Hard Enough - Chapter 88 - Make it double! (Patreon)

Jessie lay atop the hill with half her body sticking out of a bush. She had some of the best binoculars that money could buy —stolen from the Rocket stores reserved for the Executives, of course—  at her disposal. In front of her the Pewter city gym sat.

Next to her James and Meowth lay, equally entranced with the gym.

“It’s… really big…” said James from her right.

“That means they must have a ton of good pokemon, right?” said Meowth.

“Hmpf! It means they have something worth having, but everyone knows that seeing as Brock won so much money when he fought Lance!” Jessie said as she moved her binoculars over to the front where trainers were already queuing up. People could be seen working the crowd to maintain straight lines and others had set up a booth to the side for rental of the outdoor battle areas.

Other people had even gone as far as setting up stands selling food, drinks and various other goods. It hurt to see the shoddy merchandise and not be the ones making a mint selling it. Their recent ‘jobs’ — and she shuddered to think how they’d been gainfully employed by Miss Meadows to run the berry stall after the woman had encountered them eating (stealing) her berries— had been a side hustle! A stop-gap solution!

Still, it hadn’t been too bad.

Jessie had been rather impressed by their recent success in helping Miss Meadows sell her berries. She was even more impressed with the bonus the woman had given them for selling out so quickly.

Now Miss Meadows had to return to her farm to look after it which had caused Jessie, James, and Meowth to remember that they weren’t supposed to be selling berries but stealing rare and powerful pokemon! Pokemon like that twerp’s Pikachu! There was obviously something going on there! It had to be a variant of some sort! Maybe an Electric…Electric type? Well, it didn’t matter! It was obviously strong!

“Where do you think he keeps his money?” James said as he flicked his binoculars around haphazardly.

“Probably in a bank!” said Meowth, not unreasonably in Jessie's opinion.

“Maybe he sleeps on it?” James said hopefully.

Meowth stood up and turned the binoculars onto James to examine his head. “I think you’ve been reading too many comic books. People don’t do that. Money is heavy and don’t make for a good night’s sleep.”

“That’s only because you’ve never done it!” said James.

Jessie huffed. “And you have?” she said snarkily.

James coughed and said something but Jessie couldn’t make it out. Meowth twitched though. “When did you ever get a score that big?”

“I just… found my chance to when I was younger.”

“During your grunt days?” Jessie said with interest.

James muttered something and Jessie raised an eyebrow before dismissing it as unimportant. She looked back through her binoculars. “I think we can get around the back and enter through the rear entrance he’ll no doubt have! The best entry will be through the swamp.” She nodded to herself, decision made as she straightened up to a standing position.

“Swamp!? I hate swamps! That has water worse than the worst sort of water!” whined Meowth.

Jessie rounded on him. “Can it! We can handle a little mud!”

Meowth glared at her. “Listen! You know how you don’t like getting your hair wet during the rain cause it takes ages to dry out?”

Jessie nodded slowly sensing the trap that was sure to come with Meowth’s words.

“Well, now imagine having a body covered in fur! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get dry? Now, imagine that the water you plan to trudge through is a swamp! Are you going to carry me?”

Jessie shook her head and sighed. “Alright! Alright! We won’t go through the swamp, despite the tactical advantage of approaching unseen,” she said pointedly, only for Meowth to not shift from his stance.

James sat up, binoculars still locked on the gym. “How do you want to get in? I can see a lot of people and a lot of cameras around the place.”

“It’s simple! We walk in the front doors!” said Meowth earning a raised eyebrow from Jessie and a turned head and stare down from James.

Jessie stared towards the distant doors before brightening up. “There are so many people down there that it doesn’t matter if we simply walk up to them and then sneak our way in! Meowth you’re a genius!”

“At escaping water? Most certainly, but also yes in general!” he said while puffing up his chest.

James frowned through his binoculars, still locked onto Meowth. “You’re a genius that has some dandruff.”

Meowth swatted the binoculars from James’ hands. “Well if some people would stop stealing my shampoo, I wouldn’t run out all the time!”

Jessie flicked her hair over her shoulder, momentarily caught with how the lustre caught in the sun just as James tossed his own. “Looking this good isn’t something you can get without crime,” he said suavely.

Meowth glowered at them. “That stuff is meant for pokemon not people!”

“We break many rules, what are shampoo and conditioner suggestions in comparison?” said James with another toss. Jessie smiled for a moment before reaching into their pack.

“Right! We’ll need to ditch the rocket garb as Brock is familiar with our attire. He has taken out grunts and Executives before!”

James and Meowth sat bolt upright at that. “You didn’t mention that!”

“Don’t worry he’s never taken us down before!” Jessie said with emphasis.

James and Meowth shared a look. “That isn’t as reassuring as I think you meant it to be.” said James.

“I think it was precisely as reassuring as she meant it to be!” said Meowth.

“No more lollygagging! Now strip those rocket clothes and put these on!” said Jessie as she shoved a dress into James' hands.

“I don’t think I can pull off green… got anything to match my eyes?” he said after holding the dress up to his body.

Jessie rolled her eyes at him before tossing a simple shirt and jeans combination which he accepted without comment. She quickly threw on a neat skirt, shirt and jacket before topping it off with a cap over her hair. Meowth tilted his head.

“What about me? Not going to give me a pig nose and call me a Mankey again?” he said.

Jessie shook her head. “No, I think just having you on our shoulder will work well enough. Lots of trainers do that. Just look around and look tough!” Meowth shot her a grin as he hopped up onto her shoulder.

“Claws! Claws! Claws!” she said frantically as his claws dug through the jacket and into her shoulder. Meowth shot her a smug look.

“Ooops! Sorry!” He retracted his claws and Jessie shot him an unimpressed look.

James adjusted his top and put a beanie on to hide his signature blue hair along with adopting some fake glasses. “Alright! I’m ready to go!”

Jessie smiled and led the trio onwards.

Not once did they look back and notice the tree that held a camera overlooking the hill that overlooked the gym.

The trio themselves walked up the front doors with almost no challenge.

“Hey! Beautiful~!” James and Jessie both paused and looked to the speaker.

“Yes?” they said together. Then they realised they were both talking and turned to each other. “Jessie/James, they’re talking with me!” they then turned back to the now retreating trainer suddenly holding  up a pokeball. “Right?”

“Uhm… this isn’t where I parked my Rhyhorn!” he said before scrambling away.

James hummed and Jessie sniffed. “Urgh! Only a Rhyhorn rider? Please! I would have only hung out with a Dodrio owner or better!”

Meowth tilted his head. “But you ain’t got a Dodrio yourself?”

“That’s not the point Meowth!” said Jessie. “Come on James, let's head inside!”

James mumbled something but quickly fell into line following Jessie. When they reached the front doors the doors parted to reveal a number of trainers already queuing up. Jessie looked over the crowd of waiting pokemon trainers and the pokemon, licking her lips as she did so.

It was a veritable buffet of strong pokemon. And some of those trailers would surely be dumb enough to use their ‘healing pokemon courier service gimmick’... Jessie stopped dead when she spotted a sign.

‘Trainer tips! It is your duty to take your pokemon only to official nurses and/or healing centre. Anyone else offering this service is likely scamming you and stealing your pokemon.’

Meowth tapped her on the head. “What’s this? Trainer tips….”

She glanced at her shoulder. “How did you teach yourself to read?”

“Perseverance and sitting through a number of primary school classes.”

“But you’re the one who reads the technical manuals when we get a new machine?” said James in confusion.

“It was a technical school,” Meowth said.

Jessie and James considered that for a moment before nodding.

“Fair enough,” Jessie said as she looked around and spotted a number of different signs that actually stated how to authenticate things like League official badges, watch for people that are in disguises, or even have a team ready to fight off pokemon poachers.

“This place is offensive!” said Meowth as he read a sign about not trusting pokemon to ‘hold pokeballs due to their ability to be trained’. “This is making our jobs harder!” he said as he scratched a ‘do’ into the sign so that it read ‘do trust pokemon to hold your pokeballs!’.

Jessie and James nodded. Jessie glanced around and realised a sigh of relief. “Thankfully it doesn’t seem like anyone is actually reading them so they’re just treated as background details, not anything useful.” Still, she’d have to mention this to her next report to the boss.

She lifted her transceiver and took a number of pictures of the room, trainers and pokemon. When she was done she hustled to the side where a number of trainers dubiously watched her in case she or James tried to cut the line. More than a few held pokeballs ready to stop them. Jessie smiled and waved at them in an absentminded fashion while James winked at some others earning blushes and smiles as the trainers relaxed.

“Hmmm how should we get into the back?” Meowth said with a whisper.

Jessie hummed before her eyes alighted on a door that was guarded by Graveler and another door that blocked off a wheelchair toilet? That was weird. Part of Jessie felt it was also nice but she ruthlessly crushed that part of herself as she formed a plan.

“Follow me, we need to change into our next outfits!” She walked without any hurry to the marked-out toilet which was just out of view and quickly tugged James in. Then she reached into her pack and burrowed around for the janitor disguises.

“Put these on!”

Meowth tilted his head. “What about me?”

Jessie pulled out a mop bucket and shoved him into the bottom before stuffing a stick into it. “Hey! What gives!?” said the bucket.

“Janitors don’t have pokemon to help them… I think, but we also don’t have a disguise for you!”

“Yeah! Who’s ever heard of a janitor pokemon?” asked James.

“That’s cause we have more self-respect!” said Meowth as he tried to get comfortable in his bucket.

With their new disguise set up the pair marched out to the main doors with their heads down and their hands full of cleaning supplies. When they reached the Gravelers no one had bothered to challenge them.

“Got a spill to get to,” James said gruffly. The Gravelers looked at each other before shrugging and letting them through. Jessie grinned, lifting her head and sharing a triumphant look with James.

“Oh! Good! Brock did hire those janitors! I put in a suggestion about you guys last week. Can I get one of you to clean up the spill in the front row?” said a young purple-haired girl with the Pewter city emblem on her chest.

“Uhmmmm… yes?” said James as he glanced at Jessie.

“Fantastic! I’ll lead you to where you need to go,” said the girl whose name badge identified her as Missy.

Jessie watched James walk off with Meowth in the bucket. Alright, this was suddenly not going to plan, she thought furiously. It would look too suspicious to follow along unprompted… unless it was a gigantic spill. No, that would be ridiculous!

“I’ll see you in the back break room!” she said to her ‘fellow’ janitor as he was tugged away.

Jessie bustled her way to the back side of the gym where she came upon her next issue. The doors had passkeys on them. Because of course, Brock was apparently security conscious as well wasn’t he? Jessie cursed a little in her mind before recalling that she had seen something hanging off the lanyard of the girl that had taken James away.

Right, all she had to do was ambush one of the Gym trainers or other staff and get— An old woman walked through the suddenly open door. As she did so she played with a hearing aide.

“Ach! Damn things don’t work properly I swear!” said the old woman.

“Here let me help you with that,” Jessie said as she unconsciously leaned forward and began adjusting the hearing aide so that it fit better with the woman’s ear.

“Oh! Thank you dearie!” said the woman that had large glasses. She blinked up at Jessie. “Hehe! Nice to see another young lady working in the gym. Working as a Janitor are we? Nice respectable job that. You can start at the bottom and work your way up like my husband did with Grundo snacks!”

Jessie nodded dutifully while cursing herself in her head. Stupid former Nurse training kicking in at the wrong time! She should have just walked past the old woman and ignored her instead of helping her! Now the door was closed and she was stuck talking with the old woman.

The woman noticed her eyes flicking to the door. “Oh dear! Did someone not give you a passcard for the back area? Here take my spare one dearie. It’s only a guest pass but it’ll let you go where most of the mess is, the other spots you won’t be let into anyway!” The woman pat Jessie on the arm and bustled along to the front, leaving Jessie to gape at her good fortune.

She swiped the card and grinned as it opened up to reveal a hallway that was coloured with slate whites and earthy browns. At eye level, a number of lines ran along the wall with arrows indicating directions for certain facilities.

‘Trainer room, main office, security, pokemon holding area,’ Jessie read. She grinned. That last one sounded precisely what she was looking for.  She hustled along only to come across another entryway. When the door opened she almost had a heart attack until James walked in with a bemused look on his face.

“James!” Jessie hissed in surprise.

“Eeei!” said James as he threw himself against the wall. “Oh! Jessie, you scared me. I thought it was someone important!”

Jessie paused at that before shaking her head. James was just being his usual weird self. “What happened with the spill? Did you ditch that girl?”

“Oh, uhm no we cleaned it up…”

“But you don’t have a mop?” Jessie said with a tilt of her head.

“Urp!” burped the bucket. Jessie looked down to find Meowth happily licking his chops.

“Turns out they spilled Lonlon milk?” said James.

Jessie blinked. Meowth put two fingers together and kissed them in appreciation. “Deluxe grade Lonlon milk!”

Jessie raised a finger. How had they mopped it up without anyone asking questions? She had so many questio— She shook her head. “That doesn’t matter, come on! I found the pokemon area! We’ll be in and out in record time and have earned a big bonus with months to spare!”

The other two perked up at this and followed as she led them to the pokemon holding area. Jessie proudly used her gifted keycard only for the door to make a shrill tone that had Meowth flinching. “What gives Jess?”

Jessie glanced at the keycard and cursed as she remembered the old woman had only given her a guest pass. “It must be broken,” she said, tucking the card away. “Meowth!” she jerked her head at the door. “Pick the lock.”

Meowth glared at her before turning his eyes to the door. “Electronic lock. State of the art, thankfully there is a trick to these that was highlighted in locks monthly.”

Jessie scowled at Meowth. “Is that where our ice cream money sometimes disappears?”

Meowth coughed. “You can thank me for stopping you from having to buy a new wardrobe. Now gimme that magnet and that card.” Jessie handed it over and Meowth vigorously rubbed them together before slapping them on the reader.

Meowth grinned as the door gave a confused blart and then opened. “Nice! It worked!”

“Nice work Meowth!” Jessie grinned as she stepped into the room to spot shelves of pokeballs with small stickers on them that announced what type of pokemon were within each pokeball.

Jessie hugged herself. “The big, big bonus! We’re so guaranteed to get it this month!”

James nodded, taking off his jacket to get at the storage bag. Jessie flicked her wrists and in moments she was much more comfortable in her skirt and top combination that she had underneath her disguise. Sadly she still didn’t have the signature R top on but she hadn’t thought she’d go from reconnaissance to robbery.

Meowth tilted his head. “Why’re you ditching the disguises?”

“Because the best thieves know that you need style when you do something. You don’t just do it, you do it while looking your best!” Jessie said. James nodded along at that and stripped into his jeans. Meowth held up a dubious claw only for a horrible popping noise to occur along with a groan.

The trio all shared a look and crept around the corner to find what made the noise. On a large table an Onix was attempting to writhe around only for straps to be holding it in place. On the other side, one of the Gym trainers was watching a Chansey rapid fire punches into the pokemon causing clicks and pops.

Jessie could see the issue. The pokemon’s spine was out of alignment. Not something that would be dangerous but would certainly stop a pokemon from fighting in any serious manner.

The Onix didn’t seem to appreciate the finely applied hits to correct the alignment however, and thus had to be strapped down. Oddly, the Chansey seemed to be smiling as she delivered the treatment. The trainer also seemed rather dubious.

When Chansey was done she wiped her brow and gave a happy trill. Then she laced her little hands together and pushed them to cause popping as she cracked her own knuckles. The trainer shuddered.

“There’s something wrong with that Chansey,” whispered Meowth.

Jessie sniffed. “The pressure point massage was masterfully done, it just seems wrong to the untrained.”

Meowth gave her a raised eyebrow and she waved him off. “Never mind, let’s get back to—” before they could slink away the trainer looked up and spotted them. At the same time the door behind them opened and another trainer emerged. This one looked far more relaxed and even… stoned?

“Hey… people aren’t allowed back here!” The man’s hand dropped to his hip and a pokemon emerged frighteningly quickly. The Gloom locked eyes with them and lowered its head in a threat display

James and Jessie raised their hands to deny the newcomer only for another voice to cut over them. “Sorry, they’re with me! I was giving them a tour!” said the trainer that had his Onix on the table.

The Gloom trainer frowned. “You let them in here, Daniel?”

Daniel rubbed the back of his head. “Hahaha sorry Rocko, they’re old friends and they were curious!”

Jessie and James shared a quick glance. Did they know this guy? Both shook their heads minutely to indicate that no, they did not.

‘Rocko’ frowned at the younger man. “That’s no excuse to let them in here. This is a gym trainer only area.” The man opened the door behind him. “You frankly shouldn’t be let in here at all.”

James opened his mouth and Jessie covered it. “We were just waiting for—” she was about to say ‘friend’ when an announcement rang out through the room.

“Would the next challenger to the gym please step forward for your allocated time? Your time is now due!” There was a moment’s pause before the voice returned.

“Brock I can’t make out this person’s name?”

Jessie felt words tumble from her mouth before she was even conscious of what they were. “—mmmmyyyyy gym battle! Which is a thing… that I participate in,” she said. She ignored the incredulous looks from James and Meowth.

Daniel coughed. “Yeah! Yeah! Looks like we better get back to the arena for them!”

Rocko gave them all a narrowed-eyed look. He then slowly nodded. “Very well, but no trainers back here again in the future. I’ll be mentioning this to Brock, this is not professional Daniel.”

Daniel swallowed and nodded his head before ushering them out. Jessie tossed one look over her shoulder to see the Chansey watching her with narrowed eyes. When she looked down she saw something rather alarming. Why did that Chansey need so many needles and scalpels? Did the pokemon get injured that much here?

She licked her lips as she followed the group. Daniel dropped make to them and smiled. “Sorry about that,” he said aloud, but at a whisper he growled. “You owe me one, you idiot grunts!” He then adopted a genial smile as Rocko’s gloom turned its head to watch them.

Jessie smiled at it but for the rest of the trip she pondered what was going on with this guy. Did he know they were Rocket? If he did then he should know they weren’t Grunts. They were Specialists!

When they entered Rocko took the lead. Daniel shot them a look and gestured for them to go next without saying anything. It was as she was walking out the doors that she glanced back and spotted a blinking red light behind a dark orb near the door.

Were those cameras?

“Stop! We got them here!” shouted Rocko as they emerged. Jessie snapped back around in time to enter the arena and suddenly found all eyes on hers.

She swallowed. Oh… that was a decent-sized crowd. She glanced around, thankfully there didn’t seem to anyone that recognised her. She’d recognise them from how they laughed or scowled at her. If her boss was watching the Pewter Gym highlights he might… she licked her lips and glanced at her team, at least they were with her for this.

She hurriedly tugged a cap lower over her eyes to make it harder to recognise her, before turning her attention to the actual person of importance that was lounging like an Arcanine atop his favoured rock.

Gym Leader Brock was an imposing sight even when he was relaxing. His attention flickered to them and Jessie stiffened as she felt something more settle on and inspect her than just eyes. Why did his gaze feel different? Like it had weight to it?

“What is going on here?” his words were spoken like a rumble that might herald a coming avalanche. She swallowed again. He was obviously not amused to see them coming in from the back of his gym. Damn, they messed up! They messed up bad!

Their ‘friend’ Daniel stepped up and rubbed the back of his head. “Hahaha! Sorry boss, I was showing the gym off to my old friends here! I didn’t realise they had also challenged the gym!”

Brock turned his gaze upon Daniel, and the man instantly became much smaller. Brock’s frown grew sterner and the shadows deepened on his face so that he became a stark relief of a man that almost looked like he was going to pass judgement on them.

Jessie didn’t like that. She needed to act!

Jessie, ever the Leader of the trio, stepped forward. The movement made Brock turn his attention to her.

“Hello! I’m sorry I am… Jessadia! Your Challenger!” she said, trying to hide the way her knees were quivering. She clenched her muscles. She was not going weak at the knees damn it! Not from simply being looked at!

The Gym Leader’s attention locked onto her and for a moment time fell away as he judged her.

Then as if some unseen quality had been detected, he nodded. He straightened up and the air around him seemed to vanish, leaving Jessie wondering if it had all been something she’d thought up in her own head.

“Very well, step forward onto the podium,” he said, gesturing to the far side of the arena. Jessie nodded robotically and for a moment James and Meowth made to follow her.

Brock raised a hand. “Sorry only the challenger gets to stand on the podium… well actually, your pokemon can go with you as well…” he trailed off.

Jessie looked at Meowth and the small cat shrugged before whispering, “Sure, I’ll come stand with you cause it’s a better view.”

Jessie snorted and James was led to the stands. She and Meowth ascended on a podium with her to face off against Gym Leader Brock. It struck her then that she was about to face off against a Gym Leader. Her! A failed nurse…

This was bad. This was so bad. This was going to be like her time at the school… everyone would realise that she…

She swallowed and plucked her Ekans pokeball with trembling fingers, ignoring how Meowth watched her with eyes far too sharp for his own good.

This was not how the day was supposed to go!

She swallowed again. Maybe the Gym Leader was just as nervous? She locked eyes with him and felt herself hold back a whimper.

Why did he look so angry?!

                                        ___________________________________

Team Rocket had come to my Gym.

I had so many mixed feelings right now I wasn’t sure where to start. There was the fact that they’d been in my city for so long and I hadn’t encountered them. Or had I and I hadn’t noticed? I would have thought that with hair their colour they would have stood out. I glanced to the stands as James made his way up to the slightly emptier sections. I didn’t spot Ash or Misty there. They must have departed for something else.

Or knowing Ash he was trying to push his agenda of getting an early match onto the receptionists.

It was crazy how… he was perfectly himself while at the same time not.

I tilted my head and stared across at Jessie and Meowth. Or ‘Jessadia’ as they were trying to pass themselves off as.

I… Urgh Team Rocket. As the trio of goofy loveable losers that tried and failed to steal Pikachu from Ash they had been amusing or annoying depending on the episode. I often found myself enjoying them for the comic relief they offered.

But at the same time, I could recognise that they were self-professed professional thieves. Their presence at the back of my gym meant they’d been snooping around. How they’d gotten there without flagging any of the security measures in place would be a question for later. Right now I had Jessie in front of me trying to pass herself off as a mere over-eager challenger.

She stared at me and shifted from foot to foot as if nervous. When I saw the sweat beading on her forehead, I narrowed my eyes. She swallowed heavily, and Meowth sat up, his eyes growing wide.

They were scared of me.

I glanced at James.

In a way… I knew these people. These strangely loveable rogues tried and failed and sometimes… just sometimes, they helped save the world. They did it when no one would see them. The cartoon even had a small gag about that at the end of the second movie.

I knew their stories… in Jessie’s case perhaps even better than she did… her mother lost chasing a dream and her daughter was almost locked into the same fate only with a lesser pokemon. James and his fear of going home. How they didn’t accept him and forced him to do things he didn’t want. With how he occasionally dressed I suspected he was also possibly trans but the cartoons never touched on that beyond him never having issues wearing the dresses in their disguises. He almost seemed to revel in his chance to wear them.

Meowth… well his back story was pretty sad and highlighted how much pokemon could be partners.

It always amused me that Team Rocket for as terrible as they tried to stuff him in a pokeball for themselves. Nor did they serve him food on the ground. Something I had also attempted to avoid as much as possible with many of my pokemon on my journey until they expressed their own lack of concern. Regardless, I still made a point of occasionally having them eat at the same level as me.

What was the quote?

A lifetime of evil, at least he didn’t add animal cruelty to the list?

Or was it that they still had good in them? Was I just hoping for that though? I sighed and mentally flipped a coin.

If I was going to do this…

I selected a pokeball and straightened up. Jessie stiffened.

“Challenger! You kept me and my pokemon waiting,” I said with a voice that filled the room.

People that had been talking quietly suddenly fell silent and when I stopped speaking there was silence as Jessie stared.

“Well Challenger!? What do you have to say for yourself!?” I said.

Meowth nudged Jessie’s leg prompting her to cough and bow her head. “Apologies! I was too interested in learning about your gym… I still wish to battle you!”

I sniffed. The sound conveyed a wonderful sense of disdain that would do an old dwarf proud. “And you’ll bring your best? Very well, let’s get this over with!” I said dismissively. I said it in a way that never failed to ruffle people’s pride.

When you were a gym leader you wanted people to act up. You wanted them to feel the moment.

I enlarged my pokeball as the referee raised his flags to us both. “Choose your pokemon!”

“Go! Geodude!” I said tossing out one of my basic pokemon. I wasn’t going to throw out Izumi here and now. Instead, I was going to use the standard challenge pokemon.

“Go Ekans!” said Jessie. Her purple snake landing with a hiss of warning. It gave its surroundings a quick inspection before relaxing. It at least was ready to fight compared to Jessie who was rather distracted by the people in the stands and the apparent weight of the moment.

“Jessadella! You can do it! Don’t lose hope!” shouted James from the stands.

Jessie turned her head. “It’s Jessadia! Don’t forget my name you oaf!” she shouted before shooting me a fearful look.

I crossed my arms and gestured to the arena with a vague wave of my hand. “First move goes to the Challenger.” This was not something that was actually a rule but it was a cultural expectation for the early badges. It allowed the person to settle a little before making their move.

At higher levels, a trainer would need to be ready as soon as their pokemon were called out lest they get blitzed with a series of moves while standing around. It was a valid strategy I used with a specific Aron.

No one suspected a sixty kilogram metal dog to be fast.

“R-right! Ekans use Glare!” her pokemon responded by rearing up and letting its eyes glow. I didn’t nod as I would if this was a simple sparring match. It was a good move for her.

“Mudslap,” I said, making my pokemon hurl some mud straight into the glowing eyes.

They acted as wonderful targets for my pokemon’s attack. Despite the quick response, the attack still made Geodude stiffen up mud splashed into the snake’s eyes. Ekans reeled back with a cry and my pokemon clenched his muscles as a low groan escaped him.

“Tighten up your muscles with Harden!” I shouted clenching my fist in front of me. A pulse of Geodude’s energy saw his body tighten even further.

Jessie hissed much like her pokemon. “Ekans, use Poison Sting!”

The attack shot out small needles of poison that stabbed into my pokemon but didn’t appear to poison him. My pokemon twitched a little and groaned as he remained unable to move. I didn't have to worry too much about the poison in truth as there was an odd phenomenon where only one status effect at a time can afflict a pokemon.

This was due to muscle paralysis not letting poison seep into the blood and around the body properly. The same was true of sleep and with a frozen body it was thought that the poison had to work its way through the ice shell that usually restricted the afflicted pokemon. There were numerous other mechanics to take into account but the one status effect held true.

Also, poison moves against a geodude… weren’t going to be very effective.

“Ekans use Bind! Tighten your coils and let's end this match!” Jessie launched her arm forward. Ekans loyally lept forward. Her pokemon quickly coiled itself around mine but I could see it was having some trouble getting through the increased defences of Geodude.

“Shake them off with Roll Out!” I said hoping that Geodude would be able to pull it off. My luck seemed to be on the rise as Geodude threw himself forward, and suddenly Ekans was hurled into the air like a wobbling noodle.

“Ekans!” hissed the snake.

“Ekans! Use Dig to burrow into the ground!”  Jessie ordered. Her pokemon stopped flaying and turned its head straight at the ground where it burrowed like it was diving into water rather than solid earth.

“Geodude! Use Harden!” I said, deciding not to make this an underground and out-of-sight fight. Instead, I banked on my pokemon’s defence. However, instead of performing his move he twitched and cried out in annoyance making me grimace.

Ekans tore up through the earth straight underneath him in the most textbook example of a dig around and knocked Geodude flying. Now a ground-type move against this Geodude? That was super-effective, if only twice instead of the possibly four times multiplier an alolan variant would have.

My pokemon tottered but raised his fists and shouted out his name defiantly.

“Rollout!” I ordered not willing to let his defiance go begging.

“Ekans turn around and use Poison Sting!” Jessie ordered. The weak move barely impacted my pokemon as he flattened the snake. Only… the move tipped Geodude over the edge and saw him collapsing.

The ref raised a flag. “Geodude is unable to battle!”

“Yes! Way to go Jessie! I knew you could do it!” shouted James from the stands. I blinked in surprise when I realised he’d found some pom poms. He was doing a rather well-choreographed single-man cheer routine. He was getting a lot of attention from the crowd as they joined in cheering for Jessie at his urging.

Jessie only had eyes for her pokemon who was panting and looking rather worn. I returned Geodude. “Your pokemon is tired,” I said, using my most ominous tone possible.

Jessie glanced up. “He can do this all day!”

My lips twitched at the accidental quote. I selected the next pokemon from my belt. It felt right using the ‘traditional’ pokemon here. “We’ll see about that.” I tossed the pokeball and revealed Onix.

The pokemon loomed over the much smaller snake and Ekans shivered as Onix groaned its name. Ekans obviously knew he was in trouble here as he glanced back at his trainer. Jessie nodded at him and he snapped back into a fighting pose.

The referee dropped his flags. “Begin!”

“Onix use Slam!” I said not allowing Jessie the initiative this time. Onix lunged forward and Jessie flinched at the onrushing pokemon. Onix slammed into Ekans and sent the smaller pokemon flying into the wall where it hit with a thump. It then raised its head and slithered forward. I let it come while watching Jessie have an internal dilemma.

I noted I wasn’t the only one watching Jessie closely. Meowth was staring up at her from where he was standing. I could tell Jessie wasn’t looking at him though, and instead wrestling with a decision. Jessie raised her pokeball and returned her pokemon.

She dropped her arm and swallowed before straightening as a small grimace wracked her for a moment. “Well, with that I shall have to for—” Meowth lunged onto the field.

“What she means is she’ll have to send out her best pokemon!” said Meowth as he landed in front of my now-confused Onix.

The arena gasped and murmurs broke out.

“Did that Meowth just talk?” “Nah! It’s a gag! Like a radio on his collar or something!” “Who’s that pokemon!” “It’s a Meowth idiot!” “Meowth’ can’t talk!” “Most pokemon can talk, they just speak pokemon!”

A small fight was apparently breaking out, but I was too busy watching Jessie come to grips with the realisation that Meowth was putting himself into the ring for her.

James was also gaping in shock.

I sniffed pointedly. The noise cut through the susurrations of the crowd. “A neat trick but not something that will help you win. Gimmicks aren’t going to carry you here! Onix prepare to fight!”

Onix roared his name and slammed his tail in a threat display that had Meowth swallowing and looking over his shoulder at Jessie. “Hope you’re ready to help me out Jess!”

Jessie nodded before blanching. “Uhm!? Use Scratch?”

Meowth made to lunge forward only to apparently trip in shock.

“What kind of tone is that? Use Scratch? Do you not know what moves I know?!” he shouted back at her.

Jessie shrugged. “Taunt?” she said.

Meowth narrowed his eyes at her and shook his head before finding himself unable to say anything. “... well whatever but don’t order Scratch! I know Fury swipes!”

“Onix, Tackle,” I said deciding that I’d allowed the comedy routine to carry on long enough.

“Eh!?” shouted Meowth as he spun about.

“Meowth! Jump out of the way!” screamed Jessie.

Meowth leapt to the side. “Jeez! Why didn’t I think of that! Got any other orders Jess?!” he said in a half-sarcastic manner.

“Again,” I said firmly.

“KEEP MOVING!” screamed Jessie as Onix threw himself back after the fleeing Meowth. Meowth threw himself to the side and rocks pelted him as he just made it out from where Onx impacted.

“Wah! You should go on a diet mister!” said Meowth.

Onix rose with a growl. “Screeeh to shut him up,” I said bringing my hands up to cover my ears.

Onix opened his maw and a high-pitched whine filled the arena. Small barriers protected the crowd from the worst of the noise but Meowth staggered as he took the full tone. Jessie shook her head.

“Meowth! Stop wobbling and run! You need to stay on the move!”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY!?” shouted Meowth as he rubbed at his ears. The crowd laughed and I shook my head.

“Onix, use Slam and finish it,” I said. Onix whipped his tail around and Meowth turned in time to see the large rocky tail slap him aside.

Meowth spun through the air and I felt bad as he impacted the ground before falling to the ground with a pained ‘Feh!’

I turned to Jessie. “Is that all you’ve got? An Ekans and a Meowth? You’ll need to do better if you want to ever earn a Boulder badge. Your pokemon is obviously more of a gimmick than anything trained for actual fighting. He’s a pet,” I said while channelling my inner ‘douche tone’.

“Meowth is stronger than you realise! And he’s not a pet! He’s... he’s Meowth and he’s our partner!” Jessie said, slamming her fist into the railing.

Meowth staggered to his feet. “Usually I’d stay down after a hit like that. But with both of these lugs cheering for me I think I’d never live it down. And I can’t say I enjoy the idea of being called anyone’s pet! You have no idea how degrading that is to someone like me after what I’ve been through to get where I am!” Meowth said while shaking his fist at me.

I resisted the urge to apologise because I did have an idea of what he’d been through. Instead, I grunted at him and dismissed him as I raised an eyebrow at Jessie.

Meowth spat out some dirt and began to limp forward. “Feh! Usually, I’d agree to walk it off but I can’t stand smug guys like you talking down to average James and Jessies like us!”

He inched slowly towards the line that would see him back in bounds.

I cocked an eyebrow in surprise. I saw him adjust himself slightly as he walked, testing out his limbs and body discretely as he walked and held in a whistle. He was a good actor. He was pretending to be more hurt than he actually was.

He took the time to limp forward though and his eyes darted from Jessie to the grate of water that another trainer had not too long ago noticed and put to good use. “Jessie! Stop being so reactive and breathe! We’ve got this! I want to spit in this guy’s eye for talking down on us! So let’s do it!”

Jessie blinked before looking at my Onix and then to Meowth. There was obviously some subtext going on here as she nodded. “Right! Meowth prepare to move!”

The ref dropped his flag as Meowth reached a few metres into the arena.

“Onix! Use Slam!” I said obliging them to come at them. I was curious what they were going to do.

“Meowth leap to the side and then back with a Quick Attack!”

Meowth leapt to the side but he notably didn’t do it that fast. He still leapt back before Onix could rise from where he’d thrown himself into the tackle however. “I don't know that move but I can still attack quickly!”

“Use your claws and scale that Onix! Go for the eyes with Fury Swipes!”

I snorted. “I’m not gonna just let you do what you want, Onix throw yourself into a Tackle!” My Onix rose up and Meowth, like some video game character clung to the giant snake as he threw himself into the ground.

“Again!” I ordered “Twist yourself around as you come down this time!” I said as Meowth scrambled for purchase.

This time, he came off but he threw himself back onto Onix’s back again, slightly higher than his last starting position.

"Onix, roll over yourself with a log roll!” I said, throwing another curve ball at Meowth.

“Meowth run on all fours; you’re faster on all fours! It’s the only way!”

Meowth dropped to all fours, and much like Ash and Pikachu earlier today, he ran on the top of the spinning Onix. “Jeeves cheese! This is degrading is what this is!”

“Less talk, more running!” Jessie shouted.

Onix stopped, and instead of being thrown off he sprinted up at Onix’s face.

Jessie pumped her fist. “Yes! Now Meowth! Use Fury Swipes!”

“That’s more like it!” shouted Meowth as he unleashed a storm of swipes at my pokemon's one weak point… which was most assuredly not the horn, but rather the eyes.

Onix reeled back in pain with his eyes tightly shut. “Ooooooooon!” he cried.

“Onix! Listen to my voice!” I shouted, trying to get him to settle down.

“No! How about you listen to my voice instead!” said Meowth with the rough smugness that had Onix whipping his head towards the smaller pokemon.

“Yeah, That’s right you big lug! How’d you like them oran berries!? Want some more where that came from? I can scratch up pokemon like you all day! Mark you up like a scratch post!” he said, brandishing his rather dull-looking claws.

Onix roared at this and threw himself forward. I held in a chuckle. Meowth was literally taunting my pokemon. I repressed the grin as Onix lunged straight at Meowth.

“Jump Meowth!” shouted Jessie. Meowth dodged just in time and my Onix slammed headfirst into the water grate that bracketed the arena. I watched as Meowth was forced to dance back from an irate Onix. My pokemon rose and Meowth had repositioned himself once more in front of a grate.

“Onix! Use Rock Throw instead!”

“Yikes!” shouted Meowth as a rock the size of his head soared right at him.

“Meowth I swear to you when we’re done here I will make you run laps around camp every day until you learn Quick Attack!” screamed Jessie as Meowth was forced to leap to the side.

“You’re thinking of Rattata! Meowth don’t learn Quick Attack!” Meowth said as he ran away from his impending doom. Onix continued to unleash attack after attack which Meowth narrowly dodged.

When one clipped him and once more sent him soaring into the air he yowled. “I’m going to talk to my lawyer when we’re done here!” he shouted before he hit the ground and skidded. I snorted a laugh.

“Meowth Dig deep!” said Jessie. I held in the smirk. It wasn’t a bad move to call for with Meowth having thrown up a bit of dust with his landing. I was about to order my Onix to counter it only to recall that this was technically a first badge challenge and not a third or more challenge.

I coughed.

“Onix use Slam,” I said, readopting my persona.

When Onix slammed into the spot lots of people in the stand rose up and cried out only to gasp when it was revealed that there was a hole. I held in my nod of respect and ordered Onix to ready himself only for Meowth to instead launch himself out of the hole he’d just dug instead of another spot.

I reeled at the odd choice before realising that Meowth wouldn’t have wanted to dig all that way.

“You’ve ruined my nails you big lug! Take some of these! And some of this!” he said, jabbing handfuls of dirt into Onix’s eyes. Onix reeled back and Meowth flipped backwards to land on one knee. He was covered in dirt, heaving in lungfuls of air and staring at my pokemon with half-lidded eyes.

“Meowth! Meowth! Meowth!” cheered the crowd. Meowth didn’t hear them.

“Taunt it!” said Jessie.

“You… you big dumb rock!” shouted Meowth. Onix turned and launched itself forward and Meowth barely threw himself out of the way as Onix splashed down into the water. It rose up dramatically before slumping over.

The referee raised his flag. “Onix is unable to battle and the victory goes to Jessadia and Meowth!”

The crowd roared their approval and Meowth who’d been about to pass out jolted in shock before looking up at the crowd cheering his name. He gaped at them as did Jessie and James. I lowered the podiums and approached them.

“Congratulations on your victory!” I said beaming happily. I offered up a hand with the badge in it.

Jessie ignored it to run up to Meowth and snatch him into a cuddle. I felt, not for the first time today, that I’d made the right choice in giving them a chance.

Now they’d get their rewards and I’d pry some answers out of them.

Such as how they knew Daniel.

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A.N. Special thanks goes to my patreons for their support!

Special thanks goes to Raikor, Ab9999, Kurlinni, and Elnoorz for betaing and editing this chapter