"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Misty screamed as she practically yeeted the baby into Ash's arms.

"WHY ARE YOU THROWING IT TO ME?!" Ash shouted, barely managing to catch the tiny bundle before he could drop it.

"BECAUSE YOU'RE THE MAN!" Misty shrieked, her arms flailing as if the baby were some kind of explosive device.

Ash gawked at her. "OH, I'M SORRY! IT'S NOT EVERY DAY A RANDOM BABY THAT LOOKS LIKE YOU AND ME COMES OUT OF NOWHERE WITH A NOTE SAYING IT'S OURS!"

The orange-haired, multi-eye-colored baby giggled, clearly enjoying the chaos.

"JUST—GIVE IT TO ROWAN!" Misty screeched, pointing wildly toward the professor's lab like it was some kind of sacred refuge.

"GOOD IDEA!" Ash yelled, gripping the baby like a Poké Ball he was about to chuck in battle as he took off running. Misty sprinted beside him, looking about five seconds away from passing out.

When they finally barged into Rowan's lab, Ash thrust the baby toward the professor, panting. "HERE! FIX IT!"

Rowan, who had been peacefully enjoying his morning tea, calmly set his cup down and stared at them. Then he looked at the baby. Then back at them. Then at the note that had somehow stuck itself to Ash's vest in all the chaos.

"Hmm," Rowan said, stroking his beard. "Fascinating."

Misty clutched her head. "This is not fascinating, this is a NIGHTMARE!"

Rowan plucked the note from Ash's vest and adjusted his glasses. He read aloud:

"To Ash Ketchum and Misty Waterflower—congratulations! Here is your daughter! Take care of her! Love, ???"

Silence.

Pure, unfiltered, silence.

Then—

"WHAT?!" Ash and Misty screamed in unison.

Misty immediately turned on Ash. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"WHAT DID I DO?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Ash shot back, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

"NEITHER DID I!"

"THEN WHY DOES THIS BABY LOOK LIKE US?!"

"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?! I JUST WOKE UP!"

Rowan, completely unfazed by their screaming match, adjusted his glasses and took another sip of tea. "Interesting. The child does share genetic similarities to both of you."

Ash and Misty froze. Then they turned back to each other.

"GENETIC SIMILARITIES?!" Misty gasped.

"NO WAY!" Ash yelled. "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! I WOULD KNOW IF I HAD A KID!"

"ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?! BECAUSE APPARENTLY, WE HAVE A KID!"

"HOW?! WE NEVER—" Ash stopped himself, turning bright red as realization hit.

Misty went just as red. "DON'T EVEN FINISH THAT SENTENCE!"

Rowan cleared his throat. "Well, there are multiple possibilities. Genetic cloning. Alternate timeline interference. Possibly even an elaborate prank."

"OH!" Misty exclaimed, snapping her fingers. "IT'S A PRANK! DEFINITELY A PRANK!"

Ash's shoulders sagged in relief. "Phew, yeah, that makes sense. I bet it's Gary."

"That smug little—" Misty growled. "I knew he was up to something! I KNEW IT!"

Rowan, watching their entire thought process unfold like a dramatic soap opera, merely shrugged. "You are welcome to believe that. However, I would suggest a DNA test before drawing conclusions."

Misty crossed her arms. "No need. It's obviously a prank. Right, Ash?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah! A prank! Totally a prank!" Ash nodded rapidly, his eyes darting around like he was trying to convince himself just as much as Misty.

The baby giggled again, tugging at Ash's sleeve. Ash looked down, and his heart did something weird.

He gulped. "Uh..."

Misty also glanced at the baby and felt a similar weird pang. "Uh-oh."

Rowan smirked. "I see the paternal instincts are kicking in."

"NO, THEY'RE NOT!" Ash and Misty blurted, stepping away from the baby like it was suddenly a Voltorb about to explode.

Rowan sighed. "I shall prepare the DNA test."

Misty let out a deep, deep breath, rubbing her temples. "This is fine. Everything is fine. We just have to prove this is a prank, and then we can go back to normal life and never think about this again."

Ash nodded, still staring at the baby with an uncertain expression. "Yeah. Yeah! Let's do that."

But as Rowan took the baby to prepare for testing, the little girl reached toward them and whined, "Mama! Papa!"

Ash and Misty screamed again.

Ash and Misty were losing it.

Rowan had calmly handed them the DNA test results, and instead of proving that this was all a prank, it had done the exact opposite.

It confirmed, with 100% certainty, that the baby was theirs.

As in, genetically theirs.

As in, Ash and Misty were biologically this baby's parents.

Which made no sense at all, because—

"WE NEVER EVEN—" Ash began before stopping himself, turning beet red.

Misty was just as red. "EXACTLY!" she screeched, waving the test results around like they were cursed.

The baby, completely unbothered by their meltdown, giggled and clapped her tiny hands.

"Okay, okay, deep breaths," Misty muttered to herself, pressing her hands to her temples. "There has to be a logical explanation for this."

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "Like, maybe the test is broken!"

Rowan raised an eyebrow. "I assure you, my equipment is never broken."

"Maybe you're broken!" Misty snapped, pointing at the professor like it was his fault science had betrayed them.

Rowan sighed. "Or perhaps, you should read the note again."

Misty huffed but grabbed the note anyway.

This time, she read it carefully.

"To Ash Ketchum and Misty Waterflower—congratulations! Here is your daughter! Take care of her! Love, ???"

Misty frowned. "Yeah? And?"

Rowan pointed to the back of the note.

Misty blinked. She hadn't checked the back.

Slowly, she turned the note over.

And there, written in neat, tiny handwriting, were the words:

"P.S. - She's from the future. Please don't freak out too much."

Misty's eye twitched.

Ash, peering over her shoulder, read the message and immediately screamed, "WHAT?!"

Misty dropped the note like it was on fire.

"F-FUTURE?!" she shrieked.

Rowan nodded sagely. "It would seem that, at some point in the future, the two of you—"

"DON'T SAY IT!" Ash pleaded, covering his ears.

Rowan smirked. "—became parents."

Ash let out a strangled noise and flopped onto the floor, face down. "This is a dream. This has to be a dream."

Misty, meanwhile, was pacing. "Okay. Okay. Time travel. That's a thing, I guess. Arceus help me, why is that a thing?"

The baby girl—their baby girl—tilted her head at them in confusion. "Mama? Papa?"

Ash and Misty both froze.

Then they pointed at each other.

"YOU'RE the mom!" Ash blurted.

"YOU'RE the dad!" Misty yelled back.

The baby clapped again, delighted. "Mama! Papa!"

"AAAAAAAH!" Ash and Misty screamed in unison.

Rowan simply sipped his tea. "I believe you two will be just fine."