Hard Enough

Chapter 231: Prematch planning

Chapter 231: Prematch planning

The conference room was a big space. My entourage of trainers, as mere humans, could really only fill up a quarter of it with our computers, tables and chairs. So, to make sure that we made the most of the space, I released several of my other pokemon.

Knight came out once more with a confused expression, while Bertha, Sanchez, Hypnotoad and Link all came out with slightly more bombastic greetings for everyone in the room.

Titan, Jorm, Selene, Shrek, and Gawain took a moment to take in the area, only to relax when seeing where they were. With my ten pokemon out I waved a hand towards the large screens I’d asked to be assembled.

“We’re going to be looking over some of Corey’s battles to discern any patterns or favoured strategies. In truth, we have a bit of an idea. But we’re also going to be looking for the more nuanced points of battling that he might possess that can only come from watching him fight.”

“Rhyperior! Rhy! Rhy rhy!” said Bertha as she pointed at the televisions before pointing at herself.

It took me a moment to parse what she meant. I bobbed my head up and down slowly. “Yes... this is meant to be a group activity for all of us,” I said, unsure where she was going with this.

“Rhhhhy perior?” she said while her hand rose up and made a twitching action. Then she grinned and did a twirl on the spot. She raised only one hand to her eye level and winked between two massive digits at me.

I and the rest of my entourage stared at her only for Sabrina to break out in giggles.

I put my hand to the bridge of my nose and rubbed it. “You want to... watch magical girl shows instead?”

“Rhy!” said Bertha, glad that I understood her desires.

I reached into my pouch.

Had I stored that away or thrown it out?

My hand closed on a large folded set of paper that had a serious heft to it.

One of the lessons I’d put my origami making skills to before I’d worked out how to fold paper into expansion balls?

I’d made a disciplinary paper fan.

I unsheathed the giant paper fan and hefted it in Bertha’s direction. “No! You don’t get to watch magical girl cartoons while the rest of us work!” I said like I was actually angry at her.

I wasn’t, this was just joke punishment, one I hadn’t used in years on her. Or well, I hadn’t had much to do with the fan after I’d made it... I’d given it to Titan but then taken it off him. Why was that?

Bertha stared at the paper fan and gasped theatrically before cowering like she was actually afraid.

“So I’m not allowed to use my whips, but you’re allowed to use a fan to threaten your pokemon?” asked A.J. loudly.

I held up a finger. “This is just a joke tool,” I said.

I waved a hand towards Sanchez. “Do you mind?” I asked.

He shook his head and offered up his dome for me. I adopted a stance like a samurai and chopped the fan down on him. It made an impressive ‘thwack’ noise, but didn’t do anything else. He twitched at the noise and laughed.

I chopped my hand at him. “Cut those sideburns! They look messy!” I barked like I was a drill sergeant.

He shifted his beard around into a Van Dyke with the majority of his magnetic sand hair shifting to form dreadlocks from his head. It looked, if anything, more messy.

I chuckled. “It’s not actually something that hurts anyone, just makes a loud noise and startles people or pokemon that aren’t focused on what they’re supposed to be doing,” I said. I hefted the paper fan a little. “This was actually Titan’s, I think,” I said and Titan leaned forward to inspect it. RÄŊO͍ВΕS

He nodded and took it from me eagerly, waving it around a few times and barking like he was a general and the others were his troops.

I was starting to get a vague feeling of unease as I watched him snap his arm with the fan. The joke fan made a rather harsh crack as he did so.

The others saluted and he ‘sheathed’ his weapon at his side with one hand still on it, ready to draw at a moment’s notice.

I gestured at it. “You can also use it as a safe tool to train blocking and parrying if you need to,” I said as Titan made to chop Shrek with it when my Swampert croaked something at Titan.

Instead of being hit on the head, Shrek dodged the blow, showing he was paying attention.

This earned a few laughs from the others.

I let them play for a few more seconds before clapping to get everyone’s attention back on me.

“So, let’s get our analysis underway!” I said.

Sabrina levitated a stack of paper over to me. “Here is the list of pokemon Corey has access to,” she said.

On the first page, Corey’s starter pokemon was listed with all the moves it had performed in the past.

I immediately slapped it up on the wall. “There is no way that Corey is not going to go with his starter as part of his team against us, so everyone, I want special attention on matches that feature Bruteroot, Corey’s Venusaur!” I called.

Other pokemon were quickly run through, with a few pokemon as ones that I recognised.

Pidgeot, Scyther, Hitmonlee, Sandslash and Rhyhorn were all pokemon that he’d had for his appearance in the movie. Here, however, these pokemon were solid pillars of his team with high win percentages, according to Corey’s trainer page.

Interestingly, on paper they were his ‘strongest’ team.

Not that I thought for a second that Corey would be foolish enough to bring Sandslash, Rhyhorn, or Pidgeot against me.

Scyther... despite being a bug type gave me pause. @@@@

Sycther was a bit of a niche pick and a stronger pokemon that had a wide array of moves to its name. With Swords Dance, Agility, Counter, Close Combat, X-Scissor and Protect as part of its latest known list of moves, it could offer a bit of a challenge for me if it got going.

I put it up on the ‘maybe’ list.

I then began to look over the rest of his known pokemon roster.

Other pokemon immediately began to jump out at me, such as Espeon, Primeape, Arcanine, Golem, Magneton, Dodrio, Muk, Electrode, Quagsire, Shuckle and Sneasel.

He also had Ledian, Flaaffy, Sunflora and Donphan, but I didn’t think he was going to use them against me.

“Why are you keeping Shuckle up on the board?” asked A.J., his eyes zeroing in on the pokemon that stood out among the others.

I weighed up whether I wanted to give them my actual reasoning before deciding to roll with it. “Shuckle is a pokemon that you really need to respect on the competitive scene. With the right set up, there is theoretically a chance it could sweep most teams,” I replied.

I held up a hand, “Now that is on pure mechanics and all attacks hitting, so it’s not as viable as it would be on paper, but still, there is a risk if you’re lazy,” I said. I tapped the print out featuring Shuckle’s known moves.

“With a bit of set up, Toxic, Flash, Defence Curl, and Rest alone make it annoying if you don’t have something that is immune to poison. There are also options to use Spikes before it comes out.” I said getting into the lecture.

I made sure to pause however and point the remote matching up to Bertha’s television back to the match and away from her cartoon. She coughed sheepishly, only for Titan to appear with the fan and slap her across the back of the head, earning a round of laughs from my pokemon.

Greta held up her hand. “Won’t you be able to anticipate what team he is going to use based on the initial set up he goes for?”

I pointed at her and nodded. “Yes, but obviously we’re going to be committed to six pokemon ourselves at that point. But having an early understanding of what pokemon he has will improve our odds,” I said.

It was good to see she was looking into this a lot more and getting a much more strategic mindset from attending the various Ace fights I had organised.

“There’s also the fact that Shuckle can have their extremely high defensive stats flipped with the use of Power Trick, Trick Room, and Baton Pass to limit the danger to Shuckle.” I said, throwing out another combination of moves that could work.

“That’s rather clunky, though,” Missy pointed out.

Sabrina coughed pointedly and indicated a screen to the side. “It is a strategy that Corey has employed in the past. Specifically, three weeks ago, since then he has not used it again.”

That gave everyone pause. Missy gave me a look over. “So... it wasn’t just the Shuckle wine that you were after when you said you wanted one of those pokemon?” she said like she doubted me.

I groaned. “I made that comment once at a party. How did you even hear about it?” I asked, scrutinising her intently.

“The Pewter Grannies,” Missy said, shrugging like that was common... actually at this stage I felt like half the relaying of gossip was done by retired old women.

I huffed. “Well, they’re in for a shock when the pokenet gets going,” I said, thinking about pokechat and other apps that would no doubt flourish.

Rachel looked up from her transceiver. ”Oh, I showed them how to use pokechat months ago, they’re all on there. They have like twenty different chat groups going, it’s hilarious cause sometimes they forget which channel they use to bitch about someone else and that person is on there. So much drama!” she said gleefully.

“And they tell you this?” I asked.

“Nah, I set things up for them after work sometimes, it’s annoying getting called out for tech support with them all, but they let me admin for that reason. I’m tapped into all the good stuff for Pewter,” she said proudly.

I considered that revelation for a moment. Did that mean she had the best information gathering network then?

“Is Janine on there?”

“She’s this one,” Rachel said, holding up the transceiver to show a profile.

“Sneakygrannytwelve,” I read aloud. I stared at the name for a moment before sighing and pinching the bridge of my nose. “Is that meant to be clever?” I asked.

“She’s open about it,” Rachel said.

I nodded along before coughing as I realised I’d gotten lost on a tangent. “Right! Let’s get back to work,” I said.

Titan marched over and nodded before swatting me with the paper fan. “Tar,” he said, admonishing me lightly. He then marched back over and towered over Bertha, who stopped fiddling with the side of the television where the controls to change the channel were. She shifted slightly and volume changed so it was louder.

Titan snorted at her and moved off to wack Sanchez, as he’d become too rowdy watching Corey’s Golem battle. Hmmm, it was a female Golem. That was worth knowing.

I shook my head, then set about crafting the pokemon team I expected had the highest chance against my team. Venusaur, Muk, Hitmonlee, Primeape, Golem, and Scyther were my first iteration guess.

I then made a few others with pokemon like Arcnaine and Magneton featuring. Sabrina made an argument for Espeon and Electrode.

“Hey Brock, should we also be projecting for the next match?” asked Missy. I considered that.

My heart ached just looking at it, and I was considering asking Sabrina to let it go when Sabrina’s Xatu chokeslammed it even harder into the ground with a vengeance.

“There will be none of that!” snapped Sabrina with irritation.

I blinked and felt a surge of annoyance rise up, with the emotion some of my dark energy rose and suddenly I found myself blinking in surprise and staggering. A few of my pokemon behind me stepped forward, and I held out a hand to tap them with dark energy.

I narrowed my eyes as my pokemon shook their heads.

Had that been an attack or a charm of some sort?

“It’s a rather slippery little bird,” Sabrina said as Swablu realised the jig was up and suddenly lost half of the feathers on its wings to slip out of Xatu’s hold.

Without the feathers it went much faster than I’d been expecting.

Had it been fighting at all against Xatu, or just trying to get away?

Sabrina raised her hand before it could get too far away and made a clenching action. “No, you will not be escaping,” she said as the Swablu suddenly halted in mid air.

“Blu!” it shrieked in terror. I chuckled. It would feel rather terrifying to be suddenly caught like it had. It shot me a tear filled gaze, but I hardened my heart and ignored it.

Zubat chose that moment to appear and she seemed outraged at having missed the blue and white former puffball on wings.

I returned Zubat before she could rip into Swablu. “Is this Swablu trained in infiltration?” I said, putting the dots together as Sabrina reeled the pokemon in.

“It would appear that way,” she said. “Xatu,” she said and Xatu rose up with a flap of its wings to hover before the now terrified Swablu. The pokemon resisted the glowing eyes for a moment before falling limp as waves of Hypnosis shot forward.

When Swablu was limp in Xatu’s grasp Sabrina drew the pokemon in and began inspecting it. She clicked her tongue in annoyance when she pulled a pair of electronic cuffs from the swablu’s ankles.

“They’re broken,” she said in annoyance.

I nodded. “We can still track who did this by seeing who this pokemon is registered to,” I said.

Sabrina pursed her lips and I shrugged. “We might get lucky with them being overconfident,” I said.

She nodded. “I’ll see to this. You continue as you were,” she said, putting a hand to Swablu. Before she left, she made a circling gesture to Xatu and her pokemon inclined its head. Rather than taking off it, held its position and began to slowly turn its head, acting like a silent sentry.

I glanced around. Zubat had turned up, but where was Don? I’d told him early that I hadn’t planned on... I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’m an idiot. Don is off with Wingull and Pelliper isn’t he?”

Sabrina nodded. “You forgot what he is like on the beach, didn’t you?”

“I really shouldn’t, but yes... I had forced it from my mind,” I said firmly.

Sabrina frowned. “Was that night on the beach truly so traumatising?”

I held up a hand before she could pry too far. Arceus, the feathers and... substances left on the beach the next morning.

I stared towards the horizon, hoping against hope I wouldn’t see a flock circling one point, and happy when I didn’t. “Zephyr... can you and Selene go and... drag Don back from whatever he’s... doing,” I said, well aware of the poor phrasing I’d used.

It was sadly apt for what Don was up to.

Both of them nodded and departed. I sighed. “Training’s over guys. I need to go work on something else,” I said.

I returned my pokemon and turned to join Sabrina, only for her to shake her head. “I’ll handle this. You rest and recover for tomorrow,” she said. She didn’t give me time to argue as she vanished in a flash.

I huffed. “Damn it, I can’t argue with you like that!” I said.

Xatu huffed in amusement. I sighed and waved for him to join me. “Come on, you can join me. I might take my siblings for some ice cream at the pool bar,” I said.

Xatu perked up at that and I wandered back to the resort where my siblings were already splashing around in the water. I doffed my shirt and took a running leap.

Their shrieks of delight were music to my ears and a balm to my mind.

I almost forgot about the orders I’d given Zephyr and Selene until they returned with Don... who was covered in blood, bird poo, and, well, I didn’t really want to think of what else.

“Why’s he covered in bird feathers?” asked Olga from her position in the pool.

I hastily returned Don, planning on dealing with him when there weren’t children around.

“I can answer that!” said Bianca, emerging from behind some bushes like someone that had been laying in wait for just such a situation. Her red cheeks and empty martini glass told me that she’d been rather enjoying her time off a bit too much.

I dashed over and caught her by the face. “Ohhh no you don’t!” I said, pushing the shortstack woman back into the bush she’d strode through.

“Bwah! Bush pushed!” she said as she floundered and collapsed into the bush.

“No scarring children’s minds!” I hissed at her quietly.

She blinked and nodded. “Ooooooh right!” she said.

She glanced around and took note of how many small ears and eyes were on us. She then raised her hand and flagged down a resort attendant that was approaching us with a worried look on his face. “Taxi! I require transport to my room! I am—” she burped loudly, “— oh my, I’m very drunk,” she said.

A few of the parents laughed at this and I shook my head.

“Hahaha! That’s right you lightweight!” called a voice from another bush.

I blinked. Had that been our dentist?

I signalled for another poolside attendant. Man, some people were really letting their hair down, weren’t they?

Why had I thought it a good idea to bring Bianca? Oh right, because she’d earned a break.

I just hadn’t accounted for her getting drunk and being willing to... ‘educate’ little minds that did not need to learn about the mating habits of certain fossil pokemon.

I marched over to the bar and took a seat next to Suzie, Penny, and Munchlax.

I glared at the sign that announced I couldn’t have anything harder than lemonade until I was twenty one.

Damn pokemon world alcohol laws. “Gimme a Creaming Soda,” I said in a gruff macho tone. Maybe I could pretend and it would still satisfy me?

“I’ll have what he’s having,” said Suzie, and I glanced over only to cough in surprise.

Damn it, she was copying me and it was adorable! She even had her face scrunched up in a fake scowl with her chin jutted forward.

I slouched forward and thumped the bar. “Make sure it’s on the rocks!” I said, alluding to it having ice.

Suzie stood on her stool and slammed both hands on the bar to achieve the same effect I had. “Same goes for me!” she said.

I couldn’t hold it in any more and I snickered at her.

She grinned in response and I wrapped an arm around her to hug her. “Ah, you know just how to make me smile sometimes,” I said happily.

Suzie giggled before stiffening. “Oh! Oh! Barman! Turn up the volume!” she said pointing to a television.

I looked up and blinked in surprise as a news report was shown with scrolling text.

“—just in! Hero Yellow has just made a series of arrests! It turns out a gambling syndicate that had utilised some of the information brokers were spying on the Chrysanthemum tournament trainers as they went through final preparations!”

The woman grinned at us through the camera. “This reporter was lucky enough to catch the moment she raided the dodgy business in person!” she said like a woman that just got the story of the week at least.

Huh, so that’s where Sabrina had gotten to.

On the screen, a trio of men were led out. They all bore a resemblance to each other. “We’re not part of the information brokers! We’re renegades! Black sheep!” they called out to anyone that would listen.

Suzie slammed her hands into the table.”I knew those people were no good! Go Hero Yellow!”

I decided to not ask if she had any idea who the ‘baddies’ truly were, instead I just accepted my Creaming Soda and enjoyed my afternoon.

When Sabrina returned she looked like the Meowth that had just taken over a rival cream company in an aggressive take over.

“How full of it were they?” I asked.

“Completely, the information brokers are getting a review and official censure for the rest of the season at least,” she said.

I raised my glass to her in salute, only for her to steal it from my grasp.

“Hey that’s not what I—” I started to say, only for her to reply with a set of large watery eyes.

“You’ve been learning the girls’ tricks,” I replied with narrowed eyes. If that was how she wanted to play it, then all bets were off.

“A Farfetch’d walks into a bar and orders a drink. He then tells the bartender to put it on his bill,” I said.

Sabrina twitched and despite her surprise I saw a flicker of delight. Suzie and Penny giggled at my joke, so I decided to go for more.

“A Kingler scuttles into a bar and says, ‘I want your best beer, but if it doesn’t satisfy me you have to give me your best wine for free!’ The bartender replies, ‘why the big clause?’”

Sabrina and the girls burst out giggling at this.

“Two men walk into a bar, the third one ducks,” I said, earning more laughter, as other kids gathered around to listen to my jokes.

I started the next joke, my eyes moving from the laughing kids to Sabrina laughing in delight, and just for a moment I feel like everything was right in the world.