Unbroken Disguise

Their trip down route 204 had ended up being rather uneventful, but eventually the fields filled with flowers gave way to a small, vibrant town. There didn’t seem to be a set style for the buildings in Floaroma, with each house or business being a different color and shape. A blocky green building with a flat roof, a blue building with brown shingles that resembled a barn, a grand yellow building that wouldn’t look too out of place in much more ancient cities… everywhere N looked, his eyes found something new. It was messy, disorganized, but it felt so alive.

The one thing that the whole town had in common was the flowers. Hanging from streetlights, sprucing up window sills, and crowding the edges of every path in sight, N was glad to see that the citizens of the town had decided to keep the natural order of things in the area, or at least to a much larger degree than many did back home in Unova. It was a beautiful town, and judging from the looks on his companions’ faces, he figured that they thought much the same.

“Place is bigger than I thought it’d be…” Mimikyu muttered from his shoulder.

“Is that so?” N idly asked. Times like this made him wonder about his friend. He seemed so knowledgeable about the region at times, and yet small things like this threw him off.

“I s’pose it makes sense if they’re botherin’ ta host a contest ‘ere though…”

His thoughts of Mimikyu’s peculiarities were interrupted when Dawn brought the group to a halt.

“Look guys!” She pointed to a small flier hung up on the wall of a brick building. “This says they’re going to have a poffin cooking class today!”

“Poffins? I’m afraid I’m not familiar with those.” N responded.

“Yeah, me neither!” Ash chimed in.

“You’ve never heard of poffins?!” The blue haired girl exclaimed.

“I don’ get why so many regions insist on havin’ their own style of Pokemon treats an’ then get s’prised when people from other regions don’ know theirs…” Mimikyu complained.

“Pokemon treats? You mean like Pokeblocks?” Pikachu asked from Ash’s shoulder.

“Poffins are a Pokemon snack that’s made from berries,” Dawn began explaining, not having understood a word from the Pokemon. “I always helped my mom make poffins growing up, so that makes me something of an expert,” she added smugly.

“So they’re like Pokeblocks from the Hoenn region?” Ash questioned, unintentionally repeating his partner.

“I guess in a certain way,” Brock answered, “but I’ve heard that poffins use a different recipe.”

“A snack made from berries?” N asked. “Why wouldn’t you just let them eat the berry? They’re perfectly good as is.”

“Now that I think about it, Unova is one of the few regions without some sorta regional Pokemon food, ain’ it?” Mimikyu supplied. “I don’ know the specifics, but ta my knowledge, stuff like this is good for makin’ yer Pokemon look better for contests and raisin’ their affection towards ya.”

“We have Castelia cones, and Pokemon seem quite fond of those.”

“It ain’ the same. Castelia cones are all made the same way by the same people, ain’ they? We’re talkin’ about foods that are custom made by the trainer for their Pokemon specifically.”

“Interesting…” It was a novel idea, at the very least. He worried about people using them maliciously to gain a Pokemon’s trust that they hadn’t truly earned, but you could probably manage a similar effect with nothing more than berries. Catering specifically to their tastes… perhaps this could be a good way to develop further bonds with his friends? “You said this was a class being offered?” He turned to Dawn. “I wouldn’t mind attending.”

“Awesome! What do you say, guys?” She turned to the rest of the group, who quickly gave their approval.

Hopefully this would make for a useful detour.

It took the group a bit of time to hunt down the cooking class, but a kind stranger had set them on the right path. Their destination turned out to be a building on the outskirts of Floaroma that was slightly larger than the average house in the area, with a section at the front dedicated to various potted plants that were for sale. The building was surrounded on three sides by large fields of flowers that some Pokemon were tending to, and N watched as an unfamiliar Pokemon with a white fluffy head, flower bouquets for hands, and a green leafy body directed a Lotad to water the plants with what looked like a Water Gun.

There wasn’t a human in sight though.

“Hello!” Ash shouted. “Anybody home?!”

N watched as the unfamiliar Pokemon startled.

“I can’t believe there’s nobody here…” Ash lamented. “Hello?! We’d really like to take your poffin cooking class, please!”

N frowned, but it seemed Dawn was beating him to the punch. “Ash, keep it down. I think you’re scaring that Roserade out there.”

“K-k-keep it down over there!” The Pokemon hesitantly scorned Ash, though it was only barely loud enough for N to hear.

“Whoops, my bad.” Ash had the tact to look guilty after that.

“Sorry about that! Just because he’s loud now doesn’t mean he’s rude all the time!” Dawn apologized to Roserade and insulted Ash at the same time.

“I-i-it’s fine!” Roserade reassured them, almost curling in on itself out of… shyness? Or at least, he hoped that was the case. Maybe this cooking class wasn’t such a good idea after all…

It was then that the person in charge of the shop walked out, a watering can shaped like a Psyduck in hand. The forest green hair was normal enough, but N found himself questioning her choice of pairing a cream colored cowl neck sweater with a rather short brown skirt. Those items of clothing were made for very different temperatures…

“Did you say you were here for the poffin cooking class? I made you wait, I’m terribly sorry!” She said with an apologetic smile.

“Apologies are a waste of time.” Before N could even blink, Brock was on one knee, the girl’s hand held in his. “I would happily wait until the end of time-”

N drowned out the man’s nonsense. “How does he do that?” He turned towards Ash. “I swear that was faster than a quick attack.”

“Your guess is as good as mine. I’ve just sort of gotten used to it.”

“Maybe ‘e uses Brock Polish? He is a Rock type trainer ‘n’ all.” Mimikyu added.

N frowned. “Was that a pun?”

“...maybe. I mighta been sittin’ on that one for a while…”

“A pun?” Dawn inquired.

“It was awful, just forget about it.” N dismissed.

Wanting to forget that, he tuned back in to Brock’s… whatever it was he was doing, learning that the woman’s name was Forsythia in the process before his Crogunk released itself and Poison Jabbed him right in the side.

“When will you learn…” The Pokemon croaked out.

He really needed to look into how Brock handled those so well. This wasn’t the first time, and he doubted it would be the last.

As the Poison and Fighting type dragged his trainer away, Forsythia looked bewildered before hesitantly asking the rest of them to come inside.

In no time at all, the woman had given them a short tour of the kitchen, dressed them all in aprons, and was giving them an explanation of how to make the treats they were after. Roserade seemed to be her assistant in this venture as well, setting two trays on top of the counter beside Forsythia. “H-here you go…”

One tray looked to be filled with diced Pecha berries, their pink color giving them away, but the orange chunks…Pomeg, maybe? By color alone it could be a Tamato, but they tended towards the spicy end of the spectrum and he wasn’t sure that it would mesh well with the sweetness of the Pecha.

“First, you put your berries in a pot of cold water.” Forsythia explained as she did just that with the Pecha chunks. “Then you turn the heat up all the way while stirring non-stop.” Setting the pot on the stove top, the blue flames came to life beneath it as she started stirring it with a wooden spoon. “It’s this constant stirring that gives poffins their flavor, you see.” Taking a peek over the rim of the pot, N was greeted with a solid pink liquid.

That didn’t seem right.

“Is everyone with me so far?” she asked the group.

“Her instructions are simple, but I don’ get how she ended up with that after stirring for… what, a few seconds?”

Just as curious, N relayed Mimikyu’s confusion to the woman, not that she was aware he was translating.

“What do you mean?” She cocked a brow at N, and surprisingly he found Dawn doing the same.

“The heat has only been applied for a few seconds at most, you’ve stirred for even less time, and yet the liquid in the pot is now completely uniform. Shouldn’t it take a lot longer to reach… hmmm.” Turning to Mimikyu, he whispered in Unovan “Remind me to look up the league word for homogeneity later.” Then, back in the Sinnohian familiar to the group, he continued with “It became… the same throughout, way too quickly.”

“Ah, I see the problem.” She replied with a satisfied smile. “You must be used to working with berries that still have the skin on them. Getting them to mix properly with the skin can be a real pain, so I make sure to peel all of our berries before we start.”

“What in the world is she on about?” Mimikyu’s disbelief was obvious.

It looked like N was going to have to do some research on berries at some point, because his group was starting to give him strange looks. “Ah, yes, that must be it…” he played along.

Not thinking anything of it, Forsythia took her spoon out of the pot and removed it from the heat. “Once it’s ready, all that’s left is to pour it into the molds and leave it to solidify!” She did just that, filling a small metal pan with a grid of divots with the mixture.

“So, are you guys ready to try?”

“Of course!” Dawn excitedly answered, anticipation clear in her eyes.

The poffin making did not go as planned.

Dawn’s looked good. It made sense, given that she had prior experience with them. But while she got full points for presentation, she had her Pokemon in literal tears upon their completion. She claimed that the pink and green pastries were a favorite of her mother’s Glameow, but they weren’t up to standard, apparently.

Brock’s actually turned out well, though given his cooking skills perhaps that shouldn’t have surprised N. Bonsley and Crogunk had eaten them all up with a smile.

Ash… well… the only thing to be said about his poffins was that they weren’t fit for consumption. They looked more like charcoal than food, which boggled N’s mind given the process used for creating them. Ash’s Pokemon ended up eating the batch Forsythia made rather than his.

And N’s poffins…

“Well?” He looked down at Mimikyu with a bit of hope.

A shadowy tendril plucked one of the solid pink poffins off of the plate, bringing it beneath the disguise. “Hmmm. It ain’ bad, but somethin’ is off about it. Kinda like… it’s too sweet maybe? Sickeningly sweet. I’ll still eat ‘em, but if ya feel like doin’ this again, maybe we should try a differen’ type of berry.”

At least he had done better than Ash and Dawn. He could take solace in that.

But with the taste testing done, it was time for them to clean up. With five people involved, it didn’t take very long, but Ash still used the opportunity to poke at a pouting Dawn.

“So your Pokemon didn’t like the poffins, did they?” He mentioned as he scrubbed the dirty dishes. What went unsaid was her bragging from earlier, but they were all thinking it.

“Well, Pokemon all have different tastes.” Forsythia tried to defend the younger girl as she put the clean dishes away.

“Is that true?” the blue haired girl clung on to the possibility that it hadn’t been her fault.

“Of course it’s true,” N interjected. “You and Ash enjoy different things, don’t you? Pokemon are much the same. They have unique tastes and thoughts, it’s all a matter of communication and finding out what they like.”

The pout left her face, replaced by a small smile. “I guess I’ll just have to give it another shot then!”

“Exactly.” Figuring out what sort of treats her Pokemon liked wasn’t exactly a pressing matter, but any step he could take to guide her down the right path was one that he would take. He had a bit of hope for the girl, and making her consider the feelings of her team would hopefully serve to make her more compassionate.

“Is that really true though?” Mimikyu pondered next to his head. “I s’pose I ‘aven’ really looked into it, but I’ve ‘eard that the flavors Pokemon enjoy is largely dependen’ on their nature. Like jolly Pokemon likin’ sweet stuff ‘n’ whatnot.”

“A jolly Pokemon?” N muttered to his fairy friend. “That’s… an interesting way of describing someone.”

“Eh, like I said, I ‘aven’ really looked into it. Maybe it’s some pseudoscience garbage.”

Not paying any attention to the whispers between N and Mimikyu, and with the dishes cleaned and put away, Forsythia invited them all to join her at a table in the next room. “You’ve all worked hard today, why don’t we relax a bit with a nice cup of tea?”

N frowned. There was nothing wrong with tea, but he just couldn’t understand the obsession that other regions seemed to have with it. Why drink hot leaf water when you could have coffee instead?

But turning down the offer would be rude, so he took a seat, accepting a tea cup from Roserade. “P-please enjoy…” the Pokemon all but whispered before running to hide behind a doorway.

“Man, Roserade’s really scared of me…” Ash frowned, concerned that he had messed up somehow.

“Oh, it’s not your fault,” Forsythia denied. “Roserade has always been like this, ever since I met her as a Budew. She enjoys her time here among the flowers and the other Pokemon that help me out, but when it comes to strangers…”

But was that really the case? Or just the lies of someone who would abuse Pokemon? That would explain Roserade’s aversion to people.

Quickly downing the rest of his tea, N stood up from the table. “Excuse me, I’ll be back shortly.” The group gave him some confused looks as he walked out of the room and towards the exit, and conveniently right past Roserade.

Picking up on his intentions, Mimikyu gestured for the Grass type to follow once they were out of sight from the others, and Roserade hesitantly followed them outside into the flower fields. N took a seat on the grass, gesturing for the Pokemon to do the same as Mimikyu crawled off his shoulder and to the ground.

It took a moment, but eventually the white tufts of Roserade’s head entered his peripheral vision.

“I don’t like to advertise this to other humans, but I can understand Pokemon,” N began.

The Poison type jolted. “R-really?” She looked down to Mimikyu for confirmation, receiving naught but a nod of affirmation.

“Really. And I have… concerns. Forsythia isn’t…” He wanted to just come out and say it. Ask if Roserade was being abused. But he’d seen cases in the past where a bruised and beaten Pokemon would defend their trainer up until the very end. Sometimes a more roundabout approach was necessary. “How does Forsythia treat you?”

“Forsythia?” With just that word, it was as if all the shyness and hesitation evaporated. “She’s amazing! She’s done so much for me, sometimes I wonder if I’m deserving of it all… Anything I’ve ever needed or wanted, it was only a matter of finding a way to ask. If not for Forsythia…”

Hmm. Perhaps not as he originally suspected then. Perhaps Forsythia had saved her from a previous trainer? “If not for Forsythia…?” He prompted for the Pokemon to continue.

“When I was just a Budew… I used to think I was hot stuff. At least, until I had my first run in with a Fire type.” The Pokemon paused to gather her thoughts. “I would battle all the time, always trying to improve myself, but when I woke up in the Pokemon Center with all of my leaves burned away and my face so horribly burned…” Roserade shivered at the memory. “I… I haven’t really been the same since then. The physical wounds were gone within a week, but now every time I think about meeting someone new… I can’t help but wonder if there’s a Fire type on their team, and it’s like a Pachirisu has hit me with Thunder Wave. When it’s just me and Forsythia and Lotad, everything is perfect, but…”

“I see. I’m sorry that happened to you.” The details in Roserade’s story were scarce, but he wasn’t about to dredge up even more old memories by poking and prodding at it. Was it just a lone Fire type who had acted on its own? He didn’t know of any in the area, but his knowledge of the locals was limited. Though he thought it much more likely to be a case of a trainer wanting to train against wild Pokemon. This area was ripe with Pokemon that were weak to fire, it wouldn’t be difficult to take on plenty of opponents with little rest…

Humans were awful creatures after all.

“I still train sometimes.” The Grass type all but whispered. “When people try to steal our berries, I put on a disguise and it makes me feel brave again. Like if they can’t see my face, they can’t burn it again. You know what that’s like, don’t you?” She asked Mimikyu. “You hide just like I do.”

“I… well… I can’t say our situations are exactly the same, but… I s’pose we might ‘ave a bit in common there.” His voice slowly shifted from unsure to melancholic. “Hidin’ away from the world is so much easier sometimes… but ya can’t just hide away forever. The mask ‘as ta come off eventually, Roserade. Er, well, I wish mine would, but I’ve got a whole thing…” he slowly trailed off as he realized he had ruined the moment. “Look, I ain’ good with the touchy feely stuff. An’ if my memory serves, Roserades don’ exactly ‘ave great coverage options, so I can’t just poin’ ya at a move to help with Fire types…. But ya can’t let that stop ya! One bad experience… I get that it hurts. It’s awful… and maybe my own experiences ain’ exactly analogous ta yers… I’m not realy helpin’ my case ‘ere, am I? My poin’ is that ya gotta try again. Practice makes perfect an’ all that.”

“I think what my friend here is trying to say,” N decided to save the floundering Pokemon, “is that you shouldn’t let a single bad experience define who you are. It’s important to set goals for yourself and to grow along the way. If this happened back when you were a Budew, then you’ve grown physically, but mentally?”

The Poison type leaned back, staring up at the bright blue sky. “Mentally I’m still stuck back there, aren’t I? Maybe you’re right…”

“I don’t know the full situation. I don’t know your life. It’s just a bit of advice from someone passing through, and you’re free to ignore it if you’d like.”

As N stood up, and let his little ghost friend make his way back up to his shoulder, he thought he heard a soft “thank you”, but he just walked back inside.

When they left Forsythia’s place later on, he saw Roserade staring intently at a red scarf. Perhaps that was her supposed “disguise”, perhaps it wasn’t. He’d done what he could, and hopefully made a Pokemon feel at least a bit better.

The next day, after a night spent in the local Pokemon Center, the group found themselves preparing Dawn for her contest.

Or rather, Ash and Brock were helping Dawn. Pikachu was giving Pachirisu some tips on electricity usage, and they seemed to be making some progress with the oversight of the trainers.

N and Mimikyu were doing a bit of training of their own.

Focus. You’ve done this plenty of times now, it should be second nature at this point.

There was no time for a pooling of energy. No time for conscious thoughts.

Shadow Sneak.

In the blink of an eye, the scenery in front of him had changed… by a few feet.

“You’ve definitely improved.” N commented.

“Not ‘nough, though. I can feel each one of these draining me, ‘n’ while I’m more consistent with the activation, I don’ think the power ‘as increased at all.”

“Well, should it be getting more powerful? Moves have a pretty set level of power, don’t they? The only thing that could change is you, and you’re not exactly doing battles to gain experience. Not that that’s a bad thing, of course, but…”

“But ya gotta crack a few eggs ta make an omelet, I know. I jus’ don’ like the idea of bein’ the egg when all I’ve got is Shadow Sneak.”

“And you’re still not having any luck with other moves?”

“No! An’ it don’ make no sense ta me, either! I mean, I’m a Ghost type, so Shadow Sneak bein’ easier for me makes a bit of sense. I can get that. But that shouldn’ be the only move! Baby-Doll Eyes is a simple ‘nough Fairy type move, I should ‘ave that down, I would think, but noooo. I jus’ don’ understand what I’m doin’ wrong and it’s so instinctual ta everyone else that they don’ know how ta explain it ta me.”

It’s not like I’ve just been idle all this time. Sure, I might spend more time learning the League language than doing actual training, but I’ve asked just about everyone in the group at this point. And Pikachu has proven to be far more helpful than the rest of them combined…

Maybe Scratch is a no go because it’s a Normal type move. Shadow Claw sounds like it should be the easiest, since it’s just using the same Ghost type I use for Shadow Sneak when I’m slashing at someone, but that requires a pretty high level to learn, doesn’t it? Maybe that has something to do with the crit rate…

Though it’s not like I ever cared about getting to a high level for it before. I always just used a TM…

Maybe… would that work? I don’t even know if TMs exist in this world. I mean yeah, I saw Lucas a couple times, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. And even if they do exist, how expensive must they be? Probably something outrageous, and I can’t just ask N to drop a few grand on me so I can learn some moves more easily when I don’t even know if it would work.

I could check and see what they have in stock the next time we visit that sort of store though. It wouldn’t hurt to just take a look… Maybe Pikachu would know a thing or two about it.

“I know it’s frustrating, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much, Mimikyu. You’ll figure it out eventually. Why don’t you try-”

N was interrupted by a Discharge on the other side of the field as Pachirisu seemingly lost its patience, and then an unfamiliar voice entered the scene.

“Hey! Deedee!” a young man called out.

It’s always one thing after another, isn’t it? Doesn’t seem familiar, but the way Dawn’s face just went pale means this guy is some sort of trouble. I just hope it’s young girl trouble and not dangerous criminal trouble this time…