Hard Enough

Sabrina had us at Fuchsia City within minutes.

We arrived at Koga’s Gym to find the place eerily quiet.

Not the quiet that one would expect of a residence where everyone was asleep as they should at this hour, but rather the house was silent as though the very earth itself was holding its breath in anticipation.

No pokemon stirred, no wind blew through the branches of elegantly spaced trees and no noise came from the house. It had my skin crawling and the hairs on my neck standing up.

I eyed the trees and flicked my eyes about; well aware that in Koga’s domain, you were always being observed by ninjas. The fact that they were making it so apparent with how quiet it was, meant they were in a way warning anyone off.

The traditional house that stood forebodingly before us had all the sliding doors pulled open but only darkness peered back when you directed your gaze inside the building.

If you couldn’t tell coming here was bad news you were either an idiot or acting in extremely bad faith.

When Karen and Agatha stepped out of the darkness I had a momentary flash of memory for my initiation fight and half considered if they might have baited me here for some training exercise.

One look at Karen’s face revealed that this wasn’t a drill or some shitty hidden test.