Hard Enough - Chapter 325 - Interlude - Professionals at work

Samuel Oak’s pen blurred as it worked across the notepad he had open as on the video, a wondrous new world had emerged. 

On the video, Brock dictated some observations as he panned the camera around. Small text at the bottom of the video small markers that estimated distance to landmarks, temperature, oxygen content and more flashed by. 

Sam would have to secure the pokedex for complete analysis but that could come later.

First, Sam would need to work out where he would start! 

Brock had discovered so much on his little adventure into Rota! More than Sam had ever suspected was waiting up there to be discovered!

If he didn’t already have commitments to lecture at the universities along with spending some time with Daisy and Gary for the Circuit’s break he’d have taken off already.

But he wasn’t going to do that, family time would come first. 

Still, he hadn’t felt this excited in years! It was like he was a child all over with the understanding that you didn’t know what was over the hill or around the bend in the road!

It made him want to write a poem about it! He scribbled a brief haiku on his feelings at the moment, knowing he’d review his notes later and be able to tap back into this feeling via this poem. 

Eyes wide, footsteps light—

Every Stone and leaf a tale,

Worlds bloom in small hands.

He nodded, pleased with himself only to blush when Salvadore nudged him. 

“You said that out loud,” Stephen muttered. 

Sam ducked his head in apology to the others who were also shooting him annoyed looks. 

Hmmm, Stephen certainly had developed well from his year away from the lab if he felt comfortable sassing me, Sam mused.

The video continued to play with Brock pausing it on the image of various flocks soaring through the sky and coming to roost on the root systems of the tree of beginning. 

“This is something that I didn’t consider at the time, but it’s rather surprising that there is such a large number of Pidgey and Swablu flocks here. I would have to assume them to favour the canopy of the Tree of Beginning, but the canopy itself was almost devoid of pokemon.

Samuel tilted his head in thought. “Ah! It might be a case of the ‘apex predator’ theory in play!” 

Brock frowned. “You think that the location of Mew impacts the nesting grounds of the flying types?” 

Stephen rubbed his chin. “It might have something to do with that but we should also consider the habits of various flying types, when they are under threat from a far superior pokemon, such as a flock of Fearow, dragon type pokemon, or even potential Legendary pokemon it might be possible that they revert to tried and true behaviours.”

Bianca nodded. “You’re referring to how Pidgey, Swablu and other small bird pokemon will cower in the root systems of trees at the passing of a significant threat?” 

Stephen bobbed his head up and down. “Indeed! If they sensed the threat and then followed their instincts, they might have become trapped in the cavern. Or they potentially might have been drawn there by the variety of options they had with it being a growing ecosystem. Natural pressures might have seen them migrate there. Better still, they’d be insulated from the worst of the weather making it ideal for pokemon like them.”

“We’ll need to establish trackers on several hundred pokemon to determine the veracity of this, both within the caverns, and outside the Tree of Beginnings surroundings,” Sam mused. He ticked off another finger. “We’ll also need to establish cavern or trail cameras to see how the pokemon move about the tree. Do they enter and exit or merely remain within?” 

A few of the aides that Sam had brought along with him added their own suggestions and just like that, Sam knew he wasn’t the only one that was absolutely going to the tree.

If he didn’t set up an expedition he had no doubt that several people here would be planning it. 

Sam gave the reading material that Brock and Sabrina had made up another amused look. They’d gone out of their way to print ‘Not for Professor Elm’s Eyes’.

Along with writing a foreword about why it would be negligent for these papers to end up in the man’s hands. 

The understanding that the crystals emitted a constant energy pulse that was harmful to humans was certainly concerning, but in truth it was merely another aspect of the tree that they would have to study. 

Oh there was so much to study with this find! Time Flowers, Mega Stones, New pokemon and ancient caverns! Oh goodness this would be the work of years to uncover everything!

The time flowers promised so much for the historians alone!

Erika, Sam noted, had skipped most of the written material to peruse the information Brock and Sabrina had gathered regarding the Time Flowers. Of everyone here, she perhaps had the best chance at uncovering the secrets of the flower.

The video continued and everyone leaned forward as the video showed a pidgey attempting to fight something on the cliff face. It was still rather mind boggling that said cliff face was actually a tree root, but the world was a wonderful place. 

Sam watched as the newest pokemon of Brock to own was discovered. 

The fact that it had never been found before raised a great deal of debate. How had it been missed? Was this a pokemon that could only live in this environment? While it had never been released into the public, there were other rock types that had a terrifyingly short lifespan when taken out of their desired environments. 

Minior had been a wonderful find initially only for the knowledge that it was dying to sour much of the success. Subsequent discoveries of this pokemon were rare but they had found red, blue, and green variants. 

All of them were Rock-flying type pokemon.

The presiding theory was that Minior required nutrients that could only be provided while in the stratosphere. Every pokemon captured to date only survived a few days, despite using a pokeball to extend their lives. They all attempted to exit the atmosphere but so far all had failed. 

The other theory surrounding them was that when trainers found star pieces, they were actually finding broken pieces of Minior. Something that Brock interestingly enough had found large amounts of in the Hoenn desert. 

“—this next part we were not allowed to record, the Legendary pokemon Mew that acts as an additional Guardian to the tree specifically requested it of us!” Brock declared as the video cut off. 

People around the room murmured in annoyance only for Brock to cast an unimpressed look towards them. “I wasn’t going to try my hand at a pokemon that ordered around the Regi trio without concern.” 

“A wise move,” Sam piped up, making sure to show support for Brock’s restraint. He perhaps could have forced the issue but with the symbiotic link Mew was reported to have to the tree it might have caused irreparable damage… in more ways than one. 

A new discussion occurred about the feasibility of establishing a long term observation area near the tree with Brock being unsure of how acceptable that would be. 

Sam, for his part, continued to eye the strap wrapped over Brock’s shoulder. 

He hadn’t been expecting to see that shield, not here. Not on Brock. Although it made a good deal of sense to Sam that it would be Brock of all people with said shield…

Sam watched the young man only to smirk as he ran through the mental math. If he was to write he’d be the one tweaking Brock’s nose!

Eventually the discussion finished up with the various parties moving on to the new pokemon who were all out in the reserve. 

Sam made sure to slip towards Brock. 

“Interesting shield you have there Brock, new acquisition?” 

Brock nodded. “Yeah, it is. I was thinking about buying a suit of armour to go with it,” he said and Sam nodded slowly, an old memory coming back to him through the mists of memory. 

“You should try ordering something from the local foundry. I think they’d be envious if they learned you were purchasing metalwork from another nation.”

“Huh, you know, I think you’re right,” Brock replied easily.  

Sam licked his lips. “Maybe get yourself a mace. Titanium would be rather appropriate. Get them all styled in black, mayhaps?”

“Mayhaps I will,” chuckled Brock. “What’s with the old timey speech?” he teased.

Sam shrugged. “Just playing around.”

Brock merely grunted and led Sam into the back reserve where the various pokemon were awaiting. 

The Glimmet had all shifted towards the caverns under the raised plateau, out of the light into dark sections where they could ambush anything that passed nearby. Brock spent some time with them, feeding them with a set of thick leather gloves that went up to his shoulder. 

When the Glimmet occasionally lashed out, Brock was quick enough to either evade the strike or catch their heads. “No, stop that!” he growled, giving them a light tap on the nose which sent the Glimmet reeling back into their main body. 

Sam watched on, uninterested despite the showcasing of a new pokemon. 

That shield… Sam slapped himself on the cheeks and shook his head. “Alright! Time to get serious! Koga! Stop skulking in the shadows and tell me your thoughts he declared”.

There was a long beat of silence as everyone glanced to Sam, then around themselves.

Salvadore coughed. “Uhmmmm, I don’t think—”

Sam turned and reached into a pocket of darkness only to frown when his hand squished into something soft. 

“Bluh!” said Janine as she staggered out of the shadow. 

Sam had a momentary heart attack only to sigh with relief when he saw his hand was squished into a minimized Grimer that was riding on Janine’s shoulder. 

For a second there… he thought he might have been going to jail.

Sam withdrew his hand and kicked a rock into another shadowy alcove only for the rock to be caught. Koga gave Sam a smug look and Sam rolled his eyes before nodding towards the Glimmet. “Your thoughts?” 

Koga hummed. “Ambush predators. They will most likely rely on special attacks with their lack of other limbs. Mobility will be difficult but possible if they are trained for it. I suspect the bulb of their body will be able to burrow into cave walls. Dig should be possible but I believe they will rely on more long-range attacks for keeping predators away from themselves. Attacks that are close ranged will be sudden and potent. For that they would require strong poisons.”

He stepped forward and caught the head of a Glimmet, opening its mouth to inspect the teeth only to hum in surprise. “The petals are made of crystallised powder.” 

Koga waved a hand. “Everyone within this cavern should leave. These Glimmet will have poisoned the air to weaken us.”

The aides and Salvadore all retreated only for Brock, Sam, Bianca, and Stephen to bring out breathing tools which they wore over their nose and mouths. Brock and Sam even went as far as to don a pair of safety goggles causing the other pair of pokemon scientists to shift guiltily. 

Sam sighed and drew out a pair of spares he kept on him. 

Janine just scoffed and crossed her arms, the clear implication that she needed no safety gear announced loud and clear.

Brock clicked his tongue. “Great, sounds like I’m going to have to establish a separate area for them. This is the main thoroughfare for most of my pokemon, including a few young Larvitar I am training up.”

Koga grunted as he turned the Glimmet’s head side to side, studying it critically. “That would be wise. Return them to a pokeball and create a separate tunnel for them. Make the walls rich in mineral nutrients but keep anyone who feeds them to wear a breathing apparatus.”    

Koga narrowed his eyes. “Hmmmm there is something else,” he muttered, only to snap out a lightning-fast blow at a nearby Glimmet that was preparing to strike at him from behind. 

The Glimmet cried out in shock and Brock opened his mouth to reprimand Koga only to pause as a petal fell from the Glimmet’s neck. The petal broke apart further into a cluster of jagged crystalline shapes embedded into the cave wall around Glimmet. 

Sam’s breath hitched. “Are those… Toxic Spikes?” he whispered. 

Koga hummed, retreating a few steps only to send out a Muk in front of the annoyed glimmet. Instantly, the jagged petal fragments lit up and launched into Muk only to do nothing to the poison type pokemon.

“It would appear that any physical attack landed against Glimmet elicits a Toxics Petal or… Debris perhaps that then leaves behind Toxic Spikes.” 

“Oh wow,” Brock said and Sam nodded. The potential for a pokemon like that in a Gym or competitive environment… was rather potent especially in the hands of either a Rock or Poison specialist. 

Brock and Koga shared a look and Sam knew they were going to make a deal to share information to raise the ultimate rock-poison type. 

“The badge challengers next year are going to be in for quite the shock,” he mused aloud with a smile. Ah, it was good to feel young again. 

Sam shot the shield on Brock’s back, another thoughtful look. Almost like being young again… he thought as they departed to inspect the next pokemon of note, a rather charming Armaldo supposedly.

Brock would look good in black armour. Like a dark knight, he mused to himself. 

_________________

“Justice Punch!” screamed Hero Black as he performed a spinning kick to launch a criminal into a back wall. 

Another criminal gaped at him. “That wasn’t a pun—” he tried to argue only for Hero Black to spin around and slap him. “Black Justice strike!” he crowed, his mask glinting in the shadowy warehouse as he surveyed the room. He was standing alone in the middle of a drug operation, no pokemon, tons of drugs, and lots of criminals.

A few crooks snickered as they released a bevy of pokemon only for Hero Black to stand tall. 

“You picked the wrong gang to pull this on! You’re going down, you overgrown children’s toy!” growled a thickly muscled man as he enlarged a trio of pokeballs alongside five other enforcers of the gang. 

“You punks think you’re hard enough to take on Hero Black? Guess again! Electrivire Fuck em up!” he shouted and from the roof another figure slammed into the group with sparking fists and tails lashing out around it. 

Hero Black then snapped his fingers and from the side a pair of Manectric shot forth hitting some of the trainers from the back. Pokemon and trainers whirled around, lost and confused. 

“Darkrai damn it! He’s only one guy! Put him the fuck down!”  screamed a man only for a dark shape to roll out and knock him over.

Hero Black pointed at the newly revealed Graveler. “That’s what I’m talking about!” 

Graveller’s smaller hands snapped back in a sassy manner, only for them to tuck and roll over another cluster of criminals, crushing them or sending them flying.  

Another group of criminals hurriedly grabbed at a stack of illegal boosters and pokemon dopers before dragging it into a waiting sack that they then hefted over their shoulder. 

“We need a distraction!” screamed one only for them to be kicked back towards Hero Black as a trio of pokeballs were hurled behind them. 

“Raticate Hyper Fang!” “Arbok Poison Sting!” “Weezing Toxic!” 

They all tried something only for Hero Black to prove to be too fast, too aware, or too powerful. A few of the attacks were outright blown through with waves of rock or electrical energy knocking pokemon out. 

One of the crooks with a sack over his shoulder squealed as he ran alongside another. “What the fuck, How is one guy that strong? He’s like fucking Brock or Lance on steroids!” 

Both men turned near the entrance of the warehouse to glance back at the carnage.

“Booooyah!” roared Hero Black as he clotheslined another person only for his head to snap to the two escaping crooks. 

“Manectric go after them and tear their nuts off!” 

“Fuck that!” they screamed sprinting out of the warehouse, making sure to kick the door shut behind them. 

The door boomed, and while they usually avoided causing such noise in case it drew attention to their dockside operations, they weren’t going to care at the moment.

The pair of men sprinted, sacks bouncing on their backs only for the sound of metal tearing behind them to make them redouble their efforts. 

They were just about to make it onto the main roadway in the warehouse district, when a pair of jaws clamped around their ankles.

Both men screamed for all they were worth, scrabbling at the ground.

“Sounds like someone’s in pain!” shouted some dockworkers, and the pair of men felt like salvation was close at hand. Both men knew it was easy enough to trick the local dock workers, they were all a bunch of meatheads. 

“Help! Help! Wild pokemon!” shouted one as he was dragged back towards the warehouse. 

A pair of burly men entered the walkway between warehouses and stared. “We should—”

“Do nothing!” growled a sinister voice that had everyone going still. 

From the shadows, a huge figure clad in black stalked out, a black cape flapping behind him. “These criminals were fleeing from justice! Return to your work!” Hero Black stalked out. “This is official Hero business!” 

The burly men swallowed and backed off quickly, leaving the criminals to their fate. 

Both men whimpered as the black mask turned towards them. “Lights out boys,” said the huge figure as he threw two quick punches 

When they awoke they did so at the bottom of a pile of bodies. 

They groaned. “Urgh get the fuck off me!” growled one only for a large boot to come down in front of their faces. 

“No squirming, I’m counting my take from this bust,” growled a familiar voice. 

They looked up to find Hero Black sitting on them while around the room others in the gang were tied up. Hero Black was sitting in the middle with their sacks open with a huge hand pawing through the contents.

“Tsk tsk, drugs, money, and a bunch of dumb punks. Terrible combination all around,” growled Hero Black.

The two men shared a look. “Uhmmm aren’t you like a folk hero? Should you be saying that?”

Hero black glanced down at them. “Oh, you want Kiddy gloves? You want the other Hero Black then. He’d read you your rights and that other shit. I ain’t like him. I get shit done and I fuck.” Hero black leaned down. “Hard,” he added. 

Both men swallowed, now worried for a different part of their bodies.

Hero Black paused as he drew out a handful of hand-wrapped candies. “Oh enhancers? Haven’t seen shit like this in years. What do the punks call this these days? Rare Candies? Power in a pill? These go for a lotta money,” He said casually. 

“Hehehe! You want those? You let us go and you can have em!” offered one of the men.

Hero Black looked down only to snort loudly.

“Fuck that! Possession’s nine-tenths of the law and I got this shit in my hands.” Hero Black looked into the rest of the sack. “Fuck the rest of this is all crap temp booster shit.”

“You fuckers couldn’t just have one product you gotta try a spread?” A large hand reached out and slightly slapped the back of the topmost criminal. “The fuck are you trying to be be? Stock brokers? Commit to one product Arceus damn it!”  

He glared downwards. “Also don’t you know winners don’t buy drugs?” 

The pair of men scowled up at him only to blink as the man tossed the handful of Rare Candies they had towards the pair of Manectric that had brought them down. “Winners get drugs for free!” crowed Hero Black.

The doors of the warehouse opened and police poured in .”Everyone on the ground!” roared one man as he marched in with a pokeball held out threateningly.

Behind him another man stalked in with a cape flapping behind him.

Lance ignored the police that moved about the room securing the criminals, instead marching right up to Hero Black.

“You were supposed to observe and call in backup.”

“I saw an opening.”

“You created one you mean,” replied Lance tersely. 

“Ta-mah-to, Tah-ma-to,” replied Hero Black. “But now that you’re here, how about you interrogate this lot while I interrogate all the beautiful women!”

The pair of crooks couldn’t believe the level of disrespect this man was showing to the strongest trainer in Indigo. 

Lance, rather than getting mad, pinched the bridge of his nose. “Right… if that will keep you quiet go ahead.” 

Hero Black grinned, only to pop his finger under his mouth and make a quick sucking noise. 

The top criminal turned his head to watch, unsure what was going on only to squeal as Hero Black shoved a wet finger into his ear. “Justice wet willy!” he announced.

Lance facepalmed. “Stop… tormenting them and just go!” Lance growled. 

Hero Black sauntered off with an evil chuckle.

It took a moment for the pair of criminals to regather themselves. Lance gave them a pointed look. “Don’t try anything.”

They nodded, cowed by what had happened. It appeared the League had some sort of super soldier in their ranks now. 

An evil, petty super soldier. 

One of them blinked. “Hey uhmm, Mister Champion, sir?”

Lance scowled. “What?” he asked.

“Sir… there aren’t any girls in this gang. We’re all guys…” he said.

Lance’s nostrils flared as he spun about, only to see Hero Black clicking his heels in a jig as he jogged away. 

“That son of a bitch,” growled Lance. 

The two criminals shared a look. The guys in prison were never going to believe this. 

_________________

Bertha hopped and skipped around. Her joy was like the Earthquakes she unleashed, unrestrained and so potent everyone knew it existed. 

“Bertha you’re literally causing an Earthquake while you’re jumping around!” Titan barked as she wobbled across to her. 

“Ahahaha! Let her be big boss!” shouted Sanchez as he tucked and rolled with the Earthquake only to be flicked off the ride and into a nearby boulder. “Ahahaha! I’m fine!” he called out before anyone could hurry over to him. 

Titan snorted and stomped once causing Bertha to trip as he unleashed an Earthquake of her own. 

“Ah!” she gasped only for Titan to surge forward and catch her. “Oh?” she blinked up at him in shock. “That! This is unfair! Stop being so smooth, you’re making me fall for you all over again! My heart is that of a maiden’s!” she called dramatically.

Titan levelled an unimpressed look at her. “Stop recording on your transceiver. I know you’re playing it up right now… also a maiden? You’re no—”Bertha shot up and slammed a huge hand across Titan’s face.

“Don’t say that! I can still possess the heart of a Maiden!” she proclaimed before sniffing and standing tall. She glanced down at her wrist and grinned. “Eeeeei this has to be the best gift Brock has ever given to us!”

Titan snorted. “You say that like you won’t react the same way when we go for ice cream.”

“This and that are different things!” Bertha gushed. “This is permanent! I never would have thought to ask for this! Now with this transceiver the world will know of Bertha!” she proclaimed, thrusting the transceiver into the sky.

Sanchez, Link, and Gawain dutifully applauded while Titan sighed loudly. 

“Do you even know how to upload videos?” titan pointed out. 

Bertha, Sanchez, Link, and Gawain all flinched and stared at him before huddling up to push at buttons on their transceiver. 

“Ah! I reset mine!” “Mine has a flashlight feature?” “ah? I’ve called someone! Hello? Agatha? Stop sending your pokemon to haunt me!” 

Titan shot forward and hung up on that last one, giving Sanchez a swat on the head. “Don’t joke around with one of the former Elite four! We see her all the time and she will haunt you worse if you play dumb with her!” 

“I messed up! Why did Brock insert her into my contacts list?” Sanchez wailed. “And why is she at the top of my contacts list?” 

“Because her name starts with A and because he copied a bunch of numbers over from his transceiver. Look we also have Lorelei and Lance in here— No! Don’t call either of them!” Titan snapped as he swatted Sanchez again. “Try that again and I’ll revoke your transceiver privileges!” 

Bertha, Sanchez, Link, and Gawain all huddled up against each other once more. “He gave you the ability to do that!” they wailed. 

Titan snorted at them before tilting his head. “Gawain how are you even managing your transceiver?” 

Gawain waved his axes around. “Very carefully!” he announced as he made a show by tapping the side button on his transceiver. 

Titan stared.

He raised a claw into the air as though he was about to ask a question before shaking his head. “Right, well, we can get a human to help us cause the instruction booklets are too small for us to handle!” 

Bertha nodded. “Yeah! We need Rachel! She’ll help me grow my pokenet persona!” 

Titan rubbed at his forehead. “Oh, why Brock? Why?” he growled at the sky.

 Don flew past, cackling at Titan, and Titan had half a mind to swat him out of the sky. 

At least Don hadn’t been interested in a transceiver. 

Gawain was the real shock. Thankfully, the triplets hadn’t been offered one and Empress had given the device a derisive snort. That had been enough to have Ursaring shake his head leaving only this pack of excitable idiots to accept the offer.

Them and Chansey.

Chansey stood to the side, deftly flipping through the functions like a professional. She shifted to the side, adopted a pose and snapped a picture of herself only to begin swiping across the screen. Was she adding lines and different shades of colour to her pictures?

Titan hadn’t even known that was possible!

Bertha knelt and waddled over. “Teach me your ways, oh master of the camera app!” she implored. 

Chansey sniffed. “Yeeeeeeeah, no I have better things to do.”

Bertha smirked. “I can help get you some more alone time with a certain puffball~.” 

Chansey whipped around and glared at Bertha only for it to not be very effective. Bertha waggled her ridge like eyebrows and Chansey sighed. 

“Very well! Listen closely as I won’t repeat myself! Lesson one of taking photos! Always use filters!” 

“Yes teacher!” Bertha shouted which drew in the other idiots to the impromptu lecture that was being held. 

Titan snorted, shaking his head in disbelief. This was not what he’d expected upon returning home to the Gym. He glanced down at the transceiver that Brock had gifted to him. It was a hardy black, made of solid metal but it already had a few scuff marks from where he’d tussled with Bertha earlier. 

They’d need to have some replacements ready or get a tougher model from Silph Co otherwise Brock was destined to go through a lot of these things. 

With a delicate claw poking out, Titan browsed through the various menus until he found himself on the pokenet. 

Right, he’d seen Brock do this enough times… He typed into the word section what he was looking for. Meditation guides. 

The search filter quickly grew and Titan smiled to himself at all the options to choose from. Titan was just about to open one and begin reading through it when he heard a set of small fleet skipping and stomping along. 

Then came the giggles. 

From around a small boulder a pair of familiar faces peeked out and waved. Titan set his transceiver away and waved back. 

Tilly and Billy both moved out, with a bucket of chalk held between them. Their eyes gleamed as they looked upon the assembled pokemon and Titan smirked. He jerked his head towards Bertha first and the twins scurried over to start drawing shapes upon her thick hide. 

Bertha, so engrossed in the lesson Chansey was giving, didn’t even notice. 

When they had done as much of her they could they moved along to Gawain who flinched only to settle down when he realised what they were doing. Unlike with Bertha however the twins tried to paint his axes which led to a small game of keep away with Gawain having to hold his axes in the air.

Billy and Tilly both pouted. “I wanted to make one pink!” grumbled Tilly as she moved on to drawing flowers on Sanchez. 

Then they went still. Instead of moving towards Titan their eyes locked on a figure that was standing slightly off to the side. 

Everyone had made sure it was close after Brock had expressed a desire to integrate Regirock into the team. For that they needed to let it get used to them. To learn about them. To become one of them.

The twins saw the Legendary pokemon and instead of being intimidated, raised sticks of chalk.

Titan shifted, and something about the way he moved caused the others to stop listening to Chansey. They all turned and watched as the twins began to draw on Regirock.

Chansey’s lecture faltered as she too noticed what was happening.

For several long minutes no one but the children moved. 

They continued to draw with the innocence of children, unaware of just how many pokemon were watching, ready to leap in and protect them if Regirock so much as twitched wrong. 

Small little flowers, moons, people and pokemon were drawn all over Regirock’s body. Then Tilly stepped back and surveyed her masterpiece. 

“Billy!” she ordered, pointing in front of Regirock. Billy glanced at Regirock and then his twin only to nod. 

He stopped in front of the Legendary pokemon and cupped his hands.

Titan blinked. He’d seen the twins do this when they wanted to sneak treats from the cookie jar in the kitchen. No one believed that they were this coordinated, instead blaming Munchlax, but Titan had seen it happen from the loungeroom and kept it to himself. 

Now he watched as Tilly stepped into Billy’s cupped hands and was raised up so she was level with Regirock’s gem-like eyes.

She put her hands on both sides of them and grinned. “Hi there! You’re really rocky! Welcome to the family! We love you!” she shouted with all the passion only a small child could muster. 

Then she drew green swirls that were either hair, or vines all over Regirock’s head. She finished her masterpiece with a big smiley face right under Regirock’s eyes.

“Urrrrrrgh! You’re getting heavy!” grumbled Billy and Tilly dutifully hopped back along her brother to rest. They both surveyed their work with proud smiles. 

Billy shot Regirock a thumbs up and then tugged Tilly’s hand. “Come on! Let’s go find some cookies!” he shouted and both of them sprinted away, leaving various pokemon chalked up, but none more than Regirock.

Bertha huffed a laugh as the children vanished and Sanchez giggled. 

Link bounded over to inspect Regirock more closely and offered his own thumbs up which drew the others in.

Then Regirock straightened, causing everyone to stiffen in surprise. 

The eyes blinked on and off for a few moments as it raised up its arms to inspect them. Its eyes blazed with an odd intensity, only for Regirock to finally speak. 

“Protect!” it declared firmly.

Titan shared a look with Bertha. It seemed like the efforts to make Regirock one of them weren’t needed.

Regirock had power in spades to be an Elite member of their team, now it was time to work on its heart and mind. 

Today had been good for its heart, they could work on its mind later.  

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

Hope you enjoyed me giving a bit of a sneak peek into a few different people with what’s going on. I decided I wanted to do something fun, and Surge and Lance being ‘buddy’ cops was a fun take along with a small moment that would otherwise have been missed with the twins being young and innocent. 

Thanks also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!