The Lilycove Collector's Fair

Part One.

Lawrence was just playing the computer at holographic chess in his flying palace when he heard the lift down below whirr to life. Querying the computer, he found that it was, as he had thought, Julie, his half-Articuno wife, returning from her work flying mail between the Shamouti Island Post Office and the nearest mainland sorting office-which was at Fuschia City.

Julie did a regular mail run every other morning from Shamouti Island to the mainland. She would collect the Shamouti Islanders mail from the Post Office at 10.30 AM, fly it to the Fuschia Sorting Office, pick up the mail for the Islanders while she was there, and bring it back to the Shamouti Post Office by 2.30PM. People could then come to the Post Office to pick up their post. As before she began this the post had arrived and departed once a week on the ferry (or twice a week in the tourist season) this made Julie quite popular on the Island.

She did not deliver parcels, as she had a limit to how many and how much weight she could carry, they had to stick to the one a week ferry deliveries. Julie would deliver on other days if what was being sent could not wait till the next day-for example, she would run urgent blood samples to the testing lab from George's hospital (and pick up the results when they were ready, if necessary). However, she was careful not to allow people to take her generosity for granted. Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and of course Sundays, were her days off that duty (although she had other duties on that day, such as helping Lawrence out at the newly opened Shamouti Island Gym.)

Both had the required experience and Badges, and had passed the requisite tests set, and had been approved by the League, although Julie, of course, had had an extra, and very stressful, job of convincing people that she should be allowed to battle as anything but a Pokémon herself.

Lawrence told the computer to save the game, and hit the "descend" switch on his chair. As it descended smoothly, he saw her waiting for him at the bottom, in the Reception Room, her small mail sack at her feet. When the chair came to rest, he got up and picked the sack up. Looking in, he saw they had some letters, which explained why she had not left the bag at the Post Office. Walking back to the chair with her, he sat down and extended an arm to her, and she happily sat on his lap as he instructed the chair to ascend to the living quarters that lay directly below his Exhibition Hall.

She did not have to go up this way, there was a service lift she could have used, and Lawrence always left a window open on that level in case he wasn't in or she needed to fly in. However, Lawrence and Julie were still very much in love, and Julie took any chance she got to snuggle into the crook of Lawrence's arm-which suited Lawrence just fine as he loved to hold her there as much as she liked being there.

When they got to the living area, they went through to the lounge, and they sat next to each other on the sofa, leg touching leg and wing touching arm or side, as Lawrence opened the mail and read it, holding it for her to read if it concerned them both.

Lawrence opened one letter that when he read it proved to be from one of the collecting clubs he was still in. Although Lawrence now steered clear of collecting living things for display purposes, he still collected inanimate objects that caught his eye, and he also trained Pokémon. In it was an advertisement for a big collector's fair that was visiting Lilycove over a weekend in a fortnight's time. Lawrence looked at it for a time, then put it aside, but Julie could tell he was disappointed.

"What's up?" she asked. "I can tell you want to go, what's stopping you?"
"Well, we have duties here on the Island, what if we go and someone turns up wanting a battle?" he asked.
"Look, I think we deserve the odd break, don't you?" she asked. "Anyway, the ferry arrives on Mondays and the one departing back to the mainland, and those to the other Islands don't go till Tuesday and Wednesday. Arrivals from the other Islands don't get here till Thursday. If they're desperate for their badge, they'll hang around, we'll just put up a "Back on Monday" notice. I think we deserve a break, just for once in a while, and to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't mind a wander around that place for a look around myself."

"You must be joking! Do you know what sort of a risk that could put you in? I know some of the sorts of people these things draw, and I don't want you near any of them! I am not risking losing you to someone who would only see you as a pretty to be collected!" Lawrence said sharply.
"Do you really think I'd go with anyone other than you?" Julie asked him heatedly.
"No, not at all." He said. "What I'm concerned about is that some of those types wouldn't give you any say in the matter. The world of collecting can be a very dirty business, Julie, and I don't want you ending up being drugged, kidnapped, traded on the collecting Black Market and being put in someone else's private collection and never seen or heard from again by anyone else."

"I see." She said, rather shaken. "There is a Black Market in collectibles then?"
"Oh yes." he said. "If you want it, they can often get it for you-for a price, and of course the more you want the item, and the rarer it is, the more it costs. I tend to find it easier and cheaper to spend time looking for or advertising for what I want, even before the year 2000, but even I used it on occasion, to get items that were very few in number, or unique. The latter are usually stolen to order for the person in question. The Legend Tablet I had in my machine was stolen from this very island. After the 2000 incident, I had it salvaged and gave it back to the islanders. It's in their museum, protected by one of my force-fields. That doesn't make it un-stealable, but it would make a thief's attempts to take it difficult." He smiled. "It's also booby-trapped. Anyone who tries to deactivate it will succeed-until they go inside its sphere of influence, at which point the force-field will re-activate, trapping the would-be thief inside until someone finds him. To prevent them trying to break out, it is one of the models that is designed to subdue living things by sending them to sleep."

Julie smiled too. "You're crafty, but far-seeing." she said. "However, I would still like you and I to go to this thing for a break."
"What about the children?" he asked. He was talking about their two-year-old twins Alan and Amber.
"Rachel would take them for us for that time." She said. "Or Rachel's mother would, or George and Donna, or John and Fiona. Or we could give Adele them for the weekend-you know how much she's been threatening to kidnap them for an hour or two to give them a cuddle. She and Tobias would love to have them for a weekend to cuddle to death and spoil rotten!"

"Okay, the Gym's been discussed and sorted, and so have the kids, but we still haven't sorted the question of keeping you safe." He said.
"Well, I still have some flowing robes Donna made for me when I was still rather self-conscious about my appearance." She said. "I could get Donna to knock me together some sort of headscarf and full-face veil, and some make-up will conceal what little of my face will show."

"I'd still like some sort of back-up or fail-safe." He said. "Maybe I could, just for this event, catch you in a poké ball beforehand so I can recall you at the first sign of trouble."
"Absolutely not!" she said. "You promised to treat me as a human! I'll only go in one of those things if it's absolutely essential, life-or-death, and this does not count! It won't be any good if we get separated. Anyway, even if we're together and you recall me, all they have to do then is attack you and steal the poké ball, and a poké ball is easier to sneak out than someone my size!" Julie said angrily.
"Yes, I'm sorry, you're right." said Lawrence. "I could fit something around your leg-like a ring."
"Like ringing a bird, you mean? That's also rather demeaning to me, but more importantly, it could very easily be removed, and I can't see it stopping me being taken in the first place. If they can hide me as effectively as you claim, that will do no good, on or off my leg. It would only help if they left it on me and if I were subsequently discovered, and that's two too many ifs for my liking." She told him.

He sighed. "You're right, of course. Maybe I should just go on my own."
"I'm fed up of not being able to do things because of what I am." She said. "I want to be able to do as much as I can and go where I can. If I stay away because of every perceived danger, I won't go anywhere! I think I can trust my robes, your presence, and my abilities to protect me. I've never been to one of these things and you've awoken an interest in collecting in me. Please let me come, I'll be really careful! Now you've alerted me to the potential dangers, I can watch out and be suspicious of anything odd."
"I wonder?" Lawrence mused. "Julie, I don't think you're going to like it, but I have an idea that might be just the sort of back-up I'd feel happier with."
"Well, what is it?" Julie asked.

Lawrence explained his idea, and as he had predicted, Julie didn't like it one bit. Once more, she felt it was demeaning and treating her like a Pokémon, but apart from that, she had no argument against it, despite trying. After half-an-hour of heated debate in which he explained why it was the best idea so far, and she demanded certain changes, she reluctantly agreed to it, as she didn't want her stubborn streak to cause him to go alone, or even worse, for neither of them to go. Lawrence, for his part, was relieved. He knew he couldn't have dared go alone in case she decided to turn up at it anyway-which would have been even more perilous to her.

On the evening before the event, Julie tried on her concealing robes. The green floor-length poncho still fitted her, covering everything from her neck down, and Donna had rigged an easily-donned headscarf and veil arrangement that left only her eyes, and the skin around and between them, exposed. They had experimented with various cosmetics, and found one that covered up her blue skin (and disguised the fact that it was slightly feathered) wonderfully.
"Those robes, flowing although they be, won't conceal the shape of your wings if you move them around too much." Said Donna. "It's probable that people wouldn't notice, unless they were watching for any flaws, like me, but be careful all the same." She said.

They had dropped the children off earlier that day with Tobias and Adele. The children had been introduced to the Headman and his wife more and more over the intervening two weeks, and had already spent one night with them, so there were not too many grizzles and tears when Julie and Lawrence had left them that night. Lilycove was in the Hoenn region, several hours' travel away, even at Lawrence's flying machine's highest speed. They would leave at dawn, and planned to arrive within the collector's fair's first hour of opening. Lawrence had contacted someone in the area that had an open space large enough to accommodate the flying palace, and had rented it for the day off the delighted owner.

On the way, Lawrence helped Julie put on her concealing garments. Her tail was carefully wound over her shoulders and around her waist, and they used lots of slides and grips to pin it into place. A tight lycra and cotton skull cap was used to cover her head feathers and her crest was carefully smoothed down underneath it. Then the facial make up was applied, followed by the concealing robes.

They arrived as planned, and Julie and Lawrence went in, Lawrence paying for the tickets. He hung his own entry card around his neck on a fine but strong and attractive gold chain, and hung Julie's on a matching chain around her neck. Lawrence ushered Julie in, his arm around her shoulders, making it patently clear to all observers that she was with him. Julie found the whole thing rather overwhelming. The hall the fair was being held in was absolutely enormous. The stalls seemed to have pretty much anything anybody might ask for. Julie saw feathers, uncut and unset jewels, jewellery, shells, furniture, items of clothing, statuary, key rings, plush poke dolls, paintings, and much more.

Some stalls also sold items relating to the display and protection of a collector's exhibits. There were rigid card and document holders, wooden, stone and plastic bases to stand things on, and glass domes of all sizes, including a couple that would have comfortably covered her with her wings fully spread. There were force-field generators and alarms, plastic covers and folders for cards. Glass and plastic display cases were on show, with objects placed within for demonstration.

Lawrence was well known in the collecting world, it seemed. He was frequently stopped, sometimes for very long periods of time, by acquaintances and stallholders. A few of the conversations were interesting to listen to, or the person would ask Lawrence to introduce Julie, and Lawrence would happily oblige. Most of them however, left her out and were on subjects that Julie found rather dull. During one of these conversations, Julie wandered off to look at the items offered on a nearby stall. There was a fair crowd around it, and as Julie pressed closer and craned her neck to see, there was a shift in the crowd, and she was severely jostled.

She instinctively spread her wings halfway for balance, felt them confined by people either side of her. She might have fallen over if one of the people to her right hadn't put out his arms, catching her about the upper wing bones and steadying her, running his hands down her wings as he made sure she was fine. She stepped aside from him with reassurances that she was fine, thank you, and decided to find a less crowded stall to look at.

She didn't look back, so did not see the man who had steadied her regarding her with a slightly puzzled look. Then he looked thoughtful, watching her as she moved away. Then the look on his face changed, to a calculating and greedy, covetous look. Looking around to make sure Lawrence wasn't watching, he quietly slipped away after her, not catching her up, but making sure that he never lost sight of her.

From a distance, he observed, watched, and made plans. Had Julie known of him and of his thoughts, she would have immediately headed back to Lawrence. However, she did not, and moved further away through the cavernous hall, unwittingly getting lost.

Lawrence finished chatting to his friend whom he had not seen for years, rather relieved to get away from the old bore. He had insisted on telling Lawrence about the newest additions to his model railway collections, and as plenty of time had passed since their last meeting, this took some time. Then he wanted to catch up on what Lawrence had been doing since they had last met, and for politeness sake, Lawrence had to explain. It was when he had turned to introduce Julie, and found her gone, that he quickly excused himself and went to look for her. He guessed that she had probably got bored and started looking around the stalls. He was sure that she was probably okay, but he would feel much better once he had caught her up again.

He did not realise he was heading in the opposite direction to that which Julie had gone.

Julie came to one stall that seemed to consist of poké balls with individual designs, and a selection of Pokémon. Some or the Pokémon were there in cages. Julie looked. There was something labelled as a Smoochum, another labelled as a Porygon, and another identified as Magby. There were also pictures on the cages, and Julie noticed that the pictures seemed to be different. She asked the stallholder about them.
"These are Pokémon that are uncommon enough in general, but these are even more special." He opened the cage containing the Magby, and Julie noted that although it was fire-type, it did not burn him. She knew that this meant it trusted him. "This Magby is a different colour to your standard Magby." He turned in a book to a picture of a normal Magby, and sure enough, its usual form was red, while the Magby the stallholder was holding was pink. Putting the Magby back, he showed Julie his catalogue of these "shiny" Pokémon. Most of them, he explained, were in poké balls, but one or two did not mind being in cages for a short time for display purposes, and these he rotated every two hours. Petting the Magby, he then put it back in its cage.

Julie also noticed that he sold dart guns and darts, and he explained that some collectors didn't like to catch Pokémon in poké balls, others only collected but did not train them, so wanted something with which to stop attack by wild Pokémon. Julie remembered that John had had a similar, but less good quality) dart gun for keeping her and Rachel under control, and, feeling uncomfortable, moved on.

Five minutes later, the man tailing her moved to the stall, purchased a dart gun and darts, and continued to follow her.

Julie looked about her, and realised that she was not only lost, but that she needed to go to the toilet. She had thankfully mastered how to deal with that need in her robes, but didn't know where the toilets were. Seeing a man wearing a steward's tabard, she approached and asked where the ladies toilets were.
"They're out of the hall." He explained. "I'd show you, but I've got to stay here. If I can find you a pen and piece of paper, I can draw you a map" he said.

At that moment, the man who had followed Julie approached, hearing the end of the conversation.
"I know where they are, I'm heading for the men's room myself." He explained. "I'll show the lady the way."
"Thank you!" said Julie.

He put his arm round her shoulders and led her away. Julie wasn't particularly happy with the familiarity of his touch, but didn't want to seem ungrateful or cause a scene. He was probably just being friendly. The walk seemed to take an awful long time, but eventually he led her down a corridor, which had a sign for the toilets and a sign for the car park.
"I'll go, and wait for you here, and I'll take you back." He told her. He walked into the men's, but quickly came out again once she had gone in the ladies.

These were not frequently used toilets, which is why he had brought her here. He slipped his hand into his coat pocket, slipping his hand around the handle of the dart gun.
"I'll soon find out precisely what you're hiding under those robes." He muttered. "I don't know how, or why, but something tells me you're not entirely human."

When Julie came out, he was waiting for her. As she turned to go back out the way she had come, he stepped behind her, put his hand over her mouth, and darted her.

She let out a cry, but his hand essentially stifled it. He put his other arm around her waist as she struggled, and lowered her to the floor as her struggles weakened. He released her only when she was totally limp, and quickly looked under, and then divested her, of her robes. He took her ID card off too, after checking it for her name.
"Well well, I know of several people who would love to have such as you for themselves. No wonder Lawrence kept you under wraps." He quickly removed everything she was wearing except the clips, as he saw that they would make carrying her much easier. He loaded her into the back of his van, started it up, and drove away.

Lawrence had made no progress in finding Julie, asking each stall keeper he went to if they'd seen her. It was an hour later before he found a stallkeeper who remembered Julie and her distinctive green robes. It was the shiny Pokémon seller. He told Lawrence which direction she had gone in, and Lawrence hurried that way. Asking around, he soon got to the steward, and asked if he'd seen her.
"Actually, yes. She asked me for directions to the ladies toilets about half-an-hour ago. I couldn't take her, so one of the other attendees offered to show her." He frowned. "That's odd. They should have been back by now, they're not that far."
"This person who offered to show her the way. What did he-or she- look like?" Lawrence asked.
The steward described him, and Lawrence responded with a strong expletive. He didn't stop to explain to the steward, but rushed out of the doors, and looked all over for Julie.

It was half-an-hour later that he looked down the little corridor, and found her robes and entry pass lying discarded on the floor. Lawrence's heart sank. Julie, he knew, was long gone. Lawrence had recognised the description that the steward had given him, knew who the man was. He had helped Lawrence obtain some of his collection pre-Year 2000. The man had no interest in collectibles for himself, but specialised in procuring desired items for others, sometimes legally, many times not legally. The man was one of the many suppliers for the collector's black market.

Julie was in serious trouble.