Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.

ANNA hated flying.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. She had thrusters and a wing pack installed in her body, so could fly under her own power whenever she wished. Ever since Viola had unlocked her Glide Mode she loved riding her through the skies whenever she could, and now that she had the power of her Ultimate Mode true flight was well within her grasp.

And back home she had flown all the time. Not only had she traveled across the galaxy in a grand fleet, but she was also licensed to fly shuttles, fighters, light frigates, and had logged hundreds of hours in the simulator for cruisers and had been working her way up to capital ships before she'd been flung back in time.

The difference, she supposed, was twofold: when flying under her own power, with Viola, or back home, she'd been in the one in control. And when she wasn't, which, admittedly, had been most of the time…

Her people had so thoroughly mastered ship design that short of something truly catastrophic, it was almost impossible for something to go wrong. Their redundancies had redundancies, with so many backups and safeties and failsafes and auxiliaries that approximately 75-80% of their systems could crash and the ship would still work well within acceptable parameters long enough for engineers to troubleshoot, and their own bodies were so robust and conditioned to the rigors of space the sorts of catastrophes which would kill a weak and fragile human easily barely caused a hint of discomfort. An entire deck of the vessel ANNA called home had once lost cabin pressure and nobody on that deck had even noticed anything was off until the engineers reported the problem had been solved.

A more appropriate statement, then, would be that ANNA hated flying in this time. She had been horrified when she first encountered a Flight Taxi, having believed it to be some sort of joke her friends were playing on her, and adamantly refused to ever use one, perfectly happy to fly alongside or ride on Viola rather than sit in a rocking and swaying box kept aloft by a flock of Squawkabillies far too small to possibly be able to lift something that big using ropes which could snap at a moment's notice and drop the passengers to their deaths.

(Julie, to nobody's surprise, loved Flight Taxis.)

And the plane she was riding in now? A huge metal coffin kept aloft by a prayer and a dream, only one malfunction or loose screw or stiff breeze away from falling apart, with engines that could explode if something too large got sucked into them? Forced into cramped, uncomfortable seats along with dozens of other passengers like Wishiwashi in a can, with mediocre and borderline inedible meal choices, toddlers constantly kicking the back of her seat, and infants which would not stop screaming because some irresponsible parent believed it was a good idea to take a baby on an airplane?

It was a nightmare.

(She had asked, no, pleaded not to have to sit inside the plane. She insisted she could ride comfortably on the exterior, magnetizing her body so she could sit or lie back on the fuselage, going into sleep mode or streaming something until they got there. She had, unfortunately, been turned down.)

(Oh, and she'd been forced to turn off her Wi-Fi too, vastly diminishing her sensory output and giving her no escape from this torture.)

But perhaps the worst of it by far were her seatmates.

"So, ANNA," Aliquis asked, trying to look and sound smooth and succeeding at neither. "You never did tell me about Nemona's weaknesses."

Hohma thrust his Rotom phone into her face. "ANNA, you claim you and Julie are twins… But also insist that the two of you come from totally different time periods! There's no way both can be true, just like there's no way you should be able to speak our language! What are you hiding?"

ANNA dug her fingers into her seat rest so hard the plastic and metal started crunching, not that either of the boys noticed. Not for the first time since this execrable voyage began, she contemplated homicide.

Once more, she glanced across the aisle for aid, but found none. Ohara got horribly airsick so had immediately taken quite a lot of sleeping pills and zonked out moments after they got on the plane. Julie had raced out of her seat the second they got the literal green light to unfasten their seatbelts and had been racing up and down the plane, energetically talking to everyone she met, playing games, eating their food, and flirting with them. Given how the nearest bathroom's door was still locked, ANNA could only assume she hadn't finished having fun with that stewardess that had caught her eye.

And as for Professor Briar, a beautiful woman with short curly blonde hair, earrings resembling Terastal symbols, a purple top with black corset and ornate designs on the flaps resembling the patterns of the Scarlet and Violet Books and red pants, her hopes of engaging in scholarly discourse with her and hopefully convincing her to let she and Julie come with her to Area Zero had been dashed due to her being enthralled by the insipid rom-com which seemed to be the only in-flight movie available on this flight, and so would also be of no assistance.

She had considered entering sleep mode and shutting herself off until they got there, but she was concerned that Hohma might try to pull off pieces of her body to see if she really was an incredibly sophisticated technology techno-organic life form from the distant future and not a girl in a costume while she was inactive, and while her security measures would prevent him from doing anything truly damaging and probably wouldn't kill him the flight Marshall might detain her for bringing a weapon on board – ignoring that it, and all of her other weapon systems, were part of her body and could not be removed safely – and it had been bad enough going through airport security the first time and she really didn't want to do it again. She realized, to her dismay, she had no choice but to engage with her seatmates, because it was very clear they were not taking the hint to leave her alone.

"Aliquis," she said finally, shoving Hohma's phone out of her face. "Nemona is my girlfriend. I love her. She trusts me implicitly, and I trust her. Why, by all the stars in the sky, would I betray that trust by telling anyone her weaknesses?"

From the expression on Aliquis' face, it was clear the thought had never occurred to him. "I… Could go on a date with you?" He asked with a grin and a wink, trying to look incredibly suave and failing.

"I do not like men in that way," she said bluntly, causing him to sulk.

"Well, can you at least tell me why she's so crazy strong?" Aliquis pleaded. "How did she become such an incredible trainer? What do I have to do to be as good as her?"

She stared at him for a long moment. "You want to know why Nemona is such a good trainer?"

"Yes!"

"She trains."

There was a pause. Aliquis blinked. "Huh?"

"She trains with her Pokémon," ANNA repeated. "Several hours a day. She feeds them. Loves them. Plays with them."

"… And?"

"Is that not enough?"

He gave her an incredulous stare. "That's it? She's a good trainer because… She trains?! How is that supposed to help me?!"

"It is not. The secret of Nemona's strength is simply that she has worked very hard to get that strong," ANNA said. "She is no prodigy, nor does she have a special talent for it. In fact, she has a number of disabilities working against her, her defective right arm one of them, which I was able to correct. Well, until Alpha bit it off. She worked day and night to be a Champion-level trainer. That is all there is to it."

"But… That can't be all there is to it!" Aliquis protested. "What about the stuff you and your sister did to her? The robot arm and eye, the werecat powers?"

"First of all, she is not a werecat, that is not a thing," ANNA corrected him. "The nanomachines, retrovirus, and more obvious augmentations were given to her voluntarily to correct numerous deficiencies in the inefficient and defective body she was born with and to make her strong enough to aid us in the journey to Area Zero. While it gave her greatly enhanced health, stamina, combat abilities, and aim, it did not affect her ability to strategize or command her Pokémon in any way. That is all her, and always has been. Even if I were to perform the same surgery on you, it would not help you become a better trainer. That is something you need to do yourself."

"But… But…" Aliquis stammered in disbelief.

"Also, Nene's Pokémon are crazy strong thanks to magic robots nyou put in them!" Julie added as she hopped onto the back of ANNA's seat, her breast band and loincloth askew and her face covered in lipstick. A dazed stewardess with a blissful smile on her face and claw and bite marks all over her was slumped against the door to the bathroom, much to the frustration of the man who'd been waiting for a vacancy for the last several minutes.

"Julie, did you infect that woman?" ANNA asked her sister with a frown.

"Nyo, warned her beforehand and gave her vaccine when she said she didn't want to be catgirl," Julie assured her. She frowned. "That's weird, right? Most girls say nyes."

"It is unusual," ANNA agreed. "Also, please get off my seat."

"Nyo." Julie's tail twitched, and she glanced over her shoulder at the obnoxious child behind her, who had been just about to kick ANNA's seat again. She narrowed her eyes and hissed. The boy swallowed and lowered his legs.

"Wait, what was that about magic robots?!" Aliquis demanded.

"Hmm? Oh, I implanted nanomachines and other augmentations into all her Pokémon, as well as giving them gene therapy to optimize their DNA and improve their stats in every category," ANNA said.

Aliquis gasped and pointed an accusatory finger at her. "Then she's been cheating! And you helped her cheat!"

"She is not cheating and I did not help her cheat."

"But you just said-"

"Is it cheating to allow a Pokémon to catch Pokérus?" ANNA asked.

Aliquis hesitated. "Well, um…"

"Or to give them held items?" ANNA pressed. "Super Training? IV Training? Stat-boosting food? Breed them so the offspring will have a specific Nature or Egg Move?"

"That's-"

"Is it illegal to possess a rare and powerful Pokémon that almost nobody else is likely to have?"

"This… This is different!" He insisted.

"Perhaps," ANNA admitted. "However, I only did it to her Pokémon, as well as mine, Julie's, and the rest of our friends', with permission from every party involved, and again, only so that they would be ready to face the rigors of Area Zero."

"Then you're all cheating-"

"Our battles in Area Zero were a matter of life and death," ANNA interrupted him. "The nanomachines allow Pokémon to have a higher synergy rate with their trainers and improve accuracy and reaction time. This synergy, however, allows most of the benefits and power boosts from the augments to be scaled down or even switched off entirely for use in official matches, exactly to avoid accusations of cheating. I have submitted extensive documentation on the facts and applications of my nanomachines and DNA optimization to the League for consideration on whether it can be allowed for use in sanctioned matches or saved only for emergencies. Until an official conclusion is reached, all of us have agreed to not use our full power unless we absolutely need to."

"Well, except Penny," Julie admitted.

"Yes, but we knew she would never be able to keep such a promise anyway, she is a hardened criminal after all," ANNA agreed fondly.

"That's… But how do I know that any of that's true? That Nemona hasn't been using it to cheat in our fights all along?" Aliquis demanded.

ANNA and Julie gave him very unimpressed looks. "You sure you're Nene's rival?" Julie asked doubtfully.

"Indeed. Anyone who has ever fought with her would understand how sacred Pokémon battles are for her. She would never use an unfair advantage in a fight. That is why she essentially started her Pokémon journey from scratch when we first met her instead of simply sticking with her Champion team, because she had already gone all the way and wanted a new challenge," ANNA said. "She feels there is no pride or pleasure to be taken in overwhelming a far weaker opponent."

"Only time Nene would ever nyuse power up is if someone's life at stake… Or if up against opponent strong enough to warrant full strength," Julie agreed. She flicked him on the forehead. "That nyot you."

He stared at them, and to ANNA's discomfort, he looked on the verge of tears. "Then… Are you saying that all this time, she's been holding back? Even before her upgrade?"

"Yes."

"Uh-huh!"

He sat back in his seat, looking like his entire worldview had been shattered. Good, maybe now he would leave ANNA alone.

And then Hohma reminded her of his existence by thrusting his phone her face once more. "Thank you for clearing up any allegations that you've been illegally doping your Pokémon, but you still haven't answered-"

"Kindly get that device out of my face or Julie will eat it," ANNA said gently.

"Julie will do it, too!" Julie chirped. "Sister nyot bluffing!"

Hohma quickly withdrew his phone, but without missing a beat, continued his sentence. "You still haven't answered my question on how the two of you can possibly be sisters if you're supposedly from different times! That makes no sense! How would that even work?"

ANNA raised a digital eyebrow. "Aside from us choosing to consider each other sisters due to being brought to this world in identical circumstances and having nobody but each other to truly rely on or trust during our early experiences here?"

Hohma hesitated. "Uh… Well…"

"It is actually a surprisingly good question," ANNA admitted. "Despite the seeming impossibility, the two of us are biologically related. More or less."

Hohma blinked. "Wait… What? How?"

"If you examined us side-by-side – and if Julie could ever stay still long enough," ANNA said, earning a stuck-out tongue from her sister at this. "You will discover that, despite our obvious differences, we are disturbingly alike. We have the same face, proportions, body type, age, and even measurements."

Despite himself, Hohma couldn't help glancing at both of their chests at this, though at least he had the decency to look embarrassed.

"In addition, if you were to digitize a strand of Julie's DNA and compare it with my own source code, they would be exactly identical, with the genetic markers for her more bestial traits matching precisely with the segments of code corresponding to my own organic components," ANNA continued.

Hohma blinked. "That's… Highly improbable. How can something like that even happen?"

"A good question," ANNA admitted, grudgingly impressed he had thought to ask. "One of our working hypotheses is that neither my sister nor I are 'truly' from separate times so much as alternate timelines."

"Oh! So… Like a parallel universe sort of thing?" Hohma asked, immediately grasping the concept and raising his esteem further in ANNA's eyes. "Like, you're the same person but from alternate realities?"

"That is one plausible explanation, yes," ANNA agreed. "One further corroborated by the fact that while all the Paradox Pokémon brought here from Julie's time clearly resemble prehistoric ancestors of modern Pokémon… Most of them do not match the existing fossil record, nor has any remnant of Julie's own people been found. While it is possible, even likely, that any trace of their existence could have been wiped out in one of the many extinction events and upheavals which has befallen our planet throughout the eons, it does not explain everything, such as how Koraidon like Scar or Alpha could have become modern Cyclizar, which most would agree is a step-down evolution wise, only to later evolve into the equally formidable Miraidon like Prime or Viola. Granted, most of the Pokémon of my age are the results of thousands if not millions of years of evolution and intentional design and alterations by my people, but it is still a rather unusual snapback, would you not agree?"

"Oh, don't forget about God Beasts!" Julie suggested enthusiastically. "They make things even more confusing!"

"Ah, an excellent point, sister."

"The who? Are they what passes for Legendary Pokémon from Julie's time?" Hohma gasped.

Julie nodded. "Yes! Many God Beasts back home! Powerful! Mysterious! Eternal!"

"Julie's tribe in particular worships a trio whose names, roughly translated, are Walking Wait, Gouging Fire, and Raging Bolt," ANNA explained.

"Cool names," said Hohma.

ANNA nodded. "Quite. According to Julie's very detailed drawings and accounts, they resemble the Legendary Beasts from the Johto region… Which makes no sense whatsoever."

"What? Why not?" Hohma asked.

"While the obvious explanation for the resemblance is that they are either ancestors of the Beasts or primordial versions of them, much like Primal Groudon or Primal Kyogre-" ANNA began.

"Julie still nyot understand why they change, perfectly fine the way they were," Julie complained.

"There is no way that could possibly be true," ANNA continued.

"Why?"

"Because the Legendary Beasts only came into being approximately 175 years ago after Ho-Oh resurrected three Pokémon killed in the destruction of Brass Tower," ANNA pointed out. "As such, they can't have ancestors or have simply changed over an incredibly long timescale like Groudon or Kyogre. And while it is possible that the God Beasts Julie worships could be 'prototype' versions of the Beasts which exist today, Julie has never heard any legends about a God Beast resembling Ho-Oh, in which case, who created them?"

Julie nodded. "It big mystery! Julie thinks she'd remember if giant rainbow Firebird were flying around!"

"Similarly, in my time what we call Legendary Pokémon are known as 'God Machines,' and even I am uncertain as to whether or not they are artificial reproductions, wholly original creations, or if they are the originals who underwent change over time," ANNA explained. "For example, my fleet is protected by a trio which you might call Iron Leaves, Iron Boulder, and Iron Crown, who bear a startling resemblance to the Pokémon you know of as the Swords of Justice. However, they do not have a fourth corresponding to Keldeo. Does that mean there was one once, but was lost? Or has it simply not come into being yet? Yet another mystery to add to the pile."

"… This is starting to veer into serious sci-fi," Hohma admitted, fascinated and more than a little freaked out.

ANNA found herself smiling at this. "Time travel is involved. It always was."

"But… Wait, if the two of you are from, like, parallel universes instead of the past or the future, then shouldn't there be alternate versions of everyone there?" Hohma suddenly realized.

Julie shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. World big place. Don't know many people outside local tribes. Nyobody here really resembles people back home."

"Likewise. However, as my sister pointed out, it is a big world, or rather, galaxy. It is possible that alternate versions of everyone in this world do in fact exist in ours, we simply have not met them. The chances of us not only having but knowing versions of the people we are familiar with here back home is astronomical." She shrugged. "Then again, so are the chances that the professors would have managed to grab alternate versions of the same person from two different timelines. It is possible that the only way they were able to do so, even by accident, is because we are the only people in our eras to reflect one another. Admittedly, the chances of that are also astronomical, and yet here we are."

Hohma stared at her, dazed. "You're blowing my mind here."

Julie made an explosion sound, as was appropriate.

ANNA nodded. "The professors were very much ahead of their time… And at the same time, not ahead enough. They had no idea what they were doing, and now we are left to clean up the mess they left behind."

"Huh," Hohma said, and for a few moments was blessedly silent. Then he asked, "So, that means neither of you are actually Director Clavell's secret love children."

And there went her respect for him. "I'm sorry, what?" ANNA asked, bewildered.

"Why nyou think that?" The confused Julie asked.

"There are reports that you call him 'Papa Clavell,'" Hohma said.

"It is a term of affectation, nothing more," ANNA insisted. "Julie calls him that because she views him as a father figure, especially since he took us in after our escape from Area Zero and treated us with more kindness than the professors did."

"And he reminds Julie of Papa!" Julie exclaimed, only to look sad. "Or… What Julie thinks Papa would be like."

"You don't know your father?" Hohma asked, a gleam in his eyes ANNA didn't quite like.

Julie shook her head. "Nyo. Alpha ate him."

Hohma was taken aback at this. "… Oh."

Julie's ears folded back against her head. "Alpha eat lots of Julie's tribe. In Julie's world, predators exist, but… So much food everywhere, usually nyot need to hunt or kill for it. And even if do… It circle of life. Everyone understands, even prey. Just how things are." Her eyes hardened. "Nyot Alpha. He kill and eat for fun. Julie glad he dead. Killing him always be one of Julie's favorite victories."

"… I'm sorry," Hohma said after a moment. He glanced guiltily at his phone, then shut it off. "I've… Been prying too much, haven't I?"

"You have," ANNA confirmed. "But thank you for realizing it."

"Do, uh, do you want me to delete…"

ANNA hesitated, surprised by this offer, but Julie said, "Take out bit about Papa Clavell."

ANNA nodded. "Yes. There are already far too many accusations that he's been far too lenient with us and has been showing favoritism. That would make things worse."

"Has he been too lenient on you and showing favoritism?" Hohma asked. "I'm pretty sure most other students would've gotten expelled after all the stuff the two of you have done since enrolling in the Academy, even if your circumstances are a little… Different."

"… If he has been, he really should not," ANNA said quietly. "Especially since we keep making trouble for him."

Julie nodded solemnly at that.

"Do you… Also view him like your sister does? As…'Papa'Clavell?" Hohma asked hesitantly.

"I would never call him such a thing," ANNA said quickly. "But… I have never had a father. I have never needed one, granted, family structures are a bit different where I come from, but… He has performed the role of father figure exceptionally well. I cannot think of anyone else in this era who would have treated us with such kindness and patience."

Hohma nodded, turned his phone back on, and fiddled with it for a minute. Her Wi-Fi didn't need to be operational to know that he had deleted the last minute or so of his recording. "… Is your time really that dangerous?" He asked Julie. "Or yours, ANNA? If you really had to modify your friends and Pokémon that much, and were in life-and-death battles against Pokémon from your home eras…"

"… That is a complicated question," ANNA admitted. "I suppose it is all a matter of perspective. Do you view your world as particularly dangerous?"

Hohma blinked. "What? Uh, not really."

"Truly? Despite the fact that your species is possibly the physically weakest life form occupying this planet, and you are surrounded by millions of creatures vastly more powerful than you, some of whom are much smarter than you, and an alarming number are so strong they could possibly destroy the world?" ANNA pressed. "And that there are dozens of criminal organizations that seek to exploit these godlike beings to their own ends, uncaring who gets in the way or what the consequences might be? And your society sees nothing wrong with throwing children with a handful of capture devices and a specially raised Pokémon or two out into the monster-infested wilderness and expecting them to be just fine?"

Hohma blanched. "Well, when you put it like that…"

"Julie's time full of adventure! Lots of fun! Good food, good fights, good friends, good fuck!" Julie cheered. "But… Might be too wild for humans. Lots of danger they nyot recognize. Poisonous plants, hungry predators, quicksand, difficult terrain… Nyo indoor plumbing or anime. Well, nyot yet, we introduce it once we get home."

"And my time is also full of adventure, cosmic discovery, limitless knowledge and wonder," ANNA said. "However, we are explorers of the universe, and space can be a very dangerous place. We have designed our ships and changed ourselves to be comfortable on any planet or even the hard vacuum of space, but humans would not last very long without lots of protection. And that's not even beginning to get into the numerous other civilizations or cosmic entities that want us dead." She paused, then added, "Also, we do not have indoor plumbing either, having redesigned ourselves millennia ago with highly efficient reactors which produce no waste."

"Yikes," Hohma paled.

"And yet, for us, it is paradise, the world we are most suited for," ANNA emphasized. "And because this world isn't… Is why the Paradox Pokémon in Area Zero are so dangerous."

"How do you mean?" Hohma asked.

"If you were to take a Pokémon from our eras, or any other, and drop them into a completely foreign environment, far from the comforts of home, deprived of their regular food supply, surrounded by creatures they have either never had contact with before, or are natural enemies and rivals with back where they come from, what do you think will happen?" ANNA asked.

"Nothing good," Hohma intuited.

"Precisely. That is why it is a terrible idea to remove life forms from their native habitats, transport them to a new one, and assume everything will be just fine," ANNA said gravely. "Even the more advanced Pokémon of my age, who no longer need sustenance as you know it, still require resources not readily available in this time to function properly and are less intelligent and effective without an uplink to the fleet-wide network we all share. Is it any wonder all the ones in Area Zero have gone hostile and aggressive? And that's before throwing truly evil monsters such as Alpha or Prime into the mix."

"… You were right. The professors really didn't know what they were doing," Hohma realized, horrified.

"They did not," ANNA said darkly.

"We try telling them. They listen? Nyo!" Julie complained.

"Yikes," Hohma muttered.

"Which is another reason we feel the League is mishandling the situation," ANNA growled. "They want to keep Area Zero contained and seal off the Paradox Pokémon when what they should be doing is fixing the time machine so it can send all of them home. Except they cannot fix it on their own, but they won't listen-"

"You plan to go too, don't you?" Hohma interrupted.

ANNA paused. "What? Yes, of course we do."

"It's just… The Academy has been a lot more interesting since you two got here, I know a lot of people will miss you if you leave," Hohma said awkwardly. "Not… Not just your immediate friend group, either."

"… We nyot leave forever," Julie promised.

ANNA nodded. "Yes. We have formed too many attachments in this world to simply discard them so easily. We have every intention of returning once I have made sure the Time Machine is safe, stable, and two-way. After all, we have not even finished school yet!"

Hohma laughed at that, confusing her. She hadn't said anything funny.

"And besides," ANNA continued. "We did promise to bring our friends to visit our homes."

"And we nyever break promises!" Julie added seriously.

Hohma paused at this. "The five of you… You really do love each other, don't you?"

"Of course," ANNA said. "They are family."

"Part of pack!" Julie agreed.

"Oh. That's… Must be nice," Hohma said. "I'm… Not sure my friends and I are that tight. What the five you have is… Special." He sniffled and blinked a few times. "… You aren't the only ones who miss them, you know. The school feels different without them. I hope… I really hope, for your sakes if nothing else… That they come back someday."

"… As do I," ANNA said, taken aback. She hadn't realized that their absence had been felt so strongly by others as well. How absorbed in her own grief had she been?

… Too much.

"I apologize, Hohma," ANNA said after a moment. "I have not treated you or the others fairly."

Hohma blinked. "No, I'm the one who should apologize, I… I was kind of acting like a jerk. The two of you are just so cool and mysterious and there's so much about you we still don't know, I just wanted to know… No, that's a lie. I just wanted to get a big scoop and be in the limelight for a change. Sorry."

"Be that as it may, I did not give any of you as fair a shot as I should have," ANNA insisted, bowing her head. "Even if you did not make the best of first impressions. I have been so absorbed in missing the others I forgot that there are other people at the Academy I care about as well… And others still whom I am certain I could care about, if I allowed myself to. I shall endeavor to do better in the future." She extended her hand.

Hohma stared at it in amazement. "Wait, does… Does this mean we're friends now?"

"If you wish to be."

"Julie does!" Julie said eagerly.

"That's… Thank you! Thank you so much!" Hohma gushed, eagerly shaking her hand. "That's just… I have so many other questions! Which, uh, I will try to be more respectful and asking! Uh, but what about…"

"I am certain that I will find Ohara perfectly lovely once she is awake and I actually get a chance to speak with her without her being overwhelmed by our beauty," ANNA promised. "As for Aliquis…"

They stared at the boy in question, who was rocking in his seat, staring off in the distance, muttering, "Holding back all along… Never took me seriously… Holding back all along… Never took me seriously…"

"We will see," ANNA said finally.

Hohma laughed. "Yeah, that's fair. Hey, you never did tell me how the two of you can speak our language. Is this more proof that your worlds might be different realities instead of the past and future of this timeline?"

"Oh no, the answer to that is much more mundane," ANNA informed him. "I have an incredibly advanced linguistics suite allowing me to speak and comprehend several million different languages, while Julie had to learn it the hard way."

"Good thing Julie likes things hard!" Julie purred, waggling her eyebrows.

As the three of them laughed, relaxed, and started talking more openly, none of them noticed Briar, who had been paying a bit more attention to them rather than the insipid rom-com than they thought, smiling as she continued jotting down notes under her fold-down tray. The time twins truly were as fascinating as she had been told. She couldn't wait to see how they got along with her own students.

It was a pity their three friends couldn't be here to join them; she was certain she could learn even more from watching them interact. She hoped wherever they were now, they were doing all right.

Arven wasn't doing all right.

"What do you see?" The psychiatrist asked, presenting him with an ink blot.

"The blood splatter from when we found my parents' remains in their lab in Area Zero," Arven said morosely, mechanically patting the concerned Mabosstiff.

"All right… And this one?" The psychiatrist asked, showing a new card.

"My parents, when they walked out the front door and abandoned me in the lighthouse years ago," Arven said morosely. Mabosstiff chuffed in concern.

"And this one?"

"The time portal my robot parents disappeared into, leaving me an orphan twice over."

"And this?"

"My best friends comforting me…"

"Good, that's-"

"After I broke down from losing my parents a second time."

Mabosstiff whimpered and licked his hand. He didn't even notice. The loyal dog sighed. This could take a while.

Nemona was doing even worse, though she was trying to make the best of it.

"What the infierno is this?!" Nemona's mother Mencia demanded, thrusting the incredibly torn, hairy, damp pile of rags that had once been an incredibly beautiful, incredibly expensive, and incredibly uncomfortable dress.

"That is a dress," Nemona said, bored.

"Not anymore it's not!" Mencia snapped, angrily throwing what was left of the dress on Nemona's bed. "What did you do to it?!"

"Well gee, madre, I don't know, I'm part cat-now," Nemona said, rolling her eyes, one cybernetic, the other feline. "You know how much we love clawing things up," she said, wiggling the sharp, elongated nails on her one hand. "And getting hair everywhere," she added, taking sadistic pleasure in brushing out her much longer and thicker mane.

Mencia fumed. The beautiful woman, her hair up in a tight bun and wearing a very tight form-fitting velvet suit with diamond cufflinks that made sure to emphasize her generous curves and assets, looked much like Nemona herself, but older. More than once, it had been remarked that Nemona would look just like her mother when she grew up.

Nemona had always hated that. The fact that that would now never be the case, what with her growing feline features, mismatched eyes, and being down one arm brought a sadistic sense of pleasure to her. How amusing, that for all the times her mother had publicly accepted Nemona's "disability" to show what a good and progressive mother she was, she refused to admit that she herself was on the spectrum and couldn't stand the fact that her daughter was now permanently asymmetrical and would never completely resemble her anymore.

"They were supposed to trim those," Mencia said finally, glaring at her claws and hair.

"They did. It grew back. You know, like it always does?" Nemona taunted her.

"Did you take your pills?" Mencia asked suspiciously.

"You know I did. You watched me take them. And made sure I didn't throw them up later," Nemona retorted.

When her parents tried to get her to take the gene cleansers ANNA had devised to cure people who'd been infected by Julie's retrovirus, Nemona had refused. She wanted to be like this, after all, to have a piece of the girl she loved inside of her, and while she could easily get reinfected once she inevitably made her way back to her loves, that didn't change the fact she'd have to go back to being normal again for any amount of time. Being weak.

When they realized she kept flushing her pills down the sink, they tried slipping it into her food, and when she threw it up later, resorted to tying her down and force-feeding it to her.

Much to her relief, the medicine had no effect on her thanks to the other piece of a girl she loved inside of her. ANNA's nanomachines were smart enough to pick up on the fact that she considered the pills to be a threat, so treated them as such, neutralizing them before they could force any change on her body, giving Nemona yet another reason to adore her beautiful gynoid girlfriend from the future.

Not that she told her parents about the nanotech, after all. They still found themselves unable to really grasp the extent of how much she'd changed, had let herself be changed, and how powerful the girls who'd done it to her really were.

(And also, because she was understandably worried about what kinds of attempts they'd make to remove her nanotech if they knew about it or, worse, try to reverse-engineer it. Thank goodness it was programmed to destroy itself when removed from her body.)

"We'll up the dosage again," the irritated Mencia said finally. "And maybe shave all that hair off and remove your nails-"

"Oh, that's a great idea! Make it look like I'm being treated for cancer! That'll make you and dad look even better!" Nemona said cheerfully. "You can put me in a wheelchair and bring me out for sis's political rallies! That'll give her a big boost in the polls!" She rubbed her chin in thought. "Oh, but of course, you'd probably have to put a muzzle on me or wire my jaw shut to keep me from telling the public how I really feel about all this. Would be a bad look for you all if I spilled the beans, right?" She grinned, flashing fangs that wouldn't go away no matter how hard Mencia tried to file them down. "Of course, you're going to have to bring me back to the mainland eventually. People might start asking questions about why we're staying aaaaaaaaaaall the way out here on the family yacht, miles from civilization, and out of range of any cell service for too long – and, considering you're on the board of Rotom Phone, that's pretty suspicious on its own, don't you think? Have you figured out what you're going to do about that yet?"

Mencia gave her a cold look. "It would be all too easy to keep you confined at home, or one of our other homes," she threatened. "We would tell everyone that you were just so traumatized from your ordeal you couldn't bear to leave again." She smiled cruelly. "In fact, you might become so traumatized that we need to send you to an institution capable of helping someone like you-"

She was cut off when Nemona burst into laughter. "Oh yeah, send me away to have me 'fixed!' Because that worked so well the last time!"

Mencia grimaced, clearly remembering the incident in question. "… I can at least keep you confined to your quarters for a few days," she murmured finally. "You get much too active and fidgety if you're locked in here for too long. And I suppose I can cut back on food and water until you feel like behaving – you could stand to lose some weight anyway – and if any of our visitors ask to see you, we can simply tell them you aren't feeling well or are suffering some rather nasty side effects from your infection and our attempts to cure it, most of them don't really care about you anyway and will accept it at face value-"

"Hey, mom, quick question: aren't tonight's guests the President of the Aether Foundation and her wife, the first and so far only Champion of Alola?" Nemona interrupted her. "As in, one of the biggest advocates against child and Pokémon abuse given how she was infamously abused by her own mother after she started shacking up with a space jellyfish? Don't you think she'd find it a little suspicious that I've been confined to quarters and am allegedly too sick to see anyone, especially given all the lingering allegations from last time?"

Mencia scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Nothing was proven in court. And don't be so dramatic, you're not being abused."

"No, I've just been ripped away from my school, my home, my friends, and my girlfriends, my Pokémon have been taken from me, I'm being used as a poorly thought out PR stunt to boost your approval ratings and help prop up that puta La Primera, and I'm being forced against my will to become someone I don't want to be, and just a minute ago you were threatening to starve me out? You're right, that's definitely not abuse!" Nemona said sarcastically.

"It's for your own good!" Mencia snapped.

"Said every abuser ever!" Nemona practically shouted.

"Don't you raise your voice to me young lady-"

"Oh, and lest we forget, even if the President doesn't find anything suspicious, what about her wife?" Nemona pressed. "You know, the legendary psychic/Aura Guardian hybrid?"

Mencia hesitated at this. "… We have Dark-types on board," she said.

"Great! Got anything to stop her from using her Aura powers to see through walls or sense how much I really don't want to be here?" Nemona sneered. "Or maybe pick up that you're a lying sack of mierde? How do you think that's gonna end?"

"Actually, we have been working on something-"

"And you don't think they'll find that the least bit suspicious?" Nemona taunted her.

Mencia looked pensive. "… I could still cancel the dinner," she said hesitantly.

"You mean the one you've been trying to set for months to try and collab with the Aether Foundation to expand into Alola? The one that would be immensely profitable to both of you? The one that might distract everyone from sis's most recent scandal and dad's latest indiscretion and speculation that you're holding me against my will? That dinner?" Nemona needled.

Mencia worked her jaw for a moment, glaring angrily at her daughter. "… You will attend the dinner," she said finally. "You will be on your best behavior, and wear a dress, and your contacts and prosthetic – where are those, anyway?"

"Lost the contacts," Nemona said dismissively. "No clue where they are. The prosthetic I took immense pleasure in tearing apart and throwing out the window."

"That was expensive! It was the latest prototype from Silph!" Mencia shouted, livid. "It was bleeding edge!"

"Which still makes it vastly inferior to the one ANNA made," Nemona said. "Seriously, it could barely interface with my socket," she said, waving her stump, and the port where a new arm could be plugged in. "Systems wouldn't recognize it. It hurt trying to use it. Oh, also, you seem to have forgotten I have zero reason to behave myself. I fully intend to spill the beans the minute I see them."

"You will play along," Mencia threatened. "Or-"

"Or what? You've already got me locked up here, there's not really anything more you can do. You think I'm scared of you, bitch? I've seen worse!" Nemona yelled, waving her stump again. "I stared fucking death in the face and shot hot plasma down its throat!"

"Or I will make things very unpleasant for your friends."

Nemona hesitated. "Say what?"

"I'm a very powerful woman. It wouldn't take much to convince the doctors that Arven is a danger to his own health and have him institutionalized," Mencia said sweetly. "Or to get Penny tried as an adult and sentenced to a much, much worse prison. And as for your girlfriends," she snarled. "There are quite a lot of people who would be much happier if they were expelled and forced out of the region."

Nemona snorted. "No way! Clive'd never-"

"He might not," Mencia agreed. "But would his replacement?"

Nemona stared at her, shocked. Mencia grinned, certain she'd achieved victory…

And suddenly Nemona burst into laughter. "Wh-what's so funny?!" She demanded, turning red.

"AHAHAHAHAHA… Oh my Alpha…Perra estúpida, no tienes ni puta idea, ¿verdad?" Nemona grinned. "You still don't get it, do you? You still think we're just some dumb kids you can boss around and threaten to do what you want? Have you not been paying attention? We're five of the strongest trainers in Paldea. We've conquered Titans. We crushed the Pokémon League. We've dismantled entire armies of hooligans. We fought our way through hordes of maddened Pokémon from other times who don't know or care about how things work around here, defeated a pair of robots haunted by the ghosts of their dead creators, ended the lives of a pair of cross-temporal tyrants who would've destroyed the whole world if left to their own devices, and stopped all of time and space from being torn asunder by an out-of-control Time Machine. We're practically the same caliber as the reigning Champions, heroes, and legendary trainers from every other region in the world. And the fact that we've been augmented by visitors from another time only sweetens the cake! I mean, just look at me! I'm turning into a fucking cyborg catgirl, how awesome is that!

"You think a sanitarium will break Arven? Please. He may seem 'boring' compared to the rest of us, but he's still able to consistently keep up with us despite being the least modded because he and his Mabosstiff are that damn good. His sandwiches can't help but charm anyone who's even the least bit hungry, and he'd have the place literally eating out of the palm of his hand in a matter of days. Oh, and if you try to take his dog away he will fucking murder you, he's just as nuts as the rest of us! I have seen him bite people for talking smack about his pooch, and this was before he got fangs!

"And Penny? She was already the smartest person I knew – until I met ANNA, anyway – but now she may be one of the most brilliant minds on the planet thanks to all the stuff ANNA plugged into her brain. She leaves nothing to chance and is always thinking 10 steps ahead of everyone else and has the absolute loyalty of a disturbingly large percentage of the student body. I'm betting the only reason she hasn't gotten out of prison already, either by legitimate or illegitimate means, is because she wants to be there, and if you transfer her to somewhere else, I have every confidence you're just playing right into her hands. And Arceus forbid you lay a finger on her precious Vee-Vees!

"And Julie and ANNA? They're the ones who brought us together and helped us become something more than human. Those loco professors thought they could make the world a better place by bringing Pokémon in from other times, but I think them accidentally bringing those two here may have unintentionally fulfilled their dream. The two of them live in worlds completely beyond your understanding, so much so that ours is practically easy mode for them in comparison. Julie has hunted and killed monsters that could destroy cities. ANNA has not only been to other planets, but she can survive in space. They are the most amazing, beautiful, and powerful people I've ever met, and all of us would die, would kill for them, and the only reason we didn't throw down with La Primera and the entire Elite Four when they showed up to steal the Time Machine we fought and bled for, especially after that puta made Julie cry, was because we were worn out and ANNA told us to stand down because she didn't want to risk our futures and everything they've built in this time… But if she'd given us the go-ahead, we would absolutely have battled the lot of them, and you know what? I'm not sure we wouldn't have won."

She grinned at the unnerved look in her mother's eyes. "I'm betting the only reason they haven't done something drastic like going up against the entire League and taking back the Time Machine is because they don't want to risk anything happening to us or making things harder for good ol' Clive and because they like going to school. And because they know we would never forgive them if they did it without us. But you take all that away? Well then, there's nothing holding them back."

She leaned forward, her grin looking positively feral. "I watched them crystallize and smash two Pokémon who've harassed and killed their people for ages with their bare hands. What do you think they'll do to you if you-"

"Your Pokémon are on this boat."

Nemona hesitated. "Que?"

"Your Pokémon are on this boat," Mencia repeated. "And if you do not do as I say, I'll throw them overboard."

Nemona looked baffled. "You know most of them can swim, right-"

"In their Pokéballs."

Nemona froze. "Que?"

"I will throw them overboard in their Pokéballs," Mencia clarified. "Where they will either sink to the bottom of the ocean or be carried away by the currents. They will be perfectly fine in their balls, but unable to free themselves or help you or anybody else. There is no telling how long it will take for anyone to find them. They might never be found. Are you willing to risk that?"

And then, at last, there was a look of fear in Nemona's eyes.

Mencia smiled. "Dinner is at seven. I'll have a new dress, contacts, and prosthetic ready for you by then, and you'll have your hair, nails, and teeth done again just before we start so you'll look less like an animal."

She smugly strode out of the room.

Nemona stared straight ahead, trembling, then screamed and smashed her fist through a wall.

Penny, on the other hand, was doing just fine.

Penny regarded the photographs covering the wall of her cell, each of them showing the people she cared about most. Her most precious treasures.

Her beloved Vee-Vees.

Her dad and sister, even if they did annoy her a ton.

The Team Star Bosses, her first human friends.

And of course, her greatest friends of all, Arven, Nemona, Julie, and ANNA.

She gently placed her hand over this last picture. "I'll see you soon," she promised. "I just need to take care of some things first."

She heard two sets of footsteps approaching herself. "I didn't ask for her to be brought naked," she said coolly without turning around.

The guard inhaled sharply in surprise. "How-" She cut herself off in terror, realizing her mistake.

Penny decided not to punish her. This time. "Explain."

"Sh-she was already like this," the guard stammered. "She and her cellmate, they… They were… You know…"

Penny did, in fact, know. That didn't make having to listen to this mouth breather stammer any less annoying. "Why did you not clothe her first?"

"I… I figured you'd want to see her immediately, so…" She trailed off anxiously.

Penny stifled a groan. How tiresome. Her friends on the outside, as beneath her in intelligence as most of them were, never demonstrated this much stupidity. (Or when they did, at least they were entertaining.) "Was it consensual?"

"Huh?"

Penny gnashed her teeth. This buffoon had graduated from the Academy? Had all the faculty before the current administration been this incompetent? (She knew the answer was yes.) "Were their activities consensual?"

The guard was quiet for a disappointingly long time. "She… she never says no."

"That is not," Penny said sharply. "The same thing as being consensual. Put her former cellmate in the hole for a year, along with all the other inmates who have used her recently."

"B-but Mistress, that's more than half the cellblock-"

"The fact that you were aware of this and did nothing would get you thrown in the hole as well if I didn't still need you. I don't need you that much, though. I will have to settle for cutting your pay in half… For now. Be grateful I do not do worse. Begone before I change my mind."

"Y-yes, Mistress."

She waited for the footsteps of the guard to fade away, then turned to at last the face the naked girl kneeling on the floor of her cell, staring at her with awe and rapt adoration. "Close your legs," she told the girl. "I'm not interested in that sort of thing at the moment."

"Yes mistress," the girl said, immediately complying, her expression of wonder not changing in the slightest.

Penny scanned her, both figuratively and literally as her augmented eyes took in everything about her. She was quite beautiful, with an hourglass figure, pert breasts, and light tan skin with long pink hair in twin tails. She had an alarming number of scars and bruises, as well as several tattoos with rather derogatory, sexual, sexist, and homophobic slurs plastered all over her body.

She would need to remove those. As well as add another year or two to the sentences of those she'd condemned to the hole.

She had big blue eyes which looked up at her with reverence and pure, unsullied love, with not a hint of guile or fear, only acceptance. This girl, Penny realized, would allow her to do anything to her without question or complaint.

She would have to be very careful.

She adjusted her glasses and her eyes lit up, projecting a hologram of the girl's mugshot, as well as numerous news clippings, snippets of security footage, medical records, and other classified documentation inaccessible to the public but child's play for Penny herself to retrieve. "Melissa Pierce," Penny recited as the girl in question, mouth wide, stared up at her with shimmering eyes and a look of worship and astonishment. "According to your file, due to a chance encounter with the Legendary Pokémon Azelf and Mesprit when you were a child, you were endowed with incredible compassion, love, and a completely selfless nature, willing to do absolutely anything to make others happy. Unfortunately, you were also more or less completely stripped of willpower, meaning you are all but incapable of making decisions on your own and so comply with all requests made of you, instinctively deferring to others as your master or mistress and centering your entire world on them. As such, you are essentially the ideal submissive. A perfect slave. Is this correct?"

"Yes, Mistress," Melissa said.

Damn, she had a beautiful voice.

"For your entire life, people have taken advantage of you and your inability to have desires of your own besides satisfying the needs of others," Penny continued, numerous pictures and paragraphs of text in the holograms lighting up. "You have been subject to a shocking amount of abuse, but you would never perceive it as such, only finding happiness because you made someone else happy."

"Yes, Mistress." Melissa smiled. It was a very nice smile. "Seeing other people happy makes me happy. I don't matter, so long as I can make them smile."

Penny sighed. "Which would be nice, if you didn't keep winding up with the wrong kind of people. From the evidence I've gathered, the only reason you're even here is because your most recent girlfriend had you take the fall for a crime she forced you into. You happily accepted all the blame, and she's a free woman to this day. Is this correct?"

Melissa hesitated, looking torn. "I… Did what I was asked to."

"I'll take that as a yes, as well as a scathing indictment of the criminal justice system," Penny decided. "How would you feel if I told you that not only has she completely forgotten about you and moved on, but is dating multiple men and women behind each other's backs?"

"If she is satisfied with others, then I'm happy for her," Melissa said, looking as if she meant every word. "I just wasn't good enough for her. I never am."

Penny grimaced. "Gonna have to work on that too. Melissa, if I were to have her arrested for the crime you took the fall for, would you testify against her?"

"Yes-"

"Even though it would make me happy, and her very unhappy?" Penny interjected.

Melissa looked uncomfortable for a moment. "I… Do not enjoy seeing other people unhappy… But as you are my mistress, so your happiness takes priority. If this will make you happy, then I will be happy as well."

"Well, it will certainly make me very happy," Penny said, dismissing the holograms of the gesture. "As well as making sure everyone who's abused and taken advantage of you is properly punished. I have just sent all the evidence I have against them, as well as your past girlfriend, to the authorities. You will probably be asked to testify, in which case, I want you to be honest and tell the whole truth about what they did to you and had you do for them. That is an order."

"Yes, Mistress."

"Now, I could easily get you released right away and send you to my friends on the outside for protection, but I think for the time being it might be safer to keep you close. I could leave here whenever I wish, but I'm currently working on several plans, and while I could easily finish them outside, so long as I'm in here I have a perfect alibi," Penny told her. "But when the time comes for me to leave, I will take you with me. Is that all right?"

"Whatever you wish, Mistress."

Penny sighed. "Good enough, I guess. Now… Earlier you offered your body up to me. I can't say I wasn't tempted, but… Answer me truthfully. Do you enjoy having sex? Not because it makes others happy. How does it make you feel?"

"I…" Melissa looked confused for a minute. "I… Enjoy it. It makes me feel wanted. Like I… Am accepted. Like someone loves me. It feels… Good." She smiled. "It makes me happy."

"All right. And does it make you happy – no, wait, let me rephrase that – does it make you as happy when someone forces you to do it?" Penny asked.

Melissa looked confused. "I do not understand, Mistress."

Penny grimaced. "Right, of course you don't. Um… Do you enjoy sex as much when the person you're doing it with demands you do it, even if you're tired and worn out? Do you enjoy it as much when they hurt you? Call you names? Treat you like crap?"

Melissa hesitated. "If that's what makes them happy-"

"Melissa. Does it make you as happy if they treat you cruelly as it does if you're treated nicely?" Penny pressed.

"… It… Does… Not…" Melissa finally forced out, looking as if saying as much was physical torture. "But of course, if you desire, then I will-"

"No."

Penny crouched down and put her hands on Melissa's shoulders. The girl gasped. "Mistress?"

"If we ever do something like that – and it's a big if right now since you're kind of a walking mass of red flags and I don't know if there's any way to fix you or even if I should be fixing you and I'm not sure if legally speaking it could ever be considered consensual given how easily influenced and susceptible you are – I promise I won't hurt you. I won't be cruel; I won't say any awful things or force you to have such nasty things written on your body. I… Can't say I'll never take advantage of you, because, regrettably, I'm not nearly as good a person as some of my friends and I often unthinkingly use those around me, but I'll try my hardest not to, and to make you happy because you deserve to be happy. You deserve to be safe and loved and accepted, just as… Just as I did. I might screw this up, and I'm sorry in advance, but I'll do my best not to.

"You're safe with me, okay? You belong to me now, and I always cherish the things that belong to me. The people I've forged connections to in my life are my greatest treasure, and you now can be counted among them."

"Yes, Mistress," Melissa said, looking somehow even more reverent and besotted than before.

Penny smiled, rose to her feet, and petted Melissa, who moaned blissfully. "Good. Now, go put on that costume I left on your bed, I'm in serious Vee-Vee withdrawal and you're going to become the Espeon I've always wanted but could never have because the Pokémon League arbitrarily decided you can only have a maximum of six Pokémon on you at all times and there's no way I could ever force one of my Vee-Vee's to sit in a box while the rest all got to go on fun adventures without them."

"Yes, Mistress!"

As Melissa happily put on the costume, which she filled out very nicely, Penny got the feeling this would be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Or a horrible mess. The two were not mutually exclusive.