The books weren’t heavy, but they still caused an audible whump as they landed on the table. I glanced at them before picking up the first one.

“You’re feeling new things growing up within you? What you need to know, and how to approach conversations about it?” I picked up another one. “The importance of crystals in your sanctum, and how this can work for you.” I looked up at the three other members of the Guardians. “You‘re screwing with me right? This is like an initiation hazing for the new guy?”

Karen sniggered before biting her lips as Agatha turned a gimlet eye. Koga chuffed once in amusement, then replied, “No, the names are in fact very deliberate. The books even tell you what their purpose is for but you would be surprised about how often a book—”

“Is judged by its cover,” I said, finishing the quote.

Koga inclined his head. “Just so.”

“So you give them awkward-sounding titles that make it read like a puberty book. Or an interior decorator's book?” I lifted both in turn before looking through the second book. I paged through it and paused at the recommended section that was at the start. “Evolution Stone?”

Karen bobbed her head once up and down. “Yes, you know, Dawn stone, thunderstones, Water stones…”

I groaned in annoyance. Karen frowned before realisation set in. “You’ve never used evolution stones before?”

I shook my head. “No, not ever.”

“But you use rocks and pebbles?” She said incredulously. I nodded glumly. I’d been patting myself on the back this entire time for using a focus to get a ‘feel’ for the energy with my pebbles and rocks. Hadn’t I been clever? Turns out I was an idiot that couldn’t see what was staring him in the face and should have been obvious.

I shut my eyes as I made the next ‘logical’ step. “And what is an evolution stone but a stone that has within it a ‘typing’ of energy?” I said rhetorically. I felt like facepalming at the oversight. “There’s no such thing as an evolution stone for the rock type but then again Rock itself works well enough for me.”

I tilted my head in thought. “Dusk stones, right?” I got nods at that which made me grumble. It seemed so simple and straightforward once someone had pointed it out. “What about berri…” I trailed off when the third book revealed itself.

It read. Growing big and strong like a pokemon! A food advisory.

“Well, I think I need to retire for the night to kick myself.”

Agatha cackled at my antics while Karen smirked. Koga remained stoic but there was an air as if he was amused by my antics. After a moment he tilted his head.

“You are young Brock. These are things that people constantly overlook in their day-to-day life. I am sure there are many other oversights or applications of everyday items that we take for granted. Your prior use of pebbles was impressive.” He tilted his head. “Also, you have more on your plate than many others in your circumstance.”

It took a second but I realised he was referencing my family’s situation. I worked my jaw. That… wasn’t ever an excuse I wanted to accept. Falling back on it felt wrong. I shook my head and pushed down the stirrings of dark energy as I pointedly avoided thinking of my father or… her.

When I looked up I noticed Koga and Agatha both asking Tiffany for another cup of tea. Karen however was laser focused on me.

When Agatha turned back she flicked her eyes to Karen to see if the younger woman would say anything. When it was obvious nothing would be forthcoming she spoke up, “You’ll want to start using more hard rocks or gems for the difference if you haven’t already.”

Agatha smirked. “Good thing you’re so flush with cash from your match. I would also see if you can’t just find some more star pieces.” I jolted in surprise. Lots of people knew of the Onix sale, as I’d announced as much, but the rest of the money I’d had to grow the gym had been found from my trip in Hoenn.

She smirked as she gestured a hand towards Karen. “Karen will… make herself available to you. She’ll be the primary point of contact to work on your Dark energy. I’m sure you two young ones would enjoy not having Elders breathing down your necks.”

Karen smiled playfully. “Best make sure to read up beforehand Brock. I’m a strict teacher,” she said. With how husky her voice normally was, I suddenly had an image of her in a tight pencil skirt and a long wooden ruler turning to— I pushed those thoughts aside, nodding seriously at her.

Agatha leered at me, likely knowing where my mind had wandered but didn’t say anything beyond, “Well I shall return to my own home for the evening. Thank you for the earlier entertainment.” Her eyes flickered to where the wrecked manor was as she rose. She left with a low laugh that seemed to haunt the room long after her departure.

I rubbed my head. “Is that… is it normal to go and trash some man’s house as a Guardian?”

Karen rose and flicked her hair over her shoulder. “A woman scorned Brock. Do take note, when you throw weight around at the Pokemon League it has chain reactions.” Karen nodded her head towards the house, “John Able is an old man that switched his support of Agatha for an advantageous business choice. He’s going to make money while letting the League ‘retire’ Agatha. Tonight was just a warning for him. Mr Able will have his summer house fixed up before the next fall of snow, don't worry.”

I put my hands over my face and groaned into them. “That was the property of the owner of the pokeblock corporation?”

Karen nodded, smiling at my distress. “Make sure you stay on your toes with Agatha in the future. She’s a ghost type and likes tricks like that. And she’s not above hitting five targets at once.”

She then pushed her transceiver towards me. “Let’s trade numbers so we can talk more. It’ll be good to have another in the Guardians I can talk with.”

Koga twitched. “Do not trade information over an unse—” “I know!” snapped Karen at him only for him to plow on with his reprimand, “—cure line, that is begging for information to leak into dangerous hands!” He glared at Karen as she huffed at him.

“Can’t believe I’m expected to work with you for the next few years when I make Elite Four! Urgh! Thank Arceus you joined Brock.” She gave me a wink as she dialled my transceiver to make sure it was all set. Another wink and she flicked her hair as she swept from the room. “I’ll be in touch!”

I sighed, wanting to relax but knowing that I still had a long day ahead of me before I was able to do so . I shut my eyes and then opened them to find Koga still sitting.

“Again, beware the women-folk, Brock.”

He inclined his head. “Welcome to the Guardians, and a good evening to you.” And then he vanished without a trace. I blinked. This time I had made a point to not blink expecting to see some sort of flicker or rapid acceleration that indicated to some degree how he’d done that. Instead? Nothing.

I stood, collecting my new reading material only to be reminded that the Guardians weren’t just the trainers but also the help. Tiffany was suddenly very close.

“Brock, let me know if there’s… anything I can do for you. Any need you have? I can handle it.”

I coughed. “Oh... That’s good to know. Right now I just need to get home.”

“Oh, that’s a shame.” She slumped and in doing so forced my attention to places it didn’t need to go.

“Yeah, it is.” I mentally slapped myself before shaking my head. “I need to go. Thank you for the…” I waved at the tea I hadn’t touched before waving around the room. “Hospitality.” I then courageously left at a controlled and by no means hurried pace. She obviously noticed my ill-concealed eagerness as her giggles trailed after me, but this only just reaffirmed my desire to make a quick exit

Plucking the last ball from my belt. I called forth Zephyr before mounting up. He flapped his wings and called out into the night before taking off with silent grace towards the west.

As we flew I considered how the night had gone.

Different. That was the easiest way to summarise the past few hours.. It had been different from what I had expected to occur, while still being roughly in the same spirit. I’d gained a far better understanding of the group though, and at least some insight into their motivations, so that was worth something. Plus I’d also gained methods of making myself and my pokemon stronger. I patted Zephyr as we flew. Probably not all of my pokemon, but that was just an assumption I was making.

I considered that thought, as beneath me, Lavender town began to fade away behind us. I’d need to approach this slowly and with an open mind. As open a mind as I possibly could. Koga himself had said they themselves might have overlooked something. Perhaps if I went in seeking to test and push the boundaries where I could I’d be able to pick some hidden gems out of the silt? It was worth a try at least. There might also be some interesting crossovers with what I could get from Oak. Or did they have access to his research as well?

I yawned. I’d need to write my thoughts down, but sadly this wasn’t the best time to do so. Not unless you had a much more restrictive harness that locked you into position, but those weren’t any good for the acrobatics I got up to with Zephyr. Flying was not a great time to try writing down your thoughts. I mentally tried to impress into my grey matter the need to sit down specifically for this sometime later… Tomorrow, or today technically. The appointment had been rather late after all.

As we began to pass Saffron, a growing urge to simply fly down to Sabrina’s gym and ask for a bed for a few hours pressed on me. Part of me squirmed at the thought of it. In a way that I knew was stupid pride, I didn’t want to lean on her. It was a point of pride to be a steady rock for her when the world got too much. That and it might create some tension with her parents. For all that she was forthright and would deny it, I had no doubt they’d draw conclusions from a young man visiting their daughter in the early hours of the morning.

Then again maybe they’d grown used to her… Quirks?

It felt different regardless.

It was one matter for her to appear in my room after a nightmare, or when she had something to discuss and she didn’t feel comfortable asking others. For me to appear at her house… I was… I wasn’t sure what I wanted there. Certainly not complications. I had enough of those in my life as it was. More than enough of. I rubbed my forehead as I chuckled. I’d just increased said complications tonight if anything, so maybe I wasn’t the best at practising what I preached.

I pushed on and ignored the tantalising offer that passed away to the south as to the north Cerulean glinted like a jewel. It was much safer to look towards. I doubted Sabrina could sense me. She typically only felt a small void around me so I doubted she could pick up on that from this distance. I usually needed to be in the same room.

At least that’s how it used to be.

When we first met it had been as challenger and Gym Leader. Falkner had only just recently taken the title of ‘youngest’ gym leader from Sabrina by a few days.

She’d been like a small doll standing in the gym. She’d been very confused when the trainers at her gym presented me for the challenge with her.

She’d frowned in a tiny way that I’d known even back then was off, but then again, perhaps I’d gone into Saffron expecting her to have some… Issues. I’d known from watching the cartoon that she would possibly be skewed in how she saw the world.

When I’d first spoken, she’d taken a long minute to react before asking if I was real and not a ghost. I couldn’t remember precisely what exactly I’d said, but it had made her frown a little more pronounced before she’d raised her nose to look down on me. She’d accepted my challenge as a heavyweight would accept a featherweight’s challenge.

When I’d sent out Titan in his pupitar stage she’d been very intrigued.

Her confusion on her inability to ‘read’ or look into my future had severely vexed her at the time. I had forgotten that it was technically possible to ‘look into the future’ as a psychic, and see how things might turn out. In the games it had been a bit of a joke/hint with how you could overcome Sabrina with the right types. Types that I’d had with Titan.

When I’d won, Sabrina had been obviously annoyed. She’d teleported to me to shove the Marsh badge into my hands only for our hands to touch. She had gone still and I still remembered her whispering something about the silence. Her hand had lingered on mine and she slowly, oh so slowly, relaxed. She’d even smiled for a moment. When she’d realised she was touching me she wrenched her hand back only to apparently have her mind take on everything around her once more. That had annoyed her.

She’d grown more annoyed when I stated that I wouldn’t be staying in Saffron for longer than a night.

Her solution to this annoying state of affairs had been to set her mother up as a temporary Gym Leader, as her father was away. And then she’d joined me on the rest of my Journey through Kanto, the Orange islands and for a brief week in Hoenn before I had been called back.

In a way, I think I had been too accepting of her, and too relaxed about the entire affair. I really should have just denied her but in a way I knew she hadn’t been asking for a mature ‘relationship’ but something that she could latch on to. It gave her a harbour to venture out from to learn how to be social and ‘fit in’. If I hadn’t had another life’s experiences specifically in health I might not have identified that as her need. It… really wasn’t something I could be too sure of. Still, I liked to think I had helped her. Just as I liked to think getting her out of one of the largest cities in Kanto, and away from the expectations of people helped her out more.

With a second lifetime to draw on, I was smarter than the average child, along with being more emotionally aware of the effect my words could have, but that really didn’t mean I was qualified to ‘help’ how she’d needed. Strangely enough, she’d listened to my advice and decided that I was suitable as a ‘boyfriend’. I suspected old ladies were involved somewhere, and there had been a miscommunication on multiple levels, but it had been innocent enough.

I blinked and yawned again. I shook myself and underneath me, Zephyr hooted a reproachful warning. “Sorry! Guess I’m more tired than I thought I would be.” I glanced down at his face in the light of dawn before frowning. I looked up and scowled.

“And that fight, discussion, and now flight home took all night.” I leaned forward and began to run through the list of tasks I had to see to today. “Wonderful, just wonderful… today is going to suck.”

One of the perks of being a gym leader was delegation. I could only thank past me for his foresight in assigning Dennis to feeding and checking the pokemon in the morning roster. That meant I only had to see to feeding my younger siblings.

It was a task in itself, but one I knew how to handle in a quick efficient manner.

“I don’t want yucky cereal!” Timmy shouted at me. “I want pebble-os!”

“They’ve got no nutrients in them! Eat your Bricka-brix blocks made of wheat or no tv!” Sadly my reasonable demands were met with a defiant glower. I shrugged and moved on to Billy and Tilly. “Come on now, eat up kids or you won’t have the energy to play!”

Reason had as much sway on them as it ever did. Which was to say none of them ate any quicker. I gave a forced smile as I ate my own meal. Maybe if I got them all doing something I’d be able to nab a power nap?

A knock on the door saw me scarf down the food and make for the door. Part of me hoped it was another trainer come to challenge me at my house. I’d happily use dogpile, declare it super effective and claim my victory prize of a nap while the trainer dealt with my excitable siblings.

Sadly it was Georgina and her daughter Crystal. “Oh Georgina, Crystal! Good morning!” I said while looking them over. “Was there a reason you’re here early? I thought you had all the accounting done for the week?”

“Yes!” Georgina said, nodding her head. “I’m here to remind you about the personnel interviews you have to conduct.”

I froze. “That’s today?” My mind chose that moment to helpfully remind me that yes, that was today. Past me had scheduled a number of people to come in for interviews today. Yolanda walked past at that moment. Crystal perked up, slipping past me to chat.

Georgina peered at me. “Yeeees? Brock are you alright? You look a bit tired?”

I waved it off. “Nothing, it’s nothing, I’m just tired. I had a late night.” She nodded slowly.

“We could reschedule some of them?” she said.

I grimaced, not liking that idea. I shook my head. “I can deal with it.”

Georgina chewed her lip. “Do you need any help with the family?”

I shook my head. “It’s a school day, and tonight I have the grannies coming around to watch things.” I chuckled. “These days, I’m pretty sure some of the grannies use my place to get away from their husbands and play bridge in peace.” Georgina gave me the ghost of a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

I led her into the kitchen where I made up two cups of coffee. One for her and the other for me. I wasn’t a coffee drinker but surely if I just dumped some milk I’d be able to suck it down, right? I did so with a grimace that was mirrored by Georgina as she sipped at her own drink.

She laid down the files she had. “These are the candidates that made it through the screening and a phone call with Dennis for the set questions you wanted answers for. We ran background checks on all of them and they came up clean with one standing out positively.”

“How so?” I said as I flipped through the first file.

“Daniel Domino. He has a new wife with a child on the way and he hasn’t run off,” Georgina said with a chipper tone, like she was happy for the other woman.

I felt something twitch within. “Well… good for them.” I tried not to cringe at that being a bar that needed to be passed for a sizeable number of men and women. My own family was in a way an example of this. “Good for him being a good father by trying to get employment before his kid comes.” I glanced at the other slightly denser stack of files she had.

“And those?”

She laid those to the side. “Those are for the receptionists that made it through the screening. You wanted to talk with all of them. There’s seven to do today…” She eyed me, “if you’re feeling up for it.”

“That’s today as well isn’t it?” When she nodded I took another chug of my drink and drained it down. When I set the mug down Georgina grimaced. I raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“You are just… that’s not how coffee is supposed to be drunk,” she said as she curled around her own mug like something small and precious. She cradled it and inhaled the fragrance through her nose. “It’s meant to be savoured.”

I huffed at her. “It’s instant coffee.”

“And that can still be savoured,” she said with her eyes half shut.

“Thought you liked things fast?” I said teasingly as I flicked through the next file.

“My cars, my nights, my pokemon. Not my coffee, not my quiet little moments.” She smiled as she looked into her mug like it was an adorable growlithe. I chuckled and prepped for the first interview. They’d have an interview with me and if I liked them I’d do the standard procedure for a gym trainer interview, and have a quick match to see what they were like.

I wouldn’t be asking for that from my receptionists. I would merely be having a face-to-face conversation and going to discuss their experiences and what they could bring to the team. The morning would solely be for trainers and then I’d switch tracks to interview the receptionists.

It was expected for a trainer interview, but I heard that some corporations still made people demonstrate their skills for initial employment even for non-battling roles. It didn’t surprise me, in a way it made sense in the pokemon world’s logic. Being a good pokemon trainer meant more than just being strong yourself. You had to have empathy for one. So it made for better all-rounded people.

When the first interview arrived barely an hour later I was moderately more awake, clean, and dressed crisply. The first trainer hopeful entered the office and smiled at me before batting her eyes. I felt my smile grow a bit more brittle.

“So what made you want to sign up with us? I value your honesty.” I wanted to gag at the typical sounding questions. It always made me feel weird being on the other side of the interview and having to give standard questions that I could use as a ‘measuring stick’ for the people coming through.

The first woman smiled before leaning forward. “I wanted to sign up to be… under you.”

The interviewee used seduction.

I stared at her before offering her an open hand indicating the door.

Seduction was not very effective.

“Please see yourself out I don’t have time for that today.” I had things to do and she wasn’t one of them. I glanced at her resume. She’d had a good one done up and her references were good, so for her to have gotten through… she either planned this or someone had messed up on my end. I’d have to schedule some time with Dennis and Rocko to make sure it wasn’t something on our side.

“Aren’t you at all interested?” She said with a shrill disbelieving tone.

“I think you’re looking for the local hiker’s bar, not the gym ma’am.” She gaped at me like I’d just called out a magikarp and slapped her with it. I nodded to the door again, “Please, see yourself out.”

She left with a huff.

She ended up being the first of three others to attempt that method, with the third being a very effeminate man. I gave him props for trying, but also directed him towards the local Hiker bar. He seemed the most pleased with the idea.

The rest of the morning passed with me having to slog through the trainers. I remembered there being a lot more applicants in the initial stage, but with the background checks and initial screening, a lot of applications were eliminated. There was still a decent number to get through, however.

I probably had myself to blame with the very lucrative starting wage and option of lodgings for trainers,pokemon, and families if required. Now I had to deal with the success of my job advert.

I had to run trainers through a sheet of questions each, with some answers being more important than others, while allowing for individual interpretation. Most of their showing really came down to how well they battled. In the gym setting their past achievements were as much their resume as what they’d written down. There were rarely any answers that saw me losing interest in the interviews and only the three that had slipped through the initial screening were not suitable in some manner. I had to ask them about their experiences, and their current roster of pokemon. It made for a rather interesting affair on one or two instances with tales of places I’d never been filtering in.

I’d still needed to choke down another poorly made coffee through them all, all while ignoring Georgina’s judging looks for my lack of appreciation. Despite the caffeine boost, I still felt drained by the end of interviewing the trainers. It turned out being the interviewer was a tiring affair. In the end, I hired two trainers.

The first was a young girl by the name of Missy. And by young, I meant that in truth she was my age, had done three years on her journey, and was now looking for something more solid for a time while retaining her pokemon team for herself and her future endeavours.

She was a local girl and had a good understanding of the region and the various pokemon that called it home. She even came with a team of mostly rock-type pokemon, which made her a fairly easy fit.

When I’d asked one of the ‘standard’ questions about why she wanted this job she had grinned and replied, “Because it’s the most interesting job to do in my home city, and the best paying!”

I had stared at her for a moment before laughing aloud. I recalled a number of ‘overly honest’ interview jokes in my past life, but to have it actually happen to me was refreshing. I smiled and nodded while making a note which made her grin hugely. It was, at the very least, something a lot of other people hadn’t been game enough to say

I’d appreciated that, and continued the interview before learning that she’d placed sixth in the standings at this year's Hoenn League. That had been the initial draw that opened the door for her despite her age and rather sparse employment history.

This girl knew how to handle her pokemon. She’d done the circuit route twice with a longer tour of Kanto and Johto before trying her hand at the Indigo conference. She’d done well enough then, reaching the knock-out stages and making the top thirty-two. That had been good enough for a relatively new trainer. For her to then back it up with a top eight showing had been excellent proof that she’d learnt her lessons from her first circuit and applied them for her second.

Now she was eying going for the Ace circuit to become a professional battler, earning money and fame. Instead of leaping into a different league of fighting straight away though, she had sought stability.

I’d tested her just as hard as any other trainer to make it this far by forcing her to fight against some of my best with Shelly and Shin. Then I’d unleashed Knight against her which had caught her by surprise, but she’d rallied marvellously and used her starter —a Growlithe— wonderfully to box and pressure Knight before he had rearranged the field and taken out the fire type with some well executed rock moves.

I’d smirked at the victory, which made her slump as though she’d failed the interview. When I told her I was impressed she dared to look hopeful. I’d especially liked her Rhydon. That had some serious potential at this gym. I told her as much and she’d left expecting a call by the end of the day. When I called and informed her she had the job she accepted instantly.

The next trainer ended up being the young man that had been mentioned to me earlier in the day. Daniel Domino was for all intents and purposes, an Elite trainer. He had served a number of years in the Rangers before apparently getting himself and a girl in a ‘family way’. Something I felt spoke well of him for sticking around and seeking a better paying, and safer, job to be with her.

The battle had been a lot closer but he had a number of tells that indicated he was more used to fighting wild pokemon than a trainer-raised pokemon. It showed in how if I fell silent and let the pokemon do as I trained for certain moves he would become focussed on the pokemon to the exclusion of everything else. Something I’d not let Celia adapt. He obviously hadn’t had to fight many swarms before. When I barked a terse order he’d jerked upon realising that I was there before shaking it off. He didn’t have many trainer fights under his belt recently if that was the case which might have been an issue. On the other hand…

“So you’ll be needing a family unit then?” I asked, making a note after we wrapped up the match.

“If that’s not a problem?” Daniel said while tugging on his collar. I shook my head, making the green-haired man sigh in relief.

“I think I can happily accommodate you.” I tapped his file. “You have an impressive resume. I’ll need to speak with your supervisor in the Rangers first, and we’ll need to get you used to fighting against pokemon with trainers instead of wild pokemon but tentatively I’d say keep an ear out for my call alright?”

He beamed at me before vigorously throwing my hand up and down when he shook it. I chuckled, happy with how the morning and early afternoon went. I felt I had made two good hires. My good mood came to an end with a call on my transceiver.

“Hello Karen? This is early, we only spoke last night.”

“Yeah well, we just got reminded from a local that you’re taking on trainers for the next circuit. I’m going to send you a profile and we’d like you to consider them for training.”

I hummed into the receiver before checking the clock. “Are they coming around today?”

“No, the silly man is traipsing around the wilds. We’ll send him your way as quickly as we can, but we’d appreciate you taking him on.”

“I’ll consider it,” I said, testing the waters.

“Thank you Brock, that’s all we ask. I’d love to talk more, but I need to see someone about a grass pokemon.” She hung up just after I said goodbye. I drummed my fingers. That had… Huh, they’d stuck to what they said they would. They had a guy with some potential but weren’t pushing me. That was good. It seemed like they were going to hold to their word about leaving me run my ship how I wanted.

I glanced at my emails and saw a file waiting for me from Agatha herself. I resolved to give it a look over later. It was important after all, but not urgent.

I instead turned my attention to the stack of receptionist resumes for people that had sent them in. During small breaks, I winnowed them down. Now only three tan folders lay to the side of my desk. Thankfully this role hadn’t gotten as many applicants as the trainer role had, but that was to be expected.

The best applicant for this job ended up being a much older woman. She had all the experience but sadly her hearing was going on her. That… I tapped her file… it wouldn’t work out. When I’d called her on the phone to schedule something in I’d had some issues with her hearing. When she was face to face I got the impression she was lip-reading me more than actually listening to what I was saying. Still, she had been able to outline a number of ways to improve the ‘front’ of the gym and make things smooth and hopefully more enjoyable for all.

The second applicant had ended up being fine over the phone but in person she’d been very twitchy and anxious. Not something I wanted at the front of the gym as one of the first people to associate with my gym. She’d been put down as a maybe while I mentally began writing a letter that would recommend methods of controlling or lessening her anxiety.

The last lady ended up having no experience as a receptionist, but a rather decent grounding in another job. “A daycare you say?” I said across the transceiver, imagining what she’d have had to see within a daycare around these parts. Memories of Don and the Wingulls threatened to rise up.

“Oh yes, I rather enjoyed it, but I think I’d like to try something different in life.”

“Do you think you’ll have any issues dealing with trainers? You’ve dealt with them in the past while handling their pokemon, no?”

She had tilted her head while blinking. “Oh no! I worked at a daycare for children!” She put a hand over her mouth and laughed politely at my error.

I chuckled at my mistake. “Ah apologies.”

She shook her head, “I imagine I might have to use some of my methods for directing children more than anything. I think I will have a good time. Hopefully, there will be fewer tantrums.” She gave another light laugh.

“I wouldn’t count on that. Trainers can be very passionate.”

“As can three to five-year-olds.”

“Hmmm can you come in and run through some tasks for us?” An idea formed in my mind. Being the receptionist for a pokemon gym would be an ill-defined role but I had an idea of what I wanted.

When she agreed to come sit in I sat back after bidding her a good day. So I had two candidates in truth. One with a wealth of experience but poor hearing, another that was trained in another field but not as specifically geared. I turned the issue over in my head before shrugging and saying aloud, “Why not both?”

I chuckled before giving it more thought. If I had the Daycare lady while also employing the older woman to be her training supervisor I really would get the best of both worlds. Effectively hiring a face for the gym while getting some experience as well.

If they got annoyed with a trainer giving them any grief they could swap out. I imagined a nearly deaf woman would handle things differently than the daycare lady. It promised to be amusing nevertheless.

With that finally out of the way and no other pressing concerns, I turned the gym over to Rocko to pack up. I had tasks for the next week to handle the onboarding for the new hires,but that could wait for now. There were at least two hours before I needed to start cooking dinner and my bed was singing a siren song to me for an early nap, one that I’d been looking forward to for the past hour.

I entered and found some of the Grannies still at the table. There was also a smell that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. One of the grannies signalled a pause in their game so they could approach me.

“Brock, we gave Suzie some medicine as the poor dear was feeling a bit under the weather. It also seems little Timmy has her bug. They’re napping right now,” she said delicately.

“Ah thanks for that,” I said as I decided I’d poke my nose in before having a nap myself. I didn’t get even that far as Suzie toddled into the hall. She gave me a sleepy look as she approached before raising her hands up in the universal toddler silent speak for ‘pick me up’! I did so smiling at her.

“Hey there Suz—” She threw up down my shirt.

I swallowed the urge to reply in kind from long experience as the sticky muck rolled down my front. The Grannies shifted into action with some getting towels while others got cleaning products to clean the floor.

I sighed, giving the grannies thankful nods. Then I smiled at Suzie as she clung to me. “Did you throw up in your bed?” I asked, already putting two and two together as I recalled the smell I’d been greeted with.

She nodded and snuggled into me. I sighed again, “Come on, let’s clean it up and get you down to the doctors for a check-up.”

The Grannies shook their heads and told me they’d take care of it. I gave them a tired smile in thanks. Then I checked in on Timmy only to find him throwing up in the bathtub.

I groaned. I’d been right when I’d said today was going to suck. It seemed today was going to suck for just a bit longer and a bit harder still though.

I really should have seen the last little jab of suck coming.

“Alright, looks like we're going to the hospital,” I said to the room at large.