Dear readers, all good things must come to an end, and the same is true with our Pokedex Adventures series. This will be the last time we write a game novelization for Pokémon, but we do have oneshots planned, as well as me drawing art for my favorite scenes and posting them to Tumblr and posting the series to other websites.

On an unrelated note, we gave Juliana diagnosed ADHD, because of incidents with my co-author dealing with said condition that have been milked for humor. Anyone with ADHD who is offended by this portrayal, I refuse to apologize. Mostly because Editor was so hyperfocused on playing and outlining Scarlet that her brain refused to let her write Pair of Kings and made her churn out over 20 chapters of this story before Pair of Kings was even posted.

Juliana stared into her wardrobe one last time, at the pile of fabric in different colors that she'd never bothered to hang up. She supposed the uniforms for her new school weren't so bad (they, like the dresses she'd preferred since learning to change her own clothes, cut her time deciding what to wear) but she'd have to get used to putting on separate pieces once again. Especially ties - a dress and slip-on shoes were quick and easy, ties took time and effort into learning.

After fumbling for the fifth time, she finally gave up. "Mom!" she called, releasing the tie and running down the stairs. "Mom, can you fix my tie? And get me a clip-on?"

"I've already requested it," her mother answered, pulling herself away from the shelf she was painting. "Unfortunately, Director Clavell is a busy man, and likely gets similar requests from all new students."

Juliana squirmed as her mother started pulling at the tie that had come delivered in the uniform package. "Yeah," she admitted, "but mine is an accommodation request."

"You're not the only person with your issues, Juliana. I'm sure there are others who have it worse than you do. Let him get to those worse off first, you can loosen the tie and slip it on and off until then. And please, tap your foot if you have to move, I don't want to strangle you."

Juliana did as told, looking over at her mom's project as she did. Creativity was strong in the women of her family - her mother was an interior designer who transformed broken furniture into statement pieces, her grandmother was an excellent seamstress, and Juliana herself was naturally talented at drawing and painting, a talent she'd honed through school, where doodling in her notebooks helped her mind focus on the lectures.

She wondered if battle would be as fascinating as her art, or if she'd merely have her Pokémon pose for portraits. She wondered when she'd be getting a Pokémon, or if her mom's pet Skwovet was going to be her partner. She hoped she didn't have to take Skwovet along, he was cute but he ate so much, and a single mom who made her money making over thrift store items didn't have the resources to feed a Greedent, herself, and her teenager. She wondered if she should find a date for her mom, since her dad had found someone years ago. She made a note to call her dad. She made a note to apologize to her stepmom for introducing her son to the Alolan Champion's YouTube channel. She made a note to send a selfie of her at the Academy to her stepbrother, probably captioned "Be jealous."

And she didn't process the clear visual evidence that her mother had long since finished with the tie and returned to the shelf until the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" she called before her mother could ask. She threw open the door and found herself face-to-face with an older man, wearing a red suit jacket and white pants.

She recognized him as Director Clavell, of her new school. It didn't stop her brain from going, Hello, Director Edgeworth.

"Hi," was the only thing that came out of her mouth, however.

Clavell chuckled. "Hello yourself, Miss Juliana."

"Director Clavell!" Juliana's mother gasped, and quickly attempted to clean up the table. "I'm sorry, you caught me at a bad time..."

"It's quite all right, Mrs. Fernandez -"

"I'm not a Mrs., Director." She smiled. "Call me Sofia, please."

"Please don't flirt with my teachers," Juliana complained, and Sofia rolled her eyes dramatically.

"I'm not flirting, Juliana, I'm attempting to be friendly. Director, why don't you come and join me for a cuppa? Juliana, have you taken -"

"Yes, Mother."

"Then get your hat and get ready to go."

Juliana's brown eyes went wide, and she touched her scalp. "Crap! I forgot I had a hat!"

She ran to her bedroom, taking the stairs two at a time, and grabbed the hat from her bedpost. She took a moment to try to remember anything else she forgot, and luckily, she did manage to remember her bag.

She spent a bit of time adjusting her outfit, and then headed back down to see what the director wanted. She arrived just in time to hear him make his point.

"Your daughter has been approved by our staff, and we will accommodate her special needs up to a point. However, there are certain things that the two of you need to do as well."

"I have meds," Juliana cut in, forcing herself to keep up with the boring conversation even as her brain begged her to do something else. "And if you talk the teachers into letting me draw in class, I can get decent grades."

Clavell turned back to the girl. "I take it, then, that you are capable of keeping track of your medication and taking notes along with your doodles?"

"Uh...Mom usually calls to refill the prescription," she admitted. "And reminds me to take them. But I take notes, yeah."

"Good. Then pack up your medicine tightly, because I have something for you."

The promise of this 'something' was much more interesting than packing her meds, so Juliana followed him out. Sofia, having anticipated this, grabbed the pre-packed medication off the counter, but the others were gone when she turned around.

The boy stared intently at the screen, watching in anticipation as the YouTuber began the video. She wore a white t-shirt with a Rowlet on it, the waist of her blue shorts just barely visible over the table in front of her, and her dark hair was pulled into a low ponytail and draped over her left shoulder. The Decidueye by her side held an egg in his wing, looking utterly baffled.

"Hello, everybody!" the teenager cheered. "Welcome to today's installment of Professor Freeman's 'Practical' Science." She made air quotes with her fingers around the word 'practical,' as she always did. "The show where I translate the research publications of the famous professors and investigate Pokedex entries. I'm Diana Freeman, two-year Champion of Alola and future scientist. Today's partner is my first-ever Pokémon, Stanford the Decidueye. As I'm sure you can guess, today I'll be discussing Pokémon eggs, and Professor Elm of Johto." Stanford put the egg on the table in front of them, and Diana leaned on the table like an Ace Attorney character. "There have been questions about eggs for years. Where do they come from? Why do mammalian Pokémon tend to lay them? Poached or over-easy?" She grinned at her own joke, then returned to her usual Diana-ism. "Professor Elm has dedicated his research to answering most of these questions, and I have dedicated my free time to science."

The boy smiled back. "And I'm dedicating my free time to getting your attention, Diana. Right, Lloyd?"

The Sprigatito in his window looked over at the sound of his name, then returned to staring at the students below, and the Starly one boy had perched on top of his head. Lloyd loved his feather toys, and a big ball of feathers was tempting.

The boy ignored it. Florian Vasquez was an archaeologist in training himself, finding Diana's channel through her cousin's, who he had found when the pair had traveled to Johto to investigate the Ruins of Alph. Neither "Professor Freeman's 'Practical' Science" nor "Eli's Guide to the Unexplained" had cracked the mystery, but the cousins had apparently been dedicated to their topics (science and conspiracy theories, respectively) since childhood.

Florian understood that passion - his earliest memory was digging for fossils in the sandbox. And those two Alolan teenagers were the inspiration for the motivation to follow his dreams.

"I'm not interested in eggs today," he said, standing up and putting away his phone. This managed to keep Lloyd's attention, and he headed out with him, hopping into his ball as the boy left for the library.

He'd collected several issues of Occulture magazine, all of them claiming to have spotted Pokémon thought to be extinct right here in the Paldea region. He planned to regain all the dignity he lost in last year's Treasure Hunt by proving once and for all that these Pokémon existed.

He wasn't sure what would happen if he was wrong, but he was sure that Occulture wouldn't publish anything without more than one witness. Not when psychics and mediums and whatever Eli and Diana were had started to become known.

"No, Master Florian," said the woman at the front desk when he asked for more. "We don't have any new issues of Occulture out for rent. I suggest you return the ones that you took out."

"But I need them for the Treasure Hunt!"

"The Treasure Hunt is three weeks away. You can't hog them."

"Tough luck, boss," a rough, leaning-female voice said from the boy's bag, and his Rotom phone swooped up in front of him. "Want to find places to dig instead?"

Florian looked over at the library once more, then sighed and nodded. "Might as well do something related to archaeology," he decided.

Rotom laughed and turned on her screen. "There's a spot near Cabo Poco that hasn't been properly excavated in years, something about a monster showing up if you go too deep. You've got your mom's Vivillon -"

"Only to get me here safely from Cortondo," he interrupted.

"You haven't returned her yet," Rotom pointed out, and continued onto her main point. "Maybe you can take Vivillon over to see what that biz is about."

"And if Vivillon can't defeat the monster, that leaves me with only a level 5 Sprigatito and a Rotom who doesn't battle."

Rotom cackled in confidence. "Only because my opponents are too scared!"

Florian rolled his eyes, knowing very well she was only level 1. He gestured to Lloyd's ball. "Let's just head over to the Cabo Poco beach instead. Looking for sea glass is...kind of like looking for fossils, right?"

"It'll give Vivillon something to take back to your mom, at least," Rotom agreed, and settled into his hand. He thought he heard her mutter "Wuss," but he chose to ignore that.

He immediately left the building, the overdue issues of Occulture forgotten.

Clavell had given her three adorable Pokémon, but had told her to choose only one. This, Juliana knew, would be the hardest choice of her life.

There was a Sprigatito, a Grass-type cat with a face so cute she wanted to choose it right then. She very nearly did - impulse control was not one of her strengths. But the sight of Fuecoco and Quaxly had stopped her.

Fuecoco looked like it had only a single brain cell bouncing around in its head. Quaxly looked like a cartoon character come to life. Luckily, Clavell had given her instructions to go to the house down the road - though 'enormous mansion' was a more descriptive term. This let her walk with all three and see which one fit her best.

They all stopped her from getting distracted and chasing a spider with a ball of string on its back, keeping her off of the routes where wild Pokémon lived. The Quaxly posed for a sketch while the other two played. The Fuecoco brought her a burnt Pecha Berry as an offering. The Sprigatito continued to be adorable.

Too soon, they got to the mansion. Clavell was there, talking to a tall girl a bit older than Juliana.

The girl saw her immediately. "Hola, Juliana!" she cheered, grabbing the younger girl's hand and giving it an enthusiastic shake. "I'm Nemona, student council president at Naranja Academy."

"And a Champion-ranked trainer," Clavell added.

"Yeah, that too." Nemona's smile didn't budge. "I knew there was a girl around my age moving into town, but I didn't know she was starting at my school! What Pokémon do you have?"

"Uh...my mom has two, and my dad has a Polteageist." No need to mention that she couldn't borrow Polteageist without a lot of trouble.

"Do they battle?"

"Not really - Skwovet's a pet, Lucario carries heavy stuff for my mom, and Polteageist helps my dad and stepmom in the kitchen." She gestured to the trio in front of her. "That's what Director Clavell gave me one of them for."

"Speaking of," said Clavell, "have you made your decision?"

"Uh..." She looked back down. The three Pokémon all looked up hopefully. "I wasn't thinking that far ahead."

"I get it," said Nemona, and looked back at the director. "You said that any new student can take one, right? Well, I had my own Pokémon at the time..."

She left the question unasked, but Clavell laughed. "I suppose you can have one, Nemona," he agreed.

"Great! And if we become rivals, Juliana, you'll get to see my choice, too!"

"But the last one -"

"Will have a good home," Clavell finished.

Relieved, Juliana knelt down in front of the Pokémon. It was hard to pick, but now that the Sprigatito was with its friends...

"This one," she announced, standing up with the Quaxly in her arms.

Quaxly made an excited sound and hopped onto her shoulder.

"Would you like to name her?" Clavell asked, and Juliana blinked.

"It's a girl?"

"It is."

She looked at her new Quaxly. Quaxly looked back. "Webby," Juliana said after a moment, before holding out her choice to the others. "Because of her little webbed feet."

"Good name," Nemona agreed, before kneeling down at the remaining two. The purring of the Grass-type coaxed an 'aww' from her, but the Fuecoco was the one she chose. "You'll do great, little guy," she said, and her new Pokémon cheered and spit embers into the air, where they were extinguished before they hit the ground. "Unfortunately, I'm not as good at naming as my new friend here. But if she'd let me, I'd love to show her the ropes of Pokémon battles."

Seeing no way out, Juliana agreed. "But where will Sprigatito go?" she asked the director.

"I'll find a suitable place for him," he promised. He smiled as the cat followed him, leaving the girls and Fuecoco alone.

"And now that that's out of the way," said Nemona, taking Juliana's hand once again and pulling her around the house, "let's head to the backyard and have that battle!"

Ah, hyperfocus. Juliana knew the feeling too well.

She wondered if she would get as excited as Nemona about battles. She worried that she might and it would take away from her art, the only thing she could do all day and not get bored. She calmed herself by thinking that maybe it would just be a good way to get rid of art block. She made a note to remember Nemona's name.

And she didn't process that they had made it to the battlefield in Nemona's backyard until Fuecoco was staring her down from the other side.

"Let's go, Webby! Water Gun!"

She probably should have asked the director about the moves Webby knew, but it worked out.

TEAMS

Juliana: Webby (Quaxly, female)

Florian: Lloyd (Sprigatito, male) Vivillon (female)