Chapter 154: Training times

Chapter 154: Training times

Erika and Wills fight didnt stop due to the battle being done. Or rather, the event didnt end.

When enough time had been given over for reporters, the stands were pushed back by a team of tuxedo-wearing Machoke. At the same time, chairs, tables, and trays were carried in and deposited around the venue.

A few pokemon worked at evening out the ground with their trainers, and within the space of ten minutes, I found myself standing in a garden party.

I blinked dumbly and glanced to Sabrina. Uhm this is a bit weird, isnt it? I said, gesturing at the party that had sprouted up from seemingly nowhere.

Sabrina shook her head. This is actually rather typical for Erikas matches. It isnt just about the fight, she creates networking events for people, which increases the draw of some of the rich and famous that live around Celadon.

Huh, I said, snagging a pair of glasses from a waiter. I handed one to Sabrina as I took a sip. Oh, this is juice, I said in amusement.

Liquor licensing means they cant serve for another Sabrina glanced at an overgrown clock nearby. Twenty minutes.

I nodded, distracted despite how seamless the transition had been. A few minutes ago Id been in the stands cheering for Erika. Now I was in a party the likes of which I would expect from attending a rich socialite event. Erika made it look simple to host such an event.

So did this not bear mentioning? I asked. Somehow, with all the planning and discussion of securing Erikas fight against Team Rocket interference, the information that wed be sticking around for a party afterwards hadnt come up.

Sabrina glanced at me. Ah, I didnt realise you didnt know about this side of Erikas fights. She inclined her head. If you want, we can leave? she offered.

I seriously considered that for a moment. I eventually shook my head, deciding that I was here now. Id planned on simply idling around with Sabrina, perhaps on a shopping trip or strolling around Celadon after the match, but it seemed wed had different ideas about what wed be doing tonight.

No, no, we can stay. Im just surprised, I said, taking a sip of my juice. Hmm, this was some good Oran juice. I glanced around and noticed a number of rather well-to-do-looking ladies and gentlemen talking with rather befuddled people. It seemed I wasnt the only one that didnt know about this aspect of the fight.

Brock! Sabrina! Thanks for coming! Sorry, I couldnt talk with you before the fight! Erika said as she approached us with a beaming smile.

It wasnt a problem, Sabrina said, accepting the hug Erika offered.

Her drink floated away so it wouldnt spill on either of them while Ralts wrapped Erikas head in a hug of her own.

Erika stepped back to bow to me, and I smiled. Yeah, no way I was missing this. You did really well out there. Four and a half to six is a good showing.

Erika perked up at that. Yes, I am rather pleased with the end result. My pokemon worked rather well, although I was perhaps a bit rough on Venusaur.

I nodded at that, wondering if she couldnt have employed some better strategies. Venusaur was well known as a tank because of how it was commonly used. Then again, she had a lot of other pokemon to train up so perhaps a specialised fighting style for Venusaur was asking a bit much. I was expecting to see a Shiftry from her today. Perhaps she didnt have that line of pokemon trained up?

How are you feeling? Sabrina asked, her eyes sweeping over Erika. I paused; Erika did look a little tired.

Erika shook her head. Im tired, but that is no reason for me to depart just yet. I have deposited my pokemon with my assistant and will check up on them soon.

If any of them are burnt badly, I have some cream from Pryce, I said.

Pryce? Oh! I heard about that! Apparently, you and he have become friends? Erika said.

I wouldn't consider us friends but Erika tittered at what I had to say, and I tilted my head in consideration. I hadnt been hiding that Id gotten friendlier with Pryce, but I hadnt been announcing it either. Was Erikas gossip network that far-reaching?

My confusion must have been apparent as Erika smiled. Sabrina mentioned it during tea.

Oh, that makes sense. I barked a laugh. For a moment there I thought you had a spy network spread across Indigo.

Whos to say I don't? Erika adopted a mysterious smile which was somewhat ruined with how her lips twitched in amusement. Her transceiver pinged. She glanced at it and gasped, only to rapidly fire off a message.

I chuckled. Ah, the power of a young teenage girl with an unlimited telecommunication plan. Yeah, she totally had a gossip network as well, didnt she? I shot Sabrina a look only to find her glancing to the side.

Giovanni was walking away from the party. He had a brochure clutched in his hand and seemed very absorbed with it.

Hes leaving? I said, surprised. I would have thought hed be one to linger at such events.

He said he has some business to take care of, Erika supplied, catching where Id been looking. He approached me after the match and congratulated me.

Ah, I said. I suppose Giovanni could appear as a polite gentleman to most people, couldnt he? Did he say what business? I asked.

Erika tilted her head. No?

Its nothing, I said, waving it off. Erika nodded, only for a cluster of people to approach us to talk with Erika.

I found myself talking with a rather excitable man about the forest he owned and how being a lumberjack was a tougher affair when the plants hit back.

I ended up talking with him for a while.

But seriously! I work with the grass-type pokemon most of the time. I have trained pokemon that help me grow the lumber in designated lots and then I harvest the trees without disturbing more entrenched clusters. The issue comes from wild pokemon moving in, you have to patrol your forest regularly! I have a number for grass and electric types to deal with the pokemon that try and move in all the time!

I tilted my head and considered his statement. Ah, flying types would be a concern as well, wouldnt they?

The man nodded and made to keep talking, only for a polite cough to announce his wife coming to claim him. Ah! Sorry about that Gym Leader! It was nice talking with you! he said as he walked off.

I waved at him and glanced around for the next person who wanted to talk, only to realise that everyones attention was turned elsewhere. What could distract a crowd from three Gym Leaders, when one of them was the host, and another was the next big fight in the Ace circuit?

I frowned and straightened up to look over the crowds heads.

It seemed Id missed another structure being assembled when the Machoke pushed back the stands and opened up the arena. Id missed a stall being set up.

It was extremely futuristic and stood out like a sore thumb, at stark contrast with the garden aesthetic Erika had created. It had chrome metal along the walls and bright neon signs. Each attendant wore a sharp-looking chromatic uniform.

Each man and woman in uniform were talking to a group, with other attendants supporting them. It looked like a marketing speech. Off to the side, some people were already moving away with thoughtful looks. I nodded to Sabrina and linked up with her as we ambled towards the stall through an opening in the crowd.

Do you know what this is about? I asked Sabrina.

She shook her head. A moment later, her eyes glowed, and she made a soft noise of surprise.

Ralts? asked Ralts as she tilted her to glance up at Sabrina.

It is Silph Co., said Sabrina as we reached the front. And they are marketing their product.

Product? I asked only to notice that there was one thing being whispered about, even as we listened in to the sales pitch.

supposed to be a guaranteed capture? said someone.

Impossible! Its just marketing! scoffed another.

Whats with this idea that theyre only going to make one of them? said the

Shh! I want to hear what theyre saying! hissed yet another person.

An attendant who had been hovering smiled, speaking up into the lull in the argument. Silph Co. guarantees that this product will be a new Magnus Opus for us. It has long been a dream to create the perfect pokeball and with this, Silph Co. will have done so. The attendant turned to the television, which displayed a series of artist impressions of what the pokeball might look like.

I saw the iconic purple pokeball with the two softer shades of purple dots to the side on display and understanding sank in.

They were marketing the Masterball.

The woman smiled. Now the actual styling of the ball itself will be something that is left up to the person who wins the auction, but it is worth mentioning.

What are we expecting the price to be? cried out someone.

The woman directed a look at the person who said that, and I got the impression from her smile that if you had to ask, you wouldnt be able to afford it. I snorted. My demand for a Masterball really had been asking for too much, even if Id said it just to stump the Silph Co. Vice President.

How many are going to be made? asked another voice.

At this stage, due to restrictions in the making of the product, only one will be able to be made, supplied the attendant.

This got a murmur to break out but I heard someone hiss. You shouldnt be able to make one at all! whispered someone vehemently.

I glanced around to find an extremely tan-looking man glaring at the Silph Co. stall. I noticed that a number of men in suits were around him, very pointedly making sure there was a space around them.

My attention was noted as a pair of the men in suits began sizing me up, and I frowned as they reached for their pokeballs. Who are they? I asked Sabrina as I narrowed my eyes. If they wanted to throw down Id make them regret it.

Sabrina glanced away from the Silph Co. stand. Her attention swept over the suits and they stiffened before hurriedly looking elsewhere.

She hummed in thought before speaking up. They are the security detail for the Fiore diplomat. He wanted to come and witness a fight as we outsiders perform them, she said.

Janine merely hissed. Get your water pokemon into safety!

She matched words to action, dragging on water pokemon out of danger right as Sanchez rolled out of hiding from the ground to unleash a perfectly targeted Thunder onto the Gyarados the other team had. Janines group lost some of their confidence at that and I grinned.

Keep up the pressure! I barked, making my pokemon step forward. I made sure, however, that Knight and Jormungandr, having not found anything underground, advanced first.

Janine clicked her tongue when some traps shed set up with Toxic sludge pits and more were quickly neutralised by my Steel-type pokemon.

Before I could get too caught up with advancing my pokemon I decided to take a step back and inspect the rest of my group.

The wider fight itself was a mess, with various pokemon exchanging blows like this was a mere straightforward pokemon battle. I sighed and knew that the older guardians had been right to order this training for us.

It wasnt just we Elites that needed to learn new habits, but also the troops that would work with us going forwards. I frowned as I spotted better matchups for my team. Henry, get your Rapidash to go after that Vileplume! Sasha the Charmeleon with your Wartortle! I said directing things to be more favourable to our side. Leap high over Nidoqueen! While Charmeleon circles around!

Janine tried to fight through the various pokemon personally with a short blade that flashed out and injured the pokemon when she found a weak point. She would occasionally switch targets to one of the trainers instead of the pokemon. I knew this had to be a lesson as well, and the trainers were stunned when they realised they were also coming under fire from wooden blunt throwing knives.

They could only gape when Zephyr dropped out of the sky to deflect some attacks while Selene raised barriers. When Janien threw a stick at me with unerring accuracy, I merely stepped to the side.

Despite this unorthodox response my group started to increase the pressure on her team. Eventually, she called a retreat for her group, and Koga blew a whistle, signalling that the exercise was finished.

I stepped back and looked around to see that Lucy had led her own team to a much messier fight against Agatha, who was standing at the back of her group while her ghost pokemon were swarming through Lucys group.

I grimaced as I noted that some of the pokemon and people appeared to be paralysed and slightly wet, which let me know that Lick had been liberally applied.

Need a Paralyse Heal? I called out. Lucy slumped and nodded her head. Once we had everyone cleaned up Koga and Agatha had all of us sit down like we were schoolchildren on a field trip. Agatha then smiled at us.

So? Who would like to go first? she said with a gleeful expression.

I nudged Lucy, knowing that it would be rougher for her to hear how my fight had gone before having to mention her own fight. From what I knew Lucy would curl into herself if left to anguish over her own mistakes especially when my example was a strategic victory on my part compared to her being overwhelmed. Not that each scenario should be compared; it was like Oran or Cheri berries they were similar but had enough differences to matter.

She detailed her own fight haltingly, but neither Agatha nor Koga said anything. They merely nodded and held their tongues. Karen even kept herself to disparaging snorts and huffs.

It seemed Lucy, like me, hadnt been sure how to deal with the issue of traitors.

She pointed to two people in her group that she now suspected were traitors, as theyd sandbagged and let their pokemon falter more than the others. The two trainers denied this, but Lucy seemed adamant that they could have done better.

Agatha nodded approvingly and then had Lucy continue to detail the fight and how it had played out.

I wasnt surprised to hear that Agatha had her ghosts appear from an ambush position. With the traitors having already weakened her groups cohesion, it had been trivial for Agatha to mop up the rest with only Lucy fighting back with her Snorlax and other pokemon.

You got a rough hand to start off, I said into the silence that followed after Lucy finished her report.

Lucy shot me a hopeful look.

I gestured at her group. You had two infiltrators that set you up against Agatha, allowing her to run through you easily. You might have been able to spread around the pokemon a little more but the gap they left was quite sizeable Im not sure what else you could have done.

She could have not taken part, Agatha said before raising a hand to forestall any arguments with Lucy looking like she wanted to.

No, listen, Agatha said, holding up a hand to forestall anyone else speaking. You knew you had a questionable group of allies, and you werent sure. Both of you, she said looking at me as well. You shouldnt have engaged like you did. Brock is merely lucky that the group that we had assigned to him only had one traitor.

I tilted my head. I had one?

Agatha sighed and looked to the sky. Dear Arceus. Yes, Brock, you merely got lucky with how you assigned your pokemon and trainers.

I tilted my head. No, I assigned them that way deliberately, I said, thinking about the formation wed gone with.

Agatha nodded. A known formation, and one that didnt allow the traitor to act, as you kept an eye out and placed them unknowingly away from where they could cause damage..

I tilted my head and glanced at the trainer who had the Dugtrio. They were supposed to add traps and holes, werent they? They blinked and shook their head.

Agatha sighed again. No, Sasha was the traitor, Agatha said as if that should have been obvious.

I turned my attention to Sasha. What about her was supposed to tell me she was a traitor during this exercise? She raised up her pokebelt, and I realised for the first time she had two more pokeballs on her.

Ah, I said intelligently. Damn, I needed to be more aware of these sorts of things. Had she been displaying those?

Koga nodded. If she was placed close to you, she was to hit you with her water-type pokemon and take you out of the fight. He waved his hand. You should outline your own fight, he prompted.

I laid out how things had gone for me and I realised I had made some rather glaring errors. I had assumed my group had used up all of their pokemon and with it being pointed out it was obvious that I should have checked if anyone was lying. I had gotten lucky with my assignment of trainers and pokemon.

Ill remember that next time, I said, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly.

Koga nodded, while Agatha shook her head. Damned lucky fools, she muttered.

Karen chuckled. Really playing up the Bruno vibes here Brock!

Agatha twitched. Were not talking about Bruno here! she snapped before shaking her head.

I shot Karen a look and she smirked. Agatha hates talking about Bruno.

Agatha snorted. A muscle-brained fool is what he is! She shook her head. Regardless, I think Lucy and Brock learnt a lot from this. Karen, Sabrina, lets see how you both do.

Sabrina ignored Karen as the grey-haired woman shot Sabrina a fierce grin.

Agathas smile turned feral. You can both work together against Koga, she said.

I hissed, knowing how that would go.

I was proven right when, within a minute, Sabrina pointed out two people who were going to work against her specifically but not against Karen. Karen took them in hand and then demanded overall command, with Sabrina working under her.

I facepalmed and could only watch as Koga picked the girls apart with his own pokemon. Neither of them expected Koga to drop a Charizard on them, of all pokemon.

When I shot Janine a look, she smirked and raised two fingers wrapped with her other hand. Nin nin, she said proudly.

Karen and Sabrina eventually stopped getting in each other's way long enough to drive Kogas group away, but they were both sweaty and exhausted by the end of the session.

I could only conclude that having teamwork was more important than wed understood, especially with how things escalated in difficulty in larger groups.

Agatha slapped her hands together and eyed the morning sun that was now creeping towards noon. Well, I think that will do for today, everyone. I expect some of you to return over the next few days. Were going to run exercises like this again. Sometimes with traitors, sometimes without. Sometimes we will work with each other, and sometimes not. She stabbed her cane at each of us. But you will learn! she said.

She then turned her attention to Sabrina. You should perhaps prepare yourself for your match against Will I imagine he will cheat this time. There is no doubt in my mind who the stronger Psychic is, and so he will have to resort to underhanded tactics. We will be ready for him, however! she said.

Sabrina nodded. Thank you, she said.

I raised a hand. Quick heads up, Im going to reach out to Silph Co. and get them to give me and some people like my brother a tour around their building in Saffron.

Koga straightened. Ask for two more tickets, while it would be too obvious if I were to attend Others might be able to slip in with less scrutiny, he said, casting his eyes to his daughter.

I nodded. Good, I want to check out Silph Tower as a possible site of interest not only for Sabrina's fight but also for the Masterball. Im worried about what it will mean for whoever owns it.

It would be a terrible weapon in the wrong hands, Koga said sternly but stroked his chin.

He nodded again after a moments delay. Yes, we should investigate Silph Co.

With that decision, Sabrina Teleported me back home before begging off for her own training. I took a quick shower and ducked out to the gym where I was met with a glistening Trixie who was standing out in front of my gym doing burpees.

How long had she been out here training?

She didnt stop doing burpees when she noticed me. Hiya Brock! Got the gang ready for todays session? she said.

Ready as theyll ever be, I said, leading her into where my trainers awaited in the arena.

I released my pokemon and directed them to lounge up in the stands, Bertha doing so happily. Sanchez took up some small flags and began cheering for us as the workout began. I merely shook my head at their antics.

I had lots of plans, and that meant it wasnt just my pokemon that needed to train.

Id worked my mind, and now it was time to work my body.

Trixies grin was that of a zealot entering a church. I want to see some sweat people! I know you can do better! she said as she sprinted past me.

I cursed and ran harder, knowing I'd be sore later on for trying to best what had to be a fighting-type specialist in a workout.