Chapter 29: Breakthrough
AN: Hey everyone! I'm on a roll with all these chapters! Got the next one ready for you and I'll get started on the next one. Enjoy!
***I don't own anything in this story, so please don't sue me.***
Virginia walked back inside and Serena pulled out the couch and had gathered pillows and blankets for the two of them.
"It's…rather small for the three of us." Virginia noted as she sat on the edge of the bed.
"Virginia and Cream are having a sleepover in the backyard. It's just you and me. Which reminds me…" Serena's finger traced the length of her arm.
"Serena-"
"Come on, Virginia. You're so stressed out. It helps you unwind."
"Not. Here." Virginia remarked. "I…look, it's been a while since we've…" Her face flushed red, but she cleared her throat and continued. "...but we are guests here. We will not do…that…here."
"Come on, Virginia. Those puzzles and mind games can only do so much." Serena insisted, but Virginia shook her head.
"No. We…We can't. Not here." Virginia bit her bottom lip. She knew Serena was right, but she refused to perform such an act in someone else's home; much less within feet of two children. "I'll just…We'll figure this out together." Virginia rushed into the bathroom and shut the door. She splashed some cold water onto her face and closed her eyes.
'Pull yourself together, Virginia. You can not do this. Not here. Focus! Bring Genny home. That's what Sam was doing. Bring. Genny. Home.' Virginia clenched her teeth and started crying. She spent a few minutes crying and trying to pull herself together. She left the bathroom and went to bed.
"Virginia-"
"Good night." She huffed and went to sleep with her back to Serena. She was hurt, but she also went to bed with her back to Virginia. Hours passed and Virginia finally sat up. Serena was still sleeping, so Virginia slipped out of bed and quietly snuck out of the house and took a stroll by herself. No one was awake and there didn't seem to be any lights on.
'As long as I stay on the path, nothing bad can happen to me.' Virginia thought to herself. She walked into town and all that kept her company were the streetlights, the moon, and all the stars in the sky. Virginia walked until she came across a fountain. She knelt in front of it and stared at her reflection in the water.
"What's wrong with me? I can't…I…" Virginia felt her eyes watering.
"Surely, you're not giving up." A male voice uttered. Virginia yelped and turned around to see a man with a light stubble beard, he was wearing a grey outfit and a black bandana around his head. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up.
"Um…s-smoking is…is bad f-for your h-heal…health." Virginia nervously stammered as she took a step back.
"You are quite considerate. Thinking of my health." He said as he took a puff from his cigarette before exhaling.
"Who are you?" Virginia questioned the stranger with her eyes narrowing.
"I provide information."
"Information…" Virginia's eyes lit up. "Like, if I ask you to translate a book. Could you do that for me? Pretty please?" He took another puff and exhaled the smoke shortly after.
"No."
"But…I'll pay you. Whatever you want. I'll talk to mother about properly funding you. I'm sure Hyrule has deep enough pockets to-"
"Hyrule?" He questioned. "What is your name?"
"V-Virginia. Virginia Hyrule." He seemed surprised for a minute, but didn't stop smoking. "I'm surprised to see you…all grown up."
"You know me?" She spoke quietly before gasping. "Are you Snake? Are you my father?"
"Snake?" The man repeated her word.
"I…I spoke with mother. I mean, Queen Zelda. We spoke about him…are you…my father?"
"My name…" He began. "My name is David." Virginia felt her heart sink. All she wanted was a little shimmer of hope; a small sliver of positivity. But sadly, it was not meant to be.
"Figures…" She smirked while she tried to hold back her tears. "I guess father never really loved me."
"I wouldn't say that." David replied to her. "In any case, you seem troubled. What is the problem?" Virginia looked back at her reflection.
"What isn't the problem?" Virginia failed as the tears began streaming down her face. "I have this book that I can't seem to translate, I'm now protecting a laguz child whose parents are…I don't even know who they are, there's this lady who, I think, wants to kill Genny. Uh…Genny is the name of the laguz girl I'm watching over, you're still with me right?" Virginia explained and without any acknowledgement, she continued. "Anyway, she's heading towards Tellius, but I can't go there because it's dangerous. I'm also starting to feel stressed that maybe I'm not acting like a good girlfriend to Serena. Serena is my girlfriend and I really, really love her. She's the most incredible person in the world. Like, if she were to ask me to do anything in the whole wide world, I-"
"Virginia-"
"Right. Sorry." She quickly apologized and continued. "And then there are the reports that people are dying everywhere." Virginia finally finished and looked down. "If…If you'd like to pick one, maybe we can fix it together." She asked, hoping to find some assistance.
"If you ever find yourself in Tellius-"
"But I'm not heading there. Didn't you hear me?"
"If…If you head to Tellius. Enter any tavern and tell the barkeep you've need of a fireman. The man who approaches you, tell him your name and tell him an old friend wishes to call in a favor. If he does not ask for the favor, ignore that individual." David informed the princess.
"I…but…"
"Virginia Lynn Hyrule. Do you understand me?" The princess was taken aback by David's firm response.
"Ah…y-yes…" Virginia nodded her head. David took a step back and hesitated for a minute. "I understand your orders…and I won't force you to answer…but I'd like to know how much you know about me?" David turned around.
"I know much about you, Princess Virginia. Though you'll need to forgive me…I prefer my secrets."
"Oh…ok…" Virginia said with a deflating tone.
"Pick one." David told her.
"Pick what?"
"One of your troubles…pick one. I will offer some advice on one." Virginia began thinking and quickly processed which one was the most important.
'Finding Genny's parents…no! Serena…no! The book…no! Um…'
"Princess…"
"The book!" She blurted out. "I…I want help with figuring out the book." Virginia begged.
"You're thinking too small. Open your mind, and the answer will seem so simple." David informed her.
"You…that didn't solve anything!" Virginia blurted out.
"Hey, shut up there! Some of us are trying to sleep!" One man yelled from a window. Virginia turned around.
"I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!" Virginia called out and turned back around, but David was already gone. Virginia was upset, and amazed, that David was able to disappear so quickly. She looked down and thought about what he told her.
"You're thinking too small. Open your mind and the answer will seem so simple."
"Thinking too small…open my mind? What does he mean?" She quietly whispered to herself before quietly walking back to Vanilla's house. She quietly entered and saw Serena sitting up in front of the TV.
"Hey." She said quietly.
"Um…hi…" Virginia nervously replied and crawled back into bed. There was something on the TV and Virginia saw Samus Aran on the TV.
"Is everything alright between us?" Serena questioned the princess.
"Wh-What do you mean? Of course everything's alright."
"You…you just left in the middle of the night. I just…Virginia, I adore you."
"I…I love you too." Virginia leaned in and Serena hugged her.
"You want to stay up and watch this show?"
"Sure." Virginia snuggled up next to Serena. "What is it?"
"It's like a top ten scenario thing. The question was: what if your mom never won the tournament?" There was a sportswriter on the screen.
"If Samus never wins, one might ask a couple of questions. Is there anyone who admires Samus? Is there anyone who respects Samus? One might even ask: is there anyone who loves Samus?" There was a record scratch sound effect and he quickly added: "Oh God." A female reporter then appeared on the screen and she gasped.
"Does that mean…oh man! If Samus never wins a championship…does that mean Samus and Zelda never become a couple?" A different broadcaster appeared on a screen.
"If Samus never wins, then Zelda doesn't idolize her…which means Zelda doesn't try harder than what she already puts in…which robs us of the Cinderella story and the half inch…and we could be, in this scenario, talking about Samantha never being born." A cutaway to Samantha winning her first championship quickly disappears in a puff of smoke.
"Sam!" Virginia called out in a panic, but Serena held her a bit tighter.
"It's not real, Virginia."
"But…Sam's…" realizing what she meant, Serena quickly flipped off the program and hugged the princess.
"Virginia, I…I'm sorry." Serena apologized.
"I know I need to get over this, but…I don't know. I can't…Sam can't really be dead, right?" Serena didn't know what to say, so she stayed silent and hugged her tighter. "I'm never going to be as good as-"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence." Serena cut her off. "I know you don't think you're anything compared to your sister, but…I don't know her." Virginia lowered her head like she was ashamed of her. "But I know you. I know no one has a heart as big as yours, and your compassion is greater than anyone else I know. No one is as sweet as you."
"Th-Thank you." Virginia snuggled up next to Serena.
"Where did you go?" Serena questioned her princess girlfriend.
"I…um…just walked into town. I met this guy named David. He seemed…very interested in me."
"Ew. Like, creepy interested?"
"No, I…" Virginia nervously chucked with embarrassment. "…he said I was so grown up. It just felt…well, it felt like, something my father would ask."
"Really?" Serena raised an eyebrow. "What would your dad be doing in a place like this?"
"I don't know." Virginia murmured. "But, we should get some sleep. Tomorrow I'm going to collect that ol' book from Tails. I hope he can give me some information about it."
"Alright, let's get some sleep." Serena crawled back into bed and snuggled up with Virginia. "Ten bucks says he didn't come up with anything."
"Alright. Tails is super smart. I bet he has something." Virginia smiled and with that, the two fell asleep. Morning arrived much too early for both girls. Serena woke up first with her hair a complete mess. She rubbed one eye and slowly stood up.
"Good morning." Vanilla said and set two plates of pancakes in front of her. "Where's Virginia?"
"Still sleeping." She returned to the bed and gently shook her shoulder. "Wake up, sleepyhead." Virginia groaned.
"…mmm…five more minutes…" She pulled the covers over her head.
"Virginia, I'm going to pull the blanket off of you." Serena warned and Virginia smiled as her eyes barely opened.
"You're so mean to me…" She jokingly said while stretching. Serena yawned and rubbed her eyes again. "Vanilla made us breakfast. Then we'll head to Tails' house and figure out who won the bet." Virginia sat up and covered her mouth as she yawned.
"Very well." She stood up and walked over to the kitchen. Cosmo came by and held Genny in her arms.
"All done, Vanilla." She smiled and then noticed Serena and Virginia sitting at the table. "Good morning, you two."
"Hi V! Hi…um…" Genny tried concentrating on Serena's name.
"Serena." The woman told her.
"Suh…Suh…" Genny was trying her hardest to learn the other woman's name, but it seemed so long for the little child. "Sorry."
"It's ok. You'll learn it." Serena ran a hand through her hair and smiled. "Cosmo, has Tails had time to examine that old book Virginia lent him?" Cosmo set the child on the bed and looked down.
"I…I'm sorry. Tails ran it through every language he could think of and he couldn't find any results." Serena chuckled with satisfaction while Virginia looked gloomy.
"…every language?" Virginia reached into her wallet and she handed ten dollars to Serena.
"Keep it. You can repay me with compliments. Besides, I get to say I was right, for once." Virginia laughed and continued eating.
"He's also been trying to figure out how those red door things work."
"That's…that's nice and all, but…Cosmo, why are you here?" Virginia questioned.
"Vanilla seemed really busy and I was coming back to return your book. Sorry we couldn't help you."
"So, it's written in a language that no one can translate?" Virginia scratched her head. "It's impossible…" Virginia covered her eyes and she began crying. "But I can't give up. I won't give up." Her voice started to crack.
"We'll figure this out. You're the smart one, remember?" Serena tried to cheer her girlfriend up, but Virginia continued crying. Cosmo cleared her throat and Virginia did her best to stop crying.
"I-In any case, Tails would like to speak with you." Cosmo set Genny down on the couch and bowed to both girls. Virginia's eyes were red from crying, but she nodded her head to indicate she understood. Serena and Virginia finished their breakfast and Virginia took the dishes to wash them.
"Vanilla, thank you so much for everything." Virginia smiled while she cleaned the knives they used for breakfast. "If you ever want to take a vacation, or maybe…if you and Cream want to get away… please come visit Hyrule."
"Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that." Vanilla insisted.
"W-Well, you can't stop me from doing it either." Vanilla smiled in response to Virginia. "I'm serious, I will make all the arrangements. Mother taught me to pay it forward to those who show kindness to us. Everything will be taken care of at no expense to you."
"That's…that's too much."
"It's the least I can do." Virginia set the last plate in the rack and grabbed a towel. "Anytime you wish." Vanilla nodded her head and Virginia hugged the older rabbit woman. "Thank you." She said once more.
"Wait!" Genny yelled and hopped out of Serena's arms. She flew towards Cream and hugged her. "Bye."
"I'll miss you." Cream cried while hugging her new best friend for a few seconds before breaking the hug.
"Um…Vanilla, would they be able to stay one more night?" Cosmo asked the older rabbit woman.
"I…well, we wouldn't mind…but, Virginia made it clear that she had other important matters to attend to." Vanilla explained.
"Ok." Cosmo turned to the girls. "I think you'd better stay just one more day." Cream, Cheese, and Genny all cheered with joy at the suggestion.
"But…why? We don't want to be a burden or anything." Serena rubbed the back of her neck.
"Let's just talk to Tails and then you can decide." Cosmo motioned for her to follow her as the four of them waved goodbye. They took a short walk towards Tails' home. Tails looked back towards Cosmo and the group before waving.
"Hi, sweetie." Cosmo kissed her boyfriend.
"Ew." Genny stuck her tongue out to show her disgust. Everyone laughed and he kissed her once more on the cheek.
"I think I have an idea." Tails smirked. Before either girl could question him, Shadow and Knuckles walked up to his house.
"-you even listening to me?!" Knuckles yelled.
"I wish you'd shut up." Shadow remarked.
"What was that?!"
"Knuckles, please stop yelling!" Cosmo yelled at him. Everyone looked at Cosmo with confusion and she blushed with embarrassment. "S-Sorry…"
"Look, can we calm down for a moment? I have an idea that I'd like to share." Tails informed the group while opening the garage door. Inside was five giant computers.
"What's all this?" Knuckles asked.
"I'd like us to split up." Tails informed the group.
"What?" Knuckles and Shadow asked in unison.
"We know this much…" Tails typed a few keys into the computer and it said: Alola with a line towards Mobius. "I'm going to try and plan all this out. But in order to figure that out, I need information. So, we'll try to knock out two birds with one stone. Plus, I made some calls last night and we're going to have quite a lot of help."
"From who?" Shadow questioned the two tailed fox.
"Who do you think is coming to save you, dumbass?" A female voice chimed in. She was mainly purple with red shoes, and white clothing. She also had large orange tinted goggles resting just above her eyes. Next to her was a mean looking green guy with white fur on his chest. He also had red boots on and yellow tinted goggles on his face. On the other side of the girl was a burly looking guy with grey and white fur. He had small white goggles, orange colored gloves, and black and yellow boots.
"Wave? Jet? Storm? This is who you get to help us?" Knuckles scoffed while rolling his eyes.
"Fuck you, man. Tails said he was paying us." Jet glared at Knuckles.
"I never said I was paying you." Tails immediately replied with a serious tone.
"Wait…then…what?" Jet turned to Wave and raised his arms.
"Remember when I said I owe Tails a favor? Well, he cashed it in."
"We're doing this for free?!" Jet exclaimed.
"We're doing this and that's that!" Wave informed him. "Storm, do you have a problem with this?"
"Nah, I'm good." The big man shook his head as a couple more people walked towards the larger group.
"Is that…Espio, Vector, and Charmy too?" Shadow narrowed his eyes.
"I called in every favor I could and told them to meet me here. We're all going to test my theory and this way, we'll cover a lot more ground." Tails waited until all of his friends and allies gather around the garage. Many of whom the girls had not yet met before.
"Are we all here?" He questioned and quickly did a head count. "Good. If you have been paying attention to the news, there's a lot of…stuff happening. We're also missing the chaos emeralds and we need to find them. I've called you all here to help me collect data."
"What kind of data?" A light purple cat asked.
"Raise your hands if you've seen a bunch of red doors in unusual places." Virginia and Serena raised their hands, but to their surprise, a few other people raised their hands as well. "Those doors connect to different places. I've been working on these communication devices and I'd like to give them a try."
"What do they do?" The big gator inquired.
"They allow us to keep in contact…in theory."
"In theory?" Shade narrowed her eyes. "So, you don't even know if they actually work?"
"I…um…" Tails stammered. He didn't really have an explanation or an answer. Sonic approached a pair and put them on.
"I trust you, buddy."
"As do I!" Amy put on a headset.
"Me too." Sally did as the others did. "So…what do we do?"
"A red door appeared outside Sonic's house. I need a volunteer. Sonic? Amy? Sally?"
"I'll go first." Sally stepped forward.
"Thanks, Sally!" Tales smiled. "All you have to do is go through the door and find out where you are. The computer will collect the data and sent it back to me. After that, find the next red door and it'll keep transmitting data."
"That's it?" Charmy tilted his head to the side.
"That's it. I need to talk to Sonic and a couple other people. So hang tight." Tails said and he flew back down to the ground and called his closest friends to come to the backyard. Excluding Vanilla and Cream, everyone the girls met yesterday went in the backyard with Tails.
"Alright, so there's one more thing you all are getting." Tails added. "Each device is also a chaos emerald tracker. The more people I send out, the more information I can retrieve and we'll be able to find the emeralds quicker. All of you will have these headsets. They'll allow us to keep in radio contact with one another and that leads me to you two." Tails turned to Virginia and Serena. "This is for you." He handed them a small holo disc-like object. "This is a hologram communicator. This allows us to communicate the same way." Serena held it up and examined it.
"So…how does it work?"
"You push the little black button and it sends me a signal indicating you want to speak." Tails walked inside the back door of his house and after a few seconds, a smaller sized Tails appeared on the holo disc.
"Wow!" Genny gasped in awe.
"Aw…you look so cute." Virginia gushed before she bit her bottom lip with embarrassment.
"I think he's cute too." Cosmo winked at the princess.
"You know, you look the same size to me, too." Tails pointed out. "Anyway, this will track your movements as well. In case you find another chaos emerald, just let me know."
"Um…Mr. Tails? Cosmo said something about staying one more day."
"Yes. I didn't want to leave you high and dry, so I called Tikal and I'll introduce you to Blaze. I think Shadow better introduce you to Gamma so he might be able to run a larger test on different languages. But…that's all I can do. I'm really sorry."
"No, I'll…yes…we'll stay. Thank you." Virginia bowed her head before turning to Serena. "One. One more day. And then we have to go." Tails disappeared from the holo disc and returned to the backyard.
"Alright, wait here while I go grab Blaze and, Cosmo, could you-"
"On it." Cosmo walked inside the house for a moment.
"So, we're just walking through doors? How many do we need to walk through? And how do we get back?"
"Push the red button on the communicator. It'll return you back to the front of my house."
"Alright. Sounds simple enough." Sally nodded her head and looked at Sonic. "You better not touch my stuff while I'm gone."
"You don't trust me?" Sonic smirked while asking.
"Nope." Sally shook her head.
"Amy, help me out here." Amy held up her hands in defense.
"You're on your own. I'm not getting involved." Sonic rolled his eyes and Amy kissed his cheek. Sally chuckled and gave the group a thumbs up.
"If this helps us solve…whatever is happening, then I'm in." Sally waved goodbye and left the backyard. Tails returned with the blue cat from before.
"Virginia, this is Blaze. Blaze, this is-"
"Princess Hyrule. Second to the throne." Blaze smiled and lowered her head. "It is an honor and a privilege to be in your presence."
"Virginia has this book she needs translated. Do you recognize it?" Virginia held up the book and handed it to Blaze.
"Such strange symbols…" Blaze murmured as she flipped through the pages. "…where did you find this?"
"It was with my sister. She…ah…"
"Became one of them?" Blaze glanced up at her. Virginia silently nodded. "Sorry." She continued flipping through the book. "Well, I do not recognize the language, but these pictures…" She tapped one of the photos. "They look…a bit frightening."
"Yes. But…the language. I just…if someone can translate what it says…I think I can solve this whole thing."
"I am sorry that I cannot provide more assistance."
"No, I…thank you." Virginia smiled weakly as Blaze handed it back to her.
"Maybe Tikal knows something? I know she spends much of her time looking through books."
"Where can I find-"
"Tikal is on her way." Cosmo informed the group as she exited the house. "She said it might take her ten or twenty minutes to get here, so…where is Gamma?"
"He should be here in a bit." Shadow remarked. "I've never seen anything like this either." He said while looking at the cover. Virginia offered the book, but he shook his head.
"Let's go back to the front and see if Sally has recorded any information yet." Tails insisted while heading towards the front of his house. He looked at his computers and, sure enough, the computers were tracking…something.
"Let's see…" Tails began typing and looking at the data. "Looks like that door took her…to the Kanto region."
"Kanto?" Serena tilted her head ever so slightly to the side.
"Yeah…Saffron City. So it works!" Tails raised a hand up in celebration.
"Sally is in Saffron City…just like that?" Knuckles questioned. "That doesn't seem possible."
"Nothing makes sense anymore…" Amy placed a hand against her forehead and sighed.
"There's another one in the market. Next to the ice cream shop."
"On it." Sonic kissed his girlfriend one last time.
"I'll miss you." Amy smiled and her cheeks turned a light pink.
"I'll be back before you know it." Sonic lightly spanked Amy's butt before dashing off. Amy blushed a light red; partially from how much she loved her boyfriend, and partially because she was incredibly embarrassed that he did that in front of everyone.
"I'm getting something." Tails continued typing and staring at the screen. "Sonic went from the ice cream shop to…Goldenrod City." Tails sat back and let the computer do its thing. "Nothing left but to wait for them to come back."
"Wait! I want to go! Isn't there another door?" Amy asked with hope that there might be another door.
"There isn't one that I've-" There was suddenly, a loud thud against the ground, followed by a second and a third.
"That would be Gamma…" Shadow noted. And the group saw the giant robot approached the group.
"Gamma, where did you say you saw that red door? Was that at the foot of Dr. Eggman's base?"
"Affirmative." The robot stated.
"There you go, Amy. If you'd like an escort-"
"Please." Amy insisted and with that, she began walking with Shadow escorting her for protection purposes.
"So, that makes three…and with everyone else's help, I should have an acceptable amount of data in a couple days." Tails concluded before sitting on the ground. "And Tikal's on her way. So…maybe go ahead and meet the others." Tails suggested. "Or maybe go see if Cream wants to do something. I could suggest a couple things if you'd like."
"Um…well, they all sound like wonderful ideas. Could we…maybe do all of it?"
"Take the kid back to Vanilla's before you meet the others." Knuckles insisted before Cosmo glared at him. "You don't want her to hear curse words? You try telling Jet, Wave, and Storm not to curse. See where that gets you." Cosmo's expression softened as she knew he was right.
"W-Well…" Cosmo tried thinking of an alternative solution, but Serena had an idea first.
"Hey, Genny…you want to stay here with Cosmo? I bet she wants to play some games with you." Serena glanced up at the plant woman; not really suggesting, but implying that she play games with the child.
"Oh…oh yes. Genny, how would you like to…ah…look at clouds with me?" She pointed to the clouds high above her head. Genny looked up in wonder before nodding. Virginia let the child fly towards the woman and the two found a nice spot to admire the clouds.
"Cosmo is great with kids. She watches over Cream all the time." Tails insisted. "Blaze will also be here and Shade is here as well."
"Wait, hold on." Virginia turned to the mechanical robot. "M-Mr…Mr. Robot, sir…" Virginia nervously gulped hard and opened the book to a random page. "Can you…do you recognize this language?" The robot analyzed the book.
"Scanning…scanning…scan complete. Zero matches." Gamma replied. Virginia quietly growled in frustration.
"Thank you." She closed the book. "Here, just in case. We should leave our Pokémon to help keep Genny company."
"Good idea." Serena said and both girl sent out their Pokémon.
"Guys…can you stay here and keep Genny company? We're not going too far, but we'd feel a whole lot better if you all kept an eye on her." All seven Pokémon nodded their heads and walked towards Genny and Cosmo. Serena and Virginia handed the book to Tails and the two walked towards the front of Tails' house. They approached the first three who arrived who were still in disagreement with each other.
"-were playing us from the beginning, weren't you?"
"Jet, I'm thinking about us. We do this for him, we're clear. We don't owe him anything." Wave insisted. "It's for a good cause, Jet." She glanced up and noted the two women staring at her. "Didn't they tell you staring is impolite?" Waved called out towards them.
"S-sorry…" Virginia apologized while looking down.
"Who are you?" The green bird asked.
"V-Virginia." She gulped hard while refusing to look at Jet. "And…and she's Serena." Serena weakly smiled and raised a hand to say hi.
"Don't be scared. Jet's a fucking pussy." Wave smirked.
"Shut up." He pushed Wave back a step and she laughed.
"We're just…um…we're meeting everyone. We don't mean any trouble."
"You ain't in trouble, ladies." Storm chuckled. "Wave acts like a cold bitch, but deep down, she's a bigger pussy than Jet."
"Fuck you!" Wave and Jet said in unison.
"Anyway, Jet's the leader of this fucking group. Wave is the side chick-"
"I'm not a side chick!" She growled at Storm.
"And I'm the muscle. Name's Storm."
"It-It's very nice to meet you." Virginia grabbed Serena's hand and squeezed.
"Uh…well, it…um…it's nice meeting you." Serena took a step back.
"You know…what are you doing later tonight?" Jet took a step forward.
"Please…no." Virginia begged.
"I'm just asking." Jet insisted.
"Jet, come on-" Wave grabbed his arm.
"No, no…I got a good feeling about this one." Jet shook Wave off his and reached out to brush a few strands of Virginia's hair.
"Keep your hands off her." Serena slapped Jet's hand away from her. "She's my girlfriend and I am not as sweet as her."
"You got a little fire in ya…I like that."
"You're disgusting." Serena glared at him. "I'm done being nice. Stay the fuck away from her."
"Or what?" Jet's expression turned sour.
"Or the child's mother will eat you alive, Jet." A purple guy with a horn coming out where his nose should be. "Do you know who you're speaking to?"
"Some fucking kid. What does it matter?" Jet dismissed the new stranger.
"This is Princess Virginia Hyrule. Daughter of Queen Zelda and Samus."
"Wait…Samus Aran? The bounty hunter?" Storm questioned. "Jet, I think you better back off." Jet hesitated for a moment.
"No way. Y-You're not-"
"I am." Virginia squeaked from behind Serena.
"Your mom has quite the reputation." Serena whispered to her girlfriend while the two watched Jet slowly back away from her like she had some kind of sickness. Wave walked towards her and knelt down in front of her.
"You good?" She asked with concern in her eyes. "Don't mind Jet. He…he didn't mean nothing by what he said. He's just talking shit. You don't…your mom doesn't need to know about anything that happened here, right?" She seemed to be insisting that she not say anything to her mother. Virginia nodded in agreement.
"Jet! Wave! Storm!" Tails called out and the three quickly made their way towards the twin tailed fox.
"It's lucky that Samus is your mom." Serena smiled.
"That's not what I want." Virginia quietly hissed. "I don't want to be known as Samus Aran's daughter. Or Sam's sister. I want to be my own person. Am I so weak that my reputation means nothing?" Virginia questioned.
"V…Virginia. You are your own person. I fell in love with Virginia Lynn Hyrule. Not Samus Aran, not your sister, you." Serena reassured her before kissing her.
"I love you, Serena…sorry I'm not…tougher."
"I like being the one who protects you. It's a pretty big ego boost." Serena stuck her tongue out and leaned close to her. "We seriously need to find alone time…just you and me." Virginia knew what Serena was implying; and deep down, she wanted it too, but there was a time and a place for everything. This was neither for either of them.
"Princess, allow me to introduce myself and my team. My name is Espio and one third of the Chaotix Detective Agency." Virginia's head snapped towards him.
"Detective agency? So…you might be able to help me."
"We don't work for free." Espio reminded her.
"If I needed information about a young girl with practically no information about her parents, how much would that cost me?"
"Three hundred for basic stuff. Three thousand for a detailed report." He casually sighed.
"I will not pay if the information isn't solid." Virginia stated. Espio stared at her like she insulted his reputation.
"Our information is sincere, I assure you." Virginia backed down.
"Ok…s-sorry."
"We'll keep you in mind." Serena told him. "Where are the other two? You said you are one third of that agency…where are the other two?"
"Vector! Charmy! Come here." Espio instructed and the two of them approached the girls. "This is Vector and Charmy. Should you accept our services…Vector and Charmy can find…whatever you need. We're truly dedicated to the-"
"Done." Virginia handed them three hundred dollars from her wallet. "This is all I have."
"You're a princess." Espio noted.
"I'm not like my mother. I chose to leave home. I wanted to make a name for myself." Virginia explained. "I trust that your agency can provide the basic information about her?"
"Who're we talkin' about?" Vector questioned.
"A young girl named Genny. Here's what we know." Virginia began, but was pulled aside by Serena.
"How do we know we can trust them? They don't exactly look…trustworthy." Serena quietly stated.
"Hey!" Vector called out.
"No offence." Serena smiled and quickly turned back to Virginia.
"Mother taught me to trust those around me. If they are as good as they claim to be, then they should be able to provide by tomorrow morning."
"And if they can't?" Virginia turned to the trio.
"Then I expect a full refund."
"Are you serious?!" Vector exclaimed. "No way we're-"
"What is the current time?" She questioned the group.
"Eight…eight thirty." Charmy replied with a great big smile.
"Alright. You have until noon tomorrow to either provide me with a name. If you are as good as you claim to be, this shouldn't be a problem." She looked at Espio and tried her best to withhold a smile. Espio chuckled and smiled at Virginia.
"We accept." Espio nodded his head and folded his arms. "We need to know about the girl though." Virginia gave the agency every detail she had and everything Samantha gave her.
"Alright, I think we can find some little girl's parents." Vector said with confidence.
"We have until noon, right?" Espio questioned and Virginia nodded. "Alright. We'll have something by then."
"Thank you." Virginia turned to Serena. "Shall we go back and formally ask Vanilla if we can stay one more night?"
"Of course." Serena smiled and the two of them returned to the backyard with Genny and the rest of their Pokémon. Virginia scooped up pancham and Genny was playing patty cake with Cosmo.
"Hi V!" Genny waved and continued playing with Cosmo. Next to her sat braixen who watched them with a smile. K-9 was playing with Torch and Zap while Aqua took a nap underneath a tree with sylveon nearby.
"Hi, Pancham." Virginia kissed his forehead. Pancham tried pushing her away, but secretly, he wanted the attention.
"Genny, we're going back to…" She looked up and saw a light orange woman with braids. Two of her braids were wrapped in white tape and she was donning a whole lot of gold around her forehead, neck, and arms. Her eyes were blue like the ocean and she was a pretty smile.
"Tikal." Shade said while she hugged her dear friend. They broke the hug shortly after and she hugged Knuckles.
"How are you, Knuckles?"
"I'm alright." Knuckles smiled and she walked towards Tails. Tails in and said something quiet to her and pointed in the direction of Virginia. She approached the two of them and, with her cheery smile, she walked right up to the two girls.
"You must be Virginia." She looked at Serena with adoration.
"Actually…she's Virginia. My name is Serena." She smiled.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." She apologized and turned to the princess. "Princess Hyrule…my name is Tikal. I understand you have something you'd like me to look at." She held up the book that was with Tails.
"Please…I'll take anything. Even if it's a single word, I'll take anything." Virginia begged.
"Will you be here?"
"I'll be at Vanilla's home."
"Alright." Tikal nodded her head. "I'll give her a call tonight. Give me some time to review it. I'll let you know what I find."
"Thank you." Virginia smiled and with that, the two women, along with Genny and all their Pokémon, left Tails' house and started walking back towards Vanilla's house.
"She seems nice." Serena noted.
"Yeah…" Virginia seemed distracted as they walked and Serena picked up on that.
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Virginia quickly stated. Serena knew better than to push her button so, she kept quiet for now. Vanilla was outside watering the flowers while Cream was playing with a doll. Vanilla looked up and smiled.
"Hello, ladies. Your bed is just as you left it." She stood up and brushed off the dirt from her skirt.
"If it's alright with you, we'd like to start on a small brunch…if you'd like."
"That would be wonderful. Do you need to purchase something, or-"
"No, we'll figure something out, thank you." Serena smiled and set Genny down next to Cream before the two women went inside. Accompanied by Aqua, K-9, Braixen, and Sylveon, the girls walked towards the kitchen to make lunch. The other Pokémon stayed outside to protect and play with Genny and Cream.
"We've got…" Serena began as she opened the fridge and looked at what was available. "Vegetables, some cold cuts, cheese…do we have broth?"
"Chicken and beef." Virginia replied as she grabbed a can. "I'm feeling chicken. What do you think?"
"Whatever you decide." Serena began taking vegetables out and placing them on the counter. Virginia put back the beef broth and the two began to cook; Virginia cooking brunch and Serena cooking a snack for their Pokémon. An hour into them prepping their food, the phone began to ring.
"I got it." Virginia washed and dried her hands before answering the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Virginia? It's Tikal."
"Oh…hello. Have you had time to look at the book?" Serena looked up and Virginia mouthed the words: Tikal while pointing at the phone.
"I think…I think I've figured it out."