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Chapter 17:
"...a tantalizing fruit..."
Now, Treasure Town was built on a great plateau; essentially it was a tall mountain with a wide, flat top. When the Founders first decided they were going to build their outpost, they decided to start far, far away from the sides of the plateau. As a result, the first part of the town built was the Main Plaza. From there, construction of the town naturally splintered outward like a Spinarak spinning a web.
Dirt roads stretched out from the plaza, with buildings naturally cropping up from the ground beside them. Then, as more and more Pokémon moved into Treasure Town, more roads and buildings had to be built in order to accommodate them. Now, with all its winding roads and tall buildings, Treasure Town barely resembles its humble beginnings as a small outpost for explorers.
As for me, I began living here in Treasure Town fairly late into its history. When I first arrived, the town was already a bustling metropolis. The former dirt roads were now paved with cobblestone and soft gravel; while tall, stone or woodwork buildings rose up at its sides. Tall, metal lamps lined up at the side of the roads, casting light on the streets when night falls.
Speaking of those stone and woodwork buildings. Many of those buildings were built to house the many residents of the town; whether they be residents, visitors, or immigrants. That's not to say every building is a home though. Lots of Pokémon decided to open shops, inns, or cafes in Treasure Town; peddling their wares or offering various services to their customers.
Well, basically where I'm going with this is that Treasure Town is filled with all sorts of unique buildings and stores. There's so many different Pokémon running so many different stores that even I, for all the time I've lived here in this town, haven't been able to personally see every single one of them yet.
Which brings me to my next point. I've definitely never visited a place called "Phantom Pâtisserie" before. To be frank, with a name like that; I wouldn't have wanted to anyway.
I felt a cold chill run down my back when Blue and I finally reached the address written on the envelope. It had lead us to the extreme outskirts of the town, far away from the hustle and bustle of the town. Compared to the liveliness of the Main Plaza or the Shopping District, there were almost no Pokémon around here at all. All I could see from where I was standing was the edge of the great plateau, the sky, and a creepy little shack looming right in front of us.
"Well, here we are..."
The shack was built out of some sort of dark, almost black – colored wood. The entire thing looked old and creaky. In fact, it looked as though the entire thing was crooked. The house was leaning far to one side, looking as though it was about to topple over at any moment. The windows on the shack had no glass. Instead, the owner just decided to cover over the gaping holes with long, dust – covered curtains. Slats of wood were nailed all over the roof in a haphazard fashion to replace all the missing tiles and shingles. Overall, the entire place just screamed HAUNTED HOUSE to me.
At first, I thought that we had the wrong address. However, my hopes of leaving this eerie place was dashed when Blue found a signpost stuck in the ground near the shack. Upon reading the crude writing on it, I had no choice but to accept the fact that this old, terrifying hut out in the middle of nowhere was indeed the Phantom Pâtisserie we were looking for.
"I can't imagine the owner getting a lot of customers if the building's all the way out here," Blue remarked as he examined the words on the signpost, "it took us a pretty long time to get to here from the center of town. No wonder there's no other Pokémon around."
"T – that's what you're worried about?" I stuttered back at him as I clung to his tail with my eyes squeezed shut. I was afraid that if I continued to look at the building, my legs would give out from under me out of fear.
"Well if you think about it," Blue said in a casual voice, "it would make sense to build a store nearer to where the customers would be, don't you think?"
"S – seriously?" My astonished voice was muffled as I stuck my face into his tail, "I – if that h – haunted house was anywhere closer to the ce – center of the town, t – there would be P – P – Pokémon fainting all over the place!"
Blue made a thoughtful noise and said, "Really? To me, it just looks like an old, run down building. I don't see anything haunted about it at all."
Just where does this guy get his endless supply of courage from? Someone, please tell me so I can get some as well!
"Well," Blue said, "nothing's going to happen if we just stay standing here." He shrugged and began to walk forward, "Come on Fée, let's get moving."
"H – hold on!" I tried to protest, but Blue had already begun to move toward the terrifying house. I found myself dragged against my will as I continued to cling onto his tail in a desperate attempt to stop us from getting any closer to the ghastly shack. I planted all four of my paws deep into the ground and hung onto his tail with my teeth for dear life. Despite my best attempts though, Blue was unfazed by my resistance and just continued on with his march.
"Mmmphh!" I shouted through a mouthful of blue fur. A trail of upturned dirt stretched out behind us as I continued to anchor my paws in the dirt in a futile attempt to make him stop. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched in horror as the black – colored hut loomed closer and closer. The curtains were fluttering in the morning breeze. Every few seconds, it the wind would make a small gap between the curtain and the wall, just wide enough so that I could catch a glimpse of what was behind it.
And from that gap, I spotted a glowing eye staring right at me.
That was the last straw. I felt my blood run cold as I stared into that glowing, red orb from behind the curtains. I found myself transfixed by the eerie light behind the curtains. Then, as I tried to pull myself away from the sight, I saw a stark white skull emerge from within the darkness, encasing the glowing orb.
I released the grip I had on Blue's tail with my mouth; scattering strands of blue fur all over the place.
"Eeee..."
The last thing I heard before I blanked out was the odd noise that escaped from my throat.
"...hink she's waking up now..."
A voice from somewhere above me stirred me from my sleep. With my eyes still shut tight, I yawned and stretched my legs. I was lying on something soft and warm. It was nice and comfortable, but it only made me want to lie back down and return to sleep.
Well, maybe that's not such a bad thing. I did just have a pretty bad dream. Maybe if I go back to sleep, I'll have a nicer dream without spooky houses. I took a deep breath and curled up into a small ball.
"Hey, sleepyhead, don't go back to sleep again."
There was that voice again. This time, the voice was accompanied by something hard poking against my cheek. Annoyed, I reached up with my own paw and swatted it away. I wanted to go back to sleep, so don't annoy me!
"Fée..." I heard the voice say my name, followed by an exasperated sigh. Just out of curiosity, I peeked open one of my eyes to see who it was. Strangely though, all I could see through my half – opened eyes was a furry mass of blue.
"Hm...?" I mumbled in a drowsy daze. I prodded the strange blueness with my paw, wondering what it was. All of a sudden, a light chuckling sound came from above me. Curious, and also a little amused, I poked it again, eliciting another wave of laughs from somewhere above me.
"That tickles!" The voice said in between bouts of laughter, "Cut it out Fée, you're gonna make me spill my drink!"
Actually... now that I think about it, that voice sounds familiar. I opened up my eyes a little bit wider and tilted up my head. There, hovering above me, was Blue's laughing face. At first, I couldn't quite understand why his head was floating above me. But, as I turned my head to the left, I came in contact with the strange, blue – furred thing I was prodding. It was his chest.
"Eh...?" Feeling a little bit more awake now, my mind immediately began to process where I was. First of all, everything around us was dark and gloomy. Next, I appeared to be lying on top of Blue's lap, and finally, there was a white skull floating above us.
I stared idly at the skull for a few seconds before everything finally clicked inside my head.
"EEEEH?!"
With an echoing shriek, I sprung off Blue's lap in fear. He uttered a yelp of surprise as the rickety chair he was sitting on clattered onto the floor. The mug he was holding in his paws spun into the air, splattering onto the wooden floor.
Scared out of my wits, I darted around the dim room, looking for something to hide behind. Panting frantically, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a particularly large, ancient – looking oven standing in the corner of the room. Without any hesitation, I zipped over to the over to the oven and wedged myself between it and the wall. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that everything would just vanish eventually.
"Sorry, I'm really sorry!" I heard Blue apologize profusely from behind my hiding spot, "Here, let me get that for you."
"Mmm... there's no need for apologies," someone else spoke in response to Blue's apology. I didn't recognize the Pokémon's voice. Swallowing my fear, I leaned out from my hiding spot to peek at who was talking. Immediately, I regretted following my curiosity.
"Mmm..." The Pokémon was hovering a few inches off the ground like a balloon. It looked like it was covered in one of the gray curtains that was hanging off the wall. But, what really made it terrifying though, was that its face resembled a stark, white skull. Furthermore, underneath that skull was a single, glowing red eye.
"Eek!" I cried out in fear again and ducked back behind the oven, hiding myself from that spooky eye. I clutched my tail between my paws and shivered fearfully. From my hiding spot, I could hear Blue sigh in exasperation.
"Fée, you don't have to be scared," I heard footsteps coming toward me as Blue spoke. I timidly opened one of my eyes and saw Blue staring at me from outside my hiding spot, an amused look on his face.
"H – how can you expect me t – to not be scared?!" I stammered back at him, "W – we're in a haunted house! The – there's even a g – g – ghost floating around!"
"Ghost...?" Blue looked confused. I saw him glance away from me, presumably at the ghost hovering back in the room. "Oh, you mean Duskull?"
"D – Duskull?"
Blue turned back to me and nodded, "Yep, that's Duskull." He extended his paw out to me and said, "He's the guy that Wigglytuff and Chatot wanted us to find."
"H – he is?!" I replied in disbelief. Blue nodded again, confirming my fears.
"Now come on, get out from behind there," Blue urged, waving his paw at me, "you're holding the letter we're supposed to be giving him, remember?"
"Ergh..." True, I did have the letter that the Guildmaster gave us still inside my bag. Inside, I knew that I had to come out eventually. Without giving that ghost... I mean, Duskull, the letter, there's no way we can continue with our expedition. A furious tug – of – war was raging on inside my heart. It was a two – way battle between my fear and my desire to continue with our objective.
"Fée?"
Blue's questioning glance made me feel uneasy. I knew that the reason we're on this expedition was to find a cure for his leg. And here, I was ruining our plans because of how scared I was of that Duskull. Was I really that big of a coward to allow Blue to continue suffering because I was scared of that Duskull?
I held up my paw to my ear and touched the ribbon Blue gave me. No, I promised him, and myself that I won't be a coward anymore. I scrunched up my face and gathered up all the courage I had inside of me. The tug – of – war continued to rage on inside me, but this time, I took the side against my fear. With a single pull, I felt my fear fall forward and melt away.
"A – alright..." I spoke in a quiet voice as I let go of my tail. I took the paw that Blue was offering and allowed him to pull me out of the gap. Dust motes burst out from behind the oven as I popped out from behind it. I coughed as the dust got into my nose and mouth.
"Mmm... much apologies," from in between coughs, I heard Duskull apologize to me. He had a deep, tired sounding voice like that of an old man, "I don't usually get many visitors, therefore, my abode may be a little bit unclean..."
"No, it's – cough! – It's fine...!" I tried to say as I tried to clear the dust from my throat, "I... I shouldn't have ran back – cough! – there in the first place...!"
"Mmm..." Duskull made a mumbling noise as he hovered toward me. I involuntarily found myself freezing in fear as the skull – like face neared my own. It took all the strength I could muster to keep myself from ducking into the dust – filled gap again.
His gray robes suddenly began to elongate, stretching itself toward me. Gulping, I squeezed my eyes shut, afraid of what might happen next. His robe touched my face, making me shudder. But, as I was beginning to imagine the worst, he suddenly began to slowly brush the dust off my fur in a gentle manner with his robe.
"Mmm... you needn't be so afraid, young one," I heard Duskull say in a soft voice. I opened my eyes as he retracted his robe away from me. I felt the fur on my face and found that he has cleaned off all the dirt and dust off.
"T... thank you," I said in a hurried voice as I bowed my head down.
"Mmm... hm, hm, hm..." Duskull appeared to chuckle at my show of gratitude. He hovered back toward the center of the room, still chuckling to himself.
Now that I was less panicked, I could fully survey the inside of the house. To my surprise, it actually did resemble the storefront of a bakery. It was a single room house, with the entire front side of the building being used as a storefront. In the center of the room was a small, round table that was surrounded by rickety chairs. Ovens, stoves and shelves lined the sides of the house, giving credence that this really was a bakery.
A single long, wooden counter stretched across the front of the store, with an equally long white tablecloth covering it. On the surface of the counter were several different kinds of pastries and bread. Curious about what kinds of bread they were, I wandered over to the counter to take a closer look. To my surprise, the pastries and bread looked amazingly delicious, despite that they were being sold inside the most horrifying – looking bakery I have ever seen.
Displayed in a neat line on the counter, there were donuts covered with a sugary glaze, fluffy loaves of bread with colorful berries embedded inside of them, small sweet puffs decorated with delectable swirls of cream, and even small confectioneries like cakes and berry candies.
"Mmm... are you hungry, by any chance...?" I jumped with a start when I heard Duskull speak from beside me. I turned around and saw the robed Pokémon reach out to the counter top and pick up a small cream puff. He withdrew a small, cute – looking plate from underneath the counter and placed the puff on top of it. Then, he turned toward me and handed it to me.
"Oh... this looks delicious!" I felt my mouth begin to water as I stared at the creamy pastry in my paws. I looked up at the ghostly Pokémon and asked, "Can I really have this?"
"Mmm... of course you can," Duskull said as he nodded, "you can consider it my apology for scaring you earlier, if you'd like."
"N – no, you don't have to apologize. If anything, I should be the one saying sorry for acting that way in your store, Mr. Duskull."
"Mmm... you needn't call me mister," Duskull chuckled in a lighthearted manner, "it makes me feel much older than I already am."
The robed Pokémon hovered over to the counter again and picked up a loaf of bread. He brought it over to Blue, who was busy picking up the chair that I accidentally knocked over earlier.
"Here Blue, you may have this," Duskull said as he offered the bread to Blue, "it's a loaf of white bread baked with a mixture of Pecha and Oran Berries. I'm sure you'll find it quite soothing."
"Thank you, Duskull," Blue said as he graciously accepted the loaf of bread from Duskull. Taking great care not to drop the pastry, I bit the plate with my teeth and brought it over to the center table. Pulling up a seat next to Blue, I sat at the table and prepared myself to eat the cream puff.
First, I leaned down and licked the cream that was spread all over the top of the puff. I felt my eyes sparkle as the delicious chocolate taste danced around the top of my tongue. It was sweet, but not too sweet. Instead, it hit the perfect balance between sweetness and bitterness, giving it an exquisitely unique taste.
"This... this is delicious!" I couldn't hold back my glee as I continued to lick the cream. I heard Duskull chuckle in response to my outburst.
I took a quick glance over to Duskull, who had floated off to one of the ovens at the side of the room. I noticed that a pleasant scent was wafting from the inside of the oven, making me wonder what he was making. Feeling a little eager, I turned back to my dessert and took a big bite out of the puff.
As soon as it entered my mouth, the bread expanded to have a delightful, fluffy texture. I clapped my paws over my cheeks as I savored the heavenly taste inside my mouth. It was sooo good!
"Mmm... it's been quite some time since I've had visitors as young as you two," Duskull said as he busied himself with the oven, "it's quite a refreshing feeling. Makes me feel as though I am a few decades younger, hm, hm, hm..."
"Mist– I mean, Duskull," I said as I swallowed the delicious puff, "how long have you been running this bakery?"
"Mmm..." Duskull made a thoughtful noise as he mulled over my question, "I believe since the earliest days of Treasure Town."
"Really?" I said with enthusiasm, "Then that means you were there when the Founders first built the town?"
"Mmm..."
I excitedly placed my paws on the table and looked at the robed Pokémon with eagerness in my eyes, "Does that mean you were an explorer as well, Duskull?"
"I am not," Duskull shook his head, making me shrink back into my seat in disappointment. He chuckled and said, "I am but a simple baker."
A short ding rang out from the oven that Duskull was using. The robed Pokémon hovered down and pulled open the door to the over. A large plume of white smoke bloomed from within the oven, enveloping the room with a wonderful aroma.
"Now, Torkoal, Golurk, Sigilyph and Dusknoir," Duskskull said as he emerged from within the cloud of smoke holding a tray of freshly – baked biscuits. He placed the tray on the table in front of us and chuckled, "never a more inspiring group of young'uns I have ever met."
"Wow..." I spoke in an admiring voice as I stared at the golden – brown biscuits on the tray, "what were the Founders like, if you don't me asking, that is."
"Mmm..." Duskull paused for a moment before shaking his head, "I'm afraid I can't quite answer your question, Fée."
"Eh? Why not?"
Duskull hovered over to the oven, which was still emitting white clouds of smoke, and shut the door. "I apologize if I made it seem a little unclear. I did not actually meet the Founders in person, however, I have indeed seen them around town back in their heyday."
"I see..."
"You're disappointed that Duskull can't tell you anything about Dusknoir, right?" Blue chuckled and tore away a chunk of bread from his loaf with his teeth. Blushing a little, I sheepishly nodded and took another bite out of my puff as well.
"Mmm... Dusknoir, hm?" Duskull conjured up another adorable little plate from underneath the counter and brought it over to the table. He began to stack the biscuits on top of the plate in a pretty little pyramid as he spoke, "I see he's still quite popular with the youth of today as well, hm, hm, hm..."
"Was he popular back then too?" I inquired.
Duskull lifted the plate of biscuits and put it on the counter next to the rest of the confectioneries and breads. He emitted another amused chuckle as he joined Blue and I at the table.
"I suppose he was," Duskull said, "just having his presence around back then was enough to bring all sorts of Pokémon over to the little shantytown they had built back then."
"Was he really that influential?" Blue asked with his mouth full, spraying breadcrumbs all over the table.
"Mmm... I would presume so," Duskull brought a small towelette over to the table and began to wipe the crumbs off, "No, perhaps it would be better to say that if it wasn't for Dusknoir, Treasure Town as it is now wouldn't have existed."
"You know," Blue said as he took the towelette from Duskull, "I saw a statue of Dusknoir back at the Main Plaza." Blue paused to wipe the crumbs off his mouth with the towelette.
"Mmm... indeed," Duskull replied, "a few years after Treasure Town became... well, a town... a group of skilled stonemasons arrived and offered to sculpt and build a fountain for the town."
"But you know, you kinda resemble that statue of Dusknoir," Blue remarked, pointing at the robed Pokémon, "maybe not exactly, but you do kinda look like him."
"Mmm... the resemblance is only superficial, I assure you." With a chuckle, Duskull took the towelette from Blue and placed it in a sink. "Though, I must admit, if I was related to the Great Dusknoir, perhaps I would have more customers... mmm..."
"Your food is great though," Blue remarked, "maybe the reason why you don't have that many customers is because your store is too far away from the Main Plaza?"
"I... don't think that's the reason why," I mumbled as I nibbled on the puff.
"Mmm... I'm sure there's a myriad of reasons why my store is so... unpopular, hm, hm, hm..."
Feeling a little abashed, I lowered my head and polished off my cream puff. Blue had a point though, the pastries that Duskull made are incredible. None of the other restaurants back in the center of the town offered anything this good! If Duskull would be willing to change how his store looked like, at least from the outside, I believe that "Phantom Patisserie" had the chance to become a really popular bakery!
"So... I believe you spoke something about a letter for me...?" Duskull turned his skull face toward me. Now that I was more used to him, I wasn't quite as afraid of his face as before.
"Oh, that's right!" I nodded at Duskull and pulled up my Explorer's Pack. After rummaging around inside the jam – packed bag for a few seconds, I withdrew the white, oblong envelope and handed it over to Duskull.
"Mmm..." Taking the letter from my paws, Duskull held it up in front of his single eye and scrutinized it. Then, he wedged his robe underneath the envelope's flap and delicately opened it up. From within the envelope, he withdrew a small sheet of paper.
"Want a piece, Fée?"
I turned around and saw Blue offering me a chunk of his berry bread. I nodded and took a small piece of the loaf from him. The bread was fluffy and warm. I could see small bits and pieces of pink Pecha and blue Oran Berries poking out from within its white interior. Popping it into my mouth, I was rewarded with a delightful mixture of sweetness and sourness. Coupled with the soft, fluffy bread, the two contrasting flavors of the berries created a really distinctive combination!
"I see... so you're looking for the Panacea, hm...?"
"Mmhm!" I nodded at Duskull while reaching over to Blue's plate and sneakily pulling away another piece of his bread. I took another bite out of Blue's bread and chewed thoughtfully, savoring the flavor.
"Would you mind telling this old man as to why you're interested in such a thing?" Duskull inquired, gazing at me with a curious look in his single eye.
I swallowed my mouthful of berry bread and pointed at Blue with my paw, "It's for him, Duskull."
"Blue?" Duskull transferred his gaze over to Blue, who was still busy stuffing his mouth with the remaining bread on his plate. His pudgy cheeks wobbled as he nodded at Duskull.
"Mmm..." Duskull hovered over to Blue's side and looked him over with his eye, "I didn't think your leg was that badly injured, Blue."
Blue took a big gulp and swallowed all of the bread that was in his mouth. Taking a deep breath, he grinned at Duskull and said, "Well, I didn't think so either at first," He lightly patted his right leg and leaned back on his chair, "but I was told that the only way it could be healed was by the use of that Panacea thing."
"He was bitten by a Kabuto a few days ago," I explained to Duskull, "his leg was poisoned by that Pokémon, and it's been hurting him ever since."
"Mmm... I see," Duskull looked down at Blue's leg, "To still be able to walk while suffering from such an ailment... you must have a strong body, or perhaps a strong will."
"Something like that, I suppose," Blue remarked casually, "I wouldn't mind being poisoned all the time if it meant I get to keep eating Pecha Berries, heh."
"Blue!" I slapped him on the paw and glared.
"It was just a joke, Fée," Blue replied with a grin as he rubbed his paw, "to be honest though, I would like to be able to go up and down stairs without needing help all the time."
He gave me a knowing grin and patted me on the head. Sighing, I shook my head and turned to look at Duskull with a pleading look in my eye.
"Please, Duskull," I said, "can you tell us where the Panacea is?"
"Mmm..." Duskull's eye seemed to dull in color as he considered what I said. After a moment of tense silence, Duskull's eye regained its regular sheen again and he said, "Fée, has your Guildmaster spoken to you about anything regarding speaking about the Panacea?"
"Um..." I thought back to what the Guildmaster and Chatot told me, "They... they said that it was a secret, and that Blue and I weren't allowed to speak anything about it to anybody."
"That is correct," Duskull nodded his head, "now, I leave you with a question for you to answer..."
The robed Pokémon moved toward the counter and took a single biscuit off the pyramid. He hovered over Blue and I, holding the biscuit in front of us. We stared curiously at the golden brown cookie, wondering what he meant by it.
"The Panacea Elixir... mmm..." Duskull placed the biscuit on top of a napkin, and then placed it in the center of the table, "indeed, it is quite a powerful medicine."
Duskull swooped over to one of the shelves and withdrew a small tin can. He began to sprinkle sparkly, sugary – smelling sprinkles over the biscuit from the can. Slowly, the biscuit began to glimmer and glisten as he continued to embellish it.
"Potent, miraculous, life – saving..." he finished garnishing the biscuit and placed the tin can on the table. He held up the cookie and presented it to us, "and most dangerous of all... rare."
"Dangerous...?" I echoed, "What do you mean by that?"
Duskull moved back to the pyramid of biscuits on the counter. He placed the single sparkling biscuit on top of the stack. It sparkled at the apex of the pyramid, standing out from the rest with the glittering bits of sugar covering it.
"It is a treasure beyond the rest. The most powerful medicine in the world." Duskull shook his head and turned to face us, "That is why it is dangerous, Fée."
"I've lived for far longer than most. Through my many years through life, I've seen many different kinds of Pokémon out there in the world." He paused to let his words sink in, "I've seen selfish Pokémon that would exploit others for their own gain. I've seen exploitative Pokémon that would abuse the needy. I've seen violent Pokémon that would force others to give them their possessions."
Duskull returned to the table and sighed heavily. He turned toward Blue and posed him a question, "Blue, for these kinds of Pokémon; how do you think they will react if they hear about a medicine that has the capability to cure anything?"
Blue covered his chin with his paw and mulled over his question.
"I would think that those Pokémon would take the Panacea for themselves," Blue answered, "they would probably all fight each other for the medicine."
"Do you think that if one of those Pokémon does obtain the Panacea, would he be willing to share it?"
Blue shook his head, "No, probably not." He held out a paw and said in a serious voice, "If that Pokémon is as greedy as you said, then he probably keep it all for himself."
"Mmm... perhaps he would."
"That Pokémon might also try to sell use of the Panacea to others," I added, making the two of them turn their heads to me, "I mean, it's like you said Duskull. That Pokémon could be exploiting the needy."
"Like... for example: That Pokémon might demand that I give him a large sum of Poké for him to cure Blue using the Panacea."
"Mmm... very astute observation, Fée," Duskull said, nodding his head. He held up the Guildmaster's letter and slid it over to us, "The both of you are very much correct in your assumptions."
"But... that's so greedy!" I said in a dejected tone as I picked up the letter, "How can someone even think about abusing others for the sake of money?"
"Alas, such Pokémon do exist in this world, Fée." Duskull spoke with a shake of his head, "For many Pokémon, the idea of an all – curing medicine is nothing more to them than a tantalizing fruit that can be sold for monetary gain."
I fell silent. A disgusting feeling was boiling down deep inside of me at the thought of Pokémon like that. I knew that selfish and mean Pokémon existed in this world; just like that Koffing and Zubat pair. I just didn't want to believe that it was the norm.
"Mmm... well, it wasn't my intention to scare you with the world of adults, hm, hm..." Duskull chuckled, snapping me out of my dark thoughts, "you two seem like a pair of nice, upstanding young'uns, however. I see no reason to believe that you two are only here to beguile an old baker such as I."
"No!" I quickly shook my head and slammed my paws on the table, making the plates jitter and shake wildly. I leaned forward and shouted, "I would never do such a thing to you, Duskull! Never!"
"Mmm..." Duskull serenely floated over the table and placed his robe on the plates, stopping the noise, "you make an old Pokémon happy to hear that, Fée."
"You can trust us, Duskull," Blue said in a confident voice. He held his paw over his chest and nodded respectfully at the robed Pokémon, "I don't understand too much about money or anything like that, so I don't really care about abusing the Panacea for Poké or whatever."
"Hm, hm, hm..." Duskull covered his skull – like face with his robe and chuckled, "you're an amusing one, Blue. If only the world had more Pokémon that thought like you do."
"No, no," I shook my paw at Duskull, "that would cause more issues than it would help, really."
"Hey, what is that supposed to mean?" Blue said in mock indignation. I giggled and shook my head.
"I'm just kidding, Blue." I patted his paw to show my sincerity, "Even if you're a little strange, I like you the way you are."
"Strange?" Blue glanced at the white protrusions at the back of his paws with a curious gaze, "I don't see what makes me so strange..."
Shaking my head, I left Blue to his own thoughts and turned back to Duskull. The robed Pokémon appeared to have conjured up a piece of paper from somewhere and was busy scribbling down something on it. I tried to sneak a look at what he was writing by craning my neck over the table.
But in the end, I didn't need to. Right as I reached the perfect angle to peek, Duskull stopped writing and folded the paper in half. He took the paper and slid it across the table toward me.
"What's this?" I attempted to open the folded message, but Duskull quickly stopped me by placing his robe on the paper.
"Be wary, Fée." He commanded, keeping his robe tightly pressed against the paper, "within that paper contains the location of the Panacea..." I saw Duskull's eyes flit toward one of the open windows on the wall, "this house contains many holes and very little privacy. Open that paper when you're sure you're alone and safe."
I glanced over to the window as well. For a fraction of a second, I thought I saw two shadows vanish from behind the curtains. I don't know if I imagined it or not, but I didn't want to risk anything. Sensing danger, I shoved the paper into my Explorer's Pack. I nodded at Duskull with a serious expression on my face.
"Thank you Duskull," I grabbed Blue's attention by patting him on the shoulder. We got off our seats and bowed to the old, robed Pokémon. Duskull chuckled again and hovered over to the display counter at the front of the store.
"Mmm... the trip to the Panacea wont take very long," Duskull pulled out a small, colorful bag from underneath the counter and began to fill it up with the various confectioneries on display. "but, just in case the two of you get peckish along the way, allow this old baker to offer you some snacks."
As Blue and I made our way over to the other side of the counter, Duskull placed the bulging bag in front of us. I eyed the little dusty cash register sitting at the side of the counter and instinctively reached for my pack for some money.
"No, you needn't pay me any money," Duskull stopped me right as I was about to place some coins on the counter, "you made this old Pokémon very happy by just providing me some company. Consider this my show of gratitude to the two of you."
"Thank you for all your help, Duskull." I said, beaming as I graciously accepted his bag of pastries, "I promise I'll come by and visit you again sometime."
"I'll come too," Blue grinned and patted my head, "your food's great. I can't wait to eat some more!"
Duskull covered his face with his robe and chuckled happily. When he showed his face again, I imagined that there was a big smile behind his skull – shaped face.
"Mmm... you two have given me something nice to look forward to in the future." He bowed low at us and said in a grateful voice, "Thank you, Fée. Thank you, Blue."
Fée and Blue walked away from the store, waving goodbye to the nice old Pokémon inside. After the two happy explorers vanished back into the forest of buildings that was the town proper, Duskull closed the door to his store with a quiet creaking noise, followed by the sound of a lock being replaced. Once more, peace and quiet returned to the area around the Phantom Pâtisserie.
"Woah, ho, ho..."
A peculiar laugh wafted through the silent air. From behind the creaky old building, two floating Pokémon came out of hiding.
"I heard it all, I did," one of the Pokémon opened his mouth into a wide grin, allowing a wisp of brown gas to escape from within, "those two... the coward and the Riolu, they're up to something interesting. Don't you think, Zubat?"
The purple, bat – like Pokémon that was flapping in the air beside Koffing mirrored his grin, "Meh, heh, heh... that's right. I heard it too. They were saying something about a valuable item, weren't they?"
Zubat hovered above Koffing for a moment before landing on top of his rounded head. He clung on tightly to the gas ball's head as the two of them began to float after the Eevee and the Riolu.
"I heard them talking about how you could make a lot of Poké from this item," Koffing replied, "it was called the pa... peh... puu..." his face scrunched up as he tried his hardest to remember the name of the item.
"Don't hurt your tiny brain, you numbskull," Zubat retorted, slapping Koffing on top of his head with his wing, "I remember it just fine. It was called the Panacea Elixir, and they said that it was some sort of super medicine."
"Oh yeah! That's right, it was the Panacea!"
Zubat grinned, "If we can find this medicine before they can, then we can steal it right from under that coward's nose."
"And then we can give it to the boss," Koffing added, "he'll be so proud of us if we bring him this valuable treasure! Maybe he'll even forgive us for our last mistake..."
"Those two will pay for what they did to us," Zubat felt his smile twist into a disgusted frown as he remembered the pain he and Koffing went through back at the Beach Cave, "I'll make sure they'll rue the day they screwed around with us!"
"That Riolu threw a rock in my mouth... it really hurt, Zubat," Koffing said in a pained voice as he shook his head, nearly shaking off his bat partner. Zubat screeched in irritation as took to the skies again. He swooped down and struck Koffing across the face with his wing.
"You think getting a rock thrown in your mouth is bad?" Zubat seethed, "You try getting crushed against a wall and then having someone explode in your face!"
"I said I was sorry, Zubat..." Koffing mumbled as he felt the stinging welt on his cheek, "I couldn't help it, I was holding back so much gas that it was going to blow either way..."
"Keeeh!" Zubat slapped Koffing's other cheek, "Then you should've stopped holding it in!" Koffing opened his mouth to retort, but Zubat quickly interrupted him, "Feh, it doesn't matter now anyway! What we should be focusing on now is getting our revenge!"
He quickly flapped toward the direction of the town, where Fée and Blue had disappeared to. Turning around, the little bat Pokémon hastily threw Koffing a gesture to follow him before zipping off into the town; leaving Koffing all alone by the creepy bakery.
"H – hold on Zubat, I can't fly as fast as you!"
"Let's see... for us to leave town proper, we first need to present the guard with our Explorer's Badges. That'll let him know that we're official explorers – well, explorer apprentices anyway – out on an expedition. Also, it'll let him know which guild we're affiliated to."
"Mmhm..."
"Then, as we return back to town after we're done with our adventure; we need to show the guard our badges again and declare any treasure we might find while outside of town. Just to show him that we're not bringing anything dangerous into the town."
"Mmhm... "
While we were making our way through the streets of Treasure Town, I decided to try and educate Blue a little on a few rules and regulations that explorers have to abide by. Although he didn't seem like he was fully understanding some of the concepts, I could tell that he was at least listening intently to my lectures.
"So then..." Blue mumbled as he rubbed his chin, "assuming we did get a ton of treasure while out of town, do we have to give it to the guard?"
I shook my head, "No, we just have to tell him what we got. As long as he doesn't deem our haul as dangerous, we're free to bring it back into town and keep it for ourselves."
"This place is called Treasure Town, after all," I said in a happy voice as I smiled at Blue, "it would be strange if they didn't let us keep the treasure we find."
Blue let out a bark – like laugh and said, "Well, I suppose you have a point there!" He grinned as he fluffed the fur on my head. I blushed and shook my head, trying to get the messed – up fur back in place. When I looked back at Blue, I noticed that he had already moved several paces ahead of me. Feeling a little panicked, I quickly ran back to his side.
As we walked, Blue had pulled open the little bag of pastries that Duskull had given us. He reached inside and pulled out one of the little biscuits that the old Pokémon had just finished baking. He gave it a thoughtful look for a moment before popping the whole thing into his mouth.
"You know– mmf – that Duskull guy – mmf..." He said as he chewed the biscuit. I shook my head and pointed my paw at my mouth, telling him to finish eating before speaking. Blue seemed to get the hint, as he paused his speech to finish chewing his snack. He gulped it down and took a deep breath.
"As I was saying," Blue continued on, totally unperturbed, "I was wondering just how much that Duskull guy knows about the Panacea."
"What do you mean?"
Blue pulled out another biscuit from the sack and said, "Well Fée,didn't it look like to you that he wasn't telling us the whole story?" He offered me the biscuit. I shook my head and refused him by pushing it away with my paw.
"Well... he did seem a little cautious about telling us everything about the medicine," I said, thinking back to our conversation with the old Pokémon, "but I'm sure he had a reason to keep some details from us."
"I'm curious as to how he – and the Guildmaster – knew about this supposedly rare and amazing medicine in the first place," Blue remarked as he took a bite out of the biscuit, "it sounds a little fishy, don't you think?"
"I'm sure there's a story behind that," I replied, shaking my head, "but it's not our problem to stick our noses into." I patted Blue's leg and looked up at him, "We should be thankful that they're even telling us about the Panacea for you, Blue."
"Hmm..." Blue placed the biscuit in his mouth and held onto it with his teeth, "Mmf... I guess you're right," he flicked his muzzle up and threw the biscuit into the air, "I suppose there's no real reason for me to be suspicious of them when they're helping me."
He caught the falling biscuit in his mouth and bit off another large piece out of it. He grinned at me with crumbs plastered all over his muzzle. "I'll have to remember to thank Duskull the next time we visit him."
I giggled as I brushed the biscuit fragments off his fur, "Really though, I wasn't expecting Duskull to be a such a nice Pokémon." Dusting the crumbs off my paws; I closed my eyes and thought back to the spooky house, "His bakery looked so scary on the outside, but it was so nice and cozy on the inside."
"I guess you really can't judge a book by it's cov –oof!"
My thoughts were interrupted as I accidentally collided into soft something in front of me. My eyes flew open as I was thrown backward, and down onto the ground. The consequences of walking with my eyes closed, ouch! Worried about what I might've hit, I shook the dust from my face and scrambled back onto my feet.
"I'm so sorry!" I opened my eyes and apologized at whoever it was, "Are you alri...?"
I found my thoughts trailing off as I saw the Pokémon. It was as if I was looking into a mirror, a very pink – tinted mirror. The Pokémon pulled himself off the ground with grace and dusted the dirt off its brilliant white fur before turning and looking at me with its shining blue eyes.
"My, my... I believe that is what I should be asking," To my great surprise, the Pokémon spoke in a deep, male voice. He sauntered up to me and held out a pink – furred paw and asked, "are you alright, darling?"
"D – darling?" I was taken aback by his words. A blush was crawling onto my face as I slowly backed away from the pink stranger. "N – no, I'm alright. I didn't get hurt."
"I see, that's quite a relief." He said with a deep sigh while smiling at me.
Despite his manly voice, the Pokémon had a very feminine look overall. He had a very handsome face, with two large baby – blue eyes. His entire body was covered in soft, white – colored fur; while his ears, paw – tips and tail were a very cutesy shade of pink. A small, pretty pink ribbon was tied onto his left ear, while a slightly larger ribbon shaped like a bow tie was present on his chest. The two ribbons had long tails that trailed out from behind him, mysteriously hovering around the Pokémon's body like long, cottony feelers. He was also slightly larger than I was, and his fur was much less much poofy and better groomed than mine. Despite our myriad of differences though, I couldn't help but feel a strange sense of familiarity between us.
"Who are you?" Blue folded his arms and asked the pink Pokémon.
"My, where are my manners?" He chuckled in his deep voice and sat down on the ground. He straightened the large, bow tie – like ribbon with his front paws and said, "Many call me Sylveon, but as a special treat for you two..." He held his paw over his chest and bowed low, "you may call me Barie instead."
"Sylveon?" I tilted my head to the side in confusion. I had never heard of a Pokémon by that name before.
"That's correct, my little Eevee," he said, beaming at my bewildered look, "I take it the two of you aren't from Unity City?"
Blue and I both shook our heads. Barie covered his mouth with his paw and chuckled.
"My, that makes sense then," he held his paw over his bow tie again and smiled at me, "I suppose Sylveon aren't very common around this part of the world, hm?"
"No," I shook my head and spoke in an honest voice, "it's my first time seeing a Sylveon like you, Barie."
"Well then, I'm quite honored to be... your first," suddenly, the gentlemanly Pokémon gave me a little wink. Feeling my blush intensify, I instinctively ducked behind Blue and and tried to hide my reddening face behind his tail. I could hear Barie chuckling at my embarrassment, "my, my... you're quite charming little thing, darling."
"Mmh...!" With every word he spoke, I could feel strange, unfamiliar emotions being conjured up within me. I've never quite met a Pokémon who acted like this before, and it was making me feel incredibly awkward inside.
"You know," I heard Blue speak in a curious voice as I stuffed my red face into his tail for the third time today, "you kinda resemble Fée a bit. Are you two related?"
"Well, aren't you a handsome one?" Barie said in a surprised voice, "I'll admit, I've never actually spoken to a Riolu face to face before. You're giving me quite a different impression than I would've expected."
"What do you mean by that?" Blue retorted.
"No, I apologize. I didn't mean sound rude." He paused for a moment. I assumed that he might've been bowing to Blue, "It's just that... I've heard so much about Riolu in my line of work that it might've colored my expectations just a tad."
I felt Blue's shoulders go up as he shrugged, "Well, it's not the first time I heard someone say something like that to me."
"Still, I apologize." Barie insisted.
"Forget it, I don't really care either way."
"My, my... you're an interesting one," Barie spoke in an odd, low voice, "I think I would like to get to know you better sometime, Riolu..."
Their conversation was becoming strangely suspicious to me. With my curiosity piqued, I detached myself from Blue's tail and peered out at the two of them. I inhaled sharply at what I saw. Barie had closed in on Blue sometime during their conversation, and was caressing my friend's cheek with his feelers in a suspiciously intimate manner.
"H – hold on..!" for some reason, I found myself shouting at the two of them. Barie and Blue looked surprised at my sudden interruption. The pink Pokémon recovered first and smiled at me. He shook his head as he closed his eyes, while Blue didn't seem like he really cared about what the pink Sylveon was doing.
"I'm afraid I might've made your friend a little uncomfortable," Barie withdrew his feeler from Blue's face and backed away a few paces from him, "my apologies, darling."
"P – please don't call me that..." I mumbled, shaking my head that word.
To my great relief, the pink Pokémon nodded. He gave me another wink and said, "Alright, if it really makes you that uncomfortable, then I'll refrain from calling you darling." He held out his paw to me in a friendly gesture, "Would you mind giving me your name then, cutie?"
"...just call me Fée, thank you."
"Fée... Fée..." He closed his eyes and repeated my name twice, "what an adorable name. It fits you quite well, cutie."
...I really can't handle Pokémon like this. I sighed in resignation as the Sylveon chuckled happily in front of me.
"So then, do you have a name for me as well, handsome?" He said as he pointed a questioning paw at Blue.
"You can just call me Blue," he replied simply.
Barie tilted his head to the side, making his ribbons flop down on the right side of his head. He glanced at Blue with a puzzled look on his face before saying, "'Blue...?' That's a very... unique name."
"So I've heard."
Barie straightened his head again and rubbed his muzzle with his ribbons. After a moment of silent thought, he shrugged and let it go. Smiling again, he pulled on his bow tie with his paws and said, "Well, it's not my place to criticize your names. It's nice to meet you Fée, Blue."
The pink Pokémon extended two of his feelers out to Blue and I, as if asking for a handshake. I glanced over to Blue, who stared curiously at the feelers for a moment before shrugging and grasping it with his paws. The feeler in front of me twitched up a bit, as if asking for my paw as well. Sighing, I let go of my reservations and held up my paw as well.
As soon as his soft ribbons touched me, I felt another of that odd, familiar feeling wash over me. My eyes widened as I felt his feelers wrap around my paw. It was almost as though I've felt something similar back in the past. But, as I tried to remember where I might've felt this before, nothing came up in my memory. I stared at the Sylveon sitting in front of me with a bewildered look on my face.
Have I met this Pokémon before? As far as I can tell, the answer was no. I can't recall a single instance in my memory where I might've met someone like Barie before. So then, what is this strange deja vu feeling rumbling around inside of me?
"Oh, by the way," I was snapped out of my reverie by Barie's deep voice. He pulled his ribbons away from our paws, and in turn, he pulled away that odd familiar feeling from me as well. He straightened the bow tie on his chest and said in a prideful voice, "to answer your question earlier, Blue. It doesn't surprise me that you consider Fée and I similar in some way."
"Why is that?" I asked, a little curious myself.
"That's simple, my dear Fée," he grinned as held up one of his paws and placed it against my ruff, "it's because I was once an Eevee as well. Just as you are now."