(26.1)
Citlali and Aylen stared at a pair of celebi - one green, one pink - thoughtfully.
"Why would we need names?" the pink one asked curiously.
"Well, it'd make it easier to identify you, for one," Aylen said.
"Even though there's dozens of you always popping in and out," Citlali added. "But you're the only glaringly different one here," he said, nodding to the the pink one. "Most of the rest of varying shades of green."
"And thus I should get my own name?" the celebi asked wryly. She shrugged. "Eh, I don't care. Did you have anything in mind?"
"Eilian seems appropriate, what with basically meaning a moment in time," Citlali said.
"You two have odd tastes in names," the celebi said with an amused flick of her antenna.
"Blame this idiot for sticking with the old and obscure ways," Aylen said, nudging Citlali playfully.
"Not my fault language has evolved from reading Unown manuscripts," the mew grumbled.
"Mhh," Eilian said. "I shall leave you to your work then and get back to mine. Come along, Celebi."
Citlali watched them go before turning his eyes toward the Lake Trio hovering around Arceus. "Them next?"
"I don't see why not," Aylen replied. "Got anything off the top of your head meaning emotion, willpower and knowledge?"
"We prefer Yuxie, Emrit, and Agnome, actually," came a voice.
Citlali twitched in surprise and blinked. "You three move quickly," he said.
"The perks of being a psychic, no?" Azelf said with a smirk. "Agnome, at your service."
"Emrit," Mesprit said.
"Yuxie," Uxie supplied.
"You didn't put a lot of effort into that, did you?" Aylen noted.
"No, can't say that I did," Yuxie said with a shrug. "Makes it easier to remember, I suppose and it's hard to tell if I'm being called by my name or by species."
"When you're the only one of your kind, can you really call yourself a species?" Emrit asked, twining her tails together idly.
"I don't see why not," Yuxie said.
"Right, well. Now that we have you lot named, I think it's best we moved on, no?" Citlali said, clapping his paws together.
"Who's next on your list?" Agnome asked.
"Well, Arceus is right there..." Aylen mused.
"You can call me Father like everyone else," Arceus said, not looking up from its work.
"Well, there's that done. Next?" Aylen said as Citlali pouted.
(26.2)
"Hey, you!"
Mewtwo turned at the voice that had hailed him and took in the sight of a man decked out in ripped jeans, ripped leather jacket, chains, and unkempt facial hair.
"You're Mewtwo and Sasha, right?" he asked.
"Aye. I'm Sasha, he's Mewtwo," Sasha replied from her perch on Mewtwo's shoulder. "Can we help you?"
"I'd like to battle you, if that's alright," the roughneck said. "My name's Xolani and I am also taking the gym challenge."
Mewtwo and Sasha exchanged a glance before Sasha nodded, dropping from her perch.
"A battle sounds good," she said, stretching.
Xolani tossed a poké ball and a floette popped out amid a storm of flower petals.
"You're fighting me with...that?" Sasha asked in surprise. "I was expecting...er...well..."
"Something tougher, I expect," Xolani said with an amused chuckle. "You're hardly the first to be surprised by my choice."
"Don't see many Fairy types in Kanto," Mewtwo said, watching curiously. "As far as I know, the Fairy gym only opened fairly recently and hasn't gotten a lot of traffic."
"Eh, it'll all be over quickly," Sasha said. "What's the worst it could do?"
…
"Is she alright?" Xolani asked worriedly as Mewtwo carefully extricated Sasha from the tree she'd been blasted into.
"She'll be fine," Mewtwo said, gently touching her limbs. "She'll probably wake up with a headache in a bit."
Carefully draping her over his shoulders, Mewtwo stood up and dipped his head to the trainer.
"Thank you for giving her a lesson in not underestimating her opponent just because it's cute and non-threatening."
"Kinda ironic, what with her being an eevee and all, no?" Xolani asked.
"Very true. I wish you the best of luck on your journey."
"And you as well."
(26.3)
Yellow stared up at Wela Volcano, hands clasped behind her back.
"Hm...this seems like the place Magma would be, yet...not a soul to be found. Odd."
"What's odd?" a voice asked from behind her, causing her to jump in surprise.
She turned to see a young dark-skinned male climbing down from an old charizard wearing a saddle.
"Oh, uh...I got a tip about some bad people who have a fondness for volcanoes in Alola, so...I thought I'd scope out the place with a volcano first," Yellow said. "I'm Yellow."
"Kiawe. I'm the Trial Captain here, in charge of protecting this place. Haven't seen anyone new here for as long as I've been Captain," he said. "Just Trial-Goers."
"Strange. Are there any other places like this in Alola?"
"There's a Geothermal Power Plant over on Blush Mountain, over on Ula'ula Island," Kiawe said, pointing to the island in the distance, dominated by three tall peaks. "I haven't gotten any word of trouble from Sophocles, so..."
Yellow pondered for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, a Geothermal Power Plant sounds like a possible target they'd hit. Thanks. I'd best be going."
"Good luck," Kiawe said.
(26.4)
Ash stared at his Charizard as the latter sunned himself on a large rock in one of Oak's fields.
"You've gotten smaller," the trainer said, taking a seat beside the lizard.
"Or maybe you've gotten bigger," the pokémon replied, spreading his wings to catch the sunlight.
"Mhh...more like a mix of the two," Ash sighed, rubbing his hands together. "So...what have you been up to?"
"Charla has been raising and training our kids. Once they mature a bit, she's handing them off to me for training. They're quite a handful," Charizard said, smiling.
"I'm glad to hear that," Ash said.
"So what about you? No wife and children of your own?"
Ash shrugged. "Can't say it interests me, to be honest. I'd much rather be out and about, traveling and meeting new people and pokémon."
"Hm..."
"Maybe one day I'll settle down, but for now..."
"You're young."
"Twenty-five is not young," Ash said dryly. "And aren't you younger than me?"
"Younger, yes. And also more mature."
Ash snorted in disbelief. "This coming from the one who cost me a League at one point."
Charizard pouted. "That didn't count because you then went back in time and rectified that mistake many times over."
Ash nodded before gazing out at the fields of Pallet Town where Oak kept pokémon. It felt much emptier without thirty tauros running around and Ash made a mental note to swing by Alola and see how their tenure as Ride Pokémon was going.
A hoot got his attention and Ash looked up to see Noctowl descending towards him.
"The old duffer wants a word with you. Apparently some chap named Bill is asking after you," the owl said as it landed.
Ash got to his feet and stretched. "Thanks for the heads up. I don't suppose you've seen Pikachu on your flight over?"
"He is waiting for you with Oak," Noctowl said.
Bidding Charizard farewell, Ash jogged off.
Dipping his head, Noctowl also took wing.
Charizard watched him go before getting to his feet. Stretching, he flared his wings, launching himself skyward before he headed for Johto.
(26.5)
Sasha watched as Mewtwo flicked through a ring of disks suspended around himself, muttering under his breath.
"You gonna tell me what you're up to, or am I going to have to guess?" she asked, jumping up onto the couch beside him.
Peering closely at the disks, Sasha saw names on them.
"Frost Breath, Snarl, Explosion, Water Gun...what are these?"
"Technical Machines," Mewtwo replied, shuffling them. "For the lazy pokémon who don't want to train themselves naturally. Just tap it on your head and the knowledge is beamed directly into your brain."
"Come again?" Sasha asked, tilting her head. "That can't be how it-"
Mewtwo tapped a pale blue disk against her head.
Sasha exhaled a cold breath of air and blinked.
"Congratulations, you have learned Frost Breath," Mewtwo said.
"Why would I ever need to know Frost Breath?" Sasha asked, pawing at her forehead.
"Perhaps your drink is too hot, or you're fighting an Onix who has Wrapped you and you can only use biting moves, which against a Rock-type would be foolhardy," Mewtwo said, setting the disks down.
"...Alright," Sasha said. "Why do you have so many?"
"You'd be amazed at how often humans drop them in the most obscure places," Mewtwo said dryly. "Some fifteen years ago, TMs broke after one use, which made replacing them quite difficult. Then they made them unbreakable, much to the relief of trainers and breeders everywhere."
Sasha made a disgusted face. "People breed pokémon just to put specific moves on them?"
"And then send them right back in to breed a pokémon with the ability to use the same move without difficulty," Mewtwo said with a nod.
"They're a weird lot."
"That's one way of putting it," Mewtwo said delicately.
"Well, thanks for the gift. I'm gonna go out and poke around for a while." She hesitated, kneading her paws. "Would you like to come with me? Maybe get something to eat?"
Mewtwo's eyebrows rose. "My dear Sasha, are you asking me out on a date?"
Sasha flicked her ears with a smile. "Of course."
"Then I'd be delighted to join you."