Hard Enough

Hard Enough - Chapter 306 - Ressurection renewals

It had sounded pretty simple when Lance had asked.

Just a simple demonstration of the Resurrection Technology that Crowley used for the various ancient pokemon that we’d been able to amass thanks to his efforts.

Crowley’s efforts had become twice as important after Blaine’s departure from the scientific scene. The man had stripped all of Cinnabar labs of any intellectual property along with samples and hardware.

While he hadn’t been able to spirit away all of the lab technicians, they were nothing when the true brain of the Cinnabar lab was Blaine himself.

Sadly, the man had a criminal record that would guarantee that he was either locked away for life or he would be quietly relocated and set to work under extensive guard.

It was meant to be a demonstration for Cynthia and other representatives of the Trinity Nations.

I’d gotten around to talking with a few Government agents and apparently the deal had been raised a whole ten minutes prior to Steven Stone bursting into the room and railroading the discussion between the delegations.

There had been a lot of interest in it initially, but the specifics hadn’t exactly been ironed out as much as I might have liked.

For instance, meeting Cynthia?

That was something I very much wanted. Doubly so after she’d been drawn into my family’s drama. I wanted… no I needed to know how friendly she was with Lola. Lola had been almost respectful towards Cynthia compared to the other two revealed Champions.

That had to mean something.

Sadly it wasn’t going to be a one on one meeting in private like it might have been if our Jet had been able to break some air-speed records.

With this being a proper formal diplomatic meet and greet, the Mayor had to be involved along with several local Councilors. Sabrina’s appearance had raised a few eyebrows until Sabrina had pointedly looked at them and they’d decided to not voice their complaints.

On our side Looker slipped into our own delegation almost without anyone noticing his appearance. I noted that Jennifer had clocked him though.

I imagined that he was here to make sure things were kept honest.

His presence made a lot of sense to me.

What I hadn’t accounted for was that Cynthia wouldn’t be the only Champion interested.

Diantha arrived alongside Cynthia and a few other delegates.

Seeing both the Sinnoh and Kalos Champions marching towards me, I was suddenly feeling very out of my depth and thankful that Sabrina was with me.

“Greetings from Sinnoh!” Cynthia stated the instant she drew close.

She quickly stepped to the front of the group and offered a shallow bow. “Thank you for agreeing to show us your Resurrection facility! Also, personally, I must thank you for hosting me at your home as you did.”

“Oh? Uhmmm don’t mention it,” I said quickly.

Here and now wasn’t the best place to raise the particular issues that had resulted from that, so I instead waved the comment away but Cynthia wasn’t done.

“In Sinnoh it is customary to offer the host a gift for visiting a home upon your second return to said home to show that you enjoyed your time there!” She extended a box with a ribbon on it that caused me to blink.

“As Gym Leader of Pewter I understand you consider the City to be yours,” she said sincerely.

“O-oh, that’s certainly very thoughtful of you,” I said, accepting the rather large box.

“I particularly liked your Volcano!” she declared with a pleased smile.

I nodded. “Oh, good. I can’t say I built that for guests, though.” I mentally cringed at what I’d said before deciding to forge ahead. “Uhmmm, was I supposed to offer a gift back to you?” I asked, floundering at how things had shifted.

This hadn’t been part of the briefing I’d received!

Cynthia shook her head. “Not at all! You provided the lodgings and therefore shelter.”

Cynthia shifted and put a hand to her cheek in a rather cute show of embarrassment. “This gift-giving… It’s not considered fashionable these days, but thanks to my efforts, it’s becoming more popular! Just one of the old traditions I’m hoping to restore!” she said with an earnest joy.

I nodded, unsure what else to say before turning my attention to the gift. I decided to set it aside for the moment. I should keep things on track.

Cynthia’s eyes tracked the box for a moment as her lips thinned, only for her to shake herself slightly.

I was just about to question her reaction when the other Champion who had joined today’s demonstration clicked her tongue.

“Tch! I’m not surprised,” said the Champion of Kalos.

I stiffened and shot her a look. “Is something the matter?”

“You shouldn’t discard a gift like that,” she replied primly. We locked eyes for a moment only for her to pointedly break it by looking me up and down. “But then again I shouldn’t have expected much I suppose.”

I gave her a fixed smile. “In Indigo we don’t ignore guests in favour of material objects,” I stated firmly. “We also believe it’s impolite to start critiquing others without first conducting introductions.”

I laid a hand on my chest. “I’m Brock, Gym Leader of Pewter City, CEO of Megarock Inc. and—”

Diantha tossed her head. “I do not require the trivial titles you have draped upon yourself! I am Diantha, Champion of Kalos, and Grand Duchess of Dore.”

I nodded appreciatively which apparently was the wrong action as she bristled. “You… Urgh! Who am I trying to fool? You have no idea what that means do you?”

I hummed, in thought. I could be deliberately obstinate and shrug, but I had actually been given a primer that had been shared prior to this meeting.

Dore was one of several duchies within Kalos. While the title was mostly ceremonial there was still a sizable amount of land that was directly owned by the Duke, or Duchess of the region.

Diantha, as a Grand Duchess would have been directly beneath Royalty before the World war. Apparently one of the reasons Kalos had stopped fighting other nations had been a rather swift civil war that saw the beheading and deposing of the last King due to the ‘sign of heaven’s favour’ being stripped from him.

That was the main historical reason listed anyway for why a peasant uprising had bestirred itself to rise up.

The actual sign of ‘Divine disfavour’ in this case had been Yveltal flying over the palace and unleashing a torrent of destruction within moments of its appearance.

There was also some context assigned to ranks of nobility being possible to earn should one perform well enough at something called the Battle Chateau, which apparently opened its doors once every two years. To advance in ranks however you had to basically oust someone from a higher seat with there only being a limited number of each position.

There was also a points system that I had only just started to read over when the delegation had arrived.

One thing that had stood out to me was that to be able to even attempt a battle, a Duke or Duchess rank was required a cumulative total of almost four hundred and fifty points while a Grand Duke or Duchess had required another thousand on top of that.

Diantha, therefore, had to face a lot of challenges to earn herself that title.

“I do, actually. I had the chance to read some of the historical contexts of your titles and they were rather impressive but then you jumped in on me,” I said.

Next to me Sabrina sniffed. “As hosts of this event we shall forgive this faux-pas as that of a child blundering in an unfamiliar setting and not formally declare your behaviour across the local media as some of your customs dictate.”

Everyone in the Trinity Nations delegation blinked in surprise at that as Sabrina pointedly drew her hand up to adjust a stray strand of hair.

I bit my lip to stifle a chuckle at their expressions as Sabrina raised an eyebrow. “I read the cultural package they prepared. Your nobles can be rather petty, but I suppose that comes with some of them being hereditary inheritors of their ranks. They need to find their own entertainment, no?” Sabrina tapped her chin.

“I might have to recommend my Alakazam picks up some sociology texts and look into it. I can’t say we in Indigo have any nobles anymore,” she said, ignoring how she’d just demolished Diantha.

Sabrina put her hand on my shoulder. “Technically your family used to be nobility before Lola renounced her titles, not that it mattered as a few years later all of Indigo’s peerage were either dead or stripped of titles.”

I shot Sabrina a raised eyebrow. Why was she bringing that up now? The stripping of peerage titles usually also came with other benefits but that wasn’t something that Diantha was going to understand or approve of.

Sabrina flicked her eyes towards Diantha and I spotted that the Kalosian champion was stunned by this revelation.

Oh. Sabrina was breaking her world view. Heh, nice.

Before anyone could fully comprehend what Sabrina had done, I laced my hand through hers and smiled as charmingly as possible.

“This is Sabrina, Gy—”

“His fiancée,” Sabrina said, cutting my listing of her titles short as she wiggled her fingers, demonstrating her engagement ring.

Cynthia and Diantha’s gazes zeroed in on the rock and Diantha seemed to leap at the new, safer topic. “Congratulations!” she declared, giving Sabrina an appraising look.

“I’ll say! Damn that’s a beautifully carved Megastone! One of the nicest I’ve seen!” Cynthia gushed as Sabrina preened.

I hummed noting that she’d just revealed that she had seen multiple Mega Stones before. I spared a glance towards the other delegates who introduced themselves as researchers and aides to professors in Kalos, Unova and Sinnoh.

I got to watch as the Mayor and a few local Councilors were introduced, and Jennifer was beaming like a loon from atop her Arcanine.

Cynthia was charming to everyone, while Diantha… Diantha was like a prickly cactus that was thrown into a dress shop.

Her metaphorical thorns seemed to catch on any stray thread of conversation, and she clearly wanted to take umbrage, but after Sabrina’s statement, she’d pulled her barbs back and seemed more thoughtful.

I was about to formally introduce Detective Looker, but the man waved me off, more than happy to ‘fly under the radar’ as it were. I nodded and led the group towards the facility we’d created for Crowley.

We’d decided to ‘formally’ meet the group within the local government building, and naturally, word had spread about the announcement. Most likely, a staffer had accidentally sent it to the various news channels at a senior politician’s tap of the nose.

“Champion Cynthia! Are you worried about being challenged?” called one reporter as microphones were thrust in her direction.

“What brought you to Pewter?”

“Are you single?”

“What’s Sinnoh thinking about pokemon exports?”

“What does Sinnoh bring to the rest of the world?”

That and more questions were shouted from the desperate reporters.

Cynthia merely smiled and nodded to the cameras with the air of someone that had long gotten used to being in front of a horde of cameras.

Next to her Diantha scowled. I was starting to wonder how this woman had been included in a diplomatic mission with how prickly she was. It was a question that was rather growing in importance to me.

Cynthia, proving herself to be a consummate professional made a sign for quiet and began what sounded like a vetted speech about the hopes of the Trinity Nations and promoting international unity and cohesion. The rediscovery of more regions was a blessing and how she was personally blessed that it had happened within her lifetime.

“—these might be turbulent times but they are also times with much to offer to those that extend their hands in friendship! The People of Pewter have been at the forefront of international friendship with Lola and her family leading the way for our nations to reunite!”

I grimaced at the phrasing she’d used but kept my mouth shut.

Cynthia smiled winningly. “There is much that our nations can offer each other! For now, I hope to resume my exploration of Indigo ingenuity!” She smiled at our group and gestured for me to lead the way which I did easily.

The crowd applauded and cheered her words. I had to give it to Cynthia, she was a natural at this.

As soon as I thought that, I noticed that immediately as she turned her back to the cameras, she exhaled and relaxed.

Hmmm, it might come naturally, but it wasn’t something she enjoyed.

A tap on my hand had me glancing towards Sabrina. “Hmm?” I asked.

Sabrina inclined her head towards Diantha. “I think she is envious of Cynthia. She seemed a bit more put out when Cynthia stepped forward.”

I huffed. “Probably a good thing she didn’t. People prefer honey to vinegar,” I said, earning an amused laugh from Sabrina.

Our group made our way through the streets of Pewter and Cynthia visibility perked up as she spotted the various signs that indicated we were closing in on the museum.

“Oh! Does he work out of there?” she asked, bouncing along like a child with each step closer she took.

“Ahhh, well, he used to,” I said, turning right at the last intersection. Cynthia stood rooted on the spot, her eyes locked on the museum clearly visible at the end of the street.

“Wait for me,” she whispered, her hand reaching out dramatically.

Diantha rolled her eyes as she took Cynthia’s arm in hers. “You’re making us look bad, stop it.”

“No! I have my passions just as you have yours and I’m not going to be shy about them!” Cynthia declared.

The site for the resurrection facility was a little further along the street. Before we could enter, we had to pass through a guarded gateway surrounded by several guards. We were each checked over seriously.

I greeted each guard by name having been here on numerous occasions. I was glad that they still went through the checks with me, we were quickly through the first barrier and into the small open area that housed several pens.

Most of the pens were full of Lileep which drew everyone’s attention.

“There’s so many of them!” Diantha looked shocked. “You’ve had this much success in finding old fossils?”

I waved my hand. “The process that Dr Crowley uses has been shown to have greater efficacy with grass type pokemon compared to other kinds. He’s been narrowing down on it but there are still failures.”

I led them past the pens of Lileep and found the less populated pens to be just as interesting as I caught sight of three Kabuto, four Omanyte, and an Anorith.

An aide passed by. “Ah! Gym Leader Brock! We’ve just gotten these specimens decanted from the samples that Gym Leader Pryce sent through! We were preparing them for transport!” he stated proudly.

“Excellent work,” I said before gesturing to our guests. “Perhaps you’d like to talk through these pokemon to our guests,” I stated and the man happily began chattering away about the work he did and how successful things were.

I stepped back and observed. The Foreign delegation’s interest perked up when the man gestured towards me. “One of the evolved forms of the Kabuto, a Kabutops was used in Brock’s battle against Champion Lance most effectively and he has continued to feature in Brock’s strongest team.”

Diantha tilted her head. “Strongest team?”

“Yeah, you know, like I need to have a team for Trainers that challenge my gym with no badges, while others need to be built up. My strongest team is known as my Elite team. I run a special challenge for young trainers who want greater prestige by allowing them to fight one of my Elite pokemon against their entire team,” I stated.

This drew some surprised murmurs and Cynthia gave me an impressed look. “That’s a solid approach to the issue of younger, less experienced trainers facing you.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from NovelBin; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“In Kalos you are simply expected to field your best and prove your worth!” declared Diantha.

I snorted. “Yeah that’s a lovely idea, but it flies out the window when you have over two to three thousand challengers during a regular season.”

Sabrina shivered dramatically. “So many challengers,” she said.

Both Cynthia and Diantha blinked. “Is that… normal for you? To face so many?”

“Hmmm,” I said thoughtfully. “Last season was definitely a bit of an outlier with Hoenn, Johto, Kanto, and even some youths showing up from the Archipelago region to face me, but I doubt we’ll have such a surge for at least another…. Three years at least? There were a lot of factors involved, but steps are being taken to moderate things,” I said, not really wanting to point out how much I had contributed to hyping up Kanto and contributing to the surge.

Diantha continued to stare. “How many would you usually face in a year?”

“About a thousand?” I glanced at Sabrina only for her to make a gesture that it was typically more. I shrugged. “Less than two thousand. I don’t have my figures in front of me for the last few years.”

Diantha stared at me. “So many? In Kalos, we have at most a few hundred challenges at the Gyms.”

I snorted. “Wow, that sounds like a slow season.” I shot Sabrina a look. “I think we can expect at least a thousand next season?”

“Easily,” she replied.

She began toying with a rock in the Anorith pen, only for the leaping bug types to attack it. “I project that we will slowly see more and more trainers each season as our population continues to grow. As more people secure employment, there are also better chances for young trainers. While things were rough for young trainers this year, there is going to be a shot in the arm for trainers that will have ripple effects for years to come due to the economy,” Sabrina stated.

We both pretended to watch the rock while secretly smiling at each other as the two Champions shared worried looks.

“How many Gyms are there in… Indigo?” Cynthia asked.

“Huh? Oh, twenty at the moment?” I said, glancing at Sabrina. “There were some issues with some that didn’t… meet standards.” I said sticking to the ‘party line’ on what we were mentioning to Champions. If they wanted to follow up on it they could but that was for someone else. In a way, it was true just… it was a bit misleading.

Less awkward than saying they were criminals, though.

“The Gyms had to shut their doors and are still being reworked or moved to different cities,” I said.

“Moved to different cities?” exclaimed Diantha. “If it were suggested that the Gyms were to change locations there would be rioting in the streets!” she said.

I shrugged. “The Main Gyms stay the same, but then again, it might depend on how things play out in the future. There are typically at least four minor gyms in each region. Oh, and we also have the Fiore frontier opening up soon with the Battle Frontier, which should help things a bit on our northern border. The two gyms that were historically seen as the strongest had their doors shut due to those issues I mentioned,” I said.

Diantha frowned. “Main gyms? Minor Gyms?”

Cynthia tilted her head. “So who’s considered the strongest now?”

I pointed at Sabrina. “Her, no question. She had the best victory-to-defeat ratio for trainers this year, but that’s with them purposely building themselves up for the challenge,” I stated.

Sabrina snorted. “I also only allow those who have proven they have the skills to challenge me.”

At Diantha’s curious look, Sabrina elaborated. “You must have at least four badges before challenging my Gym. Other Gyms have an open door policy like Brock does, which leads to many people facing him with no or few badges as they face a weaker challenge.”

I wobbled my hand before standing. “Are you sure this is what you want to talk about? We’re at a resurrection facility, after all.”

The two champions nodded and followed along as we led them into the actual building, where the miracle of science brought fossils to life.

Despite that, they were obviously still considering what we’d discussed as they leaned together.

“This must be an effect of allowing younger trainers to go on their Journey. There are more of them rather than less with more people choosing employment or further study rather than delaying their careers.”

Sabrina and I shared a look. It seemed like the delay in sending off their kids led to fewer trainers challenging the Gyms.

“To make sure we don’t get such floods of unskilled trainers, perhaps we need to add limits to the amount of trainers that can take part in the Journey. We could establish it as a number that can be grown into,” Diantha said.

I frowned. That… that ran counter to much of the freedom that was offered with, well the rest of the world as it stood. If you have the ability to befriend a pokemon you didn’t really need to pay or pass a single test to be perfectly honest.

The Indigo Government, with all the gripes I had with it, supported young trainers all the way. With no cost of healthcare, housing, food, and other points being provided.

I’d heard that the pokecentres got stretched to overflow this year but even then people were reimbursed for not being able to be provided certain amenities which allowed them to get into other locations if they lacked funding.

It wasn’t much but it was still something.

“How much does your government support young trainers?” I asked.

Cynthia drew back from Diantha slightly. “In Sinnoh there are lots of areas that are naturally dangerous so we subsidise every aspect of a trainer’s day to day lifestyle. We have free healthcare, food, and also make sure that potions and other supplies are cheaper for trainers.”

Diantha coughed. “If you submit your application, you are expected to pay into a trainer fund that allows you to travel, but most costs are for the trainer to handle barring pokecenter stays and care for their pokemon.”

“Huh,” I said. “That’s a difference,” I commented idly.

Cynthia perked up. “Oh! I think it is due to our radically different geographies! You see Kalos is much more plains and valleys with only a few mountain ranges in the south. Most of the pokemon that live within Kalos are quite friendly or they can be spotted from a long distance away. This leads to differences in the need for maintaining routes or infrastructure.”

“Geographical differences leading to differences in government spending and, therefore, different societies… interesting,” I said before coughing and gesturing at the lab we now found ourselves within. Notably, Crowley was not in the room as far as I could tell.

I ducked my head and checked that he wasn’t asleep under one of the desks. I also couldn’t see his aide, so perhaps they were out at the moment.

Weird, they should be around. I decided to carry on with the show regardless.

“And this is where the magic happens! The machine you see behind you is what resurrects the fossils by drawing out the PNA within!” I said, getting the show back on track.

One of the aides that had been lingering in the background drew out a small camera only for Looker to put his hand on the man’s shoulder and smile politely. The man coughed and handed the camera over when Looker extended his hand.

I shot them an annoyed look but Looker waved at me to continue while Cynthia and Diantha marvelled at the machine, unaware of what was going on behind them.

Sabrina stepped back and smiled at the man Looker had detained while I let them go about their business.

I needed to keep everyone’s focus straight ahead so I walked up and slapped a hand against one of the panels.

“This here beast of a machine has now resurrected hundreds of pokemon!”

The panel next to my hand popped open, and a wiry-haired face that looked like it had far too little sleep peered out at me. “Hmmm Brock? Please don’t slap the machine while I’m performing calibration checks,” he said before shutting the machine back up with himself still in it.

I blinked as the sound of someone rummaging around in the machine rang out before another panel popped open and an aide appeared. “All good on my end, Doctor!” called Crowley’s main assistant as she pulled herself out, closed the panel, and walked over to a tray of biscuits and tea, which she presented to us.

I nodded in thanks while Cynthia and Diantha shared looks.

“Is this normal?” whispered Cynthia carefully.

“Completely. Crowley is a mad scientist but he has great successes to his name,” I said enthusiastically.

Crowley popped back out and grinned. “Excellent! I was just recalibrating the PNA collection grid! With this, I think we’ll have a five percent chance of getting two pokemon resurrected from a single fossil of an animal!”

“Oh nice work Doctor,” I commented as the man clambered out of the machine.

“Thank you, thank you!” he said, before collecting a cup of tea from his aide while glancing around. “Oh dear, I seem to have forgotten the time! You’re the foreigners, correct?” he asked, giving Diantha a pointed look up and down, causing Diantha to give him a flat look in return.

Crowley nodded. “Well, I apologise for not having things set up but with this being a last minute arrangement, I had to perform some quick adjustments.”

He wiped his hands on his lab coat. “I suppose you want to know how it works hmmm?”

The delegation nodded politely, with some people perking up.

I leaned back against a wall and got comfortable as Crowley began to lecture.

“So fossils contain what you could consider PNA—”

I shared a glance with Sabrina who was done with the foreign delegate. She moved to lean against my side. She drew up her transceiver and began scrolling the pokenet for cute pictures of pokemon.

I leaned in to watch, knowing we’d be here for a while.

Five websites later and more than a few quiet giggles shared between us, Sabrina nudged me and I looked up to find Crowley winding down.

“— and that then results in the collation of PNA into the form of a young pokemon depending on the type of fossil that was submitted!” he said.

The entire foreign delegation had glazed looks on their faces.

Cynthia continued to nod along politely while Diantha had shifted into a position that could only be called parade rest in my mind.

Diantha surprised me tapped Cynthia on the elbow to pull her out of her fugue state. Diantha then bowed her head toward Crowley and clapped her hands in a show of thanks causing the rest of their group to jolt into wakefulness.

“Thank you for the detailed explanation. I’m sorry to say that I failed to grasp much of it, but I understand that you are a man dedicated to your craft. Might we see the machine in action?” Diantha said.

I hummed. So as long as you proved you knew your stuff Diantha was polite? Good to know.

Crowley coughed. “I’ll need to collect a fossil from the storage facility,” he said only for Cynthia to brighten.

“Oh! Now might be a good time for Brock to open his gift from me in that case!” she turned, and I blinked.

Well, with that sort of announcement, I had a very good idea what was in the box she’d handed me earlier. I tore into it like a kid at Christmas and wasn’t disappointed when I encountered a lump of rock with an odd acorn-like shell staring back at me.

An armour fossil?

“Oh wow, I’ve never seen a fossil like this before!” I lied. Sabrina shot me a look, but a glance back let her know I actually did know and she relaxed but still showed some interest.

Cynthia bounced back and forth. “I thought it would be appropriate with us coming to a resurrection facility! Can we see what comes out?” she asked, looking from me to Crowley hopefully.

Crowley nodded. “Oh yes! Yes indeed I think we could do great things with this!” he took the fossil when I offered it up to him. “Hmmm it will take a few hours to enact the resurrection. It might be best to come back tomorrow,” he said, glancing towards a clock while adjusting his lab goggles.

Cynthia deflated like a balloon that had suddenly lost all its air. “Oh,” she said.

Diantha shot her friend. "Don't cry or your make up will run."

Cynthia immedeately drew out a small mirror from her bag and I caught a flash of something in her purse. Huh, I'd forgotten about the special lipstick she kept.

I coughed. “It’s probably for the best. You have an exhibition match against Steven Stone tonight, no?” I prompted.

Cynthia waved a hand. “Eh, that doesn’t matter,” she said.

I chuckled, knowing Seven would be rather put out if Cynthia dodged on him like this. Sadly it had been agreed upon and I wasn’t sure if skipping the match would be seen favorably.

I decided to switch tracks. “You do know what an Exhibition match is right?”

Cynthia paused and gained a sheepish expression. “Uhmmm I might need the rules explained to me on that one. I doubt it will be as hard as a proper battle series though so my pokemon should be fine.”

I explained that an exhibition match was something of a locked-in showcase, with trainers not really being able to swap out Pokemon. It was a fairly straightforward six-on-six match, with one Pokemon coming and going depending on how the battles progressed.

Cynthia nodded. “Yes, I don’t see any issues with that. Most of my pokemon are trained to handle Battle Series, which is what we call a best of five battles in a row over the course of two to three days depending on the duration of the battles.”

“Huh, how does that work?” I asked having read something about this in the briefing, but it being rather sparse on details. “You must have a lot of white outs for people if that’s normal,” I said.

Cynthia waved a hand. “Typically Battle Series occur over subsequent days so your roster needs to have depth and your pokemon be very strong. It is the best way to determine how strong a trainer is as it demonstrates depth, tactics, and stamina at the highest level!” she declared.

Then she wobbled her hand in a so-so gesture. “Also, for the people that are serious about pokemon training white outs are just a fact of life. It’s a sign of your strength to endure some of the strain. When trainers first start out, they only have to fight a best of three which makes it far easier.”

Diantha nodded. “It is not for the faint of heart. Whiteouts also occur with the team battles that Unova favours with their three-on-three or six-on-six Total Brawl Battles,” she explained.

I nodded. “That actually sounds kind of intense. It opens up more tactics while explaining some things,” I said as I thought about the young trainers. Not many would be able to endure so many whiteouts in big matches. That in turn, would lead to reduced numbers.

Cynthia nodded. Sabrina and I looked to Diantha, who coughed. “To become Champion, we in Kalos have straightforward fighting, but first, you must earn the right by ascending the ranks of ‘battle nobility,’ which can take quite a while. It is a sign of skill the higher your rank climbs,” she stated.

“Huh, so gruelling in a different manner,” I replied.

Sabrina nodded. “In Indigo if you win specific tournaments, reach first on the Ace rankings by the end of the year, are a Gym Leader, or hold a position within the Rangers for a a set period, you earn the right to challenge the Elite Four and then the current Champion should you make it through.”

Cynthia nodded. “I’d read as much.”

I hummed and watched Crowley deposit the fossil into the machine. “Well how about we head back to my Gym and I can explain the differences of an exhibition match more clearly so you don’t get suckered into a bad situation,” I stated.

Cynthia perked up. “Oh that would be lovely!”

Diantha considered me for a moment before nodding. “I would also like to see a Kanto Gym with my own eyes,” she declared.

I smiled and led the delegation out of the resurrection facility and back to the gym. Diantha paused at the top of the hill and drank in the structure. “Your architect should be complimented, this is grand work. I find myself enjoying it,” she stated, drawing up a camera and taking a picture of it.

“Oh, thank you for that. I hired a local firm for all the work but had specific requests,” I said as I walked through the memorial and training obelisks, which drew some attention as others moved past them.

I led the group around the back towards the large training space, where mock battles could play out between the various Gym trainers and their pokemon.

I gestured for the delegation to move to the side as Sabrina moved to stand across from me.

“Play demo or serious?” I asked her aloud while mentally pushing the thoughts ‘I want to test something’ along with a picture of Gible towards Sabrina.

Sabrina considered me seriously before nodding. “Play demo is fine with me,” she said as a pokeball enlarged itself from her pokebelt and floated forwards to release Kirlia who spun on the spot and preened at the attention she received.

Diantha perked up. “Hmmm a marvelously trained Kirlia,” she commented with a nod towards Sabrina.

Oh, that’s right, Diantha had a Gardevoir as her starter, didn’t she? I’d forgotten that. I enlarged a specific pokeball wondering if I was making a mistake. Before I could second guess myself I hurled out my choice.

“Let’s go Gible!” I announced.

Gible appeared with a jolly flap of his hands before snapping his mouth playfully towards Kirlia, who sniffed and tossed her hair in response. The smile she tried to hide let me know she wasn’t immune to Gible’s playfulness.

I glanced towards Cynthia expecting a reaction only to merely miss the blur of black streaking out to sweep Gible up in her arms and begin nuzzling him. “Oh my goodness he’s adorable! Look at his little snaggletooth! Oh my goodness, I’d heard about some Sinnoh pokemon being found as part of a criminal organisation, and that they were being cared for by top trainers, but this is just perfect!”

Cynthia held Gible aloft and stared at him so lovingly I could almost see the stars in her eyes. “You’re perfect!” she declared.

She then tapped at an ultra ball on her belt and before anyone could question her, a new pokemon emerged on the field.

The pokemon that emerged stood a whole head taller than Cynthia while slightly crouched. Jagged edges stuck out across the arms, thighs and forearms with a sweeping fin jutting from where the hands might be on another pokemon.

Scales flexed and shifted as the Garchomp adjusted minutely. A small glint of something between the scales caught my attention only for it to shift a moment later.

Its yellow eyes swept the surroundings and the instant it locked eyes on me, I felt a premonition of being stalked claim me.

I drew in a breath and stiffened my spine even as my heart stuttered at the beat of a pokemon Cynthia had just casually released.

Behind me, Empress and Bertha both rose from where they’d been lounging casually and locked eyes with the Garchomp.

I shot my hand out to the side. “Girls! Hold!” I commanded.

My shout caused Cynthia, who was starting to push Gible into Garchomp’s face with a giddy smile on her face to freeze. She turned her head and blinked. “Oh… shoot, guess that was kind of thoughtless of me.”

Diantha sighed. “This is why the negotiations are taking so long. You and others like you keep causing issues,” she hissed.

Cynthia turned with Gible still in her hands. She used her hands to waggle his little arms. “Daww but look at these stumpy little limbs! Such stumpy little flappers! And this little chomper is adorable!” she said as she made Gible chomp a few times while flapping his arms up and down.

I sighed but relaxed as Garchomp shifted and gave Cynthia a nudge while crooning.

“Oh, I’m not replacing you I swear! You’re still my big strong Garchomp!” she turned and bowed. “Sorry I just couldn’t resist!” she declared to me.

Her gaze shot past me towards where Bertha and Empress were looming. “Wow, those are strong pokemon. Which one is your starter?” she asked.

“Neither,” I said, tapping at Titan’s pokeball to unleash him. Titan emerged and gave everyone a casual look before looking onto Garchomp who straightened up.

Both pokemon gave each other assessing looks before Garchomp gestured to Cynthia. Titan nodded and relaxed but Garchomp gained an glint in its eyes.

I tilted my head as Bertha snorted in annoyance.

Cynthia whistled in appreciation while glancing at Garchomp who shot her a look and a nod. “Huh, that is a strong pokemon. Garchomp certainly thinks so and she’s a pro at judging others.”

“Well that’s nice,” I replied while giving Garchomp a look over myself. “Hmmm with a pokemon like her, I think you’ll be in a good position to fight Steven.” I smirked, realising that Garchomp and Tyranitar shared an egg group. “Got any others?”

Cynthia smiled enigmatically. “Well, that would be telling, but seeing as you’ve shown me some of yours, I think I can return the favour!” she said, tapping at another two poke balls.

Within seconds, a tall jackal-like pokemon was at her side while another white pokemon hovered in the air like a cloud.

“Togekiss!” trilled the fairy-flying type.

“Lucario!” declared the aura pokemon with a nod towards Garchomp before it began inspecting my pokemon.

I whistled. “Damn, well I think I know who I’m going to bet on for tonight’s exhibition match,” I said with a smirk.

Cynthia smiled and nodded. “It's good to know I have your vote of confidence, but perhaps I should still learn the specifics from two locals instead of merely assuming I understand,” she said, signalling for her group to move back to the seating area.

I watched her go, sharing a look with Sabrina who was smiling as Cynthia seated herself and began petting Gible.

I sighed. “Can I have Gible back?” I asked.

Cynthia blinked, only to glance down, apparently not even realising that she’d abducted my Gible.

Gible for his part looked like he had no complaints about this arrangement.

Cynthia slumped but set Gible back on the ground while Diantha shook her head.

“The strongest trainer I know and you’re… you,” she said.

I chuckled and began the explanation of the rules of a normal exhibition match.

By the time I was done, Cynthia had a good grasp on what could and couldn’t be done. She approached us again and bowed in thanks.

Before she could depart however Diantha stepped away from the group and approached me with a determined look in her eyes. “I wish to apologise for my earlier behaviour. It was uncouth.”

I raised an eyebrow as if to say ‘no, really?’ but kept my mouth shut.

Diantha’s brow twitching let me know she’d understood my gesture but she still pushed through with her apology. “I’d like to also make use of your resurrection facility if possible. I’ll discuss the details with your diplomats but I’m sure something can be arranged.”

I nodded, “I’m sure they can, but just to let you know. As the law currently stands any pokemon that is developed within the facility has to go towards a specialised breeding facility to help reestablish its line first. It might take a while to get a pokemon.”

“Hmmm a worthy cause,” Diantha replied. “I would not mind that. But there are two pokemon I am interested in securing, so expect some deals to be worked out,” she stated, earning a nod from me.

I could only take that to mean she had yet to secure a Tyrantrum or an Aurorus for her pokemon team. Both would be rather powerful pokemon for her.

Diantha gave me a slight bow in farewell and then departed with the others to be taken back to Fuchsia.

Sabrina approached. “You forgot to mention that your reserve is the main site for the breeding program,” she stated with an amused lilt to her lips.

I smirked. “Huh did I? I tried to mention it as part of my intro but I think I got interrupted,” I said smugly.

The funny thing was that I had tried to give the two female Champions a heads-up about my own involvement.

Oh well.

I turned and gestured towards my house knowing that my family were going to be waiting to watch the match between Steven and Cynthia. I was expecting it to be close, but I had a strong suspicion that I knew who was going to win it.