Previously on Oranges to Grapes...

Back at the Academy, Director Clavell goes down to the staff room for a cup of coffee, but ends up having a discussion with Professor Jacq and his faculty that gets a little rocky, but gives everyone involved a fresh perspective...

-

The next morning, the sun peeked over the horizon and shone down on Area One of the West Province. There, in the alcove she was camping in, Rosita was roused by the light shining on her face, making her ear twitch. After enough stirring, her eyes opened a crack, and she got up from her sleep on the grass.

With a yawn, she stretched her limbs as long as they could go, then said, "Ahh... Well, that was certainly different than sleeping in a bed, but not entirely unpleasant. Good morning, Paldea, and all who inhabit it!"

"And good morning to you too, Rosita," Conner said after he reformed. "Seems you survived your first day out of the house just fine. Are you ready for Day 2?"

"Sure am!" Rosita confirmed. "Just gotta grab some breakfast, and I'm good to go." She then dug around in her backpack until she pulled out a granola bar, which she quickly polished off in four bites. After wadding up her wrapper and putting it in her pocket, she scooped up Conner and continued her journey.

But when Conner saw that Rosita was exiting the alcove to take the path up the hill, he asked, "Just out of curiosity, why are we taking the long way up instead of letting me conjure up another vine ladder?"

"Because," Rosita said, "the longer the ladder you make, the quicker I have to get to the top before it wilts. You said so yourself. And, at the risk of sounding like an ingrate, I don't think I can climb up a ladder that high if the 'Principle of Ruin,' as you called it, won't let me reach the top before I fall to my death. So we'll have to limit that power for short climbs, and save higher ones for an emergency."

Conner blinked his eyestalks in surprise, and said as Rosita continued up. "Oh. Okay, that's... actually a very solid and valid point." And no more words were said until Rosita reached her first Pokemon Center outside of Los Platos, right below the village of windmills.

In that village, another female anthro was doing some maintenence work on one of the windmills. She was a snow leopard; tall, lithe figure, gray and white fur with ring-shaped black spots all over, and black-tipped round ears. Her outfit consisted of a tan kahki vest over a white tank top, tan kahki shorts held up by a brown belt, and brown hiking boots over white crew socks. 

"There," the snow leopard sighed as she closed up the control panel she was working on. "That ought to do the job." As she looked up, the windmill in question hummed to life and spun its blades with the wind again, making her beam with pride at her handiwork. "I think I've earned a little break down at the Center."

She then proceeded to climb down the spiral staircase that curled around the tall tower. Once she reached the bottom, she paced herself down the path... and away from the crystal sky-blue dome that surrounded the hill where the Open Sky Titan's den was at the top. After walking far enough down, she turned left and reached the Pokemon Center she was talking about... along with a caracal anthro resting on the cushioned chairs there.

Thinking she could use some company, the she-snep walked up to the seat and asked, "Is this seat taken?"

Rosita looked up at who spoke, then scooted over for the other feline and answered, "No, go right ahead."

"Thanks," the snow leopard said as she sat next to Rosita. "So, hope you don't mind my asking, but one cat to another, what brings you over to my neck of the west?"

"Just got started on my journey around Paldea, is all," Rosita answered.

"Cool, cool. You heading through here?"

"Actually, this place is just one of my stops," Rosita started... before remembering the real point of her being here and got an idea, "and I could use some help getting around since I'm new. My name's Rosita, by the way. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Jessica, likewise," the snow leopard said, and the two kitty-fems shook paws. "And you've certainly come to the right person... or rather, the right person's certainly come to you!" That earned a laugh from both of them, but then Jessica continued with a more serious tone, "Because something awful that we don't understand has happened here recently. Yesterday morning surprised us with some sort of shiny, sparkly dome covering up the mountain northwest of here. No one knows where it came from, but whenever a Pokemon or person touched it, it suddenly vanishes into thin air with no trace left!"

"A crystal dome, you say?" Rosita inquired. "Interesting, because I passed by a crystal dome surrounding Cortondo on the way up here... and I'd bet the tip of my tail that the two could be connected somehow, and there could be others all around Paldea!"

"Then it's a good thing the dome here doesn't reach up to the windmills where I work," Jessica said, "but there is something odd about it... it looks like it was put there lopsided. There's a fork in the path up ahead that splits at the edge, but the only path that doesn't touch it leads to a dead end."

"Maybe not," Rosita said as she stood up from the seat. "There could be more to that path than we realize. Think you could get me there, please?"

"Jessica Winters at your service!" the she-snep replied as she followed suit. "Follow me!"

Both females left the Pokemon Center and walked back up the path, and Conner reformed again on Rosita's shoulder this time before asking, "How did you know where the next shrine was without me telling you?"

"Short answer, I have a Rotom Phone," Rosita whispered. "I'll tell you the long answer later." But it wasn't long before she saw what Jessica was talking about: a dome of sky-blue crystal surrounding a high hill, placed where a fork in the path split off; one path led right smack into the dome, and the other veered off to a ledge around the dome! "Well, that's uncanny."

But her voice caught the attention of a wild Rockruff, and they were notoriously rambunctious. "Ruff! Ruff!" it barked as it suddenly gave chase.

The barking made Jessica run off in the direction of the ledge path, but Rosita wasn't reacting that way. "Aww, a puppy Poke! I love puppy Pokes!"

"Well, that one may love you too much!" Jessica said as she ran back to Rosita, "Or maybe me, either one of us! Doesn't matter, just come on!" She grabbed the caracal by the wrist and hauled her down the path with her again just as the Rockruff was closing in on her.

The sudden displacement of its target caused the brown canine Pokemon to skid on its little paws, and it lost its balance and started tumbling... right into the dome! As soon as it made contact, it vanished in an instant!

"See, what'd I tell you?" Jessica said, but Rosita was too frazzled to listen and pulled her arm away.

"Never mind that! What the heck was that all about!?"

But before Jessica could give an explanation for why the Rockruff chased them, a piece of the dome popped off and morphed into another Diademon; this one was the same sky-blue as the dome and had a cloud on its head, adorned with a Rockruff Rock!

"What the-" Rosita exclaimed, but the Diademon chased after the both of them! "RUN!!"

But there was nowhere to run, because the path they were on was a dead end, just like Jessica said. But that wasn't all, because to top it all off...

TOING!

"CRAMP!!!" Jessica hollered as she clutched her middle, but the sudden shift in weight threw off her balance and made her fall off the ledge, forcing her to grab the edge... right where the door to the Icerend Shrine was. As she was clawing for dear life with one paw and holding her pain with the other, the forearm of the latter was touching the orange line on the shrine's door, making her get engulfed in orange energy and disappear!

"JESSICA!!!"

-

To be continued...