Hard Enough

Chapter 194: Toughing it out!

My fingers itched and my heart thundered in my chest. My eyes remained locked with Sabrina and I knew I was smiling.

For her part, Sabrina was standing with her head tilted in a slightly aloof manner. I knew it to be the method she used when facing trainers, but it was also her ‘battle’ face. She didn’t grin or become overly emotive.

Not outwardly.

With a Psychic, emotional control when you fought was important.

That didn’t stop me from picking up the glint in her eyes, the twitch of her lips or the weight of the moment. When Sabrina looked at you, and truly put her focus on you? It was a physically palpable experience, and perhaps the true reason she didn’t, or rather couldn’t take trainers that didn’t have at least four badges.

A fresh trainer would be crushed under her gaze and have no idea why their mettle broke.

I could tell Sabrina’s blood was up just as much as my own was but I called up my rock-type energy and exhaled before nodding towards Bosco who was grinning like a kid who had come down to find that it was Christmas with the presents under the Christmas tree having doubled since last night.

“BEGIN!” he shouted, and with that Sabrina and I went into action.

“Titan! Shake up sequence!” I bellowed, feeding an impression to him tinged with anticipation and excitement that was mirrored back to me.

Across from me Sabrina levitated in place while her pokemon began forming barriers in front of himself waving his arms like he was working overtime, the actions exaggerated to the extreme.

My pokemon merely raised a foot.

The crowd held their breath as he paused.

He smirked knowing that everyone was watching him. I had to give him credit, he knew when to be a showman.

Then, just as he’d been promising, he stomped down hard.

The arena erupted as bits of rock detonated around Alakazam and threatened to slam into him only for the powerful Psychic type to levitate out of danger.

Shards of rock bucked up and rippled out from where Titan had stomped his foot and with a negligent sweep of his tail he launched the rocks straight at Alakazam, shattering the barrier that had been placed earlier. They broke as though they were but panes of glass.

Fragmenting outwards in a scintillating corona of colour made the field flash as each Barrier was destroyed.

When Alakazam started catching the attacks and throwing them back? Titan began to duck and weave, a dance of power playing out between our two starters as Sabrina and I stood behind them urging them on and spotting for them.

In a way, I knew Sabrina had it easier. Her psychic bond allowed her to convey concepts and plans faster while I settled for feelings and insights.

We made it work, advancing as we did, the threat of darkness that began to broil off Titan growing with each step until he became like a dark star, foreboding and inevitable against Alakazam who despite the increasing barrage of rock and stone, was hanging in there.

When Titan reached the halfway point I had him stop, bobbing and weaving to evade the last of the returned attacks. The field settled and the crowd took a breath as they looked over the changed battlefield.

It had barely been seconds and we’d caused craters and gouges all over the stage. More than a few of the arena barriers were glowing yellow.

Titan shook himself out, dust falling off him while the lights flashed with his red glasses, reminding everyone that he wasn’t just doing this, but doing it in style.

Alakazam brandished his spoons and the chains attached to them rattled in threat. It was as if two bikers had just spent a few minutes circling each other on their bikes only to dismount and select their weapons.

Titan flexed his claws and rumbled low, his growls rippled through me and instinctively I knew I was in the presence of an apex predator.

Alakazam raised his chains, making them twirl about him without the typical flamboyant actions that one would associate with someone spinning such uncouth weapons. Alakazma made them look fashionable and controlled, even as they menaced with their movements.

Sabrina raised her chin, eying me. “So, do you think you can keep up?” she said, as she raised up her hand, the ring of the keystone glinting on her fist.

When had she had it refashioned?

I discarded that idea for later examination as I instead focussed on her words.

I smirked back at her. “Do your worst,” I said, making sure to enunciate my words clearly.

Sabrina and her starter began to glow as power built around them.

Alakazam began to hover higher and higher as the glow around them became nearly blinding. Sabrina reached for the stars and power swept over me as Alakazam Mega-evolved.

Like a rolling wave, Sabrina’s expanded power swept over me but I stood tall even as people gasped and cried out in shock. People had spoken about what it had been like to experience Sabrina’s Mega-evolution against Will.

They’d called it captivating, enlightening, and rapturous for the few people with a lick of psychic potential.

I stood against it, my shadow cast dark and long as the light they had become threatened to sear me. I huffed in annoyance.

“Titan,” I rumbled, my voice filling the arena despite not raising my volume. My voice cut through Sabrina’s moment as people remembered that I was here.

That I was her foe.

“Fill the arena with darkness and sand,” I commanded, and Titan swept his tail behind him causing a huge cloud of sand to be cast out where it lifted up and began to twirl about.

It didn’t shift to encompass the entire battlefield and I didn’t have him raise it up as high as normal.

I wanted people to watch what was to come. This was just the set-up.

Instead, he simply had it held behind him like an ominous mist that he’d just stepped out of. Only Titan was of rock, sand and darkness. With his jacket on and his glasses he looked like he was at the head of a pack of beasts about to appear out of the dust.

Which wasn’t a wrong impression as a moment later more rocks shot forth at Alakazam.

There was a lot less warning this time that the attack was coming and Alakazam had to raise his hands, spoons and chains drifting with him to halt the advance of the multiple huge boulders that were hurling their way.

And yet he did. Each and every boulder was caught and held aloft.

Sabrina made a gesture and Alakazam’s offhand swept across his body in a minor banishing gesture, like one would use to wave off a fly. A familiar cube of energy appeared only to expand rapidly.

It swept the field and banished the controlled Sandstorm we’d been using to hide the Stone Edges as they formed up. With this, the battlefield immediately became tinged with a slightly pink tone of psychic energy.

I narrowed my eyes at Sabrina. I hadn’t realised she’d adapted Will’s tactic.

Around Alakazam the boulders that had previously been held in a static position began to drift, like mini-floating islands.

Sabrina stabbed her hand forward and Alakazam made a show of it as Miracle Eye formed up.

I grimaced. It looked like Sabrina had all the cards now, but still, I braced myself to dig deep even as my eyes quested about the field for an advantage only to pause on the floating boulders.

Time to dare a dream. “Titan, Go,” I said, as my eyes judged the distances between the boulders.

Titan didn’t question me. Merely beginning to stride forward, the first step in forming an unstoppable avalanche. With each step he took he built up energy around his body and began to pick up speed.

“Jump step boulder to boulder!” I called, causing people to gasp in surprise as Titan, a pokemon that weighed in excess of two hundred and fifty kilograms bent his knees mid-stride and soared.

People didn’t typically associate Tyranitar as a pokemon that had good jumping skills due to their weight.

I’d seen Empress and other Tyranitar hunt in the wild though and so I knew that when they were motivated, they could cross significant distances quickly.

Titan hit the first boulder and caused it to start moving to the side. When he shifted and jumped to another the boulder shot away as physics demanded of it. Titan barely made it to the next, the only thing that carried him forth was the still-building power of Giga Impact.

Titan leapt, jumping from rock to rock quickly closing the distance between him and his high-flying foe.

Alakazam seemed to realise this and made a grasping action with both hands.

Suddenly boulders began to rise in front of him forming a wall and other boulders that had been knocked away shot back.

Titan saw this and doubled his speed, closing the gap quickly and forcing Alakazam to hurry.

It became a race of who would finish first. Alakazam with his wall? Or Titan as the invader?

When Titan reached the very last boulder closest to Alakazam he held on for a single second, letting everyone watch as the rock began to fall even as he bent his knees, his eyes glinting with menace as a corona of energy coursed around him.

When he leapt he was like a meteor flying through the sky, powerful and bright.

Alakazam clapped his hands together and the wall he’d been forming revealed itself to be a trap. It caught Titan mid-leap and closed around him.

The boulders that had previously been drifting around, the same sheer demonstrations of power that a Mega Alakazam had at its beck and call, suddenly rocketed in, encasing Titan.

Despite this, he still pressed on, breaking through the boulders and working his way closer and closer.

Alakazam redoubled his efforts, lifting rock from the very arena floor to layer it, slowing Titan as he began inching his way towards Alakazam.

Until finally with dust and a huge round ball of rock encasing him, he came to a pause in the air.

It reminded me of something from another anime I’d watched in another life. Pain, and his Chibaku Tensei writ small.

Alakazma held Titan there for a long moment, showing that he had his foe completely in his control. It was impressive.

The crowd gasped in shock at how things had turned out and rose to their feet applauding and thinking this the end.

I looked down at Sabrina and found her with a small pleased smile.

I shot her back a smirk. “DP,” I said.

Titan grinned savagely right in Alakazam’s face as he erupted, becoming like a dark sun that caused the rock holding him to blast off to the side.

The dark energy knocked Alakazam out of the air and he fell only to catch himself just shy of the ground.

Titan landed like a rock, slamming into the ground and causing another quake.

Both pokemon straightened and for the first time in the fight, actual damage was shown on their bodies. Alakazam’s mega-evolution faded and he shuddered as he became lessor.

I grinned knowing that things were now well and truly turning.

Despite that, Titan himself was trembling. He’d pushed himself hard leaping from boulder to boulder like that followed up quickly by a Dark Pulse. Despite the fatigue I could see and feel through our bond, an undercurrent of excitement rose up. He didn’t want things to stop. He wanted to push on.

I locked eyes with Sabrina, both of us knowing we’d need to end this match in the next exchange of blows.

The titles and expectations of how this match might go faded away as we simply became trainers. Not Gym Leaders. Not Ace Trainers. Not boyfriend and girlfriend.

Just trainers locking eyes.

We’d need—

A loud bell ringing out caused Sabrina and I to twitch in surprise, not expecting it.

“And can we all please thank Gym Leaders Sabrina and Brock for this magnificent demonstration of toughness brought to life with their starter pokemon! My! That was certainly a way to end the show wasn’t it?” shouted Monique.

It took a moment as the crowd were obviously of a similar mind to Sabrina and myself.

They wanted to watch us keep fighting to see who’d emerge the victor.

I was half tempted to ignore Monique’s suggestion but I knew that would be extremely poor form. I’d already stolen her finale with this little showcase.

I forced my body to relax, standing instead and waving.

Behind me, Alakazam and Titan huffed in annoyance before they walked up to each other and performed what looked like a quick game of rock paper scissors. Alakazam perking up while Titan slumped down was enough to tell me who’d won.

Sabrina drifted over the torn-up battlefield to my side and joined me in waving to the crowd.

Monique keyed her microphone once again. “Thank you one and all for coming to this event! Please don’t depart however as we will be cleaning up this mess in here and will be enjoying an after-party once we’ve set the stage right! For now please adjourn to the pavilions where snacks will be served before we enjoy this gathering even more!”

People began to trickle out at that and I sighed, now properly starting to calm down.

I picked a path through the rubble our fight had caused to Monique. “It was just getting good,” I said plaintively.

Monique pinched the bridge of her nose. “You two were going to destroy the stage at this rate!” she said. “Do you always get so destructive when you battle each other?” Monique said.

Sabrina gave the stage a look over. “This is rather standard for fights between Titan and my Alakazam,” she said. I nodded, there had been that one match during the lead-up to Lance’s match in which we’d gone into the wilds and wrecked a small hill.

From memory, there was a small valley there now.

Monique eyed the devastation and the two pokemon that had started furiously working through round after round of Scissor paper rocks. Heh, it seemed Titan hadn’t accepted a best of one series and they were now speed-rounding a best of… nine?

“Well you certainly put on a show!” chimed Bosco. He nodded to me and Sabrina. “If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll join my brothers and sisters to celebrate. I’m looking forward to the after party though!” he said, shooting us a huge, hairy grin before trooping off.

Monique sighed. “Well, both of you will need to have a bath before the formalities begin, I suppose we can trust your pokemon to help out?” she said, as Sanchez led a tumble of Graveler onto the field.

He saluted us and I nodded back.

Sabrina slipped her hand in mine, not waiting for anything else she teleported us to my bedroom. I began to strip and move towards the shower, small bits of dust and debris falling off me.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Sabrina. I turned and realised that Sabrina hadn’t calmed down quite like I had.

She gave me a look and I grinned, moving to help her out of her outfit.

We had enough time for this.

Misty sighed as the match was called to a close. “Aw, they got in trouble,” she said as Nurse Joy and Monique, the judges who had remained on the side while Brock and Sabrina threw down, both slammed their hands on the bells to end the match.

Ash and Forrest all slumped. “Nooooo! It was getting to the good part!” said Ash.

Misty snorted. “You mean the part where Sabrina anticipated Brock and left a route to her pokemon only to catch Titan in mid-air wasn’t the good part?” she said.

Forrest coughed. “No way! That had to be planned!” said Forrest.

Ash ignored him, eyes still locked on the television. “It’s a shame we couldn’t go watch it in person,” he said wistfully.

Forrest slumped a little and Misty clenched her fist, more than ready to give Ash the brain jolt he so needed! Ash, ignorant of the impending attack, shook his head. “Well, there’s not anything we could do, not after losing to Sabrina… and then Kong like we did,” he said with a slump.

“Pi, pika,” said Pikachu sadly.

Misty unclenched her fist a feeling of guilt surging through her. She alone had been able to secure a badge in Saffron with Kong going down against her Starmie and Tentacool after Wartortle got smashed around.

She’d felt a little guilty winning like she had with her type advantage carrying her along while Ash and Forrest had both crashed and burned. That and she’d fought against Hitmonlee who didn’t have as many good moves to counter her pokemon compared to Ash and Forrest.

“I can’t believe he has such strong counter measures against flying types!” Ash said, rolling around on the floor. “Butterfree and Pidgeotto should have been enough! And Pikachu’s speed is usually enough!”

Forrest grunted. “I think I need to shore up some weaknesses. He was kind of…” Forrest searched around for the right word only to shake his head. “Well my team wasn’t very good against him,” he said, settling for an understatement.

Then again, Graveler, Beldum, and Onix weren’t the best to use, it turned out. Kong’s Hitmonchan was extremely proficient with Fire Punch.

There was a moment of silence before Forrest spoke up again. “It was a shame your Charizard got beaten up so bad against Sabrina.”

Ash glowered. “I can’t believe there’s such a difference between her and Janine!”

Forrest chuckled. “Janine’s still in her first year as a Gym Leader Ash, whereas Sabrina’s been established for years now. And if you’re comparing Sophia and Grey to her, then it’s not even close.”

Misty nodded her head. “Forrest is right. Sabrina makes everyone work for her badge. It’s a well-established fact! You also have to remember that she predates my sisters, Brock and Erika, as a Gym Leader. She supposedly took over as a child!” Misty said.

“Really?” Ash said, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes. “I don’t believe that,” he said.

Misty spluttered. “What? Why? It’s well established that Sabrina was a powerful trainer for years!”

“But a child? Who’s ever heard of a Gym Leader that’s a kid?” said Ash with a shake of his head.

Forrest coughed. “Misty’s not lying Ash, and I did some looking into Johto—” Misty shot him a smirk. She’d teased him for days after that Morty, Falkner mix up. He blushed but ploughed on with his point. “—there is actually Falkner who was the youngest ever to take over from his father at the Violet City Gym!”

“Talking about Johto Gym leaders?” said a young voice before a young looking face as it intruded into their group.

“Bwuh!?” Ash said as he rolled away from the boy’s face. He was so surprised he fell off the lounge landing on his back. “Ouch!” he said only to glower up at the kid who was blinking innocently down at Ash. “Who are you?”

“I’m Bugsy from Azalea Town and I’m going to—” started the purple haired kid only for Ash to cut him off.

“No I meant! What do you want?”

“Oh?” the kid said as he leaned back. “Well I heard you talking about Johto Gym Leaders and thought I’d come talk about them! I’m something of an expert you could say?” he clarified with a wide smile.

Forrest coughed. “Yeah? Well so am I! I’ve done a ton of research on them!”

“Oh? That’s wonderful!” said Bugsy.

Ash growled. “Listen, we’re having a private conversation, can you buzz off?” he said.

Bugsy chuckled. “Heh buzz off, good one.” He laughed for a moment only to realise that none of their group were laughing. He coughed. “Sorry! Got ahead of myself, just wanted to make conversation.” he bowed his head and stepped away from the boys.

Misty sighed, standing and moving after the kid. “Hey, sorry about the boys, they’ve had it rough cause we all lost against Sabrina only for them to then lose against Kong as well.”

“Ah, yeah kong is much better than I’d heard,” said Bugsy. He then waved his hand back and forth. “No problem! If you want to talk or hang out I’m over here with my friends!” he said, gesturing to a pair of boys. One had a green cap on his head while on his shoulder a cute pikachu rested. The other boy had longer hair.

Bugsy introduced them as Ritchie and Pete only for Pete to rocket to his feet. “Pete Pebbleman, nice to meet you Misty,” he said politely.

Misty giggled. “You’re certainly old fashioned,” she said as he sat back down.

Pete rubbed the back of his head. “Ah, yeah my mother made sure I knew my manners and standing to greet a lady is just ingrained into me at this stage.” he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

“Misty, are you done with them?” called Forrest.

“In a second Forrest!” Misty shouted back. She turned back to the polite boy only to see that his attention had slid from her to Forrest.

“Forrest? As in Brock’s brother Forrest?” said Pete.

Misty grimaced, knowing that wasn’t the best way to refer to someone due to her own situation. Forrest didn’t seem to react beyond narrowing his eyes in suspicion. “Yeah? Who wants to know?”

“Pete Pebbleman! My family are born and raised in Pewter!” he stood and locked eyes with Forrest. “Care for a match? Your brother’s match has me rather riled up!”

Forrest shot to his feet. “I was looking for a fight! You’re on!” he called.

Ritchie chuckled and glanced over to find Ash looking back. He opened his mouth only for Bugsy to jump in between them. “Ah! You! I want to make up for my mistake earlier! Let’s fight!” he said.

Ritchie grumbled a little before turning his gaze upon Misty. Misty instantly hated the dismissive attitude he adopted for her. “You wanna fight?” he said lamely.

Misty narrowed her eyes, her gaze taking in his attire and the Pikachu at his side. She smiled primly, the picture of an innocent maiden. “I’d be delighted!” she chirped.

She knew more than a thing or two about handling a Pikachu having fought Ash multiple times now over the course of their Journey. If this kid was going to look down on her, she was going to leave him scratching his head with how fast she planned to win.

The six trainers all marched out of the lounge room along with many other trainers that had been camped up in the pokecenter for the televising of the Pewter Gym Contest. With the ending more than a few had to find their own ways to calm their fighting spirits.

Darren Sukizo turned the television off and nodded amicably to himself. He calmly raised the tea cup and drank down the content only to feel his eyebrow twitch as he realised how cold his untouched cup had grown.

He’d spent the last two days observing the… event in Pewter.

He’d done so calmly, with all the poise a gentleman should display.

And now, the event, or at least the televised part of it, was over.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, he could not find his centre. He felt like the world had been tilted slightly and everything was now just slightly off in a way that he could not put his finger on. It was like having an itch that couldn’t be scratched, not that he would ever scratch himself. No, no that would be too shameful.

He carefully laced his fingers together and contemplated on what he needed to do to restore his calm.

After a few minutes of careful reflection, he nodded to himself.

He stood with alacrity, his suit, despite having been seated for hours now was still immaculate thanks to his poise remained uncreased. He strode his way to his desk where he sat and began drawing out his tools.

First his inkwell, then his Altaria feather quill. Both items, gifts from Wallace no less, from the latest Grand Contest he’d presided over.

Then he drew out three sheets of his personal stationery, his monogram affixed to the top right while a gold leaf border threaded its way around the paper.

He dipped his pen and brought it out, making sure the nib was clean before bringing it into position to begin writing.

He ordered his thoughts for a moment and then began to write.

Slowly at first but then with growing speed until his quill was flicking across the page, all but splattering the page with his words as his feelings gushed forth. He could no longer contain himself, he would not be silent.

Not after what he’d had to witness!

The Letter read;

Dear Contest hosts aspirants,

The proud traditions and style of Contests everywhere are a pleasure to see. The men, women and pokemon that work to uphold this way of life are a proud lot.

So to see your so-called event, even attempting to masquerade itself as a Contest is a stunning slap to the faces of all good and decent folk!

Tough! Tough is not a style of Contests and it shall never be! Contests are about style, grace and cuteness! Not the farcical display that you put on that was all brute force which contained the style of a caveman scratching at a wall for the first time!

It appears that the organizers abandoned all semblance of taste and sophistication, opting instead for a crass celebration of the popular! The gaudy! The plebian!

You have attempted, regrettably, to create an event that is palatable to a crowd of Primeape! Contests are not the stage upon which muck and excrement are hurled about only to be declared art! Contests are the places to demonstrate the sublime artistry of couture.

Instead, I witnessed bargain bin, dumpster diving costumes more akin to that of a children’s pageant!

You would have us reduced to a circus of excess and excrement!

You as organisers should be held in the deepest contempt!

You have abandoned all that it means to understand Contests in your pursuit to be a ‘hot fad’ as children say! Contests embody taste and sophistication!

The nauseating departure from the established norm has left me wanting to pour bleach into my eyes to scour the visions you have broadcast about the world!

Only in Kanto, the most backwards nation in the pokeworld, can you march so slowly forward that you find yourselves being lapped in a race of culture, only to then think yourselves the leader! The sheer cheek of it!

One cannot help but lament the demise of an era when fashion was synonymous with grace and finesse. Your event was a tasteless spectacle and a travesty that has set not just Kanto back, but in fact the world!

The fact that you somehow shanghai’d Howard into this display, and not even in his rightful role merely underlines your lack of tradition and taste!

It speaks poorly of you and him, that such an event was allowed to unfold at all!

You have my disgust, disdain and distaste!

Never cordially yours,

President D.Sukizo, Pokemon Fan Club of Hoenn

Darren finished the letter with a flourish and collapsed bonelessly, his emotions spent having been bleed dry. Darren cast his eye over the letter and was pleased to see that despite his speed, he had not allowed a fleck of ink to not fall where he desired it.

Which was to say there were no marks on his letter. He was not some boy fresh from Private school! He was a seasoned gentleman!

He considered the letter once more before nodding his head. This would make his stance clear and allow other Hoenn natives to understand that such… events were not to be considered Contests.

That such could occur offended him.

The thought made him stop and consider an idea. He reached for the telephone and calmly spoke. “Francine? Call the Hoenn President for me, I want to trademark the word Contest.”

“Sir? I’m not sure that’s possible,” said the woman.

“That is not your place to say, I want it trademarked to stop any more besmirching of our ways,” he said.

“But, it’ll never hold up sir? What will other already established Contests such as Chrysanthemum City call themselves?”

“They can call themselves a festival or some such! I want Contests locked down to our region and our region alone!” he said, his voice growing heated as he was forced to think on the Pewter event.

“Oh and I have a letter for you to mail off, see that it is sent to the Pewter Gym Leader,” he said. “Mail it with our red envelopes,” he said. He then hung up and laced his fingers together.

“How Howard could allow that to happen,” he said with a shake of his head. Darren glanced around for a moment before nodding to himself and sending out his companion pokemon.

“Poreon?” said Candy the Vaporeon.

Darren felt himself relax a little more as his eyes took in his companion. Yes, Howard obviously had poorer tastes than he’d been led to believe.

Who would settle for a Gardevoir when there were more beautiful pokemon to appreciate?

The computer laboratory was not filled with the usual soft click-clack of keyboards but instead the pounding of letters into place. Daisy Oak hammered at the keyboard as though it owed her money.

She missed out on a lecture to assist with a friend’s pokemon and she was drawn and quartered!

Usually, people fell over themselves to help her due to her status as Samuel Oak’s granddaughter. Typically she always rebuffed them, like she’d been taught to do. She didn’t coast along on her grandfather’s accomplishments.

So, she found it extremely vexing when the opposite occurred and he became a victim of her lecturer’s hatred for her grandfather.

If she misplaced a comma? A full grade point drop. If she made an error in her referencing? Another! She’d had to request a secondary examination of her assessment no less than three times this term!

The Dean had ended up coming down on the man, but the stilted hateful little excuse of excrement that was professor Jade, still found ways to get at her.

He’d specifically performed a spot quiz after doing a roll call for his class. It had been telling that the second he’d seen that she wasn’t there he’d locked the door and announced it according to her friends.

The man was a spiteful sack of Spearow droppings if there ever was one. When she’d come back to the campus she’d found him gloating over her failure to attend the quiz which had outright cost her ten percent of her grade.

Which incidentally was the highest he could get away with for a spot quiz.

It was still enough to potentially sink her chances at being Dux of her class, and even possibly deny her the honours program at the university she was vying for.

Thankfully she had great friends, they’d all approached the Dean on her behalf and asked for exemption only for Professor Jade to kick up a stink.

The man couldn’t be fired easily due to tenure, which as far as Daisy could tell was a con that old professors came up with to never have to do anything new with their lives and to keep collecting a pay cheque.

There needed to be a compromise. She could resit the test, something Jade had denied due to her ‘getting the chance to learn about the questions through her friends and cheating’, so she couldn’t do that.

Instead Jade had demanded that she complete another assignment on the impacts of different grass on the ecology of route seven. It was mind numbing work.

Worse, it had cost her the chance to attend the Pewter Contest, something she had been looking forward to for months now.

She rubbed at her eyes, annoyed with how this had cut into her sleep. She still had to do another test at the end of the term and an assignment that was meant to build onto their honours study program, but she didn’t have an idea what to research despite only having four weeks left of term.

A buzz on her wrist had her blearily sweeping at it without really checking the caller ID. “Yeah?” she said blearily, as she checked the spelling of her assignment for the third and hopefully final time.

“Daisy! I hope now's not a bad time, I wanted your take on the Contest that just wrapped up? I only got to watch a little of it myself! Gary and Ash have been rather busy with catching a few pokemon of late and I needed all hands on deck!”

“I… haven’t had the chance to see it,” she admitted.

Something in her voice must have given away how miserable she was right now. “Daisy? What's wrong? Why haven’t you seen it? I thought you loved Contests?” he said, his tone laced with worry and also a hint of fear. Did he think for a moment that he didn’t know her as well as he thought? She had a moment like that years ago, when she’d been a young teenager.

Now though?

“I’m fine. I just… have some assessments I let get away on me,” she said, hiding her grimace. Her excuse sounded weak even for her.

Grandfather searched her face and a flicker of something dark flashed across it for a moment. “I will be with you in a moment,” he said, hanging up.

Daisy sighed feeling like she’d just failed in some way to be tough enough, to soldier on.

A moment later Grandfather appeared with Cherie in tow. “Daisy,” greeted Grandpa, his tone soft and careful.

Daisy slumped. “Sorry… I didn’t want to bother you,” she said.

He hugged her and kissed her head like he had done when she was a little girl. “You will never be a bother for me. Can you tell me what’s wrong? Please? I’m scared?” he said.

The admission that the great Samuel Oak, more than anything else he could have said to Daisy, shattered her resolve to keep her situation a secret. The idea of her growing distant with him had been a fear he’d announced to hear when she’d been a teenager and that it was resurfacing now said lots.

“Well it’s just this silly little man that—” she began to explain her situation and her grandfather and his aide sat and listened.

When she was done Grandfather nodded, squeezing her into his side. “You inspire me, but you also make me laugh. It’s not a weakness to have others help you when things are tough. It’s the very thing I try to research between us and pokemon, but so often the bonds between humans can be overlooked. Can I handle this for you?” he asked carefully.

Daisy nodded her head feeling small and hating herself for it.

Grandfather stood, “Alright, I’ll be just a minute. Cherie can you… keep her company?” he said. When Cherie nodded he turned and marched off, for all intents and purposes on a warpath.

Cherie didn’t hug her, instead, she remained off to the side shifting back and forth. For a moment Daisy wondered why grandfather had brought the woman. Cherie sighed explosively. “Cunning old man,” she muttered before locking eyes with Daisy. “I was in an abusive relationship for a while… The whole thing could have been resolved easily but the girl doing it to me was clever enough to trip me up, make me think it was weak to go to others or tell my story. People that abuse others, they thrive when you don’t speak up and tell people.”

“I did tell the Dean,” Daisy said.

“And he did nothing?”

“He couldn’t do anything because of Professor Jade’s tenure, he did suggest getting Grandfather but… it seemed so petty and I don’t like having to do that.”

“You’re more than just your grandfather’s grandkid,” summarised Cherie with a nod.

Daisy frowned. Somehow hearing it said that way both supported her argument and didn’t.

A moment later a huge beam of energy cut through the sky. Cherie and Daisy glanced at it before turning to each other. Then they both broke out into giggles.

“So much for Professor Jade’s Tenure,” said Cherie.

Daisy smiled, knowing that things would be fine now. She glanced at the assignment and huffed. She felt a bit annoyed she’d wasted her weekend on this now.

Still, things were looking up for her now.

When her grandfather returned he nodded. “Save that file and forward it to your Dean,” he said.

Daisy raised an eyebrow, “What if I’m not done with it?”

Grandfather raised an eyebrow back. “You’re just being overly meticulous with your editing, I know my granddaughter,” he said firmly.

Daisy could only smile. He wasn’t wrong. She could feel her bond firm up with her Grandfather.

She did as asked and a moment later Grandpa’s Alakazam appeared to Teleport them back home.

Grandpa had her sit in the lounge. The television was still on with the anchors of Battlecast talking about the highlights of the Pewter Contest with more than a few people raving about the showpiece of Brock versus Sabrina.

Daisy felt a spike of annoyance at Professor Jade before it resolved into satisfaction. She hadn’t known he forced her to miss that sort of match. Thankfully he’d gotten his comeuppance.

Daisy blinked when Grandfather bustled in with a teapot and cookies only to pause when he realised the coffee table was overflowing with papers like usual. Daisy scooped them up and cast an eye over them, only to pause as a business proposal stood out to her.

“Mega Corp? The Corporation for Mega Stone investigation. Interest for researchers with environmental factors sought along with investors…” Daisy read aloud.

“Oh yes! It’s an initiative created by Brock.” said Grandfather, casually while settling himself down and sipping his tea.

Daisy knew him well enough to know that he was hiding a smile behind his cup. Had he swooped in, fixed her problems. Only to then snatch her up for another project?

“Mega Corp?” questioned Daisy tasting the name and what that might mean. She felt her mind begin to tick for certain possibilities.

“Oh yes! Brock is starting up an Indigo company looking specifically into finding locations for Mega Stones. Sabrina is investing in it, as is Lance,” Grandfather said casually. “I’m putting together a team though.” He lowered his cup to smile innocently at her. “Are you interested?”.

“Can you tell me more first?” she said.

Hmmm, perhaps she did have an interesting line of study for her honours program that she could salvage? Working with Brock, Lance, and Sabrina just as the initial investors sounded like a very promising start.