Chapter 32: Peculiar Sustenance

“Use dragon rush!” commanded Ceailean. Noibat exploded into a purple aura and charged ahead.

“Support it with psybeam, Fennekin!” shouted Marie. It shot forth its attack.

“Do not overexert yourself now,” said Crisis with his arms crossed. Decidueye nodded. It effortlessly made Noibat graze off it’s wing and ducked under Fennekin’s psybeam.

“Can’t get him.” Marie said to herself frustratedly.

“Dragon rush again!” shouted Ceailean.

“Sucker punch.” Crisis ordered calmly. Before Noibat could charge its energy, Decidueye ran forward and kicked it up in the air. “Hit it back towards Fennekin.” Decidueye then bashed Noibat towards Fennekin on its way down. “Shackle them up.” Decidueye knocked two arrows and shot them towards Fennekin and Noibat’s shadows.

“Get out of there!” urged Ceailean.

“Wait but-” Marie stammered. An arrow struck Fennekin’s shadow, causing it to freeze in place. Noibat managed to fly back up just in time before the other arrow hit. “No Fennekin!”

Ceailean seemed unaware of Marie’s condition. “Good Noibat, now use air cutter!” Noibat flapped its wings hard, launching air blades at Decidueye.

“Phantom force.” ordered Crisis, keeping a keen eye on Noibat. The air blades hit the ground, causing an explosion.

Ceailean gasped, “Did we get him?”

“Pfft no.” said Marie.

“Oh ye of little faith.” Noibat then fell at Ceailean's feet followed by another arrow in its shadow, immobilizing it.

“Faith or no faith, I’d suggest you remain aware of your surroundings.” said Crisis, “Let us end this here. It would seem that we have done enough for today.”

“Ugh.” complained Marie. “Coulda swore we were on even ground considering all those other times we fought together.”

“Those ‘other times’ were quite unconventional. We were all put on the back foot. But seeing as we are able to resume pokemon battles in a normal light, I am able to ‘show off’ more as it were.”

Marie struggled to pull the arrow out of Fennekin’s shadow. “I’ll show you ‘showing off’ in a minute.”

Ceailean walked over to help, “Try not to sour relations with the delegate of Team Harmonious, Chancellor Marie.” He then pulled out the arrow with great effort and tossed it aside.

“Har har, so funny.” said Marie flatly as Fennekin jumped into her arms.

“I advise you take his advice Marie. For I know enough that your frustration does not limit itself to me.”

“You ain't gotta tell me that.” said Ceailean.

Marie punched him in the arm, “Shut it C.” Crisis raised an eyebrow at her, making her sigh.

“That is not to say you are without flaw either, Ceailean.” continued Crisis. “I realized a major, shall I say, ‘quirk’ of yours during our battle with Solga.”

“Yeah, tell me what that is, that way I can hold it over his head for the rest of his life.” teased Marie.

“I will tell him privately if you continue to use it as a point of mockery rather than a flaw that needs overcoming.”

“I was only joking, jeez.”

“Just say it Crisis,” said Ceailean, “If I can handle her now, I’m sure I can handle her for the rest of my life.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Marie said quietly.

“If you insist.” Crisis stood up straight and put his arms behind his back. “You like to fight alone.”

“...What do you mean?” asked Ceailean.

“I did not feel you battling with your pokemon, not as one. What I felt was a general commanding a soldier. And while such a structure has its place, I believe it is least ideal in a setting that concerns pokemon battles.”

Ceailean scratched his chin, “Maybe I can see what you’re saying. But I feel like I’m battling with my pokemon.”

“As brothers in arms, not as singular entities.”

“Starting to sound like June. You lost me.”

Crisis sighed, “Perhaps you should realize first that you still have of yet to free Noibat of its binds.”

“Oh crap…” Ceailean sighed. He looked to Noibat who was on the floor frozen, its eyes still able to appear unamused.

“When you’re backed into a corner, I’m sure you will fall into a habit of getting physical. If it were not for social stigma, who’s to say that’s how you would treat every battle.”

Ceailean scoffed as he pulled away Decidueye’s arrow, letting Noibat fly up on his head and start stretching. “You’d think I’d approach every battle wanting to throw hands?”

“Naturally, I know you would not desire such an outcome in every instance. But in a way, it feels like you doubt the power your pokemon hold.”

“I know what power pokemon can hold. I can tell you taking a direct hit hyper beam from a Garchomp wasn’t fun.”

“And yet notice that you haven’t used ‘your’ pokemon as a reference.”

Ceailean sighed, “Aren’t we reading too much into things?”

“Who knows the true extent your battle prowess holds. In time we will find out for sure. I suggest you continue to train with Marie until then.”

Marie scoffed, “Yeah, good luck trying to get him to though.”

“Come on,” said Ceailean, “You just always catch me at a bad time.”

“Well, will you train with me now?”

Ceailean looked past Marie, “No.”

“Really! Why not?”

Ceailean pointed, “‘Cause our foods here.”

Marie looked to see a delivery Rotom in the distance. “You’re lucky this time,” she said through her teeth, “But I better not hear any excuses from you next time.”

Ceailean raised his hands defensively, “I solemnly swear.”

The delivery Rotom flew down near the group. It was a boxy drone with the face of Rotom inhibiting the sliding door on the front. “Delivery for [Crisis] from [Favoris Cafe].”

“Yes, that would be us,” said Crisis.

Marie grinned as she observed Rotom. “This thing is so cool. For being so new, the service sure does work.”

“It is not as amusing when I’m the one that has to pay for it.” said Crisis offhandedly.

Marie put her hands together, “Again, I’m sorry Crisis. If I hadn’t left my cards in Snowbelle. I would’ve paid for it myself.”

“It is quite alright. You shall not receive much judgment from me.”

“Much? So still a little?” asked Ceailean.

Crisis took all the food from the delivery Rotom and carried it over to the foldable table. “Now, are we reading too much into things?” he said with a slight smirk.

“Sure.”

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() “Whoa, the food looks so good!” said Marie, “I gotta thank Reese and Boug if we ever see them again.”

“You’re still gonna call him Boug?” asked Ceailean.

“You wouldn’t hold it against me if I said that I think that Boug just sounds cooler than Tyler, would you?”

Ceailean sighed, “To each their own I guess.”

Marie took Snom out of her beanie and plopped it down on the table. “Here Snom, I made sure to get you some ice cream.” She placed a bowl of ice cream next to it. Snom danced with joy. “What did you get for your Pokémon C?”

“Well, I got Scorbunny some spicy nachos and I got Noibat a muffin.”

“A muffin is kinda tame for Noibat, isn’t it?”

“Well I can’t exactly ask them what their favorite food is. I just think fire types like spicy food and maybe Noibat needs something tame for the pure amount of excitement it exudes.”

“I guess I can’t argue too much with that logic.”

Ceailean let Scorbunny out of its pokeball. “Alright, I got you some food. I hope you like it.” He handed it the spicy nachos. Scorbunny thanked him and walked off a little ways. “And here’s yours Noibat. I hope you like it too.” Ceailean held the muffin up to his head. Noibat inspected it curiously for a moment before grabbing the muffin with its feet and flying off to join Scorbunny.

Marie took another basket of food. “Fennekin, I got you spicy nachos too.” As soon as she put it down, Fennekin leapt from her arms and dug in right away. Marie laughed, “You’re pretty eager today.”

The group all started to have their share. Noibat and Scorbunny were more focused on playing with each other by acting like anime characters. Scorbunny was always the villain and Noibat was the hero. Before they could get too into it, Scorbunny’s stomach rumbled. It broke character so that it could eat a little bit first. Noibat watched as it took a bite of a spicy nacho.

Ceailean and Marie jumped in their seats when they heard a yell from Scorbunny. “What the heck was that?” asked Ceailean. Before he could even see what was happening, Scorbunny ran up to his feet and pointed at its tongue desperately. “You want some water? Uh… I didn’t get mine out of my tent yet. I’ll go get it, stay here!”

Ceailean ran off as Scorbunny ran in place hoping he would hurry. 10 seconds, 30, a minute. Scorbunny couldn’t take it anymore and jumped up on the table to find just something. Then it spotted the bowl of ice cream. It dipped it’s head into it only to come right back out spitting Snom out of its mouth. Snom was immensely agitated and blasted Scorbunny with icy wind, making it fall to the floor dizzy.

“Oh my gosh! Snom what did you do?!” asked Marie. Snom scoffed slightly guiltily. “Scorbunny! Are you okay?” Scorbunny nodded weakly. Marie sighed, “C! Hurry up and get over here!”

Ceailean came running back. “What the heck happened?”

“Scorbunny tried to eat the ice cream, but Snom was in it and Scorbunny almost ate it! So Snom blasted it with an icy wind! What took you so long?”

“I just couldn’t find my water bottle- oh,” Ceailean reached down and grabbed his water bottle, “Apparently it was under my seat.”

This disappointing revelation brought Scorbunny up to its feet again. It jumped up on the table and pointed at the spicy nachos, demanding to know what it was as if it was just served poison.

“What? It’s just spicy nachos.” assured Marie. Scorbunny insisted that something was wrong with them. “Look, I’ll have one then.” Marie took one and ate it. “See? It’s pretty mild anyway.” Scorbunny looked at her like she had just done the impossible. It then pointed at Ceailean to eat one too.

“Okay I guess. Though I don’t really like spicy food.” Ceailean took one and ate it easily. Scorbunny was stunned. Fennekin then tapped it on the back to show that it too could eat a spicy nacho. Scorbunny then took one more nacho and held it over for Snom to eat. Snom politely declined. Scorbunny turned to the rest of the group and brandished the nacho desperately as if it was the penultimate evidence. Its fur became a little ruffled up.

“Scorbunny? Can you not handle spicy food?” asked Ceailean. Scorbunny cocked its head wondering what that was. “You never had spicy food before?”

Crisis took another nacho and ate it. “It would seem Scorbunny has no tolerance when it comes to spicy food.” Fennekin began to chuckle slightly at this comment.

Marie began to chuckle too, “A fire type that doesn’t like spicy food? That’s a new one for me.” Scorbunny was distraught. It ran over to the nearest tree and sulked. “Oh, did I hurt its feelings?” asked Marie, feeling guilty.

“It was quite an experience it went through, yet it seemed to have perceived all of your statements as mockery.” said Crisis.

“Alright, I’ll go deal with it.” said Ceailean. He walked over to comfort Scorbunny.

Marie coughed, “Okay, maybe it’s starting to get a lil’ bad. C, can I drink some of your water?”

“Go for it.”

Marie took the water and tried to open it, but the lid didn’t budge. She started to breathe through her mouth. “I can’t open it…” Crisis closed his eyes and sipped his tea as Fennekin began to chuckle a little harder.

“Scorbunny?” called Ceailean, “Are you alright?” Scorbunny pouted some more by laying face down flat on the ground. “I didn’t know you would react this way to spicy food. So say it’s my fault if it makes you feel any better. Plus, I didn’t say anything back there, if that means anything.”

Scorbunny sat up and faced him, nodding sadly. It went to rub it’s eye. “Wait, stop!” Ceailean quickly grabbed its paw before it could touch it’s face. He showed it its paw, “Look, you still have spicy nacho dust on your paws. If you touched your eye, you would’ve burned it as much as you burned your tongue. Here-” Ceailean pulled out a napkin and wiped its paws clean. “Don’t ask why a weirdo like me carries napkins in his jacket pocket.” Scorbunny nodded and waited silently until he was finished.

“There, see, all better.” Scorbunny stared at Ceailean with its beady eyes and thanked him. “Well, now that we know that, why don’t you trade food with Noibat? It looks like it hasn’t even touched it’s muffin.” Scorbunny nodded and ran over to Noibat, waving back with a smile as it did so.

() Noibat was imitating more moves in the air when it noticed Scorbunny approaching. Scorbunny asked to exchange its nachos for its muffin. Noibat nonchalantly agreed. Scorbunny picked up Noibat’s muffin and curiosity got the better of it. It asked what the nachos tasted like. Noibat figured it could try them real quick. Noibat took a nibble, then ate the whole chip, only to devolve into gorging what it could. Noibat thanked Scorbunny very much for bringing it such yummy food, wondering why it would ever want to give them away. Scorbunny only responded with a sigh and a nibble of it’s muffin.

Unbeknownst to the two, something was lurking in the bushes amongst the tree line. It watched intently on the reactions the two were having. Scorbunny was eating the muffin without much of an extraordinary thought. Noibat on the other hand was wolfing down its food like no tomorrow. It had to act fast or there would be none left. They weren’t watching, it could move. With haste it made its way across the grassy clearing behind Noibat.

Scorbunny noticed it first. But it was too fast. A Gastly rushed up behind Noibat yelled as loud as it could in an effort to scare it. Scorbunny screamed and fell over like a stiff board. Noibat however, was unimpressed while looking over its shoulder. Gastly started to sweat a little. It tried again to scare Noibat. It was even more unimpressed. Taking another bite of its nachos, it stood up and began to lecture Gastly. Predictable, cliche, and overall devoid of personality. Gastly grew frustrated at this, asking Noibat to demonstrate since it's so knowledgeable. Noibat shrugged its wings and used screech in Gastly’s face. It sounded vaguely like that of a movie studio roar playing through a full blast surround sound system. Scorbunny was thrown out of its petrified state and it moved to cover its ears.

Gastly’s had the vapor blown off it’s body. It was so amazed with Noibat’s performance that it had forgotten its original objective and wanted to know more tips. Noibat nodded confidently and it began to list out what it knew. Scorbunny slowly lifted its paws off its ears and sighed wondering why Noibat couldn’t be more considerate of the pokemon around it.

“Hey, are you two alright? I hope you two aren’t fighting.” asked Ceailean from the table. Scorbunny and Noibat both assured him that everything was alright. “Alright then.” When the two turned back around, they saw Gastly halfway sunk into the ground. Once it noticed everything was alright, it raised back up and continued to converse with Noibat as if nothing happened. Scorbunny was going to take another nibble of its muffin when suddenly another pokemon appeared from behind and scared it. Scorbunny screamed again, tossing the muffin up in the air. The pokemon caught it in mid air and made a mad dash for the trees.

Gastly noticed what was going down and saw a Pumpkaboo running off with Scorbunny’s muffin, sticking its tongue out at it. Gastly was so furious that it was gritting its teeth. It thought quickly and warned Noibat of something in the distance. Noibat fell for the trick and looked to see what was going on. Gastly then finessed the nachos from right under Noibat’s feet and ran after Pumpkaboo. Noibat turned back around fast enough to see Gastly making off with its nachos. Furious as well, it gave chase. Scorbunny pleaded with it to wait but the three pokemon had already disappeared through the foliage. It looked back and forth a couple of times before deciding to go after Noibat.

Noibat weaved through the tree in pursuit of Gastly. Somehow though, it managed to disappear behind a trunk. Noibat stopped on a branch in order to thoroughly scan the area. Gastly was hiding behind a tree trunk making as little noise as possible. Before long, Noibat continued ahead. Gastly took a huge sigh of relief. It was short lived however as it heard voices that it recognized. It rushed through the forest until it reached a clearing. The clearing was shoddily decorated with vines, leaves, flowers, and trash. All centered around a little overhung rock. There stood a Solosis. It was complimenting Pumpkaboo’s efforts on bringing it food. It was chuckling along with Solosis’s compliments when it noticed Gastly had arrived. It gave Gastly a smug look. Gastly was absolutely fuming. It rushed forward and shoved Pumpkaboo out of the way, snapping branches as it was sent through the foliage. It then politely offered the nachos to Solosis.

Solosis observed the nachos and asked why they were red. Gastly said it didn’t know but the pokemon it stole it from was wolfing them down like a hungry Snorlax. Solosis was super intrigued and congratulated Gastly for bringing them. Gastly blushed a little and felt giddy. Pumpkaboo then flew in and shoved Gastly, but it was able to stand its ground. The two passive aggressively pushed on each other as they both tried to convince Solosis to try their food first. Solosis looked back and forth between the food and ultimately chose Gastly’s. Gastly cheered while Pumpkaboo grumbled. Solosis picked up a nacho with its psychic power and ate the nacho.

Noibat was feeling really annoyed to have lost Gastly. It looked around one more time before Scorbunny finally caught up and said that it was dangerous to go alone and that they should go back. Noibat grumbled at this idea but there were no signs of Gastly anywhere. But then a shriek cried out through the forest. Noibat and Scorbunny thought someone might’ve been in trouble. The two nodded to each other and went in the direction of the shriek. Before they arrived they skidded to a stop as Gastly was thrown between them, hitting a tree and landing face first on the ground, groaning in pain. Noibat and Scorbunny looked at each other confused and continued on. Once they arrived at the clearing, they saw suave acting Pumpkaboo feeding a teared up Solosis a piece of a muffin while giving comforting words.

Scorbunny felt around its body and realized that it’s muffin was stolen too. It pointed accusingly at Pumpkaboo which made it jump and drop it's muffin piece. Solosis was surprised but Pumpkaboo was mad that Scorbunny ruined it’s moment with Solosis. It rushed up to Scorbunny and made the scariest face it could, only to be met with a searing foot between the eyes. It flew back against the cliffside and bound face up on the ground with a burned footprint on its face. Predictable, cliché, and overall devoid of personality Scorbunny told Pumpkaboo. Noibat couldn’t help but snicker at this.

Solosis asked why they were there. Noibat landed and stared down Solosis. It walked up to it slowly, making Solosis have an ever increasing feeling of dread as it approached. It stood no more than two feet away from it. Noibat then snatched the nachos back and told it to have a nice day. Solosis was flabbergasted. It told Noibat to give them back. Noibat turned around confused, saying that from the things that happened, it was sure Solosis didn’t like it. Solosis said the nachos belonged to them anyway. Noibat brushed it off and continued walking away.

Solosis was mad now. It yelled into the forest for support. By some unknown power handed to them, Gastly and Pumpkaboo both arose and rushed to Solosis’s side. Solosis put on an act of a hurt little princess, saying Noibat was stealing its food. The two ghosts gasped, even when Noibat reminded them that they were the ones that stole it in the first place. Solosis pleaded with the ghosts saying that it would do whatever the one that beats up Noibat first wants, adding a little wink at the end. The ghost's eyes were filled with drive as Gastly rushed ahead with astonish and Pumpkaboo shadow sneak. Noibat didn’t have time to react before the ghosts were pummeling it in a dogpile. Scorbunny shouted at them to stop and attacked with hi jump kick. It went straight through the ghosts without so much as a thought and Scorbunny crashed on the cliffside. It’s eye grew watery as the pain traveled through its body. Solosis giggled slightly as it slid down the rock. The barrage on Noibat made it have enough and the rage was building up inside.

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() “Ahhh, that was so good!” said Marie, “Thanks again Crisis for the food!”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Suppose we shall continue to build our relations with the Aldernaught family. This is only one of many ways.” responded Crisis.

“Come on! Do you have to follow your cooperation talk down to a tee? We deserve to spoil ourselves every once in a while.”

“I am already more lenient than I should be. I wouldn’t have gotten any of you food if it were any other way.”

“But wouldn’t that just cause more conflict?”

“If you choose to cause it.”

“But-!”

“Give it up Marie.” said Ceailean as he wiped his mouth with a tablecloth, “You’re just gonna bang your head against a wall when you talk with the morally adamant man. Best save yourself the headache.”

“Are you insinuating something?” asked Crisis.

“If you choose to perceive it as conflict” Crisis sighed and slumped down on his chair.

Then a massive explosion rang out from the forest. The shockwave fluttered by everyone's hair and a huge dust cloud rose over the tree line. Fletchling were scattering all about.

Everyone rose out of their seats. “What the heck was that?” asked Ceailean.

“Y-You don’t think that it could be more criminal right C?” asked Marie. Ceailean looked to see that Marie looked tired and vainly hopeful. “L-like, it could just be a normal pokemon you know… no more magic power or something.”

“I would hope so.” The group waited a while and the dust began to settle.

“Maybe we don’t have to check it out this time. It could just be a pokemon that just does that in the wild right?” Just then, a shriek rang out from the forest. “Oh, come on…” Marie said quietly.

“Sorry Marie,” said Ceailean, “It would seem like duty calls.” At that moment, Fennekin ran off ahead towards the forest.

“Fennekin!” called Marie, “What are you doing?”

“It would seem that Fennekin is more in touch with it’s call to action than all of us here. I suggest we follow its lead.” said Crisis.

“Don’t be scared Marie.” comforted Ceailean, “I’m sure we’ve seen all the crazy stuff us kids will ever see in their entire lifetime.”

“I thought you said you were a teenager?” asked Marie in an attempt to lighter herself up.

“Hm, I know who I am in the grand scheme of things. But I also know it's always a little higher than you.”

Marie smiled and punched him in the shoulder, “Shut it C.” She then ran off after Fennekin.

Ceailean nodded at Crisis, “Let’s go.”

“Agreed”

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() Fennekin charged through the shrubbery without much of a second thought. Someone was in trouble and it was going to try to help. Before it knew it, it showed up in the clearing where Noibat was. Fennekin scanned the area quickly. Scorbunny was down for the count, a Gastly and a Pumpkaboo lay on the ground knocked out, and Noibat was struggling against a sadistic looking Solosis. Solosis had to have been up to no good, it must have hurt everyone here. Fennekin had to help. It charged up a psybeam and fired it straight at Solosis. A look of horror washed over Solosis’s face as the attack lit up its face. The attack exploded on impact and sent it crashing through its little decorated cave. The vines unraveled and the flowers scattered their petals. Fennekin was about to ask whether or not Noibat was okay, only to receive backlash.

Noibat was demanding to know why Fennekin did that? Fennekin was so confused that it couldn’t speak.

“What’s going on Fennekin?” called Marie, “I heard attacks going off.” She walked into the clearing just as the last of the petals hit the ground. “Whoa, what is this place?”

Ceailean and Crisis made their way inside as well. “Noibat? Scorbunny? When did you two get here?”

“They were missing when that explosion went off.” explained Crisis, “It would seem you have failed to notice that.”

Ceailean felt a little bit guilty, “But-”

“Perhaps it wasn’t as much a speculation as you thought.”

Ceailean remained silent for a moment. He then approached Noibat and Scorbunny, “Are you two alright?” Scorbunny was holding its left knee breathing in and out in pain, but it was still able to muster a thumbs up of sorts. Noibat on the other hand was pointing accusingly at Fennekin.

“What are you saying Noibat?” asked Marie, “What did Fennekin do?” Noibat pointed at the small cave. Solosis had mustered the strength to float again. It looked solemnly at all the work it had done in ruins. The sadness then turned to anger as it turned to who it blamed. Noibat was still berating Fennekin when Solosis flew in with tears in its eyes asking why oh why Fennekin did such a thing. Fennekin finally was able to spout some words in self defense, but Solosis was having none of it. It picked up Fennekin with a red psychic energy.

“What’s it doing?!” said Ceailean.

“It’s using confusion!” said Marie.

Solosis took Fennekin over head it’s home and showed it what it did. Fennekin pleaded with it more to forgive it, it was just trying to help Noibat. That threw Solosis over the edge. Help? This is what Fennekin was calling help? More tears of anger slid down Solosis’s face. It pulled Fennekin back in an effort to throw Fennekin into the cliffside.

“Wait! Hold on!” cried Marie. Solosis tried to throw as hard as it could, but suddenly found out that it couldn’t move. Try as it may, it felt like it’s psychic energy was stuck in place. That is when it felt the tip of something on the back of its head.

“Sorry. While I am sympathetic for your loss, I do not wish to participate in this particular form of equivalent exchange.” said Crisis. Decidueye had a knocked point blank arrow on the back of Solosis’s head. Solosis’s mood quickly shifted as it nodded in compliance as it went into a cold sweat. “Good. I assure you that we will pay our debts once we fully understand the situation. So, if you would please, gently put Fennekin down.” Solosis slowly nodded again. Decidueye kicked its arrow off of Solosis’s shadow, allowing it to move again. It then put Fennekin down gently on the ground.

“Fennekin!” said Marie. She ran over and brought it into her arms. “Just… Just what did you do?” All Fennekin could do was look away in shame.

“Let us find out shall we.” Crisis returned Decidueye to it’s pokeball and sat down cross-legged. “Solosis, Noibat, if you two would please inform us to the best of your ability exactly what went down here.” Solosis nodded and Noibat crossed its wings.

“So that’s a Solosis?” Ceailean asked Marie.

“C, shh! Sit down and listen.”

Ceailean quickly sat down with Marie. “Listening”

“Now, you two may proceed,” said Crisis.

Solosis nodded and took a deep breath…

*45 Minutes Later*

“Okay, I think I understand now.” groaned Ceailean. The group's fatigue showed in their postures. Marie had resorted to laying down on her side, Crisis had his head resting on his fist, and Ceailean put his elbows on his knees while subconsciously rubbing Scorbunny’s head as it sat on his lap, which it was enjoying immensely.

“So basically,” Ceailean pointed accusingly at Gastly and Pumpkaboo, “Those two stole Noibat’s food, right?” Solosis nodded, also looking mentally fatigued. “They brought it to you to try and impress you, but Noibat followed you. In that chaos, those two attacked Noibat in order to protect you. But Noibat beat them?” Solosis nodded again, a glimmer of hope shined in it’s eyes that this conversation would be over. “And you’re saying that Noibat threatened to hurt you because you stole its food-” Noibat interjected and started pointing and yelling accusingly at Solosis.

Crisis rubbed his eyes. “Once again we are at a standstill. We’re so close to the end but we still have to find middle grounds.” Noibat spoke up ever louder, making sure to shut up Solosis as much as it could. It’s voice echoed in Solosis’s mind until it finally had enough. It shouted up in the air in frustration, finally giving up. It looked to Noibat, telling it to tell them the real story, not caring anymore. As it went to sulk in its ruined cave, Noibat went on explaining what really happened.

After a while, everyone knew the full story. “So, now we got it right?” asked Marie with an arm covering her eyes.

“It would seem so,” said Crisis.

“Stole food to impress a girl, you beat them up, and it selfishly tried to keep it for themselves anyway in a last act of defiance. That right?” asked Ceailean. Noibat gave one last big nod. Ceailean leaned over to Marie, “Do you notice a trend with these situations?”

“Do say.” said Marie.

“All the wild Pokémon we’ve encountered had a feud with a female Pokémon of which they were ‘interested’ in. So that has left me to a conclusion.”

“Yeah, what’s that.”

Ceailean pointed his finger up. “It is that women cause all the problems in the world. Case closed.” In the next moment, he found himself on the ground curling up from the pain in his abdomen. “Well I thought it was funny…” he groaned. Scorbunny looked away unremorsefully from the side.

Marie dusted off her knuckles. “All it takes is one reminder of who caused all the problems in Camphrier to dismantle your argument.”

“You’re right, my mistake. I should’ve said the majority of problems-” Ceailean couldn’t finish his sentence as he started laughing.

Marie grunted in disgust as she went for a stomp, but Crisis grabbed her by the arm. “Let it go Marie. Best to not sour Ceailean’s mood over a simple joke.”

“Oh come on, he deserves it.” argued Marie

Ceailean looked over at the two of them with a smile on his face, “Hey, it’d be worth it either way.”

Crisis looked at him confused. The reason for that wasn’t too clear to him, but it had him do something which confused him slightly more. “Fine, deal with him as you wish.” he said as he let Marie go.

Ceailean put his hands in front of him, “No wait! I was kidding-” a swift stomp to his side cut him off. “Ow…”

Crisis paid no mind to the aftermath. He walked over to Solosis, which backed up against the wall and averted it’s eyes as he got closer. Crouching down near it, Crisis said, “I know from the way you look you know what you did was bad.” Solosis sulked a little more, “But seeing that means you know right from wrong. If you’re willing to apologize, I’ll agree to still help you.” Solosis’s eye’s lit up. It nodded quickly and started floating around the scattered debris looking for something. It tossed vines and trash out behind itself with its psychic energy until it found the thing it was looking for.

“What’s that?” asked Crisis. Solosis brought him a black plastic takeout plate. It had no lid and looked like it had been fished out of a river with how muddy and crinkled it was. Crisis took it and examined it closely. “The… Ol’ Love… Garden?”

Marie took a slight pause from antagonizing Ceailean. “Ol’ Love Garden? Aw man, now I’m in the mood for some of their food.”

“You just ate. At least wait an hour.” said Ceailean, still on the floor.

Marie kicked him lightly on the back, “Shut it C, I never said right now.”

“Ow! This is child abuse. I’m gonna call CPS.”

“I’ll show you child abuse in a minute-”

Crisis brought his voice up. “Would you two please stop? That is enough. We have other things we must address, afterwards you can resume to your conflicts.”

Marie’s stance turned stiff at Crisis’s heightened voice. “Oh finally…” Ceailean quietly remarked. Which resulted in another secret tap of Marie’s foot on his back.

“First order of business. Solosis, say what you need to say to Noibat and Scorbunny.” As Solosis moved forward, Gastly and Pumpkaboo moved in front of it, begging for one of them to take the blame. “No blame shall be placed upon only one individual.” Crisis said before Solosis could react, “Perhaps you should all ‘say what you need to say’.” Solosis nodded and sternly told the ghosts what to do. They both nodded in agreement. They all approached Scorbunny first, all bowing their heads and saying their apologies. Scorbunny smiled and told them it was all okay.

Noibat was a different story. As they approached, Noibat crossed its wings and stared them down. Before they got close, Gastly and Pumpkaboo both hid shivering behind Solosis.

“So much for all that chivalry.” said Ceailean, now on his feet.

Solosis took a big gulp and approached. Once at an appropriate range, it bowed and apologized. The ghosts bowed quickly in agreement. Noibat sharply exhaled through its nose and closed its eyes, telling the three that it accepted their apology. After its realization, Solosis jumped for joy that it had successfully given an apology.

“Now then, let us discuss business.” said Crisis with his arms crossed. “Do tell of why that take-out plate is so important to you.” Solosis nodded and began to reenact a story as best it could.

Solosis was woefully lost on day with a heavy downpour of rain. It desperately cried out for help to anyone that could hear. So utterly hungry, so tired. Oh what it would do just for a bite to eat. But then, something happened. A savior bathed in golden light approaching from the dark. In his hands he carried a bag full of the most wonderful sustenance Solosis had ever laid eyes upon. The savior approached and accepted Solosis in their loving embrace saying everything was going to be alright. He opened the bag and-!

Noibat interjected frustratedly with its wings crossed. It pointed at Solosis and told it to tell the truth.

“Again Noibat?” asked Marie. “And to think I was actually getting invested.” Noibat once again demanded Solosis say what actually happened. Solosis fought back however, finally having enough of Noibat’s interruptions. The two began to charge energy for their attacks.

Crisis stepped between the two. “Once again I must ask that we calm down before anything unfavorable were to come from your conflict.” Noibat saw Decidueye fiddling with an arrow at the corner of its eye. Reluctantly, it’s energy dissipated. Solosis followed suit, giving a quick stick of the tongue at Noibat. “Do not feel as if you’re without fault. I ask that you please keep the fantasy aspect of your story to a minimum.”

Solosis sighed and started over. It was just a day with an overdraft. Solosis was wandering around the forest and was feeling a bit peckish. That was when it ran into a part of the forest it didn’t recognize. All the trees were gone as if the entire forest was split in half. What laid in between was this strange black rock that ran smoothly along as far as Solosis could see.

“Das a road.” commented Ceailean. Marie shushed him.

Solosis continued by saying that it wanted to check out the area and moved to the center of the “road”. That was when it heard some weird noises, almost like something bashing against a tree accompanied by a human voice talking in a strange way.

“Das some music.” said Ceailean. Marie punched him in the shoulder this time.

Then a huge red rock that it’s never seen before came rocketing toward it. Luckily it was able to jump out of the way before it got hurt.

“Das a car- '' Marie threw a pile of leaves in Ceailean’s face before he could finish.

Solosis was curious after its near death experience. It watched the strange rocks pass by every once in a while. Some were loud, some smelled weird, and some were absolutely packed with people. Then eventually a peculiar rock came by. There seemed to be a big argument going on inside. As it passed, Solosis noticed a strange white object get tossed out. I went to check it out. Floating right above it made it super curious as to what it was. But then that was when the smell came. It was unlike anything it had ever smelled in the forest. It hurriedly opened the white object and discovered the black saucer inside. Solosis gestured to the Ol’ Love Garden plate.

It took a while, but it figured out how to open it. Bashing stuff against rocks always works. That was when the steam poured out from the saucer. An irresistible smell poured through the air. Though Solosis was still full of reluctance, through its overwhelming curiosity and slight hunger, it took one string of food with its psychic power and ate it.

Solosis was stunned. It was so creamy and warm that it felt like it was melting its mouth. It didn't even wait to take another bite, then another. Soon there was nothing left. Even the warm juice was all taken up through Solosis’s psychic power, cleaning the saucer entirely. It licked it’s lips and checked the bag again, hoping there was more. There was nothing but this weird white sheet of black stuff scribbled on it. Though admittedly it tried to eat that too. It was incredibly disheartening to realize there wasn’t any more, but that was when Solosis was filled with a new fiery passion. It would follow the road from wherever those weird rocks came from and find that food for itself.

Only for it to travel no more for what sounded like more than a mile. Tired from going so far and worried about the distance it was getting from the place it lived, it quickly changed to a new passion. Waiting by the side of the road in hopes that the rocks would toss out more food.

And that is where it ended up today. It noticed Scorbunny holding in its laughter. It looked at the group wondering what was going on.

Ceailean leaned over to Marie, “Can I talk now?”

“No.” Marie answered quickly, “Solosis you got too into telling your story that you started eating a blade of grass. So I guess you ate a pasta of some sort.” Solosis felt around its mouth with its tongue and indeed it did feel like there was grass in there. It spit it out vehemently.

“You stole that from me, why?” asked Ceailean dramatically as if he had been defeated in battle. Marie only smiled. Scorbunny couldn’t hold it in anymore and began to laugh. Noibat had its eyes closed and wings crossed.

Then Ghastly and Pumpkaboo jumped up in confusion as to why Solosis didn’t mention them. Solosis thought for a bit and couldn’t really say when exactly they showed up. They just kinda appeared one day. The two ghosts sulked on the ground defeated.

“Well, in any case. I think we can say that Solosis has developed a fascination with human food.” said Marie. She then brought out a pokeball. “If you come with me I’ll take you to any restaurant you want♪.” Solosis laughed nervously and backed away. “What? Why not?” Solosis only looked away nervously.

“It would seem that Solosis isn’t keen on exploring new ventures.” explained Crisis.

Marie sighed, “C, could I get a translation?”

“You've been doing good so far. Why ask now?”

“I’ve just been going along with it.”

“I simply mean that Solosis is shy.” explained Crisis. “The forest is all it has known all it’s life. Who knows what’s to come next when it goes with you.”

“I guess that makes sense.” said Marie, putting her hands behind her back. “Well, what would it take to convince you?” Solosis knew immediately. It brought up the black plate again and showed it off to the group.

“You want us to get you the same dish you found on that day?” asked Ceailean. Solosis nodded eagerly.

“Okay! We can do that.” said Marie. “Just come with us and-” Solosis quickly shook its head. It backed away into its cave and stayed put.

“You don’t want to leave?” asked Ceailean. “Then how are we going to get your food?” Solosis picked up a stick, dragged it against the wall, and brought it back to the start point. “Go there and bring it back?! You know how far that is?! ‘Cause I don’t! Lemme look it up.”

Marie laughed. “This task is no problem! Anything for the chance of a new friend!”

“Who’s to say that Solosis will be your friend?” said Ceailean.

“What makes you think that?”

“Well maybe I want Solosis to be my friend.” Noibat looked at Ceailean with slight concern.

“What?! You already had your turn catching pokemon! Now it's my turn! Otherwise you’ll have more than me!”

“And if I let you, you’ll just have more Pokémon than me!”

“That’s ‘cause I’m better than you!”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah!”

Ceailean smacked his lips. “Solosis, may I see the plate?”

“No! Me first!” The two stood over Solosis somewhat intimidatingly, making it shy away from the two of them.

“Would you two please try to contain your excitement,” said Crisis. “I’m not confident that Solosis is agreeing with your ‘eagerness’ so to speak.”

The two looked at Solosis and saw its reluctance. “Okay alright.” said Marie, exhaling slowly. “C? Truce?”

“For now. Solosis, may we see the plate? Please?” Solosis nodded and slowly handed them the plate.

“Looks old,” said Marie.

“Dirty, crumpled up, and barely any trace of what could’ve been in there. This could be a doozy.” Solosis silently moped.

“Wait a minute. Crisis!” Marie quickly made her way over to him, “Could you pull up the menu for the Ol’ Love Garden. Then we could see the pictures of the foods and we can see which one Solosis wants.”

“U-Understood.” said Crisis somewhat hesitantly.

“Marie, have some class.” said Ceailean sarcastically, “One would be so bold as to ask someone to order food for you. But to ask a second time without any compensation? That’s just highway robbery.”

“But I was willing to-”

“Crisis, if you order it for me, I will pay you back in full.” Ceailean flaunted around 3,000 pokedollars.

“I was going to order it nonetheless you two, don’t you worry.” assured Crisis. “But we have a slight problem.”

“What’s that?” asked Marie.

Crisis showed them his pokedex. “The app is down for maintenance.”

Both Ceailean and Marie groaned in disappointment. “Can we at least see the item menu?” asked Marie.

“No, it has not even given me the chance to log in.”

“Dang it, what do you suggest we do C?”

Ceailean rubbed his chin and slowly walked around in a circle. “I’m not sure. I suppose we’ll just have to remember what’s on the menu. We only have one chance”

Marie crossed her arms. “You’re still on about that ‘we’ thing huh?”

“Well, with us both wanting Solosis to join our team. I feel that the best way to settle this is to have a competition.”

Marie scoffed. “So what? Are we gonna rock, paper, scissors?”

“No, let’s have a race.” Scorbunny’s ears perked up a bit.

“A race for a food that we don’t even know Solosis wants? I feel we are more likely to lose than either of us win.”

“Oh, but I’m feeling confident in my chances.”

“I'm not willing to take that chance.”

Ceailean smirked. “Come on Marie. Gonna be a scaredy Delcatty?” Marie gripped her arms and closed her eyes in an attempt to ignore him. “Afraid of a lil’ challenge? Tell you what, I’ll even pay for you. How about that?”

“Ugh! Fine!” shouted Marie. “I’m starting to think June rubbed off on you the wrong way.”

Ceailean chuckled slightly. “Suppose you could say that.”

Crisis stepped up. “I would like to inform the both of you that this activity is highly ill advised. I would rather not have us waste our funds on such a risky endeavor. Could the two of you not catch a Pokémon in the more traditional way?”

“We could, but it just doesn’t feel right to do that anymore.” said Marie. Ceailean smiled at her response. “Solosis had such an endearing story and we blew up its home. We should try to make amends instead.”

Crisis sighed. “I suppose. Though do let the record show that at least tried somewhat to convince the both of you not to proceed.”

“The fault will be ours and ours alone, my good sir.” said Ceailean with a slight bow.

“So be it, I will meet you two back at camp.” Crisis then walked off into the forest

Before Ceailean could even think, Marie was already consulting Solosis. “-and you’ll think about coming with us if one of us brings the right food?” Solosis thought for a moment. It looked to Gastly and Pumpkaboo, who were looking back confident that Solosis wouldn’t agree. But then it agreed relatively quickly, leaving the ghosts in shock. “Really?” Marie said, jumping with excitement, “That’s so cool!”

“And here I thought you were reluctant.” said Ceailean as he approached.

“Yeah, and I blame you.”

“We still have so much to think about. Like, where are we gonna start or which Pokémon are we gonna use. Are we even gonna race each other or just the Pokémon-”

“Of course we’re racing together with our Pokémon.” Marie interrupted, “We’ll use the tree back at camp as the start point. And the Pokémon I’ll use is uh… Fennekin.” Fennekin’s ears flared up.

“You’re gonna use Fennekin? I thought you’d use Snom.”

“I don’t know the last time you checked, but Snom doesn’t particularly have any way of holding a food bag.”

Ceailean raised his hands. “Forgive me for not paying attention.”

“Hm, whatever. What Pokémon will you use?”

“I think I’ll choose Noi-” Scorbunny suddenly shouted out, volunteering. “Um… uh, Noi-” Scorbunny raised its paw high in the air and jumped in place, hoping to be picked. Noibat, noticing it’s desire, walked over to Scorbunny and hid behind it. “It’ll be a lot harder for you, you know that right?” Scorbunny was adamant, standing with its tippy toes and paw to the sky. Ceailean sighed, “I guess I have no choice. Scorbunny, would you like to race?” Scorbunny jumped up and down with joy so infectious that Noibat couldn’t help but give a warm smile.

“Scorbunny is raring to go.” pointed out Marie.

“Yeah, I wonder what’s got it so inspired.”

“Well, let’s keep that attitude up. Let’s hurry to the tree! Come on Fennekin, you too!” Fennekin seemed to have been taken out of a trance. It nodded and followed Marie. Before Ceailean went, he felt around his pockets.

“Uh oh.” He said

“What up?” asked Marie.

“I can’t find my Pokédex. It must have fallen out.”

“You probably left it at camp. So let’s just go.”

“I wanna make sure first. Just give me five minutes, I’ll be with you shortly.”

“Ugh, okay. Just don’t make me wait forever C.” Marie went ahead towards the camp.

“Scorbunny, why don’t you join her. I’ll be up soon.” Scorbunny eagerly saluted and took off ahead of all of them, leaving behind charred footprints.

Ceailean smirked once they were all out of sight. “Perfect.”