"Woah! Woaah! Uhh, how do we land, Miraidon!?"
"Growwl?"
Miraidon's metal wings sparkled with energy as Juliana flew her iron serpent through the last of the electrified Magnemite rings and neared the finishing gate, on a piece of land at the top of a waterfall where Amarys was waiting with her stopwatch.
"Here goes nothiiiiiiing!"
Juliana and Miraidon did a sharp divebomb towards the finish line, and although the landing was rough, the purple dragon Pokémon made it on all fours, dragging up grass and dirt as it did so.
Then she dismounted her ride, feeling a bit queasy. Amarys walked up to her and with a snappy click, recorded the time on her watch.
"36 seconds…" she noted. "Very impressive. It may even be a new record."
"Gee… really?" You're awfully calm about it…
"That was an astounding display of punctuality. I must admit, it was satisfying to watch you fly," Amary complimented. "Your Agias is a very adept flyer, and the two of you appear to have achieved incredible synchronization with each other."
"AGIAS!"
Juliana giggled. Part of her wanted to politely inform the steely girl of Miraidon's true name, but she also thought her dubbing it 'Agias' just based on its cry was kind of adorable.
"Thanks, Amarys!"
Amarys clicked a button on her stopwatch and put it away.
"Congratulations. You've cleared the Elite Trial. Now, a change of location is required. Come."
"O-okay."
Juliana recalled her Miraidon and walked along with Amarys.
Wow, she's VERY punctual.
"So, you fought Amarys today, right?" Carmine asked into her phone.
"Sure did!" Juliana responded, shaking off some of the Polar Biome's snow from her coat.
"Ooooh! So what was your impression of her?"
"Heh-heh, well…"
"You've earned the right to face me in battle."
"…Cool!"
Amarys was also very straight to the point, Juliana had realized. They were standing in the Canyon Plaza's battle arena now. Amarys, proving herself a girl of few words, had said nothing to Juliana while they walked together, an interesting contrast to Crispin's chattiness.
"… … …"
After an awkward few seconds, she finally spoke again.
"Let's assume our battle positions."
Juliana nodded and took her spot. Amarys walked very stiffly, and when she reached her spot she quickly stood firm on it in an almost mechanical-like way.
"Position assumed."
"So like… she's not actually a robot, is she?"
Carmine paused to think of an answer.
"Well, I've known Amarys for quite a while, and so I confidently say I'm… 90% sure she isn't!"
"Ahh," she heard Juliana chuckle.
"Told you she was an interesting one, right?"
Carmine meanwhile, grinned mischievously as she stood on this beach within the Coastal Biome and looked around at all the Galarian Slowpoke lazing about.
"Hee-hee-hee…"
She sent out her Mightyena.
"ROWWLL!"
"This should be more than enough Auto Battles! Ready to have some fun, Mightyena?" she asked with an evil smile.
"Yeah," said Juliana on the phone in the meantime. "She's very interesting…"
On the arena, Juliana noticed Amarys looking down at the ground pensively. After a few seconds of thought, she turned to Juliana with a still face.
"Before we begin, there is one thing I wanted to ask of you…"
Juliana nodded.
"…It concerns Carmine and Kieran."
She reacted in surprise, not expecting it to be about them.
"What are they to you, Juliana?"
It was almost the same question Lacey posed to her.
She must care about the two of them just as strongly.
"So how did you and Amarys become friends?" asked Juliana, as she prepped the sandwich to her BBQ's strangely specific criteria of three ingredients. "I hope that's not an odd question, it's just, well…"
"We're a very odd pair, right?" Carmine giggled. "I knew you'd be curious about that at some point!"
As she talked, she skimmed through the catalog of craftable TM's on the Central Plaza's TM machine. Having access to so many exotic Pokémon materials from her homeland of Kitakami gave her a lot of interesting exclusive moves to choose from.
"The first time I met her, I think she had only been enrolled here for a few months. She keeps to herself a lot, and… didn't have many friends growing up because of it. But one day, while I was out here in the Terrarium, I heard her training her Pokémon in a secluded area inside the Canyon Biome."
Carmine smiled as she remembered the memory fondly.
"Her Metang looked so cool and powerful… I decided to go down and tell her as much. And I did the ultimate icebreaker move by asking for a battle with her Pokémon."
Burning Jealousy seems like it's calling my name for some reason… Carmine thought to herself as she eyed said move on the TM screen.
"Awww! That's so sweet!"
"Heh-heh, well… know your opponents and all that, right?" Carmine said bashfully. "But after that, we became really good friends and bonded a lot over our shared movie tastes. And since I already had an in with Lacey, she became part of our little girl squad! Lacey encouraged her to join the BB League, and that's how she eventually climbed the ranks and began a member of the BB Elite Four!"
"Wow, that's incredible…" Juliana marveled, slapping the last herbed sausage onto the bread. "And that all happened because of you."
"Yup. Built myself a little empire of friends here at this school!" Carmine said proudly.
She confidently pressed her hand against a colored block next to her… only for the block to feel strangely squishy. Carmine looked over, and was startled when the block smiled at her and made a noise.
"Diiit!"
"GEEZ!"
"Everything okay!?" came Juliana's voice on the other hand.
"Yeah, yeah. I just…" She groaned. "I think I found one of those Ditto Blocks…"
"Carmine and I are real good pals," Juliana told Amarys. "She and I have bonded a lot, I—I feel like I can call her my best friend now."
Amarys nodded. "I can say the exact same about her. Carmine does value your friendship with her a great deal…" she noted.
"I value mine with hers too," Juliana smiled. "She's like a sister to me!"
"And Kieran?"
Juliana's smile started to fade.
"Well, Kieran, he's… he's my pal too. And my rival… And…" Juliana started trailing off, and then she began to grow despondent. "I actually… don't really know what we are at this point."
"The faltering of your friendship with him has… saddened you a great deal. An accurate estimation?"
"A lot, yeah," she sadly nodded. "I just… I just want us to be friends again like we were at the start of our trip."
Amarys nodded in solidarity.
"For my part, Kieran is the younger brother of my dear friend, Carmine. Something in him has changed—he is not his usual self. I find this deeply concerning."
"Yeah… Me too."
"And yet—he seems different now from his more recent deposition. I believe Crispin described it as, 'His fire has fizzled out a bit.' You being here and reconnecting with Kieran seems to have—changed him."
"You really think so?" asked a hopeful Juliana.
"Indeed. Granted, Kieran places great pride in being the Champion of our League. By all appearances, he views you as much a threat to his aspirations as a friend. That being the case, as a respected member of the BB Elite Four, I cannot afford to lose."
Juliana nodded determinedly. "I guess neither can I."
The Paldean girl scoured the grasses of the Savannah Biome. Her hands already cupping several Berries she found on the ground, Juliana reached down and sighed as she picked up a discarded Hyper Potion bottle in the dirt.
She was even more bemused when this action caused her Blueberry app to ping for a completed BBQ.
"Hey, does this whole 'Pick up 10 items on the ground' mission seem to you like…"
"…an excuse for us students to pick up trash around the Terrarium so they don't have to hire actual cleaning crews?" Carmine finished. "Yeah, probably."
Carmine checked her app and saw that with the item gathering BBQ completed, there were now back-to-back BBQ's for Terastallizing your own Pokémon to defeat a wild Pokémon… and one for fighting a Pokémon that's Terastallized itself.
…And there happened to be a sparkling Krookodile near the other end of the biome Carmine was at.
She grinned mischievously and sent out her Sinistcha.
"Ready for some Tera-packed fun, Sinistcha?"
"Sinees!" Sinistcha sloshed around in her cup, gleefully ready for murder.
TERA-PO-GOO!
Crystals formed over Ogerpon's smiling face, and the small ogre re-manifested itself as a mighty face of flaming anger, as Hearthflame Ogerpon found its mask's power boosted by the wonderous Tera phenomenon.
"Pon-pon-PONNNNNN!" Ogerpon let out a mighty warrior's cry.
She seemed to be a lot more intense about battling than Juliana remembered.
I guess Carmine did make you a mighty warrior…
"A wise gambit, taking advantage of Ogerpon's unique abilities," Amarys noted. "I've seen Carmine use Terastallization on Ogerpon before, so I of course calculated for this. As long as I maintain my composure, I can still account for any surprises Ogerpon or… your other Pokémon continue to throw at us."
Her Reuniclus and Terastallized Metagross stood firm against Juliana's unconventional team.
"Ogerpon, give Metagross a swift Brick Break!"
Amarys's eyes widened a little.
"And Chi-Yu, use Dark Pulse on Reuniclus!"
"Reuniclus, Protect!" Amarys hastily ordered, allowing her Reuniclus to put up a shield around itself to protect from the onslaught of Juliana's mysterious Legendary Pokémon.
The Reflect that had been cast around the duo was shattered however, by the power of Ogerpon's Brick Break, also crippling the now mono Steel-type Metagross quite a bit.
"You caught me off guard—now my glasses have fogged up," Amarys quietly muttered. "So you know the hidden power of Brick Break…"
Juliana winked. "I have a great teacher. And you know what else I knew? That if I told Chi-Yu to use Dark Pulse, you'd be hasty enough to use up your Protect…"
Amarys nervously adjusted her glasses. "So even through my calm demeanor, you figured out how to read my emotions… Very astute."
"Let's just say you're not the only person I've met who puts up a face with no expressions as their façade…" Juliana smiled.
"…"
"Now Chi-Yu, go for Snarl!"
"Woah-chooooo…"
The strange fiery goldfish-shaped Pokémon, its true body composed of ancient jade beads and brimming with the dark powers of ruination, launched a piercing snarl of dark energy that hit both Pokémon, taking Reuniclus out of action and chipping away Metagross's health even further.
"Metaa…"
"Hold your position, Metagross!" Amarys commanded it. "As long as we continue to stand, the probability of victory remains strong. We can withstand anything."
"And Ogerpon…" Juliana couldn't help but smirk just like Carmine. "Ivy Cudgel."
"Except, perhaps… that…"
Ogerpon charged her ivy cudgel until it was endued with the rage of a thousand suns full of fire, and launched into the air over the weakened Metagross.
"Where do you and Carmine find some mystical creatures…?" Amarys quietly whispered.
"Oguhhh… PON!"
And the rest, as the one who taught Juliana about Chi-Yu's hidden power would say, is ancient history.
"It's Grass and Poison…" Juliana read on her screen. "And it's cry sounds like this…"
Carmine heard a muffled and distorted cry on her end and shook her head.
"You really think I can tell a Pokémon's cry through this little garbage speaker?"
The Rotom within her phone made an annoyed noise.
"Well, do you have a clue?"
"I've got a silhouette here. Yup… that's definitely a Gloom."
Carmine lowered her phone and looked around in the Coastal Biome's plains.
"And… there's one right in front of me, here in this tropical vista! Gramm always said I have the best luck!"
"Score!" said Juliana through her phone.
Carmine giggled, and engaged the unsuspecting Gloom with her most recent catch, a Hisuian Qwilfish.
"Grnnn-blooo!" the angry-looking black Qwilfish blurted through its bubbly lungs.
"Glooooom?"
Juliana looked at the commemorative photo she just took with Amarys, and gushed at it on her phone.
"Awww… it came out great! Thanks for agreeing to do the pose with me, Amarys!"
"It was my pleasure." Amarys was still holding her hands in the heart-shaped pose Juliana had showed her. "I wanted to express my gratitude to you because… as illogical as it may seem, given the extremely brief time we've known each other, you—already feel like you've risen to the status of, 'friend' to me."
"Awww. Really?" Juliana smiled. "Thanks, Amarys. You're my friend now too."
Amarys closed her eyes and cracked a smile.
"Then… as commemoration of our friendship, and my trust that you will continue being a friend to Carmine and Kieran as well, I will give you this TM. It contains a favorite move of mine."
Juliana accepted the TM, for a move called Hard Press apparently, and was further surprised… to receive a hug from the bespectacled girl.
"O-oh."
"I have great difficulty with knowing how to express my feelings. Despite how versed I am in the language of words, the language of emotion… consistently evades me. But I have found that a hug is often a straightforward way of communicating that—that I am glad to be friends with you."
Juliana smiled warmly behind Amarys's shoulders, glad the girl wasn't able to see how hard she was blushing.
Carmine's Qwilfish's reign of toxic terror ended with the Gloom knocked out and captured in a Nest Bell.
"Nice!" Carmine pounded her fist. "Speaking of nice, I saw your battle against Amarys this morning on the big TV and it was WILD! I've never seen Mar-y so flustered like that! You really rocked her world! I dare say, you're almost as much an ace at Double Battles as me at this point! I should've never doubted how far you can push yourself!"
She expected Juliana to say something in return, but it was quiet on the other end of the phone. Carmine's smile softened into a frown.
"Hey… you good over there?" she asked into the phone. "You haven't been very talkative the past few minutes."
Still met with silence.
"Juliana? … JULIANA!?"
Carmine began to look frantic now, fearing the worst. She thought she had heard Juliana's voice sound kind of out-of-breath on the phone, and contemplated calling out her Toucannon so she could go and look for her possibly fainted friend.
Just then…
"Hi, Carmine!"
"GAAHHH!"
Juliana had snuck right up on her, beaming at her with her innocent face.
"What the hell!? What gives?" Carmine asked, extremely incensed.
"Thanks for telling me you were in the Coastal Biome! I didn't have to figure out a way for us to meet up!"
"Meet up for what?"
"Our next group task, silly!"
Juliana showed her the golden mission that had just appeared on her app.
"It wants us to make a sandwich together!"
"UGH!"
Much to Juliana's surprise, Carmine got angry and shoved her.
"DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!"
"Do what?" Juliana asked.
"Ghosting me like that! I thought something really bad had happened to you!" Carmine huffed, her face having gotten red. "Doing all these missions right after your big match with Amarys… I thought you had stretched yourself too thin and passed out or something…"
"Oh."
Juliana immediately felt bad, having not realized how much concern she was going to instill in her friend who normally seemed so cool-headed.
Especially because… she actually had needed to sit on a rock for a bit while Carmine was busy battling. Hunching over to pick up items had started to really make Juliana's back hurt for some reason. And her legs honestly felt like jelly now.
But she wasn't about to let Carmine know any of that.
"Gosh, I'm so sorry, Carmine," she said sincerely. "But you don't ever have to worry about me! I'm doing great! Promise!"
She pointed to her gleeful smile, which cracked Carmine's veneer and made her chuckle a bit.
"Alright, well… apology accepted. You're seriously lucky you're cute, y'know."
"I'm lucky you're so easy to forgive and forget!" Juliana teased, flipping her braid. "I guess I have a natural charm to me too."
"Hmm! Maybe a little bit. But you'll stack up to my amazing charms!" Carmine boasted.
As Juliana started prepping for a picnic though, Carmine couldn't help but turn around and bluster.
That braid-flip was so hot...! Grrr! Keep yourself together, Carmine!
"Alright!" Juliana proclaimed. "If you want to get the table and the chairs all set up, I'll arrange all the ingredients! I just learned recipes for some tasty fruit sandwiches from a helpful guy in one of those Every Wich Way shops back home! I'd love to try making one right now!"
"Always making me do the hard work, huh?" Carmine rolled her eyes. "Once again, you'd better count your stars you're so—Wait a minute." She realized. "Didn't… Lacey say that you two scheduled your match for today too?"
"Hmm? Oh yeah! I didn't forget! We've got plenty of time before that!"
"Don't… you want to at least train your Pokémon a bit?"
"I already trained for both of the Elite Four matches last night!" Juliana assured her. "Everything's fine!"
"Last night?" Carmine's eyes were a bit wide. "Like… right after your match with Crispin? You immediately booked both matches with Amarys and Lacey and started training, all in one evening?"
"Well yeah!" Juliana shrugged like it was nothing.
"Seriously…"
Juliana looked up at Carmine and saw her looking deeply concerned again.
"I told you already. I'm fine. I wouldn't have been able to rest anyway. I'm just too excited to get to the top!"
She smiled again and went back into diving in her picnic basket. She didn't see, but Carmine was giving her a bit of a sneer, not fully convinced.
Lacey couldn't help but check her wristwatch as she waited for her opponent. It was a gift from Amarys, and was themed after Valerie, a Fairy-type Gym Leader from Kalos whom Lacey had once mentioned as a childhood inspiration of hers.
Amarys gave the watch to her as a birthday present eight months later. Lacey had been astonished she remembered such a tiny detail for that long.
I thought I wouldn't ever use this, but now I'm checking it all the time, Lacey quietly thought to herself. I guess she gave me the watch AND her habit…
Finally, she saw Juliana approaching her battle stadium, escorted by her big pink Granbull.
She squeed.
"There you are, Juliana! Lovely to see you didn't get lost! Was my adorable Granbull good company?"
"Very!" Juliana laughed. "You know… I've never seen a Granbull up close before. I remembering seeing pictures of them in my books and thinking they looked really scary."
Granbull, upon hearing this, huddled with its arms and groaned insecurely.
Lacey giggled. "But now you've seen how docile and affectionate they truly are, right? Just goes to show, never judge a book by its cover!"
"Totally! Now I'm already thinking of catching one for my mom back home…" she admitted.
Granbull lightened up and ruffed while smiling again.
"Thanks so much for showing Juliana the way so I could prepare, sweetie! Your job is done here!"
Lacey recalled her pleased Granbull back into its Heal Ball.
"You did amazing on that trial!" she complimented. "I'm glad to see someone who shares the same love and attention to detail for cute Pokémon that I do! I'm still seething in jealousy that you have a Tinkaton!"
"Ha-ha! Well, once I go back to Paldea, I guess I'll make it a priority to catch one for you!"
"Please do," Lacey responded. Her face became grimly serious. "I mean it."
"You have to give me something to do if you want this to count as a group quest," Carmine fretted.
She admired how meticulous Juliana was with making her sandwiches to perfection, but it had also led to Carmine just awkwardly standing there, wanting to contribute.
"Oh! Hee-hee, sorry!" Juliana said sheepishly.
She had just finished applying the layer of condiments on the bottom of the sandwich and was about to start peppering it with the fruit.
"Umm… I know! You can start laying on the apples and kiwi slices, and I'll put the pineapples and banana over that! Those shouldn't be too hard to stack!"
Carmine looked at her grumpily. "You saying I can't stack fruits?"
"Uh—no! No! I was just, I—I thought it'd be—"
"Relax, I'm just teasing you," she smiled as she rubbed Juliana's shoulder.
Juliana huffed. "Maybe you need to stop doing that!" as she playfully nudged her.
Carmine started laying down the apple and kiwi slices neatly on top of the yogurt and cream. Juliana followed her motions, stacking the bulkier fruits atop.
She admired Carmine's quiet rhythm. For as much as the Kitakamite girl had a habit of shaking her fists, her hands were a lot more delicate placing down the fruits. Juliana found it… weirdly awe-inspiring.
"This reminds me of when I was little, helpin' Gramm make veggie stew…" Carmine remembered fondly.
A warm smile grew on her face. Juliana noticed it and found herself quite taken by it. The sun was hitting it in a way that it was the most pristine smile in the world.
Everything about Carmine's face was extremely beautiful in this light, Juliana realized. Her hair seemed to glisten and shine. And her yellow eyes… Usually they were more fierce and striking, but now they were twinkling.
She could hear Carmine humming quietly to herself, and whatever tune it was… it sounded weirdly soothing. Juliana started to feel a faint reminiscence of when her mom used to hum to her when she was a lot younger.
Carmine slowly glanced her way and smiled harder, and Juliana felt her heart skip a bit. Her eyes were practically sparkling now… And her whole face was glowing.
Juliana felt mesmerized without understanding why. She was no longer paying any attention to what she was doing. The only thing her thoughts were swimming in now were those beautiful yellow eyes, which started to shift between her and the plate…
"Juliana? … Juliana! Watch those chunks! They're gonna—"
The girl was abruptly snapped back into reality as all the pineapple chunks she'd clumsily stacked together rolled off the sandwich, off the table and into the grass.
She felt mortified. "Oh my gosh! I—I'm so sorry! I don't know why…"
Carmine, much to her further embarrassment, started laughing.
"Woooow! What happened to the master stacker I remember from last time you made a sandwich? Did you get super rusty after you went back home or something?"
"Shut up…" Juliana grumbled. "I've just—never done it with these types of fruits before."
"Uh-uh. Sure," Carmine said, totally unconvinced. "It's okay. I saw you staring. I know my bewitching beauty totally hypnotized you!" she boasted again, doing a dramatic hair flip.
Juliana just huffed silently to herself as she bent down to pick up the fallen pineapples. As she started to raise her back up though, she felt a harsh cramp in her lower spine and winced.
Carmine cringed too. "Okay, yeah, I'd better help you with those."
She knelt down to help Juliana out.
The two of them used their hands to pick up berries in the ground, until eventually…
They both gasped as they accidentally grabbed each other's hand. Juliana blushed a little bit. Carmine's face was redder than a Slugma.
Both of them coughed lightly and moved their hands away, looking away from each other bashfully.
"I—I'm sorry," said Juliana.
"For what, silly?" Carmine teased. "Being cute?"
"I know I apologized for this already, but I truly am sorry for the way I protested you joining the BB League, Juliana," said Lacey.
"Oh, it's alright!" Juliana grinned. "Water under the bridge now, as my mom likes to say!"
"Of course, it's true that this is quite irregular under the bylaws of our school clubs. But… mainly I didn't want you to get dragged into the drama that's been troubling the club lately."
"I guess I understand that."
"Seems like you're drawing in lots of attention now… Everyone I know was already talking about you after your match with our dear Crispin yesterday. But Amarys immediately rang me up after your match with her, and was raving about how strong you are!"
"Really?"
Lacey nodded. "She even warned me to make sure my team was in tip-top shape, saying that you were far more than just an ordinary challenger!"
"Wow," Juliana chuckled modestly. "I'm glad I made that much of an impression on her!"
"Absolutely! So you'd better believe I won't be holding back!" Lacey pondered for a bit, and spoke more softly. "You know… If you do end up beating me at my full strength here today, then you probably do have a real shot at making it to the top." Her tone became grim. "…And you might face up against our Champion after all."
Juliana looked downtrodden again, this being the second time the issue of Kieran had been pressed to her.
"Can I ask you just… one more question before we proceed?" asked Lacey.
She gulped. "Sure. Anything."
"What is it… you really want to achieve? If you do end up battling Kieran?"
Juliana looked morosely at the floor.
"I just… I just want a chance to make things right with him." She began to reminisce sadly. "On our last day together in Kitakami, he wanted to have a battle with me. To prove that he was strong enough to win Ogerpon's trust. And I… I talked him out of it. Maybe, maybe that was the wrong choice. Maybe he really needed that kind of closure to get his head straight…"
Lacey began to look down sadly too.
"Now he's going around, pushing himself like this… Carmine says that he still thinks Ogerpon hates him because he's weak… I just, I can't help but feel like part of this is my fault. That's why. Becoming a Champion sounds nice and all, but—I already have that back home. And I'm really proud of it."
Juliana looked up sadly.
"What I really want… is to give us two a chance to start over. And make things right. I just wanna… I wanna fix everything I did wrong, and try to repair everything that's broken him this badly."
Lacey turned away for a bit. Juliana didn't know if her answer satisfied her. Eventually, she faced Juliana again, sighing deeply as she held onto her arm.
"I've been hearing that Kieran is being a lot harsher to everyone. But see, he's not like that at all around me," she shook her head. "He's still very cordial, polite… and soft-spoken, if—a lot grumpier than he used to be. So it's really hard for me to believe he's so mean when I'm not around."
Juliana looked forlorn. "You should've seen the way he was treating this one dude at the Plaza…"
"I know, Carmine told me about that. It would sure explain all the sudden dropouts happening… And the low morale… I need to have a serious talk with him at some point."
Lacey had a pained look on her face. "Like I said, I really didn't want you to get caught up in all this, Juliana. The BB League is supposed to be a fun club where we all battle for friendly competition and forging bonds with each other. But Kieran's treating this all way too seriously, and Drayton's being all shifty and plotting something. They're both making it so complicated now…" With a mirthful smile, she snarked, "Boys. Am I right?"
This finally made Juliana ease up enough to laugh a little.
"I put a lot of sweat and tears into making this club the best it can be. That's why I'm so sensitive to the rules and the status quo. We built up such a great thing together. I'd hate to see it all go to ruin just because of some bad attitudes."
Juliana pondered all this. Lacey's feelings actually resonated quite a bit with the things she knew her friends had experienced back home in Paldea, especially the way Penny and her squadmates described building up Team Star. So she decided to pose a question.
"Would you say that the BB League is… your greatest treasure?"
"Greatest… treasure? I'm not sure what you mean by that," Lacey answered. "If you're talking about the things that I treasure the most, well that's a lot of things. I treasure this club, and the school, and my friends. And my Pokémon, of course. And anything cute!"
"Hee-hee, I guess I could answer the same thing," Juliana agreed.
Lacey felt herself smiling a bit more too.
"I guess… I really treasure my friendship with Kieran. He's always been one of the—one of the sweetest, kindest boys I've ever met. And Carmine too. They're both good kids. I'm—I'm really glad that you came to our school, Juliana… they're both very lucky to have you around. Please promise me that you'll keep doing right by them."
Juliana grinned. "I promise."
"Good!" Lacey answered, all chipper again. "Now that we've got all those silly sentimentalities outta the way, it's about time my little sweethearts and I give you the fight of your life! Show us some grit, Juliana!"
"And now all that's left is the bread!"
"Bread?" Juliana reacted. "Oh! Yeah. Right!"
She dug into the picnic basket for the top piece of bread, much to Carmine's bemusement.
Isn't that a pretty important thing to forget to take out?
"Hey, I know!" said Juliana. "Let's put it on together!"
Carmine eyed her weirdly. "Uhh… sure."
She grabbed one end of the bread, while Juliana grabbed the other, and like a fine blanket on a mattress they slid the bread comfortably over their toiled work, creating a perfect four-star Ultra Fruit Sandwich.
Juliana clapped. "We did it!" And on cue, her phone pinged. "We really did it! That's 500 BP in the bag!"
"Be great if we got an even bigger prize for something like this." Then Carmine's eyes lit up. "Oh! That reminds me!"
She dug into her yellow bag and pulled something out.
"What is it?"
"It's an Ice Stone! For your Alolan Sandshrew! I found it in the Polar Biome while I was looking for a Dark-type to catch."
"Awww!" Juliana accepted it with a grateful smile. "That's so sweet of you, Carmine…"
"Yeah, well… That's what I'm here for." Carmine rubbed the back of her head.
Juliana pulled out a flowery pink sandwich pick.
"Let's cherish this moment with a little sunrise for decoration!"
"Decorate your perfect pal with hearts and love, Alcremie!"
Lacey's Alcremie used its signature move to decorate her terrifying Excadrill, Terastallized into the Fairy Type, with sweets, boosting its attack stats.
Juliana was a little intimidated. "Man, she's good at playing her supports."
Wellspring Ogerpon and her now fully-evolved Alolan Sandslash were both a little nervous.
"Chin up, girls!" Juliana assured them both. "We've still got—what's that word Nemona likes to say? Tenacity on our sides!"
Ogerpon nodded vigorously behind its mask, and Sandslash showed its cold claws in affirmation.
Juliana held her Tera Orb up high as it glimmered with Terastal energy.
"Looks like Ogerpon's about to bring out the teary face…" Lacey said quietly. Then she commanded, "Alcremie! Use Giga Drain on Ogerpon! And Excadrill, go for Iron Head on that cold meanie Sandslash!"
TERA-PA-GOO!
"Huh!?"
To Lacey's surprise, it wasn't Ogerpon who Terastallized this time, but Sandslash.
…Into a Fighting Type!?
Lacey was gobsmacked. "What on Earth!?"
Excadrill landed its Iron Head on Sandslash, who was able to tank the hit thanks to being a Fighting Type now.
"SHROO! SHROO!"
And Alcremie cast Giga Drain over her opponent, but thanks to Ogerpon retaining her Grass Type by choosing not to Terastallize, the move only did average damage and restored a small chunk of HP to the creamy Pokémon.
"Pon-pon-pon-pon!" Ogerpon cried in what sounded like a taunting laugh.
Juliana raised an eyebrow. Alright, Carmine definitely taught you that one.
"We're just going to take that health right back!" she declared. "Ogerpon, use Horn Leech!"
"Poniooooo…"
Ogerpon channeled power into her horns, which glowed to become sharper and malleable. Charging forward, she stabbed into Alcremie with her enchanted horns, and drained its HP through them like a vampire.
The Mask Pokémon became fully refreshed and energized, while Alcremie fainted.
"That's… that's a lot!" Lacey gasped.
Ogerpon innocently flashed a huge plant root-like object she was holding within her cloak.
"Ohhh, a Big Root, huh? Well that explains it!" Lacey shook off her surprised face and put on her best angry eyebrows. "But you've still left yourself wide open to being dominated by our cuteness! Excadrill, give Sandslash your best Tera Blast, sweetie!"
"Eeeeeexcah!"
Excadrill charged up a powerful beam of pink hearts with its Tera Jewel and readied to hit Sandslash with its lovely sparks at full force.
"Sandslash, Protect!" Juliana suddenly shouted.
Sandslash put up a barrier over itself, and Exadrilll's blast of pixie sweetness completely passed over the icy Mouse Pokémon.
"No way!"
"I guess the winds are blowing our way now! Sandslash, show that silly mole what our Iron Head looks like! And Ogerpon, give her a Helping Hand!"
"Pon! Pon! PONIO!" Ogerpon clapped vigorously.
Its power energized by Ogerpon's support, Sandslash charged forward. Its icicle-shaped head hardened into pure metal. And it rushed towards Excadrill, ready to send the heart-jeweled digging Pokémon into steely oblivion.
"Now that's some grit…" Lacey gulped, as she braced for the worst. "How are you a completely different person than the girl I fought at the entrance?"
Juliana made sure to split part of the finished sandwich so that both hers and Carmine's Pokémon could all get a small piece of it. Carmine was surprised to see her go through that effort. She had become a lot more considerate about sharing with her Pokémon since their last picnic, especially Miraidon who received the biggest piece of all.
When she came back, Juliana split what was left of the sandwich in two and handed Carmine her half.
As Juliana sat down next to her, Carmine began to look shy. Eventually, she was able to muster up the kind of sentimentality she's not used to giving.
"Hey… umm, thanks for today. Really. You didn't have to jump at doing all this just because I happened to mention not being able to afford any more lunch for the rest of the week…"
"Yeah, but I wanted t—"
Carmine held her palm out.
"Let me finish. You didn't have to… but I also know very well by now that, that's just who you are. So I appreciate it."
Juliana nodded and smiled, glad she didn't have to justify herself for once.
"It's going to feel so good to have actual BP to buy things again! I'm going to eat like a king this week!"
"Don't you mean a queen?"
"Uh-uh," Carmine shook her head. "You ever see how queens eat? They're allowed one bite of cake and that's dinner for three days. Whereas their husbands could pig out as much as they wanted! Monarchies are kind of sexist like that."
Juliana giggled. "I sure don't remember learning that in any of Ms. Raifort's classes!"
"Ha-ha! Me? I'm going to make like a king and eat until I'm fat, fat, fat!" she boasted, patting her stomach. "Ho-ho-ho! Another juicy hamburger, knave! On the double!"
The two of them laughed together heartily. Carmine turned to her with a light smirk.
"And… you know that, if you ever need help with something in return, that I'll drop whatever I'm doing and be there in a heartbeat, right? You don't have to go it alone either."
She smiled even warmer. "That's… Thank you, Carmine. I mean, so far I think I've been fine, at least apart from that scare Kieran gave me. But, yeah, totally. If I'm ever in a jam, then you'll be the first person I call too!"
"Awesome! A king like me is nothing without her loyal subject, and my kingdom is worth nothing if its subjects aren't well taken care of."
Juliana smiled in bliss as she got ready to take a bite. Carmine looked at her more sincerely.
"Hey Juliana… I really mean it, you know? Please don't hesitate to ask people when you need help."
The Paldean girl looked at her, confused where this was coming from.
"Umm… yeah? Of course?"
"Just, just making sure."
Finally at ease again, Juliana took a big bite of her fruit sandwich.
"Mmmm…"
The interesting mesh flavors danced around in her mouth, while Carmine ripped a huge bite out of hers like a hungry Houndour.
"Hmm!" she reacted with her mouth full. "Might've gone a little too heavy on the yogurt and cream, but otherwise this isn't terrible! What do you think, Juliana?"
Juliana swallowed her bite and let the aftertaste stew.
"Hey," Juliana walked up to Lacey and offered her hand. "That was a great—"
Much to her surprise, Lacey ran right up to her with her fists balled up in excitement.
"Juliana! Juliana! Did you see? Did you see our Pokémon battling it out!?"
"Uhhh, yep! Heh-heh, I sure did!" Juliana felt like she was talking to Nemona. "They looked pretty cool out there, didn't they? … Pretty cute, I mean!"
"RIGHT!? Oooh, it's almost too much—they were just too cute, even for me!"
Juliana was excited by Lacey's giddiness. The whole time she'd come to know the tall pink-haired girl, she couldn't stop thinking about how pretty she was. Feeling that spark of confidence beating in her heart, she decided to try her shot.
" You're the cutest, Lacey!" she smiled bigly.
"BZZT!" Lacey suddenly made a loud noise like a game show buzzer. "NOPE! WRONG! We're not talking about me! We're talking about my Pokémon!"
"Hmm… not quite as fruity as I was hoping for. But still very, very sweet!"