#drosselmeier

Queen Lusamine, of course, was overjoyed to have her husband and son back. She threw a magnificent celebration the next day. The brothers had never seen her so happy. Mohn and Gladion reinstalled themselves in the palace at once, helping themselves to all the food within reach and enjoying all the pampering Lusamine and her servants heaped on them.

But as the days went by, oddities began to pile up. Why did Mohn and Gladion spend so many hours a day locked up in their rooms without admitting anyone, not even the queen? Why, when they were asked how they survived the storm that scuttled their ship, did they give such vague answers? How did they even get here in the first place? And why was Lillie’s Vulpix, a Pokémon she only received after her brother and father had gone missing, so openly hostile to Mohn and Gladion, always snapping and snarling at them whenever they approached?

What’s more, even since the two princes returned, the servants had spotted several Zorua creeping around the palace grounds and even sneaking around the interior of the palace itself, usually lurking around the kitchens and the orchard.

Ingo, Emmet, and even Lillie herself all noticed these things and tried to point them out to Lusamine, but she was too overjoyed to have her family complete again to heed their warnings.

The truth, however, could not remain hidden forever. One day, Lillie failed to keep hold of her Vulpix while Gladion was in the room, and it broke free of her arms. As if it had long been waiting for just such an opportunity, the Vulpix made a beeline for Gladion and bit him on the ankle. As Gladion yelped and snatched his leg away, before everyone’s eyes he transformed into a young Zorua! Vulpix’s bite had caused his illusion to fail.

Seeing that the false Gladion’s disguise had been revealed, “Mohn” transformed into a female Zoroark, snatched up the Zorua, and ran out of the room. Queen Lusamine’s husband and son had never returned at all. Instead, a powerful female Zoroark, known and feared throughout the land as “Lady Zoroark,” had impersonated Mohn, and her son, a young Zorua, had impersonated Gladion, solely to install themselves and their pack in the palace and live in luxury. Lusamine’s heart was broken all over again.

It didn’t take long for Lusamine’s sorrow to turn to rage. She swore that she would have her revenge.

Now, you might never guess from looking at them, but in addition to being skilled toy makers, Ingo and Emmet were also experienced battlers. Lusamine knew this, and so she commanded them to punish Lady Zoroark’s pack for the outrage she had committed.

The brothers accepted the queen’s order and set to work. They set traps for the Zorua that Lady Zoroark had let into the palace, luring them with food and then battling them into submission with their own Pokémon.

But Lady Zoroark, who since being discovered always kept her son tucked in her mane, was too intelligent for such tactics. Emmet and Ingo had to borrow Lillie’s Vulpix to help track her down, and she was strong enough to hold her own in battle. Battles with Lady Zoroark were often chaotic. Lusamine had told the brothers that she didn’t care if anything in the palace was damaged. All that mattered was defeating the Zoroark.

Emmet supposed, in hindsight, that if Lusamine had not given that order, the brothers might have been more careful, and what happened next might have been prevented.

The brothers managed to corner Lady Zoroark and her son in the dining room. There was a magnificent chandelier hanging above the dining table. A battle was soon raging, and even Lady Zoroark’s son joined the melee. Attacks were flying back and forth. Ingo ordered his Chandelure to use Will-O-Wisp. Lady Zoroark saw the attack coming and hit Emmet’s Eelektross with Night Slash, knocking it backward into Chandelure. Chandelure’s aim was thrown off when Eelektross slammed into it, and it ended up firing its Will-O-Wisp directly into the chandelier above the dining table, where young Zorua was standing.

Chandelure saw what was about to happen and threw itself in front of Ingo while using Protect in order to shield him from the glass. Eelektross and Emmet, however, weren’t able to move fast enough to evade the flying debris, and a shard of glass struck Emmet in his right eye.

Poor, young Zorua, however, got the worst of it. The chandelier fell directly on top of him, and when the dust cleared, Ingo and Emmet were horrified to see the little Zorua lying dead beneath the chandelier.

Ingo and Emmet may have been hired to clear Lady Zoroark’s pack from the palace, but they loved Pokémon and never meant for something like this to happen. Their remorse, however, meant nothing to Lady Zoroark, who hissed that Queen Lusamine better watch out, lest Lady Zoroark bite her pretty princess in two.

Lusamine immediately ordered her guards to watch over Lillie day and night with their dog Pokémon, but it did no good. One night, while everyone was sleeping, a guard checked on Lillie to find Lady Zoroark looming over her bed. The guard immediately sent his Growlithe after her, but while his Pokémon was able to drive Lady Zoroark away, the guard saw that Lady Zoroark had cast a horrible curse on the princess. Sweet Princess Lillie had been transformed into an ugly wooden doll.

Lusamine blamed Ingo and Emmet. It was their bungling, she said, that had gotten Zorua killed and earned Lady Zoroark’s wrath. She was on the verge of ordering them both to be put to death, but her advisor, Wicke, who was of a much calmer disposition, convinced her to stay her hand. Wouldn’t it be more prudent, Wicke, suggested, to give the brothers time to fix their mistake?

Lusamine ultimately agreed and told the brothers they had one week to find a way to break Lillie’s curse or else. Luckily, through their work, the brothers had met many children all over the kingdom. One such child, Sabi, was a clairvoyant who could read the future in the stars. So, with their necks on the line, the brothers immediately went to see Sabi and learn if she knew of a way to break Princess Lillie’s curse.

After consulting the stars, Sabi told them that breaking this curse would not be easy. This was a very strong curse, born of malice, and, therefore, required a very complicated series of steps to break. First, the brothers would need to find a Mythical Pecha Berry, which even an expertly cared for Pecha tree will only produce once every few years. Unlike normal Pecha Berries, each Mythical Pecha Berry has a seed in the middle, protected by a hard shell. A human has to crack the seed of the Mythical Pecha Berry with their teeth, feed it to the princess, and then take seven steps backward with their eyes closed and without stumbling. If the person who cracks the seed somehow fails to take the required seven steps back, the curse will rebound onto them.

The brothers carried this information back to Lusamine, who immediately ordered her men to raid the royal berry orchard for a Mythical Pecha Berry. The royal orchard was huge, but after five straight days of searching, one of the queen’s men finally found a Mythical Pecha Berry with a seed inside.

Now all that was left was to find someone to break the curse. Lusamine promised that anyone able to crack the seed and break the princess’s curse would be handsomely rewarded, but the seed was hard as a stone. Even worse, many from around the kingdom were too afraid to even approach the palace, much less break the curse, in fear of Lady Zoroark’s wrath. The few brave enough to even attempt to break the nut usually went home with broken teeth.

Finally, after yet another brave soul had broken his jaw, Ingo announced that he would give it a try. Emmet urged him not to. Never mind the dental bill, what would Ingo do if the curse rebounded? What if he attracted Lady Zoroark’s wrath? But Ingo would not be dissuaded. He pitied the princess, and he still felt guilty for the role he had played in the death of Lady Zoroark’s son. He was determined to make this right in any way he could.

Ingo took the seed into his hand and thought. He could never hope to break its shell using only his teeth. Was there something he could do to make the shell more brittle? After thinking it over, he called out Chandelure and ordered it to use Will-O-Wisp on the seed. Once burned, the shell became much more brittle. Ingo was able to crack it easily between his teeth.

Ingo presented the seed to the princess without flinching from her hideous appearance. As soon as she had eaten the Mythical Pecha Berry seed, Princess Lillie was restored to her former self. The princess was almost as relieved to see the curse broken as Lusamine, who Ingo could have sworn he saw shed a tear.

Emmet kept an eye out while Ingo slowly took the seven steps backward. Suddenly, a pair of Zorua ran into the room. Emmet immediately sent out Eelektross to fight them off, but this was only a distraction. While Emmet and Eelektross were occupied, Lady Zoroark shrunk herself down to the size of a Cutiefly and ran under Ingo’s feet. He stepped directly on her, stumbled, and fell to the ground just as he was about to take the seventh step. The curse rebounded upon him, and by the time he hit the ground he was no longer a man of flesh and blood but a small, wooden nutcracker. Lady Zoroark, lying in a puddle of her own blood, gave one final smirk and died.

When Lusamine saw what had become of Ingo, she was disgusted. Against Princess Lillie’s protestations, she banished both Ingo and Emmet from the kingdom for all the trouble they had caused. Emmet supposed, looking back, that Lusamine didn’t want any reminder of the suffering Lady Zoroark had brought to the palace, and Ingo’s cursed form was too painful for her to look at.

Ingo has been cursed ever since. He and Emmet were forced to flee the kingdom, all the while being hunted by Lady Zoroark’s son, who had returned as a vengeful ghost. The violent way he and his mother had died had infused his soul with feelings of malice, resurrecting him as the terrifying Fox King.

This is the story that Emmet told Akari when she asked for the story of the Fox King. But there’s another part of this story that Emmet didn’t tell Akari. After they had left the palace, Emmet and Ingo saw Sabi one more time to see if there was a way to free Ingo from his curse. After consulting the stars again, Sabi told the brothers that because Ingo was transformed via a rebounded curse, the circumstances surrounding his transformation would likewise have to be reversed. Ingo was cursed when he made a sacrifice for a girl but was rejected in disgust. Therefore, to break the curse, a girl would have to make a sacrifice for him, and she must do so out of love.