Chapter 18: "We have a problem."

  Sada felt all alone in the world. The human contact she received so far was slipping away. How on earth could she get along with them if all she did was turn into a battle machine when they came too close to her? No, not a battle machine, but a straight-up murderer.

  Sada clutched her twitching arm as hard as she could and examined the crystals covering her hand. In a matter of time, those crystals would expand across the rest of her weary body, and then she would officially lose her chance to be human. And it was all because she couldn't learn to be brave.

  Her eyes caught Arven sneaking up on her. "Arven?" Sada feebly asked.

  Arven kept his distance, but he did reach out and say, "I'm just here to help you, Mom."

  "Gias." Miraidon, back in his low-power mode, approached Arven's side. "Yeah, yeah, I know," he added. "I keep coming back."

  "Well done, Miraidon!" Celebi told him telepathically. It rose from the ground and flew in circles. "Bi! Bi! Bi!" the Pokémon cheered. Its plan was working!

  Arven gestured for Miraidon to stay put. He took a deep breath and inched closer to Sada, slowly dropping to his hands and knees in the process. His whole body trembled, but he fought off the fear with a long inhale. If he and his friends could handle AI Sada in Area Zero, then he could handle her here.

  "Don't come any closer," she begged. "Please."

  Now halfway to her, Arven admitted, "Mom, I know you're scared, but we're going to meet back up with the others at your cabin. Penny is going to try to fix you again." He studied the crystals on Sada's cheek, hand, and forearm. "You're going to get better. You're going to be human."

  "Why can you be brave, but I can't?" Sada asked.

  "It's something you learn over time," was Arven's answer. Making it to Sada, he offered her his hand. "It's okay. I trust you." He waved Miraidon over.

  Arven said he trusted her, but Sada still noticed his hand shaking.

  "No, you're scared of me."

  "Oh, I'm sorry." Inhaling for the second time, Arven shook out his wrist. "Let's try this another way."

  Celebi plopped down on Miraidon's head. Intrigued, the two Pokémon's attention did not deviate from Arven and Sada.

  Arven sat on his heels and lifted his right arm. "Lift your right hand."

  Sada did, in a robotic-like way: choppy and twitchy.

  "I'm gonna teach you how to move that hand like a human," Arven said, smiling. "When we get nervous, we stiffen up. It's called the flight and fight response. You've been stuck in it ever since you started with this Infrared guy, but I'm gonna help you break out of it. The key is to relax. He inhaled, "Inhale," and then exhaled, "and exhale. Inhale and exhale. Now, look at this." Arven waved his hand back and forth. "Do you see how relaxed my hand is?"

  "I-I guess?" Sada really didn't.

  "Okay, let's do a comparison." Arven tossed up his other arm. He stiffened it and tried to move his left hand, but his movements were slow, choppy, and felt forced. "Stiff," he said to Sada, and he moved over to his right hand.

  Arven loosened his wrist and waved his limb around like a kite. "Relaxed." He switched between his two hands a few more times. "Stiff. Relaxed. Stiff. Relaxed."

  "Oh, I see it now!" Sada blurted out. She yelled so loudly that both Miraidon and Celebi leaped out of their skin.

  Miraidon growled, but Celebi calmed him by patting his head.

  Arven chuckled, but he quickly fixed his eyes back on Sada. "Now you try."

  "Okay. Relaxed." Feeling a little more confident, Sada wiggled her right hand, but it still whirled and twitched.

  "Not quite," Arven said. He steadied Sada's wrist. "Remember, inhale and exhale."

  "Oh, whoops." Sada inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. Doing that, she already felt less tense, and she tried again. "Relaxed." That time, her hand followed the same kite-like movement as Arven's. It was not stiff, but loose.

  "That's it!" Arven cheered, clapping. "You did it, Mom! You did it!"

  "I did?" But then Sada recognized the new movement in her hand. "Oh my gosh, yes!" She tossed it into the air. "I'm human!"

  "So, you see, Mom?" Arven inquired, helping her up. "I'm just trying to help you. We'll practice some more on the way back."

  "Ooh, yes, yes," Sada giggled while she mounted Miraidon.

  Arven plopped down behind her.

  Celebi kept its spot on Miraidon's head and pointed forward. "Bi!" it ordered.

  "Yes, let's," Sada mimicked, and she called to all of Paldea, "To the Tagtree Thicket!" She, Arven, and the Pokémon made a quick stop at the cave to pick up the professor's lab coat, but then they were off.

  The newborn day's sun shimmered on Miraidon's body as he worked his way out of the crater and re-entered the depths of the East Province (Area Three).

  There wasn't much to see in the province—just rocks, dust, and many small trees—but Arven and Sada still enjoyed themselves. Flocks of Squawkabilly and Rufflet soared in on them from above, soon after Arven and Sada stopped to play fetch with Mabosstiff.

  Arven showed Sada how to hold the empty pokéball and then how to throw it—not too hard and not too soft.

  Mabosstiff nearly slid across the dry ground trying to reach it. He moved so fast that he scared off a few vacuum-like Pokémon, Varoom. Mabosstiff scooped up the ball and returned to Arven and Sada.

  Arven nodded at his mom, and she nodded back.

  Sada took the ball out of Mabosstiff's mouth and tossed it up a few times (to make herself look cool). Afterward, she threw it as hard as she could away from them. The ball sailed through the air and knocked down at least four of the small trees in the province before it stopped rolling, far away from Sada and her crowd.

  A flock of Rufflet scattered, and then a pack of Varoom leaped onto the scene, seeking revenge from Mabosstiff.

  Arven, Sada, and their Pokémon hurried out of there. Before they knew it, they reached the entrance of the Tagtree Thicket, and they dove behind a log for a few minutes. They stayed hidden until all the Varoom left.

  Arven and Sada met each other's faces and burst out laughing.

  Arven rubbed tears from his eyes. "You have quite the arm," he told Sada.

  The next thing he did was show her how to skip rocks. Arven found a pond near the thicket's entrance that had a rocky shoreline. He picked up a flat stone and tossed it forward. The stone skipped five times before it sank below the pond's surface.

  Sada gave it a go. Except, she merely chucked her rock into the pond. Splash! She hopped back when a wave of water almost hit her legs. Was there any water on her? No, it didn't look like it. Whew.

  Arven set a new stone down in her palm. "This is what you do," he elucidated. "Hold the stone between your thumb and index finger, and hook your index finger on top. Now flick your wrist."

  "Oh my gosh!" Sada said, at the sight of her rock skipping. "I did it, Arven!" By the third skip, the stone accidentally bopped a Magikarp on the head.

  "Glub, glub," it said, sinking underwater.

  "Sorry!" Sada apologized. She and Arven practiced skipping rocks a little longer, and then they moved on.

  They reached an opening that had a bunch of flower patches in it and decided to give Miraidon a quick rest.

  Arven picked some flowers and strands of tall grass. He wove a crown out of them and put it over Sada's head. The pink, white, and yellow flowers matched well with her hair and lab coat. Arven bowed to her. "My queen."

  "My prince," Sada returned. "Thoust have been waiting so long for thy and his noble steed."

  From where he sat, Miraidon jiggled. He straightened his posture, held his chin up, and closed his eyes. "That's right. I'm the noble steed," he told himself.

  Celebi jumped in on the fun. Its eyes glowed, and the familiar, green light from before outlined Arven, Sada, and Miraidon. Celebi tossed them into the sky.

  It wasn't long until they hovered over the whole thicket, and all three of them grinned.

  Miraidon brought out his glider. He waited until Arven and Sada each grabbed one of his shoulders before he rode the air currents toward Sada's cabin, which had appeared below.

  Arven and Sada hooked hands and grinned at one another.

  Down at the cabin, Penny, Nemona, Scarlet, and Koraidon were already there. They hung out back, next to the brook. Nemona and Scarlet fed their Pokémon teams, but Penny stood off to the side, looking nervous.

  She was just getting ready to call Arven when he announced, "Tallyho!" from above.

  In dropped Miraidon.

  Sada fell onto her front, and Arven landed on top of her. Celebi's light quit surrounding them, so now they were snug under gravity's pressure.

  "My prince," Sada said, "why must you drop me from thy dragon?" She and Arven chuckled, but then Arven noticed Penny.

  She crossed her arms.

  "Oh, snap!" Arven said out loud, and he quickly got off Sada. He accidentally stepped on her left arm.

  "Ow!" Sada yelped, but she quickly smiled again.

  Arven dragged her to her feet. He, she, and Miraidon stood side-by-side. They gulped when they saw Penny's face.

  Sada quickly took the crown off her head and hid it behind her.

  In the meantime, Arven waved his hands. "Penny! You guys beat us here. How long have y'all been waiting?"

  "Four hours," Penny growled. "You're four hours late. It's not even morning anymore."

  "Oh, well, you see…" Arven stuttered. "We were just—"

  "Playing," Penny interrupted, tapping her foot. She looked at Celebi, Miraidon, Arven, and finally Sada. "Playing with your AI mom."

  "Hey!" Arven countered. "We weren't playing. I was teaching her how to be human. Tell her, Mom."

  "It's true," Sada said. She was too nervous to say anything else.

  Arven gestured at Penny. "Why are you so down in the dumps, Penny?"

  She uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on her hips. "Because we have a problem."