On the way back to the hotel.
Lacey still seemed caught up in their unexpected encounter with N.
"N actually invited you to join Team Plasma! But Xia Chi, what did you mean by what you said at the end? Isn't he their boss?"
She followed beside Xia Chi, chattering incessantly in his ear like a Combee.
No. Considering how cute his senior Lacey was, perhaps she was more like a light, cheerful Ribombee.
"No idea. Maybe N thought I looked gullible and easy to fool?"
"As for Team Plasma's boss... do you really think an organization that's been entrenched in the Unova Region for so long would actually be led by someone about our age?"
Xia Chi answered her questions intermittently as they strolled along.
Meanwhile, he diverted some of his attention to the presence connected directly to his consciousness.
Reshiram's Telepathy had reached him as well.
[Young man, did you not believe last time that arguing with those who had been brainwashed was meaningless? Why, then, were you willing to spend so many words on this young man named N tonight?]
Xia Chi considered this briefly. Rather than answer directly, he asked a seemingly unrelated question. Reshiram, do you know the difference between being slow and being stupid?
Reshiram's consciousness fell silent for a moment, apparently searching for something or pondering the question, before she replied:
[As I understand them, there seems to be no significant difference between those two words.]
Xia Chi chuckled inwardly. Being slow just means taking a little longer to understand things and not thinking quite as quickly. But those people still have basic reason and a willingness to accept facts. They simply "don't understand yet."
*Being stupid is different. That comes from a fundamental lack of judgment. A stupid person stays trapped in