As much as Ren and Palemoon alike wanted the former to get into describing his toys, the atmosphere that lingered in the room made it hard for the Gardevoir to take part in that as much as she wanted—no, needed to. The leftover tension made breathing harder, while the lack of Kaori’s reassuring presence deflated much of Palemoon’s feeble calmness. Hiroto was nowhere near as suspicious towards her as he was before their conversation, of course, but his aura wasn’t exactly supportive either. Which, combined with the glossy black canvas showing its moving pictures again, made her want to be anywhere but in this room right now.

  She hoped the boy wouldn’t mind. “^Ren, would it be okay if we moved somewhere else first?^”

  “Why?” he asked, confused. Thankfully, just confused. He wasn’t feeling any unrest related to her specifically, even if the earlier discussion had left no less an impact on him than on everyone else.

  “^It’s a bit loud here, is all,^” Luna fibbed, looking away from him, hoping he wouldn’t pry the subject further.

  To the contrary! He had just the right place in mind. “Oh oh oh, can we go to my room then?”

  Yes, yes, please.

  “^Sure, Ren. Make sure you don’t forget to take—^”

  “Of course you can, Ren,” Hiroto cut in. The realization of his son’s question not being directed at him struck him an instant later. While he was less than thrilled about that possibility, Palemoon doubted anything bad would happen anymore. He was too tired to be afraid like that, at least right now. “And Luna can go, too.”

  “Thanks dad! C’mon, Luna!” he cheered, not wasting even a moment as he scooped up all his dolls into his arms and speedwalked up the stairs.

  Palemoon felt physically stronger than when she’d sat down, but not by much. She knew there was an option of asking Kaori for help, or Ren, or even just Hiroto himself, but the leftover murk in her head discouraged her from pursuing any of them. The blanket wrapped around her dragged on the floor behind her as she approached the steps and eyed them out. They were a decent bit smaller than those in her burrow, and the rail on the side was a welcome addition, but she wasn’t deluding herself about how unpleasant this would be.

  Still much less so than the conversation she’d just had, or the suffocating aura she would’ve had to endure otherwise.

  With gritted teeth and clenched hands, she took one step after another. Soreness screamed from inside her with every step; the strain that had become little more than numbness was violently reignited. Her blue hand shook as it gripped the railing—at first, only when she needed to lean on it for balance, but before long it rattled like mad even when she stood still. All this would’ve been solved with the gentlest application of telekinesis back at home, something she didn’t have access to right now and her—her hosts didn’t understand.

  Which didn’t matter, except it still dug into her. The distressing conversation might not have ended on a hostile note, but those impulses to withdraw from the humans around her, to be as angry as their kin deserved were still there. She hated feeling this cross, like she was one off comment from blowing up on someone she cared about. Right now, though, she just had to endure it—

  “Luna, are you okay?” Ren asked, looking down at her from upstairs. He was worried in the most innocent way, looking down at her tense expression and pursed lips and only seeing a friend that wasn’t doing too hot.

  Even despite that, she still had to fight against her worse nature to not respond with a snarky “how does it look like I’m doing”. He didn’t deserve it, and neither did she. She was better than this, deserved to have the pride of knowing she was better than this. However hard that better nature was to hold on to. “^I’m just tired Ren, there are a lot of stairs here...^” The panting she added afterwards wasn’t genuine, but it conveyed her exhaustion well.

  Possibly almost too well.

  Without skipping a beat, the boy waddled down the few steps separating them and reached for her free hand, his segmented fingers firmly grasping her long, slender ones. “Lemme help!”

  Hard to stay cranky for too long like this.

  “^Sure. Thank you Ren, I appreciate it.^”

  The boy’s presence helped, but it did so mostly on an emotional level, his genuine well-wishes melting through the worst of her budding resentment. They didn’t erase all of it, but neither did they need to—just had to get to a place where she could start working on it herself. The corridors on the building’s upper floor were almost indistinguishable from those downstairs, splitting off into an array of rooms that an ever-curious part of the Gardevoir wanted so, so much to ask about. Alas, it was outvoted for the time being, with the intricacies of human trinkets and furniture losing all their glamour as they approached Ren’s room. She wondered whether this kind of burned-out apathy was how all of them saw their own inventions.

  Said wondering was cut short as the door before her creaked open, a door she was too spaced out to consciously notice earlier. Regardless of how well she was feeling, Ren deserved her attention and genuine interest, the resolve snapping her back to reality. She looked around as she stepped in, actively trying to take in every detail of the room while the surrounding calmness finally let her psyche relax.

  It was a touch smaller than the room she’d first woken up in, but incomparably more decorated. There were... things everywhere. Raised bedding with enough colorful pillows and covers for her entire burrow, glossy illustrations on the walls featuring enough symbols and characters to make her head spin, shelves after shelves with more dolls, other toys, as well as a handful of colorful rectangles. On the other side, a tall piece of furniture with what looked like dozens of simple drawings attached to its front, a small table with a chair beside it, yet more items Palemoon had no words for, elongated and colorful. It was a lot; it was so, so much.

  It’s too much.

  She refused to let the thought drag her back to the path of snarky thoughts and spite, but couldn’t deny it still lingered in her mind. When she first talked with Kaori earlier, when she got her confirmation that this entire, massive dwelling was just for three souls, she took in the piece of news as plain, emotionally uncharged information. It was interesting, yes, but nowhere near enough to cast judgment on anyone, and especially not on humanity on the whole. Now... she was less certain. It was hard to regain that neutrality, to look at the room before her not as yet another example of humanity’s raw greed that expanded even to owning other living beings, but as simply a room where a young child lived in.

  She felt like her own elders.

  ...

  And she wasn’t okay with that. She was angry; she was distraught by what she’d heard, maybe even broken—all that was true. Much of that was likely where the attitudes she was surrounded by came from; the fear and distress passed from generation to generation. It was justified, but it wasn’t enough for her. She could go beyond that, and she damn well would.

  Tossing that entire thread of thought aside, she sat down beside Ren as he laid out his dolls again. He gave her a nervous look as he grabbed the first one, a small figurine of a Clefable draped in an almost uniformly red outfit. The cape that sat between their wings and on top of their tail looked inconvenient more than anything, but the bows tied along their ears were quite cute. “^I like how they look,^” Luna smiled, pointing at the doll in Ren’s hand.

  The change inside the boy was downright palpable. With just those few words, much of the uncertainty he had downstairs at the thought of showing them to her had evaporated, letting excitement fill in the newly created mental gap. Which it did shortly after, lighting up his expression—because someone was paying attention. To his action figure, to his toys, to him. He didn’t have the words for any of that, nor the mental maturity to consciously acknowledge those emotions, these needs, but they were there all the same.

  With the motivation filling his little mind, he shuffled closer to his magical friend, and began doing one of his favorite activities in the world—explain. “That’s a she, her name is Scarlet! She’s the leader of Team Rainbow and she’s very funny, a-and can do magic, and can even do all the random moves with Metronome! I like her a lot!” Without skipping a beat, Ren passed the doll over to her, the odd material no less curious to the touch the second time.

  Of course, his explanation had left a few... gaps in Palemoon’s understanding, but something told her he wouldn’t be opposed to clarifying them all. “^That’s cool! What do Team Rainbow do?^” She had no idea what the ‘Team Rainbow’ Scarlet was supposed to be a part of actually was, though she had a couple of guesses. Local heroes, perhaps? Wouldn’t fit very well with how humans thought about mons on the whole, though. Them being some sort of folklore or legendary figures would work too, but she doubted it for similar reasons.

  Ren knew, though, and was thrilled to share. “They fight the bad guys, a-and supervillains! They even once saved all of Hoenn from Achroma‘s evil flying Mecha Rayquaza that wanted to destroy it!”

  Palemoon blinked at Ren’s words, equally stumped by their content and the excited tone in which they were delivered alike. A few of the proper nouns she couldn’t immediately translate were soon filled by glancing at Ren’s surface level thoughts, which mostly clarified the ‘what’, but not the ‘why’. Or ‘how’, for that matter. That sounded like a nigh-apocalyptic event, one that she doubted would ever become this, well, childish in its presentation. Though if that were to happen, it would no doubt take decades, if not centuries, for the immediate impact of such an event to fade. “^When did that take place?^” she asked hesitantly.

  “A couple months ago, it was so cool!” the boy cheerfully answered, excitement filling his little body to the brim.

  Okay, I must’ve misunderstood something.

  Despite her best efforts, the Gardevoir’s uncertainty soon leaked into her expression, sapping it by the moment. It didn’t take Ren long to pick up on that; some of the earlier self-conscious thoughts crept back in—the absolute last thing Palemoon wanted. She considered coming up with an elaborate question to suss out what was going on without being too direct, but figured that being as honest as possible would be the better approach here. “^Don’t worry Ren, you did nothing wrong. I’m just confused. Did all that really happen? I would’ve thought we’d notice something this dire happening in our skies...^”

  One honest explanation, and the ball of confusion was back in Ren’s court. Not one built on any negative emotions, nothing as dire as that, just—

  “Hehe, heheheh—hahahaha!”

  Ren’s laughter made Palemoon’s heart skip a beat before it was followed up by the boy scrambling over to pull her into a big tight hug, one with no ulterior emotions behind it. If nothing else, it confirmed her reasoning that she was just missing something—as well as providing a lot of relief to both of them. Ren was laughing, and he was laughing hard, but it wasn’t a mocking laughter. It was reassuring in a way Palemoon wasn’t even aware of how badly she needed right now.

  “It’s a cartoon!” he cheerfully explained. “It’s not ‘real’ like that! Though I do kinda wish it was sometimes...”

  Now that was a much more concrete mental thread to follow, and—oh. Little wonder she couldn’t figure out just what the boy meant, especially since nothing similar existed in their little village. She wasn’t a stranger to plays, but those tended to involve folklore or religious stories, as well as being much more grounded than what Ren was thinking about. The medium of presentation was obviously different, too, but that mattered less right now.

  Storytelling for children, drawn and brought to life. Honestly, now she was kinda curious, and wouldn’t mind experiencing it herself. Even if, like Ren’s added words hinted at, it was nothing close to the real deal. Possibly for the better, in this case. “^Oh! I get it now, I think. It’s like a fictional story then, right?^” she asked, getting an immediate, firm nod—though one tinged with regret. “^Why do you wish it was real, Ren? The events you’ve described sound rather dire.^”

  The question took the boy aback, longing turning into embarrassment—but only for a moment. After getting a grip on himself, he sat down beside her, leaning on her un-hurt side, and quietly mumbled. “Because Scarlet and Team Rainbow are so cool, and I wish I had them here. They would be so fun to talk to and play with, and they’re all so cool...” he paused, before taking Palemoon’s hand. “Like you! You—you’re really like them! You’re so cool, a-and strong, and can do magic, too!” The realization worked wonders in breaking through a fair bit of the previous longing, replacing it with even more appreciation towards the Gardevoir beside him. And yet, some of said longing remained—and Palemoon knew exactly why.

  “^It’s a bit lonely here, isn’t it?^”

  In an instant, Ren’s enthusiasm faded, as if a gust of wind had blown through him. He nodded wordlessly, leaning further into his magical friend, clinging onto her with his little hand. He whispered, eyes drilling into the toy before him, “Yeah...”

  Without skipping a beat, Palemoon reached a hand around Ren and pulled him under the blanket still wrapped around her, holding him that bit closer to her side. She gave him a wide, if sad smile, wishing she could introduce him to her entire friend group. “^I’m sorry, Ren. That’s a really rough way to live.^” He didn’t comment beyond a wet sniffle, focusing as hard as he could on not tearing up.

  “^It’s okay to cry, Ren,^” she mentally whispered, ruffling his hair. “^Don’t feel bad if you have to.^”

  “But big boys don’t cry,” he argued back, not liking the words that had been shoved into his mouth but not knowing how to argue against them either.

  Palemoon had an idea, though. “^Why wouldn’t they? My uncle cries a fair bit—it’s only normal.^”

  Ren didn’t know how to respond to that. At least, not verbally. Sniffles filled the room’s silence as he clung to her, warm tears flowing down his cheeks. She rocked them both from side to side, the gesture—combined with her presence—as soothing as she remembered it once being. They weren’t the most pleasant emotions in the world to sense, especially from so close up, but that was just a part and parcel of helping people out, sometimes. Pushing on, even when they were unpleasant to interact with on the spot, because she wanted to help them feel better.

  Eventually, a whispered question followed. “Are you gonna leave me, Luna?”

  She wasn’t sure how to answer, if she even could answer. The very immediate response was, ‘of course’. Of course she’d have to leave eventually, maybe even later today, and get back to her people, to their familiar, familial comfort. She had no idea how they would react to the knowledge she’d bring with herself, especially their Elders. Considering everything she’d learned, though, she unfortunately doubted they’d be at all approving of a second expedition in this vein, or even just another visit. It’d be too dangerous, and whatnot.

  Palemoon felt bad for not even being able to completely disregard that imagined objection. Because of course it’d be dangerous—no more than how it already was, though. And yet, she made it through all the same, and knew a lot more now. Had ideas on how to minimize risk by avoiding those paths the metal beasts used, knew the full danger of at least some human contraptions and could protect herself preemptively, and most basic of all, knew what humans actually looked like. As well as, to a very limited but still valuable extent, how they were like.

  It’d be dangerous, and she sure as hell wouldn’t let it stop her. As disappointing as many other facets of the human world turned out to be, Ren was still her friend. Kaori was still her friend. A part of her doubted Hiroto would ever wholly earn that label, but it didn’t matter—he still cared about, and was very fond of, his wife and son. Of course she’d try to visit them, even if it involved a lot more risk than slipping into the next burrow over.

  They are worth the effort.

  And so, at last, came Luna’s answer. “^I’ll have to go back home eventually, but I’ll definitely try to visit!^”

  The first half made him shudder, only for the second to send a small gasp through his body. “Really?” he asked in excited disbelief, looking up at her with reddened eyes.

  “^Of course! Who knows, maybe I’ll even bring friends next time!^”

  It was not the most responsible claim in hindsight, but it definitely succeeded at reigniting the boy’s spirits. “That’s awesome! What are your friends like?” He leaned in, ears and mind ready to absorb her every single word in breathless wonder.

  And Palemoon was fully aware of it, carefully choosing her words. “^A rowdy bunch, overall! Though... I think there’s one you’d really enjoy getting to know once I convince her to give ya a visit! Her name is Eclipse, and she’s a Clefable, just like Scarlet—^” Her words were interrupted by the loud gasp coming from the boy beside her, his eyes having somehow grown even wider. “^Yep! Though, she’s not as chaotic as your Scarlet sounds like. Very headstrong, though, got us out of many a pickle on our adventures in the mountains.^”

  “You went to the mountains? I went to the mountains too, with my preschool class! But only a little, we didn’t go very far up, because it’s ‘too dangerous’ or something dumb like that. Did you go far up, Luna?”

  “^Yep! And whether it’s dangerous... it definitely can be, especially the trails we took. Eclipse watched over our supplies. I was just a Kirlia back then, so I mostly kept our spirits up and patched everyone up from any scrapes or scuffles with the locals. The Aspens navigated for us, up from the skies. It took us a few days to get all the way to where we wanted to go, but it was so worth it. The air itself feels so different up there, so much lighter. You’re so much closer to the heavens, and you really feel it. I remember, on our last day up there, after we set up camp for the night, and we took a small trek to the nearby peak.^”

  Ren didn’t even think about making a sound, begging with his entire body for his magical friend to continue.

  “^It wasn’t very cold up there, but the skies were very clear. There were more stars than usual, but we looked downwards instead. I still remember it, this dense cloud of stars further into the valley, as if a piece of the sky was spilled over there. I remember watching it, wanting more than anything to see it for myself up close. And then, heheh, Eclipse cut in, and tried to rain on my parade—for understandable reasons, though. That cloud of stars was apparently a human town, not a good sign. I don’t think I ever told her that, but... I still wanted to see it from up close, see a magical place like that. I guess now I can, hah!^”

  It took the boy a moment to catch Luna’s joke, but once he did, their combined giggles filled the air with gentle, emotional warmth. A sensation Luna was used to back home, and one she almost forgot how rough the world felt without—at least, before this adventure of hers.

  A question bubbling up in Ren’s mind paused any more of Luna’s internal pondering, wanting to give the boy all the attention he deserved. She smiled patiently as his mental track took abrupt turns one after the other, before arriving at a question that left him puzzled and excited. “Wait—can all mons talk? Like, really talk, not just in cartoons?”

  Guess that for every human truth that went without saying, there was another truth of her own in that same spot. And just like everything that ever ‘went without saying’, it was nowhere near as obvious as people wielding that label would want it to be. “^Yeah, they can talk! Not the same way I can talk to you, not if they aren’t psychics. But they can talk, and I could help with translation.^” Ultimately, she doubted that piece of information would amount to much more than trivia for the boy, considering his own and humanity’s isolation, but it could still help a bit. She could still make a positive change, however small.

  “I knew it, Daisuke was wrong! I knew he was wrong!” Ren triumphantly exclaimed, his expression a mix of smugness and triumph in wildly fluctuating rates. Of course, Luna didn’t know who Daisuke was, and this time she didn’t even have to speak up for the boy to get the memo. “Daisuke is my friend from preschool! He told me that mons can’t talk, and even if some can, it’s only a few. But now I know he’s wrong and I’ll tell him that when I see him!”

  Truthfully, Palemoon couldn’t resist the emotions on Ren’s face either, looking at him approvingly. “^When will that be?^”

  “In a week! We have winter holidays right now. The preschool is closed,” he gladly explained. Figuring out that ‘preschool’ corresponded to some kind of social place for children wasn’t hard, and its existence reassured Palemoon that the boy at least had some social contact with his peers. But—his friends still existed outside of that space, right? “^Does Daisuke not visit you?^”

  It was a good question. It was also a rather clueless question, immediately undoing a fair bit of Ren’s enthusiasm as the reality of his situation caught up with him once more. “Not really. We live far away from everyone, and can only get anywhere by car...”

  Guess not even all the human opulence in the world could help a very lonely existence.

  Nowhere near as much contact with his peers as he should have, parents that, while well-intentioned, didn’t seem to give him anywhere near as much attention as he needed to. She didn’t want to jump to conclusions about Ren’s situation being actively hurtful, or worse yet, abusive, but... it sure wasn’t healthy, either. It was rough, messed up, and Palemoon didn’t have any idea what to say. She figured the best next move would be to redirect the conversation to a more neutral ground—or better yet, back to Ren’s toys and the things that excited him.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  She did want to bring up one more thing first though, with the word ‘car’ having caught her attention in particular. Before she could do that, she sensed a presence approach from downstairs, with her ears confirming the observation shortly after. The door creaked open behind them, revealing Kaori carrying a hefty mug in each hand. Their contents filled the air with a faint aroma, similar to the curious brown condiment she had for breakfast, but that might’ve been the least interesting part of their appearance.

  “Hot chocolate, everyone!” Ren’s mom announced with a wide smile, carefully walking around the huddled pair and placing the mugs on the oddly smooth wooden floor. Whatever the source of the aroma was, it wasn’t the only ingredient in the... drink? Meal? Whatever the contents of the mug counted as, they were covered by a hefty plume of something white and fluffy. And then, on top of that, something that Palemoon could only describe as a shredded rainbow, the multicolored sprinkles taking her aback. It was one thing for regular items to be unusually colorful in the human world, but she’d never expect food to fall under that category as well.

  “*GASP!* Thanks, mom!”

  Still, food was food, even if it looked more outlandish than usual. Palemoon gladly accepted the offer, including the small metal spoon that Kaori handed out afterwards. The same not-terrible metal as before, letting her follow Ren’s excited, downright manic lead in shoveling as much of the rainbow-sprinkled cream into her mouth. “^Thank you very much, Kaori.^”

  “No problem! Figured we all could use something tasty to lift our spirits. How are you feeling?” Kaori asked both of them, before shuffling some of the nearby toys away and sitting down on Palemoon’s other side.

  Been better.

  “I’m feeling good, mom!” Ren cheerfully answered, in between wolfing down the mug-ful of treats. “Luna told me that all mons can talk! Daisuke said they couldn’t and he’s wrong and I’ll tell him that when I go back to preschool, and that Luna told me that!”

  A second opinion immediately pointed out issues with that plan, some of them major. “I... don’t think that’s a good idea, Ren. That kinda thing will draw a lot of negative attention, sadly. And I can only imagine how your teachers would react if you told them about Luna,” Kaori shuddered.

  The Gardevoir herself was conflicted. She really wasn’t sure if she wanted Ren to talk about her specifically either—the less attention she and her people got from the human world at large, the better. “^Your mom has a point, Ren. I’d rather you not mention me for now,^” Palemoon requested, the disappointment that went through the boy downright palpable. Still, he didn’t argue, just nodding somberly.

  Mentions of her aside, the idea of not bringing up this topic at all also rubbed her the wrong way, and even more so. “^But, Kaori—won’t talking about this help persuade some of his classmates?^” she asked with coy innocence. “^From what you’ve told me, I doubt they themselves would have any experience to know, and Ren speaking up and being vocal about it could help convince them. Or at least, make them doubt mons not being able to talk.^”

  Kaori was understandably conflicted at the idea. She tapped her fingers against the floor, rhythmical taps filling the air as Palemoon finally tried the ‘hot chocolate’, hoping it’d be less overwhelming in taste than it was in appearance. For once, her wish came true. Mostly, at least. The white cream at the top was thick and sweet, and the individual rainbow sprinkles were sweeter still, but even combined, they didn’t come close to the sensory overload that was the brown paste from breakfast. The drink they were covering up was even gentler, having a similar taste profile to the paste but substantially deeper, its sweetness limited enough to let Palemoon taste the earthy undertones. Suffice to say, she preferred this incarnation of that sweet flavor.

  By the time she was wrapping up cleaning the hot chocolate toppings and got a couple good swigs of the real stuff underneath, the mom of the household was ready to talk again. “I mean, yeah, that is a good point. And since it’d be just kids arguing, he’d get much less backlash from that, as opposed to, say, someone shouting the truth from the rooftops, which would just get them mercilessly mocked.” She shuddered at the addition, as if recalling something she experienced personally.

  Palemoon gave her a concerned look, feeling a sting of regret for having doubted her—before the woman clarified, noticing her expression. “Oh, don’t worry Luna, that never happened to me. It’s just... I remember a few years back, there was this anti-trainer protest held in Slateport. It wasn’t a massive one, but it was still some good few thousand people. Everyone treated them like idiots and lunatics. I-I doubt I was any better at the time. Though I’ll never forget this singular frame of one of the women at the protest shouting something. She looked silly in that fraction of a second, and afterwards that image just became a shorthand for how ‘irrational’ and ‘emotional’ people protesting like that were.”

  As unclear and unfamiliar as Kaori’s terminology was, the thrust of her message was well understood by the Gardevoir. Or, at least comprehended—she couldn’t say to truly understand why would people have such a reaction to someone being genuine like that. “^Why would her being emotional equate to being irrational? Aren’t we all emotional about things we strongly believe in?^”

  Kaori chuckled weakly. “You’d think. But no, apparently many people see it as just immaturity, not being able to talk about things calmly without resorting to emotions and raised voices.”

  That made so, so little sense. Of course people would get emotional, especially with topics this heavy and dour! She got emotional just earlier, could barely resist sobbing by the end of her previous conversation with Kaori and Hiroto, and that didn’t mean she was taking it any less seriously—the opposite, if anything! Palemoon could maybe understand that line of thought for shouting and other expressions of not just emotions but hostility, but even those were expected here! Hell, more than expected, a part deep inside her that was getting heated by the moment wanted to shout about they were downright warranted!

  She was glad to hear about that protest Kaori had mentioned, a sign that not all humans were on board with their cruelty, something she would’ve intensely appreciated if she hadn’t been growing angry! But now, after yet another element of particularly callous human weirdness had irked her just the wrong way, she wanted humans to go beyond that, to do something about their cruelty. And especially for her host to not use that fear of being looked at weirdly as an excuse to do nothing, now that she knew how dire things actually were! Oh, how inconvenient would it be for her while mons are being kidnapped by the minute; oh the horror!

  Palemoon gave Kaori a brief, but smoldering look, her earlier despair turbulently catalyzed into resentment. Thankfully for the human woman, she didn’t notice—she was too busy in her own pondering to catch it.

  “But then again—we kinda owe it to ourselves and you to do something about it, eh? To stick our necks out at least a little, especially me and Hiroto. Nudge people close to us whenever we can, even if it won’t amount to all that much.” Kaori chuckled afterwards, the sound tired and without any relief to be found in it. She then glanced at the Gardevoir beside her, hoping to see some sort of approval—and only saw a frazzled, unwell expression. “Luna? Everything alright?”

  I hate being this angry.

  “^I’m—I’m sorry, just... I was feeling myself get angry for a moment,^” she muttered, shifting her attention away from Kaori in embarrassment.

  For her words, she earned herself a gentle pat on the shoulder, followed by another. “I mean, just like you’ve said—we’re emotional about things we strongly believe in. Don’t have to feel bad about that.”

  “Yeah!” Ren cheerfully added, taking the exchange as an opportunity to rejoin the conversation that had slipped far away from him.

  Palemoon wanted to thank them for their reassurance, but the exact words refused to come. Instead, she did the next best thing, reached her hands out from underneath the protective blanket and carefully grasped both humans’ hands. The warm emotion of gratitude filled their bodies soon after—and this time, they had no issue connecting it to its source, as alien as this method of expression was for them. “You’re welcome, Luna,” Kaori cheerfully summed up.

  The Gardevoir didn’t have the space nor the time to plunge herself into meditation, forcing her to stay close to the emotions still swirling through her mind, weaker and weaker by the moment. Afraid of letting them drag her off into unpleasant—or worse yet, hostile—threads of thoughts, she instead focused on Kaori’s words, and the reassuring idea they conveyed. “^Who would those people you’d be nudging be, out of curiosity?^” Palemoon asked, mental voice audibly tired. “^Family? Neighbors?^”

  The human woman shook her head. “Oh no, I was thinking coworkers for a start. Hiroto is a nurse and already works alongside mons, so any change he makes will be immediately helpful. I’m an engineer, and there is much less direct mon involvement there, aside from specialized areas. Still, maybe I can convince people to be nicer to the mons they’re already living with.”

  Palemoon couldn’t deny being intrigued at the news of the aloof human having been some kind of healer, like herself. Maybe she’d be able to ask him about some treatment methods humans knew her people didn’t? However, that was a minor note compared to Kaori’s headshake and what it meant. “^But why not? Talking to your neighbors and family about that, I mean. You mentioned there were other human dwellings in the area, right?^”

  Out of all the topics she expected Kaori to be uneasy about, this wasn’t one of them. “Well,” she sighed, embarrassed, “I haven’t interacted with them in ages, admittedly. They are in walking distance, I could go over there and chat them up, but I haven’t really done that. Normally I just get everywhere by car, don’t think this quote unquote ‘street’ even has proper sidewalks.” The last point certainly sounded like a valid concern to Palemoon, especially with the loud metal beasts whizzing by everywhere.

  Kaori knew it was a very flimsy excuse, though. “Then again, even if it doesn’t, we have some bikes here, stashed in the cellar. I could just drag them out if I really wanted to. The real reason more than anything is how daunting that feels—they’re basically strangers, it’d feel weird to just start chatting with them apropos of nothing. On the other hand,” she mused, her words dripping with both resignation and determination, “what’s the worst that could happen? If all of us can only do so much, then maybe it’s even more important to do the little we can.”

  Palemoon liked that line of thinking a lot more.

  Despite its turbulent trajectory, the conversation ended up calming her a bunch, providing some well-needed relief after the previous one. Still, not something she’d want to keep focusing on right now, with her little angry flareup draining a lot of whatever strength she had regained. It was a good reason to change topics—but not the only one. The shift was gradual, but it was hard not to notice Ren growing more dejected over the course of her chat with Kaori, despite having enjoyed his sugary treat. A high time to steer the conversation to where he wanted it to be at.

  “^Oh, Ren, wanna keep going? I’m very curious about this one,^” Luna chimed in, pointing at the Machoke doll.

  And, on cue, his excitement surged back in, somewhat sticky fingers bringing the figurine to his magical friend to examine. “That’s Professor Gray! He’s very very strong but also really smart! He makes up all the cool machines Team Rainbow use, a-and he even built a giant robot for them to fight Achroma‘s robot Rayquaza!”

  ‘Robot’, another unfamiliar term for Palemoon. Ren was treating it as both an adjective and a noun, but both meanings were drenched in associations and mental imagery the Gardevoir had the hardest time figuring out. Metal and lights, perhaps? She knew Steel-types existed and wondered how much overlap was between those and the ‘robots’ of human storytelling. Though, considering he referred to them as being built, she doubted they were beings themselves. She knew nowhere near enough about reproduction and growth to say if that was even possible.

  What she did know a lot more about, though, was Kaori’s reaction to the change in topic. She winced internally as the woman beside her started scrambling back onto her feet, reaching for the two emptied mugs as she did so. The disappointed, hurt jolt that went through Ren at noticing that was palpable, and while Palemoon didn’t doubt that something similar had happened many, many times in the past, she still wanted to intervene here, to do something to help the boy out.

  “^Kaori?^” she whispered mentally to her, while nodding for Ren to continue. “^Would you mind staying here for a while longer?^”

  Reassuringly, Kaori did not mind that at all, settling herself back on the wood panel floor with a couple of winces. She wasn’t worried or afraid, merely confused at the request. Said confusion quickly built into a question about ‘why’, meant in the most neutral tone possible—but not even that would do here. And so; Luna preempted even that. “^As to why—because Ren would really appreciate it.^” Right after, she shifted her telepathy to include Ren, continuing their conversation. “^I see! What are ‘robots’, if you don’t mind me asking?^”

  The explanation was woefully incomplete. Fortunately, it was still enough for the boy’s mom to get the message, taking a moment to slide closer towards her son. His expression lit up with a wide smile, his voice growing even more excited as he continued. “You don’t know what robots are!? They’re like people but they’re machines, a-and they’re made of metal! Oh, I have one here, look Luna!” The words were accompanied by a mad dash towards the nearby box of toys, followed by a large, bulky figurine being presented to her moments later.

  It certainly was metal. Not the pleasant sort either, making Luna shift it into her weary psychics before long, her hand growing itchy after touching the material. It was much more detailed than Ren’s other dolls, depicting many anatomical elements she hadn’t even heard of, and which she wondered if they were even possible. “^They look fascinating,^” she commented, as genuine as possible.

  “I know right, they’re so cool! Oh oh, he has a button on the back that lights him up, try it out Luna!”

  Taking care to not overburden her mind, Palemoon rotated the figurine until its ‘face’ was pointing away from her. She could broadly figure out what Ren meant by ‘button’, but spotting it with her eyes was a much harder task, the sheer amount of detail turning into noise. Eventually, she brought a finger to brush along the unpleasant material, hoping to find some element that would budge.

  Beside her, Kaori realized she still remembered buying this particular figurine for Ren’s birthday earlier this year. Uncertainty about what exactly the Gardevoir meant with her words was still there, but she figured she could help the two out in their play a bit. “I think it’s here, on the shoulder blade—” she suggested, pressing down on what looked to Palemoon as just one decoration of dozens. Except this one gave in, making several glass dots around the doll’s surface burst with red and blue light, staggering in how vivid it was.

  “Yeah, there! Thanks mom!” Ren commented, sliding closer to his magical friend to watch her reactions as closely as possible. Said friend was enjoying herself as much as possible with the very limited grasp she had on all the human terminology involved, wondering if the lights were meant to represent said ‘robot’ charging up for some sort of move. They looked quite random for that, but maybe there was some logic to them she just wasn’t aware of.

  Just like there was logic to the Gardevoir having asked Kaori to stay here—but one the human woman wasn’t quite seeing right now herself. Palemoon paused her examination of the doll as she focused on letting only Ren’s mom hear her words, before taking a deep breath and trying to explain what she’d been sensing. “^He’s been feeling quite lonely here,^” she began, her somber tone capturing Kaori’s attention. “^Very... nervous about his interests, too. Been quite skittish when bringing them up to me, for example.^”

  A couple more pieces of the puzzle that had been thrust on Kaori, but ones that filled her with worry more than anything. She took a deep breath, as if ready to respond with something, before stopping herself—Ren would overhear.

  “^I love the colors! And I’m curious now—they’re people, right?^” Palemoon got back to Ren, sending him into his own conundrum.

  This one was a character in another of his cartoons, so that made him a person—the boy could figure that much together. Anything beyond that was murkier. The evil droids that Achroma sent to stop Team Rainbow, though? They talked a lot, boasted about how they would stop Team Rainbow, but then they inevitably got destroyed in battle. They couldn’t have been people, then, because it would’ve been really weird to have so many of them be constantly destroyed. Really uncomfortable, too. “Not all of them, I think,” he answered with palpable uncertainty, clinging closer to his friend after his thoughts had brushed against something unpleasant like that.

  She wanted to keep nudging them on that front. “^Why not?^”

  “Because it’d be so weird!” He admitted, voice turning into a whine at the end. Luna sighed inwardly at that—he was probably too young for a discussion like that, even if through the medium of his toys.

  She didn’t mind. More than anything, she just wanted to make him happy, and she knew just how to do that. “^Very weird, yeah. So, what about this one,^” she continued their earlier tangent, pointing at the little Riolu doll. “^What’s their name?^”

  The distraction did wonders, piling even more fuel onto Ren’s excitement as he placed the Machoke down beside the Clefable, before grabbing the other Fighting-type. He was particularly thrilled to talk about this one, seeing himself in the fresh young recruit of the heroic group, and even wishing he was a Riolu too so that he could do all the things he’d seen the character do. Palemoon tried paying as close attention as possible throughout, but she could only focus so much. Kaori had found her words in the meantime, whispering them into Luna’s ear while positioning herself so that her son couldn’t see her speak.

  “Ren’s lonely? I figured, in all honesty. It’s a great house for us, but not as much so for a child. I’ve been trying to find him some sort of group or drive him to the nearest playground where kids his age are hanging out. But then I’d have to stay there and look after him, and I just don’t have the time, there’s always so much stuff to do around the house, and I usually work long hours, and more often than not I just want to sit down after I get back from work and not move until bedtime.” Kaori’s words dripped with disappointment, both at the situation her son was in, but also at herself—maybe she should’ve just tried harder. At least, that’s what a nasty voice in her head was telling her.

  The other part of Luna’s explanation was much harder for Ren’s mom to wrap her head around. “Nervous about his interests, though? That’s... weird. I’m not sure why he’d be. We’ve been trying to be as supportive as we can about the things he likes, definitely not skimping out on the toys, as much as Hiroto’s parents keep complaining that we’re spoiling him rotten, heh. I-I’m not saying I doubt your assessment of him, from what I know Gardevoir can read emotions like that very well, but I don’t know where it would be coming from.”

  Palemoon slumped a bit at Kaori’s words, genuine as they were. A single glance around Ren’s room made it clear his parents were very generous when it came to toys, and the Gardevoir sincerely doubted there was anything wrong with that either—especially by the standards of typical human excess. But no, the problem lay deeper, much deeper.

  And she had no choice but to be as blunt as the situation deserved. “^You’re supportive of his likes, yes—but do you care? Do you genuinely care what he likes, with all the attention his interests deserve, or do you support his likes so that he can play by himself and not bother you?^”

  Kaori physically flinched at the Gardevoir’s words, and Palemoon herself was not far behind. It was a dose of reality Kaori and Hiroto needed, one which Ren deserved for his parents to hear, and yet she still worried if she hadn’t been too blunt about it, too accusatory. Of course, they hadn’t been neglectful of Ren’s interests out of deliberate cruelty; this wasn’t something Palemoon would have to teach them a lesson about the hard way. But they had to be forcibly snapped back to the reality of Ren’s needs beyond just things that he could play with.

  In all truth, she was expecting Kaori to get angry at her words, or at least try to argue back—but, instead, all she got in return was silence. An uneasy, uncertain silence, paying close attention to what Ren was doing while keeping herself together as much as she could.

  Everything Luna could’ve feasibly asked of her.

  “^What about this one? They kinda look like me.^” Palemoon pointed to the final doll she saw Ren playing with outside when she first ran into him. She remained unsure if the creature it represented was indeed that sibling of her kin that she’d heard about from her family, or if it was a product of human imagination, much like the ‘robot’ she saw earlier. The reality of her learning about a topic this close to her own heart from human toys was very amusing on its face, but that didn’t make it any less worthwhile.

  What could have made it less worthwhile was Ren’s limited knowledge on the subject, though. “Yeah! This is Blue, they’re a Gallade!” he cheerfully informed. And then, a few moments later, realized how weird it was for a Gardevoir to make that comment she did. Incredulous, he asked, “Have you never seen a Gallade?”

  He almost gasped out loud when Luna shook her head. “^I have not! They look remarkably curious, though. Such sturdy legs and hips, almost as if preferring physical, close-range combat. Are they all blue like this, too?^”

  “Blue always fights close up! And noooo, of course Gallade aren’t all blue like this, only Blue is, because they’re special!” Ren explained, as if reciting the most obvious truth in the world. Though, now that he had thought about all this, the curiosity from when he’d first spotted Luna crept right back into his head, making him gasp. “WAIT!” he leaned in close, grasping the ‘Gallade’ doll firmly. “Does that mean you’re special too, Luna!?”

  Not a term the Gardevoir herself would’ve used, but yes, she looked quite different from her family. It was a source of concern more than anything else, about whether that meant that she was sick with something, or if her uniqueness would make her an especially attractive target for humans. At one point, she could only laugh at the ridiculousness of that last thought, imagining the otherworldly, alien race scooping her up into the skies for no reason, just to gawk at her differently colored skin.

  Now, though... she could only shudder. Perhaps it was a very bad idea for her specifically to undertake more of these sorts of expeditions to humanity in the future.

  “^Special? I don’t think I’m all that special,^” Palemoon answered with a mix of pretend and real humility. “^I know I look quite different from my family, but that’s just it—looks. My psychics aren’t any stronger than theirs;, I’m only barely taller than most of them. I haven’t been blessed by any gods or what not. I’m just myself, just Luna.^”

  Ren reacted to the nugget of wisdom with audible disappointment. “Awwh... but you look so cool!”

  He said it, not me.

  “^Maaaybe, but believe me Ren—just because someone looks different, doesn’t mean anything else about them is any different. I doubt Blue would be any different as a person even if they didn’t look like they do.^” It was an assertion Palemoon had exactly zero ways of substantiating in any way—but, fortunately, it turned out to be enough for the boy.

  “Okay...” he trailed off, a bit wiser but also a bit more disappointed. At least, until he stumbled upon an even better way of phrasing what he wanted to say: “But you’re still special to me!”

  Now that was something Luna was more than content to hear. She ruffled his hair with her psychics, almost pushing herself into another splitting headache before backing off at the very end. The risk was worth it just for his excited reaction. “^Thank you, Ren! I appreciate that a lot. You’re quite special to me, too! After all, you’re the first human I’ve ever met, and I couldn’t have asked for a better one!^”

  As big of a hug around her as the six-year-old could manage, immediately returned in kind. The quiet “thank you” that followed was too quiet and emotional to be audible, but Luna heard it all the same. Once Ren had detached himself from her, though, she shifted the conversation back to his interests, and the ‘Gallade’ doll specifically. “^So, you mentioned that Blue fights from up close! That’s very different from how any of my family ever fought, the few times they had to. Does Blue do anything else but fight?^” After all, if her people’s oral history was anything to go by, even during times of struggle and conflict, art and poems continued to be made.

  “They like pizza a lot! Oh oh oh and they also pilot robots when they fight against Achroma‘s BIG evil robots!”

  Palemoon blinked. Guess her internal definition of the human word ‘robot’ would continue constantly changing, since now apparently they were something that could be ‘piloted’—or, as her mind substituted the word, steered. She had a very hard time imagining said ‘robot’ being both alive and able to be steered. At least, not without that coming at severe discomfort to them. She was about to ask about that, to find out where exactly did she misunderstand something—

  Only for someone else to cut in first.

  “The robots Blue pilots... are they the ones Professor Grey makes?” Kaori asked tentatively. Her body language was decisively uncomfortable, worry about having gotten something wrong filling her head to an irrational degree. And yet, she still asked, and the other two definitely noticed.

  Ren especially. “Y-yeah! They’re really really big mechs, bigger than our house!” He was, of course, excited to keep talking. But more than that, he was downright shocked to hear his mom chime in about something silly and stupid, of all things. She usually never did. It was weird, but Ren couldn’t say he disliked that.

  “Ah, I see,” Kaori replied, exhaling with relief. “There used to be these movies about giant mechs that fought each other and giant mons when I was younger. Wonder if this ties to them—”

  *croooooakkk*

  “Kaori, your hot chocolate’s gonna go cold—” Hiroto began, before stopping at the sight in his son’s room. Seeing the Gardevoir playing with him was still unnerving, but that was at least expected. His wife’s presence there, especially on the floor beside them, was much harder for him to wrap his head around.

  His wife didn’t particularly care for his confusion, especially not now. She looked over her shoulder at the sound, together with her son and his friend, and instructed, “Oh, thanks Hiroto. Place it down on Ren’s desk if you could.”

  Hiroto lifted his eyebrow, followed by Kaori furrowing hers. Whatever was going on, his wife seemed to not want any interruptions, which he figured he could understand. “Sure.”

  One thud of a mug being set down and one croak of the door being closed later, the room was how it was just before the intrusion, now with another mug-ful of sweet treats. Palemoon was distraught by the attitude she’d sensed in Hiroto, but that paled in comparison to Ren growing quiet afterwards, worrying as if he’d just been caught doing something bad.

  Kaori, on the other hand, was determined. Uncertain, somewhat weary, and more tired than she’d prefer to be on her day off, but determined as hell. “Ren?” Hearing his name snapped the boy out of his daze, replacing it with self-consciousness as he looked up at his mom. “Wanna keep going? I don’t think you’ve ever told us why Achroma is fighting Team Rainbow in the first place.” Another silent look from him, one much more disbelieving this time. It asked a question, its contents obvious even without words—and his mom answered it as firmly as possible with just an encouraging smile and a nod.

  Just like the humans around her, Palemoon could only do so much.

  “It’s because Team Rainbow want to stop Achroma from taking over Hoenn with his droids and his Mecha Rayquaza, and—”

  But she hoped her intervention would make at least one person’s life better.

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  From the Vast! and