Hard Enough - Chapter 358 - Intermission II - Bertha's day off!

Bertha hopped, skipped, and jumped away from Brock as she and her teammates were released from their pokeballs.

Brock chuckled at her antics. “Happy to be home girl?” he called.

Bertha swept around. “You know it!” she sang, shaking her tail back and forth. She sashayed up to Titan and nuzzled him then leaned down to Brock. “So, can we still do the big event for my egg?” she asked.

Brock blinked, taking a moment to ‘translate’ what she’d said. She could feel him shifting through the bond like a tall mountain cast in darkness. Occasionally, it changed, shifting with his mood. When he was anxious, the mountain rumbled and when he was angry it quaked with avalanches spilling down the sides.

Most of the time it was quiet, like a familiar sight that went with you when you moved around your home. As if it was part of Bertha’s own mental landscape. 

Titan had different theories about that but whenever he started talking about it, Bertha just nodded and ignored him. He had access to the pokenet and he looked up meditation guides and mindscape books written by psychic types?

Lame!

She’d told him as much but he’d just chuckled and waved her away.

Bertha waited now for Brock and he nodded. “Yeah, we should be able to set something up. I’ll talk to Rachel and we can get a drive going. So they’ll need to be a trainer without any other pokemon yet right?”

Bertha nodded and Brock started listing off various qualities that Bertha wanted this trainer to have. “Kindness, Intelligence, Bravery, Justice-oriented, Loyal, strong resolve…” Brock ticked off from a list on his Xtransceiver.

Bertha nodded her head quickly only for Brock to chop the air in her direction. “These are all just traits of Magic girls that I’m listing off!”

Bertha laughed. “That’s the point! It’s perfect!” she cheered. “List those as the traits that you need and announce it as a Magical tournament!” 

“Oh yeah, that’s right. You want that theme don’t you? Hmmm yeah we can make that work,” Brock said, jotting something down.

“Oh! Oh! Create tests for them! Challenge their daring-do!” She bounced back and forth, ignoring how the ground shook as her energy built up. “Make them show their true spirit!”

Brock and Titan stared at her, then shared a look as Brock muttered. “This is sounding more like a cross between Hunger Games and a knock-out comedy show,” he muttered.

“Oh! We can do that! I’ve seen some good ones! Only we can use real boulders! And quicksand! And a Sandstorm with a prize in the middle! And and…” Bertha’s tail began to thump erratically as ideas began to spill from her.

“You’re going to have to do something to make yourself look magical,” Titan pointed out.

“What do you mean?” Bertha asked with narrowed eyes, thoughts of creating a lava obstacle course vanishing at his words.

Titan waved his claws up and down. “The Magical girl shows that you’ve watched all have frilly dresses and lace but that doesn’t suit you,” he stated firmly.

Bertha lifted her club tail, ready to swat her mate, but she held off, just in case he was about to say something different or recant his words.

“Your sturdy frame and rough exterior would look better if it was painted with glitter and maybe even had a crown made for you with a visor,” he continued, unaware of the clubbing he had just avoided thanks to his insight.

Brock blinked at Titan. “That’s… actually a great idea. A dress would look kind of silly, but the sparkles and shimmering are something Bertha can definitely do.” he tilted his head and sang something under his breath about ‘shining bright like a diamond’.

Titan smiled at Bertha, and in that moment, Bertha remembered why she’d fallen for this lug when they were just a Larvitar and a Rhyhorn.

Titan might be boring sometimes, but he had a vision that often showed the way to reach goals.

Bertha lunged at him, determined to pepper him with kisses. They fell to the ground, causing the earth to shake and Brock to beat a quick retreat lest he witness more than he wanted. Bertha wasn’t going to get that frisky, though. 

She wasn’t Don who… she shuddered in memory of the beach she’d found. Don was a brute that should be locked up, for so, so, so many reasons.

Most of them too explicit for innocent eyes.

She’d happily keep her lovemaking with Titan to their cavern, thank you very much.

Titan laughed through her nuzzles and soft bunts. “Hahaha! Alright, alright, I have to ask something, though. What brought on this desire to foist off our egg this time around? You were previously wanting to keep them close,” he pointed out.

“Mostly, I just wanted them to be passionate and have a desire to experience the world!” she declared with a firm nod

Titan looked intrigued. “Ho?” he asked.

She flapped a hand in the direction of her other children. “I don’t want any more children who are content to sit around the reserve!” 

“Ah, fair enough,” Titan replied. “Still, it’s not a bad thing to be happy with their circumstances,” he offered.

“Yes, but I also want them to broaden their horizons! I don’t think they even go out for patrols! It’s just Gym battles and the reserve! They don’t even know what they’re missing out on! There’s a big world out there full of wonder!” she said, expanding her arms out wide to indicate the size of what they were missing out on.

“If just one of them had my drive, my passion, my magical power to do anything they wished they’d take the world by storm!” Bertha harrumphed while spinning her finger drills into each other making them spark.

Then she grinned widely and reached up to the sky. “I’ve thrown down against Legendary pokemon what will our children be able to accomplish?

“True, but it’s nice having them here as well,” Titan mumbled warily. 

Bertha nodded slowly. It was nice, but at the same time…

Titan rumbled slowly. “It might be worth talking to Brock about setting up some rotations for the various pokemon to go experience different things,” he mused, glancing out at the grounds that were starting to receive some light snow.

He shivered and pointed towards the volcano. “Want to warm up a bit?” he suggested, and she followed him to the top of the large hill that served as a volcano for the fire types.

They found a trio of Growlithe lazing about at the top while Slugma and a Magcargo oozed their way into the lava causing it to brighten up considerably. 

The safety rails in a few areas had a few scorch marks around them and Titan eyed them carefully. “Might need to get these replaced soon,” he muttered.

Bertha rolled her eyes. “Just relax! Leave that for the Gym Trainers, we just kicked some more Legendary butt! So I think we can relax for a while, you know?” 

Titan chuckled but settled down to watch the steam rise from the top of the volcano as falling snow evaporated.

It was calm and quiet.

So naturally, Bertha found it to be a bit boring, so she started scrolling the pokenet. She checked her pokebook account and found that she had a bunch of messages waiting for her.

Mostly from Internet cat… who was such a troll, according to Brock anyway.

“Urgh!” she scoffed at the rude comment he’d left on the picture of Titan and Bertha walking along the beach.

“Let it go,” suggested Titan.

“Never!” Bertha growled as her thumbs began to tap on the holographic buttons to respond. If that troll wanted a flame war she’d bring the heat!

She was resistant to fire!

Her maddened laughter rang out, causing weaker pokemon to scamper into hiding. 

Titan just shook his head.

For the next half hour, the calm and homely feeling of the volcano was occasionally interrupted by a soft ping as Bertha received a response to her post. This was quickly followed by the sound of Bertha giggling to herself as she replied.

The gaps between responses and giggles quickly shortened and Titan began to glare at Bertha.

“I think you need to take a break from your transceiver,” he suggested. 

Bertha tugged her transceiver out of Titan’s reach. “I don’t have a problem! I can stop whenever I want!” she hissed at him.

Titan levelled a disappointed look at her, and the fight left Bertha. “Oh, alright,” she muttered, handing over the transceiver. “Can we go see your aunties?” she asked with a smirk.

Titan grimaced. “They’re far too young to be my aunties. They’re my sisters and that’s final!” 

“But they smell like your mother! Come on, you know I’m right!” she teased, causing Titan to pretend to flick Bertha’s transceiver towards the lava.

“Don’t you dare!” she growled, snatching it back. She tucked it safely away and nodded her head towards the cavern system. “Go through the magma tunnels?” she suggested.

“Sure,” Titan replied, following her down the slope and into a nearby tunnel that saw them walking through warm caves towards their area, which had to be furnished with heaters to warm them up. 

They’d gotten a little too acclimatised to tropical conditions and would need to adjust for winter in Pewter. 

When they closed in on Empress’ cave, they encountered Ursaring who had the terrible trio riding atop his back.

“Go faster!” “Stay steady!” “No! Turn around! Mother and Knight are more interesting!” called the trio one after another.

Titan stiffened, and Bertha snorted as they understood what was happening in Empress’ cavern. “Hey, kids! Who wants to go raid Brock’s house and watch some television?” she suggested, causing Ursaring to shoot her a look of pure gratitude.

“Yes, please!” he announced

Bertha turned to Titan. “Think I should invite Knight and your mother?” she teased.

“They’re both consenting adults,” he replied tersely, “and she can do much worse than him.” He nodded his head back the way they’d come. “Let’s go cue up some Magical Girl anime.”

Bertha dropped all desire to tease him, instead leading the trio of small Larvitar and one Ursaring back the way they’d come. When they made it to Brock’s house they pushed their way in through the enlarged door.

The house was dark as most of the occupants were asleep.

“Shame Brock didn’t plan for Jorm’s size,” Bertha muttered as she walked with a slight hunch into the loungeroom, where she opened a container that had the beanbags that could handle her weight.

A noise in the kitchen made her look in, only to find Sylveon and Munchlax enjoying a late-night snack together.

“Hey, hey, good looking!” she called out to Sylveon, only for Munchlax to glance up and adopt a shy expression. Bertha decided not to correct him as Sylveon merely sniffed imperiously. 

“Can you bring some of that in?” Bertha asked. “We’ve got the next few days off and want to relax. Want to join us?”

Sylveon considered them with her ribbon-like hair flicking back and forth as her ears twitched. “Sure, Munchlax bring the goods,” she ordered.

“Roger!” barked the little pokemon as he saluted and began to fill a sack with vegetables and pokechow that he was able to access. Then he glanced around suspiciously as he drew out a large stick, which he used to knock a giant bag of marshmallows off a shelf in the pantry.

He then proceeded to knock other things over, only to have to leap back and forth to catch them before they hit the ground.

It made for a pretty entertaining show, only for Titan to cough and Munchlax to decide that maybe ten megapacks of sweets was enough. He stashed his whacking stick away and began dragging the sack towards the loungeroom.

Bertha turned back to the television only to twitch in surprise as a shadow shifted in the room and a glint of eyes watching her flashed menacingly. 

Bertha prepared to throw a magical uppercut only for a woman to step out of the shadows.

“What do you all think you’re doing?” Lola asked with her head tilted in a slightly chilling manner. It reminded Bertha of that time she’d watched that horror movie with Titan.

Lola’s eyes flicked about, observing everyone’s place within the room. “Well?”

Titan huffed and gestured to the television. 

Lola squinted at him. “Pokemon really shouldn’t have run off the place, especially at night,” she whispered.

Bertha sighed, feeling more settled now that she knew she wasn’t about to get into a fight with a stray Haunter or something like that. “Oh great, Lola’s here kids.”

Titan shook his head. “Lola, we’re allowed to be here. Brock has given us time off,” he rumbled quietly.

Lola’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t like the tone you just used,” she growled.

Bertha facepalmed. “Titan, you can’t talk to her, she’s not like Brock or Sabrina who know how to talk with us, nor is she like the kids who understand us somewhat.” 

The trio perked up. “Does that mean there’s going to be a fight?”

“Yeah! Fight!” they cheered.

Bertha sniffed. “Please, I’d flatten her. Then I’d need to wake Sabrina up to help me clean up!” she declared.

Titan sighed. “We’re not going to fight Brock’s mother,” he rumbled.

“Awwwwww!” groaned the trio.

Bertha snorted. “Bloodthirsty little things aren’t you?” she chuckled before shaking her head. 

“Are you going to fight her or not?” chimed the most bloodthirsty of the trio, Bertha liked to think of her as Tetra with her sisters Tutra, and Tytra, not that she told anyone that.

“Nope, cause in three, two, one—” she pointed at the hallway right as Flint walked into the kitchen with a glass in hand.

He paused, seeing the standoff that was taking place in the loungeroom. “Oh, hello everyone, having a late night binge are we?”

“You know it Flint!” Bertha shot him a thumbs-up for the ‘save’. 

Flint chuckled and waved back. “Come on—” another yawn escaped Flint, “—honey, come back to bed. The pokemon are allowed in the house to relax. Brock says it helps build up their bond for them to share things. They’ve done this for years now.”

Bertha and Titan both nodded along, it was true, even if the open-door policy sometimes saw strays like Munchlax wander in. Still, Munchlax was part of the family now. 

The strays wandering in had cut back a lot since they got a front garden full of Lileep.

Lola lingered. “It still… this is our house, we shouldn’t be letting them just wander in like this.”

“It’s Brock’s house, remember dear?” Flint replied with another yawn. 

“And it's his rules. If you’re that worried about it… Well we can talk about it later alright?” he said, gaze flicking to the various pokemon that were watching the drama unfold before them.

Lola sighed. “...Alright,” she muttered as she was led away.

Munchlax, who’d been ignoring the drama, reached the centre of the loungeroom with his sack of goodies.

Bertha glanced at Titan. “That woman is so creepy,” she muttered.

“Always was a bit off,” Titan remarked with a huff. “I’m more concerned about what Flint was saying. Brock had said he was doing better. Seems Lola is still struggling with coming back.”

“Tch! Typical,” Bertha replied, only to stiffen as she recalled that young eyes were watching her. 

She adopted a more casual pose. “Soooo, what do you all want to watch first? Dark Magic Umbreon, return of the Sun Espeon, or Butterfree’s magic garden?” she offered.

“Dark Magic!” chimed the trio as Ursaring glanced towards the magic garden disc. 

“Magic Garden it is!” Bertha chimed over the protests of the trio who quickly settled down as the glitter and magic of cartoons went to work on them.

Before long, the trio were all snoring while Ursaring was bobbing from side to side with a grin at the bright music.

Spotting a great moment, Bertha raised her transceiver and snapped a picture which she quickly posted to her pokebook account only for Internet cat to respond instantly.

“Now that’s Gap Moe?” she read aloud.

Titan snorted in amusement and shook his head as Bertha glared at her transceiver. Instead of starting another flame war, she tucked it away and enjoyed some snacks and good television with her partner.

Halfway through the film Titan shifted. “You know… you could probably get Brock to make a show like this. With Sabrina working as an actress, she’d have connections.”

Bertha leaned away from Titan to stare at him. “Really?” she asked.

“Yah, you know who’d work great in this? Crystal Onix, along with Knight and Jorm. Polish them up and you’d have some glittering warriors of justice or something.”

Bertha had to repress the urge to wag her tail back and forth. Her maul would cause a lot of damage if she allowed it to swing unrestrained. “Think you could make a dashing prince?” she asked teasingly.

“Nah I preferred playing the role of villain,” he replied. “Get a dark-aligned theme going and it’d work great. Who’s that pokemon Brock is always talking about with Suzie?”

“Diancie?” Bertha replied.

“Yeah, maybe work that into the story but have it as just glimmers and hints maybe?” he said.

Bertha giggled. “Look at you being a writer.”

Titan snorted. “I do have a brain, you know?” he countered.

They continued to workshop the idea, and despite how silly it sounded, Bertha found herself rather enjoying the idea the more they discussed it. That, or maybe it was just that she enjoyed talking about it with Titan.

It was probably both.

When morning came, she awoke to some gentle prodding with light giggles around her. 

She opened her eyes to find that during the night, someone, probably Brock, had come down and covered her and the other pokemon with blankets.

Now she was being scribbled on with chalk. There were love hearts, and lightning bolts, and what looked like laughing flowers all over her, while Titan had Haunter faces, and Gengar grins spread all over his body.

Brock entered through the front door with a grin. “Hey gang! Good morning!” Trailing after him Gible, Golbat, Cranidos, Selene, Link, and Zephyr followed him in.

Bertha waved at the group, amused at how the younger pokemon were still a little in awe of getting to come into Brock’s home.

“Good night?” Zephyr asked, hopping forward to inspect the remnants of the food packets strewn about the room. 

Munchlax sat up, smears of chocolate were around his mouth. Bertha tapped at her own mouth, and he blinked before a huge tongue emerged to lick at his lips.

“Hmmm thanks!” he cheered before running to the hallway. Moments later he came back with a broom and garbage bag.

“They make you clean?” Ursaring asked.

Munchlax glanced up from checking that a bag of popcorn was truly empty. “Hmmm? Oh, no. I just do it so Nanny Grav doesn’t throw away anything tasty.” he scuttled up to Ursaring who was lying down like a large cushion with the terrible trio cuddling into him still. 

“She once threw away half a chocolate bar!” he stage whispered.

Bertha and the other older pokemon chuckled at his aghast expression.

Brock moved through the group, inspecting everyone and even pausing to take a picture of Ursaring’s predicament. 

He ducked out of the room only to emerge with a bevy of plates that he deposited in front of his pokemon before marching out and returning with a giant tray of pancakes that tottered as he wobbled his way towards them.

Selene’s eyes glowed, and the tottering stopped only to have the pancake tower split apart and distribute itself evenly among the pokemon.

“Thanks girl!” Brock called as he hurried back to grab the berries, honey, and milk for the pokemon to enjoy.

“Awwww, I like it when he clowns around!” Gible whined. “He’s funny like that!”

“It’s not funny when Munchlax catches the food before it hits the ground,” muttered Bertha.

Munchlax adopted a hurt expression. “Do you want it to go bad? I’d rather it be eaten!”

“Course you’d say that!” Bertha growled, shaking her fist at him in mock frustration only for him to sniff primly and shove the entire stack of pancakes into his mouth.

“W-where does it all go?” asked Ursaring as Selene dutifully levitated bites towards where he lay. 

“Got like ten stomachs on the go or something,” Munchlax declared proudly as he slapped his stomach and let out a quiet burp.

“Food?” said one of the trio from atop Ursaring sleepily, only to perk up. “Food!” she called, throwing herself at a nearby bowl of berries that was almost bigger than her. Her shout awoke the other two and they promptly tore their way through their meal before eying Ursaring’s plate of food.

“No stealing his,” Titan cut in before they could even ask. The trio all glared at him, and Bertha snapped a picture of them.

Titan pointed to Ursaring. “While the rest of us are having a break he’s going to be on the training roster later today or tomorrow, I guarantee you. He needs his strength.”

That caused the trio to pout but they accepted the reasoning well enough, instead turning to the television to watch some shows.

When breakfast was done and Munchalax had cleared up everyone’s plates Brock returned with a huge grin. 

“Great news! We got a new little friend who’s going to be perfect teasing material!” Then he coughed. “I mean! A great member for our team!” he announced. 

He jerked his head outside and within moments, the family along with most of Brock’s pokemon were set up in a small open area. 

Knight looked rather tired and Bertha nudged Titan to indicate the Aggron only for Titan to nod in greeting and leave it at that, drawing a pout from Bertha.

“Alright gang! Welcome your new training buddy for the young pokemon! Come on out Tyrunt!” Brock called and with a flick of his wrist the pokeball opened to reveal a small pokemon with a tuft of feathers around its neck. Atop the tuft was a rather large head with a few teeth that protruded out of its mouth.

Shadowed dark eyes observed the world around it, only to lock onto Brock as he knelt down and began to radiate his aura tightly around him.

“Huh, starting off with a show of strength,” Titan mused as he sniffed at the air. “Ah, draconic, that will make things interesting.”

The little Tyrunt stared up at Brock with an imperious gaze, which Brock met head-on. Bertha felt the feeling of the dark mountain beginning to grow within her mind as Brock did something. He wasn’t radiating his aura like he could.

He was instead focusing his attention fully upon the young pokemon.

For a long moment, the staring contest held only for Tyrunt to bob its head eventually and bow. 

It must have felt the weight of Brock’s gaze, the rumbles of power that shifted and settled within the small eternity it had locked eyes with Brock. 

“Hello,” it greeted Brock.

“Hello indeed,” Brock replied. He raised a hand, palm facing down, to the top of Tyrunt’s head slowly. “I’m Brock. Would you like to become strong?” Brock asked. 

The little Tyrunt perked up at that. “We would like that yes,” it replied with a quick little one-two stomp.

“Then welcome aboard,” Brock said, taking Tyrunt’s enthusiastic answer for the positive response it was. Brock’s hand settled over Tyrunt’s head and he shifted about, watching Tyrunt’s reactions as he touched, scratched, or rubbed certain areas. 

Bertha, ever a lover of small cute things, watched carefully, committing to memory how Tyrunt seemed to live having the ridges above his eyes scratched, along with the tuft being rather sensitive. She particularly liked how he stomped his foot.

“Yeeeeeees, this pleases us!” crooned Tyrunt only for Brock to offer Tyrunt some meat-based pokechow. 

Tyrunt opened its jaw wide and made to bite all of it, hand and all only for Brock to twist his hand deftly out of the way. 

“No biting hands!” he barked, holding his hand such that Tyrunt couldn’t get any fingers. 

“Grrr,” Tyrunt rumbled as it made quick work of the meal. “More! Serve us more!” she commanded.

“Stop!” Brock ordered, causing another battle of wills to commence. Tyrunt stomped its feet once or twice to balk Brock but their trainer held firm and Tyrunt lowered her head slightly. 

“We are hungry,” Tyrunt grumbled.

Brock nodded. “Very well, you can have more food, but slowly. No biting people’s hands. Biting is only for food and fighting and hands aren’t food.”

“Fight?” Tyrunt asked.

Brock’s eyes flickered towards Titan who must have filtered what Tyrunt was saying to Brock. “Not right now,” Brock replied. “Just food for now,” he offered, drawing out a plate that he heaped high with food. He made Tyrunt wait rather than giving in straight away.

When Tyrunt went to nip him to hurry him, Brock caught Tyrunt’s head in his other hand easily. “Relax, food is coming. Again, no biting,” Brock reiterated. 

Bertha watched, noting that Tyrunt was quite demanding, but Brock had things well in hand. It would make things interesting when Tyrunt grew stronger, especially if she continued to test Brock. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take long for Tyrunt to understand that Brock wasn’t to be messed with.

Around the pair, Bertha noted that Yolanda was watching intently while Salvadore had his pokedex out, recording the interaction while jotting down his observations.

Tyrunt devoured two plates of food before asking for more, only for Brock to deny her, earning another stomp. Tyrunt turned away and began inspecting her surroundings.

That opened the floodgates with the terror triplets waddling out to inspect the new pokemon.

“Eh, she looks weak!” growled one as she stepped in to give Tyrunt a playful shove, only for it to skip back and snap its fangs at her.

“Don’t touch us! We are not like you!” she sneered, raising her head high while still staring up at the taller Larvitars. The little tuft of feathers around Tyrunt’s neck fluffed up slightly, making Bertha think of Zephyr when he got startled.

“Oh, goody! It’s got personality!” Bertha announced, clapping her hands in glee.

Tyrunt snorted and twisted to inspect Bertha. “Hmmm you’re a funny looking one aren’t you?” she stated, earning a round of chuckles from the onlooking pokemon.

Brock coughed into his fist and Bertha snorted, not about to get bent out of shape over a young pokemon’s words.

Brock brought out his pokedex. “Tyrunt, This pokemon was first discovered by Salvadore. Please continue to document as much as possible about this pokemon!”

Brock gave his little brother a look. “Really?”

Salvadore hid behind his raised Pokedex. “Sorry! I just wanted to see what the pokedex could detect! I forgot it sometimes lists who discovered it first.”

Brock sighed. “Well it was Crowley, not us, so we’ll ask Oak to correct that later so no matter,” he replied. 

Brock glanced around. “Everyone, just to give you a heads up this little girl is rock-dragon type. If you see her butting heads with Don, or Gible that might just be his Dragon instincts flaring up.”

“You like biting things?” asked Gible as he toddled forward happily.

Tyrunt growled. “We are the best at biting things!” she replied.

“Strange inflection it has there,” Titan mused, causing Brock to tilt his head. When he understood, he chuckled. 

“Sounds like the ‘Royal Heir’ pokemon title isn’t just for show. She even thinks flike a little princess right now,” Brock muttered. 

They all watched as Tyrunt and Gible bit at the air to show off who was better at biting. Gible was faster, with his bite seeming to open and shut like a book. On the other hand, Tyrunt’s bites snapped closed like a security gate slamming shut.

“Everyone, keep your hands away from Tyrunt, I don’t think she’s as relaxed as Gible,” Brock said to his family.

Bertha grinned and leaned down. “Awwww, who’s a little cutey!” she said with a single finger extended. 

As she’d been warned, she got bitten.

It wasn’t very effective on her.

Flint came forward at Brock’s urging, and the pair talked about various points regarding raising the pokemon. 

Brock stepped back and allowed Flint to spend some time with the new pokemon. “So Tyrunt might end up being one of the stronger fossil types we have. She’s going to take longer to raise due to being dragon typed but she also has the most potential. I was thinking about having her set up mostly for the specialty Gym battles we talked about, in which case she’d be coming your way a bit more.”

Brock locked eyes with Flint. “You’d have to be very firm with her though. Think you can handle that?”

Flint chewed his lip before nodding. “I can,” he stated earnestly. “If we go that route I think I’d enjoy having a pokemon like this.”

Brock chuckled. “Heh, back barely a day and I already have a stack of things to look into,” he mused. “Also just to fill you in, Crowley only used part of the fossil we found for resurrecting Tyrunt. We think we’re going to be able to get two but they’re going to be genetically twins.”

“That’ll make Lance happy,” suggested Flint.

Brock hummed. “Yeah, I told Crowley to hold off a little to make sure of it.”

Flint blinked in surprise only to chuckle and shake his head.

Bertha perked up. “Oh! Brock! Before you go anywhere!” she waved a hand to get his attention, and he glanced up at her. “Think you could talk with Sabrina about setting me up with a movie deal?” she asked with a slight bounce that caused another small earthquake.

“Bwah!” cried the smaller pokemon while Brock’s siblings giggled as they fell on their backsides.

Brock stared. “A movie deal… whose idea was this?” he asked incredulously. 

Bertha had no problems pointing at Titan who smirked.

Brock just laughed, promising he’d look into it. Bertha grinned as she bumped her hip into Titan, who matched her grin with his own.

Bertha’s debut was a go!

__________

A.N. I was thinking of making this a half chapter of Bertha chilling out at home with various other pokemon… once again it spiralled out of control, which I’m alright with.

Thanks go to my patreons!

It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!