Hard Enough - Chapter 355 - A Legendary Party

It was fortunate that Shamouti island had been holding a festival during the attack, and in the aftermath, everyone had a lot more pressing concerns, so no one had really bothered to pack up the stalls, lanterns or various extra pieces of gear around the island.

We’d left Flannery to oversee the feeding of the Legendary Cats. Which saw Sabrina, Visquez and I marching up the path from the beach to find the closest police officer who happened to be talking to Elder Tobias at the time.

When we’d marched up to them. “Lugia wants to have a party,” Sabrina announced without a hint of tact.  

There was a long silence.

“You’re joking right?” muttered the policeman. “That’s the last thing that we should be doing, the island just emerged from a catastrophe!”

Elder Tobias, on the other hand, tilted his head. “No, they have a point. It’s important to celebrate these sorts of things.”

The policeman whirled on Tobias. “Are you insane? Think about the optics! We’ve already got too many forces held up on this island! We’re needed elsewhere!”

“So go, we’ll hold the party without you,” replied Tobias, causing the policeman to splutter something about passing it up the chain of command, which went ignored.

Tobias turned back to me. “If the Legendary pokemon Lugia wants a party, we’ll throw the biggest party this island has ever seen! What do you need?” he asked.

Sabrina handed over a list. “We need this seen to. We’re also going to invite far more guests so the festival grounds need to be expanded along with having the main hall extended. Perhaps with a large pavilion?” she suggested.

Tobias blinked and began flicking through the list of notes. When he glanced up he stared. “You’re not going small with this, are you?” he asked.

“There is every chance that we can make a spectacle of this to help lift the mood of people since this incident. Brock has also worked out a way to use it as a means to gather funding for the relief of the Orange Islands.”

Tobias glanced at me, and I smiled as I continued to receive pings on my xtransceiver. “It’s a Live Aid event that we will televise. With the list of guests I’ve got coming there is going to be a lot of interest. There is also going to be a lot of money that can be shaken loose if you catch my drift.”

Tobias nodded thoughtfully. “Hmmmm, we’re going to have to move heaven and earth but… We’ll make it happen,” he said firmly. 

“Send your invites,” he clenched a fist as a fire entered his eyes. “I’ll round up the Elders and we’ll whip the young ones into shape!” he declared firmly.

I paused in my messaging and watched him scale a nearby festival tower to start barking orders. “He does realise that everything’s mostly set up already, yeah?”

“That was for the Prophecy festival, this is for the Victory Celebration,” stated Sabrina. Visquez grunted and nodded along. 

“You girls got the logistics side of things handled?” I murmured as Rachel began to call me, desperate to talk to me.

The girls nodded, their one transceivers raised as we settled in to get things and people moving.

______________________

My family were some of the first to arrive, but they came at the head of a convoy from Pewter that saw Dennis, Rocko, and other notable names working to deliver various supplies.

Visquez created a ‘drop zone’ for everything and soon had a large camp set up just for the physical donations so that they could be processed and sent out straight away to the various islands.

Soon, a stream of flying types were coming and going with packages while for larger deliveries such as generators and bulk goods, seaplanes and boats began to come and go from Shamouti in organised chaos that saw us stealing workers from Indigo airports and ports. 

Reporters landed only to be frisked and pulled aside to ‘make charitable’ donations by a gang of men that Visquez had organised. Those who refused to pay were loudly declared to all on other television channels. 

With the idea of a charity event that was televised being something of a new concept, I was dragged in to appear as a ‘host/ring master’ for everything that saw me draped in a suit and announcing all the good that was being done while also barking orders at others as the day progressed.

The open space in front of my hotel room which had been occupied by my pokemon was quickly converted into a gathering of tents for my friends, family, and staff.

When I’d vowed to call or message everyone on the list I made sure to commit.

Several large circus tents were raise,d and A.J. stood proud in front of his family’s pride and joy while some of the older performers set up the show. A.J. had been quick to rope Ash, Misty, and Forrest into performing their acts once more only for the Cerulean sisters to catch on and join in. 

In truth, I knew they were in for a long day with the potential for the Shamouti Island party to see thousands of people making landfall.

They weren’t alone though, as other performers emerged or were dragged here for what was promising to be an event like no other.

Gary, who’d arrived with Daisy at Oak’s behest, was quick to laugh at Ash making a clown of himself only for Ash to get the upper hand with a banana pie hurled at Gary which caused Gary to become the butt of the joke.

At Daisy's suggestion, he joined the clown show to ‘get back’ at Ash, causing Ash’s act to become a slapstick routine of each of them trying to one-up, or trip up each other.

The construction company that had helped me build the Pewter Gym arrived, along with the small army of Machoke who set to work righting all the fallen trees, powerpoles and shoring up any buildings that had been damaged. When that was done Teleport pads were set up for pokemon transports to other islands to help speed up the distribution of labour.

I knew from talking with Erika that there were already talks of having people fan out on their way out from Shamouti to basically mass drop labour onto the other islands.

I’d talked with Rachel and co-opted an idea from my previous life.

To help me control the situation I had tossed a microphone at Rachel, Erika, and Samuel Oak, who for once, had forgone his labcoat in favour of a tropical shirt.

When the big names started to arrive, we put on the charm making sure to ham up our act towards them on live television and talk up the good work while pointing out the live aide tracker. 

The CEO of Pokeblock, PokeChow, and other big names that Erika had gotten in contact with quickly started throwing money around to demonstrate their companies' values.

Then Lance arrived. 

I grinned and locked eyes with him as I led a camera crew straight up to him. 

“Champion Lance has arrived, Ladies and gentlemen! The Bachelor of the year is currently going stantler so we’re going to have to fix that!”

His eyes narrowed, and he tried to stop me, but I was already holding a mic. 

“Tonight, there are going to be options to bid on a night with Lance at a destination date, along with another for him to accompany you for the evening here and now! Get your purses loose, we’re bidding in an hour!” I shouted as I wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“What?” he hissed. “You..,” he coughed and nudged me in the ribs. “Very well, it’s for a good cause.”

That got a stir from the passing women and I thought I saw Erika perk up.

I nudged Lance back. “So how much are you going to be donating tonight Champion?” 

He smirked and stood tall as he drew out a cheque that was extremely ornate. 

“Oooooh! Champion Lance is a big spender! That puts him just under myself!” I announced, pointing towards the Leaderboard, that we’d made up. 

There were two, one for companies, and another for individuals. 

Instantly, Lance stopped what he was doing as my family, who’d been loitering and watching the various rich and famous people march in, only to lock onto the new drama unfolding before them. 

The cameraman made a show of stepping closer to Lance as he twitched. 

With a heroic sweep of his cape Lance turned back to me. 

“Two million!” he declared, scratching out the number on the cheque to write another. The Leaderboard adjusted with Lance taking first place. I made a show of bowing to him in defeat which made the smirk grow.

Then Archibald Honda waltzed forth with Gardevoir on his arm “Oh young boys and their toys,” he muttered with a shake of his head. 

He turned and twizzled his moustache. “If we reach one hundred million, I shall contribute ten million. If we reach one hundred and fifty, I shall contribute fifty million, and if we break two hundred million in donations? I shall contribute another one hundred,” he said before sauntering away like he hadn’t just dropped the biggest financial flex I’d ever heard of.

Lance and I shared a look with each other before we coughed. “We cross now to Samuel Oak who is interviewing Samurai Furret!” I announced before making a cutting motion. 

The cameraman nodded and lowered the camera to show we were off the air.

I exhaled and took a moment to grab a drink. “Thanks for that Lance,” I offered. “Might go a bit crazy with this but I’m just playing into the kayfabe.”

“Ah, I understand,” he said with a nod as on the large screen above Oak was revealed, attempting to interview Furret while Kaede inspected Regirock behind them.

As a centrepiece, Regirock was drawing a lot of attention. Even more so with how James had set up a stall to buy chalk that let you write your name on the Legendary pokemon.

People were buying them up so fast it was amazing he had any left.

“That…,” Lance stared as Archibald Honda bought a pink chalk stick for his Gardevoir who drew a love heart on Regirock before posing for a photo.

“I’m not sure what to even think of that,” Lance admitted.

The scene was made all the better by Tilly and Billy leading a contingent of Shamouti children in occasionally cleaning Regirock off and asking the Legendary rock type for rides around the festival grounds. 

Lance shook himself. “I can see Regirock is in attendance, but did you speak the truth about Lugia asking for this?”

I locked eyes with him. “Lance, I wouldn’t lie about this,” I replied firmly. I gestured around. “If you keep an eye on the meat stands I think the Legendary Cats are about somewhere. Also in the kids play area there is a child Lugia.”

Lance stared at me. “Well this is certainly more than I was expecting,” he mused.

“It seems to have captured a lot of people’s attention, and it’s causing a real outpouring of support,” I stated, nodding towards the donations tracker that scrolled across the bottom of the television screen along with the dedicated tracker.

Lance nodded. “Alright, good. I ran your idea past our diplomats and this will help steal a lot of the wind out of Fiore’s sails, especially if we can get the Legendaries to openly state their desire to heal Orre rather than destroy it.”

“Best hold out hopes for Lugia then.” I waved a hand about. “Silver, the child Lugia isn’t much for talking, just playing.”

Lance gave that statement a slow nod. 

“As for the Legendary Cats they’ll nod or shake their heads on things but they might also just snub you. They’re cats,” I said with a ‘what can you do’ shrug.

“Now that has to be one of the most insensitive things I’ve ever heard from you Brock!” chimed a nasally voice from my ankles. 

Lance and I glanced down to find Meowth staring back. “Just cause you don’t know how to talk to us, or respect our needs doesn’t mean you should negatively typecast us like that!” he said.

“Do you say that about Growlithe or Houndour? No! I bet they get described as loyal and loving! But cats? Tcah!” he said with a shake of his head before sauntering off with his merchandise. “Get your authentic ‘I survived the apocalypse’ shirt! Or a Legendary sand globe!” he called to passing people, which drew a lot of attention.

I hummed and glanced around, looking for Jessie. She must be running some sort of side hustle if James and Meowth were out and about but for the life of me I couldn’t see her.

“Did that Meowth just talk?” Lance asked me. 

“No,” I replied, only for Lance to glare at me. I smirked. “Just so you don’t freak out there’s also a talking Slowking around here somewhere. I made sure to give him an invite early yesterday.”

“So he’s probably going to turn up tomorrow,” Lance replied, and I chuckled at the joke.

Lance hummed. “So there are five Legendary pokemon currently out and about in this festival?” he mused with a shake of his head. “No wonder the Rangers are having a fit… you realise this has never been done before don’t you?”

“That’s the idea. It makes it all the more intriguing and rare. How often will anyone ever get the chance to see a Legendary in their lives, let alone six of them in one place.”

Lance glanced back towards the beach where the ‘guest of the guests’ still hadn’t arrived. 

Sabrina had set up a few points strictly for a giant like Lugia to be able to land and interact with various stalls, having decided that it might like that option.

“And you’re sure about the birds?” Lance asked, glancing towards Lightning Island.

“As sure as I can be of anything. If they stir up trouble, I think we can smack them back though.”

He grunted only to stiffen as a butler in a suit arrived at the head of a large delegation. 

With a powerful voice he declared. “Announcing their royal majesties! Queen Ilene and the Dowager Queen Yvette of the Kingdom of Rota!”

The Cameraman who’d been relaxing next to me instantly had his camera up. 

Lance reached out and grabbed me by my shirt front. “You invited the Queens of Rota?” he hissed. “And you didn’t warn me?”

“I told you I was inviting everyone I knew!” I whispered back. “What, did you not wear a nice enough cape?” I taunted.

He narrowed his eyes at me and scoffed before huffing into his palm and sniffing it. He nodded to himself and straightened up as Queen Ilene stepped forward. 

He swept in to greet Queen Ilene. 

“Your Majesty! It is not for me to welcome you, but I find myself spellbound,” Lance declared grandly as he tucked his cape over his arm and bowed to Ilene.

Ilene extended her hand, and Lance kissed it lightly while making eye contact, something that Ilene appeared to enjoy as her cheeks reddened.

“We thank you for your kind greeting, might you escort us about this… festival?” she inquired formally.

Lance looked extremely pleased with himself as he attached himself to the Royal procession.

Yvette, I was amused to see, was getting much the same response as Ilene, only with there being several more ‘suitors’ for her attention with Oak, Garen, Gavin, and even Elder Tobias kneeling before her and professing their desire to escort her about.

Then a powerful voice projected itself. “Your Majesties, would you like me to discourage the riffraff?” declared Lucario sternly as he eyed the men kneeling before Queen Yvette.

I barked a laugh and waved at him, only to stiffen as a fully armoured Mewtwo followed after them. 

Oh damn, I’d forgotten he was part of the Rota retinue these days.

This party had just gone from six to…

A thought occurred to me, and I started glancing around before checking my message history. Sure enough, at the top of the unread message heap was a ping from Mew.

I sighed with relief when it messaged that it couldn’t come, but that it had sent someone else in its stead.

Good, good. That was… seven Legendaries was starting to get a bit mad, especially with four others lurking around still.

Yvette tutted with a small shake of her head. “No, no my dear knight! Far be it from me to deny any of you gentlemen, but I only have two arms, so I shall start the night with a matching set and ask others to wait on my dance card as it were,” she said as Garen and Gavin were pulled up to take her left and right.

With that single move, she’d gone from ‘merely’ a dowager Queen to a reverse Harem protagonist. Garen and Gavin both looked a little stunned at this reversal but accepted it easily enough.

Tobias and Oak pretended to be saddened at not getting chosen while stepping back at Mewtwo’s gentle nudging.

“Wooooah! A real knight!” cried Salvadore as he caught sight of Mewtwo in armour. 

Oh sweet Arceus no, I thought to myself as I whipped around.

I facepalmed as the rest of my family got close with only Lola showing a lick of concern at the armoured Mewtwo. 

The rest of them crowded in close, way too close.

Mewtwo glanced at them briefly, nodded and made a show of helping the Queens move through the mass of people.

Bruno chose that moment to march out of the crowd, ignoring the Queens so that he could square up on Lucario. “You’re strong, care for a show match later with my Machamp?” he growled on live television.

Lance facepalmed, and I groaned, which allowed Visquez to steal my microphone. 

“Yo! It’s on now! Place bets people! All the proceeds of this will go to the disaster relief!” I grabbed my mic back from her.

“Gimme that! We’re live you clutz! Now people are going to think we’re running a betting site or something!” I growled. 

Lance, having heard that, stiffened and shot the camera a worried look, as he was led away.

Yes, Lance, we had caught your little freak-out on camera.

Visquez, the utter troll, just cackled and shot finger guns at me before skipping away to introduce herself to the Royals.

“Greetings!” she declared, giving them a wink and a salute.

Lance’s brow twitched. “My Gym leaders…” he wailed quietly to himself while Ilene bowed her head in polite greeting, rolling with Visquez’s tempo.

I turned back with a grin to the camera. “There you have it! The who’s who of the local regions have arrived! If you’re not here you have to ask yourself? Why not?” I declared, knowing that this would serve as a great challenge thrown down to the Elite of Indigo, and maybe even Hoenn.

Other guests arrived, and I led the camera around the festival grounds, pointing out all the stalls and different experiences that were on offer. 

James and Meowth’s stall and travelling vendor got some good airtime and it wasn’t until I swung past a fenced-off area for adults that I caught sight of Jessie making up a martini for Archibald Honda that I realised that Jessie had made up a bar of all things.

I poked my head into A.J.’s tent in time to catch Bertha performing a ‘Magical Takedown’ with Samurai Furret against Titan. It would seem that A.J. and the others were having a break… Which somehow had resulted in a live-action Samurai Furret show which was proving to be extremely popular with the kids.

The show ended with Titan and his evil partner Farfetch’d escaping to fight again another day. Under the applause of the crowd, Furret and Bertha both bowed deeply before asking their co-stars to return with the group then sticking around to sign handprints on large posters.

I left them to their fun and made my way back through the festivities, noting that the donations tracker had steadily tracked upwards. 

Luana swept past with a harried look to her and I reached out and plucked her as an idea sparked in my mind.

“Bwah?” she squawked, and I held on to a grin. Trust a psychic to not see a dark type coming for them.

“I’m joined by Gym Leader Luana! One of the big four of the Orange League and the Gym leader of Kumquat Island. Tell me, Luana, how badly hit was Kumquat island?”

She blinked at me, still a bit stunned and I decided to throw her a bone and underarm the questions from here on out. She looked like she hadn’t had much sleep.

“Would you call the damage devastating?” I prompted.

“I would,” she replied.

“How much does it mean to have people all over the world pouring support to your home? Must be moving?” I said leadingly. 

“It’s moved me to tears many times… to know that so many care,” she murmured.

“I can see that you’re running yourself ragged for your people.” She nodded stiffly and I smiled. Deciding to give her a ‘soft task’ to focus on. “I happen to know that Silver, a baby Legendary, is hanging out in the children’s area? Have you met him?” I suggested.

She blinked at me, stunned. “Weren’t they confined to—”

“Nope! They’re out and wandering around! Interacting with people and seeing people at their best!” I declared. “Now about that Legendary?” I prompted.

Luana nodded stiffly and I was about to lead her away when Suzie and Salvadore appeared. “We can take her!” they declared. 

I hummed, glancing at my watch. I probably should do a sweep of the logistics side of things. I nodded my head to my cameraman and he took the hint to tag along as Luana was dragged away.

I gave the surrounding area a quick glance, noting how people were very upbeat everywhere I looked. I nodded and swept in to check that things were flowing smoothly with the distribution network we’d made up. 

When I returned, I had to hunt around for Salvadore and Suzie who were attempting to interview Entei only to get snubbed. 

Once I’d secured my camera and microphone back I returned to my host duties.

A quick glance around let me know that there were still a few notable people missing despite the sun starting to inch down towards the horizon.

I’d given Wallace and Juan a heads up, and they were expected to arri—

“The party has begun!” declared a flamboyant voice which caused people’s heads to turn. “I bid one hundred thousand pokedollars for an evening with Champion Lance!

That caused everyone to turn and spot that the newly inaugurated Champion of Hoenn, Wallace had arrived. 

Around him, young trainers with resplendent outfits were holding up banners of the various Hoenn locals, and he looked like a rainbow with the riot of shimmering clothes that he’d draped himself in.

His hair was entwined with a shimmering teal cloth that served as a fashionable bandana, Behind him Drake, Glacia, Sidney, and Phoebe were also present. 

I panned around the crowd and caught sight of Lance standing next to Ilene with a shocked look on his face. 

Then he blinked and smirked. “Ha? You’re looking to take me, are you?”

Wallace grinned widely. “Indeed~” he said with a very friendly wink.

Lance suddenly looked worried as the evening he must have imagined was shattered before it could gain any traction. 

Wallace wanted to take him, but not in a fight.

I turned back to the camera. “And the bidding is off to a hot start! We have Champion Wallace bidding one hundred thousand for an evening with Champion Lance, what will result from this illicit romance!” I declared as I marched up to grab Lance from Ilene. 

Lucario and Mewtwo both let me take him.

“Brock! No!” Lance growled. 

“Smile for the cameras,” I said through my smile, causing Lance to stiffen up, but not enough to stop me from dragging him up onto a podium. “Look pretty, you’re on sale!” I said, but in a tone that definitely got caught by the cameras and mics around us.

I snapped my fingers. “Erika, we need a new leaderboard!” I shouted, and she had one set up almost instantly, but then turned and raised her hand. 

“I bid two hundred thousand!” she called, earning a round of gasps from some as she slapped another marker on the board.

“Erika!” I shouted. “You can’t run the auction and bid!” I called as people laughed at the sudden twist.

“Eh, Flannery can take over then!” Erika replied as she held her higher position to lock eyes with Wallace.

“I bid three!” called Queen Ilene which caused a shift in her own cohort as she blushed prettily.

Oooh, player three has entered the bidding, I thought to myself as Flannery called the bid and tried to heat things up.

A few other ladies, such as Glacia, and Phoebe from Hoenn made attempts at bidding but it felt performative with each only being small upticks of the bidding war with Erika, Ilene, and Wallace only having eyes for each other.

When I spotted Lorelei I wagged my eyebrows and jerked my head towards Lance but only earned a smirk. “I see him every day, I don’t need to spend more time with him and…” she giggled. “It’s rather fun watching him sweat.”

I nodded and moved on to drum up interest from others. 

A gaggle of women were pooling their money to get ‘joint-custody’ of Lance. I gave them all a sympathetic nod and even voiced their bid of four hundred thousand ten, only for Erika to swat it down within seconds with a five hundred thousand pokedollar bid.

Visquez, I noted, didn’t seem to find this to be as fun but there was a gleam in her eyes as she marched over to Wallace and began whispering to him.

He smiled at whatever she said but shook his head.

I suspected Visquez had just tried to throw her support behind Wallace only to be politely rebuffed.

“Six!” Wallace declared grandly.

“I-i bid one million!” called Ilene and Lance perked up.

Flannery started a slow count. “We have one million pokedollars! Do I hear any other takers?” she called. “Gooooooooooooing once!” 

Erika shifted, glancing about before sighing and bowing her head which caused me to tilt my head. Of everyone present, I hadn’t expected her to ‘back off’ as it were.

I approached her and nudged her. “You alright?” I asked.

Erika sighed. “Yeah, I… just thought I might put my hat into the ring, but I’m not going to bid any more. I think I got Lance to notice me, and I won’t be hurting my chances to talk with Queen Ilene later,” she admitted.

“Goooooooooooing twice!” Flannery bellowed.

“For what it’s worth, I don’t think Her Majesty minds the competition,” I offered.

“Going three times!” Flannery called.

Erika sighed. “Well, she won any—” 

“Two Million!” called Wallace before the final bid was accepted.

A hush fell over the crowd and then a tittering laugh. Queen Ilene bit her lip and made to raise her hand only for Yvette to lean in and stop her with a quiet word.

Ilene blinked only to start giggling at whatever had been said. She bowed her head and Lance looked stricken.

Flannery glanced around, reading the room well enough to know that no one else wanted to bid, and that the ‘Wailord bidders’ were all done and dusted with only the prize now left to be collected by a very smug-looking Wallace.

“Going one, going twice, going three times, final offer!” Flannery called, much quicker than she had before.

She raised her hand to chop it down. “So—” she called only for a huge gust of wind to rock the festival grounds and cause people to scream in terror. 

I glanced up only to find a familiar silhouette descending to the ground. Water dripped from Lugia’s form as it came in to land within one of the sectioned-off areas that was slightly raised in this part of the grounds.

It landed with a heavy thump that saw the ground rumble slightly before it straightened up.

Sabrina appeared next to it with a flash of light which caused others to flinch at the sudden arrival but Lugia merely nodded.

A soft cry heralded ‘Silver’ flying away from the play area and smacking into its parent who nuzzled it affectionately. Lugia gave its child a quick nuzzle back before straightening back up. “Greetings,” it intoned with a deep voice.

Sabrina greeted it back with a bow and Lugia nodded before glancing around. “Is this a party?” it asked.

“Heck yeah, it is!” shouted Visquez. “Get the music playing, the guest of honour is here!”

And just like that people began to cheer and the upbeat mood returned. 

Flannery blinked, recalling what she was doing. “Oh! And Lance is sold for two million pokedollars! Enjoy your evening together Champions!” she called.

Lance twitched, having forgotten about that only for Wallace to snatch him up and drag him to greet Lugia.

I laughed, none of this was how I’d expected things to go, but it was turning out to be extremely fun nevertheless.

Unable to resist, I handed off my microphone to another host as I slipped off to enjoy myself. The money was obviously still flowing in and people were working the crowd but I decided to steal a moment for myself as I approached Sabrina and dragged her into a dance.

She didn’t resist but only stayed for a single dance before returning to play assistant to Lugia, who had started to sample various local dishes.

Melody and a group of former Maidens of the Prophecy celebration took up the stage and sang a hauntingly beautiful rendition of the Chosen one song that had Lugia swaying in time with the music alongside Silver.

I might have been seeing things but I suspected I saw the local Lugia also flying overhead but I couldn’t be sure.

Tobias found me and wrapped an arm around me. “We’re doing it Brock! This is the greatest party this island has ever seen and we’re bringing in the money to the Orange Islands!” he crowed.

I chuckled and nodded, giving the leaderboard a quick glance only to whistle at the two hundred we’d already locked in.

I suspected that Archibald Honda was going to have to pay that one hundred he’d offered. It was smart of him not to say he was going to match it. 

And this was just the money we had coming in. I knew for a fact that other goods were already reaching people. 

I moved around, interacting with various festival goers until I found myself standing near Mewtwo.

Unable to help myself, I considered him. “How’ve you been?” I asked.

He tilted his head at me in thought before inclining it in a polite nod. “It has been peaceful. I have been kept busy with acting as one of the guards. Lucario spars with me often to test himself, and the new guards are coming along well.”

The image of Mewtwo and Lucario standing before a pack of Riolu barking orders came to mind and I had to stifle a snicker. It was rather amusing.

As though sensing my amusement, Mewtwo shifted so he could glare at me.

“I have also continued to train against Mew… who is still beyond me.” Mewtwo nodded towards Lugia. “I’m surprised that one allowed itself to be shackled like it did.”

“Love will make you do all sorts of things,” I replied.

Mewtwo glanced at the child Lugia. “I’ve heard such before, yes,” he replied, not quite agreeing.

I couldn’t definitely say that Mewtwo had never loved before, as he had mentioned that girl, and who was to know what he’d gotten up to in the time since we’d last interacted with each other.

A lot could happen in a few weeks.

A lot could happen in less than a day.

“I’ve also been speaking with Mew about the nature of becoming a Guardian. If I had remained I might have joined in this… battle or known that it was coming.” 

“Huh,” I replied. I wasn’t sure what to say in response to that. “I wouldn’t have presumed, but having you might have helped out certainly,” I replied.

“Perhaps, or perhaps it worked out better this way.” I frowned at that and was about to deny him when Mewtwo indicated Lugia. “It was severely injured but continuing to fight through the injuries for its child, mostly due to the mental contaminants it had surging through itself it could only focus on one thing and that was that it needed to keep fighting.

“If I had fought it… alongside the other Legendary pokemon,” he said with some reluctance, “It might not have survived.”

I considered that. “So what? It was about having the right people in the right place but not being too strong?”

“It would appear so,” Mewtwo mused aloud.

“Hmmm, hindsight certainly helps doesn’t it?” I teased.

“It is typically more accurate than foresight,” he replied and I shot him a blank look. Had he just made a joke.

“I have been spending too long around Mew… Who is only getting worse with the access you gave it to the pokenet.”

“Ah, that makes sense. It messages me occasionally but only to LOL me or clickbait me.”

“Speaking of foresight,” I said carefully, “do you think this will help calm Fiore down? Remind them that they’re supposed to be about coexistence?”

“It will, the violence will be curbed from this display,” Mewtwo pointed and I glanced up to find Sabrina stroking Lugia’s head with a soft smile while Lance and Wallace were standing nearby. 

All of them were practically surrounded by cameras, so there was no way the peaceful message wasn’t being spread over the world. 

It was a strange thought, combating violence or hate by having a good time, but it was certainly one I could get behind.

I flicked a glance at Mewtwo who was standing next to me and huffed to myself.

“Something funny?” he asked testily.

“Just an odd thought about how things started and how they’re going,” I replied vaguely before nodding my head towards some stalls. “Come on, let’s get you some souvenirs, give you the festival experience,” I said, deciding that I might as well work on befriending Mewtwo.

Nothing said we only had to influence Lugia and the Legendary Cats after all.

As I was leading Mewtwo around I bumped into Wallace, without Lance at his side. “Ah, your date ditched you?” I asked and Wallace chuckled.

“Ah, that was some good fun. I mainly did that to ruffle Lance’s feathers, so thank you for the opportunity for that,” he replied happily.

“Heh, figures, I thought you were hamming it up a bit much.”

Wallace merely shrugged. “Eh, if anyone’s to blame it’s Lance, he’s just so much fun to bully.” he shot me a wink as I laughed.

Now there was a meme I was going to have to propagate. 

The rest of the night passed quickly enough with everyone enjoying themselves immensely. 

I wasn’t sure how much good this ‘soft diplomacy’ would do but I had to hope that it would ease some of Fiore’s furor and remind them that while something horrible had happened, there was still a lot of good in the world.

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A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for you continued support!

It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!