"Well, Sada, I think you are in dire need of a change. In appearance, I mean." The therapist explained, eliciting an eyebrow quirk from the AI.

"I don't see how a haircut would help with deep-seated trauma."

"Well from what you've told me, it seems you struggle to separate yourself from your creator. Especially since you seem to be a clone of her, appearance-wise."

"So if you made a change from that, it might help. You won't be greeted by her reflection when you look at yourself. I'm not trying to pressure you, but give it some thought." They said, looking sympathetically at Sada. She hummed, thinking over their words.

Sada stood in front of the bathroom mirror, frowning as she tied back her hair in various ways. Buns, high ponytails, low ponytails, braids, nothing felt right no matter what she did. She huffed defeatedly, letting her ashy blonde hair fall down her back.

Maybe I could try some new clothes… The professor must have had some here.

She wandered to the professor's abandoned bedroom, now a spare storage room. She stepped over the boxes and old junk spread across the floor, making a mental note to clean it up later.

Once she reached the closet she opened it up, revealing the professor's old clothes. They all looked much too revealing for the AI's tastes. Not even the winter outfits didn't leave very much to the imagination. She sighed, climbing her way back out of the room.

"Arven, do you know where I could find a clothing store?" She called out as she walked, causing the teen to peek his head out of his bedroom door.

"Why do you need to buy new clothes? Wouldn't Mom's other stuff fit you?" He asked, tilting his head slightly.

"I would much prefer something more… Modest, than her tastes."

Arven stayed silent for a moment before nodding, "…Yeah, that's understandable." He ducked back into his room before coming back a minute later. "You should check out Levincia. It's got a ton of fancy boutiques and salons."

"Would you mind coming with me? I… Don't really understand fashion." She asked, hesitating for a moment trying to think of an excuse to bring Arven along.

"That's the first time anyone has called me fashionable." He laughed, dramatically flipping his hair like a shampoo commercial. Sada giggled, watching him quickly try to fix his hair.

"But of course, I'll tag along, Mom."

"I never thought you could fit this many lights in a single place." She mumbled, looking around at the neon-coloured surroundings. "I would hate to see their electricity bills."

"Well, it's not the electric city for nothing." He joked, looking around for a store that had clothes that would suit her. Eventually, the pair stopped in front of a luxury store. "This seems like it would be your style, Mom."

"Veracidad… Arevn, don't they stock exclusively luxury clothes?" Sada questioned, furrowing her brows. "You know I can't afford this-"

"You might not, but my egg donor can," Arven said, pulling out the professor's league card. "It was lying in one of the research stations. I grabbed it on my way back from Area Zero."

She quickly snatched the card from his hand, reading the name on it. It was indeed the professors.

"We are not spending your dead mother's league points on overpriced clothes, Arven." She replied sternly.

"They're just sitting there, Mom. Who's going to spend it if not her living family?"

"It still feels wrong. Even if I wanted to spend them, we could put it towards more important things."

"You're important too, Mom. You've been wearing her clothes for months. Don't you think you deserve something a bit special?" He argued, looking up at her.

Sada let out a sigh, placing the card in her pocket. "Fine. But only because I've heard that they have high-quality clothes, so they should last me a while." She grumbled, stepping inside.

The pair were immediately assaulted by the overpowering scent of perfume. The entire decor was stark white, feeling almost like a hospital. The floors were polished marble, screaming 'You're a peasant here.'

There wasn't even any decoration to break up the blinding white. Only neatly organised racks and shelves along the walls. Only two mannequins were in view.

"Dear Arceus this place is garish to look at. I hope their clothes are better than their lighting." Arven mumbled, squinting his eyes to see past the bright lights.

"I don't know how humans who can't turn down their vision brightness deal with this." She mumbled, walking further inside and looking at some of the mannequins. Most of them were in overly formal garments, only in shades of greyscale.

She frowned lightly, almost ready to give up before a worker appeared by her side.

"Hello! Do you need any assistance, ma'am?" They chirped. Sada jumped in surprise as she spun around to face them.

"Oh, well… Do you have anything more… How do I say it, casual? Everything here just looks like I should be wearing it on the red carpet." She explained, gesturing to the luxuriously dressed mannequins.

"Of course, they're just further in the back. Follow me," They said, turning on their heel and leading her further into the store. Arven quickly ran behind them, trying to catch up with Sada.

The racks displayed many more colourful clothes. They were still mostly muted and beige, but it was an improvement. The pair browsed the racks, picking out a couple things that might suit the AI.

In the changing room, Sada hyper-analysed herself in the mirror. Almost nothing felt right. Either being too stuffy and formal, or too sexy and revealing.

She soon got down to the last item she brought in to try; a forest green sweater dress with pale orange accents. She slipped it on and instantly everything felt right.

The dress slightly clung to her curves, accentuating her figure. But it was still loose and breathable, not feeling stuffy like other sweaters she tried. The green complemented the tera crystals lining her skin as well.

But most of all, it felt uniquely hers. It wasn't the professor looking back at her in the mirror. It was just her.

"Arven, I think I finally found something that I like…" She called out, opening up the dressing room door.

"That looks amazing on you, Mom!" He exclaimed before squinting slightly, deep in thought. "I'll be back in a second."

He came back a minute later with a pale orange belt with a bronze pokeball-shaped buckle. "Try this on- I think it'll bring the outfit together." He said, handing it to Sada.

She raised an eyebrow but slipped the belt on nonetheless. "So, how does it look now?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. His eyes lit up, a wide grin spreading on his face.

"It looks perfect! Go look at yourself, Mom!" He urged, spinning her around to face the mirror again. He was right, the belt really did make the dress feel complete.

"You know if you weren't going to become a chef I'd say you should be a stylist." She joked, looking at herself in the mirror.

"My hair is essentially a wig, Arven. Why are we going to a salon?" Sada asked, raising a brow as she looked towards Arven.

"Well, I assumed you wouldn't want your kid with only dog grooming experience to try cutting your hair," Arven shrugged.

"It's not that bad, is it?" She said, frowning slightly as she ran a hand through her hair.

"You could at least get the tera crystals cut off."

"That is true…" She mumbled, walking into the salon.

The salon was a cacophony of noise. Hairdryers whirring, showers hissing, and everyone talking at once. Arven gripped her sleeve, staying silent as they approached the counter.

Sada wordlessly reached into his bag, pulling out a small pair of headphones. He smiled up at her as he slipped them on, loosening his grip.

"Hello, how may I help you two today?" The woman behind the counter chirped.

"Hey, are you guys able to do anything with wigs? Like ones made out of real hair." Arven asked, gesturing to Sada's hair.

"Well yes, but I must ask, why you would want a haircut on a wig?"

"It's a… Complicated story, to say the least. But it is possible, right?" Sada asked. The woman behind the counter nodded. She glanced over to where the hairdressers were working before turning back to the pair.

"It's going to be about ten minutes before anyone is free. But you can take a seat and decide what style you'd like." She said, pointing over to the couch a couple feet away from the counter.

"That sounds great, thank you, ma'am." Sada replied, sitting down with Arven. There were fashion magazines spread all across the coffee table in front of them. Almost a quarter of them featured the same lavender-haired woman on the cover.

"I didn't know the Alfornada gym leader was so popular." She murmured, picking up one of the worn-down magazines.

"Oh yeah, Tulip is like one of the most famous models in Paldea. I think she's only a gym leader because Geeta pressured her into it." He commented, watching a show on his phone.

She hummed, flipping through the pages. It was filled with advertisements for hair products and some makeup. Each one showed off a different beautiful model from the last.

But despite them all being objectively gorgeous. Sada couldn't imagine having hair like any of them. She grabbed another magazine and was met again with the same result. It didn't make sense.

These are all people hired because they're beautiful. Because people want to be like them.

So why do none of the styles they're showcasing look like they would be… Right, on me?

She sighed, glancing over at Arven, still engrossed in his show. He appeared to be watching some type of cartoon. She watched along, trying to figure out what was happening. After a moment it cut to a new character, and Sada's eyes lit up.

"Arven, can you pause it for a moment?" She asked, looking up at him. He raised an eyebrow but paused it, tilting the phone towards her.

"Why do you look so happy about seeing Hunter? You don't even watch TV aside from nature documentaries."

"Nature documentaries are highly educational."

"Your brain is literally hooked up to the largest repository of human knowledge on Earth. You don't need education, Mom."

"Hmph. Anyway, I just like their hair…" She commented, zooming in on the character's face. Their hair was short, barely reaching below their ears. It was a loose chestnut-coloured ball of waves, looking as fluffy as an Eevee's fur collar.

"I mean he does have a pretty design. But wouldn't you want to get your hair inspiration from an actual person?"

"None of the magazine models' styles looked right for me. They're all stunning, of course, but I just can't see myself liking any of it on myself." She explained, frowning lightly. Arven nodded in understanding, screenshotting the frame for her.

"Hey, a chair just opened up, ma'am. Could you come follow me?" The woman behind the counter called out, grabbing their attention. He passed his phone to Sada as she stood up, flashing her an encouraging thumbs up. She sat down in the plush chair, fidgeting with the hem of her dress.

"Hi, I'm Stella, I'll be doing your hair today. So, what do you have in mind?" The stylist asked, clipping the large plastic cape over her.

"Oh, well I was wondering if you would be able to style my hair like this? And maybe dye it a similar colour, if you can…" She explained, showing Stella the screenshot from Arven's phone.

"Yeah, I should be able to do that. Just sit back and relax."

"And finished! So, what do you think, Miss?" Stella asked, holding up a mirror behind Sada's head. Her hair fell just below her ears. It looked fluffier than a Mareep's coat and was dyed a deep chestnut brown. Some of the tera crystals still lingered, now appearing as iridescent highlights sprinkled throughout the fluffy mass.

It looked almost exactly like that cartoon character. And much like the dress, it felt completely right. It was perfect. It felt like her.

"It's absolutely perfect… Thank you." Sada replied, running her fingers through her hair.

"I'm glad you like it. I couldn't get all the tera shards out, but that big matted part is out at least." Stella explained, taking the plastic cape off of Sada.

"So, what do you think of your makeover Mom? Do you feel any better?" Arven asked, hopping out of the flying taxi.

"It's perfect, Arven," Sada replied, still playing with her hair. "Although there are still some things I would like to change. Internally, I mean."

"Like what?"

"My voice. It's uncomfortable hearing her voice coming out of my mouth when nearly everything else about me is. How do I word it… Detached, from that now." She said, lost in thought as she opened the door.

Arven hummed to himself, quickly darting over to the computer once he entered. "I think I have just the solution for that, Mom."

Sada cocked her head to the side, looking over his shoulder at the monitor. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, sweetheart. But I really don't think you're going to find anything similar to my voice synthesiser online."

"You would be surprised. Penny listens to tons of music with computer vocals." He replied, opening up a brightly coloured website for a voice synthesising program.

"Alright, it's all set. Now we can change how your voice sounds," Arven said, opening up the considerably more drab-looking program on the computer. "Although we're going to need to work from a preset. Unless you want to sound like a tone-deaf Jigglypuff. I can do that from scratch."

"I think that's just Scream Tail," Sada replied with a chuckle. "What presets are there, anyway?"

"Well, most of the female ones here seem to be variations on the same squeaky teenage girl kind of sound…"

"Absolutely not," She replied flatly.

"Yeah, I assumed you wouldn't want that. The male presets seem to sound like they're somewhere in their twenties, at least." He said, trying to feign enthusiasm.

"My approximate age is just under double that, Arven."

"Hey, I'm trying my best here. It's not my fault the people that made the defaults didn't consider middle-aged women when they made them." Arven said, throwing his hands up. Sada sighed, rolling her eyes in response.

"I'll look online and see if anyone posted a tutorial to make a more suitable voice." He said, turning back toward the computer. "It shouldn't be… Too, hard if we just completely copy someone else's work."

After three hours of searching and fine-tuning, the pair had finally made Sada a suitable voice.

"Okay, so you're sure you want this voice? I mean we can always roll it back, it'll just take a while." Arven said, looking back at Sada.

"I am very certain, dear." She replied, plugging herself in and getting comfortable on the floor. He nodded, taking a breath and began to install the new voice synthesiser. Sada went instantly limp, shutting down. After about a half hour she finally came back online with her new voice.

"Okay you're back, start talking. We need to see if it's working." Arven said crouching down beside her.

"Uh… What should I talk about? I can read out a pokedex entry-" She asked confusedly. Her voice leaned slightly masculine, sounding rough. Like her words were scraping across sandpaper as she spoke.

"It worked, you sound different! And it doesn't seem to be bugging out. At least not yet."

"I… I do sound different, don't I? It feels surreal…"

"Although I have to ask… Why did you choose this voice specifically? It just… I don't know, it doesn't feel like you."

"Well, you've heard the professor's voice coming out of my mouth for months. It's obviously going to be strange adjusting. Honestly, it's just as strange for me too." She explained, putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"Though while we're on the subject of adjusting to new things… Have you ever felt like? Well, you're happy with yourself…" Sada began, her voice trailing off as she thought of the right words.

"…But you can't stop feeling like there's still that single piece missing?" Arven adds, looking at her sympathetically.

"Exactly! Although… How do you know it, Arven?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow. He only gave her a blank stare in response.

"Oh, right. I always forget that you're trans." She murmured, "I suppose you would have more experience in this type of thing."

"Wait… Arven are you trying to tell me something?"

"I mean, it's not impossible. You can feel love, joy, sadness, all sorts of stuff. Who's to say you aren't trans?" He suggested, shrugging slightly.

"But that doesn't make sense. I would have felt this well before now, even with the professor still around." She replied, looking down at herself as her mind raced.

"Hey, I was the same way, Mom. I went on for years just feeling disconnected from being a girl. Like I was always wearing a shirt that was one size too big." Arven started, his tone was soft, almost comforting.

"It didn't bother me until I started changing myself. Then once I figured out who I really was… Well, that shirt felt like it was finally the right size." He explained,

"I can't say what you are or aren't, Mom. But it wouldn't do you any harm to entertain the possibility."

"I… I need to think about this." She muttered, utterly lost in her own head.

Sada laid awake in bed, unable to shake off Arven's suggestion. She couldn't be trans, could she? Even with programming as advanced as hers, she shouldn't be feeling this.

It's just too… Too intrinsically, uniquely, human of an experience. Isn't it?

She shut her eyes, thinking back to his words. It was true that she didn't feel a connection to her gender. But who's to say being a man would be any different?

But at the same time… This more androgynous makeover made everything feel. Right… Like a shirt that was the perfect size.

Sada opened her eyes again, furrowing her brows as she thought.

"This is my friend Sada… He's really cool." She called out to the empty room. She frowned hearing her words, cringing at being referred to as 'he'. She definitely wasn't a trans man.

"…This is my friend Sada…" She sighed, fidgeting with her hands as she continued. "…They're really cool."

That was it. Everything finally clicked into place. They finally found that last little puzzle piece. Everything felt right. They smiled, feeling a weight lifted from their mind. Sada shut their eyes, finally going to sleep for the night.

"See? I told you it wouldn't hurt to consider it, Mom." Arven said, smiling smugly.

"It does feel… Liberating, finding a label that fits me. Although I can't say I expected that I would be non-binary." Sada replied, leaning against the couch armrest.

"Gender is funny like that. So, are you thinking about a new name?" He asked, cocking his head curiously. "I mean, you've changed pretty much every else about yourself. The only thread left connecting you and the professor is her name."

"I… Actually think I'm going to keep her name." They said wistfully, their voice barely above a whisper.

"Wait, really? Why? Don't you want to separate yourself from her?"

"I do. But, well, I'm my own person now. So maybe I can… Reclaim it, you know." They explained, straightening their posture. "She left behind a legacy of mistakes and destroyed relationships. But I… I want to fix what she left behind."

"And it only feels right to start by reclaiming my name from her." They finished, looking at Arven directly. He nodded in response, leaning over to hug her.

"Well, whatever name you go by… You're already fixing things, Mom. Just by being here with me," He mumbled. They smiled down at him, hugging him tightly in return.