Previously on Oranges to Grapes...
Professor Jacq enters the town of Artazon and requests the help of Gym Leader Brassius to weed out any potential sleeper agents... which he succeeds in. Unfortunately, all he can get out of the one sleeper agent he could find was that they were called Diademons before it refuses to comply further and meets the same fate as three of its own. Jacq then sends out a message to Paldea on how to flush out more Diademons through the internet...
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Needless to say, that video recording of Professor Jacq informing about the Diademons spread like a bad cold. One person saw the video online, and they put the theory to the test with a new neighbor of theirs. It flushed out a Diademon, which another Trainer's Pawmot made short work of when they saw what happened. That Trainer was shown the video, and they showed it to more, and so on and so forth until there wasn't a single person in Paldea with a Rotom Phone that didn't know about the Diademons.
Well... almost.
That same night, one of the Diademons was activated in front of one that was still disguised, and it triggered its memories without making it drop its ruse. As soon as the triggered one was shattered by a Gogoat, the hidden one picked up the crystal scepter it left behind without raising suspicion. Now that it knew that everyone in Paldea was catching on to their sting operation and fighting back, it had to let someone know what was happening.
That person knew where to go, so they rushed off to the melting-pot city of Medali... but they didn't stop there. They climbed up the swerving path to the gate to the Great Crater... but walked further up the hill to throw off the scientist by the gate. After making sure the coast was clear, they rushed through the tunnel to the Zero Gate... where someone else was standing.
"Hey!" the person coming in shouted. "This is a restricted area, so get out of here!"
"So what makes you think you have any right to be here?" the other person spat back.
"Get out before I have to make you!"
"No!"
"THAT DOES IT! YOU ASKED FOR THIS!" Finally, the disguised Diademon cast off its mortal ruse and revealed its true form... But so did the other person, who was also a Diademon! "Wha?"
"So, both of us weren't who we seemed... But why are you here?"
"Tell me why you're here first, maybe your reason's the same as mine."
"Because I'm here to inform the bosses about our current situation with our mission," the first Diademon said as he produced a crystal scepter, a.k.a. the remains of one of its fallen brethren, "and that we may be in trouble."
"What a coincidence," the second Diademon said, feigning surprise as he had the same as its comerade. "So am I."
"Hmm." After reevaluating the situation, the first one suggested, "Perhaps we could tell them together?"
"Sure, I don't see why not," the second one agreed. "Now come on, let's go."
Finally, the door to the Zero Gate was opened, and both Diademons stepped inside the metal building together. They then stepped on the warp pad in the center of the floor before it whisked them away to the third research station. After exiting the metal-plated cabin, both of them found themselves in the ever-lit meadow of Area Zero... but this time, it was darker than usual, matching the current light setting outside of the Great Crater!
That didn't stop the Diademons from the destination they had in mind, because they continued down the soft grass until they reached a small crevice hidden in the walls of the Great Crater behind some rocks. They then walked further down this secret tunnel until it led them to a hidden oasis with more grass etched with mysterious markings in front of a waterfall.
After they stepped into the square at the center of the markings, their crystalline bodies suddenly flashed twice. A few seconds later, a small point of multicolored light appeared before them and grew bigger until it reached the size of a smart car, then the light faded to reveal the presence of an 18-faceted chunk of alexandrite floating before them. The jewel then seemed to speak with multiple voices in unison,
"Our angles are many, our sides are not few.
We are the Dooctohedron, who are you?"
"I am Gary, a Diademon who was stationed in the city of Medali," the first Diademon said.
"And I am Laura, a Diademon who was stationed in the town of Artazon," the second Diademon added.
The Dooctohedron spoke again.
"One from Medali, another Artazon.
So why from your posts are both of you gone?"
"Because we come with disparaging news of our mission," Gary explained. "Not only are the Paldeans not answering for their crimes against the light, we believe that they are planning a coup to exterminate us!"
"It's true," Laura agreed as both of them produced their crystal scepters. "After my fellow brother-in-arms Larry was felled by a purple-haired man with hexagonal glasses and ratty clothes, he broadcasted the trigger phrase through the internet, telling others how to force us out of hiding!"
"And even though Terastalization was lost to Paldea long ago, the Pokemon up there can still be raised to be strong enough to destroy us!" Gary added.
"So, what should we do now?" Laura asked.
The Dooctohedron simply hovered where it was, as if contemplating the situation Gary and Laura presented. Then, after a few seconds, it spoke again.
"So, they refuse to stay out of the future and past,
And instead choose to fight you all down to the last.
Yet they still keep forgetting this one truth in their fight:
As long as there's darkness, there will also be light.
If they want to be stubborn and stay out of their place,
They've another thing coming, for we have an ace!"
At that moment, the 18-faceted alexandrite jewel started spinning, flipping and whirling around in place, shining brighter and brighter. Then, all of a sudden, it flew away from the Diademons and darted out of the oasis, right into the center of the Great Crater outside of the cave... but it didn't stop there.
In its new placement, the Dooctohedron seemed to flail in place even faster, making it resemble a solid sphere with a jagged force field. Then, all of the diamond dust floating in the air blew towards the frenzied gemstone and coalesced upon it. Even Gary and Laura started to disintegrate into more diamond dust and were swept up into the glittering blizzard of light!
"What's happening!?" Gary exclaimed as his limbs were disappearing.
"The Dooctohedron must be absorbing all the crystal in the Great Crater!" Laura shouted as she was also fading away. "Along with us!"
"What's gonna happen to us!?"
"I don't know, but our sacrifice better be worth it!"
Finally, all the crystal in the Great Crater was gone... and so were the Diademons. The trees had no crystal, the caves had no crystal... even the research stations had no crystal. All of it was absorbed into the Dooctohedron, which was now the size of an apartment complex building and shining so bright, it almost brought the light back to the Great Crater. But then, the massive, blinding, multicolored hunk of shiny rock shot up and out of the Great Crater entirely!
Outside, the mouth of the Great Crater had a massive burst of energy shoot out of it, making it look like a volcano erupting with light instead of lava. But the mass kept flying higher, and higher, AND HIGHER UNTIL FINALLY-
An explosion of light resembling the Tera symbol burst in the night sky, and from that burst, 18 masses of different colors came screaming back down to earth and impacted in different parts all over Paldea!
Eight of them crashed into the Battle Courts where the Gym Leaders held their battles against Trainers.
Five of them crashed onto the large tents in the Star Training Centers.
And the other five landed right slap in front of the Titan Pokemon's dens.
From were the masses landed, piles of crystal emerged and grew, as if all of Paldea had begun to Terastalize itself! Then, the piles shattered, leaving behind majestic crystal structures decorated with Tera Jewels, and in flashes of light...
All of Paldea had been completely transformed into a polyarchy empire by the Dooctohedron.
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To be continued.
