Welcome to Grassveil Town [CATALYST] (Open)

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Radar just kept flying. He kept flying until he reached town all the way from Shadowhue Forest, no way in hell he was sticking around for fire raining down from the sky. Fire does not rain down from the sky. Fire should never rain down from the sky. Water can rain from the sky, it’s called ‘rain’. Fire? Hell no! If that all even actually happened. See, Radar has a tiny bit of a tendency to see things that aren’t really there...he suffers from hallucinations, has all his life. As long as he could remember, he's been suffering from hallucinations. Radar grew up with a mental illness called ‘schizophrenia’, something he shared with his brother. Thanks to Radar's schizophrenia; he occasionally hears voices in his head, he has hallucinations of the sky turning orange, he hears other Pokémon say things they aren’t actually saying, and sometimes he gets quite paranoid...mainly about Yigo finding out who Radar really was.

A thief, Outlaw, and liar.

Of course, he had some other issues that had to do with his schizophrenia, like how occasionally he might be unmotivated to accomplish a certain task, or how he might have some trouble showing emotion all that well. He's still capable of showing emotion, just a little less than everymon else. These issues, however, were just tiny, minor little things, so he just brushed any concerns or worries about it in his mind aside. They weren’t important, so why bother wasting energy on it.

Right, he owed Yigo an explanation as to why he got all weird back in Shadowhue Forest and shouted at the Absol.

Meh, Radar decided not to focus on it, he had plenty of time on his wings...he'd get back to thinking about what to tell Yigo later.

The bird's sporadic motivation isn't an issue...so he thinks.

Since Yigo wasn't currently with Radar right now, he decided he could sell the orbs that he'd, uh...acquired recently. He'd flown to Yigo's burrow after arriving at the town's gates, you just had to take a right from there. It was a short flight away, not too far from town, and there was a slight cool breeze fluttering through the air. It was refreshing, a little bit of resistance was never a bad thing mid-flight. It wasn't pushing him back, but it was still there, pushing against and through his feathers. The grass always seemed greener in this little pocket of the world known as Grassveil Town...probably how it got it's name. Then again, Radar wouldn't be the most reliable source of information on sights, seeing as he usually sees things that aren't entirely...there. But, it was nice for Radar to see how vibrant the grass looked. He wasn't flying fast, it was more...casual flying. No speed he was going for, he wasn't in a rush...and he rarely did fly instead of walk. Normally, he would just walk to wherever he was going, but currently? Well, Radar didn't know why, he was just...flying. Maybe it's some kind of avian instinct, maybe he just...decided to fly without thinking of all the times he's crashed.

Anyways, he arrived at Yigo's burrow, landing on the dirt and walking through the entrance way that was really just a hole in the side of a hill a little ways away from town. Still, Radar liked it there. You'd never think of a bird living underground now, would you? But that's where Radar lived; right there with Yigo. It was actually a lot cozier and less dirty than one might think. Than again, most of you, I'm sure, would choose not to live in a burrow under the ground. If Radar was known for one thing, it was his eccentricities. A bird that lives underground, can you imagine? Radar grabbed his bag that was still by the entrance, lying on the ground, waiting to be picked up and filled with all the trinkets and 'shinies' Radar might collect. Radar—admittedly—has an issue with anything shiny. If he sees something shiny, the Murkrow's already completely enamored with it. No matter what it is, if it's shiny, he's helpless to resist it's allure. This has compelled him to take the shiny things that he sees, such as the quartz necklace he—surprisingly—didn't have around his neck. Usually, he always wore it, but when he's stealing—which he knew he was going to do in the morning—it could act as a way to describe him, or remember him since he always wore it.

He headed into the bed chamber—where he left it in the morning—and collected his necklace from the side of the bed; a pile of hay with a sheet on it. It was a lot more comfortable than the floor, that's for sure. Just holding it up to his face with his wings, he was already mesmerized by the way the white quartz seemed to sparkle and shine, his red eyes locked on the crystal attached to the necklace. It was completely and utterly useless in every way, but it was really pretty to look at, which was always pleasant to the child's eyes. He slipped the black string over his head—around the hat shaped feathers on top of his head, slightly squishing and shifting them around...it was really quite a mess of feathers—and on his shoulders, around his neck. It was a little big for him—the crystal almost reached to his stomach—but it was shiny and he liked it, so size didn't matter. He could still wear it, so it was fine! Wearing such a pretty jewel...he felt a little important, like this crystal costed 1,000,000₽, and he could just buy it so easily. Sometimes, for a second, he could believe—only for a second—that he was rich, that everymon would look at him and think he was so great and amazing because he was. That, just for a second...he was something more than just a dirty, poor, miserable, lowly thief. That he was something—somemon—special.

But after that second passed...he realized that he was only those things; a dirty, poor, miserable, lowly thief. Also, he was raised by an infamous outlaw from Grima Outpost, the most horrible place in the world. Radar hated the tents and decayed buildings and the Pokémon there most of all. Sometimes, it was a little hard to believe that he'd really left. He'd spent five years there, he didn't even really remember where he hatched...the Outpost was his home. And it was awful. Living with Yigo...this has been the best few months of his life. When he was with Yigo, just playing with him...he forgot about the Outpost...and he started to feel light, happy. It felt like nothing else mattered anymore, that his life was actually great! Better than it was, at least. Currently, Radar had little to no Poké, didn't know where his parents were and has just been aimlessly wandering around the world for a year, and he'd also left his best and probably only friend to deal with an issue in a spooky, scary forest all alone. It was fine, Radar thought to himself. I'd just be something to worry about, and Yigo has that Absol with him to keep him safe. He's hella fine, Radar.

With his bag's strap still slumped over his shoulder, Radar walked out of the burrow and headed back on the trail to Grassveil Town. Of course, now he just walked instead of flew, preferring it to the way most birds moved around. He was just fine with walking, thank you very much. He was actually somewhat of a...'Klutzy Flier.' That was a title Radar had given himself because most times he flew he ended up crashing in this blaze of failure. One time, he even got a concussion, so that wasn't too fun. Yep, concussion. Flew head first into a tree. A solid tree. A tree that felt more like a rock, to be honest...head first. Yeah, Radar's brain was a little out-of-commission for a while, he took his time recovering from that blow. His head flew straight into that tree...luckily, a Cranidos had helped him out and brought him back to the burrow. Radar thought his name was Kestor, but, being completely honest here, he didn't remember much of that day. It was like there was a giant sponge and it just completely scrubbed away all the memories of that day. Radar only really knew what he was told.

Anyways, upon arriving, Radar simply walked through town, processing his most recent trip to Shadowhue Forest, and what was most likely his last. Walking down the streets of Grassveil Town, Radar just took in the sights of stone buildings with slanted, dark brown wood roofs, the bright green grass growing everywhere but the pathways made of dirt on the ground. The buildings had windows in them, glass-filled windows, and they were near doors, or in the center of the side walls...sometimes, if there was a second floor, there would be a window up there.

Buildings were quite a common sight there, not to mention the Pokémon moving to and fro from those buildings. There were all kinds of Pokémon there; big Pokémon, small Pokémon, thin, wide, they had it all. They had floating chandeliers, balls that rolled around on their own and could talk, four-legged Pokémon, two-legged Pokémon. If you could name it...it was there in Grassveil Town. It was the place to go for any Pokémon around the world, the most popular town out there.

There was one spot, however, that always captured the young bird's attention and peaked his interest. One building—one structure—that always fascinated him. The Grassveil Stage—as Radar called it—was a stage made of wood situated in an open space with no other buildings. It had a large wooden box behind it—one that plenty of Pokémon could probably fit in—and it was painted to look like certain backgrounds sometimes on the side that faced the stage. Radar’s always felt weirdly drawn to that stage, he'd just imagine himself up there, performing—just what he'd be performing, he didn’t quite know—in front of hundreds of adoring fans, screaming his name in applause, cheering him on with their encouragement. He easily saw himself standing upon the wooden stage, smiling out at a crowd that accepted and loved all his quirks and eccentricities.

Radar’d be up there someday, don’t you worry...someday he'll have his time in the spotlight.

Just not now.

For now, we have a young bird walking through the streets, happy, able to have sold the stolen loot for 500₽. That was quite a bit of Poké, Radar could buy a whole bunch of berries for him and Yigo to share. He knew this place that sold berries for really cheap prices, and that was his destination. At this place, if he spent all his Poké, he could get fifty berries! This Pokémon was always selling berries for a cheaper price than most others; instead of the usual 150₽ ten berries usually cost everywhere else, Radar could buy them from this stall for 95₽! That doesn't make much of a difference for most Pokémon, since having, like, 2,000₽ is just sooooooo common. But for Radar...it was amazing. For Radar, somemon who doesn't have a lot of Poké, it's a life saver for him. This little berry store hasn't been around for long, just a little recently after Radar first came here from what he understood, but it was the only place he went to for food nowadays.

Walking through the marketplace, he saw plenty of Pokémon shopping. Plenty of Pokémon shopping, talking, doing whatever they may need to do...the Grassveil Market was always busy. Hey, wasn't it known for it's market and trade? Meh, Radar didn't know off the top of his head, it didn't interest him. He just started searching for the stall in the marketplace, eyes shifting left and right, wings shifting around one another as he looked. The stone paths of Grassveil Town were smooth and cool, cooler probably now since the snow had fallen on it. It sent tingles up Radar's spine if he focused on the coldness, it felt relaxing...calming...to feel the coldness run up the Murkrow's back and combat the warmth still in his system. It felt...liberating to the young bird to feel cold, maybe even numb. Just being numb to everything, it felt peaceful. It was also kinda refreshing for him, the cold made everything shiver and chill, waking him up...granted, he didn't sleep, but it still made him feel alert. Radar liked the cold. Radar could smell food; berries, bread, drinks...drinks weren't food, but there were still drinks that he could smell. Probably made from berries, berries always had a distinct smell to them. The air was also always fresh in town, which some Pokémon might take for granted...not Radar, though! Not a kid who grew up in a toxic wonderland! The fresh air was always welcome to him.

Then he found what he was looking for; The Berry Shop. It was just a wooden stall set up in the Grassveil Market, painted white with red rims. It had a sign above it with yellow letters that read; The Berry Shop. It also was kind of like a box, having supplies in the back as a form of storage. It wasn't planted in place, though, no. The owner of The Berry Shop always set it up in different places, and she told him it took a lot of effort to set up. It was set up near the center of the marketplace...not entirely in the center, just a little bit off to the side to avoid all the other shops that might attract more customers. The shop was always quiet, only ever having a few customers...right now, there was an Eevee ordering some berries, and that was about it.

Wait...

It was that Eevee again! Li, from Pecha Forest! She was standing at the stall Radar would usually go to when he wanted to get out of foraging early or wanted to be a little lazy, and it was one of the few stalls or stores he ever really shopped at…or went to...at all. It was run by this Pidgeot named Petra, an older kid who sold berries for lower prices. They weren’t super lower than normal prices, but you’d save about ₽45 for a berry, which meant that quite a few Pokémon went there for a cheaper deal. She told Radar she tried to get more customers by having cheaper sales, so she got more sales and more Poké. Radar liked Petra, she was nice to him, his favourite shopkeeper in Grassveil Town. It was nice to talk with another bird in town, and she always commented on how mature he was and responsible he was.

Radar’s new Eevee friend seemed a bit angry, though, talking with the other bird. “A Pokémon can’t sell something here?!” She shouted, her ears were flat against her head as her tail was slowly swishing back and forth. As Radar decided to move closer in order to figure out what was happening—he’d probably be going there either way in order to make up for the Shadowhue issue—he heard the fox-like Pokémon lowly growling. She had a dark grey bag—similar to Radar’s, actually, in style—that looked very used slung over her shoulder, barely a few inches away from touching the ground, with the letters ‘L.S.M.’ on the front of the bag in a bright teal colour. They stood out. “What kind of service do you run if you won’t buy what others want to sell!?” She exclaimed. “I thought that was always a requirement or something that stores or shops or anything selling anything always did!”

“I run the kind of service that needs Poké, kid.” The Pidgeot shop owner responded, placing her wing over the side of the stall and leaning on it. “I don’t have the Poké, so I can’t buy things off of you, okay…?” She placed a bag on the stall counter with a sigh. It was a brown bag that wasn’t too big, and it was probably filled with berries. Petra used those bags as a way for her customer to hold any large orders of berries. Radar always brought the same bag back, though, for more orders, because he understood that she didn’t have an endless supply of them. “So, do you want your berries or not?” She asked.

Li looked at her bag. “How much were they again?” She asked, looking back at the Pidgeot before Radar started to walk over, curiosity getting the better of him.

“95₽.” Petra answered. Looking really upset, Li searched her bag for a moment. That moment seemed to go on and on. “Do you have enough Poké?” Petra asked, leaning a bit closer. She doesn’t have enough, Radar thought, watching the Eevee’s ears fall, paws digging into the ground. She then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She hella doesn’t have enough. Radar knew how it felt to not have enough Poké to buy something. Hell, that was him most times. Radar couldn’t explain it, but…watching that Eevee, and making the assumption that she didn’t have enough Poké to buy something…he wanted to help. Especially since it was to help who he deemed a friend. Even though she was mean, really bossy, didn’t seem to like Radar…why did he see her as a friend?

Li then opened her eyes, turned around, and stomped off, not bothering to pay for or take the berries she had wanted. That was when Radar acted really without thinking as he pulled out 100₽. “I’ll pay for it!” He shouted to Petra, stepping in between the Pidgeot and Eevee. “She’s my friend.”

That comment made the Eevee stop in place as Radar looked back at her. Her tail was still slowly swishing back and forth like usual as she just stared ahead at something. Petra, on the other wing, had a smile across her beak as she placed her wings on the table. “Hi there, Radar.” She greeted him as Radar turned his head back to look at the other bird. The first thing that he noticed was a streak of blue feathers flowing from her head amongst the red and yellow feathers, almost making up what looked to be hair. The blue was new, something that he hadn’t seen before on her. It looked really nice. He stared a little bit, eyes focusing on the blue. It looked really pretty, and it stood out. It was this nice, dark blue, like Radar had seen before on certain buildings. Navy blue. “A friend paid for me to get this done as a gift.” Petra explained, reaching back and bringing her blue feathers closer for Radar to see.

“I like it.” He complimented her, smiling. He had already seen a multi-colored Pikachu on the streets…but, uh, apparently he was also magic because he always ran down the same alley, which was a dead end, and just seemed to disappear. Radar would know, he’d investigated that alleyway after having not seen the Electric Mouse leave, seeing that it was only a dead end. Where did he always go? Then Petra now had blue feathers. “How did you change the colour?” Radar asked.

“Dandy’s Dyes. You pay them Poké and they dye you different colours.” Petra answered before glancing at the Eevee who was now next to Radar, paws up on the booth of the shop. “So…you two are friends?”

Nothing. Nothing from Li. She was just quiet, watching the older bird in silence. Radar nodded his head, however, as if to say yes enough for the both of them. “Yep!” Radar rather chirpily said, placing the 100₽ on the stall. “I’m making more friends!”

“That’s nice, Radar.” Petra commented, taking the Poké and letting Li have the berries. The young—yet still older than Radar—Pidgeot then smiled. “I’m still waiting to meet this Yigo Pokémon sometime.” Right, Radar had told Petra so much about Yigo and that he was really nice and great…Petra really should meet Yigo…who was currently…somewhere…fighting something. Yeah, Radar wasn’t the best friend out there, he was, um…a bit more aware of that right now. “Think you’ll bring him by next time you come here?”

“Sure!” Radar agreed, watching as the Eevee next to him took the berries, shoved them in her bag, and silently walked away without even a goodbye or thank you. Radar, starting to panic as he wanted to keep up but didn’t want to just leave, placed both wings on the stall and leaned on it. “Thank you for the berries. I’ll be back later to buy more. I’ll bring Yigo.” He started rattling off the important things he was going to say before turning around and flying to get a quick burst of speed. “And have a good day!” He called back to Petra, turning his head to look back.

Now back to his current issue.

“Li!” Radar called out. “Wait!” He stopped flying and landed on the ground next to the still walking Eevee, the one that looked quite upset for one reason. Radar kept walking, trying his best to keep up. “Where are you going?”

“Why do you care?” She asked, ears flat, not even looking at Radar. “Just leave me alone, kid.”

“You’re a kid, too.” Radar responded. Li stopped, turning around to look at him. It was true, she looked like she was Radar’s age…maybe eleven or twelve? She also looked furious. “I mean…” Radar began, stopping, rubbing his wings back and forth. “You look like a kid…”

“WHAT do you WANT?!” Li screamed at him, growling. “WHAT?!”

“I, um…” Radar began, looking down at the ground. Did I do something wrong? “I wanted to say hi…” He explained. “Ask where you were going because I was curious…”

A few deep breaths came from Li, closing her eyes. She was really upset, wasn’t she? “Just…leave. Me. Alone.” She slowly stated, opening her eyes as she stared straight at Radar. “We’re not ‘friends,’ Feathers.” And with that, she just walked away.

Radar continued to follow her, however. “Well, what’s stopping us from being friends?”

“You.” Li stated, once again not looking at Radar, staring straight ahead of her. Her tail was still swishing back and forth. “I don’t make friends with Pokémon who only talk to me because they want something.”

“I just want to be friends.” Radar stated. “That’s it.”

“And why do you want to be…’friends’ with me, huh?”

“I don’t know…?”

“You don’t?”

“I guess, uh…maybe because I liked the ‘Peace and Quiet’ from earlier?"

“Oh, so we can go strolling through forests together for a little while, lower my defences and lull me into a false sense of security before you kill me?”

What? K-Kill? “Why would I kill you?” Radar asked, stopping for a moment. “That's bizarro.” He added as he watched Li—confused—as she just kept walking, tail swishing back and forth rather calmly. Radar continued walking again after a quick little flight to catch up with the Eevee, now more confused and curious than wanting to do something with her.

Li gave something of a dismissive hm to Radar, looking back at the bird. “Kill me, take ah’nor kidnap me, hurt me, it doesn’t make a difference...” She stated, her brown eyes looking back at Radar as her ears remained flat. “You won’t even get a chance, feathers.”

One thing that caught Radar's attention was the way she slurred her words partway through her sentence. ‘Ah’nor?’ Did she mean ‘and or?’ To most Pokémon, that wouldn’t matter...but to Radar...see, he'd slurred his words. And it wasn't just...occasionally. When he was younger, most of everything he ever said was slurred. He’d gotten a bit better at saying his words clearly, and it took extra effort and work to keep himself talking normally, but he'd worked on it because he felt self-conscious about it. He was probably the only Pokémon in the world with ‘Chronic Slurring Disorder.’ “Well...” Radar began. “I’m not going to kill you...or take you, or kidnap you, or hurt you.”

“I’m just supposed to take your word for that?” Li asked, looking back ahead.

“I...yes?”

“Not a chance, feathers.”

“What can I do to make you believe I won’t do any of those things?”

“Nothing.”

One might ask why? Why what? Well, there were plenty of things to ask why about. Why did Li think Radar was trying to kill her? Why was she so mean? Why did the sun rise today? The why someone might ask above all other why's is; why was Radar still trying to be friends with this Pokémon?

Good question.

Radar didn’t quite know why himself.

It felt weird, though...for Radar. He felt...like they were friends. Even though it didn’t look like it, or sound like it...they were friends. Radar just knew that. Why? That he didn't know. This Eevee just felt...familiar to him. Almost like déjà vu. This conversation...it felt like it’s happened before. But it hasn’t. Radar didn’t quite understand it, or know how to explain it other than the fact that he felt connected. Connected to that Eevee...in a way. He felt connected to her.

She was still incredibly rude and mean, that was something Radar could realize.

Li—once again—looked at Radar, her angry glare still apparent in her chocolate brown eyes. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I’m going to be leaving this ‘conversation’ as I have things I need to do.” She curtly stated, stopping.

“What things?” Radar innocently asked, trying to get back onto more friendlier or neutral social grounds.

“Fuck off.” Li told Radar, turning around and leaving without another word.

Radar didn’t follow her, though. It was probably best to just leave her be. No matter how much it felt like it, they weren't friends. Radar reminded himself of that on his way back to Petra, prepared to buy a ton of berries in order to make up for his poor foraging effort.

...Li hadn’t even thanked him for paying for the berries she'd wanted. She just took them and that was that.

Wow.

Of course, the stall itself wasn’t anything spectacular. No, just a wooden stall that was fairly large in size. So it was sort of what you’d usually see, but, like, different sections of the wood were painted in every color of the rainbow, which was nice. Radar at least thought it was a nice touch, the colours were nice. Plus, Radar’s favourite colour was—in fact—purple and there was some purple on the stall, so that made Radar a little happy that he was able to see some purple. Purple was a pretty colour. There were two Kecleon at the stall, helping out two other Pokémon who were there. One was a Rhyhorn, what basically looked like a four-legged rock rhino. The other Pokémon holding a bag in her hand? She stood on two legs and had long ears like a rabbit, and her fur was white with some orange and yellow markings. The species was called a ‘Scorbunny’, and Radar hadn’t really seen one before. At least, not until now.

“Do you have any Charcoal?” The Rhyhorn asked. “I'd like to try some.”

“No, unfortunately we're out of stock for that at the moment.” The Kecleon on the left answered. “Although I have to warn you that Charcoal is not exactly a rock, so I'm not sure whether you should eat it. It might be more useful for your friend, actually.” The shopkeeper explained. “And to you, could I recommend some Smashed Rocks?” He said, laughing, as he picked up a small bag from a big array of small bags exactly like it.

“I already have Charcoal, actually, I want to keep it, so I would like my friend to have another one.” The Scorbunny said. “Although now you're saying it's not a rock? I'm quite surprised.”

Radar thought he heard the Kecleon mutter something about someone not knowing something, but he just shrugged it off. Probably just the voices whispering about him. They did that constantly, all the time. Radar had actually gotten pretty...decent-ish at tuning out whispers, voices or not. “Anyway, thank you and goodbye!” The Rhyhorn shopper said.

“Bye!” The Scorbunny said as well, leaving first. She left tiny wisps of flame in her footsteps, which was something Radar had never seen before. He would’ve doubted if it actually happened or not if it weren’t for the Rhyhorn following her—more slowly—and actually trying to put out the little fires by walking on them.

“You're welcome.” The first Kecleon said to them before turning to Radar and Valen. “Why hello there!” he said. “Do you two boys want to buy or sell?”

Radar looked around him, slightly confused by the word ‘boys’. Plural. Who was he referring to? Valen? She wasn’t a boy, though...wait, was she? No, she was a she. Just in case, though, Radar looked at her again. Just to be sure. “Buy, I guess,” Valen replied to the Kecleon, looking around inside the stall at everything on sale. Then, you had Radar staring at Valen, trying to determine whether or not the Kecleon thought he was a boy. He was going to correct the shopkeeper, but stopped himself. Was she a he?

Radar’s wings started tapping together, confused as to why this was so hard for him. Valen...Valen actually looked like a boy, but he...she...her voice sounded like a girl’s voice. But was she a he? He a she? Radar had honestly never been as confused as he was right now...at least that he could recall. She was a he, wasn’t she? He. Wasn’t he? He was, he looked like a he. Wow. Radar was just going to forget that ever happened. Valen’s a boy, never ever gonna think he’s a girl ever again. Ever.

Radar should probably stop staring.

He looked inside the Kecleon’s stall, trying to pretend like he wasn’t just staring at the Pikipek next to him a moment ago. Then his eyes started to focus on what was inside the stall, available to be bought. There were a lot of rocks, and some more bags similar to the one the Kecleon had showed the Rhydon. There was a pile of Orbs buried under a bunch of containers of various sizes and colors, which...actually...yeah, those were Radar’s. The Kecleon here would always take what Radar was willing to sell, and conveniently didn’t realize that they were stolen. Sure, word probably got around about a Murkrow who stole stuff, but...either they knew and they still bought it from him—which is an issue in itself—or they just didn’t know or realize.

Either way, Radar wouldn’t be complaining. He was just happy to be able to sell the stuff he stole...less of a chance of Yigo finding his ‘treasures’ he took the less time Radar kept them. Inside the stall, Radar also saw whole berries, a large box full of a variety of minced berries, and small cups of minced berries on the side. The whole berries...Radar could find them cheaper at The Berry Store. Petra’d made sure to charge less, she told him that. And seeing the price...yeah, back there you could get whole berries for about the price of a cup of minced berries here.

Radar just started rubbing his wings together in silence as Valen looked around the stall, half hoping the two Kecleon didn’t recognize him from earlier. It sounded kinda impossible, but...Radar hoped. He also wasn’t particularly hoping to avoid the Kecleon—somehow—because of the orbs, a part of him just...didn’t want to be social with them, for some reason. If he could just stay quiet, that was better. Besides, there were more places to go and look at.

“Ah, the illusive oddity...” Connor mused. “I’ve been labeled that many a time, Leander.” His voice was coated with smugness as he explained that, his mouth twisting into a cocky smirk as he—for some reason—seemed to be watching the Seedot. Looking for something in him. Or, was he just watching to see what Leander did? “I consider it a compliment to be considered strange...means I’m different. Unique.” He then glanced at his swinging bag before looking back at his conversation partner, adding more words... “Unpredictable...Pokémon don’t understand me, and I’m only predictable in the sense that you know I’ll do something unpredictable.” The chu’s tone had taken on a slightly devious tone, yet it was quite subtle and was overshadowed by the overwhelming arrogance of this one Pikachu.

“Ah, but...nevermind that.” Connor brushed the topic away, stopping his bag swinging and just placing it over his shoulder. “Also, sorry if the bag’s distracting you, I left my bracelet at home.” He admitted as if it cleared everything up. “What do I want? Well, there’s a lot of stuff I really want...world peace, end all hunger, blah blah blah...y’know, the usual.” The nonchalant attitude the chu had while listing real problems probably gave the sense that he either didn’t care, or he just didn’t realize the severity of said issues. The fucking attitude of this one damn teenager... “I do have a question, though. Just for you, Leander!” His voice seemed to spike with fake excitement when saying ‘just for you’, clapping his paws together at the end of his statement.

And the question that followed was a strange one.

“Have you heard of the masked vigilante running around town?”

Well, it turned out that Valen had enough Poke to buy a cup of mixed Berries. Well, he had enough to buy more than one, if he really wanted, but he was fine with just one. He turned to look at what Radar was doing - it seemed to Valen that the Murkrow was just looking at the shop. So, Valen thought that he might as well just buy some mixed berries and wait for Radar. Maybe it would be a bit awkward, but hopefully not too much, and Valen was feeling hungry now.

He went up to the first Kecleon and said "I want one cup of Mixed Berry Delight," as he took out the Poke to buy it. The Kecleon took it, and then, to Valen's surprise, handed the money to the other Kecleon, who put it somewhere that Valen couldn't see. Putting money in a hidden, secure place was normal, but Valen wondered why the Kecleon who had talked to him wouldn't do that himself. And then the second Kecleon quickly muttered to the first Kecleon, "Wait. Did the customers before these ones buy anything?"

"N-no," the first Kecleon whispered back, but Valen could still barely hear it.

"Good," was the whispered reply. Valen thought there was something particularly odd about this, but he couldn't exactly place what it was.

The first Kecleon then went to the minced berries, filled one of the cups with them, and went back to Valen. "Here's your Mixed Berry Delight!" he said in his normal voice this time, handing the cup to Valen.

Valen took the cup of Berries and put it down so he could talk. "Thank you," he replied, and then he remembered something. "I'll just be waiting for my friend here to finish shopping - I don't think I want anything else right now."

"No problem!" the Kecleon replied. Valen then started eating; he was pretty hungry by now.