There's a pause of a few seconds before the door opens.

"Good afternoon," says the girl on the other side.

“Ah—good afternoon, mademoiselle,” he says, smiling.

(They never told him they had another child.)

“Is Tiernan at home?”

"Yes. May I ask your business with him?"

“Oh! Pardon me!”

Hmm.

“I’m Professor Sycamore. I’m here to speak to him about assisting me on his journey.”

"Oh!" She beams at him, transformed in an instant from a polite little lady to a bubbly fifteen-year-old. "He'll be so thrilled! Just a moment, I'll fetch him for you."

She closes the door gently, and footsteps can be heard receding rapidly into the house; then the footsteps return, accompanied by the girl's half-audible voice saying "—at least long enough to get out of town—"

And then Tiernan opens the door. He's practically vibrating with excitement. "Hi!"

This is one of the best parts of his job.

“Hello! It’s a pleasure to meet you in person—shall I come in?”

"Sure!"

He enters, finds the nearest possible seat.

“Now, I’m not sure if I’m mistaken, but if there are two of you...mademoiselle, are you going to be joining your—brother?”

She shakes her head. "I'm not nearly so adventurous, and our parents would worry about me if I went that far from home."

“...is that so.”

“—well, I suppose it’s a good thing that Aquacorde is so close by.”

He takes the bag off his shoulder and starts to rummage through it, coming up with three glossy new pokéballs.

Tiernan, sitting on the couch, bounces eagerly.

“All right—well, your parents let me know that you don’t have a Pokémon of your own, so I brought a few from the lab for you to choose between. This first one is Chespin, Marisson—”

He thumbs the button on the first ball.

Light arcs out of the pokéball and a tiny ball of brown fur appears on the floor.

It looks up, sniffs the air and blinks its big black eyes, the — feelers? ears — on the side of its head twitching curiously.

Then it beams, scampers up to the twins and begins to investigate their legs.

"Aww, cute," says the girl.

“This is Froakie, Grenousse—”

He taps the next button.

A small, shining blue amphibian with a collar of bubbles. It pats them into place, as if it’s self-conscious about its looks, and watches them both warily.

Ee.

Tiernan smiles, charmed half by the pokemon and half by his sister's delighted reaction to them.

“And this is Fennekin. Feunnec.”

He hits the last button.

A little yellow creature emerges, with a paintbrush tail and enormous floofy ears. The ears are practically the same size as the entire rest of the creature.

The girl puts her hands over her mouth. "Tiny feet," she whispers between her fingers.

"Tiny feet!!!!" Tiernan agrees emphatically.

The tiny-feeted creature takes a few delicate steps toward the siblings and regards them with curious amber eyes.