Changing Colors

Just like his kecleon, Mr. Henry Augustus Trust changed his color to match the situation.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't his kecleon; and strictly speaking, he didn't actually change his color. That would be silly. But Mr. Trust switched personas just as easily as Kecleon turned invisible. If anyone had ever seen the human and pokémon together, it perhaps would have been impossible to say which was the best at changing color.

If a family walked down the street, Mr. Trust would straighten up to look as respectable as possible, and sometimes the father or mother would be happy to spare a few cents.

If a police officer came by, he shrank into the shadows, becoming nearly as invisible as Kecleon itself. He was doing nothing wrong, of course. Or at least, he didn't think so. But he always thought it was better to be safe than sorry.

If gangs and thugs came down the street, he played along with their games. Sometimes, they'd rough him up. Sometimes, they'd take pity and give him a puff of something strong, just to see what the crazy hobo on Altaria Boulevard would do when he got high. He knew they were looking for a show, and so when that happened, he switched colors yet again. He became an entertainer, doing whatever obscene things came to his mind, glad to make his persecutors laugh so that he might survive another night.

He changed his color time and time again, in order to survive. He was the homeless man you asked for directions when you were obviously lost; he was a performer; he was a dumpster-diver; he was the hobo muttering to himself in the downtown library. He was a nice guy and a cruel man, a bastion of virtue and the lowest of the low, he was both greatly philosophical and utterly materialistic.

And he was a trainer, though only in the most technical sense of the term.

He changed his color to that of a trainer upon first noticing that zig-zag stripe scrounging in the same dumpster as he. How wonderful to turn invisible like that, he had thought at the time. To put on not just a different persona, but no persona. To turn into the nothing that society saw him as.

He trained the kecleon, literally. He trained it to go invisible at his command. He trained it to stay away from children who due to their height more easily saw the stripe, and he trained it to wander among the moving forest of people's legs and feet, where it'd be less noticeable.

Lastly, he taught it to steal. With a flick of its dexterous, invisible tongue, it could easily snare wallets and cash without being seen. So long as he quickly dashed down the alleyway and brought the gathered leather to Mr. Trust's hiding place, no one could ever suspect a thing.

And in order to draw in people and draw their attention away from their wallets, Mr. Trust changed his color yet again. He became a singer, just like he had been back when he'd owned his own house. Back when he'd had a family that didn't look down on him. Back when he'd known not only how to survive, but also how to live.

He sang old folk songs; he sang popular music. He gave beautiful renditions of opera pieces that he remembered from his years on the stage. He changed his color to what it had once been, to that of a man who had lived for the stage, and for song.

But that was no longer his true color.

One day, Mr. Trust was caught in the act of surviving. Or, rather, his kecleon friend was caught. Suspicion immediately fell to the man with the beautiful voice, whom all of Mossdeep had heard sing at least once. Kecleon had been stealing the wallets of people listening to his songs, after all, and kecleon did not learn to steal wallets on their own.

The kecleon's eyes were frightened as the police officer held it by its tail. The officer was hoping to provoke a reaction from Mr. Trust through the use of this rough treatment; after all, no trainer would be able to stand his pokémon being treated in such a way.

The kecleon ceased its struggling as soon as it saw Mr. Trust, the only human who had fed it and had been kind to it in his miserable time living in this city. The kecleon clearly thought that its trainer would save him from the officer.

Mr. Henry Augustus Trust had once been a man of great character. His soul had once been white as snow as he focused only on his love for his family and his singing, which in itself was an expression of that purity.

Now, though, Mr. Trust simply smiled and changed his color once again, this time to a dirty, depthless black.

"I'm sorry, Officer, but I've never seen that pokémon in my life."

"Are you sure?"

Mr. Trust tipped his hat up, wholly ignoring the hopeful gaze of the kecleon. Holding out his arms in an open gesture, he said, "Am I the sort of person who would lie to you? I am but a mere street performer trying to make his way in the world."

But he was no longer a singer, or an entertainer, or a husband. He was no longer anything. What definition he might have had had been lost long ago, dropped somewhere along the streets of life.

Thus did the officer haul the squirming kecleon away. Yet the person he left behind was no longer Mr. Henry Augustus Trust. Nor was the person he left behind any longer even a person. The creature that the officer left behind was another kecleon, one who had so lost himself that now, not even a stripe of color remained to distinguish the visible truth from the invisible lies.

Word Count: 993

Story structure based somewhat heavily on the short story "The Things They Carried," by Tim O'Brien. Really good, powerful short story about the Vietnam War. I highly suggest it to anyone who is interested in the art of the short story, especially as it pertains to story structure.

Also, you're more than welcome to interpret the last paragraph literally if you so choose. Flash fiction tends to have weird, twist-endings, so thinking of Mr. Trust actually turning into an invisible kecleon rather than just metaphorically doing so would actually kinda work.

Anyway, I'm still open to story suggestions! And to those of you who have already sent some in, I'm working and planning them to see how to work them in creatively. If you have any more suggestions, by the way, feel free to keep 'em coming. ^_^

Thanks for reading!