Chapter 5: The second signboard and the Dreaded Den
Juliana and Kieran arrive at the second signboard. Then Kieran takes Juliana to a place where no one dares to go.
Juliana and Kieran made their way back to Mossui and over the bridge the latter mentioned. They walked down Reveler's Road and arrived at Kitakami Hall past the two Hisuian Growlithe statues at the entrance. After a minute of looking, they found the second signboard.
The ogre possessed four mysterious, glimmering masks. It is said that depending on the mask the ogre donned, the powers of its cudgel would change. When wearing the teal mask, it could bring life back into withered greenery around it. When wearing the crimson mask, it could turn a candle's flame into a raging inferno. When wearing the blue mask, it could stop the very flow of a river. And when wearing the ashen gray mask, it could easily break the hardest stone in two. Before the Loyal Three fell, they wrestled away three of the ogre's masks, greatly weakening it.
"The masks the Loyal Three grabbed are kept over here at Kitakami Hall." Kieran explained. "Everyone in town is scared of the ogre…but me? I really like it," he admitted, "It was strong…and cool…and it didn't even care that it was shunned by everyone. I always wanted to be like that, ever since I was little. I want to be cool as the ogre. My sis sorta ends up doing everything for me, even when we're at school. As I mentioned at our picnic, I wanna get stronger. So I can do things for myself, you know?" He paused and fiddled with his hair before continuing. "I want to be someone people can rely on. Then, just maybe…I can be that ogre's friend. Maybe even trainer."
Juliana listened and understood what Kieran meant. She thought it was sweet of him to try to befriend the ogre.
"Oh right! Picture!" Kieran remembered. "You can take the next one, too, if you don't mind, Juliana."
"Sure!" Juliana took the next photo. This time the two made a jazz hand pose. Juliana looked great. Kieran too, he looked kind of shy but he seemed to be into it.
"Phew. I knew it was the right call to let you handle it, Juliana. Now on to the next signboard…" Kieran thought about the third signboard, but had another idea in mind. "Oh. And you know the mountain the stories say the ogre lives on? It's actually Oni Mountain." He pointed to the staircase leading up the mountain, "You can climb it from the stairs over there. If you wanted, we could…go see the ogre's home? Folks call it the Dreaded Den."
"Why not? I wanna see it!" Juliana accepted the offer.
Hearing her response got a smile out of Kieran. "Y-yes! I really…wanted you to see it for yourself, Juliana! So to get there, we keep climbing up and reach the Infernal Pass. There's a sign before that… we turn at the sign and we'll be there at the Dreaded Den. Let's get going, but we better be careful."
And with that, the teens climbed up the staircase and up the mountain. It took a while, but they managed to find the Dreaded Den, which happened to be a little cave.
"There it is…" Kieran said, showing Juliana the ogre's home, "The Dreaded Den. This is s'posed to be the ogre's home…At least, that's what everyone says. I come here all the time, but I'VE never seen it…"
"It might be because it's daylight, but this doesn't look so dreaded to me," Juliana remarked.
"Maybe not, but everyone else thinks differently." Then an idea came in Kieran's head. "Maybe a powerful ogre like that would only show up if it heard some kind of battle goin' on…" Then he had an idea, "So can we umm…"
"You wanna battle?" Juliana asked, getting a hunch.
"We could…if you wanted to…" He suggested with hesitance in his voice.
"Yeah, we can battle." Juliana accepted the challenge. "How about we do a 3 on 3 battle this time?"
"S-sure…I-I'm okay with that." said Kieran with a small smile. The two got in position for another showdown. "I'll give it all I got. I-I got this!" He proclaimed.
"So am I!" Juliana said with confidence. The two sent out their Pokémon.
"Go Furret!"
"Let's go, Meowscarada!"
Kieran sent out Furret and Juliana sent out her partner, Meowscarada.
That's the same Pokémon Sis fought in town. Kieran thought. "Th-this time…I'll put up a good fight! Furret, use quick attack!" He called the first move. Furret ran at a high speed towards Meowscarada.
"Meowscarada, night slash!" said Juliana. Meowscarada wielded a purple wand of energy and hit Furret, knocking it back. "Now use Flower Trick!" Meowscarada snapped her fingers and launched a faux bouquet of pollen
Kieran panicked. "Quick, use dig to escape!" Furret burrowed quickly underground as flower trick missed. "That was close…" he signed in relief.
Meowscarada felt the ground rumble and had just managed to dodge Furret. "Acrobatics!" Juliana called. Meowscarada sprung off the ground with her feet and hit Furret several times in the air. While the former landed gracefully on its feet, the latter flopped flat.
"Furret, are you okay?" Kieran asked with concern. Furret chirped yes and got up. "Great! Use quick attack!" Furret ran in a blink of an eye and hit Meowscarada, surprising her and Juliana as it was pushed back.
"Now swift!" Furret flinged stars at the magician Pokémon, landing damage.
"Hit Furret back with night slash!" said Juliana. Meowscarada quickly used another purple wand of energy to send Furret flying back.
"Stay strong Furret!" Kieran cheered with determination. "Use double edge!"
"Meowscarada, leaf storm!" Juliana said just as determined.
Furret outlined itself with glowing white energy and went charging with great force. Meowscarada created a cyclone of glowing green leaves. Furret met the leaf storm head on, but the leaf storm was stronger and Furret ended up dealing heavy damage as it fell to the ground.
"Furret!" Kieran exclaimed. "Get up!"
"Use Flower trick!" Juliana commanded. Meowscarada snapped her fingers and landed a critical hit on a surprised Furret with a pollen flower bomb. Once the pollen clears, Furret is seen unconscious with swirly eyes.
Kieran recalled Furret into its poke ball and smiled. "Thank you, Furret. You have a nice long rest." He put Furret in his pocket and looked at his opponent's Pokémon. Sis's pokedex said it was a grass and dark type, right? He thought as he pulled out another poke ball. Then that means you're up next. "Yanma!" Kieran sent out the Clear Wing Pokémon next.
"Using Yanma this time? Smart, but I'm not holding back!" Juliana told him.
"Neither am I! Yanma, use bug buzz!" Kieran said with determination. Yanma flapped its wings and let out red soundwaves.
"Dodge Meowscarada!" Meowscarada quickly avoided the attack. "Use acrobatics!" The Magician Pokémon leaped into the air and striked Yanma several times with the super effective flying attack and pushing it back.
"Quick Yanma, air slash!" The little dragonfly quickly released several flying light blue blades of energy and hit Meowscarada with them as soon as she landed on her feet. Super effective! "Yes! Way to go, Yanma!"
"Meowscarada, use night slash!" Meowscarada conjured a purple wand, quickly ran forward and slashed Yanma. "Nice!"
"Shake it off, Yanma! Use bug buzz!" Yanma quickly flapped its wings and released super effective buzzing sounds on Meowscarada.
"Hang in there Meowscarada! Flower trick!" Meowscarada endured through the bug buzz and snapped her fingers and sent a pollen flower bomb at Yanma.
"Dodge Yanma!" Yanma stopped its attack and moved swiftly out of the way. Little did Kieran know, the move was following Yanma, much to his shock. "What?!" The pollen bomb exploded and landed a critical hit on Yanma. "Yanma!" Kieran shouted in worry. The dragonfly was flying, but stumbling.
"Finish it with acrobatics!" Juliana called. Meowscarada ran forward and attacked Yanma in the air over and over until Yanma was defeated. "You did great, Meowscarada."
"Thanks Yanma. Return for a rest." Kieran recalled Yanma into its poke ball.
The trainers looked up at each other next. "That was some battle!" said Kieran.
"Both Yanma and Meowscarada gave it their all!" Juliana added.
Kieran sent out his final Pokémon. "Okay, Dipplin! It's up to you!" Last but not least, the Candy Apple Pokémon, Dipplin, came out to battle.
"Meowscarada return." Juliana recalled her partner. "Come out, Cutiefly!" And sent out her shiny Cutiefly.
"Wowzers!" Kieran was surprised to see a pink Cutiefly since they're normally yellow in color. "You got a shiny pink Cutiefly!"
"This one was flying in the fields at the bus stop. I just had to catch it!"
Suddenly a sweet aroma coming off of Dipplin filled the air and a blue aura lowered around Cutiefly. "Cutiefly? Wait…" Juliana noticed and smelled the air. "Is that candy I smell?"
"It's Dipplin's ability, superweet syrup." Kieran explained. "At the beginning of a battle, Dipplin will release a sweet scent that lowers the evasiveness of a Pokémon."
"I see…" Juliana quickly turned her focus back to the battle. "But it's battle time! Cutiefly, use quiver dance!" Cutiefly did a little dance to boost her special stats and speed.
"Dipplin, use gyro ball!" Kieran commanded. Dipplin spun around rapidly towards Cutiefly, but the latter easily dodged.
"Cutiefly, use bug buzz!" Cutiefly buzzed her wings loudly and hit Dipplin with the super effective move.
"Dipplin, syrup bomb!" Kieran commanded. Dipplin launched a ball of syrup at Cutiefly and coated her with it. Her speed suddenly dropped. "Gyro ball!" Kieran commanded.
"Dodge it quick!" Juliana commanded.
But Cutiefly was flying a little slower than she usually would, and Dipplin spun rapidly and slammed Cutiefly with the super effective steel move. Cutiefly's speed dropped again from syrup bomb's effect. "Syrup bomb will gradually lower Cutiefly's speed for a while, giving us a chance to make a comeback." Kieran explained.
"Hang in there Cutiefly! Bug buzz!" Juliana commanded. Cutiefly buzzed another bug buzz.
"Gyro ball, Dipplin!" Kieran commanded. Dipplin spun rapidly towards Cutiefly and ignored bug buzz. Dipplin slammed Cutiefly again with the steel move. Cutiefly's speed dropped again. "Use syrup bomb again, Dipplin!" Dipplin launched another red ball of syrup at Cutiefly.
"Dodge, then moonblast!" Juliana commanded. Cutiefly dodged quickly and launched a super effective moonblast at Dipplin. Super effective! Dipplin got knocked unconscious.
Kieran recalled Dipplin and smiled at it. "Thanks buddy. You have a good rest." Kieran's smile soon faded. He lost again.
Cutiefly flew to her smiling trainer. "That was amazing Cutiefly!" Juliana praised. Cutiefly buzzed affectionately and nuzzled against Juliana's cheek. "Return, Cutiefly. You deserve a rest." She recalled the Beefly Pokémon before walking over to Kieran to congratulate him too. "That was a great battle Kieran!"
Kieran appreciated her sportsmanship but smiled sadly. "Th-thanks Juliana…You're really strong…" He looked down and talked to himself. "How am I ever gonna beat you?" He knew his strength as a trainer was nothing compared to Juliana.
"Are you okay?" Juliana asked with slight concern.
"O-Oh yeah…I-I'm fine…" Kieran quickly answered, trying to cover up the disappointment of his loss, "You know, I bet if the ogre saw that battle, I'm sure it'd be thinking, 'That kid's got real strength…'."
"You really think so?"
"No doubt. C'mon, let's go have a look at the ogre's den." Kieran suggested. He and Juliana both healed their Pokémon. Kieran motioned Juliana to follow him inside.
Unbeknownst to either of the teens, a hooded silhouette figure with small yellow eyes was watching them from the side of the mountain…
Note: That's a wrap on Chapter 5! Sadly, Kieran lost again but was happy to talk with someone who didn't judge him (see Chapter 4). I also had Dipplin battle in Kieran's second battle instead of third.
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)
Explore the ogre's home and event preparations in Chapter 6!