Hard Enough

Chapter 220: Mewtwo Meet ups!

We need to talk.

Words that have heralded great changes or drastic issues, usually with relationships.

Flags went up in my mind faster than the time I’d discovered what amounted to red shirts in the battlegroup I’d assisted against Team Rocket.

My mind raced. Had I done something wrong? Had I not done something? What was today? Shit! Was today or yesterday an anniversary of some sort?

My mind brought up the relevant days. We’d met in the later half of the circuit due to my desire to have Titan strong enough to face her.

it wasn’t when we’d met. We hadn’t officially started dating until… Well I didn’t count it until earlier this year.

I… wasn’t so naive that I couldn’t recognise that the dates I attributed us as starting dating, and the days that Sabrina assigned might be wildly different.

Possibly it might be an issue with us not having time to go on dates, but that was not a one-way street of blame. We were both busy people and we hung out when we could with her coming over quite often to snuggle.

…

“You’ve done something you need to inform me of,” I said slowly, having come to one of the only rational conclusions.

Sabrina didn’t become agitated or pretend to be annoyed like some other girls might have. Instead, she merely nodded.

“Yes,” she said, her eyes flickering over me. “You are agitated, but you were so before I stated that I need to talk about something that has happened. What is wrong?”

I exhaled. “You…” I pinched the bridge of my nose. For all that Sabrina was better, there were sometimes glaring gaps in her social knowledge. “The girls or Erika haven’t mentioned how ominous saying something like ‘we need to talk’ can be?” I stated.

Sabrina frowned. “I have not encountered that no. Is this something Erika wouldn’t know about though? She hasn’t dated anyone before so I try not to mention our relationship too much around her. She gets flashes of irritation and self-loathing when I…” Sabrina blushed a little.

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you do?”

Sabrina coughed delicately. “I might have given you compliments and mentioned how enjoyable some moments are with you,” she said.

“Wow,” I said. “I am really feeling damned with faint praise.” I leaned in cheekily. “Is that really all you say to Erika to get her so envious?” I asked.

“It is mostly that you are very considerate and a highly skilled lover!” she said quickly.

Sabrina coughed, her face was bright red which was adorable for the usually so controlled woman. “This is not what I wanted to talk to you about!” She said pushing the conversation in a new trajectory.

I leaned in, feeling a lot more certain of my relationship and calmer. I pecked Sabrina on the forehead with my lips. “Alright, lay it on me, what happened?” I said.

Sabrina inhaled and straightened up. “Mewtwo made contact with me.”

I took a moment to consider that.

That… was not… “Huh,” I said intelligently.

Sabrina nodded. “I know. I wasn’t expecting it so early!” she said, a small smile on her lips. “He is growing with how he is reaching out!” she said.

“I’m amazed he did so at all,” I said with a frown. Sabrina frowned at me so I continued. “I mean most of his interactions with humanity has been… rather lacklustre,” I said.

Sabrina nodded, agreeing with the point. “Yes, but not all of them have been negative. He has some of my impressions and while they were shared in a stressful time, it was still an attempt. Something that I have continued to try to extend his way.”

I nodded slowly at this. “Right, okay. So what happened?” I asked.

Sabrina chewed her lip. “Well, I suppose I should start from the beginning,” she said. She reached out and I realised that she was not just going to tell me what happened. Sabrina planned to show me.

“Lay down Brock, this might make you a little dizzy,” she said as she placed a hand on my temple delicately.

I lay back and drew in my dark energy as much as I could.

And then I felt a memory come to mind, and just like that, it felt like I was living a memory of Sabrina’s from only this afternoon…

Sabrina raised a Marsh badge to her challenger. The boy grinned with confidence and Sabrina allowed herself a smile.

The boy had all the hallmarks of a skilled trainer. She’d read the notes from earlier in the season where he had struggled against Brock, but it seemed that changing his style had unlocked a lot of potential in the boy.

More than she suspected the boy even knew. His ability to handle two pokemon at once was almost prescient which was one of the signs of a young psychic manifesting their abilities.

Sabrina hadn’t felt anything overt, but with some more testing, she suspected that she would be proven correct.

“Congratulations on earning yourself the Marsh badge Harrold! You have demonstrated the skill and ability required. For that I confer onto you the symbol of my gym,” she said, making sure to announce it verbally and not just with her mind.

“I believe this is your sixth badge now and thus you are only two more away from earning your right to attend the Circuit at the end of the year.”

If today’s showing was any indication this Harold would breeze through the rest of the gyms. “Where do you plan to go from here?” she asked.

Harold grinned at her. “Thanks! I think I might look into challenging Manny before challenging Koga,” he said. “I think both will be tricky with their styles and I want to spend some time to really learn what they have, because they both offer similar but different ways of tripping up or altering battles to suit them and their teams,” Harrold said.

Sabrina nodded. Yes, since Brock had first faced this young man he had certainly grown in interesting ways. It was good that he was willing to slow down and learn the lessons offered by the Gyms these days.

“What did you learn here from me?” she asked, enjoying the honest glee in his eyes as he began to speak about having adaptable plans while being away from the chain of events that can lead to certain situations in battle.

Sabrina nodded. That was one of the more nuanced points of fighting that she tried to convey. As a powerful psychic, she could read into the future and see what was going to happen. Or rather what potentially could happen to a very high degree.

It therefore became important that you knew about what was most likely. That required a bit more study and experience. Something that her younger self hadn’t understood, resulting in a series of events that led to Brock entering her Gym.

Most of the time it came down to trainers reading ahead on her pokemon and knowing how their own would react or impact a match.

As Brock had once said to her.

You needed to know yourself and your enemy to achieve victory.

This was merely part of the lesson. Usually by the second or third pokemon people began to feel the pressure.

With the ability to glimpse the future she was able to highlight how important micromovements and control of your pokemon was in a fight. How speed became essential. How the smallest factors could pile up and lead to victory or defeat.

All without uttering a word to them.

Words were for the victors or for those with actual potential.

So often people swaggered into her Gym thinking themselves ready. There was a world of difference between her Gym and others.

Mostly it was how ruthless she was.

Her standards for earning her badge through any measure but victory was higher.

If people wanted to earn her badge they had to present a polished set of skills, not rely on mere strength or tricks.

The young man accepted his badge and charged away, his badge clutched in his hand while his mind sung of joy and gratitude to his pokemon. His mind was weary but his spirit was soaring. From what Sabrina could feel of the boy’s pokemon, she knew that they too shared in his feelings only their fatigue was greater having been beaten down with the battles.

She could see the boy’s plan to treat them all lavishly over the next few days.

As the boy departed his cloud of thoughts drifted far enough away from her that Sabrina would have to actually pay attention to glimpse at his thoughts.

The boy’s earnest emotions sadly weren’t the prominent emotion in the arena now though. Now with people witnessing her ‘defeat’ there were more and more people leaning forward in their seats. They might not realise it, but there were enough of them that their thoughts weighed down on her as they salivated like packs of Houndoom and Mightyena.

A picture of a form standing triumphant formed as people imagined themselves in Harold’s place.

A younger Sabrina wouldn’t have been able to handle the arena she’d created these days. She wouldn’t be able to handle the press of minds that suddenly fractured and melded in a chaotic sea of thoughts.

But she’d grown stronger and more resilient. Now she could endure large crowds for days at a time. Matches could be dragged out instead of being forceful displays where she overpowered her foes.

She could tease out potential where it existed and lead young trainers onto paths that might see them go far.

She blamed Brock for that.

Previously she wouldn’t have cared. She would have been a cold and unbreakable wall for them to scrabble against with only the most canny, or strongest getting through.

Now she saw how they attempted to overcome her, and sometimes she nudged them towards weak points.

But only slightly.

Other times she crushed them and made them realise how good they’d had it with other Gyms.

The Cerulean Gym, as the easiest gym to earn a badge at, couldn’t give these harsh lessons. Erika didn’t have the disposition to crush her foes. Koga’s fights always involved some form of misdirection, traps or trickery, much like Manny. Sophia had a brashness to her that had potential but she was rough in her delivery.

Now that Surge, Blaine, and Giovani were gone, Sabrina was alone in delivering wake up calls to young trainers.

Brock was only harsh when he wanted to be or he was in a foul mood. He formed barriers but they weren’t that hard to get over.

Not by her estimations anyway.

Sabrina flicked her hair and spoke so that her voice filled the arena. “We will now break for lunch,” she said simply. She gave the trainer acting as referee a simple nod before vanishing in a teleport that saw her standing in home.

Her mother flinched at the sudden arrival but didn’t spill her tea. Her father merely nodded and indicated that the television was already on. Sabrina claimed her seat as her eyes took in the battle on display.

On it, Bertha unleashed a powerful Ice Beam that ended any resistance that her foe might have presented.

A tomato berry levitated into Sabrina’s mouth and she crunched it down absently.

Mother coughed. “Dear, please don’t use your telekinesis to eat like that. A meal with friends and family is meant to be enjoyed using the right utensils,” she said, indicating the fork and knife to the side of her plate. She then shot her husband a scowl. “I thought we agreed on no television at the table.”

Father waved a hand in Sabrina’s direction and she levitated the fork and knife to start cutting her food for her.

Mother sighed explosively. “Why do I even try, sometimes I truly wonder,” she murmured.

Sabrina flicked her eyes in her mother’s direction but the older woman’s mental control was too firm to let any stray thoughts out. Still, by judging the small twitches of her lips that she was hiding from her father’s point of view. Mother was actually amused by Sabrina’s method as Sabrina had thought she might.

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Father was more openly approving but Mother… she could be more subtle. She often came across as fearful but that had been fading as she spent more time with Sabrina.

While this did cut into her time with Brock it wasn’t all bad to have family time.

“Ralts!” chimed the little pokemon who was sitting in a raised infant’s chair.

Mother turned her attention to the little pokemon and raised a spoon full of cut-up berries. “Yes! You should try and have good table manners and be a proper lady!” said Mother.

Sabrina shared an amused look with her youngest pokemon. When Ralts wanted to, she could easily copy Sabrina’s slight expression of telekinesis. She just wanted to keep receiving brush-downs and milking her mother’s free affection.

Not for the first time, Sabrina considered her little pokemon. Ralts… had been good for her, and her family. In many ways it was like having a little sister in the house. Something she’d noticed her parents agreed with. If the sudden increased vigilance of mental control her parents had whenever they entered the bedroom was any indicator.

Another sister, or rather, sibling, might be on the cards despite her parents’ advanced age.

“Oh! Here it comes, the big one!” cried the commentator as Berha wound up for a true Impact Driver.

Sabrina didn’t need to keep watching, or even expend any psychic skill in knowing that this match was over.

Bertha’s fist slammed home and just like that, the match was done.

She nodded firmly, pleased that Brock was victorious.

“Ralts!” chimed her little pokemon as Bertha’s grinning face was displayed.

The giant pokemon began to shimmy and dance around much to the commentator’s amusement.

Ralts copied from her seated position.

“Ralts! Ralts! Raaaaaalts!” Small items like her feeding bottle and her tiny cutlery set, levitated back and forth in time with Ralt’s chanting.

Mother and father both laughed only for them to stare when Sabrina joined in by raising her hands up, palms facing out. Her own cutlery floated in time with her as she went back and forth with her own smile. She didn’t say anything beyond humming to the rhythm Ralts was setting.

Ralts began bouncing at this.

Mother and father shared a look that quickly morphed into a smile before they telekinetically raised their own forks to join in.

Sabrina secretly levitated a camera off to the side and took a photo of the moment. Some moments needed more than just memories. Sabrina then teleported the photo that was printed from the camera into her warehouse where one of her Mr Mime would happily store the image away.

Her parents shot her an amused look and she allowed them to feel how content she was, showing them trust that never failed to make them beam at her.

As a family of psychics there was no better way to show—

A sudden intrusion of another psychic presence had Sabrina stiffening. Her Alakazam appeared a moment later in a battle-ready position with two other pokeballs in his grasp. Sabrina toggled the release function and Xatu and Claydol appeared, their own psychic presence melding as she prepared to defend herself and her family.

“I thought I was welcome to approach you?” intoned a familiar voice psychically.

Sabrina’s parents glanced about revealing that the message had been sent directly to her alone. Sabrina relaxed physically giving them an illusion that things were fine.

They shot her furtive looks apparently not believing her and she couldn’t fault their instincts. From his mere psychic presence, it was apparent that Mewtwo was powerful.

And to a psychic, there was nothing worse than being taken by surprise, even if it was by another psychic.

“You are correct,” she said, trying to broadcast a sense of openness and welcome.

Mewtwo sent back a feeling of scrutiny and Sabrina felt his power sweep over her and her fellows.

Instinctively Sabrina protected Ralts from being smothered first before extending more of her protection to her mother who stiffened at the feeling of Mewtwo’s attention shifting onto her.

Sabrina’s pokemon bristled and Mewtwo withdrew his probe.

Sabrina stood. “Thank you for lunch mother,” she said, giving the woman a nod and a pleasant smile. “I must go now.”

The older woman gave her a blink in reply. “A-ah, be safe Sabrina,” she replied.

Sabrina merely nodded. She then gave her father a look and the man swallowed, knowing without being told that he couldn’t follow where Sabrina had to go.

Sabrina returned her pokemon. She made sure to keep the pokeballs on her belt, while detaching the pokemon that were too weak for what might come.

She gave her family one quick look before nodding and teleporting to a meadow between Saffron and Celadon. Mewtwo was already there waiting for her.

She paused. Had he been this far away the entire time? Had he preempted her? Had he been faster at teleporting than her?

She suddenly felt like the way others reacted to her made a lot more sense.

She decided to be more attentive in the future, she rather disliked having the shoe on the other foot. She inhaled deeply and let it go though. Anxiety and stress wasn’t what she needed. She needed a clear mind and open heart.

Mewtwo stared at her. His lilac eyes searching her.

Sabrina for her part looked back. She’d gotten a good look at him back on New Island thanks to the building being rather well lit, but that didn’t change how different it was to see him out in the light of day.

This. This was the real Mewtwo. Not the armoured puppet that Giovanni tried to control. Nor the furious pokemon lashing out.

She could feel his curiosity despite his greater power. Or perhaps she implied it off his act of actually reaching out to her.

“This is a surprise,” she said to start things off. “I wasn’t sure how likely it would be for you to reach out to me.”

Mewtwo’s nostrils flared a few times and his tail lashed about. “I was… intrigued by your offer. You… are not like the others…” he said.

Sabrina considered this. “Because I am psychic? Or that I am special in some way?” she said, her eyes looking to the horizon.

Mewtwo’s tail slowed and Sabrina felt more than she saw his frown. “I do not know, I… wanted to know why that might be so.”

“I think it is not a case that I am special, but that I have the most… connection or chance to connect with you.” Sabrina indicated the field and all the various flowers that were within it.

They were alike but Sabrina knew if she compared them they would be different in a myriad of small ways. Other flowers would be even more different, and yet they could be bundled together and linked.

Sabrina flashed this metaphor to Mewtwo to let him know where her thoughts led her, as she did she made sure to gift him all the memories she had of flowers. Which, thanks to Erika now contained a good deal more than it had last year.

Some of the memories of enjoying her time with Erika might have seeped in with the flowers, but that was alright.

“You think others might have similar reactions if I give them a chance?” he said.

Sabrina had to applaud his ability to reason and make logical leaps. Mewtwo had taken what she’d said and combined it with what she hadn’t to come to the point.

She nodded. “Yes, there might be some bad people but we can’t let the bad rule us. There is so much more good out there. If you want, you should try reaching out to others,” she said, her mind flashing to other people that had good character. Brock, Erika, Janine, Sophia, her parents, her fellow pokemon.

Mewtwo snorted and a mental image of Brock glaring up was held in Sabrina’s mindseye.

“I doubt this one would welcome me,” he said.

Sabrina bobbed her head in a so-so manner. “Emotions can be tricky. Brock… is one of the people who has been impacted by your prior detainment numerous times and he knows it. Some of the pokemon like his second Tyranitar, Empress? She was directly impacted by the fight in the Silver Ranges you had with Moltres.”

Mewtwo flexed his digits. “That… had been a powerful pokemon.”

“It is considered one of the Legendary birds for a reason. You did well to hold your own hampered as you were.”

Mewtwo snorted. “I could have beaten it if I wasn’t… If that man hadn’t shackled me with orders to merely attempt to weaken it.”

“I see,” Sabrina projected while also mentally marking down that Mewtwo did have a slight amount of pride. “I imagine you could have, but I think it might have been a fight I wouldn’t have been able to stay close to witness,” she said neutrally through their mental link.

Overhead, a pidgey fluttered past, eying them, aware of their power but also feeling brave due to the lack of noise they were making. Sabrina’s lips twitched upwards at the little pokemon’s thoughts.

“Of course,” Mewtwo said.

Sabrina didn’t comment on how well Empress had done against him but Mewtwo seemed to know what she was thinking. “The Tyranitar I faced also did well,” he said with a begrudging tone of respect.

Sabrina repressed a shudder as she realised that he might be one of the only people who could possibly do so. Instead, she smiled. “Empress has recovered well from the Silver incident but she is also another that has… a negative history with who, or what you were before you broke away from Giovanni.”

“I will not be held accountable for—”

“You shouldn’t be,” Sabrina said firmly, projecting over the top of him and cutting the much more powerful psychic off. Sabrina locked gazes with him to make sure he felt the earnestness of her words.

“You aren’t or more importantly you weren’t you, while locked in that armour. You had several restraints and conditions that made you less than you are,” she said.

Mewtwo clenched his digits in agitation. “It was a different time. Your partner is flawed for letting his emotions rule him.”

“He’d be less without them though,” she said.

Mewtwo frowned. “...How so?”

“Emotions are one of the foundations of how we build bonds and healthy relationships with others or even ourselves. Brock and Empress are still in the hurting phase. They can move through it though. They can internalise that it wasn’t you, but something else that caused them harm in the past.”

Mewtwo considered her for a moment with an insatiable gaze. She merely smiled back before allowing her gaze to shift to a trio of brave Pidgeys that were braving the meadow in search of seed.

Slowly, other pokemon began to trickle back into the glade quietly.

They kept an eye on Sabrina and Mewtwo though. For their part, Sabrina and Mewtwo didn’t react at all.

For the next few minutes, neither said anything or shared any thoughts or feelings.

They simply stood in silence.

Sabrina rather enjoyed it after the day of dealing with challengers.

She half considered sending a message to inform the Gym she’d need to cancel the day. She didn’t do that though as any attempt to use her transceiver might result in Mewtwo becoming agitated. She didn’t doubt for a second he could pick up on a message being sent.

She didn’t need or want to rush things right now. She merely needed to let things progress. If that was at a slow pace, that was fine.

Slow was smooth, and smooth was fast, not in this case with fewer points of friction to an already delicate situation.

“How are you feeling?” Sabrina said after a few more minutes, deciding to prompt some conversation while also contemplating how things should be between even acquaintances.

“How… am I feeling?” Mewtwo asked carefully, sounding out each word with the embedded feelings of carefulness that one would find in a person probing at a potentially booby trapped floor rather than a conversation.

“Yes, how are you? It is a common method of checking in with another. Most of the time other humans will lie when they reply I have noticed.

They won’t wish to make things awkward or they won’t want to slow down with their day to actually break down what might be causing them any issues. It is a funny phrase but the intent is there to show compassion.” Sabrina extended a hand gently towards Mewtwo.

“So, I ask, how are you? You reached out, there must be something troubling you,” she said.

Mewtwo’s tail lashed once back and forth before he collected himself and the tail hung behind him in a s like bend. “I wanted…” he paused and reconsidered what he wanted to say.

“You gifted me many memories that tumble around in my mind. They are jumbled and haphazard with how they aren’t mine. I need to… process them and understand them if I am to have any peace within my own mind,” he said firmly.

Sabrina nodded. “Peace within one’s on mind can be important.” Sabrina smiled as she realised that she’d never shared how to meditate to Mewtwo.

“Would you like to work through a guided session to… process the memories you have?” she asked.

Mewtwo stared at her before jerking his head tightly, his eyes looking away.

Sabrina allowed herself a small smile as she adopted a cross-legged pose like her Alakazam.

“Take the first thought or memory that you want. It can be anything, an old one or new. If it juts out to you, all the better as it be like a jagged edge in your mind. It will cause other thoughts to snag and drag you back to that moment.”

“That is why you gave me so many… bright memories,” Mewtwo said, his gaze turned to the east where Viridian was.

“You needed something to counterbalance the darker memories. You wouldn’t have much chance of that happening with how Giovanni was treating you so I forced the issue.”

Sabrina coughed. “Do you have a thought or memory?” she asked. Mewtwo nodded.

Sabrina smiled and began working through the process of mentally unhooking thoughts by manipulating them in a myriad of little ways.

“It is important that you don’t just force some thoughts or memories,” Sabrina said casually. “You can’t force them or push them through. The best way to handle loud or heavy thoughts that linger is to work them over.”

“Why?”

“It changes the way we react to them,” Sabrina replied easily having led this class with some of her psychically gifted pokemon trainers a few times now.

Mewtwo gave her a scrutinising look. “By simply processing or handling them they are not being ignored to fester within our minds. They instead lose some of the baggage or edges on some memories.”

Mewtwo nodded slope. “It… feels like you are correct,” he said. He stood and nodded “I must consider this. Goodbye for now.”

“Will you come—” Sabrina started to say only for a quick flash of light to blind her and send the various pokemon that had returned to the meadow breaking for cover.

Sabrina blinked. Huh, so that’s how that felt, she thought to herself. She gave the patch of land that Mewtwo had been standing on a long considering look before teleporting back to her Gym.

There she found her Gym trainers frantically shifting back and forth while lots of loud voices and louder thoughts echoed. Sabrina sighed.

Just as the memory started to dim… I felt her clap her hands and take a moment to breathe.

I blinked as I returned to myself. I stared up into Sabrina’s eyes, somewhat glad they weren’t glowing as she stared into mine.

“So?” she said, swallowing.

I blinked as I realised she was looking for my approval, and support. I swallowed and smiled, the feelings of fear had long since vanished. “I think you handled that as well as you could, if not better than that. I think you hit it out of the park,” I said.

Sabrina exhaled in relief. “Good,” she then lay her head on my chest. “I was worried you might be mad.”

“No, not mad, scared. Which can lead to just as many dumb reactions, but right now I’m just relieved. You did great. I think you got through to him.” I smiled and ran my hand through her hair. “I still don’t think I’m ready to be objective with him but you were right. I am letting how Giovanni used him blind me to one point of view.”

I sighed. “It’s just not easy letting go of them,” I said.

Sabrina squeezed my hand. “Please try. I think you could be a good person to have Mewtwo talk with.” She squeezed again. “You helped me after all.”

I chuckled having recognised the method of ‘decoupling’ that she’d used with Mewtwo as a basic trick I’d learnt in my past life and shared. If anything, I think she’d explained and handled that much better than I ever could.

“We’ll see,” I said.

Sabrina sighed in a happy way. “I think I’m getting through to him and building a real connection.”

I chuckled. “Should I be worried about all these meetings you’re hoping to have with him?” I asked playfully.

Sabrina rolled her eyes and leaned down to kiss me to soothe my worries, not that I actually had any, cause that would be silly.

The kiss still helped me relax and let go of my worries though.

Sabrina gave me a sly smirk when she broke the kiss and for a moment I thought I might get more than a kiss, only for Sabrina’s transceiver to beep in a pattern I knew meant urgent.

Sabrina deflated and checked the message only to perk up. “Ralts is showing signs that she might evolve soon? Would you care to come?”

I perked up at that and nodded. That also sounded like a nice way to end the day.

We vanished in a flash of light towards something I’d been looking forward to for a while now.

I couldn’t wait to see how Ralts would act as a more mature Kirlia.

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