Hard Enough - Chapter 367 - Megastone medley

I hadn’t planned on dragging Sabrina with me back to Shamouti, but as soon as I mentioned my plans and my reasons she’d been adamant that she would come.

“Aren’t you worried about missing out on your doll sales?” I asked.

Sabrina pursed her lips only to brighten. She took her transceiver and moved away from me for the next few minutes as she began firing off and replying to various messages.

Seeing as she was busy I moved to my computer and began checking over some paperwork before bed. Hmmm it seemed Rachel had set up a schedule for when Titan and Bertha would be needed for their photo ops, along with various other crucial pieces of equipment that were going to be set up in the gym.

I got a ping from Rachel that had me pausing to inspect an image that was supposedly trending on the pokenet.

It was a picture of me wearing a cape…

“Lance,” I muttered. This had his fingerprints all over it. Just a photo hmmm?

I read the text under the image. “This season… Dress up like your Hero?” 

Narrowing my eyes, I knew precisely what to do. A quick search of the pokenet resulted in a blank image of me in a cape. I then edited in a line of text. 

“This season… dress to scare, be a villain,” I muttered before sending it back to Rachel with a message to ‘spread this around.

If Lance wanted to play those sorts of games he was getting what was coming to him.

With that handled, I turned my attention back to actual serious matters. 

The layout and building plans were before me giving me a good idea of what they were going to set up in the middle of the Gym. 

I could only shake my head.

It was Takeshi’s castle. Magical edition.

We had formal interviews with Bertha, myself, Rachel and, surprisingly, the voice of the Magical Girl anime that all little girls loved, Zoey Rumira coming in. which was proving to be a popular decision.

I was basing this off the sheer number of comments we were getting on our pokenet page and a brief look through what people were actually saying revealed a lot of emotive icons, spam chat and general melt downs.

And that was just from rumours that she was talking with Rachel… damn, when we announced this it was going to be big.

I stepped outside my room. “Hey Yolanda?”

“Yeah Brock?” Yolanda asked, leaning out of her bedroom from down the hallway. “What’s up?”

“How big a deal is Zoey Rumira?”

Yolanda snorted. “She’s like huge! She does voice acting, regular movies, songs, and is rumoured to be talking with a few big sports stars.” She tilted her head. “Why’s that?”

“Huh,” I replied. “It’s just that she’s coming to the Gym in the next few days to do Bertha’s thing, no biggie.” I leaned back and enjoyed Yolanda’s shocked expression.

Huh, so she hadn’t heard the news yet. “Night!” I called, shutting the door and waiting.

Sure enough, I heard the pounding of feet as Yolanda sprinted down the hall so she could hammer at my door. “Brock! Brock! Brock! I’m your favourite sister! Tell me everything!” she shouted. 

A much lower but much heavier thump on the bottom of the door let me know that Terra had joined in assaulting my door.

The door swung open without either of our say so and Yolanda and I blinked at each other as Terra flopped onto the ground, having overcommitted to her knocking.

Everyone turned to Sabrina, who had a finger raised. “Be quiet, both of you. I’m doing something,” she muttered. She made a flicking gesture and a telekinetic force pushed me out of my room and into the hallway before shutting the door in my face.

“Rude,” I said to the door only for Yolanda to latch onto me.

“Forget that! What’s this about Zoey Rumira coming to the Gym for Bertha’s thing?” 

“She’s agreed to stand in as a judge, or rather a face on the panel and an advisor for Bertha in choosing who should be granted her and Titan’s egg, which is due to hatch in a few weeks. Bertha has a general idea but Rachel.” I flapped a hand about vaguely. “Well, she decided to build on the concept and get a professional if such a thing exists.”

“And she said yes right?” Yolanda asked again.

“Yes! I already said that,” I replied. “What’s up?”

“Nothing! Everything! Urgh I’m going to have to get some nicer clothes and get my hair done! Do you think she’d let me ask some questions about being a singer? Or would that be hounding her?” 

I rolled my eyes. “She’s just a normal person Yolanda. You bump elbows with Sabrina, Erika, Janine and other famous people all the time. Zoey’s just another one of them.”

Yolanda nodded. “Right, right. Yeah you’re right.”

Another door opened from further down the hall and Cindy leaned out. “What’s all the noise?”

“Nothing go to be—” I tried to say only for Yolanda to whip around. “Zoey Rumira is going to be a judge for Bertha’s big event!”

Cindy blinked once, and then inhaled sharply before shrieking in a way that only young girls can when they get extremely happy. 

I likened it to a Zubat screech and put my hands over my head as other doors opened and my brothers leaned out. 

“Shut up Cindy!” roared Tommy only to get ignored while my sisters asked what was going on.

Before long, the other girls were read into the situation, and with Sabrina still locking me out of my room, I had no choice but to be the responsible adult.

Part of me wanted to be quite the opposite by dumping this on Flint and Lola, but instead I stepped up and drew the girls into the loungeroom to explain things while sending the boys back to bed.

Once the girls were all located there, I calmly explained what was going to happen. I then endured a round of questions like it was the most aggressive press conference I’d ever attended.

“When will she arrive?” “Will we get to talk with her?” “Is she going to sing?” “Have a signing session?” “Do you think she’ll like me?” “Do you know if she’s going to wear her magical girl outfit?”

“She will probably be here early to get the lay of the land. Yes you will if you’re good. Maybe. That could be arranged as it seems she’s quite popular—” that drew a round of scoffs from me and I shook my head before continuing, “—I think she will. And it’s up to her. She might like to dress casually for this event.”

“What about—” the questions continued to flow from my sisters and when Lola finally made an appearance to see what was going on she stared from the doorway, mystified by her daughter’s reactions.

“So this Zoey Rururu is a big deal?” she asked.

“Duh! She’s a huge deal!” Cindy shook her head. “Oh, Mum, you’re so old.” the other girls nodded along and I decided to join in. Yolanda shot me a smirk which I ignored only to have the girls whirl about and ask more questions as Lola retreated to handle being called old.

I had to reiterate more than a few times that I would have to ask Rachel, which only made the girls more steely-eyed. Eventually I was forced to make a number of assurances which, under their careful gaze, I typed up and forwarded to Rachel.

My sisters were half considering making me stay put until Rachel responded when Sabrina walked into the loungeroom. “I’ve sorted out that issue I had! We can go to Shamouti to look for Mega Stones tomorrow,” she declared firmly.

I blinked, unsure what she was talking about. Oh wait, there had been a doll auction tomorrow hadn’t there?

Wait, why had she needed to do anything. 

“Sabrina I can just get a rental Teleport set up. Yes it will take a while longer and be rougher but—”

“Too late. I’ve already committed!” she announced. She flicked her hand and I floated off the ground. “Come! We’re going to have an early night and set off early tomorrow!” she declared taking me out of the inquisition I’d allowed myself to be surrounded by.

I wanted to thank her but I was still a bit suspicious as to what she’d done. 

When we settled into bed I still had thoughts running through my mind. So much so that I was having trouble sleeping, something Sabrina noticed straight away.

She narrowed her eyes at me and I was about to ask her what she’d done when she put her hand on me.

That quickly had all thoughts of what she’d done vanish in the face of what she was doing.

By the time we were done, any suspicions I’d had were gone and I couldn’t quite find it in me to bother.

When we were having our early breakfast the next morning, I reached out without thinking and turned on the radio for some light music.

Instead, I got the news channel.

“—and last night saw numerous fires breaking out across Indigo! The first was a Pokemon nursing facility with the Chansey that had been training there all claiming an electrical fault. Oddly enough, the Principal of the facilities laptop was found undamaged but with incriminating information on it which has led to further questioning!”

I blinked. A pokemon Training facility that housed Chansey? That wasn’t good. What had caused that to burn down? I suspected the Nurse Joys would be looking into that thoroughly.

“And the other fire was at an auction house in Celadon. Erika worked hard to contain the blaze but sadly, the house was severely damaged. Police suspect it was the work of professionals and any CCTV or witnesses to the fire are asked to step forward!” declared the radio host.

I switched the radio off. 

Then I opened my mouth. 

Then I closed it.

Then I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

“Sabrina… we spoke about things like that,” I stated tiredly.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” she replied innocently. 

“Sabrina, only villains do that,” I said calmly.

Sabrina’s eyes narrowed. “Prove it,” she challenged.

I just put my head in my hands. My fiancée was scary, and far too competent sometimes.

It made me wonder if she’d be better or worse when she was my wife.

_______________________

Shamouti was almost back to what it had been when we’d first arrived weeks ago. There was a buzz in the air with the elderly standing back and barking orders at younger folk as festival stalls, towers and decorations were pulled down.

We marched through the workcrews with Sabrina occasionally flicking her fingers, causing a few stubborn decorations that had yet to be pulled down to fall to the ground where bewildered people collected them.

When we reached the community hall I found Elder Tobias and Carol conferring with what looked like the geologists that had made their way down yesterday. The youngest of the crew were helping out with the various workcrews while the older folk stood around a table that had a map laid out on it.

“Morning all,” I called, nodding to the various groups.

“Boss man!” greeted a few of the Mega Rock employees while Tobias grunted at me. Melody waved at both Sabrina and I.

Which left the final man, who I’d overlooked before to step around and start shaking my hand enthusiastically. “Hello hello! Thank you for coming! AS you know I’m Prime Minister Kumo of the OA!” he declared, pumping my hand up and down theatrically.

I blinked, about to mention that I hadn’t in fact known that when I heard a camera begin to click to the side. A quick glance revealed an aide with a camera in hand which had Kumo beaming into its lens.

“Excellent work there!” he called. “Smile nice and wide Brock! This is a symbol of OA and Indigo coming together on yet another trade deal!”

I felt more than a little dirty and I wasn’t impressed with being ambushed like this. I shot the man an annoyed look before squeezing his hand. Rather than back off straight away he held my hand for a few moments more.

When he finally released he merely nodded at me. 

“Good that that’s out of the way!” he winked at me like we were old friends. “Can’t stay in the top job without having something good on the front page! You’d understand if you ever took a job in government!” he said like that whitewashed everything he’d done.

Copying him, I didn’t apologise for my actions and instead indicated the map. “Shall we?” I asked and he nodded.

He stepped in close to me and adopted a wise look as he surveyed the map. Sabrina moved to the other side of the table so she wouldn’t get caught in the shot, something he noticed but didn’t comment on as his aide began taking photos.

A quick nod had the lead geologist getting the meeting underway. “So we have several sites that we wish to investigate. Most of them are sadly enough on Fire, Ice, and Lightning Island as by reading through the reports we noticed that several legendary pokemon were present on each island. Ice island is in fact the most prevalent with the only other site holding more significance being either the beach where the Legendaries rested for the few days they were housed here, or the centre of the ocean, which at the time was an iceberg.”

The man licked his lips. “We would like to use a submarine for that but with what we’ve come to learn of Lugia… we’re worried it might be seen as intruding on their territory and result in a rather messy end.”

Another man coughed. “If Sabrina was amiable to it we might be able to talk with Lugia?” they offered.

At this everyone looked to Sabrina who stared towards the ocean only to shake her head. “I don’t believe it wise. I don’t get a good feeling from probing the ocean around here. It leads me to think the local Lugia is still agitated.”

That got a round of murmurs with people nodding in understanding while others moped at the lost opportunity.

A snap of my fingers had everyone refocussing. “We’ll just have to comb the beaches, starting here,” I said, tapping the site where Lugia and the Legendary cats had rested.

”From there we will set up watch groups using long range observation equipment for the islands. For now, we’re going to stay off them as there is the risk of drawing their anger.”

“We’ll get some experts on Legendary pokemon to give us an idea of how long it would take for them to resume normal activities before we make any serious judgment calls,” announced the lead geologist. “There will certainly be worse things to do than sit around on a tropical island reviewing footage of a trio of islands,” he laughed.

This drew a round of chuckles from several of the geologists before Tobias coughed. “You’ll need to camp out for the first few weeks in that case. Housing is a touch strained right now with most locals bunking with friends while the construction crews assess their homes.”

That got a blink from me. The construction crews I’d gotten in contact with were famous for their speed. Surely some houses wouldn’t have taken that long to slap together? There hadn’t been that much damage to Shamouti after all.

Tobias caught my expression and smirked. “More than a few people are either demanding things be precisely how they were, or they are looking to… renovate now that they have the chance. People’s decisions are backflipping fairly often resulting in delays.”

Prime Minister Kumo chuckled. “Ah, we do find ways to make simple things more complicated, don’t we?”

Tobias looked rather pleased by this and I could blink slowly. On the one hand that seemed entirely too silly, but on the other that seemed on track with normal human nature.

“Prioritise those that want to renovate because I suspect as soon as they’re done and have house warming parties, the others will realise what they might miss out on and jump ship causing further delays,” I pointed out.

Tobias just smirked at me, he must have already done that as he merely nodded and gestured to the map. 

I glanced down at it, considering the various factors. They had markings for the significant moments where Legendary pokemon had been either fighting, or spent time but Legendary energy was only one part of the equation.

My finger tapped up and down as I considered the map. On a whim I had a sheet of clear plastic laid over the top before getting out several coloured pens.

I then began tracing the points that Sabrina and I had travelled along with others like Erika, Visquez, Ash, Misty, Forrest, Koga, and members of Team Cipher.

People leaned in, realising what I was marking. Sabrina began pointing out other relevant considerations. “Luana and Yuji were also active, and so were several pokemon within the horde that arrived later.”

“With the Fiorians,” I murmured in thought, tapping the map. “What direction did they come from? I was in the sub getting young Silver out of Cipher clutches.”

Several locals who’d apparently observed the incident helpfully pointed out several different routes that it had occurred, leading to more squabbling.

In the end I shut that line of inquiry down and instead simply got a list of which pokemon had been out and about at certain times.

“Water type pokemon are probably going to be the most prevalent stone we find going forward,” I mused. “We did have several strong pokemon active near Legendary pokemon on multiple occasions but the clearest points of that were on the islands.”

Which we were avoiding for now.

“We’ll scour the beaches and do some low-level diving in the waters around Shamouti for today, how’s that sound?” I asked.

A chorus of ‘yes’ followed my question and with that sorted out everyone broke off into their groups. Most moved towards the ‘Legendary Beach’ as it was now being referred to by the locals.

Sabrina and I, rather than sweep the beach, turned our attention inland. “You’re sure you’re feeling something?” I asked Sabrina.

She nodded. “Yes. I’m rather surprised considering that I hadn’t felt it previously but perhaps the Legendary pokemon were masking it.”

We made a slow circuit through Shamouti only for Sabrina to start leading me in a narrowing circuit. I considered the area around us. “Got a line of reference?”I asked.

She nodded, understanding what I was getting at as she drew out her transceiver and activated the map feature. She drew a line in it in the direction she was facing before grasping me and teleporting me to the other side of the block. From there we repeated the line and teleported once more before glancing at the centre point.

“Shall we?” I asked, and Sabrina nodded again. We vanished into a Teleport and found ourselves atop a small radio tower.

I frowned. This wasn’t what I’d been expecting, but at the same time this was a very unusual hunt for a Mega stone, considering we were in the middle of a small town rather than a dig site. 

Sabrina’s head snapped upwards and I followed only to find a dented radio tower with a bird’s nest at the top. I half dismissed it only to blink. 

“The nest?” I asked incredulously. 

Her hand snapped up and the nest, and everything in it rose into the air before floating down to eyeline with us.

The Pidgeotto within stared at us in shock before flight of fight instincts won out.

It bristled and tried to fluff itself up in an attempt to scare us away.

We both gave it rather flat looks causing it to lower its head and start clucking. 

“A nesting pokemon,” I muttered.

Sabrina narrowed her eyes. “Peck me and I shall feed you to my pokemon… with gravy!” Sabrina declared. 

I could feel the impression of a pidgeotto roast being pushed into my mind as Sabrina projected her words to the pokemon.

It wisely stood up and fluttered to the side, revealing a single egg that it was sitting on. A glint in the twigs making up the nest itself held our attention however, and with a swift grab, Sabrina secured the stone.

She then returned the nest to where it had been. I tossed the ruffled pokemon a few poffins as I felt bad having likely terrified it.

Sabrina didn’t pay the pokemon any mind as she instead inspected the mega stone in her hands.

“It’s alakazamite,” she murmured and I blinked.

“Oh damn, really?” I asked, stepping in. Sabrina was right, it was an exact copy of the mega Stone she owned. “Huh, I wonder if that was from Luana’s or your activity during the event?” I mused.

“Most likely mine,” Sbarina stated firmly. “I’m half a mind to report that we didn’t find anything,” she declared.

I coughed and gave Sabrina a look. 

She didn’t meet my gaze.

“Sabrina, can you stop being petty to Luana please?”

“I’d rather not,” she replied before sighing and handing me the stone. “There you are. It won’t work for her as she still needs a keystone,” she pointed out and I decided to not point out that we actually had several keystones.

Lance after all now had a Salamenceite and Charizardite and he’d only needed one Keystone for each. So we had spares. 

“We’ll have to look around,” I offered instead, allowing Sabrina to have her ‘victory’ over Luana. “We might have to adjust how we search for stones. If flying-type pokemon are picking them up and weaving them into nests…” I left the rest unsaid.

I wouldn’t exactly make us seem good if we were having to raid pokemon nests based on their likelihood of being kleptomaniacs.

It actually might cast doubt on the theory of the Mega stones both forming in the oldest Charizards’ nests. It was possible they in fact formed in other nests or areas and were instead collected by the Charizard themselves and plugged into the wall.

I voiced this theory to Sabrina and she nodded. “It is possible,” she pointed out.

I made a note of it along with taking several photos of where we’d found the new Alakazamite for later reference. There would be a researcher somewhere that would love to find out about this conflicting theory, and I, for one, would be more than happy to drop this into their laps to research.

I had better things to do. 

“Still, it does rather match with the games,” I mused quietly to Sabrina after glancing around. “Knowing that some flying types will hide them in their nests makes sense, for why some of the stones would end up in small towns or buildings.”

“Which also means that other pokemon might pick them up, like Ratata for example,” Sabrina suggested.

“We also can’t rule out people just being ignorant of what it is and picking them up,” I muttered, eying a group of young kids.

We returned to the community hall to deliver the good news and Prime Minister Kumo and several others were already there when we arrived.

“Brock!” called Kumo. “Look! They’ve already found one!” he called, gesturing to a rock that was set on the table. 

I gave the rock a quick inspection before chuckling. “Sharpedoite once more,” I announced to the group. It would seem there had been several of the notorious pokemon around during the incident, which tracked with what we knew of the vicious pokemon. It would have been lurking around, waiting for a fresh meal… which if things hadn’t gone well.. Might have included Legendary pokemon, I realised with a jolt as I recalled how the local Lugia had been downed during the fighting.

When we laid the Alakazamite on the table Kumo almost gushed at the news. “Luana will be thrilled to bits! That will be perfect for her!” he announced and I nodded in agreement.

Another inspection of the map had me tapping it in thought. If Sharpedo were present there was a strong chance that Gyarados would have been as well. I started moving my finger over the map only to pause as I caught sight of a small landmark that I’d skipped over before.

“I think I need to go see a friend,” I declared suddenly. “I want to check in on them.” 

Everyone accepted that easily enough and I led Sabrina down a small path that led us to a set of cliffs where a winding path zigzagged down the cliffs with several levels to it. Wildflowers blossomed on the side of the path, making it seem picturesque. 

Sabrina understood straight away who we were going to visit and she perked up with interest as we drew close to Slowking’s cave. 

“Hello!” I called. “Slowking, are you there?” I asked.

I waited several seconds and was about to ask Sabrina when a voice called back. “Yes! I’m here!” 

I waited several more seconds, and slowly a form walked out into the sun. “Hello again Brock and Sabrina. I’ve been expecting you both!” he greeted us.

“Oh?” I replied.

He nodded his large, crowned head. “Come in and have some snacks!” he announced like a host greeting old friends. I let him lead us into his home where a small table with actual chairs stood. He also had several berries in a bowl with what looked like magazines tucked atop it.

My mind noted that either he had brought these items in or locals delivered these goods for him. I suspected the latter more than the former, considering how slow-moving Slowking was.

Off to the side, on yet another table sitting atop small bundles of cloth were two megastones. One grey and purple, while the other was pink and yellow.

Part of me wanted to march over and grab them but I held off, realising it would be poor manners.

Slowking sat in his chair and blinked at us before waving for us to sit. “Oh, let me get you something to eat and drink,” he announced.

He then set about chopping berries and pouring glasses of juice for us both.

Sabrina’s lips twitched and I knew she knew I was feeling antsy. The megastones were right there!

Slowking, once we were both cared for, sat in his chair with a soft sigh. “Yes, I’ve been expecting you for quite some time now,” he announced with a nod. 

There was a long delay and I twitched before opening my mouth. “Sorry for taking so long to get around to seeing you.” 

“Oh, I don’t mind waiting,” he replied blandly. He gestured to the two stones. “These appeared on the island and I thought I’d collect them as I encountered them on my walks.”

I almost leapt to grab them before restraining myself. I didn’t want to be rude, not again to a pokemon I suspected had majorly helped out. I took a long slow breath and exhaled out my tension. There was no need to rush.

Slowking nodded and moved. “These are both for you, they’re going to help you out in the future, I have no doubt!” he announced. 

He grabbed the pink mega stone and handed it to Sabrina. 

Then he turned to the second stone and rather than grab it he reached for a spray bottle. He sprayed the stone a few times and wiped it down. 

Then he grabbed the cloth under the stone rather than the stone itself. “This one… was in quite a state when I encountered it. I’ve cleaned it several times but… well it’s yours now,” he offered, laying the stone in front of me.

I almost grabbed it, but something about what he said demanded I stop and think.

It was a stone meant for me… but he’d found it in quite a state.

Sabrina glanced up from her stone and blinked then she started giggling.

I shot her a look but she wouldn’t meet my gaze. I looked at the colouration. It was grey and purple. And the only stone I could think of that…

“You found this on the beach, didn’t you?” I asked as an idea started to form in my mind.

“Oh yes,” replied Slowking blandly.

“In the sand with lots of feathers around it?” I asked knowingly.

“Precisely so!” he said.

I put my head in my hands and Sabrina began to giggle. “This is Aerodactylite, isn’t it?” I asked.

“You tell me!” Slowking replied cheerfully as he took a sip of his juice.

I made a face. The stone looked clean but I’d always know how it came about. 

Some knowledge wasn’t worth knowing and was in fact just a curse. I almost said I didn’t want it.

But I sucked it up and picked it up, albeit by the cloth to deposit it into my pouch. “Thanks Slowking, you’re a true friend.”

“That means a lot!” he replied.

We stuck around and talked with him before bidding goodbye. Slowking merely waved us goodbye as unbothered as I’d ever seen him.

“Anything we should know before we head off?” I asked.

Slowking shook his head. “Just keep going how you have been and take a moment to slow down, hmmm?” he offered like a wiseman.

I nodded, replaying how that interaction might have gone if I’d leapt before I looked. “I’ll keep that in mind,” I replied.

Slowking nodded at me and then at Sabrina before turning his focus towards the ocean, a zen-like smile appearing on his features.

Sabrina and I departed with Sabrina shooting me knowing little smiles. “Score one for the good guys?” she teased.

“Yes, yes it is,” I gritted out.

When we returned to announce our findings we did so to the news that yet another Mega Stone had been found. This one turned out to be a Gyaradosite, like I’d expected. With the news of our discovery of two more, we could only conclude that the theory about Legendary interactions held some weight to it.

I called Lance to tell him the good news.

He answered from behind his desk with tired eyes that quickly lit up at the news. “That’s marvelous! I’d like to stake a claim on that one!” he declared.

I shot him an unimpressed look. He was being more than a little greedy by asking for that so soon after scoring a Charizardite X in my opinion.

Still, I was tempted to give it to him. Then I’d get to shoot snarky little comments at him whenever he mentioned it. I could share a laugh with Sabrina and tease him with him being none the wiser.

Despite that, I held off. 

“I think I’ll hold onto this one,” I replied easily with a steely undertone as I locked eyes with Lance through the phone line.

“I think you’re forgetting who brokered the deal with OA,” he pointed out.

I nodded. “Want me to have a word with Crowley for you?” I offered in return. 

He nodded. “That will do nicely,” he replied quickly. I shook my head realising that had been his true goal the entire time. 

Still, he was welcome to it, it wasn’t like I was going to ask Crowley to hold off much longer and scoring another Megastone was certainly a win in my books.

I’d just need to wash it several times.

But sometimes that was just life.

_________________________

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

Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading the chapter.