Hard Enough - Chapter 76: Shopping

Chapter 76: Shopping

Girls could be a unique mystery. When I had first met Sabrina she’d been a girl that had avoided going out in public as much as possible. It wasn’t that she couldn’t, but more that it was uncomfortable for her. Something we’d struggled with a fair bit during our time together when we’d been younger. I’d given her some help by being a ‘safe zone’ she could be around to stop thoughts flooding her mind. Back then, she would have stayed very close or been skittish going through towns. Nowadays she openly walked next to me and spoke of going out with Erika, or her mother, and I had to wonder how much I’d really helped at all.

I must have done something as obviously she was better than what she would have been like according to the anime but still… I felt a little envious that she seemed to have made better strides of late with others than she had with me when we’d been younger.

She’d been increasingly able to handle time with my army of little siblings.

She’d also seemed perfectly happy to sit with my little sisters and play dolls with them until I’d come back.

She appeared to be going out of her way to be nice to new people. Or, at least she’d reacted well to Rachel.

Rachel, who was walking along with a pleased little smile on her lips, all without Sabrina acting like a Meowth rubbed the wrong way. During our journey, Sabrina had reacted worse to anyone that tagged along. Perhaps it was a matter of maturity or just that Sabrina’s tolerance had grown. Or maybe Rachel was just a nice girl according to Sabrina’s senses.

I sent another glance towards Sabrina, she’d been playing with my siblings for at least an hour by the time I’d gotten home. This was followed by us walking in public instead of teleporting directly to the venue. I couldn’t see any slumped shoulders or tiredness from her at all.

Still, it might pay to ask. “Hey, you alright?”

She turned her head and observed me as we continued along into town.“I am perfectly well. Are you alright?”

“Bit tired from all the battles I’ve been going through this last week, but I feel good having gone surfing. It was fun despite all the times I wiped out.” Sabrina tilted her head and her eyes flicked up and down my body.

I waved a hand back and forth, “I’m perfectly fi—” I cut off the word remembering that Sabrina associated fine with a cry for help. “Well. I am doing well.”

She bobbed her head and continued to walk along. I looked back to find Rachel watching us with a happy smile on her face. I shook my head at her and she merely smiled wider. I huffed at her. “So, where are we going?”

“I looked around for the best tailor in town that does suits! They actually reached out to the Gym first, but not about their suits. Rather they wanted to know about the contests that you’re going to run Brock!”

“I’m not running any contests,” I said.

“Right now you’re not, but you did have some plans to set them up, no?” Rachel said logically.

“Maybe.” I rubbed my eyes in irritation. “Things have been rather hectic with the gym.” I considered the other part of what Rachel had said. “So they’re tailors that enjoy Contests? Who are they?”

Rachel grimaced. “Oh… well I’m sort of going against the girl code here but—”

I snorted. “There’s no such thing as the girl code.”

Rachel raised an eyebrow. “And you’d know this how Mr Brock?” she said pointedly.

“I’d know,” I said firmly. I looked at Sabrina. “Back me up—”

“I can’t tell you the girl code Brock,” she said without inflection.

I flicked my eyes between them both. “You’re both messing with me right?”

There was no such thing. I was sure I would have picked up on it before this. The guy code sure, but the girl code? I’d lived two lives and I was sure… “Nah, you’re messing with me.”

They continued to walk along and Rachel sighed, her head shaking in a sad ‘what can you do’ way that made my guts squirm. Alright, apparently I was wrong and it was a thing… at least in this lifetime.

And somehow Sabrina knew about it? Sabrina? The girl that hated having to deal with most people!? I eyed her suspiciously. Sabrina notably didn’t meet my gaze. I hummed and glanced between them. Alright so there might be a girl code, but Sabrina probably hadn’t known about it until now when she drew it from Rachel’s thoughts.

So it might also just be something Rachel thought up.

But now Sabrina was going to think it was a real thing which would probably see it spreading… if it wasn’t already a thing.

I knuckled my forehead. This kind of thinking always gave me a headache.

“Why would you be going against the girl code to talk to me about them?” I said, deciding to get back on topic.

“Oh, you used to go to school with one of them.”

“One of them being a girl obviously?” I said scratching my chin and trying to recall any notable names or faces that had shown an interest in tailoring and/or contests, but coming up blank.

Rachel nodded while Sabrina now had her head turned to watch my reactions. I shrugged. “Can’t think of them sorry. What was her name?”

Rachel sighed sadly and shook her head. “Solidad, Brock, remember her now?”

“Yeaaaaahhhh. Nooooo?” I said slowly trying to dredge up why that name did ring some bells. I couldn’t think of a reason though.

Rachel gave Sabrina a look that was supposed to be a moment of shared female commiseration. Sabrina made an attempt at looking understanding but it looked more like she had a facial twitch.

I bit my lips to hold in a laugh. Rachel was obviously fully on board and Sabrina was cheating by using what she could ‘see’ from Rachel’s mind but she certainly wasn’t used to doing commiserating looks. Sabrina shot me a glare that I ignored.

It really was the equivalent of her pouting at me in truth. So all it achieved was making it harder for me not to laugh.

“Alright, so Solidad, who I went to school with. So, it’s been years since I saw her, right?”

“Yeeeeah but you know you really shouldn’t just forget a school friend like that Brock.”

I shrugged. “Sorry I’ve had a lot happen since I was at school.” That got a silence that was much heavier than I was expecting.

I grimaced as I realised I’d pointed out the whole ‘Brocks family ran off on him’ tragedy that I seemed to be tripping over so much of late. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just, yeah. I’ve been busy so yeah.”

“No, no, I understand, but yeah. Guess I just forget sometimes that you’ve had it rough.”

I waved a hand. “Eh, I handled it. Lots of people have it worse than me.”

Sabrina and Rachel shared another look. Sabrina’s look was more like a grimace but it was progressing. I decided to move things along. “Alright so is Solidad home? She’s not on a circuit herself is she?”

“Yes she was, but when I confirmed your booking they mentioned her. So they’re expecting us. I explained that you are merely here for the suit but I don’t doubt that they’re going to ask about the Contest announcement that you made when we had you on the radio.”

“Hmm, alright, I’d like some more heads up on this in future though,” I said firmly.

Rachel coughed and blushed. “Sorry about that. I only got the heads up from them about Solidad this morning and you’ve been in and out.”

I hummed. “Ah, that’s fair.”

“Gym Leader Brock! I Challenge you!…” A trainer emerged from the streets and pointed his hand straight at me before his gaze slackened. Then he frowned as his expression turned introspective. “Oh shoot! Did I forget to turn off the oven when I left home? The Vermillion fire department is going to be so mad!” The trainer turned and sprinted away from our group.

Rachel stared after him. “What… What just happened?”

I looked at Sabrina who had adopted an innocent expression. “Just trainers being weird, nothing that strange. Say how long till we reach the tailor shop?”

“Oh it’s right there on the corner!” she said as she pointed right at a rather nice-looking shop with dresses and suits in the front window.

I whistled as I got a good look at their styles. They had tuxedos with black and white tie styles, then they had business suits, classical suits, and even some very nice looking casual clothes for men and surprisingly also for women. I glanced at the suit mannequins and found they had styled the women very nicely as well. The dresses took up another half of the shop so there was a clear divide. I spotted a couple of people lingering around some wedding dresses. They also had more ‘evening’ dresses and some more risque ‘little red numbers’ on display.

Overall I had to give my approval, I liked what I was seeing.

“Shall we?” I said, turning to find Rachel looking pleased with my interest while Sabrina looked over the displays.

We entered and a small bell tingled from the top of the door to announce our arrival. The store was tastefully open with more mannequins highlighting the various fashions that were on display with an entire wall set up with small labels. I stared at it for a moment before concluding that it was a wall solely for displaying fabric.

A man and a woman each wearing suits of their own glided up to us. “Welcome to the Monsoule’s Haberdashery! I’m Monique and this is Matthew!” said the woman that had light blue hair next to her husband that had soft pink hair. They blinked when their eyes slid from me to Rachel only to stop on Sabrina.

They recovered wonderfully. “Welcome to our humble shop Gym Leader Brock, Gym Leader Sabrina, and Rachel.”

They bowed at the waist to us and gestured to some comfortably arranged chairs. “Would you care to take a seat? We have magazines for the styles we can create and it serves as a nice place to chat and get to know what brings you to us!”

“Oh, uhm thank you,” I said as Monique led us towards the chairs while Matthew ducked away and came back with a trolley with a tea set, biscuits and coffee ready to be deployed should we ask. I sat down feeling well cared for while also adding a zero to the price tag I could expect when I had a suit.

“So we understand that you have been invited to the Mayor’s little soiree for the Pewter City celebration, yes? A nice formal event from what the invitation says,” Monique began. I nodded as a magazine was offered to myself, Sabrina, and Rachel although the girls also received a magazine for dresses that were flicked through. Rachel took the dress magazine and happily flicked through it while Sabrina took an entire stack of magazines ranging from suits, dresses and everyday wear.

Monique looked thrilled at Sabrina’s interest before she readjusted herself and waved her hand about. “Not too much formality really but I imagine you might want something that could be considered iconic? Or perhaps something more…” She flicked the magazine she was using to indicate certain styles to a much less formal style and instead show something off lazy or punkish. “Gauche.”

I shook my head. “I’d rather stick with the suit all told.”

Monique gained a much more heartfelt smile. “Excellent! A true gentleman! Do we have any idea of colours that could work?”

“Autumns with burnt orange suit him,” Sabrina said while flicking through her own suit magazine. Monique and Matthew both blinked in surprise, their eyes swivelling from me to her.

“I agree with that. A lot of my wardrobe features those colours,” I said not mentioning that Sabrina had heavily influenced this with my last shopping trip.

Matthew nodded, “I have some sample fabrics here!” I glanced at him.

When did he have the chance to do that? I glanced to the side and spotted Monique fading away to get another magazine of fabric choices for the ladies as Matthew held most of our attention. Ah, misdirection was applied to create a seamless flow of service.

I had to give it to them, they knew their business.

I selected a nice burnt orange, a black, and a brown fabric before Matthew gestured to a closed-off area. “If the gentleman would like to follow me we can have your measurements taken. He clapped his hands once. “Johnny! Some assistance for recording Brock’s measurements?”

A smaller boy, about Salvadore’s age, stumbled out in his own suit. He didn’t wear it as well but his earnest attempt made him rather endearing. I glanced over and found Sabrina being led away by Monique. She looked rather excited instead of annoyed. She seemed to be handling this smaller group rather well.

I decided not to say anything. Sabrina was able to look after herself and make her displeasure known very easily if she wanted to.

Instead, I allowed myself to be measured and poked into various positions. Matthew had the tape measure flicking around like it was an Ekans. For a second I wondered if there might be some psychic energies involved before I pushed those thoughts to the side. Throughout it all, Matthew asked a deluge of questions such as how much I’d be looking to wear it, how I moved, did I sweat, or have sensitive skin, and more.

When they had everything settled they once more led me back to the sitting area. Matthew served up another cup of tea. “I’m sure the ladies will be along soon but ladies do have so much more to consider when buying good clothing, I’m sure you understand?”

I chuckled. “That has got to be the most polite phrasing of, ‘Ladies take longer when shopping’ I’ve ever heard.”

Matthew gave a small laugh. “Ahaha, I know but the cliche has so much merit, or at least we try to give it merit here. We cater to all sorts of tastes so it can make it tough. Men already have an idea most of the time of what they want.” He smirked, “Or want to be elsewhere. Women? Women want the experience.”

I nodded and settled in to enjoy my tea. After five minutes I decided to broach the other topic. “Rachel informs me that your family has an interest in the Contests I am considering hosting?”

Matthew perked up. “Indeed! You see, our family migrated here almost a decade ago after we fell in love with the rustic charm of Pewter City!” He smiled at me grandly. “We also recognised that our skills were sorely in demand, and so have been greatly enjoying our time here. However, we greatly miss our beloved Hoenn past time of Contests. Something that is not as well regarded in Kanto.” He made a sad face.

“It’s slowly gaining some recognition, but Indigo is rather entrenched in their fighting so when we heard that you were looking to expand we were overjoyed!”

I put down my tea cup. “I think pokemon have more to them than fighting, and pushing the traditional fighting-centric culture that we have limits the opportunities for some people or pokemon.”

Matthew beamed at me while his son stood nearby and watched us.

“You’re a very forward-thinking young man Brock! Tell me, when were you thinking of running the event?”

He leaned forward and I almost thought he was hoping I’d say ‘tomorrow?’ but that would be crazy. I grimaced and shook my head. “I’m afraid we’ve only ever gotten a small bit of the planning done. Things have stalled as of late with the recent surge in gym challengers we’ve been facing.”

“Oh,” he said, his expression morphing as if I’d just told him his pet Butterfree was too old. I shrugged helplessly.

“These girls are going to be the height of fashion and draw all the eyes at the coming soiree!” announced Monique as she returned with Rachel and Sabrina who both looked very pleased with themselves. Accompanying them was a salmon-haired girl my age.

I blinked as my memory clicked. “Solidad?”

The girl perked up. “Brock! It’s great to see you again! I haven’t seen you since school!”

Monique and Matthew both glanced between us with pleased expressions. Rachel nodded at me while John rolled his eyes as Solidad bounced up to me and bowed. I noted she was wearing her own suit which was very well-tailored. The yellow colouring suited her. I recalled now that she would be a name that would mostly be a rival for May in the contest scene.

Hadn’t she won a few of the contests? She stood out so she was probably going to become quite good. She had to be if I was going to recall her after all these years. Or did she play another role?

Monique nudged her husband. “Darling, you looked rather sad when we came over. Were you not able to get Brock a suit to make him look dashing?”

“No! No! We managed that my love, it’s just the recent hardships that have delayed Brock’s plans from hosting a contest in our hometown!”

Monique and Solidad gasped. John merely yawned. Matthew nodded at them before gesturing. “He has some plans but sadly lacks the time to develop anything more.”

Monique held a hand to her breast as though the thought that a contest that I had vaguely promised not going ahead was painful to her. “ Oh my, no, no, no, no that, that! We cannot allow that to be so!” she whirled upon me.

“Gym Leader Brock! Please! We must have a Contest in Pewter! We need to show the people of Kanto the charm of a proper contest!” I could almost see the fire in her eyes.

I raised both hands to placate her. “I’m sorry, but it’s just not possible as things are. I can’t give such an event the attention it would need!”

Monique stepped back and looked like she’d cry at this news.

Solidad scowled at the ground before perking up. “But what if we volunteered to help organise it? We could be… major sponsors! Yes! Then we could assist with the planning, and the advertising, and the invitations! If we were allowed to act as planners under you and run things by you we’d be able to lighten the load!”

Monique and Matthew both brightened at that while John got a fearful look. I suspected that he understood that he’d be part of the group ‘volunteering’ their services.

“Oh yes! Brock! We could do that for you! You could host it and be the person that would facilitate it and we could do the leg work to get Contests into Kanto properly!”

I rubbed the back of my head. “I’d like to contribute more than that. I wasn’t going to plan anything too large as I don’t really know how popular it might be.”

“It would be very popular! I assure you Brock that there are a number of trainers both young and old dying to showcase their pokemon’s skills in more artistic ways!” said Matthew.

I hummed and turned it over. Did I really need to have so much control over this? I wanted to let that aspect of pokemon culture grow as I could see the appeal. I bobbed my head from side to side. “Say I went ahead with this, what would you need to have decided? I’d need at least two months before the surge is probably over.”

Matthew, Monique, and Solidad gasped in glee. I raised my hand. “IF, I went ahead with it.”

Monique, whom I was learning was the spokesperson for her family’s interests, stepped forward. “We would need a date, I suggest a weekend for the best chance to draw people in! We would need to organise some reputable judges for the events, we would need to advertise for the event, we would need to design a ribbon, and also I suppose set up a style for the contest itself.”

I nodded before smiling. “Oh, I think a Tough style would best suit the Pewter Gym contest.”

I got blank stares while Rachel facepalmed. Monique tilted her head. “Eh?” She blinked uncertainly. “A tough style? Whatever do you mean?”

I blinked. Was I misremembering contests? “Uhmmm don’t you typically see the styles for beauty or cute pokemon? I was thinking of making the style for ‘Pokemon that are ‘tough or trying to appear tough for the cutesy factor. Or you know…” I trailed off as I got a room full of uncomprehending looks.

Thankfully Monique slowly turned thoughtful. “That… might be something rather niche and chic actually. Most contests do like to tout beauty as the be-all and end-all no?” She glanced at her husband and then to Solidad who nodded.

Monique bobbed her own head up and down. “Yes! Yes! I could see it now! Pokemon appearing tough! It would still have the traditional style but be a much larger draw for the Kanto crowd!”

She laughed. “Inspired Brock! You are rather more thoughtful of these things than I thought you would be. I merely meant the colour styling! I was going to suggest a brown with metallic trim but taking it further into.” She swaggered her shoulders and hips in a fake macho way. “Tough!~ I love it!”

With a fire in her eyes, she nodded. “We will have to come over and continue planning things soon! Solidad will be our main liaison for this!”

Solidad perked up. “Heh! It’ll be just like old times when we hung out after school and little league!”

I gave her a slow nod and she picked up on it. “Brock… you do remember me right?”

“I remember, I remember!” I said hurriedly.

Solidad frowned. “What position was I on the baseball field then?”

“Pitcher?” I said throwing blind.

“I was the catcher!” she growled. She stared at me. “Brock! Are you telling me you forgot me!”

“A little?” I said before I could stop myself. I was already kicking myself as she snarled and stormed away in a huff. Monique and Matthew both gave me very unimpressed looks.

Matthew coughed. “Shall we settle the bill now?” he said cheerfully.

He produced an invoice and handed it to me. I stared at it in shock for a moment. Then I looked up. “I’m really sorry about making her cry but… this is a bit cruel isn’t it?”

He snorted a laugh. ‘Brock, I am… displeased that you have not remembered my daughter spending time with you in the past but I am a professional.” He gestured around the store. “I create great suits. That,” he pointed at the invoice, “Is the cost of making such suits.”

He then chuckled. “If I was petty I’d have doubled it. But not to worry, she’ll get over it and come back determined to make a stronger impression so you can’t forget her next time. Trust me.”

I laughed nervously as Sabrina stopped leafing through her magazine and inspected Matthew and me critically. I suddenly felt like I was in danger.

“I’ll have your suit made up in three days. I have all the materials and my pokemon will be able to help out.” He tapped a pokeball and an Ariados appeared with a happy wag of its legs. “Can you call around … oh at least Thursday evening after your matches are over?”

“That would work wonderfully,” I said while paying for the suit.

Rachel bounced up to me. “Cheer up Brock this is tax deductible! It’s practically a write off!”

I shook my head and led her out into the now-dark street. “Remind me to have Georgina explain tax write-offs to you.” I looked over to Sabrina who was still leafing through the fashion magazine.

“Did you enjoy yourself, Sabrina?”

She nodded slowly and gave me a small smile that I knew was the equivalent of something huge and heartfelt from another person. “Yes, that was… I like shopping… when there’s not too many people I can relax more.” She nodded to Rachel. “Thank you for your advice.”

She then looked back at me with an expression that I couldn’t quite place. “I will talk to you later, have a good evening.” She stilled and I expected a teleport flash to occur only for her eyes to narrow as she stared into the distance. “You’re going home after this, correct?”

I nodded. “Yeah? Why?” I said, suddenly worried something had happened.

Sabrina shook her head. “I think Forrest has it handled. You’ll see. I’ll leave it to your judgement and check in later tonight,” she said cryptically before flashing away.

I hummed. “Well… I’m actually not sure what to make of that.”

“She’s… she’s rather different from how I expected her to be,” Rachel said tentatively.

“Oh? What did you expect?” I said putting emphasis on the last word.

“She has a rather distant personality and is infamous for being very inhospitable to people that come and challenge her. She’s also known to be very powerful and very scary. Most people say to avoid challenging her gym because of it.”

I hummed. “She just comes across that way. She tries in her own way, but her strength is, in its own way, the biggest weakness for her.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s not something I should say more on but…” I considered it for a moment more. “Rachel, she actually seemed very relaxed around you. Usually, she’s not like that. She had to take time to warm up to Erika who’s a little flower that’s polite to everyone she comes across. If she comes around maybe just try to be nice and see if she wants to be friends.” I scratch my head. “She could use more friends.”

“You’re really good together,” she said, watching me closely.

I couldn’t stop the blush even as I shook my head. “We’re not like that. We ‘dated’ when we were kids, sure, but that’s nothing big. She just needed a friend and well… I was young so yeah…” I said, trying to play it off as the innocence of being a young boy. Most young boy’s wouldn’t have thought it meant anything to be boyfriend and girlfriend; it probably just meant you hung out together more. It wasn’t something I could ever claim in this second life.

Rachel didn’t seem to be buying what I was trying to sell her. She merely hummed and skipped along.

“Hey! Gym Leader Brock! I called my mother and checked! I didn’t leave my oven on, so now I demand a challenge!” I shut my eyes and groaned while Rachel goggled as the trainer from before emerged.

I glared at him. “Make a booking! I don’t accept challenges in my off time!”

“Oh come off it! You could fight me here and now! Just make an exception!”

I shook my head and continued to walk back home. “Oddish—” I heard the pokeball popping behind me. I looked straight over my shoulder and channelled dark energy into my eyes before ‘expelling’ it straight at the revealed Oddish.

The little pokemon stiffened as I gave it a Mean Look. Its eyes flickered around before pausing on me and quivering in place. The trainer gaped at the reaction and I turned my head away and kept walking.

“Huh, damn that was intense.” Rachel said as she eyed me. I huffed at her and rolled my eyes. She blinked at me and I remembered that she wasn’t like Forrest or Yolanda who knew when I did that. I waved her off.

“Night Brock, see you tomorrow!” shouted Rachel as she turned for her own home.

I waved back and rolled my shoulders. I was already running through the checklist of chores I’d need to do tonight. If I was quick about it I might even… I stopped in front of the main gym doors, half-turned towards the hedge to the side where I’d enter my family’s home.

“Someone has left the lights on in the gym?” I said aloud.

I turned that over in my mind. That shouldn’t have happened. No one had done that in a long while and the security guards usually walked around with flashlights when they made their rounds.

I frowned as I saw the lights flash slightly. I turned fully to the Gym and entered it. When I pushed through the doors next to the reception desk leading into the arena proper I found myself spectating a battle proper.

What in Moltres’ name was going on here?

I flicked my eyes from Forrest on one podium with an Onix in front of him. To the other podium.

Upon it stood a boy that could only be Ash Ketchum with his Pikachu standing on his side of the arena.

In the middle, in the referee box, Misty stood tall with an exasperated look on her face.

In the stands a bunch of boys that I knew were Forrest’s friends sat cheering for the fight. They were immaterial though.

Of more importance was Flint who was sitting front and centre in the stands watching Forrest and Ash fight.

I blinked.

For the life of me, I had no idea what was going on. None of this made any sense. I wanted to storm in and demand answers but the fact Ash had slipped into my gym had me rather stunned.

There had to be a story as to how this developed. I stood in the shadows and decided to watch on as things developed.

I’d wait, for now, but I’d be asking a lot of questions to find out how this whole situation came about.