20: Coffee Run

Stella – Rockruff

I strolled down to the beach at the edge of Treasure Town to catch the evening view. There, a lone Fomantis sat, twiddling his little green scythes as he sobbed. Curious, I ran up to him, asking why he was crying. The boy’s name was Sol. He’d left his toy on the sand the night before, and when he went to find it that day it was gone. With a smile, I offered to sniff it out for him—I reckoned it must’ve been buried in the sand. I dug hole after hole after hole in that beach, but I couldn’t find it.

Then came a Noibat, carrying a doll of Terrakion, one of the Swords of Justice. Fomantis gasped—turns out she had his toy this whole time. Noibat chuckled, joking that he’d have to give her a million Poke if he wanted it back. As the Fomantis began to cry again, the Noibat reassured him that she was kidding, handing the Terrakion plush back to him. The girl introduced herself as Sapphire.

The three of us laughed the misunderstanding off as we all worked together to clean up the big mess I made on the beach hunting for his toy. And so that’s how the three of us met.

---

I gasped, my eyes shot open as I woke up on a bed that wasn’t mine. For a second I’d forgotten whose room it was, or why it was in it. It was that Pikachu, Ichi’s—he let me take his room ‘cause there was no way I was sleeping with any of them in the same nest. 

My ears flattened as I huffed, the dream still fresh in my head. Gotta stop thinking about them. They got rid of me, I should get rid of them. I took a good look around Ichi’s room to distract myself, so that dream would drift off from my memory.

Ichi’s room was spacious enough, with his nest in the middle and a window shining some really bright light down on it. I squinted as I got off of the bed—the sun was getting in my eyes. 

Along the wall was a desk with an empty blue bag lying on it, the strap drooping off the table. I doubted the rat was going to be using it often, what with that Poke sack he always carries around. The hell’s he doing, carrying around that much anyway? Nobody in their right mind just goes around telling everybody just how rich they are… That attracts unwanted attention.

Speaking of which, two empty identical moneybags were hung above the desk. One had a really obvious stitch—I chuckled a bit, imagining the guy trying to lug heaps of cash or something, and it ripping. Both bags looked worse for the wear—not sure why. 

Pfft, they almost look like he’s been using ‘em to beat up ‘mon with… I shook my head, snickering again. Nah, that sounds super stupid. Cool, but super stupid.

“Morning guys…” I yawned as I strolled into the living room… and I was greeted by nobody. “…huh?”

“Ichi went out for ‘deals and business,’ as he put it,” Rei said from behind me as he trudged out from the hallway too. “And I’m pretty sure Aiden went out to buy groceries—he said he’d do that for us last night.”

“…great.” I rolled my eyes. “That just leaves you an’ me…”

Rei narrowed his eyes. “What. Got a problem with that?”

“Uhh… no, just thought the whole team would be here for our first mission.”

“We’re going on one already?”

“‘Course we are. It’s our job, duh.”

Rei continued to give me the stink eye. I just shook it off as I headed over to the pantry to find something to eat for breakfast. The only appetizing thing I could find was a couple of apples, so I hopped up and snagged two of them, tossing one over to the Snivy. “Oi, eat up. Don’t wanna work on an empty stomach.”

“…thanks.” He had a sharp tone with me today—did he wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?

The two of us stared at the bulletin board by Post Town’s gate. Neither of us really said much as we stood next to each other.

I glanced at the Snivy—he looked… tired. I quickly took my attention back over to the flyers plastered on the board. 

An advertisement for Keck’s… I can never go a day without finding those posted somewhere… A notice from HAPPI, something about a suspicious Espeon… do people even care ‘bout those? My eyes landed on a request, but I frowned as soon as I saw how many stars were on the thing. It was a B-rank mission—too tall of an order for even a Bronze-rank like me. Well, former Bronze-rank—now that I’m with HAPPI I’ve been demoted back to Rookie…

I was even more disappointed ‘cause the request looked kinda cool, too! It was an outlaw mission—a Quagsire was ordering the arrest of some con artist Machoke.

“…what’s this one?” Rei muttered as he ripped a paper off from the board, reading it off. “…’E-Rank: Looking for some helping paws to gather Chesto Berries for me from the local forest! From, Lowell Min-ceeno.’”

“Isn’t it pronounced ‘Min-chino’?”

“I don’t know. ‘Min-ceeno,’ ‘min-chino,’ whatever. Anyway, is this one easy? It sounds like it, I think.”

“Well, it’s E-Rank, so of course it is.” I laughed. “Eh, it’ll work. What’s the reward?”

“According to this Lowell guy, ’a nice cup of coffee, plus 300 Poke and a share of the harvested Chestos.’”

“That’s surprisingly a lot for something as easy as that! Let’s meet up with this Lowell guy quickly then an’ get it over with.” My tail wagged. 

“Hm? Request?” The Minccino raised an eyebrow as he stood at the door in front of us. “Lemme think…” He took a long sip of his mug of coffee. He looked and sounded young, around our age, but he moved around a little sluggishly.

“This.” Rei held up the flyer for him to see. “Did you… not post this?”

“Oh! Right, right! I did! Hehe…” The rodent scratched his baggy eyes. (Is everybody tired today? Sheesh.) “Anyway, so glad you two could help me… The Moguls, was it? Normally I’d grow my own Chestos in my backyard, but this month’s harvest has been pretty meager. I’d go into the forest myself if it weren’t for the ferals…”

“Do you really need the Chestos, though?” I asked. “No offense, but… You look like you got no sleep last night.”

“I like coffee,” he simply said, taking another drink. “I’m Post Town’s self-appointed coffee connoisseur, ehe~”

“Ohh. That explains the ‘cup of coffee’ as one of the rewards.” Rei was stating the obvious. “I mean, I agree, coffee’s good. But you look like you drink a lot .”

Lowell gestured to his mug. “This is my third cup today. I don’t plan on stopping just yet.”

“…uh-huh.” Rei and I both just nodded our heads.

He took another sip. “Anyway~ The best place to find Chestos, to my knowledge, is down south from Post Town. There are a lot of Chesto bushes in the forest there.” He scurried back into his house and came back with two empty sacks. “Bring back as many as you can, but fill up at least one of these to the brim, please and thank you!”

We continued to share silence as we made our way down to the forest. Not that I cared, it just… didn’t feel right. It didn’t take a genius to tell that the serpent wasn’t doing too well. I just let him be for the time being—it wasn’t my problem, and it’s not like I knew the guy all too well.

I could hear a feral avian mon’s cawing as we sifted through each bush in the forest. Well, at the very least, I was sifting through ‘em. Dunno about the Snivy—he was still keeping quiet.

“…hey,” Rei finally spoke up. “About those ferals that Lowell guy mentioned… this is gonna sound stupid, but… are they really that dangerous?”

I shook my head. “Not all of ‘em. Most of them won’t pay you any mind unless you piss ‘em off. And a lot of em you can tame, but that takes a lotta time.”

“…got it,” he muttered, his eyes looking shifty.

“If you’re worried ‘bout having to fight any, just focus on collecting berries instead. I know you ain’t used to fighting, so I’ll do all the dirty work, if we gotta do any.” I huffed.

Rei continued to give me one-note responses. “Whatever you say.” He trudged onward.

“…oi.” I stopped him, easily beating his slow pace and getting in his way. “Is this about yesterday or something?” I knew I’d made fun of him back at the HAPPI office for not knowing a single move, but like, come on! It was just a joke! It was funny, he should be taking it lightly!

“…look, a berry bush.” Rei pointed out, dodging the question. He walked over and plucked a round, blue, soft-looking berry—an Oran. 

“…those’re Orans. Not what we’re looking for, dude.” I frowned. 

“Ah. Whoops.” He took a bite out of it, holding it with his paws instead of his vines for some reason.. “…hm. Not bad.”

“What, have you never had an Oran before?” I joked. “What kinda reaction is that?”

He didn’t respond as he kept on chewing. 

“…I’ll wait for an answer.”

Out of spite, it almost sounded like he was chewing slower. He glared at me.

“…hmph.” Turning my head up, I marched forward. Isn’t that great—first day on the job and my teammate already hates me. Great start, Stell.

Ugh, I’m stuck with this guy, so I should probably be doin’ a better job at being at least a civil teammate, I thought. Aren’t I being friendly enough, though? 

“…got another stupid question, by the way.” Rei sighed.

“Shoot.”

“What do Chestos look like?”

“Pfft– what. ” I did a double-take. “What the fuck do you mean, what do Chestos look like? How the hell do you not know what they look like?”

“Told you it was a stupid question. Now stop shaming me and just tell me already.” 

“Well, they’re… hard and purple. Kinda like acorns. You can easily tell from the coffee scent.” I never thought I’d have to describe fuckin’ Chesto berries to a ‘mon. “…I swear to Jirachi…” Even more sheltered than Aiden… my thoughts nearly slipped out from under my breath.

“…what, like those ones?” Rei immediately pointed to another bush not too further in. I squinted my eyes and spotted some ripe Chestos growing off of them.

“Yes, exactly like those.” I rolled my eyes. “Come on.” I led the way over to the right berries.

Rei opened up one of the sacks the Minccino gave us, holding it open with his hands. 

“Ehh, these ones’re kinda small,” I said.

“They’re about what I expected, at least—they seem average to me.”

“Nah, you know what, they’re a lot bigger over in the Grass, I remember this one time me and my friends sneaked onto a Chesto field back home and saw some as big as my paw!”

“…look, size doesn’t matter, alright?” He plucked a slightly misshapen Chesto. “Look at this little guy, it’s got a lot of personality, don’t you think?” I could hear his voice crack for a moment.

“Size kinda does matter—the bigger they are, the more you get outta grinding one.”

“…pfft– okay I can’t do this anymore.” The Snivy started abruptly chuckling. “I swear, this shit sounds so sus.”

“The fuck are you on about..?” I was so confused why he was laughing.

He immediately went back to moping. “I don’t fucking know. I’m just trying to make myself feel better right now, it’s fuckin’ stupid, forget it.” He ripped off some more Chestos and shoved them into the sack. “…aren’t you gonna help?”

“Uh, hello?” I waved one of my paws. “Quadruped? Can’t hold bags? That’s why imma just be on the lookout for ferals. Anyway, that ain’t important—again, is this about yesterday, when we were filling out those forms? Look, if I pissed you off in any way, sorry ‘bout that, alright? They were just jokes, okay? Never meant anything by ‘em, no need to get all mopey over jokes.”

“…raccoon,” was all he said.

“Huh??”

“There’s- there’s a fucking raccoon behind you!” Rei pointed. I turned around and there was a feral Zigzagoon baring its fangs at us.

“Ahh.” I got into a defensive stance, crouching low and with my tail straight up. “Oi, stay outta the way, Rei. Keep grabbin’ more berries.” I waited for it to make the first move.

The wild ‘mon dashed forward, hopping from left to right before landing towards me with its teeth out.

My tail started to glow faintly as rocks formed out of thin air, circling it. With a flick of my tail, the stones were flung straight toward the Zigzagoon, bonking it on the forehead before he could strike. 

I grinned. “Hell yeah, I still got it~” Been itching for a proper fight for ages.

Sadly, I must’ve jinxed it, because the feral decided to turn tail and run like a little coward. With a noticeable welt between its eyes, it whimpered as it scampered away…

“…oh come on. Is that all?” I pouted, my ears flattening.

“Sheesh… what the hell was that?” Instead of doing what I asked, Rei was just sitting and watching. Not like I cared that much—I liked having an audience.

“What, the feral or my sick moves?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, what you just saw was a Zigzagoon, and a pretty weak one at that—not a… ‘raccoon.’ Never heard of that kinda mon in my life. And as for that sick move… that was Rock Throw.” I smirked. “You saw how cool that was, right? I can make rocks appear out of thin air ‘round my tail.”

“…kinda cool, I guess.” He shrugged.

“Not just kinda cool! Very cool!” I huffed. 

“…ugh, now you’re making me wish I could do shit like that.”

“Well, Snivys can’t make rocks like me, but I’ve seen a lot of grass-types in general conjure up Leaf Tornadoes!”

“…leaf… tornadoes?”

“Like, they’re able to fling a gust of wind carrying razor-sharp leaves!”

Rei shook his head. “…can’t imagine myself being able to pull that off.” 

“Hey, we all start somewhere, aight? Hehe, I wasn’t always such a good bodyguard, y’know. Practice makes perfect, or whatever.”

“All you did was scare off a single Zigzagoon.”

“I’d like to see you try then,” I scoffed.

He lowered his head. “…yeah, I know I’d fail.” Rei was staring at the now-empty bush. “…that’s all of ‘em from here. We still need a lot more.”

“Oh come on, again with that attitude? Lighten up a bit, will ya? All we’re doing is foraging Chestos, no need to be so down.”

He just stood silently, taking one last bite out of his Oran berry before dropping it on the ground. “…y-yeah. Sorry about that.” He avoided eye contact with me. “I shouldn’t be dumping my angst on somebody I hardly know.”

“Yeah, you, uh… probably shouldn’t, haha…” I smiled sheepishly, remembering how I embarrassed myself during that “interview.” (I really don’t think I can call it an interview.)

“I want new friends!! Fine, I admit it!!”

I definitely won’t be scoring any friends this way. Sighing, I begrudgingly tried to take cues from Aiden, putting on a soft smile. “…doesn’t mean we can’t get to know each other, though. Besides, ya shouldn’t feel that bad—remember? I spilled my guts out to you guys too.” I really, really don’t wanna admit it, but that rat was right—that did make us friends, I guess.

“…I’ve been really… what’s a good word… apprehensive,” Rei admitted. “Apprehensive all day about getting dragged along with you on a job ‘cause… I dunno, I don’t get good vibes from you, even just from how little we talked.” 

“So this was about yesterday!”

“Yeah because you won’t shut up about how you’re ‘sorry’ about it yet I’m just tryin’ not to think about it,” he hissed. “I’m honestly making a big deal about nothing, though… what, do you want me to say I accept your apology or something? Look, as long as you don’t make fun of me anymore for not knowing a damn thing about this world, then we’re even.”

I didn’t wanna admit it, but he was right too—a part of me just wanted to hear him accept my apology. “I’ll, uh, try not to if it really is pissing you off, but like… whaddya mean, you don’t know a damn thing?”

“…Crap, I shouldn’t have said that…” He huffed. “Look, it’s… ugh, I don’t wanna explain it, honestly. Personal issue.”

“Uh, if you say so.” I didn’t bother pressing further. Talking with Rei was really reminding me of my friendship with Sol. I wouldn’t say Rei’s exactly like the Fomantis—the Snivy doesn’t come off as somebody more anxious than him. But he definitely is a little oversensitive like him. Gotta be careful when talking around Rei.

It’s just that… it feels a little weird. Especially considering Rei’s older than all of us. You’d think that he’d be able to get his shit together a little easier with age…

“…look, Rei, if… if you really don’t like how you don’t know shit, then why don’t I teach you, huh? How’s that sound?”

“Already got Ichi for that… that’s why I’m hanging around him,” he said. “…though I wouldn’t mind getting taught how to fight. Might need that…”

I wagged my tail. “Well, you’re in luck ‘cause I’m your girl for that!” I didn’t wanna lecture this guy on “how the world works” or whatever anyway… Now fighting? That’s up my alley.

“…that could work.” Rei was finally smirking again. “…man, can’t believe talking shit out with somebody actually worked for once…”

“Hah, I remember back in the Grass a lot of ‘mon would usually settle problems via fighting.”

“That sounds rough…” Rei frowned.

“Well, they were more like sparring matches, if anything—a test of strength! Whoever came out on top, their opinion meant more.” I grinned. “…to be fair though, we only really settled petty shit like, ‘who was gonna go do this shitty mission nobody wants to do’ or ‘who’s getting the last Sitrus in the pantry’ through spars. At least, that’s my team specifically.” Mainly Saphi and me. We’d butt heads a lot.  

Sometimes I wish my problems could just easily be resolved through a simple rough and tumble. Maybe then, would everything be going my way. “As for actual problems, we’d…” I stopped to think for a bit. “…I’m… pretty sure we’d talk shit out. Yeah.” Now that it came to mind, we never really did much of that, did we? 

“…how much time do we have?” Rei asked. “I wanna learn how to fight.”

I looked up at the sky. “Uhh… I mean, it’s not noon yet. And it’s not like Minccino is timing us on this.”

“Yeah, but like, we’re literally just picking berries. He’d probably be expecting us to be back real quick.”

“Ehh, he’ll live without his precious coffee for a little while longer.” I waved my paw dismissively. “Anyway, come on! Get your vines out already, I wanna see what you can do.”

“Uhh…”

“What, they still hurt or whatever?” I smirked.

“…yep! Don’t wanna bring them out, it’d make it worse, haha…” His laughing sounded a bit forced.

“Say, how did you injure ‘em, anyhow?” I narrowed my eyes.

“…burned them! Burned them really badly, and got some ugly scars on ‘em too. Bringing ‘em out wouldn’t look pretty.” Rei was forcing a smile.

“Dude. Do you take me for some kinda dumbass? I’m not buying that when you look and sound so suspicious.”

“Snrk–” Rei coughed. “Uh- sorry- um-”

“The hell was that?”

“N-nothing, nothing.” The Snivy looked away. “…look, to tell you the truth, I just… don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Sheesh, fine, alright. I get it. Everybody has got something to hide, I get that.” I started to think that he couldn’t use his vines, period, which sounded really strange… Like, I dunno how grass-types work, but shouldn’t using their vines be like second nature to them? 

Rei sighed in relief. “…Anyway, I don’t know the first thing about fighting. Never been in one before.”

I stood in front of the Snivy with a firm stance. “Well, gimme your best shot then! Gimme a Tackle or Pound or Scratch or whatever!”

“Uh- you sure?”

“What, you afraid to hit a girl or something? I’m stronger than I look, you know.” I stuck my tongue out.

“…ahh, fine! At least I’m hurting somebody I barely know.”

I grinned. I was anticipating a rather weak blow, so I didn’t exactly brace for impact. 

The Snivy… clenched his fist, looking like he was gearing up for a punch? I watched him back up a little before dashing toward me and throwing his paw at my face. He could barely make contact thanks to how small they were—if anything, his pointy snout poked me first.

“Ow- fuck-” He cringed and immediately backed away, having stubbed his nose. “…that was stupid…”

I stared at him with a deadpan expression. “…dude, first things first, don’t try throwing a punch when you got arms as short and flimsy as those.” 

“Then what the hell am I supposed to do, huh?” He snarled. “Ugh, fuck, really embarrassed myself there.”

“Again, everybody starts somewhere. I can’t really make fun of ya if this is your first time.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “So if I can’t throw hands what am I supposed to do instead?” he asked again.

“…if anything that snout of yours makes a better weapon than your paws,” I said half-jokingly.

“Shut the fuck up, you just said you couldn’t make fun of me!”

“No, like, I’m making a legit suggestion. Tackle your foes head-first! Or… nose-first, heh.”

“Quit making fun of me.”

“I’m not, I was just makin’ a joke! Lighten up, sheesh. You’ve been a real downer this whole day, you wake up on the wrong side of the nest or what?”

“I said quit it!!” Rei gritted his teeth as he charged toward me again, this time throwing his whole body at me. He struck head-first, this time the Snivy’s pointy snout stabbing me in the face with real force. 

I nearly flinched, jolting back with a smirk on my face. A proper Tackle, finally! “There we go. Told ya it’d work better.”

“I’m fucking sick of people like you, y’know that?” His breathing was hasty and erratic as he stared daggers at me.

“Uh- dude, chill.” I stared back at him, a little worried. 

“I’m not gonna just chill, okay?” He huffed, his fists clenched again. “God, I just… I got a lot of pent-up shit, alright?! Lemme vent all this out!”

The sudden mood swing this guy had really caught me off guard, but… I could relate, at least. Took my anger out on several trees with my rocks the day I got kicked from my team and the guild. “…well, you could use the practice, anyway. Come at me with your best Tackle, that last one was pretty sloppy!” 

Normally I wouldn’t be so glad to be somebody’s punching bag, but for some reason, helping out this newbie made me feel… proud. Heh, I think I make a good teacher, no?

After about a minute of Rei cussing his heart out as he threw himself at me over and over, he gave up, collapsing on the grass. “…was that… good enough for ya?”

I was a little glad he stopped, honestly… didn’t think I could take much more—he kept aiming for my head! Now I had an annoying migraine… “Well… you’re getting better, at least. What, do you think it was ‘good enough’?”

“Nope. It’s… never good enough.”

“Well if it’s never gonna be good enough, why waste your time fretting about it, huh?”

“…I dunno. I like wasting time.” He stared at the trees above him. “What the hell were we even doing out here, anyway?”

“That Minccino’s request,” I reminded him. “Chesto berry picking.”

“…let’s just finish that and go home… my head hurts. Especially my… snout.”

“Come on, Rei. Stand up.”

“…I don’t wanna.” The sun was seeping through the branches, beaming down on him.

I frowned as I nudged him with my paw. He didn’t budge, so I started shoving him, rolling him into the shade.

“Noooooo, the sunnnnn….” he whined.

“Heh. Knew that’d work.” I chuckled. “Same thing would happen to Sol once in a while, he’d get enchanted by the sunlight…”

“Who?”

“An old friend of mine… not important though.”

Rei grumbled again as he got up. “‘Enchanted’ is right, that sun feels way too good. I feel better already… feels good to let all that crap out.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling. Sometimes you wanna just beat shit up, y’know?” I smiled. “…uh, maybe don’t use me as a punching bag ever again. I know it was my idea, but like… sheesh, even though you didn’t hit hard, you hit a lot .”

Rei scoffed. “Thought you were supposed to be this really strong bodyguard or whatever?”

“Hey, I’ve got my limits too! I’m only a Pokemon too, after all.”

“…right, right.” Rei sighed again. “…let’s get moving, I guess. Think I see another bush of those Chestos over there.” He pointed to another bush.

“Aight then, let’s get moving.” I smiled as I led the way.

Looking back at the Snivy behind me, I saw that at the very least he was a little less sulky. Finally. Being sad like that would do him no good. I swear, if he’s gonna be like that on every mission… I sighed. Well… can’t say I don’t feel bad for the guy, at least. He’s my teammate now, after all, I should be looking out for him.

Despite what Ichi said, not too sure if we’re at “friend” level quite yet.