“So where are Harper and Beartic right now?” Bianca asked as they walked down the production office hallway.

Brycen was currently guiding the Assistant Professor and the twins to Vincent after getting an update on the script. With the free time they had this morning, they were able to fulfill the Script Supervisor's request to visit. As for his pokémon…

"They're enjoying some morning time off together with breakfast," He replied. "You understand how much time and effort they have put towards Caleb and Claire's pokémon."

Brycen originally expected that after finishing the production of “Full Metal Cop,” he and his Pokémon would focus on self-improvement. He believed this was particularly important for the small Fighting-type pokémon, who was progressing rapidly as both an actor and competent pokemon. It was almost surprising how quickly Harper was developing. Despite suffering from amnesia, he displayed a remarkable innate talent for cinematography. Even though Harper and Beartic were providing their assistance to the twins’ Pokémon, taking occasional breaks before production started was certainly a good idea.

"I do, they deserve a break. Children are hard to look over all the time," She whispers as she looks at the twins and their pokémon in their pokéballs, making sure they don't overhear. The two were engaged in their own talk and by what Brycen could overhear, they were curious about what Vincent would be like.

Brycen approached a door adorned with a plaque inscribed with the words "Vincent Price, Script Supervisor," etched into the golden-plated wood. After delivering two firm knocks, he took a step back as the door swung open widely without delay.

"Brycen! Bianca! Thanks for coming so quickly, I know I sent that message abruptly but I have to show you the script now that it's done," Vincent greeted the two before looking at the twins standing nervously behind the Assistant Professor. "You two must be the voice actors, Caleb and Claire, correct?"

After a silent nod from both children, he crouched to their level with a smile. "You probably know at this point given the sign on the wall, but my name's Vincent, and I handle everything script-related here in Pokéstar. Whether it's writing, editing, or helping pokémon know their parts, I'm the guy," Vincent stood back up and held the door open for the group. "Come in, I shouldn't keep all of you standing."

As he stepped into his office, Brycen's eyes were immediately drawn to the sheer volume of papers scattered all around. They covered his desk, the coffee table, and even the walls, leaving no available space untouched. Meanwhile, the constant whirring of a printer behind the desk filled the air, as sheets of paper were steadily spit out by the machine.

“I expected my printer to finish printing the script out earlier but it's pretty slow, I need to get a new one soon. All of you should take a seat while we wait, I’ll get all of you something to drink. Is coffee fine for you adults? And juice for the kids?”

“I would prefer tea if it is available,” Brycen requested.

“I have a few packets of herbal tea, is that fine?”

“That would be great.”

“I—I’ll have some tea as well,” Bianca jumped into the conversation. “If it won't be any trouble, of course.”

“It’s no big deal, lemme go turn on the electric water boiler and get the kids their own drinks.”

As they sat and waited for their complimentary drinks, Brycen noticed Caleb's interest in a particular wall. Pencil sketches on rectangular papers were arranged in rows and columns, depicting a scene in chronological order.

“Mr. Price?” Caleb pointed with a finger. “Are these comics done? They need some color.”

"They aren't comic strips," Vincent laughed as he grabbed two bottles of juice from the fridge and gave them to the twins. "This entire wall is a storyboard, and I've been wanting to show this to you two. A storyboard helps movie makers plan out scenes."

Vincent unpinned one of the rough sketches depicting Zorro and Eve each with a smile facing forward and handed it over to them. “That’s both of your pokémon in a scene for the show. A storyboard for us screenwriters. Storyboards help with creating what we want the audience to see. For voice actors that specialize in animations, they usually look at storyboards or rough animation for visualization but for the both of you, you'll be looking at the raw footage of the pokémon acting because you’ll be dubbing when they finish filming the scenes needed.”

“And is that Mr. Harper and Beartic over there?” Claire pointed at another sketch of a beartic sitting behind a desk with a riolu beside him.

"They sure are!" Vincent removed the drawing from the wall and gave the twins a closer look. "Soon, we'll be able to see the storyboard play out once we begin filming. In the meantime, this will have to do with planning."

“Is this storyboard only for the first episode?” Bianca asked.

Vincent pointed over to the bottom of a filing cabinet behind his desk. "I've got folders full of storyboards for the rest of the show there. The one on the wall I kept up so I could show the twins. They don't necessarily need to look at them but thank Arceus I showed them because they've taken a liking to it!"

True to Vincent’s words, the twins were fully entranced by all the storyboards and the little descriptors written underneath. They clearly had an interest in the show and wanted to know everything about it as soon as they could.

A moment later, a ringing noise emitted from the electric water boiler on Vincent’s desk.

“Looks like the water’s done! Let me get both of you your tea!”

As Vincent prepared their tea and the twins were preoccupied in their own world, Brycen seized the chance to inquire with Bianca about Harper's concerns.

“Bianca, there is something I wish to discuss with you.”

“Y—Yes?” She replied, slightly taken aback by his sudden tone of secrecy.

Brycen hushed his voice, prompting Bianca to lean in to catch his words. “Harper has talked with me about Zorro’s unique eye color but I have told him not to worry since I assumed Caleb knows of it. However, I also cannot feel but be a little curious about why his poochyena stands out from his species.”

“We… don’t exactly know the cause,” She answered with an undertone. “We only know what happened before and after Zorro got lost.”

“Lost?” Brycen frowned.

Bianca glanced over at Caleb, who was still absorbed with Vincent’s storyboard alongside his sister, before turning back to Brycen. “It’s not a pleasant memory for the twins, especially for Caleb. Is it ok if we can talk about this outside?” She pointed a thumb to the door.

“Of course,” Brycen looked over to the Script Supervisor who had finished placing tea bags into hot cups of water. “Vincent, would you mind continuing to entertain the children? Bianca has some matters to discuss in private.”

“Sure, just don’t take too long or your tea will get cold!”

“We’ll be back shortly,” Brycen held the door open for the Assistant Professor as they stepped out of the room and into the deserted, lengthy corridor. With no one in sight, they had no reason to leave any further. Waving his hand to Bianca, he motioned for her to start explaining.

"Ok," She took a deep breath in. "I heard all of this from the twins' mother and from what I've been told, Zorro loved to play out in the forest behind their house. He was a former wild pokémon before their father caught him during a trip to Hoenn for Caleb. Zorro quickly adjusted to civilized life but he still loved spending time outside, it was a normal occurrence for him to leave their house for hours at a time but he'd always return before dinner."

~I see where this is going,~ He almost spoke aloud but he held his words back, not wanting to disrupt Bianca.

"One day, he just didn't come back. Their family called the local rangers and put up lost posters, they did everything but he wouldn't show up for days. Their mother said Caleb would spend all day looking for him, and Claire and Eve would help. The three were desperate to find Zorro."

“But he eventually returned, how did he return?”

“It was early in the morning when Caleb was about to prepare for his search in the forest when he spotted him. He said that Zorro was standing by their backyard exit, crying.”

“And his eyes were now blue instead of red?”

“Yes, and something troubling happened to him in that forest but we don’t know what,” Bianca crossed her arms. “Since then, Zorro never wanted to leave Caleb’s side, though recently he’s been more confident in being farther apart for longer.”

“Are you talking about the twins’ pokémon being with Beartic and Harper?”

“Zorro staying beside Eve helps with his emotions of being away from Caleb, though I haven’t seen him this well-managed since then. I was surprised to see Zorro willing to split with his trainer to train with Harper on our first day, your riolu has some charm around the twins’ pokémon.”

“He does indeed,” Brycen chuckled.

The story brought more questions than answers such as why Zorro's status quo was broken and why something happened in that forest to disrupt his daily routine. Another question arose, but at least this one had an answer.

“So… when did Zorro’s disappearance happen?”

“About two years ago, why?”

Brycen could only come to the conclusion that Team Plasma had something to do with Zorro's disappearance, but then—

“Team Plasma wasn't involved,” Bianca interrupted, figuring out this train of thought. “They wouldn't have returned Zorro back if they believed in their ‘liberation.’ They wanted pokémon as far away from their owners as possible.”

With his only theory debunked, Brycen decided not to think deeper into this. What was in the past stays in the past. “Let’s drop this, all that matters is that Zorro is now safe and happy with his family. I’m sorry for making you bring a troubling past for the twins.”

“It’s alright, I understand why you and Harper would be curious about Zorro’s ‘uniqueness.’ I felt like I had to explain it at some point anyway.”

Brycen nodded. “I’ll tell Harper and Beartic about this so they don’t accidentally bring up unpleasant memories for the twins and their pokémon.”

“Can… Can I ask you a question, Brycen?” She asked a few seconds later.

“You may.”

“Why did you retire as a Gym Leader and come back to acting? Everyone was surprised to see you go back to Pokéstar Studios.”

"Yes, my departure was a shock to many of my colleagues, but they understood my reasoning after I told them. After the attack that Team Plasma committed against the Unova League two years ago, their actions stirred the emotions of people about our relationship with pokémon."

Brycen grabbed Harper’s empty pokéball and held it upward. “Relations with pokémon have always been difficult, and they will stay that way if we don’t do anything about it. Due to Team Plasma’s activities in the past, I felt a sense of duty to show that our bonds with pokémon are stronger than the propaganda they spewed out. If people could see how strong the bonds between my pokémon are in films, I could ease any viewer’s worries.”

Bianca stood in silent awe at his justification. “Wow… I didn't know your reasoning to return to acting was that—”

“Passionate?” He grinned. “Alder and Marshal liked my reason to retire as well.”

“You told the former Champion and an Elite Four member as well?”

“They were the first to know, and my words were enough to also convince Alder to retire and let Iris become Champion after she won their battle.”

As soon as he finished his sentence, Caleb opened the door wide and looked at Bianca. “Ms. Neri! The script’s finally printed out! He wants you to see if the lab would like it!”

“I’ll look at it in a bit, you and Claire can start reading without me,” Bianca urged the boy back into the room.

At the sight of how calm and collected she looked, an old memory resurfaced in Brycen's head, one showcasing her as the complete opposite.

…

“I—I’m here to challenge you for the Freeze Badge!” Bianca scrambled for her pokéball in her satchel, struggling before finally pulling it out with some effort. “I… I won’t go easy!”

Her deep breaths were visible in the chilling atmosphere of the Icirrus City Gym, and the energy was just as tense. She made her way through the gym’s obstacles and arrived at Brycen's arena in search of the truth of her journey. Her friend and future Gym Leader, Cheren, sought for the ideal pokémon team in terms of strength.

He enlarged Beartic’s pokéball and boldly pointed it at the Pokémon Trainer, “I accept your challenge. Like all your previous gym battles, I will be going all out!”

“T-That’s exactly what I want!” Bianca summoned her pokémon onto the battlefield, a mienshao stood with raised arms, her long flowing fur waving with grace. “Mienshao, go! Use Low Kick!”

Brycen threw his pokéball soon after and Beartic appeared in a red flash, already adopting a solid defensive stance. “Beartic! Use your Counter!”

…

A small grin formed on his lips. “You’ve changed, Bianca.”

“H—Huh? What do you mean?” Any professionality left in her voice vanished at his words.

“I no longer see the timid and misguided girl who arrived at my gym two years ago. Instead, I see someone much more confident in their skills to help others.”

“I… wasn’t expecting that,” She fidgeted her fingers before bowing slightly, “Thank you, Brycen.”

“You’re welcome,” Brycen placed his hand on her shoulder, telling her to stand back up straight. “I believe we should head back inside, Caleb and Claire are waiting for you to read that script for them. We also have some tea that we’ve left unattended for some time and I’d like to change that.”

With another nod from Bianca, the two entered back into the production office. Caleb and Claire were both looking at the cover of the script from Vincent. At the sight of their guardian, they scurried over to Bianca with impatience, brandishing the sheets of paper at her.

“Ms. Neri, can you read it for us? I want all of us to read it at the same time!” Claire beamed before giving a stink eye at her brother. “Caleb was about to read it without you!”

“Was not!” He retaliated, before sulking a little. “Well… maybe just the first page.”

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Bianca grabbed the script from Claire and straightened it out. “‘Sonamu’s Sunrise, written by Vincent Price and… G. Fild? Who are they?”

“He’s a fellow screenwriter here in Pokéstar who's been a huge help with the ‘Mystery Dungeon’ aspects of this script. It's a shame that he only works remotely since I haven't seen him in person in a hot minute. I won't complain though, he's the real deal with this kind of stuff.”

Bianca shifted her gaze downward, her eyes squinting with confusion. “Wait a second, why does it say, ‘edited by The Unovan Research Team?’ When did you contact all the researchers to help edit this script?”

“I didn’t!” He cheerfully replied. “Professor Juniper told Mr. Stu Deeoh to have you as the editor instead. I’m hoping that you can start looking at it right now!”

“Wha—What?! When?!” Bianca repeatedly looked at the script and at Vincent with a flustered look.

“So that's why Mr. Stu Deeoh said to leave the research team out,” Vincent wondered to himself, answering Bianca’s question at the same time. “Did Professor Juniper not tell you?”

“Professor Juniper never mentioned anything about this to me! Since when did she plan this out?”

“Seems like you have another responsibility to uphold here, Bianca,” Brycen cheekily commented.

“But what about the storyboard?” Bianca looked over at Vincent. “Doesn't that mean you have to change it if I edit anything related to the story?”

“There’s a reason why these papers are so easy to take off the wall, it's so scenes can be changed in a pinch,” Vincent grabbed a paper from Caleb and placed it back in its original spot. “You don't have to worry about something as trivial as that.”

“But—But I can’t—”

The Script Supervisor raised a hand up, stopping Bianca’s stammers. “All you need to do is see if it follows educational standards. I did my best to follow them but it's up to you if I did it right. I won’t complain if you have any other suggestions to make, this is nothing compared to when I had to change the ‘Full Metal Cop’ script to accommodate Brycen's new partner pokémon. In fact, I’d be relieved if you found anything you wanted to change, making improvements in pre-production is the whole point!”

Bianca closed her eyes, tilting her head slowly. Her face shifted through the phases of contemplation, frustration, and eventually realization. Opening her eyes back open, she steeled herself after making her decision.

“...I’ll do it,” She answered, flipping to the first page with a pen in hand from her bag. “This feels like a test from Professor Juniper, I just have to do my best!”

Summoning confidence from deep within her, she began to read through the script, both as a storyteller for the twins and as an editor for the excited writer in the same room. She underlined sections and wrote in additional notes, pausing her narration every few seconds, keeping the impatient Caleb and Claire waiting each time.

Brycen sipped on his herbal tea, thankful that the drink was still warm. It was a sight to see the Assistant Professor willing to take on such a daunting task as being the sole editor on such short notice. Bianca may be here on suspicious matters under Professor Juniper's word, but Brycen couldn't deny that the show being made with their help is bringing benefits for everyone involved.

With the show’s creation, Harper will continue to grow as an actor and as a pokémon with Zorro and Eve under his belt. By Beartic's constant grin, he's never felt better to be back in the spotlight after so long. Caleb and Claire are learning about filmmaking and the bonding opportunities it provides with their partner pokémon. For Brycen, he was yet again taking part in the growth of a passion he dedicated to for all these years.

And not to mention the audience who would watch and learn from the finished product.

His eyes on Bianca were as keen as they were before, but maybe he should consider her some leniency. Their motives weren't driven by malice or immoral greed. They weren’t trying to take malicious advantage of him, it was only observation in an unsullied environment.

If their intentions were negative though…

But they weren't for now, and for that, Brycen was content with the way things were.

----------------------------------------

“Do you usually read while you eat?” Beartic asked as he sat beside Harper on the cafeteria seat, placing his tray of food down.

Harper unrolled the newspaper titled 'Aspertia Articles' before laying it wide open on the table. “No, but I saw this on the rack by the entrance and I figured I should be caught up on the news.”

"Now that's an interesting front-page story to start with, did you not see that when you grabbed it?" Beartic's finger pointed at the photo on the front page. The photo was of Nate and his rival, Hugh, talking with the police force as three dark-clothed individuals were being led away into a police car.

Realizing the story he glanced over when he took the newspaper, Harper wasted no effort in looking at what the news had to say for the protagonist. "Neo Plasma Members Defeated By Pokémon Trainers In Nimbasa City," He quoted the headlines before looking at the subtext below. "Pokémon Trainers Nate Cinereu and Hugh Venger battled the members of Team Neo Plasma, a terrorist group growing in activity. Three members were soon arrested after they attempted to disturb the peace, but a fourth has been stated to have escaped."

“Nimbasa must be on high alert after all that,” Beartic rubbed his icy beard. “I wouldn’t blame them though, things are looking more hectic out there.”

Harper continued to stare at the front page and at the photo of Nate. Is the canon playing out as intended? He had no clue, but seeing the protagonist win against them was a good sign.

~I mean, he’s the main character. He’ll definitely beat them when something huge happens… right?~

“Hey, something the matter?” Beartic patted his back.

Harper sighed as he looked at the front page again. “I’m worried about Nate, I don’t think Team Neo Plasma is gonna stop from stuff like this.”

“You're worried about him?” Beartic exasperated before tapping his nail on the grunts in the photo. “You said that Nate helped with their arrest and I don’t doubt his strength for a moment. He's dealt with them before and he’ll deal with them again in the future, easy peasy.”

From hearing his reassuring words, Harper softly smiled. “Thanks Beartic.”

“No problem, kid. Now what else is on the news?”

“Let’s see, ‘Driftveil City Opens A New Port For Contests With Construction Of A New Musical Theater,’” Harper quoted from the next page on entertainment.

“Heh, looks like a few friends of ours are breaking ground, literally,” Beartic gestured toward the image featured in the article. Audrey and Ripley sported construction helmets, the sneasel wearing a smaller hat to fit her size. The Pokémon Coordinator and Mr. Thea Tres were pictured wielding shovels, breaking ground at the construction site for the first time, all smiles for the camera.

“Mr. Thea Tres, owner of the Musical Theater, states that he wishes to open more in the hopes to showcase musicals and to jumpstart Pokémon Contests all around Unova with the help of Actress and Coordinator, Audrey Cohen.”

A week had passed since the duo left, and they now already had a spot for a Musical Theater locked in a large city like Driftveil. Not only was Nate progressing through his journey around Unova, but Audrey and Ripley were also making progress toward their dream of Unovan Coordination.

“She’s working hard, good for the two of them,” Beartic looked at the Coordinator’s wide smile alongside her pokémon.

“I hope I can see her in a competition one day,” Harper wished to himself.

“You definitely will once these theaters are all around Unova. It’ll be hard to miss her once she becomes famous.”

“But people already know her for being the Sneasel Ninja.”

“Famous for being a Coordinator—oh you know what I meant.”

Harper chuckled. “Yeah, I did.”

“You bastard,” Beartic ruffled his head. “Anything else on the news?”

After tidying up his fur, Harper casually flipped through the rest of the newspaper, briefly scanning the headlines on each page. Whether it was the mundane articles on economics or the latest sports triumphs, there wasn't much that captured his interest. Harper did pause to peruse the comics page, recognizing a few at first glance.

“You like comics? Well… you are a kid, and kids like drawings.”

Harper looked up from a strip with a short blond child and a tall raikou stuffed pokémon. “I’m not that childish.”

“You can try to convince me again when you’re done reading your comics,” The polar bear smirked.

Harper rolled up the newspaper and placed it aside in his food tray. "I sure will, but after I start eating, I haven't even taken my first bite yet."

As he was about to dig into his BLT, Harper caught sight of a familiar young woman in an orange coat and green hat heading toward him and Beartic out of the corner of his eye.

“Looks like you're not gonna eat just yet,” Beartic jokingly commented. “Seems like Bianca’s got something for us.”

"Hey, Harper and Beartic!" She cheerfully greeted with a wave. “Brycen said that the two of you should be here so I came by to give the scri—”

Bianca hesitated for a moment when she saw the rolled-up newspaper next to Harper. He caught her subtle hand twitching towards the inside of her bag.

“I didn't know you read the newspaper. Are you the kind of pokémon that likes being caught up with the times?” She questioned, almost like a survey.

He didn't seem to care. In his previous life, Harper was never the type of person who bothered about things outside of his own life. His world was already gloomy enough, and following the news only made it worse. With the mundane status quo he was under, there was no room for him to spare any concern.

Wake up, film, sleep.

Wake up, film, sleep.

Wake up, film, sleep.

He had no energy to care for local, national, or even news at a world level. Only enough to care for himself.

“News on your ‘smartphones.’ Hah, is the newspaper not good enough?” A female voice he hadn’t heard in years echoed in his head.

His mother’s.

She loved reading newspapers. Unwilling to change with modern society, she bitterly stuck with the LA Times her entire life. Harper wondered if she still read the paper, the answer was most likely still a “yes.”

A memory of him and his mother resurfaced, a day when they had breakfast together. It wasn't a special memory, it was a time when she explained why she liked reading from printed ink instead of a bunch of ones and zeros.

“I think the news in a newspaper is much more accurate than whatever is posted online. With how quick you can change things after you post, I don't trust news sites to keep the information the same after they publish. Now, here’s an interesting headline, Harper. ‘Incompetent movie director explodes prop bomb, Key Grip murdered,’” His mother’s voice read aloud, frantic with each word. “In an act of ineptness, Director Gale Reagan ignored his VFX Supervisor and prematurely set off a prop explosive, killing the nearby Key Grip, H—Harp… Harper M—Moor… Harper! HARPER! NO! HARPER, WHY!”

~No!~

Harper's hands trembled with anxiety, his breaths were uncontrollable. Nevertheless, he managed to slap himself in the face twice in quick succession, hoping to prevent his imagination from distorting his memory any further.

~NO!~

“Kid! The hell are you doing?!” Beartic grabbed Harper’s arms and turned him face-to-face. “Hey! Look at me!”

He watched Bianca stepping back, clearly shocked by the unfolding situation. Just like everyone else in the café, she stood frozen in confusion, unable to utter a word as Beartic's yelling filled the room.

“Harper, don't look at her,” His cold yet caring eyes pierced his own. “Look at me and take a few deep breaths.”

Harper felt a deep sense of belonging and security, akin to the comfort he experienced when Brycen had come to his aid before. He found that he was increasingly able to manage his emotions just by meeting the gaze of the Ice-type Pokémon.

“You're fine… you're safe… you're not alone...” Beartic’s voice grew softer with each phrase.

Harper's panic attack gradually eased as he focused on each deep breath, feeling his heartbeat slowing down with each exhale.

Beartic sighed with relief. “You back, kid?”

“I… yeah, I think I'm good.”

“Harper… are you ok?” Bianca slowly approached the two, almost afraid of causing another panic attack. “Wh—What happened?”

Just as Harper reached for his whiteboard, Beartic placed his paw on Harper's, shaking his head.

“Don't force yourself to explain, you can tell her later,” He then turned to Bianca, nudging his head sideways.

“...Do you want me to go?” Bianca pointed towards the exit with a single finger. She got her answer when Beartic gave a nod back. “Ok, I’ll come back at a better time. I’ll leave this here in the meantime,” She grabbed a stack of papers from her bag and placed them on the table beside the newspaper.

“Vincent finished the entire script and after I checked it, I wanted to come by to give it to you two. Give it a read when you're feeling better, ok?” She ended warmly.

Before Harper could thank her, she rushed outside. With the jingle of the cafeteria doors, all the other patrons returned to their meals and conversations, ignoring the events that had just transpired.

As he awkwardly sat in silence with Beartic, a feeling stirred inside the Ice-type. Similar to what he felt that one night.

|[94-]|

Beartic shook his head and looked at Harper again, another emotion overriding the previous.

|[Solicitude]|

"Kid, I—" Beartic opened his mouth again, hanging on a word, before sighing and speaking softly. "I know Brycen and I said this multiple times, but we're here for you. Even if you don't have all your memories yet, if there's anything you can talk about, say it."

Even with all the kindness he and his trainer provided, Harper couldn’t bring it in himself to tell the true reason behind his panic attacks. Telling them would be like betraying their trust. Lying about being a young pokémon with a talent for acting and instead being a failed veteran in the art was too much to tell them. Telling Nate was more of an impulse if anything, and Harper got extremely lucky with the outcome.

Harper needed to stop lying, but he couldn’t tell the truth just yet. He needed to compromise, so he might as well tell a portion of the truth, a segment that was explainable without context from his past. Taking a deep breath in and out, he began his risk.

“I’ve been remembering what it felt like, the attack,” Harper touched his chest, the tight skin slightly tugging with contact. “And it hurts every time. I can still feel the fire and the heat all over me and all the shrapnel in my body and all th—”

Beartic placed a chilling paw on Harper’s head. He was almost prone to hyperventilating again and the Ice-type thankfully stopped him.

“While that explains your reactions to explosions, you never mentioned anything about shrapnel before. Kid, just what did you run into?”

Shit, he talked about the shrapnel. While there was none on his riolu body when he appeared here, he certainly felt it on his human body before he died. Even in telling a segmented truth he already failed to hide something.

“I—I don—”

"You don't need to answer. Of course, you wouldn't know, I couldn't help but ask anyway."

Beartic patted Harper’s head twice more.

~I wish I could tell you, I really do… but what would you think of me then?~

“It's only a little bit, but we're making progress. I don't want you to ever be alone when these attacks happen again, ok?”

“Ok… and thanks Beartic… for helping with everything.”

“Of course, now can you also promise me that you won't try to slap yourself to stop a panic attack? It’ll only make things worse.”

Harper nodded.

“Now, how about we start looking at this?” Beartic picked up the script that Bianca left behind. “You can start by telling me the title. It’s the second thing I'm most curious about.”

Now fully calmed down, Harper grabbed the script from Beartic and straightened out the thick stack. It was much larger in size compared to the last script he read.

“Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Sonamu’s Sunrise,” He read the title on the front aloud before looking at Beartic. “Wait, second? Then what are you most curious about then?”

“My character’s name! Aren't you curious about yours as well?”

Harper’s first two roles never had a name, he only played as a partner pokémon with a more involved role. Now that Beartic mentioned it, Harper grew curious about the name of his role as well. Flipping to the first few pages, he found their names in one of the scenes.

“Guildmaster Tundra and Assistant Guildmaster… Luca,” Harper groaned at the mention of his role’s name.

“Tundra…” Beartic rubbed his icy beard in contemplation. “Yeah, I think I like that. Fits me quite well, don't you think?”

“As much as ‘Luca’ fits me,” Harper deadpanned.

“What's wrong? You don't like your name?”

Harper cocked his head from side to side. “Ehh… I mean I’m fine with it, but don't you think it's a bit unoriginal?”

“Kid, the easy names are for the children. Take a look at Zorro and Eve’s characters, I’m sure their names are just like ours.”

Flipping a few more pages, Harper found their characters in a scene where they introduced themselves to the audience.

“Pepper and Hazel,” Harper read off the duo’s names in tandem.

“‘Pepper’ for Zorro and ‘Hazel’ for Eve. Yeah, I can see that working.”

“I guess so too. Should I start reading now?”

After a nod from Beartic, Harper flipped all the way back to the first page and after clearing his throat, he began to read through the script.

The first thing Harper noted was how involved the viewers were to be as they watched this show. They clearly wanted younger audiences to feel as if they were along for the ride with the protagonists. It reminded him of kids' edutainment shows in his old world where they would ask questions to the viewer and respond after a few seconds to give them time to answer.

Harper had no clue how accurate the “Sonamu’s Sunrise” version of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon was to the spinoff games, but it didn’t feel like it would be hard to screw up the formula. The script had a guild, leadership positions like guildmaster and their assistant, guild members to complete requests and missions, a city they resided in, and everyone was a pokémon.

Beartic suddenly tapped his shoulder, causing Harper to look up at the polar bear. “Hey kid, you’ve been silent for a while. You’re reading ahead without me,” He added with a laugh.

“Sorry, I’m still not used to reading for other people.”

"Really? I don't believe that because I heard from Brycen that you read a picture book for Zorro and Eve."

“Tha—That’s a different story.”

“Was that pun intended?” Beartic smirked.

“No,” Harper glared intensely. “No it wasn’t.”

As he continued reading the script aloud for Beartic, underlying thoughts about his mother continued to stir. His previous attempt to make amends with his parents back on the plane failed, proof being his recent panic attack.

If that wasn’t enough…

…Then what would be enough?