Anjou got up early this time, earlier than usual. She had her morning dump, took her medicine, brushed her teeth, and changed out of her night diaper (in that order), then got dressed in her lab attire and did her hair. She initially put the reddish-gold strands into a tight hightail, but soon frowned at what she saw in the mirror.

Geez, I’m starting to look like Mom! she thought, quickly redoing her hairdo. Though that’s better than looking like Dad, I guess… Once her hair had been put into her preferred twintails, she smiled. Of course, it’s best when I just look like ‘me,’ she affirmed with a nod before exiting the room. She closed the door behind her gently, so as to not wake her slumbering Leavanny companion.

Anjou headed down the hallway to the lab, her stomach turning in knots as she thought about what she was going to say to Professor Pearwood. Good morning, Professor, do you have a minute?...Hey, Professor, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about….Listen, Professor, we need to talk about - 

“You’re up early today.” 

The professor’s comment jolted Anjou out of her thoughts. She hadn’t realized that she’d already reached the lab, preoccupied as she was. Of course, the professor herself was also clearly preoccupied, not even bothering to look up from whatever it was she was tinkering with when Anjou had entered the room.

“Uh, yeah,” Anjou replied. She cleared her throat. “Actually, I wanted to - “

“Aha!” Pearwood interjected, her back still facing the doorway. “Finally got it open! Come, see what today’s project is!”

Partly losing the courage she had worked up, and partly overcome with curiosity, Anjou decided to table her discussion with the professor for now. She exhaled a nervous sigh, then walked up next to Pearwood and looked at what she had opened.

Taking up half the table was a large metal box decorated with fine engraved patterns and ornate filigree swirls. Though tarnished and faded, the container was still a sight to behold, but it was nothing compared to what was inside of it.

The interior of the box, lined with what appeared to be satin, looked soft and smooth. Gently nestled in the plush cushioning was an antique clockwork device resembling a pokeball. Like the box it came in, it was tarnished and faded.

“Whoa, is that some kind of ancient pokeball?” Anjou asked, adjusting her glasses. “And why’s the box so big?” Her eyes widened. “Wait, no way! Is that - ?”

“The artificial Pokemon, Magearna?” Professor Pearwood finished. “Yes, it is.” She picked up the device, turning it over in her hands as she examined it. ”And it seems to be in remarkably good condition, too…” She set the ball back down in the box, then pushed a button on the front of it. With a metallic whir, the Pokemon unfolded in a swift springing motion. “...with one major exception,” the professor noted.

“It’s missing its head!” Anjou exclaimed. Taking a closer look, she added, “Wow, the neck, too…yeah, there isn’t even a spot to attach a new one to - it’s completely gone!”

Pearwood nodded. “I suspected as much, considering who I obtained it from, and how.” She did not elaborate, despite Anjou’s raised eyebrow. Instead, the professor picked up a screwdriver, continuing, “However, the head isn’t nearly as important…” She pointed the screwdriver at the center of the decapitated Pokemon’s torso, to a pale blue sphere with a blue-and-pink heart shape emblazoned on it. “...as this.”

“The Soul-Heart,” Anjou murmured.

“Right.” The professor nodded. “The actual Pokemon is inside that core, which can be transferred to a vessel that’s in better condition. In theory, this should reactivate it.”

Anjou’s face lit up. “Wait, is that what we’re doing today?” She looked around the lab excitedly. “You have another Magearna body to transfer it to?”

Professor Pearwood smirked as she pointed at the cabinet to her right. “In fact, yes. Go, retrieve it.”

Anjou hurried over to the cabinet and opened it. Casually sitting on one of the shelves was a second folded up Magearna, this one painted in vivid gold, red, and white. 

“Whoa, these things are incredibly rare!” she exclaimed as she brought the mythical Pokemon back over to the table. “How the heck did you get ahold of two of them?!”

“Open it up,” Pearwood commanded, sidestepping the question.

Anjou pressed the button, unfolding this pokeball into a second Magearna. Like the first one, its clockwork was in good condition; unlike the first one, however, this one had a head. Its eyes were dark and vacant, due to the conspicuously empty chest cavity where the Soul-Heart would be. 

“This one was restored to full working condition, but lacked the core to power it,” explained the professor. “Today, we - “

A repeated, high-pitched tone sounded as a phone bearing a Rotom’s face popped out of Professor Pearwood’s pocket and hovered in front of her. “Incoming call from: [Professor Pampas]! Incoming call from: [Professor Pampas]!”

Pearwood set her tools down, then snatched the phone out of the air. “I’ve been waiting for this call - I need to take this right now,” She headed out of the room, throwing over her shoulder, “This is definitely going to take a while, so go ahead and get started without me.” With that, she was gone.

Anjou sighed. “Of course! Just when we would have actually been working on something together…” Shaking her head, she set to work.

* * *

It had taken a little bit of prodding, twisting, and unscrewing, but Anjou had managed to carefully extract the Soul-Heart from the headless Magearna body, and was just finishing inserting it into the restored one. “Careful, careful…” she muttered as she clicked the core into place. She quickly secured the screws in the surrounding hardware, then set her tools down. “Done!" 

Anjou stepped back to admire her handiwork, but then frowned. Well, almost done. She took the white, fluffy cloth diaper the old body was wearing (clean, thankfully) and put it onto the new one, pinning it back into place the same way it had been before. “Okay, now we’re done!”

It took a few seconds, but the Magearna’s eyes slowly lit up as its Soul-Heart reactivated. It looked around the room, confusion written on its mechanical face. “M-Magear…na?” 

“Aww, poor thing!” Anjou thought aloud. “It’s probably confused about where it is…. Come to think of it, I wonder how long it was deactivated for…?”

The artificial Pokemon emitted something resembling a mechanical cough, then made a sound not unlike a throat clearing, before looking directly at Anjou and saying, “‘She,’ actually.”

Anjou’s jaw dropped. “Wh-what?”

“I’m a ‘she,’ not an ‘it.’” the Magearna clarified.

Anjou stared at the Pokemon, dumbfounded. “You - you can talk?!”

The Magearna shrugged. “Yeah, my last trainer taught me how to speak human-talk; I don’t see what the big deal is.” She looked around the room again. “Where am I, anyway?” Turning back to Anjou, she added. “Who are you?”

“Ah, sorry,” the young scientist apologized as she got over her shock, “I guess I was just caught off-guard.” She held out her hand. “I’m Anjou, an assistant at the Pearwood Pokemon Lab, which is where we are right now.”

Reciprocating the handshake with a small, pointed arm, the Magearna replied, “I’m Duchess.” She looked over at her previous vessel, then down at her new body. “Ah, I see, I had to be transferred again…”

“I - Oh gosh, I have so many questions!” Anjou gushed. Her eyes then widened. “Wait, we need to go show you to the professor! She needs to see this!”

“I need to see what?” Pearwood asked as she entered the room. “Am I to assume you finished the - “ A look of pleasant surprise crossed her face as she saw the Magearna moving around. “Ah, so you did manage to complete the transfer yourself. Excellent!”

“Not only that,” Anjou said, her voice brimming with excitement, “She can talk, too!” Looking at Duchess, she encouraged, “Go ahead, introduce yourself.”.

“Magearna?” Duchess replied, tilting her head. “Gear-gear? Ma?”

Professor Pearwood turned to Anjou, eyebrow raised. “You do realize that most Pokemon communicate by repeating phonemes from their own names, right? I should think they would teach that at Pineapple Academy.”

Anjou frowned. “Wait, no, she can talk! Like, actually talk! She told me her name was Duchess!” Turning to the Magearna again, she pleaded, “Come on, back me up here.”

Duchess shook her head. “Na! Gearna!”

The professor looked nonplussed. “Look, we can call her Duchess if you want, but - “

Pearwood was once again interrupted by an electronic voice announcing, “Incoming call from: [Professor Pampas]!”, this time coming from down the hall.

“Arceus!” the professor exclaimed, running out of the room again. “We’ll talk about this later!” she called as her voice faded down the hall.

Anjou scowled at Duchess. “What was that about? Any reason you made me look like a moron?”

“Hey,” the Magearna replied with a dismissive wave. “Just because I can speak Human, that doesn’t mean I want everyone to know it!” She winked. “That can be a special treat just for you, since you’re the one who fixed me up and changed my poopy diaper.”

“Um, thanks, I guess?” Anjou said, crossing her arms. Her brow furrowed. “Wait, I didn’t change any poopy - “

Duchess was already in a squatting position. “Oh, yeah, it looks like this body had a lot of unflushed waste in it, so this is probably gonna be pretty nasty for both of us.”

It suddenly occurred to Anjou that she never had her morning coffee.