Chapter 1
The Little-Big Move
(Part 2)

["Call from... Cordia."]

It was Nemona's Big Sister calling.

Rrrright. Nemona had promised she'd call to confirm she'd 'moved in properly,' or whatever. As if she hadn't been to Mesagoza a bajillion times.

"Augh..." Nemona huffed. After a pause, she commanded her Rotom: "Answer..."

["... Heh-... Hello? You there? Nemona?"]

"Hey, Sis," Nemona replied, her tone flat and neutral and calm and peaceful, and completely not tearing into unresolved problems...

["Why's your video not on?"]

"Because there's no need? I'm, um... I'm kinda busy, here."

Nemona was, in fact, knelt in front of the couch, wibbling Puñito's hands around, like he were a big stuffed doll. He was snickering, and she shushed him with a gesture of her finger to her index, but he didn't seem to pay much heed, even though he knew full well what that hand gesture meant...

["Why do I hear giggling?"]

"That-..." Nemona stopped playing with her Pokémon. "That's just my Pokémon, Sister."

["Playing with that mischievous mouse again, are we? Shouldn't you be unpacking?"]

"I am unpacking, he's helping me. We've got to finish before Penny comes back, and then it'll be time for dinner, and...-"

["You're really going through with this, huh?"]

"Yup," Nemona answered briskly, a touch of defiance sparking through her tone at the question she knew was going to be asked. She noticed Puñito giving her a confused look, which made her self-aware of how sour her expression had just turned.

Feeling her face shift into a downcast look, she swallowed shakily and scooped Puñito up by the armpits, carrying him over to the bed, where a couple suitcases of clothes sat.

Her RotomPhone drifted in the air behind her. Puñito wasn't so... 'ito'... as he'd been so long ago. About half her height (she'd sprouted inches since he'd become a Pawmot), he was probably as heavy as Nemona was herself, so just having the upper body strength to carry him from one room to another made her feel the results of her training. As she made the trek, Big Sis started getting into it.

["Are you sure you're ready for that kind of commitment?"]

'Oh, here we go...'

"Yup." She hoisted up and plopped her Pawmot onto the bed, lightly jostling the baggage that lay opened on it. He giggled at being the roughhoused, and she tried to shush him silently again to no avail.

["Are you even earning enough money at your... whatever it is...?"]

"Head of Paldean League Security," Nemona tartly reminded, unzipping a backpack littered with tourist pins and stickers. Her Sister always forgot, even though Nemona had been working at the Security department as a guard for like, two years now!

["Head? As in... in charge of? When did that happen?"]

"Right after New Year's," said Nemona tiredly, starting to pull out a stack of training clothes, neatly folded. "A couple months ago? Didn't Mother tell you?" It felt like every time she'd spoken to her family, she always had to clarify these details, over and over... 'Yes, Security Guard, as in, protecting students, staff, and Paldean citizens from threats. YES, it's a job I enjoy. Yes, I am thinking of my 'future steps up the ladder.' And fucking YES, I am still dating my amazing girlfriend Penny!'

Fortunately, Nemona would have very few reasons to be rehashing these details with them, soon enough...

Cordia drifted through thought for a moment, then, ["... Maybe she did tell me? She's been absurdly occupied recently so I might have forgotten. Or she forgot, perhaps..."]

"I'm sure she has been busy..." Nemona bitterly grumbled, now getting a couple pairs of jeans out of her opened backpack. Not her go-to clothing choice, but Penny loved seeing her in them, and they did have a certain 'rugged' appeal she was learning to appreciate... "The Academy's been sailing rough waters this year, so..."

["'Rough waters?'"] Codia balked with a puffing laugh. ["More like going under. Mother is the one who offered a brilliant proposal that is helping utilize valuable capital within Paldea's economy to keep that place afloat. And RotomPhones are catching on globally; we're trending higher than ever, so our ties to Alola are becoming rather strong. And let's face it, the Academy is the jewel of this island, so any success that comes Paldea's way ends up lining Clavell's war chest one way or another. This family is going to right any sinking ships and lift them all with the rising tides. Just you wait."]

"Yeah..." Nemona said with some spite, retrieving her stack of training bras. She was so caught up in her conflicted emotions, she failed to realize she'd just dropped a bra onto the bed. Puñito jumped at the opportunity to wear it like a hat on his ears, which left her needing to stifle a snorting giggle with her hand, which led to even more articles being dropped...

["And you will be rising with those tides, too, Sister. You can-... What... What's so funny?"]

Nemona forced her snickering back down her throat, shooting her Pawmot a sturdy stare while her playfulness shimmered in her eyes despite the condemning expression. Placing the bras in a draw, she noticed some pairs of rolled up socks she'd dropped earlier, and bent over to nab them, as well.

"Nothing, sorry." Nemona cleared her throat and closed her eyes to re-center herself. "Don't worry about it."

["Ugh. Well, listen. As Mother aides the Academy through these delicate circumstances, the opportunity will be ripe for you. It's-... It'll be just like that thing you're always saying. About fruit...?"]

"Fruitful...?" Nemona confirmed dryly, her expression and tone glazed with uncertainty.

["Yes! Exactly! It will be 'ripe' enough to prove a 'fruitful' experience. You can propel yourself to greater heights when the opportunity arises, your efforts will 'bear fruit'. I assume a position in the Elite Four is in the cards still, isn't it? Surely, that's why you've moved to Mesagoza, right?"]

Nemona's hands were slotting pairs of underwear into a drawer, and she stopped, her hands clenching into the rolls of black fabric as she was reminded of how... not-according-to-plan things had been going in that regard...

"Uhh... Sorta, it's... it's still on the back burner... There's more to figure out than I think you realize."

Nemona, in truth, had barely had the brain space to even consider approaching the League to vie for a position in the Elite Four for months and months... She could always try applying to be a Gym Leader when a vacancy was opening up... But either job would entail training up a strong, themed team of Pokémon. And that was the friggin' problem everyone asking her to join the League was overlooking: Nemona didn't have a unified, single Typing team! Why would you want one, competitively speaking? It made sense as, like, a gradual, themed manner of getting less experienced trainers to have to learn to adapt to different challenges, but... it just didn't interest Nemona. However, if she ever wanted to become La Primera, she'd have to figure it out, since Geeta didn't seem keen on a successor who couldn't function within another role in the League first. Her angle had been to leverage working in the security department as her 'in', though there were no guarantees. She likely would be expected to be at least a Gym Leader for some while first... But forming a whole new team, and... and training them, getting a strategy going, that was a lot, and she refused to half-ass things.

Problem was, she just didn't have the time or energy to fully commit to it.

["Honestly, Moanie, I'm just flabbergasted that you've yet to even apply for Gym Leader duties. We don't want to see all of that potential we've fostered in you go to waste."]

'Right. Yeah. Because living happily with my favorite person on the planet is 'a waste.' Because getting to do what I love and protect people while doing so is 'a waste.' And all of my work training over the years was because you 'fostered' it in me? Not, I don't know, because I took it upon myself to put in the work, and you all just neglected me, letting me do my own thing. But sure. Take the credit after the fact. Ugh...'

"Neither do I," Nemona replied to the concept of her work 'going to waste.' She was finishing piling underwear and bras and socks into the small drawer Penny had emptied out for such items. There was a single dresser between the two of them, made of two rows of drawers, with some closet space freed up for other things. Penny had shoved some of her older clothes into a garbage bag and chucked it into an upper corner of the closet to make room. It was... unsightly, if Nemona was being honest, but... she was learning to accept that things couldn't be completely tidy all the time... She continued, "Y'know, forming a battle team that the League would even consider takes a lot of work..."

Nemona tucked her jeans and some t-shirts into another drawer as Cordia dropped a bombshell on her.

["Well, word on the grapevine is that an opening in the Elite Four might be revealing itself soon,"] Cordia teased, that shrewd, expectant tone well-known to Nemona.

But Nemona would've been lying to herself if she'd said she didn't care. This would be the first time that there'd been an opening in the Elite Four since... before she'd taken the challenge herself, back in school. Like, a decade ago, nearly...

["With Father's promotion to CEO, and Mother's roots having settled into the Academy Council, I'm sure we could work something out to fill you into such an empty spot... Can you imagine? You'd be within breathing distance of Geeta's role... "]

"Y... Yeah..."

Nemona didn't want to think about it. But she did, for a moment. Couldn't help it.

Nemona's heart was starting to pound in her chest. Almost like a... hollow feeling. Like her insides were being scooped out, sort of. Her head began to ache, and she started feeling squeamish. It was like her entire being was overcome by anxiety. She cleared her throat, but whatever felt stuck in her windpipe didn't cease. Her hands were trembling, and she had to sit down on the bed. Puñito, who'd been goofing around in what space there was at the foot of the bed—still wearing one of her bras—dashed over, clambered onto the bed and rubbed at her lower back a bit.

She let out a soft groan of relief at the sensation of those pudgy hands pressing at the aching muscles of her lower back, and she let her weighty eyelids slide closed for a bit, still following the conversation.

["Anyway,"] Cordia went on, oblivious to Nemona's current state, ["All I'm saying is that if, in this hypothetical scenario, you were in a position to be prepared to demonstrate all of this 'battle knowledge' you insist you possess... you ought to consider what your family could do to elevate you higher."]

Nemona flinched a little, sucking in air through her teeth as a sharp pain shot up her spine – Puñito's attempt at a back rub was a sweet gesture, but he was being a little too forceful. She eased him to stop, and was reminded again that he was still wearing one of her bras. She sighed, plucking it off of him and resigning to the idea it would need to be washed again, lest she wanted static-electricrical bits of fur scratching her in the boob...

"... 'Elevate' me...?" she pondered aloud dubiously, dropping the static-charged bra into a laundry hamper in the closet.

["That's what we do, Moanie,"] Cordia insisted when she received no reply. ["We elevate each other."]

"Híjole, Cordia... I... I'll think about it, but..." Nemona started stuffing neatly folded, recently ironed shirts into another drawer. "Jódeme... That's a lot to spring on me all of a sudden."

["I am not springing it upon you, I am preparing you for the impending-... And another thing, ugh... You still do that...? Seriously?"]

Leaning over a drawer half full of variants of shirts for her work uniform, Nemona felt her heart skip a little bit, as she had no clue what her Sister was accusing her of this time.

"St-... Still do what?"

["Tossing out phrases in Paldean at random, and such filthy language, at that."] Cordia sighed dully. ["Si vas a hablar el antiguo idioma de nuestra familia, entonces hablalo correctamente."]

Nemona's chest was suddenly wound up tight. 'If you're going to speak the language, speak it properly', was basically what her Big Sis was scolding her for. With a hot puff through her nose, Nemona began slipping pairs of work pants and shorts into her third drawer.

"Wh-... What's wrong with using a bit of Paldean here and there? It's-... I'm proud of my heritage. It's fun. It's—"

["Let me guess: it's cute? It's quirky? You think it projects 'personality?' Well, for you, maybe. But for me – and Mother and Father, I'll have you know – it's insulting."] Cordia put on a lower pitched voice than usual with a dash of rasp, seemingly mocking her younger sibling. ["Ayyee, Arceus mio, venga, tío, buenas buenas, ¿en serio?..."] Cordia coughed, the impersonation having strained her throat. ["I have news for you, Little Sister: it makes you look like a stereotype. All right? It's like you fetishize your entire race when you do it. That childish nonsense just promotes negative ideas that our family doesn't need, you understand? You're an adult now. Pick a language and speak it. Galarian's the world's language these days, you were brought up to speak it fluently, so speak it fluently. You don't need to show off that you're bilingual every other sentence, by Giratina's wings..."]

Nemona felt as if a dagger had been thrust into her stomach. How long had Cordia been harboring such a deep-seated loathing of her quirk like this...? Was it really that terrible of her? Did she make Paldeans look bad by doing it...? A maelstrom of stressful self-gas-lighting overtook her. It was just like when Arven and Penny had made her realize just how privileged she was because of her upbringing... only with a sharper edge due to it feeling like a personal attack, here, and from her own Sister, no less.

She was so stunned by the blow that she'd stopped putting laundry away and plopped her rear onto the edge of the bed. Puñito squirmed around on the bed lazily, dropping his head with concern against her thigh.

["Am I making sense?"] Cordia pressed. It wasn't a question of sympathy but more like a clinical check. Cordia had grown quite used to many things flying over Nemona's head, often citing that she 'lacked common sense.' So Nemona was used to being asked this question by her family, 'Does that make sense?', and knew it meant they needed confirmation that she understood.

"I... Y-Yeah, umm... I guess," Nemona fumbled, beginning to stroke her hand through Puñito's tufts of fluffy hair, scratching against the back of his ears, her hand eager for something to distract itself with.

["Mm. You 'guess'. Continue 'guessing' while the world continues passing you by, Little Sister. I mean, look at you: you're a Regional Champion. And it's been, what, six... seven years, or something? And the best you can muster is 'Head of Security?' I'm sorry, but it's kind of pathetic and sad. Our family is capable of bigger and better things. The rest of us are all doing our part for the good of this family's legacy. Perhaps it's time you started-"]
"I didn't ask to be part of some fucking legacy," Nemona snapped, finally letting Cordia have a little bit of her pent up frustration. Her outburst startled Puñito, who wriggled off of her lap.

["... What?"]

"You know? I never did," Nemona continued, worked up now. "All I've ever wanted was to just... do my own thing. We had a perfectly fine system all this time, just... just letting me do what I wanted off in my corner, and the rest of you all can... can pursue your legacy, or whatever."

Cordia was silent. Nemona knew that the one curse word she'd just unloaded ('fucking legacy') – and she'd restrained herself – it was putting her Big Sister off. Any further swearing might cause Cordia to outright dismiss Nemona's current state of mind, for whatever reason. But since being in a relationship with Penny, Nemona had started to realize that using such language with deliberation could be freeing for her. Empowering in a social way, a type of strength which she was still getting use to wielding.

Nemona pressed further, thrusting a finger at her RotomPhone despite this being an audio-only call.

"A-And before you even say it, I know: if I want to do my own thing, I'm an adult, and I can do it without Father's money. Right? That about what you were gonna say?" She flicked up her wrists instinctively, letting her body do some of the talking despite being unseen.

["...Mmm."] So, that was a 'yes,' then.

"That's exactly what I'm doing, Sister. That's how we got here, that's why we got here. Maybe you need Mother and Father's pride and... and their money, and-... Well, I just don't. All right? I don't. So." She sucked in a tight, deep breath through her nose, sifting her nails through her bangs. She breathed out sharply, letting her hair drop. "I'm gonna do my own thing. 'Kay?"

["As you always do..."] Cordia spouted, with utter dismissal, casually casting Nemona's frustrations aside – but this was also kind of Cordia's way of keeping the peace between them, which was an increasingly delicate prospect.

"Haugh," Nemona uttered through a tired huff, wiping her palm down over her eyelids. As she briefly closed them again, she could feel them grumbling with dissatisfaction at the notion of needing to open back up. She was tired... but her brain was not yet sleepy.

The tension between the two siblings was palpable, the RotomPhone crackling slightly from some manner of background noise on Cordia's end, while Puñito began fiddling with more of Nemona's clothes. She wagged an irate finger at him, vaguely shooing him away from making a mess of anything. He hopped off the bed and awkwardly began exploring the flat – what little there was to explore.

Nemona's insides squirmed with discomfort, her eyelashes flapping to clear possible tears that were forming. She hated getting into arguments with her Sister, in particular. They were supposed to be Besties, despite distance, despite differences... It was painful being reminded of how much time and space had driven a wedge between them... And it wasn't a wedge that could be removed so easily. Not when matters of sheer principle and morals were tangled up in things.

Nemona decided to chip at the icy wall she'd put up, unable to bear ending the conversation without having at least tried.

"I... I think it's... so great that you're on the Board of Directors, now," she complimented. "Like, you're not even thirty yet? And you're already there? So cool..." And it was earnest. Even Father hadn't anticipated that Cordia would rise through the ranks of RotomPhone Co. so fast. Nemona couldn't stave off that niggling doubt citing that Father's role in the company was absolutely a factor. He'd paved the way, he'd walked so Cordia could run. But it was clearly something her Big Sister thrived in, and made her happy, and that was ultimately all Nemona really wanted for her.

["Well. Thank you. It's taken a lot of hard work to get here. As... As it no-doubt did for you to become Paldean Champion at such a young age. I hope you aren't taking my criticisms as some sleight against you, Moanie. I truly do want you to succeed. I know that you can succeed. You are obviously as bright as they come at what you do."]

'Am I, though? It sure doesn't feel like it these days...'
Nemona had given up on her clothes tidying task, too consumed by this convo to focus.

Puñito sheepishly returned, and she offered an apologetic look, inviting him with a flick of her head to come sit back on the bed. He eagerly did so, his head dropping back into her lap, his tubby little feet dangling off the foot of the bed. She stroked her fingers around his many furry nooks and crannies, the occasional tingle of electricity seizing her arm up briefly in a way that she found appealing, like a manner of stimming, perhaps...

Cordia had given her space to reply, and she hadn't. So Cordia continued.

["I suppose my... impatience gets the better of me, and... I just want you to-... Hm. See the 'fruits' of your labor. Mm?"] Her hum carried a placating tone. It was Cordia's way of asking forgiveness without really apologizing. But then, Nemona couldn't fault her, she hadn't said anything wrong, really...

She laughed softly at her Sister's attempt.

"Right... I want that, too, Cord. I'm... I'm trying, I really am. It's all just... so much. You have no idea."

["Hah. Ahaha. Oh, I'm sure I have some idea... But I appreciate what you mean. All I'm meaning to get at is that you need to be ready to open the door when opportunity knocks. And I happen to be in a position to see it coming your way. I just want you to be prepared for when it arrives at your door step."]

"Sure. Uh. Thanks. I... I've still got unpacking to do, but... but I'll think about what you said. For real."

["Good. I'm sure you have a great deal to think about. Just don't forget to take action, as well."]

"Mmph..."

["Well, then. I shall... let you get to it. Have a good evening, Little Sister."]

"Te amo, Hermana Mayor."

Cordia sighed. ["Sí, sí, nos amamos. Al menos puedes pronunciar una frase completa... Buenas noches."]

"Buenas noches..."

Nemona let the call end from Cordia's side. She felt her lips quivering with an unexplained sorrow, her chest rattling from within at a morose frequency. She dabbed her wrist against her dampened eyes and yawned, noting the pile of clothes still in need of being put away. She glumly looked down at her Puñito, who was gaping up at her with confusion.

"Y'know what?" she said softly to him. "Sometimes, I wish I could just... hide in a ball for a while, and no one expected anything from me until I was needed..."