A/N: This is the longest chapter to date, but that's because I spent a lot of time describing the details of the environment that Dia visits in this chapter. I actually went out and walked around some of the ritzy neighborhoods in my area to figure out what about them makes them look ritzy and everything. But ignoring the fact that I spent way too much time than was probably necessary on the descriptors in this chapter, I had a lot of fun having Dia take an active rather than a passive role in this story, so I hope you enjoy this as well!

After Pearl hung up, I tossed the last two muffins to Lax and Kit to fight over. Thanks to Kit, I wasn't worried about where to start in my search for the Berlitz mansion. He'd given me experience with finding people with little-to-no information to go off of, and that experience also meant that I knew where I could go to find more information about people.

See, I met Kit a long time ago when he was causing trouble for people in town by stealing and hoarding everyone's things. After he stole something of mine, I managed to track him down and catch him, but that also meant it was now my responsibility as his Trainer to help Kit return all the items he had stolen. So, the two of us had to go around and track down the owners of all the items, and most of them didn't have any obvious identification on them. (It took a few days to return everything.)

One of the people I returned an item to was a friendly courier by the name of Sun, whom I've kept in contact with since then. If anyone I knew would be able to give me clues to the location of the Berlitz estate, it'd be him. He might have delivered something to the estate before, and if not, he could probably tell me who might know where it is. So, I gave Sun a call.

"Afternoon, Diamond!" Sun said gleefully as soon as he answered the phone. "How's it going? Need something delivered?"

(Sun's always taking every opportunity he can get to make money. He's been working for years to save up a million yen, though he refuses to tell me why he needs it.)

"Not today, unfortunately," I said. "I was actually calling to pick your brain for a few moments. Have you ever delivered anything to the Berlitz estate?"

"Oh, I wish," Sun sighed dramatically. "If I ever got hired by the Berlitz family, I'd get paid so much money that I'd never need to run another errand again. What's a million yen to someone worth a few hundred million?" He sighed again, and I got the feeling that it wasn't the first time he'd fantasized about this. Then, he suddenly added excitedly, "But why do you ask; are they looking for a courier?"

I shook my head once before I remembered that Sun couldn't see me. "Not that I know," I said. "But yesterday one of them came to my bakery and ordered a cake."

"They asked you to deliver a cake to their estate but they didn't bother to tell you where their estate is?" Sun asked incredulously.

"No, that's not it," I quickly corrected him. "She already came to pick up the cake. But she got injured in a Pokémon battle today, so I want to visit her. Because it was my fault. Which means I need to know where she lives."

(Hmm. That sounded a lot better in my head.)

There was silence from the other side of the line. I couldn't tell if Sun was considering how to respond or just silently judging me for how awkward my explanation was. Finally, he said, "Well, I've never been to the Berlitz estate myself, but I've heard some rumors and stories about it from people who supposedly have. I've heard it's located in Sandgem Oaks – you know, that wealthy neighborhood on the south side of town?"

"Yeah," I replied. "That's where I figured I'd start looking if you didn't know anything."

"Well, hey, I'm not done!" Sun objected. "The estate's really big – at least a few acres, from what I've heard. So it won't have any close neighbors." He paused. "Oh, and they don't like trespassers. So don't go traipsing about on their land uninvited, okay?" he added cheekily.

"I'll keep it in mind," I said, grinning. "Thanks for your help!"

"Not a problem! But hey, if when you're there, the subject happens to turn to, say, package delivery or something…make sure to tell them that you know a guy, alright?" Sun said giddily. "Assuming you can find the estate without getting kicked out right away, that is."

After he hung up, I returned Lax and Kit and got ready to go to Sandgem Oaks. It was only mid-afternoon, thankfully – I didn't want to go out searching after nightfall. I'm not usually the kind of guy to be fussy about my appearance, but I wanted to look a little nice for my first time seeing Platinum outside of work. I changed into a fresh T-shirt that wasn't wrinkled and ran a comb through my hair. Perfect!

On second thought, it was a bit colder now than it had been when I walked home earlier. I added a light black jacket and my favorite red scarf to my ensemble before heading out.

I knew how to get to Sandgem Oaks, but I'd never been to the neighborhood before. I was greeted by retention ponds on either side of the road with a big fountain in the middle of each. There were also big illuminated stone signs sporting festive wreaths to celebrate the season in front of both. Luckily, it wasn't a gated community, or my surprise visit plan would have been a bust; I was able to walk right in without even encountering anyone.

Even knowing that I was walking into a rich neighborhood, I couldn't help gaping at all the huge houses around me. Two- and even three-story abodes lined the streets, with white or tan facades that looked as pristine as if they had just been built. (Maybe they had.) Some had balconies on every upper-floor window, and some had stone columns framing their front door. All their front doors were double doors, and the houses themselves looked to be almost twice as wide as mine, or wider.

Most of them had at least a two-car garage with some kind of awning in front of it; some of them even had electric gates across the driveway to keep people out. Almost every concrete pathway was lined with cobblestone, while the landscaping varied from breathtakingly elaborate to simple but immaculately uniform. But one thing I noticed consistently was that, aside from one mansion with a huge circular drive in front, their front lawns were sized proportional to their houses – which meant none of these could be the Berlitz estate.

As I swept my gaze along the sidewalk, I saw a man jogging towards me alongside a blue Pokémon with black around its eyes, ears, and paws. A Riolu – I'd seen one before, but they were still rare in Sinnoh. I smiled and said "Afternoon!" as he passed by, but he didn't acknowledge me at all. (Some people just get really absorbed in their exercise, I guess.)

Eventually, I wound up on a path that ran next to a golf course, though I didn't see anyone out golfing today. I suddenly heard a loud, high-pitched yapping behind me. I turned around to see a young guy walking two dog Pokémon I'd never seen before. One was this tiny little thing, maybe a foot tall or so, with tan and black fur and a lot of energy – the source of the yapping. The other was twice its size, similarly colored but with lighter-colored fur around its face that looked like bushy eyebrows and a moustache.

The smaller Pokémon was straining on its leash to get to me. "Lillipup, heel," the guy told it crossly. Lillipup eagerly bounded back to the man's side, and he continued walking, giving me a wide berth. (I don't fault him for it – who wants to keep fighting against their Pokémon like that?)

Shortly afterwards, I saw a woman walking on the other side of the street with three dog Pokémon that had similar body shapes, but still looked vastly different from each other. They all had fluffy white fur around their heads and necks and black skin underneath, but each one had different secondary fur colors, and their fur was styled in different shapes on their forehead and tail. One had pink fur styled in hearts, one had blue fur styled in stars, and one had orange fur styled in diamonds. I assumed she paid some professional to style their fur.

This thought, though, only fueled my growing sense of unease at being here. I was out of my element – among people who could afford to import rare and exotic Pokémon like Riolu and Lillipup and those other ones I didn't recognize, just to keep them as pets. These people had a totally different definition of normal, and I didn't understand it – or fit it, probably. Maybe that's why they treated me so coldly.

I stopped walking and stared down at my feet. If I didn't fit in here, then what was I doing here in the first place? Why would Platinum want anything to do with me? I remembered Pearl's warning about rich people having little regard for the lower classes. Pearl was usually right about these kinds of things; maybe I should have listened to him…

But that was exactly why I had to go see her. Maybe she didn't think anything of people from lower social strata, and maybe that's why she didn't say anything about when I would see her again. But I couldn't let that dissuade me from doing what I knew was the right thing – to visit her while she was injured and show her that I cared. It didn't matter if she wanted me there or not; I wanted to be there, so be there I would.

Strengthened with my new resolve, I held my head high and strode onward. I found a path that led to the other side of the golf course, and I took it, noticing that the properties on the other side looked to be more spaced out. I was certain that it was a step in the right direction at the very least.

On the other side, there was a little boy walking slowly on the sidewalk with an orange puppy Pokémon by his side. His head was hanging down; it looked like he had been crying. "Hey," I said gently. He ducked his head lower, like he was trying to ignore me. "Hey, little boy. Is everything okay?"

The little boy stopped and shook his head, but I didn't prompt him any further. If he didn't want to explain, he would have kept walking; he probably needed to collect himself before he could speak. Sure enough, after he rubbed his eyes a little bit he sniffled, "I…I was playing ball with Growlithe," he gestured to the Pokémon at his side, "and he hit the ball too high, and it got stuck in a tree, on somebody else's property."

"And you couldn't climb the tree?" I guessed.

The boy shook his head again. "It's behind a wall that's too tall to climb. I tried asking the owners if they could get it back for me, but they refused…"

I smiled reassuringly at him. "I'll help you get it back," I said. The boy finally looked up at me and I could see the hint of a smile on the corners of his mouth. "Can you show me where it got stuck?" I asked.

He nodded and turned around, leading me past a few expansive properties along the street. The road started to curve, and once we had rounded the bend I could see that the road ended at a street that ran perpendicular to it and had a red brick wall running parallel to it. After we crossed the intersecting street, I realized the wall was a lot taller than it looked at a distance – two or three times my height. I could barely see the branches of a row of oak trees sticking out from above the top of the wall.

The boy led me to the left, and we walked next to the wall for a few hundred feet. Finally, he stopped and looked up into the clusters of tree branches above us, scratching his cheek with a finger. "Um, I think it was somewhere around here," he said. He pointed to the property across the street. "I remember it was across from that house."

I peered into the trees above us, searching for a round shape that didn't belong there. But I didn't see anything. "What color is your ball?" I asked, thinking it might be blending in with the red and orange leaves.

"It's blue," he said.

(So much for that idea.)

As I tried to figure out how else we could locate the ball, the boy's Growlithe suddenly started to bark. "What is it, buddy?" the boy asked, running to his side. He glanced up into the tree that Growlithe was standing under and his face suddenly lit up. "There it is! That's my ball!"

I hurried over to him and looked up to where he was pointing. Sure enough, there was a round, royal blue, rubber ball stuck in the branches on the other side of the wall. "Ok, I see it," I said, pulling out a Poké Ball. "Kit, give me a boost!"

Kit wrapped his long tongue around me and lifted me up. Its sticky saliva made my jacket a little damp, but it would dry quickly. He put me down on top of the wall and once I had steadied myself, I looked up and located the ball again. It was a little further away from the wall than I realized.

I stood as close to the edge of the wall as I could manage and stretched my arm towards the ball, but I couldn't quite reach it. I inched a little closer to the edge, and my fingers were finally close enough to touch it – but still not enough to grab it. However, I realized that if I held on to another branch, I could lean out a little further without falling. I grabbed another branch – making sure that it wasn't connected to the branch with the ball in it, lest I accidentally shake the ball out – and finally, I was able to wrap my fingers around the ball.

"I got it!" I exclaimed triumphantly.

Unfortunately, there was a flaw in my plan. I had to push myself back upright using only force I exerted on the branch in my left hand, which wasn't terribly sturdy. And all the while, my shoes were sliding down the edge of the wall. In a panic, I swung my free arm around while attempting to push on the branch–

–and I slipped off the wall and fell to the ground on the other side.

"Are you okay?" I heard the little boy call out, accompanied by a concerned cry from Kit. I couldn't answer for a few moments. I was still lying on my back, and I was trying to catch my breath.

Finally, I managed to gather enough breath to reply, "I'm fine! And I have your ball, too!"

"Great! But…" The boy paused. "How are you going to get back over? Can you climb the tree from that side?"

"Um, no," I said, without looking at the tree. "I can't. I'll have to find another way off the property."

(I never actually learned how to climb trees. I was scared of heights when I was a little kid, and since I got over that I've never had a reason to do it.)

"Well, can you at least give me my ball back?" the boy asked.

"I can try," I said.

I got to my feet and stepped away from the tree that the ball originally got stuck in. After undershooting a couple of times, I finally managed to get the ball over the wall. Growlithe's excited barking told me that it had made it all the way over, and then the boy chimed in with a, "Thanks, mister!"

"Not a problem!" I said. "But, if you could do me a favor in return…do you know where the Berlitz estate is?"

The boy didn't respond. He probably took off as soon as he got his ball back. Perhaps I should have asked him about the Berlitz estate earlier, but in my drive to help him out I totally forgot about why I came to this neighborhood in the first place.

With a sigh, I told Kit to wait for me on the other side of the wall and finally turned around to take a good look at the property I had accidentally fallen into. Once again, I was in awe – this place looked more like a public park than someone's backyard. There were paved stone pathways all throughout, lined with tiny spherical lamps to light up the path at night. Along the outermost path, there were short bushes neatly trimmed into oval shapes, and the rest of the grass was dotted with the occasional hedge or grove of trees. I couldn't even see the owners' mansion due to a combination of it being far away and blocked by trees. Or at least, that's what I assumed, anyway – it certainly couldn't be due to a lack of size.

I wandered along the outer path, crossing a bridge over a stream that ran through the property. It appeared to feed into a little lake nearby and come from a little gap in the wall that was blocked by a few iron bars. No possible exit there. I kept going and found myself in a little garden filled with flowers that I couldn't name. They were gorgeous, but it would be rude to pick any. And I couldn't use flowers to get off this property, anyways.

However, I got distracted by the flowers for a little too long – as I turned to leave, someone suddenly shouted behind me, "Halt!"

I turned around and had to cover my eyes because there was a blinding light shining in my face. It was like I was staring into the sun, except I knew that couldn't be the case because the sun was setting to my left. When the light finally faded, I lowered my hand and saw that I was being confronted by a tall old man with a bushy white moustache. The two Pokémon by his side looked rather aquatic, and each had two antennae with softly glowing yellow orbs on the end. They had to have been the source of that bright light.

However, before I could say anything, the old man pointed an angry finger at me and exclaimed, "Intruders are not tolerated here! Chinchou, attack!"

The two Pokémon opened their mouths, and each fired a jet of water at me. "Ahh!" I shouted, scrambling out of the way of the attack. "H-hey, I'm sorry to intrude, but it was an accident!" I cried urgently. "I fell onto the property and I was trying to find a way out!"

"A likely story!" the old man retorted. "I punish anyone who intrudes on this estate without the express permission of the owner!"

"Then, you aren't the owner of this estate, old man?" I asked, desperate to keep him talking rather than fighting.

The old man straightened up and adjusted his tie. "My name is Sebastian, impertinent child," he said patronizingly, "and of course I am not the owner of this estate. I have worked as the Berlitz family's butler since before the young lady was born. It is my duty to–"

"W-wait, really?" I exclaimed. I couldn't believe my luck. "That's perfect! I was looking for the Berlitz estate. I came to visit her – the young lady, that is."

"The lady does not entertain strangers," Sebastian scoffed.

"I'm not a stranger," I protested. "I'm her friend."

"The young lady Berlitz would never be friends with a commoner," Sebastian said, looking at my outfit with disdain. I glanced down at my clothes myself; they had gotten a good deal messier after being dampened by Kit's saliva and then rubbed on the ground. However, even as I examined myself, Sebastian's words struck a chord in my memory.

"Missy is the name that I give to commoners – to strangers. To people I do not know. But my real name is Platinum Berlitz, and I would prefer that you call me by that name."

"It's true, I swear," I said. "I'm Platinum's friend."

As soon as I said the name, Sebastian's eyes widened in recognition and he examined me again with a critical eye. "I cannot say I understand the lady's motivations," he finally said, "but you must be telling the truth if you are allowed to use her name. I will take you to her. Come with me."

A/N: Sorry, I just couldn't squeeze Platinum in this one without making it ridiculously long. But don't worry - the next chapter includes lots of Plat ;)