Hard Enough - Chapter 351 - Shamouti shake up

Samuel Oak, the first Champion of Indigo, was the first to arrive at the scene of the battle. He did so on the back of a powerful-looking Dragonite. 

When he landed, he surveyed the area, his lab coat swishing about him like a cape. His gaze was unusually intense, and his jaw was set. There was a palpable aura of frustration about him. 

He took the time to absorb everything in a slow, practised manner. 

I noted he had to push himself not to linger on any of the Legendary pokemon, but he did so. Instead, pausing on other more minor issues, like how patches of the ice around the trapped submarine were still darkened and even leaking miasmic energy into the air with smoky tendrils. 

It seems the Miasma couldn’t stand being in the sun.

That or… I glanced over to where the parent and child Lugia were cuddled up. The power of love?

It wasn’t a joke when it was a real force.

Oak gave everyone a look over and paused when he saw Sabrina in my arms. “Is she alright?” he asked, approaching me to kneel down.

“Exhausted, but fine,” I replied with a smile. “Good to see you.” 

Oak nodded. “That’s good. I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner but… well the storm surrounding the Shamouti islands made travel nearly impossible.”

I gave his Dragonite another look over and noted the way its wings trembled and its breath was laboured. 

“Were we in the eye of the storm?” I asked and Oak nodded. 

“A huge superstorm. Meteorologists have never seen anything like it! It’s becoming a scientific discovery and nightmare for all. Lots of islands have sustained serious damage with the Orange islands in turmoil. Coastal regions of Indigo were also hit quite harshly.”

Oak shook his head. “I’m not sure I like the idea of what that will mean for the pokemon that were migrating here. There will be a great many that wouldn’t have made it. The ecosystem… it is going to be in turmoil for a while I should think.”

I grimaced. That wasn’t something I’d considered. It had been bad enough where we were. To learn that we were merely in the eye like that and technically had it easier was a bit of a shock.

It just highlighted the dangers of angering Legendaries.

Speaking of which, Oak’s eyes could no longer resist the almost magnetic pull. His gaze was drawn up towards the pair of Lugia that were cuddled up.

“Incredible,” he breathed, as he drew out his pokedex. “Two Legendary pokemon. A parent and a child is something that has never been witnessed before. Young Legendary pokemon are ofcourse known, but to see a child? It is unheard of!” 

Oak’s gaze turned upwards towards the still hovering Lugia that was ‘local’.

“Is that another of the parents? Are there any identifying features?” he pondered.

“I don’t think these two are related. As far as we can tell these two are from a different system of water currents. From the texts we’ve been able to read, Lugia are in charge of the water currents deep within the ocean.” I pointed to the Legendary cats. 

“Those are also Legendary cats from a Region known as Orre. They were captured by a local Criminal organisation that had taken hold of their nation.”

“What a horrible idea!” Oak gasped. “Did they not make the connection to the increased weather events to the loss of their Legendary pokemon?”

“I think they actively worked to repress knowledge of it, at least that is my understanding.” I gestured to where Koga… had been. 

Huh, he was gone. 

The people that he’d tied up were still around thankfully. 

“Those people over there are from the region in question. They attacked us because apparently their only exposure to Indigo has been people from Team Rocket raiding their Region for resources or something like that,” I said. 

Sabrina could do a better job explaining this but she was resting right now.

Oak nodded. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here Brock,” he said out of the blue. “I… I wasn’t expecting the storm to be as strong as it was and I was studying the wider effects along with advising others on what needed to be done. I left my departure too late and could be here to help out.”

I stared at him. “You don’t have to apologise for anything,” I replied. “Sure it would have been nice to have you here. As some things were a bit touch and go.” I sighed. “Technically they still are. Did you see the Fiore Delegates on the way in?”

Oak frowned. “I might have? I was so focused on approaching this iceberg that I might have missed them,” he admitted sheepishly. 

“They were riding a wailord,” I offered. 

“Oh! I think I saw them, a mother and daughter pair, yes?”

“I think Natural is a boy,” I replied.

Oak grimaced. “Urgh! It used to be easy to judge genders! I feel so old!” Oak wailed. 

“Practically over the hill with one foot in a nursing home with jelly cups calling to you,” I added.

Oak snorted and levelled a finger. “That’s enough of that from you! And jelly cups are marvellous things!” 

I just smirked at him, and he chuckled. The sound of more wings heralded the arrival of more officials.

Among them were the local police officers, along with Rangers who were quick to take the various Cipher Peons and Admins into custody. When they came to the Legendary pokemon, they all just stared.

An Officer Jenny, because, of course, it had to be her out of all the police officers present, marched up to them. “Hello there! As… foreign representatives, you are to be given all courtesies! We have prepared a beach on Shamouti where food and medical staff will be available.” She shifted from foot to foot as several eyes opened from the various Legendary pokemon.

“Will… will you be needing anything else?” Jenny asked.

The injured Lugia’s head rose, and it opened its mouth to let out a song. The image of solitude and rest was projected to everyone, and we all slumped a little at the feeling of fatigue washing through us.

Then Lugia closed its mouth, and Jenny nodded. “Of course! Privacy and peace. We will make sure that happens!” she declared loudly only for Suicune to grumble causing her to stiffen.

She turned and began making hand signs to signal her orders to the others, not willing to speak up lest she offend the Legendaries.

I watched as water pokemon were used to propel the iceberg we were on towards Shamouti island. They then broke off the part that had the submarine stuck in it to wheel it out to a waiting cargo ship.

The beach, rather than being private and secluded, instead seemed to have every person on the island from the festival standing around staring as we made landfall.

Something the police were quick to try to rectify.  

Yuji and Luana approached me. Luana looked haggard and offered us a tired wave while Yuji looked fairly upbeat. Must be a battle junkie or something, I thought to myself.

I waved at them with the hand not holding Sabrina, only for a huge yawn to escape me. 

Oak chuckled and drew out a thermos. “Here, have some coffee, you’ve got a long day ahead of you.”

I stared at him. “I just had a long day yesterday!” I said. 

Oak gave me a level look. “And that matters why?” 

I grumbled before snatching up the thermos only to make a face. 

“Something wrong?” Oak asked. 

“Yeah, I’m a tea drinker,” I replied. Then I took another swig of the coffee, knowing that beggars couldn’t be choosers.

Oak snorted. “Tea doesn’t get you through days like what you’re about to experience,” he grinned. “Don’t worry! It will grow on you!”

I didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Are you talking about the coffee or the paperwork?” I asked.

Samuel laughed. “Hahaha! Oh the coffee. This is an international incident. Everything that happens from now will be meetings, paperwork in triplicate and debriefings.”

I stared at him. “You’re entirely too smug about this,” I said, which only got me another chuckle from the man.

He was far too smug about this. “I’m keeping your thermos,” I declared petulantly. 

Oak made himself scarce as one of the police approached me. “Sir? I understand that we need to run you through a debrief about the events that have transpired.”

I sighed. “Let’s get Sabrina and my pokemon seen to first. They’ve been running around in all this,” I replied. 

The man wisely nodded, choosing not to interfere. “We’re going to have to set you up in a room to await care. The local pokecentre is flooded. It shouldn’t be long before we get other facilities set up though with Indigo Nurse Joys Teleporting in,” he answered.

It took my mind a moment to wonder at that before recalling what Oak had mentioned about the size of the storm. All of the Orange Islands would be in turmoil forcing them to rely on outside aid.

“That might be for the best,” I replied. “We have a room rented for two weeks, will that work?” I asked and the man looked relieved. 

“Beats me having to find you a room because again… there’s a lot more people suddenly here that have to stick around that were expecting to come and go.” 

I collected Ash, Misty, and Forrest before I left. Misty didn’t want to leave Suicune, but she was eventually coaxed away with promises that she’d be able to return. Other police officers trailed after us to make sure we were protected.

That confused me right up until we got to the crowd.

The very angry crowd that was lingering to both pepper the police with questions while others stared at the Legendary pokemon.

“What’s being done with the criminals?” “Why wasn’t this prevented?” 

“Are the Legendaries going to be captured? They caused so much chaos!” 

“Will Team Hurricane come back? Do we have anyone able to stop them?” 

“Please! I just need to get off the island to see my family!” 

The police maintained a line with small metal fences and their pokemon already deployed.

Our approach was noticed and I quickly shuffled my pokemon around to create a shield around us. Bertha led the way with an unusually stoic expression.

I stared straight ahead. This… this was a lot messier than the last events had been.

The Saffron event that spilled over into Team Rocket’s dismantling had been clean in comparison and that had been a brawl in the middle of a city!

Perhaps the success we’d experienced from handling the Rota issue had gotten to my head?

I’d need to do some serious thinking about this.

When we reached our room I let Ash, Misty and Forrest use the showers and rest on the couch while I tucked Sabrina in. Her pokemon team settled in to rest around her, forming a guard of sorts.

Sabrina hadn’t so much as stirred despite all the questions being thrown at us, nor with how much I’d jostled her.

This… I’d never seen her like this. “Is she going to be alright?” I asked of Alakazam.

Alakazam rubbed his moustache and nodded slowly. “Zam, Ala,” he replied, pointing towards an alarm clock. He made a show of spinning his finger multiple times. 

“She’s going to be asleep for a while?” I said.

Alakazam kept spinning his finger causing my eyes to widen. “A long time? More than a day?”

Alakazam considered that and made a so-so gesture.

I chewed my lip. “She wore herself out that bad?” I asked and Alakazam nodded. He gestured and a fruit platter floated in from the kitchen.

“Hey! I was eating that!” Ash called. 

“I’ll get you some more!” I called, watching as some juice and other items floated in afterwards. “Ah, she’s going to be hungry when she wakes up?” 

Alakazam nodded and the food drifted back to where it had been, much to Ash’s pleasure.

I shook my head only for a pointed knock from the door to cause me to sigh.

I headed back out and found the police smiling stiffly while my pokemon lay around the hotel’s garden. 

“We… really need that debrief now please Sir,” urged the police officer with a strained but polite voice.

“Right, let’s grab some seats and go over it. I’ll sit in with my brother as well if that’s alright?” I said as I leveled a stare at the Police.

The Police stirred. “He’s a registered trainer so under the Law he doesn’t need guardian supervision.”

I smiled politely back at the man, not saying anything. I continued to stare at them as I took a long pull from Oak’s thermos. 

Nope, still didn’t like it.

The man nodded. “Very well, we’ll wait until you’re done to process him,” the man quickly said before coughing. “Now, if we could?” he said, laying down a recorder on the table between us.

I nodded. The sad part was this was going to be the easy part where I just recounted what had happened. 

I’d be keeping out the various secrets I knew, along with my involvement with the Airship but that would be easy enough considering the only people who knew were Sabrina and Visquez.

I could trust Visquez.

________________

“I saw everything!” Visquez declared. 

“Those Cipher punks are sick puppies I’m telling you! You need to lock them up and throw away the keys! Their pokeballs were all mentally corrosive! It impacted the trainer and the pokemon I swear!” Visquez waved her hands dramatically. 

“It had all the Legendary Birds riled up!” she continued, making flapping motions with her arms to demonstrate.

The aide that was sitting across from Visquez looked extremely out of his depth and Visquez suspected that he was just a pencil pusher and not an actual police officer.

But in times of national emergency you sometimes found yourself doing some pretty crazy things.

A call home had revealed that while Vermilion had been spared the tidal waves that came from the storm, there had still been some much higher swells hitting the beach than expected. 

The other point of concern was that a lot of pokemon in the bay had been seen heading south in large numbers. 

Repopulating it was going to be a doozy and Visquez knew her numbers well enough to know that the next circuit was going to see pokemon being rather slim on the ground. Which usually meant that they’d be weaker as the competition wouldn’t be there.

That or the pokemon that did move in wouldn’t be the usual sorts.

Pops had left her pretty detailed notes on the areas surrounding Vermillion. Usually she had to worry about Diglett, Dugtrio, or Graveller sneaking into someone’s basement due to the tunnel some rich idiot had thought up as a wartime measure to guarantee trade continued to flow. 

The Pencil Pusher adjusted his glasses as he finished writing down Visquez’s last answer. “Alright, the next question… Did Raikou exhibit any issues when you were riding him?”

“How do you know it wasn’t a girl? You get under the hood and take a peak? Pretty sure that’s Sexual Harassment no?”

“I didn’t! I swear I just assumed!” 

“Cause a girl can’t be strong?” Visquez teased, flexing her arm and winking.

The little man blushed and raised his papers like a defensive shield, like that would help. Visquez snorted. Shortstack couldn’t handle some teasing. 

It wasn’t even like Visquez was flirting! Just teasing! She had her eyes turned in other directions!

The trick was making the other party look her way.

“So… did Raikou exhibit any issues?” asked the aide from behind his ‘shield’.

Visquez thought back to sparking with Raikou. She probably should have told Brock what she was doing rather than almost give him a heart attack… twice at that.

But damn had it been something else. She’d been hit by tons of electric attacks in her life. It came with being an Electric specialist. But Raikou? That just hit different.

And then she’d gotten to ride it?

Damn this whole trip had been worth it. The training alone would see her kicking butt when it came time to head back but after fighting like that? She was at another level now!

And Raikou hadn’t left her empty handed. 

Visquez toyed with the small strand of purple fur that had clung to her braid when she’d hopped off Raikou. There was enough of it to make a small band of it for her hair and a pokemon of choice.

If she ever got the chance, she knew where she was going to hold her future Mega Stone, that was for sure.

Visquez played with the strand of hair, feeling the sparks it gave off trickle through her fingers. Another person might think it painful but for her it was just right.

“Why are you asking that question?” Visquez asked, rather than answer the Aide’s tick list of questions.

The man swallowed. “It’s just on my list is all ma’am!”

Visquez snorted. “Yeah, and I was born yesterday,” she growled. Something stunk of politics and greed. 

Someone was playing around with the idea of keeping the Legendary pokemon, and while Visquez would love Raikou to settle down with her, she knew that it would be a terrible idea.

So, the question became who was playing funny buggers.

“Who gave you that list of questions?” she asked.

“I was handed it by one of the local lieutenants! I assure you it’s nothing bad! We’re just looking into their health!”

“Hmmm well in that cause put down that I said—”

_________________

“— no comment,” Erika said with a bland smile. 

Across the table from her the police officer sighed. “Gym Leader Erika, this is not an interrogation. This is just a debrief!”  The man flapped his hand about. “I’m holding this in a restaurant for goodness’ sake!”

Erika raised an unimpressed eyebrow. The location mattered little. It actually spoke of how full the local police station was that all interrogation rooms were being used to hold captives from the ‘Shamouti battle’ as the media were already calling it. 

“And I will repeat once more that until I have legal representation here to assure my words are recorded properly and advise me, I will not be answering those questions or indeed any that you have,” Erika stated primly.

The man groaned. “We’re not even trying to trick you!” 

“So you say, but what can be today’s agenda can change tomorrow,” replied Erika deftly. 

The man put his head in his hands. “And I thought you’d be the easy one to talk to!” he muttered.

Erika felt a little bad. It was possible this policeman was just what he seemed, earnest and upfront. But she’d been tutored from a young age to never talk to police without Legal council present.

She wasn’t sure of the local laws and there was every chance that if she mentioned firing a Razor Leaf or two at a Legendary pokemon she might end up having to pay a fine or some such.

She hoped that her friends were smart enough to not talk without their own council present but she highly doubted that.

Visquez was a live wire that was too hot headed for her own good. Brock… well he tried but without Sabrina there to guide him he might be in trouble.

But if that happened she fully expected Brock to have some ace up his sleeve to prevent any blowback from hitting him. The revelation that Brock was technically part of the G-men was a surprise, but he’d mentioned having International jurisdiction during a casual sit down in the last few days.

Sabrina had noticed that Erika had caught that and rather than reprimand Brock for the slip she’d just rolled her eyes and smiled. 

A ring of a bell announced the entrance of a woman in a bespoke suit. “Erika! There you are!” Gladys said as she swept in. She slammed her briefcase on the table. 

“Gladys of Celadon City representing Silph Co agent Erika of Celadon City!” she declared with a savage grin that Erika knew was hiding a desire to ravage her foes.

The Police Officer must have picked up on that as he extended a hand hesitantly. “Officer Michael?” he offered. 

“We need ten minutes for me to confer with my client,” Gladys ordered and Michael beat a hasty retreat.

Erika exhaled in relief. “Thank you for coming Gladys, is everything alright at home?” she asked.

“Eh, lots of trees blown over and some electrical outages but people have that well in hand,” Gladys said with a flap of her hand.

“And the other thing I asked you to handle?” Erika asked.

“Your friends Lawyers got dragged out of their homes, don’t worry. Lawrence was particularly resigned but he knows his business. Now, tell me everything that wasn’t in the brief I got.”

“So start from the beginning?” Erika asked. 

Gladys nodded. “Yeah, also while we’re handling this, the other person you asked for is taking care of some things,” Gladys said obliquely.

Erika nodded, not giving away any reaction to the news.

Her eyes stayed straight ahead, not at all looking towards the community hall where there was a heated debate going on with Local Council Members, Champion Yuji, and other key members of the Orange Archipelago government.

And if there happened to be a minimized Grimer planting some cameras for analysts, well, it was just good form to know what was being debated. 

_________________

“— the Legendary Cats need to be relocated back to Orre otherwise we’re consigning that nation to its demise!” snapped Commander Tiphany, the local highest-ranking Ranger. On her sleeve, a golden Ten for oceans sat proudly on display. 

“No one’s disputing that,” replied Yuji as he patted the air in a calming manner. “What is being dis—”

“We’re not holding back. They need to be relocated immediately!” Tiphany growled.

“And what? Hand them back to Team Cipher? The intel we’ve been able to get from the…” Yuji sneered as he said the next word, “Peons have confirmed that they have complete control of Orre.”

Commander Tiphany’s jaw worked back and forth. “Then… I will go with them. And any volunteers that present themselves from the Rangers will go to assure that Cipher can’t retake the Legendary Cats!”

The room stirred at this as various officials broke into murmurs. 

Prime Minister Kumo of the Orange Archipelago stood. “Tiphany! Let’s not be hasty! We’re just exploring options right now! Things might change as we get more intelligence! We need you at the helm now more than ever to make sure the disaster relief is operating as well as it possibly can!”

The man waved a hand. “Let’s just take a breath everyone! We’re not looking to strike back at Orre or anything like that! We need to see to our own people first!”

Yuji snorted. “People will want a response. They will want decisive leadership!” he thumped a fist on the table causing a bang that had some people flinching.

Prime Minister Kumo nodded. “They will, but I think we can temper things. This meeting is just about fact finding! Let’s not lose sight of that!” He nodded to Tiphany. “Your insight into the Legendaries is appreciated and will be taken into consideration along with your… answer,” he said. 

He sat and glanced around quickly. “We had a chat with the Indigo League and they’re offering Emergency relief with Nurses, Doctors, technicians and more to help us out. I’ve accepted and will be thanking them in a press conference that I will be running at the end of this meeting.” 

Yuji stiffened. “You didn’t mention that to me earlier!”

“I didn’t need to! Your job is to be the strongest trainer within our Region.” Kumo tapped the table. “One man however… wasn’t enough. Heck from the reports I’m seeing we had some of the strongest trainers presumably in the world running around and they couldn’t stop this.”

“Lots of good having the Strongest in the regions did for us,” someone muttered at just the wrong time for the whisper to carry to everyone’s ears in the room.

Yuji surged upwards. “Who said that?” he snarled, his eyes whipping about the room. “I was on Shamouti defending it from the infiltrators and the bombs! I was there when the Prophecy was completed and one of our Legends was able to get back into the fight!”

His gaze swept the room. “Were any of you in the fight?”

A few of the older politicians shifted uncomfortably while Tiphany glared right back. “Funny rumours I’d heard said you were sitting in the community hall for most of the event and it was Luana out sweeping the crowds of infiltrators, alone!” 

“Lies!” snapped Yuji. “I was out fighting!” he growled.

“You bark loudly for a man that spent the nigh—” Tiphany began to counter only for Prime Minster Kumo to slam his hands on the desk.

“ENOUGH!” He glared at both. “You two have been butting heads on just about every meeting you attend! Tiphany! Sit down and stop antagonizing Champion Yuji. He was on the front lines and was seen numerous times striking down Cipher infiltrators! He then took over the larger operational control. This topic is done! The point stands that we will be receiving aid. Without any strings attached or demands that we use funds granted to us to buy specific Indigo products! Hoenn will be doing that soon I expect, but it is still a good investment for us and for Hoenn so expect me to offer that.”

“That’s if the new Champion even goes that route,” muttered someone. “He’s pretty but I doubt he has Champion Steven’s economic acumen.” 

This saw a round of nods from various factions. 

Kumo sighed. “That can be handled from our end. Champion Wallace will want to be seen doing something I have no doubt just as the League of hoenn will do the same.”

“What about Fiore?” asked someone else and the room quietened.

Kumo glanced around. “What happened to the Delegates?” he asked.

Yuji grimaced. “Fjord became… frantic during the meeting and had to excuse herself. This turned out to be a ploy on her part to slip away and take control of a Migration swarm that had been riding a pod of Wailord.” Yuji shook his head. “From there, I have no idea what she’s done with herself.”

A cough had heads turned towards the Chief of Police. “I can answer that. Preliminary debriefs have them at the Cipher Submarine when Brock, Sabrina and other parties converged to neutralise Cipher’s Leadership. She attempted to make certain demands of them while everyone was exhausted, only to be rebuffed by the pokemon. After that, she departed with the host, claiming that she would see that poachers don’t attempt anything with the Migration swarm.”

Frowns and confused murmuring broke out. “I’m surprised that she didn’t stick around with the Legendary pokemon?” Kumo asked. “From the readings I’ve done of their… Religion. Legendaries are sacrosanct, no?”

Kumo searched the room only to see blank faces staring back. He sighed and leaned towards an aide. “Get me an Expert on Fiore, I feel like we’re going to need to know more about them. If we don’t have ten of their ministers crawling over Shamouti within the day I will be amazed.”

From there, the meeting continued for another hour until Kumo’s alarm went off.

He stood. “Please continue discussing any issues that may present themselves. As Prime Minister I need to get out there and be seen assuaging everyone’s doubts.”

Yuji stood. “I’ll come with you,” he announced.

Kumo nodded in thanks even as Commander Tiphany scoffed.

Kumo marched out of the meeting room and into the hallway, where people were hurrying about. Everyone made way for him, but they didn’t nod or bow like they might have otherwise done.

There was simply too much to do to stand by typical formality.

An aide was at Kumo’s side with a folder of points. “The Media has assembled and we’ve been able to contain most of the bad faith journalists by shaming them for trying to exploit this disaster for clickbait articles but they will still be looking for their pound of flesh.”

The page turned. “We have had calls from President Alphonse. I’ve scheduled that after the press conference.”

“Hmmm, I’d have preferred the press conference come second so I can announce care packages and good news,” Kumo grumbled.

“Alphonse has already guaranteed the following Disaster relief packages,” the Aide said, handing Kumo a sheet that detailed numbers. Kumo exhaled with relief.

“Good, good,” he replied as he saw serious numbers on forms. Give it a day or two and that relief would start flooding in.

Yuji snorted. “We need to create more independence for ourselves rather than rely on foreign nations.”

Kumo grunted. “And if wishes were fish we wouldn’t have a big enough ocean to fit them all in.”

He turned to Yuji. “Face facts Champion Yuji, we’re the smallest Growlithe. Sometimes scraps is what you get and sometimes the Arcanine deem you worthy of a juicy steak. Our region has the smallest population, resources, and defence force.”

“So we just roll over?” Yuji spat.

Kumo shook his head. “No, we do what we can, and we give our people things to be proud of. 

Kumo leaned in. “Like you. You’re young, handsome and strong for these islands. We’ve had a huge uptick in trainers looking to face you and you’ve held up well.”

Yuji smirked only for Kumo to raise a finger. “But! I need you to get even stronger still. You’re the new Champion. Being here for this is a good start but if an exhibition match comes around all eyes will be on you.” 

Kumo turned back to the doors, gave his papers a skim and then looked to his Aide. “Do I looked appropriately frazzled?” he asked

The aide ran a hand through his hair only to adjust it slightly. “Perfect sir!” said the aide.

Yuji shook his head and muttered about politicians as Kumo swept into the press room.

Camera lights began to flash or blink as lens locked onto Prime Minister Kumo. Microphones rose, and voices began to cry out for answers.

Kumo locked himself into place behind the podium and gave the world a mournful face.

“Greetings people of the world. It is with a heavy heart that I must speak of the Storm that has caused such devastation.”

Kumo took a long steadying breath.

“It was not a natural event but one that has been brought forth by the actions of a Criminal organisation.”

“Our nation has been attacked,” he announced.

_____________

Lawrence ran a hand over his face while I sat to the side with Forrest, slightly sheepish that I’d forgotten to call him.

“It doesn’t really matter that much because you Brock have a lot of immunity thanks to being part of the G-men initiative,” Lawrence stated. “Forrest got tangled up in this and no one will try anything with how he helped save Legendary pokemon along with helping his friends.”

Lawrence turned to Forrest. “Forrest, do better than your older brother,” he said with a smirk.

Forrest grinned and I rolled my eyes at their antics. 

Lawrence sighed. “I’ve got some reading to do and there’s probably going to be some press conferences to be held so I’ll talk with Rachel about having something written up. You alright with donating to disaster relief?” he suggested and I nodded.

“Good, good, until then stay clean and I’ll see if there’s any issues kicking around. You never know when someone will have an axe to grind and those Fiorian Delegates sound like trouble,” he muttered. 

I waved as he marched into the hotel suite. His laptop came out and he began furiously typing away.

I hummed and settled into the chair, the feeling of exhaustion starting to claim me.

“Brock… is this what it’s like for you sometimes?” Forrest asked.

I sat back up and blinked away the fatigue. “Well, not usually that bad. That was like ten Legendary pokemon in a very small place? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that sort of situation. It was kind of lucky that we had a few on our side from the get go and that the Cipher Admin had only like a year of training their pokemon.”

Forrest nodded. “That… ten?” he asked, raising his fingers to count them off only to see that I was right. “Huh, there were three Lugia, the three birds, and the three cats… hey that’s only—”

I raised Regirock’s pokeball and waggled it as he started to point out I’d been one off.

That caused his jaw to click shut. “Oh right, Regirock.” He shifted back and forth for a moment.

“Want to talk about it some more?” I asked and he nodded quickly. 

My transceiver started to buzz and I spared it a glance at the caller I.D. only to silence it. “Go ahead,” I said.

“That was Lance,” Forrest pointed out.

“I know who it was. He can wait,” I replied. “Let’s talk about what happened, or if you want something else.”

Forrest stared. “I…” he paused and shook his head. “I mean I already talked about it with the police, so why…” he trailed off.

“Emotions are funny things,” I offered. “Events like this can be traumatic and tough to process. Sleep helps otherwise, for some people doing something to be active can help.”

Forrest looked up and began to look around only to nod. “That.. yeah I don’t think I can sleep right now. I want to do that!” he said standing up. He opened the door to the rooms only to find Misty curled up on the couch while Ash was asleep sitting against the wall.

“Huh,” he murmured.

I chuckled and rose. “I’ll come with and help out,” I offered, deciding to stay close to Forrest in case he needed me. 

I glanced towards Bertha who was sitting by the front entrance. “Hold down the fort?” I asked and she nodded firmly. 

With that Forest and I marched back into town. Elder Tobias, much like he had for the festival prep, was standing atop a raised platform barking orders. He spotted Forrest and I and a glint entered his eyes.

“You two! Go ahead along that path and clean up!” he shouted with zero hesitation. 

Forrest shook his head as I handed him some gloves and a bag to start collecting trash.

“Old people are nuts,” he muttered as we began collecting trash and debris that had washed ashore. A few trees I had Titan and Empress lift off the roads in a stack.

When we reached the beach Forrest and I stared at a large blue shape that powered towards us.

I swore. “Is that fucking Kyorge?” I growled, signalling for my pokemon to fall in. 

Titan strode forward and Sanchez swept around to the side as he sparked up in preparation of a fight. I started to reach for my transceiver to ping an alert, only to catch sight of something weird.

There were yellow vents coming out the back of the Kyogre.

I pinged the warning anyway and within moments a local klaxon began to blare which would send people scurrying into shelters once more.

Rather than stopping offshore, the Kyogre entered the shallows and powered up onto the sand where it hissed as steam rose off its metallic frame.

“That’s not a pokemon,” I said uncertainly. 

The flap of wings heralded pokemon landing around me and I glanced back to find Oak with a stern expression. “Is that!” he started to ask only for a loud click and hiss to have him fall silent.

We watched as a hatch on the metallic Kyorge opened and a gangly man stumbled out into the sand. The man sat back up and spat sand while blearily looking around as his eyes adjusted to the glare of the sun.

He had wild white hair with round glasses, with a labcoat over a yellow and purple outfit that screamed ‘mad professor’.

“Doctor!” shouted a voice from further back in the Kyorge ship and another person emerged.

If one was a mad professor the other had to be the lab assistant… or henchman, my mind suggested quietly. 

The ‘Doctor’ stood, his gaze locked on us. 

“Hello there!” he shouted. “My name is Doctor Kaminko of the Orre Institute! I’ve come to warn you of a terrible threat coming to your nation from a criminal organisation that has taken over Orre!”

He gestured behind himself. “I’ve brought my Robotic pokemon to assist!” he declared.

Our group stared at the man. 

What the actual hell? Orre had Robotic pokemon? Was that a new type of pokemon or was this like the Giant pokemon island episode? 

My brain suddenly hurt.

Oak tilted his head. “Well, this is certainly a development,” he mused as he started to smirk at me.

Nope, that was it. I was done with this day. Fuck you Samuel Oak. 

I shook my head and grabbed Forrest. “Nope! Nope! Not it! This is all yours Oak! I’m just here to clear some trash not deal with…” I flapped a hand at the weirdo that had just washed ashore.

Oak chuckled. “That’s not—”

“Good day to you sir!” I snapped, dragging Forrest with me.

Forrest stared at me. “Are we allowed to do that?”

“I don’t care,” I replied, as I stabbed a piece of trash ruthlessly. 

Police were already sprinting past us towards the beach, so whatever this was could be someone else’s problem. 

Forrest started to laugh and I shot him a heated look. 

He waved an apologetic hand before adopting a stern voice. “Good day to you sir!” he said. “Who says that?”

I started to chuckle, amused despite the teasing. “Apparently I do,” I replied.

It was still early morning, everything was a mess, Sabrina was exhausted and there were a lot of problems still floating around but things were looking up.

_________________

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

It also goes to Twmmy for Proofreading this chapter!