This time, Juliana was the one who instructed, "Remember, no peeking!"

And Carmine, whose eyes were being covered by her short girlfriend's hands, huffed in response.

"Sure, but you're aware I know this school like the back of my hand, right? I don't know what's inside the clubroom, but I can tell that's where you're taking me."

"Well… alright! Maybe I was saying it more for Ogerpon's sake!"

Ogerpon, who had her own eyes covered as Carmine carried her in her arms, responded, "Ponnn-yo-pon!"

The two girls traveled down the hallway, Juliana volunteering herself as Carmine's eyes as they approached the door to the League Club Room.

"Alright, we're here!" she announced.

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"Not yet!" Juliana insisted. Carmine heard the door to the clubroom open. "Just gotta set up a few things!"

"Well, I sure hope it's worth it!" she giggled. "I can't imagine what you've done inside that clubroom that I couldn't go into it for over two weeks!"

"Ponooo…" Ogerpon wondered.

The girl was bemused to hear the sounds of Juliana running around, objects being shuffled in a corner, and then, music being played.

"…?"

Carmine was brimming with curiosity now. It sounded like Juliana was going all out, whatever was happening.

"You don't… think she'd reserve the whole clubroom and set it up to make it a—a date spot for us, do you?" She couldn't help but let her imagination wander, and gasped. "Imagine if she put up dark curtains, set up a candlelit dinner on the table, and picked out some romantic music? Ooooh, pinch me to stop me raising my expectations, Ogerpon!"

"Geh-pon?"

"Alrighty!" Juliana came back over, and started ushering Carmine and the little monster girl in her arms to start walking forward.

Ogerpon's nose trickled. As they entered the room, the little Pokémon's nose was hit with some very deeply familiar scents.

Carmine however, was chuffed to walk inside and hear… typical chatter. She scrunched her nose. "Ehh? There's still smelly people in this room? … And you've got me walking in with my eyes closed like an idiot."

"I thought you knew we were heading inside the clubroom, Carmine. Why would it be empty?" asked Juliana. The grumble she got in response only confused her even more. "Anyway, you can open your eyes now. Take a look!"

Carmine slowly opened her eyes… and then flashed them all the way open as she looked all around.

"I—Woah."

The League Club Room was completely different.

Almost everything about it had changed. The light wood-paneled walls had been painted over with a much lighter green finish, surrounded by glittery white moulding. The blue carpeted floor had been replaced with modern tiling. Rugs with artisan designs laid underneath the different desks and tables.

The room was also shining a bit brighter with hexagonal light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, and all sorts of brand new décor coated the walls of the clubroom. Pictures of the Terrarium outside, photos of famous Unovan landmarks, and posters of famous PokéStar Studios films such as "Big Monster".

"You turned this place into a… a whole different room!" Carmine marveled, gazing around at all the changes. "But how…?"

"I donated a lot of BP to the Art Club when I was here before, and they really wanted to repay me, so I thought it'd be cool to commission them to give this a whole place a makeover," Juliana explained. "I took suggestions from a lot of people in the club for what they'd like to see added to the new room. Amarys and Lacey gave a lot of helpful input on furniture, and I got help from some of the other clubs too."

Carmine had to admit, she was extremely impressed with how eagerly Juliana had grabbed onto the reins of her new authority.

She hadn't had any reason to think of being the League Club president as anything more than an ancillary title before (Drayton having almost literally sat on the title for so long probably didn't help that image), but for the past several weeks they'd both back at Blueberry Academy, Juliana had been blabbing her ear off a lot about all the great ideas she had to help the League Club, including finding ways to increase integration with other clubs like this.

Carmine didn't mind all that blabbing, of course. It was adorable to see Juliana so excited to be an active leader for this club. Finally letting herself be openly in love with Juliana meant Carmine slowly realizing that she could probably sit in a place with Juliana and listen to that sweet girl talk about anything for hours on end without getting bored.

"The Science Club pitched in and we got a bunch of new computers for everyone—"

There was a desk of several computers lined up, all with the BB League software installed on them, and standing next to them was Synclaire, a student from the Science Club who was tightening the bolts on a very strange-looking machine.

"What is… that?"

"An Item Printer!" Synclaire proudly declared. "It allows you to print genuine items for your Pokémon to hold by depositing in raw materials."

"So you can just—use it to make new items from thin air? Sounds like science fiction mumbo jumbo to me."

"I can assure you, Carmine, the items that come out of this machine are as real as our human bodies," Synclaire said ominously, pushing her glasses up.

"I'd be careful with using that printer," Juliana whispered to her. "It's… surprisingly addictive. Really ate up my BP."

Carmine had a lot of questions about how an item-printing machine could be "addictive", but decided to save them for later, if not just because Synclaire's mischievous gaze… creeped her out a little bit.

That's when Carmine realized a certain someone had left her arms while she wasn't looking.

"Huh? Where did Ogerpon do?"

"Over there!" Juliana pointed. "She must've found what I wanted to surprise you both with!"

The two girls found Ogerpon having dashed to the corner of the room where all the lockers were. But the back wall wasn't just a storage area anymore… it was a little natural paradise. Several tall plants were placed along the walls, growing from pots and hanging tapestries. Little hexagonal shelves with even smaller plants and mini-terrariums had been set up around the back walls too.

As Carmine stared in awe at all this new foliage, she stroked the leaves of one of the tall ferns… and her eyes widened in reminiscence.

"Wait… Juliana, I know this fern! These—these only grow in Kitakami!"

"That's right! I was wondering if you'd notice!" Juliana beamed. "I had the Botany Club help me out with that! Some of the club members told me they wanted to see a more natural look to the clubroom, and that… kinda got me thinking about what you told me with Ogerpon. How you were worried that she misses her home, and was having a hard time adapting to this environment."

Ogerpon brushed herself up against the familiar Kitakamite flora, sniffing the slight bitter tones in the air that arose from the fern, and let out a blissful cry, shaking her little green cloak all about.

Carmine's eyes lit up. "Oooohh… well aren't you a clever little thing."

"Now there'll always be a little piece of home here whenever Ogerpon needs that little bit of familiar refreshment! Here!" Juliana took something out of her pocket and handed it to her. "In case you want some tiny plants to grow in your room!"

Carmine's eyes bugged out when she realized they were seed packets, and she handed them back.

"Ohhh, uhh… thanks, but you're better off keeping those away from me, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I've got… whatever the opposite of a green thumb is," Carmine said embarrassedly, rubbing the back of her head. "Grandma doesn't let me in the back garden at home anymore, because everything I touch dies…"

"Ohhhh, my bad."

"Still, this is such a magnificent surprise," Carmine smiled. "It seems like you worked really hard to help transform this space into somewhere where everyone in the club will feel a lot more comfortable, especially our little ogre daughter!"

"Yup! And the surprise still isn't done yet! Because as for what you told me about Ogerpon needing more space to run on…"

"Hiya!" waved Carmine's familiar friend from the Boxing Club.

"Cammie!" she gasped. "I didn't even see you there!" She noticed the girl with the pink-black cross braid standing in front of a large, draped ensemble. "What's all this?"

"I was saving up to get some really high-caliber equipment for the Boxing Club, but thanks to Juliana and all her generous BP donations, I didn't need to spend a single cent! So instead, I went up to my mom with all my hard-earned savings and…"

Cammie grabbed the drape and unsheathed it dramatically, revealing a row of very expensive exercise machines, including a huge omnidirectional treadmill, to occupy the other back corner of the clubroom.

"WOAHHH!" Carmine's eyes lit up like stars.

"These are some of the most high-end machines the Sinnoh region has to offer, Carmine! Thanks to all the clout my mom has with the big manufacturers there, we've just souped up the League Club's calorie-burning potential to astronomical levels!"

"You're telling me! Everyone in this club is about to get SO SWOLE!"

"And I don't think even your little Ogerpon will be able to break this big, spanking baby!" Cammie giggled, rubbing the handles on the omnidirectional treadmill. "Why don't you give it a shot, little fighter?"

"Pon?"

Ogerpon curiously stepped onto the platform. Cammie strapped the safety belt onto Ogerpon, then she leaned in and punched some keys underneath the fancy LED screen.

"I'll even put you up on the toughest course: a simulated sprint through Mt. Coronet itself!"

The rough, jagged mountain of Sinnoh appeared on screen and Ogerpon started to run on the platform with her little leaf-sandled feet. Her speed increased, as did the pace of the conveyor floor beneath her, and the machine whirred and whirred to match the little Pokémon's incredible tempo.

"Pon… pon… pon…!" she huffed, feeling the burn.

The LED screen gave off a flurry of positive beeps to indicate all the records Ogerpon was shattering in kilometers per hour, calories burned, and pace level, as images of mountain scaling and snowy tundra climbs blurred across the screen.

"PON… PON… PONYOOOOO!" Ogerpon cried, reaching the apex of her max output.

"The machine's actually holding steady!" Carmine clapped. "Ogerpon doesn't have to worry about breaking it! That's wonderful, Ogerpon! This means you'll be able to run all you want without having to worry about me or Juliana not having the energy to run with you!"

"Pon-yeeeeee! Pon-pon!" Ogerpon squeed in delight.

"I still can't believe you were really listening to all my worries about Ogerpon and the school…" Carmine said sincerely to Juliana. "I'm not really—used to people actually taking stock of my little complaints. Y'know, since most people just think of me as the silly girl who gets angry at everything that moves…"

"Well, I'm not most people, Carmine," Juliana smiled sweetly at her. "You're a real special person and it's—it's time somebody finally told you that. You and Ogerpon both deserve the world."

Juliana got ready for Carmine to respond with a gushing new nickname for her, but instead Carmine walked up and gave her a gentle hug.

"Thank you."

Juliana closed her eyes and reciprocated the hug with a warm smile.

"…You're not gonna see me get all sentimental like this in front of all these squares very often, so cherish this moment, okay?"

Juliana giggled. "Of course."

The Mask Pokémon skidded her feet to let Cammie know she was done, and Cammie helped unfasten her from the treadmill.

"Hee-hee!" Cammie giggled. "I'm certainly game for anything that means I don't have to pay for any more broken equipment!"

"Hey Cammie?" Carmine scooched up next to her. "Well you're here, I was wondering something…"

She started whispering to the energetic girl as Juliana knelt down in front of Ogerpon, who was on such an adrenaline high from that exhilarating jog that she was stumbling to even walk on her two feet.

"How was that, Ogerpon?" Juliana laughed. "Did you get a whole Oni Mountain's worth of good running in?"

Ogerpon wicked the sweat off her brows and replied with heavy breaths, "Ponnn… gee-yo-pon!"

"I'm so glad we figured out how to make Blueberry a happier place for you!"

"Ponee!"

Moments like this, seeing Ogerpon's smile and having Carmine show vulnerable affection toward her, made all the hard work that Juliana poured into this League Club overhaul worth it. All the feedback her fellow BB League members had given her kept her self-esteem going as well, and she knew all the rest of the comments she was likely to get from other clubgoers will likely give her a similar boost.

But these two lovely girls, both treasures in her heart… Juliana knew their happiness would stick with her long after everyone else's.

What a coincidence that as soon as I stopped stressing out about my purpose every day, I'm finding it in all the little things I do now. Go figure, right?

"YES!"

She was taken out of her thoughts by Carmine's excited outburst.

"It's really okay?"

"Sure!" Cammie said to her enthusiastically. "I'd be honored for you two to test run it!"

"Ohhhh, you're a one in a million sweetheart, Cammie! Thanks so much!" Then Carmine hustled over to Juliana and couldn't stop herself from squeeing, holding her fists together tightly.

"What's up?" Juliana laughed.

"Alright, Juliana! Got any more plans for this afternoon?"

"Nope!" she shook her head.

"Good! Because now it's my turn to give you a fun surprise!" Beaming widely, Carmine declared, "We're finally going to have our first date!"

Juliana's eyes widened. "Our first date!?"

"That's right!"

She gulped. "Wow… I didn't expect we'd be doing that t-today of all days." My first real date with Carmine… Why do I feel so nervous all of a sudden? "So you… got something fun planned for us?"

"I sure do." Then she cast a wicked smile. "Ever played ice hockey before?"

Of all the things Juliana expected to be doing today, lacing up heavy ice-skating boots wasn't high up on her list of guesses.

She and Carmine were putting on their equipment in the box seats of an empty ice rink, down on one of the lowest levels of Blueberry Academy. This part of the structure was so far down underwater that there weren't even any windows because of the water pressure.

"I didn't even know Blueberry had an ice rink!"

"There's a lot of new sports programs popping up lately, I guess," said Carmine. "Of course, it's only because I'm such good sparring partners with Cammie that I know about this new club of hers that's been her baby for a while now."

"What made her decide to host a club for ice hockey?"

"Well, it's in more or less in her blood! Her mama's Candice, a famous Ice-type Gym Leader from Sinnoh, and Cammie used to grow up sliding around in her icy gym all the time. She said she wanted to find a way to bring that same childhood thrill to her school!"

"Ohhhh, cool!" Juliana started scratching her head. "But that's funny. When I was talking to Cammie after I donated BP to her club, I could've sworn she said her mom is a Fighting-type Gym Leader."

"She probably did, her moms are both Gym Leaders!" Carmine clarified. "Maylene is where she gets her raging competitive spirit from! So combine both those worlds together…"

"…and you get a club like this," Juliana realized, fitting on the Glalie-themed helmet.

Let's hope I can put on the same competitive spirit as someone with two Gym Leader parents… Or Carmine. I don't know which is scarier.

Carmine couldn't help but snort as she watched Juliana line up less than gracefully along the other side of the arena.

"Are you sure you've gone ice skating before?"

"Of course! My mom always used to take me to an ice rink in Circhester whenever we used to visit our old neighborhood. I'm just… not a very fast skater, is all."

"Ohhhh, I see! Never had a chance to heat up that blood in your heels, eh? Well, don't worry!" Carmine winked at her. "As your extremely kind and generous girlfriend, I'll make sure to go super easy on you!"

Juliana shook her head as she took position. "You don't have to go easy just for me, Carmine. As long as we're both having fun out here, that's the only thing that matters, right?"

This elicited a hearty chuckle from Carmine, who planted her skates firmly. "Juliana, my sweet naïve little cherub, believe me when I say you have no idea of the volcanoes you risk unleashing by asking me to go at my full might!"

Carmine's Scrafty took the position of goalie on her side. To demonstrate its seriousness, the lizard Pokémon tied up the baggy skin it was usually holding up with its hands against its collar, and draped the fold over the back of its head on its face like a menacing yellow ski mask.

"Scraff-scraff!"

"Now… later down the line, when you're a lot more comfortable with this, we can do a full team game where our Pokémon are the defenders. I just want to start off nice and easy before you see how merciless my babies are when you give them a hockey stick!"

"PON-PON!"

Juliana was already imagining that her Mienshao and Tinkaton would probably really excel at a game like this.

"But hey, you've got Ogerpon as your goalie so I think we should be pretty evenly matched even if you're still a beginner!"

Ogerpon, with a face of determination, slipped on her Teal Mask and took position over Juliana's goal, using her trusty ivy cudgel as her stick.

Carmine and Juliana positioned themselves in the center, with Sinistcha floating between them to act as the referee. Juliana gazed into Carmine's face. She looked determined, in a way that made Juliana feel all mushy.

Carmine gazed into Juliana's face. She was smiling a big dopey smile, clearly expecting a fun game more than the art of war. She hated that smile—more than anything. Mainly because she loved it more than anything.

Finally, Sinistcha tossed the black puck into the center ring and blew a whistle to signal the start of the match.

Unsurprisingly, Juliana immediately found herself trying to defend as Carmine took the puck and started making a beeline with it towards Juliana's goal.

"Heeeeeey!"

"You had just as much time to make a move yourself, sweetie!"

Juliana skated after the bullheaded girl, but she was focusing more on keeping up with Carmine's pace than being able to actually counteract Carmine's fierce blocks. And before long, the tall girl was already in prime position to make a move on her goal.

She smacked the puck with all her might, but Ogerpon was quick to block the puck, and slid it Juliana's way.

"Pon-yee!"

"Thanks, Ogerpon!"

"GRRR!"

"Whoops! Gotta go!"

Juliana took the puck and skated across the arena with it like she was a runway robber. She looked back and saw the red in Carmine's eyes as she charged towards the Paldean girl, slamming her stick on the ground repeatedly, and Juliana yelped and skated even faster.

Carmine was surprisingly having a hard time keeping up. "Didn't expect you to have the agility advantage over me…" she said, already huffing. "Guess your shorter, skinnier body makes you more aerodynamic!"

Juliana was sweating buckets as she desperately tried to keep her puck away from Carmine. Carmine advanced on her with her stick at one point, and with a frightful yelp Juliana forcefully pushed her stick away.

"Hey, nice block!" Carmine genuinely complimented her.

Juliana looked back at her and smiled.

"…FOCUS!" she teasingly barked back.

"YAHH!"

Reacting fast, Juliana decided to make a move, and shot the puck out towards Carmine's goal. Scrafty was ready to receive however, and with a powerful swing of its stick, the puck was launched down the ice far past Carmine's side of the field.

"P-pon!?"

Ogerpon just barely had enough time to swoop in and deflect the puck before it shot through Juliana's goal like a bullet.

"Heyyyy!" Juliana whined.

"What?" Carmine shrugged. "I told you I would go easy on you, I said nothing about my Pokémon."

The two returned to position for another face-off.

"Sinees!" Sinistcha cried, dropping the puck.

No huge surprise, Carmine won the opening scrap and began rhythmically delivering the puck towards Juliana's goal again, as Juliana found herself once more defending.

She tried to gain momentum on Carmine to sweep the puck from her, but Carmine was wise to her swift tricks this time and weaved to keep herself ahead. She aimed hard and square for the goal, and shot the puck with tenacity.

But Ogerpon was even more tenacious, and blocked the shot with aplomb.

"Hmph! I underestimated how much of a good goalie you are, Ogerpon!"

"Pon-yo-pon!" Ogerpon cried happily.

The next round was much of the same. Carmine started with the lead again, but this time Juliana made a risky swoop and was able to wrestle control of the puck away, leaving Carmine flabbergasted long enough that she made it all the way to Carmine's goal with the puck… only to be blocked by Scrafty.

"Scrrr-scrr-scrrr!"

"We're going around in circles, you and me!" Carmine huffed. "Maybe we should've involved our Pokémon in this match after all…"

Juliana skated up to her. "Well… I'm still having fun! Isn't that all matters, is we're having a fun little game here?"

"Well—yeah! But y'know… it'd be nice if one of us could actually score a point! Maybe this wasn't a fantastic idea for a first date after all…" she slumped.

Juliana was dismayed to see Carmine losing faith in her own excited idea and started thinking for a way to save the vibe.

"Hmmm." Then she lit up. "Hey, how about this! What if we played for real stakes this time?"

"…I'm listening."

"We play until somebody scores a point, and then the loser has to buy dinner," she smirked.

Carmine gasped… and then frightened Juliana with the evil smile that crept up on her face.

"Ohhhhh, you don't know what Pandora's box you've just opened, little girl. I'm going to drain your bank account like nothing else."

…

Juliana gulped. Be careful what you wish for, I guess…

"POSITIONS!"

As they prepared for their final face-off, Carmine's entire demeanor had changed now; her back was straight, her gloved hands gripped the stick tightly, and she was glaring at Juliana.

This was the exact kind of energy she had been trying to spark from Carmine, of course. A very terrifying energy, that made one part of Juliana shudder. But something about her confident demeanor, the fire she could see raging in Carmine's eyes, was also eliciting… very different feelings. Juliana wasn't quite sure what to make of it. …Am I being turned on?

"SINEES!"

Sinistcha dropped the puck, and Juliana didn't even have a millisecond to react before Carmine snagged the puck and was rushing off, huffing with manic glee.

"Victory will be all mine…!" she exclaimed between breaths. The sweat trickled down Carmine's face as she eyed her prize. Even Ogerpon looked apprehensive at her rapid approach. "It'll be the sweetest taste in the world! I… I…"

She turned around, expecting to gleam from watching Juliana eat her dust but instead… she only saw her girlfriend's shell-shocked face getting farther and farther away, struggling to keep up.

"I… What am I doing?" Carmine could feel that nagging insecurity rising up again. "Was this really all I wanted to do on our very first date as a couple was—to show off? This isn't right…"

Juliana could feel the sweat streaming down her face as she skated fast to catch up to Carmine. But… then she saw Carmine slowing down, and started feeling guilty.

What am I doing…? she wondered to herself. I've just been treating this like a game between friends, but Carmine is super serious about this. She's about to beat me, but now I feel like she's going to really disappointed with an easy victory…

She sucked in all her fears. Juliana knew she'd been deep into this new mindset of trying not to push herself anymore, but surely there are times when it's okay to try to go beyond your limits, right?

"Carmine's giving it all she's got. I have to get furious too," she decided.

And so, Juliana took off like a newfound bullet. She wasn't eyeing Carmine or thinking about the aches in her muscles anymore, she only had one target now: that meddlesome puck.

With forceful strokes, like a mermaid pushing through a torrent, Juliana closed out the trajectory, and Carmine was surprised to have her prize suddenly taken away.

"HEY!"

"Come and get me, Carmine!"

"Rrrrrrr! NOW you're playing for keeps!"

Carmine shouted at her angrily, but she was laughing deep from the throat as she chased after Juliana with more vigor than ever before.

Juliana knew Carmine had a power advantage over her and was likely to just charge in like a Tauros and swipe the puck easily from her, so she focused on making herself unpredictable instead.

She swayed back and forth, not just skating in a straight line towards the goal anymore, but moving in all sorts of directions. She even threw Carmine off-balance, who was now trying to follow her movements.

"Wha—what are you doing!? This is a serious game, Juliana, not a dance contest!"

"I'm making it more fun for you!" Juliana giggled. "You wanted a REAL hockey game, right?"

Carmine seethed in frustration as Juliana got so boisterous she was now using her speed to do circles around Carmine, making the girl dizzy.

"CUT IT OUT!" she bellowed. "Where was all this trickery the whole game? Show yourself, you fiend!"

Carmine shook her head to get her bearings, and her eyes shook with fury as she looked all around the arena for her meddlesome girlfriend.

"WHERE ARE YOU!?"

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm right here… sweetie."

She spun around, only for her helmet to be lifted up and as Juliana planted a big smooch….

"…!"

…and swung.

"SKREEEE!" Scrafty cried in shock as the puck whizzed past its head and struck the net.

"GUH-PONNNNN!"

Ogerpon threw up her cudgel in celebration over Juliana finally scoring the one and only match point.

"I—You—You… YOU!" Carmine's face was redder than a tomato. "I can't believe you resorted to such… dirty tricks like that!"

"Yeah, but I bet you think I'm pretty cool now, don't you?" Juliana beamed.

Carmine hated her with the intensity of a thousand suns—not least for the fact that she was completely right. It wasn't just that Carmine could feel how red her face was, she felt like she wanted to melt right into the icy floor.

"I can't believe you got me to show WEAKNESS! How many months did it take for the enemy to wiggle its way into my brain, for me to lower all my defenses! This was the most slow, cunning supervillain plan I've ever encountered… I need to resign my post as Kitakami's defender."

"Awww, don't be like that, Carmine!" Juliana patted the slumping girl on her shoulder pads. "Next time, I know you and I will both go all out!"

"Oh, next time you're going to be sorrier than DIRT!" Carmine huffed, quickly standing herself up again. "You'll see! We'll play with all our Pokémon next time, so we have a full team, and I'm going to watch you like a Staraptor! I'll pound you so hard into the ice even a Terastallized turtle won't be able to thaw you out!"

Juliana just giggled in response. "Glad you had fun, Carmine. I had a blast! This was an awesome first date!"

"GRRRRRR…"

But Carmine stopped herself and, flipping like a switch, smiled all bubbly at her.

"You see? I told you I'm full of great ideas!"

Minutes later, the box seats were full of feminine grunts as both girls worked to take off all their hockey pads and equipment. Carmine watched as Juliana lifted off her huge Glalie-themed helmet. That helmet had ruined her special Carmine-style braid, but Carmine didn't worry none. She knew she could bring that lusciousness back.

She was too mesmerized anyway, watching her girlfriend shake her head around, wicking the sweat off her face as her glorious brown eyes brightened up the room, and came to rest gazing in Carmine's direction while she breathed out with an irritatingly… serene smile so sweet it could cause diabetes.

"Whoo! That feels so much better!" she exhaled. "Hmm? Something wrong, Carmine?"

Carmine blushed to realize she had been caught staring. "Ahh—No! No, I was just… wanting to make sure—so, you really did have fun, right?"

"Of course I did! You know I wouldn't lie about that. I wasn't sure about this when you first suggested ice hockey, but I ended up really getting into it! So thanks."

"Yeah… no problem. And you're not hurting or anything?" she asked, remembering Juliana sharing her recent body struggles (and making Carmine flip out to learn that she had let herself faint in the middle of the woods from exhaustion).

Juliana let her arm fly around a bit. "My muscles hurt a little bit, but… in a good way, like they're supposed to. As long as I rest after this—"

"And you WILL rest."

"—then I think we're all good!"

"That's awesome."

Feeling a lot more assured, Carmine took off her helmet too, and this time it was Juliana's turn to let her mouth fall open as she watched the perspiring goddess that was her girlfriend remove the helmet and let her beautiful black-and-red locks roam free, like she was coming out of a heavenly pool.

"Gosh you're gorgeous," Juliana found herself blurting out.

Carmine giggled. "Don't I know it!"

"I wish I was just as gorgeous as you…"

This made Carmine pause for a second. In that moment, she realized that Juliana was being a lot more honest with her feelings than Carmine was. She'd been so on-guard about her emotions for so long that it still seemed like second nature for her to be so reserved with them.

But now she was in a real relationship, with somebody who needed that self-esteem boost just as much as she does. I have to let go of doing that… She needs to know how I feel.

"Hey, Juliana? You—you are just as beautiful as me. In every way. I don't know why I'm still being shy—when you opened your helmet just there, I was extremely captivated by your beauty. Sometimes I even…" She sighed, as it still slightly pained her to say this. "I even get jealous of you."

"Really?" Juliana was gobsmacked to hear such raw honesty from her. She bunted Carmine's chest with her head and cooed. "Ohhhh, we're really learning a lot about each other today, aren't we? I hope every date we have is just like this!"

Set this moment just months ago, and Carmine would've been furious with Juliana for messing up her clothes by rubbing her oily hair all over them. But instead, she perched her chin over that precocious head and hummed peacefully.

"Yeah. Me too."

Ogerpon happily trotted alongside Juliana and Carmine as the happy family got ready to exit the arena.

"So…" Juliana turned to her tall girlfriend. "About dinner."

Carmine grumbled. "That's right. I guess I'm buying, aren't I? I hope you were in the mood for something cheap…"

"Well, actually… Remember how you promised at some point we were going to have a date where you showed me how to cook some proper meals for myself?"

This made Carmine snort loudly. "Even now, you're just a bag full of surprises! You telling me instead of getting some nice food somewhere when I'd be the one footing the whole tab, you'd still rather have something homemade?"

"Well, why not?" Juliana giggled. "It'd be kind of romantic to eat something made with lots of love, especially if both of us put work into it."

Carmine blushed. "Wow… alright. I guess when you put it that way… But—but we're stopping at the school store first!"

"For ingredients?"

"No, for candles!" she insisted. "So you and I can have that big romantic candlelit dinner for crying out loud!"

Juliana didn't realize Carmine's heart was so set on something like that. "Uhh… okay."

"Great! Wish fulfilled!" Carmine clapped. "Oh, by the way! That reminds me! Since you won that match fair and square, I just thought of something good to give you!" she realized, digging out her yellow satchel.

"Oh?" Juliana perked up. Then she looked curiously at the pair of green glasses Carmine pulled out. "What's that?"

"Hee-hee! Just try them on! You'll look great in them!"

Carmine had a… weirdly mischievous look in her eyes. "Okay…" But Juliana trusted her big cinnamon stick, and put them on. She could tell there was a lens of some sort over them, and her vision was partially obscured by them. But she fit them over her eyes and did her best to strike a glamorous pose.

"How do I look?" she smiled.

"…URK."

To Juliana's confusion… Carmine started seething.

Those are supposed to be JOKE glasses! She's supposed to look like a dork with those big Sinistcha eyes! But instead she looks… absolutely adorable!

"…Carmine? Do I look weird in them or something?"

"It's—it's fine! They look great on you. You should wear them every day!"

"Hmm…" Juliana took the Joke Glasses off, still a little confused. "I can't really see very well in them. I don't think I should—"

"Brrb-brrb-brrb…"

"Huh?"

They both heard a… startingly familiar noise.

"GHH!" Ogerpon suddenly drew out her cudgel on high-alert. "PON-PON!?"

Slowly, a figure began to slink out from hiding within the bleachers. A very small, purple one.

"Peh-chaa?"

"YAH! WHAT THE HELL!?" Carmine's hairs stood up on end as soon as she saw Pecharunt. "I forgot Kiki actually brought that freaky thing all the way to this school!"

"Pecharunt?" Juliana peered at the small Pokémon, confused. "What are you doing here?"

The mischievous runt itself had somehow followed the pair to this ice rink, and it floated around with a series of movements, like it was pantomiming something.

"What is it doing, trying to communicate?"

Carmine was warily wrapping herself around Juliana's arm. "I don't know, but—maybe we'd better find Kiki before it does something weird!"

Then Pecharunt opened its shell, and the three of them gasped as they saw some of its Binding Mochi beginning to generate from inside.

"LIKE THAT! It's about to do another mochi attack!" Carmine shouted. She thrust herself in front of her girlfriend. "Juliana, get back!"

"PEHHH…" Pecharunt charged up, surely about to engender another onslaught. But instead… "CHAA!"

A single Mochi popped out from its shell, and rolled along the ice.

"PNN!" Ogerpon was quick to toddle up to the Mochi and whack it away with her cudgel.

Pecharunt responded by… clapping for her.

"Yeeeee! Yeeeeee!" it said gleefully.

"Huh?" Carmine sneered at the purple thing. "Is it… playing a game or something?"

This time, Pecharunt shot out two of its Mochi. Ogerpon lowered down her Teal Mask again and locked in as she used her cudgel to block both of them.

"How long has it been hiding in there watching us? Maybe Pecharunt got excited by our little hockey match and it wants to play too!" Juliana reasoned.

Pecharunt upped the ante and sent out three sets of Mochi, followed by five.

"PNN! PNN! PNN! PNN!"

But Ogerpon was the ultimate samurai, deflecting every single last one of them.

"Pehhhhh… CHARUUUUUNT!"

Now Pecharunt decided to test the full extent of Ogerpon's blocking abilities and shot out a full barrage of purple Mochi pellets.

"PONYO!"

With fierce grit and steely determination, Ogerpon turned herself into a Pokémon windmill, effortlessly blocking every single Mochi as she spun her cudgel around. There wasn't a single morsel of purple rice and flour that made it past the warrior girl's defenses, and by the time Pecharunt's arsenal had run out, the arena was coated in purple crumbs and food bits around the huffing Ogerpon.

"Alright…" Carmine pointed. "Next time, Ogerpon is my goalie!"

Pecharunt spun around and began exclaiming in glee, like it was doing a victory dance on Ogerpon's behalf.

"Peh! Peh! Peh! PECHAAA!" it clapped.

"Awwww! How sweet!" Carmine gushed. "You two started as the worst of enemies, now you finally have this opportunity to bond and become friends!"

-BONK!-

"PEEYA!?" Pecahrunt exclaimed in surprise as Ogerpon threw the cudgel at its head.

Juliana and Carmine both gasped and turned to Ogerpon, who stared Pecharunt down with a sneering face.

"GRRR-GRAHHHH!" she barked, before angrily stomping out of the arena,.

"Or… not."

Juliana sighed in disappointment. "I guess… Ogerpon's still having trouble forgiving Pecharunt for everything it did in the past."

"Pihhhh-chyah…" Pecharunt moaned, sadly rubbing the bump on its head.

A few days later, Juliana found herself called down to a private room with Director Cyrano. Upon stepping in, she was surprised to be greeted not just with the Director, but…

"La Primera!?"

"Greetings to you, Champion Juliana!" Geeta greeted her warmly, sitting alongside the Blueberry Director at a meeting table.

"Shocked to see your own headmistress on Unovan soil, huh?" Director Cyrano chortled.

"It's not the first time we've met up here, but you'll likely be seeing me on this campus off and on," she chuckled. "Now that both our schools are working on strengthening ties with each other."

"Geeta here's got some interesting stuff to relay to you, Juliana. But first…! A real question from the heart. How's life at my Blueberry Academy treating you? Is it everything you were hoping for?"

Surprised to learn that Geeta was interested in these answers too, Juliana talked about her experiences at Blueberry Academy. How comfortably she'd integrated into all her new classes and club activities, the friends that she'd made, and all the hard work she'd been doing recently as Champion/club president of the BB League.

Geeta was also very curious how Blueberry students felt about Paldea and what sorts of questions Juliana was fielding as a representative of her region, and she tried to answer these as earnestly as she could.

"I appreciate your honesty greatly," said Geeta. "I'm glad to know you've been serving as much a symbolic bridge between the two schools as I was hoping you would. Not that I ever had any doubt. If there's anything I've learned about you by this point Champion Juliana, it's that you're a star who not only shines wherever the winds may take you, but one who knows how to bring out everyone else's shine too."

"Gosh, thanks, La Primera," she blushed. "That means so much coming from you."

"My pleasure. Now allow me to be honest in turn. Today, the primary reason I met is, well… I'm hoping you can be a great assist with something."

"Sure," said Juliana. "I'm down for everything."

"There's the right answer!" Cyrano chuckled.

"Very good," Geeta smiled, admiring her pupil's eagerness. "You see… it's not just Uva Academy whose bonds I've been working to strengthen. The Paldea League is also undergoing a bit of reevaluation on my part. I've been able to have some rather—illuminating conversations recently with a few of the Gym Leaders under our charge that's helped me to better understand what our relationship is together as a League. And how we can take that relationship even further."

Juliana nodded. She'd assumed some interesting things must have happened within her region's Pokémon League while she was gone, since her friends at the BB League had been pointing out to her how much better the Paldean League's numbers were suddenly doing this season.

I wonder how much of this 'strengthening our bonds' thing had to do with two of the Gym Leaders falling in love with each other…

"And then I had an idea," Geeta continued. "Something that can help bolster our connections and exchange valuable ideas across both the Pokémon League and our twin Academies. Killing two birds with one stone, if you'll forgive the frank expression."

Geeta laid out her plan for Juliana: a special coaching program where esteemed members of both Paldea's Pokémon League and the Uva Academy faculty could be called and flown out to Blueberry Academy as guest instructors.

There, they would offer Juliana's new classmates at Blueberry lessons and perspectives from the Paldea region, and take a little bit of the Unova region's unique attitudes home with them. An equivalent exchange of ideas to help tie the schools together even further.

"And this is where I want you to come in, Champion Juliana!" Geeta clapped her hands together. "I plan to connect with as many people as possible to gauge their interest in this program. So far, Katy's the only one who's shown deep interest, though she did promise to talk to Larry about it as well. Even so, I'm still just one person and—I am aware that my underlings aren't always as open about their feelings as I'd like them to be.

You on the other hand, Juliana, have made a positive impression with every member of this League, not to mention the astounding feat of forming close bonds with every single one of your Academy teachers. So I trust your judgment very strongly. If you have any ideas on who you think would be a great fit for this program—to come to Blueberry and lead some special lessons for your new peers, I'd be more than happy to hear them."

Juliana sat in front of the two faculty heads and thought deeply on who best suited this special opportunity—to become an instructor at Blueberry. There were several candidates that immediately presented themselves to her.

Hassel is such a great art teacher that he'd fit right in tutoring Blueberry's own Art Club. Miriam would be so excited to finally have a class of her own to teach, and Iono, well… her extremely passionate personality and flair for presentation would certainly make waves with Juliana's new classmates.

Somehow, thinking about Iono brought another idea to Juliana's mind.

"Hmmm, I have a question… does it—have to just be teachers from Uva?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if I thought they would teach some really great lessons here, could I also invite… students?"

"Students… Hmm. By that, you mean—"

"Ha-ha-ha!" Cyrano chortled. "It sounds to me like Juliana wants some of her old gang back home to share in the magic of my Blueberry Academy! I think that's a swell idea!" he clapped. "It's the exact kind of out-of-the-box thinking I just KNEW you'd bring to this meeting, Juliana!"

"Well… it seems that we're spoken for," Geeta muttered, still trying to get used to the… eccentricities of this Director. "Who, if I may ask, did you have in mind for this endeavor?"

"Well…"

Days later, the doors to the League Club Room opened, and a familiar face stepped in.

"Hey, Jules! I came as quickly as I could!" Arven smiled. "Like I'd do any less for my best friend in the whole world!"

Juliana felt a little embarrassed, having Arven address her so openly in the room with all the other club members like this. "Oh, h-hey Arven! Glad to see you made it! I don't suppose you brought—"

"Ta-ta-TACHAAAAN! I'm HERE!" Nemona immediately bounded in. "I knew you'd make the right choice picking me as one of the special coaches for this AMAZING new program, Juliana! I haven't even been in Blueberry Academy for ten minutes and I can already feel the energy of all the battle-hardened Trainers in this room!"

Before Juliana could even say anything, she rushed straight to the center of the room.

"Alright, Blueberries! My name's Nemona and I'm here for one thing and one thing only!" She eagerly dug out her Poké Balls. "Which of you wants to battle FIRST!?"

"…"

Everyone in the League Club just looked at her in confusion. You could practically see the sweatdrop on the backs of Juliana and Arven's heads.

"Well… Nemona sure brought the energy I expected," Juliana chuckled.

"She sure did," Arven laughed. "Hey. We came as trio! Where's…"

"Penny!" Juliana lit up. "You made it too!"

"Sure did," said Penny, trudging into the room much quieter than either of her traveling companions had. "This is a nice clubroom! I came here to raid it… so long as—everyone's cool with that."