Hard Enough - Chapter 330 - Word had spread around

“So… I know you’re supposed to have a day off today.”

My pointed stare wasn’t very effective as Rocko merely slurped on his juice. 

“Yeah? And?” he jiggled his wrist. “We spread word among the Gym employees that you were going to be doing some battle with Lance.”

I hummed, neither confirming or denying it. 

Rocko smirked. “We know Lance stayed the night in Pewter rather than returning to the Plateau, so don’t try and pretend.” 

In the face of such mountain evidence I could only throw up my hands in exasperation. “Alright so I plan to smash the guy again using Regirock! I was trying to spare his feelings a little.”

“Heh, called it,” Rocko chuckled as I rolled my eyes. I finished laying out the feed into the troughs for my pokemon only to spot a few holes in said trough. “Hey! Which of you have been peeling back the rubber? I don’t want the Aron eating this metal! They get controlled diets for a reason!” I growled as I eyed the suspects. 

When a pair of Lileep crept away I returned them. They would have the poison type moves to dissolve some of the protective surface. I then turned my attention to the Aron pack only for them to bark furiously at me. 

I stared them down for a while and turned my attention to a very quiet Lairon that was keeping his head down. “No eating the metal troughs! They’re not even good metal! It’s junk metal!” I argued.

“Lair…on,” rumbled the large pokemon contritely. 

This extra hunger had me rubbing my brow in exasperation. All the pokemon were fed more than enough. Some of them could still be greedy however or enjoy eating what amounted to junk food. 

It was one of the reasons I couldn’t use nice rocks around the reserve. Sandstone or marble or anything like that would be slowly nibbled at by the various rock type pokemon until nothing but pebbles remained. 

“Might be about to lay an egg?” Rocko suggested. “She has been spending a lot of time building up a little cave and getting a touch territorial over it.”

“Ah, that would explain it,” I replied as I made a note to have Lairon monitored. Another Aron was always welcome. 

When I’d finished my morning jobs, I headed over towards the Elite training ground. Other trainers and employees of the Gym quickly filtered in. I hummed, knowing that they’d be in a lot more gander here than they would elsewhere. 

I directed Titan and Bertha to make up a rough section of raised earthwork for them that would serve with a slightly raised lip that could be ducked behind if rocks went flying. I’d positioned the stands off to the side and far enough away to give them lead time but to make things as safe as I could.

I also set Titan, Bertha, Selene, Knight, Empress, and Tide in front of the stands so they could block anything coming their way. 

I’d still not trust this set up to block anything like a directed Hyper Beam without one of my pokemon tanking it with Protect or a counterattack of some sort. 

Empress and Titan were the only two I thought that might be able to handle the attack head on, albeit with different moves. 

A screech of annoyance heralded Lance’s approach with Don attempting to harass him atop the Salamence he was riding, only for Lance to deftly ignore him by outspeeding Don.

Don didn’t take that lying down but by the time he caught up, Lance was slowing to land and I whistled. “Too slow Don! If you want a rematch you’re going to have to wait!” I called. 

Don grumbled and began circling us, waiting for Lance to be down. 

Lance smirked and tapped a pokeball on his belt without releasing it “Mind if my Aerodactyl has a go?” 

That got a reaction from both Don and Myself. We both locked eyes with Lance but Lance only had eyes for me. 

“You kept the news that your egg hatched quiet,” I replied. It seemed Lance had more in mind.

Lance just nodded. “The Blackthorn clan…” he paused and rethought what he was about to say only to sigh. “They’re good at covering up secrets.” His jaw clenched, and I just hummed. 

Sounded like Lance was still searching around for skeletons in closets. 

A morbid part of me was curious about how many he’d found from digging. I suspected that Kaede’s story of having her family vanish wasn’t the only case of Blackthorns wielding their power heavily. 

What they’d done, from what I’d heard of it, spoke of a system, or at least a confidence in getting away with something due to practice. 

“What gender? If it’s a girl Don might res—” 

“It’s a male,” Lance stated, cutting me off. He snorted. “I’ve perused some of the research articles you’ve posted regarding Aerodactyls based on what you’ve discovered from Don. His proclivity is something that I can confirm my own pokemon to possess.”

“Those poor birds,” I muttered as the sounds of a certain beach flashed through my mind. I shuddered. 

Lance coughed. “We have methods of controlling those urges. Mostly by keeping him contained to areas where only strong pokemon roost.”

“Yeah, good luck with that always being the case,” I replied knowingly. 

Lance gave me an unsure look but I just waved him off. He’d learn, eventually, just how bad Aerodactyl mating sessions could be. 

He snorted and waved a hand towards Don. “Shall we?” he asked.

A flash of annoyance washed through me at his dismissal. I suddenly felt much more justified in bullying him with any chance I got. “Sure thing, want to do this here?”

Lance coughed. “If possible I’d like to observe my pokemon and how it does naturally with the training I’ve so far imprinted on it.” 

“Alright, by all means.” I waved a hand and Lance tapped the release button on the pokeball resulting in an Aerodactyl appearing next to him on the ground.

Don responded to this challenge by screeching in rage, which had Lance’s Aerodacyl screeching back. 

I shot Lance a look. Releasing his pokemon on the ground was adding a distinct disadvantage to his pokemon from the start, especially a flying type. 

It would seem that facing off against a Legendary pokemon was far from the only objective on his list for today.

“Really going to kill my eardrums,” I murmured. “Take it over the plateau if you’re going to race and harass each other. No injuries!” I called. 

Lance’s pokemon flapped its wings to gain height only for Don to close on it, seeking to punish it straight out of the gate. I just shook my head. He was coming in too fast, too eager to punish the other pokemon. He was reacting and not thinking.

Lance’s Aerodactyl dodged the opening blow with an expert tuck and roll which allowed it to escape Don.

Don tucked and swung around, shaking his head and getting his focus back. 

Both pokemon wheeled away from us, leaving Lance and I to track them. 

I used my hand to shade my eyes and watched carefully. “Don’s got the advantage for speed,” I offered, pleased to see it. 

“Just give mine a moment to get his bearings, then we’ll see,” replied Lance as both pokemon began to bat and swat as they exchanged blows. 

Lance’s pokemon certainly sped up, but it was too little too late, with Don having a few advantages going into the match. Don was coming out the victor in a lot of the exchanges with tighter swats and more punishing kicks to his foe’s body.

Rather than be annoyed or disheartened, Lance looked pleased. 

A thought occurred to me. “Your Aerodactyl has been a bit too proud for its own good hasn’t it? This isn’t about winning or losing, it’s about humbling your pokemon in a controlled setting.”

Lance nodded. “That and I want to see how he holds up against yours. Our training styles are going to be greatly different. I can see that your pokemon favours shorter exchanges while I will often have my pokemon flying endurance for patrols. If I want to get him into a better fighting trim, I will have to ramp up the power he can produce.” 

I hummed. “Don’t forget to work his ground game as well. Close patterns and low flight patterns.” 

“Yes, I’ve shown him the videos that exist of your pokemon using rocks to evade and counter attack.” 

Don eventually battered his foe into the ground. He flew past with a laughing shriek and turned with an evil glint in his eyes. 

I was about to call him off when Lance raised a hand to forestall me. “My pokemon isn’t done,” he stated. 

I blinked and looked around to find his pokemon still in the crater with its eyes shut tight. “That… Roost? Or Rest?” I asked, understanding what was about to happen. 

It was most likely Roost and this was an adaptation of Lance’s known strategy where he recovered strength and used Sleep Talk to defend and attack where possible.

Don swept around only to tuck and roll to the side as a barrage of rocks hurtled up to him. He stilled and narrowed his eyes when he opened his maw and a powerful energy ball began to form. I whistled, calling him off. 

“It’s your win Don!” I shouted. 

He settled, and his ego was restored from the earlier loss to Salamence on speed. 

I waved for him to head off and rest and he did that. 

A few moments later, Lance’s Aerodactyl opened its eyes only to glance around in confusion. Lance approached it and explained what had happened causing it to growl in annoyance. 

Lance murmured a few more words to it and I spotted it giving him a defiant glare only for Lance to lock eyes and have it cowed a moment later.

Huh, so that was what it was like to see a Dragon master lock eyes with one of his pokemon when they got belligerent. 

Lance raised his pokemon’s pokeball in a controlled manner and made sure to clearly give the order even as he activated the recall feature. “Aerodactyl, return!” 

His pokemon bowed its head towards Lance but shot Don an annoyed look. I chuckled. Once again Don was racking up rivals.

I pushed the idea towards Don and a surge of glee was the response as Don wiggled in delight. 

Of course, he’d love the idea of having a guaranteed opponent to grind into the dust. 

It would be doubly good for him, considering it was another of his own species, even if it was technically his son he was beating up. 

Dusting off my hands, I indicated the field. “Right, so we're going to do what we actually came here for?” I asked. 

Lance smirked and locked eyes with me and suddenly I knew it was on. My heart began to thump in my ears as my instincts flared to life. 

Here was a challenger. 

I reached for the pokeball on my pokebelt. “Don’t regret this,” I warned seriously. 

Lance just grinned back at me. “I’m more than ready for this,” he declared, sweeping his arm about and sending out his Salamence. 

Well, that was rather telling for what Lance planned to do with this match. Lance received a very pointed look from me to let him know I knew what he was planning. He didn’t flinch. I shrugged. Well if he wanted to commit, that was on him.

I flicked Regirock’s pokeball out. “Regirock! Prepare to face a challenger!” I shouted, pushing a much greater urgency into my aura towards Regirock. 

Lance wasn’t a foe I could take lightly and I sure as hell didn’t want him to get the idea he could fight one of the strongest pokemon I had in my roster, even if I’d only just captured said pokemon. 

Regirock appeared on the field with a heavy thump and his eyes flicked on and off as quiet beeps chimed out of the Legendary pokemon.

Lance grinned. 

I tamped down on my rising battle lust. “Lance, remember not to be in the blast range!” I warned

Lance adopted a more serious expression, his eyes flicking to where employees of the gym, my family and a few notable researchers had slipped into the protected area. 

A glint from a few people in the stands let me know they were recording this match but I pushed them mostly from my awareness. 

“Regirock! Stone edge! “ I shouted, my hand shooting up at Salamence who was rising into the air and taking a position that would see it hiding in the light of the sun. 

Regirock didn’t flinch at staring into the sun though. I wasn’t sure if that was due to the multiple sets of eyes, or a quirk of its physiology but it worked in my favour as Regirock swung its arm through the ground and a wave of rock shot into the sky. 

Lance responded by thrusting a fist into the air and the light caught on something on his wrist. 

“Salamence! Mega Evolve!” he roared and from somewhere within the light of the sun a dragon roared and a rainbow exploded. 

Rocks that had been previously threatening to make this match a one hit knockout were sent hurtling through the air like asteroids. 

My fists tightened. Theoretically, Lance had just narrowed the gap, if not potentially overtaken Regirock on stats. I had no doubts that Regirock should have been much stronger due to its role as a Guardian of the tree of Beginning for literal centuries, but that would count for less than it normally would here and now. 

Lance was about to bring a whole different level of power against it. 

“Lock On!” I commanded, knowing that we had to make each swing from here on out count. 

Lance twitched at that command. Heh, he probably thought he was going to sweep me with strafing and bombing attacks. 

Sorry Lance, this pokemon knew how to play at turret defences before I had even captured it. 

“Stone Edge!” I bellowed.

“Outrage!” replied Lance with a roar. 

Salamence shot from the sky, a blinding streak of blue and red that slammed into Regirock head on.

Regirock countered with a swing of his arm, slamming the huge limb into Salamance’s face.

The field erupted as a shockwave rippled out sending debris flying. Rocks that had been loosened from Regirock’s earlier attack were suddenly hurtling through the air. 

I batted two away while keeping my focus on Regirock. 

“Go again!” I bellowed only for the order to be lost in the noise of shattering earth and roaring of Salamence as it attacked again and again with Outrage coming into effect.

I pushed forward with my aura causing it to pulse outwards until my intent washed over Regirock. “Stand and Fight!” I roared with my lips and spirit and Regirock’s eyes brightened as Regirock responded. 

It swung its arms, clubbing at Salamence, causing the roars to turn into snarls as Salamence bit down on Regirock’s shoulder to stop one limb while the other was held in place by Salamance’s limbs. 

Damn, Lance had obviously worked on it to keep a lot of its instincts, if it was fighting like this! It would have been all wrath and blind power but instead it was calculating and exact in where it was targeting. 

Lance had forced things into close range with how Salamence was wrapping itself around Regirock. 

I gave our surroundings a quick look over just to make sure things were clear. Then I swallowed and projected my aura to give out the next command as loudly as I could. 

“Regirock! HYPER BEAM!” I roared. 

Regirock responded.

The only warning Lance had was a brief flash of light and then Salamence was blown away. It flew through the air born upon the Hyper Beam. 

The attack carried the powerful pokemon so far it would have been called out of bounds three times over in a regulation match. 

The beam finally cut out after what felt like an eternity with Salamence crashing to the ground and skidding along the earth sending up yet more rocks. 

When it came to rest Salamence didn’t raise its head or offer any more resistance. 

Lance and I both watched it carefully. 

Regirock chirped a few times and straightened up but otherwise remained still, like an automation waiting for the next input. 

I whistled in surprise. Damn, that had been… something. 

I swallowed. “Stand down Regirock,” I called as Lance sprinted towards his pokemon, a pair of potions appearing in his hands. As he reached Salamence the Mega evolution vanished in a flash of light and Salamence was revealed in its normal form. 

It looked extremely banged up, like it had.. Well just come off second best against a Legendary pokemon.

I gave Regirock a look over, noting that while it had come out the winner, it hadn’t come out unscathed. A large fracture was in Regirock’s right shoulder along with there being several gouges where Salamance’s claws had dug into it.

Huh, that fight was much closer than it appeared. I stepped up and began spraying Regirock over as Chansey, who’d been watching from the stands, hurtled across the field.

Her little arms pumped aggressively and when she reached Salamence she skidded to a halt only to raise up a glowing pink orb of healing energy that it slammed into the downed pokemon’s chest. 

Salamence twitched and its eyes shot open only for it to groan in pain and curl up on itself. 

Lance said something to Chansey but she grabbed him by the shirtfront and dragged him in close. 

“Lance? Chansey? Is everything alright over there?” I called as I stepped away from Regirock and prepared to help… Well one of them. I wasn’t quite sure who though.

Chansey released Lance and sniffed but returned to administering Salamence. 

Lance sighed. “No, we’re good now. I was just a bit surprised with how… Forceful your Chansey was in helping out. I think she’s got Salamence in a better place,” he admitted. 

“Yeah, sorry about her. And sorry about blowing your pokemon away like that, haven’t been able to moderate Regirock’s Hyper Beams just yet,” I admitted. 

Lance huffed. “Do not be apologetic for defeating me once more Brock. It was a good learning opportunity. I was too reliant on speed and power. I was blind to the threat of closing in with a Legendary offer, as I thought I had it contained with its arms locked down… I hadn’t accounted for where other attacks might originate and that cost Salamence.”

Lance bowed his head down. “I’m sorry Salamence, you did magnificently, it was my failure.”

Salamence observed Lance for a few seconds only to rumble something in response. It ducked its head and nuzzled at Lance’s chest in a comforting manner which caused Lance to chuckle. 

Chansey stepped away at that and nodded to herself. “Chansey Chanse! Chanse Sey!” She ordered, stabbing her fin like arm at Lance before scoffing and marching away. 

Both of us watched her approach Regirock much more carefully and heal the Legendary pokemon much more delicately. 

“I’m sensing a difference in her level of care,” Lance stated with a raised eyebrow. 

I coughed. “Well what can I say, each being has a few personality quirks, no? Chansey is just like that sometimes!” 

Lance narrowed his eyes and I avoided his gaze instead flicking over to watch the various interested parties who’d been observing the match.

A few of the Gym trainers were waving their arms in excitement while my own family looked extremely pleased. The researchers like Oak, Bianca and Stephen were all peering at what looked like a pokedex that was replaying the fight. 

I was able to catch a few snippets of conversation. “—seriously one of the best perks of working with Brock! He has these secret matches with high tier Elite trainers that people never even hear about! Like the Rocket Raids or when Sabrina comes to train! Or even the match the other day against his dad!” gushed one of the trainers. 

“See I told you Regirock was going to win!” declared Billy while Tilly stood at his side, nodding emphatically. Flint just grinned at them and shot me a wink. 

Meanwhile, Oak was pointing at something. “See here! You can see an increase in speed of at least a fifth of what it was! If that correlated to power, then Mega-Salamence is easily twenty percent stronger from its evolution!” 

I tilted my head at that last comment. From what I could remember of Salamance's stats when it Mega evolved, it mostly gained speed and defense, which against Regirock had certainly come in handy. I doubt it would have lasted as many hits as it had without those boosts. 

“You going to let the scientists run some tests on your pokemon?” I asked, nodding my head towards the trio. 

Said trio must have heard me as their heads creaked upwards like horror villains. Their gazes, zealous and demanding shifted from me to Lance.

Lance scoffed. “I don’t want to have that information shared around, especially with scientists that you’re so friendly with.” 

I hummed, rather amused that I was one of the people that perhaps had the best idea of how powerful Salamence became. 

The trio inched closer. I could already see them forming arguments in their minds to sway Lance. 

Lance noticed as well. “I also already entered into an agreement with Elm’s Laboratory for that sort of thing. I can’t allow other scientists to poach his data,” he announced.

“Tch!” all three scientists clicked their tongues only for Stephen and Oak to glance at Bianca.

“Aren’t you with Elm?” Stephen asked.

“Nah, I have a deal to share information with him but I don’t have access to stuff like that. Anyway, I’m about to have my own Lab!” she announced as she wrapped an arm around Stephen. “You can base yourself out of there cause I know you prefer working in the field!” 

Stephen looked pleased with this arrangement. Oak cleared his throat pointedly. 

Bianca waved a negligent hand at him. “You can be an intern for us,” she joked as she waved a hand back to the Gym where the trio could relax. Salvadore broke away from our family to join them, acting as their actual intern. 

“That kid is going to have a scary good resume when he eventually applies for university,” I murmured. Lance nodded in agreement as Salamence stood and took a few tentative steps only to grimace. 

“Here Salamence, return for now and we’ll get you resting up at home for a while. You’ve earned it.” 

With Salamence returned I waved a hand towards Regirock. “Nice work Regirock! Fight’s over. You want to do anything?” 

Regirock’s eyes blinked slowly only for it to turn slightly and observe my family. Billy and Tilly were quick to wave it over, chalk seemingly magically appearing in their hands. 

I chuckled as a few of my pokemon dutifully marched over for ‘makeovers’. 

“There's always something interesting going on around here.” Lance rubbed at his jaw while watching my family begin playing with my pokemon. 

“Your family ever just play around with your pokemon?”

“I only have a few younger cousins and none of them would dare. Dragons are held as sacred in Blackthorn City. If they wish to play with a dragon they must raise their own, but many see merely playing with them as frivolous and likely to lead to a spoiled Dragon.” 

Lance winked at me. “They’ve long since been proven wrong but they still like to grumble.”

“Huh, isn’t that just an old person hobby at this point?” I asked, reaching into my pouch and drawing out some soda for us to both enjoy. 

Lance accepted his with a nod of thanks. He sighed. “You would think I would have learned better than to attempt to take you and your pokemon on in a straightforward battle,” he commented. 

I shrugged. “Eh, nothing wrong with it. It has its own charm and there wouldn’t be many that could handle what amounts to a meteor dropping on them. Give your Salamence some more time and I think it will be a nightmare to deal with once it grows. You’ve only had it, what? A year or so?” 

Lance nodded. “A little bit more than that but I feel he is more than ready to fight in my team, him and a few others I have taken on recently.” 

“Ooooh Mysterious,” I teased. 

Lance chuckled. “Nothing quite so. You’d be able to make some educated guesses, I’m sure.” He shot me a look. “I could certainly do with a certain incl—” 

I held up my hands in an X. “Nope! Not happening! If Gible ends up mating with a Ditto then I might consider giving you an egg but it’s going to cost you.”

“Well I can be patient then. Worse come to worse, I can always go on a diplomatic tour of the trinity nations. Or perhaps I can assign myself some border patrol duties and happen to venture north. Who knows what I might find?”

“Hoping to find a tucked away region with tons of dragon types or something?” I suggested. 

Lance nodded. “It worked for you. I see no reason why it wouldn’t for myself.”

I nodded. “It might at that,” I replied. “Give it a shot. Who knows what is out there just waiting to be discovered?” 

Lance chuckled at my upbeat attitude. “Rota was certainly good for you,” he commented.

“Well I can only agree with that.” I nodded towards Regirock and smiled. He alone would have made Rota a smashing success.  

The sound of loud beeps and orders being barked caused Lance to glance towards the Gym. “More construction? I knew you were building a laboratory for your expanded reserve but what are you adding to the Gym now?” he asked.

“Oh, no, that’s repairs. I tested Regirock’s Hyper beam and another attack he has in his arsenal in the stadium.” I chuckled. “It destroyed the barrier and forced the safety feature to activate.”

“Oh,” Lance blinked in surprise. “That was rather reckless of you.”

That got a shrug out of me. “I wanted to know, and now I know without a doubt that Regirock can’t be used in a Gym challenge or even a regular match.” 

“Until the deal with Unova goes through anyway,” Lance said.

I tilted my head. “Uhm, why would that matter?”

Lance twitched. “Oh, you hadn’t realised? Brock, they fight full six-on-six battles with twelve pokemon on the field at once. For any objective viewership, the barriers on such facilities would need to be much more powerful than anything we possess.”

I blinked. “That… makes a lot of sense. I just hadn’t really thought it through. I suppose all the trinity nations have that?” I asked. 

“Indeed, it would seem that necessity has driven innovation for them,” Lance commented. “It’s not all one way however as we have better ships and transport due to our own innovations into the field with the Archipelago nation and Hoenn requiring so much travel to move about. There has been a good deal of back and forth,” Lance said. 

“Woah look at you being good at your job,” I teased. 

Lance smirked. “I happen to think I am very good at my job,” he stated. 

I hummed and observed my team. “You know I wouldn’t mind trying my hand at an Unovan style war-battle.”

Lance blinked. “Huh, you know Clair said much the same to me the other day. Would you be interested in doing a promotion for both Gyms? We could host it at the Plateau.”

“I don’t know, I might be busy,” I suggested, knowing I’d need to keep a certain weekend fast approaching clear. 

Lance waved a hand. “We can work out the timings.”

“Ah in that case I’d like that. It would be nice to make a clean sweep of this generation of Blackthorn Dragonmasters,” I said with a blank expression.

Lance nodded only to twitch as he caught on to what I was saying. He llevelleda finger at me, “Listen here you smug prick I’m not taking those words lying down!” 

“Eh? But aren’t they the truth?” I declared with a smirk.

Lance narrowed his eyes and reached for the ball attached to a necklace. 

I just grinned. I could go another round easily. “Should I use Titan or one of my other pokemon?” I asked smugly. 

Lance clicked his tongue but then I paused. “Actually want to do some training with me?” I asked as I spotted a small land shark-dragon.

Lance followed my gaze and perked up. “That would be something I’d be interested in, yes,” he replied. 

And so we spent the next hour working with Gible and his Draco Meteor, something that quickly had Lance roaring with laughter. 

“No! No! You don’t just fire it off like it’s an artillery shot! It needs to be roared and projected!” he declared as he leaned back and puffed his chest out. “Then, imagine the energy radiating outwards like a blooming flower!”

Gible nodded along and tried Lance’s method. It made an immediate difference that Draco Meteor did not fail for the first time in weeks. 

Lance smirked. “There, that’s better. Now do it a few thousand times and you’ll get better at it. Also, watch some of my matches as there are more than one way to project Draco Meteor!”

I thanked Lance for the tips and he departed with a swish of his cape no doubt feeling better having given me some pointers with my little dragon. 

Before Lance departed he directed a stern gaze towards me. “No videos of our match are to be spread around.” I nodded at the demand easily and he relaxed only to shoot me another suspicious glare. “Or memes. No memes!” he snapped.

I raised my hand. “Alright, alright.”

“Good, well I guess I will see you soon for the Gym Leader Meeting.”

I made a face. “Damn I’d forgotten about that,” I replied. “I was hoping it was going to be called off with the Trinity Nations' emergence.”

Lance snorted. “Please, if anything, it just became more important with their reveal. Indigo needs to be united and strong going forward and that starts with the Gym Leaders meeting.”

I just waved him off. I did need to meet another Gym Leader in fact. 

Hopefully Falkner would react better than Bugsy had when I’d offered him his Mega stone.

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

For those curious the last meeting with Gym Leaders happened in chapter 294! Some things from then will be returning to the fore!

Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!