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“And thattt’s a wrap folks. Trainer Dawn of Sandgem Town has defeated Champion Cynthia!” the TV announced. Johanna squealed in delight, jumping off the couch. Her baby had done it! They had won the Pokemon League, just like they said they would! She sat back down, watching as Cynthia and Dawn ascended towards the Hall of Fame, where her victory would be immortalized for all to see.
It had been a long, fretful journey for them. Between Team Galactic’s antics and the involvement of legendary pokemon, Johanna knew that her child did not have an easy journey. But they preserved, making it all the way to the league. She was so incredibly proud of Dawn and everything they had accomplished. As the coverage shifted to the commentary, she sat back and took a look around the house. It wasn’t dirty or messy; her Clefairy, Fae, wouldn’t let it get too dirty. But it had been a while since she truly cleaned the house. And since Dawn would be home soon, at least to visit… It wouldn’t hurt to tidy up a bit.
The ground floor didn’t take much effort to clean. She glanced upstairs, deciding to leave her child’s room for later. It hadn’t been touched unless Dawn came home to stay, the last time of which had been several months ago. She sighed as she stood up, stretching her back until it popped. Meandering into the kitchen, she took inventory of the ingredients in the pantry and kitchen. Dawn’s favorite food as a (younger) child had been Oran Berry Bread and Pecha Pie. If she was going to surprise them with homemade food, she would have to make sure she had enough ingredients to start baking first thing in the morning.
“Hmm… We’re running low on flour and sugar as well…” she noted, throwing out the stale Moomoo milk. “Fae?”
Her partner pokemon chirped, coming by her side. “Can you check to make sure that Dawn’s room is tidy?”
“Clefairy!” Fae uttered, rushing up the stairs. Johanna smiled fondly, shaking her head. She gathered her things, shopping list in hand. “I’ll be back in just a moment, Fae!”
The brisk, winter breeze cut through her thin clothing, chilling her to the core. The late afternoon sun hit her eyes in just the wrong way, causing her to squint. She willed herself to ignore it, making her way to the market that had set up shop in their tiny town.
“Now what flavor of poffins did Dawn’s pokemon like? Spicy? Sweet? Might as well get a little of everything just in case,” It didn’t take her long to gather what she needed; she bought a little extra of everything, just in case Dawn wanted to stay home a bit longer. When she opened the door to the house, she found Fae anxiously waiting by the door. “What’s wrong Fae?”
“Clefairy!” the pokemon said, pointing at the counter. She followed the movement, frowning. On the counter sat everything that was on her list: Moomoo Milk, various types of berries, flour, and sugar. She raised an eyebrow.
“Where did those come from?” she asked, setting the stuff in her hands down. She inspected the packaging, pulling her glasses down to read the label. “Pastoria City? How in the world did this get here?”
“Clefairy.” The pokemon said sadly, shaking their head. She reached down and patted her on the head, moving to put away all the ingredients she wouldn’t need for the pie dough and poffins away.
“It’s alright Fae. I guess that’s just one of life’s mysteries,” she said. “Maybe Dawn sent Zammy to play a prank on us. That old Alakazam is too mischievous for its own good sometimes and they just enable him because they think it's funny.”
The Clefairy nodded vicariously, a haunted look on its face. She snickered, pulling out the bowls. “If you want, Fae, you can start making some poffins.” She kicked the spare stool next to the stove, placing the pan on the center burner. “Make some spicy and some sweet ones, first. I seem to remember Spruce liking the spicy ones and Alberto liking sweet ones.”
Fae chirped in affirmation, joining her on the counter to start making the batter. She smiled, working on the pie dough. If she finished the preparation tonight, it would make her life easier in the morning. Despite baking for well over thirty years, making the dough was still her least favorite part. It was significantly less time consuming than when she first started out, though. She always managed to get herself covered in flour. Though some of that was most likely due to her dad’s old Espeon who liked to create chaos wherever she went. Maybe it was a trait amongst all psychic types, given Zammy’s proclivity to prank on unsuspecting people whenever he was left unattended.
After a couple hours of preparation, the dough was ready, chilling in the fridge, while Fae had a heaping pie of poffins to show for her efforts. Johanna high fived her partner, nodding to herself. Dawn was going to love it when she got home.
“What in the world?” Johanna murmured, staring at the empty bowl of poffins. Fae clutched her pant legs tearfully, lips trembling. “Why are they all gone? You didn’t eat any, did you?”
Fae shook her head. “Then who could have eaten them? Maybe one of the neighbors' pokemon broke in and got them?”
Except that wouldn’t make sense. There was no sign of forced entry anywhere. Furthermore, she doubted any of the pokemon in the town would steal anything. Barry’s mom did not have pokemon of her own and her other neighbors only had a Hippiny and a Chansey. While they would be capable of getting into the house, she knew that they wouldn’t steal anything from her. If they wanted some, they would politely request for some. She picked Fae up, pulling her into her arms. “It’s alright. We can always make some more. Why don’t you start on the pies and I’ll make some more, okay?”
The pokemon nodded, opening the curtains above the window to let the first few rays of the morning sun illuminate their house. They fell into a rhythm, delicately dancing around each other as the deserts baked. Johanna stared amusedly at Fae, who stood guard over the freshly baked poffins while the pies started to cool off, as if she was prepared to defend them with her life. She shook her head, smiling. A knock at the door drew her attention away from food. “Mom! I’m home!”
“Dawn!” she cheered, dropping her towel to rush to the door. She wrapped her child in a full embrace, holding them tight. “I’m so glad you’re home!”
“I’m glad to be home, too! I barely got any rest last night,” they replied, cheeks flushed from the cold. Johanna stepped to the side to let them in, placing their coat on the rack.
“I bet. I’m so, so proud of you,” she said, smiling. “I wish I could have been there in person to see.”
Dawn chuckled. “It’s okay, mom! The Pokemon League is pretty far out from home.” They paused, sniffing the air. “Is that… Oran Berry Bread?”
“Yes! And we made Pecha Pie and some poffins for your team as well!” she said, grinning.
“Thanks so much Mom!” Dawn said, rushing over to the counter as her team (minus the Steelix, who would break the house if she emerged) appeared at their side, their hands descended on the sweets in a flurry of movement.
Johanna glanced at Fae. “We’re not going to get any ourselves, are we?”
Her partner shook her head amusedly. “Clefairy.”
Two loaves, two and a half pies, and several poffins later, Dawn and their team found themselves passed out on (or around the vicinity of) the couch. Johanna chuckled to herself, shaking her head. “Something things never change.”
Fae made a noise in agreement, draping a blanket over the newly crowned Champion. She turned to the kitchen, intent on cleaning up what she could. “Well, we at least can have some pie to ourselves- huh?”
A strange pokemon hovered over the counter, stuffing some of the desert into their mouth messily. It peered up at her when she stopped, its golden eyes staring at her guiltily. Fae started chirping loudly by her side, waving her arm back and forth. Her eyes widened as she took a step back. “Is that… Is that Mesprit?”
The pokemon blinked before stuffing the rest of the bite into their mouth, disappearing in a pink flash. She froze, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “Were you trying to tell me something, Fae?”
“Cle-fair-y,” she said, pointedly.
“Was that pokemon the one who stole the poffins?” she asked. Fae nodded, a serious expression on her face. If the situation wasn’t so strange, she would laugh at the expression on Fae’s face. She always managed to look adorable, even when she was angry or frustrated.
“Mom?” Dawn asked sleepily. “Is everything alright?"
“Yes, dear. Go back to sleep,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m just going to clean up the kitchen.”
Before she could even take a step, the closet burst open, two pokemon similar to the one she saw disappear tumbling out on the ground, scattering several things on the floor with it. They stared at her owlishly, eyes wide with false innocence. Behind her, she heard Dawn stumble her way over to investigate the noise. “Akhos! Mik! What are you doing?”
The pokemon swiftly detangled themselves, floating in the air with drooping shoulders. “What were you doing in the pantry? If you were hungry, you could have just asked nicely!”
The pokemon’s faces fell in shame. Dawn glared at them, crossing their arms. “Clean up the mess you made. Go on.”
The blue pokemon made a noise of affirmation, eyes glowing as the contents of the pantry started to rearrange themselves. “Dawn, honey?”
“Yes Mom?”
“These Pokemon don’t happen to be the Guardians of the Lakes, do they?”
They giggled. “Yep! The blue one is Azelf. Their name is Akhos. And the other one is Mikhail, Mik for short. I wonder where Jin wandered off to…”
“If Jin is who I think they are, then they are on Fae’s naughty list…” Johanna murmured, shaking her head. “How in the world are they here?”
“Oh I captured them,” they said, grinning.
“You captured the Guardians of the Lakes??!”
Dawn chuckled. “Mom, don’t worry! They’re free to come and go as they need to. But after what happened at Spear Pillar, I decided to check up on them. They took that as a challenge, apparently. Gave us a run for our money. Poor Spruce,” they glanced back at the snoring Infernape. “They enjoyed toying with him.”
“I would imagine,” she said. “Well, a heads up would have been nice.”
“Sorry, Mom,” they said, sheepishly. “I don’t think we’ll have any other visitors like that again, though.”
“Good. I don’t think Fae can deal with anyone else stealing the fruits of her labor,” Johanna said.
“Did they steal poffins?” they asked.
“Well, Jin did. I think,” she said, shaking her head. They knelt down, rubbing the Clefairy on the head.
“I’m so sorry, Fae! How about I make it up to you tomorrow after I’ve had some rest?” they asked.
“Clefairy~” the pokemon said, leaning into Dawn’s touch. They turned to her, a contemplative look on her face.
“Why don’t you go to bed, Mom? I’ll have the trio clean up for you since they caused you so much trouble.”
“Are you sure?”
They smiled reassuringly. “Of course, Mom. You went to all the effort of putting this together for me.”
“Okay, dear. Thank you,” she said, heading up to her room, praying to some deity that the next day would be somewhat normal.
She really doesn’t know why she expected the following morning to be normal. She doesn’t know why she believed Dawn in the first place when she said that there would be no more surprise visitors. The kid had always had a bit of a mischievous streak to them (which, upon further reflection, is probably why they were always so drawn to psychic types.)
She stared at the behemoth of a Pokemon resting outside of their house in utter disbelief, snoozing away while the small children next door used its body as a playground. It wasn’t completely asleep as it would occasionally open its eyes when one of the children ventured too close to its face. But it otherwise seemed unbothered by all the attention. In fact, it almost seemed to enjoy it. “Dawn? Honey? What is Dialga doing outside of my house?”
“Yoga! What are you doing here?”
“You named the creator of the Sinnoh region Yoga???” she asked in disbelief, all of her willpower going into preventing her jaw from dropping.
“Well, they’re not the creator of the Sinnoh regions, strictly speaking. They only manage time. Palkia, their counterpart, manages space. Arceus is believed to be the creator amongst modern scholars,” Dawn said. “But yes. I named them Yoga.”
“... Should I even ask why?”
“No particular reason. It just felt right,” they said, grinning.
“No particular reason.” she deadpanned, watching as Dawn’s team crowded around the legendary pokemon. “Should I even be surprised at this point?”
“No,” Dawn said smugly.
“I never knew about Palkia. Or Arceus. Where did you learn about that?”
“I learned about it in the Canalave library! We should go sometime. I think you’ll like learning about the history of the Sinnoh region!”
“Perhaps one day, dear. I’m not that big of a fan of the ocean,” she said, shaking her head. “What exactly happened on Mt. Coronet, if you don’t mind me asking? Since that is where you met Di… Yoga .”
“A lot. You see, Team Galactic’s boss, a guy named Cyrus, wanted to create a new universe that was free of conflict. So he tried to summon Yoga to do that for him. That’s why he needed the Lake Guardians; he somehow created a red chain using their power which was meant to control them.” They said, petting one of Yoga’s legs. “Anyways, he and his commanders tried to stop me but Barry and I pushed them back."
“Barry was there?”
“Yeah. He left pretty early on, though. Cyrus flew away on one of his pokemon, leaving myself, Lucas, and Professor Rowan with Yoga.” Dawn turned back to look at her. “They were kinda angry that they were summoned so suddenly, you know? And for such purposes. So I battled them and one thing led to another,” Dawn finished. “All those winter clothes you packed me came in handy. It was cold!”
“Is that so,” she said, staring up at legendary pokemon. “I suppose I should go to the market and get some more food, then? If they will be joining us?”
Yoga’s head perked up at the mention of food, the pokemon’s red eyes fixating on her. She sighed, resigning herself to her fate. “I will need help.”
“Of course, Mom! Thank you so much!”
Johanna was almost disappointed when she didn’t wake up to another legendary pokemon at her doorstep the next day. After two straight days of encounters, she almost wondered what was next. Would she get to meet the actual creator of the Sinnoh region? Or something else entirely? Maybe Kyogre or Articuno? She wouldn’t put it past her child to draw that type of attention to themselves. Then again, she supposed, Dawn had already left with Barry and Lucas towards Stark Mountain. The pokemon were probably more interested in following the children around than they were sticking around to keep her company.
Not that she truly minded their company after getting over her surprise. Despite their propensity to cause trouble, she almost missed them. Well, that was a lie. She did miss them. She missed having a house full (or surrounded by) pokemon. It livened up the small town that almost always was quiet. And if having company meant dealing with the contents of her pantry, fridge, or counter disappearing without a trace, then she would gladly do so (even if her wallet felt suddenly lighter).
She got her wish the very next day when she awoke to a house full of a singular ghost type pokemon and the master of space outside of her window, peering in with expectant and hungry eyes.