Quinn grabbed the shampoo bottle and squeezed it, but nothing came out. He then closed the lid and hit it upside down against the side of the shower stall to get what little shampoo remained to accumulate by the lid. When he tried again, a dime-sized drop came out. He sighed and scrubbed his hair with the small amount of shampoo. Quinn couldn’t tell how long he had been in the shower, but it was enough time to finish off the once-full bottle of shampoo. No matter how hard he scrubbed and how hot the water was, the smell wouldn’t go away.
The smell and ineffective shower should have soured Quinn’s mood, but he couldn’t be happier. On the bench next to the shower sat the first Pokemon he had ever caught. Well, sort of caught. Stunky’s earlier reaction replayed in his mind. Quinn wondered if Stunky was angry because Quinn looked like Paul or if they were angry because Quinn wasn’t Paul. Whatever the case, he was going to need to release Stunky somewhere where the imminent spray wouldn’t hit him again.
“Hey, Quinn!” Quinn could hear faint shouting over the sound of the shower. He wanted to spend a couple more hours and a couple more bottles in the shower to get rid of the smell, but he knew it was a losing battle.
Before getting in the shower, Quinn had checked the gym and couldn’t find Cargo anywhere, so he guessed the shout came from someone else. He turned off the shower and yelled back, “Hold on!”
He had already put all of his clothes in a trash bag that he tied shut with multiple knots and threw in the corner of the women’s locker room, so he just had a towel he had gotten from the janitorial closet to cover him. He grabbed Stunky’s Pokeball and headed out of the locker room to see who was yelling for him.
Lauren was leaning on the wall outside of the locker room looking at her phone when she turned to see and smell Quinn. “How in the world do you smell worse than yesterday?” Lauren backed away.
“It’s a long story. Do you mind if I find some underwear before I tell you?” While the towel was old and scratchy, Quinn was grateful it was big enough to wrap around his whole waist.
Lauren blushed and looked away. “Oh, yeah. Tyler is looking at Phanpy’s bandages with Hawlucha and Spoink.”
“Really? Thanks for getting him to come.” Quinn didn’t care if Tyler didn’t pick up a single piece of trash as long as he gave Phanpy a check-up.
Quinn walked to his room and found Tyler with a long pair of tweezers up Phanpy’s trunk and said, “Nurse Joy coming in clutch.”
“Calling me Joy when I have something sharp up your friend’s trunk? Looks like the concussion hasn’t healed up at all,” Tyler flatly responded.
Quinn wasn’t 100% sure, but he thought the nickname didn’t actually bother Tyler, so he didn’t apologize. “Thanks for looking at Phanpy. I was going to make a visit back to the center if you weren’t able to make it.”
“I got you. Plus, nobody in Havenwood wants to see you try and find the center again. You have even less clothes on than before.” Tyler chuckled as he pulled out gauze that was covered in dried blood.
Quinn responded with an awkward laugh as he walked along the perimeter of the room to an open box of clothes. As he did, both Hawlucha and Spoink moved to the other side of the room with looks of disgust.
“Tyler, save some gauze for the rest of our noses. Quinn smells like he took a dip in the sewers.” Lauren joined the conversation entering the door opposite from where Quinn had come through.
Tyler, not having as sensitive a nose as the two Pokemon, let his curiosity get the better of him and took in a big whiff through his nose. He immediately regretted it as he coughed and plugged his offended nose with the hand that wasn’t holding the tweezers. “Bro, grab some clothes and get out of here.”
“Not arguing with that. I’ll be out on the bleachers when you’re done. There should be enough room out there for me to tell or ‘yell’ you what happened.” Quinn quickly grabbed a set of clothes that he hoped wouldn’t be ruined like his last two and walked over to the breakroom.
While Quinn changed, he wondered how much he should tell Tyler and Lauren. There was so much he didn’t know about everyone he had met in West Havenwood, but Tyler and Lauren had already helped him out at his lowest. Quinn knew he could be misreading them, but he felt like they were genuinely good people. He decided to give them the full story, he just hoped it wouldn’t come back to bite him in the butt.
Quinn was sitting on the far end of the bleachers holding Stunky’s ball in both of his hands when Phanpy trotted out with new bandages, his hard hat, and a bright look on his face. Phanpy let out a high-pitched trumpet showcasing his unclogged trunk.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Look at you!” Quinn was in disbelief at how quickly Phanpy was recovering from the cut. Phanpy’s smelling capabilities weren’t completely healed though — he got within several feet of Quinn before smelling Stunky’s spray and then backing away.
“The inside of the trunk is healed enough to breathe through, but Phanpy shouldn’t use it to drink or pick up anything heavy. I brought some antiseptic and bandages from the center. Replace the bandages daily until it heals up completely. Just don’t tell my boss I smuggled you anything.” Tyler gave a wink to punctuate his instructions.
“Wow, I can’t thank you enough. Is Phanpy recovering faster than normal? It’s hard to believe he can even trumpet with where he was two days ago.”
“It can vary, but all Pokemon have crazy regeneration compared to humans. As long as we can stabilize the Pokemon after a serious injury, they will generally get back to 100%.”
Quinn had read similar information online, but it was one thing to read about Pokemon biology and another to see it in action. “So it sounds like I need to get Phanpy a Pokeball before going up against Saber again.”
Lauren was appalled at the implication. “You better not be thinking about taking them on. Raze did that with a knife, you didn’t even see any of his Pokemon!”
“No, I didn’t mean like that, but Saber isn’t going away. A guy named Cargo came earlier today. I thought he was here for the money, but luckily it was just Raze sending a reminder that I have a debt to pay.”
Tyler cursed at the mention of Cargo and Lauren grabbed his hand and rubbed his arm at the same time. “Tyler and Cargo grew up together. Tyler tried to keep him out of Saber, but in the end, Cargo fell in line with Raze. It may not seem like it, but he has a good heart.”
Quinn responded, “I wouldn’t believe you, except Mabel was here this morning and talked to him like he was a boy scout. I still need to tell her that Cargo is with Saber.”
“Did you tell Mabel what happened? Everyone knows there are gang problems in Havenwood, but most don’t know the messy details.”
“Yeah, I told her everything. I wanted to get mad at her for not warning me about Saber, but she was shocked to learn about them and how deep Paul had gotten in with them. She had nothing to do with the gym ever since the scandal and James’ passing.”
Lauren and Tyler both had a look on their face that suggested they wanted to ask questions, but didn’t.
Quinn knew there were two elephants in the room with only one being Phanpy. “How much do you know about the gym, the Royals, and how I fit into all of this?”
Tyler looked at Lauren and squoze her hand. Lauren took the hint. “Most of what we’ve heard is based on rumors so we didn’t want to ask or say anything. The Royals are like minor celebrities in West Havenwood, so Paul’s disappearance and death has been the main gossip topic for a while now. There have been some pretty crazy stories about what happened to him.” Lauren paused for Quinn to respond, but continued when he didn’t. “Everyone adored the Royal Gym when it was a league gym, but the scandal really soured everyone on the Royals. I was too young to hear the rumors when it went down, but James’ death gave credit to the idea that he and Mabel were as blindsided as the rest of us. Paul was known as a sleazeball from then on. I knew some people still worked out in the gym but most people just used the public courts for battling.”
Tyler joined in the conversation. “I got a couple invites to come bet on the pit fights that went on, but I never attended. I don’t think most people knew Paul turned to Saber after the scandal to make money. Judging by Aito’s deal with you, it looks like he and Paul were more in bed than I thought. And in regards to who you are, your resemblance to Paul is noticeable, but I don’t think anyone knows except for you and Mabel.”
Quinn took a deep breath and said, “Well, do I have some tea for you.”
The next half hour was filled with Quinn explaining everything that had happened in the past month and everything he had learned about Paul and Saber. Tyler and Lauren were engrossed in the story and only interjected when they had clarifying questions.
“Wow, who would have guessed you were Paul’s biological son?” Lauren asked the question to Tyler and put out her hand.
Tyler sighed, pulled out five dollars, and gave it to Lauren. “He looks a lot more like Paul when he isn’t running on fumes and no sleep. Or covered in blood.”
“Excuses, excuses.” Lauren smiled and pocketed the money. “While my guess about your origin was right, are you going to make us guess why you smell so rotten?” Lauren and Tyler had settled on the bleachers with their Pokemon and Phanpy during Quinn’s retelling, but they hadn’t gotten any closer to him.
“You know how we were going to clean the locker rooms today? Well, I got started on it early. The men’s locker room smelled of death and I thought it was Paul’s Pokemon who was synced to this Pokeball.” Quinn held up Stunky’s Pokeball. “It turned out I was right about the smell being from Paul’s Pokemon, but they weren’t dead. It was a Stunky who was holing up in the locker room and using its spray to keep people away.”
Everyone raised their eyebrows at the news and Phanpy gave out a cheerful trumpet. “You got Stunky in the Pokeball?” Tyler asked the obvious question as Lauren pulled out her phone.
“Yep, after getting sprayed, I went back in with the Pokeball and showed them my face. I think Stunky recognized I was somehow connected to Paul, but it didn’t stop them from spraying me again. I recalled Stunky right before they could get off their shot. Whenever I let Stunky out, something or someone will smell just like me.” Quinn looked down at the ball like it was a bomb.
Lauren held up her hand and then read from her phone. “‘Stunky protects itself by spraying a noxious fluid from its rear. The stench lingers for 24 hours. This spray is a Stunky’s version of the move [Poison Gas].’”
“Well, that’s good news, but I don’t think Stunky will stop using [Poison Gas] for longer than 24 hours if they don’t want Quinn as their trainer,” Tyler added on.
“If I can get a moment to explain what’s going on, then I think I can convince Stunky to stick around without stinking up the place. But I’m not sure how to release Stunky to get that moment.”
Lauren gave a mischievous smile before she said, “Well, let’s get to plotting.”