Chapter 4: The first signboard

Juliana and Kieran arrived at the first signboard and learn more about each other

Juliana and Kieran spent the nest 30 minutes walking side by side. Kieran never really talked or interacted with anyone outside his family due to his shy nature. There were some students at his school he occasionally talked to, but didn't have anyone he could call his friend. It was easier for him to hide behind Carmine. It was a whole new experience for him to talk to Juliana, a girl from another region, but he did feel appreciated that she picked him to be her partner. They passed through the apple orchards and eventually arrived at Loyalty Plaza and the first signboard. There was writing and little pictures drawn on there.

"Th-there's the first signboard." said Kieran. "We're s'posed to read it right?"

Juliana nodded. "That's what the caretaker said."

"Oh, I already know the whole story, so…g-go ahead. You should check it out." Together they read what the first signboard said.

Long, long ago, there was a fearsome ogre in the land of Kitakami. The ogre made its home in the mountain behind the village, frightening all who ventured there. One day, the ogre came down from the mountain in a terrible rage, causing great fear in the village. By some stroke of luck, Okidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipiti all happened to be there as well. The three Pokémon laid down their lives to fend off the ogre and send it back to the mountain. In admiration, the people of the village bestowed upon this brave trio the title "the Loyal Three." Their remains were given a proper burial, and statues of the three were erected above the site.

Kieran had Juliana follow him to a small monument with statues of a dog, monkey, and pheasant Pokémon wearing pink clothing. "This is the Loyal Three monument." Juliana read the plaques shown beneath the statues. The dog was named Okidogi, the monkey was named Munkidori, and the pheasant was named Fezandipiti. "But that aside, don't you think the ogre in that folktale sounds kinda…cool?"

"I'd like to say so," Juliana answered honestly. "Fighting solo is not a small feat."

Kieran beamed and smiled big. "Right?! I knew you'd get it, Juliana! It was up against three whole opponents at once, battling it out all by itself–wowzers, that's so cool!" but then a serious thought came to him. "Oh…But I guess most people would just think an ogre like that is scary, huh?"

"Probably…" Juliana agreed with him. "When people hear about ogres, monsters, and other scary creatures, their first instinct is to run away."

"Yeah…But I don't think there's any reason to be afraid…When I was little, I climbed up the mountain several times in the middle of the night–all on my own too."

"And did you ever meet the ogre?"

Kieran sighed sadly, "No…not even once. The only scary thing that happened was the grown-ups givin' me a real earful about it…" Juliana felt sad for him. Sure he got a scolding, but he was just curious. "Umm…So yeah, we're s'posed to take a photo in front of the signboard, right? I don't have a smartphone… Could you… take the picture?" Kieran sighed, feeling bad about having Juliana do it.

"No problem!" Juliana happily complied and didn't mind a bit. Juliana snapped the first photo with Kieran. They did a little peace sign with their hands. Juliana looked good and so did Kieran albeit a little awkward.

"They turned out great. You're even good at taking pictures." said Kieran.

"Thanks. You wanna try?" asked Juliana.

Flustered, Kieran quickly said no. "Oh! No! I didn't mean…M-maybe next time." He quickly calmed down and started talking in his usual tone and smiled. "Y'know…I didn't wanna have to come do this whole school trip thing, but…well…it might actually be kinda fun…I get to be out in nature around my hometown and talk to you, Juliana…"

Juliana gave Kieran a warm smile. "Aw…That's really nice."

"Um…H-hey, if you want, maybe we could set up a picnic. Would you like a sandwich–?"

Suddenly Koraidon popped out of its poke ball in front of kids, making Kieran jump. "Agia!"

"Gyah! Wh-what is that thing?! Some kinda…kaiju or somethin'?!"

"This is Koraidon. It's a Pokémon you can ride on," Juliana answered before chuckling, "This one tends to come out whenever someone mentions sandwiches."

Kieran settled down from his shock. "Its name is Koraidon? And you ride on it, huh…? I've never seen another Pokémon like this. And it seriously comes out whenever it hears the word 'sandwich'?"

Koraidon stared at him in confusion. "Agias…"

Juliana let out another chuckle. "Yeah, it's kinda funny."

Kieran waved hello and gave the Paradox Pokémon a little pet on the head. "Nice to meet you Koraidon. M-my name's Kieran." Koraidon let out a little purring sound and greeted the boy with some licks to his face, making Kieran laugh a little. It's heartwarming considering a certain hacker girl with an Eevee backpack would always get annoyed by Koraidon's act of affection. "Hehehe! H-hey! Th-that tickles!"

"Okay Koraidon, give him a little space," said Juliana. Koraidon complied and stopped its little ambush. She gave Kieran a wet wipe to clean his face.

"I never thought I'd actually get to meet such an awesome Pokémon," Kieran closed his eyes and talked to himself. "No wonder you're so strong, Juliana…You're special…"

"What was that?" Juliana asked, sworn she heard about his last words.

Kieran quickly snapped out of it and changed the subject before things got awkward. "Oh! Umm…how about that picnic?"

"Sure! I'm down for a bite." Juliana accepted the offer.

The two kids set up a picnic on a nearby picnic table. Juliana and Kieran let out their Pokémon to introduce them all to one another (Juliana: Meowscarada, Lucario, Espeon, Gabite, Sewaddle, Cutiefly (shiny), Koraidon; Kieran: Furret, Yanma, Dipplin). They prepared sandwiches and called everyone to eat. Juliana made sure to give Koraidon a sandwich. As everyone was eating, one of Kieran's Pokémon caught Juliana's eye. It looked like an Applin, but it was slightly bigger and coated in a red sticky syrup. It also had two little wryms popping out. One was the head and the other was the tail. "Hey Kieran? That Pokémon–what's it called?"

"That's Dipplin. It-It's an evolved form of Applin," Kieran answered, "When they evolve, they look like a little candy apple."

"Really?" Juliana was surprised by the new knowledge. She pulled out her Rotom-phone and scanned Kieran's Dipplin. "Dipplin. The Candy Apple Pokémon. A grass/dragon type and one of the evolved forms of Applin. Dipplin produces a sweet sugary aroma that captivates Pokémon and coats them in sticky syrup to hinder their movements."

"Wow! I know in Paldea and in my home region, Galar, Applin can evolve into either a Flapple or Appletun. But I never knew it had a third evolved form."

"Yep. They're exclusive here in Kitakami. If you give an Applin an item called a syrupy apple, they'll evolve into Dipplin."

"Wow, that's pretty neat!"

"So w-what's it like at your school, N-Naranja Academy?"

Juliana started talking about her school life. "Well since attending, a lot has happened. We have this independent study called the Treasure Hunt."

"Oh. S-so do you go out and like…find real treasure like gold and jewels and stuff?"

"Hmm…It can be that, but it's more like the students go outside of school on their own adventure to find what they define as their treasure. And I've been having all sorts of adventures during my treasure hunt."

"Oh, I-I think I get what you're talking about. Th-The Treasure Hunt I mean. So what kind of adventures have you had?"

Juliana told Kieran about her ongoing quest with one of her friends, Arven. She was helping him fight titan Pokémon to find the rare Herba Mystica. She also mentioned Operation Starfall, a mission to take down a group of delinquent students called Team Star. But what got really Kieran's attention was the gym challenge she was taking part in recommended by another friend, Nemona.

"Wowzers…S-So you're going out and challenging real gym leaders." Kieran was fascinated.

"That's right. After I earn the rest of my badges, I can compete in the Pokémon League."

"So how many gym badges do you have so far?"

"Right now I have five of them." Juliana showed Kieran her badges. The latter was awed seeing actual gym badges before his eyes.

"Whoa…way cool…real gym badges." Kieran was impressed.

"Oh yeah, so what's it like at your school, Blueberry Academy?" Juliana asked.

Now it was Kieran's turn to discuss his school life. "W-well…It's a school that specializes in the art of Pokémon battling. A-and we have this place called the Terarium. It's made up of four biomes, each with different climates and ecosystems so the Pokémon feel at home. You can even find Pokémon outside of Unova there."

"What about outside of school? Do you ever get to go out?"

"N-not as much as you do, but I do go out on occasion when the school director allows us to, like on school holidays or weekends. We just have to be back at school by curfew. When me and Sis do go out, we usually just maybe go out to eat at a cafe or visit a clothing store."

"What about battles? Do you ever battle any of the students there?"

"Yeah, when I'm done with classes. Me and Sis are actually part of this club called the League Club. All the members have these rankings a-and we battle each other to try to boost them. And whoever has the highest ranking has the title champion. There's also the elite four. They're the four strongest trainers just behind the champion. I'm still pretty low in the rankings. Sis is higher than me, but I hope to get stronger. "

"I have no doubt you will if you put your heart into it." Juliana kindly encouraged him.

Kieran felt said encouragement and gave her a warm smile. "Thanks Juliana. That's…really sweet of you."

Juliana smiled back. "You're welcome."

After eating lunch, Kieran pulled out some candy out of his bag and offered it to Juliana. Once their little candy fix was finished, They cleaned up everything and returned their Pokémon into their poke balls.

"So where's the next signboard at?" Juliana asked.

"It's at Kitakami Hall. We'll double back to town from here. Then there's this bridge we cross, and from there, we'll need to climb up the mountainside." Kieran explained.

"Sounds like we'd better get going then. C'mon, we'll walk together."

And with that, the teens started their path to their next destination. As they were walking, Kieran was thinking about how his experience back home was going so far. Meeting Juliana and talking to her felt…nice. She was the first person who listened in on his interests and didn't judge him for thinking a villainous ogre was cool even though everyone else including his sister worshiped the heroic Loyal Three. In addition, he couldn't remember the last time he had a conversation with anyone outside his family for that long. Whenever someone tried to talk to him, he'd freezed up and hide behind Carmine. He was too shy to talk to anyone in his home region, much less outside it. That aside, he looked forward to spending more time with his partner from another school.

Note: That is chapter 4 done! Since Kieran suggested to have a picnic with the main character, I thought of putting that in as well was some of the elements of the Indigo Disk. I also thought of introducing Kieran's signature Pokémon, Dipplin a little early.

Juliana's Pokémon on hand: Meowscarada (F), Sewaddle (F), Cutiefly (Shiny, F), Lucario (M), Espeon (F), Gabite (F)

Juliana's ride Pokémon: Koraidon

Pokémon in Juliana's boxes: Dachsbun (F), Lycanroc (Midday Form, F)

The signboard assignment continues in Chapter 5!