Previously on Oranges to Grapes...
After the Hell-Sent Cures prepare for another short victory, one of the Diademons they face has a trick up its figurative sleeve, so Dina has to transform to help them...
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Dina raised the Sealing Ball over her head and shouted, "Precure Ruination!"
Bea dissipated into embers, and it swirled around Dina and made her clothes turn into golden light... then they started changing!
First, her torso became surrounded with flames that coalesced onto her until they became a tan bodice with gold puffed sleeves and a gold pinstripe.
Next, more flames spiraled around her waist and became a gold knee-skirt with red and orange edges.
Then, even more flames swirled around her wrists and ankles until they became billowing gold sleeve extensions and red gladiator-laced net boots.
Finally, she threw the Sealing Ball in the air as more golden light poured out of the top of her head, and she twirled her fingers through it as it became a set of golden braids. The ball then landed on her chest and became a cerulean center knot of a gold ribbon tied in a bow.
"Antithesis of gratitude, Cure Envy!"
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As the fourth and final Hell-Sent Cure stood before the battle, the other three were still struggling to catch the leftover Diademon that kept darting and dodging away. But after a few short seconds, Cure Envy knew what to do.
She took a running stance, primed her legs... and darted after the speedy crystal monster, leaving behind a fiery explosion!
The sound of the blast alone got the other three Cures to stop, giving the Diademon the chance to make its getaway... or so it thought before something grabbed its arm. "Going somewhere?"
"AH! I've been got!" the Diademon exclaimed in surprise, but then turned around and asked in a sweet voice, "Please let me go?"
"Well, since you asked so nicely," Cure Envy said, feigning mercy as she released the Diademon's arm and darted away... but it was caught in another fiery explosion that toppled it backwards from the force alone, and the heat charred its surface while it landed hard on the ground enough to break off its leg and snap off its hand!
"AAAHHHH!!!" the Diademon screamed in anguish, now incapacitated. "My leg! My hand! My hand and my leg! Augh!"
"And now to finish the job!"
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Cure Envy ignited into flames and ran at full speed towards the Diademon!
"This is the punishment for your crimes! Precure... Firescourge..."
She crashed into the Diademon multiple times, forcing heat energy into its body and making it hotter and hotter!
"INFERNO!!!"
With a snap of her fingers, the Diademon exploded spectacularly in a massive blaze of glory!
"You have issues!" the Diademon seemed to say before it was shattered into diamond dust.
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"And that takes care of that," Cure Envy said as she dusted her hands. "I see handling these things was a lot easier than I thought, and I didn't even have to put too much emotion into it. Like I had to be on my time of the month just to handle them."
"I heard that!" Jessica called out, already powered down along with Rosita and Eartha.
"Glad to hear that you enjoy your new powers and all," Rosita said, "but you almost burned down the whole grove!"
"So while you were 'finishing the job,' as you put it," Eartha added, "our partners have been out here on damage control!" Sure enough, Leopold was extinguishing flames with ice-sighs, Anton was stirring ashes into the soil, and Conner was willing bamboo sprouts to grow into new stalks.
"Sorry," Dina said after she and Bea separated, "got a little carried away there. But now that the team is at full squad, the question now is, what should we do now?"
"Well, as it stands," Conner stated after the last bamboo stalk was regrown, "as long as these crystal domes remain in Paldea, Diademons are still liable to appear from Pokemon being absorbed into the domes. And as long as Pokemon see these domes as encroachment on their territories, they will keep trying to remove them and fail, inevitably becoming absorbed and resulting in more Diademons."
"So what Conner's saying is," Leopold fretted, "if the domes keep making more Diademons, Pokemon will keep attacking them, and if Pokemon keep attacking them, the domes will keep making more Diademons! It is an endless loop of tragedy and consequence!"
"Or," Dina interjected, "the area could run out of Pokemon, and the Diademons could get bored and disappear back into the dome."
"Oh, yeah, or that," Bea added.
"Oh, right, Dina knows things about the Diademons we don't," Rosita said. "Well, now that she's part of the team now, there's still some questions to be answered."
"For starters," Jessica asked, "where did the domes come from? How do you know how they work? And how did you and Bea become partners in the first place?"
"You could say," Eartha tacked on, "we still need context?"
"You really want to know?" Dina asked. "It's kind of a long story, one that we would need to 'waste a chapter on a flashback' for."
"Oh boy, next chapter's gonna be a backstory!" Anton said. "Once we return, let's make popcorn and listen!"
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To be continued...
