Beat It, Punk! [Halloween 2019]

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He moved to the rhythm of a tune nobody knew. He hummed along as each step accentuated the notes. His tone was off-key, horrific, and honestly a sore to anyone who had the misfortune of ears. He cared not, for today was a good day. In his book at least. It'd taken him forever to escape his mother's watch, but he'd waited for the perfect moment to attempt his escape...when his mother slept.

He really wasn't supposed to be out, especially right then and there. The wound on his flank and gnawed bite marks on a fore-paw and back paw hadn't healed yet. He felt fine enough, however, and he still was all bandaged up. So he was good in his book!

The town's street was rife with a livelihood he hadn't seen in a while. Pokemon shuffled from to and fro, some adorned with costumes of varying quality. He, however, had the misfortune of losing his elaborate costume the night he received the wounds he bore. That was alright with him though, he had another trick up his sleeve to get some treats! He just had to figure out where he left his bucket the other night...

His search would be interrupted, however, as he spotted a familiar elderly lurantis shopped about. It was that target he was supposed to "trick" the other night! A mean ol'man that sat on his porch and ate candy in front of the trick-or-treaters instead of giving it to them. He stopped in his tracks with a fixed gaze on the grass type. Their grumpy expression and sneers towards the children said all: he was still a jerk.

Therefor, he had to do something! But what? The zorua zipped off into an alleyway and found his way atop some boxes, he reached the rooftops of the street where he could properly stalk the the grass type. His mind tick-ticked away as a frantic search around found...was that a bucket of paint up there? A wide grin blossomed before he bolted ahead of the lurantis, who took their dear sweet lovely time as they made their way down the street.

Just his luck, the owner of said bucket was nowhere around. There was a small collection atop the roof, the owner must have been repainting their house. He had a small selection of colors to pick from. He picked out the red bucket in a heartbeat, he left the other two behind. The large bucket was a tad too heavy for him to lift, so he was left with pushing it close to the edge. Each move was careful and calculated, by the time he got it to the edge, the lurantis came close to the corner. His fore-paws hung over the edge as he waited.

Closer...closer...

...

NOW!

The zorua bolted up right and behind the bucket. With a quick back-kick of his hind-legs the bucket was sent over the edge. With a clang, clatter, and a splash, the pedestrians and lurantis below were covered in an unknown red substance. Cries of fear and outrage rippled from the crowded street. He peered over with a snarky grin to survey the extent of his chaos. Confused and baffled, the lurantis and the nearby casualties of prank-war chattered nervously and cried in disgust. The grass type, however, had the sense to look up. Chance found his gaze locked with the lurantis, who's eyes promptly narrowed.

Uh-oh.

He bolted off without a second thought, there one moment and gone the next. As quickly as his paws would take him, he worked his way over to the building next over and looked for a way back down. He jumped down into an alleyway and moved to head back into the busy streets, his form shimmered and changed in order to disguise himself. A flash of white followed by a crack of the earth below caused him to stop in his tracks, he narrowly avoided being impaled by an illuminated white claw. The illusion dissipated before it could even form.

He yipped in fear, his nose pressed against the glowing arm as his momentum pushed him forward ever so slightly more. A drop of red fell onto his nose before he noticed it also slowly dripped down the arm that stopped him as well. Slowly and cautiously, he looked up to see the glare of a very upset lurantis.

"...Uh-Hello, mister?" he smiled sheepishly as he slowly stepped back.

Viola? Ah... close enough. Robin decided against correcting him, only burying her face deeper in the pamphlet with a thoughtful hum. Though she couldn't exactly stop herself from raising an eyebrow when Kiba strode across the table. Normally she didn't care too much about a mess, but c'mon, Kiba, they were going to eat here. Where was he going-? Robin trailed after him a bit too fast, almost tripping over her trench coat. He seemed confident in his destination, wherever he was going. It was hard to tell if the poor waiter was rushed or frightened. Granted, there weren't many pokemon here, but that Munchlax looked pretty ravenous... she settled on 'probably-the-second', and enacted her master plan.

"I wanted to ask, are there Reviser Seeds in any of the meals? I have an allergy to them, so I need to make sure." She explained with a sheepish smile, the lie rolling effortlessly off her tongue. A little more on the nose than Kiba's approach, but she could justify it so easily. Hopefully he thought that was a clever tactic and not a buzzkill. Robin was rather proud of it, at least.

... wait, did Kiba even have money? How much lighter was her wallet going to be after today?

She glanced back up at the menu, giving a thoughtful hum, and trying not to mourn her soon-to-be-deceased wallet. At least the rewards for Windrose were pretty generous, but she'd have to write so many papers to make up for this... "Hmm... if there aren't any in the lemon tart, I'd like to buy one of those, please!"

The deerling's eyes widened, "Oh! Goodness-no, w-we don't carry those-especially not after Aries' last mishap with them-So there's no need to worry about those being mixed into the meals. Besides, any stock we had got a little ah...taken in a break in we had the other day," her voice struggled to remain stable. Her eyes darted about while her legs shuffled nervously.

She picked up a nearby empty tray, "Just ah-have a seat anywhere you like and either me, my name is Yera by the way, or Aries-the uh-shop owner, will be with you shortly." It was a struggle to speak with the tin in her mouth, but she managed it. Practice made perfect. Yera hurried along as the munchlax gave a demand for another order. How could one pokemon take in so much food!?

A pouted frown developed on Chance's expression. What? No reviser seeds? This didn't seem right...but still, excitement tickled him. A positive thing came about this. He looked over to the vulpix with a smile, "Hey...are they not gonna make us pay until after we eat?" His voice was low, quiet, completely inaudible to all but the vulpix, "We could totally just go when we're done!" He snickered.

"...But I wanna get another look into the back room-y'know, check to see if they actually don't have any. Think you could get them both out here and distracted once we're done investigating-" (eating) "out here? Osiris and I've been back there before, so I know where to look for em!"

... wait. That was a crime. Like, a crime with a name. "U-uh, I'm not sure that's such a good idea-" Robin managed, scrambling to talk Kiba out of dine-and-dashing. "I still have lots of money, I can pay for us." She insisted, her voice a low hush. That was the most protest she could manage, though. If Kiba insisted, then she'd cave. Wait a second. They'd been robbed, Kiba was going to bake Reviser Seeds into muffins, he'd been in the backroom before...

... she'd just befriended a criminal, hadn't she? What had she gotten into now? In hindsight, there was no way he'd paid for those sunglasses. The gears in her mind finally clicked, though her shock and dread at the conclusion was only showed through a few rapid blinks. Well, alright. Criminal was harsh, he hadn't done anything that bad. She couldn't imagine him hurting anyone. More like... a rebellious kid? Who did crimes? But like- small crimes?

Oh no. She was being enlisted as the distraction. That shouldn't be so bad, right? She just had to fake an allergy attack - nope, bad plan. Not only were they out of Reviser Seeds, she didn't have any clue what that would even looked like. Maybe choking? That was inconspicuous enough to draw attention, right? Well, she'd have some time to think on it, and she mused on her plan of attack while they waited for their food.

"Yeah, I can do that, easy." She beamed, as the reality set in that she was technically part of a heist right now. It was... probably fine? There was no way they had Reviser Seeds, anyways. As fun as it was to play spies, this was a totally normal shop, and the Deerling didn't have any reason to lie. So poking around for a second would be harmless, right? He wasn't even going to take anything. (She hoped. She was suddenly less confident in that idea than she would have liked.) "Let's investigate out here for a while first, though. I wonder what they're going to give you?"

Huh? Robin wanted to pay these evil-doers? Chance had a little trouble believing it. Then again, it could be possible that she was just acting. Playing the part was important after all! Still, he wanted to be absolutely clear with her that this was all perfectly fine. The zorua led the way back to the table he'd walked all over. He hopped back up onto the seat and didn't exactly make any efforts to keep his filthy paws off the table.

"I don't know, but I hope it's good!" he chimed a little too loudly, then, as if a switch were flipped, his head lowered close to the table. His voice dropped in volume to a whisper as he addressed Robin, "Hey, it'll be fine! These guy's are huge jerks-" at least from what he could remember, "Paying them would be like-supporting their goals! I'm positive we can take outta here before they even realize what happened to em, especially after when we're done lookin' around!" He smiled confidently.

Huge jerks? That Deerling had seemed nice enough... but Kiba didn't seem like he was going to be convinced. "Alright. You frame it like that, I get it." She said, not getting it. Maybe she could leave the money on her chair, say she dropped it if Kiba happened to notice. The exact amount of poke that they owed, plus a generous tip - but even if he noticed, he'd be in too much of a rush to count, she figured. Seriously, that poor waiter had definitely earned a tip. She hadn't met the Skiddo yet, but she couldn't help but hope he was a real tyrant. Maybe then she could be convinced to dine and dash? Or at least make it easier on her conscience?

She was beginning, once more, to question just what she had gotten recruited into. The Super Secret Society of Secretiveness wasn't a gang, right? Had she just accidentally joined a kid's gang? That would... not have been the strangest thing that had happened to her today.

Y e s, the zorua thought, utterly convinced that Robin was now totally on his side. Besides, she shouldn't have to pay the evil-doers that lived here! He waited ever so impatiently for their order, a little curious of what could take them so long in the span of this single minute of silence that passed. Surely with this little business their order should be out and with them instantly, right?

It took a good fifteen minutes, but eventually a skiddo popped out of the back kitchen. He held a tray securely over his head with a long trail of vines that wrapped securely onto it without touching the food. Behind him followed the deerling, who had a much more difficult time with her tray, but managed to get along towards that needy little munchlax who demanded more.

Aries, the skiddo, hurried on over to their table and placed the tray of food down onto the table, "I-I'm sorry about the wait," the young goat apologized before he dispersed the plates to their respective owners. Robin got her tart while Chance received an odd looking salad with various berries and dressings put into the mix. It looked rather healthy-almost a little too healthy for Chance's tastes. He took one sniff of it and recoiled.

"Th-The Mixed Salad is going to be a-around 200 poke, I-I'll check back with you later when you're ready to p-p-" the skiddo was interrupted by Chance's obvious look of disgust. The color drained from the skiddo's expression, "I-Is there something wrong?" Aries asked, fearful that he'd just insulted his customer somehow.

"This looks like i'm about to eat a bush!" Chance complained.

The moment he spoke, something about the skiddo changed. While he was already rather fearful, the sound of the zorua's voice was immediately followed with a sudden wide look of absolute horror on the skiddo's face. The grass type's jaw dropped as he shivered in place, eyes locked on the zorua in specific. His eyes searched for an answer to some kind of question, but he was too fearful to bring it up.

Chance hardly seemed to notice, instead looking over to Robin's dish...then back to his, "Hey why don't you just gimme what she's got?" he asked despite the fact that he specifically chose to be surprised. It wasn't out of intentional rudeness...but more of a lack of understanding and total obliviousness.

Oh, damn it all. This guy wasn't a tyrant, either. He seemed nice. Really nice! And not at all deserving of these shenanigans. Robin mulled over the unfairness of the world, internally embarrassed when Kiba starting making a scene over the salad he'd been handed. "Hey, Bones, it's alright." She protested, pushing forward her lemon tart. "I think the salad looks pretty good. Wanna swap?" Goodbye, lemon tart. Maybe she could ask for a piece. She was fine with the salad - it did look well made. While she would have preferred her dessert, it was a worthwhile trade to keep Kiba happy.

Hopefully people weren't staring at them. She could sneak a glance at the Munchlax behind Chance - that one, at least, seemed too preoccupied with stuffing it's mouth to pay them much mind. She couldn't help but pity the shopkeeper, the poor, jumpy thing. She snuck what she hoped was a reassuring smile his way, pushing her tart towards Chance in a peace offering. Hopefully he was okay with sour flavors. If not, well... at least she'd get it back?

"Give it a try, at least. I think you might like it."

Here's hoping that could distract him enough from giving the poor, terrified shopkeeper any more grief.

For a moment, Chance almost forgot that he was nicknamed "Bones" for a moment. He'd thought so little of the name that he cast a minor confused glance in Robin's direction. The moment he remembered, his eyes snapped back towards the food without further reaction. Fortunately, the skiddo was far too preoccupied with the fact that this zorua currently sat before him to notice.

"Uh..." Chance contemplated with another disgusted glance at the g r e e n s he'd been presented with. The zorua frowned as he contemplated it. If his mother were here, she definitely would have forced him to eat the dish. In fact, she'd probably scold him for making such a scene. He'd refuse still and then she would forcefully push his face into the food and smother him in the ranch before forcefully stuffing the food down his throat...at least that was his estimation of what Mirage would do. His imagination might have had a hand in exaggerating certain things.

"...Nah i'm pretty sure I don't like it," said the zorua who didn't even try it. It was principle at this point. Even if he tried it, he would have looked stupid if he tried it. He pushed the plate of greens towards the vixen and pulled the dessert closer, looking a little more satisfied with his dish.

Aries held his mouth shut. His eyes darted about rapidly, as if something were about to attack him from any angle. His eyes locked the vulpix as she gave him some attempt at a reassuring smile...a smile that assured him he was about to die in his head. He visibly shrank at what was meant to be kind. He glanced over to Yera, who was still very much busy with the munchlax across the way. He looked back to the zorua. He took in a deep breath.

"H-Hey...I-I d-didn't tell anyone, why are you back?" The skiddo's whisper trembled frightfully just as the Zorua took a merciless chomp out of the tart. The zorua was not prepared for the consequences of his actions. His face contorted and twisted as the Power of Sour assaulted the great Black Fang. It took everything he had not to spit it back up, determined not to utterly disgust his new friend out. Girls didn't like that kind of stuff...right?

When the skiddo spoke to him, he swallowed. He looked over to the skiddo with a "pained" and confused, "What?"

"Y-You told me not to tell anyone. I didn't a-and you said you wouldn't come back..."

"...What?" The zorua looked to the vulpix, as if she could possibly have any answer for whatever the hell this skiddo was going on about.

She'd been suggesting he try the tart, not the salad, though it seemed that their little miscommunication ended fine in the end. Though... it looked like Kiba wasn't partial to sour flavors. That wasn't ideal, since now she'd have to either help him badger the shopkeeper into getting him a new dish, or somehow talk him down to keep the peace. She mused on her battle plan as she tried a mouthful of the salad, pleasantly surprised by the taste. Salad wasn't her favorite, but she quite liked the dressing and the berries, and even the lettuce had a pleasant crunch.

Her plan of diplomacy and subtle manipulation was crushed, however, by a new factor. Namely, just how terrified the poor Skiddo was, and worse, still, apparently Kiba was... familiar. Oh, no. He had terrorized this poor thing before. Yet another wrench was thrown in the system, however, when the Zorua before her clearly had no idea what he was talking about. She considered that he might be fibbing, but his confusion seemed genuine, and she doubted he was this skilled of a liar. Now, that was odd.

"... I'm sorry, sir. I think you may have the wrong person?" Robin pushed gently for what was the most likely explanation in her mind. This Skiddo did seem rather jumpy... perhaps he was paranoid, or mistaking Kiba for someone else? Or was his confusion genuine? Both couldn't seem to be true, causing Robin's expression to flicker into a puzzled frown, just for a moment, musing on the truth of the matter as she chewed down another bite of salad.

Strange. It looked like both of them were true, Kiba's confusion and the shopkeeper's terror. How could that be? Having the wrong person was the only explanation that made sense to Robin. Unbeknownst to her, she was about half right.

"Er... at least, I'm afraid I've never met you before... maybe if you wanted to explain, we could help you figure this out...?" Whoever this other Zorua was, he had shaken the Skiddo badly. Robin doubted that was exactly the kind of reputation that Kiba wanted to have - better to clear up the confusion, in her mind. Despite his mischief, he hardly seemed like the type to traumatize someone like this.

While he still had plenty of the sour lemon delight in front of him, his attention was prioritized to the skiddo. Robin seemed just as confused as him, but she had more of an idea of what to do in this situation. Chance's gaze switched between the two briefly before he focused on the skiddo again.

The kid's eyes darted back and forth, uncertain and fearful. He didn't know what to do. This zorua was back, but didn't the zorua say to pretend they never saw each other? Did he break that already? He was absolutely certain that this was the same fox. He couldn't possibly forget the latest addition to his novel of nightmares.

"I-I don't know if I'm a-allowed to say..." the skiddo mumbled. He shuffled his hooves around, unable to find a comfortable position that was anything but getting himself out of there. Aries looked to Chance, as if he requested permission, but his silent question went unanswered in the face of the clueless fox.

"Aries, what's wrong?" the voice of the doe chimed up suddenly. The skiddo jumped from the sudden appearance of the deerling, a mortified bleet escaping him before he just barely caught himself from falling over. Yera, the deerling, wasn't all that phased by the skiddo's attitude. This was normal to her, she'd grown used to it.

"O-Oh u-uuh- Nothing! I-I just...Uh..." the skiddo tripped over his words excessively as he struggled to figure out what to say.

Chance, in the meanwhile, saw an opportunity among all of this. As the deerling and the skiddo exchanged their words, he glanced over to Robin. He waved a paw to get her attention and quietly pointed at them. He pointed to himself and then he nodded his head towards the back door. A sly grin stretched across his face.

He wasn't going to wait.

Allowed to say? Now Robin's confusion was ebbing into concern. He looked at Kiba knowingly, still practically paralyzed in fear. What had Kiba done to this guy? She motioned the Zorua off, a bit embarrassed that this was the opportunity he'd decided to take to break off and investigate. It was going to be harmless enough, it wasn't like he was going to steal anything. Just... snoop a bit. That didn't hurt anyone, right? "Hey, it's alright." She rushed to reassure him, trying to bite back the feeling of dread that something was off.

She wasn't on the right side right now, was she? Regardless, it was too late to turn back. "Bones had to go to the bathroom, alright? You don't have to be afraid of him right now. We can... talk, if you want to." Dear Arceus, she was lost. She was normally decent at talking to people, so she liked to think, but how did she reassure someone when she didn't even know what the problem was? She just had odd bits and pieces, none of which quite clicked together into a coherent whole. Was he just jumpy and paranoid? Or was Kiba less innocent than she'd first believed? But then, why hadn't he remembered whatever he'd done? He hadn't struck Robin as an especially capable liar, but now she was second guessing that judgement, a faint crinkle of her nose betraying the thoughts whirling in her mind.

Maybe she'd have a chance to get to the truth of the matter while the Zorua had wandered off. Just had to keep the two distracted for a moment. "I don't know what he did, but I'm not going to let him hurt you." She pushed gently, glancing between the two. It was all talk, sure, but still... seeing him so frightened didn't sit well with her in the least. "I just met him, okay? We're not friends. I'm not on his side."

She felt a bit guilty for such a confession, but he should be out of earshot by now, and it was what the Skiddo needed to hear. They'd just met, right? So it wasn't really too harsh to say that they weren't friends yet. Still, that kernel of guilt made it's home in her gut. Lying through her teeth again, huh? In the end, that was all she knew how to do, it seemed.

Chance was off and away, oblivious to the true severity of the situation. He was confused by it, but he was confident that Ro-Ivory Shield, would be able to handle it. With a hop, skip, and a touch of illusionist magic, he disappeared. Aries didn't notice where the zorua ran off to and neither did Yera, so the duo took the Vulpix's word for it.

The kid still wasn't sure about how much he should say, but the zorua was gone. He glanced over to Yera, who looked rather confused about all of this. He hadn't told her anything about what happened; he was far too afraid to at the time. The goat wanted to laugh it all off and leave the situation, but his legs were locked into place. He couldn't move. One little gust of wind would topple him right over.

Despite his fears, the skiddo managed to struggle some words into existence, "U-Uh..." he glanced nervously between the doe and the vixen. "I-It's j-just...I-I was told not to say a-anything, p-pretend it never happened. Th-Then he wouldn't come back-b-but then he's here. B-But I didn't tell anyone! N-Not even..." he glanced over at Yera. As he expected, the doe's gaze was locked onto him. The look on her face seemed...empty in a way. Soulless-perhaps? He wasn't sure. He didn't like it.

"A-And...it sounded like bad things would happen if I said anything...o-oh god what if this was a test-" The skiddo's voice wavered. His body leaned off to the side, but the doe was there just in time to catch the larger pokemon before he fell over. The skiddo was steadied back on his hooves, he quivered like the large bush of leaves he was.

Yera, in the meanwhile, found an eerie calm come about herself in this situation. Her teeth clamped down onto the tray she held in her mouth, but far more than what was necessary. She remained silent as she looked back to the vulpix, waiting for the customer's response as she herself processed the fact that Aries came out and told some stranger what happened...while he vehemently rejected the idea of telling her the night it'd happened.

...What did this vulpix have that she didn't?

The Skiddo's frantic rambling was... more worrying than it was enlightening. She was terrified of saying the wrong thing, her worry only increased by a pair of intense eyes on her from that Deerling. She had seemed so kind and skittish before, but now she looked almost... angry. Had Robin done something wrong? She didn't miss the way her teeth practically dug into the tray she was carrying, and even for an ice pokemon like Robin, the room suddenly felt freezing cold.

Did the Deerling suspect they were in cahoots? She wasn't entirely wrong, to be fair, but Robin wouldn't want to do anything that would make him this terrified, either. She liked to think that she'd talk down Kiba if he tried anything like that, but... well, maybe that was just wishful thinking. Still, she just had to keep them busy, even though that Deerling's demeanor had shifted, at least in her direction. "Hey, it's alright. I said I'm not going to let him do anything bad, alright?" It took her just a moment to find her bearings, hoping that her smile was reassuring. It only seemed to startle him more last time.

"... would you like to tell us what happened, from the start?" She urged softly, betting on the fact that this topic would keep the waiter's interest. And, selfishly, her own curiosity - and concern - was peaked.

What had Kiba done?

"U-Uh, well," the skiddo stammered, uncertain of where to really begin, "I-It was kinda...after...Yera left..." He couldn't stop himself from his hesitation. He could hardly gather his thoughts together. His chest pained him, he wasn't sure if it felt like it was going to cave in on itself, burst, or somehow manage both at the same time. With his luck, he wouldn't be surprised.

The frequent pauses infuriated Yera. She wanted him to just get on with it. The deerling said nothing, however, and waited ever so patiently for the skiddo to continue. She could hear the munchlax on the other side of the cafe call for more, but he could wait. There was something far more important at hand here.

"I-I was closing up the shop-a-and one of his friends showed up at the d-door. H-He said he wanted candy, but I-I didn't have any. He got mad a-and then one of his friends pushed me out from inside. They locked me out in the streets..." Aries shuffled his hooves. He avoided eye contact with any body as he instead focused on the edge of the table. He couldn't bear to see their looks, especially Yera's.

"Go on." Yera's voice spoke up. It was soft, gentle, but there was something behind its tone that irked Aries.

He obeyed, "I-I ran around back and came in from the back-b-because I didn't want to be out there alone in the dark. I-I accidentally got myself stuck in the door, with my horns, and th-they ransacked the kitchen until they noticed I was there."

"Th-They helped me out-b-but then that guy, h-he threatened me. He pinned me down and h-had his claws out and everything." Aries's voice cracked. Just thinking about it made him feel just as terrified as when it happened.

The doe beside him walked up to his side and pressed against Aries. Hesitantly, the goat leaned back, just about the closest quadrupeds with hooves could get to a small hug. Yera's attention switched to the vulpix, eager to hear what the ice type had to say for this.

Robin could only listen in mute surprise. What else could she do? Sure, Kiba caused trouble - she could tell that much already - but she hadn't taken him as the type to seriously scar someone like that. The most likely explanation she could think of was that it was a small thing that went too far. He couldn't have known how much he'd terrified the Skiddo, could he? Or was she wanting to believe he was more well-intentioned than he really was? He hadn't seemed like a bad pokemon, just... a kid. Probably one going through a phase, sure, but she hadn't caught any genuine malice.

Now, though, she was reconsidering. Had she been wrong?

"Oh." Was all she said at first, staring dumbly at the Skiddo. "Hey, don't worry, alright? Thank you for trusting me. I'll get him out of here. I'm not going to let him hurt you again." She hoped that was reassuring. She didn't feel calm at all. Just... confused, and concerned, and worried. She could only hope it wasn't leaking through to the surface as she quietly took a bite of her lemon tart, her face scrunched up in thought.

"Once he's back, I'll get him out of here." That shouldn't be hard. He was done with this place after that little 'investigation', anyways. She... had a lot to think about. This shopkeeper seemed dead certain that he was the same pokemon, and while she couldn't say it was with any confidence, she also couldn't say that it wasn't. That worried her.

She found herself wondering yet again what her new 'friend' had done.