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((Con, Night, please ignore this! This is happening at a separate time entirely. It is not even the same day probably!))

Tolin and Serrin appeared in the park with a loud crack. They were away from the playground of children, not that it mattered. It was long since dark; even the couples going on a romantic late-night walk had long since retreated to the safety of their homes and beds. They appeared about a foot above the ground, both of them surprised but both of them managing to catch themselves before stumbling. Tolin took the lead and the both of them sat down at a tree. They looked onwards at the flowers. Both were indifferent to the sight; Tolin was merely bored by it. Serrin was left anxious.

Anxious at the silence. Many, many years ago, if Tolin wasn't speaking he wasn't thinking. Because, well, if he was thinking he was probably speaking. He was a straightforward man, back then. A touch of realistic arrogance was his charm. He respected his elders and his betters, but he was fierce. He enjoyed fighting more than anything. Proving himself against strong enemies was one of the few things he did for many years. Of course, times change. Entire civilizations rise and fall in the span of a few decades... why wouldn't he change? And he did. He became wise. He thought long before doing things. He used strategy over strength. He still relished combat whenever it met him, of course. He always said it was in his blood. He just stopped looking for it so often, choosing instead to make sure he would live another day.

How many years ago had that been? It felt like only a few since he became so wise. But, that wasn't right. He had been in perhaps his late thirties then. This... this was an old man. It was decades since that happened. It had been years and years ago. Years ago that the Bulbasaur wasn't even alive. It was confusing to have memories you couldn't place. Memories that would appear so strongly sometimes with so many attached to them, yet slip away the moment you relaxed. The Bulbasaur finally asked the question. "Who... am I?"

Tolin shrugged. "I can't say, for sure. Marianna is the one who sent your egg to me, but she didn't tell me what your name was in the letter. Not even a mention, not the slightest. I don't know what she or your father intended. Maybe they wanted me to raise you as my own? To give you a name that I felt fit? I don't know."

"Tolin, that's not what I--" The Bulbasaur was cut off by an apologetic laugh from the Scyther.

"I know. I'm sorry, it's difficult to know where to start." He leaned forward, away from the tree. His legs rested a top one another idly. "Well... I suppose I should tell you about your father and your grandfather first." He scratched out the rough shape of a leaf in the dirt with his scythe, though he quickly destroyed it the same way. "Your grandfather was named Serrin. He... was adventurous. He wasn't like the other people in his village. He and his wife, Melissa. He wanted to go out and do new, great things. Melissa didn't, but she found his drive charming all the same. So she committed to follow him. He, that foolish Ivysaur." Serrin's face twinged at the mention of Melissa. There were painful memories back there, somewhere. Good ones, too.

"These two Ivysaur went out. They braved the world. They fought a lot of people, did a lot of things. One day, Serrin got challenged by some idiot Scyther. He was a stupid kid, back then. He felt betrayed by the only person to ever love and protect him. He felt that his only worth was in proving himself to be stronger and stronger. Of course, Serrin trounced him. Serrin had more than just power, he had skill and tactics. He knew how to lead on his enemies and then attack them in the opening. So, the Scyther joined him." Tolin let on a smile, as if recounting a fond memory. "He always said he just wanted to figure out 'how the hell did I lose'. So, they went around. They fought lots of people and saved lots of pokemon. They joined a guild and they kept fighting and fighting. They grew close. Eventually, two others joined their team; a Chansey and a Croagunk. The latter of the two eventually evolved. The former never did... she was only ever a friend. She used the position as a 'team member' to get out of the wild. No one ever minded, though. Everyone liked her." Serrin's mind ran through the scenarios as they were listed. He did remember that fight. And the Chansey, Marianna. And the Croagunk, Alan. They were there. Hidden back, quietly. Out of focus, but ever present.

Tolin continued. "One day, Serrin and Melissa decided they were happy with their lives. With the years moving on, it was better sooner than later. And, so, there was an egg. A small, precious little thing. Fragile in appearance more than anything else, but precious in existence beyond anything the couple had. But, that didn't stop them from adventuring. They were comfortable. The team was strong... extremely strong. At that point, each of them easily sat on par with entire teams of well-ranked pokemon. Together, they were unstoppable. At that point, the four of them could have fought and killed anything they chose. Whether it was a freak of nature, a legendary being or a true monster... they would have handled it." He looked sad. Incredibly sad. Serrin flitted through the memories. He remembered letters. Letters, every time the mail came around. Sometimes a few, sometimes dozens. Sometimes, they got letters from children who had lost a friend or a favorite toy. Other times, it was a request from an entire village. It... It was one of those...

"One day, they went on a mission. All four of them. They were ambushed by a single pokemon. Alan was tossed off a cliff in an instant. The Scyther attacked, but he was tossed back. A forced rock slide trapped him. And so, the two Ivysaur were left. Both of them fought, oh did they fight. Melissa was hurt early. A leg was broken, leaving her unable to evade. Serrin took the fight on his own. For half an hour he fought. He baited, dodged and avoided. He pulled his foe away from his wife and his friend. He tried, at every chance, to help his friends. But he never could, he was never given the chance. Thirty minutes later, he was tossed off the cliff." He raised his right arm to look at the tip of the scythe. "Melissa let out a scream. She knew the risks of doing what she did, but she did it anyways. The Scyther snapped his own blade to get out of the rocks. To try and help, to try and do anything. But, by the time he looked back up, the horror was gone. Mel had driven it away. He ran to the cliff, only to be able to watch his two friends die."

Tolin paused. He paused for a long, long time. In the still night, not a sound could be heard. In the darkness, the most minor of details escaped the eye. Small, feverish little wet things fell unseen. "So, he took Melissa back. He took her back to her home with her egg. A week later, her child was born. A son. She almost killed him." He paused to reposition himself. He had been comfortable enough as he was, but it was a good excuse to stop talking for a moment. "Doing what she had done had driven her insane. Her kind wasn't meant to have psychic powers and they certainly weren't meant to wield them. Not the way she did. Her mind had shattered, both from abusing her powers and from losing her husband. When her son hatched, she tried to choke him to death. He wasn't supposed to be born yet, after all; his father needed to be present when that happened. The town intervened and forced her to sleep. The child was taken away from her, but the damage was done. He was physically fine, but the sudden and violent trauma would violate his mental growth for his entire life." Serrin could be heard quietly sobbing. He never said a word as to why, though the Scyther knew.

He continued, regardless of his friend's emotional state. "She had regressed. In her world, the mission never happened. It was everyone else that went and she had stayed behind to take care of the egg. The Scyther continued to visit her for the next sixth months, humouring her in her insanity. He always hoped it would get better, but it never did. After that, he left for the wild. He lived for decades on his own. He found out that Melissa died six months after he left, not that that disheartened him. Living life like that must have been inconceivably painful. She had refused to eat for most of the year and her body had wasted away."

He stopped to let it all sink in. He gave Serrin time to try and absorb what he was being told, to deal with everything that was coming back to him. Telling him these details would bring a surge about for sure. He would be bombarded with almost an entire lifetime. "Your father... I guess he grew up alright. Eventually, he settled down. Found himself a wife, had an egg. He never left the village. He was always terrified of what was out there after watching his mother wither away for an entire year. And he always regretted it. He was from his father's blood, after all; he had memories of and a lust for adventure. So he sent the egg away before it was even born. He sent it to the only person outside of the village he could contact. Then, Marianna sent it to the only other living member of the team." He paused for just a moment. "That's who you are, Serrin. You're the grandson of an Ivysaur named Serrin."

Serrin looked down at the earth, trying to process it. But... things were so vivid. Brief memories with Tolin. Fighting things. Saving people. Making both friends and enemies. Being born with his name already intact. "Serrin". Had his father named him that...? No, it didn't seem like something he would do. "But... the memories..."

Tolin nodded. "They're a product of your clan. No one's really sure how it started or when or why. A lot of your group speculated it was a result of the psychic powers that lay in the clan. Plants are born a bit differently from normal pokemon, after all; there's no telling what a strong psychic influence could do. But, either way. When the egg is conceived, it takes all the memories of the parents. Beforehand, the two agree on a name. When the child is born, it already has it's name. Usually they remember it on birth, when they see their parents."

Serrin stared back at the Scyther for a few moments. A faint breeze blew through the park and rustled the trees. "So, then, my name..."

Tolin shook his head. "It's not Serrin. That was your Grandfather's name. I don't know what your name is. Marianna didn't include it in the letter... though she might have expected this to happen. She was always clever." Yeah, that was probably true. Marianna always understood people quite well. Her having anticipated this... it wouldn't have been surprising.

The two fell silent. It was a long time before either of them finally broke the fragile silence that had set back in. "...Tolin... What's going on? Not with me... with everything."

Tolin spoke about this with much more ease. Much less stress. It was easier to talk about the world ending, for some reason. "Arceus has weakened. Some monsters and enemies are going around and wrecking things. They're destroying the balance. If the balance goes, the whole universe goes with it."

Serrin too, found this much easier to talk about. "I take it you aren't leaving it alone?" Tolin... wouldn't leave things alone. It wasn't in his nature, it never was.

He nodded. "I'm fighting it. I'm finding allies, enemies and solutions at every turn. I'm doing everything I can to maintain this world."

"...how bad is it?"

Tolin shrugged. "Pretty bad, but it's nothing I can't handle. If we left the balance on it's own we would all be doomed for sure, but we aren't. We've found solutions to every problem. We're going to kill god and then repair the universe itself."

"...how long do we have? The balance is shifting... how long until it's gone?"

Tolin sighed. He'd hoped that question wouldn't be asked, although he knew ahead of time it would be. Serrin was like that, all those years ago. "Less than three months. If we're fast enough with dealing with the early problems, it might be a bit longer than that."

Serrin's gaze shot back from the flowers to Tolin. "Three months!? You're kidding... that's not enough time to fix everything..." There was no way they would be able to deal with things in three months. Serrin had only a vague understanding of the issues at hand, but dealing with them in a mere quarter of a year sounded impossible.

"No, it should be possible. I've cheated more than a few times in order to bend the rules. We should make it, though not by much."

Serrin turned back to the flowers. "...Who is it you need right now, Tolin? Is it me, or is it my grandfather?"

"Neither." Tolin was quick to cut to the chase. "I'm doing this the way I am for a reason. I'm doing what I'm doing fully expecting to get myself and everyone involved killed. The people I draw into this plot... will likely be plunged into oblivion. I don't need any help, not beyond what I seek."

"How do I get my memories back, Tolin?" Serrin's brow creased in anger. "I know you have an idea. If you didn't, you wouldn't have told me all of this. You wouldn't have told me about my Grandfather; you would have just told me about the memories being passed on."

Tolin nodded grimly. Serrin's accusation was bang on. "Normally, having your memories flux is a normal part of growing. Your experiences bring back old ones that are relevant to the situation at hand. Eventually, some memories settle permanently as your personality begins to sculpt itself. Once you get old enough, you generally have a set of tailored memories that fit your personality." He stopped. Was it right to do this? He knew what would happen if he said it. Was it fair? "If you accelerate your growth by forcing your evolution, your mind will grab onto the memories that are as closely tied in to the ones at the forefront as possible." Was it just... alright? If he killed his best friend's grandson?

Serrin continued looking into the park. "So, in essence... I'll become my grandfather?" Tolin nodded.

Serrin fell silent.

It was a half hour of total silence before Tolin finally teleported both of them back to the team room.

((I should totally get mission points for this, it was like 7 and 1/2 pages with proper formatting in MS word. <_< >_>))