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Moon looked at the lumpy paste in her hands. She had attempted to make pie crust, but something had gone wrong. She wasn’t sure what, as she had followed the instructions (mostly).
It was a bit sticky and the lumps were pockets of flour. It didn’t seem edible. Moon debated starting over.
She looked at the clock on the stove. 2:21. Moon found herself frowning and snipping sarcastically at it. Because, great, she only had two and a half hours before she had to leave. A lot could go wrong in two and a half hours.
Well, she had time and ingredients. Moon sighed, adjusting her glasses with the back of her hand, careful not to get the imitation of pie crust on them. She might as well try again.
Attempt two wasted another thirty minutes. Admitting her defeat, Moon slunk glumly to her couch before flopping down on it. She really wanted to make that galette. It was for her date.
It was for Gladion.
That gave her another wave of resolve. She had remembered something at the store, a couple nights ago. When they were little, somewhere between when she hated him and first started crushing on him, back when she was around nine, the four of them had met up again.
She remembered their epic battle over what the best desert was. In all honesty, it had mostly been her and Sun. He claimed that it was chocolate cake with Moomoo Milk. She claimed it was Pecha- Strawberry ice cream. Gladion and Lillie had claimed they were both great.
They ended up going to a pastry shop, after dinner. Moon remembered that it was, admittedly, good. She couldn’t remember what she ate, but she remembered that it took Gladion ages to eat his food. So, being the annoying brat she was, she asked him if she could have some.
Poor Gladion had looked horror-stricken. He immediately slid his plate closer to him and pointed his fork at her, almost like he would stab her with the tines if she got close enough. (She knew he wouldn’t. He was too nice for that.)
He told her no, very clearly. Of course, his father heard, and told him to share. It was then that Gladion complained that Lumiose style Galettes were his favorite and that he didn’t want to share with anybody.
He ended up cutting three small portions off his Galette and giving them out. Lillie had beamed at him so brightly that Gladion smiled back, even as he gave his desert to her. He gave it to Sun with reluctance, but he glared at Moon.
She remembered that, so she wanted to do something about it. They had a date, a triple date. Hau and Lillie were going on a date with each other, and Acerola and Sun were going on a date with them.
(Those two were still figuring things out. That meant Sun accompanied her to the League in the mornings. Unfortunately, that also meant that Moon had walked into the break room or kitchen to find them kissing more than once.
And, all right, they were all adults. It wasn’t like it was unexpected. But still, Sun was her brother. Her big brother who hugged her all the time and had never really had a girlfriend before. Her brother who had promised after he would never leave her behind. Her brother who had been stolen from her in more ways than one.
And Acerola was… Acerola. She was Moon’s friend, even if she had been Sun’s first. The events of the past few years had brought them together. One of her kids’ Pokemon had been stolen, and then Lillie had been kidnapped, then Team Skull got dangerous and the kids had been sent to hide in the Aether House, and she had been asked to become a member of the Elite Four. It was a lot, and it had brought them together. They had cried together and it had brought them closer.
And maybe Moon had a hard time sharing friends. So watching them get in relationships was hard, because even though she knew they weren’t leaving her behind, it was still hard. That had been the case for as long as she could remember. Her friends were hers, and she was theirs.)
Anyways, she was making Galettes for the date. It wasn't working at all. Moon decided that she had time to go buy pie crust for the galettes. Off to the store she went.
Of course, shopping didn’t go well, either. She rarely searched for pie crust, so she had no idea where it would be. After looking through every aisle, she asked for help. The worker she asked must have been a new hire, because it took her another five minutes to find it. And they were out of pie crust.
Moon stared at the empty section in the refrigerated area. They were out of pie crust. She needed pie crust, and they didn’t have any.
They were out of pie crust.
Waves of emotion crashed over Moon, relentlessly beating on her. She felt tears starting to fill her eyes. She couldn’t make any galettes.
“Moon!” she heard, accompanied by a toddler’s babbling. “So good to see you here!” Professor Burnett called.
Moon turned to her with a sniff. She blinked back the tears and saw them. Professor Burnett had a shopping cart and Lei, her son, was in the front. He was swinging his feet and babbling in a language no one else understood.
“What’s wrong, Moon?” she asked. Her voice was full of concern.
“Nothing,” she answered. That didn’t seem to assure Burnett.
“Moon, really, just tell me,” she insisted.
Moon felt the tears threaten to fall. She blinked them away again. “I’ll be fine, Burnett.”
The woman in question walked up to Moon, resting her arms under her shoulders. “Cynthia Juniper Solstice, tell me what’s making you cry, or I’ll find out for myself.”
Those words broke the dam. Moon slumped into Burnett’s arms, which wrapped around her in a hug. “I remembered something,” she sniffed, letting the tears fall.
Burnett’s eyes widened. She understood the gravity of that. About a year ago, Moon had come into physical contact with Nihilego. Through the Nihilego, she came in contact with their poison.
There had been a violent reaction between the Nihilego venom and the venom left over from the attack years before. She had passed out and hadn’t woken up for a week. Since then, she had remembered things from her past.
She remembered the Beast that attacked her and Sun. She remembered some of the events Lillie told her about. She remembered more things with her mother.
But she didn’t remember much. So, it was a pretty big deal that she remembered something. “Yeah, I wanted to make Lumiose Galettes. But I tried and I couldn’t make any pie crust. And they don’t have any here,” she added.
It was silly, she knew. But it was just too much.
“It’s okay, Moon. I’ll help you,” Burnett replied. Moon looked up at her smile.
“Really, you will?” she asked.
“Of course, come join Lei and I. We can finish shopping and make them together,” Burnett suggested. Lei babbled happily.
Moon looked between the two of them. “All right,” she decided. “What will we be doing?”
“Well, first, let’s get some phyllo dough. Lumiose Galettes don’t need pie crust, even if they are essentially personal pies. The dough is usually found in this section of the grocery store, so let’s see if we can find it,” Burnett started, one arm on Moon’s and the other guiding the cart, Lei attached to it.
The rest of the shopping trip went well. Well, until they got to the car. Lei screamed the whole time Moon and Burnett loaded groceries into the trunk.
Moon, understandably concerned, asked what was wrong. Burnett responded that he screamed every time they got near his car seat, even though he stopped after the car started. Lei just kept screaming.
After buckling the eighteen month old into his seat, Burnett hopped into the front seat. Moon had arrived by bike, so she strapped it on to the back. The rest of the trip went smoothly, and, as predicted, Lei stopped crying less than thirty seconds after the car started.
The adults unloaded the groceries and children. They then gathered in the kitchen. Lei was on a chair at the table. He had some of the special markers that only showed up on the special paper and was drawing. (Scribbling was a much better term for the art, but Moon gave him the benefit of the doubt.)
Burnett brought the ingredients into the kitchen. She guided Moon through the process of making Galettes. With the help of Burnett, the process went smoothly. Nothing was burnt and no dough was messed up. They filled it with pears, chopped and cooked in brown sugar, butter, and vanilla. Moon tested it, just to be sure that it was good. It was, and both Burnett and Lei agreed.
The pastries were cooked and finished. They made eight, because that was how many the pan held. That meant there were two extra, because she was only bringing six to the date.
Burnett took one and split a piece off. She popped it in her mouth. “Well, it’s good, so you should probably go get ready.”
Moon ripped a piece off for herself and ate it. She grimaced at how hot it was. It was entirely possible that she had burned her tongue. She hoped not, the sensation of having burnt taste buds was the worst.
It was good, though. “Delicious,” she agreed. “I guess you’re right. I have to get ready if I want to make it on time.”
“Have fun, Moon. Tell me about it later.” Burnett was already eating more of the galette.
Moon looked at her. “Thanks, Burnett. Really. You saved me, today.”
She smiled. “You’re welcome to my help any time. I mean it, Moon. But seriously, call me Isabell. The only people who call me Burnett are you and the stuffy work colleagues.”
Moon let out a sigh. “I’ll work on it, Bur- Isabell. And thank you. Keep the extras.”
Moon walked out the door with a hug from Isabel, a kiss from Lei, and her six galettes. She biked the ten minute trip home with the food safely stored and took a quick shower before changing into something more presentable.
Day old jeans and a t-shirt were fine for everyday wear, but not really for a date. She also wrangled her hair, which was a feat in and of itself. With five minutes left before she had to leave, Moon realized that she had lost her glasses.
The frantic search yielded results, and she cleaned her glasses. She hated wearing contacts, but found that putting glasses on in the morning was something that didn’t come naturally to her. That meant that she ended up walking around unable to see street signs most of the time, but that was okay. She wore her glasses when it counted.
Like for her date. And shoot, she was going to be late. She needed to leave in negative three minutes to make it in time. She groaned in defeat and started the bike ride to Hau'Oli city. From there, she called a Ride Charizard and flew to Tapu Village.
Luckily, the walk from Tapu Village was only another seven minutes, so Moon wouldn’t be too late. She pulled her phone out to check the time and realized that she was actually only a minute late.
It was more impressive than it should have been. She knocked on the door. “Come in!” she heard Acerola shout.
Moon entered the old house. It had been redecorated since the last time she visited, which had been less than a week ago. The kids really liked to reorganize the different rooms. The living room currently had the couches arranged in a U with a table in the middle, unlike the last arrangement. The couches had been in a line, then.
“I brought desert,” Moon announced. She quickly checked that the galettes were still okay. It would be terrible if something had happened after all her hard work.
Acerola sighed, “You’re the best, Moon. I let Bea help with the cookies. That’s what the lingering smell of smoke is from.”
Sun grinned. “The little rat ate ‘em right up.”
“I can’t tell if you happen to be talking about Bea or her Yungoos,” Lillie voiced.
“They shared,” Sun’s grin was all too innocent.
Gladion walked in from the dining room, tailed by two children. “You know, if you’re going to insult your children, you might want to do it when they’re not around.”
“Well, they’re not my children. I’m not obligated to be nice to them.” Just then, the youngest addition to the Aether House, James, ran up to Sun. The young boy lifted his arms in a clear, ‘hold me,’ position. Sun obliged, picking the five year old up with ease and practiced care.
Acerola laughed while the rest of them raised their eyebrows in unison. “Not your children?” Moon asked. Sun casually lifted his middle finger up at her where the kids couldn’t see.
There was a knock on the door, which Moon assumed was Hau. She hadn’t seen him, so that must be him. He was usually early, though, so she wondered why he was late.
Lillie opened the door and greeted him with a hug. Hau was dressed far nicer than he usually was. He managed to smooth his poofy green hair, somehow, into clips and ponytails. He had also forgone the usual t-shirt and shorts, trading them for a polo and khakis. He kept the Kahuna jacket, because he was physically incapable of going anywhere without it.
Sun hovered over them until Hau and Lillie were finally done hugging. He then squished Hau in the tightest hug he could manage with one arm, despite the fact that Hau had a good three inches and fifty pounds on him and he was still holding James. Hau was unprepared, like he was every time.
Moon didn’t know why he hadn’t prepared himself, as it happened every time they met up, but it was pretty funny. “Oxygen,” Hau rasped. “Humans need that, Sun. Oxygen,” he wheezed again.
Sun released him. “Really? Are you sure that isn’t another ploy of the government?”
“No, that’s Area 51,” Gladion answered. His face was completely straight, which made it infinitely more funny.
“What?” Lillie asked, blinking in confusion and shock.
“What about Area 51?” Moon clarified.
“What is Area 51?” Acerola asked, genuinely confused.
Graham walked in at that moment. “Area 51? Oh, it’s a government sanctioned reserve for Aliens.”
Sun snorted. “Clearly it isn’t very effective, I mean, look at how many people you’ve met from Ferrah’li alone. And how many Pokemon are said to have come from the stars, again? And Ultra Beasts?”
“Exactly,” Gladion agreed, “that’s why it’s just a diversion for the general public. I’ve done some research into what happens to the Ultra Beasts after we capture them.”
“Wait a minute,” Graham interrupted. “I need to know if you guys are being serious before we go on.”
“They are being quite serious, unfortunately,” Lillie answered. “Well, Gladion is, no one can really tell with Sun.”
“Oh, I’m serious,” Sun answered. “I know quite a bit about aliens. My dad is actually an alien. He came through a Wormhole from Ferrah’li, oh, 35 years ago?”
Graham looked around. “Is he lying? He has to be lying. We have yet to find human life forms on other planets.”
Moon felt a rush of anger at the government. “What! We’ve known about humans from Kateral for years!”
Graham turned to her. “Where’s Kateral?”
“Have you heard of the Ultra Recon Squad? It’s one of the teams that went through the Wormholes to investigate,” Lillie asked.
“Yes, they worked with Aether Paradise, though their original employer wasn’t mentioned. I assume it’s Interpol,” Graham replied.
“Actually, no, they come from Kateral,” Hau said. “It’s a planet on the other side of a Wormhole.”
“This isn’t an elaborate prank, right Ace?” The kid looked like his brain was about to explode from the intake of information.
She ran her fingers through his dark blond hair. “No, all of this is true. Alien humans have been living on Earth, now classified as Terra 41, for centuries. It’s only recently that those facts have come to light, and the government has yet to share that knowledge.”
“Do they look like us? The Kateral, I mean, I assume that the Ferrah’lians look like us. Do they look like us? Do they have some type of gene that makes their children look like the people of the planet they inhabit?” Graham looked like his whole world had imploded and he was struggling to hold on to the pieces left behind.
To be fair, it probably had. Until minutes before, aliens were a distant possibility. Now, Graham knew that they were real and that Sun was one. Also that the Champion of Alola was part alien.
“I have yet to study genetics on either Ferrah’li or Kateral, but Ferrah’lian look like humans, for the most part. They can share links with pokemon, it’s why Sun never gets poisoned by his pokemon and Gloria can get set on fire but not burn,” Moon answered.
“What the f*ck?”
“Graham,” Acerola scolded, “you’re not allowed to use explicit language in the house.”
James tugged on Sun’s shirt, demanding attention. “Graham said a bad word,” he whispered loudly.
Sun nodded sagely, “He did. You can’t say that word, James.” The five year old pouted in response.
“Ace, she just said that there are magical aliens. I think I’m hearing things. It only took twelve years of living here. F*ck, I’m officially insane.”
“Graham, the kids are in the room. If I hear that word again, you’re going to be grounded.”
“Sure, and set me up with a therapist while you’re at it. What else, do the Kateral have Litten ears? Or fluffy tails?”
“No, their skin is a bit blue, and their hair is rather vibrant, but they could pass as humans. Honestly, they just look unhealthily pale from a distance, like Glad-bag over here,” Sun assured him.
“Okay,” his voice sounded an octave higher than it was before. “I’m going to go set out the plates.”
Graham left to have an existential crisis in peace. “You know,” Lillie started, “I think I just realized how crazy some of the stuff we did was.”
“Yeah,” Hau agreed. “I wouldn’t believe half of it. Poor kid.”
Gladion shrugged, “He’s taking this pretty well, if you ask me.”
Moon turned to agree with him, when she suddenly noticed how nice he looked. Which was unfair, because she had been in the same room as him for minutes and hormones only decided to show up at the time where there was a pause in conversation. Stupid hormones.
Not that she was complaining, he did look really nice. And she wanted to run her hands through his hair. It was mildly unfair how his hair always looked so pretty. She really wanted to see if it felt soft.
Due to indulging in her brain’s chemical reaction, she found it hard to stop thinking about Gladion. He really did look beautiful. Voicing that would certainly get her a glare, so she kept it to herself.
It was crazy how well he could pull off a button up shirt and slacks. Especially with all of his piercings. Before seeing Gladion, she wouldn’t have believed anyone could pull it off. However, Moon knew Gladion, and he could definitely pull it off.
Acerola sighed, pulling her hair into a loose ponytail and brushing her bangs out of the way. “I suppose I should go fetch the kids for dinner. Do any of you want to come with me?” her face had changed back to its usual calm state by the end.
To anyone else, Acerola would not look very calm. Her eyes naturally looked mischievous and she always seemed to have a lazy smile. That was just her resting face. When she was actually in the mood to play tricks on people, she looked much more feral, her eyebrows farther down, her eyes shining, and her smile sharper.
Honestly, she resembled the ghosts she spent so much time with. That wasn’t helped by the fact that she could literally phase in and out of presence. Moon had yet to figure out how she did it, but she could become incorporeal and move places.
Moon had a strong suspicion that she was a descendant of a Ferrah’lian. It would make sense for a person with strange powers to be revered and respected, raising to the power of King or Queen. She probably got it from being related to the royal family of Alola.
Then again, some Legendary Pokemon chose champions to do their will. Perhaps she had been chosen and groomed. Moon wouldn’t be surprised, seeing how strong of a trainer she was and her magical shadow teleportation. Powerful beings had granted lesser gifts.
Such as the colors Mina had. The pink on her face was a blessing from Tapu Lele, like the red on her shoulders, the indigo on her stomach, and the yellow that wrapped from her outer thigh to her calf.
“I’ll go with you,” Hau offered. That broke Moon out of her thoughts.
They split ways, Hau and Acerola fetching the kids and the rest of them heading to the dining room and kitchen. Moon checked the galettes, only for the adults, after the children left, to make sure they hadn’t been messed with.
She found Kate pulling something out of the oven. It was a batch of cookies, probably replacements for the ones Bea had burnt earlier. She supposed they would have cookies after all.
Dinner was spaghetti. It was the loudest meal Moon had ever been to, but somehow, it felt calming. Moon felt content to sit and watch the kids talk about their day or listen to Hau and Lillie flirt with each other.
“So, how’s Saph doing?” Sun asked. “I haven’t heard from her in a month.”
“Hmm? Sapphire? I haven’t heard much more than you. Actually, Ruby said that Brendan, Wally, and Brianna are taking Sapphire and Emerald to the Battle Tree. He can’t make it because everyone’s booked challenges for the next eight Saturdays,”
“Are you talking about the Champion of Hoenn, Ruby?” Anika asked.
“Oh yeah, we’re cousins,” Sun answered casually.
“What else, are you cousins with Red, too?” Graham asked drily.
“Yep, same side,” Sun grinned.
“This has to be some kind of sick joke,” he muttered, then asked, “Your… dad’s side?”
“Yes, our dad’s side. And yes, they’re Ferrah’lian. So are Lyra Alioth, Hilda and Hilbert Chrome, Rosa Solstice, Nate Solstice, and Gloria Ainsworth. Victor, too, but you probably haven’t heard much about him.”
“So you’re saying that… there have been seven Champions within the last fifteen years who have ties to another planet?” he asked, incredulous.
“It does sound a bit hard to believe when you put it like that,” Sun started, “but yeah.”
“Arceus, we’re gonna die. It’s all a cover up. The government is corrupt and the world is ending! We’re going to die from an alien invasion!” he cried. He then covered his mouth in horror and ran off.
Acerola slowly lifted her hands to her mouth, covering her laughter. “I’ll go talk to him in a bit.”
Hau shrugged, “I mean, he’s not that wrong. And look at what’s happened in the last fifteen years. How many times has a terrorist and or drug gang tried to take over, only to get stopped by one of your… I’m going to say cousins for all of them?”
Moon blinked. “That was purely circumstantial.”
“But it doesn’t look like it. I’m just surprised you don’t have a cousin in Sinnoh or Kalos who saved the world,” Hau replied.
Lillie laughed. “Yeah, about that, her cousin on her mom’s side is Shauna Kahale.”
“Good to know,” Hau said. He looked like he was debating the merits of banging his head on the nearest hard surface, deciding between the wall and table.
“How do you not know this?” Moon asked around the sudden shouts that had broken out at the other end of the table. The kids were fine.
“Yeah, you’ve met her,” Sun agreed.
“Somehow, I didn’t connect Shauna Kahale with your jumbled mess of cousins who are ridiculously powerful trainers. Obviously that was a mistake, but I thought you were, like, penpals or something.”
“You guys keep arguing about how Sun and Moon are going to take over the world, I’ll go get cookies,” Acerola said, shaking her head. A fond smile was on her face.
“Okay, so, I’m confused on so many levels,” Kate said. “What is even going on?”
“We were talking about how Area 51 is just propaganda earlier. Then Graham walked in and we got in a discussion about why that is,” Gladion explained.
“Okay, and why is that?” Kate asked, interested.
“Because, first of all, the four of us regularly interact with Ultra Beasts. Second, there have been two races of humans from other planets who have been on Earth and the government hasn’t been doing anything about it.”
“Mind you, that’s probably a sign of their incompetence more than anything, but technicalities,” Gladion continued. “Also, those Ferrah’lians we were talking about? They’re aliens. I’m not sure how much the government knows, but they have to know at least some of their Champions are half alien by now,” he didn’t look sure about it.
“I’m sorry, there’s more humans out there? How is that even possible? And they’re actually humans?”
“We have yet to get extensive scans or interact much with the Kateral, but we have been assured that the Ferrah’lians are just about identical to humans,” Lillie explained.
“Huh,” she said. “Well, I’m going to grab a few cookies and join Graham in his mental breakdown.”
Aside from breaking the Originals, dinner went well. The children were placated with cookies and eventually left. It was seven and getting dark.
Moon passed the galettes around and told them about her memory. They reminisced over small moments like that. Eventually, Sun informed them that if they were leaving, they needed to go.
Moon knew she could stay in the Aether House if she really wanted to. Any of them could. Heck, all of them could. The Aether House was an old mansion, so it had plenty of rooms.
It would be nice to stay, and it would actually be closer to the League than her home, but Moon was going home. She had told her mom that she was staying over, so she was going to stay over. Plus, Sun was going to be there.
Moon stood up from the table again and walked over to Acerola. Acerola hugged her, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She smirked a bit at that.
Moon wondered what Acerola was planning. Then again, she would find out when it happened. “See you tomorrow, Ace.”
She hugged Lillie and Hau goodbye and asked about their plans. Hau was staying in one of the guest rooms for the night, and Lillie was leaving with Gladion in a few minutes.
She made her way to Gladion. “Hey, I’ll see you soon.”
“Travel safe,” he replied. He smiled at her, which sent a shock running through her. His green eyes were beautiful and he looked so pretty when he smiled.
Actually, he looked pretty all the time. But Moon thought he looked especially pretty when he smiled. Even if it was just a small smile, like the one he had now.
And she really wanted to kiss him.
Well, they had been dating for three months. She supposed that it couldn’t hurt to ask? Except that it could. Moon didn’t want to mess up their relationship. She didn’t want to push too hard or too fast.
She didn’t want to loose Gladion for anything, especially not because she had been impatient. She didn’t think she could live with that.
But, well, she really, really wanted to kiss him. And run her fingers through his hair. And hold his hand. She wanted to do all the coupley things, and the only way she would get to do them would be if she asked.
She reached for Gladion’s hand, stepping a little closer to him. She took a breath. She looked up at him. They were both blushing and she could feel her heart racing.
“Can I kiss you goodbye?” he asked.
“Yes,” Moon breathed. “Can I kiss you goodbye?”
“Yes,” he answered. Moon moved her free hand up to his cheek. It was soft.
With her left thumb, she brushed the scar under his right eye. She leaned closer to him, stretching to his height (only another four inches). Their faces kept getting closer and her pulse just kept getting faster.
And then all she could see was his eyes and how excitedly-nervous they were. She knew he could see that in hers, too. Their noses touched, startling them.
Moon faintly remembered that the only logical way people could get their mouths close enough to touch was to find a way for their noses to not touch. Or, well, Moon realized that she should tilt her head.
Their lips touched. It was brief, not even for a second, and very lightly. Moon felt giddy. She felt like electricity was coursing through her along with a little bit of fire. It was burning her, in a good way.
“I liked that,” she whispered.
“Me, too.”
“I don’t know who kissed who,” she admitted.
“The logical conclusion is that we each have to kiss each other,” Gladion suggested.
“Okay,” Moon agreed. She leaned forward, pressing her lips against his.
She leaned back. Somehow, her heart was racing faster than it had before. She felt like the fire inside her was burning stronger, too. Her hands were shaking a little.
He placed his hand on her cheek. It was warm, pleasantly so. He leaned down closer to her. Gladion pressed his lips against hers.
The kiss was longer than the others, firmer, more tangible. Moon closed her eyes so savor the sensation. She wanted to remember it.
He took a step back then, and Moon did the same.
“Thank you, Moon. Stay safe,” he whispered.
“I will, you too.”
“Understood.”
Moon walked to the front door. Sun joined her and they walked to Tapu Village together. She leaned into her brother, still shaking with adrenaline.
Sun looked down at her, a warm and mellow smile on his face. “That was a fun date.”
“Yeah,” she breathed. “It was.”