A PMD fic that follows the lives of 3 Pokémon (Shroomsworth the Breloom, Rhodes the Sneasel, and Robyn the Sableye) as they live peacefully in Falae Town (hopefully)
It had been a week since the Gen-Aroma Store had been redesigned into a building/market stand hybrid, and to say business had been booming would've been an understatement. Just as Shroomsworth had predicted, lots more Pokémon of different types and sizes were approaching the store and were able to make their purchases easily and effortlessly, but also taking their amusement witnessing the funny speaking Breloom for the first time. Whatever's the case, it was just as the store workers had anticipated, if not more than they expected.
Both Lavender and Shroomsworth were enjoying the profits they were raking in. There was so much money that it would take forever for Lavender to sort it all by herself. Thankfully, she knew someone she could trust to help her with such a menial task.
She creeked the door slightly open until she was able to see Shroomsworth in view, taking up the counter as he's always done. He was just finishing up transactions with his final customer of the day, a polka dot bow-wearing Psyduck buying her usual order of Persim berries.
"Pleasure doing business with you."
Such a sweet voice ringed her ears. She's heard him send off a deal many a time with words like those, but the way he said it never made it grow stale. Just another one of the many things she thought made him such a good employee. She cleared her throat to make her presence known, enough to catch the Breloom's attention.
"Hey, Shroomsworth." She began, sounding but a bit nervous. "When you and Flint are done closing up for the night, can you help me sort all this Poké?"
"Of course, Ms. Meadows. I would love to." He spoke with calmness, but also with enthusiasm, like he has been looking forward to such a question ever since he was employed.
"Great! I'll meet you in my office. And Flint, you can go home now."
After Lavender closed the door, Flint would leave the stall shortly afterwards, leaving Shroomsworth by himself. It wasn't unusual for Flint to leave early, it's been the status quo since he was hired. And Shroomsworth was more than content with closing the store by himself, doing any cleaning, gathering all the day's profits, counting inventory, and making sure the doors on the stall and into the storage room were locked up nicely by the newly installed sliding wooden board locks.
After everything was check and all was said and done, Shroomsworth grabbed the bag of profits and made his way through the break room. It was the same small room as it was before, circular table, small kitchen area, cabinets, and now with an emergency exit on the left side. The door to Lavender's office also received an upgrade, now sporting a stone ring for anyone to knock with.
Not that Shroomsworth needed that ring. He tapped his free clawed hand on the door, but before he could announce his presence, Lavender spoke up.
"Come in!"
Shroomsworth opened the door and stepped inside. He'd never been in Lavender's office before this point, so he was very surprised to see how small it was. Purple striped walls with a wooden baseboard, a small, fancy dark wood desk that was just Lavender's height, a small desk off to the right side with various equipment for making fragrances, and a door on the left side with a plaque that read "Bedroom" (it was common for stores to have bedrooms for their owners).
And there was Lavender, sitting on her large pink-cushioned throne like the little queen of the store she is. Her hands lay rest on her lap, and her eyes peered up at the looming Breloom as her head remained still. She looked so innocent just sitting there, it added a lot to Shroomsworth's surprise that he had to pause for a second to really take it all in.
"You finished closing shop?" she asked, breaking the silence and bringing Shroomsworth back into reality.
"Yes, Ms. Meadows. I made sure everything was clean and the stock had been counted." Shroomsworth approached the purple cushioned seat in front of the desk and slowly lowered himself upon it, his body wlowly sunk into the soft cushion as he sat down. He then gently placed the bag of Poké on the counter and, with his other clawed hand, lifted the end of the bag up to pour out all of the coins inside. "I Ms.ed counting the day's profits."
"Really?" Lavender grabbed a Poké from the pile and took a look at it."You enjoy doing this?" She didn't have the same amount of enthusiasm for this tedious task that Shroomsworth did.
"I have always looked forward to counting Poké after a day of sales." Shroomsworth followed along with Lavender and picked up a few Poké to look at for himself. "Do you not enjoy counting profits?"
"Not really." Lavender set the coin aside and looked down at the pile again. "No matter how I do it, it such a slog to do by myself."
Shroomsworth knew where Lavender was coming from. Counting all that money did take a while, especially with larger amounts of Poké. And with no one there to help pass the time, she had perfect reason to see it as a chore.
"I understand that sentiment." Shroomsworth was picking coins off his claws and setting them in their appropriate piles, one of the two speedy processes he found worked with his clawed hands. After sorting the coins he was holding, he looked up at Lavender and gave her a small smile. "Well, I would not mind counting coin daily with you. What do you say?"
Lavender's interest was immediately piqued as soon as Shroomsworth made the offer, surprise now overtaking the dull, uninterested expression she once had.
"Really? You wouldn't mind the constant smell?" she asked. Of course, her ever-present aromas were a major concern for her, just as they had been for a lot of things. She knew he'd stuck by with her despite these scents sticking around her, but she was still afraid of him growing sick of it, that he might never want to get near her again.
"Do not worry. I have grown used to the aroma." Shroomsworth said, his smile never faltering. "It's quite pleasant."
That was the best response Lavender could have ever wanted to hear. The compliment was just the rawst berry on top. She didn't know how big her smile was at that moment, just that she knew she was happy from hearing Shroomsworth's answer and that was enough for her.
"Thank you. I really appreciate it." She felt her heart beating once more. Why? It was just counting profits. Counting profits with her trusted employee, of course. Nothing wrong with that.
It felt much better when Shroomsworth was counting with her. Talking to him really helped pass the time, turning what was, to her, a tedious task into a rather pleasant experience. Before she knew it, all the coins were sorted and accounted for, even double checked by Shroomsworth himself. After that, he would be the one to announce how much they had, and they made a lot of money that day.
Lavender had seen around this much Poké in the past few days, but she still couldn't believe she was making this much money from sales. She didn't do it alone, though. No, if it weren't for Shroomsworth's help, his encouragement for selling those fragrances again, and his wisdom on how to attract more business with that much more accessible stall, she would likely be making the same small amount of money as before.
She had the feeling she wanted to make it up to the Breloom, but she didn't have that many ideas on how she could do that. There was only one thing that could work. She counted and took a few Poké from the sorted pile from the sorted pile and slid them across her desk towards Shroomsworth.
"Here." She almost sounded bashful when she spoke, but she did her best to remain professional. "You've been such a big help to me and my store. I think you deserve a bonus as a thanks from me to you."
"My pleasure." He said, taking the coins from her. "It is my pleasure to see this store grow in sales, and I can't wait for it to grow even more."
It was then, while Lavender was putting the coins in her desk, that an idea had struck her. Something like this would've required much more observation and thought, but it was really clear that Shroomsworth knew what he was doing. He ran his own stand before. He'll be fine.
"Well, Ms. Meadows. I think this calls for a celebration, what do you say we go have ourselves an exquisite meal?" he asked.
Wait, was this like him asking out her for dinner? She could feel her heart pumping once more. It was just a commemoration for making all this profit, right? Yeah, that had to be it. Just a simple celebration amongst co-workers. She'll just have to ask him the proposition along the way. But first, she had to even get there in the first place, and Shroomsworth was just starting to wait.
"Sure, that sounds lovely- I mean, that sounds nice." She quickly got out of her chair before Shroomsworth could get another word out. "I could go for something fancy myself. Haven't done so in a while, especially with how expensive it is. You get me?"
"I know that all too well. You won't have to worry about me spending too much." Shroomsworth put a claw up to his chest and smiled reassuringly.
"You don't have to do that. Go ahead and treat yourself to something nice." As Lavender spoke, she circled around her desk until she stopped right by the Breloom's side.
"I assure you I will, Ms. Meadows." Shroomsworth then approached the door and opened it, stepping aside to show her out. "Now then, shall we?"
"Such a gentleman..." she muttered under her breath as she stepped out of her office. She waited for Shroomsworth to follow her out and close the door before the two would head out the building, through the alternative exit, and begin making their way to the café.
...
The café was much more filled than usual, no doubt another result of the increase in sales. There was a lot of light chatter from denizens and visitors from other towns alike, more than what Lavender was used to, but Shroomsworth was familiar with it.
Lavender hoped her little corner of the café was vacant for them. Normally, the café had rules on letting Pokémon like her have their accessible areas, but there were times where Pokémon didn't know that and sat down anyway, prompting her to either request them to let her have her special seat or, in the rare cases they didn't, have the café workers force them out. Thankfully, that wasn't the case, and she breathed a small, quiet sigh of relief.
After taking their orders at the front counter, they would take their seats at the little "Aromatisse Area", Shroomsworth would pull the chair out for her as was tradition at that point, and the two would then pass the time with a bit of small talk, started by Lavender.
"It's been a while since I've treated myself to something nice like this." She brushed the fur of her dress before placing her hands on the table. It took her a second after that before she looked up at Shroomsworth. She was still thinking about the implications of this whole scenario, but she tried her best not to think about it. "How about you?"
"It has been quite some time." Shroomsworth replied. "There were a lot of interesting choices, it was almost difficult choosing just one. But that Sitrus Pie sounds like it has promise."
"I've had some of that, it's really good." Lavender relaxed into her chair, putting one foot over the other. "Did they serve Sitrus Pie in Sprouchester?"
"Not exactly, but the restaurant in the city over had some great delicacies." That piqued Lavender's attention enough to distract her from her worries, and she was more than interested.
"There wasn't a restaurant in Sprouchester?" she asked, now curious.
"We only had a humble café, nothing like the one here with a sizeable menu. That one was a café in the truest sense of the term." Shroomsworth explained. "It was a nice place, I frequented there very much during my lunch breaks. But when I wanted to treat myself, there was a restaurant in Aurawich that had served some exquisite meals."
"Ooh. What kind of meals?"
Shroomsworth leaned in a little. "There is pasta with Tamato berry sauce and finely nutty cheese, there is a wonderous pasta dish called Lasagna filled with sauces and cheese, and there are quite a handful of tarts that go very well with tea."
Those dishes Shroomsworth mentioned sounded like they were so tasty. It was likely the way he explained them, and possibly that accent helped too, but Lavender could only imagine what it would be like to sit at a fancy restaurant and eat such cuisine as what she heard.
"Wow. Now you're making me wish I had some of that." She said, tapping her claws on the wooden table. "But I don't think anyone in the city serves anything like that. Guess I'd have to hop on a Lapras if I want that fine dining."
"Ah, I suppose I have taken Ms.ing those dishes for granted." Shroomsworth sounded a bit regretful in his tone, but that would immediately go away a couple of seconds later. "No matter, I have grown to liking the food here as well, even if the tea selection is rather limited."
"Hey, that's good to hear." Lavender put on a smile, but that small hint of regret on Shroomsworth's voice did not sit right with her. It sounded like he found it all a bit underwhelming compared to what he was used to before. That didn't sound any good to her. She wanted him to enjoy his time here.
But then came the food and drinks they've ordered, brought forth by the Munchlax waiter they were used to at that point. Shroomsworth took a piece of his pie, cut a small portion out, and then lifted it up to take a bite out of it. Lavender had watched the entire process, delaying her own first bite into her food at all as she waited for Shroomsworth's reaction. She hoped that slice was more than serviceable, hoped that it met his expectations, and hoped that it would satisfy his hunger the same way the food at his home continent did. After taking the first bite, Shroomsworth wiped his mouth with a napkin before taking a sip of his tea to wash the slice down.
"How is it?" Lavender asked.
Shroomsworth set his cup down before looking at Lavender with a smile on his face. "It is simply delicious." He said, satisfied by the food's quality.
Lavender sighed in relief after witnessing his reaction, feeling thankful the food was more than good enough for his tastes. After everything before made it sound like his standards were hard to meet, she felt more at ease to see he probably wasn't like that at all. She would then look back up at him and return his smile with one of her own. "I'm glad you like it and that it wasn't money down the hole."
Shroomsworth ate another piece of his slice, savoring every bite, before he responded, "I say, it is well worth the Poké, eh wot."
"You said it."
The two of them were enjoying their dishes and having fun going back to that conversation about the types of dishes Shroomsworth had in Aluminium. Despite the special occasion, it felt like any other night that the two visited the café together. It never felt like anything Lavender was anticipating out of it, and she felt more comfortable in readying her thoughts, to ask Shroomsworth a very important business related question.
But then, someone walked over to the table to visit them. Someone the two of them were at least familiar with at this point.
"Excuse me." Her voice was enough to snap their attentions toward her presence. This wasn't a regular ol' citizen. It was the mayor. "Good evening, you two. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"Not at all." said Lavender. "What brings you to our little table?"
"I just wanted to congratulate you on the reconstruction of your store. I've seen it's brought more business into the town."
"Oh, there was more to it than that. Shroomsworth suggested I make it more accessible to Pokémon, and he also suggested I advertise my perfumes and colognes to the city." Lavender could've ended it there, but she couldn't help but bring out the compliments. "He's been a fantastic help for the store since I hired him."
The mayor couldn't believe it. A new hire, making such important business decisions? She looked over to the Breloom in question, and on closer inspection of all his luxurious accessories, he really did look like someone who was capable of making those decisions. She was very curious about this Breloom now, especially since they haven't actually met face to face until this point.
"Interesting." She said. "Have you been in business before? You certainly look the part."
"Indeed, I have." Shroomsworth nodded. "You must be the mayor, am I correct?"
"Yes. You may call me Ms. Elvina." Elvina lowered herself and did a little curtsey as she introduced herself.
"It is nice to finally have the chance to meet you, Ms. Elvina." Shroomsworth smiled politely. "And to further answer your question, I ran a successful stand for more than fifteen years back in my hometown of Sprouchester."
If Elvina's eyes could widen, they definitely would. "Fifteen years? That is a very long time!" She then cleared her throat before looking up at him. "What made you want to move continents?"
"Well, I've always wanted to explore more of the world, and Ms. Meadows's offer to work at the store gave me the perfect opportunity to do just that." Shroomsworth replied.
"I see." said Elvina. "So, what was Sprouchester like? I've never heard of a village with the name."
"Well, back when I was a Shroomish, Sprouchester was a new and developing village." Shroomsworth began. "There were no stores, dojos, or anything of the sort."
"Really?" asked Elvina. "Was there any kind of income?"
"The village's funds were right from the founder's pockets, and as I grew older, the money was starting to run out. It was then I had the idea of running a little market stand." Shroomsworth paused to take a sip of his drink before continuing.
Lavender and Elvina were just sitting there, listening very intently to Shroomsworth's story. Lavender was resting her head on hee hands, elbows on the table, paying no attention to anything else. As for Elvina, even when her food and tea were delivered, she made sure to speak quietly so she wouldn't interrupt the Breloom.
Once Shroomsworth was done with his sip, he resumed his story. "You see, my parents were explorers who frequently traveled, and eventually settled in Sprouchester to raise me and my siblings. With their permission, I could sell all of the treasures they had accumulated throughout the years, and with the help of some friends and neighbors, I was able to donat the funds to help our founders grow the village into what it is today. And that is pretty much how it went." he concluded.
"Aaawww. I wanted to hear more." Lavender spoke dejectedly.
"I didn't want to bore you both with the details. Besides, I have already told you what it was like, Miss Meadows."
"Well, can you tell me more, please? I like hearing you talk."
Shroomsworth was pleasantly surprised. He'd never had anyone compliment him in such a way before. After all the comments he has heard about his accent, it was quite a breath of fresh air.
"Perhaps another time." he said with a smile.
"Well, that is quite the story." said Elvina. "And to leave it all to cross the sea just to help a small store in need... I couldn't imagine doing anything like that. I would've been too attached to leave my town like that."
"I am sure they are doing well in my absence."
"Well, I can't thank you enough for everything, Shroomsworth." Lavender said, putting her hands back on the table. "There's actually something I wanted to ask you." As soon as she saw Shroomsworth looking her way, she leaned in further down the table with confidence. "How would you like to be promoted from a regular employee to helping me run the store?"
There wasn't any obvious reaction from Shroomsworth. No shock, no surprise, no eyes widening, nothing like Lavender had expected. Instead, he finished his sip of tea and met Lavender's gaze with an assured smile.
"I would gladly take that position." he said.
And that was it. No objections, no interruptions, nothing. Lavender couldn't be any more relieved at how smoothly that all went.
"Then congratulations Shroomsworth, you're now promoted to being my store assistant." she said.
"Why thank you, Ms. Meadows." Shroomsworth was smiling cheerfully. He never thought he'd be promoted into this position in a short amount of time, but he welcomed it.
"I'd also like to congratulate you on your promotion." Elvina replied, lifting her teacup up. "Do either of you want refills? they're on me."
"I could go for some more tea." Shroomsworth gently wiggled the teacup in his hands, showing how almost empty it was.
"Oh? You also enjoy drinking tea?" Elvina seemed to light up at the Breloom's drink choice.
"I always fancy a cup." he simply replied.
This seemed to make Elvina ecstatic, her calm looking eyes flipping upwards with excitement as she found someone who shared her interest in the brewed beverage. "Well, I would love to have you over sometime. I have all kinds of blends, from regular to imports from around the world."
"I will have to take you up on your offer sometime. That sounds quite splendid!"
Lavender raised a hand. "Count me in too." She then looked at Shroomsworth and leaned his way. "Her teas are wonderful, and she really knows how to brew them."
Elvina waved her arm branch dismissively at Lavender's compliment. "Aw, don't hype it up right now, not after we've already had a bite to eat." She then planted her arms on the table and pushed herself to standing up. "How about we save that for, let's say, tomorrow? I'll invite you both over to the gardens after you close the store, how does that sound?"
"That sounds good to me." Shroomsworth set his cup on the down after he answered, already having finished his tea.
"Count me in too." said Lavender.
"Then it's settled." Elvina's eyes gave a proud look, the closest thing to a smile she could do. "Now, who would like a refill?"
"I could go for some more green tea, please." said Shroomsworth kindly.
"I'm good, but thanks." Lavender replied.
"Okay, I'll be right back." Elvina then left the two at the table as gracefully as she entered.
How do you get away with a crime and leave behind no evidence?
And Terry was supposed to find anything, anything that could be a lead, but there was nothing. And this was his first job, too!
Terry was not looking very confident as he returned to Falae Town. No, he didn't feel confident at all. With this failure to do his job, he was starting to feel like he can't do anything as a Beedrill. He can't be a good rescuer, he can't be a detective, what could he even do?
And then, there was Robyn, standing in the middle of the stone road doing absolutely nothing. He noticed she did this a few times, but he didn't know why. It was only convenient that she was out and easy to reach, so he went towards her. He grew uneasy as he approached her, until he was right there behind her.
"I think there's a bug in my ear." Robyn must have heard the sound of Teriyaki's wings as he flew up to her. They were an impossible sound to ignore. She quickly turned around with her arms out before smacking the sides of Terry's head, grabbing it, and then pulling him in so uncomfortably close that her forehead touched where his forehead would be if he wasn't wearing that helmet. "Got it." she said, referring to Terry.
He could see faint signs of that creepy sharp-tooth smile from the bottom of her face. His heart began to race, because that was the look of someone who was going to hurt him, maybe take a bite of his face.
But then, there was an amused snort from the Sableye as her head jerked downwards. Suddenly, she pushed Teriyaki's head back and cackled humorously, mouth open and all.
"Ahahaha! That got you really good! You should've seen the look on your face!" she continued to laugh. Even when laughing, she looked unsettling.
But then Robyn suddenly snapped into her usual idle stance, the sounds of her laughter immediately cutting off in the process. That actually made Teriyaki jump
"Hey Terry. How'd the case go?" She asked him so casually, like she didn't just scare him twice in a row.
"About that." Terry began. "There were no tracks, no fur, anything like that." He tilted his head down before he said, "I'm sorry," in shame.
"Aaaah, it's one of those cases. Gotcha." Robyn pointed finger guns at him to try and ligten the mood a bit. "It happens. But guess what?" She brought both arm back into her robes before immediately pushing one back out, now with a bag in her hands. "You're entitled to compensation."
"What?" Teriyaki heard the sounds of coins clinking in the bag, which could only mean money, and he looked rather confused. "I'm still getting paid?"
"Yeah. You're still getting paid for working, even if you find jack shit." She then looked up and down Teriyaki's body for a bag or any kind of container, but he didn't have anything like that on him. "How do I even give this to you? You don't have a bag or anything?"
That was another problem Teriyaki had. To have a bag on his person would mean having to wear one, which is something he can't really do without someone else helping him. Even when receiving money rewards, he had to just stick one of his stinger hands through the bag and carry it that way, and that was also somewhat of a problem because that meant he had a lot of small bags with holes at the top.
"I can take it." he said, offering a stinger out.
"How? You poke a hole through it?" Seems even Robyn knew. "I can't let you do that. These are my personal bags."
"Oh..."
"I'll just stuff the money into your mailbox." Robyn waved her other hand dismissively before bringing both of them back into her robes. "So, what's on your mind?"
"Huh?"
"What, you think I wouldn't notice you trying to jab your chest with that pointy nose thingy?" Robyn's arm stretched out to just lightly poke the part of his face in question, to which Teriyaki blinked and recessed a bit in response. "I can obviously tell something's bothering you, so out with it. I don't like depressed Pokémon keeping shit to themselves."
"Okay." Teriyaki went to try and cross his arms, until he remembered he had giant stingers for hands and instead tried to put them together like anyone would do their hands, just for the drills to clang horribly and he gave up after that. "I don't think this detective business is working out for me either."
There were two things happening in Robyn's mind. The first was her cheering that Teriyaki was leaving and she could finally work by herself in peace again. The second thing was trying to choke the first thing into thinking this was bad while also trying to be compassionate. "Was it because of your first job? Look, those kinds of cases happen. It's normal."
"It's not just that." Teriyaki then brought his drill hands up just to show them off to Robyn. "It's the same problems with being a Rescuer. I can't do anything but fight with these things, and everyone I help thinks I'm too intimidating."
"Yeah, that's gotta suck." Robyn had a hand on her chin as she was in her thinking position. The one thing she thought of was trying to put him in another position. "Have you tried signing up to be an officer?"
"What?" Teriyaki looked confused. "I can do that?"
"I think you can. It's like what I do with detective stuff, but they also protect the town and stop criminals and stuff. They gotta be intimidating so bad guys don't just do what they please, and you seem like a good fit."
As Robyn explained the perks, Teriyaki listened intently. She put it in such a way that made it sound so promising. It was too early for him to get too hopeful, but he seemed convinced.
"You think so?" he asked.
"Yeah. And if you don't get the job, I'm still open." Now there was a brawl forming within Robyn's mind, and they were taking it to her subconscious. Her body was starting to shake in several places, something Teriyaki noticed immediately.
"Okay. That's what I'm going to do then. Bye." Terry then flew away as fast as he could, partly because he wanted this whole job thing done, but also partly to get away from the ticking time bomb of a Sableye that was going off.
As soon as the Beedrill was out of sight, Robyn deflated onto the ground until she was nothing more than a mound of robes. Wether she was tired from her internal brawl or something else entirely was about as clear as trying to see her under the messy pile of fabric. It stayed that way for almost an entire minute until...
"Oh wait, I got more Pokémon to pay." She sprung back up like a Spoink and immediately began shuffling around town like a skater.
Meanwhile, Rhodes was sitting on the edge of the town's fountain. His head was hung low, lost in thought, as he waited for his friend to arrive. He had enough time to dedicate to his thoughts that all he could think about were visions of-
"Hey, Rhodes. Something up?"
Rhodes was quickly snapped out of his trance, saved by the arrival of Anise's and the two cups of smoothies in her hands. He knew she'd be back from the café at some point, but with all that thinking he'd done, he completely lost track of time.
"You know that mission I did earlier this week?" he asked.
"Yeah, what about it?" Anise gave Rhodes his cup and took her place next to him on the fountain.
"I was thinking..." Rhodes took a sip to finish forming his thoughts. Even when he was done, he stayed silent and made sure "I messed with a lot of Pokémon when I was with Slasher." He tightened his grip on his cup. "I'm scared of what those Pokémon will do if they find me here."
Anise knew of Rhodes's circumstances, but she was curious about one thing. "How many Pokémon did you mess with?"
"I don't know." Rhodes took another sip, holding a claw up so Anise could let him continue when he was done. "I don't even remember who I hurt. All I know it was a lot."
Anise finished her own sip of her drink right as Rhodes finished speaking. "Well, my mom says this town is pretty safe. If anyone tries to get you, someone will have your back."
"Like me!" That enthusiastic voice combined with the loud splashing of the fountain water behind them was enough to make both the teens shout and jump off the fountain. They both then stanced up, ready to battle...
Robyn. It was just Robyn standing in the fountain, her robes absolutely drenched in water that smelled like coins.
"Sorry about that. Took a wrong turn at the fountain." Robyn climbed out of the fountain herself. "I turned towards it instead of around it."
Rhodes had already eased up, but Anise was still upset over the Sableye's surprise appearance.
"Anyway..." Robyn quickly continued before any one of them could say anything. "I'm here to donate to a charity." One hand then left her robes, the bag it was carrying making a lot of clinging and clanging as it shook the money inside around. "And my charity of choice is the Sneasel Recovery Foundation."
"What?" Rhodes was still not used to Robyn's antics, but with the way she worded it, he slowly figured out that she meant-
"You mean you're giving Rhodes money?" Anise asked, arms crossed with suspicion. She was used to being around Robyn, so she figured it out faster than him.
"The foundation needs its money." Robyn then shifted towards Rhodes and then brought her other hand out to open up the bag. "Bring your bag out or something. This bag's one of my personal one."
"Um... Okay." Rhodes held his one free hand out and awaited his gift.
"Hold on just a second." Anise said. "There's a catch to this, isn't there?"
"Ah, yes, the catch." Robyn then held a finger up like she was going to explain something. "You gotta spend the money however you want it, doesn't matter if it's now or five years in the future or whatever. Got that?"
Rhodes's confusion was made even worse by the "ominous" statement. Well, it sounded ominous, but what Robyn said wasn't really a catch or anything. That was just how money worked.
"I meant, you did something to the money, didn't you?" asked Anise.
"No, it's legit Poké." Robyn poured everything out of the bag and onto Rhodes's hand. There was so much Poké that most of it fell off the pile and onto the ground. "You think a detective would break the law?"
Rhodes was surprised at the amount of Poké he was holding within his claws. It was about more than what he'd receive doing rescue jobs on the board, and it was just given to him for free.
"Check that cash and tell her it's legit." Robyn told Rhodes.
But Rhodes didn't even need to check that hard. He knew real Poké when he felt it in his hands.
"It is real." the Sneasel said. A big smile then grew on his face and he looked towards the Sableye. "Thank you, Ms. Hood."
"That's my mom's name. You can just call me Robyn. Anyway, you kids have fun doing legally appropriate activities." She waved before twirling away, seemingly out of town, and leaving the Sneasel and the Nuzleaf back by themselves.
Anise groaned. "I hate her so much." She then looked down at all the Poké on the ground. "Let me help you get all that."
"Thanks."
After that, the two teens were on the floor, picking up Rhodes's money and putting it in his bag. It wasn't the most exciting thing to end off the day with, but at least they still had their drinks and each other.
Hi. A heads up, I might not be able to draw comics for the act epilogues because I'm not looking forward to drawing them anymore. They may just be literature only from now on (if I don't plan on drawing for them.)
I might start doodling a bunch more stuff tho and posting it here.
Like this cute Shroomsworth portrait I just made. I might want to do more of these for the others. idk. Whenever I feel like it.
It was a very dark and very quiet midnight and a Gholdengo had just stopped in the middle of the woods for a small break. He was carrying a wagon of Ghimmighoul chests, filled with money and all sorts of treasures, which would be a problem for lots of Pokémon to carry by themselves but was no issue for the Gholdengo.
He'd done it all before. Trading, swindling, scamming, all sorts of tactics to get what he wanted, and he was rewarded greatly for it! There wasn't a single chest that didn't have treasures in it. He could practically live off the life, and yet that's exactly what he was going to do.
So much time of dirty deeds netted him so much Poké that he could move away and live entirely off what he had in those chests for the rest of his life. It was all in the manner of getting to the docks and boarding a Lapras to another continent. He already had Diamant in mind, that continent sounded so wonderful in the brochures. The gorgeous sights at sunset, the lovely language that they spoke, and the allure of the women that lived there. Oh, if he could snag himself a trophy wife, that would just be perfect.
Rest time was over, back to dragging the wagon!
Now, he had no problem carrying the wagon through the woods. Having to dance around where he couldn't bring the wagon was all but a minor annoyance for him, but one he could easily manage. No plant or bush was too much for him, he'd just stomp it or run it over without care for its well-being. There was barely anything that could stop him.
But then...
Clink!
Something snagged his leg and he fell onto his legs, not entirely onto the ground because of his grip on the wagon handles. He would get back up shortly after and look at what exactly he tripped on...
But nothing was there.
What? There's no way he tripped over himself. He knew how to walk. He knew how to navigate the woods and get over anything that could've possibly tripped him.
Bah! Who cares, just another minor inconvenience. He was back on his feet and going down the forest in no time at all.
But it didn't take long for something else to stop him in his tracks. Right as he was passing between two thick trees, he felt his wagon wheel catch onto something. He didn't think about it too much and pulled it with intensified strength.
Crack!
Instead of getting the wheel over its obstacle, it snapped off the wagon and fell behind. Without its support, the wagon tipped to the side and brought the Gholdengo down with it, nearly knocking him onto the floor.
The Gholdengo looked behind the cart and was... even more confused. The space between the trees was more than enough for the cart to go through, no tight squeezing or anything like that. There wasn't even anything for it to catch onto like a branch or a rock or anything!
This was no accident. That act of sabotage was a sign, a sign they were after his hard-earned treasure. He got on top of the tilted wagon and surveyed his surroundings for anything that may look amiss.
All that surrounded him were the expanse of trees and shrubs that decorated the woods. There was nothing but darkness, save for the flickering circle of light from the candle-lit lantern that was hanging on the front of the wagon, at least that remained intact since the fall.
But beyond that, there was silence. No wind, no rustling of bushes, just nothing.
They must be planning a sneak attack, no doubt about it. Good thing he had just the move to help. He ran the nubs of his metallic fingers down his body, producing a loud, ugly scraping noise that would disorient anyone that was unlucky to hear it. If the attackers didn't back off now, they'd surely had to deal with their bodies being more vulnerable to his attacks from that horrific Metal Sound.
But while that was happening, a small shadowy tendril was making its way up the wagon, seemingly unfazed by the terrible screeching sound. As the Gholdengo was too busy trying to scare off any potential attackers, he didn't notice what was crawling right up his leg, not until it wrapped around it enough to get a good grip on it.
Once he looked down, he was suddenly yanked off his feet, smacking headfirst onto the wagon before being pulled off and thrown against one of the two trees that he tried to pull the wagon between. With a loud thud, his body collided with the bark, and he fell down until his midsection was struck by the wall of the wagon, where he then slumped until he fell onto the ground face up.
That single sweep had done so much to the Gholdengo, he couldn't even begin to process what just happened to him. Everything felt like a blur, a mixture of all the dark colors blending smoothly together.
He slowly got up from the ground and grabbed his head. His mind felt like it was pulsating, like a headache was slowly building up. He didn't remembered the last time he was feeling like that. He was Ghost type after all! Wasn't stuff like this supposed to be impossible?
But as his vision was starting to clear up, another shadowy tendril wrapped around what could be considered his neck and pulled him back down to the ground, this time keeping him there. He grabbed onto the tendril, but every time his golden hands tried to pull on it, his fingers would slip off.
Nothing he did seemed to help. Good as Gold? More like Fool's Gold to him. Metal Sound? Deaf to all but himself. None of his safer attacks seemed to work either, the tendril continued to construct his neck despite the constant beatings.
But as the Gholdengo tried his hardest to free himself, he saw a figure peering over his head. Its gemstone eyes, reflecting part of the lantern light, were staring him down instensely, and a thin, bright white crooked line of a smile sent shivers down his golden body.
"You must be the fabled Gauld." It was a low, eerie feminine voice with a short, snappy echo that trailed her slow speech. Not only that, but her mouth didn't move an inch while she spoke, even though the Gholdengo could clearly hear her. Before he could even respond in confusion, the figure tilted its head and the voice spoke again, "That's a nice collection you have there. It must have taken such a long time to take all that money from all those Pokémon."
"You're not getting any of it!" the Gholdengo shouted angrily.
"You'd be right about that." Suddenly, the Gholdengo was lifted up by his 'neck' and was forced to face the figure, its gray cloak now more apparent as he was face to face with it. It's smile grew longer, and very unnaturally too. "But it's not like you deserve any of it either."
The Gholdengo brought his hands up, fingers pointed at the figure before him. Then, gold coins started blasting from his fingertips as he used Make it Rain on his assailant. The figure just stood there and took it all, much to his surprise, but it didn't help him out of his predicament. No, the tendrils wrung and somehow crushed the part Steel type's neck. It wasn't enough to really hurt him, but it was enough to get him to stop figuring the move.
The figure's head now had a clear hole from all those coins being fired at it, with a view of the cloak's hood down on the other side. The gems seemed to be nowhere in sight, the same for that wicked grin. The tendrils also appeared to ease up as well, but not enough to let go of him.
But that was enough for the Gholdengo to have hope. Whatever that thing was, it was dead, and soon he would be free from its clutches.
But just as he thought the tendril was about to let go, it suddenly tightened its grip on the Gholdengo once more, crushing into his neck again. Then, the Gholdengo saw sharp spikes emerging from the sides of the figure's head like rows of teeth in a very large mouth.
"How rich coming from you." said the voice from before, a mixture of coolness and angriness in its tone. "But it's okay. I won't waste a single Poké."
"What-"
The figure's mouth-like head opened up, and a large shadowy hand with sharp claws shot out and grabbed the Gholdengo's head, completely covering and digging its claws into its golden face. The Gholdengo tried to scream, but the shadows muffled his voice. He grabbed onto its wrist and tried to pull it off, but it was no use.
Suddenly, not even a second later, the hand pulled him in towards the figure, recessing back into the mouth-like hole from whence it came. After that, its teeth closed in and CHOMPed down on his 'neck' in a clean cut.
The Gholdengo's body fell limp onto the floor in front of the mysterious figure, now lifeless and without a head. That was it for the fugitive. Not even being a Ghost type could do anything about that. He was dead now.
The figure floated through the Gholdengo's corpse, its cloak gliding across the body as it moved, and made its way to the broken wagon with all the chests of loot in them, all lined up to one side of the wagon's walls.
"Now, what to do with all this?" the voice spoke. "Is there anyone in town that could use the money?"
More shadowy tendrils protude from the cloak, each of them grabbing the chests one by one and pulling them off the wagon and into the air around it.
Its bright white, crooked line of a smile slowly returned, like it didn't even care to them that it took someone's life. That didn't matter to them.
"Whatever's the case, it'll go to someone much more deserving than that crook, that's for sure."
...
"Ey, Terry! Good thing I finally caught up to ya!" Robyn said as her new Beedrill employee stepped into her office (which is not the correct context for the phrase she just said). "Guess what? You finally got your first detective job, kid, and it's a juicy one too. They found a Gholdengo dead and decapitated in the woods, and it's your job to look for any hidden clues that may lead to a culprit. You should be able to spot a broken wagon deep, it's, like, deep in the forest somewhere west."
"You don't know exactly where it is?" asked Teriyaki, confused on why a detective wouldn't have at least been directed to the scene of the crime.
"No. That's why I'm sending you to the Pokémon who did see it! Big Azumarill, bigger pink bow. Impossible to miss. You can go now. I got important crap to do." Robyn shoo'd Teriyaki off with a dismissal wave of her hand.
The Beedrill didn't question anything else and left without a word. Well, that went as smoothly as she thought.
As soon as the door shut, Robyn hopped off her chair and went under her desk and into the darkness beneath it. A few seconds later, dark tendrils shot out from under the desk before grabbing it from the sides and pushing it away from the chair. Underneath that desk was a square door that blended in with the rest of the floor, also helped by the darkness the desk provided.
Only Robyn knew of this little detail in her office. No one, not even the mayor, had any idea about it, and there was a good reason for it.
Robyn slowly opened the door slightly, just enough for a small crack in the opening. Suddenly, her form, including her cloak, dissolved into shadow and she zoomed through the small opening, the door shutting behind her almost immediately.
Robin hit the floor and her form turned back to the cloaked Sableye, its ghostly body dark as shadows than usual but still familiar.
The entire room was filled with nothing but pitch black darkness. Despite that, Robyn could see in the dark so she didn't need any type of illumination. She knew she was standing on stone, and she could see the tunnel right in front of her. Heading down the tunnel, she knew exactly where it lead. A split path, but she took the left turn. Right at the end of that path was a big wooden room with piles of Poké and an assortment of other things, from gems to rings and other accessories, and other fancy high paying things.
This was Robyn's personal bank. It wasn't like she didn't trust the Kangaskhan bank in the town, she was more than trustworthy enough. No, she'd just rather have her own little storage area.
"First things first." Her voice was strangely softer than it usually was. She floated over to the pile of coins and scooped up a few of them with a large, shadowy clas. "This should cover the boy's payment, and this..." She thought for a second. "I could give that Sneasel boy a generous donation so he doesn't go starving. Speaking of, the farm could use a donation too." She clenched the coins in the hand. "Okay, that's the plan."
And with a flick of her entire body, she floated back down the tunnel from wence she came.
Rhodes had just entered the city to do his usual shopping and looking for missions to do, but when he arrived at the store, he saw a few signs around the front of the store, one of which he could read "Construction in Process". Not only that, but he could also see Lavender and Shroomsworth talking to a Gurdurr and a Scyther, both with bright orange and white safety helmets. He didn't know exactly what was going on or why there was construction going on, so he let out a very confused "Huh?" to himself.
But before Rhodes could get any closer, he heard someone speaking to him and he stopped.
"Hey. You're wondering what's going on with the store, aren't you?" It was that new Raboot he saw at the store once, and judging from his voice, he sounded to be around Rhodes's age. He also had his paws in his jacket pockets as he approached the Sneasel casually. "They're going to turn it into one of those market stands."
"What does that mean?" Rhodes asked.
"It's like a desk with a sign on it."
"Oh. So that means the store will be closed..."
"Pretty much. It'll probably be back up in a day off or two. Depends on how fast those two work at it."
A minor setback for the Sneasel. It wasn't like he needed to visit the shop. He had the supplies he needed, but it would've been nice to have a few more apples and berries.
No, he's yet to see the gentlemanly Breloom sitting on the carpet with all the crates. He hasn't had a chance to turn his head left yet.
But right as he was about to, he heard the distressed cries of a Pokémon running into the town.
"Help! Somebody help!" shouted a snowy white Vulpix whose covered head to toe in bruises.
Rhodes was quick to jump to the Vulpix's aid, as any good rescuer would do.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Aaahh!" the Vulpix came to a screeching halt right before he ran into the Sneasel boy.
"Are you okay? What's going on?"
"Ah! I was just hanging out with my friend and then she got taken by this Pokémon with big claws." the Vulpix's panic continued to rise as she was recounting the tale. "And she tried to fight him off, but her electric attacks weren't working!"
A ground type Pokémon! That seemed very easy for Rhodes the Ice type to deal with. He was confident he'd have no problems taking them on.
"Where did you last see them?"
"Ah... At the little island thingy at the big pond."
Rhodes knew where that place was, the peninsula with the lone cyan tree on it, nestled in the middle of the big pond just west of the path between the city and the town. That's all he needed to know.
"Thanks. I'll go rescue your friend from that outlaw." Rhodes then jolted out of town and used Agility to run as fast as he could.
Despite trekking through the woods numerous times, he still hasn't felt safe going through them by himself with the threat of Slasher catching up to him. His only saving grace is that he has yet to hear about his whereabouts near town. Even with this knowledge, he decided to climb up from tree to tree and he jumped and and swung from branch to branch. It was the only thing he knew that could keep him out of sight from Pokémon, especially those who might be out for him.
Thankfully, he had no such cases as he was was nearing the large pond. It was right within his sights, just past the leaves and twigs of these next few trees.
Eventually, he stopped at the last tree before hopping down to the grassy field below. Like he was told, he saw the Emolga, also covered with bruises, alongside an Excadrill right on the peninsula. Not only was it not a type advantage, moreso a disadvantage, and not only was the Emolga was also tied up by rope to the tree, but there was also no way he could discreetly approach them without being caught. Bad news in three different ways.
With no other options, he ran around the pond and then right down the straight line of grass and sand, right where the Excadrill could clearly see him.
"Hey! Let go of her right now!" Rhodes shouted.
The Excadrill's attention was grabbed and he turned around with a vicious glare, a glare that immediately faltered upon the sight of the approaching Sneasel.
The Emolga in distress could also see the oncoming Sneasel, and she looked terrified for her life.
They both knew exactly who this Sneasel was, and they know very well who usually accompanied him. But where was that partner in crime? They could only assume he was behind them, because they sure couldn't see them arppoaching.
The Excadrill stepped in front of the Emolga and shielded her from the Sneasel.
"I know that blasted Weavile of yours is around here somewhere. Bring him out right now!" he shouted.
Now it was Rhodes's turn to be scared. That Excadrill's shouting was going to be a Slasher-attracting beacon if he didn't shut up about him. He had to get the focus off of the criminal as fast as possible.
"You're wrong!" said Rhodes. "I'm a rescuer, and I'm here to stop you!" He held his hands out and readied Metal Claw as he was about to attack.
"You can't trick me, son of Slasher!" the Excadrill also readied Metal Claw and was ready to defend himself.
Rhodes jumped in and swung down, only for his attack to clash with the Excadrill's. The Sneasel's claws catch onto the Excadrill's, and he uses the outlaw's force to let himself get flung behind him, where he then flips and catches the branch above. He then flips himself above the branch and upside down, where he then opens his mouth and uses Ice Shard to rain down shards of ice from below.
The Excadrill raised his claws and blocked the ice shards with them. As soon as the shards stopped, he lowered his hands only to be met with a swift kick to the face from the Sneasel boy. The Excadrill then raised a claw and thrusted it towards Rhodes, but he jumped back before the claw was struck into the ground and then he used Ice Shard again to shoot a few shards right at the Excadrill's face and making him stagger back in pain.
"Blasted sunuva-"
Rhodes then spun around and sliced the ropes apart, freeing the tied up Emolga, before facing the Excadrill again.
"Go back to Falae Town. I'll deal with him." he said.
But the Emolga was too scared to move from her spot. It was bad enough seeing the Sneasel for herself, but this close to him made her fears skyrocket. She couldn't think of moving from her spot, or moving her limbs, or thinking of anything else besides what she saw in front of her with her dilated pupils.
"You're not going anywhere!" the Excadrill yelled. "If your old man's not showing up-"
Rhodes suddenly shot more Ice Shards at the Excadrill's face, but the Excadrill was quick to block them. Rhodes then ran up and jabbed at the Excadrill's body with both his claws, not enough to do major damage to the Steel type but still enough to hurt. In response, the Excadrill kicks Rhodes off of him and onto the ground.
"Enough!" shouted the Excadrill. He then raised his claws in his air and used Rock Slide, creating multiple rocks in the air above him.
Rhodes backed up, but his foot made contact with the Emolga and caused her to shriek. The sudden loud noise made Rhodes stumble and almost made him fall, but when he got up, he glanced back at the frightened Emolga and said to her, "You're still here?! Go to Falae Town, quick!"
After that last word was spoken, the rocks started to fall down on the two smaller Pokémon. Rhodes caught sight of the oncoming rock fall and quickly spun around and swept the Emolga off her paws, prompting a shocked gasp from the little electric Pokémon, and started to run.
Now that he saw the Emolga up close, she gave off a strange sense of familiarity. The fear in her eyes, the shaky, soft voice...
But before he could think too much, one of the rocks landed nearby him, creating a shockwave that launched him up into the air.
The Sneasel ended up tumbling on the ground, so he held onto the Emolga tightly as he rolled past the Excadrill and eventually fell on his back. Once he stopped, he let go of the Emolga and let her roll off of him onto the nearby ground away from the outlaw.
"Go!" Rhodes shouted urgently at the Emolga.
It was then that the Emolga returned to her senses and she realized just what exactly what was going on. Without wasting any more time, she turned around and scurried away as fast as her scared, tired legs could take her.
Rhodes rolled back up and raised his claws for he wasn't done just yet. He started by using Ice Shard and shooting a few shards at the Excadrill, which were of course blocked like every other time. This time, he shot a couple shards downwards and then picked them up from the ground before running towards the Excadrill.
When the Excadrill lowers his claws to use Metal Claw, Rhodes throws one of the shards at him and it shatters upon hitting his chest. He leaps in for an attack and the Excadrill holds one of his claws up to block the oncoming attack, even better than he thought. He stepped down on the Excadrill's arm before jumping up and backflipping off of it, right as the Excadrill swung his other claw and nearly struck his head.
Rhodes flipped the ice shard between the two claws in his hand, and as he turned upright, he reeled his arm back before he threw the ice shard. The shard struck the Excadrill's cheek and shattered, causing him to flinch slightly in pain. Rhodes then followed up by shooting more Ice Shards at him, with each and all of them hitting him.
The Excadrill staggered back and fell down a little, only catching himself with his claws. It was clear he was growing weak and tired from all this fighting.
So Rhodes dashed towards the Excadrill, ready to finish the fight with one final move. The Excadrill tried his best to push himself back, but with how little his body felt like moving and how close the tree behind him was, he was not going far at any pace or distance. Rhodes noticed that backwards movement and decided to switch up on the move he was going to use.
Once Rhodes was up close, he jumped up and used Pursuit delivering a powerful rising kick to the Excadrill's jaw, knocking him out and onto the tree behind him.
Rhodes watched the Excadrill slump onto the ground and his eyes turn into swirls right in front of him. He sighed.
"Finally..." He muttered to himself in-between breaths.
With that over with, he went up to the Excadrill's fainted body and pulled him off of the tree. He couldn't pull the Excadrill, he was probably too heavy for that. He could push him, but it would take a long time to reach town. But then Rhodes noticed how round the Excadrill's body was, and he immediately had the idea to roll the him back to town.
He laid the Excadrill to his side and then pushed him, watching him roll onto his back. He then went after him and pulled his body up so he continued rolling. After that he got into a good rhythm of rolling the Excadrill's body down the peninsula, so now he didn't have to worry about pushing him that much.
Still, having to bring Pokémon back to town sucks. The Beedrill was manageable, but this Excadrill was way too much. He should find someone to join his team, someone who could help him fight the bad guys and take them back, especially the heavy ones.
It wasn't like he couldn't do it by himself, but the way all this tedious rolling was aching his arms and how that fight possibly attracted Slasher with all of its loud noises and calls for his appearance certainly made the young Sneasel more warry of just how alone he was in doing all of this...
But who was he going to ask to join him? He barely knew anyone, and the one Pokémon that does know him can't even leave town because of her overprotective mom.
But after much breaks and monotonous rolling down the dirt path, he eventually returned back to town. Just like before, someone else was able to take the Excadrill off his hands and bring him to the officers to have him arrested for his crime.
But as he started to walk away, he saw the white Vulpix from before approaching him.
"Hey, umm... Thank you for rescuing my friend." she said.
The first thing Rhodes took notice of was the concerned expression, even when she talked. Not only that, but he also caught sight of the Emolga sitting at the edge of the fountain and keeping her head down while watching them.
That pose was starting to bring back some memories, some very awful memories.
"It's no problem." Rhodes responded. "I'm going to go talk to her. I feel like I know her from somewhere."
"O-Oh! She told me she recognized you." the Vulpix said.
"That's what I thought..."
Rhodes walked around the Vulpix and headed towards the Emolga. The Emolga quickly noticed Rhodes and her body started to shake.
"Hey. I'm not going to hurt you." Rhodes said, holding his claws up in a peaceful manner. "Listen, I'm not that bad guy anymore. I'm done with all that. And I'm sorry I took that Cubchoo doll away from you."
The Emolga sniffled. "That doll... meant so much to me."
"I wish I could go back and get it back for you, but if I cross paths with Slasher..." Rhodes shuddered. "I don't want to think about it."
A very disheartening statement, even if the Emolga had been told something along the lines of that many times before. Every single time, there was nothing they could do, and it was no different here. All she could think of to do was remain as silent as all those other times.
Rhodes felt really bad for her. He really wished he had the power to stand up to Slasher, but as he current stands in skill and power, there was no way he could do it, no way he could even match him.
That just left him where he currently was, trying to make amends with a heartbroken Emolga. Even if he couldn't beat Slasher, the least he could do was make her a promise.
"But, if I do, I'll make sure I get that doll back for you, safe and sound." he said nervously. It was better than nothing.
The Emolga sniffled again and only gave a small nod in response.
"Hey, um... Rhodes?" the white Vulpix had been listening in the entire time, and only now did they decide to chime in. "Do I have to pay you for your help?"
That's right! He went headfirst into the rescue mission so fast that he never considered getting paid for the dangerous job well done. Then again, it wasn't a mission he got from a board or anything like that. Still, with everything the Emolga had to go through today, both during the battle and meeting with Rhodes again, it wouldn't feel right to take anything from them.
"It's okay. You don't have to pay me anything." he said.
"Really? Thank you." the Vulpix said with a smile on her face.
"No problem." Rhodes smiled.
But behind that smile was anxiety. This was just one of many Pokémon he messed with back when he was with Slasher. He couldn't remember the exact number of Pokémon, but he knew it was way high up there. He knew that he was going to have to deal with a lot of scared Pokémon like that Emolga, or even worse, the Pokémon holding a grudge against the Sneasel.
Despite the safety of being in the town that forgave him and allowed him redeem himself, and despite the events that occured today with the Emolga, he wasn't sure he was ready for the next reunion just like this one.
After all, he's done so much terrible stuff in the past that he couldn't possibly remember every single thing he did. Those who encountered him, however... They could remember just fine.
Today was the day the Gen-Aroma store was starting with its renovations. Shroomsworth and Lavender had been planning this renovation for three days, all while trying to juggle managing the store and getting the new Raboot employee used to his first ever job. They couldn't wait to get the whole thing started, so they had the town's personal construction crew arrive very early in the morning to get started.
There were signs all around the building, and all of them had "Construction in Process" written in big, bold text with a striking underline beneath them. Meanwhile, Shroomsworth and Lavender were busy talking to a Gurdurr and a Scyther, both with bright orange and white safety helmets, while a couple of other Pokémon were standing nearby, waiting for orders.
"I think that covers everything." Lavender said as she was finishing up.
"Great." said the Gurdurr, putting away his bag of money. "We'll try to have this finished in a couple of days."
"Splendid. I cannot wait to see the results." Shroomsworth replied.
As soon as the conversation was over, the Gurdurr and the Scyther went to their group and began to relay the plan to their workers. That left Shroomsworth and Lavender by themselves, and Shroomsworth already had plans.
"Now we can set up the backup and we can go back to business as usual." he said.
"Yeah, the backup." Lavender replied. She didn't seem as excited on that matter as Shroomsworth was, but she was willing to follow the plans they had made together.
So while the construction crew were getting ready, the two merchants set up a nice little spot nearby: a bright magenta carpet with small crates of the berries and other items they were selling, as well as small paper signs with their prices on them.
Shroomsworth was more than happy to get into position as he sat down in the middle of the carpet. Lavender, on yhe other hand, didn't look too sure.
"Are you sure you still want to work like this?" she asked.
"Of course. Time is money, and it is best to not let either of them going to waste, eh wot." he replied.
He did have a point, one that was very difficult for Lavender to argue with.
"I was going to give you a day off and we could hang out together, but if you insist..." she said.
"Do not worry about me, Ms. Meadows. I can manage running a stand by myself without any difficulty." Shroomsworth replied.
"Alright then, Shroomsworth." She said, trying to sound happy but there was a hint of sadness in her voice. "I'll see you at the end of the day." She then left the Breloom to himself and allowed him to start his shift.
Lavender was disappointed she couldn't spend some time with Shroomsworth outside of work. She was looking forward to taking him to the city and showing him all the cool places she knew, but she didn't like that those plans had to be rescheduled now.
She looked back for a second to check on Shroomsworth, to see if maybe he was feeling uncomfortable and wanted to change his mind, but he looked fine by himself. He was happily speaking to a Pikachu customer and doing business like it was any other day at work. At least he had something to do for the day, unlike Lavender.
Suddenly, she bumped into someone and caused them to fall on the ground, immediately snapping her out of her distraction. It was Flint, the Raboot she recently hired days ago.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't see you." she said as she helped him up. "Were you about to ask what's going on with the store?"
"I can see what's going on, and I can also see Shroomsworth over there." Flint replied.
"Yes, he's decided to work while the construction crew is renovating the store. You don't have to work with him, I'll give you days off until the store is finished."
"That's fine by me." he said before walking off.
"Have a nice day." Lavender waved as Flint was leaving, only to get no response in return.
That left her feeling quite lonely, and she now had to figure out how she was going to spend two days by herself. She could go to the city by herself... But then she had an idea: She decided to at try asking the only other close friend she has, so she went over to the library and met her Wormaddam friend reading quietly at the counter.
"Hey Petunia." Lavender greeted her quietly with a wave. "Are you really busy today?"
"Hey Lav." the Wormaddam greeted her in return. "I'm not. What's up?"
"I'm having renovations done on the store, so I have a couple days off. Want to go hang out in the city?"
"Sure, I can hang out today." the Wormaddam floated over her desk to meet Lavender on the other side. "But I am busy tomorrow."
Lavender didn't like the sound of that, but she tried to stay in good spirits. She can at least pass through one day, and that's enough for her right now.
"I'm just happy to spend a day out with you again."
"Me too, girl."
The two women left the library and, after Petunia closes up for the day, they both left town to have a good day out.
It was a long, long walk to the city, so Lavender and Petunia spent as much time as they could talking to each other about different things. Stuff like what they've been reading, who they've been talking to at the café, about Shroomsworth and Flint (but moreso Shroomsworth), and other general stuff about the town and the likes. They had enough to talk about to last the whole trip there, until they eventually reached the big city.
It was just as bustling as they last remembered it. Pokémon were everywhere on the stone roads, businesses were packed and lively, and there wasn't a moment where either of them couldn't overhear someone's conversation. And then there was that fresh city smell, something powerful enough that even Lavender herself could smell it.
"I know exactly what we got to do first." Petunia said.
"Does it involve fifty-two cards?" Lavender asked.
"You know it."
Both women loved to play card games. Whether it was by themselves or with others in the town or city, they've had years of experience playing countless rounds of Blackjack, Solitaire, Go Fish, War, and even Poker, so they were no amateurs. Despite that, they never played for money or anything of value. No, they preferred to play for the fun of it, or as a way to hang out or pass the time, and this was no exception.
They knew exactly where to go: a cozy community recreational building that had the misfortune of being positioned right across from the Gold Rush Casino, the gigantic building with flashing yellow and white bulbs, colorful signs of cards and Poké, and a fancy exterior that was inviting to everyone nearby. The casino was a Gold Continent staple, but the women knew that going there was a waste of time. They even joked about how there were better ways for someone to throw their life away.
But that was enough ragging on the casino, because now it was time for some good ole fashioned card games. They entered the recreational center with excitement, and Petunia had more excitement than anyone ever had involving card games.
"I've been waiting so long to get my revenge on War again. I can't wait to kick your smelly butt." Petunia said.
"Oh, you want to go serious already?" Lavender acted surprised, but she knew full well how fun their competitive natures would make the games. "Fine by me. Just don't say I didn't warn you."
After borrowing a pack of cards, the women took a seat at a small, empty table and prepared themselves for the games to come. Being a Wormaddam, Petunia wasn't capable of shuffling the cards with her leafy appendages, leaving Lavender to do all the shuffling, whether Petunia liked it or not.
"You better not be giving yourself the good cards." Petunia said.
"Oh. Now that you say that," Lavender looked at the bottom of the deck in jest.
"No! Stop that!" Petunia reached out to swat the air in front of Lavender, and her reaction got a laugh out of the Aromatisse.
The playful banter and joking did not after the games began. War wasn't even a card game that involved skill, but their combined high energies filled with laughing and teasing turned the game into a spectacle. Their commentaries made heads turn, and some Pokémon couldn't even help but stay attuned to the games from their tables.
And it didn't stop with War. War was just the appetizer for these women. Once they were ready to switch games, they invited a handsome Simipour to be the card dealer for their Golden Hold'em game, and that's when the real fun began.
After the Simipour in the white bow tie shuffled the deck up and give Lavender and Petunia two cards each, the two women held their cards up close and watched each other intently. They weren't playing for money, but they did have their own pile of chips to bet with. The only thing on the line was bragging rights.
The warmup small blind was a simple 100 chip, and the big blind was 300, or 3 chips, as agreed by both women. Then, the first three cards were dealt: a 4 of clubs, a (Nido)king of hearts, and a 7 of diamonds.
"I'll say, I'm happy that your little store is growing." Petunia said. "Maybe it'll even get as popular as it did when Andrew owned it."
"Yes. I can't wait to see the store be busy again." Lavender replied. She figured Petunia was making small talk to hide any positivity from a good hand.
The two women checked, and the next card was revealed: an Ace of hearts. Neither of them felt confident about their hand, but they still had one more turn to go before they were sure.
"Do you have any other plans for the store?" Petunia asked. "Any new products you want on sale? Check."
"Not unless the farm is growing anything new." Lavender answered. "Otherwise, I don't even know. Check."
The Simipour put the last card down: a 5 of clubs. Lavender folded while throwing down a 3 of spades and an Ace of clubs. Petunia laid out a a 9 of diamonds and a 5 of hearts, so she ended up winning the pot.
"Nice!" Petunia shouted as the chips were given to her. "I'm off to a great start!"
"You call that a great start?" Lavender looked at both their hands and then at the cards that were dealth. "That was awful for both of us."
"But it worked out in my favor, Ms. High Card."
"Oh, we'll see how far that favor goes for you. Four hundred."
"Eight hundred. You're on."
And so they proceeded to play many rounds of intense poker, They played like pros, studying their facial expressions, looking out for any sort of cues that would give away that either of them have good hands, and trying their hardest to hide any clear hints from their opponents, and then celebrating with laughter and light, but loud teasing. There was so much energy coming from their table that it was hard for other Pokémon to ignore.
Eventually, their excitement caught the eye of a Pokémon who wanted to join in on the fun. He was a big Typhlosion, about five inches taller than average, and around his neck and shoulders was a short, orange Pumpkaboo-themed cloak with thin black stripes and two bright yellow circles like Pumpkaboo eyes. A cute little accessory for a cute man approaching the table.
"You ladies look like you're having fun playing some poker. Mind if I join?" he asked.
"Oh, of course." Lavender said with a smile. "We're always happy to have more players."
"Yeah. Pull up a chair." Petunia answered as well.
The Typhlosion grabbed an unused chair from one of the tables and sat down between the two women before the next round started, where he would then get his own pile of chips. Then, the blinds were made, the cards were dealt, and the first three cards were revealed: a king of hearts, a 9 of spades, and a (Nido)queen of clubs.
Lavender looked over at the Typhlosion and saw the badger's slick smile on his face as he looked down at his hand. It could be him being happy about his hand, but he never lost that smile since he approached the table. It was difficult to tell if his hand was good or he was keeping that smile as a bluff.
All three of them checked, and the Simipour revealed the next card: a 7 of spades. As soon as that card was revealed, Petunia did not look happy.
"I fold." she said as she put her cards down: a 3 of hearts and a jack (Grimmsnarl) of hearts.
"See? I told you." Lavender replied.
"Oh, you look like you've got a great hand there."
Petunia was definitely trying to get Lavender to give away a hint about her hand, but she wasn't falling for it. She's been fooled way too many times for that to work on her again, so she looked unamused.
"Just sit quietly and let us play." said Lavender.
"Oooh, that tells me all I needed to know." Petunia replied.
The Typhlosion chuckled from their banter and followed it up with "You two sure know how to make it a party." His confident grin grew longer after he said that, and Lavender noticed it. It could have been him enjoying their playful personalities, or he might have a really good hand.
"Check, please." said Lavender.
"I'll check too."
The Simipour pulled the last card and placed it face-up on the table: a 10 of clubs.
Lavender could not believe her eyes. She wanted to begin moving with excitement right then and there, but that would've been an obvious giveaway. She started to breathe heavily through her nose, as doing so through her mouth would easily give it away as well.
Then, the Typhlosion picked up something through his nose, which ended up making him look at the Aromatisse sitting to his right.
"Is that smell coming through you?" he asked.
"Oh, sorry. Is it too strong?" Lavender asked.
"No, it's fine. It smells nice."
"Thanks. It happens a lot. Um, check."
"Check as well."
It was showdown time once more. First, the Typhlosion set his hand down: a king of spades and a 6 of clubs. Then, with shaking hands, Lavender placed her hand down: an 8 of clubs and 6 of diamonds.
"The Aromatisse has a straight." the Simipour said. "She wins the pot."
"I knew it!" Petunia said.
Lavender cackled like a Mightyena as she pulled all the chips to her side, with some help from the Simipour with his long reach. The Typhlosion's smile still hasn't gone away. In fact, he looked amazed.
"I'm impressed you didn't fall for my bluff. You must be really good at this game." he said to Lavender.
"Oh yes, we've had years of experience." Lavender replied.
"Yeah. We don't gamble with real money or anything like that." Petunia added.
"Have you ever considered?" the Typhlosion asked. His question brought both the women to laugh at such a ridiculous thought.
"I'd rather throw myself into a mystery dungeon." Lavender replied.
"Yeah. At least if you survive getting out of there, you get to live to tell an epic tale." Petunia added.
The Typhlosion chuckled and then said "You got a point there. And I should know, I've been to a few mystery dungeons myself."
"Good for you. Alright, let's get back into the game."
Lavender was intrigued from the mentions of mystery dungeon exploration, but that can wait for later or during the game. They soon went back to making bets and playing more poker rounds.
A couple more Pokémon joined the table during these rounds, and it soon became a five Pokémon game. With the amount of Pokémon at the table, there were lots of conversations going on. Time flew by fast for everyone, and before they knew it, the day was almost over.
"Hey, Petunia? Can you see outside?" Lavender asked.
"I can. The sky's about to turn orange." said the Persian playing with them.
"Oh, then we need to get back to Falae." Lavender said as she stood up. "Thanks for the games, fellas."
"Yeah, that was fun." Petunia said as she also floated off from the table.
"I should be thanking you for making it fun." the Typhlosion said as he specifically looked towards Lavender. "Been a while since I've had an entertaining round of poker."
"Take care now." said the Politoed, the only other Pokémon at the table.
After saying their goodbyes, Lavender and Petunia left the table and started their sprint back to Falae Town before it got too dark. Then that sprint turned into a race, and that race turned into Petunia floating laps around Lavender as the Aromatisse struggled to run any faster than a leaf in low winds.
Regardless, Lavender had fun that day, and as soon as Petunia and her departed, she suddenly had an idea for what she was going to do the next day.
It has been a day since the store renovations had started. Lavender checked in on the progress of the store, and she saw the front of the store already set up as a large stand akin to a market stand. The only thing left for them to finish was the interior of the building. When she asked how long that would take, the construction crew told her it shouldn't take that long and that they'd be finished before the day was over.
Lavender wasn't sure how to take that news. They couldn't have bothered to be more specific. It didn't matter too much, though. As long as they had the store finished, she would be satisfied.
She still had to pass the time though, but she had her return trip to the city already planned out. She looked back at the little store set-up Shroomsworth had made and saw the Breloom was already in place.
She couldn't help but felt a little bad seeing the Breloom work outside on the floor like that. Shroomsworth seemed content with what he was doing, however, he even told her that he was perfectly fine with what he was doing, but it didn't stop Lavender from wishing he could take a day off or at least set up some way to work without sitting on the floor.
But on the other hand, he looked so well mannered with his legs crossed and his claws on his lap. She thought he looked rather-
"Hey, Ms. Meadows." said Flint, who had snuck up behind her and spooked her a little while she was staring at Shroomsworth. "Is the store ready yet?"
Lavender turned around and replied with "No, but they did tell me it should be done by the end of the day."
The Raboot then looked over to Shroomsworth, saw him working by himself, and then looked back at Lavender before asking her "Wait, am I getting paid less for taking today and yesterday off?"
"No, this is one of those occasions where it won't count towards your pay. Just as long as you continue coming to work for the week." she replied.
"Oh, okay. See you later, then." Flint said before walking off to do his own thing.
But Lavender thought about what she said. She wasn't paying Shroomsworth extra for working on these days, nor would she dock his pay for taking a day off. But he was doing a good job keeping the sales going, there was no way she wanted that to stop...
But what if there was a way to have Shroomsworth take a break while keeping the revenue going?
She looked back at Flint and she had an idea.
"Excuse me, Flint?" she said, the Raboot stopping and looking back in response. "Could you follow me? It's work related."
"Oh, uhhh okay." he replied. He then followed over to the little carpet store that Shroomsworth was running, and he was already getting the idea that he was going to be working the store.
Shroomsworth was easily able to sense them approaching with his business sense, which was just him noticing their footsteps and deducting them going towards him, and he looked their way, expecting customers only to be curious as to why Lavender was there.
"Hey, Shroomsworth, I have an idea." she started. "Why don't we let Flint watch over your little store and you can take a break for the day?"
"I have everything under control. That is not to doubt Flint's capabilities or anything of the sort, far from it. I just do not see any reason for us to switch places when I can already perform the task at hand." Shroomsworth explained calmly and professionally.
"Shroomy, I think you deserve a break, really. I don't want you overworking yourself."
"It's Shroomsworth, and I am perfectly fine, Ms. Meadows. Frankly, this is nothing compared to the situations I have faced in my previous job."
Shroomsworth sounded so sure of himself, Lavender couldn't help but find it admirable, but that was not what she wanted at that moment. She had to think: How was she going to convince someone like him to take a break?
"Okay... Well, let's give Flint a chance, give him some work experience." She looks back at the Raboot and asks him "You can handle a shift all by yourself, right?"
Flint had been staring blankly up until this point, so it was now his turn to be surprised when Lavender turned her attention to him.
"Uhhh, yeah I can." he replied almost hesitantly.
Shroomsworth was definitely not convinced with such lack of certainty, but there was a part of him willing to give the new guy a chance.
"Very well." He said while standing up. He then looked over to Flint and said to him, "Do you remember everything I have told you about handling customers?"
"Ummm... Keep calm, stay positive, and don't fight with the customer." Flint answered back.
"Splendid." Shroomsworth said with a smile, even if that last part was not completely what he told him, at least he got the general message down. "Then I believe you will have no problem running this little store for the day."
"Great!" Lavender replied, cusping her hands together excitedly. "And Shroomsworth, I have an idea on how you can spend your day off."
"Oh? And what would that be, Ms. Meadows?" Shroomsworth asked.
"You and I can go visit Teravolt City and do some looking around together." Lavender batted her eyelashes as she spoke to Shroomsworth, but she wasn't aware she was even doing it.
"I have wondered what that city is like, since it seems to be a hot topic around these parts. I suppose we can go have a look."
Lavender's smile widened with glee. She grabbed Shroomsworth's claw without second thought, catching him by surprise, before saying "Oh, you won't be disappointed." She then looked over to Flint and told him, "We'll be back at the end of the day. Take care of yourself, okay?"
Flint glanced over to Shroomsworth, noticing a bit of discomfort in his expression, and then looked back at Lavender and responded, "I will."
After they said their goodbyes, Lavender and Shroomsworth would leave Falae town and make their way down to the city. They walked down the dirt path side-by-side and hand-in-claw.
"I get it." she nodded in understand. "But I am curious about what it's like working in Aluminium. Um, where'd you say you were from again?"
Shroomsworth didn't think he would be holding Lavender's hand like this, but it didn't feel like anything special to him. He's done this sort of thing multiple times with other women, so he was used to it. Eventually, Lavender let go of his hand while she started to talk about something.
"There's so much we could do at Teravolt. Like, we could play cards at the community center, or go to the target range and fire some moves at disks, or we could even go to the colloseum and see if they have any good battles we can watch." she explained excitedly.
"Those do sound... interesting." Shroomsworth wasn't sure if any of those really tickled his fancy. Some things did seem like they'd interest him, but he'd have to see them for himself before he could really judge. One thing was for certain for him... "There definitely sounds like a lot more to do in Teravolt than there were back in Aurawich."
"Really? What did you have there?"
"I think the only thing that really interested me was training at the city dojo. There wasn't much else to do, but I was always focusing on work so I had little time for leisure."
"Oh yeah! You did tell me you had a job before, but you never told me much about it besides how you ran your own little stand." Lavender said, looking curiously towards the Breloom.
"Exactly. It is quite a lengthy story, and I would not want to bore you with specific details. I would say it is rather similar to what I am doing now."
"I am from Sprouchester, a small, cozy village within the woods."
"Aluminium has some nice town names. What was it like living in Sprouchester?"
Shroomsworth was more than happy to explain what his hometown was like to Lavender and answer any other questions she had. Meanwhile, Lavender was enjoying hearing Shroomsworth talk about himself. There was something about that accent that was alluring to her. Perhaps it was how it sounded as posh and sophisticated as he looked, how his voice was so complimentary to his appearance that it might be a match made in heaven. She felt like she could listen to him for hours.
But the talk eventually had to come to an end as they finally arrived at the big city.
"Oh my..." Shroomsworth said quietly.
The atmosphere of the city was so bright and so populated. All of the flat, Pokémon-themed buildings certainly grabbed his attention for how unusual they looked to him. Barely any round shapes to be found besides the corners of the buildings and any details on the roofs. The only buildings he could find which were safe from thematic decoration were the residential buildings, and even some of them had bright and vibrant coloring.
"Goodness, eh wot." he followed up with his normal tone.
"I know, it's a lot to take in." Lavender replied. "But there's so much to do that every Pokémon has their favorite spot in the city. Mine is the community center. That's where I go to play cards. Are you a card player?"
"The only card game I have ever played is Patience."
"Patience? What's that?"
"A simple, but quite difficult game where you have cards set in a triangular fashion and you must arrange four stacks of cards from each suit, starting from Ace to King, using those cards and whichever cards you're given from your deck."
"Oh, I know that game." Lavender said with excitement. "We call that Solitaire here."
"Oh, interesting name, eh wot." he said. "But I digress, I am not much of a card player."
As Shroomsworth spoke, he caught a bit of light in the corner of his eye and he looked over to see the overstimulating presence of the Gold Rush Casino.
"Oh, that is a casino. Goodness, can it be even more garish?" he said.
"Yeah, they had the bright idea of building that thing right across the community center." Lavender said with a disappointed look on her face before crossing her arms. "And then you have all these poor Pokémon going through rehab for their gambling addiction at the center. And it's smack dab in the middle of all the popular stores, and all the Pokémon are going in thinking they'll have a good time when they're just throwing their hard earned money away."
"I cannot think of a worse way to swindle Pokémon out of their money than what you have described." Shroomsworth replied sternly.
Suddenly, a male Meowscarada in a maid dress runs past them while muttering "Big money, big money, gonna earn me a profit," to himself while he heads towards the casino.
"See what I mean?" Lavender asked. "I don't want to see this eyesore anymore. Come on, I know a better place where we can have fun: the target range!"
"Oh hey." suddenly called a voice. Turns out it was the Typhlosion that Lavender met yesterday, and he was still wearing the Pumpkaboo cloak. "Funny running to you again." he said to Lavender.
"Hey, yeah. I was showing my coworker around the city. He's not from around here." Lavender explained.
"Oh, is he?" the Typhlosion said as he approaches Shroomsworth. "Are you from the east or something?"
"No, I'm from Aluminium." Shroomsworth answered.
The Typhlosion blinked, surprised from the accent that he just heard. That silence then turned into a chuckle. "Wow." Then that chuckle turned into a light hearted laugh, like the way Shroomsworth just talked sounded like the funniest thing he'd heard that day. "Let me guess, you lived in a mansion where your maids served you tea and crumpets?"
"Very funny." Shroomsworth replied sternly with his eyes squinted.
It took the Typhlosion a while to stop laughing, but when he did, he looked at Shroomsworth with a great big smile like he didn't catch on to his tone of voice earlier.
"What's your name?" he asked the Breloom.
"Well, my name is Shroomsworth." the Breloom replied, only to be met with the Typhlosion's smile creeping ever so slightly like he was about to laugh again.
"I'm Shephard." the Typhlosion then posed with great confidence. "A rising dungeon explorer."
Lavender was impressed by Shephard's confidence, though Shroomsworth barely gave a reaction. Despite that, Shroomsworth couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity radiating from the Typhlosion's confidence, like it reminded him of some Pokémon he knew in Aluminium. As the memories started flooding back, he was suddenly reminded of the times when...
He blinked, shook his head slightly, and started paying attention to who was speaking at the time.
"Well, we were just about to head on over to the target range." Lavender said. "Do you want to go with us?"
"Sure, I'm down for that."
"Great! Then let's be on our way."
Shroomsworth couldn't care less about the additional company. At least Shephard was tolerable, he wasn't too loud and he wasn't dramatic either. In fact, despite his introduction from earlier, he seemed far more chill than he expected.
The stories he was telling to Lavender (and he asked them if he could recount them beforehand) were welcome background noise while he surveyed around the city on the way to the range.
They eventually arrived at the green, forest-like building decorated with leaves and vines like a Decidueye and a large red and white circular target in the center. "Keen Eye Target Range" was displayed in yellow lettering on the target, making it unmistakable to anyone who were close, who just happened to be the party of three approaching it.
After talking to an old Decidueye, they were brought to an open room with multiple Wobuffet dummies and a ton of clay pigeons, more than anyone would even know what to do with.
Shephard quickly wanted to show off to his acquaintances, even asking them if he could show them a trick he was working on. Once he was given the go, he set a dummy up before taking a step back. He used Flame Wheel and launched himself as a spinning wheel of fire before hitting the dummy with his entire weight. He then bounced up and used Thunder Punch, swinging his fist on his way down and punching the dummy's head, dragging it straight into the ground.
After that, Shephard turned his body halfway dramatically while proudly smiling and pointing finger guns at Lavender and Shroomsworth.
"Now, was that cool or what?" he asked them. Suddenly, the dummy shot right back up and hits the Typhlosion before he could notice, knocking him onto the ground with a yelp.
Lavender couldn't help but laugh a little at the high pitched sound he made. It was way too cute for her to resist.
"That is why you pay attention to whoever you are facing at all times." Shroomsworth said as his eyes looked down at him, his head never moving to give him that glare of superiority.
But before Shephard could respond, Lavender chimed in and said, "Are you going to show him how it's done? I'd like to see what you're capable of."
"I should get some swings in before I become involved in a bout again." Shroomsworth said to her. "Very well. Throw some discs into the air for me, please."
And they followed up with that, both grabbing stacks of discs and heading to opposite sides of the room. Shroomsworth raised his claws and stood ready as Shephard and Lavender grabbed a couple of discs. Then, they threw them up into the air, one at a time.
With a glint of his eye, Shroomsworth launched one claw out, his arm stretching like rubber, and he struck the disc, shattering it into pieces. When his arm returned, he swung his other claw out and destroyed the other disc. He was throwing punches left and right and destroying discs with great speed, and not once did he stop or drop a single disc.
"Wow! You're crushing it, Shroomy!" Lavender said with so much excitement that he completely forgot to call him by his preferred name.
But Shephard had a very cheeky idea. A while after Lavender's comment, he took a disc and threw it lightly towards Shroomsworth, hoping to catch him off guard, but he saw the disc and swiftly punched it into pieces before it reached either him or the floor.
Shephard and Lavender were so surprised by his reaction time that they eventually stopped throwing discs and let Shroomsworth hit the remaining ones that were still throw in the air.
"Come on, lad. You should know better than to try to deceive a merchant." he said as he cleaned one of his claws on his chest.
"What move was that?" Shephard asked with great interest.
"There was no move, eh wot. 'Tis all simple reflexes, really." Shroomsworth replied calmly.
"That's very impressive." Lavender applauded.
Shephard had his mouth open in awe. Never had he ever seen a Pokémon capable of such skill, and without using a move either! And him being in the merchant business as well brought back some memories of dealing with Kecleons in mystery dungeons. At least unlike those Kecleons, this Breloom was throwing punches with style, and that was something he liked. Suddenly, he had a little more respect for Shroomsworth.
About half an hour later, their allotted time was up, and they decided to leave to head elsewhere. It was now a little late into the afternoon, and everyone was ready for lunch. Shephard decided to guide everyone to a cozy little place he always went to relax at: Swanna's Roost.
The inside was dark and full of dim lighting, such as lines of lights lining the edges of the floors and walls, candles lit on top of the tables to give it that, and a few light blue fancy, wavy lights that gave it the appearance of a smooth breeze. In the middle of the back wall was a stage with a sharply dressed Simipour playing slow, calming music on the piano.
"Ah, I recognize this aesthetic." Shroomsworth said.
"It's... interesting." Lavender wasn't completely on board with it either, but she thought it had some charm to it.
"You'll warm up to it." Shephard said as he brought them over to an empty table and sat down at one of the bean bags. "I like this place a lot 'cause the lights and the piano help me and my friends relax."
"I like what they're playing." said Lavender.
"Yeah, it's really calming."
"Making something like this the main design is an interesting choice." Shroomsworth commented. "I would be more concerned over risks of tripping over something or losing all power and having little to no lighting besides these candles."
"Don't worry about all that." Shephard replied with a slightly whispery voice. "The Roost's supposed to help take your mind off all those stressful thoughts, so just relax and lose yourself in the music."
Shroomsworth could hear a sigh coming from Lavender, and when he looked over to her, he saw the Aromatisse letting herself be engulfed in the beanbag chair. Her eyes were closed and her arms were wide apart as she was wrapping them around as much of the chair as she could.
But something like this just wasn't for Shroomsworth, not personally. Blue just wasn't his color. He preferred the natural lighting the candles provided, but the mix of that and the surrounding blue lights didn't stir right for him.
At least the café was able to serve him some tea, and they had a lot of flavors to offer. When the time came to order, he settled with a refreshing cup of chamomile.
He then decided to try closing his eyes in hopes that he would at least enjoy the piano perfomance. At last, without all that blue in his vision, he could finally enjoy some relaxation in this place. Nevermind how there was barely any communication between any of them, at least it helped him get nice and comfortable in his chair.
After their nice little lunch break, they were back on the city streets and trying to come up with what to do next.
"I'm... having a hard time trying to think of what else to do." Lavender replied.
"I have an idea." Shephard said as he looked to Shroomsworth. "How about a one-on-one battle to pass the time?"
"I don't mind a proper bout, but only if there are no other options." Shroomsworth replied.
"Well, I've been curious how you fare in a battle, ever since you showed off back at the target range." Lavender said.
"Yeah!" Shephard wrapped an arm around the back of Shroomsworth's neck and and looked him right in the eye as he pointed his finger against the Breloom's chest. "I wanna see what you're made of."
Shroomsworth sighed and calmly pushed Shephard off of him before saying, "Very well, then."
The excitement was brewing amongst Lavender and Shephard as the thought of the upcoming battle flooded Lavender's mind and Shephard was generating so much energy that he was struggling to keep still. However, the same amount of enthusiasm didn't extend to Shroomsworth. He remained as levelheaded as he's been throughout the day. He didn't see this battle as interesting or exciting like his party thought, no, with someone as seemingly inexperienced as Shephard around, he saw it as another potential waste of time.
Well, when they arrived at the aptly named "Primeape's Gym & Arena", it was time for both men to prove themselves. They wasted no time signing themselves up for an appointed fight, and right as the last one ended as well. They were brought out to the bright oak wood arena flooring and stood on opposite ends as the referee, fittingly a Primeape wearing a black and white striped cap, prepared himself at the big, yellow, iron bell.
"I will only say this now, I will not be holding back." Shroomsworth said as he walked to the middle area of his side of the arena, giving Shephard a cold glance from his eyes that were barely visible under his cap. "So before you get your kerchief in a twist, just now you brought this upon yourself." He then stood with one foot out, head raised, and his claws held up close.
In response, Shephard pointed a thumb to himself and said, "I regret nothing," to the Breloom.
The Primeape then hit the bell and it rang all across the arena. The match had begun.
Shephard ran a couple steps and then used leaped forward while using Flame Wheel in the air to turn into a spinning torus of flame. As soon as he landed, he quickly sped towards the Breloom, all while he stood there and watched in silence.
Then, right as the Typhlosion got close, Shroomsworth dashed slightly to the side, brought his arm back, and waited. When Shephard was about to zoom past him, he threw a punch that was so fast that, when it directly struck the Typhlosion's face, the wind brought upon by the punch's force blew all the flames out. After that, Shephard was sent spinning into the air, and as Shroomsworth's arm came back, he hit Shephard up with a basic, yet hard hitting uppercut. Finally, Shroomsworth sent out another speedy and powerful Mach Punch and it pounded against Shephard's stomach, sending him to the edge of the arena.
Lavender's eyes widened while she was watching from the benches, and they gleamed in awe from Shroomsworth's display of skill, and the way she could see part of his eyes from under his mushroom cap, and that cool, serious expression he had. Then, she felt her heart beating against her chest. She brought her hand up and did, in fact, feel her heartbeat. It was a lot more prominent than normal. Was this...
As Shephard hit the ground on his back, he quickly flipped himself back up before he rung out. He then saw an onslaught of seeds being launched at him by the Breloom swinging his tail while hopping towards him in a zigzag pattern. He raised his arms and blocked each and every one of the seeds, even if they didn't hit as hard.
But then, Shroomsworth got up close, and with one arm...
Patapatapatapata-
Shroomsworth was beating up Shephard with a relentless stream of one-handed Mach Punches, each calculated to hit various parts of his body above his chest, including his head. Then, Shroomsworth finished his onslaught with another Mach Punch to the face, knocking Shephard back onto the ground.
"Don't tell me you're already." Shroomsworth said while stepping back to give Shephard some time to breathe.
Shephard wasn't ready to give in, despite the proper beating he was just given. He just wasn't sure what to do against such a skilled opponent...
But then, he had an idea, an idea that slapped the biggest grin on his face. He slowly got up, wiping his mouth in the process, before pointing to the Breloom. Flames brewed inside his mouth as he breathed, and with a firey breath he said with confidence, "It's over when I say it's over!" He then started to run while using Flamethrower, spewing out a line of large flames in Shroomsworth's direction.
But Shroomsworth took a slight hop to the side and leaned back, making sure Shephard got a good look at his face, and what a good look he got. Those beady eyes bore into the Typhlosion's with menacing energy. Before Shephard could realize it, he was just hit with Swagger.
His thoughts were now going all over the place, and as he wasn't able to concentrate properly, he stopped using Flamethrower but he continued to run. Then, by instinct, he readied a Thunder Punch.
But as Shephard threw his hand down, Shroomsworth hopped back right out of the way, avoiding it entirely. Then, when the Breloom landed, he didn't hesitate to use Mach Punch not once, not twice... He even counted out loud for each punch he landed on the Typhlosion.
"One, two, three... The end!"
With one last move, he delivered a mighty, yet classy uppercut to Shephard's face, knocking him out for good. Of course Shephard wasn't going too move for a while after that, prompting the Primeape to ring the bell once more and declare Shroomsworth (or "The Breloom") the victor.
Shroomsworth looked down at the beaten Typhlosion and all he had was a look of disappointment.
"That was a right letdown, eh wot." he said. "I should at least thank you for proving that I have not grown rusty since my move here, but that is not saying much with that lackluster performance."
Shephard then slowly rolled off his back and looked behind him at Shroomsworth while he was getting up.
"Dude, I couldn't even keep up with you." said Shephard as he pushed himself up back on his feet. He struggled a little bit to stand still, but he somehow managed to keep himself in place. "How are you that strong?"
While they were talking, Lavender had made her way up to the arena, and she was as awestruck as she was while watching the fight.
"Shroomsworth, that was so cool!" she shouted enthusiastically. "And I mean it. The way you were moving and throwing those punches. I've never seen anything like it."
"Yeah. Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Shephard asked him.
"Nothing but experience, lad." Shroomsworth simply replied. "That is what years of bouts with thieves, rogues, troublemakers, and siblings looks like."
"Wait, siblings? You have more?" Lavender asked with a hint of shock.
"Ah, right. I never really told you this when Sporegard came to visit, but I come from a family of nine, including myself." said Shroomsworth. He looked over and saw both Lavender and Shephard with eyes widening and their mouths agape in surprise. He then responded with, "I know, shocking, is it not?" in a slightly sarcastic tone.
"Well, now I know why I didn't have any brothers and sisters." Shephard said with a smile. "You've been hogging them all up." His joke made Lavender laugh a little, and Shroomsworth... he couldn't help but smile a little at the remark.
After that match, the three of them passed some time exploring the city and looking at all the interesting buildings and other sights, like a small park area with bright green grass and lively trees.
But eventually, their time at the city would come to an end, the sun was starting to set and it would be time for them to return to Falae Town. At that time, they decided to make their way back to the side of the city that the store workers entered from.
"I had a lot of fun today, even if we didn't get to play cards together." said Lavender. "How about you, Shroomsworth?"
"Yes, I quite enjoyed myself today." he replied.
"Hey, was nice meeting you, Shroomsworth." Shephard held a friendly fist up to Shroomsworth and expected a fist bump back.
But Shroomsworth was not the type of person to do a fist bump.
"A pleasure making your acquaintance as well, eh wot." he simply replied.
Awkward...
But Shephard recovered out of that quickly by turning that failed fist bump into a finger point, and he said to the shopkeepers, "I should visit Falae town and see you guys sometime. Been meaning to do that."
"Yeah, you should come over. We'd be happy to help get you what you need." Lavender replied. "Or we could always talk a little bit. We don't usually leave the store like this."
"Course not." Shroomsworth chimed in. "Time is money after all. And speaking of, we need to see how the new chap has been holding up."
"That's right! We have to go check up on Flint." Lavender then looked over at Shephard before waving goodbye to him. "Catch you later."
"Yeah, see you two later." Shephard waved back in response.
With that, Shroomsworth and Lavender left the city and were on their way back to their cozy little town. About time, too. The sun was on its way to setting, and they had more than enough time to make it back before the sky could turn orange.
And right as they got back, they saw the general store exterior had transformed completely. Instead of the boring square building it once was, it was now a fun and round Aromatisse themed building with the words "Gen-Aroma Store" in pink and magenta outlined text on a white sign. Not only that, but the building was now like a merchant stand instead of an interior store, just like how Lavender and Shroomsworth planned it.
"It looks even better than I imagined." said Lavender.
"I say. Definitely worth the investment." Shroomsworth replied.
"There you two are!"
And Flint was right there by himself on the blanket that was the temporary store. He looked relieved to see his coworker and his boss returning from their day off.
"Hey, Flint. How did you manage running the store by yourself?" Lavender asked him.
"I didn't know what I was doing most of the time." the Raboot replied. He then picked up a bag of money and added, "But, I think I managed."
"Good to hear. Come on, let's get this cleaned up and then we can explore the new store together."
"I doubt much has changed, but I am looking forward to the revenue that will come with the ease of access this will provide." said Shroomsworth enthusiastically.
"I think I need some rest..." Flint said tiredly, even yawning afterwards.
"Of course, once we get this all cleaned up and we finished looking at the store, you boys can have the rest of the day off if you please." said Lavender.
"You already know what I will be doing then." Shroomsworth already began to pick up the crates and bring them back to the store. He was ready to squeeze what little time there was left in the day for a few more Poké.
Flint followed suit shortly after and helped Shroomsworth with the clean up process without saying a word.
Meanwhile, Lavender sighed as she watched Shroomsworth head towards the newly renovated building and she thought to herself. "Oh, Shroomy... What will I ever do with you?"
Act 1 is finally done after 2 years of me procrastinating. Thanks to everyone who's been keeping up so far (or anyone just tuning in). I'll try my best not to take forever to get this next act done.
It had been a few days since Teriyaki signed up to become a rescuer in Falae village. He was, in fact, the second Pokémon with criminal origins (even if he turned out to be innocent) to be a rescuer. But unlike the only other Pokémon who started out like him, no one was interested in getting to know him. There were Pokémon willing to talk to him, like the shopkeeper at the general store, but there was no one who wanted to hang out with him and be his friend.
But that didn't matter to him. He could care less if he had any friends or not. He was more concerned on living to the next day. Unfortunately for him, working as rescuer was not working well for him as he and Rhodes had hoped.
Rescue work was almost impossible for him. All the Pokémon he tried to rescue were in the forests around town, and being a Beedrill, he would always get confused to be a threat and everyone he met never listened to him, with some even trying to kill him.
He didn't have much luck with hunting outlaws either. All the couple of ones listed were very dangerous and way above what he was capable of dealing, and in the few days he had been a rescuer, he had never seen another wanted poster being put up. Whether that was because Rhodes got to them before him or because there simply wasn't an outlaw to be wanted, he didn't really know.
All that left him were the easy jobs, like finding a lost item. Despite having two large stingers for hands, those jobs were at least something he could do, just the pay was miniscule compared to the other jobs. That left him with enough money to buy some food for work, but no money left over to try anything else.
Not like that wasn't a problem for him either. He had more than enough survival experience to find food and live outside of town, which was how he had been living for the past few days. He had a little homemade tent set up, with help from Rhodes, in a small part of the woods that was visible from the main path, and that was where he slept every night so far...
Or at least, he tried to. Every time he went to sleep, there was always this nagging thought within his head, something he was thinking about ever since he was proven innocent. That thought always kept him up, so every night so far, he would get up from his cozy little spot and walk around the forest to tiring himself to sleep.
The woods outside Falae town were just as mysterious and dangerous at night as they were in the day, if not worse. The near lack of lighting made it very difficult to navigate around all the trees and bushes and other forest flora. The only sounds being made at this hour were the crunching of grass and leaves beneath his feet, because no other creature he knew would stay awake at this hour.
But as he was in the middle of his nighttime stroll, he saw little spots of orange light peeking out from bushes and trees in the distance, right over to his left. He quickly deduced that the orange light was from a fire, likely a campfire made by someone else traveling through the woods. He just wasn't sure who, and with the sight being close to his tent, that made him very wary.
But he wasn't going to leave that question of 'who' unanswered. The curiosity tingled his mind and started pulling him like a puppet to investigate it. Then, he flew up off the ground to make as little noise as possible, and he flew slowly towards the orange light, making sure not to run into his surroundings along the way.
If his thought process was right, because it was so late at night, whoever was there might already be asleep. So when he flew closer and closer to the light, he slowly lowered himself back down onto the ground until he gently landed on the grass. Then he tiptoed, creeping ever so slightly to whatever was on the other side.
He could make out the sight of a campfire while looking over the bushes. There looked to be someone there as well, but they were covered up by something green with white fluffy edges, like some kind of blanket. There wasn't anything else around, even on closer inspection.
But that time spent looking was for way too long, as whatever was under the green cloth suddenly hopped up onto his feet and used Shadow Ball, aiming it right at the Beedrill's face. Then, without hesitation, he threw it at him.
Teriyaki quickly flew out of the way in time for the Shadow Ball to fly past him and explode upon hitting a tree. He then looked back at whoever was attacking him and he shouted to them "Hey, woah! I'm friendly!"
The figure, now spinning around to grab the cloth, was the Meowstic from town, the same Meowstic with the eyepatch covering his left eye. After he stood up and swung his green cape on, he aimed another Shadow Ball at Teriyaki and gave him a threatening glare with his other eye. But then, a second afterwards, he recognized the Beedrill and realized that it wasn't a random night crawling wild Pokémon, so he lowered his paw and the Shadow Ball disappeared.
There was nothing but silence afterward, which made Teriyaki concerned.
"Are we good?" He asked.
The Meowstic said nothing, instead turning around and sitting down on the grass in front of the campfire. No apology, no acknowledgement, nothing.
"Are you okay?" Teriyaki asked. He wasn't mad or anything, just confused.
But the Meowstic paid him no mind. He was as still as a statue. Any other Pokémon would just leave him alone, but Teriyaki was curious about this one eyed Meowstic. Ever since Teriyaki first saw him looking back at him with soulless eyes near the mayor's office, he gave off this cool and mysterious feeling that the Beedrill wanted to know more about. He was sure to have lots of experiences going on adventures and facing many tough foes. He even had the injury and scar to prove it.
So Teriyaki walked up to a spot near the campfire and asked him "You mind if I sit down?"
The Meowstic didn't respond or even look at him. Teriyaki took this silence as permission and sat down at the campfire fire alongside him.
"I've seen you around town a lot. What's your name?" Teriyaki asked.
The Meowstic finally looked up from the fire and gave his attention to the Beedrill sitting pretty across from him. After a second of nothing but the burning of wood, he finally responded with "Jasper" in that same monotome voice.
"That's a cool name. You look cool, too." Teriyaki replied.
"Thanks." Jasper said, sounding as empty as ever. He was most likely giving gratitude for the compliment, but it's hard to tell.
"You look like you've been through a lot, like with that thing over your eye. Is your eye missing?" Teriyaki asked.
"Non-functional." Jasper replied. His eyelids lowered while answering, but they moved was too slow for Teriyaki to catch.
"Like it never worked at all? I knew a Pokémon who was like that. They were trying to replace his eyes with this weird orb thing. It looked like it hurt."
"My eye worked before." Jasper responded.
"Oh. What happened to it?"
Jasper paused, his gaze lowered back into the flames of the campfire in front of him. Then, there was nothing. No response. It was like that question put him lost in thought.
"Hello?" Teriyaki asked. He waved both his stingers around in an attempt to snap Jasper out of his trance, but it wasn't working.
Then, just as he gave up, Jasper looked back up and simply said "It was cut. By outlaw."
"Outlaw? Now I'm interested. What kind of Pokémon were they? Were they a strong outlaw? Were there many, or was it just the one?"
Just as Teriyaki was getting all excited to hear more about this story, Jasper looked him in the eye and said "Stop". There was a clear hint of anger in his tone, and if the slightly louder volume of his voice didn't get to Teriyaki, that small bit of outrage certainly did.
"Woah. Sorry." Teriyaki replied calmly shortly after, stingers raised up and everything. It was then that the Beedrill had the feeling that maybe he should just let Jasper be for the night. It was already so late out anyway, and there was no other reason either of them should be up any longer.
So Teriyaki dug his stinger arms into the dirt and pushed himself off the ground. He struggled with pulling his stingers out for a bit, but he eventually got them to pop out and he immediately started to fly away.
"Anyway, see you later." the Beedrill said with a wave of his stinger as he flew past Jasper.
The Meowstic said nothing back, nor did he look back at Teriyaki or anything. He laid down, covered his entire body with his cape, and closed his eyes for slumber.
Shroomsworth arrived at the general store like any other day, and he was immediately greeted by his boss, Lavender, with a newspaper in her hands.
“Morning Shroomsworth. I brought today's paper for you.” she said, handing the paper to the Breloom.
“Ah, thank you.” Shroomsworth replied. He took the newspaper from her hands and glanced down at the headline. “Murder Brings Rumors of Loan Shark Revival, eh wot?”
“Oh, you don't know about those loan sharks that used to be in big city, they were notor-ree-ous. Always taking advantage of the young and gullible.” Lavender scoffed. “They better not be coming back.”
“I don't particularly care for loan sharks either.” Shroomsworth said as he and his boss made their way to the counter.
“Well, you probably know enough to not deal with them.” Lavender replied.
Shroomsworth said nothing else as he went around to his side of the counter and set the newspaper down so he could start reading it.
“Anyway, I'll see you at lunch time.” Lavender said before she went into the back room, leaving the Breloom to man the store like he's always done.
Reading the section about the former loan sharks, it explained the old business in the city, the Gholdengo running the business, and how they ended up getting stopped. The rest of it was speculation based on the murder that had taken place.
“Hm… Very interesting.” said a voice from over Shroomsworth’s shoulder.
The Breloom quickly looked behind him, right where the voice was coming from, but there was no one there. He then turned his head around to look at his other side, but halfway through the turn, he caught a glimpse of a red-hooded Sableye standing at the other side of the counter. By the time he looked over his other shoulder, he realized he had company and snapped his head back to face her, but she wasn't there… Shroomsworth realized quickly that he was dealing with one of those tricky Ghost Pokémon, so he turned serious.
“Excuse me, but I have no time for games. If you are here to buy something, then show yourself.” he said
Suddenly, the Sableye popped out from behind the counter and said "Okay" very bluntly.
Shroomsworth was not pleased by the behavior he was witnessing to the point he didn't even react to her appearing in front of him.
“Alright, now what is it you-”
Robyn leaned in to get another look at the newspaper while he was speaking, so Shroomsworth stopped to observe her.
“Loan sharks, huh? Y’know, I thought one of the Pokémon I put in jail had something to do with them.” she said. “Wait, hold on.” she then grabbed the newspaper from the counter and started reading it while holding it upside down. “That guy has a son? And he's not in jail? Hmmm… Sounds suspicious if you ask me.” She said before setting the newspaper on its top edge, making it stand up straight like a tower.
“I do not care about all of that.” Shroomsworth said while he straightened the newspaper flat on the counter..
“Oh yeah, you're that new guy in town.” Robyn pointed a finger at Shroomsworth's face while she spoke. “Name’s Robyn Hood from the Hooded Detective Agency. You got something stolen or got hit and runned, I'm the girl to call to find whodunnit.”
“Nice to meet you. Are you here to buy something?” Shroomsworth asked.
“Yeah, what perfume you got?”
“Perfume?” Shroomsworth looked confused.
“What, you don't know about the perfume?”
“No, what are you-”
Suddenly, the back room door opened and Lavender stepped out.
“Is someone interested in perfume?” the Aromatisse asked.
Robyn waved her hands frantically in the air while bouncing up and down and shouting “Me me me” over and over.
“Alright, settle down Robyn. I'll see what we have.” Lavender responded before closing the door, leaving a dumbfounded Shroomsworth at the counter.
“I was not aware this store sold perfume.” Shroomsworth said curiously. When he looked back at Robyn, she was staring back at him with her sinister grin. “Why are you giving me that look?”
“Oooh nooothiiing.” Robyn said while she tilted her head slowly. Combined with her eerie tone, it was enough to make Shroomsworth’s spine tingle.
Then, the door handle was turned and the door itself was pushed open by Lavender’s body as she brought out a small wooden box labeled ‘Perfumes’.
“Yay, perfume!” Robyn said while shaking her hips around excitedly.
“Where did you get the perfume from?” Shroomsworth asked.
“I make it myself.” Lavender replied. “I used to have both perfume and cologne on display, but no one was buying them so I've had them shelved in the back.” She brought the box to the counter while she talked and then she took the lid off the box. “See anything you like?”
Shroomsworth was now even more curious. Fragrances were a rarity, as he had only seen them in one store and at such a very high price as well, so to hear that he could actually try some for himself was piquing his interest.
Meanwhile, Robyn was checking out the contents inside the box. It was all spray bottles with colored liquids inside of them. Each column had a different color liquid, which meant a different scent for each of them. Robyn was very interested in the bright red one.
“Is that blood perfume?” Robyn asked as she pointed at the red one.
“Ha ha ha, no dear,” Lavender took the bottle out and presented it with her other hand underlining it, her eyelids half closed, and her voice very low and tempting. “This is Baile style, a very fiery smell that's sure to strike the senses and draw attention.”
“I like striking things.” Robyn leaned in and allowed Lavender to spray her with the fragrance. After being sprayed, Robyn grabbed the mouth covering of her robes and tilted her head up like she was smelling it, even though she had no visible nostrils. “Damn, this is good. How much for it?”
“Fifteen hundred as always.”
Shroomsworth waited patiently for Robyn to pay. He was now interested in seeing this for himself.
“I’m curious about the cologne. Could I try a sample?” Shroomsworth asked.
Lavender lit up at Shroomsworth's request.
“Yeah, sure! Let me go grab some for you.” Lavender replied before going back into the back room. She quickly returned with another box, this time labeled ‘Colognes’, and she brought it to where Shroomsworth was standing before setting it down in front of it and taking the lid off. “Does anything strike your fancy?” she asked with a chuckle.
The colognes had different shades of color, and they were also less saturated compared to the perfumes. That wasn't to say he didn't have options. All of the bottles did have names on them, and one of them did stick out to Shroomsworth, so he picked the bottle up and gave it a good inspection.
“Sweet Apple, eh wot?” he said to himself. He then sprayed a little bit from the bottle and took a whiff. Indeed, it smelled very sweet like apples, just like the bottle suggested. “This is very pleasant, I say.”
“Why, thank you.” Lavender said with a bashful wave of her hand.
“You said you had no success selling any of this?”
“Fragrances aren't as popular down here as you might think.” Lavender looked down all disappointed. “The only Pokémon here interested in this stuff are Robyn and the mayor.”
“Hey, more for me.” Robyn said while pointing to herself with her perfume bottle.
“I wonder why it did not pick up.” Shroomsworth said. “Did you run any advertisements?”
“I put up an ad on the notice board, and that's about it.” Lavender answered.
“Did you not consider advertising in the city?”
“Oh, the city’s much bigger. It'd take more than just a simple poster to get the message out over there.”
“Then you should try running an ad in the city’s newspaper. That will surely grab someone's attention.”
“That means someone's going to have to go all the way to the city and talk to the paper boys and do all the payments, and we're just two Pokémon. I know I can't leave the shop, and neither can you.”
“Well, do I have good news for both of you.” Robyn said. “It's me, I'm the good news.”
“Don’t you have a detective business to run?” Lavender asked her.
“It’ll be a quick in-and-out. I go faster.” Robyn said while doing a running motion with her arms.
“Alright. Let me cover the cost of-”
“Lavender, Lavender, Lavender. I have more money than I know what to do with. I need excuses to throw it away.”
“Do you not spend your money on food or drinks?” Shroomsworth asked.
“I don't need to eat. I'm a ghost.” Robyn answered.
“That’s preposterous. I've seen many ghost types need food to live.”
“Well, I'm a special ghost.” Robyn’s declaration just made Shroomsworth even more confused.
“What does that even mean?” he asked.
“It means I don't need to eat, dumb dumb. Anyway, I'm outta here. I'm gonna get you that ad on the paper.”
“Thank you, Robyn. Don't forget our store name.” said Lavender.
“I won't forget. Bye bye.” Robyn waved before melting down into a big puddle of shadow and sneaking out through the bottom of the door.
“I have never seen a Sableye do that before.” Shroomsworth said. He was starting to get a suspicion that something was up with that Sableye. What kind of ghost type doesn't need to eat? More importantly, what kind of Sableye can manifest itself into shadows like that? She was definitely hiding something.
“Oh, she does that a lot. You'll get used to it.” Lavender replied. “But I'm hoping that the advertisement works. This could be huge money for us.”
“I have no doubts at least one Pokémon will see it and want to try some of it. I know you have me convinced to want a bottle.” Shroomsworth looked down at the bottle he was still holding in his claws.
“You want to buy some? It's fifteen hundred a bottle.”
“Hmmm…” Shroomsworth rubbed the underside of his chin with a single claw. “I think we ought to bump that price up to twenty-five hundred. The ingredients you used could not be this cheap.”
“That's a high price for perfume…” Lavender did not look too sure about that decision.
“Where I come from, the prices are even higher than that,” he said. “Besides, you have to balance the cost of the ingredients with the selling price, or else you would not be making a profit.”
“You're right about that. I guess I'm just worried the customer might think that's too much for something like a scented spray.”
“Nonsense. This is a luxurious product, and it should feel like a luxury in both price and presentation.” Shroomsworth set the bottle back in the box before picking the box up and bringing it back to Lavender. “Let us get a nice display up and running, shall we?”
“Right now? Okay, if you say so.” Lavender said. “Let me get everything from the back.” She then went back into the back room to look for her old fragrance stands.
While the general store worker and his boss were working on getting the fragrance stand ready, Robyn was already on her way to the city. Her feet were stabbing the ground and leaving behind dirt clouds as her legs were moving lightning fast, and her robes were billowing to the point that they could not cover up her insanely fast legs as she ran.
She passed by multiple Pokémon as she was mad dashing to the city. All of them were hit by the cloud of dust she left behind, and none were spared.
Then, there was a beautiful Furfrou going down the path by herself when she saw Robyn darting down her direction. Not being able to get out of the way in time, she leaned her body back and raised one paw in front of her face to brace herself for the oncoming cloud of dust.
Then, as Robyn closed the distance between her and the Furfrou, she suddenly stopped running and started to walk at a regular pace, no slowing down or anything. She calmly passed by the Furfou, nodded her head at her, and said “Good morning, pretty lady.”
The Furfrou blinked twice at her, confused by the abrupt change of pace. The peace didn't last long though, because as soon as Robyn passed by the Furfrou and was a distance away from her, she immediately returned to dashing down the path with no warning.
After zooming past lots of Pokémon for what felt like forever (but was actually around ten minutes), the Sableye eventually stopped right before one of the many entrances to the city: specifically one to the left of the entrance she would've gone had she stayed on the path.
As she came to a sudden halt, she brought upon a large pressure of wind that blew hard against the Pokémon walking down the street. When they turned to see where it was coming from, they saw Robyn just standing there, unmoving and unnerving. To think that wind was coming from that Sableye would have been crazy, so they assumed it was coming from elsewhere. A Flying type Pokémon, perhaps.
No matter the case, Robyn eventually started to walk down the street as if nothing ever happened. She didn't even so much as look at anyone. She knew what her goal was and she stopped at nothing to get to it…
That was, if she knew where she was going in the first place. The city was massive. The streets were floored with smooth gray stones of different shapes and sizes, small trees and flowery shrubs decorated the sides and the medians of the streets. There were all kinds of buildings, some themed after Pokémon like a flower shop that was green and white like a Roserade or a white and blue ice cream store building that looked like a Vanillish. The city was also bustling with Pokémon on every street, even more than what could be seen in Falae town.
None of the buildings around Robyn looked like what she was looking for, and without any leads, she felt very lost.
So, she looked around and walked up to the first Pokémon she saw, which happened to be a Liligant.
“Hey, you know where the newspaper guys are?” she asked.
“I don't know. I just got here.” the Lilligant replied.
Then, a Sigilyph overheard their conversation and went up to them.
“Hey, just head down that street, take a right into the main road, and there's a white building with lots of words painted on it. You shouldn't miss it.” he said.
“Thank you very much.” Robyn said playfully.
After that, she ran off, and she was back to not paying any attention to anything around her. She was at least being a lot more careful not running into Pokémon in the city, but she was twisting and jumping around like she was being chased.
Even the city Pokémon were concerned by this behavior. When she ran or flew past them, they looked back to where she came from and expected someone like the officers to go after her, only to see no such thing happening. Robyn really was just doing all of that for no reason.
She did end up finding the building she heard about: white walls, words painted on the walls in black paint, and the words “Good Morning Printing Co.” made out of wooden boards. Robyn wished this was the newspaper company building next door to her detective agency instead of the one in Falae town, with its beige walls with white edges and its pen-shaped sign. It just paled in comparison to what she was looking at.
But as much as she wanted to admire all the little details, she was there for a reason, so she forced herself through the doors and into the building.
Upon stumbling inside, she spotted a peculiar Pokémon already at the front desk: a Teddiursa wearing an interesting black and red diamond tie and standing on the back of a Purugly with a light pink bow on the top of her head. The Teddiursa was in the middle of a conversation when Robyn entered, and it was one she was not anticipating.
“Yes, we have one more place to put an ad.” the Gothorita said.
“Then I'll take the it.” the Teddiursa said in his adult voice.
“That will be one-thousand Poké.”
Robyn was not going to let that Teddiursa take that ad section away from her, even though he got there first. She ran up to the counter and then shouted “I'll challenge that offer!” while pointing a finger right at the Teddiursa.
But the Teddiursa didn't look surprised like the other two Pokémon. He just sat there and chuckled before saying “That's not how this works, little girl. I got here first and-”
“We do auction house. I bump that up to two-thousand.” Robyn said.
“Again, that's not-”
“Three thousand.”
Suddenly, the Teddiursa was convinced by the amount of Poké being promised, and he wanted it.
“Alright, I'll humor you. Five thousand.” he said
“Deal.” Robyn responded.
“It’s only a deal if you can pay up.” the Teddiursa replied with a grin. “And judging from your appearance, you don't look like you have a lot of money.”
Robyn reached her arm back into her robes and then she pulled out a big, full leather sack and started pouring Poké onto the counter. After a pure second of emptying the bag, she pointed at the big pile of Poké and shouted “Right here!” in a very over-the-top accent.
The Teddiursa blinked twice. He could not believe his eyes.
“There's no way that's-”
“Yeah, you're right. There's probably more than that, but I haven't counted.” Robyn explained. “A deal's a deal though.”
The Teddiursa hopped onto the counter and started to count just how much Poké there was on the counter. There was definitely more than five thousand on there, and seeing all of that made his eyes sparkle gold with delight.
“I'm a man of my word.” he said as he began to pull in the amount she promised. “You're a rich little girl, aren't you?”
“I'm an adult.” she replied. She then pointed a finger at him and. “And I see you taking a thousand more than necessary.”
“Good eye.” The Teddiursa said with a tiny hint of begrudge in his voice before he slid some of the Poké back into the bigger pile.
After the Teddiursa took what he was bribed, Robyn scooped all of her Poké back into her bag, put exactly a thousand Poké back on the counter, and then said “One ad slot on the paper.”
The Gothorita sighed with relief before responding with “Do you have the ad prepared?”
“No.” Robyn stuck both her arms out, a pen in one hand and paper in the other, and then followed up with “But if you give me a minute, I'll put something together real quick.”
“Okay. Don't take too long.”
Robyn quickly got to work, pen in paper and writing like crazy. While the Sableye worked on her masterpiece, the Teddiursa hopped back on his Purugly steed and rode out.
“Why did you give up our ad slot?” The Purugly quietly asked the Teddiursa.
“We're not in a hurry. We'll get it tomorrow.” The Teddiursa responded. “Now, let's treat ourselves to something nice.” he smiled afterward. There was something sinister about his demeanor, despite his attempt to keep it cool, but no one seemed to notice anyway.
“Done!” Robyn said, slapping the paper on the desk. For a few minutes of drawing, the ad was surprisingly detailed: thick lined borders with curves and swirls, hand drawn sparkles in the background, an alluring portrait of a well drawn Aromatisse showing off a bottle of fragrance with a speech bubble pointed to her saying “A hand-crafted scent that's magnifique! Only at the Gen-Aroma store in Falae Town”, the ‘Gen-Aroma’ being handwritten more fancily than the rest of the text.
The Gothorita took the paper from Robyn, looked at it briefly, and asked, “What is this… A perfume ad?”
“Yep.” Robyn simply answered.
“Huh. Alright, yeah, I can get behind that. I'll have this in next morning’s paper.”
That was exactly what Robyn was hoping for, and with a quiet “Yes!”, she fist pumped in celebration. Everything was going according to plan.
By the next day, everything had been set up. At the store, there were two cute little black stands, one for perfumes and one for colognes, at the counter. Each of them had couple of different fragrances on display and a label on top finely handwritten by Lavender herself.
All they had to do was wait until the afternoon or evening, where they expected customers to start pouring in for the fragrances. Shroomsworth manned the counter, as he usually did, while Lavender was in the break room and bringing a chair up to the door so she can listen out for any potential customers.
Lavender was the one most hoping for the best. All throughout the preparation process, she was being reminded of all the days she would close up shop and would see the same bottles of fragrances sitting on the counter and not being touched even once.
“This will be different.” she thought to herself. She had a feeling Shroomsworth's plan was going to work.
And then, beyond the wooden door, a conversation was just taking place.
“Good afternoon. Is there anything you would like to buy?” Shroomsworth asked.
“Yes. I'm curious about these perfumes.”
Eyes widened, Lavender immediately leaned her head in towards the door upon hearing the woman’s request. Did she hear that right? Someone's interested in her fragrances?
“Yes, they're all handmade by the owner of this store.” Shroomsworth replied. “Would you like to try a sample?”
“Sure. I'll try that purple one.” the woman replied.
Lavender couldn't just sit there without seeing exactly what was going on. She had to see this for herself, so she grabbed the door handle and carefully turned it so it wouldn't make a noise. Then she pushed the door ever so slowly and slightly, just enough for her to peek through the crack and see Shroomsworth taking out the sample fragrance for demonstration for a Gothorita, the same Gothorita from the city!
Shroomsworth sprayed a bit of the fragrance for the Gothorita to sniff. When she got a whiff, she was stunned, eyes wide and mouth agape.
“Wow! I’m in love with this scent!” the Gothorita said. “How much, twenty-five hundred? That's not a bad price. I'll take one.”
Now it was Lavender's turn to be shocked, same expression and everything. Excitement boiled within her muscles, a great big smile grew on her face, and she started to shake in place like she was about to explode.
After all was said and done, and the Gothorita left the store with her new fragrance bottle, Lavender bursted through the break room door laughing with joy.
“I know that city accent anywhere. That must mean the ad is working!” she said.
“It does appear that way, though this is only our first sale.” Shroomsworth replied. “There should be more Pokémon visiting in due time.”
“I’m still happy to see even one sale outside the regular customers.” Lavender said as she walked up to Shroomsworth. “Thank you, Shroomsworth.”
Shroomsworth was working another day at the general store, just as he'd been doing every day since he was hired. As the days went on, he started to feel something he had not felt working in this position for a long time, and that was boredom. The emptiness of the store, the lack of anyone inside the store, just him and the sights of the town outside through the door on the opposite side of the store. At least he had something to watch here thanks to the giant window: all the Pokémon walking around town, conversing with one another and actually doing fun activities.
Shroomsworth felt a bit envious. He wished he could be doing something instead of standing there all the time. Counting stock was tedious if done in the middle of the shift instead of at the start or the end of the shift.
The one thing he really wished was to read something, like a book or the newspaper. Maybe something like a Pokémon encyclopedia. He wondered if Falae town even had an encyclopedia and if it was good quality. He remembered his old home had one that was excellent, though he rarely had the time to read it because his position then was much more important than what he was doing now.
Thinking about it really made him want to read something again, but it was still hours until lunch time, and there was bound to be a customer entering to do some shopping at any point in time…
“It wouldn't hurt to ask,” Shroomsworth thought to himself. He walked over to the back room and made his way to Lavender's office. Then, he gave the door a knock before opening it, peering his head in. The Aromatisse's smell already invaded his nostrils, but as much as it was overstimulating, he braved it just to say, “Excuse me. I have a query.”
“What is it, dear?” Lavender asked.
“Do you mind if I have something to read while I wait for customers?”
“Oh, sure, you can have something to read.” she said with a smile.
“Ah, good. Now, do you have anything, like a book or a newspaper-”
“No, I don't, but I can run over to the library and get you something.” Lavender stood up from her chair and started making her way around her desk. “Anything in particular you'd like?”
“Perhaps a book about this town or this continent would do nicely.”
“I’ll see what I can find.”
While Lavender left to go gather what Shroomsworth wanted, the Breloom went back to working at the counter.
Thankfully, it was a busy day at the shop, so he didn't have to do much waiting around. It was actually busier than it usually was, and the Pokémon were buying more food than he'd ever seen them buy, mostly because it was the day the Pokémon here did their errands.
And these Pokémon were also so confused by the strangely voiced mushroom taking their orders. Some of them didn't hesitate to mock his accent or ask why his voice sounded weird. It was just something he had to put up with.
Nonetheless, he was able to get the job done and satisfy all the customer's shopping needs.
And just in time, too. Lavender had just returned from her trip to the library and was now carrying two books in her arms towards the desk.
“Hey, I'm back.” she said. “Did you get overwhelmed while I was gone?”
“Oh no, I handled everything perfectly well.” Shroomsworth replied.
“Oh, great! Just what I'd like to hear.” She put the books on the counter and separated. “The librarian recommended you read this.” she said as she pushed a book with an artistically dusty looking cover. “She said it has everything you need to know about our history and culture.”
“Thank you very much.” Shroomsworth then looked at the crimson book with the gold-like lining, the one with a painted cover and the title Lucky Shapeshifter and the Blood Moon Curse. “Is this one yours?”
“No, I got you something extra in case you were done with the first one. Have you heard of Lucky Shapeshifter?”
“No, I haven't.”
“It's super popular over here. Lots of action and mystery that'll keep you guessing.”
Just looking at the cover alone, it didn't look like something he'd be into. The cover looked like it was targeted to teens, and the main title of ‘Lucky Shapeshifter’ didn't help. Despite the promise of there being mystery, a genre he enjoyed quite a bit, he just had to turn it down.
“This isn't something I would read, but thank you anyway.” he said, gently pushing the book away.
“Oh, alright.” Lavender took the book from the counter. “Then I guess I have something to read at lunch. See you until then.” she said before she ran off to the back room.
After that, Shroomsworth immediately went to read the history book that lay in front of him.
Falae town was a months-long endeavor from the indigenous Pokémon of the Gold continent. It had been only 42 years since the town had been officially established, though it didn't come without issues.
The town was once a base of operations for a horrible group of Pokémon called “The Distorted”, those who worship a corrupted beast and lure in lost Pokémon to sacrifice them in her name. Though the book does explain that all these Pokémon were dealt with and brought to justice, the thought alone was enough to make his eyes widen.
He continued reading, learning how the town was repurposed out of the remaining buildings with all signs of The Distorted being removed, like how the main building turned into the Town Hall. There were mentions of other members of The Distorted trying to take their spot back, but with how many Pokémon of Gold Continent had taken residence in the new town to help build it, they were quickly driven out and there hasn't been another attack for about 25 years. Nothing for him to worry about, then.
The rest of the book talked about some of the buildings, its owners and workers, some of the challenges they had to face, typical history things. It was a good read while waiting for customers, and it was very informative, too.
At the end of the day, Shroomsworth was doing inventory while holding the history book in his hands. It was time to close the shop, the same time it usually was, but Lavender hasn’t exited from the back room yet. Shroomsworth assumed she had something to do, as was usually the case in something like this, so he waited a bit longer. Eventually, the wait was so long that he was starting to grow curious.
“This is odd… Did she forget it's time to close the shop?” Shroomsworth thought to himself. He then looked down at his book and figured something out. “She must be engrossed in that new book she borrowed. I better bring her back to reality.”
He walked up to the back room door, only for it to be opened up by Lavender, who was just exiting with her book in her hands.
“Hey, sorry for taking so long.” she said cheerfully. “I was almost done with the book and I just had to see how it ended. So, how was work today?”
“It went about as well as usual.” Shroomsworth answered.
“Good. And how was your book? Was it informative?”
“I learned quite a lot about this town. Well, everything about the founders taking it from a cult was rather unexpected.” he replied as he approached her.
“Oh, yeah. I'm glad we haven't had another encounter from those guys. I'm not particularly good at fighting, I'm more of a healer.” Lavender and Shroomsworth both headed to the shop’s doors as they talked.
“I’ve had years of experience dealing with thieves and rogues.” said Shroomsworth with a confident grin. “If anyone tries attacking us, they'll have to try and get past me, and I don't go down easily.”
“Glad to hear I'm in good hands, or claws in this case.” The two shared a small chuckle over that line. Then, Lavender asked, “Do you have any plans tonight? Made any new friends?”
“Not really.”
“Really? Well I have an idea. Why don't you and me go to the library?” Lavender proposed innocently. “We can pick out some more books and then read them at the café.”
“Sure. I could go for a book and a nice cup of tea.” Shroomsworth replied as he flipped the OPEN sign over and then opened the door. Being a gentleman, he kept the door open and waited for Lavender to exit.
After Lavender walked out of the store, she turned around and stood there waiting for Shroomsworth to follow her out. Once he was out, she said to him, “Great. I'll even introduce you to one of my friends,” and the two started to walk together through the town.
It wasn't a long walk to the library, it was actually closer to Shroomsworth's house than the Breloom thought. It was right in a little area by itself, near the landmark of the Florges statue. It had two entrances, one towards the street from the fountain and the other on the other side where the aforementioned street curves down to the Florges statue. Shroomsworth and Lavender decided to take the scenic route through the flowery landmark, so they entered the library from the lesser used entrance.
As soon as the door opened, something green and leafy peeked out from the front desk, their eyes glued to whoever would step through first. Lavender would be the one to enter first, followed by Shroomsworth as he again offered to open the door for the lady. Once they were both inside, they made their way to the front desk and were greeted by a Wormadam looking as happy as can be.
“Hey Petunia.” Lavender said with a quiet voice.
“Hey Lav.” the Wormadam replied, trying to sound excited but also staying quiet. “Is this that employee you were talking about?”
“Yes. This is Shroomsworth.”
“Greetings. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” spoke Shroomsworth.
“Well, you look and sound like a gentleman.” the Wormadam responded.
“That's because he is one.” Lavender replied.
“Ooh, and he works for you at the store? He looks like he could be your butler.”
Lavender laughed quietly, but Shroomsworth just stood there smiling while trying to hide any hints of nervousness. The thought of being a butler stirred something within him, but neither lady really took notice of his expression. They just assumed he was trying not to be loud in the library.
“Anyway, we're just here to return these and check something else out to read at the café.” Lavender replied before putting her book down on the counter. Shroomsworth did the same shortly after.
“Alright. Did you enjoy the books, Mr. Shroomsman?” Petunia asked.
“Firstly, it's Shroomsworth.” the Breloom responded. “Secondly, while did enjoy reading about this town’s history, I'm not a fan of the other book that was given to me.”
“Ooh, how was it? Wait, don't spoil it. I want to read it.” Petunia sounded very excited.
“It was so gooood. Give it a read after work.”
“I will, now that you've recommended it to me.” Petunia said as she grabbed the books with her leaf arms. “I hope you two find what you're looking for. And it was nice meeting you, Mr. Shroomsworth.”
“Same goes to you ma'am, eh wot.” Shroomsworth replied.
Afterwards, Lavender and Shrooms left to look around for a bit.
There weren't a lot of bookshelves, but they were neatly organized by genre and in alphabetical order. Shroomsworth took his time as he looked over the different genres.
“So, which aisle are we going?” Lavender asked him.
“Hmmm… I was thinking maybe the realistic fiction or nonfiction shelves, or maybe the romance aisle.” he replied casually.
“Oooh, I love romance. You want to walk the aisle together?” she asked, stepping in a bit towards him.
“Hmm... I think I will want to leave that one for last.” Shroomsworth replied. "I want to check the nonfiction aisle first."
"Okay. We can definitely do that."
They then walked down the library together, both glancing down the aisle at all the kinds of books they had, until they reached the last aisle with all the nonfiction and realistic fiction books.
Lavender was more than content with standing beside Shroomsworth while he took a look at the nonfiction shelves. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much that interested him.
“There isn't much on these shelves.” he said to himself before turning to the realistic fiction shelf and taking a look.
There were a fair few book titles that looked interesting to him, with lots of different settings depicted on the covers. One of these books had a cover depicting an Inteleon sitting legs crossed on a throne while a Quaquaval leans over them and two Pokémon, a Pangoro and a Dusknoir, are standing guard around the throne.
“Ooh, is that a mafia book?” Lavender asked. “I like the cover.”
“Is that what this looks like? Oh well.” he said before putting the book back. “I don't really care for mafia stories.”
“Oh. Then what do you like? I know you mentioned romance.”
“I rarely read romance. I'm more into slice of life.” He then pulled out a book with a Leavanny walking down a small, cozy looking neighborhood, one very different from the ones he's seen, with some other Pokémon at their houses waving at them. It looked a bit too plain for his liking, so he put it back on the shelf. “Even so, I have a very specific taste.” he said as he continued to look. A second later, he pulled back a book and looked at the cover. This time, it was a Kecleon and a Purloin in two scenarios: the top half having them scavenge a mystery dungeon for items and the bottom half having them try to sell the items. The cover looked promising, so he took the book out and started reading the first page. He ended up liking what he was reading so he nodded and held onto the book before looking at Lavender and telling her contentedly, “Alright, I’ve found what I was looking for.”
“Took you a while. Well, now it's my turn to choose, and I know where I'm going.” Lavender said before she quickly left the aisle.
Shroomsworth followed her through the library, and he could already tell exactly where she was going: the romance section. Entering the aisle, he saw lots of little signs denoting each little subgenre in just that romance section alone. Same gender, differing gender, slow burn, and way too many more that the Breloom cared to count. The only thought he had in his mind was that this was going to take a whi-
“Ooh, there's a new one!” Lavender excitedly whispered as she ran up to a specific book, pulled it out, and stared at the cover.
Nevermind, that took less time than he thought. How surprising.
“I think I'm ready. How about you? Did you find anything that suited your fancy?" She giggled at her own joke, thinking it was clever. It did get a smile out of Shroomsworth, so it worked.
"Oh, no. I am content with what I already have." Shroomsworth replied, though he couldn't help but smile at the joke.
"Then let's go check these out.” Lavender said, shaking the book in her hands. “I can't wait to read mine. How about you?”
"Of course. I can't wait either." He answered happily. Lavender's enthusiasm was rubbing off on him, but he didn't really mind it. In fact, he found it rather charming in a friendly way.
When they were at the counter and checking their books out, Petunia couldn't help but bring up the cover of Lavender's romance novel, and the two women started chuckling and talking about the Pokémon on the cover like teenage girls talking about their crushes. It did chew up some valuable time that could've been spent reading, but he didn't want to be rude and interrupt their conversation, so he stood there and waited for them to finish.
Eventually, they did leave the library and begin making their way to the café, where they would finally have a chance to relax and have some nice treats (and tea) while they read their books.
“Here's where you find the jobs that need to be done.” Anise told Rhodes.
The two were standing in front of a large wooden sign with a bright green and yellow awning and multiple pieces of paper hanging on small nails sticking into the wood. Each piece of paper had a hole at the top with a rectangular space to help put it on the nail and be stopped by the head of the nail when the wind started blowing. All of the posts had some kind of job listed to them: capturing notable criminals, looking for employees to work at various places, going into mystery dungeons to look for something. There were lots of options.
“So, whatcha gonna do?” Anise asked.
“I don't know. There's a lot to choose from.” Rhodes replied.
It didn't take long for him to spot a familiar face: the Weavile with the three claw marks on the left side of his face. It was on a WANTED poster, and right behind the portrait was a fiery background that complimented how much of a threat he was and how urgently he should be stopped. That vain expression, that he knew all too well, was taunting him. He quickly looked away from it, not wanting it to get back under his skin.
He looked at another WANTED poster, which had a plain yellow background in comparison. It had a Beedrill on it wearing a black helmet with five yellow angles pointing downwards in the middle of it. Though its name was unknown, it was wanted for killing a group of Pokémon and being a danger to society.
But, Beedrill were easy to take care of. That's what his dad told him. He even experienced that for himself, so there was no refuting that. Nonetheless, he'd rather bring the Beedrill to justice than have to deal with his dad again.
“I think I know what I'm doing.” Rhodes said. “Do I take the paper or-”
“No, just leave it there. Saves on paper.” Anise replied.
“Okay. Then I'm going to go catch that Beedrill.”
“I thought you were going to do something in a mystery dungeon.”
“I didn't see anybody that needed rescuing. Did you?”
“Not really. I just wanted to get out of town again, but I'm not going out if you're fighting a bug.”
Rhodes turned his head to look at her as he asked her, “You don't like bug types?”
“Ugh. Not all of them, but there's a lot of icky ones, and Beedrill is definitely one of them.”
“They're not a problem for me. I'll go take care of this one. See you later.” Rhodes waved at Anise before he ran off to start his first mission.
Anise then sighed.
“Great… Now what am I supposed to do?” She asked herself.
It didn’t take too long before Rhodes was in the deep part of the forest outside the town. Not too deep to be in the all-too-familiar territory, but just enough for him to safely try and apprehend a criminal. Try being the keyword, because he hasn't had any luck on finding the criminal in question yet.
But as he stepped into a dirt crater, likely caused by a fight between two Pokémon, his nose started twitching as he now picked up an indistinguishable scent.
“Yeah, that smells like a Beedrill alright.” he thought. “And it's coming from that way.”
As soon as he recognized the scent, he looked to one direction and started running. The scent grew closer as he continued to run. It was either a hive or exactly the Pokémon he was looking for.
But he knew these woods well. There wasn't a hive here, at least not last time he was there.
He continued to run until he saw something yellow in the distance, to which he started to slow down. He carefully stepped down the grass, making sure to make the least amount of noise as possible. Eventually, he got close enough to tell that what he was going after was, indeed, a Beedrill, and with the helmet matching the wanted poster.
But right before he could come up with a plan, the Beedrill heard Rhodes’s footsteps, despite his best efforts to keep them quiet, and it quickly turned around. Its bright red eyes shined from the light above as they gazed down on the Sneasel.
“You… You're Slasher’s son, aren't you?” the Beedrill said. He then started flying away and holding his stingers up, as if getting ready to defend itself. “You better stay back, now!”
“N-No. I'm not here to do anything like that. I'm a Rescuer, and I'm here to stop you from doing any more crimes.” Rhodes replied. He tried his best to sound confident, but there was a slight bit of nervousness to his voice.
“You can't trick me.” the Beedrill said. “I've killed Pokémon threatening my life like yours. I won't hesitate to kill you!”
“I don't know what's going on with you, but I'm not trying to trick you.” Rhodes stepped forward, but the Beedrill aimed its stingers at the Sneasel, taking him by surprise.
“Shut up!” the Beedrill shouted. He lowered his head, making his helmet partially cover his eyes and give off a menacing glare. “You’re nothing but trouble, and I'll eradicate you from this world!”
Rhodes didn't move as the Beedrill was threatening his life, and he wasn't sure what to do. Then, the Beedrill used Pin Missile and started shooting a barrage of projectile stingers, each one the same size as his actual stingers, towards the Sneasel.
Rhodes was quick on his feet and quickly jumped to his left before he starting running around the Beedrill to try and avoid the stingers. The Beedrill changed his aim slightly, and Rhodes noticed that as soon as he sees one of the stingers flying right in front of where he was running. He jumped over the first stinger and rolled under the second, and halted himself just in time for the third one to fly past in front of him. Then, just as the fourth one was getting close to him, he jumped over it and used Agility while in mid-air. As soon as he hit the ground, he zig-zagged around the other stingers until he was close enough to the Beedrill. Then, he swung and used Metal Claw.
The Beedrill moved his head back to narrowly avoid the Metal Claw, and then he tried using Twinneedle while Rhodes was close. The Sneasel sidestepped both the left and right jabs, and right after he dodged the right jab, he used Pursuit snuck a jab right on the Beedrill’s thorax.
After that, Rhodes held both his hands up as he prepared to use Ice Shard, but right before he could use it, the Beedrill flew back and swerved to the left, dodging it right as the shards were fired. The Beedrill then flew back up to Rhodes and attempts to use Twinneedle once again. Rhodes hops back, avoiding the first swing, but then he jumps over the second and uses Metal Claw. He ends up striking the Beedrill’s helmet, but it's still enough to knock his head downwards.
Before Rhodes could land, the Beedrill flies back and upwards, stumbling to keep itself straight. He then wasted no time in using Pin Missile again, but he added two more moves into the mix: Air Cutter and Swift.
Rhodes’s eyes widened at the amount of projectiles being fired his way: Needles fired directly at him, air waves flying around him from both directions, and stars being scattered all about, all to make sure avoiding at least one attack would be absolute hell. Instead of approaching the Beedrill, Rhodes turned around and started to run away.
“How do I get close to him? C’mon, think!” Rhodes thought as he ran around. The barrage was getting closer to him, and he was bound to get hit at some point if he didn't think fast…
So, he decided to become faster. He used Agility once more and he jumped in, ready to face the onslaught. He did his best to weave himself past the projectiles, but as he got closer, the Beedrill lowered itself to the ground and started using its moves even more, increasing the amount of projectiles being fired at the Sneasel.
At this point, Rhodes was too overwhelmed by everything being thrown at him and he gets hit by a bunch of Swift stars, sending him flying away into the air.
“Gotcha now!” the Beedrill shouted before he aimed his two stingers at the flailing Sneasel. His eyes glinted a critical white before Pin Missile was used again, firing two big stingers at the same time.
Rhodes was at the peak of his launch and he had just turned upright to see the two stingers growing closer. At this rate, as soon as he descended, the stingers would catch him on his fall and probably go straight through his body, so without thinking, he curled himself up into a ball and hoped for the best. Thankfully, as soon as he fell, he bumped into the smooth part of the stingers and slid down them on his back. As soon as he was off, he uncurled himself and raised his arms up before using Ice Shard and shooting lots of them down at the Beedrill.
The Ice Shards flew past many of the projectiles still being fired at their owner, some even being beaten out by the stars, but some miraculously got past the barrage and hit the Beedrill directly, causing him to temporarily lose his focus.
With that, Rhodes was safely able to fall, until he went through the leaves of a tree, breaking multiple weak branches before falling onto one that broke his fall. He wasn't hurt too much, but he was safe and hidden from the Beedrill’s sight for now.
“You can't hide forever!” The Beedrill shouted. “I'll make your death quicker than you can blink!”
The Beedrill then saw a blur jump from one treetop to the next. He reacted by using Air Cutter and shooting multiple air waves at that tree. Suddenly, the blur ran down the tree, weaving past the air waves, before leaping off, bouncing off the ground, and slamming itself into the Beedrill. It wrapped its arms around his thorax, making sure to keep him within its grasp as it pushed him onto the ground.
With the Beedrill now on his back, the figure jumped up into the air, and that was when he finally realized that it was Rhodes who had caught him out of the air. Before he could react, the Sneasel used Ice Shard again, and the Beedrill could see the shards aimed for the area between his head and his thorax neck and for his stingers…
But the shards hit the ground around those areas instead. Each shard had crossed the other in a way that shielded the Beedrill from moving his limbs, effectively trapping him.
Then, as Rhodes fell, he readied himself for his last attack. He landed, and ended the Beedrill with Pursuit, right on his Thorax again. With a gasp and a cough, the Beedrill fainted, its body now lying in defeat.
Rhodes walked back and was now catching his breath after the intense battle he just had to endure. For a first mission, that was nothing like he was expecting, not to mention that Beedrill didn't look all that threatening on the poster.
He also couldn't blame the Beedrill for acting out at him like that. It seemed more like self defense than anything, which suddenly made what he stated earlier than that to be a curiosity. There was definitely more to this than he thought, though he wondered if anyone would be willing to hear him out. There was only one Pokémon he could think of that could be of help, even if he wasn’t particularly a fan of them.
But first thing’s first, he had to bring the Beedrill back to town.
It was a challenge trying to drag a Beedrill’s body back to Falae town without hurting him too much, but with enough patience, he was able to bring him back without too much issue. There were Pokémon staring in disbelief at the sight of the Sneasel dragging the wanted Beedrill through the town.
“Hey. Do you need help carrying them?” asked a Politoed passing by.
“Oh, sure.” Rhodes answered before letting go of the Beedrill’s arm. “I was actually wondering where I should go to take this outlaw.”
The Politoed picked the Beedrill up and hoisted them up over their shoulder while saying, “I'll show you where the police are. Follow me.”
The Politoed started to hop through town, and Rhodes walked along their side. It was quite a walk as they had to go to the other side of town to reach the building, but Rhodes was able to entertain them by recounting what he had to face. The Politoed was surprised to hear of the storm of projectiles and the nail biting action that ensued, especially that a young Sneasel was capable of doing such feats.
They eventually arrived at the building and headed inside to drop the criminal off. There, at the front desk, was a large Gourgeist happy to see them bringing the Beedrill hey.
“Oh hey, that's the wanted Beedrill we were looking for.” she said.
“Yep. This Sneasel here caught them by himself. I was just helping him carry it in.” the Politoed explained.
“Neat. I'll send someone to retrieve him, and I'll get you the reward on the bounty.”
“Excuse me.” Rhodes said. “When I found him, he was saying that what he did was ‘justified’. I think there's more to his story than there is.”
“Oh, thanks for letting us know. We'll investigate the matter.” The Gourgeist said.
Rhodes looked over to the Beedrill, still slumped over the Politoed’s shoulder. He could only imagine what he must have went through to kill Pokémon, or if it was even in self defense like he was thinking.
After a bit of waiting, a Granbull entered the room, presumably to take the Beedrill. Then, the Gourgeist called out to Rhodes.
“You can come get your reward now.” the Gourgeist said.
From there, Rhodes received a very considerable amount of money, about 1,500 Poké, but when he tried to check on the Beedrill, he was already taken out of the room, as evident by the Politoed standing there. He didn't have much else to do at that point, so he left the building and he went to find Anise.
Later on in the day, both Rhodes and Anise were sitting at the fountain and enjoying some drinks they had gotten from the café. Rhodes had already caught Anise up with the story of what happened at that point, so they had moved on to another topic.
“I wonder if I can get money from patrolling the forest and rescuing lost Pokémon.” Rhodes said.
“How much money are you charging?” Anise asked.
“I wouldn't charge anyone anything. I was thinking of something like them giving me a reward.”
“I don't know about complete strangers giving you stuff, but the rescue jobs at the board have rewards.”
As the two were talking, they caught sight of something peculiar. It was the Beedrill from earlier heading towards the job board alongside the Granbull officer and a Tangrowth.
“Oh, it's that Beedrill.” Anise said before shuddering.
“He's not imprisoned. Guess they worked something out.” Rhodes replied. He then saw the Granbull tear a poster off the board, likely the Beedrill’s wanted poster.
“Or they could be escorting him. It's a long walk from the detective’s place to the jail.” Anise replied.
But then, the Beedrill saw them from over at the board and he started flying over to them.
“Nope.” Anise said abruptly before hopping off the fountain. “Not going near that guy. You deal with him.” She said while walking away.
Before Rhodes could say anything, the Beedrill was already there.
“Hey.” the Beedrill said. “I just wanted to thank you for bringing me here and getting help.”
“Oh. They let you go?” Rhodes asked.
“Yeah. The Pokémon I killed were initially out to kill me first, so they ruled it as justifiable.” the Beedrill explained.
“Oh, okay. I'm glad to hear everything was cleared up.” Rhodes said before taking a sip from his drink.
“Sorry about trying to kill you. I didn't know you were disconnected from Slasher.”
“I get it. I don't want anything to do with him anymore.”
“Really? So, what are you doing now?”
“I'm a rescuer, so I'm doing rescue missions. I'm Rhodes, leader and the only member of Team Pathfinders so far.” Rhodes smiled.
“That sounds interesting. Actually, that sounds a lot better than… Ah. I don't really want to talk about what I did before.” The Beedrill said sheepishly. “But hey, sounds like they let you be a one man group, right?”
“Well, yeah. I don't mind you joining my team, if you want.” Rhodes said.
“I'm good. I'd rather have a team of my own. We could work together sometimes.”
“That sounds good.”
“Hah hah. Great. Oh, um, before I forget. The Pokémon I worked at before called me ‘Teriyaki’, but you can call me Terry for short.” the Beedril stated.
“Huh? Why'd they call you Teriyaki? Did you not have a name before?” Rhodes asked.
“No. I'm from a mystery dungeon.”
Rhodes's eyes widened. “Wow. I've never met a Pokémon like you before. At least you're one of the nice ones.”
“Thanks. I should start figuring out what I want to do next. See you later.” The Beedrill waved his stinger in a friendly manner.
“Yeah, you too.” Rhodes sipped his drink and watched the Beedrill turn and start wandering through the town.
“Finally, he's gone.” said Anise as she returned.
“He wasn't bad. He said he was going to become a rescuer like me.”
“Good for him.”
At least Rhodes was happy. The situation couldn't have turned out any better than he had thought, and now he was looking forward to possibly working with another rescuer.
“That's what I wanna ask you, sneaking off town like that without your momma’s permission.” Robyn replied. She smiled, her sharp white teeth peeking out from the mouth covering of her cloak. “Nothing gets by a bored girl’s eye.” she said in a creepy tone.
Anise rightfully backed away from the Sableye, slowly raising her hands up. She was scared of what that woman could do to her, even if she didn't have anything bad to hide.
“I’m just visiting a friend. The Sneasel kid.” Anise answered.
“Oh yeah. I saw you with him the other day. Now why would he want you out of the town, huh?”
“Because he doesn't live in Falae. He's not bad, I swear.”
“Oh, I'll be the judge of that.” Robyn said, tilting her head and her smile showing once again. She then turned around while keeping her head’s position locked in place, causing her to bend backwards while her head rotated until it's upside down. “You’re my responsibility now, after all.”
“Can you stop looking at me like that?!” Anise almost shouted.
Robyn snapped herself into standing straight up before saying “Okay. Let's go.” and proceeding to go straight into the forest without guidance.
Anise was now afraid of what Robyn would think of Rhodes. The last time the two ran into each other, she seemed to recognize him and not in a good way. Now she would have a lot more time to figure him out, and Anise didn't want her to get the wrong idea about him, so she ran after the cloaked Sableye.
Robyn didn't have much trouble finding the treehouse that Rhodes lived in, or seeing that the Sneasel was inside. She didn't hesitate to hop quickly and in a zigzagged pattern towards the building, but she stopped to wait for Anise to catch up.
“You go first.” Robyn said quietly.
“Uh… Okay?” Anise replied before she started to climb the ladder.
Rhodes watched as Anise reached the top and crawled onto the wood floor.
“Hey Anise.” the Sneasel said happily.
“Someone followed me here.” Anise replied.
“Someone bad or-”
“Worse.”
Rhodes immediately turned to his left after hearing the new voice, and he saw Robin staring down at him.
“hi.” she immediately said without proper capitalization.
Rhodes jumped, pushing himself away from the Sableye and dropping everything he had on hand.
“How did you get in?!” he asked, terrified.
“What, you didn't see me crawling on the ceiling?” she asked. “Thirty-second rule of mystery dungeon exploration: If it's suspiciously quiet, never forget to look up.”
“What?”
“Okay, I made that up, but it's a good thing to know.” she said before twirling towards the papers on the floor. “So, what's all this? You making a comic or something?” Before Rhodes could respond, she picked up one of the completed papers and glanced over it. “Dude, this kicks ass. We need more stuff like this in Falae.”
Rhodes was overwhelmed by Robyn’s fast responses. He barely had any time to think for himself before she spat out the next thought in her mind.
“You could make money from this. Like, from rentals. I think we have a library here. A citizen’s library, not the police database.”
“Hey, can you give him a second to breath?!” Anise shouted.
“What, is he not?” Robyn said before looking at the Sneasel. “I'm not doing anything to him.”
“No, just shut up, please.”
“You didn't have to be rude but okay.” Robyn said before letting go of the paper she was holding and doing a zipping motion with two of her fingers going across where her mouth would be, leaving her hand lingering at the other side of her mouth.
“Umm… Thanks for liking my comic. It's still not done yet.” Rhodes said.
Robyn replied by bringing her left arm out of her cloak and giving him a thumbs up.
“But, why were you following Anise?”
Robyn “unzipped” herself, putting both her arms back inside her cloak, before answering with “Because I'm a responsible adult who doesn't let kids run outside of town into danger. You can't tell who's genuine or who wants to kidnap you these days.”
“I don't do anything like that.” Rhodes replied.
“Of course you don't. Not anymore.”
“Huh?” Rhodes was scared again. Did Robyn figure him out?
“Not while I'm here anyway.” she said with her creepy smile. “But if you do, I'll hook you up with a place that offers free housing.”
“What?”
“She means jail. You don't wanna go to jail.” Anise replied, causing Robyn to laugh a little. Rhodes was quick to understand the joke, but he wasn't laughing.
“No, I don't.” he replied.
“Oh yeah, I haven't introduced myself.” Robin said. She then spun around until she stopped in the middle of the room. “I'm Robyn, Falae’s Town’s only detective.”
“My name's Rhodes.”
“Pretty cool name. So, you live here, huh? I like it. Don't think any Pokémon without arms or legs or wings are gonna get up here, but it's your home so I'm giving it a pass.” She then leaned over a bit and did a cutesy pose that was covered up by her cloak. “So, do you want to live in Falae Town?”
“Ummm… Maybe?”
“Is there even a house available?” Anise asked.
“I dunno. Probably.” Robyn shrugged. “The town could always build you one, if you got the money. They're always happy to expand.”
“I like being up here though…” Rhodes said.
“Hey, perfectly understandable. I ain't gonna pressure you or anything.”
Then Anise interjected with “Okay, so are you going to go or-”
“Not until you're safely back in Falae town, leafy.” Robyn pushed her right arm out and pointed it dramatically at the Nuzleaf’s face. Anise promptly shoved the Sableye’s hand away from her face in annoyance.
“I don't need anyone babysitting me, especially not you! I can take care of myself!” Anise shouted.
“Tell that to your mom, not me. It's my head if you get hurt, and I'm a ghost, so that's, like, five heads or something, I don't know, but it hurts a lot more than one.”
Anise was fed up with trying to argue with Robyn, so she just pouted and looked away with her arms crossed.
“Do you want to go to Falae town?” Rhodes asked.
“If it'll get this crazy lady off our backs, yeah?” Anise replied.
“Hey, sounds like a fair trade to me.” Robyn replied. “Let's go.”
Everyone went to the ladder, but Anise got there first and was quick to climb it down.
Rhodes started to feel a little relieved that he was going to be away from Robyn soon, and she wouldn't have any more time to figure out who he was.
“Slasher’s son.” she said quietly.
Rhodes snapped his head to look at Robyn. Surely he didn't just hear the words he was hoping not to hear coming from that Sableye. His arms started to shake with fear as the speculation ran wild in his mind.
Then, Robyn returned the glance back to Rhodes.
“What, you think I'm gonna arrest you?” she asked quietly.
“Please don't. I didn't know any better.” Rhodes pleaded with the same volume of voice. He didn't trust Robyn’s playful attitude. He swore he was done for.
“Relax. I'm not gonna do that. Mayor told me you're chill.”
“Oh. Um… Thanks.”
“Are you coming down or what?!” Anise shouted.
The two looked down at the Nuzleaf impatiently waiting for them for a couple of seconds before they looked back at each other.
“Alright. Your turn to go, I guess.” After that, she did a backflip off the treehouse and successfully landed on both her feet… before immediately flopping onto the ground.
“Are you okay?” Anise asked.
“Yeah. Just gimme a moment.” Robyn replied.
Rhodes watched Robyn lie there for a few seconds before he climbed down the ladder and met up with them on the ground. Afterwards, they all started making their way back to Falae town together, with Robyn staying behind and watching the kids while they led the way.
Anise was too uncomfortable with Robyn’s presence to start a conversation. She has her hands holding onto her arms like she's cold, and she's mindlessly looking around the area in an attempt to look busy.
“Hey, are you okay?” Rhodes asked.
“I don't want to talk right now.” Anise said before subtly pointing to Robyn behind her.
“I don't even have to look to know that it's because of me.” Robyn replied. “I'm not gonna rat you out to your mom or anything.”
Anise exhaled loudly out of annoyance.
“I'm not even gonna bother…” she breathed quietly and shook her head.
Afterwards, no one said anything until they returned to Falae town and stepped through the gate. Then, Robin jumped and twirled over them before looking back and bringing her left arm out.
“Alright. Don't get into trouble now, ya hear?” she asked with a thumbs up.
“We won't.” Rhodes replied.
“Good…” Robyn nodded slowly and stared at them intimidatingly for a bit before quickly turning around scampering off like a sprinter.
Anise sighed once the Sableye was gone.
“Finally, she's off our backs.” she said. “She's so creepy and annoying.”
Rhodes couldn't deny that Robyn was, indeed, a bit creepy, but that thought that she knew about him and his father continued to linger in his mind. He wondered just how much she knew, like how many cases involving her dad that she's aware of. The other thing was how the mayor told her to let him slide. He dared not to think of what that Sableye would've done to him otherwise.
