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Apple pie in Alola is made of sayote , or chayote in Galarian. It is a squash, not a fruit, and while it looks almost exactly like apples when baked into pie, it does not taste anything like apples.
At least, this is what Schilly Tate is thinking about as she stares in horror at the latest result of the opposing team's sabotage. She'd come to Alola for a personal reason and a fun one- joining a dance competition for the MassKara festival. This was her apple pie. However, she'd arrived in the middle of a war between dancers, with their team leaders having some beef with her team leader, which led to increasingly horrible pranks and sabotage. That was her sayote .
And the worst part is the fact that this is Day 29 of practice and Schilly still has no clue how to dance.
Being gay is hard.
~ (o) ~
It all started about two weeks ago, when her senior, Platinum Berlitz, from Sinnoh called her and asked if she'd be willing to compete in an Alolan festival, since her sister's team had suddenly lost a member. Schilly had immediately agreed, firstly because it would please her senior, and secondly because she'd been trying to ignore an increasingly large crush on Moon Berlitz, her senior and Platinum’s younger sister who needed a new teammate.
(It was only after calling Moon and signing up for the contest that she realized the only dances she knew were heavily outdated.)
But that was a simple problem to fix! WikiBerry.com had everything she needed to know about dancing… except how to actually do it.
In the week before she flew to Alola, she’d frantically studied every MewTube video she could find on how to dance. Sou coached her on every dance he knew (most of them from the 80s) and Marvin taught her how to tap dance (he didn’t know how to himself, but he taught her).
But as it turned out, she didn’t need to worry. When she met up with Moon’s friend, the girl in charge of making sure everything went well, she looked her up and down, then asked, “Can you dance?”
Schilly could apparently dance better than half the group, so yes. Schilly could dance.
~ (o) ~
The official team leader is a lady called Plumeria with neon pink-and-yellow hair and the heaviest eyeshadow Schilly’s ever seen on a person. The not-so-official leader is Lillie, Moon’s blonde friend who asked her if she could dance and nearly cried in despair. Together, they try to keep some semblance of order, even if that ‘order’ is just getting the two goofball boys to actually do the graceful twirly dance they’re supposed to instead of disco moves.
Finally, Plumeria yells furiously at all of them. “OKAY, LISTEN UP, BRATS!”
Everyone stops their dancing, turning to look at her. She seems ready to explode. Plumeria takes a deep breath, and Schilly braces for another round of shouting before she continues calmly and quietly. “I have good news and bad news. You have no choice, I’m telling you the bad news first. The bad news is, we all suck.”
The group falls into an almost depressed silence before Schilly speaks up. “So… what’s the good news?”
“There are consolation prizes for everyone who participates.”
Everyone sighs. The boy with the curly hair makes a face. “I don’t even like piaya .”
Schilly files a mental note to look up what ‘piaya’ is, but forces a laugh. “Come on, guys! I’m sure we’ll do better tomorrow!”
They do not do better tomorrow. Tomorrow’s, well, today’s practice mainly involves Lillie trying to teach Schilly (their names rhyme! How cool!) how to swing her arms gracefully in a dance that isn’t from the 90s. Speaking of dancing, Moon’s counterpart with a catty grin Sun jumps on a table when Plumeria leaves to go get water and disco points so hard, he punches Moon in the face.
She falls over backwards, hard . Everyone, NOT JUST SCHILLY, rushes to check that she is not bleeding. “Senior!” Schilly exclaims. “Are you alright?”
Her face is pale (at least, paler than usual), her eyes closed as if she were asleep, which would be concerning even if it wasn’t for the fact that she wasn’t breathing at all. “Someone do CPR!” Gladion, Lillie’s older brother shouts.
“Holy Arceus, you killed her, Sun!” Hau shrieks, looking as if he might pass out himself.
Then all of a sudden Moon’s eyes snap open and she hurls herself at Sun, screaming in angry Sinnohan as she punches him back.
Bottles of water fall to the ground behind them. “What the- CUT IT OUT, YOU TWO!” Plumeria screeches, rushing forward to yank the two of them apart. “Look, I don’t care what happened, you lovebirds need to cool off. You,” she points to Sun, “stay here, because you need a look at that busted lip. And you,” she turns to Moon and Schilly, “you’ve been a real joy to be around this afternoon. Get her out of here until she cools off, will ya? I don’t care if you have to dunk her in the ocean, don’t come back unless she’s chill or dead.”
“Let’s go,” Moon grumbles. “I’m sick of all this MassKara stuff, anyways.”
Unfortunately for the duo, ‘all this MassKara stuff’ was all over Hau’oli City. Colorful banners hang across the streets, ribbons are tied around the lamp posts, and flowers and feathers and blinking lights make it seem as if Schilly was walking in a rainbow. People all around are laughing and cheering as they put up more decorations, some of them wearing smiling masks covered in sequins, glitter, and feathers. The joyful atmosphere is a striking contrast to the girl who storms through town alongside her, scowling at everything she sees.
“Do you wanna just go home?” Schilly asks, trying to intervene before Moon loses it and decks a child.
Moon glares daggers at a stand selling brightly colored, brightly smiling masks. “I’d sooner die. Let’s just go to the beachfront.”
Finally, something goes right in Schilly’s life. The beach is empty except for a handful of slug-like Pokemon scattered across the white sand. Moon approaches one, and before Schilly can stop her, picks it up and throws it into the ocean.
“I get that you’re mad right now, but you don’t have to throw them!” Schilly exclaims, running after her as she heads for her next target.
Moon looks at her in surprise before laughing. “It’s actually good for both of us. They get to return to their homes and food source, and I get to vent my rage by helping the environment.”
(When the protags are walking on a beach alone in movies, it seems romantic. They never mention anything about the love interest throwing slugs into the ocean.)
Moon doesn't seem to be running out of slugs, so Schilly tugs off her sneakers, stuffing her socks into them before tying the laces together and hanging them around her neck. She wades into the cold blue water, careful to avoid the flying slugs. The sand is soft and squishy.
Eventually, the last slug is forcefully evicted from the beach, and Moon sighs regretfully, looking for something else to throw. Schilly calls to her from the water, where she’s ventured into knee-high depth. “The water is cold.”
Moon laughs dryly. “There’s barely been any sun this afternoon,” she comments, pulling her loose violet shirt over her head and dropping it to the ground. As usual, she’s wearing another sleeveless shirt under it, but it doesn’t stop Schilly from glancing away.
Moon splashes out to join her, cringing at a sudden burst of festival music that echoes across the city. Schilly frowns. “If you don’t like loud music or the festival, why would you join?”
Moon doesn’t respond immediately. Instead, she bends over and disappears underwater for a good two minutes before resurfacing. “Because unfortunately, anyone I’d consider a friend here in Alola is enthusiastic about it. I personally couldn’t care less, especially about this particular festival, but… I couldn’t say no when they asked, either.”
“So you and Lillie are close?”
“I used to have a crush on her,” Moon replies offhandedly, then her eyes widen. “Dammit. Don’t tell her that. Change subject. Why did you decide to join the contest? You have no reason to.”
(Here is where it gets tricky. Schilly has two answers, neither of them something Moon would react well to. One- “because your sister asked me to”. Two- “because I’ve had a crush on you since that really awkward photo at the Gala where I hugged you.” Three- lies. Fake it ‘til you make it.)
“Cultural appreciation?” Schilly tries.
Moon raises an eyebrow. It’s something Schilly’s been wanting to learn how to do for years but never mastered. “You came all the way to Alola, with the intent of staying for a month because you were joining a dance competition despite the fact that you can’t dance , all because you… want to appreciate the culture.”
She’s not buying it. Schilly slumps, then mumbles, “I wanted to get to know you better, actually. So when I called you and you mentioned you were looking for a teammate…” Actually, she called because she knew. It’s easier to fake coincidence, though, right? "And MassKara really is pretty cool, right?"
"Well…" Moon shrugs. "I suppose. Although it seems that Alola just takes any excuse they can to have a festival."
"So what's MassKara about?"
"Smiling masks? Color? Dancing, maybe?" Moon sighs. "I'd probably know if the… nevermind. Just figure it out yourself. If you go back, can you tell Plumeria I went home?"
"But you said you didn't want to go home, so wouldn't that be lying, Senior?" Schilly asks.
"I changed my mind," she snaps. "I'll see you tomorrow. And stop calling me senior!"
She turns sharply, her braid sending droplets of water sprinkling across the waves as she stalks off. Schilly watches her go, sighing. Something has been off since she arrived. Maybe even before that. But she'd seen her seniors before. Sun and Moon argued frequently, but rarely fought. Friendly hits, sure, but even she and Sou were rougher than that. And even if they weren't, there was the fact that she'd attempted to bash his brains in. But everyone else seemed high strung too, so maybe it wasn't just them. But what if-
Schilly groans. She wishes Sou and Marvin were here. Sou is so much better at reading situations than she is, and Marvin knows how to handle them. But she's stuck eight hours ahead, and since it's a Saturday neither of them will be awake right now.
It's really down to her to save her dance team and her seniors' friendship. Fortunately, Moon had actually given her a good idea about how to find her answers.
"Just figure it out yourself."
If no one seems to know what MassKara is about, Schilly will just have to find out. She will stop at nothing to understand the meaning of MassKara. She charges out of the water, then groans. All the dry sand is stuck to her wet feet.
She will find out the meaning of MassKara… after she figures out how to not bring half the beach with her.
~ (o) ~
“Why do you celebrate MassKara?”
Plumeria glances up at her. “Where’s everyone else?”
“There’s no practice today. Why do you celebrate?”
She sighs loudly, lying down in the shade. “No wonder no one showed up. I guess I do ‘cause what else am I gonna do otherwise? Can’t leave the region. Can’t kill party people. Just gotta put up with it. You wanna know, you ask someone like Hau.”
It wasn’t exactly the answer Schilly had been looking for, but she thanks Plumeria and leaves.
She finds Hau, the curly-hair-disco-kid, at a food truck selling malasadas. He greets her cheerfully as she approaches. “Hiya, Schilly!”
“Hi, Hau!” she replies. “Why do you celebrate MassKara?”
“Huh? Oh.” His face scrunches, deep in thought as he takes a contemplative bite of his malasada. “Hmmmm. Good food and time spent with friends? I like it, and it’s fun.”
“But what makes it different? Why do you like it?”
Hau shrugs. “Do I have to have a reason? I like it, because it means fun times with friends. Y’know, Lillie was talking earlier about how she and Gladion have some special meaning in the festival.”
Schilly thinks this over, then nods. “Thanks, Hau! See you later!”
Lillie and Gladion, the blonde siblings who try to keep everyone in line, are in the square by the fountain, helping hang lights on the posts. “Alola, Schilly! Are you looking for Moon?” Lillie calls.
Schilly waves. “Alola, Lillie! Alola, Gladion! I’m actually looking for you guys.”
Gladion huffs, setting down his string of lights and wiping his face on his sleeve. “If Plumeria is calling everyone for practice, tell her I’m not going until Sun stops doing disco.”
“She’s not, but I’ll pass on the message,” Schilly assures him. “What I actually wanted to ask you about was why you celebrate MassKara?”
Lillie’s eyes light up immediately. “Oh, that’s easy! Gladion and I have been celebrating MassKara ever since I was little. Father used to take us to see the parade.”
“He’s taking us again this year,” Gladion adds. “Mother is coming, too. They’re both very excited. This festival means a lot to my family. We look forward to celebrating it every year.”
“So what is it about?” Schilly asks.
Lillie bites her lip. “Actually, I’m not sure. I think that’s more Moon’s interest. Maybe you should try asking her if you want to know more about the origins?”
“Sure thing. Thanks for telling me about your family,” Schilly says.
“No problem. See you around!”
She finds her senior doing skateboard tricks on the rails overlooking the beach. The tide is currently out, and the rocks glisten in the afternoon sun. “I didn’t know you skateboarded. Isn’t it dangerous? And shouldn’t you wear safety gear?”
She lands on the street beside Schilly, popping her board and grabbing it. “Maybe a little,” she admits, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “And you’re right, I should be wearing a helmet. But that’s not what you came out to talk to me about, is it?”
Schilly looks out at the ocean for two reasons. One, it's a nice view. Two, it’s impossible to focus when you get Butterfree in your stomach because she is unreasonably pretty today - “Yes. Yeah. I mean no.” Internal cringe . “I mean, why do you celebrate MassKara?”
“You mean me, personally?” Moon confirms, and Schilly nods. “I- haven’t you already asked me this?”
“I asked you what it was about,” Schilly corrects. “But why do you celebrate it? What is it about for you ?”
Moon bites her thumb. “I don’t know. I suppose it’s because all of my friends are doing it.”
“So you’re doing it because you don’t want to be left out, Senior?”
“That’s not-” Moon stops and sighs, flipping her braid over her shoulder. “I haven’t been living here very long. Maybe you should ask the Courier about this, he’s been here longer. Sun, I mean to say. And stop calling me Senior!”
Is this some kind of cliche sidequest designed to gatekeep the player? What was with everyone trying to send her off to someone else? It was almost like one of those annoying video games where you constantly go back and forth to accomplish something that could have been easily done in five minutes if NPCS didn’t keep complicating it.
But Schilly is a good little main character, so she takes her complaints, gives Moon a smile, and goes to find Sun in what is hopefully her last stop in the sidequest.
He’s delivering a cart of boxes labelled CONSOLATION PRIZES to the community center in town when Schilly finally finds him. “Alola!” she calls.
“Alola! What’s up?” he replies. “Is it for pr-”
“No practice today,” Schilly interrupts. “Moon said that you could tell me more about the MassKara festival.”
“Oh,” Sun says. “Uh… Miss said that? I don’t- I mean, I thought she was still mad that I said- not that I mind, but I don’t really know. I kind of know? It’s this time of the year where we have flowers and parades and dances and smiling masks and stuff like that.”
“Why?”
“History?” Sun shrugs. “I don’t really know much about it. Besides, kinda hard to look into it right now, if that’s what you wanted. Did you hear? One of the other teams is sabotaging the others! Supposedly that’s why Plumeria keeps cancelling practice these days- ‘cause things keep going wrong.”
“Is it really that bad?”
“You haven’t noticed?” Sun gapes at her. “They’re doing everything they can to convince us to drop out. I dunno why. We kind of suck. But about your question, I still got nothing. Maybe you could ask-”
“I’ve asked everyone on the team.”
“Oh…” Sun deflates. “Then I have no idea.”
“Thanks anyways.”
~ (o) ~
“And that’s what I’ve been doing all afternoon,” Schilly finishes with a groan. “And I still don’t know how to fix things or why we celebrate MassKara! Goodragle is being MEGA unhelpful, and I’m stuck and I miss you guys!”
Sou hums thoughtfully. “Well… Shi-chan, think about it this way. Stop trying to find out why people around you are celebrating. Why are you celebrating? ‘To impress my cute senior’ is not a valid answer.”
“But that’s exactly why I’m here!”
“Then why compete in something you have no interest in? Maybe that was your motivation for going, but is it still your reason for continuing?”
Schilly looks up at the screen, sighing. “I’m not sure, Sou-chan. Honestly, it’s been really hard and I kinda wanna go home but I don’t wanna give up, either.”
“Then don’t give up, Shi-chan,” Sou says firmly. “You can do this.”
“I promise.”
~ (o) ~
And then the next day comes, she shows up to practice, and seriously reconsiders that promise. Lillie is near tears, looking over the colorful, sparkling pieces of fabric that litter the area. Gladion is arguing loudly with Plumeria, waving his fists. For once, Sun and Hau are uncharacteristically silent.
“What happened?” Schilly exclaims.
Moon turns to look at her from where she has an arm around Lillie. “The other team.”
“-this has gone beyond your stupid pride , Plumeria, we should tell the judges about this!” Gladion shouts.
“I said no! What else are they gonna do? They’ve already done nothing,” Plumeria spits. “You know what? I’ve had enough of this. I quit this whole dance contest bull.”
“Same,” Gladion hisses.
“Guys, no!” Schilly cries. “We can’t stop now!”
Everyone looks away guiltily. Only Lillie looks up at her. “I’m sorry.”
The worst part is, Schilly kinda saw this coming. This doesn’t stop her from dropping her bag to the ground and running for it. She doesn’t know where she’s going. She just needs to get away.
She ends up by the beachfront that Moon had shown her the first time. Probably because of the scorching noon sun, no one is out. Schilly doesn’t bother taking off her sneakers before splashing out, something she’ll probably regret later. She ducks down into the water, staying for as long as possible. A few dunks later, she realizes she’s no longer alone.
“I’m sorry.”
She turns to face her senior. “For what?”
Moon shrugs, tugging at her braid. “I haven’t been a very good senior lately. After you left… the others told me why you wanted to compete.”
Schilly is silent, so she continues awkwardly. “They said you wanted to spend time getting to know… well, me. But instead, I’ve just been being awful. So I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Schilly says flatly.
Moon bites her lip, then starts talking again. “I did some research. A long time ago, there was an incident in Alola where many people died. Everyone was grieving, but they couldn’t afford to keep mourning their loss. So they wore smiling masks, to cover their frowns, and to remind each other that no matter what would happen, they could still smile. That event was later called…”
“The MassKara festival,” Schilly realizes.
Moon gives her a small smile. “Yes, that’s right.”
And that’s when it all clicks together. Schilly gasps, then grins at her. “That’s it! If the Alolans back then could smile and keep going through problems, then we can still compete!”
“Huh?!”
Her socks squelch weirdly in her shoes as she runs back to the practice area, but Schilly’s too excited to care. “We can still do this!” she screams.
The others, who are packing their things and getting ready to go, look at her in confusion.
Schilly gives them a crazy, enthusiastic smile. “We don’t have to drop out of the contest just because the other team sabotaged us!” She starts to pace, half talking to herself, half making a dramatic speech. “I know everyone here has their own problems. I do, too. But the thing is, those problems aren’t gonna go away. If they do, we’ll have more problems.”
“Is this supposed to be encouraging?” Gladion asks.
Schilly points. “Absolutely not! It’s pretty horrible. But a friend told me-” she glances at Moon, who is smiling slightly at being called a friend. “-we don’t have to let those problems keep us from living our lives and smiling. I’ve been asking about what MassKara is. Now I know. It’s a reminder to keep smiling and push through challenges together!” She takes a deep breath. “The other team was trying to stop us, but you know what? We’re not stoppable!”
“Unstoppable,” Moon whispers.
They stare at her in silence before Hau and Sun slowly start to clap. “That was… weirdly inspiring,” Plumeria mutters. “Fine. We won’t drop out. If quitting means we have to go through another speech, I guess we won’t.” She smirks. “Everyone! Back to practice, suckers!”
Sun and Hau cheer, starting to do outdated dances again. Lillie picks up the ruined costumes, a determined look on her face. “These are ruined, but we can make new ones really fast.”
“We’d be really fast if we all worked on it together,” Moon says, looking at Schilly with a smile that sends the Butterfree in her stomach flapping.
“Together,” Schilly echoes, smiling back.
~ (o) ~
They don’t win.
But does it really matter? Sure, maybe they won’t have any cool prizes to show off. Instead, they have memories and pictures and smiles. If their costumes hadn’t been destroyed, they would have never gotten into a glitter fight to decorate their everyday clothes. If they hadn’t decided to have fun instead of trying to crush everyone else, they probably wouldn’t have looked forward to the contest so much.
And if they hadn’t decided to work together, Schilly would not be here. As one, they twirl around to end their routine, and the crowd cheers. The judges announce their team name once more, and it’s their cue to bow and leave.
Everyone on the team is laughing, even cranky Plumeria. Moon’s eyes are bright, and she has a joyful smile for the first time since Schilly came here. Sun and Hau whoop loudly, cheering for the team as Lillie and Gladion frantically wave feathers that fell from their masks. Everyone’s happiness is infectious, and Schilly can’t stop smiling.
Then Moon grabs her hand as they bow, and when Schilly comes up, her heart is pounding like the drums they danced to. She waves at Sou, Marvin, and Magnolia in the audience. They’re the loudest.
Marvin holds up a box, grinning. It’s from the bakery in Galar with the best apple pie- no sayote in it whatsoever.
Her loved ones cheering her on, Moon holding her hand… maybe they lost, but to Schilly, it’s definitely a win.
(After the contest, Schilly learns from Sun and Moon that Alolan apple pie really does have actual apples in it- you just have to look past the sayote .)