Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Infrared

Chapter 8: AI Sada

Poco Lab

Eleven years earlier

"Arven, come outside!" It had been a long time since Arven's mom actually called him.

He looked up from playing with Maschiff and picked him up. Arven pushed his shoulder into the lab's door and stepped outside to find his mom with a very mysterious-looking, scarlet Pokémon in front of her.

Sada rubbed it under the chin and said, "You like it there, don't you?" when she saw the Pokémon's tail wagging. She turned her head in the direction of Arven's footsteps. "Arven, check out what I found!"

Arven's footsteps slowed the closer he got to her and the more he studied the Pokémon. "Mommy, what's that?" he frightfully asked, hugging Maschiff to his cheek.

Sada didn't even look at him. She continued to pet the Pokémon. "No idea, but he's amazing, isn't he? I'm gonna call him Koraidon. What do you think, Arven?"

A few tears ran down Arven's cheeks. "I don't like him, Mommy. He's scary."

"Do you like the name Koraidon?" Sada asked the Pokémon.

Arven tried again. "Mommy, I don't like him."

"Oh, the things I can do!" Sada said, chewing her fingers. She pulled Koraidon close to her. "We're going to have so much fun together—you and me."

Sada rushed the Pokémon into the lab and instantly started to type in a few of her computers. An outline of Koraidon appeared on one monitor, a description on another, and a bulleted list of Sada's goals for her time machine on the final one.

Arven, who followed her into the lab, put Maschiff down. He dove for Sada and grabbed her ankle. "Mommy! Mommy, please listen to me!"

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Sada stuttered while she typed into the monitor about Koraidon's description. She lifted her leg and shook Arven off her.

He landed with a plop on the floor. Crying, he punched it and kicked his feet.

Sada scooped up a clipboard on her desk. She gestured for Koraidon to step outside. "Outside, Koraidon. I want to study you some more."

"Mommy!" Arven screamed, but Sada went ahead and left him.

Maschiff hurried to Arven and sat down next to him. His tail wagged, and he gave him a few slobbery kisses.

"Mommy, please come back. Please," Arven begged. Even with his calls, he did not hear from Sada for the rest of the day.

***

AI Sada put the memory on loop and spent a good while studying the holographic screen in front of her, trying to figure out what she could do better. She sat on a log in the massive grove that seemed to stretch on forever and listened to the Pokémon in the area.

A herd of Brute Bonnet, mushroom-like Pokémon who were short and stout and had pokéball-styled caps and smaller ones over their hands, started their mating ritual. They weren't the tallest beings in the world—only about four feet high each—and looked like a cross between a dinosaur and a plant.

The males showed off the spikes on their caps to the females. The rays of the sun shimmering through the close treetops helped them. Some females preferred fewer spikes, while others preferred more.

Sada tucked a strand of dirty blonde hair behind her right ear and pressed a button in her upper ear wall. The screen vanished, so now she had a clear view of the mating. It was perfect for her research. She rested her hand on her lab coat, which she draped over the log, and tugged on her tooth necklace. Where were they? Sada had been waiting for a few hours, but at least she got to see how Brute Bonnet flirted. That was all she hoped to see.