Ogerpon remembered every single heavy drop of rain that hit her green cloak like a water bomb, the last time she so frantically ran across the narrow stone bridge at night.
The same night that she lost… everything.
The minute she realized that the wild runt's three retainers were heading straight for the den after busting free from their purple chains, Ogerpon had taken off in a mad dash up the mountain, cudgel in hand, scared beyond all belief but ready to defend her homestead from these poisonous attackers.
"Grrrrrrr…"
Even Ogerpon didn't know how much of the liquids running down her bruised face behind the Teal Mask were from the rain versus the tears flying. The poor ogre had been pushed to her limits by the merciless ambush from the runt and its posse, and she knew that her beloved partner would never be able to hold the monsters off on his own.
With a courageous leap forward, she sprung into the cliffside, sliding over a puddle, and made a defiant call to her attackers.
"GRAHHHH! OGERR-PONNNN!"
…
…
…
"…P-p-pon?"
But the area in front of Ogerpon's den was empty. The rain poured over a hollow arena. Ogerpon looked around frantically, wondering where the monsters… or her partner were.
As she stepped closer however, with tepid steps… she began to see marks of blood on the ground.
Ogerpon took off her mask. "Ponioooooo…?" she cried out loudly, trembling as she wondered where her partner had disappeared to.
The loyal Pokémon followed these blood prints to a tree branch overlooking the huge waterfall nearby… A bloodied piece of the man's clothing hung snagged on the branch.
…Right next to the edge of the cliff, where there were scrapings made by a human's fingernails. From Ogerpon's partner likely trying to climb back up, before—
"PON!"
With a horrid screech realizing what those monsters had done, Ogerpon quickly looked over the cliff, desperate to try to find a trace of her partner somewhere down in the waterfall, hoping he had made it out alright. Slowed his descent, swam to safety… anything.
But instead, she saw a glimpse of the horrible truth and gasped.
She could spot the man's limp, bloodied hand, unconscious but ledged onto a rock… before the currents swept it away, surrounded in a pool of red along the crashing waves.
Ogerpon broke. The tears flew immediately. The poor Pokémon's vision became wet with her inconsolable grief.
"Ponnn! PONNNN! Ponyooooooo…"
Her legs gave out, and the small Pokémon knelt down, the harsh rain continuing to beat down on her grieving form. Her only friend in the entire world was gone… Ogerpon was all alone now.
But not in this moment.
There was a cackle growing in the distance.
Ogerpon's tear-stricken face immediately went on-guard, sensing a threat… and was angered to see none other than the Pokémon who had unleashed those three beasts to assail onto her partner.
Her partner's murderer.
"BRRRB-BRRRB-BRRRB! BRRRB-BRRRB-BRRRB!"
It flew in the air above the den, having risen above the same waterfall rafting the man's corpse. A menacing glow erupting from its parted shell. Its devilishly wicked purple face seemed to laugh at Ogerpon, to taunt the Pokémon in her mourning.
"GRRRRRRR…!"
Ogerpon didn't even hesitate.
She bound into the air, right up to the runt's level. Before it could even react, Ogerpon unsheathed her ivy cudgel and laid a heavy beatdown onto the creature, with zero holding back.
She crushed the inner layers of its shell. She slammed its flying form hard onto the ground. She drove the cudgel's spikes right into its stupid face, cutting off its laughter and drawing blood from its white mouth.
The runt bounced along the ground, thoroughgoingly defeated and bruised, Ogerpon having just beaten it within a very inch of its life. It could feel its consciousness waning, the parts of its shell involuntarily closing in on itself as the big sleep began to take over the runt.
"Pehhh…!"
In one last desperate maneuver, it concentrated all the energy it had left inside of itself… and shot it in a huge, bright pink pulse.
Ogerpon reacted fast, and dodged the ball of energy, causing it to hit one of the Berry trees high above.
The Pecha Berry that absorbed the runt's blast began to glow in a mythical pulse. Now bearing the last remnants of the runt's binding energy, it fell from the tree and landed onto the cliffside, not even splattering at all from the fall.
Then the dormant, pink-shelled creature tumbled down the hillside, never to be seen again.
Ogerpon should've felt her vengeance complete, but inside, her whole body still rattled with burning rage. Her once-yellow star-shaped eyes were now red with grief and anger. But her volatile emotions refused to be satiated. And at that moment, she heard a rumbling.
Down below, she could just make out three shapes descending towards the nearby village, including Okidogi's unmistakable backside. And being carried on his back… was the Cornerstone Mask!
"Grrrrrrr…! GRAAAHHHHH-RAAAAHHHHHH!"
Ogerpon growled monstrously. Still furious over her partner's death and not bearing to lose the last treasured things she had to remember him by, she donned the Teal Mask back on.
Her cudgel still wet with the runt's purple blood, she charged forward down the hillside. No more thoughts, even of revenge… just pure, unmitigated rage.
That was the day Ogerpon set herself in stone as the villain of the story, nobody else bearing truth to what really happened that night.
…
And now Ogerpon sat all alone again in front of her dreaded den. She remembered having found the glowing pink Pecha Berry in front of the cave after all the carnage was done. Even in her angry, grieving state, she recognized immediately the kind of trouble that Berry possessed… that it was probably the key to that awful tiny creature's resurrection.
And so she carefully hid it, wedging it behind a rock hidden among the rest of her gathered Berries so that it would never be discovered, never used to hurt anyone ever again.
But now it was gone. Ogerpon already knew what this meant, that the demon of her past had fully returned… and it had already claimed Carmine, the girl who had imprinted on her for the first time in over a thousand years, as the first victim of its new rampage.
Tears fell down Ogerpon's eyes again. "Ponioooooo…" She stared out over the waterfall, feeling helpless, remembering the tragic fate of her old partner.
She shuddered and bristled thinking of her new friends, terrified that they were all about to succumb to the same fate.
"This is insane! This is CRAZY!" Kieran shouted.
"If what he said was true, about Yukito-sama feeding her mochi to all the townspeople…" Juliana panicked. "Then that means all the adults around here are probably under the curse now! We're… we're really all on our own!"
The two terror-stricken kids were practically barreling down the hill, having gotten away from Kieran's suddenly possessed grandparents and were now running across the bridge back into town. Their faces were drenched with sweat, and they kept on running despite the pain they could feel in their limbs, especially Juliana wearing out her bad leg.
But none of that mattered as much as the horrors they just witnessed, and their desperation to find Arven and Penny again before this curse took ahold of them too.
As they made it back into the town square, Juliana looked ahead and saw their shapes.
"Arven!" she called out. "Penny!"
They made it up to the pair, but their backs were turned.
"G-g-guys?"
Please don't be possessed, please don't be possessed…
Then Penny turned around…
And she made a ghoulish face while sticking her fingers out.
"Bleeeehhhhh…!"
"AHHHHHHHHHH!"
Juliana and Kieran held each other and screamed at the top of their lungs, falling to the ground in their fright.
Penny quit making the face and held her hands up to her mouth, blushing in embarrassment.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! It was just a prank. I didn't think either of you two would scare that easily."
"Seriously, Pen?" Arven shook his head. "And you're the one accusing me of being tactless? I don't think any of us are in the mood for spooks right now."
Juliana grunted as she stood up, and shoved Penny out of anger. "Don't… do that again, Penny!"
"Okay, okay! Seriously, I'm—really, really sorry!"
"What happened to you two out there? You both look like you saw a ghost! You didn't find Nemona out there, did you? Or the elders?"
Then Juliana wrapped herself around him and squeezed, much to Arven's surprise. He didn't think he had ever seen his little buddy this freaked out before.
"Oh, Arven! It's—it's horrible!" she moaned. "It's Ms. Yukito's mochi! Somehow, it's—it's cursed! Everyone who eats it turns into a crazy, dancing zombie!"
"It got my Grandma, and my Grandpa too!" Kieran whined. "And—and they said something about giving it to everyone else in Kitakami Hall, so Nao-san and everyone else are probably all zombies too!"
"No way?" Arven's eyebrows flared. "Well, uhh… I guess that at least solves the mystery of why they keep shouting about mochi…"
"You see?" Penny shouted at him. "I told you it was a curse! And I was right about it being cursed food too! We gotta get OUT of this place as fast as we can!"
Arven took personal offense to that and balked at her. "Not without Nemona, we're not!"
Penny backed off. "Oh… yeah, right. Sorry, of course. I'm just so freaked out right now, I don't think I can—GAHHHH!"
The bespectacled girl suddenly shouted while looking up at the sky, and in her franticness, bumped straight into Arven.
"Geez! Penny!" Arven reacted. "I understand you're scared, you didn't need to prove it that hard!"
"D-d-did none of you guys just see that!? What IS that weird thing!?"
Kieran looked around, confused. "Huh? What thing? What are you talking about?"
"It was just there, in the sky above us! It was like, round and little… and WEIRD!"
This caused Kieran to snicker. "…Heh-heh, I think that's how my Sis used to refer me."
"Uh-huh…" Arven looked up at the sky with his hand over his eyes. "And just where is this little hallucination of yours now? You sure you aren't just seeing stuff?"
"It was REAL!" Penny indignantly insisted. "I really, really saw it!"
"Sure you did…"
Penny growled, and turned to Juliana. "You believe me, right Juliana?"
"Well…" Juliana flustered a bit, not expecting to be called upon as a character witness. "I mean, I didn't see it either but—weird things have happened in this land. I remember seeing something always looking down at me from the mountains the first couple of days I was on the trip."
Her eyes lit up a bit as she finally put the pieces together.
"…Now that I'm thinking about it—that was probably Ogerpon the whole time."
"So even on your first day, she saw you and wanted to be your friend. That's… that's really sweet, actually," Kieran remarked, without even a single hint of jealousy in his voice.
But rather than assured, Juliana only looked saddened.
"Oh Ogerpon… where did you go?"
"RIGHT THERE!" Penny shouted.
"Huh!? You see Ogerpon!?"
"N-no! That thing I saw! It—it's right there on that stand!" Penny pointed to Peachy's stand, specifically… to the pink doll on the counter.
"What, that thing?" Kieran shook his head. "That's just a pink toy. The lady who runs that stand says it's been there since even before she was running the place. It's called the Never-Rotting Peach or somethin' like that."
But Juliana looked over to it and gasped. "It's—it's back!"
"…Pecha…"
And then she screamed. "It just wiggled! And—and made a noise!"
"I didn't see or hear anything," said a bemused Arven.
Kieran tilted his head at the pink doll. "Well, I heard something, but…" He turned around. "Juliana, this isn't a game or something, is it? 'Cause now you're starting to scare me!"
"No, I'm—I'm serious!" she stuttered at him with wide eyes. "I saw it there when I was in Kitakami before, but then… when I turned around, it was gone! And it took my Pecha Berry!"
"Wait, the one I gave you? What do you mean it… took it?"
"WOAH!" Arven suddenly yelled. "Heads up, guys!"
"Huh?" they both turned.
"Look! There's something up there!"
Juliana, Kieran, and Penny both looked up, and they all yelled.
"WHAT!?" Juliana burst out.
"That's the thing I just saw!" Penny pointed. "Is it a… drone?"
"No…" Arven's head tilted. "…I think it's a Pokémon?"
"That's—that's the Never-Rotting Peach doll!" Kieran's pupils shrank in surprise. "Ya mean it's ALIVE?!"
The seemingly inanimate pink doll, having sat all still on a pillow on that counter all these years… was floating in the air above the four students.
Juliana cried out as soon as she saw this pink pointed shape with its two nubs gazing down upon her with its eye-like markings.
"Hang on, that—that shape! I… I feel like I've seen it somewhere before…!" She started grabbing at her hair as an utterly bizarre and confusing realization took ahold of her. "Did… Did I DRAW THAT THING!?"
"AHHH! It's moving!" Penny exclaimed.
"Brrb-brrb…"
The triangle-shaped creature shook wildly in the air, murmuring, and then, what appeared to be its eyes gleamed a bright, shining purple as it drew a few inches closer… to two of them in particular.
"Hey," Arven noticed. "Whatever it is, Jules, Kieran, it's… it's looking right at you guys."
"Huh!?" Kieran backed away nervously along with Juliana. "Wh—what do you want with us!?"
The strange floating Pokémon seemed to have its gaze fixated on him and Juliana. Then, it split open…
"What the…?" said Juliana.
The pink exterior parted just ever-so-slightly to reveal… an extremely small wisp-looking creature inside.
"Huh?" Arven scratched his head.
"BRRRB-BRRRB-BRRRB-BRRRB!" the purple wisp chortled out in a bubbly yet ghastly sounding voice.
"Why is it laughing like that…?" Kieran shuddered. "This thing's giving me the creeps…"
"What's it doing?" Penny wondered.
"It… looks like it's holding something," Juliana squinted her eyes. "Wait… isn't that—" She gasped. "THE BERRY!"
The small wisp held onto the strange Pecha Berry itself with its grubby little hands. The Berry had tiny bites taken out of it now.
"You mean… it really did take my—your—our good luck charm? But why? There's plenty of Pecha Berries that grow around here! Why is that one so special?"
"Chaaaa… runt!" it cried out in a low, droning cry as it began feasting on the Berry right in front of them.
"Chih… chih… chih… PECHA!"
Once it had munched on several bites from the Pecha Berry, the runt began to glow in a mythical pink aura, as its pink covering opened all the way, revealing two glowing pink parts of a hollow shell. The runt itself bore a very mischievous white grin, flanked by thick eyebrows, a small spike on the end of its round body, and a magenta wisp that blazed behind its head like a fiery ponytail.
"PECHAAAAAAAARUNT!"
It bellowed out in a much louder, more confident battle cry, bristling the parts of its shell-like menacing wings, as its devilish face bore down on the students and it flew closer to them.
"S-stay back, you!" Arven declared, his voice shaking.
Juliana was huffing in panic, but she still stepped out over everyone else.
"Everyone, g-get behind me!" Her voice was even shakier than Arven's, and her whole hand trembled as she held up a Poké Ball.
Kieran tried to protest. "But Juliana—"
"I SAID GET BEHIND ME!"
Juliana felt petrified in a way she hadn't since… since the day Kieran intimidated her in the hallways of Blueberry. In fact… it was such a similar vibe to how Kieran was back then that it was eerie.
But even though she was scared beyond belief, Juliana wasn't about to let whatever this creepy little Pokémon was harm any more of the people she cared about, and she instinctively shielded herself over them.
The purple runt leered at Juliana, casting a glare that terrified her to her bone almost as badly as the one Carmine gave her.
Almost…
But then… it rose up. And…
"Brrrb!"
…gave one last bubbly cry before zooming away from the area entirely!
Juliana let her guard down, more confused than anything. "What…?"
"It… it left?" Kieran said in disbelief.
"Uhh.. eh-heh!" Arven laughed nervously. "Maybe it—saw how powerful my little buddy is and backed down!"
"I… don't think that's what happened," Penny trembled. "It looked like it was seriously ready for a fight…" She felt a terrified huff escape her throat. "I can't believe I'm actually starting to regret telling my dad not to come, because… I'm getting real scared now."
Juliana was still a few steps ahead of them all, starting mystified after where the mysterious Pokémon had flown off. Her brain was dancing around in a storm, trying to make sense of everything.
"What—what was that thing? Why did it look just like that drawing I made? Why did… why did that Pecha Berry give it strength?" Completely baffled, she marched up to Kieran. "Kieran… where did you find that Berry?"
"I—I don't know! It… I found it in front of Ogerpon's den, like, that first time I took you to see it! It was with a whole bunch of Berries in a pile."
"It was just out there In the open?"
"Well… no!" Kieran replied, increasingly feeling like a little kid realizing he'd done something wrong. "It was like, hidden! I could smell it really big, and it was… hidden under a rock!"
"Woahhhh… So it actually might be a cursed Berry," Penny remarked. "It was like an evil artifact buried for years, like you read about in books."
"Oh no…" Kieran uttered in growing horror. "Did I—did I screw up? Was that Berry being hidden on purpose?"
"But if that's true…" Horror was dawning on Juliana's mind too, as her knees felt weak. "If it really is a cursed Berry—and I'm the one who brought it back and left it right in front of that doll… then this really IS my fault! I started this!"
She fell to her knees and grasped her head, completely overcome with despair. Something about being confronted with this small creature's visage was causing rational thoughts to escape her headspace again.
"Coming back to Kitakami was the worst thing I've ever done…!" she whined, breathing faster and faster. "I—I accidentally broke Carmine's mind! I woke that thing up and caused it to take everyone over! We're all doomed… and it's my fault," she moaned, hanging her head down.
"Woah… Juliana…" Arven was tear-stricken to see his little buddy so consumed with guilt. "You're taking the blame game way too far now… There's no way you could've predicted any of this was going to happen…"
"Yeah, but that's all I am at this point, right?" She bunched her shoulders up. "Just… someone who keeps causing accidents wherever I go."
"Juliana, that's not true at all!" Kieran protested.
"Yeah!" Penny agreed. "You're the one who brought me and Team Star out of the darkness!"
"And helped me bring Mabosstiff back to health, and wrap things up with my folks."
"And you helped me. And my Sis too. Especially her," Kieran smiled. "You brought so much light into Carmine's life… I—I never saw her ever be as happy as whenever she was with you, y'know."
"…"
"That's—probably the wrong thing to say right now, isn't it?"
He was beginning to look sad too.
"And look—if anything, this is really my fault. I probably shoulda just let that Berry be when I saw how hidden it was… And maybe I shouldn'tve carried it around with me either… But, just holding it in my hand, it—it made me feel so good! It was like, like nothing mattered anymore…"
Juliana shrugged, not lifting her head up. "Well, yeah, because—because the two of us made you feel like dirt, right?"
Kieran sighed deeply. He gazed up into the sky for a minute, and decided to be brave. Pretty much all the other truths had been spilled by this point.
"Juliana… there's something I have to tell you."
Juliana couldn't help but be a little curious, wondering what secrets Kieran could possibly still be holding, and parted her hair a bit to look at him.
"…What is it?"
"The real reason I started carrying that Berry around… even though I could kinda tell it wasn't actually makin' me feel better… was because o' how jealous I was."
"Jealous?"
"Yeah. Jealous of—of my Sis," he admitted, twiddling his fingers shyly.
"Oh…" Juliana sat up and fully lifted her head. "Because of how she was bonding with Ogerpon, right?"
"N-no…" Kieran started acting even more shy. "B-b-because of how much she was bonding with you."
"…?"
"I was—I was jealous of the fact that you were falling in love with her."
Juliana's mouth fell agape a bit.
Penny snickered out loud. "Sorry, but—wow. So you really were being obvious right from the beginning…"
"I guess so." Juliana almost felt herself smile. But she scooched forward on her crossed legs like a curious kindergartener, still puzzled over what Kieran was saying. "But, I still don't really understand. Why would you care if I was falling in love with your sister?"
"Well—" Kieran backed up a little bit. "I—I…" His face started to turn very red. "It was just 'cause, I…" He twiddled his fingers again and looked away from her, groaning.
Arven and Penny put their hands over their mouths in surprise.
…
It took a few seconds for it to click in her brain, but once it did, Juliana's eyes slowly went wide as saucers.
"O… oh."
"Yeah…" Kieran awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.
"Ohh, Kieran…" Juliana instantly stood up. She bunched her hands into his fists as she looked at Kieran all vulnerable. "I'm so sorry… I had no idea. I wish I had known before, I—I… I would've been so much more sensitive to your feelings!"
"It's okay, Juliana—"
"You know it's not because of anything to do with you, right?" she said, flustered. "I just- I just don't really like boys in that kind of way…"
"Juliana, it's okay! Really!" Kieran raised his voice to calm her down. "It's seriously alright. Y'know, I kinda figured that. That you were just like my Sis in that way."
"So… so you're not mad at me for… for being in love with your sister?"
Kieran shook his head and smiled. "Nope. Honestly, I'm… I'm real happy. My Sis seemed so happy whenever she was you, and… now she just seems really sad. So I really want you guys to make up again. I shouldnta let my feelings take over me like that and be all jealous, because I just want everyone to be happy. So… I'm really sorry for all that."
"Well, geez…"
They were all surprised to hear Penny be the one to respond to that. She was looking off to the side.
"If you're telling me all of this has just been a long series of dominos going back to when you all went on that field trip together, then…" She chuckled. "It's really all my fault."
"What?"
Juliana was confused. "Penny, what are you talking about?"
She cleared her throat. "Remember how I was talking to you as a voice on the phone—as Cassiopeia. And I told you how I was in the school's network and knew how their lottery system works? And that I could've gamed it to manually select whoever I wanted for the school trip?"
"…"
"It, uhh… it wasn't really a joke."
"Wait, so…" Juliana was astonished. "You… you rigged that lottery so that it would intentionally put me on the list for the Kitakami trip?"
"It wasn't even that hard. But umm… yeah," she nodded modestly. She then started defending herself, "It was for both of our benefits! I—I watched your battle against Mela by hacking their live feed. I saw how much you struggled against her and so I… I found the website Uva were building for the field trip, and I decided to sign you up for it, so that you would get a lot stronger, catch some crazy new Pokémon… and put up a better fight against the rest of my friends, since I knew they were a lot tougher than Momo and Mellie…"
"Awww, Penny…" Juliana walked up to her, feeling genuinely touched. "We weren't even friends yet, and you already wanted to send me on a fun vacation!"
Juliana hugged Penny and started nuzzling her hair against Penny's face.
"Huh? Well, sure if you put it that way…" said a very frazzled Penny.
"Ha-ha-ha! Sounds like you all need to leave a coin in that 'Blaming Yourselves' jar of yours!" Arven guffawed.
The lightness Kieran and Penny had brought back by sharing their secrets seemed to awaken Juliana's spirit again. Now more than ever, she felt self-assured that being around her friends was truly what gave her power.
"You know what?" Juliana said, looking around at everyone. "Arven's right… I have to stop wallowing in self-pity like this… We need to focus on finding that thing. I bet it's connected to what's making everyone go crazy. So maybe if we figure out where it went, we'll find a clue to fixing everyone!"
"And then, we can all feel sorry for ourselves later," Penny smirked.
"Right!" Kieran giggled.
"But where do you suppose we start looking for that scary thing anyway?"
"Ummm…" Kieran started to gaze ahead in alarm. "G-guys, I don't think we need to look far—"
"HEADS UP!" Arven suddenly shouted.
"Huh?" Penny and Juliana both reacted. "AAAGH!"
"CHAAAAAAARUNT!"
Without any warning, the purple runt appeared above their heads again and instantaneously shot out a flurry of Binding Mochi treats from inside its shell like a rapid-fire gatling gun!
"Yaaaahhhhh!" Juliana screamed.
Luckily, she was able to swiftly move her head and dodge the incoming mochi bullet before it landed in her mouth. Kieran meanwhile… got bonked on the forehead.
"Oww!"
But Arven and Penny… weren't so lucky. The corrupted mochi landed straight into both of their mouths and without thinking, they bit down.
"Huh? Is this… mochi?" Arven reacted.
"Arven! Penny!" Kieran shouted. "NOOO! Don't eat those!"
"It's… kinda sweet?" said Penny with her mouth full. "I like it."
"That's great, now SPIT IT OUT." Juliana hysterically commanded. "PLEASE SPIT IT OUT RIGHT NOW!"
"Woah! What—!?"
Arven lifted his hand up, shocked to see a purple aura beginning to surround his whole body. Penny looked on in shock, and then was even more horrified to see the same aura radiating off herself.
"GYAH!"
"Guys…" Kieran pleaded with them. "You—you two have to fight it!"
"Huh? Fight wha— GNNNNH!"
Arven screamed and clutched his stomach in pain, feeling a terrible force suddenly planting itself in his nerves. "Wh—WHAT IS THIS?!"
"AGGGGHHHHH!" Penny squirmed and yelled as she struggled to control her fingers, feeling all the dexterity in them withering away. "Juliana, what's—what's happening to us!?"
Juliana couldn't say anything. She was frozen in shock and terror, her hands shaking over her face as she watched helplessly the same curse overtaking her dearest friends. But what finally snapped her out of it was that cackle…
"BRRRRRB! BRRRB-BRRB-BRRB!"
The purple menace giggled in a mortifying way, as if it were laughing over the girl's misfortune.
"GRRRRRNG…" Arven collapsed to his knees, fighting with all his might to resist the voice that he could feel overtaking his mind.
"C'mon, both of you!" Kieran urged them. "You gotta fight this! I believe in you guys!"
"Nrrrg, I can't…!" Penny strained. "My mind, it's… it's going all f-fuzzy…! Everything's going dark…"
Juliana, horrified beyond belief, collapsed on her own knees and desperately shook Arven by his shoulders.
"Arven! Arven!" she pleaded shrilly. "You gotta focus! Remember all our fun adventures! You gotta pull through to save Nemona! You—you gotta do this, you can't leave Mabosstiff!"
"Uggh, Ma… boss… tiff?" Arven's voice croaked. "Is that—a new… GUHHH! …recipe?"
"ARVEN!"
"Mabo… M… Mo… Mo…" Suddenly, Arven's face perked up, and his wide purple eyes flashed at Juliana. "Mochi MOCHI!"
"AHHH!"
Arven stood up, along with a similarly purple-eyed Penny, as both of them began doing the cursed dance in unison!
"Mochi… MOCHI!" "Mochee MOCHEEEE!"
Kieran and Juliana screamed out in despair, watching horrified as their corrupted friends began marching towards them, lost in the insipid rhythm.
"It got both your friends!" Kieran cried out. "NOW what do we do!?"
"I DON'T KNOW!"
And the purple runt that was the cause of their terrible floated down behind both of the newly corrupted teens… and slowly unveiled the half-eaten Pecha Berry still in its possession.
"NOW what are you doing!?" Juliana shrieked.
"Brrrrb-brrrb…"
The runt tossed the Berry high into the air, and did a confident flip before catching it in its mouth, where it proceeded to consume the rest of the Mythical Pecha Berry whole.
"It… it ate the whole thing!"
A purple aura began to gather around the runt like it was charging up to the maximum extent of its power, and then…
"PECHAAAAAAAAA!"
In a burst of energy, long purple tendrils suddenly burst from the nubs on the runt's shell, like some long malignant chain.
"WAHHHH!" Kieran yelled. "What are those things!?"
"Wait…" Juliana instantly realized. "Why do they… familiar?"
"Pehhh-shaaaaa!"
The runt revved up its new long tendrils and shot them outwards, latching them both onto Penny and Arven's backs. This seemed to raise the aura surrounding them both even further, and they both stopped dancing for a moment.
"Huh!?"
"Brrrrrb!" The runt concentrated like it was sending a concentrated pulse of energy into the two students, and Arven and Penny both looked up and smiled wickedly.
"He's been waiting for you…" they both said in very creepy, montone voices.
"Wh—what's going on!?" Juliana backed away in fright.
"After such a long time, hundreds of years asleep…" droned "Arven".
"You two have finally awakened him, returned his power…" explained "Penny". "And now… he can finally complete his mission."
"Complete what mission?" Kieran was utterly spellbound. "What are you talking about!?"
"All he needs now is to make you both happy too!" declared "Penny". She pointed at Kieran… "With YOUR strength and willpower!"
"Arven" pointed excitedly at Juliana. "And YOUR determination to help people, no matter what the cost!"
"We'll find our friends! Help them with whatever they need to be happy!" the two of them declared in unison. "They'll both love Pecharunt forever, until the end of time… then WE'LL ALL BE HAPPY TOGETHER!"
"No way…!" Kieran reacted. "So this purple thing… must be the reason why Grandma's mochi treats are making everybody act all weird! It's using the mochi to control them like—like some kind of puppet master!"
"What friends are you talking about!?" Juliana asked angrily. "Who ARE you!?" she addressed the floating creature controlling her friends.
"Your greatest friend…" Arven and Penny both outstretched their hands to introduce their new master. "PECHARUNT."
"BRRRRRRRRB!"
"Pecharunt…?"
"Pecharunt has been there with you since the beginning…" deplored "Arven".
"Guiding you…"
"Supporting you…"
"And helping you overcome your deepest problems!"
"Our deepest problems…? I'm so confused right now!" Kieran moaned.
Pecharunt growled a little bit. Gazing at the two of them, it concentrated once again. This time, it unlatched its tendrils from Arven and Penny, who resumed dancing, and instead shot out several pulses Kieran and Juliana's way.
"Look out!"
The pulses splashed around them, and Juliana cried "UHH!" as she instantly felt a presence inside her head.
"Juliana!? Wh—" But Kieran was interrupted as she began to feel familiar sensations. The sounds of distant laughter… voices mocking him… "Huh!? Not again!"
He found himself fidgeting anxiously beyond his control, like a wave of invisible mockers were surrounding him. He felt defensive… like he wanted to fight back.
"What's happening!? I feel… so angry!"
Juliana grasped at her head in turmoil. "Wh—what is this!?"
Why are you resisting?
The girl shivered in terror, suddenly hearing that voice in her head again.
"N-n-no…"
Don't you want to help my friends? YOUR friends?
"Nrrrg!" Juliana was struggling even to move her limbs, like she was losing control of her whole body.
This is what you wanted… You said this was your purpose!
"Shut up! SHUT UP!" she screamed.
The inside of Juliana's brain felt like it was splitting apart. She felt like some phantasm was slowly invading her, wrestling with control over her sense of self.
If you fulfill your purpose… you'll be happy! I can make you happy!
"Not like this…" she whined. "NOT LIKE THIS! GRAAAAHHH! GET OUT OF MY HEAD, YOU—YOU DUMB VOICE!" she shouted into the ether, forcefully retaking control.
"Huh?" Kieran rushed over to Juliana. "Juliana! You mean—you mean you're hearing voices too!?"
"YES!" she shouted out loud. "It was… … SHIT!"
"Woah," Kieran reared back, surprised to hear Juliana curse.
"It was that BERRY! Whenever I held onto it and smelled it… I could hear that thing's voice in my head! It wasn't guiding me, it was—it was trying to use me! It wanted to turn me into its puppet!"
"No way!?" Kieran realized something too, as he felt his nerves beginning to calm down. "Juliana, just now… I was feeling myself gettin' real angry. It was just like… when I had that Berry too! It was like I couldn't feel anything but angry all the time, and wanted to use that anger to defeat my enemies!"
"A never-rotting peach…" Juliana's face began to get red, as she connected the dots with fury. "Using a never-rotting Pecha to control people!"
She growled in a way that startled even Kieran, and then Juliana marched right up to Pecharunt—who shielded itself behind her possessed friends—and angrily drew a Poké Ball.
"I'll never follow you and whatever your crazy mission is!" she snarled. "Release all our friends, you… you evil thing! NOW!"
She drew forth her Glimmora. "GLIMMOOOOH!"
"Yeah!" Kieran drew his Ball too. "You want me to be angry? You want me to fight? Well… well, you got it!"
With a solid throw, Grimmsnarl appeared to engage its enemies. "Grrrrrim-snarllll!"
Pecharunt looked around and growled at the pair's lack of cooperation.
"Peh! PISHAAA!"
It barked out cries like it was giving orders, and Penny and Arven both responded promptly, dropping their dancing for a brief second to throw out their Poké Balls…
"Hey, no fair!" Kieran whined. "This jerk's using them as a… s-shield?"
…What came out however, wasn't Penny and Arven's usual go-to partners… but large, intimidating monsters.
"TIIIIIIIIING!" bellowed a huge creature that was like some ungulate made of mountain rocks, with a giant stone bowl over its head.
"CHEEEE-YOWWWWW!" the leopard-like creature yowled on Penny's side, sporting a long, elongated white body. It bore two long teeth that looked like broken ends of a rusted ancient sword.
"AHHHHHH!" Kieran yelped. "Wh—what the heck are THOSE THINGS!?"
"Ting-Lu and Chien-Pao…" Juliana growled in annoyance. "They're both Treasures of Ruin just like Chi-Yu."
"R-really? So do they have all the same dark powers that that thing has?"
Chien-Pao's eyes cast a sharp glare, releasing a strange aura that made both their Pokémon's defenses feel suddenly weak.
"Grrrrimmmmm…"
Ting-Lu's eyes glowed as it stared them both down, and their special abilities felt slightly drained as well.
"Glimmoooo…"
"Does that answer your question?" Juliana gritted her teeth. "I don't even know how well Arven and Penny have trained up those two things… We gotta be ready for anything, Kieran. To save our friends!"
"Right! To save our friends!" Kieran decided to put his worries on the backburner and focus on the battle. "Alright, Grimmsnarl! Put up Light Screen before they try anything funny!"
"Grimmm!"
Kieran's Grimmsnarl instantly set up a barrier to deflect special attacks. Juliana's attention was quickly brought to Penny's Chien-Pao, who eyed her and Glimmora with a cold, menacing stare.
"Rowwww!"
With a chilling cry into the air, Chien-Pao summoned a small atmosphere of snowflakes to sprinkle down over the arena.
"Brrrr-chi, mochi…" Arven shivered a bit, the lightest-dressed out of all of them.
"Snowscape, huh… That big cat looks like it's practically made of snow…" Juliana quietly observed. "Alright, Glimmora! Let's open with Power Gem on Chien-Pao!"
Glimmora gave a glimmering cry as it summoned rays of light that sparkled as if they were made from gemstones, and fired them in the snowy cat's direction, briefly causing its body to fill up with holes akin to swiss cheese.
"Grrrrrr-row!"
Chien-Pao quickly repaired its body with help from the falling snowflakes, and the sword ends that made up its saberteeth glowed a brilliant orange to indicate a Swords Dance in motion.
And the whole time, Penny was still lost in the chant.
"Mochi! Mochi? Mocheeee!"
"I wonder who's actually controlling these Pokémon?" Kieran wondered. "Your friends, or… or just Pecharunt."
"Maybe a little bit of both… But we can't lose focus, Kieran! We just have to keep on fighting!"
"Right! So, Grimmsnarl! Now let's put up Reflect!"
"Grimm—Grrm?"
Grimmsnarl was preparing to put up another screen, but then Ting-Lu made a noise to command its attention. Then, it shimmied its foot and made a chuckling noise, like it was taunting Grimmsnarl.
"GRRRRM!"
Grimmsnarl fell for the Taunt, and seemed to bow in disgrace.
"Huh?"
Ting-Lu chortled again… which caused it to be caught off-guard when Grimmsnarl unleashed its might in a False Surrender, causing cracks to appear in Ting-Lu's grounded body.
"TIIIIING!"
"Great going, Grimmsnarl!"
"Let's make sure we stay on edge too, Glimmora! Acid Spray on both of 'em! Give these guys a taste of their own medicine!"
The iridescent Pokémon welled up some corrosive acid in its poisonous petals, and sprayed them in a shower-like coating over both the Treasures of Ruin. Much as their own special powers impacted Glimmora and Grimmsnarl's special abilities, the acid welled into their nerves and made them feel weakened too.
"BRRRB-BRRRB-BRRRB!" Pecharunt grunted indignantly, as if it was angry at the audacity for anyone else to believe they were the master of poison moves.
Chien-Pao reared its head up and let out a magical yell that hardened some of the falling snow into icicle shapes, and commanded a harsh Icicle Crash down onto both Pokémon.
"Yikes… these things pack a punch, Juliana!" Kieran said nervously, noticing how much of a hit Grimmsnarl took.
"Yeah, but there's one thing they haven't counted on…"
-PSSHO- -PSSHO- -PSSHO-
"Glimmora's Toxic Debris!"
Poisonous barbs sprung loose from Glimmora's coat as the icicles rammed its body, threatening to coat the ground around Arven and Penny's team…
"LUUU!" "PAOOO!"
…but the two Treasures of Ruin acted fast. Chien-Pao stretched out its snowy body and kicked high into the air, wrapping the spikes up in snow… and then tossing them into Ting-Lu's huge vessel, like chucking garbage into a wastebin.
"Well that's… a very unusual way of cleaning up a trap," said an astonished Juliana.
And then, Ting-Lu pressed all its "hooves" down onto the ground. It closed its "eyes" and concentrated deeply. After that…
-BOOOOOOOOM-
It let out an amazing Earthquake move that shook the whole center of town below everyone's feet, making Kieran and Juliana stumble a bit, while Penny almost tripped and broke rhythm.
"Mo-cheeeee…!? Mo… mochi…"
But who lost their rhythm even worse was Juliana's Glimmora, who took such a heaping damage from the blast of ground hitting its poison rock body that it instantly fainted.
"Glimmoh…"
Juliana reluctantly recalled her partner and gulped.
"Alright… you two raised your Legendaries pretty darn well."
"Mochi MOCHI!" "Mochee mocheeeee!"
"But that doesn't mean we're losing hope. When my friends are involved… you'd better bet I've got hope for days, Pecharunt!"
"BRRB-BRRB-BRRB!"
"Go, Iron Bundle! …GUHH!"
At the exact same time Juliana tossed out her Ball, she was stunned by a sudden action from Ting-Lu: sensing a new opponent was entering the field, it geared up its head and flung the Toxic Spikes nested inside its vessel, so when Iron Bundle entered the field… the barbs were now on Juliana's side of the arena!
And despite its cyborg components, there was enough organic matter in Iron Bundle for its body to become poisoned from the reversed trap.
"Brr-kawwwk-uluu…"
"Oh no!" Kieran cried out. "Arven's Pokémon just pulled a reverse UNO on us!"
"GEEZ! Did Arven teach you to do that or is Pecharunt just that ruthless?" Juliana declared, not noticing that she was seething with her arms a bit.
Pecharunt's sadistic cackle suggested an answer in the latter. Kieran was feeling the pressure even more now, and gulped.
"We gotta go for the big guns, Grimmsnarl… use Dazzling Gleam! On both of them, just—just like my Sis taught us!"
"GRIMMSNAAAARL!"
Grimmsnarl concentrated its dark pixie energy into a concentrated burst of gleaming light that hit both Pokémon for… surprisingly big damage. They both reacted in noticeable pain to the attack, which made Juliana gasp.
"That's right…! How did I forget?" She smacked her own head for her silliness. "The Treasures of Ruin are all DARK types! That means a big Fairy move like your Grimmsnarl's Dazzling Gleam will both really bring the hurt!"
"Ohhhhh!" Kieran's eyes lit up. "Well now you remember something huge like that!" he jested.
But Pecharunt gurgled malevolently, realizing the level of danger its super-charged new retainers were in, and gave a shrill order.
"PECHAAAAAAAA!"
"Mochi, mochi, MOCHI!" Arven and Penny both barked out.
The vessel on Ting-Lu and the swords on Chien-Pao both began to twinkle red. Juliana's pupils shrank, recognizing the beginnings of the same chaotic move her Chi-Yu knew.
"Oh no…"
"W-what!?"
"They're going to go for a… a double Ruination!"
A pool of dark energy surrounded both Treasures of Ruin as they simultaneously channeled their energy into a wave of otherworldly entropy, which bounded through both Iron Bundle and Grimmsnarl, who felt their nerves being shaken like a cheese grater.
"Ruination… is supposed to cut a Pokémon's current health in half," Juliana explained with an uneasy tone.
"So… a double Ruination is like, that times two."
Grimmsnarl, who had already absorbed several blows throughout this match, was clearly struggling now to even stay upright.
"We have to finish this fast…" Kieran trembled. "I don't know if any of my other Pokémon can land hits against those giant monsters as solidly as Grimmsnarl can! Please, use Dazzling Gleam again!"
Grimmsnarl used all its strength to send another burst of light the Treasures' way, causing even more damage.
But unfettered, they launched another double Ruination attack! Grimmsnarl was forced to kneel now, much of the energy in its limbs completely drained, while Iron Bundle's head sprung out of its sprocket for a few seconds, feeling grossly overwhelmed.
"The best thing we can do is try to take advantage of this snowfall, Iron Bundle!" Juliana said desperately, wiping some of the excess snow off her shoulders. "Unleash a sweeping Blizzard!"
Iron Bundle's robotic lights glowed blue as the Pokémon, its insides revving with all the power of a mini refrigerator, generated a powerful ice storm and propelled it at full velocity towards the ruinous Pokémon.
"BRR-KAWWWWK-loo!"
Although Chien-Pao didn't take quite as much damage, it significantly impacted the ground-type Ting-Lu. Highly angered, the two of them didn't even wait for another command from their ghastly master. They launched another full-scale Ruination at Iron Bundle and Grimmsnarl.
"Ha! Now I see how scared you are!" Juliana taunted them. "Trying to ruin us into oblivion, but you can't stop OUR teamwork!"
"I don't know, Juliana…" Kieran was getting increasingly worried at Grimmsnarl's frail state. "I don't know that Grimmsnarl can take another one of those attacks…"
"Hmmm…" Juliana recognized the need for a desperate plan. "Come on, think…" She started saying to herself quietly. "What could Carmine do in a situation like this?"
She thought back to all the battles of Carmine's she'd witnessed. The strategies she would pull out whenever her Pokémon—or Juliana's Pokémon—were on the ropes. Like the constant Snarl barrage, or Terastallization-based fake outs, or… GIGTAON IVY CUDGEL.
"Wait…" her eyes flew open, sparking with inspiration. "That's it! If these brutes are going to use unconventional strategies, then we just gotta match 'em! Kieran… let's combine both our moves together!"
"Woah! You really think that'd work?"
"Nothing's not worth a shot, right? Iron Bundle, start gathering all the cold energy you can!"
"Y-you too, Grimmsnarl! Whatever power you've got left in you… bring it all out!"
Both Pokémon began charging up all the reserve energy they could muster, with Iron Bundle pulling in all the snow from this isolated flurry Chien-Pao had started.
"Mochi-mochi…?" "Mocheeeee?"
Arven and Penny, for a very brief second, almost looked curious, wondering what their opponents were about to do, while Pecharunt began to look nervous.
"…Cha?"
"ALRIGHT! Both of you!" Juliana clapped her hands together excitedly, a manic gleam coming about her face. "Let's go! DAZZLING BLIZZARD!"
"Ha-ha-ha!" Kieran laughed. "Now you really sound like her!"
"BRR-KAWWW-bloop!" "SNAAAAAAAARL!"
What hit Ting-Lu and Chien-Pao was like a blinding flurry of cold, concentrated light, that penetrated deep into their nerves, shining so bright even the hypnotized Arven and Penny instinctively shielded their eyes from the gleaming onslaught.
"PEHHHHHH-AHHHHHH!" Pecharunt screamed, confounded at what was happening.
With a loud, rupturing boom, the cold/light front subsided… and Ting-Lu and Chien-Pao were both more than down for the count.
"Mochi, mochi…" Arven chanted depressingly.
But Penny's chant sounded much more energetic, like what small part of her was still inside was amazed at what she saw through her rounded specs. "MOCHEEE! CHI-CHIIIII!"
"Nice work, Sis!" Kieran raved. Then his eyes widened. "I—I mean! Nice work, Juliana!"
"Ha-ha-ha! Best person I could ever be mistaken for, I wish I was so gorgeous!"
The two gave each other an energetic, well-deserved high five as Pecharunt scrambled to make up for its losses.
"CHA! PEH… CHAAAA!"
This time, Pecharunt commanded Arven and Penny to send out the Pokémon they knew best: their most treasured partners.
"RUFF-RUFF-RUFF!" "Sylveeee!"
Juliana grunted. Great. I already know how strong their best partners are, more than any Legendary!
But Arven's Mabosstiff looked at who its opponent was and tilted his head, perplexed.
"Bow wow…? Ruff ruff…"
The large dog gazed at Juliana, the girl who had helped nurse him back to health, sad and confused. Pecharunt, itself confused as to why the Pokémon was hesitant, beamed some of its energy through Arven, who ceased chanting and shouted at him, angrily.
"Mochiii! Mochi MOCHI!"
"RUFF!" But Mabosstiff turned around and began barking back in protest. "Gruff ruff RUFF!"
This caused Arven to become frazzled, as his dancing became uneven, and his face disoriented.
"Mo… b-bud…? Chi…"
"Huh? What's going on? It's looking like Arven's Pokémon doesn't want to fight us…" Kieran observed. "And it kinda looks like Arven doesn't want to either…"
"Mabosstiff is Arven's most cherished partner." Juliana thought back on that joyous day in the Titan's den on Casseroya Lake, when Mabosstiff had finally healed up from its injuries, and embraced Arven in tender saccharine bliss. "I guess… their bond must be stronger now than even the strongest hypnosis."
"Oh, that's Mabosstiff…" Kieran quietly realized. "That's right, Arven talked about him in the Crater… His most treasured partner…" He looked sad with regret for some reason.
"Veeee!"
"Huh?"
"Syl-veeeee-on!"
Penny's Sylveon also turned itself around, having immediately sensed that something was wrong with its partner. It instinctively stretched out its long feelers and wrapped them around Penny's face, trying to soothe her in hopes of separating her from this mental plague.
"Ch-chee…?" Penny stammered, lost in a daze too. "Mo… veeee?"
"Their—their Pokémon are trying to break them out of being possessed instead of fighting us!"
Pecharunt looked around at the chaos and started to bristle.
"Brrrrrrb!"
"That's what you get for trying to mess with their feelings!" Juliana mocked it. "Our bonds with our Pokémon are stronger than any force, something you wouldn't understand since you don't seem to have any friends at all!"
"PECHAA?!"
"Woah… uhh, maybe calm down a bit there, Juliana. I think you've picked up maybe a little too much of Sis's bite."
"Uh, heh-heh…" Juliana chuckled awkwardly. "Sorry."
"Brrrrb… CHA-RUNNNN!"
Freeing its hold over Arven and Penny, the small-shelled Pokémon seemed to have decided to cut its losses, and started floating away from the scene.
"HEY! Where do you think you're going!?" Kieran called out after Pecharunt. "You're next!"
But Pecharunt just glanced down at Kieran with one more bitter glare before taking off down the path towards the Apple Hills.
"Come on, Juliana! We've got to follow that thing!"
"But… but…" Juliana gazed sadly at her friends. "What about them…?"
Arven and Penny were still dancing completely off-beat and muttering confused chants, as their respective partners still desperately tried to break them out of their trance.
"Ruff-ruff!" "Sylveee!"
"I'm really sorry, Juliana, but…" Kieran looked at her regretfully. "I don't think there's anything we can do for them. Chasing that thing down might be the only thing we can do to help them right now!"
"I… I…"
Juliana looked crushed. She absolutely loathed the thought of leaving Penny and Arven there on their own, but—but she couldn't fight the fact that Kieran was right. There was nothing she could do.
She groaned uneasily. "Arven… Penny… Please wait for us, okay? We won't be long. Just got to kick this purple turd's butt and then you'll both be back to normal… alright?"
"M-mo…ff…" "Chee-vee…"
With one last angsty grit of her teeth, Juliana decided to join Kieran as they ran off into the wilderness. But before then, Juliana ran by the road that led to Kieran and Carmine's house, and stole one last sad glance, knowing that her own treasured friend was inside, still suffering.
"You too, Carmine… We'll fix this, we will. I promise!"