Hard Enough - Chapter 336 - Aquatic encounters

“So you guys do realise with this I’m going to have to give you a bonus?” I joked as I looked around the abandoned Team Aqua base.

Meowth, Jessie, and James all preened at that. Meowth waved a hand. “Oh! Oh! Can it come in an envelope as a big stack of pokedollars! I don’t need a membership to another yogurt club!” 

I stared at him. “... Team Rocket Executives were the real criminals weren’t they?” I asked rhetorically. 

Jessie and James shared a look. “I mean, that was kind of the point?” James offered up.

I raised a hand only to shake my head and lower it. “Never mind,” I replied. 

I’d fulfill their bonus fantasy soon. They’d already proven themselves supremely useful for the upgraded security and their assistance with the Wet Bandits during the Ace Tournament in Chrysanthemum City.

Around us, various Guardians trainers were scouring the base for traps or dangerous items that needed to be secured. 

Janine had almost had a heart attack when she’d opened a box and found live torpedoes near the dock. Sabrina was slowly advancing into the sleeping quarters with a team of psychic pokemon. Alakazam floated a trio of what looked like claymores past me, and I grimaced. 

It had seemed a little over the top at the start but now that a small pile of explosives were building up it just appeared to be common sense for specialist teams to inspect the place. 

Meowth watched the explosives with a fearful look. “I can’t believe we didn’t trigger any of those sea mines when we got sucked in here.”

James cupped a hand under his chin. “It must be divine providence!” he said with a twinkle. 

Jessie huffed. “I’d prefer to think of it as skill on our parts,” she stated. “Milotic and Gyarados were vital in keeping up afloat!” she declared.

Said Pokémon were laid out next to the dock, both looked battered, bruised and exhausted but it wasn’t anything a good night’s rest couldn’t fix. 

I hummed. 

Team Rocket had been exploring the local coastline when the tides had shifted on them and they’d been drawn into this cave. To hear them tell the story it had happened so quickly, neither of their aquatic lifelines had been able to react to stop it but they had been able to help guide the magikarp submarine through the winding tunnels without triggering anything.

They’d made it into the hidden grotto, noticed the Team Aqua logos and promptly called me straight away.

I had some doubts that they hadn’t pocketed anything but I wasn’t going to call them on it. They were crooks but they had standards that wouldn’t see them stealing ordinance or anything too crazy.

“Good job teaching them Whirlpool when you did,” I complimented. “Seems like that came up clutch for you.”

Jessie and James puffed their chests out at the praise while Meowth nodded long. “Yeah it took them a while but I insisted,” he said, causing both humans of the team to glower at him.

I chuckled and looked over to where Janine had set up a table with several maps. “Still having issues with where we are on the map?” I asked. 

The beacon had allowed Sabrina to zero in on it but there was still some dispute over where the cave was in relation to Trovita island itself. 

“You know as soon as Sabrina’s free she can solve this right?” I asked.

“I can work this out!” Janine bristled. “It’s just a matter of running the calculations. I suspect we’re either under the town hall… or, depending on how much of a dip in the tunnel there was, that we’re under the pokecenter,” she declared. 

“Difference of what… ten metres?” I asked as I recalled the layout of the sleepy little town. 

Meowth glanced around with a loud yawn before giving the table a thoughtful look. He hopped up on the table, gave the papers a look over and said, “Heh, you forgot to carry the two.”

Janine snatched up the sheet in question and glowered at it only to lower it a moment later, “Meowth… are you messing with me?” she asked.

Meowth coughed. “Maybe?...” he flinched as Janine’s gaze turned murderous. 

He glanced hopefully at me, and I shrugged as if to say ‘hey you dug this hole don’t drag me into it’.

Jessie and James, stepped back with a smirk. “Classic Meowth,” James muttered as he drew out some popcorn.

“Hehe? Sorry?” he offered up to Janine only for her to continue glaring at him. “I don’t actually know maths beyond multiplication! I’m sorry!” That only seemed to make Janine madder. 

“Sit!” she commanded and Meowth sat. Janine shot me a scowl and I raised an eyebrow. 

“Your friends are annoying!” she ground out through gritted teeth as she began furiously checking over her calculations once more.

I was about to tell her to take a breath when an explosion rocked the cavern and caused everyone to hunker down. I swept Meowth and Janine into my arms while calling up my rock energy in case the cavern caved in.

For half a minute no one moved, their eyes trained upwards or to the walls. 

“Sabrina?” I called, are you alright?” I asked.

A click of a tongue announced that she was fine. “There was an Electrode hiding in the wall using dark energy to hide itself. Hypno and Xatu missed it but we got a barrier up in time,” she called. 

Janine coughed. “You can let me go now Brock,” she said.

I glanced down and found her blushing furiously. “Sorry, you and Meowth were close and might not handle it as well,” I mentioned as I let her go.

Janine huffed. “Collapsing caves are no joking matter Brock.”

“I wasn’t joking,” I replied. “Rocks falling on me are less of a concern for me.”

Janine blinked at that, only to nod slowly in understanding. Meowth shot me a confused look before shrugging it off. 

“Human weirdness,” he muttered as he walked back to Jessie and James who had been wrapped up by Gyarados and Milotic.

“Guuh wurk!” James said with his face smooshed into Jessie’s face.

“Eculunt Reatons!” complimented Jessie.

Meowth snorted. “Alright you two let ‘em go, they aren’t about to be squashed!” he ordered. 

Milotic and Gyarados stared above the heads of their respective trainers. 

Then a boulder fell from the ceiling and slammed into the ground next to them causing them to tighten their grip on their trainers. 

I looked up. “Huh, hey look at that! You were right Janine, this cavern was underneath the pokemon centre!” 

Nurse Joy looked down at me with wide eyes.”Wah? What are you doing down there?” she shouted.

“Investigating this cavern! League Business!” I called up. I turned to Janine. “So, how bad is it that—”

“Brock!” Janine growled. “Get your pokemon out of their balls and start reinforcing the roof immediately.” her eyes roamed around the ceiling wildly and I decided to not question the girl that used her down time on OHS and architecture. 

My pokemon emerged and were quick to start holding up critical points.

Janine exhaled in relief only to stiffen as a voice called down. “See! They’re right down there!”  Nurse Joy shouted.

I looked up and found no less than ten faces peering over the edge of the hole. One of them started taking pictures.

Janine bristled. “No pictures!” she shouted, crouching and leaping upwards.

“I’m not about to be repressed by Kanto Police!” barked a few voices and others started shouting along.

I spared a glance towards the ordinance that we had piled up. Right… this was about to become a very big international issue, and Janine and I technically didn’t have jurisdiction on events like this.

I blinked. Actually… that wasn’t completely correct.

I stopped behind Titan, making sure I was out of sight of the onlookers as I donned an outfit I hadn’t used in months.

It was supposed to be a joke! 

Haha, very funny!

Fucking Lance, I thought to myself as I donned the mask of Hero Black. I stepped out from behind Titan, ignoring how his shoulders were shaking with laughter. I leapt upwards.

I landed amidst a shouting match as Janine tried and failed to confiscate the transceiver.

The room fell silent at my arrival with even Janine going still.

I rose and exuded as much aura as I could making sure to make all of my actions deliberate.

“Citizens of Trovita!” I announced, relying on the mask to muffle my voice and disguise me further. “Have no fear, I am Hero Black of the international G-men! I have been working in close co-operation with my deputy Janine of Fuchsia!” I declared.

Janine gaped. She hadn’t been expecting this.

To be fair neither had I when I’d gotten out of bed an hour ago. 

“G-men?” asked an old man. 

I nodded seriously. “Indeed! As the government of the Orange Archipelago has become a signatory of the International police force there are certain units that can operate on a global scale.” I put a hand to my chest. “It is my duty and honour to safeguard you citizens!” 

“Woooooooow!” The kids in the crowd were eating it up. Some of them had huge eyes that practically radiated stars. 

The old men squinted at me. “How do we know you’re not just claiming to say that?” he asked.

I nodded and produced a flip wallet that had a picture of me, or rather my mask with details of my relevant identification along with my role next to a swanky looking police badge that was really just a shield featuring various government emblems. 

I’d thought Oak and Lance were pulling my leg but I’d still kept it.

Right now, it was working wonders as the man nodded. “Huh, he’s got a unit ID, and a handler to call with a number for both Indigo, and the Orange Islands…” He smirked and made a show of ringing it.

Man… this guy… I thought to myself. 

“Orange Police force Special Unit, how may I assist you?” answered a professional looking woman with a headset. Behind her was an array of other officers manning comms.

“The name is Travis of Trovita and I got a fella here claiming to be part of some G-men unit what’s that—”

“Please hold as I elevate you up the response ladder,” stated the woman.

Travis blinked, having not expected that at all. Moments later a much more serious-looking man.

“Chief of Police, which G-men unit is this and what’s the incident?” 

Travis looked poleaxed but I stepped forward. “Hero Black of Indigo G-men Police chief. My ten-twenty is the Trovita Island Pokemon centre. I’ve discovered and begun locking down a cavern underneath the pokecenter. Potential for Ten-eighty.”

The Chief’s eyes bulged as I subtly mentioned that an explosion was possible using police code while giving my location. 

“All available units are on their way!” he barked. “Expect a fast response there in two minutes!”

He threw himself to the side, forgetting to hang up. 

I reached out and hung up, holding back a sigh. Yup, this had just become a very big issue. 

Nurse Joy was twitching. “Did you say Ten-eighty?” she asked. 

I grimaced. Damn, of course she had some training on police code. I nodded and Nurse Joy whirled and slammed a fist into an emergency alarm. 

She turned back with the most plastic smile I’ve ever seen. “Thank you for coming to Trovita Pokemon Centre, please make an orderly exit!” she said only to reach out and began dragging people outside. 

The doors opened and the crowd that had been forming found themselves pushed out of the Pokecenter only for the Flash of arriving Teleports to herald the fast response Police. 

I whistled, damn that was an impressive response time. 

Janine worked with Nurse Joy and Chansey to start ferrying pokeballs out of the pokecenter along with any still injured pokemon. 

I pursed my lips. Hadn’t Rudy mentioned a lot of his pokemon were here due to there being so many fights earlier today?

Huh, woops, looks like Forrest and friends were going to have a delay on their Journey.

Sabrina hopped up next to me wearing her Hero Yellow outfit. 

“Hero Black,” she said, despite the mask I could see she was enjoying this.

“Hero Yellow,” I replied. I had to admit it was kind of silly to be an official G-men while in uniform like this.

More Teleports occurred and I turned to find myself staring into the lens of a camera as a local news channel began recording. 

I would have sworn but I doubt that would be considered appropriate for a member of the Hero squad.

“This… is going to be a long night,” I announced. Sabrina just nodded.

Maybe Superhero police don’t have to do paperwork?

[hr][/hr]

It turned out they did. Quite a bit more of it than what felt like was the standard but then again that might have also been due to the nature of what we’d found. 

Perhaps others might have been able to get away without doing paperwork but the local police chief had been extremely insistent that ‘Hero Black’ complete his paperwork. 

I’d gotten it done along with the testimonials on how we’d received the tip off. 

The sticking point had come when the police had worked out that I’d reached out to Janine first. The other Guardian Members we’d been able to hide but Janine sadly had been all too present in people’s minds with how she’d jumped up to confront the onlookers. 

Something that she was no doubt beating herself up over. 

By the time everything had been over and done with, Trovita Island had been completely locked down with inspectors and more G-men pouring in to look over the site.

The next morning saw me trying to sleep in only for an insistent ringing to drag me up to wakefulness. 

“Hmm?” I grunted as I answered the phone. “What’s up?” I asked.

“It’s horrible Brock! The Pokecenter got shut down last night and now we can’t face Rudy!” wailed Ash only for Forrest to shove his friend. 

“Get out of it Ash!” Forrest grumbled before huffing. “He’s not wrong though, looks like it’s going to take a few days for us to wrap things up here.” 

“Oh, that’s a shame, I was looking forward to your match,” I commented.

Forrest nodded. “Yeah, sorry about that, there’s a ton of rumours going around. Wish we’d stayed in the Pokecenter last night instead of the hotel.”

“Ah, shame,” I replied blandly. 

Forrest continued to nod. “Yeah, apparently two of the Hero unit were there. Black and Yellow. Ash and Misty were pretty bummed to miss out on meeting them.”

“Not you?” I teased with a smirk.

“Eh, they’re probably not that great if they’re just League police.”

“They might surprise you,” I said. 

Forrest grunted. “Hmmm, but it had me thinking you know? This stinks of Team Rocket, we haven’t bumped into them for ages now.”

That got a blink. Huh, Forrest had good instincts. In a way this was because of Team Rocket, albeit not in the way that you’d assume at first.

“Hmmm I’ll ask around, see what’s happening,” I said calmly. “What’s your plan for the next few days?”

“We’ll hunker down I think, see about training up our pokemon so that we win the coming challenge. With our timetable we pretty much have to win if we want to make it to Shamouti island this year.”

“Can’t just come back later?” I asked as two parts of me warred within myself. Part of me didn’t want them near what might be a major incident while another knew it was best to hedge my bets and keep the ‘Chosen One’ on hand. 

Forrest shook his head. “Nah, while there are tons that are queuing up for the Battle Frontier there has still been enough people drifting down here that there have been a lot of delays with getting into the various Gyms. Even with Ash and Misty leading us off course a ton,” he said only to get thumped by a pair of pillows.

“I resent that!” Misty growled. “No way I’m as bad as Ash!”

Forrest glanced at her only to begin ticking off his fingers. “The giant Magikarp, the goldeen troubling—as you insist on calling it—, the flock of Wingull, the island that was entirely barren but you had a good feeling about it only for there to be a bunch of glass blowers?”

I held back a cough at that. That sounded very familiar to me… ah, they’d found the island where I’d captured the Crystal Onix hadn’t they? Good thing I’d tipped off the local Glassblower so they hadn’t stumbled in there and attempted any of their canonical shenanigans.

Bianca had set things up to make the environment perfect for fostering further Crystal Onix so I did not need them stomping around wrecking it. 

“Huh, I hadn’t considered that. During the Gym Meeting we—” a pillowed thumped into the side of my head. I blinked and cast a surprised look Sabrina’s way only for her to grumble something about too early. 

I coughed. “I’ll talk to you later. We had a late night,” I said to Forrest. 

Forrest made a face. “Gross, I don’t want to know that.” he quickly hung up and it took me a moment to realise what he thought we’d been up to.

Eh, if that kept him off the scent then good. 

I lay back down only for my transceiver to begin ringing a moment later. 

I started reaching for it only for it to float away to another room where it fell quiet with a chirp.

“Sleep!” ordered Sabrina without moving her head. 

I lay back down, not at all bothered by the forceful command. 

It was a good idea. 

[hr][/hr] 

When we actually roused ourselves for the day ahead the sun was well and truly in the sky with lots of locals out and about setting up stalls and doing prep work for later in the week. 

Young kids were stalking around the island with rubbish bags and stabbing sticks to get the island looking as nice as possible.

I suspected the job was actually something off a cop out. They’d been given a job more to get them out from underfoot rather than needing the island clean. 

Orange Islanders as a rule were typically fastidious with not littering and keeping their areas clean. 

They, unlike Indigo residents, didn’t have space that could be converted into a dump.

Although listening to some of the rumours going around there was apparently an island of floating garbage somewhere around but there were also rumours of police boats that sought out such islands and broke them up for recycling centres.

Dumping in the Orange islands was a very big deal. 

That got me thinking. “How did any companies set up a secret facility without running into issues with the local dumping laws?” I asked.

Sabrina blinked. Then she blinked again. “That… hmmm, that would be an interesting angle to follow up on. They’d have to have done everything in house like Team Aqua no doubt did with their bases.”

“Hmmmm, I have to wonder if there isn’t a monitoring system for the islands or something else that we couldn’t tap into. Otherwise, we’re going to be sticking with rumours,” I replied.

“Nothing wrong with that. I happen to think that the rumours you uncovered with your talk with Dave might hold some promise.” She gave me a considerate look. “It’s unlike you to be so doubtful before we even begin looking. Is something the matter?” she asked.

I frowned. “Hmmm, not sure, just a feeling,” I replied.

“Well feelings and premonitions are my domain, so don’t start second-guessing yourself,” she stated as the coffee she’d been nursing slowly rose away from Kirlia who’d been trying to subtly steal it. 

Kirlia gnashed her teeth and grabbed up the last of the late breakfast we’d ordered with a growl. 

Sabrina barely batted an eye.

“You know Kirlia if you’d wanted some coffee you could have just asked and we’d order it for you,” I offered. 

“I wouldn’t,” Sabrina replied. “A hyperactive psychic is not something you want to deal with. Especially when they’re so young.”

I gave Sabrina another long stare. Hadn’t she been a young psychic drinking coffee during our journey?

A few moments where Sabrina had been slightly more erratic than usual suddenly gained a new context for me.

Sabrina narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think I like what you’re thinking.”

I raised my tea and took a smug sip. “Ah! You don’t know what I’m thinking.” And better yet, even if she could cold read me, she wouldn’t call me on it. 

Sabrina huffed and shook her head. “Shall we investigate those rumours today?” 

I nodded and wiped out the last of my own breakfast.

With that done I rose, accepted Sabrina’s hand and we vanished into another Teleport that saw us floating high above the first of the islands of interest.

Seven Grapefruit islands was the first.

We descended slowly and I tilted my head, pondering what the significance of this chain of islands had been in the cartoons. 

I started to spot multiple Butterfree only for them to twitch and begin moving in shimmering patterns that were somewhat nauseating to look at. 

“They’re treating us like they would Pidgeot, aren’t they?” I asked Sabrina.

“Makes sense, we’re coming from above them and typically the only pokemon that do that are flying types,” she replied. “They’re using Paralyze Powder with Confusion rather well. These are a well established group of butterfree.”

I hummed. Well established typically meant they only had a year or two more. Butterfree were pokemon that could become very strong naturally but that speed was synonymous with rapid decline.

A pink butterfree in the midst of a cluster of other butterfree caused me to blink. “Do the butterfree that come from Indigo find their way here?” I asked, indicating the pink butterfree.

Sabrina, who’d heard the first season in detail regarding Ash, Brock, and Misty’s canonical cartoon adventure, blinked. “It would appear so. Hmmm she’s certainly popular with the males of the kaleidoscope.”

“Apt group naming,” I mused. I began to channel dark energy to my eyes to negate the effects of the Confusion.

Sabrina swept her hand and all the pokemon facing us stiffened only to relax a moment later. 

“Establishing the pecking order?” I asked, noting how several of the Butterfree were cringing away.

Interestingly, the Pink Butterfree was tossing her head in a sign of aggression, but all of her suitors appeared to be wiser than attempting to win this challenge. Sabrina glanced in her direction and the Pink Butterfree jolted in fear before flying away quickly. 

“That’s what I thought,” Sabrina muttered. 

I chuckled and she glanced at me. I shrugged. “What? A thought from a Psychic can be deadly.”

Sabrina’s lips twitched and she nodded. We began moving about the islands, sweeping over them with the butterfree either ignoring us, or cowering at our passing. The fruit trees caused a memory to stir from within my mind.

“This is where Ash caught his Snorlax,” I said slowly.

“Hmmm? A snorlax?” she asked. 

I nodded, bringing out my transceiver and sure enough there was now a Snorlax in Ash’s listed pokemon roster, caught only a few days ago. 

“Huh, it’s kind of wild going back through these areas after Forrest and friends have been through them,” I murmured. 

I nodded towards a nearby facility that was clearly marked as Yummy Foods, a research branch of Pokechow. Sabrina made a face. “They’re legitimate,” she announced quickly. 

“What makes you say that?” I asked. 

“They’re not looking to gather foods from the island, but rather information from the Butterfree as they are highly sensitive to sweet foods. The researchers are here to monitor the trends of local fruit trees as they suspect there is a correlation between here and the mainland.”

I stared at Sabrina. “You got all of that and we’ve barely been here a minute?” I asked.

Sabrina coughed and looked away. “They’re running training sessions for new hires,” she confessed. “The lead researchers, and indeed everyone here are all working on the same idea with no areas that appear as blind spots to me.”

“Hmm so this site's a dead end then,” I suggested. 

Sabrina nodded and we vanished into another Teleport. Chances were our arrival had skewed today’s data somewhat but then again there wasn’t much we could do for that.

We arrived at another island that wasn’t listed on any maps we’d found. 

Arriving above them it quickly became obvious what was going on. 

“They’re actually tiny,” I replied, eying the island that could at best be considered ten metres wide, at best and that was with a low tide. The entire patch of island was also dominated heavily by what looked like interlocking mangroves that housed Mankey. 

Between the various chains of islands I could see the occasional Mankey leaping from one branch to get themselves as far as possible. Most of the time they made it to another tree branch. One of them got jostled however and found themselves dunked in the water. 

They came up screeching in rage, fighting with the water to get out and when they got to the root system they attacked their way upwards.

The fervour they used to escape the water was quickly proven to be the right move as a Carvanha leapt out of the water after them only to miss as Mankey swung around with a Karate Chop. 

Huh, interesting, a small ecosystem must have formed around the trees. 

I drew out my pokedex and began recording the area, zooming in the way the Mankey moved about. I tried to do my best David Attenborough impersonation speaking clearly and calmly, even as one Mankey fell to its doom amidst a pack of Carvanha.

“Alas, this Mankey would not make it,” I finished clearly. 

Kirlia looked a little green at the sight and turned her head away.

The documentation continued for a while with me inspecting the mangroves from various angles, noting the indicators on the trees that showed where the high tides ended and how the mangroves were essential for maintaining the island chain. 

I finished my video documentation with an idle observation. “Anyone building on these islands would quickly destroy the island due to erosion. The impact you may have will be felt greatly with a wide swath of trees being destroyed for ultimately no gain.” 

I clicked the pokedex off and nodded, pleased with myself. 

Sabrina, who’d been silently observing, shot me a raised eyebrow. “You forgot to wear your labcoat,” she teased, only for me to roll my eyes at her.

Oak and Elm would appreciate my documentary I felt. Huh, maybe that was something I could do? Create pokemon documentaries in the style of the Discovery Planet. 

I would have to make sure any footage that got distributed was family friendly but it was something of a niche that people would enjoy. Also schools would welcome the documentaries. 

A thought for later.

With a nod Sabrina once more Teleported us away.

Instantly I noticed a difference. 

Not with the island. The island was bland and unassuming.

Sabrina had gone perfectly still. 

“There are parts of this island that I can’t observe,” she announced, her eyes narrowing as Kirlia joined her in glaring towards the north.

“I’m sending a message to the other—” was as far as I got before missiles erupted out of the tree line.

“Murkrow flock!” I shouted, causing Sabrina to click her tongue in annoyance as a few Honchkrow also rose from the island to attack us.

Before any of the pokemon could get close Sabrina teleported us all a few kilometres away.

She glared at the island. “That seems a little convenient,” she said.

“Yeeeeah, Murkrow and Honchkrow can be bullies, but they’re not usually that territorial,” I replied. “They’re also not native to the Orange Islands, nor are they—”

Once again I found myself interrupted, only this time it came from the waters around the ocean. 

At set points all around the island tubes were shot into the air only to erupt in dark energies. 

“Anti-Psychic attacks! They’re filling the air!” Sabrina shouted in shock. 

Instead of attempting and failing to escape with Teleport Sabrina dove with us to land. We hit the beach at a run but kept moving. If this was enemy action and there was no doubt about that, then the worst place to encounter them would be—

“Hello Gym Leader Sabrina and Brock,” announced a dark haired woman wearing what could only be a Team Aqua uniform at the head of a team of Aqua grunts. Half her face was hidden with how her hair hung, but there was no missing the pleased smirk on her face.

Shelly of Team Aqua was here.

“Ha! Got em pinned!” boomed a voice from behind us and I spared a glance to see that a cadre of people in wetsuits were emerging from the surf with a giant of a man in their midst.

Matt of Team Aqua was a man who could make even Lt. Surge look small He certainly towered over the others with him.

So, that made two Administrators of Team Aqua and six grunts.

I shared a look with Sabrina. 

Well, we found ourselves some trouble, now we just had to handle it.

[hr][/hr] 

A.N. Thanks goes to my patreons for your continued support!

It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!