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“I can’t believe you people don’t use computer-controlled security cameras. Now how am I supposed to delete all the footage of us dancing like idiots while screaming for mochi?” Carmine rolled her eyes at Penny who was desperately trying to destroy every second of footage of that embarrassing incident involving Pecharunt. She almost wanted to ask if she knew the definition of illegal, but she hesitated because she didn’t want a villainous monologue about the ethics of hacking.
“Food’s ready!” Juliana and Kieran were carrying trays of sandwiches. Some of them were for the Pokémon. Others were for them. Carmine notices the Paldeans were quite happy with the sandwiches; however, the moment Juliana carried out a pot of tea, they were immediately side-eying each other. Even Nemona, the girl who looked like she was ready for a battle 24/7, looked like she was about to come down with the flu at the sight of the teapot. “I think I left the stove on. Be right back.”
As Juliana rushed off, Arven immediately leaped for the teapot. “What's wrong with the tea?” Carmine asked.
“Juliana is talented, but her tea, well, um –”
“Her tea sucks.” Way to be blunt, Penny. “Like, it really sucks.” To demonstrate, Penny poured out a little bit of tea into a cup and then poured the tea on the grass. The grass withered almost immediately.
Kieran poured out his own cup of tea, drank it, and gagged. “Ugh, this tea is nothing more than hot leaf juice.”
Carmine shook her head. “Kiki, that’s what all tea is.”
“How could a member of my own family say something so horrible?” Grabbing the teapot, he immediately threw the tea into the dirt. “Okay, let me make some for us as soon as I wash out this teapot with some industrial cleanser.”
“It can’t be worse than my tea.” Carmine took one sip of what little tea remained in Kieran’s teacup. “Actually, it’s worse than my tea.”
“KIERAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Oh bad timing since Juliana came back the moment Kieran dumped her tea into the base of a tree. Trees like this one were imported from Castelia City where it would be able to withstand a ton of pollution and still grow and thrive. Needless to say, the tree had a negative response to Juliana’s tea and promptly shed all of its leaves at once.
“I’m …” Don’t blow this, Kieran, you just started building back your friendship with Juli. Don’t ruin this for yourself. “... uh.”
“Juli, we’ve been friends for a long time, and we haven’t been entirely honest with you,” Penny sighed, “We don’t like your tea. Kieran is being nice and getting rid of it for us.”
“Nemona, you said your groundskeeper likes the tea.” Juliana looked at the leaves that just fell from the tree. “Wait a minute, has she been using my tea as –”
“Weed killer? Yeah.” Penny facepalmed at Nemona’s use of ‘weed killer.’ If she had used a kinder word like ‘defoliant,’ then it would be fine, but Nemona just had to use the term with ‘killer’ in it.
“Sorry, Juli,” Arven said, “Look, why don’t we have Kieran make some tea and laugh about this on the way back to Paldea.”
“Better yet, tea-making contest!” Almost instantly, Nemona’s suggestion was met with a collective No .
“That sounds like a good idea,” Juliana said, “Why don’t we have a tea-making contest?”
“Come on, what’s the worst thing that could happen?” Nemona really, really didn’t know the implications of what she was saying.
“Someone could die,” Penny said.
“We get banned from ever entering Kitakami again,” Arven said.
“We bring another trio of evil Pokémon back to life,” Carmine said.
“One of us gets so obsessed with beating the other that they work themselves to the bone only to lose again and as a desperate power play attempt to gain a legendary in a dangerous area that could reasonably destroy a region and possibly the world.” Nemona, Arven, and Penny immediately jumped at this idea of a consequence.
“What? Please tell me you’re joking,” Penny coughed.
“Are there even any tea-themed legendaries,” Arven said.
Juliana shook her head. “Let’s just get the tea contest over with.”
It was decided that the judges would be selected among their own Pokémon. The judges were Arven’s Mabosstiff, Ogerpon, Carmine’s Sinistcha, Kieran’s Hydrapple, Penny’s Sylveon, and Nemona’s Pawmot.
“Six KO’d Pokémon with just tea,” Penny observed, “That’s got to be a new record.”
“I haven’t seen Ogerpon go down that quickly since Kiki blasted her with an Adaptability and Life Orb-powered Hyper Beam back at Blueberry Academy,” said Carmine.
“Does this mean I win?” Kieran said.
Juliana, meanwhile, was hunched over, sulking. “Stronger …” she muttered.
“Uh oh,” Carmine uttered.
“Stronger. Stronger! Stronger and stronger and stronger!” Kieran’s eyes immediately lost their shine as Juliana began scratching her head.
“Juli …”
Then she sprang right back up and giggled. “Just kidding!”
Almost immediately, the two of them laughed with Carmine joining them.
Penny, Arven, and Nemona only looked at each other and then looked back. “We don’t get it.”