Prompt #21: Steven told Liza and Tate that they were always welcome to ask for advice, and not just when it relates to Gym business...
"So that's why you have to help us."
"We don't even know where to start."
"What do you get a pokemon that's 300 years old?"
"I don't even know what it's like to be 30 years old, and that's really old, but nowhere near as old as 300!"
Steven winced as he did the mental calculation on how soon he'd be nearing the twin's definition of 'old'.
Of course, this was only after he found himself sitting in his living room with a pair of flustered Gym Leaders standing across from him. Tate and Liza had called him asking for his council, and he was happy to oblige, but he hadn't expected to be roped into helping choose a birthday gift for the twins' pokemon. He had known that Solrock and Lunatone were ancient creatures, having been with the psychic family of Leaders for many generations. But he, too, was stumped by the twins' request.
"You know," he began gently, "Perhaps your mom and dad might have better ideas than me. Solrock and Lunatone used to be their pokemon."
Liza huffed and Tate's face fell.
"We already asked them!"
"They just told us to do something special."
"But what does that mean?"
"What's left that's special after 300 years?"
"I bet Solrock has met every pokemon in existence."
"And Lunatone probably has tried every treat there ever was."
"We're stumped!" both twins cried simultaneously, and Steven nearly chucked at their predicament, but that would have been rude.
So instead he opted for a smile that he hid behind the hand he thoughtfully brought to his chin.
"What if instead of something new, you gave them something old instead?" he mused.
"Huh?"
"Something old?"
Steven nodded as he elaborated, "Maybe not something that actually is old, but something that they haven't seen in a while; something nostalgic."
"Nostalgic?"
"You mean like when mom and dad go through our baby pictures to embarrass us?"
At this Steven did laugh, his own mind going back to the way his own father would bring out the dusty family photo albums whenever Wallace would stop by. But his laughter quickly died down as he thought back to the other pages of the album; the ones at the very front that his father would skip when there was company over. The ones that held a smiling stranger's face tight within their pages. The woman whose face felt so warm and familiar, and yet so foreign at the same time. Steven felt the silence of the room hang heavy as the twins picked up on his stirring memories.
Two concerned gazes were locked onto his own, and he quickly recollected himself with a small smile, waving their worry away.
"Ah, forgive me. When you're as old as I am, those baby pictures are especially embarrassing to remember."
The twins shared an uneasy look between themselves, but didn't press the Champion's thin lie any further. Instead, Tate chose to bring it back to the matter at hand.
"But we don't have any baby pictures of our pokemon..."
"They're 300 years old, remember?"
"Did they even have pictures back then?"
Steven smiled, "It's not the pictures that are important. Lots of other things can trigger meaningful memories. Sights, sounds, smells..."
The twins' faces scrunched deep in thought.
"What did it smell like 300 years ago?"
"I bet it smelled all musty, like the books at Mt. Pyre, or the bottom of an old cave -"
Cave...
"I may have an idea," Steven said, raising a finger as the thought came to him. He waved the twins in to a huddle as he brought out his PokeNav, calling a map up to the screen. "I'm willing to bet Lunatone and Solrock haven't been here in a long, long time..."
Tate and Liza had never seen their partners expressions light up like they did when they released them into the cavern. They had followed Steven's directions carefully, and armed with a picnic basket filled to the brim with treats, they had trekked deep into the cave before letting Lunatone and Solrock out of their balls.
Sunlight poured through the holes in the roof, carved by ancient meteors, and it danced through the shallow cascades of crystal clear water that fed the upper basin of Meteor Falls. The psychic pokemon's joyful calls echoed off the pale rocks as they spiraled slowly upward, taking in the sight of their birthplace. 300 years was a long time, and somehow the secluded area of the Falls had remained relatively untouched in all that time. Floating back down to their trainers, the ancient pokemon nestled happily into Tate and Liza's waiting arms, sharing 300 years worth of gratitude with their young partners.