Hard Enough - Chapter 341 - Ultra... everything?

“Was it a thrusting action?” I muttered to myself as I tried to flow the rock energy through the Z Crystal while performing a series of thrusting maneuvers. Maybe I needed to wiggle a little? No, that didn’t make sense.

I knew movement had a serious component of activating the crystals but it was all a matter of remembering the exact movement that flowed into a stance.

I’d already tried an arm swing into a cross over, a stomp punch, a locking and double punch, a kneeling pose, and even a step with an elbow first. 

The only one that I knew straight away, off the top of my head was the pose used with Kommo-o which was pretty much just the haka which I knew rather well from my first life having faced it in sports along with watching it on television enough to be semi confident that I could perform it. 

In doing so I would of course personally offend every Maori that witnessed such an act I had no doubt, but thankfully there weren’t any to witness me perform such an act so I was in the clear.

Unless Kommo-o and its line… Hmmm, best I avoid the dragon-fighting type. 

It would probably mess me up. 

“What am I watching?” Sabrina asked from where she was laying on the bed. 

I coughed. “You know what you’re watching,” I replied. “I’m trying to synchronise with the Z-crystal,” I muttered. 

“It looks like a mating dance that I’d see if I went clubbing with a group of Primeapes. “A bad one at that. They’d probably beat you up but then again, that is preferable than them liking whatever it is that you’re doing.”

“Ouch,” I said, holding a hand up to my chest. “That cuts deep.” 

Sabrina raised an eyebrow at me and I sighed. “And is entirely accurate I suppose.” I settled down on the bed next to her with a sigh, toying with the crystal.

“I was hoping that something would just click,” I murmured. 

“You said that you’re not even sure if the crystal will activate without being within Alola. Perhaps you should focus your energies elsewhere?” Sabrina suggested. 

I hummed, considering that piece of advice. My pokemon were all strong. Certainly not at the pinnacle that they could reach but they were working at it. Having Regirock demonstrate the divide in raw ability certainly helped.

More than a few had doubled down on the basic training that we performed since Regirock’s inclusion. Weights were getting lifted and speed drills were being run, but then again the weights being lifted might just be because that was done in the warmth.

Regardless, it was giving Link a workout with his Gravity move, which was sure to surprise people when we used him in future. 

Sabrina coughed pointedly and I glanced at her, confused. 

“Oh?” I said waggling my eyebrows. Did she want me to focus my energies on—

The television clicked on and I blinked. That wasn’t part of my ‘romantic plan’ and I turned only to hear the generic music of what had to be a police drama.

Then I paused as the male detective swept off their motorcycle. “What have we got Detective?” he asked and the camera shifted to reveal Sabrina crouched down to observe a series of footprints. 

“It seems the Berry farm thief didn’t just stop at stealing some berries,” Sabrina indicated up the path where there were a bunch of poisoned pokemon groaning in pain. “They’ve also left behind footprints.”

The Detective drew out a set of sunglasses and slotted them onto his face. “It seems it’s not just mud on their boots, but also… motive!” he stated and the introduction music rang in.

I stared, transfixed. 

“I did think it was kind of weird that you wanted to stay in tonight,” I mused as I watched the introduction scene play out. Sabrina’s introduction had her leaping over a barrel and raising a pokeball in warning towards a perp with Kirlia floating up after her.

“Kirlia is in this?” I asked redundantly.

“Kirlia!” cheered Kirlia with glee. 

Sabrina nodded. “The director liked her candor. I get to play the straight-shooting ace with a penchant for cute things. One of which is Kirlia. When she evolves we’re going to do a whole episode on that.”

“Huh, neat,” I murmured as I watched the on screen Sabrina. Or according to her stage name ‘Natsume’ strode through the crime scene with confidence and a pidgeot’s eye. I had to give the director credit for her outfit. It was on point as were the simple touches of femininity scattered about her. From the pokemon doll appreciation pin on her lapel, which I could now recognise having attended a few ‘doll’ meets with Sabrina, along with the small keychain which surprisingly enough was a Pewter city item.

“Is that a Selene Key chain?” I asked. 

“Good spot,” Sabrina said with pleased air.

For the rest of the episode I sat, transfixed. There were a few points where I had to bite down my urge to speak up, pointing out plot points that I felt were relevant with the ‘criminal’ that Sabrina or her detective were shown to note down but not comment on until later in a prolonged reveal flashback where they tricked the criminal into revealing themselves and making this an open shut case.

Sabrina’s detective partner, who I didn’t care to remember the name of, ripped off his sunglasses as Sabrina cuffed the criminal. “You ran out of lies. Now the truth has caught up!”

I watched as the credits began to roll. Sabrina shifted on the bed. “Soooo?” she asked nervously.

I nodded seriously, “Huh, I think I want ten seasons of this and at least two movies,” I said loyally. 

That was precisely the right thing to say as Sabrina floated up to kiss me. Kirlia began to spin with a dizzying glee, which I suspected was both partly her own joy at the praise along with having some traces of Sabrina’s reaction.

“You’re a good husband to be,” Sabrina said after breaking the kiss.

I smirked up at her. “You make it pretty easy for me,” I replied coolly. 

Sabrina made to kiss me only to pause. “Oh that’s a good line I’ll text that to the show’s writer.” she leaned to the side and began just doing that.

I sat there, lips slightly pursed in readiness for another kiss, thoroughly put out. 

Then I spotted Sabrina’s smirk. 

Kirlia gave the game away fully as she began to laugh her little head off. I huffed at them both and considered making a play for Kirlia’s pokeball to recall her for some of the games Sabrina and I could get up to could become more ‘adult’ in nature only for the pokeball to float out of reach.

I shot Kirlia a less than impressed look which she tittered at. 

“She’s your partner and your little sister rolled into one,” I muttered as I sat up.

Sabrina perked up momentarily at that then she shot me a smile. “Just imagine, I have four more to be an example for as well.”

“I mean Yolanda’s absolutely going to go her own way, Cindy doesn’t interact with you that much. Suzie is pretty much your shadow when we’re at home so fair, and Tilly? Mostly hangs out with Billy so I think I’m three quarters safe.”

“That you know of,” she teased leadingly. 

I rolled my eyes and drummed my fingers on my bracer only to blink as I realised something. “Oh damn, I forgot that it’s not just the Z-crystal that you need but also the Z-ring!” 

I almost slapped my forehead at forgetting such a crucial detail but settled for an explosive sigh. “So even if I worked out the pose it would mean nothing.”

Sabrina tilted her head. “What’s so special about the Z rings?” 

“They’re rings that are handed down by the Island Kahuna of Alola. In the games that I played had Hala the fighting type specialist, Olivia the Rock specialist, Nanu the Dark type specialist, and Hapu the Ground type specialist.”  

The more I spoke of it the more my memory was starting to firm up on the topic. “I think the Z rings are special beyond that though as they are made from a special ore known as Sparkling Rock found in Alola.” 

I sat up. “The Sparkling stone fragments found around Alola are actually parts of Necrozma, a Legendary pokemon known as ‘the Blinding One due to how it travelled through Ultra Space using Ultra Wormholes that allowed it to gather—”

“Let me guess> Ultra Energy?” Sabrina suggested.

I coughed. “Z-power actually,” I shot her an annoyed look without any real heat in it. “Do you want to know more or should I leave it there?” I asked.

“No, no I’m interested. I just found the whole addition of ‘Ultra’ on so many things to be rather humorous. Who thought that up? A child?” she smiled playfully. “Please tell me there’s more Ultras in your story,” she teased. 

I shifted guiltily. “Alright there is Ultra Megapolis which is the ancient civilisation that attempted to control Ultra Necrozma—” Sabrina’s lips twitched at this but I forged on, “—but this attempt injured Necrozma causing it to become aggressive.”

Sabrina’s playful look turned dour. “Of course they did because attempting to control Legendary pokemon in charge of exotic energy sources always ends so well for everyone,” she muttered. “I notice you dropped the Ultra from Necrozma’s name there so they must have been partially successful in containing it?” 

I nodded sadly, my mind stuck on the many historical incidents of people doing just that. The most humorous one, and thankfully an attempt that was snuffed out before it could get any momentum was when the inventor of the powergrind thought to save costs by trying to capture a Zapdos and plug it in. 

That man had been quietly thanked for inventing the grid and shuffled off where he couldn’t cause any harm.

I coughed and regathered myself. “But anyway, the point is that I won’t be able to utilize the Rockium that I discovered, unless I can find Sparkling Stone to forge into my bracer.”

“Along with the pose corresponding with the Rock Z Move?” Sabrina reminded me. 

“Yes,” I replied with a haughty sniff, “And when that happens you’re going to be very impressed!” 

Sabrina smiled. “Alright, what of the other stones that you purchased? What were they?”

I hummed, drawing out the stones to inspect them. “I don’t think these are Psychium Z sorry.” I held up the gray dull stone. “This is either Steelium Z or Normalium Z while this,” I held up a blue stone. “Could be Flyium, Icium, Waterium, Primarium, or Snorlium Z.”

Sabrina blinked. “The last two aren’t types,” she noted. “Did you just reference a specific pokemon?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, some pokemon like Mew, Pikachu, Eevee, Alolan Raichu, Primarina, Snorlax and others have their own special stone that allows them to perform specialised signature moves of their species.”

“Fascinating, you’ve made my desire to acquire a variant Raichu all the stronger,” she stated.

I coughed and averted my gaze from hers. Telling her about that specific variant had been rather interesting. Thankfully it hadn’t caused Sabrina to be as miffed at me as she was with my reminder about Latias and Latios but she had given me a vexed look and muttered about my cryptic comments regarding Pikachu diets around her in the past.

“But yeah that’s about the jist of it, they allow you to perform greatly empowered pokemon moves that are stronger than most without having to resort to something like Explosion.” 

Sabrina continued to nod thoughtfully only for her lips to twitch. “Are there any more Ultra groups or people or pokemon you haven’t mentioned?” she teased. 

I huffed and grumbled before nodding. “Yes,” I grit out. I hadn’t really thought about it back then but they’d gotten rather heavy handed in how liberal they were with slapping the Ultra tag on anything regarding Ultra Sun and Moon games.

Or perhaps that was the point? To make things as on the nose as possible?

Sabrina telekinetically nudged me a glimmer of amusement in her eyes as she egged me on. 

“Fiiiiiine!” I declared. “There are also the Ultra Beasts, and also the Ultra Recon Squad who were, or rather are a bunch of weirdos from another dimension that don’t really understand pokeballs!” I threw my hands up. “There! Happy? That’s all the Ultras that I can think of off the top of my head!”

Sabrina rather than playing along with the game had gotten quiet however. I turned and found her staring at me.

“They came from another dimension?” she asked.

I nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s part of Nezrozma’s whole thing. It travels through the multiverse stealing light or some such and spreading around in other universes.” I rubbed my chin. “Or something like that?” I mused. 

“Brock?” Sabrina asked softly and her tone of voice made me turn knowing that she was worried about something.

“Yeah?” I replied looking into her eyes.

She bit her lip and glanced away. Her hands fidgeted. I sat up, alarm bells going off in my mind. “Hey, what’s going on?” I asked reaching for her hand to help ground her for whatever had her worried. I started to run back through everything she’d just said. 

“If you had the chance to travel through those Ultra Wormholes, would you leave? Return to your past life?” she asked quietly.

“No,” I replied instantly.

Sabrina blinked at my sudden response. “No?”

I smiled and squeezed her hand. “This is my home,” I said, giving her another squeeze. 

Sabrina smiled at me as her eyes gained an intensely emotional energy to them. “You certainly know the right things to say to help ease my mind.”

“Hmmm must be because I know you so well,” I replied. 

Sabrina kissed me. “You do,” she replied and just as we locked lips I thought I heard Kirlia’s pokeball activate to recall her. 

Then I found myself lifted onto the bed and a moment later Sabrina was straddling me with the previous intensity dialled all the way to eleven. “If you had tried to leave I would have followed you,” she declared.

“Wow,” I replied before she could lower herself to claim my lips. “That has to be one of the most scary and loveable things I’ve heard which says something about me… and possibly you?”. 

I wasn’t sure where to even start processing that particular thought but Sabrina had no problem making me focus on more important things as she claimed my lips passionately. 

_________________

The next morning I had a rough timeline for the events of how the movie ‘The Power of One’ was supposed to play out written out in front of Sabrina.

Last night she’d had another premonition that things were still going to go south with the mournful feeling still going strong.

So, after having Sabrina checked that Mewtwo or some other nosy neighbour type of pokemon wasn’t around I’d sketched out a very rough timeline of events and how they would play out. If there was one pokemon I didn’t want knowing that I had fore knowledge it was… well Mewtwo, he would actually rank pretty low these days as he’d stopped being such a ‘potential threat’ in my mind and had recently become something of a ‘potential ally in specific circumstances’. 

I tapped the ‘trigger’ for the cascading events. “So Lawrence is supposed to be the main antagonist of the movie with his giant flying Airship. He disturbs the balance of the three islands which causes the initial conflict which only worsens when the pokemon get out and display their territorial behaviours.”

My finger tracked across the line. “This results in the Airship going down and the pokemon escalating their battle as they are supposed to land on Lightning island which results in all three Legendary Birds battling it out and causing widespread weather fluctuations.”

I drum my fingers as I consider what else was significant about that moment. “Lugia emerges and this is where the three Legendary Birds team up to fight it causing it to crash down.”

I sigh. “Honestly all of this should be averted now considering we have Lawrence in custody. Janine has thoroughly frisked him of any of his tricks and there aren’t any signs of pokemon waiting in the wings to rescue him.”

Sabrina hummed as she chewed on her lip. “And yet…” she left off that it was obvious to her that something was still amiss.

I nodded. “And yet the feeling persists,” I said for her. “Perhaps we could cross reference this with an expert?” I suggested. 

Sabrina shot me a confused look only to brighten when she realised who I was referring to.

We vanished with a quick Teleport and soon found ourselves outside the cave that was home to a certain pokemon.

“Hello Slowking? Are you in there?” I called as I crouched down slightly to get a better look.

“...ahem,” announced a polite voice from off to the side. 

I turned to find Slowking himself sitting on a rock with a happy if slightly confused look on his face. “Hello there Brock and Sabrina. I thought I’d be seeing friends today!” he said after inspecting us both for a moment. 

I straightened up and waved while Sabrina bowed her head slightly. 

When we’d come here Sabrina had been quick to notice Slowking’s presence and had been rather stunned to be introduced to the different pokemon. She hadn’t known that Slowpoke could evolve in this way back then and Slowking was rather articulate for a pokemon.

I liked to think meeting Slowking was the spark that let her relax more with her own pokemon and see them as friends, and not just tools. 

That or my examples of ‘hanging out with pokemon’ to be friends with them had finally coalesced and gotten through to her that day. 

The Orange islands, while fun and a bit of a side adventure for me, had been good for Sabrina. 

She smiled at the old psychic pokemon. “Friends would come today? You say that as if you don’t have friends who come and visit you everyday. Was it a Wingul or an Oddish yesterday?”

Slowking turned his head and stared at Sabrina only to blink as he seemed to only now process how she’d changed. “You’ve grown up,” he remarked.

Sabrina’s smile held, but deepened a little as she did a slow turn to let Slowking look at her. “I have.” She tilted her head. “Would you like to see other old friends once more?”

Slowking’s smile was slow in forming, but then again everything about him was slow. That didn’t mean it was any less heartfelt though as he nodded to Sabrina’s question.

Alakazam, Exeggutor, Xatu, Jynx, Starmie, Slowking, and Kirlia all appeared. 

Five of the seven pokemon that emerged were quick to approach the old Slowking and chatter at him in greetings having recognised him from when they’d come with us to visit Shamouti island the first time.

Slowking turned his head, allowing the noises to wash over him. It was like watching an indulgent grandfather being pestered by a gaggle of grandchildren in that he could see them all but couldn’t react quickly enough to keep up. It didn’t stop him laughing however.

Then his gaze fell upon Sabrina’s Slowking and he blinked. “...Hello?” he said hesitantly.

“Slow…king?” replied Sabrina’s Slowking. 

I had a momentary flash of insight as I realised that if we let these two talk we’d be likely to be here all day and then some.

I coughed. “Oh! Hey! Sorry to cut in on your no doubt riveting chat Slowking and… Slowking, but Sabrina has been having some premonitions,” I said, cutting in as Sabrina’s slowking raised a hand and waved only to blink.

Shamouti’s Slowking face morphed into a frown. “Yes. It’s been quite perplexing. I have felt an undercurrent of sadness sweeping through the islands for some time now but…” he turned his head to the east and shook his head. “It has been getting stronger,” he declared.

Sabrina pursed her lips. “That is concerning. Do you have any other insights or feelings?” She asked only to receive a slow nod and a bow of Shoamouti Slowking’s head. 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help more,” he practically yawned out. 

“No worries, I’ll let you get on with your…” I glanced between him and Sabrina’s Slowking. “Week,” I said.

Sabrina snorted and bowed once to Shamouti again before stepping back to allow the two Slowking to converse at their natural pace. 

Rather than talk however, both pokemon turned and began ambling down a rather well worn path. “Huh, alright, I guess something doesn't really need to be said,” I mused aloud. 

Sabrina laced her arm through mine and we decided to take a moment to go for a rather nice nature walk.

It was strange, and a little offbeat, but then again sometimes that was just a day in the pokemon world. Monday you could be fighting for your life against a criminal organisation, Tuesday could see you picking through a crazy rich collectors stock…

I tilted my head and gave Sabrina a considering look. “How many rare dolls did Lawrence have?” I asked.

Sabrina gained a smug look. “Sixty, all of them premium single make editions. The ladies I usually compete against are going to be livid when my Doll show occurs,” she said with the air of someone plotting a great triumph. 

“Huh, Lawrence really didn’t have any boundaries did he? Anything rare or odd went into his collection.”

“It’s taken the Guardians quite a while to process it all even with the A.I assisting them,” Sabrina commented.

“Shame we couldn’t just take it for its word,” I replied but sadly I knew how stocktakes worked. You never just assumed that the list was right. You had people checking and double-checking the figures, even when everything had been entered correctly.

There should have been minimal human error considering it was one person or A.I, but I’d seen more than a few messages from Janine disparaging Lawrence’s record keeping. 

“Janine is probably going to add Bulbasaur to her collection,” Sabrina announced out of nowhere.

“Oh… good for her?” I replied with some uncertainty. “What makes you say that?” I continued.

“When I was sitting in the captain’s chair,” Sabrina said, sharing a smile with me.

“Yeah, what about it?” I asked with a chuckle. Janine had been like a Meowth stuck in a room full of bathtubs at Sabrina’s rather innocent request to sit in the chair.

She had rather tersely accepted despite making it clear she was on edge with the situation. She even stood behind the chair holding the backrest as Sabrina leaned back into it.

“Well while I was sitting in it, I thought to use my psychometry and read the chair for previous events of significance that Lawrence might have had in the chair and while there wasn’t much I did witness, Janine sitting in the chair stroking a shiny Bulbasaur multiple times definitely stood out.

“Oh yeah that’s gonna make it sort of hard to give up,” I said with a grimace. 

“She won’t be able to. She’ll release the Bulbasaur only for both of them to almost break down in tears with the nursery attendant offering to let Janine keep Bulbasaur,” Sabrina said with her gaze turning distant in a way that let me know she was ‘foreseeing’ something occurring.

“Oh that’s sweet,” I remarked rather liking the thought of the two bonding that deeply. 

Sabrina nodded. “I’ll be there with Visquez to record the incident for later teasing material.”

I snorted. “Sometimes I forget that you’re kind of evil.”

“Hmmm,” Sabrina replied, completely unconcerned with my allegations of evil. As we rounded the corner of the path I caught sight of a woman I’d never met before sitting on a rock staring out to sea. Despite having never met her, I realised with a start I knew of her.

“Maren?” I asked aloud, causing the girl to turn her head and the green bang that stuck out of her black cap wobbled in the air. 

“Hmm? You say something?” she asked as she tucked away what looked like a flask of something.

“Uhmmm, hi?” I offered as my brain caught up to my mouth. I had never met this woman before and I’d just blurted her name out. The only reason I did know her name was that she was the main mode of transport for Ash and his friends during the cartoon adventures around the Orange islands.

I hadn’t really considered it when I’d seen Ash, Forrest, and Misty floating into Trovita island on Lapras but that was a key difference. Ash and friends hadn’t employed her to get them around, instead entrusting it to their pokemon.

“Hi?” she replied back with a tilt of her head. She stared at us for a bit only to blink and glance to the side. “Hey did you see a bunch of pokemon wandering down the path just now? I thought I was seeing double for a while there and needed a drink but now I’m not so sure.”

“They were really there,” Sabrina replied as she side-eyed me. “They were my pokemon.”

“Oh, Gym Leader pokemon, makes sense,” Maren muttered and neither Sabrina or I batted an eye at being recognised, more than used to it.

I coughed. “You uhmmm, enjoying the view?” I asked, waving a hand towards the rolling hills that led down to the ocean. “Sorry, I’m Brock and this is Sabrina,” I said a moment later, deciding to be polite even if she had recognised us.

“Huh? Oh, Maren,” she replied, tapping herself on the chest. “And nah, just moping, my ship is running low on fuel and I need some work. Been a bit hard, since my last big job ended so abruptly.”

That confused me. “Shouldn’t it be sort of easy right now?” I asked. “There are supposed to be tens if not hundreds of trainers drifting around and I’m sure there would be a group willing to rent your skills and vessel,” I pointed out reasonably. 

Maren sighed. “It would if my little vessel wasn’t getting worked over. All I have is my big cargo hauler which is what is tied me over with this long dry spell,” she replied. “I used to haul for the big companies, get their goods from A to B lickity split with minimal risk.” she patted her pokebelt. 

“Got a team that can handle all the local issues!” she announced proudly. 

“Ah, grass and electric?” I offered.

She winked and pointed a finger gun at me as her other hand drew out her flask again and took a long pull. “Pah! That’s good stuff!” she muttered as she set the flask aside.

“You mentioned hauling goods for Corporations?” Sabrina asked and I glanced at her only to see she was giving Maren an extremely focussed look. 

Maren scoffed. “Yeah a few, lots of tech, building supplies, and other such things. Was good money but ships cost a lot to run.”

“Which corporations?” Sabrina asked.

Maren blinked and looked back at us. “I did say I wouldn’t tell anyone anything,” she muttered. 

“Did you sign any nondisclosure agreements?” Sabrina pushed. 

“Nope!” Maren said with a pop of her lips as they left her flask once more. 

Sabrina smirked and drew some pokedollars from her pocket. “How much is your time worth?” she asked and Maren grinned.

“Depends what you wanted to know!” she announced as she swivelled around and started engaging with us properly. 

I held back a chuckle, we’d been searching with little to no nothing to go off after using up our last rumours and lo and behold, we found someone else to give us a new starting point right as the Shamouti festival was around the corner.

Talk about…

I glanced down towards the shrine and found myself looking at the back of a batch of Slowking staring out to sea from the edge while other psychic pokemon sat around and enjoyed the view.

I raised my pokedex and zoomed it in on Slowking.

“Slowking, the royal pokemon. When Slowpoke evolves from the bite, Shellder toxins enter its brain and unlocks dormant powers of Slowking, allowing it to have unparalleled intellect and intuition. Slowking more than any other pokemon—” 

I ignored the rest of the prattle Dexter was giving me as I focussed on that one detail.

The intuition pokemon. 

I glanced over and watched Sabrina work Maren for more and more information on various shipping routes and locations that she ran that might have been ‘black sites’. 

Damn, I hadn’t even noticed it until I’d had a stray thought, well played. 

When Sabrina was done we walked down to reclaim her pokemon.

Before we left, I stepped up to Slowking and offered him a bag of Naval Oran berries that I’d been saving for my pokemon.

Slowking accepted them with a small bow of thanks.

We departed Shamouti with a new list of sites to investigate, refreshed and ready for what we may find. 

[hr][/hr] 

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

Completely overlooked the Ultra Recon Squad when writing things but when I started writing this chapter I had to review things about them. Damn Ultra Sun and moon went hard with Ultra this and that!

I also realised that it might be theoretically possible for someone like Brock to leave the pokemon world through the use of Ultra Wormholes. Something he’d miss but Sabrina wouldn’t. 

Also, something that other people pointed out in discord that I hae not had Brock realise, it doesn’t just have to be him leaving to experience other dimensions. Alola and the Ultrawormholes really open up some interesting plot points with them getting to experience the canon cast, or perhaps other universes!!!

Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!