Hard Enough

Salvadore peered at his art book. Brock had gotten it for him during his recent trip to Celadon and it was a great gift!

It had everything Salvadore needed to take his scientific journals to the next level by improving the quality of his sketches. He wouldn’t have thought of using circles, squares, and triangles to get the shapes connecting like this, but thanks to his nifty little book, he’d started drawing the various pokemon in standard poses.

The easiest to draw were, of course, Geodude and Golem.

He had a lot of great models with Sanchez, Izumi, Moxy, and the various Onix. They were super easy to draw. Just roughed up circles over and over.

It got harder when he tried his hand at Jormungandr who had a lot more spikes. That one… was a work in progress. The biggest trick he’d found was keeping his drawings away from Bertha.

If she’d found out, she’d have insisted on him drawing nothing but her!

That meant he usually had to draw when she was distracted, and when she got close he focussed on the written parts of his investigations. Usually, all he had to do was recite a few facts such as a pokemon’s preferred diet being Cherri berries, or Oran. If that didn’t work he started analysing the dirt quality and that usually got her wandering off to find something more important to do.

He hoped he’d be good enough to draw her one day, but for now he didn’t want to offend her by doing a terrible job.

Just like he didn’t want Shin or Gawain to have terrible drawings. He was getting better! It just took time.

Today he was wandering the reserve with Hephaestus the Growlithe looking for inspiration. There were always Geodude rolling around and the Onix or two, but Salvadore needed to challenge himself. So he moved over to where the sound of metal clanging and clinking echoed out. Salvadore and his trusty companion Growlithe moved through the boulders and found themselves standing next to Titan.

“Heya Titan!” he said cheerfully, only to blanch when the Tyranitar he’d assumed was Titan turned her head and Salvadore got a better look. Empress, unlike Titan, had several larger scars on her front along with being slightly leaner in mass.

She also was right there next to him.

Hephy pressed himself up next to Salvadore, forming a small fluffy barrier. Salvadore was very thankful for the little growlithe’s bravery, even if he was quivering just as much as Salvadore as Empress considered them.

“Uhhhh,” he said, unsure what to do. Yolanda always said that Empress was a sweetheart but… she was huge, and scary. She didn’t smile like Titan did and goof around, she just sort of loomed when she was present.

Empress stared him down and Salvadore had to wonder if she was thinking about eating him.

He was half tempted to point out how scrawny he was and that he barely had any good bits to him. Boys weren’t meant to be tasty like girls who were sugar and spice as they liked to tell everyone.

Salvadore thought that was why in the stories the dragons always stole them instead of young boys.

Empress grunted, her head bobbing up and down before she turned her head back to what she’d been watching. Salvadore followed her gaze.

Cranidos squawked in frustration as Terra grinned at him. She bobbed this way and that, making Cranidos work for his attacks. It was obvious he wanted to drop his head and charge straight at Terra but she wasn’t letting him, by being deft with her footwork and dancing to the side any time he even started to drop his head.

She was reading him which was an impressive feat.

Salvadore drew out his notepads and began jotting down his observations like Oak had told him to keep doing. He sat down with Hephy claiming a seat at his side between him and Empress. He curled into Salvadore and the warm pokemon acted like a very nice cushion. Ɍ�

With his targets of observation firmly in sight, Salvadore got to it.

“Pokemon, even young pokemon can learn tells for each other if they are pronounced enough,” he said aloud as he slowly wrote out the observation. “This can form a crucial point of early development as pokemon will learn to look for these signs when they observe other battles. There will always be certain… ano… anatomy... Ana…” Salvadore paused and pulled out a pocket dictionary, where was that word?

Right!

“Anatomical comparisons. Flying-type pokemon will have certain matching traits, such as tucking their wings or beating in certain patterns. The example that is used for this case is Cranidos versus a young Larvitar. Cranidos is—” Salvadore continued to write down his observations. Happily jotting them down before deciding he needed to try his hand at doing some art.

It shouldn’t be too hard for Cranidos. Circle for the head. A triangle for the beak and then a rectangle for the neck. Then he just needed to blend them together and add eyes. Beady little rage-filled eyes.

Salvadore gave it a go and held up his drawing. It wasn’t great, but it showed how Cranidos was trying to drop his head to charge. Salvadore added some arrows to indicate movement.

Then he stared at Terra.

Hmmmm. Where to start? Maybe an Oval for a head with a taller oval for the body with a sort of soft rectangle for the horn?

Yeah that would work.

Sadly the match ended before he could finish drawing Terra, and she waddled over to chirp at her mum. Salvadore paused, watching the interaction as mother and daughter talked with each other. Empress, for the first time he’d seen, seemed to go soft.

She almost smiled!

Empress, apparently detecting his gaze, glanced up sharply and snorted.

Salvadore inched back and made a show of busying himself. “Lar!?” chirped Terra, having noticed him. She waddled over and tugged on his notepad to see what he was doing. He hastily flipped to a page of notes, not wanting her to see his drawings. Terra was nice, but she spent a lot of time with Bertha when Yolanda wasn’t around, so there was no way she wouldn’t tell Bertha.

Empress wasn’t having any of that though and leaned in to nose the notepad back to the pages on which he’d been working.

Hephy gave a whimpering growl at the giant head in their space. Empress paused and glanced down before slowly retracting her head.

Hephy relaxed but that didn’t stop Terra from seeing his drawings. “Tar!? Larvi tar!” she chirped happily, pointing at the rough drawing of her that he’d just started to do.

“Yeah, that’s you. I was trying to sketch you,” he said.

Terra wiggled and handed the notepad back before adopting a pose. Salvadore chuckled. “Alright, but I want you to promise you won’t tell Bertha, alright?”

Terra blinked at him cluelessly before nodding slowly. “Tar?” she said.

“I just don’t want her hogging my time… and I want to get better first,” he said.

Terra accepted this and held her pose so Salvadore could draw her. It took a few minutes and a few muttered erasures to get things just right, but in the end, he thought he had a decent drawing. He turned it around to show Terra and the little pokemon grinned. “Larvitar!” said Terra happily.

Terra turned and waddled back to Cranidos. “Tar?” she said, indicating the other drawing. Cranidos grunted from his spot on the ground, having collapsed there.

Oh dear, Cranidos was sulking.

Salvadore considered consoling him but his pose was rather funny… so instead he took a picture. He’d try and draw it later. It’d probably give Brock a laugh if he did it right.

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Cranidos didn’t seem to realise that he was under a lot of scrutiny as Salvadore began to sketch him out. He whined and growled and whined before throwing his short little arms up and down.

Salvadore was reminded of his younger siblings being told they couldn’t have ice cream before dinner. Cranidos’ tiny little arms and legs smashed on the ground as he had a little tantrum.

Salvadore felt a little bad so he stopped drawing and coughed.

Cranidos stopped having a tantrum and looked around only to spot that Terra, Empress, Hephy and himself were there. Empress snorted loudly and rumbled something that had the little pokemon shooting to his feet and ducking his head.

Salvadore suspected that Empress had just chastised the little ancient pokemon.

He flicked his gaze between them and wondered what he was supposed to do. Cranidos looked ashamed now and that hadn’t been his intent. His eyes dipped to the drawing of Cranidos having a tantrum.

Now he just felt bad for drawing this.

“Hey Cranidos? I uhmmm…” he cast his mind about what he could do before realising he did have a method of calming Cranidos down. “I was wondering if you’d let me take some video of you smashing up some rocks?” he said.

Cranidos stared at him. “Crani?” said the hard-headed pokemon.

“You don’t want to?” Salvadore said only for Cranidos to tilt his head in the common ‘confused pose’. “Oh! Uhmm I want to take a video with my Xtransciever!” It had a great camera function! Brock had mentioned not telling people he had one a few weeks ago, but Salvadore had told loads of people and they didn’t seem to care.

Cranidos still seemed confused so Salvadore demonstrated the camera. He then projected images of himself and Cranidos looking confused.

“Dos!” shouted the little pokemon. “Cranidos?!” said the pokemon before pointing back behind Salvadore. Salvadore turned his head and noticed that Cranidos was pointing at the big screen which was showing battle casts in the lead up to Brock’s match today against an Elite Challenger.

“Uhmmm no it won’t project it up there, but it is like what’s gonna happen with Brock only those matches have bigger cameras.”

Cranidos appeared to lose interest.

“Please?” Salvador asked. “I’d love to get some video of you at your best!” he said and that seemed like it was enough as the hard-headed pokemon lined itself up against a rock and charged so quickly Salvadore didn’t have a chance to actually record it.

When Cranidos emerged from the dust and debris he had his chest puffed out.

“Uhmmmm that was great?” Salvadore said. He decided it was best not to tell the little pokemon he hadn’t gotten it and instead started recording. “Maybe another one?” he said.

Cranidos threw himself into another charge and Salvadore knew he’d hit on a great method of cheering up the little pokemon. After a few boulders Salvadore noticed something.

“Hey Cranidos, you have really strong legs yeah?”

Cranidos paused and tilted his head and considered said limbs. “Cran,” he said, nodding after a moment. “Think you could stomp on a rock to hold it down and then headbutt it?” Salvadore asked, curious if the little pokemon had the flexibility to do it.

Cranidos took a moment to consider this before kicking a boulder over and standing atop it. Then he dropped his head into the rock proving that yes, he did in fact have the flexibility for such a manoeuvre.

Cranidos rose up, foot still holding down his target. For a long moment, he didn’t move.

Then a smile broke out over his scaly face and he began hammering the rock over and over. “Dos! Dos ! Crani!” he said happily.

Cranidos twirled around and stared at Salvadore happily. “Dos?” asked the little pokemon, his head bobbing back and forth.

“Uhmmmm?” Salvadore was once again at a loss. It obviously wanted something. He stared at the pokemon for a few moments then considered the area. Maybe Cranidos was asking if there were other ways to headbutt something?

He did seem rather fixated on headbutting things so maybe?

“Can you kick something in the air and then… smack it when it comes down?” Salvadore offered.

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Cranidos did just that and Salvadore caught it all on camera. “Oh! I know try headbutting it up and down repeatedly!” said Salvadore.

Cranidos seemed delighted at this and tried but the rocks kept breaking.

“Huh, that’s pretty cool, but it doesn’t really show what would happen with a pokemon,” he said rubbing his chin.

Empress gave him a look but Salvadore ignored her. Instead, he nodded. “We need something that bounces like a pokemon would! Wait here Cranidos I’m going to get a sack of jelly for you to practise with!” he said as he turned and dashed into the Gym.

“Rocko! Rocko!” Salvadore called as he approached a cluster of trainers.

“Rocko’s over there,” one of the trainers said as they worked a pair of Aron through some training exercises. When one Aron growled at the trainer the trainer ignored them and rewarded the second Aron for completing the exercise.

Salvadore felt his hand itch as the urge to stop and document this method of training came over him only for him to stay the course.

“Hey Rocko! Can I have some jelly to put in a sack?”

Rocko glanced up. “Jelly in a sack? Is this for Munchlax? Cause that little guy doesn’t need that much sugar,” said the relaxed man peering at Salvadore curiously.

“No! It’s for science!” Salvadore proclaimed with a grin.

“Science eh?” said Rocko with a raised eyebrow.

Salvadore coughed. “I wanted to see if Cranidos could juggle rocks with headbutts but he keeps breaking them. His head is too hard but then I realised that if the thing he was hitting was softer, more like what a pokemon would be then he’d be able to do it!”

Rocko stared at Salvadore. “That is kinda dark but… I think I’m a little curious, come on let’s get some made up I think we have some in the storehouse for when we make up some snacks. We’ll need to make it fairly thick,” he said.

Salvadore began to bounce as Rocko helped him make up a sack of Jelly that was roughly equal to Cranidos in size. Rocko gave it a slap which set the sack to jiggling. “Heh, this should be fine, just remember that some pokemon that are this soft have methods of handling blunt impacts,” he said.

“I will! This is just for training!” Salvadore explained. He then trudged away with the sack over his shoulder. Rocko followed him.

Salvadore shot him a few looks. “You’re coming too?”

“Yeah,” said Rocko easily, a small bag of feed in one hand.

Salvadore eyed the much smaller, lighter bag. “Any chance you would swap?” he said, hoisting up the sack to indicate what he meant.

“Naaaaaaah,” said Rocko with a smirk. “You keep going, it’s good for your character arc or something like that,” Rocko said.

“That’s not… You’re mocking me aren’t you?”

“A little but seriously, this is your show so bear the burden a little,” said Rocko as he continued to walk next to Salvdore.

Salvadore grunted and decided that wasn’t worth commenting on. He made sure to make a mental note to make sure he forced Rocko to play a character he didn’t like during their next game session. Maybe Bowser?

Then he’d play Luigi and crush him!

Thoughts of digital violence helped Salvadore lug the sack of jelly back to the training field Cranidos had been on. When they arrived not much had changed apart from there being a bit more debris than when he’d left, but that made sense seeing as Cranidos was still practising tossing up a rock and headbutting it.

Cranidos eyed a small rock and with a deft flick of its head sent it soaring up where it began watching it fall intently.

“Hey! You’re getting really good at that!” said Salvadore as he approached.

Cranidos didn’t stop tracking the rock it had just thrown. When it got close enough Cranidos leapt only to mistime the throw and smack it aside instead of destroying it. Cranidos brayed in annoyance and landed next to the rock where a quick one-two smash pulverised the rock into dust.

With a pleased huff, Cranidos looked up and spotted Salvadore and the bag of jelly. “Dos?” it said in greeting.

Salvadore hefted the jelly sack. “I got it!” he said and Cranidos perked up his head jerking in a manner that screamed ‘Throw it’!

Salvadore considered the bag for a moment before grabbing it by one side and spinning. “Ooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaa!” he began to cry as he spun faster and faster before lifting his hands and hurling the bag up into the air.

The sack sailed through the air, wobbling as it did so in an undulating pattern with the light catching it causing it to sparkle.

Cranidos’ eyes widened, and he tucked low before launching up into the sack of jelly.

Hardhead met soft sack and the bag flubbered, for lack of a better word, only to encapsulate Cranidos and make him squawk.

The bag of jelly fell to the side and Crandios tumbled to the side with a bark only to shoot up to his feet instantly and growl at the offending bag of jelly. He leapt at it and began to hammer his head down into it.

The bag quaked as blow after blow shot into it only for nothing to really occur as the jelly merely dissipated the hits.

“DOOOOOOOOOOOS!” raged Cranidos as he reared back a huge headbutt.

“Cranidos wait!” Salvadore said as he spotted part of the jelly sack wobbling underneath Crandios where it wasn’t secured anymore. Salvadore might not have been taught it in class but Brock had mentioned something about reactionary forces enough times to suspect he knew what was about to happen.

Cranidos didn’t listen and threw his head into the jelly sack only for it to shoot up into his gut, the force of the blow transferring through it and launching Cranidos.

Cranidos went airborne and had long enough to stare in shock before coming down on his back with a heavy thump.

Everyone stared at the crater containing Cranidos before glancing back to the hapless jelly sack that had bested him.

Rocko snorted. “Damn that was not what I’d been expecting to happen but that was hilarious!”

“Cranidos!” Salvadore said as he rushed over to check on the little pokemon.

Crandios lay in the crater blinking slowly.

“Rocko? I think he might be hurt!” Salvadore said worriedly.

Rocko stopped chuckling straight away and approached eying Cranidos. When the little pokemon didn’t become angry he crouched down and tilted Cranidos’ head from side to side.

“He’s not concussed but then again that makes sense with his predilection to headbutting things. His neck and dome are perfect for negating shocks to the brain.” He continued to observe Cranidos before relaxing. “He’s winded himself from the landing which can sometimes be enough to shock a pokemon. He’s fine, just stunned. I think I might get him a football to play with instead as a jelly sack… seems a mite dangerous.”

Salvadore wilted. “I didn’t think it would end like this… Think Brock will be mad?”

Rocko was quick to shake his head. “Nah! If anything I think he’ll praise you. He’s been working to make Cranidos less reliant on his Headbutts and be more patient, but you went the other way and leaned into what Cranidos liked while showing him new ways to headbutt things. I think he’ll remember this session for a while.”

Salvadore nodded slowly, still unsure of himself only for the older man to clap him on the shoulder. “No more training with him for now. How about you take him over to watch the coming Elite match. He’d like that I reckon.”

“Yeah that sounds like a good idea, how about it Cranidos? Want to watch Brock fight?”

Cranidos stared at Salvadore before nodding slowly and yawning. Rocko chuckled. “Tired too it seems, good work wearing him out.” With that said and done Rocko sauntered off leaving Salvadore to usher the slightly out-of-it ancient pokemon towards where the big screen was set up.

Empress and Terra walked along next to him with Terra waddling along next to Cranidos and babbling something. From the way her arms were waving back and forth it seemed like whatever she was saying, she was doing in a most enthusiastic manner.

When they reached the big screen Salvadore realised that they were in fact late to the show with most of the seating being claimed by other trainers or various pokemon. Empress gave an odd hooting barking that made all the pokemon sit up and look her way.

Most of them quailed and stepped back from their positions fearfully as Empress surveyed them.

One of the pokemon sitting in a seat turned out to be Hypnotoad who instead of reacting fearfully stood and waved for Empress to join her. “Poli Wrath!” cried the powerful pokemon. She gestured to a seat next to her and Empress snorted in response.

She still moved to claim the chair as the pokemon that had been seated there stayed back. Salvadore followed bowing politely. “Thanks, and sorry for her! She’s… not good with manners,” he said.

Empress gave Salvadore a look, one of her scaly eyebrows raised into the air. “Tar?” she said.

Salvadore coughed. “Uhmmmm it’s not nice to bully others, you could have asked instead of growling like that. I’m pretty sure that hoot you did was a threat display, right?”

Empress stared at him for a long moment before scoffing and claiming the seat next to Hypnotoad who warbled something at the other pokemon only to earn a bark from Empress. Salvadore moved to claim the edge of another chair with Cranidos next to him.

“Hi Moxy and Izumi, can we sit with you,” he said clearly. The Graveler and the Geodude nodded their heads indicating that it was fine.

Salvadore sat with Cranidos claiming a spot on the ground quietly.

With that sorted Salvadore looked up to find that the Elite match was already underway with the challenger using a Vileplume while Brock was fighting with Shin, his Kabutops.

“Aquajet away!” called Brock on the screen making his pokemon evade the Vine Whips that were threatening Shin.

Shin shot away and began peppering the other pokemon with attack after attack all while evading. It was a lot more hit-and-run than Salvadore was used to seeing from his brother but it was working. Shin was merely too fast to be hit and the greater evasion led to better exchanges.

Salvadore flipped open his notepad and turned to a marked-out section that he’d titled battle strategies.

Under the subheading ‘hit and run style’ he began to list off his observations for this match.

Rocko, who’d stayed with him, peered over Salvadore’s shoulder. “You’re missing that he’s using Rock Polish while speeding around the battlefield. Shin is getting faster and shinier as this fight continues,” he said.

Salvadore paused and watched the match, only for the battle between Shin and the Vileplume to end as Shin stopped dodging Vine Whips and Razor Leafs.

Shin went from dodging to suddenly being on top of Vileplume with both bladed hands raised to streak in and slam into it with two Metal Claws.

“Vileplume is unable to battle!” barked Dennis, the referee for the day’s match.

Salvadore did a little fist pump as, around him, various pokemon roared their approval. Shin did a quick twist and flash of his blades.

The camera shot to Brock and showed that he was staring intently at the battlefield. “Hold position,” Brock said and a hush went over the crowd both on the screen and outside in the reserve as everyone waited for what would come next.

“Is that a good call or a bad one?” Salvadore whispered to Rocko, hoping to not break the tension.

Rocko rubbed his chin for a moment. “I happen to know that Brock has been doing a bit of a read up on some of the coming challengers and he has a decent idea of what this guy has. He is probably baiting the guy into a close-range matchup.”

“Let’s go Hariyama!” shouted Brock’s opponent.

The pokemon didn’t even wait for a command, it’s palm shot forward in a signature Arm Thrust.

Shin ghosted around the blow, his scythes flashing out even as he evaded the attack.

Hariyama grunted in pain but spun with a single leg, arms firing out only for Shin to twist away and unleash a close-range Hydro Pump into Hariyama’s feet. Hariyama was forced to growl at Shin, as he swished his blades in front of him.

Rocko nodded, “Just like that,” he said with a grin.

“What else can you notice?” Salvadore said feeling much more confident.

Rocko opened his mouth before giving Salvadore a look that he knew all too well. “Hmmm I think I’ll keep it a secret. You can build up your observation skills if I don’t give you everything.”

“That makes sense,” Salvadore said easily.

Rocko eyed him before smiling. “Heh, you’re different from your brother.”

“Brock, really?”

Rocko waved his hand. “Nah, Forrest. When I first told him that he got annoyed and mentioned character-building tricks,” he said. Rocko shook his head and chuckled. “Ah, I miss that kid.”

Salvadore glanced away from the screen. “Forrest didn’t like things like that?” he said, feeling a small pang.

It had honestly been weeks since he’d last thought about his older brother, and now he kind of felt like the space his brother filled was a little larger.

Rocko nodded. “Didn’t like giving out food in the early mornings either, but that was because Brock had him do it with Backpack on.”

“Aren’t backpacks good ways to carry things?” Salvadore queried.

Rocko chuckled. “No, Backpack is a specific Geodude.” He glanced around and pointed at a lighter-coloured Geodude than usual. “That one there. She weighs in at around forty kilograms instead of the normal twenty these days. She’s perfect for training as she has set modes where she will work with you while you run and other times become a nuisance. She’s great for training purposes, but urgh she can be tough to deal with.”

Salvadore drew some squiggles in his notepad. “Got any other stories about Forrest?” he asked, his eyes turning back to the screen.

There was a moment of silence before Rocko sat down. “Sure. he got me really good one time with this whoopee cushion after I’d asked him to redo some work. Got me right in the middle of a work meeting. Damn near made Dennis laugh!”

Salvadore giggled. “He tried that on me as well but I caught him at it. Then he slipped it under Brock and I think Brock saw it but he did it anyway!”

Salvadore frowned. “He stopped doing as many practical jokes last year…”

“Might have just grown out of it,” Rocko offered.

Salvadore considered that. Then he considered what Forrest was doing. “... How much does a Journey change someone?” asked Salvadore.

Rocko sighed. “It can be one of the most or least impactful events. I remember a guy that stayed exactly the same. Heck he even still dresses the same these days! That doesn’t mean that he didn’t change though. He got wiser and his changes were more subtle.”

Rocko wrapped an arm around Salvadore. “Don’t worry, people change all the time and that can be a great thing. Don’t be worried that he’s not going to be your brother anymore though. He might be a better big brother now, just like you are going to be a different Salvadore. When you get the time, try and spend some time with him. It’s sort of like an adventure meeting someone that’s gone off on one themselves,” Rocko said with a wistful look. “You have to work out how they changed and that can be a lot of fun.”

“Thanks, that sounds like a good idea.”

Rocko ruffled his hair. “Don’t be afraid to call him either. Technology these days mean you’re not really as far from each other as you might have been.”

Salvadore blushed, realising that in all the time he’d had his Xtransciever, he hadn’t actually done that. “Right,” he said, his head ducked.

Rocko merely chuckled and stood. “I still got some work to do. Enjoy what’s left of the match,” he said indicating Shin battling against a Feraligatr

Fangs snapped loudly and Salvadore readied his pen to catch what he could. In his mind he already knew he’d have to get a replay of it later to do it right.

Eventually, despite weathering a few heavy blows as the grinding match dragged on, Shin emerged victorious and Salvadore joined in with the people and pokemon around him celebrating.

Cranidos hooted loudly having regathered his breath during the match. As highlights played out, the ancient pokemon vibrated with energy for a moment before turning and dashing off only to pause as a loud gurgle roared out. Cranidos stiffened and changed directions to one of the feed bins to get some food. Salvadore chuckled only for his own stomach to rumble causing him to cough sheepishly.

Salvadore waved to Terra and Empress and trotted on into the trainer lounge where he found Brock talking with Missy, “—working on getting Shin to be able to parry certain attacks for a while. It takes a bit of martial arts training but it is doable for other pokemon as well.”

“Huh, neat, I’ll have to look into that,” said the future Ace trainer.

Salvadore collected a small plate and stacked it up with small sandwiches before getting close to listen in. Having free time as a perk of his higher grades certainly resulted in some neat benefits like getting to spend his time talking and listening in when talks like this happened.

When Brock was done he waved for Salvadore to approach.

“Hey little bro, how’s your day been so far?” he said and Salvadore grinned, more than happy to tell his oldest brother just how it had been going.