Chapter 1

Banette held the pin firmly in its flat hand. It's gold zipper was fixed into a smile as it stared at the other Pokémon across from it. It moved the pin so it was pointing towards it's own torso.

Now would be the perfect time to curse the other Pokémon .

1…

2…

3-

Banette felt arms being wrapped around it as it was scooped up into its trainer's arms. The trainer turned Banette in his arms so it was facing him.

"There you are!" The trainer smiled, but it soon faded when he saw the pin in Banette's hand. He frowned at the pokemon in his arms. "Now, now, Banette. What did I tell you about sticking needles into yourself?" He yanked the pin from Banette's hand, putting it in his bag.

Banette looked up at it's trainer, Taro, who was shaking his head. Banette had a bad habit of trying to curse other Pokémon for fun, but he never realized how much it could harm the victim. Taro scoffed.

"Are we gonna have to take you to the Move Deleter so you can forget how to use Curse?" Taro said, sighing afterward. Banette shook its head.

"Ba-nette!" It said. Taro sighed again, placing the Pokémon in the bag that was hanging to his side. Immediately the pokemon started searching for pins out of habit.

"Don't even bother looking for pins, Banette. You won't find any." He smiled. "I hid them all where you'll never find them."

"Banette. Banette." It complained, drooping it's arms over the side of the bag. Of course, it would probably try to look for its pins later.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you. Curse should only be used during a battle. Don't you remember when you cursed that "wild" Zigzagoon, only to have some little girl cry over her dying pokemon? I know you're a ghost Pokémon and all, but not everyone wants to create a new Drifloon or some other pokemon created out of spirits." Taro explained as he walked through the cave, looking around at the occasional Zubat or Golbat, turning many corners, and feeling water drip onto his hat ever so often. After a few minutes he added, "You're lucky that Zigzagoon survived."

Of course, Banette wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying. It was too busy daydreaming about Cursing another Zigzagoon.

-o-

Eventually, the duo was out of the cave and back into Cormillion City, stumbling upon a sale at the market.

Taro took a distracted Banette out of the bag and set it on his left shoulder. Banette snapped to and looked around.

"Banette! Banette! Banette!" The pokemon tugged on Taro's ear and gestured towards the crafts tent.

"Oh no, we are not going in there just so you can get more pins to use Curse with." Taro said, and Banette almost deflated on his shoulder.

"Bannete! Ba-nette!" It tugged on his ear harder and he made a pained sound.

"Quit it, Banette! I know you love your pins and all but you need to understand that you must be punished for your actions. Let's go to the bakery and see if Macy has any of those special poké puffs you love so much." The Pokémon didn't recognize the name, but he was still fixated on the crafts tent.

As much as it wanted to jump off of Taro's shoulder and grab as much pins as it could carry, it wouldn't do that in a public place like this. Banette loved its trainer, and it didn't want to risk being lost or being stolen.

The crime rate in the city wasn't too high, but there was always a chance your Pokémon could get lost or stolen.

As the crafts tent shrunk in the distance, the bright light of the sun soon faded from Banette and Taro's view, as they entered the bakery. Wonderful smells filled Taro's nose, while the marionette Pokémon couldn't smell anything, as it didn't have a nose.

"Mm...It smells great in here. Wouldn't you agree, Banette?" Taro glanced the pokemon on his shoulders, turning a bit red and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Oh right...You don't have a nose." Banette chuckled a bit, and looked around the bakery.

It was quite a large space, filled with tables, that were filled with trainers and their friends, pokemon, or others. The light bathed the room in a dark orange, making it feel like there was a fire burning in the center. It was loud, which bothered Banette, but it didn't make a fuss. After all, Taro was buying him his favorite treat.

"That's the bakery for ya; busy and loud as hell." Taro laughed softly, stepping into the back of the line. Almost at the same time, Banette and Taro's tummies growled. With the combination of their tummies rumbling, it sounded like a Pokémon .

"Baneeettte…" It whined, putting a flat hand to its stomach.

"I hear ya, I'm starving. Did you know we were in that cave for, like, the whole day?" Taro put a hand to his stomach, feeling it rumble. "Not to mention we didn't have breakfast. It also doesn't help you ran off to find something to Curse."

Banette ignored the last comment. It looked in the glass display to see all sorts of poké puffs. There seemed to be hundreds of them, all different shapes and colors. Some were frosted, some were plain, some had neat themes, some were cool shapes, some had sprinkles, some had interesting toppings, and some were even multicolored. It was quite an interesting to display, and just looking at it was enough to make you drool until you created a small puddle on the floor. But once you actually taste them it's a whole other story.

"You want the usual, right?" Taro asked the Pokémon on his shoulder.

"Banette." It said, nodding.

Once it was their turn, Taro stepped up to the counter, smiling at the girl working there.

"If I didn't know you were gay I'd assume you were checking me out." She said, grabbing a pair of gloves and pulling them on.

"What? I'm not allowed to be happy when I see a friend?" Taro asked, pulling out his wallet.

"You are, just not that happy." She adjusted the gloves on her hands. "Now what would you like?"

"A slice of your famous chocolate cake for me, and a Double Chocolate Duskull for Banette." Taro explained.

Macy glanced at the Pokémon on his shoulder and stepped back a little. "Wh-where'd you get something like that?"

Taro tilted his head. "It's a long story? Uhh...is something wrong?"

"Nope. Nothing. Nothing at all." Macy claimed as she frantically grabbed their treats, shoved them into a bag, and tossed them to Taro, who fortunately caught them.

"Hey, weren't you in the Alola region for, like, two months? How was it?" Taro asked.

"Fine." Was all she said as she took the money nervously, threw it into the register and called, "Next!"

A burly man pushed Taro aside and he almost ran into a table. Why was Macy acting so weird? Taro looked around and noticed that everyone was staring, kinda frightened, at his shoulder. He looked at Banette, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

He slowly started walking out of the restaurant so as not to upset anyone or their Pokémon. The bag of treats was clutched in his hand.

Soon, they were back outside, wondering what just happened. Taro walked to the fountain and sat down, putting the bag of treats next to him. He grabbed Banette from his shoulder and set him down, so that the bag was in between them.

"Boy, that was weird, huh Banette?"

"Banette." It nodded.

"Anyway, let's-"

"Hey, you!" A new voice called.

Taro and Banette both turned, to see a trainer and their Houndoom coming towards them.

"Get that evil Pokémon outta here!" He said, pointing toward Banette. Taro looked at his Pokémon.

"What do you mean? Banette won't hurt anyone." He explained.

"Oh really? Well this town has a Banette problem and I'm going to be the one to solve it!" He said confidently.

"Uh...okay?" Taro said. "I'm just gonna ignore you."

The trainer fumed. "Grrrr...I challenge you to a battle!" He said, pointing at Taro.

Taro's eyes widened a bit, and he stared at the other. After a few moments, he sighed.

"Fine. Rules are rules." He stood up and looked at the other. "I accept your challenge!"