The Adventures of Darren Cassidy - Chapter Six, Part Two - Midweek Action

Mr Kana took the Full Incense outside and closed the door when he entered. He then retrieved a beige and cream bowl from his shelves and lit that.

‘Which of you three would like to comment on the use of Lax Incense?’

‘It smells great…’ Leslie said. ‘I don’t mean it makes you sleepy, like the Full Incense, but it smells really nice. I wouldn’t mind burning this in our house.’

‘Miss Le Chatelier is the only provider of incense in the village, so you’ll want to drop by her shop, then. Any other comments?’

‘The beguiling aroma of Lax Incense may cause attacks to miss the holder,’ Minerva replied, her eyes no longer drooping.

‘Awake enough to quote from the textbook, I see,’ Mr Kana said, winking. “But yes, Lax Incense simply reduces the accuracy of attacks against the holder. As with the Full Incense, though, you shouldn’t use it without being accustomed to the fragrance, otherwise you’ll suffer more than your opponent will.’

Mr Kana carried the incense around the class, letting each of the trio smell it one last time, before taking it outside as well. When he returned, he retrieved another bowl of incense from his shelves – a gold one with a cyan handle and legs.

‘The purpose of Luck Incense is so glaringly obvious, I’m not even going to bother explaining it. You can start making notes on these three incenses, but take particular care to mention the side-effects of prolonged use of Luck Incense, since many neglected that and paid the price. If you are done before the rest of the class has caught up, you may begin with Pure Incense in the meantime.’

‘What about Odd Incense, sir?’ Minerva asked. ‘It’s mentioned between Luck and Pure Incense.’

‘Due to the nature of Odd Incense, I decided to save that for last.’

‘Oh, I see.’

The Medicham proceeded to light the Luck Incense, and almost immediately, Darren, Minerva, and Leslie wrinkled their noses and turned their faces away from the bowl.

‘Yuck!’ Darren exclaimed. ‘People must be really desperate if they’re willing to endure that…’

‘The trick with Luck Incense is that you should only use it when it smells bad to you. The moment you start getting used to it, you must discontinue its use.’

‘It’s as if the makers warn the users against tempting fate,’ Minerva said, her voice muffled from holding a handkerchief over her muzzle.

‘Very philosophical, but probably true,’ Mr Kana agreed. ‘Then again, incense was created in the east by priests of Shaymin, so I’m not surprised.

‘But Rose Incense was patented by an Aromatisse,’ Minerva pointed out. ‘Her family had been producing it for generations by the time eastern incense was first imported here.’

‘Actually, that particular aerosol was just perfume. The concerned Aromatisse only made incense with a similar fragrance after she heard of the priests’ innovation.’

Minerva frowned, but accepted the teacher’s answer anyway. Meanwhile, Darren had begun shaking Aiden in attempt to wake him up, but to no avail. The Growlithe simply licked his lips and slept on. Rolling his eyes, Darren turned to Tyler instead and repeated the process, that time with more success.

The Axew started stretching, but he abruptly stopped and cringed. ‘Who died?’ he asked, moving as far away from the incense as he could without falling out of his desk.

‘You, by the smell of things,’ Malcolm responded from the back of the class, unfurling from his rolled up position.

‘Your trash-talking would make a Garbodor proud,’ Tyler retorted, yawning.

‘As much as we enjoy your squabbling,’ Mr Kana interrupted, ‘I’d prefer it if you two started catching up.’

The two grumbled, but complied. Darren turned back to Aiden and began shaking his friend again, but it was an exercise in futility. Giving up, he opened his books and began taking notes.

‘Nicole.’ Minerva stared at her friend intently, as if that alone would be enough to wake her up. ‘Nicole. Hey, Nicole!’

‘Leave me alone, I’m sleeping,’ the Ponyta murmured.

‘That’s the problem – you’re missing work.’

‘Mmm-hmm.’

‘You’re also drooling on your desk.’

‘Gross!’

Nicole jerked her head up, quickly wiping her mouth against her foreleg. Minerva offered her handkerchief, which her friend used to wipe away the little puddle on her desk.

Aiden and Seamus woke some time later, but it took ten minutes of combined shaking from Tyler, Leslie, and Malcolm to get Duncan to start writing the work down. Everyone worked in silence for a while, but then Mr Kana lit the Pure Incense and explained that the scent of the core ingredient, Engima Berry, deterred wild Pokémon. Afterwards, he discussed Rock and Rose Incense before lighting two other bowls of incense and allowing them to burn simultaneously.

‘Won’t that affect the smell?’ Darren asked, eyeing the blue bowls (which were dark blue with circular patterns and cyan with wave patterns, respectively) suspiciously. He had caught a whiff of the combined aromas from the bowls outside, and it was queer and unpleasant.

‘You tell me.’

Darren sniffed the air, waiting for the different scents to reach him, but he could only smell the wavy bowl’s aroma. ‘I can’t smell the Sea Incense, sir.’

‘Why not?’

‘I don’t know, I just… can’t.’

Mr Kana held the concerned bowl in front of Darren. ‘How about now?’

‘Still nothing.’

‘And you still don’t know why?’ Mr Kana looked hopeful.

‘Sorry, sir, but no, I don’t.’

The teacher looked disappointed. ‘Would anyone other than Aiden and Minerva–’ the Vulpix lowered her paw dejectedly, ‘–like to guess?’

‘Only a Water type can tell the difference between Sea and Wave Incense,’ Leslie answered.

‘That’s right! The Azurill and… Oh dear, it seems I forgot what you call the baby form of that Water Pokémon that has large fins and can fly, with a Remoraid attached to it. Hold on, I’ll remember it… Err, never mind. The point is,’ he continued, quelling Nicole’s giggling with his gaze, ‘those two evolutionary lines can smell this difference more distinctly than any other Pokémon, but the smell amplifies the damage done by all Water type attacks equally.’

Shaking his head and muttering to himself, Mr Kana removed the two bowls from his class and lit the last one – a purple, lavender and magenta bowl. He noticed Minerva was itching to explain, so he nodded at her.

‘Odd Incense possesses, as the name suggests, a very peculiar aroma. Its creators are extremely protective of the recipe, since even with it, it is impossible to identify the ingredients. Its most common uses are for boosting any Pokémon’s mental abilities, which is why Psychic types often use it to increase the power of their attacks.

‘This is also why you have left it until last, sir; our improved concentration will allow us to finish writing down the last notes in the limited time we have left of the period.’

‘And that concludes the class,’ Mr Kana announced, smiling at the Vulpix. He took his seat behind his desk and continued with other work. (Darren never knew what that other work was, but he assumed it was administration, since the teachers always complained about that when asked out on it. Whenever he asked his friends about it, Aiden simply shrugged, while Tyler answered “secret teacher stuff”.)

When the bell finally rang, Darren felt that he would never be able to forget the uses of those nine types of incense for the rest of his life. He pointed it out to Aiden, but Minerva mentioned that was the whole point.

‘Has anyone noticed how fast she walks?’ Tyler asked.

‘Why?’ Aiden frowned.

‘It’s as if she deliberately waits a bit longer after class just so she could pass us by and comment on our conversations. Doesn’t she know it’s rude to eavesdrop?’

‘Your random observations never cease to… well, I’d say “amaze me”, but I’m not sure that’s the right verb.’

‘It would actually be appropriate, since my logic is like a maze that nobody but me can navigate.’

Aiden opened his mouth to retort, but after a couple of seconds, he closed it again. ‘Huh, that actually makes sense.’

‘You two are weird,’ Darren teased.

‘We’re like two peas in a pod!’ Tyler laughed, slinging his arm around Aiden and pulling him closer. ‘Like Wailords.’

‘That’s too random not to be a quote.’

‘It actually is.’