Hard Enough - Chapter 312 - Moments of growth

Brock:- the MC 

Sabrina:- the best girl

Lola:- Brock’s absentee Mother and Flint’s wife. 

Flint:- Brock’s father who returned earlier in the story. Has been trying to make amends. His wife is his weak spot sadly.

Yolanda:- Oldest girl in Brock’s family.

Salvadore:- fourth oldest child after Brock, Forrest, and Yolanda. 

Cindy and Tommy:- first set of twins and fifth and sixth children of Flint and Lola. 8 years old 

Suzie and Timmy:- second set of twins and seventh and eighth children 5 years old. Lola left very soon after they were born.

Pryce:- Gym Leader of Mahogany Town. Ice Type specialist.

Lorelei:- Elite Four member of Indigo. Granddaughter of Pryce. 

Gio:- Trainer that appeared in chapter 1 as a young trainer trying to force his way into the tournament with only a week left. Failed. Had an entire year to work with his team and build them up in the lead-up to this circuit. Has one of the highest battle records of the circuit but was very much overlooked. Calls Cerulean City home. Attempted an elite challenge against Brock at the end of the recent circuit only for one of his pokemon to perish a few days prior. Still tried to fight Brock. Brock ended up counselling him instead.  

Roxanne:- Future Gym Leader of Rustburo Gym. Needs to apply still and is hoping to impress the current Gym Leader with a strong showing. Rock Type specialist. Notably defeated Brawly in the Semi-final despite being disadvantaged due to typing. She is considered the dark horse of the Indigo Cup due to being a wallflower for the first half. Won respect by winning Brock’s Bejewelled badge with ease.

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With Diantha departing within the coming days, I had no issues handing the first of the Amaura to her. This actually worked out as something of a win for me as the second turned out to be a female which was slightly better with establishing breeding lines instead of merely relying on ditto. 

Amaura was a pokemon that I had been looking forward to acquiring for the Gym as I felt it would do a lot to add glitter and sparkle to the Gym. 

Something that, to this date, only really came about from any Crystal Onix I brought out for special events.

When Crowley handed over the little pokemon with a bill of clean health signed off by our local Nurse Joy, I rushed home to release it in the reserve.

I must have been a little too eager as my family noticed me jogging past the house rather than coming in and decided to investigate.

“Brock! Is that a new pokemon?” asked Salvadore as I brought out Amaura’s pokeball.

I glanced over my shoulder and found him, Cindy, Suzie, Togepi, Forrest, and Yolanda had joined me. “Oh, uhm yeah. She’s a new fossil pokemon that Crowley just finished up with. It was provided to us by Diantha, the Kalos Champion.”

That got everyone’s attention, and their little eyes started to track the pokeball with a lot more interest than moments before. With a tap of the release button, I had Amaura out in front of me.

The little rock-ice type swivelled her long neck around and crooned out a question as the small iridescent sail-like structure above each eye fluttered. 

Amaura shuddered briefly before making a slightly disgruntled sound that caused me to tilt my head. She turned and caught sight of me and my family before chirping happily. “Uuuura!”

I knelt and offered out my hand for it to sniff, which she did hesitantly. 

Behind me, I could hear my siblings gasping, and a few feet shuffled closer.

At roughly a metre in height, Amaura was still quite small when you accounted for the neck and head being half of Amaura’s height. I had actually expected her to be taller.

I gave Amaura another look over only to blink. “Huh, this is a young pokemon,” I said, noting the little tells about its body, like the soft-looking nail on the back foot that hadn’t fully grown yet, or the way she had a lot more baby fat to it than I was used to seeing in most pokemon.

Her skin still glistened like a gem, and the hardiness of rock and ice created shimmering scales tightly packed over her body.

Amaura trilled again as she toddled over to me, her steps further revealing her age. 

She bumped her head against my hand and nuzzled at me, causing the sail structures to tickle my fingers. A slight chill came from touching them and I got the idea that the sails acted like vents of temperature control.

I adjusted my hand so I was holding one of the sails out slightly. Watching as the light played off them and revealed small capillaries within even as the sails shimmered. 

“Can we come pet her yet?” asked Cindy as she took another shifting step closer, hedging her bets that I would say yes. 

I smiled, knowing she couldn’t see it from how I was crouched. “What do you say Amaura? Want to meet my family?” I asked.

Amaura blinked slowly as if considering my words before nodding, her sails fluttering at the gesture.

“Amaura’s okay with it but come in slow, remember?” I prompted. 

Cindy scuttled forward, beating out the others with her fast walk. I gestured for her to crouch and she did so, lowering herself to look directly into Amaura’s eyes.

“Hiii!” she gushed, holding her hand out for the sauropod pokemon to sniff at. 

I stepped back so Amaura wouldn’t feel too swamped by people. Thankfully the boys held back allowing Cindy and Yolanda to pet the newest pokemon. 

Suzie was oddly happy to sit back and merely observe from afar with Togepi in her hands. 

The little egg pokemon trilled happily and waved her hands maniacally in greeting earning herself a smile from Amaura which set Togepi off louder. 

Salvadore had his pokedex out and was grinning. I leaned in and started pointing out certain details I had noticed such as the age of this specific Amaura along with the sail structures. I also mentioned its typing which caused Yolanda to look up in surprise.

“Really? A rock-ice type pokemon? Poor thing is going to have a lot of type vulnerabilities,” she said as he gave Amaura a quick pat. 

Suzie glanced up at me. “What’s Vunerabbabites??” she asked flubbing the word.

“Vun-er-abilities,” I corrected slowly. “It means weaknesses, in this case which pokemon will be strong against Amaura.” 

I began ticking them off. “Rock, ground, Water, and grass are all doubly effective against her while fighting and steel-type moves are both up to four times more effective.” I smiled. “She will however be going to be resistant to normal, flying, poison, and ice moves as well.” 

I rubbed my chin as I recalled what the pokedex said about Amaura. “It’s possible that Amaura as a species grew in a region that didn’t have predators which allowed them to have such vulnerabilities.”

Salvadore quickly jotted that down. “What makes you say that?”

“It’s a prevalent theory regarding the decreasing sizes of certain vulnerable pokemon with large issues. Most of those pokemon need to exist in controlled environments these days. Amaura wouldn’t have had that from the era her species were in however so possibly there might have been environment aids in place,” I lectured.

Yolanda giggled. “You should start wearing your lab coat more.”

I hummed an affirmative only to give Suzie a curious glance. ”You don’t want to go pat her Suzie?” 

Suzie shook her head. “No, I have Togepi. Also, Cindy looks like she is enjoying herself,” Suzie replied. 

I looked up, and sure enough, Suzie was right. Cindy was petting Amaura with a loving expression. She practically had stars in her eyes. 

My grin was short-lived, as I noticed that Amaura was panting as though tired. Cindy and Yolanda also noticed, and Yolanda drew back slightly. “Is she alright?” Cindy said worriedly. 

I stepped forward and put a hand at the base of her neck, noting how she was a bit warmer to the touch than she had been when I’d touched her a few minutes ago. 

“Hmmm, I’m going to make a call.” 

This apparently wasn’t the right thing to say, as Ciny stiffened. “Is she sick?”

I shook my head. “Give me a moment. We need to get an expert in to check. She had a clean bill of health when she left the facility,” Nurse Joy responded instantly. 

“Brock? Is something the matter? You look worried,” she said.

I turned the recording device around and showed her Amaura. “Hey, it's about the new pokemon that got resurrected recently. You gave her a clean bill of health but she’s really struggling, at least it seems so right now.”

“Did you attempt training with her straight away?” Nurse Joy asked.

“No.” I shook my head. “She’s only been out of her pokeball for a few minutes. The girls and I were petting her and we noticed she started panting.”

“Hmmm,” Nurse Joy started grabbing some items from around her workstation. “Give me a moment and I’ll be over. “Xatu come on out!” she called releasing a pokemon only to vanish and reappear at the back of the gym.

Cindy shot to her feet. “Nurse Joy! Nurse Joy! Over here!” she called.

Nurse Joy jogged over to us and with another tap of a pokeball Chansey was at her side with both of them checking over the little ancient pokemon.

“Hmmmm this is interesting, I did notice that the room she was being held in was colder than those around it, but there had been a bit of a cold spell yesterday so I hadn’t thought much of it.” She drew out a thermometer and put it into Amaura’s mouth.

In a few seconds it beeped and Nurse Joy brought it out only to compare it to some notes she had on Amaura. “Hmmm well I’m sorry to say this, but I would hazard a guess that the local temperature is too high for her.”

I clicked my tongue. “I suppose she needs arctic conditions?” I asked.

Nurse Joy nodded. “I’d say returning her to her pokeball might be a good idea but we need to lower her temperature significantly first.”

“I can do that,” I replied as I put a hand over my mouth and shouted. “TIDE! NEED YOU HERE BUDDY!” 

Tide’s long neck rose from the lagoon that housed our Corsola before sliding himself over the ground towards us. When he towered over us I made a circling gesture as I started pulling out warm clothes to wrap the kids in. Togepi got wrapped in a large scarf that engulfed her. 

“Blizzard around us, drop the temperature,” I ordered.

Tide dropped the area’s temperature straight away and Amaura took a deeper breath.

“Amaura?” the little pokemon queried as she apparently noticed the difference. 

“Amaura!” cheered the little pokemon as it began to wiggle and shake its body cutely. 

Within seconds she had perked up and was showing a lot more energy by running around. This drew a sigh of relief from everyone.

“Like night and day,” Nurse Joy said with a nod. 

She turned towards me with a contrite expression. “Brock… unless you have an Ice type constantly dedicated to attending to her needs, I don’t think it would be a good idea to house this pokemon here in Pewter.”

I nodded, understanding but not enjoying what she was telling me. “Yeah, I gathered that just now.” I clenched my jaw.

Cindy, who’d gotten down on her knees and started playing with the much more energetic Amaura glanced back at me. “What’s wrong with just having Tide helping her out until she gets older? That’s all she needs right?”

Nurse Joy shifted. “Cindy dear, it’s not just the cold but also the conditions that come from arctic conditions. The food that is available, the winds, the…” 

I coughed. “There’s a lot of little small things, but it also isn’t a good idea for Amaura to be subjected to lots of temperature dips as that will be poor for her health.” 

Nurse Joy backed me up with a sad nod when Cindy swivelled to her. 

“But… she only just got here?” Cindy said and I grimaced. “It’s winter soon right? She can stay with us and… grow up over the winter right?” 

Why did it have to be the one pokemon we couldn't keep that Cindy was latching onto? I hadn’t planned to show off Amaura to the kids straight away only to have them be naturally curious. 

I chewed my lip. “It’s what’s best for her right now. I don’t want to let her go but I also want her to grow up healthy and strong,” I stated. 

I knelt down and gave Amaura a pat feeling pretty wretched. “She’s a really pretty pokemon and I was looking forward to her joining us here, but right now… that’s not feasible,” I stated.

Cindy cuddled Amaura. “It’s not fair! She’s gorgeous!” 

I nodded. “Yeah, it’s not.” I decided to hold off on adding the ‘that’s life sometimes’ to the end. She was young and didn’t need it.

I stood and moved to the side. “I’ll make a call to some people I know that will be very interested in looking after her,” I said carefully. 

A few seconds later I had said people picking up with a gruff. “What do you need Brock?” gruffed Pryce.

I smiled sadly. “I’ve got a rock-ice type ancient pokemon that needs colder conditions to grow in. You interested?” I pointedly didn’t need to say that I didn’t have the facilities for her.

If I wanted to make something up, it would take a few days if not weeks to design and implement it and it would only end up being a warehouse. It wouldn’t have the stimulus a young pokemon would need. If I had to I could have stuck her in a walk-in freezer that I could rent but… that wasn’t good for a young pokemon.

I turned the camera so that Pryce could see how we were currently getting by with Amaura’s needs.

Pryce nodded. “I’ll be down as soon as I can. Keep your Lapras using Blizzard but don’t forget to freeze the ground. Frozen ground is how most heat is lost but most ice types also have a method of moving that needs to develop. That back claw this pokemon has looks perfect for either skating or latching onto ice,” he stated. 

Salvadore began writing faster at these observations while I smiled. Trust an Ice specialist to pick up on those details.

Pryce rattled off some other suggestions such as the food we could give her until he got here. 

Cindy pointed straight at Forrest. “Go mash up some Rawst berries into ice for her!” she commanded as Amaura knocked into her with her long neck. 

Forrest mock saltured and ran off.

Cindy turned her gaze upon Tide. “Well? Why haven’t you used Ice Beam on the ground yet?” she growled, causing Tide to shoot me a questioning look.

I held back a laugh when he questioned me through the bond. ‘This small sassy child is obviously related to you,’ he rumbled as he Ice Beamed the ground.

When Pryce turned up, he did so with Lorelei in tow. “Oh my,” she said as they walked up to find Cindy, now decked out in full winter clothing and a blanket with various treats and toys set up for Amaura.

Cindy glared at them as she cuddled up to the little Amaura. Around them Tide had created numerous icicles that Amaura was inspecting her within like small mirrors.

Cindy turned her gaze towards me. “S-s-s-s-s-see? S-s-s-s-s-she d-d-d-d-doesn’t n-n-n-n-need to go!” she pleaded.

I grimaced. “Cindy, your lips are blue,” I said, handing her another hot water bottle. 

“I-I d-d-d-d-d-don’t need that!” she chattered.

I frowned only for Pryce to step forward and inspect her. I tensed, ready for the gruff old man to say something disparaging.

Instead, he knelt and seemed to melt slightly as he smiled warmly at Cindy. “This takes me back to when I was much younger. A young girl with more passion than sense kept sneaking into my barn to spend time with my pokemon.”

Next to me Lorelei groaned. “Not this old story Grampa!” 

“You were so earnest back then,” Pryce said, keeping his gaze fixed on Cindy. 

He nodded. “I can see you care for this pokemon deeply. You’ve done everything that I suggested to your brother but… I gave those suggestions for the pokemon and not for what the person needs.”

Pryce reached out and offered Amaura his own ungloved hand. Amaura inspected it before bunting it with her head. 

“My goodness she’s adorable isn’t she?” Pryce laughed and for just a moment I got a glimpse of what Pryce might have been like as a younger man with his family. 

Cindy beamed at him only to slump in acceptance as Pryce quickly had Amaura performing simple tricks and moves.

She accepted the hot water bottle from me and hugged it to her chest. “You promise to look after her right?” Cindy asked.

Pryce nodded. “Of course, I’m a man of my word.”  

Cindy nodded and looked up at Lorelei. “And you’ll make sure of that won’t you?”

Lorelei’s laugh rang out as Pryce gained a stunned look. I don’t think he’d have been more gobsmacked if Cindy had just slapped him with a Magikarp. 

He shook his head and shot me a cold look. “Youngsters today! Too cheeky by far!” he declared earning a giggle from Cindy. 

Cindy stood. “Alright I guess you can look after her… but I’m going to come and check in on her!” She said with a determined stare. “You probably don’t have much clue about raising rock-type pokemon properly just like we didn’t for ice types!” 

Pryce’s lips twitched. “Oh I’m sure we can handle it.”

I shot him a flat look only for Cindy to cross her arms and speak up first. “No! Take this seriously! Have you ever raised a rock-ice type before? I bet you haven’t!” 

Pryce’s lips thinned and Lorelei laughed once again. “She’s got you twice now Gramps!” 

Pryce huffed. “Youngsters!” he said with another shake of his head before grunting. “Very well! I suppose I can let you check in on young Amaura.”

“Aurora, her name is Aurora,” Cindy stated firmly. The Amaura turned and chirped happily at Cindy, showing that she was already responding to that name.

I coughed as Pryce shot me a pointed look. “Cindy? When did you name her?” I certainly hadn’t been present for that!

Cindy waved a hand dismissively at me. “When you stepped away to make some calls to that foreign lady about her Amaura. You said something about stopping a diplomatic incident,” she said vaguely.

I huffed. Ah, right. I had stepped away to tell Diantha about Amaura’s special needs so as to stop it growing sick during the journey home. I didn’t want a young pokemon to suffer if I could help it, and I doubted the Kalosians would appreciate being given a ‘sickly’ pokemon without understanding what the issue was.

Thankfully I’d gotten to her before she’d released her pokemon so everything could be set up in advance.

I turned to Lorelei, ignoring Pryce’s stare boring into me. “It’s a good name. Something the little Amaura will grow into nicely,” I said.

Lorelei knelt and offered her hands. “I think Aurora is a perfect name,” she declared. ‘Aurora the Amaura barreled into Lorelei happily.

We spent a few more minutes playing around before both ice-type trainers suggested getting Amaura set up back in Mahogany Gym so she could be cared for. 

Cindy gave Aurora a final hug before letting her go as I transferred ownership to Lorelei. 

I gave her a wink. “You’ll owe me a pokemon with this, I should think,” I teased. 

Lorelei glanced at Cindy. “I think I’ll know how to pay you back. It might just take a few years, is all.” 

I understood what she meant. I put a hand on Cindy’s shoulder as Lorelei and Pryce marched off. The afternoon sun soon had us stripping out of our full winter clothing. 

Cindy sighed. “I miss her already.”

“Yeah, but you’ll cherish the memories you had while she was here with you right?” I showed her a bunch of the videos and photos I’d taken. “I’ll get these made up for you?”

“Can I have my own transceiver to keep them?” she asked carefully. 

I almost said no out of reflex. She was only eight these days and that was still a touch young… but then again. “I’ll talk with Flint. I think it might be time to let you and Tommy have your own transceivers,” I said.

That got Cindy perking up a bit only to glance over and find that the Ice trainers had vanished. “How often will I be able to go visit?” she asked. 

“We’ll have to work something out for that.”

“I wish she could have stayed here.”

“Me too,” I said, kneeling to give her a hug. “Maybe in the future we can set something more long term up,” I said as I eyeballed the volcano. “Come on, let’s get you home so we can get you in the bath to warm you up properly,” I stated.

“Brock… why does it hurt this much?” she asked as she sniffled and rubbed at her eyes.

I knelt and wrapped her in another hug. “Sometimes caring for another can be like that even when you only knew them for a little while. I know it might sound strange but try and remember the fun you had.” I smiled a little. “Also, you can look forward to seeing Aurora again.”

Cindy nodded. “I’m going to show that old man!” she declared earning a smile from me as I led her back home only for me to frown as she sneezed and rubbed at her nose.

Cindy was soon rugged up with a warm cup of coco in front of the television watching one of her magical girl shows while I sat in the kitchen reviewing some details I hadn’t considered in a while. 

I sent messages to my lawyer, Lawrence, and my Pewter Council representative, Jennifer, to initiate processes, and I was amused when they both got back to me within the hour. 

Lance chose that moment to call. “Hey Brock, I just heard about how things went with the most recent fossil. Good work sharing that information with the Kalosian and also good work handing off the young pokemon to Pryce.”

“Huh, I’m surprised to hear that. You know Lorelei’s going to get that pokemon right and she’s going to have an even stronger pokemon in her roster in a few months time right?”

“I do, but that is something else. I’m congratulating you for doing the right thing based on the pokemon’s needs. It speaks well of your character to give it up. I’m glad that you’re the person in charge of the resurrection program,” he stated.

I smiled. “Thanks, I appreciate hearing that.” I glanced at the paperwork I had before me. “Although that might not be something we repeat in the future, you know? I just need to have some facilities set up.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “You’re thinking of building an icebox? People have done that in the past and they’re quite the money sinks, but I suppose if it’s you, it might work out. Going to double it as an ice skating rink?”

I smirked. “Nah, I just extended the reserve’s boundary to include the nearby mountain. I think I can work with that,” I stated knowing that the local mountain had a lot of caves and hidden valleys that would be perfect to create ice type sanctuaries, even during summer.

Lance blinked at me. “That’s… impressive. Your reserve is going to become one of the biggest facilities in Kanto at this rate, rivalling that of the Safari zone.” He tilted his head. “If you mind my asking. How are you affording that?”

“It’s been a busy year,” I replied, glancing at the figures that I’d gotten from Crystal Glass, my accountant. Toy sales, Memberships for watching matches, along with the overall number of challenges I faced? I’d done very well for myself and that was before I got into the auction of pokemon that had grown too strong to be used in various Gym battles, or were rare pokemon.

Lance shook his head. “You’re going to have to employ more than a few breeding specialists full-time at this rate,” he stated. 

“I’ll work it out. Bianca might enjoy having a team working under her.”

Lance chuckled. “Very well. Good to hear you’re adjusting from this situation. Before I go, if you release any statements to the press could you include marketing for the Battle Frontier now that the Indigo Cup is due to finish up?”

“Can do,” I replied as I signed off with Lance. 

I set about making up some more snacks for the kids knowing that we were going to be watching the final of the Indigo cup soon.

Tommy wandered into the kitchen having walked into the loungeroom only to get shouted down when he asked to change the channel. 

“Why is Cindy so upset?” he asked. 

“She met a really nice pokemon that we sadly couldn’t house in our reserve right now. We had to give it up to Lorelei of the Elite Four,” I explained. 

“Urgh!” Tommy flopped down on a chair with a slump. “I want to watch my shows!” he complained. 

Forrest came into the room as I reached out and offered Tommy some snacks. “Have a bit of heart. She’s just trying to deal with her sadness. She really liked that pokemon.”

“She barely even knew it!” Tommy huffed.

Forrest stilled in front of the fridge and shot Tommy a look. “Sometimes it’s not about how long you spend with someone that determines the way you feel about them.”

I shot Forrest a surprised look. Wow that was pretty mature. 

Tommy huffed. “What’s that mean?”

“It means that sometimes the right someone can come along at the right time in your life and it can feel like everything changes,” Forrest stated only to shift and grimace. “The wrong people can also come along at the wrong time and change things the other way.”

I held back a frown as I nodded slowly.

“Oooohhh,” Tommy said, nodding slowly. Then he paused before shrugging and hopping off the chair with the snack I offered in hand. “I still don’t get it!” he declared as he marched away.

I chuckled at the gobsmacked look on Forrest’s face. “I thought he was getting it!” he said.

I shook my head. “Sometimes kids are like that,” I said with a shrug, offering him the next batch of snacks as Forrest slid into the still unoccupied chair. Lola started to skip past with what looked like some of Tommy’s snacks but I kept my attention on Forrest as he was looking a touch introspective.

“Still bothered about what happened with Will and the old mayor trying to railroad you?”

Forrest blinked. “Huh? Oh, no. I haven’t thought about them in a while although thanks again for getting me out of there. Will was a creep wasn’t he?”

I nodded, noticing that Lola must have been listening in as she swivelled around to us. 

“What did this ‘Will’ man try to do to you baby?” she said with a fake looking smile.

Forrest blinked. “Huh? Oh, Will was brought in by the mayor, the old one that is, to get a confession out of me but Brock and a few others had already gotten to me.”

I rolled my eyes. “It was nothing.”

“Brock, I was in a police holding cell,” he said.

I waved it off playfully but there was a look in Lola’s eyes now. “Tell me about it?” she asked. 

Forrest twitched. “Oh right well it started with the guys I used to know just goofing around with our bikes. And things started to—”

Forrest related the whole affair to Lola who listened on with eyes that slowly narrowed into slits. Her fingers occasionally twitched. When Forrest was done Lola looked him over. “And… where is the old mayor and this Will now?” she asked carefully.

I watched her from my position against the counter. “They’re in prison. They got caught in a sweep the League did for Catching Team Rocket… a few months ago now?” 

Forrest nodded along.

“Oh… well good work for the League then,” said Lola.

Forrest snorted. “Brock was basically at the forefront of that as well. Didn’t you raid a few facilities with them and even fight with some of their bigwigs?” 

I nodded, knowing that announcing I’d fought their boss to be a step too far. Speaking of fighting an administrator was fine however. 

Lola gave me a thoughtful look. “Well good to see you took care of things for the family Brock!” Lola said, but I noticed a slight hitch in her voice that hadn’t been present there.

Forrest also saw it and rather than letting it sit there he started talking me up to Lola. “Yeah Brock’s been great. When Lance talked bad about the Gym he smacked Lance around and then there was the time we were on holiday and his pokemon came out of nowhere to take out the thieves! Hehe!”

I gave Forrest a look. He hadn’t been there for that but I also noticed that Lola was twitching slightly. 

“You’ve been… attacked that much?” she asked.

Forrest waved a hand. “Eh it was fine! Brock had it handled!”

Lola nodded and smiled. “Well I suppose you can always count on your big brother!”

Forrest turned away. “Yeah it’s not like you were there,” he said easily before winking at me. I held back a snort. Laying it on a bit thick there Forrest.

Still, it seemed to drive the message home as Lola rocked back on her heels and stayed quiet and thoughtful. 

“Well, it all worked out in the end,” she murmured airily, but I noticed she didn’t quite have the same conviction in her words. 

She moved away, and Forrest glanced after her. “Do you think that was too much?” he asked.

“Nope!” I replied easily. “Think you really knocked it into her. Good job!” I declared which only made Forrest look a bit more worried. I huffed. “Don’t let it bother you too much. Lola’s something of a pro at getting to you when you lower your guard. Give her an inch and she’ll take a mile!”

Forrest shot me a pointed look. “No one uses miles anymore bro! Jeez you’re old sometimes!” he said before scampering off. “Cindy! It’s almost time for the match! We need the television!” he declared. 

“My show’s not done!” snapped Cindy!

“Just pause it! It’s only a magical girl… oh hey Bertha when did you sneak in here?” Forrest said as he fully entered the room to catch sight of Bertha seated behind Cindy.

I chuckled, more amused that it had taken Forrest walking in there to notice Bertha for it to be mentioned.

I followed Forrest in and claimed my seat. “Let her finish up. It’s only going to be recaps of the Indigo cup for the first half an hour anyway.”

“But… some of those were good!” Forrest whined as she flopped into the couch. 

When the Magical Girl show was done and we’d switched over, I hummed as the tournament bracket was shown along with who each finalist had faced off. “Huh, I hadn’t realised Bugsy got into the quarterfinals. Shame he went up against Flannery there,” I said.

“If he’d lost the match against Misty she’d have made the semifinals!” Forrest growled, earning a snort from me and a giggle from Yolanda.

Cindy sniffed. “Flannery would have had methods to handle her,” she said firmly. 

Forrest shot Cindy a glare, and I waved a hand. “Alright, settle down. It doesn’t matter anyway cause Flannery lost to Gio in the Semifinal.”

Cindy stuck her tongue out at Forrest who grizzled in response, only for Lola to pat Cindy on the head as she moved to claim the spot next to her. Cindy blinked in surprise and curled into Lola.

I stared. Huh, for a moment there, I almost thought Lola was a good mother.

I shook the thought away and focussed on the match as Gio and Roxanne duked it out for the trophy.

One thing I instantly noticed was that Roxanne’s fight against Brawly had caused some shuffling with her pokemon roster as quite a few of them were still too worn out to fight. She pointedly didn’t bring out her Aggron this time around and instead had to rely on an Onix only for it to get demolished.

I watched clinically, noting how several of the tactics Gio was employing would have been rather effective against me. Then again that made sense with his recent aborted attempt at the Elite Challenge meaning that a lot of the tactics he used never got to be employed.

He was putting them to good effect against Roxanne however.

During the few breaks where Gio and Roxanne changed out their pokemon I noticed that Lola was murmuring supportive words towards Cindy and the younger girl seemed to be perking up.

I shared a look with Flint before returning my gaze as Gio sent out his last hope with his Nidoking. 

“Yes! Come on Roxanne!” cheered Cindy, her previous malaise forgotten as she cheered for the female trainer much to the boy’s annoyance.

“Gio is the Kanto rep! Cheer for him!” shouted Tommy as he threw some popcorn at Cindy only for Munchlax to leap out of his seat and devour it before it reached her.

“Never!” Cindy replied gleefully.

Roxanne responded to Nidoking coming out by sending out her own starter in Probopass. 

A tense exchange of attacks flew between both trainers and I had to give it to Gio, he was being very creative in how he had his Nidoking dodge various attacks while holding back his Protect.

Eventually, Roxanne decided to force the issue. 

“Explosion!” she shouted as she noticed that Nidoking was outlasting Probopass.

Gio just smiled and responded with a calm “Protect!” which allowed him to weather the Explosion.

Roxanne gritted her teeth and sent out her last pokemon which turned out to be a Corsola. 

Nidoking and Corsola locked eyes. Roxanne went on the offensive with a powerful Surf.

“Dive into it! And use Thunder!” Gio shouted causing everyone to gasp as he put everything on the line. 

Nidoking jumped into the wave with Corsola still riding atop it and unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning that lit up the wave. Corsola shrieked in pain only to topple off the wave and fall unconscious. 

For a moment no one spoke only for a roar to overtake the stadium and my loungeroom as people surged to their feet in time with the referee’s flag rising up into the air. 

“Corsola is unable to battle! The winner of this match at five to six is therefore Gio of Cerulean City!” 

“Woah!” Forrest said. “I thought for sure Roxanne or Brawly were going to be the ones to win the competition!” 

I chuckled. “Lots of people were paying attention to them but Gio… he was the true dark rapidash of this competition. He spent a lot of this last year growing stronger and it shows.”

I glanced around the room, pausing on Flint, Forrest, Yolanda, Salvadore, Cindy, Suzie, and finally, Lola.

There had certainly been a lot of growth going on both over the year and just recently.

I just had to hope it continued I thought as I rose to get the kids ready for bed. 

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A.N. Thanks go to my Patreons for your continued support!

It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!