"GOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, BLUEBERRY ACADEMY!
My name's Jazzy and I'm here with the A/V club to bring you all of today's exciting news and announcements on campus! How are we feeling, Blueberries?"
Raucous yells reverberated across the school campus.
"Ha-ha! Wow! I actually heard some of that from right here in the studio room, and we've got soundproof walls up in here! You all know what's up! I've got a list of all the bulletins I'm supposed to read over for today's morning program, but… y'know what? WHO CARES!"
Inside the studio room, Jazzy took the stack of papers comprising her script and tossed them up into the air.
"We KNOW what the big top story is everyone's been talking about! If you're anybody and somewhere in Blueberry Academy, then it's impossible for you to not know what's happening today! We're talking about the most-hyped event of the season! A battle among battles, with the potential to be the most exciting championship match in Blueberry Academy history!"
"On the one side… we have Kieran! A novice Trainer from Kitakami, once thought of by his peers as a timid first-year student, only to rise through the ranks of the BB League like Extreme Speed, overtake the Elite Four, and become one of the League Club's strongest Champions almost overnight!"
Kieran stood by the doors leading out of the lobby to the big entrance arena at the front of Blueberry Academy. His eyes were closed, he had one hand in his pocket, and the other one tapping antsily against the wall.
Many noted the Kitakamite boy's expression as becoming almost impossible to read ever since he became the Champion, a far cry from the flighty boy he used to be known as. He always had a blank look on his face nowadays. Often, it was hiding an explosive temper, or an attitude of severe indignance towards the "incompetence" of his peers.
Today… it was the jitters. Buried feelings of anxiousness. Not that it read on Kieran's face, though. So most of his classmates still knew well to just not even approach the emotional minefield of a person Kieran had become.
But not everyone.
"Hey, Kieran…"
He recognized Lacey's voice. He didn't acknowledge her, but he also did nothing to stymie her approach as she walked up him.
"You okay?" she asked in a concerned, almost motherly voice.
…
"I'm fine."
"Okay…"
Kieran glanced her way a few times, but otherwise kept his gaze to the floor.
"I just wanted to say this. I hope you know Kieran, that…" Lacey paused for a bit. "No matter what happens today, the BB League will always have your back. Especially me."
She smiled a soft, affectionate smile at him.
Kieran gazed at her for a few seconds. Then his eyes sneered a bit.
"…You don't think I'll lose, do you?"
"Well, I…" Lacey smiled awkwardly, and scratched at her head with her finger for a second. "I don't know what to expect, honestly! You've never lost a single battle since becoming Champion. But… I know that, Carmine's also never lost a battle against you, right?"
"Hmph. Well… things change."
Lacey giggled a bit. "They certainly do. … You both have grown a whole lot lately." She started twiddling her fingers together. "I just hope that, no matter who wins or loses, that you guys are able to keep growing—together."
Kieran didn't respond, just closed his eyes again. Lacey gave him one last sympathetic grin before walking out.
Kieran took a deep breath… and reached into his pocket.
He was starting to feel it again. Insecurity. Doubt.
Holding onto his good luck charm always seemed to help him dispel all these negative things he felt weighing him down. Even though lately it seemed like it wasn't working as well as when he first found it near the ogre's cave.
Kieran felt scents blossoming from the Pecha Berry and inhaled them sharply.
Once again, he felt confident and focused again, his 'weaker' emotions suppressed. And an eye on his goal: to defeat his opponent and cement himself as a strong, independent Trainer.
"Whatever you can say about our new Champion, he is NOT someone to be taken lightly! Only the most staggering of Trainers could hope to take him down!"
As Kieran continued to stand in the hallway though, he heard familiar giggles from a room nearby. Kieran's face tinged a bit, his nervousness already beginning to show again, as he crept up to one of the nearby waiting areas and listened in at the door to the sounds of voices he recognized as Juliana and Drayton's.
"Is the answer to his reign's end a shining new star from lands away!? His opponent, Juliana! A Champion ranked Trainer from the exotic land of Paldea, where the Terastal phenomenon first took root! But it gets even spicier! According to widespread rumors, she and Kieran are friends turned formidable foes!"
Drayton and Juliana sat together on a bench in the nearby waiting room with lockers, as another student from the nursing program, a girl training with an Audino, gently removed the ankle brace from Juliana's barefooted leg.
She then motioned to Audino. The Healing Pokémon wore a red vest just like the Luxio from the other day. With a calm deposition, Audino knelt in front of Juliana's outstretched ankle. It then focused and released a soothing pulse directed at the limb, surrounding it in a pink glow.
"Thank you, Audino!"
"Au-dinno!"
The girl gently poked around Juliana's ankle a bit to gauge her reaction, but Juliana barely winced.
"Doesn't hurt?"
"Only a little bit."
"Very good!" she noted. "Your ankle has shown terrific recovery! I don't think you'll even need this brace anymore."
"That's good to hear! It won't be so annoying putting my socks and pants on every day," Juliana joked.
She giggled in return. "You shouldn't need aid to walk anymore, either. Just make sure you're still not putting too much pressure on it. I can officially say you no longer need a Level-2 resting order."
"Well, that's a relief."
"A shame, though…" Drayton noted. "If that had been lifted a day or two earlier, maybe you wouldn't have had to resort to a substitute."
Drayton was borrowing Juliana's Graevard Beanie to hide his still electrically frazzled hair. It had earned him no small level of teasing from his compatriots, who asked him if he'd finally gotten enough of the cold, or if he'd decided to shave his head.
"People's health always comes first, Drayton," the nursing student said, rolling her eyes. "It's not that much of a loss though, right? Your dazzling friend out there has been kicking all kinds of butt! They say that Carmine has never lost a battle against Kieran, right? I gotta be honest, I'm so pumped for that match!"
"Hee-hee, me too."
"Me three," Drayton chimed in.
The nursing student and her Audino finished up their medical examination and left the two of them alone, in a hurry to get good seats.
Juliana put her shoe and sock back on and let her foot rest on the ground, a relieved smile on her face.
"Phew…"
"That's gotta feel good, huh?" said Drayton. "Means I can finally stop feeling guilty!"
Juliana chuckled and rolled her eyes. Drayton looked at her a bit more solemnly.
"I really am sorry, you know. Drayster promise and all that."
"Thanks, Drayton. But you've got nothing to apologize for. It was my fault."
"Well… I'll let you take the blame for that part, since you're insisting on it! Even so, maybe everyone's got a point about how I was forcin' ya into all this. So I'm sorry for that too."
"It's fine," said Juliana. "I could kinda tell from the beginning that you had your reasons for wanting me to be in the League."
"Wait, really?" Drayton's eyebrows went up in surprise.
"Well, you made it kind of obvious when you kept from me that Kieran was the Champion even though you knew the whole time that we're friends… And it was your idea to have Carmine take my place."
"Ahhh. Right." He awkwardly scratched his head. "But, I guess I'm confused then. If you knew I was up to something… why'd you still follow along with everything anyway?"
Juliana shrugged. "I don't know… I guess just because, even though I knew you were kinda scheme-y like everyone said, I also felt like you were still a nice guy deep down inside. So I wanted to help you with whatever it was you needed me for."
Drayton looked at her, genuinely touched and surprised, and smiled a bit of a dopey grin at her.
"Well, gee… thanks, Juliana. Man, Carmine was right. You really are the nicest girl in the whole world."
Juliana blushed a little. "Carmine… really said that about me, huh?"
"Oh yeah, and tons more!" He put his arm around Juliana with a mischievous grin. "Come find me after all this, and I can tell you what else she's said about you while you were back home."
"I think she'd strike me down with lightning if I did that!" Juliana chuckled. "But I'd love to know more about you sometime, Drayton."
"Me, huh? Well, I am a very fascinating Trainer who's lived a very awesome life."
"I can imagine! … Oh!" Juliana suddenly remembered something. "That's right! I always wanted to know about this… Did Team Plasma really freeze the city you grew up in when you were a kid?"
"Ha-ha! So Carmine told you about that, huh? Quid pro quo, I guess. Anyway yeah, 100% true! I even keep the pictures I took that day on my phone, 'cause nobody ever believes me when I tell 'em!"
Drayton pulled out his phone and showed Juliana the photos of his childhood city covered in ice, including the icicles covering a tall building in the shape of a dragon head that he explained as his grandfather's Gym—
"Are ALL of you in the Elite Four related to a Gym Leader!?"
"Only us cool ones."
-as well as one of a very young Drayton posing in front of a frozen flower garden, looking weirdly chipper about the whole thing.
"It took a few weeks for the whole city to thaw out, from what I remember. You'd totally like Opelucid City if you came to visit it now, though! It's this great big city that's all dark and futuristic looking!"
Then Drayton began to scratch his head and think deeply.
"Or… is it all white and rustic-looking? Weird, I actually can't remember now."
Juliana looked at him, confused. "You don't… remember what your own hometown looks like?"
"Well, it's… hard because my family was so spread out," he awkwardly explained. "Between training with Gramps, my dad's big office job in Black City, and my mom being a busy lawyer in Lacunosa Town, it all just kind of blurs together, I guess. Plus, uhh…"
Drayton began to look insecure all of a sudden.
"I haven't, uhh, exactly been home in a while…"
"Why's that?"
Then his face picked back up again. "Oh, y'know! Just busy, I guess! Too caught up in all my endless tasks here at Blueberry to be able to check in on my folks!"
"Oh. …Okay!" Juliana gave him an odd look, not convinced he was telling the full truth, but decided to brush that aside for now. "Well, I'd love to learn more about where you grew up sometime, Drayton. Especially if you have more pictures!"
"Heh! Well, thanks Juliana. Nobody's ever really, uhh, shown that much interest in my pictures before. You know what I think?" Drayton nodded his head. "Yeah, you'd make a fine Champion. You actually care about your fellow students!"
Juliana's smile dipped a bit.
"I suppose… you want me as Champion instead of Drayton."
"Well… I…"
"That's the real reason you're doing all this, right? Like you said at the beginning… that it's about Kieran more than me."
Drayton crossed his arms and looked pensive.
"You and Kieran used to be friends, right?"
"Yeah—" Then Juliana shook her head. "No. We still are."
"Right. Good answer." He nodded. "Well… here's the Drayster take: I liked Kieran better when he had his hair down."
"Hmm," was Juliana's only response, even though she honestly wanted to agree.
"You remember how he was before, right? He used to be this quiet little guy. Trembled like a leaf. Had all the spine of a Wimpod. He'd hide behind Carmine if you so much as breathed too loud."
Juliana chuckled out loud. She definitely remembered that Kieran.
"But I'll tell you what… When it came to Pokemon battling, I never saw so much joy in anyone's eyes as in his!"
"Yeah… me neither," Juliana agreed as she recalled their first match in Mossui Town. Kieran was so excited by all her "exotic" Pokémon… and she was awestruck by his extremely cute ones.
What happened to his Furret anyway? That one seemed to be his favorite…
"But then, outta nowhere, he changed! Now he's relentless. He pushes himself, pushes everyone around him… Nothing good's gonna come out of this. Someone's gotta snap him out of it."
Juliana frowned a bit. "And that's where you came in?"
"I tried but couldn't do it. Guess I've gone soft from the lazy life. So now I guess it all falls to you and Carmine."
Juliana looked unsure.
"I want Kieran to stop being the kind of person he's been lately too but… to this extreme? This whole time, you've been so confident that him losing his Champion title will make him go back to normal? … What if he just becomes even more upset?"
"You're right… that is a risk," Drayton concurred. "But honestly…? Maybe it won't be so bad if he loses. It might finally be the push he needs to realize he's gone too far…"
Juliana gulped. "But if he wins…?"
Drayton thought about it for a few seconds.
"…Just tell Carmine not to lose. Easy!" He smiled like it was a simple solution.
She scoffed. "Yeah. Alright. You're a nice guy, but if Penny were here, she'd say you need to work on your tact. Where is Carmine, anyway?"
"She came from out of nowhere, broke all the rules, and took down the Elite Four without breaking a sweat! But tragedy struck… and a dark phoenix arose from the ashes! Invoking a little-known substitute clause, Juliana pulled out her REAL surprise asset!"
"Who knew Carmine, Kieran's own sister who they say used to raise a fist towards anyone that would dare speak against her brother, would step up the plate to help the new challenger instead… and actually run away with victory even more effortlessly!? You couldn't have predicted any of this even with the world's most advanced computer!"
Carmine stood quietly against the wall, the opposite wall to the big scene outside.
She could hear dozens, possibly even hundreds, of voices of students loudly gathering on the big stage outside, and cheering. Cheering her name.
On any other day, this would be her big dream moment. Coming out to a whole crowd chanting her name. The fame Carmine had always desired.
And part of her did desire this. A part of her was still feeling alive and glowing after the battles she'd just had against her friends. Everything she did, for Juliana's honor…
But she also felt very tepid. And nervous. Her heart was beating fast, and she could feel a wave of anxiety welling up.
Why?
"Now the impossible match has become reality…" Jazzy's voice said out over the speakers. "Brother against sister! Blood versus blood!"
Right. That'd be why.
"Will Carmine, once her brother's protector, be the one to bring him down from his throne!? Will Kieran quash the dreams of both his friend and his own sister!?"
"Shut up… Shut up…"
Carmine bunched over in herself and tried to fight back the heavy breaths she could feel coming. Now wasn't the time for this to start happening, but it was happening fast.
She grabbed onto her head, feeling the world start to spin, when—
"Carmine?"
Then she heard that voice, and instantly felt herself returning to Planet Earth.
"Huh?"
Juliana walked over to where she was. "You okay?"
"Oh, hey Juliana," said Carmine, doing her best to regather herself. "I'm fine, I'm just… just—" she trailed off.
"Just really nervous about battling your brother?"
Carmine fidgeted with her hair. "I just… I just don't want him to hate me after today. But I don't want to disappoint you either…" She sighed. "My heart feels like it's torn in two places right now, Juliana. I just—I don't feel like I can get through this without making one of you upset, and I… I…"
She could feel herself getting antsy again, but to Carmine's surprise, Juliana walked over and calmly clasped Carmine's hands in hers.
"Then… just focus on battling for today. And save the worrying for later." She smiled. "That's the advice Nemona always gives me."
Carmine still looked uncertain.
"You know Kieran could never hate you."
"I—I know…"
"And… and I never could either."
Then what she did next truly shocked Carmine.
Juliana made herself closer to the girl, right up to her face, which made Carmine's heart jump, and then… jumped up and planted a kiss on her cheek.
"…!"
"You got this, Carmine." Juliana pumped up her fist. "You're one of the best Trainers I've ever met. I believe in you."
"I… I…"
Then, Carmine furiously shook her head. At that moment, it was like her whole attitude did a 360 and she shook her fists with a re-ignited passion.
"Of course! I am Carmine! The greatest, most beautiful Trainer in Blueberry Academy! The pride of Kitakami! I will be the best substitute this school's ever seen, and I will win this battle for my sweet friend!" She laughed boastfully. "Ho-ho-ho! Thanks, Juliana! My battery's set to max, and I'm ready to go all out!"
Juliana giggled. "There's the wild girl I know and love! I'll be right in the stands cheering for you! Just look at me any time you need another Booster Energy, and I'll be right there!"
"I know you will." Carmine smiled sincerely.
"Good luck!"
Juliana lightly bumped Carmine's shoulder with her fist and ran out. As she did, Carmine stared after her lovingly.
"Thank you, Juliana. Thank you so much…"
"It's going to be an exciting match! Today is looking so hot, I don't even want to do the rest of these morning announcements! Umm… umm… if you're looking for more hot news on what's going on at Blueberry, just—read the newspaper! Or… go do some reading at the library! I'm Jazzy! See you later! Big J, let's go! We gotta make it before all the seats empty out!"
*bing-bong-bong-bing*
"This is an official BB League announcement," Amarys's voice rung out over the speakers next. "A Championship match is about to begin at the battle court near the entrance to the academy. If you would like to watch the match, please make your way there."
Students began filing into the stadium seats at the academy entrance en masse. The championship match had caused such an uproar of hype that many instructors had cancelled classes for the day.
…Not just for the benefit of the students, but because they wanted to go see this unexpected match too!
By the time Carmine stepped out to the plate, it was like most of the student body of Blueberry had shown up today. She waved out to the crowd, and was shocked to hear an immediate rapturous applause her way.
Feeling fueled by the audience's cheers, Carmine began waving both of her hands out with a confident expression, simmering in the good vibes of her classmates' support.
She gulped though, as she looked ahead and saw her opponent.
Kieran glared her way. His foot stamped along the ground like he was squashing a bug with maximum determination. He was tossing his Poké Ball in the air impatiently.
His eyes followed his sister as she tepidly made her way to the center stage.
"Kept me waiting, sis."
"…Kiki."
"Carmine."
Carmine anxiously took out the first two Poké Balls she wanted to use, those being Juliana's Glimmora and Palafin, and breathed quietly to herself.
Be strong for Juliana, Carmine. Be strong for her…
She looked out into the crowd at that moment, wondering where the Paldean girl was. It wasn't hard to find her; Juliana was in the front row, waving wildly to her.
Carmine smiled a soft grin at her, and faced her brother again.
"Ya done?" he asked with jealous bite.
"Kiki…" Carmine swallowed hard, looking for the words to say. "Are you sure this is what you want…? You don't need to prove yourself to me, you know. Or Juliana. We both know how strong you are. What is it you're hoping to achieve with all this…?"
Kieran stopped tossing his Ball. He slipped his hand into his pocket for a brief second, and scoffed.
"What? You think I'm gonna run and cry because it's you I have to fight instead of Juliana, who I already know I can crush?"
Carmine looked at him, confused. Kieran perked his chin up high in the air.
"No. The truth is… I'm real happy about this, sis. This whole time, I thought I was only mad at Juliana. Because I thought she was the one who betrayed me back home. Because she wouldn't let me battle her… Started hanging out with you instead of me… Manipulated me into givin' up the ogre…"
Carmine briefly glanced back at Juliana, who was listening with an increasingly troubled face.
"But see… then I thought about it more. Like, really thought about it. How did this all start, anyway? Juliana and I were all fine, best friends as could be…"
His eyes honed in on her.
"…that is, until you told her to lie."
Carmine gulped again and reared back.
"You made her lie so you could keep the ogre for yourself… Then you kept telling me to scram so you could keep her all to yourself… You were the one who turned her against me, Carmine."
"I—I didn't!"
"Then she only wanted to hang out with you. And you two became friends with the ogre and got the masks back for it all by yourselves, while I got stuck with the icky parts. And what did I get for it? The ogre rejected me… and it chose you. Of course it freakin' did."
With barely restrained fury, Kieran gripped the Poké Ball in his hand and held it over his face.
"Now I understand everything. My problem's not just Juliana… it's you. You manipulated me, and took everything from me."
Carmine was at a complete loss for words.
"Kieran, do you… Do you really think that I… that I did all of that on purpose!? Just to hurt you? I would never!"
"Whatever. None of that matters now. The only thing that matters is this, because… I have a request."
"What's—that?"
With a vicious snarl, he turned Juliana's way.
"JULIANA!"
Juliana tensed up in her seat at the sudden address.
"H-Huh!?"
"I heard you and Drayton over in that room!" he shouted out. "…When you weren't makin' fun of me anyway!"
"What!? We weren't—"
"Your leg's all healed up now, right? No more resting order crap?"
"Y-yeah…" she responded shyly.
Carmine was even more confused. "You're not… Waiiit! You're not about to try to force us to switch up, are y—"
"No. I'm not." Kieran closed his eyes for a brief moment. Then he flashed them open again. "I want to battle both of you. At the same time."
"WHAT!?"
"HUH!?" Juliana gasped.
The whole crowd erupted in gasps and surprised chatters.
"I know it's a really strange request, and that it's not part of the rules! But… please here me out! This is what I need!" Kieran defended. "I need a chance to prove that I can beat BOTH of you! The ones who both make me feel like this!"
"Kiki! Now this is just getting ridiculous!"
"What is HAPPENING!?" Lacey cried out from the stands. "Does nobody have respect for the rules anyway!? Wahhh… what has this club turned into?" she whined.
"Please! Just this one time! I'll even—I'll even let you use your own Pokémon sis, so it's an even fight!"
"Kiki…" Carmine was still too stunned to speak. "Come on, this is just about you wanting revenge now… It won't make you happy."
Deciding he was going to get nowhere with Carmine, Kierna turned his attention to Juliana and began making his case to her.
"Juliana, come on! Please? I want to battle you two together… just like how you both teamed up to defeat the ogre! Your full power against mine! So I can finally show you I'm stronger than the both of you!"
"Well, I… I…"
Juliana was speechless too. All the eyes in the arena were on her now.
She could see dozens upon dozens of expectant eyes upon her, all waiting fervently for her to make an answer. Then she gazed into Kieran's eyes…
And saw the timid boy again. Pleading at her with his soft, yellow eyes.
She gulped.
"Okay. A 2-on-1 battle. I'll do it."
The whole arena lit up in screams.
Juliana nervously made her way down to the center stage once things had been talked over and the League… agreed to Kieran's strange and sudden request.
Once she was side-by-side with Carmine, she nudged Juliana angrily.
"What are you doing!?" she whispered.
"I don't know…" she admitted. "I just… I didn't want to disappoint hi—"
Carmine interrupted her with a frustrated grunt.
"Kieran…" Juliana gave him a pleading look. "I really, really don't want it to go down this way…"
"Well for once, it's not just about what you want, Juliana."
Kieran fished out his Poké Ball again.
"I worked so hard for a chance to show you what I can really do, Juliana. I put everything into studying and making my Pokémon stronger… I crushed the Elite Four and became Champion..."
He took a huge breath.
"All that hard work... All of it.. All of it was just so I could beat you—right here, and right now!"
"Kieran, I'm sorry…" she tried feebly to apologize. "I'm sorry I didn't give you the battle you wanted. I'm sorry that I neglected you as my friend. And I'm… I'm really, really sorry that I lied to you. I really wish you knew just… just how much I've regretted it ever since that day."
Kieran didn't respond for a bit. Juliana looked at him with pleading worry, wondering if this was finally going to be the Brick Break to push through his walls.
"Juliana…"
Kieran looked at her calmly, softly.
"I really wish you'd stop feeling so sorry for me. There's nothing for you to feel sorry about. …Well, I guess except maybe for carryin' on the idea that we were ever gonna be friends."
Juliana was crushed by this. Her legs began to wobble, just like they did at Loyalty Plaza, which Carmine noticed, and she lightly put a hand on her back.
"Really… I should thank you."
"What do you mean?"
"It's thanks to you, and my sis and—the ogre, that I finally threw the old Kieran away, woke up, and realized my true potential."
"Kiki… This really isn't heatl—"
Kierna huffed. "Don't you two get it by now? I am not your problem to be solved, okay?"
Another deep breath, and then his yellow eyes pierced into both their skulls.
"I… am your reckoning!"
Juliana and Carmine stared back at him with worry, and then turned to each other.
"I swear, we should just call off this whole thing right now…" Carmine whispered to her.
"Carmine… I think, I think this is the only path to making him happy. I don't—I don't want to reject a battle with him again."
Carmine wanted to protest. But instead, she grimaced, and reluctantly gave in.
"Fine… But whatever happens now… it's all on you. Okay?"
"We're in this together now, Carmine," she smiled. "…And we got this."
Carmine smiled back at her.
Both girls turned back to Kieran, now with fully determined faces.
"I'm going to teach you a lesson, Kiki… the hard way, if I have to."
"Bring it on, sis. Eventually, the universe has to stop giving you everything it owes me…!"
His eyes wild with a more determined fury than ever before, Kieran took a huge swing, almost knocking himself off his feet, as he sent out his first two Pokémon.
"Grrrraaaaaaoooohhhh!" Dragonite roared into the air, adorned with an Expert Belt.
"Poli! Politoed!"
Kieran's Politoed entered with a huge burst of water. As the Frog Pokémon croaked, the air became filled with mist and a simulated rainstorm overtook the center of the arena.
Juliana and Carmine both cringed and stepped back from some of the rain touching onto their clothes.
"Of course he gave his Politoed the Drizzle Ability…" Carmine grumbled. "This is it, Juliana."
"No turning back now."
Juliana sent out her first of three Pokémon, her trusty water bug Araquanid.
"Brrrble brrl!"
"Good thing my newest baby JUST evolved! Betcha never seen this beaut up-close, Juliana!"
Carmine tossed out her Pokémon, which instantly made Juliana rear back.
"WHOA!"
"OVERQWIL!" the big dark blowfish belted out.
"That's—Wait, those colors… You mean, YOUR REGION'S QWILFISH CAN EVOLVE!?"
"What, you didn't know that?" Carmine winked. "Overqwil packs a punch! Its vicious poisonous spikes will make anything eat dirt!"
Overqwil's spikes truly couldn't be overstated, some of them reaching out almost to the length of Juliana's whole body. It balanced on its huge bottom spike, staying perfectly mobile on the ground like a pushpin.
"Well, let's make sure our Pokémon can take hits as well as they can give them. Araquanid, open with Reflect!"
Araquanid gurgled as it began to construct a huge psychic wall of energy over itself and its partner. However…
"Dragonite! Extreme Speed!"
Kieran's Dragonite suddenly made a series of quick motions, moving through the air at such speed that it seemed almost invisible.
"GRAAOO!"
It managed to tackle Araquanid before it finished setting up Reflect, leaving the giant bug flummoxed.
"And Politoed, Weather Ball!"
"POLI!"
Politoed charged up a huge ball of mist. Boosted by its own simulated rain, the ball became a huge blue burst of water as Politoed launched it like a dodgeball of rain at Overqwil.
"Qwill…!" it growled.
"Don't let yourself be bullied by a dumb frog, Overqwil! Set the stage for a bewitching victory! Let's make the whole floor toxic!"
Overqwil puffed up like a balloon, and with a mighty yell, shot out a bunch of poisonous barbs onto the field.
Kieran shook his head. "Predictable."
"What'd you say to me!?" Carmine seethed.
But Kieran flicked the end over his face and ignored her.
"Dragonite, use Breaking Swipe. And Politoed, Helping Hand."
Politoed lent a Helping Hand to boost Dragonite's energy, giving it the power it needed to sweep the whole other side of the arena with its powerful tail, doing lots of damage.
It kicked up so much dirt that Juliana and Carmine both found themselves coughing a bit.
"How'd you like that!?" Kieran declared. "Now YOU'RE the ones eating dirt!"
"…Huh?" Carmine said quietly.
She was bothered to hear Kieran throw one of her own expressions back at her, but she shook it off and tried to stay focused.
"O-Overqwil! Hit Politoed with a Poison Jab before it tries another one of its slimy tricks!"
Overqwil unpinned himself and rushed forward at Politoed, jabbing it with one of its powerful spikes. Politoed took a massive hit… and then winced hard.
"YES!" Carmine pumped her fist. "Let that venom stew in your veins and send you back to the pond you came from!"
Juliana giggled, while Kieran rolled his eyes.
"So dramatic…" Then his eyeline became wicked. "…I need to wipe that smile off your face! Dragonite, ANOTHER Breaking Swipe!"
Dragonite acquiesced to its Trainer's impulsive demand, and began to sweep again. Juliana thought quickly.
"Araquanid! Put up a Wide Guard!"
Araquanid successfully put up a different shield, a thin hexagonal one, that absorbed the huge blow from Dragonite's arena-sweeping Breaking Swipe.
"Look who's being my guardian now," Carmine smiled. Juliana blushed and looked away. "Looks like we're the ones serving dirt now, Kiki! By the end of this, your name's going to be MUD!"
Kieran looked unfazed by her comment.
"Don't get too cocky, sis… That's how Juliana kept beating you, remember?"
"Why you…!"
"I'll show you what mud looks like in all this rain. Politoed, another Weather Ball! And Dragonite… use Thunder!"
"Thunder? Uh oh…" Juliana braced.
Politoed splashed Overqwil with another rain-boosted Weather Ball, while Dragonite summoned a large thundercloud and slammed Araquanid with a powerful bolt of lightning.
"Brrrrr-bl…"
The water bug was left barely squeaking by after that electro blast.
"Araquanid, hang in there…" Juliana pleaded.
"Your big bug is toast, Juliana. Dragonite, Extreme Speed! NOW!"
Carmine frantically whispered to Juliana, "Say 'Araquanid, turn the tables!' Hurry!"
"Huh!? Uh—Araquanid! Turn the tables!"
"BRRB!"
Just as Dragonite connected over Araquanid, the Pokémon reflexed quickly and inverted its own legs to ensnare Dragonite, causing the huge orange dragon's head to drown in its water bubble.
"Drr-gbbbl!?"
"Liquidation!" Carmine whispered.
"LIQUIDATION!"
With Dragonite all wrapped up, Araquanid pelted it with a hard and heavy headrush of water before felling the dragon in a mighty back blow.
Dragonite lay fainted.
The crowd erupted in astonished cheers.
"Wh—No, no, NOOOOO!" Kieran yelled.
"That was AMAZING, Araquanid!" Juliana clapped excitedly. She turned to Carmine. "Did—did you teach him that?"
"Hee-hee! I should open my own training gym!" Carmine boasted, flicking her hair. "His Dragonite's about as bullheaded as he is."
"I don't think that's—"
"POLITOED, ICE BEAM!"
With a sudden loud command from Kieran, Politoed unleashed an Ice Beam on Juliana's Araquanid. Araquanid was blasted with subzero temperatures so staggering… it was left frozen inside its own bubble.
"Ahh! Oh no!"
"Start paying attention to the battle, Juliana… before you break your other ankle."
Juliana gasped. Carmine paused, and watched as she saw Juliana's eyes begin to get glossy.
"Hey… hey, hey." She gently put her arm around Juliana's shoulder. "Remember what you said? He's just trying to push his hurt onto us."
"I know…" She took a deep breath. "I know."
As the two comforted each other, Kieran began to wince a lot, feeling a tinge of regret. Then he pounded his hip lightly and chided himself.
Stop showing weakness, idiot…
"Go. Porygon-Z."
Kieran sent out his next Pokémon, a CGI bird-looking creature whose features moved around erratically as if it was having a seizure.
"Ehhh?" Juliana reacted. "Is that supposed to be…?"
"Porygon-Z," Carmine nodded. "You remember that Porygon2 you told me about last week? It evolves from that. I guess by trading it with some computer-y item that messes with its head or something."
How did he even manage to evolve it without any friends…?
"I should've watched his matches more…" Carmine fretted. "Porygon-Z is so weird and unpredictable. I have no idea what he plans to do with that thing. We'd better take out the grunt so we can go all in! Overqwil!"
"QWIL QWIL."
"Now that Politoed's got a case of the ick, let's administer some lethal treatment! Go! BARB BARRAGE!"
Overqwil unfastened itself from the ground again, and this time it went barreling towards Politoed.
"OVERQWIIIIL!"
The Pin Cluster Pokémon mercilessly jabbed Politoed with a steady stream of its poison barbs. With Politoed suffering from poison already, this brutal attack seemed to pack even more damage.
By the end of it, Politoed was completely down for the count.
"Polllll…" it cried weakly, as Kieran recalled it.
"Yes! That's two down!" Carmine celebrated.
Kieran grit his teeth in rage.
"Grrr! Porygon-Z! Use Thunderbolt on Araquanid NOW!"
"Porrryyyyy…"
"Uh-oh… Araquanid! Come on!" Juliana pleaded. "Thaw out! Hurry!"
"…GOOOONNNNN!"
Porygon-Z shot a huge beam of electricity at the frozen Araquanid with extreme prejudice. Araquanid thawed out alright, as the ice shattered all around it…
…but the giant insect fell on all of its legs, having blown its last bubble.
"You did great, Araquanid," Juliana told it fondly as she recalled it. As she did so, she noticed Porygon-Z flinch for a second after using its attack. There was a brief purple gleam, and she whispered to Carmine, "Porygon-Z's got a Life Orb!"
"Ohh, really? Good eye."
"Alright… well, time for an old friend to make their play! Come on out, Mienshao!"
Mienshao's long purple arms parted like a sliding door as the ferret-like Pokémon proudly cried into battle.
"Shaaaaaao!"
"Wowzers, you still kept the Mienfoo you caught this whole time…?" Kieran said, enamored for a brief second. "…Errr. Good for you, I guess. I've got someone even more powerful from back home! Go, Grimmsnarl!"
"SNAAAAARL!" Grimmsnarl roared as it flexed its dark hair-wrapped arms.
"Oooh!" Carmine realized, glancing at the ground. "Wait for it…"
But Kieran looked down and seemed to pick up on it quicker than her.
"Grimmsnarl, hurry! Use Spirit Break on Overqwil, from the ground!"
Grimmsnarl bent low and charged at Carmine's Overqwil with great force. As it rushed forward, its hair follicles swept up all the toxic barbs on the ground, jostling them away.
Then it made contact, and Overqwil finally lost both its balance and its spirit.
"QWILLLL…"
"What the heck…?" Carmine said in a silent awe as she recalled her giant blowfish.
"And Porygon-Z…" Kieran's fist shook with his simmering rage. "Use HYPER BEAM on Mienshao!"
"Hyper Beam…?" Lacey said in surprise from the stands.
"Wow!" said Crispin. "And I thought Carmine's last Pokémon was overkill!"
He smiled a toothy grin at Lacey, proud of his pun, who responded by playfully slapping him on the arm.
Porygon-Z fired a huge beam of energy that shook the whole stage and struck Mienshao harshly. With the combined power of Life Orb and its Adaptability, it did a lot of damage to the Martial Arts Pokémon.
Mienshao was left barely standing after such an ordeal.
"Wow, Kieran really got serious, huh…" Juliana winced hard. "We might be in trouble here, Mienshao…"
"Never fear! For your trusty guardian Carmine is here, with her special partner to save the day!"
Carmine confidently tossed out her next Pokémon, loyal old Sinistcha.
"Sinees! …Sinees?"
Upon entering the field, Sinistcha immediately took notice of its severely weak partner.
"Eees-cha!"
With a determined face, Sinistcha bubbled up some of its tea and splashed matcha dust onto Mienshao.
"Mien…?" Then Mienshao slowly began to feel all its strength returning. "MIEN!"
"Woww!" Juliana marveled. "That's amazing!"
"My Sinistcha's special ability is Hospitality! When it gets sent into battle, it immediately heals a weak ally!" Carmine gave herself a pointed salute. "Aren't we so generous!"
"Sinees-sinees!"
"Porrrr…"
Kieran's Porygon-Z was floating numbly, its lights depowered and its voice low and croaky.
"That little beast-bird still has to recharge after its Hyper Beam," Carmine noted. "We'll be safe from its wild antics for a minute."
"Perfect time for us to set up our defenses against your dumb teacup," said Kieran. "Grimmsnarl, Light Screen!"
Grimmsnarl put up a magical barrier over itself and Porygon-Z to protect them both from Poltchageist's special attacks.
Huh. It seems like Kiki sees me a bigger threat than Juliana right now… Carmine noted. Well, I've never lost against him, so it makes sense. And I'm not going to today!
"You can hide, but you can't run as we Matcha Getcha!" she declared with confidence. "Sinistcha, you know what to do!"
"Oooh! And Mienshao… give it a Helping Hand!" Juliana thought up.
Sinistcha brewed up its special matcha tea in its pot, as Mienshao's energy encouraged the ghastly gourmet to stir harder and harder.
"SINEEEEES!"
Sinistcha blasted Kieran's Pokémon with a powerful splash of matcha, pounding against them both in spite of the Light Screen, and even splashing Kieran's clothes a bit.
"Aaagh!" he cried out.
Have fun washing THAT out of your clothes… Juliana observed with a smirk, remembering her own ordeal about battling Carmine at the end of their trip.
Sinistcha absorbed their life forces into itself. Both Pokémon were hit hard by the attack… and then Porygon-Z lit up, having been inflicted with a nasty burn from the hot tea.
"Gyyyy-gon!" it cried out in distress.
"Yay!" said Juliana. "That did a lot!"
"Sure did!" They high-fived each other.
"SERIOUSLY!? Even luck's chosen you over me... It's not fair! It's JUST NOT FAIR!" Kieran shouted, completely enraged. "My team is going to send you crashing to the ground TWICE AS HARD for that! Porygon-Z! ICE BEAM on Poltchageist!"
"Pory-GOOONNN!"
Porygon-Z fired a sharp Ice Beam at the Matcha Pokémon, drastically lowering the temperature on its hot tea.
"I don't know what hurt more, that attack or Kiki calling you the wrong name…"
"And Grimmsnarl, Reflect before that Mienshao tries anything!"
"GRIMM!" Grimmsnarl now set up a second barrier, this time to repel Mienshao's physical attacks.
Juliana gasped sharply… and then a wicked smile came upon her face.
"Uhhh… what's with you?" asked Carmine, confused.
"This is it…"
"Yeah!" she remembered Jacq saying. "Did you know that Brick Break is a really good move at crushing a Pokémon's psychic walls like when they use Light Screen?"
Juliana's eyes lit up. "No I didn't!"
"This is the moment!"
"The… moment?"
"Mienshao!" she said rather excitedly. "BRICK BREAK! Smash those walls!"
Sensing its Trainer's burst of enthusiasm, Mienshao howled a determined cry and split its fist right through Grimmsnarl's barriers, shattering them into pieces and doing a significant chunk of damage to the Bulk Up Pokémon.
"YES! I've always wanted to see what that looks like in action!" Juliana celebrated.
"Uhhh… yeah! Congratulations…" said a confused Carmine.
"Rrrrrggg… GRRRAAAHHHH!"
Kieran shouted a loud, defiant yell into the skies, sounding like a Grimmsnarl himself.
"Wow, look at Kieran getting all fired up!" said Crispin. "He's looking like HE'S about to Terastallize into a Fire-type!"
Lacey cupped her hands together in worry. "Please don't stress yourself out, Kieran…"
"Poltchageist! …Darn it, I mean Sinistcha!" Carmine corrected herself.
Sinistcha swiveled around to its Trainer and frowned.
"Sorry!" she said bashfully. "Umm, please use Matcha Gotcha again!"
Sinistcha reserved its annoyed feelings and spun itself up in its teacup again. It blasted Grimmsnarl and Porygon-Z with another helping of its hot Matcha Gotcha.
"GRRAAHHH…"
Porygon-Z took another blow to its its already burnt-up body, while Grimmsnarl fainted from the attack, and Sinistcha recovered another handy helping of HP to make up for the earlier Ice Beam damage.
Kieran recalled his Grimmsnarl and then began scratching at his scalp furiously.
"RRRRAAAGGGHHH! You're really starting to make me mad now! I'm still going to defeat you both, and then you'll be sorry for making fun of me! GO, INCINEROAR!"
Kieran sent out his fierce cat Pokémon that posed to the crowd like some professional wrestler.
"INCINUH! HRRGH! HEH!"
"Incineroar! Fake Out on that purple pest!"
"INSHUN!"
Incineroar went for a Fake Out attack on Mienshao, but…
"Mienshao! Quick Guard!"
Mienshao acted fast and put up a quick barrier over itself that protected from the attack and prevented its flinch.
Kieran stomped his foot angrily into the ground. "I hate you… I HATE YOU!" he grumbled quietly to himself.
"Now's our chance to really make their blood boil!" said Carmine. "Sinistcha, use Scald to douse that naughty cat!"
"Sinees… CHAAAA!"
Sinistcha splashed Incineroar with a torrent of cold water, making it fall to its knees.
"Nice one, Carmine!" said Juliana, giving her a thumbs up. "We make a really unstoppable team!"
"H-hey! Pay attention!" Carmine alerted her.
"Huh?"
She noticed too late that Porygon-Z was charging up another Hyper Beam, this time directed at Mienshao.
-BOOOOOOOM!-
Mienshao was left dazed and fainted on the ground after the attack. Juliana rushed over to nurse its fallen head as she prepared to recall it.
"Great job, Mienshao… You were magnificent."
"Mien…"
"Tch." Kieran threw his head back again. "You should pay more attention to me instead of making googly eyes at each other! …For once in your lives, anyway."
"Hmmph! Knock it off, Kiki!"
"We'll see who has the last laugh…" Juliana muttered, readying up her final Pokémon. "Go, Meowscarada! Time to put on a show!"
When Meowscarada entered battle, it sensed the booming presence of a large audience. So, similar to when it first presented itself to Nemona, the magician cat put on a show. A mighty cat's yowl. Pulling out its signature invisible-stemmed bulb.
And a dramatic stage pose as it shrouded its green leafy cape before the mass crowd.
"Mrrow… Mrreeeow… SCAH!"
Then it unsheathed its cloak to reveal… a confused Scorbunny.
The students watching ooh'd and ahh'd at the impromptu magic show.
"SCOR!"
Scorbunny, annoyed, angrily breathed fire on the Magician Pokémon's face before breaking free of tis grasp and hopping away.
"…Scrrah?" Meowscarada cried out from its charred mask.
"Wowzers…" Kieran gleamed. "So that's what your Floragato evolves into, huh…?"
"Awww, you remembered its name from before!" Juliana cooed.
"Huh!? Well, yeah, I—I—Grrr!" Kieran shook his fist. "Stop distracting me! Porygon-Z! Let's fry… huh?"
His Porygon-Z was still recharging from its Hyper Beam. …But more than that, it also took damage from its burn.
This proved to be too much for the Virtual Pokémon on top of the damage it'd taken from Life Orb… and it fainted on its own.
"And there's the play," Carmine giggled. "Wait for its own item to kill it."
Kieran huffed loudly and angrily.
"Come ONNNNN! Why are my Pokémon taking all the blows while you guys get the rewards? NOTHING'S CHANGED AT ALL! WHY!?"
"Kieran…" Juliana said sadly. "You have to stop looking at everything so negati—"
"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" he yelled back. "I'm not taking advice from you! I don't need the old me anymore! Because I HAVE changed... and I'll show you I can change again! GO! MY ULTIMATE PARTNER!"
Kieran sent out his last Pokémon…
"Hydroooo!"
"HYDROOOOOO!" "HYDROOOOOO!" "HYDROOOOOO!" "HYDROOOOOO!"
Juliana remembered Kieran's Dipplin from before, but now it had become something much more powerful and draconic. There were now five worm-like heads that howled from within that giant coated apple, with two more tails seen in the back of it. The head "syrpent" was adorned with an Assault Vest.
Carmine couldn't help but gush proudly.
"Awwww! Kiki! You finally got the special move to evolve your Dipplin! I know you've been wanting that for a long time!"
"I can't believe Dipplin had another evolution this whole time! It was plenty strong already! And now it's a bunch of dragon heads!? That's AWESOME!" she raved. "Why can't Applin turn into this back home in Paldea!?"
Kieran blushed a little at all the positive attention.
"Well, gee, umm… T-thanks, guys… Wait, no! Wh-what am I doing!?"
Carmine chuckled a bit. "You started acting like your old self again. Guess you didn't throw away the old Kiki after all."
"No, I DIDN'T!" he yelled defiantly. "You two! You're—you're playing mind games with me! Tryin' to manipulate me! It's not going to work, you annoying pinheads!"
Juliana laughed out loud in a burst.
"Now what's your problem?" Carmine turned to her.
Juliana pointed and said, "He sounds just like you did when I first met you in Kitakami, Carmine!"
"Yeah, well—Wait… he does?"
Carmine did vaguely remember shouting similar things like that to Juliana in their first battle, accusing her of being a master manipulator and playing mind games…
But… did that mean Kieran's whole change in attitude has been… him trying to imitate her? Carmine didn't really know what to do with that thought.
"Incineroar! Darkest Lariat on Sinistcha!"
Incineroar leapt on its feet, put itself into a spinning motion with its arms, and rushed in a dark cyclone as it impacted Carmine's ghostly tea friend.
Sinistcha had used up the last of its healing matcha, and fainted from the attack.
"Great job, Sinistcha…" Carmine assured it as she recalled it. "You were gorgeous out there! I couldn't be prouder."
With a deep scowl, Kieran suddenly pulled out his Tera Orb and began charging it with energy.
"Woah…" Juliana gasped. "He got himself a Tera Orb too, huh?"
"And he's… not even flinching," Carmine noted, impressed.
Indeed, Kieran somehow kept on a completely still face as the Tera Orb glistened and burned with energy in his hand.
"It's time for you to make a change, Hydrapple! Throw your old self away, embrace your ultimate power… and then USE IT TO DESTROY THAT CAT!"
TERA-PA-GOOOOO!
The familiar cry of Terastallization sounded as Hydrapple became encased in crystals, and then burst out glimmering in red as it took on…
"Fighting Tera Type?" Carmine reacted. "Interesting…"
Tera-pah…
"Meowscarada's got tricks in its bag too!"
"Mrrrow!"
Juliana pulled out her Tera Orb too and let it charge up too, before tossing it over her beloved first partner.
TERA-PA-GOOOOOOS!
Somehow, that crystalline cry of Terastallizing sounded even heartier as Meowscarada underwent its own crystalline transformation, bursting out with glimmering multi-colored balloons to signify its new form taking flight.
"Scarrraahhhhh!"
…Goooosssss…?
"Huh?" Juliana thought she heard a strange noise for a second.
Meanwhile, Hydrapple had charged up its special Tera Blast, and fired an immense flurry of magical punches Meowscarada's way. Were the trickster cat still a Dark Type, it would've done immense damage, but with its special Flying Tera Type, Meowscarada shrugged it off.
"Just go DOWN already!" Kieran whined. "Stop with all the tricks!"
Carmine breathed a little anxiously as she realized she was down to her last Pokémon.
"Well, Kiki… My sweet little brother… I've still got one last trick up my sleeve. And I think you know what it is."
She tossed out her Friend Ball.
Ogerpon bristled out of her cloak as she happily entered the field… only to gasp.
Kieran let out a haughty gasp of his own and pointed.
"You've got some nerve, sis... Bringing out the ogre NOW of all times!"
"Ohhh-pon…"
Ogerpon shook like a leaf inside her grassy cloak as she gazed nervously at Kieran, the boy whose smile had frightened her before.
She looked to Carmine and Juliana for affirmation. They glanced at each other, and then both pumped out their fists in perfect sync to psych their mutual ogre friend up.
"You've got this, Ogerpon," said Juliana.
"Pon…? Mmmm…"
The cheer up worked, and Ogerpon nodded back to them with a determined smile.
"Pon-pon!" Ogerpon cried out, showing her big eyes and flashing her fangs to show she wasn't afraid of Kieran anymore. She donned her Wellspring Mask and allowed it to transform her cloak with the powers of water.
"Why should I be surprised? Even the ogre wants to see me lose at this point!" Kieran seethed with his fists.
…Seethed with his fists?
Carmine blinked a few times.
Is… that what that looks like whenever I do it?
She began to look a little distraught again. Kieran really was picking up some of her worst habits, it seemed.
"Hydrapple! You're much more powerful than that bully ogre can ever hope to be! Use Fickle Beam on it!"
Hydrapple's one tall syrpent head charged up a unique beam of yellow energy and fired it at Ogerpon, knocking the monster girl on her feet just a bit.
"Ogerpon's a mighty warrior girl now, Kiki! You'd be so proud of her if you just opened your eyes and stopped being jealous!"
"Ponyoooo!" Ogerpon agreed.
"Let's take flight, Meowscarada!" Juliana declared. "Use Aerial Ace on Hydrapple!"
"Mrrrrowwww!"
Meowscarada channeled the energy from its silvery Tera Jewel, and unleashed a flurry of harsh wind waves at the Fighting Tera dragon, almost knocking it and all its heads out from its sticky syrup.
"And let's get rid of that big brute while we're at it!" Carmine chimed in. "Ogerpon, time to wash Incineroar's tights!"
"Pon-pon-pon…"
Ogerpon waved its ivy cudgel high in the air as it bristled with all the kinetic energy of the tallest waterfalls, and brought that geyser down onto Incineroar.
"PONNN!"
"Innnn… shuh…"
Kieran grumpily recalled Incineroar, frustrated to be down to his last Pokémon while the girls both had their partners left standing.
…I can fix that!
"Hydrapple!" he sharply commanded. "Fickle Beam again… this time, take out Meowscarada!"
Hydrapple's one long head began charging up energy again.
"Hydrooooo…"
"Ha! Meowscarada's been with me since the beginning!" Juliana said confidently. "It'll take your Hydrapple's attack just as well as Ogerpon did!"
…But then something happened.
Suddenly, all five of Hydrapple's syrpent heads popped out from the apple, and they all started charging their beams!
"HYDROOOOO…"
Kieran grinned evilly. "Is that so?"
-SHOOOOOOOOP-
This time, Hydrapple fired a massive series of beams Meowscarada's way, bombarding it with the ancient dragon energy of Kitakami.
"Mrrrroww…"
Meowscarada tried to withstand the onslaught as best it could, but ultimately the all-out Fickle Beam was just too powerful…
The crystals surrounding it shattered. And the playful Pokémon fell dramatically like an actor milking their death scene for all it's worth.
Juliana let her beloved partner land into her arms, and cooed softly.
"Thanks, Meowscarada… That was an amazing performance."
"Five stars," Carmine nodded.
Meowscarada purred happily as it took its exit, Poké Ball left.
Juliana gulped. "Welp… It's all up to you now, Carmine… My victory is in your hands."
"Right…" Carmine gulped too. Then she laughed sarcastically. "No pressure at all, right!?"
"Hey."
Juliana put her arm on Carmine's shoulder.
"I believe in you, Carmine."
She smiled heartily. "I believe in you, Juliana. You know what?"
Carmine drew out her Tera Orb, and gently grabbed Juliana's hand and put it over the Orb.
"Let's do this together."
Juliana nodded. "Together!"
Both girls held Carmine's Tera Orb up high into the air. With their combined might, neither of them flinched. Their hair flowed wildly, especially Carmine's, as the Terastal energy charged up around them, wowing the crowd.
TERA-PA-GO-GOOOOOOS!
"OGUH-PONNN!" Ogerpon cried out, as if she was responding to that cry.
The crystals enveloped around Ogerpon. Like many times before, the small ogre could feel both herself and her beloved Mask brewing with wonderous energy.
The Wellspring Mask emerged from the crystals as its own super-soaked entity, while Ogerpon cried out her mighty warrior cry from behind it.
"PON-PON-PONIOOOOOO!"
"Gooo… Go-go-goooos!"
"Huh?" Juliana flinched. "I definitely heard something that time…"
"Hmm? What, you mean that echo afterwards?" Carmine opined. "Doesn't it usually do that when you Terastallize?"
"No…? I've Terastallized a bunch of times and… I've never heard anything like that until now."
"Huh. Well I've been hearing it more and more lately…" Carmine thought about it. "In fact, that was probably the loudest one yet."
"Weird…"
Carmine stepped up to the bat like she was preparing for her final swing.
This is it… All of Juliana's hopes are resting on our final move… And my relationship with Kieran too… Seriously, Carmine! No pressure, right!?
"Ogerpon…" she said, almost choking up. "Use… Ivy Cudgel."
"Pon-ponyo-pon!"
The cudgel glowed a mighty blue…
Ogerpon and her mask jumped up…
Slammed it down onto Kieran's Hydrapple.
The explosion of water gushed out and swirled through the whole arena, coating everyone, even in the stands, in a wet mist.
…
…
…
And as the dust settled…
"Gasp."
Kieran was the first to see.
Hydrapple's syrpents all spun around in a daze… and they all retreated collectively into the apple.
Kieran's knees began to wobble.
"No… way…"
The entire crowd fell silent.
"Did we… did we just win?" Carmine said breathlessly.
The giant syrupy apple shook and shook. Then, with a huge spurt, Ogerpon emerged from inside.
She leapt victoriously into the air, and landed back down on her feet. She lifted her Wellspring Mask and smiled bigly at Carmine and Juliana, reveling in herself even as she stood covered in thick red syrup.
"Ogerrrpon!"
The students in the arena all burst into cheers.
Juliana and Carmine looked all around at the massive applause they were now getting.
"We did…" Juliana said just as breathlessly. "We won."
Ogerpon jumped happily into Carmine's arms, covering her with some of Hydrapple's syrup too. She barely seemed to mind.
"Good job, Ogerpon! You were so, so wonderful out there!"
"Poniooo…" Ogerpon giggled.
Carmine felt a tear run down her face. A proud tear. Then… she looked over, and saw Juliana had tears streaming down her face as well.
She giggled.
Juliana giggled back.
The two of them butted their wet foreheads together as they embraced each other, a whole swirl of emotions overtaking them, primarily joy. Joy and relief.
With Ogerpon's mist still dissipating in the air, it was like taking a romantic photo under a waterfall.
Then Carmine proudly held Juliana's hand up high in the air.
"Peons of Blueberry Academy… your new BB League Champion!"
Everyone cheered and started shouting Juliana's name. Juliana smiled in huge glee to hear so many people chanting her name. It was like becoming a Champion in Paldea and winning her match against Nemona all over again.
Now there was a whole other school that would know her legend forever.
No… both our legends.
Juliana pulled up Carmine's hand, much to her surprise, especially since Juliana couldn't reach all the way and the taller girl had to mostly hold it up herself.
"And my best friend in the whole world Carmine, who I couldn't have done it without!"
Now the crowd began cheering Carmine's name too, much to her astonishment. Her face flushed harder than it had ever flushed before.
"Congratulations." Juliana was beaming at her. "You're finally famous."
Correction: now her face flushed harder than it ever had.
Ogerpon looked around, and was entranced to see so many excited faces. She even heard some of them cheering her name too!
"Oguh… PON-PON!" she gleamed happily, dancing around in ecstatic circles.
"Awww…" Carmine gushed.
"Ogerpon really went from the most dreaded Pokémon in the home she grew up in… to the most celebrated Pokémon in a far away place," said Juliana.
"I'm so happy…" Carmine began to cry.
Juliana giggled, also beginning to cry again. "Still love a good happy ending, huh?"
"S-shut up, you…"
Then Juliana's jaw fell as she suddenly remembered. "Wait… not happy for everyone…"
Carmine gasped loudly. "Oh my gosh! Kiki!"
As Ogerpon started doing a huge, royal dance to bask in the students' attention, both girls rushed over to Kieran's side.
He still looked completely shellshocked. His knees gave out, and he sunk to the floor, his whole body trembling.
"…"
"Kieran…" Juliana said softly.
"Kiki… Please… Say something."
Please… Please, please, please don't hate me…
Kieran's whole mind had shut off. While Juliana and Carmine were celebrating their win, he was watching the crowds cheer for them in despair and horror, whining how this wasn't supposed to happen. He had just lost his title, and nobody cared.
"Urg… No… no, no, no!"
Now Kieran suddenly felt this deep, sunken feeling that nobody had ever truly cared for him beyond his title… That he was truly, utterly alone in the end.
All of the students slowly began to peter out and return to the academy building, as the sun began to set behind both Kieran... and his dreams.
The now former Champion of the BB League sunk to the floor in anguish, while the BB Elite Four all gathered behind him. The beanie-clad Drayton had his arms crossed. Lacey twiddled her fingers in heaved concern as she looked at Kieran. Amarys watched everything with her usual stoic expression.
And Crispin, well…
"Way to go—all three of you! That was awesome!" he beamed, giving an eager thumbs-up while still holding his frying pan.
Only for Lacey to angrily brush at him. "Oh, honestly, Crispin! Read the room, would you!"
"…Huh?"
Crispin looked all around, confused at what was happening, and even more confused as he watched Drayton begin to walk smugly towards their former leader.
Lacey's eyes widened. "W-wait, Drayton!" she called out, reaching her hand out.
But Drayton's stride refused to break.
"Good match, all of you," he addressed Juliana and Carmine. "You two girls really are unstoppable together. My hat's off."
He pulled the Graevard Beanie off his head and tossed it back to Juliana, not caring who saw the Pincurchin-like state of his hair now.
"Thanks… Dray… ton?"
Carmine inhaled sharply. "What are you doing."
He marched his way up to Kieran's trembling, huddled form. His nose twitched a bit at the matcha scent emanating from Kieran's clothes.
"Too bad about the outcome, though, huh…" He hunched down towards the boy. "…ex-Champion?"
Kieran's eyes were wide open and he was grasping at his head, still trying to fathom the reality he was in now.
Drayton might've more had to say, but he didn't get any more of a chance when, like a ferocious female Pyroar, Carmine pounced on him and pinned him to the ground with murder in her eyes.
"STOP. DON'T SPEAK. DON'T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING ELSE TO HIM. LEAVE. HIM. ALONE."
"Ugh… One minute, you're beating your bro to a pulp, the next you're beating people to a pulp on his behalf. You're so fascinating, Car—MINE!"
Carmine fiercely grabbed him by the edges of his coat, grasping them tightly as her fists shook, making him shake a little as well.
"I'm going to beat you to a pulp and bury you so deep that even Clay will never be able to find your body if you get even a single yard closer to Kiki again."
Drayton squeaked. "Okay… comprende! Comprende!"
Juliana rushed over.
"Carmine…"
Carmine whipped her head Juliana's way.
"Carmine…" Juliana gently put her arm on Carmine's back. "Stop."
From Juliana's warm touch, Carmine felt her breathing begin to slow, and the raging volcano inside of her started to cool down again.
She stood up, all of her high emotions coming down again.
"…Damn you, Juliana," she said with gritted teeth. "Why are you doing this to me?"
"What?" Juliana tilted her head in confusion.
"It's getting so hard now… I—I almost can't take it anymore."
"Take… what?"
Carmine crossed her arms and acted like she was starting to shiver. Juliana reached her hand out, but Carmine actually seemed to whimper and back up a bit.
"Well… look at you, J-girl! Way to go!"
Drayton, still feeling a bit anxious, slowly got up and dusted himself off as he walked over to meet her at eye level.
"Guess we got a new BB League Champion!" he smiled. "Let me be the first one to offer my congratulations."
He reached out his hand, and Juliana warmly accepted it.
"Thank you, Drayton. Thanks so much… for everything."
Drayton grinned back at her. And next, he turned his attention back.
"Hey Kieran…"
Carmine stopped looking all twitterpated to see red, and started hustling over to Drayton again. But Juliana actually blocked her with her arm.
"…Let's hear what he has to say."
Carmine huffed indignantly.
"This may not mean much coming from a guy who couldn't beat you, but… I wish you'd go back to having fun with all this. Just like they do."
Drayton looked back at Juliana and Carmine with a sad expression.
"I get that burning desire to win. I mean, who doesn't like winning? Just… don't let that desire burn you to a crisp. It's hard to watch."
Kieran still had his head low. It wasn't clear whether any of this registered with him.
"Kiki…" Carmine said sadly.
She stepped forward for a second… and then stopped. Juliana looked at her in surprise. Carmine's lip quivered. Juliana understood perfectly as soon as she saw her face: Carmine couldn't find the words.
So Juliana put on a brave face and stepped forth.
"Hey, Kieran…?"
"…"
"Drayton's right. This… this was never going to make you happy. Even if you beat us, and were still Champion right now… It wouldn't fix all of this anger you're feeling. This person you've become."
Juliana put her hand to her chest as she felt her heart rising up.
"Personally…? I want to be friends again. And more than that. I want to be friends… with the Kieran that I was friends before. I know you think that Kieran was weak, stupid, or whatever. But… he wasn't. Kieran, the boy that I met on the school trip? He was cool. He was extremely brave, he was really kind. And he cared. He cared about everyone."
She could feel her eyes welling up.
"And he was strong too. He was. You just… you never got to prove it. I was the one who didn't let you. And that is my fault. I really want to apologize for that. I don't care if you say I have nothing to feel sorry for, over? That just means… that you're the one who's lying this time."
She chuckled sadly at her own joke. The tears were definitely coming down her face now.
"And here's the thing. You don't—you don't have to forgive me if you don't want to, Kieran," she choked up. "But, please… please forgive Carmine."
Carmine was surprised when Juliana grabbed her hand, and encouraged her to step forward.
"She's your sister. She loves you, Kieran. More than anyone else. And all this time I've spent with her, I've seen—I've seen just how much it's hurting her."
Carmine gave her a sad look.
"She'll never admit it. She's too stubborn that way, you know her…" Juliana looked at her affectionately. She could barely make out Carmine's face with how glossy her eyes were. "But she misses you a ton. You're everything to her, Kieran. And I know she's still everything to you too!"
She had both hands over her chest now.
"So, if you're still feeling so much hate in your heart right now… Then let me have it all. You can hate me. It's all my fault, not Carmine's."
Carmine was stunned. She recognized now that Juliana was basically echoing the words she had said to Kieran at Loyalty Plaza. Maybe Juliana was subconsciously listening.
"Carmine told me to lie, but I could've just not listened. I shouldn't have listened. Just like I should've stood up and asked you to help out with the mask. Or agreed to your battle. So be angry at me all you want."
Juliana was really choking on her words now. The tears were dripping off her chin and onto the ground.
"And… and you can hate me forever! Until the end of time! Just so long as you and Carmine can be siblings again!" she blubbered. "If you're going to give one thing… just please do that!"
Unable to hold it all in anymore, Carmine held her arms out and Juliana let herself cry into her chest as Carmine held her tightly, letting her expel it all out.
Carmine could feel the tears running down her own face as well. She gazed sadly at Kieran, who actually did perk his head up a bit. He stared back at her. He was looking sad too. Did Juliana's speech really work?
Drayton sighed deeply and looked at everyone in their sorry states.
"C'mon. Let's all go and—"
*mumble mumble*
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Kieran had reached into his pocket, rubbed something for a few seconds, and was now muttering softly to himself.
"…win… next time…"
"Come again!?" Drayton said in shock.
Kieran slowly stood up. Much to everyone's distress though, he wasn't standing up like a normal person anymore. His limbs swayed and jerked around in a creepy fashion… It was a bit disturbing, almost like watching a marionette but with no strings.
"I won't lose…" His voice croaked in a monotone fashion. "Next time, for sure, I'll… I'll win. Next time… I'll win…"
"What the hell?" Drayton ran his hand through his spiked hair. "Kid's like a broken record skipping on a loop… And what is that? You guys smellin' something sweet in the air?"
"I can't believe you're thinking of food at a time like this," Carmine said bitterly.
"Kieran…" Juliana separated herself from Carmine's embrace. "Come on now…! Cut it out! This has gone too far!"
She ran up to Kieran and placed both her arms on his shoulders.
"This isn't right! You have to stop! Please, you—you have to stop! You're not eating, or sleeping… If you won't do it for any of our sakes', then—then just do it for yourself! You're… you're… you're going to kill yourself."
Kieran gazed up at her with really sad eyes.
"Juliana, I…" Then he threw his head down, just like he used to. "Awww…"
"Whoof."
Drayton continued to rub his head, feeling just as pitiful as anyone else.
"Ahem. If we might, um… interrupt?"
Lacey, Amarys, and Crispin made their way to the center. Lacey looked at Kieran with a mournful look. And, as she talked, she slowly took off her pink cardigan.
"Well… first, of course, we want to offer Juliana our congratulations for becoming Champion," she tried to say as professionally as she could. "It really is an amazing achievement. Something that should be celebrated…"
Juliana calmly nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Thanks, Lacey…"
Lacey walked over to Kieran, and gently, and without much protest, draped it around him as she stood alongside him, massaging his shoulders.
"But with the way things are now, I'm sorry to say that it does, well… complicate matters. We're having a bit of a hard time knowing how we ought to proceed…"
"Proceed with what?" asked Drayton, crossing his arms.
"Well, think about it for a moment, would you!?" Lacey scolded him, still huddled over Kieran. "If Juliana is our Champion, then that means she's head of the League Club! But she's an exchange student! What is our long-term plan here, if she doesn't stick around!? There are so many particulars to sort out!"
If Drayton had his hair styled into a quiff again, it'd be drooping again.
"Oh… huh. Yeah."
"I mean…" Juliana awkwardly hoisted her Blueberry bag up. "You guys know I'm going to be around school for a while, right? I feel like my adventures here at Blueberry have just begun! And… I can be the head of your club in the meantime and we can figure the rest out later, can't we?"
Lacey looked to Amarys.
She cleared her throat. "If Juliana is certain in her promise to remain as one of us for an extended amount of time… that does at least make the matter less urgent, if not still… in dire need of being addressed."
"Juliana's a dependable sort…"
Carmine had decided to walk over and speak in her defense.
"You can trust her word. She'll never abandon you guys without making sure everything's spic and span."
"Of course. I know that by now," said Lacey. "But… that's only the beginning of the problems we have to sort out. Because of course, if Kieran decided to rejoin the Elite Four at any point…"
Then she turned her gaze to Crispin.
"…that would push Crispin out of our ranks."
Juliana gasped.
"Wait, what!?" Crispin held up his trusty frying pan in shock. "Me!? That's bad, isn't it!?"
"Oooh. Ouch…" said Drayton.
"I'd like to hear from Kieran himself what he would like to do next…" Lacey forced Kieran's chin up with her finger. He just stared blankly at her. She then said softly, "Once you're ready. Of course."
"… … …"
"Kieran…" Amarys said sorrowfully.
Juliana looked over at Crispin, who was now gazing at his pan with a sad, shocked look on his face. Amarys was rubbing his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.
"Would… would Crispin really have to quit the Elite Four?"
"Yeah, we gotta figure something out, right?" said Drayton. "I like Crispin. He brings me free food! Losing that would be a sorry mess for sure. Maybe we can like, make him our ambassador or something!"
Carmine shook her head. "You really didn't this through at all, did you, you blockhead?"
"Huh?" Drayton replied innocently. "What do you mean, Carmine? Think what out?"
"Oh, can it already, Drayton," said Lacey. "We've all figured out that it was your whole plan all along to have Kieran deposed and groom Juliana to take his place."
"Whaaaaaat? That's a strong accusation, sister!"
"I can hold you over another cliff if you'd like to testify again," Carmine threatened.
Juliana huffed. "Drayton… don't lie anymore. You already admitted it to me, remember? And I told you I'm okay with it. It was fun."
"Geez… did everyone figure me out?"
Crispin and Amarys looked at each other.
"Well, uhh… I mean, it sure explains why you were spending so much time together and pushing all of us to agree with putting her in the League!" Crispin admitted.
"And by my account…" Amarys noted. "It seems all but obvious that you were the anonymous student who submitted Juliana's name for the exchange program from the beginning, Drayton."
"Wait… is that true?" Juliana lit up in shock. "You… were the one who asked for me to come here, Drayton?"
Drayton looked at her sheepishly. He tried to search for another excuse, but instead he just ended up putting his hands over his head.
"Alright… yeah! Ya got me. Guilty as charged."
"Unbelievable…" Carmine seethed. "I should just kick you in the Poké Balls right now."
"I mean, once I heard about you from you good ol' pal Carmine, yeah. I thought it would be cool to have you come here. Big what, right. You got to become Champion, see your pals again, make new ones! It all worked out in the end, didn't it?"
"Yeah…" Juliana nodded.
"Besides… once I got to see you in action properly, there was never any doubt in my mind. All I did was give you the first push. Becoming Champion… you did that all on your own."
Carmine cleared her throat.
"…With a little bit of help from your gal pal, of course."
"Yeah. You're right." Juliana's head dropped down a bit. "That's great and all, It's just…"
"Just what?" asked Lacey.
Juliana slowly turned her head… towards Carmine.
"I don't know why… It sounds so weird, but… This whole time, I—I really was hoping it was you, Carmine."
Carmine's eyes lit up now.
"…Huh?"
Juliana rubbed her head. "It sounds so… s-stupid, right? I don't… I don't even know why…"
She gasped softly as she felt Carmine take both her hands.
"Hey."
Carmine smiled at her, and Juliana felt all warm inside. It was the biggest warmness she'd felt in her heart yet, like a whole oven roasting. Her glistening yellow eyes. Her lovely, silky hair blowing gently in the wind. Her beauty mark… That cute little mole!
Why were all these things sticking out so much to her now?
"It's cool… I kind of, I kind of get it. Y'know? Ummm…"
Carmine turned away and blushed.
"There's actually… There's actually something I really want to tell you, Juliana."
Juliana's eyebrows shot up. Is this it? What she was going to tell me at the end of the school trip?
Carmine's eyes were darting anywhere but Juliana's face now. She seemed all sorts of shy now for some reason.
"You see, umm… The thing is, well… I—"
*bing-bong-bong-bing*
Everyone looked up as a voice rang out on the school speakers.
"This is an announcement for the following students: BB League Champion Kieran. Top Elite Four member Drayton. Carmine of Class 3-2. Juliana, our exchange student."
Juliana and Carmine both looked puzzled.
"Ms. Briar and some guests would like to see you. Please proceed to classroom 1-4 as soon as possible."
*bing-bong-bong-bing*
Carmine huffed really loudly.
"Ms. Briar again? Seriously!?" she seethed. "That woman… has the worst timing in the whole world!"
"What could that be about?" Lacey wondered. "Now's really not the time…"
"BB League Champion Kieran, huh?" Drayton repeated. "They're gonna need to update that."
"Drayton!" Lacey shouted. "Could you seriously NOT right now! It's just not right— and certainly not kind!" she declared, crossing her arms together into an X.
"Well, we shouldn't leave Ms. Briar hanging, or we'll never hear the end of it."
Then Drayton started walking off, seeming to ignore Lacey completely.
"Hey! HEY! Are you even listening to me!? UGGH!"
Juliana turned back to Carmine, who was still quietly seething to herself.
"The gall of that Ms. Briar… what the hell does she even want us for?"
"Hey…"
Juliana took Carmine's hands in hers.
"You can… you can tell me whatever it is you were about to tell me on the way there."
"Uhh—uhh…" Carmine felt tongue-tied, especially in the presence of Juliana's glossy, expectant eyes. "I—N-no. No. I hate to say it, but Drayton's right… Ms. Briar will have our heads if we don't get over there pronto."
"Okay…" Juliana accepted for now. "But then… what about…"
They both turned sadly towards Kieran, who still had his head down in a huge funk. He grabbed at Lacey's draped pink coat and huddled it over himself more.
Lacey looked at him morosely, and nodded to the both of them.
"I'll… make sure Kieran gets there, even if I have to carry him on my back. You two just go ahead."
Carmine wanted to argue, but Lacey just looked at her firmly.
"Thanks, Lace… You're the best." She grasped Juliana's hand. "Come on... Let's go. This better be something worth our time."
She started heading off. Juliana looked back one last time at Kieran. He gazed up at her again, for a brief second. No emotions on his face. Then he looked back down again.
Juliana decided to follow Carmine at that point, still holding onto the hope that their friendships could all be saved.
Once the two of them had left, Lacey sighed deeply.
"…She was so close to finally admitting it," said Amarys.
"Yeah… She'll get there. I'm sure of it."
"Huh? Admit what?" Crispin asked, confused. "Why is everyone keeping secrets around here!?"
Tera-pa-gooooos…
…
"…eet cherub…"
"…!"
Arven sat up in bed. He started rubbing his eyes, realizing it had happened again.
He threw aside his covers and stood up, stretching in his golden yellow pajamas. Mabosstiff, who had been sleeping soundly in his own dog bed, perked up and ruffed softly.
"It's alright, bud…" He whispered softly. "I just had one of those strange dreams again. That noise… and, and I definitely think I heard someone's voice this time."
Groaning a little, Arven walked over to the window. By chance, his dorm room happened to overlook the Great Crater of Paldea from behind Uva Academy's walls.
He peered out into the enigmatic clouds surrounding the huge crater. Almost like he was expecting to see something.
And then…
He gasped. "There it is again!"
For a brief moment, a soft green beam of light seemed to shoot up from the center of the crater.
TERA-PA-GOOOOOOS!
And it was accompanied by a faint reverberation of that sound…
Arven stared out the window, puzzled. As he breathed quietly, he suddenly felt a presence. He swore he thought he heard foosteps.
"…!"
Arven quickly turned around… but there was nobody there.
Mabosstiff had fallen back asleep again.
Arven huffed. "This is getting so weird… Hows come I'm the only one who keeps hearing things or seeing that light?"
With a grimace, he walked over to his bedside table and activated his Rotom Phone.
He sighed. "…Call Rika."
The phone began dialing. Arven started rehearsing his voicemail, knowing that Rika wouldn't be picking up this late at—
"Hello?"
"Oh! Uhh, Ms. Rika!"
"Hmm? Wait, that voice… is that you Arven?"
"Umm…"
"WHY ARE YOU AWAKE AT THIS HOUR!?" Rika's voice immediately scolded. "Isn't it… past midnight in Paldea right now!?"
"Ohhhh, right. I guess you're in a different time zone now. Heh-heh, uh… I couldn't sleep…" he said sheepishly. "I umm, I just wanted to let you know…" He swallowed a bit. "I changed my mind. I do want to be involved."
"…Hmm. Alright. Thanks for letting me know. That definitely uhh, that makes things a little easier. I'll discuss things with Geeta here, and—and we'll get back to you. … When you're SUPPOSED to be awake."
Arven chucled. "Okay… sounds good."
"Now please get some sleep, Arven."
"Yes, ma'am."
Rika hung up. Arven bit his lip, feeling unsure of what he had just committed himself to…
"Rrruff?" Mabosstiff rose up again, this time only half-awake.
"You can go back to sleep, bud," he assured it. Arven climbed back under the covers. "I'm going to try to get some shut-eye myself…"
Just as Arven got himself cozy again, however, he heard it for a third time.
TERA-PA-GO-GOOOOOOS!
Arven sighed. His eyes looked around for a minute, almost expecting something to happen.
OGUH-PONNN!
…That was weird. What was THAT noise?
Arven decided to just ignore it at this point. Whatever this freaky thing that he had been experiencing since Juliana left for Blueberry Academy was, hopefully what he had just agreed to would help him figure it all out.
He reached over and grabbed a small Pokémon plush, a Larvitar, from his nightstand and held it in his arms as he slowly drifted off to sleep.
It happened quickly, almost like he was being nursed by someone's arms…
And someone… singing to him.
"…ad dreams… Just… Sweet and tend…"
Then the voice faded. As did the green light over the horizon…
NEXT TIME... THE INDIGO DISK!