Hard Bargain

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Shinx gave her the long and short of what to do to enter, where she should go, then ran off back down the stairs to the town proper. It wasn't hard to remember: someone would identify what species of pokémon she was, check to see if she was an outlaw - which she hopes she isn't, but a small part of her thinks it's cool for some reason - then someone will let her in. Then, she goes down a level, talks to someone who knows what they're doing, then asks questions. If she's being honest, she's looking forward to the 'asking questions' part of this venture.

Of course, she gives the grate a dubious look. If the guild really wants to do a background check so bad, why don't they do something more official like an actual screening process? At least have a receptionist who's trained at keeping up to date with these 'outlaws' or whatever, instead of looking at people's feet. What if you just so happen to be the same kind of pokémon as an outlaw?

Although, in a way, that is what this is.

She still doesn't know why it has to be feet.

She then blinks, staring off into space. …why did I think that? Was I familiar with this stuff?

She half expected a feeling to give her a yay or nay on it, but it stays dormant within her. Must be she's on her own with that scrap of thought.

Taking the few steps necessary to reach the grate, she stands on it.

Something is about to happen.

Before she could comprehend what the feeling was talking about, she heard a sharp, high voice shout up from the bottom of the grate. "Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"

She almost jumped from the suddenness of it, but the feeling's warning kept her still. She looked down, and below the grate is a hole. It goes down, further than the light of late morning can reach, drilling into the cliff. She can't tell what's down there, and part of her wants to ask who yelled at her.

Then another voice booms out from inside the building, and this time she does jump from the volume alone. "Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

This one is just loud. How she can hear them so clearly through an entire building, she isn't privy to it, but some part of her wishes that she doesn't have to talk to it. Or have it talk to her, either.

The voice below responds. "The footprint is…" A moment passes, and she looks back down into the hole. "Um…"

"I SAID," The loud one shouts. "Whose footprint?! What's the holdup?!"

"Um, uh," After a few panicked murmurs the voice below comes to a decision. "The footprint is zorua?!"

A beat of silence passes, before the loud one shouts back. "Really?! It's rare to see a zorua around here!"

The voice below shouts back quickly. "I think the footprint is zorua! They're just really fluffy, or something!"

"...fluffy?" This question was marginally quieter than the last few shouts. It still made her ears pin back.

The voice below sounds a touch more irritated, most likely from all the back and forth. "Are there any wanted zorua that are really fluffy?"

A few long moments pass, longer than before, then the loud one responds. "They're good! Get in here, you weird zorua!"

Just like that, the gate at the bottom of the weird, pink building slowly starts clunking open. From her perspective it looks like the building's stomach just opened to eat her. It'd be easy, too: just like the grate, the opening was made to support someone - or something - much larger than herself. It makes her feel small.

She shakes her head. Now isn't the time to feel morbid. Time to see what the fuss about this guild is. Stepping off the grate - and shaking off the feeling of someone watching her - she strides into the belly of the beast.

The inside is small. It makes sense: the outside of the building really wasn't that big, and Shinx told her that most of the guild's internal property was underground, layered into the cliff itself. Part of her was disturbed by that, but she has no clue what the structural integrity of cliffs are for architectural reasons, and it has been around for a while…

But what gets her is that there isn't anything of note on the first floor. No windows, no furniture, not even a rug to spruce up the place a bit. It's so utterly bland that she has to look over the place a few more times to see if she really did miss something. The only thing that stands out to her is a spiraling slope that leads downwards, the next floor just out of sight.

The blandness is intentional. It displays professionalism, in juxtaposition to the intimidating displays outside.

She blinks at the feeling, then surveys it again. It really is a huge difference in tone, to the point that it seems like two different architects had completely different ideas on what to do. If the point was to keep someone confused, it certainly works on her.

Also, the loud voice's owner isn't present. She thinks about it for about five seconds before shrugging and decides that there must be some sort of system in place to make it sound like the speaker is just behind the gate. It would explain the volume, if anything.

So, down the slope she went. The path downwards is just as undecorated as the first floor, so she continues.

The second floor is where it's at. Unlike the first floor, there's things in here. First, to her direct left and right are boards with some kind of paper tacked onto it, with a couple of pokémon standing in front of each. Two she recognized from earlier, Sunflora and the strange crustacean, standing to the board right of the entrance and seeming to debate between two different papers. On the left side is what looks like a tailless beaver and a sort of sentient, floating wind chime with a long cloth stretching down from its head. The wind chime seems to be explaining something to the beaver-like pokémon, voice feminine and oddly soothing over the din of the other two's conversation. And then, standing by themselves and a bit away from the right-side board is a trio of similar pokémon. They look like some kind of dog, with gray and black fur, all very alike to one another.

She tries not to think of how hard it would be to address just one of them. Her earlier name situation would have solved this, but no, the people here have to be wacky and make names sacred, or whatever.

She also tries to not think about how everyone she's met so far is different. Not only does it point against her Theory of Names, but she has the feeling that she won't be able to remember every single species of pokémon either. What's worse is that she might be expected to know each one, too.

Before she puts herself down even further, she notices one more pokémon. This one comes up from another slope that goes down further, probably to another floor or some such, then stops and looks back at her in return. Its stare is long, probably because of her questionable species.

The pokémon in question is a bird of some sort, one that makes her think of a parrot but with a crest over its head that reminds her of a musical note. It's almost like evolution deemed this bird to be a literal songbird, but she'll keep that thought to herself. Then she gets a look at its tail and notices how much it looks like a metronome needle, and debates changing her mind. Even its feathers are colorful, with white feathers sticking out of its neck, a yellow patch on the chest, a green belly, and the back and wings are a sky blue.

"Ah, hello there," The bird chirps, voice prim and distinctly male. His eyes seem to squint as he looks her over, dark in color and judging her instantly. "I am Chatot, Guildmaster Wigglytuff's right hand pokémon."

He seems to let that statement hang in the air, so she thinks on it. So, the guild is named after the species of pokémon that helms it? That seems…

Her crimson brows furrow. "Wouldn't that be annoying?"

Without the context of her thoughts, the bird tilts his head and narrows his eyes into something that's not exactly a glare. "What do you mean?"

"Calling this the Wigglytuff Guild," She sits and waves a paw somewhere above her. "If you ever get a new Guildmaster, then you'd have to rebrand everything."

He blinks. "I suppose it would, but…" He narrows his eyes again, but keeps his voice polite. "May I ask what your business is, here?"

She goes to answer-

He was familiar with that level of strangeness in a conversation. Just not with strangers.

-then has to recompose herself from the feeling, then tries again. "I've come asking for some help? Someone said I should go here, so…" She lets her sentence hang, hoping this Chatot gets it.

He does pick it up, keeping his professionalism firmly in place. "You have come to the right place, ma'am. We accept requests of all sorts; within reason, of course. Now, what do you need help with…" His eyes un-narrow slightly. "Forgive me, but I haven't asked who you are?"

She can feel her ears pin back involuntarily. "That's… part of the problem, actually. I don't…"

Her words slowly stopped, when she noticed how quiet the room suddenly got. She turns away from Chatot and to the rest of the room, where most everyone else have stopped their own personal conversations to watch hers. After half a moment passes, she sees Sunflora whisper something to the crustacean, in which the lobster-like pokémon gives an audible "Hey hey?" in return. The beaver and wind chime just look at her in confusion.

At least the dogs are still in their own world.

She leans towards Chatot and whispers. "Can this conversation be had somewhere more private?"

At her question, the bird seems to realize that everyone was looking at her and flaps his wings in annoyance. "All of you have daily tasks, do you not? What are you gawking at, hm?"

Like a fire was lit underneath them, they all turn back to the boards and seem to make their choice much faster than before. Before long, not even the trio of gray dogs remain.

She's impressed with the bird's authority.

The colorful bird huffs imperiously. "My apologies, the apprentices are usually more professional than this."

The hunch in his posture suggests otherwise.

She takes the snippet of feeling in stride, then, deciding to see for herself, twists her ears back towards the slopes and listens. Sure enough, she can just hear faint whispers from the floor above. Eavesdroppers, if she ever heard it before.

Seeing how she recognized it, she probably has. Hm.

She continues in a softer voice, hoping it won't carry. "I understand." She blinks, then tilts her head. "Or, well, I probably would have, once. Maybe?"

Her words earn her a strange look. "...right." Chatot then ruffled his feathers with a quick flap of his wings. "Now, what do you require from the guild? Have you lost an item in a dungeon, or come to report an outlaw?"

She can help but grimace when neither of those things match what she wants. The mention of 'dungeons' seems interesting, however. "Dungeons?"

She can see his head tilt ever so slightly to the side. "Yes, does this 'problem' have to deal with a dungeon?"

He says it casually, as if these 'dungeons' are a common occurrence. Perhaps there are castles or forts nearby? Shinx mentioned that the Guild dives into them for treasures.

She shakes her head. "Not that I know of: I haven't seen any castles around."

Now the look is even more confused, if anything. "What do castles have to…" He ruffled his feathers again. "Well, if not those, then what do you require?"

She goes to tell him… then stops herself. Somehow, she hasn't really gotten this far in planning. Or- well no, she has, but it was a part mostly glossed over to get to the part where she gets someone to tell her if they know who or what she is. The actual process is much more nerve-wracking.

Is this how Shinx feels whenever he goes up to the guild? If it was, then she could understand the pressure. It's not pleasant.

The silence must've stretched on further than she thought, because Chatot gives her an impatient look. "Well, out with it! It is better to make the request and have it evaluated, than to let it fester."

She shakes off the pressure, steeling herself. "Calm down, petit oiseau, I'm just thinking." She ignores the confused look he gives her and continues. "I was wondering… I'm asking if anyone has seen me before."

Her words doesn't cause him to flinch, but-

The request instantly goes into his mental 'unimportant' bin. Congratulations, you fucked it.

That's… bad?

Yes.

She tries to salvage it immediately. "I-I meant if anyone has seen a Zorua like me, but if anyone has seen me around town before today, I'd like to know too."

If the feeling hadn't pointed it out before, she wouldn't have noticed his interest being piqued behind his professional face. After a moment where he soaks his words in, he nods. "I have to admit, I am curious why you look like… this, Zorua. I wasn't aware there were more than one color mutation."

Now she feels confused again. "'Mutation'? Are you calling me a mutant?"

His eyes go wide, and his wings flap. "Oh, no no no, I meant no offense! I was referring to the phenomenon some refer to as being 'shiny', where some pokémon are born with a different color palette than the rest of their kind."

"Oh. Well, that's neat."

He whistles out a sigh of relief. As in, he literally whistles. It's a nice tune. "I am glad you understand. Now- wait," The confusion comes back. "Are… you not looking for another zorua such as yourself?"

He is more perceptive than you realized.

She shakes off the feeling and gives him a nervous smile. "I mean, maybe? If there was another one around, and if they're as rare as you make us sound, then they might know me. I…"

She sighs. "I lost my memories recently. Around last evening, I just… woke up on the beach nearby with nothing to myself. Some kid found me and let me stay the night, then brought me to your doorstep saying you could help?"

The bird pokémon is silent for a while, and this time his expression and posture gives nothing of his thoughts away. Which leaves her to her own thoughts. Thoughts like 'what the hell am I doing here?' and 'I should've kept it simple, why did I say I have amnesia?' are the most common, and she wishes that he'd hurry up and tell her to get out.

Then, against her doubts, he slowly nods. "This is an unusual request, I have to admit." He ruffled his feathers - a tell, one to keep him professional - and continued on. "We are an Explorer's Guild, one that deals in dungeon rescues and outlaw capture in equal part, while mainly exploring new dungeons that appear on the Grass Continent. Small matters on this scope are, well, small."

He starts hopping back and forth, imitating someone pacing. "That said, we can take this request into consideration, but the open-ended nature of it means we, the Wigglytuff Guild, cannot guarantee fast results. While you may be a unique pokémon, you are only a single, small one after all. It may take a while to figure out any information, not to mention a request made without any poké given up front for the task."

Hm… this "poké" he speaks of, what is it?

She agrees with the feeling: what is this substance and why does he act like she should've given him some? She clears her throat, making the colorful bird stop hopping in circles. "What is this "poké" you were talking about? Was I supposed to give you something before we talked?"

Once again, the exasperated look returns full-force. "It is our currency. You know…" He waves a wing in no particular direction. "What civilized pokémon use?"

She nods along. "And it's used for?"

He sighs.

It is long, full of impatience and suffering, and the question drilling into his hollow bones asks "Why?"

"Poké is given to other pokémon in exchange for goods and services. While plenty still barter and trade items, poké is usually used as an equivalent when enough is given."

She gives another nod, then stops halfway. "Wait. So you're telling me you'll take me seriously if I had this poké stuff?"

His expression becomes guarded. "We take all requests with a certain level of seriousness and professionalism, while maintaining our resources properly."

Translation: yes, I would.

Her face falls slightly, then a thought occurs to her. "How does one get this poké?"

Now he doesn't bother to hide an annoyed look. "How about you go find this 'friend' of yours that found you and ask them?" Then the annoyed look slips slightly and he cocks his head slightly. "Who did you say found you?"

"Oh, the kid? He's Shinx, the one up by the bluffs just outside of town. Why'd you ask?"

He nods his head, the weird note-like crest making a chopping motion. "As a place to start: you have already given us a starting location to search, but being able to speak to the one that found you may give us some clues that you might have missed."

Yeah, that makes sense. She muses to herself.

It makes sense because you've done this before.

The feeling's information made her pause. I've done this before? Searching for things?

Signs of struggle. A broken lamp, the broken cord sparking a fire. A family of four; three dead, one survivor.

She has no idea what that means. Struggles? Lamps? A dead family? She wants to know more.

…

But the feeling stays quiet.

"Ahem." She refocuses on Chatot, who gives her an impatient look. "If that is all?"

"That's about it, yeah."

"Then you can take your leave." He gives a sharp nod to the slope back upwards.

Around the same time, she can faintly hear frantic movement from said exit, which stopped a few seconds later.

"...well, I guess the eavesdroppers know, now."

Chatot blinks, then ruffles his feathers again in indignation. "Well I… I will make sure that they will be disciplined for listening in on private matters, rest assured!"

"I don't sleep, but sure."

Chatot didn't seem to know what to say to that, so she decided to leave him to figure himself out.

Exiting the building wasn't anything special: she found that there wasn't much sign of the eavesdroppers from earlier, but yet again the first floor was completely bare in the first place. The gate was also opened already, so she took the invitation back outside. As she passed over the grate again, she paused. Looking down into the hole below, she peers into the dark.

She squints. "Are you still down there?"

…

"...yes?" A small voice calls back up.

"Thanks for not making a huge deal about me. From what I can tell, I might be a zorua, but mutated to look depressed and fluffy."

"...okay?"

She nods, then stops when she realizes that it might not be seen. "Again, thanks The Voice Below." Then steps off the grate and starts heading down the steps to the town.

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Diglett blinks as the shadow of the weird zorua steps off the grate in the direction of Treasure Town. He looks around, but nothing really helps explain to him what just happened.

"...The Voice Below?"

He mulls over the title given to him.

"...yeah, I can get behind that."

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The walk back down the steps is a lot easier, and with that she's left to her own thoughts and feelings.

Psst. Hey, you.

Oh, and the feeling, too. Why are you whispering? You're just a figment of… actually, what even are you?

I am the subconscious part of your mind that does a lot of background work, I think.

You think?

Well, it's you we're talking about. You know about as much as someone who's been conscious for about twelve hours, which isn't much. What do you think?

Fair, I guess. So, why'd you get my attention?

Two major things. First, and most important before that one gets their piece, didn't you find that bird… odd. Just a little off?

I think he thinks I'm not worth his time, but that's about it.

No, not that. It was when he asked who found you. That memory slowed you down, but looking back on it… he acted differently.

…different how?

He didn't. When you spoke, he didn't react at all. Normally, when you spoke something to him, he either reacted to what you said, or changed his demeanor when bringing up another topic.

Uh huh, okay.

But he put on a poker face when you brought up the kid. He didn't want to show that he recognized Shinx.

She stuttered in her steps, which forced her to focus on not eating shit all the way down to town. After gaining her footing, she takes more care going down. Why would he do that?

You don't know, but in either case Chatot recognized the cat boy. Food for thought.

Hmm. Looks like she has more questions for Shinx, which he may not like, but he might as well accept she's made to question everything.

Okay, good to know. So, what's the second thing?

Oh. It's time, you realize.

Time for what?

The first feeling sighs… somehow. Here we go…

This second feeling continues, unabashed. It is time to grind, sïster.

Grind?

Yes. This money, poké, has power. Since time immortal, money makes the world go 'round, and sïster, you have no power.

…okay? Where is this going?

The hustle-grind must commence. With it, you will gather all of the poké, amass wealth, and become a being capable of warping the light birthed from stars itself. The possibilities will become endless, sïster.

Wait, really?

Not really. But it seems like getting some poké will help grease the wheels to, hopefully, get the guild to actually help you.

Oh. That's a lot more realistic and what I was expecting.

But it won't hurt to have a fat stack of cash, sïster.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Oh, absolutely; I'm going to get all the poké even if it kills me.

The rest of the way down was done with a bit of a skip in her step.

For about three steps before she stumbled. Her legs weren't meant for skipping, and she paid the price by falling down a few steps. She made sure to not make any weird leg movements the rest of the way down.

At the bottom, she looks around and notices that Shinx isn't immediately in eyeshot. She looks down all three paths before her, and while there are more pokémon about, there isn't any sign of the blue and black cat.

Slight problem.

What is it?

We didn't establish a rendezvous location.

…shit.

She thinks back on it and… yeah, she didn't. She doesn't know many places in this town, Wigglytuff's Guild and Duskull's place notwithstanding, so the rest is a mystery to her. She looks over to the well to see if anyone is standing there, but it's vacant.

…I'm going to have to talk to random strangers, aren't I?

Even the feeling doesn't respond. She truly is alone in this venture.

Sitting down on her haunches, she looks down the various roads. Straight ahead is the path that goes to the beach. She knows that the beach is a favored place of Shinx's, but it's not a guarantee to see him there. To the left (or right, if she was facing the steps) is an unknown, so she thinks of it as a 'maybe'. To her direct right is the main part of town, and if she looks hard enough she can see the tip to Duskull's little operation.

Knowing her luck recently, Shinx is probably deeper into town. Deciding to guess how fate wants her to take the easier options, she goes for the hardest and heads further into Treasure Town.

As she pads along, she takes the time to look around. There's the looks she's getting from the people in town, which isn't new, but they seem to stick harder now that Shinx isn't there to ward them off by staring back. A lot of them seem to be wary for some reason, as if she really does stand out. There are a few where they still go about their business but keep a close eye on her, who then look away when they notice her looking back. Then there are a few she just can't understand- like this strange, floating greenish-blue steel disk floating in the air. It has eyes, so she figures it's a pokémon, but having no visible face makes it hard to tell what they're thinking.

The ones she can see, she understands. It's as if they're waiting for her to do something. Whatever that something is, she has no clue.

After a minute or so of walking, she starts to pass by one of the only familiar buildings in this town. She stops as she looks over, seeing that Duskull is dealing with someone: some kind of orange, bipedal lizard with…

She can't help but stare at the open flame on the tip of its tail.

That's not natural. The feeling states.

I figured that much. She looks closer at it. I don't see any visible ports where this fire is venting from, so it isn't internal. But I can't tell if it's just its body doing it or if they haven't noticed someone setting it on fire.

Hear me out: it can also be magic.

She scoffs. No way this is magic: magic isn't real.

And yet Shinx made those sparks yesterday. What could that be?

A hallucination from hitting my head really hard.

The orange lizard, not seeming to be in pain from the fire, happily puts a bag on the counter between themselves and Duskull. The bag clinks from something within - a few, small somethings - and Duskull takes it with a nod and one of those creepy laughs of his. He bids the lizard farewell - he calls him Charmander - in which they do the same, then turns to leave without looking in her direction. She watches the possibly-magic pokémon leave, leaving herself and Duskull in the immediate area.

His single red eye settles on her and his slight swaying seems to pause for a moment, said eye boring into her. His expression is hard to read, with one single eye to two sockets, and a face of bone to boot. However-

He doesn't hate you, per se, but he isn't happy to see you again.

-her feeling doesn't much care for difficulty, apparently. "You don't seem happy to see me."

He visibly shakes himself, laying an arm across his skull mask. "My apologies, strange Zorua, I was not expecting to see you so soon, hee-hee."

"Well I won't be here for long." She mutters, then speaks up. "I was wondering if you've seen Shinx? He said he would meet up with me after I spoke with the guild, but we forgot to say where."

"Hmm…" His one eye rolls in between his sockets, hidden from her as he thinks. "No, I am afraid I have not, strange Zorua. However, I have been busy with the morning rush, so he may have slipped by when I was serving a customer. Fret not, fret not, hee-hee~"

She tries her best to not shiver when he laughs. "So, is there anything you can tell me?"

His whole body bobs in a way that looks like a nod. "Yes, I can tell you something, strange Zorua. I run a service of storing and keeping other pokémons' poké safe, and I can do the same for you."

"Poké?" She leans in slightly closer. "As in the money people use to 'buy' stuff, right?"

"Indeed, hee-hee."

"Can I have some?"

Duskull stares at her.

She stares at Duskull.

"...no."

She feels her expression fall. "Aw, why not?"

He shakes his body, imitating someone shaking their head from side to side. "I do not give handouts, strange Zorua. Even then, most poké I deal with are other pokémon's money, given to me to protect."

"Oh." Her ears pin back without her permission. "Well… okay, then how do people get it? Chatot refused to tell me and said to ask Shinx, but he's not here and you are, so…"

Somehow, he lets out a sigh. She didn't see him take in a breath or anything, so- well, now that she looks at him, she has no idea how he's speaking to her. He doesn't even have a mouth that she can see, so how is he talking?

He levels her with a look. "You either trade valuables in the market and barter a price, or you provide a service to people and they pay you for it. Some services are a job, like being an explorer and doing tasks for others."

He then tilts to the side slightly, red eye rolling along with him. "Some can be found in dungeons, but they are dangerous to go in unprepared. I would recommend against going in there, unless you want to meet an untimely end in such a horrible place, hee-hee~"

That's another mention of these 'dungeons'. This one says they're dangerous, however. How mysterious, these dungeons are.

The feeling did bring up a good point, she mused. Chatot made it seem like these Guild Explorers deal with dungeons a lot, but this is a first hearing that they're dangerous enough to kill people. But if they have money in them…

Zorua goes to ask about it, when she hears a throat clear behind her. Realizing she's been taking up the spot where people go to deal with Duskull, she turns around to see how badly she did so.

It's only one person. Another cat, this one a bluish gray with white on the paws, face, and tail tip, is glaring daggers at her with sharp blue eyes. They almost look like a normal domestic cat - which she can't tell why she knows that - except for the tail suddenly twirling into a corkscrew, pointing straight up. One odd thing about them is a bag of sorts they have, slung over their body to rest at their left side.

The bag appears empty. That, or the contents are light and flat, like paper.

The cat gives her a reproachful look, speaking in a haughty female voice. "I was unaware that the Duskull Bank has turned into an amateur advice dispenser."

If the cat's tone bothered Duskull - It does. A lot. - he doesn't show it. He gives another sandpaper laugh, leaning around her to look at the cat. "Glameow! I apologize for taking so long, but I have a tough customer to deal with. She will be-"

He doesn't get to finish as Glameow fixes him with her glare. "Then tell her to go so someone who's important can do business with you."

Ooh, this one… The feeling drags up a touch of anger in her, but doesn't finish the thought.

She decides to say her piece, however. "Oh, I don't have any poké: I was just asking if he knew how to-"

Her glare shifts to her. "Did I want to talk to you, freak?"

Punch her. That quiet feeling says.

It was so, so tempting to listen to it. She really didn't like what this Glameow was about, but she didn't want to be known around town for punching people she didn't like.

Just stand aside, let her get her business done. A different feeling suggests. The sooner she's gone- wait, hold on…

What?

She's looking at your neck. A different feeling starts. Quick flicks of her eyes suggest she's measuring the distance between you two. The muscles in her forepaws are tense; she's resisting the urge to let her claws out.

She quickly glances down, and sure enough she can see a slight shiver in her forelegs. If she wasn't looking for it, she would've thought that this cat was just annoyed. Is she going to attack?

No. At least, as long as you don't instigate her. This is a creature used to using violence to get around obstacles. It won't hesitate to mash your eject button.

Taking the feeling's advice to heart, she steps a good two meters to the side without a word.

The cat doesn't give her another thought, but strangely enough she still keeps tensing her claws. Looks like she's been doing that before I showed up. Probably been having a rough time.

Correct.

Looks like she doesn't need the feeling to tell her everything.

Duskull does one of his nods. "Welcome to-"

He gets cut off again. "I want to withdraw everything."

Just barely, she can see him flinch. He then pretends he hadn't, if his nod means anything. "Of course, Glameow. I would like to remind you to keep your poké safe: it's dangerous to move with so much of it with you, hee-hee."

He floats into his building, then retrieves a sizable bag that he carries with no problem. Upon setting it down, Glameow sets herself to shoving it into her empty bag. At first, it doesn't seem to want to go in, but after a few awkward seconds it finally slips inside.

Duskull says farewell, but Glameow acts as if he ceased to exist. She starts to lope away, pace brisk and muscles still as tense as ever.

Her movements are still tense, muscles coiled like a spring. The feeling tells. Like a predator on the prowl, but surrounded by danger. Cornered.

So she has social anxiety? She guessed.

Maybe. Could be she's late for something, too.

She tries to picture her as being late for something, then nods to herself. Yeah, I can see that. Doesn't mean she can be a bitch about it.

Almost as if she can read her thoughts, Glameow pauses, then turns around. Her eyes search the street, then land on Zorua.

She glares at her and hisses, and for a split moment she swears she sees something shift in her eyes.

(A Light Glinting Off Glass In A Dark Room Trying To Ignore The Shouting)

She looks away and shivers. She couldn't help it. If she kept looking, then…

Then what? What was she scared of? She looks back up to try and catch the third cat she's ever met, but finds Glameow gone. She…

She tries to shake off that earlier feeling, before sighing. She takes a few steps towards Duskull, then stops short of standing across the counter from him. "Sorry to cut this short, Duskull. I need to walk off meeting…" She glances back the way the cat went. "I just need to feel like myself again."

A good walk to get the serotonin flowing. The quiet feeling says quietly. Sounds like a good idea.

Duskull gives her one last laugh. "Sounds like a good idea, strange Zorua. Do come back, if you ever obtain too much poké for you to carry, hee-hee~"

"Sure, sure…" She trails off as she pads off, making sure to not go in the same direction as Glameow did. Thankfully, she appeared to head back towards the intersection in front of the Guild.

Probably to go to the Guild and put in a request. She thinks sourly. All of that poké is probably going to let her get her shit done, first.

Probably isn't even as important as yours, too. The feeling agrees bitterly.

Regardless of what that cat does, it isn't the one she's looking for. She's looking for a cat with some deeply hidden emotional problems and hides behind a mask while pretending that everything is okay, not some kind of psychopath who looks like she wanted to kill her with just a look.

Going further down the dirt street shows a lot more of what she's missing in this town. A lot of homes - at least, she assumes they're homes - are replaced with market stalls, with various pokémon seeming to talk to each other over various items set on display, some being traded for items and other given piles of small gold discs - coins - for the goods. The air is filled with the droning sound of conversation, most pleasant with a little outrage sprinkled in from irritated customers. There's an odd comfort in the sound, as if business as usual happening around her eases her. She is one of the people, in which everyone goes about their day.

She still draws stares, of course, but most try to keep up with their own happenings. The ones that still look are the stall owners that have nobody in front of them or, in one case of a strange black bird with a conical hat of the same color, stare anyways and ignore the ones in front of them.

Passing by one, you hear muttered words that suspiciously sound like 'freak zorua'. That one keeps a close eye on their stock, as if you'll swipe it right under their nose.

Do they think I'm a shoplifter or something? She certainly didn't think so: the thought hadn't crossed her mind until the feeling mentioned that final bit.

No, the feeling whispers. It's what you are, not who.

'What' she is? Even she doesn't know what she was, much less some strangers that probably haven't seen her before.

She still makes her way through the market at a faster pace. It totally wasn't because of that little revelation. Absolutely not.

Her faster pace brings her closer to the end of the market, but there's one more stall that's a touch more grandiose than the rest. This one almost reminds her of Duskull's place, being a building that reflects the people who own it- at least, it reflects one of them. The building's 'head' is in the shape of a reptile, axe-headed and green with yellow accents, with frills that fade into tent-like walls and an opening inside. In front is another counter-stall, set on a green carpet and two chests of random odds and ends crammed inside of it. She has no idea of the vale of such items, but a quick nod from a feeling tells her that-

If they're out in the open like that, they're probably cheap enough to not be bothered being watched. The 'good stuff' is probably inside the tent or behind the counter, just out of sight.

-and for some reason the words 'bargain bin' comes to mind. Behind the counter is two more reptilian pokémon, one that's a splitting image of the building's design - much smaller, of course - and another one to its left, but colored differently; this one being purple with green accents. Each one stands behind a red tablecloth of sorts, thrown over the countertop as a way of saying 'line up here'.

It is hard to tell if the construction is done in egocentrism or not. The feeling comments.

The shop certainly does its job of catching the eye: it seems to magnetize her gaze to it, unlike the other stalls throughout the market. She wonders if it's a local cultural thing to make a building shaped like one's own species, based on the three she's already seen… even if, technically, she's never met the wigglytuff up top. Despite the view, however, it isn't very busy at the moment; there's only one customer.

A litleo. One that, as she walks by, scoffs at something the two reptiles say, then turns around to leave. When he does, he looks up and sees her walking past the decorated stall. He stuttered in his steps for a moment, but kept walking.

Then came the awkward moment when both of them were leaving in the same direction, so it was unavoidable to be near each other.

"...are you the same Litleo from earlier, or is this more awkward because I'm wrong?"

He gives her an intense look. It's surprisingly strong, despite the baby-blue color. "Is there another litleo you know?"

"No, but if there was, then we have to deal with the Name Conundrum again."

The strength of the look falters slightly. "What?"

People tend to say that a lot around you. The feeling notes.

"Yeah, like, if there's more than one Litleo, and I was trying to talk to you, then just saying Litleo is going to make things more confusing than they should be."

The lion cub look-alike just stares at her.

"Also I lost Shinx. You know where he is?"

He gives her a bewildered look for a moment, before he schools his face into a cool expression. "How did you lose him? I thought you went into the guild together."

Hmm… there's something… The feeling trails off.

Putting that aside, she shrugs. "We didn't; I went in alone and we were going to meet back up. Problem is that we didn't agree on a place, so now I'm lost."

Litleo gives her a smarmy look, eyes narrowing slightly. "Heh, knew that he wouldn't go in."

She casts a glance back to the pink object on the cliff, seeing it loom over everything. "So it has been happening for a while."

"Ha, it's been going on for years." He keeps his smirk plastered on his face as they walk. "It's the same every time: he takes months to work up the courage to go up there, but he never goes in. It's kinda pathetic at this point, really."

"Probably." She casts a glance around. "You also didn't answer my question: have you seen Shinx?"

"You're even more pathetic, too." He ignores her and fixes her with a mild glare. His body tenses ever so slightly.

He's still looking for a fight. The feeling tells her. You can't match that wavelength of his. Keep him on his toes.

"Totally." She agrees. She then pretends to ignore him as she keeps looking around.

There's a noticeable uptick in stares. When she was with Shinx, there were less looks from the pokémon than when she was alone. As to why that is, it's probably because Litleo has his own stares.

Judging eyes from around every corner, ready to put you in your place.

After assessing the looks from strangers, she looks back to Litleo. He still seems a little tense - if a bit more confused now - so she continues. "Although having brain damage kinda makes it a little too easy to get that label. Is there another criteria I can use to measure patheticness?"

The mention of brain damage finally sets in his curiosity. "Brain damage? What are you talking about?"

She sighs lightly. "I woke up last evening with no memories of who, why, or what I am or anything about the world I live in - like I told you earlier - except I seem to be very good at figuring things out about people. For example: I know that-"

-he's not telling you where Shinx is, most likely to keep you away from the sparky cat.

How so?

He pushes and shoves Shinx around, and Shinx's shy personality allows him to do so. But, if anyone - say, a stranger - was to stay around him, Litleo tries to separate him from you. Remember how he told you that Shinx wouldn't be able to help you?

Yeah? Oh… it was to have me try to find someone else to help me, someone that isn't Shinx?

Bingo. And now he's dodging your question of where you can find him. It doesn't matter if he knows or not, but he really doesn't want you to find out, even if it means talking you into circles around each other.

That's strange, isn't it?

Indeed. The 'why' still eludes you, but the truth still stands.

I still wonder what his stares are for.

Just like you, it's something he can't control. A slave to public opinion. Watch, just say-

"-people really seem to like watching us." She looks around the two of them.

Litleo blinks, then glances around too. With both of them looking back, the people suddenly find something more interesting to do that isn't staring.

He puts on a smirk. "Kind of obvious why they're watching you. You know what they say about zoruas."

"...no, I don't."

Her blunt denial makes the cat look back at her, giving her a condescending look. "I'm not going to be the one to break that 'innocence' of yours. Go ask someone else who cares about lost causes."

She does a half-hearted shrug. The motion feels common enough to be part of her, now. "Eh, don't care enough to ask. Pretty sure my stares are for being a mutant, though." She tilts her head to the side, thinking of another question. "What do normal zoruas look like, anyhow? For all I know, I'm the only one I've ever seen."

Litleo looked to be slightly off put from her casual mention of being a mutant, but recovered easily. "You really think I'm going to be the one to help you out, huh? Well let me make this clear to you-"

He suddenly bolts forward, stepping in her way and- and his hair catches on fire. The sheer absurdity of his mohawk transmuting itself into flames causes her to stop and stare at it.

Magic.

I have so many questions. Well, more questions than normal, really.

He bares his fangs at her, which might've looked adorable if his hair wasn't on fucking fire. "You're not going to talk circles around me and try to befriend me or whatever it is you want out of me. I've got better things to do in this town, and it's not taking care of some invalid."

He's shoving you away, again. He really does want you to get lost. How about a verbal left hook?

Like what?

Now, this might be just a hunch… The feeling starts. But perhaps the reason why he doesn't want you to find Shinx is because he cares about the cat?

…what?

It's something in the way he operates. He's hard on the boy, but in an odd way it's also soft. He's trying to egg Shinx on to do something, like a 'macho man' sort of thing. Try calling him out on it, see what happens.

She tries her best to school her expression into a look of genuine confusion. She lowers her voice, so that no bystanders can hear her, keeping it soft. "Then why are you being soft on Shinx?"

Despite being a good meter from her, Litleo recoils as if slapped. His flaming hair sputters out, turning back into a normal small mane of short red locks. He looks… genuinely surprised? "What are you talking about?"

She keeps her voice low, despite his outburst. "You don't want to tell me where he is, and I get that. I'm just some sob story from the beach, and you don't know if I'm lying."

If anything, he looks more confused as she talks.

Uh oh.

'Uh oh'? Why 'uh oh'?

There might have been a misinterpretation there. He might not be aware of this behavior and, quite possibly, might just not like you and not say anything.

She takes a split second to think about it. What would happen if I doubled down?

If you do, try to refocus this back onto you.

She tries to keep going at the lack of a response. "Look, if you don't want me near him, I'll stay away. But if I suddenly detach myself from Shinx, people are going to ask questions."

It takes a moment for Litleo to fix his surprise and give her an indifferent glare. "And why should I care?"

She tries not to react to him silently agreeing with her staying away from Shinx. "If people ask me questions, and I tell the truth, then they're going to double down on you."

"And?"

There was a minor argument happening at that reptilian market stall. Use that.

"And it's only going to get harder for you to shop if people really like Shinx that much."

The combustible cat shoots a small glance over her shoulder, probably in the direction of the market. There's a subtle shift in his eyes.

He's hungry.The feeling whispers to her, almost in the same tone as the one telling her to punch him, earlier today.

Slowly, he stops looking like he's ready to pounce her. His face still holds a guarded expression in place, looking her in the eye. "Alright, then what're you going to do?"

Now's your chance. The feeling starts. Make a deal with him, and make sure it's reasonable.

She nods her head back in the direction of the market. "If I'm right, those lizards are giving you a bad deal. How about I do the bargaining, then bring whatever you wanted back to you? In exchange, you'll help me by answering some general questions."

He seems to consider her questions, which means she didn't completely fail at giving him something to work with.

"...what's stopping you from just taking my money and running with it?"

"Two things. One: you can watch me shop, make sure I don't run off. Two…" She feels her shoulders bunch up slightly. "I, uh, suck at running. Barely went a street and a half with Shinx and was out of breath from the sprint."

A touch of genuine surprise shows in the lion's eyes, then looks her up and down. "Okay, now that is worthy of being pathetic. Forget what I said earlier."

He sighs, which almost sounds like a small growl. "Fine, I'll let you do it. But if you run off with my poké I'll burn you alive."

She feels a shiver run down her spine.

You really, really don't want that. The thought of all that heat makes you uncomfortable.

"I'd say no worries, but only you really win in that situation."

That puts a smirk on his face, producing a small pouch from his side that clinks slightly. "I'll warn you, though: the Kecleon Brothers are known to be stingy as hell to strangers and people they don't like. They're going to be tough to barter with, but you should at least get everything better than what they were offering me. Don't expect a miracle, though."

Oh ho ho…The feeling laughs in her consciousness. He's about to witness a miracle.

----------------------------------------

Zorua pins her ears down, letting her eyes drift down to the counter between her and the green kecleon. "Oh, um… is it worth that much?"

"Yes, the bundle of food will cost… you…" Green drifts off, as if noticing her expression for the first time. "Are you alright, Ma'am?"

Don't give a sarcastic response. The feeling coaches. Start showing a problem of yours, a bit of backstory, and keep your voice slightly raised. Also, leverage your age: age brings respect.

She forces her gaze back up, but keeps her ears down and tone soft, but volume higher than average. "Oh, I'm fine, young man… or, as fine as I can be. I'm recovering from a nasty injury, so a good amount of my funds went to helping me with that. I just have to be wise with what little I have left."

Despite the eyes on Green not being mammalian, she can see a touch of sympathy in them. "Oh, well I'm sorry to hear that! Are you feeling better?"

She has to bite back the urge to say 'no' immediately. "Well… I shouldn't tell you about my problems; I don't want to burden you with knowing that I have a hard time counting and-" She stops suddenly, crouching low to make herself look smaller. "Oh dear I said that out loud. Um." She doesn't say anything else, waiting for Green.

The green Kecleon is, unsurprisingly, shocked at her words. "Wow, uh," He glances at Purple, who seems to be watching the whole altercation with morbid fascination. "That's downright terrible! That has to be some injury you took."

She glances off to the side, gauging the reaction of the other people in the market. About half are going about their business - with the hatted bird still arguing with someone - but the other half?

They're watching you, and not just because of your appearance. Some hear and give you pitying looks. Others hear and lean slightly toward you: those ones want to get the newest gossip to spread in town.

Good, good. Now…

Now, you bring in your 'backstory'.

She curls in further on herself before facing Green again. "Please don't say that so loudly, dear. I wouldn't want my cousin to think you were causing any trouble, when you were just worrying about me."

"Oh, no, my apologies! I didn't mean to say that aloud." Green speaks quietly, but still loud enough to be heard over the din of the market. "Although, if I can say this, it is a good thing you have family members to lean on. Are they local?"

Her face brightens, ears perking back up. "As a matter of fact, he is. He's a fairly distant cousin, but I met him when I was younger and he was just a little cub, although it was outside of Treasure Town. I, well, I couldn't rely on my immediate family, so I reached out to him and asked if he could help. The next thing I know, I'm being shown around some places in town by a shinx before my cousin could show up."

"In fact," She gives a smile to Green. "My little cousin was the one who recommended I come here! He said that you two wouldn't hesitate to help me in a heartbeat, and that you were reliable and affordable. But…" Her ears pin back down. "Oh, my head might still hurt, but I think from what he said about how much I had to pay and what you're offering, I think I missed the good prices."

Purple looks as if he's about to start sweating. If he's capable. She doesn't know if lizards can sweat. Green, on the other hand, looks between her and the eyes on the two of them.

The original price they offered was higher than normal, it seems. Green is worried about the crowd, so maybe it's unnatural for them to drive such hard bargains for newcomers. And now…

Purple makes his way over, trying to hide his urgency. "Well it's a good thing my brother here forgot our new customer's discount!" Green takes his leave and steps back for Purple to take the reins of the conversation. "It's only fair that we do it for someone who trusts us so much from another valued customer's recommendation! Now, what was it that you wanted to get?"

Discount. The feeling purrs. Such a sweet and savory word to your ears.

About time, too: I almost dropped the act about five times already. Out loud, she gives Purple a hopeful smile. "Do you really mean it? I… I can afford it without giving up my medicine?"

Purple gives her a smile - one that looks less than genuine - and a nod. "Yes you can, because the Kecleon Brothers are here to provide!"

The bystanders are looking on approvingly. Their reputation grows.

She lets her ears go back up - which were starting to feel sore - and smiles a bit brightly. "Oh, thank you young man! I wouldn't know what to do without you. Now," She fetches out a small bag from within her neck fluff, the very same one that Litleo gave her. It's hard to maneuver it with paws, but she manages to get the small bag onto the counter.

"I'm still having a hard time counting, can you tell me if this is enough?"

----------------------------------------

A few minutes later, and a basket filled with food and other odds and ends firmly placed around her neck, she rounds a corner that Litleo pointes out to her and waits somewhere far from the market. She places down the basket then, after a moment of hesitation and an encouragement from the feeling, she places down the smaller sack filled with a small handful of poké.

A different, stingier feeling grumbled that they could've kept it.

After a short minute, Litleo rounds the corner. He walks up to her and the two containers, then sits down across from her.

He opens his mouth to say something, but only goes as far to say "How…" before closing it.

She decides to finish for him. "How did I manage to get a deal so good that I left the spare change of the spare change you left me?"

He was halfway through taking off a smaller pouch, one that was inside of the sack that he had given her and stuffed with some poké. He looks down at the sack on the ground. "There's some left?" His voice cracks on the last word.

A sign of his youth. So, so young…

She continues. "I'm a walking miracle. You've been blessed, kiddo."

At her boasting, he curbs his surprise to give her a dry look. "Tch, whatever. Did you make sure to get everything?"

She nudges the basket forwards. "See for yourself, kid."

He takes the offered basket and purposefully pulls it away from her, giving both her and the basket a skeptical look. He looks inside, scanning everything within with narrowed eyes.

They narrow further, looking back up at her. "This is more than what I asked for. Did you just waste my poké?"

He really wants to save as much as he can, if he has the opportunity. Tell him the good news. The feeling is almost smug.

"Nope, got it for free."

"What?"

"I told them that my 'little cousin' didn't seem to be eating well, so most of the food was going to 'him' instead of me. They were almost begging me to take more so that I could eat, too." She closed her eyes and let out a pleased sigh. "I am a deity of discounts, no need to thank me."

When she opens her eyes again, she sees Litleo looking at the basket still. With his attention on the basket, it's probably the most still she's seen him, yet. And with no one else around to watch them, there's less tension on his - and her own - shoulders.

Just like earlier, he seems thinner than you guess is natural.

Less than I can guess? Is amnesia kicking my analytical ability or something dumb like that?

No. The feeling responds. It's almost unnerving how little you recognize the people around here on even the smallest physical level. Almost as if they're all shaped wrong.

Hmm… hey, I recognize that. Except it was with myself: it felt wrong to look at myself for a while.

Maybe that's important, somehow? Regardless of that, you can see his ribs if he twists the wrong way. If he's trying to look intimidating, it doesn't show, but relaxing a bit shows what's underneath.

Sure enough, there are his ribs. Small protrusions lining his chest barrel as he sits, unaware of her observations as he stares into the bag. He still looks like he could outrun her- or, more likely, catch up to her if she runs.

Seeing his staring starting to drag on a bit too long, she lifts a paw and coughs into it. "So, is it time to ask questions?"

Litleo suddenly pulls back into himself, and nods. "Right, right, those things. Normally I'm not this nice, but I'm not going to do you bad for a good favor." He glares at her. "This isn't going to be a regular thing, by the way."

Oh, it's going to be a regular thing whether he likes it or not. He doesn't have the boulés to stop you.

"It's going to become a regular thing." The words leave her mouth instantly.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"...how about maybe, if it means more deals like this?"

"..." He looks down at the bag, then back up at her. "Didn't you have some questions to ask?"

Hook, line and sinker. Well, not yet, but soon. Perhaps this can be a weekly thing?

Depends on how many questions I have for the universe.

Careful, those could be 'potentially infinite' numbers. He is only one fire cub.

She smiles. "I do, yeah. But maybe we should take this somewhere where you can take care of your groceries? I'd like to not sit and talk where someone could walk by and stare at me again, if I'm being honest."

He sighs, leaning down to bite on the basket's handle and lift it. "Sure, jus' don' geh losh forrowin' me, aigh'?"

Translation: Sure, just don't get lost following me, alright?

----------------------------------------

"Oh, hey, can you stop for a second and look in the basket?"

"Whah?"

"Don't get mad-"

"I'm aredy awn guarth."

"What?"

He sets down the basket. "I'm already on guard."

"I did buy one thing for myself for, like, a single poké."

"Wha- what was on sale for one poké?"

"It should be on the bottom; I made sure to separate it from everything else."

"..."

"..."

"...is that a petaya berry?"

"Yeah, Shinx gave me one this morning and it tastes pretty good."

"Oh, that's disgusting- here, keep it, I don't care what it costs as long as I don't smell it."

"What, it tastes good though!"

"If I throw up, I'm doing it in your direction. Suffer."