Sweet and Sour Umeboshi

by MawileMage

A once-in-a-lifetime school trip to Kitakami awards Juliana with brand new experiences when she meets a shy boy named Kieran and his extremely pretty, complicated sister Carmine. Though Juliana and Carmine don't see eye-to-eye at first, their adventures bring them deeper into each other's hearts than they'd ever imagined. Rated T for mild sexual themes and language.

59. Friends to the End of the World

"Heads up, Juliana!"

"Huh? … WOAAAAHHHH!"

"GRAAO!"

Juliana and Miraidon both gasped as a huge shape soared over both their heads. With a mighty leap, Koraidon sailed over their heads, Kieran using all his might to retain his balance.

"Woaah… how do you like that?" Kieran bragged. "Koraidon's jumping power is insane! And—I only feel a little sick too!" he said, holding down a baby burp.

"That's pretty sick, Kieran!" Juliana shouted out, then giggled a little at her pun. "But see if you can catch us when we're riding the side of the mountain!"

She revved Miraidon's handlebar-like appendages, and the Iron Serpent gave a confident roar before sprinting ahead, and Kieran watched in awe as they leapt to the cliffs of the Canyon Biome and started racing alongside the rocky mountains.

Despite still being in its Drive Mode, Miraidon skated the side of the cliffs like it had anti-gravity, its neon wheel-like sacs gliding along the rocks as smooth as a road.

"Ha-ha! We can do that too! Right, Koraidon?"

"Agias!" cried Koraidon.

Kieran gripped the handlebars of his own Winged King, and they took off chasing Juliana and Miraidon, running along the mountains on the other side as Koraidon did its best to keep up with its future counterpart.

Koraidon didn't have "modes" to shift into like its robotic twin, but it more than made up for that with the prehistoric strength indued into its thick legs, allowing the scaly red Pokémon to grip and bounce off the rocks with more speed and precision than even the best wall climbing human.

The two beasts growled at each other in a competitive spirit, both of them eager to outdo the other. And Juliana and Kieran, as their heads met each other, both grinned in the thrill of their race.

Then Kieran looked ahead and noticed a certain set of Magnemite-powered objects coming into view in the skies above.

"Here's Amarys's rings! Ready for the final obstacle course, Juliana?"

Juliana looked at him apprehensively. "Are you sure with Koraidon's jumps you'll be able to go through all of them?"

"Who said anything about jumping?" Kieran replied with a wicked glean. "Hey, Koraidon! Let's show her our new trick!"

"Graaoo!"

Koraidon leapt off the cliffside, sailing over Juliana and Miraidon's heads again. Then… much to Juliana's surprise, a pair of huge feathery, white wings burst out from Koraidon's backside, and the ancient Paradox Pokémon took flight!

"Whaaaat!?"

Emitting a trail of glittery sparkles from its wings, Koraidon began to sail through each of the magnetized rings in the air, soaring like a true dragon.

"Well, I sure didn't expect that! But that doesn't mean we can let them beat us, Miraidon!"

"Agias!"

Miraidon leapt off the cliff too and shifted into its Glide Mode. Metal wings emerged from its backside like a parasail and the purple dragon took off with Juliana in tow, emitting the same glittery trail behind it as it used its jet boosters to quickly catch up with its prehistoric relative and pass above it through all the same rings.

"Wow, even with a headstart, you caught up to me fast!"

"That's cause we're expert flyers!" Juliana grinned, and her beast growled confidently.

"Well, we're quick learners!" he boasted back. He tugged on Koraidon's handles to make his beast glide upwards, which it did so suddenly that Kieran shook up and almost lost his grip. "Woaahh-oaah… I guess it's not as easy as it looks, though…"

The two of them zoomed through all the rings, laughing with each other all the while, until they finally made their descent towards the cliff where Amarys was waiting with a stopwatch.

Amarys felt the wind rush through her body like a huge gust as the two students and their Paradox Pokémon made their landing almost at the same time. Her glasses almost flew right off her face.

"…Goodness," she uttered, clicking her watch.

"WOW! That was awesome!" Juliana said with glee as she made a move to leap off her Miraidon. However, remembering at the last second that wouldn't feel great on her legs, she carefully stepped off instead. "How do you feel, Kieran?"

Kieran had trouble finding his footing as he stumbled off Koraidon's back. "Ughh… I'm… fine. Just need to get used to those high winds, I guess…" he chuckled, before shaking it off quickly so that he could rush over to Amarys. "So? Which one of us came out on top, Amarys?"

"Mmm…" Amarys readjusted her glasses. "The wind made me take my eyes off the watch, which is something I never thought could happen. But, from my observations, it was a photo finish."

"Awww, seriously?" Kieran's head slumped a bit. "That's kind of… what's the word I wanna say? Non-climatizing?"

"Anti-climactic," she promptly responded.

"Maybe next time, we should ask Perrin to come up here and stand by with her camera if it's going to be another photo finish," Juliana mused.

"Well, as long as we had fun, I guess," Kieran shrugged. "And our Pokémon too."

Koraidon and Miraidon both growled happily, feeling invigorated by their fun mini triathlon.

"I'm surprised you had enough of those supplement things to let Kieran's Pokémon fly, Amarys! I thought Miraidon had eaten them all," Juliana giggled, to which Miraidon looked sheepish.

"I was able to get a new supply in," Amarys explained.

"And weren't ya saying it would be better I have it instead of Crispin?"

Amarys shook her head. "I'm still extremely concerned about him getting his hands on them, yes. Especially because he has given me no good reason why he wants to fly—and I'm even more worried he might believe he can ingest the supplements himself… I don't wish to be held responsible for whatever health issues that may cause."

Kieran and Juliana both laughed with each other. Amarys chuckled too, even though she didn't quite understand how they took humor in what she said.

Eventually, she said her farewells to the pair, having to return to her tutoring, and they stayed on that hill for a while to catch their breath.

"Rowwl! Roww-rowww!" Koraidon growled, almost like a happy puppy, while Kieran stroked the big Pokémon's chin.

"Ha-ha! I guess you're just like Juliana's Miraidon, huh? You look like a big kaiju, but really you're just a big teddy bear!" Kieran laughed.

He glanced over at Juliana who was petting her own metal lizard. However… he quickly noticed a somewhat despondent look on her face.

"Hey, Juliana. You okay?"

"Hmm?" Juliana shot up a bit, like she had been deep in thought. "Oh… yeah. I'm—I'm fine, Kieran," she said, with a soft tone that suggested otherwise. "I guess I'm just…"

"Sad that your friends had to go home?" Kieran guessed.

She nodded sadly.

"I don't know why it felt even harder to say goodbye this time," she lamented. "I guess the first time I came to Blueberry, I was just so excited to see you and Carmine again. And this time when we came back, I was… looking forward to seeing my friends at the BB League again."

"Graaoo?" Miraidon cried softly, noticing its partner's sorrow.

"But now it's just plain ol' school life here in Blueberry…" Kieran sympathized.

"I don't even know when's the next time I'll see them again."

"There's always the break coming up."

"Yeah… I suppose…"

"Hmmm…" Kieran let his hand pound against his hip a bit, wondering what he could say to help. "You worried about 'em?"

Juliana thought about that for a minute, and shook her head.

"No, not really. They know how to take care of themselves, and they've got each other! I mean, Nemona and Arven literally have each other. And Penny's got her girlfriend too. But y'know… I still miss them."

"Well, that's why you gotta make sure to write or call 'em every chance you get, right?"

Juliana's eyebrows lit up, and then she started laughing.

"That's true! I was so bad about doing that before…" Then she laughed even harder. Already, she was starting to feel like a bit of a fool.

"Yeah, you can always call 'em up whenever I want to talk! And Penny told me she still wants to do anime hangouts together and stuff! She even invited me to join 'em! So you'll get to see her then!"

"That's right!" Juliana continued to laugh. "Thanks, Kieran. You're… really good at coming up with the simple solution when nobody else is."

"Yeah, I guess that's my thing!" he laughed. "I'm glad I got you laughing again, Juliana. Makes me feel good too."

Juliana went back to tending to her Miraidon, but started thinking again. Then, her eyes lit up as she was the one whose mind sprung forth an idea.

"Hey, Kieran!"

"Yeah?"

She smirked at him. "You know what would… help me cheer me up a little bit right now?"

Kieran peered at her curiously, but then his eyes lit up and he gasped.

"You mean…?"

Juliana drew out a Poké Ball. "Let's have a battle, Kieran!"

---

The two of them stood at opposite ends on an arena just beside one of the Canyon Biome's outdoor classrooms. Their eyes locked fiercely with each other, like there was another Championship match at stake here. The mountainous fog surrounding Kieran and Juliana added to the feeling of an epic battle beginning.

Kieran flicked the black strands over his face and puffed up his jacket. Juliana saw him doing this and decided to adopt her serious mode too. She gave her arms a big stretch, and planted her feet hard on the ground.

"Just so ya know… even though this is just a friendly match, I'm still gonna give it all I've got, Juliana!"

"Yeah! Me too!" she declared just as fiercely.

"Good!" he smiled. "Then let's do this thing! Go, Yanmega!"

Kieran, with all the gusto of a Champion, sent out his first Pokémon: his giant dragonfly buddy from Kitakami.

"YANMMMEGA," it bellowed in a deep, rupturing voice.

At the same time, Juliana threw out her first partner, a glimmering ball of energy that had been sticking with her since her trek through the mining mountains of East Province Three.

"Glimmoooo!" Glimmora cried as its crystal petals shone.

"Lucky you, getting the type advantage off the bat!" Kieran grinned.

"Scared?" Juliana taunted him lightly.

"Not at all! Cause there's so much more to a good battle than just what you start with! It's all about the moves you got! Like this one… Yanmega, with your amazing speed, open up with a strong Psychic attack!"

Yanmega had a bunch of Psychic energy all charged up before their opponents could even blink, and blasted Glimmora, causing significant damage to the poisonous flower.

"Gli—GLIMMOH!"

But it also activated Glimmora's Ability, and toxic debris shot out from its petals and covered the ground around Yanmega.

"Wowzers, that's such a dangerous thing to have out first…" Kieran smirked. "I'm real glad you're not holding back."

"We sure aren't," Juliana smirked back. "Check this out! Glimmora, use Power Gem!"

Glimmora pulled up a bunch of rocks from the ground and levitated them above itself, before shooting them all in Yanmega's direction.

"Y-y-yan…" The huge dragonfly started to fall to the ground. Juliana expected the quadruple super-effective attack to be an OHKO… and yet, just as it seemed ready to faint, Yanmega's eyes flashed open again, and it cried out hoarsely but defiantly. "YANMEGAAA…!"

"Huh!?" Then Yanmega's feet lifted off, and Juliana noticed something attached to one of them. "A FOCUS SASH!"

"That's right!" Kieran smiled proudly. "I was thinkin' about your team, Juliana, and I realized that most of the Pokémon you got who win against Yanmega in a type matchup, like that Glimmora or your Kilowattrel, all use Special attacks! And Yanmega doesn't have great Special Defense, so… yeah. I figured it was probably goin' down in one big hit anyway."

"Woah…" Juliana was impressed with Kieran's strategizing. This was leagues above the level of battles she had with him in Kitakami.

"But look at that! Still standing! Pretty cool, right?" he grinned.

"Very cool!"

"Yeah, and now it's time for YOUR Ability to shine, Yanmega! Give yourself a great Speed Boost, and hit Glimmora with Psychic one more time!"

"YNN! YNN! YANNN!"

Yanmega moved like a lightning bullet, almost too fast for the naked eye. Glimmora didn't even see the psychic blast coming…

"GLIMMA!"

…and was down for the count before it even had a chance to react.

"You see?" said Kieran. "I'm not holdin' back anymore either."

"You sure aren't," Juliana chuckled. She recalled her Glimmora, saying, "You did great, Glimmora. Super proud of you." Then she muttered to herself, "This is going to be a lot of fun!"

---

Juliana's next Pokémon was Iron Bundle, a speed demon in its own right. So much so that—after consuming the Booster Energy Juliana had picked up in Professor Turo's Zero Lab–the Paradox was able to outmaneuver the speedy Yanmega with its own blindingly fast skiing and send it down with a swift swipe, forcing Kieran to rely on his next partner.

"You know what? I'll counter your Paradox thingy with my own!" he decided as he sent out Iron Valiant, who unsheathed its long double-bladed scythe.

Ready for combat. Only flinching a little from being afflicted by the Toxic Spikes.

"What an awesome matchup! We gotta be ready for whatever that Robo-Gardevoir throws at us, Iron Valiant! Set up a snowstorm to boost your defenses!"

"Deli-bloooop!"

Iron Bundle's head sprocket wound upwards as it used the breath from its icy engine to cast a small Snowscape around the arena, and made use of the falling skyscapes to start building a thin layer of armor around its metal body.

But Kieran was playing seriously too, and ordered Iron Valiant to blanket the ground in a steady stream of electricity, which immediately powered up both cyborg Pokémon's Quark Drives.

So Kieran knows about the future Paradoxes' secret powers too. This Electric Terrain won't do much to help Iron Bundle, since its highest stat is Speed and it already outspends almost everything. But Iron Valiant… I saw it using some really incredible physical attacks, so I bet that's what Kieran focused on training up.

"We can't let that big iron warrior power itself up too much or it'll wipe the floor with us. Iron Bundle, use Chilling Water!"

Using its great speed, Iron Bundle welled up a huge burst of cold, refrigerated water and splashed it over Iron Valiant, weakening its Attack.

"That's fine! Cause we can just keep getting that health back! Iron Valiant, Drain Punch!"

Iron Valiant rushed forward and delivered a big wallop to the robot chicken, and Juliana noticed for the first time the Punching Glove it was holding.

So not only was it a super-effective move, but a very boosted punch that left Iron Bundle in critical condition—its blue LED eyes flickering erratically—but also restored all the health Iron Valiant had just taken.

"Garruuuuu-bloop," it growled confidently.

Gosh, that thing's kind of scary when we're the ones facing it… "I-Iron Bundle! Use Hydro Pump!" And please don't miss!

Iron Bundle concentrated all its remaining energy into charging up all the liquid inside its engine, and tried to hit Iron Valiant with a spurt of gushing water. But Iron Valiant was swift to avoid the bursting fountain. A miss.

"Darn it!"

And then, with zero hesitation, Iron Valiant lunged forth again! "GALLDA!" Juliana gasped as the merciless Pokémon zeroed in on her Iron Bundle and unleashed a flurry of punches against it.

"Wowzers!" Even Kieran was shocked. "I didn't even tell it to use Close Combat!"

"Delloooooooo…"

Iron Bundle was so overwhelmed by the cyborg soldier's destructive fury that its head twisted up and popped out from the unit completely, and Juliana knew she had to recall it.

"Sorry about that, Juliana…" Kieran chuckled sheepishly. "I guess Iron Valiant's always going to be a bit of a brute, even in a friendly battle!"

"Ahh, it's okay, Kieran. That looked pretty scary but… it was also so cool!" she had to admit.

"Right!?"

---

Juliana's next Pokémon was Kilowattrel, and it spread its wings just as mightily as when Kieran witnessed it evolve from a Wattrel. Juliana also had it fitted with a Scope Lens now.

"KILOOOOOO!"

On Juliana's command, the Frigatebird Pokémon whipped up a Tailwind to pull itself ahead of its cybernetic opponent in agility.

"Now… Dual Wingbeat!"

"Ohhh, not again," Kieran shook his head.

Using its keen eye to take advantage of the gust and look for weaknesses in the strange otherworldly enemy, Kilowattrel unleashed a dual clap of wind from its enormous wings, striking Iron Valiant once in its unguarded backside, and then again in the front.

"We can still win this one!" Kieran insisted.

"I don't know, you ever tried to punch a bird?" Juliana giggled.

"Hmph!" he snorted. "We'll show you! Iron Valiant, go for Spirit Break and…"

Although Iron Valiant was ready to listen for its next command, within moments it suddenly felt faint… and dropped to the ground, having succumbed to its poison.

"Oh… whoops. Umm, sorry, Iron Valiant. I promise you did a great job," he said meekly as he recalled it. "Dang it… These Paradox things are tricky. I keep forgetting they're not Steel type even though they look like robots. So they're not immune to poison…"

Juliana laughed. "Your sister had the exact same problem in Area Zero!"

"I guess we're more alike than we thought! Hey, since we're doing throwbacks right now… how about I use what you just gave me? Go, Ceruledge!"

Juliana gasped upon seeing her former partner. "CERULEDGE!" she exclaimed.

Ceruledge called to attention and bowed humbly to acknowledge Juliana in turn, letting aside for a moment that the Trainer who first caught it as a tiny Charcadet was now the fiery knight's opponent—or that it was being afflicted with poison by barbs from Glimmora, its old teammate.

"You were still pretty low-level last time I was using you in my team, Ceruledge. If Kieran's sending you out here, he must've trained you up really strong!" she said proudly.

"Cerul!"

---

With the Tailwind charging up Kilowattrel's Electric moves, the lightning bird hit Ceruledge with a strong Thunderbolt attack. Ceruledge responded with a move Juliana remembered from raising it up:

Bitter Blade. By jumping into the air and stabbing Kilowattrel in its puffed-up abdomen with dual blades of fiery malice, Ceruledge absorbed enough health to make up handily for the big shock.

"Big fan of the health-sapping moves, huh Kieran?"

"I just have a bunch of Pokémon who can learn moves like that!" He smiled and said, "You just got to adapt!"

"Touche. Well, Kilowattrel… we know what works at least. Hit it with another Thunderbolt! Maybe we'll get a critical hit with your Scope Lens!"

Kilowattrel puffed up its air sac, which lit up in a brilliant golden yellow, as it struck its former teammate with another crashing Thunderbolt. Thanks to the magnified lens scoped over Kilowattrel's eye, it was able to pinpoint where the move could strike for pivotal damage.

On top of that… Ceruledge became paralyzed. "CRRN!"

"Drat!" Kieran lamented.

"YES!" Juliana pumped her fist. However, she looked at Kieran and saw his starting to shake… This made her concerned. "Uh-oh. You're not mad, are you Kieran? It's just the spirit of the battle, right?"

"Huh? Mad? Ha-ha! I'm not mad, Juliana! I'm having a blast!" he assured her. "Like you said, it's a friendly battle! Don't worry, I don't get all wound up over this stuff anymore! In fact, I love this! It's a bigger challenge—and it'll be amazing when we overcome that challenge!"

Kieran's shaking fist turned into a fired up pointed finger as he commanded, "Shake off that paralyzing, Ceruledge! You're strong enough not to let anything stop you! Use Bitter Blade again!"

"Cuh… Ceruu…"

With great effort, Ceruledge managed to move despite the paralyzing shocks coursing through its ghastly body and seized its blades against Kilowattrel once more, draining Kilowattrel's health with its purple-blue flames.

In fact, it seemed to be an even more powerful Bitter Blade than last time, enough to not just restore the Fire Blades Pokémon to full health, but take Kilowattrel out of the equation completely!

"Wattttt…" it cawed weakly before being recalled.

"What was that?" Juliana wondered. "It seemed like your attack was even stronger than last time! How did you—huh?"

Ceruledge turned around, allowing Juliana to see that its armor was fitted with a ticking Metronome. "Ohhhh!"

"I gave Ceruledge that Metronome so that the more times it keeps using Bitter Blade, the more health it'll get back! Plus, it also makes the poison from those spikes of yours basically not even a problem!"

"Man… you've become such a cool Trainer, Kieran," Juliana admired. "I always knew you had it in you, from the first time I met you."

"Thanks, Juliana," he said sincerely. "I guess I always knew I had it in me too. And man, even without that item, Ceruledge is still just as cool a Pokémon as the day you trounced my Sis with it! You deserve credit for that as much as me!"

"Cerrruledge!" it agreed.

"You'd better hope it doesn't get another chance to use Bitter Blade, or else we'll sap ya dry!" Kieran said, a gleeful chime to his playful taunt. Juliana appreciated getting to see this side of him.

---

To get a bit more creative—and because she didn't think to bring either of her Water-types into her current party—Juliana decided to send out the Fire/Dark Pokémon that had become Ceruledge's replacement in her team.

"Chiiiiiiii-yu!" the fiery goldfish bellowed as she sent it out, using its ruinous ability to cut Ceruledge's Special Defense.

What happened next was almost like a war of attrition. Juliana would order Chi-Yu to use Snarl, followed by Ceruledge using Bitter Blade to restore its health, followed by another Snarl, then rinse and repeat. Although Ceruledge's Bitter Blade kept rising in power, Chi-Yu wouldn't let itself be fazed by the violet knight's blazing strikes.

Eventually, Juliana switched things up. She clenched her fist and declared "Now… RUINATION!"

The Treasure of Ruin activated its ancient powers to unleash cursed energy upon Ceruledge, cutting its remaining HP down to half.

"Man, you got Sis's wild look in your eye again…" Kieran noted. "That's also where you picked up this crazy strategy for your Chi-Yu thing, isn't it?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Juliana cracked, showing a smile that flashed her pearly whites. "But what's coming at you next is 100% all Juliana! Chi-Yu, time for Dark Pulse!"

"Chiiiiiii…" Concentrating all its power, darkness gathered around Chi-Yu's piscine body. Its beady eyes lit up, and it shot a pulse of great shadow power at Ceruledge. "YUUUUU!"

Ceruledge was overwhelmed by the dark blast. Buckling inside its ghostly purple armor, the knight felt all the wind leave its sails and the light of its candle go out.

"We're doing really well, Chi-Yu!" Juliana said excitedly. "I think we've got this in the bag!"

"Heh-heh-heh-heh…" Kieran suddenly laughed mischievously.

"Huh?"

For a split second, Juliana swore the Kitakamite boy had a glint in his eye, very akin to the kind of look he gave when he held the title of BB League Champion.

"That's what you think, huh? Well if you thought Ceruledge was well-trained with me, Juliana… I think you're about to regret giving me THIS awesome Pokémon!"

"Oh…" Juliana gulped in realization.

Sure enough, Kieran tossed out a Quick Ball Juliana recognized very well—the luckiest first turn catch she'd ever made in her life.

"GRRRRR-IFIC!"

The powerhouse of the Loyal Three cracked his knuckles and lashed his tongue out, reveling in the brutish joy of getting to conquer a Pokémon in battle.

"Okidogi, huh? Heh. I should've figured."

The giant mutt gazed down at the Toxic Spikes dotting the ground around him, and effortlessly crushed them all with his big green feet, absorbing the venom like it was nothing.

Then the reality of events really hit Juliana. Her eyebrows shot up as she asked, "How on earth did you find the time to train up TWO Pokémon I traded you just a few days ago!?"

"Hee-hee-hee!" Kieran giggled. "I just love raising up Pokémon to be super strong! It's the fun of learning so many great new moves, abilities, and strategies I never knew about before!"

Carmine did boast a lot about how quickly you raised up your Champion team, Juliana recalled.

"Like THIS ONE!" Kieran declared fiercely. "Oki-dokey Okidogi—hee hee—send that little fishy of Juliana's packing! Show them your SUPERPOWER!"

Juliana had to chuckle a little. You're sounding a lot like your sister too.

"GRRRRRR…"

But the girl's amusement quickly had to give way to gawking, as Okidogi began to charge up tremendous power in his huge body, and then let it out in a huge glowing punch of awesomeness against Chi-Yu.

"…RRRRRIFIC!"

Despite all the ancient, legendary energy flowing through Chi-Yu's flames, it couldn't take a punch as powerful as that, and was cooked like a fish.

"Interesting opening move you got there," Juliana observed as she recalled Chi-Yu. "Let's see, cause… If I remember right from Ms. Dendra's classes, Superpower packs a huge amount of power but at the cost of lowering your Pokémon's atta—"

"Gruh!" Okidogi opened his palm to reveal a small white leaf.

"Uhhh, what's that?"

Okidogi chomped the White Herb up, and in an instant, the former Retainer Pokémon flexed his might as he felt power returning to its muscles once more.

"Oh yeah!" Kieran nodded. "Superpower lowering your Attack, I know all about that. That's what the herb is for. You're right Juliana, it IS a great opening move!" he gleamed, almost—tauntingly so.

"Hmph," Juliana snorted defiantly. Kieran liked to see that he was actually starting to rile her up. "Well… guess what I know about Okidogi! Poison and Fighting, right? I've got just the agent for that! Go, Indeedee!"

Juliana's female Indeedee leapt onto the field gracefully, and took a very polite bow to greet her opponent. "Indee."

"Grrowl?" Okidogi didn't understand the gesture, and so he just bared its purple tongue out while swinging the broken chain around its neck. "Gruff-riff-riff!"

"Dee? Grrrr…" The well-behaved maid had little intolerance for seeing a Pokémon display such… uncouth manners. But, knowing the importance of keeping her composure, Indeedee focused on the task at hand, and immediately turned the battlefield weird. "Deeeee!"

"Ohhhh," Kieran realized. "That's your Indeedee's ability? To set up a psychic field right away?"

"Mm-hm," Juliana nodded. "And we know how to use items to our advantage too!"

Indeedee held out her hand to demonstrate the Psychic Seed in her possession. She then consumed the pink seeds, which were endued with powers from the Psychic Terrain, and the Emotion Pokémon felt her special defenses rise significantly.

"And for our next trick…!" Juliana drummed up, making a magician's pose like her Meowscarada would. "Indeedee, use Psychic Noise!"

Indeedee sent out a special series of blue waves at Okidogi. The move impacted the giant neon dog so much that he was stunned into place for a few seconds…followed by several strange black points of light falling from the air around him. Kieran was both impressed and confused by this display.

"Psychic Noise? What kind of move is that?"

"It's a move they teach right here at Blueberry!"

"Oh…"

"I don't know if that Okidogi of yours is packing Drain Punch, but if it is well… he won't be able to use it for a little while now! Indeedee used its power to negate all your healing moves."

"…Wowzers. Guess I shouldn't have been braggin' so much about healing moves after all. But… my loyal new pal is more than just a poison and fighting machine! He's got teeth too! Okey-dokey Okidogi, bite that Indeedee with a really strong Crunch!" Kieran even mimed his fingers clamping down on each other to accentuate.

Okdiogi got on all fours and rushed forward towards Indeedee, startling the Pokémon greatly. Juliana was startled too, but in the spur of the moment, she drew a reflex.

"Indeedee, quick—let's Terastallize!"

"Dee-dee!"

Juliana drew out her Tera Orb. It rumbled and pulsed with the energy lent from the Terrarium Core above, and she cast it over Indeedee.

TERA-PA-GOOS!

Even as Indeedee became surrounded by crystals, Okidogi didn't halt his charge, determined to crunch Indeedee even through those crystals if he had to. They broke apart just as the Loyal One licked his teeth in preparation, and he bit down…

Just barely too late to see the giant pink heart Tera Jewel above Indeedee's head now.

"Aww man, that bites…" Kieran muttered.

Fully Terastallized into the Fairy Type, Indeedee shrugged off the intimidating jaw lock and pushed Okidogi away, rattling the great Pokémon's brain immensely.

"Grrrr-iffi…"

"Looks like Okidogi only got a little chunk thanks to our quick thinking!" Juliana celebrated. "And we've got a healing move too, so let's steal it right back! Indeed, Indeedee!" She stopped to giggle for a second. "Use Draining Kiss to steal Okidogi's heart—and its life force!"

Indeedee bound into the air. Okidogi saw the gray bullet approaching, and attempted to get up off the ground in a panic. "Riff! GRIFF!" But the humbly smiling maid was faster, and the giant dog screeched in horror as she planted a big, fat kiss on one of his puffy cheeks, draining health from Okidogi with her Fairy Tera-boosted powers.

"Well that's—a different way of getting health back than a punch, I s'pose," said Kieran, who wasn't sure whether to look in awe or… cringe.

Once Indeedee's lips parted and she went back into position, Okidogi found the anger to stand all the way up. He pounded its fists together, ready for revenge—and Kieran took the cue.

"You're really worked up after a weird attack like that, right? Since Indeedee's a Fairy now, that means we can be much more toxic! Use POISON JAB!"

The dog Pokémon growled vigorously, clearly excited at the chance to use one of his venomous moves for a change. With a twirl of his former leash, Okidogi concentrated potent amounts of venom into his arms and rushed at Indeedee with a poison-packed jab, which greatly rocked the emotive Pokémon.

Juliana however wasn't fazed at all.

"That's alright… After a super-super-effective Psychic Noise and that first kiss, I bet that big doggy's toast! Indeedee, one more Draining Kiss for the road!"

"GRRR-IFF!?" Okidogi exclaimed.

"Why are you torturing my Pokémon like this?" Kieran laughed.

Okidogi got on all fours and sprinted away in terror, not wanting to relive Indeedee's KISS of DEATH again. But Indeedee was bound—literally bounding—and determined, with a serene smile on her face. She didn't even know the meaning of the term "incomplete task", and she wasn't about to start learning today!

After all, such an awful display of basic manners from this mutt begot severe punishment. "INDEEEEE!"

Okidogi made it all the way to the edge of the plateau they were on, with nothing but foggy canyons down below. He looked all around him in desperation, hoping for any form of escape from this lovely nightmare.

But there was no escape.

Indeedee caught up to the foul mutt, and planted a big one right on top of his forehead.

"RRRRRIFFFFFICCC!" Okidogi cried out.

It was a soft, gentle kiss from her lips—and somehow, that just made it all the scarier to think that Indeedee was using it to drain the terrified beast's life force.

Especially once she parted—and Okidogi fell to the ground, fainted.

"Indee? Mmm…" The maid Pokémon noticed the Loyal beast's unconscious body and cupped her hands together with her eyes closed, like someone politely mourning a dead soul. "Dee-dee…"

"Wowzers… that Indeedee thing of yours is real cute Juliana, but why is it almost kinda scary because of how cute it is?"

Juliana giggled. "Just like me!" she beamed, pointing her fingers to her cheeks.

"Yeah, actually…" he giggled back. "No wonder it's on your team. And me, I'm down to my last two Pokémon here."

"Feel free to admit defeat now to save yourself the embarrassment!" she sassed. Then, her face became self-conscious as she asked, "…Was that too mean?"

"No Juliana! That was really funny to hear you say that!" It's also the exact kind of thing Sis would say… "I'm still having a total blast! Especially now, cause I get to use my favorite partner again! Go… FURRET!"

Furret popped out of Kieran's Poké Ball and spun around repeatedly in excitement. Then the little brown rodent saw Juliana and smiled bigly.

Juliana knelt down and giggled. "Hi, Furret! I haven't seen you at all since Kitakami! You're still such a cutie-patootie!"

Her Indeedee folded her arms and smiled playfully at Furret, who greeted the polite Pokémon back with a happy cry.

She playfully pouted up at Kieran and said, "I didn't get to see you in the Championship because your Trainer was being a big meanie."

"Ehh!?" Kieran sweat a little. "Come on, man! I already apologized to Furret and everything! Furret's my favorite buddy, and I'm never gonna abandon it again!"

"That's great news for Furret! But… after it's been that long, is it really ready to enter a tough battle again?"

"Furr?" Furret's ears perked up, and upon hearing Juliana's doubt, balled up its fists and mimed a series of rapid punches with a determined face to prove to her that it was more than ready. "Furr! Furr! FURRET!"

Kieran laughed. "Does that answer your question? Furret's a lot stronger now than before! And it's packed with so many cool moves! You'll never see 'em coming! Like this one! Furret, use Amnesia."

"Furr…?"

Juliana watched inquisitively. She was never really… sure how Amnesia is supposed to work. Furret closed its eyes thoughtfully, and—hummed for several seconds, with a paw to its chin. Then, with a look of excitement, it opened up its eyes and looked jovial for some reason.

She didn't really understand what happened—whether or not Furret actually purged some of its memories somehow—but apparently, the move works in raising a Pokémon's defenses, so… don't question what works, right?

"Right…" she said, still a little confused. "Well Indeedee, let's make sure none of those cool moves are healing ones. Use Psychic Noise again!"

Indeedee channeled power into its horns again, ready to send out more blue waves—

"Furret, SUCKER PUNCH!"

"Huh!?"

Before Indeedee had even finished its move, Furret shot up in front of her in the blink of an eye and delivered a dark socking punch right to her abdomen. Even though it didn't do much damage thanks to Indeedee's Terastallization, it was still a blow that threw Indeedee off-balance, much to her disconcertion.

"Indee! INDEE!" she harumphed angrily. She finished her Psychic Noise attack, and launched it at Furret now with extreme prejudice. Manners be damned!

"Looks like Furret can't heal either!"

"That's fine!" said a completely self-assured Kieran. "Cause we were planning to do this anyway!"

"Do what?"

He cocked a smile and… got another Poké Ball ready? "Furret, it's time… to Baton Pass!"

Furret did a little sparkling dance in front of its bemused opponents, ending with a golden shimmer… before retreating into its Poké Ball on its own.

"Huh…" Juliana uttered, remembering how irritated Carmine got at her for using recall moves in their first battle. "So that's how it feels…"

Another wicked smile crossed Kieran's lips. "Time to turn the tables!"

Juliana's eyes widened when she finally got a look at the other Ball in Kieran's hands—a Dusk Ball.

"Wait, that's…!"

-POP-

"Pecchaaaaaa!" cried the pink teardrop-shaped creature.

"Shit. It's Pecharunt," Juliana said scornfully. "I forgot to account for that thing showing up."

"Dee-dee?" Indeedee tilted her head, wondering why her partner was being so reticent around this strange new Pokémon.

"I sure hope you've tamed Pecharunt enough that bringing it out isn't going to cause another mochi-pocalypse to start happening," she warned Kieran.

"Don't worry, Juliana! Pecharunt's all nice now! I taught it not to make friends that way anymore!"

"Brrrrb-brrrrb!" Pecharunt bristled as it opened its shell and shook its wisp like body about. It was ostensibly a happy gesture, but Juliana still reflexively flinched. Yellow sparkles surrounded Pecharunt as it received blessings from Furret's departure, granting it all the same stat boosts.

For as much as she was trying to give Pecharunt the benefit of the doubt—because Kieran was her friend and insisted she give it a second chance—the fact remained that this mischievous purple runt had violated Juliana's mind too many times before and she wasn't so easy to forgive.

"Focus, Juliana! We're all friends now and we're having a fun battle!" Kieran implored her. Juliana took a sigh. Of course, she had forgotten—Kieran had been a victim to Pecharunt's mental machinations too, but he was taking it much more stridingly.

"Use—umm… it's called the—the Malee-jant… Malee-jing... Ugggh! That move you do with your purple vine-y things! You know what I mean!"

Pecharunt did understand his Trainer's cue. The holes in its shell grew purple as long chains sprung up from them, and Pecharunt wasted no time in fashioning them like a whip.

Juliana sucked in air and held her hands tightly, the sight of those purple chains bringing back… unpleasant memories of being wrapped around her wrists.

"Peeeeeeechaaaa!"

"Brace yourself, Indeedee," Juliana gulped.

"Deee?" Indeedee took the best defensive stance she could muster, but inside she was feeling just as petrified as her Trainer.

"…RUUUUUNT!"

The Emotion Pokémon found herself wrapped tightly in Pecharunt's cords, crying in distress as the Malignant Chain did extra damage to her thanks to her Fairy Tera Jewel making the attack super-effective.

Indeedee was very much not used to being affected so strongly by a Poison-type move, and with one as powerful as Pecharunt's ensnaring her, whatever battle was left in her quickly turned forfeit.

The Fairy Tera Jewel shattered into pieces, and Indeedee fell forward as Juliana recalled her.

"Thank you, Indeedee. That was a marvelous, marvelous battle!" Juliana smiled. But then she sighed. "To think… I'm actually down to my last Pokémon now."

"Wow…" said Kieran. "You feeling nervous?"

"Hmph. You kidding?" She smirked. "It's not over until the very end! My battles with you, Carmine, and everyone else have taught me that!"

Juliana felt a burst of confidence now, even while staring down the last Ball in her rotation. "Hyaaaah!" She threw the Timer Ball with all her might. "Go, URSALUNA!"

-POP-

"WAAAA-GRAAAAAHHHHHH!" the mighty Ursaluna roared triumphantly into battle.

"W-wowzers…" Kieran recoiled. "I guess it makes sense why you're so confident if the Bloodmoon Beast is your last Pokémon! I forgot you had that!"

The ancient Pokémon towered over Pecharunt, who to Ursaluna just looked like a tiny, squashable grape.

"Pehhhhh…"

"Growwwl…"

The runt began quivering in fear upon hearing Ursaluna's growls, which Juliana noticed.

Pecharunt was apparently sleeping in front of that store for over a thousand years after the fight with Ogerpon. And from what Perrin told me, the legends said the Bloodmoon Beast came to Kitakami from a distant land SEVERAL thousands years ago. I wonder if Pecharunt ever heard Ursaluna roaring on a foggy night while it was asleep.

Indeed, as Pecharunt looked up at the lumbering beast who stared down at it with his one visible eye, the Pokémon found itself quivering, as if recognizing that even by its own age this huge bear was its long-bred senior.

Kieran hated to admit that he was trembling too. He thought Ursaluna looked mega cool when Juliana brought it out to fight her possessed friend Nemona's huge snail Pokémon. But that was just it—he was watching Ursaluna fight someone else.

Now I have to deal with it… The Bloodmoon Beast they used to scare us with to keep us from going out at night…

Then he spotted something nestled on Ursaluna's shoulder, amidst the fur and dried mud. Something pink and round.

"That's… that's a LIFE ORB!" he gasped.

"Ursaluna, let's not even waste our chance! Pecharunt's a super-powerful Pokémon! That's why we gotta get right out of the gate with your best and coolest move!"

The beast growled in understanding.

"That's right… use BLOOD MOON," Juliana with an extremely jubilant grin.

"Blood Moon… That's—that's the sickest name for a move ever!"

Ursaluna began channeling a bunch of power into the glowing red moon symbol over its forehead. Standing up on its mud-caked hind legs, the hunchbacked bear began to growl ominously. Kieran and Pecharunt both watched in astonishment as the whole sky seemed to become cloudy above them.

"Is—is this the Terrarium's new weather tech or… or what?" Kieran trembled.

From the strange dark clouds emerged what looked like a huge red moon!

"Wowwwwzers!" Kieran exclaimed. His whole face was lit up red.

The moon glowed and pulsed above Ursaluna's head… before suddenly firing down a HUGE red beam over the unsuspecting Pecharunt!

"CHAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Geez!" Kieran was hunched over his knees now. "Isn't that overkill!?"

"Maybe," Juliana casually shrugged. "But… I guess that's why it's like Tinkaton's move where Ursaluna can't really use it twice."

Once the attack was finished and the clouds parted again, Ursaluna winced as it took slight damage from the Life Orb. A little pain taken for a lot of pain given back.

"Wait a minute…" Kieran's eyes grew really wide with realization. "What… type is that move!?"

She knew why he was asking. The Paldean girl cocked her head with a smile. "Normal-type!"

"Bu—but…" Kieran shakily pointed a finger at his poor, battered Mythical Pokémon. "Pecharunt… P-Pecharunt's a Ghost! So—how can…!"

Juliana took a wide stance… and pointed at her forehead with both her fingers.

"It's the Miiiind's Eye."

"What?"

"Ursaluna's special ability. Perrin helped me figure it out. That big moon on his forehead gives him a special power: his Normal moves can hit Ghost-type Pokémon!"

"That's—INCREDIBLE!" Kieran's eyes bugged out. "Man, ever since I met you Juliana, I keep on meeting the coolest Pokémon EVER!"

"That's why you gotta stick with me until the end of time, Kiki!" said Juliana, pointing to herself boastfully. "I'll show you ALL the awesome Pokémon I catch, and totally help you find even more for yourself!"

"Yeah! Definitely! But first… I gotta CRUSH you!" Kieran declared, emoting with his outstretched hand.

"Oh-ho-ho, really?" Juliana couldn't help from giggling.

"You can laugh now, but this time Pecharunt's gonna be the one to make you stop laughing! Pecharunt, again! Use the uhh— the Malie-Giant Chain again!"

"Payyyyy-chaaaaaaa-roon!"

Pecharunt geared up its ropes again, and made the Malignant Chain grow long enough to wrap itself around the huge Ursaluna, and he cried out in distress as the chain banded around them.

"Wa-graaaaah!"

Then the chains burst again, bursting with poisonous fluid around Ursaluna, but the bear stood firm, having barely felt much pain from the toxic ropes.

"Well, that didn't do as much as I thought…" said a disappointed Kieran. He put his fist to his noggin. "Don't tell me… all that mud around it. That thing's not a Ground type!?"

The bear roared, believing it had triumphed against Pecharunt's ensnare… only to wince immediately.

"GRRUH!"

The venom had seeped in even beneath the hardened mud, and Ursaluna found itself afflicted with poison. In a flash, its whole vision suddenly became blurred, and Pecharunt's poison seeped into Ursaluna's brain itself, completely disorienting it.

"Wraahhh… Grrruh… Raaaaagh?"

"Ursaluna?" Juliana said with huge concern. "What's—what's happening? Why do you look like you're becoming all confused just like—like-!"

Like every time one of us tasted Pecharunt's tainted mochi!

"Hee-hee-hee! Pecharunt's got a really cool ability too, Juliana! Even without those scary mochi treats, its poison is still really dangerous! Any Pokémon that gets poisoned by Pecharunt will get all confused and hurt itself!"

"That's… insane. You're insane, Kieran."

Kieran just laughed boisterously in response, throwing his head back. It was a lot like the very sardonic behavior he used to exhibit under the Mythical Pecha Berry's influence, except now it looked like he was genuinely enjoying himself and having fun here.

Juliana felt both exhilarated and… a little rattled. It's like I've completely swapped places with Kieran from how I first met him. Now he's the confident Trainer and I'm the one getting all nervous!

She gritted her teeth. "Ursaluna… don't let yourself be bullied by that Pecharunt! I believe in you! You gotta use Earth Power!"

Ursaluna tried to overcome its own addled mind to follow Juliana's commands. But the pain and confusion swirling around in its mind was too much to handle, and instead the Bloodmoon Beast ended up swinging out its paw—and hurting itself in the face.

"Ouch! Finally, someone other than me gets bad luck for once! But thanks for letting me know you were gonna use Earth Power! Better make sure we put a stop to that!" Kieran said, reaching into his pocket.

"Wait… you're gonna—!"

Kieran brought out his own Tera Orb and took in a deep breath, smiling down upon it.

"These feelings never change... And I'll put them all into Terastallizing right here, right now!"

"…Drat."

Kieran held the Tera Orb up high. All the Terastal energy surrounding him and Juliana gathered inside Professor Sada's wonderous orb, and Kieran tossed it over Pecharunt.

The purple creature was encased in crystals, before bursting out of them with ravenous glee. A tall, violet Tera Jewel in the shape of a ghostly apparition adorned the wispy Pokémon now.

"Peeeeeee-chaaaaa!" Pecharunt declared proudly.

Juliana wondered if, after having watched Ogerpon and her Terapagos use Terastallization to defeat it back at Loyalty Plaza, Pecharunt was expressing excitement to be able to use that power too.

"No more Ground weakness for us! Now, Pecharunt! Use Venoshock!"

"PIHH-CHAA!" In a quick spurt, Pecharunt fired poisonous plasma at the intoxicated Ursaluna. Because of the toxins already coursing through the Peat Pokémon's veins, Venoshock did double the amount of damage.

"Grrrraaaaagh!"

Ursaluna was hitting his limits thanks to all Pecharunt's bag of tricks. The lumbering bear could barely even stand on his own legs, laying one front paw on the ground in a ragged attempt to keep himself steady.

"Ursaluna, hurry!" Juliana rushed in front of her poor, confused Pokémon and held her Persim Berry up to its mouth. "Eat this Berry!"

The Bloodmoon Beast chomped and gnashed on the pink berry with his sharp teeth, his one eye strained closed from all the pain…

Then the red eye flashed open again. And Ursaluna growled indignantly, the Persim Berry curing his confusion as he stood upright again, casting a ginormous shadow over his purple tormentor.

"P-peh…?" the runt uttered nervously.

The glare Ursaluna cast down on Pecharunt was intense. What started as friendly sparring was now a personal vendetta for the ancient behemoth, and any sense of the word "mercy" had gone out the window.

"Grrrrrrrrahh…"

"Well, Ursaluna… there's only move that makes sense to use now. It's time… for some Payback!"

"PEHH-EHH!"

"WA-GRRRAAAAHHHHHHH!"

-BOOM-

---

"Well…" Kieran's hand thumped hard against his hip. "I dunno if you forgot Juliana… but I still got one left."

"I know. Furret, right? So let's finish this!"

Kieran sent out his final Pokémon once again. Furret brushed its ears as it entered battle, and then stared up… really stared up, at its new opponent.

"Furret?"

Ursaluna's head lowered. "Grrowl."

But both Kieran and Furret were determined. "Your Bloodmoon Beast's been taking a lot of hits… and Furret's a lot tougher than it looks! So this isn't over by a long shot!"

Juliana smiled at him. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Kieran."

"I'm gonna go all out with this! Let's show 'em what we can do together, Furret!"

---

The rest of the battle was long-fraught. Furret proved a surprisingly tough fighter for Ursaluna to take down, peppering it with attacks and blinding speed much like Yanmega.

This battle had been a very eye-opening glimpse for Juliana into the kinds of patterns and strategies Kieran liked now. As a vengeful Champion, he liked going all-out with brutal attacks. Now, he was all about employing speed, trickery, and traps. She really enjoyed this much more tactical version of Kieran over the other one.

But eventually, Ursaluna pulled through for Juliana, and with one final use of Earth Power, Furret was defeated. Kieran was forced to recall his favorite partner and concede the battle.

"Well that's it…" his head slumped down. "Guess I lost."

Juliana recalled Ursaluna. She should be happy that she won… but inside, she could feel her gut dropping. It wasn't that she had wanted to throw the match for Kieran, but—she knew how seriously he'd taken not being able to beat her in a battle back in Kitakami. And with his face being as still as it was… she had no way of knowing how he felt right now.

For all she knew, he was going to snap right back to becoming bitter and resentful against her again. Juliana didn't think she'd be able to handle going through all that again.

"K-Kieran…?" She very cautiously walked over to him, holding her hand out. She was fighting back tears, desperately hoping history wasn't about to repeat itself. "That was… a good battle, right?"

No response.

Her hands were balled up and shaking. "We both had fun… right?"

…

Kieran raised his head and sighed.

"…That was awesome!" he said, his face all lit up. "Thanks for the really hype battle, Juliana!"

"AHHHH!" A scream born more out of catharsis than frustration, Juliana shoved him lightly. "Don't do that to me!"

"Do what? Umm… sorry if you were worried about me. I mean, I had to take a second to be sad that I lost n' all…"

Juliana wiped her tears. "But, you're… really not upset? That I beat you again?"

"Are you kidding, Juliana? That was a great battle! Didn't you see how cool both of our Pokémon are? That's a battle I'm gonna remember for the rest of my life!"

Kieran flashed a bright, toothy grin at her, and Juliana felt herself overcome with relief to hear that he was still so happy and optimistic even after a loss.

"Besides, didn't you see how close I got to beating you? That just means that next time we battle, I'll win for sure!"

Juliana finally found the joy to laugh again. "I guess I'll have to train harder then to make sure that doesn't happen!"

"See, this is exactly why I look up to you, Juliana. You sure are strong!" Kieran laughed in return. "So I'll have to keep on getting stronger too!"

"Yeah! From now on, we'll keep on getting stronger together!" Juliana pumped her fist out.

"Oh? Heh-heh!" Kieran gave Juliana fist bump based on how he interpreted her gesture, which made her chuckle.

Guess I'm really turning into both Carmine AND Nemona now.

Then Kieran's gaze turned a bit downward.

"You were right all along, Juliana. The way I was takin' battles so seriously, feeling like a failure every time I lost… it wasn't healthy at all. Battling's just supposed to be about fun, and I forgot all that. I'm sorry it took me so long to remember that…"

"It's alright, Kieran."

Kieran stood with his hands on his hips for a second, and took a deep breath as he gazed up at the glimmering rainbow colors of the Terrarium Core hanging above them.

"Y'know, there's something I've been thinking about for a while and... after today, I think I've made up my mind."

"Made up your mind on what?" Juliana looked at him curiously while she bent down to pick her bag back up.

"Well, I guess none of them have told you yet…" Kieran's hand started rocking again as he worked up the nerve to confess this. "I—I asked the BB League to drop me."

"Wait, what!?" Juliana dropped her bag on the ground again and looked at him in shock. "Why'd you do that!? Did you get sick of it? The members aren't still giving you a hard time, are they? I'm the President of the club, Kieran! I can put a stop to all that!"

"Oh, no, no! It's not cause of you—or anyone else in the club. It was a decision I made on my own. I just wanted to become as strong as you so badly... It was all I cared about. Y'see, I've been thinking a lot about what I really want to do now. I really liked helpin' both you and my Sis feel better, and… now that I remember about how battling's supposed to be fun, I want to do something with that. I—I think I want to start my own club."

"Your own club?" Juliana's eyes lit up in surprise. "Wow, that's—that's really cool, Kieran! What kind of club is it going to be?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I haven't got it all figured out yet, but it's going to be a fun club. I've heard about this thing called the Pokémon Fan Club they have in some regions, and it inspired me a lot! I want it to be like that… a club where you can just be around friends and Pokémon and not get so caught up in competing."

"Wowww…" said Juliana, borrowing her friend's catchphrase.

"Hee-hee-hee! Right?"

"Kieran, I'm—I'm so proud of you. That's such a wonderful idea for a club!"

"Yeah. I know I've still got plenty of amending to do for my past actions…" He sighed. "Maybe this is how I get in everyone's good graces again, and make even more cool friends who… like me for who I am."

"Hey…" Juliana held her hand out. "You let me know if you manage to get that club off the ground, and I'll be the first one to sign up!"

"Ha-ha, of course!" Kieran answered, shaking her hand. "I was probably gonna ask you anyway."

"Really?"

"Duh! The President of the BB League being in my club? Imagine how many people would want to sign up just for that!"

Juliana huffed. "Well, I'd be way more than just an idol for the club I hope!"

They both laughed uproariously. Both of them thought privately about just how—good it felt to laugh like this together.

"I mean it though," said Juliana. "It makes me so proud to see how far you've come since I first met you, Kiki. You're definitely not that scruffy little dude who hides behind his sister anymore. You really proved to everyone just how much you've grown up, and I'm really honored to be your friend."

"Thanks, Juliana! I'm really honored to be your friend too! But umm… huh."

"What's that?"

"I don't know, it's just—why are you calling me Kiki all of a sudden?"

"H-huh?" Juliana's eyes widened in alarm. "I'm not—I'm not doing that! Am I?"

"Yeah!" he chuckled. "You called me Kiki a bunch while we were battling too!"

"I WAS!?"

"The first time I thought I was just hearing things. But nope!"

"I—I—I…" Juliana's face flushed extremely red, and she started covering it with her hair in embarrassment. "Oh my gosh! Kiki—I mean, KIERAN! AHHHH! I'm so sorry!" she sputtered, completely mortified. "I know that's Carmine's special name for you! I'm not trying to steal it or make you feel like a baby, I promise—"

"Woah! Hey! Juliana, hey!" Kieran tried to calm her down. "It's okay! Seriously! You can call me Kiki if you want! I really don't mind it. It's just… weird to hear you say it, is all. But you've been dating my Sis for so long now, I—I guess I shouldn't be too shocked she's rubbin' off on you like that."

Juliana let her arms hang down like noodles as she tried to recover from the massive embarrassment she was feeling. She never imagined that she would start subconsciously copying Carmine's pet name for her brother.

What else am I picking up from Carmine? Hopefully only the good parts… Why can't I start copying her height instead? Or her chest?

"It's kinda funny… I hope this doesn't sound too weird, but in some ways you—actually kind of do feel like another sister to me now, Juliana."

Juliana's eyes glistened. "Really? I—Awww!"

"Yeah. So uhh, when you talked about worming your way into our family and being like a sister, I guess you achieved that goal after all."

"Yaaaay!" she squeed. She picked Kieran up and hugged him so tightly his feet went off the ground. "My sweet, adorable surrogate brother!"

"Agh!" he groaned. "You're already hurting me as much as my actual Sis…"

---

After their fun battle on the clifftops, Juliana and Kieran headed to the ground level of the Canyon Biome, where they found a nice green clearing by a river and decided to set up their picnic there. With the huge space surrounding them, both Trainers decided to let out all their Pokémon to enjoy the nice, misty atmosphere.

Tinkaton, Furret, and Iron Bundle held a marathon to determine who was the fastest among them, while Ursaluna decided to take a huge nap below some trees, with Gliscor sleeping on a branch above him.

Araquanid and Poliwrath played in the water, and Dragonite, Yanmega, and Kilowattrel all flew circles in the air above everyone. Palafin played the face to Incineroar's heel in an amateur wrestling match, with Mienshao as the ref.

Meowscarada was putting on a dazzling magic show for Politoed, Porygon-Z, and Wooper. With Munkidori acting as the magician's assistant, and Chi-Yu doing fire tricks for flair.

Koraidon and Miraidon were engaging in friendly competition, running around and lightly pouncing each other like big cats at play. Hydrapple was standing near Kieran, excited to watch the action happening on the picnic table.

"Hydroooo!"

Terapagos sat on Juliana's shoulder as always, chirping with excitement as Juliana dutifully added her share of ingredients to the large sandwich. Ogerpon sat on one of the chairs behind her, being of two emotions. One minute, she would be kicking her feet equally excited for the sandwich being made.

But then, she would also look extremely grumpy to be in the presence of Pecharunt, watching with a sour glare as the purple runt floated around Kieran, dropping in ingredients at the boy's request and trying to make suggestions of its own.

Kieran only had to turn down Pecharunt from offering its purple mochi pellets to the mix once, which he considered to be progress.

"This is looking really good, Kieran!" Juliana complimented, slotting in some banana slices.

"Tera-paah!" Terapagos agreed.

Her nose twitched a bit as her face got close to the loaf with the condiments drizzled. "I still don't know how to feel about putting mayonnaise and yogurt together, but… willing to try anything, I guess."

"I know it sounds gross, but trust me when I say they're actually a lot better together in a sandwich than you think!" said Kieran. "I guess just don't think about it too much while you're eating!"

Juliana just shrugged, and decided to trust her friend's taste buds, as she added her last ingredient, several cut slices of kiwi to the sandwich.

"Cha-cha-cha-cha!" Pecharunt laughed in delight. Juliana noticed that the little creature's laugh today seemed much different from its usual blubbering noises, which she had always assumed to be Pecharunt laughing.

"And now goes the ham!" Kieran said excitedly. "You're a great stacker by the way, Juliana!"

"Thanks, Kieran. Guess I finally got my skills back."

Kieran and Juliana worked together to lift the heavy top bun and place it neatly over the sandwich without spilling any ingredients.

"Yay, we did it!" Kieran clapped. "Without spilling a single thing! Now we just got to put on the right kind of pick."

"Oh!" Juliana realized, digging into her bag. "How about these?"

She fished out several red-colored sandwich picks, each one with a stylized picture of a Magmortar on them.

"Ooooh! Those are Crispin's special picks!"

"Yeah! He gave me a whole bunch of them for free! He even made a special one just for me after our trade the other day!"

She showed off the one unique pick in the pile, which was slightly more magenta in color and depicted a shiny Magmortar instead, just like the one Juliana traded Crispin.

"Wow, cool!"

"Yeah, although…" Juliana gained an odd look and went digging in the bag again. "He asked me a very strange favor in exchange for them."

"Uh-oh," he giggled. "Did Crispin want you to make another sandwich for him?"

"No… that would've made sense."

She pulled out a bottle of Master Heatran's Liquid Magma.

"He told me to… look for this bottle of hot sauce in Carmine's room, take it when she wasn't looking, and then—bury it in the dirt somewhere."

"Uhhhh… that is weird," Kieran scratched his head. "Why would he not want my Sis to have that hot sauce? It looks pretty strong. You'd think Crispin would want a really strong hot sauce like that."

She shrugged. "Beats me."

Meanwhile, Pecharunt gazed down at a jar of strawberries by Juliana's side. The red, juicy shape of the strawberries reminded the creature of its favorite Pecha Berry.

"Ponnn…"

"Cha?"

Pecahrunt glanced over to see Ogerpon sitting nearby—her mouth seemed to be watering at the sight of the strawberries, wanting to take a bite.

"Chaaar…"

Kieran and Juliana watched as Pecharunt scooped several strawberries up off the jar and floated straight over to Ogerpon with them.

"Pecha!"

"…Poni?"

"Pecharunt's… offering strawberries to Ogerpon?" Juliana observed.

"Huh. Maybe it's trying to make a peace offering."

But Ogerpon's grumpy face suggested the offer was off the table. "Grrr…" Then she fished out her ivy cudgel, and smashed them right out of Pecharunt's nubby hands, startling the wisp a great deal. She turned around and sat with her arms crossed and a heavy pout.

"It seems like Pecharunt really wants to let bygones be bygones. But… Ogerpon still holds a nasty grudge." Juliana looked worried. "Pecharunt was there when Ogerpon lost her old partner, right? Do you think… she still blames it for everything that happened?"

"Maybe…" Kieran sighed. "I want to find out the real truth of what someday. I don't know why, it's just—Pecharunt's done a lot of messed-up things. But it just doesn't strike me as a killer… Not even the Loyal Three do."

"You're right…" Juliana agreed. "Maybe some things will just forever remain a mystery."

---

Once the sandwich was completed, Juliana and Kieran split it in half. Of course, they also broke off small bites to share with their Pokémon. Miraidon slithered over to Juliana, smelling the familiar scent of a delicious sandwich, and began to beg. "Agias?"

Juliana giggled. She was well used to Miraidon's cravings by now and pulled out a sandwich she had pre-prepared specifically for the lovable Iron Serpent. She tossed it to Miraidon, who caught it with its mouth and munched happily.

Juliana took a bite of her sandwich too. The taste certainly was… unexpected.

"Uhh, Juliana?"

Juliana looked over and saw that Kieran's Koraidon was getting right up in his face, sticking his mouth out far to try to bite at the sandwich in Kieran's hands.

"Grrrowl?"

"Seems like Koraidon here uhh, loves sandwiches just as much as your Miraidon does! What do—what do I do here?"

"Oh!" Juliana walked over and held out her half of the sandwich. "Here, Koraidon. You can have mine."

"What? But Juliana, that's yours! We made it special just for ourselves!"

"I know but… your Pokémon's hungry. I've given up my sandwiches for Miraidon before!" And Arven got just as mad at me for it, she giggled to herself. "It's seriously okay. I'll just make another one for myself later."

"Okay… as long as you're sure."

"Mm-hm. Eat up, Koraidon!"

She tossed the sandwich to Koraidon just the same as she did with Miraidon, and the Winged King jumped up to catch it, chomping down on it with what looked like a pleased smile.

"Looks like everyone really likes our sandwich!" said Kieran, looking out at all his and Juliana's Pokémon having eaten their bites contently. "We make a pretty good team, Juliana!"

"We sure do, Kiki," Juliana smiled. "And we make great rivals too! Now that we've crossed all those bridges."

"Yeah…" Kieran glanced downward for a second though, and started thinking about something. "Hey, umm, can I ask you a question?"

"…Sure." Juliana's smile faded, she could sense the seriousness in her tone.

"After you won that battle, were you umm—were you acting like that cause you were worried I was gonna hate you again?"

…

Juliana looked down now, feeling ashamed. "Y-yeah… I'm sorry. I know that's not a good look. It doesn't mean I was holding back or anything! Just—you know…" She started rubbing her arm. "I really like being friends with you, Kieran. I didn't want that to change again."

Kieran nodded.

"I get it… I could never hate you, Juliana. Not anymore. All those nasty thoughts I had before—they're all gone now. But, see, the thing is…"

He looked at her earnestly with his yellow eyes. Juliana noticed for the first time that they really were almost identical to Carmine's. Now that Kieran was more relaxed, they even glowed with a similar warmness.

"When we were battling back there—I was thinkin' something similar."

"What do you mean?"

Kieran put his fist to his chest, and he was looking a little guilty too.

"When it all got down to our last Pokémon and all, I started getting in my head, and worrying that—that if you beat me, that you would think I'm weak again and not want to be my friend anymore."

"K-Kieran…" Juliana looked back at him with glistening eyes. "Never! I would never think that! The whole time we battled, I was feeling so proud of you…"

"I know, I know," he said, smiling at his own foolishness. "It was silly. We were both being really silly."

"Yeah…"

Kieran let out a sigh and tried to give Juliana a much more confident look.

"That's why I think—from now on, in order to stay really good friends and really great rivals… How about you and I just forget all that stuff that happened before?"

"You mean…?"

"Yeah. Any lies that we told, any nasty things we said to each other… All those things we were worrying about before. Let's just chuck it in that river right there. No more secrets, or worrying about each other, from now on we just focus on all the good stuff!"

"You know, Kieran… You're really, really smart," said an impressed Juliana. "Like, way more than anyone's ever given you credit for—probably even Carmine."

"Hee-hee! I know!" Kieran beamed proudly. "So, you agree then?" He held out his pinky. "No more of that icky stuff from before?"

Juliana wanted to reciprocate that pinky. She really did. But she couldn't help but feel like there was still one thing stopping her. She looked around, wondering what it could be…

Then she spotted Kieran's Furret, in its own little world. Chasing its own tail.

Oh. Right.

"Umm, hey Kieran? Listen… Before I pinky promise you that, there is—one last secret I have to share with you."

"Oh?" Kieran was curious. "What is that?"

Juliana started rubbing the back of her head. It pained her greatly to have to finally admit to this, and she realized in that moment how long she'd been subconsciously carrying the burden of this guilt.

"It's about that day that you got hurt by Terapagos's attack."

"Oh, that? Juliana, I already told you, no hard feelings about tha—"

"No, no, no! Listen! It's not about that. It's about what happened afterwards."

"…?"

"You remember how Carmine told you that we fought over you in the hallway, and that she got so angry she ripped apart your Furret plushie?" She gulped really hard. "Well, you see, the truth about that is that—that—It was… I—I was the one who—"

Kieran put out his hand to stop her.

"It's okay… my Sis, she—she already told me the real truth."

"Really? She did?" Juliana was shocked. She had expected Carmine to willfully carry that rock for her forever. Maybe she decided the truth was better before I did. "And you're not mad at me?"

"Well, I am a little sad about that pillow… I really, really liked that pillow…" Kieran said. "But I know it was an accident and that you didn't mean to ruin it. So yeah, I'm not mad at you, Juliana. You probably felt really horrible over it on your own, right?"

"Well…" Juliana took a really, huge deep breath. "Here's something that even Carmine doesn't know about. When I went into your room—to, to get that pillow… You had that wall. Covered with pictures."

…

Kieran's face immediately sank. Juliana could tell he knew where this was going.

"Y-yeah… I saw all of it. It was a total fluke. I saw the picture of me with the Elite Four underneath, and I just got so curious and… and yeah."

…

He didn't say anything for a few seconds. But when he did, it came out really quiet and hoarse.

"I—I'm so sorry, Juliana. I never meant a single of any of that stuff I wrote… I was just so angry… I couldn't get those thoughts out of my head…"

"I know, Kieran. I know," she gently reassured him. "It did hurt my feelings a lot. I blamed myself for all of it and—and that was when I found the Pecha Berry in that box with your note. Just holding it started making me feel a lot better and I… I… I totally forgot about that wall. At least, until now."

Kieran shook his head and turned back to her. His face was rife with disbelief.

"I don't GET IT! If you saw all that stuff I wrote—how can you even stand me right now, Juliana!? You should want nothing to do with me! That stuff I wrote was AWFUL! I was awful! How can you even look me in the face and forgive me for writing that crap?"

"Because…" She searched for an answer. "You're… you're my friend, Kieran. That's why. Even when I thought you hated me—I was never going to give up on you. Just like Carmine. I'm with you… to the end of the line, Kieran."

"Juliana…"

Kieran wiped his eyes with his sleeve. Their eyes were both getting wet with tears.

"Alright, then… then that goes double for you! Okay? We're riding this friend train to the end of the world!"

"Deal!"

Then they pinky promised.

"Great! So no more secrets, right?"

"…"

Juliana debated whether she could come clean that the real reason she gave up her sandwich to Koraidon was because the mayonnaise-and-yogurt combo just didn't work out for her after all.

---

A little white later, after all the food was eaten and the picnic was done, Kieran was helping Juliana fold up the table and all the chairs when his phone began to ring. His Applin-patterned Rotom Phone flew out of his pocket and out in front of his face.

"Gah! I forgot the Rotom Phones can do that!" He read the caller ID. "Oh! It's my Grandpa! Umm, I should probably take this."

Juliana nodded. "Go ahead. I'll finish up here."

"Thanks!"

Kieran answered the phone and held it up to his ear.

"Hi, Grandpa!" … "Yup!" … "Yeah, I'm doing great! How are you and Grandma doing?" … "Hee-hee! Yeah, it feels weird for me too!" … "What's that?" … "Oh yeah?" … "Wait, really?"

Then Kieran glanced Juliana's way.

"That's funny, she's actually right here next to me!"

Juliana perked up. Hideko-san was asking about her?

"Hmm? Oh. Uhh, yeah. Sure! I'll ask her."

Kieran walked over to her.

"Hey Juliana, Grandpa says he'd like to talk to both of us. Would that be okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Put him on!"

Juliana started fixing her hair now that she was about to be on camera.

"How do I…?" She saw Kieran trying to figure out how to put the phone to video call.

"Oh, like this!" She pressed the buttons for him, and brought Hideko's face into view as the Rotom Phone flew up again and floated in front of both their faces.

"Ahh. Thanks! Hi, Grandpa! Can you hear us both?"

"Hello, Mr. Hideko-san!" Juliana bowed politely.

"Ahhh, hello Juliana! It's nice to see you again! How's life back at that Blueberry school?"

"Oh—it's going very well. Thank you for asking, sir!"

"Good, good. Carmine said something about you being the new leader of the club she and Kieran are in. Something like that must be keeping you very busy, I bet!"

"Heh-heh! It's a lot of hard work, but it sure is fun too!" Juliana was a little surprised Hideko was so curious about her life at school, asking her questions as if she was one of his grandkids. Does he already consider me part of the family too?

"That's great. I love seeing you young kids be active and take up strong roles while you're still so young. I think you're going to grow up to be force to be reckoned with, Juliana!"

"Awww… thank you, sir," Juliana blushed. "That's so sweet of you to say."

"I should still be the one thanking you for everything you've done to help everyone in Kitakami. Especially saving our dear Carmine, I…" His eyes squeezed shut for a second. Kieran was surprised, he didn't think he had ever seen his grandfather cry before. "…I'm sorry, I'm getting sidetracked. I'm glad you and Kieran are both in the same spot. These just arrived in the mail, and I was really hoping to get ahold of you too."

"Oh! That's right!" Juliana realized. "Did you get Mr. Hassel's old collection of journal pages? I was nervous whether I gave him the right address."

"Yes-siree, I did! Thank you so much for reaching out to me about them. They were just delivered this morning, so I've been giving them a good look-over and… your hunch was right."

Kieran's eyes lit up in amazement. "So… so those really are—"

"Yes! Long-lost pages from our ancestor's journal! The mask-maker! These are missing pieces from the stories my father used to tell me," Hideko explained. "You see, at some point while I was very young, our family was struggling financially. And my father—in an act of desperation—sold off some of our family treasures, including those journal pages!"

"I think Mr. Hassel told me he had won them in some sort of auction while he was a young man traveling through different lands," said Juliana. "That's some… really insane luck that he would go on to be one of my teachers while I became connected to you!"

"Yes, isn't it just? Fate is a funny thing sometimes," Hideko shook his head. "And speaking of fate, the pages that were lost and sold off are all very important. In fact, almost all of them relate to the missing pieces behind the story of Ogerpon—and how that Pecharunt thing fits into it all."

"Chii-ra?" Pecharunt perked up upon hearing its name and drifted over to the two students and their phone. Ogerpon, although still not willing to share oxygen with her old nemesis, also waddled her way over to listen.

"From what our ancestor describes in these letters, that dancing plague that happened a thousand years ago was real! By all appearances, it was in fact facilitated by Pecharunt. The creature came to the land at that time to claim a treasure—Ogerpon's masks."

Ogerpon made a loud grunt. Pecharunt looked over to find the ogre sneering at it, while holding her cloak with her masks underneath it tightly.

"He goes on to talk about witnessing the Loyal Three acting as trackers, retainers. Those purple bands around them were commanding chains—and their leader was… Pecharunt all along!"

Juliana and Kieran looked at each other and she said, "Yeah… we actually figured that one out on our own. I was thinking about how the Loyal Three must've had a leader…"

"…and I noticed that the chains around their necks looked exactly like the ones Pecharunt used," Kieran nodded. "So it's really true then… The legends, Pecharunt… All of it…" he started to mutter despondently.

"That would sure explain why, when you first told us about the legends of Ogerpon, you mentioned there being four Pokémon attacking her and not just three," Juliana remembered. "And Carmine thought she was correcting you."

"Juliana, by any chance…" Hideko flashed up a page to the screen showing a purple shape… with the signature "J" on it. "Does this look familiar to you?"

"That's—that's my drawing!" Juliana said with wide eyes. "Mr. Hassel put it in the package with everything else? …I was actually wondering what happened to it."

"I imagine he did so because it's identical to a drawing made on this very page," He flashed up one of the pages showing a purple triangular shape with nubs… exactly like Juliana's drawing.

"W-what…?"

"And now that I'm looking at him… it looks very similar to that creature of yours. When he's all folded up."

Pecharunt briefly retreated into its shell and made a noise.

"Hey, you're right!" said a wide-eyed Kieran.

Juliana tried to process the ramifications of this. "I had Pecharunt's voice in my head at the time… Did it… manipulate me into drawing that picture?"

"My ancestor's pages describe this shape as the mark of the 'entranced'. Those who danced endlessly and talked of nothing but mochi would often be found painting this shape onto walls of buildings, their clothes—even their own faces!"

Juliana turned around to face Pecharunt, who gave her a guilty look. She let air out of her nostrils; she was beginning to understand Ogerpon's reluctance to forgive this menacing thing.

"But if it really is all true… What was it all for? What did Pecharunt want the masks for that badly?" Kieran wondered.

…

"Its friends."

"Huh?" Kieran shot up. "What do you mean, Juliana?"

"When I could hear… its voice in my head…" Juliana grimaced for a second. "When I was having that dream. It mentioned something about having friends it wanted me to help."

She closed her eyes and began to remember Pecharunt's words clearly.

"I can finally make my friends happy again. Doesn't that sound great? They're two wonderful people, who just want to be happy… like you, and your friends."

"Two… wonderful friends."

"That's right…" Kieran remembered. "And Pecharunt looked so upset after we defeated it, and you had to tell it that it had woken up a thousand years in the future and that its friends were… were…"

"Piiiihhh…" Pecharunt's wisp sagged down, and the runt's body started lowering in the air as it made sounds of crushed despondence, which gave even Ogerpon pause.

"Yes, well… my ancestor's notes might have some information on that too. Apparently, he knew this kindly old couple who lived in Azalea Town, a place up in the nearby Johto region. A lovely pair of folks called the Imchi's. They were an extremely friendly and generous couple who unfortunately never managed to bear children of their own."

Hideko took a big, sad sigh as he read off his ancestor's worn-out diary pages.

"But apparently, one day, the couple found a strange Pokémon all alone and abandoned in the Ilex Forest, and took it in like their own son. The Pokémon made them very happy, and pampered them with gifts that they loved so much they took to… to dancing."

Kieran and Juliana both shared grim looks with each other at the implication, and looked back at Pecharunt, who was looking sadder and sadder as Hideko spoke of the Imchi couple.

"Eventually… it got to the point that none of their neighbors ever saw them leaving their house anymore. They could be heard laughing and moving about inside—but never showing their faces. Only the Pokémon would be spotted leaving the house for longer and longer bouts, each time bringing back increasingly lavish gifts…"

Juliana started to fill in the blanks. "And then one day, it must have ventured out to Kitakami… To look for the most lavish treasure of all."

"…But Pecharunt never came back." Kieran looked absolutely sullen. "Those old folks, they must've—must've died thinking Pecharunt had abandoned them."

"PAH-CHAAA!"

Pecharunt's outburst was loud, raising the heads of everyone including Hideko's on the cam. Tears started to form in its tiny white eyes, as it started to blubber.

"Brrb… Brrb-brrb…"

Then it finally broke out into a loud cry.

"BRRRRRB-BRRRB-BRRRRB-BRRRRRB!"

Juliana felt like tearing up too. This was the first time she had ever seen the little Pokémon… genuinely sad.

Those two people must've meant the world to Pecharunt… Just like Ogerpon's partner did to her.

Ogerpon for her part, tilted her head curiously. She had heard… Pecharunt making this exact sound somewhere before. A long time ago…

…Did she only mistake it for laughing at her?

Kieran shook his head indignantly, getting really worked up.

"It still doesn't make any sense! Cause—cause you're still saying that if Pecharunt led the charge to take the masks from Pecharunt—than… what happened to Ogerpon's old partner…"

He didn't even want to finish that sentence. Juliana put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"It can't have just been Pecharunt's fault…" She tried to sound reassuring. "The Loyal Three might've been there too when he fell off the cliff. We don't know who—or even if—any of them pushed him off."

"Hold on." Hideko's eyes seemed to light up on the screen. "Juliana… say that again? You say Ogerpon's partner fell from a cliff?"

"Ummm, well Carmine told me that when she took Ogerpon back to the Dreaded Den to make a shrine for her partner, that there was a piece of clothing with blood on it caught on a branch that was over the cliff into the waterfall, that Ogerpon treated as if it belonged to her partner. So she believed that… that's what must've happened to him."

"Huh…"

Hideko had a finger to his bearded white chin.

"Grandpa? What's up?"

"Let me just see here…" His head disappeared from frame, and they could hear him shuffling from papers. "Most of these are from our ancestor, but there's journals of other townsmen scattered in here with them, and… I could've sworn I read one of them, and it talked about someone falling from a cliff."

"P-pon…?" Now Ogerpon walked up close to the floating phone as her starry eyes brimmed with curiosity.

"Yes… YES!" Kieran's grandfather came back into frame holding an orange letter. "This was a letter written by a man who was hiking on Oni Mountain one night and saw something horrible unfold. I remember reading this one for a minute and thinking the Pokémon he described in this letter sounded an awful lot like Pecharunt and the Loyal Three…"

Ogerpon gasped.

"Hmmmm… Yes! If this letter is from the same time period as my ancestor's, then the man this hiker saw falling to his death—Yes! It MUST be!"

With an astonished expression, Ogerpon looked towards the crying Pecharunt once again, who shivered in despair as it began to recall the truth behind that terrible night…

---

"Hello up there!" The hiker tried calling out. "Are you okay? Do you need help?"

"The man was so high up on that lone cliff I doubt he was able to hear me calling. These odd Pokémon—I had never seen the likes of them before—seemed to be ambushing him. He was holding something in his possession away from the creatures. The rain was beating down so hard I couldn't make it out at all!"

The man trembled as he stood at the cliff's edge, clutching the three masks in his arms for dear life. Thunder crashed down and illuminated his rain-soaked face of desperation.

"S-stay back…!" he tried to caution his monstrous pursuers. "You will gain nothing from stealing these! They're—they're all my dear partner and I have!"

"Mmmkay…"

Munkidori huddled its two partners together and made sounds to communicate its plan to them. The Loyal Three nodded, turned back to the man, and they each made sudden motions to grab each mask from him!

"Grrrr-ific!" Okidogi swiped one with his hand.

"Yip-ip-ippy…" Fezandipiti latched one with his beak, nicking the man's arm in the process.

"MMMKAY!" Munkidori used his psychic powers to will the last one free.

"The man was so startled by whatever happened above… he quickly lost his balance!"

"Woaaaa-OOOAAAAHHHH!"

"Even the monsters looked surprised to see him fall!"

"GRR-IFF!?"

They all made noises of shock as the man went over the edge. The branch had snagged his long poncho, which ripped off as he lost his balance, clutching his bleeding arm.

Okidogi jumped over and tried to reach for him with his massive hand. Fezandipiti wanted to fly down, but the waterfall and the rain was making the air too dense for his wings. Munkidori tried using his psychic powers, but the man was too far out of range.

"There was nothing they could do… the man was falling to his death! Suddenly, in my own immediate vision, another strange Pokémon appeared right beside me! A little one, all purple and looking as if made of flame!"

"PECCHA!?" Pecharunt screamed, rushing up the mountain and witnessing the terrible sight.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!" the man screamed as his body plunged down the mountain.

"CHAA!"

"Then something unbelievable happened, my love! The tiny Pokémon flew straight up into action… and it caught the man by its own tiny little grasp!"

"Aaaahhh…" the man shuddered.

"Grrrrrrrrrr…" Pecharunt was holding the man by his fingers, trying with all its might to pull him up to safety. Its wings glowed a bright purple, trying to summon all the strength to lift him.

"But it was for naught… I could only watch in horror as the man's fingers slipped."

"Nehh… nehhhh… PECHAAAAA!"

"The Pokémon lost its grip."

-BOOM-

"The man lost his life."

Pecharunt could only look on in horrified despair to see the large man—a person who had never done it nor any of its unleashed Retainers any harm—dead at the bottom of the falls, his blood spreading on the hard rocks.

"Brrrb… Brrrb-brrrb…"

"The Pokémon seemed to cry. No doubt it was blaming itself…"

None of this was supposed to happen. Pecharunt and its retainers were just going to stay in Mossui Town and charm its inhabitants long enough for them to reveal the location of those beautiful masks the Imchi's so desired.

They were going to take the masks, head back to Johto… and the Imchi's would finally have everything they needed. They would be happy, and shower Pecharunt with love.

But it had all gone so wrong. The masks were guarded by a tiny yet fearsome Pokémon who had been resisting Pecharunt every step of the way. The Loyal Three were so fed up with the ogre's constant attacks against them that they had broken from Pecharunt's will and their chains! Even the runt didn't expect them to do that and start rushing up the cliffside to take the masks by force.

…And now someone had paid the price for it.

The Subjugation Pokémon could only watch in disbelief as the once-Loyal Three descended down the cliffs each holding a Mask in their possession, completely out of their master's control.

And then…

"PON!"

Pecharunt could hear a pained cry from up above. It quickly flew up to the very top of the cliff, to where the ogre's den was…

"Ponnn! PONNNN! Ponyooooooo…"

And by the time the runt floated up to the top, it saw… the ogre. Knelt down to her knees, her grassy cloak soaked and beaten down by the intense rain. Crying underneath the Teal Mask that she wore.

Pecharunt looked around: at the blood spots on the ground. The piece of cloth hanging from the branch. Horror drew upon its face as it finally connected the dots.

That man it just failed to save was the ogre's partner.

The ogre sharply stopped crying and stood up on guard as she finally noticed Pecharunt hovering above her. The purple wisp couldn't take the anguish. It burst out into tears.

"BRRRB-BRRRB-BRRRB! BRRRB-BRRRB-BRRRB!"

But the ogre's response was far from sympathetic.

"GRRRRRRR…!"

Pecharunt rubbed its teary eyes as it tried to regained its sight… only to see the ogre having jumped up to rush attack it!

She bound into the air, unsheathed her ivy cudgel, and laid a heavy beatdown onto Pecharunt. She crushed its shell, and slammed Pecharunt's flying form hard onto the ground. She drove her spikes into its tear-ridden face, showing zero mercy under that mask as Pecharunt felt itself losing blood.

Pecharunt had never been in so much pain. It could feel its consciousness waning, the parts of its shell involuntarily closing in on itself as its eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

The last thing it remembered was shooting out a pulse of all its negative energy in one last act of desperation—and felt that power be consumed by a nearby Berry—before Pecharunt's lights were knocked out.

"I guess the rest is history… I never saw any of those Pokémon ever again, and I alone bear the scars of witnessing this… horrible, horrible tragedy."

---

Hideko talked with Kieran and Juliana for a little while longer about the hiker's letter and the rest of the papers from Hassel's package, before he heard Yukito's voice interrupting.

"Yoo-hoooo! Sorry to cut your chat short boys, but it's dinner time, sweetie!"

"Oh! Of course. Please excuse me, both of you. We'll definitely have to talk about this more, but you know how mad your grandmother gets if I make myself too busy for her stew," he chuckled.

"It's no problem!" Juliana said. "Take care of yourselves!"

"Yeah! Bye, Grandpa—and Grandma!"

"Bye, Kieran!" they both said before hanging up.

The Rotom Phone returned to Kieran's pocket… leaving him and Juliana to stand there and think deeply about everything they'd just learned.

Kieran was the first to speak.

"I knew it all along…"

"Hmm?"

"I just had a feeling. The whole time. I guess it's just like how I used to always know the truth about Ogerpon. Even though every sign pointed to Pecharunt being evil and being responsible for Ogerpon's partner's death… I just knew that we probably didn't know the whole story. That Pecharunt was never the bad guy at all."

"Pehh?"

Juliana gazed at Pecharunt. She wanted to agree with Kieran… but she knew she couldn't.

"It's hard for me to try to look at other angles for a Pokémon that was using a magical Berry to control us, and possessed all our friends." With a sneer, she muttered, "I almost lost Carmine forever because of that thing…"

"…" Pecharunt groaned sadly.

Ogerpon would've ordinarily joined in at taking snipes at her old enemy, but… for some reason, it just didn't feel right anymore.

"Hey!" Kieran snapped. "I think you forgot, I almost lost my Sis too! And my grandparents! But… that whole thing about Pecharunt controlling us like you said, with that Pecha Berry…"

Kieran gazed at his own hands, opening and closing his palms of his own volition as he thought back to all those days where he carried the Berry. All the thoughts that swirled in his head and the emotions that he felt.

"I know that Pecharunt was messin' with my memories… Making me think you and Sis were being a lot meaner to me than you were. But all those feelings I had. About wanting to be stronger, feeling jealous of you and my Sis, and being upset that Ogerpon wouldn't be my friend… Those were all—still real. That was still how I felt on the inside, and—and most of the decisions I made, it was still me making them."

This gave Juliana pause, and now she began to think more deeply about the brief time she had been serving as the Mythical Pecha Berry's host.

"I still feel totally responsible for all the bad things I did. I think, even if I hadn't come across that Berry and let it infect my mind or whatever… I don't things woulda been too different. I probably still would've tried to be Champion, taken out all my anger on you…"

Juliana folded her arms and reminisced.

"I guess… I guess that's true for me too. When I was hearing Pecharunt's voice in my head, it wasn't like I was a mindless zombie who had to obey—I mean, not like when it made me eat the mochi. It was more like a guide… suggesting the way forward. All those things I said to Carmine… Feeling like I should only focus on helping people and not worry about myself…"

Kieran chuckled. "Yeah. That was a big problem with you even before you had the Berry."

"I know!" she laughed back. "I probably would've still driven myself so crazy I would've passed out someday… All Pecharunt did was—was give me that push. Because that was all I could think about at the time…" Her face started to clear up, as slow realization brewed in her head. "Was that I wanted to stop being selfish and screwing things up, and just… focusing on helping people."

Kieran was picking up on her meaning too. "Just like how… I couldn't think about anything but wanting to be stronger and stronger…"

He turned to face Pecharunt, who was looking down at the ground. Is it feeling guilty?

"Maybe… Pecharunt's whole thing was never about being evil. It just wanted to—bring out the things we thought we wanted the most."

"Like, our inner desires?"

"Yeah. The things it thought would make us happy."

Juliana looked at Pecharunt thoughtfully. "I don't know… It did still try to make us its servants."

…She crossed her arms again.

"But I guess… it only wanted servants to help out that old couple, right? That's what the voice in the head kept telling me."

"…Pechoooooo…"

"I think, Pecharunt and Ogerpon—they're kinda the same," said Kieran.

"Pon?" replied a curious Ogerpon.

"They were both just trying to find friendship and happiness, but then things fell out of their control. They lost their best friends, and everyone misunderstood them to be the villains of the story… when really they're both heroes!"

Ogerpon's eyes drifted. She seemed to be genuinely contemplating Kieran's words.

"…Pon…"

"Pecha?" Pecharunt questioned, floating next to her.

"…"

Ogepron reached inside her cloak… and much to Pecharunt's distress, began to pull out her ivy cudgel.

"Chaaa-run!?"

Pecharunt closed its eyes, and braced. Its whole body shivered, waiting in anticipation for another ivy beatdown from the Mask Pokémon.

"Brrrrrb-brrrrb-brrrrrb…"

…

It cautiously opened its eyes—to see Ogerpon just holding the cudgel out in front of it.

"…cha?"

Ogerpon stared at Pecharunt, not with a look of malice, but with soft, forgiving eyes. And eventually… a welcoming smile.

"Pon-ger-grrrn."

"Cha—CHAAAA!" Pecharunt embraced the spiky cudgel in ecstasy, thrilled to not be on the end of a beatdown for once.

It floated in circles around Ogerpon in a happy daze, and then hugged the monster girl by her horned cloak.

"Pon?" Ogerpon wasn't quite sure how to respond to this affection at first, but after a bit of silence, she decided to close her eyes and hugged Pecharunt with her arms. "Pon-geee."

"Awwwww! They made up!" Juliana gushed.

"No way!" Kieran was gobsmacked. "After all that, Ogerpon… really forgave Pecharunt!? That's—that's incredible!"

"You just said it yourself… this whole time, they were practically the same. I guess they finally realized that too."

After the two Kitakamite Pokémon broke off from their first-ever hug, Ogerpon strode up to Kieran and made happy noises, sounding like she was expressing her gratitude.

"Pon-yo-ponneee-geh-pon! Pon-yo-pon! Ogerpon-pon, Gee-Gee!"

"Ummm… what?"

"Ohhhh," Juliana realized. "I think Ogerpon is trying to say thank you. She watched you letting go of all your anger—down in Area Zero, and after we defeated Pecharunt. I think—you really inspired her to let go of her own grudges too!"

"R-really?"

"GEE-GEE!"

"Gosh… thanks, Ogerpon." Kieran knelt down and gently rubbed Ogerpon on the head, making her giggle. "To be an inspiration to you, the dear ogre I've loved since I was a kid—that's like a dream come true! But… I still wish I knew why you can say everyone else's names but you just call me 'Gee-Gee'."

Juliana gasped. "You really don't get it, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ogerpon has been hanging around Carmine this whole time. Why do you think she calls you that, Kiki?"

"Oh. Ohhhhhh!" His eyes widened with realization. "Well… fine. You can call me 'Kiki' too, Ogerpon! But that's it. I gave out all the free passes I've got!"

He and Juliana laughed, which led Ogerpon and the nearby Terapagos to join in. Then Pecharunt giggled more boisterously than everyone else, finally happy to have friends who accepted the runt for who it was, without needing some mochi-flavored enticement.

"Hey, Pecharunt…" said Juliana. "I'm sorry for misjudging you so much, even after Kieran caught you. I should've listened to him when he said you weren't evil from the start, just like I did with Ogerpon." She bowed to the purple creature. "I hope you can forgive me."

"Cha… peeeeh-yaaaaa!" Pecharunt replied happily, circling around Juliana and giving her face a hug too.

"Awwwww."

"OH! MY! GOODNESS!" came a sudden, loud voice.

"Huh?"

The Blueberry students both looked around, and spotted someone racing towards them, her pink hair and her pink cardigan both flapping about in the wind.

"L-Lacey!?" Kieran gasped.

For a moment, it felt like he was reliving that dream he had while fighting Pecharunt's mind control, where Lacey showed up out of nowhere, like an angel bursting from the foggy unknown.

Lacey strode her way up to the group and made a beeline for Juliana. Specifically, for the purple Pokémon that was flying next to her head.

"What is THAT Pokémon!? It's—it's so CUTE! So pretty, and pink, and positively ADORABLE!" she gushed at Pecharunt. "Why, I could just die!"

"Peh? Pehhh-chya," Pecharunt blushed.

"Is it yours, Juliana?"

"Uhh- no! This Pokémon actually belongs to Kieran!"

Lacey gasped and swiftly turned her head to Kieran, though to him it felt like she was moving in slow motion.

"REALLY!? That's so cool!"

"Uhhh, y-yeah!" Kieran stuttered. "Remember the Pokémon I told you about who c-caused a big mess when we were in Kitakami?"

"No way!" Lacey looked back and forth between him and Pecharunt in surprise. "You mean that's the Pokémon you had to catch in order to save everybody?"

"Yup!" Kieran shouted rather proudly. Juliana tried to hide her snort.

"Well, gosh! You didn't tell it was so stinkin' adorable! A Pokémon that cute caused so much mischief? I can hardly believe it!"

"It's all true," Juliana laughed. "This little runt gave us quite an emotional rollercoaster ride. But… yeah, when we were all really scared—it was Kieran who stepped up and… and he saved all of us." She smiled at him earnestly. "It was the bravest things I've ever seen. He's a hero."

"Awwww! Gosh! That's so amazing," said Lacey.

"Not only that, but Kieran even worked really hard to change Pecharunt's ways and make it a good Pokémon."

"Yehh?" Pecharunt gave Juliana a confused look, but she discreetly made a small wave to indicate she was exaggerating a little.

"Yeah, that's—that's right!" Kieran said. "It's a Pokémon that's both very cute and very strong!"

"Extremely. You should've seen how much Kieran and Pecharunt wiped the floor with us earlier," Juliana nodded.

Lacey giggled. She could… sort of tell what Juliana was doing, but she smiled at the girl nonetheless.

"Maybe we should have a battle sometime, Kieran," she said, swinging her arms around. "Not that you should feel pressured to, of course! It's just well, you're my friend and I… I still want to g-get to know you better."

She wasn't trying very hard to hide her blushing anymore, and Kieran felt his face going red a little too. Juliana was silently squeeing to herself, watching the two of them.

"Yeah, that'd… be really cool, Lace." Lacey giggled at the sound of her nickname, which made him flush even harder. "We could even do it now if you wanted. That is—as long as you're not too busy. … What are you doing out here, anyway?"

"Oh! Funny you should ask that, I was actually looking for you."

"For—for me?" his eyes widened.

"Yeah. Amarys told me you and Juliana were having fun out here in the Canyon Biome, and I really wanted to show you something I just got! Hang on, I'll go get it! Uhh, close your eyes now, okay?"

"Oh—okay," Kieran said as he watched Lacey run back into the fog.

He gave Juliana a puzzled look. She just shrugged, and so he put his hands over his eyes.

Eventually, Lacey came back from around one of the cliffs, carrying something. Juliana's mouth fell agape when she saw what it was.

"That's-!"

Lacey quickly shushed her as she dragged it over in front of Kieran.

"C—can I open my eyes now?"

"You sure can! Open 'em up!"

Kieran's eyes opened… and he gasped loudly at the giant plush pillow casting a shadow over him.

"It's—it's… just like my Furret pillow!" he exclaimed. "But it's all pink like a SHINY Furret!"

He glomped the giant plush with his arms, and smiled contently.

"Ha-ha! It's even just as soft!" He buried his nose in it and took a big whiff. "And it smells like strawberries, just like your—your… just like strawberries!"

"Yeah!" said Lacey, who was beaming to see Kieran so happy. "Carmine and Juliana both told me about what happened to your old Furret pillow that I know you really liked—"

She stopped for a moment to cast a quick glare at Juliana and mouth the words "Just not right!"

Juliana winced sheepishly and whispered, "I'm sorry!"

"So I decided to look for a replacement pillow for you! I know your birthday's not for a couple months, but—consider it my welcome-back present, and a token of our friendship!"

"Wowzers… thank you so, so much Lacey! This means the whole world to me!" Kieran gushed. "But—how did you even… get one of these!? The Shiny Furrets are so rare! I thought they only made like, 100 of them for a special limited-time promotion!"

"Something like that, yeah! But my daddy's got connections with a few of the big toy manufacturers in Unova! So I asked him really, really nicely to get one for me, and it took him a darn while—but he pulled through and found one! Nobody can dig up rare and impossible things quite like the magnificent Clay!"

"Awwwww! Lacey, you… didn't have to do all that just for me!"

"I know I didn't, but I wanted to," she said sincerely. "Because I care about you, Kieran. You're my friend." Her foot twisted around a bit all shyly. "You're—a real special friend to me."

Kieran gulped.

"You're… you're very special to me too, Lacey."

"Really!?" she gushed. He nodded. "That just makes me so warm and fuzzy to hear! Gosh, look at you two with so many cute Pokémon here!"

She walked around, greeting Ogerpon, Pecharunt, and Terapagos individually.

"Gee-pon!"

"Pechaa!"

"Tera-po-gooo!"

"One of these days, I want to learn all about 'em! Maybe even get to see them in a battle!"

"Well you know… I bet… Kieran could actually tell you a lot about them," said Juliana.

"Hmm? Me?"

"Yeah, you! Ogerpon may be Carmine's partner, and Terapagos belongs to me… but nobody knows the legends of Ogerpon better than my pal Kieran! And you got to see all of Terapagos's cool moves down there in Area Zero with me!"

"Heh, even got to experience one of 'em up close…" Kieran chucked, flashing his right arm.

She giggled. "So, Kieran here really is the expert on all these cute, legendary Pokémon."

"Well, gee… I don't know if I'd say that…"

"Oh, but Juliana's right, you are!" Lacey encouraged him. She set the giant Furret plush down on the ground next to her. "Those stories you told me about your adventures were so riveting! Why… if y'all weren't spending the day with Juliana, I… I can't tell you how much I'd love to hear even more of them. You're a fantastic storyteller, Kieran."

"Gosh, I—I…"

"Actually, Kieran and I are just about done here, I think," said Juliana. "So… if you two wanted to spend some time together, I really don't mind at all!"

"You mean it!?" said Lacey.

"Yup! In fact… you can even borrow Terapagos if you want!"

"Wait, really!?" Kieran exclaimed.

Terapagos chirped excitedly, and immediately shifted into his Stellar Form as he floated to land on Kieran's head.

"Ha-ha! Cool!" Kieran cleared his throat. "So, if you're not too busy Lacey then…" He took a big sigh, and then summoned the courage—to take her hand in his. "I could walk you down to your plaza in the Coastal Biome, and… we could have a battle there."

"Wowzers…" Juliana whispered.

"Ohhh!" Lacey had to put a hand to her mouth as she felt all her blood rising.

Juliana could tell by her smile that Lacey had never seen the boy act this forward before. She could also tell that Lacey liked it.

She took Kieran's other hand with hers and smiled warmly. "Kieran… I would love that."

"Then—it's a date!"

Kieran and Lacey's faces inched in close together- very close together, so much so that their eyes both went wide and they pulled away, giggling awkwardly. Their faces were redder than tomatoes.

Finally, Lacey settled for giving Kieran a small smooch on the cheek, which made him giggle. Which made her giggle too.

"Well… we'd better get going," said Kieran.

"Yeah, but… oh! What about your Furret plush?"

"Don't worry about that!" said Juliana. "I'll take it back to your room for you, Kieran!"

"Gosh, thanks Juliana… You're the best friend/sort-of sister I've ever had. I'm so glad we met."

"Yeah. You're one-in-million, Juliana," Lacey smiled. "I know better than ever now that Kieran and Carmine are both dang lucky to have you."

"Thanks, Lace," Juliana smiled back.

Come on, Pecharunt. A-and Terapagos! Let's go!"

"Peh-pechaa!"

"Tera-gooo-pah!"

"Pon-geeee!" Ogerpon shouted, running up alongside them. "Pon-ee, pon-ee! GEE-GEE!"

"Oh, wow! I think Ogerpon wants to come with you guys too!" said Juliana.

"Ha-ha! You're ALWAYS welcome, Ogerpon!" Kieran said cheerfully.

"Aww! The little cutie's coming with us?" Lacey squeed.

Pecharunt cried out in delight, and immediately decided to nuzzle itself inside Ogerpon's cloak. "Cha-runn.." And it started to fall asleep right on Ogerpon's forehead.

Ogerpon was a little confused, but she smiled affectionately at Pecharunt and decided to let it nap there. "Pon-ger-grrrn…"

And she started happily marching off alongside Kieran, Lacey, and Terapagos.

"Have fun, you guys!" Juliana called out.

"Hmm-hmm!" Kieran was smiling to himself all giddily, until he looked down. "Oh! Sorry, Lace! I didn't realize I was still holding your hand!"

He started to let his fingers go, but Lacey pulled them back.

"Awww, it's okay, Kier," she said sweetly to him. "You can hold it the whole way there if you want."

…

"Wowzers."

Kieran turned back around to give Juliana one last huge smile. She stretched out her arm and waved as bigly as she possibly could.

But then Kieran looked excited, and started waving to Juliana's left side.

"Huh?"

Juliana turned to her left… and was surprised to see Carmine standing there waving to him too!

"OH! Hi!"

"Hee-hee," she replied. "That was some smooooth wingman shit, cutie."

Kieran smiled warmly at his sister and his best friend before turning around to be with Lacey. Carmine and Juliana kept waving him goodbye until they both disappeared over the horizon, the sun illuminating them as the back of their heads leaned close to each other.

Carmine couldn't help but giggle watching him and Lacey leave.

"You know… Lacey always used to tell me she thought Kiki was really cute. I guess I always thought she meant it like he was adorable—like you would say to a Togepi or something."

Juliana laughed at that.

"But I never knew her feelings for him were that serious… or that Kiki actually had a crush on her too. They're two of the biggest people in my life… and yet they continue to surprise me…"

"It's more fun when people are always full of surprises," Juliana smiled at her. "Just like you and me."

"Yeah…" Then she grabbed Juliana's hand. "Alright, c'mon, let's go!"

"Huh?" Juliana was letting herself be dragged by Carmine even though she was confused. "Go where?"

"If I know Lacey, she and Kiki are probably headed to her favorite beach spot over in the Coastal Biome. I happen to know where the best lookout cliff is to get a good view! So let's move."

Carmine tried to keep moving forward, only to find herself stalled. To her bewilderment, Juliana was grabbing her arm. Not letting her move forward.

"Hey, what're you doing!? Juliana, this is no time for games! We're gonna lose them!"

"Carmine… he'll be fine."

"Huh? Well, y-yeah!" she replied. "I know that… I just—you know! He's my brother, I just need to make sure he's-!"

"Carmine," Juliana interrupted her. She looked tenderly at Carmine with her hazel-brown eyes. "He'll be fine."

…

"Alright… you win." Juliana let go, and Carmine stood with a sheepish face, admitting defeat. "I guess… I have to let him grow up sometime, right?"

"That's the spirit, Carmine!" Juliana grinned. "You know Lacey, she's a good person! Wouldn't it be nice to know you don't have to worry about your brother a whole day?"

She chuckled. "Yeah, you're right. Lacey is asexual, after all. So if there's anyone I trust not to try anything funny with my little bro…"

Juliana made a noise of disbelief. "Where did that come from!? You're unbelievable, Carmine! You were okay with me being alone with him after you only knew me for a day!"

Carmine scoffed. "Yeah, but if I knew back then how much of a freak you can be in the sheets, I can tell you I would've put a stop to that!"

"CARMINE!" Juliana gripped her knees, laughing so hard she could barely stand. Carmine giggled too, cupping her hands over her mouth. "Alright, funny cinnamon. Would you please mind helping me carry Kieran's new Furret pillow up to his room?"

"Yeah, just so long as you've learned your lesson and won't pull on it that hard again."

"Hey!"

"I'm teasing you, sweetheart, I'm teasing you!" she laughed, lightly slapping Juliana's arm. "Tch. Of course Lacey got him a pink one. It even smells like her. That's sort of creepy. Maybe there is a freaky side to her."

"Actually…" Juliana remembered. "Before we do that… I wanted to ask you something."

"Hmm? What's up, babe?"

"Ummm, so spring break is coming up in a couple weeks. Did you—happen to have any plans?"

"Is it?" Carmine's eyebrows flared up. "Huh… time sure has been flying lately. Still feels like just yesterday I was feeling the nice cool autumn wind back home."

"So that'd be a no then."

"I guess not. Why?" Her face was brimming with curiosity. "Did you have something in mind?"

"As a matter of fact…" Juliana began to grin widely. "I do. Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

"Okay," she laughed.

Carmine felt a small slip of paper slide into her hands.

"Okay, and… open them!"

Carmine opened her yellow eyes and looked down at what was in her hands.

"A plane ticket…? To…" Her eyes went wide. "PALDEA!?"

"YEAH! Y'know, I was thinking about how the first time I ever met you was on your home turf, and I got to see all the great stuff about where you and Kieran grew up. So…"

Juliana looked up at her tall girlfriend with glistening eyes.

"To officially celebrate us becoming a couple… I'd really like to show you everything that my homeland has to offer. Just the two of us. What do you say?"

NEXT TIME… THE LAST CHAPTER!