Hard Enough - Chapter 318 - Legendary throwdown!

Regirock lumbered forward, undaunted by Titan standing in its way. Each step caused loose rocks to bounce into the air only for a trail of small rocks to be left in its wake. 

The eyes blinked on and off like a panel of lights in an odd sequence, chirps and beeps ringing out as it moved. I watched those carefully, knowing that at any moment it could unleash a Hyper Beam.

A slight hitch in the rocks and a prickling down my spine drew my attention to where it had walked.

Ho? What was this? A walking use of Stealth Rock? It reminded me of Gawain’s use of Stone Axe…

Instinct flared in my mind as I spotted a twitch of Regirock’s core, the rocks that made it up twisted slightly giving away its next move. 

Titan dodged to the left, and I darted to the right, giving us a gap for the boulder Regirock had casually flicked at us to sail past. I felt the wind of the throw tussle my hair and the valley quaked as the boulder slammed into the back wall. 

I didn’t turn to see the impact, though. I kept my focus on Regirock. 

It had just launched a giant boulder with little more than a flick of its limb. 

Fortunately, I had a lot of experience reading the way rocks moved either naturally or when something else moved them. 

Watching Regirock was like watching an avalanche in motion.

It was literal rock fighting back by staggering and stomping. It wasn’t graceful by any measure but what it lacked there it made up for in power. 

Titan surged forward, a gleam flashing over his body as he began empowering himself. 

I moved further to the right, circling around the fight and making it so that Regirock had to make a decision.

Did it attack me, or face Titan?

Standard logic in a pokemon battle was to ignore humans as they weren’t perceived as threats, but to a wild pokemon that might not always be the case, especially with a pokemon like Regirock.

The chirping started up again as Regirock twitched, glancing between us in confusion. 

Despite the confusion I had to brace my legs as the ground beneath me rippled like water. Titan staggered, surprised that Regirock had gotten off an Earthquake like that. 

There’d been no… Huh, small movements of its body could produce Earthquakes?

Titan growled as he steadied himself, his skin flashing once more while I bounced up onto a boulder to ride out the shockwaves.

Regirock chirped again and turned. 

This time I preempted it, ordering Titan to counter it. 

Titan met the Earthquake with a stomp that unleashed one of his own.

The two attacks clashed, and more rock was thrown about as Titan and Regirock locked eyes. 

Through Titan’s vision I saw that Regirock almost appeared… confused?

Huh, I suppose a pokemon like Regirock wouldn’t have had many that would normally stand and fight it. It was protected by isolation and people not knowing about it, but it was still powerful and I did not want to get hit by anything it could dish out.

Regirock’s core tensed once again, and I threw myself off the boulder.

Once again, Regirock flicked its limbs and launched an attack. Only this time, instead of just one, two boulders were thrown. One towards Titan, and the other at me. 

Titan snarled, swerving around the boulder like a dancer around a support pillar, making the boulder attack seem more an accompaniment than any threat. 

Heh, just like we’d been practising, redirection and evasion were tough to pull off as a big pokemon but Titan was dedicated if nothing else.

It helped that I’d motivated him pretty well by showing him how it was done.

I skidded as I landed, causing dust to kick up. I hopped slightly to the side as Regirock twisted, stumpy legs digging in and causing a small cyclone to form up as Regirock created a miniature Sandstorm.

I dug into my pouch, pulling out a pair of goggles and a mask that covered my nose, mouth, and ears. 

The world around me became a whirl of sand and wind, whipping at me only to find nothing to gain purchase on. 

Through our bond, I felt Titan slam into Regirock and attempt to knock Regirock off its feet. 

Titan wanted to stomp on Regirock, cast him down and shatter him with an Earthquake. 

Despite Titan being heavier than Regirock— at least from what I could recall of the pokedex information of a lifetime ago— Regirock didn’t falter, instead digging into the ground.

It caught Titan on its lumpy shoulder and began chirping once more. 

“Dig,” I whispered to myself more than Titan. The words were swept away on the whipping winds but Titan still rolled off Regirock right as it lunged, attempting to tackle Titan with a counter blow. 

Titan fell into the ground only to bob up a moment later, making sure to not stay under the ground lest a stray Earthquake catch him out. 

I watched as Regirock thundered forward several steps.

The Sandstorm, rather than continuing to lash at us ineffectively, gathered all around Regirock like a great cape. Then Regirock dug one hand into the ground and the Sandstorm swung forward like a huge Sand Attack, coating the area in front of it.

Damn, if Titan had been knocked back or in the area of effect he’d have been blinded. That… was a scary ability.

A wave of heat radiating off the sand gave me even more worries. What the hell was that? I’d never encountered a move like that before.

I blinked as I suddenly found myself staring across a destroyed field with a Legendary locked onto me.  

Regirock chirped and beeped with each step, synchronising a Rock Throw with each step.

Titan roared as wrath threatened to overwhelm his good sense. I raised a hand and forced him into a state of calm as the boulders closed on me.

I called forth my rock energy and dodged, ducked, and danced around the attacks, a grin stealing across my face. Huh, Regirock was keeping its legs anchored… I pushed an order to Titan and moved to follow with anticipation.

Regirock sent another rock my way and I twisted, dancing around the boulder with a light tap to the rear of it. It was almost like the Tauros trainers that liked to play with their pokemon. 

I tilted my head so I could track where it landed and hummed as I got a feel for the timing and weight of what was being thrown my way.

…Hmmm it might just work, I thought. 

In response, Regirock sped up its attacks, only for a dark hunger of anticipation to surge through the bond as Titan launched himself out of the ground behind Regirock.

He struck Regirock perfectly from behind causing the Legendary pokemon to stagger a step forward.

That single step unleashed yet another Earthquake while small spikes of rock struck due to Titan’s point of attack.

Sadly, his fangs and claws failed to gain purchase, but I suppose that wasn’t too surprising. 

Of all the pokemon that I knew of, only Shuckle came to mind as having more defence, and that was at the cost of practically all its other stats.

Regirock braced with one leg, and it was all I could do to warn Titan not to advance as I threw myself to the side. 

Regirock spun on the braced leg, becoming like a whirling dervish with its limbs swinging around it. Its off leg swept through the earth around it as it spun.

As I’d expected, more rocks were kicked up at me while Titan had to dodge a fist the size of my torso swinging through the air. 

As it passed, Titan began to lean in to counter, only for me to warn him off again. Instead of stopping its momentum.

Regirock’s other limb swept through where Titan would have been if he’d attempted to attack and I lightly chided Titan. 

“Need to be careful bud, this isn’t some chump pokemon we’re up against. Don’t let the idea that we’ve gotten first blood blind you,” I said through the bond.

Titan grunted his own response as Regirock twisted so that it was slightly off centre between Titan and I. As its foot came down another Earthquake rumbled out causing Titan and I to brace. 

Hmmm, those were getting weaker due to the fractured ground… 

I cursed as I noted that Titan was taking deeper breaths. Hmmm, this frantic fight was going to drain him and I needed him at his best. Good thing I had a solution to that.

I reached into my pouch and drew out a glass ball full of liquid. 

“Titan! Catch!” I ordered signalling where I wanted Titan to move to as I tossed the bauble. The ball of glass sailed through the air and Titan skipped to the side as Regirock attempted another Rock Throw. 

The bauble slammed into him and broke apart causing the hyper potion within to spill all over him. 

Titan shook himself out as a surge of vitality swept through him.

I grinned. 

In a standard pokemon battle what I’d just done was extremely illegal. 

It was also not the intended use of Hyper Potions. They were deliberately designed so that you had to be within close range to apply them.

After my latest fight with Zapdos I’d done a review with Sabrina. One point that had stood out to me was that sometimes I just couldn’t be close to my pokemon due to various factors. 

That was a risk I wasn’t willing to take and thus I had stolen an idea from a tabletop game of my past life which was very simple in principle. 

If you can’t apply the potion in close range, why not throw it? 

And thus, these throwable potion bottles had been created.

Our actions caused Regirock to pause, its whole body falling still as its eyes flashed only to dull. It chirped inquisitively and I felt its aura stir as it stood for a moment. 

It felt like it was observing and reassessing us as Titan rumbled back in response.

I had Titan perform another Rock Polish. Talking, or in this case, observing us wasn’t a free action after all.

I was surprised when Regirock bobbed its torso in what seemed like a facsimile of a nod that I thought for a second seemed respectful.

Then its head tracked side to side, reminding me of a missile turret more than a pokemon as its eyes began to pulse. The outer six were all in time before the singular central eye lit up a moment later.

It was doing something with its eyes?

“Watch out for Lock On!” I said to Titan, knowing it would be one of the potential moves a Regirock could possess naturally. I still had no idea what that attack with the sand had been. The closest I could compare it to was a G max Sandblast which made no sense as Regirock couldn’t G-max.

I didn’t like that Regirock was already proving that it had access to other moves.

With Lock On in play, I couldn’t rely on dodging or using Dig to evade. I glanced to the side, and a new plan started to form. 

“Earthquake, if that fails, use a low Stone Edge then throw him,” I ordered quickly. 

Titan stomped, going straight on the attack only for Regirock to allow itself to tip forward, committing to falling towards Titan.

Regirock stomped its stubby legs twice and pushed itself forward, leading with the shoulder to hit Titan again.

“Protect!” I shouted. From my angle, I could see how Regirock had dropped the shoulder while preparing the off-hand to bash Titan with what looked like a Hammer Arm. 

Titan got the shell up in time to negate Regirock’s attack. The Hammer Arm struck and the field quaked from the force with Regirock transmitting the attack into the ground through the Protect.

I wobbled, having to ride out another Earthquake. My legs were starting to ache.

Regirock thumped the Protect again with its other hand only for the chirps and beeps to gain an edge of anger to them. 

At least I thought they did. 

Regirock whirled about, locking onto me. It swiped at the ground, and yet another Rock Throw was launched my way. 

Titan stiffened, and a spike of fear shot across our bond. 

I merely snorted and twisted, calling up something I’d been practising with Titan and a few others for a while now. 

The boulder hurtled towards me, but instead of attempting to evade it, I reached out, my hand stretched toward it.

The world almost fell away entirely as I reached out to the boulder. I heard Sabrina shouting a warning at me, but it was too late, as I planted one foot into the ground.  

I touched the boulder and spiked my aura, spinning on the spot like a discus thrower. 

I slid my hand around the boulder as it swept past me, making contact but only just enough for me to direct the boulder. 

I twisted with it, applying my energies, both physical and aura, into the boulder to redirect it. 

I spun around and flicked the boulder, sending it hurtling off to the side, where it slammed into the nearby hot springs. 

I felt the skin on my hand burn a little from friction but a quick glance revealed nothing was bleeding, broken or torn. There was a tingle of pain but I ignored it for now.

I straightened as the world returned into focus. 

Titan and Regirock both stared at me.

I raised up the hand that had ‘caught’ the boulder, clenching it and smirking at the pair of them as I extended it out towards Regirock and made a ‘come at me’ flick of my fingers as I settled into a slightly better stance. 

Regirock stared. Its eyes winking in and out of light as it chirped and beeped in confusion. Heh, it had never seen someone do that before, had it?

Sabrina’s telepathy slammed into me like a mother sweeping up a child that had just done something risky. “Brock! Are you alright?” she gushed.

“I’m alright. Let me focus, that wasn’t easy to pull off,” I replied out loud as well as projecting the thought to her. 

A sense of annoyed pride came from Sabrina only to fade as Titan’s Protect expired. 

Titan fell upon Regirock’s exposed flank like Munchlax did on an abandoned cake. Urgency warred with vengeance. Titan very much did not want Regirock to get off another attack at me.

This time Regirock tumbled, hitting the ground as only a rock pokemon could. 

The clash of rock on rock echoed through the valley as this time I was bucked off my feet. I rolled, ignoring the way the world tried to drag me down. 

Regirock was quick to swipe its arms out only for Titan to take inspiration from me, catching the limb and using its power against Regirock. 

With a flex and a heave, Titan hefted Regirock up off the ground and into a spin. With a single step and fling he launched Regirock towards the hot springs. 

Regirock tumbled like a brick through the air chirping and flashing as it flew through the air. It spun its arms and its torso spun on itself.

Regirock sadly landed just short and on its feet causing a huge shockwave on the undisturbed ground but thankfully Titan and I didn’t feel the attack all that much due to the amount of destruction unleashed where we stood.

Titan sent me an amused smirk. “That’s how you throw a rock!” he snarked as he stalked forward. 

A trio of boulders shot forward and slammed into Titan a moment later as Regirock dug its arms into the ground only to flick them up like an angry Vigoroth. 

It chirped aggressively and raised its fists. It looked like it was no worse from the last few exchanges but I noted a hitch. It had taken some damage… 

Titan slapped the offending boulders out of the air with his claws and tail, forgoing his earlier grace for bullheaded power. 

Usually I’d have reprimanded him for that as we needed to conserve our strength, but I noticed something.

Regirock was watching us now and there was a weight of expectation in its gaze. 

The tempo to this fight was shifting, becoming a demonstration. We’d shown how skilled we were but now Regirock wanted more. 

And so we were done with deft displays and now was the time to show off power.

Regirock chirped more aggressively, planting its arms back in the ground, where it began to trill. 

A moment later, energy began to build up in front of it with what could only be Hyper Beam.

“TITAN! GO!” I roared. 

Titan roared as he began sprinting in a move that he’d practically perfected. 

Regirock unleashed a blazingly powerful Hyper Beam that saw shards of rock flying everywhere, only for the beam to slam right into Titan, who was building up momentum with Giga Impact.

Both attacks clashed with Titan roaring and shaking the canyon as he worked his legs to propel himself forward through the beam. 

I grinned as my ears became deaf to everything around us but the clash of energies and the thundering of my heart.

Around us, sections of the valley were breaking away and being sent flying, but I ignored those as Titan dug deeper on our reserve of energy to push himself forward, step by step.

I had to give it to Regirock once again. It was strong. 

This had to be one of the strongest Hyper Beams I’d ever witnessed. 

Sadly for it, this was one area in which we had lots of experience. 

As a workout routine, Titan regularly threw himself against Don, Tide, or Empress.

He knew how to dig his claws in, how to angle his body, and how to push through what would have been a brutal attack.

Step by Step Titan began building up momentum as a corona of power formed around him causing his speed to increase further.

Within a few seconds, he was tearing his way down the beam and slamming into Regirock with all the force of a linebacker against a QB. 

Titan picked Regirock up and carted him forward. When they hit the edge of the hot spring, he didn’t stop moving and kept pushing, causing both rock-type Pokemon to slam into the water at full speed. 

With what had to be easily half a ton hitting the water, the resultant explosion was entirely expected. 

Rain fell over me, and I stiffened as I recalled what I was supposed to be doing here. 

I took off sprinting and got close enough to see Regirock and Titan both standing up with the water now barely reaching their knees. I reached back into my pouch, relying more on muscle memory than actual memory to rifle through my pouch. My hand closed around an Ultra ball and wrenching it out.

I planted my feet and with the precision of someone who taught youngsters how to make the perfect pitch, I toggled the pokeball and wound up. 

“Regirock! Join my team!” I shouted, making sure to push my aura into the shout to give Regirock an idea of what was happening as I let rip. 

Regirock turned away from Titan in time to blink right before my Ultraball slammed into it. 

The Ultra ball opened and red energy engulfed Regirock before it collapsed back into the ball. The Ultra ball fell to the water where it wobbled back and forth.

I moved closer, watching the small red light flash and warble. 

A, B, Up. Down! I thought to myself manically. 

It had never worked before but maybe this time?

Titan leaned forward to track the ball as well. I jolted and ripped out yet another Hyper potion which I hurled at Titan.

This proved to be an excellent decision as a moment later the ultra ball cracked and Regirock exploded out with an angry chirp.

 It locked its eyes on me and glared so strongly I felt it. 

I met the anger head on, undaunted. “I want you to join me!” I declared shamelessly. 

Then I flicked my hand and Titan lunged, having used the capture attempt as a suitable break to regather his strength. 

This time we struck with Surf, causing Regirock to tilt back and stare as Titan rose over him. 

Regirock began chirping loudly as the wave fell. Then a flash of light erupted and a huge blast of lightning was unleashed. 

I blinked in shock. Was that Zap Cannon?

Titan growled in annoyance and I grimaced. Regirock had just used the water against us much like Ash canonically would have when he fought Brock.

Titan was still resistant to it though and Surf slammed on top of Regirock causing the rock type Legendary to be pushed back, further weakening it. 

Titan rose with a growl only to twitch as electricity arced through the pool.

I blinked. Wait, what was going on? 

Was the water in the hotsprings more conductive due to the ambient minerals?

Shit! That was bad, Titan was going to struggle to get out. As much as we’d trained in watery environments to minimise his weaknesses, Titan was still going to be in trouble. I’d gambled on Regirock having no training in water which would lead to us being slightly ahead.

Okay, not the end of the world. I reached for another pokeball. Now I would have to—

Regirock rose to its full height suddenly, cutting through my thoughts. It stomped forward, water streaming off it. 

It swept an arm around only to get halfway through the motion and buckle to its knees. Its body twitched as spasms of electricity erupted over its form.

I blinked. Then understanding struck like lightning. 

Regirock hadn’t been exempt from the attack it had unleashed. 

It had hit Titan, but it had also just triggered Paralysis within itself. Regirock’s counter had backfired big time!

I felt my breath hitch. I’d had a chance before, but now, now I had an even better one!

I strode to the edge of the pool. “Regirock! You’re powerful but you have no training to understand nuance in fighting! I can make you stronger!” I drew out another Ultra ball and held it out. “I want you!” I declared again, pushing my aura and intent towards Regirock as I let rip with another throw that beaned Regirock right in the middle eye.

Regirock recoiled at the hit and once again the Ultra ball opened to suck Regirock inside.  

Regirock’s Ultra ball hit the water and again it began to wobble erratically. 

Titan and I both watched it closely but I signalled Titan to get out of the water so I could apply a paralysis heal to him. If the fight kept going, I was going to give Titan as many advantages as I could. 

The ball wobbled again and again.

Titan and I shifted in readiness for the fight to keep going.

Then, the ball dimmed and stopped wobbling.

A small ding sounded through the broken battlefield, and I felt my breath hitch.

“Holy shit,” I said only to jolt as the pokeball began to beep slowly in an all too familiar manner.

“Oh shit that could be bad!” I threw myself into the hotsprings desperately to reach the ball before the timer for transport could activate and wish it away. I brought out a warning sticker that I slapped on the ball quickly.

Then I paused and chewed my lip. 

What was the best call here? Send it home and potentially put the Gym at risk if it broke free? Or send one of my pokemon home and potentially risk not having my strongest team here with me?

I drew out Ursaring’s pokeball after a few seconds of thought and toggled the recall feature on it so that Ursaring’s pokeball would be whisked away instead of Regirock.

If something went wrong, I’d need to be there for it.

A flash of light heralded Urasing’s ball returning home, leaving me to stare at the Ultra ball in my grip.

“We did it,” I said tonelessly. 

Then the euphoria slammed into me like an avalanche. 

I thrust the ball into the air and roared in triumph. “WE DID IT!” I shouted at the sky above. “We caught Regirock!”

I whirled around to grin at Titan and found him looking just as giddy, any fatigue he might have had from exchanging blows with a Legendary pokemon gone.

“You just outfought a Legendary buddy!” I shouted, and he blinked only to perk up. He, like me, hadn’t yet processed that. It might not have been a fight until unconsciousness or retreat set in, but there was no quibbling with facts, we’d emerged victorious here!

His stance shifted instantly and he threw his head back to roar loudly.

When he was done the surrounding forest was silent and I laughed.

“Well done,” Sabrina said as she floated down to me. Lucario and Mewtwo alighted near Titan. Titan shot them a giant grin and Lucario offered a firm nod to show his respect at the feat, while Mewtwo just sniffed and looked away.

Titan’s joy at the result wasn’t to be dimmed though as he bounced on the spot. I laughed and released Bertha and the others to let them know the good news.

Bertha and the other pokemon all emerged in fighting positions, only to stare at the transformed field. Then they swivelled around to find Titan shooting them a V for victory with his claws. 

Bertha leapt at him and bore him into the ground and Titan accepted the hug, uncaring of the mud they were wallowing in.

I turned to look up at Sabrina, who was still hovering above the pool. I waggled my eyebrows at her and she shot me an unamused look.

“I’m still unhappy that you attempted to redirect a Rock Throw.” Her words came out quietly, only for her glare to intensify, “from a Legendary pokemon of all things,” she hissed.

I chuckled. “Ahahaha. It’s something I’ve been working on in my own time? I felt like it was a good idea to up my game a little. Rock Throw itself is actually pretty easy, but redirecting it is something I’ve been attempting to show my pokemon and I just decided to join in?”

Thank Arceus she didn’t know anything about animated Pandas. I wasn’t going to share it with her.

Sabrina glared at me. “Yes, with all your experience in martial arts I’m assuming it was rather straight forward, hmmmm?” her words positively oozed sarcasm. 

I coughed. “Well I mean… I might have had to have Chansey fix me and the others up a few times but we started small!” I defend making a show of cupping my hands together to form a small football sized rock. 

Sabrina’s intense glare did not subside; in fact, it intensified. “You are banned from practicing any more Pokémon moves without my supervision!” she said as she lowered herself into the water to cup my face. “That was dangerous… and you scared me,” she admitted quietly.

“Sorry,” I wrapped my arms around her, feeling rather scummy that I’d scared her. “That wasn’t my intent. It was to make me stronger so I didn’t get hurt. Also, I felt like I needed to prove to Regirock I was capable.”

“Hmmm,” Sabrina said, her eyes dancing over my face. “You were incredible,” she said as she lowered her hands to my chest. 

She then shifted so she could take my hands in hers. One held the Ultra ball which she inspected for a moment only to turn to the other hand and give it a gentle squeeze. I hissed as pain announced itself.

“Owwwwwww?” I stared at my hand and flexed it a little only to feel the ache build. 

It seems with the adrenaline wearing off I’d started to feel the pain again. “Okay it doesn’t feel like I broke anything but damn that is sore!” I announced.

Sabrina gently ran her fingers over it, her eyes glowing. I felt her touch and her energy seeping into my hand. Sabrina looked up at me. “It appears you’ve fractured your wrist,” she announced. 

She tapped on the wrist. “Hamate, and Triquetrum bones both, so movements away from your thumb will cause it to flare up.”

She demonstrated the movement only to draw up a wooden splint and bandages from her pouch. “Stay still,” she ordered, levitating us out of the pool of water and onto proper dry land without jostling me.

I let her go to work, amused that she must have been picking up some of Alakazam’s books. I had to admit that she made a good nurse, she quickly had me splinted without further aggravating my injury. 

“Alright, no more fighting Legendaries on this trip,” she said with a firm nod.

I coughed. “You do remember that often when one of the Legendary Giants are found, there will be others, right?” I very much had told her there were strong odds for us to encounter those very pokemon during private moments when I was certain Mewtwo couldn’t eavesdrop on us.

Sabrina gave me a look. “And what, you want to collect all of them? No, you’ll simply beat them up and move along if you encounter any more. I can only assume the League is going to have a minor meltdown when it gets flagged that you captured Regirock.”

She tapped my chest. “Also no stepping into their attacks,” she ordered. “You have a lot more work to do before you attempt that again!” she said, poking me in the chest with each word out of her mouth.

I grinned. “I promise I’ll work on it. And I’m sorry for scaring you like that.”

Sabrina huffed and wrapped her arms around my head so I was smooshed into her chest, “I understand why you did it, but I really didn’t like seeing it happen.”

I smiled up at her from between her breasts, “Kind of worth it though wouldn’t you agree?” I waggled Regirock’s Ultra ball.

Sabrina gave me a highly unimpressed look. “When I find my next pokemon, I doubt I will be breaking anything to have it join my team,” she pointed out.

“Yeah but… like you… your pokemon typing are all smart and can be reasoned with.” I flicked my eyes over to where Mewtwo was shielding himself from mud as Titan shook himself off. “Mostly,” I amended. 

Sabrina snorted and floated us into a standing position. “Alright gang! It’s late! I know this has been a big success for us, but we need to bunk down.” I assessed the area, noting how much we’d torn everything up. 

“Bertha, think you can flatten out some land for us to rest up?” I asked, earning a nod from her. 

Sabrina gestured and returned the tents and chairs we’d had laid out before Regirock appeared. 

Within a few minutes, the camp was reestablished, and I found myself sitting near a fire with Sabrina leaning into my side. 

I kept rolling Regirock’s ball over in my hands in incredulity. In the games, catching a Legendary pokemon was expected. 

Sure, Regirock and the other golem pokemon were a touch trickier with the mechanics involved, but it was still possible.

But here and now? It was a touch surreal to know I had done it. 

I glanced around, wondering momentarily if Mew or Arceus itself wasn’t about to drop out of the sky and order me to release it.

I frowned. Had I done the right thing by capturing Regirock?

“Brock?” Sabrina asked, quick to catch my shifting mood

“Hmm? Oh, I’m just worried that maybe I did the wrong thing by catching Regirock. It typically serves as a Guardian for important places within the pokemon world… or as a bit of a monument to what once was important,” I said as I glanced up at the forest canopy. I could just make out the Tree of Beginning now that we’d gotten closer.

Sabrina hummed. “The tree has more than just the Giants though does it not?” 

I nodded slowly. She was right, still the doubt lingered. I hummed. “When we encounter Mew I’ll ask it,” I suggested. 

Sabrina nodded, relaxing back into my side. 

“Have you scanned your new pokemon with your pokedex yet?” asked Sabrina a moment later. 

I snorted. “And inform Oak of what I caught? Please, the second he finds out, I fully expect him to ring me. If we don’t come home and find him sitting at my kitchen table I’ll be amazed!” I said.

Sabrina giggled. “You know he’s going to be extremely interested in your plans to expand your reserve, don’t you?”

I nodded only to laugh as a thought occurred to me. “You know… Regice might be a nice addition to that area…” Then I shook my head. If I had doubts about taking one of the Giant ‘trio’ from the movie, I knew that the feeling would only grow if I caught another.

Also, I wouldn’t have as “easy” a time impressing Regice with my skills as a pokemon trainer as Regirock I suspected. Still… it would be kind of awesome…

“Perhaps it’s best not to tell Pryce or Lorelei about this place?” Sabrina pointed out.

I snorted again. “Eh, if they were serious, they’d have found themselves a Regice or a nice Articuno or something. I can’t be gifting them all the nice pokemon I find,” I said as I thought about Amaura. 

Sabrina nodded only to tap my thigh. “But you’ll inform me of any powerful psychic types,” she declared. 

I grinned at her. “Double standards much?”

Sabrina gave me a flat look. “It’s one of the perks of our relationship,” she said without missing a beat.

I chuckled and waggled my eyebrows at her, interest in some other perks that came with our relationship coming to mind. 

She smiled back and leaned up to kiss me only for Lucario to splutter and cough.

He drew himself up and sniffed. “I’ve observed you both interact with each other, and you’ve stretched the bounds of what an unwed man and woman should engage in quite far enough! I must protest for the lady’s sake now! She is unchaperoned and as a Knight I feel I must speak up!” 

Sabrina and I stared at him.

Bertha and Titan stared at him.

Mewtow ignored all of us.

Then Bertha collapsed onto her side causing a loud boom before she started roaring with laughter. I resisted the urge to return her to her pokeball for a second time… barely.

“Oh, you’re serious.” Sabrina blinked at him. “That’s… rather kind of you Lucario, but Brock and I are engaged.”

“And that is all well and good but you must preserve yourselves!” he declared earnestly.

I was about to say “oops too late” only for Sabrina to swat me and silence me. 

Lucario turned to Mewtwo. “It is also the height of impropriety to do such infront of companions!” 

Mewtwo turned himself so he was no longer watching the moon. “What humans do is not something I bother myself with overly much. They may perform their acts with each other, it doesn’t interest me. I merely ignore them and their mating rituals,” he said flatly.

Lucario spluttered. 

I sighed, knowing the celebratory mood was well and truly gone now. “Probably for the best. Sabrina and I need to rest up for tomorrow. We should be able to reach the tree,” I announced. 

“Hmmm, seeing as you injured yourself in combat against your new page, I shall take first watch!” declared Lucario.

I considered asking about the ‘page’ comment before shaking it off. Maybe I’d ask about it tomorrow. “You don’t have to do that, I’ll leave some of my pokemon out as will Sabrina so you can rest fully.

“I will supervise them!” declared Lucario sternly. 

I hummed. “Won’t you get tired?”

“No! While watch may be a boring duty it is one that must be undertaken!” he stated. 

I hummed and smirked as an idea lodged itself in my mind. “Hey, seeing as you’ve missed out on a lot that’s happened, how about I give you my old transceiver and you can use it to browse the pokenet?” I asked while offering him the old watch. 

Sabrina turned away, understanding exactly what I was doing. She started to twitch which caused Mewtwo to shoot her a look only to scoff and look back up at the moon. 

Lucario blinked, clueless as to what was happening. “Ah, that would be appreciated.” 

I nodded back at him and gave him a quick rundown on how to operate the tool. It was fairly self intuitive, but then again he was from three hundred years ago. 

When I settled down in my sleeping bag Sabrina allowed the giggles that had been threatening to overwhelm her escape. I grinned at her. “How long do you give it? One or two hours?” I asked her.

“Seeing as you left Bertha out there? I give it half that,” Sabrina announced. 

I chuckled and got comfortable as I hummed an old song that applied in this situation. “The pokenet is really, really great….” I sang quietly. 

Sabrina giggled into my chest as I held off finishing the line from the old play. 

When we walked out the next morning, Lucario didn’t look at me as he handed me back the transceiver.

I just chuckled as we broke camp and set off, intent on reaching the tree before the end of the day.  

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

Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter! 

The internet is really, really great… (insert line) I’m sure someone knows the song!