Previously on Oranges to Grapes...

Pico's mother, Jill Hatsuki, begins to take notice of the changes happening around Paldea from her home in Zapapico, while Pico himself is the last to have his dreams visited by Terry...

-

The rest of the night passed by uneventfully, but when the first sunbeams rose from the eastern coast, the first thing they shone on... was the inaccessable mass of rock in the northeast that no one could navigate due to an invisible force preventing that.

Back in Mesagoza, however, the sky was beginning to lighten as the stars faded away, from thousands to hundreds to tens... until the last speck of light diasappeared altogether, signaling the start of a new day in Paldea.

Ko was being roused from his rest, reaching up in a big stretch as he got out of bed. "At last, the day of the big score has come," he said to himself. "Oh, I'm already so excited for tonight, I don't know if I can contain myself until the last bell! Oh, better get ready!"

And he wasn't the only one raring to get going. Camilla, Pico and Balto were already getting ready to begin another day at the Academy, mainly because their reprieve to recover from their injuries was almost over and they could get on with their Treasure Hunt afterwards. But, let us leave them for the nunce, because we do have other characters to follow.

-

Meanwhile, in the northeast cave of Paldea, Rosita, Jessica and Eartha were still sleeping soundly, unaware that their Sealing Balls were starting to faintly glow... but the light of the sun eventually illuminated the inside of the cave, rousing the girls from their sleep.

"Nnnnmmmm..." Rosita grumbled as she pushed herself up from the cave floor, aching. "Aaauuuuugh, hoh, that was a mistake. That's the last time I sleep on the cold, hard ground expecting to wake up refreshed."

Eartha's ear twitched at the sound of a voice. "Mmmmnnn... morning already?" she asked with her eyes closed.

"Mmmmnnn... wake me when Leopold gets back, I don't want to miss him," Jessica mumbled.

"Meh," Rosita said. "I'm gonna check outside and see if they're back yet, let you two snooze." After a big stretch to try and pop her bones back into place, she sauntered her way out of the cave, shielding her eyes from the morning light. "Conner? Conner, where are you? It's been hours now, so if you and the others are planning to make a surprise entrance, now would be the time to do it."

But there was no response. "Conner, I'm serious," Rosita called out, starting to get anxious. "I still have my Sealing Ball on my person, and we need you and the other spirits to find the fourth one so we can get a leg up on those domes!"

Still no response. "Look, if this is about forgetting to feed you guys, we're sorry! Please don't do this to us!" She even took out a Kelpsy Berry and held it up. "Look! I have a Kelpsy Berry right here if you come back!"

Now the poor caracal was starting to panic, and looked down at the lawn at her feet. "Wait, of course! Obviously, Conner can't form a new body because the leaves and grass here are stuck too fast! Aah! Don't worry, buddy! I'll get your new vessel started!"

In a frenzy, Rosita got down on her knees and started yanking grass and leaves out by the handful, yowling with every yank! But all she did was wake Jessica and Eartha from their rest. "Rosita, what's with all the ruckus?" the snow leopard asked as she and the fennec fox exited the cave.

"I'm trying to provide some materials for Conner to form his new body, that's what's with all the ruckus!" Rosita defended. "The same could also go for Leopold and Anton! Eartha, you go back into the cave and try to knock some dirt and rocks loose while Jessica climbs up the hill to scrape off some frost from the mountainside!"

"Easy!" Eartha barked. "There can be other ways for us to navigate Paldea without our partners! I scouted the area yesterday, remember?"

"So we're just supposed to abandon the spirits of the Treasures of Ruin because we have other options!?" Rosita challenged.

"Okay, okay, I clearly see what's going on here," Jessica interjected. "Rosita just misses Conner, don't you?"

That got the younger feline to pause long enough before she finally said, "Yes... yes, I miss Conner. Before I became the first Hell-Sent Cure, I was living with parents that only married for money. Then one day, I popped up into the picture, and their whole outlook on life went down the crapper! They tried to keep me in consideration, but they didn't even know the first thing about love, let alone raising a child! Even worse, the longer I lived, the more they struggled, the more frustrated they got, and the more they started fighting everyone... even me when I got old enough to understand Pokemon!"

"Whoa," Jessica said, "wow, a lot to unpack there..."

"Well, there's still more, so get comfortable," Rosita continued. "Anyway, once I reached 9 years of age, somehow, there was a a lot of stress over at my home whenever Mom and Dad came home from work, and they would usually take it out on me because the world is a dog-eat-dog world in every job, and they never wanted to take any edges off so they could take digs at me. Didn't matter if I was good or not, they had to explode on someone. Back then, the only way I could get any joy from life was a single wandering Maschiff that roamed into town, but I had to be quiet because they wouldn't let me interact with Pokemon until I was of age. Suddenly, my life wasn't... as much hell, but when I got myself an allowance, which, let's face it, was me just scrounging around for loose change, I started spending it on Poke Balls so I could catch that Maschiff and make it my first Pokemon so they couldn't do anything about it... but it kept busting out no matter how many I used."

"Ouch," Eartha said. "Just... ouch."

"Skip ahead to more than a week ago," Rosita carried on, "when I got my acceptance letter from the Academy, I thought, at least I'll be in less hell than at home, if I can even call it that. That Maschiff came up to me as I was about to leave that gulag for good... but one of the Academy's students snagged it in a Quick Ball before I could even give it a hello. So I decided to take the problem to the school itself, but its head mistook me for a rabble-rouser and turned me away... meaning I had to go back to that attica and take more lumps from those... whoopsers!" The last word of that sentence was spat out of her muzzle SOPPING with venom, making her listeners cringe.

"Okay, now you're just poking the Ursaring there-"

"Well, I'm not done!" Rosita cut off. "I was starting to plan making a break for it and leaving them for good no matter what, but after I came to my venting spot to let out some frustration, it must've woken up something because the grass there suddenly came to life and threw me at Grasswither Shrine, where I got myself trapped and met my first friend that I could converse with: my partner Conner. He offered me a way out of all the hell I was suffering for so many years, a way where I could look at the world with eyes unclouded by stress... and I took it. With him, I could travel around Paldea and scale its tallest hights. With him, I could become someone who could stand against bad things and fight back. With him, I could meet different inhabitants of the region that would become my friends... and if I ever lost those joys... I would have to go back to the cold, unforgiving sea of hell that I was forced to call home... and I don't want to!"

After letting all of that burdening backstory go, Rosita finally fell apart at the seams, letting out wails of anguish as hot, bitter tears streamed from her eyes. Jessica and Eartha were at a loss for their next move as they saw the poor kitty come unglued; should they let her have her emotions, or step in and do something?

But their indecision made the choice for them; after she drained her eyes of tears for a minute and a half, Rosita sighed in defeat and got up. "But I guess I'm just spinning my wheels here. Just because we can't take shortcuts anymore doesn't mean we can't navigate Paldea on foot. Eartha, lead the way."

"I'll do my best," Eartha said, and the girls started walking up the hill...

-

To be continued.