Chapter Thirteen: A Change in Fortune

~\({O})/~

13.

A Change in Fortune

~\({O})/~

The field trip, though it should have lasted one more day, was quickly cut short. The Crossings Police gathered everymon together in the lobby and asked them some questions, one by one. They were all basic – where were you all day, how did you first see the crime, had anymon seen the suspects in the last 24 hours? They showed a paw-drawn picture of an Ampharos in a bulky green cloak (it was drawn too large – the one thing Espurr did notice), collected from eyewitness testimony. No-mon had. Ampharos hadn’t been seen since arriving with them on the ferry yesterday. Once the investigation was done, the statue was rolled to the station for safekeeping, and all of them were on the first ferry home the following day.

Through all of it, Espurr stayed quiet. Her head was a frenzied blur during the entire process. It was taken up with the shocked look on Nurse Audino and the teachers’ faces, and the haze of purple fear stoked with excitement that hung over the room. She huddled up on the ferry pillows next to Tricky and Goomy, who had a corner all to themselves. Her thoughts were taken up with fear and guilt: were the Coneheads responsible? They came looking for her. If she hadn’t come here, if she hadn’t convinced herself it would be fine, that she could rely on somemon else for once, then maybe there wouldn’t have been—

Deep breath.

They stayed together for warmth in the cold morning air, tired, stressed, and exhausted. Tricky yawned, her ears drooping and head lazily bobbing, close to sleep. None of them had had good sleep. Espurr shut her eyes, listening to the sound of Goomy’s soft snores and slowly slumping down against the warmth of Tricky’s tail. Snuggling into it, she felt consciousness slip away, all thoughts of bad dreams forgotten—

“Hey! Get up.”

The point of a hoof nudged Espurr sharply, skewering her out of her comfy dream. She stirred and looked up groggily, rousing Tricky and Goomy out of their sleep too.

“Whu…” murmured Tricky. The faces of Deerling, Blitzle, and Ponyta stared down at them. Goomy, who was yawning and rubbing his eyes, snapped awake suddenly, sinking into a pile of goo and trying to make himself look scarce. His antennae flattened.

“Well?” scoffed Blitzle.

“We just got up,” growled Tricky in displeasure.

“Let them be,” said Deerling to Blitzle. She ignored Tricky, looking at Espurr. “We’re at Serenity Village, so we thought we’d wake you. Now Watchog doesn’t have to do it. And believe me, he’s looking forward to it.”

“Um, no problem,” said Espurr nicely, rubbing her eyes with a paw.

“So you should thank us!” crowed Blitzle obnoxiously. Tricky glared and rolled her eyes.

“Thank you,” said Espurr sweetly, staring her coldly in the eye and making sure Blitzle was as uncomfortable as she could possibly be.

Blitzle scowled, ‘hmph’ed, and snorted, heading off to follow Deerling.

With a twinkle of her horn, Ponyta silently flashed her luxurious pink mane at them, then clopped off haughtily. Espurr thought about pouring spiders in it.

~\({O})/~

After the crime, Serenity Village tightened security. Curfews were lowered – children were to be back home by dark, and venturing outside the city limits without supervision was strictly forbidden. Ampharos had, against all common sense, returned to his room in the Café Connection and could be seen around town, much to Espurr’s displeasure. She was sure he was a killer! If only they could just find some proof…

Her sentiments were shared by the town, but proof was harder and harder to find these days. It became almost impossible to survey Ampharos when Ampharos was off doing things during their school hours, and their free time grew ever shorter with each day. Even Pancham wasn’t sneaking off as frequently as he used to, though Espurr counted that as more of a blessing than anything. At least it levelled the playing field.

With another sudden kidnapping or murder in the same small spot, the rumours began to spread with much more speed than before.

“I always knew he was up to no good,” grumbled Hippoppotas, who was very vain and cared more about her flowers and whatever gossip there was each afternoon than anything else. “Knew from the moment he stepped in here, and know it now. He’ll do it again before it’s all said and done, and you mark my words. Village should’ve kicked him out while we still had the chance!”

But Ampharos was either on a mission or exceptionally stupid – any smart criminal would have skipped town or would be preparing to by now. Which made Espurr wonder: if he wasn’t leaving, then what was he planning instead? Who else was going to get in danger?

Their time was short. She had to get to the bottom of who did this, and fast. And she already had a pretty good idea of where to start.

“Did you ask Mr. Nuzleaf about Pancham?” Espurr asked Tricky and Goomy at the nearest opportunity, when they all had a free moment at lunch.

“M-mr Nuzleaf said h-he had to take a bathroom trip, and when he c-came back Pancham was gone,” explained Goomy. “A-and the m-murder happened shortly after.”

“And the doormon said he saw Pancham going out the front door just ten minutes before the murder happened,” added Tricky, “so we know he’s telling the truth.”

“When did you talk to the doormon?” Espurr asked.

“Before anymon else got up,” answered Tricky nonchalantly.

“B-but doesn’t th-this just p-prove Pancham’s i-in on it?” asked Goomy.

Espurr nodded. “He and Ampharos were both at the scene of the crime right before it happened. And since he snuck out to get there, he must have been doing something.”

“Doing what?” Tricky cocked her head. “Didn’t the coneheads do the killing?”

“That’s what we need to find out,” Espurr said. “They’re still our best suspects. But…”

She trailed off. Was it too wild a theory to suggest?

“Maybe he was meeting Ampharos somewhere.”

“What do you mean?”

“Remember in the dungeon, when it suddenly started rearranging itself?” Espurr asked.

“Yeah,” nodded Tricky.

“I think somemon caused it on purpose,” Espurr said.

“What do you mean?” asked the other two.

“There was a conehead in there,” answered Espurr breathlessly. “It tried to snatch me when the dungeon shifted. And when we left…”

“Oh! Yeah…” Tricky suddenly said. “And the dungeon isn’t supposed to rearrange itself that early!”

“What if,” Espurr began, “Ampharos followed us to the island and triggered the dungeon, then hopped back and had Pancham help him prepare for the murder? Then, if the Coneheads got me, it would have been an early win. But if he didn’t, he’d kill the guardian anyway just to keep me in one place.”

“It makes some sense…” said Tricky.

“B-but wouldn’t it be easier to pick you o-off once you weren’t in a group?” Goomy asked. “Why d-didn’t the killer just wait?”

Espurr didn’t have an answer for that.

“I don’t know,” she said.

“And how did Ampharos know in the first place?” asked Tricky. “Unless he was eavesdropping…”

No-mon had any answers for that either.

~\({O})/~

As the days passed, the shock of the incident slowly began to wear off. Classes were back in session, the gossip died down, and though Ampharos still hung around the village, no-mon did more than steal a furtive glance at him or whisper to a nosy neighbour here and there. Espurr, Tricky, and Goomy still took notes where they could, but even Espurr had to admit with so little happening since, the trail seemed to have gone cold. Maybe they were wrong after all?

Or maybe he was lying in hiding. Biding his time. Waiting for the new guardian to be assigned. One question continued to hang over Espurr’s head: how did he know who Espurr’s guardian would be? And if Pancham was slipping him information somehow, how did Pancham know?

The police showed up before long. It was a couple of ‘mon from Crossings. One of them looked like a flying, oval disc with two magnets spinning on either side. He called himself ‘Officer Magnazone’.

“Everymon carry on,” he said, addressing the town in the village square. We’re just here to keep an eye on things in the surrounding towns. We’ll be patrolling the vicinity and searching for anything that looks suspicious.”

He looked over the gathering of villagers, a bored expression on his face.

“Rest assured,” he said confidently, detectives flanking him. “We’ll be at the bottom of this before long.”

A couple of weeks after the incident, Espurr learned that Nuzleaf would be absent for a few days, and Watchog was filling in for his class. And with the mystery firmly out of their paws, Tricky seemed to be growing restless again.

“By the way,” the fennekin said as they walked down the hill from the School Clinic towards the classroom. “That book on mystery dungeons? I checked it out again when the teachers weren’t looking. Watchog must have been surprised I managed to get it, because his face was all like bleagh—”

She rolled out her tongue, bugged her eyes, tilted her head, and made an expression that was way to exaggerated to ever be on Watchog’s face. Espurr and Goomy laughed.

“And guess what?” Tricky continued excitedly. “There’s a small dungeon right near Pop’s oran berry fields! It’s where all the combee make their honey, and they sell it to Kecleon every year, so there’s no way it’s dangerous.

“So, uh…” Tricky stopped where she was at, pawing the ground. Her tail brushed the dirt off the path back and forth behind her.

“Wanna go exploring with me later?” she asked, hopefully.

Like clockwork, Deerling’s words of warning replayed in Espurr’s head. Was it wise to go? Tricky hadn’t been asking about this until they’d had nothing to do.

“H-how do you know it w-won’t be like the m-mines?” Goomy asked, breaking the awkward silence.

“Well…” Tricky trailed off. “Well, the book says it’s safe! It’ll be different!”

“Like how?” Espurr chimed in.

“Well… there won’t be any monsters,” Tricky pointed out.

That did make a bit of a difference.

“I d-don’t want to,” stammered Goomy. “S-sorry.”

He slimed off ahead of them, heading down towards the desks. Tricky looked at Espurr hopefully.

“Sorry,” said Espurr. “Me neither.”

“Okay…” everything about Tricky drooped, and she plodded off towards the classroom sadly.

If Espurr really searched deeply, it wasn’t Deerling’s warning that made her scared of going. Nor was it the prospect of monsters. The bits she remembered from the mines the most were the flashes of excitement, in fact! No, it was the fact that if the idea was dangled in front of her… she was considering it. Really considering it. It made her stomach turn as she took her seat.

The classroom went quiet as Watchog lumbered up, then took his spot at the teacher’s desk.

“May I have your attention, please,” he muttered out, looming over the students from the teacher’s desk. “I’m sure I don’t need to remind everymon of what happens if I catch you using the skills taught in this classroom outside of it.”

“Detention for life,” the class wearily recited back in unison. “We know.”

“Good.” Watchog picked up one of Farfetch’d’s leeks and whacked the blackboard unceremoniously like a gong.

“Self-defence,” he began, monotone, before tossing the leek to the side. “We already know that pokemon can draw on their inner energy and channel it into external energy. What kind you are affects what type of power you can use: A fire-type will draw from fire, a water-type will draw from water, etcetera.”

In the back of the classroom, Shelmet lay asleep in his seat, having snuck in and dozed off at some point in the class.

“Everymon awake in the classroom!” Watchog barked at him. Shelmet snapped awake, quickly sitting straight up in his seat.

“Now what happens when your body uses too much energy?” Watchog asked loudly.

“You faint,” most of the students replied back tiredly.

“Fainting.” Watchog whacked the blackboard again with another leek. “You can faint from hunger, fatigue, or by getting hit too much. In dungeons, fainting can mean the difference between life and death.”

Watchog cast his intense gaze towards Tricky. “And that is why none of you should be playing around in mystery dungeons,” he finished tiredly. At Tricky’s determined smirk of ‘Never!’, Watchog changed gears, chucking the leek to the ground like it was an apple core.

“While going into an actual mystery dungeon for this lesson is a waste of time,” Watchog went on, “the Principal has given me express permission to use my Vice Principal Powers—” Tricky failed to suppress a loud snort of laughter “—to turn this classroom into a Fully Safety Regulated Mystery Dungeon! Ping-Shapow-Whazam!”

Watchog snapped and clapped his paws together repeatedly, the sounds coming from his mouth devolving into indistinguishable sputtering noises as he continued. It continued for a full half-minute, until eventually a final sound effect tapered off into a wheeze made him cough from loss of breath.

“We’re still in the classroom,” Tricky pointed out impishly after Watchog had finished.

“Yeah. Lame.” Pancham traded looks with a still-sleepy Shelmet.

“Use your imagination,” Watchog grumbled, leaning a paw on the desk as he caught his breath.

He took his position behind the desk again, staring at the students in their seats.

“Pair up! All of you!” Watchog clapped his paws together. “We’re going to be sparring with each other today.”

There was zero enthusiasm from any side of the classroom. Pancham, from the back of the class, lazily stuck a paw up.

“No, you can’t use weapons,” Watchog said.

The paw went down.

“I need a couple of volunteers…” he began, his eyes gliding to two of the seats at the front of the class. “Espurr, Tricky!” he snapped. “How about you two?”

“Why not?” Tricky got up from her seat, tapping Espurr on the shoulder with her tail as she passed. If it was possible for Espurr to sag down in her seat any more than she was already, she would have sunk through the floor. She couldn’t battle!

But Watchog was staring at her expectantly, and she could feel all eyes on her again. So she rose from her desk, straightening her fur and joining Tricky at the front of the seats. Maybe she’d learn on the fly.

Watchog positioned them on opposite sides in front of the teacher’s desk, making them back up until they were standing against opposing sides of the classroom. He made the other students stand against the wall, so they’d be out of the way in case a stray attack made its way to the seats.

“On my mark!” he began, raising his stout arm into the air. “I want you both to hit each other with a strong, healthy attack.” Espurr moved her eyes from Watchog to Tricky, who was busy conjuring an ember in her chest. The fennekin opened her mouth, and Espurr saw the flickering flame that burned in the back of her throat.

“Entire books have been written on the art of harnessing your energy,” Watchog declared for the class. “But my opinion? The best way of learning is doing it in practice. Start!”

Watchog’s arm came flying down, and in an instant, Tricky planted her paws into the ground and shot a blast of flame straight at Espurr. At a loss for ideas, Espurr did the only feasible thing she could think of in the moment – she ducked. The small spark of flame went straight over her head and flickered away in the distance as it flew off.

Espurr slowly picked herself up from the ground, ignoring the stinging where she’d hit the dirt. Her heart pounded in her chest, small red and green splotches fading away with every beat.

Watchog sputtered in annoyance. “Wh— what was that?” he questioned annoyedly. “Again!”

Espurr and Tricky took their positions once more. Watchog stood against the teacher’s desk, raising his arm a second time.

“On my mark!”

It was at that point that Espurr realised she had absolutely no idea what she was doing.

“Ready?” Watchog surveyed the both of them. Tricky nodded readily, practically bouncing in place. Espurr resumed her fighting position. Watchog had said that all pokemon could harness energy, right? Well, she was a pokemon. She had to be able to do something.

“Start!”

Once more, Tricky launched an ember straight at Espurr. And this time, it didn’t miss. Espurr felt like she’d been punched in the stomach, and the punch burned. She stumbled a few feet back, falling against the edge of the blackboard tree.

“And that is how to properly use a move!” Watchog crowed, clapping his paws together in applause. Espurr slowly picked herself up from the tree, biting back the dull ache that had popped up in her left arm. At least she hadn’t fallen on it.

“Alright, next pair over here!” Watchog pointed to the ground in front of the teacher’s desk. “You two. Up against the wall with everymon else!”

Pancham and Shelmet rudely pushed Deerling, Blitzle, and Ponyta aside as Espurr and Tricky took their spots with the others against the steps to the clinic.

“No misbehaviour, either of you.” Watchog raised his arm again, eyeing both of them closely. “Three… Two… One…”

“Start!”

The next time they sparred didn’t go any better. Tricky fired another ember from her mouth, which Espurr narrowly avoided. Watchog gazed down at her disapprovingly, arms folded, as she picked herself up from the ground.

“Again!”

Espurr was hit in the face.

“Again!”

Espurr stumbled against the desks.

“Again!”

Espurr charged forward with a stick in her paws—

“That’s cheating!”

“My throat hurts,” Tricky complained. “Can we do somemon else for a while?”

“Switch!”

“Wow,” Pancham said, as a battered Espurr and Tricky took their places against at the end of the line. “You guys are getting beat. I’d hate to see you have to go up against me.”

Ahead of them, Booper the wooper sat with his vacant smile, surveying the classroom through beady eyes.

No-mon wanted to spar with Booper.

Espurr wasn’t going to say anything in front of Pancham. She stared down at her paws in frustration, the purple encroaching on her vision and building up in the back of her head. Why wasn’t she able to do anything? She was the only one who couldn’t!

She looked up at the sounds of crashing coming from the front of the classroom, where an obviously faking Deerling had just let Goomy tackle her to the ground. Espurr thought back to all the training rounds she had gone through in the last fifteen minutes. She hadn’t been able to land a single hit in any of them.

“Mr. Watchog?” Espurr raised her good paw. Watchog looked like he wanted to correct a certain honorific, but bit it back. “Yes?” he asked.

“I’d like to try again.”

Watchog thought it over for the better part of a minute. Then he sighed, and pointed to the space in front of the teacher’s desk. Tricky let out a wordless groan, slumping her head, ears, and tail in defeat. She began to trudge towards her spot in the classroom slowly.

“Not you.” Watchog stuck out an arm stiffly, stopping Tricky in her tracks. “I promised Audino I’d leave you all reasonably unharmed, so up to the clinic you go. Now!”

Without another word, Tricky changed her course towards the school clinic, bounding up the stairs quickly.

“Any volunteers?” Watchog asked the rest of the class.

“I’ll do it.” Pancham’s smooth voice rang out against the silence of the other students. Espurr watched him saunter up to the other side of the teacher’s desk, taking a fighting position confidently. All the better. She’d enjoy this.

“One more time! On my mark!” Watchog raised his arm, glancing at both students. “Everymon ready?”

Espurr closed her eyes, blotting out the world. She focused on Pancham, trying to see if she could summon those feelings like Nuzleaf had instructed her. She focused on the rage, the anger, the way he left Goomy in the woods, the way he tried to trick them into going into the mines, how he was probably responsible for what happened in Crossings a few weeks ago. The power started to build in her as she concentrated. It felt wild, unstable, refusing to go into her paws even as she forced it there. Instead, it ping-ponged around inside her, making her strain as she tried to control it.

“Start!”

Pancham wasted no time charging towards her, his fists brimming with colourless energy. That was going to hurt if it hit her. But Espurr was determined not to let that happened. If she could just get a good grip—

Pancham’s fist collided with her face, sending her flying back several feet. She hit the ground painfully, barely registering the sound of Watchog calling the match. Her face stung, but what stung even more was the realisation that she’d just let it happen, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it. It didn’t work. All that rage, all that trying, and it didn’t… the frustration in her finally reached a breaking point. Her ears began to tingle, accompanied by growing static. The wave of purple mounted in Espurr’s head, and suddenly turned into something much more tangible—

There was a large ‘boom!’ and then everything hurt, and she couldn’t open her eyes again for several minutes.

~\({O})/~

“Holy mystery dungeon!” Tricky hollered delightedly, leaning out the window of the School Clinic. “The classroom is wrecked!”

“So wrecked…” Shelmet said in between bites of food, “That school should be cancelled for the summer?”

“Nice try.” Audino said, setting Espurr’s lunch aside and taking a bite of an apple. In the corner, Watchog stared out the window and muttered quietly to himself in disbelief.

“Safety-regulated, my tail…” he babbled silently, sounding mad. “Piece of the blackboard nearly got me in the heart.”

Principal Simipour poured himself a wooden cup of black tea and blew on it to cool it off.

“The classroom’s destruction should do nothing to impede our regular school schedule,” he said, yawning. He looked as sleepy as ever. “Exams will continue as usual.”

That garnered collective grumbles from all the other students. Simipour took a sip of his tea indifferently.

Espurr watched it all from one of the clinic’s nests, still a passive observer. Thoughts came to her, but in bits and pieces that still needed to become something whole. Her vision came together after a bit, the ringing and fuzz faded away, and the roof of the clinic was only spinning a little now. Her head still pounded like she was being whacked between her eyes repeatedly with one of Farfetch’d’s leeks, and she felt much wearier than before.

She tried a move, and this was what happened. Maybe that was on her for pushing it. How had Nuzleaf’s teachings completely failed her?

“Doing better now?” Farfetch’d looked down at her, his pointy beaked craned down towards her head.

Addled as she was, it took Espurr a few seconds to respond: “I think so.”

“Atta girl.” Farfetch’d lightly tapped Espurr on the shoulder with his leek, before moving off to another part of the clinic.

“Espurr!”

Espurr barely had time to glance in the direction of the voice before she was tackled by Tricky. Soon after, she was swarmed completely by the rest of the students.

“You totally destroyed the classroom!” Tricky exclaimed. “It was awesome.”

“It was not awesome!” Deerling glanced at Tricky angrily. “Somemon could have been seriously hurt!” She looked at Espurr. “Are you alright?”

“I think I swallowed a wood chip,” Goomy complained.

“Maybe it’ll stay in your belly forever and ever…” Shelmet hissed to Goomy evilly. A swift kick against his side from Deerling’s hind leg made him retreat into his shell.

Pancham didn’t say anything. He just folded his arms, and leaned back against the wall.

Audino placed Espurr’s lunch in front of her, a meagre assortment of berries, nuts, and seeds.

“Seeing as you’re doing better,” she began, “want to stay behind today and help me tidy up while you recover?”

Watchog suddenly stood up, as if reminded on the spot.

“That reminds me…” he muttered to himself, before pushing open the door and heading towards the supply building in the distance.

Tricky, who had flopped down upon the straw bed next to Espurr, suddenly perked up, ears pricking high.

“Oh yeah,” she said. “I’m doing an extra credit thing for the school today. See you later!”

~\({O})/~

“Just some regular old cleanup at Kangaskhan’s,” Watchog said as he made Tricky march ahead of him through the square. “What could go wrong? Everything. Everything could go wrong. But nothing. Is going. To go wrong. Or I’m not Vice Principal Watchog— Sharp left!”

The two of them both made a sharp left, heading up the steps and into the well-lit interior of the two-story Café Connection.

Tricky never got to be inside the Café Connection. She’d spied looks through the window, sure, but being inside was like entering a whole other world! It was dark and atmospheric, lit by candles that gave the place a nice-smelling scent and glowing luminous orbs that hung like chandeliers. There were flowers hanging from the walls, plants in vases on the tables and counters, and long, leafy vines that drooped along the entranceways. The windows were arched and housed between viny pillars, made of iron beams and stained glass. Some kind of song was playing on an emera-powered radio behind the counter, but Tricky didn’t like the tune and ignored it. And all the pokemon! This must have been why the village square was always so quiet during sunset.

“And what can I get for y— oh! Watchog!” Kangaskhan behind the counter almost dropped the stack of seashells she was drying as she caught sight of Watchog approaching. She looked at Tricky. “It’s not like you to bring students along for your evening drink.”

“Alas, duty calls,” Watchog told Kangaskhan, sliding onto a stool. “I’m here on official school business. This troublemaker is here to do some ‘extra credit’. I don’t suppose you have some chores they could help out with?”

“Doesn’t the school usually handle that?” Kangaskhan cocked a rocky eyebrow.

Watchog leaned in close over the counter.

“I’m not supposed to tell you this,” he began, his voice a dramatic hush. “But just between you and me: one of the students had an ‘accident’ in the classroom. A big accident. Boom.”

“Boom… ?” The other eyebrow went up.

“Boom.” Watchog waved his paws out, exaggerating the effect as much as possible.

“Well…” Kangaskhan set the stack of seashells aside before she had another chance to drop and crack them. “I guess I could use some help behind the counter. A—”

Tricky’s ears suddenly fell flat, terrified at the word that was about to leave Kangaskhan’s mouth. Kangaskhan quickly corrected herself, sending Tricky a brief apologetic look.

“I mean, Tricky could do that. Sound alright?”

Watchog leaned back in his stool, relaxing himself. “Sounds wonderful. And I will have that drink, by the way. Mago berry, please. Here – I’ll pay you up front—”

As Watchog searched the bulging, overpacked bag he had brought along for his money pouch, Tricky quietly slunk off into another section of the restaurant. She shook off the brief tremors that were still going through her body, trying her hardest to blot out the things she didn’t want to think about. It was still going to be fun to see what made this place tick!

Seconds later, Kangaskhan propped her up on a moving cart against the counter.

“Don’t get too rowdy, okay?” Kangaskhan told Tricky. “I won’t have accidents in my restaurant. You’re my waitress for the night. Just take everymon’s orders and bring them to Houndoom in the kitchens. He’ll take it from there. You can start with this one: ‘One Mago berry drink, fermented.’ Got it?”

Tricky grinned and nodded so vigorously it made Kangaskhan look a little unsettled. “Alright then. Go!”

Tricky hopped down from the cart and sprinted into the kitchens, where a houndoom was searing something in a pan with his fire breath. Awesome.

“Oi!” He paused the flame to look over and snap at Tricky. “No kits in the kitchen!”

“But I’m the waitress!” Tricky announced proudly. “Also, I have all your orders, so you don’t wanna kick me out.”

Houndoom raised an eyebrow, taking a second to continue simmering the dish again. “Let’s see them, then.”

Tricky cleared her throat. “One Mago Berry—”

“No, not like that!” Houndoom snapped. “You’re supposed to write them down first!” he went back to simmering the dish full force, irritably ordering Tricky out with a flick of his wiry tail. Tricky was gone faster than a speeding Thunderbolt.

The normal waiter was an inkay, so there was no ink anywhere around the Café Connection to write with. But Tricky found a fix for that. Oran berries were kind of like ink, and yes, she had used up like ten of them, and nibbled a few when Kangaskhan wasn’t looking, but now she had something to write with!

Mystery Dungeoneering Life Hacks, written by Wartortle of Pokemon Plaza. Tricky swore by it.

It was just a problem of remembering everything long enough to get it all down on paper, and hoping that Houndoom wouldn’t chew her out for misspelling a little something here and there.

Tricky scooted the moving cart over to the last pokemon currently in the café she hadn’t taken the order of yet, trying to get a good look at the pokemon who was obscured behind the giant menu.

“Can I get your order?” she asked cheerily.

“A plate of the vegetable pasta, please.” Ampharos set down the menu, clearing his throat politely. “And a raspberry sorbet—those always have been my guilty pleasure, I’m afraid…”

Tricky’s eyes practically bugged out of her head. She fought herself to keep it down.

“No. Way!” she exclaimed, barely keeping her voice down to an excited hiss. “You’re Ampharos! We totally met in the village square a few months ago!”

“That we did.” Ampharos folded the menu and set it aside. “I must say, I was looking forward to meeting the two of you again. Where’s your friend?”

“You mean Espurr?” Tricky tilted her head. “She’s out somewhere else…”

“How unfortunate.” Ampharos lowered his head, looking pensive. He brushed his green cloak back.

“See,” he continued. “After our chance meeting, I got in touch with a close friend in the Expedition Society. They pulled some strings with the top brass, and brought into my possession a pair of Junior Memberships.”

Tricky’s eyes widened and sparkled. There was— But— He—

Ampharos sighed theatrically. “I was going to gift them to the two of you, but presenting them with only one of you around… that just won’t do! It’ll have to wait until I can meet you both.”

Tricky almost yipped for joy with excitement! Her dream was finally coming true and she couldn’t believe it! She just stopped herself from throwing a joy tantrum in the middle of the restaurant, instead taking a deep breath and asking Ampharos the world’s most important question—

“Whencanwemeet? I know this really good place and it’s quiet and there’s a nice view and, and…”

Her throat was catching on her excited breath. She was so worked up she couldn’t even spit the final words out.

“Hmm…” Ampharos thought on it. “How about… in a couple of weeks? I hear that’s when your schooldays end. I’ll be waiting for you near that big old tree with the fort.”

“That’s exactly where I was thinking!” Tricky excitedly slammed her paws on the counter before the yellow pokemon could say another word, scooting the moving cart closer as she balanced between them. How did he know?

“Now…” her ears pinned back as she tried very hard to think. “What was that order again? I… kinda forgot.”

~\({O})/~

Music of the Week!

The Stone/Norwegian Ridgeback – John Williams