Drink glasses clinked under the ambient light of the bar, the hazy din of the patrons echoing through the room. Rachel wiped a glass dry, setting it with the other glasses that would be used later that night, letting out a sigh, knowing her slew of extra shifts over the past few months would shortly be ending, as she'd properly saved up for her vacation.

"So lucky," her ditsy co-worker cooed. "Getting to go on a resort vacation. I wish I were."

"Focus on the customers, Fiona," their shift lead said. "Rachel, as you know, not only worked extra shifts but earned good tips from having great customer service."

"Yes, but she also lives with her parents, Diego," Fiona pouted.

Rachel frowned, shaking her head and wishing time would move faster so she might get her final shift before her trip over quicker. She took a deep breath, taking a break from drying out the cleaned glasses so she might take the order of a customer who raised their hand to get her attention, or so she thought.

"So, where is my blue-eyed babe off to," the customer said, leaning in, obviously drunk.

"Hey!" Diego barked out. "Don't make us get the Machoke bouncers to toss you out on your ass," then followed up with, "Again."

The patron glanced at the gray humanoid standing guard at the door as the red lines rippled up and down the creature's arms. The Machoke flexed its muscles, the reptilian Pokemon being nothing to sneeze at.

Fiona leaned against the counter, pouting rather than helping the customers who arrived around lunchtime at the bar. "Still. I'd also save for a vacation if I lived with my parents as Rachel did."

Diego let out a laugh, shaking his head. "No, you wouldn't."

"Oh, come on!"

"Living on my parent's farm outside of Garrison City also means working there."

"What? Wait? Miltank? Fiona asked, bringing up the pink cow-like Pokemon many farms and ranches specialized in rather than considering the hard work that went into caring for herds and flocks of Pokemon. Fiona grinned ear-to-ear. "They're so ugly they're cute."

"Same sentiment as Lance," Rachel thought to herself, shaking her head.

"Are your parents going to be fine with you taking a trip, Ms. Rachel?" one of the older patrons asked.

"Oh?" Rachel took a deep breath, smiling as she prepared their usual drink. "It's always been about learning proper responsibility for my parents, so they're actually quite pleased I put in the hard work I did. And my oldest brothers are still around to help."

"And your other brother?"

Rachel's eyes blinked, wondering how she'd slipped up. "Well..."

"Hey. Turn up the news," one of the other patrons asked, and Diego picked up the remote, controlling the volume. "It's about the missing cadets from the local garrison that were found recently."

"Not that we'll learn anything new," the older patron said. "As they're keeping it hush."

"Aliens, I heard," Fiona said.

"Eh," Diego shook his head. "Even more reason for a vacation, right?"

"It's not as if," Rachel started saying. "It's not as if we've seen Lance since the news dropped." She took a deep breath. "Yeah."

Diego glanced at the clock. "You should get going, or you'll miss your flight. Your shift's over, but there's no need for overtime today."

"Thanks," Rachel said, removing her apron.

"Your older sister works at the garrison," Fiona started asking.

"Hey," Diego shook his head. "She's got to catch her boat. It's why she brought her suitcase here rather than going back to the family farm."

Fiona pouted as Rachel shook her head, going and getting her suitcase and heading out front to flag a taxi. "Garrison City Airport."

"The GNA? The man driving the taxi asked. "Must be a military brat."

"Not exactly," Rachel said, wishing the taxi driver didn't pry into her personal life as Fiona did, but then she paused, lifting her hand to wave at the brown-haired girl who acted like a ditzy-blond as she'd taken the time to step out from the bar to wave goodbye, but she could hear her say—

"Good luck!"

And then the taxi driver had more to pry into, being one of the more chatty ones out there. Rachel gave vague answers until they arrived at the GNC. She took a deep breath, heading to check in so she could get on her flight to fly halfway around the world, but when she got off the plane, what should have been night was now a day. Another taxi took her to the dock, where a boat waited to take passengers to the resort, but upon checking in, she headed up to the deck to watch and wait.

"And breathe in the salty sea air," Rachel thought before letting her Herdier, her Yorkshire-like Pokemon, out so he might enjoy the fresh sea air and the wind blowing her brown hair, tangling her curls more than they were already. Her eyes closed, then she sat in one of the deck chairs, waiting for the ship to announce they'd arrived at the resort.

The few other passengers on the upper deck with her whispered of a delay because of a rather large group of passengers boarding before the boat took off. Yet, there wasn't any sign of a large group disembarking with them when the ship arrived at the resort, or at least not at first.

Instead, Rachel looked up at the Wingull, a seagull-like Pokemon with a sky blue stripe on the end of its wings floating above, before heading into the resort hotel where the concierge greeted them at the front desk, her smile as bright and cheery as her red hair. "Hello. Welcome to the Pokemon resort. I am your concierge, Haru, and I hope you and your Herdier will enjoy your stay."

"I'm looking," Rachel started to say when the sound of a familiar voice bickering with someone else made her frown while Haru's head tilted in curiosity, yet she didn't turn around to confirm her suspicions of who they were. Instead—

They bumped into her from behind and then started to do so. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean..." Then came the pause. "Wait. What are you doing here?"

Rachel turned, looking at her brother, already decked out for a resort holiday, as another young man she didn't recognize stood next to him. "I could ask the same question, Lance. I'm on vacation, but why haven't you seen Madre or Padre yet?"

"Uh—garrison business?" Lance swallowed as a flash occurred.

Rachel turned back, her eyes blinking in confusion, realizing the concierge had taken a picture of them. "What..."

"Not-Ryo," Haru said, still holding her phone.

"Huh?"

Rachel turned her head to look at the young man standing next to Lance but then heard Haru say. "Wait. You don't recognize me?"

"Uh, no."

"Keith," Lance said, elbowing Keith in the ribs. "Be nice for once."

"Keith, as in your rival?" Rachel asked.

"None of your business, Rae..."

"Hey, can we please..."

"Lance, can we focus on getting everyone checked in? Shiro needs his rest, but that's why we're here, remember?"

"Uh, yeah." Lance rubbed the back of his neck, glaring at Keith in irritation.

"The—your hero?" Rachel said, frowning. "The one who disappeared in that space mission."

"Disappeared in," Haru said. "Wait. That mission? Shiro is..."

"Can I get checked in?" Rachel said.

"Sure," Haru said. "Almost finished." She handed Rachel a key to her room. "I hope you enjoy your stay."

"I hope I do as well," Rachel thought as she heard her brother complain about having to deal with his own sister only for Keith to—

"That's rude, isn't it?"

"You're not exactly the best person to tell me what's rude or not, Keith."

Rachel sighed. "It can't possibly get any crazier, right?