Haru's grand exploration plan ultimately turned out to be a bust.
While he did find a fainted Whitelea near Crystal Pool, the real target — Pecharunt and its possible accomplices — were nowhere to be found.
It seemed that Ogerpon, her so-called "mobile radar," wasn't nearly as reliable as he had imagined, and must have made a mistake during "detection."
Of course, that was only one possibility. There was another:
The "signal" Ogerpon detected… might have been coming from the unconscious Brair herself.
If she really was the source, then naturally she was the only one Haru would find here.
But if Brair really was the so-called "signal source," why was she acting so… normal?
Yes — normal.
Sure, she was unconscious, but compared to Iono and Sabrina, she was far too… ordinary.
If she had also been influenced by Pecharunt, she should've been doing something much more extreme —
Like, say… raping. Or raping. Or, you know, raping. That sort of thing.
Instead, she had simply collapsed on her own, which made Haru suspicious.
Was she really connected to Pecharunt?
Still, to avoid alerting the enemy, Haru decided not to tell Brair about the "important signal" he had picked up.
Instead, he figured he might as well take the chance to explore the famous Crystal Pool of Kitakami. He could investigate more thoroughly once they were back.
After all, they were already here — might as well see what the fuss was about. And with Liko around, maybe she'd react in some interesting way.
Besides, now that Brair was in his custody, she wasn't going anywhere.
What Haru didn't expect, though, was that Crystal Pool… was even stranger than he had imagined.
For Haru and his group, the pool was just a little too "welcoming."
At first, the lake's surface was like a mirror — still and deep, as if it were a hidden sky. A gentle breeze stirred ripples that shimmered like silver silk in the light.
The water was a deep blue-green, yet clear enough to see the colorful crystals at the bottom, their hues glinting mysteriously through the waves.
A thin mist swirled around the lake's center, curling and rising like something from a fairy tale.
But the moment they stepped into the area—
The mist that had been circling only the lake's center suddenly spread, blanketing the entire area in white.
In an instant, everything was swallowed by the fog.
It was like someone had smeared something white all over their faces — they couldn't see a thing.
And it all happened in just a second or two, far too quickly for anyone to react.
Haru wasn't particularly afraid — with a Mew hidden on him, it was hard for him to be scared of much.
But the same couldn't be said for the women with him.
Lillie, Carmine, Liko, Brair — any one of them would understandably be scared by this sudden change.
Lillie had Nebby with her, so she was probably fine, but Carmine, Liko, and Brair were another story.
They were either rookies or outright weaklings. Even "Legendary Girl" Liko was still completely undeveloped and useless in a fight. If something did happen…
And on top of that, Ogerpon had vanished into the fog.
Yet strangely, Haru didn't hear any screams, calls for help, or even unusual noises at all.
It was as if, in that brief moment, he had been cut off entirely from the rest of space and time.
He immediately released Mew and told her,
"Try blowing away the mist. And see if you can sense where the girls are."
Mew, however, admitted she couldn't help —
She couldn't detect any of the girls nearby, and the mist wasn't something that could be dispersed by mere wind.
Still, she assured him that they were probably still at the lake — meaning Haru's location hadn't changed much. Maybe the others had been teleported instead, so there was no need to panic.
And that was when Haru felt something… slowly reaching for his nest.
It felt like a pair of hands — a woman's hands.
From the angle and position, whoever it was had to be standing behind him, opening the "window" to his nest from that side.
Haru immediately reached back to grab the hands, determined to see who dared try to set his youthful bird — no, his majestic bird — free.
Now wasn't the time for gunfire in the trenches — he wasn't the kind of man to be so easily captured by lust!
But to his shock, he couldn't catch them — and those hands went ahead and opened the "window," releasing the bird to freedom.
Wait… what the hell? Did I just get groped by some perverted ghost? She can touch me, but I can't touch her?!
"You — who are you?"
He spun around — and froze.
It was Carmine. Or… was it?
No — it looked like Carmine, but older.
Taller than the Carmine he knew. And while the Carmine he was familiar with was flat as steel, this one… had the beginnings of a bun-like swell.
If anything, she looked like a grown-up Carmine.
So… did I accidentally time-travel to the future?
But Crystal Pool was supposed to summon the dead, wasn't it?
And he didn't have any Terapagos with him, so if there was going to be a time jump, shouldn't it have been Liko instead?
None of this made sense.
But there was no time for answers — he had to restrain this "older Carmine" and question her later.
Only… in the process of restraining her, the bird went into the forest.
It wasn't that Haru couldn't resist temptation — it was that this Carmine was just too aggressive!
He had wanted to interrogate her properly, but instead… she suddenly knelt in front of him.
She gave him a wickedly alluring smile… and put his "ramen topping" into her mouth.
While savoring it, she still found the time to ask,
"What's wrong? Why are you acting so strange? Is my service not good enough for you?"
Then she pushed the "ramen topping" even deeper, letting him see the bulge it made.
Haru nearly lost his composure entirely.
And when he looked more closely, he saw she had ropes tied in layers beneath her clothes.
Her outfit wasn't thick, so it was easy to notice.
But… Carmine didn't do rope play, did she?
What the hell — I thought Pokémon was for kids. Why is everyone in this world so… abstract?
Haru refused her advances outright — at which point she whipped out her "prison guard" and made a new "nest" for the bird.
When he didn't immediately act, she looked puzzled and asked,
"What's with you today? Did some other woman seduce you again?
"I've told you so many times — a boy needs to protect himself outside, or bad girls will take advantage of him.
"Just look at Brair — you really think she wants to be with you? Wrong! She just wants your life essence to have a baby for her experiments!
"Remember — I'm the only one who'll never lie to you."
…
Haru was utterly bewildered.
How had he suddenly become the one being "used"? And why the hell was Brair supposedly plotting to steal his billions to have a baby for research?
He barely even knew Carmine that well!
Could she really be a future Carmine — and in that future, were they close?
While still pondering, Haru "emptied his billions" into her "prison guard," letting it flow down to the base before stopping.
He didn't expect that at that exact moment, in another plane — the real Carmine, still searching with Lillie for Haru — suddenly felt something… slick in her shoes.
As if some thick, sticky liquid had seeped into her socks.
Luckily, she had no idea what had just happened, and assumed it was just sweat.
Still, it made walking — already awkward — even harder.
In fact, at the moment the mist had spread, Lillie, Brair, and Carmine had all clearly seen Haru and Liko vanish right before their eyes.
Yes — they had simply disappeared, as if spirited away.
And then, just as strangely, the mist around them cleared completely, leaving only the faint fog over the lake's center.
The girls, each with their own motives, weren't about to just head back without Haru. They decided to search the surroundings first, and if that failed, check the lake's center.
So far, they'd found nothing — aside from Carmine sweating far more than usual.
That was strange; she normally didn't sweat much at all…
======
Meanwhile, "big Carmine" wasn't having such a great time.
Haru had been annoyed with her "provocation" from the start. And after he'd fired off into her "prison guard," she still kept trying to tempt him — dodging his serious questions and only spouting riddles.
Fine, you want to play this game? I'll play it with you.
He wasn't one to go easy on someone — especially not Carmine, who wasn't Lillie, someone he actually cherished. If that was the case, he might as well go all-in.
So he went into "exceed summon," stacking everything until he brought out his ace: the Super-Heavy Turret Train — Heaven-Shattering Love.
He bombarded her "narrow strait," her "split-mouth fish," and her "cliffside forest" without mercy.
At first, Carmine could still hold out — but soon her stamina gave way, leaving her slumped on the floor, tongue out, flashing a peace sign before finally passing out.
Her pleas for mercy were broken and muffled — always at risk of being physically silenced.
Which led to… a certain chain reaction.
On the other plane, Lillie, still searching the lake, suddenly stopped and looked at the girl beside her.
"Carmine are you okay?"
From the very start, Carmine had been acting strangely — walking stiffly, like she could barely keep her balance.
At first, Lillie had thought nothing of it, since Carmine had seemed awkward from the moment they'd met today.
But now her face kept shifting — deathly pale one moment, redder than a cherry tomato the next — and her movements grew even odder.
Worse, every couple of steps, she'd let out a little moan… and sometimes drool.
It was impossible not to notice.
Could she… have some kind of hidden illness that was flaring up right now?
The kind-hearted Lillie immediately considered that possibility.
If that were the case, she couldn't let Carmine keep climbing the mountain — she needed to get her to a doctor.
But Carmine flatly refused her help, insisting she was fine.
And it was true — she wasn't sick. She didn't know what exactly was happening, but she had a pretty good guess:
Someone was violating her from the shadows — and that someone was almost certainly Haru!
The problem was… how was he doing it? She'd been in Lillie's line of sight the whole time. Could Haru turn invisible?
Just as she was thinking that, her body shuddered again — and she felt her hair grow damp…
Brair, walking just behind her, noticed it immediately.
She narrowed her eyes, deep in thought.