"Hee-hee! I'm so excited!"
"Uh-huh. Just remember, no peeking, okay?"
"I know! … Your fingers are very soft."
…
Juliana didn't have to open her eyes to know that Carmine was probably smiling bigly right now.
"Thank you. I put a lot of work into them!"
"Maybe I do want a massage from you after all…" she giggled.
She heard Carmine chuckle lightly, which made Juliana's grin even wider.
"Almost done… Just a few more touches…"
Juliana could feel part of her hair being done up. It felt similar to the way she remembered Yukito dressing her hair for the first festival.
"Oh yeah, that looks nice. Might be some of my best work ever!" she could hear Carmine boasting. It made Juliana feel fuzzy inside to hear her girlfriend being proud of herself again. "Yeah… yeah! I think this is great! Alright, Juliana. Open your eyes!"
Juliana slowly opened her eyes, and gasped at her new appearance in Carmine's vanity mirror.
"Oh, wow…! Carmine, it looks—it looks great!"
Carmine had taken Juliana's brunette bob and styled it into a new look that carried both a sense of newness and some nostalgia to Juliana.
"Forget the old-fashioned Kitakami style… this is the Carmine style! A little bit of Kitakami, mixed with a little bit of that modern Carmine pizazz!"
The way Carmine did her bangs, front-tails, and tiny ponytail was very reminiscent of the Kitakami style that her grandmother had bestowed to Juliana. But the side-braid she applied above Juliana's left eye recalled the classic braid that everyone knew Juliana for.
The way Carmine parted the ends of her hair on the backside— and she flashed a mirror behind Juliana's head so she could see her handiwork—that brought a certain someone else to mind.
"I love it…" said Juliana, feeling her new tails. "I love it! It's like a bit of me, a bit of you… a lot of awesomeness! You're such a talented hairdresser!"
"Aren't I just." Carmine put her hands on her hips. "I pride myself a girl of many talents, and someday I'll even be famous for two or three of 'em!"
Juliana continued to shift her head and examine all sides of her new style as Carmine stood behind her, examining her own handiwork, before walking over to her bedroom closet, where she had cases upon cases of makeup and accessories. Some of them were even still fresh!
"I'd definitely love to do your makeup too, sweetie. On a day when we're not working up a sweat, of course."
"I've never thought much abou makeup before… You think I would look good with it?"
"Oh yeah! You've got a real swell natural beauty to your face, just like me!" Carmine gestured to her own face. With her confidence restored, she had done the full works to her own appearance again. Mascara, concealer, blush, and the lipstick that Juliana liked too. "I can really teach you to hone that beauty and really pop and sparkle! Everyone's gonna want to fight me for you!"
Juliana giggled, and gazed thoughtfully at her bare face. "You really think with enough makeup, I could be as pretty as you?"
"Maybe even prettier!"
Juliana's face froze, and she turned around to face Carmine who was still nonchalantly sifting through her closet. Then she saw Juliana staring at her, mouth agape, and snickered.
"What? Did I stun you with my natural beauty again? You're adorable!"
"No, it's just… The whole time I've met you, you always used to call me just as cute or—almost as pretty as you. That's… probably the first time I've ever heard you say I'm prettier than you," she enamored with twinkles in her eyes.
Carmine blushed hard, almost dropping the eyeliner pouch she was running through. "I did that say—That is, that is NOT what I said!" she stammered. "I said you COULD be! With makeup! Maybe, possibly! Sliver of a chance!"
"Nuh-uh!" Juliana grinned coyly at her. "You definitely just said I'd be prettier than you."
She heard Carmine groan in annoyance from inside the closet and giggled.
"Awww, I'm just giving you a hard time anyway, Carmine. You're already the prettiest girl in the world, and you do that even without makeup."
Juliana smiled, happy with her compliment, and returned to looking at herself in the mirror. She was doing one last check of her face to look for any moles or blemishes when she suddenly felt herself being glomped from behind.
"Huh!?"
And then she heard… sniffling.
"That's… that's so nice of you, Juliana… Thank you," Carmine whispered in a sweet and sensitive way that was very uncharacteristic of her.
"Carmine?" Juliana placed a hand over her wrapping arm, concerned.
Carmine, seeming to realize what she was doing, instantly pulled away.
"I mean—! Ahem! Not that I need anybody to tell me how great I am!" She walked facing away from Juliana, but Juliana could still see her fidgeting with her fingers. "Because I already know that I'm—I'm beautiful, and—and kind, and…" Then she stood by her bed while her voice trailing off. "…and that I'm a good person."
"…Carmine?"
"BAH! Sorry! Just those silly intrusive thoughts again!" Carmine swiftly turned around with a forced smile, knocking her noggin. "Just ignore me, okay?"
"Ummm, okay. But hey Carmine?" Juliana leaned back and rested her arm against the chair. "You know that you don't have to try so hard, right?"
Carmine looked at her vulnerably. "…What do you mean?"
"I know that—all that stuff you were worrying about in your head isn't just going to go away overnight. It's okay if you're still struggling a little bit. I'm still your girlfriend and I support you no matter what."
"Ohh, I know. I just—" Carmine brushed the back of her head awkwardly.
"I'm not going anywhere," Juliana smiled softly. "I'll wait as long as it takes until you love yourself again… until you love yourself as much as I love you."
Carmine just stared back blankly, her fists clenched below her chin, but smiled meekly at her before turning around.
Juliana, realizing she'd probably said all she could, turned back around too and hoped what she said was enough to help her girlfriend lighten up again. She eyed a tube of peach lipstick on the pink vanity in front of her and picked it up, wondering if she should try it for today.
"Hmm…"
Suddenly, she gasped as Carmine's arms wrapped around her again.
"Ohhhhh! You're such a sentimental little gab sometimes, you know that Juliana?" Carmine said, sounding all cheery again. "You make me blush so much I want to eat you up!"
Juliana chuckled. "Carmine? I just said you don't have to try that hard—"
But Carmine shushed her and whispered into her ear, "I know, alright? Just… just let me be okay for a minute, okay?"
…Juliana couldn't argue with that, especially when she looked up at Carmine's soothing yellow eyes, which in this light almost looked golden.
"Okay."
"Hee-hee. Thank you…" She leaned down and gave Juliana a loving peck. "My little grape."
"Awwww!" Juliana felt all mushy on the inside to already be on 'pet name' terms. "You're welcome, my uhh…"
She thought about it for a second, and was then reminded of Carmine's cinnamon-scented incense at the community center. Because of that, Juliana realized she was probably always going to associate the smell of cinnamon with her gorgeous new partner.
"…My big cinnamon stick!" she said with a beaming smile.
Carmine's face twisted a bit.
"…Weird, but I'll take it!" she laughed.
Once the small grape and tall cinnamon stick were ready to show their pretty faces to the world, they joined their friends Kieran and Arven for a big hike up Oni Mountain.
Nemona turned them down… which surprised Arven a lot, having been prepared to put up a fight to keep her grounded in her wheelchair. But she surprised him even more by revealing that she had thought about Juliana's streak of recklessness and realized she was worrying Arven in the same way by being so gung-go, so… much to his touched heart, she decided to genuinely take charge of her recovery today.
…Penny just straight-up refused to go.
They had all agreed to make the most out of their time left in Kitakami now that Pecharunt's curse was lifted, with each of them having their own mini agendas for climbing the mountain.
The group all shared some wonderful camaraderie with each other before they came to the fork at Infernal Pass… and that's where their paths split. Juliana and Arven continued hiking up the mountain, while Carmine and Ogerpon proceeded to Ogerpon's old home… the Dreaded Den.
Where Ogerpon had one last piece of closure to fulfill.
"Pon… pon-pon."
The warrior girl was being very delicate with the piece of white cloth, which still had a dried bloodstain on it.
She carefully wrapped the cloth around the same mossy rock that had been guarding the Mythical Pecha Berry for many years. Carmine watched with a tender smile as Ogerpon picked up the newly enshrined object and brought it inside the cavern she had called home for many years.
Inside the cave, Ogerpon had made a huge drawing on the wall, using Kieran's chalk, of herself… and her long-departed partner. The rock in the center of the cave had a few trinkets spread on it, gifts from Yukito's ancestor, who Yukito believed may have in fact belonged to the deceased man.
And Ogerpon placed the cloth-wrapped rock in the middle of it all… completing the shrine to her fallen friend.
Ogerpon stepped back and gazed at the cave's new decorations.
"Pon-yo…"
She felt a tinge of sadness, remembering her old partner again. But, after shedding a single tear, she mustered up a brave face for his large chalk-drawn effigy and cried out confidently.
"Ponee!" Ogerpon saluted him.
With a giggle, Carmine saluted the old man too.
As Ogerpon trotted back over to her, Carmine scooped her little warrior girl up in her arms.
"Well… your little memorial is complete, Ogerpon. And it looks amazing."
"Pon-ee-pon!" Ogerpon blushed.
"Yeah, I bet… somewhere up there, he's real proud of you," Carmine said, staring into the cave with a wistful smile.
"Pon…" she murmured in agreement.
"Ready to go?"
Ogerpon nodded, and the pair crossed the narrow land bridge separating the Dreaded Den from the rest of the mountain for the final time. Kieran was waiting for them on the other side with a bright smile on his face.
"Did ya get it done?" he asked Ogerpon, who responded by hugging Kieran's knees and crying in the affirmative. "Ha-ha! Good! I know this was a big deal for you! I'm glad you got this closure you needed, Ogerpon."
"And I'm glad you decided to wait here instead of giving me a heart attack running over that damned thing for the hundredth time, Kiki," Carmine snarked to her brother.
He chuckled back at her. "Well… you're never gonna have to worry about me doin' that ever again, Sis. Or anybody else."
Carmine looked at him curiously. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"
Kieran gave her a sly grin. "Alright Ogerpon… ya can do your thing now. Just like we talked about."
"Pon-yo," Ogerpon nodded at him.
Much to Carmine's confusion, she popped on her Cornerstone Mask and drew out her cudgel as she approached the land bridge.
"Umm… what are you two up to?"
"You uhh, might want to back up a bit more, Sis," Kieran said, using his arm to help nudge her away.
"Grrrrr…"
Ogerpon started drawing power from her Mask, her cudgel turning black and bristling with the energy of the mountains as rocks began to circle all around it. And then…
"Geh-PONNN!"
She slammed her cudgel right down onto the bridge! And almost instantly, the ground around them began to rumble. Cracks grew louder, and then became louds… as the bridge began to crumble apart.
"WOAH!" Carmine exclaimed. "WHAT!?"
The narrow strip started breaking apart in large chunks. Rocks burst and fell, and splashed with heavy crashes down the waterfall and into the river. Carmine and Kieran peered over the edge of the cliff and watched in amazement as the old pieces of land all plunged into the watery abyss.
The land broke off all the way to the cliff on the other side. Carmine blinked several times in astonishment, like her eyes were playing tricks on her.
But thanks to Ogerpon's forceful slam, the land bridge that she and Ogerpon had just walked across was completely gone now.
"I—You… Whaaaaat?" She looked at Kieran and Ogerpon in shock. "You mean you planned this? To—to cut off the Dreaded Den from yourselves and everyone else… forever!?"
"Yeah," Kieran nodded. "I mean, you were right all along, Sis. It was never safe for me or anyone else to run along that scary thing, and… I think now that that den's going to serve as a shrine, the Berry that was hidden there isn't a threat anymore, and Ogerpon's gonna be traveling along with us, she doesn't need an old, wet cave like that anymore, right?"
"Pon… ponee," Ogerpon agreed with him.
"Eh… ehh! Heh-heh!" Carmine eventually got herself to chuckle. "Well, geez! Look at you finally taking responsibility for your dumb kid behavior, little bro!" she said, jostling Kieran's head. "If I had known that whole thing could crumble away just like that, I should've delivered my signature Carmine Punch on it years ago!"
"Ha-ha-ha!" Kieran laughed. "I doubt your fists woulda done anything to that huge set of rocks, Carmine!" And then Ogerpon started laughing with him.
"WHAT!? Unbelievable! Are you two mocking me right now!?" Carmine seethed. "Are you asking for a demonstration of my mighty Carmine Punch!? 'Cause you're about to get one!"
"Heh-heh-heh, ohhh boy…" Kieran wiped a tear from his eye. "I'm so glad you're back to your normal cranky self again, Sis. I still can't believe I missed you yellin' at me like that."
Carmine patted Carmine's leg affectionately, which just made her go "Hrmph!" and cross her arms. "I liked you two better as mortal enemies. Go back to hating each other."
Kieran just giggled again. Then, as he gazed out towards the legendary cavern now destined never to be disturbed by human civilization again, he started to feel poignant.
"Hey, Sis? Do you umm… Do you think mama and papa are up there somewhere too? Looking down at us?"
"Hmmm?" Carmine whipped her head to him, her eyes lit up in surprise. "Mom and pop? Ummm… y-yeah. I'm sure they are…"
Now Carmine found herself looking to the ground too, thinking over her few blurry memories of Papa reading her and Kieran stories before bed every night. She could just picture his graying hair, and fuzzy mustache.
Hmmm…
It had never bothered Carmine before that she couldn't really remember Mom at all, but for some reason… it was starting to now.
"I'm sure they must be so proud of you, Kiki. Just how far you've come these past few months."
"Yeah. And you too, Sis," he smiled. "We've both grown up a lot, haven't we?"
"We sure have," she smiled softly.
"We should start heading back. Gramm said that she'd have dinner whipped up for us by the time we were done here."
"Gee-ponn?" Ogerpon lit up at the implications of a hearty meal.
"That's right, Ogerpon… They want you to come along too," Kieran grinned widely. "After all these years…" He felt his eyes get a bit teary. "I would be so honored to finally invite you over to our house for dinner."
"Pon yeeee go!" she chirped happily.
She took Kieran's hand with a smile, and the Kitakamite trio gave the den on the horizon one last wistful look before they all started heading down the mountain.
"I just hope that's all it is, is dinner…" Carmine grumbled. "I don't think I want to see another one of those stupid mochi treats for as long as I live!"
Kieran and Ogerpon laughed heartily, and she joined in as well.
"Slow down, little buddy! Don't forget to pace yourself! I don't want you to hurt your leg again except I have to be there to watch it happen this time!"
"Hee-hee…" Juliana giggled sheepishly. "Sorry, Arven. Just got too excited, guess I still don't know my limits sometimes."
"Terap-gooo!"
Arven chuckled at the happy turtle Pokémon on Juliana's shoulder. "Terapagos, you need to be taking a more active role in helping Jules pace herself. What am I even paying you for?"
Juliana stuck her nose up at him. "Terapagos works for free, Arven. His only payment comes in the form of treats."
On cue, Terapagos perked up, and Juliana cheerfully dug out some mini shortbread cookies from her bag for him to munch on. The two Uva students along with their prehistoric pal were hiking up to the tallest point of the steamy Infernal Pass, leading to the very top of Oni Mountain.
"Sorry for running ahead so much," she apologized to Arven. "This is just really exciting, hiking up here again with a friend! It reminds me a lot of the first time I did this with Carmine, when we had to come up here to get those crystals to fix Ogerpon's mask."
"Mm-hm, I see!" Arven answered, trying to understand why he was working up more of a sweat than she was. "Was that… one of the first times you and Carmine were really starting to click?"
Juliana looked bashful, and giggled in reminiscence. There was a trace of her memory that cringed over how Carmine forced Juliana to lug her heavy camping bag up most of the mountain, but little things like that were eclipsed by how much Juliana just loved being around Carmine and listening to her rambles back then.
Of course, her budding feelings for Carmine in hindsight probably contributed to why she was carrying that heavy bag—which had to have been hell on her legs—and not complaining.
"There were so many times on that field trip that I was falling for her and didn't realize it…" Juliana reminisced. She turned to Arven and giggled. "Maybe you should've come with me to Kitakami the first time so you could've knocked some sense into both of us!"
"Tch. Or we might've just both driven that girl crazy," Arven chuckled. Then he looked ahead and said, "Hey, is this it? Just up these stairs?"
Juliana's smile lit up. "Yeah!"
The duo eagerly climbed the stairs up the peak of the mountain, passed through the red triangular arch, and arrived at the site.
"Ta-dah!" Juliana eagerly displayed to Arven. "Here it is… the Crystal Pool!"
"Pa-gooo!"
"Woah…"
Arven looked out into the expansive crystal oasis and was amazed. Stepping out from the Infernal Pass and into the site of the Crystal Pool almost felt like walking into a different dimension. There was such an immediate difference in the air, how clean it was and the twinkles he could feel blowing through his hair.
The rocky gray plain was littered with clusters of crystals. Some of them were even submerged in the pristine, sparkling water below, giving it the appearance of a magical pool like you see in fairy tales.
"This is… this unbelievable," Arven looked all around. "It's just as beautiful as—as all those sights we saw in Area Zero. The air even feels the same!"
"Yeah, but we don't have to sneak into a forbidden crater to see this," Juliana remarked. "It's just… the natural beauty of Kitakami. And maybe even a little bit of Terapagos too, if what your mom said was anything to go by!"
She scratched Terapagos's chin in affection. Terapagos was looking around at all the crystals and twinkling mist that reminded him of home. The teal appendage on his head began to tickle… Maybe it was being affected by something in the air?
"Right here is where Carmine and I had to battle a Milotic in order to get crystals for Ogerpon's mask," Juliana pointed to a shallow strip. Then with a giggle, she said, "It's also where I first found out she doesn't know how to swim!"
"It really is bringing me back to those adventures we had down in those depths." Arven reached into his backpack and pulled out a red book.
"Oh!" Juliana noticed the tome he was carrying. "Is that the Scarlet Book, Arven? Ms. Briar gave you one of her advance copies?"
"Yeah!" he said enthusiastically. "It's so wonderful to see my mom's research finally be published and recognized like this, and with all these great pictures of Area Zero too." With a slightly sad smile, Arven gazed fondly at the portraits of Turo and Sada on the book's pages. "I bet both of my parents would've… would've really loved to see this place."
"TERA!"
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Terapagos jumped off Juliana's shoulders, his head appendage now glowing a brilliant blue.
"Terapagos? What's the matter?" Juliana wondered.
Terapagos closed his eyes for a second. He seemed to be picking up on some… strange energy being radiated by this pool. Like echoes in the air, that were being accentuated by the feelings the Tera Pokémon was picking up from Arven…
"Tera-lu-mi!"
He cried out a special cry, and then his whole shell began to gleam brightly.
"Ahhh!" Juliana cried, covering his eyes. "What is… he doing?"
Arven looked around, confused. "Is it me or… is this place getting foggy all of a sudden?"
As Terapagos shined out, a strange almost lavender-like mist began to shroud over the travelers.
"Well now…" they suddenly heard a voice. "This is a curious development."
"Hello?" Juliana cried out. "Who's there?"
"Wait…" Arven's eyes squinted. "That voice?"
As the two Paldeans tried to peer ahead, they could spot two figures having suddenly appeared in the shallow spot in front of them.
"Is your machine causing another weather fluctuation, darling?" asked a feminine voice. "But it's not just the air that's different, we seem to be in a whole new place entirely!" A very familiar one.
"Wait…!" Juliana's eyes bugged out. "Is that…!?"
"No, this is something more… Have we somehow broken through the boundaries of space-time?"
"No… This is a trick, right?" said a wide-eyed Arven. "Those two, can't possibly be… M-mom and d-dad!?"
"Huh? Arven?" Turo's voice called. "Is that you?"
"That's our little Arvie over there?" Sada gasped.
"TA-GOOOLOOOO!" Terapagos cried out, hearing the voice of his old friend.
Juliana gasped too as she remembered something.
"That's right…! Carmine said something about this, the first time we came here! She said that there were always rumors about you being able to meet spirits of people who have passed away."
"No way…!? That that means, it really is… them?"
The two figures both turned to face Arven. The fog cleared up enough that he could see both their faces… there was no doubt in his mind who they were, especially as they both smiled warmly at him.
He gulped and turned to Juliana.
"Do you—you think I should…?"
Juliana gazed at the figures for a second, then back at Arven… and nodded.
"Yeah. Yeah, I don't know but I think—I think you and I coming here, with Terapagos, and this happening… must have been destiny or something."
"Okay…"
Arven held onto his copy of the Scarlet Book for comfort as he nervously inched forward… to greet his parents.
Juliana and Terapagos just stood back and watched in awe. They weren't privy to anything being said, but Juliana could see Arven looking more and more excited talking to them. He showed them something on his Rotom Phone and pointed to it, which made Sada cup her hands over her mouth and sway her head.
Showing them a picture of Nemona, maybe?
Turo looked Juliana's way for a moment, and Arven told him things while gesturing to her and mimicking Miraidon's movements.
He must be telling them about how I bonded with Miraidon.
And then both professors took an interest in the book Arven was holding, and he actually seemed to trade them that Scarlet Book for another volume Sada was holding!
Juliana would never pry what Arven's conversation with his deceased parents entailed, or how Terapagos's powers brought them here to this specific spot for a moment in time. But she knew… it was something magical. And just what both she and Arven needed.
Later that day, Penny was alone in her dark room at the community center, still huddled up in bed as she typed studiously on her laptop. Huge walls of code lined her computer screen, highlighted in bright colors against black backgrounds. And every command she typed would cause more columns of functions, statements, and syntaxes to cascade down.
It was like composing a symphony. She understood the rhythms and the language of this code so simply compared to how head-swirlingly complex they would look to anyone else, and performing the functions she needed to with these digital building blocks was like child's play to her.
Penny was so invested in her IT breakdowns that her glasses nearly leapt off her head as she heard a scream of terror and footsteps loudly approaching.
"Ahhhh! What—"
She barely had time to react before a certain tall blue uniform wearing girl suddenly burst into the room and slammed the door behind her.
"Uhhh—"
"YOU!" Carmine shrieked. "Poindexter! Whatever your name was! You gotta hide me! I'm totally freaking out for my life here!"
Carmine was breathing rapidly and her pupils were the size of dots; she looked absolutely terrified, and her disposition was not helping Penny's panic.
"I—Uhh—Sure? But… what's going on!? It's not…" she gulped. "…another curse or something!?"
"NO! WORSE! It's that stupid friend of yours!"
"Friend? Who—" Then Penny instantly realized. "…Oh."
And then on cue…
"Carmiiiiiiiiine!" a sing-songy voice called out from the hallway. "Where'd you go, you big Mankey!?"
"For crying out loud! I've battled her over a dozen times! Was that not enough!?" Carmine fretted, bearing down her teeth. Then, to Penny's further alarm, she dove right under Penny's covers. "If she comes in, just pretend I'm not here!"
Then Penny began to hear the loud zooms of a wheelchair being pedaled fast through the halls.
"Come on, Carmine! Stop playing around!" Nemona was calling out. "You can't leave me hanging like this! Don't you know what Juliana and I are basically sisters? In every way but our parents?"
"What," Carmine said flatly, her head poking out from the sides.
"That means you're my family too now! By dating Julie, you're like… MY SISTER-IN-LAW!"
"What… kind of logic is that?" Penny scratched her head.
"Thank you!" Carmine shouted, exasperated. Then she quickly covered her mouth.
"AHA!" came Nemona's voice. "I heard THAT!" And then her wheelchair sounded like it was picking up speed.
"Oh no…" Carmine huddled the blankets back over herself and trembled, hoping to Arceus above Nemona wasn't about to come bursting through that door.
-BAM!-
"EEEEEEEEEK!" came a cry from another room.
"Ooops! Uhh… sorry!" they heard Nemona sounding embarrassed. "Didn't mean to startle you, ma'am. I was just… looking for my newest pal. Thought you were her. Lo siento!"
Then the two of them could hear Nemona wheeling away, and Carmine phewed as she crawled back out.
"What the hell is UP with that girl!? She's like a Carvanha!"
Penny scoffed. "Welcome to the Nemona survivors club…"
"Juliana was telling me something about how that chick worries that everyone sees her as a crazy girl." Carmine took a seat right on the bed next to Penny, completely oblivious to the girl's annoyed reaction. "Well how do you expect to change people's minds by acting like THAT!? She's nutty as a fruitcake!"
"Nemona's not nutty, she just gets… way too excited sometimes and doesn't have a dial on her emotions."
"Uh-huh…" Carmine hung over Penny now, one arm wrapping over her head on the bed frame. "So what are YOU up to, four eyes?"
"The name's Penny," she curtly replied, inching herself away from Carmine a bit. "Anyway, I found out that Goldenrod City is one of the closest coastlines off this land, which is where Johto's main data centers are located. So I managed to build a custom VPN that let me into the network. I'm tracking how their IP caches work so that I can jailbreak the flags in their infrastructure and access region-sensitive media. There's a hackers' board I'm a member of with whom I'm sharing all my findings."
Carmine furrowed her eyebrows and gave the girl a stern look. "Right… mind repeating all that garble in a language normal people like me can understand?"
Penny sighed. "I'm figuring out how to access the Johto region's Internet from anyplace, including their dark web."
"Oooooh, fun! So nerds like you do offer good to society! Now everyone in your Paldea region can get all the Johto-exclusive porn they want, huh?"
Penny groaned in irritation. Juliana never said anything about you having such a trolling personality.
"So you're the Penny Juliana talked about, right? You started a whole school gang for delinquent kids or something like that?"
"Well I… hope that's not how she worded it, but, yeah. Yeah, that was me." Penny gently put her laptop down and faced Carmine. "But Team Star wasn't just for delinquents! It was basically a safe haven for anyone who felt like an outcast at our school, especially people who were getting bullied. Uva Academy used ta… not be such a fun place for everybody."
"Oh yeah, yeah, yeah! And then you all formed an all-out assault against those terrible bullies and made them all run for the hills or something like that! Juliana did make your Team Star sound super lame to me when she first explained it, but once I heard about you doing all that… man. That's just metal."
"Ehh." Penny gazed down sadly. "The reckoning wasn't quite so worth it as we thought it would be. We all just felt like assholes afterward. I took the blame for the whole thing, so they sent me back to my old region for a year and a half… that's why all my friends started ditching school. I had a lot of atoning to do just to make things right…"
Carmine nodded, listening more softly to Penny's woes.
"Yeah, well… that's just cause adults are kind of messed up, right? Too busy deciding which kids are nuisances to actually address the reasons why they're like that."
"Right!" Penny perked up. "So you—you really get me!"
"O' course. If you ask any of the namby-pamby adults in this town what they all think of me, the word you'll probably hear most is 'troublemaker'." Carmine rolled her eyes. "I would've loved to join in on something like what you guys did. Would've shown all those dumbasses who made fun of me in junior academy what's what."
Then Penny lit up in reminiscence.
"Oh… that's right! You're the one! Juliana's sad friend!"
"Hey, what is that supposed to mean?"
"The—the day I made Juliana face me in battle so we could stop Team Star together. Director Clavell seemed like he was about to lay us some really fierce punishments and then Juliana, she—she told him to stop, and she had this whole big, passionate speech about how people who were bullied can't help their feelings, especially when nobody else is looking out for them."
"…Really?" Carmine was genuinely intrigued. Juliana, the modest fool she was, had never mentioned any of this to Carmine.
"Yeah… Then a few days later, I met her on the stairs and asked her about that. She told me she had met a friend who was a victim of bullying, and was… thinking about you a lot, and that's why she said those things."
Carmine, without meaning to, put her hands on her heart and smiled warmly.
"She was thinking about me…"
The thought of her stories inspiring Juliana so much that she used them to help someone else all the way in another region… it touched Carmine's heart very deeply, and helped soothe her lingering doubts about being a good person. She was struggling now—struggling to remain tough and not shed a tear next to this four-eyed geek.
"Thanks to Juliana, I became closer with all my friends than ever before." Penny held her hand close to her heart too. "Now we're all going through school together with no problems at all… And I've never been happier." She looked Carmine's way and smiled. "I hope… I hope having Juliana by your side makes you happy and helps heal some of that pain you suffered too."
Finally, a tear and a sniffle came out.
"It does… she does."
Penny smirked. "Y'know, Carmine… You remind me a lot of my Team Star friends, actually. You've got—kind of the same qualities as all of 'em. You've even got the same kind of temper they all do!"
"Aww, thanks, kid. I really—wait."
Carmine swiftly grabbed Penny by her gray hoodie and started bearing her teeth down on her.
"What do you mean by same kind of temper, shortie!?"
"Ahhh!" Penny gulped. "Y'know what, never mind. I'm not seeing anyone else but Mellie in you right now. You've both got fire in your eyes."
"I'LL SHOW YOU FIRE!"
"VAPOOO!" Penny's Vaporeon, instinctively popping out of its Ball upon hearing someone shout 'FIRE', quickly sprayed a blast of water into Carmine's face.
"Ooops… sorry."
"Great," Carmine groaned, black streaks of eyeliner running down her face. "Well that's another hour of makeup…"
Penny couldn't help but snicker loudly.
Kieran stepped out of the community center for some fresh air, and immediately heard something barking at him before panting. He looked over to see Arven sitting quietly on one of the benches out front, his head stretched back and his eyes closed. He was holding a book in his lap, and he had a large brown dog Pokémon with him, wagging his tail excitedly at Kieran.
Arven opened his eyes. "Oh… hey there, little dude."
"Hey, Arven!" Kieran greeted him warmly. "Everything umm, go okay?"
"Yeah…"
Kieran saw the wistful look in his eyes. "So, Juliana was talking to me about something that happened when you guys were at the Crystal Pool, did you—did you really…?"
Arven lowered his head down and smirked. "If that's the question you're asking, I guess Jules told you the whole truth, huh? Yeah. Yeah, it… it was real."
In his lap, the Paldean boy was gazing at a copy of the Violet Book: his father's copy, that he had traded in exchange for the Scarlet Book. It had Turo's clumsy signature on it, and, at Arven's request, Sada had added hers as well.
"I mean, it was sort of real. My dad was saying that he and my mom might've even come from a different timeline to be there for a moment. The two of them sure looked very happy together… Maybe in another time, they were able to work out their differences."
"Wowwww, that's crazy!" Kieran's eye lit up. "I've heard stories of people saying they met ghosts at the Crystal Pool before, but—but I had no idea it was totally true!" As he took a seat on the bench next to Arven, he began to look uneasy. "So now Kitakami's got real curses AND real ghosts? I'm starting to get a little frightened o' my own home now."
Arven chuckled. Then Kieran proceeded to laugh as Mabosstiff excitedly jumped up and started licking the face of his new friend.
"Wow! H-heyyyy!"
"Ruff! Ruff, ruff!"
"Down, Mabosstiff!" Arven sternly ordered his partner. "Siiiiit! Be a good boy!" Mabosstiff did as ordered and calmly sit in front of Kieran, who wiped his face. "Sorry about my pal here! Mabosstiff always gets excited to meet new faces!"
"Oh, it's no problem! He's really adorable!" Kieran rubbed Mabosstiff's face, who panted lovingly in return. "So… Mabosstiff's his name? Isn't he the Pokémon you talked about when we were in Area Zero?"
"Sure is! My number-one most treasured partner in the world!" Flattered by his master's compliments, Mabosstiff jumped up on his lap now and started licking his face. "Woah, hey, boy! Easy! You love hearing that, don't you?"
"That's so cool! I'm glad I finally got to meet him," Kieran grinned. "Actually… it's funny. Remember how I told you that I had a buddy I cherished a whole lot, but left him behind because I only thought I wanted strong Pokémon?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, now that I'm back home…" With a smile on his face, Kieran pulled out a Poké Ball. "Say hi to Furret!"
-POP-
"Furrrrret!"
Furret danced happily around Kieran, and danced in circles up his body before wrapping itself around his neck like a head pillow and smiling at him. "Furr-furrrr!"
"Ha-ha-ha! Wow, what a spunky little dude!" Arven laughed. "Looks like your pal remembers you pretty well too!"
"Yeah," Kieran giggled. "I felt so ashamed of myself for ditching Furret when I went back to school. I thought maybe even when I did come back, it would never forgive me, but…" Then Furret licked his face too, but much gentler licks with its tiny tongue compared to Mabosstiff's, and he giggled some more. "Instead, it was just really happy to see me!"
"Furrrrrret!" it cooed, nuzzling its face against Kieran's.
Arven smiled warmly at their interactions, and gazed at the Violet Book in his lap again.
"It's like that Ms. Briar lady says in her book… Even when the people we loved are gone, a part of them will always be with us forever. No matter what time or dimension, I know… my parents will always be with me, wherever I go."
"Yeah… just like my parents. And– and Ogerpon's old partner."
"That's right!"
Now both of the boys looked to the sky and smiled up at the clouds in a resolute serenity… a moment of peace that was quickly interrupted by loud, boisterous laughing.
"HA-HA-HA! Try to catch me now, you loon!"
Carmine sprung out of the community center with a wildly taunting look on her face, sidestepping like she was avoiding something. Then, the doors opened, and a frustrated yell accompanied the large, slow-moving snail Pokémon and its wound-up companion.
"Yaaaaahhh! Carmine, no fair!" Nemona whined.
"What's the matter, twinkletoes?" Carmine grinned. "I thought you agreed with me that riding on your biggest Pokémon instead of a cruddy old wheelchair was the best idea!"
Nemona tried to rush at Carmine by riding on her Wo-Chien and using its grassy vines like mushing whips, but the large Treasure of Ruin could only move so fast, and Carmine was springing around the square, taking full advantage of Nemona's lethargic speed.
"Ha-ha-ha! You said if you caught me, then I have to battle you again, right? Well, good luck Nemona! They don't call me the fastest sprinter in Kitakami for nothing!"
Arven whispered to Kieran, "Does anybody really call her that?"
Kieran scoffed. "No." Then they both chuckled watching this amusing scene.
Carmine pulled down her eyelid and stuck her tongue out at Nemona before darting away again, while Nemona was left hopelessly trying to catch up.
"Ahhhhh! Wo-Chien, you're an amazing Pokémon but I need you to speed up, cariño! Or do something to stop her!"
"...Wooohhhhh…"
Wo-Chien's squinty eyes locked on to the tall, springy girl. Its senses turned red, and then, focusing on Carmine, it released a pulse. "CHIEN."
"GAHH!"
Carmine suddenly felt struck with negative energy that caused her legs to give out, and with a startled yelp, she stumbled onto the ground.
"Seriously…!?"
And before she could react any further, the beast of mud and grass slithered right up to her, bristling her shoes with its bottom leaves.
"WOH."
A-HA!" Nemona tauntingly pointed a finger at her. "I got you! And now you have to engage in another sweet battle with me, Carmine! C'mon, I wanna see ALL the cool Pokémon you've got at your disposal! I still haven't even gotten to see the cool ancient Misdreavus Juliana said you caught!"
Carmine growled at Wo-Chien. "That was a dirty trick, you giant turd-bucket."
"Man, it's never a dull moment around here, is it?" Penny remarked as she and Juliana both exited the community center.
"Yeah, but that's what makes it so fun!" Juliana chuckled. This time, she was wearing her green jinbei again.
"Juliana!" Carmine called out. "There you are, cutie! Still looking adorable in that thing, b-t-dubs! Can you please be a super-cutie and get your rabid friend here off my back!?"
"Hee-hee-hee! I don't know… this is pretty funny."
"Seriously?" Carmine kept trying to stand up again, but Wo-Chien would just playfully nudge her down again. "NO IT ISN'T!"
"Is that really all I am to you, Carmine?" Juliana asked her with a faux-disappointed expression. "Just a cutie? Adorable? Nothing more?"
"Fine, you're gorgeous! You're beautiful! You're SEXY!" Carmine yelled in frustration. "Look, if you tell Nemona here to lay off, I'll buy you all the pretzels you want, any dessert you want from the kitchen in there, and then I'll spend all night kissing you for it!"
"Ooooh, now that's a sweet deal. Hey, Nemona!"
"Awwwww! Julieee, come on!" Nemona pouted. "Nobody's letting me have ANY fun today!"
"Just… give my girlfriend a break, okay?"
She sighed. "Okay, fine." Then she smiled wildly. "But only because that was so mushy of you, I think I'm going to cry! Wo-Chien, heel, boy!"
Wo-Chien growled but begrudgingly stopped playing with Carmine, who finally stood up and shook herself off, smiling gratefully.
"My sexy knight in shining armor… I mean it, I'm going to stuff you full and bless every inch of your face!"
"And I'm looking forward to it."
"Yoo-hooooooo!" a voice called out.
"Huh? Gran?"
"Kids!" Yukito shouted, coming down the road. "I've got both of your jinbei ready, and you need to freshen up! I already made the little star herself all pretty!"
"Oh!" Kieran stood up. "That's right! Sis, the Festival's gonna start! We've gotta get ready!"
"Crap, you're right!" she realized. Then she huffed to herself, "Should've remembered that, would've been the perfect excuse to get away from this circus without having to part with my hard-earned money…"
Carmine rushed off to start getting ready, while Kieran started walking out too.
"Good luck with everything, Kieran!" said Juliana.
"Thanks, Juliana! I'm a little nervous, but… I think it's gonna go great!"
She giggled. "After we've all gotten ready, should we meet you in front of the Ogre Oustin' place?"
"Ha-ha!" he laughed. "Actually… they changed the name. Now it's called the uhhh, the Demon Extermination Festival!"
"Oh, wow. That…" Juliana made a weird face. "That doesn't roll off the tongue anywhere near as well."
"Sure doesn't!" he giggled. "But at least they kept the game itself the same, so it's still gonna be just as fun! Your friends are all welcome to try for the high score!"
Juliana waved Kieran off as he ran to join up with his sister.
"So what's going on?" Penny asked. "I've heard people talking about some sort of festival, didn't know it was happening tonight."
"Yeah! The Festival of Masks!" Juliana told them excitedly. "It was the festival they held when I first came here on the trip. It was supposed to be a festival celebrating the Lousy Three, but after Kieran told everyone in the village the truth about Ogerpon they decided to postpone the festival until they could retool it!"
"And it's happening now?" Arven walked over.
"And… we can go too!?" Nemona said from atop her Wo-Chien.
"Yup! Not only are all of us invited, but I even talked with Nao-san and there's jinbei like this for all of you guys to borrow!" she explained, gesturing to her ensemble.
"SWEET!" Nemona cheered, leaping off her great beast and onto the ground.
"AHHH! Nemona!" Arven said with a gasp. "What are you doing!? What about your–"
"Ohh, Arvie! My legs feel fine now!" she assured him. "...I wish I'd realized that before Carmine started playing games with me… but I'm 100% up and raring again and totally ready to go to this festival, especially if there's lots of battling there!"
Penny rolled her eyes before asking, "What do you do at this Festival of Masks anyway?"
"Wear masks, if I had to guess," said Arven.
"Oh, there's tons of stuff to do there!" Juliana handed each of them brochures she'd snagged from inside the community center. "They got games, and cool food, and yeah, plenty of masks to wear too!"
"Oh, wow!" Arven looked at the pictures of concessions. "Candy apples, matcha threats, and fried delights? That sounds yummy!"
"WOAH!" Nemona gripped hers excitedly. "A game where you can ride on a Pokémon to burst balloons for berries and earn tons of prizes!? That sounds like so much fun! Count me in!"
Penny gasped. "Is that an EEVEE mask!? It's so cute, I want one!"
"I knew you'd all find something you'll like there," Juliana grinned.
"But wait," Arven wondered. "Why did Carmine and Kieran have to leave before us? We're not all going together?"
"Oh! Actually, they volunteered to do something very special for the Festival."
Carmine had her hair up in a fancy ponytail, dressed in her favorite blue jinbei. Kieran was wearing his hair slicked back, in a sort of happy medium to his two distinct styles, while wearing his white jinbei. The two siblings smiled at each other, walking up to the festival grounds as the sunset dimmed.
"I'm so happy we get to do this together, Sis," Kieran smiled at Carmine.
"Yeah," she smiled back. "Me too."
They crossed the red archway leading into Kitakami Hall, and little by little the festival-goers all began to notice them and start clamoring. For Carmine and Kieran, it was… a strange but welcoming feeling, having the townspeople smiling at them for once instead of just dismissing them as ruffians.
Even though they knew it wasn't just for them the crowd was welcoming. Carmine looked down with a smile at the small Pokémon holding hers and Kieran's hand. Ogerpon's starry eyes began to light up bigger and bigger as she realized that everyone had turned out to see her.
"Look! It's Ogerpon!"
"She's here! She's here!"
"Our blessed little lady of Kitakami!"
"Mommy, she's so much cuter in real life! Why'd you used to say she was scary and would eat me!?"
"Ponnn…"
Ogerpon was awestruck. She had always lived in fear from the villagers of Kitakami, knowing that they were just as fearful of her: they used to throw a festival celebrating the monsters that brought her life to ruin after all.
But the Mask Pokémon looked all around and realized this brand new Festival of Masks was completely different. Whatever decorations that once bore the faces of the Lousy Three now depicted Ogerpon herself and all her wondrous faces.
Instead of masks based on Okidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipiti, everyone was selling and running around in masks based on the Hearthflame, the Wellspring, and the Cornerstone Masks. One of the biggest hanging decorations was a giant paper lantern of Ogerpon's own Teal Mask… no longer a symbol of fright, but of the ogre's shining bravery and glimmering beauty.
She gasped in delight at all the brand new additions, and Carmine and Kieran were practically beaming.
"You probably snuck into this festival a bunch of times before, right?" asked Carmine. "Always had to stay out of sight, well they– well we all celebrated the monsters that tormented you," she said, guiltily remembering her old Munkidori mask as she instead put on a Wellspring one.
"Yeah, but now everything's changed!" Kieran smiled. "Because thanks to us, everyone knows you were the real hero this festival should be about!" He slipped on his favorite Teal Mask. "Now… this is all your show, Ogerpon."
"Ponnn?"
"Everyone, all of us villagers…" Nao led from the center of the festival. "With the arrival of our shining star Ogerpon, Kitakami's oldest but long-neglected elder resident, let the all-new Festival of Masks… truly begin!"
All the villagers cheered and popped confetti into the air.
Ogerpon… began to cry. After all the hardships she'd faced, all those years living in fear of being hunted and just wanting to have friends again… the entire land of Kitakami was celebrating her. Praising her. Welcoming her. She had all the friends in the world now, and couldn't be happier.
Even Carmine and Kieran couldn't resist shedding tears, as they dove into the Festival of Masks hand-in-hand with Ogerpon, all of them feeling like the heroes they finally knew themselves to be.