"May!"

"Coming, love!"

I poured the last bucket of feed into the pond, then set the bucket aside and headed for the house.

As I walked, I considered the view. This pond, which housed a number of Magikarp, was situated right next to the ocean, offering an amazing view of the sparkling waves crashing against the short cliffs. At sunset, the ocean was magnificent. I didn't think I'd ever get tired of it.

About a minute later, I arrived back at the house. Archie called me again, probably not realizing I'd just walked in, so I headed into the main room where he was waiting.

"Right here, love." I spotted a pair of young girls, one platinum blonde and one dark-haired, who were looking at me with awe in their eyes.

Great. More Trainers here to try and see the legends.

I put on a smile and faced the girls. "Can I help you?"

"Yes. We, um… well…"

The dark-haired girl butted in. "We heard you have the best Wishiwashi this side of Alola! And we wanted to see them, if we could!"

I raised an eyebrow with a grin. "And?"

The blonde cocked her head. "And what?"

I studied them for a minute, then shook my head. "And nothing. Come on, I'll show you the Wishiwashi pond."

The girls and Archie followed me out the back door, along the path to the Wishiwashi pond. Oddly, the blonde kept casting nervous glances between Archie, me, and the big bag at her side.

The girls exclaimed over the Wishiwashi for a few minutes, and had a glance into the other nearby pools. The blonde didn't get any less nervous, so I decided to get whatever this was over with.

"So why did you really come here?"

To her credit, the dark-haired girl did a good impression of innocence. "We came to see the Wishiwashi."

I raised an eyebrow. "Then why does your friend look like she's going to jump out of her skin at the slightest noise?"

The girls looked like they'd been caught, but not like kids with their hands in the cookie jar; no, this was a more serious kind of catching. Like…

Like Archie when he'd been arrested by Steven.

"Did you break a law or something? Cause I'm not the right person to come to, in that case. Our living in this region is dependent on not breaking any laws , even minor ones."

"No! No, we didn't break any laws," the blonde burst out. "We… we were just hoping you'd know a bit about… about legendary Pokemon."

The girls spilled their story, which involved an illegal lab deep inside the Aether Foundation facility, an escape from said lab with a Pokemon, the strained evolution of said Pokemon, and its inability to move since.

Archie and I shared a look when they were done, and Archie headed back to the house. I looked at the girls with a serious eye. The blonde looked defeated, but the dark-haired girl looked determined – determined to keep this Pokemon safe, and to stop the apparent evils of the Aether Foundation.

She reminded me of me.

"Right." I clapped my hands together. "First things first. Can I see this Pokemon?"

The blonde reached into her bag and pulled out a tiny little Pokemon. It looked like an eye, with gold ridges around the 'pupil'.

I reached out my hands and took the Pokemon from her. It was heavier than it looked, and I couldn't help but wonder how she managed to carry it around all day in that bag.

I handed the Pokemon back – it didn't seem likely to do anything – and she put it back in the bag.

"So here's how this is going to work. I don't know anything about this Pokemon, but I know someone who probably does. Archie's just gone to –"

Just then, Archie returned and handed me Rayquaza's flute. "Thanks, love. Girls, I'll just… show you."

I put the flute to my lips and blew a short tune, calling out to Rayquaza with my mind. I felt them respond, speeding towards my location.

A moment later, they arrived in all their green scaly glory. The blonde girl looked like she was going to faint, but the dark-haired one looked awed and excited.

It was obvious who the Trainer was, of the two of them.

I turned to Rayquaza. "Thanks for coming so quickly. I half expected you were on the other side of the planet. Don't you usually hang out above Kanto this time of year?"

Normally. But these are not normal times. I've been waiting above Alola for the last few weeks. There's been something in the air here, a sense of foreboding. They turned to the girls. Show me Cosmoem.

Wordlessly, the blonde girl reached into her bag and pulled out the Pokemon. She held it up to Rayquaza, and they lowered their snout so they were eye to eye with the Pokemon – or would have been, had the Pokemon had obvious eyes.

After a moment, Rayquaza snorted. The blast of air nearly send the rather waifish blonde to the ground – although, that may have been her uncertainty in footing.

Cosmoem is a transitional state. It will awaken into its full potential soon.

I raised an eyebrow. "So what does that mean for the uninitiated?"

Cosmoem – or rather, its evolution – is the guardian of this region. It has been a long time since it was called to perform its duty, but it is nearly time. Rayquaza glanced at the girls again. These two will play a pivotal role in aiding Lunala in its duties.

I nearly groaned. Playing the hero was the last thing these girls needed. And helping the heroes was the last thing I needed. But here I was, and there they were.

I sighed. "Thanks, Rayquaza."

They snorted again. I rolled my eyes and made a shooing motion at them.

I led the girls back to the house and sat them down at the kitchen table, spooning some stew out of my slow cooker into bowls for them. After I set the stew in front of them, I opened the window, and Rayquaza poked their head in.

"So," I said, sitting down with a bowl of stew of my own and pointing my spoon at the girls, "if you want to play the hero, you've gotta learn the rules. First off, don't awaken any Legendaries that you can't control or befriend…"

Three weeks later

"May!"

"On my way, love!"

I set aside the Feebas feed bucket and headed for the house. When I arrived, Lillie and Moon were waiting for me with Archie. The two girls were holding hands, and Lillie looked totally different – not just in clothing and hairstyle, but the way she carried herself was far more confident.

Lillie grinned at me. "May! We did it! We stopped the Aether Foundation from opening any more Ultra Wormholes!"

I nodded. "I noticed there weren't any more weird holes in the sky. Well done." I focused on their clasped hands, a grin playing at my lips. "And I see you finally got together." I winked at Moon, who blushed bright red.

Lillie smiled at Moon, a gentle smile that I recognized as one that had crossed Archie's face when he looked at me. "Yes… riding to one's possible death tends to reshuffle one's priorities. I told Moon first."

"Good on you. Well, I've got some soup on. Take a seat and tell me all about it…"