Chapter 26
Lucia barged back into the group's bedroom, armed with around a dozen bags of
shopping, all full to the brim, spilling their contents as she dropped them all on her bed.
She piled the shopping into a small gathering at the center of her bed, sitting down on the
edge, sagging, even under her light frame.
"There…got all the essentials," she confirmed, grabbing a pile of shirts from one bag,
holding them up in front of her, examining their designs. "Now to start shopping for
pleasure…wait, no…I must pace myself." She sat frozen for a moment or two, before
looking around, dropping her clothes into her lap. "Ok, paced enough…hey, where are
the others?" She scanned the room again, shrugging off her friend's whereabouts, placing
the clothes behind her, whipping out her purse. She shuffled through her notes and coins,
nestled snugly in their own individual compartments, Winona walking into the room
dissatisfied. She took one glance at the pile of wares and sighed.
"So, how do you plan on carrying all those things?" she asked. Lucia leant forward,
halting as she realized she had no answer.
"…backpack?"
"Come on…you need to take that stuff back."
"I'm NOT addicted…" Lucia erupted…the room stayed silent, Winona shuffling
uneasily.
"…I never said you were addicted," she replied quietly, Lucia looking back at her
shopping sheepishly.
"Ok, I'll take the stuff back," finishing by hoarding her items back into their bags,
grabbing the plastic straps in her hands. "Hey, where's Setijin?" she inquired.
"I wish I know…he's sulked off somewhere."
"Any reason why?"
"Sort of…"
"Well, while I'm out returning this stuff, by the sounds of things, you better be
apologizing, for whatever you've done."
"That's the plan," she confirmed, both girls leaving the room, still chatting, closing the
door behind them. As the door slammed shut, Setijin's rucksack shuffled, blue sparks
shimmering out of it. Medicham materialized, excitedly admiring his surroundings.
" Meeeedicham," he grinned satisfactorily. He hopped back onto the bed behind him,
swiping the Television remote control from the bed beside him, leaning back against the
royal red paper pasted on the wall behind him.
Setijin waited at a table in the corner of a large café, located on the deck of the ship.
Through the full-length windows, he watched the sea, sitting sideways in his chair, his
arm rested on the back, his second tapping a plastic stand with a number on it on the
table. A waitress approached with a tray of items, gently arranging them on the table.
Setijin shifted around, thanking the waitress before admiring his food: a small toasted
cheese sandwich with garnish scattered around the side of the plate, and a steaming and
frothing cup of coffee, a tiny packet of sugar resting in the saucer.
"Hmm, lunch," he beamed, whipping the sandwich from its plate, taking a hungry bite
out of it. He chewed, reveling in the creamy cheese, his eyes closing in ecstasy. Each bite
brought on more euphoria. Sandwich had never tasted so good.
"Nice sandwich?" Winona ask, Setijin jumping in surprise, his eyes shooting open,
flinging himself backwards, tumbling to the floor with his chair. He kicked the table on
the way down, knocking the mug of coffee onto its side, spilling it over the table. Winona
laughed heartily as Setijin picked himself up, the eyes of the café fixed on him.
"Thank you very much," he snuffed, wiping the contents of his lunch from his stained
shirt, lifting the chair back up, slamming a handful of coins onto the table by his receipt.
Winona embraced her stomach, trying to suppress her laughter as Setijin stormed away.
She staggered, following him, while wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Oh Setijin, lighten up!" she giggled, following him through the glass doors of the café,
leading onto the sunny deck of the ship, Setijin entering a door into the corridor.
"Sure…I will once you stop trying to humiliate me, and once everyone in that café stops
laughing at me," he snapped, still briskly walking onwards, refusing to turn back to look
at Winona.
"Really! It's not as if I deliberately made you jump! It's not my fault you're a…" Setijin
shot around, pushing his face right in front of hers, scowling.
"It's not your fault I'm a?" Winona sniggered, trying to resist, finally giving into her
urges.
"…sissy…" Setijin stormed away once again, Winona falling against a wall in hysterics.
"Setijin, wait!" He reluctantly stopped, still facing forwards, huffing in frustration
waiting for her to speak.
"What?"
"I'm sorry I tricked you, made fun of you and made you fall over like a wimp."
"…"
"And to be fair, you did the same to me. Not quite as extreme, but it still hurt."
"…sorry"
"Thank you. I'm sorry too." Setijin sighed, as if to relieve the anger built up in him. He
turned around, with a sympathetic smile wiped across his face, the warm coffee dripping
from his shirt. The two stepped towards each other, opening their arms, ready to embrace,
before rethinking, stepping apart and shaking hands. "Anyway, I best go back and
change. It was probably better I didn't stay in there too long."
"Why?"
"The coffee wasn't particularly warm." Both chuckled, continuing down the corridor,
side by side.
"What do you mean you wont take my money?" Lucia bellowed, slamming her hands on
the counter, the shop assistant retaining his stiff posture, one arm straight by his side, the
other resting on the keypad of the till.
"Well ma'am, typically, we don't accept chocolate coins as acceptable currency," he
replied.
"Why not? It's money isn't it? What makes it any different from normal money?"
"Typically, normal money doesn't melt in the till."
"So you're not going to let me buy this stuff then?"
"Not unless you can find money that doesn't stick to my fingers, no."
"Fine," she snapped, heaving one of her many shopping bags onto the counter, removing
a handful of clothes from it, forcing them into the shop assistants hands, the people in the
queue behind her grumbling impatiently. "I'd like to get a refund on these please," she
explained.
"Do you have a receipt as proof of purchase?" he asked in return. She removed a small
slip of paper from her pocket, handing it to him.
"There you go!"
"I'm sorry ma'am. This isn't a receipt from our shop: these items are not 'glucose' or
'cocoa beans', and this stores name isn't 'Chocotastic Bar'."
"Oh wait, wrong one," she replied, snatching the wrapper back, removing a second slip of
paper."
"This is the right one?" he asked before looking at it. Lucia nodded. "No chocolate?" She
shook, as he held it up to the light. "Ok, Items 010294, 142200 and…pant…oh wait,
here's the code…" he mumbled to himself, Lucia blushing as the growing crowd behind
chuckled under their breath. "There, all together, that would be $15.99."
"Fifteen dollars!" she exclaimed, shooting forwards, resting on the desk. "I paid at least
forty for that lot!"
"I'm sorry ma'am, but this is taking into consideration that you tried to trick me with
items of a chocolaty nature, the actual chocolate stains on the clothes themselves, and the
tiny little point that this receipt is for the shop over there," he replied, pointing out of the
shop, towards another store on the other side of the center."
"Chocolate stains? Never, oh wait…" she halted, delving into her bag, revealing an
empty net bag, the label suggesting that it used to contain chocolate coins, the foil
wrappers littered at the bottom of the net, melted chocolate dripping from them.
"I'm just taking a wild guess, but I'm guessing you wont accept any more of your
'currency' as repayment," the shop assistant replied snootily, holding up a full bag of
chocolate coins.
"Fine; patronize me all you want. I shall take my business elsewhere," Lucia returned,
gathering her items into her arms and walking away from the desk. As the next customer
reached the desk, Lucia strode back, snatching the bag of chocolate from the shop
assistants hand, leaving once again.
Medicham still lay on the bed, with empty 'toblerone' wrappers, cans of soda, potato chip
wrappers and stained napkins, once of which with a chunk bitten out of it, littered around
him. Licking at the dried chocolate on his lips, he proceeded to flick through channels on
television, which itself hadn't been tuned in, all channels nothing more than static.
Around the rest of the room explored the other pokémon, all released from their
pokéballs thanks to Medicham. The mini bar sat open, its contents spilled on the floor,
Plusle and Minun gnawing through plastic packaging. Staryu laid at the bottom of the
empty bathtub, aligning itself under the slowly dripping tap, wallowing in the steady
supply of water, Pelipper drinking out of the toilet by the side.
The curtain rail had collapsed on one side, Umbreon and Espeon chewing at the curtain
fabric, Oddish and Gulpin squaring up to a small pine air freshener on the table in the
center of the large room. Ninjask seemed transfixed in following his reflection in the
French windows, Natu sleeping snugly on one of the many thick pillows on Winona's
bed, Pidgey trying to make nest in the elaborate, dish like lamp shade hanging from the
fixture on the ceiling. The noise was frantic, all of the pokémon charging around the
room, stopping rigid as the front door clicked, Setijin and Winona waiting on the other
side, trying to fit the key in the lock.
"…So she'll be back soon once they tell her that they wont accept chocolate…
what…has…happened…to…our…room?" Winona slowed, horrified at the state of the
room. Setijin walked past her, dropping the key on the small table next to the door,
looking up, glancing at the room, and without stopping turning straight back around,
grabbing the key and closing the door. The scene remained frozen, the only sound being
the screams from Setijin outside. After a few seconds, the screams died, and Setijin re-
entered, dropping the keys once again, examining the room standing by Winona's side.
"Ok, who's responsible?" Setijin asked, surprisingly calmly. The pokémon
simultaneously pointed towards Medicham, who sat staring straight back at Setijin,
frantically stabbing at the remote control.
"Cham. Cham!" he squealed, Setijin still rigid.
"Winona, could you wait here and return the pokémon while I get some Industrial
strength sticky tape?" he requested, casually leaving the room, easing the door shut
behind him. Winona still stood still in shock, the pokémon remaining still, Pidgey wailing
as the light fitting came crashing down to the floor.
Lucia barged back into the group's bedroom, armed with around a dozen bags of
shopping, all full to the brim, spilling their contents as she dropped them all on her bed.
She piled the shopping into a small gathering at the center of her bed, sitting down on the
edge, sagging, even under her light frame.
"There…got all the essentials," she confirmed, grabbing a pile of shirts from one bag,
holding them up in front of her, examining their designs. "Now to start shopping for
pleasure…wait, no…I must pace myself." She sat frozen for a moment or two, before
looking around, dropping her clothes into her lap. "Ok, paced enough…hey, where are
the others?" She scanned the room again, shrugging off her friend's whereabouts, placing
the clothes behind her, whipping out her purse. She shuffled through her notes and coins,
nestled snugly in their own individual compartments, Winona walking into the room
dissatisfied. She took one glance at the pile of wares and sighed.
"So, how do you plan on carrying all those things?" she asked. Lucia leant forward,
halting as she realized she had no answer.
"…backpack?"
"Come on…you need to take that stuff back."
"I'm NOT addicted…" Lucia erupted…the room stayed silent, Winona shuffling
uneasily.
"…I never said you were addicted," she replied quietly, Lucia looking back at her
shopping sheepishly.
"Ok, I'll take the stuff back," finishing by hoarding her items back into their bags,
grabbing the plastic straps in her hands. "Hey, where's Setijin?" she inquired.
"I wish I know…he's sulked off somewhere."
"Any reason why?"
"Sort of…"
"Well, while I'm out returning this stuff, by the sounds of things, you better be
apologizing, for whatever you've done."
"That's the plan," she confirmed, both girls leaving the room, still chatting, closing the
door behind them. As the door slammed shut, Setijin's rucksack shuffled, blue sparks
shimmering out of it. Medicham materialized, excitedly admiring his surroundings.
" Meeeedicham," he grinned satisfactorily. He hopped back onto the bed behind him,
swiping the Television remote control from the bed beside him, leaning back against the
royal red paper pasted on the wall behind him.
Setijin waited at a table in the corner of a large café, located on the deck of the ship.
Through the full-length windows, he watched the sea, sitting sideways in his chair, his
arm rested on the back, his second tapping a plastic stand with a number on it on the
table. A waitress approached with a tray of items, gently arranging them on the table.
Setijin shifted around, thanking the waitress before admiring his food: a small toasted
cheese sandwich with garnish scattered around the side of the plate, and a steaming and
frothing cup of coffee, a tiny packet of sugar resting in the saucer.
"Hmm, lunch," he beamed, whipping the sandwich from its plate, taking a hungry bite
out of it. He chewed, reveling in the creamy cheese, his eyes closing in ecstasy. Each bite
brought on more euphoria. Sandwich had never tasted so good.
"Nice sandwich?" Winona ask, Setijin jumping in surprise, his eyes shooting open,
flinging himself backwards, tumbling to the floor with his chair. He kicked the table on
the way down, knocking the mug of coffee onto its side, spilling it over the table. Winona
laughed heartily as Setijin picked himself up, the eyes of the café fixed on him.
"Thank you very much," he snuffed, wiping the contents of his lunch from his stained
shirt, lifting the chair back up, slamming a handful of coins onto the table by his receipt.
Winona embraced her stomach, trying to suppress her laughter as Setijin stormed away.
She staggered, following him, while wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Oh Setijin, lighten up!" she giggled, following him through the glass doors of the café,
leading onto the sunny deck of the ship, Setijin entering a door into the corridor.
"Sure…I will once you stop trying to humiliate me, and once everyone in that café stops
laughing at me," he snapped, still briskly walking onwards, refusing to turn back to look
at Winona.
"Really! It's not as if I deliberately made you jump! It's not my fault you're a…" Setijin
shot around, pushing his face right in front of hers, scowling.
"It's not your fault I'm a?" Winona sniggered, trying to resist, finally giving into her
urges.
"…sissy…" Setijin stormed away once again, Winona falling against a wall in hysterics.
"Setijin, wait!" He reluctantly stopped, still facing forwards, huffing in frustration
waiting for her to speak.
"What?"
"I'm sorry I tricked you, made fun of you and made you fall over like a wimp."
"…"
"And to be fair, you did the same to me. Not quite as extreme, but it still hurt."
"…sorry"
"Thank you. I'm sorry too." Setijin sighed, as if to relieve the anger built up in him. He
turned around, with a sympathetic smile wiped across his face, the warm coffee dripping
from his shirt. The two stepped towards each other, opening their arms, ready to embrace,
before rethinking, stepping apart and shaking hands. "Anyway, I best go back and
change. It was probably better I didn't stay in there too long."
"Why?"
"The coffee wasn't particularly warm." Both chuckled, continuing down the corridor,
side by side.
"What do you mean you wont take my money?" Lucia bellowed, slamming her hands on
the counter, the shop assistant retaining his stiff posture, one arm straight by his side, the
other resting on the keypad of the till.
"Well ma'am, typically, we don't accept chocolate coins as acceptable currency," he
replied.
"Why not? It's money isn't it? What makes it any different from normal money?"
"Typically, normal money doesn't melt in the till."
"So you're not going to let me buy this stuff then?"
"Not unless you can find money that doesn't stick to my fingers, no."
"Fine," she snapped, heaving one of her many shopping bags onto the counter, removing
a handful of clothes from it, forcing them into the shop assistants hands, the people in the
queue behind her grumbling impatiently. "I'd like to get a refund on these please," she
explained.
"Do you have a receipt as proof of purchase?" he asked in return. She removed a small
slip of paper from her pocket, handing it to him.
"There you go!"
"I'm sorry ma'am. This isn't a receipt from our shop: these items are not 'glucose' or
'cocoa beans', and this stores name isn't 'Chocotastic Bar'."
"Oh wait, wrong one," she replied, snatching the wrapper back, removing a second slip of
paper."
"This is the right one?" he asked before looking at it. Lucia nodded. "No chocolate?" She
shook, as he held it up to the light. "Ok, Items 010294, 142200 and…pant…oh wait,
here's the code…" he mumbled to himself, Lucia blushing as the growing crowd behind
chuckled under their breath. "There, all together, that would be $15.99."
"Fifteen dollars!" she exclaimed, shooting forwards, resting on the desk. "I paid at least
forty for that lot!"
"I'm sorry ma'am, but this is taking into consideration that you tried to trick me with
items of a chocolaty nature, the actual chocolate stains on the clothes themselves, and the
tiny little point that this receipt is for the shop over there," he replied, pointing out of the
shop, towards another store on the other side of the center."
"Chocolate stains? Never, oh wait…" she halted, delving into her bag, revealing an
empty net bag, the label suggesting that it used to contain chocolate coins, the foil
wrappers littered at the bottom of the net, melted chocolate dripping from them.
"I'm just taking a wild guess, but I'm guessing you wont accept any more of your
'currency' as repayment," the shop assistant replied snootily, holding up a full bag of
chocolate coins.
"Fine; patronize me all you want. I shall take my business elsewhere," Lucia returned,
gathering her items into her arms and walking away from the desk. As the next customer
reached the desk, Lucia strode back, snatching the bag of chocolate from the shop
assistants hand, leaving once again.
Medicham still lay on the bed, with empty 'toblerone' wrappers, cans of soda, potato chip
wrappers and stained napkins, once of which with a chunk bitten out of it, littered around
him. Licking at the dried chocolate on his lips, he proceeded to flick through channels on
television, which itself hadn't been tuned in, all channels nothing more than static.
Around the rest of the room explored the other pokémon, all released from their
pokéballs thanks to Medicham. The mini bar sat open, its contents spilled on the floor,
Plusle and Minun gnawing through plastic packaging. Staryu laid at the bottom of the
empty bathtub, aligning itself under the slowly dripping tap, wallowing in the steady
supply of water, Pelipper drinking out of the toilet by the side.
The curtain rail had collapsed on one side, Umbreon and Espeon chewing at the curtain
fabric, Oddish and Gulpin squaring up to a small pine air freshener on the table in the
center of the large room. Ninjask seemed transfixed in following his reflection in the
French windows, Natu sleeping snugly on one of the many thick pillows on Winona's
bed, Pidgey trying to make nest in the elaborate, dish like lamp shade hanging from the
fixture on the ceiling. The noise was frantic, all of the pokémon charging around the
room, stopping rigid as the front door clicked, Setijin and Winona waiting on the other
side, trying to fit the key in the lock.
"…So she'll be back soon once they tell her that they wont accept chocolate…
what…has…happened…to…our…room?" Winona slowed, horrified at the state of the
room. Setijin walked past her, dropping the key on the small table next to the door,
looking up, glancing at the room, and without stopping turning straight back around,
grabbing the key and closing the door. The scene remained frozen, the only sound being
the screams from Setijin outside. After a few seconds, the screams died, and Setijin re-
entered, dropping the keys once again, examining the room standing by Winona's side.
"Ok, who's responsible?" Setijin asked, surprisingly calmly. The pokémon
simultaneously pointed towards Medicham, who sat staring straight back at Setijin,
frantically stabbing at the remote control.
"Cham. Cham!" he squealed, Setijin still rigid.
"Winona, could you wait here and return the pokémon while I get some Industrial
strength sticky tape?" he requested, casually leaving the room, easing the door shut
behind him. Winona still stood still in shock, the pokémon remaining still, Pidgey wailing
as the light fitting came crashing down to the floor.