A Dragon's Tail
Tail 3: Richard's Tail - Ignorance
Tail 3-4: The Underground Bazaar
After leaving the hotel, Richard and Rachael got themselves into the northern road of Gamma City. Richard then led Rachael into a small alley next to the hotel and, once again, they headed into the sewer of Gamma City.
Once both of them were in the dark sewer under the Gamma City, Richard opened the Chronicle of Twilight.
"…Flash!" Richard flashed a bright light with the power he drew from the chronicle. This light illuminated the dark sewer a bit, making it much easier for both of them to see around.
"Onii-chan?" Rachael said as Richard closed the Chronicle of Twilight. "Did you just use the move 'Flash'?"
"Half-right." Richard answered. "It is true that I just use the move Flash, but it isn't a move that I use myself."
"What does that mean?" Rachael seemed like she didn't understand Richard's words.
"The move 'Flash' I just used is actually a move I drew from the Chronicle of Twilight." Richard showed the book in his paw to his younger sister. "It's true that I can use only four moves, but with the power of the Chronicle of Twilight, I could use several more moves! Of course, if I don't have the Chronicle of Twilight with myself, I will be able to use only my four moves."
"That sound complicated…" Rachael said.
"Anyway, Rachael…" Richard seemed to remember something. "Rachael, what moves can you use right now?"
"Me?" Rachael said. "At first, I can use only Aromatherapy and Helping Hand, but after forming a pact with Ilia, I can use Dragon Breath and Energy Ball too."
"Aromatherapy?" Richard mumbled and nodded. "I see… I am not the only one who can use the move that my kind couldn't normally learn…"
"What is it, Onii-chan?" Rachael asked.
"…After forming a pact with…Holmer, I gain an ability to use the move Dragon Breath and Thunderbolt…" Richard answered. "But before that, the moves I could use are Helping Hand and…Charge."
"Charge?" Rachael seemed to remember something. "I remember that Charge is a move that only Pokemon that are associated with electric can use…"
"Right." Richard nodded. "A Latios couldn't normally learn the move Charge, just like a Latias couldn't normally learn the move Aromatherapy."
"But why?" Rachael asked. "Why both of us could use a move that our specie couldn't normally learn? Could it be that we were once human?"
"Hm… I don't know about this…" Richard said. "But I don't really care much about this since I'd prefer not to get myself into a battle."
"Me too, Onii-chan!" Rachael said.
With the light that illuminated from the Chronicle of Twilight, Richard and Rachael continued moving around the dark sewer. During this, Richard always told Rachael to stay close to him, not only to prevent her from getting lost, but also to prevent her from running into trouble.
"Is this place that dangerous?" Rachael asked while they were moving around the dark sewer.
"Right." Richard nodded. "While the Gamma City above is a civilized city full with technologies, the sewer below is a den of outlaws and wanted criminals. Moreover, this is also a place where many illegal actions took place such as illegal trading."
"Wah!" Rachael quickly got close to her brother, but then, Richard quickly covered her mouth.
"Shh…" Richard told her sister to hush.
"Aut ap ens? (What happens?!)" Rachael tried to ask her brother, but she couldn't speak clearly as her mouth was covered by Richard's paw.
'Rachael, be quiet…' Ilia spoke to Rachael through her mind. "There is someone around this corner."
Richard and Rachael quickly hid behind a corner as they sensed that there's someone talking at the next corner. They then tried to hear the conversation of the Pokemon at the corner.
"You lizard-with-no-brain! Look at what you have done! All of this was your doing!"
"Say that again, you fxxxxxg shark! Don't your ash-filled brain forget that you were the one who bought the wrong tickets!"
"Oh, that's it?! At least I only bought the tickets for the show instead of buying the tickets for a ship to Fireview. But you! Instead of buying a ticket to Fireview, you bought a ticket to Civilight instead!"
"Nah… Is that a big deal?!"
"Of course it is! Instead of wasting only a few days for the journey to Fireview, we have already wasted a month and we still aren't at Fireview yet, you stupid lizard!"
"Say that to me, you fxxxxxg shark!"
"You want some from me!"
"Of course! Come here so I can knock your fxxxxxg face, you axxxxxe!"
"GARRRRRRR!"
"CHARRRRRRRR!"
The conversation ended here, followed by a sound of skirmish. It seemed like two Pokemon there were arguing about something before they got into a fight…
"Idiots…" Richard mumbled. "Rachael, be quiet and let's go."
Rachael nodded, and then Richard and she quietly got away from that spot, from two Pokemon who were still arguing and fighting with each other. The sound of their arguing and their fighting still echoed through the sewer as Richard and Rachael got away from there.
"TAKE THIS, YOU STUBBORN LIZARD!"
"AH! MY TAIL! YOU FXXXXXG SHARK!"
-A few minutes later…
"Oh! We are finally here…" Richard mumbled as Rachael and he had arrived at a quite crowded place with several shops, but everyone in this place, who was looking at the goods in the shop, was all grimy and suspicious.
"This is the Underground Bazaar." Richard explained. "No matter what kind of illegal activities, be an illegal trading, an illegal gambling or an illegal battle, you can find all of them right here."
"T…This place seemed so scary…" Rachael got very close to Richard and held his arm tightly.
"Right. This place is very dangerous." Richard mumbled. "Normally, I don't want to come here and don't want you to come here, but I need something that can be found here in order to unlock the potential of the Chronicle of Twilight, and I promise to you that I will never leave you again, so, Rachael, stay close to me."
Richard then moved slowly into the Underground Bazaar, with Rachael tightly clung to his arm. They then walked pass several shops. There was a shop that sold some sort of gray powder, which Richard explained that it was a dangerous drug called 'Gray Reaper'. The second shop had a sign that told that it sold the 'Universal Medicine'.
"Universal Medicine?" Rachael mumbled.
"Do not be fooled by that nonsense…" Richard warned. "There's no such a sort of universal medicine that can cure anything in this world as each kind of germ that infects you will give you different symptom, thus need a different kind of curing method, such as we must use the antibiotic to cure the bacteria. And because there are so many kinds of bacteria, several kinds of antibiotic are required. Of course, if you use the antibiotic too much, you may end up—"
"Yawn…" Rachael released a small yawn while listening to Richard's long explanation.
"…Oh, I am sorry." Richard mumbled before they continued moving around the Underground Bazaar in order to find the things they want.
And finally…
Richard stopped in front of a shop that several several kinds of goods, not just one kind like the shops that they had just passed. There were some Pokemon in this shop looking for the goods they wanted, and…
"Welcome to my junk shop." A Kecleon, who was the owner of this shop, greeted Richard and Rachael as they entered the shop. "How may I help you today?"
"You can help me by staying away from us until we can choose the things we want." Richard answered and turned his attention to his younger sister. Richard then opened the Chronicle of Twilight and showed Rachael a page. "Rachael, these are the things we must find."
"Understood." Rachael nodded, and then both of them started finding the things they wanted.
-Several minutes later…
Richard and Rachel moved back to the entrance of the shop, where a Kecleon who was the owner of this junk shop was.
"…And please… Feel free to look for my merchandise…" Kecleon was just finished greeting another customer, who was a tall Pokemon that wore a khaki jacket and a cowboy hat, but neither Rachael nor Richard could see what kind of Pokemon he was as he wore a black cloak to cover his body too.
"…" The Pokemon in a khaki jacket said nothing and walked into the shop, and then the Kecleon turned his attention to Richard and Rachael.
"Ah… Sorry to keep you waiting…" Kecleon said.
"…Here. These are the things we want." Richard handed over a bag that contained something to the Kecleon. "How much these things are?"
"Hm…" Kecleon looked at the things in the bag before continued speaking. "That would be 1,500 PokeCoin."
"What?!" Rachael spoke up. "Why are they so expensive?!"
"Because my merchandise are all top-graded." Kecleon answered proudly. "High-quality goods are more expensive than the low-quality ones, right?"
"Onii-chan…" Rachael mumbled and looked at her brother. However, Richard still didn't hand over a bag of PokeCoin to the Kecleon. Instead, he just opened the Chronicle of Twilight and…
"Hm… Ah!" It seemed like Richard was able to find something. "Rachael, I found that, instead of using those goods, we can also use the other goods too! And the other goods we could use are easy-to-find and cheap too!"
"Really!?" Rachael said.
"Right." Richard nodded. "Let's go, Rachael."
Richard and Rachael then were about to leave the junk shop when the Kecleon suddenly called them back.
"W…Wait!" Kecleon said. "I…I have a special discount for you!"
"Special discount?" Rachael said.
"R…Right…" Kecleon said. "Y…You two can have these goods for only 1,000 PokeCoin!"
"1,000 PokeCoin?" Richard mumbled. "But the substitute goods' price are about 110 PokeCoin… So…"
"W…Wait!" Kecleon said. "Y…You can have them for only 100 PokeCoin!"
"100 PokeCoin?" Richard moved back to the Kecleon. "…Deal."
Richard then handed over a bag of PokeCoin to the Kecleon and received a bag of their goods from him too.
"T…Thank you for your patronage." Kecleon said. "Please come again."
After finishing the deal with Richard, the Kecleon turned his attention to another customer, who was a Pokemon in a khaki jacket who entered the shop a few minutes ago, and Richard and Rachael left the junk shop.
"Onii-chan…" Rachael mumbled. "You are still the very same Onii-chan I know… Your skill of bargaining is still top-ranked."
"…No." Richard mumbled. "That Kecleon tried to cheat on us by selling us his goods at a higher price."
"Really?!" Rachael said.
"Right." Richard nodded. "You see… A junk shop is a shop that sells junk, so the things we bought are actually the things that no one else wants. With this, the price of them should be low… But 1,500 PokeCoin is too expensive, so I pretend that I didn't want to buy it anymore, and…"
"I understand now…" Rachael said. "If that Kecleon couldn't sell these goods to us, neither he could sell it to anyone else. With this, he had to do anything in order to sell those goods, even lower the price of them from 1,500 PokeCoin to 100 PokeCoin. Also… The substitute goods you mentioned that they are cheaper and easier to find… That was a lie, right?"
"Couldn't help it…" Richard said. "Actually, the true price of those goods should be around 300 PokeCoin. If he had offered the true price from the beginning, I would surely buy them with no complaints… But since he tried to cheat on us…"
"He had to lose 200 PokeCoin he could earn." Rachael concluded. "And we could save 200 PokeCoin too! Onii-chan! You are truly the master of bargaining!"
"Right… Right…" Richard mumbled.
"And… What should we do next?" Rachael asked.
"…Because the next part required a work of crafting, the next thing that we must do is finding someone who has a good skill of craftsmanship." Richard answered.
"Good skill of craftsmanship?" Rachael said. "Like a carver or a blacksmith?"
"Right." Richard nodded. "Now, let's go and—"
"Hm?" Before Richard could finish his words, Rachael spoke up and pointed her paw at a place that looked like a battle ring or a small arena. "What is that place?"
"!" Richard became shocked as he realized what that place is. "Rachael, stay away from that place. That place is the most dangerous spot in this Underground Bazaar."
"Why?" Rachael asked.
"…That's the Underground Arena." Richard answered. "Normally, an arena is a place where the warriors from around the world come to show their strength in a battle. However, for this place…"
"What's wrong?" Rachael asked.
"…Some fighters in this arena are the slaves who were enslaved by a group of mafia…"
"What?!" Rachael was shocked when she heard that from her Onii-chan.
"Right." Richard nodded. "Other than that, the Underground Arena's battle is a battle to the death. So… If someone was sent into the arena, they must fight until either they or their opponent die…"
"T…That's horrible!" Rachael cried.
"…I have gone to that place once, and I promised to myself that I will never go to that place again…" Richard mumbled.
"B…But…" Rachael commented. "How could some horrible place like that arena exist within this city?! Shouldn't the government do something about it?!"
"The government of Civilight is useless. They won't do anything that they won't benefit from it." Richard said. "Well, at least the arena of the Republic of Civilight is illegal, so it only exists under the surface of the city, but for Fireview…"
"Fireview?" Rachael said. "Did you mean the Fireview Kingdom? What's wrong?"
"…For Fireview Kingdom, an arena like this is…legal." Richard said, making Rachael shocked.
"How could that be?!" Rachael cried.
"I don't know much about the Fireview Kingdom…" Richard said. "But I know that the arena like this one is legal in the Fireview Kingdom, even the king of Fireview Kingdom also approves this. Still, I don't understand why—Oops!"
Richard's words were cut off when someone bumped into him, making him fall down onto the ground!
"Ouch!" Richard mumbled while trying to fly up again.
"Hey! What are y—EAH!" Rachael was about to scold the Pokemon who bumped into her brother, but her words were cut off by her scream as she saw that the Pokemon who had just bumped into her brother was blood-soaked! However, neither Richard nor Rachael could see his face clearly as he wore a dragonhead-shaped helmet to cover his face. Other than that, he also wore a flaming red armor suit, which was now soaked with the red liquid called blood. His wings were the only part that wasn't covered in an armor, and because of his wings, Richard could tell that this Pokemon was a Charizard.
"…" The Charizard glanced at Richard for a bit and growled at him before walking away from the Latios and Latias.
"Whew…" Rachael said as the Charizard was walking away from them. "That Charizard is so mean and scary! And… Onii-chan, are you alright?"
Richard answered his sister's question by nodding a bit. However, his attention was at the Charizard who bumped into him. Right now, that Charizard was at the exit of the Underground Bazaar.
"Onii-chan?" Rachael looked at Richard, and then looked at the Charizard, who was exiting the Underground Bazaar and headed back to the sewer. "Onii-chan, what's wrong with that Charizard?"
"…Let's follow him." Richard said.
"W…WHAT?!" Rachael was shocked. "W…Why would you do something like that?! That guy is scary!"
"…I am just curious about that Charizard…" Richard said and moved up to the exit of the Underground Bazaar.
"W…Wait!" Rachael said and followed her brother.
Richard and Rachael silently followed the Charizard in a bloody armor along the dark path of the sewer. This time, Richard didn't summon a ball of light from his Chronicle as it may make the Charizard notice them.
"!"
Richard and Rachael quickly hid behind the shadow as the Charizard stopped walking in front of another Pokemon, but neither Rachael nor Richard could tell what kind of Pokemon he was as it was too dark to see.
"How was your match at the arena?" Another Pokemon asked. "But since you are still alive, the victory was yours, right?"
"Never forget that I was a gladiator at the Brawl Arena." Charizard said. "What about you? Have you found the ores I want?"
"No." Another Pokemon answered.
"I see…" Charizard shook his head. "Your ash-filled brain couldn't remember what do they look like…"
"No." Another Pokemon said. "Someone bought it just before I could."
"…Someone?" Charizard said. "Those ores are useless in the eyes of most Pokemon… So, how could someone decide to buy it, and just right before you?"
"Dunno." Another Pokemon said. "It was a Latios and a Latias that bought those ores."
'A Latios and a Latias?!' Rachael and Richard were shocked as they heard that from other Pokemon, as the only Latios and Latias around here wear them.
"A Latios and a Latias?" Charizard said. "Oh, they must be the one that were talking about the Brawl Arena of Fireview."
"…That's the place where you came from, right?" Another Pokemon asked.
"Right." Charizard nodded.
"Hm…" Another Pokemon moved closer to the Charizard. At this distance, Rachael and Richard could see that that Pokemon was actually a Garchomp who wore a khaki jacket and a cowboy hat!
'T…That Garchomp…' Richard realized that the Garchomp who was with the Charizard was actually the Pokemon they met at the junk shop.
"Well… Despite I couldn't find those ores for you, at least I got some more bullets." A Garchomp said.
"…Buying the bullets from a junk shop…" Charizard mumbled. "…Are you sure that those bullets will do just fine?"
"Don't worry about it." Garchomp said. "I have already tested it with the head of the shop owner, and it did a good job!"
'What?!' Rachael thought. 'W…What does that mean?'
"…You shot the shop owner at their head?" Charizard crossed his arms.
"Well… He told me that the price of these bullets is high because they are high-quality, so I need to test them a bit, and they turned out to be as good as he claimed. However, after that, he refused to receive the PokeCoin I tried to pay him. Well… Actually, he didn't even move a bit after I tested those bullets with his head. So, I got these bullets for free." Garchomp said.
"…So, you killed the shop owner, right?" Charizard said. "That's just like you, the prisoner who escaped from the Desert Prison two months ago…"
"Same to you, the escaped gladiator from the Brawl Arena." Garchomp said.
"What?!" Rachael mumbled softly. "T…That Garchomp is a psychopathic criminal who escaped from Desert Prison?!"
"Rachael, did you know something about that guy?" Richard asked.
"R…Right…" Rachael said. "I heard from the merchants that there is a psychopathic prisoner who escaped from Desert Prison. And according to the rumor, they said that this prisoner had already gone to Fireview Kingdom already… But why is he here?"
"…Before we entered the Underground Bazaar, we heard two Pokemon arguing about something that brought them to Civilight instead bringing them to Fireview." Richard mumbled. "And those voices… I think those two Pokemon who were arguing with each other are… these Garchomp and Charizard."
"T…That's scary!" Rachael said. "Did you hear what they say? That Charizard had just entered a battle in the arena, and that Garchomp had just killed the owner of the junk shop! Onii-chan, let's get out of here…"
"…" In the truth, Richard really wanted to eavesdrop to the Charizard and the Garchomp a bit more as he was curious about them, but he knew that it may lead Rachael and him to a great danger… "…Alright, let's get out of here."
Richard and Rachael were about to move away from the Charizard and the Garchomp silently when they heard another conversation from them.
"But… Are you really sure that those bullets will truly work just fine?" Charizard asked.
"Hm… Now that you say something like that…" Garchomp said. "What about you? Did you truly enjoy the battle at that arena?"
"No." Charizard answered. "I think I really want some more bloodshed."
"True. Then let's have another battle to test my bullets and calm your need for battle." Garchomp said. "You there, both of you have ten seconds to show yourself before we shoot your head and impale your body, Latios and Latias."
To Be Continued…
Dragon of Vale: Sorry for lack of update. Here's another chapter for you.
And… Look who we have here… Surprise, isn't it?
A special thanks to Ridin Valon for helping me with the error correction.