Diluc picked up the phone, looking down at a piece of paper, dialing up the numbers. The man closed himself inside the cafe's bathroom, demanding the others not to disturb him. He hoped Venti would not question him. At all.

The phone rung, Diluc pressing the phone next to his ear. "Come on, Looker. Pick up the phone." He whispered to himself.

"DILUC?!"

Diluc nearly dropped his phone at that shout, but caught it before it fell onto the ground. He immediately pick it back to his ear, leaning against it. "Yes. Hello Looker. I understand you must be worried about me." He said, getting to the point. He clearly knew the detective would be worried for him, since after everything.

Would the S.S. Anne's wreck be reported? Did people know about him? He pushed those thoughts to the back of his head, focusing on his conversation with the detective right now.

"O…Of course I am! If I were wherever you are, oh I'd give you a stern talking!" Looker said from the other line.

Diluc obviously rolled his eyes at that statement. "Looker, I need you to listen to me. I'm currently at Unova right now-"

"BY THE HOLY ARCEUS, UNOVA?!" Looker shouted out. "That's far away, how did you get to Unova?!" He added on.

"I…We were stranded at sea." Diluc said, shrugging his shoulders

"We? You didn't come alone?"

"I didn't…Six people. Two of them were Pokemon Trainers and had Water Pokemon of their own, it was thanks to them we got to Unova. The other four…" He let his words trail off.

"Was…That Hydro Holder involved?" Looker asks, deeply worried. "His name was Tartaglia, right?"

"Yes, his name is Tartaglia." He said, refusing to give out Childe's actual name out. He didn't know what someone from the International Police would do with that information. So it would be best to be kept secret.

"Diluc, you need to report to the cops immediately! Tartaglia is responsible for the bombing of the S.S. Anne! You need to get out there now!"

Dilux furrowed his eyebrows. When did Looker know about 'Tartaglia?' He didn't give a ounce of his name either, hell, when he first meet Childe, he didn't bother getting his name! He walked over to the corner of the bathroom, leaning against the phone.

"Looker, how do you know about Tartaglia…?"


And from outside the bathroom door, Venti leaned against the door with his ear. "Hmph!" He let out. "I can hear him, but I can't exactly tell what he's saying!" He exclaimed.

Xinyan looked at him, putting a fresh bandage on one of her wounds. "Give it a rest, Venti. He obviously doesn't want someone like you eavesdropping into his conversation." She said to him.

"But Diluc's my friend! And I'm worried about my friend!" The bard explained.

"Then you shouldn't step over your friend's boundaries." She said.

"I'm just concerned for him!" He yelled out.

Xinyan could already tell this wasn't going to work out. "He isn't going to like you doing that."

"He won't know." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "As soon as he gets out, I'll teleport right back here!" He smiled.

Xinyan raised her eyebrows in confusion. "Teleport?" She asked, lifting her head slightly up.

"Yup! I can teleport, but I may be a bit rusty…" He chuckled, placing his hands on his hips. "I'll show you!" He walked away from the door, standing in the middle of the bedroom. Suddenly, a light faint glow emerged around him, circling around him.

"Woah…" Xinyan said in awe, gazing at the beautiful lights.

Then Venti vanished, his body being engulfed by the glow.

She sat there, completely in astonishment. "WOAH! THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME!" She yelled out, hugging the sheets below her tight. "Hey Venti, you can come back now!" She said.

Silence filled the room.

"Um…Venti?" She chuckles, her smile slowly fading. "You can come out now." She says for the second time.

No response. Venti isn't reappearing.

"Venti…?"

Suddenly, there's a faint light glow taking in a form of a human. "UGH!" Venti gasps for air, his shape reappearing. "OH MY GOD!" He screamed out, collapsing to the floor.

"Hey Venti, what happened?! Are you okay?!" Xinyan asked him, standing up from the bed and running over to him. She placed her hand on his shoulder, as the bard kept panting.

"Never again! I'll never teleport again in this world!" He said, lifting his head up.

"What did you see?!" She asked him.

"It's…best I don't say." He said. "I just need to forget what I saw." He waved his hand off. He pushed himself off the ground, with his body still hurting after all that teleporting.

Xinyan grabbed his arm, gently, and guided him to the bed. Letting him lay down on there.

"Thanks…" He said.

"No problem. Do you want me to play some music to calm you down?" She asked him, sitting down besides him.

"Yes! That would be appreciated." He said, mumbling.

She summoned up her guitar claymore, out of nowhere. She stopped to realize how out of shape it was. Fighting with Childe was exhausting, for sure. "Ah dang, I'm going to have to repair my guitar." She said, holding it.

"That's a guitar?" He asked her, pointing at it.

"Yeah." She said, nodding her head. "Do you know any guitar repair shops? I…I don't have my tools to repair it." She asked him.

Venti raised an eyebrow. "Well uh. You can do that…tomorrow?" He chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.

"What? Why for? We've got plenty of time!" She said.

"Well, let's not rush into things, is all I'm saying!" He said. He didn't want anyone to find out about the whole wanted thing. That would be terrible. "Let's take it slow! You guys just got here!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah…Oh maybe we should explore around the city!"

That just escalated the problem.

"Hm…How about tomorrow?" He smiled at her, nervously.

"Tomorrow's uh…July 19 right?" She asked him.

"Hmph!" He threw up a thumbs up, smiling.

"Hm, deal! But you gotta do what I want you to do today!" Xinyan lifted Venti off the bed.

"WAIT WHAT?!" Venti let out, knowing that wasn't the deal.

"Yeah! Since I can't do what I want today, you gotta do it for me!" She smiled. "And I'm requesting you go to a guitar repair store!"

Venti let out a groan.


Diona grabbed the shaker, opening it and pouring it into the cup. The drink was filled with lops of fake grass, leftover ice cream dessert, and spider webs. Surprisingly, the drink looked and smelled edible. But that wasn't Diona's intention at all.

She let out a small grumble, her face turning red.

"Diona?" Lillie asked, closing the door behind her. "What are you doing here?" She asked her.

"What are YOU doing here." Diona asked back. "You better not getting drunk here." She warned at her.

"Oh of course not!" Lillie shook her head in dismay. "The owner wanted me and Hilbert to fulfill some of the drinks, so I came here." She explained.

"Oh." Diona's ear flopped down, calming her down. "Sorry for mistaking you for getting drunk. You're underaged too, so you can't go off and buy that stuff!" She apologized to the girl, snatching the cup with her tail.

"Well I obviously can't! I'm 13!" Lillie laughed, tilting her head to the side. "What's that drink? I've never seen it before on the menu…" She pointed at the cup.

"Oh. I made it, with whatever was here. I used fake grass, spider webs and leftover ice cream." She explained the ingredients to her. She had to admit she went overboard here. No ordinary person would look at this and eat it, unless the smell drive them in.

Lillie frowned, making Diona look up at her. "What?" She asked.

"Oh it's just uh…Why are you so devoted to this whole 'destroying the wine industry?'" She asked, scratching her head.

Diona stopped. Normally she would explain her goal, but was it really a good time right now? She didn't want to admit, but she was shaken up with everything that occurred the past days.

"I'll tell you later about that. You got any family? A mom, dad, siblings, anything?"

So she changed the subject.

"Well…I do have a brother. He's the oldest, but he's always supportive of me." Lillie chuckled a little, softly smiling. "Unfortunately, I haven't been able to call him. Today or yesterday." She frowned. "I need a seat…" She sighed.

Diona let the girl sit at the table, her tail flopping down to the ground as she did. "You can continue." She said.

Lillie nodded her head. "I'm scared. I was supposed to be heading back home to Alola but…" She didn't have the confidence to say the next words.

"But now you're here. Hey, at least you're safe and sound." Diona shrugged her shoulders. "Is there any way we can call this brother or yours?" She asked.

"I tried, directly from my phone. But it keeps saying the call couldn't be directed." She groaned. "I don't know if it's the internet of something else." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Unova has…um…payphones right? We can use one to call him?" Diona questioned.

"Maybe to call Mother, yes." Lillie said, slightly nodding her head.

"Huh…What's your mom like?"

"What?"

Lillie turned her head to Diona, confused at the sudden question. Diona's ears went up in a panic, raising her hands up.

"Hey I just wanna get to know you better! We don't know much, and I…want to get you better besides my whole deal…!" She explained to her.

"…If you insist, then okay." Lillie nodded, turning back ahead. "She's kind, but serious and determined in her work. She is the president of the Aether Foundation after all!" She giggles.

But Diona feels like something is wrong. She just won't expect that Lillie's mother is kind. "Why were you at Kanto then? If you were born in Alola?" She asks her.

There's a pause. "Mother…didn't approve of me…leaving to Kanto at first." She said. "And what I did."

"…What did you do?"

The door opens, revealing Hilbert standing there in the doorway with a rag. "Hey Lillie! You've been gone for some time, you okay?" He asks, shouting.

"Oh um yes I am!" Lillie stands up from her chair. "I'm so sorry!" She apologizes.

"It's fine, as long as you're okay." Hilbert shrugs his shoulders, looking over to Diona. "And what's the kitty cat doing here?" He asks her.

"I was simply talking to Diona, we had a wonderful talk." Lillie smiles.

"Yeah we did." Diona lies, her ears slowly going down. "Oh and don't call me kitty cat, unless you wanna lose your head, Hilbert!" She snaps at Hilbert.

Hilbert merely has a nervous smile, laughing a tad bit. "Sorry." He apologizes to her. "Anyways, Lillie, we need to do work. Are you coming with me?" He asks her.

The girl walks over to him. "Hmph!" She nods her head, but looks back to Diona. "Bye Diona!" She waves bye, before leaving the room with Hilbert.

Diona, of course, waves back goodbye, but her smile drops once Lillie leaves the room.

There's an unsure expression on her face. "Aether Foundation, huh?" She says to herself.


Leaves crunched every step he took around the forest. No visitors around here, perfect training spot for him then. Despite his injuries from that battle, he healed up fast. Faster than he expected, even back home.

Childe took out his bow, trying to aim it. Once he summoned up a arrow, he let go, the arrow flying and marking on a tree. In a few minutes, it vanished, leaving a small mark on the tree.

He let out a small groan, dissatisfied with the result. "Good, but not good enough…" He told himself. "I was being weak back there, I can't allow my guard down." He said.

He pulled back the bow again, but failed, the bow slipping off his hands and down onto the ground. "Shit!" He let out, instantly kneeling down to pick it up.

The Pokemon around the forest looked at him, observing him from faraway. One of them, a Leavanny, got the courage to walk up to him.

He immediately flinched, his weapon forming into a sword. "Hey stay back!" He warned the Pokemon.

The Leavanny let out a small meep, also freezing up too. "Leavanny?" It tilted its head at him.

"Wait a minute, are you…a Pokemon?" Childe asked it, having a nervous smile.

"…Lea! Leavanny!" The Leavanny cheered, nodding.

"Oh…" Childe slowly lifted his sword down, but never recalling it back. Now had he thought about it, he never fought with a Pokemon before. "Hey uh Leavanny, right?" He said.

"Leavanny!" The Pokemon chirped, clapping its head together in response.

"That's great…" He would be lying if he said he understood the Pokemon. "Would you like to duel with me?" He asked the Pokemon, smiling.

"…Lea? Leavanny!" The Pokemon nodded, before backing away from him a little.

He understood what the Pokemon was saying, so he turned away and stepped back too. He looked back forward, his sword still on him. And it seemed he and the Leavanny were waiting for the first move.

Leavanny ran towards him, silk like material forming through its hands. He immediately countered the Pokemon's attack, and slashed back at it. The Pokemon flew a tad back, but it quickly got a hold of Childe, by its silk.

"UGH!" He let out, forced to move forward by the string. He turned back, cutting the silk apart.

Leavanny was already charging up another attack, X-Scissor. But the Pokemon wasn't fast enough, Childe grabbed hold of the Pokemon's hands, slamming it down onto the ground.

Then from his sword, he charged it up into an Catalyst and let out an massive amount of hydro down at the Pokemon.

"…Too easy!" He said, not even breaking a sweat. He looked down at the Leavanny, the ladder now having circles for eyes.

"OH DEAR!"

Childe was pushed aside, falling face first onto the ground. He pushed himself up, wiping off the dirt from his face.

And there he saw Barbara healing the Leavanny up. She let out a hum, connecting to her Hydro Vision as she did her job.

"Lea…Leavan?" Leavanny looked at the two humans, back and forth. It looked very confused.

"Oh don't worry! You're all healed up now!" Barbara sung at the Pokemon, smiling.

The Leavanny stood up, smiling and seeming to wave goodbye to Barbara and Childe, before running off into the forest.

Once that was done, Childe laughed, before transforming his weapon into a polearm. "How did you find me?" He asked Barbara, polearm pointed directly at her.

The nun raised her hands up, letting out a gulp. "I was…checking up on you. You ran off and everyone was doing their own thing so naturally I needed to see if you weren't doing anything bad! And then I see you making a Pokemon faint?!" She explained, rambling.

"…That Pokemon agreed to duel with me." He explained in a slight second. "But that's not why you really followed me, is it?" He tilted his hand slightly.

"…Okay! I want to get stronger!" She let out, stomping her feet on the ground.

Childe just placed a hand on his forehead, letting out a sigh. "No. Especially not what I did to you." He looked down at her bandaged up leg.

The girl immediately hid that leg behind her another leg. "It doesn't hurt anymore. It's still…physically there, but I can assure you it doesn't hurt anymore." She explained to him.

"It's still a no from me." He said.

"Please sir! You and me are the only people here with Hydro Visions, so I could learn a thing or two from you! Just…let me do one training and you'll decide!" She said, frowning.

"…Okay. We'll only do one training. And that is…NOW!" Childe immediately sweep Barbara's legs, making the poor girl fall down. From there, he pinned down the girl. "Training's over!" He said.

"That was it?" She asked, sounding disappointed yet sad.

"Yeah. You already lost. If this was a battle, you'd be dead by now." He said, standing up and letting her up. "Listen, I'm not the ideal trainer. You have Diluc and Xinyan right?" He asked her.

"Well yes, Xinyan is a great friend of mine and I've heard about Diluc back home-"

"Then you can train with those two."

"But please, sir! I can't allow myself to continue being useless! What if…What if that Ghetsis man attacks us again? We'll need all the strength we need!" She said.

"You shouldn't be so worried about Ghetsis. For all we know, Hilbert could have been hallucinating." Childe said, lying to the poor nun. He did believe Hilbert and what he saw.

"I…Please…I'm begging you. Just today, help me train with my powers. Please." She begged him, starting to tear up.

Childe immediately jumped. If Barbara were to come back to the bar with tears in her eyes, everyone would start asking her if she was fine. Then she'd explain, and Childe would be clearly in trouble. Not as terrible as failing a mission, however.

"Okay, fine!" He yelled, raising his hands up. "But only for today." He declared.

"…Really?" Barbara asked, sniffling.

"Yes. Now please get up, you're going to get dirty if you stay down on the grass." He said, helping her up.

Barbara stood up, immediately dusting off her dress. And from there, she placed her hands together in front and waited for Childe's instructions.

"Okay. Show me your weapon!" He said.

"Right!" She said, letting her hands out and summoning a floating catalyst.

He noted the catalyst let out an Hydro symbol, so he and Barbara did use the same power. "And what can you do?" He asked, placing his hand on his chin.

"I'm more of a healer, my powers are active more when I sing…" She explained to him.

"So that's why you were humming…" He whispered to himself. "First off, you can't always use your catalyst."

Barbara jumped, shirking up. "Huh…?! Why not?" She asked him.

"Think with me for a second. You're supporting the team, and then suddenly the opponent attacks you and you lose your catalyst! What will you use to fight then? Or heal?" He said.

She paused. "I…I see." She gulped, nodding her head. "Please continue, sir." She said.

"Good. Now then, a small combat knife will help. It's small, easy to fit, and doesn't weigh much!" He cheered. "I've decided now!" He yelled, gently grabbing hold of Barbara's arms.

"Wha-" Barbara let out.

"I'm going to train you, physically and mentally!" He declared to her.

"Wait this is just one training!" She cried out.

"But you wanted to get stronger!"


?

He furiously threw down the device, parts of the small thing scattered around the cave. Grunts watched him as he did, not wanting to say or stop him from anything.

They didn't want to face his wrath.

"GIOVANNI SENDS ME ONE DAMN DEVICE AND IT'S COMPLETE SHIT?!" The admin let out, stomping in the destroyed parts.

"Lord G…Ghetsis sir! Please understand! Giovanni is running low on parts as of now! And he-" A brave Rainbow Rocket grunt spoke up, her voice shuttering a tad bit.

Ghetsis turned his head to her, and immediately pointed his cane at her. "And who gave you MY order to speak?!" He demanded from her.

"I…I'm sorry, Lord Ghetsis!" She shouted, shaking.

And from the distance, another pair of grunts came. The leader, panting, pulled out an box and sat it down in front of Ghetsis. He cleared his throat. "We are terribly sorry for being so late, Lord Ghetsis. Please forgive us." He said.

"…" Ghetsis took to look at that grunt, before turning to the leader of the new pair of grunts. "All is forgiven, I suppose…" He scoffed. "What is in the box." He asked.

"A dozens of Pokemon, sir. All for us to use." The grunt leader explained. "Any further instructions?"

"Yes. Any information on Galar's state? Aether and Lumine too. And that group of Vision holder's from the S.S. Anne." He demanded from him, intending to have all answers from those.

"…The Galar region is thinking of shutting down due to all the recent events. Aether and Lumine have last been seen at either Galar or Hoenn. And as for that last one…We have no idea." The grunt tried answering all to the best of his abilities.

"…No idea? NO IDEA?!" Ghetsis yelled. "THEN GO! GO OUT AND FIND THEM! ONCE YOU SPOT THEM, ALERT ME IMMEDIATELY! DO YOU HEAR ME?!" He turned around to all of the grunts, letting all of them know.

"…Of course, sir!" All the grunts yelled, not deciding to take any chances.