Pokémon: My Parallel World Daughters Revealed

The video continued playing.

"You’re so desperate for mercy that you’ve even started calling me Mom?"

Elesa tilted her head.

"Little girl, I have no respect for you."

"...Mom, I really am your biological daughter, Miori."

"Aren’t you called Shiny Shinyko?"

"That was a moment ago."

Miori adopted a solemn expression.

"Shiny Shinyko has successfully completed her glorious mission of covering her teammates’ retreat. She has now returned this body to Miori."

Elesa released the back of Miori’s collar and clapped her hands together.

"All right. Explain yourself."

"Explain what?"

"Start from the beginning. I have plenty of time."

"Oh, okay. This story begins with Arceus creating the universe—"

Elesa immediately raised her hand and flicked Miori hard on the forehead.

Miori clutched her head, tears gathering in her eyes.

"Mom! That really hurt!"

"Good. Now keep it brief."

"Oh."

Miori rubbed her forehead.

"I saw Team Plasma running a recruitment booth on Route 4, so I applied under the alias Shiny Shinyko. They hired me as a trainee member, and I’ve been working undercover ever since."

"I see."

Elesa rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"Since you’re acting as an undercover agent, be more careful from now on. People outside won’t be as reasonable as your mother."

"You didn’t seem particularly reasonable when you grabbed me by the collar..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing! I was praising your gentleness and wisdom!"

Smiling, Elesa removed a lightning-bolt-shaped Badge from her pocket and placed it in Miori’s palm.

"Here. Take it."

Miori froze.

"Is this a Bolt Badge?"

Elesa crossed her arms.

"You won our battle just now. You earned this Badge."

However, Miori didn’t react with much excitement.

She didn’t even take out her Badge case. She merely slipped the Bolt Badge into her pocket.

"What’s wrong?"

Elesa blinked.

"Shouldn’t you be more excited after receiving a Badge?"

"It’s not that, Mom."

Miori shrugged.

"I already have a whole pile of these."

She pulled a box from her backpack and opened it.

At least twenty Bolt Badges were arranged neatly inside.

Elesa’s smile froze.

"This row contains the standard edition," Miori explained. "This row is the matte edition, and these are misprints. A malfunction in the mold caused the lightning-bolt emblem to be printed off-center. Most of them were recalled, but I kept six."

"Oh, right."

Miori took out her Badge case and opened it as well.

Inside lay an exceptionally extravagant Bolt Badge that glittered brilliantly beneath the sunlight.

"This is the fifth-anniversary limited edition. It has twenty-four-karat gold plating, and only fifty were produced worldwide."

"All right. You win."

Elesa rubbed her forehead.

[VIP Chat Group]

[Skyla]: Hahaha! Miori suddenly pulled out an entire collection of Bolt Badges!

[Valerie]: Miori: I served as Gym Leader for this long. What’s wrong with keeping a few Badges?

[Volkner]: Badges have limited editions? How did I not know about this?

[Steven]: Niece Miori is a collector too? We truly share the same interests!

[Wallace]: Steven, you collect rare stones. Miori collects Badges. Your tastes have absolutely nothing in common.

[Steven]: The collections may differ, but the hearts of collectors are connected!

The video continued playing.

Miori watched Elesa’s car disappear around a corner in the distance.

Emolga poked its head out from atop hers.

"Emolga?"

"I know."

Miori returned the sunglasses to the bridge of her nose.

"The problem now is figuring out how to explain everything to Captain K."

"The entire team was captured, yet I’m standing here completely unharmed. That’s far too suspicious."

Miori lowered her gaze toward her spotless white shirt, which didn’t have so much as a wrinkle.

She crouched, grabbed a handful of dirt, and scattered it across her clothes.

"A few injuries would make it even more convincing."

She took a red pen from her pocket and drew two remarkably realistic abrasions on her arm.

Then she drew a crooked "wound" across Emolga’s face.

Once everything was ready, Miori called Captain K and adopted an exhausted voice.

"C-Captain K... The mission failed..."

"Shiny Shinyko?"

Captain K sounded visibly astonished.

"You weren’t arrested?!"

"I barely escaped with my life... Cough, cough..."

Miori coughed twice at exactly the right moment, making her voice sound suitably weak.

"But the others... Everyone else was captured..."

The other end of the communicator remained silent for several seconds.

"Where are you now?"

"Behind the abandoned warehouse."

Miori leaned against the wall.

"I sustained some minor injuries, but I can still move."

"Wait there. I’ll send someone to collect you."

The call ended.

Miori slipped the communicator into her pocket and gave Emolga a thumbs-up.

"First hurdle cleared."

Twenty minutes later, a van stopped behind the warehouse.

The door slid open, and Captain K jumped out from the passenger seat.

"Shiny Shinyko!"

Captain K hurried over.

"You... You said you escaped at the risk of your life. How did you manage it?!"

Miori had prepared her explanation long ago.

"Captain, you mustn’t forget that my primary profession is street magic."

"...And?"

"I used a smoke bomb."

Miori’s expression didn’t change.

"It was a modified stage prop of my own design. The smoke was several times denser than that produced by an ordinary smoke bomb."

"I threw it onto the ground, and the entire rear passage was instantly engulfed in smoke. No one could see their own hand in front of their face, and the police officers were coughing so badly that they couldn’t open their eyes."

Captain K nodded thoughtfully.

"By the time the smoke cleared, I had already escaped through a ventilation duct," Miori continued, describing the imaginary scene in vivid detail.

"As for the other members being captured, there was genuinely nothing I could do. The only option left to me was to return with the news and ensure the organization learned what happened."

Captain K stared at Miori for quite some time.

Then he suddenly took a large step backward and reached toward his waist.

Miori’s heart skipped a beat.

I’m finished. Did he see through me?

"Shiny Shinyko."

Captain K’s voice became exceptionally grave.

"Your performance during this operation exceeded every expectation I had for a trainee member. Therefore..."

Emolga quietly placed one paw on Miori’s shoulder.

At a single command from her, it was ready to discharge electricity.

However, in the next instant, Captain K merely held out a card.

"Effective immediately, you are the deputy captain of the First Operations Team."

Captain K’s expression was solemn.

"You will serve directly under my command. You are authorized to issue orders to all team members and may exercise the captain’s authority during emergencies."

"...Huh?"

Miori stared at the card, her brain completely shutting down for two seconds.

What was happening?!

She had sabotaged Team Plasma’s entire operation.

Not only had they failed to suspect her—

They had actually promoted her?!

"Captain."

Miori was celebrating wildly inside, but her outward expression remained exceptionally solemn.

"I promise I will not betray the organization’s trust."

...

TL: *insert Speed meme*