Previously on Oranges to Grapes...

After unsurprisingly finding another crystal dome over Montenevera (and Jessica melting down in anguish), the Hell-Sent girls' partners return for Conner to explain his plan: to make a Diademon on purpose, using an incoming pack of Greavard...

-

"Don't get too caught up in your own sympathy, Rosita!" Conner called out as the pack got closer. "Anton, Leopold, while I get Cure Grudge here, you two make another snowball!"

"After what happened last time!?" Leopold questioned.

"Precure Ruination!"

"Trust me!" Conner called out before he dissipated to get Rosita changed.

"Here ya go, Leopold!" Anton called out as he made one of his stomps, prompting Leopold to breathe an ice-sigh on the dislodged rock. The resulting snowball caught enough mass to press into the puppy-pack, rolling it up to tumble down the ramp.

Before it could crash into a wall and ruin the plan, Cure Grudge quickly shot her vine-laces to catch the snowball and stop it from rolling away. "Precure Ruination!" In flashes of light-blue and orange light, Cure Hatred and Cure Fear were there to hold the vines more tightly.

"Good!" Cure Grudge said. "So far were carrying out the plan well! Now, on the count of three, everybody pull and we'll fling the snowball into the dome! One!"

"Two!" Cure Hatred added.

"THREE!!!" Cure Fear finished, and all three Cures yanked the vines together as hard as they could!

Maybe it was Cure Fear's super strength, maybe it was the power of three magical girls working together, or maybe it was the lack of density that a bunch of Ghost-type Pokemon gave a large snowball... but, whatever the reason, those vines were yanked so hard that it pulled the snowball off the ground and into the air over their heads!

"Aw, durn it!" Cure Hatred griped. "We missed!"

But Cure Fear had a smirk on her muzzle. "Did we?"

Sure enough, the snowball was soaring through the air... but it curved down on a collision course to the top of the dome, where it crashed and covered it in snow like a dollop of marshmallow fluff, and the Gravard trapped inside vanished as if they were bubbles popping in the foam.

"Good job, everyone," Cure Grudge congratulated, "but we've only completed Phase 1. Once the Diademons get here, then we can work on Phase 2!"

As expected, the dome popped out more crystal demons, but their heads were adorned with a circle of blank headstones decorated with Greavard Wax... and by the time they were done spawning, there were 10 of them in total.

"NOW!" Cure Grudge shouted. "Destroy them! But keep one left!"

-

Cure Grudge leapt into the air and sent out all of her vine laces, and they grabbed three of the Diademons all over their bodies!

"This is the punishment for your crimes! Precure... Grasswither..."

The vines pulled with all their might, and it tore the Diademons apart with each vine coiled around a piece!

"FRENZY!!!"

The vines flailed all over the place, bludgeoning the pieces into the ground before they smashed them all together in midair!

"You have issues!" the Diademons seemed to say before they were shattered into diamond dust.

-

Cure Hatred rushed forward and elongated her ice blades, right towards three more Diademons!

"This is the punishment for your crimes! Precure... Icerend..."

She thrusted the blades forward with all her might, and they impaled the Diademons clean through!

"MINCER!!!"

She flailed the blades all over the place, slicing and dicing the Diademons into bits!

"You have issues!" the Diademons seemed to say before they were shattered into diamond dust.

-

Cure Fear jumped up and slammed her fists onto the ground, causing it to crack towards three more Diademons!

"This is the punishment for your crimes! Precure... Groundblight..."

She pulled the ground apart with all her strength, and the crack opened up wide to look like a gaping mouth!

"WRECKER!!!"

She kept slamming the crack open and shut, making it crunch the Diademons into bits!

"You have issues!" the Diademons seemed to say before they were shattered into diamond dust.

-

With how quickly the last Diademon was left alone, it started to worry for its own crystal skin. "Ah! I'm getting out of here!"

"Oh no you DON'T!" Cure Grudge shouted as she shot her vine-laces at the escapee trying to cheese it. They grabbed its wrists and ankles, and Cure Fear came up as it face-planted into the snow to stomp its back to keep it still; not enough to shatter it prematurely, but she did put some cracks in it.

Before the Diademon could attempt a move, Cure Hatred was already there to threaten it with one of her ice-blades pressed against its throat. "You saw how easily we shattered the others. Try anything and you're next."

"You won't get away with this!" the caught straggler hissed in frustration. "Paldea's insubordination against the light will not stand!"

"Oh, look who's calling the kettle black!" Cure Fear scoffed. "You whatevers are the ones making Pokemon and people disappear! Now how do we get rid of these domes!?"

"Wait," Cure Grudge stopped, winding the vines up to get closer to the conversation and keep the Diademon restrained. "What 'insubordination against the light?' And why Paldea?'

"You heard the other Cures," Cure Hatred said. "Before we finish you off, how about you tell us everything you know?"

That caught the Diademon off-guard. "Well, uh..."

But the hesitation only made the blade press harder. "Unless you don't have anything important to say."

"No, no, it's just," the Diademon tried to defend, "you girls are the first people to ask 'who,' 'why,' or 'how.' Normally people just... don't ask."

"Quit stalling," Cure Fear pressed, both the topic and her foot, cracking the thing's back even more.

"Augh! There's not much to tell!" the Diademon yelped. "We're all just footsoldiers, following the orders of a higher influence! That's all I know!"

"And who, or what, is this 'higher influence?'" Cure Hatred pushed.

"WE CAN'T SAY!!"

But all that did was pull the trigger on the Diademon. Cure Fear stomped her foot harder where it was, Cure Hatred slashed the Diademon's neck, and Cure Grudge swung the broken pieces of the body apart. The severed head was thrown into the air, and the rest of the body was swung at it, smashing the whole thing into more diamond dust.

-

To be continued.