"Hero Black, please sign my teddy!" cheered a little boy.
I resisted the urge to sigh.
Damn it Murphy! I set you up and everything, I thought as I made a show of signing the boy's teddy bear with a deft flourish.
"You seem down Hero Black!" boomed Oak from behind his mask as Hero Gold.
I made a show of shaking my head. "Not down, just vigilant."
"Ah! I see, you are still haunted by your dark and troubled past! Worry not! Justice will prevail!" He declared, causing some of the kids who'd come out to watch us walking around to gasp.
"Oh my gosh! He has a troubled past! He's so edgy! I love that!" shouted one boy.
I shot Oak a look that didn't transfer very well with our masks on. "Really? We're giving each other backstories now? And dark and troubled past?"
"Stay in character, Brock and run with it! The kids love it!" he whispered back before straightening up. "Yes! Worry not! Your family's defeat at the hands of the forces of evil will be avenged!"
Beneath my mask, my brow twitched. Laying it on a bit thick there, Oak, I thought to myself.
Right, two can play this game.
"What of you? Will you ever make it back to your dimension?" I asked loudly.
Oak twitched. "Hahahahahahaha!" he laughed, loudly and longly to give himself more time to adjust to the spanner I'd thrown his way. "Indeed! With my pokemon companions and the heart of all lost, it will take some time, but I have not lost faith!"
Shit, he was running with it, I wasn't going to test how far he was willing to go so I stopped feeding him fuel. Worse, once the Alolan regions were discovered people might have some pointed questions of me and 'Hero Gold'.
We continued to amble around Viridian only for a small streak of brown and white to appear before us. "FFFFFFFFuuuuuuuuuuuurrrreeeet!" challenged Samurai Furret as he brandished his tiny blade at us.
Oh dear, I might end up with a scratch, that would be horrible, I flatly thought to myself.
Oak and I shared a look.
Then Oak's mask tilted in a way I didn't like. He was giving me a devilish grin, I could tell despite the mask, he was too emotive to ignore the gleeful twitching of his shoulders.
"Hero Black! Analysis! What should we do?" he declared, his arms waving around like he was suddenly Will Shatner trying to act.
"Tis an Ally of Good!" I replied, feeling like I had little choice but to step into the role Oak had given me as our group's 'brain', with him as the leader. I didn't want to confuse or not make this interesting for the children watching on after all.
Part of me wondered if that was how he got Agatha and the others to do what he'd wanted them to do during the war. Had he just trapped them in a situation of social expectations?
I knelt and offered Samurai Furret my fist. "Well met!" I intoned seriously.
Furret paused, his blade still glinting in the sun as his little nose twitched.
A gleam entered his eyes, and he perked up as he sheathed his blade at his side. Instead of fist-bumping me, he headbutted my fist gentle with his helmet. Then he threw himself up my arm and onto my shoulder.
"Fuuuurrret!" he shouted.
"Oh my gosh! It's a team up!" shrieked one child in delight.
An adult began taking photos, muttering something about a 'cross over event' and this making for great content.
I felt the urge to facepalm even as Oak posed heroically. "Haha! A new companion joins us to defeat Evil! Truly tonight is turning ever in our favour!" he announced as the cape that only he had as part of his Hero persona flapped dramatically in the wind.
"Fuuuuuurrett!" agreed Furret as he struck a pose on my shoulder equal to Oak.
Okay, this was getting way too cringe for my taste. "Furret, please tell me you know of some criminals we can bust," I muttered out the side of my mouth.
Furret tilted his head cutely only to perk up and nod.
"You do?" I asked, stunned.
He nodded again, and I exhaled. "Yeeeeees," I sighed, only to blink. "Wait, where is Kaede?" I asked.
Furret waved a hand in vaguely in a direction off to the side where the Gym was.
"She lets you run around Viridian?" I asked in surprise.
"Furret!" he replied with a nod.
"Huh, neat," I muttered. "Alright, well lead on to the bad guys! Time to deliver some justice!" I declared.
"Eeee! He said his catch phrase!" squealed another child.
I felt my brow twitching. Since when did I have a catch phrase?
I decided it was best to ignore that. I hadn't really been paying attention to how the League was using the Hero Black imagery to sell action figures and costumes. It kind of made sense that there would have been some catch phrases attached to the action figures.
Weird that I'd apparently said it just now.
Again I didn't think much of it as I began to dash in the direction that Furret had pointed out with Oak at my side. When Furrett had us leap over a fence to escape the small horde of fans that were pursuing us, Oak's cape got caught on the fence.
"Awk! Not like this!" he grunted as he hung from his cape.
I doubled back and unlatched his cape, allowing him to fall to the ground. "Oh… thank you Brock, I should have listened when they said to never wear capes," he murmured.
I shook my head and dragged him to his feet. On the other side of the fence the sound of annoyed children mounted only for someone to gasp. "Hero Gold's cape is caught on the fence!"
"It's mine!"
"I saw it first!"
"I'm just going to hold onto it for him!"
I gave the cape a look, then grabbed Oak and forced him to keep running when he braced his knees..
"That was a nice cape," he whined petulantly.
"It almost got you killed. Let the kids have it to play around with," I growled back.
"Hmmm, I suppose you're right," he admitted only to glance to Furrett. "So! What sort of criminals have you discovered?"
Furret made some gestures and grunted a few times before shaking his head.
I looked to Oak, hopeful that he had half an idea. He looked back at me.
"Aren't you the pokemon expert?" I asked.
"Aren't you the one who watches Samurai Furrett episodes? You should have a better idea of his mannerisms!" he retorted.
"That's acting, that doesn't count!" I shot back.
"Fur Fur fur ret!" added Furrett as he nodded his head seriously.
"See, he agrees with me!" I said only for Oak to stab his finger at me.
"That right there! See!" The smirk was practically audible with how much he was announcing it. "Now! Translate! What sort of criminals?" he asked as he fell into his Hero Gold persona.
I turned my head enough to keep an eye on the road ahead while also watching as Furret waved his hands about.
"Some… honourless currs?" I began carefully, which earned a nod as he continued to mime out certain actions.
It took a while but eventually I had enough of an idea. "Rookie Crushers are teaming up with the Bookmakers to commit white collar crime.
"So what, they're cooking their numbers and then cleaning up whatever earns them more money? They only fight Rookies though," I pointed out.
Furret shook his head and pointed upwards. When I tilted my head he gestured upwards multiple times.
"They're aiming higher now? Battle Clubs? Ace Tournaments?" I suggested, which earned me a snap of Furret's claws as his head nodded.
"Huh, that… could be a problem. They're setting up a gambling scheme," I muttered. "How established is it? It can't be that far along if Kaede hasn't dealt with it herself," I pointed out.
Furrett slumped and shook his head only to wave his hands.
When I was too slow Hero Gold nudged me. "Translation?" he demanded, earning a light slap away from me that had him hissing in mock pain and shaking his hand out.
"She can't act on it?" I suggested.
Furret nodded and I began to slow. "Is this something that we can act on?"
That caused all of us to stop and tilt our heads. Gold and I then began browsing our transceivers.
"Hmmmm, deliberately diving in a sanctioned match is punishable by… it must however be proven to have deliberately occurred, and accounts such as pokemon status need to be considered…" Oak read allowed.
"Matches that are gambled on should never be fixed in advance and there are restrictions on individuals, companies acting in the interest of the first…" I read slowly, my head starting to ache.
Furrett sat to the side, pretending to sharpen his blade.
Eventually, Oak and I finished up and we shared a look. "Soooo, from what I read we need to find links between the known parties and see if they're deliberately taking dives. If they are setting themselves up with injuries to mitigate scrutiny then we'd need to establish a long term pattern," I suggested.
"Hmmm, that would take too long. Let's just smash our way into their hideout and raid their computers!" he tapped his pokebelt and a Porygon2 revealed itself.
"Hey, you have the update for Porygon?" I asked.
"It's called an Upgrade package, and yes, I do keep abreast of our digital pokemon project," he stated with his chest puffing up. "Did you know that none of the other Regions have even started working on such projects? From my talk with Professor Rowan he was quite surprised that such a thing was even possible!"
"Huh," I replied, interested at this line of thought. "What did they think about the digitisation program that people are trying to implement as standard procedures for storing pokemon?" I asked.
Oak turned away and kicked a small rock. "He… might have been a touch passionate in denouncing that development," he muttered quietly.
"Ah, is that…" I was about to ask if that was a sticking point for the other Leagues that might have the diplomats chasing their tails but before I could an explosion went off ahead of us.
I stiffened. "Say, Furrett, how far away was that criminal enterprise you were leading us to?"
"Fur," he replied, nodding towards the explosion.
"And how far away would that explosion be to your pokemon enhanced senses?" I asked redundantly.
"Fur," he repeated.
Oak and I didn't bother sharing a look, we took off running with Furrett sprinting ahead of us with a glow of white energy.
Oddly enough Oak began to exude normal type energy to my senses as well even as I projected myself forward with rock type.
Huh, nice to have confirmation of that.
When we caught sight of the criminal enterprise, I was a bit taken aback that it wasn't a shady warehouse, or a towering office building.
Instead it was some person's house with the garage door slightly bent in. smoke wafted out from the dent and we were just approaching when a loud, all too familiar voice boomed out.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
A moment later a wall of the home exploded outwards and debris rained out on the street.
"Black cordon off the street from civilians!" Gold commanded as his hand fell to his pokebelt.
"Like hell!" I growled back, causing him to twitch. "I know precisely who that is and I'm going to kick his ass!" I snarled, as rather than doing as I was told I stalked forward. My hands curled into fists.
This asshole was supposed to be in prison!" I thought to myself as I stalked through the smoke to emerge in what had been a loungeroom. It appeared to have been converted into a low budget office with desks and papers strewn about the room with scorch marks.
A few rather greasy looking men with lank hair, poor hygiene standards, and worse fashion sense huddled to the side in fright as one of their number was held aloft by a giant of a man in a black spandex suit.
"—quit your blubbering and tell me where the information is!"
"I told you! It's in the computer man!" cried the Sealo of a man as tears trickled down his face.
"Put him down! Now!" I barked.
The giant man stiffened only to release his grip on the other man, causing him to crash to the ground and let out a huff of pain.
The giant turned and I felt my brow twitch in annoyance as I found myself staring not at Surge's face, but instead my own Hero Black mask.
"Heh, well ain't this a funny situation," he chuckled.
"What do you—" I was about to demand what the hell he thought he was up to, only for a battlecry to emerge from the side door and another person to leap into the fray.
Her foot connected with Surge's groin and lifted him a solid foot into the air. "You owe me child support!" she shouted.
Surge drifted back to earth and despite my annoyance with him I felt a momentary twinge of shared pain as he crumbled to the ground clutching his nuts.
"I'm down! Avenge me Raichu!" he cried.
Racihu chose that moment to wander out, but not from behind him, but rather the girl, who, now that my mind was catching up, I noticed was wearing yet another Hero Black outfit.
Part of me was annoyed that she was pulling it off pretty well before I crushed that line of thought, just like Raichu took one look at Surge and stepped up to give his own kick to his downed trainer.
"Argh! Betrayed!" Surge moaned.
"Ain't betrayal if he don't owe you shit!" remarked Visquez.
I clapped my hands together before any more father-daughter antics could ensue. "Stop!" I commanded, causing a wave of air to rush outwards and the dust and smoke to be blown clear.
Visquez, and it could only be her whirled around.
"Eh?" she gasped, pointing at me and then her downed father. "Who do you two think you are?" she shouted.
My brow twitched. This girl! She knew she was sprung, and she still chose refuge in audacity?
Part of me respected her for that, though, so I raised both my hands and pointed back at her, and then at Surge. "I'm Hero Black! Who are you?"
Surge, rather than stand and fulfill the meme, continued to stay curled around his groin, whimpering and ruining the moment.
Pathetic.
Oak stepped into the room at that moment and paused. "Oh dear, it seems we have a cross over event on our hands. Are you Hero Blacks from different dimensions like me?"
"That's a thing?" gasped Visquez with delight, only to cough and nod her head. "Yes, indeed, that is me."
I considered facepalming only to shake my head and laugh. It might have been a little deranged as Oak and samurai Furret both took steps away from me.
Rather than acknowledge the madness that was Surge and Visquez both cosplaying as my heroic alter ego I turned. I stabbed a finger towards the fearful neckbeards and annoyances that plagued rookies and my gym. "You! We know about your gambling ring!"
"You do? We thought we covered all the angles!" whined one man.
The group all twitched, and then as a collective groaned. "Fucking hell man!" "Idiot! Don't confess to that!"
I snorted and they fell silent as thor gazes snapped back to me.
Oak coughed. "Uhmmm, Hero Black… your inner darkness is showing through."
I clicked my tongue as I drew back in the tendrils of dark aura that had permeated out from me.
Whoops, I thought to myself before coughing. "Right, well they confessed, so… you all have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in—" I read them their rights before waving a hand at the room. "Any computers or documents within this crime scene are now evidence."
"B-but you entered illegally!" whined one of them.
"I didn't" I denied instantly. "There was a suspicious individual on the premises," I said.
The group's head snapped towards Surge who was just rising to his feet. "A bomb threat was called in and I was right. Something exploded."
"That was you!" shouted the group of criminals.
Surge sniffed, unrepentantly. "Prove it!" he taunted.
"That's enough out of all of you!" I growled.
A strobing blue and red series of lights appeared on the walls around us and I heard the sound of pounding feet. Rather than tensing up, I relaxed, knowing I was well within my rights to be here.
"... Hero Black," I said, glancing to Visquez.
"Yes?" "yeah?" replied the father daughter pair.
I waved a hand at Surge. "Not you, her!" I snapped. "Do you have your Hero Identification with you?" I asked.
She stiffened. "Ooooh? I might have left that on my kitchen… in my home dimension?" she offered.
Everyone stared at her dubiously, and I let her sweat the moment out.
She was going to be fine as a Gym Leader. At most she'd get a slap on the wrist for being out of her jurisdiction. I wasn't sure if there was any issues with her… impersonating a G-man with her Hero Black cosplay.
"Everyone freeze!" roared a pair of voices as two women swept into the rooms with pokeballs raised in warning.
The Local Officer Jenny professionally swept the room as her Arcanine appeared behind her, covering her six while across from her, the local Gym Leader rose and glowered at everyone.
Her gaze darted back and forth between the three Hero Blacks before her and her brow crinkled in confusion.
"Gym Leader Kaede," I stated with a polite nod, to head off any issues.
"Furret!" barked Kaede's starter causing her to slump.
"Furret! We spoke about this! No vigilantism!" She chastised, "They hadn't yet done anything illegal that we could prove yet!"
Furret gave a shifty look to the side and muttered something that had Kaede scoffing. The gang of Gamblers perked up, like they could see the light at the end of the tunnel after being harangued by a flock of zubat.
"Actually probable cause has been established by… the Hero Team," I state, closing their light of hope and causing them to slump.
Kaede stared at me. "Riiiiiight, there's obviously something going on here—" her eyes flicked towards the kneeling gamblers before pointedly lingering on Surge and Visquez before coming back to me, "—but I'm not going to question it. Seeing as you're here I'm assuming you've read them their rights?"
At my nod Kaede hummed and gave Officer Jenny a nod. The other woman instantly relaxed and offered a salute to us. "Excellent work Hero team!" she praised.
"What the hell kind of sloppy ass salute was that!" snapped Surge as he swept forward. "Put your arceus damned heart into it Officer!" he demanded. "Attenshun!" he barked.
Officer Jenny snapped into a stiffer, salute with her hand slashing through the air. Behind Surge Visquez snorted and gave a moving salute.
Surge turned his head and her salute straightened like she'd been pulled upright.
He sniffed derisively. "Guess that's the best we can expect from you both," he muttered before giving a salute of his own. "As you were Officer," he remarked.
Then without so much as a backwards glance he attempted to march out of the house. He did it so casually, that if I hadn't been expecting it, he might have gotten away.
As it was I was a step behind him and I had my hand on his arm— as the highest point I could grab— when I locked him down. "Hey there fellow Hero, I think we have a lot we need to discuss," I stated calmly.
"Hehe, hell of a grip you got there," he replied, eyeing my grip. He glanced around. "Alright, I'll play nice. You alright with getting in civy streets and hanging in a local bar?" he asked.
"We'd be fine with that," Oak offered before I could ask what 'civy street' was.
Visquez followed along like a lost duckling, but each time we passed a police officer she made sure to give them a salute that had them straightening up and replying in kind. With how her shoulders were twitching I could tell she was enjoying herself.
Conversely, Surge's shoulders stiffened the more she did it.
Before he could blow a gasket at her we exited the cordoned off area and were able to break away to a backstreet where we all divested ourselves of our masks.
"What's civy street?" I asked Oak.
"Civilian clothes," he replied. "It's military slang."
"Why not just say that then?" I asked.
Oak just shrugged. "It's just something they do. That and… well a lot of other things," he remarked.
When Oak's mask came off to reveal him to the others, Surge paused only to nod in recognition while Visquez gaped. "What? Hero Gold is Professor Oak? Woah! My mind is blown!" she muttered.
"Right, so you mentioned a bar?" I asked to Surge, giving him enough time to feel comfortable before starting my interrogation.
"Yup! Best bar in town!" He led us through a few streets and gestured grandly.
"The Viridian Verdant?" I asked, eying the establishment.
It had… character with its windows boarded up with security mesh, neon signs dimly illuminating the entrance and two side alleys on either side with groups of men and women sharing smokes… with what looked like a Gardevoir and a Jinx in leather jackets.
Ignoring that there was some music filtering out with a beefy woman standing at the front with a Machoke at her side acting as a bouncer.
"What a shithole," Visquez stated.
"Yeah, my kind of place!" Surge replied without a lick of shame. "Come on, happy hours about to run out!"
Surge led the way, marching right up to the bouncer who he greeted by name before being let in. The woman eyed Visquez and I only to gape at Oak who nodded amicably.
We entered without any issues as she appeared to fail to compute Oak's addition to our group.
"Grab that table over there near the pool tables! That's always the best spot for when fights break out!"
Visquez and I stared after Surge's back.
"Oh?" Oak tilted his head before nodding. "He's not wrong," he murmured, taking off his lab coat and laying it over the back of the chair facing towards the pool table.
When I made to sit, Oak coughed and nodded to the spot next to him, causing me to tilt my head. He repeated the gesture, and unsure what he was getting at, I sat in the indicated spot.
It took me a moment to notice that the seat I was in had a better view of the room around me without hindering my mobility too much. Oak, as a matter of fact had the best seat, while Visquez sat happily in the spot I'd been about to claim.
When Surge marched up with a stack of drinks in his hands he made a face at the last chair before kicking it so it turned slightly. Then he lounged in it.
"So you going to get your drinks or what?" he asked with a smirk.
Everyone stared at the pile of drinks he had before him and he barked a laugh and flicked a beer to each of us.
I tilted my head, considered it for a moment. Visquez didn't even do that, grabbing her drink and downing it in one go.
Then she belched loudly. "So pops? Got tired of being in the jailhouse? Who'd you rub and tug to get out?" she asked.
I shot her a look. That… was pretty much what I wanted to know, if not quite so crassly.
Oak tilted his head, his eyes flickering between us. If he had any reservations, he kept his mouth shut, watching us thoughtfully.
Surge flicked a bottlecap at Visquez. "I got deep down on Lance if you must know," he answered.
I shuddered at that imagery and Surge smirked at me. I took a drink of my beer only to frown at it. Surge paused and his smirk grew wider. "Something the matter Brock?" he asked.
I took another sip and smacked my lips. "This has no alcohol in it, does it?"
Visquez stiffened and eyed her own drink. "Eh?"
Surge's laugh boomed out over the room. "Ha! I knew you had your own taste of the good stuff." he leveled a finger at me. "Just don't drink around your sibling, ya hear?"
"Yeah, yeah," I muttered, taking another sip of the frankly disgusting drink. Going from Crusher Moonshine to nonalcoholic beer was a rather large switch, but it was mostly my past life's memories of trying such beers that made me pay attention to it.
It was surprisingly mature of Surge not to give us alcoholic drinks.
Oak wisely sipped his own beer without commenting.
I decided to follow up on Visquez's questions. "So Lance pulled you from prison, what for?"
"I'm running jobs for him. Good use of my skills is what it is. You don't let a guy like me sit on the bench too long, causes you issues later on, you hear me?" he asked.
Visquez hummed, as her fingers toyed with the label. "You alright pops?" she asked.
Surge smiled. "Yeah, I'm good. I've been checking in on you. Proud of you," he said nodding at her.
Visquez beamed and then laughed as Surge turned and glowered at me. "And you? What are you thinking getting my girl involved in that cluster fuck in Shamouti?"
"I think she was the right woman for the job. I had my reservations at the start but when she handled that Raikou…" I raised my disgusting drink in a slight toast to Visquez who looked even more pleased.
"It was well handled," Oak added, raising his own glass.
"Shiiiiit, well now I don't have much to gripe about I guess," Surge grumbled only to raise his own glass.
"How long is the deal you made with Lance?" I asked, slightly concerned about Lance using him as a fall guy.
Surge just laughed. "Don't you worry about me. I know when to tell my superiors to piss up a wall."
Oak snorted and choked on his beer. "Oh, now there's a phrase I haven't heard in many years," he remarked.
Surge just smirked and I shook my head. "What I don't get is why he has you masked up?"
"Ah, that's to create confusion and make me a pretty good deniable asset. Your whole Hero Black idea is pretty good but against the real bastards out there it don't put the fear of arceus into them, you hear me?"
"Reluctnatly," I replied. "Was it your idea to dress up as Hero Black specifically though? Couldn't take another colour?"
"Well I wasn't touching yellow with a twelve foot pole cause otherwise woulda Sabrina had me strung up," Surge replied. "Also, black is the coolest of the group."
At that I nodded only to find Visquez nodding along. I considered asking her the same question only to realise I was probably going to get a much shorter answer from her.
Surge hummed and gave Visquez and Oak an odd look that I couldn't quite place. Both of them tilted their heads only for Visquez to speak up. "Want to try hustling some people on the tables?" she asked.
"I think I can remember a bit of snooker, yes!" Oak replied, earning a worried look from Visquez.
"This is pool, not that sissy shit!" she muttered as she led Oak off.
As soon as they stepped away Surge leaned in. "Hey, Brock? How are you doing man?"
I stared at him. The previous look he'd given the other two clicked into place then and I huffed. "I'm doing good actually. Proposed to Sabrina, I'll have to ask her if she's alright with you coming to the wedding."
"Fuck yeah! That and a Buck's night!" he cheered, raising his glass.
"That… yeah, that is probably on the cards too," I replied with a shake of my head. I observed him for a moment. "Glad you're out of prison," I began. When he grinned I leaned over and punched him in the shoulder. "But you should have told me you were out. I was sending you messages and barely getting much back," I growled.
Surge rubbed his shoulder. "Fuuuuuuck, you have been training, nice one!" he chuckled. "Think I prefer your reaction to my girl's," he said shifting in his seat. "Gonna have to ice them later," he muttered.
"Too much information man," I said with a shake of my head.
Surge and I shared a look and then laughed together.
Despite myself I found myself relaxing. Surge got himself another drink and I got some vague allusions to what he'd been up to.
When he turned it back onto me I was surprised. "So you're alright? Heard Lola snuck back into town," he asked.
"Oh, yeah that was a whole… thing," I muttered.
"Honestly," I think that was what pushed Lance to come get me off ice as it were," said Surge thoughtfully. "He got spooked by how strong those Foreign Champions were."
"Hmmm, think I cracked his confidence when I beat him."
"The first or the second time?" Surge chuckled.
"... might have been that or the third?" I suggested. "He tried to use a mega evolution in a spar recently and I still won."
"Fuck yeah! That's my boy!" he said as he offered me a fist bump.
When I brushed my knuckles against his, someone jostled Surge from behind and made him spill his drink.
Surge rose to his full height in an instant. "Hey, you looking for a pounding?" he growled at the woman only for them to turn and their adam's apple to be revealed.
The cross dresser gave Surge a long once over and wiggled her eyebrows. "You offering?"
Surge stared at her for a moment only to scoff. "I ain't drunk enough to trip into that foxhole!" he muttered as he turned and sat back down.
I snorted at his quick retreat.
I laughed even harder when a few minutes later one of the bar staff approached and dropped a bottle of bourbon in front of Surge. "From the madam at the bar," they offered before retreating.
I glanced over Surge's shoulder and saw the cross dresser smiling in our direction.
Surge gave the bottle a long look, like someone had just presented him his greatest wish only to attach an obvious bait to it.
"It's a twenty year bourbon… that shit ain't cheap."
I raised my hands. "I don't think I want to know," I offered.
Visquez and Oak returned with a stack of cash. Visquez looked sad.
"What's up baby girl?" Surge asked.
"No one wanted to fight us!" she whined, slumping into her chair.
"Yeah, that happens sometimes," he concluded.
I shook my head in amusement while Oak poured himself a glass of the bourbon.
"Oi! I was thinking about drinking that!" Surge growled.
"And while you were thinking, I was drinking!" Oak replied proudly as he took a sip. "Oh my, that is good."
Surge gave the bottle a conflicted look only to pour himself a glass. He then turned and gave the woman at the bar a toast while mouthing 'never happening'.
She winked back and I just shook my head while smiling.
It wasn't the night I'd set out for, but I certainly found myself relaxing. I half considered talking to Lance about Surge before throwing the idea away, he was a big man, he could look after himself.
When we eventually went our separate ways Oak handed both Surge and Visquez small badges. "As Leader of the Hero Brigade, I wanted to let you know your status as Defenders of Good has been approved!" he slurred.
I stared at him. Was the bourbon that good?
He then flicked his wrist and released a dragonite. "Home Codsworth!" he declared, earning a bemused look from the Dragonite.
I watched the Dragonite scoop him up and carry him off with a niggling thought in my mind. "Should he be drinking and flying?"
Surge burped loudly. "Nah! He's pissed! Anyway! Night all! Message me the next time we need to kick ass!" he remarked before releasing a Pidgeot and clambering onto it and taking off.
Visquez and I watched him depart before sharing a look.
"Oak I know will make it home. Dragonite's are smart pokemon. I'm going after pops cause he's likely to crash into a mountain, and I also want to check his housing is up to snuff," she said before releasing her own Pidgeot to take wing.
I chuckled and released Zephyr to fly me home.
"Sorry about not getting into a fight buddy," I offered, to which he trilled that he wasn't worried.
We still enjoyed the night by releasing Sakura and engaging in some aerial acrobatics before coming home for bed.
It was a good night.
_____________
A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support!
It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter.