The downtown open-air market took up almost half a mile's worth of space in the central district of Paradicio. The Riolu was parked on a bench almost in the very middle of it, slowly munching on a berry he managed to buy through dropped change he had picked up.

"Goddammit," he mumbled to himself, trying his best not to sigh out loud. Tetris put a paw to his face to rub out the anxiety writ all over it. "How the hell is this city so employed? I thought this was supposed to be a land of opportunity. All I see are closed doors and open doors slamming shut right in front of me. Why is this so hard?"

He looked up and cast his gaze down the boulevard. Banners and barkers stood at every stand and tent that he could see, trying to pull revenue their way. The wide variety of trinkets, foods, and fancy tools being peddled was something he marveled at, at first. Of course, the distraction of the wares and colorful advertisements- and not having a map on hand- got him turned around and lost more often than was acceptable. The only landmark he had to work with was the large plaza he currently sat in, and even that was crowded with more stalls and shops.

After splitting off from the Chancell's residence and leaving Kievr to trail Xavier elsewhere, Tetris had gone southeast to the business district in search of work. Certainly in this place of trade and wonder, it would be reasonable to assume that there was plenty of work available.

The problem was that most everyone in the marketplace ran things themselves. There were guilds and labor organizations, of course, but those were for the people who already established their businesses. The general answer he received when inquiring about work was that nobody was hiring at this time; if he was so desperate, then he should apply through one of the labor agencies. Tetris did not have the time to deal with bureaucracy again.

So he turned to the brick and mortar stores. But without any related experience, some potential employers outright rejected his application. He wasn't cut out for skilled service work, so what did that leave him with?

"Only place I can think of now is the shady side of the market," Tetris thought aloud. "Maybe… no, no. I can't. Getting into hot water with Kievr is bad enough. Not to mention the whole reason I bailed in the first place…"

The Riolu took a breath and stood up. There were still the docks down south, sitting right on the ocean's edge in the shade of a small cliff. Plenty of sailors coming and going there, which likely meant cargo to be carried around. Would it run him ragged? Absolutely. But right now it was either that or stay homeless.

His journey down the south-bound street wound up being much shorter than he expected. Tetris traveled perhaps two blocks when he felt someone yank on his arm, dragging him out of the crowd.

His face flashed with panic, and he fought the pull, though failed to shake the hand that was on him. He turned, ready to fight; Tetris didn't recognize the Gengar who held his arm, and that made him all the more afraid. Who is this guy? Why did he pick me out of the crowd? Oh god, is he-

"You. Got a question for ya," the Gengar said. His voice was a rough growl that ambled around in tone. His eyes gave away nothing about what was to come next. "How fast can ya run?"

Tetris blinked and froze in place. He didn't respond.

"I said how fast can ya run?" the ghost repeated. "Don't just stare at me."

Tetris forced himself to breathe. "I-I can run. Fast, yeah, I can run fast," he sputtered back.

"Good."

The Gengar stuffed a large sack into Tetris's paws. The Riolu almost crumpled under the shock of it and the extra weight he held.

"Take this, get it down to bay seven in ten minutes, and I'll give you 30 chips for it. Got it?"

Tetris had no response. He simply looked down at the sack now in his possession, then up at the Gengar.

"Look, I know it's sudden," the Gengar sighed, "but the runner I had lined up for this shipment bailed five minutes ago, and it's overdue. You'll get his pay if you can get it there now."

"I-I don't know how to get there," Tetris said in his defense. "Why-"

"Southeast end of the docks, far side of the beaches. Just go, will ya?" the ghost spat. He entirely ignored the rest of what Tetris would have said and turned around, disappearing into a storefront labeled "Wilson's Treasure Trove."

The Riolu once again looked at the sack. He could feel things clinking around inside as he shifted the weight. What was in here that was important to ship out on such a time crunch? And the pay seemed pretty high for just a simple task…

Maybe it was better if he didn't question what his brand new job was about.

Tetris hauled the sack over his shoulder and broke into a run down the street. The crowd was still plenty thick, but his days running around as an errand boy gave the Riolu a lot of practice with getting into tight spaces. Through the cracks of the people-tide he danced, down, around, and on one occasion over. As he drew closer to the docks, the air cleared, and Tetris took the space to hit full throttle.

The salty spray of the ocean washed up the cliffside that overlooked the west end of the docks. If it wasn't for the full sprint he was in, Tetris would have enjoyed the scenery, familiar but still novel. For now he kept his eyes up to look for signage to direct him to his destination, and to get around the wild cargo the sailors shuffled around the boardwalk.

Then he could see it. Bay seven, at the far end, right in front of a massive ship that towered over the others beside it. There wasn't much activity on the ship, if any, but there was a Grovyle hanging around the gangplank looking very pissed.

Must be the quartermaster, Tetris thought. If he's been waiting this long, why does this ship look like it's not going anywhere soon?

Tetris spun on a dime to make the right-hand turn, and halfway tossed the sack at the Grovyle's feet. "Special delivery," he announced, trying to smile.

The Grovyle narrowed their eyes at Tetris. "Yeah? This better be what I think it is," they barked back. They leaned down and carefully untied the rope keeping the sack closed, then peered inside. A loud, obnoxious sigh followed.

"Thank the fucking Allfather," the grass-type spat. "For once, Wilson comes up big."

Wilson. That must be the Gengar I met, Tetris noted.

The Grovyle hauled the sack up into their arms. "About time, too. Any later and I wouldn't have time to properly stow this away. You're damn lucky, kid, but next time you better be on time to the second."

"Look, sir," Tetris said in as polite of a voice as he could muster, "I'm just the emergency messenger. I didn't have to make this run until about eight minutes ago."

The quartermaster scowled. "Oh for fuck's sake. Tell me you weren't followed."

Tetris vaguely gestured behind him to open air.

"Goddammit, kid," the Grovyle hissed, getting into the Riolu's face, "if this shipment gets nabbed because you didn't think to look behind you for Averius agents, I am going to kill you twice over."

Tetris froze. His eyes grew wide and he almost instinctively cowered. He felt his heart stop beating and turn into the heaviest stone in his chest. He had to have misheard. Averius? Impossible. But he didn't ask for clarification.

The Grovyle turned around and moved for the gangplank. "Just get the hell outta here, and tell Wilson to find someone more careful to make his runs next time."

Tetris didn't even try to give sass and hightailed it out of the bay.

—

The metal coins clinked against the glass countertop, hovering just over the expensive jewelry kept inside the display.

The Gengar made a quick recount of the pile, then pushed it forward to Tetris. "Here. 30 chips like I said."

Tetris gave Wilson a quick nod and scooped the credits into the small pouch attached to his hip. "Thanks. Ended up being easier than I thought."

"Hell, even I'm impressed," said the ghost. He rolled forward in his chair and leaned onto the display. "You made better time than I expected from a random kid."

The inside of the jewelry store glittered as the afternoon sun shone through the windows and struck the metals and gemstones at an angle. The front of the store became a spectacle of color and shine, while the back, where the two Pokemon sat, had its gleam more evenly spread. It was certainly worthy of being called a treasure trove.

Wilson smiled at the young man who had saved his hide 15 minutes ago. The kid got stuff done, and that wasn't something he saw very often these days. His last runner lacked that kind of commitment and drive. They knew what they were getting into however, so it's really their fault anyway.

"You ever done this kind of thing before?" he asked.

Tetris scratched his head and replied, "Maybe twice before today. In both those cases it was kind of an emergency."

Wilson chuckled. "Consider the business you took care of for me an emergency as well. Seriously, if that deal had fallen apart, I could've lost just about everything I got."

He pulled a paper card out and handed it to the Riolu. "If you're in the mood for more running, just drop on by and I'll probably have something for you to haul."

Tetris looked at it for a moment, then up at Wilson. "This seems kind of shady. Why not just hire a regular porter?"

The Gengar rolled his eyes. "Kid, you are the porter. It's not like there's a guild in town that lets you borrow people to carry things around. If legitimacy is your issue, you're better off working for the post office."

"No- no, sorry, it's fine," said the fighting-type. "I'm just trying to avoid getting stuck in a new hole because of… less-than-legal stuff."

To which Wilson shrugged. It wasn't an unreasonable want, but in this city you had to take what you could get. He hoped the kid would understand that, too.

"Well, thanks for the cash. I'll see you again, hopefully." Tetris nodded as he stepped towards the door. Wilson nodded in return, and turned to the work on the bench behind him.

Then Tetris stopped in the doorway to the outside. "Odd question," he started, "but do you know anything about an Averius family?"

It was Wilson's turn to freeze up. He looked at the young dog with a stare that asked why.

"I uh, I heard it from our guy down at the docks. Got pretty pissy about making sure I wasn't followed by one of them," Tetris stated.

The old jeweler sighed. Figures that someone would eventually ask. "They're not good people, if that's what you're asking," Wilson replied. "They've been pushing into Paradicio and stepping on everyone's toes. Dunno why they would dare try and tread directly on Rosario territory, but at least their leader hasn't been dumb enough to show up himself.

"Look, just keep your head down and stay out of sight of them. You do not want to get tangled up with them." Wilson tried to put emphasis on how bad of an idea it was, adding, "And don't ever go asking about them again. You don't know who might be in their pockets."

Tetris slowly nodded. "Right. I just thought… have a good day, sir." And then he left.

The Gengar put a hand to his face and sighed. Out of all the people the new hire could have asked about, they had to pick the most dangerous. He prayed that the kid would heed the advice.