Hard Enough - Chapter 408 - Interlude - Toxic Dragons (Patreon)

As they rose over the ridgeline that acted as a natural border for the Blackthorn lands Lance turned in his saddle to look back towards Clair and Zinnia.

Zinnia peered over Clair’s shoulder like the child she was, her eyes wide with awe as Blackthorn City, the domain of dragons and where her family lived was, in Lance’s opinion, one of the most beautiful cities in all of Indigo.

It was a wonderful blend of new-age buildings fused with that of tradition, resulting in an idyllic lifestyle. To further the beauty, much of the family’s proper housings were built into the cliffs, allowing for multiple wide green spaces of parkland and lakes that dragon pokemon could enjoy.

To see another, especially one of his family reacted to it so wholely, it made Lance’s heart warm like a Dragonair was curling itself around him.

As they’d agreed, Clair and Lance performed a wide, leisurely circle around the city to give Zinnia the best chance at taking it all in. 

The doctors that had observed her after her stint with the Crusher Tribe had all been adamant that she hadn’t been defiled or wounded beyond a beating when they’d initially caught on that she was a spy.

Which, if Lance had his way, would have resulted in a few punishments being meted out.

Lorelei had of course pulled him aside when he’d voiced such desires and pointed out that the tribe would have been within their rights to execute Zinnia rather than merely detain and deny her her pokemon.

Zinnia, was after all, a spy for the Blackthorns.

A spy that Lance hadn’t even known existed for a group that apparently had, generations ago, been a threat to the Blackthorns.

That had never come up in the various historical texts that Lance and Clair had spent many an hour perusing.

It was almost like the archives had been… curated of such knowledge.

He was going to have to make some adjustments. The Elder, while supportive, only had a few summers left in him surely.

If Lance didn’t stabilise the family and prune off some of his opposition, just knew there was going to be a lot more incidents like Zinnia, or Arceus forbid, Bruce’s story playing out.

Worse, they’d be emboldened if one of those old warhawks got into the position of Elder.

Blackthorn couldn’t act like they once had.

The rest of Indigo wouldn’t tolerate such behaviour.

Lance, as much as he was often opposing them, was also a shield. The fact that the Elders of the Blackthorn clan had forgotten how scrutinised they were under Pryce was a vexing enough issue.

But then again, a lot of the incidents Lance was learning about had been under Pryce’s leadership as Champion, so perhaps it was more an issue of the Elders being too clever for their own good.

Still, it caused Lance to lay awake some days. 

If that was the sort of incidents they caused when Pryce was in power, what were they getting up to with him? What was he being blinded to?

Today, hopefully would provide many answers.

He had the trap laid, now he just needed someone to step into it.

Clair and Lance both came down to land before Blackthorn Tower, the main residence of the Blackthorn clan. Outwardly, there were multiple apartments that were outward-facing, while inner apartments faced into an inward courtyard. That had been hewn into an open air courtyard.

It was there, in the privacy of the Blackthorn secret gardens that Lance and Clair reintroduced Zinnia to her family.

The first to greet her officially was of course, the Master.

“Zinnia, be welcome!” proclaimed the Master of Dragons and the Blackthorn Clan, who was himself a rather bent man. “It does this old man’s heart much good to know such a young woman lost to us returned!”

This led to a round of applause from the various onlookers. Zinnia however was staring at the Master’s helmet. 

“You’re wearing a Rayquaza helmet?”

“Ah! Good that you recognise one of the strongest pokemon alive! Yes! Rayquaza has long been a pokemon that we’ve deified, you will of course learn about this in the days to come.” The man tugged on the small tuft of chin hair. “Ah, but I shall let your teachers handle that. Any good Blackthorn can identify the Legendary Dragons of course!”

He nodded. “You’ve yet to step foot in such classes but you already know much! Hmmm I think you are already a fine Blackthorn indeed!”

Zinnia merely blinked back at him blandly.

“Do I have to attend lessons? I learned much from the Lorekeepers of the Crusher tribes, I suspect—”

“Feh! She thinks savages could teach her more than the vaunted classes of Blackthorn? She certainly doesn’t lack for arrogance!” proclaimed a musclebound elder.

Lance gave the man a tight smile. “Jotaro,” he gave the man a stiff nod. “She has had an alternate education. But I wouldn’t be so quick to wave off what she knows.”

“Feh! If you say so!” he waved a hand dismissively and stalked away, causing a few murmurs about his poor behaviour.

Lance gave Zinnia a small smile. “I’m sorry about Elder Jotaro, he’s been finding himself rather… restricted due to certain rules being enforced of late instead of being left ignored.”

Zinnia blinked, her gaze tracking the taller Elder. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked blankly.

Lance sighed. “Nevermind, come, meet your cousins! I imagine there are going to be quite a few people interested in your pokemon team as well, especially with that…,” he said as his face twitched.

It vexed him that a pokemon that so matched Ditto of all pokemon happened to be dragon-typed. It had none of the standard character traits of a true dragon and yet…

“Come out,” Zinnia intone, tapping her pokebelt and releasing her pokemon. Everyone instantly locked onto the Shelgon, only to blink in surprise at the Larvitar and Whismur that she had on her team.

Then the final pokemon shifted around her ankles and peered out. 

“Gooo my?” it trilled.

Zinnia knelt and scooped up the fearful pokemon. “It’s alright, Goomy, these people are… family,” she said, her voice still flat as she observed everyone with dead eyes.

Over the top of her head, Lance shared a worried look with Clair. They’d known that the girl had her pokemon taken from her due to the whole… spying, but she still hadn’t bounced back weeks after having her team returned to her along with her strange collection of rocks.

If Lance hadn’t already done a blood test along with her predisposition to dragon type pokemon, he might have thought she truly was a member of the Crusher Tribe. 

The only issue that he could see was that Zinnia had become so reserved since leaving the Crusher Tribe’s prison.

This had deeply concerned the psychologists who had debriefed the girl, according to them there was some serious issues going on mentally with the girl. 

There was just something… broken about her now that no one could seem to agree on.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be anything dangerous for her or others, just that she had extremely muted feelings and responses.

If it kept up, Lance had decided that he’d approach Sabrina about it. 

She would be the one who’d have the most idea how to handle such an individual, having been extremely atypical as a child herself.

For now time would tell.

Lance settled back to observe the various members of his family approach and introduce themselves. Zinnia was quite a hit with some of the younglings who stared at her pokemon team with envy.

To be fair, a team that already had two pseudo-legendary pokemon was certainly worth keeping track of. Another thing that Lance could be thankful of was that initial testing for expelling Everstone from pokemon that had consumed excessive amounts of it was progressing. It might take a year or more but Lance was confident that Zinnia would one day have access to some truly powerful pokemon.

Lance wondered how she fought right now.

Perhaps a test against some of the Gym trainers under Clair to see how the girl stacked up?

Who knows, perhaps a challenge would be enough to spark something within the girl's heart.

“Woooooow look at this weird pokemon!” gushed one of the kids as he tugged on Zinnia’s Goomy.

“Goooooooooooooooooooo!” whined the ball of… dragon slime, as it was stretched wide.

Rather than snatch her pokemon back. Zinnia grabbed another part and stretched the pokemon out further.

“Uhmmm Zinnia, doesn’t that hurt your pokemon?” Clair asked.

“No,” replied Zinnia flatly. When Clair gave the girl a disbelieving look Zinnia added, “He likes it.”

Reaching what must have been a critical tension point, Goomy snapped back into a small ball of slime. “Goomy!” the strange pokemon cheered.

Lance blinked slowly.

“What a strange pokemon,” he muttered, shaking his head as Goomy began to sing and wiggle. It wasn’t like a true dragon, like Gyarados, or Charizard, or Dragonite.

Lance wanted to shake his head, but he could see multiple Elders already doing that.

Shit, did that mean he was the bad guy in this situation and that he needed to change his point of view?

He gave Goomy a long look, trying to imagine such a pokemon on his team.

No. 

He couldn’t see it happening. 

It was too weird. 

He’d be laughed at, and that just wouldn’t do.

Although perhaps if Goomy evolved into something more draconic, he’d reconsider it.

Until then, he mingled with other family members, all while making a point to keep Zinnia in his field of view at all times.

Clair did likewise, and it was only after an hour of talking with the family and enjoying some light snacks that he and Clair shared a look. Then, each of them allowed themselves to be distracted.

When Lance looked back a few minutes later, Zinnia was gone.

Damn, someone had just made his shit list.

It was time to find out who they were and make a proper example of them.

You’d think that people within the Blackthorn clan would know better than to poke a sleeping dragon.

________________

“A Dragon’s claw is ever sharp,” rasped a voice even as a remote was raised and triggered.

Zinnia, who’d been on the way back from the bathroom, stiffened and became even more blank-eyed.

“Good, return your pokemon and follow,” rasped the voice from the shadows.

Zinnia did so with the three pokemon with her even as they glanced at her in concern, they still allowed themselves to go back into their pokeballs. Zinnia turned and mechanically walked towards the voice.

A tall, musclebound man nodded as she walked behind him. He led her to a wall only to press on a section of it to reveal a hidden door that lead into a passageway that was in complete darkness.

The passage only lit up once the door closed behind Zinnia, revealing a long hall that led to a single door. Elder Jotaro stalked forward, opening the door and passing through several rooms and traversing a few rooms only to settle behind an ornate desk.

“How were you captured?” Jotaro barked. “Your training should have made it impossible for you to be detected. No one should have suspected you with your insertion being so young.”

“The communicator went off at an unscheduled time. This caused members of this one’s adopted family unit to investigate. When they did not understand what the device was, others were drawn in. The device, while not readable to them, was still enough to cast suspicions. I was detained.”

A flicker of annoyance passed over Jotaro’s face as he recalled that he had been the one to initiate said unscheduled communication. 

Not that it mattered. 

“You should have been more careful!” he snapped. 

Zinnia merely stood there, staring at the back wall.

Jotaro huffed. “Your training, where were you ranked within the Crusher Tribe?” 

“I was the victor of several tournaments. If I had not been detected I was to be allowed to evolve my Larvitar into a Pupitar and take part in the next ascension challenge. Within my age group I was the strongest and was well placed to eventually earn the right to partner with a Tyranitar. With time, I might have become Overlord.”

“Hmph, a public and private evaluation will be in order then. I doubt the Crusher tribe had anyone of true strength in their numbers,” Jotaro scoffed.

Zinnia continued to stare straight ahead; no emotions played out over her eyes.

“Hmmm, we need a youngling like yourself however. You will have to rise quickly. Tutors will be arranged and you will undergo training. In a year you will undergo the… Circuit—” derision dripped off the word as he said it, “— to raise public awareness of your skills. You will challenge and defeat the various Gym Leaders of the other City states and then you shall win the tournament. Your pokemon team will be evaluated as well. A Larvitar could be a useful addition, but it is no substitute for a true dragon.” 

Jotaro narrowed his eyes and observed the girl more closely. “You will get rid of the Whismur as well.”

Zinnia remained silent, not even a twitch of her body. Jotaro had complete control.

Perfect.

Leaning back in his chair Jotaro allowed himself a pleased smile. Zinnia would be the perfect heir to take up the mantle. The story practically wrote itself.

A stray child lost in the wilderness, raised by savages only to be returned to the fold and taught under the wise tutelage of an Honoured Elder.

He could assume the mantle of Master of Dragons, and Zinnia would be able to oust Lance.

From there? The sky would be the limit.

He released a pleased sigh and was about to rise from his chair and return the girl to her ‘welcoming party’ when the shadows around him moved.

Jotaro had his pokemon out in a flash.

“You picked the wrong person to spy on Agatha!” he snarled, old instincts rising to the fore.

A cackle came as a reply only for Agatha herself to step through the wall, the dark emitters on the wall noticeably not barring her passage.

“How?” Jotaro began only for the door to open behind Zinnia and Lance to stand in the doorway, cape flapping as a wind howled behind him.

“Hello Elder,” greeted Lance calmly as he locked eyes with the suddenly ashen-faced Elder. “I think you and I need to have a talk about your retirement.”

“What? You can’t! I am—”

“This room is not part of the official blueprints of our compound Elder… Now, it must be for deeds that aren’t to see the light of day,” Lance said, his voice cutting through Jotaro’s demands.

“Now, you will do as I say, or else I take the girl… and leave you here,” Lance stated calmly. The implied, alone, with Agatha and her Ghosts, rang through very clearly.

Jotaro clenched his jaw and formed fists, pride demanding that he put up some form of resistance to show that this old dragon still had teeth and claws. He already knew the layout of the room and that of the surrounding rooms. 

The fact that Agatha could phase through the walls was a surprise, but not an insurmountable one.

“You won’t be able—” Jotaro started to say as his pokemon began to shimmer with power, only for another set of hands to reach through the floor and grab Zinnia out of the way.

Jotaro flinched. “You… taught another your ghostwalking ability?”

Agatha grinned. “Unlike you, I haven’t sat on my backside. I’ve taken a firm hand in teaching the next generation. Now, Lance, I believe it’s time you closed that door and let nature take its course,” she said as her grin grew larger until it was something truly horrific.

Jotaro gaped, and with a sudden dawning realisation, understood that he might have bitten off more than he could chew.

Lance gave Jotaro one final look, only to nod and turn away.

The door clicked shut, and shadows began to dance and laugh as the room suddenly became much too small.

_______________________

Lance waited at the end of the hallway.

It took five minutes before the door clicked open and Agatha strode out. For a second, she almost looked more vibrant than usual, like some inner vitality had been restored to her. Behind her, her shadow moved perfectly in sync with how it should have.

“He’s alive… if barely, He hasn’t had any more interactions with Blaine since he had the controller installed into Zinnia’s brain. We’re going to have to see about getting the girl into surgery to have that removed.”

“I’ll see it done immediately,” Lance replied. “Any collaborators?”

Agatha gave Lance a flat look. “Half your Elder council, Lance. Now are you finally going to do something about them, or are you going to be toothless when it comes to your family once more?” 

She gave him a steely-eyed look. “Because I will not be used as an excuse for dismissing evidence. It’s time for a full cleansing.”

“It is not so easy to do with one's family. Many of them were kind to me once upon a time, and are you truly advocating for me to wipe away so much wisdom in one go?”

Agatha snorted aloud. “Dressing what they preach as wisdom just shows that you’ve been fed dragonshit and convinced it’s premium grade steak! Buck up lad!” 

Lance huffed. “I’ll see it done.”

“Will you? Because I’m not—”

“I will see it done!” Lance snapped, his aura flashing out.

Agatha, rather than being intimidated, locked eyes with him and raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Today,” she held Lance’s gaze, “You will see to it today, or I will see to it tomorrow,” she declared, only to slip into the floor and vanish.

Lance swallowed, steeling himself for what was to come. He drew himself up and stalked back the way he’d come. He’d have to go through all of these passageways soon. He’d always suspected that they were here, as the records had recorded that there were war tunnels and bunkers built into the mountain, but Lance had never been able to find them despite the persisting rumours.

Well, now he knew.

When Lance made it back to the party he found that it had mostly wound down. Good, perhaps this would be easier.

Clair, who was now holding Goomy and looking around worriedly, caught Lance’s eye. “Where is she?” she asked.

“She’s in the infirmary; she had an incident but it’s been handled.” 

Clair exhaled in relief and was about to head off, only to pause and give Lance a quick look over. Something she saw must not have passed muster, as her expression darkened. “Lance… did you do something?”

“I did nothing,” he replied truthfully.

That didn’t alleviate the thunderous look on her face. “But you allowed it?”

“I allowed nothing,” he bit back. “I knew someone would try something and made sure to have a safety net in place.”

Clair considered that for a moment as around them, people took note of their tense exchange. “So you allowed it?” she murmured, a fire sparking in her eyes.

Lance almost sighed. When Clair got like this, she could be almost impossible to stop until you tired her out, usually with a pokemon battle.

“Goo Goo Goo my?” wailed the little pokemon in Clair’s arms.

The fire in her eyes vanished in a heartbeat, like it had been snuffed out. “Yes, you’re right Goomy. We’ll go check on her now,” Clair said. She marched off to the infirmary with a “We’ll be having words about this later,” she tossed over her shoulder.

“Yeah, there’s going to be a lot of that going around,” muttered Lance only for him to sweep around, his cape flaring in the wind. “I’m calling a Council meeting to order! Assemble in the Dragon shrine as quickly as you can!” he commanded.

Sweeping out of the room and towards the shrine itself Lance was easily the first to arrive.

Elders trickled in along with other notable members of the Clan. No children were present and Clair’s absence caused a few people to shift and look at the door.

They obviously expected her to walk in at any moment, but Lance decided not to wait.

The instant he had all the Elders he needed as well as the Master sitting in their places, he dropped the Draco Meteor he’d been holding close.

“Elder Jotaro has announced he is retiring and will be stepping back from Clan affairs.” This caused a jolt of surprise among a select group of Elders. Forging on, Lance continued. “I have accepted his resignation and understand it will be good for him, as his health, unbeknownst to us, has been failing him.”

A fig leaf of a cover for what Lance expected to find when he returned to clear up after Agatha, but an important one.

“With that in mind, I have taken a long look at the council lists and have come to the conclusion that many here are at a similar age and therefore at risk.” He locked eyes with the people he meant, letting them know that he knew about them and that yes, he had made Jotaro disappear.

The threat hung in the air with many an Elder straightening their spines as fire began to build within their spirits.

“Elder Jotaro’s resignation is only accepted due to not wanting to shame the clan. If the rest of Indigo knew that he’d allowed one of our own to be… mutilated for the sake of control, then we would be villains in all their eyes.”

Lance moved from his position at the front, sweeping down the line of seated elders, his cape trailing after him as she stalked. “For those that had anything to do with this, or indeed other… plots that will be uncovered, I think now is the time for me to accept your retirements.”

“You dare?” growled Elder Fiona.

Lance spun on her. “Yes I dare! I have decided it is time to truly clean house and for that, I must either sweep the council clean of the toxins that have built up or I must amputate the limb! I know that bringing all of the Clan’s misdeeds to light will see public outcry and cause me a great deal of trouble, but if I do this, none of you will be here and instead something different will take its place!”

Lance stepped back to the front and spun. “So, you can either keep the institutions you hold so dear, only other, younger members will step into the roles you leave, allowing fresh ideas to come forth, or I tear all of it down.”

He glared at them. “What will it be?”

Fiona worked her jaw only for a light cough to carry.

Eyes turned to the diminutive Master.

“I think retirement sounds lovely,” he declared. “It is time for the next Generation to step up. If we as Elders continue to repress them, resentment will only grow.”

Taking off his helmet and putting it to the side, the Master rubbed his forehead. “I think this is a good idea. I will be the first to announce my retirement as Master. It will be nice to spend time with my great-grandchildren. I believe they are rather taken with one Samurai Furret…” The Master gave a small laugh as he stared off to the side. “Hmmm, that girl has done well for herself.”

Lance blinked. That… hadn’t been his intention at all. “Master I assure you that I—”

The Master raised a hand and stopped Lance in his tracks. “No, I think this is necessary,” he looked out from his slightly elevated cushion. “Wouldn’t you all agree?” he asked calmly.

After Lance’s previous fury, the man’s calm and collected statement was like ice after the fire. Instead of causing spines to straighten and a fight to enter their eyes, people bowed their heads.

Lance stared.

This… this was what he had needed to do. 

He swallowed. 

Suddenly, he felt very, very young.

The Master gave him a wry look. “I would suggest Clair take over as Master. She’d do well, no?”

Lance could only nod as others in the room murmured their agreements. The Master tilted his head. “All those in favour?”

“Aye!” a chorus rang out.

“Against?” he asked, and again, rather than raising his voice, he merely looked out at the room patiently. Like he was a teacher waiting for a student to raise a question…

None spoke up and the master nodded. “Very well, who shall be retiring with me?” he asked.

People shuffled, suddenly finding themselves put on the spot. Fiona sat, with her head bowed.

For a long minute, no one spoke.

Rather than force the issue, or fill the silence, the Master sat and waited, and Lance could see the wisdom playing out. Rather than force them through fire, he guided.

Eventually, Fiona sighed. “I shall,” she declared.

And with her came a flood of retirements as people saw the writing on the wall.

Behind the sitting council members other members of the clan murmured in surprise, realising that over half the council was going to be changed out.

Lance swallowed, feeling oddly pleased and at the same time, like he’d just been taught a valuable lesson.

The Master nodded. “Very well. It is therefore up to the remaining Council members to fill up the empty seats with nominations, but perhaps that can wait for another day, along with our new Master, hmmmm?”

A chorus of agreements broke out, and the room emptied quickly.

Lance watched them trickle out until it was just him and the Master… Former Master in the room.

“I didn’t mean to—”

“No, I think you raised some valid points and did what needed to be done. Well done,” the man said, giving Lance a warm smile.

Feeling rather like a child presenting a parent a drawing of stick figures, Lance shook his head. “I could have handled it better… You… I need your help.”

The former master rose and stretched out his back. Without the helmet on he looked both shorter, and in some strange way… taller.

It took Lance a moment to realise that he no longer looked like he was carrying a weight upon his shoulders.

“I’m not dead. You can come around for tea and a talk anytime yet while I still live,” the man chuckled. “I think we all got so ingrained with the way things normally run that we were blinded. A shake-up is what we needed. Now that I’m no longer Master you can come around.”

Lance sighed. “Why is it only when we don’t have it that we cherish it?”

“Oh, that’s human nature, but don’t worry. Clair will be there to help out. She’s passionate and wiser than people expect, or at least, she will be.” The man gave Lance a small smile. “She already comes around for tea once a week, you know?”

“Ah? I didn’t know that,” Lance replied, surprised to learn that about his cousin.

Chuckling, the man gave Lance a pat on the shoulder. “When you come for tea, just call me Kamina!” 

Shaking his head at himself, Lance headed back to his room. He had everything go his way, and yet… he suddenly felt a little lost.

He was just about to walk into his apartment when he heard Clair storming up to him.

“Ah, Clair. I have some good news!” She continued to march up to him, a fire in her eyes and her fists clenched. “Well, actually, it’s great news!” Lance offered, hoping to stall Clair out. He really didn’t want to have a pokemo—

Clair’s fist hit him in the jaw and sent him staggering back.

He blinked away stars from the hit and stared as Clair glared at him. 

“Next time you try something like that? Just don’t. She’s a young girl who’s been through enough. Don’t use her as bait. That’s the sort of shit I expect from the Elders. Not you. Be better Lance!” she roared.

Lance found himself stunned at the accusation and… how accurate it was.

Clair nodded once and turned to storm away, her piece said.

Lance watched her go, suddenly uncertain of where he stood with her.

He slipped into his apartment and sank onto the couch his Dragonite, Flygon, and Altaria popped out of his pokeballs having sensed his mood.

He found himself smiling. “Hey there gang,” he offered quietly. “I got everything I wanted… but this isn’t how I expected to feel,” he murmured. 

Dragonite touched Lance’s jaw, and Lance flinched. Damn, Clair really had clocked him good.

He played everything back and reconsidered how he’d gone about it. The revelation of watching the Master humble the others with his quiet acts of humility stood out.

That and the offer for tea.

He’d need that as there was much wisdom to be had from talking with the much older man. Good wisdom at that.

Which… now that he came to think of it…

Lance sat up and began typing out some messages.

For the younger group of people he asked a simple question of, “Would you like to have some tea?”

But for the older crowd he made sure to call, knowing they’d prefer that.

Pryce answered his call quickly with a brusque bark. “What do you want?”

“I was wondering if I could talk to you over some tea?” Lance offered.

Pryce stared at Lance for a long moment, only for his lips to twitch upwards. “Hmph, you can come over tomorrow. Bring something nice,” he commanded before hanging up.

Lance chuckled before messaging Lorelei, asking what sort of tea her grandfather liked.

Then he made another call. This time, he was met with a much more welcoming greeting.

“Champion Lance! Hello there! What can I do for you?” asked Professor Oak.

“I was hoping I could talk with you, perhaps over tea?”

The older man’s face stretched only for a younger woman’s voice to call out. “Tell him we accept!” 

Oak blinked and glanced to the side, only for two young women to inch into view on the screen. “Daisy… I don’t think the Champion meant for…” he trailed off when Daisy Oak gave him an unimpressed look. Oak coughed and turned back. “Right! Come this saturday and we’ll put out the good china!” he declared.

Lance chuckled and hung up once the details were locked in. A few replies from Brock and Erika came in, causing Lance to feel better about his new approach.

Yes, this was the way to learn and grow. 

_____________________

A.N. The Blackthorn shake-up is official! And Lance learns a bit of humility can go a long way.

Thanks go to my Patreons for your continued support!

It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!