Chapter 3: Fun With Civilians

"IT'S MORNING! RISE AND SHINE!"

"I hate you."

"WELL I HATE YOU TOO!"

The recruit team went through the usual daily meeting. Charlie came over to them afterward. "We have to review your performance over the past two weeks today, so you get the day off! Enjoy it, because this sort of thing doesn't happen often to guild apprentices."

"Really?" Stacy asked. "Great!"

"There's only a few days off?" Kip complained. "Ah rock smash."

"You'll appreciate them more if you don't have too many," the Chatot said smugly. "You can explore town, train in the Dojo, or visit family if they're close by. Be back in by evening or you won't get dinner, though. Oh, except you Kip. You need to go down to the Sheriff's office for a review. If you get out of that early enough and if they approve, you'll get the rest of the day off."

"Figures," the Skitty said, and headed up the stairs for his appointment.

"Oh, hey! One last thing; you'll be needing to think of what to name your team. That is, if you make it."

"Whatever," Kip said and was gone.

"I'm going to visit my brothers," Stacy said. "What about you two?"

"I dunno," Trey said. "Sally, do you want me to show you around town?"

She smiled and nodded, then made a sign.

"I wish I knew what you were saying with your paws, though," the Treecko noted.

"She says 'thank you' when she does that sign," Bartleby said.

"Where did you learn her language?" Trey asked.

"Mmm…" he crossed his arms and looked amusingly serious. "In a book somewhere. Maybe I'll try to find it again."

"Good; I wouldn't mind learning it." He looked down at his three-fingered paws. "I hope I don't need five fingers, though."

Sally laughed, then picked Trey up and put him on her shoulder to climb up the ladders and leave the Guild for the day.

"Have a great day!" Bartleby called.

Holding onto Sally's white hair, Trey could look over Treasure Town as it must have looked to Sally and tall Pokemon. "This is so cool," he whispered. He caught a flash of a reflection in Sally's ear. Looking, he saw an odd device of a tan material. "What's this?"

She turned her head lightly, so that she didn't throw him off. Then she tapped at her ear.

"Oh, is this thing how you hear?"

She gave a slight nod.

"How's it do that? It doesn't look like much."

She shrugged. Maybe it was a complex device and she just knew that it worked.

"Okay, I was just curious. Well this is the main road of Treasure Town. Down south there is Marowak's Dojo, the hospital, and Chansey's Daycare. We've been in the dojo a lot. I guess you would know the hospital too."

Sally nodded and looked a bit lost in thought.

"The Daycare is that pink building. Cece the Chansey takes care of eggs and orphans. People say she's sweet, but I think she's overbearing and oversweet."

She raised her eyebrows and smiled cheekily.

"Look, I know her personally and well… let's just say that I'd rather not go visit on my day off. Now over here on the other side of the road are some manufacturing places, some homes, and Duskull's Bank. That one is the black building with the spooky mask and eye. We can stop by later to set up an account for you and put away your money. Trust me, you'll need it."

He glanced back at her and saw that she seemed to be silently questioning him.

"Well wild magic can do some nasty things if you collapse inside a dungeon. Gremlins will come and steal the money you're carrying. And they can steal your treasures too, and hide them in the dungeons where just anybody can pick them up and you have no chance of claiming it as your own. I read once that an explorer tried to keep an item by writing his name on an accessory. He lost it on one exploration. The closest thing that anyone could find of it was an identical item that said 'Fool' right where he had put his name."

She nodded to that. It would be a nasty thing to lose so much just because you lost a battle.

"Over that way… more homes. Oh, and down the road to the north there, you'll find the library. That's my favorite place in town. An Alakazam called Kazza runs it and he lets anybody borrow books from his collection. But don't try to steal any from him. He'll know and appear right next to you to take his book back. Same thing with the Duskulls at the bank. Try to steal any money from there and you'll seriously regret it later on."

"Hey Trey!"

Sally stopped by a Mareep that was sitting by the side of the road. Trey waved down to her. "Hey Mary!"

"What're you doing way up there?" She tilted her head and made her tail ball turn orange.

Sally knelt down, so Trey jumped down next to Mary. "This is my new friend from the guild, Sally. Sally, this is Mary, an old friend of mine."

"Oh, hi Sally!" Mary jumped up.

Sally smiled and patted her on the head.

"Wait, so you made it into the guild?" Mary asked. "How'd you manage that?"

"Cause I'm awesome," Trey said proudly.

"No you're not. You're a nerdy bookworm who gotten to be really boring after our Rite."

He clenched his paws and flicked his leafy tail. "Well I'm an explorer now too. At least, I'm going to be an apprentice. It'll be official this evening."

"Oh, I bet you haven't even passed the recruitment stage. And you won't." She stuck her tongue out.

"Hey! We've been working hard at this and I've studied a lot. Right Sally?"

She nodded.

"So what, is he still a nerd? Well I won't believe you're an explorer until you have a badge, so niii." Mary hopped off down the road.

Trey scratched his nose. "That's why she's an old friend, you know. She used to be nice, but got really stuck up after we took the Rite of Passage to become adults. And immature." He shot the Mareep a glare, but she didn't see it.

Sally gave him a sympathetic look and a pat on the head.

"it's nothing. Anyhow, shall we go on? There's more town to see."

Sally nodded and let him get back on her shoulder. They crossed a wooden bridge over a creek to get to the other side of town.

"Oh, and that big yellow building we stopped by? That's Electrivire's Shop. It's kind of an odd place; I've never been in there." He looked around. "Lots of folks live here because it's safe. The wild magic stays away because so many Pokemon live here. Now if you take the side roads around here, you'll find all sorts of specialist shops. Accessory makers, bakers, furniture sellers, all kinds of stuff. But the best shop is right there, Kecleon's. The whole Kecleon race makes a living off running shops. They even sell stuff in dungeons! But I hear that the hardest to reach dungeon shops have the best and rarest treasures that you can't find anywhere else. Even human stuff like your hearing thingy here.

"I haven't seen one of those shops with my own eyes, obviously, but the brothers who work in this shop are great. Now down south there, past all the totems, you'll find the elder's house. But I don't think he's in town very often. He's really old. And over that way is Xatu's Appraisal shop."

She gave him another questioning look.

"I've only read about this, but apparently you can find mysterious boxes that seem like they can't be opened. The Xatu clan can open them. And I'll say, that's the way to really make money; learn something that nobody else around you can do. I've heard other explorers say that they've tried and tried to open those dang boxes, but they can't manage it. His service is kind of pricey, though."

At that point, Trey patted her cheek and pointed ahead.

"Before we do anything else, though, we should introduce you to the local Kangaskan. She runs the Storage Place. If you've got something valuable that you don't want thieves and gremlins to steal, you should leave it with a Kangaskan. I've read that you can even find statues of Kangaskans that can access your storage and let you take and leave stuff." He shrugged. "I have no clue how they can do that. Maybe the Kangaskans are a secretly magical race?"

The Kangaskan in question was taller and broader than Sally. She winked at Trey. "Oh, now you've got yourself a nice perch today, Trey. Whose your friend?"

He waved at her. "Hi Casey. This is Casey, as I was saying. This is Sally, my teammate in the Guild."

"Well hello then, Sally." She offered and they shook paws. "So you've both survived this far? I wish you luck for your final review."

"Thanks. We want to get a storage account for her, but she doesn't speak, so I'll have to speak for her."

"Oh she doesn't? How sad. All right then, so your name is Sally…" Casey observed her for a bit. "What exactly are you, dear?"

"She's a human, which isn't even a Pokemon," Trey stated.

"How curious. Well I don't judge people based on what they are, so we'll go ahead an open an account for you. Let's see…" she fiddling with something under the counter. Trey could never see it before, but from Sally's shoulder, he could see that it was some kind of glowing glass. "All right, we need something for you to store. There should always be something in your storage account, so that the magic doesn't shut it down."

Sally put her hand to her chin, thinking. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a white and pink seashell that she had found in Beach Cave. She put that on the counter.

"That should do just fine." Casey took the shell and placed it on the glowing glass. It vanished. "Okay, you have one Small Shell stored on your account. Come by anytime you need anything stored and I'll be sure to take good care of it."

She smiled and did the 'thank you' sign.

"Let's go check out the Kecleon shop next," Trey suggested.

Like most every building around it, the Kecleon shop was a large dome decorated with a motif of the Pokemon who worked in or near it. In front of the building was a counter, with stairs so that smaller Pokemon like Trey could look over the counter. Two reptilian Pokemon half Sally's size stood behind the counter, one green with red stripes and one blue with pink-purple stripes.

"Ah, hello Trey," the green one said cheerfully. "Is this the human we've been hearing about?"

He nodded. "Yes, this is Sally. Sally, this is Keaton and Richard."

She nodded too and dropped down to her knees so she could look the shopkeepers in the eyes.

Trey got on one of the stairs. "We're being reviewed to join the Guild, so I've been showing her around."

"Well best of luck to you," Keaton, the green one, said.

"Explorers always do good business with us," Richard, the blue one, added.

"So have you got any shopping needs in mind for today?"

"Maybe," Trey said. "What've you got on special?"

"We've got a nice crop of Sleep Seeds in today," Keaton pitched. "Very nice items to have for dungeon crawling. Throw it at a wild Pokemon with sufficient force and it will put them right to sleep! Then you can easily sneak by them."

"I also have a good number of Sandy Orbs," Richard suggested. "Make a wish, break the orb at your feet, and boom, instant sandstorm!"

"I dunno about that one," Trey said. "Sandstorms are pretty nasty."

"Maybe for you, but for other Pokemon, sandstorms make for valuable cover."

"I'll have to remember that," Trey said to himself.

In the meantime, Sally had found a basket of Unown charms. She picked out certain letters and placed them on the table. "You like those?" Keaton asked. "They're cheap: 10 letters for 1 Poke."

She shook her head, then tapped at the word she had spelled. 'thread'

"Sally can't speak," Trey said. "So I guess she's asking for thread."

"You mean like Slow Thread?" Keaton asked her. "We don't get that in very often, but we might be able to get some in next week."

Sally shook her head, then tugged at her yellow top.

"I think she means sewing thread for accessories, brother," Richard pointed out.

She nodded.

"Oh. We don't carry that, but if you head back behind us, there's a Buneary who sells that kind of thing. She's a good salesperson; we can vouch for her fairness."

She smiled and thanked them, then turned back to the charm basket to search out more letters for her next question.

"Hi Trey!" a voice called out.

He leaned back from the counter and saw Stacy come up with a Marill and Azurill. "Hi Stacy! Are these your brothers?"

She came up to the stall and nodded. "Yup, this is Matti and that's Azeri. These are my teammates, Trey and Sally."

Matti the Marill bowed politely. "Oh, hello. Good to meet you. Stacy's been telling us about you."

Azeri the Azurill hopped on his tail ball and smiled sweetly. "Hi! Wow, she really is big! Almost as big as Ms Casey!"

The human paused in her search to chuckle and wave to the two Pokemon kids. Then she went searching for another 'M'.

"So you're all together on one team, huh?" Richard asked in a friendly tone. "That's wonderful. You two at least should work together well."

"How's your mother doing?" Keaton added.

"The doctor says she's over the worst of it, but it's going to take a lot of time before she fully recovers," Stacy said.

"We're glad she's okay," Matti said.

"We're gonna make her laugh and get better quick like," Azeri stated, hopping a little extra high.

"I'm sure you will," Keaton said warmly. "Have you come to take care of your groceries?"

"Yes please," Matti said, handing over a list.

"I'll get right on it," Richard said, taking it and going into the storage room with a basket that most any Pokemon could easily hold.

Sally clapped, then tapped the counter. She had now spelled 'marmalade'.

Stacy leaned over the counter to see. "Marmalade? What's that?"

"It's a kind of jelly made with certain berries," Trey explained.

"Hmm," Keaton nodded. "Actually, we do have some of that in stock, in Oran and Nomel. Sometimes we get Sitrus marmalade in too. Do you want the Oran?"

Sally nodded.

"I see you have cultured tastes. Do you have it with crackers? I could get you some of those too."

She agreed to that and it only took a bit of time before Keaton was back with a jar of Oran Marmalade and a box of wheat crackers. Sally looked quite pleased, but she also pulled out the glasses she had gotten on the first day and put them on the counter.

"Those are…" the Kecleon picked them up and examined them. "Lock-on Specs, for smaller Pokemon. So you're selling this? All right, then it's 350 Poke you get for the specs and… the marmalade and crackers aren't much, just 15 Poke. So I will give you 335 Poke in exchange." He passed over the coins to her.

She took the money, signed her thanks and bowed, then picked up the jar and box. She stuck the box immediately in her bag, but kept the marmalade out. For a moment, she stared at the jar oddly.

Richard came out with a full basket. "Okay, here's everything you asked for. That's 75 Poke for the lot."

"All right," Stacy said, handing over the money. She let Matti take the basket. "So what are you two going to do?"

"We need to stop by the bank," Trey said. "I was thinking the library after that. Are you okay with that, Sally?"

She was still staring into the marmalade jar.

Trey felt a little embarrassed; it seemed Stacy felt the same. "Sally?"

Abruptly, she turned away. She nodded, but seemed disappointed in something.

"I guess we'll meet you in the library later," Stacy said. "Come on boys, lets get this home and ask Mom if she wants any books."

"Okay!" Azeri said. "Bye, Stacy's friends! Bye Kecleons!"

Trey smiled. "Bye guys, see you in a bit."

"Goodbye!" the two shopkeepers called after the group. "Those three are such sweet kids," Richard said as Trey and Sally walked off.

"Is something wrong with your marmalade?" Trey asked, touching Sally's ankle.

She shook her head, but the look on her face said that whatever she was thinking was rather complicated. Then she paused, then pointed north of the shop.

"Oh right, you were looking for thread too. Okay, we can find the Buneary's shop. I think I've seen it, but not checked it out."

As they were walking back by the Kecleon shop, Azeri suddenly came bounding back, holding onto a pretty red apple that was almost the size of his little body. "Hey, Mr Kecleons, you gave us an extra apple. Here." He put the apple on the counter.

Richard shook his head. "It's no trouble, little Azeri. Consider it a gift from us."

"Really?' he asked, disbelieving.

"Really, of course," Keaton said. "You three are good kids; you ought to get a break every now and then."

Azeri got a big grin on his face. "Gee, thanks! I'll tell Stacy and Matti how nice you were." He took the apple again and hopped away as quickly as he came. However, he tripped himself up and fell onto the dirt path, dropping his apple. It rolled away and fell into the creek.

Trey ran over to him. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Owie," Azeri said, picking himself back up. He rubbed his face. "Do I got any scratches?"

The Treecko brushed off a bit more dirt. "No, you look okay."

"Oh good. But my apple…"

That was already solved, though. The creek was shallow to Sally; she simply reached down and picked the apple up. After giving it a quick rinse off, she looked into it to see if the skin was broken. Then she came over, crouched down, and handed it back.

"Oh, thank you! It still looks good. I'm usually not so clumsy."

"You were going a little fast there," Trey said kindly.

"Azeri!" Stacy's voice came from the other side of the creek.

"Coming! Bye again!" The Azurill hopped off after his siblings.

"I kind of knew of the three of them," Trey mused. "Stacy became an adult with Mary and I. But I didn't really know them. So we should find that thread shop, Sa… Sally?"

For no apparent reason, Sally was cringing, holding her head with one hand. It seemed like she had some bad headache. But in the moment it took him to come up and touch her hand, it had passed. The human glanced around with a confused look in her blue eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked, again.

She rubbed her head, then glanced around one more time. Finally, she nodded and put him back up on her shoulder.

"We can go rest if you're tired or something," he added.

She shook her head and pointed north.

"Right, we were going to the thread place. Well give me a sign if your headache comes back."

She smiled a tiny bit, then took the path towards the other shops. After a few minutes, they found a Buneary-eared building. That Pokemon was at the counter, picking through a basket of needles. She looked up when they stopped, pulling the brim of her floppy straw hat up so she could see better. "Oh, hello! Welcome to the Crafts Stores; I'm Bethany. How may I help you?"

"Hi," Trey said. "I'm helping my friend shop for stuff. She needs some thread for sewing."

At Sally's nod, Bethany asked, "Okay, what color are you looking for?"

"Um, do you have a chart? She can't speak."

"I do, hang on." She knelt down and found a piece of paper with a color wheel. "Where's your range?"

Sally pointed to yellow-orange, closer to the orange.

"Okay, let me find that rack." She went into the room, then came back with a wooden storage bin. "Which one would you like? The Pecha? Okay, that's 2 Poke for the spool. Do you need some needles?"

She shook her head and tapped the spool. That was all she needed. She then passed over the 2 Poke coins.

"All right then. I hope you come back for any craft supply you need. We have a sewing circle that meets in the library some evenings, so you're welcome to drop in and join any time."

Sally smiled, but Trey could tell that whatever had happened minutes ago was still bothering her. She made a sign, so he had to say, "She thanks you."

After that, they crossed the bridge again and went to open a bank account for Sally. The Duskull who took care of that didn't give a name, but had a scratchy kind of laugh. "Drop by whenever you need to drop off more coins, heh heh."

As they left, Trey commented, "The Duskulls are so weird. But they are reliable and they don't cheat anybody. Most Pokemon around Treasure Town are friendly and nice, you know, mostly."

They finally got around to the library. It was a cozy place that Trey loved, his favorite place in town. And Kazza the Alakazam had a massive collection of books and records. It was said that he had read every single one of them and knew every little detail within the pages. As much as he read, Trey didn't think he could ever match that intellect.

So after introducing Sally, Trey asked, "Kazza, do you know of a book that talks about the human's language with their paws?"

"Hands, Trey, humans have hands." He twirled both spoons. "A book about language with paws or hands…"

Hopeful, Sally made a series of signs.

"Ah, you're deaf and you use sign language and a hearing aid to communicate. I remember reading the book, yes. But it's not part of my collection. Bartleby the Wigglytuff has it."

"Oh, he does? He said he was going to look for it this morning."

"I've tried to buy it and a few others off him, but he won't accept my offers. I have so very few human made books around. Of course, many Pokemon find them too bulky or big to handle well."

"Well I don't care how big it is," Trey said. "I've read books that weigh twice what I do."

He chuckled. "Yes, you have. You're welcome to borrow any books you like, Sally. I can point you out a few on our lands and culture so that you're better acquainted with Pokemon life."

After finding a few books, the pair sat down to read at one of the tables. But Sally seemed distracted. She kept glancing at the door.

"I'm not sure where they live, but I think it's just outside of town," Trey told her. "They could be a bit."

Sally shook her head. After tapping her fingers against the table, she leaned over towards him. She then gently put her fingers above his eyes and covered them.

"What are you…" but then his mind sensed that something was off.

Rocky place up high… there was a voice of a small Pokemon… very definitely Azeri the Azurill's voice. "H-h-help!"

"There's no one else around, but keep quiet," a different and unknown voice said. "Now you'll do as I say, or else."

"B-b-but…" Azeri said, frightened.

"Do it."

As Trey tensed, Sally took her fingers off his eyes. "Wh-what was that? Did you hear that scream?"

She held a finger up, then tapped her head, then tapped his.

"Um… you put that voice in my head?"

She nodded, then pointed to her forehead.

"You heard it first? Back when you had that headache, you mean?"

Another nod.

"That's really weird. It felt like some kind of bad dream, but then it also felt really real. But that was just something… you think they could be in trouble?"

Sally shrugged, looking both puzzled and worried.

Then the doors to the library opened. Stacy, Matti, and Azeri all came in, looking just fine. "Good afternoon, Kazza," Stacy called out, as cheerful as ever.

"Maybe it was just some weird bad dream you had," Trey told her quietly. "But why'd you get it in the middle of the day?"

She shrugged. She didn't seem to know much, but she knew what she had experienced. However, she put her worries aside as the three Water siblings came over to join them.

Kip sat in the empty and dim room, with walls made of dark stones. Mika, his parole Magnemite, hovered in front of him. "Reports have said that you are occasionally fowl mouthed and rude, as well as strange and suspicious-looking."

"Whaddaya expect when I'm surrounded by morons?" the Skitty retorted.

"Don't give me your smart-alec attitude."

"Don't take it if you don't want it."

Mika narrowed her eye at him. "Do you want to be taken off public service and put into prison?"

He shook his head. "No, of course not sparky."

"Well keep that tongue of yours in check."

"Can't keep it too in check or I can't groom my fur."

"What happened to your desire to find the light in your darkness?"

"Hey, it's still there 'mon." He picked his paw up and examined it a moment. "I just don't give a Rattata's patootie what the rest of you think of me."

"You need to curb your darkness behaviors, or you'll slip right back into being a criminal again. And you should start your change with learning better politeness."

"I could give it a try," he said half-heartedly. It didn't seem worth the effort or care, though.

"Well if you don't get accepted into the Guild, you aren't getting another chance at living outside the prison, Skitty. Your progress has not been satisfactory."

"You just expect too much of me, sparky."

Sally and Trey found Chiaka the Chimecho in the basement cold storage. "Oh, hi there," she said with a clear ring. "What do you need?"

"I know we're not official yet, but can Sally store her marmalade down here?" Trey asked. "It's got to stay cold, apparently."

"Oh sure. We keep a space for every team to keep stuff on hand if needed. I'll take it back to an empty spot." She took the jar by telekinesis, then asked, "What was it again?'

"Marmalade; it says so on the jar. And thanks."

"No problem."

After dinner, everyone gathered in the main space of the third floor. Bartleby gave a paper to Charlie, who spoke up. "Okay, for our new recruits… you have done very well in training, working hard and learning quickly. So, all four of you have been accepted!"

Stacy cheered loudly.

"Thank you, sweet mother of Mewtwo," Kip mumbled to himself.

"Congratulations," Bobby said with a smile

"Were you going to stick together as a team?" Charlie asked.

Sally clapped her hands; she was all for it. Stacy and Trey looked at each other, then at Kip. "Well?" Trey asked quietly.

"He hasn't been too bad," Stacy whispered back. "Did you want to stay with us?"

Kip looked startled that they would ask. "Oh um… sure, if it's cool with you, it's cool with me."

"Okay, then the four of us will work as a team," Stacy said.

"Great!" Bartleby said. "And Stacy will be the leader!"

Her eyes widened and she put her paws together nervously. "What? I will?"

The Guildmaster smiled and nodded.

"I think you'll do well," Trey said. Sally nodded.

"She certainly should," Charlie said. "Okay, and now you need a name."

"Um, we hadn't really decided yet," Stacy said shyly. She wondered if it was all right to use Tidal now, or if that would be bad. Back at the library, she, Trey, and Sally had discussed and written up possible names, but hadn't agreed on any one as good for their group (with or without Kip).

"I thought you had," Bartleby said.

"Huh?"

"It says down in storage, Team Marmalade!"

"What?" Stacy asked, even more bewildered.

Chiaka blushed. "Oh my, I'm sorry," she said. "I got distracted when I was putting your jar of marmalade on the shelf and put it in your name slot, not the inventory slot."

"Eek!" Flora squealed. "How can you make a silly mistake like that?"

"Well it just happened," Chiaka mumbled.

Kip laughed heartily. "No, it's perfect! Cause we're three parts sweet and one part zesty!"

"Huh…" Trey wondered, then realized the Skitty meant, "Hey!"

He twitched his tail smugly. "At least you know you ain't one of the sweet ones."

"Okay, so it is Team Marmalade!" Bartleby said, in good cheer.

"They haven't really confirmed it," Charlie tried to tell him.

"Um, no, I think it'll do for now," Stacy said. "I've never had marmalade before, though," she whispered to the other three."

"It's good stuff," Kip whispered back.

"So here is your first official badge!" Bartleby said, handing over a shiny copper badge to Stacy. It had what appeared to be a Wigglytuff peering over a ledge, as the symbol of the Guild. "We'll get that one engraved with the team name after the other three are made."

"Okay, if that's the name you want," Charlie said. "Oh yes, and I think the Guildmaster has found something for you."

"Something?" Stacy asked.

"Oh, right! I found the book. Follow me!" He hopped away and down the ladder to the storage area. The whole time, he kept a bright beautiful Perfect Apple bouncing atop his head.

"Do ya think he's part Spoink?" Kip whispered to Trey, getting a chuckle.

"YOOM-TAH! Here you go." He patted a book that was lying on the floor.

"What the freak?" Kip asked. "That thing's huge for a book."

The book was twenty inches by twenty-inches, being almost two inches thick on its white cover was a picture of a human paw making some sign, along with a large print title of 'University Standard Sign Language- an instruction manual by Dr. Isabel Dunkin.' "It's that big because it's a human book," Trey said. "She could probably read it all right."

Sally nodded.

"I don't think it has the full language in it," Bartleby said. "There's a lot of words that have no signs in here. But it does have an alphabet of hand signs, so she could spell out anything you don't get."

"I dunno, that seems a little intimidating," Stacy said, putting her paw to her chestshell.

"I'll study it," Trey said. "I've read human books before, so I don't mind handling it."

"Okay!" Bartleby agreed, twitching his ears. "Now it must remain down here. You may leave it out in this room while you learn it, though."