The sky was bright blue, fluffy white clouds lazily drifted through the air as the sun’s warm yellow rays illuminated the land below. The wind blew softly, carrying the gentle sound of rustling leaves and the smells of the forest. Another summer’s day in Beutop Town.
Beutop was a small middle-of-nowhere town that sat comfortably within a massive forest clearing. Its residents were few and its visitors fewer, with some traveling merchants looking to trade goods here and there or the occasional Rescue Team looking to pick up supplies. Most of the town’s business came from the Beutop Guild. And while humble, it was home to many talented members.
One such member, a Mienshao, was sitting by herself on a bench near the edge of town. She was gazing down at her swollen abdomen, with a paw resting atop. Pregnant, and quite a ways along. She had just had a checkup at the local doctors and was now waiting for her partner to return from his foraging trip. She glanced behind her at the path going into the forest.
“You’d be back by now…” she thought to herself, “where are you?”
Her ears perked up as she heard the sound of footsteps approaching behind her, then a voice called out, “Heya, Suz!”
Suzume turned around. Approaching her was a Zoroark, waving at her with a big beaming smile. Under his other arm was a basket filled to the brim with berries. Suzume smiled. “There you are, Lea! I was starting to think you’d wandered off to Plumburg!”
“Sorry to keep you two waiting! I took a little detour this time around.” Lea chuckled. He placed the basket to one side of Suzume, then he sat down at the other. “So how’d the check up go?”
“So I noticed! Well–” her gaze returned to her belly, “–Audery said everything sounded fine! She said we should be due any day now, and set up another appointment for next week just in case.” She gently moved her paw around her belly. “I… still can’t believe we’ll finally get to meet our kid soon…”
“Yeah I know… it’s wild.” Lea reached over and gently placed his hand on her belly. “Just about nine months of waiting, and it’s almost over!”
Suzume smiled softly, “It still doesn’t feel real…”
Lea smiled slyly, “You sure? Pretty sure ‘gravity’ would like to have a word!”
“Oh haha. Very funny, funny man!” Suzume said dryly, “You don’t gotta remind me. But I’ve been handling it pretty well!” With a smug look, she leaned closer to Lea, “Or do I have to kick you in the head again to prove it?”
Lea laughed, “Sorry, couldn’t help it! But I’m guessing you’re excited to be able to get back to normal training?”
“Oh like you wouldn’t believe! I’ve been itching to get back out and do some guild work!” Suzume said with a big sigh. “And to think we might be able to go on jobs as a family one day!” She looked at the basket sitting next to her, “So anyway, what did you get this time?”
“The usual, mostly. Some Rawst berries for me, some Pecha, Nanab, and Leppa Berries for you, Oran Berries for the two of you, and as always some Custap Berries for all of us—“ he pointed to a large green and pink berry— “then that right there is a Watmel Berry! You’re gonna have to wait till we get home to eat that one. It’s pretty much just an imitation watermelon.”
“And did you get some Micle Berries?” Suzume asked. “Pleaaaase tell me you got some!”
Lea laughed, “Don’t worry I did! Although if you’re gonna mix ‘em in with the Custap pudding, could you warn me this time? I know your cravings ask for some weird stuff, but that tops ‘em all.”
Suzume scoffed, “Oh come on, it’s not all cravings! Micle berries are so dry they manage to come back around to being sweet! Especially when you mix them in with Custap pudding!”
“Yeah well cravings or not, you still can’t convince me that tastes any good,” Lea groaned.
“Well anyway,” Suzume giggled, “what else did you get?”
“Ehhh well other than that, just some veggies we can cook up for lunch. Was thinking about making soup so I grabbed some leeks, onions, mushrooms, yadda yadda yadda…” Lea said with a chuckle.
“That sounds delicious! Awww… I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!” Suzume’s eyes were alight with hunger as she spoke.
Lea laughed, “Well if you think that sounds good, what till you get a load of this!” Suzume turned back to Lea, tilting her head inquisitively. He held out his hand, and with a dramatic flourish he said, “My dear… behold!”
With that a puff of smoke came out of his open palm, and in it appeared a strange black berry, with curly white markings running along the sides. Suzume stared in awe. “Whoaaaa, what is that?” She asked.
“This—“ Lea placed the berry in her hands, “—is an Enigma Berry!”
“Enigma Berry? Never heard of that.” Suzume said.
“I had only seen ‘em in foraging guides till now! Didn’t I’d ever find one in my lifetime, but here we are!” He wrapped his arm around Suzume’s shoulder, “And lemme tell ya hun, you would not believe the stuff I’ve read about these things! They’ve got a really strong kick to ‘em at first, but then they taste like the thing you want the most!”
Suzume’s eyes widened along with her smile, “You’re kidding!”
“Oh it gets even better! Apparently it changes with every bite! This little guy can satisfy your wildest cravings, even the ones you didn’t even know you had! And to top it off they’re supposedly really good for your health! Heck, legend has it that if you eat a thousand of these things, you’ll become immortal!”
“That’s… that’s amazing!” Suzume’s eyes sparkled with delight as she looked at the berry. “Where did you even find this?”
“Aha so… I didn’t exactly find it. I picked it up from Barney’s shop on the way here!”
“Barney had a berry for sale? How’d he get that?” Suzume asked.
“He got it out of a chest some Guild member from another town dropped off a while back. Apparently they thought there wasn’t going to be anything worth much in it so they just up and sold it to him. Boy were they wrong! Barns was over the moon about it when I got to his shop! He was going on and on about how he was gonna make a fortune farming them!”
“Wow you got that stubborn old Diggersby to just give it to you? How did you manage to…” Suzume’s voice trailed off as she turned to face him. Her gaze had focused on his neck. “Wait… where’s your—“ she stopped as her eyes widened in horror. She slowly looked up at Lea and quietly said, “You didn’t.”
Lea took his hand off her shoulder and began to nervously rub the back of his neck. “O-oh! You uh, noticed that! S-so funny you ask, Barney wasn’t actually going to give it up at first—“
“Lea…”
“—and he was going on about how rare it was and ‘You ain’t gonna find something like this at yer local farmer’s market, I tell you hwat!’ So I asked him how much was, he said it wasn’t for sale—“
“Lea…”
“—and I thought ‘Hey, this is a pawn shop,’ so I figured I could just—“
“LEA!!! You sold your lucky charm for a berry?!” Suzume shouted. “A single berry that you’re not even going to eat!”
Lea sheepishly turned away and muttered, “Funny, that’s exactly what Barney said…” he quickly turned back and put his hands up, “B-but hey hey for the record I didn’t sell it! I-it’s collateral!”
Suzume blinked. “…what…?”
“Yeah I gave him my lucky charm, and as long as I bring back the pit, we’ll be even!”
“…so he… loaned you a berry?”
“Yup!”
Suzume paused, then shook her head. “So… why didn’t he just give you the berry at that point?”
“Funny that’s what I said, but he said something about ‘Can’t have every Tom, Dick and Harry throwing around their priceless belongings’ and how ‘He’s not running a charity’ and stuff like that. Honestly I kinda stopped listening when he started spewing business jargon.”
Suzume crossed her arms and gave him a concerned look, “So if he would have bought it, you would have sold it?”
“I mean it’s not like he said yes!” Lea said with a big smile. Suzume cocked an eyebrow. He laughed nervously as he shrank into his shoulders and shrugged slightly, “I mean I’d have bought it back eventually if he did?” He said meekly.
Suzume sighed, and put a paw on her forehead. “Lea… that was just stupid.”
“Well… yeah kindaaa… But hey! It worked out didn’t it?”
“That’s not the- Oh, never mind. In any case—“ Suzume leaned forward and kissed Lea on the cheek. “—I appreciate it. I really really do.” She smiled softly.
Lea’s blushed, “Awww shucks hun! Ahem, but I-I guess I outta get the pit out now?”
“Yes. Please.” Suzume handed back the berry. “It’s going to drive me nuts if we don’t take care of this now.”
Lea began inspecting the berry, turing it over a few times trying to figure out where the pit might be. “I’m kinda nervous to cut into it… maybe the little bulb at the top…?” He grabbed the bulb and began to gently twist it. It only took a little effort before it came off with a ‘pop!’, and out came a pale white pit. “Hah! It’s like a little exclamation point! Cute!” He placed the pit into his travel kit behind him, then turned to Suzume, handed her the berry, and said, “Alright, moment of truth!”
“Alright… here goes nothing!” Suzume said as she excitedly took a big bite out of it!
“Sooooooo…? How is it?” Lea asked, sitting on the edge of the bench.
“Hoo! You weren’t kidding!” Suzume put a paw to her mouth. “It really does have a kick to it!” Her chewing slowed down as she tried to pick out what flavor she was tasting. “Okay… I think I’m getting something…” her eyes lit up in excitement, “Onion Mushroom Soup! With some hints of Custap Pudding and Micle Berries!”
Lea stifled a gag, “Eugh… barf…” he muttered under his breath.
“Oh! I’ve got something else it’s—“ she stopped chewing, and looked down at her mouth confused, “—…sand?”
Lea stared at her in disbelief. “Wh- seriously?”
“Y-yeah it’s—“ Suzume chewed once, “—kind of got a crunch to it? And sort of tastes like how the ocean smells?” The two sat in silence for a moment. Then they burst out laughing.
“Okay I gotta admit I wasn’t expecting something like that!” Lea wiped a tear from his eye. “So what do you think you’re gonna taste like this time?” Suzume went to take another bite, but stopped right before it went in her mouth. She looked at the berry for a moment, before turning to Lea and moved to hand it to him. Lea put his hands up, “Whoa no no no no, that’s all for you hun!”
Suzume gave him a playful smile, “You’re curiooooous~!”
Lea chucked, “No I’m not—“
“Yes you aaaare~!”
“No I’m—“
“Try it!”
“No—“
“Try iiiit!”
“I’m not gonna-“
“Try iiiiiiiiit! It’ll be fun~!”
“Alright alright!” Lea relented with a smile. “But I’m only taking a tiny bite out of it!” Suzume head the berry up to his mouth, and he nibbled on the edge of it.
“Soooo… what’d you get?” Suzume asked in singsong tone.
“Yeeeouch!” Lea winced at the sudden pain in his tongue. “Jeez, that's a sharp kick! No wonder the foraging guides said it’s got the power of the stars, it feels like I bit into a fireball!” Lea coughed a little, but eased up as the spiciness wore off. “Oop! Something’s coming in… tastes like… oh nice! A Combee Honey treat! With MooMoo Milk? And cinnamon? Sweet!”
“Worth it, huh?”
“Mmhmmm!” Lea had closed his eyes and placed his hands on his cheeks as he savored the taste.
Suzume giggled, “Alright well, I’m gonna finish the rest of this!” And with that, she popped the last remaining piece of the Enigma Berry into her mouth. She winced at the spicy kick, then she slowed down to identify the flavor. “Hah! Same thing you’ve got! A Combee Honey treat with—“ she stopped for a moment, “—…sand again.”
“…okay are you messing with me?” Lea asked.
“No, I’m not!” Suzume laughed.
“This your way of telling me I should pick up a salt shaker filled with beach sand?” Lea teased.
Suzume laughed, “Don’t even think about it!”
“Kidding! Kidding! But jokes aside–” Lea began to stand up, “–I think we oughta make our way home! Soups gonna take awhile and I know you’re pretty hungry–”
Suzume quickly grabbed his wrist, “Whoa whoa whoa! Hold your Horseas buster! We’re not going home just yet!” She pulled herself up off the bench, “We’re going to need to ‘take a little detour this time around’ as you put it.”
Lea tilted his head confused, “Wait what do you mean?”
“We’re going to swing by Barney’s, we’re going to return that pit you borrowed, and we’re getting your lucky charm back. Now.”
“Awww come on Suz!” Lea whined. “We’ve got all day to do that, there’s no reason to rush—“
“Ututututut!” Suzume put a finger to his lips. “Don’t start with that! We’re doing this now rather than later, cause Arceus knows you’re going to forget if we don’t.”
Lea chuckled, “Alright alright, point taken!” Suzume let go of Lea’s wrist, and he picked the basket up off the bench. “I just hope Barns doesn’t talk our ears off…” The two started to walk back into town.
Suzume smiled, “Here’s an idea hun, let me do the talking this time.”
—End—
