Normally mundane, in some situations, can have disastrous consequences.
At this moment, the whole dining room was shrouded in a strange, dark pressure.
Even Luxray and Swampert stopped eating, uncertainly eyeing Oranguru, whose head was bowed, half his face hidden in shadow beneath the overhead light.
To be fair, they were much stronger than Oranguru. Swampert had even beaten him in battle half a year before.
But the tension wasn't about strength. As the caretaker of everyone's daily life, Oranguru had, over time, built up a certain authority—a "kitchen supremacy," if you will. No one wanted to upset the one in charge of meals.
And none of them had ever seen him like this.
Tapu Fini set down its cup, its gaze wandering the room as if confused.
The juice tasted great; what exactly was going on?
Without need of Oranguru's translation, Lucas's intuition and keen powers of observation took over—his eyes landed on the juice, and he guessed the source of the trouble.
It was probably that juice.
He'd thought perhaps Oranguru had forgotten about the matter, but now Lucas's face paled. He wanted to glare at the clueless Ogerpon for mentioning it but, faced with the Pokémon's innocent look, couldn't be angry. He tried to change the topic.
"So—what did everyone play in the forest today? Any new friends? I'm really curious."
Perhaps from nervousness, Lucas's tone was a bit stiff.
Fortunately, the carrot-chomping Spectrier stood up at this moment.
With a soft snort, Spectrier rolled its eyes at Ogerpon and the Eevee sisters, then calmly began recounting the "thrilling" events of the day.
After all, for most of it, he had watched quietly from the shadows.
Taking the hint, Lucas glanced at Oranguru for help.
The pressure around Oranguru seemed to lighten just a little, and it gave a–to Lucas–creepily standard customer service smile, instantly launching into translation.
And so, time turned back to that morning...
After entering the forest, Ogerpon and the Eevee sisters had found an injured Diglett in some bushes.
But this Diglett didn't resemble the one who had come "voluntarily" to the farm with Tinkatuff; it was slightly different.
Still, Ogerpon and the Eevee sisters didn't care about that, and immediately went over to help.
Neither Ogerpon nor the elder Eevee had any healing powers, but thankfully the younger Eevee had recently mastered the genetic egg move "Wish."
Under Wish's effect, Diglett recovered a bit of physical strength, but was not yet in good shape.
At least it regained some consciousness. Diglett then explained—rather than just bringing it back to Oranguru, they could seek out help from the "sage" of the forest.
Curious about the "sage," Ogerpon and the sisters abandoned their plan to return to Oranguru and instead set out for the sage's house.
Diglett explained, the "sage" usually lived on Melemele Island but occasionally came to stay on Akala Island for a few days.
Today, as luck had it, was one of those days.
On the way, the Eevee sisters asked Diglett why it was so badly injured, and Diglett's answer filled all three with righteous anger.
Diglett had lived happily at the foot of Wela Volcano with its kin, digging tunnels and living quietly.
But disaster struck when a group of humans arrived—bringing huge mechanical monsters, intending to destroy Diglett's tunnels, claiming they were dangerous for building foundations.
The Digletts tried to resist, but could not stand against the human's huge Electivire and, even worse, the machines (literally, excavators).
Outmatched, the Digletts had to scatter; some were captured and the rest forced to run.
Our Diglett just barely made it to the bushes before collapsing.
Though angry, Ogerpon and the Eevee sisters understood first they must heal Diglett.
Guided by Diglett, they soon found the wooden hut of the sage—and, just as Diglett said, the door was open.
Inside, to their surprise—they found Oranguru!
But this Oranguru was not their familiar caretaker, though equally wise-looking.
Despite some confusion, the Pokémon immediately begged for help.
Oranguru seemed troubled. He was only visiting Akala Island's hut temporarily and had only brought basic supplies for wild Pokémon.
Medicinal herbs for Diglett would require another foraging run.
Then, as if recalling something, Oranguru's eyes fell on a pink figure sipping juice in the corner.
It was Tapu Lele, Akala's Island Guardian.
Knowing Tapu Lele's personality well, Oranguru offered: If Tapu Lele would heal Diglett with its magical powder, it could have a free drink of his special juice.
Tapu Lele had been planning to use its prestige to avoid paying, but was instantly moved by the offer and agreed.
Using its magical scales, Tapu Lele quickly healed Diglett.
Having enjoyed the delicious drink, Tapu Lele floated merrily away.
Oranguru, seeing what the trio intended to do, called them aside to share a cup of his specially prepared juice—
A fresh blend of Pinap, plus a layered mix of some mystery berries and Combee honey.
With smiles, the three Pokémon finished the drinks and, full of fighting spirit, marched towards Wela Volcano, rescuing injured Digletts along the way, before confronting the human invaders.
The mighty Electivire who had crushed the Digletts before was battered by the masked Ogerpon's thorny club, while the Eevee sisters kept it distracted.
But soon the humans escalated, attacking with machines and numbers.
In the crisis, Spectrier emerged from the shadows.
With a Shadow Ball, he blasted through several machines and sent the humans flying.
The impressive figure of Spectrier—first steed of the Crown King—was burned indelibly into the Digletts' hearts.
If not for the arrival of Akala's Island Queen (and causing Tapu Lele to intervene, thanks to Spectrier's unusual aura) even more chaos might have ensued.
Tapu Lele, though not hostile, was wary of Spectrier as an unfamiliar Legendary intruding on its territory.
Spectrier, similarly, had no intention of picking a fight with a minor island deity.
With the Island Queen mediating, a compromise was reached: Tapu Lele forbade further destruction of Pokémon habitats, and the Queen escorted the humans to the island police.
After a hard-fought day, Ogerpon and company returned home dirty, while Spectrier, narrowly avoiding a clash with Tapu Lele, was also caked in dust.
Having finished his dramatic account, a vein twitched at the edge of Lucas's mouth; he didn't know where to begin complaining.
In fairness, what they did was absolutely just—standing up against injustice for the weak.
But the way they managed to trigger such an "explosive" incident beyond his expectations was simply absurd!
If he thought about which human could have used an Electivire to harass Digletts and remembered that he'd met such a person not long ago, the conclusion seemed clear—
Even if it was technically another parallel world...
And as for Oranguru of the Forest Sage—Lucas had figured that as long as he kept his own Oranguru away from Melemele Island, nothing could go wrong.
But he'd underestimated the other Oranguru's own initiative!
Heck, maybe it was his own oversight—after all, both Lana and Mallow's homes were still on Akala, not yet moved to Melemele, so the storylines still overlapped.
It was entirely reasonable that the Forest Sage Oranguru—usually running a Pokémon café near Hau'oli City, acting as partner to Bewear2 and doing berry-based drinks for the deities—might set up a branch café elsewhere.
With a few kind words from Spectrier, the heavy atmosphere was finally lightened somewhat. Lucas praised Ogerpon and the Eevee sisters, and Oranguru made no further comment.
But Lucas knew the peace was only temporary—a calm before the storm.
…
The Next Morning
Lucas was awakened by the sound of knives scraping on whetstones from downstairs.
He swallowed, covered the Eevee sisters and Ogerpon with blankets, then carefully tiptoed past the sleeping Luxray and others down to the kitchen, still in his pajamas.
And of course—there was Oranguru, silently tending his kitchen tools, radiating an unspoken aura.
Even knowing that Oranguru was perfectly rational and wouldn't do anything crazy, Lucas's heart thudded at the force of that presence.
Ah! This deadly drive for superiority between competitors!
Just like Seviper and Zangoose's hatred was written in their DNA, even Oranguru couldn't resist such a rivalry.
He might avoid the other, but Ogerpon's blunder last night had spilled the beans.
"I'll help," Lucas said, steadying his nerves as he walked into the kitchen.
Oranguru looked up, nodded, and made room.
The pair silently began preparing breakfast.
Back from his run with Umbreon and Lycanroc, Gladion noticed the tension in the kitchen—even his footsteps got lighter.
As breakfast was nearly ready, Oranguru finally spoke.
His calm voice directly echoed in Lucas's mind via telepathy:
"Young Master, before we head to the Pokémon chef interview this afternoon, let's make a trip to Melemele Island this morning."
It was happening!
Lucas straightened his back and stammered, "O-okay, that's the only thing on my schedule anyway."
After breakfast, Oranguru silently packed his "arsenal" (i.e., cooking gear)—and, most importantly, his ingredients.
Lucas was lured outside by a howl.
He found Tapu Koko waiting, grinning with excitement, practically begging for a battle.
Thinking "better you than me," Lucas grinned in a way that made Tapu Koko's feathers stand on end.
"Let's skip battles this morning. I have something even more interesting."
"Pukako?" Tapu Koko cocked its head, mystified.
What could be more fun than fighting?
"A JUICE SHOWDOWN! Want in?"
Lucas pointed to the fully prepared Oranguru behind him, utterly shameless about dragging the Island Guardians into the coming chaos.
...
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