Chapter 94: Dates and Timelines

Kai was pacing, walking back and forth outside in the wilderness with Penny, Arven and Aeon watching.

"How am I supposed to win a normal Pokémon battle?!" Kai cried. "I've literally never done one before!"

"It shouldn't be that bad," Aeon said.

"Yeah," Arven said. "You've had a normal Pokémon battle before."

"The last time I had a normal battle was waaaay back when you and I had a double battle in front of grunts- I made a fool of myself, remember?!" Kai roared.

Arven sighed and planted his hand on his face before shaking his head.

"Gah- it's that stupid Nemona's fault..!" Kai groaned. "Why didn't we ever do a normal Pokémon battle for training…?! What am I going to do…!?"

Penny sighed.

"Why didn't we ever do a normal Pokemon battle for training?!" Kai cried.

"Kai?" Penny said.

'Use Invokers' she said," Kai continued.

"Kai..?" Penny said again but louder.

'"All gym battles require it,' she said!" Aeon continued. "Well look at this Larry guy, he's not following that! Now I'm stuck here and I'm freaking the heck out!"

Penny sighed as Kai continued to complain. She pulled out a pokeball and out of it came her Vaporeon. Both Arven and Aeon turned to Penny as the young girl pointed her finger at Kai.

"Man- I don't even think I can even do this..! God- maybe I should just-"

A blast of water coming from Vaporeon splashed Kai hard enough for him to be knocked off his feet and left him lying on the ground in a tiny puddle. He opened his squinted eyes and saw Penny standing over him.

"Kai!" Aeon shouted, running over to Kai's side. Kai used his elbow to put himself up, as Aeon crouched beside him. Aeon then shot a glare at Penny. "If you wanted to get his attention, just-"

"You can yell at me all you want in a minute, Aeon," Penny said. "I have something I need to say to Kai."

Aeon slowly shut his mouth, and his glare didn't leave. Kai sighed, pulling himself so that he could sit on the ground.

"What is it?" Kai asked.

"First, I want to apologize," Penny said. "You weren't listening, and I didn't want to slap you to put you back to your senses. Second, I'm going to be completely and utterly honest with you because you're my friend, okay?"

"Okay." Kai said.

Penny's serious look loosened after she sighed. She carried a look of quiet determination as she furrowed her brow and frowned.

"An issue, no, more of a weakness that I noticed about you Kai is that you tend to psych yourself out when you see something or someone intimidating. You just get in your own head so much that you convince yourself you've lost even before the word, 'start'. And honestly, as a person who respects you and wants to see you succeed…"

Penny pointed at Kai. Her eyes began to shine blue, and everyone's eyes widened.

"It's infuriating! Because you're not realizing your potential!" She cried. "You don't see what I see: I see you as an incredible trainer. I know that you're able to get through any obstacle in your way! Do you think I made it up when I said that you're the strongest trainer I've ever met?! Remember that time when you outsmarted me during our battle, when you had an understanding of how my invoker worked? You did that without throwing a single punch- you commanded your Pokémon, and they understood you. I've watched you beat the rest of the Gym leaders so quickly! This one won't be different!"

"Hey-" Aeon shouted. "Kai's just a little intimidated, that's all, once he gets out of his senses-"

"No- no, Aeon, she's right." Kai said. Aeon swung his head to Kai with wide eyes as Kai slowly stood up to meet Penny face to face. "It's a bad habit for me to overthink and psych myself out when I see something in my way. Instead of panicking, I should be thinking about ways to beat Larry."

"That's right," Penny said. "To be honest, I've wanted to say that to you for the longest time, even way back when I first asked you to help me with Team Star. I didn't do it then because I was afraid I'd upset you enough for you to quit working with me. And I didn't do it after you quit because I wanted to use that weakness against you. But now that we're both here as allies, no- now that we're friends, I had to say it. Especially since I'm technically your boss."

Kai's eyes widened. He instantly understood what Penny had meant when she said she was his boss.. She was referring to how Kai had considered himself part of Team Star, even though he wasn't an official member.

"Remember, you're a part of Team Star," Penny said, "And as such, you're a part a part of my pride and joy. Like it or not, you represent us. So look sharp and shine bright. I won't tolerate it if you look down on yourself and think anything less than what you are."

"Yeah," Kai said with a smile.

Penny nodded and smiled back.

"Well... if there's one thing I want to add…" Arven said, scratching the back of his head and walking to Penny's side. "Everyone has flaws, Kai. I admire that despite that flaw of yours, you don't stay down after you psych yourself out. Sure, you may need a hand to get back up, but you never stay down. That's how you get stronger in life. Honestly, having a flaw like yours isn't that bad. It just means you need a pep talk every now and again, that's all."

"Well said," Penny said. Both Arven and Penny shared a nod. Penny then turned to Aeon, who was still glaring at her.

"Okay, Aeon," Penny said with a sigh. The moment she sighed, her eyes reverted to their normal color. "You can let me have it."

Aeon narrowed his eyes. "You didn't have to get Vaporeon to use a water gun like that."

"You're right, I could have done that better. I'm sorry," Penny said. Aeon glared for a bit, then sighed.

"It's okay." Aeon said. "From what I've gathered from the story you told us about the origins of Team Star- you're very…what's the word- prideful? I don't mean that in a bad way-"

"No- no you're right." Penny said. "Honestly…as soon as I see my members sulk I just have to step in."

"Because they're your pride and joy, right?" Arven said. Penny looked up at Arven and then smiled brightly. Arven's eyebrows rose for a moment before he looked away from the glasses-girl.

"Anyway-" Arven said. He put his hands on his hips. "If that silence Aeon had just now went on a little bit longer, I thought I'd have to step in and ask you to forgive her."

The moment Arven said that Aeon had to try his absolute hardest to not say, 'Well, Penny is going to become my sister-in-law someday, so we have to get along…' but he knew he'd get a full-on lecture from a red-faced Arven, and Penny…given by her reactions she'd have while next to her brother (Aeon secretly scanned her body temperature and noticed it would rise when Arven was near.) Penny might have fainted. Aeon nodded to himself, fully deciding to stay quiet.

"Well- now that we've gotten that out of the way…" Kai said. "I need to think of ways to beat Larry."

"If it's the idea of going into a battle with a trainer that's bothering you, we can have a match right now," Penny said.

"No, no, that's fine," Kai replied. "I just wish I was able to see Larry's team. I know he's a normal type specialist, and I do have two fighting type Pokémon, but something tells me that he'd have something prepared for fighting types… hmmm.."

"Maybe you should catch more Pokémon?" Arven asked.

"I mean, I already have five."

"You have six Pokémon." Aeon corrected. "Quaquaval, Tinkaton, Pawmot, Houndstone, Charcadet, and-"

Kai put his hand over Aeon's mouth.

"Don't speak its name!" Kai cried. "Don't you dare speak its name!"

Aeon shot a glare and peeled Kai's hand off his mouth. "Bombirdi-"

"SHHH!" Kai cried. He turned his head up and looked up in anticipation, and then after a bit of silence, Kai looked back at Aeon. "Don't say his name- he'll drop something on me, I just know it!"

"Kai, don't you have, what- seven badges now?" Arven said. "Surely it's got to listen to you now."

"Something tells me that it'll take a million badges before that thing stops tormenting me…" Kai grumbled.

"Yeah- sure, it'll torment you, it has to listen to you, right?" Penny said.

"Ughh- I mean, you're right…" Kai groaned.

Aeon's eyes widened as he remembered something. Then, the robot boy lowered his head enough that a shadow loomed over his eyes.

"You should try calling him over to us," Arven said.

"Fiiiiiiine…" Kai groaned. He cupped his hands around his mouth and took in a deep breath.

"Before you do that-!" Aeon said, reaching his arm to Kai, who spun to him. Kai immediately realized that his lover was frowning. "Penny, Arven-" Aeon continued, "there's something I want to tell Kai. Alone. Could you two…"

"Huh?" Penny said.

"Oh- yeah. Sure." Arven said. "We'll give you privacy. Let's go, Penny."

"Y-Yeah." Penny said, blushing a bit while walking away with Arven. After the two left, Kai turned to Aeon.

"...What's going on?" Kai asked.

"I'm just gonna cut to the chase," Aeon said. "I think the reason why Bombirdier isn't here is because of me. He's afraid of me."

"What? What does he have to be afraid of?"

"I literally almost killed it in a fit of rage."

"Ooohhhhhh- right... I forgot about that."

"How could you forget!?"

"Whoops..?" Kai shrugged and Aeon groaned.

"Anyway- It's best that we get Bombirdier back on your team."

"We can just apologize to him," Kai said. "Then tell Bombirdier that the version of you that went into a rage and almost killed him wasn't really you."

"Kai-..." Aeon frowned and sighed. "...it can't be that simple," Aeon said. Kai put a hand on Aeon's shoulder.

"Aeon, you're overthinking," Kai said. "Just trust me."

"I-... Okay." Aeon said, smiling and blushing a bit. "I'll trust you."

"Good." Kai said. "Besides, once Bombirdier sees you for who you really are- a cute, cuddly and harmless boy, he'll come to like you."

Aeon blushed and then pouted. "Y'know what? You've been having it too easy with tossing these one-liners at me."

"Oh yeah?" Kai said, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

"Yeah." Aeon said, smiling. "I think I need to remind you who's boss around here- and make you blush so hard you'll fall for me all over again."

"Are we having a competition? Like before?"

"Yup. You versus me. I'm gonna make you blush hard."

Kai closed in and rubbed his nose against Aeon, who smiled and rubbed his back. For a while, the two remained still, taking in each other's presence, each other's scent and the feeling of their hands being clasped together.

"...Okay." Aeon said. "We should call Arven and Penny again."

"Wait-" Kai said, opening his eyes. "I just got an idea."

"Huh?" Aeon said, tilting his head as Kai pulled his phone out and had a mischievous smile on his face. Without even hearing a word Aeon understood what Kai was about to do. Aeon's eyebrows rose, then immediately, as though it were a disease, Aeon 'caught' the mischievous smile that Kai had. The two began chuckling sinisterly with each other.

Arven and Penny stood alone behind a few bushes. They were silent for a moment, and Penny couldn't stand it- she was extremely nervous as she looked down at the floor. She kicked up a bit of dust and watched it fly for a bit as she tried desperately to fight against the knots in her stomach. She hated awkward silence, and she hated that she had no idea what to say.

"So-" Arven said suddenly, scratching the back of his head. "Remember that time when you said that Aeon was a 'kuudere' after you said that he was a tsundere? I thought about it more- I think he's both."

"Really?" Penny said.

"Yeah. You should have seen it. A 'Kuudere' is that thing where a character's cold at first right? Well at first Aeon was all cold and distant with Kai, but I could tell my brother was having a thing for Aeon. Then he started denying all of it- you should have seen him when Kai was saying that he'd be his future boyfriend. I think that was the 'Tsundere' part. Then-"

Suddenly, Arven's phone started to ring.

"Oh," Arven said as he picked up his phone. "It's Kai. Must be telling us it's fine for us to come back."

Arven pulled his phone to his ear. Penny watched as Arven slowly widened his eyes.

"Wait- what?!" Arven said. "What do you mean, you want some alone time?! Wh- Hey- I can hear Aeon snickering! What are you two planning!? Hey! What do you mean, meet us at Larry's Gym in an hour!? What are you two-" Arven looked at his phone. "GAH-... they turned off the phone on me."

"I-I mean…that's okay!" Penny said. "We-We can just…talk for a bit. Tell me more about...Aeon." Penny said. She didn't mind just listening to Arven talk- in fact, she could do that all day.

"Ughhh…well- if we've got an hour, let's go back to town," Arven said.

"Y'know, you have great ideas sometimes," Aeon said. Kai grinned and put his phone away.

"I like how you say 'sometimes,' because I remember that you've called many of my ideas stupid."

"Hey- I only do that because I love you and don't want you to get hurt."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm your idiot. Love you too. Anyway… I'm gonna call for him, all right?"

"Go for it."

Kai cleared his throat. "BOOOOOOOOMBIIIIIIIIIIRDIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!"

The sound of bird pokemon chirping before fleeing the forest was the only thing the two boys heard for a while.

"Let me try again," Kai said. "B-"

"Wait-" Aeon said. "Wait. How about… I leave? For a second?"

"But I get sad when you're gone." Kai said.

"Wha-" Aeon began blushing. "Kai- now's not the time to be cute. We've gotta solve this problem."

"But I'll miiiss youuuuuu…"

Aeon sighed. "I'll miss you too- but it'll be two seconds. Just two. I promise."

"The longest two seconds of my life."

Aeon sighed again and put a hand on his face. "Jeez, what am I going to do with you…?"

"Kiss me, preferably."

"Later!" Aeon said, snickering a bit. "Just- get started." Aeon began walking away. "Go- yell his name. I'll just… hide in this…bush."

Aeon hid in the bushes he walked over. Kai put his head up and cupped his hands over his mouth.

"MAAAAAAAN- I SURE WISH THERE WASNT SOMETHING THAT FELL ON MY HEAD RIGHT NOW!"

A balled up plastic bag fell on Kai's head. His head swung about. "How did I not see that coming!?" He cried. "Okay- where is that thing…" Kai began looking for the flying type pokemon. "Okay…where are you…where are you…. HEY- BOMBIRDIER- I KNOW YOU'RE HERE-"

A stick fell Kai's head, and Kai swung around. "Where are you!?"

Another stick fell on Kai's head. Kai began grumbling. "Dumb bird- I SWEAR I'LL GET YOU-"

Talons fell onto Kai's shoulder. Kai gasped before noticing that it was his bombardier that had landed on him. "There you are. You dumb bird. You going to listen to me, now?"

Bombirdier shrugged with its wings, and Kai narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Okay. Let's test it. Bombirdier… use fly- WAIT I MEA-"

Bombardier immediately took flight, carrying Kai with him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! NOT AGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIN-"

Aeon shot out from the bushes. "No- KAI!" Aeon shouted.

"I'M FINE!" Kai cried. "I'm-"

Kai noticed that Bombirdier's talons were becoming less steady- in fact, they were shivering. Kai looked up and saw that Bombirdier was drenched in sweat as it saw Aeon. "Uh oh.." Kai muttered.

Bombirdier spun and flew away, dropping Kai immediately. Kai began yelling at the top of his lungs, and Aeon grit his teeth.

"Activating Combat level 1…!" Aeon shouted as he ran. Veins appeared around the robot boy's body, and he leapt into the air like a rocket. Aeon then grabbed his boyfriend in midair- holding the boy like he was a bride. Kai held on for dear life, hanging his arms over Aeon's neck and shoulder.

"G-Get me closer to Bombirdier..!" Kai cried.

"R-Right!" Aeon shouted as gravity began pulling the boys down for a mere moment before the robot boy's jet boots activated. Aeon began closing in toward Bombirdier- who squawked in terror as he flew even farther away.

Kai pulled the pokeball he used to capture Bombirdier from his pocket and aimed it at the flying type.

"C'mon…almost there..!" Kai groaned.

Aeon slowly closed in on Bombirdier.

"Bombirdier- return, and stay in the ball!"

Kai's pokeball opened and shot out a red laser, that shot out like a Frog Pokemon tongue. The light latched onto Bombirdier before its body was swallowed whole by the Pokeball, which retracted its red 'tongue' and closed shut.

"Got it!" Kai said.

"Awesome…!" Aeon said. "Anyway- I've got Good news, and bad news."

"What's the bad news?"

"I-...can't keep up my level 1 combat level for long. I don't want to risk going berserk." Aeon said as the veins on his body disappeared.

"Wh-What's the good news?"

"Uh…" Aeon smiled with a bit of nervousness. "We're…gonna hit the ground…soon?"

"Wait- WAIT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"

Aeon and Kai began plummeting toward the ground. Kai held onto Aeon even harder as Aeon bent his knees and laid back, allowing himself to be a cushion for Kai, who now was 'sitting' on his stomach.. Then, Aeon turned his head down, waiting for the ground to reach them.

"...Combat level 1- reactivate..!" Aeon gritted his teeth as the veins around him reappeared just before the two of them hit the ground. A huge cloud of dust and dirt flew into the air the moment the two hit the ground. Kai was shivering with his hands on his face. After the dust settled, Kai opened his tightly shut eyes and gasped when he saw Aeon nearly buried in dust.

"Aeon!" Kai cried- he hurriedly stood up and started digging the dirt off of Aeon, who chuckled lightly as his veins began to disappear. "Aeon- are you okay..?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," Aeon said. "I reactivated my combat level 1 at the last second so that I wouldn't take any damage from the fall…"

"Jeez… your coat's covered in dirt…" Kai muttered.

"Hey- I treasure you more than this coat," Aeon said.

"I know, but still! Jeez…" Kai pouted, and Aeon chuckled a bit as he took Kai's hand to stand up.

"This fall is nothing compared to how hard I fell for you," Aeon said with a smile. Kai's eyes widened as his heart skipped a beat.

"You-...Jeez..." Kai used his hands to cover his reddened face.

"Gotcha," Aeon said.

"You- GAH-! I'm supposed to be the one charming you off your feet...!" Kai groaned. Kai put his hands off his face and balled them into fists. "Gah- I'll get you back for this, handsome!"

"You do that. Anyway- what do we do about Bombirdier?"

"Honestly... I think Arven would be able to help out with that."

"Good point. I was thinking about asking him about it, too." Aeon said. "Also- I think the fact that Bombirdier's staying in his ball means that he's going to listen to you now."

"Yeah- fair point." Kai said.

"Okay- We should call Arve-"

"Wait- wait wait." Kai said, smirking. "I'd say…we can give him an extra five minutes." Kai said. He began wiggling his eyebrows. "Him and Penny are proooobably doing something together now."

Aeon raised his eyebrows as the two of them began smiling mischievously.

"And that's how they got together," Arven said, smiling at Penny who sat on the other side of the table they shared. There was an umbrella over their heads, which casted a shadow on them both. On Arven's side of the table was a cup of soda. Penny had a cup of coffee on her side. The Eevee-lover had just sat there and listened for the longest time. She couldn't help but smile at how enthusiastic Arven was when he explained the entire story- it was relaxing, so much so that she didn't think of anything to talk about afterward, which was currently beginning to bite her.

"Uhm, Arven?" Penny asked.

"Yeah?"

"What do…you want to be…when you grow up?"

"When I grow up? Uh- I want to be… a chef. Cooking Is actually pretty fun. It's nice to see the looks on people's faces when they eat really good food. Also- food's good for you. Keeps you strong, and we all need it to survive." Arven smiled. "How about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Honestly, I don't know." Penny said, lowering her gaze to her She took her coffee, twirling the drink inside by gently swaying the cup back and forth. "...I wanna…be someone who's…able to help other people. In some way. I wanna pass down the stuff I know to a person who needs to hear it. Be it life advice, school advice, how to pass classes, how to…y'know."

"Right." Arven said. "Maybe…you should be a teacher. If you did, I bet you'd be better than any of the adults we have as teachers."

"Really?"

"Well yeah. When you had that speech earlier to Kai, I thought, 'That's how an adult should talk to a kid whenever they're down like that- that's the advice they should give'. How did you even think of saying something like that?"

Penny began blushing. "I- I mean… I just…kind of… said it. I stopped thinking."

"Well, keep it up. You were really cool earlier."

"Y-Yeah.." Penny said. "I- Thanks,."

Penny looked down, staring at her cup of coffee and focused on trying to calm her rapidly beating heart.

Arven sighed and put his hand on his cheek. "Seriously- if you became a teacher or something, that would be an amazing thing. Some teachers nowadays are just annoying. It's like they don't remember what it's like to be kids. And if they have kids, why don't they just ask them how it's like to be a kid nowadays? It's rough! Wouldn't you do that?"

"Uh- sorry- what was that?" Penny asked.

"If you were an adult and you forgot how it was like to be a kid, wouldn't you ask your kids what it's like?"

"K-Kids?" Penny asked. Her eyes widened. This was not helping her heart rate. "I- I don't even know if I want kids.."

"Really?" Arven said. "Why not?"

"I- I mean- like- it's- it's-" Penny raised her hands in a surrender motion and waved them as her face became redder. "I-it's just- I don't-...! I-... I don't know..!"

"Well... Yeah, fair. My bad if that was out of the blue."

Penny took in a breath. 'Calm down,' she thought. 'It wasn't like he was asking to have kids in the future…'

" I'm just saying that if I had a kid…" Arven continued, "I'd make sure that they'd be understood!" Arven crossed his arms and huffed. "I'll make sure that they won't ever go through what I di-"

Arven widened his eyes. "Uh…oh jeez, me and my big mouth…" He muttered.

Penny raised her eyebrows. For a while, neither of them spoke.

"A-Anyway.. Uh-" Arven scratched the back of his head.

"Wh-which would you even want?" Penny asked. "W-Would you want a boy, or a girl?"

"Honestly…I'd want a boy." Arven said. "It'd be nice to have a mini me running around, y'know."

"...If I had to choose…" Penny looked at her hands and pressed her pointer finger tips against one another. "I'd…choose a boy, too."

"Really? Why?"

"I don't know. It'd be nice to have a boy running around. Besides, if I had a girl, she might ask me things about makeup…and I don't really know or care much about it, so…"

"Me neither. Honestly, I like girls that don't use a lot of makeup. I mean I get it in a food way, like, sometimes some food doesn't taste as good without some sauces, but people aren't food, y'know?"

"Yeah," Penny said with a smile. "People definitely aren't food."

"Hey- I sense a bit of sarcasm there. Are you making fun of me?" Arven said with a half smile.

"Maybe," Penny said.

"Well, quit it!"

Both Arven and Penny laughed.

On the back of her mind, Penny wanted to ask Arven if this was a date- but she knew that it would be incredibly foolish for her to do that, because she'd be risking a lot for asking. But date or not, she was still enjoying herself. This was a nice time for her to get to know Arven, and most of all, not be nervous around him as much. As Arven started to make more jokes, and Penny retorted, she felt like she was putting her guard down less and less around the boy. It was nice being herself around people and just having fun.

Suddenly, Penny saw Arven's phone ring, and for a moment, she saw his lips bend- he wasn't exactly frowning, but he looked like he was holding back a frown. He pressed a button on his phone and put it to his ears.

"Yeah, what's up, Kai?" Arven asked. "You found your Bombirdier? That's great…. Yeah- Penny and me are just sitting around having drinks while we wait for you two…" Arven's eyes widened as his face reddened. "No- it's not a date! What-!?... Of course Penny knows its not a date!" Arven spun to Penny. "Penny- is this a date?!"

Penny's eyes shot back and forth before she looked back at Arven. Her face reddened."Uh…."

"Gah- never mind-" Arven's face grew even more red. "D-Don't answer that!" He cried. "HEY!" Arven shouted at his phone. "STOP LAUGHING! I CAN HEAR YOU TWO GIGGLING! Ohh- when I get my hands on you..!" Arven flung his free hand in the air in frustration. "They hung up.." He groaned. "Ugh- listen- don't- don't worry about what I said earlier- forget that question I asked you, okay?"

Penny just stood there and stared.

"O-Okay?!" Arven cried.

"Okay!" Penny cried.

"Ugh- sorry- I didn't mean to scare you."

"I mean- you didn't scare me that much…"

"That doesn't make me feel any better…!"

"Sorry!"

"No, I'm supposed to be the one saying sorry!" Arven smacked his forehead. "Aughh…!"

Penny and Arven stood quietly, blushing and not making eye contact. Arven scratched the back of his head as Penny put her hands behind her back and kept her eyes low.

"A-Anyway- we really should get going, right?" Penny asked.

"Y-Yeah." Arven said. "We should go."

Arven and Penny took their drinks and walked away from the table they were at. Penny looked at Arven. His reddened face looked troubled. He kind of looked like a tomato- and it was cute. Really cute. But- she wasn't one to talk, she was probably even more red in the face.

"Hey- uh… Penny?" Arven said.

"Yeah?"

"What do you say…that we… do this again sometime…y'know- just…talk. J-Just….The two of us…?" Arven said.

Penny just stared with wide eyes.

"I- I mean," Arven said again, sweating a bit. "I mean- if you don't want to, I-"

"No, no! I- I do! I really do."

"Really? O-Okay… I mean- that's fine. Cool!"

"Cool!"

The two of them were utterly silent as they walked to the gym.

Turo and Sada silently watched Arven and Penny through a giant monitor on their screen in their lab. The two of them were utterly silent. Suddenly, a call came to Turo's phone. He took it from his pocket and brought it to his ear.

"Yes?" Turo asked.

"Professor Turo?"

It was Geeta.

"Yes?" Turo replied.

"Kai's close to getting his eight badges. Are there any warnings or things that I have to do before then? What's the next part of this 'script' you have planned?"

Turo paused for a moment.

"We...cannot predict the future as accurately as we once thought," Turo said. "...From here on out...you will call the shots."

"What..?" Geeta said. "What do you mean?"

"In the past-" Sada spoke loud enough so that Geeta could hear. "Or rather, in an alternate timeline, you said to us that we were like puppeteers. Pulling your strings until we didn't need you anymore. You should be liberated."

"So what- you gave up?!" Geeta cried. "Are you going to wipe all of us from existence and reset the timeline now!?"

"This timeline is far too valuable for us to erase," Turo said. "There are unseen variables that contributed to make this timeline one-of-a-kind. Until we find out the variables, this timeline cannot possibly be erased."

"...So it's all about information to you two in the end, huh?" Geeta said. "...Well, from what I've gathered, it sounds like you two are at a loss as to what to do next."

"...In a way, yes," Sada said.

"...All right. Tell me as much as you can. And keep it simple. We'll plan together."

"Plan...together?" Sada said. "We've never done that before."

"...We've got to move forward somehow," Geeta said. "This timeline won't be a stepping stone for the next. This is going to be the last attempt to make things right."

Turo and Sada exchanged glances. They both nodded.

"Agreed," They both said at the same time.