"Rosa, are you dense? Find the Pecha Herb!"

"Please don't call me that, master, and I really can't find it anywhere!"

Two witches, a master Mismagius and her Braixen apprentice, were in a hut located a while away from any kind of civilisation, brewing a potion with properties unknown to anyone besides Magia the Great. Magia was a witch infamous for her vast array of different spells, as well as her tendency to cause irreversible mischief over innocent townsfolk at a younger age. Both Rosa and Magia were mostly hated by the townspeople, and while the reason they hated Magia was rather obvious, the only reason they hated Rosa was due to her association with her.

"What do you mean, you can't find it anywhere?!" Magia snapped, glancing around the room in an irritated manner. "I thought you picked one up yesterday!" Magia's old age quite frequently caused her to forget things, so she made things like this up to compensate.

"N-Neither of us went out yesterday, master!" Rosa whimpered, looking at the floor. "If you want, I'll go down to the market right now and buy one..." She didn't wish to go outside since it was already getting somewhat late, but she was scared of how Magia would react if they were truly stuck with a half-finished potion.

"Very well then, go out and buy a Pecha Herb from the market. You're using your own money, though."

"Sure thing, master. I'll be back as soon as I can."

With this, Rosa opened the hut door and went on her way, being sure to take her wand with her, as well as a belt lined with offensive and defensive potions that she kept beneath her short black dress, in case of emergency. It took her about half an hour to reach the market, and the streets were crowded with Pokemon despite the time, as they typically are. Rosa waded through the ocean-like mass of commoners, scanning every stand for a Pecha Herb, when her eye finally settled on one at an unattended stall. She went up to it and asked if anyone was there, and sure enough, a Xatu in a hooded brown cloak slowly walked up to his side of the stand.

"May I help you?" he said, leering threateningly at Rosa.

"Um… yes, I'd like to purchase that Pecha Herb. How much is it?"

"The Pecha Herb?" Xatu queried flatly. "It'll set you back about 95 gold pieces."

At this, the expression on Rosa's face changed from interest to contained surprise.

"W-What?! I don't have that kind of money…" she sputtered, looking at the floor and sighing, thinking about how Magia would react if she returned to the hut without the herb.

"You can't afford it? That's okay, you could always pay for it… another way, hm?" Xatu said, eyeing Rosa up and down with a lustful look in his eyes. This understandably made her feel uncomfortable, but before she got the chance to back away, she heard shouting coming from the other end of the market street. She got a bit worried, but upon turning around and seeing the scene, her slight worry turned into a panic attack. She saw a crowd of hooded figures in heavy grey cloaks, and they were flipping stalls over and stealing from them, as well as randomly attacking Pokemon that unintentionally got in their way. Realising that they would likely attack her due to her very obviously witch-like attire that associates her with Magia, Rosa shrieked and bolted into the nearest building, which was a bar.

After Rosa stumbled into the bar, she climbed onto a stool and struggled to catch her breath. The bartender, a Snorlax, noticed her and gave her a free glass of water.

"Whoa, you alright there?" the Snorlax asked, surprised to see how much of a mess Rosa was. She nodded in response but continued panting, breathlessly explaining the scene outside.

"A raid, huh? Those happen all the time at the market. It's nothing to get worked up over."

Rosa took a sip of her water and began to calm down a little bit, but she went on high alert again when she heard the door swing open. In an effort to look inconspicuous, she tried to take a side glance at who just entered the bar, but she didn't end up needing to, because the visitor wobbled onto the stool right next to her. This visitor was a Gengar dressed in a stained, torn singlet, with worn-out green pants and black combat boots, and he looked like he was under the influence of an unhealthy amount of alcohol. Rosa silently hoped he wouldn't acknowledge her presence, but unfortunately for her, he did.

"Whassyer name, cutie?" he slurred, blinking slowly, one eye after the other. Rosa forced a nervous chuckle in response and introduced herself in as few words as possible.

"Thassa funny-lookin' getup ye got there… ye look like that witch… whasser name… Margarine or somethin'?"

"It's Magia, and I'm her apprentice, yes." Rosa saw no harm in saying this, since this Gengar looked like he couldn't process anything too complex, but she was dead wrong. As soon as she stated her affiliation with Magia, he seemed to sober up entirely, swiftly pulling out a golden scepter with a red orb at the tip and pointing it right at Rosa, much to her shock.

"What the fuck did you just say? You're associated with Magia?"

Rosa was scared out of her mind, but she slowly nodded anyway. Without warning, Gengar fired an explosive orb from his scepter, and it exploded the stool Rosa was sitting on, but when the smoke cleared, she was nowhere to be seen.

"What the - where the hell is she?!"

"She went out the back." Snorlax responded, pointing to the back door. Gengar swore and ran for the door to the back of the bar, rambling something about how killing Rosa is one step closer to ridding the world of Magia. After Gengar left, Snorlax ducked below the counter, where Rosa was hiding. He had grabbed her off the stool and put her under the counter when Gengar fired, saving her from being killed. Under the counter, Rosa was curled up in a ball, hyperventilating.

"Hey, relax! He's gone now!"

Rosa crawled out from under the counter and took a few shaky breaths before standing up, her legs trembling like mad. In between breaths, she asked a number of one-word questions, and Snorlax explained.

"That Gengar's actually the famous evil sorcerer, Grimm. Legends say he had some kind of beef with Magia many years ago, and she sealed him between dimensions using a spell. He only came back the other day, and he's pissed and wants revenge."

Rosa coughed and attempted to regain her composure by breathing deeply.

"W-What's he doing hanging out in a bar getting drunk?"

"That, I don't know. Maybe he needs a way to calm down his emotions towards Magia before hunting her down. Sorry to say, but looks like you sparked his anger again, and if you're really her apprentice, then you might have to watch your back for a while. Hey, you want to stay the night at my inn? I'll make it free for you."

Without a second thought, Rosa accepted the offer. Sleep sounded pretty good to her at that point, and she figured she'd just go back to Magia's hut the next day and tell her she couldn't find the Pecha Herb. For that night, though, Snorlax guided Rosa to his inn which was connected to the bar, and she made her way to her room and got ready to sleep, removing her floppy black witch hat, boots, potion belt, and wand. She closed her eyes and despite the new fear buzzing around her mind, she still managed to drift off to sleep rather quickly.