As they wandered around town, Leyn and Leaf spotted a small house tucked along the street. Drawing closer, they noticed a sign hanging above it.
CreaMa Pastries
Peering inside, they saw that part of the shop had a small seating area where customers could rest and eat, while the front was an open display filled with various pastries—donuts, croissants, cinnamon rolls, and more.
"Leaf, do you want to go—?"
"Leyn, let's go to that shop."
They both laughed for a moment before heading straight toward the counter, where a middle-aged aunt was arranging pastries behind the display.
"Good afternoon, Aunty," Leyn greeted politely. "How much is one pastry?"
As he spoke, Leyn was already calculating the price in his head.
The aunt smiled warmly at the two of them. "Good afternoon, kids. It's not much—just twenty poké."
"All of them are twenty?" Leyn asked, surprised. He had expected the price to be closer to forty. After a moment of thought, he turned to Leaf. "Which one do you want? I'll pay—consider it a thank-you for coming with me to explore."
Leaf shook her head with a grin. "No need. I earned money from the show too, remember?"
The aunt blinked in surprise. "Wait… are you the kids who performed that show?"
"Yes, Aunty," Leyn replied, slightly embarrassed. "That was us. But how did you know? I don't remember seeing you there."
"Oh, I wasn't able to go," she said. "I had to watch the shop. But my husband and kids went, and when they came back, they wouldn't stop talking about it. My husband kept praising your performance too."
Leyn scratched his cheek, smiling shyly.
"Wow… that's kind of embarrassing to hear."
Leaf, who was also feeling a little embarrassed, smiled and said,
"Thank you, Aunt. I'll have the strawberry jam donut."
Seeing that Leaf had already ordered, Leyn nodded.
"Then I'll take one chocolate donut too."
He glanced down and noticed Pikachu staring intensely at the display, saliva practically dripping as his eyes followed one of the pastries.
"And one of those too, Aunty," Leyn added with a small laugh.
"Coming right up," Aunt Helga said cheerfully. "Oh, and by the way—just call me Aunt Helga. No need to be so formal."
She handed them a paper bag filled with pastries.
"Okay, Aunt Helga," Leyn and Leaf said together as they paid.
After handing Leaf her donut and giving Pikachu his treat, Leyn peeked inside the bag again and frowned slightly.
"Aunt Helga, I think there's a mistake," he said. "There are six extra chocolate munchkins in here."
Helga waved her hand dismissively.
"No, silly. Those are freebies. It's my way of saying thanks—my kids were really entertained by your show."
"Thank you, Aunt Helga!" Leyn and Leaf said happily.
"Pika pika!" Pikachu chirped in agreement.
"No problem," Helga replied with a smile.
They chatted with her for a short while as they enjoyed their pastries. Once they finished, the three of them waved goodbye.
"Goodbye, Aunt Helga!"
"Pika Pikachu!"
"Goodbye, kids. See you next time," Helga said warmly.
After leaving the pastry shop, they continued wandering around Pallet Town. They passed by a simple clothing store, then an appliance shop selling various household items. Farther down the road, they spotted a new building still under construction.
It was going to be a Pokémon Center.
The sight of the unfinished Pokémon Center surprised Leyn. He briefly wondered why they were only building one now, but quickly pushed the thought aside.
Continuing down the street, they soon came across several stalls selling food and fruit.
One was a fruit stand, and right beside it was a juice stall offering drinks made from various fruits.
"Leaf, I'm kind of thirsty," Leyn said. "Can we stop by the juice stand?"
"Yeah, let's go," Leaf replied. "Those munchkins were good, but now I'm feeling parched too."
After buying their drinks, Pikachu's ear suddenly twitched.
Leyn noticed immediately. "What's wrong, buddy? Did you sense something?"
"Pika pika pika."
Pikachu began miming someone—first spiking his hair, then putting on an exaggerated sneer, looking as arrogant as possible.
Leyn and Leaf exchanged looks.
"Pikachu… are you mirrori—" Leaf started, but she was interrupted.
"This is your fault! We could've been chilling at home if you hadn't pissed our sister off!"
"Me?! Wasn't it you who started the ruckus and got us both kicked out?!"
The voices answered their question for them.
Following the argument, the trio headed toward the sound. Sure enough, it was Blue and Gary, once again in the middle of a fight.
"HUH?!" Blue exclaimed, completely flabbergasted by his brother's accusation.
"Hey, guys," Leyn said quickly before things escalated. "Why are you arguing again?"
Hearing the familiar voice, both brothers turned around and paused when they saw Leyn, Leaf, and Pikachu.
"Oh, it's you three," Gary said. "What are you doing out in town?"
"Pikachu and I got bored at home," Leyn explained. "So we decided to explore. Leaf saw us heading out and joined in."
"Oh yeah," Blue said with a grin. "You've only been in Pallet Town for, what—two months? And Leaf's been here even less."
"Well… more or less," Leyn replied, not bothering to correct him.
"So where are you going next?" Gary asked, puffing out his chest slightly. "We can guide you around."
"That'd be great," Leyn said, glancing at the position of the sun. "We should still have time to visit a couple of places."
"Are there any interesting spots left?" Leaf asked, trying to remember.
"Yeah," Blue said. "There's the playground where kids battle and hang out. That leads into Oak Forest, and from here you can get to the beach behind town. Other than that, you've already been to the lab and the place where we performed."
"Okay lets go to the forest there should be enough time before the sunset to go there" leyn said as he make way for the two to guide them there.
"This way! This way!"
With Gary and Blue leading the way, they soon arrived at the playground. It was lively and spacious, filled with all kinds of toys. A cement battle arena sat at the center, while a slide stood off to the side.
Blue gestured around proudly. "Well, this place wasn't always here. It was built about two years ago. Back then, there really wasn't anywhere for kids to play. The only spot we had was the place where we performed."
Gary nodded and continued, "A lot of parents complained about that, so the people in town decided to build a proper place where kids could play—something meant just for us."
After passing through the playground, they entered Oak Forest.
Inside, the scenery changed. Tall oak trees surrounded them, their trunks thick and sturdy. There wasn't much grass, only small patches scattered between the roots.
This time, Gary was the one explaining.
"There aren't many Pokémon around here," he said. "This part of the forest is always full of people, so most Pokémon stay away. If you go deeper, though, you might find some."
Blue suddenly remembered something.
"Oh yeah. There's also a path that leads to the resting grounds of Fearow and Spearow," he added. "But it's not really used much anymore even back then."
Hearing their explanation made Leyn curious. Back then, when they explored the woods for clues, there had been many people with them so they couldn't explore that much.
"Hmm… what was that?"
Leyn could have sworn he saw a floating pink figure near the trees. At the same time, Pikachu stiffened, its ears twitching as if it sensed something watching them.
"What is it, Leyn?" Leaf asked, noticing how he suddenly turned his head. "Pikachu too—why are you both looking over there?"
Blue glanced back and frowned when he saw them frozen in place.
"What are you three doing? Why aren't you moving?"
"I swear something moved over there," Leyn said, pointing slightly. "Even Pikachu felt like we were being watched."
"Pika—Pikachu."
Pikachu nodded firmly.
Leaf and Blue exchanged confused looks, trying to make sense of what they were saying, when a voice suddenly spoke up behind them.
"Hey, are you guys messing with me or something?" Gary said, annoyed. "Why are you all just standing around?"
Leaf turned toward him and explained, "Leyn and Pikachu suddenly looked over there."
She pointed at a particularly large tree.
"Leyn said he saw a figure, and Pikachu felt like someone was watching us."
Gary froze.
"T-Then let's leave. Right now," he said quickly. "There might be a ghost here!"
Blue burst out laughing. "Why are you scared of ghosts? If you're like this now, how are you going to deal with Pokémon like Gastly?"
"That's different!" Gary shouted back. "Let's go now, or I'm leaving you all here!"
"Okay, okay," Leyn said quickly, stepping in before they could start fighting. "Let's go. It was probably just my imagination… and Pikachu might've been too sensitive."
The group started walking again, with Gary taking the lead this time.
Back at the tree Leaf had pointed to, a small pink figure hovered quietly. It watched them leave, looking almost amused, before slowly drifting away into the forest.