New poll alert! … There's a new poll on my profile page. Also if you check my Tumblr, the Pairing Shift post is quite important.

Just as clarification, White and Y are (were) afraid of Platinum for the same reasons as to why the younger Dex Holders would be afraid of Green or Silver. Platinum just looks too cold if she's not smiling. And the juniors would definitely be intimidated by her status. This… super rich heiress of really high class? Yep. Definitely a little bit scary. Especially if Gold and Emerald spread a false rumor that if you're rude to Platinum, her honor guards will come after you.

Infiltration:

Vaniville Town, Kalos…

"Whew," Y sighed out as she dropped the numerous shopping bags on the floor of her house. Behind her, White entered as well and she too, quickly set the multiple shopping bags on the floor.

"We finally made it," she said with a groan. "… Where are the boys when you need them?"

"I know, right? I mean, you didn't bring Black with you this time, and X is… well, he's somewhere."

"I bet Lady Platinum doesn't have to go through this kind of labor," White said as she plopped down onto the couch. "She'll probably have like an army of servants do the heavy lifting for her."

"Does Miss Platinum even go shopping?" Y asked as she sat next to her senior. "I don't think I ever saw her go shopping."

"Maybe someone does the shopping for her," White suggested. "But then again, she has her own preferences… Maybe her servants just know her preferences?"

"Hmm… there are a lot of things I'm curious about," Y said. "Like… what does Miss Platinum do on a normal day? I heard that she's a research assistant, but what does she do at home? What does she eat?"

An idea suddenly struck White. "… Maybe we can find out."

"Huh?"

"Without asking Lady Platinum, I mean. If we… go into her mansion as maids, we can see what the super rich heiress does on a daily basis. If we know that, whenever we ask her to join us in doing things, we'll know what she's used to."

"… And if we get caught?"

"Lady Platinum's really nice! She won't scold us too much. As long as we don't cause any damage."

Y still looked uncertain. "Um… okay. But how do we even go in there as maids without her knowing?"

White grinned. "I think I know someone who can help us…"

…

Few days later, Sandgem Town, Sinnoh…

…

White and Y followed the two Berlitz Mansion guards as they led them towards the front door of the colossal mansion. The door soon opened and a maid stood in the doorway.

"May I help you?"

"We're here as the new maids," White answered. "We were recommended by Julie."

"Oh, I see. Please follow me."

White and Y followed the maid inside the mansion and immediately realized that they were headed towards somewhere brand new. Normally, when they visited Platinum, they were sent to the guest room, and maybe the diner room. But this maid was leading them somewhere completely different.

A good sign. The first step was successful.

The maid took the two Dex Holders towards the dressing room so that they could change out of their casual clothes and into the appropriate clothes for the job.

"Here are your work clothes," she said as she set down two sets of clothes on a table. "And here are the keys to your lockers. And once you are fully dressed, head over to the library on the 8th floor."

"Okay, thank you."

The maid soon left the two Dex Holders to themselves. Y picked up her job-clothes.

"A maid dress, huh?" she said as she stared at the clothes. "It's so… elegant. But it looks like it'll be really hot to wear this thing all day."

"I'm sure they'll have air conditioning in here," White said as she took off her vest and neatly placed it in her provided locker.

Y took off her clothes and put them in the locker as well. She then proceeded to put on the maid dress when she noticed something.

"Um… I think we have our first puzzle."

White was about to take her shirt off but directed her attention to her junior. "Hm? What's wrong?"

Y frowned as she stared at the maid dress. "… How do we put this thing on? I don't see a zipper or a button anywhere…"

White checked the dress. "… Huh. It's not like a skirt, it's not like a shirt, and… hmm… We certainly don't want to stretch out the neck of this thing…"

"Let's just try to put it on," Y said as she crawled into the dress from below.

"I'll see if I can help," White said as she began to pull the dress down to help her junior. She grabbed the clothing and gave it a light yank downwards, intending to help Y find the neck of the dress and poke her head out.

"… Ow! That's my hair!" Y yelped out from the inside of the dress. White quickly grabbed the dress at a different location and pulled down. "Ow! Ow! My ear!"

"Sorry! Sorry!"

After what seemed like an hour, Y finally managed to poke her head through the neck of the dress. "Ow, damn it!" she growled out as she quickly checked the condition of her hair. She soon glared at her senior, who took a step backwards. "Now it's your turn! Hurry up and take your clothes off so I can force you through this thing!"

White took a step backwards while trying to calm her junior. The Kalos Dex Holder kept her fiery glare, so White took a nervous gulp and eyed the dress she had to wear. … Oh, this was… going to suck.

…

30 minutes later…

…

White and Y slowly made their way upstairs, feeling tired already. Both were missing a few strands of hair from the whole dress problem, and they were exhausted from that alone. And now, they had to climb so many stairs to get to the 8th floor.

"Ugh… what a disaster," White said with a sigh.

"Yeah… let's just hope for the better now."

The two girls slowly staggered towards the library. Platinum would still be at Prof. Rowan's lab, thus there were no risks of the two girls being detected at the library. But just in case, the two girls have opted to change a bit of their appearance.

White had changed her hairstyle into a side tail, while only allowing a few strands loose. Y had tied her hair into a large bun and again, kept a few strands loose. The objective was to make themselves unrecognizable to Platinum. They even put on a pair of glasses (with simple glass lenses) to look completely different. Or so they hoped. If Platinum stared at their faces, then this disguise definitely would not work. But at a glance, they would be unrecognizable. They'd find that out later though.

As to be expected from the library of the Berlitz Mansion, the "room" was filled with seemingly millions of books.

There were a handful of maids and servants already in the library, doing a variety of work. Some were dusting books, some were rearranging them, and some were simply cleaning up the walls and floor.

"So… what are we doing here?" Y asked, being careful not to distract anyone.

One of the servants approached them. "Ah, you two must be the new girls."

"Yes," White said with a smile. "We're ready for our first job."

"Good." The servant pointed at a large table near the entrance of the library, where a HUGE pile of books was stacked on top. "Those books were used by the Lady this week for her research paper. She has finished her paper and presenting her work today, and thus does not require those books anymore. She requested that we return these books to their places within a week, but we should try to put them away in their correct places before she returns."

Y's mouth gaped open a bit as she counted at least 200 books. The books were placed in a 4 by 10 grid and were 5 books high. And there were a few books scattered on top as well. Yep. Definitely more than 200.

"So… when does Lady P… I mean, the Lady return?" White asked, her eyes fixated on the mountain of books.

"In about two hours," the servant replied. "The Lady would most likely come to this library for her tea and reading time almost immediately."

White and Y glanced at each other. … That was a lot of work to do in such a little time.

"Okay, let's do this efficiently," White said. "We'll first start to arrange the books in the authors' order, and in a bit, I'll start putting them into their proper slots in the bookshelves."

"Yeah. When you're tired of running around, we'll trade roles."

…

White wiped away the perspiration on her forehead and picked up another armful of books that Y had organized. The Unova Dex Holder was just about to head over towards the bookshelves when the door to the library opened.

Immediately, all the maids and servants bowed as Platinum entered. White and Y quickly bowed as well in order to avoid looking suspicious. But now that their senior was here, their hearts began to race. What if the heiress immediately recognized them?

Platinum smiled at all of the maids and servants as she looked at each one. She suddenly stopped walking in front of two maids that she hadn't seen before. White and Y held their breaths as their senior was standing in front of them. The two girls remained in bow, hoping that the heiress would walk past them.

"My lady, these are the newest maids," one of the servants said.

"Oh, I see," Platinum said. "It is nice to meet you. If there is a problem, please do not hesitate to talk to me."

"Yes, my lady," the two girls said in unison, quietly so that the heiress may not recognize their voices.

Platinum stared at them for a few more seconds before she walked away. "I wish to have a cup of tea please," she said to the maids around her. "I wish to read for the next hour."

The heiress headed towards her reading room. Once she was out of sight, White and Y let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh wow… that was… nerve wrecking," Y said quietly as she pressed a hand over her heart.

"I know…"

"You two," a servant said as he approached them. "Prepare the Lady her tea, please. We will continue putting the books in the shelves."

"Okay. We're on it," White said without much thought. She exited the library and began to look around for a kitchen. There was probably a small one every floor for the guards and servants to have small coffee breaks every now and then.

"So this is our first opportunity!" Y said as she quickly matched her pace with her senior's. "If we follow Miss Platinum around, we can see what she does on a daily basis!"

"Yeah… as long as we don't get too close to her," White said. "It'd suck if we get detected now, after all that we did so far. I lost 13 strands of hair today. This kind of sacrifice demands a good outcome."

The two girls soon managed to find the kitchen and quickly boiled a pot of tea. They had no idea on the Platinum's preference of tea, as… they never saw her drink tea before. The heiress only drank what was available whenever she was with them, so White and Y had no way to knowing their senior's preference. Hopefully, the very first type of tea they spotted would work fine.

Once the pot was ready, White carried the pot and Y carried the cup and plate on a tray. The two girls carefully headed back towards the library, taking deep breaths to calm themselves down in the mean time.

Platinum was busy reading in the special reading room that was reserved for her. She was seated in a very comfortable looking chair, with her legs crossed as she rapidly read. She was seated pretty close to the windows, allowing her to read her books with the help of natural light, and providing her a calm view of Sandgem Town whenever she felt the urge to look outside.

White and Y stood frozen in the doorway to the room. Platinum was facing their direction due to the angle of her seat. And this room was… relatively small. When White or Y poured their senior her tea, the heiress would most certainly look up and would most likely recognize them. Y's hands began to shake a little, and the teacup and plate began to rattle on the tray. White quickly held the tray with her junior, preventing the cup and plate from rattling too much.

Platinum was completely unaware of their presence and kept reading. Her eyes moved across the pages so quickly, and she was flipping the pages so fast, it seemed like she was skipping the pages to look for pictures.

"She's… so fast," Y whispered to White.

"Yeah. But it makes sense," White whispered back. "Lady Platinum says she reads like 10 books a day, but I never saw her read. And she's never busy reading, so she must not spend a long time reading. She probably only spends a couple of hours, so she must read really quickly."

Y nodded, as that made sense. But… regardless, she still had to pour Platinum her tea. "So… who's going to… give her the tea?"

"Um… you go," White suggested quietly.

"Wh – What?" Y whispered in horror. "You go! You're my senior!"

"You're holding the tray," White argued silently, placing the pot of tea on the tray as well. "So go!"

"Miss Platinum will recognize me really quickly. She knows my voice. And the way I talk. And I can't fake a new voice or try to talk different! You… work for Pokéstar Studios, don't you? You own the place. So… use your acting skills!"

"I hire actors and actresses! I'm not an actress! I can't act. I can't fake my voice or… anything like that! Why do you think I never appear in any Pokéstar Studios films?"

The two guards in the room turned their attention on the two girls. One made a signal with his eyes, telling them to hurry up and give the heiress her tea already.

White silently groaned and made a decision. Everyone would become suspicious really soon. She took the tray from Y and carefully approached Platinum. She carefully set the small plate on the table in front of her and set the empty cup on it. Platinum glanced at the cup. White held her breath and slowly poured the tea with both hands, showing utmost courtesy, just like an actual maid.

"Here is your tea, my lady," White said in the most obvious faked voice in the whole world.

"Thank you very much," Platinum said with a kind smile as she looked up at the maid.

White froze when Platinum looked up directly at her. Fortunately, Platinum's glasses had slid down, and the room's light was behind White while the sunlight didn't reach high enough to reveal her face. And the Unova girl was wearing glasses! So perhaps there was a chance that Platinum did not recognize her though the blur, the shadow, and the disguise! And it was possible that Platinum was super distracted by the book she was reading. The Unova Dex Holder quickly bowed to hide her face and backed away.

Platinum took a sip of tea and resumed reading. White and Y still held their breaths as they quickly scurried away.

"Th – That was too close!" White whispered to Y.

"You think she recognized you?"

"I don't know. I don't think so?"

From behind, Platinum cast another glance at them. She raised her glasses and watched the two unfamiliar maids until they turned the corner in the hallway. One maid with really long blonde hair tied into large bun, and another maid with really long dark brown hair tied in a side tail… Interesting… Now, was it just her imagination that the brunette looked a little like White?

… No. Probably just her imagination. Why would the Unova Dex Holder be here, dressed as a maid? Platinum shook her head and resumed rapidly reading her book after another sip of tea.

From outside the library, White leaned against the wall with her hands over her heart.

"… I guess she didn't recognize me," she said between breaths.

"So… what now?" Y asked. "We learned that Miss Platinum reads books really quickly. What happens now?"

"Now you set up the dinner table in the dining hall," said a servant as he passed by with a tray filled with a variety of snacks for Platinum.

White pushed herself off the wall. "Alright. We're on it. Come on, let's see what Lady Platinum eats for dinner, and how."

…

Hundreds of plates later…

…

White and Y sat slumped by the corner of the dining hall, exhausted from setting up the gigantic table. They had no idea that a "dinner" meant a "feast for a hundred people". Did this really happen every day? No wonder Platinum preferred simple quiet dinners whenever she was with the Dex Holders.

Various servants and maids began to pour into the dining hall, each carrying a large plate. After a suspicious glance from one of the servants, White and Y forced their tired bodies to rise to help out once more.

Fortunately, the two girls were given a break after placing all the food on the tables. They didn't know what were in the plates as they were all covered up, so they couldn't see what Platinum ate on a regular basis. But at this point, they didn't care.

White and Y found a nice secluded corner to sit by and rest up. There was apparently a feast with multiple guests, and the more experienced servants and maids would take care of the petty needs of that feast.

"… This was a terrible idea," White mumbled as she leaned against the wall with her eyes closed. "… Who came up with this?"

"That was you," Y mumbled as a response, also leaning against the wall.

"… I'm tired," White said. "I didn't think that being a maid in this gigantic mansion would be this tiring…"

"Do we get paid for this?" Y asked as she looked over at her senior.

White shook her head. "… No… this was a special deal…"

Y sighed and leaned against the wall again. "… That sucks…"

For about an hour, the two Dex Holders remained slumped by the corner. They couldn't think of doing anything else, as they were just too tired from the day.

A servant suddenly approached them. White and Y groggily looked up at him.

"The Lady has called for you two," he said. "She wishes to see you immediately."

"Oh… um… where?" White asked as she struggled to get back up to her feet.

"She is currently in her relaxation room in the 7th floor."

"Alright… we're going," Y said as she got up as well.

The two girls slowly made their way towards the 7th floor. The maids and servants directed them towards Platinum's "relaxation" room, whatever that meant.

As they approached, they could hear music coming from ahead. For a brief moment, the two Dex Holders stood and listened to the music. It sounded like a quartet playing violins and other portable string instruments.

White and Y eventually entered Platinum's room. There was a quartet of musicians playing their instruments, while the heiress was in the balcony, watching the sunset while listening to the quartet.

"Um… did you call for us, my Lady?" Y asked in the second most faked voice in the world once the quartet stopped playing.

Platinum turned towards them and entered her room once more. "Yes, I did." She slowly approached the two and narrowed her eyes. "… Take off your glasses, please."

White and Y let out a nervous gulp and slowly took off their fake glasses. They tried to avoid eye contact, in hopes that their senior would not recognize them.

Platinum suddenly smiled. "Ah, just as I thought. White, Y, what are you two doing here, dressed like this?"

"We don't know what you mean," Y said with her same faked voice.

"Do not lie to me," Platinum said, sounding very cold despite appearing quite amused. "I recognized you two at the library. And White, I definitely recognized you when you poured my cup of tea. So I will ask again. What are you two doing here dressed like this?"

White let out a long sigh. "Alright, Lady Platinum. You caught us."

Platinum smiled happily and nodded. "As I thought."

"Sorry," Y said with a polite bow. "We didn't mean any harm or anything."

"I know," the heiress said as she sat on her chair. "Ordinarily, I would be upset if someone found a way to enter this mansion without my knowledge. However, I know that you two do not intend any harm, and you two have done some work in your time here. I heard that you two have arranged the books in my library, and you two have also assisted in setting up the tables for dinner. So I will forgive you for your illicit entry. But I am curious as to what your intent was."

"White and I were shopping, and… we wondered if you had to carry heavy shopping bags too," Y started. "And then we thought that someone may go shopping for you, which led us to wonder what your life was like on a daily basis."

"You could have asked me," Platinum said. "Or asked me to allow you to follow me for a day."

"We didn't want to be a nuisance," White said. "You wouldn't be able to do what you wanted to do if we followed you around."

Platinum slowly nodded. "Yes. Perhaps that is true. If you two were with me, I would not have spent an hour in the library. But now that you are here, I suppose we should do something fun tomorrow."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," White said.

"No, no. I wish to do something fun," Platinum said. "Change into your normal clothes. I will vacate a room for you for tonight. And tomorrow morning, we will head towards Snowpoint City, where we will be doing various activities such as skiing and skating."

"But we can't skate or ski," White said with a slight frown.

Platinum suddenly giggled a little. "Yes. I am aware. It would be entertaining to watch you attempt to ski or skate. And that will be your punishment for sneaking into this mansion." She suddenly stopped giggling and put on a (fake) serious expression. "Or would you prefer a different punishment?" She suddenly made a hand signal to someone behind her two juniors.

White and Y glanced back and saw a trio of guards looming over them.

"N – No, I think it'll be fun!" White quickly said to Platinum.

Platinum covered her mouth with her hand as she giggled some more. "Of course. Do not worry. It will be very fun." She directed her attention at the three guards. "Please vacate one of the guest rooms for my two juniors. And have that room cleaned up and ready for use."

"Yes, my lady."

White and Y let out a sigh of relief. Platinum gave them a warm smile. "Do not be so scared of me," she said. "You know that I will not harm you."

"We know," Y said.

Platinum looked down at her juniors' dresses again. "As I said, hurry up and change back into your normal clothes. When you return, we will think of something fun to do. And until you return, I will remain here listening to music."

"Okay."

White and Y bowed to their senior and headed downstairs towards the changing room. Platinum smiled as she watched them leave and signaled the quartet to begin playing their instruments again. She slowly closed her eyes and leaned back against her chair to enjoy the music.

"So, this wasn't too bad, was it?" Y asked.

"I think today went pretty good," White said. "Lady Platinum wasn't mad at us, we didn't cause any damage, and we got to see what she does on a daily basis. Now all we have to do is embarrass ourselves tomorrow, and lose another 20 strands of hair in about 3 minutes. And hopefully, we would've bonded with Lady Platinum enough to never attempt something like this again."

"And maybe tomorrow, after embarrassing ourselves on snow and ice, we can ask Miss Platinum to go shopping with us," Y suggested. "There, we'll see if we can get some servants to carry the bags for us."

"Maybe," White said with a nod. "But… I feel that Lady Platinum is playing with us right now. That scare with the guards, and making us embarrass ourselves tomorrow… she might actually make us carry her shopping bags. I mean, we did pretend to be her maids today."

"… Do you think Miss Platinum is… cruel enough to do that?"

White let out a shuddering sigh. "You know what, Y? I think she can be. I think she spent too much time with your team. Remember, Gold is a part of that team. And you'll never know if he managed to convince Lady Platinum that playing tricks can be funny…"

Next up:
So Sapphire thinks she's on a date with Ruby to one of the islands in southern Hoenn. But Ruby brings along White so that he could help her practice for an upcoming Contest. And of course, White brings Black. And just like that, what was once a date has become a jumbled mess.