Viva01
patreon
Hard Enough - Chapter 276 - Loot and paydays
🕑 Added 2024-11-19 19:00:05 +0000 UTCThe bag itself turned out to be scaly in a manner that I was all too familiar with.
I ran my hands over it unsure if I should be affronted or impressed with how practical the Crusher tribe had been.
“They skinned a Tyranitar for this bag,” I said as I lightly brushed a finger against it. The limp cold feeling I got from touching it set the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.
“It’s kept some of its dark aura,” Sabrina informed me, leaning in to give the bag a much closer inspection. “The bag and its contents are hidden from my senses. I can’t divine for it.”
I whistled, that was impressive. I reached up and loosened the drawstring of the bag, noting that it too was made of leather tilting the bag so I could see into it. I wasn’t about to stick my hand into a bag that might hold daggers or something else sharp.
“There’s a block of something, an outfit and what looks like a… skull?” I announced.
I reached in and drew out the block first noting that it fit into my hand easily enough. When I had it in hand I could see that it was in fact a box of tightly bound wood with a lid that slid over the top of the smaller box. I tugged on it to open it up and it took a few tries to unjam the box enough to reveal what it held.
“Some form of… rock?” I said prodding the rock in question. “It kind of reminds me of…” I tilted my head prodding it some more only to find it to be rather crumbly. “Hmmm it’s dry.” I inspected the box and found a few marks on it that indicated where water might have leaked out of it.
So it should have had some water content, I concluded to myself.
I handed the box to Sabrina for her to inspect. She considered it for a few seconds before shaking her head. “Perhaps Flint might be able to weigh in on this mystery?”
I hummed in agreement and reached for the next item only for the sack to shift and something sharp to glint. I twitched my hand back as the dagger almost seemed to leap within the bag to draw blood. I frowned and channelled rock-type energy into my hand so that I could snatch up the blade by its handle now that I had a good look at it.
Seems, I’d been right to show some caution. The blade was basic in that it had a point that widened up to the handle. The handle was a simple wooden affair bound together with thin ropes that appeared to be well worn with how smooth in my grip.
The only thing that otherwise stood out apart from its apparent age was how dark the metal of the blade was. It almost looked like it drank in the light rather than reflected it.
I frowned. There had been a glint of something that made me pull my hand back, what was it? I found the sheathe for the blade then and noted how it had several precious gems embedded into it two of which appeared to be diamonds while the others appeared to be onyx. That explained the glint I saw.
I drew the sheathe out and slotted the blade together, noting how the sheathe was made of a bone that had been carved into, so that shapes like Mightyena and Ursaring were on display.
This was very much a Crusher blade from what I could see. Interesting that the supposed thief hadn’t stolen this as well.
I glanced back in and found a folded-up skin that reminded me of old throw rugs where someone skinned cows and kept the hair on them. Instead of it being from a Tauros however, this was clearly from something like a Mightyena.
The final item turned out to be a Tyranitar skull, or more specifically the very crown of a Tyranitar’s skull. The worn grooves made me think it had literally been some noble’s crown.
The biggest thing however that made me think crown, was the way the spikes had lines of games lined up down them leading to a central showpiece.
A centrepiece that was notably absent.
The grove where the last and apparently greatest gem should have been was empty. I ran a finger over it, noting its perfectly spherical shape.
Interesting.
“This is certainly a find,” I commented.
Sabrina nodded, still inspecting the blade. “This metal…it contains dark energy as well.”
“Like a Dark Gem?” I asked.
Sabrina nodded her head. “Whatever methods they used to make it would have required them to saturate the blade in dark energy.”
I tilted my head. “I was worried for a second there you were going to say something ominous like they needed to perform some dark ritual like sacrifice or some such.”
“No, they probably did that as well. See how the blade, when held loosely, tries to turn in my grip? It wants to cut me.”
I stared at the blade, noting that it very much wasn’t moving in her grasp. “I think you might be imagining it turning in your grip?” I offered carefully. “Then again this might be how some ghost pokemon come about. Might need Agatha or Karen to look it over,” I suggested.
Sabrina grimaced. “I dislike this blade a lot more all of a sudden.” She glanced at me. “Why do you think they can help? Karen, I can understand if it is dark aligned but why Agatha?”
I rubbed my chin for a moment wondering how to word this. “There are quite a few theories that some people when they pass on can become ghost pokemon depending on things like unrequited grudges or the way they die. It’s not something that is confirmed. There are also some items that have been postulated to… become sentient ghost pokemon,” I said.
“Well, that is worrying,” Sabrina murmured, giving the blade a dubious look. “You had best keep that out of the house. The little ones might hurt themselves with it.”
“Ah,” I said intelligently. “Yeah, best hand it off to Karen or Agatha then.” I also made sure not to mention the lore regarding one of the stronger ghost pokemon with Spriritomb being an amalgamation of one hundred and eight other spirits contained within an odd keystone.
Sabrina inspected the bone crown. “This has interesting implications,” she stated, tapping the groove in the centre where the crown jewel should have been.
I hummed and out of instinct plucked Jorm’s Megastone out of my bracer and into the groove. It clicked home perfectly. “Interesting implications indeed,” I agreed.
I tried to pluck the mega stone out only for it to take a good deal of offer and when it came out it made a loud popping noise like a suction cap coming off a wall. “Right so, the Crusher tribe… at one point had a crown that allowed them to mega evolve a pokemon.”
Sabrina lifted the crown. I stared at it. “You don’t think it’s a bit on the nose?” I asked.
“These are simple people, not stupid, simple.,” Sabrina replied. “It would also make the skull-crown more meaningful for future pokemon.”
I sighed. “Great, so somewhere out in the wilds there is a tribe with a Tyranitar Megastone.” I pursed my lips. “I wonder if Lance knows anything about them. Didn’t he have a hand in beating off a bunch of tribes?” I asked.
Sabrina stared at me for a long moment. “Phrasing, Brock, phrasing,” said Sabrina with a shake of her head, but I could see her lips twitching.
I smirked, knowing exactly what I’d done. “I’ll ask Empress if there’s a way to find them as well. At the very least they might be able to point me in a direction to look for another stone.”
I glanced at the final gifts that Zapdos had left us. “What do you want to do with your feather?” I asked.
“I might hold onto it. I’m sure one day I will find a psychic-electric Pokemon that would benefit from holding such an item.”
I nodded, I’d already pointed Sabrina towards variants and as soon as Alola opened up I was sure she’d have a variant Raichu for herself.
As for me…
I turned to Sanchez. “Hey buddy! This is all yours!” I called. Sanchez waddled up quickly and picked up the feather.
“Gooooooooo!” he crowed as he held up the feather. It almost looked like he was holding a mini lightning bolt with how jagged it was. Sanchez then stabbed it directly into his beard which sparked and shifted before settling.
Everyone stared as without getting really close, Sanchez suddenly looked like he had dyed a streak of his ‘beard’ but that wasn’t actually the case with it really just being metal shavings that Sanchez could arrange at his own desire.
Huh, I’d have to see if I could get him some differently coloured magnetic shavings in future to let him further style his beard.
“Feel any different?” I prompted.
Sanchez grinned and pointed at a nearby boulder. “Golem!” he barked and the air was suddenly cut through, it zapped the boulder before vanishing in a flash. The boulder was notably left with a burn mark on it and I whistled.
“Was that Thundershock?” I asked.
Sanchez winked as he brought his smoking finger up to his face and blew on it like a wild western cowboy.
I laughed at his antics. “Alright, hold back any more attacks,” I said as Sanchez began to prepare another ‘draw’ from his hip.
A buzz on my wrist had me glancing down to find my Xtransciever flashing. I answered. “Hiya Jules! You safe?”
“Yes! Thank you so much for coming!” he wailed into the line.
I laughed. “Please!!”
Jules’ eyes bulged and I laughed again. “Where are you? I’ll come to touch base with you, it’s been too long!” I said.
Jules blushed. “We’ve been detained by some Rangers that caught us coming out of the mountain pass but now there are a bunch of reporters here and the reporters don’t know what to do.”
“Typical reporters,” I huffed. “Need a save from that as well?” I teased.
Jules squirmed. “Please?” he begged.
I nodded and turned to Sabrina. “If you’re not too busy, think you could drop me off?”
“I think this is more important than what I was going to be doing this afternoon,” Sabrina said as she laced an arm through mine.
We returned our pokemon and Teleported only to find ourselves landing in a raucous affair with reporters shouting questions. I considered the area for a second and wasn’t surprised when reporters sensed more blood in the water turning towards us with microphones levelled.
Jules was revealed as the reporters shifted focus. He shot me another thankful look and before the reporters could descend on Sabrina and I swept my hand out to release Sanchez.
“Thunder into the sky,” I ordered and Sanchez’s smile was only eclipsed by the Thunder he unleashed into the sky that shook the field around us.
In the sudden hush that descended I clapped my hands. “Right! Seeing as this is a Ranger issue I’m going to have to ask that people respect the safety lines that are being set up and we follow proper procedure!”
A young Ranger staggered to the front and nodded in thanks. I took a moment to glance at their patches and noticed that they only had a ‘mountain-three’ patch meaning they weren’t very high in the organisation. If the other Rangers were leaving it up to them then this was very much a rookie team.
The Ranger coughed and puffed out his chest before speaking. “T-that’s right! I need everyone to move back into Lavender town as we work out what’s happening and keep everyone safe! Interviews can wait until later!” barked the man.
The reporters looked like they wanted to protest, but another look at Sabrina and myself made them rethink.
A pair of Rangers lead an escort out of the mountain pass and down to Lavender Town. Once the reporters were out of sight the Ranger that had spoken up turned to Sabrina and I and faltered.
“I believe my next step is to call this in…” he admitted.
I merely nodded and sighed, having guessed as much. “Yeah, that’s fine. Mind if I talk with my trainer? He got a bit rattled with Zapdos dropping out of the sky on him like that.”
My request was allowed and I approached the group of trainers that had blankets wrapped around them. Jules looked tiny standing next to Brawly with a gaggle of Hikers also being part of the group.
Jules perked up when he saw me approaching. I dropped down to one knee so he wouldn’t feel pressured by me towering over him.
“Hey champ, doing alright?” I asked.
He nodded jerkily. “Sorry, I had to—” I clapped a hand onto his shoulder and squeezed. “None of that. I was glad you called, you did the right thing.”
He nodded, his chin wobbling slightly as he did so before he sucked in a lungful of air. “B-brock, they’re saying that someone fought it off?” he said, staring at me. “Did you fight z-Zapdos?”
I winked at him. “Please! Who do you take me for?” I smirked. “I didn’t just fight it! I won!”
Sabrina pointedly coughed.
“With some help from my girlfriend,” I amended.
This caused a chorus of exclamations from those who’d been eavesdropping but I just grinned. I was going to have a very long day with everything needing to be worked out so I got my fun where I could.
The rangers would want their pound of flesh and then the reporters would be after us. I’d also need to follow up on the work I missed out at the Gym.
Still, it was all worth it to see Jules’ expression light up at my words.
I felt like I’d just won another trophy right then and there.
_____________________
I let loose a long groan as I settled onto my couch. “I hate that I’d been right,” I muttered to myself as Sabrina levitated herself into position next to me, draping her head against my shoulder.
On the other couches Brawly, Flannery, Roxanne, Bugsy, Ritchie, and Jules had all sunk into their own positions.
“Why is it more exhausting dealing with reporters than getting in a bunch of fights?” growned Brawly.
“Adrenaline,” Sabrina said from her position at my side. “The body is able to produce more energy for a fight or flight moment whereas an interview can merely be stressful to deal with without the same boost.”
Everyone considered that for a long moment before Flannery sighed. “That makes perfect sense.” Everyone grumbled their own agreement.
At that moment Munchlax waddled into the loungeroom with a tray of hot drinks held above his head. He made his way around the room, handing out hot coco to everyone before claiming a patch of floor for himself. Only then did he pull out a bag of chocolate treats to go with the drinks.
When he made no move to share those, I cleared my throat and he rose to hand out a single treat to everyone else. When he sat down he gave his half full bag a forlorn look before shrugging and eating the treats wrapper and all.
“Oh that went from adorable to gross really quick,” wretched Flannery.
“That’s part of the charm of living with a Munchlax,” I replied, enjoying my treat. Sabrina handed me hers, not caring for the chocolate right now.
I let the conversation drop there but it was quickly picked up by Brawly who turned to Flannery on his left. “So? Flans? How’s it been working with Brock?” he asked.
“For the most part it’s been pretty great honestly. I’ve gotten a ton of ideas and started creating a plan with stages of development when I take over at Lavaridge. There’s a ton of things I’d like to adopt or tweak for there so yeah.”
“For the most part?” asked Roxanne leaning around Brawly to look at her friend.
Flannery’s face twisted into a grimace. “There’s two weekly training sessions for not just pokemon but also the trainers. This chick called Trixie shows up and she just…” Flannery clutched her fingers into the air in exasperation. “I’ve never felt so tired! She just won’t stop pushing you and somehow she makes you want to go beyond each session!”
I smirked, seeing Flannery suffer had fed the dark part of me that I rarely indulged in. She’d come into that training session so confident in her skills only to get smashed by pretty much everyone bar the administration team.
“Oh! Yeah, I know her! She’s a monster!” Brawly commiserated before turning his attention to the youngsters in our midst. “So? I never got the chance to properly introduce myself! I’m Brawly the fun-loving surfer dude!” he waved in greeting.
The kids all perked up with Jules scoffing. “We know who you are, people are talking about you being the favourite for this year’s circuit.”
Flannery and Roxanne both scoffed at that while Brawly rubbed the back of his head. “Hahaha! I don’t really read into that much, but I did happen to read that a certain someone else was in his top ten predictions,” Brawly replied, pointing at Bugsy.
Bugsy blushed in response. “Top ten isn’t nearly as impressive as first.”
Brawly waved it off. “You’re still someone I need to watch out for though. But still, Jules and Ritchie was it? How’d you get into that whole situation? I only caught part of what you were saying while we were running from that storm.”
Jules coughed. “It was my fault, I had heard that the Power Plant had been decommissioned and I wanted to investigate it as there are a lot less pokemon around to add to my team. I’ve been hunting for a good electric type for a while now and it seemed like a good place to investigate.”
“And you were right as well Jules!” chimed Ritchie.
Sparky nodded seriously from his shoulder. “Pika!”
I perked up. “Ho? What sort of pokemon did you end up acquiring?” I asked.
Jules coughed and drew out a pokeball which he released. “Come on out!”
I watched as the red light began to form into a slightly humanoid shape only for scruffy yellow hair to appear as the body finished forming.
“Electabuzz!” barked the electric pokemon.
I whistled. “Damn! Nice find!” I complimented. The Electabuzz turned and growled at me which was about as much warning as I got before he started sparking up.
I began to flex my aura in preparation to either tank the attack or resist it only for Munchlax to beat me to it, by letting out the mother of all burps in the Electabuzz’s direction.
Electabuzz paused, sniffed and then gagged.
Jules hurriedly returned his pokemon. “Sorry! He’s a very fresh capture and still has a lot of attitude issues!”
“So it seems,” Sabrina said. She notably hadn’t moved a muscle but her eyes were glowing so she had probably been about to do something herself if Electabuzz had attacked.
Jules tucked his head. “Sorry,” he repeated.
I merely hummed. “Other than that how have things been for you? I see you’re travelling with Bugsy and Ritchie now? That’s a solid choice, especially after all the issues you had run into recently.”
“Issues?” Brawly asked, turning to his fellow circuit taker.
Jules shrugged. “It’s nothing.”
Bugsy and Ritchie were quick to speak up at that. “It’s not nothing!” growled Bugsy.
“Yeah! Capture stealing is low! And threatening you afterwards is even worse!”
“It doesn't matter, I couldn’t do anything about it then but I’m getting closer to being able to hold my own,” he replied tersely.
I merely hummed having spent some time talking about this with him during a private call after Golden week when I’d caught up with him during a scheduled call. His situation was not good and sadly there wasn’t an easy solution to this.
I’d rung around and been tracking a lot of stables of late for some of my trainers as they had enough in their accounts to be able to afford a year or two of having their pokemon looked after which would usually translate into more success. Sadly I was already at capacity with my current facilities but I’d already acquired more land and was in the process of having stables built.
If I rented half the stables out I’d be able to break even by leaving the rest of the slots free for my trainers but again that would only work for ten or so trainers.
“There is a testbed that Bill, an inventor, is working on, which is very early testing,” I warned, “For people to start using digital storage. He’s been able to build on his initial premise and have the digital space feel like pokemon are living in a grassland. It’s… not optimal but it’s actually paying trainers to put their pokemon into as it is currently being tested,” I suggested.
I knew that in the games things worked out well and by the time trainers got to Alola they had the option of personalised islands for their pokemon but right now things looked shaky for the adoption of digital storage for pokemon.
“I… don’t think I can do that to any of my pokemon. I’d prefer them to go into the long-term pokeball storage facilities than sit in some storage bank as zeros and ones,” Jules replied.
I inclined my head. “That’s fair, there’s still quite a risk to it.”
Roxanne shifted. “I signed up for it. I hope that one day the technology will improve and for that to happen people need to invest time and effort in it.”
Flannery jerked in shock. “Really? You’re trusting a computer to hold your pokemon? Have you seen how often files get corrupted? Are you really going to trust a computer to do it right?”
“We already trust computers with the transfer system, don’t we?” Roxanne replied.
“I mean… point, but it just feels… I don’t know, wrong?” Flannery offered back.
Roxanne shrugged. “It’s not going to be for everyone but if it gives people with less money actual long-term storage options I think it will do a lot to correct current imbalances. I want to be a Gym Leader and I can’t simply house all the pokemon of any trainers I sponsor.”
Flannery frowned and sat back, directing her gaze towards the ceiling. “Man, I hadn’t even considered that part of being a Gym Leader…” she admitted.
Brawly waved a hand. “Eh chill out! It’ll happen alright. Good people are working on it.”
I glanced towards Jules, “Doesn’t solve issues that are present for people who are enduring those hardships at the moment,” I replied. “But I get your sentiment. I’ve asked about wait lists for a few facilities that are being made up in Johto but as yet no reply beyond being accepted.”
“Thanks Brock,” Jules said.
I considered offering him a spot in my reserve but knew that wouldn’t be a good idea. I was already over capacity with all the trainers I’d taken on along with the breeding programs taking place there. For a kid that had encountered Zapdos Jule sure had some bad luck.
I tilted my head and drew out my pokedex. “Did you keep your pokedex on auto record while you were going through the cave by any chance?” I asked.
Jules nodded and drew out his pokedex and showed how it was set to auto-record.
“So it was recording when you encountered the Zapdos?” I asked. “A lot of Professors would be very interested in that video and would pay well. Oak, Elm, or even… Birch?” I suggested.
“There is also Professor Eve who operates out of the Orange islands,” Sabrina suggested. “Those are the big names. Oak or Birch would be the most relevant for the habitat of Zapdos, but all of them would pay for what you have,” she suggested.
“Enough to be able to afford stabling rights with the inflated costs?” Jules asked hopefully.
I shrugged. “Before we count our eggs before they hatch, let’s see what you got.”
I toggled the pokedex to connect to the house network and soon had it toggled to a relevant timestamp.
We all watched as Jules, Bugsy, and Ritchie discovered the hidden cave behind the Power Plant and decided to enter in the search for more rare pokemon. They walked through the cave which was actually more of a tunnel than anything with the otherside being clearly visible from the entrance once you entered.
I still paused the video about halfway through their walk. “You missed something,” I said, taking out a handy laser pointer I kept on hand for presentations. I shone it on the cave walls. “You’ve got carvings and what looks like cave paintings there.”
The kids all leaned forward and gasped as they finally caught sight of what I’d seen. “We were too focussed on just walking through the cave! There was something else there!”
Jules tilted his head. “What’s this mean?”
“It means you just got a lot more demand for that video. You won’t be able to hand it over to just anyone but to the right sources that are interested in looking into Kanto history? I think you’ll be able to ask for a decent amount but better yet you’ll be able to ask it from a lot of different people.”
I chuckled, setting the video to keep playing. “It’s kind of funny how you can go looking for one thing only to find something else entirely. This little adventure of yours might have gone off the rails but it is certainly going to end up being positive for you.”
On the television the trio of kids wandered through the hidden valley only to find no pokemon but I thought I saw a number of rather interesting bushes and plants. Most tellingly there was also some small sparks from various rocks that if you were looking for it you noticed it. The kids, with their more frantic paced search, overlooked a lot of things.
I started pointing things out that were of interest with growing amusement. Jules and his friends had literally tripped into a treasure trove without noticing the bounty that sat before them.
Jules stared at the screen as I listed off what some of the things were worth. Nothing was as good a find as the star pieces I’d found in the Hoenn desert, but it would certainly have been enough to set him up for a year or two.
“I’m an idiot,” he said after a long minute of silence.
“Nah, just not educated on some things. And that’s fine. You’re not supposed to go out knowing everything. It’s meant to be a Journey of discovery, both of self and knowledge,” I replied. “Overall this is still good but not somewhere you might be able to revisit without angering the Legendary living there.”
At Jules expression turning downtrodden I kept going on the sandwiched feedback.
“Main thing I’d take away from this? Keep adventuring, you’re doing great, but take the time to look around as well. Lots of other trainers rushing through areas miss things. You found the cave entrance, something no one else has found in what looks like a very long time. Good job there,” I complimented.
Jules shuddered suddenly. “Will this solve my problems?”
“It will make things easier,” I said. “Money is a grease that helps ease difficulties, it won’t solve everything but it will certainly solve some problems that plague you right now.”
Jules clenched his fists. “I won’t celebrate until I have the money in hand but… this sounds good.”
I nodded and took another moment to look him over. “Jules, I’ll forward you the people that you should approach with some of this information but let’s leave that for tomorrow it is late already and I think you need time to rest.” I glanced around. “We all do in fact.”
Jules nodded only to groan. “Is the pokecenter going to be full?”
I snorted. “Please, you’re my affiliated trainer. You can stay in the trainer wing of the Gym. I’ll have Rocko come collect you. If you need to stay a few days feel free,” Ioffered and Jules relaxed even further but stood and bowed his head. “Thanks for… everything you’ve done Brock,” he said.
“It was my pleasure,” I replied.
Jules led his friends off and I turned my attention to Roxanne. “Sorry about having to cancel our Gym match. I might be able to slot you in….” I consulted my calendar and pursed my lips. “In two weeks. Or I could give you a match outside scheduled hours. You;ve done enough for me and mine to justify me breaking my—”
“No,” Roxanne’s hand shot up. “I would not ask you to do that. I read the terms and conditions and a reschedule is perfectly acceptable. I will wait. If I have two more weeks to grow in strength then all the better.” She locked eyes with me. “I want to fight your best Brock.”
I smirked. “I’m looking forward to it,” I replied and I wasn’t lying. I had no doubt that Rachel would have a field day advertising a teaser of Roxanne’s future match.
It would be a showdown of Rock versus Rock.
I was curious to see how Roxanne would fight me. She’d had a few months since her last match and I had no doubts in my mind that she’d grown wiser and stronger.
I considered my schedule and saw another event that I hadn’t thought about in ages. “Huh, I almost forgot that I’m going to Goldenrod to fight an exhibition battle against Norman,” I said.
“Noice!” Brawly said. “I’ll buy us all tickets!” he said only for Sabrina to snort derisively.
“Please, Norman has given me premium seating already, don’t trouble yourself for lesser seats,” Sabrina added.
Flannery grinned. “Psychic type beats Fighting type yo!”
I chuckled, enjoying the banter before asking. “Do you think I should send it against him? Or try out some new pokemon?”
“Send it! Fight him at your best!” shouted Flannery. “What sort of question is that?”
“Eh, I’m all for having some fun with matches. Send out some new pokemon Brock!” Brawly replied.
“I’d treat it seriously,” Roxanne replied, adding her own two pokecents. I rolled my eyes at her answer before glancing at Sabrina.
“Thoughts?” I prompted.
“Norman is looking to move back to Hoenn. Perhaps ask if he wants to do something that shows off your respective styles?” Sabrina offered.
I huffed. “I have a signed letter from the Chairman of Hoenn Contests—” Roxanne coughed. “That’s not his title,” she said into her closed fist only for me to ignore her and keep talking. “—basically vilifying me, I’m not sure Norman wants to associate me with ‘style’,” I said.
Flannery laughed. “Oh my gosh, I’ve read that thread and I love how stupid the whole thing is!”
“It is not stupid! Hoenn values were called into question!” Roxanne said, whirling about on her friend. “As a Hoenn native I would have thought you—”
“It’s stupid and as a native I can say that and stand by it,” Flannery said with a shit eating grin.
I shared a look. Internet flame wars took on a rather different meaning when you knew one of the people taking part was a fire-type specialist.
I let the pair of Hoenn women argue as I toyed with Sabrina’s suggestion. My style would mean showing off some of my signature pokemon.
So… Titan, Bertha, Gawain, Jorm, Don, and…. Hmmmm Cradilly had been putting in the work. Perhaps?
I decided to leave that for future Brock to complete and instead settled back to enjoy a now lukewarm cup of coco with my friends. It was for the weekend and before Norman had a chance to throw down I wanted to learn more about the gifts Zapdos had given us.
_________________
A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support!
I think I will change up the PoV once more for the coming fight. Now I just need to work out who’d be the most interesting PoV.
Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!
Comments
KarmaA
TFTC deal of offer and > deal of effort
AlthePal
It would have been funny if the bag held some useless/worthless shiny stuff. What’s a treasure for people isn’t the same as that of a birb xD
King hand axe
I do get the set up for the Tyranitarite and the possibek future story lines. However!. Something I think he should 100% be doing is having Jormungand mega evolved all the time. He need more Aura, he needs it denser and more responsive. He needs to get to the stage where he's the Brolly of mega evolution, where he has so much stamina he can keep it going and going and going. So he needs to keep a mega evolution active a much as possible, and when he get a second stone, he needs to try to activate it at the same time and fail, and rather than be like " oh I need a better bond, or i need to slow down/ it can't be done" he needs to go "you know what, let's fcking GO!, no pain no gain" and then pushes himself past his limit over and over till he finally adapts. Then, it'll be, i see your mega evolution, and raise you Two mega evolutions Everything has it's place, sometimes it should be about the bond, others how patience and methodical you are, and sometimes, just sometime, you need to dig deep and smash your way to the next level because records exist for the longest time people thinking it can't be beat and then one person does what is said to be impossible, and suddenly, others can do it too.
Focus Armstrong
I like your idea. In my head I was thinking of the crusher arrogant elites/young master types tries throwing down with Brock only to be surprised how a regular Tyranitar is able to face a mega
Donald Bagwell
Give it to the kids and empress as self doubt and mama godzilla
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Oh that's a great idea! Maybe from Empress POV? She's relatively new to fighting like this so she would probably still instinctively go for the kill and be studying more on how to hold back than anything else... Also, she got new kiddos to take care of so seeing more of them would be fun
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Mega-Tyranitar vs Normal Tyranitar! The Crusher Tyranitar is experienced in fighting Tyranitar and other such pokemon (because it fights fellow Crusher 'mon) but is maybe older and perhaps overconfident. Titian might be more varied in skill (from years fighting all sorts of different 'mon) and more mobile/young. So it would be experience vs youth mixed with a specialist vs jack-of-all-trades type of fight. But would the Mega evolution power up that pokemon beyond what Titian could handle, or would a Mega evolution just put them at Titan's level? Remember: Titian is at Champion level now. I doubt the Crusher tribe, as skilled as they are, can reach that level with any kind of ease (they come across as isolated or otherwise removed based on how Brock and the others talk about them)
Donald Bagwell
I can see this but at the same time? It is probably gonna be 3 slakings in a trench coat pretending to be a team. Maybe less truant?
Donald Bagwell
No arceus
angie bell
the legendary bird eggs look like gems almost it's cool really also that Zapdos has some serious Galarian Zapdos in them i wonder if they could learn Thunderous Kick?
Focus Armstrong
I think it'd be cool if when Brock eventually finds the crusher tribe it leads to a 1v1 fight between their Mega-Tyranitar and Titan
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Just read the A.N. Have you considered telling a fights from a Referee's POV? What do they watch for, how do they make calls, etc.
the pyro stick figure 76
I think Lance might be interesting since we know he specifically watching the match from an analysis perspective. And it will be easy way to see how recent events affect him.
Wilfred Dion
People of their stature receive their information after numerous confirmation and verification from their subordinates. This could take from a few hours or even days after the incident. That's the beauty of bureaucracy. Especially when it's not even an emergency like the Mt. Silver accident. There, Moltres almost caused the migration of around Elite-tier wild pokemons, which could have led to disastrous results. This time, while a Legend did appear, it has only caused an 'uproar' and was actually contained safely with no notable damages stated.
Docnox
I agree that a legendary appearance warrants more after events. POV wise, Norman! Or may lol
Bat
Love the chapter!
Focus Armstrong
I'd like to see the aftermath where Norman and Brock eventually talk about training teddiursa
nugitoBambino
It's not clear to me that they know yet, but I expect we'll see them soon. From the reporter scene, we saw that they saw 'lightning crashing down' but not Zapdos specifically. Possibly the reporting hasn't occurred yet, or Lance and Oak won't contact them till tomorrow if the fight didn't finish till the evening.
Brendan White
I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe that Brock and Sabrina are able to just chill out a few hours after beating Zapdos. Everyone from Lance and Oak on down should be blowing up the phones and/or visiting in person to talk about what just happened.
Kevin Lee
Every time we think this is the moment Brock gets his megastone, we get faked out. To be fair most of the fault is on us hyping up for even the barest hint of a stone. Cmon man, im getting blue balls from all this teasing
Jean Marc Kunnen
this is the anime world so it's may and max.
Bast
I guess the "stone" in the bag could be a Peat Block? The item for evolving Ursaring to Ursaluna, which would be quite handy... Thanks for the chapter!
Petrox
I thought that the aftermath would have been worse with rangers and the league hounding them for info
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Full honesty? I'm not all that excited for the Norman fight. I thinking it's going to be a bit of a one-sided beat down where Brock is just too much for Norman. I mean, Norman is a typical Gym Leader in skill while Brock is, well, he's Elite 4 level or higher according to his #1 ACE trainer ranking. That's a full tier above a normal Gym Leader from we've seen/read in how Will and Karen performed against Gym Leaders. I'm not trying to diss on Gym Leaders! But Brock (and Sabrina TBH) is just *not* at normal Gym Leader skill level. And Norman, as good as he might be, is just a typical Gym Leader. Nothing crazy as far as I know. So yeah, I forsee Brock going into the fight with Norman all prepped for a nasty fight (because that's what he's used to lately), only to get something much closer to his fight against Flannery. And by that I mean that Brock could wipe the field with only one pokemon.
olyver
You could have the fight happen from the perspective of Norman's kid. The protagonist of pokemon Saphire/Ruby/Emerauld, that gets inspired to become a rock type specialist because of this.
Narasan
I dont think you have shown us a pokemon fight from the perspective of a pokemon that is not fighting. Would be interesting what a pokemon spectator notices and thinks. Maybe add in some lore we wouldnt get to know otherwise. Because trainers wouldnt even think to ask about it.
Jeet Jeet
First of all great chapter as always. This was exactly what I was fearing after reading yesterday's chapter where zapdos said the crown jewel was stolen but it makes sense that he will not get his hands on Tyranitarite so easily. Infact I think he will get at least one other compatible mega stone before the Tyranitarite.
Jericho Rising
A great chapter, love how Richie and friends just passed by all the goodies on the ground, really lends credence to the random item drops in pokemon games, trainers just don't know what they're looking for so overlook a lot of potential good finds. The crusher tribes mega Evo crown and it's missing gem are a great plot hook, look forward to finding out more. A Norman fight on the horizon seems fun but I feel at this stage he's not as much of a powerhouse as he will be later on. Especially since he relies heavily on countering status effect heavy teams with facade. He's got a niche and sticks to it, and I can see him struggling a lot with a power heavy team just like in the games. The anime does show off his slaking line quite well though. Bills pokemon storage system just needs people to trust in digital power a little more. Brocks duck pond is a great example of what trusting technology can do for you.
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Edit: "Ioffered and Jules relaxed even further" I think you need a space between the 'I' and 'offered'
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Edit: "I shared a look." Who did Brock share a look with? Sabrina? Brawly?
HonorBound Fate
“He shot me another thankful look and before the reporters could descend on Sabrina and I swept my hand out to release Sanchez.” The “I” in this sentence is being used twice.
Big ToFu
I’m really looking forward to him finally getting that mega stone took way to long. Honestly thought he would pick one up from Empress nest on a revisit or something.
Donald Bagwell
Why not both? Roxane seeing how she compares and Norman facing off against someone he can compare to wallace. The tip tippy top of gym leaders
Matt H
Yeah, it seemed a little too easy to just get a Tyranitarite out of the blue, but it still would've been fun to see! At least Brock has a lead he can slowly follow. And my hunch is that Zinnia either has it right now or will be the key to eventually acquiring it. So I guess we just need to wait for Brock and her to meet and start interacting.
Qweku_v
Thanks
Donald Bagwell
I will say the aftermath was fun. Also norman will be interesting too
Michael Ox
Ohh could be entirely from Norman, or you could have Roxanne watching as a fellow rock type expert
Raptor
Awesome chapter
