A small, independent region located between the Unova and Paldea regions, Kitakami.
Compared to its two neighbors, Kitakami could only be considered the 'countryside'.
But legends about [The Ogre] and [The Loyal Three] are passed down here.
"So this is the ogre? It looks so cute!"
Inside the Dreaded Den in the northern Oni Mountain of Kitakami, looking at the Ogerpon facing them, its small hands tucked together, hiding behind a rock and trembling, only half its face visible, Erina's heart felt like it was melting.
'How could it be this adorable?'
'Especially that little face, it looks like a ponkan.'
Erina felt like taking a bite to see.
"Eep~ Eep eep~"
Seeing Erina, her eyes shining, constantly trying to get closer-
Ogerpon's face, though clearly a Pokémon but was exquisitely delicate like a human girl's, was filled with a panicked expression, the epitome of social anxiety.
Its crystal-clear eyes, hidden under its green peel coat, welled up with tears, wearing a 'Please don't come any closer!' expression.
"Alright, you're going to scare her into fainting."
Lott stepped forward and placed a hand on top of Erina's head.
He then extended a mask resembling a fan, made entirely of crystal-clear green gemstone, towards Ogerpon.
"Here, this is yours, right? Take it back."
How did things come to this?
We need to turn back time two hours.
At that time, the trio of Lott had just arrived in Kitakami and were preparing to have lunch.
Erina, who had just caught an Alcremie, couldn't wait to team up with it to make a special cake.
At that moment, Ogerpon, who was using the Mask of Grass to hide her face, seemed to smell the aroma and approached.
Because Ogerpon's build was so similar to a human little girl-
Both Erina and Cynthia mistook her for a lost child from the area.
They proactively shared a piece of cake with her.
Who knew that after eating it, Ogerpon jumped and danced with excitement, and in her flailing, accidentally threw the mask she was holding, which instantly exposed her true appearance.
Ogerpon was stunned on the spot.
When Lott picked up the Mask of Grass to return it to her-
Ogerpon, like a frightened fawn, didn't even want her important mask anymore, turned around in terror and ran towards Oni Mountain.
It was only now that Lott's trio found her in this cave and came to return the mask.
Although Lott could have used Instant Transmission to come directly-
Considering Ogerpon's social anxiety, he decided to walk over slowly with Erina and Cynthia-
To give this little widow some buffer time.
"Eep~ Eep~"
A full half minute passed before Ogerpon mustered enough courage, reached out to take the Mask of Grass back.
She then hid inside the cave again, peeking at the three of them with a curious gaze, half her face visible.
"This child... is she really the evil 'ogre' from the rumors who defeated the Loyal Three protecting Kitakami?"
After witnessing Ogerpon's socially anxious nature firsthand, Cynthia couldn't help but doubt the stories she'd heard about [The Ogre of Kitakami].
'With a personality like this, it felt like a Raticate from the roadside could bully her to death.'
"That's how 'hearsay makes a monster out of a mouse' happens."
Lott smiled slightly and waved to Ogerpon:
"You have a few more masks, right? I happen to be free now, want to come along? We'll help you get the remaining masks back."
Hearing Lott's words, Reshiram following behind him and Mew perched on Lott's shoulder turned their heads in shock to look at this man.
'Wh-What? When we were following you before, why weren't you this proactive?'
"Eep~"
When she heard the word 'mask', Ogerpon's eyes lit up.
After much hesitation and internal struggle, she finally let out a mosquito-like sound of agreement.
Still using the Mask of Grass to cover most of her face, she kept stealing glances at Lott from the corner of her eye.
The very picture of delicate and charming, like 'a half-veiled dancer'.
'Hypocrite!'
For some reason, that word surfaced in Reshiram and Mew's minds.
Beep! Beep!
Cynthia's chat group suddenly received a message.
[Flint: @Cynthia, Champion! Big trouble! Big trouble!]
The one messaging Cynthia was Flint, one of the Sinnoh's Elite Four.
[Cynthia: What? What happened?]
[Flint: Team Rocket and Team Plasma are fighting like dogs, over thirty people dead, and another dozen or so are in critical condition! It's in the Floaroma Meadow in our Sinnoh!]
Cynthia was left with a black question mark face after reading the message.
'A criminal organization from Unova and a criminal organization from Kanto are fighting in the Sinnoh region?'
Just as Cynthia was about to ask for details, Lott's chat group also received a message.
But unlike Flint's private message to Cynthia, Lott was directly @'ed in the Universe Chat Room.
[Giovanni: @Lott, I caught that Goh. Where are you?]
This sudden @ immediately drew the attention of the entire Planet Pokémon, no… The entire universe's spectators!
Diancie, who was riding on his Charizard's back wandering around northern Sinnoh, almost fell off.
'Giovanni succeeded!?'
Including Diancie, many core trainers from the various Pokémon Leagues had been wandering around Sinnoh during this period.
They could confirm that Goh probably hadn't left Sinnoh.
So champions like Diancie, Lorelei, Alder, Steven, Diantha... a whole bunch of champion-level powerhouses had been searching all over Sinnoh for over a month.
But none of them expected that Giovanni would be the first to succeed!
"Damn it!"
Lance, who was searching in the southern part of Sinnoh, didn't hesitate. He swiftly mounted his Dragonite and rushed towards the origin point, Floaroma Meadow, like a madman.
He absolutely couldn't let Giovanni get the wish-granting opportunity!
Lott replied to Giovanni in the group: [You're quite bold, aren't you? Such a big matter, and you didn't private message me, you @'ed me directly in the group?]
Seeing Lott's reply, Giovanni, who was holding Goh like a dead dog, felt like cursing.
Giovanni forcibly suppressed the impulse and replied:
[Didn't you set it to reject all friend requests?]
Seeing Giovanni's answer, Lott remembered.
He did indeed have the setting to reject all friend requests enabled-
Just like Boros back then.
Mainly because there were too many useless people wanting to curry favor and take shortcuts.
Lott was genuinely annoyed and had to enable the setting to reject all friend requests.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have wanted to do that.
After all, those harassing him weren't just the useless people wanting to curry favor, there were also young ladies wanting to... get close.
They always sent Lott very... revealing photos.
After rejecting friend requests, he couldn't see them anymore.
[Giovanni: @Lott, Right now I'm at Floaroma Meadow in Sinnoh. You can come get him. You'll honor the agreement, right?]
[Lott: I'm not a good person, but keeping my word is my bottom line.]
While replying, Lott glanced at Ogerpon who was also secretly watching him.
Noticing his gaze, Ogerpon hurriedly pretended nothing was happening and turned her head to the other side.
After thinking for a moment, Lott replied: [I'm busy in Kitakami right now. You bring him to me.]
After saying that, Lott closed the chat and looked down at Ogerpon:
"Where are the Buta, Sune, and Shizuka who stole your masks?"
Ogerpon's ponkan-like face showed two big question marks in her large eyes.
'Buta? Sune? Shizuka?'
After being dazed for a long time, Ogerpon realized this human was probably referring to Okidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipiti.
She then started leading Lott towards the Loyalty Plaza in Kitakami with her short steps.
"Lott, do you want to catch this child?"
Erina, following beside Lott, gently tugged on the corner of his clothes.
Lott nodded, "Yeah, don't you think it'd be nice to keep her in the backyard at home?"
Erina, whose 'tsun' had been completely overshadowed by her 'dere' after being won over by Lott, nodded obediently.
Cynthia, walking behind them, had no such leisure. She quickly notified Flint and the others to stop Giovanni.
They absolutely couldn't let the wish-granting opportunity fall into Giovanni's hands!
Fortunately, Lott was busy catching Ogerpon right now and didn't instantly teleport over. There was still a chance to stop it!
Lott also asked Giovanni to start a live stream, as he wanted to see Goh's current condition.