"We're going!" ordered Yolanda from across the breakfast table.
Around her, much of my family nodded in a show of support. Only Tilly and Billy, who were watching on with the air of confused but delighted spectators at the sudden show, remained unmoved.
I gave the group of suddenly defiant children a deeply amused look.
"As I was about to say," I gave Yolanda a pointed look, "before I was interrupted. Ruby is going to be undergoing her first treatment to fix up her injury. Who wants to go and watch? Ruby has said that she has no problems with you coming along, and I honestly think it would help to see—" well they weren't familiar… apart from the whole family resemblance. Still, for a child that might be enough. "—friends there with her in support. They say there's going to be a noticeable difference with this first treatment."
I made sure to raise a hand to forestall any exclamations or ideas they might have. "Not walking. Not right away, but she's going to be able to twitch her toes or feel."
"That's it?" Suzie asked. Togepi tilted her head precisely like Suzie did, proving once again how much pokemon pick up from their companions.
Yolanda beat Salvadore to the point, "Actually, that's a pretty big step. It indicates that there is some immediate regrowth of damage to the legs from the injury."
Savldore's head bobbed up and down. "Yeah! Yeah! It's pretty amazing! I looked it up with Ruby the other day! There's a whole pokenet video on it!"
"Been looking into it have you?" I asked of our resident family researcher.
He grinned happily as I shot my hand out to ruffle his hair. "Nice work Sal," I praised.
"Munchlax?" Munchlax asked, pointing at himself.
That caused me to blink. "Oh? You… want to come too?" I asked.
Munchlax nodded, thought about it a bit, then shook his head and pointed to the nearby fruit bowl.
His hands waved enthusiastically as he began babbling about something. He was honestly going too fast for me to pick up all the points he was trying to make. I suspected it had something to do with.. "You want to make up a fruit basket? As a get well soon gift for Ruby?" I asked.
This got a large nod and more enthusiastic hand waving that went well over my head.
I turned to the kids for a translation only to be surprised when Flint of all people spoke up.
"He thinks that seeing as some fruits were extremely rare for Ruby and her side of the family it would be a novel treat for her to get a get well gift. He also wants to make a card and to pick some flowers for her."
"Oh," I stared at Flint before directing a nod towards Munchlax. "That sounds perfectly reasonable," I suggested.
"Munchlax!" cheered Munchlax. He jumped off his chair and did a little dance that set Tilly and Billy into giggling fits.
"Didn't know that you were so well versed in Munchlax's mannerisms," I said to Flint.
"Oh, you pick it up when you spend so much time together." He gave the kids a flat look. "Cleaning up rooms, clothes, and muddy footprints!" he growled playfully.
More than half the table pointedly evaded his gaze. Suzie and Togepi both stared at the ceiling while Lola coughed along with the children. This caused more than a few surprised glances in her direction only for her to wink conspiratorially to the guilty members.
Flint and I shared a knowing, less than amused look before sighing.
"Kids, don't be like Lola, she's a slob," I announced over the top of my mug of tea, drawing an outraged gasp from Lola that I ignored.
I had a sizable morning ahead of me with setting up the orphans and less fortunate kids of Pewter to give them a shot at undergoing a Journey for the coming circuit. Pokemon needed to be handed out, small training sessions needed to be conducted along with final check overs. Around lunch I was going to sneak in yet another training session with Rhyhorn for jousting and then this afternoon would see me off to the hospital with most of my family.
Extended and otherwise.
I hummed, knowing that I had a lot on my plate. With the 'holiday' period that I had I wanted to make the most of the final part and blow off some steam.
Sadly, Sabrina and I were too busy ramping up on various jobs that our Gyms needed us for to duck away for anything other than a short overnight holiday.
Which… had me start browsing holiday home rentals. That was certainly going to be on the list for things we could do but I also wanted to vent in other ways without too many ramifications.
I began passing around the empty plates only for my eyes to catch on some discarded toys that the kids had obviously left out. I was about to demand in a faux serious tone whose they were, only to notice that they were action figures of Hero Black and Hero Yellow.
Huh, it had been a while since I'd busted some heads in that regard.
The more thought I gave it the more I liked the idea of getting out there, hunting down some criminals in a fun way.
I shot a message to Brawly, Flannery, Roxanne, and Sabrina with a cheeky wink.
"Hero time?" I teased.
With the time difference, Hoenn's newest Gym Leaders should be getting that with it being after lunch.
Amusingly Roxanne was the first to respond. She did so with an article praising the work of Hero Pink and Red, who'd apparently been getting into fights with the Local criminal organisations.
This got a few surprised exclamations from Brawly while I just chuckled and shook my head.
It was true what they said, you always had to watch out for the quiet ones.
Sabrina begged off, and Flannery finally replied. "Ha! Seems like you're flying Stantler tonight Brock? Maybe you could get Gold to join you?"
I pursed my lips, imagining taking Oak out.
The idea was absurd.
It was like taking a Dragonite to a newbie's tournament for kids.
I sent Oak a message and chuckled darkly at his response.
Oddly enough, this got my siblings to sprint out of the dining room to pick up their toys, so double win in my books.
___________________
"Remember everyone, these pokemon can either be your ongoing companions with the pokeballs and registration fees handled by the gym, or they can be stepping stones for you to other pokemon depending on you and your partners' bond!" I called over the chorus of excited babbling that had broken out with the announcement that we were finally going to be handing out the pokemon.
The kids, bless their hearts, had been struggling to stay focused throughout the lectures that we'd been giving for most of the morning. I could see their attention was fraying however, as despite the video lectures and recordings that I'd spent a pretty penny on making as fun and attention grabbing as possible, the kids were here for one thing, and one thing alone.
To get their first pokemon.
With the reveal of the giant tub of pokeballs I caused a frisson of tension to rush through the kids.
Thankfully, reason was still holding out and they weren't rushing Dennis, Rocko, and the other trainers stationed behind the tubs of pokeballs.
That probably had something to do with how I had Titan, Bertha, and Knight standing slightly in front of said tubs with their arms crossed.
Bertha was giving some of the kids a firm glower that all but challenged them to 'make her day'. Despite being older, and likely outweighing them several times over, more than a few kids were still considering it.
I made a mental note of them, as kids to watch out for. They'd likely cause incidents.
Thankfully, none of them acted on their desires, and I quickly rattled off the first kids to come out.
To make things as fair as possible I wasn't using their names in alphabetical order or anything like that.
The kids had completed both personality tests as well as basic exams for their understanding of general care and pokemon typings which we used to both score who went first, as well as which tubs the kids drew from.
If kids showed they were more partial to rock, grass, flying, normal or otherwise, I tried to adapt for them.
Once more, the Gym was offering kids Geodude, Spearow, Pidgey, Nidoran —male and female—, Ratata, Weedle, Caterpie, and even an oddly calm Mankey that would be possible for young trainers to grow with.
The stronger pokemon like Aron, Alolan Geodude, Lileep, or even something like Rhyhorn were only offered up as prizes for the top place getters in the final tournament.
It wasn't a perfect tool to help out the kids, as some people would prefer to fight while others wanted to undergo contests. As of yet, I had no methods to test them and award them for showing style and support and that was something I would probably have to address next year with Monique and other interested Contest supporters.
You couldn't build a Contest scene without checking that the bedrock was firm… which doesn't work that well as a metaphor, come to think of it…
Still, I'd made sure to include the question on the exams of 'what did you want to do with your pokemon' that had numerous options, with several choosing to write in their own individual options for that section.
Some of them certainly bore watching.
Like the kid who said he was going to become pokenet famous with his partner, or the girl who declared she'd become a contest leader and future Gym Leader, wanting to oust me.
I had no idea what I'd done to inspire that sort of goal, but good for her? We did need Gym Leaders.
The kid who'd written something about becoming a member of the Pokemon Fan Club had… raised eyebrows among my staff before we'd all collectively decided not to ask any further questions.
As I called names and pointed them towards specific tubs that housed their options for specific pokemon, kids rushed forward. Each took a moment to survey their options before selecting one.
Typically, this then led to them releasing said pokemon to inspect their new companion, with most of them being pleased at the gift, while others merely nodded firmly, a glint in their eyes as they glanced at Titan and Bertha, or Knight letting me know these kids had plans for something more.
When kids hesitated or started to overthink which pokeball to grab from the tub, the attendants coughed and hurried them along.
Once everyone had their pokemon companion, I spoke up, "Let's head outside and let you enjoy having some fun with your new friends!"
Bertha grinned as she led the charge of kids through a set of doors, causing them to buckle backwards.
The playground that I'd had assembled alongside the battle courts stood, glinting in the sun, just waiting for kids to take part.
Along with…
"Arceus damn it Bertha," I muttered as I spotted a large mudpit that Bertha was leaping into.
Most of the kids had broken off towards the playground, or battle courts with their pokemon.
But of course, there were others who were all too happy to charge after Bertha and dive into the mud. Surprisingly, most of their pokemon followed them in, which raised a few eyebrows for the Pidgey that joined its trainer.
"Huh, neat," I mused only to stiffen as behind me I felt several glares lock onto my back. "Ahaha," I muttered as Ophanage matrons made their presence known.
"Again, Brock?" growled one as she glared towards her messy charges.
"Oh dear, well at least they're having fun?" suggested another as she hid a giggle at their antics.
Then, like they'd practised it, the trio of women sighed as one. "We expected this," they said together, producing large stacks of clean, if rougher clothes for the messy children to wear once they were done, rolling in the mud.
I directed a slightly annoyed look at Bertha for her antics, but she ignored it as she led her gaggle of mud-crazed children onto the playground to defile the rest of the all too clean kids.
This resulted in several pokemon battles breaking out, and before long, Bertha herself was acting like a raid boss with children ganging up to try and bring her down.
Needless to say, they won, but only because Bertha was a good sport and allowed herself to 'fall' under their onslaught.
The children then ran around, like someone had fed them on nothing but sugar-filled energy drinks and lollies. I glanced towards the buffet table.
I'd set out fruits and savoury snacks, and the kids had barely touched the food, unlike the matrons who I noted all had some degree of crumbs around their mouths.
"Are you sure you want to fund some of them to go as far as Hoenn this coming Circuit Brock?" asked one of said matrons. Her hands twitched anxiously only for her to force them to go still.
"Don't worry, I have several friends that are coming in as Gym Leaders for the coming circuit as well as Celia being over there," I suggested which caused them all to nod while straightening their backs.
Celia had become something of a point of pride for all of Pewter with her victory in the Hoenn tournament, along with becoming directly apprenticed with Juan, a highly respected Gym Leader internationally.
It helped that one of the things he was best known for was being the teacher of the current Champion of Hoenn.
Celia's star was on the rise by everyone's accounts.
From the emails and messages she still sent me she was having a blast under Jaun's tutelage and was set to romp through the professional scene of Contests in the coming spring.
I couldn't be happier for her.
Still, there had been several expressions of interest for young kids to take their first steps as trainers to another region, which was something I hadn't considered before being asked.
If I hadn't become such good friends with several Gym Leaders along with Celia deciding to set up in Hoenn for the foreseeable future I might not have entertained the idea.
This circuit was going to be something of a testbed for future expansion.
I wanted it to succeed but there were certainly going to be some growing pains.
Most of all the lack of support that would be directly available to anyone that went to Hoenn instead of remaining in Kanto of Johto for their Journey.
Heck, even a trip around the Orange Archeplagos would be easier thanks to less timezone differences.
Anyone who logged on for a live lecture from me would probably be doing it at midnight or their early morning which meant a lot of the content they got would either need to be older videos, or reviewed the day after.
With kids that were being released into the wilds I very much doubted many would follow the guidelines.
It wasn't like here where I could send out one of the Gym trainers to perform welfare checks on them.
If I did make it happen I'd be cutting into Roxanne, Flannery, or Brawly's time.
Speaking of, I still hadn't heard anything about Brawly being recognised as a major Gym Leader.
I suspected he'd eventually make the leap to the main roster, but so far, I couldn't see how he'd be making that transition.
Right now he was a minor Gym Leader of Hoenn, and happy for it, especially after learning about how many trainers Flannery and Roxanne were expecting to face in the coming season.
I wouldn't be surprised if half of Brawly's day was going to be allocated to surfing. Which considering how he was in Canon with Ash… might not mean anything?
Dewford might not be a popular destination due to having to surf to it to face a fighting type specialist. Then again, anyone with a decently well-trained Pidgeot, Fearow, Swellow, or Pelliper would be able to beat him at anything third tier or below.
I shook the thoughts off as the Matrons collected the last of their charges before bundling them off to the showers to warm back up and change clothes.
I bid them farewell and moved back into the reserve where I found Rhyhorn.
He was strapped to a drag machine with a boulder, only atop the boulder a Lairon was happily lazing, forcing my 'ride' pokemon to drag a much heavier weight.
"You're doing sprint training?" I asked as I approached.
"Rhy!" barked Rhyhorn as he tossed his head and pushed forward.
I had to admit I felt a little touched seeing him putting in the effort. "Hey, thanks buddy. Let's have a break, a meal and then practise together yeah?" I began laying out several boxes of berries and before long I had several other pokemon beginning to poke their heads out of their tunnels.
A small pack of aron crept close, no doubt to steal the food but I just waved them off. "No. You're all on two meals a day. This is for Rhyhorn cause he's been working hard!" I declared.
Rhyhorn beamed at me as he began to devour his berries, the slight blemishes that had formed from his weight training slowly vanishing as the healing effects of the oran and other berries came into effect.
I drew out my own boxed lunch and devoured it next to him.
"So this morning I was working with some local kids to get them all equipped—" I began to tell him all about my day as he ate. It likely wouldn't make a ton of difference for the end of the week's event, but it was still nice to sit and share with a pokemon.
When we both finished, I stood to clean things up, only for him to begin talking back now that his mouth wasn't in use.
"Rhy Rhy Horn, Horn Rrrrrr!" he began casually, and it took a moment for me to realise that he was mirroring me, and telling me what he'd been up to.
I sat, bemused at his actions. If I hadn't already known, I'd have started to think of him as Bertha's child due to his more eccentric nature. As he continued to tell me of his labours, in which he made them sound more like an epic woven by Homer himself, rather than a simple task of running around, smashing his head into boulders and dragging a big boulder.
He had a certain charisma that I actually associated more with Titan than Bertha, as he had a way of drawing me into the nitty-gritty slog of his desires to go stronger.
Still, like his mother, he was a romantic at heart.
"Alright buddy, I think we'll have to get you signed up to pokenet like your mother once we're done training today," I suggested, more as a method to make sure he didn't overtrain once I left him.
He jolted in surprise and began to clatter as his body shifted back and forth, causing the plates about his body to clash together.
Huh, that had been super effective apparently.
If he liked it that much he was probably—
He leapt at me eagerly, and I braced my whole body while calling up my aura to catch him.
I spun him around and held him in my arms like a giant puppy. "Awwww, who's a good boy?" I cooed at him while he glanced first at his position, and then at me holding him upright.
His mind glitched, and he went stiff, his eyes turning vacant as his brain failed to understand what was happening. Had I not done this before in front of him?
Then his mind rebooted, and he glanced around. "Rhy! Rhy!" He rasped in apology.
"Heh, don't mind it, bud," I said as I gently deposited him on the ground. "I sometimes lift your mother and father, and they're way heavier than you." I pat him on the head a few times, and he slowly tilted his head
"Rhyhorn?" he asked.
I just nodded. "Yup! Every now and then. Now, shall we see about that training session?" I asked, and he perked up and regained his earlier spunk.
"Rhyhorn!"
I chuckled and set about getting armoured up before mounting him and charging towards the training dummy. This time I struck true and was able to dodge the retaliation swipe.
"Haha!" I cheered along with Rhyhorn.
Now I just needed to make it so that I could repeat that without any issues ten times in a row.
Fun.
______________________
"That's like the most gigantic needle I've ever seen!" wailed Suzie as she beheld the syringe that was going to be used for Ruby's treatment. "Run Ruby!" her little hands flailed cutely, and I reached out to catch her before she could sprint into the next room that actually led into the surgical room instead of merely being part of an observation room.
A thankfully soundproofed observation room.
This was actually overkill for Ruby's treatment, but with so many of the Crusher tribesmen demanding to come along, an actual surgical room had been requisitioned.
Now the treatment could be observed by all interested parties instead of it taking place in a small doctor's office.
"Suzie," I whispered calmly. "That is the treatment to help Ruby walk again," I explained for what felt like the tenth time.
"Oh," she replied, blinking up at me. "Why a needle?"
I sighed and waved to Flint for him to step up and explain it so I could check in with the Crusher Tribesmen. They were either watching the treatment being performed below with a stern gaze or inspecting the room.
"The room… no, much of this building has an odd airflow to it," remarked Agate when I approached.
"Huh?" I glanced around, and sure enough, there was a slight odd feeling. "Oh, that's a uhm… negative pressure effect?" I suggested.
"Your tone suggests that you're not sure," pointed out Agate who was watching Ruby and Glimmer below while Rocko sat off to the side, looking calm as always, if a bit unsure as to why he was there.
"I'm not certain on the specifics," I remarked. "I know it's something to do with making it harder for airborne diseases and illnesses to spread, which lowers infection risks. Ruby's treatment isn't going to have any surgeries or anything like that but it's still a good idea for it to have it in hospitals as doctors and nurses are exposed to lots of sick people."
"Oh," replied Agate carefully, only to turn back and stare as the needle was pushed into the injury site on Ruby's spine. "Oh, that's…disgusting to look at," she looked away as her face turned slightly pale.
Next to her, Shale stiffened before adopting a proud expression. "She has a warrior's control!"
Agate shivered. "She should be writhing in agony!" She declared only to relax when she spotted that the chansey who was assisting the doctor had her hand on Ruby's side. "Ah, the kindly one is stopping the pain?"
"Kindly one?" I asked.
Shale nodded and gestured to Chansey. "Very rarely, we would encounter small groves and ponds where one of the Kindly ones would call home. Pokemon there were always calmer as they were being healed by that pokemon. If you discovered such a pokemon it was always wise to show it respect."
"Cause of how they can heal your pokemon," I said, nodding at the idea.
"No, because a Kindly one in the wild is one of the strongest pokemon around," Shale said, cutting me off with a confused look. Agate nodded. "Yes, Chansey are terrors to fight. If you anger them, they can fight long past the bounds of normal pokemon. It is always best to offer them tribute. If you do well enough, they will actually heal you and your pokemon."
"Huh," I replied. I'd known that Chansey could be powerhouses in their own right, but it was rather amusing to hear the Crusher tribe had encountered this aspect of the normally kind pokemon.
"They are able to fight off entire teams when threatened," remarked Agate proudly.
"Huh, how did Granite go with them?"
Shale and Agate both sniffed derisively. "Even he knew better than to anger a Chansey," they said together.
"Huh," I replied, interested that this was so ingrained in their culture.
Agate shifted. "During any rangings I went on I tried to find one… I'd hoped to offer enough tribute that Ruby might have been healed," she mused.
"Ah, they wouldn't have been able to help unless they were there when she first injured her spine," I informed her.
That got a thoughtful hum from Agate only for her to blink as two more Chansey wandered in to pick up various items within the room below.
Both Ruby and Glimmer had also reacted in shock.
"Three Chansey?!" shouted Agate and Shale together. Beneath me Ruby and Glimmer had equally shocked expressions with the chansey, Doctor, and nurses staring back at them.
In perfect synchronisation, the trio of Chansey bowed as one.
Agate and Shale whirled about on me. "Three chansey?" they demanded.
I tilted my head, curious despite myself at their reaction. Then I recalled just how rare it was to encounter a chansey 'in the wild'.
"Oooooh! Right! That's a big deal for you cause they're super rare," I replied, only to smirk a moment later. "Actually, there are dozens running around a hospital like this," I said, waving a hand airily about. "We make sure to look after them just right as they are highly appreciated."
"Dozens?" repeated the pair of Crushers bleakly.
"Mmmhmm, and there would be a few more over at the pokecentre," I suggested.
Agate and Shale glanced back down at the treatment room. Their minds so occupied, they almost missed when Ruby reacted to one of the doctors tapping her knee and getting a twitch reflex.
"She's cured?" Shale gasped as most of my younger siblings did the same.
I coughed to hide a laugh before very seriously stating. "This is just the first treatment. Each treatment going forwards will have a little more progress, but eventually enough of her nerves will be regrown that she'll be able to move the limb. From there, she'll undergo rehabilitation to learn to walk again."
Shale and Agate blinked at me uncomprehendingly.
I pursed my lips, wondering how to explain this to them. "Her legs… have lost the memory of how they mesh with the rest of her body. She needs to retrain that," I tried.
They nodded dubiously but didn't press so I let it be. They'd understand soon enough. I had no doubt Ruby would be trying to walk before long and she'd be showing just how frustrating it would be.
Having reviewed the treatment plan I knew that the rehab stage was going to see her in close proximity to a Chansey for extended periods with all the falls she was going to undergo.
Maybe she'd lose a little bit of the wonder around said pokemon as it demanded she keep standing and walking. Then again the Gym's Chanset could show her gentle side occasionally, and unless Ruby tried to get lippy with her I suspected that she was probably going to be well looked after.
When we wrapped things up for the day Shale, Agate, and Glimmer all had thoughtful looks on their faces while Ruby was staring at her legs while being wheeled along.
Occasionally her leg would twitch or spasm and her smile would grow a little.
"Go easy on that Ruby. You can train the nerves, but don't forget that you also need to let them rest and grow."
"Right!" she replied earnestly.
To the others I raised an eyebrow. "Something on everyone else's minds?" I asked.
"Just stunned that Indigo has over a hundred chansey running around," muttered Agate. Shale nodded at this while Glimmer blinked and glanced at her companion.
"Agate… that was merely one hospital within Indigo. There are actually a few hundred hospitals spread throughout, along with the pokecentres. There are thousands of Chansey within Indigo."
Once again, I got to witness the bluescreen lockout of Shale and Agate.
When it was time to wrap things up I left everyone else to go about their business as the sun began to set.
I made as if I was going to walk to the back of the Gym and keep training, but I'd already exhausted Rhyhorn so it was best not to push him any more today. Instead, I gathered up Sakura, my Crobat, Izumi, my geodude, and Link before mounting up on Zephyr and taking to the skies.
Once I was well out of sight of the Gym I landed and donned a now famous mask and Hero suit.
Then I dialled in. "Hero Black reporting in!" I announced as my pokemon crowded in around me, knowing we were about to get up to something fun.
On the screen before me, Hero Gold nodded. "Excellent! It's high time Justice set to the streets once more! Meet me at Viridian City Hero Black!"
I chuckled as I remounted Zephyr and set off.
We were probably just going to walk the streets and sign autographs, but it would be fun and a break from my usual role as Gym Leader.
I made a show of rolling my shoulders. "Easy night tonight, team! Just some patrolling." I smirked as the next words came out. "What could go wrong with that?"
If I was tempting Murphy, well, that was between Murphy and me.
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A.N. Thanks got to my patreons for your continued support!
It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter.