(18.1)

Sasha stared at the snorlax that was blocking the eastern path out of Saffron.

Granted, it wasn't much of an issue to go around it for pokémon trainers, but for the average citizen, it caused problems.

Turning her attention from the snorlax, she idly watched Mewtwo interact with Sabrina, who had come with several of her students and a Nurse Joy to help with the problem, and she took note of the various expressions that crossed the clone's face as he chatted privately with the gym leader.

They seemed to be arguing over something - likely how to remove the snorlax and Mewtwo didn't seem happy with Sabrina's solution.

The eevee's jaw then dropped as Mewtwo flicked his wrist, tossing the snorlax bodily through the air and off the path.

"Mewtwo!" Sabrina barked. "That was uncalled for!"

"You would be here until mid-afternoon if we did things your way," Mewtwo replied patiently. Sasha blinked in surprise at Mewtwo's inclusion of her in the conversation and she trotted closer. "I merely accelerated the process."

Sabrina's face had gone stony and Sasha glanced worriedly at Mewtwo.

"Come on," the eevee said, startling the two psychics as she bumped into Mewtwo's legs. "What's done is done. Don't make it worse by saying anything more."

Sabrina rubbed the bridge of her nose with a growl and directed a few of the students and Nurse Joy to make sure the snorlax was okay.

"Just leave," she said tiredly. "We'll take it from here."

Mewtwo scooped Sasha into his arms and the duo left the outskirts of the city.

"You gonna tell me what that was about?" Sasha asked after a few minutes.

"I stand by my actions," Mewtwo said.

"Yeah, but maybe you could've been a little nicer about it? How would you feel if someone kicked you out of bed?"

Mewtwo was silent and Sasha took mild satisfaction from the look of guilt on the replica's face.

"Did Sabrina have a different idea in mind for dealing with it?" Sasha asked.

"Something something leverage, blah blah physics," Mewtwo said airily. "Typical human thinking."

Sasha's paw met her face with a slap.

(18.2)

"Mewtwo, what do you do in your free time?" Sasha asked as she followed the clone from their bedroom.

"Eat, sleep, read, knit, go outside and brood for unhealthy lengths of time..." Mewtwo said, ticking off his fingers. "And then there's the usual things any lonely male without any female company does when they're alone. What about you?"

Once she'd gotten over her sudden coughing fit, Sasha answered. "When you're not around, sometimes I sleep. Other times I go for walks. I also made friends with the pokemon living below the apartment you had when you first found me."

Mewtwo made a face as he entered the kitchen and opened the freezer to pull out a loaf of bread. "Ah, so you met Aiedail and his mate?"

"You know them?" Sasha asked in surprise.

"Not as well as you, I suspect. But we have crossed paths now and again. There's more to that pair of absol than you'd think, but they're exceptionally vague about their pasts."

"From your tone, I can tell that bothers you a lot more than you let on," Sasha noted.

"Just feels weird seeing myself from another perspective," Mewtwo grumbled, catching the bread as the toaster spat it out.

"Can't imagine why," Sasha replied, nibbling on her toast.

(18.3)

"What's all this?" Sasha asked, weaving through a stack of papers littering the floor of the apartment.

"Catching up on my manuscripts," Mewtwo replied, typing on no fewer than three different computers.

Sasha blinked in surprise. "You're an author?"

"On and off," Mewtwo replied.

Sasha found a short stack and started reading. "There's a typo here. And here…and there…goodness, this is almost unreadable…"

The papers were snatched from her and she glanced at Mewtwo to see a faint blush on his face.

"Well, since you seem so eager, you can be my editor," the clone said. "You can start with these."

He irately dropped a stack of pages in front of the eevee, completely obscuring her from view.

(18.4)

Sasha and Mewtwo occasionally sparred, the former using it to relieve stress and practice using her ability while the latter used it to keep himself from going stir-crazy.

During one of their sessions, Sasha suddenly started glowing.

"Uh...Mewtwo?" the eevee asked, fidgeting. "What's going on?"

"You appear to be evolving," he replied, stepping closer to her.

"But I don't want to evolve!" Sasha squeaked.

"Then don't."

Sasha glared at him before closing her eyes and furrowed her brow in concentration.

The glow dimmed, but didn't vanish and she gritted her teeth, her fur starting to ripple.

Mewtwo flexed his fingers before gently placing them on either side of her head.

"This might sting a bit..."

He then knocked her unconscious with a quick mental bolt and was pleased to see the glow fade entirely.

"I am so glad that worked," he muttered before picking her up and teleported away.

One quick stop at the Celadon Department Store to pick up an Everstone later, Mewtwo then reappeared in their Saffron apartment and laid Sasha on the couch. He stroked her ears lightly before removing her collar and sat down at his writing desk, moving things aside to give himself room to work.

He turned the Everstone over in his fingers before he levitated it and started picking at it carefully with Aura-infused fingers, breaking it into evenly-sized pieces.

He took Sasha's collar and laid it out before resting the pieces of the Everstone on it, evenly spaced. The clone then used his power to fuse the stones to the collar.

Examining his handiwork, he perked up as Sasha stirred behind him with a groan.

"What happened?" she asked groggily. Mewtwo turned to see her looking around, holding a paw to her no doubt aching head.

"I knocked you out," Mewtwo said, getting to his feet. Sasha looked at him in surprise, then at the collar in his hand. Her paw unconsciously darted to her neck and she grimaced.

"This should help," Mewtwo said as he clipped her collar back on and Sasha relaxed with a contented sigh.

"I can definitely feel the difference," she said with a smile. "The evolution energy felt like...a pressure building in my chest, seeking an exit, but now..."

She gazed at him and lifted her paws, wiggling them. Mewtwo rolled his eyes and picked her up. Resting her paws on his chest, she gave his nose a kiss and smiled.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

(18.5)

Sasha wandered around Malie Garden, taking in the sights of the various bridges running over streams and the small hills dotting the landscape.

She idly noted the streams had been manipulated into the shape of a gyarados and she wondered if it was a natural or artificial phenomenon.

Pricking her ears at a sound, she then froze as a large shadow fell over her.

Slowly turning, she found herself staring at a pair of oddly-clawed green feet. Following them up, she found herself face-to-face with a strange helmeted pokémon.

"Er...hi?" she said slowly, mentally cursing the water at her back.

The beast didn't say anything, merely tilting its head to the side. Sasha took in the design of the helmet and her mind started puzzling it out.

There's massive power lurking inside this thing...is that device some kind of...limiter?

She watched carefully as it lifted one claw towards her and it touched her fur. The beast let out a sound Sasha couldn't quite confirm - somewhere between a growl and a purr before it abruptly turned away and trotted off, its fish-like tail waving happily.

Sasha let out a shaky breath and sat down, doing her best to calm her racing heart with slow, deep breaths.

The beast's touch seemed to linger and it had felt familiar, but Sasha couldn't place her paw on where she had encountered it before.

Shaking herself, she got to her paws and went to find Mewtwo.