As Qingyu gazed at the small, lonely figure in a green cloak before him, his eyes briefly lost focus.
Ogerpon, the Mask Pokémon.
Its base type was Grass.
As a possibly unique existence in this world, Ogerpon had origins even Qingyu knew little about. All he knew was that it had probably appeared a hundred years ago, arriving in Kitakami alongside a man carrying mysterious crystals.
It was also the "ogre" of Kitakami's legends.
Yet when humans discovered it, this Ogerpon, which supposedly attacked humans indiscriminately with Ivy Cudgel, looked terrified instead.
"Poni?!"
Noticing the eyes of Qingyu and the others on it, Ogerpon immediately adopted a defensive stance and retreated several steps.
By the time Qingyu came to his senses and prepared to approach slowly, the crowd that had been dispersing after the fireworks also noticed its presence.
"It's the ogre! The ogre's here!!!"
Someone shouted first, and many Kitakami locals immediately grabbed whatever they could use as weapons and rushed over.
"You evil little ogre! Don't even think about disrupting our Festival of Masks!"
"Get out! You're not welcome here!"
"If you don't leave, we'll make you!"
Emboldened by their numbers, the villagers hurled threats at the figure beneath the distant tree.
They had no idea why the "ogre," which had not shown itself for years, had suddenly appeared in the village several times lately. But their deeply rooted prejudices were hard to shake, and they immediately took action to drive it out.
As the locals moved, quite a few tourists who had been quietly watching soon joined in condemning the "ogre."
They had no idea what was happening and seemed to think this was another part of the Festival of Masks.
Just like the festival's Demon-Driving Festival event.
"Poni..."
Under so many vicious stares, feeling their undisguised,