As the trio emerged into a set of paved walkways between buildings, Mary-Sue let out a deep breath, her shoulders relaxing slightly.
"Missed civilization?" Aaron asked, a teasing note to his voice.
"Yeah," Mary-Sue admitted. All the straight lines and orderly shapes were more comforting than she'd expected - it felt like she'd returned to a world that made sense. Besides, it wasn't an overcrowded, smelly city like Celadon; plenty of houses here on the outskirts had lawns, and the only building more than two stories high was the museum in the distance. It was a pleasant middle ground.
"Well, I'm going shopping," Aaron said abruptly, and he started walking.
"Hey, wait up!" Mary-Sue exclaimed, trotting after him, Jovi's longer strides keeping perfect pace beside them. "Do you know where the Pokémart is?"
"The Pokémart won't have everything I need," Aaron answered. "Curry ingredients are harder to find here in Kanto, and I could use some other stuff, too."
"So we're going to the whole shopping district, then?" Jovi spoke up. "That works for me. How about you, Masie?"
"I don't need anything I can't get at the Pokémart," Mary-Sue said, "but if you guys need more stuff, that's fine."
"Hey, what's that you keep calling her?" Aaron inquired.
"Oh, we agreed on 'Masie' as a nickname, since her full name is a mouthful," Jovi explained. "It's a rough abbreviation of 'M.S.', like how my mom turned 'S.P.R.T.' into 'Spirit'."
"I didn't agree to anything," Mary-Sue huffed. "I just said it's better than 'Mary'. My name isn't that hard to say."
"Speak for yourself," Aaron laughed. "'Masie' definitely works better. Good thinking, Jovi."
"Thanks!" the older girl said brightly.
Mary-Sue grumbled wordlessly as the houses around them began to be replaced with shops. Before long, they split up, Aaron and Jovi going to separate stores and leaving Mary-Sue to wander around and look in windows. It wasn't as though she could go shopping for anything that wasn't essential with the handful of Pokédollars in her pocket, anyway, so she simply browsed, until the display case of a clothing store caught her eye.
"Hey, Aaron!" she called, but the boy was nowhere to be found. She ran back the way she'd come, eyes peeled, until she saw the foreign boy emerging from a grocery store. "Hey!" she exclaimed, dashing over and grabbing his hand. "Come look at this!"
"What?!" Aaron yelped, stumbling to keep up as she dragged him back to what she'd found.
"Look!" Mary-Sue pointed at the display case. "Look at this dress!"
The dress in question was dark purple, with some thin, red embroidered patterns and a bright blue ribbon around the waist. The sleeves were short, the hem would come down just past the knee, and while it wasn't puffy, it was edged with subtle frills of lace.
"Uh…" Aaron blinked at the clothing. "Yeah, um…it's pretty, I guess…"
"It would look great on you!" Mary-Sue exclaimed, hopping in place. "Why don't you try it on?!"
"What?!" The boy all but leapt back, jaw dropping in something like horror.
"The color would totally bring out your eyes," Mary-Sue told him. "Go on, give it a try, you'll look terrific!"
"Wh - I - but - but I'm a boy!" Aaron spluttered.
"So?" Mary-Sue blinked.
"Boys don't wear dresses!" he protested, almost angrily.
"What do you mean?" Mary-Sue tilted her head, blinking at him Noctowlishly. "My dad wears dresses all the time."
It was Aaron's turn to blink at Mary-Sue, her own bewilderment perfectly mirrored in his face. "Your…father…wears dresses?" he asked faintly.
"Uh-huh," Mary-Sue nodded. "He models a lot of his own work, suits and dresses both. Plus, sometimes he just wears a dress to be comfortable, like when it's hot outside."
"But…" Aaron's brow furrowed. "How can a bloke like that have a daughter?"
"Because…my mom and dad love each other," Mary-Sue answered, growing more baffled by the minute.
"Are you…sure he's really your father?" Aaron inquired.
"Of course he is!" Mary-Sue laughed. "I have his eyes!"
"But then…" He trailed off, seemingly at a loss for words.
The two children stared at each other for a minute, each as though the other was a completely alien discovery they couldn't make sense of.
"…Are you gonna try on the dress?" Mary-Sue eventually asked. "It really would look great on you. It was practically made for you."
"N-No," Aaron stated, his face turning red. "I'm not wearing a dress."
Mary-Sue sighed. "Well, my dad says you should never wear something that doesn't make you happy," she relented. "But it really is a shame, it suits you perfectly."
"Hey guys!" piped up a new voice, and they turned to see Jovi running up to them. "What's going on?" the older girl asked.
"Nothing," Aaron said firmly, his face still the color of a Tamato Berry. "I've done all the shopping I need, how about you?"
"Yep, I've got what I needed," Jovi said, hefting her own backpack. "Masie, you needed to go to the Pokémart?"
"Yeah," Mary-Sue said, and they started following the numerous signs pointing new trainers towards the mart and Center. "Though…I won't be able to afford much."
"What do you mean?" Jovi questioned.
"I haven't won any trainer battles yet, and I didn't find anything in the forest that might be worth selling," Mary-Sue confessed. "I need more medicine and Pokémon food, but…the food alone might be all I can get."
"Hmm…" Jovi mused. "Well…you said you wanted to join Team Spirit, and…I mean, my team might have sent me here alone, but they didn't want me to be without resources, so…" She swallowed uncomfortably as Mary-Sue raised her head to look at her. "I have money," she offered at last. "Why don't you just…pick out what you need, and then I'll pay for it?"
"Wow, really?!" Mary-Sue gasped, skipping a step.
"Sure," Jovi smiled. "The money is for Team Spirit business, but if you're going to be a member, I think covering your basic needs qualifies. Besides…" Abruptly, her smile dropped. "…it's not like we're spending it on anything else."
Though she was curious, Mary-Sue bit her tongue, and they walked the rest of the way in silence. At the mart, she picked out twenty Pokéballs, five potions, one revive, two full heals, and plenty of Pokémon food; as promised, Jovi paid for all of it, handing the store clerk a plastic card that somehow stood in for money, which he swiped through a reader of some kind and returned to her.
"Thank you so much, Jovi," Mary-Sue said as they at last entered the Pokémon Center.
"Just think of it as me making up for breaking your Pokédex," the older girl said with a smile.
"Well then, I need to make up for letting that Cipher guy get away," Mary-Sue chuckled. "I'll do whatever I can."
All three of them handed their Pokémon to Nurse Joy, and then Mary-Sue went to the phone booths.
"Come here," she urged Aaron and Jovi, "I want to introduce you to my parents."
As Jovi and Aaron took their places beside her - though the latter seemed reluctant - Mary-Sue dialed her home phone number, her heart leaping when the call went through.
"Hello?" Mrs. Jones called into the monitor. "Is that you, baby girl?"
"Hey mom!" Mary-Sue all but cried, the sight of her mother causing her to be hit by an unexpected wave of emotion. "Yeah, it's me!"
"Something wrong, sweetie?" her mother asked immediately, and Mary-Sue scrunched up her face to fight back tears.
"I-I'm fine," the little girl stammered. Drawing a deep breath, she pulled herself together and opened her eyes. "It's just been kind of a crazy week."
"Mary-Sue!" came a shout, and her father suddenly appeared, shoving his wife out of the way to press his face to the screen. "Oh, my baby girl, are you okay? Where have you been?!"
"Calm down, James," Mrs. Jones sighed, pulling him back so they could both fit into frame.
"Well…first I got chased through Diglett Cave by some Diglett," Mary-Sue began.
Mr. Jones squealed, his eyes bugging out.
"Then I got to Viridian Forest, and I searched for a Pikachu, but I didn't find one," the young trainer continued. "Then I ran out of supplies and realized I was lost-"
"Eeeeeoooeeheeheeeooeee!" her father shrieked, pulling his lavender hair and stomping his feet.
"-but then I met Aaron here, and he offered to help me find my way out," Mary-Sue finished, gesturing to the boy to her right. "He's really good at navigating forests. He's from Galar, apparently he grew up in Ballonlea. Hey, did you guys ever go to Ballonlea when you were in Galar?"
"We're…familiar with it," her mother said as her father finished hyperventilating, though her expression seemed guarded. Then she smiled and said, "It's nice to meet you, Aaron. Thank you for helping our daughter out."
"It was no problem," Aaron assured them.
"A boy?!" Mr. Jones exclaimed, and he claimed the camera again, pointing a finger directly into it. "Now listen here, young man: don't you dare get any funny ideas! You're not nearly good enough for my daughter!"
"James, calm down," his wife groaned, dragging him back again.
Mary-Sue giggled. "We're just friends, dad," she promised her father.
The grown man grumbled but allowed himself to be restrained.
"And who's this, then?" Mrs. Jones inquired, eyes turning to where Jovi stood.
"Oh, this is Jovi, she's from the Orre Region," Mary-Sue answered.
"The Orre Region?" Both adults blinked, wearing identical expressions of confusion.
"So, apparently there's this region that's really isolated and doesn't have wild Pokémon," Mary-Sue explained. "Jovi's from there, and so was this creep I met on the road yesterday."
"A creep?" Even Mr. Jones went still at that, both him and his wife suddenly looking deadly serious.
"Yeah, there was this guy who said he could turn Budew into a powerhouse if I gave it to him," Mary-Sue said. "Apparently there's this really awful group of bad guys called Cipher who started in the Orre Region, and they somehow close the doors to Pokémon's hearts and turn them into Shadow Pokémon, which are like, mindless fighting machines that don't have a problem attacking people. He showed me one, and it hurt Aaron really bad." She gestured to the bandage on Aaron's arm.
Her parents gasped.
"But Jovi's with a bunch of people who are fighting Cipher," Mary-Sue went on, "and she came and saved us. I didn't know what was going on, though, so when she rescued the Shadow Pokémon, I thought she stole it, and I kinda…attacked her, so the Cipher guy got away." She swallowed, heat prickling her cheeks as she looked back on the memory now that she knew what she'd gotten in the way of.
"Hold on," her father spoke up, "just what are these Cipher people doing in Kanto?!"
Jovi stepped forward to answer. "My team and I have been chasing them around the world for years," she told him. "They only came to Kanto recently. The rest of my team is still cleaning up the mess they made in Galar, but I was sent ahead to keep an eye on things, see if I can figure out what they're up to."
"And she wants me and Aaron to join her team," Mary-Sue added. "Team Spirit, they're called. Well…she wants Aaron to join, since he can see Shadow Pokémon's auras and play music that helps heal them, but I want to go too, so-"
"Absolutely not!" Mr. Jones yelped.
The three children recoiled as the grown man stuck his face right in the monitor again, his emerald eyes ablaze with fury.
"You will not have anything to do with these Cipher people, Mary-Sue!" he shouted. "I absolutely forbid it! It's bad enough that you're running around getting lost in forests, but you will not have anything to do with any sorts of criminals or bad guys of any kind! In fact, you're going to come home right now, you can't be out on your own when there are people like that-!"
"James, calm DOWN!"
Mr. Jones's reddened face was knocked out of view as a fist came down hard on the top of his head. A loud thud! sounded over the connection as he hit the floor, accentuated by the man's whimpering, and his wife stepped forward, scowling. Then, she blinked at her audience and plastered a big smile on her face.
"Sorry you had to see that, kids!" she said cheerfully, waving her hands as though asking them to forget what had just happened. "My husband can get a little worked up sometimes, he needs a good hard smack to knock him out of it."
Mary-Sue looked at her friends, both of whom seemed shocked. She remembered what Aaron had said about how no one is okay with being hit, and guessed that this probably looked really bad to someone who didn't know her parents.
"But you know, sweetie," her mother went on, and she looked back at the screen to see Mrs. Jones's sapphire eyes hard and grim as they looked back at her, "he's not wrong to worry. It sounds like these Cipher people are dangerous, and you're too young to fight hardened criminals."
"I'm not a kid anymore!" Mary-Sue shouted. "I'm an officially-licensed Pokémon trainer, and what happens to Pokémon and people in the world is every trainer's business! The Champion fought bad guys on his journeys, too!"
"He certainly did," Mrs. Jones all but grumbled, folding her arms, but before Mary-Sue could ask, she added, "but that doesn't mean it's safe. Sweetie…" The crimson-haired woman sighed heavily, almost deflating. "This is your journey," she said softly, "and of course, you're free to do whatever you want with it, it's not my or your father's place to stop you. But…" Her eyes went soft, softer than Mary-Sue had ever seen them, and she said, "…I don't think you understand how dangerous these kinds of things can be. Maybe you should just leave this in the hands of grown-ups?"
"I'm not sure there's much I can do to help," Mary-Sue admitted. "But…I want to, mom, I really do. These people hurt Pokémon, and…and I almost let them hurt Budew. I'm the reason one of them got away. I need to do something."
"I won't let anything happen to your daughter," Jovi piped up, and she put a hand on Mary-Sue's shoulder; when Mary-Sue turned to look at her, she saw the older girl smiling. "My brother was her age when he drove Cipher out of our home region, and she has the kind of spirit we need to take them down once and for all. And Masie won't be alone, we'll be working together, all three of us. I promise, I'll keep her safe."
"Well…" Mrs. Jones frowned, a finger going to her lips.
"What did you call my daughter?" her husband asked as he rose from the floor, rubbing the bump on his head.
"Oh, I nicknamed her 'Masie'," Jovi smiled. "It's a rough abbreviation of 'Mary-Sue'."
"Your daughter's name is weird," Aaron said, and everyone flinched at his bluntness. "Why didn't you give her an easier name to say?"
"How dare you?!" Mrs. Jones exclaimed. "We worked long and hard on that name!"
"You did?" Mary-Sue blinked.
"When we found out we were going to have a daughter, we wanted to make sure her name would reflect all our wishes for her to have a happy life," her mother said, hands clasping as she took on a dramatic affect. "A normal name, if she wanted a normal life, but one that would allow her to be anything, anything at all!"
"I wanted to name you something elegant and sophisticated, a name suited for a queen," Mr. Jones added, adopting a similar air as he brandished one hand grandly. "A name like 'Mary' or 'Elizabeth', noble and refined."
"And I didn't want you to have a name that made you sound like a wallflower," Mrs. Jones inserted, glaring at her husband. "We were going to give you a feminine name, sure, but one that still sounded like it could belong to a strong girl, one who isn't afraid to get her hands dirty, like 'Susan' or 'Robin'."
"We argued about what would be a better name right up until you were born," her father told her, "and, well…we had to put something on the birth certificate."
"So, we compromised," her mother finished. "We decided to give you both names, and combine 'Mary' and 'Susan' into 'Mary-Sue'."
"Wow…" Mary-Sue smiled, her eyes burning slightly. "I never knew my name was so meaningful…"
"You failed at the 'normal' part, though," Aaron pointed out. "I'm sorry, really, but I just know I'm gonna bite my tongue if I keep calling her 'Mary-Sue'. 'Masie' flows better."
"'Masie'," Mrs. Jones repeated slowly, and she tilted her head. "I…guess that works."
"It sounds sweet, but with a hint of spice," her husband agreed. "It's passable, at least as nicknames go."
"Don't you start calling me that too!" Mary-Sue cried.
"Oh, don't worry, baby girl," her mother told her quickly, "you'll always be Mary-Sue to us."
Mr. Jones nodded in agreement. "If basic people can't appreciate your name, that's their problem," he huffed. "But if they must call you something else, 'Masie' is acceptable."
Mary-Sue smiled. "Thanks," she told her parents.
"Now, sweetie," her father said, "about this Cipher business…"
"I'm gonna help wherever I can," Mary-Sue stated. "It might not be much, but I'm gonna, and you can't stop me."
"If you insist," her mother sighed, immediately reaching over to pin Mr. Jones in a headlock before he could freak out again. "But please, do be careful, won't you?"
"I will," the young trainer avowed. "I know it's dangerous, and I won't do anything I can't handle, I promise."
"I guess that's all we can ask of you," Mrs. Jones sighed heavily. She looked up and over at Jovi. "Jovi, was it? We're counting on you to protect our baby girl."
"I will, Mrs. Jones," Jovi avowed. "Don't worry, Masie's safe with me."
The grown woman nodded. "Well, I think James needs some time with Chimecho," she said. "It's getting late; are you going to bed soon, baby girl?"
"Uh-huh," Mary-Sue nodded. "Nurse Joy's tending our Pokémon right now, and after that we'll have dinner and sleep here, then head to Mt. Moon in the morning."
"Mt. Moon?" her mother repeated. "Aren't you going to challenge the Pewter gym?"
"I'm not ready," Mary-Sue said, shaking her head. "I'll train on the way to Cerulean and see if I can get strong enough to face the gym there."
"Good," her mother smiled, "don't push yourself too hard. There's no rush, baby girl, take your time."
"I will!"
"Good night, then," Mrs. Jones said with a smile. "And it was nice to meet you, Aaron and Jovi."
"It was nice to meet you too, Mrs. Jones," Jovi said, "and you too, Mr. Jones."
"Uh-huh," Aaron grunted noncommittally, though he did bow his head in respect.
"Good night, mom and dad!" Mary-Sue said. "I love you!"
"We love you too, baby girl," her mother responded, giving her the peace sign before hauling her husband away, and Mary-Sue hung up.
Aaron let out a heavy breath. "Your family is really strange, Masie," he remarked.
"They're definitely interesting," Jovi spoke up, but unlike Aaron, the older girl was smiling at her. "I can see where you get your spirit from."
"Thanks," Mary-Sue said hesitantly. "Do, um, either of you need to make a call?"
"I'm good," Aaron shrugged. "My folks know I won't call unless something really important comes up."
"I'd say joining Team Spirit is pretty important," Mary-Sue commented.
"I haven't agreed to anything yet," the boy mumbled, tucking his chin against his chest.
"Well, I need to call my brother," Jovi said, and Mary-Sue moved out of the way to let the teenager access the phone. "You two stay here, I want you to at least give your input to my incident report, okay?"
"Sure thing," Mary-Sue agreed, while Aaron muttered something that at least didn't sound like a 'no'.
Being out-of-region, the number Jovi dialed was a lot longer than Mary-Sue's home phone, and Mary-Sue quickly gave up on trying to learn it. The phone rang for a lot longer, too, but eventually the screen lit up, displaying the image of a man with spiky red-brown hair and a fitted black shirt.
"Jovi!" the man exclaimed, smiling. "Good morning! It's good to hear from you!"
"Hey, Michael," Jovi smiled. "How are things in Galar?"
"Busy," her brother answered with a yawn, and he sipped something from a mug. "That's why I'm even awake early enough to take your call."
"Huh?" Jovi blinked, then her eyes went wide. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry, I forgot about time zones. It's almost night here."
"Don't worry about it," Michael laughed, waving a hand. He took a deep breath, then turned deeply serious, his teal eyes hardening. "I'm guessing you have something to report?"
"I do," Jovi nodded. "I've been scouring Kanto for any sign of Cipher for the last three months…alone. It's tough, since I can't tell anyone what I'm even doing here. Two days ago, though, I was lucky enough to find someone who was able to point me in the direction of someone who matched the description of a Cipher peon - they said a guy in white armor and a big helmet had just left Pewter City, headed for Route 2. I went running, and I found him; he was attacking these two." She gestured to Aaron and Mary-Sue.
"Attacking?" Michael repeated.
"He had a Bibarel, a Shadow Pokémon," Jovi explained, "and he instructed it to kill this boy." She took out a Pokéball. "I snagged the Bibarel, but then this girl thought I was a thief and tried to call the police, and in the confusion, the peon got away."
"At least you rescued a Shadow Pokémon," Jovi's brother said. "Though…I'm wondering why Cipher would want to kill a child."
"Michael, this is Aaron," Jovi said, reaching over and putting a hand on Aaron's back to nudge him forward. "He's from Galar, says he grew up in Ballonlea, and he can see the auras of Shadow Pokémon."
"See their auras?!" Michael gasped. "Without an Aura Reader, you mean?!"
"That's right," Jovi nodded. "Tell him, Aaron."
"As soon as that Cipher guy took out his Bibarel, I knew something was wrong with it," Aaron said, his expression serious. "I could see a sort of shadowy cloud hanging around it, purple and black and kind of sparkly. It was strange, though, because I could only see it at certain angles - if I tilted my head the right way and squinted, I could see the Bibarel clearly. But seeing the Bibarel without the aura felt like an illusion, like a trick a fairy might play on someone in Ballonlea Forest. I grew up there, so I've had a lot of practice at seeing through illusions."
"Interesting," Michael mused.
"I was thinking you should ask around in Ballonlea, see if anyone else there can see Shadow Pokémon's auras," Jovi spoke up. "Aaron seems pretty convinced there's a connection of some kind."
"I'm not so sure," Michael said. "Although, we haven't spent much time in Ballonlea. The main trouble would be getting information from the locals without telling them about the situation."
"Michael, you need to tell people about Cipher!" Jovi groaned with the exasperation of someone who'd said this a thousand times already. "I can prove it now! Like I said, this girl here, Mary-Sue…" She put her other hand on Mary-Sue's shoulder and urged her into view. "She thought I was a thief, and she tried to save the peon I caught, she nearly got the police involved! If people knew about Cipher, we could operate without that kind of risk! Civilians might even be willing to help us!"
"We can't tell the world about Shadow Pokémon," Michael stated. "I know this is hard for you to understand, Jovi, but we've talked about this extensively; if the world knew Shadow Pokémon could be created, there would never be an end to Cipher's plans, new people would always be able to pick up the torch even if we did stop Ardos. The only way we can prevent Shadow Pokémon from ever being created again is to make sure no one knows it's even possible."
"But people wouldn't do it if they understood!" Jovi argued. "The whole reason that peon was even talking to these kids in the first place was because he was trying to convince Mary-Sue to join Cipher, and if Aaron hadn't been able to see Bibarel's aura, she would have gone with them!"
"It's true," Mary-Sue spoke up. "I…" She swallowed hard, embarrassed, but she knew she needed to back Jovi up. "I grew up watching Pokémon battles on TV, and I thought Pokémon were only good for battling, that that was just what they all did, so when my Budew refused to fight when I told it to, I thought there was something wrong with it. That Cipher guy would have easily convinced me to go with him, to fix my Budew, and I - I never would have thought there was anything wrong with Shadow Pokémon. If it wasn't for Aaron…and then Jovi…"
"There are enough good people in the world that, if they truly understood what Shadow Pokémon were, no organization like Cipher would ever be allowed to thrive," Jovi insisted. "Come on, big brother, how much more proof do you need?"
"It's not worth the risk," Michael said firmly. "We want the very idea of Shadow Pokémon to end, Jovi; if the world at large knows about them, they'll never go away. Bad enough you've apparently told these kids everything," he added pointedly.
"Hey, we had a right to an explanation!" Aaron exclaimed, and he held out his bandaged arm emphatically. "That Shadow Pokémon tried to kill me, just because I could see what it was, and Masie's Pokédex got damaged!"
"How many other people have you told?" Michael asked accusingly.
"Only these two," Jovi answered, scowling. "I've kept to Team Spirit's code of secrecy, I only told them because they needed to know. But I'm telling you, keeping it a secret is a mistake."
"Your opinion has been overruled," Michael stated. "As for you two…" He eyed Aaron and Mary-Sue.
"We want to join Team Spirit," Mary-Sue said.
"Speak for yourself!" Aaron yelped.
"Aaron, you have to join them," Mary-Sue pressed. "Not just because you can see Shadow Pokémon, but because your music can heal them. And I'm going to join, if I can."
"What's this?" Michael questioned.
"Aaron here is a very talented musician," Jovi told her brother. "He started playing music while I was massaging Bibarel, just on a whim, and his music had a much stronger effect on its heart gauge than a Vivid Scent did."
"Really?" Michael blinked at Aaron. "Well, that's lucky. I'm sure you know the Purification Chambers are all full…"
"Yeah," Jovi nodded, "but with Aaron's help, I should be able to get this Bibarel ready for the Purification Ceremony without them." Her scowl deepened. "And that's only because of Aaron. Michael, Shadow Pokémon are getting harder to purify by the day, a massage did almost nothing! I know you think we have Cipher on the run, but I can't disagree more, they're definitely getting stronger. I really don't think we've disrupted any of their plans, they must be after something in particular."
"There's no reason to believe their plans are bigger than they seem," Michael said.
"Still?" Jovi asked pointedly. "You haven't found anything at all in the three months since I left?"
At this, Michael hesitated, and Mary-Sue's breath caught in her throat. "We've…been finding a lot of things," he said slowly. "Mostly more Shadow Pokémon; I think we'll be pulling them out of the woodwork for months to come, at this rate. But…we've also found a couple of bunkers Cipher were using - they seemed old, like they've been here since before we got here, maybe even before we left Orre."
"So Cipher's been global this whole time?!" Jovi asked.
"We don't know that for sure," Michael emphasized. "But…" He bit his lip. "We did find…something troubling." The grown man met Jovi's eyes grimly. "There's some data that indicates the creation of an XD002 and an XD003," he told her.
"XDs?!" Mary-Sue gasped. "Those can't be purified, right?"
"They can be purified," Michael corrected, "but not by any conventional or natural means. We're confident that if we manage to snag them, whatever they are, we'll be able to save them by maximizing the output of the Purification Chambers."
"Two new XDs," Jovi breathed, and she shook her head. "Big brother, please, you can't still think it's okay to let Cipher run amok here in Kanto while you clean up Galar."
"It was a hard-fought battle, and they'll need time before they can recover," Michael began.
"But even if you're right, why give them that time?!" Jovi exclaimed. "Michael, we need all hands on deck! I know you can convince the Professor to move all of Team Spirit here, or - or even most of them, so we can take Cipher down before they can do any more damage! If there are XDs to worry about, too…You can't expect me to take care of all that alone!"
"Of course I don't," Michael said calmly. "I just need you to perform reconnaissance and snag any Shadow Pokémon you can manage, disrupt them however you can while we finish up here."
"You can finish up there later!" Jovi cried. "You can always go back and save the rest of the Shadow Pokémon in Galar after Cipher's been taken out! Please, Michael…"
"You're overreacting," Michael told her, adopting a soothing tone of voice. "I promise you, Jovi, it's not that bad." He groaned, running a hand through his messy hair. "Anyway, I need to get going. Thanks for the update, I'll definitely look into that Ballonlea lead."
"But, big brother…"
"Welcome to the team, Aaron and Mary-Sue," he went on, sparing each of the younger kids a glance. "I'm glad my sister found friends who can help her."
"You could help, if you just focused on what's important!" Jovi shouted. Mary-Sue looked up at the older girl, and was surprised to see tears in her cobalt eyes.
"I am focused on what's important," Michael told her. "Please calm down, Jovi. You have your job, and I have mine." He sighed. "I'm really glad to see you're doing well," he added, a bit more softly. "I've been worried about you since you left, I'm glad I can tell mom you're all right. Call me a little more often, okay? Even if you don't have news, we'd really appreciate if you check in more often."
"What, you think I can't take care of myself?!" Jovi snapped. "If you were really so worried, maybe you should have come and found me!"
"I can't do that," Michael stated. "I'm sorry, Jovi, but everyone in Team Spirit has discussed this, and we need to clean up Galar so we can be sure nothing else happens here. We need to focus on protecting people and Pokémon."
"But…" Jovi choked off, lifting her hands off her companions so she could safely clench her fists.
"Stay safe, Jovi," Michael said. "I love you, and so does mom. I'll tell her you said hi, okay?"
"But…!"
"Bye." Just like that, Michael reached to the camera, and the call ended.
Mary-Sue looked at Jovi, who had her fists clasped to her cheeks, her eyes screwed shut against tears.
"Jovi?" the younger girl asked.
"Big brother…" Jovi whimpered. Then she snarled, thrust her fists into the air, and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Big brother makes Jovi angry!"
Her friends blinked, staring at her.
In a flash, Jovi clapped both hands over her mouth, her cheeks turning red as she looked around. "Pretend you didn't hear that," she mumbled through her fingers.
"What?" Aaron asked. "That you're mad at your brother?"
"No…" Jovi sighed and lowered her hands. "I…When I was little, I used to talk about myself in the third person all the time," she said sheepishly. "I kicked the habit in kindergarten, but sometimes I slip up. It's really embarrassing."
"Oh. Well, don't worry about it," Aaron shrugged.
"Yeah," Mary-Sue agreed, "it's not a big deal."
Sighing again, Jovi slumped, barely lifting her feet as she dragged her way over to a bench by the opposite wall and sat down heavily.
"Jovi?" Mary-Sue trotted over and hopped up to sit beside her. "What's wrong?"
"You wouldn't understand," the teenager grumbled.
"Yeah," Mary-Sue agreed, kicking her feet. "So, what's wrong?"
"Huh?" Cobalt eyes lifted to blink at the younger girl in confusion.
"I still want you to tell me," Mary-Sue said. "I probably won't get it, but I can still listen."
"Yeah," Aaron spoke up, walking over, "if you need to talk, we're here for you. What else are friends for?"
"It's never good to keep things bottled up for too long," Mary-Sue recited, thinking about the lessons her parents had taught her. "A little while's okay, if you need to, but let it out as soon as you can."
Jovi looked between them for a minute, then sighed yet again, slouching even further. "I was torn away from my home when I was eight years old," she said in a low voice. "I've been dragged all across the world for seven years while my family chased a madman and his followers, and I never got a choice in it. I…I want to go home." Her shoulder shook as she choked back a sob. "I miss my friends. I miss my best friend, Emili - I don't know if she even still lives in Orre or if she went out in the world, she's old enough now and I wasn't there to talk to her about it or see her off if she decided to go somewhere. I miss Chobin, and Dr. Kaminko - I don't even know if Dr. Kaminko's died of old age since we left. I miss the lab, and my bed, and my room, and not having to worry about fighting bad guys. I just…I want all this to be over."
Silently, Aaron walked over and sat down at Jovi's other side; something in his expression told Mary-Sue he did understand, though he didn't seem inclined to say so.
"What would you do, if you were home?" Mary-Sue asked. "Like, do you have a dream, something you want to do, if you weren't fighting Cipher?"
"I…" Jovi rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes and sniffed. "I was kinda jealous of my brother when I was a kid," she admitted. "How he got to go out on a big adventure, and I had to stay home. Seems stupid now, I got the adventure I thought I wanted and it's only been miserable. But if Cipher had never existed, I…I think I would have studied cosmetology."
"What?" Mary-Sue blinked.
"Makeup," Jovi explained with an embarrassed smile. "I want to be a makeup artist. I know that's silly and shallow, but…"
"Not at all!" Mary-Sue assured her. "If that's what would make you happy, then that's what matters."
"If it's a dream dear to your heart, then it's worth pursuing," Aaron said; it sounded like he was quoting someone, but neither of the girls asked.
"Thanks, guys," Jovi hiccuped. "I'm sorry for losing my cool like this." Sniffing one last time, she stood up. "Let's get our Pokémon and have dinner."
"Sounds good," Mary-Sue said, hopping to her feet. "I'm starving!"
"Yeah, I could eat," Aaron agreed, and together, they headed for the front desk of the Pokémon Center.