Chapter 12:
A few days passed since the ordeal at the park. Cyrus and Tyson asked a plethora of questions, but Judy and Marcus assured them that they took care of what happened. The couple made sure not to say too much about what exactly happened, knowing full well the two would flip if they knew the truth.
"They can decide what they want to believe on their own" Judy said to her husband. "They shouldn't need to worry about these kinds of things."
Aside from questioning them, the boys continued their experiments as though nothing happened. They made some adjustments to the radar they assembled, allowing them to track anyone around the entire neighborhood. Once that was complete, they attempted to construct a generator using Plasma, but were shut down rather fast by Marcus.
"I draw the line at Plasma. I don't even want to know how you would make that, but don't."
Disappointed, but understanding, the boys instead opted to build an airborne drone for recon. It resembled Marcus, looking eerily similar to a Metagross. Though the boys claim it was just a coincidence, it still made Marcus feel proud. Within a day they had the drone airborne, with Tyson building a laptop to allow them to see the camera view from it at all times.
"Those two are just amazing, aren't they?" Marcus said to Judy, who was finishing up grading assignments. He'd been watching them for the most part, since she had a lot of work to do.
"I agree. They are rather inspiring. Almost makes me want to try my hand at it. Though that is more your area of expertise, right?" Judy replied, placing the final marks on her last paper. Marcus blushed at the compliment, though he knew she meant it.
"So, I see that you finished your work for the day. Is there anything you want to do today?" He asked curiously. It was just after noon on the weekend, and they had plenty of time if they wanted to go somewhere.
"Hmm…I suppose we haven't gone shopping since we brought the boys home. Do you think they would be alright with that?"
"Why not? It would do them some good to get out of the house for once. Though I hope we don't have another mishap occur." Marcus left Judy's workspace to inform the boys, while Judy went to grab her wallet.
It shouldn't be an issue, so long as we keep close to them this time She thought.
Once everyone was all set, they packed into the car and drove into the city. Cyrus and Tyson insisted they bring the Flasher again, though Judy and Marcus were still against the idea. They relented when the boys proclaimed it was for self-defense, just in case of emergency.
Soon they found the place they were looking for. The Driftveil Shopping Center, a huge shopping complex with all kinds of stores inside. After finding a parking place, the four of them entered inside. Inside they could see it spanned several stories high, with a crowd of Pokémon strewn about the floors.
"Impressed?" Judy said to the boys, though she was surprised to see that they looked indifferent.
"Eh, about that same as it was before the Revolution." Tyson countered, looking around at the stores. It seemed that each floor contained different types of stores, and unfortunately, the floor they were on was lined with shops for baby supplies. And it wasn't hard to see that most of the Pokémon here were either pushing strollers or carrying humans, each one looking more infantile than the last.
Cyrus looked over at his partner, who appeared visibly sickened at the place. "I have an idea, partner" He said, catching Tyson's attention. "How about we engage in a rousing game of Inciteful Insult?"
Tyson perked up almost immediately hearing that. "Yes please!" He said, as he starting looking around.
"Erm, Inciteful Insult?" Judy said with confusion. Cyrus turned his head to her.
"It's a game we created after the Revolution. We use it to create an overly dramatic insult to whatever we see, but worded in such a way that the average joe doesn't understand what we are talking about."
"Sounds rather rude, wouldn't you say?"
"That's the point of it."
And so, the two began their game. Judy and Marcus opted to not take part, afraid of accidentally insulting someone, but the boys were more than prepared. They'd drop insults in foreign languages, backwards, in morse code, they even tried doing flag signals.
"I guess the Revolution left them rather…spiteful towards everyone, huh?" Marcus said as they walked behind the boys while they continued.
"Apparently. I can understand being bothered by it for sure, but making a game of insulting others, that's just plain mean." Judy replied, keeping an eye out for any suspicious Pokémon. She still didn't trust anyone after the park incident, and if anyone approached the boys she was more than prepared to step in.
"Look at that one." Cyrus said to his partner. He was eying a Swampert mother in a purple dress, pushing stroller with a human child inside. The human was a girl dressed like a Mudkip, with a blue onesie, complete with a hood that had a fin on top and orange gills. "Looks like someone is rather self-centered."
"Oh, I concur. Reminds me of a certain… je ne sais quoi." Tyson countered, causing both of them to start laughing. This perplexed both Judy and Marcus, but they decided not to question it.
As they continued walking, they noticed a large crowd gathered outside one of the shops. This peaked their interest, so the four of them decided to investigate.
"What on Earth…" Judy tried to get a good luck at what was going on in what was going on to warrant the crowd, but to no avail. Though one thing was for sure, since the crowd seemed to have a lot of cooing, it must have featured something babyish.
"Let's get a closer look." The four off them kept close together, with Marcus and Judy attempting to hold Cyrus and Tyson's hands, but getting denied immediately. As they made their way through the crowd, they started to see what the crowd was so riled up about.
It appeared to be the opening of a new, supposedly high-class baby store. The sign for it was labeled Pacified Perfection, and there were a few Pokémon standing in front of it. "Parents and Children! Please allow me to introduce the founder of our illustrious store!" A Pansear said, wearing a pink uniform for the store.
"This outta be good to mock." Cyrus said, pulling out his clipboard and writing down potential insults to shout. Judy put a claw on his shoulder and gave him a look, telling him to be careful.
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet, Ms. Mandible!" The Pansear announced, causing many of the Pokémon there to start clapping. This was followed by a Mawile walking up, wearing a light purple turtleneck and black skirt, with a pair of black heels.
"Thank you all for coming to our grand opening! I have dedicated my life to helping us all reach the peak of fashion for our precious children, and this is the start of that dream coming to fruition!"
"Peak of fashion? You are supposed to climb the mountain, not fall into a crater" Cyrus muttered under his breath.