"Maybe things will finally begin to calm down around here?" Lance sighed as he hung up the phone with the excited mother. The man brought his hand to his face while he rubbed his temples with a slight groan, just thankful that this was done already.
"Calm?" A voice scoffed from outside the door to his office.
Before Lance could speak up to stop the incoming lecture, the door was kicked open by the tiny, old menace who was Agatha of the Elite Four. Lance's employee, technically, yet she always made the man feel like he was back in grade school when she got on a roll with one of her lectures, as she had been doing a lot recently. "What was that about swearing to the boy that you would, and I quote: 'Make some changes.' or something?"
"Yes, Agatha…" Lance sighed as the headache which had just started to disappear returned with full force. "But that wasn't what I meant and you know that."
"Oh? Well, then what did you mean? Speak up!" Agatha demanded while slamming her cane down onto the tile floor. "And I mean that literally. I can't seem to find one of my hearing aids this morning… blasted things always like to disappear on me…"
"I mean that I can finally get back to what I'm used to: League matters. As much as making sure that the Harrisons staying together needed to get done, taking care of things like that certainly isn't for me." Lance admitted while rubbing the back of his head. "I've got more respect for social workers now, at least… Damn."
"Hmmm… fair enough, I suppose. However!" The little, old woman walked over and smacked her cane onto Lance's left arm. "Don't think that we are even halfway done. I always said that you weren't paying enough attention to Kanto! Playing some agent or something and focusing any other attention on Johto and none of Kanto. Now look at you- having to play Ketchu- ahem! Erm… catch up. I told you this would happen."
Lance merely groaned while rubbing his arm where the lady had hit. "Original Dragon, just bite my damned head off already and be done with it…" Lance cursed under his breath as he rolled his eyes at probably the fiftieth 'I told you so' from this damned lady and Bruno. And even if Lorelei wasn't saying it, he knew that she was at least thinking it.
"What?" Agatha asked with a slow blink while staring at Lance. "I told you that you need to speak up. Hearing aid, remember."
"I said thank you for reminding me." Lance spat out through clenched teeth while gripping his desk tightly. "It isn't like you've told me thirty times already."
"Oh, don't be a baby, boy." Agatha rolled her eyes at her colleague. "I've only told you twenty-seven times already." The woman states so 'matter-of-factly' while Lance had to use every fiber of his being not to slam his head into the desk so violently that his neck would break and he would finally be free of this she-gremlin who exists only to torture him.
"Could I help you with anything else, Agatha, or were you just passing by and decided to give me another lecture?" Lance sighed in defeat, knowing that he would never be rid of this woman. There wasn't even doubt in his mind that this decrepit goblin would outlive him just out of spite and enjoyment. "Because I have some work to do. Mostly in the Kanto area so you can finally stop saying 'I told you so'!"
"Oh, you still got at least another month of 'I told you so' to go before I even think about letting up on you." The woman grinned with a sly look at Lance which made the man question if the consequences for murder were really that much worse than his current situation. "But yes, Lorelei told me to tell you that she has the reports of the recent news coverings of the Harrison debacle."
"Ah, yes. Public opinion and the media. My two favorite things…" Lance rubbed his face with a sigh. This certainly wasn't going to be pretty. But at least he might sway the public opinion back around to his side once the gym reforms and inspections start back up again. Changes will be happening, after all. Lance wanted to be sure that another scenario like this doesn't happen again. Both for his sake and for others such as the Harrison children. "Thank you, Agatha. Tell her that I'll meet with her after I make some tea."
The woman seemingly had nothing else to say as she turned and exited the room, leaving Lance in silence. "Oh! By the way!" Agatha poked her head back in with a smile. "She also wanted me to tell you: I told you so." The lady smugly remarked before slamming the door closed.
Lance couldn't take it anymore as he popped a blood vessel. "Oh, for the love of-" He interrupted himself as he slammed his desk with his fist so violently that all his papers flew off.
"And that's pretty much it." Lorelei finished her debrief with a sigh while sliding the clipboard onto Lance's desk and reaching for her cup of steaming Sencha tea.
After a small pause, followed by a slight grunt, Lance would nod and take another sip of his sencha. "Not as big of a hit as I thought that it would be, at least." Lance trailed off for a bit as he thought. "But, that may just be because we aren't exactly as well regarded by Kanto as we would like."
"I concur," Lorelai stated dryly after finishing her sip. "If anything, I would guess that most Kantonians are thinking something along the lines of 'Well, that's expected' or something. They truly seem to not expect much from us."
Lanced winced at his colleague's words "Damn, Lorelei. There's no need to rub it in… I get the idea."
"I imagine so. I only see Agatha that pleased with herself after she makes you debate if jumping off a building is the only way to get rid of her." Lorelei shot her boss a slight smirk after she reminded him of that woman and her neverending nagging.
"I was actually thinking of murdering her this time," Lance admitted while rifling through the various papers on his desk. "I stopped thinking about the original plan after about… ten 'I told you so's', I believe?" Lance's tone rang of uncertainty as his eyes trailed upward in thought. "Yeah. At around ten."
"Wow, Lance the murderer. I somehow doubt that." Lorelei teased with a slight smirk while refilling her and Lance's cups with the teapot.
"Yeah. That feels like maybe something you'd read in a manga or something…" Lance mumbled under his breath as he finally found the folder of the Kanto Gym Leader files he was looking for. "Here we are. Do you know if these are still up to date, Lorelei?"
"Well, instead of asking me, you could just look up the files in your computer that you have sitting right beside you." Lorelei reminded her boss with clear annoyance in her tone as she gestured to the dusty computer monitor so far on the edge of Lance's desk that it threatened to crash to the floor.
At that, Lance went quiet and turned to look at the dusty monitor for a few seconds. "...No. Anyway-" Lance tried to get back on topic while ignoring Lorelei's annoyed groan. "Are these up to date or not?"
"Damned country bumpkin…" Lorelei swiped the folder from Lance's hands to begin rifling through them while grumbling.
Lance rolled his eyes at the insult. "I'm just saying. When an army of Porygon and Rotom attack our databases and steal and delete everything we have, you will thank me for having everything in physical copies." Lance finished while leaning back in his chair and smiling smugly at her through the mountains of unorganized papers on his desk.
"And I am just saying that you sound like one of those conspiracy theorist nutjobs or that stupidly religious sect of Original Dragon worshipers over in Unova. Come on, Lance. This is the future." Lorelei tried to plead with her boss.
Lance wasn't having it. "Hey. Which one of us has been to Cyberspace?" Lance asked while he crossed his arms. "I've seen firsthand what a Porygon can do, and it's terrifying. I have half a mind to ban the creation of that Pokemon entirely." Lance shivers as he remembers what went on on that fateful day. "They're lucky that Professor Oak and Bill vouch for them so hard."
"I am getting you to tell me what the hell happened in there, one day…" Lorelei sighed in defeat for the time being as she brought the topic back to the Gym Leaders. "But to answer your question: Yes. These are up to date." Lorelei nodded as she held the folder out for Lance to take back, which he did.
At confirmation that the files in question were up to snuff, Lance nodded while rummaging through them. "Alright… So, do we have a good first target in mind?"
"Don't say it like that!" Lorelei grimaced in discomfort while shaking her head slightly. "They aren't your 'targets' or anything, Lance. Get out of Interpol mode and into Champion mode."
"Alright, fine." Lance sighed while rolling his eyes. "Well then, who do you think we should inspect first?"
"Any should do, to be honest. I just want us to get on this quickly. We already have the press breathing down our backs enough as it is." Lorelei sighed as she finished before taking a sip of tea. Lance could tell when the usually immeasurably cool was stressed, and now was certainly one of those rare times.
"Hm… Agreed. Very well. If I have to choose…" Lance leaned back in his chair and sipped his tea while thinking. It only took a few seconds for the man to let out a soft chuckle.
Lorelei's expression held a mixture of worry and amusement at her boss's sudden laugh. "Hm? What's so funny?"
The Champion just continued to chuckle for a few more moments before leaning forward again. "I just had a thought. Since I already fired the gym leader most aspiring trainers usually face first on their League Adventure, what do you say we 'run the circuit' as we trainers used to say?"
"Cheeky." Lorelei shot her boss an unamused glare for a bit, but her stature slowly shifted as she thought about it more. "But… It would come off as you stepping into the trainer's shoes. Trying to identify and connect with them. I… damnit." She cut herself off.
"Hm? You were saying something?" Lance grinned at his colleague as he knew what was coming. "Please continue."
With a soft scoff and an overdramatized eye-roll, Lorelei looked like she was about to throw her cup of tea onto her boss. "It's a decent idea. Fine. There. I said it. Can we move on now?" Lorelei glared at the man while he gave a stoic, simple nod. Lance knew when to shut up. After a deep breath, Lorelei spoke in a much less tense tone. "So you want to run the circuit. That would make the Waterflower sisters of Cerulean our first stop."
"Yes." Lance nodded as he looked down at the file again. "Their file says that they test their challengers by using the Triple Battle technique from Unova along with their battle arena being entirely in a pool with floating platforms…" Lance hummed a bit as he rubbed his chin. "Seems a bit intense for an intended second gym, doesn't it? If it was just one or the other, then sure. But this, to me, feels more like a sixth through eighth badge gym sort of challenge."
"Hm…" Lorelei hummed to herself while taking the file from Lance. "Agreed. But maybe they realized that. It seems that their number of wins began to slowly decline about a year ago. Now, they barely beat any challengers."
"Overcorrection to the extreme?" Lance questioned as he raised an eyebrow.
"That would be my guess." Lorelei nodded to Lance while keeping her eyes trained on the paper. "Unless they're literally giving out badges, I doubt that that could be any other reason."
"Ha! That would be funny. Seems like the opposite issue we had with Clair." Lance chuckled at his colleague's joke. "Anyway, do you have any objections to starting there?"
"Not really. When do you want to head out?" Lorelei placed the folder back onto Lance's desk and stretched a little as it seemed like their meeting was about to be over.
"Right now," Lance stated with a small, yet excited smile as he rose from his office chair. "Will you join me or will I have to drag Bruno along?"
Lorelei's eyes widened at the realization that Lance was about to head out now. "Oh! Wow, I guess you are taking this seriously…" The woman blinked away her surprise and rose out of the chair just as Lance had. "And probably not. I honestly don't look my best and it might look bad if something happens and the press gets there."
"Hm? Nonsense, you look fine. And I doubt that it'll be a total nightmare like the Harrison situation. We'll have a mock battle. You'll get to freeze the pool. Come on." Lance tried to entice his colleague with a smile. Spending the flight with Bruno sounded boring. Lance had nothing against the guy, to be honest. Bruno could just be way too intense sometimes. And Lance would rather shove nails into his ears than spend any more time with Agatha while she was in such a gloating mood.
"Hmmm…" You do know that I like to freeze large bodies of water…" Lorelei hummed as she put her hands on her hips. "Alright, fine. But if it turns out to be a disaster and I look bad on national television, I'm changing your hair dye out."
"You won't have to do that terrifying and cruel thing because this will be fine, Lorelei." Lance smiled at her as he walked to the door to his office and held it open for her. "Again, there's no way that this can go any worse than it did with the Harrisons."
"Don't jinx it, Dragonmaster…" Lorelei warned as she walked out of the office. Her heels clicked against the tile floors of the League headquarters very rhythmically as she walked towards the Pokemon Corral. Lance caught up to her with a light jog so that he could walk alongside her.
"I'm not going to. Trust me. I have a good feeling about this." Lance truthfully spoke with a smile as he opened the set of double doors to the Corral, where he saw his Dragonite playing. "Besides, what's the worst thing that can happen?"
So sorry it took me so long to get this out. I hate the warm months. I'm also working on a oneshot that I'm really passionate about and hope you guys will like. I'm just waiting on the cover art to get done on that and it'll practically be done.
If you want to get in contact with me or other, much more talented artists, please consider joining the discord!
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