No, this chapter title does not refer to Platinum and Moon. They are not related. It's not confirmed. Anyone who insists that it is confirmed does not know the meaning of the word. In fact, it's more confirmed that they are not related.
Sisterly Bonds:
Pallet Town, Kanto, 7 am…
Blue quietly hummed to herself as she glanced up at the scenery in front of her before focusing on her sketchbook. It wasn't that much of a scenery, really. After all, it was just the peaceful neighborhood of Pallet Town. Still though, there was enough of a variance in things to draw in the scenery to keep Blue entertained for a while, and allow her to get more practice in drawing. And depending on the time of day and the weather, the scenery provided different things to sketch, making things much more interesting.
There was the Oak residence over there to the east with its western wall hidden in the shadow caused by the morning sun in the eastern sky. Near the Oak residence were a few more houses of other neighbors, each with a small variety of trees decorating their sides. Weaving between the houses was the main street of Pallet Town that went past Prof. Oak's lab in the south before ending at the beach that led to the southern ocean, and eventually leading to Route 1 to the north. The street was usually empty, since Pallet Town was quite small and peaceful, but sometimes, there would be visitors from Viridian City wanting to enjoy some fishing at the beach.
Blue focused on the lone visitor she spotted on the street, still fully immersed into sketching. She quickly decided on what pose would be best for the Rapidash, and settled in on having one of its front legs raised mid-step. The aesthetic flames had to look cool yet calm as well, and not interfere in sketching its rider, an elegant looking girl sitting calmly sideways on the Rapidash, and… wait, what? Blue rapidly blinked a few times to return to reality. She stared at the rough sketch on her sketchbook and quickly glanced up. A girl riding a Rapidash sideways? That could only be…
Sure enough, Blue could see Platinum sitting on her Rapidash slowly walking towards her, while the girl herself enjoyed some peaceful sightseeing. Blue waited for her junior to look in her direction before beginning to wave at her.
Platinum spotted her senior waving and quickly got off of her Rapidash. She gave her senior a polite bow and quickened her steps to a slight jog.
"Good morning, Platinum!" Blue said cheerfully once she was close enough.
"Good morning, senior," Platinum said with a bright smile.
Blue gave her junior a quick hug and patted her on the back. "Welcome to Pallet Town."
Platinum was a bit caught off guard by the sudden hug, but quickly loosened up and returned the hug. "Thank you. It is always so relaxing to come here."
"Lovely weather here today, isn't it? Was it the same in Sinnoh before you came here?"
Platinum glanced up at the cloudless sky and nodded. "Yes, it is quite beautiful today. And no, it was cloudy back home before I departed." She was about to ask if her senior had been waiting for her for long when she spotted the sketchbook on the small table. "Were you drawing, senior?"
"Yeah. I just wanted some practice," Blue said as she took the sketchbook in her hands. "Here, want to see?"
"Oh, this is incredible!" Platinum said once Blue showed her the current work in progress.
"So this one is just a sunny morning in Pallet Town." Blue began to flip the pages to show the heiress the previous works. "And this is Pallet Town during a rainy morning, rainy sunset, normal sunset, sunny autumn day, autumn sunset, and snow covered Pallet Town!"
Platinum received the sketchbook and carefully flipped through the pages. She stopped and let out a silent snicker when she saw one sketch of a peaceful Pallet Town, but with Red doing a funky pose in the middle of a street. "Is this… accurate?"
Blue glanced at the page and chuckled. "Yep. It sure is. Red saw me sketching so he just… did that, and I decided to put that in as well."
"This is really interesting, senior. Perhaps I should try sketching too," Platinum said wistfully. "The view from my balcony is quite wonderful. I would love to try sketching it."
"I can certainly give you some pointers if you're interested," Blue said. "I mean, I'm by no means an expert or professional, but it can't hurt, right?" She made a smug smile. "Although I will say, I've been doing this for many years now, so I daresay I'm quite proficient at it! In fact…" She squinted a bit and tilted her head as she stared at her junior's face. "I think I can draw your face in two seconds."
Platinum looked quite surprised but equally skeptical. "Really?"
"Observe!" Blue took her pencil and with a quick flurry of motion, drew something on the sketchbook. She then showed her junior the work.
Platinum frowned a bit as she only saw a large circle with two dots for eyes. "… Senior, this is just a… circle… with dots… And surely I do not look like this?"
"You have to stare into this real hard," Blue explained. "I can help you with seeing it a bit more clearly though. I'll just have to accent the minute sketch marks, like so." She then fully drew out the eyes to make them look a bit more realistic.
"I… still cannot see the nose and mouth," Platinum said, still confounded.
Blue let out a fake exasperated sigh. "I'll accent those too." She then properly drew out the nose and mouth.
Platinum finally caught on what her senior was doing here. Blue was joking about drawing within two seconds, and was using the fake explanation about accentuating the minute sketch marks to actually sketch way after the two second mark. Platinum began to giggle and Blue chuckled at her success.
"That was quite humorous, senior. I believe Diamond and Pearl could use something like this."
"Hehe. I wouldn't go that far. But hey, let's go inside, and I can show you some pointers for drawing!"
…
For a couple of hours, Blue showed Platinum the steps she took for sketching and drawing. And once she felt that she had shown her junior enough of the process, she let her take the pencil for a practice sketch.
Platinum had chosen her Glaceon and Red's Espeon sleeping next to each other in the corner of the room, and was sketching very carefully even though this was her first time and was supposed to be a rough sketch.
Blue suddenly jumped in surprise when her Pokégear vibrated in her pocket, also surprising Platinum since the two were sitting next to each other. Platinum almost messed up her very precise "rough" sketch, which would've irked her quite a bit. Blue took out her Pokégear to see what was up, and Platinum focused intently on the sketchbook once more to give her senior some privacy.
"… Huh. Interesting," Blue muttered as she stared at the message on her Pokégear.
"Is something wrong, senior?" Platinum asked.
"No, no. But Professor Elm just forwarded me a contract. The Osung Company in Johto wants to purchase the deep-range radio wave scanner that I made for the professor, so he wants me to contact them to decide. I'll have to make an arrangement to meet them today."
"A deep-range radio wave scanner?"
"Technically it's more of a psy-wave scanner used to detect certain Psychic type Pokémon brainwaves. I toned it down a bit so it could only scan and locate radio waves. It can track the location of a specific radio wave across huge distances, and can even use faint supersonic bursts to act as a portable radar. And now Osung Company wants to buy the patent."
"Why did you tone it down, senior?"
Blue smiled slyly. "Because it's prudent to leave the advantage for yourself. Besides, the psy-wave scanner mode I have on my device also tracks down the brainwaves of a certain small, blue, and very powerful Psychic type that I've been trying to see for a long time now. I can't give anyone else a device that's capable of doing that, now can I?"
"I see. For how much do you intend to sell the patent?"
Blue put a hand on her chin as she thought. "Hmm… I don't really know. I guess it'll depend on how much they're willing to give me." She snapped a finger as a thought occurred. "Oh, can you come with me? I think you can help raise the price quite a bit."
"Oh? How so?" Platinum asked.
"Well, it usually depends on who the representative is that I'll be meeting. But if it's a man and I go to meet him alone, chances are, he'll try to subtly intimidate me and pressure a deal that's not in my favor, and he certainly won't be phased by whatever I can say. So the price offered won't be acceptable. If Red was with me, that's not a concern, but he's not here today. So what I'll need this time is a competitor. So if you pretend to be a competitor who's also trying to buy the patent from me…"
Platinum nodded. "Ah, I see. We will be able to force him to offer you more."
"Exactly. Now come on, let's go prepare. You have to look the part, after all."
…
Goldenrod City, Johto, 11 am…
…
Blue and Platinum stood outside the Osung Company HQ in Goldenrod, to discuss their plan one last time. Blue opted to wear a one piece dress that ended in a knee-length skirt, giving her the air of formality while appearing mostly casual. Platinum wore a dark business casual suit that she borrowed from Blue, so that she would look like someone who was here purely on business. She had no idea that Blue even had a business casual suit, but apparently she did. And in order to better look the part, Platinum had even borrowed a briefcase with a contract in it. The contract was from another job Blue had taken a long time ago, but as long as its contents weren't read out loud, no one would know that it wasn't valid for this deal.
"Now remember, you're not supposed to know me personally," Blue whispered so that only Platinum could hear.
"Yes, of course. For this only, I shall refrain from addressing you as senior, senior," Platinum whispered back. "Though it may be difficult to overcome the force of habit." She cleared her throat and took a moment to erase all expressions to regain her default cold, unapproachable air of formality. "Please lead the way, Miss Blue," she said calmly, using the tone she used back at home when dealing with guests and servants, with a delicate balance that made her sound as if she was making a request, but one that was taken in as an order and thus impossible to refuse.
Blue raised her eyebrows, momentarily surprised at how different her junior sounded, now that the usual bright and cheerful tone was removed. She stepped towards the main entrance and waited as the automatic doors parted ways. She momentarily glanced around the lobby, spotting the variety of security cameras and personnel out of sheer habit. She found the front desk and walked up towards the receptionist.
"Can I help you?" the receptionist asked.
"I have a meeting with the company director in regards to a patent," Blue told her.
"One moment please." The receptionist typed something on the computer and checked the schedule. "Ah, Miss Blue, right? Please proceed to the meeting room on the 12th floor."
"Thank you."
Blue and Platinum took the elevator to the 12th floor. Upon stepping out of the elevator, they spotted a sign that led them towards the meeting room. Blue knocked on the door before opening it. There was a man dressed a full black business suit seated by the table, waiting for her.
"Ah, Miss Blue, thank you for coming all this way," he said, standing up for a moment. "Please, take a seat and…" he trailed off upon spotting Platinum standing behind Blue. "Oh? I was under the impression that you would be alone."
"This is Lady Berlitz from Sinnoh. She had come to Kanto to meet me in order to purchase the very patent that you are trying to purchase. And so I thought it would be wise if everyone gathered in one place so we could all discuss this together." Blue's lips formed a faint smirk as she recognized the look of surprise and alarm on the businessman's face at the sudden appearance of a competitor.
"O – Oh. … Welcome, Lady Berlitz. I am the director of Osung Company. Pleased to meet you."
"I am pleased to make your acquaintance as well, director," Platinum said graciously, but with a hint of irritation in her voice, as if she was annoyed at the fact that she had to come all the way to Johto when her business was in Kanto. She momentarily hesitated as she instinctively waited for her senior to sit first, but forced herself to overcome the habit and took her seat.
Blue took her seat on the other side of the large meeting table from the director, so that she could see the director and Platinum at once. The director walked over towards her to present the physical copy of the contract. And as Blue took the time to read the details on the documents while the director went to take his seat, Platinum presented her senior with the bogus contract from the borrowed briefcase.
"I see that there is no price on this contract," Blue said as she finished reading the actual contract. She then proceeded to pretend to read the bogus one while contemplating on the details of the real one.
"That's what we're here to discuss," the director said. He cast a glance at Platinum who offered no expression. "We are willing to offer you up to 1 million for the patent."
'That's pitifully low, given what you're probably going to do with this,' Blue thought as she clenched her teeth. 'As expected. If Red was here with me, you would've offered at least 5 million at the start…' She glanced at Platinum and moved her eyes a bit to the left, signaling her to proceed with the act.
Platinum saw and let out a huff. "Miss Blue, the Berlitz family is willing to purchase the patent for 12 million. It is a small price to pay for such a useful device that will be instrumental for our upcoming projects."
The director visibly flinched at the competition's offer. But he had to win here, as the patent would be critical for the near future.
'That's… a bit too big of a leap right from the get-go,' Blue thought.
"… We'll offer you 13 million," the director said, looking a bit pained.
Platinum examined Blue's expression before raising the bar again. "14 million."
"15 million!" the director said immediately.
Blue thought for a bit. 'If a competitor purchases the patent, the Osung Company will have to pay the competitor a portion of the revenue for each product sold that uses that patent. So if the company expects to sell enough units, it'll be better to buy the patent for a huge lump sum. But where is that break-even point? … Given how the director was so quick to raise it to 15 million, I'm guessing there's still some room here. Maybe to 20 million… I don't need all that anyways…'
"16 million," Platinum said, sounding quite annoyed.
The director cast a frustrated glare at her for a bit before staring at Blue. "Our final offer is 20 million."
Blue looked at Platinum but moved her eyes over to the right. 'That's enough now, Platinum.'
The heiress caught the hint and let out a defeated sigh. "… Very well then. Pursuing the patent any further will result in a deficit. Good day to you both."
Blue took the contract and walked over to the director so that he could write the correct sum and sign it. She signed the document afterwards, making the whole deal official. Platinum took the bogus contract and headed out of the meeting room, as she no longer had any reasons to stay, and she wanted to allow her senior to work out the specifics of the deal in privacy.
Blue mentally memorized the details that followed signing of the contract. Of course, she wasn't allowed to sell the patent any longer since she no longer owned it. But same as with the Silph Scope, she was allowed to use the device for herself if she needed to without any repercussions. She was to provide the full sample and its blueprints by next week, and she was not allowed to disclose the details of this deal with any third parties. The usual stuff.
She received the cheque for 20 million that she was going to cash in as soon as possible, and after the rudimentary handshaking necessary to signify the end of the deal, headed out of the meeting room and out of the company HQ. She immediately headed towards the bank to cash in the cheque before anything could happen. And once that was finished and she was suddenly rich, she set off to find Platinum. She had no idea where the heiress had gone, so she sent her a text message.
"Everything's finished. Where are you?"
The response came a minute later, as if the heiress was currently preoccupied.
"I am currently touring the radio tower."
Blue chuckled, finding it amusing that her junior chose to immediately go touring instead of sitting around at a bench somewhere and simply waiting for her. Oh well. Blue headed towards the radio tower, and sure enough, found the heiress waiting near the entrance.
"Ah, there you are," Blue said once she was close enough. She gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Thanks so much for your help, Platinum. You certainly deserve a huge cut of the money!"
"That is okay, senior. I was glad to help," Platinum said with a shake of her head.
"I mean, I'm not going to need all of the 20 million," Blue began. "And you were crucial in raising the price up that high."
"Senior, if you do not require all 20 million, I certainly would not."
Blue blinked a couple of times. "… Oh yeah. How could I have forgotten? Hahaha." She tilted her head and frowned a bit. "But I still want to thank you though. It's come to my attention that among all the juniors, you're the only one who turns down any expression of gratitude. And… we are close, aren't we?"
Platinum looked quite surprised. "Of course we are, senior! Among all of my seniors, I have always felt that I was closest to you."
"And Red? Tied for first place?"
"Yes. Of course."
Blue let out a whistle as she thought for a bit. "Tied for first place with him, huh? Hmm… so… you still look up to Red like an older brother, right?"
"Yes. And I always will."
"Then does that mean… you look up to me like a sister in law?" Blue asked with a slightly embarrassed grin.
Platinum looked a bit surprised again but smiled brightly. "If that is what you wish, yes! But is that…"
"Heh. Maybe one day, for sure…" Blue shook her head a bit and focused on her junior once more. "But listen. It'd be best for everyone if you accept other people's gratitude. I know that you want to help whenever possible, even in minor financial situations like when someone tries to buy lunch for you, but just… accept the offers. It'll make everyone feel happier. When someone wants to buy lunch for you, just go with it. When someone wants to take you on a tour somewhere, agree to it. Even if your juniors are the ones making the offers."
Platinum looked troubled as she thought for a while. "I… understand. But senior, I cannot receive payment from you for something like this…"
"Yeah, I get your point on that. So instead of giving you money that you don't ever need, I'll treat you to lunch and dinner. And we'll eat to our hearts' content. How does that sound?"
Platinum nodded with a smile. "I shall accept. Thank you very much, senior."
"Great! Come on, let's get on the Magnet Train. I know a really good place in Vermilion City."
"Yes, senior," Platinum said, as she began to follow her senior towards the Magnet Train station very close by. "Oh, I have thought of something while touring the radio tower."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Could you perhaps be able to upgrade your psy-wave scanner to use light instead of sonic waves for its radar capabilities?"
"Light? Not really, no. How would I use it?"
"You can measure the distance from the source of the light waves and its target using the phenomenon of redshift and blueshift. And with it, you can determine if the target is approaching the source or moving away. … Of course, given the speed of light and the comparably negligible distance we will be trying to calculate, the measurements have to be absolutely precise, or the margin of error would be quite substantial."
"Using light waves, huh? So if the target is moving away, the reflected light wavelengths are longer than the source light, so they appear redder, and if the target is moving closer, the wavelengths are crunched up so they appear bluer, right? Well, technically purple, but hey."
"Yes, that is the principle. And if you wish to be discreet, you can simply opt to use a light wave that is not within the visible spectrum. Using shorter wavelengths, thus ultraviolet, x-rays, and gamma rays, would be harmful to everyone, especially gamma rays. So using longer wavelengths such as infrared or microwaves would be better. Additionally, the light waves with longer wavelengths are beneficial to the human body."
Blue stopped before entering the Magnet Train station and thought for a bit. "Hmm… cameras generally emit an infrared beam if they have thermal vision capabilities, so using those infrared beam emitters and receivers, I might be able to fashion something out of it. I don't know if I could calibrate any sensor to accurately measure anywhere between one to one hundred millionth of a second that it takes for light to reach its target and back, but it'd be worth trying at the very least."
"And… may I watch you upgrade it?" Platinum asked. "I am greatly intrigued to see how it is performed."
"Oh? … Sure, why not. Let's see what we can do together! But for now, come on, let's go get some food!"
…
Pallet Town, Kanto, 2 pm…
…
Blue walked downstairs towards her workshop, with Platinum following behind her. The heiress glanced around at the illuminated basement, looking in awe at all the electronic devices and pieces scattered around here and there.
"Watch your step," Blue warned as she approached her worktable. "There might be a loose screw somewhere or something." She booted up her computer and looked around. "Okay. Before we start looking at the psy-wave scanner… let's look at a security camera's infrared beam emitter. Can you look inside that box over there?"
Platinum looked at where her senior was pointing and went over to investigate. She opened the box and saw a whole ton of electronic devices and their pieces. She momentarily stared blankly at the pile, wondering what she was supposed to take. But she soon found one that looked like one of those round cameras found in banks and carefully pulled it out of the box. Blue took the box and set it on the worktable while Platinum walked over to watch closely.
"Where did you get this, senior?"
Blue chuckled as she removed the external casing. "I bought it from a security firm. I needed its advanced motion detector for another device, and its rotational components for another one." She gave the empty casing back to Platinum and set the internal components on the table. "Okay. So here is the infrared beam emitter," she said, pointing at the small battery-shaped device underneath the main camera lens. "But… here's the first problem with the idea of using light waves. This is an infrared beam emitter. A beam is directional. It shoots light waves in a specific direction, and not all around. A sonar radar isn't directional, which is why it's useful."
Platinum nodded. "Oh, yes. Sound waves have much longer wavelengths and can diffuse easily, which allow them to bend around corners. Light waves do not have this property and thus cannot bend around corners and obstacles." She let out a short sigh. "I see that this is a critical problem. Alas, I am afraid that my idea will not work out as I had initially thought."
"Don't discourage yourself too much, Platinum," Blue said warmly. "It was a really good idea. And breakthroughs happen with these kinds of ideas. And at the very least, I can use your idea for instant distance measures in specific cases. You never know when it'll be useful. And later, I could tinker with it some more to make it more useful in generic cases." She looked at her junior and saw the disappointed expression, and decided that she needed to cheer her up. "Hey, Platinum, do you want a thermometer function on your Pokétch and Pokégear?"
"… A thermometer function?" Platinum asked, bewildered.
"Yeah. If you want, I can add a thermometer function on your Pokétch so you can see the surrounding temperature. And I can add a more advanced version onto your Pokégear so you can measure temperature of what's in front of the camera lens. It's very handy for cooking."
"I am intrigued, senior. How would you accomplish that?"
"All I need to do is take apart an electronic heat detector unit and isolate which components measure the temperature, and just compile that into a smaller processor unit. Then it's a matter of soldering it in, calibrating, and programming an application to utilize it." Blue looked at the baffled expression on her junior's face. "… It's easy once you're used to it. I've been doing this for over 15 years, after all. And it just so happens that I've done this kind of modification at least twice before, so I can easily add it to your Pokégear and Pokétch. So, would you like me to add it to your devices?"
Platinum quickly took out her Pokégear. "Yes, please!"
Blue took the Pokégear and set it on the table. "Thanks. Now… this is going to take a couple of hours. Do you want to watch the whole thing?"
"Yes, of course!" Platinum said excitedly. "And once I return home, I shall search the library for relevant books so that one day, I may perform these kinds of modifications myself!"
Blue chuckled. "Oh, I don't think your parents are going to like you trying to use a soldering iron. It can get quite dangerous, you know." She saw her junior's eyes sparkling with curiosity and enthusiasm, and lightly shook her head. "Heh. Why do I get the feeling that you'll be taking apart all sorts of electronic devices now? … Well, just for the record, I didn't suggest this to you! … And if you ever accidentally mess up an electronic device and you can't fix it or get it fixed, bring it to me and I'll see what I can do."