Chapter Nine
Apparel
"Well, if everyone's ready, I'd say it's time we got shopping," Arven said. With that, he began to lead the way into the city. Everyone followed him for a second, but then Bass held back.
"What is it?" Arven asked.
"Look," he explained. "You all have excepted the fact that I'm not wearing anything, but what about everyone else here? How am I supposed to walk down the street totally naked?"
Arevn chuckled softly. "It won't matter," he said. "No one here knows what an animaloid is, so to them your just a new type of pokemon no one's ever seen before. Most pokemon don't wear clothing, so you won't stand out. We don't have to worry about thinking of a species name, either. We can just say we found you and we're taking you to a professor to be named and classified."
"Oh, okay," Bass said. "I guess that'll work."
"Well, it has been a pleasure meeting you all," Rolto said suddenly, "but I'm afraid I have to go now. As I said, there's a companion of mine who's waiting to see me, so I must depart. However," he continued, "before I go I have something to give to Bass."
He reached into a small pouch that he had slung over his back and pulled out a thick leather-bound book. The thing looked ancient, at least 300 years old. The pages were hard and yellowed with age. The cover was very faded, and the leather was scuffed in places. Bass took it and read the title.
"A Guide to the Powers. Rolto, what exactly are these powers you keep mentioning?"
"The Great Powers that govern the universe. I'll explain more the next time I see you. Keep that book safe for now, though. It will help you on your quest."
"What quest?" Bass asked.
Almost unconsciously, Rolto glanced over at Rain, who didn't notice anything. He seemed flustered, as though that was an unintentional reaction but Bass, who had seen the glance and miscontsrued its meaning, lost focus and didn't notice.
"Oh..."
"Well, I really must be leaving. Don't worry, though. I'll meet up with you again tomorrow evening at the latest." With that, Rolto walked off into the city.
"Am I the only one who thought he seemed somewhat familiar?" Arven asked after Rolto had been lost from sight.
The rest of them made noises of agreement, but no one offered any ideas, so the group gave a collective shrug and continued onward.
"Now, we're gonna get a whole new get up for you, right Bass?" Arven asked.
"Yeah. That's what you said, anyway." he agreed.
"Alright then. Let's get on with the shopping!"
The four friends walked deeper and deeper into the city. Rain, who had not visited the city in a long time, was looking every which way in amazement. She was positivelly glowing with happiness.
"It's even more amazing than the last time I was here. Oh, look. There's a new fruit stand over on the coner over there. And look at all the trees and flowers. They look so healthy and beautiful."
"I feel like I'm seeing this place for the first time," Bass said. "Last time was was just knee-high, and I could hardly see anything. Now..." he didn't finish the thought, nor did he need to. The city was simply that breathtaking. Solturo had really made a grand city indeed.
"Arven, which shop are we goin' to anywho?" asked Leiu.
"The special one," replied Arven with a small glint in his eye. Leiu grinned.
Before long, the group had arrived in the shopping district. It was very similar to the centers that one would expect to find in a major city. Lots of small clothing botiques, restaurants, fast food places, and gift shops were dotted about all over the place. There were also large multi-level complexes advertising everything you could think to buy and then some. Also dotted around the square were street performers doing various tricks for their small audiences. Some people worked alone, but most acts consisted of a human working with his pokemon. There were singers, jugglers, fire-eaters, dancers, and loads more things Bass didn't even have names for. Easily the most amusing of the acts was a guy who was break dancing with his pokemon. Bass was holding his sides as he laughed at the sight of a Tentacool doing a head-spin. The rest of the audience was in similar stiches, and this guy loved it. Another act that caught Bass' attention was a solo-ist playing some tricky riffs on an electric guitar.
"Wow," Arven said. "That guy's pretty good."
"Trust me," Bass said, "he's not so great. He'd have his guitar handed to him if he went up against Max, and I'd stake that claim with my life."
"Who's Max?" Rain asked.
"Well, back home, I mean in my world, I used to listen to this really amazing band called Matress. Odd name, I know, but no one cared because these guys were awesome. Max was the lead guitarist. I became friends with him right before I ended up coming here."
"Really? Can you play guitar?"
"Uh, no, actually. My musical expertise extends to a few simple piano lessons my mother tried to shove down my throat a few years ago. I just never really got the hang of it. I wanted to play, I just didn't seem to be cut out for it. Aw well, win some, lose some. Do you like piano?"
"Oh, absolutely! It just sounds so flowing and beautiful. I'm actually quite good, and I've been trying to get money to buy one for my house. It's going a little slow, but I'll get there someday."
Bass made sure to make a mental note of that.
"Hey Leiu," Arven said. "Get a load of this guy!"
He was pointing to a guy in fencing getup who was having a mock battle with a large dragon-like creature with massive blades instead of hands. Bass quickly recognized it from Rain's description as a Scyther.
"Come on," he said, motioning for Leiu to follow. "Let's get a closer look."
Leiu glanced at Arven a little wryly, and suddenly Bass wondered if he were really so interested in the duel after all. Not that he minded, of course.
"What other instruments do you play?" Bass asked Rain.
"Nothing else, although I enjoy singing."
"You'll have to give me a show sometime," Bass said.
"I'd love to."
Bass allowed his mind to wander, trying to think of something else to ask. Presently, his attention was drawn to a young woman standing a few feet away. She was playing a spritely march on a silver flute, and at her feet a Far'fetched stepped in perfect rythem, twirling the reed it held as though it were on a drill team. This gave Bass an idea.
"How about dancing?" he asked.
"Dancing?" Her whole face lit up. "Oh, I love it more than anything. I was twirling and prancing when I was still just a Ralts. All the members of my evolution group are good dancers, but I love it more than most, a lot more. When you dance, you feel like you're walking on a cloud. You just feel so happy, and nothing matters except you and the music." She sighed happily.
"What about you?" she asked at length. "Can you dance at all?"
He shook his head a little sadly. "Not to save my life. I just don't seem to have a sense of rythum. I mean, I never tried lessons or anything, but I figured 'what's the point?' I'm no good anyway. Leo's way better at it than me."
"Oh, I'm sure you'd really enjoy it if you learned how to. I could teach you; it's really quite easy."
Rain suddenly looked concerned. "Bass, what's wrong?" she asked softly.
Bass was gazing off into the distance with a sad expression on his face. He didn't even seem to realize that Rain was there anymore.
"What's the matter?" Rain inquired, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Huh, what?" he said confusedly. "Oh, um." He looked sad again. "I was just thinking about my friends. God, I was so selfish."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, when I first met Aria and he told me he could send me back here, I followed him immidiately. I didn't even say goodbye to my friends, even though they'd been trying to help me at the same time. Also, I'm having this really amazing adventure, and they're not here to have it with me."
He sighed. "I just wish they could see this...see you. You and Arven and all the other people I've met here and all the places I've seen." He sighed again.
"Well, that's my problem, not yours," he said, perkingup quite suddenly. "Let's not think about it."
They passed the time with more idle chatter, commenting on this or that. Bass told Rain about all sorts of things he'd done back home. However, she didn't share any tales of her own. Bass didn't think about it at first, but when she didn't say anything about her life for a good half hour he began to wonder. What could it be about her past that she wouldn't want to talk about it so much? He thought about what he knew of her past. The only thing he actually did know seemed to be the answer: that she'd been abandoned by a former Trainer some years previous. Bass had actually wondered about that a lot, but he'd never wanted to bring it up because it was almost definetely a sore subject. Now, though, he was going to try.
"Rain," he said slowly, "I don't want to upset you, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but I'd really like to know."
He took a quick breath before continuing. "What was your old Trainer like?" he asked.
The smile slowly disappeared from Rain's face. She looked at the ground a little sadly.
"I'm sorry," Bass said quickly, feeling an idiot. "Forget I said anything."
"No, it's okay," she said softly.
"The thing is," she continued slowly. "I don't remember. I can't remember a single thing about him. And it's not just that, either. I don't have a single memory of my past up until the point where I found myself huddled cold and miserable in the hollow tree that I made into my home. I couldn't even remember my own name, so I called myself 'Rain' because, well, it was raining at the time. Shortly after that, Arven found me and cared for me. For all I knew, I might've been a wild Gardevoir, but Arven said that I was obviously too well cared for for that. He said it was clear that I'd had a Trainer sometime recently in the past, so we both assumed I'd been abandoned. The thing is, I don't know if I want to remember. If my old Trainer could leave me to die in an old tree, do I really want to remember what he was like?"
Bass blinked. "I had no idea," he said softly.
He put his arm around her shoulder. "Well, it doesn't matter what he was like," he said bracingly. "He's gone and he isn't coming back. And if he does," he continued, punching his fist into his plam, "he'll have me to deal with."
"You promise to protect me?" she teased, laughing. "My hero." She gave him a quick hug, and Bass was again thankful that his fur covered his blushing cheeks
"Well, that took a lot longer than I expected," said Arven, appearing suddenly. "Seriously, I thought those two would never get tired."
"Anyway," he continued, "I think we've burned enough daylight just gaping around. It is time at last to shop. Wait till you see this place."
When they arrived, Bass stared in outright amazement. It was a huge shopping complex devoted entirely to clothing. The building covered a whole city block on its own, and it reached five stories into the air. Above the entrance in bright red letters was emblazoned The Clothing Depot. Below it was a little catch-phrase that read: "Where comfort is more important than any price."
"What kind of clothing store needs that much floor space?" asked Rain, who was also awed by the spectacle.
"The kind that sells every kind of clothing you'd every see on humans or pokemon anywhere!" replied Arven.
"Well, let's get going!" exclaimed Bass, who marched straight for the doors, with the rest right behind him. Bass was starting to attract some attention now as more and more people craned their necks to get a look at this strange new "pokemon".
"I think we should use an elevator," said Arven, glancing around somewhat apprehensively at the small crowd of onlookers as he approached an elevator and punched the second floor button.
"An elevator? Do we have to?" Bass asked uncomfortably. "Can't we just take an escalator or something? I don't want to be stuck in a box with a bunch of people staring at me."
"There's gonna be way more people staring at you fromthe escalator, trust me."
Bass glanced at the very exposed motorized stairway. "Point taken."
"You did what?!" Niva shrieked.
"I thought I was quite clear," Plimis replied. "I didn't deliver the other gem." He and Niva were back in their ramshackle hut in the animaloid dimension.
"WHY NOT!?"
The wizard took a look at the forest surrounding their hut for a moment, and then said, "Because it wasn't fair."
"Fair?! FAIR?! We don't play fair! I don't give a rat's rear end about 'fair'!"
"Well I do," said Plimis. "I, at least, take pride in my honor and I do my best to uphold it. What would I have without it? We promised to turn Bass into a Gallade, and you renegged on the deal. As a result, I released Bass from his charge."
"You are completely insane," Niva said. "Do you have any idea what Valcrow will do to us when he finds out about this? We have to find her, and we won't be able to do that without the gem!"
"I will not be intimidated by that overgrown pile of scales," Plimis said. "Or have you forgotten that he has no power? He needs us, and he knows it. He'll have no choice but to accept whatever descisions we make. What can he do about it?"
"I'm telling you, he's more than he appears to be," Niva insisted. "He's dangerous. He'll find a way to get back at us for this. I won't take the fall for you."
"Well, it's not like it even matters anyway. That gem could only serve one purpose, and I've already filled that role myself. I've met Rain, and I'm telling you she isn't the one we're looking for, so the gem would've been wasted anyway. She matches the description, but she doesn't act right at all, nothing like what Valcrow told us. Besides," he continued, "I didn't leave empty handed. We still have a way to moniter her in case I turn out to be mistaken."
"Creepers?" asked Niva.
"You'll have to wait and see. We've got a more pressing concern at the moment, anyway. My informers have told me that the Last Apostle Puppet Show has moved into the pokemon dimension."
Niva groaned. "Not those nusainces again. Do you think they'll try to interefere?"
"I don't know, but soon it won't matter. If they don't make their move before long, it'll be too late for them to get involved. Let's hope they're as tentative as ever."
--
"Ah-ha! I think we have a winner. I'm telling you, this one fits g-to-g."
Bass stepped out of the fitting room to show off his new attire. He wore a white T-shirt, a pair of eans, a pair of loud orange shoes, soft white gloves and a buttercup yellow vest.
"I say, Bass! You look rather smashing!" exclaimed Arven in his finest mock British accent.
"'Smashing'? You've been watching too many English soap operas," said Leiu, rolling his eyes.
"But those are the best kind," Arven protested. "Anyway, Bass does look good, am I right?"
"Yeah, I'll drink to that."
"I dunno," said Bass a little dubiously. "I think the vest is a bit over the top."
"Nonsense," Arven said. "The color complements your fur tone, and the vest itself goes with the jeans."
"If you say so," said Bass, still slightly nonplussed.
"Here, put these on your forehead," Arven said, tossing him a pair of shades.
Bass complied, and Arven whistled in appreciating. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "I give you Bass the Fox."
"Listen," he continued, "Rain's already gone outside. You can head out and wait with her if you want. Me and Leiu are gonna stay behind and check out some more clothing. I heard they'd just come out with some exclusive Lucario mechandise."
If the masses had been intrigued by the strange fox-like creature walking into the Clothes Depot, it was nothing compared to their reaction upon seeing the same fox walk out the door now sporting stylish new duds and an attitude to match. He walked like he was on top of the world. Clothes really do make the man, or in this case the animaloid
Rain was sitting in a small patch of flowers in a park off to the side of the depot, idly fingering the red scarf Arven had purchased for her. She was gazing at the flowers happily, but looked up as Bass walked over.
"Has anyone told you yet that scarf perfectly matches your eyes?" Bass asked.
"Thank you," she replied, "but I'd be more jealous of your outfit. You look good in those clothes."
"Well, thanks," he said. "It feels so good to finally have something on again. Oh clothing," he said, getting down on one knee with his arm outstreched, doing his best Shakesperean accent, "'It has been much too long. How I have missed thee!"
Rain laughed. "Bass, you can be quite silly sometimes."
"I try my best," he said, grinning.
He looked around at the small patch of flowers they were in. "These flowers over there are pretty cool, huh?"
"Oh, yes. They look wonderful," she agreed.
"Let's see," Bass said. "Here we have a forget-me-not. And...over here we've got the tulip in three different colors. Quite common, yet still lovely. And here we have a tigerlily. My, this park sure has a lot of different flowers."
"You really seem to know your flowers," she said, impressed. "Honestly, if there was one thing I loved almost as much as dancing, it'd be the beauty of a flower."
Bass' ears perked up at that. He had an idea.
"Tell me Rain, what is your favorite type of flower?"
"My favorite? It'd have to be...the Star Shade."
"The Star Shade?"
"Yes. It's a small, five petaled flower shaped like a star. They're always midnight blue, and when the light shines off of the pollen that collects on their petals, they glisten. It's like holding a little star in your hands. They are so pretty."
"That sound like quite the flower" said Bass.
"I'm just sorry I haven't seen one for three years."
Bass blinked. "Three years?" he asked. "What, do they only grow in one spot or something?"
"Close," said Arven, showing up suddenly. "The Star Shade is a very rare plant that only grows in either very harsh or very secluded places. You'd be most likely to find one on top of a wind-blasted mountain or at the bottom of an old dank cave or something like that. That is, of course, if you ever go looking for one."
"I know," Rain said. "So beautiful, yet so rare."
'Hmm,' thought Bass. 'Why do I get the feeling Arven's trying to tell me something?'
