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Hard Enough - Chapter 259 - Date night
🕑 Added 2024-09-23 19:00:06 +0000 UTCCasual attire for a date wasn’t supposed to be something you overthought.
But ever since my epiphany during our swim earlier, I’ve felt… a little unsure of myself with Sabrina.
Was it that I realised how amazing she was? We hadn’t been dating for a year but despite that, she’d always been around. Did I feel like it was too quick to be feeling this way?
Would more time change things? How? Maybe I needed to go on more dates? Or at least take her to situations that weren’t always around my family?
Or was the issue that I was overthinking things?
That had to be it.
Or was I just hyper-aware of Sabrina now and stopping to take notice of all the things she did for me and my family?
She’d been there practically from the start after all. Flint had been gone all of two days before she’d turned up with a scowl, demanding why I hadn’t been returning her messages only to find me and some of my pokemon up to our necks in handling my sibling’s issues.
None of which we were ready for.
I’d heard the saying that no one was truly ‘ready’ for kids, but when Flint had cut and run I’d gone from wading the shallows of caregiving to being dragged down into the dark depths of parenthood.
The sleepless nights, the fevers where all the kids wanted to do was stop hurting but they had no avenue to do it, and at that young I wasn’t able to give them anything too strong, or even use pokemon healing to take the pain away.
They, of course, couldn’t understand what was wrong and had spent hours just screaming at me.
It was perhaps during this stage of my life that I most regretted ever unlocking my dark energy. Dark energies fed on dark emotions.
With a combination of sleep deprivation, depression, anger, and the odd burst of mania brought on by drinking too many sugary drinks…I’d been able to really stew in those emotions and become stronger before I could evade Sabrina’s psychic skills when she focused on me with serious effort.
Since then?
I’d been able to rebuff her with ease and Sabrina had been almost afraid of me when she’d appeared.
I couldn’t claim to have been in a good headspace when Sabrina checked in on me. I might have been a bit short with her, only for her to honestly ask how she could help.
I remember eyeing coffee as an option to get more energy, what with my siblings' constant needs along with the kids coming out of the woods looking to battle me.
I wasn’t sure if I made it worse for myself, knowing it was coming and hoping things could have changed with how I’d performed along with talking with Flint.
My siblings were so much more manageable now.
They were easier to care for and I’d been able to establish support networks with various people for times when I needed a break or when I had work to do. It helped that, unlike one-year-olds, three-year-olds could communicate beyond screaming and babbling.
Which makes all the difference in being able to have a positive relationship with the little gremlins. No one likes being screamed at.
It made a difference, certainly.
That and getting enough sleep.
I couldn’t and would never understate how amazing it was to be able to sleep actual normal stints of five to six hours in one sitting. Especially after getting bouts of broken, or interrupted sleep, did stand out.
Which, with much younger siblings, was still tough. Someone needed to go to the kitchen for a late-night drink of water, or bathroom, or sleep with me.
Waking up to a small child staring at you was always nerve-wracking and probably helped me get used to Sabrina appearing suddenly around me better than even the year and a half I’d already spent with her on our Journey.
Sabrina, the Grannies, and even Surge had eventually stepped in and helped me drag my life into a semblance of order.
With the chance to take a breath, I’d done some serious evaluating and realised that the Gym wasn’t a good site to raise kids. Not easily anyway. So I’d set up a new Gym and house attachment to keep all the positives of living close to my work while providing my family with their own space.
And through all of that, walking at my side, step by step despite how dark I’d gotten, had been Sabrina.
I rechecked the way my pants sat on me before nodding.
They were fine, good. It was not too formal but comfortable, and it complements the dark green shirt I’d decided on.
Munchlax, Timmy, and Billy all sat on the bed, watching me primp and preen.
Occasionally Munchlax would point at part of my toiletries and offer his suggestion while Timmy and Billy watched on.
“Munchlax!” he said, raising my razor.
“I’ve already shaved,” I said.
“When will I need to shave?” asked Timmy.
“When you’re older,” I said. “It grows in quite quickly if you want it to,” I said, recalling the specialised products that existed at the shops to promote hair growth, either beard or head. I’d heard that the company that made the product had to add a warning so that kids couldn’t purchase it.
The rumour making the rounds was that the kids had applied it to their eyebrows and some weird results had come about.
Munchlax reached into his fur and pulled out a fresh-ish-looking piece of crumbed fish which he chewed on. “Don’t eat on the bed,” I said, shooting him a glance via the mirror.
Munchlax made the fish vanish with a chomp and I huffed. “That works I suppose, but no more,” I said, giving him a warning glare.
Munchlax nodded and darted his eyes about to find some way of distracting me. “Lax!” he said as he pointed at my deodorant.
I paused and considered sniffing my armpits only to think better of it. Unlike other couples where someone might get ready in a different location, Sabrina was doing her primping and preening in the bathroom.
The girls in there would probably notice me checking, so I decided to just slap some on, in case I’d forgotten after the shower.
I grabbed it up to rub it over my armpits and across my chest. “Good call,” I said as I flicked my eyes to the bathroom, where I caught Cindy watching me along with a snippet of conversation.
“—be as beautiful as you?” asked Suzie from the bathroom.
I cocked my ear to listen for Sabrina’s response.
“I’m sure you will, you’re already very cute, so I have no doubt you’ll grow up very beautiful. As long as you’re good, eat your vegetables, and don’t eat too much candy.”
“Candy can make you ugly?” gasped Cindy. I thought I heard Yolanda sniggering at the byplay.
I chuckled myself and returned to my own tasks. Which… I ran a hand through my hair and spiked it up and with that, I was done.
I checked my watch and hummed. With most girls, I knew that it would take at least twenty more minutes, and this was where I might have been able to go watch some sports or grab a light snack.
With Sabrina? I knew she was able to micromanage my female siblings, see to her makeup, and probably track various people in her surrounding area with serious composure.
It helped that she didn’t have to use her hands to do the later tasks, leaving her just juggling my sisters' questions.
I gave her five minutes to have her make-up done.
I turned and raised an eyebrow at my own ‘entourage’. “How do I look?” I asked.
“With your eyes silly!” said Timmy, which caused Munchlax and Billy to burst into fits of giggles.
I chuckled a little myself. "Alright, that was actually pretty good, you’re quite the comic, got any other jokes, Funnyman?” I asked as I sat next to him and began to poke and tickle him.
“Knock Knock!” he said in between giggles.
“Who’s there?” I asked dutifully.
“Boo!”
“Boo who?” I said, trying to hide the smile. I knew this one, of course, but it was kind of hilarious having my little brother try it on me.
“No need to cry!” he shouted merrily.
This set Munchlax and Billy off once more, but I thought I heard a snicker from the bathroom that gave me an evil idea. “Want to hear my jokes?” I asked.
The kids and Munchlax all nodded.
“Why did the Tomato blush?” I asked. They shrugged and I said, “Because he saw the salad dressing!”
This time I definitely heard Sabrina laugh.
“What time do the Farfetch’d wake up?” I said before following up with, “At the quack of dawn.”
And the kids laughed along like I’d just delivered an amazing comedic act. Ah, but they were easy to please. Another laugh ran from the bathroom.
“I love my furniture. Me and my recliner go way back.” I said and I was rewarded this time by my brothers laughing, along with a hairbrush zipping out of the bathroom to assault my mouth.
Sabrina leaned out of the bathroom, her lips twitching despite the scowl she was giving me. I noted that one side of her lipstick had a hitch in it that made it look like she was smirking.
“Enough,” she commanded firmly but I knew she was really just pleading with me to stop. It was pretty much her Achilles heel after all.
I nodded and the brush returned to brushing Sabrina’s hair as she moved back to correct her error. I ushered my group out to the loungeroom only for Cindy’s voice to carry to me from the bathroom.
“You’re kind of lame with jokes, aren’t you big sis?” said Cindy honestly.
I got the mental image of an arrow of honesty stabbing into Sabrina’s chest and her twitching from the hit.
I saw the brush, lipstick and eyelash curlers pause in their ministrations before resuming. “Ah, is that so?” asked Sabrina in a slightly flat manner.
I also noted nothing else was being said and could only imagine that Cindy had caused a bit of an awkward situation with her honest words.
I marched into the bathroom, invading the ‘women-only’ area.
Before anyone could protest this intrusion I stepped in and kissed Sabrina on her cheek. “I love how you react to jokes, even silly little ones, it’s something unique to you,” I said, making sure to stare right into her eyes as I said it.
Sabrina blushed and I felt like I’d just won a match when she kissed me back, on the lips this time and waved me off. “Stop distracting me!” she said without any heat.
I hummed and walked backwards. “What? No mention of how good I look?” I said, fishing for compliments.
“You look wonderful dear,” she said only to ‘knock’ on my mind with her own and I opened up for her.
She sent me an image reminding me that she still had to ‘reward’ me for getting her doll earlier.
She sent me the image of our clothes on the floor with her reclining on our bed with one long, pale leg arcing out in invitation. Only a bedsheet covering her form.
“Later,” she said into my mind and I swallowed, well aware that I couldn’t sweep her into a passionate kiss like I wanted to.
Not in front of my sisters.
I could kiss her, but not that intensely.
I nodded stiffly and marched off, this time with Suzie talking up behind me. “I think it’s fine that you’re a dork! I like it even!” said Suzie loyally.
“...thank you Suzie,” said Sabrina carefully.
“We can be dorks together! That way we can keep having fun!” Suzie said and I chuckled, making my way to the lounge where Flint was watching a dancing show where some of the contestants were trying to mimic a Clefable while a panel of judges graded them.
I noted one of the judges was a Clefairy. Hmmm, hadn’t there been a side game like this in the pokemon stadium game? It was similar but it also reminded me of that horrible ‘reality’ television show Dancing with the Stars that I usually clicked off of.
I was about to suggest just that when one of the dancers failed only to have large red X’s light up around them and for a buzzer to sound.
The dancer dove, and a large foam fist shot into the space only to miss.
The dancer stood up and did a celebration dance that they avoided the hit only for one of the judges, the clefairy judge in fact, to glare and hit another button.
The floor underneath the failed dancer gave out and they fell into a vat of what looked like purple goop.
The dancer threw themselves out of the vat only for it to pull them back, revealing the contents of the vat to in fact be a Muk.
While this was going on the other dancers had to maintain their focus lest they join them in the vat of Muk.
Huh, so Dancing with the Stars, with a Sideshow game mixed with a punishment game?
“What is this?” I asked.
“Can you out-dance a pokemon?” Flint said lazily. “It’s my switch-off show,” he said.
I made a noise of understanding. I knew that by that he meant that it was supposed to be low value, ‘dumb’ television that lets you just switch off mentally.
“Yeah,” I said, watching as others slowly dropped out, leaving only the Clefable and a rather skilled … well they were wearing a dress but my mind was itching with how the blue hair was flicking around.
Then I caught sight of an Adam’s apple barely hidden by a choker.
That was a man.
More importantly, they were a man I recognised!
“And the winner is Jimmy-James! Give it up for them folks as they take home their trophy as best dancer for this week and the prize of a year’s worth of beauty products for them and their pokemon!” he said.
From the side of the stage, another woman sprinted out, covered in slime only to hug ‘Jimmy-James’. I noted that their hair, which wasn’t covered with slime, was red.
I shot the Rocket trio a brief message congratulating them on ‘Jimmy-James' victory only to glance up as Suzie and Yolanda scuttled into the room with far too much feigned nonchalance. They claimed a seat but didn’t so much as glance at the television, choosing instead to watch both me and the door.
I directed my attention to the door right as Sabrina walked through it.
She wasn’t wearing anything special.
Not that she had to. Sabrina had a body that allowed her to make wearing a sack look good. She coupled this with a self-confidence that commanded attention when she wanted it.
Sabrina entered the room and everyone paused in what they were doing.
She did it with a simple white t-shirt with a slogan on the front and some blue jeans while her feet bore sandals that I could imagine her holding as we walked along on the beach.
Only in Sabrina’s case she could just teleport out the shoes or have them float along next to us as we walked. I found I liked the idea and made a mental note to suggest it after dinner.
Titan and Bertha had had the right idea earlier.
It was nice, relaxing, and very romantic.
Even if it was a touch cliche.
But that just made it even more desirable.
“Well you look great as always,” I said. “Think that means I’m a lucky guy!” I proclaimed, which earned me some nods from the girls wandering behind Sabrina.
“You look good yourself,” Sabrina repeated, perhaps making sure everyone knew that she meant the words. “Shall we?”
“Teleporting or walking?” I asked as I accepted her hand.
Sabrina smiled and pulled out a Luxury ball. “I own another means of transportation.”
I quirked an eyebrow as she led me, and by extension my sisters, outside where she released the pokeball to reveal a shiny Rapidash with flames that glowed a gentle blue.
“Oh my goodness is that Prancer? Dancer? Or Lancer?” shouted Cindy as her eyes practically shone with light blasting out of them.
I blinked only to realise that had been the names of the Rapidash that we rode with when we attended the Mayor’s ball earlier this year.
Damn! She could remember that? Impressive!
Sabrina shook her head. “No, this is Tinkerbell, remember her?”
Instead of the girls cheering and shouting a few of them stared, only to suddenly break down into tears.
“Tinkerbell grew up!” They wailed as one only for Tinkerbell to trot up to them and nuzzle into them causing the girl’s dam walls of restraint to break as the girls swarmed Tinkerbell.
“I think… that might have been a little too successful,” I said when I realised the girls probably weren’t going to let us take Tinkerbell with us.
“Yes… I have come to the same conclusion myself,” Sabrina said. “This… was beyond a critical success,” she said.
She reached into a small purse and drew out some sugar cubes. “You girls keep her entertained for the evening, she needs to have a nighttime trot I think,” Sabrina suggested and then it was all we could do to corral my sisters as they broke into a fight over who would get to ride Tinkerbell first.
Sabrina sorted it out quickly with a stern glance and some deft telekinesis to stop any hair-pulling. “The little ones need someone to hold them on, so Yolanda will go first with Tilly and then Cindy can take Suzie.”
“But I know how to ride!” said Suzie.
Sabrina knelt and put a hand on Suzie’s shoulder. “You know how to trot around, but… don’t you want to try going fast? Cindy can hold on tighter meaning you can go faster,” she bargained.
Suzie gave Cindy a dubious look before nodding slowly. “Aaaaaalright,” she said, dragging the word out.
With that sorted I nudged Sabrina to make our escape. “You realise that the other girls that came with my family are going to learn about Tinkerbell in minutes and join in right?”
Sabrina frowned and directed her gaze towards our penthouse. For a long second, she did nothing before nodding her head. “There, Flint is coming down to handle things,” she said without a hint of guilt.
“Why do I feel like we’re bullying him?” I said.
“Because I am,” Sabrina replied, her tone as dry as the desert.
I chuckled. “Heh, good one.” I enlarged a pokeball of my own. “While not as graceful as a Rapidash, care for a Steelix ride?” I asked.
Sabrina cocked an eyebrow at me and I coughed self-consciously.
She then smirked and leaned in. “I’d love to ride your Steelix,” she said without a hint of shame.
“Now you’re bullying me,” I said as I released Jorm. He glanced around and I waved when he looked our way. “Hey bud! We were heading into town and thought it might be nice to ride in style. You interested in being our lift?” I asked.
Jorm lowered his head and I chuckled, walking myself and Sabrina up onto his flat head before he rose and slithered forward.
We made our way to the steakhouse and more than a few people raised their transceivers to snap pictures of us which I’m sure was going to be annoying to deal with later but for now I just focused on leading Sabrina into the bar.
“Table for two under Brock?” I said to the hostess who greeted us.
When we reached the table I was pleased that a request to have us facing the beach had been fulfilled. “Wow, you have a nice view here,” I said.
“Indeed, some of the locals even like to come here just for that,” she said.
I tilted my head curious at her odd choice of words. I glanced around, wondering what else they’d be coming for only for my eyes to catch sight of a sign.
It read ‘Happy hour six until seven! Drinks half price!’. Well, that could certainly attract a crowd.
I hummed and turned my attention to the menu.
I was quick to lock eyes on the steak selection. Taurus steak just tasted different than a normal steak had in my past life. In a very good way though. It was leaner for one and the taste was fuller without needing marbling for flavour.
Sabrina grabbed herself a burrito bowl with additional spices added in before floating me the drinks menu.
I flipped through it. From long practise now I was used to flicking past the alcoholic section only to blink when I realised that over half the menu was dedicated to mocktails along with the standard soda pop, sparkling water and lemonade.
That made a good deal of sense to me as by the time people had reached the age to drink there wasn’t any pressure to actually drink. People could and did enjoy it but there was no societal pressure to go out and have a few drinks with friends. It was actually more common to have coffee, tea, lemonade or other drinks that didn’t inhibit the drinker.
“The Mocktail special,” Sabrina said, indicating the Chrysanthemum special which had two versions.
“I might stick with the lemon-lime and bitters,” I said and the host took our orders before scampering off, leaving Sabrina and I to enjoy the view and talk.
“So,” I said, starting things off with the tried and true icebreaker.
Sabrina raised an eyebrow as I cast my mind about a topic of conversation. “How’s the criminal raids been going for you?” I asked, knowing she’d been doing a lot more since the television spotlight on her actions.
“It’s been going well. Enlisting that trio of former crooks was a rather clever move on your part. They’ve certainly provided me a lot of insight into the criminal network that is both established, and more… casual around Kanto at least.” Sabrina leaned her head into a hand as she watched the play of waves on the shore. I found myself slightly staring more at her than the view.
Sabrina shook her head slightly. “I’m not sure if the same will be true in Johto but for Pewter and Saffron I’ve been able to identify a lot of criminal activities that had previously been passing under my attention.”
Our drinks arrived and I noted that Sabrinas came with a towering glass that was mostly ice. It had a rather nice swirl of what looked like flavour syrup running through it in the pattern of flowers. It looked good and when Sabrina took a sip she seemed to approve.
With the ice gently clinking in her glass as she swirled her drink about she continued from where she’d left off in our conversation. “Saffron I can understand but Pewter established the same methods… It shows me that there is a real community for thieves and blackhearts. They talk and share their methods even when they aren’t affiliated with each other.”
“I guess it makes sense to share trade secrets like that if they’re doing business,” I said.
Sabrina nodded. “It’s a less established framework than what Team Rocket had. From what I have read about Team Magma and Team Aqua they also have a lot of support networks along with infrastructure for their use.”
I hummed. “Those two are interesting as they’re criminal organisations but even reading between the lines historically it’s obvious they are elements of the armed services that defended Hoenn. They all mutinied so it makes sense that they kept a lot of their infrastructure.”
I drummed my fingers on the table as I took a quick sip. “The Guardian’s documents that show a few deeper correspondences and data show that there was never an outright order to do so from the government but there really hasn’t been anything but a token effort made to rein them in. I think there are still several sympathisers if not outright agents for Aqua and Magma in government.”
“Something to keep in mind when we go to Hoenn later this year,” Sabrina said casually.
“Oh? We?” I asked.
Sabrina gave me an unimpressed look. “If you’re going back to support your student I will be coming along. By that stage of the year the circuit will be over and I’ll need to get out of Kanto.”
“Next year’s circuit shouldn’t be as bad, if anything the surge will probably shift to Johto but they should be a lot more ready to absorb it.”
Sabrina inclined her head gently. “Indeed. There will also be some competition for the Orange Islands’ league during the off-season with the Battle Frontier.”
“I have to say, I kind of want to go check that place out, that and Fiore as well. It would be interesting to see,” I said as I leaned my chin on my hand. “Might be nice to walk around with Titan out and about with me.”
“I worry that we’re too high profile to ever simply walk down the street, especially with our signature pokemon walking with us. We’d be targets for Fiore’s religious group,” Sabrina said with a grimace of distaste.
“Religious Group?” I asked. I hadn’t read that in any of the notes sent through by Lucy.
Sabrina sighed. “It’s actually something the League has outlined with some of the administrators of the League expressing serious concern about the religion. I’ve passed by some of the Fiore representatives in the halls of the League as well. They don’t have anything too out there like the Darkrai cults I have read of, but they do uphold pokemon freedom as sacrosanct. They have plans to attempt to convert any trainers that enter Fiore into releasing their pokemon permanently. They will supposedly also be sending out young pastors to convert others in other regions with them preaching that pokemon should never be put in pokeballs.”
“Hmmmm, that… might be a bit of a friction point,” I said. This also reminded me of a certain green-haired antagonist from one of the pokemon games. “Does Lance know about this?”
“He does, I gave him my insight. He says it's not something he can do beyond barring entrants into Indigo that are open and outspoken believers in the Existence Church.”
“That’s what it’s called? Good to know,” I said before drumming the table. “Say, if one of the other regions were to be discovered, the ones that we lost contact with, where do you think you’d like to go?”
“Hmmm Unova has a bit of a poor reputation historically due to being seen as the primary instigator in the last war, not that most people will know such a thing, but I might enjoy looking around there. Kalos seems like it has a rich culture, as does Rota, but if I had to choose somewhere? Probably Sinnoh.”
“Huh, you know I almost forgot about Rota being to our north. I’ve had to patrol up there a few times but never actually gotten into Rota’s territory. With how close it is I really should go for a visit sometime in the future,” I said thoughtfully.
Hmmmm, that made three regions that connected to Kanto by land with Johto, Rota, and Fiore. While only Johto was comparable in terms of land mass there was still a lot of open territory up north beyond the wilds that most people couldn’t traverse due to the strength of the pokemon growing the further out they got from civilised areas of the map. That and there being no areas to properly heal up pokemon.
Trying to fight your way north would be a huge uphill battle of attrition unless you knew precisely where you were going.
Still… it bared thinking about it.
Could there be another region or more hidden away up there?
“The world could be far bigger and smaller couldn’t it?” I said whimsically.
Sabrina bobbed her head from side to side. “I sort of understand what you mean. Don’t worry, we’ll have some time this year. See if you can get Karen to work with someone else for your baseball team for a season, and you’d be completely free.”
“Oh, those kids would love that. They’d learn a bunch of swear words, and with her being pretty famous these days I think she’ll have no issue getting them to follow her orders,” I said.
“Hmmmm,” Sabrina considered this for a moment with a playful twitch of her lips, “Perhaps for the children’s sake you should recommend another replacement,” Sabrina said.
“Hehehe,” I laughed, knowing Sabrina was correct.
We let things sit quietly for a while and I turned my attention back to the beach. “Want to walk along it after we eat?” I asked.
Sabrina hummed an affirmative and I let out a sigh of contentment.
Right as I was about to sink further into my chair and relax, the hostess returned with our meals. “Here are your meals! And also… if you wouldn’t mind, the kitchen staff and I would love if we could take your photos along with a signature to put up on the wall?”
I glanced towards the indicated wall and found it littered with plates with people’s photos as the backing while a small side plate bore the signature.
I could see Kruger, the current League President sitting at a table with what looked like his extended family. A smile that was much wider and more genuine than anything I’d seen was caught in the photo.
I glanced around, noting the others. Bruno, Lorelei, a musical star, and what appeared to be a famous actor were all on the wall.
I glanced at Sabrina and she bobbed her head in acceptance. We leaned close as our photo was taken, and then we both signed the same plate.
With that done, we turned our attention to our food. I cut into my steak and hummed as my mind jumped from four-legged pokemon that tasted good to that of Sabrina’s Farigiraf and Wyrdeer. “Have you gotten the chance to show off Wyrdeer yet?”
Sabrina shook her head. “I am too bogged down with Gym Challengers for any serious matches like you’ve had. If I was willing to eat into my breaks I might entertain challenging Lorelei for a friendly match to show him off but right now I’m not sure it is worth it,” she said.
I nodded. “Fair, what about the other project? How’s that coming along?” I said referring to the Ponyta she’d collected and stabled in her gym in an attempt to have a psychic typed ponyta.
“It is progressing but even without results, I have to admit to enjoying the stable of ponyta. It has certainly created a new challenge for me and the gym to handle… along with being very popular with the young girls of Saffron and the surrounding area,” she said with a pleased expression.
“You’re now loved and feared wide and far?” I said playfully.
“Indeed,” Sabrina said with a small toss of her head that sent her hair flicking about.
I chuckled and nodded only for Sabrina to consider me. “I don’t suppose you have any more insight into potential pokemon I might be able to add to my team since we last spoke on this?” she asked.
“Insight…” I said right as I took a bite of my steak. I chewed slowly. There… were two potential pokemon that I could think of with one actually being rather obvious to me in hindsight but not one that I’d thought much about until I’d considered how I very much hadn’t seen it.
“Brock?” Sabrina said catching on that I was thinking about something.
“Ah, sorry, I was just wondering. What happens to the male Ralts and Kirlia?”
“They evolve into male Gardevoir,” said Sabrina with a twitch of her lips. “I’ve heard that it is rather amusing in some circles when people buy a Gardevoir expecting to find nothing under the skirts only to be rudely reminded that Gardevoir are for both genders,” she said.
She tilted her head. “Is that not something you knew?” she said with a twitch of her lips.
I waved my hand back and forth. “No, no. I knew it was just… it sticks out to me as odd. Why a female form and not a male form as well for a pokemon that is very… humanoid?”
“It might be a mirror to Alakazam and how both genders develop moustaches?” Sabrina suggested.
I raised a finger only to find that that logic held up.
Huh, when viewed like that it made sense people hadn’t tried anything different.
“Hmmm I just feel like there is something more there. Maybe another element needs to be added to the Kirlia males? Like a stone?” I said, well aware I was grasping at straws in this discussion. I knew I was right but that didn’t change things.
Sabrina hummed thoughtfully. “A stone? It would have to be quite rare… and not something that could be found in their natural environment if there aren’t any recorded male evolutionary forms,” she said.
“Something like a Dawnstone, which is used to evolve Snorunt into Froslass perhaps?” I said.
Sabrina fixed me with a pointed stare. “A Dawnstone?” she said and it took me a moment to realise I'd let something slip once more. Sabrina hummed thoughtfully. “I've never heard of such a stone before. It must be a rare stone if that was the case. Do you have any?” she asked.
I’d have to check with Flint. “I’ll have to see,” I said. “Agatha might know though seeing as she’s aware of what’s going on with the Snorunt issue in Johto,” I suggested. "Probably a spot worth looking into, cause if there are natural occurrences of Froslass in the area then it stands to reason there are deposits of Dawnstone," I said speculatively.
Sabrina nodded. “I’ll look into it,” she said.
When we finished dinner, we eschewed dessert and instead paid and departed for our walk along the beach with our hands entwined.
“I want to take you on more dates,” I said after a few minutes of silence where we just enjoyed each other’s company.
“I’d like that,” Sabrina said simply in response.
“I think… I’d also like to buy a house… which would just be for you and me,” I said swallowing.
This was a ‘development’ in our relationship and one I felt might be good for us. We had our own space but it was often intruded upon by my family. It was also a step forward for me if not intellectually, then at least emotionally.
Sabrina beamed at me and stepped in. “Now that is a very good idea,” she said. “Where should we buy?”
“Hmmmm,” I said, casting my mind about. “What’s stopping us from buying an island for ourselves and setting it up as a reserve for our pokemon as well?”
Sabrina perked up, liking that idea. “We could always buy some beach near a river on the mainland. If we got enough land we could have the best of everything. Lots of land and also privacy if we wanted it,” she said.
I hummed, rather enjoying how my idea was evolving as I shared it with Sabrina.
“What about our jobs?” I asked. “Do you want to be a Gym Leader for as long as you can?” I asked.
Sabrina tilted her head. “I rather like being Gym Leader. What about you?” she asked.
“There are days when it can suck, but I also know it allows me a lot more… weight? No, gravitas and sway, I suppose would be more the right words. Being a Gym Leader gives me more sway in my community. I’m able to help a lot of people that come through. I can do it in small ways or in really large ones. Gym Leader for me is being a positive model for the community and my family… but… I still want to go exploring a little bit if I’m honest. I’d like a bit more freedom.”
“You could always train up a successor and have an alternating period for who is Gym Leader and who isn’t,” Sabrina suggested. “Forrest…” she frowned. “Well, he’s probably not the right person. Flint… has the experience,” she said.
“He could serve as Gym leader, but as soon as… Lola comes back, I think he’s going to fold like tissue paper under any demands she might have,” I said.
“Do you have a date when she’s coming back?” Sabrina asked with an odd glint in her eyes.
“No, I’m not sure if that would be better or worse than her just appearing one day to be honest,” I said. I shook my head. “Sorry, that conversation took a nosedive. I just wanted to talk about us,” I said.
“No, I’m glad, it’s nice to talk about these things with you. I hadn’t been considering them, I was just happy.” Sabrina smiled and everything felt better, like everything was going to work out. “We’ll work something out, don’t let it weigh on you,” she said.
“Thanks,” I said, “and by the way, I think I love you more.”
She smiled. “And I love you more as well,” she said back to me.
I leaned in and kissed her, knowing that I was a step closer to what I really wanted.
We kissed on the beach for a few minutes, enjoying our privacy under the stars, before Sabrina gave me a look, and we teleported home to finish up the night.
I went to sleep with her in my arms, knowing that things were looking up for us both.
______________________________
A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support.
I was thinking about relegating this chapter to just a ‘they went on a date’ moment but then I thought I needed to showcase Brock and Sabrina on a date so I decided to write up the actual date.
Hope you enjoyed reading it!
Thanks go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!
Comments
Sean
You've had Brock mention Gallade to Sabrina before. Whenever they're talking about mega stones he lists the psychic pokemon she should be able to find and he says Gallade multiple times with Sabrina not reacting. Up until this chapter I assumed it was a known evolution in this story.
Jean Marc Kunnen
Brock shared the evolution method of slowking with sabrina when they journeyed together
world-concepts-are-breaking god-is-dying
Everyone is forgetting Unown existence just because Mewtwo is superior. Also Slowking might not be known or at least not his evolutionary method so it could still be seen as a rare unexplored pokemon. Both are good possibilities but with how reluctant Brock is I would bet he tought of Unown but decided to not tell because of how hard it would be to explain HOW he knew of it.
world-concepts-are-breaking god-is-dying
If he didn't before I think he did after he talked with Steven Stone. He bought entire mountains to cover his bases. But if I recall right he basically turned everything he bought into nature reserves in order to safeguard it (except for the areas where he mines or in Onix's case breed).
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
I don't think he owns the island itself, I think he owns the cave and the area around it though?
nugitoBambino
huh I don't remember that conversation at all, so solid comments both. although if that's all we have the dawnstone is a bit of reach, so not unreasonable for OP's to recommend a slight reworking of the conversation to reflect that
Jean Marc Kunnen
sabrina was there in the chapter where agatha was taunting pryce with her froslass where pryce explicitly said it's the female snorut that evolves into froslass. the dawnstone part is probably sabrina figuring things out on her own.
Matt H
I think it really comes down to how much information Sabrina can glean from surface thoughts as well as how many times (if ever) she dove deeper into Brock's mind. What we've heard in the story is that while Sabrina is incredibly intelligent and mature in some ways, when she first met Brock she was also impulsive, demanding, and not very emotionally mature. If the details and memories from surface thoughts are limited and if Brock could tell (if not stop) when Sabrina tried to poke deeper then I think it's possible she doesn't know for sure about his past life, but knows there's more to Brock and his knowledge than meets the eye. Otherwise, with her powers and how close they've been I think it'd be pretty hard for Sabrina not to know Brock's secret. But, like I said before, I can imagine it's a "she knows, I know she knows, she knows I know she knows, etc." and they've both decided to keep the charade going because they trust each other and Brock will share information if it's ever truly required.
Donald Bagwell
One defence I have is Agatha might have hidden it in the guardian archives in a way to test apprentices, I can see Sabrina and Alakazam going through the entire thing and Sabrina not saying anything because it doesn't affect anyone she even mildly cares about
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Maybe it's less that she knows about it, and more like she strongly suspects it? Like his thoughts when they met were too old/mature for his age, or his mental thoughts hinted at a history that made no logical sense? Examples: Looking at Kanto sky scrapers and considering them short. Or mentally referring to major cities as small/tiny (or simply being surprised that such a small area/population is considered a city)
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Love the chapter. Slight problem though, how does Sabrina know about Snorunt evolution into Frosslass? “Something like what evolves Snorunt into Froslass perhaps?” I said. Sabrina fixed me with a pointed stare. “A Dawnstone?” I mean, at this point in the story no one else is shown/stated to know HOW Snorunt evolves into Frosslass. Agatha knows Snorunt evolves INTO Frosslass, but we have no proof that she knows the how. I'm thinking she caught a Frosslass, tried to breed it, and discovered it's an evolution of Snorunt. Because why would she catch a snorunt and try to evolve it when no ghost evolution for this pokemon is known? Also, if she *DOES* know how it evolves, she hasn't shared that info with others. When we get that chapter with her POV and she thinks about Frosslass, she makes an internal comment about Pierce not knowing Frosslass exists. From this we can gather that Frosslass isn't even widely known. It's basically just Agatha that's known to own it at this point... and she isn't really advertising it from what I've seen. All this to say: I think Sabrina shouldn't know Snorunt evolves into Frosslass, much less how it does so. The conversation could be edited to be more like: “Something like what evolves Snorunt into Froslass perhaps?” I said. Sabrina tilted her head. "How does Snorunt evolve into... Frosslass was it?" "Huh? You aren't familiar with Frosslass?" "No. Should I be?" Brock shook his head. "They're rather rare as they evolve from female Snorunts using a Dawnstone." "A Dawnstone?" [Insert rest of conversation] This covers how Sabrina would be unfamiliar with this evolution, while also showing Brock's knowledge. Brock could/might assume Sabrina is unfamiliar with the pokemon due to it's rarity whilst Sabrina could/might assume Brock knows about this because he's nerdy like that (and dives into different searches on the internet and/or Guardian data). Again though, I don't think Agatha has shared with anyone what she knows about Frosslass. Not even to the Guardians. She's very old school about keeping her cards to her chest and always having a secret card up her sleeve...
HoldTightAndPretendItsAPlan
Don't give Niantic ideas! They *love* pun names
Marco Belina
As much as I love the fight chapter the slice of live is simply great too.
Netveiwer
Here is a pokemon spin on a old Laffy taffy joke; Hey did you hear about the new flying ghost type just found? Apparently it's called a Poultry-geist!
Sebazu
I thought he would have mentioned Mahogany, with the Frolass, as a source of Dawn Stones.
Petrox
Doesn't Brock own the island where the Crystal cave with the Onyx lives? They could make a house there. Its a stretch but maybe Mewtwo would like neighbors in his island, but i don't think Empress would like it
Jean Marc Kunnen
by evolution, only alolan raichu is available. by breeding, the galarian slowpoke. but by catching, just like bruce caught a bagon in the area where you can find the johto safari in the game, sabrina could catch a bronzor and metang there.
Qweku_v
This was a much-needed chapter. Great work @Viva01.
Mario Schade
Nice chapter. I like it when old elements of worldbuilding reappear. That makes it seem more “real” and not like one-off story ideas. What other Psycho Pokémon do we have with difficult evolution? The Galar evolutions of Slowpoke and Mr. Mime are left out, since Galar probably won't appear? Alola-Raichu? Hisui-Braviary? Munna due to the Moon Stone? That's all I can think of.
Rinaldo
Sabrina being a lot more blatant she knows Brock knows a lot he probably should about pokemon evolution
SailorOfHouseThunderBird
Glad to see Brock planning for the future break. Crazy to think that we're so many chapters into the story and only midway into the season still (i think, right?). Almost makes me wonder if Viva is going to start using timeskips to jump weeks at a time now instead of continuing on day by day in the story. Still, however long it takes to get there, im definitely here for it. Noon on a monday has somehow become my favorite time of the week. Not sure which im looking forward to the most honestly. Wedding bells, international travel in a pokeworld, the Pokémon 2000 arc, the return of Coach Karen, or seeing Brock and Titan jump Lola on sight as if Viva had temporarily forgotten that this wasn't a Pokémon/JJK xover for a chapter or two just for Sabrina to let Lola heal up so that she can jump her herself even worse.
Matt H
I still wonder if Sabrina knows more about Brock's past than she lets on. From the sound of it, Brock's Dark type aura wasn't particularly strong while they were on their Journey so I could easily imagine Sabrina picking up a lot of details from his mind during that time. Perhaps not explicitly mentioning or bringing up his former life is a sort of polite lie between these two to acknowledge that his former life is in the past at this point.
