Alistair's Odyssey 13

Episode 13- The Parfum Palace

From the mind of Lauren Glancesherlock

Shauna and Calem were waiting for me at the edge of town. We exchanged pleasantries and headed out to Route 7. Our Pokémon trailed behind us, laughing and chatting. Saff had insisted on taking a bag of those potato chips with us. I’m beginning to regret buying those… As we walked, I couldn’t help but notice that Calem’s Fletchling was gone.

“So what happened to Abejundo Martinez?” I teased.

Calem shrugged. “He got really weird after we left Lumiose City. Kept going on about how his heart and pride were destroyed and so was his fighting spirit, or something like that. Then he stopped listening to me altogether and refused to speak English.” He raised an inquisitive eyebrow at me. “You don’t happen to know Spanish, do you?”

“I only took one semester of it, and all I can remember is, ‘Donde esta me pantalones?’ and ‘Tu eres una sacapuntas.’”

“What does that last one mean?”

“You are a pencil sharpener.”

“I got a call from Professor Sycamore about that Mr. Bonding guy,” said Shauna, shivering. “Creepy stuff. I hope I never run into him.”

“Same.” I raised my fists and hopped around like a boxer. “He’s no match for me, though. And by ‘me’ I mean my Pokémon.”

“Wow! You’re so brave!” I swear, Shauna is the easiest person to impress ever. Apparently Calem agreed, because I saw him roll his eyes.

We had reached the bridge. Two men were standing in front of it, arms crossed and heads shaking. One of them, for some reason, was wearing karate gear. Taking up the whole of the bridge, was a giant, sleeping, snoring Snorlax.

“Ah,” I sighed as I remembered the good old days. “Now this takes me back. Oh Yellow Version, how I miss thee.”

“There’s no way we can move it. The darn thing’s just too big,” the man wearing normal clothes was saying. “Do you still have the PokéFlute?”

“No, I took it back to the Parfum Palace.”

Shauna tapped the karate guy on the shoulder. “Excuse me, what’s going on here?”

“Huh? Oh, hello young lady. This Snorlax decided to take a nap on the only western route out of town. Now no one can reach the caves that lead to the coastal cities.”

“Oh my!” Shauna brought a hand to her mouth.

“Can’t you just bang a bunch of pots and pans next to its ears?” Calem asked.

“I wish, but it just doesn’t work that way. Snorlax are too big to go around, too heavy to move, and too cranky to deal with unless woken up gently.”

I snorted. “Yeah, so is Calem’s mom, but she still manages to get up in the morning. AEYOH!” I raised my hand for someone to high-five me, but all I got was disapproving stares. Calem flipped me the bird. I lowered my arm. “Alright, alright, that was low even for me.”

Shauna turned back to the two men. “Is there any way we can help?”

“Why the hell should we?” I grumbled. “Sounds like he can just go to this Perfume Place and get the PokéFlute himself.”

“Parfum Palace,” Karate Guy corrected (seriously, this dude has no freaking name, so that’s what I’m going to call him). “I am the owner of the Shabboneau Castle in town, which is now a museum. I’m holding a tour there soon. I can’t go anywhere.”

“Oh Lauren, please.” Shauna insisted. “We have too!”

“No, I really don’t see why we do. This looks like a situation that can handle itself.” I pointed to the other guy. “Why can’t he do it?”

“I have to guard Snorlax.”

“Why? It’s clearly not going anywhere.”

“Oh please, Lauren! Please, please, please!” Shauna ran over to me and clasped her hands together in a plea. Her eyes widened and her bottom lip quivered.

Calem chuckled. “Now how can you resist that face?”

I sighed and slumped. “Fine, but this one time only.”

“Yay!” She nearly knocked me over in a glomp. I grabbed her by the shoulders and moved her away.

“Don’t do that again.”

* * *

Before we headed off to the Parfum Palace (god, what a stupid name), we went back into town for dinner. Also, I had to meet up with Alistair. Being such a high-class fancy pants, I’m sure he’d want to go see this place.

I returned to the hotel at quarter to five. I sat down in the lobby next to a small man who was all but hidden by the newspaper he was reading. I crossed my legs and hummed quietly to myself, waiting for Alistair to appear.

“You know, Miss Lauren,” said the man behind the paper. “When wearing a skirt, it is proper to cross at the ankles rather than the knees.”

“What’s it to you, old geezer?”

The man lowered the paper to reveal himself as not a man at all, but a large blue frog with a monocle, top hat, and a cloud-like collar that trailed down his back like a scarf. My job dropped. No way.

“Alistair?!” I stood to get a better look at him. “You…”

“I’ve been here since four. I thought I’d make myself comfortable.”

“You evolved!”

Alistair grinned. “So I have.”

“But back on Route 5, I saw you try to fight it. What changed your mind?”

He stood from his seat, and as he put all his weight on his feet, he wobbled a bit and was forced to lean against the cushion for support. I guess he was still getting used to his longer legs.

“I suppose you could say I did a bit of soul searching while you were out.”

“Well I like what you found. Why aren’t you using your cane?”

“That’s one of the downsides to my evolution.” He demonstrated by leaning against it. He had to bend over completely for it to touch the floor. It was way too short for him now. I felt my face soften. I knew how much that thing meant to him. He never let it leave his side.

“Here,” I held my hand out. “I can keep it in my bag until we find someone who can tweak it for you.”

“If it’s all the same, I’d like to keep it with me.” He grabbed it with both hands, almost as if he was afraid I’d take it. “Silly as it sounds, I feel naked without it.”

“Fair enough. Maybe now instead of a cane, you could call it a scepter. Scepters are cool.” I laughed, suddenly noticing how tiny his hat was. Before it had been fine, since it was designed to sit in between his eyes when he was a Froakie, but now it just looked Lilliputian. I plucked it off his head playfully. “If you’re not going to get rid of the cane, at least let me take this for now. You look ridiculous in it.”

Alistair felt his head. “I suppose. Perhaps I could acquire a larger one.”

“Well it’s going to have to come out of your pocket, because you guys are expensive to feed.” By now, we were making our way out of the hotel. “I can’t believe Doc went through six apples and half of the carrots. Guy eats like a horse.” I looked down at Alistair to get a better glimpse of his new form. He was twice his old height and nearly came up to my waist. His legs seemed a little sturdier with each step he took.

“I know you were a Froakie before, but what are you called now?”

“A Frogadier.”

“Frogadier…” I repeated the word, liking the way it rolled off my tongue. “Nice.”

We met with Shauna at the edge of town. She told me that Calem had backed out, saying that he wanted to go back to Route 5 for some serious training before dark. Traitor.

I let the team out so they could see Alistair in his newly-evolved glory. They all gave their congratulations. That is, except for Saff, who was lying on the ground moaning and hugging a potato chip bag. I have no idea how he managed to sneak one into the PokéBall with him.

“Hey.” I tapped him lightly with my foot. “You okay?”

“Oooogh, these things are evil. I never want to see one ever again.” He then proceeded to take out a chip and gingerly put it in his mouth.

I placed my hands on my hips. “Dammit Saff, how many bags have you gone through?”

“I can’t remember if this is my third or fourth.” On “fourth” a rumbling belch escaped from his mouth.

“That’s it, you’re done.” I tried to take the bag from him, but he just held tighter.

“No, no! I can stop whenever I want!”

“Saff, you’re making yourself sick. What would Piper say if she saw you like this?”

“You lazy bastard, get off your ass and help me warm the egg.”

“Exactly, buddy. Now give me the bag.” I yanked it from his grasp before he could tighten his hold and threw it in a nearby trash can. Saff sat up slightly as though he was about to go after his greasy, salty treasure, but then fell back in a defeated moan.

Clapping my hands, I got the attention of my other Pokémon. We set off down Route 6, but it wasn’t long until Carmen had to take Saff aside so he could upchuck his chips. I’m never buying those for him again.

“That’s it,” the Fletchinder said soothingly as she rubbed his back with her wing. “Just let it all out.”

“Where exactly are we off to, Miss Lauren?” Alistair asked.

“The Par-foom Palace, I think it’s called?”

He beamed. I think it was the first time I’d seen him genuinely excited. “The Parfum Palace! Why, I’ve always wanted to explore that place! I’ve seen the grounds, but never have I been inside.”

“Well, at least you will enjoy this stupid errand we’re running.”

“And what errand is that?”

I shrugged. “There’s a Snorlax blocking the way out of town and you can only wake it up with a PokéFlute and the adults were too lazy to handle it themselves. It’s dumb. Shauna dragged me into it.”

“Is your Pikachu okay?” Shauna asked. She had been watching Saff with concern. “He’s so sick.”

“No, he just has no self-control. Come on Saff, walk it off! I want to get this over with before dark.”

We continued down the path at a little quicker pace, mostly set by me. Alistair didn’t seem to mind the haste, though. He seemed pretty eager to get there. My Pokémon were conversing with Shauna’s Fennekin. Most of the conversation revolved around a certain yellow dumbass.

“Sorry about that, guys,” Saff was saying. “The egg’s getting ready to hatch any day, and it’s making Piper really hormonal and moody. I guess I overdid it with the comfort food.”

I heard some squeak or other come from the Fennekin, but I couldn’t make out what she said.

“Oh yay!” came Phoebe’s excited voice. “I can’t wait to see the little baby.”

“Just don’t ask me to babysit.” That was Orchid. “I’m not good with kids.”

“Neither am I,” Doc agreed.

Saff laughed. “Looks like I’m going to have to rely on you, Carmen.”

“I guess so.”

“But what about me?”

“You’re too young, Phoebe.”

“Aww…”

“Hey peanut gallery,” I called behind my shoulder. “We’re here.”

The Parfum Palace was flipping huge. You could probably have fit three or five of my high schools in it. Maybe six if you cut out the pool. The white sidings were trimmed with gold and covered with windows. The grounds were covered with a bright green grass, cut to the perfect length without a weed in sight. A cobblestone path led up to a brilliant golden gate, which shone in afternoon sun.

I nodded approvingly. “Nice digs.”

We approached the gate and were stopped by some old butler in a suit. Fancy place has fancy bouncers, I guess.

“Excuse me,” he said. “But in order for you to enter the palace, you must pay a fee of $1,000.”

“What?!” I gaped at him disbelievingly. “That’s like a third of my savings! Do you know how many mouths I have to feed?”

“I’m sorry, but those are the rules.”

I gave him a discarding wave and turned around. “Forget this. I’m going back to town.”

“But Lauren!” Shauna grabbed my arm earnestly. “We have to do this or else Snorlax will never wake up! Besides, if the road is blocked then we can’t continue on our journey.”

“I’ll just climb over the damn thing. It’s not like it’s going to wake up and attack me. Seriously, there are like a million other solutions to this problem, and they all sound better than emptying my wallet.”

“Ahem.” I felt Alistair tap me with his cane. He motioned towards Shauna. “You may want to pay attention to the young lady.”

I turned around. “Ah, shit…”

Shauna’s lower lip had begun to tremble and those big, bright eyes were starting to pool up. She tightened her grip on my arm.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

She sniffled, which cued the tear ducts to work overtime. She wiped at her eyes and let out a sob.

Damn her. “You owe me one. Get used to eating ramen, guys.”

Her face was dry as if by magic. I reluctantly paid the stupid butler his stupid money and they opened the stupid, gorgeous gates to the palace.

If I thought the outside was impressive, the inside blew it out of the water. I swear, everything was trimmed in gold. Even the designs on the walls seemed to shimmer. Bright statues of different Pokémon greeted us as we entered, and in the halls we were accompanied by rows and rows of suits of armor. It really was impressive. I insisted that we explore the place a bit before completing our errand (because by God, I paid one thousand fricken dollars, or whatever currency this place uses, to get in; I’m getting my money’s worth).

Alistair marveled at the décor. He sighed complacently. “Now here is a place that befits my dignity.”

“Funny,” Saff teased. “I pegged you more for the lily pad pound type.”

“Says the one who resided in a pile of grass and weeds.”

The Pikachu opened his mouth to retort, but it seemed he couldn’t think of anything to say, so he just padded away.

We found a library, and my Pokémon were taken with it immediately. Out of all of them, only Alistair, Orchid, and Saff could read, but there were plenty of intricate illustrations to excite the others.

“Oh my…” Alistair seemed to be in heaven as he moved his hand along a row of books. “What I wouldn’t give to revisit this place and pour myself into these pages.”

“I wish I could join you,” said Carmen as she flapped to his side. “I’ve always envied ‘mon who could read.”

“Perhaps I could teach you.”

She smiled at him. “Really? I’d really appreciate it.”

“Hey guys, check this out!” Saff said from the science fiction section. “This story’s about a guy who uses time travel to become his own mother and father.”

“Cool!” I leaned over Saff’s shoulder to read a few lines. Then both of our faces paled. “Dude, that is sick.”

There was a slight tug at my sleeve. It was Phoebe. “Hey Lauren, what’s that up there?”

My eyes followed where her tiny arm was pointing. On the wall was a large tapestry encased in glass. It looked incredibly old and had been obviously torn at the top. It seemed to tell a story from the bottom up. A great battle was being fought amongst Pokémon, with a Floette in the center, flower raised like a sword. Above that was a man wearing a crown, holding the same Floette and crying. Then there was a silhouette of the man, surrounded by a giant crystal. It emanated a sort of light that enveloped the Floette, which floated above it. That was where the tapestry cut off.

We all gathered around it to investigate. I took a closer look at the Floette. I knew that Phoebe’s species and its evolutions came in a variety of colors, but this one didn’t look like any of them. Her ears and body were blue instead of green, and her flower was black and red. She certainly looked fierce in the battle.

“She must have died,” Carmen whispered. “Poor thing. And that man is most likely her trainer.”

“He must have been royalty,” Doc added.

Alistair rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I do believe I’ve heard of a story similar to this once. Oh, but it’s been so long, I can scarcely remember what happens. I do know that this man here was a king, and that he somehow found a way to bring his departed Pokémon back to life.”

“That’s probably what’s happening at the top,” said Saff. “It’s too bad it cuts off there.”

“Well, this thing looks centuries old,” Orchid speculated. “It’s a wonder that it’s been kept in good condition for so long.”

We remained transfixed by the tapestry for a few more moments before Shauna poked her head into the library (she had split off from us earlier).

“Um, Miss Lauren?”

“Yeah?”

She motioned down the hall. “I found the owner of the palace, but he won’t give us the PokéFlute.”

“And why the hell not?”

“Well,” she twiddled with her fingers. “You’ll just have to come and see.”

I sighed. “Fine. Come on guys, let’s go.” The Pokémon filed in behind me as we left the library. I did a quick head count and only got five. I looked back into the library to see Phoebe still floating before the tapestry. She reached out with her tiny hand and touched the glass in front of the Floette coated in light. I had a feeling I knew what she was thinking.

“Don’t worry, girl,” I said with a smile. “You’ll evolve soon enough.”

“Huh?” Phoebe jumped and whipped her whole flower around to see me. She smiled back. “Oh yes… I can’t wait to evolve.”

“We’ve gotta go now, so come on.”

“Okay.” She floated to me, but not before taking another glance at the tapestry.

When we caught up with the others, they were standing before a man in expensive, tailored clothes. He looked all kinds of upset.

“I just don’t know where my precious baby could have gone!” He was saying to Shauna.

“It’s okay, we’ll find him.” She patted his shoulder gently and then walked to Lauren. She leaned over and whispered, “His Furfrou has run off somewhere, and he’s freaking out. Every time I bring up the PokéFlute, he just changes the subject back to it.”

“So let me guess: we have to find his Furfrou before we can get the PokéFlute?”

“Pretty much.”

I rubbed my temples. I could have made the argument that he bloody servants could go searching for the damn thing, but I wasn’t even going to try to fight this one. I just wanted to get this over with. “Where could he have gone?”

“H-he usually likes going into the grounds behind the palace,” the man sniffled.

“Sounds good, let’s go.” And with that, I turned tail and walked away. Honestly though, I catch Pokémon all the time. How hard could this possibly be?

* * *

Oh my God, I hate this thing.

I lunged forward to try to tackle the Furfrou from behind, but it noticed me too soon and dashed off. I landed on the hard ground and skidded into a bush for the third or fourth time. Sticks and leaves stuck in my hair, and I had to remove my hat to get them out. I was grumbling curses when Shauna tapped me on the shoulder.

“Um Lauren, I don’t think your method is working.”

“Really? I thought it was going along swimmingly.” I stood and brushed myself off. “And how would you suggest we do this?”

“Well, I think the poor thing’s just scared. And the way all these shrubs are planted kind of makes a maze. Maybe if we slowly approach it from different sides and back it into a corner, we can coax it to come back with us.”

“This thing runs away whenever I get near it. There’s no way that’ll work.”

* * *

Son of a bitch. It worked.

“There’s a good boy!” Shauna had the Furfrou lying on his back, panting happily and enjoying the belly run she was giving him. “You just got scared, that’s all. Aww, you’re just a sweetie!”

I clasped my hands together loudly. “Adorable. Now can we get that thing back to the palace so we can grab the flute and leave?”

“Of course.” She stood up and clapped her hands on her thighs excitedly. “Come on, boy. Let’s go inside!” The Furfrou barked happily and pranced alongside Shauna, tail wagging.

I rolled my eyes and followed them. I checked the sky and frowned. The sun was setting. I had been hoping to get back to Camphrier Town before dusk so we wouldn’t have to walk back in the dark, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen now.

The fancy man was overjoyed to see his beloved Pokémon, which is more than I can say for the Furfrou. He seemed to have taken a liking to Shauna, and it took a little encouragement from her to get it to approach its owner. The man smothered the Furfrou, who didn’t look altogether pleased to be manhandled.

“Oh Furfrou, I’ve missed you so much! Don’t you ever run off again, you had papa so worried! And now you’re completely off your schedule. We’ll have to get you back into the gym immediately so that you have time for your bath and dinner tonight.”

“Yeesh,” Shauna whispered to me. “I don’t think I’d like to have an owner like that if I were a Pokémon.”

I raised an eyebrow. Didn’t the Pokémon anime already do something like this?

“I can’t thank you enough for finding my precious Furfrou!” The man beamed at us.

Shauna smiled at him. “Of course, we were happy to help.”

“Well,” I murmured. “One of us was.”

“Now, about the PokéFlu—”

“I must reward you!” He grabbed both of us by the shoulders heartily. “I know! I’ll have my boys prepare a fireworks display as my thanks! My darling Furfrou just adores fireworks.”

Shauna and I tried to bring up the flute again, but the man was already too preoccupied giving orders to his servants for the fireworks arrangement. I sighed. Looks like I was stuck here much, much longer than I planned.

* * *

The group of us were gathered on the grand balcony that overlooked the gardens behind the palace. The sun had set and all my Pokémon had made themselves comfortable along the banner rail, except for little Phoebe, who had fallen asleep in my hand. Her flower rested on the ground next to me. I held the fairy close to myself and grinned. I couldn’t believe something so small and frail could actually put up a good fight. Phoebe hadn’t had as much training as the others, but when she got in the fray, she could pack quite the punch with that Fairy Wind attack of hers. Shauna leaned over and peered down at her.

“Aww, she’s so cute. You’re so lucky that you found a Flabébé,” she whispered.

“Actually, she sort of found me. I never did tell you how she saved us from a demonic Vivillon.”

“No, you didn’t.” Shauna’s eyes widened with worry. “What happened?”

“Well, it’s sort of a weird story.” I told Shauna how Mr. Flutters went crazy after he had reached his final evolution and possessed me and Saff to try and kill Alistair, and how Phoebe had somehow severed the hold he had on me. Shauna listened with a horrified expression. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Doc and Orchid come closer so they could hear about what happened before they joined the team.

“I’m so happy she was able to save you.” Shauna gulped. “I’d be so scared if anything happened to you or your Pokémon.”

I shrugged. “I was scared at the time, but afterwards I realized I shouldn’t have been too worried for myself. After all, I’m the Avatar, and the Avatar never dies in a Pokémon game. Like, ever. The worst thing that could happen to me is a blackout.”

Once again, Shauna looked at me like I was freaking Jesus. “Really? That’s so cool!”

“Alright, ladies!” A call came from one of the servants down in the gardens. “Are you ready for the show?”

We shouted our reply, then paused, afraid we had woken up Phoebe. The Flabébé stirred in my hand, but stayed asleep. I hoped the fireworks wouldn’t disturb her too much.

Soon the sky was alight with brilliant shades of blue, green, purple, gold, and silver. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been this close to fireworks. All of us had to crane our heads upward to see them. They looked as though they were exploding right in front of my face. I could feel every boom vibrate through my body. It was pretty cool.

As the show neared the finale, Shauna moved closer to me. “Um… you know… I’ve never watched fireworks alone with a girl before.”

“Hey, same here. I’ve always watched them with my family.”

“I know I’ll never forget these fireworks. Because… I watched them with you, Lauren.”

Red flag.

I whipped my head to see Shauna giving me the shy-girl smile with her hands clasped together at her side. She blushed and blinked a couple times.

What.

“Um… yeah!” I took a voluntary step away from her. “Same here. I mean, how can I forget watching fireworks with such a good friend?” I put as much emphasis on the word “friend” as I possibly could.

Shauna’s smile faded for a moment, but a fake giggle brought it back. She twirled her hair with her finger and looked back up at the fireworks. “Yeah… friends.”

I gulped. I didn’t realize how romantic this situation could seem. Now Calem’s words back in Café Soleil were making sense. Not sure I was going to handle this one…

After the show was over, the owner of the palace finally gave us the PokéFlute. As we were leaving, one of the butlers stopped me and handed me TM 17: Protect. He told me to use it wisely. I laughed and placed the TM back into this coat pocket.

“Yeah dude, I don’t know what you saw up there, but we’re not going to need any protection. But thanks anyway!”