Chapter 10: Truth and Deception
August 12, Viridian City, Kanto, 2 pm…
Red gently patted Blue's back as she cried into his shoulder. He realized that while he hadn't heard her crying that many times in the past, he remembered her crying like this just once before. This wasn't fake, like that one time when she had scammed the crap out of him. And this wasn't from misery or pain. Instead, this was from relief and joy of acceptance, just like the time when Prof. Oak had given her a Pokédex all those years ago. As a result, Blue didn't cry for too long. She calmed down pretty quickly and noticeably relaxed while hugging him.
Blue closed her eyes as her sobs died out, and let out a long contented sigh. The anxieties that had been building up inside her for years have suddenly disappeared. And so for once in her life, there was nothing nagging at her from the inside, and there were no thoughts desperately racing across her mind.
"Are you okay now, Blue?" Red asked softly.
Blue nodded. "Yeah… I'm okay now. … And… thanks to you, I'll be perfectly okay from now on." She pulled back from the embrace and looked up at him admiringly. "And I won't have anything to worry about."
She wiped away the last of her tears and smiled brightly. Red smiled back, noticing that this was the happiest smile he had ever seen on her face. … Although… the smile she had on when he had offered her to live with him looked pretty happy too. Well, as long as she was happy, it was good enough. And she looked really happy right now.
"That's good to hear," he said. "And I'm really glad to see you this happy. I'll do all I can to keep you that way."
Blue blushed embarrassedly and slightly lowered her head. "Thank you so much, Red," she said timidly. "Words can't express what I'm feeling right now. I feel so… happy and giddy, also kind of silly for being so scared and worried before, and such relief that I don't know if this is real or a dream…" She looked down and gently took his hands. "And as much as I want to just stay like this with you… I think I need some time to sort out my thoughts and feelings and organize myself a little."
Red nodded as he massaged her hands. He had been successful in his talks with her and had gotten her to confess. He had accomplished all that he had been trying (and then some), so he felt that it was okay to withdraw for now. He didn't want to push things too far too quickly. He needed time to sort things out as well, and ponder about their future. "Okay. Take your time, Blue."
Blue gave his hands a gentle squeeze. "And later tonight, when we're alone, we'll have to talk. I'm sure we'll have a lot to discuss."
…
"Ah, it worked!" White squealed in delight, as she watched Blue giving Red a quick kiss on the cheek before heading inside the Pokémon Center.
Y giggled happily as well. "She looked so happy!"
"Yes, she did," Platinum said with a smile, though she sounded a bit grumpy from having been boxed in by her juniors. She struggled to free herself from them but to no avail. "Now release me."
"I guess the show's over," White said as she stepped away from the corner, giving Platinum enough space to pull away. "… Sorry, Lady Platinum."
Platinum let out an annoyed huff and straightened out her shirt. "Now let us return to the Pokémon Center."
"Yeah. Okay, come on, Black, let's get going again," White said as she signaled Black to get up.
Black grumbled a bit before rising from his crouch, still holding all the shopping bags. After a brief moment of thought, White took a light shopping bag off of his hands. Y took a heavier one and Platinum took a lighter one, so that while Black would still be carrying most of the weight in the shopping bags thus fulfilling his role as a pack mule, it would still appear that the three girls were carrying some of the load to help out.
…
Red leaned against the wall of the Pokémon Center, waiting for the other Dex Holders while taking the time to sort out his thoughts on what just happened. So Blue… really liked him? That was certainly unexpected, but very, very pleasant to know.
Ever since he learned about the kidnapping and her terrible childhood, he had tried his best to make her smile. He wanted her to be happy, but didn't know how to do that. But now, after that confession, he felt that he knew exactly what he had to do. All he had to do was be himself and continue to provide her the warmth and love that she desired. … Easy! Since she was already living under the same roof as him, it would be easy to take good care of her. And together, they'd be so happy and-
He snapped out of his thoughts when Platinum, Black, White, and Y were close enough to the Pokémon Center. Black looked bored and tired, White and Y had goofy grins, and Platinum gave him a knowing smile.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting," White said brightly.
"Oh, hey," Red said with a wave. "Go on inside. Everyone's here now except for Yellow. Once she returns, we'll get going again."
"All right, then let's try to rest our feet for a little while," Black said as he hurried inside.
White and Y followed him inside, and Platinum stalled a little so that she would enter last. She paused a bit in front of Red and looked up at him.
"Everything worked out great with Blue," Red said with a smile. "Thanks a lot for your help."
Platinum smiled happily. "I am very pleased to hear it, senior. I was glad to assist."
Red gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder, and she returned it with a polite bow. He let her enter the Pokémon Center, and looked around to see if he could find Yellow anywhere.
A few minutes later, he spotted her coming from the direction of the Gym. She was slowly walking towards him in the distance, so he walked over to meet her halfway. Oddly, she looked rather… devastated. She kept her head down and appeared to be completely devoid of energy.
"Hey Yellow, is something wrong?" he asked once she was close enough.
Yellow simply looked up at him for a bit before she averted her gaze and forced out a faint smile. "… No… nothing's wrong."
Red frowned, as something was clearly wrong. "So… were you able to get permission?"
Yellow shook her head sadly. "No… I couldn't," she lied, looking down at the ground.
She actually had been given permission to go on a break and so she was able to travel with Red and the others. But… after what she saw… traveling with Red and Blue was the last thing she wanted to do.
She could understand if Blue had feelings for him. And it sure seemed like she did, in fact. But Red had kissed her first. Which meant that he had feelings for her as well. And that was pretty painful for Yellow. But what was absolutely tearing her apart in the inside currently was the fact that both Red and Blue looked perfectly happy together. Red and Blue together were perfectly happy, and there was no room for anyone else to squeeze in between.
The only way for Yellow to even make an attempt now was to try to break up Red and Blue. And she wasn't going to do that. She wasn't even able to succeed anyways, but even if by some miracle that Red and Blue break up… they would not be able to find happiness anymore. And if Red was to lose that happiness that he has now… that would also hurt Yellow quite a lot too. At least right now, he was happy, and she would just have to find some peace out of it.
There was nothing she could do now. And she didn't want to do anything either. This unexpected heartbreak made her want to just crawl into her bed and sleep for a month or something.
"Oh. That sucks," Red said, wondering if that was why she looked so down. "It would've been really fun if you were able to come with us."
'No, it wouldn't… not for me…' Yellow thought bitterly. "Sorry, Red. But it looks like… you're going to have to have fun without me…" 'As usual… and from now on too…'
"Sorry. I guess we'll just have to try to have fun at a later date when it works for you," Red said. He gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Hey, cheer up. There'll be another time."
"Yeah…" Yellow forced out a smile. "… Well, good luck and have fun with the trip, Red. … And be careful." 'And be happy… for me… I'll just have to be satisfied with knowing that you'll be happy…'
She then gave him a wave and turned away, slowly heading home. Red watched her leave before entering the Pokémon Center, wondering if there was something he could've said to cheer her up.
Inside, he saw Diamond, Pearl, and Black eating some snacks while Platinum, White, and Y chatted amongst themselves. And just as he was wondering where Blue had gone, he saw her coming out of the washroom.
"Okay, so Yellow won't be joining us for this, so we'll have to proceed with our original plan," Red said once Blue returned.
"So we'll divide into two groups, one goes to Johto, the other tours around Kanto, right?" White asked.
Red briefly thought about how the Dex Holders should split. The safest would be to have a senior Dex Holder in both groups, but that would mean that he would be separated from Blue. He didn't like that, she would hate it too, and they wouldn't be able to have their conversation that night.
He would have to stay with Blue. That left two spaces left for his group. He didn't like the idea of splitting the Sinnoh Dex Holders, so that meant all three would be on the other group, fill up the last space with Y, and so the two Unova Dex Holders would have to join him and Blue.
Since Platinum and Y have already been attacked and were in the same group, Red hoped that that group wouldn't be targeted by the hidden enemies, and be safe in their travels.
"Okay then. Blue, Black, and White will be in my group, and so Platinum, Dia, Pearl, and Y will be in the other group. Now, does anyone have any preference in where you'd want to go?"
"I want to visit a few places in Goldenrod City, and check out the Pokéthlon Dome, so… could we go to Johto?" White asked, raising a hand.
"Then we shall stay here in Kanto," Platinum said after glancing at the others.
"That settles it then," Red said with a nod. "We'll divide the supplies we bought, and then we'll be off."
…
An hour later…
…
Platinum waved at the other group flying off towards New Bark Town of Johto. Once they were sufficiently far away, she lowered her arm and turned to face the others.
"Well then, shall we get going too?"
"Um… I've been thinking," Y began. "Now that Black's gone… can you guys help me train?"
"Why did you bring up Black?" Pearl asked.
"That guy doesn't like the idea of me getting any stronger," Y said. "I'm betting that he's going to be asking Red to train him quite a lot while in Johto, just so that he can try to beat me in a battle. So I want to train while he's not here."
Platinum thought for a second. "Very well. Diamond and Pearl will help you train. I shall do my best too. After all, it would be prudent to strengthen up in the event that we do face our enemy in the near future."
"Just like old times," Diamond said as he rummaged through his bag. "I have no idea what the bad guys looked like, so I'll have to improvise on the mask…" He took out a blank smiley face type mask, and with a pen, drew a generic frowning angry smiley face. He put the mask on and faced Y. "Okay. Pretend like I'm that guy who kidnapped you when we train!"
Y tilted her head. "Um… not sure how helpful this image training is going to be, when the mask looks nothing like the guy, and the Pokémon you're using are clearly yours and not that guy's, but… okay?"
Platinum checked her Pokétch for the time. "There is enough time for us to head out of the city to avoid causing a commotion and have our training session before supper." She looked over at Pearl and smiled. "And this should give you enough time to design a suitable training regimen for us, no?"
Pearl returned her smile. "Yeah. Once I see how everyone's doing and what the potential issues are, I'm sure I can conjure something up."
"Excellent." Platinum looked at Y again. "And this will be the perfect opportunity to see how strong you have become during your Kalos Gym challenge. So do try your best."
Y grinned and clenched her right hand into a fist. "Oh, I definitely will!"
…
Several hours later, outskirts of Cherrygrove City, Johto, 10 pm…
…
Red crawled into the tent and zipped up the door. Blue was sitting on her opened sleeping bag, with her knees pulled up to her chest, staring quietly at the tent floor. For the night, the four Dex Holders had to split into two tents. But since he needed to talk to Blue privately and he disliked the idea of having to put up with Black's snoring again, Red suggested that the seniors take one tent and the juniors take the other. No one opposed the idea, so here he was, in the same tent with Blue.
"So, we're finally alone," he began, moving to sit in front of her in his sleeping bag. "Are you ready to talk?"
Blue let out a long sigh, as if her perpetual depression had returned. "No… I don't think I'll ever be ready…" She looked up at him and gave him a bitter smile. "I mean… look how long it took for me to confess to you. And even then, my hand was forced. If you didn't press the issue, I never would've said it."
"Well then, I'll just have to keep asking the questions," Red said as he inched over towards her.
"Okay. … But hey, could you… um… sit next to me, instead of in front of me?"
Red thought a bit before giving her a smile and complying with her wishes. "Hey, just like that time years ago, huh?"
Blue smiled sheepishly and lowered her head, still looking straight ahead so that she wasn't facing him. "Yeah… just like that time…"
"So, Blue. You said today that you were… scared and worried. Can you tell me why?"
Blue looked up at the corner of the tent ceiling. Looking away from him was actually making it easy for her to be honest with her thoughts. "You mean so much to me, Red. You know that, right? You're my first friend. You're the first outsider who actually treated me nicely. You're the first outsider who didn't hate me, and actually cared for me. You're the first one to call me a friend. And it's honestly thanks to you that I'm able to experience happiness at all. You mean so much to me. But… what happens if you didn't like me as I liked you? I just… can't bear that thought. You were the only glimmer of light in my dark life. You even invited me to live with you when I had nowhere else to go. If I confessed to you and you didn't feel the same way… I'd lose everything. I was… terrified."
"But you'd know how much I cared about you while you were living with me," Red said.
"Yeah, I know. But at the same time… you know how… bad my life has been. And I admit I have a lot of… negativity. I expect the worst outcome, and it happens quite a bit too. So… what if my dark life affected you? You were the only glimmer of light in my dark life, but… would I end up being the only dark shadow in your bright life? I can't allow that to happen… You saved my life, you know. You saved me from a pointless death in depression. I owe you so much… I can't repay that by harming you…"
"So you were terrified that I might reject you, and you were worried that you might negatively affect me?"
"… Yeah… Red, I just… want you to know. If you think that this… thing between us isn't going to work out, I… wouldn't blame you, and I wouldn't-"
Red put a hand on her opposite shoulder, effectively putting his arm around her, making her jump a bit. "Ah, no more negativity, Blue. Don't even think about it." He gave her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "You love me, and I love you, and that's all that matters. Sure, we'll come across some troubles every now and then. Everyone does. But we'll face them together. After all, above all else, we're friends, right? We'll face troubles together and support and help one another."
Blue trembled a bit but smiled. "… That's what Platinum said too. … And you're both right. … Oh, Red. You're… so kind and warm… You deserve the best, you know. And… I'm… just not the best."
Red squeezed her shoulder again. "Oh come now. As if there's anyone better than you that I care about. You're the only one for me, Blue. And don't you ever forget it. No more doubting, no more self-negativity. Just relax, be happy, and enjoy yourself!"
Blue let out a shuddering sigh and suddenly turned to look at him. "… You're right, Red. You're right. There's no point in me having doubts now. And I shouldn't be afraid anymore. I was afraid of confessing my feelings to you, and… look at that. I haven't been able to do anything for well over a decade. But… no more. I'm going to believe that my life will change for the better with you, just like how it changed for the better when you accepted me as a friend all those years ago. You are the turning point in my life, Red. Running into you has been the best thing to happen to me in all my life. And maybe today will be tied for that spot now."
"That's the spirit. Have more confidence in enjoying your life!"
Blue's expression darkened a tad bit. "But… That's a lot easier said than done. I will falter probably quite a lot. … And what if I end up disappointing you?"
Red held up a hand. "Ah, there's that negativity and doubt again. Drop all your worries. Yes, you may falter. But I'll always be with you to support you. I'll always encourage you and cheer you on. And I'll always be here to catch you if you fall. I'll never be disappointed in you. And I'll never give up on you either. So don't you worry about a thing."
Blue trembled quite a bit and closed her eyes as a couple of tears rolled down her cheeks. "… Thank you, Red. … I think that's exactly what I needed to hear from you all this time…" She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his shoulder. "… Yeah… As long as you're here with me… I have nothing to fear and nothing to worry about…"
…
August 14, Thrifty Megamart, Alola, 1:30 am…
…
Moon jumped backwards and shot her arrow straight up. The Pokéball-tipped arrow flew towards the odd, glowing purple orb of sorts near the ceiling of the abandoned Megamart. Since it was so dark, it was impossible to see what exactly Moon was aiming for. But the arrow hit something and there was a brief flash of light as the Pokéball opened up.
Sun quickly caught Moon in his arms so that she wouldn't crash into the ground. She still gasped as the contact sent jolts of pain through her patched up wounds. She clenched her teeth and tried to push off of Sun, but her body refused to move. She ended up leaning against him as she watched the Pokéball now on the ground, shaking a few times before coming to a stop.
"You okay, Miss Customer?" Sun asked.
"I'm fine," Moon lied as she stared at the Pokéball. "… What did I catch?"
Sun helped her towards the inert Pokéball, and picked it up for her. Moon recovered enough to take the Pokéball and opened it, sending out whatever was just caught. And the Pokémon that appeared out of it was… a Shuppet?
The horn on the Shuppet's head was glowing faint purple as the Shuppet floated in front of her, seemingly whispering something. Moon stared into its eyes, beginning to feel oddly… comfortable.
Sun glanced around and jumped in surprise as he now saw a line of Shuppets circling around them, each of them whispering something.
"Uh… Miss Customer?"
Moon ignored him and focused on the Shuppet in front of her. "… This is the one that's been calling me… But why?" She narrowed her eyes as she thought about what she had read about Shuppet when she had been researching something in the past. "… Shuppets like vengeful emotions and are attracted by them… is that why this one came to me?"
The Shuppet let out a whistling noise, and Moon felt a bit more comfortable, as if her seething hatred was no longer tormenting her deep inside. She began to smile as she really liked this new sensation.
"Uh… Miss Customer?" Sun tried again. "… Can we… go now?"
Moon turned to look at him, and he could've sworn that her eyes had a faint blue glow to them… "Yeah. I guess we should go back." She returned the Shuppet into its Pokéball and looked at the swarm of Shuppets gathered around her.
The swarm of Shuppets' whispers grew louder, as if they were chanting something. Perish Song? … No, Shuppets were not capable of that.
"I think we really need to get out of here," Sun said, his voice quaking.
But there were so many Shuppets circling the two Dex Holders, all chanting louder and louder. Moon's thoughts darkened as she wished her Rotom and Pokédex were still with her, so that she could figure out what this horde wanted. The Shuppets seemed to delight with her darkening thoughts, as they grew more excited, chanting louder as if asking for more.
The lone Gengar that had been looking at the magazine rack floated over and whacked the nearest Shuppet with a rolled up magazine, as if telling it to shut the hell up. The Gengar waved its magazine roll some more and the Shuppet horde began to dissipate after some protest.
"Well, that happened," Moon muttered as the Shuppets left her alone now. "Thank you," she said to the Gengar.
The Gengar waved her off and went over to sit by the toppled over bookshelf to continue reading its "Fishing Mastery" magazine.
Sun and Moon exited the Thrifty Megamart and headed back towards the Pokémon Center. Sun stayed quite close to Moon and glanced around to ensure that no other Ghost types were following. Not that he would be able to see them in this pitch black darkness…
Moon held the Pokéball of her newly captured Shuppet, not entirely sure how to feel about the capture. Yes, she had a lot of vacant spots in her team now, but… this capture wasn't exactly by her choice. Then again, the Shuppet's presence was helping quell her desire for vengeance, so… maybe this addition was going to be very helpful?
…
Mount Lanakila, 3 pm…
…
Moon watched as her Decidueye delivered the finishing blow on the wild Glalie. She could tell that her Pokémon was not a fan of the cold temperatures inside the icy cavern, but was fighting through it anyways. Perhaps it was looking to overcome some of its natural weaknesses, as it had been forced to stay in the safety of its Pokéball during the fire in Prof. Kukui's lab, and thus had been forced to watch the tragedy helplessly.
Decidueye's movements were becoming sluggish though, as the cold temperature took its toll. Moon grimaced, wishing that she had spent more time training with Platinum and her new Ice type Pokémon. Maybe then, her Decidueye might be a bit better accustomed to fighting the cold… And more importantly, it would've allowed her to learn how to quickly train newly captured Pokémon.
"So… uh… we found that… ice rock thing…" Sun stuttered from behind, shivering violently in the cold. "So… how about… we go out and… take a break?"
Moon looked behind her at the ice rock where Platinum's Eevee had evolved into Glaceon a month ago. For this training session, she had given herself the objective of finding the ice rock hidden in the depths of the icy cave, and then find her way back outside, while defeating everything that stood in her path. So now that she had found the ice rock, maybe it was time to head back outside instead of wandering around and pounding whatever wild Pokémon decided to try its luck next. Her body had been aching quite badly for a while now, and Sun looked like he was going to turn into an icicle pretty soon, so maybe it was time to take a breather.
"Okay. Let's get out of here, then," Moon said with a nod. She returned her Decidueye so that it could get a break, and sent out her new Shuppet so that she could try training it next.
She retraced her steps to go back the way she had come in, while still fighting whatever popped out.
While Moon had been training for quite a few hours today, she wasn't quite sure how useful his was. The incident that cost her two Pokémon and her Pokédex was due to an ambush, where she was caught off guard. It was an unexpected occurrence. So she had been thinking about training herself by facing all sorts of unknowns and unexpected incidents, in order to get better reaction times to surprises. But the problem was, she was facing a bunch of known Pokémon. She knew what to expect from this cave. Or anywhere in Alola, really. She could see a Pokémon and know what she had to expect. This wasn't helping in training her reaction.
Moon stopped in her steps when something small popped out of the snow on the ground. The small cone-shaped Pokémon took a look at her and jumped backwards, getting ready to fight.
The Pokémon itself, a Snorunt, was new, as she hadn't fought one yet, but Moon wasn't surprised by its appearance. She knew by the sheer number of Glalies that she fought that wild Snorunts were living here. But of course, that meant that this Snorunt wasn't going to be capable of anything new that its evolution form wasn't able. And Moon already knew pretty much all about Snorunt. Ice type, not particularly strong, evolves into Glalie or…
Moon paused mid-thought. … Snorunt could evolve into a Froslass, if it was female. And Platinum used to have a Froslass before she had returned it to Candice, the Snowpoint City Gym Leader. And honestly, another reason why Moon chose to train in the cave was so that she could find an Alola form Vulpix, just like Platinum had. But for some reason, she couldn't find any. Now this Snorunt was offering her an opportunity to mimic the heiress once more.
"Something wrong, Miss Customer?" Sun asked, noticing that she was just standing there, not doing anything.
"Courier, take out your Pokédex," Moon said quietly. And when he complied, she took it from him to check the information on the Snorunt right in front of her. And… it was female. Perfect. "Night Shade," she ordered her Shuppet as she returned the Pokédex.
The Shuppet hit the Snorunt with Night Shade, dealing some damage but not enough to defeat it. The Snorunt retaliated with Powder Snow, but the Shuppet dodged the attack by phasing through the icy cavern wall. Upon returning from the wall, the Shuppet extended its shadow to go past the Snorunt, striking it behind with Shadow Sneak.
The Snorunt stumbled forward, just as Moon's Pokéball tipped arrow struck it in the forehead. The Pokéball fell into the snowy ground and attempted to shake before going idle.
"Huh. Why'd you catch that one?" Sun asked.
"No reason," Moon lied, as she picked up the Pokéball. "Now come on, let's get going again."
Sun wanted to ask why she borrowed his Pokédex, but Moon was already marching ahead. Well, whatever reason she had for catching the Snorunt, it was clear that she wasn't going to say it. With a sigh, he jogged forward to catch up with her.
Eventually, the two Dex Holders exited the frozen cave and stepped outside. Sun let out a long sigh of relief and tried to shake away the numbing feeling of coldness biting away at his skin.
"So Miss Customer, did you get what you wanted from that training session?"
"Yes, and no," Moon answered. "I don't know how much I'm gaining from this when I already know all about the Pokémon I'm facing. I need to go somewhere new and fight Pokémon or opponents that I'm not familiar with."
Sun thought for a second. "We could go to Hoenn. That's the closest region and it's not like you've traveled around there before."
"No," Moon answered quickly. "I don't want to go somewhere I could be recognized."
"Who could possibly recognize you in Hoenn?" Sun asked. "… Oh, you mean Ruby and Sapphire? Come on. What are the odds that you'll run into the two people in the whole region who could recognize you?"
"Emerald is probably there too."
"Fine. Two and a half, then. Still, it's almost a guarantee that you're not going to run into anyone that knows you."
Moon still shook her head. "Still though, no. I'm not going to risk it. I cannot let the Lady know what happened to me. Understand? Not while I'm down weakened like this. I will not go somewhere where I have more than 0% chance of running into a familiar face."
"So then… not Kanto, or Johto, or Hoenn, or Sinnoh, or Unova, or Kalos. Where does that leave?"
Moon thought briefly about the other regions where she could go. Kanto was a no-go. The Lady was there right now. Johto wasn't an option either, given the proximity to Kanto, and the fact that there was a group of Dex Holders touring that region currently. Hoenn had Ruby and Sapphire and maybe Emerald, but given how frequently Ruby and Sapphire went to the various cities and towns, it was too dangerous. Going to Sinnoh was just plain stupid given how many people there knew her. She had been to Unova and Kalos a bit too many times alongside Platinum, so even though there weren't any Dex Holders there currently, she didn't really want to go there again. So then that left…
"I'm going to the region of Galar," Moon announced. "You don't have to come with me if you don't want to. It'll probably be pricey to go all the way over there."
Sun looked a bit troubled at the mention of cost, but shook his head. "And what, let you go there alone like this? Platinum would-" Moon cast him a deadly glare, forcing him to quickly fix his mistake. "I mean… the Lady would lock me in a fridge if I did that. No, I'll go with you." He put his hands into his pockets and briefly wondered how much this was going to cost him. "… But… how long do you intend to hide this from her? You're going to have to tell her the truth one day. It's not like you're going to avoid meeting up with her forever."
Moon winced a little. "… I know. Once I've gotten stronger and am no longer a disappointment, I'll let her know what happened. Until I'm no longer in this pathetic state, I'll… just have to lie to her. She wants me to go to Kanto to meet her, and I had to lie that my task here had been extended, and that I'd be able to go meet her once I was finished. As long as she doesn't check for Alola news, I should be okay. She hates it when people lie to her, but… I can't let her know of my failures." She closed her eyes and let out a sigh. 'I can only hope that you'll forgive me for this… sister…' She shook her head a little and opened her eyes again. "Well, come on. Let's find a ship that's headed for Galar. … And stop by a clothes shop first. I'm not going to go to Galar while looking like an Aether employee."