"What kind of environment is this?" Dunsparce asked, as they walked down the ship's ramp. "It is not a kind that is familiar to me. I know I've asked that a lot lately, but I'd mostly lived in a field before."

"That's not a problem!" Cilan told her. "Like I said on the cruise ship, it's okay to ask questions. And this is a place called a city."

"It's a very big city, as well," Swellow chirped. "Or do I mean big? Big is a word with too many meanings. It's more like, um… dense? Tall?"

"That's New Tork City for you," Cilan said. "It's built on three islands, and it's big enough that… well, the central island at least is mostly city at this point. It's a melting pot of culture!"

"Can you stop with the food metaphors for once?" Iris asked.

"That one was already a saying," Cilan countered. "So it's perfectly acceptable!"

Iris grumbled something, shaking her head, then looked around.

"And because I remember having to explain this to Archeops," she said. "These are called tower blocks, or skyscrapers, or high rises. They're sort of like artificial towers of rock which lots and lots of humans and Pokémon live in."

"I see," Dunsparce nodded. "I think it is a pity there isn't more grass, though."

"Actually, there's a big park I saw in the middle," Swellow told them. "But it's not the only place in the city. Anyone interested in going there first, or what?"

"There could be something really interesting here that we might miss," Ash said. "Arc, is there a visitor's guide to New Tork City you can find on the internet?"

"Searching," Arc said. "New Tork City visitor's guide located. Step one: we have lots of tour guides, use one of those."

"Unexpectedly blunt, but a good point," Pikachu judged. "Now, how do we find a tour guide…"

"What is a tour guide?" Dunsparce said.

"It's a human, usually, whose job is to show you around and tell you about the place you're being shown around," Cilan summarized.

"Hey, excuse me?" someone called. "Is one of you guys Ash Ketchum?"

"That's me!" Ash said, waving.

"Ah, that's good," said the speaker, a young man in a green and grey uniform. "Professor Oak sent me to try and find you to show you around… the best information I had was that you were getting off this ship and that you were probably accompanied by a black and green canine Pokémon."

"I am glad to be a useful description," Zygarde said.

"My name's Eric," the man went on. "I'm a park ranger here, I work in the Pokémon Hills national park. It's right in the middle of New Tork City, it's been a really interesting project – we're trying to bring together flowers and plants from all over the world, so that as many Pokémon as possible can feel right at home here. With such a big city it's important to make proper allowances for Pokémon here, you could easily end up with the only ones feeling at home being a few Poison-types like Trubbish and Grimer."

He scratched the back of his neck. "Not that that's wrong, or anything, but… variety's nice."

"So the cool interesting thing here is the big park in the middle," Swellow summarized. "Well, I'm interested."

"Query?" Zygarde began. "When you state that there are flowers and plants from all over the world, does that include the cold bits?"

"Oh, yeah," Eric confirmed. "The cold and hot bits are in special climate controlled domes, some of them halfway underground. The whole facility's also the main renewable power station for the city, which helps out as well, but a big part of what keeps the cold dome cold is all the Ice-types there so it's self-sustaining."

"How useful," Zygarde said. "I will have to remember to not visit that bit."

Oddly enough, the park was actually more green and verdant than most of the wilderness they'd visited on their travels.

It probably had something to do with being designed to be that way, rather than just happening, but it was nice – and Eric encouraged them all to send out their Pokémon and let them enjoy the good weather and green space.

"Hey, I recognize these plants," Ash said, crouching not far from a lake several minutes into their visit. "Those are Gracidea, right?"

"I think that's them," Pikachu agreed. "I'm not as familiar with them as I probably should be with a Shaymin teammate, but then again Shaymintwo doesn't really… use it."

"That's his choice," Ash shrugged, then turned his attention to Aten. "Are you okay? You seem kind of sad."

"I have been simmering with rage since I was divested of my rightful throne, you know that," Aten snapped.

"Yeah, but even apart from that," Ash replied. "I get if you don't want to answer, but I wanted to ask in case it was something I could help with."

"You make it very difficult to remain properly annoyed," Aten said, tail lashing. "It's something about this place. This very human city… I'm frustrated that no such monument of humanity graced my own kingdom."

"I guess that's just about time going past," Ash suggested. "Things happen, and then you kind of move on from there?"

"Trite," Aten judged, huffing.

"But you are part of a championship winning team, don't forget," Ash added. "And a helpful part of it, too. You've really got stronger."

Aten tried his best not to purr, then twitched and spun around to face the other side of the pond. "Who's that? What's there?"

A bush rustled, and then a Genesect came out.

"I don't recognize your kind of beast," it said. "What are you?"

"Huh," Ash frowned. "That's new… hey, Mew?"

Pokéball number seven on Ash's belt turned out to be a miniature Vivillon that turned out to be Mew, and the Psychic-type untransformed, woke up, and did a double-take.

"Huh?" she asked. "Ooh, that's a Genesect and it's got a cannon! I knew they'd look good with cannons!"

"Do you actually have a Pokémon?" Pansage asked. "I don't see a Pokéball… are you a Pokémon Ranger?"

"No, actually," Eric replied. "I'm a park ranger, not a Pokémon one, and I don't use Pokémon because so much of my work involves going into places where the Pokémon there are territorial. There's a kind of system where people heading into those areas can get hold of a local Pokémon on a sort of rental basis, and because they're a local then it helps me be accepted, but I don't have a Pokémon myself."

"Oh, I think I see," Pansage decided. "It's like how when you visit somewhere foreign some people try their best to fit in with the locals?"

"Pansage, really?" Cilan asked, laughter bubbling in his voice. "You could have said it's like how some people eat local delicacies!"

"I didn't think of that one," Pansage confessed. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Cilan told him. "I'm just a connoisseur of metaphors!"

Zygarde suddenly shifted. "That is interesting."

"What is?" Pansage asked.

"I have observed information from a nearby Cell," Zygarde explained. "It is a familiar Pokémon."

Familiar? A mental voice asked, startled.

"Correct," Zygarde said. "I have encountered two similar Pokémon in the past."

"Hey, that sounded different," Iris said. "That was telepathy, right?"

After a long pause, a purple Pokémon floated a little way out of the nearby undergrowth.

How can you be familiar with- she began, then stopped and restarted. Different? Why wouldn't… why aren't you more surprised?

Eric held up his hand. "I'm surprised," he volunteered. "I'm just not showing it by reacting because that might surprise you."

Cilan shrugged. "Really, meeting an entirely new Pokémon you'd not heard of before is just a new chance to make a friend and try out new spices!" he said.

"Less weird than Ash's phone," Emolga contributed.

I am very confused, the new Pokémon said.

"Query?" Zygarde requested. "Is your designation Mewtwo? The previous Mewtwo I have met were a clone of Mew, thus Mewtwo, and a biologically similar created entity with the spirit of a girl named Amber, designated Ambertwo."

The other Pokémon had reacted to the first mention of Mewtwo, and she swallowed. You mean – there are others who are like me? Other Mewtwo?

"I will consider that an answer," Zygarde decided. "It is a pity. If you had been designated Mewtwotwo then we would have a known source for your genetic information. Would you accept the designation Newtwo to avoid name overload among humans?"

"I wanted to complain, but that is a good point," Iris said, frowning. "It took me a while to get the difference between Dragonite, Dragonite and Dragonite right, and I still slip up sometimes."

"I guess… there's a lot of things I could say?" Ash said, once the Genesect had finished explaining where he'd come from. "Because on the one hand, uh, it's kind of sad that you came back so long after you were alive before that there isn't anywhere left that's really your home… but at the same time, you're alive and otherwise you wouldn't be? So you've got a chance to make a new life, I think."

"Plus, you have a cannon," Mew pointed out. "Hey, can you show what the cannon's like? I want to see!"

"Complying," Genesect said, turning around, and fired a blast of blue light that detonated into a splash of water.

"Oooh," Mew ooohed. "I like it!"

Aten coughed.

"I think the answer to this is simple," he said. "Because, unlike the rest of you, I actually have experience at having been awakened long after everything I recognized is gone, except in my case it was worse because I used to be a king and now I am not."

He patted the ground. "And I know exactly the thing to do to deal with this sort of feeling, which is something called disassociation."

Pikachu tilted his head slightly, then slid down to Ash's belt. Forming a Surf-board there, he picked Arc out of Ash's pocket, and checked the screen.

"Are you sure that's what you mean?" he asked. "Because it doesn't sound healthy."

"Of course it's not healthy," Aten said. "That is the entire point!"

He cleared his throat. "Hoopa! I have a royal demand for you!"

"Hoopa wants to point out you said you weren't a king any more," Hoopa said, making one of the most sensible comments Hoopa had yet made.

"Irrelevant!" Aten replied.

"Hmm…" Mew said, tail floating into a question mark as Aten and Hoopa bickered. "I can't remember, Genesect. Did we meet before? I could have looked like literally anything, but it would have been three hundred million years ago, so honesty you're more likely to have the right answer."

"Where has Douze gone?" Red Genesect asked.

"I don't actually know," the Shock Drive Genesect replied. "Believe it or not, I do not follow him around all the time."

"And, honestly, I'm having doubts over whether we're in the correct place," the Chill Drive Genesect agreed. "I know you said this had to be it because of all the mountains, but I remember mountains being less shiny. And less pointy."

Red Genesect shook her head. "We need to find the closest thing to our home," she said. "What do you think the alternatives are?"

Chill, Shock and Burn shuffled their feet, none of them volunteering an answer.

"Look," Red Genesect went on. "I know that this isn't exactly like home. There's all this weird spiky stuff on the ground and I don't recognize the plants, except for a few ferns. But it's better than the icy wilderness we found before and it's far better than the place we were created."

"I don't even recognize most of the beasts," Chill sighed. "Even seeing a Kabutops would help."

Then Burn looked up.

"What was that?" she asked. "I heard something!"

"I heard it too," Shock agreed. "That sounded like Douze."

"Then let's go and save him!" Red Genesect said. "I knew the beasts around here would attack before long, we need to stick together!"

All four Genesect jumped into the air, switching to high-speed flight configuration, and zipped across the green landscape.

"Come on!" Aten yipped at the top of his lungs, springing to his paws as he shook off the disorientation of a burst Illusion. "It's only another few yards to the goal, keep going – someone stop Zamazenta before he-"

"Behemoth Bash!" Zamazenta barked, loping forwards, and the attack sent over forty Pokémon flying along with the ball. They clattered to the ground spread out halfway along the pitch, and Aten snarled before shaking his head and darting after the ball.

"I will catch it!" Douze Drive Genesect announced, jumping, and snagged the ball in all four limbs at once. "This is great!"

"It would be Ideal to pass to me!" Zekrom called. "Everyone come and help me push past Zamazenta!"

Off to the side, Zacian smiled.

"Ah, this is nice," she said, sitting down on her haunches. "It's been a while since I got a chance to watch one of these… there's not enough humans involved, but apart from that…"

Next to her, Pikachu raised a paw.

"Question," he said. "Do you think that, when he said disassociation…"

"Yes, this isn't exactly association football," Zacian concurred.

The nearby hedge went crash as Newtwo burst through, Iris, Eric, Cilan and several Pokémon coming along in her wake, and the Genetic Pokémon skidded to a halt in mid-air as she saw what was going on.

What is this? She asked. It looks like a battle, but… there's a ball? And a human in the middle?

"It's Old Galarian Football, is what it is," Zacian replied. "My trainer wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Would you like to take part? The rules are quite simple, and it helps that we've got Xerneas on call. Alternatively you can be a referee."

"Do you have a plan for what to do about the broken hedge and all the muddy footprints?" Eric asked, as Zamazenta repeated his trick of the most indiscriminate goal-save in football and sent more than a dozen Pokémon flying. "I'm not saying it's impossible to solve, I'm just asking because… you know… sort of my job."

"Let's see," Pikachu said. "Well, we could get Dialga to help, if he's willing, or alternatively I'm pretty sure Meganium can use the power of the sun to do something about it…"

Why are you all so calm about this? Newtwo asked. Where did all these Pokémon come from? Just… what?

Excadrill came out of his Pokéball.

"I'm joining whichever side is losing," he said.

"South team, then," Zacian advised.

Newtwo rubbed her temples. Is there someone around here who can give me useful answers?

"I will do my best," Zygarde said. "But to save time, the answer to about half the questions is 'Ash Ketchum'."

The four Genesect came zipping over a line of trees, and halted in mid-air as they caught sight of what was going on.

"It's a battle!" the Red Genesect said, switching to combat mode. "Douze is under attack!"

"Douze doesn't look like he's under attack," Chill said. "There's a lot of beasts there but they're not targeting him."

"But he's getting hit by attacks and hurt!" the Red Genesect replied. "It might be a massive battle where only some of them are targeting Douze, but he's still being hit and that's unacceptable!"

"We get Douze out, but then we leave," Burn said. "Right?"

"We'd have to give up making this our home," Shock protested. "And we have to make a home somewhere."

"But why start somewhere where all the local beasts are like this?" Burn replied.

"We can discuss this later!" the Red Genesect insisted. "Battle co-ordination mode!"

"Techno Blast!" Douze said, cannon flaring, and a burst of water knocked the ball past Zamazenta and into the goal. "I have scored!"

"Nice work!" Ash told him, skidding to a halt. "It sounds like you're having fun!"

"I am!" Douze agreed, then stopped and went stiff. "Battle co-ordination mode link engaged."

His cannon tracked around to point at Ash, then Newtwo came flying over. She Mega-Evolved in a flash, shielding herself with a swirl of psychic energy, and pointed at the Red Genesect.

Stop! Newtwo insisted. You are once more assuming that you know better about this world, even though you haven't seen enough of it – neither of us have!

"Your complaint is irrelevant," Red Genesect retorted, as Ash started moving left and right to see how well the cannon would track him. "The only way to be safe is to be the strongest."

"Now that's really not true!" Ash called. "It's completely false! I get where it's coming from but you don't have to shut yourself off from everything – you can make friends and find a place for yourself by doing that!"

In the middle of the loose circle of Pokémon who were looking towards the interruption to their game, Zygarde coughed.

"Query," they stated. "Were you at some point involved with Colress of Team Plasma?"

"How do you know that name?" the Red Genesect asked. "Are you working with our imprisoners?"

"I was involved in defeating them," Zygarde said, then transitioned to 50 percent forme and sent swirling electromagnetic eddies pulsing out in every direction. "Aura Break activated."

Douze staggered slightly and looked puzzled. "Why did I just go into battle co-ordination mode? There wasn't a battle."

"As I suspected," Zygarde declared. "The electromagnetic emissions of the Genesect battle co-ordination mode are similar to those of the Colress Machine which electromagnetically controlled Pokémon."

"What's a Pokémon?" Shock asked.

"Who's that beast?" Chill said.

"What's going on?" Burn said, plaintively. "I think we don't understand it."

"What is not going on is football!" Aten said. "I was very much interested in being a Galarian Football Hooligan and I have not had a chance yet, so resolve this dispute in order for me to be able to employ gratuitous violence on others!"

"Hey, wait, did you Mega Evolve, new Mewtwo?" Ash asked. "That's pretty neat! Who did you do it with?"

That question doesn't make sense to me, Newtwo said.

"Did everyone stop playing?" Mew asked, burrowing back up out of the ground as a Diggersby, then did a double-take. "Ooh, now I know you're familiar!"

Flicking back into being Mew, she floated right up in front of the hovering Red Genesect. "Hiya! Hey, remember me? I remember meeting you aaaaages ago, though it was probably less time for you."

Mew scratched her head. "Actually, hold on, I think I was going through a shiny phase then…"

"Is there a point to this?" the Red Genesect asked, then took a step back as Mew went Shiny. "...how can that possibly be you? We were fossils for hundreds of millions of years! Our home's ended up on top of a mountain!"

"Hey, talking about a lady's age is rude!" Mew huffed. "You're lucky I change my mind on whether or not I count several times a day. Now, stop assuming the worst of everyone else, have some pizza, and we can talk about whether there's anywhere on literally the whole planet you can make your home or if you're going to prefer staying on the moon or in the Reverse World. Oh, and we can introduce Newtwo to Mewtwo and Ambertwo too, I bet they'd like to get in on this pizza party!"

"The moon's a place?" Shock asked.

The Red Genesect looked at him. "How is that what's surprised you?"

Newtwo turned out to like Pinap berries on her pizza.

Ambertwo said that that must mean she wasn't a direct clone of Mewtwo.

We're different genders, Mewtwo pointed out. I would have thought that was more diagnostic.

Ambertwo sniggered. I stand by what I said!

AN:

New Tork, presumably built on Tanhattan island.