Juliana was starting to feel very lucky that she didn't get airsick easily, now that she was onboard her fifth plane ride in a little over a week.
Her friends were all occupying the long flight in their own little ways. For Arven, this involved watching a documentary about exotic Johtonian cuisine… for exactly twenty minutes, before he slipped on his eye mask and fell asleep.
Nemona sat next to him, playing a riveting game that Penny had gifted her. It was a video game that battling with creatures remarkably similar to Pokémon (down to their uncanny designs, with Penny joking that some of those Pokémon should sue) along with survival and crafting elements. It also boasted substantially more… violent tools for combat, to say the least. Nemona was all but addicted to it.
And as for Penny, well… she had her phone open on her lap, stuck in her own personal hell.
"No, you DON'T need to be worried about it! We are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves!"
"Gahahaha! Why do you always gotta be such a sourpuss, Pen-Pen!" came the boisterous reply of Penny's father Peony. His voice sounded like it was booming out of her speakers at max despite Penny constantly lowering the volume. "If you ever let me meet all these pals of yours, maybe I'd be a lot more willing to let you leave to such far-off places with 'em all!"
Then his silver-green eyes lit up on the screen.
"Heeeey, there's an idea! Maybe I oughta drop everything I'm doing and hop on a plane to this Kitakami place myself, then you can rest well knowing you and your friends will all be super-safe with ME!"
"NO! No! No-no-no-no-no!" Penny shook her head in a panic. "Absolutely not! I told you, we're fine on our own and you do NOT need to come! We'll—we'll probably be there and back before you'll have even landed!"
"Ohhh, I don't know! You've got your pops all excited!" Peony was revving up his hands on the screen in unrestrained eagerness. "Do you know how long I've been waiting to go on an exciting Adven-tour with my super intelligent daughter Penny!?"
"Oh my GOSH, Dad, would you just drop it?!" Penny yelled back at him. "Ughhh, it's not gonna be an "Adven-tour"! No one says that! I'm seriously going to hang up now!"
"Gahaha! Ohhh, you're a real hoot, Pen-Pen! Fine, fine, but you gotta promise to let your old man tag along next time! And I wanna meet that swell girlfriend of yours too!"
Penny growled quietly. "Of course Peonia told you…" she smiled, through gritting teeth.
"You gotta PROMISE me, sweetheart!"
"Fine, yeah, whatever," she said gruffly. Peony laughed triumphantly in response. "I'll talk to you later, okay? Bye!"
She hung up on her father before he could respond.
"One headache at a time…"
Penny sat back, hoping to relieve the stress of that call, when Nemona poked her head in from the seat behind her.
"I can't believe you complain about your dad all the time, he sounded like he'd be super fun to hang out with!"
Penny sighed. "You would think that."
"And hows come he gets to call you Pen-Pen, but you complain at me whenever I do it, Pen-Pen?"
"You act like I'm letting him do it either!" she replied shrewdly.
"At least you got permission!" she smiled.
"Yeah... in the end. But I had to put up with his ultra-mega-annoying dad talk to do it."
Arven popped his head in from the other side. "Sounded to me like he just ultra-mega-cares, little bud!"
"Oh! Oh... yeah, maybe you're right..." Penny replied, bowing her head. "…Hey wait a minute, I thought you were asleep."
"Well, I was, but how can anyone snooze with all your yelling?"
"I was NOT yelling!"
Nemona chuckled as the two of them began squabbling, then she looked over to the other aisle where Juliana was sitting by her lonesome.
Smiling softly, she decided to take a seat next to her friend.
"Hey there."
Juliana looked back at her and smiled. "Hi, Nemona."
"You good?"
"Yeah… I'm just really nervous."
She looked out the window anxiously as the clouds slowly began to part… and she could make out a tiny little peninsula on the horizon, the place that she knew housed the quiet curious land of Kitakami.
Nemona saw the land coming up too, and went "Ooooh." She was about to ask Juliana a lot of questions about the area they were about to touch down in, when she looked down and noticed Juliana's hand was beginning to tremble on the armrest.
She gently placed her own hand over it.
"Hey." She made Juliana face her. "It's going to be alright. I don't know about this Carmine girl but… I know you. I don't think it's possible for anyone in this world to hate someone as kind and sweet as you, Julie."
She nodded. "…I know. I know."
"You've got this. And if nothing you say works to rouse her, then—just know that I've got your back."
Juliana laughed. "To give me a great boost?"
"Ohh... umm, yeah." Nemona held up a Poké Ball. "I totally meant that, not that—I was going to challenge Carmine to a battle and force her to take you back."
This made Juliana laugh even larder, helping ease her anxiety a ton.
"You're the best, Nemona."
"I know."
The plane disembarked, and the quartet hopped aboard a bus to take them all the way down the mountain road. Once Mossui Town showed up on the horizon, they got off at the bus stop, and marched up the path.
It was a surreal experience for Juliana to be walking up this route towards Mossui Town again. Especially because she had already done so a week prior and didn't feel this way then. Maybe she was so enthusiastic about teaming up with Perrin that she had disassociated a little? The fact that she didn't know Carmine and Kieran were back home was probably also a huge factor.
Then Juliana stopped at one of the mud-soaked crop fields. The others stopped too, wondering what was on her mind.
She stared at it for a second, realizing it was the spot.
"Awww! Aren't you a cutie! You're a Wooper, right? You sure do look very different from the ones we have back home!"
Juliana dug into the pocket of her bag and drew up one of her Poké Balls, sending it out.
"Woop woop!" Wooper cried ecstatically upon popping out. Then it looked around, recognized its surroundings, and gasped. "Wooper!"
It jumped up onto the crop line and smiled happily at Juliana, which made her giggle.
"That's right! This is where I first met you, Wooper! Remember how you wanted to play hide-and-seek?"
Wooper nodded affirmatively. Juliana thought about that day, remembering how happy she was… a lot more carefree.
Of course… it was only a moment after that that my life changed forever.
Nemona walked over and gushed at the little blue amphibian.
"Awww! So this is where you caught your Johtonian Wooper, huh? And you've never evolved it, either!"
"Yeah… it turned out she wasn't too good at battling," said Juliana, remembering how much her Wooper struggled in the fights against Ogerpon and Carmine.
"I think your Wooper's more of a lover than a fighter, sorry to say."
"But you're still an adorable mascot!" she assured her Pokémon. She bent down so Wooper could hop onto Juliana's shoulder, where she proceeded to tickle its tummy. Hearing Wooper's laugh made Juliana chuckle too. "Maybe you can be an extra support for me…"
"Wooper."
With a timid gulp, Juliana let Wooper ride on her shoulder as they continued walking. Sure enough, they made it to the edge of town, past the small stone wallway welcoming them in.
"Wow. It's very rustic," Penny said.
"Very small too," Arven observed, looking around. "This town looks like it's only a bit bigger than Los Platos. Must be a very cozy place to live."
Juliana stepped through the entrance into town. Almost by instinct, she felt herself stopping in place… just like the first time, when a tall, gorgeous obstacle appeared to block her path.
"NOT SO FAST!"
She remembered how Carmine swooped in, like some sort of superhero. She was so tenacious and confident.
"So… you're one of those students who came from the Paldea region, huh?"
Among else, Juliana realized that right away, her first thought of Carmine in that moment… was just how tall and pretty she was, and how quickly she made Juliana laugh with her adorable antics.
"Ugh! What part of 'need to know' did you not pick up on!? Don't give the outsiders all our town secrets! This mockery will not go unpunished!"
I thought she was the funniest, most beautiful person from the moment our eyes met… I feel like such an idiot…
Of course, there was no battle this time… Just being able to step right into town, where there was already someone to greet them in front of the community center, it almost felt wrong.
"Why, hello there!" Nao, the same town elder who had been the caretaker for the joint school trip, was there to greet them.
"Hiya!" Nemona instantly greeted.
"Hiya, indeed," he laughed. "I'm the caretaker here, and it's a pleasure to welcome you into our town!"
"It's an honor, sir. But… how did you know we were coming?" asked Arven.
"Kieran mentioned to me that we might see some visitors today! Including a returning face. It's wonderful to see you again, miss," he said, bowing to Juliana.
"Hee-hee. You too, Nao-san," she answered, politely bowing back. Wooper almost lost its balance on Juliana's shoulder, but retained its footing and smiled at the kindly Nao.
"Just as well-mannered as ever! Very, very good!" the elder complimented. "I've arranged for you all to have rooms here at the community center."
"Whoa…" Penny's eyes lit up, and she clapped. "Now that's some thoughtful service!"
"Yes… although, I'm sorry to say, your rooms aren't quite ready yet." Nao had a regretful expression on his face. "Very strangely, some of our helpers have… not checked in in a while," he explained with an uneasy tone.
"Oh…" Juliana reacted, having remembered how prompt and helpful the people running the community were in her first visit. "Is that… normal?"
He shook his head. "I'm not sure where they've run off to, but it looks like I'll be the one getting your rooms refreshed for you. It shouldn't take me more than an hour, so feel free to find something to do around town or out in the fields in the meantime. I'll let you all know when everything's ready for you to check in."
"Thanks very much, sir!" Nemona was sure to say as he made his way inside the building.
With a little bit of time at their fingertips, Juliana's friends looked around a bit at the streets and buildings that made up Mossui Town. Some of Mossui's villagers, mostly on the older side, were talking with each other or doing farm work, but there were less of them hanging around than Juliana remembered.
"Hmmm… it's an awfully quiet little place, isn't it?" said Arven. "Don't see an awful lot of places specifically for tourists."
"You mentioned there was a festival last time you were here, right?" Penny asked Juliana. "I'm guessing that was probably the biggest draw."
"Yeah…" Juliana was looking around too, though a bit more intensely than the others. "The funny thing is, it's actually even quieter now than it was before… Almost a little… too quiet. Kind of weird, actually."
She walked forward a bit to get a closer look at Peachy's stand. The stop appeared to be closed now. But Juliana peered closely at the front of it. That dusty Never-Rotting Peach doll was… still missing from the counter.
"Hmm. Probably because there's less tourists, maybe?" Arven reasoned.
"I guess…"
"So what do we do to keep busy then?" Penny asked.
"Well, since we've got some free time… this is the perfect chance, isn't it?" Nemona put her hands on Juliana's arms and started moving her forward. "Let's go figure out where Carmine lives and get that heartwarming reunion train a-moving, shall we?"
"Ummm, okay!" Juliana gulped. In all the excitement and strange occurrences, she had almost forgotten why they'd come here. She pointed nervously with her finger. "Their house is... right at the top of that hill there."
"Then what are we waiting for!?" Nemona smacked those arms lightly and started leading the way. "Let's gooooo!"
Juliana still had an uneasy feeling about Mossui Town for some reason, but she decided to focus on what was brewing even more anxiety in her gut, and turned to start walking towards reclaiming destiny.
As her friends moved on ahead though, Wooper made a sudden noise, alerting Juliana to what almost sounded like rustling above her.
"Hmm?"
Juliana looked up. Up above, a tree branch seemed to jostle a bit. Juliana thought she almost saw… something small, looking down upon her for a brief second before moving away.
She tried to peer upwards, to see if she could spot it, but Nemona called out to her.
"Juliana, c'mon! Vamos! Your friends aren't getting any younger!"
"…Okay."
Juliana gazed at the branch for just a few more seconds before deciding to catch up with her friends.
Just after she and Wooper left, a pair of drooped, beady eyes peered from within the leaves of the tree, watching Juliana closely.
"…Piih-cha…"
Juliana felt her heart thumping louder with every step that brought her closer to the siblings' house. Every step was a step closer… to her. Assuming she's even at home.
She remembered all the times she walked up this hill to meet Carmine in front of the house… and all the times Carmine sent her back to fix her messy hair.
I wonder if she'd tell me to go back and braid my hair if she saw it now…?
Letting herself chuckle over such a funny thought helped ground Juliana to reality, the reality that mending things with the girl probably weren't as untenable as her anxiety was telling her. That Carmine's heart would win out over her rage, especially if Carmine had a better hold on what her feelings were than Juliana did her own.
Swallowing her fears, Juliana let herself walk through the gate into the family's front garden. She was instantly brought back to the stone steps that led up to their house. The tiny little rock pond, that she and Carmine had a "festival-style" battle in front of. And the shed where Carmine had torn up boxes looking for an extra mask.
And pacing in front of the house was none other than the former BB League Champion, who had a worried look on his face, but upon seeing who was approaching broke out into a huge smile.
"Juliana!?" He gasped. "Is that you!?"
"Kieran!"
Juliana found her legs kicking up again at the sight of a friend, and ran right up to him.
"Wowzers! You really came!" he said gleefully. "Oh man, it's been a long time! A-and you look great, too! Is that a brand new school outfit? Sorry, I'm just… so excited! Thank you so much for—for…"
Kieran lost his trail of thought as he gazed at Juliana and… saw her fists trembling while her eyes were watering, and sucking in her lips really hard.
"Umm, Juliana? Are… are you oka—"
"I'M SO SORRY, KIERAN!"
Much to his shock, Juliana suddenly ran up and wrapped Kieran into a really huge hug.
"…Huh?"
"I'm so, so, so sorry for getting you hurt like that! What happened with Terapagos, it was—it was an accident, I didn't mean for everything to go so wrong like that, I—I…"
"Whoa!" Kieran chuckled anxiously, very taken aback at Juliana's over-expressiveness. "You're still beating yourself up over that? It was almost two month ago, Juliana! And I—I already told you I knew it wasn't your fault!"
"Yeah, but I never told you how sorry I was, and you probably thought I was a terrible person for it!" Juliana wept. "So… I'm sorry! And—and—and I'm also sorry for leaving you behind at Blueberry! It was so selfish and cowardly of me to just run away and go home like that, and I promise I'll make it up to you somehow!"
"Umm… okay?" Kieran, not really sure how to react to all of this, started patting her on the back. "It's really okay, y'know? I wasn't mad at you for any o' that stuff, Juliana. You're not a terrible person at all."
Juliana broke her hug and looked at him with glossy eyes.
"…You really mean it?"
"Of course!" he answered crossly as if she shouldn't even ask that.
She wiped a tear from her eyes. "Thanks."
"You'll have to forgive our mutual little buddy here," said a voice Kieran recognized. "She's been on a huge apology tour lately."
"Arven!"
Kieran ran up to meet Arven, even more shocked to see him here.
"Hey there, little dude!" Arven greeted enthusiastically, holding out his fist. "How's it hanging?"
"It's—it's going great!" Kieran replied. He fist-bumped Arven with great aplomb, much to Arven's surprised delight.
"Ha-ha, wow! You're a way jollier person on your home grounds, huh?"
"Oh, heh-heh, yeah. I guess I was still being kinda edgy the first time we met…" Kieran parted his side strand in embarrassment. Then he turned to Juliana. "So you brought your friends!"
"Mm-hm. You told me I could!"
"I sure did. Sorry that I couldn't meet you guys at the bus station," he addressed both of them. "Things have been crazy at home…"
Juliana's eyebrows furrowed, wondering what he meant by that.
"That's fine, we had it all in hand!" Arven assured him.
"Ehehe… good! So Is it just you two alone?"
His question was immediately answered by a girl suddenly getting all up in his face.
"HEY, pleased to meet you!" she shouted, startling him. "I'm Nemona!" she said, eagerly holding out her hand. "You're Kieran, yeah? Juliana told us all about you! Like how you're great at Pokémon battles! Right!?"
Kieran was flustered. This girl was talking at him at like a million words a minute. "W-well, I don't know about that, but…"
"Ugh, dial it back a notch or nine," Penny groaned. "You're scaring him."
"Ehhh…" Kieran weaseled himself out from Nemona's intrusive bubble and held out his hand to Penny. "Hi, I'm K-Kieran!"
"I'm Penny," she said, calmly shaking his hand. "Unlike a certain someone, I'm fine with taking friendships nice and slow."
"Oh! Uhh, good!" he laughed. "Because I'm… still really shy at meeting new people."
"Ahh." She pushed up her glasses. "Then I guess you and I will get along great… just from a distance."
"Y-yeah! Totally!" Addressing both her and Nemona, he introduced himself properly. "So like ya know, my name's Kieran. I became friends with Juliana when we were on the school trip together."
"That's right!" Juliana nodded proudly.
"What else? Umm… I'm also a student at Blueberry Academy. Err, I mean, I WAS a student there—I'm on a break right now."
"Why's that?" Juliana asked, a little concerned. "Something… happen?"
"Oh, no, nothing like that!" he shook his head. "I just… kinda wanted some time to find myself. I figured comin' home for a while would be a great place to do all that."
"Woah, really? I know how that goes," said Penny. "Same thing happened to me!"
"Really? Heh! I guess there's a lot of stuff we have in common!" he laughed. "Where are you from? Your voice doesn't sound like other Paldeans." He cleared his throat. "…If that's alright for me to say."
"I'm from Galar originally."
"Galar? Oh, wow!" Kieran's eyes lit up. "That's cool! It's always been a dream of mine to visit Galar someday, and see all those big fancy lookin' cities!"
"It's funny you say that because I actually grew up in one of the smallest towns there. But, I've got plenty of pictures from visiting those big cities! Are you on PokéChat, because I can totally send them to you that wa—"
"Woah, easy there, Penny," said Arven. "Now you might be the one moving a bit too fast! Save some Kieran for the rest of us, huh?"
Penny pouted at him. "It just… seems like we have a lot alike, that's all."
"Yeah, but don't forget the real reason why we're here!" Nemona rose up in front of Kieran again, raising a fist. "There'll be plenty of time for all of us to chat and battle our hearts out, but right now we've got more important business with your sister!"
"N-Nemona!" Juliana cried out in shock. Her hairs all stood on end.
"Huh? How do you know about my sister?" Kieran asked, flummoxed.
Juliana shook her head and frantically waved her hands trying to get Nemona to stop talking, but to no avail.
"Well, because Juliana talked about her all the time, of course!" she answered gleefully. "She told us practically everything about you and Carmine, and that's why we've accompanied here to help her have a heartwarming reunion!"
"Really?" Kieran spun around to Juliana. "Is that why you answered my letter?"
Juliana gave Nemona a stink-eye before explaining herself. "Not the whole reason… I really wanted to see you too, Kieran. I missed both you guys a lot."
"Right," he nodded. "Yeah. I mean, you don't have to defend yourself. I know how close you and my sis were before, and it's cool! I'm just surprised you expected her to be here with me, is all." He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "I guess you know her too well that she'd follow me anymore, huh?"
Juliana gulped hugely. "Ummm… y-yeah. That's—that's right!"
She still felt a lump in her throat, and some sweat coming down her face.
I guess trying to lie to Kieran still isn't so easy…
"So…" She glanced at their house, petrified by the idea of Carmine being just feet away. "Is she home?"
"She is…"
But Kieran said that in a tone that instantly made Juliana concerned.
"A-ha! Then let's go!" said Nemona.
"Uhh! But… she's asleep right now."
"…Oh?" Juliana had never known Carmine to be a day-napper before, and her heart instantly began to fill with worry. "She's not… s-sick or anything, is she?"
"Umm…" Kieran scratched his head. "Not like, sick with a disease or anything. But… she's been having it pretty rough lately."
"Rough in what way?" asked Arven.
"It's—it's hard to explain. She's just been acting… really weird lately and feeling down all the time."
Juliana's heart sunk.
"Feeling down…? Like, really sad?"
He nodded glumly. "Yeah… In fact, just before you got here, she got really strange! It's—it's…" His head sunk down. "I'm sorry. You guys just got here, I don't want to dump all of our bad mojo on you all."
"That's okay," said Penny. "We don't mind."
"Yeah! Any friend of Jules is a friend of ours, so your troubles don't bother us at all!"
Kieran smiled at them appreciatively, and then at Juliana. "Guess you've really got a knack for making friends with great people, Juliana."
"Thanks, but…" She balled up her hands anxiously. "Is there… anything we can do for Carmine? Anything at all?" She got close to him as her face became more pleading. "I'll—I'll do anything to help her feel better!"
"Umm, gosh…" Kieran had to rear back from how close she was getting. "I'm really glad you're so willing to help, Juliana! That's actually one of the reasons why I wrote you… I was hoping, with you and a few of your friends, that maybe some fresh faces would help her cheer up a little bit."
He put his hands on his hips and sighed, looking at the house again.
"But… we'll have to wait until she wakes up to figure out how to do that, I guess."
"Alright. Well, what's there to do in the meantime, then?" Penny wondered, throwing her arms up.
"Well, there's only one to do, of course…" Nemona said ominously.
"Oh no…" Penny whispered.
Nemona marched right up to Kieran again and pumped her fist out.
"We BATTLE!"
"I, uh… what?" Kieran reacted, nonplussed.
"That space in front of the community center looked like a good battle spot!" she pointed, with fierce sparks of determination in her gaze.
"Uhh—"
"VAMOS! C'mon!" Nemona shouted before sprinting off.
Kieran was left standing there, confused. "Does she want me to go with her? Am I supposed to go battle her…?"
"She'll only follow you to the very ends of the Earth if you don't," Penny teased him.
"Really…?"
"Yeah," Arven chuckled. "Once my girl locks eyes with you, she's basically locked in!" He started laughing. "She's ended almost every date we've been on by demanding a battle!"
"Especially if she knows you're a really strong Trainer." Juliana pulled on her sleeve. "And, well… I've told her a lot about you, Kieran. How you're a Champion and all that. So…" She grinned through her teeth.
"Aww man…" said Kieran. "She's just as pushy as Sis, but is, like… different. Guess I'd better—"
"Hellooooooo!"
But before he could even make up his mind, Nemona had sprinted right back inside and started pulling a surprised Kieran by his arm.
"I said let's goooo, Kieran! We've only got so many hours in the day to have some really fun battles together!"
"W-wait! What do you mean battles!?" Kieran responded frantically. But he was practically led out down the road with her against his will. "Ahhhhhh-ahhhhhh!"
"Well… I guess he's getting the full Nemona treatment," Penny concluded.
"Yeah…" Arven agreed. "Come on, Jules. Let's go make sure Nemo doesn't steamroll your pal into oblivion."
"Heh-heh, okay…"
Juliana started walking with Arven and Penny out of the garden… but she couldn't stop herself from glancing back at the house one more time.
The thought of Carmine being inside there right now, suffering, left a great pit in Juliana's stomach. Every single neuron in her brain wanted to help her. For a second, she even considered whether she should ignore Kieran's heed and go in there right now, to be by her side and wait for her to wake up…
But her legs stiffened up at the prospect of moving any closer to the house. As much as Juliana hated to admit it… she was still terrified. And probably still needed her friends as backup.
I guess I just have to follow Kieran's advice… and wait for her to wake up.
Juliana parted her hair and smiled as best she could.
"I'll be here when you get up, Carmine. Okay?"
Taking a deep breath, she left to join her friends, knowing at the very least Carmine wasn't going anywhere.
It was only after she turned around that there was movement in one of the windows… as someone inside parted the curtain and watched Juliana leave.
"Man, Juliana wasn't kidding! You're great, Kieran!" Nemona beamed. Souped up in her eagerness, she quickly drew out several more Poké Balls. "Now lemme see, which Pokémon should I use for our NEXT battle?"
"Next battle!?" Kieran exclaimed. He looked around at his last fallen partner, the poor winded Porygon-Z. "But… you completely destroyed me and my team! Who the heck ARE you, anyway?"
"Hee-hee-hee!" Nemona giggled. "Just a fellow Champion like you, my friend! You, me, and Juliana… we're like three peas in a pod!"
"Ohhh, wait. You're that super-awesome Champion girl Juliana talked about sometimes… Yeah, that makes sense you're so good, then."
"You weren't bad either, Kieran!" Juliana said encouragingly. "Nemona's one of the strongest Trainers I know, and you held your own against her very well!"
"Yeah, Kieran! You're so good!" Nemona ran up to him with a smile on her face. "No wonder you were the Champion of that fancy-pants school of yours!"
"B-but… I couldn't beat you…" Kieran hung his head down.
Nemona shook her head. "Does it really matter? Whether you win or lose, Pokémon battles really are a blast!"
Kieran looked down pensively for a second. But Juliana gave him a thumbs-up, and he smiled at Nemona.
"…Yeah. That's true." Then his smile became a laugh. "I guess you're right! Ha-ha. Thanks… N-Nemona, right?"
"That's my name, don't wear it out! You're about to learn it even better in the SECOND match!" she beamed. "So come on! Let's go already! Show me what else you got?"
Kieran looked at Juliana with a face that said "Help me."
"You OK?" Penny chuckled at him. "Feel like running for the hills yet?"
"Hey now," Nemona said, a little annoyed.
"That's Nemona for you. You get used to it." Arven decided to step in front. "Hey, babe? Why don't you call it for here and let the kid have a break, huh?"
"Not you too, Pepper…" Nemona sighed. "But… alright. I guess a good Champion has to consider others' feelings like Director Clavell said. Sorry, Kieran."
"It's okay. That battle was a lot of fun." Kieran smiled even more. "Yeah… I really had a lotta fun!"
"See?"
"I used to think battling people was just about proving how strong you are…" Kieran reminisced. "I definitely… let myself go a little too far with that. But you're right, I shouldn't look at every single battle that way. As long as I'm having fun, and meeting new friends… That's the most important part of it, right?"
He glanced over at Juliana with an apologetic smirk.
"I wish I'd thought about that more when we were having our first battles, Juliana… Instead of obsessin' over how I lost."
"That's okay, Kieran. Just look at you now!" Juliana smiled warmly. "You've come so far since we met, I'm… I'm really proud of you."
Kieran blushed. "Thanks. I'm really glad we have this chance to catch up again. I… I missed being friends with you."
"Me too, Kieran. Me too."
"And… you too, Arven!" he said, turning to the taller boy. "I haven't even talked to you since—since all that stuff in the Great Crater! How are you doing now?"
"Me? Ahh… I think I'm doing pretty well for myself," Arven answered modestly. "I'm just—just trying to be someone my parents would both be really proud of, and following my heart."
"That's good. What about that big Volcarona Paradox thingy you said you were going to bring home and take care of? How's that going?"
"Oh! You mean Slither Wing?" said Nemona. "That's right, you and Arvie were together finding all those cool secret Paradox Pokémon down in the basement of Area Zero, right?"
"It was a cavern, Nemo… Caves don't have basements."
"I'm still super jealous that no one asked me to come! I would've loved to battle a whole bunch of giant zombie dinosaur Pokémon!"
"That might be why they didn't invite you…" Penny muttered to herself.
"But anyway, yeah, Slither Wing's been doing great!" said Arven. "Thanks to my super-awesome girlfriend and all the herbs she scavenged up, I think we've got him back to full health! Here, you can see for yourself!"
Kieran's eyes widened. "Oh, well—Y-you didn't have to…"
But Arven tossed out his Poké Ball, and much to everyone's surprise, Slither Wing was sent out. The large Shiny Pokémon took a gaze around its surroundings, looked over at the Kitakami sun that was beginning to touch the hills, and let out a big earth-rumbling cry, rearing its tall appendages like a Mudsdale.
"Ulgaaaaamoth!"
"Wow!" Juliana's eyes lit up. "You weren't kidding! He… he's like, back to his old self again! Or, I guess whatever a Paradox's old self is like."
Kieran and Penny were a little… less enthused at the sight of such a monstrous Pokémon.
"Y-you mean THAT'S Slither Wing!?" Penny shouted, taking a defensive stance. "When you said it was huge, I didn't think you meant it was a literal kaiju!"
"H-hey!" Kieran laughed. "That's exactly what I said about Juliana's Miraidon!"
"Yeah, also not a fun first encounter…" Penny cringed, remembering her first experience with the tongue-happy Miraidon. "It took me a whole day to wash all that saliva out of my clothes…"
"Arven, are you… sure it's a good idea to bring out a Paradox in the middle of town square?" Kieran asked with concern. "Those things are super-destructive!"
"Hmm? Oh yeah, trust me I know that! But don't worry… we've tamed this Slither Wing Nemo and I, and he's super docile now!"
"A literal cuddlebug!" Nemona jumped up. "Thanks all to me, of course! I know how to charm any Pokémon into super-friendliness!"
"Are—are you sure?" Kieran tensed up, still unsure. Especially because Slither Wing was now advancing towards him, curiously. "Hey now… Please, please don't eat me."
But Slither Wing just tilted its giant head. It leered off to give sniff this new human's scent, and then… it brought its face to Kieran and snuggled him with its big white fluff, making cooing noises.
"Huh?" Kieran couldn't stop himself from laughing. "H-hey, it's… it's rubbing all over my face just like a—Purrloin!"
"See? Those big, scary Pokémon can be tamed!" said Nemona.
"Yeah, what about that Iron Valiant of yours, Kieran? You haven't managed to tame it?"
"Or Koraidon?" Juliana chimed in.
"WHAT!" Nemona shouted. "You mean you've got TWO Paradoxes with you and you didn't even use either of them in battle!? So you were holding back against me! Now I definitely want a rematch!"
"Ehh! Well… I've been able to get Iron Valiant to stop wanting to destroy everything so much whenever I battle with it, but—I think it still doesn't really know loyalty and teamwork all that well… And Koraidon still doesn't listen to me well either. Sometimes I wonder if I… if I was too rash in catchin' them both. That they don't see me as worthy of 'em…"
"Ulga?"
Slither Wing cooed to Kieran, as if signaling that it wanted head pats. Kieran obliged happily, which made Slither Wing happy too.
"Moooooth…"
"Hmm, but if you two were able to make something this scary into something so sweet… than maybe I can still do that with mine."
Penny still grumbled looking at Slither Wing.
"Well… as long as you keep all your big monsters away from me."
"Aww, come on, Penny! I think Arven's right, it's super friendly! Come give it a hug!" Kieran smiled. Then he gasped in Penny's direction.
"Nuh-uh! No way. I've had it up to here with being spooked and getting licked by a bunch of big… big… umm."
Penny suddenly got a sense of somebody seriously intruding on her personal space. Timidly, she looked over to see a very tall girl with black-and-red hair and a blue uniform suddenly standing right next to her.
"AHHH!" Penny jumped. "Who the hell are you!?"
Then she was even more spooked to hear a loud "EEP!" and looked behind her to see Juliana darting away in fear. Then she looked up at this mystery girl in dawning realization.
"Wait… Are—are you…?"
"Geez, Carmine!" Arven shouted, throwing his hands up. "Sneak up on us poor kids, why don't you!"
"Sis!" Kieran ran up to Carmine. "You okay?"
Nemona gasped loudly. "Wait, did you just call her SIS? Then that means…!"
She instantly sprung up right in front of the girl.
"It's you, isn't it!? The legendary Carmine! Wow, Juliana was right! You really are super gorgeous! My name's Nemona! I'm Juliana's best friend and her best rival, and it's such an honor to finally meet you! You're a really strong Trainer too, right? Do you want to get in on the battle fun!?"
Carmine… didn't answer her. In fact, her face seemed eerily still. But she did start to mumble something.
"M… Mo…"
Nemona gasped. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Where are my manners? I'm not the one who's most excited to see you! You're not going to believe this, Carmine, because we came all the way just for you! You'll never believe who's here!" She thrust her arm out. "BEHOLD! The love of your life has returned! It's—it's…"
She looked around, confused.
"Umm, where did… Juliana go?"
Penny pointed. "She ran and hid behind that building."
Nemona huffed. "I'll go get her! Wait right there, Carmine! Don't go anywhere!"
She ran towards Juliana, leaving the rest of her friends in the company of the… still strangely calm Carmine.
"Umm, I don't… think she's going anywhere?" Penny waved her hand in front of this Carmine's girl face concerned. "Kieran, is your sister like… all there?"
"Hmmm…" Kieran tried to think and shook his arm about. "She used to sleepwalk sometimes when we were younger. Maybe she's… fallin' back into that habit?"
"Well, sure, maybe." Arven squinted as he got a close look at her face. "Although… I know I spent most of the time with you guys underground and maybe her eyes just looked different in the lighting, but… were they always that… purple?"
Kieran noticed for the first time how strikingly purple Carmine's eyes were and gasped.
"N-no, they weren't!"
Meanwhile, Nemona ran up to the side of the community center, where Juliana stood against the building, hiding from the others and shaking like a leaf.
"Juliana? What's gotten into you, girlie?"
Juliana was breathing rapidly, her heart was beating a trillion miles a minute, and her pupils were dilated to extremes.
"Nemona, that's—that's her! That's, that's..."
"I know! Carmine, right?" Nemona looked back at Carmine and grinned. "She's every bit as pretty as you said, Juliana! I totally get why you fell so head over heels for her! I'm almost kinda jealous!" She grabbed Juliana's shaking arm. "Now come on! This is what you came here for, remember? Go get her, tiger!"
But Juliana pulled her arm back, trembling. "I—I can't, Nemona! I'm too scared…" she whimpered. "What if she—what if—"
"She doesn't," Nemona insisted. "I promise. Nobody stays mad at friends forever, especially ones they have a crush on. She's probably going to light up seeing your face!"
Juliana groaned. She hated how afraid she felt right now. "I don't know, Nemona—I just, I…"
-POP-
"GER-PONN!" Ogerpon cried with delight, suddenly popping out of her Ball, and dashed off.
"Ogerpon, WAIT!" Juliana called out in panic, trying to grab at her.
But it was too late. Ogerpon was in full sprint mode, rushing towards her old partner with the widest open grin.
"Ger-ponn! Ger-ponn! Ger-ponn!" she cried out.
"Huh? Ogerpon?" Kieran turned.
He and Penny and Arven all stood aside as Ogerpon burst up right in front of Carmine, and started hugging her legs tightly, clearly over the moon to see the girl again.
This caused Carmine to tilt her head down and gaze at Ogerpon.
"Ger-ponn…!"
But then, the ogre could sense something wrong… Carmine bore a small grin that—wasn't her own, and Ogerpon saw the intense purple in her eyes.
"…P-pon?"
"Mo…"
What Carmine did next was startling and bizarre.
"MOCHI, MOCHI!"
She started jumping up and down, while dancing with her arms and chanting that word "Mochi" over and over again.
Ogerpon shrieked loudly in terror, and fell back on the floor, her jaw completely agape and her starry eyes filled with fright.
"PONN!? P-p-p-PONOOOOO!" she screamed.
"Sis!?"
Their eyes all watched Carmine's extremely strange behavior, mouths agape. Except for Nemona.
"Wowww! Is this like a Kitakamite welcoming dance or something?" she asked, imitating Carmine's arm motions. "How cool! She must be so excited to welcome us here!"
"There's no way that's what's going on here…" said Penny, wiping down her glasses to make sure she was seeing things right.
Juliana slowly edged her way out from behind the building, utterly baffled by what she was watching…
"Maybe she's playing a game!" Nemona threw out as her next guess.
But Juliana could tell something was wrong… Whatever this was, this was not normal behavior for Carmine at all.
Confused and horrified, she finally got up behind Carmine, and nervously tapped behind her shoulder.
"C-C-Carmine!?"
Carmine instantly spun around, and locked eyes with Juliana for the first time in two months. Juliana hoped this would break her out of whatever this crazy thing she was doing this was…
But Carmine's face and behavior didn't change at all. Instead, she stared straight at Juliana, continued dancing, and chanted even more uproariously.
"Mochi! Mochi! MOCHI! MOCHI!"
"CARMINE!" Juliana shouted out in even further desperation. "It's—it's me! It's Juliana! I'm here! So… snap out if it already!" She shoved Carmine, hoping to rattle her. But it didn't work.
"MOCHI! Mochi? MOCHI, MOCHI!"
Tears welled up in Juliana's eyes. "Please… I'm so sorry…"
Carmine's chanting didn't cease, nor did her dancing. Even though she was facing Juliana, it was as if she was looking right through the girl, lost in her own little world.
Ogerpon meanwhile, picked herself up off the ground, with her own eyes getting glossy. Watching Carmine's mochi chants seemed to put the Mask Pokémon in some sort of frenzied state.
Growling and blubbering very strangely, Ogerpon unsheathed her icy cudgel, and she started darting around the place, brandishing the weapon while making angry cries.
"PON! Guh-ponn!? Ponoo! Grrrrr…"
"What is Ogerpon… doing?" asked Penny.
"I-I-I don't know," Juliana answered. "She's never done this before…"
They watched, mystified, as Ogerpon jumped from place to place with an angry scowl, stretching her body out to gaze into weird places.
"Maybe she senses danger?" Arven wondered.
"Oh!" Kieran realized. "Could by the Loyal Three… Apparently, some people have still seen them wandering around in the wilderness."
Juliana winced. "Umm… I don't uhh, I don't think the Lousy Thr—Loyal Three could be causing any problems here…" she said with honesty, choosing not to divulge that the three Pokémon were all currently encased in Poké Balls in her bag at this very moment.
Carmine twisted her body around, seeming to follow Ogerpon's movements.
"Mochi? Mochi, mochi?" Then for some reason, looking at Ogerpon, her chants became slightly more aggressive. "MOCHI! MOCHI MOCHI!"
"Grrrrrr…" Ogerpon growled back at her, which was very surreal.
"Ogerpon, it's… it's Carmine," a shocked Juliana whispered.
"How long has Carmine been acting like this for?" Arven asked Kieran.
"She started doing it just shortly before you all got here…"
"Mochi! Mochi?"
Kieran fiddled with his loose end. "I… I thought it was just her rotten idea of a prank…"
Juliana continued to stare at the Kitakamite girl completely befuddled. Carmine didn't even seem to know she was there. There was nothing she could do to help… Juliana felt so crushed and powerless.
"Ponnn…!"
Then Ogerpon jumped up into Juliana's arms, her eyes filling up with tears. She grabbed hold of Juliana's shoulders in embrace. Was she asking for protection? Or… trying to protect her maybe?
"It's okay, Ogerpon…" Juliana tried to assure the little Pokémon. "There's no reason to be scared… We'll figure this all out…" She hugged Ogerpon over the neck… mostly so that the others couldn't see she was still tearing up. "I hope…"
Kieran looked at everyone apologetically. "S-sorry everyone, but could you help me just, uhh… carry my sis someplace safe?"
Everyone helped drag the still-dancing Carmine back to the house where a worried Hideko had been waiting for them. He helped get the girl back into bed, and came out of her room carrying her mochi plate from inside, while Juliana and Kieran were outside in the hallway.
Juliana was still carrying Ogerpon, who had remained antsy and weeping, on her shoulders, assuming the ogre was just as scared over Carmine's state as she was.
"How is she, Grandpa?"
"She should be asleep now, I think."
"Sir, umm, Mr. Hideko-san… sir," Juliana addressed him. "Do you have any idea why Carmine is acting like that?"
He sighed. "I'm afraid not, Juliana. She's never done anything like this before… In fact, nobody in this town has. The closest thing to a precedent is an old Kitakami folklore about a dancing plague that struck this town close to a thousand years ago."
"Dancing plague…?"
"Yes. Supposedly, everyone in town, one by one, became struck with an affliction that caused them all to lose their minds and dance without end."
This caused the two kids to stare back worryingly at Carmine's door. A little bit of string from her discarded Morpeko door sign still hung on the knob.
"But… I don't think we need to worry about that. It was just an old tale, is all."
"Yeah… Just like Ogerpon…" Kieran muttered matter-of-factly.
"Well… yes. But think about it, Kieran. If something like that had truly happened while our ancestors were alive, they surely would've written about it in their journals. That's why unlike the truth behind Ogerpon's story, I think it's all made up. Of course… given Carmine's given recent mental struggles, perhaps she heard about this plague from someone and, in her strange state, has somehow convinced herself that she has this affliction."
"Nuh-uh! No way," Kieran defended her. "I know she's been a lot loopy lately, but… Carmine wouldn't do something like this, something she knows would worry all of us." He glanced at his friend. "…Especially not Juliana."
"…" Juliana was silent.
"I'm so sorry that she caused you and your friends such a fuss, Juliana," said Hideko, looking at her apologetically. "I was looking after Carmine here at home and making sure she was well. But I left for just a little while, looking for my wife."
"You didn't find Grandma at Peachy's like you'd hoped?" asked Kieran.
"No…" he said gravely. "I don't know where your grandmother could've possibly gone off to at this hour. It's not like her to just up and disappear without saying anything… Especially without having finished dinner, or after she made all this delicious mochi."
"…Pon?"
The word 'mochi' seemed to get Ogerpon's attention, who had stopped burying her face in Juliana's hair to look over at what was in Hideko's hands. Then she gasped.
"Well… we certainly can't let good mochi treats go to waste, can we—"
"GEEEEEEE!"
With a sudden shrill cry from out of nowhere, Ogerpon leapt out of Juliana's arms and dove right into the plate Hideko was holding, sending it smashing to the ground.
"My word!" Hideko gasped.
"OGERPON!" Juliana cried out. "What are you doing!?"
Ogerpon was growling loudly again. She looked at all the spilled purple mochi treats with a scornful look on her face. Then, without warning, she took her cudgel out again and… starting smashing them all to bits!
"What on Earth…?" Kieran watched her, confused.
"Pnn..! Pnn…! PNN…!"
The ogre girl grunted almost feral-like as she tried to obliterate these innocuous-looking desserts, all with her face twisted up in a mix of anger and grief, and tears flying from her terror-stricken eyes.
"Ogerpon… s-stop it!" Juliana commanded, kneeling down and grabbing Ogerpon's arms to try to make her stop. "I don't know why you're acting so strange too, but—you can't go around smashing stuff like that! It's rude!"
But Ogerpon fidgeted and squirmed in Juliana's hands, crying out in desperation, before she pulled free and made a run for the door.
"Ogerpon!" Juliana called after her.
Hideko, watching Ogerpon's strange behavior, began to contemplate.
"A dancing plague over a thousand years ago… If that was true, it would've happened at almost the exact same time as Ogerpon's fated battle with the Loyal Three. I never put that together until now. There's still no truth it to though… right?"
Ogerpon swung the front doors open and Juliana instantly barreled after her. There, Ogerpon looked all around her anxiously. Then, she glanced back to Juliana with a sad smile… and leapt upwards.
"Huh!?"
Juliana watched, confused and frightened, as Ogerpon jumped from cliff to cliff and ran up Oni Mountain, completely away from sight.
"Ogerpon, wait!" she tried to call out. "Where are you going!? Ogerpon, come back!" she screamed.
The sun disappeared behind the hills, and dark clouds started forming over the skies of Kitakami. Everything had gone dark, especially in Juliana's world.
The girl she had just realized her strong feelings for was trapped in some horrible trance, unable to even recognize her… and now Ogerpon was gone.
All Juliana could do was kneel down in the middle of the garden, bunch her arms up… and start crying, wondering how such a promising day had twisted and gone so wrong.