Chapter 2
Flowing through Town
Bella sat in her room and read one of her favorite story books. This one told about a Staraptor and his Woobat sidekick exploring the ruins of an ancient Hawlucha tribe. They where currently in Town and gathered information from an old Magcargo while an evil Weavile spied on the three.
She chuckled at the, in retrospect, silly display. She would love to be in a similar scenario, though. She as a dashing hero and her jolly sidekick discovering the mysteries of this world. She sighed. Being able to see more of the world, discovered or not, already would be enough to her.
Feeling her eyes getting weary, she put the book away and stretched her arms on her stool. Right next to her stood her bed in which the Sentret from yesterday was sleeping rather soundly. He had a with oran juice soaked bandage around his waist that was supposed to help him heal faster.
A long yawn escaped her mouth. She had insisted that the Sentret would sleep in her bed and she would watch over him. Her mother had offered Bella to sleep together in her bed, but she wanted to stay with her patient. However, she fell asleep on her chair and woke up with an awful stiff neck. Her face flushed a bit in embarrassment when she remembered herself of it.
She dangled her feet while she watched the Sentret sleep. Her fears from yesterday were kind of correct. The Golems fist had left two of his ribs bruised, not broken. Her mother also said that he had a undercooling and probably will wake up with an awful cold. Her mother also figured out that he was a boy. This also meant that this was the first boy to be in her room, ever. And he laid in her bed. She felt heat was raising up in her cheeks, but she quickly dismissed that silly thought.
Her gaze went over to the Golem. It stood in one of the corners, not moving an inch, its yellow eyes glowing almost eerily in the dim room. It remained there since yesterday after it helped carrying the Sentret. Even though she already told it that it was free to leave, it just continued to dwell there, void of any sound. She figured that it probably just wanted to assure that the Sentret would get better.
"Uuuuh..."
Her ears perked up as she heard a small groan beside her. She looked over to the Sentret and saw that he slowly was opening his eyes. Happy, albeit a bit baffled, she walked over to his side. Her mother has told her that he might be out for days, yet before her very eyes he was slowly standing up.
"Eeech..." The Sentrets body steadily raised from the bed, bulging the sheets he laid under.
"You're awake!" Bella screamed in bliss and began to give the Sentret a big hug. She was so happy! She could finally talk to, tell and ask him stuff!
"Ooouuuhhh..." The Sentret groaned weakly under the Buneary's merciless hugging attack. Bella found herself quickly dismissing the hug when she realized that the Sentret still had a big bruise on his body.
"S-sorry!" She said, quickly adding an apologetic bow.
The Sentret eyes were now completely open and they began to scan the room around him warily.
"W..." His voice was barely audible, like a giant frog was inside his throat. A couple of dry coughs cleared it out, though.
"W-Where am I?" He slowly managed to say.
Bella gave him a reassuring smile. "You are in our house in Flow Town. Don't worry, you're save her."
"Flow Town...?" The Sentret murmured, his eyes strained as if it had a bad headache.
"Yep! And I and that nice Golem over there saved you!" She exclaimed proudly while pointing at the cyan rock.
He blinked at the big Golem in the corner and then at her. After groaning a little bit he slowly lifted himself further from the bed as if he was about to leave it.
"Whoa, hold on!" Bella lowered him carefully down into the pillow underneath him again, "You almost drowned yesterday, you shouldn't be up and about right now!"
He looked at her with a confused look. "Drowned? What do you mean drowned...?"
"Well, just drowned." She balled one of her paws into a fist and pressed her cheek against it, unsure on how to tell him this in a different way, "You do remember how you ended up in the river, right?."
The Sentret began to ponder a little at the question and shook his head. Bella gave him a worried look, he couldn't had forgotten everything.
...Could he?
"H-how about your name?" She said, fearing the worst, "Can you at least remember your name?"
Once more, the Sentret began to think about the question hard. After he was done he shook his head again.
"Nope. I can't really recall anything at all, actually."
Oh dear.
Bella's worry turned into panic. Did he really forgot everything? A uncomfortable shudder rushed through her body. She couldn't even imagine what he must be going through right now!
"You got something to eat?" He said unfazed, "I'm a little peckish."
Her mouth gaped open as she stared blankly at the Sentret. Didn't he care that he couldn't remember anything?
A little growl in her stomach reminded her that she also hadn't eaten anything today. She giggled sheepishly. He was right, something to eat was exactly what they needed right now.
She reentered the room with a small bowl filled with berry slices her mother made for them. She sat herself down on the corner of her bed right were the Sentret laid and they both began to greedily reach into the bowl. When they had their mouths filled with berries Bella continued their conversation.
"So," she began between chews," you really can't remember a thing?"
The Sentret crossed his arms and closed his eyes in thought. When he swallowed the contents of his mouth he began to talk.
"Maybe an orange paw," he shook his head, "but nothing besides that."
Bella looked down at one of her own paws. They were chocolate brown, so it wasn't her paws he remembered. With these very paws she then grabbed another slice and stuffed it inside of her. While chewing on the sweet fruit she began to think herself.
"Hmm..." Her face brightened up when suddenly had a great idea. "How about we just give you a name until you remember your real one then?"
The Sentret contemplated over her suggestion for a minute but then just shrugged. "I guess, but I can't come up with a good one on the spot."
The Buneary nibbled at the edge of one of the slices while she tried to come up with a name for him.
"How abouuut... Sam?" She suggested.
"Sam?" The Sentret gave her a puzzled look, "Why Sam?"
Now Bella shrugged. "I dunno, I think its a cool name."
The Sentret gave a little nod. "I suppose that's fare enough. Alright then," He grinned at her, showing off some berry chunks between his teeth, "then I'm gonna be Sam from this day on."
They chuckled in union before the newly named Sam spoke up again. "What's your name by the way?"
Oh, she totally forgot to tell him. She felt a little foolish for asking for his name before even giving him hers. "I'm Bella, nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you too. Oh!" Sam's head jerked up as if he just remembered something. "And thanks for saving me, by the way!"
Bella shook her head. "Don't thank me, thank him!" She pointed back over to the Golem standing in the corner who was so silent that it almost was invisible despite its size.
"He got you out of the ocean and then pressed the water out of your body that you swallowed!" She looked down at his bandages and pouted her lips. "Though he was a little rough."
"Thanks then, uhm..." He leaned over to Bella and whispered to her. "What's his name?"
"I dunno." Bella watched the Golem how it did not do a thing, as always. "I found him back on the beach where he just looked into the distance."
She cocked her head to the side. "To be honest, I still don't know why he even helped me with you."
"Hm." Sam reached into the bowl again to retrieve another slice of berry. "He must be a nice guy, though. I mean, he saved me, didn't he?"
"Yeah, I guess." Bella cheerfully smiled at the big rock. Her smile faltered however when she recalled that Sam just called the Golem a him.
"Erm, are you sure though that he is a boy...?" She hesitatingly added after pondering some more over the Golem's origin.
Sam just shrugged while he munched on the last berry slice. "He doesn't look all that girly to me."
Bella giggled when she imagined the Golem wearing a pink bow and dress. She supposed that Sam was right. But she still had no clue about the Golem's name, neither did she know what kind of Pokémon he even was, if he even was one. She smiled again when she had another genius idea.
"Hey, mister!" She called out to the Golem in the corner, "How about we give you a name, too?"
Not a word.
The Buneary tried to fish another berry slice out of the empty bowl while she thought of a name for the Golem. He was big, quiet, strong and kind, a little clumsy when it came to handling others, though. What would be the perfect name for someone like him? Hm...
"Golbi!" Bella exclaimed as she bumped her paws together, "That's a perfect name for him!"
"Hm, I dunno..." Sam interfered, "doesn't really sound that bulky."
"It's a good name!" She refuted and directed her attention to the Golem. "Don't you agree?"
No objections.
She smiled back at Sam and giggled again. "See? He likes it!"
Bella was happy that she at last was able to call the two by a name, she didn't really like it to call a Pokémon by its race. However, name or not, she didn't knew anything else about her new friends. Maybe they should ask around town to maybe find somebody that does know one of the two.
She looked inside the bowl only to find that it has been completely emptied. Disappointed about only having like three slices, she laid it aside. Sam really must have had been hungry!
"Hey Sam," Bella watched how Sam was about to swallow the last berry slice. He stopped himself though when he heard the Buneary talk, "do you think you can walk?"
The Sentret shifted his body beneath the sheets he was laying under in order figure out the answer to that question.
"Sure," He said, "unless you're gonna give me another one of your hugs."
Embarrassed, Bella moved her flushing face away from his gaze. She didn't even know him for an hour an he was already teasing her! It didn't took her long to regain her stance and began to explain her plan to him.
"Good, I wanted to show you around Town and at the same time maybe find somebody who might knows something about you."
Sam nodded and threw the sheets off of him. He stretched his body a little before deciding to stand up on her bed. Now that he stood, Bella was able to estimate how tall he really was. He was surprisingly small, even for a Sentret. The top of his head would probably just barely reach her chin when they would stand parallel to each other. Strange, she thought. He doesn't sound that young. Maybe he was simply just small?
Shrugging it off she jumped off the bed, closely followed by Sam and guided him to the door. Before she left, however, she paused inside the door frame.
"Golbi," She turned around to face the Golem in the corner, "you wanna come too?"
Golbi's upper body slowly moved, making the sound of rocks grinding against each other. When his square eyes made contact with those of Bella he stopped. It took a few seconds, but then the cyan Golem followed her question and started to move his legs. The whole room began to shake with every tstep he took.
On the way out she noticed how her mother was about to leave with a basket around her arm. How convenient! She wanted to tell about their plans anyway.
"Hey mom," She shouted out to the Lopunny to get her attention. Her giant ears jerked up when she heard her voice and turned around, "I going to show my friends around Town!"
Her mother looked uncertain down at the small Sentret. "Are you sure your little friend is up for the task?"
Sam tapped his fist against his chest confident, winced however a little when he hit the bruise underneath his bandages. He quickly recovered his poised stance, though his cheeks began to blush.
"S-sure am, miss, uhm..."
The Lopunny giggled at his proud display. "Just call me Linfa. What's your name by the way, cutey?"
The Sentet's face blushed even harder when Bella's mother leaned over and began to pinch one of Sam's cheeks, much to Bella's displeasure.
"His name's Sam." She answered for him, a bit sour. Her mother was so embarrassing sometimes! The basket her mother was holding however quickly redirected her attention.
"Do you want to go somewhere, mom?" She asked the Lopunny, causing her mother to stop harassing the poor Sentret.
"Yes, I wanted to go and collect some berries. Our stock is getting pretty low."
A unpleasant taste spread on her tongue. She originally was supposed to get some berries for them yesterday, however these two purple bullies had stolen them. Bella has told her mother that she has lost her basket while saving Sam and that she got her black eye by falling on a rock. Self contempt rose within because she had lied to her mother. She hadn't told her because she didn't wanted her mother to think that she was weak. However, she never figured it would be so difficult to not tell the truth.
Linfa probably noticed her daughters glum face because she started to fondle the top of her head.
"Don't worry about it, honey." She tried to sheer Bella up, "A basket of stupid berries is nothing compared to a Pokèmon's live."
Bella sighed inwardly. That she lost the basket wasn't the reason that made her feel bad, it was the fact that she had lied to her mother. Not wanting to disappoint her though, she faced her mother and gave her a fake smile.
"Thanks, mom!"
Happy with that answer the Lopunny widened her smile.
"Ah!" Linfa held her free paw over her mouth. "I totally forgot! While you're in town, can you please go to the Kecleon Market and ask for their latest order?"
Bella nodded. She wanted to give the Market a visit anyway, so she had no problem with her mothers request at all.
Her mother placed her paw on her chest and sighed relieved. "Phew, thanks honey."
"Oh, and honey," she knelt down and whispered the next words directly into the Buneary's ears, "please look out for your friend, he might act all tough but his condition can very quickly worsen when he strains himself to much."
Bella looked over to her friend. He got back on his feet rather quickly, that much was true. There wasn't any sign on him that said that he almost drowned yesterday, besides the bandage around his body maybe. Was it all just an act to get out off bed? With confidence in her face she nodded at her mother.
"I will!"
"Good," Her mother tickled her ear a little, making the Buneary giggle, "now go and show your friends around town!"
With that, Linfa waved goodbye and departed towards the forest. She didn't worry for her mothers safety, she knew the forest and every location of every berry tree in it like the back of her paw. Bella turned to her friends and gestured them to follow her.
"Let's go!" She said excited. "The last one there is a rotten Cheri Berry!"
And so she ran off to the town as fast as her little feet could carry her, loud stomps confirming that at least Golbi was following her. She couldn't wait to show her new friends all the facilities around town!
Friends... She has called them that already a couple of times, but just now it dwelled on her that, for the first time in her life, she had actual friends. A funny feeling rose up inside her stomach. As strange as it was however, it somehow made her happy. With a huge grin on her face she picked up her pace.
When she reached the town gates she had to stop and catch her breath. She hadn't run that much since, well, ever! Her feet felt all wobbly and she had to take deep breath to satisfy her body with enough air, making her throat hurt.
"You.. you're pretty fast!" She heard Sam say between gasps. She turned to get him in her vision and saw how he was bending over a bit, clutching his chest. Her heart tightened in her chest. Oh no! She made a promise to her mother just a moment ago to not have Sam strain himself to much and she already broke it! How could she be so careless?!
"S-sorry Sam!" She said, her voice all husky, "I shouldn't have just run off!"
"Nah, its nothing." Sam raised his paw and took one last, deep breath before standing up straight again, "I actually feel pretty glad that you ran, my limbs really needed the workout!"
She put a paw on her hip. Now he was just lying to not make her feel bad. She made a mistake and should feel bad about it! It was just fair to teach her to not be so careless again! A series of loud steps however ended her current train of thought when Golbi arrived.
"Looks like you're a rotten Cherri Berry, Golbi!" Sam began to chuckle.
Bella started to laugh as well and shook her head afterward. Sam was right, she shouldn't take it to hard. Besides, she still had to give them a tour around town and what good was a guide who was all gloomy? She waited for the three of them, or rather the two of them, Golbi didn't really breathe, to fully recover their breath. After her heart wasn't racing anymore, she coughed slightly to get everyone's attention. Once she was sure that everyone was listening she stroke a pose and began to speak.
"This right here is Flow Town!" She pointed at the giant, wooden arc with big letters saying "Flow Town" carved into it.
"It might not be the biggest Town around, in fact it is quite small, but it still has a lot of shops because this place has a bunch of different Pokémon passing through, because, uhm.."
She struggled to find the reason why so many Pokémon passed this place, sometimes only staying for less then a day. She recalled that it had something to do with the fact that it was located between a bigger town and a hotspot for adventurers, but she wasn't really sure.
"Never mind the reason," She just said, achieving to make Sam chuckle, "but because of all the Pokémon just flowing through, the Town is called what it's called! And, well, the big river the town is build around might also be a part of the reason for that."
"So let's see..." She tapped her chin while she collected in her mind every interesting facility the town had to offer, "First off there is the Kecleon Market, but every town has one of those. Then there is Goodra's Gooey Goodies, a place where you can buy and wrap up presents for your friends, though I would stay away from Goodra or else he's going to give you a really messy hug!"
Bella giggled at her own remarks, with which Sam joined in gladly. Golbi, on the other hand, just listened in silence.
"Okay, then there is Klefki's Caisse, you can go there if you got anything, from a chest to your frontdoor, that needs to be opened. She somehow always finds a way to open it without breaking anything. Then we got a Town Hall with a Adventurer Secretarial and a Billboard for jobs Pokèmon might need help with and there is alsooooo..."
She scratched the back of her head, what was she forgetting? She remembered to actually wanting to go there as well...
"Uhm."
She looked over to Sam who was raising his paw in order to ask a question. Bella snickered at his student like behavior and pointed at him.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Are we actually gonna go inside?" He said with a small frown on his face.
She gave a jump when she realized that they still stood outside of town. Embarrassed, she turned around and led them inside.
The place itself, as usual, was surprisingly busy with Pokémon being about, so it wasn't that surprising after all. A lot of them where official adventurer's identified by their Adventurer's Badge they showed openly connected to any type of cloth that might be a scarf or bow. At times, she would be in Town just to ask some of them about the adventures they had. It was always fascinating to her to hear from the places they went and the treasures they discovered.
Today, however, she had no time for this! Today, she would show her new friends everything this town had to offer!
"The best wares you could ever find, Berries, Seeds and Orbs only here at the Kecleon Market!"
The distinctive voice of Kecleon rang in her ears. He was always trying his best to get as many Pokémon as possible to buy his wares at his shop, with little success this time around, it seemed though. Not to many Pokémon were browsing through his wares, something she should probably exploit because this could change on a dime in this town.
"Come on, guys!" She called over her friends as she made her way to Kecleon.
"Hi, mister Kecleon!" She called out to get the salesman's attention.
"Oh, hello there, little Bella-!" The Kecleon stopped mid sentence when he saw Bella's face, "Oh my, what happened to your eye?"
Bella looked at him confused for a few seconds before her eye started hurt again when she got reminded of the incident from yesterday. Her eye has gotten a lot better, especially with her mother Oran ointment, however it still would at least take a weak for it to completely disappear.
"What does he mean," She heard Sam behind her dumbfounded, "what's wrong with your eye?"
Bella's head sunk a little into her body at Sam's silly question. Well, she supposed she couldn't blame him, to him, she always had that swollen eye.
"I-its nothing." She answered after she recollected herself. "I wanted to ask you if you got any orders for my mom, it has been a while."
"Oh, about that!" The Kecleon's face suddenly perked up. "I was running low on stock, in fact. However, yesterday these two nice Pokémon came along and sold me a basket filled with various berries, you see." his eyes sparked with joy as he recalled this opportune deal, "They even sold me them for half the normal price! Some Pokémon really are selfless!"
A lump began to grow inside her throat at the mention of the two 'nice' Pokémon. Undoubtedly Kecleon meant that cat named Pelly and the Scorupi that assaulted her yesterday. She felt how heat rose inside of her cheeks. Not only did they beat her up and steal her possessions, they also now ruined her mother's business opportunity.
"Yeah, selfless..." She confirmed with the most sour voice she could muster.
"I'm sorry, Bella, but you have to tell your mother- Hey! What are you doing, you little thief!"
Bella jerked her head over to where the furious salesman was screaming at. When she did, she saw how Sam has picked up one of the apples that were on sale and now was carefree biting into it.
"S-sam!" She shouted flabbergasted, "You can't just eat that!"
"Why not?" He munched at her, pieces of the apple flying out of his mouth.
"Because you have to pay for it, that's why!" Kecleon yelled angry.
Sam tilted his head confused to the side. "What do you mean, pay?"
"Pay, with Poke! You know, Money!" Kecleon emphasized the last word. He was getting rather inpatient with Sam, indicated by a big vain on his forehead.
"Poke? What's that?"
"I... wha.."
Kecleon dropped his arms in defeat and stared stunned together with Bella at Sam. Did he really not know the concept of buying things? Bella faced the Kecleon again and bowed before him.
"I'm really, really sorry, mister Kecleon!" She apologized, "Sam isn't from around here, so he still needs to learn a lot!"
Kecleon laid his palm over his face and began to mutter. "Keep the apple, just tell him to never do this again, okay?"
Bella nodded exaggerated and bowed one more time. "I'm really sorry!"
She then proceeded to grab Sam by his arm and pulled him away from the Market. He yelped a little and tried with all of his will to not drop his already half eaten apple.
She forcefully turned him around and stared angry down at his little face. "Seriously, what was that?"
"What was what?" Sam counter asked while casually eating his dishonestly obtained fruit.
She poked his belly rather rough to get him to listen more seriously. "You stole something, you're not allowed to do that!"
Sam just shrugged at her unfazed. "So~rry that nobody told me."
She wanted to lecture him, shout at him for doing something this stupid, but no...
Bella took a deep breath to help her calm her senses and control her anger. She exploded a bit to much their. Her frustration over these two purple bullies was probably still getting to her. Sam was her new friend and she didn't wanted to destroy this friendship already by getting overly angry at him because of a stupid apple. He lost all of his memory and probably with that all the base concepts of a civilization. When she exhaled the cone of air back out of her body her voice was much more calm then it was before.
"Just promise me to not take anything without asking first again, alright?"
Sam nodded, his mouth curling into a smile. "Alright!"
Glad with Sam's cooperation she tickled him behind his ear like her mother always does with hers, causing him to shudder and uncontrollably giggle. Much to Bella's enjoyment, he was really ticklish. Her little tickle attack even caused him to shudder enough to drop his apple. Horrified that is precious food fell to the ground he quickly freed himself from Bella's paw and leaned over to retrieve the fruit back from the ground.
While doing so, Bella notice the awkward symbols that were shaved into the back of his head again, showing his rosy skin underneath his fur. Now that she saw them up close they confused her even more. One looked like a squeezed S, the next one reminded her of Sam's ring on his belly, a patch of his fur still present in the middle of the circle. The last one of the three was very similar to that of Noctowl's crown feathers, only less spiky and a bit thicker. Hold on, Noctowl...?
That's right! The library! She wanted to go to the library and ask Noctowl if he maybe knew anything about Sam or Golbi! She shook her head embarrassed. How could she forget Noctowl? He and her mother were friends for quite a while and she herself visited his place on a regular basis to get some new books talking about adventurers.
"Hey Sam and Golbi!" She caught the attention of Sam while Golbi was standing close to her the whole time anyways. "Let's go and meet somebody that might know something about you."
It didn't took them long to get to the library. The building itself was a rather shallow looking house, with dirty windows and a unkempt flowerbed surrounding the door that was now only home to two dead and thorny bushes.
Bella puffed up her cheeks. They were supposed to water them regularly! Her mother and she had planted these two bushes for Noctowl and his daughter as a birthday present. They were beautiful flower bushes and around this time of year were supposed to blossom. She was actually looking forward to see them!
The owner of the library never were the tidiest and much rather buried their beaks into a book than doing the household. They were at least really knowledgeable. You could ask them the most obscure things and they often would have a answer at their claw. If she wanted to figure out something about her friends she should definitely start asking here.
She knocked at the door and, as always, there was no answer. Sighing the opened the, as always, open door and stepped inside. Sam and Golbi followed her closely as they entered the barely lit room. The incoming sunlight that was able to pass through the dirty windows made million specks of dust visible that danced around wildly when she passed them. The whole floor of the room was filled with pile of books and even more were ranked next to each other in huge bookcases that created a small labyrinth.
Opposite of the entrance was a counter behind which a big, brown owl was standing on a perch. He was writing on a piece of paper with a feather in his claw, ignoring everything that was happening around him. She walked up to the counter and harrumphed as loud as she possibly could. However, Noctowl continued to scribble away without giving her the faintest glimpse. She tried again, but it was no use. On her third attempt Sam began to join her, more out of his own amusement than to help her get the owls attention, and they cleared their throat in union. But no matter how hard they tried, Noctowl simply stayed in his little world the probably resided in right about now.
Bella sighed frustrated. This always happened with him. When he had some sort of idea he dropped everything he was doing at the moment and began to write down what was on his mind. For some reason, only the voice of her mother was able to pull him back into their world. What she wouldn't give to have this ability at times.
She turned back at the Golem behind her for some advice. "You wanna give it a try, Golbi?"
The cyan Golem stared a second at her, then reached out with his fist and punched the counter. The impact was strong enough to throw the owl off his perch and make him tumble into the bookcase behind him, causing him to get buried under a mountain of books that fell out of the shelf. Flustered, he elevated out of the pile.
"Wh-What is it, who is it?!" He babbled while rapidly changing the direction of his field of vision. After a while he locked onto Bella and smiled.
"Oh, hello Bella! What can I do for you?" He said with his deep and smooth voice, the type that was perfect for reading stories to others, yet it still it somehow had the edge of a scatterbrain inside of it.
She glanced at the battlefield around her. "Cleaning up would be a good start."
He scratched the back of his head with his left wing and smiled sheepishly. "Oh, you know how it goes, you search for one book, then you find another one, then you can't remember what you were originally looking for and just dig through some more instead!"
Seeing how it was futile to try and teach this owl she instead returned to her original question.
"I wanted to ask you if you might know anything about my friends here." She asked while pointing at Sam and Golbi. Or she thought she was pointing at both of them as she saw how Sam began to climb one of the bookcases. He was a fast climber, that much she had to admit. Seeing how the bookcase easily carried his weight and he looked like he was a experienced climber, she wasn't too afraid that anything might happen to him.
Noctowl looked up at Sam and turned his head by ninety degrees. "He looks like a normal Sentret to me, the other though..."
He turned his head into the other direction, this time so far that until it was upside down
"I never seen something like him..." He said with his crown feathers facing down, making them look like a crazy beard, "I'm sorry, I can't say I'm really all that gifted when it comes to recognizing Pokémon. What's his name?"
She shifted a bit on the spot before answering. "You see, I was kinda hoping you'd know, he doesn't actually talk..."
"Oh?" Noctowl flew over to Golbi to inspect him more closely, "Well, I suppose this solves that mystery." He tipped the empty space beneath the Golem's eyes with his left wing, "He has no mouth, hohoho!"
The owl started to laugh at his own joke, but Bella simply ignored his attempts of being funny.
"Don't you know anything else?
"Hm..." He returned his head to its normal position and craned his face really close to that of Golbi.
"He looks a bit worn and-" He sniffed at Golbi but pulled back after doing so, "he smells salty!"
She pulled her right paw over her face. Those were all things she could have figure out herself! This owl was really tedious at times.
"Fine, I want you to look at something else."
"Hey Sam!" She called out for the Sentret who was busy flying through some random book while balancing on his long tail on top of a bookcase.
Sam lifted the book over his head and looked at her with a newly acquired book-hat.
"What's up?" He asked, still perfectly balancing on his fluffy tail.
"Could you please get over here for a moment?"
"Okay."
He threw the book aside and, by using his tail like spring, lunged himself skyward, almost touching the ceiling by doing so. Bella gasped in shock. What was he thinking?! A fall from this height would cause almost any Pokémon to break its legs! She wanted to run over and somehow break his fall, but before she even moved her feet, Sam spread out his body and slowly glided down towards the three. He gracefully landed on all of his four paws between them.
"So, what is it?" He asked, acting like the little stunt he just performed was the most ordinary thing.
Bella sighed stressed. This Sentret was going to give her a heart attack one day. She drew her attention back to Noctowl after her heart was beating somewhat regularly again.
"Could you please look at those strange symbols on the back of Sam's head?" She requested from the tall owl. Sam's ears jerked up in confusion at the mentioning of the symbols.
"Huh? What Symbols?" He tried to turn his head around in order to see whatever Bella was talking about, even running in circles on one spot. Sadly for him, the symbols were simply out of reach for his eyes. After running circles for a while he got dizzy what caused him to fall over on his backside. He shook his head and stood back up again, then stared at Bella with a frown on his face.
"Hey, are you trying to trick me?" He said offended.
"No no!" Bella quickly raised her paws up apologetically, "I just forgot to tell you about them, really!".
"No, I've never seen those either."
Noctowl interrupted their little argument by promptly blurting out the result of his small research. He was currently shoving his face into Sam's neck, making the Sentret a bit nervous when he finally noticed him. Bella was able to see how he shuddered every time the breath of the owl crawled down his back.
"They look kinda ancient," He suggested, "but my daughter is more the ancient story type."
He removed his head out of Sam's personal bubble with a big, proud smile on his beak.
"She just loves story's of old civilizations and relics! I'm sure she can help you with this- Oh right!"
Noctowl's eyes and beak shot open like he suddenly remembered something very important.
"Have you three seen Tooty?" He asked frantic, his head rolling from one side to the other, "She left the house this morning, saying that she was quickly going to fetch a few things, but hasn't been back since! I'm getting a bit worried..."
"Now that I think of it, it's strange that she left the house to 'fetch' something. She never did that before." His head stopped moving and his wings dropped, his face looking troubled, "I would go and look for her myself, but I can't leave the library empty."
Bella shook her head. "I'm sorry, we haven't seen her, Noctowl."
His wings dropped even further. "I see..."
The glum owl was making Bella feel really sorry for him. He was kind of a scatterbrain and pretty weird at times, however she was always able to tell that he loved his daughter more than anything.
"Well... We could go and look for her, right Sam and Golbi?" She suggested to the owl, leaning her head towards Sam for confirmation.
"Sure can!" Sam, much to her relieve, agreed with a confident grin on his face.
Golbi, like he did every time before, just kept quiet.
"Really? You would do that for me?" Noctowl asked the two astonished. "I mean, I don't want to waste your time-"
"Oh please, Noctowl." She interrupted his nonsense before he could continue it, "Since when is helping out friends a waste of time?"
The owls mood lightened up a bit. "Thank you, Bella. You and your mother somehow always find a way to make this fool feel better."
She gave him a reassuring smile. "No Problem!"
"So!" The attention of everyone in the room got redirected towards her, "Did Tooty say where she went?"
Noctowl shook his head. "Sadly no, but I would suggest asking around, there aren't many, and with that I mean no other, Hoothoot living in this town."
"Hmmm..." She tried to think of a place were Tooty would go. She wasn't a scatterbrain like her father, in fact she was always pretty well organized. Unlike her father, however, she could be bold at times and didn't really care much for friends. She'd rather stay home and read her books about ancient societies. For her to suddenly going out to 'fetch some things' seemed out of character.
But she wasn't going to find Tooty by just standing here! It would probably be for the best to follow the advice of Noctowl and ask around if anyone has seen her.
"Okay!" She headed for the door and waved Noctowl goodbye, "We'll find Tooty for sure!"
Sam sprinted for the door himself on all four of his paws and positioned himself in front of Bella. "Yep! We'll definitely find her!"
Golbi was the next to arrive at the door, but didn't say a word nor did he even look at the big owl.
"Thanks, you three! I wish you the best of luck!" The Noctowl said with new-found hope.
After waving goodbye one last time, Bella, Sam and Golbi left the library behind to go and start their first adventure, be it a little one.
"This is going to be fun!" Bella whispered underneath her breath, barely capable of hiding her excitement.
This was hopeless.
They searched all around town and asked every Pokémon they came across for Tooty. No one however has seen the Hoothoot. They have searched until dawn before starting to give up and heading back home.
Personally she didn't wanted to stop the search, but it was getting dark and she doubted that they would find her during the night. Sam and Golbi didn't took it as hard as she did. They didn't had any objections when she suggested that they should continue to look for Tooty tomorrow.
Her heart felt heavy when they approached the big arc. She promised Noctowl that they would find his daughter, but here she was, giving up. She really hoped she could make up for it by resting the night and find her tomorrow. Much to her disliking though, they encountered two Pokémon she really never wanted to run into ever again once they reached the wooden arc.
"You two!" She yelled out angry when she recognized the two purple Pokemon.
Wherever the two were heading, they stopped pursuing that goal to see who yelled at them. When the purple cat, who she recalled was named Pelly, saw her, she began to chuckle.
"Oh look, it is the little girl!" She spoke in a snarky voice, "How is that eye of yours, I really hope it got better."
"Yeah, yeah! Better, better, heheh." The Scorupi threw in as well.
Rage was fuming up inside of her. She would love to somehow teach the two a lesson, but she knew that she wasn't strong enough to fight them which meant that she had to endure their mocking comments...
"Did you come back for more, little girl?" She rose her paw over her mouth to soften a chuckle, "If yes, then you are stupider than I imagined!"
"Yeah, yeah! Stupid, stupid, like that feather ball earlier!" Scorupi said at a rapid pace.
Wait, feather ball? Did they mean...?
"Do you mean Tooty? What did you do to her?!" Tooty might've not been a close friend, however she knew her well enough to get angry at these two if they did anything to her!
"Oh, we told her-" The Scorupi wanted to answer her but a small kick against his head performed by Pelly silenced him.
"I don't see how this is of your concern, little girl." The purple cat instead continued.
"Answer me!" She tried to sound as threatening as possible, but instead sounded like a screeching Zubat.
"Or what?" Pelly chuckled gracefully, "I can't quite recall our last meeting, would you be so kind to remind me, Scorupi?"
"We beat her up, Pell-!" He caught himself mid sentence by putting his stingers over his mouth when Pelly gazed at him with a frightening glare. After recollecting himself he finished the sentence, "Purrloin! Yeah, yeah!"
"Well, she's not alone this time!" Bella noticed Sam stepping up next to her. He didn't even knew her for a day, neither about the story the three were having and yet he stood up for her. Bella smiled at his selflessness. That's right! This time she was not alone!
"Oh?" The cat's smile disappeared for a second and she cocked an eyebrow when she notice the two other Pokémon besides Bella.
"Looky here, it seems that you brought your friends this time around." She said unimpressed.
Pelly walked up to Sam and began to circle him, flicking her tail at his nose what caused him to sneeze.
"A little, fragile rodent and a big, dumb rock, how very fitting." Pelly spat after fully surveying Bella's companions.
"Stop pestering my friends, Pelly!" She yelled at her. She would endure all the abuse, all the talk about her weakness, but nobody, nobody was going to insult her new friends!
The Purrloin stared at her perplex. She closed in on Bella and placed her right paw on her chest while directly staring into her eyes.
"Who told you that you could call me that?!" She screamed at Bella irate, her voice now much louder and harder then before.
Bella answered her stare with one of her own. "Nobody, you stupid-"
Whack! The cat scratched Bella right over her right eye. She cried out when the claw made contact, the pain amplified by her already existing injury. Next, Pelly stood up on her back-legs and pushed Bella over with her front-paws. She then leaned over the floored Buneary with her now bipedal stature, showing off her claws.
"You think you're tough, huh?! I'm going to show you just how tough you really are, you little wimp!"
The cat lunged at her with both of her claws at once. Bella raised her arms in the hopes that they would block the cats incoming attack. Oh, why did she do that? No... No! She did the right thing! Standing up to those two bullies and telling them out on it was something that had to be done. She didn't care if she was going to endure more of their abuse for this and so she braced herself for the incoming impact.
WHAM!
But the impact never came. Instead, a big fist made out of rock flew past her face, hitting the cat straight on her snout. Pelly flew through the air for a couple of seconds before she slammed face first into one of the wooden poles of the arc, stopping her flight prematurely. She then fell down on the ground motionless with a loud thud. It wouldn't take an expert to tell that she was going to be out cold for a while.
Bella blinked a couple of times at the unconscious cat before looking back to see Golbi behind her, his fist extended above her. Looking back in front of her she saw Sam offering her a paw. With happy smile, she accepted it and he pulled her back on her feet.
"Thanks, guys." She faintly said, the wetness in her eyes revealing to her that she was at the verge of tears.
"No problem!" Sam joyfully said.
She rubbed the salty water out of her eyes. This was no time for crying! She drew her attention at the purple scorpion who was nervously fidgeting around, in a battle of morals to either run away or stay with the Purrloin.
"Now tell me where Tooty is!" She demanded of the twitching bug. The Scorupi placed his stubby arms over his head and cowered on the ground.
"Please don't hurt me! Please, please!" The scorpion gibbered even faster then before, making it hard for Bella to keep track of what he was saying.
"Just tell me where she is and nothing will happen to you." She reassured him, this time with a lot less force behind her voice. She'd figured that scaring the Scorupi wouldn't bring her any answers.
"Itwasn'tmyidea! I swear, I swear!" His voice didn't slow down, though. In fact, she believed that he talked even faster, so fast, that it actually impressed her.
"Scorupi, please, just calm down and tell me where Tooty is." Her voice was almost soothing as she tried to calm down the scorpion.
"W-W..." He looked up from underneath one of his trembling arms, "We met her over at the crossroad and she asked us if we knew a location of some old ruins and then Pelly said 'Sure!' and then she directed her somewhere where definitely no old ruins are as joke and- and – and-"
His voice was still zooming but at least Bella was able to understand what he was saying this time.
"Where did she send Tooty, Scorupi?" Bella knelt down before him, slowly so she wouldn't accidentally scare the scorpion.
He lifted his other arm, revealing both of his oval eyes. "Y-you swear you won't get mad?"
Bella nodded. "I swear."
"S-She sent her to..." Scorupi gulped heavily before proceeding. "Root Cave."
Bella jumped up from where she was keeling, every muscle in her body tensing up in shock.
"D-Did you just say Root Cave?!"
