“Oh my Arceus he’s so cute,” Evelyne said, grinning down at the bundle of blankets as she fed the little guy from a bottle.

  Despite my best efforts and reassurances that they didn’t need to be, pretty much every Joy had made their way to the incubator room and was trying to not crowd while also getting a good look at the new Pokemon.

  “I can honestly say I have never seen that color scheme,” someone commented, I was fairly certain it was Rebecca, but it might have been Delphine.

  “I can already see people throwing a fit over trying to get their hands on him.” That was definitely Delphine. “The Association is already pissed that Jace has the egg. I can only imagine the sheer tantrum they’ll throw when they find out.”

  I was very much in agreement with that. “We’ll just have to keep them from finding out for as long as possible,” I said, looking down at the little thing. His eyes were so wide, trying to figure out the world around him. But even as he looked around, he kept looking back towards me for reassurance.

  “Well, he’s definitely imprinted on you,” Evelyne said with a giggle.

  “I’m still concerned over his coloring,” Delphine said with a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. “He looks more like a water type with those colors.”

  That was an interesting thought. “Is that possible?”

  She shook her head. “Nope, we’ve already done our pre-check scans. Absolutely brimming with fire energy. Honestly, almost too much of it considering he was just born. But that’s nothing to worry about,” she quickly assured, probably taking note of my expression. “That's typical for variants. Just means he is going to be starting a lot of fires when he starts to experiment with it.”

  “I’ll keep Primarina close,” I said with a nod, petting the seal who was staring, completely mesmerized by the little Pokemon.

  “Now that you mention it…” Evelyne shifted, holding Alma close to Primarina and glancing between the two. “They have matching color schemes?”

  I nodded. I wondered if that’s how variants worked? Were they just keeping the colors from who they were before being reincarnated? That was entirely possible. But I really only had the two to go on. “Is there some sort of database of documented variants?”

  Everyone looked at me and I felt a bit silly about asking, but it was a valid question.

  “I have two of them now. They are documented as being significantly stronger. That,” I pointed at the swaddled Pokemon, “Is Alma. I had a long conversation with him before he died, and he said that he was going to ask if he could be reincarnated. Now I'm not sure how that works, but I was told this was Alma when I accepted the egg. Now, it may be a bit farfetched but... Alma was a Primarina.”

  “That…makes a lot of sense…” one of the Joys murmured, quiet enough that I couldn’t tell which one said it.

  “And Essy is pink. There are a lot of pink Pokemon, so it’s possible that she is also a reincarnation, or a random mutation. But I would need to see a list, or database, or something in order to make the connection. And know if they have any sort of special ease of using other types of energy.” I was really on a roll. This theory could hold a lot of merit, or it could be an edge case.

  “I think there is one?” Flavienne was the one to chime in and everyone’s attention suddenly snapped to her. “I… I mean… The Association…has one?” she managed to stammer out.

  “It’s true,” Emma piped up from the doorway. She must have arrived while I was going on my tangent. “They have a database of all registered variants. They have several teams dedicated to trying to find a pattern, or figure out how to create them.”

  That caused everyone to frown. “That is not something I like the sounds of…” Rebecca commented, looking around the room for a moment. “We definitely can’t let them hear about this theory. If it’s true, it is proof that Pokemon reincarnate, and can have a stronger starting line when they do.”

  I grimaced, not liking the implications of that. If they could quantify what was essentially a soul, then they would attempt to abuse it. That’s just the kind of organization they were. Well, considering the fact that a Pokemon like Spiritomb existed, that was already a thing. But this would be proof that it could be abused. The only thing that would really be stopping them is the fact the Pokemon that had to die would have to be powerful.

  “Are there theories about Pokemon reincarnating?” I asked, trying to steer the conversation onto something that wasn’t as grim.

  “Several,” Rebecca said, her attention focused on Alma. “There have been things… unexplainable bonds. Where a Trainer and Pokemon just click without interacting and flow perfectly. Feelings of familiarity with Pokemon that they’ve never met. That sort of thing.”

  I rubbed my chin, nodding slightly. That made a lot of sense. “Bonds, eh?”

  “You should know all about that. You need those for Mega Evolution,” Evelyne said with a bit of a smile down at Alma. “And your bond with this little one is going to be extremely powerful.”

  “Bond?” I asked, my brow furrowed. I did remember something about that, but hadn’t really thought about it.

  Now it was my turn to get stared at by everyone. “You haven’t been paying attention to your bonds?”

  I just shrugged. “I’m very close to all of my Pokemon.” I suppose that would explain why it was easier the last time for Diancie compared to the first. We were much closer now. I glanced at Cara, who was slumped in a rather comfortable looking beanbag type thing. Maybe it was a beanbag? But I wondered how close we would be. What quantified a bond? That was a good question, and something to think on at some point.

  But it also reminded me that I needed to start Mega Evolution training.

  “Jeez, you really just luck into everything, don’t you?” Emma said rather dryly, moving in so that she could see the newborn and audibly gasped. “Oh my Arceus it’s so cute!”

  “His name is Alma,” Evelyne replied as she shifted to give her a better look.

  “Oh jeez, he’s got such gorgeous coloring,” she cooed, reaching out slightly to brush his fur. He didn’t flinch away, but he looked at her with what could only be explained as a confused expression. “What a beautiful variant… He’d win so many Contests. I can’t wait to see what he looks like in his other forms.”

  “How would I get access to that database?” I asked suddenly, turning the focus of the conversation back onto the information that I wanted to know.

  Emma shrugged. “No idea. But, you’re still employed by the Association, so you should be able to just enter the building.” She laughed. “Oh don’t have such a sour look. It’s not like they- oh. Oh yeah, they uh… did kinda try and kill you that one time.”

  “And the other times they were trying to find an excuse to discredit me, or they were trying to steal my Pokemon.”

  All of them winced at that. “Okay, yeah. Probably don’t want to just waltz in there without a really good reason…”

  I thought about it for a moment before shrugging. “It's not super important. But if the opportunity arises, I definitely... It'll be on my list of things to get.”

  “Is there more than one thing?” Emma asked.

  Again I shrugged. “Probably will be by the time I have a chance.”

  That got a few of them to laugh, and we all settled down into a more comfortable atmosphere.

  It was very early in the morning when everyone had enough of the new little baby and went either back to work, or back to sleep. This place practically ran twenty-four-seven, since there were always Pokemon coming in. Thankfully none of that was my responsibility.

  With one final checkup on Alma, and all the other Pokemon, including a very in-depth examination of Cara, they were all cleared. Cara was actually doing very well, and Delphine told me that she could start now, but to wait a few more days just to be sure. Thankfully, Cara hadn’t heard that otherwise she would be demanding that I let her get back to training. While she probably didn’t need the extra few days of recovery, I didn’t want to push her too soon. A few days of not training wasn’t going to kill her.

  The real problem was transporting Alma. We had to go slow, which meant it took pretty much all day just to get back to camp. And of course, like I expected, the place was trashed.

  All I could do was sigh and move towards the tent, and freeze when I realized what I was seeing. Rio was fighting Dee. Not just sparing, or training, but full on battling. Dee looked like her normal self, calm if not a bit apprehensive, but Rio was having a blast.

  The problem was Dee was too passive up until the point she lost her temper. But I didn't want her to rely on that. She didn’t want to hurt her opponent, and it seemed like Rio knew that and was attempting to beat that out of her. Using every single one of her hesitations to strike to deliver a cheap shot. Over and over. And judging from the state Dee was in, this had been going on for quite a bit.

  However, all it took was one Pokemon to lose focus on the fight for a moment, Essy turning and staring at me. “You’re back!” she shouted and sprinted at me.

  I had to quickly shift Alma to one arm in order to catch her as she leapt up at me. She hit me with a force that I was honestly not prepared for, not enough to knock me off my feet, but enough to surprise me. She had been taking her training pretty seriously.

  Almost immediately I was mobbed, all of the Pokemon rushing over to see the newest member. “Okay, okay. Easy. Don’t crowd. He’s taking a nap right now.”

  I completely lost track of who was talking, everyone chattering softly. Mikyu climbed up onto my shoulder in order to get a better view. The only one that didn’t seem interested was Liar, but I knew her well enough that she was just avoiding the crowd and being patient.

  “He looks like you,” Rio said rather loud, pointing at Primarina.

  The Pokemon in question straightened up and grinned up at her. “Yup!”

  “That is…very interesting,” Dee managed to say. Her energy was almost spent, and she was clearly using the last of it to heal herself. “He does have the coloring of a Primarina… Is that because…”

  “I think so,” I replied to her unasked question. “But, there’s no way of knowing unless I have more data.”

  She nodded, her brow furrowing slightly.

  He looked down, seeing all the different Pokemon staring up at him. Crouching down, I removed a bit of the blanket so that they could all take a look. There were murmurs about how small he was, and how cute he was. I was honestly really glad that they were keeping their voices down, even if they were clearly extremely excited. Bungle and Disaster were bouncing in place, tails going a mile a minute.

  My attention turned to Essy, the other one in my arms and she was just staring at Alma, a rather blank look on her face, as usual. Honestly I wondered what went through that little cat’s head. “Small,” she said and I nearly burst out laughing. Apparently my question was answered.

  “Babies are small,” Bungle said as if it was obvious.

  Essy turned her attention to the dog, her brow furrowing as she considered the statement. “I’ve never been that small.”

  “Essy, you are that small,” Keo said with a scoff.

  Which was… kind of true. She was quite small for an Espurr, as far as I knew. And they were about the same size.

  However Essy was now just frowning slightly, looking at herself and at the other Pokemon for quite a while. I just remained quiet, observing her as she worked out the comparison. Everyone else seemed to go back to discussing Alma as she puzzled over this new conundrum.

  I wondered if she was ever going to figure that out before the Fennekin was larger than her. If he was anything like the old Alma, he was going to be huge. That thought was almost a jolt down my spine. Would he be a Totem? Is that possible? What even makes a Totem? I never did find out.

  “Damn, I haven’t told Kukui.” I was about to pull out my phone when I realized that my hands and arms were occupied. I guess the Professor would have to wait.

  It took a few hours before everything settled, and I shifted in my position in the sleeping pile. It had to change quite a bit, considering that I now had a baby. And damn that was…that was certainly a thought.

  My phone rang a few times, and it took a bit for it to be answered. I was a bit worried that I was waking him up again, since I couldn’t be bothered to remember the timezone difference. But it was very late here, so it had to be a good time for him. And when he answered, in his lab, I was glad of it. “Alola, Jace. How are things?”

  “Good. Good. Alma hatched,” I said, not planning to skirt around why I was calling. And to emphasize my words, I shifted so that he could see.

  It was silent for almost a full minute as he just gaped at the little thing. “Holy shit…”

  I just laughed softly at his response. “Really? That’s all you have to say?”

  He shook himself. “That is an absolutely amazing color variant. Is it a water type?”

  “No. Fire type, just like the rest of its species.” I shifted a bit as Alma moved, clearly awake now and staring at the phone.

  “Damn… That is… That is definitely Alma… I’d recognize those eyes anywhere.” He took a deep breath, sighing. “Damn, Jace… This is… This holds so many different implications. This is good evidence that he really did reincarnate. Not only that, but the other part… You said he mentioned something called the Mother?”

  I nodded. “It’s something I’ve heard quite a few times, by old and strong Pokemon. But I don’t know who or what they are. Just that they’re extremely powerful. And if what I’ve heard about her is true, she’s on par with Arceus.”

  He let out a slow breath, closing his eyes for a moment. “I’ve never heard of her, but there is a being that they refer to. And now I’m wondering if that was Arceus, or this Mother…”

  “I don’t know,” I said with a sigh. “No one will tell me, but she at least seems kind. Just look at Alma. He wanted to reincarnate, and wanted a Trainer like me.”

  There was a moment of quiet between us as he thought, typing something or other on his computer. “There have been instances of Pokemon bringing the dead back to life. Of souls…and spirits. Those are real things. We have Pokemon with abilities that prove it. So this isn’t entirely outside the realm of possibilities."

  “But how strong would a Pokemon need to be?” I asked, the question immediately popping to mind as I considered it. It is true that things like that happened in the manga, and the anime…

  Kukui rubbed his chin in thought. “I’m not sure. It’s not like these things were well documented… But I would say at least pseudo-legendary?”

  I nodded slightly. “So entirely possible…”

  “This is honestly very exciting,” Kukui said, turning his attention back to the computer. “It’s a shame we can’t really tell anyone, but still. Very exciting.”

  “Yeah,” I replied with a sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose.

  It was quiet for a moment, before Kukui spoke, “So how is Alma? All healthy?” The indicated Pokemon was staring at the screen, either recognizing his name, or curious about what the thing in my hand was.

  A bit of a smile formed on my face. “Yeah. He’s doing well. Doesn’t move much, and all he really does is eat and sleep. But, I am very much used to Pokemon like that.” I looked down at the small fluffy brown fox laying on me.

  He chuckled and nodded slightly. “Right. Well, I’m looking forward to meeting this new Alma in person when you come back to Alola. I’m sure a lot of others would be as well.”

  “That reminds me… How is his little harem doing?” I thought about all the Primarina that were always around him.

  “A bit rough,” Kukui admitted after a moment. “They were devastated at his passing, and none of them have really recovered yet… It’s not bad enough to the point they’re neglecting their health, but they are definitely still in mourning… They laid him to rest in the coral nearby, I think. At least, judging by where they keep hanging around.”

  I could imagine that they would be in a bad way, and I felt a bit guilty that I hadn't thought about them earlier. “Do they…know about Alma’s reincarnation?”

  His brow furrowed slightly. “I don’t know. I haven’t told them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they knew.”

  For a moment I wondered if I should introduce them. I had no idea if Alma would retain any of his memories, or if he was going to have to learn everything all over again. “Okay, Professor. I’m gonna let you go and sleep. Alola.”

  He smiled and nodded towards the camera. “Alola.”

  The next day left me a bit exasperated. Dee was far more focused on Alma and taking care of him than training. Even when I tried to convince her that he would be fine, and I wasn’t going to go in the Gravity field, so she should focus on that.

  But she wasn’t budging. “He was just hatched,” she argued, folding her arms and pouting when I refused to hand him over. “He needs constant observation, and attention.”

  “Dee, that is what I am doing,” I said with a sigh. “Now go and train. He and I will be fine over here.”

  “But-”

  I held up a hand. “Rio! Scoly!” I called out, getting both of their attention. “Would you please help remind Dee why she should keep training?”

  The grin on Rio’s face was a bit disturbing, and I was fairly certain Scoly was making a similar expression.

  Dee almost looked a bit panicked, but before she had a chance to protest, Rio had literally grabbed her and thrown her, doing so easily in her unprepared state. And then Scoly slammed into her, sending her skipping across the ground.

  I winced slightly, not having expected them to be so rough about it, but my point was still valid. Dee was going to participate in the League, and so she needed every bit of training she could get in before then. So maybe I was going to let the others be a bit rough on her to prepare her for the types of battles she would be facing.

  This wasn’t going to be like gym battles.

  I didn’t know what the Association or the League had planned for me, but I was just going to assume it would be bad.

  My thoughts were broken by Cara leaning against my side, huffing softly. “That was mean…”

  “Maybe. But necessary. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone tried to kill me, or any of our family, when things about Alma come to light.” Expecting assassins at some point honestly didn’t feel like the wrong assumption to make. This world had ninjas for pity’s sake. Thankfully, with Cara and Rio’s sensing abilities, no one should be able to sneak up on us very easily.

  “You’re worried…” she said softly.

  I leaned against her as I sighed. “I am. I’m worried what their escalation will be. And there’s still Team Flare, and the other villain teams…”

  Gently, she grasped my hand and I turned my head to look at her. She had such a serious expression on her face. “I will protect you.”

  I just stared at her for a moment before I snorted, trying to hold back my laughter. “Yeah? Is that so?”

  She frowned at me.

  But before she had a chance to say anything, I shifted my hand and squeezed hers. “Sorry. I’m not laughing at you. It’s just you said that with such conviction, while looking like a Dusclops that it completely ruined the serious atmosphere.”

  Her eyes narrowed slightly, one still partially hidden behind bandages, and she huffed. She pulled her hand away abruptly. “No beans for you.”

  I gasped in mock surprise. “No paw beans? However will I live?”

  She huffed at me again, but this time it was clearly to disguise a laugh.

  It was moments like this that I really enjoyed. Just interacting with my family of Pokemon. I could actually feel myself relaxing quite a lot just by everything that was around me. For quite a while I had been so on edge. But for now… I had time to decompress. Time to just enjoy the moment.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Time to feed a hungry baby,” I murmured, looking down at the little fox in my lap who was starting to get fussy judging from the little noises they were making and the way they were wiggling.

  So I got out a bottle and made short work of filling it. I really hoped that all the stuff in here was tasty, because it was more like a nutrient paste than milk. But my ability seemed to know exactly what Alma would need, and I had just gone along with it. It was a few berries, some vitamin powders, a bit of crushed up charcoal, a few other things, and water. Mostly the slurry was berry juice and water. It was honestly like a liquid pokeblock.

  Alma drank it greedily, so they must at least like the taste. Or if they didn’t have a sense of taste yet? Maybe they couldn’t register things they liked or disliked.

  “You’re gonna have to help me teach him to talk,” I said to Cara.

  Her head tilted to the side. “He’ll pick it up pretty quickly. At least, Rio did.”

  My brow furrowed a bit before I had an idea. “Ah, knowledge is stored in energy, and the mother passes her energy into the child. That’s why they’re so weak when laying… So I guess I won’t get to teach him a lot of things…”

  Cara pat my back slightly. “He will still need a lot of care.”

  I nodded. “The Joys said he would exit his infant stage in three weeks. So.. I guess I’m on serious babysitting duty until then.”

  “I do not envy you,” she said with a shudder. “Rio was a terror. The moment she learned to walk, she wanted to go everywhere. If I took my eyes off her for a few seconds she’d wander off, like she knew when she wasn’t being watched.”

  I rubbed my chin. “I might have to get the dogs involved…”

  “I can watch him,” Liar suddenly said. I had forgotten that she was lounging nearby. “I am not interested in training… And I have looked after young ones before. And while Immodest may be suitable, I fear for the child if Disaster or Bungle have too much influence.”

  I just stared at the lazing feline, honestly surprised by her apparent eagerness. Where she was laying now was the closest she had gotten to Alma, but she had been quite focused on him the entire time. Her tail was flicking in that way that cats are prone to; that slow swishing that I was fairly certain meant she was focused. “If you want to help, you can, Liar.”

  She blinked, as if only now realizing that she said all that out loud. “Yes…” she said after a moment. “I would…like to.”

  “Alright,” I said, trying to stifle my laughter. It was actually rather funny how she seemed so interested and yet so reluctant. “Then come over here.”

  Hesitantly she got up, and slowly approached. She really was so hesitant and I wondered why. The moment she entered his line of sight, Alma’s attention locked onto her. It was pretty cute how he did that; just wide eyed stares at anything he found interesting. Once close enough, she studied him. “He is quite small,” she commented as she looked him over, getting quite close in order to sniff him. It reminded me of videos of cats being introduced to newborns.

  “His name is Alma,” I introduced - not quite sure if she had heard what his name was - and shifted him so that he could see her better.

  The next bit of time was spent talking with Liar about how we were going to take care of him. All I really wanted her to do was keep an eye on him when he started walking and make sure he didn’t go off into the woods or enter the Gravity field. Otherwise he could really do whatever he wanted.

  And boy was I a bit worried when I found out he would probably be starting to walk today. Apparently most Pokemon could walk a day or so after being hatched. Sometimes earlier, depending on species. A lot of Pokemon didn’t raise their young, so those would be left to fend for themselves and just do their own thing once they hatched. Mostly that was just bug types, but they were just the majority and you could find that in most any type.

  As an experiment to see if Alma could walk yet, I ended up setting him down. He was definitely wobbly on his feet, and fell over almost immediately. But he shifted around a bit and then managed to stand after a few shaky attempts.

  Honestly I felt oddly proud, watching as he stared at the ground like it had personally offended him. As if it was the reason he was struggling.

  His first attempt at walking ended up with him face-planting immediately, and I had to cover my mouth in order to not laugh. Liar let out a soft huff of amusement before moving in front of him.

  Of course his eyes were locked onto her the moment she was in his line of sight. She walked back and forth a few times, and I could see a few wisps of dark energy trailing off her. It was obvious that she was showing him how to walk, but it took me a moment to realize it was more than that. She wasn’t just demonstrating, but passing a bit of that knowledge to him through her energy.

  The way that energy worked was both fascinating and baffling. Being able to pass knowledge through an odd sort of medium like that… Would have made teaching easier if I could just shove that knowledge into their brain. Although from what I can tell, it’s more like making suggestions. So it would be debatable on how well it worked.

  As I had been lost in thought, Alma had gotten back up. This time he was a lot less shaky on his feet, though he still wobbled a bit. “It probably doesn’t help that he didn’t really have legs in his last life,” I mused.

  “Probably,” Cara agreed, paying close attention to the little thing doing its best to walk. Neither Liar nor Cara were actually helping him to stay upright, so it was probably something that he needed to figure out on his own.

  He tottered forward, more just trying to keep his legs under him as he half fell, half stumbled forward. “Very good,” Liar said, smiling slightly. It was the first time I could recall her smiling, let alone doing so in such a gentle manner.

  There was a story there…

  I didn’t know much about the feline’s past, other than what she had ranted about. Had she had children? It seemed likely. Flare had a rather…unfortunate way of treating their, as they called them, viable breeders.

  Those had been a particular set of awful to deal with, or so I heard. The Joys seemed pretty adamant about me not having anything to do with them. I assumed one of the big reasons was they would be the most likely to have a fear of men.

  But I had seen the files they kept.

  And they did not paint a pretty picture. I was still slowly working through the things that Bit had downloaded when I had a moment. It was like every third or fourth project was something that violated either humans, Pokemon, or both. There had been zero accountability. A lot of tests seemed to be brutal just for the sake of being brutal, and didn't even show results. They were hard to read, which is why it was taking me so long.

  We spent the next few hours watching Alma figure out walking. Occasionally I would have to look over at what everyone else was doing, since they were all still training. Dee looked to be more than a little frustrated. She clearly wanted to be the one taking care of Alma. Of all the Pokemon here, she probably had the most children. There had been several of them at the ranch, and from my understanding there were more already out in the field. She was a very dedicated mother, and her children were very important to her.

  But she needed to train. I wanted her to be more aggressive, and break out those wrestling moves more often. When I had asked her about where she’d learned them, she got super embarrassed and it took quite a bit of coaxing before she admitted she really liked watching wrestling on television in her free time. Which made my mind wander to Kukui and his little wrestler alter ego. That man was so weird, but in a good way.

  I spent the rest of the day with my focus split, spending my time going back and forth between watching and instructing training, to just observing Alma. He was very intent on exploring his surroundings, and seemed fascinated by the tent. He kept wandering around it and then struggling to get into it, exploring the inside for a bit, and then coming back out. Clearly he was confused at how it was bigger on the inside. There were a few times when I or Liar had to coax him away from the Gravity zone, as he also seemed very interested in what all the other Pokemon were doing.

  Much to my amusement, he also seemed to have a habit of simply laying down when he was tired and taking a nap. Didn’t matter where he was. The moment he was tired, it was nap time.

  It also didn’t take long before he realized that I was the one with food. He needed to be fed very often and would start making whining noises when hungry. After the third time I fed him, he started to approach me and make those noises whenever he wanted to be fed.

  Of course, that wasn’t the only time he approached me, as he seemed fascinated by my coat and would attempt to attack it if it moved a certain way. Although his attacks were just him flopping at it, or trying to paw at it. He hadn’t quite mastered how to play yet, but he was figuring it out.

  Cooking dinner that night was actually fairly difficult because he would just not leave me alone. I had to keep passing him to other Pokemon just to keep him from getting underfoot. And yet, he kept slipping away and I lost track of the number of times I nearly stepped on him or tripped over him.

  Eventually I just picked him up and shoved him into my hood with Eevee. The other fox seemed to have no idea how to deal with a baby, and ended up climbing out onto my shoulders. “There’s not enough room for both of us,” she huffed into my ear.

  All I could really do was laugh at her plight. And maybe tease her a bit, “Oh please, you’re both small enough.”

  She huffed again, grumbling before jumping down onto the counter. “Why are you mean to me?”

  “Oh please.” I nudged her softly with the back of my hand. “You don’t want to be small, and a grump.”

  She frowned up at me before suddenly sticking her tongue out and then bounding over the back of the counter, stumbling a bit in an attempt to get away.

  All I could do was laugh, a bit stunned that she would do that. But I was also really happy that she seemed a lot more energetic.

  I could feel Alma trying to get on my shoulder, but he didn’t quite have the dexterity yet, so he was more just poking out of my hood and watching me cook. “When you evolve,” I started, smiling a bit. “You can help out if you want.”

  Before I had a chance to continue, there was that sudden spike in pressure that signified the arrival of Mewtwo.

  “Ah, Mewtwo,” I turned slightly to find them and Alma completely locked in a staring contest. I gave it a moment, wondering if either of them would do anything, but it was pretty clear they wouldn’t. “This is Alma,” I said softly. “They finally hatched.”

  Mewtwo blinked, their eyes focusing on me. “Ah… The one in the egg. That… That makes sense. Eggs hatch.”

  “They tend to, yes,” I affirmed, nodding.

  “It is… He is…much smaller than I thought he would be…” They were standing quite close now, and slowly reached out towards the little thing.

  Alma just stared, but did reach a paw forward. Liar had been teaching him that.

  “He’s just a baby. He’ll get a lot bigger.” I was trying to keep very still, and keep my voice very soft. Mewtwo was usually averse to touching other Pokemon. The only one they really allowed to do so were Essy and Dee, and that was only because one was a nurse, and the other a psychic type. Maybe it was due to the latent psychic energy of Fennekin’s line?

  Alma’s focus seemed to be entirely on Mewtwo’s massive hand, and they were actually letting them explore their bulbous fingers.

  “Everything is new,” Mewtwo said rather thoughtfully. “I wonder if I will be like that if I reincarnate…”

  I blinked and looked at them for a moment. “You want to reincarnate?”

  They tilted their head to the side slightly. “I am…unsure. I have come to understand that my life is an outlier, but that does not shake the fear that it could happen again.”

  While true, it was a bit sad that they knew that. “That’s really…unfortunate. But understandable. Even if you weren’t able to remember this life. In a way, that makes it worse and better because you wouldn’t have any expectations.”

  “I am not sure what awaits me after death, but I hope it is at least as pleasant as my life is now,” they said as they looked out towards the other Pokemon, who were either eating or waiting for food. Mewtwo had certainly come a long way since I met them, and their intellect was truly astounding.

  “Have you thought more on what you would like to do?” I asked before setting their plate down. It was rice with the curry sauce. I had found that some Pokemon prefer the rice, and others the noodles, and then others wanted to change it up almost every day, so I found myself making both. It was interesting that the felines preferred the rice, while the canines preferred the noodles.

  “I think… I want to stay here…” they said softly, picking up the plate. “I have…thought about it a lot. I know that you will leave. You will leave, and I would like to protect this place. Even though I will very much miss your cooking…”

  A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. “I can teach you, you know? The Joys would be more than happy to give you the supplies, and let you use the kitchen in payment for protection.”

  Their brow furrowed slightly, staring down at the food on the plate. If they were intent on staying, they would be a massive deterrent to everyone. Sure, they weren’t really trained on how to fight, but they really didn’t need to. The reputation that they had would be sufficient. At least, I hoped.

  “That would be…nice,” they said eventually, and then stepped away to begin eating without saying anymore.

  Honestly, teaching them to cook might be fun.

  It was, in fact, kind of fun.

  Over the next few days, I fell into a nice routine. Observing training, teaching and playing with Alma, and showing Mewtwo how to cook.

  They were not good at it.

  Like, at all.

  But they clearly enjoyed it. And they were getting surprisingly close with Mikyu and Banette, since those two were more than eager to help them. All they wanted to learn was the one dish, so it wouldn’t take too long. Although it was four days before they made something actually edible. They kept burning things, or grabbing the wrong ingredient. One time they ended up just dropping what they were cooking and they just seemed…so disappointed in themself. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get them to get back into the motion. Of course, Disaster and Bungle went a bit nuts for all the food on the floor and ended up eating it.

  Although I was fairly certain Disaster also ate a rock while she was at it…

  The next disappointment they had was when they actually made something edible, and- “It’s not as good as what you make,” they commented rather dryly.

  “It’s not bad,” I said as I took another bite. It was mediocre, definitely not bad, but not really something I’d be eager to get seconds of. “You’re getting a lot better, and you have to remember I’ve had much, much longer to improve my skills.”

  They nodded slowly, still a bit bothered by their apparent failure. It also did not look appetizing, which wasn’t helping.

  “Just keep at it, okay? You’ll get it,” I reassured, smiling at them.

  Again it took a bit of coaxing to get them to start doing it again.

  The most important thing to happen in those couple days, was Cara finally recovering. She had a bit of scarring on the left side of her face and neck. They didn’t look as bad as I thought, but the scars snaking down her arm, and the ones across her chest and stomach were the worst. Thankfully they didn’t seem to hinder her movement, which was something Dee was worried about. After Dee cleared her, explaining that any damage left was just cosmetic and not a problem. And of course she immediately threw herself into training with a reckless abandon that I had really not expected from her.

  She got her butt kicked that first day.

  But thankfully that seemed to cool her overzealous attitude - along with a scolding from Dee - and she started to move into it more gradually. Reworking muscles to get into those familiar rhythms and be able to actually train.

  The next day, there was another surprise from Mikyu. This one was for Rio and Scoly. They had apparently both asked for matching scarves, just like the type the Explorers from Mystery Dungeon wear. They were light blue, matching Keo. Again Keo nearly cried, and complained at them that they were supposed to all get different colors.

  “But now we match,” Rio had declared proudly. “And Team Speed Shell needs to have some kind of cohesion.” At her mention of that, I realized that the flowers around the hem of Goodra’s dress were the same shade of blue. Clearly they had all been planning this for a long time in order to make sure that Keo understood she was part of their group. Part of this family.

  After a few more days, I was confident they were all in a good spot. They were starting to get complacent, so it was time to mix it up. I added back in the colored position markers. Every day I would assign them a color, and then move the markers around. It was their job to touch every single marker of their color while avoiding touching any other. All while continuing to toss balls and battle each other.

  It was a bit overwhelming for all the Pokemon who hadn’t experienced this type of thing yet, but it was fine after two days. What was entertaining was watching them figure out they could use moves to change the position of markers. That caused so much chaos.

  As for Alma, he was getting more and more adjusted to moving about. He still more stumbled than walked, and still would just flop down wherever to nap, but he was starting to recognize words. He definitely knew his name, and basic things like ‘No’ or ‘Come here’ and was quite obedient. At least, when I was the one saying it. Clearly he had the idea that no one aside from me had any authority over him, which Dee found both adorable and exasperating. It didn't help that Primarina and Diancie were encouraging his mischief, and the two of them spent a lot of time playing with him when they weren't training. Primarina and Alma got along extremely well, although he still had the habit of not listening to her when she tried to get him to do something he didn't want to. He seemed mostly confused by Diancie, as she never tried to tell him to do stuff and seemed far more keen on just following him around.

  “He definitely recognizes you as his parent,” Dee commented with a sigh as she had to physically pick up the little fox, who gave an indignant squeak at her when his exploration had been interrupted.

  “It’s like raising a very smart puppy,” I mused, rubbing my chin. “He clearly knows what he is and isn’t allowed to do, but as far as he’s concerned, I’m the only one who gets to tell him no. Do you think- oof.”

  Suddenly there was a small kit dropped into my lap. Judging by the noise he made, he was definitely not expecting that either. “He’s starting to feel out his energy, judging by the fluctuations. But I can’t actually get a reading on anything with equipment. And, he should be talking soon.”

  I looked down at Alma, who looked back up at me. “Is that so? Do you have anything to say?”

  He stared up at me for several moments before tilting his head to the side. “Papa?”

  My breath hitched and I struggled for a moment. That had been one hell of an emotional spike at just that. Like how it had been when Rio or Scoly called me that. That’s where he must have heard it from, or he already knew it and applied it to me. All I knew is there was no doubt in my mind now, I was going to kill anyone that tried to take this little thing away from me.

  Reaching down, I scratched the back of his head and down over his neck. “Yes, that’s right. And you’re Alma. And that’s Dee,” I said and pointed at her.

  His eyes tracked my finger, head tilting a bit more. But he didn’t say anything, instead letting out a yawn and settling into my lap for a nap.

  Dee just stood there for a moment, clearly stunned. “Well,” I said after a moment, chuckling softly. “I think that’s a pretty good first word.”

  She sighed, slumping slightly. “Yeah. You definitely are his parent…”

  After that, Alma started to talk a bit more, though his words were halted and small, sometimes slurred a bit like his tongue didn’t like making the noises. Thankfully after numerous days, we finally managed to get him to understand who he is supposed to listen to. He seemed most reluctant to follow Dee’s instructions for some reason, but he was very receptive to Liar.

  Or as he liked to call her, “Aunty, aunty, aunty. Play?”

  Liar just smiled slightly as she stood up, yawning. She looked at me and I nodded. I wanted to start in on Mega Evolution training, and I decided today was going to be it. Although, I wondered where he had learned the word aunty. My only guess was Rio, since she had snickered the first time he said it. Thankfully the cat didn’t seem to mind it, and actually seemed to like it after a while.

  Entering the Gravity field was always jarring for me, but the only real problem was it made me stumble a bit. I wondered if I would ever get used to it…

  “Alright,” I called out, getting everyone’s attention. “Everyone gather ‘round.”

  It didn’t take long before I was surrounded by Pokemon. “Is it finally time?” Cara asked, clearly impatient. I had talked with her about my plans for training, and she was extremely eager.

  I nodded and fished around a moment in my bag, beginning to pull out the Mega Stones. “We’re going to start training with these now. But it’s going to be a bit different from normal. We’ll start off just seeing how difficult it is for you to use, then how long you can use it, and how long I can maintain it.”

  They all agreed to that, and I started with Cara. My plan was to simply go in order of when they joined the family. At least, those that I had stones for and actually wanted to fight. I even got a mirror so they could look at themselves.

  Cara’s transformation was like a snap. Immediate, and sudden. She flexed a few times, testing out her new form for a moment before it dispersed in light, and she nodded. “That is…satisfying,” she commented, flexing her paws a few times. Her scars had also appeared when she transformed, although the most notable thing was the missing spikes on her left hand. I guess that confirmed that a Lucario’s spike split and changed shape rather than simply getting a new one.

  Much to my surprise, Rio passed. Since she had felt what it was like already and fought a bit. “It’s just a boost,” she said with a shrug. “It gave me quite a spike in power, but overall not enough to really be a problem. Mom needs more practice with it than me, since she’ll be the one fighting in the league, and it uses your energy, too.”

  I nodded. “Right. Sound logic.”

  Which meant Scoly was next. I was honestly excited, because this was a Mega that I had never seen. It took a moment for her to center herself, but when she did, much like with Cara, the transformation was almost immediate. The shape that she took was not what I was expecting. Both sets of her antennae had become massive, with black and purple stripes, while the ones on her head were mostly a luminous green. But what was really surprising was the armor. She appeared to be wearing some kind of helmet, with a huge neck guard, and what appeared to be a massive gorget that extended all the way down to her front legs. The gorget actually blocked a lot of her scarf, though it could still be seen peeking out behind the plate. There were two more bands of armor going around her upper body, seemingly forming from around her smaller little grippers.

  “Damn this is heavy,” she muttered. As I watched her shift and adjust, I noticed a bit of the green from her horn antennae drip.

  “Seems like your poison got a massive boost,” I commented, assuming the liquid to be poisonous. “And you’re much more of a defensive type…” Which from a game point of view did not make sense. Scolipede was focused on speed and attack if I remembered correctly, so this felt very counter intuitive. But at the same time I suppose it just gave you more options for how to utilize the large bug.

  “I feel like I’m wearing the training weights that Dee uses,” she says, giving a few experimental hops.

  Ah, that was a good idea. “I’ll give you her old weights, that way you can get used to it.”

  She nodded slowly and I realized she’d also increased several feet in height. “You’re absolutely huge,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. “If you can play ball in that form, you’re going to hit like a real meteor.”

  She wiggled a bit in happiness before dropping the form and returning to normal. “Oogh… the drop in strength is sure something… It’s a good thing that I still don’t weigh that much or I’d hit the dirt.” She took a few experimental hops and shifted her weight a few times.

  I spent a moment shuffling through my bag until I pulled out the training vest with all its little straps and things. When I looked up she was giving it a rather dubious look. “What?”

  “Do I have to wear it?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “No, of course not. Buuuut it will help, and it will make it a lot easier.”

  Her eyes narrowed a bit as she glared at the thing. After a moment she sighed. “Alright… Fine.”

  Chuckling, I started to put it on her. It was a bit difficult, and was definitely not designed for something of her size. So I ended up putting most of the weight on her front legs and up, since that’s where all her armor seemed to be.

  Once I was done, I stepped back and admired my handiwork. “Alright. We’ll start off low, and then work our way up.” I fished around in my bag again for the controls, and then proceeded to turn the weight up to ten.

  She grunted slightly at the sudden weight and glared at me. “Did you have to do that?” she grumbled, shifting a bit to stand better.

  “Well, you gotta get used to it,” I replied with a shrug. She was a lot stronger right now than Dee was starting out, and so I wanted to start her out a little heavier. “Let me know when you want the weight increased. And remember, this is for you and getting stronger, so your progress is on you. I’m not going to babysit you, or chide you for taking things slow.”

  It took a moment for her to respond, but eventually she nodded as she understood what I was saying. “Right… Getting stronger is my responsibility as much as it is yours.”

  I gave her a big smile and nodded. “Exactly. Did Cara tell you that?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, it was something she said she was taught, and it really stuck with her.”

  The question of who taught Cara was something I’d thought about a few times, but never really concerned myself with asking. If it ever came up, I would have to try and remember to ask.

  Finally done with that, it was Dee’s turn. And she looked extremely nervous.

  “It’s okay,” I said, patting her head and smiling.

  “But what if I look weird?” she murmured, just barely loud enough for me to hear.

  I snorted. “Have you ever seen an Audino Mega Evolve?” I asked.

  She shook her head, frowning at the fact I was laughing at her. “Of course not. We’re not known to be battle Pokemon. Like Chansey, or Goodra.”

  “Which I think is dumb,” I said with a frown. “Chansey make excellent tanks. And your Mega form is beautiful. You even gain the fairy type.”

  She still seemed hesitant, but eventually took a deep breath and nodded, holding onto the stone. After taking a few more deep breaths she nodded and began to focus. It was definitely the longest so far, but she eventually managed.

  The pink of her fur had turned white, and pulled away, making it look like she was now wearing a lab coat. Her ears had raised, pointing up and out now instead of down, and on her chest was a big poof of fluff. Her feelers had gotten longer, and she had two more now extending out of the floof on her chest. She even got little puffy boots. But what was really striking was when she opened her eyes, they were a vibrant pink instead of their normal blue.

  It was very quiet as she studied herself. She turned this way and that, marveling at the way her coat swooshed around her. Her scars now looked more like decorations than old wounds, almost silver in color compared to the white. “Wow… I’m so pretty…” There were tears starting to form in her eyes and I realized that she must be really self conscious of how she looked. It had just… never occurred to me. Which now that I thought about it, of course she would be. I felt pretty stupid to never think about if her scars bothered her.

  “You are,” I agreed, gently rubbing her back.

  I wasn’t actually sure if she heard me, as she was just so focused on her reflection and trying so hard not to cry, and not doing a good job of it as a few tears were slipping down her cheeks. Before I could even do anything, Cara was suddenly there, wiping them away. She had a soft yet concerned expression on her face.

  They had probably talked about it quite a lot to each other. Especially since they were…dating? I think? Do Pokemon date? Would they be considered courting each other? I really did not understand how any of that worked and honestly it felt a bit too awkward to ask. Better to just keep teasing them about it.

  Before Dee fully calmed down, Banette approached. I was a bit confused until I saw what she had in her hand; my phone. I had been leaving it in the tent, out of the way, in case something happened. If it got damaged, I honestly had no way of contacting anyone, so it was better to leave it in the safety of the tent.

  The problem was, it was ringing. “Thank you, Banette,” I said as I took it, petting her head as I looked at who was calling. “Adria?” I asked after answering.

  “We have a problem,” she said, looking so absolutely tired and done with the world. “The Association is pushing to have Lysandre released.”

  Lucario - The group mom, battered and out of action

  Lucario - This dog wants to own things.

  Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit

  Primarina - Doing big seal things

  Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon

  Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people

  Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life

  Goodra - Big slug

  Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress

  Banette - Silent but powerful.

  Ninetales (Alolan) - Big fox

  Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.

  Liepard - A good aunty

  Houndour - Just a little pup

  Houndoom - Bit of a space case

  Mightyena - Super serious

  Fennekin - Growing little thing

  Rotom - Hacker-mans

  Absol - Future problems