Hard Enough

“—ging Dr. Statham, paging Dr. Statham. Report to C wing please,” called a voice over the speakers. I sat in my chair ignoring it, and the building annoyance that came from having to wait in such a clinical setting. I had given up trying to be comfortable. These were hospital chairs, they weren’t made to be comfortable. That would result in people falling asleep or wanting to linger.

Hospitals were interesting places. You went there to get better, but you were never supposed to enjoy it lest you linger longer than you should. This was a universal truth that probably had to be drilled into designers. That, or it just so happened that the lowest cost chairs were also the most annoying to sit in.

“Broooooock how much longer?” Groaned Suzie from next to me. I rubbed her back.

“Soon little girl, soon,” I said in as consoling a tone as possible.

Coughing and sniffling erupting from my other side made me check on her twin. Timmy hadn’t thrown up again, but he hadn’t stopped sniffling and coughing which might be good? Or bad? I had no idea. I had each wrapped up in some blankets to keep them warm before I had dragged them with me to our family doctor.

Or I would have, had our doctor not decided to go on holiday to the Orange islands this week. I was less than pleased at this as this was one of those small life hassles that would have been much faster to fix with our personal doctor, or at least his clinic, being open. Money, as the saying goes, sure can solve problems.

Sadly you can’t always throw money at problems. So instead of having the issue resolved quickly, with an in-and-out visit to our family doctor, with me already home and me feeding my siblings chicken soup, we were waiting in the local hospital. The very full local hospital meant we had to sit in a waiting room waiting among other people that were sick or injured. Unlike the pokecenters it wasn’t a quick in and out with the healing machine or Chansey looking over the injured. So here we were until we got to see a doctor. Then we’d maybe get a prescription or some instructions if it was just a virus.

I rubbed my face and sighed heavily. I had been through this song and dance a lot over the last few years. I knew how it went from my past life with an ailing aunt that caused most of her own maladies. It didn’t make it better. It made me itch in annoyance.

“Growlithe!” Barked a small dog pokemon as it wandered over to Suzie and Timmy. It whined when they didn’t notice it. It inched forward and pushed its snout into Suzie’s face causing her to gasp in shock before giggling at the pokemon as it wagged its tail. I relaxed a little. It was good to see she could interact with a comfort pokemon like this. If she’d pushed it away she obviously would have been much worse off than I’d been aware.

Timmy watched on but didn’t get envious. He seemed more tired and resigned. Another wet snout touched him and he jerked in surprise to turn about and see a Flareon bumping into him. “Flare? Eon?” the pokemon asked with a tilt of its head.

“So warm,” said Timmy in a whisper.

I sat back and watched the two pokemon slowly make my siblings more comfortable. As fire types they had good control of their temperatures, and it looked like they were groomed with an eye for making them as cloudlike soft as possible. Timmy was more than happy to nuzzle into the Flareon while Growlithe was stroked by Suzie.

The receptionist glanced over at us and smiled before nodding at me. I returned the nod. As the ‘trainer’ for these pokemon she would have to have them cleaned off between each petting to not spread infection, but it was an effective method for keeping kids calm in a stressful situation.

A machoke accompanied an orderly with a clipboard. “Mrs. Adeline?” He said while looking around the room. An old woman raised her hand while a young man tried to help her to stand. The orderly walked up and waved his hand back and forth. “Sir, please let Machoke assist, she’s trained for carrying people safely.”

“Machoke!” The buff bodybuilder pokemon leaned down and picked up the elderly woman carefully.

“Oh! I’m being swept off my feet!” cried the woman as she was carried away.

“Choke! Ma!” I watched them go.

The Machoke had a rather well-defined back, but I suspected that was because she spent all day working out in one form or another. They wouldn’t be the only Machoke I’d see around the hospital either. For all that they were more known for their gym-junkie tendencies. Machop’s entire evolutionary line had long since been integrated into Hospital support. Now people could work as orderlies without the risk of developing chronic back pain, or ruptured discs, as pokemon that loved to lift things took the load. People also seemed to prefer the pokemon even over hoist systems.

They weren’t the only other pokemon that were ‘normal’ to see around a hospital either, with comfort pokemon like Growlithe also featuring in different centres.

I glanced to the side to spot a Bellosom floating around with a small spray bottle in her hands. Occasionally she would pause and spray herself before a tiny puff of gas would escape her.

It made the place smell a bit nicer while also helping with airborne bacteria. I watched her float around cleaning and cheering people up with her smells and chirps. A few times she even danced in front of a waiting patient to entertain them.

When she saw me watching she spun around a few times and skipped before puffing out some more sweet scent that had the Growlithe and Flareon both relaxing further into my sibling's grasp. I chuckled and gave her a head pat which she nuzzled into.

When I withdrew she gave a small, disappointed, “los!”

I shook my head and gestured to the rest of the room. As nice as it was to pet the pokemon, she had work to do and I didn’t want to be too much of a distraction. She patted me on the knee before sauntering off once more with a small song of her name playing out.

Another person came and sat down near me. “Brock?”

I glanced toward the voice. “Oh, Mrs Haridan. What brings you here?” For a woman with a mean-sounding name she seemed to exist to reject any thoughtless first impression. She had a ready smile and when she reached out and patted my hand I wasn’t surprised to find a butterscotch candy placed within.

“Oh nothing so major, I just had a sniffle.” She directed her watery eyes towards Suzie and Timmy. “Oh my, you’ve certainly got them bundled up! Are they bug pokemon?”

Suzie and Timmy seemed to have gotten a bit of energy back as they smiled at the older woman and chirped pokemon names at her. “Weedle!” “Caterpie!” “Meta-pod!” They chanted in unison before giggling into their hands as she dispatched more candy for them each.

I gave her a fond, if exasperated, look. I nudged the bucket closer to Suzie just in case her stomach acted up again. Mrs Haridan noticed the gesture. “Don’t worry I handcraft my candies to be gentle on stomachs!”

I nodded. “I should have suspected as much from the best chef in Pewter.”

She flapped a hand at me. “Pshaw! Don’t butter up an old woman like me! You should be out there chasing young lasses or being chased!” She gave me a searching look. “Have I introduced you to my daughter?”

“I believe she’s married already Mrs Haridan.”

She tapped her chin at that pesky setback. “My granddaughter?”

“Still on her journey no?” I said after thinking for a moment.

The old woman nodded. “Rather enjoying the Sevvi Islands last I heard from her. I’ll have to make her swing by to train at your gym! I’m sure after your recent tete-a-tete with Lance she’d be very open to having you offer pointers!”

I shrugged at her, I probably would have indulged her but it had been… a very, very long day with the interviews along with not really enough sleep. So instead I diverted to a safer topic. “So any thoughts on how to get dinner to stay down? I’m thinking chicken soup, but I only have so much stock in the kitchen right now. Any tips to stretch things out?”

She perked up and began questioning what I had in my kitchen. In truth, I had lots of things. I always made sure the pantry was stocked —if locked at night— to handle the kids and the Munchlax we’d taken on. That didn’t stop her from outlining how to cook what sounded like an amazing recipe.

“This an old family secret?” I asked jokingly.

She waved her hand daintily. “Oh goodness no! I got it from a magazine years ago! I tell my family it is though!” She giggled into her hand and I shook my head.

“Brock!? Mr Brock?” Called a nurse. This time they were accompanied by two Machops that had a bed between them. It was at times like this that my lack of a last name really stood out to me. It wasn’t considered strange her though and some people even seemed oddly proud of not having one. It obviously had some cultural or historical context that I hadn’t been told about yet.

I stood and nodded to Mrs Haridan. “I’ll cook that soup when we’re done here. Thanks for the recipe.” I flipped the notepad closed and looked to Suzie and Timmy. “Want the Machops to wheel you into the Doctor?”

“Yeah!” They said as one before groaning as they got a bit dizzy from trying to move. The Machops quickly moved to support them. The small humanoid forms gently lifting the smaller humans. Then they marched back to the bed they had brought before placing the kids onto it.

“Chop! Chop! Ma!” They said as they worked. The orderly gave my siblings a smile.

“Feeling a bit under the weather are we?” My siblings nodded into their blankets, withdrawing further in shyness. When the man turned to me I handed him a small folder.

“Our usual doctor is on holiday and his entire practice is closed up.”

“Ah yeah, thankfully it's not the worst weather to come up to the hospital.” He glanced over their medical history with a hum before nodding slowly. “Seems all up to date. Anything to note?”

“Suzie has been vomiting up food and feeling drowsy, while Timmy has been sneezing green phlegm and getting stuffed up, he also threw up earlier. I’m not sure if it's the same thing but because they share a room at the moment I thought it better get them both looked over.” The nurse merely hummed in thought before giving the kids another friendly look.

“Right! Let's get you to Dr. Pritchard, he’ll have you all seen to as quick as a zoomy Zigzagoon!”

A quick walk through the hospital halls had us passing the maternity ward where Chansey and Happiny bounced around with their own carts. When we reached the paediatrics wing I saw a number of brightly coloured rooms with nurses wearing vibrant coloured scrubs walking around, and interacting with the kids. I chewed my lip hoping that this wasn’t about to turn into an overnight trip. I’d need to run a number of chores or have someone else handle them at the very least if so.

Before I could get too stuck into the rabbit hole of that line of thinking the nurse opened the door and a young male doctor looked up from his paperwork. “Ah! Brock.” He looked to the two bundled-up kids on the bed being pushed by two machop. “So you must be Suzie and Timmy, let’s have a look at you shall we?”

He was quick with his assessment. Much like the nurse I had to repeat the same information while allowing him to look over the twins medical records. Then he felt up their thyroids and listened to their breathing with a stethoscope.

“Cold!” Said Timmy when it was his turn, squirming away from the metal on his chest. One of the machop jumped onto the bed and began flexing at him.

I could just imagine the little pokemon reprimanding him and saying “Don’t be a sissy. Be tough like me! Don’t worry about the cold! Look at these muscles!” The rather mediocre guns display ended before the other Machop could get a chance to argue with the other pokemon. It served as a good distraction for Timmy as the doctor got through the assessment without any other complaints.

“Hmmm, I think you’re on the money. You won’t be able to treat this with anything normally available. I’m going to write up a prescription for you. Want me to have them bill and deliver it to your home?”

“Please,” I said, happy that in this world things were often more streamlined. The pharmacy really went out of its way to prescribe and deliver. Especially to young or elderly clients. Just as long as you signed on with a spending account that is. But then again, people had to eat and get paid for the work they did.

“Now I assume you know not to teleport home yes?” Dr Pritchard turned to me.

“Yeah. No teleporting sick or injured unless it's an emergency. Otherwise, you might make it worse or lose something,” I recited the pokemon first aide course I had to undergo as a Gym Leader. The Doctor nodded at me. There had been a rather famous case a few years ago of a man being mauled by a Pidgeot in the wild. It had left his arm barely hanging on. The man had decided to teleport instead of being transported to the hospital. Parts of him had never arrived.

It was still considered a good call but one that highlighted the dangers. For the sick, it often resulted in intensified conditions. Sick people might find their sickness slightly displaced resulting in a worsened condition.

“Did you want some help taking them home?” He gestured to the Machops that were putting on a muscle show to my siblings.

“You kids want these strong pokemon to carry you home?” Timmy thought about it but Suzie shook her head to reach out toward me. I plucked her up without complaint. She hopefully wouldn’t throw up on me again but I had a spare shirt in my backpack. Timmy pointed at one of the Machop that raised its arms like it had just won a bantamweight boxing championship. The other slumped.

With that taken care of, I passed by the reception and settled up the bill before trudging home. Besides me, Timmy held onto the machop’s shoulder having gone for a ‘pony ride’. As we walked I looked over the white-topped mountain ranges that now surrounded Pewter. Thankfully it hadn’t snowed today, but the city employed fire types and onix to keep the roads clear so that wouldn’t have been a large issue even if it had snowed. Still, I had made sure to bundle the kids up with the colder wind making them huddle into their blankets.

On the way home I passed by a man that was simply sitting and watching the road toward the gym. Most people would have ignored him. The man made a wonderful rock impression with how still he was. Combine that with his dishevelled appearance you wouldn’t be wrong in thinking he had obviously been roughing it for a long while now.

The man turned his head when he heard us approaching. He stiffened when he saw us. I didn’t make a show of acknowledging him. I merely looked to Suzie and Timmy who weren’t paying attention to their surroundings. Suzie looked like she was trying to sleep while Timmy was trying to urge his Machop to jump.

“Hey Suzie, do think you’ll be able to eat some soup when we get home? I think you need to eat something with this medicine,” I said out loud.

“Mmmmm,” she grumbled before burying herself deeper into my back.

When we came level with Flint, Timmy sneezed and I heard the splatter of snot impact Machop’s shoulder.

“Ma! Macho!” cried the Machop before sighing and patting the bundled up boy on his back when Timmy apologised.

I leaned over and wiped the snot. “That’s good manners Timmy. Sorry Machop, let me get you cleaned up.” Even as I did so I felt my eyes shift towards Flint to see how he was reacting. The man had curled into himself and was staring at the ground.

I felt something bitter rise up and I opened my mouth to ask if he didn’t want to do anything. Anything at all. I wanted to grab at that feeling and lash out. I felt something dark filling me and for a moment I consider—

Suzie grumbled and her stomach gurgled. “We going home?” I bit back what I was going to say, watching Flint pointedly not look at us.

I pushed the feelings aside. “Yeah we’re going home Suzie, come on Timmy.”

I didn’t look back as we walked on. Instead, I very pointedly entered the house. Thanked Machop. Collected the medication when it arrived. Cooked Mrs Haridan’s soup and fed the kids. I stayed very quiet throughout.

I felt if I had said anything else I might have bitten out the words and that wasn’t a good behaviour to have around small children. I made sure to make enough so that the entire family that was present… That was in the house, I corrected mentally, could eat the soup for lunchtomorrow.

Then I deposited the kids into bed. I layed on the floor next to them to monitor them for a while.

Suzie blearily watched me and shifted back and forth. I fluffed her pillow, trying to make her more comfortable. She lay still but kept watching me. “Brock? Can you sing to me?”

I rubbed a hand down my face. “Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer a story? You know I’m bad at singing.”

“You’re not… you just don’t get to practise enough,” she said.

“Who told you that?”

“My kindergarten teacher, she says nobodies born good at something, they have to practise, practise, practise,” said Suzie with a sing-song tone, then she coughed a little. I patted her back.

“You really want me to sing?” I rubbed my chin. It had been a long time since I’d last sung for my siblings. I used to do it a lot… back when I first came home and Billy and Tilly had been tiny. I’d stolen songs like, ‘you’ll be in my heart’ by Phil collins, the lion sleep—luxray in this world—,… or at least as much as I could remember of it. I had some notes about it and other scribblings of my past life in my office locked away.

I could only sing by the most charitable measure of skill. I typically tried to sing with a low slow style. I usually got off with the kids preferring my stories where I could do a ton of different voices. But tonight apparently was a song night. I wasn’t going to deny her. So instead I laid my head against the wall and sang something I’d adapted from my past life.

“Man~, I feel like hell tonight,

Tears of rage I cannot lie

I'd be the last to help you understand

Are you hard enough to be a man?

My man,” I dragged the words out, eyeing Suzie as she yawned but continued to watch me. So I kept singing.

“Nothing's true and nothing's right

So don’t leave me alone tonight

'Cause you can't change the way I am

Are you hard enough to be a man?”

I sighed out the next words as Suzie’s eyes slowly closed.

“Lie to me

I promise I'll believe

Lie to me

But please don't leave

Don't leave,” I sang before making to stand I got to the door before Suzie coughed. I checked her over but she was now fast asleep. When I left the room I found Yolanda waiting outside the door.

She smiled at me. “They alright?”

“They’re sleeping now.” I patted her on the head and heaved a sigh. “I’m gonna get some sleep myself. Night.”

“Night Brock.” She hugged into my side, “love you,” she said into my ribs.

I mirrored her words and headed straight for my room where I collapsed into bed. I let my mind wander. Everyone was in bed now, right? My family was fine? They’d been fed hadn’t they? I vaguely remembered Yolanda heating something up from the freezer for the others while I’d been busy.

I tried to relax and force sleep to claim me.

It didn’t work.

My mind kept going to the walk back to the gym and what had happened.

Could I really leave Flint to look after my siblings? I kept coming up with an answer that made me chase my tail. He’d seen us! He couldn’t deny that! And… he just sat there.

I wasn’t the person that had had so many kids. I had never signed on for this. I’d known it was coming though. I’d tried to avoid it. Part of me hated myself for that.

Part of me longed for the open road again and I despised that part of me that knew it was a selfish reaction.

Life was easy when you were on the road. You lived day to day without too many worries. It made you more… present? I wasn’t sure how, but it made you focus on the now. It was easy to be free when you didn’t have any responsibilities. It was one of the best things about living in a pokemon world. Everyone understood that, it was why pokemon journeys were so prevalent in our culture. Sadly they could be addictive if the number of single parents was any indication.

I’d had mine and loved it. I’d despaired when I’d been called back early. But I had made the best of the situation.

I looked at the walls of my room, imagining the walls beyond them. There were strong walls around a strong gym. I looked at the colours and toys I’d collected spread across the room. My siblings were happy and had most of what they needed.

If I only wanted to consider my happiness, I would do as Flint did and walk out the door. I grit my teeth at that comparison. And it was a comparison. If I left, wouldn’t I be no better than him? Did I know that I needed to accompany Ash on his journey? Brock in the anime had been a stabilising feature that cooked meals and helped look after pokemon. He’d also been a recurring joke with his failed flirtations with women. He might not have been the main character, but he had his role to play in guiding said character. Did that make it an apples to oranges situation then?

What about the gym? What about all the work I had put in?

I turned over and tried to get comfortable. I could feel the fatigue in my bones. I felt tired. It was an experience I’d gotten used to in my older life. Now I was not even sixteen and I was already feeling like an old man. Maybe it was just my old soul? Or, and this had taken me a while to understand through experiencing it enough in my past life, maybe I was just having a no-good-rubbish day. You got those sometimes. I’d bounce back. Sometimes we all struggle a bit in the dark after all.

I chuckled to myself at the accidental pun. Then I grimaced, sitting up to fluff my pillow. Maybe that needed to be changed out soon? I wasn’t getting more comfortable despite my efforts.

Yup.

Today was one of those days.

Those no good, rough days that made you feel like you were about to either be kicked or do some kicking yourself. I felt my eyes slide shut as I breathed out loudly.

I had no idea when I next opened my eyes, but I did so to find myself looking into red eyes. I was held in a blanket that was scooping me up from the floor and carrying me. Had I rolled out of bed? Or had I eventually decided to try sleeping on the floor? I… couldn’t really recall.

I dozed with my eyes just barely opened. When I was set into bed I felt a softer form lay down behind me and wrap me in a hug. I had to wonder what Sabrina was doing here.

My sleeping mind offered up the answer. “Had a rough night, yourself?”

The form behind me nodded once. “I tried spending some more time outside… with my father and mother. We ended up with a lot of people wanting something from us. Mother wanted me to stay though so… I stayed,” said Sabrina.

I rolled in her arms and lay an arm over her. She stared at me and I smiled at her. “Yeah… sorry. That happens sometimes,” I said lightly trying to let myself fall back asleep. I hadn’t realised it but I had been rather cold down there. Thoughts could get heavy sometimes. I could only imagine how being a psychic could make things harder.

“Thanks for picking me off the floor,” I said with my eyes shut as sleep claimed me.

I woke up the next morning alone. Next to me, a small depression marked where another body had laid. I sighed and sat up before making my way out to start a new day. I found myself slightly more relaxed than I had been though. I hummed and shot Sabrina a message to thank her, even if she’d needed me, her being there last night had helped.

I headed out and found all of my siblings' bar Suzie and Timmy already fed and getting ready for school. Suzie and Timmy were still sleeping. I sent them off and when my sick siblings woke up, got them to eat something.

Then Georgina called to tell me she had no paper work for me, leaving me to enjoy a lazy morning on the couch, watching cartoons with my siblings. Today already seemed to be off to a better start.