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Hard Enough - Chapter 261 - Family connections
🕑 Added 2024-09-30 19:00:06 +0000 UTCForrest stood off to the side. Around him, our younger siblings had him encircled, but with how skilled he’d demonstrated himself to be with the bike, I knew he could bunny hop his way out should he desire.
I moved through my little siblings, parting them like Titan would a gaggle of aron that were barking at a downed Onix.
“Forrest,” I greeted him, making sure to give him a nod that allowed me to give him a once-over. He looked to be in good health. No injuries, and I suspected he’d grown a good deal. He looked thinner in the face and more refined as well.
“Brock,” he said, beaming at me.
I returned his smile. “You’ve done well. Looks like you’ve grown up some,” I commented. I made a show of glancing at his bike. It was rather ironic that his interest in cycling had been what might have led him to hang out with the boys who had tried to throw him under the bus.
And yet, despite the potential toxic memories he’d have regarding biking, he hadn’t shied away from it. His skills and love for cycling had really shone through. “You’re good, really good,” I said honestly. “I had no idea you were that good,” I admitted.
Forrest rubbed under his nose as the other kids shouted their own praise.
“I liked the bunny hops! They were cool!” shouted Timmy.
“I liked how you did that flip and landed it!” cheered Cindy.
“I liked how fearless you were!” Flint said with a huge smile on his face. “You terrified me, but wow! If that wasn’t part of the show, woah boy!” he boomed, causing more than a few people to turn from their own conversations with the other performers to smile in our direction.
I glanced over and was amused at the large crowd around Ritchie and Ash who were still in their clown outfits. The pair of them were making balloon pokemon with the easiest pokemon being the white and black houndour.
It took all of two seconds for one kid to say something about liking Ash’s or Ritchie’s balloon pokemon more for the pair of boys to lock eyes and get into a competition that resulted in what sounded like a lot of burst balloons.
I chuckled and turned back to Forrest who himself was peering around me to glance at Misty.
I smirked. “You know she hopped out onto the side to watch your show?” I asked.
Forrest perked up. “She did?” he asked hopefully, only to blanche as Cindy and Yolanda’s smiles gained a few too many teeth.
“Ooooooh?” Cindy said, bouncing from foot to foot.
“What’s this big brother? Do you have a crush?” Yolanda teased.
Forrest worked his jaw back and forth for a moment only to cross his arms over his chest. “So what if I do? I’m a man!” he growled.
I bit my lips and held back on teasing him. Yolanda, however, wasn’t as restrained as she leaned in and rubbed the back of her hand against his cheek.
Forrest blinked, stunned at Yolanda’s action only for her to smirk. “Still got a while to go just yet young man,” she teased.
The girls broke into giggles while Forrest gaped. He rounded onto me. “Since when has Yolanda been this…” he waved a hand towards our sister only to earn a shrug from me.
“Always?” I replied.
Forrest groaned, realising perhaps for the first time that he wasn’t the only one growing up while he was on his Journey. “Urgh! Whatever!” he said, throwing up his hands in annoyance.
Suzie walked forward. “I think it’s nice you have a true love!” she announced as she hugged Forrest. “And she’s a beautiful mermaid too, so that will be amazing! She can sing and dance! Oh! And she can swim so well! And and and!!!” Suzie gushed more and more, apparently rather taken with Misty after the orange-haired girl’s aquatic show.
I scooped Suzie up to rescue Forrest. “I’ll have to take you to the Cerulean Gym’s exhibitions they put on. Misty’s sisters hold a show much the same,” I said.
“Misty’s is better,” Forrest muttered out of the side of his mouth.
The girls leered at him, and I clapped my hands to stave off their prodding attempts. “Alright, alright, that’s enough of that. Tell me Forrest, how is your Journey going for you?”
Forrest relaxed at the much safer topic, a smile slipping into place as he considered his pokebelt. “It’s been going great! Onix is getting stronger, as is Challenger! I also have a Fearow, Lairon, Magneton, a Skarmory, and,” here he paused for effect, “Get this! I have a Metang!” he said proudly.
Yolanda coughed. “We know? You told us as much when he evolved?” she said, only for our younger siblings to shoot forward.
“Woah! Cool!” they said.
I chuckled. Yolanda and Forrest had both forgotten that young kids don’t remember a lot unless it remains relevant.
“You’ve got the makings of steel type specialisation there,” I commented idly.
Forrest scratched the side of his cheek again. “Yeeeeeah, I just… I’m not sure what it is, I sort of feel more comfortable with them? Rock and Ground type are still easy, but I really feel like I click with steel type for some reason?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I get that. You read the notes I have on them on the Gym’s trainer pages?” I asked and he nodded quickly.
“Yeah! It’s helped out a lot with making sure I’m considering what to feed them! It’s made a real difference for Metang and Lairon!” he gushed.
“Good to hear,” I said. A small hand tugged mine and I glanced down to find Timmy looking up at me. I knelt down, and he leaned in.
“Brock… aren’t you sad Forrest isn’t staying to rock type?” he asked.
I blinked. I hadn’t expected Timmy to ask such a question, but it showed he was conscious of my status as the ‘Rock Type Gym’ to a much greater degree than I’d thought.
I saw a few of the other kids close to us fidget. They, too, must have thought it, but Timmy had beaten them to the punch.
Forrest stared at me with an intense focus. Hmmm this needed to be handled carefully.
I made a show of thinking it over, putting my hand to my chin and rubbing it. “Hmmmmmm. Well, the thing is that Forrest is Forrest, and I’m me. So he doesn’t need to try and be anyone else,” I said.
I then poked Timmy lightly on the nose. “Just like you’re you and when you want to go out into the world you can be whoever you want to be!” I said, earning a giggle from him.
Forrest relaxed at this and I shot him a nod. “So, Steel type pokemon? Looking to get your hands on a Scyther?” I suggested.
“Urrrrrrrrgh! Don’t start! I tried to catch one in the Safari zone, and I was this close!” he moaned as he held his fingers up close to each other to show how much he’d missed.
I chuckled, recalling how much time I’d spent in the Safari zone looking for some rare pokemon myself, only not to find anything.
I’d later worked out that Sabrina, due to being such a powerful psychic, had been scaring all of them off.
“Any ideas on other pokemon you’re going to try for?” I asked.
“I’m not sure there will be any more I could get that build into the team I’m forming,” he said.
“Not going to get Pineco? They evolve into Forretress which are part steel type, and there’s always Mawile if you can find someone from Hoenn to trade with, but watch out cause they’re really mischievous,” I said.
“A Mawile?” Forrest repeated.
He considered it before shrugging. “Eh, maybe. I’ll have to see if it works out, but Pineco is a good suggestion! I can swing around Viridian and try to find one when we come back around to challenge you!” he said with steely-eyes.
I held his gaze for a moment, and on a whim decided to test him.
I called up my dark and rock energies, making myself suddenly loom over him like a shadowy mountain. I made sure to direct it only at him, excluding all of my family.
Even as I did it, I had to hold back a chuckle. I wouldn’t have been able to do this earlier in the week. My how things change.
Forrest’s hands twitched in surprise, but his spine and nerve held firm.
Heh, well would you look at that? He was growing up well.
I relaxed my energy quickly so I didn’t crush him or let anything slip to the others. As confident as I was now, I wasn’t going to push my luck.
“Woah that… was intense,” Forrest said.
I nodded. “You’re doing well,” I informed him, and he smiled sheepishly.
Yolanda’s head whipped from me to Forrest for a moment before she slumped as she realised that Forrest had been tested in some way. She tilted her head and mouthed ‘aura?’ to me and I gave a small nod. She slumped.
That, wasn’t the reaction I’d been expecting from her.
As another sibling distracted Forrest I slid up to her. “It’s not a race,” I said.
“Sorry, I just thought I’d be… better off than him,” she moped.
I chuckled. “He has four pokemon to help feed into his typing while you’re trying to just get by with Terra. I think you’re doing just fine. He’s spread himself out while you’re growing your bond with Terra deeper and deeper each day. You are both approaching this differently so try not to compare results. They’re not the same thing,” I said.
“Thanks,” she said with a sigh. “That helps.”
“Show us your pokemon! Show us your pokemon!” said Billy and Tilly.
Forrest made a show of thinking it over but he caved in easier than cheap bronze when they gave him the Baby Doll Eyes routine.
His pokemon emerged and Challenger stiffened as she looked around only to catch sight of Sanchez laughing at something Bertha had said. “Grav!” she barked at him.
Despite Challenger obviously gearing up to throw down, my instincts as a big brother/parent had my gaze snapping towards the Skarmory that had emerged. In an instant I took in how Billy was grinning up at the bird that was glaring at him.
Before it could so much as twitch I called up my rock energy and locked onto the steel-flying type.
It stiffened and looked around and was stunned when it caught sight of me staring it down. It tried to glare at me defiantly, but I just intensified my glare.
Through my aura, I decided then and there to try something I’d been working on with my pokemon through our bond.
Instead of trying to connect to Skarmory, I instead radiated a message with my aura.
If you so much as try anything with my siblings, I’ll destroy you.
Around the circus, the various pokemon stiffened and snapped around to look at me in shock. Hmmm, needed some work if I was broadcasting it that widespread.
My own pokemon were much more relaxed about it, and their looks shifted from me to that of Skarmory. Skarmory itself had locked up in fear as it gaped at me.
I knew that I had a lot of attention on me, but I didn’t take my eyes off Skarmory until it lowered its head and showed that it wasn’t going to be a threat.
“Billy, don’t try grabbing Skarmory’s feathers. They’re too sharp buddy,” I said calmly as I stepped forward,
“Awwww,” said Billy as I led him to a much safer pokemon, like Onix.
I gave Skarmory a single nod to acknowledge it before turning my back on it. Forrest gaped at me. “Woah! What was that?” he asked. “You had Skarmory respecting you from the outset.”
I shrugged. “I gave your pokemon a look,” I replied. “And don’t mistake respect for a useful relationship between trainer and pokemon.”
“A look?” he questioned, his tone dripping with disbelief.
I smirked. “It’s a look I’ve spent a fair amount of time practising.” And I wasn’t even lying. You could do a lot with just a look at a pokemon.
The whole idea of badges conferring you a greater ability to train stronger traded pokemon might have been a game mechanic, but there was a slight correlation for experienced trainers having a much easier time roping in unruly pokemon, even when they weren’t their own.
It all came down to experience.
“Should I spend time glaring at a mirror or something?” Forrest asked dubiously.
“Hmmm maybe it’s not a terrible idea, as you need to know what you look like. But try locking eyes with more trainers and feel for the connection. That always helps,” I informed him calmly.
Yolanda and Salvadore, who, despite not having aura training, had picked up that I’d done something to Skarmory, listened intently.
I suddenly realised I was probably going to catch both of them staring into mirrors around the house. Heh, oh well, more teasing material for me.
I spent some more time with Forrest, learning that he, Ash, and Misty were all gearing up for another fight against Manny, the trickster Gym Leader.
I wished them the best of luck and let my attention shift to that of A.J.. The young green-haired man had a troupe of elderly men and women around him. All of whom were congratulating him. The men clapped him on the shoulder and laughed, with one of them laughing so hard his false teeth popped out, which only made him laugh harder.
The women cooed and fussed over A.J..
“Are you getting enough sleep deary?” said one woman.
“Enough food?” prompted a second woman.
“You meet any nice girls?” said yet another.
“I’m fine!” he groaned, only to perk up when he spotted my approach.
I nodded to him. “A.J., this is certainly something,” I began, casting a hand about at the circus. “Well done with all of this,” I said.
A.J. tried to hold back the smile, but despite his own desires to be stoic, his joy leaked through as he twitched.
He allowed himself to turn slowly, turning to look over everything in the circus. “I… I never really thought it would end up this way. When you’ve been chasing a prick like Melvin for so long…” He licked his lips and didn’t finish what he was going to say.
I just nodded along slowly. “I guess I’ll take your word for it,” I said. I couldn’t say that I’d been hunting down Flint. I’d been sitting back, basically waiting for him to turn up, much like I was doing for Lola.
They’d come back, I had been certain of i,t despite all the changes I’d felt in my bones that they’d be back.
And perhaps, just perhaps, a small part of me hoped to be wrong.
So far, I was half right, and it was working out for me.
“So,” I said slowly. “What happens now?” I asked A.J..
He blinked. “Now?” he replied, blinking at me uncertainly. “What do you mean by that?”
I tilted my head and indicated the circus. “You now have a circus… tent? Facilities, or something to run, don’t you? I honestly have no idea what that is going to entail for you,” I said.
A.J. coughed. “Same,” he said.
I stared at him and he fidgeted. “What?! I grew up with the circus! I didn’t get to learn the ins and outs of being a ringmaster! I know how to run a show with the help of… friends,” he said and I smirked at how the word had practically had to be choked out of him.
He scowled. “I… can’t be the Ringmaster of this circus, not right now. I’m not… I’m not good enough. I don’t know enough,” he admitted.
I opened my mouth to compliment him on his extremely mature realisation, only for the elderly folk that had been lingering near us to start clapping.
A.J. twitched and shot them a sweeping glare. “Don’t try and be cute like that you old—” Before any more words could come out a juggling ball appeared in A.J.’s mouth, cutting his tirade off.
A short almost doubled-over woman emerged with giant glasses on her nose that had to weigh her down a great deal.
She was practically the stereotypical kind old granny, especially with her hand-knitted bag hanging low underneath a shawl that came down to hide her hands draped over her.
She stared at A.J. imperiously. “I will have you know that I am adorable as an aged woman and I won’t hear a word otherwise!” She snapped, drawing back her shawl slightly.
In doing so she revealed an array of far less kid-friendly juggling props along the inner lining of the shawl with knives, axes, and even what looked like the shine of thin metal wire.
I whistled, impressed despite myself. This was like seeing into Surge’s legal gun cabinet.
Damn, what had these elderly folk been doing to warrant that sort of gear? Had they been touring the world during the…world…war.
Oh.
Oh, this might not have just been a circus. Their ages matched up to that of Oak and Agatha so it made a little too much sense.
I glanced around, eying all the secret areas that had featured in various gags with Ash and Ritchie. Those could have doubled as smuggling or even serving to give refuge or help people migrate.
A circus could go a lot further afield without garnering too much scrutiny after all. They were already assumed to be odd out-of-towners and wouldn’t appear on town registers.
Just how far had they gone during the war, and what had these elderly folk done back then?
Another man noticed my shift in body language, and he merely smirked and tapped his nose knowingly. Then he tapped a small tattoo on the side of his arm like I was meant to know what that meant.
I decided to just play along for now, but I made sure to keep my guard up. If they were threats then Sabrina was near my family and could protect them.
Sarah continued to speak, unmindful of my internal revelations to scold her former charge in A.J.. “And we weren’t mocking you! We were applauding your growth! Learn to read the room! You were absolutely correct that you need to learn more before you of all people become Ringmaster! Continue to travel, grow and for Arceus’ sake! Relax!”
She stomped her foot on the final point only for a double-fanged battleaxe to fall out of her shawl and thunk into the stage.
I stared at the axe only for Sarah to grumble in annoyance. “Damn holding brace is worn,” she said as she drew the axe back up into her shawl, tucking it away like she’d dropped a pair of knitting needles and not a heavy weapon that I’d expect a barbarian in another world to wield.
Somehow, the image of this woman decrying her bridge partner in a nursing home only to slam an axe into the table, didn’t sound farfetched to me.
A.J., unmindful of how I was readjusting my perception of his ‘family’ spat out the juggling ball. “Urgh! You’re just the same as you were years ago Sarah! I just… alright, thanks! And… you’re not wrong,” he admitted.
A.J. turned to me and bowed his head. “I still have a lot to learn and there’s more I want to achieve. I think that you’re the best person to teach me what I want to know and more! I want to learn to be the best version of myself that I can be!”
“I remember you talking about not knowing how far you could take yourself as an Ace trainer a few months ago but wanting to try your hand.” A.J. raised his chin and locked eyes with me. “I want the same! I want to push myself! I want to grow! I want to be as good a pokemon trainer as I can be! I want to one day be that and the Ringmaster of a Circus! I need to learn what you can teach me!” he said firmly.
I stopped trying to assess the elderly folk around me and instead nodded at A.J. “I’ll try and help as much as I can, but don’t discredit yourself. You’ve done the persian’s share of work in growing. I’m more than happy to have you at my Gym.” I then coughed self-consciously.
“That being said you will need to work out what to do with all of this,” I said, sweeping my hand out to the side.
A.J. twitched and considered it. Then he turned to the group of elderly, potential— I had no idea what they were— Foreign agents? Spies? A neutral faction?
The only nations that were thought of as neutral that I knew of were the Orange Islands, and Alola.
I really needed to read deeper into the war if I was encountering old people like this while out on a trip with my family.
The next set of kindly looking grannies might mean me or us harm.
I hadn’t encountered anything about circuses in the readings I’d done in my idle moments about the war that the Guardians gave me access to, but I now had a very pointed list of questions for the database.
If that fails? Well, Koga and Agatha were going to be receiving a call from me.
A.J. bent into a deep bow. “Please! Can someone take care of this for me while I’m growing?” he asked.
The group of elders all shared a fond look above A.J.’s bowed head. Then a few of them stepped forward.
“I’ll look after it!” said at least six of the men and two of the women.
They all paused as they registered that they hadn’t been alone in announcing their intent. Instead of ‘sharing’ looks they began to size each other up with pokeballs slipping into hands.
I held in a chuckle. Of course, they were going to settle this with a pokemon fight.
“Take this outside?” suggested Sarah, the old woman with the literal battleaxe hidden up her sleeves.
The others nodded and I marvelled that none of them showed a lick of concern that they were about to fight a woman with so much weaponry close at hand.
A.J. chuckled and started to follow them out only to think better of it for a moment. “Everyone! Aftershow entertainment is being provided outside!” he shouted and just like that everyone spilled out to watch a most unusual match.
Instead of running it like a mini-tournament, the elders all released one pokemon. Then they shared a look and stepped back.
Their pokemon didn’t hesitate for a second and threw themselves forward into a free-for-all brawl.
At first, I thought it was chaos unfolding, but then I spotted how pokemon were ‘talking’ or aligning themselves almost imperceptibly with each move made.
A Nidoking shared a knowing look with a Ninetails and suddenly a Rock Throw intercepted a Thunderbolt meant for the Ninetails.
Right as I gained an inkling of the ‘teams’ that were forming, one of the eight pokemon fell and things shifted up with new targets and pairings forming.
I watched, transfixed.
This was nothing like the Kanto, Johto, Orange islands, or Hoenn style of fighting.
It wasn’t a doubles battle or a team fight. It was scrappy and chaotic to the extreme but there were obviously rules at play.
Sabrina appeared next to me silently and I gestured with a jerk of my chin. “Where are they from and what is this?” I asked quietly.
Sabrina wet her lips. “They’re from a chain of islands known as Alola. They are fighting variant team multi-battles which are a thing in their homeland. You can team up with another trainer and their pokemon but with each knock out you are not allowed to assist the same person resulting in shifting alliances and turbulent fights that can end insanely quickly, or that can be long drawn out affairs that are nevertheless intense,” she said.
I nodded, watching as yet another pokemon fell, resulting in there only being six pokemon, only for another two pokemon to fall a moment later, leaving four in contention.
This was entirely foreign, and I could see a few of the older men and women in the crowd frowning at the strange display.
I imagine a few of them were asking the same questions I had before. Most of them shook their heads dismissively but I noted Flint adjusting the way the kids stood while he reassessed the old men and women around us.
I shared a look with him and made a calming gesture which seemed to help.
‘Sarah’, I noted, had been the one with a Mr Mime that fell.
“Alola eh? The island nation that decried the war and tried to stay out of it?” I asked.
Sabrina bobbed her head. “Just so. These people…” She chewed her lip in thought. “They aren’t agents of Alola anymore. In their minds, they are just free spirits of Indigo. They’ve adopted too many and married into Indigo families in their minds.”
I nodded only to shift slightly as I detected someone moving up behind us.
“Rather rude to peek into our thoughts like that, no?” rasped a voice from the person moving up on us. “Hmmm you’re rather gifted youngsters to detect me,” said a wiry-looking old man.
I didn’t volunteer anything about how I’d gotten so good. Koga was a good example for holding back information like that.
Instead, I just nodded in greeting. “Seems A.J. thinks the world of you,” I said, offering up an olive branch.
“Heh, the young man is a good kid, too tightly wound by half but that will change in time as he mellows out.” He eyed us. “Is there going to be an issue with us having been from Alola?” he asked.
“No.” I shook my head only to pause as a stray thought occurred to me. “I don’t suppose you kept any Alola pokemon on hand?” I asked. If they had a Pichu then it might be possible to get Sabrina—
The man shook his head. “When working in another nation, never have a foreign pokemon unless you want to announce that you’re not from the town over. We only ever had pokemon that could be found in the Indigo regions or the Orange islands.”
I made to ask more, only for Sabrina to twitch slightly. Ho? What was this? He’d lied?
“That… isn’t true, is it?” I said casually. “You snuck something in, right?” I asked.
The man fidgeted. “It’s not a pokemon… well not anymore…” he said sadly.
I tilted my head and the man sighed before waving me to follow him. He walked quickly and people didn’t so much as look at him with how he curled in on himself. Sabrina and I shared a look before following him.
He led us towards a prop bin where some of the juggling props were deposited. He pulled out two red balls. “Everyone assumed these were just flash props,” he said morosely. “They were actually stray eggs I didn’t find until we were deep in Unova at the time… I had to act quick to hide them,” he said sadly.
I frowned, not understanding what he meant. Then I noticed how he’d coloured the balls.
They were exactly like voltorb, a pokemon that canonically in a lot of settings people mistook for actual pokeballs. At the size they were they were perfect fits as juggling balls.
I took them gently in hand and rolled them around in my hands. They were heavier than I had assumed they were going to be, but that actually tracked with my theory.
“These aren’t props,” I said slowly. How was this possible? I hadn’t thought Voltorb could learn Minimize but perhaps I was wrong?
“Well they might as well be these days,” said the elderly man.
I hummed. These were voltorb, but not like the regional variant. They were in fact Hisiuan, which was a name for ancient Sinnoh.
“They’re hibernating?” I asked.
“They’re unresponsive,” he said. “I… treated them with a lacquer right before we got searched by an Unovan scout unit to make them pass muster. Since then though they’ve been inert and they haven’t moved since.”
“Hmmmm,” I said slowly. “Have you spoken to any experts about them?” I asked.
The man shook his head. “I didn’t dare, like I said, having a different region's pokemon was an amazing way to out yourself back then, but I could never stand to part with them… until I accepted they were little more than props.”
“And you hid it from the entire circus as well?” asked Sabrina, which earned a glum nod.
“Do you mind if I take them to talk to some experts I know?” I said and the man waved at me dismissively. “Go right ahead, they’re gone now,” he said.
I bobbed my head side to side as I considered if that was true. As grass types, they might not be all that gone, I thought to myself. “Maybe, but I will hold out for the experts first,” I said.
The man made a dismissive wave and marched away, unable to look at the small voltorb any longer.
I shared a look with Sabrina and she nodded. “These pokemon seem to exude grass-type energy to my senses. Erika might know something,” she said.
I licked my lips. “So might… Surge. But we’ll talk to Visquez first though,” I said. No need to go over her head. If she didn’t know anything either, then at least we had gone to her first, but there was no need to go past her… or avoid her.
I walked back out to find the battle for who would be the new Ringmaster winding down. The old man we’d been talking to was standing on the edge, watching on with a faint smile.
‘“Do you miss it?” I asked, deciding to satiate my curiosity now.
“I do,” said the man. “Our work ferrying people who wanted out of the fighting was worth it. We moved around a lot of people before the Legendaries got involved. Helped heal a lot of people and brought smiles to others,” he said.
I nodded, watching as an older man with a thin moustache won the right to manage the circus in A.J.’s name by the name of Rickardo.
I hummed as A.J. approached the man and clapped him on the shoulder only to be dragged into a dance routine by the spry old man.
I laughed along with the others. “He was the clown, wasn’t he?” I said.
The old man next to us nodded. “The Ringmaster might be the one that people acknowledge as ruling but that is only ever at the forbearance of the clowns. A tyrant can always be brought lower by people laughing at them,” he intoned.
I nodded. The words had the air of a quote to them, and I considered him. “You said Unova as well. Where else did you visit in your travels?”
The man shook his head. “We travelled a lot and saw a lot of things. Some of which I won’t talk about,” he said with a glint in his eyes.
I hummed before inclining my head. “What were you in the circus?” I asked whimsically.
The man chuckled. “Isn’t it obvious?” he raised an arm and flexed, causing the wiry arm to bulge.
“I was the muscle man!” he said and laughed. He then pulled out a folded-up poster that showed a much younger, taller, slicked-up man with muscles that nearly popped off the page with how hard he was flexing.
“The great Gordon eh?” I said towards the man who nodded.
“Well met, now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to congratulate my friend,” he said as he moved off, and despite his age, he moved with a whisper-quiet gait.
I watched him go. The muscle man eh? That would have been the last person I would have expected to be ‘light’ on their feet, but then again that might have been entirely the point.
“The world’s a funny place,” I said and Sabrina nodded.
I could only wonder how many other people like this circus troupe were still in Kanto, just waiting to be found, or for their former region to ‘reopen’ as it were.
I shook my head and clapped my hands. “Alright, kids! It’s getting close to bedtime!” I called only to get a chorus of whines.
Sabrina and Flint helped muster my family back home along with our close friends.
We made sure to give Forrest a final hug farewell and then we made it home.
I settled into my bed almost sad that Golden Week was over.
A lot had changed in the week off, but now it was back to business as usual.
Or, at least I hoped so.
Before bed, I made a call to Erika and included Visquez. “Got any plans for tomorrow?” I asked, holding up the pair of voltorb in my hands to flash the camera.
Heh, Oak was going to be so happy if this worked out like I hoped it would.
_______________________
A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your support!
I thought about the timeline involved with the former Circus Ringmaster having to be old enough to have passed as he did, and then I considered the timeline I’d created and I came up with the idea that A.J.’s adoptive family were a neutral party during the war, helping ferry people out of war-torn areas.
I then got oddly stuck on a throw-away gimmick I’d used with Melvin during the ‘slapstick run around scene’. For some reason, I couldn’t help thinking about a small juggling ball and how it might flash.
Something about that stuck out to me.
Like it? Hate it? What are your thoughts?
Thanks go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!
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world-concepts-are-breaking god-is-dying
They are litterally made of wood and aura is something that can be felt by aura masters like Brock and Sabrina. She was able to detect the island with Lugia when she was but a child thanks to her high affinity to psychic aura, it isn't a stretch at all for her to be able to perceive the aura in eggs now that she is likely the strongest psychic in the world.
world-concepts-are-breaking god-is-dying
I think the base for the Growlithe's quick growth has already been planted because I think I remember in a chapter a comment about how easily they grow up to be combat ready with the Growlithe that patrol the gym being just barely beyond puppy level. It does make sense considering dogs are breed to be useful to humans and if from ancient times that meant protecting them it is not unrealistic from them to be combat ready in a short time. Even Cranidos is already at badge level even when he is younger then Teddiursa because ancient pokemon had to be ready to fight early if they wanted to survive.
world-concepts-are-breaking god-is-dying
They are found in the wild in Scarlet and Violet so I would guess that differently from the secret evolutions, that require a particular habitat to trigger, the hisuian variants are more easily found around but are simply incredibly rare in Unova and more common in Paldea.
world-concepts-are-breaking god-is-dying
He litterally said they are Hisuian voltorb. How could they be rock type?
world-concepts-are-breaking god-is-dying
That is in fact more of a reason to not stand out by assaulting Melvin or go through legal routes. They are probably illegal immigrants or in any case they have a dark enough past that they can't risk it being revealed or they could face serious charges.
Jericho Rising
I like the paths you've opened up with this chapter. Just hope it doesn't take too long to clean up the loose ends.
Jericho Rising
Melvin had "legal" documents; that turned out to be less than legal. They're veterans and smugglers but they're good people. I doubt they'd have had the urge to do something blatantly illegal like assault Melvin.
daniel wingborg
Found 2 typos. Titna-> titan. And mroe->more
David
this
angie bell
Hisuian Voltorb I know the people plug the hole in them temporarily to move them out of town and that they can be found in Paldea the circus got around the circus perfect since they love to laugh but a charge a light one tricky or if the hole is covered? I wonder if the seeds in them can be planted? or if they need an apricot acorn tree to change the acorn?
Petrox
How can such veterans got scammed by Melvin?
ShinLupin
two eggs of Alola-native/exclusive Pokemon, it would be fate if one is a Rock-type and the other psychic.
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Concept? Love. In this world? Unlikely. AJ's personality is just a poor match for contests. Maybe in the far future after he's mellowed out a bit. But right now he's a brawler not a performer when it comes to battle style.
Stan Lewis
Thanks for the chapter. I thought the introduction of the voltorbs was a bit out of left field, but I don’t mind it. Also, quick notes, it looks like there was a typo when you tried to spell Titan. It came out Titna. Also, I’m not really sure if you introduced Sarah’s name before you started using it, so that felt a little awkward.
Donald Bagwell
VASQUEZ APOLOGY GIFT
Donald Bagwell
While I agree here is the thing… AJ as the head of Kanto Contest Circuit Hear me out He is doing shows and has ties to Pewter, cerulean, through Brock celedon and of course vermillion. If he attributes his circus to an entire contest a challenge when each contestant runs a performance for the crowd and THEY judge the contest. A new act completely for charity for the orphan fund for whatever city he is in like Brock. More than that? AJ doesn't want to be a gym leader, but a traveling circus ace trainer? Maybe a frontier brain? Hell maybe he picks up for many considering his team! Next up, aj knows he still has more to learn. Could be fun
Vara
Interesting for their to be hisuian voltorbs to be "alive" in the wild. I wonder how he came upon them.
Bast
Thanks for the chapter!
Matt H
It's not so much a comment about this chapter (always amusing to see a bunch of elders turn out to badasses), but more the pace of the story. A comment on a recent chapter reminded me that we're only HALFWAY through the season despite everything that's happened. Individually I don't think the chapters have felt rushed, but in aggregate I think you may be toeing the line with what Brock could conceivably manage in a given period of time without it being implausible. To be clear, I love this story and I think you've done a fantastic job with it, I just think you might want to start adding a couple days or a week here and there to allow more time to pass. That can give you more freedom to allow events to develop around the world, characters to grow up, etc. Take the project to recreate the Hisuian Growlithe. Under ideal circumstances I expect it'll still take at least a couple of generations of dedicated breeding to get results. Unless eggs can hatch AND the Pokemon grow to sexual maturity within a month or two we're probably still at least a year if not more away from the first Hisuian Growlithe. That would correspond to hundreds of chapters at our current pace and multiple real life years before any developments on that one plotline. Similar deal with Gible. As a pseudo-legendary they have a slow growth rate so we're again looking at another year in the story before we could conceivably see Brock with a Garchomp.
Sean
How does Sabrina know they are grass types?
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Full honesty; I was 100% ready to let A.J. go. I'm not really invested in him so his leaving to head (or just be part of) a circus was A-Okay to me.
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Oh! Visquez is making an appearance! I'm looking forward to that.
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Edit: 'I spent some mroe time with Forrest' Should be 'more' not 'mroe'
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Edit: 'A small hand togged mine and I glanced down to find Timmy growing at me.' Uh... is 'growing' supposed to be 'glaring'? I mean, Timmy *could* be growling...? (It would be odd but consider: is smol child. Growling isn't that odd for kids)
BlackRazaras
Thanks for the chapter
