Chapter Text
In the summer rise from the sky, Juliana and her twin brother, Florian, are going on a school trip to Kitakami! A region that neither of them had heard of.
Florian was feeling hyped about seeing a new region that he had never seen before, but Juliana, on the other hand, wasn’t really looking forward to it. She looks through the window while her brother was holding her hand to give some comfort and clearly trying to say “cheer up.”
When they land the teacher, Ms. Briar, tells all the students about the things of Kitakami until a child had felt nauseous.
Ms. Briar told Florian to go to Mossui Town. Juliana joins in with Florian since she didn’t feel comfortable not being with her brother. The duo walks through the town looking for the leader of the town but, instead, they see something else. Two siblings, an older sister and younger brother. They both had light tan skin, sharp yellow eyes like a snake, and multicolored hair, but the girl had orange-reddish hair with some black hair and the boy had a dark shade of purple in his black hair. They had similar outfits, probably from the same school. Ms. Briar was from the same school, Blueberry Academy.
They hear the boy talking to his sister ”Look! There’s one— no, wait, two!” The twins see the duo coming up to them. The girl looks at the twins with skepticism. Florian was a bit confused why was she giving them a look like that, while Juliana looks back with in annoyance, clearly not appreciating the face this girl is making at them.
The twins hear the boy say “Wowzers…” but then, the sister looks at the boy while saying “Hush, Kiki.”
The girl challenged Florian to a battle, which ends with Florian winning. The two siblings runaway when the leader comes. The twins learn the siblings names are Carmine and Kieran.
Juliana felt little 50/50 with them both since Carmine’s first impression wasn’t that good and Kieran didn’t even interact with them at all. Florian tells Juliana to cut them some slack and maybe they’ll get used to the sibling duo.
The next day of partner picking, Ms. Briar introduces the siblings to the rest of their groups and explains the plan.
When it was time to pick their partners, Juliana remembered that her and Florian would always be together but she spots her brother going to Carmine and Kieran.
Juliana was surprised to see her brother going up to the duo, that wasn’t even that great, from yesterday. She sees Florian and Kieran battling and it went pretty well. Juliana was actually shocked to see her brother partnering up with Kieran. She felt…confused.
She didn’t know how to feel since it’s always her and Florian being partners for stuff like this. Now, she didn’t know what to do and who to partner up with. Everyone had a partner expect for Juliana. Florian notices this and he asks Juliana if she wants to join them, but Juliana declines the offer.
“No, no, it’s okay… you have fun with that Kieran kid, yeah?” Juliana said, not wanting to ruin this for Florian.
Florian felt hesitant but he gives her a quick smile before leaving to catch up with Kieran. Juliana sighs, not knowing what to do. She had to partner up with Ms. Briar, who was mainly focused on crystals.
Juliana decided to explore the place at least. She sees lots of people getting ready for an event. She found it odd that there’s lots of masks and whatever the Loyal three is.
After a bit of walking around, she bumps into Florian and Kieran. Florian drags Juliana with them to go to Kieran’s house.
Florian said he was proud to be Kieran’s friend and Juliana could see how happy Kieran was. Kieran’s grandmother gave them a new outfit to wear to the festival. Juliana frowns when they bump into Carmine again on their way to The Festival of Masks which celebrates the Loyal Three and the villain the ogre.
The mask festival was one of the most beautiful things she ever saw. The way the shops are set up and all the way the lights come up. Though, Juliana was mainly focused on Florian who was having a blast with Kieran.
She smiles softly to see her brother having a friend. Kieran buys Florian a candy apple but he also gives Juliana one too.
“Why are you giving me one…?” Juliana asked ,feeling surprised but shocked too. Kieran rubs his fingers together before he answers the question.
“Well… we are friends too, aren’t we?” Kieran said with a tiny smile on his face. Juliana takes the candy apple, a smile forming on her face as she starts eating the apple.
She follows Kieran and Florian around the festival, she watches Florian and Carmine play a competitive game, but Kieran was cheering on Florian and it was nice to see the shy child cheering his friend on.
Now, they were watching Kieran play the game. In the corner of Juliana’s eye, she sees Florian following some girl. Juliana follows him, and she sees Florian trying to interact with the kid.
“Flo what are you doing?” Juliana said, feeling a bit uneasy about how the kid is covering their face with a huge mask.
A few moments later, Carmine catches up with them and scolds Florian, then tries to get the child to come with them.
Juliana did not know what the child under the mask was until it dropped its mask, startling them all and revealing that it was Ogrepon.
After all of that, the trio lied to Kieran’s face about bumping into the new Pokémon named Ogrepon. Florian felt little conflicted about lying to Kieran’s face about the thing he cares about, but Juliana tries to reassure him that it’s for the best. Like Carmine said, “It was for his safety.”
After the Loyal Three, ogerpon, and making the village accep Ogerpon, Juliana felt proud of herself, but there was a sacrifice.
When Florian and Kieran fought to see who got to keep Ogerpon, Florian won but, Kieran went away and didn’t say goodbye to them.
On the way home, Juliana could see pain in Florian’s eyes, not saying goodbye to their friend. Juliana holds Florian’s hand. Florian looks at her while she gives him a reassurance that maybe one day, who knows? They’ll see their friend again.