Hard Enough

Chapter 201: Interlude - Girls day

Doctor Eve tore her gaze away from her work with an audible groan. She was close, she just knew it! She had multiple sources of information from ancient rhymes, stories, artifacts, and even petroglyphs that all referenced the ancient city.

Well, the word ‘city’ was a misnomer. Pokemopolis was potentially a kingdom, and with how widespread reference of it was, potentially an empire.

Doctor Eve knew she could find more and establish herself more if she could access some of the sites that already existed. Sadly the Ruins of Alph were considered heritage sites and after her previous… enthusiastic explorations, she wasn’t allowed there… for multiple reasons.

On her last attempt, she approached, only to find multiple posters with her own face staring back at her with warnings that she needed to be escorted away or denied access.

You try to access one hidden room with a controlled detonation, and suddenly you are barred from access without a chaperone!

The other sites that had reference to Pokemonopils had sadly been destroyed.

The most recent lead, a petroglyph supplied by one Doctor Crowley, had been interesting, as it had showcased one of the nomadic tribes known to live as part of Pokemopolis.

Sadly, like the other sites, it was restricted, or most likely destroyed. She had tried to get access, but the Rangers were extremely leery of allowing anyone access to the Silver Ranges of late.

There were too many people trying to get access and the recent destruction had allowed them to rebuff her. Hah! As if petroglyphs that had survived an age of wear and tear would fade away in the face of something as pathetic as a bit of fire!

And so what if they were within the cave of a known alpha predator? She could handle it. You just distracted them with something and did a quick in and out. Take some pictures, secure the artifacts, record some photos of herself in action so she gets credit, and bam! Instant success!

It would take five minutes, tops! In and out adventure!

Sadly she was held back.

It was vexing!

She was close to a breakthrough. She knew it.

Her stomach rumbled in agony and she grimaced. It seemed her weak fleshy body would need sustenance. Time to check the fridge!

She opened the fridge only to find a Grimer gnawing on what she swore had been a perfectly acceptable sandwich just yesterday. She reached for the berries only to find them gone. The Grimer burped a little and Eve huffed. “For eating my food, you’re going to be joining the team,” she said, plucking a pokeball from a nearby stack of papers and tapping the little poison type on the head. The Grimer blinked in surprise at the action and when the pokeball wobbled Eve gave it a few whacks on a nearby table. She’d always been a firm believer that by smashing the pokeball a few times you had better odds of securing the pokemon within! From her research, she had a fifty percent strike rate.

This time at least, the pokeball went still and she breathed a sigh of relief. When she inhaled, she gagged a little on the smell the fridge was giving off.

She released her newly acquired assistant. “Clean up the smell and the mould for me,” she said and the little Grimer seemed more than happy to comply. She closed the door with a happy nod.

Excellent, she’d gone to the fridge for sustenance and returned with a new easily paid assistant. She whipped out her recorder and made a log.

“Mission log seven, of day one hundred and thirty of the year. I have captured a new recruit for exploration purposes. Hopefully, his gelatinous body and poison typing will allow him to last longer on future explorations. Spike traps and acid shouldn’t prove an issue, unlike other, more squishy assistants. I also hope that he leaves the fridge clean so I may continue to use it. I remain optimistic about my task and will make a breakthrough on Pokemopolis soon! Doctor Eve, future discoverer of Pokemopolis’ main city signing off!”

Her stomach rumbled a little more and she grunted. Hmmm, she might have to head out to secure supplies for herself soon. She began securing her ‘going out clothes’ while giving her pits a small sniff. Within acceptable tolerances.

Grimer certainly hadn’t complained.

A hammering on her door caused her to stop collecting her going-out items. “Eve! I know you’re in there! The rent was due two months ago! I’m not a bad person wanting you to pay for that! I know you’re struggling, but you’re kind of taking me for a ride!”

Eve coughed and approached the door. Damn! The Landlord! She tentatively unlocked it to find a large man staring down at her.

“Landlord, sir,” she said with a fearful swallow. She made sure to make her eyes as big as possible while trembling slightly.

The man sighed heavily. “Eve, I’m not being unreasonab—” whatever he was going to say was stopped when he caught a whiff of the room. “Gak! Oh Arceus, what have you been doing in there? Wrestling a Muk?”

Eve paused her primary plan to escape paying rent, which was to use her good looks to charm the Landlord. It had worked a few times already. The man was a bit of a sucker for young girls, having seven daughters himself.

It should have been child’s play to escape paying one or two more instalments. More than enough time to pay for a new piece of cutting-edge equipment that would be sure to help her find the motherload with Pokemopolis.

Eve gave herself another discrete sniff. “It’s not that bad?” she said tentatively.

The Landlord pushed open the door only to visibly recoil. “Oh Eve! You need to open a window or three in here!” he cried as tears began to form in his eyes.

He retched a few times and Eve huffed. “The windows cause my research to be blown about!”

The man shot her a confused look., “I thought you young ones were all about going paperless and using clickbait and that?”

Eve gave him a flat look. “It’s not clickbait, and I need a high-resolution scanner to do that.”

“Which you don’t have the money for,” sighed the man as he scratched at his beard while peering into the room. “Eve… I’m worried about you. You’re a young girl living in an apartment and it really seems like you can’t look after yourself. I thought you went on a Journey?” he said.

Eve nodded. “I did! I even won five badges!” she said firmly. So what if those had been the Cycling Road Gym, Celadon, Gambol, Fuchsia, and Dark City gyms? They counted! Even if Gambol and Dark City’s gyms were no more.

She’d gotten enough to allow her to get back into the lab and work! Sadly her drive to excel in the academic field might have been a touch short-sighted. Perhaps it might have been easier for her if she had gotten the full eight badges. Then she might have some actual sponsors…

Well! That wasn’t going to change, and if people couldn’t understand academic drive she wasn’t going to spoon-feed it to them. Honestly! It still surprised her how often people asked her about her Journey results!

That should have stopped mattering years ago, once she secured her first job as a research assistant working on the Bell Tower study group in Johto!

“Alright, let’s do some cleanup first! I’m not having one of my tenants living in squalor!” said her Landlord.

Eve blinked. “Eh? But I haven’t charmed you yet?” she said, only to pause as she realised she said that out loud.

The Landlord eyed her and shook his head. “Just like my youngest,” he said as he tied back his shaggy hair into a bun and pulled out a neckerchief that he wrapped around his nose and mouth. He then pulled out cleaning supplies from his pouch and took a fortifying breath.

“Eve! From now on I’m going to be checking in weekly on you! I think we’re going to have to have a serious intervention!” he said seriously.

“Oh, I don’t think I need that,” she said with a dismissive wave.

Her Landlord stared at her. “Ever heard that a clean workspace leads to a clean, productive mind?”

Eve glanced to the side. She had in fact heard that a few times… from a few different colleagues. She just got a little too… engaged with her reading and writing. She’d have another journal article to present from what she’d read, sadly not about her primary focus, but it should garner her some attention and a bit more government funding.

The Crusher tribe was a somewhat interesting topic and Pewter Museum was interested in learning more, so there should be some money to spread around.

Eve coughed. “I’m going to put in another journal article this afternoon… after I proofread it. Can I pay next week?”

“Sure thing! For now, have some pocket money, and go to the grocers.” said the man far too casually as he scrubbed at a stain that had once been some spilled takeout. Then he paused and glanced at her with narrowed eyes. “Actually, on second thoughts, go to the baths first,” he said.

Eve sniffed— but not too deeply— in indignation. “Fine! I will!” she said, marching off with her “allowance”. She paused in front of a small garden of Bellossom that the Landlord liked to water.

“I don’t smell that bad. do I?” she asked the little grass types.

They took one look at her and half fell over in shock, wilting in on themselves. while the other half blasted her with Sweet Scent.

Eve reeled back. “Argh! My eyes! My beautiful eyes! How am I supposed to find a handsome husband with lots of money that will support me without my eyes!” she wailed, rolling back and forth on the ground before sitting up and blinking slowly. “Oh, it only tingles a little,” she said.

The Bellosom waved her away from their garden and Eve shot the little grass types a dirty look. See if she ever shared any of her sweets with them in the future!

She marched towards the baths, on her way she at first attracted pokemon to her and then repulsed them. She grumbled the entire way and didn’t stop until she was relaxing in the baths.

What she needed was a sponsor. Someone willing to give her a real shot in the arm. Someone like Brock… sadly he was already sponsoring Crowley, and if there was one way to cause a scientific turf war it was to try and edge in on another researcher’s sponsor.

She needed to find someone rich, and willing to spend big.

Sadly, idiots with more money than sense weren’t going to fall out of the sky.

“—blasting off again!” shouted a trio of voices, and Eve blinked as she saw something blur past her.

Eve frowned. Was she seeing and hearing things? Auditory hallucinations should only come in after three days without sleep. As she was only two days in, she should be fine.

She continued walking and found a gaggle of kids arguing with each other.

“—and I’m saying we didn’t need your help Gary!” chimed one of them with a Pikachu on his shoulder.

“Sure sure,” said a snotty-nosed-looking kid, his head tilted up as if he was about to sneeze or something.

Eve avoided them. Nothing good came from dealing with brats.

She returned home to find her Landlord wiping his brow while piles of garbage were piled up next to the front door.

“Thanks Mr Landlord sir!” she chirped as she began to skip past him, only for his meaty paw of a hand to shoot out and catch her.

“Young lady, I think it’s time we had a long overdue chat about financial responsibility,” he said with a stern expression. Then he blinked. “Did you forget my name again?” he said with a disappointed look

Eve stiffened. Damn, she had forgotten to charm the man! … and maybe also remember his name.

She’d need to make a note about it somewhere.

For now she smiled as innocently as possible and prepared herself to endure for the sake of research.

[/hr]

Rachel Raul happily skated around the Gym on her newest purchase. Roller blades might not be the coolest item these days, but they were retro, so that meant they’d eventually make a resurgence. UNtil then, they were fun, and she didn’t need any reason more than that to wear them.

She glided past an arguing A.J. and Crystal before shooting Dennis and Rocko a cheeky salute as she skated around them in a circle. “Hey guys! What’s shaking?” she said.

Rocko gave a lazy wave. “Hey Rachel, nothing much. Most of the gym is settling down these days with the number of challengers dying down.”

“Where’s bossman Brock?” Rachel asked as she continued to circle, enjoying the way Dennis was adjusting to track her, but in doing so making himself dizzy.

“He’s out back working with his Elite team, I think he’s getting them ready for the Elite challenges that will be coming soon.”

Rachel nodded her head, only somewhat understanding. “So he’s not really relaxing? Man, bossman likes to find work for himself, doesn’t he?” she said.

Rocko shrugged while Dennis stiffened. “Brock isn’t the sort to rest on his laurels!” said the man loyally.

Rocko and Rachel shared a smile before Rachel nodded consolingly. As she skated around Dennis she patted the man on the back. “Of course, of course! He just created a rather heavy workload from the get-go, plus all the other duties he has. He gets to relax a bit during the off-season, right?”

Rachel tapped her lips theatrically. “He only has, what? Gym duties, off-season training, debriefs with gym trainers, facility repairs and maintenance, oh, and the kiddies club for baseball?” she said.

What she didn’t mention was the other business that Brock was obviously involved in. He must be running something for the government, most likely with the ‘Coloured Hero’ group. While they hadn’t been as active recently, that didn’t discount other tasks. Brock too often took secretive calls and it wasn’t just that he had a girlfriend that he was hiding.

Sabrina, if anything, was more than happy to talk about Brock and her relationship, and Brock wasn’t shy about smooching her in public.

Stolen story; please report.

Dennis scoffed. “Most of those duties aren’t as bad as you make them sound!”

Rachel crossed her arms and came to a stop in front of Dennis, who kept turning for a second only to turn back and waver as his inner ear caught up with him. “Urgh,” he said as he wobbled a bit.

Rocko shot Rachel an amused look before playfully chopping at the air.

“I suppose he doesn’t need to worry about the kids as much these days,” Rachel suggested. This earned her a pair of nods.

“Yeah, Flint is… doing well, and seems like he’s going to stick around,” Rocko said.

Dennis sniffed. “He better,” he said, only to shut his eyes and reach out to the side to support himself. Rachel frowned. She hadn’t meant to make him that sick.

“You… uhmmm, alright there, Dennis?” she said carefully.

“Got little kids at home, which means you don’t always get great nights' sleep,” replied Dennis. He shot Rocko a sheepish look. “I might have to actually support you on the nap room idea you raised.”

Rocko grinned. “Do it man! Do it! If there’s one thing this gym needs, it’s a siesta time booked in!” he said passionately.

Rachel giggled and decided to keep moving. She passed by the various gym trainers and even poked in to say hello to Bethany and Aubrey the receptionists, before having a drink in the break room with Alexa.

From there she skated through the gym, belting out a song.

“Rock you! Yeah!” she sang, hopping up and skidding to a stop in front of her bossman Brock who was wandering in with a scowl and a red letter in hand.

“Heya boss! How’re you doing today?” she said in a chipper tone.

“Hnnn,” responded Brock, his gaze locked on the red letter in his hands.

Rachel skidded to a halt next to him, making good use of the height the rollerblades gave her to lean in and see what the issue was. She made sure to be super obvious about it so that if Brock really wanted to, he would stop her.

Lines of text jumped out at her.

Tough! Tough is not a style of Contests and it shall never be! Contests are about style, grace and cuteness! Not the farcical display that you put on that was all brute force which contained the style of a caveman scratching at a wall for the first time!

It appears that the organisers abandoned all semblance of taste and sophistication, opting instead for a crass celebration of the popular! The gaudy! The plebian!

She held in a giggle, only to blink in surprise when Brock released a loud, exhausted-sounding sigh. “Man, this is a real bummer,” he said, shaking his head.

Rachel tilted her head. “I mean… yes? If you want to take it that way?” she answered slowly.

Brock glanced up, frown set in place. “Take it that way? Rachel? There’s no other way to take it! This is one of the best in the business of Contests saying we were terrible at it!” he said.

Rachel held in a chuckle. It wouldn’t go down well, even if she really, really wanted to. “Alright, he’s the big boss of the Hoenn scene.” Rachel held Brock’s gaze, feeling suddenly like a tiny pebble that had been rolling around at the foot of a mountain, ignorant of how small it was.

Rachel shook the feeling off, so what if she was small, she still had her shine to give! “So what?” she said quickly. “So what if he’s the Hoenn big boss? So what if he’s denouncing us? You know what? I’m glad he is! It just proves how out of touch he is! Our Contest? It was popular! People loved it! We have reports from Battlecast that they got a viewer count three times what they were expecting at the start and it only grew as word spread how fun our event was!”

Rachel cast her hand out wide. “Hoenn can take their stodgy, boring outdated contests! We’re bringing something fun! Something modern! Something people can be excited for!”

“A denouncement from the Hoenn big bad? Great! I love it! It’s not a bad thing unless you let it be!”

Brock shifted, eyes glancing down at the red letter. Rachel sucked in a breath as the weighty feeling of pressure vanished. Damn, but she pitied some of the trainers Brock must get serious on if that was the sort of pressure they found themselves facing just from locking eyes with him!

“Not a bad thing… unless I let it?” he repeated thoughtfully.

Rachel nodded her head. “Yeah! Think about it this way, even! You didn’t go to him for advice, so why listen? People are always giving out harsh criticisms, but they weren’t here. They don’t understand what we’ve done!”

Rachel put a hand on her chest. “I can’t say that we delivered a perfect event, but it was good, great even! People will be locking in the next Pewter Contest on their calendars, I can guarantee it!”

Brock nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, you’re right, I guess I just got caught up having such a big name of the scene denouncing us like this,” he said, indicating the letter.

Rachel giggled. “I can't believe he sent a letter! That’s so old school!”

Brock shifted. “It arrived on a Dodrio rider with a golden outfit,” he said.

Rachel struggled to maintain her balance as she threw her head back and howled with laughter. “O M A! That is so, so corny! Hahaha,” she wiped at her eyes and gathered her breath. “Any chance I can take that Brock? I might get it put into a nice frame behind my desk.”

Brock snorted and handed over the letter. “Heh, alright, if that’s what you want to do. Do we need to respond to this?”

Rachel paused, ah that was right, they could do more than just laugh it off, couldn’t they?

An idea formed, and a grin stretched across her face. “Oh, I have a wonderful idea!” she said as she turned and began to rollerblade to her office.

“Tell me if you need me!” called Brock after her, and she waved over her shoulder.

When she reached her office she slapped her card against the lock and accepted the entry on her transceiver. Sadly the security measures made it tough for a girl to ‘dramatically enter her space’, but she managed by kicking off her rollerblades into a handy bin and skipping onto her office chair. She slapped the letter into her scanner and set it to work before turning her attention to the computer in front of her.

She stretched out her neck and rolled her shoulders. Then she laced her fingers and cracked them, enjoying the way they popped and settled into place. Then she flexed and clenched her hands, preparing them for what was to come.

With her three screens loaded up she entered multiple chat forums and created a thread on all of them tilted ‘Keyboard warriors ho! Pewter news!’

The sound of a keyboard beginning to fire sounded through her office as she felt her anticipation grow. So, old man Darren Sukizo wanted to start a flame war?

He was about to find out that he was way too slow, and not even in the same ballpark as her!

A ping announced the first responder, quickly followed by another. Rachel grinned as she reloaded the forum and found that six new posts had appeared.

Welcome to the Pewter Fan club online!

You are currently logged in, Rainbowpebbleperson

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♦ Topic: ‘Keyboard warriors ho! Pewter news!’

Rainbowpebbleperson posted:- Hey yo! I’m going to need some people to check out what just came in the mail cause I am just totally speechless rn! Look at this old man hating on something wonderful!

[LINK]

Like how out of touch do you have to be to look at the Pewter Contest and not love it?

I’m just shaking! Such a shock! I think I need to either touch some rocks or Rage, you know?

(showing page 1 of 1)

Atalkingcat replied:- Huh, who is this guy and why should I… oh I just reached the end.

TLDR- guy is old Hoenn President for Contests and he is getting his tail out of joint with how Pewter Contest went down. He pretty much calls everyone basic.

Nastiestperson1 replied:- eh, who cares about what a gasbag like that says! Good is good! But I see that Rainbowpebbleperson is calling for keyboard warriors, eh?

Cypherquack replied:- Quack!

Dogsbody the 2nd replied:- Oh I see what you’re asking for! And I see you’re cross-posting! Oh damn! It’s time for a good old flamewar! Cue the fireworks!

Waterloverthree replied:- Urgh Dogsbody, it can’t be called an old anything! Don’t make the pokenet sound all old and fuddy! Let’s flame though!

Rachel grinned as more and more pings sounded through the room. Excellent. Her keyboard warriors were assembling. It was time to wield the rage of pokenet people against an old grumpy man.

This was an avenue of attack Brock would have never considered. Sometimes he was just such an old man with his methods. He probably had no idea how useful the pokenet could be!

Which was hilarious considering how much of a meme he was these days.

The ‘I feel your pain and I don’t want to’ meme was her current favourite, but the ‘nice flock of flying types you got there’ sure came in a close second.

Rachel happily blasted away on her keyboard, content and very smug in the knowledge that unlike a lot of other people, she was getting paid to do this.

[/hr]

Sabrina repressed the urge to yawn mightily.

The girl in her arms didn’t have such strong willpower, and her yawn echoed through the house as the other girls trampled around, getting their gear in order and packed away for their trip.

Suzie snuggled into Sabrina’s shoulder and Sabrina felt, not for the first time, that if anything happened to Suzie, she would make the reckoning Legendary in proportions.

“I’m all packed,” said Cindy as she presented herself, fully dressed, with her riding helmet under her arm. A few moments later Yolanda also emerged with her own gear.

“Ready,” said the eldest of Brock’s sisters. At her feet, Terra and Spot stretched and yawned.

Cindy rubbed at her eyes. “I can’t believe people get up this early willingly!” she whined. She looked up at Sabrina. “How do you do it, big sis?” she said.

Sabrina smiled enigmatically. “I have exceptional willpower,” she said proudly. When neither Yolanda or Cindy projected any doubt of her prowess she shot them a secretive smile. “I also know the best early morning coffee shop in Saffron. We have a deal,” she said with a wink. “It’s what helps me function this early,” she said, opening her hand and teleporting her travel mug into her hand.

Cindy stared while Yolanda giggled at the show of power being used so casually. Sabrina took a sip. “It’s one of the best ways to wake up.”

Behind them, a door opened and closed before Brock jogged past. “Morning girls, Sabrina, thanks for looking after them, enjoy your club!” he said, jogging past, only pausing to ruffle their hair and kiss Sabrina.

Sabrina smirked when he departed, smacking his lips due to the strong coffee flavour.

Cindy tilted her head. “Brock drinks tea…”

Yolanda coughed. “It has a little bit of caffeine in it… but nothing like coffee.”

Cindy took a moment to blink slowly at this. “Urgh! Big bro is a—” she paused to shudder, ”morning person?”

Sabrina’s lips quirked up even as she adjusted her telekinetic hold on Suzie to keep her in a comfortable and supported position.

“Your brother is not a natural morning person, but he has forced himself to become one.” Sabrina stared after her boyfriend, noting where the feeling of blank space moved, blotting out her perception slightly around himself. “He has cheated by using a number of mental tricks to make sure he ends with either an endorphin high, or a mental positive.”

Yolanda tilted her head. As the sister with the most exposure to Brock’s routine it took her a commendable short amount of time to come up with the answer. “His work outs and his little sunrise watching sessions on the plateau?” she asked.

Sabrina nodded, releasing her Hypno to assist with the Teleport. “Both help him think positively about the day.” They also helped push back darker moods. It was also highly effective and well documented as providing benefits for depression, anxiety and anger issues in a healthy manner.

The quartet of girls vanished in a flash of light that had Suzie grumbling, but it did make her open her eyes. “Are we there yet?” she mumbled.

“Yes, we’re in the pony club foyer,” whispered Sabrina.

Suzie nodded and gave Sabrina another hug before releasing her hold and letting herself be lowered. She then smacked her cheeks a few times and put her hands on her hips. Sabrina quirked an eyebrow. This was new behaviour.

“It’s going to be a great day!” announced Suzie as she collected her own, much smaller pack, only to march into the pony club stables.

Cindy groaned. “Urgh! She’s trying to be a morning person! Can’t she just join us in sisterhood as morning haters?”

Sabrina put her hand on Cindy’s shoulder and held in a giggle at the younger girl’s antics. “Let her do things her own way,” she said, parroting one of the things she’d picked up from some idle reading of the books on parenting in Brock’s room.

Cindy huffed and Yolanda clapped her on the other shoulder. “Come on, she’s going to be in a pile of Ponyta if we don’t supervise her,” advised Yolanda.

Both girls scampered into the club. Terra rumbled after them, but Spot only went as far as the door before curling up, a single eye open while a single ear remained perked up in readiness for an order. Sabrina stroked its fur telekinetically as she passed.

Within the club several girls and a few boys were already milling about, seeing to the needs of the various Ponyta and occasional Rapidash for the older children or teenagers. In Sabrina’s case, she walked past the initial stables to where the girls were. On the way she passed by a number of psychic pokemon that were ambling about, using their psychic abilities to assist the various children or performing their own duties.

For the purpose of Alakazam’s study, none of them knew that they were in fact part of an experiment. A double-blind for the purposes of assisting the accuracy of the end study. Alakazm, along with a select breeder, had been working to increase psychic energy saturation within the stables. The only safe option they’d come upon beyond the low levels offered by the stables being part of the gym was to make psychic pokemon part of the staff.

The trick had been finding psychic pokemon with the right temperament. More than a few Hypno and Drowzee enjoyed spending time with children, but there was sadly a horrible stigma associated with them due to the actions of a few unscrupulous sorts.

Chimecho were actually the most prolific in the stables, as the little pokemon helped to keep everyone relaxed and the pokemon at ease with the children’s often enthusiastic ministrations.

To further the children’s level of understanding and kindness, Sabrina had also distributed a number of Slowpokes around the stables that the children had to work around or assist out of hazards. It worked rather well in Sabrina’s opinion.

More than a few children grew frustrated at first, but they slowly learned to be more patient.

They, along with the few Starmie that lived in the troughs, also served as handy fire extinguishers should the need arise.

“Oh Beauty, your mane is so warm!” gushed Suzie as she brushed out her pokemon.

“Are you going for a ride today?” prompted Sabrina.

Suzie nodded, turned and gave Sabrina wide, tear-filled eyes. “Can you help me saddle her up?”

Without a word, the saddle on the wall with Beauty’s name on it rose up and deposited itself on the little Ponyta’s back before clinching and tightening itself. The bridle quickly followed.

“Thank you!” chimed Suzie as she led her Ponyta to a mounting block where she stepped up and into the saddle. “All ready!” she said, holding the bridle like she’d been shown.

Sabrina made a show of inspecting her hold before nodding. “Alright, trot her out to your sister’s stables and you can all go for a ride around the arena.”

Suzie turned her pokemon to do that, only to sigh when she spotted a Slowpoke that had made its way in front of the door. Sabrina pretended not to see it and Suzie grumbled for a little bit before hopping down and moving to gently guide the Slowpoke to a tasty stack of hay that Suzie had set up. Beauty tossed her head at this and Suzie then had to placate her ride.

“It’s alright! I can get you some tastier hay, with oran berries in them when we’re done!” she said as she mounted back up, her little legs kicking at the air as she wormed her way up.

Sabrina walked with Suzie to her sisters before making her own way towards her own Rapidash, Prancer, who was a beautiful shiny type, as Brock liked to call them. Sabrina rather hoped the psychic type Ponyta would be just as pretty, but only time would tell.

They were already on their first batch of eggs that would hatch. She’d need to recruit some more assistants with little girls to look after them all.

She didn’t even need to look around to know that it wouldn’t be hard to get more girls to come look after the baby Ponyta.

When she got to Prancer’s stable, the proud pokemon tossed his head and sent a wave of amusement her way. Prancer was a smart horse, and that made it all the easier to bond with him. Sadly he wasn’t very good at fighting. But he was extremely fast and very pretty, so she could forgive him.

When she needed to make an entrance at some of the galas Erika liked to invite her to, Prancer was perfect.

Although she might just make as much of a wave if she arrived on Farigaraf’s back… or even Wyrdeer. Sadly she hadn’t yet found a suitable foe to reveal her latest Elite pokemon to the world. Samuel Oak knew and was happy to document the pokemon but otherwise, it wasn’t even on her Indigo profile that she had him.

She just needed the right opponent.

She put aside such thoughts as she joined the girls trotting around the sandy arena, causing all the people riding pokemon to perk up. She could feel their concentrations slip as more than a few shot her furtive glances, even as they redoubled their effort in keeping proper riding positions.

The instructors were always amusing to observe, as waves of chagrin and bemusement radiated out whenever she rode out. One of them observed Sabrina’s own position in the saddle only to give up when they found nothing wrong. As they should, with Sabrina holding herself perfectly with her own telekinesis.

As she passed the other riders she made sure to nod, say hello or offer some simple advice where she could.

She found her new habit of a morning horse ride rather suited her, even if the hour that she had to wake up for it was rather horrible. The smiles and emotions of joy that came from the various children were a very nice way to start the day.

It was especially nice to lead the girls to her own family house to share breakfast with her family. The girls happily regaled Sabrina’s mother with tales of the morning ride, with Yolanda prying psychic training tricks out of her father.

When it was time to return the girls to Pewter she made sure to lock eyes with Flint to remind him of the pecking order. If a shovel levitated out of the garden and floated in the window like a deranged serial killer, that was just the wind.

When Flint actually looked the shovel vanished.

With Flint suitably reminded, Sabrina Teleported to where Brock was to spend a few minutes with her boyfriend. She made sure to bring with her some of the bagels that had been prepared.

Munchlax would be confused for a few minutes but then shrug it off as having either already eaten them or rightly assuming someone in the family stole it.

He’d forgive her when she apologised later.

Family was good like that.