The rain is pouring down much harder now; I'm definitely not going outside the lobby any time soon. Boon and Watchog are still chatting away like old friends. But who knows? Maybe they are. There's an age difference in the group, if I went by human years I'd place the meerkat guard in his mid-thirties and Boon somewhere between thirteen and sixteen. I could very well be wrong though, my skill in guessing ages is not what I decided to invest in. I took the path of survival, learning everything I could in order to be able to adapt and survive against all odds. Who knew that would be exactly what I needed just a few months ago? I'm fairly certain it was a few months ago at least. I lost track of time back when that pilot landed me in the middle of scenic nowhere. My phone's battery died and the shitty prepaid phone I found underneath the seat had a broken screen, so I couldn't exactly check the date. It still bugs me that I was finally on my way out of there when I awoke here. But what bugs me the most is the gap in my memory.
How was I escaping again? Was I going to take a plane or a boat? I do remember being near the border but that's about all that I can recall about my last day there. Even the location of the area is beyond me. The pilot just touched down somewhere so I never found out if the place was landlocked or not. If I traveled down a shitload of rivers that would imply there was either a lake or an ocean supplying the water. But never once did I actually go down the entire river and now I question why that was. I packed plenty of food and water for my trip-oh crap. Food and water are things I don't have here… unless I can drink the ocean water. But the chances of it being too salty for consumption are high. Then again, I'm a lizard now so maybe the water is fair game. Gah, too many things to consider. Boon looks healthy enough, and parkour would require a good diet as well. Maybe he knows some good eating. At least his acclaim for meat means he won't have me eating twigs and dirt.
What are they even talking about? Maybe if I listen closely I can find out more about the Jichi Islands. Oh hey, I remembered that name.
"By da by Boon, yer boss sed he wantz ta talk with ya. Seemed mighty mad if yous ask me." Watchog informed with a concerned stare.
"My boss? You mean Infernape? How did I piss him off?" There's an emphasis on him, so it can't be far off to assume Boon has a history of angering others. Go figure. Watchog closes his eyes in a manner of explaining something to a child for the umpteenth time. He takes a deep breath and leans that large head of his closer to the addled Pikachu.
"When I opened up da gate forz ya in da morn' ta go-" Watchog snaps his claws in rapid succession as filler in his speech's gap , "Pucker-"
"Parkour?" Boon corrects with a condescending smile. Whether he actually thinks lowly of the guard or not I can't say, but from their previous pleasantries I assume it's just a tease.
"Yessir. Ta go Park-or down yonder, I tots yer shift wuz dun. Infurnape said otter-wise."
"But my shift was over! It's not my fault Bootalicious and Delgado were late!" Watchhog raised an eyebrow.
"Who?" Boon's palm finds itself in the Pikachu's face at the question. He lets out a barely audible groan from his lips which I find quite ironic. Here Boon is being annoyed by a Pokémon rather than acting as the offender himself. I suppose the shoe is on the other foot. Perhaps that idiom doesn't actually fit due to the lack of shoes. Regardless, I'm not about to change expressions to garbage such as, 'lend a paw' or 'everypony.'
"Chikorita and Torchic, sorry." Boon clarifies with vexation. Strange, did Boon come up with the names Bootalicious and Delgado or does he just prefer them to their real names? If the PEN15 is anything to go by, Boon does enjoy using ridiculous names as substitutes. I'm surprised I haven't been called something along the lines of Spoonaldo. Count my blessings one by one.
"You best takes dat up wiz him. I can try ta help ya in da mornin' fore work but I ain't mak'n no promises." Watchog is giving off so much sympathy I almost feel bad for Boon myself-almost, but not quite. Something about just barely meeting a couple of hours ago is in my way of sharing any emotions with the mouse. Out of absolutely nowhere Watchog brightens up the entire room. "I gotz it! How 'bout we all get sum Jichi Peppers? I know how much you love dem!" Finally some talk about food. Peppers doesn't sound like much but they are better than nothing. I'm going to end up starving if I don't eat something sooner or later. The question I'm wondering is how I am supposed to get outside in the rain with this tail. Boon apparently shares my concerns because he asks Watchog the same thing. The guard heartily laughs and dashes into the next room with a "Wait dere a sec." Boon and I share a glance and almost as soon as the Pokémon left it is back again with a wide cardboard box. Boon's face lights up in recognition and possibly excitement upon catching a glimpse of the box. Watchog throws the cardboard to Boon and curiosity forces me to take a peek at the writing printed on top. The words are a little hard to read because for some strange reason each letter has an eye inserted somewhere (don't ask, I have no freaking clue), but I surmount the issue of the strange letters and succeed in understanding the print anyways: Inferno's Pizza. Wow, pizza shops really do spring up everywhere. If I didn't already kill that backstabbing fucker named Addi then I would have to pay up on that bet. Sucks to be him! Watchog taps his fingers on the box in an attempt to get my attention. "It ain't strong and it ain't purty but dat'll gecha where ya need ta get go'in."
I hold the box over my tail flame and Boon gives a me thumbs up. "Wow, thanks Watchog! You're a genius!" He says.
The guard smiles coyly at Boon's exaggerated compliment and responds with a simple, "I do what I can." Now that we have a makeshift umbrella we are heading out the door and into town. We are also heading straight into the rain. I cross my fingers and pray to God that this box holds out against all the precipitation.
Timburr Town proves to be quite small; as soon as we step out of the lobby I can already see the wall at the opposite end of the village. There are multiple shacks ranging from longhouses to tiny huts. Every single one holds a common theme of being constructed with straw, hay, and sticks of wood. They appear similar to bamboo but are much thicker and much more supportive of structures than the compared plant. Most of the buildings are home to outdoor shops set up on carpets. All the wares are easily viewable on shelves or counters and a wooden awning protruding from the store's shack shield both the items and the vendors. Creatures of all shapes and sizes run the stores, and I can't help but draw similarities to a bazaar. Well, a bazaar if super powered zoo animals with technicolored features ran it. Boon playfully elbows my side and begins pointing to all the different shops.
"Welcome to Timburr Town, dude! You have got to see this place during the day; it is awesome! Let me point out some of the shops, we have all kinds of stuff!" He directs my attention to a shack run by a three-headed palm tree. Wait, what? "That's Exeggutor's drink bar! Those three sell all kinds of fruit smoothies! Last week they even started to blend gummis!" I blink. "Oh yeah, those are like candies that make your body do all kinds of stuff! Sometimes it'll make you strong, sometimes it'll make you sneaky, and sometimes it'll mess around with your aura! I don't know what aura is but it has something to do with how Mystery Dungeons affect you. I don't really get how that all works." Boon then directs me to a dinosaur-kangaroo hybrid's shop. "That's Miss Kangaskhan and her daughter, Kangaskhan Duex! They hold onto your extra stuff for you! I'm not sure how they make money, I've never been charged by them even once. Maybe the government sends them a check, 'cause there are supposedly Kangaskhan storages all over the island!" I'm not entirely sure I trust them with my items yet, especially if they don't charge money. It sounds a little too good to be true. Next I'm looking at kung-fu chicken running what looks more like a carnival game than a store. "Blaziken runs that place. She'll give you little pointy things called 'silver spikes' and let you throw them at targets! It's just a little game to try out if you ever get bored." Ha! I was right! It is a carnival game! Now all we need is the one with the target and the poor sap getting dunked into a tank of water. We walk throughout the town further and discover even more buildings hosting various shops. One in particular makes Boon shiver in nervousness. "Meh, that's where I work. It's the pizza shop. It's a good thing they're closed right now or we'd have to talk to my boss." What does he mean, 'we'? I'm just tagging along for the free tour. "To your left is the post office, Pelipper runs that place. And that big place to the right is the library. Bleh. Lilligant trains her apprentice Roselia there and they are both as stuffy as they sound." A library huh? I'm not a big fan myself, but there might be some useful information to study there. Plant life books, wildlife guides, maps, history texts, etc. Boon gestures to a mushroom on a bench set up in one of the wall's corners with a look of queer discomfort. "That little one with the weird symbol on its head is Foongus. Foongus is… kinda strange. The little bugger just rattles on and on about 'downloadable content' and 'returning to the main menu'." Wow, and I thought Boon was the odd one. I may not have fit in back home much (after what I went through I probably wouldn't fit in at all anymore, actually) but that is ridiculous. "Oh! And the store next to Foongus is owned by Leavanny and Smeargle. Leavanny sells different bags, goggles, holsters, and cloths while Smeargle will paint on you! Or dye your fur if you have any." The leaf thing sounds useful. Smeargle's shop will have to deal with not getting any of my business. I'm not one to get painted on, not even face painting at the fair was okay back when I had a human body. I like my personal space, and touching my face is one of the biggest violations possible. Plus the paint is uncomfortable. Yet another long building is our next stopping point. Some kind of large, green, bladed insect is lounging outside the open doorway and thudding noises as well as crashing can be heard from within. "This is Timburr Town's dojo. Sensei Mienshao and her band of Mienfoo assistants train Pokémon to beat each other up, it's a lot of fun. Scyther is a regular visitor." Scyther nods confirmation at us but says nothing else. Looks like someone I can relate to lives in this town. A training dojo is also something I'll need to take a look at. It is very unlikely I would be able to survive an entire island if the only two things I know how to do are Growl and Scratch attacks. Next Boon points out a shop run by a green monkey taking inspiration from Elvis Presley in its grassy hairstyle. "Finally we have the convenience store. Simisage does most of the selling while Kecleon brings in more stuff from other towns. I don't see Kecleon though; maybe he already dropped off the new things." General goods generally tend to be useful in general situations. Maybe I could take a stop by here as well when the rain stops threatening to extinguish the thing keeping me alive.
The tour ends with a miniscule shack hosting a rather shoddy doorway seemingly slapped on as an afterthought. Nobody is selling anything here so I wonder what this building could be used for. After digging up a pair of keys from the dirt behind the shed, Boon walks up to the door and reveals the inside. The building is quite cramped, and the curved walls give the room a circular shape. There is a rack to the right of the doorframe and a half-filled water trough to the left. A wooden box rests next to the trough with an opening in the top for trash to be thrown into. Some stools and a table carrying another pizza box follow the waste bin, and a large barrel takes up the precious space between the table and a hanging cot positioned directly across from the entrance. A torch is on the other side of the cot (which isn't very safe in my opinion) and a fairly sizable dresser rests on the wall to the door's right. On top of the dresser is a clay bowl of tropical fruit, a piece of used paper (I'll have to remind myself to read it some other time), and a picture frame containing a painting of Boon wearing a fake crown underneath a banner reading: "Jichi Islands Pepper-thon Eating Contest." There is a date on the banner as well, but due to the folds of the cloth and the paint in that area smearing a tad, it is impossible to make out. I would make the assumption that the event was recent though, but it is possible I don't understand how Pikachus age.
"This is the best part of the town, my house!" Boon joyfully announces with pretentiousness. "I know it's a little small, but I love it! You can stay here for a while if you want, I'll set up another bed. We can be roomies!" Oh joy, sharing a room with Boon is definitely on my to-do list. I suppose I don't have much of a choice though; with the rain issue sleeping outside is a no go. Fuck, even without the rain I would prefer to sleep in a bed rather than like an animal. I may be a Pokémon in body but my mind is still fully intact. Boon digs through the drawers and pulls out a large cloth white in coloration with thin stripes of blue running across. "Here, help me hang this up. We'll make bunk cots!" I assist in getting the cot hanging above Boon's, but then he complains that he wants the top one. Exasperated, I let out a sigh and we undo both cots so we can swap the cloths around. Afterwards Boon and I eat some of the fruit and talk to each other. By 'talk to each other' I mean Boon talks and I listen, occasionally answering yes or no questions with a nod or a shake of the head. Sometimes I pull off switching things up a tad by shrugging my shoulders. My roommate explains that the painting was made three years ago by Smeargle during the yearly Pepper-thon event. That year the get-together was hosted in Timburr Town, so Boon was able to partake in the festivities. Jichi Peppers are said to be the hottest peppers in the world, so selling them to other regions is part of what made the islands so successful as a country. The insides of the peppers are littered with growing 'Blast Seeds', which fully grown are apparently volatile enough to be used as an explosive when thrown. Those Blast Seeds are practically grenades made from nature, I have got to get my hands on some. Back towards the contest. Boon's favorite food is the Jichi Pepper, thus he had managed to build up a tolerance unrivalled at the time. The victory had consequences though; he promptly puked mere seconds after the point in time the painting illustrates. By the time Boon is finished telling stories the rain has finally stopped. The sun set during the storm, so Boon suggests checking out Timburr Town in the morning. Although a little darkness doesn't hurt me (or my flaming tail) exploring the town in daylight does sound like a better idea, so I agree to call it a night and climb into my cot. Just like the grass in the jungle, the fabric is miraculously unharmed by my fire. This will be my first time sleeping like this, so I'm not sure how much rest I'll manage to get. My first day as a Charmander is coming to a close.