General summary: Professor Cerise enacts drastic measures to get Chloe new friends and connections. Even if he must expose her to Ash's family reunion with hundreds of his half-siblings, Chloe will get a friend(s) or boy/girlfriend(s) and be happy or else!
Semi-crack
Cross: So the idea here is one I've had for a bit, and is motivated by a desire by Green to have less darkness. So this is one of about a few cracky ideas I had….and hopefully it does the trick.
Exotos: Hi!
Cross: We also get to go to that other high ranked part of ratings that isn't about violence and nightmares. We're going blue baby! Not full lemon yellow, but with older characters we can do things that don't work with normal Chloe Cerise. Those familiar with Cherry may get what I mean, though the universes (Blossoming and Reset) are mixed differently for a goofier, sillier fair.
Exotos: And I'm here to try to make things funnier!
Cross: As a cracky comedy take that is useful. I can do comedy well enough and a second source of it never hurts.
Exotos: I'll do my best!
Cross: One thing though: the topic of Bloodliners shows up. Bloodliners have dozens of chapters and side stories in Reset proper to explain in full, yet I am well aware that you can't make giant exposition in writing entertaining.
Exotos: I can verify stuff like that sucks. -_-
Cross: I tried that with having Izuku list off dozens of Omnitrix aliens in a mumble off someone set off, and there is a reason that isn't out in public. For simplicity's sake, imagine 'Aura/Psychic/Pokeempathy/Rain Man/every odd power in Pokemon, expanded in scope/variety/etc, with distinct categories and stuff. Worst comes to worse I can be asked to explain and we'll try to make sure no plot requires too deep of a lore dive.
Exotos: Shouldn't be too hard though, this is just a silly adventure. There couldn't possibly be any important lore details here, right?
Cross: Well let's see if crack and blue humor can mix with the Blossomingverse in 3. 2. 1!
CHAPTER START
The Cerise Institute's meeting room was gathered in a veil of secrecy and stealth. One occupant of the facility must not know of what was being spoken of at all, or the teenage angst from the 15 year old Chloe Cerise would be terrifying!
Her angst at age 10 was of such magnitude, Vermillion City still shudders. To think of what she could do now that she was older...
Fortunately, it was not that much stealth, for when Chloe Cerise was at the lab she usually occupied herself. A task made much easier since Parker Cerise's grounding and her temporary taking of his Switch for herself. The girl had become quite invested in online gaming with the Cerise lab's more stable internet, and unless one was really trying, she would not notice that they were having a secret meeting.
Speaking of said secret meeting...
"My daughter needs friends." Professor Cerise, possessor of many college degrees, said bluntly. The two other adults in the room were in agreement…
"I mean, she has me and Goh….. that can't just be it, right?" Ash Ketchum, 18-year old research fellow on call for dangerous assignments on loan from Professor Oak, questioned.
"...Actually maybe just me. You try Ash, but I'm not sure she really appreciates the effort." Goh, the 15 year old full time research fellow, corrected.
"Goh, you… you aren't a bad friend. But two introverts can….. struggle to match all your needs. Plus being a teenage girl is complicated." Chryssa gently corrected. Ash, familiar with many such teenage girls, nodded in agreement. "It's also a school problem."
"School?" Ash, who had not been in school since he was 10, and was thus not to ever be used to correct the accounting at the lab, was uncertain of what the problem was. "What's wrong?"
"...My daughter… has some issues. Not with her grades, she actually does rather well at those. It's just…. well…. everything else."
"There's something else in school but grades?" Goh, who got as good of grades as Chloe while never actually attending regular classes, wasn't sure.
"So it's a social problem?"
"That's a thing in school?"
"It is, and Chloe's… well, I would say she is struggling to make friends, but that isn't really it. It is more that it seems like everyone in school seems to hate her." Professor Cerise explained gravely.
"At least as far as we can tell. Chloe doesn't really talk about school and she doesn't have a diary. So we had to do some detective work…" Renji admitted.
Renji and Chryssa turned to the side and looked contemplative while everybody else just… stared at them.
"Professor, what are they doing?" Goh asked.
"Having a flashback to the detective work they did."
Ash paused. "They know we can't see it, right?"
"Let them have this," Professor Cerise spoke gravely. "It's been a rough week."
"School always is….." Goh, who went to school as infrequently as he could, added in agreement.
"So… much… teenage….. nonsense…." Chrysa sounded like she came back from a war.
"Drama….levels…..only just decreased to safe levels…." Renji all but beeped out like a machine that just avoided an overheating based shutdown.
"I had always wondered why Chloe kept coming here after that talent show a few years ago went… terribly wrong. I stopped requiring it after I stopped hearing about anything at school and the gardening was finished. I never thought much of it as I hadn't hired Chrysa yet and Renji was still on sabbatical and I was lonely. But from what we can tell, the entire student body seems to shun her."
"That's….that's stupid!" Goh couldn't think of a better word to say. It was just so dumb of everyone.
"...So why not just have her leave or go to another school?" Ash asked.
"Yeah, or could she just have it so she only needed to take tests, like me!" Goh added.
"Chole doesn't want to become a Pokemon Trainer and it isn't as easy to drop out of school in Vermillion as in Pallet. It's a legal difference." Chyssa explained.
In Pallet Town and many other places, kids were free to leave school after age 10 and do whatever they wanted, usually if it involved training or some sort of work. Vermillion didn't have it that easy under the idea that letting 10 year olds dictate their future often led to the 10 year olds making questionable decisions.
Most 10 year olds did not become Ash Ketchum. Ash Ketchum became Ash Ketchum with hard work, time, and a pinch of luck.
"Also, have you ever transferred mid-year? That… that is never good. That's the last resort ,and only at the end of this year." Renji added, shivering to a bad memory.
"Chloe also would have to be around me more if she didn't go to school, and she's a teenage girl…" Professor Cerise sadly admitted.
"So she just needs to meet some people outside of school… do you want us to be a bit more forceful getting her to come with us? Ash can probably carry Chloe himself, and we meet all sorts of people and most of them are friendly, if occasionally kind of weird."
Chrysa took a quick look at Ash, and nodded. The 18 year old was rather powerfully built, and Chloe was not a particularly large girl. He could probably carry her on an adventure like a piece of luggage if he really wanted to… but if Chloe was carried like that, she would probably leave physical scars on Ash as she clawed and bit and kicked at him the entire time.
"... There has to be a solution that doesn't involve that… mostly because I suspect that is legally considered kidnapping." Professor Cerise seemed to be imagining the sound of a judge's gavel as he acknowledged this.
"Oh I've got an idea! Professor, does Chloe need anything that costs money she doesn't have?" Ash seemed to have a sudden flash of an idea.
Professor Cerise tapped his chin for a bit.
"You know… she did mention the other day that three books she really wants to get are all coming out at the same time. They are hard covers, so they'll cost a pretty penny…"
"That's perfect! Up around Pallet Town my mom and I are hosting a family reunion. There are going to be a lot of people around Chloe's age, and maybe she'll meet someone she likes. And hey, if she doesn't….she gets paid. Mom said it would be more like a paid vacation for anyone who is hired as help."
"So you think she might meet someone she likes among your cousins…." Professor Cerise seemed to be pondering the idea. The vacation part, even if paid vacation specifically, would also cover the upcoming school break rather nicely.
Even without the lined up vacation time, money would be a very excellent carrot to get Chloe to cooperate, and it would be a good parental lesson of the value of hard work that a parent did need to constantly drill into their child… it would fill his quota on that for the month in regards to Chloe.
"Nah, I only have three cousins and they aren't invited. I like them, but two of them's mom and her sister, who is my own mom, hate each other and they agreed to stay on the opposite side of Mt. Moon of the other until one of them dies. Sadly, Trey and Troy can't keep their mom from reading their emails or texts so we can't sneak them over. I have a third cousin in Orre, but she's not able to make it and asked us not to send her an invite. Something about her grandfather slash my uncle hurting himself on the internet...I think he was reading a comment section and he put his fist through the monitor in a rage or something like that..."
Professor Cerise would point out that 'my uncle is her grandfather' is a different relation than a 'mom and their mom are sisters', but it was semantics and really didn't matter.
"If it isn't your cousins…" Renji asked in confusion as Gengar floated down with a very large piece of parchment that, when spread out, filled the entire width of the room with a single, massive family tree. Or perhaps it could be best described as a family tangled bush of nightmares.
"It's for all of my half-siblings that we've found over the years."
"SWEET MERCIFUL ARCEUS!" Chyrssa gasped.
"MY EYES! I CAN'T MAKE ANY DETAILS OUT!" Goh's eyes were glazing over as he tried to make any serious registry of any bit of information, like someone reading a really overly complicated legal document. Everytime he tried to refocus his eyes, the sheer depth of the document made the focus flee in terror once more.
"THE ACTUAL FUCK!?" Renji questioned.
"How long did this take to make?" Professor Cerise asked plainly, more stunned at the intricate design of the tree than the mountain of information.
"Yeah, my biological father had this weird idea to have kids all over the world and thus he left thousands everywhere. It was really weird when I was ten to keep getting mistaken for other mother's kids and wonder why this one jerk looked a lot like me, but it all eventually made sense." Ash explained, as if it was just a funny thing. "Also, the guy's a complete jackass who we are all glad is dead and that we never met in person because he is apparently a horrible person. Oh, we keep having to make new family trees because we keep finding more family. He was...busy"
"Seriously, Ash, the things you say with a straight face…" Goh sighed, shaking his head.
"I had eight years to get used to it."
"I suddenly feel like father of the year. It's nice, but….I feel the inexplicable need to apologize to you." Professor Cerise admitted. He had made a few mistakes with parenting, like he probably could have done something about Parker's love of violence earlier, but that…
"Oh don't worry, my mom's awesome enough to make up for it."
"So… just how many… well let's start with Chloe's age…"
"We've found about two-hundred and seven who are 15 so far, and about a hundred and forty will be there. We don't invite the ones who are evil or dead, obviously, and some just can't make it or don't want to come. So about a hundred and forty who are Chloe's age, and how much older and younger you want to go…" Ash's face was squinted as he tried to do the math. Pikachu chirped something and he clapped his hand.
"I'm thinking…just over four hundred who are Chloe's age or just a year younger or older. Surely Chloe will find someone who she wants to be friends with."
No one commented that Ash needed an electric mouse to do the math for him, or the fact that Ash could understand Pikachu that clearly. They all knew that by now.
"So this is… somehow, the best idea we have. Pay Chloe to be involved in Ash's… family reunion for lack of a better word, and hope she makes friends. So um… what happens if she finds someone she really likes?" Renji questioned.
"Like a best friend?" Goh asked with a raised eyebrow.
"... Chloe and some guy or girl, alone in the woods…"
"...At this point, she needs someone. She could bring back three boyfriends and I'd be fine. I just want her to smile more and make some friends." Professor Cerise was ready to brave a reality turned into a soap opera drama if it meant his only daughter was happy.
...
After the meeting, the professor and co. went to see Chloe, and even though she was just playing with Parker's Switch on the couch, it still felt quite imposing to talk to her. It was as if one was talking to an Electrode, like an explosion could come from Chloe at any moment.
"Chloe, can we talk?"
The redhead paused her game, took a look at her father, and sighed before putting down the game console.
"Sure, about what?" She asked in classic tested teenage patience, sounding just a few word beats from exploding into a rage.
"Have you…"
"Dad, whatever you wanna suggest, I don't need it. What I need is to figure out how Bloodliners even work."
Professor Cerise blinked. "And why would you need to know that?"
"Because I can't make sense out of them!" Chloe snapped. "I mean, what if Mom had been something stupid like a Smeargle Species Bloodliner? Would I've become a Bloodliner? Would Parker? Both?! Neither?! The lack of answers is killing me, and I need to get my mind off it with this thing or I'll go nuts!"
Only Goh noticed Ash biting his tongue.
"You could just ask the one in the room…."
"Oh right, of course, why didn't I think of that?" Chloe asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Maybe if he didn't ask me to go on an expedition every time we talk, I'd consider it."
"What about the times he asked if you wanted anything from the store?" Goh didn't seem to register that the look he got from Chloe screamed 'that is semantics'.
The Professor, however, did notice her look, and hastily changed the subject:
"Would you like to work with Ash on something? It's not a job from me so…."
"...Does it involve traveling to some jungle to fight the hordes of death?"
The assistants looked at Ash, and he shrugged as if to say 'I haven't done that in a year'. They didn't ask for more context.
"It pays." Her father added as interest sparked in Chloe's eyes.
"... Go on."
What came next was a brief summarization of what the job was about, and Chloe… didn't seem to mind that much. Sure, the idea of having Ash, quote on quote, "rub his victories in her face" was annoying, but she was pretty calm regardless.
"...So who do I need to avoid? Whose Uncle Grab-em?"
"Huh?" Ash questioned, not sure what Chloe meant by that.
"...Aunt Nag-em?" Chloe was a bit less calm in her question and a bit more aggravated.
"We didn't invite Aunt Hilary."
"Cousin Smack-em?" Chloe's tone was about the same as it was in the last question.
"My last name is Ketchum, so…."
Chloe looked at him like he was being dumb. He was practically a man now, how could he not see the obvious innuendo?!
"I know how these family reunions go. There's always that one guy that you have to invite, but is terrible and is best avoided. Mom's got her brother when he's out of prison, Goh has his aunt ….."
"Oh….." Ash got what she meant. "Oh, don't worry. We don't invite the evil ones."
"Then who do you invite?"
…
"Professor! Chloe just fainted!" Ash shouted after Chloe's body went limp and fell right on top of him. So shocked he forgot the PRofessor was right there and saw the whole thing.
"Don't worry, just open some mint chocolate chip ice cream containers! It's from her favorite place she and I go to sometimes, it'll wake her up! If we don't just play the DVD of hers on the top shelf. The theme song will do it."
Several days later
To say Chloe's mind was a scrambled mess would be… well, see for yourself:
"It's for the money it is for the money It's for the money it is for the money It's for the money it is for the money It's for the money it is for the money It's for the money it is for the money It's for the money it is for the money It's for the money it is for the money It's for the money it is for the money…."
Ash was… well, he was a new presence she didn't like. He got along too well with Goh, he was always asking if she wanted to do things, and he ate too much.
Which, granted, as a Bloodliner he couldn't help it, but at least he could share! Or at least only eat the stuff she didn't like!
She never felt like he was dangerous, she would never mentally feel the need to call him 'Ash Grab-em' or something like that, but it was… well it was a stresser. She had enough of those. And the idea of being around hundreds of him was something that should be a plot in a horror anthology.
But she really did need more money, and Parker was doing all the chores she would normally use as a source for quick cash. The school would suspend her if she took on a part-time job once classes resumed after the break, and there was no other option to get the money quickly.
And she had seen the salary she'd get: it was more than enough for her books, some new games while Parker's game device was hers, and heck if it lasted for a while (as Ash said it might, especially if she got there early or the festivities kept up for a while) she could buy her own gaming device for when Parker was done with his punishment. It was a deal with the devil, but one that might be worth a damn.
"Alright, glad you are on board. Capitalism is as good of a reason to start from as any!" Ash smiled, his Dragonite and a Charizard he used in a few battles recently (or maybe he had more of them than just this one, Chloe only heard talk of it later) next to him as he gestured to the two.
"We'll get to Pallet faster this way. So you want to go on Charizard or Dragonite? You know Dragonite, but Charizard is less prone to doing loops while flying the way Dragonite does. But in turn, he will probably react to seeing Articuno with a battle like the last time."
Charizard didn't look ashamed at the memory.
"...Again, Ash, you say that casually." Goh questioned.
"It happens. You've seen a Zapdos and tried to catch it, Goh. That Articuno fight made me late for my mom's birthday…."
"...Oof." Chrysa winced.
"Don't worry, Charizard took all the blame and had to burn that field for my mom as punishment. She made him do it carefully."
No one asked why Ash's mom wanted a field burned, or how you made a Charizard burn something with precision.
"So, Chloe," Ash said, trying to change the subject before more context was asked for. "Are you into boys, or girls?"
Ash and Chloe both missed Renji pinching his forehead at Ash's untactful question as part of operation 'companion for Chloe', Chrysa shaking her head, and Professor Cerise's general look of interest on the subject. Chloe would never openly tell him the answer on her own after all.
"Bloodliners."
"Well… seeing as everyone who isn't with someone as a parent or a romantic partner is one, and a lot of the romantic partners are also bloodliners..."
Chloe suddenly blushed, as if having that answer come up made her require an answer, which made her a bit unwilling to say it aloud.
"I-It's just that I find Bloodliners interesting, okay!?"
"So does that mean you find Ash interesting?" Goh pondered out loud. "Does that make you one of those Tsundere things towards him…."
It took all of Chloe's mental fortitude not to slap Goh for the comment. Though on the bright side, she did think of something to try to change the subject.
It was just one that showed Chloe was as much not a student of the school of tact as Ash was.
"So, Ash, pardon the question, but… how's the sex drive of a Bloodliner?"
Ash paused. "Excuse me?"
"The sex drive. The libido. The need to fornicate. To reproduce. That crap!"
Ash fell silent.
"Come on, Ash, you're constantly surrounded by several women and your family numbers in the hundreds! You can't tell me you don't know the answer!"
"...Well I do, but that's personal."
Chloe scoffed. "So you're not gonna tell me how likely it is I'll get banged?"
A silence developed in the space outside the lab, with Charizard making a 'so so' gesture with his claws.
"CHLOE!"
"Oh, pipe down, Dad! I'm 15 already, practically a woman now, and I'm going to a family reunion whose patriarch banged all that moved! I wanna know the dangers ahead!"
"..." Professor Cerise looked torn between paternal instincts and his desire for Chloe to have more intimate companionship, platonic or otherwise.
"...Um ... well… you want to get on Dragonite and go?" Ash weakly asked, trying to spare Professor Cerise.
"Fine. I do find her cuter than Charizard."
Dragonite preened happily like Charizard snorted in scoff.
….
"...You know I didn't think Talia had to slip those condoms into her luggage before she went but now I'm glad," Professor Cerise sighed.
"It's a mother's intuition," Chrysa said. "Besides, she's always known Chloe better than you, professor. No offense."
"None taken," the professor groaned. "I just hope Chloe doesn't take this as an excuse to get crazy."
"I think you should give Chloe some credit, professor," Renji said. "Sure, she might be a teenage girl whose hormones dominate sometimes, but she knows how to keep it in her pants."
"Or at least not to have any long term issues from it." Chrysa added as Professor Cerise made a choking nose.
"...So do I need to watch Parker now…." Goh wondered aloud.
Would he need to go to Cerise's house when the parents were busy and school was out to keep Parker away from the knives?
That was a story for another day.
…
Ash had explained while flying what the basic setup was. The actual big party was going to happen at a lake in the hills around Pallet Town. It was something Ash had bought with his 'I am a Champion' money he shared with Professor Oak after he and his friends/ 'friends' ended up expanding the lab's Pokemon count extensively. In the couple of days before the big party, as they were arriving, they would be at his mother's restaurant/inn with those who got in earlier to help or guide them, or just to say hi (to Ash and the others) before the party began.
It was an off season, so Ash's mom had plenty of space and not much to do. Plus she 'apparently liked mothering the younger ones because Ash had Serena to make him his sandwiches most of the time now.'
Many would go up early to have space for themselves. Hundreds of them were going to be there after all, and Ash had let it slip that many of the ones going up early were couples.
Couples alone in the woods left… a door open for imagination.
And once they had arrived at Ash's modest white and red country house, they were greeted by a familiar woman.
"I'm Delia Ketchum, Ash's mother. You must be Chloe, I'm so thankful for the help."
Delia gave Chloe the first warning of what she could expect. Namely by comparing her to Ash and noting what he had inherited from the father of thousands, a comparison she hadn't really done before now but now was rather necessary.
It was… moderately concerning. For one, Delia Ketchum looked at least a foot smaller than her son, a lot less built in bulk, and had auburn brown hair.
The last one was less concerning but she needed a third thing or the list just wouldn't feel right.
"I'm happy to be here." Was it a lie? She wasn't exactly miserable and came willingly but she still felt a looming sense of dread.
"Glad to hear it. I hope you'll enjoy yourself even when you aren't giving some elbow grease."
"How many people have shown up so far?" Ash asked, having instructed his two flying types to fly to Oak's and take a rest.
"And how many of them are legitimate?" Chloe added.
"Hmmm….." Delia seemed to think.
"Well...no one who is related to me but my mom so…."
"Ash!"
The question was dropped as a blonde blur shot out and hugged him, a hug that was returned. When the blur of reunited affection eventually calmed down enough to be clearly seen, she was looking at a girl. A rather attractive one at that.
She was a blonde, with her long blonde hair a different style, color, and length from Sara's (fortunately). Her eyes were yellow and under them were a set of familiar looking Z-marks. While she was not as tall as Ash, she was still probably over six feet, and did she mention she was gorgeous.
She was also faintly familiar, but she didn't know why.
"Betty! Good to see you!"
"Pi-Pika!"
Something rustled in the girl's lush hair and some sort of yellow bug, a Joltik she thought from a book she read on Yamper's species, briefly greeting Pikachu back.
"And it's great to see you! I can't believe it's been since the last reunion we've been able to see each other! Has it really been that long?"
"Yeah, I guess. Time just flies when you help Professor Oak and Cerise, try out the World Coronation Series, and end up in the Kaskade Region by mistake for a month."
"Man I've wanted to give the World Coronation Series a go, but I keep having something else come up. Not that winning a Kalos League conference was a distraction or anything…."
"I saw that on TV! You were so awesome! Oh, is Jamie around?"
"He's actually your mom's second in command…."
"I'm lost." Chloe said to herself as the two siblings caught up.
"Oh, let me help you then. So this is Betty Snyder. She's one of Ash's older sisters, so she's 19. That's as old as the kids in this crazy family get right now. She's from Unova and is a big fan of electric Pokemon. That's why she has a Joltik on her head." Delia explained.
"Oh, and here I thought it was to make her a better battler." She joked.
"No, that's Musharna. After Black won the league with one sucking his excess thoughts out. It was a fad to have a Munna or Musharna suck your excess thoughts out of your head to do better in battle over Unova. Black isn't related to them by the way." Delia added as an afterthought, like she had to be assured that no, not everyone was related to Ash somehow.
"...Betty Snyder….I feel like I've heard that name somewhere and I don't really follow battling. Also Jamie…"
"Oh that's her boyfriend. They've been together for a while, no hitches whatsoever. As you might have heard he's my second in command in operation 'feed the endless hunger'. So he's going to be one of your bosses."
"A while huh? How long is that?"
"Long enough I question why I don't have a son in law yet." A third voice spoke up, an adult woman's voice with an Unovan accent, as she and Delia were joined by another blonde woman, the two siblings who casually spoke of feets none the wiser and off in their own world. She didn't need to be told that this was Betty's mother as the two looked very much alike: Betty was just taller and had a few other things over her mother, but the woman (who looked older than Delia) had aged rather well. She, Chloe felt, she had seen before as well, and she had a bit of a better grasp as to why.
"Say, this is going to sound weird, but you wouldn't happen to be a model?" She asked the older woman, who smiled.
"You would be correct." The woman posed, more for an effect of announcing her name than reflexively or something.
"Elizebeth Snyder is my name, and I've done it all. I'm a model even in my forties, I train my own fair share of Pokemon, and I raised a daughter all by myself to be a brilliant young woman. I wish she'd marry Jamie already but, who knows, maybe they are playing a game of Combusken on the ring. It's a small problem in the grand scheme of things."
"Oh yeah, now I get why you two seemed familiar. I think one of the magazines my mom worked with has ads with you in it sometimes, and I think I remember there being an article with you and your daughter. Something about parenting and stuff…..I'll admit I didn't read it, not because of anything about the story itself but the cover caught my eye….." She trailed off before she could explain that she had failed to read more of it because Sara had taken it from her when she realized something.
There had been a lot of models she hadn't recognized in the big cover image, and one of them was an auburn-haired woman in a green one piece. She had looked rather pretty, and she only realized she had been talking to that woman when she was next to the model who had been in the center of the image. As if realizing what she was remembering the two reflexively matched the image in pose, just out of swimsuit, and laughed.
"Oh yeah, the last reunion over on Kumquat Island! That was a lot of fun doing that shoot with a bunch of the others, and those articles helped cover the costs on Luana's end. To think I'd get back into modeling in my thirties…."
"It's never too late Delia. You really should consider doing more shoots. You age remarkably well…."
And the two promptly began to reminisce, just as their kids did, about events past as her mind went elsewhere.
The first Ash sibling she met was a trainer slash model whose mom was also a trainer slash model.
Oh these days are going to hurt. Though maybe a fun sort of hurt, maybe?
…
"...it helps, of course, that Pallet is small enough that I am the only restaurant in town. Same with the hotel business. You could say I have a little bit of a monopoly." Ash's mom had taken her, and Ash and the blondes in toe, on a bit of a tour, and she was showing her the public part of the restaurant. It was a country restaurant, what was there to say?
"So do you cook country food or Kalosian or…."
"A bit of this and that. I can cook whatever I want after all, the only competition is general store food." Delia waved. "Oh, and seeing as we are here…."
"Do you have to show her it…" Ash almost whined. Betty giggled and she was confused. Show her what?
"Of course I do Ash, I'm a proud mother after all. I made it so big for more than just showing off. Now allow me to show you the Ketchum trophy wall!"
The wall was covered in glass casing and frames, all of them holding display after display. There were dioramas of badges and symbols, collected from all over the world as far as she could tell. Shelves of trophies from leagues: Gold and Silver and Bronze and one that looked like a participation award. Awards for things like Pokeringer, Sumo, Tauros Battling, Pokemon Contests, and more dotted the entire section. It was a great monument to Ash's eight years of wandering the world
It wasn't just Ash on the thing, even if it was mostly him. She saw some Delia trophies too: restaurant awards and magazine covers and the like, and she saw another generation of Ketchums, who she presumed were Delia's parents. The Delia mother had her own eclectic range of awards like Delia while her father had a mixture of restaurant awards and military service medals. She Wasn't an expert, but she believed they were a mixture of 'saved lives valiantly' and 'killed a lot of men.'
No sign of the hated sister of Delia, and maybe it was best not to ask.
She could only stare at them all. It was like the wall where her parents kept their awards and diplomas, but fancier. The Cerise records were for self-pride but these were on full display for everyone to see.
"It's a bit of maternal vanity and family pride, but sometimes you just have a bunch of glass and you really want Carl to shut up when he comes for his pancakes." Delia admitted.
"Nothing wrong with that. I love bragging about what my little girl achieved." Elizebeth agreed.
"Mom….that is never not embarassing." Betty, taller daughter, groaned as Elizebeth chuckled.
"Mothers who raise great kids are allowed to boast, Betty. It's our right."
"And really, what was I going to do with all that excess glass but show all of this off?"
"You did want that greenhouse…."
"But I have one, and this is the wrong type of glass for it."
"..." She didn't have anything to say. Did she need to be reminded of Ash…..Ashing everything?'
"...You know, this makes me look like I've never messed up badly, and that's untrue." Ash admitted, as if noting her sense of despair.
"...Really?" She asked as both Ash and Delia nodded.
"Oh yes, he didn't even get up in time. He broke his own alarm clocks."
"Clocks?" she asked in disbelief.
"I was sure if I set three up it would be foolproof….."
"They just all were designed like Pokeballs and he sleep trainered." Delia chuckled. So he threw all of his clocks into the wall while he was sleeping, probably muttering 'I choose you'? That, that was actually pretty funny to imagine.
"I've just had a lot of time to win a few things….it got easier over time sure but everyone's got to start. Once you start, you'll have your own wall of trophies. Probably a few diplomas too, and I'll never have one of those. I can't study for my life."
None of the Ketchum's had diplomas, come to think of it.
"Well you need to start somewhere. Let's show you where you'll be working."
...
"I really feel sorry for the poor sap that has to provide the food for this kind of thing," Chloe admitted. The Ketchums and Snyders, after leaving memory lane, had taken her to show her where she'd be doing work during her 'working' part of her working vacation. She had seen kitchens, food storage, and other areas that basically made it very clear that each and every meal was going to be the end of the road for perhaps hundreds of pounds of food.
Several of those hundreds had, in fact, stopped the tour at several points to say hello to Ash and Betty. And outside of 'first time meetings' the two greeted them warmly back. Siblings who saw the two as amazing, great, beloved, friends, cool, inspiration., and every other positive thing she could say on the subject of 'cool big siblings we love'.
"Is food replication a thing? I should tell Dad to try to make that a thing."
"You are helping cook it…" Betty pointed out.
"Yeah but who's paying for it? I didn't see any photo shoots around here."
"Well it's actually not as much as it seems. I actually grow a lot of my own berries so that saves me a bit. A lot of berries….I hope you like berries." Delia questioned, sounding like she'd worry for her if she didn't.
"I do."
"Actually I am." Ash admitted to being the one to foot the cost. Come to think of it, he did often buy plane tickets to take Goh places or cover costs he incurred….
"That still looks like it costs a lot."
"I have a good accountant." For some reason Ash tapped the pocket she knew he kept his old Pokedex in. What, was that his accountant? She didn't get a chance to ask any more about it before she was shown the residency areas and her room, which she was left to get settled in herself before she'd be on duty to get dinner ready.
Her room was a rather nice room. Very cosy, country, classy. No TV, but she did see the wifi password. As well as her roommate.
"Oh, you're my roommate. Miss Ketchum said I'd have a guest helper stay with me. Hi my name is Lita Allegro, and this is my first of these reunions. What's yours?"
Chloe, however, couldn't help but keep her eyes glued to the black-haired girl. Seriously, what was it with female Bloodliners and looking like supermodels?! The girl was gorgeous looking, just like Betty...
Actually, scratch that, what was it with all Bloodliners and looking like supermodels! Even when they weren't also models.
It didn't help that she entered the room while the girl was changing like Chloe Cerise was an anime protagonist or something. She could see exactly what sort of underwear the girl wore, and it made her think the girl's inch disadvantage in height compared to Betty was made up for in other places.
"Chloe. Chloe Cerise. Sorry for walking in…"
While Lita was blushing it was nowhere near as bad as if she'd been walked in on. Far less thrown objects either. Heck she was blushing more looking at Lita.
"It's no trouble. My fault for not locking it."
She put her bag on her bed, unloading things as Lita put some clothes on. Her eyes were somewhat drawn as it happened.
"Okay… hey, what's your… relation to Ash?" Lita asked as she pulled up a pair of jeans.
"H-Huh?!" Chloe wasted no time taking a defensive tone. "W-Why do you ask?!"
"I saw you fly in with him. I mean he's one of the coolest guys in Kanto, and he's my brother. I mean I didn't believe it at first but DNA tests don't lie and my mom and his mom agreed they slept with the same guy. Not many 6 ft 6 Orreans in Kanto, let alone with red eyes."
Lita, she finally noticed, had different eyes than Ash. She had dark hair like Ash, Z-marks like Ash, but her eyes were red while Ash's were brown. In her defense she had...um….trouble looking at her face. Height and er...specific widths and all.
"I mean he's not coo just because he's an amazing trainer, but he's also so real. Like you see some people and they seem too polished. Ash makes jokes in interviews and it just feels like what he really is…"
"He's authentic, I'll give him that." Chloe admitted. "He's actually doing some work with my father. He's a scientist, and my friend Goh is his field research fellow. But Goh is book smart and Ash is there when he goes places he might get killed and stuff. Ash's helping make sure Goh can handle himself on his own one day….and I guess being Goh's friend. I think that happened first somehow."
"...So you're his friend?"
Chloe's throat felt as dry as a desert.
"He'd call me a friend." She didn't lie.
Lita had pulled down a shirt, and was now fully clothed.
"Being friends with someone like Ash...I can't even imagine it. And I'm his half sister…"
"Try to imagine it, I can tell you if it is true."
"Does it involve traveling the world?! Coming to this was my first trip on my own as a trainer and my own person and it was so amazing! People like Ash and Red travel the world all the time right?!"
"Right…" She agreed. It really was what she imagined it to be. Ash going on adventures and offering to take you along.
"...it's my first time leaving Vermillion City in ages." Chloe admitted, waiting for the questioning of how that could possibly be. Surprisingly they didn't come.
"Then I guess we're both in this for the first time." Lita said in a way that made it sound like the larger girl saw it as a great connection between the two of them.
And yet, one question kept popping to Chloe. One that if she didn't ask and get the answer she was hoping for, would leave her feeling she was in danger for the rest of…. However long this lasted.
"So, Lita… which way do you swing?"
The taller girl raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Are you into boys or girls?" Chloe forced herself to say through gritted teeth. "Do I need to be worried you might try anything to me?"
"Shouldn't I worry about you?" Lita countered seriously as she blushed and started to sputter. Do something to the larger girl? How?! At her sputtering Lita laughed and waved her off.
"Oh don't worry about it, Chloe. You seem to like girls and I like girls. We'll be fine. If one of us stares at the other we can just stare back. Simple as that. Now the question is if you also like guys…."
"Not much to stare at here…." She muttered quietly, though Lita did seem to hear her.
"Don't put yourself down. You look perfectly wonderful! Sure I like red heads a lot but even if you had different hair you're quite pretty."
So was she Lita's type….
"I'm 15." She surely was older than that and maybe….
"Same!" Lita said it as it made everything all the easier. Which for Lita, maybe it did. For her… well at least she could imagine Sara being just as dumbfounded as she was to hear that age coming from Lita's mouth.
"Okay, so, I'm going to change and… see you later?"
"Sure!" Lita flashed two thumbs up. "That's fine by me!"
Chloe returned the thumbs up, and hastily changed before bolting out of there faster than a Pikachu running to a ketchup bottle. She probably...could have thought about the fact she changed in front of the girl too, but the fact they were now 'even' in that regard only occurred to Chloe later.
...
Once safe from the potentially-romantically-interested-in-her Lita, Chloe sat down next to Ash at a bench.
"Why are all your female cousins so damn hot and well-developed, Ash?" She asked after catching up with Ash. Her sample size was probably not up to scientific scrutiny yet, but she had seen more than a few and they all looked….
"Sisters… and yeah… that's a thing. Nearly all of us are tall, and a lot of the guys have big builds…"
He seemed to come up with a point to add to what he was saying even as she wondered why she defaulted to cousins. Maybe it was just she was still having trouble figuring out how anyone could have hundreds of siblings.
"But that's a family trait. Most of the others look more like you or Goh."
Really? There were people here who couldn't bench press most of Goh's menagerie or wore underwear that she could wear as a hat?
"...Oh Vedia! Hey Vedia, could you come over for a minute!" Ash noticed someone and got their attention, a short girl. The girl looked like she could be in her grade with glasses, short brown hair, and didn't look like she'd give Sara body issues. She looked like a normal person. The new girl, Vedia, acknowledged Ash with a nod and walked over.
"Chloe, like I was saying, most Bloodliners don't look like me. Meet Vedia for example."
"Greetings." The girl said stoically as Chloe looked over the short girl. Chloe was taller than Vedia.
"So you are a Bloodliner?" She asked doubtfully.
"I am."
"...You 10?"
"19." The girl said defensively, but only just enough to realize she was sensitive about it.
She couldn't help but make a reflexive noise of disbelief.
"Sorry, sorry it's just….everyone here's tall and hot and you….you look like me…."
"..." The girl didn't say anything.
"Like I could see you at my school, with other normal people." She did not mean that as an insult, and she hoped Ash was obvious how it could be one.
"So, because I don't have the genes that Ash or Belladonna have, you assume I am not a Bloodliner?" Vedia concluded.
"I don't know who Belladonna is ("her girlfriend and one of my older sisters" Ash quickly explained) but….maybe…"
She was kept from talking as her lips were pinched shut. Her eyes widened and she saw a shadow having reached from her own to pinch them shut. Vedia was grinning just slightly.
"Is this sufficient evidence to the contrary?"
Chloe nodded quickly as her lips were freed and Vedia's smile was gone as quickly as it came.
"I'm sure you must make a killing at shadow puppet shows."
Vedia paused. "I don't know what those are."
She..she wasn't serious was she...oh she was...
"Oh, it's simple, really: you put your hands close to a light source and then move your fingers to make figures," Chloe explained while trying to make a bunny with her hands. "My class did it all the time when I was younger."
"... I'll keep that in mind. Sounds interesting." And the older girl turned and walked away.
"Well, she seems friendly," Chloe dryly remarked.
"She was originally a bad person. But they're all nicer now." Ash said like the statement was just something you said like 'it's sunny today' or 'I like toast'. She'd ask what made her 'bad', but her better judgement made her leave that question alone.
"As long as she doesn't try to kill me, she's cool in my book." She left the question where it lay.
And as the Day went on, Chloe met some more of Ash's extended family. Most of them didn't really catch her interest, though she was pretty sure a few of them had a crush on her for some reason, until she met a peculiar family member.
And the reason why he was interesting was right in his name: Red Tajiri.
Red. His name was literally Red.
A freaking color of the rainbow.
She needed to learn more about this.
"So, your name is Red," Chloe remarked, approaching the guy with a raised eyebrow. "Why did your mom name you after a color?"
He didn't answer, but instead turned to where Ash had just entered the room. He was about to say her name, but he stopped when he saw Red. The two stared at each other, and Chloe's mind started to play various tracks of boss music.
The two's hands twitched, like they were about to grab for a Pokeball, or for a western shootout.
"Oh Red there you are! Ash! It's great to see you!"
A girl who didn't have black hair, but blonde and wearing a straw hat, suddenly sprung between the two before it could turn into a fight between two Champion-level trainers in a small confined space while she was in the middle of it. Which was another way to say 'dangerous'.
And suddenly, the boss music faded, as did her expectation of a tumble weed to blow between the two. The two older guys almost cracked smiles, but it was less a 'happy' smile and more such a smile's scary cousin.
"Ash." Red said carefully.
"Red." Ash sounded a lot more serious than she had ever heard him before.
"..." The two seemed to stare at each other for a moment before each turned around and walked away from the other.
"What was that about?" She asked the blonde girl, whose age she could only guess, as the two guys quickly got far away from each other.
"Oh they're really intense rivals. Been that way for years...would you believe that's better than it used to be?"
Better!?
"...So about the color thing?" Maybe this girl would talk.
"Oh a lot of us have color names. That was Red and I'm Yellow, and there is Midori, Vermell, Grayson….technically Belladonna's last name means a type of purple now that I think about it..."
That was a theme?
"So you multiplied so damn much your parents gave up on the naming department." She asked after a few dozen more color based names came up.
Fortunately it seemed like the only person around here who took her blunt words badly was Vedia, so Yellow was happy to elaborate.
"It's all a coincidence actually. Ash and Red were conceived a day apart and their moms didn't know about the other ever...er because Red's mom died before he left to be a trainer. The name coincidence with all of the others who are named after Ash trees and musical things and dragons….it just happened, though you have a lot who aren't and some who are named for multiple things. Grayson's last name is Bebop for example."
Chloe looked deadpan for a moment. "I was named after the Cherry Blossom tree."
"Whoa, cool!" the Blonde girl blinked. "What's a Cherry Blossom tree?"
Why did Chloe get surprised when some of Ash's family members shared his foolishness? She was willing to bet she was more educated than the vast majority of them after all.
"Okay, let me explain…"
...
"...And you said that that place with the actual party has a lake." Chloe asked Ash as they hiked up a somewhat hard path. At least for her….to Ash it was like he was just getting something for the fridge. An advantage of walking across continents for a hobby she guessed.
"Yep. Very good for swimming!" Ash assured her. "We've put a lot of work into it. Even when we don't have parties we like hanging out here." She didn't really hear the last part as she felt a wave of dread come over her.
Oh dear….hot people in swimsuits!
And when they arrived at the lake, days before the party would actually happen, it became worse.
Real hot people in swimsuits! The worst kind of hot people in swimsuits!
There were guys in shorts and the odd speedo, girls in bikinis and one pieces of all sizes and colors. They were tall and hot and laughing and…..
She felt like her eyes were trying to pop out just staring at them all. How many were already up here!?
"Pikapi."
Ash nodded. Wha-don't just nod, translate!
"Wow, we already have that many. Guess everyone loves coming in for a good time!" He pointed to some of them.
"That's Vermell over there! He's the first of us to win a league championship, years before I did actually, and he's like Red but less of a jerk and can't breathe fire. Still doesn't talk much, but he actually can smile." He pointed to a dark haired guy sitting on a float in the lake, reading a book. Also breathing fire!?
"And there's Belladonna!" He pointed out a really tall and really...really…..tall, buxom, hot, girl with black hair dyed green at the end. Vedia was with her, playing volleyball with two other girls at one of several nets. "She's really nice when she doesn't see you as an enemy. Then she's terrifying."
Wasn't that….a worrying way of saying it.
"Oh that's Iolani! She's a Trial Captain in Alola." He pointed to a third girl in a white bikini who waved back at him, having noticed him unlike the other two. "She's actually the mentor to a friend of mine named Kiawe, and she's actually retiring from the position later this year."
"And that's Travis, his mom was the host of the last reunion. She's also kind of…."
"Can you name them all?" Chloe had to ask Ash before he could elaborate on Travis's mom. It was a legitimate question.
"If I study the family tree first, and without it I can remember a lot of them….just not everyone." Ash admitted as a thought only just came to her that she had only half-noticed due to… distractions…
15 year old distractions.
"I didn't pack a swimsuit, though." She said, but perhaps a bit louder than she intended as several people on the lake shore heard her and chimed in. A lot like Ash would if you mentioned anything around him in fact.
"It's okay!" one of the girls cheered. "I brought a few spares!" This sister of Ash's seemed to miss the fact she was at least half a foot taller, if not a full foot, than her and had much larger...everything.
"Pendula…." a Ash sister who looked surprisingly unbusty, but like a slender female Ash, corrected her as she blinked.
"Oh…." She only just seemed to realize that problem. "Oops...sorry Manna."
"I'd offer you one but…" The girl who was not embarrassed to be around her more buxom sisters, Manna, apologized. She was still taller than her after all by a fair bit, and just because she wasn't ultra super hot….did not mean that she wasn't bigger than her.
"Maybe one of the younger girls can lend you one. How many thirteen year olds are here now?" another older girl with honey colored hair and no Z-marks on her face in a sling bikini, said, not in a mocking way but as if she had thought the question through first to try and guess the correct age range to look at first.
"Seven I think….the younger ones take a while to come in"
"I'M FIFTEEN!"
She felt like she was just hit with an arrow to her pride. The blonde sister looked apologetic.
"I'm sorry but we all kind of grow up real hard and…"
"Also a few twelve year olds…" Someone else interjected. "Maybe one of them might have something to spare that'll fit her."
And more arrows right in the pride. What did she do to deserve this!? Aside from possibly being a bit ruder to Ash than she maybe, could have, perhaps, had to have been…...but surely that wasn't the reason!
...
Good news: Chloe wasn't given a two piece bikini, or a string one, or anything that would be quite provocative, but a modest one piece that accentuated her figure, sure, but felt comfortable regardless.
And it was white! Her favorite color!
Bad news: she was still surrounded by super hot people whose swimsuits only further emphasized how not-hot she was in comparison. Her only advantage was the incest taboo if it ever came to that.
"Hey, you look good in my swimsuit! You want to keep it?" A green haired girl with red eyes, Celesta from Johto, the thirteen and a quarter year old who she was borrowing the swimsuit from, said as she walked out in said borrowed white swimsuit.
"I mean I guess….you sure you don't want it back?" she cautiously asked as Celesta sighed, patting the side of the black bikini she was wearing.
"I wish, but I was starting to struggle to fit in. I really liked that one…" She looked over to the lake beach itself, where Betty was lying on a pool chair as Jamie the cooking second was putting suntan lotion on her back "...but puberty's kind of the worst."
She grew out of her own clothes quickly enough, but how bad was it for all these Ash siblings?
"I mean….can't be that bad if you can see the results." She assured the girl who had only her face to really show that she was younger. It had a bit more youthful roundness to it than anyone her age had.
"I mean I guess…" Celesta admitted, looking like she herself somewhat doubted she'd ever look like her sisters. Chloe could relate...her mother was a rather pretty woman and she always wondered if she'd ever look like her.
"Your first time….here." she quickly added in the last part.
"Actually my second." Celesta corrected.
"So Chloe, have you settled in yet?" Delia popped in, and she tried to answer but...but….
Ash's mom was hot! In a green one piece swimsuit that not only accentuated her figure, but was the same one from that article she had taken from her by Sara. The older woman still fit in the thing, and it made her look so..so...so...
Gah!
Delia chuckled, and Chloe was unsure if that was good or bad.
"I'll take that as a yes. Play hard Chloe, as you'll also work hard starting tonight. I'll get you when it is time to start working on dinner."
Chloe gulped and nodded with a smile. Okay, so Ash's family members were here, but did he invite any friends?
Actually, scratch that, she didn't need to know-
"Hi, Ash!"
Arceus dammit!
Chloe forced herself to turn around, and when she did, she saw a pair of girls approaching the group: a moderately tall one with shoulder-length Brown hair in a pink bikini, and a purple-haired girl shorter than Chloe and wearing a purple one piece.
"Serena! Acerola!" Ash chirped. "You made it!"
"Hey, Ash!" the smaller girl greeted. "Sorry, Serena and I took a while. Serena's mom bought some...unexpected items and it delayed us a bit!"
"What unexpected items?" Chloe asked bluntly.
But instead of getting an answer that could clue her into something later, what Chloe saw next was both girls kissing Ash in the cheeks, the both of them waving goodbye before diving into the water.
"Ah, those two," Ash smiled. "They're as affectionate as always. Oh, I could have introduced you to them properly Chloe, but it moved too fast and you never really seemed like you wanted to talk to them when they came by the lab. Maybe later…" .
"As always?" Chloe repeated. "What, do they do this often? What are they, your girlfriends?"
"Yup."
Why was she the only one who looked stunned!? No one seemed to hear that and go 'that's unusual!' Why was she the only one staring at him like something odd just happened!?
"Wait, you seriously are dating multiple girls?!" She might have been interested but she had been sure Ash was….well he was Ash! She had snarked, she had mocked, she had said things that weren't untrue but….Ash!? She was sure she had either misrepresented what it actually was or that Ash didn't notice.
He just had two girls kiss each of his cheeks like it was a normal thing to everyone!?
"Oh yeah….you might be a bit surprised about that." Delia, who had not gone 'my son is not a playboy degenerate like his father!' during the kisses, and was in fact smiling, said that like it was a minor detail like 'when lights out was' or something.
"Surprised about what?"
"Oh, a lot of us are in relationships like that. Like these three, they're my favorite people in the world." Belladonna, who had come over earlier to say hi to Ash in person, hugged the three girls she had been playing volleyball with tightly. She was sure Vedia was grinning at her as she got the hug, in a way to make it clear she had not forgotten the comparison to a child she had been given by her.
Do not envy the short girl….
"...what…." Chloe barely squeaked out.
Ash nodded. "Yup."
"...How on earth did that happen with multiple of you?!"
"Well I'm not sure myself…..I couldn't tell you why…."
She cut him off.
"No, I am not asking how you managed to be oblivious about that happening before it became blindingly obvious. I could totally see you accidentally charm a bunch of people into loving you and not realizing it. I could see you being completely off guard when they confessed to you. You are that… goal oriented… to miss clues. But why so many… why the others…"
"You'd have to ask everyone their own stories. There isn't just one answer for everyone." Ash blinked.
"Did that sound corny to anyone but me?"
"It did." Manna agreed.
"Yep." Travis shrugged.
"Still true, but so corny I kind of want some popcorn now." Belladonna thirded.
And as the chatter continued on the topic, Chloe leaned back and groaned. This was gonna be a long working vacation….
...
"You said your father is a scientist? What sort of scientist?" Lita asked. After everything in the day it was time to retire and get some sleep for the morning, and the two of them were retiring for the night to their individual beds.
"A Pokemon Professor." She explained simply, honestly because she tuned out enough of what he said she couldn't give anything more specific.
"...My mom's also a Professor." Lita admitted, and Chloe felt her curiosity peak about more than what Lita's pajamas would look like.
"...how many doctorates?"
"Three with eight minors."
"Five with six."
If she was more familiar with how people posture fighted over education she could probably take this into 'my dad is smarter than your mom' territory, but she had no idea how to do petty debates on that subject.
"My mom studies portals to other worlds. Ultra Wormholes, the Dream World. Stuff like that." Lita explained.
"I don't know what those are….though I guess I don't really pay attention. It's just work to me."
She didn't want to really admit it, but she really didn't know what her dad did. She tuned him out a lot, and it was just….work. Her mom's work was drawing and she fully understood that, but her father just worked.
"Well, it's a bit hard to miss when your mom has you help you." Lita didn't say it bitterly, though Chloe would have. She had experience after all, even if it was mostly when she was suspended for defending herself (so maybe, just maybe, is a teeny bit of projection).
"With sweeping?"
Lita taped the side of her head.
"With finding portal stuff. You know from Ash that what makes him, I, and the rest of our siblings different is that we have two bloodlines? That's why the sperm donor looked for a specific woman to seduce."
"Yeah…" she lied. She didn't know that. Er, maybe that was on her for never asking Ash about anything except where her chips why he couldn't eat more of Renji's stuff instead.
(Renji apparently hid his.)
But in her defense she didn't like seeking people out about things, and Ash usually came to ask her if she wanted to go with Goh into forests and caves or if she had anything she wanted from the store because he ate the snacks and was going to get them replaced before he left after helping Goh brave the forests and caves.
"One of the things I can do is see portal residue, for lack of a better word. Dream World stuff is pink like a Munna, yellow is Ultra Wormhole, green is….well something. We don't really know yet, just that it makes people disappear for a long time. Mom wanted to figure out how to find that stuff with technology so everyone can."
"So you were her prototype?" She guessed darkly as Lita crossed her arms rapidly in a x shaped display to the negative.
"No no nothing like that! I wasn't treated badly or anything, just taken to places everywhere to stare at things while my mom used electric stuff…."
Lia smiled.
"She actually finished making a handheld scanner with the help of a blonde from the Alola Region. Lusamine I think her name was….I've never seen her so happy. She had achieved such a breakthrough like she'd been trying for years, she didn't need to keep me around and let me do things I want to do, and her money situation improved."
"...We've never had to worry about that." Chloe said cautiously, feeling a little uneasy. For all the uninterest she had with her father's work, she knew it kept things running. She had never heard her parents argue about money, and she heard plenty from them.
The house wasn't as soundproof as they believed it to be...
"No need to apologize for that. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It just means it took me a bit longer to live my own life for what I want to do." Lita smiled, as if imagining achieving all her wants and dreams. "What do you want to do?"
"...I don't know." Chloe admitted.
CHAPTER END!
Cross: Would you believe this was originally meant to be a oneshot that got a lot larger than it was meant to be? If you don't….well you must be unfamiliar with my own work. Anyway, more chapters are to come. How many chapters….
Exotos: A few more. But don't worry, they'll all be stupidly long, too! XD
Cross: Chapters should be solid enough to smack a person with, like a blunt weapon.
Exotos: So, Cross' average word length, basically.
Cross: Anyway, hope this is what it sets out to be as a lighter Blossomingverse type story. Give us feedback to improve and see you next time.
Exotos: Bye~!