A/N: Some edits have been made to the previous chapter, specifically pertaining to some starter switcheroos and Carmen's firebird.

Director Clavell tried not to frown as he looked across his desk at the two students seated before him. Although as an educator, he knew he shouldn't play favorites, he would be lying if he claimed they didn't have a special place in his heart. His life and understanding of the universe had been thoroughly upended when they quite literally fell into his life, and despite the pains and stress and sleepless nights, he would also be lying if he said he wished he had never met them in the first place.

As such, he hated having to discipline them, especially now, after everything they'd gone through in recent times.

"Do the two of you know why I have called you here today?" He asked, adjusting his glasses.

"No, Papa Clavell," Julie said honestly, as she always did, since the concept of lying was utterly foreign to her. Despite multiple attempts to force her to adhere to the dress code, she kept tearing up the school uniform and claiming it felt bad against her skin, so they were forced to eventually give up and let her wear an orange and blue loincloth and breast band with the school crest on it as a concession.

Oh, right, she'd called him… "Julie, as I've told you before on multiple occasions, I am to be referred to as Director Clavell, not Papa," he said gently, once more struggling not to cry tears of joy that she viewed him as a father figure, a sentiment which he most certainly did not return. At all. She was just another student, nothing more.

"Sure thing, Papa Clavell!" She replied cheerfully, yet again reminding him this was a lost cause.

"… I would wager I am here because of the explosion I caused earlier today?" ANNA offered. Unlike her sister, she had no problem wearing the school uniform… Or so it would seem; in actuality what she was wearing was a hard light projection over her metallic frame. When he had argued that meant she was still technically naked, she replied that everyone is naked under their clothes, and besides, this would save money on clothing costs, to which he had no reply.

"That is part of the reason, yes," Clavell said, moving the Newton's cradle toy on his desk out of Julie's reach without looking, knowing she'd already been reaching out to set it into motion, and once it started there would be no way to get her to focus on anything else.

"While I acknowledge I made a mistake, I cannot think of any reason for both of us to be here," ANNA said. "While our grades have been slipping, we are still the top two highest scores in school."

This was true, though it might surprise most to know that Julie was not only one of the school's best students but had actually outperformed her sister in a number of classes, and not just Physical Education as one might expect. While she came from a more primitive age and looked and talked like a stereotypical cavewoman or airheaded cute beastwoman, she was actually frighteningly clever, she was simply more adapted to a world vastly different from this one and had trouble speaking the language. She had once not only solved a Rubik's cube using her tongue, but had also managed to create a cube in a cube without even looking at it during the five seconds it had been in her mouth.

"No, there's no problem with your grades," Clavell assured them, fighting down a swell of pride at this. "But your behavior as of late has been somewhat… Troubling."

The sisters looked completely dumbfounded. "What are you talking about, Papa Clavell?" Julie asked.

"I do not believe we have been doing anything that deviates notably from our usual baseline," ANNA agreed.

Clavell sighed. "Julie, you've been destroying school property-"

"Julie is just marking territory! Gotta show everyone who's boss!" She insisted.

"Julie, I know you're from a different culture and era, but we've talked about how you can't go around urinating outside of a bathroom-" Clavell started.

"That wasn't Julie," Julie said bluntly, ANNA nodding in agreement. "Julie can probably tell you who it is though, Papa Clavell."

"Really? Oh, that's good," he said in relief. "But we'll circle back to that. There have also been reports of you stalking and assaulting students-"

"Julie hasn't been doing that!" Julie protested.

"Julie, almost a dozen girls have turned up in the infirmary with claw scratches and bite marks. All of them have also shown signs of turning into a cat girl like yourself," Clavell said in frustration.

"Oh, that," Julie said dismissively. "Julie didn't assault anyone! Got consent first."

Clavell blinked. "I… Really?"

The twins nodded. "Quite a lot of people are attracted to my sister and find the act of being hunted and marked by her rather… Sexually stimulating," ANNA explained. "In addition, quite a lot of them have secretly fantasized about being cat girls themselves."

"That… Does not surprise me nearly as much as it should," Clavell admitted, once again dreading the day he decided to look up "furries" online. "Well, even if you got consent, I've still been getting a lot of complaints from the parents claiming that their children are getting STDs and being transformed into mutant freaks, resulting in some rather pointed questions from the Board of Directors, the government, the media, and so forth as to whether or not this Academy has become a licentious den of iniquity and the first outbreak of a horrifying new epidemic…"

"Mutant freaks?" Julie whispered, shrinking into herself, ears folding back against her skull.

Clavell had to try very hard not to rush over and hug her. "Their words, not mine."

"But that is preposterous," the bewildered ANNA protested. "Julie's retrovirus is not only not sexually transmitted, but is completely benign, with the transformative effects boosting the vitality, stamina, health, immune system, and so on of the infected, much like Pokérus does to Pokémon. I have studied it extensively and published monographs in a variety of well-respected research and health journals, as well as the school website and numerous social media. In addition, I have developed a free and easy to produce vaccine and antidote in case any who have become infected and regret it wish to return to baseline human."

"A lot of parents claim the vaccine causes autism," Clavell said flatly.

"It does not. I also said as much in my monographs, the school website, and social media," ANNA said, looking even more confused. "I do not understand."

"Regrettably, neither do I," Clavell said wearily. "And to think, many of those people graduated from this very institution… I even taught some of them. I'm as disappointed as you are. Probably more so."

He made a face. "And speaking of disappointment," he said apologetically. "We need to discuss your recent actions as well."

"Right. The explosion," ANNA murmured.

"Not just the explosion," Clavell said. "There's the explosion before that, and the one before that, and the one before that. You've had quite a few lab accidents over the last several weeks, ANNA, more than you have ever exhibited in the past… And what's worse, your teachers tell me you've actually started ignoring safety protocols! I couldn't believe it the first time I heard it! ANNA, you wrote most of our safety protocols after declaring the old ones inadequate!"

ANNA looked suitably chastened at this. "I… I am sorry, Director. Such recklessness and disregard for protocol is… Unlike me. There can be no excuse."

"If only that were the worst of it!" Clavell said unhappily. "Your teachers have complained about you correcting them in class."

"But I have always corrected them in class," ANNA put down. "Because they are usually wrong."

"Yes, but how often have you made them break down in tears?" Clavell pressed. ANNA winced at this. "Not only that, but you've also canceled all your tutoring sessions and withdrawn from all the clubs and afterschool programs you're a part of. You've been avoiding your classmates and peers and spending most of your time in the lab or in the library.

"And Julie, you have almost the opposite problem! You've been spending almost every waking minute in class, clubs, programs, battling, and socializing as much as possible, as if you're trying to fill every second with as much activity and as many people as you can. Even for someone with stamina as seemingly limitless as yours, it's too much. Have you even been getting enough sleep?"

Julie didn't meet his eyes. "… Having trouble lately."

"Likewise," ANNA admitted.

"And would this have anything to do with you deciding to free the Treasures of Ruin?" He asked, causing them to flinch.

"So what if we did? We killed them! No harm done!" Julie insisted.

"First off, as Pokémon trainers you really shouldn't be going around killing Pokémon," Clavell pointed out. "Even in self-defense, capturing them should be your top priority. The fact that you've already killed two Pokémon might have cost you your licenses and gotten you expelled from this Academy, were it not for the extenuating circumstances and testimony from everyone involved that the specimens in question were too dangerous and hostile to be captured alive."

"They deserved to die," Julie snarled.

"I'm not going to argue with you on that. But did the Treasures?" Clavell asked.

"If it helps at all, we did not kill the Treasures of Ruin," ANNA emphasized. "That would imply they were ever alive to begin with. They were not. They were merely the manifestations of cursed artifacts brought to this region ages ago."

"I can think of quite a few Ghost Pokémon who had similar origins," Clavell pointed out.

"Ghost Pokémon are sentient. The Treasures were not," ANNA insisted. "They were little more than mindless unnatural disasters whose very existence brought destruction and ruin in their wake. I calculated that should they ever break free from their prisons; they could very well annihilate the region. Capturing them would do nothing more than stave off that apocalypse for an indefinite period of time by putting them in another, much more fragile prison. Only completely annihilating them would end their threat. Therefore, we determined that destroying them prematurely was the only way to save Paldea from them."

"Were they at risk of breaking free from their prisons anytime soon?" Clavell asked.

ANNA hesitated. Julie fidgeted. "… No," ANNA admitted.

"So you were simply being proactive," Clavell said pointedly. "Much like your friend Penny's uncle thought he was being proactive by attempting to harness the power of Eternatus to prevent an energy crisis which wasn't due for at least a thousand years. And look how well that turned out. While things turned out well this time, it could very easily have gone the other way and caused the disaster you were trying to stop."

Julie whimpered and ANNA grimaced, the parallels quite evident. "… As you say, Headmaster."

Clavell sighed. He hated seeing them both like this, but… This had to be said. "Girls, I know what this is really about. Things have been fairly… Difficult for you as of late."

"That is an understatement," ANNA muttered.

"The Time Machine you spent so long trying to reach so you could go home is now seemingly further away than ever, what with the League confiscating it and locking down Area Zero, with no word as yet as to when or if they'll grant you access to it again," Clavell began, heart aching at the dark, miserable looks on both their faces. "Not only that, but your best friends are also no longer here, what with Arven taking a much-needed mental health break at a therapeutic center in another region…"

"Julie hopes he gets better soon," Julie said sadly. "Julie misses his sandwiches. And company."

"Nemona's parents have withdrawn her from the school out of concerns for her health and safety and the company she keeps… And to be fair, she did lose an arm," Clavell pointed out.

"She asked me to replace it with an advanced prosthesis," ANNA said angrily. "And she would have a new, even better one by now if her parents had not taken her away and refuse to let her have any contact with us."

"Nene's parents not care about her," Julie snorted viciously. "Left her alone to be raised by servants. Didn't care what she did. Weren't there when she became Champion, didn't notice when she had arm replaced or got infected by Julie's bite, only now that her activities on front page they pretend to love her. Don't want to look bad."

Clavell privately agreed she was probably right, but that wasn't the sort of thing he, as a responsible authority figure, should be saying right now. "Be that as it may, they believe that her associating with you has put her at risk and are unlikely to change their minds anytime soon.

"And of course, Penny is currently behind bars after she hijacked Iono's stream and hacked every screen in Levincia city to reveal the true story behind the events at Area Zero to the public, as well as quite a lot of sensitive and private information which paints our esteemed chairwoman in a rather unflattering light."

"Good! Geeta bad. Try to take credit for saving region! Stole Time Machine! Overwork poor Larry! Terrible battler!" Julie snarled.

"She made my sister cry. I cannot forgive her," ANNA said venomously.

Neither could Clavell, honestly, but that was beside the point. "Whether it was because she thought she was trying to help or was simply acting out of spite, Penny still broke quite a lot of laws and angered some very powerful people, and that has consequences." He sighed. "That poor girl… It is her I fear for the most, I think. I can't imagine prison will be easy on her…"

The girl cried out in pain as she was slammed into the wall of her cell, her arm wrenched painfully behind her back, a foot planted squarely on her spine as an incredibly firm, unbreakable grip tightened around her neck, such power in a single hand she instinctively knew that the person holding her could snap her neck easily. "Now listen up, and listen well, because I'm going to say this only once," the voice of a stone cold killer hissed into her ear. "You may think you're some hot shit out there, but in here? In my house? You're nothing but scum, barely fit to lick my feet. Hell, you're lower than that, I've already got people who do that for me, and you aren't worthy to lick their feet. You were already low on the pecking order, but now? Now you've gone straight to the bottom."

"P-please… No…" The girl wept through two black eyes, a broken nose, and a mouth full of blood and shattered teeth. "I-I won't do it again!"

Her captor twisted her arm, and she howled in pain, like an animal being tortured, which wasn't too far from the truth. "'P-Please…no, I-I won't do it again' who?" The other woman hissed mockingly.

"P-please… No… I-I won't do it again… Queen Cassiopeia… Mistress of the Winter Constellations!" The girl sobbed, utterly broken.

"All right."

Without warning, she casually broke her arm, her screams of torment echoing throughout the prison. She kicked the wounded girl to the ground, deliberately stepping on her broken wrist, and shouted, "GUARD!"

A guard appeared within seconds and bowed. Good, their reaction time was improving. "Yes, Mistress?"

Cassiopeia kicked the crying girl in the rear, sending her scuttling across the ground on all fours, where she belonged. "This whore was stupid enough to threaten my friends on the outside, especially my girls. I believe she needs to learn the error of her ways. Put her in the hole for six months. And trust me when I say that's merciful compared to what they would do to you if you came after them."

"Right away, Mistress," the guard said, not even lifting her head. She knew better by now.

"Good," Cassiopeia, or rather, Penny said dismissively, turning her back to the lackey and her former cellmate, having already forgotten her existence. For a moment, she smiled, her vision passing over the lovingly cared for pictures of herself with Arven, Julie, ANNA, and the bosses of Team Star plastered on the wall, along with their Pokémon. "And bring me a new cellmate. She must be very pretty, not particularly bright, obedient, loyal, submissive, incredibly gay, and open to sharing and being shared." She grinned wickedly. "I think it's time I finally got an Espeon."

"Eh, she's fine," Julie said dismissively.

"We have also broken quite a few laws and angered powerful people, and have not been punished," ANNA pointed out.

"No, but the two of you are on thinner ice than you might think," Clavell warned them. "And your more recent activities – especially intentionally releasing the Treasures of Ruin, even if only to destroy them – hasn't exactly swayed public opinion in your favor. There are a lot of people that think you should be expelled, and possibly banished from the region altogether."

ANNA gasped. "No!"

"Papa Clavell, you can't!" Julie protested.

"I have no intention of doing so," Clavell assured them. "Girls, believe me when I say I'm on your side. I know, everyone in the school knows, this isn't like you. The two of you are incredibly popular and well-liked by the student body, adored by most of your teachers, have broken all kinds of records in just about every subject and sport, you've cleaned up the last mess left behind by the previous administration by defeating and redeeming Team Star, and perhaps most importantly, you gave three very lonely students lifelong friends they can rely on."

He smiled at them. "We know that you're having difficulty processing the loss of your way home, and just as importantly if not more so, the absence of your friends. And we've been patient with you. However, for your own safety, I think it might be a good idea for you to try to clean up your act and lay low for a little while, so as not to give your detractors any more reason to try and get rid of you before you can find a way home and see your friends again. Which means Julie, no more stalking and infecting your classmates or your teachers, even if they are very attractive and they ask you to."

Julie nodded solemnly. "Julie understands, Papa Clavell."

"And ANNA… I'm sorry to say this, but I think that, for at least a little while, you might want to put your time travel experiments on hold," Clavell said, fully aware this might destroy whatever trust and positive feelings they had for him.

Indeed, they both looked horrified. "But… But Headmaster-!" ANNA protested.

"ANNA, be honest with me – and yes, I know it is literally impossible for you to be anything but, just humor me. How close are you to building a functioning Time Machine?" Clavell asked gently.

"I…" ANNA opened and closed her mouth a few times, then bowed her head, clenching her fists so hard they started breaking her chair's armrests. "My progress has been… Less than ideal," she finally admitted. "I know what I need to do, I know how to build a Time Machine, I have all the professor's notes and the machine schematics saved to my memory, the problem is I lack the resources and equipment necessary to actually make it, and most of my attempts to requisition what I need have been refused and, I suspect, put me on the watch lists of numerous law enforcement agencies."

"There's only so much we can provide you on a school budget, ANNA," Clavell said apologetically.

"My research into alternative methods has been less than fruitful," she continued. "There are numerous legends and first-hand accounts of time travel, but most of them require the assistance of Mythical or Legendary Pokémon that live in other regions and are not the most easily found or phenomena which are not easily replicable. I have been trying to find an alternative way into Area Zero, but I haven't had much luck with that either," she said quickly, noticing the alarmed expression on Clavell's face.

"Well, you should probably stop doing that, at least for now," he said slowly. "At least neither of you have gotten desperate enough to actually break into Area Zero."

Julie started to open her mouth, and Clavell loudly said, "Because that would almost certainly lead to horrible repercussions not only for you, but for this entire academy. I've stuck my neck out for you, girls, and there's more than just your futures on the line here."

Julie quickly closed her mouth.

"If for no other reason, you should stop your time travel experiments because we're using far too much of our budget to keep repairing all the classrooms you've blown up. The cost for today's alone-" Clavell started.

"My apologies, Headmaster, but that is not entirely correct," ANNA interrupted. "I was not trying to build a Time Machine today, though it was tangentially related."

Clavell blinked. "Oh?"

"Immediately after we defeated the last of the professors' Pokémon, but before the Paradise Protection Protocol came online, Julie's Skeledirge's Firebird started acting strange," ANNA said, nodding at her sister.

"Yeah! Birdie said he wasn't Birdie at all, but Nene's Meowscarada!" Julie announced.

Clavell looked bewildered. "Meowscarada? Nemona doesn't have a Meowscarada. I should know, I was the one who gave all three of you your starters."

"That is not all he said," ANNA reported.

Julie nodded. "Yeah! Birdie said world was wrong. He say he Carmen's boyfriend. He say friends not cyborgs. He say Professor Turo not exist. Future Paradox Pokémon not exist. Sister not exist."

"But… They clearly do," Clavell said, failing to understand.

"Yes, he say now they do! But shouldn't! He say when Carmen Terastalize, world go crazy! Then end. Then world better, except friends cyborgs. Turo exist. Future Paradox Pokémon exist. Sister exist. And he birdie."

Clavell stared at her, blankly. "That's… Certainly unusual. I'm not quite sure what to make of that. Have you had him checked out?"

"We have," ANNA confirmed. "However, there is one thing you should consider before dismissing this as some sort of delusion. This happened during a battle in the middle of a very dangerous, very unstable Time Machine."

Clavell considered this for a moment. He didn't like the conclusions he was drawing. "… What are you trying to say, exactly?" He asked slowly.

"There are two possibilities," ANNA explained. "One, the simplest, most desirable, and regrettably least likely. That somehow the Firebird got a glimpse of an alternate timeline, got confused, and believes it to be the same as our own, to a point."

"And why is that the least likely?" Clavell asked.

"Because all of us were there as well, so why is he the only one to have had such an experience?" ANNA reasoned.

"And the other option?" Clavell asked hesitantly.

"That he is telling the truth. That this timeline, the world we live in, is not the way the world used to be. That something went very wrong with Time Machine, the world was destroyed, and then reset in its current state."

Arceus glanced sharply at Dialga. "You said nobody was supposed to notice! How didst somebody notice?"

"Progenitor, it's not my fault! Thou art the one who reset the world!" Dialga protested. They scratched their head. "I suppose that since in this new timeline, Nemona couldst only have one starter, the soul of the other had to go somewhere else lest it be erased entire."

"But Nemona has more than one starter," Palkia spoke up.

"What?" Dialga asked.

"The team she is using now is not her first team, remember? She already became Champion once and decided to start afresh with a new team to give herself a challenge," Palkia reminded them.

"… Oh no…" Dialga moaned.

"Is Nemona's other starter a Meowscarada?" Giratina queried.

They checked.

It was.

"Progenitor dammit!" Dialga cursed.

"I shall do no such thing," Arceus said gravely as Giratina and Palkia laughed.

Clavell stared at her, horrified. "And… You think that's the more plausible one?!"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"But… But how could that be? Wouldn't, wouldn't someone have noticed?!" Clavell protested.

"Professor, if the timeline was altered, nobody would have noticed," ANNA emphasized. "It is, in fact, possible it has already happened multiple times, and we are unaware of it. As history is rewritten, logically so to would our memories."

"Then why did the bird-"

"Unclear. Many accounts, both fictional and otherwise, of time travel events report that frequently at least one person still remembers things as they once were – usually the person who traveled through time in the first place – but why in particular this Firebird, assuming he really is the reincarnation of Julie's partner from a possible timeline, would remember, is as yet unknown," ANNA admitted.

Clavell thought about this for a long, long time. "So… What you're saying is that there is a chance that the world as we know it has been irrevocably altered without anyone noticing… And this may not even be the first time."

ANNA nodded. "Correct. There is some other corroborating evidence that may prove his hypothesis accurate. For a brief moment after we defeated the professors' final Pokémon, we all experienced a brief moment of disorientation, dissociation, and a lapse of memory, which would be consistent with our memories being altered to accommodate alterations to the time stream. In addition, when we Terastalized Scar and Viola for the final blow against Alpha and Prime, the Time Machine reacted very strongly to our Tera Orbs, enough to stabilize long enough to create bidirectional portals through time… And the bird's story indicates that the Time Machine malfunctioned in a large way after Julie Terastalized Carmen, implying a causal link."

Clavell stared, a major existential crisis happening behind his eyes. "Is… Is there any way to tell? If… If that's actually what happened?"

"That is what my experiment today was seeking to determine," ANNA said.

"And?" He asked anxiously.

Julie made an explosion sound.

"Inconclusive," ANNA said. "As my sister has so eloquently put it, the device exploded before I could get any usable data." She frowned. "Given the number of dead ends and failures I have had recently – and the number of explosions, even when no explosion should have occurred – it is almost as if something is deliberately trying to keep me from making any progress in my efforts to get us home."

Dialga whistled innocently.

"Sounds like gods don't want you to time travel," Julie commented.

"If the gods themselves stand in our way, then I will have no choice but to tear down the heavens," ANNA said, casual in her blasphemy. "After all, is that not what Pokéballs were created to do in the first place? Give humanity the power to tame a world full of creatures vastly more powerful than them?"

Clavell took off his glasses for a moment and cleaned them. They didn't need to be cleaned, he just needed something to occupy his mind for a minute, to keep him from thinking about…

About how he might've felt if there were a definitive answer.

"I think," he said finally. "This may be an avenue best left unexplored."

"I fear you may be right," ANNA admitted.

"Not sure what scares Julie more, not knowing… Or knowing? You know?" Julie summed their fears up nicely.

"ANNA. If, hypothetically speaking, the Time Machine really was capable of destroying reality, and has in fact done so least once… Is there a chance it could do so again?" Clavell asked.

"In its current state? No," ANNA said, to his relief. "However… If someone should manage to find a way to reactivate it, especially someone who has no idea what they're doing…"

"Which is… Everyone who isn't you, since you're the only person left who actually knows how the machine works and understands the professors' research," Clavell whispered in growing horror.

ANNA nodded. "Correct. There is no telling what might happen."

In lieu of responding, Clavell swiveled his chair around to stare out his office window at the rest of the Academy, and Mesagoza far below. After a moment, he asked, "Julie, did the Firebird happen to mention any other… Discrepancies between what he remembers and what is now? Pertaining to the school, for example?"

Julie thought for a moment, then snapped her claws. "Oh! Right! He said Academy orange. Naranja, not Naranjuva! You still in charge though."

Clavell looked down at his uniform. His orange and blue uniform, which had been like that for as long as he could remember. The school colors, going all the way back to the Academy's founding.

The same colors Julie and ANNA were wearing. The same colors as every student walking through the school grounds visible out his window.

"I have petitioned the League on your behalf to let you examine the Time Machine several times," he said finally. "They've always refused. Given this new information, though… Maybe that will change."

He swiveled back around to face them. "Existential crises aside, however, there is one other thing we need to discuss. It's regarding what we were just talking about, namely, getting the two of you out of the public eye for a little while, long enough for people to forget you exist and move on to the next scandal."

"Oh?" ANNA asked, raising a simulated eyebrow.

"What is it, Papa Clavell?" Julie asked.

"I'm sure the two of you are aware of our sister school in Unova, Blueberry Academy?" Clavell asked.

"Yes," ANNA said at the same time Julie said, "No."

"Well, this year it's Blueberry Academy's turn to run our joint school trip and supervise the students. The destination this year is Kitakami, a land known for its picturesque fields and rice paddies. The place has a rustic feel, but there's also something rather mysterious about it. You see, the same energy present in Paldea's terrestrial phenomenon has been detected there!" Clavell explained.

This caught both of their attention. "Terastalize… Outside Paldea?" Julie murmured in amazement.

"That is… Fascinating," ANNA said, intrigued. "If… Terastalization is possible there, perhaps…"

Julie gasped, giving her an excited look. "Maybe… Another way home?"

"Or at the very least, perhaps an alternative energy source for a new Time Machine that does not require access to the massive amounts of Tera Crystals in Area Zero!" ANNA agreed, getting equally excited, only to remember there was a third person in the room. "Oh… My apologies, headmaster, I was just… I promised just a moment ago that I would try and take a break… And of course, you have not even confirmed that we are going-"

"It's perfectly all right," Clavell assured her. "And you have nothing to worry about. First of all, the two of you are going-"

"Yahoo!" Julie cheered, jumping out of her seat and onto his desk.

"Julie, please get off my desk, we've talked about this."

"Oh, sorry Papa Clavell."

As Julie sat back down, Clavell continued. "While I do expect you to try and follow the curriculum while you're away, if you should happen to find anything interesting that catches your eye on your own time… Well, there's not a lot I or the Pokémon League can do about it, is there?" he asked innocently. "After all, Kitakami is another region, it's not like either of us have jurisdiction there."

"What about Pokémon League there?" Julie asked.

"It does not have one, not all regions do," ANNA explained. "They barely even have a government. There is only one village. It is fairly small."

"Oh."

ANNA frowned and glanced back at Clavell. "But what about the teacher in charge? Surely they will have been given instructions to try and keep us reined in, especially given our recent activities."

"You might be surprised, actually," Clavell said. "The two of you were requested specifically by the supervising teacher, in fact."

"We were?" The twins asked in surprise.

Clavell nodded. "Yes. You see, Briar is a teacher at Blueberry Academy, and happens to be a descendent of Heath the Explorer."

"The sole survivor of the Area Zero Expedition survey team 200 years ago?" ANNA asked in astonishment. "The author of the Scarlet and Violet books?"

"Oh yeah, Birdie also say there only supposed to be one book-" Julie started.

"Julie, it's taking all my strength to keep from descending into gibbering madness at the shocking truth of just how fragile our reality actually is already, I really don't need more fuel for the fire," Clavell said in a strained tone.

"Oh, sorry Papa Clavell."

"If she is his descendent… Does she know more about that expedition than the historical record states?" ANNA asked, processor racing.

Clavell nodded. "She does indeed. According to rumor, she has the original copies of the Scarlet and Violet books, unredacted, including information on the mysterious Legendary Pokémon Heath is said to have encountered in the deepest depths of Area Zero. She's been trying for years to get access to Area Zero to find that Pokémon and try and clear her ancestor's reputation, and has so far been rebuffed…

"Until now."

The girls gasped. "She going?" Julie demanded.

"Possibly. Considering her more complete knowledge of the ill-fated expedition, the League is considering her request more seriously this time, due to the unsettling nature of the professors' work and the proof that many of the strange Pokémon Heath wrote of actually exist," Clavell informed them.

Julie snarled. "So they keep us out, let stranger in? Typical." She scratched her head. "Hey, how come Paradox Pokémon exist 200 years ago but professors only build Time Machine recently?"

"I have still been trying to figure that out myself," a slightly frustrated ANNA replied.

"That is one of many questions the League is hoping Briar can answer," Clavell explained. "After hearing of your exploits, she has been fascinated with the two of you and asked that you be allowed to come on the trip to Kitakami so she can pick your brains on what you know of Area Zero, the professors' work, and Paradox Pokémon. As such, if you were to investigate any connection Area Zero might have to Kitakami, not only would she encourage it, she might even join in." He smiled. "And, if the League does grant her access to Area Zero, there is a chance… Not a guarantee, mind you, but a chance… That she might be able to take you two with her. If, that is, you play your cards right."

ANNA nodded vigorously. "We shall endeavor to be on our best behavior."

"Yes! Also, which children's card game we need to play?" Julie asked.

"Sister, it was a figure of speech," ANNA explained.

"Julie still bring her Lu-Gi-Oh! Cards anyway," Julie insisted.

Clavell had to try hard not to smile. He really was going to miss them when they had returned to their own times. Watching over them, he'd almost felt like a fath-

He clamped down on that thought. Nothing good could come of it.

"The two of you won't be going alone," he said instead. "Three other students have been invited on the trip as well, and I think you will be pleasantly surprised as to their identities."

Julie and ANNA's eyes widened, hope rising in their chests. Did he mean…?

"Wow, I can't believe we finally get to hang out with you two!" Hohma, a member of the school's news department, gushed in excitement. "I've been trying to get an interview with you for ages, ANNA! It kind of feels like you've been trying to avoid me."

"That is because I have been," ANNA said bluntly.

"So, the two of you are rivals with Nemona, right?" Aliquis asked, frowning as a mesmerized Julie kept trying to bat at his long purple and yellow ponytail.

"And girlfriends," ANNA said.

"Well so am I! Rivals, I mean, not girlfriends," Aliquis said quickly. "Though I wouldn't mind if she was my girlfriend…"

"Nene only like girls," Julie said.

"… Anyway! I bet she's told you all about me!" Aliquis bragged.

"She has never mentioned you in any context whatsoever," ANNA told him, causing him to deflate and allow Julie to finally bite his ponytail.

Ohara, a flutist in the Academy band, stared at the sisters, eyes wide. "Yes?" ANNA asked.

"You're both so beautiful…" She whispered timidly. "Can… Can I pet Julie?"

"Sure, if Julie can rub face in breasts!" Julie said cheerfully.

Ohara turned very red. "In… In public?! Oh… Oh my…"

Her eyes rolled back in her skull and she passed out.

"She is all right," ANNA quickly assured everyone in the airport staring at them. "She is completely unharmed, merely a very repressed bisexual. Please do not call security. Julie, stop sniffing her body."

"But she smell nice!" Julie protested.

"So, ANNA, you've beaten Nemona, right? What are her weaknesses?" Aliquis asked in a terrible attempt at sounding casual.

"ANNA, are you really from the future, or are you and your sister just way too dedicated to cosplay?" Hohma demanded, thrusting a recording Rotom phone in her face. "The people have a right to know!"

ANNA groaned. This was going to be a long trip.