Hard Enough

“This is incredible!” said Professor Oak as he stared at Gawain, my newly evolved Kleavor. "If the discovery of variant golems, an additional evolution for Rhydon and your ancient pokemon hadn't already astounded me, I'd call this the find of the year!"

Elm nodded, writing furiously at his side. “Scyther! A pokemon able to evolve into two different forms depending on what it is exposed to! Metal or Rock! Incredible!” Elm snapped his pen only to snatch up another before lifting Gawain’s forearms up. He ran a finger over the edge and stared at the cut he’d given himself.

“They’re sharp!” he said happily. Gawain shot me an incredulous look, and I shrugged.

Stephen stopped taking pictures for a moment and rubbed his chin. “Do you think their early stage weakness caused the shift from Scyther being able to evolve in this manner?”

Salvadore, who was loving everything that was going on as he drew sketches of my Kleavor, perked up. “What do you mean?”

Oak glanced at Stephen and made a ‘go on’ gesture. Stephen coughed and cleared his throat. “Well! It’s just that as a Scyther they are weak to all rock-type pokemon. Something that the mountains they sometimes inhabit would contain a lot of. It stands to reason then that Scyther would o evolve into this ‘Kleavor’ form to better take advantage of this environment.”

Stephen perked up. “This might serve as supporting evidence of pokemon developing new evolutions based on their environment and/or due to a lack of other options. It wasn’t until relatively recently that Scyther’s ‘Scizor’ evolution was discovered, something which was only possible due the advancements in industry and metallurgy. Perhaps this ‘Kleavor’ form was the original evolution, and the man-made ‘Metal Coat’ was somehow able to activate the same response but with a steel-typing. I wonder what similarities the two stimulants share?”. .”

Oak rubbed his chin. “Now that does have some interesting implications!" He did a happy jig. “There’s a lot of potential avenues that this evolution makes possible!” Oak marched over and ran a hand over the discarded pile of augurite rocks.

“And you say this is what he used? A rather large pile of it in fact, to spark his evolution?”

I nodded. “He’d been collecting it for a while, and I thought it weird, but not too weird as he seemed fascinated with rocks since he learned what type of Gym I run. His developing a hobby is different but not unheard of.” The words rolled off my tongue wonderfully, exactly as I’d practised in the past. Just the right hint of surprise and joy in them that would make me sound innocent, but oh so fortunate.

“And then he started accruing more and more of one type of rock… You simply assumed he had a favourite rock?” Oak said as he stared at the sample with a magnifying glass. “I can’t tell what this is!” rather than being annoyed Oak seemed gleeful.

“It’s Augurite,” said Flint.

He, along with the rest of my family, had been the first I’d invited out to witness Gawain’s new form. The boys had gotten stars in their eyes and they were even now making chopping sounds with plans to tell all their friends at school. I just knew that would result in there being a number of fights breaking out as they got called liars.

“Augurite you say?” Oak said, turning his head towards Flint.

Flint nodded. “Black Augurite specifically. You can find it in mountainous areas all over the region, and in particularly rocky areas like this. In volcanic areas, you’ll find even more of them.” He scratched his chin. “I’ve seen Graveler and Golem pick them up and stuff them into the cracks of their bodies.”

Oak nodded “So there may be a possible linkage to the golem line and Scyther? Interesting! What do the Graveler and Golem use them for?”

Flint shrugged. “Not much honestly. Sometimes they just pick them up cause it seems augurite is the shiniest rock around. When they chip off parts of their body they tend to go for shiner parts to replace them, but it usually cracks after a while unless it melts into their shell. I’ve seen a firetype cause them to get slightly glassed or crystalised in certain areas of their body.” Flint frowned.

“Made them weaker to fire if I recall it right?” he said, tapping his chin in thought. I hummed and didn’t mention the Crystal Onix I just so happened to own.

Oak wrote all of this down. “Interesting!”

Elm, on the other hand, was still interviewing Gawain. “Any new urges with your evolution?”

Gawain shook his head. “Kle!”

“Any changes in taste? Would you rather eat berries, meat, or plants?”

Gawain waved his hands about and made a chopping action. “Vor!”

“Plants?” This got a nod, and Elm dutifully recorded it. “Did you learn any moves from evolving?”

That had me perking up. If I recalled correctly there was a signature move for Kleavor. Gawain grinned and darted across the training field to where the training posts he’d previously practised against were. His axes glowed and swung down through the wood easier than they ever had before.

I whistled, impressed at the showing. Only to blink when I noted a few shards of rock floating from where he’d slammed his axes into the ground with his follow-through.

“Gawain, do that again, but this time on that boulder,” I said, pointing to the side.

The researchers all paused at my sudden order but Gawain followed through without issue. The boulder shattered easily, but once more, stone shards were left floating in the aftermath. They were notably larger than the previous attempts.

Gawain tilted his head in confusion as I stepped up and considered tapping them but decided against it. Elm bustled forward and poked them only to have the shards slam into his shoulder. “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!” the man said.

He stood and rubbed his shoulder. “That felt like a very weak Stealth Rock?”

Bianca sighed loudly. “Urgh, months away from him, and I forgot he’s like this.” She straightened up. “Professor! Stop cutting yourself and throwing yourself into pokemon attacks to work out what happens!”

Elm nodded absentmindedly. “Yes, yes, indeed.”

I ignored them, being too busy assessing Gawain. He was supposed to learn Stone Axe as his signature move, which was a physical move that had a heightened critical hit ratio. I didn’t recall anything about a Stealth Rock resulting from the attack.

I stared at the floating rocks. “Oh wow, Gawain, this is big.” At Gawain’s tilted head, I gestured to the floating rocks. “You just became a lot more threatening when you're on the field.”

It would certainly raise the priority in which I deployed him as well. I had no idea why Gawain was special but I wasn’t about to complain about an extra effect. If I could empower his Stone Axe ability further he’d make for a great set-up pokemon… I eyed Clefairy and Onix. I had some nice new additions to my team.

I turned back to the researchers and caught the tail end of something Stephen was saying. “—that Scyther as a species are known to migrate and swarm certain locations, it makes a lot more sense. But the issue becomes that the areas they need to swarm are naturally filled with pokemon that are strong against them!”

Oak nodded. “It would be worth noting that there is a potential link between the Geodude line of pokemon picking up the rocks to stop migratory pressures. If the Scyther believes the area doesn’t contain the resource they need they would avoid it.”

“How would we test such a hypothesis?” Stephen asked, rubbing his chin.

Oak also rubbed his chin. “I think I will need to reach out to a fellow researcher in Professor Ginkgo!” Elm snorted loudly and Oak shot him a look. “What’s wrong with Ginkgo?”

“She’s retired and has been out of the scene. It’s Professor Birch that is researching habitats now!”

Oak looked a little sad for a moment. “Oh, that’s a shame, she had a wonderful style of writing that was a joy to read. I wonder if she still dabbles and keeps abreast with current research.” He stood and looked to me. “This might be something we pitch to Professor… Birch, would you mind if he or a representative came by?”

“I’d have no problem, but I’d need a method of identification, seeing as we’ve had some security concerns in the past.”

Oak nodded, a grim expression taking hold. “That is a valid concern. We’ll come up with something, but I think this has some serious implications for further research.” He smiled at Kleavor as he chopped apart another boulder while Bertha and Titan looked on.

I hummed in acknowledgement, only for a tug on my sleeve to have me looking around. Sabrina was standing to the side with her arms crossed but that didn’t mean she hadn’t tugged my sleeve. I tilted my head. “What’s wrong?”

“I thought we were going to be training this morning?”

I chuckled and rubbed the back of my head. “Sorry! I had to deal with a way too gung-ho Clefairy and then Scyther evolved! I might evolve Steelix soon once I nail down a metal composition I want for him.” I smiled at her. “I think this mob doesn’t need any more supervision, though.”

I jerked my head to the side. “Let’s have a match!”

Sabrina perked up, and a pokeball floated in front of her as we moved to the grass battlefield a few metres away. Gawain, my new Kleavor perked up, his eyes swivelling around, only to have Elm grab at his face and start shining a light into it. “If you could stare into this light, that would be wonderful!” said Elm.

I huffed and signalled to Hypnotoad. “You’re up girl!”

Hypnotoad bounced forward and leered at Sabrina who tilted her head. “A fighting type?”

I nodded seriously. “I’ve taught her a new move that I think you’ll find a bit surprising.”

Sabrina eyed me for a moment, then inclined her head, her pokeball tossed forth to reveal her Slowking. “King!” he drawled out before bowing his head towards Hypnotoad who adopted a fighting bow in reply.

Then I picked up a rock and tossed it up. When it hit the ground I punched forward. “DL! GO!”

Hypnotoad threw her arms out into a lariat position and charged. When she reached the middle distance she kicked off the ground and started to spin only for a flash of light to come out of Slowking.

Hypnotoad didn’t blaze with darkness but instead landed and tripped as no dark energy built up.

I blinked only for a sinking suspicion to form. I glanced up and found Slowking’s eyes still glowing.

“Did... did you just use Disable?” I said with a tinge of annoyance.

Sabrina blinked languidly. “Perhaps.” Her lips twitching upwards gave away that she’d just tripped me up on purpose. I slumped. I didn’t actually give voice to my annoyance, but I was a little miffed that I wouldn’t get to show off to her with Hypnotoad’s success in Darkest Lariat.

She raised an eyebrow, obviously reading into my mood. “I am not required to play by your rules.” She gestured between us, “And, this is a training match.” Her eyes glowed, and Slowking moved, for once getting the drop on my much faster pokemon as Hypnotoad continued to try and expel her dark-type energy to make the move work.

“Hyp! Get moving!” I barked, making her leap to the side and avoid the attack. I focussed. It wasn’t an ideal start to the fight, but it was a valuable lesson. I’d gotten too used to winning and having my way with gym fights. Sabrina tripping me up and reminding me just what a strong psychic could do was a good thing.

I had to work hard to keep Hypnotoad in the fight, and when Sabrina’s Slowking nailed her with a Psychic, she went down. I clicked my tongue in annoyance. I'd never gotten around to having her line up a Darkest Lariat against Slowking again. She’d only just gotten rid of the Disable before I’d tried for it.

Sabrina tilted her head as I withdrew Hypnotoad. “Did you think it was a good idea to keep your pokemon out after I disabled the move you were relying on?”

I chewed my lip and shook my head. “I’d been thinking of showing off my new move with Hypnotoad for you. I then stuck to her due to this being a good training sessions of fighting against something she’s naturally weak against.”

Sabrina bobbed her head up and down. “I see, I had thought it a mistake as I assumed this was a match, not a training session. In a match I would suggest withdrawing her.” She indicated towards Slowking. “He is fine to continue if you have another.”

I smirked and pointed to Knight who grinned and bound onto the field before settling into his fighting stance. The rest of my pokemon now formed a perimeter with their bodies. I paused when I noticed Professor Oak had stopped looking over Gawain and was instead sitting on a rock watching Sabrina and I duel.

He waved merrily but didn’t say anything. Sabrina flinched when she spotted Oak.

It took a moment for me to realise why, Oak had evaded her notice. Something very, very few people could claim to have ever achieved.

I decided not to poke at that issue for now, and instead turned back to the fight. “Knight, half Dig,” I said cryptically.

Knight sank into the ground only for Slowking to blink and a cube of psychic energy to explode from his paws.

I clicked my tongue. She’d just used Trick Room, which would make her pokemon faster as speed inverted itself through an odd mechanic that the move had.

Suddenly, Slowking was dashing to the side as Knight emerged slightly in front of him.

“Dark Pulse,” I ordered.

Knight bowed down and a dark energy built up within him slowly. He was just throwing his arms out wide when Slowking’s eyes glowed once again. I clicked my tongue, that was most likely Calm Mind coming into effect.

Knight’s Dark Pulse distorted the Trick Room for a moment only for it to stabilise. “Again,” I ordered.

Slowking opened his mouth, and a blast of water shot out slamming into Knight but he withstood it as another Dark Pulse finally ripped apart the Trick Room. Knight and Slowking both stumbled. Sabrina withdrew her pokemon and after a moment’s consideration, I did the same.

Then I pointed at Titan who stalked onto the field with a huge grin. Sabrina matched me with Alakazam and both pokemon locked eyes.

“Sandstorm,” I said to start things off. Sabrina had her pokemon flash into a Miracle Eye so her moves would actually work, but then her visibility got tougher as Titan’s sandstorm whipped into effect.

“Dig,” I said, and this time Sabrina answered by having her pokemon levitate upwards.

Titan launched out of the ground like a shark chasing a bird off the water. When he reached the top of his leap, I ordered another Dark Pulse, which Alakazam narrowly dodged with a teleport. When he reappeared, he flinched as the Sandstorm grated at him.

Then he flashed with psychic energy and was suddenly pristine. I clicked my tongue. She’d used Recover.

Despite that, I found myself smiling as I settled into the slugging match that usually occurred when these two pokemon fought.

“Stone Edge,” I said, and rocks were hurled forth which Alakazam matched carefully only to be driven back. Then he teleported to a new location to fire off a psychic wave that I matched with a Dark Pulse. I hummed. This could be dragged out a lot longer or I could find another way.

“Dig pop,“I said, making Titan burrow into the ground and force another Teleport out of Sabrina. That time though I merely had him pop out of the ground and stand. “Step back and use Stone Edge,” I said as Alakazam hovered in the air, slightly out of reach.

Now Alakazam had to start teleporting around, but with Titan’s earlier loosening of the ground, it became much easier to hurl rocks than it did to teleport out of the way. Sabrina tried to hold the attacks with Psychic but between it and the Sandstorm in effect, her Alakazam was hard-pressed to avoid the attacks.

During this I slowly had Titan box her pokemon in by walking a slow spiral from the centre of the field. When I judged it right, I stopped the Stone Edge.

“Dark pulse now!” This time Alakazam couldn’t dodge and he collapsed into exhaustion.

I grinned and pumped my fist. “That’s the way buddy! Good use of your Sandstorm and Stone Edge!” Titan raised a fist and the other pokemon cheered for him. Sabrina returned her pokemon before tossing out Slowking once again.

I grinned and pointed straight at him. “Titan, GO!” Titan grinned ferociously as he launched himself into a sprint at the much slower to react pokemon.

Sabrina clicked her tongue, and then Slowking’s eyes glowed letting me know that she unleashed another Disable to stop Titan in his tracks.

I grunted like I was annoyed only to grin when Titan didn’t stumble and instead continued to barrel towards Slowking. Sabrina’s eyes glowed once again, and an orb of water built up and fired off at Titan.

He skipped to the side, his landing causing the earth to shake and the Slowking to stumble.

“Dark Pulse!” I said gleefully, knowing I was well within reach now. He unleashed his attack, and Slowking stood in its wake.

Sabrina got him to fire off another Hydro Pump that Titan dodged.

I raised my eyebrows at her and Sabrina huffed as her Slowking blinked and flinched with pain. Then it toppled over, finally registering that it had been hit.

I shook my head. It was a strange quirk, but damn useful to get a shot in beyond the metaphorical grave.

I grinned, feeling very satisfied with myself at that. Sabrina returned her downed pokemon and another ball rose up only for a cry from Elm to give us both pause. We glanced over and found Gawain barreling towards us, having grown bored with being poked and prodded while something obviously much more interesting was going on.

I hummed before returning Titan to my side.

“Gawain, you’re up!” I said much to his delight. He took to the field, brandishing his axes and grinning while Sabrina released her Exeggutor onto the field. The heads facing us leered, and I hummed.

A bug-rock against a psychic-grass. Interesting match up.

The researchers trudged up and grumbled at the loss of their research subject but they settled down when they saw the fight. Cameras and pokedex’ were once more raised to record how things went down.

I pushed them out of my mind as I punched the air. “Gawain X-Scissor!” Gawain threw himself into a sprint, the dying eddies of the sandstorm that Titan had left on the field ignored by him but not Exeggutor, as it flinched slightly. From above its fronds, a harsher light started to shine down as Sabrina completed her preparation.

Gawain slashed both axes across the body of the tree, and the palm tree pokemon stumbled backwards only to flash as it used Synthesis before it could collapse. It turned on Gawain with a growl.

I had him commit to that attack now that he was close enough to use his blades. “Again!”

This time when he launched forward Sabrina met him with a Solar Beam that forced me to abort that attack. “Agility! Get out!”

Gawain fled by digging his axes into the ground and turning at a ninety-degree angle to arrive at the edge of the field. I frowned at the gouge of earth that Sabrina had caused. It looked deeper than… Ah, it’s because of the earlier Digs I had used. The ground was becoming unstable in parts of it… which wouldn’t play into my favour now that Scyther/Kleavor was heavier when he ran.

From Exeggutor a green barrage of leaves soared forth making me hiss. My mind raced for a solution or best option only for me to blurt out. “Use Brick Break on the ground and toss up a boulder!”

Gawain did so marvellously, showing that all the work I’d put in to teach him that move hadn’t been a waste of time as the boulder he tossed up was enough to handle the Leaf Storm barrage.

“Agility again!” I said as I readied myself for another charge. It was becoming clear to me that Klavor would struggle with his more physically oriented move pool, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a lot of potential.

Sabrina had her pokemon perform another heal with Synthesis.

“Go Gawain! Get in close!” I ordered my pokemon.

Gawain sprinted around the boulder and into danger only to stumble as some rocks shifted underneath his feet. I grimaced as I noted Exeggutor’s glowing eyes. The palm tree pokemon grinned as it unleashed another barrage of leaves.

“Stand your ground and use Fury Cutter! Cut your way through!” I said punching forward.

Gawain gritted his teeth and did just that. He still took a lot of damage despite this but he closed the distance to make Sabrina very uncomfortable.

Just as a beam of energy built up, I had him launch forward with another X-scissor. Gawain’s axes slammed into Exeggutor just as the Solar Beam went off. A flash of light preceded a dust cloud that was swept away a moment later with a flap of Don’s wings; apparently, he too couldn’t wait for the result.

The result was Gawain barely holding himself upright over a downed Exeggutor. His limbs trembled and his eyes fluttered, but he held on heroically.

I grinned, very pleased with his first showing. Apparently, his bug typing had held up against his rock type’s weakness to grass wonderfully.

Sabrina inclined her head in a show of respect and returned her pokemon. I returned Gawain and grinned happily. “Well done, buddy, have a rest now.” He hadn’t gone down but he wouldn’t be fighting any more. That was obvious enough for anyone with eyes. I then locked eyes with Sabrina and nodded. “Thanks for not using Starmie against him.”

“You needed someone strong for him to face first. He surprised me,” she said before another pokeball detached from her hip. I glanced across the field for another pokemon, they all looked eager. Who to pick for the nex—

Oak clapped his hands. “I think that’s a rather fitting place to end it! Well done!”

I blinked in surprise. I’d forgotten that he was there. He smiled pleasantly and nodded again before looking up. “I think it’s breakfast time now, and there are a number of hungry bellies to feed, no?”

As though they’d been waiting for that cue, the watcher’s stomachs all roared their agreement. They looked down at themselves as though their stomachs had betrayed them only to pout or grumble like children. I chuckled and sighed, the urge to keep fighting dropping away. Sabrina relaxed as well.

“Feed the kids and review?” I offered, moving towards the house.

“Flint can take care of the children. We can review at a cafe for your birthday breakfast.” Her eyes glowed. “I have informed Alexa you will be having a breakfast date with me.”

I blinked at that as Sabrina linked arms with me. “And how did she react to that?” I asked as Sabrina teleported us to a rather nice looking cafe in Pewter City. The server nearby spilled her tray of food only for it to be telekinetically caught by Sabrina.

“Much like that,” she said as she claimed a menu from a stack and a table for us. I chuckled and sat down, amused at how this morning had been much more full than normal.

When I returned and started up the matches for the day I learnt that Elm and Oak had stuck around to catch up with Stephen and Bianca. Gawain was the newest attraction but they also spent some time looking through the growing population of Lileep I had.

During the lunch break Oak approached me.

“That was a wonderful match this morning! I’m happy to see such strong young trainers! I don’t think Lance would have been mistaken if he wanted either of you on his Elite Four!”

I inclined my head in thanks before shrugging. “That’s if either of us ever wanted to go for that.” I shouldn’t speak for Sabrina but she’d never mentioned desiring such a position.

Oak laughed again. “His loss then! I certainly don’t mind all the work you’re bringing my way!” He waved a hand and rounded upon the other researchers that had followed him in. “ Well everyone! It’s lunchtime and I overheard Sabrina mention that it was your birthday! SO! I have ordered a cake! No Mr Mimes for us today!” he said as Stephen deposited a chocolate cake that was obviously professionally done in front of me.

Bianca tilted her head in confusion. “What’s up with his fixation with Mr Mimes?”

“Cause it’s an easy, fast, family-friendly place to get food with a large number of people at short notice,“ Stephen said with the sigh of one that has long committed an answer to memory.

Oak pointed at Stephen like he’d won a point in a gameshow before nudging everyone inside.

Dennis, Rocko, Alexa, Forrest, Yolanda, Missy and Rachel chose that moment to enter from another entrance with a towering cake that was shaped like the boulder badge. “Happy birthday to you!” they sang—deliberately badly— as they approached me. The reception team followed them in. Then they noticed the professionally done chocolate cake. They all looked up and locked eyes with Oak who looked a little sheepish.

Rachel practically slammed their cake into the table in front of me. “Ours is homemade and therefore better!” she said in challenge.

Oak, who’d been about to apologise, stopped and narrowed his eyes as Rachel squared off against him. “I’ll have you know this is a cake made by one of the best patissiers in Kanto! They only use the best chocolate for their cakes! This Chocolate forest cake was designed with rich dark earthy tones in mind to exemplify the Pewter Gym!”

Rachel wilted only for Dennis and Rocko to chuckle. “Hah! We win then! Brock hates super-rich food! Especially super rich dark chocolate!” My siblings nodded along seriously.

Oak blinked, obviously caught flat footed about that little factoid. Stephen stepped forward and thrust his arm out. “We brought ice cream to go with it!” Oak nodded seriously and subtly patted Stephen on the back for the save. I just laughed and ordered everyone to gather around as I cut the cake.

Sabrina teleported in next to me as I slipped and touched the bottom. When she was done kissing me she shot Rachel a thumbs-up. I chuckled and cut the cake up for everyone with any spare bits being held for later.

When Elm was handed his slice of cake he devoured it mindlessly. I watched him devour the chocolate cake with no cream to reduce the intensity without batting an eye. “You uhm… want some ice cream for that?” I asked tentatively. Elm merely nodded along, his focus more on his pokedex as he replayed the recording he’d taken of Gawain. I left him to it, amazed at the strength of his fugue.

Oh well, not my problem. Instead, I turned back to enjoying my lunch break with Sabrina and everyone that was present in the room. Sabrina eventually left but not before getting another kiss.

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly with most of it being spent talking with the Gym trainers as they cycled out to face trainers in Gauntlet matches. I realised then why Alexa had blocked out so much time for gauntlet matches today. I turned to her. “You did this so I wouldn’t have to fight much.”

She nodded. “Seemed a shame to not have your birthday off. So instead I lightened the load when I realised the significance of the date. It was easy to have it blocked off for only gauntlet matches.” I nodded in appreciation. I only had to face three trainers that day, which made for a ridiculously easy day.

I spent most of the day talking and teaching Missy and the new trainers that had signed on to the Gym. In the arena, Forrest threw down in yet another Gauntlet match.

When it reached the end of the day Sabrina appeared at my side with a cinema schedule. “Oh? You want to go? Sure, when should we—”

We flashed away in a teleport and I blinked as I found myself in front of the Pewter Cinema. I shot her an amused look. “Really?”

“I have spoken to Flint and Yolanda. They were both insistent we make up for lost time.” She nodded seriously.

I hummed. “That doesn’t mean cram in every dating option ever. It means making the most of the time we have together.”

Sabrina blinked. “Ah, I see.” She chewed her lip and shifted. “Should we schedule something for later in the week?”

I hummed and considered the movies starting soon. “Nah, this is fine too. Spontaneity is a good thing. Can’t always be on a schedule.” I snuck a kiss onto her cheek and she blushed wonderfully as we lined up for the next showing of ‘Dreams Lived’, an epic romance between two star-crossed lovers in a world gone mad.

“Good, Flint and Yolanda wanted some time to prepare for your birthday as well.” I chuckled at her honestly and squeezed her hand.

“You going to be able to handle this?” Indicating the cinema at large.

“I handled the mayor’s ball. I can easily handle a movie now,” she said. I nodded, feeling relieved at that and a little chagrined. I opened my mouth to apologise, only for another person to intrude.

“Gym Leader Brock I cha—” The pesky trainer vanished in a flash of light and I blinked before smiling at Sabrina.

“Keep that up, and I might stop getting challenged that way,” I said hopefully.

Sabrina snorted. “Don’t doubt the capacity for fools to ignore common sense.”

The movie itself was as standard as romances went. I heard a lot of sighing and more than a few couples were leaning into each other and kissing instead of watching the movie. Sabrina watched the movie with an intensity that bordered on the terrifying.

I choked on some popcorn when it got to the racy scenes. Sabrina leaned forward and her hand gripped my knee in a way that had me wanting to sit up, or rather stand up. When the movie was done Sabrina had a thoughtful expression that I knew meant she was processing what she’d observed.

“You’ve never seen scenes like that before?” I asked carefully. I knew she’d read books but surely someone —namely Erika— had sat her down to watch some classical romance movies or television. Right?

“No, I have seen them before but the situation is very different when you do it with someone you are… dating.” I got the impression she wanted to say something else.

“Hmmm yeah, I can see that. It kind of got a bit hot with you grabbing my leg like that.”

Sabrina looked at me. “It did, did it? You enjoyed being touched that way?” I nodded and she returned the nod seriously. “Hmmm good.” She then leaned into me. “I would also like to be touched.” I blushed and slid my hand from her hip to her behind.

“You okay with that?” I asked carefully. She nodded seriously before leaning into me.

“It feels very nice,” she said breathily before poking me with her fingers. “Where else do you like being touched?” she said as she began to poke and prod me. Her lips twitched up.

“Stop that! I’m ticklish! You know that!” I said, dancing away from her.

Sabrina pursued me. “I remember,” she said, recalling a point in time she’d made me almost pass out when I’d made the mistake of trying to tickle her during our journey.

She wasn’t ticklish at all, and I almost passed out that day.

When we came back home at dinner time Yolanda smirked and made kissy faces. I rolled my eyes at her and kissed her on the side of the head. Then I made to kiss Sabrina on the cheek only for her to turn and accept it on the lips.

She shot Yolanda a victory sign, which Yolanda and Suzie mirrored back to her. They then led me into the dining room where the kids jumped out at me.

“Happy birthday!” they shouted as one, or good enough for a group of kids. Munchlax, Terra, Nanny Grav, and Eevee shouted their own names. The kids then indicated a pile of handmade presents with a few others that must have cost a significant part of their allowance.

I got some handmade cards, hugs and kisses from the youngest twins. Suzie got me a hug and a macaroni drawing, while Timmy got me a drawing I told him I’d cherish and put at the top of the pile of said drawings. He loved that I did that. It didn’t matter that the top of the pile was in truth a folder that I’d set up years ago with each of my siblings' names on it. Any artwork they gave me promptly went into it for me to peruse later.

I’d seen Flint looking through them in the past with the others nudging their own folders into his hands.

Tommy got me some rock candy, obviously thinking it was a clever idea. I accepted it and handed out some of it to share with Munchlax getting the most. Then Cindy and Yolanda stepped up.

“For our gift, we’re going to perform Brock’s wake up song!” they said with Cindy bringing out her flute while Yolanda tuned her guitar. They performed a duet of the Sonata of Awakening that Flint found rather interesting while I merely chuckled to myself. When they were done, I made a big show of congratulating them. I could tell they’d been working on it for a while.

Salvadore got me a guide to business management for idiots. I tilted my head until I recalled that I had mentioned needing to read something like this in the past. I accepted it with a chuckle and a hug. Forrest got me a rough hiker's vest that had a Swablu down feather lining that made it heavenly to put on. “Oh this will be nice in the winter,” I said happily. The others then hugged me to enjoy the softness in turn.

Yolanda got me a nice belt that was reversible for a black or tan flip side.

Forrest grinned. Flint then coughed and produced a set of hiking boots. “Oh thanks,” I said looking at the newer model of the shoe I already owned. I didn’t need to see Yolanda smiling to know how Flint had known to get these for me.

He seemed to glow a little only to wink “Look within!”. I looked and found a Moonstone which I put with the other stones we now had.

We had some more cake, which Munchlax was most excited for. It helped that it was shaped like Titan and there was more than enough to go around for all of us. Munchlax still had to be told to stop after his third piece of cake.

From there we retired to watch a few episodes of Samurai Furrett much to the pleasure of the boys. When that was done Flint rounded up the kids and I shot Sabrina a smile as she tugged me off to my room.

Sabrina wrapped me in a hug, and I blushed a little as she put a hand on my chest. She must have been able to feel how my heartbeat sped up from her touch. I felt hot and worked up as she leaned in slowly to kiss me. “Brock…This… I’m not rushing you am I?” Sabrina said between kisses.

“Nope, not rushed at all!” I said back, amused, and exasperated that she thought she was being too fast for me. Shouldn’t it be the other way? She kissed my neck, and I forgot my amusement as other feelings surged up. “In fact, it feels really good!”

“Good,” she said before she began to unbutton my shirt. Her eyes locked on my revealed chest and I felt a surge of pride as she enjoyed the view.

She got three buttons in before the holopad the Guardians had lent me buzzed with a call alert.

We snapped our heads upon the hated holopad and glared at it together. We really should answer it… then I huffed and shot Sabrina a grin. “I’m not answering that.”

Sabrina shot me a beautiful smile. “They can wait.” She telekinetically flicked the holopad into the bathroom before the door seemingly shut itself to dampen the noice. “Now, where were we?” She undid a button and smiled coyly at me. “I’d like to try what they were doing in the movie.”

I swallowed to keep my mouth from drying out. While the movie had been rather tame by some standards it had still gotten heavy during one scene... Sabrina giggled at my expression. I found myself enjoying the rest of the night from then on. It was a nice way to end my birthday, that's for sure.

When we woke up, I was spooning her, and she was very awake and aware of me.

We got up, and Sabrina gave me a kiss.

“I need to get back to my Gym,” she said, moving to clean her teeth and straighten her hair. She telekinetically gave me back the holopad. I opened it and found a string of messages from Karen, and then a more formal written message from Koga.

I blinked away the sleep as what was written registered.

“Huh, Karen’s going to fight Steven Stone.”