231. beset: to attack from all sides; to trouble persistently

The grief that had beset Green earlier had evaporated, and for the rest of the day he was in a state of elation, and happily browsed through the department store looking for TM's for Arabella and Bonita and the rest back at the gym.

He left the department store after having a hard time choosing between ice beam and thunderbolt. He briefly pondered the condition of his bank account before shrugging and wandering back to the familiar streets downtown.

232. smolder: to burn without a flame and with little smoke; to exist in a barely suppressed state (as with anger or tension)

Green went back to have dinner at the same restaurant he'd gone to for lunch. Luckily, most of the waitresses or workers had switched shifts and did not recognize him. He'd initially had a smoldering feeling of resentment and unease, but cleared his mind of negative thoughts and ordered the strangest things on the menu. It'd be a funny experience and a nice way to leave the restaurant and Celadon on a good note. He was a little wary of ordering strange seafood though, he avoided the menu's page things without Arceus knows what kind of octillery or mantine or sharpedo.

The cheese nuggets were weird. It was kind of like eating meat, but it wasn't meat, yet it was so like meat it was a little mind-blowing. Green didn't really like cheese all that much, but it was strangely tolerable. What was really really good was the deep fried ice-cream. It was the oddest contradiction of warm and crunchy and cool and smooth.

233. vigilant: alert and watchful, especially for what is dangerous

Green browsed the streets looking for his hotel. Leaf's handwriting had been badly messed up after the itinerary had been soaked with water that morning, so he had to be especially vigilant for any building with a name that could resemble Calaolou llolal.

234. usury: excessive charging of interest

The TV in his 6th floor room at the enormous Celadon Hotel (close enough to Calaolou llolal) actually had decent service, and Green was currently watching a comedic show with some kid Pearl and his friend Diamond, and in his opinion their act was more a display of Pearl's usury and and Diamond's love of food. Pearl seemed to be putting down Diamond pretty harshly, and Green felt his stomach turn a little as the scene reminded him of times he'd essentially bullied Red. Well, maybe it wasn't that bad and Diamond and Pearl where actually together or something. He got bored pretty fast and switched the channel to the only other free channel the TV system offered, which was another rerun of a particularly hot episode of Debonair Dragonair. Arceus, what were kids watching these days?

235. intricate: elaborately detailed

Green had to say he was guilty of not turning off the TV after getting to the cartoon. The plot was actually fairly intricate with decent mysteries, but the story line included a bit too much intense, loving stares and suggestive body intertwining. Green got up to shower when the pink and blue dragonair began to do their make out thing yet again in a cave in the middle of nowhere.

When he came back, the scene had suddenly switched to an intense battle between Debonair Dragonair (the blue one, the main character) and a jealous dragonite. The battle seemed awfully familiar, and even the camera angles seemed to have been taken from a live action video or something. Green recalled the famous battle between Karen and Lance, googled the video and found the reference video the animators probably had copied. He pumped his fist in satisfaction(?) and watched the cartoon version unfold, remembering how Karen's dragonair had actually taken out one of Lance's dragonites.

236. shuffle: to walk while scraping or sliding the feet

Green shuffled to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash up for the night, when he recalled the salty and pungent state of his pajamas. He resigned to hand-washing his clothes in the sink and trying to blow dry them. The blow-dryer didn't really do much except make the clothes warm, and Green furrowed his eyebrows in frustration. Well, he could sleep in his boxers but he was paranoid about sleeping in hotel beds without clothes; who knows what kind of diseased people did stuff on the bed.

237. raucous: loud and harsh

Green sucked up his pride and lay down on the bed after a while, trying not to think about how many people might have made out on it.

Sleep was well on its way to carrying him off into dreamland when Leaf called him. He really ought to have expected that, but the raucous noise made him leap up. He'd put his phone under his pillow, and the vibration and loud jangles had severely startled him.

238. prostrate: lying face down, especially as a sign of humility or worship; physically or emotionally exhausted

He rolled over to lie prostrate on the bed with the phone pressed against his ear.

"Sooo... how was Celadon?"

"Good." His voice, muffled by the pillow, sounded more like just "Guuu."

"Haha, did I wake you up again? Why do you sleep so early anyways, it's only 10."

Green rolled onto his back. "...just tired."

239. recluse: one who hides from the world

"Is the social life to intense for the great researching recluse?"

"I don't even do big research projects anymore with the job at the gym."

"Whatever, you probably don't hang out with anybody besides your gym trainers anyway."

"And you would know because?"

"Dude, I've become like bff's with Salma and Ada, of course'd I'd know what you've been doing."

"Why are you and everybody I meet so creepy? Privacy? No?"

240. meander: to follow a winding course; to wander without any fixed destination

The conversation meandered between scolding and insults and laughing, and at last Leaf decided to conclude her call.

"Hey Green... I know Celadon is a kind of huge nostalgic kick in the butt for you, but I'm glad that you're doing ok."

"Yeah. I called Red."

"He picked up?"

"Yup, I have no clue what he's doing in wifi signal though, mind employing your creeper powers to find out?"

"I'll take that as a compliment this time. Yeah, but that's kinda weird, where is he?"

"Indigo Plateau, I think. I'm pretty sure actually."

"Ok, good night for now, I might call you at 2 AM to tell you if I find anything. Or just to piss you off."

"..."

"Bye!" The line went dead.