Chapter 17 - Intermission (Patreon)

Celia stared at her teacher as he stepped off the podium. The field behind him was once more torn and cratered as if a series of battles had taken place instead of an exchange of attacks. For all that Brock said this wasn’t the ‘level’ she needed to reach, experiencing it made her realise just how far she and her team had to go. When Shin had been burned, she’d opened a pokeball to hug her Wartortle. June had copied her with her starter, Flareon. It helped knowing she wasn’t alone in how… intimidating this was.

She’d never seen Brock this intense, this focused. It was surprising to see him rise to this level and force the Champion of the region to acknowledge his strength. She had no idea he was this strong!

That being said, she knew the Champion was powerful, but to see him working through the oppression Brock had set up? It was so scary! Trainers could get this strong? Celia was sure she’d seen the damage absorbers around the trainers flicker a little! It was completely different watching a match from the Champion in person instead of through the television.

This time when Brock came back to his bunker, he swept in. He’d nodded to acknowledge them but the intensity of his focus was too much. Even simply claiming a bottle of water to drink kept the girls both silent. He’d said nothing, merely sitting with laced fingers before breathing in and out in a controlled manner.

The difference this time from the first intermission was only more marked in Celia’s mind. The first time Brock had roamed, twitchy and energised. Like a caged Arcanine. Now he sat and thought heavily enough to weigh down even their tongues.

She shared a glance with June and swallowed before her eyes inevitably gravitated back to Brock.

He’d begun to toy with a greatball that he’d attached to a necklace.

That could only mean that Titan was going to be next. She felt herself squirming. The big pokemon was typically a great training partner for her pokemon, and had more than once been used to gauge how strong her team was. There was no doubt that he was strong, and sweet.

Brock had a lot of strong pokemon. And he knew how to use them! Arceus did she find that attra… Celia stopped that thought. She shuddered before trying to remember what she’d been thinking. She refocussed on how Brock was taking losing out his last pokemon.

She’d have to re-examine her previous ideas on how strong they were. Brock, after all, had more depth so it could only be assumed that his starter would be able to match.

She licked her lips and found that she couldn’t wait for the next stage to start.

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Sabrina let her attention shift from the mind of the trainer in Brock’s bunker to Brock himself. Sadly she couldn’t see him very well from her seating.

“Brock’s doing great!” Shouted Surge with his typical bravado. The man didn’t care about the number of bruises that had formed across his neck or arms. Sabrina had been forced to hear people project their views on how Surge had been intimate. This was always accompanied with waves of emotion that muddied the mind. Lust, disgust, disapproval, curiosity, spite, glee. People didn’t understand how fast certain feelings could flicker out. It made things very annoying.

Erika, merely bobbed her head. Listless, but for the spark of intense interest as her eyes remained forward, waiting like so many others for the next match to start. “He’s,” a large yawn escaped her lips causing her to throw her sleeve in front of her mouth as she blushed, “He’s done well,” she said. Surge turned his head towards Erika.

“Ho? Someone tired? Had a late night?” his eyes wiggled.

Sabrina understood this to mean he was implying something sexual.

From the context given it likely meant that he thought Erika had slept with Brock and they had stayed up together last night. Sabrina allowed herself a twitch of the lips. The man was wrong. No such event had occurred.

Erika shook her head. “I think my room was haunted, I never saw them but some mischievous ghost pokemon kept moving my things about in my room.”

“Huh,” Surge said, scratching his head. “Didn’t think the Plateau would have any of them. Better watch out Sabrina. We all know how Ghost types work against your type.”

Sabrina turned to direct Surge an unimpressed look. “Do not presume such would bother me. I can deal with them.” As soon as she said it, Sabrina felt something run a finger up her spine. She flexed her focus behind her but the ghost vanished. Sabrina turned her head to look towards an old woman that was smirking. Sabrina narrowed her eyes at the woman but the old Elite four Ghost specialist didn’t look in her direction.

When Sabrina turned back to Surge and Erika, she found them discussing the match so far.

Erika hopped back and forth. “Brock has done amazingly! He’s set up a team and a battle that is going to see him taking a huge advantage against Lance’s Dragonite!”

Sabrina turned her head further, interested despite herself as Surge rubbed his chin. “Do you think he can win?”

Erika opened her mouth before shutting it and chewing her lips in thought.

Sabrina wanted to scoff openly. Brock would win. They’d gone through his encounters together. Erika had little idea of the training and behind the scenes work that had gone into preparing for this match.

Still, she didn’t actually do that. Last night Sabrina could admit to being rather… petty. She had used her telekinesis from Brock’s room to float items around Erika’s room to give the girl a scare. Something she hadn’t done in years. Not since she was young and her mother… Sabrina swallowed. She glanced at Erika’s slightly baggy eyes before looking away.

She shouldn’t have done that. She’d just been… She… She’d… she didn’t like what was happening. She pointedly didn’t look at Erika beyond small glances. She wasn’t sure why she felt small when Erika yawned. It wasn’t like anyone was around to catch or scold her.

Sabrina had lurked around but as soon as the crowd of excitable reporters had come, she’d had to leave. Too many emotions and thoughts were practically being screamed. So many of them were wrong or contrary to what was actually being said at any one time. She hadn’t liked it. But… that didn’t make what she’d done right had it?

She’d attend enough calls that she thought she had known what Erika was like. It seemed that phone conversations were not substitutes for meeting with people. She’d hoped to cultivate such methods for developing relationships normally. Not with Erika though. She’d never thought of the girl that way. Or indeed any of the other gym leaders she talked with.

Erika had just seemed to be a formal girl. Nothing more and nothing less. Getting to sit next to her had revealed a few things. Sabrina hadn’t pried into her thoughts. The girl was actually rather quiet most of the time. Which actually made her not objectionable to sit near.

“Heh! Well, I have no doubt about my man Brock! I even bet a ton of money on him!”

“You shouldn’t bet Surge, it’s not a good appearance for us to gamble! As Gym Leaders, we need to be seen as role models!” Erika chastised tiredly. Sabrina watched them interact. She knew Surge well enough to know that he wouldn’t be bothered by Erika thinking poorly of him. But Erika did believe. She tried, Sabrina easily noticed how Erika had ironed her clothes before coming. How she had done her make-up and held herself in a formal posture despite how she mentally complained about how it tired her further. Then she seemed to spiral into self-chastisement for not being able to do it naturally. None of which appeared on her face.

It was good that she didn’t need to look at Erika to ‘hear’ her thoughts. Still it was odd to find herself… interested… interested in Erika? She considered that statement.

Erika was interesting, Sabrina concluded. She now felt a little bad about how she had acted. Perhaps she could do something for Erika one day?

Surge, ignorant as to how Sabrina was watching them, or perhaps quite the opposite and exulting in it, puffed his chest out as he waved his hand back and forth. “Nah! That’s all crud! We’re people too and it’s a way of showing my support! I’m bound to make a ton of money cause I even bet on him before he made his announcement! There’s going to be some downright miserable bookies in Goldenrod tonight you count my words!”

“Why did you bet in Goldenrod?” Erika asked with a tilt of her head.

Surge grinned, “So I can take some of those Johto punk’s money!”

Sabrina glanced between them. Surge was unreadable to her. Erika was apparently worried about it for Indigo relations. Sabrina knew it to also be that Goldenrod had better odds against Brock. Sabrina let the comment pass. She had nothing that needed saying.

“Brock certainly looks good out there,” Erika said, deciding on another conversation. Sabrina nodded her head, lips curling upwards as Erika mistakenly thought she was inadvertently complimenting her.

She didn’t even need to step into the other girl’s mind to know that she was patting herself on the back like an excitable Bellossom that completed a new trick. Truly Brock’s earlier suggestions of reading some books to understand relationships and interactions had helped.

Sabrina felt like she understood more of the interactions going on despite all the extra information she had. She had her own library at home and even used her knowledge to be able to mend her relationship with her parents after they had… reacted poorly to her psychic skills.

With her knowledge built empathy, she’d been able to both talk with them and psychically link with them to make sure that no communication failure occurred. She was a master at getting her point across nowadays, and her parents were cordial with her instead of terrified as they had been years ago.

A marked improvement. Even her gym had grown stronger from her increased communication skills. Trainers had learnt more about their pokemon, and her Gym easily was one of the strongest in the Indigo league now.

It didn’t matter that Erika was one of the most popular gym leaders. That mattered little, and no one really paid any attention to that sort of thing. Sabrina wasn’t the worst there, with most people finding Koga’s hidebound standards of challenge and the inconvenience of reaching Blaine’s gym meant she was third last. It didn’t bother her.

At all.

She could be popular if she wanted.

She could make people outright love her if she truly wanted. But she didn’t because that wasn’t important to her and it didn’t bother her.

At all.

“Are you alright Sabrina?” Sabrina blinked as Erika’s voice sheared into her thoughts. Sabrina replayed the last minute of the conversation. Surge had been aggrandising himself while Erika had been trying to calm him down. Nothing of value was lost not listening in. But Erika had apparently seen her scowling.

“Ah don’t mind her! She’s just miffed Brock hasn’t used Selene! Sabrina helped out training Selene and wants to see their pet project throw down!” crowed Surge.

Sabrina turned her head. “Selene is not a brute to be thrown out without thought. Brock understands this. He is merely holding her in reserve for the best moment.”

“You helped Brock train for this?” Sabrina straightened in her chair and let her lips twitch slightly into a smirk.

“Yes, he asked for my help.” There, that would allow Erika to learn of the difference in their standings in terms of her relationship to Brock. She was closer and better understood him than this girl that appeared out of nowhere. Despite her desire to not like the other Gym Leader, she found herself… enjoying her presence? Perhaps it was because it gave Surge another target other than herself to be loud towards?

“Wow, that’s really amazing!” Erika turned eyes that practically shone with adoration towards Sabrina. Sabrina continued to look away from her, feeling vaguely uncomfortable and slightly guilty about how she had acted last night. It was… nice having Erika looking up to her.

“He got me to help out as well!” Surge sadly couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Sabrina acknowledged him with a stiff nod. Erika made a high pitched noise that reminded Sabrina of a kettle.

“Eeeee! You three are amazing! Joining up like that! I wish I could have helped out…” She wilted into her large dress and chewed on her lip. Surge pat the girl’s shoulder.

“Hey this match up wasn’t a good one for you. Lance has a few moves like that Gyrados and Dragonite knowing thunder that I could train Brock against!” He jerked a thumb at Sabrina and she glanced at the offending limb before he withdrew it. “Sabrina here brought out some curve-balls or some such along with training one of Brock’s pokemon in control I think. Other than that, I’m not sure cause her top team is still a mystery. Ain’t no one challenging Saffron’s Elite challenge. But I’m sure you helped out… in your own way yesterday!” Surge’s smirk was missed by Erika but Sabrina noted it with a roll of her eyes. Truly she didn’t want to be able to read his mind. It would likely be a filthy place.

She did a reflexive sweep of the minds around herself. She always paused on Surge. His own mind stood out for the noted different feel to it. Somehow the man’s mind was shielded from her. It felt nothing like another psychic’s defences or the aura based defences she’d learnt few others possessed from self-mastery. It felt strangely mechanical. She noted it as an interesting oddity to research. Few people could defend against her mental prowess if she tried, quite a few she could feel right now, such as the ghostly creeping mind of Agatha situated in the Elite Four box. Next to her, Bruno’s forged mind through discipline stood out as something she had to be careful around.

Then there were the two on the trainers everyone was watching.

Lance's mind was not something she dared approach. To her, he felt like a powerful beast suppressed tightly into a small space. She could feel his energy shift about as he sat waiting for the announcement to resume the match.

Directing her attention to the other, more familiar mind she found herself running into a rock hard shell that had been built up gradually. Sabrina knew she could tear through it and had done so in the past. She swallowed as she recalled the first time they had met and how much of an anomaly Brock had been to her. She hadn’t liked that darkness he held deep within but it worked wonderfully in protecting his thoughts.

The absence of thought or emotions or other feelings had been alien to Sabrina. She’d been terrified at first as she’d felt herself grasping about for something familiar. She’d returned to herself and been shaken. At the time, she could admit she had been arrogant. Self-assured in her might only to have Brock appear as if from nowhere. He’d been the first person able to tell her no in a long time. She’d struggled during their match furiously trying to detect what and how he was going to have his pokemon do during their match. Until she’d realised how peaceful the silence was.

With her focus on Brock the world had… gotten quieter. Without having half a hundred people’s thoughts pushing at her, she had felt herself slowly relax. She’d barely even noticed losing her match against Brock she’d been so distracted.

Brock… Brock was important. For many reasons she felt.

For now, she had to simply watch and will Brock to victory… she felt her mind struggle under the clamour of the thousands. When the match was done, she’d try and stay to talk with Brock but she knew it would be hard. She had set herself a duty however and she would stand by it.

She’d also make sure no one, absolutely no one, tried to cheat him of his victory.

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Samuel Oak rubbed his chin in thought. To his left, Daisy was actually leaning forward and paying rapt attention to the television instead of messaging her friends. A marked difference from normal televised battles, but Oak had a suspicion as to what was actually holding her attention. In her lap, a typically flighty Abra lay placidly, something not unusual for the girl as she was much beloved by pokemon.

To his right, Gary had his hands raised, he was as stiff as a statue and emoting more than most people were used to seeing from the cool kid of Pallet.

“This is insane!” His grandson shouted. Samuel merely chuckled, causing Gary to round on him. “I thought Brock wouldn’t be able to mount a fight like this! He’s supposed to be one of the easier people to win a badge off!”

Sam gave that proclamation a snort. “That’s because most people don’t fight him later on. Most people do the traditional route of the Heroes’ unification walk.” Gary chewed his lip and nodded.

Gary waved his hand at the television. “I mean yeah, but still? This strong? It’s way—”

“Do so many people still follow that fudy dudy old story?” Daisy asked.

Gary bristled at being interrupted but a raised hand gently patting the air made the preteen subdue himself. “It is not a story it is part of Kanto’s history, young lady so many people follow it even if unknowingly. The Pewter city gym should be venerated as the first gateway and tribe to join with the Hero. Many in the past followed this to honour the Hero and the companions he formed along the way.” Samuel Oak wavered his hand back and forth, “Buuuut most only associate it with the gym circuit and the museum these days.”

Gary squirmed and Sam continued on. “And to answer your question, I too am surprised by Brock’s showing. He is doing excellently and truly drawing out some surprising pokemon.”

“That Kabutops! And the Aerodactyl!! And that last one? Rhyperior! What the he—” A stern look from his Grandfather and an amused titter from Daisy stopped Gary in his tracks. He coughed before continuing, “What gives? I’ve never seen pokemon like that in your lab Gramps! How come?” Gary shouted. Daisy also gave Samuel a look at this.

“That’s because I’ve never had them in the lab. I think I will be making a visit to Pewter, or be asking for Brock to send over some pokemon, as those are certainly rare specimens. I hope he accepts.”

“Why wouldn’t he?” asked Daisy.

Gary beat him to answer this question, “Cause Gym Leaders don’t have to give out their pokemon for research like some trainers do. Don’t worry though, if Brock says no, I’ll find some and catch them for my team!” This drew a chuckle from the older man and he wrapped an arm around his grandson’s shoulders, getting a squawk from the young lad. “Not to worry, I think I’ll be asking after Lance’s Kingdra first. He’s often interested in talking with me. A polite young man I’ve found him to be.”

Daisy looked back to the television. “Who do you think is going to win?”

Gary stopped fidgeting in the hug and looked up, silently waiting for his grandfather’s decision.

“It can still go either way honestly.”

“Even though it’s five to four?” said Daisy sceptically.

Sam nodded seriously, allowing his mind to begin picking apart what he had seen and begin to play out the options the trainers had along with what they could have or should have done. “Brock and Lance have both made a number of mistakes with their judgements of the other. As trainers that have not fought each other before, that is to be expected. They don’t have a good enough feel for the other to know what they will do. Any subsequent matches between these two will be much tighter, or even more one-sided affairs depending on the work put in.

“Brock has anticipated Lance wonderfully with his call on Gyrados coming out first. The electric type Golem was a rare variant that paid huge dividends, and could have seen Brock three to one up. I suspect the match from there would have been much more different if that had been the case.

“Lance has not had the advantage of knowing what pokemon Brock could call up, as Brock actually only has three tournaments to his name prior to becoming a gym leader. In the first, he only had to use a Lapras, a Golem, and a Rhydon. During his match in the Orange Island League he fielded a more diverse team with Noctowl, Lapras, Rhydon, Onix, and Pupitar. We barely have a register for Brock with his journey being cut short. His only Hoenn appearance during a competition, he only made it to the three on three rounds, losing with Noctowl, Lapras, and Lairon.”

“Brock has a Lairon? Does that mean he has the fully evolved Aggron?!” Gary squawked in surprise, head swelling from the television to his Grandfather. “Is that going to be his last pokemon? Tyranitar or a… what Noctowl, Lapras or Aggron?”

Samuel shook his head. “I doubt it. Lance challenged Brock as the Leader of the Pewter Gym so he needs to use pokemon specifically representing his Gym. So Rock Type or rock-themed. Two of those pokemon are not like that.” The older man noted both of his grandchildren still watching him, making him feel very pleased as they listened for once.

“For today’s matchup, we still have to see his Onix I believe. This demonstrates that Brock has been very tight with his team line up though. I’d expect an Onix from Brock to be well trained and I expect Lance knows this.”

He rubbed his chin as Daisy and Gary continued to listen. “Lance has had less time to train his pokemon and prepare them for this match. Something I believe Brock has taken advantage of. Lance also has had to deal with a number of type disadvantages from Brock that most were dismissive of. Brock was actually Lance’s second-worst match up in the entire Indigo circuit.”

“Who was worse?” said Gary

Daisy shivered theatrically. “Mahogany town’s Pryce.” At Gary’s look, she rolled her eyes. “Learn your geography twerp or my gift to you when you start your journey is going to be a map. Pryce is located in the mountains that are ice-covered. Ice is the biggest weakness Dragon’s have.” Gary nodded and Sam smiled at Daisy.

Daisy’s absolute statement might not have been as true as it once had been. There had been that article that some professors were arguing over, but it needed to see a lot more research before it gained any traction. He’d need to push some of his sponsored trainers into looking out for certain… pretty pokemon. Gary and Ash wouldn’t do it, so he might have to rely on Greta for that.

“—amps?!” Sam hummed and turned back to Gary.

“Sorry I was lost in thought over something. What were you asking my boy?”

Gary huffed, annoyed at being ignored. “I said, is there anything else you can tell us about the match?”

Sam nodded. From this match, he could write a number of articles, but he doubted his grandson wanted to read those. He wanted easily digestible facts or insights. Sam made a note to make the pokedex he gave out focus on that for the next update. The current format was too unwieldy, some people preferred scientific facts while others merely wanted snapshot information.

“Well, both trainers should have had a few more pokemon with attack negators as Lance is notorious for his powerful attacks. Brock has also demonstrated he will use powerful one-shot attacks. If either had used protect or endure at the right time they would have again changed the tempo of the match. I will complement Brock as he has controlled the tempo wonderfully from the outset and when Lance has tried to come to grips, he has evaded or landed a much more devastating blow than Lance was anticipating. Now he has to rely on his strongest pokemon.”

“The Dragonite, his starter, yeah?”

“Indeed.” Sam looked at the television “It could still go either way. Lance is that powerful with his Dragonite, but Brock has shown he is capable. Win or lose I think he has gained the respect he was owed.”

“Yeah!” Gary pumped his fists up and down.

“This is pretty crazy, I never thought Brock would be like this. He’s kind of being like… Rawr!” Daisy made the noise while clawing the air playfully. Then she giggled.

“What’s that go to do with anything?” Gary blinked cluelessly. Sam chuckled, suspecting where this would go.

“It’s just kind of crazy to see him all serious and growly. He was sooo much more laid back with the gym a couple of years ago when I challenged him!” She squirmed a little, “Him and Lance were just so intense during their pre-match meeting. They’re kind of handsome you know? And both single! Maybe they’re even—” Sam coughed loudly as Gary tilted his innocent little head in confusion as to what Daisy was alluding to. Daisy giggled to herself and hugged the placid Abra in her lap before pulling out her phone to message her friends as the intermission continued.

“Girls are weird,” pronounced Gary. Sam nodded seriously and patted his grandson. Perfect, he’d be able to use the cheerleader plan for the security team. Gary would prove far easier to protect than Daisy had been.

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Agatha tapped her cane as she felt the little brat in the Kanto gym leader section sweep the stadium with her psychic senses. The little fool didn’t realise she should also be trying to detect what she couldn’t detect. As a powerful ghost-type trainer, Agatha had no doubt she could walk right up to the girl and tweak her nose before she noticed her approach.

Psychic types! Pah! All over thinking fools that thought themselves too clever without the wisdom to contain themselves.

Next to her, Bruno shifted before cracking his neck from side to side with a hideous pop-crunch. Further down, Lorelei shivered.

“Must you do that?” the prim girl said.

Bruno grunted and clenched his fists to demonstrate that yes, yes he did and he didn’t have to really pay attention to what Lorelei wanted.

“Interesting watching Lance get his butt handed to him like this,” said the muscle-bound fool.

“There’s nothing ‘interesting’ about it at all. He is being led around and looking weak. This will not inspire confidence. He is going to make all of us look weak!”

“Just means more challengers,” Bruno said before putting his knuckles under his chin. “Let em come. I get bored with no challengers.”

Lorelei scowled. “You’re not the first person they will face!”

“So toughen up.” Bruno as ever was eloquent. Agatha smiled as Lorelei scowled. She, and everyone else at the Pokemon League, knew that the girl was on thin ice. Lance was just waiting to make a play. His natural dislike of Ice-types colouring his view of the young woman.

Sadly he was also trying to oust Agatha herself, but she at least had a plan for that. An apprentice that was more than ready to step up when she stepped down. It might seem different, but the strings of power would still be hers to tug on. Except now she wouldn’t be someone people would immediately turn to. She’d been careful with her accumulation of power, but she’d have more freedom out of the Elite Four these days.

She knew Koga was due to be tapped with Blaine having only recently departed. The ‘old guard’ as it were, stood down finally. Agatha snorted. Only for appearances. But sometimes appearances were enough to cause certain types to rise up like Goldeen that had grown incautious after an Ursaring went still in a pond. The bear was still there but people forgot about it, unaware of the dangers that loomed over them.

She’d need to stay vigilant. The bad old days weren't as far off as people really thought they were. It only took a few dominoes falling just so. You just needed to be correctly positioned to know. The big players were always the ones that needed to have the most attention to their surroundings. Often, they formed part of the dominoes that could be targeted to start the toppling effect.

She looked at Lance and felt at his now raging Aura as it pulsed and writhed. Soon he’d unleash his most powerful Pokémon and she’d get a taste of his power once more.

She turned to the Pewter boy and tilted her head in consideration.

Now he’d been a surprise.

She wondered who his master was to teach him such basic control. His rock type energy was a strong armour that most wouldn’t know of, but he had a certain conscious control. She’d seen a few rocks not caught by the barrier bounce off him during the explosion and leave no mark. He had to have an understanding beyond simply having highly trained rock types.

She’d mark him as one to watch and investigate. Karen might even make some overtures. The boy would probably be flattered with a young beauty like her paying him attention. Agatha glanced back as another sweep ran over her. Karen would probably have to chase off some strays, but that sometimes made it more enjoyable.

Crushing rivals for a man’s attention was sometimes the better payoff in Agatha’s opinion. Agatha paused when the boy grabbed a greatball off his necklace and for just a moment another pulse ran through the arena.

Oh? Now she sat up fully. “Lance might be in trouble here.” That got Bruno and Lorelei to shut their mouths. Agatha began to re-evaluate her plans before signalling a servant for a drink. She might just get to enjoy this.

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Flint sat at the edge of the Pewter city park party and wrung his hands. His eyes were locked on the big screen where his eldest was shown. Battling Lance of all things. When he’d departed, he’d lashed himself mentally even as he’d finally been able to regather himself and relax from the constant hounding of his family and his gym.

He’d come back stronger. More whole. He wouldn’t have the flinches that had put him off in his pokemon battles. He wouldn’t lock up anymore during crucial moments.

He’d trekked out, first to find his beloved wife but the trail had run cold. Perhaps with her there and by his side they might have… He shook that thought away. He couldn’t lean on Lola like that. He’d done it before and she’d struggled with his issues while pregnant with the first set of twins. He had to get stronger. That was what stood out to him.

When he was young ,he’d been able to handle the intense explosions and sleep like a babe as pokemon fought. When he’d left, he’d felt edgy. It’d gotten so bad, he’d… he shook himself. The nightmares hadn’t bothered him in months. He was better these days. He was sure of it. It was just that…

He’d spent too long away. It hadn’t been something he was even conscious of. Now he was unsure how to come back.

Maybe it would have been better if he’d come back with Lola? Then, before he knew it he’d spent roughly two and a half years away from his family.

It had been a bit of a gut punch to realise how time had slipped away from him again. He’d first thought it’d be quick, in and out. Find his wife, come back, and relieve Brock. He shouldn’t have dropped that on Brock. But it wasn’t like he wouldn’t have support. The teachers at the schools, and even the pokecenter would have helped out. Surely? Had he left notes for Brock? He’d been foggy about back then, just remembering Brock being angry over the mess.

He’d come back expecting to find things much as he’d left them. For Brock to be plugging along stolidly with the family clamouring for his attention as the man of the house. He hadn’t had a plan, but Flint felt for sure he’d think of something when he got back to Pewter.

Then he’d come back and found the old gym with tape announcing the Gym as abandoned. That had terrified him. A quick word had allowed him to make the track slightly out of town to a much different Pewter gym. Something sleek and new and entirely unfamiliar with the old boulder gym Flint had left behind.

Brock certainly hadn’t been struggling at all. If anything, Brock was thriving.

The gym wasn’t a cramped affair, but something that had an entire district of the city practically to itself. Huge fields for free-roaming pokemon and their trainers to relax. There had also been the option for people to rent stable space for themselves during a one year journey! There had been smaller battle arenas to practise in, and a modern stadium with damage absorbers fitted into the arena. There were even trainer rooms for people living at the gym!

The building itself was gigantic. It would have had to have been an architect’s wet dream to design. Flint never would have paid for that, but Brock had apparently gone all in. There was a dedicated family apartment area near the side of the gym that was fenced off, and even had a garden. Out the back, the gym’s dedicated pokemon had their own preserve with caves and canyons to roam through while others nest on the roof or peaks that Brock had set up for them.

The insides were all high tech and crisp clean areas. Flint had snuck in during a match to watch Brock lay into a late badge challenge and been proud of how easily Brock seemed to handle it.

He’d hesitated then. Unsure what to do. Brock had departed before he’d made up his mind that day. Flint didn’t think it wise to pursue his son and instead retreated to camp in a field. He’d come back into town a number of times for food, not able to meet the eyes of a few old ladies that shot him damning looks over his appearance. He suspected a few even saw through it to who he was, which forced him to move further out of town as he tried to work out what he needed to do.

He’d decided to wait, only for the challenge to come down from the Champion. That might have offered a window to talk with his son, maybe offer to help train with him, but Brock was always on the go. Busy and focussed. Flint had known just from that what his son was going to do.

Now he was seeing that come into effect. It stung to see his son succeed like this. He was soaring so high. What did he need his old man back for? Flint found himself asking that question more and more these days.

Maybe he’d approach during the off circuit season. Brock would be free to talk then right?

Or maybe… Maybe if Brock los… He grit his teeth. No, he wouldn’t wish that upon his son. He knocked on his head driving the thought out. Arceus, he had some issues if he was even thinking that way. He looked up at the big screen as the intermission finally came to a close.

In the Pewter park square the locals roared their approval as Brock stepped forward once more, a confident look on his face as he palmed the greatball on his neck. Flint felt the old sting come back. Another failure from him. Brock hadn’t needed an Onix, he’d already had something better. Sure it would have taken longer to train up, but Flint knew Brock’s starter was strong.

He sat down and watched his son march forward.
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A.N. Thanks to my patreons once more... I apologise for the cliffhanger. When I originally wrote this I didn't think how much of a tease this would be with the next chapter promising the best so far.

Special thanks to Raikor, Ab9999, and Elnoorz who’re acting as betas and editors.