Previously on Oranges to Grapes: The Tree of Masks...

Camilla, Pico and Balto are called back to the Academy to learn the winners of the annual drawing for a field trip to Kitakami, which they happen to be three of. But Ko starts lashing out when he feels left out and unappreciated, and it takes an intervention on Chairwoman Geeta's part to get him to stand down, starting the trip off on a sour note...

-

Later that same day, Ko was lying face-down on his dorm bed in anguish, frustrated that his feelings were invalidated under penalty of peril, but also ashamed that he was missing out on another chance to make up for lost time with three of his classmates. Just then, there was a knock on his door. "Who is it?" he called out.

"Director Clavell and Chairwoman Geeta," the latter answered. "We're here to discuss the consequence of your misbehavior."

"Coming," Ko responded, forlorn. He got up from his bed, walked up to the door and opened it, and there were the two high authorities of the Academy. "I have no excuse for what I did, so go ahead. What's my punishment?"

"Now why would you assume the consequence is a penalty?" Director Clavell asked.

"Because I lost my manners, my temper, and my composure in front of the student body, which ruined the atmosphere of what should have been a joyous occasion," Ko lamented. "Not to mention the fact that I snatched a fellow student's crutches away from him, thereby breaking rule 3 of the student code book. So, I already have the burlap over my head and my neck over the cutting line. Go ahead, drop the guillotine blade."

"Garaboshi Kosaru," Geeta said in the same soft tone which made the bear brace for the blow. "The director and I may govern over the student body of the Academy, but we are not above trying to understand the situations they face. I only sent out my Glimmora to try and contain the situation so no further harm could be caused, but you would not have acted the way you did if you did not bear any strong emotions about the circumstances."

"Well, of course I had strong emotions," the bear admitted. "Don't get me wrong, I knew that me being one of four of the hundreds of students selected to go on this field trip was hoping for much, but how was I supposed to know that there was a handicapped student who had a similar name to mine? I thought the school was pulling a Springboob Squirepin on me."

"Is that all?" Clavell asked.

"No, there's still more," Ko continued. "To top it all off, the other three students that got to go were some that I was hoping to make up for lost time with. I brought them on to a project to compare rooms in the Academy between the day and night shifts."

"Hold on a second," Clavell stopped. "Would this have anything to do with a certain file I was given? I seem to recall that it was titled with gibberish."

"That was probably the acronym I gave it to make room," Ko explained. "The full title was, 'The Mystery of They Who Come and Go During Shift Change,' but that was over the character limit."

"Yes, all very facinating," Geeta interjected, "but our focus must remain on the current incident."

"Right, sorry," Ko backtracked. "Anyway, on the last day of the mystery, we were about to meet at the schoolyard because it was the biggest room in the Academy, so it would take all four of us to cover the whole place quicker. But right when the clock struck seven- that's when we would meet up, by the way- I had to take on the last room all by myself because the others got called into the director's office. By the time I compiled and submitted my findings, I was so burnt out that I passed out on the bed dead away. This morning, I was hoping to avoid a repeat of that moment by being in the lobby with them, then what happened happened, so I had to hope that I would be the fourth to come, but when I wasn't, all those emotions flared up: sadness that my hopes were dashed, insult that my name was mispronounced, disgust that there would be a made-up character to cover an alibi, and something just snapped."

"Like something just snapped when your Acedemic Review results got disqualified last year?" Geeta guessed.

"You know about that?" Ko asked.

"I am not the chairwoman of the school board for nothing," the tall woman said. "Also, I was in the background when you, Rika and Director Clavell were discussing your jam recipe."

"And what was said back then still stands," Clavell said, putting himself back into the conversation. "These flaws being pointed out are opportunities for you to improve, and you did. You adjusted your jam recipe so it doesn't drive Pokemon berserk, and you even apologized to the front desk so you could try the Acedemic Review again."

"You're right," Ko said, feeling a little better about himself. "And once the field trip is over and everyone comes back, the first thing I'm going to do is apologize to Garibosh personally."

"And that is good," the director praised. "However..."

That one word made the bear's heart sink. Why does there have to be a however, he thought.

"It has been brought to my attention that you have also been spreading a rumor throughout the Academy," Clavell stated, "and there must be a consequence to that. But when asked, you must respond that what happened is classified."

"What rumor?" Ko asked, cocking his head. "I don't remember spreading a rumor."

"Then perhaps this will clear things up?" Clavell said as his Rotom Phone appeared, turned on, and displayed Ko waiting patiently at a desk in the libratrium. Then, Camilla, Pico and Balto were shown approaching him before...

"Neither a Sawk nor a Throh can produce an Egg without a Ditto."

"That's because there are no females."

"Oh, that," Ko said when the footage was paused. "No, that was just a code I came up with so the four of us could engage in conversation without others wanting to listen in."

"Then how do you explain this?" Clavell asked, and the footage switched to another camera that displayed two female students repeating the phrases, then another that showed two male students saying them, and another where three teachers said it.

"Okay, that I can explain," Ko stated. "Turns out I made the mistake of saying the code near a student who caught wind and somehow kept repeating it in his sleep. But I have rectified that, and he won't do it again."

"I see," Geeta said after listening quietly in the background. "Perhaps health in lieu of biology was not as well thought out as we initially surmised."

"Prehaps so," Clavell said as he took out a Poke Ball of his own. "Permission to use one of my own Pokemon to resolve this situation?"

"Granted," the chairwoman confirmed.

"What are you going to do to me?" Ko asked, worried for his own life.

"Oh, the chairwoman and I are not going to do anything," the director said as the ball in his hand opened up, and his Oranguru appeared in a flash of light. "Oranguru, use Instruct."

"Orang," the simian Pokemon confirmed as its fan shone with multicolored light. "Gu...RU!"

"What the-" Ko questioned, but his body was outlined with light and frozen in place while his eyes were locked onto the Rotom Phone still hovering there. He tried to move his head and blink his eyes, but the move holding him stuck fast. "What the tabernacle is going on!? Why can't I get out of this!?"

"That is the consequence," Clavell stated as he and Geeta walked towards the door. "The chairwoman and I are simply going to return to our posts while Oranguru keeps an eye on you watching this little video."

The screen hovered closer to the bear, and Professor Jacq was on it a few seconds later. "Hello, there, I'm Mr. Jacq of the Foremost World-Renowned Pokemon Academy of Paldea," the recording said. "If you're watching this, it means you made a mistake about Pokemon biology, most likely Egg production. So, for the next several hours, I'll be here to re-educate you on the subject until you understand the mechanics better, and hopefully refrain from repeating your mistake. If not, you'll be seeing me again!"

"See you tomorrow, Master Kosaru," Clavell said as he and Geeta exited the dorm room and closed the door behind them, leaving the bear, the Rotom Phone, and the Oranguru alone until they returned.

"Shame it had to come to this," the director supposed, "but there was no other option."

"Indeed," Geeta agreed, "but I just have one question: what is a Springboob Squirepin?"

"Something from a children's television show," Clavell explained. "More specifically, when a main character hears their name mispronounced and it disappoints them until a correction is established."

"Ah," Geeta said. "That makes sense."

-

To be continued...