"Well, we got off to a rocky start, but now that we've got the wish rolling, I think it should be pretty smooth sailing from here."

This comment was made by Celeste, who was walking next to Rory, with Flora marching along in between them. She was supposed to be in her Pokeball, but Flora wanted to stay out so much that Rory eventually gave in. It was surprising to him how much he wasn't able to say no to her.

The three of them were walking down the dirt road that led out of Excus town. They were now a few hours out, making pretty good progress through the day. They had stopped for lunch on the way, and Rory had to share what he had brought with Celeste because, "The wisher should help provide the genie with food, don't you think?" which was something she had conveniently not mentioned before they had left.

"You can't exactly blame me," Rory rebutled what Celeste had said. "Genies aren't really believed to exist anymore, so there wasn't any reason for me to trust you."

In his head, Rory was still a bit skeptical about everything, but he had enough faith in Celeste to be dragged along on this crazy trip at least.

"Believe it or not, that's how it's been for a while, actually; it's not just your generation," Celeste said, slipping her hands behind her head. "For some reason, the fact that Genies actually exist has never made it into the headlines. Let's just say that you aren't the first person I've had to show a demonstration to," she finished with a wry smile.

"Right…" Rory trailed off.

"Still, is it really the norm now to think that Genies can just snap their fingers and make wishes come true?" Celeste asked.

"Yup, that's what everyone thinks nowadays."

"No way that's true, right?" Celeste asked in disbelief.

"You can ask anyone else, I'm not lying."

"That's absurd," she replied, her voice rising a bit. Rory could tell that she was actually getting a bit genuinely angry at the prospect. "I wonder who's been spreading that kind of nonsense. That's never been the case, I can assure you of that."

"I'll…have to take your word for it," Rory said listlessly. He scanned the surrounding woods for something to distract himself. In the bushes, a tiny head was poking out, it was some small gray bug type that Rory didn't recognize. The second the bug noticed Rory staring, it darted back into the bush, disappearing from sight.

"By the way, did you stock up on Pokeballs?" Celeste said, presumably prompted by the Pokemon in the bush. "Going on a journey like this is a perfect time to round out your team as a trainer."

"Oh, I'm not a trainer," Rory brushed off the idea very quickly. "Training Pokemon has never interested me before."

"Wait, what? Then what about Flora?" Celeste pointed down to the named Pokemon. "Isn't she yours?"

"She isn't really 'mine'. I just found her in the wild when she was in trouble and I helped her out. She followed me home, and now we just live together. Even if I was a trainer, it's not like Flora could battle anyway. She's not strong enough for it."

"Okay, I gotcha," Celeste said, looking down at the small cactus. "Still, if that's the case, then you're just two people living together in the same house then, yeah?"

"I guess you could say that," Rory didn't really know where Celeste was going with this. Rory noticed a smirk forming on her face, which he had already connected to something bad. "What's with that face?" he asked, warily.

"Oh, no, it's nothing," Celeste said, continuing to giggle. "It's just that I've got you all figured out."

"Uh-huh?" Rory said, clearly not believing that. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, you live alone with a Pokemon, a female Pokemon at that. You saved her from some danger like a knight in shining armor too, right?" She stopped walking momentarily to throw a jiving finger towards him. "Sounds to me like you two are a couple of lovebirds."

Rory stopped in his tracks abruptly and stared at Celeste. His face was moving about as much as he was, and the only thing that changed was his eyes blinking a few times. Eventually, he just turned away from her and continued walking, not a word being said.

"Uhh, that's not exactly the kind of response I was expecting," Celeste admitted as she caught back up with Rory.

"Well, how else am I supposed to react to that?" Rory replied passively. "That's not really something that you just say to people."

"Oh come on, I was teasing you," Celeste said, almost apologetically. "I didn't mean it as a big deal."

"You need to be careful with those kind of jokes," Rory warned. "Not everyone is keen on Pokephilia nowadays."

"Tch, right right, I forgot," Celeste said quite sarcastically, "Pokemon and human relationships have gotten complicated recently." Celeste quickly got back into her stride. "You know, 1000 years ago, no one had a problem with that kind of thing. People and Pokemon marrying each other was the norm."

"Yeah, well times change," Rory replied. "Even the existence of Demi-humans is a tough topic to talk about nowadays."

"Demi-humans?"

"Yeah, you know, the off-spring between a Pokemon and a human," Rory explained. "They take after both and end up a mix in between."

"Yeah, I know what they are obviously," Celeste clarified. "It's not like they're new. I've just never heard them called that."

"Well, that's what I've always heard them called," Rory said. Just then, something that Celeste had said earlier finally sunk in.

"Wait, did you say 1000 years before?" Rory backtracked in the conversation. "You can't actually be that old."

"Of course I can. Genies are immortal after all."

Rory narrowed his glance. Was this girl being serious? "Okay, well then how old are you?"

Celeste dramatically put a hand on her chest and let out an over the top gasp. "Oh come on, you know it's rude to ask a woman her age, don't you?"

Rory narrowed his glance further. She already said she was over 1000, what more is there to hide at that point?

"No, it's rude to ask a mortal woman her age because they're afraid of their natural beauty fading." Rory pointed towards her with a retracted arm. "If you're really immortal, then you don't count."

"Of course I count," Celeste said, back to her normal, lighthearted tone. "Every girl counts," she giggled after this last sentence.

Rory rolled his eyes for what felt like the millionth time already. Is this how the entire trip was going to be?

"Mar…" came a rather weak sounding cry from the Pokemon in between the two.

"Huh? What's wrong, Flora?" Rory asked. The grass type was slumped over, and Rory could instantly tell that her breathing was rugged. He didn't have the chance to say anything else before Flora suddenly collapsed, falling to the ground.

"Hey! Flora!" Rory's instincts kicked in and he was thankfully able to duck down and catch the poor maractus before she hit the ground. He scratched his hands on her spikes, but that was the least of his concerns right now.

"What's the matter? She alright?" Celeste also knelt down with Rory. He slowly layed Flora on the ground and felt her forehead.

"No good, looks like she's got a fever," Rory commented.

"Already?" Celeste asked, a little surprised. "But we haven't even been traveling a day."

"I told you, Flora's been sickly ever since I met her," Rory said. "Then again, this is really sudden. It's possible she was already getting sick before we even left. It's far too late to go back now and there aren't any Pokemon centers anywhere near here." Rory furiously shook his head and smacked the ground. "Dammit, I knew I shouldn't have let her come with me."

Celeste stared at Rory and then looked down at Flora before saying anything.

"We should find some sitrus berries," Celeste spoke up. Rory turned to her. Her voice wasn't strong or strict, but it was still much more serious than it had been. It was a voice filled with determination.

"Sitrus Berries?"

"Yeah, those can give a Pokemon strength, which will help in fighting off sickness. They're pretty common all around the world, so we might be able to find some around here. Oh, and Oran berries are also common and will work too. They aren't as strong, but will still help, so pick up those when you see them. If we get enough of them, it should help her get her strength back enough."

The air was silent as Rory processed everything she had just said. When Rory didn't react, Celeste pressed the situation.

"Come on, let's get going," she said, not forcefully, but with still with some urgency.

"R-right," Rory quickly got up to his feet, carrying Flora in his arms.

"We should probably split up, and meet back up here in…let's say an hour or so," Celeste planned.

"Sounds good," Rory agreed. Wasting no time, Celeste ran off first into the brush, disappearing quite quickly. Rory took Flora's pokeball off his belt and returned her to it, along with her bag. It had been a few months since she was last inside of it, so Rory hoped she would be fine.

"Hang in there, Flora," Rory said, grasping the Pokeball in his hand, "I'll find something to help you, I promise."

"God, this sucks."

Rory's noble attitude from earlier had quickly vanished, the stupid branches and thorns of the forest undergrowth scratching it away, just like what they were doing to his skin. He obviously still wanted to find the berries in order to help Flora, but he was slowly growing more aggravated the more he went without finding anything and the more cuts he was getting on his body.

Eventually, Rory found a small clearing. He happily welcomed the respite from the battle of attrition with the forest. He knelt down for a few seconds to give his body a break. He was scratched and cut practically all over, and his hands were very raw too.

"I wonder if Celeste has found anything yet," Rory wondered out loud. He wasn't going to give up though, despite the pain. He was fine with tearing up his body if it meant getting Flora the help that she needed.

After a few more seconds of break, Rory hoisted himself off the ground to continue the search. Right before he left the clearing, however, something strange caught his eye.

It blended into the nature surrounding it pretty well, but it almost seemed that, through the brush, he could see what looked like a house. No, he was sure of it. There was some sort of structure off to his right.

"What could that be?" he asked to no one in particular. There wasn't any other town in between Excus town and Virbank City. As far as Rory knew, this entire strip of land was just forest, so this dark building in the distance was a mystery.

Surmising that where a building was, there could be people, and people meant someone could help him, Rory decided to put his berry hunt on hold and check out this mysterious structure.

After fighting a little bit more against the bushes, roots, and branches that tried to block his path, Rory eventually made it close enough to the building to inspect it.

Any hope that it would be useful to him vanished almost immediately. This one room building (and he was hesitant to even use that word anymore) was in a very bad shape. The wood that it was made out of was clearly wet and had been rotting away for a while. The entire structure slumped to the point that Rory was scared it might fall at any second. Even the door seemed as if it was barely hanging onto its hinges.

A shack in such disarray couldn't be helpful to Rory, so he was about to leave it be and go back to his search until he saw one last part of the house he had missed before. On top of the roof was a chimney, about as beat up as the rest of it. The important thing wasn't the chimney itself, but instead what was coming out of it.

Smoke.

Rory gave a big groan as he realized what that meant.

"Guess it's worth a shot," he muttered before retracing his steps and going to the door.

As the door creaked open at Rory's push, a floral smell instantly hit his nose. This scent of fresh nature was different than the forest outside. It didn't take Rory too long to figure out why, either.

The shack's walls were lined with shelves, all of them packed with different plants, flowers, and berries. It wasn't just shelves, either. There were a few tables lining the walls, but these were stacked with what looked to be…bottles? Yup, there were plenty of bottles, some empty and some filled with liquids that Rory couldn't hope to guess. In the center of the room was a large cauldron with a wood fire beneath it, and rocks around it to prevent the fire from spreading to the rest of the building. A low hanging shute was just above the cauldron, which channeled the smoke through it and out of the building.

At first, Rory thought the building might be empty, but he soon saw movement near the back of the room. Behind a counter was a bright, fluffy, red and yellow tail swishing back and forth with a small wooden branch sticking out of it.

"Brai!" came the obvious Pokemon cry after hearing the door open. Soon, the owner of that voice jumped up and spun around, giving Rory a good look at it.

It was a Braixan, Rory was pretty sure. He didn't know much about Pokemon, but he recognized this one. He had seen its species in Pokemon contests on the TV at the Pokecenter before. The fox brushed its hands together before approaching the counter.

"Brai brai-'' the androgynous Pokemon said as its eyes searched the room, eventually landing on Rory. Immediately, its voice stopped and its entire cheerful expression dropped.

"-xen…" it finished. It was overly obvious to Rory that this Pokemon was surprised to see him here, and not the good way, if the mile-long stare he was getting now was any indication.

"What's your problem?" Rory mumbled. He took another look around the building. "So, with all the ingredients, I guess this is an apothecary? Is that right?" The braixen replied with a slow nod, its eyes not leaving Rory for a second. "Okay, gotcha," Rory replied, more out of courtesy than anything.

Rory wondered as to who would set up an apothecary this out of the way and stuck smack dab in a forest. He didn't see any humans in the building, so he assumed the owner must be out.

"I guess I'll just wait for them then," Rory said out loud, again to no one in particular. This was responded with a "Brai," from the Pokemon, but Rory ignored it this time.

If this really was some sort of herb shop, then they might have the berries that Rory was looking for. This was his thought process as he scanned the shelves. He had no clue how long it would take for the owner to show up, but he hoped they wouldn't be long. Every wasted second meant more suffering for Flora; he couldn't abide that.

"Braixen…" came the Pokemon again, this time accompanied by the rhythmic tapping of its fingers on the counter-top. Rory could have swore that its voice was getting lower and more strained, but he still ignored it, continuing to look around the room.

It was actually surprising how well kept the inside of this building was, especially considering how rugged the exterior was. While it certainly didn't look pristine, neither the walls nor the ceiling were rotting away like the outside, and the floor was also conspicuously kept clear of dust and grime. It was obvious that someone cared about the wellbeing of this place.

After some more looking, Rory couldn't seem to find any of the berries he was looking for. They had other berries, but not Oran or Sitrus. He let out a sigh. Maybe this was a hopeless endeavor after all, and he was just wasting his time.

"Braixen…"

This time, the cry came out as almost a growl. Rory threw a glance its way. What was its deal?

"Listen, can you keep it down over there," Rory called over to it. "I'm waiting for the owner of this place."

"I'm telling you I AM the owner!"

A loud, sharp feminine voice cut through the still calm that the room had before. Finally hearing a human voice, Rory looked around for the owner, but his ears told him something impossible. He slowly looked over in the direction the sound had come from…which led him…to the Braixen…

There was a brief moment of quiet as the two stared at each other. The Pokemon huffed and shook its head. "Yeah, guess that finally got your attention."

Rory, however, wasn't ready to break his silence, and was still stuck in position for a little bit longer.

"Y-you can talk…?" Rory said when he finally got the ability to speak again.

"How'd you figure that one out?" the braixen said back, the sarcasm dripping in her voice. She rested her head on her propped up hand.

"A-and…you're the owner?"

"Oh wow, finally got that through your head, huh?"

Rory was very stunned at this spectacle in front of him, but her words quickly broke him out of any trance he may have been in. He snapped his arm up and pointed it towards the Pokemon at the other end of the room.

"Okay, first of all, shut up," Rory said, more as matter of fact than aggressively. Still, it clearly caught the Braixen off guard, and she raised her head in surprise. "You are literally the first talking Pokemon I have ever met, of course I'm going to be surprised. Second, how the hell was I supposed to know you were the owner? I've never heard of Pokemon owning buildings before. So stop acting so smug, got it?"

It took the braixen a second, but her expression soon moved back to what it was before Rory's outburst, and so did her head's position in her hand.

"Sir, are you here to buy something, or are you just going to keep yelling at me?" the braixen replied in a modest voice, although her acerbic tone still lingered.

"You're the one who started it," Rory bit his tongue instead of voicing this thought. In all this surrealness, he had forgotten the main reason that he was here. He was still confused, but questions could wait for later. Swallowing his pride, Rory took a deep breath before continuing.

"Yeah, actually, I do need something," he said while scratching the back of his head. "A friend of mine is sick, so I was looking for some Sitrus or Oran berries to help her recover."

The braixen stared at Rory for a bit before hoisting herself off the counter and walking around it over to Rory. She was pretty small, only making it up to Rory's chest, so she had to look up at him.

"Well, come on, take me to her," the braixen urged after Rory didn't move. "You said she was sick right? I'll need to see her condition before knowing what will help her."

Rory was a bit surprised that she was taking him seriously so soon after he berated her.

"She's right here, actually," Rory clarified as he took Flora's pokeball off his belt. He released the grass type into his arms. He grimaced as the spikes clawed at his hands, but he held fast and kept her in his hands as she materialized. After she was fully out, Rory checked on Flora. She was still breathing hard, and her whole body felt warmer than he was used to.

"Wait, that maractus is the friend you talked about?" the braixen asked.

"Uh-huh. How does she look to you?" Rory asked. He didn't really have any reason to trust this talking Pokemon, but at this point he wagered that betting on even a self-appointed apothecary was better than trying to find a few random berries in a large forest.

The braixen looked at Flora and then to Rory and then back to Flora. It was clear she was surprised by something, but what about, Rory had no idea.

"Go ahead and place her down over there," the braixen pointed to a small bench behind the counter. "I can get a better look at her there."

Rory did as he was instructed and layed Flora carefully down, putting her bag down to the side. It didn't take a second for the fox pokemon to start examining her. After presumably checking some of her vitals and her temperature by feeling different parts of her body, the braixen stood back up.

"Yup, it certainly looks like she has a fever, but it's a pretty nasty one. It looks like her body's gonna have trouble fighting it off on her own."

"Yeah that's what I was afraid of."

"What did you say you were looking for, again?" the braixen asked, glancing back up at Rory.

"Sitrus and Oran berries," Rory replied. "I was told those would help. Why, what's the matter?"

The braixen put a hand up to her chin and thought for a second.

"Well, those would help stave off the symptoms for a bit, but they wouldn't really help her recover at all."

"And how can you be so sure of that?"

The braixen clearly didn't appreciate Rory's question, judging by the condemning look she gave him.

"Because I'm a herbalist; it's kinda my job to know this stuff," came her reply, with the same sarcasm resurfacing again.

"Fine, whatever. What should I do then?" Rory asked.

"The best way to fight off a fever would be to give her some braixen."

"Some what now?"

"Oh, right, that's the Pokemon world for it," the braixen waved her hand at this mistake. "I think it's called an energy root in your language."

"Yeah, I've heard of those before," Rory recalled. They supplied a few herbal medicines that used those back at the Pokecenter. "Do you have any of that?"

"Nah, I've been meaning to restock, but never got around to it." The braixen quickly ducked under the counter next to her and pulled out a basket of some sort.

"Here, feed her these for now," the fire type said, throwing two small berries from the basket at Rory. He caught them and turned them over in his hands: two sitrus berries.

After examining them, Rory slowly propped up Flora, who stirred awake at this motion.

"Mar mar..." her voice came out weak and coarse.

"Hey, Flora, if you eat these you will feel a bit better," Rory assured her.

"Mar…"

Rory took the berries and slowly fed them to her, which she deliriously ate.

While Rory did this, the braixen started to stride towards the door leading outside.

"Where are you heading?" Rory asked, not leaving Flora's side.

"I'm going to go collect some more energy roots," she explained. "I know a spot near here that should have some. Just sit tight, I'll be back soon."

"Wait, hang on a sec," Rory called out. The braixen begrudgingly obayed as Rory put Flora back into her Pokemon and put it back on his belt.

"What is it?" the Pokemon called back, her foot tapping with impatience. "This is kinda urgent, so I'd like to get going."

"You think I don't know that," Rory retorted. He quickly caught up to the braixen at the door. "I'm coming with you."

"Oh?" the amused fire type said as she raised an eyebrow. "You know that there are lots of scaaaary Pokemon in these woods right? Sure you'll be alright?"

Rory held back what he really wanted to say. This Pokemon might be the only one who could help Flora. He had to put up with her for now.

"I can handle myself," Rory replied simply, trying hard to keep all of his annoyed feelings out of his voice. The braixen just shrugged.

"If you say so. Come on, let's roll."

And with that, the braixen was out of the door, and Rory took no time in following after her.