Hard Enough - Chapter 313 - New Plans

I sat behind my desk and smiled into the camera in a manner that had grown to be second nature. 

“Hello everyone! As you might be aware, the Pewter Gym has had several interactions with the delegates, which is part of what is known as the Trinity Nations Accord. This is made up of, as the name implies, three nations. Those being—” I worked through the brief press release that would be given out to the public, both via news channels and on our own Pokenet page which had tons of followers these days. 

I signed off with a smile. “Stay tuned for more information as we will be doing a quick run-through of the information that has been granted to us regarding certain types of pokemon, along with video footage of some of the matches that occur in other nations! Before that there will be a promotional video coming out for the Battle Frontier! Until then! Stay safe and warm this winter!” I said with a wave that I continued as the recording light faded. 

“And cut!” called Rachel as she tapped a few buttons on the camera in front of her. “And we’re done with that! I think that was a solid take boss! I’ll slap some other videos over the top that are about the people we met up with, along with some photos I took when they were here, and I think that will be a wrap! Should have that finished up and shipped off by tonight for the news channels and I’ll post it tomorrow!” she declared. 

“Thanks for that Rachel,” I said as I turned my attention to the next task I had assigned myself—a sort of pokedex review.

I scrolled through it, and while I spotted many familiar Pokemon, I also noted that a few were pointedly missing from the list.

I must have pursed my lips or grunted as Rachel looked up at me. “Something the matter boss?”

I hummed, flicked my eyes to her, and then back to the pokedex list before me. “I think the information here has been curtailed. Pokemon like my Gible and Cynthia’s Garchomp are notably missing.” I continued scrolling to the end of what I deemed the Sinnoh pokedex. 

Carnivine, Rotom, Dusknoir, Dialga, Palkia, Heatran, Regigigas, Giratina, Cresselia, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, and Arceus were all not listed. 

Although it actually didn’t surprise me that Arceus of all pokemon wasn’t listed on the pokedex. That would be almost like heresy now that I thought about it. 

For some reason, they had kept Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, though? 

Why were they included but the other legendary pokemon weren’t? Or was I misremembering that and they were considered merely mythic pokemon instead?

“There any interesting Rock types that you might be looking into acquiring?” she asked.

I chuckled. “Sinnoh is surprisingly poor for Rock-type pokemon,” I stated. 

Technically, there were seven Pokemon listed, but four of those were fossils, with the others being evolutions on top of already known Pokemon such as Probopass, Rhyperior, and Bonsly, which was the opposite in that it was an egg Pokemon. 

I began flicking through the much more comprehensive list from Unova, which had most of the Pokémon, although again, Legendary Pokémon were missing. 

Hydreigon was listed, but none of its earlier forms were on show. It came with multiple warnings slapped across it, declaring it a Pokémon not to be approached and to actively flee from if discovered in the wild.

I smirked and took a screenshot, which I messaged to Lance. “Is this on your shopping list?” I teased. 

I tapped the screen on Roggenrola and Dwebble. “These two look like they have some promise,” I said to Rachel. 

When I reached the Kalosian list, I paused on a specific Pokemon. “Oh, right. As soon as we can, I’d like to place a trade or a purchase order for as many of these Pokemon as I can,” I said as I turned the screen and displayed Carbink’s information.

Rachel smiled. “Awww, that’s a cute little rock type, isn’t it!” Rachel cooed before adopting a serious expression. “I’m sorry to say that I think there are going to be a lot of issues with that though, boss. Trades probably won’t be set up for at least another year or two.”

“Eh, we’ll put it on the back burner then as a long-term project,” I said wistfully. In truth, it was only an idle thought. If I created a nutrient-rich environment for Carbink with pink diamonds, would I eventually get a Diancie?

I sighed. One day I’d get to test that theory out. Until then, I could only dream.

Rachel smiled at my antics and returned to editing the video. “So you’re going to do like a pokedex talk through huh?”

“Yeah, it’s not something I expect to release immediately, however. We might go through the various pokemon. Even invite some specialised trainers to comment on some of the video, seeing as we’ll have time to preload much of the information. I imagine there will have to be at least a video or two discussing each region’s champions before we even consider… well, Bruno and Marshal’s brawl,” I said with a twitch of my lips. 

That.. had been an… Well, I honestly couldn’t say I was surprised to see the match turn out like it did. I’d been deeply amused by it, and even though the kids had watched on, I couldn’t find it in me to find fault. 

Bruno was simply being himself. 

He wanted to fight, and even though his match ended in a draw, the fire within him meant he found a way to keep going.

I was honestly more surprised he hadn’t used his extended pokeball holding capacity and sent out a seventh pokemon but perhaps he’d simply followed through with his gut instinct when he’d gotten close to Marshal and vice versa. 

The boys in my family loved the entire spectacle, while the girls all watched on with vague interest, like they were watching a pair of Mankeys bash at each other rather than a pair of red-blooded men.

Tommy had loved it. Demanding that a video of the fight be sent to Lt Surge. 

I was rather surprised with how quickly I’d gotten a response from the man. I hadn’t realised that he’d have access to his transceiver in prison like that, but perhaps special circumstances had been at play for this fight?

I should probably schedule another visit sometime. Deliver him some snacks, that sort of thing.

I was not going to deliver another Visquez gift package however. 

The man could find his own condoms. 

That was just… yick.

Rachel shifted. “Soooo, have you thought about wedding plans any more? Like the venue? The guestlist? What you’ll wear? What you’ll say? What will you dance to? Oh and then there’s the meal plan, the cake tasting and also the engagement party that you absolutely have to have!” Rachel declared like some miniature rainbow authority on the subject.

“Must I? I was led to believe that weddings were typically rather intimate and small events,” I said, recalling how some weddings played out in Indigo. Typically nothing too major occurred with them. At least it seemed that way in Pewter. 

It just seemed like big deals weren’t really made of it. 

Or perhaps that was my age showing through?

In my past life, once you hit a certain age bracket, it seemed like everyone was getting married and having kids within a period of time. This made for a rather interesting social calendar with weddings and such to attend.

Perhaps I just hadn’t reached that age range yet and was ahead of the curve?

Rachel looked at me like I was stupid. “Brock… You and Sabrina are the couple of Kanto, if not Indigo. There is going to be at least international interest in your announcement!” 

Rachel raised a hand and began ticking off points. “If you and Sabrina have Stantler, and Torchic parties people will be trying to crash or even get photos of the event for the coverage or a scandal or…” She waved her hand. “You understand what I’m talking about!” she declared.

“Hmmmm, so you’re saying that just walking down to the courthouse and signing some docu—” I said with a teasing lilt, only for Rachel to stand and point at me.

“Don’t you joke about that! Sabrina deserves no less than the best! You will give her an incredible day mister!” she growled before huffing. “And you deserve it no less either!” she added, crossing her arms. 

I smiled, a little touched that she saw us that way. “Hmmm, I guess I’ll have to listen to reason,” I teased. 

I chuckled. “But you should absolutely tell the news crews that you had to talk to me to not just go down to the courthouse. That will get them talking.”

Rachel nodded. “Yeah, we’re starting to get a few camping out in front of the Gym waiting for a press release. Do you have anything official like you want to say?”

I flicked a screen to the side and brought up the front cameras and sure enough there appeared to be at least twenty or so reporters standing around the front of the Gym. 

There had only been two when I’d departed with the kids for school this morning and they’d started to approach only to see the kids and backed off.

I sighed. I would have to thank PTN and Lifestyle for respecting my wishes not to be interviewed or filmed around the kids.

“So I’ll probably have to think of some stuff regarding those questions, won’t I?” I asked.

Rachel’s head bobbed up and down only for her to still. “Uhmmmm and you might want to come up with something quick?” she pointed towards the screen and I glanced up to find Lola of all people skipping towards the reporters.

My mind blanked.

This… was not a situation I’d laid any rules down for. I honestly had no idea how this was going to play out. If I had a twenty-sided dice I’d have a better chance at predicting the outcomes than this. 

Lola could do anything with them. I toggled the sound to see if I could catch anything being said. 

“Hello there! You’re camped out in front of my house! Is there something you want to tell me…. Hmmmmm?” she said in a singsong tone that sent shivers down my spine. 

I quickly inspected her hands to ensure she wasn’t hiding a knife. That would be a rather telling sign about her intentions, but her hands were empty and at her sides, which didn’t give me much relief.

“Isn’t that Brock’s house? We’re looking for a statement from him about his engagement to Sabrina from Saffron!” responded one of the cameramen. 

Lola’s body language shifted in an instant, going from potential murderer to that of a gushing mother in an instant. 

A few of the reporters must have noticed the transition as they shifted uneasily as Lola wiggled. “Oh! Sabrina is such a dear! I can’t wait for her to have five or six children of her own and discover the joys of motherhood!”

I snorted. “Yeah, because you’re such an expert on that,” I snarked aloud. 

Rachel coughed in a manner that sounded like a laugh. On the screen another reporter raised a microphone towards Lola. 

“So how has it been returning home after being away so long?”

“Oh, I wasn’t gone that long!” Lola demurred with a flap of her hand. “And it’s been wonderful! My family are so loving and excited to have me back!” she declared. 

She glanced over her shoulder, and I thought our eyes met through the camera for a moment. 

Then she turned back to the crowd of cameramen. “Who wants to hear what Brock was like as a baby?” she declared, pulling out what looked like an extremely dusty family album. 

Huh, so that’s what she’d been hunting around for in the storage space in the basement of the house a few days ago.

I tilted my head. Unsure what I should do in this instance. On one hand, Lola was just doing what could be deemed normal mother things with flashing baby photos and gushing over me to the news crews. On the other hand, I didn’t like this at all. 

“Uhmmm should we stop her?” Rachel asked as Lola started talking about various escapades I’d done as a toddler and then as a child.

I rubbed my head and considered what would happen if I went out there.

The absolute worst-case scenario is that Lola would try to test her boundaries in public.

If Lola decided to test me again and I punched her in public… yeah, that wasn’t going to be good optics for me.

But at the same time, I couldn’t just let her flounce around saying whatever she wanted. Public perception was one thing, and if I gave her rope like this, she might wrap it around me by saying something that I knew was wrong, but the public wouldn’t.

One of the reporters instantly had me sitting up when they asked. “What’s your role going to be in the day to day operation of the Gym?”

I got Flint on the line instantly. “What’s she done now?” said Flint as a way of greeting.

My lips quirked upwards before thinning as I recognised how tired he sounded. “She’s out the front with a bunch of reporters and cameras. I’m about to—”

“I’m on it,” he said, hanging up quickly. 

He must have jogged out of the house as he quickly appeared on the camera and approached Lola to coax her away from the reporters. 

Lola instead dragged him into the interview, giving him a smooch for everyone watching. “And this is the man that I came home for!” Lola gushed. “It helped that I knew he’d be waiting for me when I came home! I can’t thank my wonderful husband enough for all the work he’s done!” she declared. “He knew I’d be successful in reuniting old nations together!” she stated.

I snorted again. Flint hadn’t known that was why she was away. The more telling point was how she was guilting him into feeling bad about any potential doubts he might have had. She was really smacking him around with that.

I grimaced and drummed my fingers. 

Across the table, Rachel watched me carefully. 

I locked eyes with her as an idea formed. After all, I did rather like hitting two or three pages with just one rock throw. “I’ve had an idea,” I stated, and a pleased smile took hold.

Rachel leaned back with a slightly worried expression. 

Rude. 

I told her her part, and she grinned, causing me to chuckle. 

That was more like it. 

                                                                   __________________

Flint grimaced as he tugged lightly at Lola’s side. “Honey, I think these nice folk have better things to report on than old stories like that. Let’s leave the reporter—”  He tried to lead her away, only for Lola to dig her feet into the ground and her form to tense up as she resisted. 

He held back a grimace. When Lola set her mind to something there were precious few things in this world that could stop her from getting what she wanted. 

Flint loved her for it, but sometimes, like now, it could rear its head as an issue. She had a fantasy about Brock settling down with her soon, but that wasn’t what he was worried about right now. 

Flint shot the front doors of the Gym a look that was part worry and another part pleading. 

This hadn’t been one of the topics Brock had laid out a rule for, but that might have been a good thing as Lola was prone to testing her situation. 

She’d eased back a bit when Brock had given her a timeout, but that was after almost breaking out of the hotel room Sabrina had teleported her into. 

Oddly enough, all the doors had withstood Lola’s attempts to exit them by continually locking themselves after she had unlocked them. When she’d tried breaking the windows, Barriers had appeared.

Flint knew Sabrina had to have been the culprit for that, not that he’d said as much to Lola. 

She’d, if anything, seemed amused by the entire situation, treating it like a game until she’d announced loudly that Sabrina had ‘won this round’. 

Flint suspected that Lola had attempted to break out again later that night while he’d been asleep, only to be still denied. She’d had a rather glorious pout on her face the next morning at least, and that only happened when Lola didn’t get her way. 

Flint had a strange relationship with his… daughter-in-law, but he had to respect her. She was too terrifying not to respect after all. 

Flint was just about to attempt to dislodge Lola once again when music began to thrum out over the speakers along the front of the Gym, only for Rachel Raul, Brock’s Public Relations Manager to skate out. 

“Alright, everyone! You’ve had enough of the teasers, thanks, Lola. We can take it from here!” Rachel called as Brock emerged with Rhyperior and Titan at his side. 

A shadow shifting overhead had Flint snapping his head up and Lola twitching in his arms, only for a psychic energy to wrap around them and tug them both out of the way.

Flint smiled at Selene as she moved the pair of them off to the side, where they couldn’t cause any issue. Huh, that was rather bold of Brock. Bold and effective, he thought as they were set down.

Selene pointedly kept an eye on them as Brock took up a position in front of the gym and smiled his best PR smile. 

“So, I guess people want to know about some wedding plans?” he said with a sheepish smile. “Well, I’ve honestly not been able to think about it before now but certain parties tell me it’s going to have to be big—” 

Flint smiled as Brock took control of the impromptu press conference. Amusingly, two reporters seemed to have Brock’s favour as he answered more of their questions than anyone else.

There was only one hiccup when a Sneasely looking man shot Flint and Lola a smirk. “What is going to happen with the fortune that Lola accumulated? Your family is already rich, no? Isn’t this just a case of the rich getting richer?”

Brock riposted quickly before Lola could be drawn in. “Well as a grown woman who has achieved a lot I’d say she’s entitled to that money. She after all chose that over spending time with her family, so take from that what you will, but it’s not my place to tell her what to do with her money.” 

Flint frowned at the less than subtle dig at Lola, and a few reporters paused, noticing the comment while at his side, Lola continued to smile like nothing was wrong. 

Flint held in a sigh. He’d try, for perhaps the fifteenth time in the last week alone, but getting her to sit in with a therapist, even one focusing on him, was still too much for Lola.

“Are you going to move to Saffron and stop being Gym Leader once you’re married?” shouted another reporter.

Brock made a face. “Not for the foreseeable future. I have plans in place that will keep the Pewter Gym running even if I were to step back, so don’t worry about that. The Gym has grown stronger from this last season’s circuit, and I can only promise bigger and better for future trainers!” he said with a broad smile as he gave a sign that the press conference was over. 

Brock led everyone back into the gym, ignoring the shouted calls for more questions regarding a variety of topics. When the doors were shut Brock sighed. “Alright that went about as well as I could hope for,” he said.

He shot Lola a look as Selene released her grip on her and Flint.

Flint rolled his shoulders and shifted his weight while Lola slumped. “Brock! That wasn’t part of the deal! You can’t go changing things like that when it suits you!” she whined. 

Flint grimaced. Lola had a point there, and Brock seemed to understand that from the way his lips twitched in annoyance.

“It wasn’t about that. It was more about how I still don’t trust you in public, especially in front of cameras.”

“What?! Brock, how could you say that?” Lola gasped.

Brock leveled a singularly unimpressed look at her as Rachel scuttled out of the room, leaving just Brock’s pokemon with them. 

“You’ve toed the lines many times before, even stepping over them twice since I laid the rules out. I think I’ve been more than fair.” Brock slashed his hand through the air. “Actions have consequences. Which in this case led me to having to hold you, just so you couldn’t try and force something.”

“I would never!” Lola declared but Brock just met her words with an expression carved from granite.

“I don’t believe that, and until I do, I will continue to take measures.”

Lola trembled at that. “It shouldn’t be this way!” she cried, tears forming at the corners of her eyes pitifully. Flint reached out to her and put an arm around her.

Brock just huffed and moved back into the Gym. “And yet it is. If you’re still having trouble with that after almost a week with us Lola I think you need to talk to someone.”

Flint could feel the way Lola tensed at that before she went still. “I don’t want that…” she whispered so quietly that Flint didn’t think he was supposed to hear it. 

Brock certainly didn’t, as he moved into the arena part of the Gym, leaving them in the reception area with his pokemon following a moment later. 

Flint sighed. “Come on, honey. Let’s head home and prepare some snacks for the kids when they get home from school.”   

Lola perked up straight away and started bouncing towards the door so quickly Flint had a moment where he doubted what had just happened, only to sigh. That was just how Lola was sometimes. Fast to anger, fast to forgive, fast at everything except accepting help.

That took time.

It was a good thing that Flint was patient.

That was something he had in spades.

                                                                   __________________

I lay against a particularly comfortable rock as various pokemon used me as a cushion and others played around me.

Sabrina appeared next to me with a raised eyebrow. “So we’re having a big wedding are we?” she said with an amused tone.

“Rachel argued a good case,” I said, not at all bothered if I was potentially throwing the older girl under the psychic train that was Sabrina.

Sabrina merely huffed. “Well, not that it matters.” At a questioning look from me, she elaborated. “By the time I was done announcing it to my family and the girls that I am friends with… well, our guest list is already going to be in the triple digits, I should think.”

“Hmmm, not like I can ignore Lance or the other Gym Leaders,” I suggested, settling into an easy back and forth with Sabrina.

She nodded. “I suppose I can also allow Karen and Agatha to attend.” 

I chuckled. “They’d probably gate crash if we didn’t invite them,” I pointed out. 

Sabrina smiled, “Yes, it will ruin their fun if I do it this way.”

I hummed and shot her a look. “You realise that we’re going to have to start looking at venues if we want to have any shot at planning a date.”

“Spring,” Sabrina said firmly. “I don’t mind that we’ll be cutting into the trainer circuit. They can wait to challenge us,” she stated firmly. 

“Hmmm, true enough,” I said as I scratched at my chin. Now we just needed to find a suitable venue.

I huffed another laugh, and this time, I needed to elaborate when Sabrina shot me a questioning look. “It’s just that if we don’t find something… well, we both have enough contacts to find a nice enough venue that we can set up a wedding in a meadow somewhere and have structures built for the purpose,” I said with a smile. 

Pokemon construction was no joke, and that was before a dedicated Psychic joined the workforce.

“I asked Erika to be my Maid of Honour,” Sabrina said suddenly. 

I blinked. “Oh, wow, she must have been ecstatic.”

Sabrina nodded as her lips thinned. “She was screaming in joy both mentally and verbally. I was nearly deafened twice over by her. I almost,” Sabrina held up her fingers so they were barely held apart. “Was almost suggesting giving it to Visquez as a joke just to see her wilt, but I realised that would be too mean.”

“Erika does live for a good social event,” I replied mildly. Then a thought struck me out of the blue that had me shooting Sabrina a look. 

“What?” she asked.

“Do you realise that, with Erika helping out, our guest list might be at the upper limit of triple digits now?” I suggested. 

Sabrina narrowed her eyes. “We’ll cull them down easily enough,” she declared with a clenched fist. 

I just shook my head and relaxed. Sabrina carded her hand through my hair and repositioned me so I was sitting in her lap, the various pokemon that had used me as a cushion grumbled but moved off easily enough.

“How was your day?” she asked, and I smiled up at her and regaled her with the various mundane and not-so-normal parts of my day. 

I suspected Cranidos wasn’t far off evolving. Gible was still a ways off but I’d been working him on some specific Dragon type moves such as Draco Meteor which the anime did not lie about the difficulty of. 

That move was as inaccurate as a drunk firing a tommy gun one handed at a barndoor. 

You were lucky to hit the intended target three times out of ten so far and more than a few Geodudes and Onix were forced to duck for cover during the other attempts. 

I was probably just lucky I didn’t own a Piplup.

I showed Sabrina a video of Gible performing a Dragon Dance, which involved the tiny shark doing a wiggle, which I had overlaid with a silly song from my past life. 

“Baby shark do do do do do!” I sang over the top of the video with a laugh. 

Sabrina giggled along with me before glancing at me. “I don’t recognise that song. Something from before?” she prompted. 

I nodded and she hummed. “It’s cute.” She then smirked. “I’m going to send it to Rachel, and she can post it online. Gible can be pokenet famous before he even fights.”

“I should make an account for him on mypokéspace,” I said with a laugh before pausing and actually thinking about it. “You know… that’s not such a bad idea,” I mused.  

Sabrina brought out her notepad once more, and I shot her an amused look. I knew for a fact that she didn’t need to write things down to remember them. She just liked the look of it. 

“So are there any Psychic pokemon that will likely make a migration towards Indigo or the archipelago islands?”

I hummed. “Well, that’s a tough question. I suspect there might be some water types that might drift on sea currents, and there are always people around that catch and release pokemon they really shouldn’t into the wild…” 

I rubbed my chin. “As more areas open up, there might be some competition in certain circles for pokemon like Gardevoir,” I said carefully. 

“More pokemon that appear humanoid?” Sabrina clarified as I felt a mental probe from her. 

I coughed. “Yeeeeeah. Gothitelle is a pure Psychic type that might have certain… fans,” I said, opening my mind and giving an impression of what I could recall of the Pokemon.

“Ah, goth lovers,” Sabrina replied. 

“Yuuuuup!” I watched her for a moment. “Any more questions?”

Sabrina hummed, continuing her ministrations of my hair. “Any other information you can give me regarding how to find Latios or Latias that may or may not be around Kanto?”

I coughed. “Ah, right. Uhmmmm,” I searched my memories for specifics. 

It had been something I’d mentioned offhandedly to Sabrina in one of our many chats of late only for it to zero in on the information that such a pokemon was potentially zipping around Kanto.

In retrospect, a psychic-dragon would make sense as something of importance to Sabrina.

Either of the Eon pokemon would frankly be a huge boost for Sabrina in prestige alone if not power. 

Sabrina had been less than impressed that I hadn’t mentioned such a pokemon to her, even less so with it potentially being around Indigo. I’d pointed out that I had mentioned the Latias that Nurse Joy had, which had earned a dismissive sniff that let me know she wasn’t pleased by my logic. 

She’d been even more annoyed when I’d mentioned Alto Mare and how an entire movie from my past life featured the Eon duo residing there. 

Sabrina had instantly vanished to investigate the city only to find nothing during her brief foray into the city.

She then jokingly batted at me with her fists for not leading with such important information when I’d shared my secret with her. 

I’d gotten back on her good side with a few well-timed jokes and kisses. 

“Is there anything else that can be used to… engage with Latios?” Sabrina asked.

“Hmmm there was an Enigma Stone, but those were event items meant to allow diehard pokemon fans easier access to the Eon duo,” I stated. “It actually makes one of them appear in Pewter, but again… game mechanics…” 

“Don’t translate very well,” she stated, completing the repeated statement. 

Sabrina remained quiet for a few more minutes only to announce, “I have started investigating the metal that makes up my Gym. I do believe your theory about the methods of creating Mind plates at the very least has borne fruit. It might not be something I utilise on many of my pokemon, but having a metal bracer to boost their power would certainly be a boon.”

I snorted. “And the other? The Twisted spoon?” I said.

“Not as feasible,” Sabrina said with a bemused chuckle. “I do believe we would have noticed that however, considering how quickly we go through spoons at the Saffron Gym.”

“Heh, I think you must have a whole factory line dedicated to just you and your trainers at this point,” I replied before growing serious. “If you do encounter Latias or Latios, ask them about Soul Dew. It’s something that boosts Psychic and Dragon moves which makes it very powerful for them.”

“Hmmm, they also have the option of Mega evolution,” she replied. “The Eon Duo are becoming more desirable the more we speak of them.”

“Speaking of Psychic pokemon. Any interactions with Mewtwo?” I asked carefully.

“None,” Sabrina shook her head slightly. “I believe he has retreated to New Island due to the presence of so many foreign vessels. He might not have wanted to risk appearing before them as they are largely unknowns to most of us,” Sabrina declared. “Having so many powerful trainers around might have scared him off,” she said.

I smiled. “I was just being accommodating for foreign dignitaries,” I replied. 

“You know, apart from Pewter, Fuchsia was the only other Gym visited by the Trinity delegates don’t you?”

I hummed, knowing I could play dumb. It wasn’t just that the delegates had limited time frames to visit others. It was also about having friendly faces out front. Pewter was, therefore, one of the best options, while Fuchsia, as the host city, couldn’t be overlooked.

“How’s Janine handling everything?” I asked.

“She’s still annoyed with your mother. The mood of the city is supportive of her as they understand that she’s not Koga, while only a loud minority raise a fuss about her ‘lapse’ in security.” 

I frowned, but Sabrina quickly began rubbing at my temples to relax me. “People are countering them with a posting war on the pokenet. Don’t let it bother you,” Sabrina said.

“She’s my friend, I’m allowed to worry.”

Sabrina gently rubbed my forehead and peered down at me. “You’re stressing yourself out more than you should Brock. You’re hovering over Lola and holding your breath for something to go wrong. Let’s see about enjoying ourselves. We have the time for it  now with our plans torn up and the delegates gone.”

I grimaced. “I’m not sure—” I started to say only for Sabrina to cut me off.

“Let’s try.” She locked eyes with me to show how serious she was about this. “If Lola hangs herself with the rope that we give her… well, this was never going to work,” she said firmly.

“That’s… urgh okay,” I replied, too tired to argue. 

Sabrina smiled. I replied by sticking my tongue out at her in a show of rebellion, which earned me a roll of the eyes.

Sabrina gave me a thoughtful look. “Haven’t you always wanted to go investigate the Kingdom of Rota?” she asked.

I coughed in surprise. “Y-yeah!” I said, realising I hadn’t touched on that yet.

Sabrina looked at me suspiciously. “What?” she asked in the tone of a mother asking her child what they had done now.

I smiled. “Sooo the Kingdom of Rota is… well I happen to know that it has some interesting features such as a bunch of ancient pokemon that live within a Tree of Beginning.” 

“Yeeeees?” Sabrina said, knowing that there had to be more than that. 

I smiled winningly at her. “You’re very beautiful, have I told you that today?”

Her nostrils flared in annoyance even as her eyes glinted happily. “Keep talking Brock,” she prompted.

“So, the Tree of Beginning has an interesting history due to the symbiotic relationship between the Crystal that feeds on the sunlight that filters through the trees. This Crystal is said to house a… Mew,” I said quietly.

Sabrina’s nostrils flared slightly wider. “We’re going there!” she stated firmly. “I will see this pokemon!” she stated. 

“I too would be interested in meeting this Mew,” intoned another voice that cut into my mind. 

Sabrina and I both stiffened.

We slowly looked up to find Mewtwo hovering slightly above the ground nearby. 

“How long have you been here?” I asked. 

Great, I was going to have to start watching when and where I spoke with Sabrina about my past life’s knowledge. I hadn’t outright said it but… having a potential stalker like Mewtwo could be a real issue.

“Long enough to hear your plans to investigate this Kingdom of Rota,” Mewtwo stated unhelpfully. 

I squinted at him. That didn’t rule out his being here longer. Who was he learning such wordplay from? I gave Sabrina a pointed look, and she cleared her throat. “Mewtwo… considering your previous—”

“I will meet this Mew!” snapped Mewtwo. 

I flicked my eyes from him to Sabrina. Riiiiight, cause Mewtwo was so well adjusted when it came to Mew in general.

“You’re not going to try and beat it up, are you?” I asked.

“I wish to assess it,” he stated, which was very much not a yes or no. I gave Sabrina another pointed look. “I’m not sure—”

His eyes narrowed. “I will be coming with you when you depart!” he stated before flying up into the sky and teleporting away.

I pursed my lips. “He can still get through my Dark Emitters can’t he?”

Sabrina nodded. “Most likely. He was being considerate though.”

I continued to frown at the space that he’d vanished from. “Somehow it’s not all that comforting to hear that he’s learning,” I replied as I flopped back into Sabrina’s lap, making sure to burrow deeper this time.

I then had a thought. Sabrina and I had been about to head off alone on a holiday as an engaged couple. It would have been wonderfully romantic to explore a new area with her…

Only for Mewtwo to join up. 

Was I being third-wheeled by Mewtwo?

“What even is today?” I said as I turned to address the sight above me.

Sabrina glanced down and gave me an unimpressed look. “Are you petitioning the sky or my boobs for answers?”

“Yes,” I replied cheekily. 

Sabrina huffed and rolled her eyes. “My fiancée,” she teased with a sad shake of her head only to lean down and capture my lips.

For the next hour, thoughts of Mewtwo, Mew, and any issues I had with Lola didn’t occupy my mind.

Which was how things should have been. I went to sleep that night feeling hopeful about finally getting to go to the Kingdom of Rota.

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A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support!

Thanks go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!