"So, Arven, what's it like to be human?" Sada put her hands together and walked with him through the Tagtree Thicket. "Please tell me."
Miraidon marched between them, glaring, but there was also a slight look of guilt on his mechanical face. Yet, he refused to let Arven and Sada get close to each other.
"Human?" Arven said, glancing at Sada. "You should know, Mom. You're free, you feel emotions, you have hobbies, and well, you live in a pack."
Sada was so focused on him that she tripped over a tree root in the path, but she caught herself by waving her arms. She remembered something that happened to her in the far past, but she brushed the memory away and told Arven, "I like to dance. Does that mean I'm human?"
"Dance?" Arven said. "I didn't know you danced, Mom. You never did when I was a kid."
"Well, I mean, I'm not good at it, but it's a nice distraction after a long day of research," Sada elucidated. "Besides, it's pretty quiet here. Not to mention lonely. Ah ha, here we are." She stopped and gestured behind her. "Welcome to my abode, children."
"Aw, that's so cute!" Nemona said. She looked across the wooden bridge in front of her and her friends to the log cabin at its end. A ring of flowers decorated its door, and the cabin's thatched roof was held in place by large Kudzu vines.
"You like it?" Sada inquired. "I found it when I got here. It was in rough shape, but my Pokémon and I fixed it up. Come, follow me." She, Arven, and Arven's friends passed Miraidon and crossed the bridge with no issues, but Koraidon was a different story.
He saw its small size compared to his and froze in his tracks. Koraidon sniffed the bridge and tapped it a few times. It creaked under his paw. "Gias," he whimpered, sitting back.
On the bridge's other side, Nemona cupped her hands around her mouth. "Come on, Koraidon. You can do it."
Miraidon merely rolled his eyes and switched to his battle form. He floated past Koraidon and snickered at him.
"Aw, come on, man," Sada heard Koraidon complain.
"Dang, what a showoff," Penny said. She glanced at Miraidon, who reached the bridge's other end and returned to his low-power mode.
Sada put her hand on her ear and said to her computer, "It looks like Koraidon and Miraidon are still having territorial struggles."
"Do what?" Penny said, a little confused.
Sada lowered her hand. "Nothing."
Scarlet tapped Arven's shoulder and pointed at his backpack, indicating she had an idea.
"Oh, a sandwich. That's perfect," Arven agreed. He unzipped his pack and pulled out a ham and cheese sandwich. He handed it to Scarlet.
She held the sandwich out to Koraidon and shook it a few times. "Here, boy."
Seeing it, Koraidon licked his lips. He touched the bridge a few more times, and then he scurried across it, light on his feet. The bridge creaked under him, but it didn't break.
Miraidon snarled. Without warning, he rushed to Scarlet and Koraidon and ripped the sandwich out of Scarlet's hand.
"Hey!" she shouted.
Miraidon swallowed the sandwich in one gulp. He chuckled menacingly and pushed Koraidon with his shoulder.
Koraidon head-butted him in return. "Agias!" he barked.
Noticing that Scarlet was about to get caught in the middle of a nasty brawl, AI Sada pulled her out of the way and came between Koraidon and Miraidon. She didn't feel anger, but she did say, "Stop, both of you," to the two Pokémon.
A blow from Miraidon's tail meant for Koraidon smacked Sada in the leg, but she didn't flinch (although her leg did twitch a little with the impact).
"Mom!" Arven said, suddenly worried. He started for her, but Penny stopped him.
"She's okay, Arven."
Arven freed himself. "But, Penny, Miraidon's tail hurts."
"Your mother doesn't feel pain," Penny explained.
"Of course, she does," Arven argued before she could speak again. He hurried to Sada. "Are you okay, Mom?" Arven reached for her leg, to check it, but Sada's robot booted up again.
"Human presence detected. Switching to attack mode."
"Stop, Mom!" Arven grabbed her wrist before she could free her Master Ball again. "I know you don't want to do this. Do not let that robot control you."
Sada's wrist shook under his touch, but it wasn't long until it calmed down. Her eyes did not glow; rather, they met Arven's, and she whispered, "I'm sorry"—her catchphrase. Something clutched her tummy. Was this an emotion she felt? If it was, then it succeeded in making her feel sick.
Sada could not remember the last time a human touched her, if any. She could not even remember the last time she lifted her hand and clutched a human's shoulder, but she did with Arven—and it felt wonderful.
"Let's get into my house," Sada said in a low voice. "You can tell me more about your world, Arven." Sighing, she repeated, Be brave, Sada, be brave, in her head a few times. Okay, she was ready now.
Sada led the kids and Pokémon into her cabin.
It was nothing more than one story and one room that had a kitchen, a living space with wooden chairs, and Sada's bed propped up against the wall, parallel to the kitchen. A stone fireplace was in one of the back corners.
Sada gestured at a few of the living space's chairs. "Sit, sit. Make yourselves comfy."
Arven and his friends did. There was a chair for each of them, and all four faced the fireplace.
Penny removed her Rotom Phone from her hoodie pocket and pulled up an app she used to help identify her computers back home. She pointed it at Sada and waited.
Sada hustled into the kitchen and said, "I'm sure you kids are hungry. I don't have much, but I do have enough to make some sandwiches." Since she was an AI, she rarely ate because Sandy Shocks gave her energy via electricity. It was the Past form of the Magnet Pokémon, Magneton, and one of Sada's favorites.
She removed some bread from the cabinet above the kitchen bar and placed it on its face. Aside from that, she also gathered some lettuce and meat from the faucet-free sink and a wooden knife from a shelf under it. Sada tried her best to prepare everything before Arven and his friends came, like a good mother.
She tried to cut the lettuce, but the knife slipped from her grasp and stabbed her hand. Her tough, AI skin didn't break, but the knife did fall onto the floor.
"Dang it!" Sada whispered. Oh, this was so embarrassing. That was the best word Sada could find for the situation.
Celebi motioned for Arven to get off his chair and pointed at her. "Bi," it ordered.
"Okay, okay," Arven replied, smiling slightly. He went into the kitchen and picked up the knife. "Let me help you, Mom. After all, Mabosstiff and I are sandwich experts." He stood next to Sada and showed her the proper way to cut lettuce.
While Arven and Sada prepped everything, something popped up on Penny's phone. She opened her mouth but stopped herself from speaking because she saw how relaxed Arven was with Sada again. For the first time in a month, he did not look like he was drowning in grief.
Instead of calling out to him, Penny nudged Nemona and Scarlet. "Check this out." She showed her phone to them. A picture of Sada had appeared on its screen. It showed her robot appearance—bald with no skin: just wires, sparks, etc.—compared to the one Arven and his friends saw.
Penny pointed at a cloud of information that popped up in between Sada's robot look and her usual one. In a whisper, she explained, "AI Sada is being controlled by a computer called Infrared."
"Infrared?" Nemona asked, intrigued. She carefully studied the diagram on Penny's phone.
"According to this, Infrared's power weakens whenever the AI has human contact," said Penny. "Sada has not received any since coming here... until now."
Nemona nodded. "Makes sense. I mean, how many humans were on Paldea thousands of years ago? I would think that since Arven is Sada's son, it's a double whammy on Infrared. Oh, man! Oh, man!" Eager for an adventure, Nemona propped up her chin. "All right, how can we help, Penny?"
"I'm working on it," Penny admitted, "but I think what's happening is that AI Sada wants to be the mother Arven never had growing up. However, she can't do it alone—not with Infrared controlling her."
Nemona kept the conversation rolling. "That means she probably summoned Celebi, knowing that with its powers and Miraidon's combined, they could bring us here."
Realization washed across Scarlet's face. She checked on Sada and Arven and observed, "Sada just wants to be human. Right, Koraidon? Koraidon?"
Koraidon was not next to Scarlet. Still upset about the sandwich earlier, he sat like a dog in the kitchen and sniffed the sandwiches Arven and Sada made.
Miraidon huffed and pushed open the cabin's back door, revealing a brook and garden in the backyard.
It looked like Sada was quite the botanist. Different vegetables, berries, and flowers grew in the garden, but Miraidon did not admire them.
He mumbled to himself and walked in a few circles in front of the brook before he lay down. Inhaling, he set his head down on his front paws.
While he rested, Miraidon studied the swaying treetops in the forest and the Magikarp leaping out of the stream's clear water.
Crack! He shot up when he heard the breaking stick. Miraidon examined the overgrown woods and growled when a shadow appeared deep within it. At the sight of a Pokémon that looked a little like Sada's Slither Wing, he roared, "Agias!"