Hard Enough

“Alright gang, for today’s training session we’re going to be working through the moves that you should have.” I looked over the small classroom that I had in the depths of the gym. The trainers that had signed on watched with various postures and expressions.

Rocko was laid back; for him, this was old news and more of a refresher with some small updates. He could probably deliver this speech himself next year, and I might even promote him to do just that. He’d probably hate how reliable he’d become.

Dennis, however, sat ramrod straight with a notebook set up before him, pen poised to document my every word. He also sat next to the camera, which would serve as a reminder and review for myself and the rest of the trainers who wanted to check in on expectations.

Celia wasn’t here, having departed a few days ago. In her place, Jackson had arrived. The man now sported a darker skin tone than ever before, and he had also apparently decided to frost his hair since the last time I’d spoken with him. Apparently, the Orange Islands and Sevii Islands really agreed with him.

I kept expecting him to invite me to "flavor town" or to perform a famous song.

Crystal was also joining us, with today being a day off from school. Georgina was in the gym but not present; she was just happy to let her daughter sit in and learn about rock-type pokemon.

Crystal had passed the training course I’d asked of her. Now she was practically vibrating in her seat with another small booklet opened that detailed trainer strategies commonly used. Ultimately, she’d not be expected to ever step up to fight for the gym, but with her young age, these were good skills and knowledge to have regardless. This would be an amazing start for her journey.

Her career would be one I’d follow very closely. Along with some notable others in her age group, specifically my sister.

Stephen, Oak’s assistant, was also here. He had a table of his own but was merely listening for now. Bianca was still out back doing her work and had said she was hopeful of getting some eggs from my ancient pokemon soon.

This lecture was primarily focused on the new hires who would be competing. Daniel and Missy would need to be able to either use their own pokemon or the gym pokemon with set moves that to a lesser degree ‘represented’ the gym.

Yolanda wasn’t present today as I had her ‘in-charge’ of the rest of our siblings with a Granny helping out at home. Forrest sat in the back and appeared to be writing notes, from what I could see.

“As a Rock-type gym, most trainers will be expecting us to have a solid defence, a simple offence, and be rather slow. This will indeed be the norm for any trainers that face us for the first two badges. However, as soon as they start trying to get the third badge with us I expect moves like Rock Polish, Dig, Endure, Detect, Sandstorm, and even Fissure towards the higher levels.” I gestured towards each move as it appeared on the powerpoint for this lecture.

“Fissure?” gasped Missy, who was now leaning across her desk. “We get to use pokemon that know Fissure? I thought that was restricted!?”

“It is.” I smirked at them, “For other people. As trainers of this gym one of the perks is that you will be allowed to utilise this move in battle. As a ‘One hit K.O move’ it is something that is not offered to most fresh circuit trainers. It has to be earned through your pokemon, or as an award with the recipient being monitored for their use of said move.”

I looked straight at Daniel and Missy as their eyes widened. "This move is known by two Rhydon, three Golem, and one Onix in the gym. You will be expected to learn when to use these moves. "I don't want trainers coming in complaining about Fissure being spammed on them." I glared out, arms crossed in my signature… pose.

Missy nodded seriously. Dennis underlined that twice. Crystal peered at me through her bangs. Daniel licked his lips.

After a moment of glancing between them, I nodded. “I want this to be a move that throws off their tempo. They should be building up a head of steam before we throw them off their game. Fissure is a great method to do just that. It can be a devastating opener that will drop off in reliability unless you perform setups with specific moves. You will not be allowed to use substances or drugs on any of the pokemon prior to a fight.”

Crystal raised her hand. “Why is this move considered restricted?”

“For the reasons that I previously stated. This move has a lot of chances for abuse as the power overloads a receiving pokemon’s natural defences and typically knocks them out at least. Some trainers have been known to load up their pokemon with the aforementioned drugs, or buff up moves, then quickly challenge a gym or a pro to a match hoping for a big payout. If this move is ever used on you,” I considered that before amending my statement, “Or any, one hit K.O moves, report the trainer so they can be watched by the league as this method does result in extreme damage to the pokemon’s health.”

Crystal chewed her lip, “People do that?” I nodded and decided to list another example.

“Ever been to the pokemon races or Fighting type matches? The pokemon are always on display in an open area or with video feeds in their rooms for an hour in the lead-up to the event. This stops buff-ups or drugs from being used. When money is involved people can go to great lengths. I had to sit through this myself against Lance only recently.” Crystal accepted that with a firm nod.

“As Gym trainers, we have lots of trainers that will be coming to fight against us. You’ll probably end up fighting more trainers this year than you would in three years on average. You don’t get as much for winning against them as they do for beating you due to the gym contract you all signed, but there are certain rewards, obviously, for good results. The tough part is staying within the range of acceptable strength for the trainers that will be coming. I’d suggest sticking with gym pokemon for the lower badges unless you’re training something new but keep it at least related to rock type or rock environments..”

I checked the room to see if there were any more questions before tapping a different move on the powerpoint list that I had on display. “The most important move that you will learn to defy people’s expectations of us as Rock-type users will be Rock Polish. It very much plays to our strengths but you should be able to use it alongside other moves to make your pokemon move at much faster speeds.” A click of my finger had the slide changing.

“The move Rock Polish is shown to increase speed by roughly ten to twenty-five percent. This is a huge boost, but it does require a pokemon to pause for a moment. We will, for ease of reference, refer to them as ‘Stages’. This allows a widespread word for discussing moves that improve or lower a pokemon’s abilities.”

Another click, another slide.

“I have trained some of the pokemon to be able to use it with Dig so they will go down for longer than normal, pause, boost up and then emerge much faster.”

Crystal raised her hand, “Why didn’t you demonstrate this against Lance?”

“Because taking too long in the ground against Lance would have been a huge slap in the face if I’d pulled it off. However, the true reason would have been that the chances of pulling it off against Elite trainers drop away as they can counter it with any move that breaks up or destroys the ground. When you’re simply above ground using Rock Polish, your pokemon will take at most five seconds. During a dig? That becomes ten… at least.”

Another slide ticked over. “Factors that can change this time can include the amount of damage a pokemon has taken, various status effects, and most importantly, the pokemon’s starting level of strength. A pokemon that has trained for this move combination with no damage can pull this off in ten seconds but they would be a sitting Farfetch’d or the opponent could perform two to three buffs of their own in the same timeframe.”

I then clicked another slide onto the screen behind me to show how things added up. “If we are just focussing on the speed you can see how moves like Rock Polish grow for set ‘stages’ with each pokemon when used more than once. This boost can also stack with those from other moves such as the Aqua Jet I used with Shin against Lance.” The slide now showed graphs with Shin’s estimated base speed before showing how he increased at each stage.

“Now, there is a drop-off point after two initial uses of Rock Polish. The rate of return becomes more like five percent to seven percent after two uses. With the pauses it takes in battle, I’d therefore recommend not using the move more than that. It’s better to use other moves with the potential payoff being higher.”

This had most people writing down the information apart from Rocko. Stephen raised his hand.

“I’ve never heard these numbers used before, why isn’t this more well-known?” he said.

“This is more related to battle strategy. I have seen trainers base their whole attack patterns on this method, but it is something that most researchers wouldn’t focus on. It also falls in and out of popularity depending on what ends up televised with the big matches. It’s a meta in and of itself.”

“Meta?” he asked.

“A popular strategy that is well known. It can be something that falls in and out of favour depending on what the top contenders are seen to be using. The current Meta with Lance on top of the League is very much focussed on power, over speed or technical orientated metas.” I began ticking off my fingers. “I could also reference hyper defence, trap setting, delay and distract, debilitisation methods and finally fake out methods.”

I tapped out the moves I’d listed off behind me. “We will be going into the following moves today and in the lead-up to the circuit’s start so that we have you all on the same page. These sessions should outline potential uses along with discussing the meta that they apply well to. Rock Polish is a set up/speed type meta obviously. For our pokemon you should—” I began to lay out how this could play into strategies with Gravellers and Golems using Rollout against others.

“The next move I’d like to have you aware of is using Sandstorm. This is a field effect that means you will be limiting visibility along with causing a slow corrosive damage due to the way the sand will whip at pokemon that aren’t Rock, Steel, or Ground types.”

I continued the lecture from there detailing the need to have delaying tactics ready with some of the pokemon. When I was finished with the morning’s lecture I settled back into a relaxed pose atop the desk at the front. “Alright, any questions regarding the lecture so far?”

No one had any questions about this so I turned my hand over. “What about in general?

Daniel raised his hand. “How much will we be able to use our own pokemon during trainer battles?”

I hummed. “I did mention that, most of the time I would ask that you restrict yourself to only fighting with one pokemon not set to the gym. As a Gym employed trainer, you will get the chance to use them to make sure people stay on their toes while also giving your own pokemon way, way more experience. I will ask that you only do that for team-based challenges. If it is a simple one-on-one and no more then don’t use your own pokemon. Use the Gym pokemon.”

I raised a finger. “The exception to this rule is for the double team challenge. If you are challenged in this manner feel free to use your own pokemon. Trainers choosing that option need to know their business so some of the restrictions related to weaker trainers are lifted.”

I wagged my hand in a so-so gesture. “Again, if they’re new trainers however use only badge-level-appropriate pokemon.”

Daniel nodded at this.

Rocko rubbed his chin. “I’m surprised we haven’t had any challengers yet.” I snorted and Rocko gave me a smile. “Well the gym itself. You’re a gym leader, that’s different.”

“I truly wish it wasn’t.” I deadpanned back at him.

Missy frowned. “Wait, you’re already taking challenges?”

“Nope. I’m merely getting challenged. I won’t be expecting any actual challenges for the first few days. Serious contenders typically wait at least two weeks. There’s also travel time to consider between cities. I haven’t yet had anyone try beating down my door to challenge me.”

Rocko, instead of nodding along at this information as the rookie trainers were, looked to Dennis. “Two weeks,” he said with a grin.

Dennis chewed his lips as the other trainers glanced between them in confusion. Dennis narrowed his eyes. “One… and a half.”

Missy tilted her head. “Wait, what are you betting on?”

She glanced from one to the other, “Are you betting on how long that will take for the first challenger?” asked Missy incredulously. They waggled their hands while shaking their heads slightly. Missy glanced at me. “How long it takes someone to beat on his door at home?”

Dennis nodded tightly, eyes still locked on the lazing Rocko. “Thirty of them this season.”

“Twenty, they’ll be intimidated.” Rocko looked to Daniel and Missy, “Want in on the bets? We have a standing bet on the prime holiday time slots.”

Missy seemed very confused by that before Daniel shrugged. “Four weeks and five days?”

Dennis and Rocko shook their heads. “Poor rookie.” I almost thanked Daniel for his hopeful bet.

Missy gave a more hesitant, “A week and… a hundred?” Rocko gave her a look like he was asking if she was sure, and she nodded. “A week, yes! And a hundred of them!”

Dennis snorted at that, and Crystal stood while packing her books up. “Six days, and there will be eighty-seven and a half trainers that try to beat down Gym Leader Brock’s home to challenge him.”

Dennis raised his eyebrows at that, while Rocko chortled. “You work that out with math? Some law of averages?”

Crystal replied with a bored, “I expect there will be more people, not less interested in trying to put Brock on the back foot, last year’s numbers are written in a margin I saw my mother working on so I calculated a thirty percent increase in the later with a twenty-one point three percent in the former.” She blushed as we all stared at her incredulously.

I considered that. With what I had grown to learn about this world… she was more than likely right.

I clicked my teeth and waved them out. “Gah! Get out all of you! Rocko I hope you only get holidays at the end of the circuit! Dennis, your wife would chokeslam you if she knew you were betting holiday time.” I then pointed at Daniel and Missy. “Forrest is going to show you both the setups for pokemon assignments once the circuit begins.”

Forrest spooked, revealing his carefully created facade of interest to in fact be him sleeping at the back of the room.

“Say what?!” he said. I stared at him and repeated myself. He rubbed his eyes before yawning. “What are you going to be doing?”

I stood and made for the door. “I get to watch a Youngster League finals bracket for people that will be getting ‘performance’ scholarships if they do well enough.”

“Oh, giving out pokemon to new trainers,” Forrest waved it off.

I paused. He really shouldn’t dismiss the importance for some youngsters to have their first shots at interacting, training and fighting with pokemon. Most of the trainers that signed up for this route of gaining a starter typically were unfortunate enough to have been born into poorer families or to have no parents or guardians.

Other, better off trainers could sit tests or have recommendations for their pokemon. Those were city-sponsored starter programs. I made sure that since taking over the reins of Pewter Gym, each start of the circuit had more opportunities for advancement for young trainers. Not all Gyms had this on offer.

I’d learnt that the only other gyms to do so were in fact Fuchsia and Celadon. Fuschia didn’t have the tournament-style chance but a camp where trainers worked with potential pokemon over a week. It was considered highly intensive, and very in line with Koga from what little I had gleaned from the man’s personality.

Celadon instead had a means test and an academic test for any hopeful trainers. If they or their parents didn’t have the resources to help them purchase a pokeball or starter pokemon then typically trainers around Celadon went to Erika. Apparently, all the funding Erika received from training, managing, working with, and providing for the young socialite women allowed her to purchase a lot for her community.

Erika offered starting trainers Oddish, Bellsprout, Exeggecute, or Paras which saw a bit of grumbling due to how ‘common’ those pokemon were, but they were solid starter pokemon that were easy to care for.

Each applicant for my youngster tournament that signed up didn’t have to do anything as extreme as Koga forced hopeful trainers to go through. I instead tried to have them spend time bonding and caring for their pokemon before they fought. Rachel had taken the project on with a passion; she and Alexa were the first point of call for many of the applicants.

I gathered the trainer hopefuls last week and assigned them common pokemon to work with. More than a few had been rather put out when I revealed the Pidgey, Nidoran, Rattata, Spearow, or Geodude that were theirs to train.

They got a week to feed, play, and train their pokemon. They had the option to take their pokemon home with them, or if they couldn’t do that they could leave them at the gym and return daily to do what they had to.

This allowed me to secretly check their levels in two fundamental trainer skills. Care for pokemon and the ability to train pokemon. In a week there could be significant growth, especially for pokemon starting out so weak. There were only a few ‘failure’ situations. Those being that if the pokemon were abused I stripped them of the pokemon and removed them from the tournament.

Trainers that impressed me would be offered the pokemon they trained to be theirs, along with a few pokeballs, a formal license, and the ability to store up to six of their pokemon with the Gym for a year before they had to make other arrangements. This would allow them twelve pokemon for their circuit. Something that was more than enough to challenge the Gyms without getting too crazy. The winner of the tournament was offered the choice of an entirely different starter pokemon as their first ‘official’ pokemon, a technical machine, or extra funds for their own use.

When Celia had emerged the victor a year ago, she’d chosen to stick with her Nidoran. This was one of the last ‘tests’ I offered the winning trainers. People who formed bonds only to desert them raised rather large red flags for me. Celia had crushed her fellow trainers and passed the tests of her character with flying colours. For that, she’d had her pokemon team restrictions lifted to twenty pokemon along with gaining the offer of a fully-sponsored role representing the gym and not a partial sponsorship.

And then a year later, she’d made it to the quarter-finals at the Indigo League.

I entered the small battlefield courts that I had dotted around the gym’s side. They reminded me of small tennis courts in truth, but they served as clay courts that pokemon trainers could safely train and battle on without too much ‘field’ advantage.

The kids that were there swivelled as one to stare at me. Around them, small pokemon loitered. They all went quiet without my prompting. I gave all the kids a grin before clapping my hands together. “Alright! We all know why we’re here! Tomorrow is the official start of the circuit, and that means today is one of the best chances to show your stuff! Remember today’s objective is not just about winning but displaying the bond that you’ve created with your pokemon.”

I then turned to my receptionist, Alexa, who had been hard at work before my arrival and had been drawing the attention of any kids that might cause trouble, or those getting distracted while I finished the lecture. She’d already set up the brackets for who would be facing who.

The first stage featured round-robin pool matches to give the kids more than one fight that would have occurred with a knockout elimination tournament.

“First up! Johnny versus Mia!” Both trainers marched out, their pokemon, a Geodue and a Rattata followed them out dutifully. Both locked eyes and glowered. I stepped between them and raised my hands. “Call your pokemon up to the starting line!”

“Geodude, head up front!” “Silly Mouse to the line!” I smiled at Mia, the girl winning points for nicknaming her pokemon.

I raised my hands. “Ready! Begin!”

“Tackle!” “Tackle!” Both pokemon slammed into each other and I held in a sad chuckle. It was only ten o’clock and I had at least another twenty-nine fights to oversee.

“Growl!” “Screech!”

“Now use tackle!” “Dodge then tackle!”

I watched both pokemon weaving very clumsily around each other, occasionally trading blows. This must have been how all judges for child tournaments had felt. It was important for the kids but I really had to brace myself for a long, long event.

Eventually, Johnny emerged victorious, I raised an arm towards the whooping boy. “Johnny is the winner of this round!” Mia ran up to Silly Mouse and checked him over before carrying him to a smiling Chansey that was more than happy to sit under an umbrella and watch the matches play out.

On another field visible to me over the short heads of the kids, Rocko began another battle as we called for the next two for my battlefield. The last fight had barely taken two minutes, a frankly tiny amount of time for pokemon fights. If this rate kept up I should hopefully have things wrapped up by tomorrow.

“Ronnie and Robbie, are you and your pokemon ready?” For now, I just had to get on with it.

I sat in the trainer lounge behind the reception area. In the end, Mia had been the trainer to emerge as the most successful.

I’d rewarded her in public at the front of the gym and now I had asked her into the gym to discuss her future options. While she had won I would be offering training licenses to at least another six children today and Rocko had quietly tapped them on the shoulder to stick around for a chat. I’d originally thought to only offer three trainers the extra offer, however with my victory over Lance I had the opportunity to let my good fortune lift a lot more than just my family. In truth, I could probably take nine trainers on with the partial sponsorship without issue but only six had caught my attention.

Five youngsters this year had to be asked to leave after they began to shout at their pokemon or tried to physically intimidate another of the youngsters in front of us. I suspected a few more kids of some other shady actions but hadn’t been able to confirm anything. I just hadn’t given any of them a look at the sponsorship.

Much like being the boss running an interview, I didn’t need to offer every applicant more benefits just to make things fair. I had positions available for a few kids, and I was going to do just that.

They’d gotten a pokeball for taking part, which might help them grow. If they wanted to they’d be able to buy their own license to take part in the circuit, but they wouldn’t be doing so under my banner. I’d said as much to the kids before letting them leave.

I now stood in front of a small desk that held a few pokeballs. Each of the following six trainers would be receiving six pokeballs from me and the right to hold six pokemon at my gym for a year. Now came the exciting part.

Mia entered with a bounce, still jazzed up from her victory. In her arms, her Rattata, Silly Mouse, was smushed up against the small trophy that I offered for the victor.

“Mia, congratulations once again,” I said.

“Ohmygosh! Brock! Thank you so much! I still can’t believe it! Silly Mouse and I trained so hard but then we lost our first match and I was so worried and then we barely won the next but then we made it through and then—” I held up a hand to cut her off.

“You won the rest of your matches. I’m aware.”

Her mouth clicked shut before she blushed. “Sorry,” she said to her shoelaces. Silly Mouse nuzzled her consolingly.

“Not to worry, I can understand. This is a big step up. It’s a little rough, cause you don’t get to enjoy it as much with me having to make my offer now.” I gave her a tight smile. “The circuit is going to start in two days, and I, therefore, need to submit your information for you.” I looked down at Silly Mouse, “Including which pokemon is going to be your starter.”

Silly Mouse went stiff in her arms. Mia stared at me before looking towards the pictures I had behind me. I had deliberately put up pokemon such as Pichu, Ekans, Psyduck, Shellder, Sandshrew, Drowzee, Staryu, Seedot, Wurmple, Poochyena, and finally an Aron.

She tightened her grip on the small rat in her arms. “I think I’d like to stick with Silly Mouse if it’s all the same to you.”

I nodded. “That’s perfectly fine. The other prizes that I can offer for you is a TM from the following list or more funds to set you up for your journey.”

She looked at the listed amount of money and licked her lips before lifting up the list to read through it. “Your pokemon as a normal type will have the most chances to draw from this list.”

“I can teach Silly Thunder?” I nodded, and she rattled off the others as her eyes dropped down the list. “Dig? Blizzard?”

“Yes,” I said aloud. I hummed for a moment before considering if she had ‘met the standard’ for me to offer her a full sponsorship. I eventually decided against it. “If you’d like, you can take this list outside. I’m going to be talking to a few others and informing them that I’m willing to sponsor them for the coming year.”

Mia smiled at that. “Was that why Angie was sticking around?!” I smiled, nodding. Mia turned and sprinted out of the tent. “Angie! Brock said you’re also going to get a year for your journey!”

I chuckled at her antics. She’d pretty much stolen the news out from under me. I really couldn’t blame her though as she was only eleven after all. I opened the tent to point at the six new trainers “Would you six like to join me?”

It really made me feel good to watch them stumble forward as their hopes for this tournament came true. They might not have won, but they’d certainly leave this tournament much better off.

“First of all, congratulations." “I beamed at them all, “You six had the characteristics that I feel more than justify my sponsoring you for the year’s upcoming circuit. You may each keep your pokemon, however, you will be assigned six more pokeballs to begin filling out your team. This will entitle you to a monthly stipend along with the ability to take jobs in any city. If you complete the circuit with eight badges you will obviously be able to take part in the tournament. Do well this year and you will no doubt be offered a number of lucrative jobs or be able to apply for them. I will be listed as your advisor so you will be able to call the gym for advice from pokecenters or from a pokewatch if you own one.”

“Gym Leader Brock?” asked a tall boy who seemed to do everything to make himself smaller than he was.

"Humphrey, wasn’t it?” I said after taking a moment to recall his name.

“Yes sir!” he said, straightening up and causing himself to tower over the other kids.

“What was your question?” I said carefully.

He shifted from foot to foot before looking up only to look back down. “What should we do if we didn’t… we didn’t get along with our starter pokemon? I tried working with Spearow, but it was a struggle, and I think… I don’t think we want the same things…”

I kept my face as placid as possible. This was a serious issue; if I frowned, he’d probably spiral into a bigger mess than he already was. “Your pokemon and you didn’t click after a week?” I tilted my head. “You won… three of the matches in your pool before entering the final knockout rounds. You were very concise with your orders, your spearow followed them perfectly well for your level as a trainer.”

“I talked with Spearow, and they said they didn’t want to battle but instead return to the forest. I asked them to stick with it just for this tournament.” Humphrey shot me a nervous look.

I looked down to the Spearow that was, unlike the other pokemon with the kids, still lingering near the door. “Is this correct Spearow? You’d rather return to the forest instead of battle or be a companion for this trainer?” The small bird nodded once.

“I see. Spearow… if you wish, you can leave now.” I reached over to a pokeball that I knew to house the Spearow. I triggered the release pokemon feature, and a small beam shot out. When it was done, Spearow nodded again at me before turning and bobbing its head at Humphrey. Then it flew off.

I flicked my eyes to the rest of the kids that were listening in raptly. “Did anyone else experience similar issues?” They shifted about before looking at each other, apparently waiting for someone else to offer themselves up.

“To be clear, I’m not mad or in any way upset. If anything, Humphrey, I’m impressed with your ability to still get a reluctant pokemon to follow your orders, even if for a limited period of time. So, did anyone else experience issues, like this, or something different?”

The kids again looked around before, one by one they shook their heads. I considered everyone before nodding. “Are you all happy to stick with your pokemon as your starters?” This time they nodded quickly. At their feet or shoulders, the pokemon puffed up happily.

Mia stepped forward. “Brock if it’s alright, can I offer Hump my prize for a new starter pokemon.” That made me stop. I had been considering other methods. I wasn’t so restricted with my funds this year. It did speak very well of Mia though.

I chuckled and ran a hand over my jaw. “Well, I wasn’t expecting that, Mia. No, you don’t need to do that. Humphrey, Mia, with how you’ve both acted, I have to admit to being very impressed.”

I gave them a big smile. “I’ve advertised the reward for this tournament as a partial sponsorship which only allows you to stable six pokemon with me. However, partial doesn’t mean you can’t upgrade it. Mia, Humphrey, I will be offering you a full sponsorship for the year. That means you get twenty stable slots. Do well and we’ll see about extending that beyond a year.”

Both of them straightened. I could see this meant the world to them. “I’ll be watching both of your coming circuits with great interest. Mia, you and Silly Mouse still have a decision to make. Humphrey, here’s a list you can look over.”

He took it and looked over it only for his eyes to lock onto one pokemon name. “Is the Aron from your Knight?”

I nodded and he shot the list straight back at me. “I’d like Aron, please!”

I threw my head back and laughed. “Haha! Alright, then let's get you all signed on for the coming circuit!” Then I waved Humprhery on, “And let’s get you introduced to your new pokemon Humphrey.”

When I had all the paperwork squared away, a new pokemon in my new sponsored trainer’s hands, and a few photos with the kids, I got to put my feet up for the day.

“Munchlax!” The small glutton pokemon sprinted around the couch, Suzie, Eevee, and Timmy in hot pursuit. I watched them play chasey. When they cornered Munchlax they tapped him on the face lightly.

“Tag!” They then sprinted away leaving Munchlax to point to one of them before giving chase. I watched on. That wasn’t how the game was supposed to work, but it was keeping them entertained. If Munchlax got upset, I’d step in, but for now, they were having fun.

Yolanda entered after the twin’s game saw them tearing down a different hallway to continue in another section of the house.

“Hey Brock.” She moved around and sat on the couch with me. I leaned forward to turn the television on. I glanced at the egg chamber she was carrying before dismissing it.

“Hey, do you know Mia and Humphrey from school?”

“They were two years above me at school, but yeah, I did know them. How’d they go with the tournament?”

“They did excellently. Really surprised me. I ended up offering them full sponsorships for the year.”

“Oh, that’s good Humphrey’s a really nice guy!” I gave her a look that made her blush. “He’s just… nice alright!”

“Do I need to have a different conversation with him when he comes to pick up Aron tomorrow?”

“No! … He’s getting an Aron?” she said before coughing as I smirked at her. “It’s not like that he’s just… nice.”

“Nice looking?” I asked with a slight tease. Yolanda threw a pillow at me. I caught it and chuckled before waving at her that I wouldn’t keep teasing her.

We sat for a little while, on the tv a news anchor discussed the early reports from various gyms around the region and how things were shaping up for the coming circuit start this monday. They’d later pitch some potential names to be on the lookout for such as Gary Oak and other trainers with high pedigree/background. Surprisingly, after I’d finished my little tournament a reporter had approached the kids for information on who’d been taken on. The fact that I had five partial and two full sponsorships would probably be brought up.

Celia’s results from last year meant people were going to be paying some attention to the ‘stable’ she called home, aka our Gym. Koga’s full sponsorship, if there was one this year, would also get a good degree of attention as a ‘trainer’ to watch for.

For most people, this wouldn’t mean much, but for trainers that wanted to challenge the best, they’d seek out these trainers as ‘up-and-comers’. Some of the residents of the cities not part of the actual circuit would also seek to test these trainers.

It wasn’t uncommon to see a little old granny currently readying her pet Growlithe or helper Graveller for a few quick and easy fights with young trainers. It was a fun little past-time for the most part. Some people liked to target the younger kids and while technically wrong it wasn’t anything actually punishable. Punks and even Ace trainers could often nab some pocket money this way if they desired. It was all part of the journey to learn when to accept and when not to accept.

Or more importantly, when not to wager big.

I looked towards the television. With two more days until the circuit started I couldn’t help but wonder how things would look in a month.

Gary Oak would be coming soon, and then so would Ash Ketchum.