order, “Water Gun! Knock them out of the air!”

His pokemon fired off blasts of water only to still take hits that knocked it back. “Ludi!” it cried in pain.

“Follow up with Rock Throw!” I said. Both moves—fighting and rock type—would normally be effective, if I recall correctly. Shrek grabbed the shattered boulder and hurled it at Ludicolo as he got back to his feet.

“Roll to the side!” Frank barked causing his pokemon to dodge without seeing the threat. I pointedly didn’t glance at what Ludicolo was rolling towards but felt an idea come to mind.

“Continue the assault, Rock Throw again, hound it,” I said. The specific command was important as it was the phrase I used to make Shrek aim slightly to the right. So when Ludicolo continued rolling to his right, he’d eventually roll right into the fissure he’d left with his Rhydon.

“Ludicolo!” shouted the grass-water type in surprise as it stumbled. I leaned forward slightly knowing this was what I’d been hoping for.

“Now! Giga Impact!” I shouted. Shrek dropped his head and lined up on the other pokemon as Frank hissed in a breath.

“Ludicolo use—”

Whatever he was going to say was lost as my pokemon accelerated, using his bulked up muscles to deliver an almighty kick of his legs to leap forward and bodyslam Ludicolo.

Ludicolo took the hit fully in the gut and then was hurled into the arena wall where it slumped to the ground before fainting.

Jackson raised a flag in my direction and I smirked. And that was proper first blood.

“Ludicolo return!”

I checked over Shrek to find him now properly sucking in huge lungfuls of air. The demands of using Giga Impact obviously coming into effect. It had worked though and I considered my next move.

“Go Sceptile!” shouted Frank. The Hoenn fully evolved starter got some murmurs of appreciation from the crowd, but nowhere near what he would have if he hadn’t pulled the earlier cheap move.

I nodded. Well that made it obvious what I should do. I raised Shrek’s pokeball.

“Return!” I said. That was two withdraws for me now and one for Frank with one knocked out. Not that I planned to return Onix to the field. I’d need some proper set up for him or Shrek to come back out.

I selected another pokeball and hurled it out. “Go Tide!” I said this time selecting the very back of the field on my side for my much larger Lapras to appear.

Tide sang his greetings to the crowd and then locked eyes with the Sceptile that raised his arms and huffed. Frank frowned, obviously unsure why I’d gone with another pokemon that was a bad match up. Around the arena the rain continued to pour the wet drops falling on Frank and I from his earlier move.

I grinned at him as he frowned.

“Icy Wind!” I said starting the battle once more.

“Sceptile! Double Team!” he shouted causing his pokemon to blur. “Get behind the boulders!” he said as a follow-up command as he saw a wave of wintery cold advancing across the arena as my pokemon unleashed Icy Wind.

His pokemon and its doubles blurred behind some boulders, but the Icy Wind swept across the field causing it to become suddenly much colder. Small icy crystals were left everywhere due to the rain that had been falling. The rain itself stuttered for a moment before weakly restarting.

“Tide use Ice Shard! Ringed spikes!” I said telling him how I wanted the move to play out. Instead of creating and throwing the ice shards Tide shut his eyes and concentrated. Then from beneath him five large ice shards burst from the ground like he was sitting atop some huge crown of ice. It would suddenly become much harder for Sceptile to get to Tide.

“Tch! Sceptile use Energy Ball!” From the maw of a number of illusionary foes a green ball was channelled. I clicked my tongue.

“Icy Wind,” I said causing my pokemon to fire off another burst of wind while seven energy balls apparently shot towards my pokemon.

I noted that the Icy Wind broke apart most of the double team illusions but I couldn’t see the real body. The phoney energy balls were also denied.

“Protec—” I shouted to Tide in hope he might be able to stop the hit, but I wasn’t quick enough and the grass-type move rocked into Tide making him wail in pain. He endured, and I gritted my teeth. I should have made that a quick one-two move instead of waiting to see. Tide would have been good enough to do that.

Across the field, the Sceptile hopped up from behind a boulder and shook off a thin crust of ice before jerking its chin up in challenge. I snorted as Frank punched the air. “Nice one Sceptile! Let’s finish this with another Energy Ball.”

I smirked, the situation seemed precarious, but that was absolutely not the case. “Match it with Ice beam,” I shouted causing Tide to open his mouth and inhale before a large blue ball of ice energy appeared in front of him. Sceptile shot of his attack only for Tide to unleash a beam of energy in response.

This time, Tide traded up and Sceptile was blown back. Frank cursed. “Get up Sceptile! You’ve got this match buddy!” Above us, the rain finally stopped as the clouds lost cohesion.

“Scep-tile!” barked the tenacious pokemon that I suspected was Frank’s starter pokemon.

“Yes!” Frank said punching forward. “Go into Double Team again!”

“Ice Shard! Defense denial,” I said to Tide causing Ice shards to rain down on the boulders on Frank’s side of the field stopping Frank from using them like he had before. This caused Frank to scowl only to see that the way was seemingly clear now for an attack from him.

“Charge in now! Leap over the shards and go for the throat with Leaf Blade!” shouted Frank.

I drew in a breath, watching as a number of Sceptile raced in. They leapt as one from multiple angles in what should have been a deciding blow.

“Protect,” I said, this time able to give the command. I further watched the hexagon dome very closely as Sceptile and his illusions slashed at it. I saw sparks and locked my eyes on that illusion.

“Ice beam ten o’clock!” I shouted.

Tide snapped his head in the indicated direction and once more fired off a powerful Ice Beam that slammed into Sceptile. I nodded as this time Sceptile was struck into the wall where it slumped weakly.

“Ah! Sceptile!?” said Frank. The grass type weakly croaked a response from where he was frozen to the wall. Frank grimaced. “I withdraw Sceptile,” he said.

I hummed and inspected Tide. He’d taken a bad hit there and was a bit scuffed up. Despite that, I decided to keep him out. Frank stared at me as he shifted his hand about, eventually he grabbed a pokeball and tossed out another pokemon. The lights of the emerging pokemon announced a big pokemon, and I drew in a breath when I saw the revealed Steelix.

There was a silence in the gym as people realised that this had to be a taunt. I snapped my eyes to Frank and spotted the smirk. I gave him a quick once over and relaxed when I noted no gem bracelet or necklace on him or the Steelix. If he’d had a Megastone I’d have been much more worried. I rolled my eyes at him, and instead braced for the next exchange.

“Surf,” I said to Tide causing him to sweep his flippers forward and slide backwards slightly as a giant wave was drawn up from the moat around the arena.

Frank growled in annoyance. “Dig under it!” he ordered and his Steelix dove into the ground.

I smirked as my pokemon swept forward on the wave. It took a few seconds but soon enough Tide was on the other side of the much wetter arena. He spun about in time to watch as Steelix was pushed out of the tunnel.

In the games, it was possible to use Dig to evade Surf but when you swept the water over the tunnel some usually was drawn into it creating a trap for the digging pokemon. Unless you were very, very quick about it.

“Steelix, use Hyperbeam!” commanded Frank making me hiss in surprise.

Damn it, Tide had used Protect only a little while ago. I cursed as my mind raced to find another option. I decided to roll the dice. It was that or try and match with an Ice Beam and I wasn’t that confident that Tide, in his tired state could do it. If this had been when he first came out? Certainly. Not now though.

“Protect,” I ordered. Tide locked eyes with the Steelix and formed up his best hope.

Steelix unleashed his attack.

It lanced into Tide’s dome of hexagons.

For a moment I wanted to believe, but then the shell cracked and collapsed, causing Tide to be knocked back. He fell onto his side and cried out. I raised my pokeball and returned him before he took any more abuse.

The Hyperbeam carved a furrow. Jackson raised a flag in Frank’s direction. “Gym Leader Brock has used a withdraw on his pokemon. It is no longer available for this match and Frank takes the knock out!”

I held up a hand to Frank. “I wasn’t about to let him just take a beating to prove he could. He’ll be sore tomorrow regardless, no need to have him stuck in the pokecenter for a few days.”

Frank shrugged. “Eh, good call, I suppose.”

I rolled my eyes at him. I didn’t need him to tell me that. I knew it was, and I hoped most of the crowd understood it.

“Come on Brock!” shouted one member of the quiet crowd. With the lull in fighting, they realised they could be heard and they started calling out their support. I waved to them with one hand while grabbing a pokeball with the other. Hmmm, yeah she’d work.

I hurled out my choice and Hypnotoad emerged, bouncing from foot to foot. Frank eyed my Poliwrath and shook his head. “Return Steelix,” he said.

I hummed. “Make your belly dance girl,” I said giving a coded order. On her stomach her spiral began to spin and she wiggled from side to side in a dance that had a lot of people in the stands confused. I smirked. That wasn’t the status effect I was going for but it was amusing.

I otherwise noted that Frank had used two withdrawals now. He selected another pokeball and revealed a Medicham. That pokemon had not been on his pokenet page. And I’d noted that it had only been updated last week. Not that it was the most reliable but I had noted that he had very few psychic types available to him.

I wanted to suspect William for this, but it was possible this wasn’t a plant to feel out my roster’s depths.

On paper, it was a good match up.

“Medicham use… Eh?” he said as his Medicham suddenly faced my pokemon only for waves of pink energy to radiate out of Hypnotoad’s belly.

“Eh!? What’s going on?!” he shouted.

I shrugged, not willing to give away the trick. It was rather obvious in truth but I didn’t need to confirm it for him and any others watching on.

It was known Poliwag were able to use Hypnosis. As it evolved it was thought to lose access to that move but with some careful training that hadn’t been the case for my pokemon.

I liked having access to that move as a surprise too much to give it up. Was it cheap? Not as cheap as buffing up your pokemon and then unleashing it on the first pokemon you faced.

“Return!” shouted Frank as he pulled his pokemon back. He grabbed another pokeball and tossed it out to reveal a Xatu.

“Hypno, DL,” I said firmly. Hypnotoad perked up and spread her arms wide as energy built up across her form. Then she sprinted forward.

“Xatu Teleport!”

“Catch it!” I shouted only for Hypno to leap and only close around empty air. I searched the field. “Five o’clock!” I said causing Hypnotoad to whirl about with a scowl, her swirls twitching in agitation.

Frank breathed a sigh of relief ,and I assessed the moment.

“Future sight,” he said causing his pokemon’s eyes to glow.

“Hydro Pump,” I said.

“Teleport,” said Frank with his smirk back in place.

The move was dodged, and I clicked my tongue, assessing the state of the field. It was well and truely churned up now having endured a variety of powerful moves. The boulders were practically nonexistent but still I had options. Frank himself looked slightly more relaxed at this and a suspicion about Xatu wormed its way into my mind. Xatu had an ability about sleep didn’t it? An early riser or ability that made it not effective?

Not that it would matter I had other options. “Rock Tomb, hold,” I said.

“Teleport!” said Frank again only this time the attack was held back. The delay order coming through to Hypnotoad. When Xatu re-emerged it did so with rock’s rising out to snap around it. I nodded. “That’s it Hypno!” I said glad to get a hit in.

Frank hissed as I punched forward. “Use Hydro Pump while they’re reeling!”

“Psychic!” commanded Frank. Around the blast of water, a blue energy formed and stopped the Hydro Pump changing it to psychic typed and therefore extra deadly to Hypnotoad.

“Hypno charge through it with DL!”

“Xatu prepare your follow up with future sight after we knock it back!” commanded Frank.

Hypnotoad once more charged forward. This time Frank didn’t order his pokemon to move and I planned to make him pay for that. The Hydro Pump turned Psychic was weathered and set Hypnotoad back a step but she charged on.

“Side step and then lunge forward!” I said suddenly. Hypnotoad lunged to the side before rocketing towards Xatu.

The future sight that Frank was expecting to use to knock her out materialised in the space where she had been charging if she’d remained on a straight intercept course. It still clipped Hypnotoad and sent her spinning, but she was close enough to swing a fist full of dark energy into Xatu’s face.

Both pokemon slammed into the ground and didn’t rise.

I grimaced. That had not been a good showing for her, and I knew the issue.

It was me.

I was rusty with her. How she moved, how she fought, how she acted. I felt like there was a lot of room to tighten up on how and where I used her skills and I vowed I would spend some more time with her. She was skilled. No one expected her to know Hypnosis and her move ‘Darkest Lariat’? No one had ever seen a Poliwrath perform that move before today.

That had been something she’d picked up from sitting in on training sessions with Titan and myself. It made her quite the ace up my sleeve. Sadly, she was one that I had blunted from lack of use. She herself was still sharp but I felt I should have been smoother in my orders.

I looked up and locked eyes with Frank. He’d used three of his pokemon now. His Rhydon had taken a solid hit, his Medicham was asleep and his Steelix he’d drawn back due to not wanting to match it against Hypnotoad.

On my side of things, Tide and Hypnotoad were down for the count and Onix for all intents and purposes was the same. Shrek was probably still tired as well. So somewhat even although he didn’t know what I still had in reserve while I knew his whole roster now.

I smirked and he glowered. I selected a pokeball deciding to back one of my pokemon instead of drawing out another. Frank hesitated as I hurled out my choice.

“Go Shrek!” I said making Frank scramble for his pokemon as my pokemon was revealed still looking tired.

“Go Steelix! They’re tired, you got this!” I wanted to chuckle, he’d hesitated to bring out a pokemon as he was anxious about what I was going to bring out. With Shrek out and tired from the rapid depletion of energy from the Giga Impact he needed to throw something out quickly.

Not that he had a lot of great options.

“Steelix go for Iron Tail!”

“Hop back,” I said to my pokemon trusting that even the few extra moments had been enough. Shrek watched the iron tail descend on him. Then, right at the last moment he hopped backwards and out of danger. He skidded across the still frozen arena floor and his colour returned to a deeper blue as his energy came back. “Swampert!” he croaked.

I grinned. “Hydro Pump!”

“Steelix, use Earthquake!”

The earth rocked and Shrek was knocked about, but he still shot off two powerful bursts of water that caused Steelix to go down. When Frank clicked his teeth together as he withdrew his pokemon before throwing out his Medicham, I knew I had this in the bag.

“Giga Impact,” I said to the shock of the crowd. Shrek smirked and unleashed another powerful attack to end any hopes of Frank’s that his pokemon would awaken. I felt my smile gain some teeth.

Frank eyed my now wheezing pokemon as he selected his last pokemon. “Go Rhydon! This one’s all yours!”

“Return,” I said simply, not willing to play things out like he hoped. I selected another pokeball and tossed it out.

“Go! Go! Go! Go-lem!~” shouted Sanchez as he appeared finally.

Frank clicked his tongue but still had a smirk. I whistled to get Golem’s attention. “They stole Onix’s big reveal buddy. Time to get back at em.”

Sanchez adopted a stern pose at that news.

“Rhydon use Surf!” said Frank with glee. I laughed.

“Dig!” I said without a hint of fear as Sanchez threw himself into the ground. Then, like a professional tunneller, he dug a shallow arc beneath the oncoming wave, only to tunnel up behind it tightly. He shot out of the ground like a surfer diving under a wave they didn’t want and appeared at the back.

Rhydon was just turning around when I ordered Sanchez to use Earthquake. Rhydon was tossed down and like that the match was over.

“Ace Trainer Frank is out of pokemon! Gym Leader Brock is victorious!” announced Jackson as the screens above us flashed with my face and highlight the pokemon that I still had active. I drew in a breath and exhaled all the tension. That hadn’t been how I’d hoped things would go but damn it felt good.

The podiums dropped and I walked across the field, ignoring Sanchez as he knelt in front of a section of the crowd and either professed his undying love for them or recited poetry. It wouldn’t have mattered, they adored him for it either way.

I shook hands with Frank. “Cheap move juicing before the match.” I said out the side of my mouth.

Frank didn’t bother looking ashamed. He just shrugged. “Plenty of Ace matches have to deal with it. Reckon you needed your cage rattled a bit, cause you’re too used to getting matches with kids gloves.”

I snorted in disbelief at him. He obviously had never trained at a Gym if that’s how he thought. I sent him on his way and waved to the crowd before heading out. The media in the crowd tried to surge to the front and call out questions but I ignored them. This was just the first match I had for today.

I entered the medical wing and deposited my pokemon. Sanchez sat on the edge of his bench with a grin, kicking his legs up at the victory and his part in it. Shrek lay weezing. Hypnotoad was still knocked out, as was Tide. Chansey worked over them all thoroughly and when I released Onix the pokemon glanced around before falling onto the bed with a morose moan.

I pat him on the head. “Hey, I’m not disappointed with you. You did fantastic taking that hit. No one else on the team would have tanked through and still gotten a hit off like you did. You set us up more than you realise, alright?”

Onix groaned something and I shook my head. “Don't be sad. I’m happy how things went. We can keep working on this. It wasn’t the showing I wanted, but that’s pokemon battles for you.”

Sanchez hopped off his bench and began patting onix. Then he started regaling Onix with the last parts of the fight. Onix seemed very happy to hear that Rhydon was taken down like a chump.

Missy bustled in just as Chansey was finished with Tide. She tapped him and made happy noises before bustling on to her next patient.

I glanced up at her arrival. “You get close to them?”

Missy nodded with an annoyed expression. “It was like you thought. They were recording and documenting what pokemon moves and abilities your pokemon had. They know Tide doesn’t heal from being in the water with the Rain Dance not healing him up. They think he’s resistant to critical hits instead?” She said with a tilt of her head.

She shrugged her shoulders when I shot her a questioning look. “They had a small argument about what the reports said regarding Lapras?”

She dug out a notepad and flicked through it with a pensive expression. “They think Shrek heals when in water or rain though?”

I nodded. Hiding my amusement. I knew Shrek had Torrent as his ability which made water moves all the stronger when he was fighting on his last legs. Missy reported some other observations, such as how surprised they were that Sanchez had been able to use Dig to evade Surf. I smirked, finding myself well and truly relaxing.

My alarm buzzed, and I glanced at it. I had five minutes to make it back up to the raised trainer area in the arena before my next match. Thankfully merely a first badge match. I stood, “thanks for doing that Missy, it’s sneaky stuff but good to have confirmed. I could probably try and lip-read them with the cameras but this is easier.”

Missy nodded, tucking her notepad away. “Oh! No problem Brock, it was interesting. So they’re obviously Ace trainers looking to challenge you but what gives with all the sneaking around?”

I hummed. “They’re, or at least one of them, is going to challenge me soon. They’re going to make a big deal out of it.” I tilted my head. “Have you been watching Battlecast lately? There’s an Ace trainer working her way through the Gyms in Johto with Ace challenges and she’s rising through the ranks.” I waved in the direction of the stands. “Our person of interest is someone I think that is going to be doing the same.”

“Oh they’re going for the top ten in the Ace Rankings to get the big sponsorship deals!?” she said.

I paused, surprised by that answer but realising that she wasn’t used to thinking on the same scale as I was discussing. I shook my head. “No Missy, they’re thinking of making a run for the Elite Four or Champion position.”

Missy gasped. “Really?! You know that?!”

I nodded. “I know as much for Karen. I have my suspicions about this Will.”

“How come he’s waiting to challenge you? Is he waiting to get the right team set up?” she asked as she walked along with me.

I hummed. “Yes… But I think it’s more that he’s waiting for a dramatic moment. Karen is making her own drama by stirring up people and fighting anyone and everyone that she can in the Ace circuit. William? I think he wants to announce himself to Indigo with flare.”

From there the rest of the day passed without any incidents that I was aware off. A few trainers got heated out on the battlecourts but Missy and Dennis handled it by having the trainers, surprise surprise, fight each other to bleed out the tension.

The conversation with Flint earlier in the morning had stuck with me though. So I sought out Forrest. I’d assumed that I knew what he wanted.

It was time for me to stop doing that. I needed to ask.