Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Stars

Chapter 5

As the duo reached town, they saw various Pokémon working on a building of some sort while a Braxien stood in front of the building entrance watching with a grin on her face. Skittle walked up to the Braxien and tilted her head as she asked, "Um... Excuse me miss... You wouldn't happen to know if this building is going to be the café, would you?"

The Braxien turned and smiled at Skittle, "Why yes, it is! And I am the one who's running the drink bar part of it.... Well, technically the whole café but I'll be working at the drink bar so.... Yeah." She then let out a small sigh before saying, "My name's Kyubi by the way. You two are from the Crystal Guild, right?"

Skittle nodded, "Yep! We were hoping to find out where the café would be in town but seeing all the work being done, I'm guessing you chose a while ago, huh?"

"Yep," Kyubi said, "I was in town a while back. You see, when I heard about Project P, I knew I just had to help somehow so I decided to set up a café in this town, not just for Exploration Teams and Project P but for any Pokémon that wishes to relax here. My biggest wish is to see Pokémon smile and I figure this is a nice way to do so."

"That's rather nice of you," Zero said.

Kyubi smiled, "I'm glad you think so. I do hope to see you two at the café when it opens."

Skittle nodded and looked at Zero, "Come on Zero, let's head to the bank and drop off some of our Poke." Zero nodded and the duo headed off to the bank. When they reached the bank, they saw a grey, cat-like Pokémon at the bank counter depositing some money. When Zero and Skittle approached, the grey Pokémon caught sight of them and their badge. Scoffing, she turned and looked at them, "Would you look at that... A shiny that's teammates with an albino.... I never thought I'd see the day. What did the pale thing do to achieve that? Blackmail you?"

"What...? No," Zero said, confused, "I chose to be her partner...." He noticed Skittle glancing away from Zero and the grey Pokémon and was about to speak more till he heard the grey Pokémon's condescending laugh, "You chose? Dear, don't you know you'll be cursed with bad luck because of that? You could surely choo--" The Pokémon was interrupted by Lily slamming her front paws down on the counter, her eyes cold and piercing.

"Listen here miss," Lily hissed, "You may not think much of albinos but to me Pokémon are Pokémon no matter the pigment of their fur. Now then, I'd like it if you'd respect others while at my bank no matter if they are an albino or shiny but if you won't, kindly take that ego and condescending tone of yours and leave. Now." The grey Pokémon looked at Lily as if she was offended by Lily and left. Lily then sighed and looked at Zero, "I'm sorry if I startled you Zero... I couldn't stand by and let her talk about Skittle like that..."

"It's fine," Zero said, glancing at Skittle before looking back at Lily, "But why was that Pokémon so rude to Skittle? It was like she thought Skittle was a freak of nature..."

"She may have...." Lily said with a sigh, "It's a thought that many Pokémon share too sadly..."

"Why?" Zero asked, "If it's because of her fur color, aren't I a freak too due to my fur color too?"

Lily shook her head, "No. You're a shiny and many Pokémon see them as bringers of good luck while they see albinos as bringers of bad luck.... Because of that, they never really try to get to know who albinos really are and it's sad...."

Zero looked at Skittle before saying, "Well.... It doesn't matter what the color of Skittle's fur is because she's my friend and I'll stick with her no matter what."

Skittle smiled and brushed Zero's side as she walked over to the counter, "Thanks Zero. That means a lot to me."

Lily smiled and returned her front paws to the stool she was sitting on behind the counter, "Well then, on a much happier note... Welcome to the Persian Bank! How may I help you today?"

Skittle smiled and placed a small amount of Poke on the counter, "We'd like to deposit this please."

Lily took the Poke and placed in a early big container that was empty before looking at Skittle and saying with a purr, "Done. I shall guard this money jealousy. You now have 300 Poke in your account."

"Thank you Lily," Skittle said as she turned to Zero, "Come on Zero, let's head back to the guild so we can get ourselves a job off the board. We should be good on items for it."

Zero nodded and looked at Lily as he followed Skittle to the market, "Bye Lily!"

"So long you two!" Lily called out as the duo walked away, "Good luck with whatever job you choose!"

As the duo walked back to the guild, Zero looked at Skittle, "Say, Skittle? Why did you deposit off all the Poke that we got from the mission yesterday? Wouldn't we have needed it if we were going to buy some items from the market...?"

Skittle looked at Zero and smiled, "Well, yes but we still have about 250 Poke that we found while we were going through the dungeons so I figured it be best if we put the reward money in a safe place for if we need it later."

"Oh.... Okay," Zero said, "That makes sense." Skittle nodded and the two walked into the guild and over to the job board. This time, Skittle chose two missions that took place on Mt Bristle, a rescue and delivery, both of them fairly easy and on floors close to each other. The duo then made their way to Mt Bristle and began to climb the mountain dungeon, soon rescuing the Pokémon in need. After that, they made their way through the Dungeon a bit more before meeting the Pokémon they were to deliver an item to, said item being a Pecha Berry. Afterwards, the three Pokémon were warped back to the guild were Zero and Skittle got their rewards, a Reviver Seed and 100 Poke. Soon after, the duo ate in the mess hall before returning to their room for the night. As they lay in their beds, Skittle let out a sigh, "Zero? You up?"

Zero opened his eyes and looked at Skittle, "Yeah, why?"

"I wanted to tell you why I was shaken by what the Pokémon at the bank said," Skittle said, "Most Albino Pokémon usually would be used to stuff like that and, while they are hurt by it, they have an easier time not showing the pain they feel from those words.... Not me. Mom and dad, not to mention Auntie Khan and Lily, they raised me to not be defined by what other Pokémon thought about Albinos... They didn't want me to be defined by those ideas.... And for that, I'm grateful.... Maybe if they didn't raise me like that, I wouldn't be here today.... Maybe I would've given up because of those ideas.... But mom always said that things happen for a reason so... It's for the best they did what they did. And even though I did hear hurtful things like what that Pokémon said before we met Zero, I wasn't going to give up because I was raised to be the best I could be, no matter what others thought, they taught me I'm perfect the way I am and I should chase my dreams. And I will, no matter what..." Skittle let out a soft yawn, "We better get some sleep... We have to work tomorrow after all...." She closed her eyes and fell asleep while Zero stayed up and thought about what Skittle had said. It didn't seem far that she was hated for her fur color while he was accepted for his. It just wasn't right that her pale fur made her a freak to others. It was a sad truth that such things happen. He let out a sigh before yawning as well. He pushed all of his thoughts out of his head and closed his eyes, falling to sleep soon after where the strange, rhythmic beeping from nights before returned only to end moments before he woke the next morning. When he did, he sat up and saw that Skittle was already awake and ready to go.

"I'm guessing I slept in a little, huh?" He asked as he stood up and stretched.

Skittle smiled, "Just a little... But not too late so don't worry." She then turned to walk out of the room, "Come on, let's get to work." Zero nodded and followed Skittle to the main room so they could start the day.