Chapter 1: Gym Leader Brock

Chapter 1: Gym Leader Brock

I didnt get to instantly understand all the memories of my first life upon my insertion.

I didnt get to meet any almighty being, or anything randomly omnipotent. Which, considering my new circumstances, would have been wild. Arceus as a god was crazy to consider.

Instead, I slowly formed into an overly mature child. That didnt stop me from being caught in the wonder though. Being reborn into a world of pokemon will do that. There was a romance and a vibrancy to this world. Pokemon themselves made up the largest part but the people themselves were more upbeat. The simplest of things had more to them.

Id easily spent vast amounts of my previous life engaged in the pokemon media. I wasnt a diehard by any metric; but I was a fan for sure. Enough so that I knew things about the world. Id had to test certain things at the start, such as which iteration of the pokemon world I was in. There was after all a world of difference between the various anime alone, then the games, and finally the manga.

An equivalent of the anime was perhaps the best outcome for all involved, ergo, me.

It did leave me with questions. Lots and lots of questions. Some of which Im not sure I wanted asked, let alone answered.

I wanted some sleeping Entei to just keep slumbering. I wanted to live my second life for all that it was worth. That had been possible with the occasional hitch. Thankfully Id been able to put my knowledge of the pokemon world to great use. This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.

In the past, I had another name and another life. Another world that, while mundane, was engaging, enjoyable, and mine. This second life I would treat as an extension with a new name much like a new situation. It would be no different than going to college and getting a new name that others knew me by assigned to me. Thats at least the way I rationalized it to myself.

These days, I went by Brock.

Brock as in the Leader of the Pewter City gym.

Go Graveler! I shouted. Pokeball discharging my chosen partner for this match.

Go Nidorino! shouted the challenger. The small rabbit-like rhino came down with a shake of its head that sent the overly large ears flapping. I let a small grin come out. It always amused me seeing pokemon that I once prized on my team with the game used against me.

Graveler! Rollout into an Earthquake! I called. I might have favored the pokemon originally but that was never a reason for me to go easy on them.

Leap up Nidorino! called my opponent with grit teeth. I braced myself as Graveller ended his first attack to slam both palms into the ground, calling out his name as he did so to cause the arena to shake. In the wild it wasnt uncommon to be walking around and lose your footing. Dampeners around the arena stopped it from affecting the watching crowd. I considered it money well spent, and the crowds that frequented the gym since I installed them, judging by the steadily growing number of regulars, agreed. I had even started making decent money selling tickets for some of the pre-booked matches.

In my old world pokemon fights were often compared to cockfighting. A cruel sport marketed as pitting two animals against each other. This was incorrect. Perhaps in some other universe it was true in a grimdark world where everything was Well Id know if things were that bad.

Perhaps it was Arceus in this universe, or something else, but actual blood occurring in most fighting was rare. It still happened and was more a sign of a pokemon being pushed to their limits. Death during a match was extremely rare. You had to be careful of course, as most incidents of this were typically from people that threw out top tier pokemon against rookies. Something that was extremely frowned upon, if not outright punished if found. Most pokemon had good enough instincts to know when to get out of a fight either by ignoring a trainers orders against a more powerful pokemon, or by staying down when they hit the ground.

The exception to this rule was typically in the wild with untrained pokemon, or with criminal organizations.

I entered the door to a more ruggedised gym that was broken into different training areas. It was part training facility for humans and part environment training space. I had a small pool along with a moat that ran along the edge of the room. Some pokemon bobbed around and tried to swim against the current while others simply bobbed along. In the middle pokemon traded pointers and lifted weights. Others dashed about or used their abilities against training dummies.

Further back I had an area for an open plan office with a conference room along with my own room for paperwork. Most of the time I spent I tried to keep out of the office however as trainers all preferred to be interacting with pokemon. That or training themselves.

The trainers I employed worked with some of the gyms pokemon about the training area. Coaching them in the required moves that would allow them to be effective for certain badge level matches. There also needed to be a good deal of mentoring and counselling. It wasnt good for the pokemon to simply use them for low-level fights and ditch them. That created resentment and bad blood with pokemon growing more aggressive.

Typically those ones faced a much more skewed win-loss ratio. Good pokemon at this level didnt stay low level for long. You needed a certain type, and those needed care still as the ratio still applied to them. Rare was the pokemon that didnt care about losing.

I nodded to the ironically named Rocko, a local trainer that had been one of the first to apply when Id taken over the gym. He was laid back enough to be an easy hand with the low-level pokemon that stayed there. He waved back languidly before patting the head of a Geodude that bumped into him for attention.

I instead turned to one of the trainers that werent employed but rather sponsored by the gym. Celia was a local that had garnered my interest and then the gyms sponsorship with her showing at a local little league where pokemon of a certain level were loaned out to fight. Shed accepted the prize of having her female nidoran from the tournament become her starter. Shed completed her circuit and now was in training for the Indigo League that wasnt far off. I think she had good prospects.

She waved before tilting her head towards her pokemon. I waved her off and nodded to a side room where the computers were set up. Lets do some match review and scouting for your opponents. That got a more fanged grin. She likely was dreaming of the day that would soon come where she would be off the leash so to speak. Having completed her circuit rather quickly she had been hanging around Pewter for a month now. The Level of trainers here that could actually challenge her were few and far between. So most days she trained with her pokemon and came up with strategies. One of the things only recently implemented was the tracking of all trainers pokemon that they use along with movesets. This allowed for a much more competitive level of scouting if people were willing to put the time in.

Typically not something you could do when you were on the road, but in a gym with computers? It was more than easy enough. Celia already had a good understanding of most of her rivals' teams and strategies from previous sessions.

Before I could leave the room another of the Gyms trainers entered. Leader! Finished your match already sir? Dennis asked as he marched up to me.

I nodded, Yeah, the kid made too many mistakes for me to let him through. I gave his dusty pants and shirt a look over, Did you clean up the path for me tomorrow?

All taken care of Leader! He said, doing everything but saluting at me as I dismissed him. The guy really would fit better with Surge, but I doubt his wife wanted to move. Turning back to Celia I caught her giving me a pleased look.

What?

Nothing, I just think its sweet youre taking time off to go hiking with your brother! I wish I had a big brother like you!

I rolled my eyes, Instead youve got me as a boss. Which is probably better. You get paid you know? She nodded happily and skipped ahead, her skirt frill flapping with each hop. She winked when she noticed me watching her. I rolled my eyes at her again before gesturing at the computer. We both settled in for some work. Shed have it pretty easy from now on for any duties required of her. I was pretty much coasting now that the circuit was coming to a close, and wouldnt be asking too much of her.

Soon Id have what could almost be called a holiday with the slow period of the less flashy gym duties for four months. Id quickly learnt that being a gym leader wasnt a job, it was a way of life. I surprisingly enjoyed it. There was a constant level of work that was both exhilarating but tiring. There was a level of respect and recognition throughout the community Id only associated with famous actors, athletes or politicians in my past life. I really liked it.

It made me wonder what Id do when Ash Ketchum came around.

I knew that was close timeline-wise. It was something that, along with a few other things would need to be discussed with Forrest tomorrow. For today I focussed on the task before me that I could handle. Tomorrow Id hike up Mt Moon and show Forrest my younger brother one of the secrets at the top.

Turns out it wasnt just a meteorite and fairies using it in ritualistic evolution ceremonies that made Mt Moon special.