Some swearing in this chapter. It gets far worse next time and only goes down slightly for the last chapter of the arc. Just warning y'all in advance.
OPEN FILE 2.4: CURBSTOMP BATTLE
"When the bad guy wins, they win big."
-Genghis Khan
---...---...---
Years ago in Saffron City, on one side of a dream…
Gela joined the girl in a gym's stands, looking down upon someone else's challenge. The girl was shaking with anticipation for her own battle. Gela simply settled into her seat. She already knew how this ended.
The referee raised her flags to signal the match was about to begin. "Welcome to today's battle between leader Sabrina Fey of Saffron City and challenger Gage Carver of Vermillion, seeking his third badge. Each side may use two Pokémon with no substitutions permitted. Any questions? No? In that case, leader Sabrina may send out first."
"Mr. Mime. Go."
"Reef, let's rock this!"
A Wartortle and Mr. Mime appeared on the battlefield and stared each other down as they shifted on their feet, waiting for initial orders.
"Reef, bite attack!"
"You know what to do."
The Wartortle rushed forward, jaws open, only to hit an invisible wall between him and the opponent. He grimaced at the impact, but promptly began to froth at the mouth and shot out a tremendous blast of fluid straight through the transparent wall before striking the Mr. Mime directly in the face.
"Damage him," Sabrina droned.
"Withdraw attack, now."
The Mr. Mime's eyes began to glow as his hands moved in a convoluted pattern that sent a ripple of psychic waves throughout the arena. Reef cried out in pain even lodged inside of his shell. The mental assault seemed completely unhindered by physical barriers.
"Ugh. Use the covering fire strategy we practiced yesterday," Gage commanded. Sabrina frowned, but gave no verbal orders.
Reef leaned his neck back before shooting another Hydro Pump towards his opponent. Mr. Mime quickly bent the light around him to shield himself from harm and counter the blow. Continuing the fruitless deluge, Reef took a few uneasy steps closer to the barrier. Mr. Mime's eyes glowed slightly as a weaker wave of psychic energy radiated from the shield, harming the advancing Wartortle.
At last Reef's blast was merely inches away from the scintillating sphere of light. "Now!" Gage called. The Wartortle's blast immediately stopped and it lunged straight through the shield and bit down into the Mr. Mime's torso with as much power as it could muster, clamping down even harder as the Pokémon began to shoot out random confusion-inducing signals in a last effort to get Reef to release him. Eventually, though, the squirming grew less and less frequent and the Mr. Mime collapsed. Reef got to his feet, slightly worn but still in solid fighting condition.
The referee dropped a flag to signal the match-up's end. "Mr. Mime is unable to battle. This round goes to the challenger. Sabrina, please pick a new Pokémon."
"Slowbro, go," the gym leader said as a large Pokémon materialized in front of her. If she seemed concerned, it did not show. "Start with Psychic."
"Toxic attack, Reef. Leave this to Sparker."
The girl smiled beside Gela. She and Gage had made that device specifically to beat Sabrina's Slowbro to get their third badges. They had been planning to do a dual challenge, a match where two people underwent a special challenge to get a badge each, but Gela had wanted to earn her rematch all by herself. Now she could see if Toxic actually did the trick.
Reef fired off a shot of polluted water at Slowbro that burned against the psychic-type's skin. The injured area glowed purple, but the affected Pokémon barely seemed to notice it as he yawned and waved a paw at his opponent. The Wartortle was sent flying back into a wall. He looked pained by the attack, but he steadily got to his feet and rushed forward to clamp onto the Slowbro. The Pokémon's nervous system was far too slow to react in time and the Bite attack landed without any interference. After three seconds, the Slowbro finally noticed the opponent and smacked him away with another Psychic before closing his eyes and focusing hard to sharpen his mind. When he felt another bite attack digging into his flank he slammed Reef away with a powerful mental blast boosted by the Amnesia. When he opened his eyes again, the Wartortle was unconscious on the edge of the arena.
The referee raised her flag and looked at the Slowbro with a quizzical expression. The purple patch had expanded and was now visibly pulsing. It was certainly not an attack or symptom that normally came from the Squirtle line. "Wartortle is unable to battle. The leader is the winner of this match-up. Challenger, please send out your next Pokémon."
Gage pulled out another Pokéball and tossed it into the air a few times as he stalled, watching the purple splotch on Slowbro grow larger with every pulse. "Sparker, this should not take long. Finish this."
In a blast of static, a metallic being with three interconnected parts assembled in front of Gage. The Magneton's eyes darted around the room as it took in its surroundings and made calculations for the battle. "Thunderbolt attack. Go!"
Sabrina's eyes glinted blue for the briefest of moments before Slowbro's eyes turned completely white. The electric blast struck its target with almost perfect accuracy, causing the water-type's muscles to seize up momentarily before a white laser shot out from the impact site and went sailing straight for Sparker. When the beam hit, the magnet's body flashed pure white before returning to its normal color.
"Disable, shoot. And now she's going psychic," Gage muttered to himself as he stared across the battlefield. Sabrina could theoretically strike at any time now that she was using psychic links, but her Pokémon was slow enough that it should telegraph most of its attacks. The purple spot was now almost half of a square meter. "Alright, Screech attack!"
The Magneton's electric fields went crazy as a harsh static sound echoed across the room before it rapidly grinded its magnets together to amplify the harsh noise. Sabrina visibly recoiled and Slowbro moved to cover its ears. The Slowbro shot a weak pulse of water at Magneton that he easily dodged.
"Thundershock attack the ground!"
Sparker dipped to the gym floor and sent a weak shock through the trail of water the Water Gun had left on the ground. The voltage went straight to Slowbro who shook slightly from the weak attack before suddenly collapsing as the purple area faded back to its normal color. The referee looked on in silence for almost a full minute before raising a flag.
"Slowbro is unable to battle. This match and the Soul Badge go to the challenger, Gage Carver, of Vermillion City."
Alarms began to ring throughout the room. Gela glanced at her watch and rose to her feet. It was not a terrible loss to stop there for the night. The best part was over, anyway. Now she needed to wake up.
---...---...---
More recently in Vermillion City, on the other side of a dream…
Gela rolled over to maneuver her good arm into a position that could turn the alarm off. Once it was she stretched a little on her cot and marveled that she could actually fall asleep in the back room of a dinky equipment shed. The higher-ups had wanted her to sleep in an actual cabin so she could, well, sleep, but she had objected to get the conditions most similar to the rest of the staff possible. On mornings like this she wondered why she could not be a more reasonable person.
She got into her uniform in the damp and enclosed space, an ordeal that took far longer than she liked to admit. After finally getting her shirt and pants on, she scanned the room for her neckerchief. For a minute she panicked, not finding it in her admittedly messy space, but then she remembered leaving it in the staff lounge last night. She could pick up the neckerchief when she brushed her teeth and awkwardly ran her hand through her hair to claim she had done something with it. Half of the campers looked worse, anyway, and the staff would not expect anything nicer.
When Gela finally walked into the lounge, the TV was on as usual. Unlike most of the time, though, it was now broadcasting a news panel picking apart some press conference. "Let me guess: publicly engineered confession. 'I did it. I actively supported Titania in trying to install a Communist, Nazi, Cult-run, Anarchist state where sitcoms are required viewing for all?' Or some new study showing that half of the people who live here are enemies of the state and we need to ramp up surveillance?"
One of the junior staff members, probably a first year, turned around to face her. "Gela, your mom has some balls."
Gela exhaled slowly, irritated that some people on staff had not yet learned that bringing up her family around her was generally a no-no. "Yes, yes she does. It is a little known secret, but she is addicted to bowling. Loves it. Cannot stop. Down in the basement she has shoes, gloves, pins and, surprisingly, a whole pile of heavy projectiles lobbed down a wooden surface to knock over strangely shaped objects. You have figured it out. My mother does indeed have a prodigious supply of balls. What tipped you off?"
Ignoring the added level of harshness to today's delivery of sarcasm, the staff member who now had a very intelligent, creative, and high-ranking staff member plotting to ruin his day, continued talking. "She just announced an investigation of the Assistant Chairman of Regional Security. She's messing with the spy agencies, now. That isn't a thing that the DII has ever done. This could be a real game changer. Has she talked to you about this? I mean, it must be fantastic having your mom be able to—"
"Tell me, what is your name?"
"James White. Why are you glaring at me like that? Did I do something wrong?"
"James, what is your job on staff?"
"I'm a lifeguard. Why? You just cover program stuff, right? What do I have to do with you?"
Gela glanced around the room. It was entirely silent. Some of the younger staff members were confused, while many of the older ones were looking at James with a mixture of pity and disgust. "No. Theoretically not. But Sawyer and I go back a few years. In fact, I am quite sure he would not mind assigning a junior staff member to cleaning the showers for the entire day if I asked him. Which means, since you seem incapable of taking hints, that I would learn the proper scrubbing techniques very soon if I were you." She saluted the rest of the staff and picked up her neckerchief. "Good day to all of you. Tonight's staff meeting is going to be here at ten-thirty. Campfire is still tomorrow at nine. We are changing the program slightly, so if you have a role in it please see me at some point during the day in the program office. If I am not there I will be down at the waterfront scaring the daylights out of campers with a Gyarados. Run to the screaming to find me."
She began to walk down the hall to the bathroom. Gage got up and walked quickly to match her pace. "Hey," he said.
"Look, if you are going to tell me I should have been easier on that kid, I will save you the time. Yes, I should have been. No, I do not care. There. Problem solved."
Gage smirked. "No, he had that coming. Sawyer really should do a better job teaching his staff what dragons not to poke. I wanted to talk about something else entirely."
"Politics?"
"I can brief you on that situation later. It is interesting, but probably not something you want to deal with now. I actually wanted to talk about Conti. Did you see his match last night?"
"No. I try to watch as little news as possible now that, well, you know."
Gage nodded sympathetically. "I get it. How powerful were those moves you sold him? He one-shotted Blaine's Magmar in the first five seconds. Yes, it was a first badge battle and probably not rigged, but still." He shook his head in disbelief. "I don't think there's anything that the government can do to keep him from becoming Champion outside of outright killing him or blackmail."
"The moves have somewhere north of 400 BP. And beating the snot out of gym leaders was the entire point. If that match had been anywhere near fair, it would mean that I failed at my goal. Now, if you will excuse me I have an elaborate styling routine to perform in an area that you are restricted from entering. We can talk later."
As it turned out, "later" meant more than twelve hours later at the evening staff meeting. Gela glanced around the lounge as more and more staff members poured in. She estimated that approximately eighty percent of the water camp staff was now present with ten minutes to go until the meeting was scheduled to begin. All six of the minor directors were there. The General Director was still nowhere to be seen. Apparently her meeting with the adult staff was running late tonight.
She glanced at the other minor directors standing beside her. "So, if Lenore does not show up, which one of us runs the meeting?" Four raised their hands. "Great. Maybe we could just collectively do it?"
The problem was resolved when her boss came walking in the door to the lounge and made a beeline for the assistant directors. "Salutations. According to the excessively lengthy debacle I was just liberated from, the day went swimmingly well. Onto actually relevant business, are any of you not running for my position tomorrow evening?" Only Gage raised his hand, which earned a stunned look from Gela. "Well, congratulations to you for preemptively escaping the excessive drudgery of my post. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a meeting to conduct."
Lenore made her way to the front of the room and called the staff to attention. She began to review the day's events and complications as well as discussing the much-anticipated events of the next day. Gela already knew most of what was going to be said and tugged on Gage's shoulder before moving her arm to motion towards the door. He got the hint and the two discreetly slipped outside. Once they were out of earshot, she turned to face him.
"Really? You, of all people? Outside of maybe Victoria you probably have the biggest Type A complex on staff? What could have possibly swayed you not to run for the top job?"
Gage stared off into the distant ocean for a few seconds before answering, every passing second grinding on Gela's nerves. "I would have rather seen you win. Things are changing in a region not known for change, and whether or not you like it you're going to be in the center. I figured it would be best if you had some distraction so you didn't do anything monumentally stupid to call attention to yourself. That and you're probably the most qualified for the job."
She stared at him for almost another full minute, mouth wide open. "You know, that may have literally been the dumbest reason for any decision I have ever heard. I reserve the right to make idiotic decisions whatever my obligations are and I happen to have a full-time job ten months of the year. If anything was going to distract me it would be that. And seriously? I am the most qualified person on staff? All I even do here is write witty articles for a fake newspaper. You actually manage people."
"Look, I get that my reasoning doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I'm standing by it. I have other reasons as well. Personal ones. I think you of all people should be able to appreciate that."
She shrugged. "I guess."
The door creaked open behind them and Sawyer stepped out into the warm July evening.
"'Sup?" He nonchalantly observed a flock of Spearow perch on a nearby building before continuing. "You guys ready for tomorrow? Well, I guess not for you, brother. Not sure what's drifting through your mind right now, but whatever. That's on you. Sister, you ready to go head to head?"
Gela flinched before replying. "You bet. I am pretty much a professional player of another region's sport prepared to bash my head into yours repeatedly in a show of dominance until we both get concussions and contemplate suicide while the franchise owner vehemently denies responsibility. That is how ready I am to go head to head."
Sawyer laughed. "Good, good. Glad to see you're ready to roll." The wind picked up and the Spearow left their roost. "It's supposed to storm tonight. A titan of a storm, too. And, uh, the moon is full. Sis, I know that means you probably won't be sleeping. The three of us could hang in the lounge tonight, if that's cool with you. If we have three people it doesn't go against policy."
Gage nodded. "I could do that."
"That would be fine with me. I should probably let Drako out now. He enjoys storms. I have no idea why. Surely not because he loves the electricity flying through the air. Once I take care of that we can get our thunderstorm survival party started."
Indeed, they stayed up through the dark and stormy night, reflecting on the past and present. Thankfully, that night Gela only had to live through the latter.
---...---...---
The walls of the program office, a mercifully air-conditioned building on the outskirts of Water Camp's Vermillion facility, were lined with headlines and pictures. "BREAKING: CAMP WATER UNSUITABLY WET, STUDY SHOWS." "RUSHED PROGRAM DIRECTOR ACCIDENTALLY GIVES GO-AHEAD FOR REENACTMENT OF STALINGRAD." "DAILY WAVE VOTED MOST RELIABLE NEWS SOURCE IN WORLD."
Today, Gela was finishing work on yet another masterpiece of satiric camp news. She was scanning a shortlist of potential headlines to go with the day's leading article. Her options included "THUNDERSTORM FRANTICALLY CALCULATING HOW FAR AWAY LIGHTNING IS," to "GHOST OF TESLA CELEBRATES NEW YEARS SIX MONTHS LATE." The decision would be much easier to make if she had more than one assistant, who happened to be sick today, and if she had any sleep at all to work with. Sighing, she had Kodo pull up the rest of the day's articles, most of which she had finished the day or night before. She glanced over them all once to ensure quality and give herself more time to reflect on the lightning article. Not finding inspiration, she pulled out the night's campfire program and mentally checked that everything was good to go. Seeing that it was and still not finding any ideas, she rose from her chair.
"Kodo, I am going on a walk. Revert to watch." A flash on her wrist indicated that the command had been executed. After checking to make sure that the transition had occurred properly, she set off to the beach to meet up with the head lifeguard.
It was a full two kilometers to the camp's waterfront area. Normally, this would be nothing for her. But sleep-deprived she could feel her strength slipping with every step. Only seeing the cool waves lapping against the land finally revived her spirits enough to carry her all the way. She saw Sawyer wading ankle-deep in the water and staring out to sea. Even a layer of sand forming between her feet and sandals could not stop Gela from smiling as she approached her friend.
"How are you feeling today? Ready to face the world with the alertness required by your post and today's circumstances?"
"Sis, I have no idea how you deal with this as often as you do. I can hardly stand now."
"You get used to it after a while. Or you find ways to fall asleep. Or you get a Pokémon who can do it for you when you are too lazy to make some lavender tea or meditate or mess around with pressure points. All are valid solutions."
Sawyer yawned and continued to stare out into the water. "I guess."
"What exactly are you looking for? I already withdrew Drako for the day, so you should not be getting any Gyarados surprises. At least, none from a trained Gyarados."
"I've been teaching a staff member to swim for the last few weeks. He's good enough that he can do it now, but he still wants me to watch him."
"I see. That is, uh, awfully nice of you."
"It is possible to be friends with the people you lead. I've found it to work well."
"But that takes all the fun out of being a cool loner with a dark sense of humor."
After a few more waves lapped up, Sawyer stretched and yawned. "I don't really want to abandon him, but I need to catch some Zs. Any chance you can watch him?"
"Sawyer, I am not sure anyone has unironically said 'catch some Zs' since 1972. I get that you have the entire surfer façade thing going, but really?"
"Is counting sheep still a good idiom?"
"It is better. And I happen to be just as exhausted as you, if not more so, and while I can swim just fine I would personally be terrified if my lifeguard had a single working arm. That might not be the best option."
"Fine. But I really don't think I would be very helpful right now if he did slip up," Sawyer replied.
Gela dug her feet into the wet sand and prepared to sit down in the water. "Then we can be not very effective, together." All thoughts of titling storm-related articles slipped from her mind.
---...---...---
Two hours would pass before she stumbled back into her office to print the day's run (the Tesla article won on a coin flip) and take as long of a nap as she could justify.
---...---...---
Years ago in Saffron City, on one side of a dream…
Gela found herself in the same stands as her last dream, only seconds after it had ended. The referee was scanning over her papers. She called out the name of the next challenger. The girl's name.
She stood and looked around in confusion as she made her way to the arena floor. Normally, another level of challenge would be taken next to give Sabrina's third badge team time to heal. For some reason this was not the case now. She nervously took her place in the challenger's spot and glanced into the stands to look at her friend, who simply shrugged. He had no more idea what was going on.
"Today's challenger is going for her third badge. This will be a one-on-one battle with no substitutions allowed. The challenger will send out her Pokémon first, followed by the leader. Seeing the experience of both sides and the previous third badge challenge, no questions will be taken now. Challenger, release your first Pokémon."
The girl was quaking in her shoes, wondering what to do. Her plan had been instantly dashed and she had no idea what Sabrina could use to counter her choice. That was not supposed to happen. The leader always sent out first. "Uh, um, go." She weakly tossed one of the two Pokéballs she had intended to use in the fight, not particularly caring which one of her Pokémon came out.
"Fair! Clefairy!" She looked down at Estrea as she scanned the room for an opponent. There was supposed to be a Mr. Mime or Slowbro before her. Instead, there was only a wholly disinterested gym leader.
"Psy. Finish this match."
Almost instantly, an Alakazam burst from its Pokéball and brandished two massive spoons. It scanned the field for mental activity and quickly located the Clefairy. Seeing Estrea, it sent out a pulse of powerful psychic energy that picked up the fairy and slammed her hard against the back wall. As she fell back down, the Alakazam picked her up again and slammed her higher up. Once she recoiled it continued to whack her into the wall three times before suddenly launching her through the air to the wall behind Sabrina. Before the girl could even order, her Pokémon collapsed to the ground in a heap.
"Clefairy is unable to battle. The challenger is out of usable Pokémon. This marks a win for the gym leader and the challenger's second loss of her second challenge. One more loss will invalidate her ability to challenge gyms for a full year. Our next challenger has seven badges and hails from…"
The girl collapsed onto the ground, fighting back tears. Sabrina cast her a look of disgust before quickly focusing on the new opponent walking down the staircase. Gela stood to leave. Such a short dream. Such a dream-crushing moment.
---...---...---
More recently in Vermillion City, on the other side of a dream…
A man with a short white beard walked to the front of the dining hall and flashed a salute, sending the room into silence. "Good evening, staff. My name is Mr. Winter. I am the regional director of the Camping organization's facilities, including the various outposts of Water Camp. Tonight you will be electing the next year's General Director. This vote holds special significance in our organization, as this is the only camp that holds elections for the role. The directors of Moon and Viridian Camps are appointed by the national council and adult leadership of the camps. Running tonight are four young men and women who will be between seventeen and nineteen years old next year. They are Sawyer Ericson, Price Farthing, Todd Nowack, and Gela Esprit. You are likely familiar with all of them, as they are some of the most senior leaders in the course. We are handing ballots out now to all Vermillion campus staff present. The other staff members who could not be here tonight have voted remotely. If there is no majority winner at the end of the first round, one candidate will be eliminated until one takes a simple majority. When you are done voting, pass your ballot to the center aisle.
Winter stepped back and watched as pens met paper across the room. Almost everyone, except for a few disappointed equipment staff who could not vote for their boss, had written a name in a matter of seconds. All votes were in within two minutes. Lenore, Winter, and a handful of adult staff members went to the back of the room to help count. Gela glanced the room. A few whispered conversations had broken out among people who were pretty sure that the person next to them had voted for the same person. A few glanced up at the candidates, but they were seated so close together it was hard to tell who they were looking at.
After only three minutes of vote counting, a curiously small amount of time for a room this large, Winter came back to the lectern. Gela's lips curled into a fraction of a smile in anticipation. She expected to make it into the next round. She was not quite so sure who would be eliminated.
"Attention, please. After a fierce competition, I am pleased to announce that for the first time since 1981 an election has been decided on the first round. Please welcome your new program director, Gela Esprit!"
The next hour or so was a blur of congratulations, hand-shaking and social interaction. If she was not experiencing one of the biggest positive rushes of her life, Gela would have been unnerved by the attention or irritated by the staff members without the brain cells to extend their left hands. Finally, exhaustion from the previous night settled in and the future general director slipped from the dining hall to head back to her shed. The moon was waxing and half-empty, casting enough light that no supplements were needed for her to see the path.
A third of the way to her destination, she heard footsteps running after her. She absentmindedly reached to Stelo's Pokéball before turning to see Victoria running after her. "Heh. Didn't think you had the nerve to cheat that blatantly. Congratulations on finally gaining some confidence."
"Victoria, I have genuinely no idea what you are talking about and do not honestly care."
"Really, now? No casual notes from your mother stressing how much she wanted her daughter to win? Or even just telling Winter that you had to go to a family appointment after elections. Nothing like that?"
"We both know that I would never plan something like that with my mom for multiple reasons."
"Strange. You sure?"
"Positive."
"Absolutely?
"Do I look like a yellow-clad cyclist here? I promise I did not use performance enhancing last names. Or blood doping. Actually, maybe the latter. Articuno knows what the doctors did to my arm."
Victoria stopped walking and Gela went on, glad for the annoyance's end. "Well, you know that no election in a decade has ended in a first round winner. And no program director has won in about as long. You aren't exactly great at making friends. Even if you didn't authorize or order it, you don't seriously believe you won cleanly, right? That vote was tallied in half the time as last year's with a larger staff. Even if all of Gage's people voted for you and a third of Sawyer's, there is no way you could have pulled a first round win. None. Not cleanly."
Gela stopped in her tracks and turned around to face her. "Then I will have to tell Winter to hold a fair vote."
"I doubt there's ever been a fair vote. You know the adults are way too controlling to ever let someone they didn't like get in power. You're in now. Best enjoy your ill-gotten gains. See you!"
She thought about calling back as the younger staff member walked away. That was not her. She had won legitimately for once in her life and was now going to occupy her rightful throne.
But she did not call back. On some level, she knew that Victoria might be right. The events of the day had been far too improbable to have occurred without interference. That should have been obvious. It was obvious. Everyone would figure it out. She was a fraud. An extension of her mother. She had earned her position through no strength of her own.
The full weight of a week of near sleepless nights crashed down on her as she stumbled to her shed, shut and locked the door, and changed into her clothes for the night. Her mind was numb. She had won. She could not have lost. It had nothing to do with her at all. Why should she care? What did it really mean?
She rested on her back and stared up at a metal ceiling. Darkness moved in on the edges of her vision but she fought it off. She knew the dreams that would come. She could see them in the brief moments she blinked or nodded off before jerking awake after a mere moment asleep. Poolside conversations with her father. Trite maxims on independence and self-worth. Reminders to use her mind and ideas to get ahead. The foundation of her worldview, for better or worse. Betrayed. She had betrayed it. She had betrayed him.
Exhaustion, fear, and guilt swam before her eyes throughout the night until her alarm blared beside her, signaling that a whole new ordeal was about to begin.
---...---...---
Slightly more recently, in the same nightmare…
The darkness still swam at the edge of her vision from two consecutive sleepless nights as she walked to the water surface. Sawyer was standing shin-deep in the water, looking out at the same stupid kid as yesterday. She plopped down in the water next to him, not particularly caring nor noticing that she was not wearing a swimsuit. It was black anyway.
The head lifeguard glanced over at her. "You look awful."
"Great way to start a conversation with the ladies. Explains the massive amount of female attention you get."
He ignored the remark. "Did you sleep last night?"
"Does it look like I slept last night?"
A powerful wave brushed by. Neither flinched. "Sis, if you don't want to talk about it, that's cool with me, but I'm always up for lending an ear."
"Victoria thinks the election was rigged."
"So does Gage. So do I, for what it's worth. No sweat, though. Always goes to the biggest butt-kisser on staff. First time I can remember that the adults wanted to give it to kiss butt. You won. What's not cool about that?"
"I don't know, maybe that it's painfully obvious I didn't deserve it. The next year will be staff saying, 'That's Gela, she's the daughter of the DII Chairman,' rather than "That's Gela, the girl who deserved the job.' That's what isn't cool about this debacle. I could've been literally anyone in the right age range with the desire to win, doesn't matter if I was a total a
sshole or a serial killer—yes, I know that I'm pretty much already an a
sshole, but come on—I would get the job because of my last name. So if I'm getting ahead because of that, there's nothing to show the rest of staff that I'm not just some dumb blonde rich girl who's mommy shoved them through. That's the problem."
"I don't think anyone who's ever met you for more than a sec has thought that. Just chill out. Take a breath. Feel the waves. It'll be fine."
"Chilling, breathing, and wave feeling completed. Still feeling like s
hit. Any new prescriptions, doc?"
"Nope. If you're going to beat yourself to pieces over a molehill, do it. I'll be here to listen."
More waves lapsed. Gela was too tired to get into a serious argument with Sawyer. She hated doing it, too. "Is there anything I could do," she asked.
"Do about what?"
"Do to prove that I'm the best? That I earned the job? That type of thing. I can't win a vote to show that, so I might as well win it in some fair way. It'll get me to stop moping about it."
Sawyer frowned as he watched a distinct shape pop up on the horizon. "Yours?"
"Huh?"
"That Gyarados out there. Is it yours?"
"Probably. I'm heading out to Seafoam today. Triassic's not eating again. Glad to see someone's got bigger psychological issues than I do."
"Any chance I could come? I've got a few break days to play with and I want to see my bro."
"Sure. Drako's big enough."
The two watched the sea monster swim in. Half of the participants were now cowering on the beach or as far away in the water as possible. The lifeguard glanced at Gela. She flashed him a thumbs up and he went back to looking indifferent.
"You know, if you really wanted to go out and prove that you're the very best—"
"Like no one ever was."
"I didn't know you watched cartoons."
"I never liked doing it. But there isn't a lot an eight year-old can watch at three in the morning."
"Makes sense. What I was going to say is that none of the other assistant directors have eight badges. Gage and I got to seven before losing. You could always go out and do that. Wouldn't even have to fight the League. Just get the badges. And, yes, I know that's hardly a walk in the park. Well, Conti's doing it with your tech. That you built. With your own skills. And I can't believe he's half as smart as you are. Might be worth a try." He braced himself as Drako came painfully close. He had never liked the species. "Or, you could do something else. I don't know. Just throwing ideas out there."
Gela idly ran her hand through the water as her Gyarados leered at some nearby participants who dared to get too close. "Can you get the first few days off after camp ends? I have the show Saturday. I have some business in Celadon after that. Then I might need to drop by a certain ninja's domain and show him the firepower of nerd-fu."
Sawyer nervously approached the Gyarados, pawing his back to let him know he was getting on. "As you wish, miss director."
---...---...---
Years ago in the Seafoam Islands, on one side of a dream…
Gela hated this dream, but compared to her second match against Sabrina and the poolside micro-dreams of the night before, it was tolerable. She was standing on an ice floe in one of the larger tanks in the Seafoam Marine Park. The girl was nowhere to be seen yet. She was still in the passageways behind the area, heading off to the Golduck cage to work on a technical machine. There was strangely little security back there, if she remembered correctly. That should have tipped her off that something was not right.
Only a solitary Pokémon occupied the tank she was in. It was a young Lapras, barely a few months old. He plodded along uncertainly in the water, craning his neck to the sky and mournfully calling every two minutes to figure out where the rest of his small pod had gone to. It was tragic, really. They would not be coming.
A side door opened and three men in long coats marked with the DII logo entered. Gela saw holsters tucked into their belts, fully loaded pistols inside. One brandished a net, while another carried a small can of Pokémon food. "Here, girl. Come on. Just a little closer. There now, be a good girl. Yes, come to—now!"
His accomplice tossed his net onto the small Pokémon, ensnaring it almost immediately. The water-type thrashed against it, but only succeeded in lacerating his neck against the mesh net. They began dragging the now shrieking Pokémon closer to them, almost getting it onto land before a door creaked open behind Gela. She turned to watch the girl enter. The girl's arm was awkwardly slung in her uniform. She was not used to either her limb's current state or the new clothing and it showed.
The girl saw the three men on the other side of the tank and the baby Lapras they had ensnared, but little else in the lighting. "Who, exactly, are you and how did you get in here?"
The tallest man straightened and pulled a badge out of his pocket. "Agents with the Department of Internal Investigation. We are on an official mission at the moment and require this Lapras. Everything has been sorted out with the park ownership, ma'am. You may go about your business."
"If you have the park's approval, why are you doing this at night and without a Pokéball? And what mission could you possibly need a baby Pokémon for? It only knows Water Gun."
"Miss, trust us. Everything is fine with this mission. Just leave before something happens."
The girl reached down to her belt for Drako's Pokéball. It had been a bad month for her opinion of the DII and she happened to like that Lapras. Then she saw a glint of metal on the agent's belt and quickly moved her hand away from her Pokéball. She liked the Lapras, but she was not about to get shot for it. However much she hated to do it, diplomacy was needed.
"What for? I have level eight clearance. That should cover it."
The agent laughed. "Look, good one. But we don't just give—"
"There are one thousand three-hundred and eighty seven operative agents in the DII, but a ton more unofficial subcontractors—you call them subcontractors, anyway—that do most of the dirty work. The main building has seven floors and five-hundred and six offices, representing the executive order that founded the agency. Almost all of your computers run Linux, easily the greatest OS widely available. The current Seafoam Chief is Alexander Wycliffe, who has held the post for eight years. The current RIA regional director is Thomas Pyrope—I could go on, if I needed to. Give more specific information. Operation Harper's Shadow comes to mind."
The three looked between each other and then back at the girl. "How 'bout that? I guess you do have some authority, after all. It's just a standard benefactor reward op. Some rich kid wanted a Lapras. Those things don't exactly grow on trees, ya know. Finally tracked it down to this place and the zoo in Fuchsia. The zoo only had one and wasn't keen on giving him up. This place had more and a baby, which we figured would probably be easier for them to store in their bathtub or something. Your managers approved, but didn't want to deal with the stain of legitimately transferring it to us. Likes to pretend he's a goddam priest in public. That's why we're here, ok? Surely someone with your kind of clearance gets it."
The Lapras howled in pain once more, a dramatic plea with power amplified by his beautiful voice. "I know that all too well. But you cannot just take a Lapras to a random kid. They are highly intelligent and sensitive creatures that grow to be quite big. Any sort of abuse can mess one up for life and within two years that one will be bigger than me. Probably capable of doing some serious damage if it got angry. And he is really, really needy. Lapras are social Pokémon that require need constant interaction or other stimulation to be happy. It could easily die in slightly improper conditions."
"Yes, but we're kind of dealing with the child of a really powerful individual. I don't know who, before you ask. It wasn't important to the mission. Just that they really should not be messed with. Not a whole lot of room to negotiate if someone like that tells the DII their kid wants a Lapras."
The girl bit her lip before relaxing. She would need to swallow her pride and might hate herself for what she did, but it was the only way to help the increasingly desperate water-type. "If you told them that Esprit told you to change plans, they would probably take it if you presented a reasonable alternative. And you would not technically be lying."
The agent eyed her for a moment before blinking in sudden realization. "Well, I'll be… should have noticed the eyes. Just like hers. And the naïve attitude that things work differently than they do. Don't recall her sayin' her daughter was a crip, though. But she didn't really talk about ya much at all. You wouldn't a been really old then. Well, then, Miss Esprit, what should we do?"
"There is a breeding group of Seel and Dewgong out by my mother's old retreat. You probably know where that is. They are much more playful Pokémon and they can deal with being left alone for a while. They also do better in captivity and are more trusting of humans. The line also eats less and do not grow to ridiculous sizes. Sure, it is not ideal and hunting them there is technically illegal, but the population is large enough there and I doubt you care much about the law. You can get him season tickets to this place or Zoo Fuchsia. I hear Silph's new aquarium is also trying to get their hands on one or two if he lives in that area. That is how I would do it." She shrugged before wincing in pain. It would be another few months before she mastered the art of shrugging one shoulder.
Miraculously, her appeal seemed to work. The three agents quietly discussed the matter amongst themselves for a moment before bending down to cut the Lapras free and left her alone with the Pokémon. The girl slipped into the water and slowly kicked her way to it, awkwardly holding herself up above the surface with one arm. Once at the other ledge, she pulled herself out with monumental difficulty and slowly scooted towards the baby. The Lapras reflexively swam further out into the pool with a cry of warning, disturbed by a new human coming to capture it. The girl smiled and released her Clefairy. She diverted her attention entirely from the baby Lapras and just stroked the pink Pokémon for a while. The fairy Pokémon may have noticed the other Pokémon nearby, but she did not seem to pay him any mind.
A minute later, the Lapras' curiosity finally won out. It slowly moved towards the girl, nervously staying a meter or so away. The girl reached into her backpack and pulled out a super potion. She suspected that would be enough to start the healing process on a Pokémon that young. When it finally got close enough to her, she reached out to snag its neck and held it firmly in place. It took her a moment to realize that the position did not leave her with a hand to spray the area with. Thankfully, the Clefairy figured out what to do and helped finish the job. The cuts on the young Pokémon's neck slowly faded as the Pokémon stopped struggling and the girl released it. In awe at its rejuvenation, the Lapras rushed over to the girl and hummed a song of gratitude. She stayed there with him for the rest of the night, until another group of humans arrived the next morning and startled the baby back into the center of the pool.
Gela stood up and left long before that. She could deal with her sleepless nights staying on the other side of the dream.
END FILE 2.4: CURBSTOMP BATTLE
PROCEED TO FILE 2.5 PRECISION F-STRIKE
A/N: For a variety of reasons, this story is being cancelled on Pokecommunity. If you would like to read more, I am still updating on Bulbagarden. 
