During their first weekend after the last Tera raid, both she and Turo had decided to come back to the Cabo Poco lighthouse to have a better look at the house and see if it could also work as a laboratory for both of them. It was divided mostly into two areas. The first part was directly under the lighthouse itself and was little more than a single room. Rusted tools and books about sailing implied it had been little more than a deposit for whatever was needed to operate the lighthouse.
This could easily become their shared laboratory in the future. The second part was the house proper, built right behind it.
« We will need water and electricity to get activated again... and gas to cook, I guess.» Turo said after going inside. It was a very spacious room; the previous owner had left only an old sink and a couple of cabinets, but it was probably supposed to act as a living room with an open kitchen.
Sada opened one cabinet to peer inside, finding nothing but old, rusted pots. Right. Cooking. She had gotten so used to having lunch at the Academy or directly outside while camping around Paldea that she hadn't considered having to cook her own meals once she graduated.
Just one more thing she had to learn...
The rest of the rooms were pretty much the standard for this time.
One bathroom. One bedroom. A bit small, but she was used to sleeping in cramped spaces... and she and Turo had already shared even smaller beds, be it in their respective dormitory rooms or the bunk beds in Area Zero.
And... there was another room. Probably a small office, judging by diaries that logged how many and which kind of ships had passed by. Mostly unused. Clavell had also decided to accompain them, and was busy examining the windows and walls for traces of mold. The older man had looked incredibly excited at the news of both the marriage and her pregnancy, and seemed to have taken it upon himself to, especially for the latter, make sure they had literally everything they could possibly need.
Sada didn't have the heart to tell him that she found at least half of the things he had compiled into a big list completely useless. Like ... a "baby bath thermometer" , because apparently using your hand to check wasn't good enough.
Some where much more sensible, like a baby crib, or a stroller, and even if a part of her kept thinking that she had survived just fine with none of those things, another wanted her future child to not have to experience doing so.
Sada had to admit, however, that one thing in particular puzzled her.
« "Clothes"? Why do I have to buy clothes for the baby?» she asked, thumbing through a magazine she had bought the day before.
Clavell's eyes widened, and she hurried to explain, least he think that her intention was to let the baby just be naked.
« I was just going to sew some... I could easily scale them as the child grows, it's so easy...»
Clavell seemed to struggle to answer for a moment, while Turo closed the logbook he had been reading to come look at the magazine over her shoulder.
« "Size XS"...? You mean... those things just don't adapt to the kid's body...?» he wondered, and Sada nodded.
Clavell looked a bit lost.
« I don't think so...? But Turo... don't tell me people in the future just wear another weird stretchy suit their whole childhood-» Clavell said in a slightly exasperated tone, to which Turo shrugged.
« Sure...? I had different models growing up of course, but for the first few years, why would you even bother having sizes? Kids grow stupid fast at that age, and I could just personalize it anyway-»
« Yeah! It makes no sense! » Sada argued, « "Age 0-3 months"? The baby will probably wear most of this stuff once!» and it was so expensive! Wasn't it better to use that money for more essential stuff that would last the baby longer?
« Yes, but... how do I put it... I'm sure you don't mean it in a bad way, but... » Clavell looked like he was clearly struggling.
« It's going to look a bit... "weird" to people here if the baby has nothing but homemade clothes, even if it's probably the most logical and sensible thing.» Clavell said, in a tone that suggested he was trying to be as delicate as possible.
Sada's shoulders slumped.
Oh.
... she thought it was a good idea. It made sense to her. It was practical, and how she had grown up after all. She had watched most of the children in her tribe get born, and the months before the birth it wasn't uncommon to see other people of the tribe work together to make sure the child had blankets and clothes ready, especially during winter.
It... It was something she had often wondered how it would feel like when and if it would be her turn to do.
It was something special. Important.
But... here it would make her child look bad?
She didn't want that.
« I see... guess we'll... Have to buy a bit of everything then...»
A heavy silence hung in the room, interrupted only by a small flock of Squawkabilly flying by outside the window, chattering loudly.
Turo put one hand on her shoulder and she gave him a little smile.
« On the other hand, consider this.» Clavell cleared his throat and, after a moment, turned the magazine in her hands to a specific page.
« Those outfits are incredibly cute.»
Sada blinked, looking down at the glossy photograph. So what if they were cute? Clothes were supposed to keep you protected and warm, that's it! Cuteness came after not being cold and exposed to the elements, and... and... uh...
« Is .. is that a little Fidough onesie? With little ears?» she whispered after a long moment.
« ... With a little adorable coordinated Dachsbun jacket.» Clavell nodded as he turned to another page.
« So it looks like Fidough evolved.... » Turo also whispered. His face was impassible as always, but his eyes were shining. Sada was pretty sure that he was restraining himself from squeeing from the adorableness.
« ... All right, so they aren't that bad. I still want to make some socks or hats for him or her.» she mumbled, snapping the magazine shut and regarding it with some suspicion.
That thing was dangerous. The less adorably cute little jackets and pajamas and itty bitty shoes she saw, the better.
« Let's make a list of everything we need.» she added, looking around.
« ... And clean up this place, first.»
---
"It is undeniable that humans play an active part in Pokémon evolution: certain species that rarely evolve in the wild or who's condition to evolve are heavily tied to their environment are getting more and more alternative methods of evolution by artificial substitutes made available by human technology.
Let's use the Pokémon Magmar as an example: in the wild, only the toughest members of the species, who are able to claim the hottest and most dangerous parts of active volcanoes as their territory are able to evolve into Magmortar."
Turo's hands had been flying over the keyboard, but now he stopped suddenly, furrowing both eyebrows.
« Um... Jacq?» he raised his voice towards the other researcher, who was practically hunched over his own laptop. The man's hexagonal glasses peered over the screen.
« Yeah?»
« How many times does Magby evolve?» he asked, just to make sure.
Before Pokémon adapted to Hadron Energy, it seemed like new evolution methods kept being discovered left and right during this era. It was difficult for him to keep track of them all and make sure to not blurt out stuff that hadn't been discovered yet.
« Two, as far as we know... Naturally growing up and through extreme heat... Or a Magmarizer.»
All right, good. So they had been invented already. He mumbled a "thanks" and resumed writing.
"This means that usually, an extremely low number of these Pokémon is expected to live in a specific environment, and of course, any trainer that wanted to let their Magmar evolve would have to go through great trouble to do so. The invention of the Magmarizer, a device that briefly simulates the environmental conditions necessary anywhere and at any time, now trivialized access to them. Magmar belonging to trainers can evolve when they want, as long as their trainer can afford one of these devices. Evolution has changed from something that the Pokémon achieved by themselves to something that can be bestowed to them by technology. In this paper, I want to examine many more examples of human influence on the development of Pokémon, and what the implications of this could be, even centuries in the future-"
After getting over the annoyance of not being able to summon a monitor and keyboard whenever he wanted with a snap of his fingers, he had to admit that he was growing fond of these mechanical keyboards. There was something viscerally satisfying on hearing the constant clack - clack- clack of the keys. It felt good.
He kept writing, until he noticed that Jacq had stopped writing and was peering at him over his own monitor again.
« .... what?» he asked in a flat tone. Jacq flinched slightly, then laughed in a strangely embarrassed tone.
« Nothing, I... was just thinking about you getting married... and...» he started.
Turo's writing barely slowed down.
« You're invited, of course.» he mumbled, figuring that was what he was getting at.
« Really?!» Jacq smiled, sounding genuinely happy, and Turo found himself a bit embarrassed.
« ... It's not like there's going to be that many people anyway. You... Clavell... Raifort... some other classmates, I guess... » he added. It took him a couple of seconds to notice that Jacq was still staring at him.
« ... what?» he asked again, and Jacq sighed, squirming in his chair.
« Nothing. I... was wondering why you never brought up your family. Is it really going to be only us from the Academy?» he asked.
Turo flinched, his fingers freezing up on the keyboard. He was expecting that question sooner or later, but he was hoping to avoid it just a bit longer.
« ... Yeah. Me and Sada want something small and private.» he answered, hoping that it was enough to tell Jacq not to insist. Unfortunately, Jacq seemed to not have gotten the hint.
« So... you two are not on great terms with your families...? » he asked quietly.
Turo swallowed, now looking away from the monitor. He grit his teeth, a heavy lump in his throat.
« ... Yeah, exactly.»
He tried not to think about his relatives too much, because it hurt. He had never quite thought about getting married in his time, but now that he was actually planning a wedding (or, to be more exact, getting pestered by Clavell about how the planning was going) he couldn't help but think about how things would have gone.
To follow tradition, he would have gotten married on the Moon, probably.
He would have acted all grumbly, but would have secretly enjoyed the ceremony, half floating in the low gravity.
Relatives would have come from all over, even Mars, and he would have watched the Sun rise over the Earth from the Moon's surface like it was customary, symbolically watching the first dawn together with his wife- and there the fantasy screeched to a halt, because he couldn't picture anyone that wasn't Sada in her place now.
« Just us. » he repeated. He still felt Jacq's eyes on him, and could almost sense the mix of curiosity and pity that radiated off the younger man. Turo smiled , darkly amused at the situation. He could imagine what the other was thinking: did they both really not have anyone else? Not a single relative? A friend? No one?
If only he knew.
« I'm going to take a break in the cafeteria.» he announced, standing up as he put his computer in sleep mode.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Jacq simply nodded and went back to work, but he still felt his eyes on him even as he left the room, closing the door of the laboratory after him.
It was early afternoon, and the cafeteria was full of both students and teachers. He grabbed a sandwich for himself and another for Miguel, letting both of his Pokémon out of their Poke' Balls. The Dark type looked half-asleep, probably caught midnap, while the Magnemite started bopping up and down around his chair as he started eating.
« Sorry for not letting you out earlier, but I've heard that Magnemite and machinery don't get along.» he said to the steel type as he offered his Pokénav battery to drain.
« I can't have you accidentally turning off my computer or corrupting some data in it.» he added, watching the Pokémon lazily close its single eye as it started "eating".
He looked at both of his Pokémon as he bit into the sandwich with little enthusiasm. He was waiting to get clearance for that Porygon, but even with that, he felt like he still needed something else on his team. Both Miguel and Ampere were starting to struggle against Gym Leaders. He had barely been able to beat Larry, not because his Pokémon weren't good enough, but for simple numerical disadvantage.
Sada also had only two Pokémon - soon three-, but he was aware that the members of his team shared a problem that Sada's team didn't have: they both needed stones or something particular to evolve... if they even wanted to.
For Ampere, the Magnemite needed to hang out with other Magnemites until it found two others that resonated with it enough to join together... Which was cool, but didn't that mean that he needed to catch more Magnemite? They were found around Levincia in Paldea, if he remembered right... as for Miguel...
« Where do you even find a Dusk stone...?» he wondered, watching the Murkrow peck at his sandwich.
« Well... I could help with that.»
Turo frowned as he heard Raifort's voice come from behind him. He turned around, only to see the woman sitting at the table behind him.
« How come?» he asked. Raifort smiled, got up, and without even asking for permission, plopped herself down in the seat in front of him.
« I've found a couple while exploring ruins around Paldea. My Pokémon don't need them, so... I could give you one.» she suggested, in a tone that implied that she obviously wasn't doing it out of the goodness of her heart.
He sighed; he wasn't really in the mood for dealing with Raifort right now.
« What do you want in return?» he asked, lounging back against the chair's backrest and crossing both arms to his chest. Out of the corner of one eye, he saw that Murkrow had stopped eating to eye Raifort's many accessories with a dangerous glint in his red eyes. It wouldn't be the first time he had attacked a fellow student or passerby to try and steal a hairclip or ring.
For a moment, he was almost tempted to just let him do it.
« ... Miguel, no» he muttered, and the crow Pokémon clicked his beak and went back to his food.
« I want you to promise me one thing.» Raifort said after a moment, voice low as she leaned forward on the table. Turo simply raised one eyebrow, waiting for her to continue talking.
She did so after a moment, her lips pursed in a scowl.
« ... I can't stand you, you know. » she hissed.
« What a surprise.» Turo replied in a monotone. Raifort's scowl only intensified.
« You embody all I despise more than anything: those idiots that don't give a shit about history and only care for progress, progress, "progress"! You spent half of our history course sleeping in class!» she sounded exasperated, and he huffed in amusement. He had only done so because he had already studied those things -
« So what if I did? I still got into the top five of our class... I think I even beat you in the part of the course about the Paleolithic -» he couldn't restrain himself from pointing out with a satisfied smirk when her eyes flashed in anger.
Oh yeah, she was pissed. The fact that he of all people seemed to know history (even if only a small part of it, and for reasons she could never even imagine) better than her had to sting quite a bit.
« I just don't understand what Sada sees in you.» she continued.
« You have completely opposite interests, you have nothing in common, and yet... and yet she looks at you like you're the center of her whole world and nothing or no one else exist. You're her anchor, and... and I just don't understand why.» she said, lowering her eyes, frustrated.
Turo kept silent for a long moment, eyes low.
« ... You don't know anything about us. We've got more in common than you could ever imagine.» he said in a monotone, uncrossing his arms and leaning forward on the table towards the woman.
Raifort didn't answer at that, but he noticed that she had balled up her fists on the table.
« ... right. Of course. Like that weird "Kalosian dialect" you two speak? Whatever you say. » she whispered, before shaking her head. She looked back up, and he actually leaned back a little at the glare she directed at him.
« Just promise me that you will make her happy. For whatever reason, she loves you. If you do anything to make her unhappy, or if this marriage doesn't work out...»
Right now Turo realized that Raifort probably didn't care about giving him or not the Dusk Stone. It was just an excuse so they could pretend that they were each getting something out of the deal.
For a moment , he felt kind of offended that she was even just suggesting he would do it for something as trivial as an evolutionary stone, even if only as a paper thin excuse.
« It will. You don't have to worry about that. I love her... we only have each other in more ways that you can imagine. That won't ever change.» he said.
Raifort seemed to look at him in search of a sign that he was lying.
« I see. » she said after a long moment of silence, before nodding.
« Then... let's say we have a deal.»
Raifort offered him her hand, and he shook it. Judging from how she gripped his hand, she was trying to pulverize every bone in it.
« So... does that mean we're going to stop the silly rivalry from now on?» he asked, watching the woman get up and grab her bags. She turned to glare at him, but now he could see her lips turn ever so slightly upwards in a smirk.
« Of course not. I still despise you. » she said, walking away.
He grinned. « Good. Let's see who will get their research published first, then.»
---
After a couple weeks they had cleared away most of the dust and old, unusable furniture from the lighthouse. Now, before they could refurnish the house, they needed to first give a fresh coat of paint to every room. Sada found it quite fun to do, even if it was just white paint. But for certain rooms of the house, they wanted to do something different.
« I want the baby's bedroom to be orange!» she huffed, crossing her arms as she and Turo had both brought a can of paint of a different colour.
« What? But that will look horrible! We can make the kitchen orange. Violet is much better for a bedroom!» Turo answered.
« But I like orange... maybe not bright orange... but we could use a warm, earthly orange. I find it reassuring...» she said, looking around the empty room and trying to picture it. Turo did the same, and he smiled a little.
« ... I see. It reminds you of the interior of the tents back home, right? All those orange and light brown pelts.» he said, and she nodded, happy that he had understood her immediately.
« You've fallen asleep in those tents more than one time. It was cozy, wasn't it?» she asked, and he nodded after a moment, with just a little reluctance.
« It was. I was honestly surprised at how safe I felt there. A Pokémon could have attacked any time, in theory, and yet... it never crossed my mind, back then.» he whispered.
Walking to the center of the room, Sada sat down, cross-legged, looking up at the empty walls and trying to picture what the room would look like soon.
« ... In just a couple of months, we will live here. Together. It... It still doesn't feel real, does it? » she said after a moment of silence. Turo copied her, sitting down in the same position at her side with a little grumble and quite less grace.
« I hate the clothes of this era so much, why do they have to be so rigid-» he said, making her smile. She grabbed his left hand with her right and held them between them, resting on his knee.
« I don't mind them... but I wish a lot of them had more pockets. Why do pockets just straight up go extinct in the future? Your suit also doesn't have any. » Sada replied, prompting Turo to bark out a short laugh.
« Right... no idea. Maybe it's all a big conspiracy to sell more trainer bags and backpacks. » he joked.
He took a sharp breath.
« But yeah... it still doesn't feel real sometimes. »
There was a moment where they both simply stood in silence, just enjoying the other's presence. It reminded her of all the times when it had been just the two of them, sitting in a cave or a clearing as somewhere, teaching each other different words... with all that had happened and always being surrounded by so many people in the Academy, they usually didn't have that much time just for the two of them.
« Why do you want to paint the room violet?» she asked after a moment.
« Darker colours are better for a place where you have to sleep, they're more calming.» he said. She tilted her head, looking at him; he was staring at the ceiling with a pensive look.
« Um... but, at night, wouldn't the whole room be dark anyway?» she pointed out. « There's another reason, isn't it?»
Turo smiled at that, humming a bit.
« Umm... yes, actually. That's what my room used to look like as a kid. Very dark purple,and... we had this ceiling with screens that showed the stars, and constellations... I wanted to make something similar.» he whispered after a bit. She smiled, drawing little circles on his hand with her thumb.
She looked at the still grey wall, pondering. They wanted two diametrically opposite colors for different reasons, but...
« ... I think I have an idea of what to do.» she added, whispering it in his ear.
---
A couple of hours later, they were done with painting the room, and Turo stepped back to admire their work, completely exhausted but satisfied.
At the very bottom of the wall until roughly halfway up, it was painted in a mixture of orange and reds, warm colours that resembled the sky at sunset, blending seamlessly with the floor covered in wooden boards. Near the ceiling, the orange paint slowly got darker and darker until it transitioned to various shades of violet, until it got so dark it was almost indistinguishable from black.
Turo couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic as he looked at the ceiling. He would paint a star chart on the ceiling little by little, in the next few months. For now, he was completely exhausted, but there was one last thing he wanted to do.
He walked to the bucket of violet paint still left, and after throwing a meaningful look to Sada, dunked his whole left hand in it.
Her eyes widened, first in confusion, then in recognition. She wordlessly stepped by his side and did the same thing with her own bucket of paint.
Together, they pressed their hands against the wall, side by side, leaving two handprints in bright, shining paint.
Their own little personal family tree, just like she had back home.
« ... We should have used berry juice to be more authentic.» Sada whispered after a moment of silence. He heard her sniffle, and noticed that her eyes had gotten a bit damp, but she was smiling.
They sat back down again, this time letting out all of their Pokémon as they caught their breath.
He watched Ampere float upwards to examine the lightbulb mounted on the ceiling, while Miguel perched on his shoulder, looking around. The Murkrow looked confused by his surroundings, and cawed a silent question as he pecked at his earlobe.
« This is our new home.» he explained, stroking his glossy black feathers with one fingertip. Miguel didn't look impressed, glaring at him with half closed eyes, and he chuckled.
« Well, it will be. We'll all live here together... Me,Sada, you all...» he paused for a moment « ... and our new treasure.» he finished with a whisper.
Miguel jumped down from his shoulder with a flutter of wings, both eyes now wide and glinting in mischief.
« Treasure! Treasure!» he cawed, flapping his wings, and Turo had to laugh when he realised the kind of treasure the Dark type was probably thinking about.
« It's... not that.» he said with a small smile.
By Sada's side, he saw that Kim's ears had perked up, and she hissed towards Miguel. The dark type threw her an irritated look, at least until the Litleo, purring, slowly curled up against Sada's side again, right next to her stomach, and meowled. The Murkrow shut up, tilted his head sideways, then flapped over to Sada's side to stare at her intently.
« Treasure? Nest?» he cawed, looking at both the woman and the Litleo.
Sada seemed speechless.
« Kim... wait. Turo... you think she understands I'm...?» Sada whispered, her eyes widening as she turned slightly towards him. Kim's purring only intensified as she gently brushed Sada's side with her tail.
« Why wouldn't she? They have amazing senses; I wouldn't be surprised if she knew it before you did.» he answered, watching the two Pokémon crowd around her.
Ötzi stopped examining the only window in the room and turned towards the scene, waddling over after a moment. Even Ampere floated closer, even if those two seemed to be the most confused of all four Pokémon.
Turo guessed it made sense: Litleo and Murkrow lived in prides and huge flocks respectively. They would be familiar with raising their young and to place a great deal of importance on it. The other two... He honestly had no idea if the concept was even familiar to Pokémon like Ampere.
They both watched curiously as the Pokémon seemed to exchange a series of chirps, hisses or, in the Magnemite's case, slight buzzes of electricity with each other. Turo had often wondered how much Pokémon from completely different species could even understand between each other. He had always thought that Pokémon with completely different body language or methods of communicating would find it impossible... but he now realized that it probably wasn't that much different than a human learning to interpret each of his Pokémon's signals. Spending a lot of time together as part of a trainer's team probably helped.
It looked like Miguel and Kim were trying to explain something to the other two, who didn't seem to get it. The Golett just tilted his head, then got closer to Sada with uncertain steps. Sada smiled and stroked the Pokémon's arm.
« Soon, there will be someone else living with us, Ötzi.» she explained.
The Golett seemed to understand that a little bit more.
« A completely new person! You will help me watch over them, will you?»
That seemed to excite the Golett, because it raised both of his arms into the air and whistled a short tone, the energy coursing through his body making his eyes glow brighter.
Sada laughed and pet the Pokémon on the arm; meanwhile, Ampere still looked between her and Turo like he wasn't sure of what he was supposed to be excited about.
« Treasure! Family! Treasure!»
Spreading his wings, the Murkrow fluttered over towards the buckets of paint still half opened. Surprising everyone, he knocked the lid over with his beak and dunked one of his feet into the paint.
« W-what are you doing?!» Turo jumped up, fumbling to grab Miguel's Pokeball, but before he could stop him, the Murkrow had already flown near his hand print and, dripping violet paint, had pressed his talons against the wall, leaving an imprint of his footmark on it.
« Mreow!» Kim ran near him to do the same, dunking one paw in Sada's red paint and pressing it underneath Sada's own handprint. Ötzi and Ampere followed soon after, the Golett leaving a big handprint near the Litleo's while the Magnemite hesitantly tipped one of its magnets inside the paint and then at the wall.
Turo sat back down, stunned, while both their Pokémon crowded back around them. A quick glance towards Sada showed him that her eyes were glinting with tears; his own felt quite damp as well and he looked hastily away to hide it.
He hadn't really thought about what his Pokémon would think of the baby, but...
« You'll all make a wonderful family...» Sada whispered, her voice cracking after a moment. Kim approached her and she hugged the Litleo, hiding her face in the warm fur. A moment later, she gasped.
« I think... I think the baby just kicked.» she whispered, eyes widening.
Turo looked at her.
« Was this the first time you felt it?» his voice was barely a whisper, almost like he was afraid of disturbing the little presence between them.
« Yes...» she smiled, looking down.
« Hi... everyone is here to welcome you, see?» she whispered.
Not everyone -
For once, he stopped the thought halfway, before thinking of Mirai and everyone else he knew could ruin this moment. Turo slowly put his hand on Sada's belly, hoping to hear the same movement again.
They stood side by side like that, their precious treasure surrounded by their new family, long after the sun had set, just enjoying that moment.