Hard Enough - Chapter 353 - Waking up to a world gone mad

Ditching Oak with Dr Kaminko had proven to be the right choice. I’d been able to skip all the drama that had ensued with his arrival and subsequent detainment by the local forces.

To my understanding, he was currently in discussion with Yuji and the other bigwigs but that was something I wanted to steer clear of. 

I’d just focused on the small things I could do, like cleaning up the island from all the storm damage it had faced. Shamouti might have gotten off light compared to other islands but that didn’t mean that Shamouti got away with no damage. 

Houses had collapsed and the power grid had failed with multiple lines needing to be rerun to get things working.

I was rather amused when I discovered Visquez at the local power plant helping to supply the town temporarily, while technicians worked to get the system repaired.

Apparently, a stray bolt from Zapdos had hit it towards the end of the battle. She was twirling what looked like a long thin hair. The movement was causing small hairs across her body to stand on end. 

“Is that a whisker?” I asked, suspecting that Raikou might have gifted Visquez something.

Visquez beamed. “Ayup! It also let me take some of its mane!” she said, pulling out hair that looked extremely soft and fluffy but that also sparked between it. 

“Oh, that’s cool,” I said, earning a bigger smile from the Electric Gym Leader.

We chatted for a while and the more I watched her, the more I knew I was going to have to introduce her to the young Zapdos to the east of Cerulean city.

When I bid her farewell, I’d started to hit a wall physically, so I’d nudged Forrest back towards the rooms. He’d staggered in only to collapse on the floor.

There’d been a serious few moments where I’d considered leaving him like that before my parental instincts rose to the fore. I marched back and tugged his shoes off before rolling him into a sleeping bag. 

“Mmm, thanks, Brock,” he muttered as he snuggled down.

I did the same for Misty and Ash with a shake of my head with both of them relaxing as they curled into the much comfier bedding. Pikachu surprised me by cracking open an eye and licking me.

With that done, I finally collapsed onto the bed next to Sabrina who’d barely moved. 

I must have jostled the bed too much as Kirlia, who’d been snuggling up to Sabrina, sat up and growled at me.“Kirlia!” 

“Oh go back to bed!” I snapped as I nestled down to be the biggest spoon in the bed as I set myself behind Sabrina.

And then I tried to fall asleep.

Only for it not to come.

I lay there, aware of the ticking of the clock, the faint drip of water from a light rain that was starting to roll in. It should have been relaxing but now it felt like someone was hammering on the roof for my attention.

I took a long, slow breath, trying to push it all away. 

My body ached, and I felt a yawn escape me.

Good, I was tired, my body was relaxing, and my lungs were taking in long slow breaths..

And yet, … No sleep came.

My mind churned, running this way and that like a hyperactive Growlithe.

I’d had this happen before and it always vexed me in the past. It hadn’t happened for years… Not since I’d taken over as the ‘parent’ of my younger siblings. I’d been forced to reconcile that sleep had to happen back then, sometimes if you wanted it or not.

I rolled onto my back and Kirlia muttered as she once more sat up enough to glare at me.

“I’m stepping outside,” I muttered as I left the bed.

Outside, Titan sat against the wall with his head bowed. He cracked an eye when he felt my approach. “Need to lean on you a bit,” I said.

He blinked awake and tilted his head as he felt me out through the bond only to nod a moment later. 

“Hmmmm,” he rumbled as he fed a calm serenity and support through our bond. I allowed myself to be encompassed by the emotions, treating it like a sudden drop into a pool of water. 

My mind stuttered at the sudden change only to relax. 

Before the tiredness that had been creeping up on me could claim me I signalled to Titan that he’d done enough.

He drew himself back and nodded at me. “Ty,” he rumbled with a smile before shutting his eyes.

I yawned and turned back to bed. “Yeah, love you too buddy,” I replied as I headed back to bed. 

This time I fell into bed. Hopefully Kirlia didn’t wake up, but that would have to be a problem for tomorrow’s Brock.

I didn’t even remember feeling myself hit the bed before sleep took its hold.

When I woke up I heard Pidgey trilling and Wingull squawking. There was the sound of young voices moving about in the kitchen and a smell of something tasty cooking. 

I sat up and glanced at my Xtransceiver only to sigh when I noted that it needed to charge. I tossed it to the dock next to the bed before seeing to my bladder’s demands. I freshened up a little with a quick face wash and only then did I meander out to the living space. 

“Is it morning or afternoon?” I muttered as I spotted Ash, Forrest, and Misty moving about the kitchen with some of their pokemon spread out across the room.

Forrest chuckled. ”It’s morning, we went to bed yesterday afternoon and slept for a while.” Forrest jerked a thumb at Misty and Ash. “These two slept almost sixteen hours if you can believe it!”

I yawned, scratching at my chest as I claimed a seat on the couch. “I can actually, seeing as they probably expended Aura into the Legendaries they interacted with.”

Forrest blinked. “Oh,” he muttered. 

I nodded back at the bedroom I’d left. “Sabrina is probably going to sleep even longer with how she had to do the same after ferrying various people around.” I gave the kitchen a look along with another sniff. “Got a plate of that for me?” I prompted.

Forrest rolled his eyes but handed me some sausage and scrambled eggs. “I also messaged Mum, Dad and Yolanda to let them know we’re both fine.”

That pulled me up short. “Urgh, I sent something off yesterday but my watch is flat. Hope they weren’t expecting a response.”

“I suspect they’re not the only people looking to make contact,” Forrest teased with a knowing grin. 

“Be a lot of media channels looking to get a comment or two mostly,” I replied as I tore into the meal. 

As I chewed, I began searching around for the television remote. Without my transceiver, I needed another way to see what was happening, and I didn’t want to set foot outside until I had half an idea of whether I should attempt to go back to bed first.

I chuckled at the joke of me being able to do such a thing as a news channel appeared.

“—League officials are still attempting to make contact and de-escalate tensions with Fiore doubling down on their earlier announcement. Fiore is now at War with Orre!” 

I stared at the television as behind me, the sound of the kids eating fell silent as we all watched the news report about what had happened while we’d been asleep. 

I sat for a few minutes only to turn and march back into my room where I snatched up my Xtransceiver. It powered on with a few scant bars of power but it was enough to open my messaging app to find a stack of unanswered messages waiting for me.

Nothing official but there were several from Gym employees and media companies. I was rather surprised to see only a single message from Lance asking me to make contact with Looker to touch base, but no other orders from him as Champion.

I fired off a few replies, making sure to assuage any fears while leaving the official messages alone. I rubbed my head wondering how to handle them.

My earlier joke of returning to bed looked extremely tempting.

“Brock, when they mean war… what do they mean?” Ash asked.

Urgh… too late to go back to bed now.

“They mean that there are a lot of people and pokemon that are going to be fighting soon,” Misty answered sadly. 

Forrest stared at me. “You’re not going are you?” he asked quickly. 

The other two stiffened, breaking through whatever thoughts had been occupying their minds to watch me.

I shook my head, knowing that I had to stay up now. “I might have been here when things went down but… Yeah I’m not about to throw myself into a war.”

I ran a hand down my face. This had escalated beyond anything I’d thought possible. 

Fjord had been behind Chancellor Maximoff during his speech. And what a speech it was, full of passion and declarations of their righteousness. 

Even though it had been spoken in a different world, I couldn’t help but liken it to Hitler when he wanted to rile up a crowd. 

The man had a fire within him.

“How do we stop this?” Ash asked and I blinked. 

“Ash, you don’t have to do anything; this is a decision made by a head of state. In the face of that sort of thing, all you can be is like a Trapinch before a Gyarados.”

Ash gained a mulish expression. “So I just need to grow stronger?”

I sighed as Forrest shot me a small shake of his head while Misty gave Ash an exasperated look. 

“Your heart’s in the right place Ash, but… you need more than just strength and heart for this.”

Ash frowned. “There must be something?”

I chuckled. “You did do something Ash, you helped restore a balance that had been lost. You helped reach out to a Legendary pokemon and heal it.”

“Anyone could have done that,” he muttered, looking away.

“But it was you who did it,” I said. “And don’t discount your efforts. Others might have stumbled or grown distracted by other things going on. You got the orbs, and got them to Shamouti where they helped Lugia. That’s a big deal.” 

“I could have done more,” Ash grumbled

The level of angst he was starting to exude made me want to roll my eyes. The kid was a walking talking Shounen protagonist.

“Are you to blame for Fiore declaring war?” I said switching tracks.

“What? No!” Ash replied defensively. 

“So you don’t have to beat yourself up over anything. They’re taking issue with Team Cipher more than they are with Orre… I think,” I pursed my lips. “Honestly I’m going to have to get in contact with a lot of people to have even half a clue. For now Ash, this is beyond you. It’s beyond me too, cause it’s a political issue mixed with what I think might be religion.”

Ash stared at the table with a scowl. 

Hmmm not enough, I thought. “Would you prefer to guard the room for me, or head out and do some disaster relief?” I suggested. 

Ash shifted. “Would you mind if I said disaster relief?” he replied.

“Nope, but maybe ask about heading to another island. Shamouti is getting a lot of attention but wasn’t hit as hard as other places from what I’ve heard. If you want to do the most good then head off island but check in with the local community centre.”

Ash nodded at that and rose to do just that only for Misty to follow him.

Forrest glanced at me and I rolled my eyes at him as I waved him off. “Keep messaging me!” I prompted.

He snorted. “Charge your transceiver more!”

I huffed. I rarely ever had to thanks to it being a deluxe model, but when I did it always felt like the world was falling in as people tried and failed to get through to me.

The sound of a toilet flushing had me perking up and heading back to the bathroom. 

“Oh you’re up Sabrina? The way it sounded I thought you were going to be—” I stopped dead when Sabrina floated out of the bathroom, her head was slightly tilted forward and her eyes were closed. 

She slid back into bed and sighed as she nestled into the pillow.

I had so many questions right now, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted the answers. 

Like, had that just been a number one or two? And had she wiped? Had she seriously not woken up at all for that?

Should I leave offerings of food?

I decided to hedge my bets by leaving out pouches of yogurt.

On a whim, I opened the top of one and waved it in front of her nose so the Oran flavour could register.

Sabrina’s breathing hitched, and her nose twitched. Then a psychic force grabbed hold of the pouch and deposited it in her mouth. She then proceeded to empty the pouch before spitting the pouch out. 

It shot to the corner of the room where it landed in the bin. 

I offered her another one and she repeated the action only to reject a third.

I sat back.

Huh. I’d been thinking that Ash had been doing some shounen style protagonist activities earlier but Sabrina had him beat by being able to sleepwalk/eat/use the bathroom. 

My girlfriend was scarily competent.

I was going to have to get a video of this later to prove it when I recounted this to others. I doubted anyone would deny me but this was pretty crazy stuff all told. 

I left Sabrina with her psychic pokemon for their sleep, instead heading back to the front room where I began checking in with various parties looking to make contact. 

I started with my family, making sure they knew I was fine and would remain so. I made sure to include Sabrina’s parents Saul and Sandra as well in that list. 

From there it was friends and then onto employees. Rocko and Dennis both said they’d hold down the fort around the Gym easily and to get some rest. 

Lawrence, my lawyer, was still camping out on Shamouti and making use of a shared office space to see if there were any issues he needed to stay abreast of. With the war he was also doubling down on making sure that The Pewter Gym wasn’t about to be dragged into something. 

“So far everything seems fine with this being a conflict between two foreign regions. I’d strongly advise staying out of this!” Lawrence stated firmly when I got in contact with him.

“Yeah, that’s the plan,” I replied which earned me a narrow eyed look before he sighed and conceded that outside powers might come into play.

“With you being part of the G-men under the Hero registry, there might be grounds but I doubt they’ll do that. As a Gym Leader you’re too critical to the operations of Kanto. Don’t volunteer for anything and they won’t have any leverage to order you in.”

“Fair,” I replied. “Is there anyone that is going that we know?” 

“There are rumours of some observers going along to make sure that Fiore doesn’t become too zealous,” he admitted. “From the chatter I’ve been picking up, the experts and analysts have been going overtime. Predictions are that Fiore was outraged by the reveal of the Masterball still being in production and they’re playing up their reaction to make sure no one tries to sneak another situation like this through, as they will go full zealot. On outward appearance, it first looked like a knee-jerk reaction but we believe that Fiore delegates were able to get insights into the Orre fighters.

“They know that Orre doesn’t have pokemon trainers that are all that skilled. They are supposedly new to mass-produced pokeBalls unlike other regions. This means that there are few pokemon trainers worth the name and fewer still that would rate as even Ace trainers. So what they get is a region that is actually weaker than any other making a lot of noise, one which they have a solid chance of beating to make a statement,” Lawrence said. 

“Huh,” I replied as I mulled that over. “What’s their end game? Conquest? I doubt other Leagues would look kindly on that, so what’s their angle?” Was this just diplomatic brinkmanship at work?

“The consensus is that they want to interrupt Orre’s development and instil cultural reform that matches them to Fiore. Then Fiore won’t be alone on the international stage as the only ‘non-pokeball using’ region,” Lawrence offered. “It’s the most rational theory that people are trading around anyway.”

“Huh, alright then, any push back from Indigo, or Hoenn?” I asked.

“It’s in the works but behind closed doors,” Lawrence stated. “I don’t know the right sort of people to get insight into that I’m sorry to say. I am working on it however. Also there are other regions to account for these days.”

I blinked, having forgotten that. I couldn’t see Unova, Sinnoh, or Kalos doing much with them being new to us, but the same was true of Fiore and they were making big waves for a small region.

“Thanks for the effort. “I’ll check in with Jennifer to make sure nothing local is happening,” I said, which earned a snort.

“No one is doing anything in local politics until the international stuff settles down!” Lawrence said and I shook my head.

Somehow, I doubted that. Where others saw chaos and the need to hunker down I knew that there would be others that saw a ladder to climb. 

The next call to Jennifer thankfully was quick with a reminder from her not to cause any international incidents and that if any Fiore representatives showed up I was to avoid them. Supposedly, they were all starting to walk around with chips on their shoulders, from what she’d heard through the rumour mill.

Perfect, just perfect.

From there, I talked with Rachel about any press releases we needed to send off. I suggested creating a fund for the Orange islands for relief and disaster that we would announce later that day with some of my personal funds. 

“Oh that’s a good idea, but we can also take it a step further and have some of the gym trainers working on accepting donations that we can have sent down there. Blankets, foodstuffs, heaters, batteries and more would be greatly appreciated. I’ll get something spun up and get a drive started!” she announced.

I gave her the go-ahead for it and sent her Elder Tobias’ information along with Gavin and Garen’s phone numbers to give her some ‘local contacts’ before also pointing her at Jackson to be the face that could give her more. The man was already half-immigrated and with this nudge, he might just make the transition permanently.

It would be a shame to lose him, but he could do a lot of good for the Orange and Sevii islands I had no doubt. 

I ended the call with Rachel and sat back before checking my watch to see that it was closing in to lunchtime. I checked in on Sabrina only for her to still be passed out in bed. 

“Hmmm, rightio then,” I muttered to myself. I moved over to her transceiver and gave it a look over, sending off what messages I could. 

When I saw the messages from the Guardians, I made sure to check in with Janine only to find that she was going radio silent due to having to ground the Flying Palace for repairs, along with the need to hide in the face of the intense search parties that had been formed with the public reveal of ‘team hurricane’.

Shame, I was hoping to check in with her.

Then I sat back and began to twiddle my thumbs as a nervous energy overtook me. I couldn’t leave with Sabrina laid out like this but doing nothing just felt wrong. 

So I did something idiotic and messaged Trixie for an in-room workout.

She sent me back a five set program of body weights that made me gag when I saw the number of burpees and chin ups she wanted me to do. 

I should have known better.

It didn’t stop me from dropping to the ground and starting with the warm up. 

By the time I was done squatting, lunging, and lifting my body in various methods I was dripping with sweat and ready for a shower. 

Sabrina was still asleep which was starting to worry me. She’d never been affected this hard. We hadn’t even needed to use Mega evolutions on our opponents and yet… she was laid out. 

I showered quickly before checking her over, not wanting to drip sweat on her. 

Her breathing, pulse and temperature was fine, she was just worn down. 

Alakazam gave me an amused look. “Zam,” he said from where he was hovering in meditation.

“This is to be expected?” I translated. 

He nodded and tapped at his mind before reaching and making a grabbing motion at me with his hand. Then he Teleported around the room. The final teleport ended up in front of me with Alakazam shrugging like it was nothing.

Then he put his hand to my chest. 

“Healing Lugia took the most out of her?” I asked.

He nodded. “Ala,” he stated as he pat me on the shoulder. He then mimed sleeping before pointing towards the clock and swept his hand from the twelve to the one. 

“Sabrina normally sleeps eight hours?” 

He shook his head and tapped me on the chest. “Ala.”

That got a snort from me. “Yeah no, I’m an adult with a young family to look after. I have work as well. I average six to seven on a good week,” I informed him.

Alakazam blinked at me before adopting a disappointed look. “Zam, alakazam,” he muttered. He snapped his fingers and a medical textbook appeared. 

“Listen I know I should sleep more but it’s just not practical!” I said as he pointed at a line of text regarding sleep patterns. I flipped to another page. “Look there! I make up for it with a big sleep in on sundays!” I retorted.

He levelled an unimpressed look at me with me giving him a flat look. “I’m doing the best I can.”

“Kirlia!~” teased Kirlia from the bed. 

I shot her a look. “You stay out of this.” 

Turning back to Alakazam I huffed. “We’re talking Sabrina, not my own sleeping habits, how much does she normally get? Eight I guess with you looking out for her.”

Alakazam raised an eyebrow and mimed from the twelve to the ten.

I blinked. “She does not! She usually goes to sleep with me and some days she trains with me early on. There’s no way she averages ten hours of sleep!”

“Ala kazam!” he stated firmly. He then made pinching motions that indicated shorter periods. Then he lowered himself to the ground, shut his eyes and walked around with his eyes closed. “Zzzzzzam,” he murmured.

I stared at him. “You’re telling me that occasionally Sabrina will take naps and will sleepwalk?”

Alakazam smirked. Then he grabbed at my Xtransceiver and began navigating it expertly. Within moments he had the Saffron Gym’s pokenet page up with a match that Sabrina was fighting in.

I’d seen a few of these but something stood out to me. She had a hand raised in front of her face. It looked like she was concentrating but now that I looked closer she actually looked completely at ease. 

There was cheering, and the sounds of explosions, and through all of it Sabrina didn’t so much as twitch.

“She’s sleeping while in a pokemon fight?” I whispered incredulously. 

Alakazam shrugged and raised a few fingers. “Only the ones that have a few badges…”

I stared at the image. “On the one hand I’m kind of mortified to learn she’s sleeping on the job, but on the other I’m deeply impressed.” I crossed my arms and thought back to our Journey. As children we were supposed to have way more sleep back then and Sabrina had certainly gotten regular naps, and long periods but I couldn’t recall…

“Wait, did she do this against Luana?” I asked, recalling that there was one point during the match where Sabrina had ‘looked’ serious with Luana only for the match to stretch out. Come to think of it, that had been during Alakazam’s fight. 

At the time I’d thought Sabrina was just styling on Luana.

But now I knew she was doing it in a completely different manner. 

That… might explain some of Luana’s resentment a bit better.

“Well this has been educational, my fiancee can sleep on the job. I’ve learned something today,” I stated. I rubbed my chin. “I’m guessing due to all the trips around in the lead up to this event she hasn’t been able to sleep as much along with the extra Teleports hasn’t helped, has it?”

Alakazam shook his head.

“Alright, so she needs her sleep,” I concluded. I stroked her hair and smiled as she gave a soft happy noise at the gesture.

“Thanks for clearing that up for me. I was getting kind of worried. I’ll make sure she has her sleep in future.” 

Alakazam nodded as he gave me another pat on the head. 

I headed back outside to find my pokemon playing around with their own transceivers. Bertha looked kind of annoyed for some reason.

“Something the matter girl?” I asked.

Bertha showed me an image of her and Titan posing together. The top comment was from ‘Internetcat’ saying they could show Titan a better time with the massage accompanied by a winky face.

I stared at the words for a few moments. Then I cut that line of thought off cause it led to dangerous territory regarding size differences.

“Don’t feed internet trolls your emotions, especially that one,” I ordered Bertha seriously. “Just reply ‘Jelly much?’ and a LOL and you’ve won,” I suggested. 

Bertha perked up and began tapping away on her transceiver.

Titan chuckled and waved me over to sit with him. It was a nice moment with the area around the hotel being rather calming.

“Did you know that Sabrina sleeps ten hours a day on average?” I asked.

Titan and Bertha both blinked in surprise. The rest of my team also radiated shock at this announcement which helped me relax a little more. 

Good, good, I wasn’t the only one surprised by this. I wouldn’t share this revelation with other humans cause I wanted to keep it to myself.

Somehow I just knew that the longer it went without people catching on, the more shocking it would be.

Titan eyed me for a moment. “Ty, tar, tar, Tyran,” he stated and I squinted at him before glancing at Bertha. “You’ve laid an egg and you want to gift it to a pokemon trainer this year?”

Bertha perked up way too much at the news of giving one of her children away. She presented to me a pokenet page that was listed as ‘under construction’. That made me relax a little bit but then I began to read.

It detailed how the Pewter Gym would be holding a competition for those that wanted to take on the privilege of a rhyhorn from Bertha and Titan. 

There was a list of required traits with the first being that it was to go to a new trainer. This was to be a starter pokemon and not some glorified addition to a pokemon roster. That eliminated a lot of the rich trainers along with people like Yolanda who were already forming their teams.

Heck it would pretty much have to go to someone scrambling for a last minute solution.

I eyed Bertha. This pokenet page was well put together. A little too well done. “You’ve already asked Rachel to help out with this haven’t you?” I asked.

Bertha nodded. “Rhyperior! Rhy rhy!” she said, listing off other names. 

“Oh? Yolanda, Sabrina, and Kirlia are all in on this as well?” I asked.

I scrolled down the list and as I had expected there at the bottom of the list was a glittering line of text highlighting the most important attribute applicants must have.

Magical potential.

“Nice of you not to lock this to just girls,” I said. 

Bertha nodded. “Rhy rhy rhy,” she said, stating that boys could be magical if they wanted to. 

I rubbed my chin and considered it. 

Honestly, it sounded wacky and kind of fun.

I stared at the screen for a bit longer before shrugging. “Sure, let’s do it,” I announced. 

Bertha hugged Titan with a loud cheer and he laughed but hugged her back. I hummed in thought, this wouldn’t be the first egg Titan and Bertha had had. The previous two were Rhyhorn that we used in the Gym challenges.

Whenever they lost and returned to the reserve Bertha typically made a big show of fussing over them and declaring how proud she was. 

Neither had her vibrant personality or desire to push their limits.

Which I could tell were significant as the few times they’d dug deep in a fight they’d both been able to hit much harder than a pokemon of their training should have. They were also quick to pick up new moves and understand the nuances of different Gym Trainers when used in the gatekeeping matches before a proper Gym match against me.

Still, they rarely tapped into that potential.

They were content. 

Then again they’d also never gone on a Journey so perhaps this third egg give away was a way of sparking something in one of her children?

If Titan was alright with it, I had no issues indulging in her antics while also supporting a young trainer. 

It sounded fun, which right now with the world going mad sounded just like what the doctor ordered.

I made a note to myself, knowing that with Bertha getting her way she was probably going to take this inch and sprint a marathon with it if I let her. I’d have to be ready for whatever antics she came up with for this.

Behind me, the sound of actual feet padding around the hotel room along with the sound of cereal being poured into a bowl followed by a long yawn had me perking up.

Speaking of brightening up the world, Sabrina was awake. I headed back inside to find her sitting at the table while objects floated out of cupboards. This time her eyes were open even if she was still looking a bit bleary. 

When two of the cereal boxes came up empty she narrowed her eyes. 

“Ash and Forrest probably ate those ones, try that one,” I offered, pointing to the third and she grumbled.

“Mmm,” she replied in a passable greeting as she began digging into her meal.

“Afternoon,” I replied. I pecked her on the cheek, and the part of me that had been tensing up relaxed as I settled in to enjoy a meal with her. 

“Anything happening out there?” she asked.

“Plenty,” I replied. I waved a hand towards outside where funnily enough Bertha was dancing around with Titan. “Have breakfast and take your time cause it’s a madhouse out there.” 

Sabrina hummed, and the television turned itself on.

When Sabrina saw the scrolling banner at the bottom, she nodded once before the television switched itself off. “Yes, that can wait,” she agreed before turning back to her meal.

I just laughed, knowing that even with Fiore, or at least its leaders, going crazy, things felt like they’d work out, but that might just be cause I was with the woman I loved?

Sometimes that was enough. 

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

It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!