Yolanda stared at the older girl. No. She was a woman grown.
"So I'll look like you if I wear that much leather, fur and claws?" she murmured.
"If you're lucky," Agate's lips twitched in amusement as she tossed her head.
It wasn't very effective.
Yolanda wasn't impressed.
Agate was trying to play it cool, Yolanda could tell, but when you have Sabrina as a big sister, your standards for cool were much higher.
Terra wiggled in her arms, her small head swinging around at all the people who were outright staring at her.
Yolanda was rather used to being looked at, what with being the Gym Leader's sister. You couldn't not be one of the coolest kids at school when your brother was the big boss of the City. People were always trying to get her to take trading cards or pokemon figurines to her brother or one of his pokemon.
At first, she'd rejected all of them, only for Sabrina to point out that there were better ways to manage people, such as having one assigned day for everyone to bring in their requests, and then she'd give them to her brother.
Usually she slipped it in as part of the fan days that Brock organised, where people came and spent time in the Gym to fight, learn or do as the kids did and request signatures.
"So, what do you do for fun around here?" Yolanda asked, peering around at the crowds of people.
"Oh there's the Lorekeepers always practising their craft with the songs and poems they need to know," Agate said. "They're always worth a listen to, especially when they mess up cause then the Masters of their craft smack them around. There's also staff fighting, or duels with either your pokemon or races," she said, patting the Houndoom that rested near her.
It was a surprisingly big Houndoom, and Yolanda could see how it would be possible to ride it.
"Oh neat, we just built a Rhyhorn race circuit on the reserve. With the recent contest, we got to watch some of it, and it was pretty fun!" Yolanda replied.
"That's what you do?" Agate asked. "I imagine you can't ride that puppy of yours yet." Her eyes dipped to Spot the Growlithe, who barked once.
"No, Spot won't be able to be ridden for a while yet. I have a list of training exercises I need to work on first to build up his muscles along with his firepower."
Yolanda offered a shrug. "Other than that, I'm starting to get a bit more serious with music cause during my upcoming Journey I'm going to be busking and performing at various cities and towns."
"Huh, you're a singer as well?" Agate asked, her eyes darting up and down. "Have to say, you've got a lot going for you. You'd be very welcome in the Fang faction," she offered.
Yolanda blinked. "I have no idea what that is," she replied earnestly.
"Oh, we're the best faction!" Agate claimed, causing several watchers to growl and scoff.
One woman stepped forward. "Big words for a girl that failed to bring in the new Overlord," she snapped. "The Spike faction wouldn't have failed like that!"
"Oh, but you didn't get a run at them," Agate replied as the Houndoom behind her growled at the interloper.
The rather thickset woman scoffed and turned to Yolanda, her face still red with annoyance, reminding her of what Cindy looked like that time she'd gotten stung by a Weedle during a school trip. Did they not have antidotes for that? Or was her face just permanently like that?
"Spike clan is where it's at, kid! We're the strongest! I'm Skarn, one of the best hunters around!"
"You're the loudest," muttered Agate, only to be ignored as the woman looked Yolanda up and down.
"You'd make a good hunter. You've been holding that Larvitar for a while now, and you're not even trembling. Do a hike up that hill, and you'd pass the rite of strength!"
Yolanda glanced at the hill in question. "Oh, I do that for a warm up with Brock in the morning. He has me carry Terra and a Geodude called Backpack the whole way," she replied.
That caused Agate and Skarn to blink and stare at her. "A warm up?"
Yolanda tilted her head. "You know? An easy exercise routine to warm the body up before you do the hard stuff? Like climb up the plateau cliff wall and back down a few times? Or do dodge training while Terra's sisters nip at your heels?"
The pair of women continued to stare at her and Yolanda got the impression she'd rather stunned them.
"Took a while to get strong enough to do it, but if I want to be able to carry Terra around when she's a Pupitar, I need to build up some muscle." She drew up the sleeve of her shirt and flexed, showing off her bicep proudly.
"Huh, all the better that you join Spike kid. You are strong!" Skarn offered once more.
"Eh, I'm not that strong. Not yet. Brock is stronger," she replied. She held back a giggle as a thought occurred. "I've seen Brock carry Titan and then Bertha over his head before, and they're super heavy!"
Again, blank looks appeared on both women's faces. Then Skarn coughed. "Huh, guess I should go join the line to challenge that outsider then for a chance at him," she murmured.
Agate chuckled. "You know that's not why they're fighting her."
Skarn glanced at some scowling men who'd been listening in and offered Yolanda and Agate a wink.
Yolanda frowned. What were they talking about? "Uhm, you'll have to explain that, sorry."
Agate coughed. "Skarn don't she's only a gir—"
"She needs to know these things!" Skarn griped back. "There's a bunch of girls challenging that outsider Brock is married to. Now the joke going around is that they're trying to oust her cause if they win, they get the right to bear a child."
"Oh," Yolanda replied. "Oooh!" she said as understanding locked into place and a small explosion went off on the other side of the Crusher's camp. "You don't stand a chance," Yolanda said with a shake of her head.
"Tch! Please! She's only a psychic. I can take her!" Skarn claimed. "But it's just a joke to tease the menfolk. They let their small heads do their thinking and sometimes it's fun to lead em around."
Yolanda pursed her lips, uncertain if she wanted to understand that line of thinking before she shrugged it off and grinned as a thought occurred to her.
She shared a look with Terra who had just a large smirk in place. "Wanna bet on if you can beat Sabrina?" she asked, drawing out a gold nugget that Dad had found and given to her as an emergency fund for her Journey.
________________
Lance pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed through it. It had taken a day and change, but he'd been approached by a woman who looked an awful lot like one of his cousins.
She might have been wearing the crusher tribe outfit, but she smelt of dragon through and through, both with her pokemon, and herself.
"You're a secret agent of the Blackthorn, who was captured due to being called back by one of the Elders?" he said, summarising the story she'd given him.
She nodded. "Indeed. I was taught from a young age about my duties and then dropped at a site that would see the Crusher Tribe passing through. They took me in and I've had to fight for my position until I was burned when they discovered I owned an old model transceiver."
Lance rubbed at his face. "So the Blackthorns can add espionage, child endangerment, and abandonment to our list of incidents that the League now has to…" He was considering saying 'cover up' but bile filled his mouth at the idea.
The Elders who'd had a hand in this needed to be punished.
"We're going to handle that," he demurred. "But I suppose that is something they will be able to use against us," he said, tapping his lips. The diplomat who had joined him nodded seriously.
"Indeed sir, it will be quite a sticking point," the man adjusted his glasses as the ground rumbled underfoot. Lance spared a small iota of presence to his Dragonite that was watching the fight between what looked like Sabrina versus most of the eligible women in the Crusher Tribe.
"Wonderful, just wonderful," Lance muttered aloud. "Well I'm going to claim you. We're not going to leave you out to dry Zinnia," he announced formally.
The diplomat shifted in irritation but Lance ignored him. From a diplomatic standpoint it might have been better to wash his hands of her, or let her run off into the wilderness and claim innocence. But he needed to take the lead, and sometimes that meant dealing with the issues the family brought to your doorstep.
He smirked to himself. Brock might suddenly understand a small portion of what that meant, with Nurse Joy arriving to start checking everyone over for later doctors. They'd been able to do a blood test of Flint and the children and it was confirmed.
The Crusher tribe were where Flint and Brock's family hailed from.
"If they attempt to use the espionage claim to argue a point with us we can counter with our own claims against them. Flint, and others after all have been revealed to be agents for the Crusher Tribe investigating the readiness of Indigo and its neighbours."
"Perhaps we could claim that ourselves seeing as they have a larger history of it," the diplomat mused aloud.
Zinnia shook her head. "They don't see anything wrong with sending scouts like that. They consider it wisdom and will not refute it or even consider it 'bad' as an argument. It's something you simply do," she claimed.
The Diplomat scoffed. "It is something you do, but not something you take pride in."
Lance stayed quiet, knowing that the diplomat was making sense. Sadly, it was a requirement that any nation of serious power investigated and kept an eye on its neighbours. It was just good sense. If they started building up forces for an invasion, you needed to know. Which was why Lance and the League were trying to make as many inroads with the Fiorians as they could. This Crusher Tribe incident was both a boon for that, and a calamity.
They couldn't leave the Crusher tribe to their own devices, so integration was key. Sadly, the Crusher Tribe had a history of tending to various landmarks that sounded a lot like the dens of Legendary pokemon.
It was rather startling to learn that Giratina of all pokemon was on the continent, through what sounded like a point where the barrier between worlds was weakened. Agatha had been quick to report that to him and later when the Crusher Tribe sent singers and historians of their people to tell of the importance of certain landmarks, Lance had known that a simple solution wasn't going to be possible.
Fiore wasn't going to like having the Crusher tribe integrated with Indigo, as that could be taken as a landgrab.
Lance felt a headache building as he considered how he was going to balance relations.
Perhaps this too could become a multinational effort? Like the Battle Frontier?
Just with wild barbarian like nomads with access to some powerful pokemon, and if Agatha was to be believed, Brock was bargaining with them to offer stronger pokemon to them.
"I need to go for a fly," Lance announced.
Zinnia huffed. "It's going to be a while before I can do that with my pokemon," she muttered, eyeing her Shelgon that wilted at the look only for the Larvitar at its side to pat it fondly.
Lance nodded. 'It will happen," he claimed, not looking at the Larvitar that, due to one of the Elder's actions, had been fed Everstone as a punishment to Zinnia.
He vowed then and there to fund research into healing methods and technologies for pokemon to be cured of accidental and deliberate Everstone consumption.
Lance could agree with Brock on his position about that practice. It needed to be left well behind in a darker age than continue to see the light of day.
As Lance stepped out someone else tried to enter the tent and they clashed heads.
Lance grunted and took a step back only to blink as Lorelei groaned from her spot on the floor.
"Damn it Lance, you have a hard head!" she growled.
Lance felt an instinctive shiver run down his spine at the ice mistress' words. "Sorry, I had my head in the clouds and wasn't looking where I was going."
He offered her a hand up and Lorelei accepted only for them to lock eyes as he lifted her onto her feet. Their gazes held on each others eyes for a moment.
Then a little girl's voice called out. "Lorelei! Where are you? I want to see Aurora!"
Lorelei stiffened and pushed Lance back into the tent, causing them to fall into a tangled heap.
"Wha—" was all Lance got to say before Lorelei had her—freezing!— hands on his mouth, silencing him.
Lance locked eyes with her again.
Lance had never really noticed that she had such red, lush lips, nor how her eyes held a warmth despite her frosty nature.
It might have been a joke but now Lance found himself looking at Lorelei with new eyes.
The sound of small feet running past the tent came and went. Lorelei exhaled in relief before sitting up and offering Lance a hand. "Sorry about that. Brock's sister is trying to track me down cause of a pokemon I got from them."
"A-ah?" Lance replied dumbly.
"I should… go," she murmured, stepping out of the tent and away.
Lance nodded tightly, somewhat glad he wasn't the only one finding it awkward.
He stared at the tent flap for a moment, only to shake his head. Adjusting his cape so it sat right on his shoulders, he once more set off, marching towards where his Dragonite was, ignoring the crowd of women challenging and being defeated by Sabrina.
Did Brock even realise this was happening? Lance crushed the feeling of envy that arose and instead mounted up on his dragonite for a quick ride to clear his head… and his heart.
When he landed, he spotted another oddity.
Brock's sister Yolanda, was sitting in front of a pile of golden nuggets with a huge smirk on her face.
He considered approaching her before giving the situation another look.
Ah, it seems she knew when to bet on a 'sure thing'.
Lance marked her down as one to watch in the coming circuit. If she made less than the quarter finals, he'd be surprised.
As he was walking through the camp, he spied Brock sitting upon a ridgeline with his father and mother.
"Hmmm, I wonder what they're speaking of," Lance muttered to himself as he made for the tent only to pause as Brock's sister dashed past, still searching for Lorelei.
Unable to help himself he pointed her in the right direction.
It probably wasn't a good idea to tease her, but Lance still rather enjoyed tugging Lorelei's pigtails.
Which… hmmm. He sat down in his tent and began to rethink some prior assumptions.
___________________
Flint stared out at the city of tents.
Well, not really a city, and more a large village. Perhaps a town. The population was greatly bolstered by pokemon being integrated into the Crusher Tribe's way of life.
"I never imagined this is where I came from," Flint remarked.
"Sometimes the world can be a strange place," Brock replied easily. "And at the same time, I suppose it just goes to show that we're not all that different or separate as a people. I imagine there are others across the sea or land that we share more in common with."
Flint observed his son for a moment. "That was oddly philosophical of you."
Brock shrugged. "I've been having to do a lot of thinking lately." On the other side of the camp another flash of light heralded a slight rumble.
Lola giggled. "Oh! Your wife is certainly laying down the law!"
Brock snorted. "She knows that even if she lost I wouldn't have accepted any of their offers." he shook his head. "This is just her sending a statement. Lots of people misunderstood her 'capture'.
"Remarkably brave of Sabrina to let herself be led into a hostile encampment like that," Flint offered.
"Guess it goes to show how much she trusted us to pull her out if she got in over her head." Brock sighed. "I think I didn't so much rescue her, as the crusher tribe from her, if that makes sense?"
Lola giggled. "A few well-placed explosives. Set that ridgeline into an avalan—"
Flint found his vision flickering as a memory of another such valley, where an avalanche had been used to crush a platoon of men, arose.
"Stop," he rasped.
Lola paused. "Oh…" she fidgeted for a moment. "Sorry ,dear," she offered to him while taking his hand and squeezing it.
At the words and gesture, something that had tightened up in his chest relaxed. Deciding to shift the topic, he drew in a breath and nodded. "Thank you for telling us about them Brock. I think if possible I'd like to spend some time with them."
"Heh, I wasn't ever going to exclude you. Can't really make a decision on another adult without their input… not on something like this," he muttered. "And honestly, there's a lot that the Crusher Tribe has to offer, beyond just a heritage. With that said there's also a lot that we can offer them."
At that moment, Forrest and Misty rode underneath them with other kids their age racing after them on the backs of Rhyhorn and Onix, cheering and shouting.
Flint found himself leaning forward and smiling while Lola sighed. "Can't they just get hitched already? They're sooo cute together!"
"If it's going to happen it will happen," Brock replied casually. "Don't pressure him. He's growing up well."
Flint chuckled and nodded. A Dragonite landing to the side of the camp caused Brock to click his tongue and straighten up. Lance became visible a moment later and Brock scowled.
"Something the matter?" Flint asked.
"Lance has been using the information that we gathered regarding the Shamouti Mega stones to attempt something with Brandon and a bunch of Blackthorn trainers. That he's taken the information and tried to use it like that… I think it goes against a few of the agreements we have."
"Oh that slimy Serviper!" growled Lola. "Want Mummy to go beat him up for you dear?"
That drew a snort from Brock. "I assure you, Lola, I am more than capable of thrashing him if I desire."
He drew a knee up to his chest and sighed. "I do think I need to call him out on it, however. We've been giving out a lot of other stones, so for him to begin exploiting our agreement…"
"Doesn't sit well," Flint murmured, nodding in agreement.
"Indeed. I think I will talk to Lawrence, and Jennifer."
Lola tilted her head and adopted a look of confusion.
Brock sighed. "They're my lawyer and political advisor." He rubbed at his face. "Honestly, they're going to chew me out for not getting them involved with this whole mess early," he waved a hand at the camp.
Rather than put it off, Brock rose and dusted off his pants. "Right, I'm going to do that. If you haven't already, I'd suggest pitching a tent near mine. It's…" Brock coughed. "The big one," he murmured and Flint nodded, understanding exactly what he meant.
Then Brock stiffened. "Did I just see Erika, Janine and Visquez? When did they arrive?" he muttered as he walked off.
Flint sighed and settled back, enjoying how the sun warmed the rocks around them. He had to give the Crusher tribe their due, they'd known how to pick out a good location, but that also might have been the work of generations as nomads coming to the fore.
This site had the subtle signs of repeated habitation that would have given them away.
He'd have to have words with the Rangers about their methods of scouting out the wilds if this had never come up. Perhaps they needed a geologist's insight into points of interest like this.
Although this valley did pale in comparison to the other landmarks that Brock had casually mentioned earlier.
A graveyard of Giants, a cleansing spring, and more… Flint felt his legs itch at the idea of visiting them.
But… he really shouldn't.
No. He wouldn't.
The kids needed him.
"We should go check out those landmarks!" Lola gushed. "The cleansing spring sounds suuuuuper interesting!"
Flint shot her a look. "Lola," he warned, and she raised her hands.
"When the kids are older and can take care of themselves! Or they could even come with us!" she said, switching tracks as she often did. "Think of it as a family holiday!"
Flint held his stare only to find it ineffective against Lola who slowly began to smile.
He turned away before he crumpled entirely at the look she was giving him. "Perhaps. They'll need to be older to get more out of it."
"That would actually be the opposite of what is good for them," called a wizened voice that had Flint looking over to find Jade approaching with Tilly, Billy, Suzie, and Tommy in tow.
"Dad! Gran-gran says we're old enough to have a pokemon!" Tommy declared.
Suzie, who was holding Togepei's hand grinned. "She liked Togepei, and she loves my plan to make friends with Diancie!" she added.
Fint raised an eyebrow at that while 'Gran-gran' Jade snorted.
"Want a Regirock!" cheered the youngest Tilly and Billy, cutting off any follow-up Suzie might have.
Flint blinked in surprise. "A Regirock?" he threw his head back and laughed.
Oh, the things… his laugh petered out at the forceful look of determination on both children's faces. "Oh…" he murmured.
Lola, rather than be worried beamed. "That's the spirit kids! You'll need to explore a lot, but I know heaps about that! And Brock can help out too with showing you where to look!"
"I'm not sure if that's…" Flint began only for Jade to step forward.
"It's an amazing plan children! Grow strong! Now! I saw you playing with some other children before. Perhaps you can go do that?" she suggested.
Flint got a feeling he wasn't about to like what happened next.
He was proven right when, the instant the children were out of sight, Jade lashed out with her cane only for Lola to intercept it before it could hit Flint on the head.
"You! How dare you share blood with me!" she growled, trying and failing to drag back her cane. "You deserve a thrashing! You dare abandon your family?"
"We're making amends!" claimed Lola as she blocked another strike.
"It doesn't forgive your sins!" Jade replied.
"The children don't mind!" Lola stated as she caught Jade's cane.
"Baby pokemon do not understand wounds either, but they are still bad!" snarled Jade as she twisted her cane free from Lola.
Lola remained standing, ready to intercept another blow.
"We made a mistake," admitted Flint, bowing his head. "And we're trying to make it up to them."
"Hmph! See that you do!" growled Jade. "If you had been raised properly you would have never abandoned them. You only get this one point of restraint from me!" Jade growled.
Lola tilted her head. "But we ran off twice?"
Jade's eye twitched, and her cane shot forward again, this time glowing with energy. Lola once more caught it only to grimace.
"Ow! That kind of stung you old hag!"
"Blasted temptress!" replied Jade, only to shudder and huff as though suddenly out of breath. She waved off Flint's attempt to approach her. "Your brains melted into the useless fat of your boobs!" She continued trying to stab weakly Lola only for his wife to intercept it.
Flint sighed. It said a lot that most of Lola's relationships with the family members of their family… weren't so good.
Flint stood, ready to calm things down and receive his tongue lashing only for Jade to stop. "Bah! You annoying bitch!" cussed the older woman.
"I'm not going to let you hit Flint for something he's working on!" Lola replied firmly, causing Flint to feel a surge of love. It reminded him of a time once in the mess hall when some older grunts had tripped him.
Lola had walked up to them and smashed them over the head with her plate.
The Captain hadn't been happy with the resultant fight that broke out, and they'd all had to clean the mess afterwards.
Jade huffed again. "Well, don't do things that deserve a thrashing then! Be better!" she pointed at Flint. "You will not be allowed to attempt any of the rites for this! I will block you should you try! You have my blood, but you do not have the Crusher name!"
Flint felt an odd sting at those words even as he bowed his head at her words.
Lola couldn't leave that alone. "Well, it's not like we needed a name! Our family is known far and wide, beyond even the wilds that you roam! Brock is strong and wise as a Gym Leader and researcher! Forrest has won multiple beatles and placed high in the Indigo cup! Yolanda is going to be a famous singer I have no doubt! And my other children will all be wonderful! We don't need you or your approval for anything!"
She then placed a hand on Flint's shoulder. "Flint is an expert in rocks and minerals to the point that he leads hundreds of men into investigating dig sites and ruins! He is a success without needing anything from you! And he is father to ten children! And my husband!" she shouted.
The noise echoed slightly in a lull and multiple people glanced up as the words 'my husband' resounded a few times.
Flint found himself blushing. "A-and this is my wife, a terrifyingly capable combatant, an explorer who has discovered three different regions by traveling across the sea on her lonesome, and the mother of my children and my wife," he added, with a much quieter tone.
It felt lacking after Lola's declara—
Lola hit him in a hug-kiss that saw him knocked off his feet with her straddling him. "I love you! She whispered once she broke the kiss.
Jade made a noise of disgust. "Urgh! Perverts! Save it for around a late night fire or your tents! Don't do it in the open!"
She turned away only to go still. "Urgh! While you Flint may not attempt any of the rites… your children are another matter. " Her jaw worked. "They are exceptional. Any of the Factions would be happy to have them as one of their number."
"Well of course they are! They're our children!" chimed Lola proudly.
Jade slumped as another explosion erupted behind them. "I'm not going to waste my time any further with idiots," she muttered as she stalked away.
Lola watched her go with a certain gleam in her eyes that Flint was all too familiar with. To make sure Jade didn't 'slip and fall' on her walk down the hill he drew Lola back to his side. "Thank you for standing up for me."
"You're worth those rites. That old Hag just doesn't know you," Lola whispered into his shoulder.
Flint stayed with her, his heart oddly hurting as joy and pain roiled through him. He'd met his family, but it hadn't been like he imagined.
Despite that, he felt more sure of his own family and the bonds they shared.
"Let's go see what the kids are up to," Flint suggested.
Lola nodded and they made their way down into the camp where they found Salvadore standing in front of a rockwall with chalk drawings as he explained evolutionary methods to a rather large crowd.
"Oh! Salvadore got over his public speaking problem!" Lola gushed.
Flint nodded, recalling how his report card had come back with the singular blip on it with regards to his fear of standing in front of a large crowd. He didn't seem to have any issues here.
It took him a few moments before he noted what might be different. "I think he's seeing a lot of somewhat familiar faces in the crowd," he murmured, nodding to the… uncles, aunts, and cousins that were listening intently.
"He's going to make an amazing pokemon Professor," Lola whispered only to gasp. "And where did you get all that from young lady?"
Flint turned to find Yolanda carrying a large pile of gold with a gigantic grin on her face.
"I won!" she replied smugly while Terra toddled along with her, picking up any pieces of gold that she dropped.
Flint shifted. "That's a lot of gold honey. You're not going to anger people are you? Brock, Sabrina and Lance are working rather hard to cool tensions and make things peaceful…"
Yolanda's face dropped only for a nearby man who looked an awful lot… Like well Flint, stepped out from the crowd. "Heh, she's not going to have anyone coming after her over that. Gold is nothing to us. We find it all the time. It's like rocks on the ground. Evolutionary stones on the other hand, well those get you favours!"
Yolanda stared at her gold before shrugging, her grin returning. "Welp! You heard them! I'm off to store this in my travel bag and then I'm going to go see what songs the singers know!"
Flint let her go, his gaze still locked on the other… older man?
"You look like shit," the man growled, his own eyes roaming up and down Flint.
"Says you! You ever consider shaving or, I don't know? Washing your clothes?" Flint replied only to blink. Where had that come from?
The man blinked, then grinned. "Heh, thought so, you're just like our sister… Gem was soft but she still had some spark in her." His eyes turned to where Yolanda was vanishing into a tent. "Your daughter reminds me of her… just like Agate does." He gestured towards where a series of explosions went off.
"Are they still fighting?" Flint asked, uncertainly. Surely even Sabrina must be tired now?
"Hmmm, oh they're just trying to establish a pecking order. It happens. There might have only been three or four actual people attempting to challenge for the rite of coupling, but most are now doing it lest they be seen as cowards." he sniffed and spat. "It's typical girl shit. Like volcanoes," he muttered.
Flint tilted his head. Hadn't Brock mentioned something about their volcano once or twice.
"I'm Flint," Flint said, offering the man a hand.
"Slate," replied the other as he reached out and grabbed Flint by the forearm. He locked eyes with Flint. "Want to grab a drink?"
Flint lowered his gaze. "I… don't drink anymore… can't afford to drop the ball with my family… not again."
Slate continued to hold his arm. "Huh… fair enough," he replied. "You fish? I know a spot."
Lola giggled. "Oh, look at you two brothers getting along! Go have fun with your little brother Flint!"
Slate whipped around. "Fuck off! I'm the elder!" he growled.
Flint squeezed Slate's arm. "Don't cuss at my wife," he said calmly, drawing Slate back to him.
Slate nodded tightly. "Right… sorry, little brother." He drew his hand back and shook it once, a glint of respect now in his eyes. He tapped a pokeball and a large Arcanine revealed itself. "You got a ride?"
Flint released his own Onix. "Lead on!" he called, feeling oddly hopeful about this interaction. Slate seemed like he had his own scars both physical and mental, but knowing he had a brother who wanted to spend time with him made this trip all the more worth it.
When Slate led them to a grotto with a small pond Flint just knew they weren't going to find anything good.
"This pond even got Magikarp in it?" he asked his… brother.
"Some feebas?" Slate grunted. "Don't know any recipes for them, but… that ain't the point of fishing."
He marched around, grabbing a stick which he wound with some rope.
Flint felt a little guilty as he reached into his pouch and drew out a super rod.
Slate gaped. "The hell is that?"
"Fishing rod?" Flint replied, causing Slate to grumble. Flint licked his lips. "Want to trade?"
Slate eyed him, but Flint knew he was going to accept. The twitch of his fingers was too honest.
They traded rods and then, slowly but surely, as they failed to catch anything, traded stories of their lives.
Flint rather enjoyed it.
_____________________
A.N. Thanks go to my Patreons for your continued support!
It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!