Chapter 16: A Septuple Betrayal in a Sextuple Team

(A/N: I read Dialga55's long review for Ch.15 and I wanted to say that I do write Red knowing that he has his personality from the manga as well as the games. I do think some parts of Ash's legacy will show up from time to time in this story as they're both important characters in pokemon. I clearly like Red more but Ash does have his good points despite the limitations of having to reset every few seasons arbitrarily (except for the 2019 reboot). Thank you everyone for continuing to read on, I have been going through some tough times here professionally so I hope I can continue to churn out chapters at a good pace.)

General

7, seven, 七… the number resounded in Red's head.

He had a brief flashback to his recent conversation with Professor Oak, "I hope that the 6 agents I sent you were helpful in your conflict today at least."

The conversation was so recent that he was certain he had not misheard.

What did it mean?

Every one of the girls who were a part of his team had introduced themselves as someone Professor Oak had sent to help him on his mission.

But he hadn't had a chance to think about how large his team was, it clearly conflicted with Professor Oak's recent update.

Red was lost in thought for a moment when it dawned on him what this meant, "One of my partners, is a traitor…"

Red was taken aback once again at the gravity of this revelation.

He wanted to believe that he was overreacting, that his dear partners were all there to help him defeat evil.

But at the same time, the enemy team forces he had to face so far certainly didn't seem surprised to see his team arrive at the scene of their crimes.

If someone in his group was an informant this whole time, it would make sense…

Red

So the question is, how do I find out who the potential traitor is?

I can't just go around asking everyone this because there's no guarantee I will be able to tell who's lying or not.

I really don't want to accidentally hurt someone's feelings, are friendship, or trust by accusing the wrong person either.

I wish I could ask Platina or Blue here for advice, but even in the case of Blue, I can't be certain that Team Neo doesn't have some dirt on her that she can't tell me about.

Sigh, I really wish I didn't have to suspect others of such an awful thing, but for the sake of this mission and the safety of the team I need to take responsibility for all of them and figure out who is the traitor.

If they happen to have something important to them being held hostage, then at least I can help them out and save them in that way…

So. Once again. What is the best way to understand what someone really is like.

…

I think the best way to do this without hurting anyone is to get to know them better personally and then get a sense for who is being the most suspicious.

I think I'll need some outside help on how to best get to know female friends personally… I think I have just the guy.

General

Red looked like he was deep in thought for quite a while before White, who had stepped up earlier, turned to face him with a look of concern.

"Hey Red, is everything alright?" She put her hand to his forehead and then touched it to her own.

"Odd, you don't seem to have a fever, but you do look a bit redder now Red." White said, while inadvertently being unaware of her quickly reddening cheeks.

"U-um… I'm alright White, I just remembered I need to call a friend about something, I will be right back everyone." Red excused himself from the group and proceeded to dial a number on his phone.

"Heyo Red, rare of you to call me out of the blue" a gruff voice came through the other side of the receiver.

"Hey Brock, I need a quick favor from you, I have some female friends with me right now and we're on a … trip together (Red barely caught himself from revealing he was on a secret mission), what's the best way to get to know a girl on a personal level?" Red asked nervously as he wasn't sure how to get this idea across to Brock without giving away the sensitive nature of the mission and his current objective.

Brock on the other hand, certainly got the idea… "Ah, I see, you're near that age now huh Red? I get it, alright I'm going to introduce you to this wonderful concept that will help you get to know any of those girls on a personal level. It's called going on a date." Brock snickered a bit on the other end of the phone but Red didn't notice.

"A date, what does that involve?" Red innocently asked on the other end. Of course, he had heard of them before, but he didn't know much about the details of one.

"A date involves taking someone who's important to you to a place and sharing fun experiences like eating food together, going to a café, or an amusement park. Pretty much the important part is just to take someone you care about or want to get closer to, and then do something fun together while getting to know each other better." Brock explained with the confidence of someone who had a lot of love experience (spoiler: he doesn't)

Red thought to himself "When you take someone you care about or want to get closer to, to get to know each other better? That's exactly what I'm looking for here, I should definitely let Brock know I appreciate his help".

"Thanks Brock, that makes a lot of sense, I will definitely be looking to take all 7 girls in my group on dates to get to know them better, I'll talk to you some other time!" Red hung up immediately afterward.

But before he hung up he could have sworn he heard Brock utter a "Wha?"

On Brock's end, "W-what does he mean dates with seven girls… was I wrong all along and Red was actually a natural player? Maybe I misheard…" Brock walked away from the call with his spirit thoroughly shaken to its core as he questioned the meaning of life and whether or not all humans were made equal.

Meanwhile, Red returned to the group with a much happier look than before.

"Did something good happen Red?" Crys asked with a large grin as she patted him on the back.

"Well I was hoping to get to know everyone better on a personal level so I was hoping to take everyone on a one on one date throughout our mission when we have time." Red said this was an innocuous and gentle smile.

On the other hand, all the girls collectively lost their minds.

(A/N: Hey everyone, hope y'all are doing well. I'm curious how many of you noticed the traitor twist before the end of last chapter and also when it was revealed this chapter. I've been planning this for a while, so I hope the readers like it. I'd like it if you look forward to the future mystery dates arc. I don't wanna spoil too much but it won't just be all consecutive date chapters going forward but I think this will be a good chance for each girl's strong points to shine as I like pretty much all the pokegirls.)