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

Dear Carmine,

ANNA, standing in her charging station in her and Julie's dorm, had her fingers split apart as she rapidly typed on the holographic keys of a hard light display projected in front of her.

I am glad to hear you are doing well in your studies, both academic and magical. I believe congratulations are in order for completing your very first mask of power. While I understand your relationship with your grandfather is still rather strained, I am pleased that you are mature enough to continue learning from him and am confident you will eventually mend fences with him.

ANNA frowned briefly.

Although on that note, the fact that you have continued to evade all questions regarding Kieran suggests to me that you and your brother are still not on the best of terms. While this is understandable considering how we left things when we parted ways, it saddens me that your relationship has degenerated so. While I admit it was perhaps not the healthiest when we first met you, to see how dysfunctional things became… It is not something I am easily able to comprehend. While I may have had my arguments with Julie or my other siblings back home, we have never fallen out as badly as I fear the two of you have. I'm afraid there is no advice Julie or I can give you, so I can only offer you my condolences.

Her expression brightened.

On a more positive note, I am pleased that your body has taken to Julie's retrovirus and my nanomachines so swiftly. You looked especially attractive in the most recent picture you sent us, and I am pleased that so many of your peers are fascinated and aroused by your transformation rather than ostracizing you. And was that a hint of mutual attraction I detected regarding your friend Lacey in your most recent missive? Assuming I am not being blinded by 'shipping goggles' as they put it, I wish both of you the best, and look forward to meeting her at some point in the near future.

ANNA glanced over at Julie, who was wearing her mask and was carefully mixing a variety of grains, powders, and chemicals in an arcane chemistry set, several very old texts as well as one laptop open before her.

Speaking of magical studies, Julie has resumed her training with gusto. Now that she has obtained divine power, she has finally embraced her magical birthright and is doing everything she can to prepare to fulfill her destiny, even though ideally her fated clash with the Demon King will not happen for many centuries or millennia to come. She seems to be learning new spells in her sleep and says she has dreams where her mother or her ancestor Lumina teach her a great many things, though she is not always able to remember all of it when she wakes up, much to her frustration. I suggested keeping a dream journal by her nest, which seems to have helped somewhat.

Julie carefully watched a bubbling flask as the swirling contents within changed colors from blue to green to purple to brown to yellow. She carefully removed the flask from its apparatus with a pair of tongs and held it out to Scar, who obligingly opened her mouth as Julie poured its contents down her throat.

The Koraidon hiccupped and was suddenly covered in polka dots. Julie growled in irritation. "Supposed to be plaid!"

"Perhaps add a little less cobalt next time?" ANNA suggested.

"Maybe…" Julie muttered, turning back to her instruments as Scar hiccupped again and iridescent bubbles flew out of her mouth.

To bolster her pre-existing knowledge, she's also been studying whatever records of this world's magic she can get her hands on. A lot of it is nonsense and hearsay, but every now and then she has found something useful. Thankfully, the resurgence of magic and interest in it ever since Queen Serena took the throne of Kalos has provided her with a wealth of new material to work with. She has also started practicing swordplay, for one day she will need to know how to wield the sacred sword that seals the darkness to vanquish the Demon King. Her progress so far has been…

Julie watched carefully as ANNA, Alita, and Joan all swiped their blades through the air in the exact same form. Raising her wooden practice sword, she attempted to mimic them…

Only to swing too hard, accidentally throwing her sword through a nearby window.

"OW! MY HIPPOCAMPUS!"

The sisters and the Pokémon exchanged alarmed looks and quickly ran away.

Less than ideal. Although, speaking of swords…

You are aware of the legendary Pokémon known as the Treasures of Ruin, yes? The four artifacts corrupted and given life by human negativity, who were sealed away and subsequently slain by Julie and me? Recently, Julie confessed to having second thoughts regarding how we handled the Treasures. While they were indeed evil and destructive, unlike the Loyal Three, they were not (presumably) given a choice in becoming what they were. They were more living natural disasters than sapient creatures, and Julie wondered if perhaps there was a better way we could have handled them. Considering that we had only killed them in the first place while struggling to find an output for the restless energy from our lack of progress on finding a way home and missing our absent friends and lovers, I admitted she might have a point.

Fortunately, this seemed like a problem we could fix. After all, seeing as how the original Treasures were artifacts that came to life after being imbued by wickedness, then surely reforging the artifacts and imbuing them with goodness should have a similar, more benign result.

We were correct.

Sparks flew as Tinka and Tinker took turns hammering a broken piece of sword, sweat rolling down their faces from the heat of the nearby Forge as they poured their smith souls into each strike to imbue the blade with their wishes for it, singing an ancient song passed down among their kind for untold generations since they had first emigrated to the corporeal plane from the land of Fairy.

Once they deemed the blade complete, Almighty cooled it off with a splash from his Flip Turn, and it was placed next to its other half in one of four circles in a complex mandala Julie had drawn into the ground, while she sat in the middle, the other three circles containing a set of wooden tablets, a vessel, and a set of beads. She nodded, deeming it satisfactory, then put on her mask, clasped her paws together, and started chanting.

As she did so, Selena used Flower Trick on the tablets, Nemona's Quaquaval used Ice Spinner on the swords, Arven's Toedscruel used Earthquake on the vessel, and Carmen used Torch Song on the beads, causing elemental energies to begin swirling around them as Julie's chanting grew faster and louder, her mask, her right hand, and the lines on the ground beginning to glow.

The wind started blowing harder. Clouds raced across the sky. The leaves rustled and began to fly off the nearby trees, converging on the tablets as ice built up around the swords, dirt and rocks enveloped the vessel, and the beads burst into flames. Pillars of elemental energy engulfed all the treasures, blasting into the sky and blowing away the clouds, ANNA, their Pokémon, their friends, and the students and faculty who had come out to watch gasping in awe and wonder.

ANNA was not particularly surprised when the progress bar for her installation of the God Program went up a few percentage points.

Finally, the elemental energy faded away, revealing that the Legendary Pokémon Wo-Chien, Chien-Pao, Ting-Lu, and Chi-Yu had indeed been reborn…

But their coloration had changed. The leafy snail's patterns had changed from green and yellow to yellow and red and its mossy form was a darker hue, the icy feline was now brown, the stony moose's rocky layers were shaded from gray to green, and the fiery fish was burning with a beautiful blue and black flame. In addition, they carried an air of peace and serenity about them, rather than the looming sense of dread they had emanated in the past. It was plain for everyone to see that they were no longer creatures of destruction, but guardians of nature.

The four reborn and redeemed deities bowed their heads to Julie, who bowed to them in turn. Everyone started applauding enthusiastically.

We captured them, of course – I took two, as did Julie – to make sure nobody else could, then allowed them to roam free in the wilds of Paldea, following their instincts and doing their duties as tutelary deities. They have already managed to integrate quite well into the ecosystem and have managed to repair some of the lingering damage from the quantum surges triggered by the Time Machine as well as some devastation left over from their previous incarnations. Deforested regions are growing back, life is flourishing in the desert, crops are blooming, and areas ruined by pollution are bouncing back rather miraculously. Looking at the site where the Rotom Company factory used to be, you'd never notice that it was blown up a month or so ago!

They were not, however, the only Pokémon we had to say farewell to, at least for now. Almighty is no longer with us.

By which I mean he has been called away for hero duties, not that he is dead. He has departed along with his apprentice and successor and several of the other young Pokémon he has been training to be heroes on an important, yet classified mission.

"I wish you would allow us to accompany or aid you," ANNA confessed as the sun set, Almighty standing with his back to her, his students some distance away waiting for him expectantly, his apprentice Izumidori looking eager, excited, and nervous.

The Palafin shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mistress, but this is my path, not yours. You have your own destiny to fulfill, but this? This is mine."

ANNA nodded. "I understand. Will I ever see you again?"

"I cannot promise you that," Almighty confessed. "If my suspicions are correct and my greatest enemy All For 108 has returned, then I suspect only one of us will be walking away from this confrontation. I cannot allow his evil to persist even a moment longer." His expression softened. "I promise you this, though: if I can return, I will. And if not…"

He glanced at Izumidori.

"I will make sure he is looked after," ANNA promised.

Almighty grinned. "Exactly what I expected from you, Mistress. Now, I must be off, but not before I impart you with some last words of wisdom…"

He started to turn away, only to dramatically point back at her. "Next, it's your turn!"

With that said, he marched away, collecting the squealing Izumidori under one arm as he joined the rest of his students and walked off into the sunset.

Julie gasped, eyes wide and glistening. "He's so cool!"

"Must… Capture… Scene…" Ogerpon grunted, tongue sticking out adorably as she frantically scribbled on her tablet. "Peak… Anime… Moment…"

ANNA stared blankly. "I have no idea what he was talking about."

Speaking of Ogerpon, she has settled in quite nicely here.

ANNA glanced across the dorm, where, in her own dedicated workspace, Ogerpon inked page after page while Gardevoir helpfully proofread and edited her work, when she wasn't being flirted at by the lovely Alita and Joan, anyway, leaving her rather flustered.

She is now a common enough sight around the Academy that she is no longer being mobbed for autographs…

Ogerpon ran, screaming, from a mob of rabid fans. Gardevoir teleported between them, eyes flashing as she blasted them away with a wall of psychic force, the relieved Ogerpon pouncing on and kissing her savior.

Well, not quite as much, anyway. As you may already be aware, she still retains control of the franchise so can continue publishing The Ogre's Tale as she pleases, thanks to her excellent legal team.

"OBJECTION!" Julie and ANNA, both wearing neckties while ANNA was wearing a fancy suit, shouted as they dramatically pointed at the balding pathetic craven attorney representing the opposition, Julie casting a wind spell while ANNA extended turbines from her back to blast their opponent with such force that he was blown away, flying, screaming, out the window.

The aged Judge blinked Hoothootishly and then shrugged. "Well, can't argue with that. I rule in favor of the plaintiff! And award her 10 billion Pokémon Dollars for being so goshdarn cute and writing my favorite manga!"

"But Your Honor, you can't do that-" one of the many media magnates trying to wrest control of The Ogre's Tale away from Ogerpon protested.

"Of course I can! I'm the judge! See the robe and the beard and the wooden hammer thing? Bang bang!" The judge said, banging his gavel. "Court is adjourned! And make it 20 billion Pokémon Dollars!"

"But-"

"30 billion!"

The magnate wisely shut up.

Everyone else in the court room cheered, and a poverty-stricken detective threw confetti everywhere.

Ogerpon blinked as Julie and ANNA-fived and Gardevoir kissed her. "I don't think anything that just happened here was legal, but it worked out in my favor so I'm okay with it!"

I do not know if you have heard already, but the first volume of the new manga Ogerpon is writing based off our adventures should be released to the public soon. Several studios have already started bidding for the rights to produce an anime adaptation of the manga before they have even had a chance to read it yet! Then again, considering the quality of the products Ogerpon has produced over the last few decades, they no doubt expect great things from it… And are right to, from what we have seen of it so far.

I have heard that Champion Rosa has even volunteered to voice my character, which I do not need to tell you is a great honor! (Julie did not understand why we could not simply voice ourselves, and Ogerpon said that they want people who sound more like us than we actually do, which neither of us entirely understood.)

Of course, Ogerpon is not the only new Pokémon settling in here. Julie's Blood Moon Ursaluna has been doing his best to catch up on everything he missed while spending hundreds of years trapped in the Timeless Woods, and while he has acclimatized remarkably well, there are still some things that are beyond his comprehension.

"It's your move, Lugi," Keto Saiba said as he stood on the parapet, perilously close to the edge. "You can attack my monster and win the Duel, but the shockwaves might just knock me off and send me to my death, which I might as well accept because if I can't save my company my life won't be worth living anyway. Oh, and I guess I won't be able to rescue my brother either. If you don't attack, though, I'll finish you on my turn, meaning you can't save that senile old man who lets you live in his attic and is probably going to die in a few weeks anyway leaving you penniless and homeless and unable to buy anymore cards, meaning your life is basically over already. What's it going to be, Lugi?"

The Lugia with the ridiculously spiky multicolored hairdo with a pyramid-shaped puzzle dangling from its neck and a rather poor-fitting jacket standing on the other side of the field from him considered for a moment, then shrieked and blasted Saiba with Aeroblast, sending him screaming to his doom.

"Way to go, Loog! Right to the Shadow Realm! That'll show him!" A blonde with a noticeable Castelian accent cheered.

"Oh Lugi, you're so amazing!" Gushed the token female.

"In another few hours, the sun will rise!" Said the third friend.

The Lugia shrieked and they all laughed.

"I do not understand," the baffled Blood Moon Ursaluna confessed, staring at the screen. "The Lugia just murdered a man. Why are they laughing and acting like he was banished to some other dimension instead? And why are they even using a Lugia as the protagonist for this overly long advertisement for a children's card game in the first place, seeing as how it wins every duel by just blasting the opponent with the Aeroblast instead of actually playing the game, which it can't even do anyway because its fingers are too big?!"

Ogerpon, sitting next to him, scoffed. Julie shook her head. "Nyou just don't get it."

"No! I don't! That's the point!" The bear bellowed.

With Nemona and Arven finally back, the school is starting to feel much livelier than it did while they were gone. Nemona has been making up for lost time by challenging students, faculty, random civilians, and even wild Pokémon which wander onto the campus by accident to battles and has won every one.

Nemona, her prosthetic arm crackling with power, her sleek tail swishing behind her, and her wild mane blowing in the wind stood atop a massive pile of defeated trainers, shouting, "WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!"

She challenges us to over 20 battles a day, and she has become so attractive to us we are unable to deny her a single one. We have even lost a few because we are too smitten by her beauty to properly fight, leading to her demanding rematches, which only exacerbates the issue. Arven claims that she is a battleholic and should probably see someone about it, but she denies that she has a problem and can stop whenever she wants to, which none of us believe in the slightest.

Other than that, though, she is doing extremely well. Thanks to her new little sister Nebby she can travel to and from her new home in Alola within seconds. She adores her family and cannot stop talking about how much she loves her mothers and all the wonderful people and Pokémon at Aether Paradise and how great it is that they have a floating stadium she can battle in whenever she likes and how her new grandparents are the best and how much she loves Alola. If there is a downside to this it is that it is not quite as easy to go on dates with her as it used to be because she always goes home to Alola every night, but we cannot begrudge her this happiness and I believe it might be possible to erect a permanent Ultra Wormhole between her dorm here and her home in Alola.

We have been to her home many times. It is indeed paradise. Julie LOVES playing with the Pokémon there.

As for Arven, he is also doing well. Thanks to the therapy he underwent during his time away he seems far more centered and at peace than he used to be, which all of us are happy with. He can now talk about his parents – both his birth ones and the androids – without looking conflicted or like he is about to burst into tears at any moment. He has said his final farewells to his organic parents and is greatly looking forward to seeing the androids again, especially after seeing the message his father sent him from my era.

Also, he has learned several new sandwich recipes, which Scar and Viola are quite pleased with.

Arven frowned and crossed his arms as a drooling Scar and Viola looked at him hungrily. "You know, I'm starting to think you guys are only friends with me for my sandwiches."

ANNA said, "Arven, you know we cannot lie to you."

Arven nodded. "And?"

ANNA said nothing. Julie couldn't meet his eyes. Arven sighed.

Thanks to his experiences in therapy, he has become more open around other students outside our immediate friend group, and quite a few underclassmen view him as a guru or big brother figure they can go to for help, and some even believe he should be the school counselor instead of the one we currently have. Considering that one's obsession with puppets and food metaphors, they may have a point.

Penny… Is, alas, still behind bars. We know she can leave whenever she wishes, and that there is important work she can only do from prison, and we visit and speak with her frequently, but… Her absence is still impossible not to notice, and she is deeply missed. While things have gotten much better with Arven and Nemona back, I do not feel as if we will truly feel whole again until Penny returns for good, a sentiment Penny's loyal followers and Vee-Vees can more than empathize with.

That is not, sadly, the only note of discord in our more harmonious school life. While my friends and loved ones have all improved greatly and are seeking to better themselves and prepare for their futures, I seem to have hit a roadblock. After reviewing all the data I have compiled from Area Zero and our adventure in Kitakami, I am now more convinced than ever that the only safe way to return Julie, myself, and our Pokémon to our own times is by restoring and updating the Time Machine in the Zero Lab. There are, however, two problems with this.

First, there is the matter of getting to the lab. The Great Crater is still off-limits and while we could find ways to circumvent the law to break in as we have before, after all the trouble we caused in Kitakami we are being scrutinized even harder than before and so we are hesitant to do anything to jeopardize the positions of ourselves or our friends here at Naranjuva unless we are left with no other choice. And while we believe the current administration may be more willing to grant us a request to legally delve into the crater, given the most recent political upheavals we may not be able to secure such permission in the immediate future.

I do not know how much of this you have heard, but after the shakeup from the demise of the Rotom Phone Company and the latest wave of classified documents leaked by Penny, the Paldean government has been gutted from all the corruption-related arrests and resignations it triggered. Geeta voluntarily stepped down from her position as Top Champion and League Chairwoman, and while she has not been convicted of anything, it is unlikely she will ever hold public office again, and she has currently vanished to parts unknown to try and find whatever it is she lost along the way.

We wish her luck on her journey, and are glad that she apologized for everything before departing.

To everyone's astonishment, including his own, Larry was named new Chairman.

"And the new Chairman of the Pokémon League will be… Larry!"

All the Elite and gym leaders turned to stare at Larry in astonishment. His face looked as weary and dead as always. Hesitantly, they started clapping.

"Now, if you will come up so we can swear you in-"

Larry slowly rose to his feet, then immediately gasped, clutched his chest, and collapsed to the ground.

Everyone stared for a moment, stunned. Hassel rushed over and checked his pulse.

"He's dead!"

Everyone started screaming.

The thought of his already inhumane workload being increased with a fourth or possibly even a fifth or sixth job caused his heart to give out. Unfortunately, the sweet embrace of death would once again be denied to him.

Larry abruptly sat up, his skin taking on a greenish tinge. He groaned.

"ZOMBIE!" Poppy shouted, and everyone started screaming again.

He was not, of course, a zombie, as zombies do not exist. He is, however, undead now, and will be unable to pass on until he finishes all the paperwork his new job entails, cleans up the mess Geeta and the previous administration left behind, and arranges for his replacement. Julie and I were called in for consultation to make sure he was not, in fact, evil.

"He nyot evil," Julie said.

"Oh, good! Guess he can get to work then!" Rika said in relief.

Larry moaned something that almost sounded like, "Kill me."

We have submitted a request to venture into the Great Crater, and while we are fairly certain he will agree to it, given his backlog it may be quite some time before he gets around to it.

The second issue is a bit more complicated. My predictive analyses and Julie's own burgeoning premonitions conclude that a third quantum anomaly will occur in the near future. There is no question that this event will occur, we detected it back in Kitakami, so it must take place to complete the time loop last a reality-breaking paradox occur. The problem, however, is that we don't know how severe the incident will be or what will set it off.

Will our going into the crater and activating the Time Machine cause the next disaster? Or has it already been building up and will occur because we've been delaying going into the crater without waiting for permission? Most of the sensors I left behind in Area Zero have been destroyed by local and Paradox Pokémon, and the satellite I left in geosynchronous orbit has difficulty getting readings from as deep as the Zero Lab is. I have dispatched several drones to try and take their place, but I keep losing my connection. I simply lack enough data to know at this point what the right course of action is, so am left with nothing more than an utterly unscientific 'hunch' that we are at the precipice of disaster.

I find myself paralyzed by indecision and unable to determine the correct path forward. If whatever is going to happen is going to happen, would it be made better or worse if we caused it ourselves or simply waited to see what happens? As Julie, Ogerpon, and countless narratives would put it, the surest way to find your destiny is on the path to avoid it. I am not actively seeking to avoid it, but neither am I going towards it. Inaction is a choice as well, and often the wrong one. If I just had a little more information…

Or perhaps that is just an excuse. One way or another, I fear that our current peaceful days will soon come to an end once again. I can only hope that we come out the other side of it all right, and that at long last, my sister and I will be able to find our way home.

But until then, we shall keep on as we have been doing so far. Attending classes, hanging out with our friends, going to school clubs and events, engaging in Pokémon battles, having dates with our wonderful girlfriends, keeping up with our favorite shows and stories and writing fanfiction about them, and adding more and more pretty girls to our ever-growing harem of cyborgs, catgirls, and cyborg catgirls.

I hope we can include you (and Lacey?) in their number someday.

Until next time,

Love,

ANNA

"I am about to submit my letter to Carmine," ANNA said out loud. "Does anyone have any message they wish to convey to her?"

"Tell her congrats on making her first mask, and that she's getting an advance copy of the first volume of the new manga," Ogerpon said distractedly as she continued inking pages.

"I hope she womans up and asks that cute Lacey girl out on a date already," Gardevoir added.

"What's about to happen is Kieran's own choice and nyothing she did could have prevented it," Julie said without thinking as her latest potion finally turned Scar plaid.

ANNA blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"Huh?" Julie said, face scrunched up in confusion.

"I believe you just had another premonition," ANNA told her in concern.

Julie frowned. "Oh. It bad?"

"Potentially," ANNA said, adding all three postscripts to her message and sending it off. "Well, I think that is enough of a recharge for today," she said, disconnecting herself from her charging station.

"Why nyou even nyuse that anyway? Got magic future space super science reactor thingy. Can run for million years or more," Julie pointed out.

"The same reason we both enjoy long showers and intercourse with our lovers, it is an immensely pleasurable experience," ANNA said, reviewing her daily checklist. "All right, with that taken care of, along with all our homework for the next week, I believe we have time to do some writing before our next date/battle with Nemona-"

The proximity sensors she'd installed in their door went off, patching in a feed from the hidden camera to her HUD and informing her that Director Clavell was about to knock.

"Oh! Papa Clavell's here!" Julie said excitedly as she rushed towards the door and opened it before he could knock, much to his surprise. ANNA was uncertain if Julie had known he was there before she'd said anything because of her heightened senses, or due to another burst of precognition. It was getting harder to tell these days. "Hi Papa Clavell! Julie and ANNA nyot up to anything bad lately and there totally reasonable explanation for Ms. Tyme having break down and take leave of absence."

"Wait, she's done what now-" Clavell wisely decided not to pursue this line of thought further. "No, you haven't done anything wrong, girls, however, I am afraid that I'm going to need you to come with me. Something has come up, and you may be the only ones who can do something about it."

Julie and ANNA exchanged worried glances. It would seem that, just as ANNA feared, their peaceful days had indeed come to an all too abrupt end.