"Poné~ Poné~ Ponéun!"
A Pokémon resembling a human little girl sat on a grassy slope, basking in the sunlight. Her small feet swung back and forth in the air, giving her an especially adorable appearance.
Her face was hidden behind a jade-green ogre mask, making her expression impossible to see.
Yet her gaze never left the distant human village.
"Poné..."
For no clear reason, the cheerful mood that had filled her monts ago slowly faded, replaced by a quiet lancholy.
Her na was Ogerpon, a Pokémon who lived on Oni Mountain in Kitakami.
Long ago, a man had fled from overseas with Ogerpon, seeking refuge and a new life in Kitakami.
But because the man looked different from the locals, the villagers grew fearful.
They rejected him.
They drove him away.
The man was kind-hearted. To avoid provoking their hatred, he chose to live with Ogerpon in a cave far from human settlent, leading a life of isolation.
Humans were social creatures.
Even with a Pokémon companion, loneliness and solitude were impossible to escape.
Then one day, a craftsman appeared in the village.
Using gemstones the man had brought from his holand, the craftsman created four masks.
With those masks to conceal their appearances, the man and Ogerpon could occasionally descend the mountain and participate in village festivals.
"Ponéun..."
Ogerpon could no longer rember how long she had lived alone in the mountains.
A hundred years?
Two hundred?
Perhaps even longer.
The man had been her only family.
More than a trainer—
he had been like a father.
And that gentle, kind person…
was killed one day by several wicked Pokémon that appeared from nowhere.
All for the sake of those masks.
To Ogerpon, the masks were priceless treasures.
But their value had nothing to do with the objects themselves.
They were what the man had left behind—
containers of mories and a shared past.
Ogerpon never believed she had done anything wrong.
Even if given another chance, when facing those villains again, she would still swing her spiked club without hesitation—
smashing them to pieces.
But—
"An ogre! It's an ogre!"
"Get out, you monster!"
"Run! The ogre's gone mad!"
"I knew those outsiders were cursed—they're vicious!"
"..."
The villagers' curses, fear, and disgust seed to take physical form, striking Ogerpon awake from the haze of revenge.
She didn't understand why they drove her away.
Clearly—
clearly it was those three who had hurt her family first!
With her simple mind and innocent nature, Ogerpon could only leave.
And over the long centuries that followed, she hid from human eyes—venturing out only at night to secretly watch the glowing lights of the lively village, rembering the days she had once spent with her family.
"Poné~~"
For so reason, her eyes felt slightly sore.
By all logic, her life in Kitakami wasn't difficult.
She was a Grass-type Pokémon.
Unlike weaker Pokémon, she didn't need to struggle constantly for food.
With sunlight and water, she could survive just fine.
But…
It's so boring.
Ogerpon feared very few things.
Being alone was one of them.
She hated loneliness.
Yet even so, she never descended into the village.
Because she knew—
the people there hated her.
They hated creatures called ogres.
As for why they hated her?
It must be because Ponpon was ugly.
That had to be why people ran away in fear the mont they saw her.
No.
Standing up, Ogerpon shook her head vigorously, forcing the lively image of the village out of her mind.
Ponpon must not appear before them.
I can't scare people again.
You might think—
If not humans, she could play with other Pokémon.
And she had.
The forests surrounding Kitakami were dense and teeming with life.
But Pokémon had their own routines.
They hunted.
They stored food for winter.
Sotis they fought over territory.
Ogerpon didn't like fighting.
She didn't have territory of her own.
Over the centuries, she had learned how to coexist with the Pokémon of the region.
If she encountered aggressive ones, she avoided their domains.
If she t gentle or weaker ones, she would approach and befriend them.
Still—
life among wild Pokémon was monotonous.
Pokémon who had once experienced human society often struggled to readjust to wilderness life.
That was why Ogerpon remained so attached to the village.
The human world was lively.
Full of strange and fascinating things.
More importantly, it reminded her of the happiness she once had.
It wasn't that Ogerpon loved humans or the village itself.
She was clinging to a single day from centuries ago.
"Ponéun..."
After one last glance toward the village, Ogerpon sighed softly.
Then she turned, preparing to return to her ho—the Oni's Den.
"Found her! I found her!"
"Hey! Over here, over here!"
Suddenly, a familiar voice called from the distance.
Ogerpon turned her head and saw the Pokémon she had t not long ago in the forest.
"Poné!"
Her hesitation vanished instantly.
Her kind, starry eyes curved into a delighted smile.
Clearly, she was genuinely happy that soone had co to see her.
Oddish and Ogerpon weren't particularly close.
Their eting had been brief—during a Pokémon conflict where Ogerpon had accidentally saved Oddish from collateral damage.
Still—
if a Pokémon wanted to be her friend, Ogerpon was happy.
There was no need to ask for more.
"Hello! Did you co to play with ?"
She skipped happily over to Oddish.
In human legends, she was a terrifying ogre.
But in these mountains, Ogerpon was known as a gentle Pokémon.
Anyone could play with her.
Sotis she even shared berries she had gathered from the forest.
Any Pokémon who knew Ogerpon inevitably grew fond of her and enjoyed spending ti with her.
Of course—
all of that had been a very long ti ago.
Ordinary Pokémon lifespans couldn't compare to beings like Ogerpon.
Even Grass-types like Oddish, relatively long-lived, rarely exceeded a hundred years.
After saying goodbye to companions several tis, Ogerpon had gradually stopped forming new friendships.
She feared the pain of parting.
So it surprised her when this little Pokémon she had once rescued suddenly ca looking for her again.
"I brought you a new friend!"
Oddish had no sense of caution.
After receiving snacks from Victini, it was simply doing its best to help.
Would this bring danger to Ogerpon?
Sorry—
that concept didn't even occur to Oddish.
If soone ca looking for Ogerpon, they must be her friend, right?
Otherwise, how would they know what she looked like?
"A new friend?"
Ogerpon tilted her head in confusion.
In the next instant—
Victini's figure materialized out of thin air.
"Poné!!!"
The sudden appearance startled Ogerpon badly.
It was the first ti she had ever encountered a Pokémon capable of turning invisible in broad daylight.
This wasn't nightti.
So how could she run into a ghost (a Ghost-type Pokémon) in the middle of the day?!
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