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Hard Enough - Chapter 387 - Interlude - The new Guardians
🕑 Added 2025-12-15 19:00:06 +0000 UTC“— and this report details how criminal activity has been increasing within the surrounds of Porta Vista due to the impact of the Giant Tentacruel incident.” Janine tapped on the projection with a pointer stick.
Visquez sighed. “So we go in there and bust heads! Right?”
Erika coughed. “This isn’t a simple case. The people are resorting to crime due to their livelihoods being disrupted. We need to support them and steer them away from criminal activities, not crush them.”
Janine could see that Visquez was visibly processing that as her frown deepened and her eyes twitched in time with her fingers.
Erika took a sip of her tea, patiently waiting for their larger friend to work through the issue.
“Too soft,” she eventually declared. “You’re right, we need to support them but we also need to demonstrate that they can’t just get away with it. Who’re the ringleaders?”
That drew a happy nod from Janine. “It’s actually the local hotel managers who worked with the previous owner of the new development that caused the issues. They’re known as the…” Janine blinked as the report highlighted their name.
“Does that say fuckboys?” Visquez shouted. “Ha! The old hag’s fuckboys are running the show? That’s hilarious!”
Erika’s cheeks reddened. “That is rather vulgar.”
“It’s not my fault! It’s what they and their crew are calling them!” Janine denied, her hands flapping back and forth only for Visquez’s guffaws to grow louder.
“Urgh!” Janine snatched up her newest pokemon and put her face into his bulb, causing him to wiggle in delight. “Sometimes people are just juvenile alright?”
“Well, we’re certainly going to have to…” Erika glanced over to a suddenly silent Visquez. “Take them in,” Erika stressed.
“Tch! I hoped you were going to say come down on them hard,” the Electric specialist muttered out the side of her mouth.
Janine snorted in amusement only to blush. “Sorry, but… it was kind of funny?” she said as she very much avoided Erika’s unimpressed stare. Then she coughed again. “But we really shouldn’t! Today I’m running you through our systems and methods so that you can operate as Guardians!” Janine puffed up. “It’s important for you to know this as you’re going to be some of the strongest fighters or best people to act in defense of Indigo!”
Erika sighed. “We can’t really be said to act for Indigo if we’re only represented by Kanto Gym Leaders and recruits.”
Janine shifted. “It’s something Brock, Sabrina, and I are working on with Agatha. Dad… That is to say, Koga isn’t too bothered with it.”
“You can call your pops dad, we don’t care,” Visquez suggested. “Not going to report you.” Then she perked up and looked around. “Or are you worried he’s here? Listening in somewhere?”
“He might be?” Janine replied, eyes darting around. “But probably not. He has a lot of work. He used to check in on me a lot when I was younger, or when I first started my internship with Brock. Even when I took over the Gym, he still dropped in, but he’s been doing it less lately.”
“Oh, so you can tell when he’s around?” Erika asked, relaxing.
“Not… always. I have to be really paying attention to catch him, and sometimes I think he goes easy on me. He usually leaves notes or something to show that he got close.”
“Damn! That sounds terrifying!” Visquez shook her head. “I’d be too twitchy for the rest of the day if he did that to me!”
“He wouldn’t. And he’s nice about it. He sometimes drops off messages telling me he saw me do something like win a match, or he leaves a slice of my favourite cake in my room. It’s not always gruff like people would think of him.”
“I’ve never heard of him being soft like that,” Visquez murmured.
“He’s also reminding me to remain aware of my surroundings but… yeah. He does that. For me. Sometimes,” she said, her head tucking low as her lips twitched as she tried to resist smiling.
Erika and Visquez shared a look at their friend’s reaction.
“Cute!” barked Visquez while Erika just nodded.
Janine slapped her cheeks and stabbed her finger at each girl. “No more distractions! I know what you’re doing!” she growled. “It’s up to me to show you how to read through the reports that come in! You need to understand—”
“Urgent important, Important not urgent, Urgent, but not important, and then not-urgent not important,” Visquez rattled off. “I think we got that pretty well Janine.”
Erika blinked before nodding. “I suppose you would have picked a few things like that up from Surge. It took me a while to learn about that prioritisation system. I can’t say I like employing it however.”
“It works best,” Visquez defended.
“Right! Well, it’s good that you know how to handle incoming intel, but we should also go through previous reports so that you have a good idea of the true scope of what we’ve dealt with—”
“Please, if it wasn’t on Shamouti’s level can it be that important?” Visquez declared with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“While there has not been anything as apocalyptic as Shamouti. We have had several that involved Legendary pokemon, and not the fun little games of Brock fighting a juvenile Zapdos!” Janine growled. She flicked her finger quickly before typing her password when prompted.
“Meet Mewtwo, Legendary pokemon that is at most two years old, and is already one of the most powerful psychic pokemon Sabrina has ever witnessed.”
At Erika and Visquez’s shocked expressions, Janine puffed up happily. “And keep in mind that Sabrina has interacted with Mew!” She stabbed her finger down. “Mewtwo is a pokemon that was created by Team Rocket and was to be their ultimate ace in the hole for—
Janine happily lectured about all the incidents over the last year that had involved Mewtwo and how It might have played out without the Guardian’s intervention.
Halfway through the lecture, Visquez frowned and began tapping at her own pad, flicking to a page with a map that quickly populated with coloured zones that had her grimacing.
When Janine was finished, Visquez tapped on her screen to project it. It displayed Indigo, the Orange Archipelago, and also Hoenn, although the latter was much more patchy with grey zones for theoretical territories.
“I had no idea there were that many Legendaries within Kanto, let alone Indigo. Though it was always just the Big three for each region,” she said.
“A common misconception that the League propagates," Janine answered. “Few people understand that it can’t be the truth, especially those who’ve been to Shamouti. The Seafoam islands are merely where the most powerful Articuno of Kanto is located. It has never been proven, but we suspect that there is a stronger Articuno near Mahogany town. The only people that know are Pryce and Lorelei, and they don’t speak of ascending the peaks of the nearby mountains.”
Erika made a small noise that Janine knew to mean, ‘and if we inducted them, we’d have that information’, but pushed on regardless.
“Now there are also some key members within the League that keep us abreast of as much as they can with reforms, new policies, and other adjustments that the League performs,” Janine said, ignoring any looks Erika was giving her that if she chose to delay would have resulted in an old argument.
Sadly, by stepping around the previous issue, Janine found herself in Erika’s specialty. The Celadon Gym leader began perusing the list of names and information that was being gathered.
A severe look began to form on her face that boded poorly for Janine’s planned schedule.
“Some of these people would be able to push for reforms of their own,” Erika pointed out. “The Domestic affairs aide, and the Powergrid inspector being on here… they could both be pushing for methods to cheapen costs for families which would allow for more people to undergo journeys.”
Janine shifted. “It’s not that simple.”
“But sometimes it is!” Erika snapped. “Sometimes all it takes is allowing families to have fifty to a hundred extra pokedollars a week, to have a bit more leeway in their lives that results in big differences in the long term!”
Her finger stabbed out at another name. “And this woman! She’s the assistant with gambling regulations! If they were to tighten controls on who could use the slot machines there would be—”
Janine slumped as Erika got on a roll. Visquez, rather than grow listless, grinned as Erika began ‘firing up’ with all the ways the guardians could be enacting positive change.
“Erika!” Janine snapped, her patience tested. They’d had this issue come up enough for Janine to be tired of rehashing it. Next to her Bulbasaur flinched, causing Janine to regret raising her voice. She quickly gave the little bulb pokemon a few strokes to settle him down.
When she turned back to Erika she saw that Erika had built up a head of steam and wasn’t going to be deterred.
Thankfully, Janine’s father had discussed with her methods of defusing situations like this that she had the perfect skill set having spent multiple hours with Sabrina with their dollhouse renovation scheme.
So, Janine deflated. Her face turned saddened, and her bottom lip quivered.
“I… I’m not able to help you, I’m sorry I’m not better at this,” she said to the floor.
The fight in Erika’s eyes was snuffed out faster than a ground type stomping on it.
“Oh! No! I didn’t mean to imply that!” Erika said, waving her hands quickly.
“Bulba!” cried Bulbasuar, as the delightful little pokemon crawled into her lap and began nuzzling at her while making a soft purring noise.
“Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuulllllba!”
Visquez, who’d been a few moments away from pulling out a bag of popcorn to enjoy the show, stiffened and joined in. “Yeah! You’re a great teacher, short and deadly!”
Visquez made a fist. “You’ve taught me heaps and that’s saying something cause I’ve spent weeks with Erika and she’s taught me jack shit!”
Erika twitched at this, and Janine had to hold in a snigger. Instead, she doubled down and looked up with watery eyes that had actually been taught to her by Brock’s sisters.
She’d never used it on Brock, as that would have been weird, but on her friends? Well, they were more than fair game.
“Y-you mean that?” she whimpered as she gave a large snort like she was sucking back snot.
Erika and Visquez’s heads both bounced with how quickly they were nodding along.
Janine wiped her face and her distraught expression vanished like mist with a Sunny Day.
“Well! Let’s carry on then!” she declared happily. “So! The next point that we need to learn is that—”
Visquez’s hand shot forward and stopped just shy of Janine’s face, causing the smaller girl to narrow her eyes. She didn’t flinch, which she was proud of. She’d read Visquez’s intent and known not to leap away from the feint.
She still tilted her head around the large palm and gave Visquez a narrow-eyed look. “Yes?”
“Woah, woah, woah! Did you just bait and switch us just now?” Visquez demanded, pointing between herself and Erika.
“Yes, you keep going off topic!” Janine growled before smirking. “Also it worked.”
A glint reappeared in Erika’s eyes and Janine decided she needed to act fast. “Also, I wasn’t wrong. You need to talk with Koga or Agatha. They control most of those assets. They’ve been leery of making too many moves as if we were too heavy-handed in the past then it would have been obvious that a group had infiltrated the League.”
Erika pursed her lips. “That… makes sense,” she admitted. “Please don’t trick us like that though.”
Janine huffed. “Nin-nin, no promises!” she replied back with a playful smirk that got a small laugh out of Erika.
Visquez snorted loudly enough to cause several papers to launch upwards. She crossed her arms under her chest and hummed. “I get what you’re saying about not being too heavy-handed. Sometimes you gotta be gentle and delicate, but that’s more a skill issue to me than a reason.” Visquez jerked a thumb at Erika.
“You got her on Team guardian now, so why don’t we start making some moves that aren’t so suspicious?”
Janine blinked slowly. “That… might be possible?” she asked, her gaze swivelling to Erika who looked surprised that Visquez of all people was pointing this out.
Visquez just smirked. “I pay attention during our lessons even if I don’t implement them,” she announced only for Erika to slump.
“You are the worst pupil and at the same time…” Erika trailed off with a shake of her head.
“I’m also the best?” Visquez prompted, nudging Erika with her elbow only for Erika to swat her with a fan.
“No! You’re adequate! The best was Sabrina, but because she had her own issues like sending my girls into fits of anxiety and glee on a whim with how she’d test out various phrases.”
Janine bit her lips, knowing precisely what Erika was referencing even as Visquez cocked her head in confusion to the side. Eriak waved her hand. “Right, well I’ll approach your father and Agatha about some ideas I have. With their help and the Guardians officials I might get some doors opened that I normally wouldn’t have.”
She drummed the tips of her fingers on her lips. Visquez watched with a small smile and Janine’s gaze darted between both of them before sighing.
“How about instead of working through my list we look at some interesting files?” she offered, deciding it was better to stop fighting it. She could assign most of this as homework. She knew Erika would read up on things.
Visquez would be the one she’d need to follow up on.
Janine’s fingers danced on the pad as she drew up some files. “Let’s begin with the Mt Silver incident,” she began. “It started with small, seemingly unrelated incidents of pokemon thefts and smuggling with various gangs, and criminals being hired to work for Team Rocket. While this was happening, and drawing Ranger attention—” Janine began recounting the report and after action analysis for the two girls, who were quickly drawn into the ‘story’ of what happened.
The actual incident itself had them both gasping as they realised that Brock and Sabrina, two of the most powerful trainers in Indigo, struggled to fight off the Moltres that had burned down a significant percentage of the Silver Ranges.
Some of the revelations that came from the incident caused Erika and Visquez to hum. “So, Lance knew of the Moltres and their habits of using Rest like that to keep fighting?” prompted the lightning specialist.
Janine nodded. “Brock questioned him on it. It is likely that the map of Legendary pokemon is well known to Lance, as well as some that are further north of Blackthorn City. When he returns home he isn’t as well tracked as he is during his time at the League, leading us to believe he has some pokemon that he regularly engages in duels to train his pokemon or test them.”
“You think he’d go that far?” asked Erika.
“Flygon, Salamance, Altaria, Charizard, and Aerodactyl are all pokemon that have risen to an incredibly high level despite not featuring in many public, or private matches that the League knowns off. Most of the League officials just think he is insanely good at training his pokemon, but most of the research we’ve encountered supports theories that you need a proper foe to rise in power like Lance has with his pokemon.”
“Couldn’t he just be having his own pokemon spar with each other?” Erika suggested.
Janine shook her head and once more another report was raised, only for the screen to split and several more were created. “You can reach a decent level of strength from that sure, but certain instincts become dulled. You need to have the pokemon fight properly to have them truly excel.”
“Wasn’t his Charizard already strong?” Visquez pointed out.
Janine blinked only to make a noise of comprehension. “Ah, it has come to our attention only recently that Lance has two Charizards.”
“Oh, wow, fuck that guy,” Visquez growled without missing a beat.
Erika coughed “I’m sure… the circumstances make sense for it?” she suggested. “What if it was hatched from an egg of his?”
“Still, fuck that guy. Charmander’s are stupid popular.”
“Bulbasaur’s are better!” Erika and Janine both said together. They then shared a look and a smile which caused Visquez to chuckle.
“Daaaawww, that’s adorable… how you’re both wrong!” Visquez declared as she stabbed a finger at both of them. “Pichu is the cutest! It’s an internationally known fact! Heck the media even shoved a mic in the foreign Champions’ faces and they all agreed that it goes Pichu and then Pikachu as best!”
Janine glowered at her friend. “That was only two out of three of them. Cynthia said that Gible was the best. She even had pictures and—”
“Ignoring the crazy dragon lady, the others agreed! Pichu, then Pikachu!” declared Visquez proudly.
Erika sniffed. “We’ll agree to disagree,” she replied diplomatically.
Janine on the other hand flicked her fingers to her eyes and then back at Visquez. “You watch yourself!”
That only got a smirk from the taller girl. Erika coughed. “Any other interesting reports that we should be made aware of Janine?” she nudged Janine.
“Right, well the Silver Range incident heralded a much more active investigation into Team Rocket’s activities as it was one of the first times that we’d witnessed Mewtwo and began linking vague appearances to crimes that were being committed.” Janine tapped a folder and hundreds of documents spilled out.
“This is the documentation of the corruption that was discovered within the League that we had to carefully feed to specific investigators while avoiding triggering false safes that Team Rocket had. It took us quite a while to amass the information and led to the incident with Brock drawing with William in his bid to become a member of the Elite Four.”
Janine highlighted the reports as well as a short video clip that Brock had supplied showing Mewtwo’s armoured limb along with the timestamp that matched it to various moments that were suspicious during the match.
“So William did cheat?” Erika whispered. “Oh my… I’m glad I didn’t accept his invitation to socialise.”
Visquez shot Erika a worried look. “It’s called a date. He was probably hoping to use you Erika.”
“It’s not a date unless both parties agree it is a date. I will have you know I have several social engagements that are not about relationships.” She made a gesture at Visquez and Janine. “This is one such event.”
Visquez’s face went stiff and Janine held back from giving Visquez a pat on the hand in sympathy.
When a stubborn glint entered Visquez’s eyes Janine just shook her head and carried on with the lesson.
She talked through the Silph Co incident, or as it was known to the media, the Saffron Situation, which led into the dismantling of Team Rocket. The battles that occurred along with the final encounter where Sabrina was able to get through to Mewtwo, resulting in the powerful Legendary tearing off its armour and disappearing to New Island.
Which was the next incident with the reveal that Team Aqua had poked at the Ursaring.
As the reports were quickly summarized Janine noticed an odd occurrence in her friends. They started to grow quiet and more withdrawn.
“Is something the matter?” she asked, pausing in her report about a team watching the Unown ruins for activity that was linked to other catastrophic events. She had reports detailing Entei sightings listed next before she finished with discussing the uptick in criminal activity in certain regions.
Erika gestured at the list of latest reports, one of which covered the Unown ruins that had been discovered in Orre. There had been an incident with Karen and her team, but they’d thankfully contained it.
Erika sighed. “I think it just dawned on us how big the Guardian organisation is. Suddenly, I feel rather small.”
“Heh yeah, ain’t that the truth?” Visquez grunted as she shifted and rolled her shoulders. Then she shook her whole body. “Alright, that’s enough weirdness! I’m here cause I got something to contribute!” she declared.
Erika blinked, only to lean back as a finger was thrust in her face. “You say the same Erika! The Guardian’s are Major Leagues! That is obvious enough, and the step up is what’s daunting. But they’re calling you up cause they think you got something to give! So! Say it! You’re big news too!”
Erika stared at the offending finger in her face for a few moments, only to giggle. “That has to be the most you approach to this issue.”
“I ain’t wrong though, am I? Come on! It’s a positive affirmation! Give it a whirl!”
Erika stood and coughed to clear her throat. Visquez faceplamed. “Don’t do it like that!”
This drew a sly smirk from Erika. “I’ll do it like me, and no one else!” she declared firmly, using Visquez’s style of speaking rather than her own in a mocking taunt, causing Visquez to raise her hands in defeat.
“I am Erika, Gym Leader of Celadon City! And I have something to contribute to the Guardians!” she stated formally.
Visquez rolled her eyes but still gave the other girl a thumbs up. Then she rounded on Janine, who raised an eyebrow before smirking.
With her lips appearing not to move, her voice drifted into everyone’s ears.
“I too have much to contribute to the Guardians.”
Visquez stiffened. “You can throw your voice short and deadly?” she gushed, looking like someone had just given her a license to cause mischief.
“That’s rather impressive. How long have you been able to do that?” she asked.
“For quite a while now,” Janine said, her voice coming from the side while it once more looked like she’d said nothing.
“So cool!” Visquez gushed only to bounce in her seat. “Oh! Make it look like Bulbasaur is talking!”
Bulbasaur perked up at this and began flapping his mouth open and shut, playing along.
“Hello my fine female friends! I see you are here today to bask in my… beauty~!” said Bulbasaur with an oddly husky voice.
That got some laughs from the others, and Bulbasaur wiggled with glee at being part of the game.
A chime from Janine’s wrist made her stop and begin reading a message.
“What’s it say? You’re getting a serious expression,” Visquez pointed out.
“Someone has been creating secret tunnels and adding things to rooms in hotels at the Battle Pike. I’m being called to investigate,” she said.
“Awesome! Let’s go!” Visquez declared.
Rather than leap up, Erika reached over and tapped her transceiver to Janine’s, transferring the message to her screen. Her eyes flickered back and forth as she read only to sigh.
“Janine… did you notice the rest of the message about how a Ghost Specialist was abducted at the Battle Pike, or that Brock and Sabrina are being observed by what sounds like a barbarian group?”
Janine coughed. “Those will work themselves out,” she replied with a dismissive wave of her hand.
Visquez guffawed. “You got a one-track mind girl! But seriously, what’s this about barbarian hordes trying to ride down Sabs and B-rock?” she asked, shuffling around so she was crowding into Erika’s side to read the message.
“V-v-visquez stop!” wailed Erika as her friend ended up smushing her. Visquez didn’t even notice as she read the message.
“Huh, this sounds like they’re going to need support! So! I think it’s important we get up there!”
She glanced around. “So, who’s driving or we got transport?” she asked.
Janine pursed her lips. “Sabrina is usually the quickest to get Teleports with, but she’s too far north for it to be quick. And we need her at her best if she’s about to step into a trap,” mused Janine.
“So we’re getting a rental then?”
“Actually I have a Venomoth/Exeggutor trained in Teleport specialisation,” replied Janine and Erika at the same time.
Once more, the pair shared a look at each other. Erika inclined her head. “Sabrina’s suggestion?”
“It was actually something I’ve been working on for a while. She made it viable, however.”
This got a grunt of annoyance from Visquez. “Man! Does everyone get special training from Sabrina but me? I’m going to have to hit her up for some of that!” She shot Janine a smirk. “What do I need to do? Buy her a dollhouse and some dolls?” she asked.
Janine’s eyes darted to the side and back again. “Yes,” she replied without a hint of shame.
Visquez glanced at the doorway in thought, wondering what was back there.
Janine stopped her by tapping her transceiver. “Specifically, the build a dream mansion winter edition,” she said, holding up the catalogue for the specialised doll mansion.
“Shiiiiiiiiit! That’s a price tag! And it doesn’t come prebuilt? What’s the point?”
“That is the point,” mumbled Janine quietly.
“Huh, alright then, guess I can do that. I’ll just raid Pop’s credit card,” Visquez muttered.
Erika raised her hand only to let it drop as she sighed and shook her head, knowing it wasn’t worth making a fuss over.
“What about the dolls?” the taller girl asked.
“Hm? Oh, yeah, anything from the Celadon Dollhouse will do,” Janine replied with a wave of her hand. Visquez gave Janine a pointed look at that, and Janine quickly released her Venomoth.
“Shall we?” she prompted, only for Erika to hold up a hand.
“I’m going to have to make some arrangements. I can’t just run off, I’m sorry to say.”
“Boooo!” Visquez heckled, causing Erika to raise her fan into a threatening pose.
“Unlike some, I have a good deal more responsibility than others!” she said with gritted teeth.
Janine nodded. “That’s something you might have to work around. You’re not always going to get a heads up like this in future.”
“And if it’s that important, I will drop my other events. I can trust Brock and Sabrina enough to know they’ll handle any issues and take the best course of action. A day or two won’t change much,” she replied before standing and bidding her friends farewell.
Visquez and Janine shared a look. “I give it a day.”
“No bet,” Janine replied quickly. She inclined her head. “Soooo, how would you like to come with me and inspect the Battle Pike buildings?”
Visquez hummed thoughtfully and Janine quickly added. “You can meet Lucy, who’s another Guardian. It says here she got into a fight with Sabrina yesterday? Maybe you could—”
“Deal!” Visquez barked happily. She slammed her fist into her palm. “Let’s go short and deadly!”
“Alright songbird,” replied Janine as Venomoth landed on her back, causing her to suddenly look like a toxic fairy. The wings shimmered and for half a moment Visquez forgot to react.
Then Janine touched her and they vanished in a Teleport flash.
When it took another six Teleports to reach the Battle Pike, both of them were slightly disheveled and staggering.
“Urgh… I’ve gone soft!” Visquez moaned.
Janine’s lips bulged only for her to swallow the bile back down. “Thank you, Venomoth, you did—” Whatever else she was going to say was lost as she suddenly erupted, sending a stream of fluid off to the side of the road.
“Urgh…” she groaned as Visquez rubbed her back.
“There, there, short and deadly, there, there,” she muttered, not caring how they were getting quite a lot of attention.
It didn’t take Janine long to straighten up. “Right, let’s link up with Agatha and get to work.”
Visquez grinned. “Ah, yeah! First mission!” she cheered loudly, causing Janine to sigh and shake her head.
_______________
When Erika finally arrived, both Janine and Visquez were slumped in their chairs.
“Oh… I missed it, didn’t I?” Erika asked, her mind quickly catching on.
“Yeeeeeeah,” Visquez moaned.
Janine sighed. “Sabrina allowed herself to be captured to be led into the belly of the beast. Brock followed with a few of our agents and set markers up for Lance and others to follow. They blitzed in and wrecked the Crushers.”
“Brock is apparently the Overlord of the tribe now?” Visquez added on, tapping a message that had just come through.
“Oh, that’s going to cause Lance and the Blackthorn’s some conniptions,” Erika murmured.
That got a snort of amusement from the other two. Janine sat up. “I mapped out all the compromised buildings. The tribe were very clever about what they did. I’m honestly surprised they managed it.”
“Seems kind of weird for a nomadic society to be able to pull that off,” Visquez said thoughtfully.
That caused Janine’s eyes to narrow, only for her to bolt upright and gasp. “You’re right! Oh! How didn’t I see that? It is weird that they knew how to adjust the buildings! No! We’re being distracted by the Crusher Tribe! Someone else had to have made these changes, and the tribe knew of them!” She began firing off messages.
Erika shifted about, eying the room and the various wrappers and blueprints that were laid out on various surfaces. “So, what are you both doing now?” she asked Visquez.
“Not sure, I’m pitching that we should find our own adventure to go on! Go tussle with a Legendary or something, yah know?”
Erika gave her a flat look. “Somehow I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Party pooper,” grumbled Viquez.
“We need to get to the Crusher Tribe and interrogate the previous Overlord,” Janine announced. “Visquez was right. There was no way they could have made the changes to these buildings. They must have had help!”
Visquez perked up. “Sounds like we’re gonna have to break some legs!”
Erika sighed. “Why are my friends so violent?” she moaned as Visquez grabbed her and Janine once more released Venomoth who landed on her back, causing Erika to blink in surprise, only to gasp as a trio of Teleports saw them relocated.
The trio staggered apart, and Venomoth fluttered to keep Janine upright.
“Right! Time to—” Janine started to say, only for a spear to be shoved in all of the girls’ faces.
Before anyone could say anything, Janine and Visquez leapt into action, fists flying as they dismantled the welcoming committee.
A moment later, a glow appeared around the various dark leather-wearing women who had tried to threaten the group.
“Easy now, ladies, these are my friends and colleagues. They’re all Fellow Gym Leaders within Indigo, and I invited them here,” Sabrina announced, rising above the crowd quickly.
The group of women, who, weirdly enough, looked like either older Yolanda’s or…. female Brock’s scoffed in annoyance.
“These are your fellow Gym Leaders, Lady Sabrina? Those two are strong, but the soft one doesn’t seem worth much. She didn’t even do anything.”
Erika’s head turned slowly. “Oh? Is that so? Care to put those words to the test?” she growled, her hand suddenly holding an enlarged pokeball.
Visquez grinned. “Alright! This is my kind of holiday!” she announced as Janine slipped away to begin scouting out the area and linking up with the other ninja.
Before long, the battlefield erupted with explosions and attacks as the group of women who had formed around Sabrina began testing the new arrivals.
Erika wasn’t alone in facing challenges, especially when the Crusher women learned of her specialty. They wrongfully thought they could get one over on her, and she was more than happy to disabuse them of that notion with a few battles of her own.
When the first Luxray appeared to challenge her, she just grinned.
“Heh! Looks like coming here was worth something!” she cheered, knowing she was going to find precisely where that pokemon came from, and maybe find a way to get one herself.
By the time night fell, the battlefield was pockmarked with craters. It gave off small electrical discharges and had an odd grassy patch growing out of it here and there.
When Sabrina led them to her tent, Visquez and Erika found Brock sitting around a fire with a bunch of old farts.
“Heya Brock! Heard you got a little hot and bothered cause someone messed with your girl?” teased Visquez.
Brock smirked and glanced to a small landslide near one side of the camp. “Yeah, shame about that mountain, but eh,” he replied with a shrug. “Have you been getting into some scraps? I thought it was just Sabrina fending off… well,” he shook his head.
Sabrina settled next to him easily and patted his thigh. “You’re desired, but not by that much. Don’t stop thinking with your head,” she teased, causing Brock to laugh.
Before long Brock’s family showed up, and stories about what everyone had been up to filtered across the fire. Janine and Agatha walked past, their heads bent together as they whispered to each other. The pair nodded at everyone but didn’t break stride.
Visquez considered joining them but pushed the idea away. She’d just get in the way. Instead, she sat and listened to all the little experiences that Brock’s family had discovered just today.
It was enjoyable, but a small pang lingered.
This was the aftermath of Brock and Sabrina’s latest adventure.
She leaned into her palm and hummed thoughtfully.
She spent most of the night silent as she worked through what the issue was.
Eventually, she realised exactly what she needed to do.
She had to find her own trouble and go on her own adventure.
______________________
A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support!
Thought I’d show some of the other girls interacting together and having some fun. Amusingly, Visquez could have Sabrina teach Electabuzz or an Alolan Raichu how to Teleport, but Sabrina’s not about to share her Alolan Raichu’s any time soon.
Also decided to do a bit of a bait and switch with lots of ‘male’ viewpoints, thinking that Brock was getting all this horny energy thrown his way and being envious when it was really just a pecking order fight happening with Sabrina. Then Visquez and Erika get in the midst of it.
Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter.
Comments
Oddities
The best solution is Releasing that side story chapter without it taking up the scheduled chapter or put it alongside the scheduled chapter
BlackRazaras
Thanks for the chapter
Big ToFu
Hmm maybe doing an adventure of like a 3rd person removed is to much. Lets just keeps things contained to Brock, Sabrina and the family including pokemon.
Robert Lemanski
Awesome interlude! :) Now Visquez needs a Teleport Buddy. Teleport was only a TM in Generation 1 (and the Let's Go games), and a lot of random, unexpected Gen 1 Pokemon can learn it (Magneton, Cloyster, Magmar, etc). So in my opinion plenty of later generation Pokemon should be able to learn it. Electric ones post Gen 1 that I feel should be able to Teleport are: Ampharos, Luxray, Rotom, Vikavolt, Zebstrika, Galvantula, Morpeko. and Toxtricity. (And if anyone is interested, other post Gen 1 the Pokemon I think should be able to learn Teleport are: Noctowl, Espeon & Umbreon, Honchkrow, Wobbuffet, Houndoom (since Arcanine also gets it), Blaziken, Shiftry, Shedinja, Exploud, Sableye, Medicham, Mawile, Grumpig, Altaria, Castform, Kecleon, Shuppet, Dusknoir, Absol, Metagross, Vespiquen, Drifblim, Mismagius, Bronzong, Spiritomb, Lucario, Togekiss, Froslass, Liepard, Musharna, Swoobat, Cofagrigus, Zoroark, Gothitelle, Gothitelle, Chandelure, Golurk, Hydreigon, Volcarona, Delphox, Greninja, Meowstic, Aegislash, Malamar, Carbink, Trevenant, Decidueye, Shiinotic, Oranguru, Mimikyu, Dhelmise, Hatterene, Grimmsnarl, Cursola, Stonjourner, Indeedee, Dragapult, Skeledirge, Brambleghast, Palafin, Flamigo, and Houndstone.)
Sean
Yep I don’t recall comments on alolan raichus by viva
fireball77
I guess Visquez may be getting an Electric Psychic Raichu soon Assuming she buys Sabrina that dollhouse and those dolls Edit: damn nvm lmao Also I guess I misread that chapter but I wasn't aware Sabrina had bred Alolan Raichus yet, I just thought she was really close to getting them lmao
Deltoren
Yeah occasionally the pronoun game showed up.
ShinLupin
And now the girls will be Looking for trouble And no Rocket-Trio to borrow Support from.
Docnox
So… whats next hmm? That little Aqua thread getting pulled? Or is the time travel arc up?
Qweku_v
Thx
Simca
Dang. Was hoping to see their response to the video Sabrina took
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Quick question: Why is Erika excited about finding out about Luxray? Wouldn't it be Visquez who would exclaim “Heh! Looks like coming here was worth something!”? Right now it's reading like Erika is the one saying that...
