Hard Enough - Chapter 110 - Time for friends (Patreon)

“A Beldum? He gave you a Beldum?” I said incredulously.

Forrest bobbed his head up and down. “Yeah! It’s so cool! I was speaking with a trainer from Hoenn, and did you know that Beldum is considered one of their strongest pokemon!? It’s a steel type as well which will match my Onix when I eventually decide to evolve him!”

Salvadore bounced on the spot next to me. “Oh! Does that mean you want to specialise into steel types? If so, there are a number of strong pokemon like Magnemite, Skarmory, Aron…” Salvadore gained a pinched expression before perking up. “Scizor!”

I chuckled and patted him on the head. “Steel types have a good showing with a number of pokemon.” Mawile, Goodra, Registeel, Bronzong, Aegislash, Empoleon were also pokemon that would be possible off the top of my head if Forrest decided on such a route.

Forrest nodded. “Yeah, I know.” Then he shrugged. “But I don’t know anything about making myself into a type specialist right now. I think I’m just going to look into making up a strong team.” He locked eyes with me. “I’m coming back as strong as I can, and then I’m going to announce myself at the conference this year!”

I raised a brow at that. He was certainly feeling more upbeat than he had when he left.

Yolanda giggled. “Nice to see you got your spark back! Good luck with that first goal big brother! You’ll need it!”

“I’m training everyday I’ll have you know! I’ll get there before the end of the circuit!”

Cindy leaned into the camera. “Brock’s gonna win~!” she said with a teasing tone.

Forrest set his jaw. “I’ll show you! I’ll have a super cool team!”

“I’m sure you will,” I said placatingly. “Where are you now?”

“Cerulean! We’re getting ready to face Misty’s sisters for our badges. Misty is joining us for her first match” He scratched the side of his cheek. “She’s also uhmmm… helping us skip the line a bit.”

I raised an eyebrow. “A bit?”

Forrest coughed something that sounded like a week’s worth, which made me snort. Ah well, if that’s how they wanted to run things, that was for the Cerulean sisters to handle. Their gym, their challenges, and their rules.

“Well, good luck against them. Got a plan?” I said.

Forrest nodded firmly, and I hummed. With Cerulean being so early, he’d have a chance against their weaker team. By the time he got against Erika, he’d have a tougher time with a type advantage and Erika using much more advanced tactics. Then I paused. Actually, Forrest could take Erika as his second badge if he was smart about it. “Well alright, where are you going from there?”

“Surge next, I’ll challenge him at a higher level.”

“Not Erika?” I said.

Forrest rolled his eyes. “Ash has been adamant to follow the traditional path ever since he heard about the story of how the badges are laid out. That, and he forgot to try and challenge Giovanni.”

“Yeah, Giovanni wouldn’t have entertained him anyway,” I said with a chuckle. Forrest nodded and I grew serious. “Tell me when you are headed towards Cinnabar or Viridian. They’re not going to be easy on you, and you need to be careful in those matches.” When Forrest nodded and huffed, I gave him a stern look. “I’m serious about this Forrest.”

Forrest paused at that, searching my face as he registered that I was deadly serious. “Alright… why though?”

“Cause I think those are areas where you’d be at risk. Giovanni and Blaine might be Gym leaders, but they also have fingers in some shady business. You present an opportunity in many ways.”

I then coughed. “Sorry to remind you about that. It sounds like you’re doing great.”

“Yeah, sure, thanks bro,” he said thoughtfully.

I caught Yolanda eying me. Salvadore had a far-off look and the message had passed over the rest of the family’s head. Flint nodded at me from off to the side. I signaled for Salvadore to take over the call and waved Forrest goodbye.

I surreptitiously slipped over to Flint. “You also had some trouble with Giovanni and Blaine?”

“Blaine was a nightmare to fight against from what I’ve heard… And he wasn’t much better with him on your side… His fiery attacks could devastate entire battlefields, but you had to stay out of his way. The man was chaotic. I know of a lot of good people and pokemon that got burned badly by him.”

Flint rubbed at his stomach. “Giovanni… he had a reputation for being a dirty dealer among the rank and file. If you were in his good books you had good supplies… if not… sometimes you ran short and had to scrounge around.”

“Hmmmm,” I said. “I can’t say I’m surprised to learn about that.” I shifted and worked my jaw. “Bosco told me about Lola’s situation.”

Flint hissed in surprise. “Ah… that.” Flint scowled at the ground. “Yes, she had to fight her own family. It has made her very… touchy about all of you. She doesn’t trust herself around—”

“I don’t buy that,” I said, shutting off that line of conversation. “She had more than enough time to work on her issues.” I almost said ‘or not have us’ but I shut my mouth before then. Instead, I huffed through my nose. “What happened to her family and her leaving us are not events that can be compared.”

“Brock that’s not fai—” Flint said only for me to raise a hand and walk off. I didn’t want to hear it.

Before I walked off fully, an idle curiosity occurred to me. “Where was Lola’s family house?”

“It used to be called the Granite Mansion and was out of town… Nowadays, it's the pokemon academy… Lola donated it when it passed to her, as she couldn’t stand to live there or see it.”

I blinked at that. I’d been into the newer part of the pokemon academy but I’d never heard that she’d been the one to… I shook it off. It wasn’t important. So what if Lola could be charitable? She’s still abandoned her family.

I huffed and marched off.

I walked past my other siblings and patted Yolanda on the head. She continued to eye me thoughtfully, her gaze shifting to Flint as I passed her by. Had she been listening? I wasn’t surprised when she got up and approached Flint with an intensity that told me she wasn’t going to be deterred from asking questions.

The sound of the fridge being opened made me adjust my course from my room to the kitchen. I found who I expected, with Munchalax caught in the fridge. The surprise, however, came in the form of a shocked-looking Eevee who had some cream around her face. She stiffened when she saw me and chirped a warning to Munchlax. Munchlax jolted and shot me a sheepish look.

“Munch… Lax, Mun mun munchlax?” he said.

I merely huffed and pointed to the lounge room. “Go report yourself to the rest of the family and Nanny Grav. No more free access from now on.” I shot a glance at Eevee. “No leading him astray like that. He’d been doing well with controlling himself. If Yolanda or Cindy are too busy to feed you, then be patient or ask someone else. No raiding the fridge like that.”

She curled in on herself and whimpered. “No Baby Doll Eyes on me either,” I said firmly. “If that’s your fallback, you need to get way stronger.” Eevee looked up at me and squinted fiercely at me. I smirked at her only to chuckle as she stuck her tongue out and ran off.

I paused when a thought occurred to me. Had she been teasing me and my family about our narrow eyes, or inspecting me?

Now I wasn’t sure…

A buzz on my wrist made me glance down to see a message from Sabrina.

‘I will be attempting to start training with the Megastone. Can I have you observing me?’

I fired back an affirmative, and she appeared in the kitchen and put a hand on my shoulder. I smiled and kissed her. When we broke the kiss, we were at the entrance of her Gym in Saffron, and she was sporting a delightful blush.

I inclined my head inside, “Shall we?” I said. Sabrina nodded and led me through the front doors. I hummed. It wasn’t normal for her to lead me around like this. Was she showing off her Gym to me?

Or was I being shown off to her Gym?

The main doors openned into a foyer that hadn’t been here when I’d challenged her during my journey. I noticed that there was  a reception desk off to the side with a number of tasteful double sided couches for people to rest. A number of trainers perked up at our entrance only to blanche when they noticed I was walking at Sabrina’s side. We walked past the line of trainers and made our way straight down a large hallway that could have easily allowed Bertha and Titan to walk next to each other without stooping. I could see the seating of the arena that I’d sat in a few times since Sabrina had it installed.

Along the sides of the hallway, training rooms were visible through long panels of glass.

I noticed a number of people in one room staring fixedly at a spoon in their hands with pokemon like Hypno, Drowzee, and even Kadabra walking amoung them. Sabrina’s father, Saul, was amidst them giving out pointers. I watched one older man glare at a spoon only for it to slowly bend in his fingers without touching it. He shot to his feet and cheered, causing others to flinch and glance over.

“Excuse me,” Sabrina said, vanishing in a teleport to appear in front of the man, startling him.

Sabrina glanced at the spoon and then at the man. She nodded once and then teleported back to me. “Sorry, I needed to give him some praise. He’s been working on that for quite a while.”

I heard some more congratulations ringing out from behind me, and it seemed Sabrina’s actions had sparked the rest of the group to heap praise on the man. I shot her a smile. “That was well handled.”

“Charles is an able trainer, but he has struggled with Psychic abilities. It is a small thing but marks an improvement for him.”

“It must help to have both your father and you to talk to about it,” I said leadingly.

“I don’t have a lot to do with that aspect of the Gym… Or rather, I didn’t use to… Erika suggested it to me, and I have noticed a small uptick in progress with my involvement.”

She gave a thoughtful noise before smiling. “It’s nice.” She then shot me a look. “It is not something I would have felt comfortable with before this year, however.”

“Ah, well, it sounds like everyone is making progress then!”

She nodded happily and led me into another room. I paused as the smell of horse pokemon registered, and I paused when I realised I was in a large room that was part stable, and part… dressage arena? It led out into a meadow where I could see a number of Stantler, Ponyta, and even Girrafarig frolicking. The last pokemon, must have been there to create ambient psychic energy.

Sabrina walked to the fence, and I blinked when I realised there was a small class for young girls on how to care for ponyta. “I took your advice, and I have expanded upon it, “said Sabrina from beside me. I shot her a look and found her fondly watching the young girls brush their ponyta. “I discovered that the local Ponyta club was struggling and have taken them on. If any of your sisters wish to come over and participate, tell them they have but to message me.”

“You realise they won’t want to leave if they learn you have this sort of set up.” I said it as a joke, but Sabrina nodded.

“Some of the local girls have said as much.”

I hummed and nodded. Yeah, that made sense. “So you’ve become a lot more popular, I take it?”

“Very.”

That single word conveyed how pleased she was by this occurrence. When we reached another room it was a simple room with a number of pendulums and silver spoons. Alakazam was sitting in the middle of the room with his legs crossed. At his side, Ralts knelt, and looked suitably serious in her attempts to charge up her psychic energy. I didn’t say anything as we approached.

Alakazam nodded in my direction but kept his gaze on Ralts. “Zam,” he said after a minute, and Ralts’ aura of psychic energy dispersed.

“Raaaaalts,” she said as she slumped tiredly.

“Ala!” said Alakazam with a firm nod. He then indicated Sabrina and I. Ralts perked up and beamed at Sabrina, who opened her arms and Ralts leapt into her chest for a hug. Ralts sang her name a few times, and Sabrina nodded seriously.

“Yes, I did see. It was very impressive. You are breaking lots of records and are very dedicated.” Ralts squirmed at the praise. Sabrina then tapped Ralts on the spot where a nose would be, and Ralts wiggled. “I need to do some training with Alakazam now, though.”

Ralts wilted, and Sabrina giggled. “You can stay in the room and watch, but I need you to stay with Brock so your psychic emanations don’t get mixed in with what we’re trying to do.”

Ralts nodded only to pause and register what Sabrina had said. Ralts then turned her head to find me standing to the side. I waved in greeting.

“Ralts!” said the little pokemon with a slump. She then raised her hands in my direction and accepted me holding her, albeit with a put-upon look and crossed arms. I very much got the impression of a small child that was accepting the deal but wasn’t liking it.

I sat with Ralts in my lap and watched as Sabrina brought out a wristguard with the Keystone that I’d gifted her embedded into it. Alakazam adjusted his own pokeball to hold the Megastone and then withdrew into the pokeball before coming back out. I noticed straight away that the pokeball had made the Megastone attach itself to the base of one of Alakazam’s spoons like a small trinket.

Alakazam inspected the stone before nodding.

Sabrina and Alakazam then both shut their eyes. I could feel… something happening but I wasn’t sure what that was specifically. Perhaps psychic energies were being built up between the two of them? For long minutes nothing seemed to happen.

A frown appeared on Sabrina’s face, and the feeling of energies shifting about grew stronger. I noticed sweat starting to bead her brow.

Another few minutes passed, and Sabrina slumped before shaking her head. “This… is much more difficult than I had believed…” She rubbed at her forehead and I hummed, considering how the anime had shown Ash or any of the others training for Mega-evolution. I doubted it would have as much accuracy in real life, but it would have a sliver of fact in there. The difficulty would be in discerning it.

“What are you doing? Care to walk me through it?”

“I am focusing my energy into the Keystone and attuning it to synchronise with Alakazam’s.”

“Hmmmmm,” I said nodding along. I had no idea what that felt like to her, but perhaps it was like matching energy as I did with Titan?

Sabrina tilted her head and shut her eyes. “I can feel the energy passing back and forth, but it feels like lots of it is being lost.”

“Alak, Zam! “ said her pokemon while stroking his moustache. He made a few gestures and then teleported away. He reappeared with a large whiteboard. He repeated this act another three times before nodding to Sabrina.

“Ah, of course,” she said adopting her meditative pose once more.

I raised a finger, curiosity begging for me to ask what was going on, only to lower it and huff. I glanced at Ralts. “Any chance you know what’s going on?”

Ralts started to shake her head only to pause and adopt a haughty look. “Rrrrralts!” she said teasingly.

I nodded. “Gotcha, you have no idea.”

Ralts softly swatted me with her arm and grumbled, but eventually nodded. Another few minutes passed. When Sabrina opened her eyes she found me playing patty cake with Ralts. It made for an adorable sight as the small pokemon’s mouth was scrunched up in furious focus.

“I see Brock is teaching you a game; I look forward to playing it with you,” Sabrina said making Ralts falter and miss the sequence of claps we had going. Ralts shot into Sabrina’s hands and nuzzled her. I glanced over to find Alakazam hovering in front his whiteboards with a pen floating and writing various diagrams and graphs that I couldn’t make heads or tails of.

“What’s… what’s he doing?” I eyed the numbers and diagrams with some trepidation. The anime hadn’t said there would be what looked like… well beyond high school math. Would I need to go back to school if I ever wanted to mega evolve one of my pokemon? I… I could make it work, I’d just need to set aside some time to…

No! I mentally shook my head. That wouldn’t make any sense. Otherwise, how would people like Ash ever do it? … That line of ‘logic’ didn’t assuage my sudden doubt.

“Alakazam is documenting his observations from this training session. We both were channelling energy into our respective stones but the energy seemed to be going both into us and into the space between us. It wasn’t dispersing, which is of great interest, but there seems to be a needed tipping point or linkage that has to be developed first. We made good headway, however.” Sabrina rubbed at her temples and blinked a few times.

“Need the nurse?” I had barely ever seen Sabrina react like this before.

She shook her head but looked like she regretted that. “No, no the amount of psychic energy we used together is just…” She shut her eyes. “It is making me rather woozy.” I reached out and put a hand on her and her breath hitched for a moment as her eyes glowed. I felt something wash over me only for my own dark type energy to smother it.

She blinked rapidly and straightened.

“Sabrina?” I asked, concerned.

“I am healthy now. I think I just needed to release the pent up energy it would seem.”

I watched her carefully for any hints that she might be lying to me but she smiled up at me. “I am alright now Brock, I just wasn’t used to that much energy being thrown around. I will have to get used to it if I want to Mega evolve Alakazam.”

“Hmmm, alright,” I said carefully. “I suppose you scoured the Guardians’ digital library?”

Sabrina nodded as she leaned into me. “I did, but Alakazam wishes to make this an experiment. He wishes to create a hypothesis and test a few theories himself before checking what is considered the common consensus.”

“So this is like a puzzle for him?”

“Indeed. He has also been involved in testing and creating the conditions for the various pokemon we hope to see develop evolutions that are psychic-typed. Thanks to your suggestions.”

Alakazam shot me a happy look. I couldn’t recall ever seeing him look so joyful. He flipped a whiteboard around, and I spotted a trio of drawings with attached graphs and some extremely small text about the Ponyta, Stantler, and Girafarig. I nodded along, not understanding a thing that Alakazam was indicating but not at all game to question a pokemon that was likened to a supercomputer.

He’d be very pleased when he got Ponyta and Stantler to evolve. He seemed to be sure that was merely a matter of time before meeting a certain psychic saturation.

I blinked. Wait, had I somewhat understood his gestures? I tilted my head and rubbed my chin. Alakazam nodded happily. “Kazam!” he said.

I shot Sabrina a confused look, and she merely smiled. “He’s very intelligent,” she said as if that explained it.

I supposed it did, so I nodded. Alakazam beamed at me and was about to return to educating me—somehow— on his research when the door opened with Sabrina’s father walked in.

“Saul,” I said in greeting, nodding to him. He paused and got a worried look, only to relax when he checked Sabrina and I over. I blinked for a moment. Wait—what had he thought we were doing in here?

He tried to shoot me a glare, only for me to ignore him as my attention slipped to the other person that walked in slightly behind him. “Oh! Hello Erika!” I said.

Sabrina nodded at both. “Father, Erika, it is good to see you.”

Saul searched the room, his gaze was still suspicious, like many a father across the universe that just walked into a room that their daughter and boyfriend had been in. “What were you up to in here?”

“We were training,” Sabrina said.

Erika stayed quiet while Saul eyed me. I rolled my eyes, but he didn’t understand the gesture. Sabrina did though, and when she copied me she did so with glowing eyes, which was an interesting effect.

Saul gained a sheepish look. Ah, it seemed Sabrina had chastised him and told him we weren’t doing what he was thinking psychically.

Erika bit her lip. “Is now a bad time?”

Sabrina shook her head. “Brock can stay; I believe he has some things that might be good to discuss with you. I can train with your pokemon on their psychic moves.”

I tilted my head. “Grass-Psychic? Oh you mean Exeggutor?”

Erika shook her head back and forth. “Not just him! I have been working on a few of my pokemon and some of them have moves that would help them a great deal such as Rest!”

I tilted my head. “Wouldn’t Synthesis be stronger?”

Erika wobbled back and forth once again as she tapped some pokeballs, revealing her Exeggutor, Budew, Seedot, Bellosom, and a Chikorita. The last pokemon made me pause as it tippy-tapped on the spot only to lock its eyes on Ralts.

“Chiko!” It cried, darting forward and running around Sabrina’s feet while looking upwards. It obviously wanted to play with Ralts. Ralts tightened her grip on Sabrina’s shirt and shot Sabrina a look.

“No play for now, Chikorita. You need to work on your Rest,” said Sabrina with a small twitching smile.

Chikorita chirped at that and hopped into position. The other grass pokemon trooped up and I hummed. “Why these ones?” I asked.

Erika gestured at them. “Synthesis is a good move for Grass types but it can also be affected by if the pokemon can deploy roots, and the landscape itself. Grassy terrain that is bountiful gives the best results, but some environments make it tougher, or outright impossible to regain health. The only pokemon that I have that can ignore this are Cacnea and Cacturne…” Erika licked her lips and looked a bit sheepish. “They’d… try and get into fights if I brought them here… they also don’t need this training.”

Sabrina coughed once and then nodded her head to Alakazam. “Alright, would you like to take it from here?”

Alakazam nodded and flipped another whiteboard to reveal a number of pictures of various pokemon and what looked like… “Is that a list of moves that they have learnt?” I asked incredulously.

Sabrina and Erika nodded. “Alakazam is very meticulous.”

I could only nod. Sabrina turned to Saul. “Would you mind getting our guests some tea and snacks?”

When Saul held his position, eyeballing me, Sabrina coughed, her eyes glowed, and her hair lifted up. “Father, our guests are thirsty; we don’t wish to be poor hosts, do we?”

Erika coughed, and I suspected she was hiding a giggle as Saul nodded hurriedly and ducked out, only to return a minute later with a tea tray and a few cookies and crackers. I smiled politely at him, and he grumbled a little as he retreated, understanding that Sabrina didn’t want him hanging around.

Sabrina set the tea up to heat on a small cooktop that came with the cart and then turned her attention to Erika’s pokemon that were all focussing on using psychic abilities. “The Chikorita is an interesting new acquisition.”

Erika nodded. “I was able to get one from a Johto breeder recently. I think she has a lot of potential. She’s very upbeat and eager to train whenever I work with my pokemon. She’s already up to a second badge level.”

“Huh, she might be part of the team that will fight my little brother when he comes around,” I said with some interest. Chikorita, sensing our attention, glanced in our direction only to receive a light tap on the head from one of Alakazam’s spoons.

“Chiko!” she said as she looked ahead and returned to the ‘class’.

“Your brother is going to be challenging soon? I will be on the watch for him!” she said.

I nodded and took a bite before recalling how Ash had been forced to challenge Erika. I chewed slowly as a thought occurred to me. On the one hand, I should just let things play out…. On the other… “Say, think you could mess with him when he challenges you?”

Erika tilted her head, and when I made my suggestion she tittered and nodded. “Do you want photos?”

“Yes, yes I do.” I said evilly. The work of a big brother is never really done.

Sabrina smiled at our plan and then tapped my hand. “Wasn’t there something else you wanted to talk to Erika about?”

“Oh, right! So lately there has been this issue with Mayor Jonathan as you know. But since then—” I detailed what had happened to Bosco and what he had suggested. I then mentioned I was considering some candidates for the position of Gym Repressentative.

Erika nodded slowly. “It sounds like you have some prominent candidates from that list.” She considered me. “What will you do to determine who will be best?”

Oh, was she testing me? I put down my tea cup and gave her question some serious thought. I started to feel like I was drawing a blank until I had a lightbulb moment. “Oh! I know I interview them all and then have them offer up suggestions for the others! Like do a fake out on who they think would be better than them! I’ll get lots of informa—”

A small silver spoon tapped me on the nose, with Erika holding the other end. She sighed and shook her head. “Oh, Brock, no, just no.”

I pouted with the spoon still on my nose. “It’s... not a bad idea? I think it has potential…”

“No Brock. This is not a spy thriller story or movie where these people will not talk with each other. Some of them are friends, and they will talk with each other. It’s ridiculous.”

She shot Sabrina an exasperated look. Sabrina nodded seriously, and I frowned. Why did I feel like I was being bullied?

Erika coughed, “You don’t need to interview all of them.” I nodded slowly to show I was listening.

“You can eliminate a few of them straight away. I’m going to state some points. Lawrence is too busy with the League, and the Gym right now. Mrs Harridan and Madam Pennywrong are a touch old and that will bring with it some views that are going to be different than you might like. And Judge Howard? He will have a potential conflict of interest if his son runs for Mayor next year.”

I considered what she’d said. “Ah,” I said eloquently. “So that leaves Jenny… or I search for some others.”

Erika shrugged. “Meet with Jenny first; that's my suggestion.”

I bowed and clapped my hands together. “Thank you, Erika Sensei!” She bonked me on the head with the spoon again with a giggle and I straightened up with a grin. “If I have some more questions, can I come around this coming week?”

“Yes you can. I will look forward to it!” she said happily.

A moment later, Alakazam announced that the training was finished by teleporting to the spare teacup Sabrina had set aside for him. Chikorita wasted no time charging in to throw Ralts on her back before cantering away.

Erika giggled at the sight before giving me another look. “What else will you be doing for your rest week?”

I sighed happily. “Catching up with friends.” I then smirked. “Also, I have an auction coming up for some rare pokemon.”

“Oh?” said Erika with a feigned nonchalance that had me looking at her closely. “I hadn’t realised that was this coming week.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Yeah… yeah it is… you might be interested in some of the pokemon I’m putting up for auction.”

“I’m sure I’ll make an appearance,” Erika said innocently.

I stared at her and then rounded on Sabrina to fill me in. Instead of smirking and spilling Erika’s secret however, she had a stoic expression and lightly shook her head. Alright… girl club secrets?

Alright then. I’ll just see what happens. Deciding to drop it, I instead teased what I was going to do tomorrow. “I’m also going to be visiting the foundry. It’s time to evolve my Onix and truly make him part of my Elite team.”

That sparked some more interest. I grinned, detailing how it was going to go, I had it all lined up and ready to go. It was time for Jormungandr to become a Steelix.

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A.N. Special thanks goes to my patreons for their support!

Special thanks goes to Raikor, Ab9999 and Elnoorz for betaing and editing this chapter.

Another interlude is next on the agenda to set up the foundry visit and beyond.