Hard Enough

Chapter 218: Pewter Academy talks

Lance sauntered into the Gym’s trainer lounge only for Dennis to stand in his way.

“I’m sorry sir, but you can’t be in here, this area is not open to the public,” Dennis said.

Lance stared at the man while I chuckled. It seemed that adding glasses, a cap and a change of clothes from his usual attire was enough to throw Dennis off. The rest of the room glanced up only to stiffen when they caught sight of Lance.

Rachel held her hands in front of her face and held back a squeal.

Huh, it seemed like only Dennis wasn’t seeing through the ‘disguise’.

Lance took off his glasses and his cap and smiled like he was stepping onto a red carpet and not into my trainer lounge. “I think you can make some exceptions,” Lance said pleasantly.

Dennis stared at him for a moment. Then he reached out and put a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “I’m sorry sir, but like I said this area is not open,” he said as he marched Lance out of the room.

Lance’s slack-jawed expression as Dennis frog marched him out made me wish that I had my Xtrnacieveir set to record my surroundings.

“Eh? Wait! I’m the Champion of Indigo!?” said Lance as Dennis got him to the door. Lance’s hands shot out and braced against the frame.

Dennis frowned. “Yes and this is a restricted area,” he said. “Being Champion doesn’t entitle you to just come walking in here.”

I couldn’t help it. I started giggling. The giggle quickly turned into full-on belly-shaking laughter as Lance shot me a betrayed look.

“This is not funny Brock! I don’t find this prank funny!” he said as he struggled with Dennis; some of his draconic pride must have been besmirched as I felt his Dragon energy flaring up as he grew angry. I noted that Dennis was starting to lose their little wrestle.

I held my sides and stopped laughing long enough to wheeze out, “It’s not a prank. Dennis is being serious, which just makes it even better!” I said, before waving a hand at the pair of them. “Dennis it’s cool, it’s cool! Lance is a friend even if he wasn’t escorted in,” I said.

Dennis stopped manhandling the champion. “I see!” He nodded at me and then at Lance. “Sorry about that Champion, but security protocols mean we need to be aware of infiltrators!” he said stolidly.

Lance blinked. “That… is actually a very good reason to not let someone claiming to be me walk around,” he said, his energy dying down.

Dennis nodded seriously and marched back to sit next to Rocko who bumped him with his shoulder.

“You’re off the chain man,” Rocko whispered to Dennis.

A.J. shot Dennis a firm nod. It seemed he approved of what Dennis had done. I set myself up to watch A.J. in case he got it in his head to challenge Lance. I turned that idea over in my head before humming.

Actually, there wasn’t a reason not to if he tried it.

He should already know he didn’t stand a chance considering how his match against one of Kong’s best went. Still, it didn't mean he couldn’t learn things from a friendly against Lance. It was rare to get to fight against a Dragon trainer at all, in fact, due to how rare most dragon-type pokemon were.

“Ahem!” Lance said as he stood before me.

“Hmm? Yeah, sorry I was just thinking of something,” I said, giving my best Kakashi impression.

Lance shot me an unimpressed look and I smiled up at him. “Take a seat Lance, it’s nice to see you. Did you enjoy the show?”

Lance glanced around for a seat only for the trainers that had been sitting across from me to launch themselves out of their seats only to then fight each other over who would offer their seat up to Lance first.

Lance didn’t even bat an eye at their behaviour and I just shook my head. Dennis swept in and collected the pair of young trainers before marching them out of the room. “Shameful,” he muttered under his breath.

Bethany the receptionist approached Lance. “Would you care for a drink dear boy? I won’t have it said that my place of employment lacks manners,” she said firmly.

I coughed and looked away. Right, I should have offered that along with the seat.

Lance shot me a smirk having caught the shot sent my way. He reached into his pouch and produced a bag of coffee beans. “Can you grind this into a straight black coffee?”

When Bethany made no move to accept the bag Lance blinked. Bethany raised her eyebrows at him and he coughed. “Please,” he said, tacking the word to his previous statement.

I snickered, recalling that he’d been called out on that with Sabrina and Ralts last time as well.

Lance rolled his eyes at me. “To answer your earlier question, I did enjoy the show. You make a very good spectacle of your Elite match, which I have no doubt will draw in more trainers and spectators.”

I nodded and gestured towards Rachel. “The basics of the match have stayed the same but I have to thank Rachel for the hype and the promotion of it this year,” I said easily.

Lance offered Rachel a nod and she smiled back giddily. Lance frowned at her wrist. “Are you recording this?”

Rachel glanced down. “Oh shoot I just went into journalistic mode when you showed up! Sorry!” she said, turning it off.

I blinked. Wait, did that mean she’d caught that earlier scuffle? That would be hilarious if so.

Lance and I both opened our mouths to say something only for Bethany to plop down a tea service with two pots on it.

I stared at the trays of biscuits, sponge cake, and fine china. Where had she... I shook that thought off. She, like many others, had access to a storage bag that would no doubt hold a lot of such goodies if I didn’t miss my guess.

Still, that was damn impressive to whip together in the last few seconds we’d been talking.

“Thank you, Bethany,” I said.

Lance nodded, his own eyes locked on the coffee pot. “You ground the beans and—”

Bethany handed him back his bag before producing a matching bag. “I too, enjoy a good drink,” she said with a nod.

Lance smiled at her and accepted a drink from her before she served me some tea. She then claimed a seat near the side, her own coffee cup in front of her. For all intents and purposes she looked like she was presiding over a tea party and not an impromptu meeting of rivals.

I shook my head at the absurdity of it before restarting the conversation. “I’m surprised to see you down here,” I said. I had a niggling thought that I was forgetting something but couldn’t recall quite what.

Lance waved a hand about. “We’ve processed most of Team Rocket and locked down what resources we can. Now things are slowing down with secondary arrests for corruption being a good deal slower as we determine who was coerced and who was crooked as a Sudowoodo.”

I paused at that imagery and chuckled. “I think you’re letting them off lightly. If anything they’d be like ditto, formless until they need a shape that appeals to another,” I said.

Lance nodded amicably and for a moment we merely enjoyed our drinks.

“I think I shall have to copy you,” Lance said after a moment. I raised an eyebrow for him to continue and he waved a hand towards the doors which led to the battlefield. “The Elite challenge. It is a very good idea. It will make your pokemon a lot more robust and capable for big matches. I think I might adopt it for some friendly matches with some offered rewards for trainers,” he said. “It’s something I’m toying with anyway,” he tapped at his temple to show this was all theoretical.

I flicked my eyes to A.J. and he sat up, hmmm Lance might get a ‘test case’ soon.

“Careful you might stretch yourself too far. It can be easy for me as I have a fairly diverse list of pokemon to pick from while you’re stuck with dragon or flying types for a lot of your team. Rock can branch out more.” I said. I tilted my head in thought. “Also there’s nothing wrong with some niche picks,” I said thinking of Shuckle. Sadly the shuckle we’d acquired recently hadn’t been interested in fighting at an Elite level. They’d do well enough in the Gym but I was hoping for something crazy.

I really wanted to test how viable a Shuckle could be in a top-tier match and that wouldn’t come about for a while yet it seemed. Then again it might be too meta.

Lance hummed. “Worth considering.” he then directed a look at me. “I noted that your Steelix technically doesn’t meet the rock typing requirement,” he said with a twitch of his lips.

I scoffed. “Steelix comes from Onix who are pretty much the example Rock type pokemon.”

Lance tutted with reproach. “Ah but is that truly enough?”

I shook my head at him. “My Gym, my rules. Also, I doubt anyone’s going to give up a chance to tangle with a pokemon that can mega evolve,” I said, my eyes shifting towards the bracer he wore that housed a gem with a rainbow-like helix in the middle.

“True,” he said as he put a hand over his forearm. He raised a finger to point it about. “Also, I’m going to be putting some pressure to loosen restrictions around the Grampa Canyon dig site. We need more insight into Mega stones and if you think there might be something there, we’ll need Megarock inc to not be hindered by other disciplines tripping the company up,” he said.

I nodded. “I don’t want to ride roughshod over them just as much as I don’t want the same for us. I think it’s going to be tough. The find is rather significant, and who’s to say that the historical site doesn’t tie in with Mega stones in some way?” I said.

There might be more of a chance for Pokemonopolis to link to Gigantification if I was perfectly honest but that was a stretch. All I had to go off for that was the Pallet site where there had been giant Gengar, alakazam, and a Jigglypuff.

The last two weren’t known for gigantification in the games so that rather muddied the waters. I’d need to dust off my notes.

Who had Gigantification evolutions?

Lapras, Machamp, Pikachu, Gengar, and several other pokemon that I could think of off the top of my head. I’d need to do some revision.

“Hmmm I hope that’s not the case or we’re going to face a lot of angry people in future about the tampering with heritage sites.”

I was glad that he hadn’t said something like ‘destruction of heritage sites’ as others like Steven Stone might have.

An alarm went off before I could say anything else. A quick glance had me grimacing, “Ah sorry, I’m giving a talk at the Pewter Academy regarding environmental impacts on pokemon to the students before the next round challenge hits me,” I said.

Lance perked up. “Oh yes? You take part in the evaluations for that? How have they been doing?” he asked.

Alexa giggled and I made a show of distaste.

“Ah,” Lance said correctly reading my expression that things weren’t going well.

I downed the last of my tea earning a reprimanding look from Bethany which I ignored as I stood. “Thanks for coming around and thanks for the tea service Bethany,” I said before looking back to Lance. “Sorry to ditch you like this.”

Lance weighed up what he was going to say before shrugging. “I wouldn’t be able to attend your talk, as I have meetings this afternoon. A shame,” he said. He drank another sip from his mug. “Ah well I shall enjoy the moment as they say,” he said.

I huffed at him only to shoot a smirk his way. “Think you could entertain some of my staff with some training?”

Everyone in the room perked up as Lance raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

I waved a hand at the assembled group of young trainers. “Think you could handle a few speed matches like they run in Johto rail stations?”

Lance smirked. “I still hold the record for fastest in Goldenrod station,” he said proudly.

I decided to not point out how else that statement could be misconstrued. Instead, I turned to the others. “Think any of you would be interested in a match against the Champ?” I said.

A lot of people nodded, while A.J. strode to the front as though demanding the others ‘get in line’. I shook my head and pointed to Dennis. “I think the senior Gym trainers should lead the way this time around.”

Lance smirked as Dennis locked eyes with him.

I sighed, knowing I was going to be missing out on some interesting exchanges, but sadly I’d made commitments that I planned to keep. “You coming, Rachel?” I said.

She slumped her eyes tracking the forming group as Lance led the other trainers back to the Gym proper where they’d get something truly rare, a battle against the current Champ and his pokemon.

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“I was kinda hoping to film those matches and post them on the Gym’s pokenet page,” she said as she slumped after me.

I clapped her on the shoulder. “Think about it this way. Lance wouldn’t appreciate us profiting off him that much without his input. Also, I think the others wouldn’t want people watching fights that see them get thrashed.”

‘You don’t think anyone will win against him?” said Rachel as we made it outside.

I shook my head. “He’s not a sleeping dragon anymore,” I said cryptically. I released Zephyr as Rachel donned some goggles and got onto Zephyr behind me.

With a loud beating of wings, Zephyr took flight and carried us to the southeast where the Pewter Technical Academy was.

When I landed I took in the view of the well-kept grounds.

I’d been here a few times in the past for evaluations and even made the odd appearance as a guest lecturer, but Flint’s revelation about the previous owners of the buildings made me really stop to take it all in.

Pewter Technical was nothing short of opulent. The grounds were well curated and expansive, with no less than seven grass-battling areas along with a number of pools. I’d gotten a tour when I first came here and had learned all about the river rapid pools they had along with the state-of-the-art cinema room.

Knowing what I did now, I had to wonder why they’d never mentioned the donation that… Lola had made of the place.

It should have only been twenty or so years at most?

It didn’t look like they’d built anything new but then again if they did it would have been a costly endeavour to match the building materials to the white marble pillars and cornicing that dominated the visible surfaces.

My family… or rather Lola’s had once owned this? I walked through the halls quietly, making my way past a number of classrooms. My feet didn’t even make a noise thanks to the soft, lush carpet that ran down the middle.

I’d been to some nice schools in both of my lives, but this was easily one of the nicest. It was what I imagined when I thought of Eton, or Princeton. An elite private school.

It kind of made me mad thinking about how nice this place was, and how until two years ago, my family had been living out of the Pewter Gym which had been owned by the city in truth.

It had been a rough existence with a lot of dirt.

And here was something that Lola had just given away.

According to Flint she had done this due to the thoughts of family weighing her down too much, but comparing this to the home most of the family had been raised in… I just couldn’t agree with the decision.

I snorted and shook my head.

Lola always brought up dark thoughts in me. I walked into another corridor where the Deputy-Headmaster was dancing from foot to foot. He perked up and waved when he spotted me.

Then again, it was certainly rather interesting that my family never seemed to get mentioned for the donation. One would think they’d make a bigger deal of it.

“Deputy-Headmaster Dundlinger,” I greeted the man with a nod.

“Ah! Gym Leader! You’re just in time! Thank goodness you’re here! We’ve had a few interested parties decide to join the children today so we thought it prudent to use the assembly hall for your talk today instead of the usual classroom!” said the man.

I blinked before chuckling. “Professor Oak is here with a few other people?”

Dundlinger nodded. “Indeed! I- that is We didn’t think it wise to deny them. It certainly has the children more interested than usual!” he said.

I snorted and waved for the man to lead on which he did at a trot. I shared a look of amusement with Rachel as we powerwalked our way to the assembly hall. We had to make our way through the rose garden which was filled with a number of tame-looking Oddish and Vileplume.

No Glooms I noted.

I suppose it would rather offend the young sirs and madams to have to endure such smells on their walks between classes and break times. Somehow I just knew that Erika wouldn’t appreciate that little feature.

When we crossed the passage, I paused in the doorway to look over the structure. It was a large octagonal building with hard wooden floors and a raised alcove with another wooden platform that supposedly served as the speaking platform for the Headmaster and others. For today it would be where I stood, but with the knowledge this had once been a rich family's house. I could see how this room would serve as an amazing ballroom with the stage set up for singers and musicians.

Some memories I had along with the odd comment I’d overheard around Pewter suddenly clicked into place.

Lola had been raised with a ballroom which more than likely got used a lot in her youth.

For her attending balls and events would have been the done thing. I recall hearing people mention that Flint and Lola had friction between them over her continued attendance of such events.

Had Lola been missing that part of her upbringing? Was that what made her attend so many balls and events?

I shook it off and marched to the front where I found a row of young and old people in white lab coats conversing with each other rather loudly. Behind them sat row upon row of staring students. More than a few eyes were locked on Professor Oak who was holding court from his place in the middle of the row. I might have waved or called out but the figure next to me left me gobsmacked.

Was that Alakazam in a lab coat? I stared a while and the hyper-intelligent pokemon must have felt my stare as it glanced in my direction and offered a nod before facing the front.

Huh, alright then. I adjusted my attire as Rachel peered around.

I noticed that while the Professors and their aides were being loud, that didn’t mean the students were simply sitting there.

“That’s Professor Whitemore! He’s my Granduncle! If you want I could put in a good word for you,” whispered one boy.

“Impressive that they all came in like that!”

“I thought Brock’s lecture was rather simple and boring?”

Another student snorted at this. “That was before he proved just how much he’d been holding back. It was all theory this and potential that! Then he proved he knew what he was talking about and that he was right!” said another.

Rachel broke off from me to take a position on the back wall where she began assembling camera equipment. The motion drew a few nearby eyes which resulted in a tidal wave of, “Oh! Shhhh, he’s here!” rippling out through the kids.

When it hit the professors I was amused to see it carried on, if perhaps in less polite terms.

I marched forward as a few heads were slapped only for a small scuffle to break out with more than a few annoyed glares shot around. Samuel perked up and waved as I moved to the front with the Deputy Headmaster.

I gave him a wave back and took a seat to the side of the podium.

Dondelinger approached the podium and cleared his throat. When this wasn’t enough to get them all quiet, what with a few adults still tussling I saw a vein in the side of his neck bulge. “Children! Silence!” he roared suddenly.

The professors all straightened in their seats while the students adopted affronted looks.

Dondelinger shot the actual children an apologetic look. “Sorry, force of habit,” he said. “I have the pleasure of introducing a man who has made regular visits to our fair institute in the past. The level of said teaching he has offered have certainly garnered a lot more attention than in the past, so it was decided to house this talk in the assembly hall. It… should go without saying that you are to be on your best behaviour. Any rule-breaking will see you in detention and your parents being called.”

A few of the adults giggled at this, only for the Deputy Headmaster to give them a stern look. “Don’t think I won’t call them,” he said.

He then muttered something that the microphone didn’t catch. “Even if I have to have a Haunter or Gengar stand in for a few of them,” he said darkly.

I bit my lips, pausing to sync up my presentation on my Xtransciever with a projector at his statement.

I had no doubt that some of those trickster spirits would love dressing up and pretending to be sad parents to some of the older professors. Although… with some of the research done into the Gastly line… that might be a bit close to home for a few people.

Deputy Dondelinger cleared his throat once more. “Without further ado, may I present, the Gym Leader of Pewter City, Brock,” he said as he stepped to the side, his hands clapping together to trigger a round of applause.

I stood, waved and gave my best PR smile. “Thank you Deputy Dondelinger for that introduction. As he said, I’m Gym Leader Brock and I’m here to discuss the impacts that an environment can have on growth. Now this doesn’t just need to be about pokemon.” I waved a hand around us.

“Take this hall for example, in the past we did these talks in classrooms that were comfortable and friendly. Now we talk in the assembly hall where I am forced to talk into a microphone. What impact does this have for us?” I said leadingly.

I stared out at a sea of blank, if polite faces staring back at me. I smiled encouragingly before chuckling ruefully when no one spoke up or raised a hand. “How about I start? For one, the back and forth of students being able to ask questions is not as easy. There’s a lot more eyes and a lot less friendly environment isn’t there?”

A few heads nodded. And a few people, notably those in the front rows, perked up. “You’re accepting questions?” asked one such man in a white coat.

I nodded. “I like to make this a very informal style of talk. This is not a lecture but a discussion.”

“Are you… just talking about this or will you be talking about pokemon environments?” asked another pointedly. More than a few adults nodded their sharp gazes locked on me.

I sighed. “I am, but I think it’s important to highlight that what we’re talking about doesn’t just apply to pokemon. We can take and apply a lot of these lessons or even see them in action in our day-to-day lives. I want you to keep an open mind,” I said.

Samuel nodded at me encouragingly which I appreciated.

A hand in the back rose up over the student’s heads. I pointed in its direction. “Yes? You in the back?”

It took the kid a moment to realise that yes, I was pointing at them. They stood up and coughed. “Uhm, you have to shout to be heard?” he called.

It took me a moment to realise he was responding to my earlier question. I made a show of perking up and pointing at him. This was something I wanted to encourage. “Yes! Thank you! It is harder for you with this being a bigger room. Thanks for not letting this just be a show run by adults! Good stuff!” I said.

The kid sat down with a pleased smile. I saw a few thoughtful looks cross some of the kids’ faces which was gratifying. Thanks to that one boy’s bravery at speaking up they’d be more free with their questions now.

“So, the environment is impacting us,” I said. “Now the interesting point is that this is an environment that we created for ourselves therefore it could also be said that we impacted the environment we found ourselves within. I want this point to stand out to you. The relationship that beings have with environments is never as simple as it seems. It can be one-sided in what or who is impacted, or it can be reciprocal. We need to keep this free-flowing state in mind for the discussion today.”

I clicked for the next slide and was gratified to see that Yolanda hadn’t tampered with this presentation since I’d checked it this morning.

“Let’s consider the environments that we can find ourselves in. For the purposes of the talk I am going to categorise them as natural and made environments.” I made sure to pointedly not say ‘manmade’, as some pokemon could create their own environments but that was for later talking points.

I swept my gaze about the room. “Who can think of some examples?”

Hands tentatively rose and I began pointing and getting answers which I dutifully wrote down. The answers were then displayed and with each answer, more and more people seemed to relax with the kids offering up environments I hadn’t considered.

When we had a good number of both, I clapped my hands to keep things moving along. “These are some good answers and I think we’ve captured the two natures. Now, a question I have is when does a natural environment become a made environment? Is it only when we build something that benefits us? If this is something you agree with, what about pokemon that burrow or make habitats for themselves?

“Does this not change things from natural to made? It can, but there is also another example which has a lot to do with the special breeds of pokemon that can emerge, such as electric or magnetised terrain. If a large enough electric type migration were to move into a region, for example a system of caves, this could be a natural development leading to a shift in the environment.”

I held up a hand. “This shift in the environment can be enough to trigger changes in pokemon over a period of generations. At Pewter we’ve been working for quite a while to speed this along with controlled breeding programs for pokemon that we’ve identified as having potential. Without giving too much away I also know of others who are introducing pokemon into controlled environments to induce new typings in pokemon. This is a great example of nature impacting the pokemon albeit in a gradual manner.”

“What made you attempt to electrify the Geodude line?” asked one scientist.

I hummed. “I made a discovery while I was travelling about the nature of pokemon and environments. You may have seen a rare pokemon I had at the Pewter Contest. This pokemon was the Crystal Onix, which is a variant that has grown up in a specialised cavern which caused their diet to consist heavily of crystals, resulting in their morphology changing from the typical. With this in mind, I considered what other types of rocks there might be.”

I offered an open hand. “The answer I arrived at? Was electric or magnetised caves where I began testing pokemon by raising them within caves that sparked and pulsed with electricity.” I shrugged. “I didn’t have a known result, I had a hypothesis and I ran a test. The result? I now have a line of Geodudes that is Rock-electric typing instead of Rock-ground.”

A kid raised their hand and waved it. “What other pokemon have you identified as having variant forms?”

I smirked. “That would be telling, for me and for the other that is currently in testing. Without getting your hopes up, we’re confident in what we have and there should be some news within the next few years. Expect to hear about them because I think they are going to be very popular with their cuteness!”

That got a stirring with the girls while some of the boys scoffed. I smirked. “They’ll also be very strong.” That got some more interest.

I nodded happily and continued discussing the relationships that our environments had with people and pokemon, making sure to highlight that typically it could be a very gradual thing before highlighting extreme examples where environments themselves triggered rapid responses.

“The best examples are of course the Eevee line with Leafeon, Glaceon, Espeon, Umbreon and…” I paused, about to say Sylveon before coughing. A few people caught this and their eyes narrowed. I just smiled innocently. “Well most of the eevee line are wonderful examples,” I said.

I had no doubt before the day was over that people would once more be re-examining what they knew about the Eevee line. Sadly it wasn’t an easy ‘environment’ to create as love had to be heartfelt.

Not that I was going to share that little tidbit today.

From there the talk continued for another half an hour with people asking questions throughout. Thankfully it wasn’t just the adult scientists but also the kids.

In the end, I decided to make a point of rewarding this behaviour. “Thank you for listening and for all your questions. I’d like to ask the adults in the room to do something a little unusual if you would now, could you all stand and look towards the students?”

The adults did this with frowns and a few perplexed expressions. I smiled genially at the kids. “Kids, you might not know this but asking questions like you have today is one of the ways that you can find yourselves being better. It can also lead to inquisitive minds which I’m sure the professors will appreciate when you come up through the ranks of scientists. To foster that, I’d like it if everyone could thank the kids for their questions first today,” I said before leading a round of applause.

The adults started to smile as they spotted more than a few bashful looks from the kids. Still, there were also a lot of pleased and thoughtful looks. I might have with this action just encouraged a lot more thinking and scientific minds.

When the adults were done I coughed. “Now let’s thank the professors, and our educators for being such wonderful role models!” I said and the kids joined in with me applauding the others. A few scientists perked up, rather enjoying the praise they were getting.

When that died down Samuel made a point of stepping forward “Thank you for that Brock! Thank you, That was a marvellous way for your talk to end. I thought I might indulge a whim or two if you are happy to entertain me.”

I gestured for him to step forward and he did so. “First of all, I would like to recognise Brock for his contributions to academic research with his part in environmental adaptations, fossil research and bonds that he has supported through a myriad of methods. Sadly I can award you no title, but I can present to you this,” he said as he offered to me something white that was folded up.

I opened it to reveal a white labcoat.

A burst of mutters and whispers broke out among the crowd. “A lab coat presented to him from Professor Oak? My word!”

I shot Oak a look. There was obviously something more at play. Was this just a case of him recognising me informally, or something else?

I felt like I only had a small understanding of what was being said with this statement. A lot of the other men and women in the room seemed impressed so that had to count for something.

Oak nodded and I shook his hand in thanks. He leaned in to whisper, “Daisy mentioned it's awfully silly of me, not to also include you and your trainers in the pokedex program, so I will be sending around a stack for you to use or award at your discretion.”

I whistled. That was amazing news. “Thanks, I know those are rather restricted so thank you. Also thanks for the lab coat,” I said.

He nodded and stepped back. “Let’s hear it for Brock!” he said, leading the next round of applause.

I donned the lab coat and smiled. Later Rachel showed me a picture of what I looked like with it on.

It kind of looked good.

A ringing had me raising up my Xtransciever. “Hey Flint,” I said in greeting.

“Brock… it’s about your mother,” he said.

And just like that, my good mood vanished.