“Right so when she comes back we can—”
“She’s not coming back,” announced Sabrina with a scowl. “She is trying to destroy the base without our help so that if Blaine does come, he will only face her. She doesn’t want to risk Brock.”
I blinked, then I recalled the complicated look she’d given me.
“Shit!” I muttered.
Right as that played out, the video paused.
I put my head in my hands as I felt the weight of the collective room turn towards me.
Arceus, really? We’re going to stop right there? I thought to myself as around the room various trainers that worked within the Guardians’ ranks tittered with a few being slightly more subtle with their amusement.
Still, if the number of coughs breaking out was any indication, well we were in for a rough flu season.
Koga didn’t turn his gaze away from the screen, which meant that the cough-giggles continued for a few more moments. His turned back was actually acting as a sign of tacit approval.
When he turned he didn’t use his ninja-like reflexes to catch anyone in the act. Instead he did so slowly, allowing people to compose themselves as he focussed upon the front row.
Karen Erika, Sabrina and I all sat, feeling like errant children.
Or at least, Erika and I did with how we were hunkering down.
Sabrina met Koga’s expectant gaze with a flat look while Karen continued to sit with her feet up on the table.
Visquez, who’d chosen to sit behind us in the lecture hall that was being used for this debrief and review session, leaned down.
“Woah! You got your pants pulled down bad there Brock!” she stage whispered, causing another round of coughs.
Lucy and Janine both giggled and Koga ignored them.
I sighed explosively and rolled my shoulders. "Thanks, Visquez. Thanks for summarising what just happened,” I replied with a flat tone.
“Anytime!” she replied, showing that her and her father were resistant to sarcasm when it suited them. Damn, electric types.
Koga nodded. “She is not wrong. You took an asset into an active fight without fully understanding her motivations."
“I thought she’d take it more serious. I just didn’t account for her flipping out like she did and trying to run off.”
Koga stared at me for a long moment only to sigh. “I apologise in advance for what I am about to say, but…” He grit his teeth and I leaned back realising I wasn’t going to like what I heard.
“Your mother and father do not have the same view as you regarding their relationship. To them, you are their child, even if you refuse to play into such a relationship.” He bowed his head. “That is your prerogative and considering your circumstances, I can understand it, however, not accounting for a parent trying to protect their child is an oversight. One that created a vulnerability where it did not need to be!”
I worked my jaw, processing what he’d said and how… Well, he was right. I hadn’t accounted for Lola’s take on the situation.
I nodded stiffly and Koga matched the gesture before turning away.
He then waved a hand at the screen. “Let this be a lesson for you all. Sometimes you need to account for your allies as much as your enemies. In this instance, Lola became a liability with the rest of the team having to play catch up with her!”
He sped up the video from there and slowed back down when the video showed us catching up to Lola. “This changed the dynamic of their insertion from a quiet, controlled operation to one that was very haphazard and brutish.”
“I think that worked better for us,” Karen called, still with her feet up.
Koga turned to her. “You do, do you?” he asked with the air of a lecturer willing to entertain a student’s theory. The unspoken air of him being ready to bring Karen back to reality lingered in the air.
Karen smirked. “Blaine’s a tricky bastard. If we didn’t force a response from him by going loud, he might have been able to set up a bigger ambush for us while he ‘allowed’ us to slink around. With sneaking, there was always the risk he’d do that, while, with going loud, we at least had certainty. Also, you gotta remember that any action in the moment is better than sitting around with our thumbs up our—”
“I agree,” Koga said, cutting her off before she finished with her usual vulgarities. He continued the play through from there. “You worked quickly to identify weaknesses and points of interest that were prioritised. This in turn allowed for later tactics to be employed. From the moment you caught up to Lola I have no faults for any of you. Your tactics and in-the-moment planning was on point. You led well Karen and the others supported you.”
“Heh, knew you were just playing tough!” Karen called back to him.
Koga didn’t respond, but the chair Karen was using to lean on suddenly lost a leg and she fell to the ground with a loud clatter and a squawk of outrage.
“Ah, you should have been more careful just now,” he said with a dry tone.
My gaze flicked from Koga to Sabrina. I was pretty sure Koga hadn’t done anything, so that left Sabrina, acting for him, or Janine pulling a quick hit and run.
Koga nodded to the room at large. “That concludes my analysis of the lead up to the fight with Blaine. Are there any questions from our fellow trainers?” he asked, opening the floor as it were.
One trainer that I’d partnered with in the past for some exercises raised his hand. “At the end, why didn’t anyone use Mega evolution?”
I coughed, rubbing the back of my head. “I am going to admit that I got rather caught up in the fighting that just persisted. I didn’t want to waste energy and instead tried to hold back in case I needed it.”
Karen shot me a look. “You saying it was a mistake to megaevolve my Houndoom when I did?” she said.
“No, it worked well at the time. My issue was that I got caught up in the longer fight and didn’t switch gears until Oak had taken over the fight with Blaine. In hindsight, I could and should have megaevolved… Probably Titan,” I stated.
Koga nodded, his gaze turning to Karen. “You did it once. Was that your limit?” he asked.
Karen snorted. “I could have done it again, but… I didn’t want Blaine targeting me. In fact, I was trying to be as unobtrusive as possible at the time, as I was mostly focusing on my bond with my Gengar to take out those deposits of Electrode that Blaine attempted to use at the end of the fight.”
Koga turned to Sabrina and Erika.
Erika looked down. “I don’t have a mega evolution for my pokemon,” she remarked sullenly.
Visquez raised a fist. “Same girl!”
Janine and Lucy also nodded their heads, and I coughed. “I’m working on it!” I muttered defensively.
Sabrina, as the last of our group, shrugged. “I was holding onto it in case it was needed. We had matters well in hand, to be perfectly honest.”
That drew a round of murmurs with people nodding at her response while others tilted their heads. “Didn’t half a mountain catch on fire and melt?” asked someone.
Sabrina merely nodded once again. “As I said, well in hand.”
“Hmmm, she is not wrong considering some of the past fights you have had saw mountain ranges burnt down along with global effects,” Koga replied stroking his moustache with an amused glint in his eyes.
That made people recall that yes, merely a mountain burning was nothing for some of the fights we’d been in.
Kinda crazy though.
Visquez grinned. “Yeah, we bad!” she announced, crossing her arms and dabbing.
I felt like cringing and was a little sad that I couldn’t scoot away from her like Lucy was doing. Janine just grinned at the larger girl.
"Regardless, we will be performing specialised drills going forward as another battle with Blaine is all but guaranteed. He is not the sort of man to leave old grievances unresolved. He will be back and we shall be ready for him!” declared Koga as he clicked and another screen appeared.
“Here are some general strategies that will be required along with everyone starting to take secondary comm units that are turned off. This will allow you to avoid having them attacked through digital means. Advanced defences are being looked into, but at this point Porygon Z is the best for this.”
Koga swept his gaze about the room. “More advancements are expected within the coming months so stay aware.”
“For those that are capable of Mega Evolutions we shall be running training exercises to signal a unified evolutionary response to limit any periods where one of you is vulnerable by triggering a group wide response. I doubt many Legendary pokemon would be able to handle a team of mega-evolved pokemon, considering the caliber of pokemon you each possess.”
Koga made sure to nod to our group in the front row and I felt a surge of pride that we had his confidence in us. Karen even took her feet off the desk and gave Koga a respectful nod at his acknowledgement.
“I shall now turn the floor over to Janine who has an update for us.” He flickered and vanished into the shadows, only for Janine to appear in a rapid blur.
Huh, she must have been working on her skills, as she’d gotten faster. Still nothing on her father, but she was certainly improving.
Janine beamed at everyone. “Everyone! There is some fantastic news! The Flying Fortress that we used during the Shamouti incident to relieve some of the pressure with the Flying Legendary pokemon and the Shadow Lugia has officially been fully repaired!”
That had me sitting up with interest, a move that was matched by most of the room.
Janine’s grin widened. “This means that we will now be able to engage in long range, overland, or even overseas expeditions if we desire! This is perhaps the best use of the fortress as it is still being watched for by League assets, and if it is spotted anywhere near Indigo, or indeed the Orange Archipelago, it will trigger a response from Lance or Champion Yuji who also has a Dragonite and several other strong pokemon.”
“Eh, so what. Get me and some of my team up on the fortress as we do fly bys of the Plateau and I’d zap that flying type master out of the skies!” Visquez taunted, earning a few laughs from the other trainers.
Janine shot Visquez a small smile, only to adopt a stoic expression. “While appreciated, that would not be a good idea. I have no doubt Lance won’t be pulling his punches with everything going on at the moment. So… as the Commodore of the fortress… I will have to hand over my cape to another able commander for the purposes of creating an expeditionary force.”
I drummed my fingers on the table and hummed. “Is that something we as Guardians should be doing?” I asked, causing Janine to blink.
Everyone stared at me and I coughed. “Our remit as Guardians is the defence of Indigo. The Flying Fortress is a great mobile base, but if it’s too hot, perhaps it is best that it be handed over to the League itself. Perhaps the Rangers could ‘discover it’ and then use it for their own purposes.”
Janine pursed her lips. “That… might not be a terrible option. Otherwise we could hand it over to the explorers. I imagine having a flying base would speed up the rate at which lost regions being found would occur.”
That made me pause. Hadn’t Lugia admitted that such would be possible soon enough?
Sabrina and I shared a look. Alola was a very, very enticing prospect for both of us.
“If it were to be voted for, that would be the option I’d like to see on the ballot,” I suggested, earning a nod from Janine.
She coughed into a fist and nodded. “In other news, the data on the pokeballs that were accessed has been tracked to a disgruntled technician and has been sold on to an organisation that we suspect is a front for criminal activity. We’re still waiting for the data to be sold on. If we’re lucky the data will be spread around multiple times, allowing us to pinch at several groups that should not have access to it. From there, we sweep in and rake in a huge group.”
That caused me to blink in surprise. With everything occurring with Blaine I’d actually forgotten about the pokeball data trap we’d set up.
Neat.
From there the meeting wrapped up and we milled around, conferring with others and inspecting the training regime that Koga had put together for facing Blaine.
He had items, berries, and even medicine that was recommended right at the front before any idea of fighting strategies could be raised.
Still, the pokemon Blaine was known to use in the past, along with the move pool they had was laid out in comprehensive detail.
He must have pored over the video carefully to pick up the various moves that were on display, which was rather commendable considering how much chaos there had been with the fight against Blaine.
“Sooo Brock, the wedding is coming up soon, are you nervous?” Janine asked suddenly.
“Nah. if you do it right, you’re pretty much already doing everything a married couple does just without the rings or formal arrangement, I suppose, so I don’t think much will change.”
“We still need to secure a residence for ourselves,” Sabrina reminded me.
“Ah, that’s true,” I mused. “Got any places in mind? I found a place on Chrysanthemum that I think ticks a lot of boxes.”
Janine coughed. “But the wedding though. You’ve got that all sorted?”
Sabrina and I shared a look. Alright, Janine had an angle she was trying to work here, what was it?
“Most things,” I said, deciding to hedge my bets.
“Oh, is there something you haven’t organised yet? The band, your suit, a singer, or the procession?” she asked.
“I’m keeping my entrance a secret so that it won’t be copied, but with the castle’s main hall being the venue for the wedding there will be some stunning views, I have no doubt,” Sabrina stated firmly, shutting down any talks of processions.
I had half a thought to suggest not having Mewtwo do anything, but anything that Mewtwo did do at the wedding would be well executed, and it never hurt to have a Legendary pokemon guarding the wedding on top of my own pokemon and those of Sabrina’s.
“We have that idol for most of the songs and the band is locked in,” I added, ticking off the items mentally.
“So not all the time on stage is full?” Janine.
I was about to point out that there needed to be some time for speeches only for Sabrina to lay her hand on my arm and stall me out.
“We could do with another singer,” Sabrina suggested, observing Janine with a slight smile.
Janine bobbed her head. “Awesome! I know just the person who could fill in a few minutes!” she pointedly did not look towards Visquez. “Can you… leave them open please? I want to make it a surprise!”
“You’re going to have to get them to agree,” I pointed out, unsure as to how she’d get Visquez to such a public showing of her skills.
“I can be very persuasive,” replied Janine with a grin as she slipped away.
“So we’re using our wedding to help our friends reveal hidden facets of themselves?” I asked Sabrina.
“It’s already being held up as the event of the decade with the who’s who congregating. There is also a notable degree of excitement surrounding who Lance will take as his plus one while there are many single ladies apparently preparing to use the reception to dance with him.”
Erika shifted and attempted to hold an aloof expression, but it was rather in vain considering she was standing next to Sabrina. “H-how many ladies?” Erika asked with a slight hitch that gave her interest in the topic away.
“Well the hot gossip is that Lance and Lorelei—” Sabrina began with her lips twitching up.
I held back a snort, knowing that unless things changed greatly, Lorelei had zero interest in pursuing a relationship with Lance. He’d very much burned that bridge with his earlier behaviour during his reign as Champion where he’d basically ostracised her and been trying to force her out of the Elite Four.
Still didn’t stop people pointing out she was a young single woman that spent a lot of time around Lance.
Karen, therefore, also entered the mix, but I suspected she wasn’t about to lock herself into anything committed.
As Sabrian continued to rattle off name after name Erika’s expression firmed up and a resolve began to blaze in her eyes. Sabrina must have noticed this as well as she tilted her head.
“There is also Queen Ilene who has attended an event or two with Lance now.”
“Tch! Just cause she’s the ruling monarch of Rota doesn’t mean she’s locked in as his date!” Erika growled.
“Fight on, Erika," I offered from the side and Erika nodded firmly.
“I’m going to have to double check if my tailor has the right materials… you might not be doing kimonos but I’m going to be turning some heads!” Erika proclaimed.
Sabrina leaned into Erika’s personal space and her eyes began to glow. “You will not best me on my wedding day,” she declared.
Erika stiffened. “Oh my arceus! I’m so sorry I didn’t—”
Sabrina raised her hand. “No, you misunderstand me. Try your best. You will be a backdrop feature to me on my day.”
Everyone who heard that paused and stared at Sabrina in awe. She nodded and straightened up with a glint in her eyes like she hadn’t just challenged a room full of women to attempt to outdo her.
“Sabrina are you—”
“Brock. You will go back to Monique and tell her that you are adding three zeros to the cost of your suit. You will not allow Lance, Surge, Steven Stone, or anyone best you, do you understand?”
“Oh,” I said slowly. Sabrina was locking in on this.
As her soon to be husband I decided all I could do was step up and wrap an arm around her waist as I adopted my own challenging smirk. “Alright, my love,” I answered.
Sabrina shot me a look that spoke entire volumes about how much she appreciated me backing her up in this moment and committing.
Erika swallowed, intimidated, but despite this, she had her own glint. “Alright, Sabrina. If that’s what you want, then that’s what you’ll get. My best.”
Karen grinned. “Gonna regret it~” she taunted.
Sabrina raised her chin and sniffed. “No, I won’t.” With that challenge dropped Sabrina wrapped her hand in mine only to Teleport away with what felt like a more powerful flash.
I hummed in thought as we appeared in our room at home, a thought of how to make our ceremony extra memorable sparking to the front of my mind. “You know if we wanted to really upstage everyone I think having our pokemon Mega evolve during the ceremony would help out cause while it changes the pokemon it also brings out a glow within us,” I suggested.
Sabrina turned slowly and stared at me with half lidded eyes. “I love you and your ability to run with my suggestions.” She stepped in close and gently touched noses with me. “And I want you to know I appreciate what you do,” she stated huskily.
“Oh?” I replied, feeling my body respond to her as hands came up around my shoulders.
She leaned in, and right before we kissed, she whispered. “We have an hour, your first challenge won’t pass the gauntlet.”
“What a shame,” I replied as I locked lips with her and pushed her down onto the bed.
It didn’t take Sabrina long to roll us over, so I was on my back with her straddling me with a glint in her eyes. “I don’t mind starting our family early,” she suggested.
And just like that, there was no stopping me as a primitive part of my mind activated.
When we were finished, Sabrina lay on my chest, both of us sweaty and gasping for breath.
“Were you serious?” I asked.
“Of course,” she replied, tracing her finger in small circles on my chest while I rubbed my thumb along her waist.
“Sooo, are we trying for that?” I asked my mind conjuring what Sabrina would look like with a slight baby bump. Again the primitive part of my brain really liked that imagery.
Sabrina put a hand on my chest. “Down boy,” she giggled, eyeing me in amusement. “And it means that we’ll just… let it happen if it does. We're only a month out from the wedding, so it won’t affect anything if it happens.”
“Huh, that kind of snuck up didn’t it?” I mused, staring at the ceiling. “Guess we’re going to need to get that house,” I suggested.
“I’ll take care of it. I’m only going to have a few dozen actual challengers of note before the wedding, then we’re off to Alto Mare and then we’ll close out the circuit.”
Nodding along I chew my lip in thought. “Boy or girl?” I ask.
“Hmmm, oddly enough I can’t foresee what our first child will be. I’m not sure if that is your innate dark energies interfering with my foresight or something else at play.”
“Could be twins,” I joked.
Rather than smiling, Sabrina grew thoughtful.
“That was a joke,” I pointed out.
“Not as much as you might think it was, considering that your family has a proven record of having twins.”
“Ah,” I replied, realising that she had an extremely valid point. “Huh, twins…” I mused thinking about what it would be like. Which… Again, due to raising most of my siblings I had a very, very good idea of what it would entail.
“You know, I actually feel a little overqualified to be a parent, if that’s such a thing,” I stated. “Shame we won’t be able to go visit other regions until they’re older. We could always hold off I suppose,” I suggested.
“Why? Your father can take over the Ancient style pokemon Gym and either Forrest or Yolanda can step in for the main gym. Forrest will most likely return after this year’s circuit and he has all the training for running the gym along with the support of your trainers.”
“Ah,” I repeated, finding that to be a common response to all the points Sabrina was raising.
“Also, travel is not so much of an issue. While most infants can only wail and express themselves through unintelligent sounds I can still interpret their feelings and communicate with them on a basic level.”
“Oh, right, I forgot you did that with Tilly and Billy.”
“They didn’t like it as much as Suzie did, but she was slightly more established then, and I have a much softer ‘touch’ mentally these days.”
“Guess we’re going to have kids,” I announced, more to say the words aloud and hear them myself than any actual need to.
I still found myself smiling at the thought.
Yeah, I liked that.
“We’re not having as many as your parents,” Sabrina reminded me and I nodded, knowing that it was simply too much, even if we’d eventually have a lot of help with my brothers and sisters being able to play and look after them as they grew up.
“Tilly and Billy aren’t going to be that much older than our kids.”
“No, and that’s going to be nice for them I think,” Sabrina murmured.
A knock at my door made me frown and check my watch. “Hmmm, weird, someone’s looking for me?”
Sabrina hummed and her eyes glowed for a moment, only to straighten. “Oh… oh dear…”
I shot her a worried look, and she returned it with a sheepish one of her own. “So… it turns out that your challenger this morning had two Dark types in his team that I might not have foreseen.”
“Ah,” I replied as the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place and Sabrina shifted.
I exploded out of bed, throwing myself into the shower to get rid of the smell of sex as quickly as I could. I didn’t have time for the shower to warm up, I merely walked in, shook, scrubbed and stepped out.
Shaking again and mentally apologising to Nanny Grav for the mess I was going to leave I found my clothes levitating towards me. I raised my hands like a child and found myself clothed within seconds.
Only then did I open the door and give Alexa a sheepish look .”Sorry! I was doing something important!” I lied.
“I’m something important!” called Sabrina from behind me, causing Alexa to blink, then blush as she realised what I’d been up to.
“Sorry, I imagine I’m needed at the arena now?” I asked, and she nodded, still a tinge red as I booked it past her.
I entered the Gym at a flat trot. “Apologies! I was doing something important!” I repeated, only to wince as I recalled Sabrina’s comment. I coughed and hid the smile on my face poorly as I jogged up to the podium.
Rocko showed himself to be aware of the situation as he approached and handed me a trio of pokeballs.
“Rhyhorn, Onix and Izumi are in here, just in case he’s jobbing with his pokemon,” Rocko warned.
Nodding I felt a tinge of regret. I had no way to know what he was about to bring to the table considering I’d been busy, very much not thinking about this fight. “Has he demonstrated enough skills?” I asked and Rocko made a face while waggling his hand in a so-so gesture.
“Kid’s only got two pokemon left and his chances… they’re not so good,” he answered honestly.
Great. So it came down to me.
Turning my attention to the kid I nodded. “Very well, I see you’re worth my time,” I said, adopting a challenging tone that had him lifting his chin.
Good, good, the kid had some spunk.
I enlarged the first ball and sent out Onix, deciding to switch it up a little.
In response, he sent out a Murkrow.
I blinked.
Was he for real right now?
Maybe there was a trick to this? I thought, deciding not to write him off like I already had. The kid deserved better.
“Gust!” he ordered as his first move and my stomach sank as I pointed at the flying type.
“Rock Throw,” I commanded, and a wave of rocks shot up and smacked into Murkrow, downing it with one hit.
“Murkrow!” the kid wailed and I watched as he went about returning his pokemon before sending out his only other pokemon.
“G-go Poochyena!” he shouted and a small dark type pup emerged and straight away I knew he wasn't walking out of here with a badge.
That pup was young, weak, and looked rather uninterested in the fight.
Never a good sign.
“Sand Attack Poochyena!”
“Rock Throw,” I repeated, feeling slightly better, if repressing the urge to grimace. If the kid played it smart and repeated Sand Attack and dodged well enough he’d—
My attack hit and rather than double down the kid snapped his hand forward. “Tackle!” he shouted.
“Match it,” I replied, deciding to teach the kid about why it was a bad idea to charge a large pokemon.
His poochyena bounced as it was hit, only to slam into the ground and whimper weakly when it landed.
Urgh, now I just felt like a heel.
Then I narrowed my eyes and stared closely at Poochyena. No, I shouldn’t lower my guard! It was dark type and—
“I withdraw my pokemon and concede the match,” the kid announced, causing me to blink in surprise.
For a moment I had a vague feeling of disappointment. I’d gotten out of bed for this?
Then I ruthlessly crushed that thought.
It wasn’t the kid’s fault I’d dallied. While it wasn’t a bad thing to trust Sabrina, it had still put this kid out.
I lowered the podiums and approached the kid. “Hi, sorry for not being here when your gauntlet started. Good job reaching me. That can be a task and a half in and of itself.”
“...yeah, it wasn’t easy,” he replied, not meeting my eyes.
Right… I needed to make it up to the kid.
I knelt and looked up at him. “Hey, I’m sorry I was busy with something else. I owe you an apology for that, so, I’m sorry. Would you like to stick around, get your pokemon healed and talk some shop?” I asked.
The kid blinked in surprise. "You... want to hang out with me?”
“Yeah, I have no problems hanging out and talking about pokemon,” I replied earnestly. “I’d like nothing less to be honest.”
The kid’s hesitant smile let me know I’d said the right thing, and for the next hour I spent time talking shop with Matt from Olivine City about how to get the most out of his pokemon along with some tactical decisions.
When I had to step away from my next challenger I left him at it in the trainer lounge with a few others talking his ear off.
Alexa shot me a look. “Not going to get lost between here and the arena are you?” she teased.
I rolled my eyes. “One time!” I replied.
Alexa just shook her head and waved me off but I chuckled.
It wasn’t something I should get in the habit of repeating. But… then again I’d totally do it again if given the chance.
I set about the rest of my day with a skip in my step after a small hiccup, but that was fine. That happened some days.
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A.N Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support!
It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!