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"Ah! Kanto, big cities." Mitsuo replied with a nod, getting himself a bottled water from a nearby old cooler that looked like it had seen better days. "I have cousin from Kanto that moved to Alola long time ago, moved his entire family there. City called...Mall? Mail? Aye! What was that place called? Where cousin Michiaki moved to?" Mitsuo called out to his daughter, waving both tail 'hands' to get her attention. The girl would immediately respond non-verbally, raising her singular hand tail and having it bend all fingers down except the 'pointer finger' as if to tell him to give her a moment while she finished ringing up a customer. Once she was done she would turn around to answer.

"Malie City, dad. It's a city on Ula-ula Island. He works as a janitor for the recycling plant last I heard." The Aipom hybrid replied to her father, briefly locking eyes with Monique, flashing her a smile and giving her a quick nod of acknowledgement before returning to her customers.

"That's it! Malie! He moved to Malie, tells me it reminds him of home but much bigger than our town. You been to Malie?" He asked her, changing out his wet bandana for a dry one as he prepared to get back to work. "Ever make mochi?" He also asked as he had a thought.

Perrin nodded in response to Clare's offer, considering the prospect for a moment before she spoke again. "I suppose it couldn't hurt. However I have no idea where to find this Ogre Clan. All I know about them is they a nomadic group of masked individuals that worship the Ogre of Oni Mountain. However even that information I only recently acquired from- hey!" As she spoke Clare decided they were going to go off on their own to find information, the photographer quick to catch up to and stop Clare. "Hold on, I might have an idea on where to get some information on the clan. Humor me for a moment and let's go pay the mask seller a visit." Perrin said, releasing Clare before walking off in a different direction to seek out the mask seller. If Clare followed or not it was her decision.



The mask seller would look to the mask Tristen pointed at and nodded, motioning to one of their Yamask who immediately floated up to said mask and picked it up with one hand while their head their own with the other. The Unovan Yamask would then float over to Tristen and present the boy with the chosen mask. "You know, they say masks are the faces of our inner selves. Ponder what that might mean for you, adolescent male." The seller said with a slight chuckle. "Please, put it on. Show us your true face." After putting the mask on the seller would stare in silence at the masked Tristen for a long while, his Yamask slinking back and away, as if taken aback by something they saw in Tristen while wearing the mask.

The seller would simply ask for payment, their demeanor now changed and once Tristen paid for the mask and no doubt prepared to walk off the mask seller would speak to him once more. "The Ogre Clan plans to take the Sacred Masks and give them as tribute to the ogre itself." They said plainly, their back turned to Tristen and speaking as clear as ever. "One of the drop off spots will be at the base of the Mossened Boulder next to the temple." They said, then turning around and looked up at the moon above. "The ceremonial battle should be taking place right now. If I were part of the Ogre Clan now would be the perfect chance to steal the masks."

What was this all about so suddenly? Sacred Masks being stolen? And how did the mask seller know all this? Were they part of the Ogre Clan? And why tell a random kid this? It was all very strange and not any of Tristen's business. Then again, he now knew of a theft about to take place, or already had taken place.




As Tristen and Freth left the mask seller's stall they would cross paths with two familiar faces in the form of Clare and Perrin, the photographer recognizing Freth immediately. Was hard to forget a hybrid like here. "Hey! I see you met the mask seller I told you about!" Perrin said as she approached the pair of Snagems. "Did you hear the buzz about the masks?" She asked, her smile turning into a frown.

As Crystal goes through her own tirade, making some good points of her own, particularly about his absences from the team and ducking the questions she had been asking to the points about her body changing, he wished he could interject and make some points of his own about how things had gone when he first came into this body. The struggles, the ups and downs, the fact that he still didn't quite know what to make of it. But he couldn't. He was too angry to be helpful, and she was on a roll. Such is the way of conflict a lot of the times. Even still, Darts seethes through her speech, attempting and failing to cut her off several times, until it finally reaches the climax where she disrobes and launches a full strike at his gut.

He may have deserved it, but that didn't stop him from shifting his weight to block it reflexively, putting his hands in the way of the oncoming punch. Even moving his weight and shifting the center of gravity did very little for the rest of the momentum, as her iron-clad fist clangs off his golden talons and sends him flying through the air backwards, out of the battle arena from the sheer force of her attack. The hybrid crashes straight through a confectionist selling candy apples, sending sweet treats on sticks flying willy-nilly as he does so, much to the joy of several nearby kids who are scooping up the now ground-bound unattended candies, much to the despair of their nearby parents.

Trying to stay calm, Darts slams on the air brakes as he nears the edge of the festival proper, his jagged wings materializing and unfurling out of his back to try and fight the trajectory he was on, flapping over and over. It manages to slow him a bit even though the wings weren't massive as their mystical energy, the same stuff that allowed him to soar through the sky despite their size and structure, manages to bring him to a skidding faltering halt. Even with the attempt to slow down he crashes back-first into a structure made of lumber, placed in a spot of respect for people to come by and view the item highlighted by it, one of the three stands built for holding the masks of Kitakami. It bursts upon impact, the fragile homemade stand shattering with the impact of the gambler flying into it, nearly sending him down to a knee as he tries to gracefully regain his footing. Nails, wood, an emblazoned placard, and a strange-looking laughing mask spill all over the ground in the wake of him hitting it, splinters and construction material dashed across the grass as the wooden and gemstone keepsake lands in the middle of the wreckage.

The punch hadn't damaged much except for his pride, but boy was he angry because of it. He could feel that well of energy he often tapped into surging and writhing in the center of his guts. Blue fire materializes from his body, wrapping and curling around the edges of every move he makes. Darts keeps his actions deliberate and slow as he tries not to lose control, searching for something to keep himself centered. The townsfolk nearest him were all staring, agape at the destruction and no doubt the way he was looking, eyes now red flashing lights, two beams of crimson shooting out of his 'mask' while dragon energy coils around his limbs and jacket. Trying to reach for Calm Mind and wash the energies away wasn't helping right now, he couldn't keep his thoughts clear and serene even for a moment. While he regulated his breathing, he looked out at the people of Kitakami expectantly watching him, some of the villagers stepping forward and people following him from the main battle area to check on him. Even a group of curious kids stepped up nearby, more bravery and curiosity than sense.

"Are you okay mister?" A little girl in a Pikachu mask asked him, the same one who had bowed to him earlier in the day to apologize for her friend's actions.

He knew he could afford no wrong moves here, the innocent question salving his wounded pride a little. This was their festival, they deserved one day of peace without destruction. He raises his golden head languidly, glaring back at Crystal still shooting daggers at him from where she stood, in a fighting pose. He wanted nothing more than to rocket back over to her and take out some of his frustration with a good brawl. But he also knew he shouldn't. Couldn't. He couldn't stay here either, or he was going to tear this part of the festival apart with his bare hands right, wrong, or otherwise.

Darts snatched the mask up off the ground in front of him, almost unconsciously, without a reason to do so. He shrugs a Pokeball out of his jacket pocket into his hand, trembling as he raises it. "R-return, Gimmighoul!" He manages to command in a shaky voice, not trusting his ability to say too much more. A red beam snaps out to collect his Pokemon from where it had been cowering behind its coin while watching the whole thing go down between the two Snagems. Again he opens his mouth to try and say something else to Crystal, looking at her one final time but then snaps his jaw shut as he feels another surge of rage radiate through his body. He spins on his heel and makes for the edge of town straight behind him and the night beyond, the mask tucked under his armpit.

"Excuse me sir, but that mask is-" A portly middle-aged man of the town attempts to intercept the Giratina hybrid on the way out, making a poor choice to assume he was just another costumed reveler. Luckily for him, Darts manages to hold back and avoid injuring him as he casually redirects the larger gentleman's weight, tossing him effortlessly over his head with a flick of the wrist and a turn of his hips under his jacket. He doesn't stop to apologize as the older man hits the grass with a grunt, the wind knocked out of him. Blue fire and bad attitude highlights the gambler's path into the wilderness as he tries to let some of the excess adrenaline bleed off, knocking one of the trees too close to him out of the way with a 'crack' as he shoves it to make room, Outrage powering the whole thing out of the ground, roots and all, as he heads into the darkness.

Tristen would take the mask and put it on, even though it wouldn’t fit on his face quite right. A lot of these masks didn’t really account for a mouth on some hybrids, let alone on a canine based hybrid such as him. He even showed Freth while wearing it, which Freth had to remain stone faced…only until the very second Tristen turned away to pay the mask salesman, she had to frantically stifle a lot of laughs. It did look rather comical on him. She would straighten herself out once the transaction finished. Though as the two started to get ready to go look at the other parts of the festival, the two perked up when the mask salesman spoke once more. Even behind his mask, he couldn’t hide his utter confusion of the mask salesman’s knowledge of an apparent heist by this Ogre bunch to return it to the ogre itself. And the ceremonial battle was supposed to be happening just as they spoke. It was sudden, not even prompted, as if this mask salesman was trying to push over the proverbial dominos of fate to get it in motion. Did he agree with what the clan was doing if it was true? Did he know who Tristen and Freth were? God, this guy was all manner of creepy.

Tristen would walk off from the stall with Freth floating close by. Tristen adjusted the mask off his face and had it placed along side his head instead then started to look at the few notes that he made. Tristen couldn’t help but to stare at them a bit worringly, not so much as what he wrote, but what just had transpired at the stall they were just in. “What’s wrong?” Freth asked. “Guy give you the creeps?”

“No. I mean…well…” he took a quick glance back, then back towards his notes. “Well, yea, but that’s not it…its...I…don’t know. Do you think he was telling the truth? About this Ogre clan taking the masks?” Tristen asked.

“Even if they were, it’d be a big mistake with the likes of us around.” She said. “I wouldn’t worry about it a whole hell of a lot. What about what you got for your school work? Good enough?”

“I think I am going to need to see that guy I heard about also just to make sure. I don’t think I got enough still. Though it did give me a thought. It seems like this ogre clan knows something as well. Not to mention, I might have to see if I can’t make a trip up the mountain before I leave and see about exploring the area where this ogre is supposed to be.”

“What? Come on, what…you’re going to interview an Ogre pokemon?” Freth said, a lot of disbelief in her tone. Tristen would look back at Freth as if that wasn’t a bad idea out of her, or at least something along those lines wasn’t a bad idea. Freth’s eyes went wide suddenly in that few seconds of silence and soon after that, Freth could hear Eris laughing within her mental confines.

“Will you stop?” Freth yelled at Eris.

“Hahaha…sorry…its just, a what? Fourteen-year-old now? And I can’t believe how cute he gets like that. Its haha…it’s just astounding.” Eris replied. Freth could only give an exasperated sigh in the physical space, which only garnered a head-tilt out of confusion from the Manetric hybrid.

The two then looked over towards Clare and Perrin, the later of whom got their attention. “Oh, hey Perrin.” Tristen spoke up. “Yea…you didn’t tell me the guy was kinda creepy though…” He said, a little under his voice. “But yea, we heard some things about them too. Nothing all that good. I mean why-“ Before Tristen would finish that sentence, Freth and Tristen’s attention then got turned over towards the massive crash and commotion that happened a short ways away. It was only a moment from the wreckage where they could see Darts emerge from it. “…and here I was worried about something Leslie would do.”

Freth looked over, seeing Crystal on the other hand, rubbing the back of her head, not really sure as to what to make of the situation. She noticed Crystal was apparently tense around Darts over the past day, though she wasn’t getting in the middle of that and if she had to guess, whatever happened boiled over something fierce. “Oh boy…I think the vacation is about to come to a screeching halt.” Freth said.

A flock of Hoothoot are startled by the crashing tree, the birds taking to the night sky in fright with a cacophony of 'hoots', though Darts no doubt too angry to even register the presence of the frightened Pokemon. No one else would even attempt to get anywhere near Darts, watching him wander off into the wilds from affair and waiting until he was a good distance away before anything was done about the burning dragon flames he left in his wake. The men who ran up to deal with the flames would quickly realize they weren't proper fire when the water from their Wooper failed to dose it. They would disappear on their own in time. Regardless all this attracted the attention of one other, hiding behind another tree, watching as Darts fumed.

"Pooon..." The small green creature whined quietly from behind the tree. As it watched Darts walk away it removed its green 'face', a mask, before replacing it with an angry looking red one. It was the ogre of the mountain, the one Tsuki had crossed paths with and from the looks of it it had acquired a new mask between that encounter and now.

Darts would make it a good ways away from the festival, finding himself in the dark and quiet wilds of Kitakami. Only the light from the stars above and the sound of the many local Kricketot to keep him company. Eventually Darts would settle at a local to plant roots and try to calm himself, either by sitting or standing. A good few minutes would go by after he found this location, just after his Outrage broke, before something attempted to compel him to move once more. It had waited for this vulnerable moment to strike, having stalked him all the way here.

"Ogrepooon!" Roared the red mask wearer as it leaped out from behind some bushes, its cudgel raised high and cloaked in flames. Darts would catch a glimpse of the briefly airborne creature, the light from the moon and stars reflecting off the gemstone eyes of the mask. The small Pokemon would attempt to bring its weapon down upon Darts, its own strength and gravity behind the attack. Upon contact with victim-to-be or ground the ogre would unleash the built up fire energy in its cudgel in the form a fiery explosion which would immediately burn away the grass around it.

Perrin would flinch as Darts went flying via a one way ticket provided by Crystal. The photographer would look at the scuffling Snagems and then at Tristen, doing the math and figuring they were all together. "...friends of yours?" The girl asked, then watching Darts storm off and Crystal wander off herself. She would get confirmation that they were all together as Clare spoke up, Perrin unsurprised that all these hybrids knew each other. It's not like you saw this mean all the time this far out in the sticks. "So are those two going to be okay?" She asked the three Snagems nearby, showing concern for Darts and Crystal. "Do we need to call someone or...?"




Amber and Aile, while not too familiar with each other, would eventually cross paths with one another, walking through the crowds near one another. As the two women walked along they would come across an elderly woman who seemed lost or confused, the old lady looking around for something from what they could tell. She was paying close attention to children causing at least one parent to pull their child away as she attempted to take their mask off of them. Frustrated the woman would begin to pace, as if in a panic. She would eventually lock eyes with the two women heading her way and wave over at them.

"Excuse me! Excuse me! Has anyone seen a child in a green jacket? And wearing a green or blue mask. Oh dear! I must find that mask!" She said, frantic and pacing as everyone tried avoid the woman apparently having a senior moment.

Cera and Leslie would eventually arrive back at the stand, the call for Ogre Oustin' to start having attracted them and a few of the other teams that had signed up for the whole event. In fact, it appeared that they had been beaten there by at least one other participating team since they could be actively observed on the course. Looked to be another pair of people, a guy and a girl attempting their own strategy, as the guy hung close to the deposit area while riding atop a Rhydon to deter the pestering Pokemon from robbing the bins and attempting to gather from a few of the closer balloons while the girl roamed across the rest of the play area on her Mightyena to gather up the berries from the further balloons and taking the trek back to deposit them by hand. It was certainly an effective strategy, with them racking up a steady amount of points but it seemed like the point gains were beginning to slow down as the close balloons dried up and the further balloons grew further and further away.

It seemed they were realizing this as well, with the Rhydon rider getting more daring with his ranges to gather material. But that thing had been picked for being a goalie first, so the slow stomping around when most of the midrange had already been cleared out wasn't improving things as much as they maybe wished and even resulted in some Munchlax and Greedent reaching the storage bins and managing to grab one or two of their berries before one of them managed to get back and deter them. Soon enough, the bell would ring and the duo would come back to the starting area as the Oustin' field was reset and they were given their point total. While it certainly meant they could go something either as reward for hitting the points or for exchanging them, Leslie had completely missed the whole prize thing and had absolutely no idea how that all worked beyond prizes would be obtained.

The call would come out for the next registered participants of Cera and Leslie to come to the starting line. Giving a smile before stepping to the line, the Tinkatuff hybrid would crack open her Pokeball and quickly take position astride her Onix. "Alright, Cera. You take the right side and I'll take the left side. Then just make sure you do what you were practicing and I'm sure everything will go great." Leslie said, hoping her words of encouragement weren't falling on deaf ears. While the idea had been sound and some attempts had gone well, she distinctly remembered a few practice attempts ending in her catching Cera and her Lapras directly to her skull after a slight overcorrection turned into a major skid.

But there was no time for that, as the buzzer sounded off and they were taking off, Leslie and her Onix automatically diverting to the right to begin their efforts popping balloons and getting to work on gathering everything. Time would tell how Cera's approach was going to pan out after the one training day to make it work....