Author's Note: A little backstory building, headcanons that serve to explain some of the more outright ridiculous stuff in the main series, and even some fun at Loudred's expense! What doesn't this chapter have?

Siblings

"So, what is it like to have siblings?" Claire asked as she settled in for that night's meeting.

"Well, I don't know," Diglett replied. "I don't have any. But didn't you say you do, Bidoof?"

"Yup, yup!" Bidoof nodded. "I've got two little siblings, myself! I gotta do my best and a good example for them. It's hard sometimes, but…I reckon I did a decent job of helping them out, by golly."

"I know what you mean," Sunflora agreed. "I've got a little sister, too, and, eek! She's so adorable. She's still a little Sunkern, so I had to do my best and take care of her!"

"I wish my siblings were like you guys," Iris huffed, folding her arms. "Well, one of them's okay, but the other two just pick on me all the time. It's so stupid. Everyone always says big brothers are supposed to look out for you, but Barrett and Elliot sure don't!"

"Barrett doesn't pick on you, Iris," Rin sighed. "He just never let you get away with doing whatever you wanted. Anyway…I've got four siblings myself, but only two of them are younger. We all get along pretty well, so—"

"Wait, how do YOU have siblings, Cubone?" Loudred demanded.

"Ooh, I know!" Sunflora said, clapping her leaves together. "I bet they're half-siblings! And, oh my gosh, maybe some of them aren't even Cubone! Because then they wouldn't have to worry about, you know…"

Rin blinked. "Worry about what? …Oh, you don't mean that stupid rumor about female Marowak, do you?"

"HUH?" everyone said, partly because the normally-quiet Rin was being so blunt, and partly because of what she was implying.

"Don't tell me you actually think female Marowak die after they have children," Rin groaned. "I mean, we'd be an endangered species if that actually happened, right? Besides…I hear that sometimes you'll find Cubone who take their mother's helmets if that does happen, but…that's only in some places. I guess the rumor started from there."

Loudred blinked at her. "Wait, so you're ALSO saying you're normally BORN with those helmets?"

"Um…yes? Why wouldn't we be?" Rin tilted her head to the side in confusion. "That's like asking if…if Squirtle are born with their shells, or something."

Everyone silently processed this information. Then, Loudred huffed, stood up, and barreled towards the doorway.

"Hey, hey! Where are you going?" Corphish asked.

"I'm gonna ask Chatot! I bet HE'D know if you're telling the truth!"

Everyone groaned as he left the room. A few of them—including Claire and Sunflora—peeked outside in an attempt to hear the conversation better. Loudred and Chatot were far away, but they could hear them if they listened carefully…

"So is it TRUE that Marowak DON'T actually die when they lay eggs?"

"Um…no? Of course they don't." Chatot frowned. "You know you could just ask Cubone about this, right? She would know firsthand, I'd assume."

"Oh, well…erk…that is…"

"Don't tell me you actually did and came to ask me anyway. Is that what happened, Loudred?!"

Loudred jumped as Chatot waved his wings around indignantly. "OF COURSE not, Chatot! I'd NEVER waste your time like that!"

"Loudred! Get back to your room this instant!" Chatot squawked. "I have many things I need to do, so leave me to it!"

"Y-YES, sir!"

With that, Loudred scrambled out of the meeting room and back down the residential hall.

Half the recruits were laughing hysterically by the time Loudred got back to the room. Meanwhile, Rin still looked huffy, and she folded her arms and refused to look at him. Loudred scowled as he sat down, folding his arms as well.

"FINE, I was wrong! Whatever. Let's just get back to the TOPIC!"

Felix blinked. "What were we talking about, again? …Oh, right! Siblings! Um…well, I've got five older ones, myself. Everyone always kind of babied me a bit, but…well…I know they meant well. Though I was always closer to one of my cousins growing up because of that."

"Oh, what's your cousin like?" Heliona asked.

"Well, she's more outgoing now, but she used to be really shy like me when we were little," Felix replied. "And…she's on my dad's side, so she's a Pikachu instead of a Chimchar. But we still get along pretty well now, anyway."

Huh, so Felix had at least one cousin, too, Claire thought. She was learning things about all her friends, but that fact was especially interesting to her. Maybe it was because she hadn't seen any other humans around here so far, so she wondered if she had enough relatives to even have cousins. (And thinking about whether or not she had a family had been the whole reason she'd asked her original question.)

"So, anyway," Chimecho was saying—Claire realized she'd missed a bit of the conversation due to spacing out. "What brought this up in the first place, Meowth?"

"Oh, er…"

Despite having just thought about that, Claire wasn't sure if she wanted to say it aloud. She hadn't told anyone else but her teammates about her amnesia, after all, and this felt like a weird time to bring it up.

She finally settled on, "Well, I was just wondering what big families were like, you know? And, uh…you know, Chatot's probably going to come in here and tell us to go to bed soon, so…"

"Aw, that's such a BORING answer." Loudred rolled his eyes. "But I GUESS you're right."

Everyone nodded as they started to shuffle out of the room. Felix looked curiously at Claire as they walked down the hallway. She smiled and shook her head as they approached the room; she supposed the topic change had sounded forced, if nothing else.

"It's nothing," she said reassuringly. "I just want to make sure we get up on time tomorrow."

"Oh, okay. If you say so."

Felix nodded as he curled up on his bed, and Rin and Iris followed suit quickly enough. Claire laid down as well, but she stayed awake for a little while.

Siblings…they sounded nice. Claire slowly drifted off, left with vague-yet-persistent questions about what her family may have been like.