Guess who's back? And guess who wrote a sequel not even they were expecting?

We WERE going to do Kalos next, but we both had writer's block, which led to Other Ideas. And having Ideas can be a very bad thing, or a very fun thing. We're going for the fun part, but who knows how this will turn out. It's short and fast-paced, but it's just to give us more time on our next project.

Again, we might add shipping into this. Read into it however you want...except Archie and Shelly. That's a thing, because I said so.

Soon after the Super Effective epilogue...

Two years ago, a boy named Brendan moved to Hoenn because his father got a job as a Gym Leader, got a Torchic from the local professor as a reward for saving his life (from a Zigzagoon, a Pokémon that Professor Birch could easily have kicked away) and went on a journey to become honorary Champion accompanied by the above professor's daughter, starting their own team of ridiculously skilled children in the process.

Now, the girl was over at his house, eating toast with the boy and her Pikachu on the couch, in their pajamas. Even the Pikachu was wearing a purple flower-print nightgown, which Brendan had joked taught her Sleep Powder. Pikachu had refused to confirm or deny it.

"The couch is more comfortable than the chair," Brendan said conversationally. "Why didn't you let me sleep there?"

"Because we couldn't share it," May answered immediately, not caring at all when she accidentally spit crumbs on her shirt and the cushion under her. It was only Brendan, not anybody she wanted to impress. "We'd have to cuddle like a couple, and no offense, Brendan, but I don't think friendly sleepovers are supposed to take that turn."

"But it's my house," Brendan complained. "You could have taken the chair!"

"You could have slept in your own bed," May pointed out. "Don't whine to me about your own stupidity."

Something moved down the hall, and the Pikachu's ear twitched as all three heads turned. Brendan's parents had woken up, and for a moment, they were concerned that they were the reason behind that. But then his mom just gave a tired smile.

"Awake already?" she asked, almost surprised. "Your internet series kept you up late, I heard you quoting it past midnight. I thought you would be sleeping for another hour at least."

"Thought wrong," Brendan said, getting back to his feet. "Pikachu got hungry."

Pikachu glared up at him. While the statement was true, she was not the one who had woken them all with a growling stomach.

May swallowed her mouthful of toast, sensing something was wrong. "Did we keep you guys up?" she asked.

"Norman got an important call that woke us both." Brendan's mom didn't sound happy. "He fell behind on the required paperwork and now we have to move our date night in order to catch up. As if he thinks that dinner and a movie would make up for missing out on the Litleonids..."

"I'm sorry!" Norman hissed, as if he'd already spent all night apologizing.

Brendan could understand both sides of this. Ever since he'd grown up a little and taken a job as a warm-up trainer for the Petalburg Gym, he'd learned that his reluctance to do much of anything came from his father. They were both master procrastinators, or as close to it as a workaholic like Norman could be, and while it was actually good in small doses (both of them also had an incredible ability to work under pressure) it did leave them in trouble more often than not.

On the other hand, his mother liked to do the necessary things. That's why she'd chosen to be a housewife instead of keeping her office job - there was always something to cook or clean with a growing boy and a lot of Pokémon in the house. She and Norman worked as a couple because they balanced each other, so she completely understood that Norman had, once again, focused too much on the fun part of being a Gym Leader and ignored the not-so-fun part.

That's why she ended up smiling to reassure her husband that she wasn't too upset. "Oh, well. They'll come again. And, after all, it's not like I haven't cancelled something you really wanted to do before. Brendan's birth was one of those times, now that I think of it."

Brendan clapped his hands over his friend's ears. "Mom, I'm begging you. Do not tell the story of my birth. If Dad did not pass out and hit his head like in movies, and the doctor was not wearing a clown nose, it will not be funny. ANY story involving a human birth is not funny."

"Relax, Brendan." May pulled his hands off of her ears. "You told me yourself that you were born three weeks ahead of schedule. Now I know why." She grinned. "And to make this even, I've heard MY dad hit his head when I was born. Mom said he got a mild concussion because he slipped on the floor or something. He got better in an hour or two."

"Or so they say." Brendan thought a fourteen-year-old concussion was enough of an explanation for the professor. Yes, he was smart and could still name faces, but the Zigzagoon Incident proved that he wasn't always the expert people liked to say he was. Especially when he had three Pokémon right there...

He didn't notice that Norman was getting the tickets until he handed them to him. "Take May to the Litleonids," he suggested. "It'll keep you busy and out of the gym for a while. And it's in Mossdeep, maybe your Gym Leader friends can come, too."

Pikachu squealed in excitement and snatched a ticket from Brendan. "Pokémon get in for free with trainers! I'm going to get to see the Litleonids from a real space building!" She fell over, giggling, still holding on to the ticket.

Brendan looked down at Pikachu, then back to May, before settling on his dad again. "I guess that answers that. May, call the twins for me." He stood up and stretched. "I'm going to put on real pants."

"That's something I never wanted to hear," May said to herself, but picked up her own bag and retreated to the bathroom to change.

Wally was not afraid to admit when he was scared. And right now, Dusky was scaring him.

He'd borrowed the Absol from May specifically to test out his battle capabilities, and for a while, they had learned to work together. They hadn't mastered anything, but Wally had documented enough in his breeder's studies to know that Dusky had the potential for strong offspring.

But then Dusky had sensed something, one of the impending disasters that the Pokedex was always saying that his species could, and had immediately tried to rip his Mega Stone collar off.

"What's wrong?" Wally asked, and when Dusky only whined and struggled more, Wally reached down and removed the collar. "May told me not to remove this. She doesn't want it to end up lost."

"Put it in your pocket," Dusky snapped, not in the mood for arguing. Wally did as told without needing to have it explained, a first for everybody. "Something's out there."

The grass rustled, and both of them prepared for battle, Wally reaching for Dusky's ball to return him, Dusky himself baring his teeth.

Out popped a Wurmple, who looked terrified at the sight of them and immediately fainted in sheer terror. Wally looked down at Dusky, who was still growling at the collapsed caterpillar. "Stay calm. It can probably smell fear."

Dusky glared at him, not appreciating the sarcasm. "Silence, peasant."

Wally, not understanding, got down and put the Mega Stone back on. "Let's get you home," he said, and Dusky calmed slightly. "May's probably more equipped to deal with whatever that was than I am. She can probably calm you down."

Dusky still felt the wind ruffle his fur in the wrong direction, a clear sign of impending doom, but this time he kept his mouth shut and followed Wally out of Petalburg Woods. Maybe seeing May still alive would help.

Of course, his home in Littleroot Town was exactly where his sixth sense was telling him to go, likely because May would need him. He'd deal with that when he came to it.

"Wallace, please!"

The Lavaridge Town Gym Leader was almost begging, a rare sight that would have made Wallace stop to admire his work, if it hadn't been such an urgent matter that forced him to do this.

Flannery went right on talking, as if unaware of his inner conflict. "I changed my mind, I can't do this. Children terrify me. You can't go around on some Champion business while I'm stuck here with -"

"It isn't that bad," Wallace interrupted gently.

"Easy for you to say!" Flannery groaned and hid her head in her hands. "I never had siblings and my cousins are too far away. I've never even been a babysitter before! What do they even eat?"

Now this, Wallace thought, was pushing the drama just a little too far. "They eat food, Flannery, like everyone else. You'll be fine, and I'll be back as soon as I can."

"But what if I drop her on her head?" Flannery squeaked, the terror in her eyes all too real. "What if she drops me on my head?"

"She's fifteen," Wallace reminded her.

"She might have a point, though," Lisia commented from Flannery's couch, where she and her Altaria had been sitting ever since she had arrived. "What can two people who can't get into bars do around here, anyway?"

Flannery's eyes narrowed. "I'm old enough to get into bars."

Lisia's answer was short and to the point. "But we all know they won't let you in, you're in your twenties but still look seventeen." Wallace struggled not to laugh, but Lisia directed her comments back to him before his friend could slap him with his own hat. "Besides, I'm grounded and she has the Gym to think about. If I follow her, I break my grounding. If she leaves me alone...well, Ali and I have made it perfectly clear that we can't be trusted. My parents are still trying to get cake batter out of the walls."

Ali looked smug, as if he was proud of the event that got Lisia grounded and dumped on Wallace for the week while her parents took care of the house. Wallace wasn't fooled.

"You won't be breaking your promise to your parents if you follow her to the Gym," he told them both. "In fact, you might learn a few strategies for your own badge quest. I'm sure she'll teach you on slow days."

"And what if they wander off when I'm in a battle?" Flannery started to protest, but he turned all of his attention on her.

"You'll be fine," he repeated, and for a moment, she relaxed. She wasn't any less angry, just less stressed. Wallace knew how his smooth voice and too-blue eyes affected those attracted to pretty men, but she never thought he'd be using those tricks on her. "You work with fire-breathing monsters for a living, and you're fantastic at it. A teenage girl and an obnoxious bird shouldn't be too different."

Lisia stuck out her tongue. Ali cried out in protest. Flannery forced her scowl to stay in place, looking very much like an angry Vulpix.

"And why can't Steven or Winona babysit your niece for you?"

"Because Steven is getting involved, too," Wallace answered immediately, "and you were...a safer option than Winona."

"You just pointed out that I work with fire-breathing monsters, and you think I'm safer than a bird trainer?"

Wallace didn't answer that. "Please?"

Flannery grumbled something inappropriate under her breath, but gave up. "Fine, if I have to."

"Just like when I proposed," Wallace said, somehow keeping a straight face at the reference to their inside joke, and seemed proud of himself when hers cracked. It did not last when looked back at Lisia and Ali. "Behave yourselves," he warned, "and stay out of the kitchen, I don't want to have to pay for any damages."

Lisia made a half-hearted promise, which was good enough.

He hadn't given either of them the full story, only that Champion business had come up and he was needed to help save the world. The Space Center had called asking for Champions, and Champions alone had answered. He and Steven would investigate and try to stop whatever was going on, and they had promised to not send all of Hoenn into a panic. Letting Lisia know would just be getting Brendan and May and Wally involved, and Wallace and Steven did not want to deal with that. Keeping them all on this side of Hoenn was what they'd agreed on.

They were grown men. They could handle a meteor. They weren't entirely sure if they could handle Team Breakneck trying to help.

Tate and Liza were not the world's strongest human psychics. That honor went to the Gym Leader in Saffron City, her father, and one or two of her students. But the twins were strong enough to read the terror coming from the space center. And, like any bored children looking for something to do, they made up stories as to what the source was.

"It has to do with space," Liza said, twirling her hair around her finger as she stared through the window of their break room. "We know that. But is it something small, like one of the Litleonids expected to hit the Center, or something big, like an alien invasion?"

"Did you not feel the force of their fear?" Tate challenged. "It's got to be something like a space virus, or a cosmic entity bent on possessing one of the most powerful psychics on the planet. Think the Phoenix Force."

"You're such a nerd!" Liza whined, flopping next to her brother on the couch in their break room. "Space viruses? Really?"

"How do you know I didn't peek into the future for it?"

"Because you would have offered to make a bet on it." That was the good side about being telepathically linked. She might not have heard his thoughts at every moment (and she was positive that she did not want to) but she could get just enough to know how stacked particular odds were.

For his part, Tate wasn't going to complain. "I should have known not to challenge you," he said instead, leaning back against the couch and pulling a comic book from the pile.

He had just started to get pulled into the story when there was a sharp sound coming from Liza's Pokenav. They both jumped up, startled by the noise, but Liza looked to see who it was.

"Why would May be calling us?" she asked him, as if he had a clue. But she took the call anyway. "Hello, May. What happened?"

"Something needs to happen for me to call?" May sounded genuinely confused. "I was just wondering if the Space Center would allow underage kids to stay up past curfew to watch the Litleonids, that's all. Brendan's parents gave us their tickets."

So she didn't know anything about what was going on at the Space Center. "I'm not sure the Space Center's going to let anyone in right now," Liza said, slowly, as if trying to find the proper words. "You might have to cancel those plans."

"But Pikachu really wants to go!"

"Break it to her gently. Tate and I will try to get answers and report back to you." Tate looked up again at the sound of his name, and Liza just smiled reassuringly for both of them. "Something's going on over there, but we'll get to the bottom of it. We're your insiders at the League."

"Sounds like a plan." They could almost see May's smile at the other end. "Agent Songbird signing off."

Both girls ended the call at the same time. Liza looked out the window, only to find a challenger approaching. "After this battle, we go investigate the Space Center," she decided. "We might get lucky and get Gym Leader passes."

Tate had an entirely different line of thought. "Why did they decide to give everyone nicknames, again?"

"Because we're young and stupid."

"Good point." And they walked back into the main building, silently rehearsing their synchronized act once again.