Hard Enough - Chapter 115 - Down time (Patreon)

I blinked blearily as I heard some whispered shushing and a few tiny feet attempting to sneak past my door. I tried to sit up, only for Sabrina’s arm to shoot out and drag me back down.

“No. Sleep,” she commanded from her position in the bed. On the pillow behind her Ralts grumbled and murmured before settling.

I spared a glance at my clock only to find it wasn’t plugged in. A glance at my transceiver revealed it had been put on the charger and turned off. If I inched a little to the left, I could just—

A single eye opened, and a sleepy glare was levelled at me that had nothing to do with pokemon moves and was entirely about a sleeping woman getting what she wanted.

“Brock, stop moving,” Sabrina said firmly.

I settled back and relaxed.

The kids were probably just getting a snack or a drink. Sabrina would have alerted me if there was anything wrong. I heard Munchlax trip over his feet with a heavy thump and a sad moan of his name before he was dragged off by one… or multiple kids?

I raised my head, only for a pillow to rise up and swat me down.

I shut my eyes and ignored whatever was going on outside. I’d let it go on for a few minutes and get up soon.

As I felt sleep reclaim me, I had the oddest thought about my transceiver not needing another charge. I hadn’t taken it off last night, had I?

I woke up three hours later with Ralts laying next to me and an indent in the bed.

“R-r-r-ralts~!” murmured the tiny pokemon as it rubbed its head against me like a cat. I stole a few pats, making sure to not touch the horns. Something must have given me away, though, as Ralts opened her eyes and smiled, only to stop when she realised it was me patting her head.

“RALTS!” she cried before trying to Double Slap me, but Ralts don’t know that move, so it just came out as a weak, pillowy punch that squished into my face.

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Where’s Sabrina?”

She hopped back and glanced around worriedly before shaking. I sat up and picked her up, drawing in my dark energies to pat her on the head. “Hey, it’s alright. She won’t have left you for long.”

The door to my ensuite opened and proved me right as Sabrina walked out. She toweled her hair off as she entered and paused when she noticed we were both awake. “Ah, good you’re awake. If you’d slept any longer, I might have started to worry.”

I got out of bed and grabbed my transceiver off the charger.

“It’s…. Almost ten o’clock… Sabrina what time did I wake up this morning?”

“Your normal time,” she said, accepting Ralts from me. “I turned off your alarms and put your transceiver out of reach.” She patted me on the cheek before kissing me on said cheek. “You needed to rest. And sometimes that means you need to be reminded...”

I grumbled at her as she used her psychic abilities to wring out her hair. “Erika wants to do lunch sometime this week, by the way.”

I hummed. “That… would actually be nice but what about your Gym? Can you take today off?”

“I made sure to synchronise our time off. Alexa knows to give me access to your schedule.” She then tilted her head. “Also, I know which trainers will and won’t make it through the gauntlet that some of my trainers run. If something stops my prediction from being accurate, I can always get back to the Gym quickly enough.”

That got a chuckle and a shake of the head from me. “There are days when I wish I was born with your psychic abilities.”

The door to the mini fridge I kept in my room opened, and a water bottle flew into Sabrina’s hand before the door shut itself without her moving. I rolled my eyes at her, “Now you’re just showing off.”

I opened the laptop I had on a small desk to start checking over any jobs I had to do today. Sabrina teleported away before reappearing with a bowl of warm porridge with sliced berries and…. “Is that cinnamon?” I said, taking my eyes off my computer.

“Yes,” She then scooped out a spoonful and offered it to me. I blushed and accepted it. Ralts whined, and Sabrina grabbed up a smaller spoon for Ralts to have a mouthful of the porridge. I turned away from the computer for breakfast, and Sabrina nodded at me approvingly.

After breakfast, I inclined my head towards the computer, and she considered me before nodding. “Very well,” she lay back on the bed and started playing with Ralts who was more than happy to loudly cheer and take up the game. I shook my head and instead booted up the laptop and accessed my work. A Porygon poked its head in only to peek through the screen at the noise of Ralts hoping after Sabrina’s hand.

“Pory!” squawked the cyber duck as it emerged and joined in the game. Ralts cried out at the newly appeared pokemon only for Cypher the Porygon to nuzzle into her in a friendly greeting.

I ignored the rest of their game and instead opened my task list to find that Rocko, Dennis and Alex had already decimated it. There were a few things that I had to sign off on, such as sending out the new trainers after a few weak geodude and onix but otherwise, there wasn’t a pressing need for me to run the inventory on stock, pokemon, or check in about wages. It had all been handled with requests being outlined, with some more requests to have slightly longer breaks being the common consensus that everyone working for me was asking for.

I hummed and wrote a quick email to Alexa, discussing shortening the day by an hour and installing a small break in the afternoon. It would cause roughly three matches to be dropped, but that shouldn’t be such a loss.

I tapped the table after doing that before considering the one item that I had to handle in person today. I glanced back to the trio on my bed. “Who wants to go see Crowley at the Museum?”

Ralts perked up at that, while Cypher spun his head about in rejection. “Alright then, back into the intranet for you then,” I said to Cypher. Porygon front flipped into the screen and waved a foot at Ralts before zipping off the side of the screen.

Ralts gaped at the screen and tilted her head. “Ralts?!”

Sabrina lifted Ralts and brought her over the screen so that Ralts could tap her hands at it, only for Cypher to rush back out and trill happily. Ralts leapt back into Sabrina’s embrace at the shock.

“What’s that feel like to you?” I asked as I realised it wasn’t just sight that was at play with Sabrina and Ralts.

Sabrina rubbed Ralts head. “It feels like a pokemon is literally leaping out of nowhere for us. While they are in the computer, there is no indication they are there. It is not until they exit the network that they can be felt. The security hub sometimes has them pop up to have snacks with the security guards. It must come as a shock to little Ralts.” Sabrina tapped the screen where Cypher was happily dancing.

“Be nice,” she said admonishingly. Cypher nodded contritely and then spun away once more. Sabrina looked up, “Ready to go?” she asked.

I hummed and led her out; apparently, we were going to make a date of it. Sabrina laced her hand into mine as we left the house, and not even the trainers that tried to confront us for a two-for-one fight for multiple badges got under my skin. That might have been because Sabrina had the habit of teleporting them out of there.

A reporter appeared in my field of view and swallowed before girding her loins and advancing with her microphone held out. “And here we have the Kanto League’s power couple! Brock and Sabrina! How’s the day going for you?”

I smiled wide for the camera, amused that Sabrina would teleport others but not the reporter. I wondered how long that would last? Pushing that thought aside I said, “Rather well! I’m on my break week, and I think I’ve needed this.”

“What about all the trainers that are still waiting to face you? Are you worried about the back log you’ll have waiting for you?”

“Those numbers were always there, and unless we just increased the difficulty of all the battles, I don’t think it would be fair to the trainers that sought me out. A first badge gym fight for a new trainer is not meant to be a giant leap but a step in the right direction. If we’re guarding the path too zealously, all we’re doing is hurting people.”

“Where are you off to today?” the reporter asked politely.

“The museum,” Sabrina said, speaking up for the first time. “It has nice exhibits.”

“Oh! A date at the museum! How lovely! Do you have any other nice dating spots?”

“Mt Moon, Brock’s loungeroom…” Sabrina tilted her head. “Those are really the only places we’ve gone since we resumed dating.”

“Oh my, Mt Moon is certainly a trek for people, but I have no doubt it would be lovely at all times of the year! The loungeroom! That’s so homey! Thanks for talking with us! I’ll let you enjoy the rest of your day!” The woman stepped back and smiled widely at the cameraman. “And you’ve heard it here, folks, Kanto’s power couple enjoying themselves during a well-earnt break! I’m Susan Surandan signing out!”

The cameraman tapped something on the side of his screen and lowered his camera.

Sabrina and I kept walking, but I still heard him ask, “Why didn’t you ask for more questions?”

“Less is more Darrel! Sometimes you just need a few. I’m hoping they remember me next time and let me ask other questions, build up a good relationship with them as a professional, but not one that will overstep.”

I glanced at Sabrina, and she nodded. “She has a good method and is very reputable from what I remember seeing of her news articles. I will tolerate her more if she keeps her interactions short and minimally disruptive,” Sabrina said without looking back.

I nodded. “Hmmm almost conditioning them for what works best, yeah?”

“Indeed,” she said. “She also kept her voice down so that Ralts didn’t startle.”

I glanced down and found Ralts was slumbering on Sabrina’s arm as a baby would. “Ah,” I said, making sure to be quieter. “She’s observant then, I hadn’t seen Ralts falling off to sleep.”

“Ralts isn’t asleep, just relaxed.” Sabrina replied as Ralts poked her tongue out at me.

When we reached the museum, I made my way to the front doors instead of just walking around the back. We entered, paid, and began walking around the various exhibits.

"Huh, they have some new features since the last time I was here,” I said, noticing the various tribal artifacts that were laid out.

“The Crushers were an ancient tribe that inhabited the lands the Pewter now rests on. They roamed much of the Silver ranges and further north beyond what is now Rota. Numerous artifacts of their passage can still be found today. They were best known for their tactics for working with Mightyena to hunt food. They were otherwise known to have powerful Rock pokemon such as Onix, Graveler, Golem, and in very rare instances, Tyranitar. They survived by working with pokemon symbiotically as a large pack,” I said, reading off a stand for the display.

I looked up and found a hooded cape with a headpiece formed from what looked like a Mightyena skull. There was another that was obviously a Houndoom and then another that was a Tyranitar’s skull. The Tyranitar piece had gold inlay into it and it looked very regal.

The entire set-up sort of reminded me of the Lorekeeper style that appeared with Zinnia who I vaguely remember having something to do with the Legendaries of Hoenn. A few artworks with large cut-out sections of rock must have been hauled into the museum to complete the display.

“It makes for an impressive display,” I said as we wandered through the ancient Pewter history of the tribal days.

The displays then turned to a science section that highlighted the City’s history of being one of the first locations to feature the Onix to Steelix and the Scyther to Scizor evolution on record. There was a whole wing that discussed the funding that went into discovering other pokemon that could evolve from methods such as Metal coat. I noted there was a small mention of Rhyperior also being something that was discovered in Pewter with a picture of myself and Bertha challenging Lance.

There were a few interested murmurs from other museum-goers as I stood in front of a display that literally featured me. I decided not to linger, lest people start asking questions. The method of evolving Rhydon was still a secret I wanted to hold onto.

From there, we went into the space exploration section, that had a wonderful discussion on the planets that surrounded our the pokeworld. There was even an observatory that supposedly watched for any space pokemon, with signs that Clefairy originated from the moon.

I paused at another section that featured a pokemon I had some interest in but knew wasn’t feasible for my Gym.

The display showed off Minior.

I blinked when a robotic voice chimed out next to me, revealing a young girl with a pokedex. I was surprised that it wasn’t Greta.

Minior, a pokemon thought to only exist within the stratosphere that was visible through telescopes. This pokemon is known to build up stray particles that come in contact with the pokeworld atmosphere.

Over the course of many years, they grow heavier until they begin to descend. Their fall from atmosphere is often thought to be that of a shooting star. These pokemon were extremely hard to capture due to their natural habitat being the higher stratosphere. Once they are removed from this, they have a limited lifespan that can be measured in days. Storing them in a pokeball has been able to extend this to a few months. It is currently being researched with environmental controls or pokeball development. This pokemon is considered a Rock-Flying type.

“Huh, that had to be the most detailed pokedex analysis I’ve ever heard,” I said.

The girl was startled. “Oh!? Ah! Yes, I’ve spent quite a while recording and expanding my pokedex so I am able to get a lot more detailed information on pokemon when I want it!” she said with a polite bow, only to pause. “Oh! You’re Gym Leaders Brock and Sabrina!”

I rubbed the back of my head. “That’s us, and this is Ralts,” I said pointing to the little pokemon in Sabrina’s arms.

“Hello! I’m Lyra from New Bark Town! I’m also one of Professor Elm’s assistants… or rather, an intern…” she said this while tugging on her ponytails and shrinking into her giant white cap. Her hair looked a little split, and she had some dark bags underneath her eyes, making me wonder what her story was.

She yawned and blushed. “Sorry! I have been running errands for Elm all over… well the world… I only just got some downtime, and while I was in Pewter, I thought I’d take the day to look around.”

“Not doing the circuit?” I asked curiously.

“No, no! I did my circuit last year! Now I just run jobs for Professor Elm.”

“Hmmm do you know Bianca?” I asked as we moved further into the space exhibit, along with the first manned mission that was from Hoenn. The placard begrudgingly commented that they’d also claimed other milestones, such as being the first in space and having a manned space station being built for deployment in a year or so.

“Of her, I didn’t have a lot to do with her,” Lyra said before jolting. “Oh sorry! I shouldn’t intrude on your date!”

“I didn’t mind,” Sabrina voiced, causing me to stop and glance at her as she considered a stand. “Your pokedex’s insight was much better than what the museum had.”

Lyra scratched at the back of her head and giggled. "Yeah, I went really, really overboard in documenting any and all pokemon I encountered for Professor Elm. Most people don’t usually get that level unlocked until their third year as a trainer supposedly.” She then yawned again. “Oh! Sorry, but I think I should be going cause otherwise I’ll fall asleep standing up! I still need to eat something, so I better go have lunch!”

I waved her off, curious as to how she had gotten into Pewter and then not eaten. Perhaps she took after her mentor a little too much? Elm was, after all, the sort that would skip meals.

“She camped out all night and documented the clefairy dancing on Mt Moon,” Sabrina said, anticipating my interest in the girl.

“Ah, that makes a bit of sense.” I pushed it aside and turned back to my date. We walked around and enjoyed the scene for a bit before buying lunch from the cafeteria to enjoy together. Ralts jumped up on the table and stole a few bites herself, and when I tried to feed Sabrina she intercepted it and glared at me.

It was rather adorable, in truth, especially when I made a game out of it. Sabrina giggled, which caused Ralts to turn, uncertain at the noise coming from Sabrina, allowing me to sweep a spoonful of pudding to Sabrina, who happily accepted it.

“Hey Sabrina, did you hear about the news story about the origami museum in Johto being raided?”

“No?” she said with a tilt of her head.

“Yeah, the news is waiting for more to unfold first,” I said while smiling mischievously. Sabrina twitched, and Ralts hopped in her lap, interested in Sabrina’s reaction.

“I went to the air and space museum the other day, man was I ripped off. It was an empty room!”

Sabrina giggled and held up a hand to stop me. When I grinned and opened my mouth, she shot the spoon of pudding into my mouth. “No more for now, I do not want to make a spectacle of myself,” she said.

I swallowed and nodded. “Alright, alright. One more?” I said. Sabrina nodded slowly. I grinned. “You know I almost worked here?” I said indicating the history section of the museum. “Then I realised there was no future in it.”

Sabrina stood, her head shaking back and forth while her lips were pressed together as her shoulders shook. She buried her mouth into Ralts and giggles spilled out. I laced my arm through hers and led her around the back, pleased with how the date had gone. Sabrina leaned in and pinched me.

“I like it,” she said, before smiling at me. I leaned down and pecked her on the lips, causing her smile to grow a little more. She leaned on my shoulder as we walked.

“Rrrrrrraaaalts,” Ralts said in a defeated tone that let me know she understood that I wasn’t some interloper in her and Sabrina’s lives, but rather a solid part of it. I reached over and patted her on the head; this time Ralts accepted it, making me feel like I’d won a prize.

When we reached Crowley’s offices, the man was working on aligning a crystal. He stood and nodded before noticing us. “Ah! Brock! Sabrina! Good to see you both! I sent the last successful cases around to the Gym! More Lileep for you!”

“Good to hear,” I said before nodding to the machine. “What are you working on?”

“I’m closing in on getting the machine to work on a proper pokemon with more complex PNA chains! I know I am close! Sadly it is an imperfect—”

“You miss carrying a zero point, oh, oh, oh seven,” Sabrina said, eyeing his notes on a chalkboard. The man whirled about.

“Where? Show me! That will make significant shifts of a whole seven nanometres!”

“Is that a lot?” I asked.

Sabrina nodded. “When dealing with cells, it is.”  I shot her a confused look. “Alakazam likes to read lots of books, he’s been looking back through his medical notes recently,” she said with a shrug like that explained it. I decided to just nod and accept it.

Crowley inspected the chalkboard before nodding. “Thank you, my dear!” he said stroking his chin, “This is a new method that we’re using to define the angle of focus that light will pass through, and the refraction rate is something I’ve only just started to wrap my head around.”

Sabrina shrugged and indicated an open book to the side. “It matched with this theory you had open here, and I noticed a difference.”

Crowley grinned. “Alright! Well, now I just need to make the corrections! Excuse me a moment!” He typed away on a laptop attached to the machine before bringing out a large magnifying visor that he used to look at the crystal. Then he hit another button on the computer and held his breath. “Perfect! I moved exactly the right distance!”

I raised a hand, stunned that he’d been able to see it with his eyes and a visor, before shaking it off. This would honestly be small change to what pokemon tech could achieve if I really wanted to get picky.

Crowley straightened once more. “Excellent! I shall be able to commence testing once we have confirmed the viability of it with Lileep!” Crowley then coughed. “Sadly, I will need another fossil for that Brock… we’ve used all the genetic data we can from the previous fossil.”

“Ah, about that,” I said reaching into a bag I’d been carrying all morning. I reached in and drew out the four fossils from Celia. “Celia has been very successful in finding a number of new options for us. May I present the Skull, Cover, and Claw fossils. Along with an old favourite of ours, with one Root fossil.”

“Excellent!” crowed Crowley, “I was afraid I would have to use my Old Amber straight away, but with this we have so many more options! Let’s do an assessment for what type of pokemon they will be!”

I smiled, already knowing what types they’d be.

Nevertheless, Crowley placed the fossils into receptacles that scanned the fossils and put up a display of what the pokemon would each look like along with the typing.

The Skull fossil demonstrated a pure Rock type with Cranidos. The Claw Fossil showcased a Bug-Rock type with Anorith. And the Cover fossil showed Tirtouga as a Water-Rock type turtle.

“Hmmm another water type pokemon. I think I might have people thinking I’m dual-typed at this point,” I said with a chuckle.

“You will have a sizeable number of ancient pokemon now Brock. In the future, it might be worth looking into having trainers have a novelty challenge with Ancient types only!” Crowley said while reading something off the screen.

I chuckled. “Ha! I could call it the ancient challenge and also have people pay to come and look at the ancient pokemon and it would be like…” I paused as I realised just how many positives there were to that suggestion. “Crowley, you’re a genius!”

Crowley turned and adjusted his spectacles. “Yes? Thank you for noticing?” he said without a hint of shame.

“Oh! I’m totally pitching that to Rachel and the others! I might not get it done this year, but next year!” I said enthusiastically.

Sabrina nodded along before leaning in. “Due to the bug pokemon’s simpler PNA chains, will there be a chance of resurrecting it?”

Crowley bristled. “Previous tests have only reached seventy percent accuracy! I dare not!”

“What about with the new method?” I asked.

“... Eighty nine percent certainty…” he said after assessing the calculations once again. “Give me the rest of the week to test it with the Lileep, and I will know more…”

He fidgetted. “It… might be possible to have another pokemon for you to investigate by the end of the week,” He said carefully. “I’m still not confident with the animal PNA chains that we have here but… these samples will put us closer! More samples will allow greater access.”

Crowley then turned and offered me a bow. “Brock, I’ve come to the conclusion that… no resurrection machine will have a true guarantee of success. Not even with the Lileep. I’ve had sixteen failures with the hundred we’ve so far raised… I think that number will grow as we get more complicated. I think this is something that is not advertised by the other groups resurrecting pokemon.” He shook his head as though dismayed by the lack of scientific integrity.

“I will keep trying but...” He spread his hands helplessly.

“Crowley,” I said, reaching out and putting my hand on his shoulder. “You’ve already done wonders by resurrecting Lileep from extinction. This entire venture has been a success already. Don’t doubt yourself so much.”

He relaxed at that before nodding and turning back to the chalkboard. "Yes, well, thank you for understanding.” He rubbed his nose. “Please excuse me; I’d like to focus on these next few tests. I will message you at the end of the week with my success or failure. Thank Celia for the samples.”

I patted him on the shoulder and moved off. “Ralts?” said the little pokemon that had been watching the exchange quietly, absorbing it all and taking it in.

Sabrina rubbed Ralts head. “Yes, he was sad, but also pleased at being accepted. Emotions are complex things Ralts.” Ralts made a thoughtful noise at this.

I stretched and glanced at my transceiver. “So what should we do this afternoon?”

Sabrina considered the questions and was about to answer when a robotic tone spoke up. “Rattata, the rat pokemon that has a normal typing. It will inhabit cities, forests, deserts,  grasslands, and has been posited to be capable of living in any environment given time to adapt. Rattata is considered the most widespread pokemon but this is contested by Magikarp which is impressive considering the ability of Magikarp to traverse the world through the waterways. Rattata have long been linked with human movement, and it is thought that as humans moved, Rattata followed them! Rattata have been known to steal food from the hands of unsuspecting trainers.”

I frowned and looked around, not seeing where the voice was coming from. Sabrina stepped off the path, and there we found a sleeping Lyra sitting on a camp chair. In one hand her Pokedex was held in such a way that it was recording the Rattata that had approached to eat the sandwich the sleeping girl was still holding in her other hand.

“You know... If this is how she racked up her hours of documenting pokemon I have to admit to not being sure if I’m impressed or saddened,” I said, causing Rattata to startle and leap away with the sandwich in his mouth. Lyra mumbled something before snoring loudly. I felt a little impressed that she had fallen asleep like that.

Sabrina inspected the girl before turning to me. “It is not safe for her to remain here. Would you mind…” She considered the girl for a second before shaking her head. “If I teleported her to sleep in one of your Gym’s trainer rooms?”

I waved it off, and a second later, Sabrina teleported away with Ralts and Lyra. I started walking back home. For a second, I thought Sabrina was going to suggest we carry Lyra. Would that have looked awkward if I’d carried her?

… Then again, Sabrina might have just telekinetically carried her behind us… which probably would have looked weirder, especially if Lyra slept through it.

Sabrina reappeared at my side a little while later. “All sorted?” I asked. Sabrina merely nodded.

“She didn’t even wake up when I tucked her in.”

“Heh, don’t tell Suzie that you tucked another girl in. She’ll get jealous.”

“Suzie would like me to tuck her in?” Sabrina asked.

I nodded. “She’d love that.”

“Hmmmm, in that case, I would like to spend this afternoon at your home. Then we will have dinner as a family, and I will read Suzie a story and tuck her in.” Sabrina nodded.

“Now, I’m jealous, do you want to spend time with me or Suzie?”

“Yes,” Sabrina said before marching forward. I shot her a look and spotted the small, pleased upturn of her lips that let me know my girlfriend was teasing me.

That said, I could flip the game on its head easily enough. “Wanna make out on the couch while we wait for them to get home?”

“Yes,” she said, and a moment later I found myself teleported into my loungeroom with Sabrina straddling me. Ralts scoffed and waddled off to find Eevee and Munchlax.

It ended up being a very good first day off.

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A.N. Thanks to all my Patreons. My usual team of Betas have been busy with IRL so this is unbeta’d. Sorry for any errors that seem obvious!