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Sub would roll his eyes at Darts' comment and his lack of commitment to an apology, not that he expected such a thing out of him. "I should have known you were doing some button pushing..." He muttered softly to himself, not surprised in the least. The man would c**k an eyebrow at Darts as the Giratina hybrid pointed out the bulk of his wound were not from the galactic cat known as Crystal but instead from another. What around here, besides the aforementioned cat and the psychic bird, could harm Darts to such a degree? He would get an answer to that question as Darts conjured up a Master Ball, his stomach sinking before he even commented on what was inside, the image of the Master Ball enough.

"You caught...the ogre?" He repeated, in disbelief as he reached out and took the Master Ball, examining it closely with his eyes. It's not like he could see the Pokemon inside but he had no reason to not believe the hybrid, Darts wouldn't joke about something like this. "GRAY...?" He called out to the AI listening to all this through his SNAG.

"I can confirm there is a powerful Grass based energy being exuded from the Master Ball, on par with the energy signatures of Legendary Pokemon." GRAY announced.

"So it's a Grass type..." He said to himself, giving the ball one last look before handing it back over to Darts. "How? Why?" The man asked as he handed the ball back, staring at Darts in confusion. Maybe it was all the sake he drank but he was having difficulty piecing together how Darts came upon and captured the fabled ogre. "And it just came along with you? The dreaded ogre? The demon of Oni Mountain? The monster this entire town lives in fear? The town that celebrates its fabled defeat? And it just decided to go with you?"

The saddened Grimmsnarl would perk up as Amaranth called out to it, the performing Pokemon smiling and giving Amaranth a thankful nod as it understood her. It would quickly shift its outward expression back to that one of one of the 'evil ogre', now again angry and menacing. It was an actor after all and the show must go on.

With its newfound resolve the Grass type Grimmsnarl would let out a pained wale as the Pidgeot rhythmically chirped, the sound waves carrying with them a Normal energy based powered which would penetrate into the very soul of the Grimmsnarl and while it hurt it really was putting on more than it actually harmed it.

Amaranth's choice of attack would immediately grab the attention of the crowd as they turned their focus back to the battle, the people compelled to stomp and clap along with Pidgeot's beat. In just seconds Amaranth had reclaimed focus for the battle, to continue to pay homage to the Loyal Three's sacrifice.

Grimmsnarl was close to be down for the count but they still needed one last epic clash to wrap this battle up with, all legendary fights ended in one decisive blow after all. With crowd now interested again and pumped up by Pidgeot's beat Grimmsnarl knew just what move to break out, an easy lay up for the Pidgeot as well.

"Grimm...SNAAARL!" The ogre would conjure up a massive amount of Grass energy into the hair on its arm and with said infused hair would form a giant club around its arm. It would then take its club arm and swing it backwards, the club stretching out all the way across the battlefield behind it and some as its 'handle' extended. It would then take its hair club from a horizontal position and swing it with all its might overhead, intending to bring its Power Whip down upon Pidgeot, roaring savagely all the while. This display of power, especially using a club, the weapon of the ogre, caused the crowd to gasp and really get glued to the battle as some cried out for Pidgeot to get out of the way. But that wasn't going to happen, was it? No, Pidgeot was the hero of this story and heroes don't flee from threats.

The center area becoming icier wasn't a major problem for the moment, as it seemed to be keeping down a few Pokemon who had just discovered a few people were kindly collecting some fresh berries. And while that got the local Munchlax and Skwovet to wake up and attempt to get through the stuff, they weren't very successful at getting across the pure sheets of ice that now composed some of the direct routes to the deposit bins. However, all this meant is that it took some cooperation to get across, as a few of the Skwovet quickly organized and began to throw partners across the ice sheets towards the berry bins to get their new bounty of treats. And while it took some time for the Pokemon to figure out the exact physics of this very new material, one of their brave explorers would thread the gap across a few of the ice trails to avoid being stranded in between a few intersecting trails and reach the ground around the berry bins. As it climbed up to examine the bounty, the Skwovet could hear a whistling behind it, obviously its brethren impressed at the skill it took to make it across this whole new hazard in order to obtain their just reward for existing in the area and being hungry.

That would be the last thought that Skwovet would have for a while, as the whistling coalesced into a loud crack when the berry that had been hurtling through the air found its target in the potential thief. Flipping a few times in the air, the berry would drop into its proper bin. The entire display of violence, accuracy, and noise would be enough for the resident smaller Pokemon, who all decided that discretion was the better part of not getting a concussion and scattered back into their hideaways for the time being.

Letting out a cackling cheer from across the field, Leslie would swing her hammer at another balloon. The thing would pop and the berry would barely have time to hang in the air before Leslie's hammer swing would connect with the foodstuff and send it flying to land with a plop into the designated berry collection bin. See, while Cera had been figuring out how to use her Lapras as a transport across the plains, Leslie had been trying to practice something else. Namely, her accuracy with belting the berries into their bins from where she collected them. And she certainly felt like she had this whole golf swing slash baseball batting idea down to a science now.

That would be how things would progress for their time for a while, with Cera skating to and fro to collect from her areas while Leslie simply kept venturing along her path to collect and immediately fire off berries for delivery. And while there would be the occasional attempt by the smaller local Pokemon to once again scavenge some ill-gotten berries, they would just as quickly be driven off. Although, it seems strange that it slowly only became the Skwovet appearing. Had the Munchlax simply given up?

A few loud thumps from deeper in the woodland would catch Leslie's attention, followed by an absolutely monstrous roar. What the hell was that? Had they accidentally woken up the world's angriest Dragon-type and it was coming to obliterate them as revenge? More thumps would erupt as a few trees began to fall before they appeared out of the forest onto the plains, much faster than Leslie could have expected. Especially once it became clear what exactly was causing the mild deforestation: a trio of Snorlaxes, barreling through at full speed with a few Munchlax trailing behind. "Cera! We need to defend the berries! The locals are real angry they can't try and walk across to them!" Leslie shouted across the field as she took off to try and catch up to their newest problem, mostly making sure things were clear for her companion rather than as a way to inform her. Leslie was sure that it was impossible to miss the terrifying noises that had been produced by this stampede.

Clare would get confirmation from Sub via SNAG that there was no need to look into the Ogre Clan and the disappearing masks, that they have found where they went and have been returned to their rightful owner. Once that was cleared up Perrin would treat her new friend in Clare to some mochi from the traditional mochi maker and would have the hybrid join her to watch a puppet show depicting the Battle of the Loyal Three. After that the night was starting to wind down and Perrin would be sure to give Clare her number as they prepared to part ways.

"Please give my number to your agent, I would love the opportunity to work with your in a more professional setting some time!" She pleaded with Clare, her Growlithe barking happily in agreement as it nuzzled up to Clare's leg. "Oh! And before you go, here." She said, fishing out of her bag a small brooch. It was made of some kind of blue crystal and was designed to look like close up flower. "I got it from a stand selling jewelry made from the crystals harvested from the Crystal Pool. Apparently the locals are trying to break into the jewelry industry to grow Kitakami's economy. I only bought it to support them but I think it would look before on you. The man said the closed up flower represents unrealized potential and I think that really applies to someone as beautiful as you! You're going to go far!" She said with a smile before looking at her watch.

"Well, I better get going. I have an early bus tomorrow out of here. You have a good night! Keep in touch!" With that said she waved to Clare and walked off, Buddy following close behind.

Was he? Darts paused to muse on the idea for a couple seconds, having never thought about it in any sort of depth as Sub walks away from him, off to collect the members of the team. Maybe someday, he decided. Maybe some day.

He taps Claydol on the forehead, rapping it affectionately with one gilt knuckle before it warps him off back to HQ in a flash.

Freth watched as Crystal started her way off back for the HQ. As she hovered over the waters, Freth once again crossed her arms under her wings, partially wondering if this team was ever going to actually make it through one excursion without something going wrong. It was only two days and something had to happen between members. They were to head back tomorrow roughly first thing, if nothing else, Tristen still had roughly a day longer than that so he could catch a flight back to Paldea. Well, she wasn’t leaving without a souvenir, if nothing else. Eris’s Galarian Articuno visage appeared in the water reflection below Freth, staring at Freth with a bit of annoyance. “You’re not getting more of that sake, are you?” Eris spoke to her.

“Hey, that was some good sake…I wonder if they got jugs around here.” It got a sigh out of Eris, the image returning to Freth’s reflection in the meantime.

Meanwhile back at the festival grounds, Tristen who was going to assist Clara with trying to figure out where the masks went off to was cut off when Sub messaged stating that the masks were returned to the original owner. Tristen stared in confusion as if to ask what in the world Sub meant by that, but apparently whatever the case was, there was no needed to investigate into the Ogre Clan. He’d probably try to reach him later to find out what was going on. With Perrin and Clare off on their own way, Tristen went on to try to enjoy himself a little more at the festival, for what little of it there still was for the time being, though he kept on the look out for this other person that he was told about before the Snagems arrived. It was going to be busy for the next 18 hours or so for the Manetric hybrid.

After splitting off from Perrin for the night and heading back to the community center, Clare took a bit of time to begin typing up a preliminary report on their SNAG regarding the Loyal Three. After spending about half an hour on it, they put away the device and changed into their pajamas before crawling into the bed they'd been provided with and getting some sleep.

When morning came, they would awake with the sunrise, the sound of local farm Pokemon also awakening greeting them as they showered, dressed and made their way back into town for a short time. It would be a short visit, taking only a little time to walk around to some of the more noticeable folks in town and ask about the Loyal Three. Along the way, they would learn the town still had one family of descendants from the mask maker of the old legends and upon speaking with him, would learn of a slightly different tale regarding the Three. He would be the last person they spoke to before heading back to the community center and spending the rest of the day working on their report.

That is, when they weren't admiring the beautiful brooch Perrin had gifted them, at least. The flower was so realistic that it almost seemed alive, as if it might burst into bloom at any moment and shower it's surroundings in crystalline dust via it's pollen.

By the end of the day, the hybrid had constructed a decently well-written report on the Loyal Three, the names now learned as "Okidogi", "Munkidori" and "Fezandipiiti" and the Ogre, who they had now learned had a name "Ogrepon". Sitting with their completed report as day drew into night, they looked out to the fields once again. "How interesting the world is. I never would have thought that such a tale could exist in such a modern world. Especially one with more than one side, even if only one person knows the other side of it." They told themself.

By this point, they had to grab their bag and head back to the bus station for the trip back. It seemed many of the Snagems had returned home already by this point and they sighed softly as they noted the distinctly smaller number of people who would be riding the bus back."I do hope those two are alright... I'll have to go back and check on them soon." They noted to themself as the bus arrived. With their brooch clipped to their collar as it had been yesterday, they ensured their bag was on hand and boarded. It didn't appear to be Mr. Marcel driving this time but they were too distracted to pay any attention to who was at the moment.