After a little while of just enjoying each other’s company, Sofie and I start discussing what to do for breakfast before a bird’s screech comes from outside our door. When we open it, we find that Kilowattrel from before with a box in its talons. It opens it, takes out four paper boxes, one quite a bit larger than the other two, then flies away. When we get inside to open them, we find Galarian style breakfasts in the first three for us and all our Pokemon, along with a note in the four, which we manage to take before Cappuccino grabs the boxes and runs off to throw them into the new recycling bin.

{Hello, my young wards! Diantha here. I understand if you get antsy being locked inside, but don’t go around displaying yourselves to the city just yet. Apparently we got seen last night, so the older trainers have been all antsy about my ‘hanging out with criminals’. Ludicrous. Anyways, just relax, but I ask that you answer the door if someone shows up to talk, I’m gonna be sending people all day. If they try threatening you, I give you permission to use my name as a bit of leverage. Have a good day! PS, if Ben tries poaching you to his father’s staff, feel free to punch him.}

Me and Sofie giggle at the postscript, then sit at the small table in the kitchen to dig in. Tinder and Cider, not being particularly good at staying neat while eating, are fussed over by Cappuccino the whole time. Eve sits half on one of the chairs, eating at the table while roleplaying as a distinguished lady. Chamomile… continues sitting in the window as normal.

About halfway through our meal, however, there is a knock on the door. I share a look with Sofie, who shrugs and gets up to check. Upon her pulling the door open, a rather pretty girl is revealed. Her platinum hair is tied up in a messy bun, yet somehow her vibe comes off as immaculate anyways. Perhaps it's her perfect makeup, highlighting the best features of her heart shaped face, especially her sapphire eyes. She wears a pretty white leather coat over black slacks as well as carries a large white purse to match, all visibly high-quality enough to make me wonder how much she had spent on that outfit.

“Ah, you must be Sofie Meier.” The girl offers my friend a hand, which Sofie hesitantly shakes. “I am Sara Kishimoto, may I come in?”

Sofie looks back at me fishing for an excuse, but I just shake my head, waving Diantha’s note in the air.

“I… Guess,” Sofie sighs, then steps aside to let her in, “We’re eating though, so you’re gonna have to wait to talk.”

“That’s perfectly fine.” Sara steps in, quickly removing her shoes at the entrance as she does. “Do you mind if I release my Pokemon as well?”

“I-” Sofie glances down at the girl making herself home, sighs, then shuts the door. “Fine, but if they cause any damage, or anger our friends, you’re gonna have to recall them.”

Sara nods, then pulls a small belt out of her purse, pressing the button on three Pokeballs. An Emolga appears in midair, immediately moving to land on their Trainer’s shoulder. A female Indeedee pops in as well, walking up to a shelf before it runs its finger across it, smiling at the lack of dust. When the final Pokemon, a beautiful Mawile appears, it glares at Eve, who returns it in kind.

“Now now, Yai,” Sara says, patting the Mawile on its head, “We’re not here to battle, no need to be so uptight.”

Sofie sits back down, but our breakfast is silent as we watch the mystery girl patiently wait for us to finish eating while she sits on our couch. Cappuccino and the Indeedee immediately hit it off, the chinchilla dragging the little maid around to show it the deep standard of cleanliness she had imparted. The Emolga, after a few minutes of nothing, starts getting visibly bored until Tinder and Cider float up to challenge it to honorable aerial combat. Sara blinks in surprise as the three Pokemon begin a fierce battle for the air, the two clumsy fire types doing their best to catch the very fast electric glider.

In the end she doesn’t say anything about it though, continuing to obey the rules that Sofie had set until we finish our meals and take a seat across from her.

“Ah, finished with your meal?” Sara takes a laptop out of her bag, slowly clicking on a trackpad. “Would you like me to explain why I’m here?”

Sofie puts her hand on my thigh, giving me a small smile before she says, “Yeah, that’d be great. I’m assuming it was Diantha who sent you?”

“Mhm, she wants me to interview you later,” The girl mutters, tapping away slowly at her computer, “She wants to frame you as just two normal girls, or well, two prodigy girls.”

“I’m not really a prodigy…” I mutter, wringing my hands together.

Sara and Sofie both turn to me with unimpressed looks.

“Clumsy,” Sofie says, her lips upturning, “You and Eve forced Viola to mega evolve. You’re the rookie everyone is looking at.”

I pale, looking at Eve, who just shrugs as she moves to sit beside me. Sara sighs, putting her laptop back into her bag, gesturing for her Indeedee to come over.

“Let me introduce my friends. Yai is the Mawile, Isse is the Emolga, and Rei is Indeedee.” She pats the little maid’s horns, getting a wide smile from it. “We’re also circuit members like you. I just happen to stream while I travel.”

I open my mouth to ask a question, but before I can, another knock comes from the door. Sofie groans, popping up to walk over again. As she opens it, I narrow my eyes at the rough, scraggly man standing in front of the door, until it clicks. The man’s wavy black hair and thin beard are lined with gray streaks, deep bags underneath his grayish blue eyes. On top of an unbuttoned black dress shirt, the man has a long lab coat tickling the back of his knees, its edges a bit frayed. He has a large duffel bag on his shoulder, a golden watch with a corroded silver clasp wrapped around its strap.

I rush to the door, my eyes wide as they scan the tired man before me.

“Are you…” I mutter, grabbing Sofie’s arm, “Professor Sycamore?”

The man frowns, then nods as we step aside to let him in. He steps into the middle of the living room, barely sparing Sara a glance as he stretches his back. He then turns to us, his lips at least attempting to rise. It seems to be futile though, as he pinches the bridge of his nose. Sofie and I walk up, standing a few feet in front of him.

“Sorry, been a good while since I’ve done anything like this.” The professor clears his throat, putting his hand in his pocket as he raises a palm.

“So, we finally meet!”

Putting his other hand in a pocket as well, the man chuckles at his words as he shakes his head. “Y’know, those are the same words I said to the Champion back when we first met. She was just a girl then, dedicated to her love of flying.”

Turning away from us, Sycamore looks out the window, staring off into the distance. “She received her first partner from me just a few days previous, and I even decided to share my current research subjects with her on a whim. Turns out that was more than enough for her to rise to become someone great.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

He takes a flask out of his pocket, taking a sip before grimacing at the lack of anything coming out. “Well, that was ten years ago, and now my assistants from back then are the primary acting Professors of Kalos. I haven’t had an assistant since they graduated.”

Taking a few steps towards us, he glances down at us, his eyes a bit hollow. “Now, Diantha is calling me asking for me to offer you that position. I’ll admit, I asked her to look after you for a bit, but this was a bit out of my expectations.”

Leering down at me, I reel a bit at his stare, then give a small sigh of relief as he turns away and begins to pace to the other side of the room.. “I do owe her a lot, but this is something I hesitate to offer. This role comes with a lot of responsibility, far more than my previous assistants needed to handle.”

He pauses, tapping his foot twice. “I can’t offer much assistance as well, beyond a few paltry gestures of my goodwill, as the resources that I have access to are extremely limited right now.”

His head partially turns as he peeks back at us, the apathy in his eyes making me shiver. “Would you still accept that position even with those restrictions?”

Me and Sofie share a look, and my friend steps forward.

“We’re still deciding, but if you offer it and it’s our best option,” She says, “We would join you without question.”

Huffing, Sycamore closes his eyes for a moment, then turns to us with a genuine smile.

“Well, I guess I don’t really have much of a choice then. I officially extend to you the offer to become my new assistants.” Giving us a small bow, Sycamore puts his hand into his pocket again. “Now, as a show of good faith to your declaration of intent, I have a present for Morgan.”

I blink, then point to myself.

“For me?” I mutter, tilting my head “But, we haven't made our decision yet.”

“Bah, I’ve given more away for less.” Opening his bag, the Professor winks at me. “C’mere squirt.”

I groan at the name, but do walk forward. The man pulls a large box out of his bag, placing it into my hands. I raise an eyebrow up at him, but he just gestures for me to go on and open it. I breathe in, not knowing what exactly to expect, then slowly open it to reveal a surprisingly large crochet bag. I take the surprisingly heavy thing out, unbuttoning it to see what is causing it to bulge so much.

Sitting inside is a Pokemon Egg.

“What-” I look up at the man in surprise, hugging the thing to my chest. “Why are you just giving me an egg like this?”

Sycamore chuckles, re-zipping his bag as he cracks his neck. “I know from Serena and an old, wise friend I no longer know the location of how much a single Pokemon can impact someone’s personal journey.”

“As that long lost friend once said,” Sycamore grins as he raises a finger, deepening his voice as he quotes, “Our role is to help them grow in strength, but their role is to help us grow as people. Or er, something like that, he liked to be poetic.”

I pause and put the egg back into the box, those words bouncing around in my head. They seemed really, really familiar… I gasp and rush over to my bag to dig around after; It was full of miscellaneous junk with a wide array of uses, but there was something specific I needed to check right at this moment.

“Ah!” I walk back to Sycamore, holding the item up. “Do you possibly recognize this?”

Sycamore takes a deep, deep breath, his face having gone extremely pale at what I was showing him. “How… Do you know what that is?”

I shake my head, flipping it around in my hand to examine as I had done many times before while traveling. It's a large, ornate bronze key, rather heavy and almost too big to hold in my palm. Its cuts and biting are long and complicated, its bow shaped a bit like an eight with a dull, clouded gray gem sitting in its center.

“Not really, but he told me to keep it safe.” I shrug, walking back over to stick it back into my bag. “I was curious if he was the one you were talking about, but I guess he is.”

Sycamore slowly laughs, running his hand through his hair as he takes a few steps back. “So, you know him. Small world I guess.”

Closing his eyes, the professor puts on a very serious face.

“Morgan,” He says, his voice having lost all sign of any emotion, “Never show that to anyone else, and if someone tries to take it, protect it with your life.”

A bit taken aback by the sudden change of tone, I nod resolutely. Sycamore deeply sighs, then walks to the door, leaning his head on the wall as he quietly mutters, “Damn it, old man, why did you decide now was a good time to hand off the torch to a kid?”

Shaking his head, the man peels back, pointing at me as he declares:

“My offer stands regardless, but this potentially changes my plans so I need to think. Keep that thing safe, and I’ll contact you again in the future when I get it all figured out.” Without waiting for an answer, he grins and waves as he steps out the door. “See you!”

He slams it shut, leaving the three of us completely dumbfounded in his wake. I walk back over to the box, taking the egg out and cradling it in my arms. It’s a bit warm, and I even feel a small amount of emotion, however small, floating around within it. I plop down on the couch, not really knowing what to say.

“Um…” Sara looks between Sofie and I. “I don’t know if I was supposed to be here for that.”

Sofie snorts, moving to sit next to me.

“It’s fine, not really a secret.” Sofie pokes me in my cheek, leading to me giving a grunt in protest. “I’m curious about the mysterious old man though.”

I hesitate, running my hand over the fluffy crocheted egg bag.

“Well,” I murmur, running my tongue over my teeth, “His name is AZ.”

“AZ?” Sofie tilts her head, raising an eyebrow. “Weird name.”

Eve snorts as she sends me her amusement at that description, which makes me squeeze my face with my fingers a bit.

“He was just weird in general,” I quietly explain, my mind swarming with errant memories, “He was like, three times my height with crazy long gray hair, as well as being really strong and mysterious with a penchant for lectures.”

Sofie and Sara both give me an unconvinced look, and I hide my face with the egg.

“L-Look, he might sound like a mythical figure,” I stutter out, then say, “But he was basically my teacher so…”

Sofie chuckles, bumping me with her elbow. “I got it, Clumsy, don’t disrespect the god among men.”

Sara raises an eyebrow as she looks between the two of us, then shrugs as she gets her laptop back out. Taking out her phone, she checks her makeup and hair before taking a deep breath as she presses down on the track-pad one more time. A rather upbeat song begins to play, Sara looking up at us with a smile.

“Well, it’s getting close to my stream time,” Sara says, turning the laptop to us for a moment to show us a complicated program with a little sprite art of a Mawile running on it, “Are you two ready for this?”

I slowly process that question as Eve walks over, lying down on the couch beside me, glaring at the streamer the whole time.

“Oh, it’s not that big of a deal, Miss Eve,” She says, turning the laptop back, “I’m not gonna be choosing questions that jeopardize your goals. We wanna make you out to be people that the viewers would be able to just interact with normally.”

I anxiously glance at Sofie, who is visibly unimpressed at all this.

“I hope you realize you’re catching us a bit off guard with this.” Sofie points up at her hair, which is frizzy and unkempt. “I’m not exactly dressed for TV or anything.”

Sara smiles as she takes out a small mic, clipping it to her shirt, before throwing two at us. “That’s fine, I’m the only one who needs to look pretty at the moment. I whipped together a pixel Absol and Minccino last night, which will serve as your proxies to the viewers.”

Clicking through her phone, she pulls up the images in question, rather high quality sprites for just a single night.

“They’ll light up when you speak, so people will know it’s you talking,” She continues after Sofie and I reluctantly clip on the mics. “I understand it’s sort of sudden, but Diantha said it was on purpose to make it seem like the ‘real you’. That woman is a real character, huh?”

“Understatement of the century,” I mutter, wringing my hands as I think about how she had set all this up in one night. Suddenly, the music swaps to a far more calm tune, Sara’s entire demeanor shifts, her back now completely straight with a strangely cold glare pointed right at the camera.

“Good morning, everyone,” She says, her voice a tad lower than normal, “I’m sure you’ve seen the title of the stream, and yes, we do in fact have special guests here today for you to ask questions to.”

I nervously take Sofie’s hand, and Eve shares her uncertainty at the situation. Sofie’s hand squeezes mine, and I look up to see Sara staring at the screen before her eyes shift to us.

“Please, introduce yourselves, my guests.” The girl commands as she presses a key on her computer, and I gulp.

“I-I’m Morgan Brandt, and this is Sofie Meier.” I mutter, Sofie smiling at me proudly.

My friend unabashedly says, “Hiya! This is all kinda sudden, so forgive us for being a bit camera shy.”

Sara nods as the Mawile leaps up to sit beside her. “It definitely was unplanned, but as a result it’s quite fortunate for everyone watching.”

Sara pauses for a moment, her eyes scrolling across her screen.

“No, santagoon, I won’t show you them on camera.” Yai snickers, resting its giant maw on its trainer’s shoulder.

“Unfortunately, we really don’t have time to chat,” Sara mutters, then looks up to us as she says:

“So, let’s begin the interview.”