6:47 P.M June 25, Thursday, 106 PH (Post Hoopa Event)

Events: The Preliminaries for the Joint Kanto and Johto Indigo Summer League have concluded; 105 Trainers and their Pokemon have advanced from Bronze to Silver. A week of celebration is to follow, marked with events put on by the Indigo League, after which the Summer Round Robin Cup will begin, to crown the best of each Tier among those that advanced. The battles begin on the 27th. Rhea started her journey on the 9th of June—she’s been a Trainer for 17 Days (16 Officially; 17 since getting Maya and Nova).

Walking into the Space Center, Rhea was instantly taken in by the clean and expensive front entrance that didn’t hold the same alien enthusiast vibe like the rest of Apple City. A massive holographic moon was the centerpiece of the first floor, hovering in between the three open levels in the center of the building.

Rhea had no clue how it was kept in place as Lori, Amira, and their Pokemon slowly proceeded. It appeared to be floating in place without any support or signs of its projection source, allowing you to see the slowly rotating sphere.

It seemed to be the main attraction for people to look at while waiting. Inlets were placed at four points in the circular lobby, giving people the option of privacy, but the padded chairs around the edges provided a full view of the moon.

“Woah…” Lori pointed at the three small rings of asteroids circling the lunar object. “Wait, is that for real? Is that what the moon really looks like?”

Slowing underneath the hologram, everyone looked up in wonder at the device; they were drawing some attention from the several adults in the area, but they quickly returned to their phones or tablets.

Amira didn’t seem all that interested in the centerpiece; her focus was on the four well-dressed men and two women holding a business-like attitude at key locations around the area.

The redhead absently replied, her mind appearing to be somewhere else. “Mhm … I’m surprised you didn’t learn that in school. It’s been a known fact for over four centuries, but I suppose scientific knowledge hasn’t really been streamlined until the last eighty years…”

“I heard about it,” Rhea mumbled, looking for the sparkles of various stones in the moon’s triple belt that intercepted at its northern and southern points. “That’s where Moon Stones come from. Right? At certain times, some of them are thrown to Earth?”

“Very good!”

They turned to see a smiling lavender-haired woman around 5’5” tall—making her shorter than all of them—she had darker eyes than her hair and seemed to be in her mid-twenties. She wore a neat lab coat that Rhea had seen before; in fact, after glancing around, she noticed the men and women Amira was looking at had the same uniform as the Rocket employees she’d seen in Viridian. The stylish ‘R’ on their breasts should have tipped her off.

Amira’s passive expression brightened in an instant. “Mimi Metcalfe, I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to guide us around,” she said, promptly walking forward to shake her hand.

“It’s no trouble,” Mimi replied, returning the gesture and lowering her voice, aiming an inquisitive look at Rhea. “I must say, I was more than a little surprised to have a conversation with your mother. I’ve been trying to get her interested in my work for years—learning about you from her was another thing entirely.”

Rhea forced a smile. “She’s been in her own little world for a while now. I hope we aren’t causing problems…”

Mallory nudged her side with a wink. “C’mon, Girl, what’d she say—it’s no trouble!”

Mimi motioned for them to follow her into one of the small inlets for more privacy while still allowing some view of the hologram. “So, from what I’ve been told, you three have an interest in some of my work.”

Mallory scratched the side of her head, following after her with a short yawn. “I mean, yeah, some of it seems cool. But, eh, the whole space class stuff was boring to me—to be honest, skipped most of it. Maybe if they had things like that, then I would have been more interested … Yo, think about the party you could throw in a place like this?”

Mimi’s shoulder-length hair swayed a bit as she glanced from Lori to the craters, fissures, and mountain ranges of the lunar object, giving a short sigh. “That would be a very expensive party—Rocket invests roughly twenty-five billion credits a year into this program.”

Lori choked. “B-Billion?”

Amira nodded, folding her arms under her chest. “Less than I thought. TACSCOT operates as an independent agency but in reality, my grandfather owns most of it. Correct?”

Mimi’s tone grew a tad reminiscent at the girl’s statement. “Yes. We can start with a general history if you’d like?”

“I’d like that!” Rhea piped up, her Pokemon listening intently. “I also want to learn more about Clef and the moon.”

Amira’s lips pulled in, seemingly bursting to ask her own questions, but held her tongue.

Mallory shrugged. “Sure. Lay some context on us,” she snickered. “Alien Pokemon don’t really seem all that cool, but maybe you can wow me.” She lifted an eyebrow at Amira’s light glare. “What’s up?”

“Mmh … nothing. I’ll get to my questions later.” Taking a breath, she put on a happy face. “Would it be best to find a more amiable locale? I’m sure certain topics would be best kept private.”

Mimi’s hand came to her mouth as she giggled. “I suppose some things would be—especially the things Rhea’s mother showed minor interest in. On the bright side, I received some wonderful confirmation data from her that I’ve been trying to get for over eighteen months.”

Rhea winced. “Eighteen months? My mom can be a little busy, I guess, but…”

The woman dismissively waved her hand. “Your mother is brilliant, and her specialty branches into so many fields that she’s pulled in every direction; it isn’t her fault. There just aren’t many people with her knowledge and ability to connect small pieces into a complete puzzle.”

Changing directions, they moved to an elevator in the corner, bypassing the security and desk attendant; the Rocket guards followed them with their eyes. Mallory was the one to make the comment when they got to the elevator.

“So, eh … Amira what’s up with Rocket and always dressin’ in such nice clothes? Heh, is owning a spiffy suit a requirement in an interview?”

Amira took the corner of the elevator as the doors closed behind them and Mimi pressed the button for the 3rd floor. “It’s simple really—it’s for the image. Rocket makes a big deal out of appearance because it is the first thing others see; we pay better than our competition, and we like to show that. My grandfather has built the reputation of taking care of his employees, and not a single one makes less than a livable wage.”

It sounded like a rehearsed response to Rhea, yet it did make sense; considering Rocket’s mob reputation, it took a lot to change people’s views once trust was broken. Giovanni was an expert at turning one’s image around, though, and his history proved it.

She held her arm behind her back, looking at herself in the elevator’s reflective walls that made up the upper portion of the large rectangle. “I like it. I’ve always thought of Rocket as being classy.”

Lori shrugged. “Meh, I don’t know; it just seems like they’re trying too hard or something. Nothing wrong dressing up, but when you do it every day—talk about exhausting.”

Mimi chuckled. “Isn’t dressing up itself exhausting, yet we do it every day.”

They gave her a confused look, but she didn’t seem to notice while taking out a pokeball from her lab coat.

“Oh, I have an idea! Why don’t I have Snowball explain things to your Pokemon?”

Rhea was even more bewildered by the name when she released a big, smiling Wigglytuff; she was undoubtedly ultra-cute, but she couldn’t get over the name. “A … pink snowball?”

Mimi reached over to rub the Balloon Pokemon’s head, causing her ears to fold down with pleasure. “Snowball and I grew up together—heh, I had my first Pokemon when I was six years old.”

“No cap?” Mallory asked. “That’s even young for … How old are you?”

“Mmh … My Pokemon and I are only at Gold-tier, which means I don’t have all that many Trainer benefits,” she giggled. It wasn’t an answer to the question, but enough to satisfy. “Ah, we’ll just go over there and talk by the window,” she said, motioning them to a group of couches and chairs that overlooked the front entrance of the building.

Alice had instantly jumped into a conversation with Snowball, with Holly and Nova adding to the discussion. Sitting by the window, Rhea pulled her long braid over her shoulder, smoothed out her skirt with the others, and looked down at the bustling night partiers in costume.

Clearing her throat, Mimi crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap. “Now, getting to your questions, Rhea—Clef is a world inhabited by Clefairy, but the history of that is somewhat muddled. I think it’s best I start at the beginning and tell you a bit about how TACSCOT was founded.”

“Sure,” Rhea grinned. “Can you show us anything cool?”

A sad look crossed Mimi’s face. “Sadly, what most people think is cool, like graphical representations or documentaries, and all of the little details are the finished products of so much effort and work people take for granted. Everything in a video is wrapped in a background of massive metadata that we gather and combine over years of fact-checking and studies. What we know is so limited.

“Some extraterrestrial Clefairy decide to stay behind and live on Earth, but we’ve only been able to discover them in the third to the fifth generation, which usually has limited knowledge.”

“There are Clefairy that do that?” Mallory asked.

A sad look moved Mimi’s lips as she looked up at the sky, still bright with the summer sun. “When I was six years old, my parents had a very close friend … Professor Orville. He didn’t have any Pokemon and was always raving about space and the latest discoveries. It was from him that I grew to love the puzzle about extraterrestrial Pokemon,” she whispered.

Amira was on the edge of her seat; this seemed to be the direction she wanted to go. “I’ve heard rumors about you actually meeting Space Clefairy? I haven’t been able to find anything about the first-generation aliens that decided to live on this planet. What’s the purpose of them even coming here? What makes taking such a long trip worth it for them?”

Mimi’s focus returned to the Rocket girl. “He-he-he, I see you’re the major force behind coming to Apple City. Of course, I’ve heard about some of your questions from my colleagues—some believe we’re so well funded because of your interest in the subject.”

Amira settled back, folding her arms across her stomach and looking away; Rhea knew she was trying to hide a blush since she was so easily caught off-guard by off-handed compliments. “My grandfather’s organization is called Rocket; my whole family has an interest in space … well, besides my mom since she’s been to the moon…”

“What?!” Rhea and Mallory asked in unison.

“Hmm?” Amira blinked, lips tightening, and even Mimi gave her an inquisitive look.

Lori shook her head. “Nu-uh, girl, you can’t just drop that bomb and sweep it under the rug. Spill! Your mom actually went to the moon?”

A hiss passed through Amira’s teeth; clearly, she didn’t mean to blurt out the comment, showing how flustered she was inside about this meeting. “I don’t know—she mentioned it one time when we were talking about Corrina and Argen … Muk…”

“Corrina and Argen?” Mimi asked, showing her interest by leaning forward a little. “I thought I would be the one telling the stories, but you have me curious. Lyra’s practically a legend herself, and to discover she went to the moon … A Legendary must have been involved.”

From what she’d heard through Lyra’s stories when crashing at the woman’s house, Rhea’s eyes popped open upon connecting the dots. “Wait, Corrina and Argen … Legendaries your mother likes … the male and female Lugia … Is that her nicknames for them?”

“Ugh,” Amira scratched her forehead, fidgeting with the glasses tucked between her breasts. “Yeah—it’s kind of a teasing thing she does—my mom’s a hopeless flirt. She’s given them all little pet names, but it’s usually a family thing. It’s nothing big; my mom just went on a few trips with them into space … They can create a barrier that produces air and pushes out carbon dioxide or something.”

“Aww,” Rhea pressed her heels against the bottom of her chair and scooted over a bit. “That’s so cute; Corrina and Argen going on dates or something?”

Amira shrugged. “It was when he was still getting her used to our planet—meeting his friends or something. She says Rayquaza’s cool with the Tower Duo. Rayquaza does some kind of patrols or something after the war—I don’t know much about those details.”

“Interesting,” Mimi whispered, scooting back and cupping her chin. “It is unfortunate the Legendaries, and Mythical Pokemon are so selective on which humans they associate with—they could help solve so many issues, take Ho-Oh’s … No, never mind,” she sighed, forcing a short chuckle. “I have my own selfish desires.”

Mimi took a second to collect her thoughts, watching Miky, Roxie, Nova, Alice, Holly, and Serenity gathered around Snowball to listen to her own story.

Rhea could feel every one of Alice’s tiny ear twitches, bouncing between quick thoughts as the Wigglytuff spoke. Is it cool, Alice?

Alice turned and nodded emphatically; Rhea’s eyebrows furrowed as she interpreted her response. “Umm … Alice is telling me something about battles in space?”

Mallory’s dulling eyes found new life. “Huh? Space battle?” she asked with a growing grin. “When do we get to that?”

“That does seem interesting—I’ve never heard about battles in space from this program.”

“Oh, goodness,” Mimi’s expression tightened, looking down at her Pokemon. “That’s … Mmh, much further into the story than—well, we haven’t even started, he-he-he … ah, I guess I’m being kind of slow,” she mumbled, brushing her fingers through her hair while responding to her Pokemon.

Clearing her throat, she motioned for them to follow her back to the elevator. “Why don’t we hurry this along.”

They rose to their feet and followed as she explained; their Pokemon followed after them, still in the middle of an intense part. Dozens of people talked between the 3rd floor branching hallways, and at least half paid them mild interest before moving on.

“In any case,” Mimi said, “when I was six, a Clefairy ship that crashed near Mt. Moon began terrorizing Apple City—stealing all sorts of technology, food, and equipment. I was young and naive—it was new for Clefairy behavior … I thought it was all to fix their ship, and some of it was, but much of it was souvenirs.”

Amira nodded. “I’ve heard about that. They had Rangers and Trainers in a mess, trying to figure out what to do about it.”

“The event drew Professor Seymour, Oak, and Orville into a collision course—my father gave them access to our guest bedrooms since our house was nearest to the crash zone. I listened in on their conversations—in fact, a prominent Pallet Trainer named Ash was involved, along with Gym Leader Misty, and Brock, the former Gym Leader of Pewter, were also there.”

They stopped in front of the elevator, and Rhea turned to Amira as a low hum rumbled in her throat. “I guess that makes sense; Brock was the Gym Leader at the time and was over Apple City’s overall defense against credible threats.”

Rhea couldn’t see it. “Were Clefairy seriously a threat against High Masters like Misty and Brock—no, Professor Oak was there, and he’s as strong as my grandpa.”

“Right?” Mallory snickered. “I can’t even imagine Len’s mom struggling against Clefairy.”

Mimi sighed, swiping her company ID and pressing the button to reach the 90th floor; she stepped back with a grave look. “There’s a reason why our research is secretive…” Her gaze flipped to Amira. “That’s a reason why Giovanni spends such a significant amount of money on research and development, and it’s not to just have a fun time on a new planet.”

Amira was glaring at the floor. “So … I think I understand where you’re going with this—I know my grandfather’s tactics. He’s slowly been releasing information about this over time to ease the public into it … I always wondered why Will had a spot on your board, showing the League’s interest in your foundation.”

Lori held up her hands. “Okay! Okay! What am I missing? Government, plus corporate supergiant, plus ominous tones—these Clefairy are a threat … Clefairy?”

Amira glanced at the elevator numbers going up on the digital indicator above the door; they were reaching the 60s. “It’s not just Clefairy. Right? I’ve heard my dad say something about Moon Stones being the connection, but I haven’t been able to ask him about it yet.”

Mimi reached into her pocket to take out a phone and opened a secure file to show them blurred photos that seemed to have been taken over twenty-five years ago. “Clefairy have long been suspected of having originated from space, but most thought they lived on the moon because of their connection to Moon Stones; however, when Professor Oak and Orville looked further into it, they discovered something else entirely.”

Rhea took her offered phone and swiped through the pictures, Amira and Mallory looking at it. “Holy Ponyta,” she whispered. “I’ve never seen a Moon Stone that big.”

Amira’s cheeks bunched to the side. “How many Clefairy are around that—are they worshiping it?”

Mimi walked out of the elevator, guiding them through a long white hallway with thick steel doors and code names and numbers on the plaques beside them. Going into a room, she gestured for them to follow. “I don’t know why your mother believes you should know about this, Rhea, but given what she’s done for me, I’ll comply.”

“Wait, what?” Rhea slowed upon entering the dark space.

The dim lights flipped on for Rhea to see a colossal area that would have taken the next two floors out of commission. In the center of it was a Clefairy shielding its eyes, blinking to adjust them; no one else was inside, but the little Pokemon seemed to be working on a dissected spacecraft.

They stopped in their tracks, wide-eyed as their eyes moved from the ship pieces to several empty computer stations and large cameras recording the process. Snowball had to reign the other Pokemon in as they rushed over to talk to the Fairy Pokemon.

“That’s a real … Clefairy UFO?” Mallory asked.

Mimi giggled, walking to a nearby computer station to access it. “UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object. This is an old craft that was found from another crash and saved from the conflict some locals had with them—a much older model than the one I saw.”

“What did my mom ask you to do?” Rhea pressed, hesitantly returning to her side with the others as she pulled up a few modeling videos.

“Just so you know, this is very classified material, but given the work your mother brings, and with Giovanni’s influence—yes,” she chuckled at Amira’s expression, “I consulted your grandfather and father before agreeing. They seem to believe knowing these things will help push you as Trainers…”

She trailed off while putting the videos into a sequencing program within a specific order.

“What about my parents?” Mallory mumbled.

“Eh, heh, mmh, sadly, I don’t have any way to get ahold of them,” Mimi said with an apologetic smile. “If you’d like to remain in the dark…”

“Nope! I’m good,” she laughed. “I’m perfectly fine with them not being aware! Well, Muk—if Will’s on the committee, then she’ll know all about it.”

Mimi took a deep breath and looked up. “That Clefairy is helping us better understand her ancestors. From what we can tell, her name is Umi, and she’s a third-generation extraterrestrial. She wants to learn more about her own people because of the stories she heard from her father—she’s a lot stronger than normal Clefairy, near Gold-tier on her own.”

“Crazy,” Rhea mumbled, watching Alice and Nova jump around her; the Clefairy appeared to be enjoying the company and questions. “So, are you saying these Clefairy could be bad?”

“Not necessarily,” Mimi whispered, pulling up the videos. “Your mother is the world’s brightest geneticist—human and Pokemon. After looking over the data I sent to her, she returned this in response.”

Rhea didn’t even know some of the Pokemon that popped up on screen—some were cute, and some were frightening. The few she could name were Nidorina, Nidorino, Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Skitty, and Munna, which she only knew because of her cousin.

“Your mother genetically identified the evolutionary signatures that prove all of these Pokemon share some kind of distinguishing factor that sets them apart from every other Pokemon, and the additional unique traits show their bodies have adapted to survive an entirely different ecosystem than we have on Earth.”

“Yes!” Amira grinned. “Finally, so it’s proven? Nidorina and Nidorino are extraterrestrials? I knew it! What about the theory that they started on Earth and went to Clef?”

Mimi slowly shook her head. “That was the initial theory, but from what we’ve learned … the Clefairy on Clef are shockingly advanced and utilize a specific type of energy that the Clefairy on Earth do not, which was the second data your mother confirmed and isolated, Rhea.”

The next video displayed the moon with its three rings. “Mossdeep Space Center upgraded their satellites and were doing a routine check of its diagnostic systems when it picked up a strange phenomenon—to put it in perspective, this data was taken when I was six.”

Rhea’s lips tucked under, brow creased as she watched a small object fly toward the belt. “Is it stopping and changing course?”

“Mmh,” Amira cupped her chin, leaning closer. “You’re right—its movements aren’t normal. Is that the first discovery of—when you were six, so these are the Clefairy you met?” she asked, changing course as the thought came to her.

Mimi nodded. “Watch…”

The object went into the belt, and what emerged were two dots, the ship and something much larger.

“Is that…'' Mallory whistled. “No cap—Muk, they caused the meteor to hit the forest?”

Rhea looked down at the scientist’s phone in her hand. “That huge Moon Stone we saw them worshiping—they caused it to happen?”

“They did … Your mother took the data I sent her and compiled it into a workable theory that’s more concrete than anything we’ve been able to get until now. The Clefairy can’t evolve on their planet, and how Moon Stones are created, the unique stones around our moon pass through our neutral energy field infusing the atmosphere, and it changes the property to form the evolution stones, which is why we find them at specific places where they absorb the force in their environment.”

“Okay?” Mallory straightened and looked at the spaceship. “So, they need to come here to evolve—cool, we’ve got special rocks. Why’s that make them scary? Besides that one time you talked about, and, you know, all the cool things we can learn from their tech, have they hurt anyone?”

Mimi hummed, looking at Umi, still engaged with their Pokemon. “Rocket has ways of communicating with Pokemon that most companies do not—I doubt I know all the details, but it put Giovanni on high alert.”

“Meowth!” Amira smiled; Rhea was glad to see her opening up more, and she’d done so far more than usual in the last thirty minutes. “I’ve met a Pokemon that can talk; he’s a little strange but funny.”

The woman shrugged. “That’s not the important part. The information was confirmed through strong Trainers I hired that had Pokemon with Telepathy. Umi’s father, a second-generation extraterrestrial, told her the reason his mother came to Earth was to obtain the jewel of the universe—the power to fight their hated enemy. They’re using Moon Stones as resources to fight their war, and…”

She looked away, fingers tightening into fists. “Professor Seymour went willingly with the Clefairy on their return to Clef, hoping to learn more—it was an amazing discovery. If I’d been able to, I would have gone, too, but a few years later, we discovered the Clefairy’s tactics had changed.”

Mimi rubbed her left arm, looking agitated. “Eight years ago, Professor Orville was caught on camera—abducted by four Clefable, and several others are known to have been taken by force. We can’t be sure how many other unknown cases have gone by without notice, why they’re doing it, or who could be targeted next … Out of those we can confirm, they’re all top scientists in their various fields.”

Rhea instantly felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. “So … my mom could be a target in the future?”

Mimi chuckled. “Well, your mother is Master-tier, unlike most scientists; they’d have a fight on their hands, and from what I know about Christie, she’s prepared for everything—she’s worked with and crossed the worst people on this planet and is still very much alive.”

“True,” Rhea mumbled, still worrying about the future.

I can’t have Mom abducted over a hundred and fifty light-years away … How would we…

The saliva in her throat dropped into her stomach. “That’s … why you’ve been researching their technology—we’re helpless without the ability to reach them.”

Amira stepped back and folded her arms. “Not the direction I thought this would go … I can see why my grandfather would be so invested in this, though—especially after the Ultra War. He doesn’t do well with situations he can’t do something about—he’s the type that refuses to be helpless in any situation and find a solution.”

A smile brightened her lips. “I’m glad I’m in the loop now. How much progress are you making?”

Mimi breathed in deeply before letting it out in a slow stream. “There are a lot of technical issues … We know the new ships the Clefairy have can transport humans, but from all the available science we have, human travel isn’t possible in the exact same way. The capability of reaching the speeds necessary to reach light year travel is in the production phase, but surviving that as a human seems unlikely.”

She looked over at the tiny Pokemon with a small smile. “I’m working with Umi on that issue now, going over anything we might have missed. We learned so many unexpected things that might or might not be true; everything we can see about Clef is ancient because light only travels so fast. We won’t really know what’s going on until we get there.”

Licking her lips, Mimi shook her head. “I used to dream about joining Seymour and the Clefairy when I was a girl … Well, I was a girl. Heh, we only really started making progress when I convinced her to help us. Unfortunately, the Jigglypuff evolutionary line is very unpopular to the extraterrestrial Clefairy.”

“Their enemies are Jigglypuff?” Amira asked, sounding not too thrilled at the news.

Mallory snorted. “Don’t sound disappointed! That’d be great … At least I can imagine cute little Pokemon puffing up and trying to push each other off a log for dominance or something.”

Mimi shook her head. “We initially thought that was the case, but Umi shot that down when we asked—they really disrespected Snowball, now that I think back, but she was trying to be supportive of me and my dream … they’re just very discriminatory to them, it seems—they think they’re stupid and lazy.”

Mallory hissed, arms crossed under her bosom with a small frown, something on her mind. “Uh … If they have all this technology, why don’t they make some kind of super robot weapon or something to stop their enemy?”

The scientist shook her head. “Pokemon minds don’t work like that—genetically, they’re predisposed to fighting conflicts themselves; of course, there are exceptions to everything, but that’s a tiny, tiny fraction. We’re talking less than point four to the power of eight percent of Pokemon by current data—so, naturally, they’d do exactly what they have, find a way to get stronger with our Moon Stones. In fact, they could be the reason we have so many, and they might have even caused the rings around the moon.”

“Wild,” Rhea mumbled. “That’s so crazy … I didn’t think we have to worry about aliens—you know, heh, the whole meme, ‘Beheeyem are coming to get you in your sleep,’ is a thing.”

Mimi rolled her eyes. “Beheeyem are far more mysterious at this point, but seeing how much resources we’ve dumped into Clefairy and not Beheeyem, Clefairy are who we perceive as the real threat. In any case, that’s the big secret. We’ve got a deadline for next year to get things in order … I need to know what happened to Seymour and Orville.”

Rhea looked at the screen, showing the repeating information with dozens of pages of notes and comments that her mother sent over. Why did you want me to know the dark part of extraterrestrial Pokemon? I suppose there are a lot of threats out there … What are you trying to say?!

Feeling somewhat frustrated by her mother’s decision to shoehorn her way into the project, Rhea groaned, causing the others to look at her. “Gah … My mom can make me crazy!”

“Join the club,” Mallory mumbled, eyeing the meteor crash again. “So … the space battle thing was what?”

Mimi’s lips tightened, moving to the computer and playing a few images. A simulation popped up of the Clef System, where three planets seemed to be drawing closer together. “With new imaging, and a sharper focus of the star system, we’ve learned that Clef isn’t just one planet, but a cluster of three.”

“What?!” Mallory scratched the side of her head. “You gotta be kidding me; there are more twists?! Don’t tell me, they’ll collide?”

She shook her head. “They should have centuries ago, by our simulations, at least—but the Clefairy are still going back to the star system and coming back. According to the stories Umi’s father told her, they’re in perfect synchronous orbit around the sun, which makes for some intense environmental conditions and could explain their increased strength—again, we can’t confirm it until we get there.”

“Intense,” Amira said, more excited than Rhea’s ever seen her; her red irises were practically sparkling. “Who is planning to go—Rocket Executives, the League?”

Mallory groaned. “Don’t tell me—they battle between planets—fly up and fight?”

“No … really?” Amira breathed, fingers held into tight, excited fists. “That sounds so cool!”

Rhea hummed, scanning down a few of her mother’s notes. “Well … one of the genetic traits of the Moon Stone evolutionary lines … is the ability to function without air in space and survive the conditions, according to my mother—including Nidoking and Nidoqueen.”

Mind blown by what she was reading, Rhea shook her head. “No way … the genetic samples show Clefairy enhanced by the Gigavirus and Pokevirus from this world could be as much as fifty percent stronger than the average Pokemon population on Earth as Clefairy, not even their third evolution—it is a low sample size, though,” she mumbled, mirroring her mother’s conclusion.

She glanced over at Umi, still talking to their Pokemon; she seemed to have limited Pokemon interaction because she was eating up the attention. “Wow … That’s a lot to take in. Umm … is there anything else?”

“A lot,” Mimi giggled. “I understand if it’s overwhelming. That’s the general gist of the real purpose of this organization, though—to prevent an alien invasion and figure out what’s really happening to those abducted.”

Amira cleared her throat and gave them an embarrassed smile. “Umm, I get it if you’re not really into this stuff, Rhea, Mallory. If you want, you can enjoy some of the festivals while I stay behind—I’ll join up when I can. I just have a lot of questions I’d like some answers to.”

Rhea was already feeling heavy after learning about the possibility of her mother being a target of these extraterrestrial Clefairy. “Umm, yeah … yeah, Lori, you wanna go hang?”

“Please,” Lori cried, rubbing her forehead before latching onto her arm, “carry me away from this madness. I just wanna deal with things I can—you know, deal with. Save me, Rhea!” she melodramatically cried with a forced smile.

“Heh, okay!” Rhea laughed, walking back a bit. “Umm … you sure, Amira?”

Her red hair bobbed up and down with more enthusiasm than she’d ever seen from the girl. “Seriously! This is really my thing! I love this stuff—go, I’ll be fine.”

Mimi happily motioned for them to follow her. “I’ll see you to the elevator; it requires authorization to leave this floor.”

“For real?” Mallory asked, lifting an eyebrow, looking back at their Pokemon with a slight frown. “How does anyone else use it then? And … it seems it’s only us, Rhea—everyone else wants storytime.”

Rhea grinned. “Some one-on-one time! Great. It’s my first festival, too; heh, even if it’s almost over. Let’s go have fun!”

Mimi guided them out with an amused expression. “I’m glad you’re not freaking out—some people are like that. As to the elevator, when the 90th floor is pressed, a replacement elevator is put into circulation; you’ll be taken down in a separate shaft to a private exit.”

Nova seemed a bit conflicted but was quickly pulled back into the 3rd generation Celfairy’s story. Mya and Alice had a bit of an argument, distracting the poor Eevee, yet in the end, Alice returned to spend time with Rhea while Mya stayed to listen to the tale.

“Thanks, Mimi,” Rhea forced a laugh, giving Mya a short shake of her head as she settled in with bright eyes. “It wasn’t what I expected, but it certainly was interesting and gave me something to think about—more to ask my mom … No,” she gasped. “Is that why she had you tell me … To get me to call her again?”

Mallory shot an impish look her way. “Sounds like something my mother would do? Maybe they’re not so different after all—mine’s just a battle blockhead, and yours is a world-famous geneticist and breeder.”

“Ugh … Moms,” Rhea mumbled, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

Getting into the elevator, they soon exited and went about exploring the festival; Mallory gleefully showed her secrets on how to cheat the booth games’ tricks; Alice cheered her on, getting excited every time she won a small prize. Rhea selected a small red bow for Alice.

The little girl squealed after she revealed the gift, hugging her spirit; she could feel the snuggle bunny’s arms around her just as much as Nova. She was growing attached to the little fluff ball.

Amira didn’t return with their Pokemon until 9:46 P.M., discovering which hotel they’d paid for via text; the redhead was practically glowing.

Oddly, she didn’t burst into a discussion on the topic but filed it in her big brain and asked Rhea how her first festival went. Not long after, they went to bed, dreaming of space battling Celfairy armies, shooting Moonblasts. Tomorrow was their river adventure!