Hard Enough

Chapter 299 - On foreign soil

“You know, she kind of makes it really obvious that she’s still a young Pokemon for all her power,” I said as I watched Kirlia twirl and skip around Alakazam, who stoically allowed it. It was sort of like watching a tolerant grandfather, one who was particularly interested in his book on cultural and historic Hoenn landmarks.

With his wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, and floral shirt he looked like the typical tourist. Especially with the zinc cream wiped across his nose. We weren’t due to go to the beach for at least a few more hours…

Sabrina and I shared a smile with Sabrina raising her transceiver to take a photo of the scene which caused Kirlia to pause before poking her tongue out at Sabrina. Alakazam ignored everyone, merely flipping a page in his tourist book before making a note.

“Kirlia!” Kirlia said cheekily as she stole Alakazam’s book.

“She’s at the phase huh?” I asked, referring to a young girl’s rebellious phase.

“No she’s just been sneaking sugar treats while you were resting,” Sabrina replied drolly. She gave Kirlia a pointed look. “I did keep count of how many treats there were in our bags and how many were on the plane with us.”

Kirlia stiffened, gaining the look all children get when their parents or older siblings declare they caught them red-handed.

She adopted a cutesy pose.

I smiled only for Sabrina’s stern glare to deepen. “I won’t be fooled by that trick,” she stated.

I glanced to the side and held back a chuckle. It would seem that Kirlia’s attempt at Baby Doll Eyes had mixed results. I was weak to it, but Sabrina had resistance.

“Gym Leaders Sabrina and Brock?” asked a nasal voice, intruding on our moment.

“Here,” we both replied and a tall thin woman with coke bottle thick glasses approached with our bags.

“Your luggage has been screened and secured for you! Your declaration of other items—” her eyes dipped to both my own and Sabrina’s ever present pouches and our pokebelts, “—has turned up no concerns so you’re free to depart!”

“Thanks for that,” I replied with a pleased nod. As Gym Leaders there were always certain checks that had to occur when we travelled. I hadn’t had to worry about them as much last time, but Sabrina had been scrutinized as she’d already been operating as a Gym Leader so she’d been pulled aside.

If Indigo hadn’t had to undergo a huge overhaul to security measures I knew that on return we’d be waved through customs unlike with Hoenn. This time around I suspected we were going to be observed just as much if not more upon return.

Wouldn’t want to let somebody’s doubles or fakes into the country after all.

Sabrina led me out of the airport and towards a waiting limousine only to pull me to the side around a group of security Hariyama with their trainers who didn’t even glance at us.

I shot her a glance. “”Problem?”

“Chaz’s family,” she said, inclining her head towards a group of men in suits with a single blond standing at their rear. All of the men were searching around with their hands on or near their pokebelts.

Sabrina tossed her head. “They’re more trouble than they’re worth, and they want to make a scene that will delay us.”

I growled lowly in my throat, only for the blond man to tilt his head and spot us. “There they—” the man started to shout, only for a pokeball on his pokebelt to disgorge a pokemon.

“Gorebyss!” shrilled the pretty pink pokemon as it locked eyes on us.

I tensed only for the group of security guards we’d stepped around to move as one onto the group. “Halt! Release of pokemon within the terminal is not authorised!” they shouted as suddenly the group collapsed upon them.

I hummed in thought as the group were dragged away. “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer family. They going to be a reoccurring issue?” I asked Sabrina.

She wobbled her hand. “Minor nuisance, like children leaping through your hedge,” she said.

I hummed in thought. “Still annoying.” I shot her a look. “How come we didn’t just Teleport away from them?”

“We’re within the airport still, with its emitters blocking me for a while yet. Also, we need to arrive in style,” she announced. “If we’re going to meet up with Celia, we need to show that we have just as much presence as Wallace or Juan,” Sabrina said, nodding at the driver who opened the door for us.

I settled in next to her while Kirlia went straight for the seat in front of the window where she proceeded to wind it down so she could stick her head out and peer at everything in sight.

“Kirlia Kir Kir Kirlia!” she said, waving at anyone who looked her way.

I chuckled. She was such a kid.

“So we’ll go to the hotel, get changed and then swing over to Wallace’s house?”

“Juan’s mansion,” Sabrina corrected as she played with her transceiver. A moment later a flurry of pings went off as a bunch of messages arrived.

I glanced at my own X-transceiver. If Sabrina had that many… I switched it off plane mode only to receive my own wave of pings as messages came in. I tensed when I saw several of them were Gym Leader warnings and calls for action from local Rangers.

“Relax,” Sabrina said, reaching out and putting her hand over mine. “Erika, Janine and Visquez handled it.”

“They did?” I asked which got a nod from her followed by a sigh of relief from me. “That’s good.”

I looked over my messages, deleting those that didn’t apply to me but had been sent out as a wide broadcast, no doubt. When I reached the Guardian-specific message detailing an after-action report, I put my hands over my eyes and cursed myself out.

The Giant pokemon of Pokemonopolis. I’d completely forgotten about that! I sighed. “I feel like I should have anticipated something like this,” I said aloud.

Sabrina shrugged. “I knew something was coming, but not what.” She locked eyes with me. “And before you ask why I didn’t remain, I know that it could be handled by others. A single pillar of support is not a well-supported structure. Others need to step up and carry some of the burden.” For some reason her gaze grew more intense as she said this, her eyes boring into mine.

“I’d have liked to make the call on that myself,” I said with a scowl but I was starting to feel this conversation had a deeper meaning to it.

“Did you know this was going to happen?” Sabrina prompted. “It can be a heavy burden knowing, or thinking you know the future,” she said softly.

I grimaced. I’d actually thought I’d negated this event from occuring with how Ash and the others had broken up. That along with Eve being employed at the Grampa Valley site should have been enough.

And yet… Urgh, I felt caught. I had some knowledge that it could happen but much like with Mewtwo that didn’t mean things would always play out the same way.

Heck if I was basing things on how they were supposed to go then Team Rocket was still supposed to be a global threat.

Instead we had Giovanni locked up with a majority of his organization while Jessie, James, and Meowth worked on the good side of the law.

Sabrina continued to watch me. She didn’t say anything, she just sat, watching, and waiting for my response.

I gave her a thoughtful look.

Had she known and not told me specifically so I’d feel this way?

There was no way a woman like her, who’d spent years with me hadn’t worked out that I knew more than I should.

I had too much insight into various events. I could justify some of them thanks to the Guardians and doing a lot of extra reading but there were still some events or things that I’d said that would have given me away.

She was far too observant. She must have known something was off. But even so she’d never pushed.

Even now I knew I could wave it off and she’d probably let the matter drop.

I drummed my fingers on the handrest to the side as realisation set in. I turned the last minute over in my mind. The way Sabrina had looked right through me as she said ‘A single pillar of support is not a well-supported structure’.

She was saying that she wanted to help me.

I sighed feeling an odd mix of defeat and relief. I straightened up and looked her in the eyes. “We need to talk.”

Her eyes widened, and she stiffened before a soft smile formed. “I suppose I deserved that,” she said to which I smirked.

I’d wait until we were in private, and then I’d share what I knew, or thought I knew of the world.

Hopefully, things would remain the same.

We didn’t end up talking in the hotel. I was much too paranoid for that. Instead I had Sabrina Teleport us to the Hoenn desert, or rather, the plateau where we’d first discovered Selene, Quirrina, and her Claydol.

I sat on the edge of a small lip and looked over the barren landscape.

Huh, now that I was in a situation like this I was starting to wonder how much I should say.

Probably all of it. I felt like I needed to be open with her here.

I just had to hope it wouldn’t change anything.

I took another breath, enjoying the way the harsh heat of the desert almost burned on the way into my lungs, then I began to speak.

I started from the beginning. Which entailed talking about a half remembered time before I’d even come to Kanto. It was a life which had been cut short… in a lot of ways that I was only really starting to understand.

I spoke of how I’d come to find myself in a world that I only knew through various forms of media but that there had been more to it in so very many ways.

When I told her about the importance of Ash Ketchum as the main character, she hummed with thought but let me continue.

I told her about how things might have gone with Mewtwo and she frowned before nodding her head. When I mentioned the cloning technology that I knew Mewtwo had used she merely accepted it.

I told her my future fears, with all the potential world-shaking events and how they might play out. In the anime, a lot of it focused on Ash.

When I was done Sabrina took a few minutes to simply sit and think. She didn’t look angry, or sad, or worried. Just thoughtful.

Eventually, she spoke up, “Hmmm so it’s not as bad as I feared.”

I shot her a raised eyebrow to prompt her to expand on that.

She gestured up and down at all of me. “You worry a lot when others risk themselves so much that I feared you’d have some plan to set yourself up to take on the world’s burdens.”

She laughed lightly. “I should have known that’s not you. You’ve instead been building everyone up as much as you can with the Gym.”

I nodded. “There have been some indications that things will still occur, but perhaps not as I thought they might. Mewtwo being… nice is certainly different,” I said testing the word and still finding it odd when applied to Mewtwo.

Sabrina nodded. “Anything else?”

“I thought I heard Celebri laughing once when I visited a shrine to the Guardian of the forest within Viridian. And just recently… I know something affected my computer systems to force Ash to fight Titan instead of Don.”

Sabrina frowned and opened her mouth only to reconsider what she was going to say.

I preempted her. “I have the Duckpond,” I said referring to the cluster of Porygon that swam through the Pewter Gym’s digital network. “Glitches don’t happen in my systems. Not unless something forces them. I also… I heard a trilling giggle that reminded me perfectly of what Mew sounded like,” I said.

Sabrina nodded slowly and once more we lapsed into a thoughtful silence.

I shifted, the biggest issue in my mind had yet to be addressed. “What do you think about our… relationship… knowing what you do now?” I asked tentatively.

She glanced at me. “I’ve always known you were more mature than others, even when you were playing up your childishness. It’s taken me a while to understand that, but at the time, I think I needed that. A mature friend to normalise things.”

She tilted her head. “How bad was I in the story you witnessed?” she asked.

I hummed, watching the horizon as I thought about how Sabrina in the anime had been shown. “You only showed up for a few bits and it was mostly to terrorise Ash, Brock and Misty by turning them into dolls.”

Sabrina blinked in surprise. “Well that’s something I’ve…” She frowned. “All three into Dolls at once?”

I watched her puzzle at that idea for a while, unsure if that was a good idea. Honestly at this point I was just glad she didn’t Teleport away from me.

“You’re not… bothered?” I asked.

Sabrina shook her head. “I’ve had theories about it that I’ve kept to myself. Especially with how much you let slip. I suspected that you might have matured faster than other children but from what I’ve seen you would have had to be an outlier by a highly improbable margin. Memories of another life? Well, that’s not so out there.”

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Sabrina shifted and leaned into me, putting her head on my shoulder.

It did a lot to ease my nerves that she wasn’t going to vanish on me. I wrapped my arms around her carefully.

“Thank you for not running for the hills when I demanded to join you,” she whispered. ”Especially knowing how I could end up.”

She tilted her head so I could see her smirk. “Or rather, how you might have ended up.”

I hummed. I hadn’t ever really thought about it that way before.

I watched the desert for a while more before a thought came to the front of my mind. “One thing I remember quite strongly from my last life? It’s easy to be mean and do hurtful things. Showing care and compassion? That can take effort, or it can be the easiest thing in the world,” I said tilting my head to mine lay atop Sabrina.

“Thanks for listening,” I said after a long moment of just enjoying each other’s company.

“Thanks for sharing,” she replied back.

I stared into her eyes for a while before chuckling. “Marry me?”

Sabrina giggled. “Of course, but I’ve thought of us as good as married for a while now,” she said.

I barked a laugh. Somehow that was such a Sabrina response I had to just agree with her. What had I been thinking? Of course, she’d have latched on and decided to never let go for something she wanted.

A glint on her finger caught my eye.

… how long had she been wearing her keystone on that finger? Had she just done that or… I just laughed and kissed her.

When I pulled back from the kiss I found that our surroundings had once again shifted with Sabrina Teleporting us to our shared suite of rooms.

Alakazam perked up from the chair he’d claimed for his readings only to blink and smile at us. “Kazam!” he said, congratulating us as he took in Sabrina’s happiness.

Kirlia began twirling faster and faster, growing giddy off her spinning but her giggles had preceded that.

I shot Sabrina a questioning look. Had Kirlia started feeling how happy Sabrina was and become even sillier than usual?

That caused a smirk to form. How happy was Sabrina right now if both pokemon instantly picked up on it?

Alakazam reached out and caught Kirlia before flashing away in a Teleport.

I found myself levitating towards the bedroom, and I had barely landed on the bed before Sabrina was on top of me and kissing me. Her hands laced with mine and I felt the ring pointedly dig into my hands.

Ah, it would seem Sabrina was ecstatic.

I grinned as she kissed along my jawline. “You know,” I said as a thought occurred to me, “The first ring only counts as an engagement ring, right? I’m going to have to get you another,” I pointed out.

Sabrina paused in kissing me and sat back causing me to curse my damn mouth.

Sabrina smiled. “I like the sound of that,” she declared before lowering herself once more to show her appreciation of this idea. “I’ll make sure it matches the one I get you,” she whispered into my ear.

I had to admit that I liked the sound of that.

Sabrina and I exited the limousine with Kirlia following after us. She was still giddily spinning as we proceeded up to the entrance of Juan’s mansion. We were then greeted by the dorman who handed us off to a butler after a cursory inspection.

While he did this Kirlia spun around us, acting like a crazed spinning top. Each member of staff that we passed ended up having Kirlia spin around them at least a few times before she returned to orbiting us.

The staff didn’t even bat an eye at her behaviour, and none of them commented on our late arrival.

I coughed, feeling a little silly with how Kirlia was acting but I knew for a fact that I wasn’t going to be able to get her to stop.

Sabrina was simply too happy. She’d also insisted on bringing Kirlia along which resulted in us having to endure Kirlia whirling like a dervish within the limousine.

When we finally made it to the ‘western sitting room’ we were met by a familiar face lunging at me. “Brock you made it!” shouted Celia as she launched herself at me for a hug.

I caught her and whirled her around. “I wasn’t going to miss it!” I declared.

Celia giggled as I continued to whirl her around only for Kirlia to join our impromptu game while Sabrina moved to greet Juan.

I set Celia down and gave her a proper look over.

She still had various symbols of the Boulder badge strewn about her body, but she’d changed in how they were portrayed. Previously she’d borne a topknot with a hair band featuring her badge. Now she had an elegant hairband with multiple small white quartz in the shape of the badge.

She no longer bore her midriff to the world but instead had a rather nice ruffled shirt with bulging sleeves which was tucked into a professional-looking black pants set with black slippers that glinted.

It appeared rather simple at first glance, but then I took another look at the ‘quartz’ on her headband and noted that they were very different stones.

I blinked and gave the rest of her outfit another look over.

Having spent a good deal of time with my tailors for fittings, I had experience with excellent quality and what Celia was wearing casually was now some of the best I’d seen.

Gone were the charity clothing she’d first worn when I met her at the orphanage.

Before me stood a confident, if polite young girl on the cusp of becoming a woman in truth.

She had very much ‘made it’ as some might say.

I smiled widely.

She’d come a long way from the orphan girl that I’d picked as my sponsor.

“You’ve grown up magnificently,” I declared, and Celia beamed at me before growing self-conscious and stepping back.

She looked down while scuffing her foot with a kick. “You think so Brock?”

“I know so,” I said. “I think coming to Hoenn has been one of the best things you could have ever done, and it shows within seconds,” I stated. I chuckled. “If this is how you look, I can’t wait to see you tomorrow during the tournament!” I declared.

Celia perked up and grinned. “I’m going to dance rings around them and flatten them!” she stated.

“Kiiiiiirlia!” chimed Kirlia as she spun past us.

Celia giggled and glanced down at the little psychic fairy. “Who’s this?” she asked.

I gestured to the side. “She’s Sabrina’s… companion,” I said unsure if I should just call her a ‘pseudo-little sister’. Companion seemed neutral enough.

Celia blinked before turning, only now noticing Sabrina’s presence. “Oh… she came as well,” she said only to blink when she caught sight of the ring on Sabrina’s finger. “O-oh,” she said, slumping slightly before straightening as Juan glanced at her.

She turned and smiled at me before I could question it. “Congratulations!” she said and I nodded.

Celia really had grown if she was able to spot the ring, understand what it meant, and take it with grace. I wasn’t unaware after all how she’d had a crush on me.

Hmmm. I hadn’t really considered how she might react to news like this. She’d known Sabrina and I were dating though so… It was perhaps a little cruel to rub it in her face, but I was perhaps the worst person to talk to this with.

I decided to focus on the positives for now. She was handling this very maturely.

“Thank you,” I replied earnestly. “It’s a new development and one that has made us both very happy,” I stated. As Kirlia spun past yet again my lips twitched upwards. “Very, very happy,” I said, making sure to not understate it.

Celia gave Kirlia a thoughtful look before glancing at Sabrina. “Huh, cute,” she declared.

I nodded towards Juan. “Introduce me?” I asked.

Celia nodded and stepped up. “Juan? May I have the pleasure of introducing you to my sponsor and first mentor, Brock of Pewter City!”

Juan tilted his head towards me in greeting. “Hmmm, well met Brock. I have to admit that I have been looking forward to meeting you, although with how much Celia has spoken of you, I felt like I already knew you!” he said with a small laugh.

I bowed my head a degree lower. “I have to express my thanks for the support you’ve provided my student. It’s apparent to me that she has flourished with your attention and aegis,” I said, pointedly adding the mention of Juan shielding her from any reprisals.

Juan blinked before laughing. “Ah! You mean the recent Justorian drama? I hadn’t been paying too much mind to it until some of their family reached out to me. They’re certainly cads aren’t they?”

I nodded, relief sweeping through me.

Celia blinked glancing from me to Juan. “huh? Justorian? What’s this about?”

I hummed only for Juan to rub a hand over his moustache. “Let us just say it is a case of wounded pride that has begun to be lanced and leave it at that.”

Juan slashed his hand through the air. “The Justorians will not be bothering you!” he declared.

I nodded. “Thank you again.”

He waved a hand. “Ah think nothing of it, I shall extend the same courtesy to you and your delightful companion,” he said, indicating Sabrina with a nod as she slipped her hand around my arm.

I shared a smile with Sabrina. “Bit of a shame, I was rather looking forward to watching them trip over themselves again.” Sabrina’s smile grew a touch more evil and Kirlia’s giggles gained an unhinged quality to them.

Juan’s eyes flickered to the various parties before scowling. “Again? They have confronted you beyond merely Chaz making a fool of himself abroad?” he asked.

I explained how they’d attempted to waylay us when we arrived, and Juan’s expression grew thunderous. “Those pompous…” he clenched his fists. “I explicitly extended guest rites to you and Sabrina with your invitation here. I even let it be known you were visiting me.” He turned and marched towards a cabinet, where he pulled out an amber liquid which had a rich scent to it.

Juan poured a thumb for himself and threw it back before exhaling.

“My apologies,” he said, waving at us. “I am a poor host to drink first but the temerity of some people leave me astounded! I shall have to be… reprimanding them,” he stated as he stared at his empty glass.

“So that’s what’s in there!” Celia declared suddenly. “I always wondered why I wasn’t allowed to touch those locked cabinets! That’s just your booze cupboard!” she declared.

I held in a snort of laughter as Juan sighed. “Celia dear… it’s a liquor cabinet…” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “We shall have to discuss your vocabulary another day.”

He nodded towards us and gestured to a set of doors. “Would you care to see how Celia has grown? I have stabled most of Celia’s team in preparation for the tournament, and a light warm-up against my Milotic should serve them well!” he declared.

I shared a look with Sabrina. I certainly wouldn’t say no to watching a former Gym Leader of Hoenn train, even if it was with kiddy gloves on.

We were led out into a resplendent garden with sweeping stairways and numerous water fountains. In the open spaces there was no less than four international pokemon battle fields.

From the top of the stairs you could look out over all four easily.

I took a moment to rest my hand on the balustrade, feeling a little like I’d suddenly been transported back in time to renaissance times. With Sabrina on my arm I felt no less than a duke surveying my lands.

Albeit, they weren’t actually my lands.

Celia grinned at me. “Feels kind of silly doesn’t it?” she said with a goofy smile that let me know she didn’t really mean those words. Behind her Juan gave an exasperated sigh.

Celia ignored him and grabbed me to lead me towards a sectioned off area where familiar pokemon stood around relaxing.

“Lizzie! Look who came!” Celia shouted, waving towards her starter pokemon, a Nidoqueen.

Nidoqueen perked up and grinned at us while the rest of Celia’s team turned to inspect us.

I looked them over. There had been lots of changes from what I could see from the team she’d set out of Indigo with.

Her team now featured, Nidoqueen, Jigglypuff, Blastoise, Electrode, Fearow, Vileplume, Marowak, Ninetails, Donphan, Graveller, Tropius, Vibrava, Delcatty, Nosepass, Poliwhirl, Whishcash, Altaria, Luvdisc, and a Feebas.

I whistled, impressed at the team composition. She didn’t have a fighting type yet but I suspected that she was going to aim for that with her Poliwhirl. I considered the additional water type pokemon she had taken on. She hadn’t had them before Juan. Perhaps some of his typing was rubbing off on her?

“You’ve certainly grown your team as well!” I said, noting the way the pokemon all had a certain glint or luster to them that indicated a high level of care. I held back a smirk, knowing that if I were to release Bertha here she’d appear covered in dust or mud.

It would be like unleashing a clueless villager into a noble party.

I resisted the urge to do it just barely.

I gave Feebas a lingering look. “You’ve taught her the method of evolving her Feebas?” I prompted.

Juan nodded. “A Prism scale from my own Milotic will suffice,” he said. “But I shall be holding it until I deem her ready. Her control and grace has certainly improved but to get the most out of a Milotic you need an instinctive understanding of beauty.”

I decided to just nod, sharing a look with Sabrina who smirked. She knew I had the meta knowledge for a lot of evolution after our talk. She’d been particularly interested in my understanding of shiny stones and how they worked with male Kirlia.

I had a feeling that once we were alone in the desert once again she was going to be asking a lot of very probing questions regarding pokemon evolution that I knew about.

I was kind of looking forward to it.

“So,” I glanced towards Juan. “You were going to give us a demonstration?”

Juan clapped his hands. “I shall keep the main show for my own Milotic but let us enjoy a warm up first no?”

I shot him a questioning look to which he smiled like a magician about to perform a trick.

“I, some of the other trainers have extended my patronage to attend us,” he said before lightly clapping his hands.

Instantly a pair of trainers, a young man and woman glided out from behind a garden wall. “Master Juan!” They greeted us with a bow.

I shot Sabrina a look. I hadn’t heard them approaching, nor seen any indication of Teleport being used. Had they just been… standing around waiting for Juan to give the signal?

Sabrina nodded slightly and I felt a little of Juan’s suaveness melt away at the reveal of his ‘trick’.

It didn’t stop me from sitting back to enjoy the show of Celia working through her entire roster to fight against various pokemon.

She even called out her Feebas to fight.

“Go! Emo!” she shouted.

I blinked before snorting out a laugh. “Emo?” I asked.

Celia grinned. “I keep telling him about his inner beauty but he’s just a big goth at heart! When I finally get him to evolve I’m going to dye his fins black!” she announced. ‘Emo’ perked up at this, apparently fully on board with this idea of Celia’s.

I was amused to see Juan grimace. The man seemed to be something of a purist when it came to pokemon, especially their appearances. Small additions such as piercings that Lizzie the Nidoqueen had in her ears seemed to cause a twitch in his moustache everytime he looked at them.

As I watched all of Celia’s pokemon weave and dance around attacks that usually would have required more energy even from my own, I had to admit that Juan’s training had been effective.

But I certainly enjoyed watching Celia dish out some devastating hits when she got the chance.

Sadly I never got the chance to watch Juan fight with his Milotic as just as the second pupil conceded the match, a bird’s cry rang out over the area causing everyone to look up.

A moment later a figure descended outlined against the sun only for them to be caught by a torrent of water that almost gently lowered itself to the ground where it swirled up into a twister before exploding into a shimmering mist.

I almost felt like applauding as Wallace posed in the centre of the battlefield.

“I bid you all good day and welcome to Hoenn!” he gushed, eyes flashing as he looked towards Sabrina and I.

Celia, her hand already on another pokeball slumped. “Wallace? Tsk! Stop appearing like that!”

“You shan’t deny me a grand entrance!” He declared.

Celia sniffed. “I’m just saying, save it for actually important events.”

Wallace shot her an annoyed look. “You are not cute,” he said snidely before whipping around to us.“I have heard that my fellow student’s first teacher has arrived in Hoenn! Greetings! I am Wallace of Sootopolis!”

Juan sighed. “Wallace, that was rather uncouth of you,” declared the older man.

Wallace merely smiled, standing from his pose as he ignored his old mentor. “Ignore that old fuddy duddy and his new project! Come! I have arranged a personal chef for us in the kitchens! I’m not going to take no for an answer! We simply must talk!”

I felt a small tick of annoyance at the interruption, only for a loud gurgle to come from Celia’s stomach. The ginger haired girl giggled. “Sorry! I got too nervous to have lunch! Did someone say food?”

Juan sighed and gave the two students that had fought and lost against Celia strong looks. “This is why I prefer you two most days. You don’t cause my hair to turn grey,” he declared.

I chuckled at that and decided to let Celia eat.

I had to admit that being able to talk with a potential future Champion was an attractive prospect, even if he seemed a bit overly dramatic.

He led us back into Juan’s mansion like it was his own home. I sat at the dining table only for a servant to ghost up to me with a menu of all things.

“Oh uhmmm, the roast farfetch’d looks wonderful,” I said absently as another servant lay a napkin in my lap while another poured sparkling water into my glass. I suddenly felt like I’d entered a high class restaurant, or a version of one at least with the number of staff rotating through with various tasks.

Within moments I found the table set, the water poured and even candles lit across the room to create an intimate experience.

Across from me Juan sat, looking not at all bothered by his home being used by his former pupil. Next to him Celia was staring at her menu. Next to me Sabrina sat with Kirlia on her other side but she kept her eyes locked on Wallace which let me know that something big was about to be discussed.

I turned to my right and looked at Wallace.

He’d swept in without a care and claimed the seat at the head of the table. He smiled benevolently. “I must say this is a fortunate meeting for me, both of you arriving today.”

“Fortunate?” I asked, tilting my head. I was still rather caught on how he’d taken the head of the table while in another’s house. Did that underline how familiar he was with Juan, or was it a sign of arrogance?

Wallace smiled. “Hmmm yes, some might even call it fated, for you see I have so very many questions for you both and I usually wouldn’t be able to simply call.” Wallace placed a small box on the table before everyone.

He waved an idle hand towards it. “Go ahead,” he said.

Before I could move to grab it, Sabrina used her telekinesis to open it.

A small orb with an orange and grey helix pattern within it stared back at me.