Previously on Oranges to Grapes...
After their restful break in Artazon, our heroes set back off to continue removing the crystal domes from Paldea, starting with splitting into two groups to tackle two domes together. After a brief struggle with the Candelabra and Lightbulb Diamants, Balto and Pico earn the Prime Fire and Electric Tera Jewels, respectively...
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(Dome 8: Taken with a Grain of Herbs)
Now that Levincia was restored to its bright glory, Pico, Camilla, Rosita and Jessica were free to explore the city... but chose to wait until Balto, Eartha and Dina caught up to them. It took some time, but after the latter three did some walking around to find a bridge to cross the brook, they eventually regrouped with the rest.
"Okay, starting to see a problem with how we're getting from A to B," Pico said once the group was all together again.
"Hey," Dina defended, "not our fault we forgot about the brook that cuts through to the beach before Levincia."
"What a complicated and facinating ecosystem our region has," Balto sighed wistfully. "Good thing there was a bridge for us to get across."
"It's also a good thing there was a Pokemon Center by that bridge," Eartha added.
"Still," the lizard pressed, "now that we're gonna be a ways away from the South Province, it'll take longer for us to go back to Mesagoza to restore the ring. But not to worry, I have a plan. Once Camilla clears out her next dome, we can pop over to Zapapico to recruit some help from a friend of mine: a Flying Taxi pilot."
"But before we do that," Camilla interjected, "perhaps we can get some context on why the Diademons and Diamants are doing what they're doing; what these 'crimes against the light' they keep going on about are, for instance."
"You'd be wasting your breath," Rosita scoffed. "Eartha, Jessica and I tried to get some answers from some Diademons before, but they wouldn't spill."
"True," Jessica admitted, "but that was before we could remove the domes. Maybe we could point out that we've destroyed some of them already, and they'd have to fess up what they know before they're next."
"Or-" Pico started.
"There is no or here!" Rosita spat. "Only no or shut up! Now, the quicker we get the rest of the domes gone, the quicker Paldea's fixed!"
Pico was about to protest harder, but Camilla stopped him with a stern finger-bean wag and shake of her head no. "Fine," the lizard relented. "But just for that, I'm not telling you the Flying Taxi driver's name when we get there."
"Fair enough," Camilla supposed, and the group finally set off. As they toured the flashy city, they eventually came to the central roundabout where the city's Battle Court was, surrounded by electronic billboards that cycled through their ads, three of which in particular made Camilla, Pico and Balto imagine themselves joining in: the lemon-lime soda, the bowl of cereal, and the debit card ads, to be precise.
As soon as the group came to the second Pokemon Center in the city, Pico decided to clear the air about their destination. "So, Dina," he offered, "are you looking forward to seeing my mother again? I know I am."
"Well," the axolotl confessed, "I do have to admit, I was blindsided about finding out about my old friend being related to one of my new friends, and now that both of them are about to rejoin with me, I'm kind of nervous. If I had teeth, they'd be chattering with anxiety the closer we get back to Zapapico."
"Why would you be nervous?" the lizard asked curiously. "Did something happen after you got your Avocado Sandwich?"
"No, nothing like that," Dina said, "it's just... you know that I know that she's your mother, but she may not know that I know that she has a son and you're him. I don't want there to be any turbulence in our chemistry because of that."
"Well, don't worry too much," Pico assured. "Mama likes it when I bring friends. And if we both happen to share the same one, that's even better!"
"Well, thank you, Pico," Dina said with a slight smile. "That does make me feel better."
"Good, now let's keep going," Camilla said, eager to continue to her third goal.
"And hey, who knows?" Rosita added as the group left the kiosk. "If Dina's reunion goes well, it could stand as an example for me to follow if and when we return to Porto Marinada."
Could be, Balto thought to himself as the group started their uphill climb out of Levincia and into the East Province. They climbed and climbed until they reached a passageway to the left, then took it to climb some more. Little did they know that the route they took led them directly to the smoky quartz dome itself! But as the group looked around, there weren't any Pokemon around to goad into the dome's surface... or any people nearby either, come to think of it.
...Or so it appeared, as deep underground, an Orthworm was digging through the soil, taking bites of the dirt every so often when it failed to take notice of what it was closing in on. Just like the topaz and rose quartz domes, the smoky quartz dome was fully spherical, with its bottom half buried below the earth. But before the metallic creature could alter its trajectory while it was still in mid-chew-
Boomp.
That quickly, the tunnel was empty, and the dome could finally unload its surplus of Pokemon Materials in the form of an army of Diademons with split-stone heads. The halves of those stones held all kinds of Materials; along with the expected Orthworm Tarnish, there were also ones adorned with Diglett Dirt, Varoom Fumes, Rufflet Feathers, Cufant Tarnish, Bramblin Twigs, even Voltorb Sparks!
"Uh-oh," Camilla said when she saw how outnumbered they were.
"Don't tell me, the dome was carrying a fat lot of Materials on standby," Rosita said flatly.
"Yep," the bunny confirmed.
"Some Steel-types with matching moves mixed in?"
"Most likely."
At that, all four Hell-Sent girls raised their Sealing Balls together, and the caracal said with a sly grin, "Bring it on."
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Rosita, Jessica, Eartha and Dina raised the Sealing Balls over their heads and shouted together, "Precure Ruination!"
Conner, Leopold, Anton and Bea dissipated into grass, snow, dirt and flames, and it swirled around the girls and made their clothes turn into colored light... then they started changing!
First, their torsos were surrounded in grass, snow, dirt and flames and collected into their tops.
Next, more grass, snow, dirt and flames collected around their waists and became their bottoms.
Then, even more grass, snow, dirt and flames collected around their limbs until they became their arm and leg covers.
Finally, they threw the Sealing Balls in the air as more colored light poured from their heads and became their hair, then the balls got on their chests and became their adornments.
"Antithesis of forgiveness, Cure Grudge!"
"Antithesis of love, Cure Hatred!"
"Antithesis of courage, Cure Fear!"
"Antithesis of gratitude, Cure Envy!"
"Answer for your injustices! Hell-Sent Precure!"
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Not wanting to be left out, Camilla took out her Poke Ball and called out, "Come on, Rosie, let's give these girls some backup!"
"Mrow!" the kitty yowled as soon as she became solid and landed on her paws.
"Enough setup, girls," Cure Grudge said as she readied her vine-laces. "Let's take 'em down!"
And just like that, the Sprigatito and the Cures went all out on the army. Whiplashes, blade slashes, fist crashes, explosions, even Leafages and Scratches flew everywhere on the scene, and already the army's numbers were starting to decrease. Diamond dust began to thicken the air, and Camilla's crystal scepter couldn't absorb it all before it became blinding, but there were still Diademons about even though they were getting massacred!
"Augh!" Cure Hatred griped as she was hacking away. "There's too many of them!"
"Can't you girls combine your powers and destroy the rest of the stragglers in one big burst or something!?" Balto called out in the background, away from the conflict.
"All we can do with that is become a living hang-glider!" Cure Fear pointed out between punches and kicks.
"Try anything!" Pico shouted.
After setting off an exploding afterimage to clear some space, Cure Envy said, "Alright, here goes nothing!"
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"Precure Triangle Plus Formation!"
Cures Grudge, Hatred and Fear leapt into the air, and once they reached the apex of their jump, quickly linked paws to summon the force-field semispheres before Cure Envy jumped after them and grabbed ahold to boost them further into the air with her flame-jets.
"Our powers united together as one," Cure Grudge started.
"Take this!" all four said together before the glider looped around to plummet back down towards the army!
"Precure! Ruinous... CRASH!!!!"
At that call, the Cures' elemental energies began to pool together and morph into a giant face with angry, piercing eyes and a jagged mouth that let out an eldrich roar before it collapsed upon the earth and the army all at once!
"You have issues!" the army seemed to say before they were all shattered into diamond dust.
-
Taking advantage of the absence of Diademons, Camilla aimed her scepter at the smoky quartz dome and fired a beam at it... but she had accumulated so much diamond dust that the beam's size alone started to push her back with the recoil! Rosie took notice of it and got up on her hind-legs to help hold her down, but something happened. Both Pokemon and trainer were working together, and the little Sprigatito started to shine with blue light... that began changing!
Dainty paws were growing bigger and seemed to bloom from their limbs, chest fur and whiskers became longer and fuller, and a small round mass of light popped up on the construct's left shoulder. But before the light could dim and reveal what it became...
TRRRRRSSSSHHHH!!!
Finally, after all the chaos settled, the smoky quartz dome was gone, the Hell-Sent girls were powered down from exhaustion, and Camilla's little Sprigatito had just evolved into Floragato! But even though the lapine was breathing harder than usual from the stress, she didn't spare any minutes to celebrate the small victories until the big win was gained.
Just as she reached the edge of the crater she liberated, there was another floating kimono; this one gray and patterned with square cogs and bolts with a Steel Tera Jewel for a head. "Alright, whichever Diamant you are," she started, "before you start indulging in your Zecora complex, let me say this to start. My friends and I have been striking down Diademons all over Paldea, taking down domes that you put up, and not to mention destroying every other Diamant we've faced off against so far, seven in total. Now we want answers, such as what these 'crimes against the light' you keep spouting off about are. So, how much are you going to fess up before you're number eight?"
The floating kimono remained in place and listened to what Camilla had to say, then started once she was finished.
"Considering the amount of grunts you just beat,
I suppose I could reward your strenuous feat.
Your breath has been quickened, and your blood vessels bulge,
So a bit of information I will indulge.
Those accursed Tera Orbs with which you flaunted powers,
What's contained inside of them used to be ours.
On that note, I already have said too much,
So the Axe Head Diamant says, Prepare for this crush!"
The Axe Head Diamant then raised its sleeves, and after the sparkles gathered, chunks of metal started clumping together over its head, making the mass bigger with every passing second! But Camilla wasn't worried, because now that Rosie was evolved, she knew what to do. As soon as the metal clump was big enough...
"Now, Rosie! Use Seed Bomb!"
The bigger grass cat Pokemon meowed in confirmation as she swung her new yo-yo forward in an Around the World style, flinging five seeds from the bud at the Diamant that exploded on impact, causing it to drop the metal clump on itself!
"Alright!" the bunny praised. "Now, finish it off with Magical Leaf while it's stunned!"
With its main weapon lost and vanished in silver sparkles, the kimono was helpless as Rosie whirled her yo-yo in front of her to blast an onslaught of leaves of light at it, shredding it to tatters!
"AAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!!" After the shower of light restored the captured Pokemon's energy and reversed the damage, Camilla breathed a sigh of relief.
"We did it, Rosie... all of us."
The feline Pokemon nodded in agreement and held her paw out for her Trainer to shake, but once the bunny took it, she was pulled into a friendly hug and nuzzle, indicating there was still some of the Sprigatito stage in her. She allowed the affection to happen, then looked up as the Prime Steel Tera Jewel decended before her.
"Camilla Otore," the voice said. "You have broken the influence of the light over the Steel-type, which has granted you access to one of the Paldea region's pantries. As you accept this Prime Tera Jewel, know that you have already passed the halfway point in your quest, so continue the good work."
"I shall," Camilla said as she pocketed her third Prime Tera Jewel. "Now, come on, Rosie. Let's go see if there's more Herba Mystica in that crater somewhere."
"Mrow!" the Floragato meowed, happy that she was allowed out of her Poke Ball a little longer. Camilla then took the ramp system into the crater with Rosie following close behind. As they searched the holes in the wall, backtracking through any dead ends, they eventually found a cave filled with shining white plants; the Salty Herba Mystica.
(Axe Head Diamant defeated!)
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To be continued.
