Chapter 26: Meet Sanguine and Merit Davis

Professor Jacq called it before the birth of the twins: History has been made for the third time.

Not only were they born as anthropomorphic tigers with a hint of hatterene in them, but they also wielded a third steel type that's been officially classified as their Tera Type by Paldean Champion Geeta. The only difference is that it's permanent and cannot be changed by use of Tera Shards and it's all because of Karthaniel's expertise.

Now it was time for everyone in Galar and all of the Paldean guests to meet these two and hopefully, get to know them as intimately as possible early on, especially around the other pokémon.

The anticipation was at an all-time high for everyone waiting back at the Training Dojo in the Isle of Armor. So much so that only the overly excited Nemona and Iono stood right at the double-door entrance with their biggest smiles. The others stood behind them with civilized patience.

Finally, after thirty minutes of waiting, the doors opened and the cheering erupted at its loudest when they saw Karthaniel and Hatterene calmly walk in with Sanguine in the former's muscular tattooed arms and Merit in the latter's slender ones with all the love in their hearts.

"AWWWW!" Those same two overly excited trainers exclaimed after Geeta volunteered to close the double doors. Then, only Iono continued: "They're so cute!"

"And very pretty, too!" Nemona added as she started petting the twins in each fingerless gloved hand. "So, what are their names?"

"The one with the blue stripes here is named Sanguine." Karthaniel replied in the tone of a proud father and his signature handsome smile to match. "That term means to be optimistic, especially in a bad or difficult situation. He also has my exact brave and calm demeanor."

"Oh, wow! That's awesome!"

"And what about this handsome fella in the pink stripes?" Iono commented sweetly with all the glee in her smile.

"That's Merit." Hatterene replied. "He has the same personality as me, but with nobility and grace, like Queen Diancie Totanuki. He's due to have so much positive energy that many people and Pokémon might find it to be more of an annoyance than a benefit. Of course…" Hatterene paused as she snuggled her precious twin close to her face, making him purr and meow at the cutest high-pitched tones the entire dojo had ever heard. "…that won't stop him from releasing that energy as he grows up alongside his brother."

"And here's the surprise about these twins:" Geeta started professionally, immediately gaining everyone's attention. "Hatterene sensed a third type within them. They've already been classified as psychic and fairy, just like her, but Karthaniel's expertise is the third type that's officially their permanent Tera Type." A stunned gasp was heard from everyone after that was said, except all of those surrounding the new family, of course. "Whether or not it's their third type or their Tera Type is unclear for now, but I have already given them their own Tera Orbs to use when they get old enough to battle."

"I knew it! I knew that would happen!" Jacq exclaimed. "So, since that's the case, should we just allow them to mingle with just some of our Pokémon at this point?"

"That's the next step we planned to take," Karthaniel replied. "We'll have all of our available Pokémon outside in the battle arena in the back and have Merit and Sanguine among them all as a meet-and-greet kind of setting. The rest of us will supervise the scene from here and that includes you, Hatterene-love."

"That's fine by me." After that was said and done, Nemona didn't waste a moment releasing all of her Pokémon as well as Iono's Bellibolt, Arven's Mabosstiff, Tyme's Garganacl, Ryme's Houndstone, Rika's Clodsire, and Geeta's Glimmora. As soon as they all headed outside towards that arena, Karthaniel's entire team came out on their own. Even Urshifu decided to head out as well, having him approach the twins with a reassuring smile and a nod, telepathically telling them that they'd be okay. Sanguine and Merit both made little cute roars in response to the message before they calmly started to fly out towards the same arena with their Uncle Urshifu casually walking right behind them.

Once they were all outside in the arena, it ended up with the new twins in the exact center of it with all of the aforementioned Pokémon surrounding them in a perfect circle, having Hatterene being the only one standing just a couple of steps away from it. Urshifu was within the circle between Pawmot and Tinkaton with his strong arms crossed and a confident smile on his face.

As for Sanguine and Merit themselves, they both took the silence and the stares of all of the new Pokémon they'd never seen before with nervous glares in their eyes. The humans at an even farther distance away from the Pokémon had very observant glares, especially Karthaniel. He became a bit worried about them and was this close to approaching the surrounding circle to tend to them, but Geeta laid a gentle gloved hand upon his left shoulder to not only stop him from doing so but to telepathically tell him that everything was going to be okay and there was no need to worry. The new father looked over at her with his anomalous eyes appearing regal towards the Paldean Champion and he nodded once as a sign that he was willing to obey her.

Five minutes have passed since the gathering of the Pokémon meeting the twins and Clodsire was the only one to finally gather up his courage and slither towards them for a snuggling version of a meet-and-greet upon only Merit first. He took it in peacefully with a calming purr before Sanguine joined in just seconds later, having all three of them emit their respective sounds of comfort, making the humans admire this heartwarming scene in awe silently. Karthaniel and Hatterene's eyes became watery with joy, but no tears escaped yet. Pretty soon, all of the others just approached the twins one at a time to welcome them with utmost respect. They both instantly felt loved and accepted as an extended family, especially after their Uncle Urshifu was the last to hold them in his arms and just embrace them with all the love in the world.

A soft round of applause was heard from the humans as they watched this scene unfold while Karthaniel approached Hatterene and just held her within his strong tattooed arms with a few more minutes of silence between them. After those minutes passed, Hatterene just had this to say to add it all up:

"It's safe to say that Sanguine and Merit will be just fine battling them one day. Win or lose, they'll have an educational experience and will want to do it again and again."

Karthaniel's response: "Indeed, Hatterene-love! In…deed!"

An hour after that was all said and done, the rest of the day was pretty much spent introducing the rest of Galar to the phenomenal twins. Every single one of those people just couldn't get over the fact that they have a third tera type that's permanent, but it was disappointing to know that it'll be about a year or two until they can finally gain access to it in battle.

At around lunchtime, it was time for just all of the gym leaders plus former champion Leon to meet the twins alone at the battle tower for a fancy lunch. Sanguine and Merit were very well behaved within Karthaniel and Hatterene's laps respectively as they were eating casually and just peacefully having a conversation about everything they loved about the dangerous adventure with Sir Davis. It fascinated the twins to hear about their father's quest for his sanity and they instantly became spiritually supportive, even though he's permanently cured of it, thanks to the Glimwood Tangle Mushroom Serum he had been injected with months prior.

After those stories were told by everyone, the sound of the glass doors opened and they were all surprised to see not only Rika but alongside her was…

"Jaymes?!" Everyone, except the twins, exclaimed with astonishment. It was indeed the Jaymes Thompson Totanuki back from his last visit before the twins were born. He was dressed in a light green and hot pink gradient-designed vest with baggy grey jeans and hot pink sneakers. Only Leon gathered the courage to approach the two to welcome them to their fancy private banquet:

"It's so good to see you again, Jaymes! How have you and your queens been since your last visit?"

"We've been great, thanks for asking." Jaymes replied in that deep handsome voice that the ladies didn't hesitate to swoon over for a brief moment, except Rika, of course. She stayed cool, calm, and collected. "I didn't even hesitate to share the experience with my famous Street Fighting kunoichi mother and father after we returned and they were just as over the moon as we were. They actually cannot wait to see you all in person someday."

"And we sure can't wait either. We'll be expecting them, no matter how long it takes for them to get here."

"Thanks!" The young ninja then saw them within Hatterene and Karthaniel's laps and instantly became intrigued as he approached them with his handsome smile. "Aww, there they are." Right after that last word was spoken by Jaymes, both of the twins simultaneously flew up to him for welcoming snuggles against his face that were not only luxuriously soft to the touch but spiritually heartwarming as well. Their parents stood up to admire the scene even more as it continued. "Heh, heh! Safe to say these twins are in good hands already. Sanguine and Merit, right?"

"Ah, Rika already told you, lad." Karthaniel replied with a nod of approval. "Did she tell you the shocker about them as well?"

"It left me a bit flummoxed at first, but yes." That's when the twins just floated before the handsome ninja with tilted heads of curiosity as he continued. "Having you two with a third type that could also be dubbed as their Tera Type makes perfect sense here. Meloetta predicted this would happen after you told us about your steel-type expertise. Having her being a psychic type, we never denied her prediction."

"I knew it." Hatterene playfully quoted with a cute smile. "Unfortunately, we cannot use the Tera Orbs they gave us until they're a year old. It's a 'just-in-case' scenario here. If they don't need them by then, then we get to still keep them forever as a memento. Speaking of which, Rika…"

"The others all left back to Paldea." Rika replied with no regrets. "I'm the only one still here because I've become a family friend to the Totanukis and I wouldn't want to miss out on seeing Jaymes' reaction to meeting the twins for the first time."

"And it's a good thing you're still here." The Silent Pokémon didn't waste a moment approaching the ground-type expert of Paldea's Elite Four and giving her an appreciative embrace that was heartwarming to everyone surrounding them, including the twins. "Before you do head back to Paldea, I just wanna take this opportunity to thank you so much for your help in all of this. Sure, Jacq and Sonia found the information as well, but you've been doing most of the research since before you even heard about us."

"It was my pleasure." Rika replied sweetly before the minute-long embrace ended. "Since that's the case, I should give you a heads-up about our future visits to two more areas within Paldea – Kitakami and Blueberry Academy. I've already informed the Totanukis about them and vice versa. Everyone there is excited about meeting you all in person and asking so many questions about the human and pokémon bonds that produce the impossible. Both of these families will gain fame once they do see you all. Your twins won't mind it for sure."

"Oh, absolutely." Karthaniel replied in agreement before he shook hands with the humble trainer. "Thank ya so much for telling us in advance, Miss Rika. You and Jaymes will keep in touch, yes?"

"Without a doubt." Both Jaymes and Rika replied in unison before the young ninja continued alone: "Don't forget to tell my family when you finally start to use your Tera Orbs on the twins. We will all be here – My parents and my older brothers included."

"Will do." Both of the new parents replied before they all gathered for one more group hug from everyone at the banquet this time, already wishing all the best to everybody.

Hours later – 8:15 PM to be exact - Hatterene and the Davises were back at their humble home in Hammerlocke and getting ready for bed for the night. After spending another fifteen minutes saying goodnight to his parents, Karthaniel and Hatterene had just settled down into their King-sized bed with a crib containing Sanguine and Merit on the Silent Pokémon's right side of the bed. She couldn't help but smile with admiration as she saw how cute they looked cuddled together within each other's paws. Karthaniel saw this as he was sitting up, showing that he was shirtless with a handsome smile. Unbeknownst to him, however, Hatterene's eyes were glowing that baby blue as she was using Psychic to gently massage the twins and they purred with satisfaction for the next five minutes.

When it got silent again, that's when she turned over to face her human husband and he nearly frowned when he saw that her eyes were a bit watery, but no tears escaped yet. She was still smiling as well.

"This is probably how Jaymes felt when his children hatched." Hatterene quoted in her sweetest tone since meeting the man. Her smile grew even more as she felt Karthaniel's hand give her visible cheek gentle loving strokes, accidentally wiping away a tear along the way. "As big of a man as he is, I just can't imagine him crying like this."

"The size of the man doesn't matter when it comes to fatherhood, love." Karthaniel protested in his soothing tone. "It's just the extra icing on the cake. The same could be said about his ninja status and the fact that he can turn into the legendary mega Pokémon, Dragobsidian."

"You're right, Sir Davis." At that last word, that's when he finally laid down and was still facing her with his strokes upon her cheek still going as well. She finally returned the favor by massaging his visible silver-geared tattooed arm with just as much compassion. "Which brings me to one more question to add it all up here: Compared to both of your adventures that lead up to these offspring, which one of you do you think suffered the worst?" It was a difficult question and showing a regal glare of deep thought was enough to tell the Silent Pokémon that factor for the next five minutes.

"…hmm… well, even though we both had near-death experiences along the way, I'll have to admit that Jaymes has been through worse compared to me." Hearing this made Hatterene nod twice in agreement as she kept her sweet smile. "The young ninja had to endure so much pain – both emotionally and physically – to get to where he is now. If it hadn't been for Meloetta, he probably would've been dead by now and the Dragobsidian itself was probably difficult to tame. As for me, I had a much easier time. I didn't transform into a dragon or my spirit animal – the tiger, but there was still much more emotional pain to endure. The worst I had was that bloody demon haunting my sanity every now and then. Huh! I'd love to see him transform into the Dragobsidian in person someday because of that benefactor. How about you?"

"Same here, but that's fascinating to hear you say, Sir Davis. I was gonna disagree with you, but now that you've explained why, I'd have to agree. Jaymes is so young but already shares the same amount of knowledge as a 100-year-old sage at this point. You're not… secretly jealous of him, are you?" That last question had a playful tone to it, which made Karthaniel chuckle as he bowed his head with humor.

"About the fact that he's got two mythical pokémon as his wives?" Hatterene nodded twice in response. "Heh-heh! I'll have to admit that it's impressive to have and he loves them both equally. With that in mind, I'll have to say that I cannot lie: I am a tiny bit envious, especially since one of them is an actual queen. But I still respect him as a person because of everything he's been through. I'll try my best to avoid showing my jealousy the next time we meet."

"And I can already see that struggle becoming futile someday." That phrase from Hatterene made them both softly chuckle for a quick fifteen seconds before they cuddled together within each other's arms, having the Silent Pokémon lay her head upon his right pectoral for added comfort. "Of course, you still have his older triplet brothers plus his parents to deal with as well."

"I'm sure they'll all understand." After that was said, all four of them in the bedroom were fast asleep with smiles of glory upon their faces with Hatterene's being the biggest of them all because of one more thought in mind that made everything set in stone for her new family:

I never would've thought that just meeting and saving Karthaniel Harrison Davis would end up like this. It started so brooding and horrifying, but I'm so happy that everything turned out well in the end for everyone involved. I guess it's true what these humans say sometimes:

It's not how you start. It's how you finish.

The End.

(Phew! I broke a personal record here, y'all – 26 chapters! I usually end my stories at 25, but this was just so good to write and I'm so glad you all were giving this story all the love and support with your faves and follows that shocked me every time I was notified. Thank you all so much and I hope you've enjoyed it.)