Shout out to WyldClaw for being my first review, PoohandKnorretje for being my first follow, Animeloverdog and .chris1809 for being my first favorites, and whoever (Xtreme Gamer?) put me in the Pokemon's Best of the Best Community! You guys are all awesome! Also, I just crested 400 views and 190 visitors! WOO!
"Here you go. One order of seafood arrabbiata; one order of three cheese ravioli, sub cream sauce, and one order of chicken carbonara." The waitress bends down as she speaks, placing the plates in front of their specific recipients. "Can I bring you anything else? More water? Parmasean? I can crack some pepper on there for you, if you'd like?"
Glancing across the patio-style table, the worker sees young eyes peering expectantly from one of the three seated customers. "The seaweed crab cakes will be out shortly, they aren't quite done." Evan ducks his head in a nod, thankful for the answered question.
"No no, I think we have everything we need then, right dear?" Nancy looks over at her husband and George affirms, releasing the busy woman to buss the newly vacated table a few umbrellas over.
Turning to the right, Evan takes in the figure of his little carp on an oddly built booster seat. The shape is vaguely reminiscent of a single step stool with hinged guardrail supports in every direction. To accommodate this particular Pokémon, only the back and one side are latched into place, giving the fish something to slip a fin through for balance as she teeters on a u-shaped stomach.
"Man, I am so glad we got to try the Cerulean Cafe truck! I've been dying to for weeks; it feels like we can never get Saturday free at the same time." Drink lifting skyward, George stares enraptured as brilliant beams filter through the cafe's signature blue beverage.
Taking eyes off the mesmerizing color, the jovial male's attention flits around the view beyond the bridge's railings, taking in the good vibes and the shining sun. Hearing a light tune from a nearby stand, Evan's father smiles and taps a foot to the beat on the golden planks below.
The promised Krabby Patties bob their way to the table, and a bit of drool pools on plump pink lips in response.
"Garaaarooo," the Magikarp next to him agrees with the exuberant man's tone, despite only understanding the word "I" after weeks of strenuous listening.
The carefree conspirator waves a free fin in the air ecstatically as her cohort smiles even harder at the response.
"Mmmmm…..this is so good. I'm so excited they started doing these little weekend food festivals!" Nancy's eyes close for a second contentedly as a tangy, acidic flavor bursts across an appreciative tongue. Savoring the sauce, the woman is happy at the choice. But then, greed worms its way in while staring down George's plate.
Seeing the covetous gaze of his other half, the man preemptively surrenders, holding a fork with a creamy pasta pocket already attached in the predator's direction. His wife grins, leaning over the table to snap the ravioli off the utensil.
"Uh….Mom?" Evan blanches, pointing down to the female's yellow blouse. Which, currently, was bathing in spicy tomato.
"Uuuugh! This is my favorite shirt!" The adult throws appalled hands in the air, exasperated. Glances are thrown around. Food trucks and trinket stands abound, but there is a distinct lack of any public sink. Even the bathrooms neglected to provide a solution having been carted onto the bridge—the signature Port-a-Poliwhirls holding only hand sanitizer.
"Quick, you can use my glass of water!" Evan holds the cup out, trying to hand it to the frazzled mother. The woman stands and tilts her body forward, pulling the bottom edge of the shirt away from a rapidly cooling belly. Wiping with napkins from the table, the arrabiata is removed from dirty skin as Nancy contemplates how to do the same to the top.
More paper squares are grabbed from the dispenser, removing the exterior paste. Then the son's offering is accepted; and the self-created victim applies a drizzle to the soiled cloth. The dabbing continues, absorbing as much as possible in a repeated cycle of water and blot until the container mostly empties. The red fades to a dark pink, but refuses to lighten any further, and a lower lip quivers in dismay.
"Hey mom, how about we get you a new shirt at one of the stands?" Evan asks, trying to entice with the promise of booth shopping.
"We'll be right back," Nancy directs to her significant other. Limbs shambling in a dejected walk to nearby canopy tents, the dispirited woman leaves everyone behind. As Evan dashes to catch up, the dad is left with a fish for company and the restaurant's bill. Shrugging, the temporarily wifeless individual turns attention to his oblivious comrade.
The enthusiastic nugget is flexing in the direction of newly acquired seaweed-crab cakes. The muscular Pokémon's lips wiggle forward in a careful gripping motion, trying not to make a mess.
A grin commandeers the man's face again at the puckered antics. Cutting off a bite with a fresh fork, the treat is extended. Eyes glisten at the kind gesture made possible by opposable thumbs, and the Magikarp wholeheartedly gulps the morsel down.
The two on the hunt to fix the fashion disaster are not nearly so fortunate, as even with a replacement shirt, the catastrophe remains unaverted.
Evan's mom glances down at a freshened outfit, pink-blotted blouse now slung over a hand. The new attire may not be wet, but is just as bad. A ginger pre-teen clad in suspendered booty shorts makes a peace sign across the woman's bust, the cut just barely covering Nancy's cleavage.
"I can't believe this was the only shirt under 4000 Poké." Nancy's face scrunches up while glaring at the torn-off tag. A happy Seel mocks from its shiny, heart-shaped surface.
Seeing the scowl, Evan tries for appeasement. "I think it looks fine, mom. At least with the gym leader look, you know we got that true Cerulean vibe going on today!"
"I look like an idiot, and my favorite one is ruined!" refusing to be mollified, the pouting continues, "Even if we rushed all the way back home, I probably couldn't get the stain out after it's set for so long." The 'adult' sounds anything but a mature woman.
"Wait…..don't you have a Swiffer-To-Go pen?" A horrified gape is the reply before a purse is frantically scrambled.
Holding up the sky-themed detergent pen triumphantly, Nancy uncaps it and stretches the fabric across her hand. Shuffling the draped blouse until the required spot is splayed, the determined woman starts furiously scritch-scratching. The fluid in the handle is quickly used up in the repeated efforts, coating the whole stain a few times. It lightens considerably, but refuses to remove the last hint of pigment.
"Maybe one of the vendors sells them?" The question hangs in the air, before setting off another scavenger hunt.
The mother-son duo plod back to the cafe, mildly defeated, but better than they left. The thinking-about-being orange patch still sits on the mostly redried clothing. But there is hope yet if the shirt can be rinsed well in a sink or even kept wet until the family gets home.
At the approach of his wife's too-tight souvenir, George wolf-whistles in delight. Inclining back from the ghost of a lunch, the man's currently rotund belly is exposed. The lucky drama-escapee links fingers behind sun-bleached brown hair, combining the motions into a stretch. The cheerful pumpkin in the booster chair next to him lays in a daze, the remains of the savory cakes but a scattering of crumbs.
"Awww, Dad, you ate without us?" Evan admonishes.
"Sport, you guys left over twenty minutes ago. We ate while it was still warm." Sinking into the seat, Evan deflates, crosses arms, and buries a demoralized head. After a short moment, the parentally victimized boy takes a steeling breath and lifts tired eyes. Noticing his Pokémon's state, the indignation flees, and a chuckle breaks out. The stress melts away as Nancy joins in.
Holding up the soiled top, Evan's mom dribbles the last of his water onto the spot. A sigh escapes but is no longer petulant. More resigned.
"It really is too bad I didn't have more water. I bet I could have washed it out after the Swiffer Pen broke up the color."
The carp's gaze focuses out of its coma glaze, finally having eyes for something other than the tantalizing cuisine.
Watching her friend's dam pour liquid onto the soft not-scales was odd. But then those three comprehensible syllables had filled the air, 'more' and 'water'—after all, how could she not catch some of her favorite sounds in one place?
Hoping to gladden the affectionate two-legger, the aquatic forms her Jinx-rivaling lips into an "O". A pinpoint jet of semi-transparent cobalt floods the off-spot, blasting the last of the tint from the shirt and the article from Nancy's hold. It lands with a wet splat on the boards below.
Clearly, the Magikarp had not understood the situation correctly because she could think of no other reason her new School would speak so rudely. Their Aquatic was quite atrocious, but there was no mistaking the gaping and aggressive open-close-open mouth sequence.
Sagging, the young yet ancient creature looks away, uttering a listless "A..arrr...agrru…." in apology.
The demeanor finally snaps Evan out of the stupor, creating a shout in its place. "DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT?!" The boy looks frantically at both parents. "YOU SAW THAT, RIGHT!? This isn't a dream?"
"EVAN! We are 3 feet from you! Quiet down!" The father's hand reaches out, palm to the earth with fingers spread, descending on the word "quiet" to match the words. "But yes, we did."
Nancy, now recovered, picks up her sopping prize and haphazardly tosses it on the back of the spare chair. Rushing in, the rescued woman snatches the Pokémon from the modified high seat, spinning around with the tense cyprinidae in an ecstatic grasp.
"Mwuaaah!" After the first fishy kiss, the carp relaxes, now certain that an attack is no longer imminent. Instead, her ugly and bladeless Biped-Water-Beetle family seems very pleased.
"You are just absolutely amazing!" Nancy exclaims, still enamored with the saviour.
Evan bewilderedly touches the still drenched ground. The wet is rubbed between curious fingers, then sniffed. "Water Gun!...But Magikarp can't learn Water Gun? How can this be possible?!"
"Well, she looks plenty different from a normal Magikarp, who's to say how special she really is?" George muses.
"You really lucked out. Not only is she just full of surprises, but she is so incredibly sweet." Evan's mother radiates soft pleasure, still squishing the enigma to her chest. "You went looking for rocks, but you found quite the jewel, huh Evan?"
Engrossed by the gleaming ripple of fire opal scales, the awestruck child couldn't agree more.
Chapter Notes:
-Carp are known for eating a lot of stuff, but their main diet is plankton, insects and larvae. Some of their favorites though are crustaceans and mollusks, so seaweed crab-cakes would be an absolute treat for a Magikarp.
-They are in Cerulean City on the Golden Ball Bridge (Nugget Bridge) for a farmer's/flea market of sorts that has food trucks.
-Cerulean is a color of blue, so the Cafe's gimmick is to have a cerulean drink.
-Krabby Patties is a morbid Spongebob reference. It implies the cakes are made with Krabby, which is actually not unheard of in the Pokémon world. Many episodes and entries imply that Pokémon are eaten as food by humans, despite there cannonically being lesser animals in the Pokémon world.
-I had to create a scenario where there was no easy access to cleaning supplies. So, a bridge not super close to town seemed appropriate.
-I tried to come up with a Pokemon name that would be fitting for a port-a-potty. It was between Poliwhirl and Combee Bucket. I'd already used Combee as a reference before though, and Poliwhirl just seemed like such funny imagery since the spiral on its stomach is like a the swirl of water down a toilet. It also coincidentally is based on a tadpole's intestines, and a water type. So fitting. Hahah It's also a good, cute mascot for a toilet company.
-The shirt has Misty on it. lol
-The T-shirts are running above the $40 US range. Also, is seriously irritating that it doesn't allow fonts or pictures. Because it is seriously screwing with the immersive elements of my story. I had the sign for Pokédollars in the text, and it removed it.
-Swiffer is a Pokémon that obsessively cleans things with its wings. Swiffer-To-Go is just a Tide-To-Go pen.
-The Magikarp was too distracted by the crab cakes to notice Nancy's previous distress.
-Jinx has massive lips.
-Cyprinidae is the family carp belong to.
-Biped-Water-Beetle is a Kabutops. She doesn't know the word for human, since they never used to exist, so she relates as closely as possible.
-He rubs his fingers to see if it seems like salt water. Since Eugene made him aware that Brine looks like Water Gun.
-There is a kind of fire opal that comes in orange with red flashes. It is more commonly found in Mexico.
-This is surprisingly one of my favorite chapters. I think just because it is so silly and playful, especially with the descriptions. It really let me put in a lot of pointless, but loveable, world-building Easter Eggs.
-I find it hilarious that the bad guy ended up being the sauce. Because I am highly allergic to the delectable forbidden fruit that is the tomato.