As night fell over Kitakami, the Paldean students were pleased to hear their beds were finally ready and headed into the community center. Nao told the group of teens that they could help themselves to whatever refreshments they wanted to, while he decided to head back into Kitakami Hall to figure out why not just the staff members, but any of his fellow elders were answering his calls either.

Once everyone had gotten their rooms sorted out and left their belongings inside, they all converged in the community center lobby. Nemona and Arven conversed with each other, while Penny was messing with the mounted television, trying to see if it was possible to hook it up so she could play games on it.

Juliana meanwhile, sat alone on the couch nearest the front windows, still trying to process how such a this day had become as harrowing and bizarre as this one, especially since Ogerpon was still gone without a trace.

The only thing that made her raise her head up was when the automatic doors opened, and Kieran walked inside.

"Well?" Juliana asked. The other three raised their attention to him as well.

"Grandpa decided to go up to the village with Nao-san to try to find my grandmother. But… I checked on Carmine, and she's fast asleep. I think she wore herself out with all that dancing. She'll probably sleep through the rest of the night."

"Well, that's good news, at least," said Arven.

"Yeah…" Kieran glanced at Juliana, who gave him a sad look before going back to staring out the windows. He then looked over at Penny, who had busted out her laptop while still holding a bunch of unplugged TV cables, clacking away. "Umm… what are you doing, Penny?"

She looked up at him with a frustrated groan.

"These community center people really don't want us hooking up to the Internet on this TV! They've super-encrypted their Wi-Fi network! But I've never known a network I can't crack. We're going to play Ultra Fairy Fighters on this thing, damn it!"

"Right…"

He turned to Arven next.

"Hey, Arven?"

"What's up, bud?"

"I just wanted to say, umm…" He twiddled his fingers a bit. "I'm really sorry about what happened to your mom. I don't think I ever… really said anything about that, since I was too wrapped up in my own thing."

"Oh." Arven was very surprised. "Well—thanks, Kieran! It's odd that you would apologize for something that happened that long ago, but I'll take it nonetheless."

"Better late than never, right?" Nemona giggled. "…Hmm."

This prompted Nemona to look over at Juliana, remembering that she had just done something extremely similar and apologized over something Nemona wasn't even thinking about anymore.

No wonder she hit off with this Kieran guy so quickly. The two of them are so much alike!

"If you don't mind me asking…" Kieran started shaking his left arm again. "Umm… your dad was someone famous too, right? Like, he even built a time machine or something like that? What was he like?"

"Oh, of course! My dad! The great Professor Turo himself!" Arven wrapped his arm around Kieran. "My father was really amazing in his own right! I'll tell you all about him!"

Nemona chuckled and decided to leave Arven and Kieran to their little boy talk as she walked on over to where Juliana was sitting, and decided to take a seat on the couch next to her.

"Hey," she said softly.

Juliana turned her gaze from the window to her, and softly answered back "…Hey."

"You okay?"

Juliana gaped for a minute, and tried to put on her best smile. "Of course I'm fine! Don't worry about me!" was her typical response.

…But she remembered Perrin's words, of not being afraid to open herself up to others…

…

"No," she squeaked out. She let her facial features slump downward, the sorrowful frown of her true soul emerging triumphant. Juliana leaned her head against the couch, letting her tired brown locks overtake half her face. "No, I'm not."

Nemona actually smiled a little, surprised but touched to hear her friend finally being honest about her emotions.

"Yeah… I know," she said with a low voice. "You're worried about Carmine, right? …Or Ogerpon? Maybe both?"

Juliana grimaced. "Definitely both. I mean, at least I know where Carmine is, but Ogerpon… why would she run away like that?"

Nemona sat with her head back and tried to think of a good answer.

"You said that Ogerpon's old home is somewhere up there on those mountains?" she asked. Juliana nodded. "Then, I dunno, maybe once Ogerpon realized we were in Kitakami, she became homesick and wanted to just see the old place again for a bit."

She scoffed. "When Kieran and I visited her den, it looked so cold and lonely… If I had spent the past hundreds of years inside there, all alone with no friends, and then someone like—like Carmine came and showed me real love and friendship again, I don't—I don't know that I would ever want to see home again."

"Awwww." Nemona made a show of pouting her lip. "Well maybe we shouldn't pair you and Carmine up if you're saying she's so good to you that you'll never come back home to Paldea!"

Juliana let herself laugh a little. "You know that's not what I meant."

Kieran watched Juliana talking with Nemona, holding a cup of cola in his hand.

"So… how's Juliana been lately?" he asked Arven. "Because—she seems a little different from how I remember. But like, not in a bad way."

"Yeah… It's hard to know what's been going on with her," Arven admitted. "Because for a while when she first came back, she wasn't talking to anyone at all. None of us could get a hold of her except Nemona, and well… Nemona said it got pretty ugly when she tried to talk to her."

"Really?"

"Yeah," said Penny, looking up from her laptop. "The way Nemona described it, she made Juliana sound like some sort of… possessed zombie that was only obsessed with one thing, and didn't care about anything else."

…

"Huh."

"But then something changed in her," Arven continued. "I don't know if we just did a really good job at convincing herself that she was stressing herself too much, but now she's like… the complete opposite! When we all hung out together yesterday, she kept flipping like a light switch! She went from really happy and hugging everyone to really sad and crying…!"

"Yeah," Penny recalled. "It was so weird. It's like she went from ghosting everyone to… suddenly being on a sugar high or something."

Kieran looked back at Juliana again, and then back at her friends, a contemplative look on his face.

"That's… that's kind of weird, because something kinda like that happened to me."

"Oh yeah?" Arven replied.

"Yeah… 'cause like, for a while, after the school trip and then when I was goin' through the BB League and everything, I had all these like, negative thoughts in my head that made me not want to talk to anyone because I thought they all hated me… But then, when we all went down into the Crater together, it was like all those emotions I kept tryin' to hide—it was like they all came back in my head, all at once!"

"Huh…" Arven thought about this. "So like… that's why when I first met you, you were all shy and pouty at first, and then you were talking about how scared you were, and then… whatever was going on by the time you were challenging Juliana with that big Koraidon?"

"Yeah…" Kieran cringed a little at being reminded of his wild mood swings in Area Zero. "I don't know what was going on with me that day." A thought struck him. "…Maybe because that was the first day that I didn't have my good luck charm with me I found at home? Maybe I just felt really insecure?"

"Good luck charm?" Arven tilted his head.

"Oh yeah… this Pecha Berry I kept carryin' around with me. I found it by Ogerpon's den and had it in my pocket for a while. I ended up giving it away to Juliana. Like, right before she went back home."

"Oh."

"Berry's cursed."

"What?" Arven and Kieran both turned to Penny.

"You were going through a whole bunch of mood swings while you had that Berry, then you gave it to Juliana and now she's acting all weird. You've both been cursed by that Berry."

"That's… ridiculous," Arven shook his head. "Berries don't make people act funny—unless you put them in certain drinks I guess—and I thought we already agreed that curses aren't real, Penny!"

"Oh, I was just joking," Penny smiled. "It was in some goofy horror manga I read once."

"Mm…" Kieran still felt uneasy for some reason.

Nemona sat with Juliana for several minutes, not saying anything so that the girl could compartmentalize her thoughts on her own. Finally, she looked at Nemona with sad eyes.

"…I hate being like this."

"Like what?"

"I used to be all happy and carefree, like that first time I came here…" Juliana lamented. "I used to never let let anything get me down. But now, I'm—I'm all worried, shaky, and nervous… and, and sad. That's how I feel like I've been for the past several weeks now."

"Well… that's not so bad," Nemona assured her. "Really, that just means you're… growing up."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Because that's one of the things that happens as we get exposed to more of those unfair things and misunderstandings. My mom once told me that when you're an adult, that's basically all you know. That's why we gotta hold on to our innocence as much as we can. And besides…"

She smiled softly at Juliana and brushed some of the girl's frazzled hair back.

"Worrying all the time is something that just comes naturally when you start having some friends and… and when you really find someone that you care about."

She looked fondly over at her boyfriend, who was chatting away with Kieran and Penny about something.

"I worry about Arven a lot more than I used to, y'know… But that's—how I know he's become someone really special to me. Someone who makes me feel complete…"

This gave Juliana pause. Like a lightbulb going off above her head, her eyes went wide like saucers.

"…Maybe that's it," she rationalized. "Maybe… maybe I feel so sad because of Carmine. Like, without her, I've—I've just been empty." She put a hand over her heart. "Maybe Carmine is… who makes me feel complete."

"With how close you two were, I bet that's probably true! She probably has that missing piece of your heart that's making you feel like you're not whole! But that's why you can't stop trying to win her back, Juliana! Not just to save your relationship, but to save yourself!"

"Do you really think it's still possible?"

"Abso-freaking-lutely!" Nemona stood up, pumping her fist at Juliana with encouragement. "My best rival Juliana has never met the word 'impossible' before! You saved the whole world from a robot with an evil time machine! Compared to that, just getting someone to like you again is a piece of cake!"

Juliana tried not to, but she couldn't help breaking out in a chuckle.

"I guess that's one way to look at it…"

"It's the ONLY way to look at it! You'll see! In fact, hang on! I just thought of something that'll help cheer you up! I'll be right back!"

Nemona sprinted off in good spirits. Juliana just couldn't resist the smile on her face watching her friend's seemingly boundless happiness. Then she looked over and spotted everyone glancing her way.

"Hmm? What?"

"Oh, uhh, sorry…" Kieran said. "I guess we got… kinda caught up in what you two were talkin' about." He said a bit more quietly, "Nemona seems like a really good friend when she isn't just looking for a battle."

"I guess we all got a little bit sad for you, Jules," Arven admitted. "Because you're our friend too and all that… We don't want you suffering alone."

"That's right," Penny agreed.

"I'm sorry I've been so scared to be more honest with you guys," Juliana apologized. "You're all wonderful, and I'm lucky to have you as my friends."

The three of them all gave sincere thanks and words of agreement.

"You still worried about my Sis?" asked Kieran.

Juliana nodded. "You said something before about how you thought Carmine was pulling a prank? And that she was acting all… loopy before that? What did you mean?"

Kieran sighed.

"I don't know what happened to her… but she just started goin' completely off the rails like, right after you left. She got all mad and almost hit me, Lacey said she yelled at everyone in the clubroom, calling herself a monster or somethin'…"

"A monster?" Juliana gravely repeated.

"I wasn't there, so I dunno what she was talking about. But when she decided to come home with me, things got even weirder. She won't battle me at all, keeps running off to do her stupid recon stuff alone, and… now she says she's seeing things that aren't there."

"Like what?"

"Well…" Kieran looked up. "You."

"…!"

"She kept saying she was seeing your face or something right here in Kitakami, and started… whining that she's going crazy."

To everyone's surprise, Kieran began to sniffle, while Juliana silently looked down with a face of horror.

"That's why I thought her weird dancing was a prank… The last thing she said last night before she started doing that was that we were gonna have to call someone and put her in something called an 'asylum'. I thought she was just bein' silly, but, but…"

He tugged on his sleeve, feeling his eyes getting heavy.

"I don't want them to lock Carmine away. My Sis may have no filter… and be inconsiderate… and push people's buttons, but I'd still rather her be her old self than whatever this is! I just wanted her to stop bossin' me around, not… go away forever!"

"I don't—I don't think they would do that," Arven tried to reassure her. "Not for just… dancing funny."

"Not gonna lie though, all that stuff she's chanting is pretty darn weird, so I get what you mean!" said Arven.

Penny looked at him crossly. "Nemona's tactlessness is really starting to rub off on you."

"Err- sorry!"

Kieran hung his head down in grief.

"If I could take back every single complaint I ever had about Carmine… I'd say sorry over and over again, just to have her back."

Juliana got up off the couch and tenderly hugged him.

"Kieran… I'm so sorry." She sniffled too. "I think this is all my fault."

"Huh? Your fault?"

"Yeah… You know how Carmine and I got into an argument while you were in that infirmary? It got pretty nasty…" she remembered bitterly. "We both fought over you, she accused me of being a bad influence, I told her she was the one who was being a jerk to everyone… I didn't even mean all that, I lost my temper. But she must've taken that to heart way too much."

Arven sighed, crossing her arms. "So that's the regret you've been burying. But I don't think you can really justify just one little fight like that as being the thing that sent her over the deep end."

"Yeah," Kieran agreed. "It's really not the first time. She's had moods like that before, where she starts pushing people away because she's scared of hurting people. So it's really her fault as much as yours!"

"Okay, yeah? Well… I'll tell you what is my fault." Juliana bit her lip. "Carmine's not going crazy. I—I was in Kitakami a few days ago."

Kieran's eyebrows flew up. "I'm sorry… what!?"

"Yeah… I came here to go on an adventure with someone, and then I—I saw you and Carmine, and… I didn't think she saw me but…" Her eyes looked deep with regret. "I guess she did."

"I'm—I'm so confused!" Kieran sputtered. "If you were hangin' around in Kitakami already, w-why didn't you ever come and say hi to us?"

"Because I didn't know YOU WERE THERE!" Juliana shouted, a little louder than she meant to. "And when I saw Carmine, I-I-I freaked out, and—and ran away! Then I came back to Paldea because my friends invited me, but then you invited me back, and… I…!"

Juliana grunted. Her face was red hot with the jumble of emotions she was feeling, and for what felt like the third time that day she was starting to cry again.

"I'm so sorry… I was just trying to think about myself and what I wanted to do for a change… I didn't mean to cause so much damage…"

Arven and Penny looked between each other. They didn't have any answers for Juliana's strife. Kieran however, was starting to rock his body back and forth a bit. His left hand, which often stimmed when he was upset, began beating against his body harder and harder, as his eyebrows furrowed.

He turned back.

"Hey Juliana?"

She looked up. "Huh?"

"Listen… This whole coming back to Kitakami and not saying hello thing is—is whatever, I don't mind that, if you really didn't know we were here and wanted to be alone. But… you said you and Carmine were havin' a fight when I was in that infirmary room. And it was… over me? What do you mean by that?"

Juliana's eyes drifted for a few seconds, and she shrugged.

"I dunno, we… we started blaming each other on who was responsible for—for lying to you and making you upset over Ogerpon. Carmine was accusing me of leading you to dangerous places, and I…" She ran her heads through the back of her hair, reaming through painful memories. "I don't really remember all of it, but I think I said that she was being too protective of you… and that she was the reason you hated me, I…" She began to look downtrodden again. "…I really don't know."

Kieran's nose twisted a bit. "…Right. Yeah. That's—that's what I thought."

His tone sounded strange. He almost sounded… cross?

"Can you wait here? I'll be right back."

"Umm, okay?"

Kieran got up and left the community center.

Juliana and her friends sat patiently but a little confused in the lobby for about five minutes before he came back inside, holding something.

Penny scooched closer to Arven with her laptop and whispered, "What's with the jar?" Arven shrugged, equally confused.

Kieran plopped it straight down on the coffee table. Juliana looked at it, puzzled, but then quickly recognized it.

"Is that… your 'Sorry Jar'?"

"Not anymore!"

Kieran took out a marker and wrote over the "SWEAR JAR" label once again. Already covered up by the "SORRY" part, Kieran presented it to Juliana again, where it now read…

"Blaming… ourselves jar?"

"That's right! I'm doing this because—because you and Carmine have to stop doing this already! It's driving me nuts!"

"Doing… what?" Juliana asked, genuinely confused.

"All this moaning about how everything's your fault, or who's to blame for this and that! It's so annoying!" Kieran complained. "And—and it's like ten times more annoying when you're doing it 'cause of me! It's just not right!"

He huffed loudly, clenching his fists.

"I get that you guys both like me and that you're lookin' out for me and all that, but—I want you guys to quit worryin' about me all the time! Carmine does it too, and I hate it! Like… Juliana, you're right, you shouldn'ta lied to me. And I was mad at Carmine for pushin' me out of your adventure to help Ogerpon but… I made a whole bunch of mistakes too! It was wrong of me to get so mad at you and get all jealous and think you were both makin' fun of me!

I got all up in my head… I became so obsessed with winning and becomin' stronger that I pushed out everything else, like eating and sleeping… and my friends. I don't wanna be treated like a baby anymore, Juliana. Not by my Sis, or anyone else. But I've had time to do a lot of thinkin' here at home and—and I get it now."

Kieran balled his hand into a fist, with a more determined expression than anything he'd ever mustered previously.

"If I wanna prove I don't always need someone holding my hand… I won't get anywhere by just whining about it. I have to stop feelin' sorry for myself, and stand up for myself instead. I gotta focus on all the ways I've gotten more independent and—and face the fact that I made mistakes too. 'Cause, about Ogerpon…"

Juliana looked saddened again, reminded of the ogre's current predictament.

"I don't know why Carmine's dancin' made her so scared like that, but you know what I figured out by watchin' that? It was the same way Ogerpon looked at me when I was all—brooding and tryin' to be a good Champion." He sighed. "Ogerpon didn't hate me… she was scared of me, the whole time. And that was my fault."

Juliana instinctually leaned in with her hand. "Oh, Kieran, that really wasn't—"

However, Kieran politely but firmly rejected her hand.

"No Juliana, it's okay. Really, it's okay. I accept this… I want to be a bigger person and admit when something's my fault. But I also don't wanna just think about my mistakes all the time. Because… I did good too. That whole thing of convincing the village that Ogerpon was the good guy all along?"

He smiled proudly.

"I did that. All on my own. While you and Sis were getting the Masks… I did my part. I fixed the ogre's reputation. And Ogerpon looked so happy for it too! So whenever I start gettin' in my head about—all the things I regret doin'… I remember that good thing I did, and decide that I want to keep doin' more good things like that!"

Juliana was at a loss for words. This was a brand new Kieran altogether, a far cry not just from the timid boy she met in Kitakami, but even the one she was still learning to be friends with again at Blueberry.

"So that's what the jar is for?"

"It's for all of us," he replied, putting his hand over the slit lid. "From now on, I think all of us… you, me, and Carmine too, should stop thinkin' about all the bad things we did in the past. 'Cause it's all history now! Instead, let's start being more positive."

He looked up at Juliana and started laughing.

"Cause if both you girls are gonna whine so much, I guess it's up to me to be the one to tell you to knock it off for once! Let's promise together, Juliana. Instead of spending all our time moping, we're gonna figure out a way to help Carmine, we're gonna find Ogerpon, and then we'll all be happy again!"

Juliana, surprised and impressed at Kieran's newfound tenacity, couldn't stop herself from giggling, and she placed her hand over Kieran's. Ms. Raifort's favorite catchphrase came to her mind.

"Whatever we did yesterday, it is a part of history." She beamed at Kieran. "Okay, Kieran. I promise I'll try. Hee-hee!"

"Hee-hee!" he grinned back.

Arven watched them both with a very proud smile. "Man Kieran… you really are a different kid from when we first met. It's only been like, what a few months? And yet you've grown up so much."

"Yeah," he nodded. "And I still got more growing to do! Every day's a chance for me to grow and be a better person, right? That's—that's what I remember my Sis used to say when we were growin' up."

"Sounds like your Sis has been talking to my mom too much," Penny snickered. She pointed behind her, where a bright pink title graphic showed on the TV screen. "I finally got the game running, by the way."

The positive vibes Juliana and her friends were soaking in soon gave way to fear and concern, as an hour had passed and the community center remained eerily deserted except for the four of them.

And it wasn't just the disappearance of Nao and the rest of the staff that was making them beginning to worry.

Arven marched back and forth, huffing anxiously as he spoke with a fraught timber in his voice.

"So nobody saw where Nemona went off to? Because… if she's not in her room, and we didn't see her leave the front door, then… then I don't know!"

"I checked in the ladies' room and she wasn't there," said Penny.

"Yeah, and I checked every other room in this place," said Kieran. "Didn't see her anywhere."

"And I tried her phone. She's not picking up at all," Juliana showed them.

"…You tried calling her?" Arven's face became very despondent. "I didn't hear her phone ring or anything. That's… weird."

"Huh… that is weird," Penny also realized.

Arven turned to Juliana. "Juliana, what was the last thing she said to you before she left?"

Juliana twisted her lip. "Just—that she knew something that would cheer me up, and said she'd be right back."

"Maybe she wanted to get something at the shop?" Kieran suggested. "I just hope she didn't wander out of town… Kitakami's dangerous at night if you don't know your way around."

Arven huffed again, this time very angrily. "I know Nemo loves to be rambunctious, but this is not like her at all, to put herself in danger like this! I just have this terrible feeling that something's wrong."

Juliana turned to them all. "I hate to say this, but… we're probably gonna have to go outside and look for her."

They heard a low growl from Arven, and he bore his fists together with an increasingly angry face.

"If something's happened to her or somebody's done something with her, I swear I'll… I'll…!"

"Easy, Arven," Juliana tried to calm him down.

"Yeah, we should keep a level head instead of freaking out," said Penny.

He hmphed. "Fine. Let's go."

Things only felt even stranger as the four teenagers all stepped out into the cold night of Mossui Town. Not only was there a light fog starting to pick up on the ground… but the entire town seemed completely quiet now, almost completely deserted.

"Okay… this is startin' to get a little spooky now," Kieran gulped.

"You mean it's… not supposed to be like this at night here?" Penny was having a hard time not shaking her fists. "D—don't say things like that!"

"…I guess none of this is really normal, is it?" Kieran admitted with an uneasy expression. "First there's no explanation for Sis's weird dancing. And now—now the town's all empty… Nao-san and everyone else has disappeared… Maybe the folks in town were right. Maybe there really IS a curse…"

The Paldeans all jumped back in shock.

"Wait, it could be a c-c-curse!?" Juliana trembled.

"Hang on now!" Penny was quaking in her shoes now. "I was—I was kidding before! About there being a curse! You tellin' me it's real now!? Wow, this trip just took a reeeal sudden dive into horror movie territory…"

"Of course not!" Arven said aggressively. "There's no such things as curses! How many times do I have to tell you guys that!"

"Well then how do you explain this all then, smart guy!?"

"I…" Arven hated to admit it, but he could feel his voice trembling a bit too. "I don't know, okay!? But there's gotta be a logical explanation!"

"H-hey!" Juliana pointed. "There's some people! We can ask them what's going on!"

They looked over and a little ways down the street, near Peachy's stand, they could spot two villagers standing next to each other.

Kieran squinted at them. "It's hard to tell with this fog… but I think those two are workers from the apple orchard. I remember seeing them when I was showing off my Hydrapple."

The four students all decided to cautiously approach the pair of villagers, a middle-aged man and an older woman.

Strangely, even as they walked right up to them, the two villagers didn't seem to react to the quartet's presence, instead just whispering among themselves.

"Umm…" Penny looked at them both warily.

"Good evening!" Arven said loudly to get their attention.

Kieran cleared his throat. "Excuse us…"

"… … …"

They didn't respond, causing the teens to look confused.

"Um… hello?" Juliana tried to get their attention. "Anybody in there?"

"… … …"

"Something's off about them…" said Kieran. Then he looked at their faces closely and noticed something. "Wait a minute… their eyes!"

"Mm… mo…" the woman began to mutter.

"Mo… chi… Mochi…" the man croaked back.

Juliana's eyes widened. "C-come again!?"

"Mo… mo…"

The two villagers both turned to the teens in perfect sync, and then…

"MOCHI MOCHI!" "MOCHI MOCHI!"

"HUH!?" they all shouted.

With bright purple eyes and huge, jubilant smiles on their faces, the two orchard workers all began dancing the exact same strange dance as Carmine and chanting the words "Mochi, mochi" repeatedly.

"Woah, what the heck!?" Arven shouted. "What's going on!?"

"They're doing the exact same weird dance as Carmine!" Juliana shouted out.

"No way… the dancing plague Grandpa talked about… IT'S REAL!"

"Then there really IS A CURSE!" Penny moaned. "They're like zombies or something!"

"Mochi!" "Mochi, mochi!"

The two entranced adults began marching almost menacingly towards them all, still dancing and chanting with no sign of losing their energy.

"What do they want!?" Penny screamed, backing away. "Why are they coming towards us!?"

Simultaneously, the villagers sent out their Pokémon, both Poison-types. An Ariados and a Salazzle.

"I think it's a battle they want!" Arven realized.

"Well, they picked the wrong Trainers to pick a fight with!" Juliana declared. "It's the two of them versus the four of us! We got this, guys!"

"R-right!" Kieran replied, trying to maintain his composure as he got his Pokémon ready. "I feel bad about it, but I think it might be the only way to calm them down…!"

"Uhhh, sure," Penny quivered. "As long as someone else is willing to take on whatever that big red, scary bug is!"

"Mo…"

"Ch-chi…"

With their Pokémon defeated, the two villagers' dancing stopped and their shoulders slumped down.

"M—mooo… chi…"

Then they both turned and ran away from the students, much to Juliana's surprise.

"WAIT! Where are you going?"

Arven's Mabosstiff gave off an intimidating bark after them.

"Phew…" said Penny. "That scared the snot out of me…"

Kieran still felt uneasy watching their behavior and fretted. "What's wrong with them? They were perfectly fine when I saw them the other day!"

"Yeah, but… now they're acting just like Carmine!" Juliana pointed out. "So that means whatever's going on with them—is the same thing that's happened to her!"

"So it's not just my sister who's gone crazy…" Kieran shook his head. "…Is it weird that that almost feels—like a relief?"

"I don't know what's so relieving about everyone in this town going insane and doing scary dances!" Penny blustered.

"Espee…"

Penny's Espeon strode over to its Trainer, making worried cries as the tip of its purple tail quivered.

"Huh? What's wrong?" asked Penny, noticing its tepid behavior.

"Hey Penny, when did you get an Espeon?" Juliana inquired.

"Hmm? Ohh… yeah. It evolved just recently, I guess my friendship with this Eevee was high enough for it to evolve for a while, I just… never came out in the daytime a whole lot."

"Purr…" Espeon circled around Penny, the red jewel on its forehead glowing a bit.

"But… Espeon is supposed to be a Pokémon that can sense when there's danger or, a shift in people's emotions. If it's acting like this, then… it must be sensing that something really bad's going on."

"I can't believe Nemona vanished at a time like this…" said Juliana. "We could really use her help."

Arven was starting to get frantic again. "I still don't know about this whole curse nonsense, but if people are really being affected by something that makes them start dancing like that, what if that's what happened to Nemona!? Grrr! We really need to find her as fast as we can!"

"Yeah…" Juliana said with great unease in her voice.

"Hmmm… I think the best solution is not just looking for Nemona, but tryin' to figure out where Nao-san and the rest of the elders are," Kieran reasoned. "Especially if my grandparents are with them. They might have a better idea of what's going on around here."

"They're usually up there in Kitakami Hall, right?" asked Juliana, pointing down the bridge that led through Reveler's Road.

"Well I'm not going to wait around for answers!" Arven declared brashly. "I'm going out there!"

"Wait, Arven, stop!" Kieran held his hands out. "Aren't you gonna think about what you're doing? I told you how dangerous Kitakami is at night!"

"I don't have time to care about that right now, Kieran!" Arven barked back at him. "Nemona might be out there somewhere! I can't just let her face great danger alone! Now let's all move out together!"

"NO!" Juliana shouted loudly, making him and the rest of her friends jump out of her skins. "Kieran's right, Arven! You don't know the area as well as we do, or the kinds of Pokémon that might jump out at you!"

"If we all team up together, we should be fine, right?" Arven tried to reason.

"I said NO!" she screamed out. "Look, I—I—I know this sounds selfish of me, but—but if there really is some weird 'dancing plague' that's infecting people or something, then… you saw what Carmine's like! I couldn't live with myself if I let that happen to you guys too!"

"But—but…" Arven still wanted to protest. However, Penny tugged on his sleeve.

"I think Juliana has a point. It'd be more dangerous for us to go barreling off in places it looks like we could get easily lost in. Besides… I know Nemona's your girlfriend now, so you're like extra worried about her n' stuff, but—I think you forgot she's a Champion. So she is strong enough to hold up in a lot of bad situations."

"I know, but…!" Arven groaned. He hated that everyone was making some pretty strong points against his stubborn desires to be a protective boyfriend.

"How about this?" Kieran suggested. "You two stay here in town and keep looking around for Nemona in case she's still around here somewhere. Meanwhile, umm, Juliana and I will go up to Kitakami Hall together and ask the elders if they can help."

"Y-yeah!" Juliana nodded. "That sounds like a great plan! We'll make sure to keep a lookout for Nemona while we're gone, and… you guys can call us if you happen to find her first."

Arven grumbled a bit. "Rnnnn… Okay. Fine. I trust your judgment, little buddy. But—if you guys end up finding Nemona out there, you call me! Don't even hesitate for a second!"

"Of course!"

Penny gulped. "Stay safe out there, you two. Call us if you get into any trouble too."

"We will. Thanks, Penny," Kieran smiled.

He and Juliana turned around and started heading out towards the bridge.

Kieran stopped for a second and stood right next to Peachy's stand as he took a few deep breaths to psyche himself up. Even though he was the one sort of taking charge, he still felt a little scared inside.

In fact, standing in this very spot seemed to fill him with a bit of dread for some reason. Maybe because of worried he was about his sister?

…

"…cha…"

Then Kieran heard a small noise, and swore he saw a bit of movement to his left. He quickly glanced over at Peachy's stand.

"Huh? Someone there?"

But he looked over and saw nothing unusual. The same display cases and boxes on the counter, that Never-Rotting Peach doll sitting there as always, and the shutter down over the storefront.

"…Hmm…"

"Kieran?" Juliana called back. "Something wrong?"

"Uhh—no. Sorry. Thought I heard something. 'm coming!"

Kieran shook off that momentary curiosity and went to join up with her.

…Once he was out of sight, it wiggled a bit, and cautiously peered out from its shell.

Inside, it giggled a little bit.

Recognizing that both beings who helped to channel its power again were here now, to bear its final awakening… was most alluring.

"Your friends sure are eager to want to throw themselves into danger for folks they care about," Kieran panted.

"That's my friends for you," Juliana answered back. "They're the same ones who went down to Area Zero the first time with me, after all."

"I'm glad you've got such loyal friends stickin' by you!"

Juliana and Kieran were running up the mountain path through Reveler's Road that led up to Kitakami Hall. Juliana was keeping a sharp eye all around them for where Nemona might be, but as she looked out over the hills and fields surrounding them, and down where Mossfell Confluence was, she was starting to notice something odd.

"Hey…" she said out loud. "I remember running through this place at night before, and there were a lot of little nocturnal Pokémon around. Like Hoothoot, Spinarak… Illumise…"

"Yeah?"

"But… where are they now? The whole field down there looks just as empty as Mossui Town does. Are they all asleep?"

"Could be…" Kieran gulped. "Or maybe they're all hiding from something… That Espeon of Penny's might not be the only Pokémon who can detect somethin' dangerous around here."

"Kieran…" Juliana gulped too. "I hate to admit it, but I'm starting to get a little scared here… Like, even more than I did when we were in Area Zero."

"Yeah… me too."

Kieran felt that he understood Juliana's anxiety… that is, until he heard her choking back tears a bit.

"…I really hope we figure this out so we can help Carmine," she squeaked out softly.

A small tear from her eye actually flew back and landed on Kieran's face. Kieran silently began to understand.

…Did you finally figure it out while you were gone?

Juliana and Kieran were buzzing with fear and stress. But once they got to the plateau of the mountain road, where the stairs with the red archway and the statues of Growlithe greeted them to Kitakami Hall (Juliana noticed for the first time that those statues looked exactly like the kind of Growlithe Perrin owned and gave to her), they spotted two people who made them feel at ease again.

"Grandpa!" Kieran shouted. "And Grandma!"

Hideko and Yukito were both standing at the foot of the stairs leading into Kitakami Hall.

"Hello there, Kieran," Hideko said pleasantly. "And you too, Juliana. Take a look who I found."

Yukito, who had been staring at her husband the whole time, turned to face Juliana and Kieran. Her eyes lit up upon seeing them.

"Hi, Ms. Yukito-sama!" Juliana waved. "It's wonderful to see you again!"

"…"

But Kieran had a million questions. "What are you both doing here? Are Nao-san and the elders okay? And—and did you see a girl run by here? One of the ones who came with Juliana?"

"Slow down, Kieran. One question at a time," Hideko answered him. "I came here to look for your grandmother. Luckily, I found her here in Kitakami Hall, sharing some of her mochi with Nao and the rest of the townspeople."

"Phew…" Kieran breathed out a sigh of relief. "Glad everyone's safe."

"I also thought I'd come and get some of Carmine's favorite noodles from the stall here. A taste of her favorite food might snap her out of whatever is going on with her."

"Oh. Yeah, I hope so too," said Kieran. "Good thinking, Grandpa."

"You know Juliana, they're actually gearing up to hold the Festival of Masks here again very soon. If you waited a few more days, you and your friends might get to join in on the festivities."

"Ummm, that's really great, sir, Mr. Hideko-san, but uhh… we actually have a bit of a problem."

"Oh?"

"Yeah! Everyone in town is acting really weird!" Kieran explained. "And one of the girls who came here from Paldea went missing!"

"She's wearing a school uniform like mine! Err, the one I had last time I was here," Juliana informed them. "She's really tall and loud and full of energy?"

"Yeah! Remember that dancing plague you mentioned before?" Kieran sputtered. "It's—it's…"

Hideko wasn't quite listening to that last part, thinking deeply about Juliana's description.

"Well, now that you mention it, we did run into a rather boisterous stranger in the village earlier." He turned to his wife. "You spoke with her, Yuki. What did she say?"

"… … …"

Kieran lifted an eyebrow. "Uhh, grandma?"

"…Dearest?"

"…Have some mochi," was Yukito's only response. Suddenly, she was holding a big plate of her signature mochi treats.

"Oh! So you found where you left those mochi things, did you? But I… I don't need any mochi at the moment."

Kieran chuckled a bit, and leaned in to whisper to Juliana.

"My grandma gets pretty serious whenever she makes a plate of mochi. Basically won't let you leave until you've stuffed your face with 'em. Carmine's gotten real sick of the stuff."

"That's pretty cute…" Juliana giggled. "I'm surprised that your grandmother makes them all purple. I remember the ones Nao-san gave to us at the end of the school trip were all in different colors."

"Huh? Wait… she usually doesn't do that, actually," Kieran noticed. "That's… weird?"

Yukito's eyes opened a little, and her head twitched a little as she spoke.

"D-d-dear... have some... mo...chi... Eat it... Eat th-the...mochi..."

"The way they're all purple like that…" Kieran was thinking. "It reminds me of… something…" Then he looked at his grandmother's eyes and gasped.

…Grandma's eyes! They're the same color as the eyes of Carmine and everyone else who was dancing! And—and so is her mochi!

"This is awfully sudden, dear." Hideko reluctantly grabbed one of the treats. "But I suppose if you insist…"

"GRANDPA, WAIT!" Kieran shouted out. "Something's wrong! D-don't eat that!"

"Mmm?" Hideko replied, his mouth full. He had already munched down on the strange purple mochi. "What's wrong, Kieran?" he asked. He swallowed it. "It's just your grandma's mochi, same as ever. In fact, this might be the sweetest batch she's made yet!"

"Oh, really?" Kieran phewed. "So… you're okay?"

"Of course!" He turned back to Yukito again. "Alright, I've had some mochi, dear. Now can we get back to Kieran's question… here?" Suddenly, he stopped. "Hmm?"

His face began to look pale, and he groaned a little bit.

"Ugh… What on Earth…? Did I… forget to take my meds?"

"S-sir?" Juliana piped up. "Are you… feeling sick?"

"Mmm… rnnng… gnn… GAH!" Hideko suddenly grasped his head in splitting pain.

"GRANDPA!" Kieran screamed. "What's—what's wrong? Grandma… help him!"

But Yukito was acting eerily calm. In fact, her feet were beginning to move to a certain rhythm. And all the while, Hideko moaned in great pain.

"My head… what is this…! Grrraaahhhh!"

"What's going on!?" Kieran was hyperventilating. "WHAT'S HAPPENING!?"

Hideko's eyes suddenly shot open, ripe with fear.

"That face…!" he croaked out. "I—I remember seeing that face…! It… It… Ugggghhhh."

"Huh!? What face!?"

Then, all Hideko's features became dulled, and his head slumped down, and much to both their horror, a soft purple aura began to surround him.

That aura… Juliana thought to herself. I've seen that somewhere before…

"G-G-Grandpa…?"

"Sir…?"

Then… Hideko's eyes shot open. They were purple now. And…

"Mochi MOCHI!"

He was doing the strange dance now!

Then, Yukito dropped her plate of mochi on the ground, shattering it to pieces, and joined in on the dance.

"Mochi MOCHI!"

"Huh-!? YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" Kieran screamed.

"The—the—the mochi!" Juliana stammered. "Your grandma's mochi changed them somehow! Didn't Carmine have that mochi too!? That's—that's gotta be what's making everyone act all weird!"

They held onto each other, both shivering in terror, as Kieran's entranced grandparents glowed purple and began to advance towards them.

"You're the ones…" Hideko breathed out.

"I've been waiting for you…" Yukito croaked ominously.

Juliana and Kieran both screamed out in horror.

Ogerpon dashed up Oni Mountain with great speed, knowing the trail she was following like the back of her cloak.

She hoisted herself over the crags, sprinted across the extremely narrow rocky bridge over the waterfall, and with great urgency landed in front of the Dreaded Den.

Ogerpon, deliriously out of breath, stopped for a minute to gaze into her old home… the place that she hadn't seen since she chose her new partners. The cave was cold, dark like she always remembered it… But somehow it seemed even hollower. More haunting than before.

"Ponnn…."

The ogre girl's eyes scrunched shut, beginning to glisten, as staring into the floor of the cavern caused horrible memories to resurface.

"Nnnn…"

She groaned wearily, forcing herself to bury her tragic reminiscences of the past, knowing that's not why she was so desperate to return here.

Ogerpon knelt down by the thick bushes next to her old cave, and pushed through all the leaves and thick, black twigs… until she came upon the spot where she always stashed the Berries she collected for her nourishment on the lonely days alone in the mountain.

The Berries were all of different sorts, but in the months Ogerpon had been away, most of them had turned rotten. They weren't Ogerpon's chief concern, however. At the very back of the Berry pile, Ogerpon began to pull on the thick rock that was wedged against the wall.

Worryingly, even though the Mask Pokémon remembered jamming that rock as tightly as she could into the wall over hundreds of years ago… it seemed to pop out with extremely little effort, like someone had loosened it already.

And Ogerpon's worries rose to maximum levels as she unearthed the rock… and gasped to see that underneath the rock, there was nothing.

"P-PON?!"

The Pecha Berry…

The one Berry that had become so significant that night… the night that Ogerpon lost everything.

She was horrified to see it was gone, and frantically began combing the entire wall, desperately hoping that maybe it had fallen somewhere else, or possibly even rotted into the floor.

"Oguhhhh… Ponoooo… Nnnnn."

But there was no denying it. The only thing that could've possibly prevented the disaster Ogerpon knew deep in her heart was beginning to resurface… had completely vanished.

Ogerpon looked up to the skies with teary eyes, shuddering as she swore she could hear a very soft, very familiar giggle somewhere in the town down below.

"…Ponnnn…" she whined softly in despair.