Previously on Oranges to Grapes...

The Hell-Sent girls are on their way to gaining access to Area Zero, but after some difficulty, an unfamiliar voice speaks before them...

-

The girls turned around to the direction of the voice... and there stood a tall, young woman with long, green hair in a ponytail, wearing a tan shirt, black slacks and suspenders, and brown boots. On those traits alone, the audience recognized her as...

"Rika!?" all four of them exclaimed in sync.

"That's my name, don't wear it out!" the Pokemon League receptionist said with a laugh. "So, any particular reason you four are standing around the front door of the Pokemon League building?"

"As a matter of fact, there is," Rosita answered. "We came all this way to speak with you to... enter somewhere special, and are fully willing to follow the protocol to do so."

"That so, huh?" Rika said, but with less sparkle. "Well, let me just unlock the door first, and we can get started once we're inside." She then reached into her side-pocket with her gloved hand, and took out a key before walking up to the door.

"Speaking of locked doors," Jessica interjected, "I don't know what lock that door is, but it is robust."

"It's supposed to be," Rika said bluntly as she activated the lock's tumblers with her key, then opened the door easily. "Now, are we going to get in here and get down to business, or just spout off mush about the building's infrastructure?"

"Whoa," Eartha said.

"Wrong side of the cot," Dina added.

"Well, you heard the Elite Four's first!" Rosita said as she ushered the other girls in. "Let's get inside quick before all these Tandemaus start evolving into Maushold."

That comment earned her some miffed squeaking in the background, which Leopold translated into, "'Hey! We heard that!' 'Not cool, girl!'"

"I hope so," Rosita called out, "because I said it for you to hear!" And with that, the doors were closed again with everyone inside.

-

After everyone was inside the building, the group took their places in the main lobby: Rika sat at her computer at the main desk, Rosita sat at the other side, and the other three girls sat at some chairs in the corner of the room.

"Alright, let's begin the interview," Rika said, not messing around. "First question, you know how much of a death-grip we keep on access to Area Zero. Dozens- no, hundreds- no, THOUSANDS of people before you have asked for such a priveledge, and we turned them down flat because they wanted to browse. Why should you be any different?"

"Because I have something that they didn't," Rosita replied. "A legitimate reason borne from concern for others."

"I see," Rika said with contemplation. "Well, then I can't wait to hear all about it."

"Alright," Rosita said, and she made her case.

-

After Rosita's compelling arguement.

-

"And that is why we request access to Area Zero," the caracal wrapped up her speech with.

"Alright, let me see if I got this straight," Rika responded, having typed everything down on the computer at her desk. "The reason you want to enter Area Zero is because a burst of light shot out of the Great Crater, it spat out a bunch of these domes all over Paldea, said domes made people and Pokemon vanish on contact while turning their Materials into these different hat-wearing humanoids with big, fat, honking spikes coming out of their shoulders, and you were able to fight them off by turning into magical... anti-heroes using balls of black metal that fuse you with legendary Pokemon spirits?"

"And," Rosita interjected, "we believe that the Great Crater is where this whole thing started, and if we could get access to Area Zero, we may be able to find out how it started and reverse it."

"Right, right, and the whole eyewitness thing with your friend there did tip the scales in your favor, I'll give you that much," Rika added. "Plus, I was wondering where Larry was for the past week, so the Elite Four has been one member short."

"So does that mean you'll let us enter Area Zero?" Dina asked with budding hope.

"No."

Glass was shattered in the girls' minds at that one word, after all the work they put into their quest.

"All that..."

"...work, and she..."

"Sa-sa... Sa-say..."

"Access to Area Zero denied," Rika said bluntly.

"SHE NEVER BOTHERED TO CARE!!!"

But while Jessica, Eartha and Dina's hearts were in tatters over the green-haired secretary's unfeeling words, Rosita sighed and only had this to say. "Fair enough. I tried."

"Girl what!?" Eartha exclaimed.

"How are you not outraged at this!?" Jessica demanded.

"Like I said," Rosita said as she got up and turned around, "I was going to play by her rules, and she told me to stop, so I was going to respect her and stop."

"But we still didn't get access to Area Zero!" Dina said in exasperation. "Are we just going to let our quest be all for nothing!?"

"Sorry, but there's nothing we can do," Rosita said as she walked back up to the door. "Rika's the boss around here, so what she says goes."

"Not so fast, Rosita Verdes."

That sentence alone froze the caracal in her tracks. She turned her head creakily before asking, "How did you know my name, Rika?"

"That wasn't me," Rika answered.

"And Rika is not the boss around here," a second voice added.

"She's not?" the Hell-Sent girls asked.

In response, a second figure stepped out of the darkened room behind Rika's desk... revealing a tall, tan-skinned woman with rounded, large, black hair with golden highlights and blue bang-roots. She wore a black dress-suit over a blue dress-shirt, with blue cuffs to match her gloves and a golden ribbon-tie to match the logo as well as black slacks and black dress-shoes that clicked on the floor to announce her presence.

"I am," said the woman known by many names, but more specifically... Chairwoman Geeta.

-

To be continued. (Dun-dun-DUN~)