Previously on Oranges to Grapes...

Camilla, Pico and Balto are officially enrolled into the Academy, and their first days of class go swimmingly as they get to know their teachers, as well as make new friends with their classmates...

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Back at Grasswither Shrine, however, Rosita was still nowhere to be found... on the outside, anyway. Behind the door was a small chamber half-full of rocks, and on several of them... a gray-furred caracal cat was sprawled out, supposedly unconscious. A few seconds later, however, one of her ears twitched as she began to stir.

"Uugh..." she groaned as she opened her eyes, but she couldn't see anything in the darkness. "Whuh... what happened? Where am I? And... why is it so dark in here?" She tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness, but no matter how wide her pupils got, nothing could be made out. "I can't see anything in here! I don't know where I am! Let me out! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!"

"Enough!" a voice called out from everywhere, but Rosita was too hysterical to make sense.

"WHO SAID THAT!?!?" she said as her claws were out, slashing around in the darkness, only chipping them on the rocks. Suddenly, vines grabbed her wrists and ankles! "AH! AH! AH! I'M GONNA DIE! I'M GONNA DIE! I'M GONNA DIE AND GET RAPED!!!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!!!" Another vine struck Rosita on the torso, hard enough for the impact to be felt through the vest of her uniform.

"WREEERR!!!" Rosita yowled.

"One more word and you get hit again!" That sentence combined with the sting of the whip locked Rosita up out of fear; horrifying fear that pushed all other emotions out of her mind. "Now, are you going to let me speak?"

The poor kitty nodded, but the darkness couldn't let her gesture be seen.

"Well, I'm going to keep talking," the voice said. "But remember what I told you. Now, my name is Conner, and I was imprisoned in this chamber many years ago because I was trying to right a wrong, but I took it too far and was punished for it. And now you were put in here because you were wronged as well, but you also took it too far. However, if the both of us can work together, we could be able to get out of here. All you have to do is follow what I say, and everything will be alright. Sound good?"

Rosita was still too locked up to respond, so Conner continued with, "Right, sorry. Forgot the terms I set. Okay, now I'm going to let go of one of your limbs, and when I do, I want you to calmly... answer with yes or no. Understand?"

The vine on her left wrist loosened its grip, and Rosita let her arm drop before she choked out, "Y-... yes." The vine then touched her head, making her flinch, but then it gently stroked her headfur. Now that her anxiety was eased, she started to purr from the petting before saying with more confidence, "Yes, I will join you... so please don't hit me again."

"That's what I wanted to hear," Conner said pleased. "Now, let's try this again. My name's Conner, what's yours?"

"Rosita Verdes."

"Well, Rosita, allow me to get the door for you." Just then, a thin circle of light appeared behind her, forcing the caracal's pupils to shrink into slits again and making her squint. The circle then became a waxing crescent that widened until it was a full circle... one that showed Area One of the southern providence during the early evening.

"Whoa," Rosita remarked after seeing the sky turn orange. "How long was I out?"

"No idea," Conner answered, making the caracal turn another 180 to see her assailant: a pile of leaves and grass. Suddenly the pile moved, arranging itself into the shape of a snail with black berries on twigs for eyes, and leaves for lush eyebrows and a mustache. "The chamber doesn't exactly have a clock."

"Wha? That's what you really look like?" Rosita asked, confused. "I was bound and lashed by a wad of lawn clippings?"

"That's what you really look like?" Conner retorted sarcastically. "I bound and lashed a cat with earlashes? See, two can play at that game."

"Alright, fair enough. So, now that we're partners, what should we do next?" Rosita asked. "I'll admit, this is a bit of new territory for me."

"First, it's my duty to give you this," Conner explained. "Now, watch the door closely."

Rosita looked at the opened shrine door... and something amazing happened. The large, glowing lid shone brighter with purple light and began levitating, making it look like a flying saucer of light. Next, eight lines of purple light appeared around the saucer and stuck themselves into the sides before the whole thing spun in place, kicking up wind, grass and leaves.

Finally, the purple construct of light seemed to get smaller by concentrating into itself until the storm stopped, and floating in midair was a sphere of black metal about the size of a Poke Ball. It then lowered itself into Rosita's paws, where she saw indentations in the ball styled after the pattern on the shrine's door. If she looked closely, she could see a faint, purple glow coming from the patterns on the ball.

"Now that the seal of Grasswither Shrine has been broken," Conner announced, "both the door of the shrine and the stakes that sealed it have been repurposed into a gift for my new bearer... you. Rosita Verdes, I give you... your Sealing Ball!"

"Wow... my own Sealing Ball," Rosita sighed in wonder, then turned to Conner and asked, "But what does it do?"

"It has many uses," Conner announced, "but what I will tell you for now is this: as long as you have your Sealing Ball on your person, I'll be able to come and help you any time you need it. Observe." The snail then closed his eyes, and right before Rosita's... he burst into grass and leaves!

"Conner! NO!!" Rosita cried out. "Oh, first I lose Maschiff, now I lose a partner I just got!? How long must I suffer this!?"

"Suffer what?"

Rosita looked down at her feet at the voice... and there was Conner! "What the- How did you do that!?"

"Simple," Conner explained. "All I did was cast off my physical form and transfer my consciousness near the Sealing Ball, then made a new body out of fresh grass and leaves. And boy, does it feel good!"

"That answers one question," Rosita supposed, "yet raises so many others... but most of them will have to wait. Now that I got my, um, Sealing Ball and know how it kind of works, what's next?"

"Next, you and I must travel the region to find other spirits like myself," Conner explained, "but not just yet. As far as I remember, there's supposed to be some sort of 'special project' happening in three days."

"Why can't I get a head start and-" Rosita started, but remembered the last time she tried to get a head start. "Okay, I see your point. Three-day wait it is, but I'm not sure if people should know about you in the meantime."

"Don't worry," Conner assured. "I can just disappear if I need to until it's time to set out. Just bring the Sealing Ball with you then."

"Okay," the caracal said with more confidence. "It'll probably take some explaining to my parents... and apology for my behavior... but at least I have a game plan. Three days from now, I'll set out on my own journey around Paldea!"

"Great," Conner said. "See you in three days, then!" And just like that, the snail burst again.

"WRER!" Rosita yowled again, but not as anguished as last time. "Hoh... that's gonna take some getting used to."

And with her new Sealing Ball in paw, Rosita made her way back to Los Platos to try and apologise to her parents. Maybe she wouldn't get to try enrolling into the Academy again until next year, but she was going to set out on her own journey with everyone else in three days... whether they knew it or not.

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To be continued.