Chapter 40: The Berlitz Blitz Finale

(A/N: Happy New Years, hope y'all enjoy the early chapter as a New Years Gift from me. I'm still trudging through my childhood in BDSP right now, as for Natsu27's review, yeah Cynthia is gonna have a good matchup against me at this rate lol, so I'll probably switch some of them out as I go through my playthrough. Currently just choosing some of my favorite pokemon to use. Anyway, I'm hoping that the holidays are/have been, going well for y'all. I'm currently still looking for a place to stay so that'll be occupying my time. Either way, enjoy the finale to the Berlitz Blitz arc, and to avoid confusion that we had last time, this is not the end of the story, arc finales are just the finale of a certain storyline.)

General

Time seemed to stand still as Red saw the serious look on Johanna's face.

It was odd, beforehand he could have sworn that she was looking at him with a somewhat approving face. But that look was nowhere to be seen now.

Johanna didn't look like she was angry at him, but she had a stern and serious expression that was a stark contrast to the one she had earlier.

"Honestly, I don't think I'm worthy of Platina…"

Red's words reverberated through the fancy room, silencing it the same way that Johanna's question had just done a few moments before.

"Well if that's the cas- "

"But I think that together I could reach that level!"

Johanna couldn't even finish her thought before Red's outburst cut her off.

Red continued on "I know that I'm still lacking in many ways, but I think that Platina is special to me and that an important part of a healthy relationship involves growing together and learning through mistakes."

Platina had mixed feelings from Red's response. On the one hand, she was touched by Red's words and thought they were very well thought out, especially since this was just all a facade for her sake. On the other hand… if he could think that deeply about the nature of a relationship, why was he so dense most of the time?

Red, having said his piece, looked over to Platina for reassurance and notice that she had a complex expression on her face.

He wouldn't have described it as a happy face… but he also couldn't say that she looked particularly upset. Her usually pristine face was currently wearing a … conflicted look on it.

He wasn't sure what to make of that expression so he looked back to Johanna and Jonah, and to his surprise, they both looked happy with that answer.

In Johanna and Jonah's heads, they had already decided that Red was worthy of Platina before Johanna had even asked her last question. This was mostly just her trying to feel out how Red would respond to things not going his way.

In case he was the manipulative type, Johanna wanted to see what would happen when he was caught off guard. As expected, Red seemed like an honest young man who wasn't trying to play any games or take advantage of Platina. His answer just seemed like he spoke what he thought and that was all there was to it.

While Platina was still trying to get her wits about her, Johanna went ahead and took back control of the situation.

"Is that so… hmm…"

To Platina, the tension in the room seemed to have been continuously elevating.

Johanna paused a bit while gauging his reaction, since his resolve didn't look shaken, she noted that as satisfactory and continued with her response.

"That's… great! It's not exactly what I expected you to say, but I think that's certainly a good way to approach the issue. At the end of the day, Platina might not know this, but we've always cared about her happiness. I think it says a lot about your character that you can understand that you're not infallible but will still persevere none the less."

"Do you think that Platina would have been happier marrying someone as well off as Paul?" Red unexpectedly asked.

"Noooo, we've already won Redddd" was all that was going through Platina's head when she heard this. She was also still shocked due to the revelation that her parents actually cared about her happiness ultimately when it came to her marriage prospects. That was the whole reason she had come up with this faux fiancé plan in the first place. Not that she was complaining now that she got to act out her wildest dreams with him…

"I don't know for sure, but at the very least, I can tell that you are both a good match… good job finding this one dear." Johanna said with a gentle smile as she commended her daughter.

"Thanks mom… I really love him so I'm glad that you approve. Frankly, I didn't think that both of you would be okay with me choosing my fiancé for myself." Platina said this with a genuine look of happiness.

The tension that was rising in the room beforehand had completely dissipated. Platina was shocked that this was the result of their meeting.

She had came into this meeting just hoping to convince her parents to postpone her engagement to someone else and then being able to buy some time to get closer to Red. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that she would be able to postpone the engagement, and also get her parents approval for Red. Honestly, now that the hard part of convincing her parents to accept Red was over, she felt that she could finally rest easy and focus completely on winning his heart.

As for Red… the tension being released also made him feel relieved, but as he watched Platina's reaction to her parent's words. It was his turn to consider why he was feeling so relieved.

He usually tried as hard as he could in any situation when it came to pokemon battling, but it occurred to him in that moment as he looked at the Berlitz family's happy expressions that maybe he should start thinking a bit more seriously about his own feelings towards not only Platina, but his other cherished teammates.

Before, he thought that since he had never had any experience with love before, maybe he just wasn't very likeable on a romantic note. As a result, he had a very entrenched habit of interpreting any kind of closeness with others as purely platonic.

Today was only a fake meeting that aimed to help Platina out of her marriage situation which would help them complete their mission with more focus.

But it felt quite natural to him to talk about how much he cared about one of his dear friends and teammates… and somehow instinctually he could tell that Platina's words of endearment were at least not completely fake.

The thing that was leaving him confused was the fact that whatever feelings he felt for Platina… he felt that they were very similar to the ones he had for everyone on his team.

So … where did that leave him?

As Red was ruminating over the meaning of relationships between people, Johanna took control of the atmosphere and clapped her hands together to get Red and Platina's attention.

"Formally, we want you to know that your father and I approve of your proposed engagement. Now of course, I expect a video of your actual proposal later, if you are dating with the intention of marriage, just know that we are both onboard with the idea." Johanna had apparently silently discussed this matter with Jonah, while Red and Platina were processing the previous situation. In reality though, Johanna looked to Jonah and received a nod of approval as he seemed to be on the same wavelength as his wife.

Before Platina had a chance to get all giddy again, her mother continued on with her monologue.

"That reminds me, we were originally invited to a prestigious financier event in Veilstone, which is why we were here in the first place. Since this is a meeting with a large and important new organization… the decision makers of influential families would be attending this. Which had got me thinking, maybe Red and you could go in our stead and start learning what it's like to be a Berlitz in the public eye?"

Johanna dropped this request out of nowhere, and Red was left without a good response. He hadn't come into this meeting expecting to be performing official couple related duties afterward as well. And there was still the imminent matter of the infiltration meeting into Team Neo's Veilstone headquarters.

Platina was able to respond in time though, likely because she was used to attending these kinds of events with her parents.

"Sorry mom and dad, we have an important mission that we'll need to handle. That being said, I'm surprised that there was an organization important enough to get both of you to come down here and meet them in person. Usually newer companies and organizations would settle for introducing themselves over video calls or with your representatives."

"Usually that is the case, but this new organization is really making waves around here in Sinnoh, so we thought it would be best to make the connection early on. Also, we probably still wouldn't have attended in person if we hadn't heard that you were looking to come back home. Since the timing lined up, we decided to come at the last minute, since they don't expect your father and I to be attending in person, it shouldn't be a problem if the two of you come as our representatives. It'll also give your father and I some time for a breather since we've been working so hard recently. If you're worried about rumors of the engagement to Paul, don't worry about it. If you want us to do so, we can easily spread the news that you intend to go steady with Red."

Johanna gave a long-winded response about the circumstances and Platina now understood a bit better about why she was meeting her parents in person so soon after she had announced her temporary return to Sinnoh… that being said, she had to make sure she prevented her parents from embarrassing her (and causing trouble with the other team members).

"T-there'll be no need for that mom, we can start spreading the word when the engagement becomes official… until then we want to keep it lowkey, right Red?"

"R-right because we're trying to be serious here, I'd also prefer if we don't attract too much attention from people who would be interested in our situation."

Red was being ambiguous here, but he clearly was thinking about the headache and tension in the team if this fake relationship was broadcast all around Sinnoh while the team was working there.

"Alright dear, if you change your mind please let us know. The Berlitz network is always ready when you need it. As for the meeting, I can understand you might be too busy, but this organization that has been gaining steam recently is called The Neo Organization. They've been gaining tons of support and funding from people around Sinnoh in the pursuit of utilizing the power of pokemon for world peace. Since it's a noble goal that's related to our research on pokemon evolution and its benefits, we thought we should at least hear them out at the conference they're hosting tonight."

"Wait, did you say The Neo Organization?"

Platina looked shocked by the news that her parents were going to be involved with what sounded like Team Neo.

"Are they hosting the conference in the old Team Galactic Building to the northeast of here by any chance?"

"Yes they are! Although you don't have to worry, I know you have bad memories of that building but this time around The Neo Organization seems completely clean, we had our intelligence network look into their background before we decided to come to their conference. Every agent that reported back said they were completely clean and normal."

Red and Platina shared a look with each other, was this really the same Team Neo that they had been interacting with? They didn't really fit the description of… covert or subtle.

"In that case, we'd love to go in your place!"

Platina's sudden change of heart somewhat surprised Johanna, who knew her daughter to have a stubborn streak.

"Oh, you've heard of them before so now you're interested huh? It's good that you can identify an opportunity when you see one dear, feel free to take our place, we can arrange for you to head over there immediately if you're ready."

Platina looked to Red for confirmation, he gave a slight nod and she then turned back to her mom and said "We can go right away, thanks for the opportunity!"

"Of course dear, this'll be your first chance to show off Red to some influential people so I look forward to hearing how it goes later."

Johanna had a mischievous look on her face as she teased her daughter.

Platina on the other hand, knew that they were probably going to show off Red's skills when they confronted Team Neo, just not in the manner that her parents were expecting.

"We'll do just that, thanks again mom and dad, I really appreciate it. We'll make sure that the people at the conference have a good impression of us and we'll try not to cause too much trouble…"

She trailed off as she thought about how it was nearly inevitable that a battle would be started but she didn't want her parents to be worried about that fact for now.

Her mom caught the look she made at the end but didn't dwell on it too much, maybe that was Platina's way of showing she was nervous despite her usual composure.

Red and Platina then bowed to Platina's parents, and made there way out of the building as they headed towards their fated encounter with "The Neo Organization".

(A/N: Hoping y'all are having a great new years, I'll be writing the story as ideas come up. But I hope that the earlier chapter was a good new years present.)