Hard Enough

Chapter 195: Job offer

After Sabrina’s and my dalliance, I showered and wandered back to the Gym, only to be directed to the front fair-ground area. Apparently we’d been a bit too successful with our Tough showcase and it wasn’t advised to hold a party in the Gym any more. Thankfully we had the pavilions set up already.

I entered the front pavilion to find a very loud party well and truly underway.

Monique must have been waiting for me, as she stood on the side, watching the chaos that was unfolding with a bemused look on her face.

“This is not how I imagined the afterparty would be,” I said to Monique.

She could only nod stoically as we both openly stared.

“Bosco’s number one!” screamed a rowdy biker as he shook up a can of lemonade and sprayed it onto Bosco like I’d seen people do in Formula One victories in my past life. Did giant cans of soda exist that could be used instead?

I tabled that thought and instead watched as the giant biker shook and sprayed what amounted to lemonade around on his friends.

“Number oooooooooone!” Bosco shouted as three other people began spraying him with the provided free lemonade.

The sight of a biker spraying lemonade alone was disconcerting enough, but it wasn’t limited to just one of them. They were all taking turns to slam cans of non-alcoholic drinks together and throw them back with long glugs. They then belched loudly, laughing and cheering as they went.

Sort of like after Erika’s events.

One of the bikers had challenged a group of girls to an eating contest with him, out-eating all of them only for Munchlax to be called up by Yolanda. Munchlax took one look at the situation and joined the team of girls, allowing them to turn the tables on the big guy.

“Hooray Munchlax!” the girls called as they tried and failed to lift the satisfied little pokemon.

“I was expecting a little more decorum,” Monique said, watching another incident of what I could only deem a sugar high, as Vinny was trying and failing to flirt with Officer Jenny.

Vinny didn’t seem to realise that his bragging of how fast he could fly was resulting in Jenny writing him a speeding ticket and not her number.

“They’re certainly spirited,” I said, as Vinny gave a loud shriek as he realised what he’d done.

Jenny laughed though and tore the ticket up to show she was joking before walking away.

“Rambunctious is what I’d call it,” Monique said, as a cluster of bikers that had been watching Vinny burst into laughter.

“You’re surprised about this?” said a new voice. “Really? In Pewter?” asked Nurse Joy, her face mask now hanging off one ear so she could enjoy a plate of hors d'oeuvres. “You both need to get out more,” she said with the air of one that did in fact get out.

I hummed noncommittally, noticing the caterers furiously restocking the tables even as people tried to intercept them. “Guess I find my own mischief enough of the time,” I said.

Joy shrugged before dainty wiping at the side of her mouth with a napkin. “The Pewter locals are always a bit more boisterous, and while we have the stylings of a fancy party with this garden set up, we don’t have the people that would be that classy,” she said.

She then shot me a smirk. “So? Where’s Sabrina?” she said, pointedly looking around.

“She’s… resting, the day has been rather exhausting for her,” I said, alluding to Sabrina’s lower tolerance for crowds with her psychic ability.

Nurse Joy chose not to take it that way. “Heh, tired her out, eh? Well good for both of you,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

I coughed and blushed a little. She wasn’t wrong, and I had to repress the smirk. Sabrina might have many wonderful skills, but she lacked the physical endurance I had, which meant only one of us was up and about right now.

I decided not to say anything about that though, and instead looked around. It was true that I’d copied the idea from Erika’s matches, but the ‘rock garden’ with the barbecues and chefs being on display gave the entire event a much more relaxed air. It was like being at a friend’s barbeque with how everyone was talking and laughing.

You had the normal niche groups, but I could see more than a few people crossing over to trade stories and intermingle, making the entire thing a bit of a social melting pot.

“I suppose we should have expected this,” I said, as another spray of lemonade shot into the air.“Aren’t we serving alcohol as well?” I asked.

Monique nodded, gesturing to the fenced-off area where a few people were looking amused that the majority of people were enjoying themselves more with their sugary drinks.

Nurse Joy giggled. “The Venom Pack don’t drink because they want to be able to ride their crotch rockets home!”

Monique coughed as I wheezed a laugh at Nurse Joy’s descriptor for their bikes.

“How responsible of them,” I said, before excusing myself.

I moved to the side to check on my Crystal Onix while also releasing Link, Gawain, Bertha and Jormungandr. Sanchez, who’d been rolling around enjoying himself, quickly approached, while Titan waved at Bertha who gasped dramatically at Titan’s ‘tough’ look.

My Crystal Onix welcomed them with a loud roar. Onix’s roar caused the crowd to fall silent and had people turn towards me.

Whoops, now people were looking at me like they expected a speech.

Time to think quick! Could I have Sanchez give them the old one-two? He’d love that! No? What about having Bertha perform a magical… no, that was a terrible idea!

Damn! Speech it was then!

“I’d like to thank everyone who took part as Coordinators as well as their pokemon for their help. I would also like to give a special shout out to our announcers Rachel Raul, Archibald, and Gardevoir, who made this event so much more enjoyable!”

Archibald seemed pleased at the praise, or perhaps it was just that I made sure to include Gardevoir, who waved to the crowd like a famous celebrity might.

“I must also thank everyone on the Gym Staff, the catering team, and the clean-up crew that has yet to start, who will no doubt be vital to getting the Gym back to normal operation tomorrow for trainers!”

I made sure to give a wide range of thanks to everyone, before lavishing it on my fellow judges for their work. “Lastly, thank you to all the people who came to spectate, cheer and enjoy, making this first Pewter Contest a rousing success!”

I then raised a can of lemonade, ignoring how silly I felt for doing it, and took a drink in thanks.

I punched the air. “With that said, let’s party!” I shouted, causing a round of cheers and hoots as everyone restarted the party.

“Excellent work,” Monique and Joy said as they came up to me. “And thank you for letting us be judges! It was everything I hoped for!” Monique added.

Nurse Joy just giggled and nodded along.

Monique shot me a look. “So, can we schedule next year’s event directly?” she said,

I chuckled and nodded. Monique did a little trot that I interpreted as her ‘happy dance’. "Oh, next year will be bigger! We will bring in some local talent with bands!"

"Rock bands!" chimed in Nurse Joy.

"And have fire spouts! Lots of them!" said Monique, as she bounced ideas off Nurse Joy, only for them to both grow more excited with each idea.

I hummed, deciding I needed something to calm them down. I reached into my pocket, drawing out something I’d held in reserve for each of them.

“This is also the thank you gift for serving as Judges alongside me,” I said, handing them an envelope each.

“Oooooh? What is it?” asked Joy as she expertly flicked open the envelope with a nail.

Inside each envelope, a voucher for a visit to a day spa rested. “I did a bit of looking around and the Rocky Springs Day Spa has the best reviews, along with the best word of mouth,” I said.

“I’ll say,” said Monique, as she stared at the giant golden ticket with the words ‘all-inclusive’ in large bold text.

Nurse Joy fanned her face with the ticket. “Damn, showing a girl a good time isn’t a one-off for you, is it?” she said while biting her lip.

I blinked in surprise and she giggled. “Sorry, couldn’t resist, seriously thanks though! These are, wow, really nice!” she said, eyeing the ticket with a very pleased look.

I nodded slowly only for Monique and Joy to continue to gush over the voucher. Huh, if they were that good, maybe I’d have to look into going myself?

I made a note to book myself and Sabrina in.

If it was good enough for them to be this happy… Well, I think I wanted that.

My pokemon had garnered a lot of attention with their entry, but now they were happily mingling with other pokemon. I was surprised when I noticed Bertha and Titan locked in a discussion with Archibald and Gardevoir. He seemed to be looking them both over with an appreciative eye and Bertha looked like an innocent maiden as she batted at the air playfully at something Gardevoir had said.

I decided to leave them to it, they were safe enough with the Chairman, he loved pokemon, after all.

I paused and reconsidered the phrasing of that statement, and gave the group another look over.

Bertha was flexing in front of Gardevoir and getting praise, it seemed. Titan was laughing at something said, and I hummed.

Nah, it was fine.

I looked around, spotting more and more familiar faces. Sadly the face I wanted to talk with right now wasn’t in the crowd. It seemed like Jet, the Crusher cosplayer, hadn’t stuck around. Shame. I would have loved to discuss his Onix body paint style and its impact on the fight.

With Jet not around and therefore not an option, I turned instead towards the trio that I very much hadn’t been expecting to find here.

I walked up to the buffet table where Jessie was receiving a good deal of praise for her showing. Next to her Arbok, Tentacruel, and Mawile were wiggling with joy as they stuffed their faces.

James and Meowth were themselves shovelling food into their mouths with a certain desperation, but they paused enough times to shoot Jessie amused looks.

“—said that we were due for some good luck! And I can’t think of anything better than having a full stomach right now!” said James.

Meowth swallowed. “I can, we gonna sleep in a bed tonight?”

James and Jessie wilted and I raised an eyebrow in surprise. What was going on here?

I eyed the group and noticed that their little pity party, and probably their table manners, had caused a wide bubble of space around them.

“Seems like a good place for me to insert myself into the conversation, then,” I said, grabbing a chair and plonking it down next to James, invading their bubble. He stiffened, causing food to get caught in his throat. He flailed and started to choke.

“Calm down, I’m not here to do anything like you’re thinking,” I said, slapping him on the back and dislodging the food.

James gasped and took a quick drink to settle his nerves. Jessie shifted so that she was slightly in front of James while he regathered himself. “What are you here for, Gym Leader?”

“Mostly to talk with you, I thought with your last appearance and my… well perhaps short-sighted warning, that you might not have ever come around,” I made a show of looking around.

“And yet here you are. Do you like Contests that much?” I asked.

Jessie squirmed. “I… I wasn’t sure until today, but Mawile wanted to give it a go and I couldn’t say no to her,” she said, shooting her pokemon an exasperated but still happy smile.

“Hmmm, rare find that, have you had her long?” I asked, curious, as Mawile happily took a big bite of food only for Jessie to wipe her face with a napkin. Mawile giggled and nuzzled Jessie’s hand before Jessie could retract it.

“Not long,” James said before coughing. “Not that you wouldn’t know that,” he said with a slightly snide tone.

I blinked before I realised what he was alluding to. Had he thought I was watching them? I rolled my eyes. “I’m sorry to say that you haven’t been a factor for me, I’ve been rather involved in… a lot,” I said simply.

James, Jessie, and Meowth blinked and stared at me.

I stared back, feeling like I was missing something, but unsure what.

“You haven’t been keeping tabs on us?” Meowth asked carefully, his words tentative as if he were probing murky waters with a stick from as far away as he could.

I chuckled. “Meowth, since we last spoke… I've had to deal with Ace Trainer Will probing my Gym with multiple other Ace trainers, the remnants of the trainer surge, establishing multiple training programs for the trainers under my purview, and deal with Team Rocket multiple times before busting them down.”

I gave them a pointed look that would say more than any words that I knew what I was talking about with such a statement, “All of that? On top of running a gym, juggling my family and dealing with the whole issue of…” I trailed off, I’d been about to say something about Flint, but this wasn’t the right crowd of people to talk about that.

Or perhaps it was? Jessie, James and Meowth could be surprisingly empathetic when it came down to it.

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I decided to leave it at that though, and just shrugged. “There’s been more in there, like dealing with the Mt. Silver issue, but yeah, I haven’t been stalking you,” I said.

Jessie, James, and Meowth all blinked at this. Then, as one, they slumped and exhaled.

“Oh, that’s a relief!” said James with relief.

“Urgh! We’re such small karp!” said Jessie with a put-upon expression.

“I want to demand that I get back all the beauty sleep I missed ‘cause of the stress I’ve been dealing with!” Meowth said as he tugged on his whiskers.

I chuckled at their different reactions and waved off the heated look Meowth gave me. “Hey, that was entirely your own doing. Don’t lay that at my feet,” I said.

“Well I’m gonna!” said Meowth, crossing his arms and pouting.

I merely rolled my eyes at him. “What were you talking about with your lack of a roof over your head tonight?” I prompted.

The trio shared a look with each other and then all scratched at the back of their heads as one. “Well, you see,” they all started to say together, before they each diverged with the story that meandered around only to bump into the others or contradict what one of them had just said.

Jessie realised this and quickly shut up Meowth and James before coughing into her fist.

“Through a series of unfortunate and totally unrelated events!” she said, giving Meowth and James pointed looks to shut up, before continuing. “We find that we’ve rather used up all our reserves of cash, and our supplies and camping gear have been damaged.”

“It’s rather a shame,” said James. “But we’ll be back on our feet within the week.”

Meowth nodded. “Yeah, this used to be a weekly event for us!” he said, like that was something to be proud of.

Jessie facepalmed.

Meowth shot her a look. “Hey? What? It’s a good thing we’ve been able to go three months without this happening! And it took James falling for that Magikarp salesman, you buying that outfit and losing to those creeps, and well, I did nothing wrong,” he said shamelessly.

Jessie and James shot him furious looks. “You were the one in charge of our bags when that Raticate swarm came out of the grass!” they snarled together.

Meowth shook his head. “I refuse to take responsibility for that! One of you should have left a pokemon with me instead of going off to bathe in the creek like that! Don’t you know what sort of diseases you can pick up washing like that?” he said seriously.

I nodded along. “You should take a camper shower if you’re doing that,” I said. I gave Jessie another look-over. “Impressive that you are all so clean for today’s showing,” I said.

The trio all looked away sheepishly and I knew they’d done something wrong.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. How had they lasted as criminals with such honest reactions? Was it just because it was me asking, or were they usually this bad?

“You broke into someone’s house and had a shower, didn’t you? What happened, did you get chased out?” I said shooting in the dark for the most likely event for a group of… former criminals?

The group coughed and Meowth smirked at James. “The old lady came home while James was in the shower and miiiiiiight have mistaken him for her lover, so we couldn’t stay there any longer.”

I opened my mouth, about to ask which old lady as chances were I knew them, then I rethought that question and let it remain unspoken.

I didn’t want to know what little old grannies were getting up to when they were behind closed doors.

Some of them were far too willing to discuss it without the topic even being brought up.

Old women could be entirely too shameless with you once you were old enough. Sure they had methods of speaking around it, but once you were old enough that you understood what innuendo was… well, suddenly those sweet old ladies gained a lot of… colour.

“Right, putting that way off to the side, where we won’t raise that for—” I eyed the group of self-confessed criminals. “—multiple reasons,” I said pointedly.

The trio then seemed to realise whom they’d just confessed to and swallowed the food they’d been eating a bit too quickly, causing them to splutter.

I rolled my eyes and let them regain control of themselves.

I raised up my transceiver and drew up ‘Jessadia’s trainer information. On it, her pokemon roster was displayed along with the various badges she had. I’d need to add that she’d come fourth in the Pewter Gym Contest later tonight, but that was future Brock’s job.

I flicked my eyes over it, interested but not surprised to find several recommendations from various Gym Leaders, starting with my comment.

The trio shifted slightly and James mouthed what he was reading quietly, but not quietly enough.

“‘Diamond in the rough’… from Brock. ‘Skilled’, Daisy. ‘Top-notch adaptability’ from Manny. ‘Can bring the firepower’, Surge. ‘A flower that has blossomed later than most but is all the more beautiful for it, Erika,” read James.

I tilted the projected screen so he could read more easily as I shot him an amused look. They had to know I didn’t plan to arrest them to be this easy going with me, right?

I watched them gush over the praise that usually didn’t get shown to people. This was for Gym Leaders or prospective employers to see. The trainers didn’t learn of its existence until they were well and truly done.

When James was finished reading Janine’s brief report on ‘Jessadia’s competencies as a trainer’, I pulled my hand back and leaned forward.

Jessie had a big goofy smile on her face. I felt myself relax a little more, if she could make that sort of embarrassed happy face on command, she had missed her calling as an actress.

I considered that thought for a moment. Sabrina was supposed to be interested in that according to the games, but then again Will… I shut that thought down and gave Jessie a moment to bask in the good vibes.

I then coughed. “While the praises of various Gym Leaders will take you far, I’m more interested in the accomplishments that you have on your file,” I said pointing at another tab. “Not everyone gets those,” I said, opening the tab and finding a note about Jessie and her friends taking part in the Porta Vista incident and being lauded as heroes. Then there was the Saffron City situation where the trio helped capture some violent Team Rocket Members.

“I’m curious about your skills, you’ve come a long way from the trio that snuck into my Gym only to get tripped up helping people, and then caught in a challenge you never meant to give,” I said.

The trio looked at me carefully, a small glimmer of interest sparked in Jessie’s eyes while Meowth looked wary. James just looked straight at me openly.

I smiled. “How would you like a job, no,” I shook my head before rubbing it and sighing. “I’m doing a bad job of this,” I said, taking a moment to focus my mind.

I couldn’t approach this like Agatha had, I had to do this in a way that would be tailored to Jessie, James, and Meowth.

I smiled. “You’re an odd bunch, aren’t you?” I said whimsically, as my mind played out all the cartoons that showed how wacky and weird they could be.

Rockets, blimps, submarines, pokemon riders, sales clerks, and more. Team Rocket had a can-do attitude and the will to pick themselves up time after time.

“You don’t quite fit with how society or the people that raised you would like you to, do you?” I said. My words drew reactions, with all of them curling in on themselves slightly. They all noticed the others' discomfort and a spark entered their eyes.

Before they could speak up to protect each other, I smiled. “And that’s what makes you great,” I said, stopping them short. They went from defensive to bashful in a second.

I waved a hand at them. “You have what is perhaps the most eclectic range of skills around. You have passion and motivation in spades. You haven’t had it easy, but that’s alright, while things have been rough, you haven’t let it hurt you or keep you down. You’ve struggled and grown into the beings you are today,” I said, eying them.

“I like that, I need individuals like that helping me,” I said.

James frowned. “You want more assistants for your Gym?” he said.

I shook my head and let my gaze drift over the crowd of rowdy people and the others who were a touch more dignified. They were smiling and laughing. Archibald was standing on the other side of the room with his Gardevoir.

They both smiled and waved at me and I mirrored them before continuing to speak. “Before you or I were born, there was a war so terrible it engulfed the world,” I said, turning serious.

The trio blinked and straightened, aware of how serious discussions of the war were.

“There are lots of people working to keep tensions down, to heal old wounds, to find forgotten friends,” I said.

“This world,” I said, letting a touch of my love for this magical life I’d found myself within bleed into my words. “It’s a marvellous place, so full of vibrancy, and if we work for it, it’s a magical place full enough for everyone.”

I sighed then and let some of the fatigue of running a Gym, of fending back would be Elite Fours, of raising a family, of the gnawing doubt that it wouldn’t ever be enough, out to show.

I felt hollow in that moment of allowing it out. “It can be a dark place,” I said, thinking of what Giovanni had done to Mewtwo, of how it had felt waking up and finding Flint was gone with barely a note left behind with his family.

I shook my body and pushed down the dark feelings that I knew helped fuel so much of my growth, with what was my secondary energy type with Titan. I smiled a well-practised smile that I’d used a lot in the days after Flint had left.

“The world is not made of just moments of light and dark, though. As much as I wish it were, the world is not some cartoon or child’s game,” I said. “It would be less if that were the case, but… I digress,” I said.

Then I blinked and held in a chuckle as I watched Jessie, James and Meowth eye one another then watch my face, documenting the subtle ways my face tightened or how my eyes didn’t light up like they should have. They were observing my mask and memorising it.

I waved a hand in front of myself and let some proper amusement show. “Sorry! Sorry, hehe! That got a little too deep,” I said. I scratched the back of my head. “I can get like that sometimes, go running off on tangents of thought,” I said.

Jessie opened her mouth for a moment before shutting it and smiling in a practised manner. “Of course,” she said.

“What were you building towards?” asked Meowth leadingly. James merely nodded, continuing to watch my face thoughtfully.

I smiled and shook my head. I wasn’t going to touch that topic with the Rocket Trio.

Instead I said, “You’ve all experienced a lot of the bad, I imagine, and you’ve gotten a taste for some of the good. I want to keep allowing you to have those good moments while also helping me… and people like me, that deal with some of the world’s… darker moments,” I said tactfully.

“A policeman?” asked Jessie.

James shook his head. “No, Champion Lance announced an initiative for something called the G-men.”

“I don’t want to be a copper!” wailed Meowth theatrically. “What about my street rep!? Who’d take me seriously?”

He then shot me a look while glancing about. “What’s it pay?” he said out of the side of his mouth.

Jessie and James sighed and slumped over as though they’d expected this.

I smirked. “Please, you think I’m just a Gym Leader that helps out the League and the G-men?” I said.

Meowth snorted. “What, are you secretly Agent Pink of the Hero Force?” he said snidely.

I held a masterful poker face before chuckling thanks to a quick flex of Rock energy. “Haha! I don’t think Pink’s outfit would suit me,” I said, crossing my arms and subtly showing that I was much too broad in the shoulders.

Jessie and Meowth nodded, but James tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.

“Yes…” he drawled slowly. “Her colour wouldn’t work for you,” he said, and I realised a second later that emphasising my build was just giving the disguise expert more information to work with. It didn’t matter how good my mask was if he had other information to work off of.

He must have made the connection to Hero Black as he nodded slowly.

Meowth, unaware of what James had picked up, grabbed one of the few bits of food left in his vicinity. “So? You got a job offer?”

I nodded. “How’d you like to work for an organisation specifically aiming to preserve peace, and love, and protect the world from devastation?” I said, throwing some of their famous song lyrics back at them.

Meowth laughed, but Jessie and James looked at me seriously. It took a moment for Meowth to realise they weren’t joining him. “Wait? Are you serious?” he asked before leaning in and whispering. “What would you even have us do?”

I laced my hands underneath my chin and smiled. “What you’re doing right now,” I said.

They blinked. Jessie scoffed. “Pull the other one, it has bells on it,” she said sardonically.

I snorted. “Jessie, the three of you have helped out or been involved with some major incidents, I suspect that this will continue to be the case. I want you to be able to keep moving around and helping out where you can. If things are too much for you to handle or you want some support, however? Me and some friends can step in to help you out,” I said, tapping on my Xtransciever to make a point of what they’d done in a few months.

That got them stopping and thinking more seriously. “Just, what we’re doing right now?” James said, scratching his head thoughtfully. “No going extra or beyond?”

I started to nod, before I paused as another idea occurred to me. “Oh wait, you know my brother and his friends?” I asked.

The trio nodded slowly. “We… know them yes,” James said.

“Yeah, that punk Pikachu is always trying to blow our cover!” Meowth said with clenched paws.

“You want us to leave them be?” Jessie said slowly.

I snorted. “Nah, keep challenging them,” I held up a hand, “But do it in ways that a friendly rival would. Sometimes throwing them a curve ball is what they need to grow, you don’t have to sabotage them, but… don’t make it easy for them,” I said.

Jessie, James, and Meowth all shared evil grins. “Keep messing with the twerps?”

“Keep it to harmless shenanigans, anything malicious like stealing their pokemon of course is out, but…” I waved a hand in an airy fashion.

I had to admit to finding it rather amusing how I was throwing barriers into Ash, Forrest, and Misty’s way for their own good. Did that make me a bad guy?

I then smirked as yet another thought came to me. “My sister will probably be taking part in her Journey in the future, and some friendly rivals trying to catch her out would help sharpen her up some more too.” I grimaced. “With her leaving here with a Larvitar, she’s going to need it,” I said.

The trio all nodded seriously at that, dropping their looks of giddy delight at being given approval to mess with my brother.

“Yeah, that’s a hot pokemon right now, on the black market those go for two million,” said Meowth. “Not many are willing to take that offer, though, with how close the nesting ground is to the League, along with it being well… a Tyranitar nest you need to raid,” he said.

“Is she travelling with a group of friends?” said Jessie.

“Two others at this stage,” I said. “She’ll also be starting with a Growlithe she’s training up now.”

“Growlithe are wonderful pokemon, loyal to a fault and a good pokemon that will offer a lot of utility!” said James with a firm nod.

A pokeball on James belt started to open only for James’ hands to snap around it and close it. “Not now boy!” said James with a panicked look.

The other pair stiffened and started looking around at the more well-to-do men and women.

I frowned. What were they… I blinked as I connected the dots. James was from an affluent family. His parents might even have come to something like this! Chances were I had been in the room with them if they were at all involved with the social scenes of Kanto. I’d been to too many events in Celadon for that to not be the case!

What were their names… I couldn’t recall them, but then again it had been years since I’d watched the cartoon. I’d have to keep an eye out for people with matching features. I shot James’ pokebelt a glance. More telling was that James had been talking up Growlithe, and a pokemon had been about to come out. James had Growlie with him.

That was a change from the way things went down in the cartoon. But then again, Jessie didn’t get a Mawile for her team. Or at least one that stuck around.

I hummed in thought, drawing the trio’s attention back to me. They adopted innocent expressions that wouldn’t fool anyone. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “So, how about you give it some thought?” I said. I handed them a guest pass for the trainers’ short stay area.

When I reached Meowth I held onto the keycard. “I had the readers and cards updated, are there any technical issues I need to know about with these?” I said.

Meowth inspected the keycard and whistled. “Oh wow! You did fork out good! Nice one! These don’t have the issues of the old model you had… Hmmm, I’m going to have to tinker with these, give me a day or two and I can find something,” he said.

I rubbed my forehead. “I don’t… No, you know what, if there’s something I think I’d like to know, write a report on it. I’ll pay, we’ll call it… Security consultations,” I said. It was scarily enough true.

I stood and waved for them to stay seated. “Take the night to think about it. No rush and no pressure if you decide to not accept. I’m happy enough with you doing what you currently are, but I’d like to offer a safety net,” I said, before nodding to each of them in farewell.

I made my way directly to the more affluent people to rub elbows and shake hands. More than a few people asked about the training camp at the end of the circuit, but I made sure to emphasise it would be for Pewter trainers predominantly and that other Gym Leaders were setting up their own, which garnered some interest.

When I had a moment to myself I wandered over to grab a drink, only for Archibald to ambush me. “Brock, wonderful event!” he said amicably, clapping my shoulder with one hand while shaking my hand with his other. He then leaned in. “I’d love to take part next year, as a shot caller or a Judge if you’ll have me, I rather enjoyed working with Rachel and so did my dear,” he said, indicating his companion.

I nodded to Gardevoir. ”Glad you enjoyed yourselves,” I said easily.

Archibald nodded his head up and down before coughing and dropping his voice to a whisper. “Also, as a silent backer for Agatha’s little group, I must say I approve of your eye for talent,” he said, flicking his eyes towards Jessie, James and Meowth.

I stiffened and shot him a look before relaxing. “Oh, Gardevoir listened in with…” I frowned. I’d been throwing around some intense emotions, there was no way dark energy hadn’t spilled out.

Archibald chuckled. “No, nothing so generic. Gardevoir is skilled at lip reading, it’s an old trick we used from… another lifetime ago,” he said, and I saw a flicker of something dark in those eyes before they vanished as Gardevoir squeezed his hand and leaned into him. He patted her arm and relaxed. “Another life,” he said simply.

I nodded slowly, an idea forming in my mind. “Ah, right, I’ll have to keep that in mind going forward,” I said.

Archibald clapped me on the shoulder. “Not to worry! I made sure no one else was doing the same and kept your conversation private!” he said with a wink.

He then stretched. “Do say hello to Agatha for me, I think I shall call it here, these old bones can’t quite stand up so well these days.” Then he winked at me. “Good thing I’ll be laying down for what comes next, eh?” he said.

I felt my smile turn brittle as Gardevoir giggled and swatted at Archibald.

Urgh! Old people!

I shook my head and saw out the rest of the evening, knowing that I’d need to mention Team Rocket to the Guardians when we spoke next.

For now, though, I wanted to catch my own rest after supervising the Gym’s restoration.

Tomorrow we were back to facing trainers for their badges after all.

I stretched and smiled as a familiar ping went off, reminding me that I had a chat with the Guardians lined up.

Truly, no good deed went unpunished.

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