Song: "Emotion" (Pokémon: Scarlet & Violet) - Gamefreak

"It turns out...Mom....truly did love and cared about me in the end. That large book...is a photo album. Containing all the pictures of me when I was a baby, in my childhood and pre-teen years, to now...She had been saving all of those pictures the whole entire time, by keeping them all in that large photo album.

I would only guess she planned to give it to me in the future, when I'm an adult, as a wedding gift or something...

But, there was also now a reason why she stopped communicating with me..."

"What's the reason?"

"An accident happened to her, right here in this research station, at the same time, day, and year it happened with Professor Sada...She's already been gone for a long time, and I had no idea about it until now."

"Gone? You don't mean - " Penny began.

In response, Sara silently nodded.

"My mom's been gone since the day the incident happened here, between Koraidon and the Alpha Koraidon.

The one who had been taking care of me this whole entire time in her stead, aside from my uncle...was an AI of herself, that she had apparently built together with Professor Sada at some point, when she was still alive. And I never even noticed nor realized it too until now." She choked out tearfully.

Understanding what was emotionally going on, Scarlet got down and pulled her into a tight hug, which was returned immediately, before Sara buried her face into her shoulder and started crying again.

"There you go...Just let it all out..." Scarlet responds gently, as she begins rubbing Sara's back soothingly.

Unable to utter anything, all Sara could only do was cry and hug tightly a little.

As for Arven, he didn't know what to think after he, Nemona and Penny finally heard about who Sara's mother is, and what her past is with her mother.

Like Scarlet just mentioned earlier, Sara's past is apparently similar to Arven's but it still carries a lot of differences in comparison.

It was like something shot through his body that made him go into shock.

Only he doesn't know what it is, since it can be anything, emotionally.

-  -  -

After Sara had stopped crying and felt better, she put her glasses back on and stood up to her feet while she sniffed and wiped her tears away with her school's summer uniform shirt.

"So, uhm, yeah...That's my backstory. Thanks guys, really, for listening...Even if you didn't want to.

Oh...And take these too, as my way to express my gratitude. You'll never know when you need them at any time." She says before giving all of them some max revives.

"I had extra that was enough for all of you, so, I figured you can put them to use if something happens to either of your pokémon during all of this that we're about to face. And the same goes to you too, Arven."

"Thanks Sara." Penny replies as she put away the max revives she was given, in her eevee backpack, while Scarlet nodded and did the same with her sports bag.

"Hey, no worries! I'll definitely put them to use! They'll be my backup medicine for my pokémon if I run out of potions and Full Restores!" Nemona grinned and gave Sara the thumbs up.

For once, Nemona's sunny persona made Sara feel even more better, because she smiled a little in response before nodding.

Hopefully when Nemona said she'll use them as her back up, it'll really be put to use for emergencies only and not for her constant battling habits.

Otherwise, Sara would hate it if Nemona puts them to waste.

"Again, thank you guys...You're the best." She says.

"Hey, that's what friends are for." Arven finally spoke up as he smiled a tiny bit too.

"Yeah. Let's get going...I'm sure you-know-who isn't waiting all day." Sara chuckles lightly.

"Oh, and Celebi? I feel like it would be best if you sent the books, and all the other stuff I took, to my dorm...I don't think it would be wise to take them with me into the past."

After she mentioned that, Penny and Scarlet handed the large photo album and the small book to her.

"Are you certain?" Celebi asked as it hovered over to her.

"Yes...If these were part of my mom's greatest treasures, then it's best to keep them in my dorm so they won't get lost or damaged up. Who knows what's out there in the past, other than pokémon and Professor Sada?" Sara nods.

Nodding back in understanding, Celebi touched both of the books with its small hands and enveloped them in a large green bubble before the books disappeared in a shower of green sprinkles.

"Is there anything else you want me to send over to your dorm?" It asked her next, telepathically.

"Just these. The only thing I'm keeping with me is this mysterious pendant...I've never seen anything like it before and I have a ton of questions in mind that I want to ask later." Sara answered simply as she showed Celebi all the other stuff she took from the previous stations that belonged to both her mother and Arven's.

Just like it did with the photo album and the small book, Celebi enveloped them in a green bubble before teleporting them away to Sara's dorm in a shower of green sprinkles.

Once that was done, Sara gazed in fascination at the pendant for a moment that was currently resting in her hands, before she slipped it on her neck.

Much to her surprise, the pendant fitted her very well.

"Huh. Would you look at that...Fits me perfectly." She went before looking up at her friends.

"I agree! And it's a very pretty pendant too! Looks like it was made out of the crystals down here too! Just like the tera orbs or something!" Nemona smiles.

Agreeing with that logic, Sara left the research station with Nemona, Scarlet, and Arven tailing after her.

After they left, it was just Penny and Celebi in the station for a moment.

"Hmm...The tera crystals down here, huh?" Penny murmured to herself as she pulled out her rotom phone and gazed at it for a few seconds before putting it away.

"There's something about that pendant Sara's wearing now, that gives me a strange feeling...Whatever it is that's connected to the pendant, I'm gonna look into it for a bit."

Looking up at Celebi, Penny nods at it before the both of them hurriedly left the station to catch up with the others.

-  -  -

Once they all stepped out and started heading their way down, going deeper and deeper into Area Zero, Sara looked around once more as she was trekking along with her friends.

Only this time, she grew even more fascinated by Area Zero within every second...

Mostly because of the crystals and the ancient pokémon.

How the crystals captivate her with their mysterious beauty...And how unique the ancient paradox looks.

Who would've thought, these mysterious crystals down here in Area Zero, would be the main source of the tera orbs being created in Sada's hands?

And the ancient paradox interesting her so much Sada would go so far as to literally build a freaking time machine here in Paldea within Zero Lab, with probably just only her and her AI self alone.

Thinking about this made Sara wonder so many things in how the professor managed to pull it off, just by using that super genius brain of hers?

How did she find the materials to build the time machine?

And how was she able to get the materials from the tera crystals in Area Zero? And the orbs themselves...Were they built mechanically or not?

So many questions about her, but were hopelessly left unanswered.

"It's pointless anyways...I can't ask her or my mother, now that they're both...gone. And the only ones left is their AI selves. Only they probably wouldn't know, how Sada made the Tera Orbs either." Sara thinks before sighing heavily a little in disappointment.

While they kept walking, Sara's mind eventually wanders back to the last diary entry her mother wrote in Research Station No. 4 when she was still alive, before her life was taken by whatever it is that killed her the same day the accident had happened to Sada...

"I ■⁠■⁠ould've st■⁠■⁠ed her...Sh■⁠■⁠ld've ■⁠■⁠ved h■⁠■⁠...B■⁠t, I w■⁠s to■⁠ l■⁠■⁠e...I'm so s■⁠■⁠ry...If on■⁠■⁠ h■⁠d I k■⁠■⁠n...It wou■⁠■⁠n't ■⁠■⁠ve ■⁠■⁠me to t■⁠■⁠s...tra■⁠dy

Ple■⁠■⁠...Forg■⁠ me... fo■⁠... ev■⁠■⁠th■⁠n■⁠...

Sa■......

...a■⁠d...

...■■■⁠■⁠■⁠■⁠...."

Judging by her mother's handwriting, it was rushed and a bit clumsy, from what she recalls.

It's also very unlikely for her mother to leave a lot of smudges in any kind of handwritten entry or notes like that, from what Sara knew when she read the previous entries in the other research stations.

But, the one thing that's mostly alarming in that last entry, was the fact there were dried stains of ichor all over and on the pages.

Most likely meaning her mother was killed right at that moment, just after she had finished writing one last time.

"I'm starting to have doubts if an accident happened to my mom, in Research Station No. 4 at all....

Did it really happen that way, or did someone come in and intentionally murdered her for an unknown reason?" Sara mentally thinks to herself as she had a confused but a worried look on her face.

"From what's happened to my mom so far...It's not making any single bit of sense. All of these questions I have...and none of them have clear-cut answers what so ever."

While she was lost in her thoughts temporarily, she failed to notice that her friends had suddenly stopped in their tracks for a moment, almost making her bump into Koraidon by mistake.

"Gias?"

"Sorry..." She sheepishly replies as she sweat drops a little in embarrassment, before giving Koraidon a light pat on the head, which made him smile and relax, feeling reassured by Sara's pats.

Then she looks up, seeing that Arven was the one who suddenly made everyone stop in their tracks unexpectedly.

"Arven?"

"Hey, what's the hold up? I thought we were heading to Zero Lab?" She heard Nemona ask, while noticing everyone here wasn't far from the lab.

Silence.

Just by looking at Celebi, it seems like not even the mythical pokémon could get his attention.

But, the fact Arven was standing too still was starting to unsettle Sara a little...It's almost a bit unlike him to suddenly stop in his tracks without any warning, and to be standing so still like that.

Walking over, Sara was about to ask Arven and the others what was going on, until she suddenly froze, when she walked over and stood next to him to look and see what it was.

In front of Arven, a few inches away, was a headstone-like rock that was covered in Tera crystals a bit, with the following words carved in the rock's face:

'Here lies Professor Sada...'

But, there was another headstone-like rock too, right next to it.

And like the first one, it was covered in tera crystals a bit too.

The words carved in on the second one were the same as the first one, but the name carved in, instead of Sada's, was:

'...Professor Kirara...'

After seeing this, Sara felt her face turn violently pale and her blood drain from her body before she started shaking like a leaf and immediately turned away.

Scarlet, who happened to take notice of that, turned to face Sara as a concerned look was seen on her.

"Sara? What's wrong? Your face is pale..." She asked, which made Nemona and Penny turn to look at her too.

"I'm fine, you guys. I-I'm just gonna go on ahead and...just wait for you at the Zero Lab gate...It's that huge building with the greenish-yellow hexagon in the middle, right?" Sara stutters in response.

"Yeah, that's the one." Penny answered, while she, Scarlet and Nemona remained concerned about Sara.

"M'kay...I'll see you guys over there." She only responded next, before bolting off in the direction that's closer to Zero Lab.

Seeing that kind of reaction from her, Scarlet and Penny immediately knew something was wrong, for Sara to act so strange so suddenly like this.

"What in the world just happened?"

"Hey, Penny? Do you think she's okay?" Nemona asks as she turns to face her.

"From the look on her face and the way she just reacted...I don't think so, Nemona. Something's up..." Penny mentions while she adjusted her glasses a little.

"But, we'll discuss about this with Sara later...Right now, she apparently wants to be left alone for a bit and wants us to focus on Arven for now."

As she mentions it, Penny turns to face Arven, seeing he was still standing where he is.

Clearly not moving a single inch either.

While that was going on, Scarlet couldn't help but look back at the direction where Sara just ran off, that takes them closer to Zero Lab.

For whatever it is that made Sara act strangely, it troubled her, just by thinking about it.

-  -  -

Hurrying her way down while getting closer to Zero Lab, until she arrived, all Sara could do is try to steady her breathing as she panted heavily a little, once she came to a complete stop.

Reaching over, Sara immediately grabbed a pokéball and unclipped it from her belt, before quickly throwing the pokéball.

"Ouka, come on out! Please!" She managed to utter next, the tone in her voice, carrying both fear and urgency.

In sync with her words, a zorua came out of the ball before turning to face Sara.

But, this wasn't an ordinary zorua though...This one had soft, fluffy white and red fur with round yellow eyes.

And the tip of its tail swaying a bit as it stood there for a moment.

A regional variant that you normally wouldn't see roaming around that much in Paldea.

That zorua, is a hisuian zorua.

As the hisuian zorua, Ouka, looks up at Sara, she immediately noticed something was wrong with her, just by gazing at her trainer's face and body language.

Quickly walking over and sitting herself down on the ground, Sara could only rest her back up against one of the tera crystals nearby her, as her breathing started becoming more rapid.

Clearly making her pokémon partner aware she was starting to hyperventilate.

"Muan?!" Ouka went as she worriedly ran over as fast as she could, before she slowed down and leapt onto Sara's lap.

Feeling the zorua land on her lap, Sara gently picked her up and held the zorua close to her chest, hugging her softly as she buried her face into her beloved pokémon's head fur.

"Ouka..." Sara could only utter out the second time, as tears started appearing in her eyes again.

Unable to contain it any more longer, Sara just screamed and cried a little at the same time, both in fear and sorrow, as the hyperventilation continued while she hugged.

Seeing the tears streaming down the sides of Sara's face, and the emotional state she was in, Ouka looks up and starts to lick the tears away a little from one side of her face, while doing everything she can to try and help calm Sara down.

When Sara finally did, temporarily for now, she sniffed a little and sighed before looking over at Ouka.

"Thank you as always...for being my emotional support pokémon." She choked out.

In return, Ouka licked Sara by the side of her face again, before nuzzling her next.

"I wish I could overcome it...But, I can't...I just can't overcome my stupid infrared. No matter how hard I try. It hurts me so much, I can't stand it." Sara sighs before picking up an ordinary rock and chucked it several feet away from her, in frustration, before looking over and began gently petting her pokémon.

"To be honest...I envy you, Ouka. You don't have to be so afraid of what I'm afraid of, and you're able to overcome anything. Especially what your infrared is. You're a brave little pokémon, unlike a trainer such as me."

After she said that, she just resumed hugging Ouka for a bit, until she spotted the others coming over to her, with Arven tailing behind.

Looking down at Ouka, Sara continued to hold her in her arms, as she stood up and started walking over to her friends, keeping her beloved zorua close to her chest as she did.

When she approached them, Nemona was the first to notice Ouka in Sara's arms.

"Woah! Is that a new ancient paradox pokémon, Sara? I wanna battle it!" She begins.

In response, Sara shook her head furiously, as she clearly doesn't want to use Ouka in a pokémon battle.

"I don't think the zoura's an ancient paradox, Nemona. More of a regional variant than an ancient paradox..." Penny answered as she had her rotom phone out and pointed towards Ouka.

"A regional variant? Cool! What region though?"

"It's from the Hisui region. Which is the Sinnoh region of old."

In response, Sara nodded in agreement to Penny's statement.

"But, what's a hisuian zorua doing here in Paldea? Weren't they extinct or something?"

"No. I would assume they and their parents had migrated to all the other regions. Like to Unova and Galar for example."

"Ohh...That kinda does make a lot of sense now."

After the small discussion, Sara eventually decided to speak up a little.

"She's not a pokémon I'd go battling all around in Paldea with, Nemona..." She starts.

"Huh? Why?" Nemona asks.

"Because...My hisuian zorua, Ouka, is my support pokémon. Emotional wise, I mean."

Just as Sara was finished, realization hit Nemona hard like a brick.

"Oh...." She silently went.

"Yeah...Ouka's been my partner since I was little. She was given to me as a gift for my 5th birthday. My first pokémon as well, on top of that...

But, she became my support pokémon too, because I have a certain phobia I still cannot overcome as of today...and that gradually but eventually became my infrared." Sara explains.

"What's your phobia?" Scarlet asks.

In return, Sara became very silent, before looking back at Scarlet.

"All I can say is...The gym leader is good with the pokémon type related to it, and is also Ms. Tyme's sister." She only says.

"Ghost type gym leader, Rhyme? And you said the pokémon type is related to your phobia..." Scarlet begins while thinking, before quickly figuring it out.

"Sara....You're afraid of death. Aren't you?"

When she mentioned the word 'death' to her, Sara just froze.

Then she silently nodded, before mouthing out a 'Yes' in response.

"E-Every time I look or see something related to it, excluding the ghost-type pokémon, I....I just start to break down, emotionally, and lose it.

When I saw what Arven was looking at earlier, I had to go on ahead and wait for you guys here.

It triggered an episode of my emotional breakdowns, and I didn't want you guys to see it...I didn't even want to make things harder on Arven than it currently already is." She chokes out as tears start to appear in her eyes again.

"It happened when I was about to battle Rhyme earlier this month and it also happened again in Research Station No. 4 too...But, neither of you didn't know. And at the same time, I was grieving over the loss of my mother..."

"So that's why we found you in tears, and why you had Ouka out of her ball just now..." Nemona went.

In response, Sara could only nod.

"Because I've grown so close to Ouka, since childhood, I never use her in pokémon battles. She's too dear to me, and I don't want her getting hurt either.

She became my support pokémon, because every time I had these meltdowns, she was always there and by my side to support me...And she helps get me through this until it's over." She finishes.

Looking up, and noticing she's calmed down, Ouka returns to her pokéball as a sigh was heard from her trainer.

"So, there goes another snippet of my backstory that's probably wasting your time again...

Let's go, before I unconsciously start to continue telling you more about myself, than what I haven't intended to tell yet."

With that, Sara approached the entrance to the Zero Lab gate, and just waited for Miraidon to do his part of this little unexpected adventure that's about to start soon, once they enter the lab and head down the room that contains the time machine inside Sada had built.