The last trainer for the day ended up being a doozy.

They’d selected the gauntlet run and on paper they looked like they knew what they were doing. They had a good sized team with pokemon of various sizes and types. They even had a grass type with an Oddish, and a water type with a Poliwag.

What they didn’t have was good luck. Yolanda had gone out first leaving me to hold her trembling egg. Perhaps that had resulted in her wanting to end the match quicker. She’d dropped all defence and left herself open with Rock Throw after Rock Throw only to land a number of what I had to assume were critical hits with how his pokemon folded at the blows.

By the end of the first match, Yolanda was startled to have taken down his Oddish and Poliwag through dumb luck more than anything. Rocko had then come out with a Rhyhorn and the kid had knuckled down to fight. He’d lost two more pokemon taking Rhyhorn down, but that was to be expected with a Spearow and a Beedrill as his next pokemon. That left him with a Growlithe already on the field when I made my way down to him.

I stared across at him and his tired pokemon. There were six pokemon here and they were young. The kid himself was starting to shake which wasn’t a good sign.

“Kid, I think you should call it,” I said, trying to reason with him. He shook his head and I sighed, hitting a button on the side of the podium that would send an alert to Chansey.

I sent out Geodude and decided to match what Yolanda had done earlier with leaving my pokemon open. I threw out some Mud Slaps to make it easier but the kid shook himself and clenched his fists before ordering Growlithe to push through.

Growlithe did not push through and instead collapsed when he advanced to Bite my Geodude.

I stared at the kid as he drunkenly grabbed another ball of his belt. “G-go! Butterfree!” he said and I winched. The kid was swaying and acting like he was punch drunk.

“Rock Throw,” I said, ending the match before it could get started. The podiums were already lowering but I hopped off mine as Butterfree collapsed with a cry of its name. Then the kid folded like wet paper.

I was quickly next to him and checking his pulse as I rolled him into the recovery position. Chansey exploded out of the medical wing and firmly relocated me before she began tending to the trainer. I stood up and raised a hand to the crowd that were anxiously watching on.

“Got a pulse and he’s breathing fine everyone,” I said firmly.

The kid gasped as Chansey laid a glowing hand on his chest. “Huh? What happened?”

I put a hand on his shoulder as he tried to stand up. “Hey, easy there. You whited out from using your entire team and them being knocked out. Your body couldn’t handle the strain. Just lay back, you’re safe. Do you remember your name and where you are?”

“Bob?... and I’m at the Pewter Gym?” he said carefully. I nodded, pleased that he didn’t appear to have an altered state of consciousness.

Within a minute he was able to sit up and the crowd applauded his recovery before slowly breaking up.

“I didn’t even think about that…” he said as tears ran down his face.

“Hey, you got really unlucky with that first match. I was watching, Yolanda got lucky with some solid hits that took out the pokemon that by all rights would have let you breeze through your first badge. After that your team composition didn’t have the moves or the advantages. I think you need to train yourself up. You had a good plan but hit a hurdle.”

“Y-yeah,” he said sadly. I patted him on the back and stayed with him. When I was confident he could make it back to the pokemon centre on his own— after Chansey had healed two of his pokemon— I let him leave. He nodded quietly in thanks, obviously still shaken up over how it had played out.

Greta was of course waiting for me when I was done, chewing her lip and practically vibrating with unasked questions. “That was whiting out wasn’t it?”

I nodded. “Yeah, that was it.”

“I’ve seen trainers lose with their entire teams before and not faint like that… what’s the difference?”

“Whiting out is caused by pulling too much on your body’s energy reserves. You know how each pokeball syncs up to the trainer that buys it? Well, the pokemon can work off that as well. Sometimes it helps make them easier to handle or even help them require less food.”

I raised a hand to forestall any more questions. “However, the more pokemon you have the greater the strain that can build up on your energy reserves. Trainers with a full six-team roster are putting themselves under the most strain due to having their energy spread so thin. Most times new trainers won’t feature a full six pokemon team, this can be due to a host of reasons.”

“Such as?” Greta said, dutifully writing down what I was saying.

“Hmmm, three off the top of my head? Not having stables set up, they only want certain pokemon on their team, or even that they’re holding out for a specific pokemon for their team. Their reasons are their own. Trainers with the full six this early in their careers are pretty rare, but they can be around. There are also differences in an individual's energy capacity to consider. Some people naturally have bigger or smaller energy stores which feeds back into how many pokemon they can have on their teams at one time. If you can comfortably handle six pokemon and not faint you’re in a rare group as people usually need a couple of years as a trainer to reach that level.”

I personally had a theory regarding aura manipulation, both purposeful and instinctual, helping to make people more or less resilient but I wasn’t going to mention that to Greta.

“But… don’t you and some of the Elite Four have expanded pokemon carrying capacities? How do your energy levels handle that?”

“Training and experience. We can handle the strain and that results in us being allowed to take on more. It’s one of the perks of reaching certain heights with your pokemon or raising strong pokemon. When you get to that level it’s no longer a one-way street of us just giving energy to pokemon.”

Greta hummed thoughtfully at that before nodding. She opened her mouth only for Crystal to appear and wrap her arms around her shoulders. “Hey! You’re coming with me to hang out seeing as my usual scooter buddy is busy!”

I chuckled as Greta was dragged away before turning to wrap up the day myself. I went through the usual checks and paperwork before giving the reserve a walk-through.

Flint was once more out front inspecting the Lileep and when I walked past he stood up and followed me in. “Brock! How was your day?”

I considered him as I opened the door. “It was alright, all my challengers arrived, and most of them came away with their badges.”

“Oh, good. Were you doing anything else now? I had been wrapping up the gifts with Yolanda and wanted to give them out…”

I was about to answer when my transceiver buzzed. I glanced at it and saw a message from Sabrina.

‘Hey, I’ve got nothing today,’ it read simply.

The unwritten, ‘may I come over’ was supplied by my mind. Sabrina usually never asked after all, she’d just appear. Typically she just showed up without asking, unless she wanted to try and hang out with my family. Then she would ask. She was oddly polite about spending time with them.

‘Can’t hang out,’ I wrote back. ‘Flint came back, so you can stop looking for him and now I have to… yeah,’ I left the message there cause it wasn’t exactly clear what I needed to do. In many ways I envied canon Brock’s path of leaving things to his father but for so many reasons I felt like I couldn’t do that.

‘... where are you now?’ she wrote back.

I frowned at the message. What did she… ‘In my doorway?’ I wrote back, a suspicion forming in my mind.

“Hello Brock. Flint,” Sabrina said as she appeared in a flash of light from the corner. I nodded in greeting only for Flint to flinch and stumble backwards over the shoes that were in the doorway.

“Oh! Hello there Sabrina! You scared me. Hahaha!” he said as he stood up.

“Yes, I did,” Sabrina said back, observing Flint and how he was sprawled out. Flint chuckled helplessly for a few more seconds before standing up. “I’ll just go… check on Yolanda!” he said before hurrying past Sabrina and I. He notably made sure to give Sabrina lots of room.

“Hey Sabrina, what’s up?” I said only to be met by Sabrina stepping in close to me.

Her eyes roamed my face and I got the impression of the air tapping at parts of my body. Was she?

“Are you… checking me over?” I said.

She hadn’t done this since… we threw a boulder at Giovanni’s Gym… this was something she’d learnt to do after I’d taken a bad tumble during our journey in Hoenn. She’d teleported to my side and been a bit of a mess with not knowing what to do. I’d lain there, catching my breath. I’d instructed her on how to assess and triage any potential injuries, which had been more to help her calm down rather than me actually being hurt.

As a former health worker, the DRSABCD and other first aid acronyms had been basically seared into my brain.

“Yes, you have a notable problem with your father. Your shoulders and back are tense as though you are expecting to react instead of being relaxed. Your heart rate also spiked notably with my arrival,” She said matter of factly. Sabrina had obviously done a lot more reading on the subject of cues that people give off when they’re stressed or injured.

“Maybe, I also had a sort of bad end to the day,” I said with a shrug. I waved a hand and led her towards my room.

She shook her head as she followed and took my hand in hers and began rubbing the back of it. “No, that is not a typical response for you on a rough day. You’re more slumped and tired.”

“Maybe you startled me?” I offered.

She again shook her head. “No you don’t react that way when I arrive in such a fashion. Others will sometimes shriek and wave their arms about.” she pointedly looked at where Flint had tripped over himself, “but you are usually much calmer in greeting me.”

My curiosity got the best of me. “Wave their arms about?”

“Erika is still getting used to being friends. Her trainers react worse even when I appear in front of them, but she typically stiffens and makes a small meeping noise these days.”

Despite myself, I chuckled as I imagined such a scene. Sabrina’s lips quirked upwards but she didn’t step out of my personal space.

“When the mayor of Saffron wanted to talk with me as a child I made him fall out of his chair by arriving before he could hang up his transceiver.”

I chuckled and Sabrina perked up even further. “My mother once wet herself,” she continued.

I raised a hand. “I really, really should not find that so funny.”

“And yet you do. It is neither good nor bad. You are not causing their reactions. In hindsight, I can see that they are rather comical. It was also not wrong of me, but not the best use of my powers.” She tilted her head, however her smile remained.

I scratched the back of my head. “Yeah well…” I blinked. This moment felt oddly similar. “Did you just use my own words against me?”

She bobbed her head forward. “Yes,” she said.

“Huh, I… I’m not sure how I feel about that.” If anything I felt a little… bad? Usually, I was the one shoring her up. I otherwise… why did I oddly feel warm? Was I blushing? I swallowed. “You’ve gotten really good at being friends with someone haven’t you?”

Sabrina didn’t preen. She wasn’t so taken with large shows of emotion but she nonetheless tossed her hair slightly and her smile grew another fraction of a millimetre. “I have been working on my weakness for quite some time.”

“It’s not a weakness,” I said reflexively.

She shook her head. “No, it has been. I am not good with… well mostly people, as they are complex and sometimes they can think and do different things. Sometimes I know what they will do thanks to my psychic powers but still the why escaped me. Now I understand them more… I know that their thoughts aren’t everything about them.”

“The mind isn’t the only thing that makes people act,” I said remembering something I’d heard once.

“You said as much when we first met,” she said, “I understand it more now,” she repeated.

“Did I?” I said in surprise.

She nodded her head. “My pokemon had just been beaten by your ‘Titan’ and I had been… I had been having a tantrum I believe.”

I squinted. Thinking back. Oh! She had hadn’t she? She hadn’t stomped her foot or been screaming, rather she’d been so flat and monotone that I hadn’t registered any emotion. But if I applied what I’d learnt from spending time with her to how she’d been acting… she'd almost been having a hissy fit hadn’t she?

“You said… you said… why can’t I read your mind? Why… can’t I understand people? No. You said,” I rubbed my chin as Sabrina blinked at me in surprise. “No, you said something like, ‘why are people so strange’.”

Sabrina nodded, a small genuine smile taking hold as she watched me. Were her eyes glistening a little? I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, hey it’s alright.”

“Yes, it really is… I am not sad Brock. Right now I do not need support.” She tapped me on the chest. “But you do,” I tilted my head when I noticed her smile remaining.

“Okay? I’m a bit… I’m not really sure what to do with Flint. I mean yeah he’s my dad but… Why are you smiling at this?” I said, unable to wrap my head around why she was.

“I apologise, it is just… for so long it has felt like there has been a… a gap between us in terms of emotions, interpreting them, understanding them, acting on them, letting them simply be…” She made a gesture that indicated just how close we were. “I have been working on this for a long time and it has been extremely frustrating for me.”

She smiled despite the odd tension in her voice, “I have struggled.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I know.”

She nodded back acknowledging that she had recognised her difficulties. “Yes, and you have been very supportive of me and explained a lot.” She tilted her head. “In many ways, it has been like building a house brick by brick only for there to be smaller details that I have not thought of once finishing a room. The taps or colours of the walls, or that you need more than one room? When is it right to be in each room or let certain emotions out more precisely.” She made the gesture to reference the gap once more.

“In the beginning, that gap felt like it would never shorten. But I kept trying and lately… lately it feels like I have caught up. And now I am close enough to offer you support,” she looked at me with her small smile and for some reason, I felt like… like things would be better.

I swallowed again feeling oddly dry in my mouth. “And how are you going to do that?”

She walked past me and sat on my bed. In doing so she crossed her legs which made my eyes glance down and notice that they were very nice legs, attached to a very attractive woman. I swallowed away the dryness as the room suddenly felt much hotter. I was a young man and she was a young…

“I will be here with you and I will listen,” she said with her small pleased smile.

I felt a moment of disconnect as my mind stalled down the path it had been charging along as hormones got the better of me. I coughed and nodded. “Of course, heh! You’re good at this,” I said as I grabbed a chair from in front of my desk to sit in myself.

Sabrina nodded. “I have good friends.” She leaned forward. “Also, the Ralts egg is going to hatch. She has started to form a bond with me… That bond has helped a great deal in my efforts and I am looking forward to meeting her. She said she will be hatching tonight. But before that, I will listen and help you.”

I blinked. Was Sabrina bragging in a way? I suppose in a way it must have been a milestone moment for her.

“That’s great news, Can I come to see her hatch?” I said.

Sabrina chewed her lip. “The bond that I am forming with Ralts will be delicate… I’m sorry to say that your Dark energy might not be a good thing to include in the initial moments.” she bowed her head and I waved it off.

“No, that actually makes a lot of sense. Just film it for me yeah? I’d like to see it,” I said. Really I wanted to see her reaction to Ralts more than Ralts’ hatching. She nodded her head.

“Very well, I shall do that. Now, how are you?” she said.

I hummed, feeling oddly domestic with that question but I relaxed into my chair and thought about what I wanted to tell her. In the end, I just shrugged. “So things are really awkward—”

In the end, I just unloaded everything that had been weighing me down since Flint’s return. Sabrina listened and offered no advice. She apologised for not being able to do so but I waved it off. She’d helped just by listening. That seemed to mollify her.

I straightened up. “I should probably head back out, I have no idea what the kids are up to.”

Sabrina glanced at the wall, and her eyes glowed. “Suzie is drawing a picture of herself and Munchlax. Timmy, Tommy, Salvadore and Forrest are watching cartoons. Yolanda is helping your father wrap his presents. Cindy is on the toilet and Tilly is waiting for her turn.”

I blinked and raised a hand before lowering it. “Huh, that was pretty useful. You’d make a great…” I stopped before I could say the words and Sabrina tilted her head.

“I’d make a great?” she asked.

If I said mother, she’d take it and run with it. Dodging that charged up Electrode, I instead said, “You’re going to be a great carer for your Ralts. You should bring them around when they hatch.”

Sabrina nodded, standing up. As she did so, her skirt straightened itself out with a flex of her mind. “I should be returning home… if you need to talk again, I would not mind listening,” she said. I nodded and she flashed away with a teleport.

Huh, turns out it wasn’t just my little siblings growing up. Sabrina had as well.

I smiled, feeling much better. Sabrina hadn’t offered any advice, but I did feel better having her listen to me, and now I sort of had an idea about what I wanted to do with the whole… Flint situation. I turned in my seat and grabbed up the family health records and some of the financial information.

I marched out to the living room and nodded at the boys after finding them watching Samurai Furret. I shot a message to Yolanda.

The other kids trickled in and finally, Flint came in with Yolanda carrying wrapped-up presents. Yolanda’s rather befuddled expression was very interesting. That could mean that the gifts were good, strange, both or something more. The kids perked up at this and I hummed. This was certainly a good way to make a favourable impression early on. He wouldn’t be able to keep giving though or there would be issues.

“Alright kids!” Flint said with an exuberant tone. I tilted my head. He was much more upbeat than he had been earlier. Was he trying to inject some energy into himself or was he just really counting on this to work to bridge the gap that had grown since he left? “Who’s ready for presents?”

The kids shot up and raised their hands. “Me!” “Me!” “Me!” “I am!” they shouted over the top of each other.

Flint grinned and gestured to the presents as though expecting them to simply rip in. The kids sat forward only to pause and turn almost as one towards me. I gave them a smile. “Let’s take turns so nothing gets broken just like when it's Arceusmas, alright?”

This had the kids bouncing in place. I made a show of thinking it over and hovering my hand out. “Hmmmmmmmmmmmm let’s go with Cindy first!”

“Yes!” she shouted as she skipped forward.

Flint blinked. “Oh, I was going to just give them out all at once.”

Cindy shook her head. “That’s not how we do it.” She chopped the air firmly. “We all take turns and have the presents given out. That way we get time to enjoy it and see what each other got as a family!” she said, explaining it pretty much how I had sold it to the kids during our first Christmas. The rest of the family nodded seriously, causing Flint to make a surprised noise.

“Oh, well alright then.” He reached down and plucked a small box that had a number of matching boxes. A small tag on the top was read and he set that one down. Then he selected another only to grab another. I was suddenly very glad I had enforced that little family tradition. If the kids had simply torn into the presents, they would have mixed things up.

“Oh! Here it is! Here you go Cindy!” said Flint as he gave her the right box.

Cindy gave him a hug. “Thanks dad!” she chirped. Then she sat down and tore open the present to reveal a water stone.

“Ooooooohhhh!” she said. “A waterstone! Wow, aren’t these expensive?” she said, glancing from me to Flint.

Eevee who’d been lounging near Suzie, sat bolt upright and leapt over the couch at the reveal. No one else seemed to notice as their eyes were locked onto the waterstone.

I nodded absently at what Cindy was saying while leaning down to click my fingers. Eevee scurried under the couch to me and sat in my lap.

While I did that Flint had proudly spoken up, “Hah! Only if you don’t know where to look! Like I said! I’m a rock expert! Now! Who wants to go next?!”

I held in a smile as once again all eyes in the room turned to me. “Billy,” I said after waving my hand about once more. Flint went and got another small box before handing it to Billy, who tore into it.

It revealed another water stone. Eevee stiffened at the reveal again and I calmed her down with gentle pats. “Hey girl, it’s okay. No one’s going to force you to evolve if you don’t want to,” I whispered. I made sure to tap the everstone on her collar pointedly. This seemed to help her relax.

Still, I would obviously have to explain that to the kids. It was interesting to see how she was against evolving right now. Not that there was any issue with her remaining an Eevee. Too many people thought Eevee’s only value was in evolving and not as remaining unevolved. I couldn’t wait until Gigantimax Eevee was revealed.

I felt a sinking suspicion about what the rest of the small boxes contained. I glanced at Yolanda and she had a wry smile as Billy gushed about the rare stone. A stone that slowly became rather common as each other member of the household under eight got one of their own, totalling six water stones.

It was a not inconsiderable display of wealth, as each water stone typically took trainers a while to build up the funds for. It wasn’t uncommon to be only able to purchase one after three months on the road. If you were employed under the average wage, it was practically a month’s savings.

It didn’t pass my notice that we had only just made a dint in the pile of boxes and that no small number were the same size. Did all of them contain water stones? How long had he been running around waterways to find so many?

The next stone for Salvadore broke the trend with the reveal of it being a Leaf Stone.

“Oh, I got that when I was wandering through Ilex forest on the way to Goldenrod city in Johto!” Flint said in fond memory.

I hummed in a noncommittal fashion. He really shouldn’t be happy about the… I crushed that thought as he continued to hand out ‘rare’ stones. The next being a thunderstone for Forrest, with Yolanda getting a moonstone.

When he got to me I held up a hand. “Hold onto it for now.” Flint’s face flashed with concern but I shook my head. “I just want to talk about something before I take any presents.”

“You don’t want a present?” said Cindy.

“Yeah? Are you alright Brock?” said Salvadore.

With my siblings voicing their confusion, I held up a hand. “I just want to talk before I accept anything. I’ll do it afterwards though cause it looks like everyone’s enjoying themselves.” There was already a small cloud of worry forming across a number of their faces but I just smiled and waved for Flint to continue.

In the end, he gave out six water stones, two thunder stones, two fire stones, two leaf stones, two moonstones, and what surprisingly appeared to be a sunstone. The items so far that weren’t stones had been a number of ribbons for the girls, socks with rock pokemon for the boys, and a map that he had scrawled notes on pokemon about all over the margins for Forrest.

“For when you go on your journey!” Flint said with a grin. “I thought of it as I was going through my bag with Yolanda!”

Forrest accepted it with a rather befuddled expression. I hummed as Salvadore leaned around Forrest in obvious interest. If he’d asked Yolanda, she probably would have given it to Salvadore instead of Forrest. On paper, it seemed the better gift for Forrest, but Salvadore would probably still use it more.

I whistled at the gift to Yolanda which was the sunstone. She looked it over before asking “What pokemon evolves with this, Salvadore?”.

“Bellosom from Gloom?” Salvadore said carefully as he leaned in to inspect it.

I nodded. “It also causes Sunkern to evolve into Sunflora and Cottonee to evolve into Whimsicott.”

“Cottonee?” said Salvadore with a tilt of his head. I cursed to myself.

“It was a pokemon I encountered in Hoenn on my journey,” I said, lying smoothly. That settled Salvadore as everyone turned back to the sunstone to appreciate it.

Yolanda glanced at Eevee who was sitting on my lap. “Should we be letting her run around with all these evolution stones?”

I shook my head. “It’s fine as long as she keeps her everstone collar on. It stops her from evolving.” Eevee tilted her head at that and approached to sniff the stones. When nothing happened, she relaxed further.

“Hey kids, just so you know I don’t think Eevee likes the idea of evolving right now, so don’t force her to, alright?”

Tilly and Suzie held up their waterstones. “But… water doggy?”

I smiled at them and shook my head. “No, no water doggy right now. Maybe in the future.”

The kids all looked at their stones. “What can we do with these then?” Tommy asked.

I smiled. “Well you can hang onto them or have them made into cool necklaces. They’ll be great for when your journey comes around. Or maybe we put them together as a family store of stones that we can all draw from when we go on our journeys. Then you could have more options than just a water or firestone,” I said as I looked at Billy’s two stones. He perked up at that and glanced around.

“Yeah! Yeah! Let’s share!” he said while looking at Salvadore and his thunderstone and leaf stone. I chuckled at his blatant interest but approved of the ‘sharing’ even if it wasn’t in the right spirit for now. I got up and headed out to get a display case that the stones could be housed in.

The stones were all laid out on a soft velvet case with small indents that let them be spaced out. They looked rather impressive like that. “If anyone wants to make a necklace, then talk to me,” I said before remembering that Flint was here and that I was trying to include him. “Or Flint. But you need to know that people might try and take them because they are worth a lot of money.”

“That’s right,” Flint said, somewhat superfluously. I got the impression he was just saying something to join the conversation. Munchlax tugged at my pants and pointed at the stones before pointing at himself.

I shook my head. “Munchlax don’t evolve with evolution stones.”

“Munch?” he said.

“They do it with friendship and when they grow strong,” I said. He considered that before nodding and waddling back to sit on the couch.

Suzie looked to Flint seriously. “Did you get Munchlax or Eevee anything?”

Flint rubbed the back of his head. “I didn’t know I needed to? I’m sorry Munchlax and Eevee!” he said. He reached into his pockets and drew out a black stone. “Here, this is some interesting stone I found while checking out Cinnabar island!” My eyes locked onto that and I hummed casually.

“You know Scyther has a rock collection, right kids? Maybe he’d be interested in those rocks?” I said smoothly.

Eevee huffed and Munchlax waved his hand in a ‘I don’t mind’ manner. The kids twitched at the rocks that Flint had offered with Salvadore mentioning he’d show them to Scyther. The kids then shifted about restlessly while the older kids glanced at the two remaining presents. Both of them clearly marked with my name.

Flint shifted and looked at me before his eyes slid to the folders at my side. I gave the kids all a smile. “Hey gang, if you want you can go play now, Flint and I need to have some grown-up talk.”

Instead of going anywhere, the kids sat and watched us. I smiled. “It’ll be really boring?”

At that Suzie, Timmy, Billy, and Tilly all got up and departed after giving Flint a hug in thanks for the stones. Eevee raced ahead of them causing them to give chase which drew Munchlax off the couch. The sounds of running feet and laughter starting up had Tommy and Cindy shifting around for a bit before deciding to also leave.

Cindy poked me on the way out the door. “You need to call me back when you’re going to open your gifts though!”

I smiled and nodded. Then I turned to Yolanda, Salvadore and Forrest. They remained sitting.

I inhaled before exhaling. “Alright then.” I sat up and leveled my gaze upon Flint.

“Flint,” I said, causing him to straighten up.

“Yes Brock?”

“You’re home,” I said succinctly.

I raised a hand when he opened his mouth. “No, I have a lot to say and I’m probably going to ramble but I’ve been trying to put my feelings in order and been having a lot of trouble with it but I think I have a decent idea of what I want… No. What I need to say.” I glanced at my family and flicked my eyes to the door but they remained sitting, as quiet as a Pichu with a Hounddoom stalking the grass.

I looked back and drew in another breath. “Flint, you left and I think that was possibly one of the most selfish things you could have done.”

I levelled a glare upon him. “You abandoned your family to chase after your wife. This was after letting things fall into neglect around here. When you called me back I had to come a long way in a very short amount of time to not only try to figure out how to run a gym and a family but also do damage control for the mess you made!”

The words made Flint twitch like they hurt for him to hear. Part of me enjoyed the reactions but I didn’t let it linger. I needed to say what I had been holding onto otherwise I was going to do much worse in the future than just express my feelings.

I’d act on them.

“You abandoned us and left me in charge of our family. I had nine little brothers and sisters to look after. Sure Forrest, Yolanda, and Salvadore were able to help out, but they shouldn’t have ever had to! Forrest was a kid that was trying to work out how to feed the others. Yolanda was learning to operate the gas stove! Salvadore was staying home from school to look after Suzie, Timmy, Billy and Tilly on a rotating roster with the others!”

“Billy and Tilly were twelve months old at the time!” I snarled.

I held my glare at Flint as he looked down, shame obvious on his face. “I… I’m sorry,” he said with a choked gasp.

“I didn’t want you to be sorry back then or now. I needed you to be there to help out. You had me running the gym back then, which I had no idea how to do beyond the basics. The pokemon team you took was the best the gym had at the time! I had to have my own pokemon take over!”

I waved a hand around the room to indicate the building at large. “The gym we had was old as well. It wasn’t in good condition, and it constantly needed to be repaired with the building not being up to standard for stronger matches. I blew a hole through two walls when I first accepted a challenge from a trainer going for his sixth badge with Titan. It was not safe so I had to do something new.”

I leaned forward. “All of that?” I swept my hand out before chopping it down in front of me. “And then you left again after sniffing around the gym for months at the end of the last circuit only to not come back?” I shook my head as I straightened. “You failed in ways that I just struggle to understand. Do you even have an excuse?” I held up a hand to clarify that statement, “No. Not an excuse… an actual Gengar be damned reason?”

Flint clenched his hands on his knees and continued to look down. “...No… I… I… You’re right son... I failed you as a father... I don't... and there was no reason for what I did… Not a reason I can accept. Not ever for all of that…”

I felt something within me unclench at that admission, despite how angry it made me. Vindication battled with acceptance and anger. I wasn’t sure what to make of the tumult of emotions.

“Very well,” I said sternly.

I inhaled long and slow. I shut my eyes as I did. I loosened a long breath of air slowly in a meditative trick that I had read to Titan years ago and he had demanded that I adopt while we worked on our energy together. I took another two long, slow breaths before opening my eyes.

I glanced at the spectators to this… argument didn’t seem right, as I was basically smacking Flint down and he was just taking it. He wasn’t mounting a resistance against my words which… somewhat affronted me. Perhaps it was just the pokemon mindset that had me expecting him to argue against my claims.

I could see what I had said affected him. He was slumped over. A hollow, brittle man.

I turned my next words over in my mind. I hadn’t planned to say that in front of the others but they wanted to be here and perhaps that made things better? Or worse? I didn’t really know. I just knew that things were messed up and I had to not let them fester. I had to act and not sit patiently, trying to weather it out like I had when Flint had first appeared.

“For those reasons, I will not be calling you Dad or father. I just... I struggle to think of you that way.”

“I…I understand,” he said wetly.

I nodded and continued. “I will also not be handing the gym back to you,” I said.

Flint nodded. “That’s… probably for the best. I… I don’t think I could match up to you. You’re incredible, you know?” He glanced up and I could see his watering eyes. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of that but you’ve really become great despite that. I certainly would never have been able to beat Lance or Pryce like you did.”

I nodded at his words. I chewed my thoughts for a moment to get them where they needed to be. “...Thanks,” I said, deciding to extend an olive branch.

He looked a little more hopeful at my words. “Maybe… maybe I could stick around and help out at home or be a gym trainer for you?”

I huffed. “I think it would be best to get you helping out at home. You no doubt have some strong pokemon but I think family needs to be focused on first. Be their dad, yeah?”

“Y-yeah!” Flint said as he rubbed his nose. He swallowed. “Can I still call you son?”

“...Sure I… don’t think I’d mind that,” I said carefully. Flint lit up a little in hope.

“Can I be a super proud old man that wants to brag about you to his friends?” he said in a manner that made me think he was mostly joking.

I snorted. “Only on weekends,” I said back to him in jest.

Then I put a hand on the folders I had next to me. “If you’re going to be a dad for the rest of our family though, it's probably best that we discuss the family health records, what they like, dislike, how they’ve been doing in school and get you caught up so you can actually help properly. How much money we have coming in… all that jazz.”

“Yes!” Flint perked up even more at that. “I mean! I’d like that!”

I smiled and made to open up the health records only for a wet sniffle to remind me of the spectators.

I glanced over to find Yolanda rubbing at her eyes furiously. “Sorry! Sorry! I’m being all emotional cause I was sad that Brock was so angry, but then he made a lot of sense and I’m sorry we were a burden and it was hard! Cause I know it was hard and I just wanted dad back but I knew you were having issues with that and-and-and I’m glad you’re getting on now!” She rubbed at her eyes as the words spilled from her like a waterfall.

Flint and I shared a look, both gesturing for the other to go ahead. Then I felt a sort of understanding of what we needed to do click home. Without talking we both got up and set ourselves on either side of Yolanda and wrapped her in a hug. In doing so, we sort of overlapped each other. It was almost like I was hugging Flint and him hugging me.

“Hey, it’s alright,” I said. She sniffled and Flint said some comforting words as well, but we remained there until she calmed down.

She rubbed her eyes and then blew her nose into a hankie that Flint had in his pocket.

“T-thanks for that.”

I just smiled before letting my smile grow. I turned and grabbed Forrest. “How about you? Do you need to have a man hug little brother?” he dragged him into it and he flinched as he found himself in the middle of the group.

“Urgh! No! Yuk! Stop it!”

Flint laughed and threw himself into the hug. Forrest made a show of putting up a fight as he grumbled. I rubbed his head. “It’s alright to admit you have feelings!”

He grumbled more.

When we broke apart, I opened my arms to Salvadore.

He tapped his fingers together. “I get the feeling this is not a choice but something I am required to volunteer for…”

“Correct!” I said as he stepped in and trapped Forrest in the hug once more. I glanced over and saw Flint looking down at the others. Then he looked up and mouthed ‘thank you’ to me.

I nodded and let the hug remain for a bit longer. Then I sniffed. I leaned back and stared at a very sheepish Forrest. “Really? While we were hugging?”

“Sorry! I just couldn’t hold it in with you squeezing me like that?” he said.

Flint, Yolanda and Salvadore all frowned in confusion only to sniff and gain identical looks of revulsion. Yolanda threw herself out of the hug. “Ohhhh that’s disgusting! I can’t believe you farted!”

“Oh… that is rank,” said Flint as he edged away from Forrest.

“You could knock a Muk out with that bro!” said Salvadore as he crawled away.

I chuckled at Forrest’s blush and opened the room to let it air out. I picked up the folders. “Hey Flint let’s talk about this later alright?”

“Please yes!” he said while holding his nose.

Suzie walked up and tugged my pants. “Are you done with adult talk now?” I nodded and she huffed, “Good! Are you going to open your presents yet?”

“Yeah alright, come into the kitchen and let's do that,” I said, relocating the meeting for the sanctity of our noses. Suzie shouted for everyone else to come see what was in my present and I tapped her on the nose for shouting in the house.

When they had all emerged from their rooms I opened the first package to reveal a rather dull-looking stone that had a lot of heft to it. It also held a lot of rock energy that I could feel was sitting dormant within it.

“It's a Hard stone! They have the effect of further empowering pokemon that use rock-type moves!” said Flint proudly.

“Looks kinda boring?” said Tommy, only for Cindy to punch him where she thought none of us could see her. I held it in my hand and smiled.

“This is actually pretty good for me in the gym. It’ll help with a lot of my stronger matches. Do you know how it stacks up with STAB?” I said casually.

“Stab?” said Flint in confusion.

Forrest perked up. “Brock teaches trainers that train with us about same-type-attack-bonus. So a rock-type pokemon using a rock-type move will be stronger than another type like a normal-type using a rock-type. He said it’s one point two times stronger?”

“One point five,” I said, correcting him.

Salvadore looked very interested in that information. I rubbed my chin. “Hmmm I still have to run that lecture for the new trainers with us… I’ve been kind of busy haven’t I?” I still had to work in concepts such as adaptability as well, but that was a good reminder. This item would work well with a lot of my team, but it also seemed to be a good focus for me to train my rock aura energies with.

“Thanks Flint,” I said.

Suzie bounced up and down in her seat. “Oh! Open the next one! What’s in it?! It’s way bigger!”

I hummed and lifted the rather clunky-looking package. Flint coughed. “This is a stone or a cluster of stones. I think it still needs to be refined a bit, but I encountered this when I… well when I left Pewter recently…” He glanced down before shaking off his maudlin mood.

“Well, I found this in a cave north of Cerulean and collected it, but I thought you might like it. My instincts say that it’s worth a lot, and they’re usually not wrong. After all, they helped me find the evolution stones in my down time!”

I hummed at that. If Flint could find this many evolution stones without trying, what could he find when he put actual effort into it? I made a mental note to take him on a hike to Mt Moon with me sometime in the future. I unwrapped the present and found that it was indeed a roughly shaped geode of rock. It was like two spheres encased in brown rock. The larger sphere had a tawny, brown, and yellow colouration, while the smaller stone was like a rainbow to look at.

I frowned and rubbed some dirt off one of the spheres only to hiss in surprise as a helix pattern was revealed. I swallowed. “Where did you say you found this again?”

“North of Cerulean, near a meadow that had a cave. Inside I found some strong pokemon. I stumbled upon this!” He tilted his head. “Why? Is there something wrong with this?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m just surprised. If this is what I think it is, then your instincts are very good when it comes to rocks.”

Suzie leaned in. “Is it a super evolution stone? A rock stone!?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “No Suzie. I think it’s a Mega Stone.”

“What’s a Mega Stone?” said Salvadore.

I opened my mouth to explain further before humming and deciding to not say anything. “It’s a surprise.” I packed the stone away and nodded at Flint. “Thanks, this could be big.”

I didn’t want to say it was worth scaring him off back then but now I couldn’t find it within myself to be regretful of doing so. Canon Flint never found one of these, that’s for sure. Now I just needed to see if it worked for any of my pokemon.

I suddenly had a lot more options open themselves up for me and in pokemon battling that meant the world.

Just as I was about to relax the egg in Yolanda’s incubator cracked loudly. Everyone stopped what they were doing and whipped their heads around.

“Oh my gosh! It’s hatching!” shrieked Yolanda. “I thought it would neve… No, I’m being silly! What do I do?!”

I chuckled and lifted the top of the incubator off before shoving yolanda into the prime position. “Nanny Grav!? We need an old bed sheet!”

Thumps resounded through the house and the kids looked at me. This… they weren’t going to like this part. “Sorry kids, to give Yolanda a better chance at bonding with her pokemon we’re going to have to remain out of sight while the pokemon hatches. Let her get first impression.”

Flint nodded. “Oh! Right!” He frowned. “Wouldn’t it be easier to get us out of the room?”

I snorted and glanced down to the younger kids that were already looking defiant. Flint nodded his head. “Right, alright family, we’re going to hide and let Yolanda have her moment!” he said with a raised fist. When Nanny Grav handed me the bedsheet, I set it up only to pause at the Mega Stone.

“Put this in my room, I’ll secure it in my office later, alright?” she nodded and hurried off to do that before bustling back to help contain the little kids.

They whined and Billy tried to peek his head around the side only for Forrest and Salvadore to pull them back. When the egg cracked it did so with a loud clatter of shells exploding outwards. And then there was a soft cry. “Tar? Larvitar?”

“Hi! Hi little one!” said Yolanda, her voice was clear and she was holding so much emotion and love in her words that I couldn’t help but smile. The pokemon shifted and I knew it was now locking eyes and imprinting with Yolanda.

“Larv! Larvitar!” it cried out happily.

I put a finger to my lips for the kids and lowered the bedsheet, allowing them to watch as Larvitar approached Yolanda and they had their first hug. I was able to hold back the tide that was my family from spilling over for thirty seconds before Suzie leapt forward.

“Hi! I’m your auntie Suzie!” that startled the little Larvitar and it huddled into Yolanda causing me to chuckle as Yolanda growled.

I stepped back and grabbed some premium-grade food before mixing it up with berries and other nutrients that would be good for a baby pokemon. I offered it to Yolanda and she took it before giving it to her new pokemon.

The rest of my family cooed and giggled as Larvitar threw herself headfirst into the meal and began to swell in the belly.

I inspected the pokemon and nodded. My earlier assessment was correct. “It’s a girl.”

“How do you know?” asked Salvadore.

“Larvitar have physical markers such as the slightly curved horn on her head and her slightly longer eye markings.”

The little Larvitar lifted its head took a huge breath, and then plunged her head back into the food. “Well… She’s a hungry girl,” I said, causing Yolanda to nod proudly.

Munchlax watched enviously until she was done before stepping in and giving the little Larvitar a greeting. Then he licked the crumbs off her making the little pokemon giggle.

A flash of light heralded Sabrina arriving.

I turned, a smile on my lips only to pause. “Your egg hatched?” I said as I took in the Ralts in her hands that was happily nuzzling into Sabrina. Sabrina beamed at me, and I felt my smile widen in response.

The Ralts stiffened at my voice and locked onto me.

“Rrrrrrrrrrralts!” said the little pokemon. Sabrina petted it on the horn.

“She’s very feisty. It’s a good sign.” She then peered around me and noted the newest addition to the family. “Oh, look Ralts, a friend your age!” She then deposited Ralts onto the bench.

Ralts tried to hold on only for Sabrina to push her closer to the other baby pokemon. Salvadore tilted his head. “Should we be pushing them together like this?”

Sabrina nodded firmly. “It is important to establish good social behaviours with newborns. Especially with people and pokemon they will be encountering in the future. Ralts, this is Brock, my boyfriend,” Sabrina said, putting a hand on my shoulder. Ralts glared at me like it was my fault she’d been put on the table.

Larvitar leaned over and sniffed the little Ralts causing her to cry out in shock and squirm away. She sadly fell on her face in the attempt. Larvitar gasped and ran over to help only to trip and land on top of her.

Larviatar considered this new position before wrapping her tiny arms around Ralts and crying out happily. Yolanda giggled “Ahhhhh! They’re hugging!”

“Actually, I think Ralts is tapping out?” I said as Ralts slammed her fist into Larvitar and the countertop only for it to do nothing. Try as she might, Ralts couldn’t escape Larvitar.

“I think Ralts wants to go back to you Sabrina,” I said carefully.

“Hmmm, yes she is most happy around me. I shall indulge her as a baby but not for too long,” Sabrina telekinetically lifted Ralts back to herself and out of Larvitar’s arms. Lartivar cried out, sad to lose her friend before relaxing as Yolanda took her up.

“Oof! You’re a heavy girl!” she said as she readjusted Larvitar. She grinned down. “I think I know what I’ll call you! Your name from now on is Terra!”

“Terror?” said Sabrina.

“No, Terr-a! Like the old stories of the earth goddess?”

“Earth Titaness,” I said with a cough, “From the stories I sometimes told the kids?”

Sabrina looked down at the Ralts in her arms. “Would you like a name?” Ralts shook her head and Sabrina accepted it easily enough. “Very well, I shall call you as you call yourself, which is Ralts for now. You will make for a wonderful Gardevoir.”

Salvadore tilted his head. “How do you know she’s a girl?” repeating his earlier question to Sabrina.

Sabrina turned to Salvadore. “The shape of her horns along with the tones of her voice. Female Ralts have more shrill tones while males are deeper in how they announce themselves.” Salvadore wrote that down.

Sabrina hummed. “Well, I am glad to introduce you but now I need to introduce Ralts to my parents. She will become very familiar with them, I should think, just as much as all of you.” Ralts whined at that but Sabrina merely continued rubbing her head. “Good bye for now and congratulations, Yolanda.”

“Bye Sabrina!” said the kids before Sabrina lifted one of Ralts’ hands to wave at them. Then she teleported away, but not before Ralts shot me an adorable glare. I rubbed my chin, getting the feeling that Ralts was holding me responsible for her rather traumatic introduction to the family. Ah well, I’d just have to swing her around to liking me.

Yolanda rubbed Terra’s head causing the happy little pokemon to burble her name and smile in delight at the gesture. “Welcome to the family little one!”

But that was for later. For now, I’d rather focus on this new spot of sunshine. Titan was going to be over the moon when I told him that his little sister had hatched and that she had a name that vaguely referenced him.