Shadow poured one cup of water on the blender while Jigglypuff took the other. He watched her as she washed a few berries from the bowl then putting them aside. It got his attention if she had been in a place like the one they were in now, or if she learned it all from the forest.
"How exactly did this friend of yours teach you?" he asked her.
"Who, Buneary?" Jigglypuff turned to him. "She said to wash the berries first, then on a hollow stone, smash them with a smooth rock until it's nothing but liquid. Then just remove the roots." Jigglypuff felt nice being able to tell someone something she held very dear to her. Still, it was a bit saddening to her remembering her best friend, not even knowing where she was at the moment to go back to her.
"She must be a really good teacher," Shadow said.
"She is..." Jigglypuff sighed. At that moment, she remembered her friends back home, wondering how they were doing. If they even noticed she was gone. She remembered how Buneary was always with her brother. He loved her very much, Jigglypuff almost envied them. She herself always wondered when will she find love like them. But.. it seemed impossible... And why was it, she was thinking a lot about this, especially in the position she was now. Why... it's as if this place reminded her of them, a lot, but she had never been there before...
Jigglypuff was snapped out of her thoughts by the sudden loud noise in the air that made her jump. She turned to Shadow who was observing carefully the blender, realizing it was that that was making the loud noise.
"Why is this thing so loud?" Jigglypuff managed to ask, covering her ears.
"I have no idea," Shadow laughed. Jigglypuff giggled softly. The blades of the device stir and disintegrated the individual ingredients
After her ears got used to the loud sound, and took a few more berries from the basket and gave them to Shadow, who put them inside the blender. After a few moments, he turned the blender off and took the lit off. Jigglypuff took more berries from the basket until Shadow noticed the white gardenia near the edge. A small smirk made its way onto his face.
He cleared his throat. "You.. picked that yourself?"
"Huh?" Jigglypuff looked at him then at the flower on the basket. She was almost stuck for an answer. "Uh... yes.. I did."
"Which bush did you pick it from, exactly?" Shadow kept on grinning.
"Uh.." Jigglypuff's cheek starting to turn a little more pink than usual. "You know... the one next to.. that other bush..."
"Hmm, I don't recall ever seeing a bush with white flowers in the garden."
"W-What, but I saw him take it from the bush, how can't there... um.. I mean.. there.. there isn't?" She hesitated saying, the unsure tone clear in her voice.
Shadow chuckled. "What do you think?"
"Alright, fine," Jigglypuff huffed. "Your so-called master Gengar picked it. Then he just, gave it to me."
"That surely was nice of him," he replied in a sly manner.
"Yeah, he's weird, though," she responded, continuing to wash a few berries on the bowl thinking nothing of her statement.
Shadow's smile quickly faded. "You.. You think Master Gengar's.. weird?"
"Well, yeah," Jigglypuff hesitated, shrugging.
"W..Why?"
"Where do I begin?" Jigglypuff sighed sarcastically. "First there's his way of talking, it's so... cold.. yet something about it feels... comforting." She thought back of her first encounter with Gengar, causing a small chill behind her, then shook her head. Wasn't really the time to think of it. "Then it's the way he acts. That I've seen, anyways. He tries to act smooth, but really, he just makes himself look like a creep. What is he trying to do? Seduce someone?"
Shadow tried to think of something to say in defense, but couldn't find the right words. He almost looked scared.
"It's like you have no idea what's he thinking of doing next," the Balloon Pokemon continued. "And everytime I try to make eye contact... I don't know, but it feels like something inside is just, trying to get out, trying to escape..." Jigglypuff's voice trailed off in the middle of her sentence, but she didn't notice; Shadow did.
"So, um," he cleared his throat, "if that's how you feel, then why did you keep the flower?"
"Because I like it." Her eyes widen a bit thinking her last statement could of been taken differently. "The flower! Because I like the.. flower."
Shadow gave her a look. "Alright." He turned around to get glass cups, but not before stopping mid way and faced back to Jigglypuff. "Master Gengar and I have the same speech pattern. I got it mostly from him. How come you haven't noticed my way of speaking either?" He grinned and flew off to the opposite side of the room.
Jigglypuff turned back to the counter. "...They do?" she asked herself softly, slapping her forehead. Looking over at the blender, she lifted the lid and smelled the newly made berry juice. It smelled better than the ones made with Buneary. Shadow returned holding two glass cups with Psychic, lifting the blender and pouring half and half on each cup. He passed one to Jigglypuff as she gladly took it, curiously looking at the glass cup before taking a sip. Surely it felt differently that the type of 'cup' she used back from her home. Too clean, perhaps? Nevertheless, she smiled at the drink.
"Different taste. I think I'll have to take some to go," she giggled.
"Of course, maybe you could even-"
"Three red strawberries! How hard can it be?"
Jigglypuff and Shadow looked over to where the voice came from to see Magby and Smeargle glaring at each other.
"No te distraigas, ¡necesitamos mas fruta para la tarde!" Smeargle responded.
"We don't need tard, just three strawberries!" Magby shot back.
"¿Estar dónde?"
"Dang, what's with them?" Jiggypuff asked. She could just feel the tension from them, even if they were feet away.
"I would think that Smeargle got a recipe wrong again," Shadow replied.
"Why?"
"Smeargle is not from here; a foreign Pokemon, if you will. He only speaks one language we don't understand."
She looked at the two still arguing with each other. The disagreement that causes conflict was almost too unbearable to her.
"If you can't do something as simple as that, then this place is not for you!" Magby continued yelling. Everyone was looking at them go at it.
"Trato de enfocarme, tu tambien debes hacerlo!" Smeargle yelled back.
"Augh!"
"Alright you two, break it up," Pansage exclaimed, trying to separate them with his arms.
"Pansage, I can't work with this simple minded brush tail!"
"Me gustaria haber trabajado con alguien mas capaz que este!"
"I can't understand what you're saying!"
"Hey, why are you two fighting about?" Jigglypuff asked them, getting in between them.
At seeing her, Magby and Smeargle's faces soften a bit, calming themselves down for a moment.
"M- Miss, we're sorry if we disturbed you," Magby said, bowing his head. The embarrassment was clearly shown in his expression.
"Me disculpo, señorita, espero que no te molestamos mucho," Smeargle added.
"It's alright. Now, why were you two arguing about?"
"My disagreement with him was that no matter how simple I try to make it, he can't get me three ingredients for the afternoon recipe," Magby explained, pointing to himself then Smeargle.
"Yo le trato de decir que necesitamos tres ingredientes para el lonche de la tarde, me ignora y no sigue la receta," Smeargle said.
Jigglypuff stayed silent for a moment with a blank expression. "Wow," she sighed, turning to Magby. "It seems you two are arguing about the same thing, you just don't understand."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
She turned to Smeargle. "Smeargle, está diciendo que traigas la cosas exactamente que tu estás pidiendo."
Shadow, along with everyone else in the room, stood aside astonished at Jigglypuff's sudden statement. Was she just speaking the same language as Smeargle?
"¿Exactamente lo que estaba diciendo?"
Jigglypuf nodded. "Tres fresas, parece. ¿Puedes conseguirla?"
"¡Por supuesto, señorita!" Smeargle exclaimed and ran out of the kitchen through the back door. Everyone watched him go, few with their mouths left open.
"He says he'll have them in a bit," Jigglypuff told the fire type. "I think..." She walked back to Shadow, who managed to regain his pacified attitude.
"What.. was that?" he managed to say.
"Oh, that? I just asked Smeargle if he can bring Magby's ingredients, that's all. Apparently, they were arguing over the same thing. Odd, isn't it?" The Balloon Pokemon only shrugged.
"Well, yes, but, knowing how to speak with Smeargle like that."
"Oh, that. That type of language seemed familiar because, you see, what at my home, we used to have this neighbor of ours that speaks the same way. I honestly thought it was funny, so we asked to learn it, too, although, I will admit, I'm a bit out of practice. I didn't believe it had an actual origin, but it's nothing, please, it's not that big of a deal," Jigglypuff insisted.
"Nothing? We've been trying to understand Smeargle for years now. The only way we could communicate with him was with signs and some photos in an old cookbook. But with you here, it could make it all easier." Shadow happily said, thinking that now there was more than one reason for her to stay.
"That's nice, Shadow, but I'm not really stayi-.." she cut herself off before she could finish, sensing it would be been a mistake to finish, but it was too late.
"...What?" the shy reply hid the small sense of fear in his voice.
"I mean... Really?" Now she regretted ever speaking her mind again. She didn't know why, but she felt at commenting it, it would hurt Shadow's feelings, and that was the last thing she wanted at the moment.
"Well..."
The kitchen back door suddenly swung open. "¡Los tengo!" Smeargle exclaimed. He ran over to Magby, who quickly took them.
"T-Thanks, Smeargle," the fire type said, the root of their argument within his grasp. He shifted his feet awkwardly, thinking of the conflict he made rise with the normal type, embarrassed for his behavior towards him as it was just a simple misunderstanding. Just moments ago, they were yelling at each other like there was no tomorrow. He didn't want to leave a lingering tension between them, they all had their part within the kitchen, after all. Shyly, he asked, "Hey, do you think you can help me prepare them?" pointing towards both of them then at a stove with a bowl on a counter. Smeargle only smiled at him and followed him to the other side of the room, where both him and Magby jumped onto the stools onto the counter.
Flareon walked over to Shadow and Jigglypuff, her sight still focused on Magby and Smeargle. "That's the most I've seen them get along in weeks," she said.
"Really?" All that over a misunderstanding? How long were they in conflict?
Flareon nodded. "We hope it goes on like this. While Smeargle can be absent minded, he does decorate some pretty neat meals, better than anyone here. His sense of creativity is remarkable." She bowed to Jigglypuff. "Thank you, miss." And with that, she ran off to her station, leaving the pink Pokemon puzzled to no end.
"Why do they do that?" she asked Shadow.
"Hm?"
"Why do they talk to me as if I was some sort of... royalty? Or a type of important being?"
Shadow was stuck for an answer again. As much as he wanted to tell her, he knew he couldn't. His mind raced for a response. "They.. treat everyone like that," he finally said, trying hard not to show his guilt.
Jigglypuff raised an eyebrow at him. "Shadow, are you hiding something?"
"Everyone has something to hide. Like part of their personal lives."
"Ok... Do you know something I don't? Maybe something having to do with the way they speak to me?"
"Of course not," Shadow responded, lying through his teeth. It almost seemed forced.
She finally decided to give up. "Fine," she sighed firmly, then took her cup with berry juice and headed for the kitchen door. Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned around to see Mudkip, Flareon and Smeargle, all bowing before her. Jigglypuff just looked at them. Shadow smiled nervously.
"Thank you for taking your time with us, Miss," Flareon said.
"We couldn't be glad enough," Mudkip added.
"La mejor de suerte para usted, señorita."
"Uh.. thank you, all," Jigglypuff replied, doubtful in her awkward tone. She walked to the door slowly, still looking at her strange admirers. She reached the door knob and opened the door for her to run out, closing the door behind her and slamming her back against the wall.
"If this is the kind of reaction I get by just going into a 'kitchen', I'd hate to see the reaction I'll get outside," Jigglypuff thought to herself annoyed. Now she regretted ever getting out of bed.