Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: True Colours

by Giga Bowser NS

Sparks the Raichu works at the guild in Radiant City, known as the Rescue Society. The job of its members is to help out wherever help is needed. When one day, Sparks comes across a small, terrified homeless Buizel. His name is Ziggy and he's had a very rough life. Sparks wants to help, but the odds are not in his favour. Ziggy is a shiny Pokémon...or, as others call them, "Freaks"

1. The Muddy Buizel (Part I)

Chapter 1 - The Muddy Buizel (Part I)

"Heya, Sparks! The usual?"

The Raichu being addressed lifted his head up to regard the Kecleon behind the sales stall, giving him a smile. "Hey Toby," he greeted, "Yes please."

The Kecleon, Toby, grinned and nodded. "Two Sitrus, one Pinap. Coming up!"

"Take your time."

As Toby disappeared into the area behind his stall, the Raichu leaned on the front and let out a soft sigh. While he waited, he spent his time idly gazing at his surroundings. He was in the centre of the market district, nestled somewhat near the eastern edge of Radiant City. It was a fairly large and busy market, which only made sense as Radiant City was one of the largest cities in the whole world. It was late autumn, and the weather was just starting to get nippy.

Sparks was the Raichu's name, or at least what he went by. He stood tall, slightly above average in size for his species. He had spent quite a number of years walking the planet, but not quite enough for others to start calling him 'old'. The only part of his body that betrayed his slightly higher age was his face, but that was only because it looked 'weathered'. One could look into the eyes of this Pokémon and know that he had seen a lot of things in his life, both good and bad.

He wore a woven satchel over his shoulder. He usually traveled with either a backpack or a fanny pack, but today was different. He was a bit unused to the way the weight of the satchel rested on his shoulder, and he had swapped it from side to side many times during his outing. The ache in his shoulders was only magnified by the fact that he had been out on his paws all day and was just looking forward to getting back home.

"Here you go!" Toby said brightly as he returned, carrying a small paper bag with three noticeable bulges in it.

"Thanks, Toby," Sparks said with a smile, "You're a lifesaver."

"That's my last Pinap. I saved it for you," Toby said with a wink.

"Seriously? Heavens, Toby, you spoil me!"

Toby simply chuckled. "You've been a customer here for a long time, Sparks. It's the least I can do."

"Is that so? How about you start selling me coffee?"

"Coffee?" Toby said with a laugh, "How am I supposed to compete with all the coffee stores out by the Society?"

Sparks playfully whined. "But I'm tired, Tobyyy… I need coffee."

Toby gave him a sympathetic look. "You do look tired. Have you been out on an errand?"

"Ugh… I had to travel out of town just to deliver something for Danika and then bring it right back afterwards."

"Don't they have delivery services for that sort of thing?" Toby asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sparks shook his head. "This is an important thing."

Toby raised his other eyebrow, and then leaned forward slightly as he looked over the edge of his stall and eyed the satchel.

"It's not for sale," Sparks said.

Toby laughed again and leaned back. "Who do you think I am, my brother in Treasure Town?"

Sparks laughed as well. "At least it's pretty light and easy to carry."

"I thought that important things were always heavy, don't ya know?"

Sparks shrugged. "Ah well," he said, as he picked up the bag of berries in his paw, "Seven Poké for the berries, right? I know the price of Pinaps went up."

Toby shrugged and said, "Five is fine."

Sparks' eyes widened a fraction. "What…? No way, Toby. If it costs seven I'm gonna pay you seven."

Toby waved a paw dismissively. "Five is fine," he repeated.

"Seriously, Toby-"

"I am serious, Sparks! Call it a customer appreciation discount if you want. You've been coming to my shop for at least ten years, now. I feel like I know you as well as a brother. Five is fine."

A couple moments of silence passed as Sparks simply looked at the Kecleon dubiously. Toby, though, looked determined and dedicated to his kindness. Sparks frowned and said, "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

Sparks skewed his lips, and then reached for his satchel so he could fish out his wallet. "How about six, then?"

Toby laughed and said, "If it helps you sleep at night, sure."

"Mm…"

"You're lucky I don't sell anything worth one Poké that I can slip into your bag."

"Har har."

Sparks was having trouble finding his wallet. When he wore his backpack or his fanny pack, he knew where it was and could retrieve it without even looking. This single change to his attire was seriously discombobulating him. He couldn't honestly remember where in the satchel he had put the wallet.

"Give me a moment…" he murmured, loud enough for Toby to hear.

"No rush."

"Ugh! Stupid thing…"

He finally spied the treacherous wallet and reached in to grab it. Before he could, however, his ears perked up when he heard the sound of someone nearby shouting in surprise. He lifted his head to look in the direction that the cry had come from, to see if anybody needed help.

A flash of brown was all he saw. It was within his field of vision for less than a full second. Before even a single muscle in his body could move to react, Sparks suddenly found the world twisting and twirling around him. He let out a yelp of surprise, and then grunted when he ended up falling flat on his back.

He was disoriented for only a brief moment before he realized what had happened. Someone had darted past him, grabbing his satchel along the way, and had roughly yanked it off of him. With the strap having been across his shoulder, the force of this sudden action had essentially spun him like a wound up top. Now he was lying on the ground, feeling dizzy.

He had just been pickpocketed.

"Hey!" he shouted as he quickly got to his senses and rose up off the ground, "Hey, stop!"

There was already a cacophony of clamouring Pokémon who had either seen the incident, or had been roughly pushed aside as the assailant made his escape. Sparks already had his eyes locked on the thief. He was no more than a block away, darting through the crowded streets. The stolen satchel was on his back, the strap being held between his teeth. In the heat of the moment, it was impossible to tell what species the thief was. The only thing Sparks could tell for sure was that he was dark brown and that he was about half the Raichu's size.

"Stop!" Sparks shouted, already on his paws and giving chase. He quickly made his way down the market street, moving past the crowds as civilly as he possibly could. The thief already had a fair head-start on him, and was not being slowed down by the crowd very much.

Sparks growled to himself, having trouble believing that this had just happened to him. To pickpocket him, of all Pokémon, in broad daylight was almost unheard of thanks to the badge on his chest. More than that, though, Sparks was berating himself for letting it happen in the first place. If he lost his money or his tools, that wouldn't really be a big deal.

It was the other object inside of the satchel that really made him panic.

The thief darted around a corner, and Sparks pushed himself to run faster. The marketplace whizzed by him in a blur, full of confused and frightened faces. It was a fairly busy day at the market, but for the most part Sparks was able to duck and weave through the crowd. A few Pokémon got pushed aside by his fairly large frame, but it couldn't be helped.

Sparks zipped around the same corner without stopping, and soon had eyes on the thief again. This was a smaller street in the market, and it was less crowded. As such, Sparks was able to get down on all fours and run even faster. His eyes never left his target. He needed to get that bag back. If he lost it, it would be a catastrophe.

The swift Raichu was able to halve the distance between himself and the thief, thanks to the more open street. As the thief approached another junction, he cast a quick look over his shoulder at his pursuer. The Pokémon's eyes shot open wide in shock when he saw how close Sparks was behind him, and a look of fear appeared.

"Stop right now! Drop the bag!" Sparks yelled in a commanding voice, "RSGA! Stop immediately!" His words had no effect, though, as the thief quickly darted around another corner. Surprise briefly clouded Sparks' expression. That usually had at least some sort of effect on fugitives and outlaws.

Regardless, Sparks darted around the next corner quickly by jumping and rebounding off the wall of the adjoining building, allowing him to maintain his speed. The thief glanced back over his shoulder once more, his look of panic growing. Now that he was closer, Sparks could see that the Pokémon was a short, furry quadruped with a tail. Strangely, though, Sparks still couldn't figure out what species he was. It sort of looked like a giant, short-haired Eevee without any white fur.

They had left the market district now, the chase continuing out onto the streets of Radiant City. The pickpocket was doing everything he could to shake his pursuer. Sparks had to applaud his swiftness, but the Raichu never lost any ground. As the chase wore on, the distance between them lessened. At one point the thief had slipped into a narrow alley, but Sparks had simply continued along the street to where the other end of the alley was in an attempt to intercept him. He had just barely missed, though there was a look of shock on the thief's face when he realized he hadn't actually lost the Raichu.

Sparks could hear the thief's panicked panting as he ran. He seemed to have stamina because he wasn't slowing down, but Sparks wasn't slowing down either. "I'm going to catch you! You won't get away!" Sparks called out to him, "So just drop the bag!"

As expected, the thief didn't respond. Instead, he made a sharp turn so suddenly that he nearly skidded along the ground and lost his balance. The brown Pokémon darted down a small side street, and Sparks followed a few seconds later. Unfortunately, as he rounded the corner, Sparks nearly collided with a confused looking Frogadier and her daughter. He was forced to slam on the brakes and quickly sidestep the two bystanders, managing to slip past them without causing injury. This, however, had allowed the thief to pull ahead.

Sparks growled as he continued running, looking at what lay ahead. He realized that they were near the edge of the city now. This particular street went straight towards the perimeter road, and beyond that was the open fields that lay to the west of the city. The chase could continue in one of two ways, depending on which way the thief chose to go at the next intersection, and Sparks prepared for both possibilities.

The thief chose to go straight, leaving the roads behind and darting into the grassy fields.

Sparks adopted a determined look. Perfect.

There was a hill directly ahead that sloped downwards away from the road, and the thief was currently running down it. Sparks, meanwhile, adjusted his course and ran a little bit to the left. Once he dashed across the road, he found himself at the top of the small grassy hill, looking down on the thief at the bottom who was still running.

Without breaking stride, Sparks ran straight for the hill. His small course adjustment meant that he was now facing the slope directly. Once he reached the hill, after some quick last-minute course calculation, Sparks took a big leap forward as if he were pouncing. While in the air, he curled his whole body up, tail and all, into a perfect Defense Curl. When he landed on the ground a second later, he started to roll down the hill.

Sparks picked up speed. A lot of speed in a short amount of time. He couldn't see where he was going, but it didn't matter. What mattered was the speed.

Once a number of seconds had passed and his speed had nearly tripled, Sparks carefully timed himself and un-curled. He kicked off of the ground with his hind legs and took a long bound forwards, to keep his momentum, and set sights on his target.

As he had expected, the thief was directly in front of him. When Sparks' paws hit the ground, all he had to do was leap forward one last time. He had executed this manoeuvre many times in the past, and it hadn't failed yet.

The thief had heard his approach and was looking back over his shoulder. A look of sheer terror clouded his expression before he screamed.

Fwump!

Sparks tackled directly into the assailant, sending them both tumbling wildly along the grass. The world was a dizzying mess for a moment, filled with flailing limbs and confused grunting, but the mayhem eventually ended with Sparks on top of the other Pokémon, pinning him down roughly by his shoulders.

The dust settled, and for a moment there was finally quiet, save for the crackling of electricity from Sparks' cheeks.

Sparks, who was sitting on the other Pokémon's midsection and holding him down, took a moment to catch his breath. He had prepared a Thunder Wave to use, but was holding off unless he absolutely needed to use it. Sparks used this time to finally get a good look at this thief. Confusion grew in his expression for a moment when he still found he couldn't identify the species, even this close up. No Pokémon he had ever seen before had brown fur and looked anything like this.

It took him a moment to realize what exactly he was looking at. The Pokémon was a Buizel, but he was covered from head to tail in mud and dirt. Pretty much every single strand of fur, in addition to his nose and the floatation ring around his neck, were painted a solid brown, earthy colour. Literally the only thing on him not covered in mud were his eyes.

And good heavens, were his eyes wide! The Buizel's pupils had shrunk to the size of dots and were staring unblinking up at the larger Raichu that sat on top of him.

Sparks let out the breath he had been holding, allowing his built-up electricity to dissipate. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he exclaimed as he caught his breath.

The Buizel cringed, but didn't respond. He was breathing pretty heavily, and Sparks figured it was only partially because of how hard he'd been running. Sparks had about a thousand questions in his head, most of them relating to why this Pokémon was covered in mud, but he had more important things to worry about.

While continuing to keep the Buizel pinned down, Sparks looked over his shoulder. The satchel was lying on the ground a short distance away. Thankfully, it was close enough that he could reach out with his tail and grab it while still remaining on top of the Buizel.

He held the satchel up with his tail, and then used one of his paws to open it. The other paw remained on the Buizel's shoulder. He lifted the flap up just enough so that he could peer in without letting his unwitting companion see inside. A dim blue glow greeted his eyes and he let out a sigh of relief. It was undamaged.

Setting the bag down, Sparks then returned his attention to the Buizel. The Raichu's heart was only just then finally slowing down. "You seriously thought it would be a good idea to pickpocket somebody like me?" His expression turned cross. "Are you an idiot? Do you know who I am?" he said, indicating his badge. When the Buizel didn't answer, he leaned in close and half-shouted, "Well?"

The Buizel yelped and cringed, turning his head and cowering. He kept his eyes shut tight for a moment, and only opened them once no harm had befallen him.

Sparks sighed and rolled his eyes. He then sat up and tapped his badge with one of his paws. It started to glow. "Thief apprehended, western city limits."

He looked down at the Buizel again, who hadn't moved a muscle even though Sparks had stopped holding his shoulders down. Sparks had apprehended a lot of criminals and outlaws in his life, and there were quite a few ways they tended to react. Usually they tried to fight tooth and nail to escape his grasp, even if he paralyzed them, while some simply resigned themselves to their fate and others actually became remorseful and apologetic.

None of that applied to this Buizel, though. The smaller Pokémon beneath him looked utterly terrified. His eyes were wide open, his pupils the size of pinpricks, and his chest continued to rise and fall rapidly as he bordered on the edge of hyperventilating. Sparks could feel him quivering like a leaf.

Looking a little closer, Sparks saw that tears were forming in the corners of his eyes. This Buizel looked frightened beyond belief and scared for his life.

Sparks' expression softened a little. "Hey," he said in a calmer voice, "Relax. I'm not gonna hurt you."

The Buizel didn't respond. Nothing about his expression changed.

"I'm a member of the Rescue Society, all right? I'm not a vigilante or something."

Tears started to streak down the Buizel's muddy cheeks, again leading Sparks to wonder what the mud was all about.

The Raichu's expression turned sour for a moment. "Look, this is your own fault. If you didn't want to get tackled and held down, then you shouldn't have stolen my satchel. You're a thief, so this is what you get."

The tears didn't stop. Sparks was pretty sure they doubled.

"…Stop that!"

The Buizel whined and cringed again, bringing up his paws to shield his face. He sat there for a moment, shivering like crazy. He was actually starting to hyperventilate now.

"Hey, c'mon," Sparks said, his expression softening once again, "Stop it. You're gonna pass out if you keep doing that."

The Buizel lowered his paws and his breathing slowed somewhat, but he was still affixing the Raichu with that terrified look.

Sparks crossed his forelimbs and gave the Buizel a frown. "You had to have expected something like this, right? Or did you just think you would never get caught?"

A tiny whimper crawled up the Buizel's throat, and tears started to run down his cheeks again.

Sparks sighed softly, deflating a little. All of his anger and stress was simmering away. He just couldn't stay mad at somebody who looked this afraid. This poor Buizel looked like his entire world was about to come to an end. He again found himself looking at the coat of mud the Buizel was wearing, which only added to the smaller Pokémon's pitiful appearance.

The Raichu's badge started to glow, and a female's voice emitted from it. "Heavy interference, message not received. Please repeat, Sparks."

The Buizel was now looking at the badge with wide eyes, as if it had just started sprouting dark magic. Sparks bit his lip, looking down at the Buizel for a few moments, and then lifted his paw to tap the badge. "No action required," he said, "False alarm."

"Understood, Sparks."

Sparks then leaned forward a little and directed all of his attention on the petrified Buizel still lying beneath him. "So," he said, using a much calmer and gentler voice, "What were you planning to do with my satchel? Let me guess…You were going to sell whatever was inside and then buy some food?"

The Buizel didn't answer. He was still frozen in place, staring up at the Raichu above him.

"C'mon, buddy. Say something. Answering me is not going to get you into any more trouble, I promise. Is that what you wanted to do?"

The smaller Pokémon stared up at him silently for a moment, still breathing heavily. Then finally, he gulped nervously and subtly nodded his head. It was such a minute movement that Sparks almost missed it.

"So you weren't trying to make a quick buck, you were trying to feed yourself. Yeah?"

There was another pause, and then the Buizel answered in the same way.

Sparks sighed again, and glanced up towards the city for a couple of seconds. When he looked back at the Buizel, he said, "Look…If I let you sit up, are you going to run away?"

The Buizel gave him a curious, and still terrified, look.

"I want to have a discussion with you," Sparks clarified, "and this position is kind of awkward. I know you probably want to get as far away from me as possible right now, but if I ask you nicely, will you sit still and be good?"

The Buizel gulped nervously again. His eyes darted skittishly from side to side for a moment, and he seemed to consider the request. Then, he looked back up at Sparks and nodded demurely.

Half-smiling, Sparks nodded. "Good."

Sparks then got up off of the Buizel and sat down on the grass nearby. The Buizel remained frozen in place for a moment, still quivering a little bit, and then slowly brought himself up into a sitting position. True to his word, he didn't get up and try to run away. Instead, he simply sat peacefully across from Sparks.

The Raichu took a moment to get a better look at the Buizel as a whole. He re-confirmed the fact that every square inch of this Pokémon, except his eyes, was covered in mud. There wasn't a trace of orange, cream, blue or yellow to be seen. Sparks could also see that the Buizel appeared thin and somewhat frail, despite how long he had managed to evade the Raichu during their chase. He sat with a slouched, withdrawn posture, as if trying to make himself look as small as possible. His fur, even in spite of the mud, was a total mess. He still looked really afraid, but there was now a hint of intrigue in his expression. It was overshadowed, though, by the heavy frown that he wore. In a single word, the Buizel looked miserable.

"Let me ask you something…" Sparks said, "Did you want to steal from me?"

The Buizel furrowed his brow and tilted his head.

"Think about it. If you had complete control over everything, would you have wanted to steal from me?"

He thought it over for a brief moment, and then shamefully shook his head.

"Well, okay. That is reassuring to hear. It doesn't change the fact that what you did was wrong and highly illegal, but…" Sparks trailed off.

Fear and anxiety grew in the Buizel's expression.

Sparks hummed and said, "You look like you've seen better days…I don't think I've ever seen a Pokémon get so filthy…"

The Buizel briefly glanced down at his mud-covered body and then shrunk back bashfully.

"Let me guess," Sparks continued, "You live on the streets? You're homeless?"

A brief pause, and then the Buizel nodded demurely.

Now it was Sparks' turn to frown. "You probably sleep in those dirty alleyways, huh?"

Another tiny nod.

Sparks sighed heavily and glanced away, a heavy feeling in his heart. This whole incident was quickly turning from deplorable to tragic. To be robbed by a thief was one thing, but to be robbed by a starving homeless Pokémon who wanted nothing more than a bite to eat?

His ears perked up as an idea came to him, but then fell right back down as he realized that he had lost the bag of berries he'd purchased somewhere in the confusion. They were probably lying on the ground below Toby's stall, spilled and ruined.

Sparks looked over at the Buizel again and felt his heart ache. He had been working for the Society for a long while now and had seen no end of Pokémon suffering, but it still didn't make it any easier to see. The Buizel was still affixing him with a wide-eyed, terrified expression. Sparks figured the only reason he was sitting still was out of fear for what would happen if he moved a muscle.

"Do you need help?"

The Buizel furrowed his brow again in response to the question.

Sparks sat up a little straighter. "I can tell just by looking at you that, well…you need help," he said, "It's obvious that you're…in a really bad place."

Still the mud-covered Pokémon didn't react, and Sparks only just came to the realization that he hadn't heard the Buizel utter a single word yet.

"I'm not going to call the police," Sparks said, speaking gently, "Now that I know the reason you tried to rob me, well… I want to help you, instead."

The Buizel then adopted a strange expression. It looked somewhat dubious, as if he was asking 'Why would you help me after what I did?'

Sparks tried giving him a reassuring smile. "Come on, at least give it a try. You've got nothing to lose." He held his paw out, intending to give the Buizel a pawshake. Instead, the other Pokémon immediately cringed and grimaced, as if the paw was a deadly weapon that was going to kill him on the spot.

Sparks frowned even more and slowly withdrew his paw. This Buizel was about as far as possible from what he had expected to find in the Pokémon that had tried to rob him. He wouldn't have believed the Buizel was capable of it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.

"Why don't we start over?" Sparks asked in a slow, deliberate tone that he had used plenty of times before in the past. He offered an amicable smile and said, "Hello. You can call me Sparks. It's nice to meet you."

The Buizel still looked up at him like a frightened cub.

"What's your name?" Sparks asked. When he still got no response, he leaned in just a touch closer. "Come now. You have to have a name, right? I need something to call you…"

Sparks' rather quiet companion bit his lip and glanced away for a moment. He appeared troubled, or perhaps indecisive. When he glanced back up at Sparks and saw that the Raichu was still looking at him intently, he deflated a little. He gulped nervously, hesitated, and then finally opened his mouth.

Unfortunately, what came out would be better labelled as a squeak than a response.

"What was that?" Sparks asked.

The Buizel cowered slightly under Sparks' insistence, but then he gulped again and let out a breath of air. "Z…Ziggy…" he muttered, almost imperceptibly quiet.

"Ziggy?"

The Buizel nodded. "P-Pokémon call me…Ziggy…"

Sparks smiled and said, "Okay, good! Well, it's nice to meet you Ziggy."

Ziggy simply nodded silently.

"All right, then. Now listen, Ziggy," Sparks said, still using a calm voice, "I want you to come with me. I want to take you to a place where you can get help. We can give you food. We can give you shelter. Most importantly, though, we can give you whatever you need to get up on your paws and stop living on the street."

Although Ziggy perked up at the mention of food, it was quickly overshadowed by an expression of fearful distrust. He didn't really respond one way or another.

Sparks' heart was starting to ache again. More and more, this Buizel was looking like a lost cub who had been separated from his mother. Sparks' sense of altruism was really shining through in this moment. He no longer cared about the fact that this Pokémon had robbed him just a few minutes before. All he saw now was a Pokémon in dire need of help.

"I promise, Ziggy," he said, leaning in a little more and looking the Buizel right in the eyes, "I promise that we will help you." He offered a benevolent smile and added, "It's what we do."

Ziggy bit his lip again and glanced away.

"At the very least, even if you don't stick around, we can give you a good meal. What do you say?"

When Ziggy looked up at him this time, Sparks could see a mix of pessimism and hope in his eyes. He could tell that Ziggy was thinking this was too good to be true, and that there had to be some sort of catch.

Sparks decided to try the pawshake again. Ziggy still flinched when his paw was extended, but not as badly this time. He stared at the paw for almost a full minute, as if looking for hidden weapons of mass destruction. Then, ever so slowly, he reached out one of his own mud-covered paws.

The two paws connected and an awkward pawshake was exchanged. Sparks could still feel the Buizel quivering a little bit.

"What do you say?" Sparks repeated, "Maybe we can get things figured out a little bit better?"

Ziggy bit his lip, looking unsure.

"Want to come?"

A visible shudder wracked Ziggy's body for a moment, and then he looked up at Sparks. Though he still looked afraid, confused and unsure, he did silently nod.

Sparks smiled gently and said, "Good. I'm glad to hear that." He then stood up on his paws, indicating for Ziggy to do the same. The Buizel was still flinching slightly at every move that he made, but he wasn't running off either. Sparks reached down and picked up the satchel, which he slung over his shoulder once again.

Ziggy was gazing up at him, looking unsure of what to do. Now that they were both standing, Sparks could see that Ziggy was just over half as tall as he was.

"Just follow me," Sparks said, giving the Buizel an encouraging smile. He started walking off across the fields, heading towards the north. After a couple of steps, he glanced over his shoulder to find, as he had expected, Ziggy rooted to the spot with nervousness. Sparks flashed him another friendly smile and said, "C'mon."

Ziggy's gaze darted around for a moment and he seemed to consider his options. Eventually, though, he managed to take a few unsure steps forward. When Sparks set off again, Ziggy followed a few paces behind.

Sparks made his way back up the grassy hills towards the perimeter road, which he planned to follow until it got him to his destination. The Society was located on the outskirts of town too, but it was at the north and they were in the west. He made sure to carry the satchel on the front of his body, just in case. It wasn't so much that he didn't trust Ziggy, but rather it was because of how important the satchel's contents were.

"I must say," Sparks spoke up, trying to break the silence, "You run a lot faster than I would have expected."

When he didn't get a response, Sparks glanced over his shoulder. He paused when he saw that Ziggy had fallen behind and was now standing on the grass, hesitating. He was still quite a few paces away from the road that Sparks had stepped onto.

"What's the matter?" Sparks asked him, "Come on, it's not too far away."

Ziggy gulped and glanced around nervously. There was nobody else around, but Ziggy still seemed a bit paranoid about something. Eventually, he overcame whatever was making him pause and he jogged over to where Sparks was standing, after which the two continued walking. To Sparks' surprise, Ziggy was actually walking closer to him now than he was before.

"I'm taking you to the Society Headquarters," Sparks explained, reasoning that transparency was important right now, "They have a lot of resources there to help you out, and it's absolutely free of charge. If nothing else, it's a place where you can be safe, and I promise you'll be welcomed there. As long as you don't break our trust, you'll have nothing to worry about."

Ziggy made a soft noise, like a whine or a grunt, in response. He was only about a single pace behind Sparks as he followed, but he kept looking around nervously at his surroundings. Sparks didn't get it at first, but he soon realized that Ziggy probably spent a lot of his time hiding from the public's eye if he was a thief. If was possible he could run into somebody he had robbed before.

Sparks frowned as he thought about this. Despite knowing Ziggy for a grand total of perhaps five minutes, it still felt somehow wrong to label him as a 'thief'.

They continued walking for a couple of blocks, the large city passing by on their right. This was a fairly quiet part of the city, so the most they encountered were a few locals doing something a block away from where they were. Nobody was walking the perimeter road at this time of day.

Ziggy, however, still looked really skittish. The way he constantly glanced around nervously suggested that he thought someone was following them. He definitely looked paranoid. Whenever somebody else was within sight, whether this other Pokémon saw them or not, Ziggy's agitation grew and he tried to hide himself behind the larger Raichu if he could.

They were approaching the coast now. Radiant City was situated just south of the ocean, and its northern edge bordered the coastline. The actual ocean was still about the length of three city blocks away from the boundary of the city, except in one spot. Located almost exactly where north-west would be on a compass was a small inlet that snaked its way inland and came within a half a kilometre of the city limits.

This inlet was what they were approaching now. The rest of the coast was formed by short but steep cliffs, but the inlet cut between them to form a small beach. There was a small trail leading off of the perimeter road down to this beach, and that was where Sparks started walking down.

Glancing back, Sparks saw that Ziggy looked a little confused. There were no buildings or anything Pokémon-made at this beach, so his confusion made sense. The fact was that this wasn't their destination, but it was a detour that Sparks wanted to make first.

The trail ended and both Pokémon took a few steps onto the sand. The temperature was a little lower this close to the ocean, but it wasn't bad. There was still about 25 metres of sand before the water.

Sparks turned to regard Ziggy, who looked even more confused. "We gotta do something here before we go to the Society," he said. When Ziggy tilted his head in confusion, Sparks elaborated. "I can't let you walk into the Society like that, my friend. Well, I could I suppose, but…The other residents would probably appreciate it if I didn't let you track mud all over the place, y'know?"

Ziggy's eyes shot open wide.

"Just a quick wash will be enough," Sparks said, "Don't need to be too thorough. Just get that mud off of your fur, and then we can go."

There were quite a few different possible reactions Sparks had expected to follow this request. Shock and horror was not one of them.

Ziggy's eyes were as wide as dinner plates, and his mouth hung open slightly as he regarded Sparks. His eyes darted to the water a couple of times and every time he did, his chest started to move a little faster.

Sparks started to frown as a look of panic began to engulf the poor Buizel. "What? What's the matter?" he asked, starting to feel perplexed himself.

Ziggy, now breathing rapidly, locked eyes with Sparks and slowly shook his head.

"I don't understand. What's wrong?" Sparks asked, "It's just a quick dip in the water to get that mud off of you."

For some inexplicable reason, this only increased the level of agitation in the little Buizel. Sparks was baffled by this. Was Ziggy afraid of the water? How could that be possible for a Water-Type?

Ziggy was shaking his head even harder now, looking more and more resolute in his refusal to get into the water. He looked really nervous, like something was going to jump out of the water and grab him.

"What's the problem?" Sparks said, his confusion giving way to a touch of irritation, "Are you scared? I'm not asking you to go for a swim or anything, I just want you to clean yourself off a little! For heaven's sake, I'll help you if you need me to, but it's just a quick bath!"

It seemed like Ziggy was having none of that, though. The Buizel remained rooted to the spot, still shaking his head.

Sparks stepped forward, reaching out his paw to grab Ziggy by his arm. "Ziggy, come on, please?" he said, giving the Buizel's limb a gentle tug.

Ziggy nearly flipped out, immediately fidgeting and struggling to free his limb. Sparks let go, not wanting to be physically forceful, and Ziggy took a couple panicked steps back.

"I…" Sparks murmured, quite confused by this turn of events, "I really don't understand the hesitation here. Would you be more comfortable in a conventional bathtub? Or maybe just a wet sponge and some soap?"

Ziggy didn't look any less worried by this. He was still staring at Sparks with wide eyes, looking as if he was afraid Sparks was going to hurt him. After a moment, he shook his head again.

Sparks sighed and deflated a little. "I'm sorry, buddy…" he said, "I don't understand. I would've thought you might enjoy getting that mud off of you…" He glanced over his shoulder and held a paw out towards the ocean. "The water is calm and safe here. You're not gonna drown or anything. It's perfectly safe. It's actually quite a ni-"

The rest of his words died on his lips, though. When he turned back to face Ziggy again, Ziggy was gone. The minute Sparks had turned away, the Buizel had bolted. He was now darting back up the street in the general direction of the city, and had already nearly reached the perimeter road.

"…Ah," he murmured. Sparks could probably catch up to him easily enough, but he instead stayed put where he was. What would be the point? This Pokémon clearly did not want anything to do with him or the help he was trying to provide, and even if he did he was too scared to accept the aid that was being offered.

Sparks' heart sank as he watched the retreating form of the Buizel disappear into a small alleyway that led into the city. In a way, he felt like he had failed. He had been trying to help a struggling, suffering homeless Pokémon get off of the streets, but now said Pokémon was back on the streets again. It was easy to imagine the misery that Ziggy was probably going through, and thoughts like those lingered painfully in Sparks' mind. It hurt him to know that the same misery was just going to attack him again.

What could be done, though? Some Pokémon just didn't want to be helped.

Sparks sighed as he glanced down, catching sight of the satchel that was resting against his side. The truth was that he had more important things to worry about right now. He needed to get back to the Society before somebody else tried to pickpocket him.

With one more sigh of defeat, Sparks started to walk back up the road as well.