Panotty's Debut

by Nintendo-Sega Nerd

Panotty and Archan had always been the best of friends. But their friendship stretches a little thin when Archan pulls a prank that results in an overload of stress and worry for Panotty... how will she fix it? PanottyXArchan oneshot. I don't own Puyo Puyo or Madou Managatori characters, SEGA does.

In the deep thicket of a forest, silence embeds in the trees. Sweet, utter silence...

Until a certain someone starts practicing their panpipes.

Enter Panotty. A short, chubby little lad, with pointed ears, and no ears for tone. You'd know he's near if you can pick out a screeching sound among the twittering of the birds. According to anyone who has listened to his flute playing, the noise has a close relation to a dying crow... But of course, no one dares to tell him that. Not if you want to get beaned on the head with a wooden pipe.

Panotty often practices in the woods by himself, in order to smooth out the little "kinks" in his songs- songs that he has written himself, mind you. He plays only the best, after all.

He tends to remain blissfully unaware of his inabilities.

Today, he was out in the wood, playing, when he was interrupted by a loud crash in the undergrowth. The note he was on dropped into a squeak painful to even his ears and he set his flute down.

"Hey, Panotty!" A voice exclaimed. A small child tumbled to the ground. "Oof. Dang it, I always do that..."

The girl splayed out in front of Panotty groaned and shook herself off, the arrows for the bow on her back spilling out of the sheath. "Argh. I knew I shouldn't have taken the backway. Stupid brambles."

Panotty glared at the girl. "Archan, you interrupted me! I was in the middle of my best piece yet, and-"

Archan snorted, her green hair falling into her face. "Yeah. I'm sure you were. Anyways, there's something I-"

"How the heck did you find me?"

"How the heck can I not, with that... music?" Archan giggled, and sighed at Panotty's sour look. "Oh come on, Pan-pan, I'm teasing."

"Ew! Never call me that again." Panotty stuck out his tongue. "Archie."

Archan grinned. "Panini."

"Archantop."

"P-man!"

"That's not even good! Chamomile!"

"What the heck is chamomile? Otto!"

"Uh... Arc-Bark!"

"Pani-wani!"

"I'm bored." Panotty said suddenly, flopping down on a log. Archan shrugged and followed suite.

"Eh, me too. Anyway, Pan...panotty, sorry, guess what?"

"What?"

Archan smiled ever so slyly, and felt around in her pockets. "Guess!"

Panotty scratched his pointed ear. "Ah, geez. New bow? Something to do with archery? Ooo! It's a new dress, isn't it. Come on, you know I hate all of that girly-"

"Shut up, McFeminist. Nope! It doesn't have anything to do with me!" Archan leaned in closer. "Take a look at... This!"

Archan whipped out a slip of paper from her pocket. On the front, in really sloppy cursive, were the words, Panotty the Piper: Flutist Extraordinaire. Come see his debut performance Thursday, 11 o' clock at the Ol' Woodland Stumps!

Archan handed the ticket over to Panotty. "Looks like you're finally making the big leagues, Pan-Pan!"

Panotty peered at the ticket long and hard. "Panotty... the Piper... Hm..." after a long moment of silence, he sprang up from his rock. "WAIT, WHAT?!"

Archan smiled. "Exactly what it says, Panotty! Isn't it great!"

The blond elf immediately started shaking. "You. Think. This. Is. Great?!"

Archan's smile faltered. "Er... yeah? Isn't it exactly what you've wanted? For, like, forever? Your shot at becoming a famous flutist?"

"NO! I mean, yes, but-" Panotty began pacing the forest floor in a panick, "I mean, Archan, come on! This is so last minute- I haven't practiced- and furthermore-"

"Hey, hey. Calm down, Pan-pan. People around here have known about it for a whole month. Where have you been?" Archan gave him a worried smile, the lie slipping easily off her tongue. On the inside, however, she beamed. He was freaking out, just like she thought he would...

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?! What do you expect me to do?! Waltz on up to the stage and toodlydoot on my pipe and everything will be okay? AND HOW COME YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS AND I DON'T?! Who organized this stupid performance anyways? Was it Witch? Lord help me, if it was Witch-" Panotty growled and clenched his fist.

Archan shook her hands. "Wasn't Witch! It's anonymously funded. See?" She pointed at some small writing on the side of the ticket that read: Signed, Anonymous.

Panotty snatched the ticket again. "Geez, who even designed this stupid ticket? It looks like it was drawn by a four year old."

Archan began sweating. Nope, he could not find out, not so early in her little plan... "Ahahaha! Who knows? Who cares? All the information you need is on the ticket anyways!" she laughed with an innocent smile.

Panotty stared at the ticket for a good long while again until his shoulders slumped. "Archan? Can I tell ya something?"

"Absotively."

Panotty swallowed and shuffled his foot nervously. "Well, see... The thing is..."

"...Yeah?"

"Well, it may come as a shock to you, but..." he cleared his throat.

"...Yeah?" Archan's eye twitched.

"I SUCK OKAY?!" Panotty swallowed his pride and shouted at the green girl.

Archan blinked, and then covered her mouth, slight giggles escaping. "Sorry. Are you surprised?"

Panotty pouted. "That's not nice! Do you know how difficult that was for me to admit?"

Archan nodded, knowing how prideful the elf was. "For you? Difficult."

The elf boy continued. "I know that I tell everyone that I'm amazing at playing the flute, and I try to believe it, but no matter how hard I practice... I just suck. I know what people say. I'm not stupid, Archan." And with that, he flopped onto the grass.

Archan paused and slowly walked over to the depressed child. Tentatively she reached out and patted his shoulder. "I don't think you suck."

He blinked. "What? You don't?"

"Nope. Not even a little."

Panotty muttered a barely audible thanks. "You'd be the only one." After a slight moment of awkward silence, he groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Archan, what am I going to do?"

"About the performance?"

"Yes, duh!"

Archan scratched her hair thoughtfully. "I dunno. Practice?"

Panotty stared at her and then rolled over with a moan. "I'm soooo doomed..."

Archan shook her head and stood up. "Oh come on, quit being a baby. Stand up," she pulled him up with much effort, "And start playing! What's a song you've been working on for a while now?"

He reluctantly pulled out his flute. "Well... there's this one, I guess..."

A little while later, Archan's ears had started to pound. She had kept a smile plastered on her face and sat up into a nearby tree, trying to pay attention to the noise disturbing the forest. Panotty, after a couple failing attempts of a new piece he had been working on, finally had enough.

"I'm done!" He threw his flute to the ground in a rage. Archan looked startled as she shot an arrow at a makeshift target she had set up: a knot in the tree. The arrow whistled past with a sad chink in the ground below.

"Darn, messed up my shot... Done with what?" she called down to him.

Panotty looked like he was about to break the pipe in half. "Stupid song... stupid fingerings... stupid air... stupid, stupid-"

"Lord of Puyo, Pan-chan. You should have been nominated for the anger management show instead." Archan chuckled at her own joke as she fiddled with her bowstring.

"This isn't funny! I can't do this, Archan!" he whined, looking up her with desperation in his voice.

Hm... Desperation... Archan considered this. Time to pull in her next move.

"...Hey, Panotty."

"Yeah?" He muttered. "What?"

"Y'know..." Archan pretended to consider some options. "I COULD... try to cancel the show. It'd take a while, and I'd have to find Mr. Anonymous... But I could do it."

"Really?" Panotty looked up and rubbed his nose. "Y-you can do that? Why didn't ya say so?"

"On one condition."

"Oh no." Panotty winced. He knew how fond Archan was in getting what she wanted through trickery. In the very back of his mind, he wondered if this whole set up was a gag for this very moment... But that's ridiculous. The ticket was genuine and everything, right?

Archan hesitated and responded thoughtfully. "Well, I could do it... if you did a whole month's worth of my chores."

Panotty deflated.

Archan shrugged at his disappointment. "Those are my conditions."

Duh. Panotty also knew that Archan hated housework. Well, so did he, so he wasn't about to resign just yet. "Yeah, no thanks."

His friend appeared surprised. "What? Really?"

"I don't wanna do your chores! I have a life too!"

Archan rolled her eyes. "Okay, mister, I thought you didn't want to do the performance too. What's more important?"

"Look, I said no. Period." Panotty shook his head and picked up his flute. "Now if you'll EXCUSE ME, I have to practice."

Archan sighed in her tree as Panotty continued to blow out unfathomable notes on his pipe. Softly, she muttered to herself, "I wonder how long it'll take him to realize that this whole performance was just a bribe to get him to do my chores?"

A couple of hours later, Archan wandered through the forest. She had told Panotty that she was going to stop and pick up some new arrows at a nearby hardware store, but she'd be back. Truth was, she really needed some peace and quiet to think over her failing plan. If Panotty didn't accept her offer, this whole thing would go up in smoke and all she'd get was a very very angry little elf. Archan was aware that Panotty could go for only a few days with a grudge before he completely forgot about being mad, but those few days were quite unpleasant and should be avoided if at all possible. Archan sighed. This was turning out to be much riskier than she intended.

She halted and blinked. Off in the woods, in Panotty's direction, was a noise she wasn't quite familiar with... Melodic, sweet whistling, like the air whipping past her arrows as they fly, bounced through the trees. Archan was incredibly curious, and ran off in the direction of the music.

What she found almost made her trip in surprise. Panotty was... playing his flute. But he wasn't just blowing into it for dear life with his cheeks all puffed up like before, no, this time he had pursed his lips and blew steadily and moodily. He tipped his pipe up with the high notes and they came out clear and solid.

Archan thought she was dreaming. What on earth was going on here? How did Panotty improve so quickly? And the song he was playing... sounded like an actual song?

Worse... he was still practicing. He must have been practicing for hours! Archan felt a slight twinge of guilt. Her little prank was making Panotty obviously stressed enough to practice nonstop.

She had to stop this now.

Archan cleared her throat. The note Panotty was playing squeaked and he looked up at Archan in annoyance. "Heya, Panotty. Still practicing?"

Panotty puffed out his chest. "Yeah. So? Sounded good, right?"

"Well, uh..." Archan grasped for words. "I mean, yeah, but, are you going to be ready for tomorrow? You still got a long way to go- sure you don't want to even think about my offer?"

"Course not!" Panotty shook his head, offended. "This is my debut, after all!"

Archan winced. "I thought you didn't want to do this..."

"You know, I've been thinkin about it..." Panotty tapped his flute on his chin with a relaxed grin. "And what's the point in stressing about this thing? If I just keep practicing like now, I'll be a-okay for the performance. No worries!"

Oh boy. Oh no... Archan shook her head. She was between a rock and a hard place now. If she broke the news to him now, maybe he'd forgive her?

Wait, this is Panotty we're talking about. Course he won't.

Archan laughed shrilly and actively cringed at her fakeness. "That's gre-e-a-at! Well, hey listen, play the song for me again, and I'll uh... give constructive critism. Or something."

"Dunno what that is, but okay." Panotty held the flute up to his mouth, poised and ready.

"WAIT!" Archan pretended to blow a whistle with her fingers. "Stop!"

"What?" her friend dropped the flute in annoyance again.

"You uh..." Archan swallowed, racking her brain for something, anything, to say about his stance. "You're too hunched over! Stand up straight! Like an arrow!"

Panotty rolled his eyes. "I was doing that! Sheesh. Fine... but no more awful puns coming from you."

"Puns-" Archan hesitated, finally getting the joke. "Oh, har har. Straight like an arrow. I'm an archer. Hilarious. Continue."

"See, it's not FUNNY if you EXPLAIN it." Panotty complained before picking up the instrument once more. He gently hummed out a note, expanding with dynamics. Archan stood as still as a board, listening as carefully as possible, for one tiny mistake-

"STOP!"

The note screeched to a halt. Panotty flung his arms up with exasperation. "What, what?"

"That was pitchy. Do it again." Archan folded her arms. The lie layed heavy in her throat, and she felt bad about it, but she needed to discourage him. It was for his own sake... at least, that's what she kept telling herself...

"What! No it wasn't!" Panotty glared at the green haired girl. "You're making that up!"

Archan tapped her foot impatiently. "Do you want to embarrass yourself in front of a LARGE AUDIENCE? Full of JUDGING FROWNS? And WATCHING YOUR EVERY MOVE?"

Panotty faltered a little bit, and for a moment, Archan could see raw fear in his eyes. But the moment was soon gone. "Alright, alright! It was pitchy. I'll try again."

"Good. While you're at it, you need to clean up the uh... the fast notes. At the beginning." Archan's mouth ran with some more lies.

"Fast notes... You mean sixteenth notes. Got it. And those were at measure 10, nowhere near the beginning." Panotty looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey. You're the musician, not me."

"Then why should I trust you with advice?"

Archan sighed with exasperation. "Because I'm the audience, dummy. Whatever I hear, the audience hears. You have to make sure its perfect. Besides, how do you know the notes are at measure 10? You don't have any sheet music."

Panotty grumbled with grudging agreement. "It's all in my head, but fair point..."

So it continued. Archan listened to his piece, but Panotty would never get farther than a phrase before she'd called him out on a note, or a position, or even if she didn't know what she was calling him out on. Her goal was to get him so frustrated that he would quit, and for a while, it appeared to be working...

"CUT!" Archan mimed a cut of a movie scene.

Panotty growled and sat down. "What is it THIS time."

"You sounded reedy and weak during that longer note. You need to push more air. Your uh, sharp notes-" Archan listed the problems off on her fingers.

"Staccato."

"Stacaca-avacado notes, they were all over the place. Sounded terrible. You keep closing your eyes, man, that's distracting, you sway a whole bunch, REALLY DISTRACTING, and also-"

"I GET IT!" Panotty finally snapped. He took his pipe and looked ready to break it in half.

Archan shrugged, but inwardly, she giggled with glee. Finally, some progress. "Oh, you get it? Then you'll be absolutely perfect the next time you play-"

"NO!" Panotty stomped over to her, and Archan stumbled back in surprise as he pointed at her face. "It's YOU! Why am I so stupid- I finally get that you don't- you don't believe in me! You keep calling me out and discouraging me- you think I'm going to bomb this, don't you?! You don't think I'm good enough!"

He wailed and flopped at her feet. "You're just like everybody else! Thinking me and my flute are trash, and I shouldn't even try!"

"I- no! Of course I-" Archan's face immediately dropped in horror. She didn't mean for him to think-

"Save it, Archan. I'm through with you." Panotty stood up and sniffled into his shirt. Panotty felt dead inside, like he had just walked through a thick fog. It was a very lonely feeling, knowing that even his best friend had never really supported him. All it was was deceit. Trickery and deceit, when all that he wanted was someone to tell him he was very good at what he did. He thought he could prove himself, to be worthy to Archan, but...

Well... Even if Archan didn't deserve it, maybe he could prove to her that he was worthy enough to be believed in.

With that, he slowly trudged away. Archan tugged on his shirt, but there was no response. "Come on, Panotty, please, I didn't mean for you to-"

"Leave me alone."

"Where are you going?"

"To practice. By myself." Panotty turned and glared at her. "I'm going to ace this song, and even you will see that I am good at something."

Archan's heart sank. All of her treachery... it was just one harmless prank, but it had tumbled down into a dark road for her friend. "Pan-Pan... listen..."

This was it. She could tell him, right here and now, that all of what he was practicing for was just a joke. But even as she tried to speak, the words stuck in her throat. Panotty looked at her, hopefully, expectantly, but when no words were said, he deflated and continued to walk away.

"Wait!" Archan finally ran and tackled him in a hug. "I'm sorry!"

Panotty fell to his knees in surprise and squeaked out a "Augugh Getoffme!"

"L-look, Pan-pan, I'm really sorry, for being so discouraging, and I- and I- I only meant... to help, and look, I made a mistake, and... and..." Archan fumbled over her words as she continued to hug his middle.

"I'm really really sorry!" she broke down, crying into his shirt. After a moment of awkward silence and sobs filling the tension in the air, Panotty tentatively tapped her shoulder.

"Uh, Archan?"

"Y-yeah?" She looked up at him hopefully with glassy eyes.

"...Can ya get off me now?"

"Oh- sorry." Archan clumsily hauled herself off. With a deep, shaky breath she murmured. "I really do believe in your abilities, Pan-chan. Honest."

Panotty gave her a doubtful look. "But, the criticism..."

"I was just... afraid for you? Like, if you did do this, and you bombed, you would be so embarrassed. I was trying to discourage you into quitting for your own sake, but... well, I'm sorry, Panotty. I really am." Archan finished. Well, at least that was half the truth, anyways.

"S-so, you... really believe in me? Honestly?" Panotty gave her a shy glance.

Archan scratched her head, embarrassed. "Yeah. One hundred percent."

With that confirmation, Panotty smile grew wide. "I knew it! I knew that you wouldn't give up on me! What was I thinking?"

He hopped up and danced a little bit, loud with laughter, in the grass. Archan watched with a relieved smile on her face, glad to see him back to his usual bouncy self.

"Of course I wouldn't have, silly." She smiled. Panotty abruptly stopped and looked at the sky, darkening into hues of purple.

"Oi, it's getting late! The performance is tomorrow! Okay, I gotta keep practicing now! Seeya Archan!" he, albeit quickly, skipped off into the trees.

"Haha... yeah, good luck..." Archan laughed weakly.

...Welp. She thought to herself. Now what? Panotty still thinks there's a performance tomorrow, because I was too chicken to fess up. At least we're on good terms, but.. I'm going to have to tell him... unless...

After a moment of thought, Archan snapped her fingers. "I think I have an idea..."

A day later...

Panotty gulped. Today was the day of the big performance, his debut, at the Ol' Woodland Stumps. He was a nervous wreck. Who would even show up to this? He had friends right? They would support him...

Who was he kidding.

No time to worry about that now. Panotty had woken up bright and early after a mere two hours of sleep last night. He was planning on staying up all night practicing, but his body told him otherwise at like 3 in the morning. Ah well, he still got in, what, twelve hours of practice? That should be enough... he hoped.

He felt his stomach drop as he approached the meeting area. He was going to be sick...

"H-hey... Panotty..." a familiar voice forced him to snap out of his fatigue. Archan approached him slowly, her feet dragging across the ground. "Ready to r-rolllll..." she yawned loudly and leaned on a nearby tree.

Panotty mustered up the energy to grin at her. "Whoah. What happened to you? You look like you nearly lost your best friend."

She lifted her arm and slapped at him weakly. Oh, if he only knew how true that statement was. "Shut up. No sleep."

"How come you got no sleep? You're not the one performing." he raised an eyebrow at her.

Archan winced. "I-uh... Was helping out. With... stuff."

Truthfully, she had gotten absolutely no sleep because she had spent the whole night working on the stage in the "meeting place". With the help of Zoh Daimoh as the heavy lifter, (elephants are rather good at heavy lifting), and had bribed Schezo Wegey with curry for help with the decorations (because she couldn't find someone more competent like Witch), she had pieced together a small, but usable, auditorium in the center of the circle of stumps that existed in the middle of the woods. She had just enough time at the end to send a quick magic fax to anyone within a 20 mile radius, with the words: Come see Panotty's Piping Debut Performance and get a free basket of cookies!

She was nearly positive that whatever audience was here was here for the cookies. (Cookies are a curtesy of Arle's friend Lemres back in who-whats-it-town... Primp, or something? She had managed to get a hold of Arle to get a hold of him right before Panotty arrived.)

"Okeydoke!" Panotty jumped and clapped his hands together. "Let's get this show on the road."

Archan moaned and stood up straight. "Thisaway, Mr. Flutist. Follow me." she suppressed another yawn and wandered in the direction of the sound of a crowd chatting amongst themselves.

Panotty forced down his nerves and followed. The noise grew louder until Panotty found himself in behind a huge group of woodland dwellers: dwarves, elves, harpies, humans, and spirits alike. Panotty felt a thrill course in his veins as he eyed the fairly large crowd.

"Wh-whoah! Look at all these people! I didn't know that I was so popular!" he exclaimed.

Archan muttered. "Here for the cookies. I knew it."

Panotty swiveled around. "What was that?"

"Eh, nothing. Performance starts soon, boy, you need to get backstage." Archan waved him off and wandered through the crowd. Panotty followed her through a sea of legs and bouncy animals until they arrived at a decently sized wooden platform, perfect for dancing on. Panotty ran a hand along the wood and drew it back with a yelp as a tiny splinter dug into his finger.

"Ack! Hey, this stage is awful shabby. No furnishing?" Panotty complained as he picked at his finger.

Archan felt her cheeks heat up. "We did the best we could, quit com-"

"Wait, what?" Panotty glanced at her in surprise. "What'd you say?"

At that moment, Archan wanted to kick herself. "I mean- they did the best they could. They. The woodsmen. How many carpenters do you know, mister complain about everything?"

"Alright, sheesh. Get off my case." Panotty held up his hands in defense and hopped up onto the stage. From this angle, he could see the mass of folk whirling about below him, munching on cookies and checking watches. Panotty gulped.

Then he looked up at the trees in the back. Hanging from a few branches, a large fabric banner stretched across the area. The banner read: Presenting Panotty. That didn't interest him, though. What did interest him was how it was hung up- with arrows. He glanced down at Archan, who gave him a weary thumbs up as she rubbed her eyes.

Archan sighed with satisfaction. As Panotty stood on the stage, ready to grab the audiences attention, she couldn't help but thank Zoh and Schezo in her mind. Zoh had taken some old wooden boards from a fisherman's shop and had built up a makeshift stage. This was a normally menial task for someone as great as he, but over the years Zoh had grown quite fond of the little elf archer, believing she had much potential to be a great warrior. And so he was willing to help in his after-hours of watching his temple as long as he got a crate of cookies in return.

Schezo, she knew, had no interest in festivities whatsoever, so she had used the old curry trick to bribe him to help. His dark magic had proven useful for one thing: it allowed for the decorations around the tables housing the cookies to look professional and thought-out. He had also participated in sending the magic fax into the air.

She was very proud of their work, and done in only one night. It was only fair to Panotty, after lying to him so much over the past day, even if he never found out the hardwork and toil she had gone through to make it happen.

Okay, that would bother her for a little while. Only a little.

Panotty cleared his throat to get the crowd's attention. After one failing attempt, he shouted, "excuse me!" and "hey! Over here!"

Finally, he blew a solid note on his pipe. The noise overtook the chattering and the crowd fell silent, all eyes drawing to the little elf with a pipe on the stage. Panotty felt small and weak, but this was no time to lose his courage. He had to play. This was his passion. He just needed to have fun, like he always did.

"U-uh. Hi there!" he called. "For those of you whole don't know already, I'm Panotty! And, uh, well, I've been practicing and-" he shook his head. He was blabbering. "I'm happy to be here, and excited to show you my newest song. Enjoy, or don't- no tomatoes, please!"

A couple of the audience groaned and put their tomatoes away.

Panotty closed his eyes. He brought his flute shakily to his mouth, and exhaled. He was shaking. His eyes snapped open and looked down at Archan for support. She gazed at him with tired, encouraging eyes, and smiled, mouthing "break a leg".

Panotty smiled back, his nerves settled. Once again, he brought the flute to his mouth and blew a soft tone. He didn't force the tone. He let it flow steadily and smoothly before taking it up a couple of notes.

He close his eyes, feeling the music in his bones. Panotty wasn't aware of his swaying, and when he started, he remembered Archan's critism in the back of his mind. He shoved it aside. Swaying was a part of him. So was dancing. And so he began to tap his feet and bob his head in time with the music.

The notes flowed off of his fingers like dust in the wind. It was so natural to him. Panotty had never felt more at home than here, playing in front of an audience, knowing that they could be feeling what he was feeling too. It was different than anything he had ever done, because before, he was just playing whatever had popped into his brain, not caring if it had a nicer sound.

Archan watched below in awe. Panotty was dancing on the stage, and as the tempo picked up, so did he. He started to click his heels together and hop on one foot, and the notes sped up in an array of articulation and fun. Archan noticed that she was tapping her fingers on the hem of her dress as he fluted. A smile was wide on her face.

The audience themselves were amazed at the sudden transformation of the elf boy they once knew. A few of them began clapping as he jigged on the stage and laughed when he winked at them. The crowd gasped when he suddenly jumped into a tree and hopped from one tree to another. Panotty didn't care what he was doing, just as long as he had fun.

It was worth it, Archan realized as he watched him play with a smile of pure joy on his face. The treachery, the lies, the hurt, the work... it was worth it to see him smile like that.

When Panotty finished, the crowd applauded. He didn't expect a standing ovation. Nor did he get one. But he didn't get splotched with a tomato nor booed, and that was all the praise he needed. After all, he had finally found the spirit inside him to flute like he did.

He bowed and laughed at the crowd. "Thanks for your time! We'll keep you posted on the next performance!"

With that, he hopped off the stage. The crowd began to file out into the trees, back to their normal lives. Was it just him, or did he see Zoh Daimoh with a whole crate of cookies? Ah, whatever.

Archan wandered over to him. "Nice job, Pan-pan!"

Panotty stiffened. "Archan!" he hissed. "I said no nicknames while we're out in public!"

Archan rolled her eyes, too tired to argue. "Guess you can't accept my congrats then."

"N-no! I do." Panotty shook his head. "Sorry. Thanks, Archan."

"Good. With that out of the way..." Archan yawned, feeling a wave of tiredness sweep over her. She was finally free to take a well deserved break. "Nighty-night..."

And she collapsed on top of him, asleep. Panotty shrieked at the prospect of his friend, a girl, no less, fainting on him, so he let her fall to the ground.

"Agh! Sorry!"

Archan was too tired to care, she just curled up into a ball on the ground and stayed asleep. Panotty sighed and plopped down next to her. She was really cute when she sleeps- was his cut off thought before he shook his head. From behind him, someone tapped his shoulder.

"Hey, there, Panotty!"

The elf turned and saw Arle in her usual blue battle gear giving him a big smile. Her dirty auburn hair fell over her eyes and she swept it aside. "Nice going there, letting a girl fall like that. Smooth. Here, let me move her."

With that, she lifted Archan up as if she weighed nothing and set her down on a stump. Archan looked so small and child-like compared to the human height of sixteen-year-old-Arle. Just to make himself feel a little taller, Panotty stood up straighter.

"So...? Ya need something?" he asked finally after a moment of silence.

Arle scratched her head. "Well, no. I just wanted to say, uh, congrats! That was... pretty incredible. I'm sorry that in the past I've seen so negative about your dreams. Looks like all of your hard work and your practicing has payed off after all."

Panotty narrowed his eyes at the prospect of their past interactions. Usually Arle would say go and practice and skip somewhere to play Puyo after demonstrating his flute skills. Then again, his flute were pretty awful back then...

"Yeah? Well, thanks."

Arle laughed. "It was kind of incredible. Don't sell yourself short."

Panotty puffed out his chest. "I know it was!"

"Especially because it was such a last minute performance!"

"Yeah- wait, what?" Panotty faltered. Last minute? Who says that this performance was last minute? Archan said that everyone knew about this performance for a whole month... right?

Arle nodded. "Not one of us knew this was happening until this morning. In fact, I heard from Schezo that this was all set up overnight. Must have been stressful for you."

"W-what... Stressful... sure, but..." Panotty cleared his throat. "But, Archan said that you guys had known about this since the beginning of the month!"

Arle looked at him with surprise. "Uh, what?"

"Wait..." Panotty sat down, thinking. Archan showed him a badly drawn ticket, he only had information about the performance from her... she wanted him to do his chores at one point... she felt bad?

Suddenly, everything made sense to him. Of course! He such an idiot! There was no performance, it was only Archan trying to bribe him into doing her chores for a month. All of that drama, and she must have bailed on the plan... all of that practicing overnight was for nothing?! Panotty seethed with anger. That little...

"Hey, listen." Arle immediately knew that there was some miscommunication between the two of them. She kneeled down and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Whatever happened between you and Archan... No doubt it was prank, right? Well, she more than made up for it. Do you know what she did?"

"What." Panotty growled. This had better be good.

"She spent all night working with Zoh Daimoh and Schezo on this little auditorium. She made that banner by herself, made me contact my friend Lemres for the cookies, who mind you, is from another dimension, and sent all of those fax invitations to the folk around here. In one night. She probably hadn't even gone home, and it was all for you, Panotty, because she felt bad. I'm not an expert, but I'd cut her some slack, okay?"

Panotty looked up at her stunned, then peeked over her shoulder at Archan's sleeping form. "She- she did all of that? For me?"

"She's a diligant kiddo, that's for sure." Arle stood up. "Besides, the performance, and your experience, was worth it. You really nailed it."

Panotty didn't hear her. He was still in a daze over the news. To think, that all of this, was because Archan was too afraid to confess her prank attempt earlier. He walked over to Archan and sat down next to her.

"...Y'know, Arle? Thanks for telling me. Archan's a great friend."

Arle grinned slyly. "Oh yeah, the best. I'll leave you two ALONE, now."

Panotty swung around and glared at her, but she was already running off. "Gotta go! Carby's home with a stomach ache, so see ya later!"

He shook his head with a sigh and leaned up against the trunk. He held his flute up to his mouth and blew out soft, barely existant notes, that whistled through the trees.

All in all, he thought, the last few days were worth it if I could play like this for Archan all of the time...