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Hard Enough - Chapter 361 - Dark Mountain
🕑 Added 2025-09-15 19:00:09 +0000 UTCAsh’s announcement of his desired departure to Orre jolted me out of the comfortable malaise I’d found myself in after the Shamouti party had wound down.
I’d been enjoying doing nothing and saying nothing. I’d gone out of my way several times to offer no comment when prompted by local reporters on the state of affairs in the world.
And still it had found a way to get to me.
For the next few days, a curtain of concern had curled itself around me, and I struggled with what was the best path forward.
Should I abandon my earlier resolve to avoid the conflict? Ash… wasn’t just a child, I could recognise that, but at the same time, there was a lot of canonical weight on him and what he achieved over the course of the cartoon.
Was allowing him to head to a war zone the correct decision?
My gut told me no, but my brain tried to rationalise it.
Over and over, I had to come back to the fact that I didn’t have the right to tell him no.
Which meant I could go with him, but that saw more reluctance from me.
The situation in Orre… it wasn’t going to be clean cut, or a peacekeeping action where I was assaulting a criminal base like with Team Rocket or Team Aqua, or Lawrence III’s airbase.
Sabrina was quick to notice my turbulent mood and sit down with me.
“I don’t want you to go,” she said simply. She put her hand in mine and squeezed it. “If you go…. I will go with you.”
I grimaced, a psychic, especially one at Sabrina’s level, would ‘witness’ a lot more. She’d be a powerful force for good, but at the same time she’d also be called on a lot.
The idea of Sabrina becoming a weapon of ‘truth’ that was used to discern innocence rather turned my stomach.
“I don’t want to go,” I admitted. “But… do you think it is wrong to let Ash off on his own?” I asked.
Sabrina hummed. “I’ve thought about what it meant to be a chosen one. When I was originally cast as the Maiden for the Shamouti event, I spent a considerable amount of time puzzling out potential meanings of the prophecy that I had to learn.”
She squeezed my hand. “Seeing as you had taken on the role of chosen one, I thought it important to be ready as prophecy has always been a dangerous aspect of being a psychic.”
Sabrina stared at the far wall. “It was impressive that the Shamouti residents held to the tradition for as long as they did. It was even more impressive that a young woman over twelve generations ago foretold this incident.”
“Huh,” I replied. “You did do your research,” I murmured.
She nodded. “One thing that stands out to me now that the event is over? There wasn’t just one chosen one out there helping out. There were multiple of them. Visquez, Flannery, Misty, myself, Melody, Ash, Forrest, Jessie, James, and Meowth and of course you,” she said, glancing at me.
“We all had a part to play in some form, it didn’t ever truly just hinge on Ash alone.”
I nodded slowly. “Hmmm, you’re right.”
“I often am,” she replied with a small smirk that got a laugh from me.
I wrapped an arm around her and kissed her temple. “The world isn’t reliant on just one person,” I said, feeling like I needed to vocalise it, more for myself than any other reason.
Sabrina rocked into me. “You need to keep doing what you’re currently doing. Relax,” she said, making sure to stress the word.
“Shouldn’t I be saying the same to you?” I pointed out.
“I have been relaxing,” Sabrina informed me. “I have a few doll auctions coming up that will also mean that I won’t be around during the day.”
I chuckled at that announcement and she jabbed me telekinetically. “Dolls aren’t a joke Brock!”
“No! I wasn’t laughing cause of that!” I replied quickly, tucking my arms into my sides as she kept up the nudges. She sniffed haughtily, but from the slight twitch of her lips I knew she was joking.
“Well if your—” I wasn’t about to call it a hobby as that was too light a term. At the same time obsession wouldn’t land right. “—passion project is keeping you busy, I will have to turn to my part-time gig as a baseball coach.”
“Hmmm they have been languishing with only Karen looking after them,” Sabrina pointed out.
“Uhm… they’ve won all but two of the eight games they’ve played?” I offered.
“They should have won all of them,” Sabrina stated authoritatively.
While we were enjoying the moment I decided to voice something I’d been noticing. “Lola’s doing better.”
“It was a low bar to step over so don’t consider me all that impressed,” Sabrina sniffed.
Again, she was right, but progress was progress. “I think she’s been doing better with being able to train with me and my siblings. It seems Cindy has really taken to throwing punches and kicks. She might end up being a fighting type specialist at this rate,” I joked.
“I will make sure to give her a Meditite for her roster so she doesn’t become another Kong, or worse, a Bruno.”
“Ah, you think they are that way cause of their aura impacting them?” I asked.
Sabrina nodded. “It might be wise to hold off teaching aura skills to anyone not about to go on their journey.”
“Might keyhole them a bit personality-wise?” I suggested.
“Somewhat, it’s something I noticed with Misty more than Forrest as he’s focused more on developing his bond than merely steel type aura. I shudder to think what Ash might have been like if he wasn’t a generalist.”
“Huh, and Forrest was worried about how he was getting left behind by his friends, guess it worked out but it will be something I should talk to Yolanda about.”
“Already did it,” Sabrina said smugly.
“Oh,” I replied. “Huh, I have been out of it, haven’t I?”
“You’re allowed to be sometimes,” she murmured. A surge of affection swept through me and I leaned down to claim her lips before tipping us back into bed.
She didn’t resist me, and when I heard the door to my room lock I knew I wasn’t about to leave the room for a good while.
______________
Sabrina’s talk helped to get me back into the swing of tasks that I’d been leaving alone.
My pokemon team, or rather my Elite squad had been happily having a rest period which I allowed them to continue as I had my hands full training Tyrunt.
It turns out an ancient dragon pokemon’s instincts were no joke and I needed to be careful with her anytime she was out of her pokeball.
Thankfully, that had served as a focus point for me where I could push away the moral dilemma that had been vexing me.
Instead of locking myself away with my pokemon for a round of training, I took Gible, Tyrunt, Golbat, and a few Geodude alongside Izumi to baseball training with me.
My pokemon didn’t just need to learn how to fight.
When I got to the training shed that served to let us keep playing during the winter months, I waved to the senior players that were pursuing careers as baseball pros.
A murmur spread as more and more took note of my arrival. It was something I was used to over the past year with the various news articles and feats I’d pulled off so I dismissed it.
Then one of the aces of the pro team stepped up to me. “Heard you were part of the scuffle down in Shamouti. Is it as bad as the media made it out to be?”
“Ah,” I rubbed the back of my head. “Yeah, it was pretty bad. There were parts that kind of boggled the mind, but we had it handled at the end of the day.”
“Huh,” the man murmured, chewing on both my answer and what looked like some bubblegum. “Well, thanks for saving the damn world I guess,” he said, clapping me on the shoulder. “You need a hand setting up for the kids?” he offered.
I stared. In all the years I’d been coming here, the pro team had never offered to help me set up the training area for the kids. They’d always been too busy running their own drills. I’d gotten acknowledged before with people coming over to talk with me, but never assisted.
Having the team’s ace start laying out cones at my direction, other team members hustled over to help me out. Before long, the team coach came over to see what was going on.
He didn’t stop them and instead went to get my drinks station seen to.
Before long, I had everything set up on the field, while to the side, a table straining to hold all the cut-up oran berries, Pewter-aide, and even spare uniforms laid out on it.
Huh, it turns out being publicly linked with saving the world came with some perks.
When Karen sauntered in she gave the area a look over before snatching up a few slides of oran berry for herself. “Huh, this is nice. Good work, assistant coach,” she muttered, waving at the camera set up I’d assembled around the pitching mound and the batting cages to show the kids how they were improving.
Her sass only got a roll of the eyes from me. “Actually, the pro-team helped out. I’ve just been playing catch with my pokemon.” I waved a hand at the Geodude but Karen locked eyes on Gible and Tyrunt.
“Those two with the stumpy arms, they your cheer squad or is this some sort of cruel and unusual joke?” she stated. “Gonna ask them to clap next?”
I smirked and tossed the next baseball that came my way to Gible, who caught it in his mouth and spat it back to me.
It fired out with some heat and I caught it with an audible smack.
Karen eyed the wet ball. “That’s disgusting,” she said, watching as I handled the sodden ball without batting an eye. She gave the berries another look. “Also, Coach’s prerogative, you’re not allowed to touch the snack table!”
I flicked my saliva-covered hand at her causing her to dance backwards to evade the splatter.
“You shithead!” she growled, grabbing a baseball and pegging it at my head.
When I caught it like it was nothing, her growl turned into a snarl with dark aura radiating off her.
Once again, I caught it, but this time I made sure to coat my hand with dark energy to banish the secondary impact that would have weakened me slightly. “Really?” I asked, shooting her a raised eyebrow.
“Eat shit!” she snapped, shooting back the finger at me which drew a huff.
I left the pokemon to their game and settled against a fence that separated the audience from the field. “So, did you hear about the Sharpeodonite that was found down in Kumquat island recently?”
“Yup, and I already secured rights to it from the twerp that found it!” Karen replied with a smug grin. “All he asked was for me to come along with him to Orre, something I was already going to do with my new role as one of the Elite Four!” she declared with a pleased grin. “It was like shooting two pidgey with one Dark Pulse!”
“Oh? You already went for your challenge?” I asked. “Also, I think you mean Rock Throw.”
Karen glared at me, and she ducked down to grab another baseball to hurl at me.
I raised my hands. “Hey! Hey! I’m joking! Your matches were very impressive!” I said, lying my ass off about watching them.
She glowered at them before sniffing and tossing her hair over her shoulder. “They were, and that was with me sandbagging!” she declared.
“Of course,” I replied dutifully. I made a note to sneak away to the bathroom later and look up the highlights so I could have an actual conversation about it. “Still that makes for two megastones for your roster now yeah? Do you have a Sharpedo that you can use it with yet?”
“Working on it, but when I do…” she smirked, she made a show of exploding her hands out.
“Fair,” I replied. “You already have your starter pokemon so an additional mon will certainly add some depth. Think you’ll be able to manage two pokemon at once though? The strain…” I trailed off. The game mechanic limited people to one mega, gigantamax, or Z-move but there was no reason it wouldn’t be possible in real life.
Or was I misremembering how the games worked, and was each possible?
Usually, there wasn’t much power overlap between the games. “About the kid?” I began making sure to lock eyes with Karen. “Don’t half ass his protection if he does end up going to Orre,” I asked. “Kid is something special.”
“Special like he was held back in class with Mummy making visits to teac—”
“Special like Oak,” I said, cutting off whatever horrible thing she was going to say. I had half an idea, and I didn’t like it.
Karen blinked at me.
When I didn’t so much as twitch she tilted her head. “You’re serious? Ash Ketchum?”
“He has potential, but potential…” I opened an empty hand and gestured like I was letting dust fade on the wind.
“Hmmm, I knew he was down there at the Shamouti event, but… thought it was overhyped. Alright, I’ll make sure he’s kept safe. But only if he does come to Orre. Little man supposedly has to get his mother’s permission first!” she chortled at the idea.
I just raised an eyebrow. “You realise that his gifting you that Megastone might have been a ploy for him to make a case to his mother that he’d stay safe, no?” I tapped the side of my head. “Trust me on this, Ash Ketchum has a heart of gold, looks innocent, but he can surprise you.”
Karen hummed and pulled out her transceiver to look up Ash’s trainer profile. Her eyes zeroed in on one line. “Born and raised in Pallet Town? Just down from Oak’s laboratory? Think Oak raised a successor?” she asked.
“...” I opened my mouth to deny such an allegation before closing it. Perhaps Oak had been looking further ahead than anyone when he’d taken on the position as pokemon professor. He did have a hand or a say in who got some of the best pokemon around, and had done so for decades now.
Karen continued to browse Ash’s profile while I stood to the side. When the kids finally turned up after school, they bounced towards us. The smallest of the lot, Manny, our manager, gave the field a glance, spotted me and sighed in relief.
“Oh thank fuck!” he said, causing me to stare. He blushed even as he stabbed a finger in Karen’s direction. “She’s a bad influence!” he cried.
I facepalmed while Karen tucked away her transceiver with a gleeful look. “Alright brats! Run warm up drills!” she barked, releasing a pack of Houndour from her waist. “Slowest get nipped and put on my shit list!” she cackled.
Her pokemon dropped low and began to growl.
My forehead received another dull slap. “Karen… nooooo,” I wailed even as the team took off around the field.
Karen counted to three before signalling her pokemon to start after them. “Eh, they’ll be fine,” she said, waving off my concern.
Seconds later, Manny was brought down by the pack as they all tackled him. Rather than getting mauled, he was covered in slobber.
“Up and keep running Manny!” called Karen. “Houndour! Next kid!” she ordered.
Seeing that the kids weren’t being maimed, I relaxed.
“Huh, neat training method,” called a voice, and I turned to find the stands, which usually only had parents or guardians, now also had some of the pro players chatting with the regulars. Standing near the fence, the pro-coach was watching on.
“Think I might have to implement that in our training,” he mused.
Karen smirked and cocked her hip to the side. “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” she crowed before swatting me on the shoulder. “Call them in for stretches Brock!”
With a shake of my head, I assembled the kids, to go through a series of stretches that they were all familiar with. Manny and two kids sloughed their way into the team formation only to shake like houndour, sending saliva spraying everywhere.
I had to hold back a chuckle at their antics as I called for order.
Still, as I set to work leading the kids and training them, I had to wonder if Karen had noticed that we were doing the same thing as Oak. It was different, but also similar.
Hopefully, she wouldn’t realise it too soon and would let it be, as otherwise she was probably going to create her own version.
Like a Dark Scouts, or something like that.
I'd better make sure these kids turn out as good as they could be.
And maybe I could copy some of Oak’s script by being the shade they grew beneath while they were small. They’d sprout eventually. In their own way and in their own time.
That made me relax a little more and enjoy myself.
By the time I trudged home, it was with a slight spring in my step.
“Brock! I challenge you!” called a young trainer as they levelled a pokeball at me.
I blinked. “Oh right, forgot about people like you,” I murmured as I gave the kid a slow up and down look over.
“Yeah, nah,” I said as I stepped past him.
The kid twitched like he’d just had an aneurysm. “Huh? You can’t do that!”
“Can and did!” I called back. “I’ll see you in the spring when the circuit is running kid! Then I have to accept a formal challenge lodged at the Gym! Until then, grow strong!”
“Just you wait! I will!” he called at my back.
I paused and looked over my shoulder to give him a moment of my actual attention. “I’ll be waiting,” I replied.
The kid perked up and darted away, leaving me to chuckle and blow out some mist with my breath. That had thankfully been a polite ‘challenger’.
When I swept around the back of the Gym I found a crew of builders marching out to where the research lab was going to be laid. Bianca was happily floating back and forth while Stephen had a bemused look on his face.
“Howdy gang, all going well here?” I asked.
Bianca grinned. “It’s going fantastically!” she crowed. “I was able to get the architect to put in all my suggestions along with the standard set-up for the building! We’re going to have a three-storey building with two sub-basements! Oh Brock, you’ve made me the happiest girl in Indigo!” she declared with a long sigh.
Stephen caught her as she faked swooning, getting a laugh from both of us.
“Sounds like it’s going to be a serious lab. Have you got many applicants for Lab assistants?” I asked.
“Heh! Success with the facility and all the rare pokemon we have access to has seen just about every intern, student, and aspiring Pokemon Professor send in their resume or a proposal!” Stephen announced.
Bianca slumped. “He’s… not wrong. It’s rather terrifying to see so many applying. We’ve had to take on Alexa to go through all of them. She’s cut them down to the top thirty that held promise or were interesting… then Jennifer got wind of it and added another ten that had political connections that are worth having.”
“Huh, anything I need to worry about?” I asked, only to get shakes of the head from Stephen.
Bianca on the other hand, inched closer to me. “Could we get hold of Tyrunt again for some comparisons? We want to see how she’s been growing each day, and today’s measuring hasn’t happened yet!”
I handed over her pokeball and left the pair to it. I’d come grab her later this afternoon when it was time to train. Until then I headed into the tunnels where I found Titan flicking through his transceiver while pointing things out to Bertha.
The pair stopped when I got close with Titan rumbling a greeting. Bertha waved a hand but turned her attention back to her transceiver a moment later.
“Hey bud, want to do some Aura training?” I asked, and Titan nodded.
We both set up in comfortable poses, then shut our eyes and turned our focus inwards to our aura.
We both began to bring it up, in a way, it felt like two dark mountains rising through the ground.
Interestingly enough, neither felt taller than the other. I knew objectively that Titan should have more aura than me as he was used to using it with his pokemon moves, but that wasn’t the way it felt to me.
It felt… it felt like it was more reliant on the quality of your aura rather than the quantity, which was an odd way of thinking of it, but it seemed to fit the best.
Circling my energy through my body, I had to admit, felt good. I felt rooted in place and part of something greater. I felt at the connection to the world around me, causing a rippling pulse as I touched the world with my energy.
The ripples shot out only to come back a moment later with a sensation of life all around me.
It was odd, getting a glimpse of the various pokemon on the reserve, but for just a moment, I thought I knew what they were doing and what they felt like.
Like how Tide was happily drifting on the icy pond while Shrek and Hypnotoad avoided it in favour of the slightly warmer waters closer to the volcano. How the Onix ran their circuit around the reserve perimeter, now led by Jormungandr.
In his cave, Sanchez cackled and sparked, regaling the young Geodude and Graveler with stories of what had happened.
Empress and her three children, along with Ursaring and Knight were trudging along towards the volcano with the triplets standing firm while their mother observed them.
Izumi was rolling around with some Geodude while Cranidos slammed into Shieldon.
Tyrunt snapped at Bianca only for the woman to expertly evade the bite.
Stephen stood to the side documenting everything for her. Other humans I didn’t know worked alongside Machoke to build the research lab right at the limit of my awareness.
I took a shuddering breath as it all washed over me.
I was aware of all of that.
All of that and more. There were a hundred or more other pokemon on the reserve along with those of the sponsored trainers pokemon that stabled themselves on the reserve.
That had been new for me, it had felt like a sudden burst of awareness but it wasn’t overwhelming, oddly enough. It was a single snapshot moment of the world around me for perhaps a few hundred metres.
It didn’t feel complete, however, like something was missing.
I sent out another pulse and felt how my pokemon, those of my elite roster, paused and turned towards me, growing aware of my attention shifting over them only to vanish.
Interesting. My ‘awareness’ wasn’t restricted to just them, so this wasn’t just the bonds we’d formed together. I documented it all mentally, resolving to write down my observations later on.
The book on aura that I had hadn’t described anything like this, but at the same time… this felt natural and right.
It felt like another serious step forward for me.
And yet, at the same time, it felt like I’d only place my foot down instead of striding forward. It was like I was touching on the possibility of something more.
It wasn’t complete.
I didn’t open my eyes or break from my meditation with Titan. Instead, I continued to feel out the world, wondering at what I was missing.
I sent out another pulse and felt a new presence.
Zephyr had just landed on a rock in the reserve, and now I could feel him.
The air, I couldn’t sense what was in the air. It felt like it should have been obvious. I was rock typed, why should I feel the air?
I began to examine other parts of the world around me through the pulses, trying to strain above the ground before pushing it down.
I noted that after a little bit of pushing, I couldn’t sense what was going on beneath the tunnels below me. Only what was around my level or higher.
The rocky crust of the world, so to speak.
My understanding of this rock pulse felt like it was crystallising into something solid the more I worked at it, but I still wasn’t happy with it.
A small pulse next to me caused my attention to shift as I felt Titan’s mind wash out, much like mine had for a moment. Through the bond I fed him the feeling, and he mirrored it back.
The next pulse we sent out saw us both reaching a little further than we had before. Huh, interesting.
Titan continued to test his awareness slowly, expanding his range until he was roughly equal to me, but I turned my attention to something else that had been niggling at me since Zephyr landed.
Why was I not able to see the air around me?
Perhaps it was hubris, but it felt like something I should be able to do.
I considered the imagery that resonated with me, and a thought from earlier reemerged. That of casting a shadow over my surroundings.
The dark mountain with a long shadow.
Placing myself at the top, like a hiker who had struggled his way to the top, I turned my attention away from the climb, having reached the summit and allowed myself to look out over the world.
I sent out another pulse, and the world shifted slightly.
Now, I could see the air within my pulse. I could look down and see a flickering image of Don being chased by Golbat, both of them stiffening as they grew aware of something watching them from above.
With another pulse, I felt them relax as they understood it was me and not some predator.
That being said… I could also feel something else… something’s shadow which fell across my land.
It was small and flickering.
With another pulse, the feeling vanished.
It had only been a shadow… and yet for an instant I’d felt it.
A small, curious, if flighty mind.
Something powerful had been within my range, for just a moment.
Was it still there? I sent out another pulse, only this time I felt something— no. Someone, look back.
Samuel Oak had walked into my range, and while the other men must have been regaling him about the lab that was being constructed. Oak paused and looked my way.
With another pulse, I felt him smile and bow his head in my direction.
It was an odd sensation, knowing he was looking at me. I couldn’t feel anything in the rock around me, or the air, but I still knew he was looking.
So I did the polite thing and nodded back.
The movement of my body caused my concentration to lapse, and the feeling of being one with the world collapsed like a poorly constructed tower of pebbles.
It took me a few moments of sitting there and blinking for my situation to resolve itself.
I was sitting in a cave.
Across from me, Titan was blinking slowly as he regathered his own sense of self. To the side, Bertha was staring.
“Rhy perior?” She rumbled out and it took me a moment to translate it.
Then I snorted out a laugh. “No, no I did not just have a Magical awakening.”
She tilted her head and held her fingers together. “Rhy?”
“I’m pretty sure,” I stated which only made Bertha wiggle her eyebrows at me.
“Rhy Rhy!” she exclaimed.
That got a sigh out of me. “I suppose it’s slightly possible,” I conceded. I tilted my head to Titan. “That… have you ever done that before?”
“Tar,” he replied with a small shake of his head. He frowned before gesturing down towards where Empress’ cavern was.
I shook my head.” She’s actually on the way to the volcano with the triplets, Ursaring and Knight.”
Both Titan and Bertha blinked at me. They must have thought Knight informed me but that hadn’t been the case.
Titan probably wasn’t wrong that this might have been something Empress had experience with, having lived longer than most of my pokemon, bar perhaps Regirock, but I had another in mind who might offer me some answers for what I’d just done.
“Oak is also around. I’m going to go talk with him about it,” I stated.
Titan followed me while Bertha lay back down to continue her browsing.
I didn’t find Oak looking through the research lab, or with Bianca inspecting Tyrunt.
Instead, he was sitting in front of the cave with Izumi in his lap. He was carefully grooming her with a wire brush and a slight smile on his face.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to be in tune with the world, isn’t it Brock?” he asked without looking up at my approach.
“Was that what we were doing?” I asked.
Oak glanced up. “Ho? Both of you?” he asked, looking from me to Titan. “Interesting. You’re both very in tune, then. Keep it up, but don’t be surprised when the world sends its attention your way sometimes. Although considering the incidents you find yourself in the thick of so often, perhaps you’ve already been ‘feeling’ the feedback, albeit unconsciously.”
A memory of something Mew had said to us while we’d been in the Tree of Beginning occurred to me. “We’re reaching a level of strength that is causing us to become recognised?” I repeated slowly.
Oak bobbed his head. “In a way. It isn’t so much recognition as being in tune with the world. Your practices have seen you here quite young. I’ve heard of others who couldn’t handle a single rock throw, you still achieve it however.” He shrugged. “Typically, they seclude themselves and become hermits, though.”
I nodded, recalling that Agatha had had a rock aura mentor lined up for me, only for the man to vanish off the face of Indigo. Perhaps that was what happened to him?
“So what does it mean?” I asked.
“Depends on what you want it to mean,” Oak offered. “It’s a neat ability to be aware of the world around you, I've found, but don’t feel pressured into running off for every vague impression. You’ll run yourself haggard if you do.”
“What? You just ignore the world telling you something is going wrong?”
Oak wobbled his head. “Sometimes there are others better situated for handling issues. You’ll learn that as you grow Brock.” He gave me a soft smile. “And don’t think you need to listen all the time, that’s not how you’ll grow. You need to live your life,” he stated.
I nodded. This day had taken some very odd turns. I decided to follow his advice.
I’d learned a neat trick, and I was getting better at wielding my aura. That was a win in my book.
A flapping of wings had me glancing up to spot a Salamence circling overhead. My Onix were tracking it, like living turrets.
“Permission to land?” called Lance.
“Come on down!” I called, signalling to the various pokemon to not fill the air with rocks. Lance landed and quickly hopped off.
“Ah Brock, good to see you! I finally had a moment of free time and I wanted to talk to you—”
“I’m not giving Tyrunt over,” I said, cutting him off.
“Tch!” he clicked his tongue. “I get the second one!” he growled, stabbing a finger in my direction.
I hummed noncommittally. “We’ll see,” I mused.
He huffed. “Right, that was one thing I wanted to talk to you about, but I also wanted to remind you about the upcoming Pokemon War match you were having with Claire.”
“Is that what we’re calling it? It’s a bit clunky,” I suggested, earning a roll of his eyes.
“It is, and we are sticking with it for the moment. Are you still interested?”
A smirk formed on my face. “Yeah, I think so,” I replied as behind me Titan began to grin.
It was time to go three and oh against a certain dragon family.
__________________
A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support!
It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!
Comments
BronRevo
Imagine if Brock beings out the Armor set with Mace + Shield for the War Game O.O
BlackRazaras
Thanks for the chapter
Big ToFu
poor lance, doesnt realize he is only around to get bullied.
Michael Ox
It feels like the time to up the stakes
Jacob
Could have been celebi, there's a shrine in the forest outside Pewter that Brock ran into the one time that he also might or might not have thought he saw something
CorEagle
...I suddenly remember the Alola fight against Red and Blue. Serious mode Oak probably has the trainer class "Pokemon Legend" like 'em.
CorEagle
Wait, so you're implying that Oak has reached a level of strength the the world itself acknowledged him as some kind of Legendary version of a human?
Mike
Agreed 👍
rezo42
It probably helps that fossil Pokémon are getting more common. At the start of the fic there were three that were not controlled by labs or breeding programs. Now there are full-on auctions and multiple regions containing fossils. At the rate of growth, someone in Lance's wealth bracket will have to wait a year at most to get their hands on one, even if Brock doesn't gift/ sell it to them directly.
Paweł Stopa
The orre incident still going makes the war match make more sense. You are showing of that your regions elites are very much capable of such battles. Should work as a calming effect on people and as a deterrent against any enemy actions.
ShinLupin
Wonder if the blackthorn-elders notice Brocks improvement?
ShinLupin
Is Lance getting used to Brock's antics? So little Reaction. Brock, the Mountain Sage. Aura-sensei of Kanto. Make mt moon your Temple and teach human and pokemon alike. And was that Diance he felt?
Simca
I actually really want Lance to get a tyrunt, just so I can see how his matches up with Brock’s as a friendly rivalry
TypistTyphon
Awesome!
Goeckner719
Surprised, they went with war match, with the orre incident still on going. Personally I would of gone with Pokemon Arena Match.
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
I mean, he's done so much more than her this last year. Heck, he's basically the #1 ACE trainer! Sure, he doesn't have the title because he didn't do the end of year ACE tournament, but based on how Brock performed in the earlier ACE tournament, I think he could have claimed the title. Also, Brock has been fighting criminals and Legendaries for the last *year*. Add in the private training he has been doing with Sabrina and the others in their little anti-crime club...? To put it in game stats, I would think Claire's pokemon might be level 40-something (in the games that is where they actually are) while Brock's are somewhere in the 40s to 70s. But if we discount the newer team add-ons like Golbat (who has been in, like, one offical battle that we know of? Maybe?), then the elite team jumps to levels 60 though 75. Because, again, *they have been fighting Legendaries for the last year!!!* And they now have a permanent member who *IS* a legendary so they get regular training on OP mode! No way their skills, powers, and training hasn't gotten more intense. Hell, Brock probably has to fix the areas his team trains after every session now. He might have even made it part of the standard team cooldown...
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
If Brock doesn't wipe the floor with Claire I'm going to be both surprised and questioning why. Unless he uses all newer members to give them some battle experience...?
mandya1313
I really do hope brock manages to there-zero blackthorn.
Petrox
Link must be there. Gotta face tank all the draco meteors with a smile.
Qweku_v
Excellent Chapter and we might as well call Brock a dragon slayer. Nice improvement on Aura.
HonorBound Fate
Battle mode Brock-tyranitar.
SailorOfHouseThunderBird
Whoo! Pokémon war match! Love lil Manny. "Oh thank fuck!"
HonorBound Fate
OK, I know I made a mistake before, but I am confident I can manage it now. Ahem, the government doesn’t want you to know that the Psyduck at the park are free you can take them. I have a dozen.
Marlon Daniel Ospina Laguna
Is Brook's sage mode unlocked? I love the mental representation of Brook as a character, a giant mountain under which one can safely grow.
Antony Wilson
Love it, ties it up nicely while being a smooth segue
readerdreamer5625
I really like how Lance is willing to let the Tyrunt thing go, at least for now. At the start of the fic he would've just straight up demanded it, now he respects the claim, even if he's pushing to get the next Tyrunt that comes along. But I can see him being approached by Brock on training Tyrunt. This is definitely Dragon typing on a different level and Brock would definitely need the help of a specialist. Oak could probably help as well.
