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Hard Enough - Chapter 271 - Moving and Shaking
🕑 Added 2024-11-04 19:00:08 +0000 UTC“—outside for a free barbecue!” announced Yolanda’s voice over the speakers. Giselle watched her friend for a moment and was amused when her
“—outside for a free barbecue!” announced Yolanda’s voice over the speakers.
Giselle watched her friend for a moment and was amused when her friend gained a coy look. “Please make sure to thank Rocko and Dennis who will be running the stand!” she shouted.
From somewhere in the back of the stadium a man shouted. “What?! Why me?” while another man just laughed.
Giselle wasn’t sure what that was about so she instead turned her attention to her classmates only to find them sitting or standing about. Lots of them were fidgeting and twitching like they wanted to storm outside and get into some matches of their own but they couldn’t do that.
They had the afternoon booked out for the repeat challenges and therefore needed to be at their best. A fight right before a Gym match was just asking for another failure on their record which would see their grades tank for the year.
They needed to win their matches or earn their badges this afternoon if they wanted to pass for the year.
Giselle glanced around her at her fellow… failures. The term still stung and some of the people she thought were friends she’d caught teasing and badmouthing the students who’d failed.
They’d tried to pass it off as nothing, but when she’d pointed out that she also was a failure due to losing against Brock they’d sputtered.
If Giselle hadn’t become friends with Yolanda and the other girls that frequented Pewter, well, her social circle would be very small indeed.
Giselle continued to observe her classmates. They’d ended up spending a lot of time together with the make-up classes and training sessions that the school had offered.
They’d even been stuck in a Golden Week make-up course.
They’d spent a week of their precious holiday time at a training camp working on nothing more than themselves and their pokemon.
Despite all these similarities, Giselle knew there was still a gap between her and them, but she’d narrowed it down enough to recognise a lot of tells in people.
The match between Brawly and Brock had sent ripples through them all. Suddenly there was a wave of doubt where there had been… well not confidence, not after having spent a week being beaten by the instructors of the camp, but at least an understanding that they were better prepared this time around.
She overheard more than a few talking with their friends. “So do you think we have enough time to cram for this afternoon?” asked Joe.
“I’m fighting second after Giselle! Do you think there is enough time for me?” asked Tomas, who was the ace of the Institute's soccer program. He was rather strong of body but if it wasn’t related to sport he often faltered unless someone kept him on track.
Usually, that was the Sports Manager but they’d taken Golden Week off, so Giselle had been forced to step in.
“Hmmmm, a last-minute cram can’t hurt too much? If we recheck which pokemon we’ll be facing at the third badge challenge we’ll have better odds no?” countered Joe.
“Hmmm alright, do you have your notes?” asked Tomas. Giselle perked up and began to sidle up to the pair, knowing this was a good opportunity to showcase her knowledge.
“No…” sighed Joe and Giselle pumped a fist. Yes! You could always count on Joe not keeping his notes because he actually had great recall ability! It was just that he forgot things when under pressure!
Giselle coughed to announce her presence. “You can access most of that information off of the Pewter pokenet page.”
The two boys twitched and turned to stare at her. Joe blushed and stammered out, “The p-p-okenet page?”
Giselle continued to smile even as the pair stepped back to maintain space. Oh, come on! She hadn’t been that scary during the study sessions or the mandatory exercise programs during their week together had she?
Giselle nodded, ignoring the nerves the other boy showed, and brought out her top-of-the-line transceiver. “Indeed, here, if you check the page you can see that Brock even lists the potential pokemon that you can face at that level! It updates rather frequently so it's good to check which pokemon are available!” she replied as she brought up a page that showed off a large host of pokemon.
“Woah!” said Tomas. “I wish I’d known about this before the first match!” he said. “It would have made the match so much easier!”
Giselle hummed while Joe loaded up the pokenet page in question. She noted that more than a few students around their group had started to copy her.
“Hey! Check out the link that lists the pokemon type matchups! It has seventeen types listed off! Wow Mrs Anderson is going to flip her lid when we tell her the curriculum is out of date!” laughed one kid.
“Heh, careful she might be old but she has super hearing!” warned another as they looked towards where Mrs Anderson was talking with another old woman wearing what looked like… was that a fan-made Pewter uniform?
Giselle frowned. No, she’d seen this woman once when she’d visited Yolanda on a weekend. She was a receptionist?
Giselle ignored the rather mean-spirited comments sent the old woman’s way, instead beginning to flick through the rest of the Pewter pokenet page, where she discovered there was actually a surprising diversity on offer. This page offered the usual standard fare one would expect when opening a Gym’s page.
That being, the challenge levels offered, the opening and closing times, the days of operation, and even a brief bio of the Gym Leader, but then there was so much more. The Gym had an online shop where people could buy supporter outfits which came as tracksuits, headbands, fans, jackets, and even t-shirts with Brock’s various pokemon splattered across them.
She noted that the shirts for Brock’s Tyranitar, Variant Golem, Rhyperior, and Steelix were all sold out while others had small yellow banners across the bottom stating there was limited stock left. The same was true for the toys of the pokemon along with posters.
The more Giselle dug, the more surprised she grew.
Brock had his pokemon roster listed out for all stages with there being a few surprise inclusions such as Brock now listing off an Aerodactyl as part of his second badge challenge level.
She made sure to point this out to the students that she knew were facing Brock at that level and they turned white as they realised that grass type might suddenly be a very touchy option for them.
“Children!” shouted Mrs Anderson as she clapped her hands to get her students’ attention.
“We need to head outside, so the stadium can be cleaned up for later matches! Final review sessions can wait until then!”
“There are also free meals on offer so if you forgot your lunch—” Here Mrs Anderson gave a pointed look at two rather larger boys, Gorge and Chuckie, who were notorious for eating their meals early and then complaining at lunchtime when they had nothing to eat. Giselle had taken to keeping snacks in her bag to keep them motivated during study sessions. “—there will be more food,” Mrs Anderson finished.
Gorge and Chuckie charged through the other students towards where the barbecue was being offered causing Giselle to shake her head. Those two would do well if the school ever convinced them to take part in the Wrestling program.
“Two lines!” Giselle barked to the others, knowing that they at least would fall in and not shame the Pewter Technical Institute.
Giselle assumed her place at the front of the two lines and led them through the doors into what looked like a pell-mell of locals from all walks of life.
Ironworkers, businessmen, stay-at-home parents, and what looked like pokemon trainers all laughed and rubbed elbows with hotdogs in hand.
Giselle led her fellow students to where a line was forming only for her work as Student representative to kick in as one of the Pewter Gym trainers wandered past.
“Excuse me miss?” said Giselle. “Do you require any help?”
“Hmmm?” said the young woman who turned and smiled at Giselle. “Oh? No, but thanks for offering, we’re used to this and have it well in hand.” The woman’s eyes darted up and down Giselle’s form. “Good luck with your match this afternoon,” she said.
Giselle nodded, understanding that the other woman must have recognised her uniform and what it meant. Giselle nodded stiffly and tried to settle in to wait as around her the other students all mingled together only for an itch to talk or do something to come over her.
She never used to be this way. She’d happily… well not happily, but she’d used to be able to hold her poise and know it was good and proper.
Giselle glanced around, hopeful that Yolanda, Greta, or even Crystal were nearby to talk with. Sadly that wasn’t the case and instead, she caught several snippets of conversation.
“Impressive what he’s done with the Gym in the few years he’s had it,” said a businessman as he waved a hand towards the stylized entryway.
“Yup! Really made it a community hub he has!” laughed a rather rough-looking fellow that Giselle dubbed a ‘hiker’.
“I was referring more to the business. He’s selling his merchandise like ice creams on a hot day at the beach with nothing but rich school kids around,” said the businessman.
“Ha! Shows what you know!” barked the Hiker. “He spends most of that on Pewter projects! Like his conservation project up in the mountains! Gonna be a lot of rock pokemon around for everyone! Or the orphanage and the trainer program he’s set up! Reckon next year there will be at least twenty sponsored kiddies!”
“Hmmm that is impressive,” replied the businessman. “I’ve been watching this year’s crop of student’s and the two top students, Humphrey and Mia? They’re doing very well. They might even trump Celia’s performance last year!”
The Hiker chewed on his hotdog for a moment before shaking his head. “Nah, you gotta remember that there are people like Brawly in this year’s tournament. You need to watch who else does well against Brock this year. Although it ain’t too hard to pick, seeing as Brock has earmarked a few of them already on his pokechat pages.”
“I was rather hoping for some more Kanto nominations,” sniffed the businessman primly. “Brawly, Flannery, Bugsy, and Roxanne for the top four? Hmpf!”
Before the Hiker could respond a man who looked like he’d swam through a tub of grease slid up to the other two men. “Hello there gentlemen! I see you’ve had a rather good day! I have a proposition for—”
“Rack off!” barked the Hiker suddenly. “I ain’t selling my Season Pass to you!”
“Sir!” cried the greasy man. “I assure you I offer top pokedollar!” he turned to the businessman and flashed a wad of cash that made even Gisell’s eyes widen.
The businessman however shook his head. “I only allow myself a few pleasures with my work and I’m not giving up my pass to a scalper,” said the man before turning up his nose and walking off.
The hiker chuckled and followed after his friend leaving the ‘scalper’ to click his tongue in annoyance and approach another group.
Giselle chewed her lip and glanced towards Mrs Anderson, who, while rather old and set in her ways, had been the one to escort them for today’s matches only for the woman to come and collect the students earlier than strictly necessary.
“Mrs Anderson, how did we get tickets for the entire class if they're hard to get?” Giselle asked, tallying up the cost against the number of students.
The school wasn’t poor by any means, but for them to spend or rather to not sell the tickets and to instead invest it on students for perhaps an hour-long match… Giselle suddenly doubted it had been the school’s efforts to get the tickets.
“Mrs Anderson,” Giselle prompted when Mrs Anderson made no move to answer or even acknowledge Giselle’s question. Gisell knew it might be rude but she also did not want to let this question bug her for the rest of the afternoon.
Mrs Anderson's head turned slowly, as if on rusted gears. Cold eyes observed Giselle from the brim of a set of half-moon spectacles. Giselle held back the urge to squirm.
“It pays to make lots of friends and to stay in touch with them,” Mrs Anderson replied cryptically.
Giselle blinked as Mrs Anderson turned away just as the line moved so that they were in front of the pair of men manning the barbecues. “Hello there ladies!” chimed a tan-looking man with bleach blond hair. “Can I take your order?”
“I will have ten hotdogs with three of them having onions, another three will have bacon bits and cheese and finally I shall have an everything hotdog,” replied Mrs Anderson without missing a beat.
Giselle blinked in surprise only for the hotdogs to be handed over a moment later from a prepared stack. “Here you go!” said the man.
Giselle blinked as Mrs Anderson handed her the exact order she would have made with the basic hotdog which she could still put sauce on.
“Errrr, how did you…” Giselle trailed off uncertainly. She didn’t consider herself close with Mrs Anderson, but the woman had still guessed her order and that of the rest of the students perfectly.
“I used to be a Detective in the Police before I became a teacher,” replied the elderly woman. At Giselle’s look of shock, the older woman raised her own ‘everything’ hotdog. “I had a life before I became the hardass teacher,” snarked the woman before she walked towards a gaggle of older women who greeted her with some cheer.
Behind Giselle, some mutters broke out from the other students. “Did anyone have that option picked out on the bingo board of what she’d done before becoming a teacher?” muttered Tomas.
Joe coughed. “I had her down as a secret plant from Johto that had been raised by dragons, cause of how stern she is,” he muttered.
Giselle sighed. She’d seen the others setting up the frankly silly board of make-believe situations and been rather shocked when they put real money towards their guesses. Giselle had stayed quiet and considered offering up her own idea to blend in but had eventually dismissed the thought.
Although considering she’d been the closest with her guess of former policewoman, perhaps she should have?
She shook the thought aside only to perk up as she caught sight of Greta. “Greta!”
The brown-haired girl turned and grinned. “Giselle! Ready for your match after lunch?”
Giselle tossed her hair and turned up her nose. “I am!”
“Even though you're challenging at the same level as last time?” Greta prodded.
Giselle swallowed. “I am ready!” she announced.
Greta nodded, not pushing any further. “Sweet! I’ll be matching up against you for that match so look forward to it!” she said locking eyes with Giselle as a smirk formed on her face.
Giselle matched her and enjoyed the thrill that ran through her. A small part of her wanted to challenge the girl here and now, drag her off to a battle court where they could start fighting straight away.
The saner, more rational part of her mind overrode those desires, if barely.
Greta relaxed, sensing the fading tension. “How’s it been for you at school?”
Giselle glanced at the students behind her who even as they were discussing tactics for their upcoming matches were still paying some level of attention to her.
No one was seeking her out to talk with her, not even Joe who had a rather obvious crush on her. It had only taken Crystal one afternoon of intruding on the Institute’s grounds for the other girl to sniff that out.
Giselle glanced around. She was among her fellow students, people who had failed like she had. And she was alone. Perhaps it was her fault.
She’d tried to be the standard for others to work towards for so long. She’d studied hard, trained with her pokemon, and even taken part in multiple club activities when they needed help.
But despite doing all that, there was still a divide between her and the other students.
Her recent loss should have broken that image one would think.
Instead, it was seen as an aberration or a sign that Brock had been too tough in the match.
It made Giselle question herself.
What good was she as a standard for others to hold themselves against if she’d failed? She found that she didn’t have an answer for that and it troubled her. Was she not just a failure twice over? A worse person than those around her?
Without an answer she’d fallen back into old habits in school, trying to be as proper as she could. She applied herself in her studies, her extracurriculars. She even set up a study group with the other failures. And still...
The only times of late where she’d been able to relax were with the friends she’d made after her loss at the Gym last time.
“It’s been…” Giselle shook her head. Perhaps it was her fault for still wanting to be better or to appear upright. There was a strange link between being able to make friends and still be proper about it.
Perhaps she should have done as her mother suggested and gone to a finishing school rather than the Technical Institute.
Greta glanced back at the students. “Hmmm, how about you get away from all the noise for a bit and come check out some cute pokemon to help relax before your match?”
Giselle nodded, liking that idea.
Greta led her around the back of the Gym where they found a pack of Aron playing with a giant Aggron. “Hey Knight! Can we pet some of the Aron?” Greta had to shout to be heard over the clanks of metal as Aron occasionally bumbled into each other in their games.
The pack of Steel types turned and Giselel suddenly felt very worried as the entire pack swarmed towards them.
Greta merely laughed and allowed them to knock her to the ground. Giselle darted out of the way of the pack and this caused most of them to turn to the easier target. One Aron however gained a glint in its eyes as it hounded her.
“Ar-ar-aron!” he barked, chasing her harder.
“No! I don’t want to get dirty!” cried Giselle.
“Just give up and surrender to your fate!” cried Greta from beneath the pile of metal pokemon.
“I will not appear at a challenge looking bedraggled!” snarled Giselle as she sprinted through a bevy of boulders with the Aron in hot pursuit. It barked at her and chased hard, nipping at her heels but Giselle hadn’t been a stand-in for most of the Institute's various clubs without learning a thing or two about tough events.
She’d come second in the steeplechase with only a week’s practice after the Athletics club requested her help!
Sadly, Aron was determined and this led to her becoming separated from Greta as Giselle ran deeper into the reserve.
With her lungs burning Giselle realised she’d need to come up with a new plan as the Aron wasn’t tiring out as quickly as she’d hoped.
She darted around a corner with a plan in mind and stepped back in close so she was almost touching the wall. When Aron came around the corner she plucked the little pokemon off the ground.
“Guh! Got you!” she said lifting the heavy little pokemon off its feet.
“Aron!” squawked the little brute, waving its stumpy little legs in the air only to slump in defeat when it realised it couldn’t twist around to get Giselle. “Aron!” it cried dejectedly.
Giselle nodded, pleased with herself. “Right! That’ll show you!” she said only to look around and realise she was rather lost. She could either follow her tracks back to Greta which was probably going to take a while, or raise a fuss and be found quickly.
Giselle put her head down and started a brisk pace back along her tracks only to discover an error in her plan. A pack of Onix had passed through and obscured her tracks.
“Oh dear,” she said as she realised she would have to… make a fuss.
She prepared to call out, politely, of course, when another voice spoke up. “You did much better than anyone else on the team could have,” said an all too familiar voice.
Giselle clamped her mouth shut and even went as far as to put a hand over Aron’s as she leaned around a boulder and found Gym Leader Brock sitting with his Tyranitar.
The mighty beast had small bandages scattered across his body and was staring across the open expanse of what had to be a training field.
Brock patted the giant’s arm gently. “In a way I’m glad that it was you that lost first, if it had been some of the others it would have broken their spirits. With it being you though? Well, you can show them that it’s not the worst thing.”
The Tyranitar rumbled something. “Yeah, if Don had been the first he’d have been a menace to work with for a good while. Shin is probably the one I’d be most worried about these days but even Bertha would be dejected.”
Tyranitar nodded.
Brock nodded, “There’s a ton of things we picked up on though with you using your body in ways we haven’t really explored much in the past. We’ve been pretty reliant on pokemon moves rather than outright manoeuvres. Shin and Gawain are really the only ones that work on an actual fighting style,” mused Brock. “Might have to change that.”
Tyranitar nodded only to pause and sniff the air.
Then, the mighty pokemon turned and locked eyes with Giselle.
Giselle thought she’d be terrified locking eyes with a pokemon widely regarded as one of the strongest pokemon in the League.
Instead, she found herself staring into warm, compassionate eyes. “Tar?” rumbled the Tyranitar.
“Hmm, what’s up Titan?” asked Brock, turning and spotting Giselle. “Oh hey there! Got yourself an Aron?”
Giselle’s eyes widened as she realised how it might look, her holding an Aron like she was. She immediately dropped it on the ground. “I wasn’t trying to steal it! Greta brought me back here to spend time with cute pokemon and this one chased me!”
“Ah, that makes sense,” Brock nodded sagely. “Ready for your match in…” he checked his transceiver only for it to display the time, the weather, a calendar and a messenger app all at once. “Twenty minutes? Damn, I really let time get away from me there,” Brock said before shaking his head. “Come on, let’s get you back to the Gym.”
Giselle blinked, still caught up in looking at his rather worn but seemingly much more functional transceiver. Which model was that?
Ah, as a Gym Leader, he must have access to better models that weren’t yet on the market. She’d have to ask Yolanda about it later.
A small weight throwing itself into her ankles caused her to squawk and trip into the dirt. She shot the all-too-pleased-with-itself-Aron a heated glare. “I will be back and I will make you pay for this,” she promised, only for Aron to bark happily back at her.
Brock bit his lips and led her back to the public area of the gym where he became mobbed by some local reporters. Giselle made her escape, not wanting to be seen on the news looking so worn.
Sadly she wouldn’t have much time to do more than clean her face before her match.
This would have bothered her more before overhearing Brock’s comments to his Tyranitar. Sometimes being a leader is showing the way through tough times, and you couldn’t always get through life cleanly.
Her parents were probably going to have conniptions when they watched the recording of this match.
Hopefully, it might also allow others to feel more comfortable with talking to her by seeing her roll her sleeves up and get dirty.
Greta appeared on the other side of the arena, with dirt covering her entire body. When she smiled her white teeth stood out in stark contrast. “Ready for this?” chirped Greta as she palmed a pokeball.
“I will take great pleasure in defeating you!” Giselle announced, pointing directly at her friend. Greta’s smile only grew as she released an Aron onto the field.
Giselle twitched. “You cheeky Sableye you!” Giselle shouted. She’d known that it would have taken more than a normal low-level Aron to keep up with her!
Now it wasn’t just about winning and getting past Greta to face Brock. Now honour was on the line!
Giselle had never been more motivated to win.
[hr][/hr]
Elders of the Blackthorn clan stormed into a lounge that collectively they deemed, ‘the Dragonair Den’. when everyone had entered, the door was shut.
The click of the lock almost echoed with how quiet the room was.
For a long moment, no one dared break the silence, such was the weight of it.
Words failed them after what had just been discussed.
It was perhaps a good thing then that the first noise was not speech but rather a crash to break the mood of the room.
Elder Jotaro, a musclebound Dragontamer stomped towards a table only to grasp it and flip it through the air. It came down with a loud bang and crack that signalled some part of it had broken.
It wasn’t enough to calm Elder Jotaro however. “That dog of Kanto!” he roared.
Behind him, several other Elders of the Blackthorn clan seethed in their own ways. Several of them had been identified by a review as ‘persons of interest’ in a case that was almost a decade cold!
Only for a silly girl’s sob story to make Lance follow up with it.
“It’s simply a Public Relations ploy,” remarked Elder Fiona. “Lance is merely doing this to look good for the public. If he is willing to investigate his own family then who could question his integrity.”
“He shouldn’t have to care! He is Champion! He has won the right to direct the League and to shut down investigations!” snapped Jotaro. “Instead he is spearheading it at us!”
Fiona sniffed. “Nothing will come of it,” she waved a dismissive hand. A few of the Elders relaxed at this but Jotaro wasn’t fooled.
“Don’t trick yourself into complacency. We’ve been caught napping and now like old dragons we find our beards plucked in our sleep while youngsters titter and make jokes of us!” Jotaro would have thumped a fist into the table but he’d already flipped it so instead he settled for snatching the table up and flipping it to rights. The table tilted horribly and Jotaro scoffed at it.
The bang of the table being rightened resounded through the room and drew the eyes of those who were lingering on the fringes of the conversation.
“We need another candidate,” Jotaro declared grandly. “Lance is not acting in the Clan’s interests! We need to cut support to him and make sure that the next Champion knows who pulls the strings of Indigo!”
This earned a few nods and murmurs of approval.
Fiona barked a laugh. “Another candidate? Where will you find such a person? Clair is practically Lance’s second in all but name! He leads and she follows! Bruce? He has shown that he doesn’t have the strength and is willing to step down. Worse! He is looking to split the clan with his push for a Gym outside of Johto!”
Before Jotaro could speak up Fiona continued. “Ah, I see what he is playing at. Lance must think himself clever.”
When this drew scowls of annoyance with waved hands for her to ‘get on with her point’ she continued. “He might just be creating this investigation so that he can learn the secrets of Aura we have been denying him.”
“What?” remarked more than a few elders. “What makes you believe that?” asked one.
“Because he must have suspected for a while now that there are higher forms of fighting. Brock has been demonstrating that with his Tyranitar for months now, but suddenly he can do it not just with his starter but with his entire team. For Lance not to notice that? He’d be a fool, and Lance, arrogant as he might be, is no fool.”
Fiona raised a finger weathered as it was. “I imagine that Lance has determined that certain skills and training has been denied him. Instead of placing himself in a position of supplication where he is to train under us he instead seeks a lever to pull the teachings from us. This investigation, it is too well timed, especially with the recent match between Brock and Agatha.”
Jotaro tapped his hand on the floor. “You think this is just clever negotiation tactics by him?”
“Perhaps,” Fiona hedged. “I also suspect he might believe he can find the texts about Aura’s true capabilities in the Archive. He has certainly been retreating there enough with Clair of late.”
Around the room, the various Elders stiffened. “If he gets those texts!”
“He won’t need us!” cried another.
Jotaro rolled his eyes, realising that for now, the others were merely props in this little game between himself and Fiona. She had stolen the show with her fanciful story but Jotaro doubted Lance had acted to assert power over them. The boy was too straight-laced. Too linear. If strength was not the main demand of becoming Champion then he might be more wily.
They were also lucky that Pryce had weakened since his days as a fighter during the war. Whatever had happened with his starter had shattered his bonds with his team of pokemon and thus Lance had never experienced fighting against a fully trained pokemon master.
Around the room, more and more Elders began to fret and wail like mere hatchlings braying for their mothers.
Fiona raised a hand. “Calm now, calm down. I have long since hidden the texts away. He will not find them but he will find references to them if he seeks hard enough. He will then have to approach us.”
Jotaro narrowed his eyes. “Approach you more like,” he stated.
Fiona inclined her head. “I am loyal to this clan, Jotaro.”
Jotaro sniffed at the trite words. People were already leaning towards Fiona hopefully. Jotaro could see her gambit. She would ransom the texts for them following her lead.
The Master was starting to fail with their health. If Fiona could lock in enough votes when the time came…
“Hmph, clever but you are not getting rid of the true issue here, merely slapping a salve on a festering wound and praying the beast that cut us doesn’t strike again!” snapped Jotaro.
That caused a few of the others to remember themselves and realise that Fiona was pouring honey into their ears and they were falling for it.
“We need a new candidate to replace Lance,” he intoned, “And there is a candidate!” he stated firmly.
“Who?” remarked Fiona and the word hung in the air.
Jotaro sighed. “I have set up a long-term operation that I liked to think of as Operation Pidgey.”
This earned some confused murmurs from the others. Jotaro continued. “The Crusher tribe has long been a threat to us and indeed most civilised peoples of the world. They have a unique trait however of often sending people out into the world to gather information on the state of their potential fighters or organisations. With this in mind, they have been theorised to have a range of skill for different agents that are trained for infiltration from an early age. We discovered one even blatantly swaggering around Pewter only a few months ago. As for Operation Pidgey? I…”
Jotaro cast his eyes about, making sure that the door was locked and the windows were covered. He stood and inspected the dark emitters before settling back down. His actions did not go unnoticed as more and more people began to wonder what secret he was about to reveal to them.
Jotaro even went as far as to search each and every person’s face looking for any signs that they weren’t who he thought they were.
Only then did he continue, “Took a young girl and trained her for infiltration at an even younger age. Then, as Lance was rampaging against the Crusher Tribe’s most recent migration I installed the girl in a position to be found. They took her in thinking she was one of theirs but she is in fact one of ours and still sends regular reports.”
Jotaro produced a small photograph of a girl with short black hair with red eyes. “She has since been living with and training with the Crusher tribe. In the course of her time with them, she has been asked to travel afar. She has infiltrated numerous organisations in Fiore, Hoenn, Indigo and even fed me information about another region that the Crusher tribe has access to far in the north beyond the current known wilds,” he said.
“You think this girl is still loyal to us?” barked Fiona dismissively.
Jotaro reached into his sleeve and pulled out a small remote device. He placed it on the floor in front of him. “Deals were made and her loyalty has been programmed in by the sharpest of minds.”
The room stirred and Fiona stared at the small remote. “Who performed the operation?” she hissed.
“Blaine was always looking for suitable candidates,” remarked Jotaro casually.
A weighty silence settled about the room. “You may have made a deal with Darkrai Jotaro,” whispered Fiona with more than a few nodding along with her.
Jotaro sniffed. “We would her reins not that criminal!” he snapped, indicating the remote in front of him.
Fiona slammed her palm into the ground. “Don’t think for a moment that Blaine didn’t also install controls for himself! He is not a fool! A powerful trainer, one of our clan no less could one day become a threat! The Blackthorn Clan led many raids on his hometown, do not forget!” snapped Fiona.
“At the very least, she can be used as leverage against Lance,” snapped Jotaro.
Fiona sighed and moved forward. Jotaro twitched as though to snatch back the remote only for Fiona to take the photograph of the girl instead.
“What is her name? This girl that you would have us put our hopes on?” asked Fiona quietly.
Jotaro grinned, pleased that things were looking up for him. If he played his cards right he would be assuming the mantle of Master of the Blackthorn clan in the coming years.
“Her name is Zinnia,” he announced proudly. “And she will be our answer against Lance and any other upstarts that have begun to crop up of late,” he said.
________________________
A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support.
Saw a comment about showing points of view around the world that include showing how Brock has influenced a lot of various things and I’d like to do that if it works out with some upcoming chapters.
Congratulations to those who called out the ‘cosplayer’ who attended the Pewter contest. I have a plan for the Crusher Tribe. Sadly, they might not be turning up straight away. They are going to be a big plot point though so keep your eyes peeled for any references I scatter around.
Thanks go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter
Comments
KarmaA
TFTC [hr][/hr] > not sure why Patreon didn’t read this right. “We would her reins not that criminal!” > would hold
LandoCali96
All for the clan, of course. (I'm the clan)
CentaureHeart
How is that of no consequences? Have you ever read books before?
Focus Armstrong
I'm hoping we get to interact with more characters from Johto, and the Battle Frontier. Maybe when this season is over there is an annual meeting between all Indigo gym leaders. Also, what happened to the exhibition match with Norman?
ShinLupin
he should just ask Agatha to "Take a walk in Blackthorn." a very enthusiastic walk.
ShinLupin
Sounds like a Team-up for Agatha and Pryce in the making. Double Tsundere Senior citizen combat-action.
ShinLupin
I doubt the surge stay so intense. Sure the ambitious Trainers are likely to try for one more Region, be it Johto or Hoenn. But the total numbers should fall notably. The Quality on the other hand might be 1-2 tiers higher than usual. I dare to hope that skilled foreign Trainer will be a burden on Team Aqua/Magma operations, if not worse.
Chris
It raises a question of what happens after the Surge of trainers. Will it scatter after the indigo league or will it stay together and follow ash and crew into Johto, and then later into Hoen? And does that give Team Aqua and Magma and extra 2 years to run wild without strong trainers to travel between the towns and help fish back if needed?
ShinLupin
strange how not one of the Elders aknowledged that they are investigated for Murder, Arson, Pokemon-Stealing and Fraud. Or how not one denied the accusation or was shocked by the implication. Zinna? As in ORAS Zinna? That sounds like a headache coming. Maybe even the Gen 3 Event/Storyline coming hard. Will we be Hard Enough to match it?
Chris
Oh that’s not going to backfire at all. I’m super excited, with “Kanto” wrapping up, it feels like we’re pivoting to the Orange Islands and some Johto shenanigans. Team Aqua to cause chaos amongst the islands, Team Rocket, Blackthorn Dragon clans and maybe some battle frontier politics. And then on the horizon gen 3 and 4. With Orre and shadow Pokémon as well. I’m very curious if this either turns into “there’s always a bigger fish” with other evil organizations and conspiracies or if this turns into a Rogues Gallery of evil secret society’s and organizations that make their play for power at different times. I’m so torn because I almost want to just jump ahead to the end of the season so we can get Battle Frontier and get Ash and gang into movies 2/3/4/5. Can’t wait!
nugitoBambino
I think it comes across that way in context yeah. Talking about the head Dragon Master not being there supports the idea of this being a subset and not an encompassing position, although whether we're talking 10% of the elders or 40% is less clear. And yeah, the war sounds horrific enough that these kinds of war crimes I could easily see being celebrated back then. The Indigo region in general, and that war specifically, is essentially an allusion to the warring clan era from Japan, from what I can tell, and good lord did the warring clan groups go hard. There's a reason WWII Japan was such a hotbed for war crimes and a lot of that stems from that era of their history and reaching a comparatively early, stable social equilibrium in their shogunate system compared to medieval Europeans (who also had cultures of common war-crime, but never reached a multi-century stable equilibrium, leading to the various revolutions and post-medieval thought heavily influenced by the Renaissance).
Donald Bagwell
Minor Zinia side story where lance has to learn to dad as mewtwo realizes he is not equiped for this and sabrina realizes she is better as the girls therapist than mentor
nugitoBambino
oh man i hope so! I love their bromance and it would be pretty funny if Brock found something that let him do that. Honestly that's the only thing left of this fic I really want to see - Brock getting loot from exploring! Like Agatha managed to get an Aegislash from looking around hidden rooms, Brock getting cool pokemon aura tomes would be awesome, and sharing them with Lance would be really fun
nugitoBambino
nah, Zinia is going to become lance's girlfriend I think. Not like, immediately, but we had that whole Lance perspective chapter and he was finding no one that was a powerful enough trainer that meshed with him and his dragons. Zinia is kinda a perfect fit from that perspective. Or at least, even if he's not dating her immediately, I hope he immediately becomes smitten. I think it would be a cute sub-plot
nugitoBambino
love the idea of them being caught pretty early. Also cause Zinnia is a favorite character from Borne of Caution and would love to see her in the background cast minus mind-control bullshit. Wouldn't mind if the Elders retribution was a long-time coming though. Like Zinnia is released by MewTwo/Sabrina. Then goes on a medium-length revenge arc that we get pieces of, but not the whole thing.
nugitoBambino
Mewtwo or Sabrina. I mean they picked a time to mind-plant a girl with the two strongest psychics, a pokemon and a human, in the last 100 years at least. What a hilariously shitty plan.
nugitoBambino
yeah please do I guess? I thought this chapter was kicking tbh. I mean, I guess if you were looking for a plot-heavy story I could see being disappointed, but I feel like with this and other works by the author an exploration of the world-building and side-characters is an expectation, and one I greatly enjoy reading about, personally.
thevolunteer
Good idea. I’ll unsubscribe now!
Donald Bagwell
This turned more rant than anything after 2
Donald Bagwell
Who said Kanto? They have all their influence in johto, as in! Johto, the region where about 1/2 the challengers left to challenge brock for his badge. As in where people STARTED in a different region. Experienced trainers either go the Ace route, open a facility, become security, now they join the G men, or leave. I think they even said the Johto conference is gonna be small this year. 1) The Surge has access to only three regions but is also several times stronger than the last surge they went through with Brock legitimately saying hundreds of trainers 2) Johto and Johto gyms have been a lot more influenced by blackthorne, do i think they can do ANYTHING to pryce? No. Do i think they think they still can? Oh yeah they dumb. So thats probably the path they try 3) Zinia may be good enough to go through Hoen, but real talk? She is crazy and the league must be paranoid after will… and blaine… Gray… that girl from goldenrod… surge… do i half to say the italian mob boss or is it implied? I can see zinia challenge and agatha using it as her good bye match, Oak coming back for a single day just to crush her. Heck we dont even know if she has aura! Reason i brought up mewtwo is empathy here. No way he lets thus stand, i fully believe that he does something about this even if he does the cat thing of bringing sabrina a fully mind wiped zinia, explaining everything and expecting Sabrina to care for her new baby sister 4) The Guardians and the Johto equivalent probs gonna know about this from blaines notes alone. I can see him in big bold letters have dirt and blackmail on everyone he deems important. Its something I thought of with giovani. Especially people he used to be AT WAR WITH LESS THAN HALF HIS LIFETIME AGO! The two groups also see a girl supported by the blackthorne without the head elder, also see a girl with a slightly manic and erratic personality, also see a girl who is clearly here to support a cause against a champ they all approve of who is getting rid of corruption against things that made legendary pokemon. If nothing else than to use him as a meat shield. The blackthornes are a big family but i think both groups are better off letting this happen, have lance/ clair/ maybe bruce come out smelling like sweet scent and getting 4/5 elders arrested 5) brock future knowledge most likely includes the girl who gets a mega rayquaza, even if thats the only thing he remembered from hoen i cant see him not doing something with that 6) the GMen and Lorelie… who both deal with anti corruption cases… ONE OF WHICH WAS MADE BY LANCE! THAT HE DID WITH PROBABLY THEIR SUPPORT! 7) yeah lance will probably swallow pride… and go to literally anyone else for help soon enough 8) koga and agatha alone… maybe with secretary karen 9) Pryce… just for spite. He may be the second champion Lance beat, but he is probably back to his full power at this point and might be looking for a rematch himself. I would not be surprised if the man didnt want his seat back and no second dragon type will beat him. If he read the papers on fairy type/ idea for vulpix he might show off his new lead soon enough
The Oblivious Elf
Definitely an inflated sense of worth, I guess the idea is that they did it once so of course they can do it again, completely ignoring the fact that Lance’s pure heart and prodigious nature is what got him the position
Streetwise
I think it's about time for Agatha to go all 'turbo-murder' on some dragon grampas. disturbing the peace 'n shit.
Lyael
Really tired of people complaining about worldbuilding chapters and pretending that they are of no consequence
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Honestly it's the vetting thing for me. Like, did the elders *not* notice how the Gym Leaders seem to actively vet people for the position of Elite 4 and how the Elite 4 and prior Champions 100% vet people for the position of Champion? I mean, Oak and Agatha blatantly checked out and approved Lance. I suspect that Bruno and that other Elite 4 member (who quit after because of how bad Lance beat them) approved Lance too, with only Pierce and Loreli not approving Lance (Loreli might actually have been supportive or neutral to Lance, it's unclear). And we saw how the Kanto and Jhoto Gym Leaders acted as vetting for Will and Karen in their pursuit of the Elite 4 (Koga was basically already approved cuz he was a Gym Leader). Is this vetting system perfect? Heck no! Will proved that. (But it's also kinda a young government, it's got some kinks to workout still...) So yeah, I'm just wondering how these Elders think they can sneak Z into the position of Champion before Lance outs them with his investigation? Is she going to come out of left field and race for the Ace Champion title? When we're halfway through the season?? Is she going to try and win the Indigo Tournament when we have no evidence she's even trying for Badges this year?? Because it's a BUSY season and getting booked for a Gym battle in Indigo is a problem right now... (Brock is calming down now but his schedule is still booked pretty solid... and we know the other Gyms are feeling the rush right about now; Erica made a comment not too long ago) You know what I *really* want to have happen? I want Z to get caught SUPER early. I'm talking, week 2 of trying to do whatever the elders tell her, Z gets caught by the League (who are *not* as incompetent as these Dragon Elders think!). And Z gets all her secrets read because maybe Blaine is good, but he had to run and left his lab notes behind. So yeah, they know how to break that mind control. (This gives the busts the League did on Team Rocket even more purpose!) I just *really* want the Elders to get caught immediately. I think it would be hilarious for them to try to blackmail or corner Lance but it just completely backfires and exposes them 20x more than anything Lance could do on his own.
Sean
Maybe stop paying or don’t complain?
thevolunteer
Really tired of chapters where the meat of it is of no consequence, from the perspective of characters I really don't care about.
Viva01
It was supposed to feel liek a subsect or in this case loud minority who have been cornered as some of their horrible actions have been unearthed. In a bygone era people would have celebrated them for their efforts. In the modern age what they've done is horrific. remember, Jotaro just admitted to basically training an extremely young child, programing her for the clan and then even adding a switch in her to gurantee it.
Squeeky602
Mewtwo is gonna notice. Not good for the Elders.
The Oblivious Elf
Lance is going to have to bash a lot of heads
SirKarpsalot
ZA Warudo
Jericho Rising
Unexpected progression path, love that something fierce.
Donald Bagwell
My question? How skilled is zinia infiltration to get through all of kanto? 1) lance is now probably paranoid about his family 2) psychic high level members who will probably adopt her 3) i can see brock doing something to investigate and say he felt off 4) i can see oak do the same as brock for different reasons 5) agatha and koga vetting candidates 6) everyone vetting her
Donald Bagwell
Question of WHO adopts zinia, sabrina or mewtwo?
Donald Bagwell
Might be gramps?
Qweku_v
And the plot thickens
RudeCzar
I thought Jotaro Blackthorne was Kaede father and had died, unless it’s a different one
Matt H
It's amusing how Jotaro, arguably, couldn't have picked a worse time in recent memory to try to stir things up. In no particular order: Agatha is about to be let off her official leash giving her plenty of time to go "exploring", between Karen and Koga Lance will have more people than ever close to him looking out for anything suspicious, Brock likely has some knowledge of Zinnia as a character given roughly how far his meta-knowledge seems to extend (Mega Evolutions), Sabrina is growing ever more skilled and powerful, and I'm sure Oak is still ready to throw down if his nation-building ever gets truly disrupted. Oh, I almost forgot, we also have easily one of the most powerful psychic Legendaries to ever exist roaming around the area studying and learning about people. Said Legendary ALSO has first-hand experience with attempted brainwashing and mind control and would likely take a dim view of anyone who attempts to do so or utilize those that have been.
Matt H
I think the current Blackthon Master is the most likely option. Beyond that: it's unclear whether that was every Elder or just a subset of them, even for the Elders who were present it looked like some were less interested in the discussions, and Lance and Clair could've been trained by a "normal" adult instead of an Elder.
Focus Armstrong
Likely he'll find some forgotten tomes about aura and train together with Brock, both of them learning new tricks from each other.
olyver
What are the odds that Brock ends up teaching Lance how to aura?
Focus Armstrong
I think you're right, not all of Blackthorn is bad. It seems like a significant portion of the elders are power hungry and are willing to hinder Lance to retain control over him. Then the rest who aren't scummy are just going along with the plan due to the first group being more vocal/numerous. There have been some good elders from Blackthorn, like the one elder who lost to Oak and graciously retired to rebuild the rangers and the one elder who vibe checked Lance during the beginning.
Docnox
Its sad for the whole clan elders to be cartoon Villains. It just doesn’t sit right. Someone raised lance and clair to be more upright
Thomas Keller
Oh shit, Blackthorn Clan's actually in it *deep*
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
*winces* Yikes. Poor Zinnia. Also, those dragon clan elders must be into some real shady stuff for this investigation to have them in such a titter. Lance is probably going to learn a lot about his clan that he will wish he never learned...
