Walking around as a group was hardly something I considered worth talking about. Walking around as a group that was made up of almost half of the Eight Kanto Gym Leaders? That drew attention. People noticed us coming, pointing us out as we passed by. This led to reporters approaching us for comments before we’d gone more than two blocks. I bore the brunt of the microphones, but people were more than happy to listen as Surge spoke his mind.

“We’re showing some Kanto solidarity! Brock was called out, and we acted in support!”

“Some of us more than others,” I heard Sabrina murmur too quietly for most to hear. I didn’t look. There would be zero chance of it sliding past editors if I reacted in any way. She knew there was an open mic so there would either be editing done, or someone had a chance of picking up on it. My money was on the poke-net picking up on it first. Some people in my past life had dedicated their lives to finding tiny details. I’d used to think that they simply had way too much time on their hands.

In the pokemon world, people only had more time on their hands.

Erika and Sabrina were tossed ‘soft’ questions about fashion as if they were just normal teenage girls on a walk. Sabrina doesn’t say anything beyond commenting that I looked nice in my new outfit. That caused a bit of a stir in the reporters with them discussing Erika and I’s shopping trip. Erika honestly pointed out that I actually selected it myself which earnt me some praise from the fashion-oriented reporter.

I’m more than aware of a non-visible, but nevertheless present, aura of ‘smug’ radiating off Sabrina. Or maybe I was just being dramatic?

I decided to end our interview there with a raised hand. “ I think that’s enough questions for now. We’re going to continue with our day.” I then continued walking past, leading my ‘gang’ away from the reporters that each tried calling out another round of questions. When they trotted after us. Surge turned on a pokedime. The sudden movement of the previously friendly giant becoming sinister in how he held himself over them made them stop dead in their tracks. Or perhaps it was his smile that far too wide, with too many teeth showing to ever be mistaken as friendly.

When he turned back and relaxed into his stride I hummed to myself. When Erika tilted her head in an unspoken question I gestured back at the reporters. “I think I’ll have to take advice from Lance and get myself a press… assistant?”

“Aide. Press aides or managers is how they are typically known” said Sabrina. I bobbed my head.

“Yeah, one of them. Seems I’m going to be in the public eye for a while.”

“Heh! You’re going to be in the public eye for ages Brock! You’re young and strong! You’re the biggest and baddest thing kids know of! That’s going to mean a lot! I should think you’ll have some more serious trainers coming your way as well this year!”

I considered that. It’s the second time someone has said as much. That… would actually be nice. Being the ‘traditional’ first gym of the circuit meant that I usually have to fight with kiddy gloves. Getting to bring out other pokemon would be a bit more engaging. I perked up at that. “Yeah, you know what? I like the sound of that.”

“Oh! This place looks nice!” said Erika suddenly. I glanced to the side to see a rather nice-looking cafe. I was pretty sure the assortment of small gardens that were tended to by Oddish and Bellsprout might have influenced Erika’s interest. The group looked at her and she fluttered her eyes innocently/sweetly before adopting a poised expression. “Or somewhere else might work as well?” I looked further along the street we’d been walking down. Each of them was rather nice but had the feel of being something that was more seasonal. They all had the look of places where you would expect to pay twice what you would at a good local cafe.

The fence and clear divide between guests ended up deciding it for me.

“Looks good,” I said. Surge merely grunted, for once being rather relaxed while Sabrina raised her hand and a menu shot into it. Erika flinched at the casual display of psychic power but didn’t say anything.

We ended up ordering and just shooting the breeze. The only semi-serious conversation we had revolved around the hassles young trainers put us through. A staple for any meeting of Gym Leaders I’ve discovered. At least it was for the younger Gym Leaders. Koga, Blaine and Giovanni typically never stayed on the calls beyond the mandatory sections in the monthly meetings during the circuit. Trainers could be very dumb with their methods of defeating us.

Surge merrily held the rest of the conversation before shifting onto the next most usual gripe.

A.k.a having to deal with trainers after a match.

“Yeah, punks that can’t accept losses are the worst. If you lose, you lose! Ain’t no one getting through life without a few knockdowns from someone stronger turning up. No way, no how! I ain’t ever awarding anyone that can’t at least beat me in a battle one of my badges! You gotta handle the challenges life gives you!” Surge crossed his arms and shook his head empathically.

Erika responded but I wasn’t listening, instead watching Sabrina subtly rub at her temple.

I suspected she wasn’t listening either and rather was trying to deal with the thoughts being broadcasted around us. I tapped her foot under the table, trickling a little bit of dark energy along it, and she relaxed. She gave me a tight smile before shaking her head minutely to show she was fine. She didn’t move her foot away from mine, however.

I nodded along with Sabrina. It was amusing to think that Surge would be beaten by Ash in the anime only to have to use a trick against Sabrina. I had to wonder if that would play out once more. Sabrina was typically far more controlled with her battling these days. I knew for a fact she didn’t shrink anyone down to make them ‘play’ with her, as the anime had shown. She’d never done that in this universe as far as I’d heard. Perhaps her taking off from the gym for the circuit with me might have stopped her from ever acting that way? Or it was just a cartoon. It was probably just a cartoon. The anime after all, wasn’t the immutable law of the world. It merely provided a lot of little hints into it.

Erika shifted, her hands tapping together in a move I was coming to recognise as a nervous tick. “Sometimes, I admit, I award them if I think they meet the level of ability, but only if they have less than four badges. I think four badge trainers need to be stronger.” I tried to recall Ash’s match with Erika. How had it gone? I thought Erika lost, but there may have been Team Rocket antics involved.

Surge rubbed his chin. “Yeeeeaaaaah, nah. It’s win or nothing in my books! Ain’t no prizes for last in the Vermillion gym!”

Sabrina inclined her head. “I prefer to keep the integrity of my gym to the simple forms of battling. A victory is the best sign of a strong trainer.”

Erika wilted a little into her seat. I had a moment to wonder if one of the Bellsprout might mistake her for a flower in need of water before pushing the thought away. “I agree with Erika. Sometimes I’ll give out badges if they demonstrate the requisite level of skill and experience. It’s just harder to demonstrate after the fourth badge, ‘cause trainers need to put forward a lot more than a simple understanding of type advantages.”

Erika perked up and beamed at me like a Sunflora.

I moved the conversation on to another topic that I was curious about. “How do you go about handling your roster choice for each badge level? I have to keep a pretty large number of pokemon for first badge challengers before dropping away the number per tier, for the tougher challenges.”

“That’s pretty standard. I might have a slightly larger number of two or four badge challengers, but I don't think I have as many showing up for the first-tier like you Brocko,” Surge said before leaning back into his chair.

“My standard of Gym challenge eliminates the need for first-tier pokemon. If they want to try they need to have four badges. They also need to go through the gauntlet of my gym’s trainers,” Sabrina said with an authoritative tone.

“I’m perhaps the most like you Brock,” chimed Erika causing Sabrina to twitch slightly. I once more moved the conversation to something else that wasn’t enjoyed by any trainer, let alone gym leaders.

“Got any tips on lowering my tax bill in a couple of months?”

Unsurprisingly—for me at least— Sabrina had the best advice for this. We all listened carefully when she pointed out an easy handful of ways to control our taxes. I smiled at her. It was rare that she got the chance to shine like other Gym Leaders. After all, Sabrina wasn’t as flashy as the Cerulean Sisters or Surge.

She was, however, incredibly smart. I knew that. Still, it was another thing entirely to hear her be able to talk so succinctly about taxes. There hadn’t been much of that while we were ‘dating’. I made a mental note to call her after this was done, as I had little chance of remembering all of this. Surge, as the eldest of our ‘gang’, knew enough to comment and even asked questions. Erika actually had a notepad out and was furiously jotting down notes like this was a lecture at some university with a looming exam rather than a sit-down talk at a cafe.

My choked off laugh sadly broke the conversation. Sabrina and Surge both looked at me before turning their heads towards Erika who was still scribbling notes. Surge barked a laugh while Sabrina’s lips tugged upwards. Erika jerked her head up upon registering the laughter before breaking out into a bright blush.

“A-apologies! I sometimes struggle with the accounting side of the gym! So hearing such good advice isn’t something I want to forget!” She said while bowing in her seat.

Surge just laughed harder. “Heh! No worries from me, little lady! It’s good stuff, this!”

I offered her a shrug when she raised her head to check our reactions. “I’ll probably have to call Sabrina later to do exactly what you’re doing.”

“Oh!” Erika licked her lips and glanced at Sabrina who had lifted her chin a little. I knew it to be Sabrina pose #fifteen, ‘preening’. I bit my lip to hold back a laugh. Erika didn't notice anything though and humbly bowed her head. “May I exchange numbers with you so that I could ask you some questions about this?”

Sabrina held her pose for a long, uncomfortable moment that began to stretch towards a minute. Surge glanced at me but I remained outwardly unresponsive. I didn’t want to force these sorts of things on Sabrina. Did I think it would help to have someone else she could talk with about things? Yes. Because other than trainers that worshipped her at her gym, her parents —who were now only mildly terrified of her— and me. She didn’t have a lot of people to interact with. Still, the question remained. What would she do?

It probably wasn’t fair that in a way I was testing her, but I was certainly curious as to how she would react.

Sabrina’s transceiver levitated onto the table and swung around to show Erika her number. Erika beamed at her before pulling her own device out to trade numbers. Sabrina flicked me a look and I gave her an encouraging smile. Surge seemed to catch that, but he only smirked as if he knew what was going on between us.

After that we finished up our snack, settled the bill, and then set off for the stadium.

It was close enough now to Celia’s match that I could claim my seat on the sideline. The gang all continued to follow me to the arena where we claimed the prime seats as gym leaders.

The next few minutes were spent idly watching the matches as they progressed.

After last night, the matches here seemed so… well,I wasn’t going to call them poor, as these were the trainers that have collected eight badges from their regions. Sadly I happened to know that all of the trainers currently on display weren’t the sort to excel long term as battlers. I could tell from the way their matches seemed so one dimensional.

Or perhaps the after-effects of yesterday’s match were making me far too critical. I watched the matches for a bit longer before shaking my head. Nope. These guys just weren’t that good.

I’m forced to watch a whole host of mistakes or assumptions play out in front of me. Everyone mostly tried to use type advantage to their favour without contextualising how the moves or their pokemon worked. We ended up watching an hour's worth of matchups.

“Any of these impress you?” I asked, sipping a can of lemonade I had ordered from a salesman.

“Nope!” Surge said while picking at his ear.

Erika had a fan in her hand that she used. “They’re not making a good showing of themselves.”

“The boy with the Machoke is holding back so I can at least applaud him for not showing off any of his plans.” I perked up at Sabrina’s words and glanced to the field to my right.

With this not being a final match, or more specifically it being a seeding round, the larger indoor field now housed two fields to fight on with four trainers in the early knockout rounds. I hummed thoughtfully as I watched the match, trying to notice any cues to support Sabrina’s statement.

I suspect, but don’t voice, that she likely read his surface thoughts for her ‘hypothesis’.

“I remember this kid. He has a Poliwag, or he did when he fought me. Wonder if he was able to evolve it to a Poliwrath?” I glanced at the Growlithe he’s fighting and nodded. “Yeah, I see what you mean. He had the chance to pick something else with his pokemon for this match up. Might bite him in the backside though.”

“He had a Gastly.”

I whistled at that. “Oh? He used it against you?”

“He was proficient with it then. To the point that it evolved mid-combat.” I chuckled. He’d likely won then. Most evolutions resulted in an energy high that pokemon could use to empower attacks for a short period of time. A natural side effect of being placed in a highly stressful environment.

That being said, I doubt Sabrina made it easy.

The four of us traded banter and insight between ourselves throughout the rest of the performances. I spied a few reporters with cameras angled towards us but didn’t do more than offer a wave.

The people sitting behind us seemed pleased to be sitting near the gym leader section. I caught more than a few leaning in as the four of us discussed a trainer or a pokemon fight occurring on the field. People had in the past paid me money to look over teams and give thoughts on match ups. They’d done that when I was still widely considered “merely” the first, or in some minds, weakest, gym leader.

I was fairly sure I was rated a touch higher now. When I spoke I’d have a newfound weight to my words. I was after all, now a trainer that could throw down with the Champion. With me sitting and talking with three other gym leaders? The people around us were getting insane value having bought the tickets they had.

I certainly wouldn't mind claiming a seat behind some of the other Gym Leaders in Hoenn to get a read on their thoughts. But then again, I’d probably still get to sit with them despite not being part of their region. Or maybe I was getting a big head?

Just as I toyed with that idea, Sabrina tapped me on the foot. I glanced up to find Claire and Pryce claiming their own seats further down from us. They both nodded, and we all returned the greeting. They were a bit too far to say anything to, but I kind of got the impression Claire wanted to say something. With the way she twitched towards me every now and then it seemed apparent. That or it might have been Surge she wanted to talk with, as the man kept shooting a smirk and a K hand sign at her.

Pryce turned once towards us only to narrow his eyes at the hand sign. When he locked eyes with Surge I felt a metaphorical spark fly through the air.

Did they know each other? Did the K mean something deeper than just ‘Kanto’? I knew certain gestures to mean different things, like the middle fingers and the forks. This was the first time I’d seen someone form a K by splitting one hand and chopping the other across it. I’d certainly never seen Surge do it. It seemed Pryce recognised it and it had sparked something in the former Champion.

Instead of standing and marching straight at Surge, Pryce swallowed. He turned his head away and instead of acknowledging us any further he merely tapped Claire and gestured for her to sit on his other side.

I glanced from Surge to Pryce. What had that been about?

I didn’t get to think about it further as the announcers called out the match I’d been waiting for.

“And from Pewter City! Celia Shardness!” I stood and clapped as loudly as I could.

“Looking good Celia!” I called into the arena as my protegee marched onto the field. She noticed me quickly, waving in my direction before adopting a stoic expression. I grinned before running an eye over her attire. I wanted to both cringe and dwell with pride. She’d ended up going with a lot of the ‘Pewter Gym’ merchandise. The boulder badge symbol was stamped onto her cap while a jacket was opened at the front with a Geodude’s face peering out from the shirt she wore. It was expected that a gym-sponsored trainer would have some merchandise highlighting their affiliation, but Celia had to be the most dedicated trainer I’d had so far.

“Are those Pewter Gym socks?” Surge said. I could practically hear his grin. I didn’t turn around and merely nodded.

“She’s… very loyal.” I watched her stride up to her podium before adopting her pose. Her eyes glinted as she selected her first pokemon. She drew her arm back before letting fly.

“Go! Mr Powers!” Everyone leaned forward at the name, obviously expecting a Machoke or some fighting type. They stared at the small pink fluffball that had instead emerged.

“Jigglypuff!” cheered ‘Mr Powers’ in front of the crowd. This caused a round of laughter while some people cheered the choice. I smirked, knowing how apt the name was.

“She’s starting off with that pokemon?” Surge scratched his chin thoughtfully. I hummed, keeping my thoughts to myself as her opponent selected his pokemon.

“Go Pidgeot!” I smirked, knowing how this would turn out.

“Trainers, fight!” Called the referee.

Celia swept her arm forward. “Gravity Mr Powers!” “Puff!” called out the diminutive pokemon. Instantly the flying pokemon found themselves grounded as the weight of the world tugged the flying type down.

“Pidgeot! Get out of there with Quick Attack!” called the trainer as he tried to get his pokemon out of danger. Oddly enough, the Gravity seemed to have a lot more strength than I was used to seeing. Celia must have trained hard before the tournament.

“Poor choice,” Sabrina stated. Surge and I nodded while Erika leaned forward in interest as ‘Mr Powers’ charged forward.

“Give ‘em a strong right!” Celia said, even though it was clear her pokemon already knew precisely what to do. Electricity arced out over the small ‘normal’ type pokemon’s fist before it slammed home into the Pidgeot.

The larger flying type was thrown back with a cry of its name. It rolled painfully a few times before skidding to a stop on its front. It gave a weak cry as it tried to rise before slumping to the earth unconscious.

“Pidgeot!?” Called the trainer in shock. I settled back in to watch Celia let loose. I hadn’t bet as big on her as I had on myself with my ten million, but I felt pretty safe with the thousand I’d laid out before the official tournament began. Now I got to watch her go to work.

“Pidgeot is unable to battle! The first match goes to Jigglypuff and Celia from Pewter City!”

“Yeah! Nice one Mr Powers!” I cheered. The Jigglypuff spun towards me and waved both his arms.

“Urgh! Let’s see you try this on for size!” said her opponent before hurling out his next pokemon. From the light of the pokeball a bull pokemon formed up. The pokemon stomped its feet and snorted irritably.

“Oh! I remember this kid!” Surge said, pointing at Celia’s opponent.

“Anything special?” I asked as I watched Celia. Her eyes flicked over the pokemon and I nodded to myself. Good, she was inspecting and evaluating as we’d worked on. She wasn’t getting distracted by the crowd.

“Kid’s got a Blastoise, but he wasn't one of Professor Oak’s nominated trainers.”

I gave the kid another look over before remembering who I’m talking with. “Did he try using a Blastoise at your gym?” Surge shook his head.

“Encountered him during a patrol fighting a Hypno that he caught. That Hypno was the pokemon he used against me. Did well enough, I guess. Reckon he must be trying to hide his little tricks, or he’s caught enough ‘strong’ pokemon that he’s forgotten where his real strength came from.”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah these pokemon and styles aren’t something I remember… What's his starter pokemon?”

“Venonat. He got his pokemon from the Safari zone before applying for his license with the League,” Sabrina said. “His name is Charles.”

A memory of a very annoying fight rises up making me snap my fingers. “Oh! I remember this kid now. He reminded me of Koga with his use of Poison Powder for most of his matches.” I glanced at Celia. “He’s actually already fought Celia before at the gym. It took him three runs of the gauntlet to get through her though.”

“Heh!” Surge said, “Can’t be that good. And damn if that doesn’t mean she’s going into this with an edge!”

“What was he lacking back then?” Erika asked as she watched the Tauros charge at the Jigglypuff, only to have Jigglypuff bounce out of the way. I grinned as Erika relaxed at Jigglypuff’s dodge. She might not be cheering but she obviously wanted the smaller pokemon to win.

“Nothing. It was more a fault of Celia’s.”

“Her fault?” Erika said in confusion. She tilted her head. “What was she doing wrong?”

“She wasn’t holding back like she was supposed to. Ended up using a Geodude that I own which is way stronger than most people expect to smack him around.” I leaned forward. “Should be an interesting match, but Celia’s going to win. She doesn’t have me holding her back now against a three-badge challenge.”

The match ended up being rather amusing. Jigglypuff continued to float around with little hops, his absurdly light body bouncing around with double jumps that would have done Mario proud.

“How is her pokemon doing that?” Erika asked.

I opened my mouth only for Surge to beat me to it. “She got it using Double Kick. He kicks off the ground for a better jump, then diverts with a kick in the air. It’s something that Mr Powers can do with his lightweight.” When I raise an eyebrow he coughs. “She beat the hell out of my Magneton with it after I lost my temper.” He pointed into the arena. “Sort of like how that Tauros is, there.”

And just as Surge had said, the Tauros, having charged forward with a variety of takedowns and skull bashes, hit nothing but air or slammed into the rocks that made up the field

“Tauros, get it together!” Shouted his trainer but it was obvious his pokemon wasn’t listening. The bull pokemon’s eyes had turned red and it lifted a hoof before slamming it into the ground to unleash an Earthquake.

Mr Powers merely hopped once off the floor and then twice up to a rock. He landed just as the Earthquake stopped. Then he pulled down his eyelid and stuck his tongue out. Tauros bellowed its frustration before charging straight at Mr Powers.

“Ready… ready… now!” shouted Celia as the bull bore down on Mr Powers.

At the last second, instead of hoping away, he leapt down under the Tauros. Tauros tried to slam his head after the pokemon only for Mr Powers to prove too fast as he hit the ground and bounced straight up into a rising kick.

“Finish it!!” screamed Celia as her pokemon performed and finished the Double Kick. The Tauros was launched up into the air before falling with a loud crash. Once more Mr Powers claimed the win, seemingly with one move.

Surge gaped at the move before he leapt to his feet. “YEEEEAAAAHHHH! THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! GET SOME!”

I grinned before looking over to Sabrina and Erika. “I think Celia has a new fan.”

Sabrina rolled her eyes. “Is that so?” She watched Surge shoot Celia double thumbs up, which had Celia bowing like a lady. I waggled a hand at her being cheeky before tapping at her temple to remind her to keep her head in the game. She resumed her pose and stared across at her opponent.

“Give it to them Venomoth!”

“Ah, that is a good match-up,” I said. This got looks from everyone around me.

“A Venomoth versus Jigglypuff is a good matchup?” Erika asked with a tilt of her head.

I nodded. Not willing to say anything from the stands, especially with how so many people were listening in but Jigglypuff’s true typing was something I had spoken to Celia about. I could see her holding back a grimace at her opponent unknowingly countering her pokemon.

“Venomoth! Use Poison Powder!”

“Charge in and use Thunderpunch!” The angry marshmallow rocketed across the landscape, but it became instantly apparent that this was not going to be enough when he ran into the diffused cloud of poison and stumbled.

“Fly up and Toxic Spikes!” Ordered Charles. Purple spikes shot out and glowed ominously across the landscape before vanishing from sight.

“Puff!” Shouted Mr Powers as he glared up at the flying pokemon. Celia made a face before pointing to a nearby rock.

“Smash the rock and then kick it straight at ‘em Mr Powers!”

“Puff!” The pokemon jumped into action and with one mighty kick broke up the landscape before spinning about and kicking the rock again to send it hurling upwards.

“Yes, that’s it, make the arena work for you!” I said clenching my fist and tracking the kicked rock. Sadly Venomoth saw it coming and duked out of the way. Celia repeated the move but Charles grew wise to her attacks.

“Venomoth! Use Double team and then keep filling the field with Toxic Spikes!” his pokemon blurred for a second before reappearing in multiple locations around the arena. Mr Powers glowered before grimacing as more of the poison already in his system took effect.

Celia assessed the field before raising her hand. “I withdraw Mr Powers from this fight!” She declared to the Judge. The man raised a flag.

“Ordered withdrawal. In this round, Jigglypuff will not be allowed to retake the field!”

Celia nodded and returned him, much to his ire. I watched the tiny puffball shoot the Venomoth a hate-filled glare as it disappeared.

“That is one angry little man,” Surge observed.

“Nah, he just loves fighting,” I replied before leaning forward. “I think we’re going to see—” “Go Lizzie!” Celia whipped out a pokeball. The ground shook a little as a large form took to the stage. When Lizzie appeared, she threw back her head and screeched loudly before lifting her arms in a ready position. Her dull purple armour glinted with the sheen of a strong and healthy Nidoqueen. Her horn might be short but her arms and legs were thick with muscle, signalling she had a lot of muscle. Around her the Toxic Spikes lanced up only to be shrugged off with a dismissive snort.

The crowd murmured appreciatively at the pokemon. As a ‘Royal’ pokemon it was still thought of highly to this day.

“Oh, she does know how to evolve her pokemon?” Surge said, sitting forward. “How come she didn’t evolve her Jigglypuff?”

I hummed at that, giving the listening audience a quick glance. They were very much eavesdropping now as methods to evolve pokemon were not things handed out freely. “She wants Mr Powers to keep his mobility. Wigglytuff’s have a harder time jumping around like he does.”

Surge merely grunted. In the arena, the flags dropped once more. Celia doesn’t hesitate to go for the throat. “Use Flamethrower!”

“Dodge behind some rocks, Venomoth!” Charles ordered. His pokemon narrowly dropped behind a rocky outcropping.

“Mega Punch!” Celia said pointing right at the rocks. Her Nidoqueen charged forward with her fist pulled back.

“Venomoth pop up and use Psybeam!” His pokemon flapped its wings once and was lifted right above the rock, a ball of oscillating energy forming up in front of it.

“Punch the ground and go into Dig! Flame out high!”

“Queen!” Shouted Lizzie as instead of charging into the beam she punched downward and flowed into the ground quickly. The Psybeam passed right over her tail, scouring the arena.

Surge nudged me. “What’s ‘flame out high’ mean?”

“It’s a surprise,” I said, ignoring him as he continued to prod me. He didn’t even have to wait that long. A few seconds later Lizzie shot out of the ground with a jet of fire having dug down, turned around, and then pushed herself up. With her head pointed down she unleashed a torrent of flame to soar up.

I grinned at the shocked expression Charles was showing while Celia settled into a feral smile. I saw Lizzie’s shadow fall over the Venomoth and found myself applauding Celia. “Nice, she got up high enough to have the sun in her opponent’s eyes.”

“Flamethrower!” From Lizzie a wash of flame lanced out.

“Psybeam!” Ordered Charles. A beam of psychic energy was shot straight towards the sun but he must have been hoping for a lucky hit as instead the attack shot wide. Lizzie’s flamethrower however hit dead on.

A second after the flame cut out Lizzie landed with an earth-shaking thump. Across from her, Venomoth twitched on the ground before laying still.

“Venomoth is unable to battle! Nidoqueen and Celia win!” I rose up with the rest of the crowd, my hands slapping together in applause.

“NICE ONE CELIA!” I called out.

She punched the air. “Yeah, go us!” she exclaimed, much to the crowd’s amusement. Then she hopped down to pat her pokemon before approaching Charles and shaking his hand for the good match. Charles shook his head at her as she beamed up at him. I continued to clap for her and, when she was done, she trotted toward me.

“How was that?”

I gave her a thumbs up which made her bounce on the spot. Surge whooped at her while Erika clapped politely. Sabrina merely observed my sponsored trainer.

“Trainer Celia! Trainer Celia!” I looked to the side. While the reporters were barred from hassling us while we were seated, it seemed some clever ones had found another method to gain a scoop. Celia looked at me but I merely shrugged and gestured for her to do as she pleased. She trotted over to take the interview with Lizzie at her back.

“Kid’s good, Brock. Think she’ll go the whole way?”

“I’m confident in her,” I nodded.

Surge grunted before tilting his head. “Gonna stick around for all of it?”

“No, another day at most then I’ll head home.”

“Gotta get home to protect the nest eh?”

“Not really. It’s just that I don’t need to hover for her. She can succeed on her own.”

“Surprised you’re not rushing back. Isn’t this the first time you’ve been away for more than a night?” Surge said while watching me for something.

I shrugged. “I do the occasional trip out into the wilds for patrols. So not really. Also, I have the grannies looking after things and if they don’t cut it, I have Knight, Shelly and Shrek at home with Yolanda and Forrest.”

“You and naming your pokemon. I ever met Knight or Shrek?” Surge asked. Sabrina gained the smallest of smiles.

“Nope, I might hang onto them and surprise you one day though.”

“Feh! It’ll take more than a nicknamed pokemon to surprise me!” Surge boasted. I nodded along, humouring him. Most of my attention was on Celia as she nodded or shook her head while the reporters asked her questions. Due to Surge asking me his own questions I’d missed what she’d been talking about.

She shot me a thumbs up and I returned it. Erika leaned forward. “When is her next match?”

“Another half-hour. So might as well stick around.” I was rather amused that the people around us perked up at that.

They were certainly getting their pokedollars worth today.