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"So that's what happened last night." I say while I'm presenting the contents of the note to Marble. Despite thinking just the night before that I'd deal with this some other day, I'm here telling Marble about it.
"Wait so… Glass CAME UP to you, IN public- IN view of everyone, and handed you an INVITATION?" I nod and Marble slips the paper out of my hands to look more closely at it.
"His real name is Frit, apparently. He told me at the juice bar last night during the festival. It was before I woke you up to hang out for the rest of the day."
"Why would he…" Marble mumbles. "Why would he want us to meet him?"
"He said it's because we beat up some of his high ranking members. That Breloom and that Ribombee we fought, right?"
"Oh yeah… I do remember them bragging. We should go and meet him there." Marble starts packing up some stuff in his bag, like Oran Berries, a map and money.
"What!? Marble, are you crazy? We can't just go there, we need a plan! For all we know this guy has members in his crew that'd absolutely destroy us!"
"No! No, I'm not crazy, think of it like this- My plan- We go there and convince him that we're in for this deal. If we can do that, we can pull off a sneak attack and take him out- Or better yet, we can convince him to lead us to where his hideout is. If he has high ranking members it's likely it's a gang with some secure place to stay."
He's totally right. And there's a good chance most people in there don't know Glass's actual name. It's so weird that he trusted us with it especially after we beat up his goons. I wonder how hard they got demoted.
Marble heads for the door again and I sigh knowing that he's probably not gonna change his mind, I follow him out and we enter Corviknights gate. Corviknight eyes us as we head for the exit without even acknowledging his presence.
"Where on earth are you two headed? The day has barely started!"
"We're headed out for a job on the job board!" Marble pipes up. I can't believe he's just lying like that, no sign of guilt on his face. Though I can't fault him for it. As far as I can tell Corviknight is Marble's caretaker so Marble wouldn't want him to worry because we're going out to do a shady meetup.
"Where to?" Upon Corviknight asking that, now I can see a tinge of guilt on his face.
"Right, we're headed to… Walker, where were we headed again?"
"To Gemdown City I'm pretty sure. Gem Crunch Café." I say. Corviknight nods. He waves us off.
"Right, take care, stay out of trouble."
I turn the door knob and we cross the bridge. As we walk through the forest there's an eerie silence. There's not a single bit of wind and seemingly no Pokémon around to chirp and make their cries. Feels like there's a giant barrier stopping words from coming out of my mouth, but eventually I speak up. How's even the best way to ask this?
"So, why does Frit hate you?"
"You mean Glass?"
"Yeah, Glass. The Noivern dude."
Marble ponders. It takes him a bit to respond.
"I'm not sure. Maybe it's because I'd always take on low level job requests from the board in town, small crimes or just lost and found stuff. Maybe I got in the way of his stuff too many times. And I mean- What a freaking loser! So I messed up your operations a few times unwittingly! That's no excuse to come find out where I live to start messing with me! If I was anyone other than Marble I would've backed down then and stopped doing job requests on the board solo but I kept going. And now we know each other somewhat."
…
"Ironically, I don't hate him. I mean, there's reasons bad people do bad things. I just…"
"You're… Sure you don't hate him?"
"Ugh, ok yeah I lied, I DO hate him. Finds out where I live, bypassing Corviknight entirely and threatens me to stop messing with his stuff or else." Man, this Frit guy is a total jerk. I already thought he was bad but still.
"Sorry that really, really sucks." I kick myself for not being able to come up with anything better to show empathy. "Well, after we beat him up, he won't bother us again." Marble smiles at that.
"Heh, yeah! You're right!" Marble's smile turns into a full grin, sharp teeth and all. Swinging from one mood and not dwelling on it. "Walker and Marble, world renowned duo! World savers, starting with the lowest of criminals and working our way up to beating up gang leaders! What's more to come, saving the world? Something more interesting than just saving the world? Stay tuned for more!" We ended up laughing together for a bit at that. Maybe we would actually end up doing stuff like that. Assuming we don't get crushed going into what we're doing now.
"Oh shoot! Hey, we're here! Look!" Marble stops for a second to lift a paw pointing up. I look to where he's pointing and there's a giant mountain.
"Firepeak mountain!"
The peak is burning so the name makes sense. Burning like a torch despite it just being made of rock with the occasional flame floating down from it resulting in the many charred trees you see along the mountain. It doesn't really make much sense why the fire is there, which makes it all the more cooler. But this means we're close to Gemdown City apparently which means we have to deal with Frit at some point. I don't really look forward to it, not the most confident.
"This place is really cool. How is the peak of the mountain constantly burning?"
"No one's really sure- No one's reached the peak before. My theory is that Moltres or something like that lives up there." We start climbing up a spiral path around the mountain. Marble says the entrance to the city is near the top. As we ascend up, we reach a large flat area with charred wood lying about and there's a cave leading into the mountain which I assume to be the entrance to Gemdown City. Going in there's a long rope headed down and I can see a light at the bottom of the hole. Is this whole city underground? More importantly, how is Marble gonna get down there?
Oh right, Marble can transform. Marble simply drifts down as a Shuppet. I grab onto the rope and start to inch my way down, Marble slows down when he realizes I can't descend as fast as him. Soon enough we reach a large open cavern. Buildings littered about in the large cave with roads connecting them and buildings carved into the walls of the cave fortified with wood and pillars made of stone blocks kept together by wooden beams roped around them. Torches light up everywhere. Ironically there's no gems that are really present anywhere here, but I do notice there's a huge mining operation going on. Pokémon are wheelbarrowing in coal into the city along with other minerals.
It's super weird seeing a bustling city working underground and I get to see a top down view of the whole place as I climb down. I'm almost afraid of falling down and seriously getting hurt but it looks like the city has made preparations for that kinda stuff because below me are a few Cottonee organizing fluffy cotton into a cushion for anyone who would fall. There's a light smog in the area and I think that's due to the use of coal, the farther I get down the rope though the less present it becomes. I reach the bottom and Marble is STILL a Shuppet.
"Hey, let's go find an inn for the night? Get a lay of the land around here? Go straight to where we need to go eventually?" I ask Marble.
"A private place, first. Can't see others using my power." I catch a Cottonee giving Marble a weird look after he says that. We leave and as we're passing through the city we find Gemcrunch Cafe. I take a mental note of where it is for later. Marble walks into an alleyway just nearby and I wait for him to come out as a Zorua. I wave to him and he gives a toothy grin. I start walking along the street but Marble stops me.
"Hey! The Cafe's right there! How the heck did we miss it?" Well, he missed it.
"I was gonna look around the city more before going in. You know? To find an inn, get a lay of the land?"
"Oh don't be such a coward! We aren't fighting him and everything else right now. We're just meeting up with him to make him think we took the deal." I end up agreeing with him and I hate it, because I want to avoid this as much as possible. But now that Marble's dragged me this far I might as well. Maybe I'm too cautious.
"Right. Promise not to say anything stupid?"
"Hey! Mean..."
We walk into Gemcrunch Café. The door makes a chime as we open and close it. Pokémon talk leisurely, mostly rock types eating minerals. Guess that's what the mining operation here is for. Scanning over the area it seems like Frit isn't here yet.
"Do we just wait?"
"Yeah, let's just wait."
We wait for a while. Honestly, it was really uncomfortable. The air was so still and none of the Pokémon talked. We sat at the bar but never asked for drinks and the person serving them never prompted us. The silence was deafening to me and Marble. Marble was spacing out the entire time it felt like. Every time I looked over to him while I was letting my eyes wander he was just staring at the ceiling.
After what feels like forever, the door finally jingles and in comes Frit. Upon seeing us he looks shocked for a moment, then smiles.
"You two actually came! I'm surprised. I thought you two would think you're too good to join the likes of me… Unless you're not actually joining me." I sweat a little.
"Hah! Kidding. I know you two wouldn't be stupid enough to try that." Frit walks up to us and sits in a stool next to me. Marble glares at him. Why do I have to be the one stuck between this?
"So you didn't actually say in the note what you wanted us to do for you. Obviously you want us to work for you now that you know we're pretty strong, but what exactly?"
"Good question- Let's talk that over some drinks. More leisurely that way." Frit waves to the Boldore behind the counter.
"Three Enigma Berry blends please!"
"How would you like it, spicy, sweet, tangy?"
"Hmm. Surprise me." The Boldore sighs, goes in the back and comes out with the Enigma Berry drinks and slides them onto the counter.
"200P each, please." Frit hands the money over. Frit chugs his entire drink before we even get to ours, setting it down on the oak counter with a clink.
"Enigma Berry, always a mysterious flavor hence the name Enigma- Right, where were we, business? Yeah." Marble takes a sip of his drink while I look at Frit up and down, trying to find something to be wary of. He's carrying a small bag over his shoulder and that's it. He has his arms spread apart so he can't conceal anything in his wings.
"So I want you two to work the same job the Pokémon you beat up were doing. I steal the stuff, I stash the stuff, you protect the stuff until it can get hauled off to a better location, repeat. It's that simple, you get me?" Marble and I nod. Frit talking freely means he either has a reputation here or no one here cares.
"But if we do this, you pay us better than you paid them." Marble pipes in. Frit frowns a little, but it goes into a smirk.
"Fine, you'll get paid 500P per stash." Not only does that sound cheap but we got paid more doing the job to take back the stuff. Thank god we're not taking this seriously.
"Hey, that pay sucks! We earned more stealing the stuff back from you so we'd rather do that if you're not gonna pay us well. Hmph!"
"Yeah, Marble's right." I say, I have to go along with Marble. Frit suppresses a chuckle.
"Yeah, you're right. Pretty perceptive. How about I match that pay then, how much did you earn?" Frit smugly claims.
"3000P. That's how much. 6 times what you offered. I see no reason to work for you unless you do at least that." Marble sips his drink. I sip mine as well. I can't describe It's flavor at all, and if I tried it'd be incoherent. It's an alright taste though, I can say that at least.
"Hmph. 2500P will be fine. Deal?"
"Deal."
"Deal." We both say in unison.
"Now then," Frit says, getting up from the stool. "I'll be waiting outside, come when you're done with your drinks." He leaves. Now that he's gone…
"Marble! This is a horrible idea! As soon as we get out of here, we need to start running. Start running and never come back. This dude is just bad news all around. There's not even a bounty on him, unless there is… S-Still!"
"You're right!" Marble says. What? "Even so, this guys a jerk. If we beat him down there's a good chance he'll stop for a while. And yeah, there is no bounty on him. But that doesn't matter, at this point, it's personal!"
I don't think Marble even knows how much he's asking of me right now. In a way I find that kind of charming, he has the vague idea that I don't really know any place here in this world and he's still asking that I try and take down some gang leader with him. Incidentally, we haven't even seen the rest of his gang… Maybe he's one of those people who brags about stuff they don't have. That's the next question I'll ask Frit.
"You know what you're asking of me, right?"
"Yes! Please do this with me, dangit!"
Maybe I just should. I mean- He was the one who got me introduced to everything even if I've only known them for so little time, without him I'd be stranded in the woods for a long while.
"So..?" Marble asks.
"Sure. I owe it to you. Let's get 'em!" Marble cheers. We clink our drinks together that Frit bought and take a quick swig. The drinks are left unfinished and we leave them on the counter as we head for the door. Marble has somewhat of a pep in his step. I push open the door and Frit is just leaning against the wall on the building just across the street. He motions for us to follow him and we do.
"There's a giant network of underground tunnels," Frit claims. "They've been abandoned since the mayor saw no use for them, that or they've already served their use. Abandoned railroads… Is where all manner of people like us hang out."
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