Chapter 2 - The Muddy Buizel (Part II)

"Sparks! Good heavens, it's been at least a week!"

Sparks grinned somewhat wearily at the Kecleon as he approached. "Yeah, it's been a bit. Danika and I have been…Well, let's just say we've been working. Hard."

Toby raised his eyebrows. "Sounds important."

"Mhm… She finally ran out of work to give me and I'm now allowed to walk the outside world once again."

Sparks marched right up to the Kecleon's stall. He reached down into his fanny pack and pulled out a small pile of coins, which he then promptly deposited on the counter.

Toby eyed the coins with confusion. "What's this for?"

Sparks smiled apologetically and said, "I realized like a day after I saw you…that I never paid you for that bag of berries. I was distracted by the fact that I was being robbed."

The Kecleon glanced up as a look of realization appeared on his face. "Oh wow, I didn't even realize that."

"Yup," Sparks said, "It's been bugging me ever since. I would've come down sooner if Danika had loosened my chains."

Toby frowned and said, "But Sparks, you dropped those berries when you ran off. I remember I cleaned them up. You don't need to pay for those, my friend. You didn't get to eat them."

"Oh don't be ridiculous. That's merchandise that you couldn't sell afterwards, so somebody should pay for it. Just take it, Toby."

"Sparks…"

"Hey, you know full well how hard it is to stop an RSGA from helping somebody."

Indecision briefly wracked the Kecleon, but eventually he shrugged and reached for the coins. "Well…Thanks, Sparks. Thanks for being perseverant. I had honestly forgotten."

"Hey, now I can sleep at night," Sparks replied jokingly.

Toby gathered the coins and stored them somewhere behind the stall, and then returned his attention to the visiting Raichu. "So, what happened?" he asked, "Did you catch that thief?"

"I did, yeah. I chased him all the way out of town, past the perimeter road, until I finally caught him. He was some homeless hoodlum covered in mud but he was fast!"

"No kidding," Toby replied, looking impressed, "You're pretty damn fast already. It took you until you left the city to catch him? He must be fast!"

"Danika would have killed me if I'd lost that bag…"

"Well, the good thing is that you caught 'im. Did you turn him over to the police, or what?"

Sparks then shared the story of what had happened after he had caught up with Ziggy. Toby was equally as perplexed as he had been when Sparks described the Buizel's hesitation to wash off the mud.

Then, Sparks sighed softly. "Ah well, that's in the past now. Maybe I'll see him again, but who can say? It's a big city. There's always Pokémon who need help, so it's time to focus on something else."

Toby gave him an understanding grin. "Absolutely. I'm sure he'll be fine, one way or another."

"I dunno…I hope so, though…"

"Do you want your usual today?" Toby asked.

Sparks shook his head. "I already ate, I'm afraid."

"Ah, I see. No worries. What are you up to today, then?"

"Well, aside from paying what I owed you, not a whole lot. I've been working with Danika for so long that Carmen gave me a day off."

"That makes sense," Toby replied with a nod, "So, when're you gonna be able to tell me all about this super-secret project with Danika?"

Sparks shrugged. "Not a clue, but probably not for a long, long while…"

The two continued their friendly conversation for a couple more minutes. Sparks was just enjoying a chance to relax and be out of the Society Headquarters at the same time. His schedule had been so hectic lately, and the incident with Ziggy had only added to that. Truth be told, it had been a little difficult for Sparks to focus on his work with Danika. His mind kept lingering on the poor Buizel he had met.

Eventually, a customer approached the stall and they had to end their conversation. "I'll drop by tomorrow," Sparks said.

"Okay, I'll see you then. Don't work yourself too hard!"

The two waved goodbye, and then Sparks turned and walked off down the market street. It was just as busy today as it was pretty much any day. Tons of Pokémon running shops, stores and stalls, and even more Pokémon wanting to do business with them. It was a constant cacophony of noise, and it was impossible to move at any pace higher than a slow walk. To some it might be overwhelming, but Sparks had lived in this city since he'd been a Pichu. This was 'normal' to him.

After a short time walking, Sparks' ears perked up as he heard a commotion that was loud enough to rise above the drone of sound in the market. Someone was yelling something, and they were being quite loud about it. Loud and angry.

The noise was coming from a smaller street, so Sparks rounded the corner as he was curious as to what was going on. He didn't have to look very long, for he soon noticed the crowd of onlookers that had gathered around one of the stores. Towering above them was a very angry Machamp.

"You little sneak!" he was shouting, "I oughta rip you in half you filthy crook! You have just pissed off the wrong Pokémon, punk! You'll be lucky if you walk away from here still breathin'!"

Sparks was on the move immediately, making a direct course for the shop. This looked like a situation that had already gotten way out of hand, and he needed to intervene before somebody got hurt. Especially since the Machamp was holding a Pokémon upside-down in midair by their tail.

Said Pokémon was a very familiar-looking Buizel.

The Machamp continued shouting. "You think you can steal from me and get away with it?! I've seen you skulking around here before! I know this ain't the first time you've stolen from me! I'm gonna rip off one of those tails right offa ya!"

Sparks assertively pushed his way to the front of the crowd and marched right up to the furious Machamp. "Ziggy!" he exclaimed, "What's going on?"

Before Sparks had spoken up, the Buizel looked like his heart had stopped as he stared in utter terror at the Machamp. The colour had probably drained from his face entirely, though the mud he still wore covered that up. When he heard Sparks call his name, it was like someone had whacked him in the head. He turned around in confusion, looking shocked that someone had actually said his name.

The two locked eyes, and Sparks saw Ziggy gasp.

Sparks' attention was then forcibly drawn to the Machamp, who stomped towards him and leaned forward to look down at him in an intimidating manner. "You know this punk?" he asked in a dark, even tone.

"Yeah," Sparks replied in a concerned tone, "He's my cousin. We came here today to do some shopping. What happened?"

Sparks briefly glanced up at Ziggy, who was still being held upside-down by his tail. He had a baffled look on his face, and Sparks could only hope that he would play along.

"Well," the Machamp spat, "Your cousin just stole a whole loaf'a bread from me!"

"What…?!" Sparks gave the Buizel a shocked look, "You stole something Ziggy? What would possess you to do that?"

The Buizel looked scared, ashamed and confused all at the same time.

"And!" the Machamp said, leaning forward more, "This ain't the first time either! I see him all the time scurryin' away with my merchandise! Now I finally caught 'im and he's gonna pay!" As he shouted this, a flash of terror appeared across Ziggy's face.

"Okay, hold on a second…" Sparks said in his best 'defusing' voice, "I know something's happened here, but can we talk about this like civilized Pokémon?"

"'Civilized' nothin'!" the Machamp boomed, "This punk's gonna get what he deserves, one way or another!"

Sparks' expression turned serious and he gave the Machamp an assertive look. "I would be a lot more comfortable," he said in a slow, deliberate tone, "if you would kindly put my cousin down." He crossed his forelimbs and stuck out his chest a tiny bit, subtly bringing attention to the badge clipped to his fur.

The Machamp did take notice of the badge. There was a moment of tense silence, and then the Machamp growled and lowered the Buizel down to the ground. He let go of his tail, causing Ziggy to slump somewhat roughly onto his back. Ziggy stared up at the Machamp in fear for a moment, and then turned his head to look up at Sparks. After a couple of seconds, Ziggy quickly scrambled to his paws and darted behind Sparks' back.

"Thank you," Sparks said, looking back up at the Machamp.

"This don't change the fact that your cousin's been stealin' from me for weeks!" he shouted.

"Are you certain of this?" Sparks replied with a frown.

The Machamp worked his jaw and glared down at Sparks. "Unless there's twenty different Buizel runnin' around covered in mud, it was your weird cousin every time."

Sparks sighed and turned around to look at Ziggy, who was cowering behind him and using him as a shield. "Ziggy, is this true? Why would you do something like that? This is so unlike you! I know you're better than that." When Ziggy timidly glanced up at him, Sparks gave him a quick wink before turning back to the Machamp.

"Listen, Mister…?"

"Vincenzio" the Machamp growled.

"Mister Vincenzio… I'm really sorry that this happened. I'm honestly in shock that my little cousin would do something like this. Please accept my apology for this, frankly, embarrassing incident."

Vincenzio crossed two of his arms and continued to glare down at Sparks. "I don't know what kind of funky friendship hippie B.S. you do up there, but here in the real world where we have police and laws, your cousin is in a huge world of trouble. If you're gonna stand in my way, then I'm gonna personally drag the both of you straight down to the police station! Or did you miss the part where I said he was stealing from me for weeks?!"

Sparks frowned and glanced back once more at Ziggy, who still looked just as petrified. He then sighed heavily and said, "How much did he take?"

"What?" Vincenzio said, arching an eyebrow.

"The things he stole. How much is it worth?" Sparks elaborated as he reached into his fanny pack to retrieve his wallet.

Vincenzio gave him a skeptical look, but his eyebrows shot up when he saw Sparks' wallet. For a moment he looked like he was doing some complex equations in his head, though Sparks secretly guessed that they weren't all that complex at all.

"300 Poké," Vincenzio answered.

Sparks was struck silent for a moment. He even heard a few Pokémon in the crowd quietly gasp. "…300 Poké…?" he replied in disbelief.

Vincenzio nodded. "He stole a 20 Poké loaf of bread today, and I've seen this mutt sneakin' around here at least five times. So, takin' into account the fact that I probably missed seein' him just as many times, I'm askin' for 10 loaves of bread worth. Plus an extra hundred in damages so I don't sue that little punk and have 'im thrown in jail!"

The crowd started murmuring. Sparks stared evenly at the Machamp for about half a minute. Vincenzio stared right back at him, unflinchingly.

Finally, Sparks sighed in frustration and said, "All right." He reached into his wallet and fished out quite a few banknotes, which he quickly counted up and then handed over to the Machamp. Vincenzio looked surprised for a brief moment, but then snatched the cash away and quickly counted it himself.

While he was doing that, Sparks quickly checked over his shoulder to make sure Ziggy was still there. A bigger look of disbelief Sparks had never seen before in his life. Ziggy's jaw was practically on the floor.

"Well…All right, then," the Machamp said, drawing Sparks' attention once more.

"Okay? Is everything okay here now?"

"Yeah, I'll let 'im go," Vincenzio said, "but I don't wanna ever see either of your faces around my shop ever again! Ya got that?"

Sparks nodded. "Loud and clear. Again, I am so sorry for my cousin's behaviour. Have a good day."

He then promptly turned around and briskly grabbed Ziggy's paw. "C'mon, cuz," he said as he started to drag the confused Buizel away, "You and I are gonna have a serious talk. I mean really, what's your mom going to say? What's my mom gonna say?"

The crowd parted to let them through, while the Machamp returned to his store. Ziggy didn't protest as Sparks dragged him a couple blocks down the street. He then quickly turned down a small side street that was devoid of Pokémon, except for a couple down at the far end, and ducked under the awning of a nearby building.

"That was close," he said to Ziggy, letting out a breath of relief, "That could've gone badly."

'Bewildered' could not have been a more apt description for the mud-covered Buizel. He looked like his head was spinning and was still trying to catch up on what had just happened.

"Hey, are you all right?" Sparks asked him.

Ziggy blinked a couple of times. "Ah…Y-yeah…" he murmured softly, "I'm okay…"

"Good. That's good to hear. He really went too far. There was no need to hoist you up by your tail like that…"

"Y…You…" Ziggy was giving him an odd look.

"Hm?"

"You just…" A touch of awe graced his expression. "Why…did you do that…?"

Sparks tilted his head. "Huh? Do what? Get you out of that situation?"

Ziggy furrowed his brow and frowned a little. "All…that money…"

"Oh," Sparks replied, "Yeah, that was extortion. No question about it. I'd hazard a guess and say you didn't steal 300 Poké worth of food from him."

"Why, though…?" Ziggy murmured.

Sparks gave him a confused look. The Raichu was noticing that Ziggy was a lot more talkative this time around. "Because I didn't want things to escalate. I wanted to get you out of that situation."

"But I…" he said, his voice trailing off, "I…" He then averted his gaze and grimaced before finishing his sentence in a whisper. "…I stole from you."

"What? You mean when we first met? That's in the past, Ziggy. Forget about that."

"I…" Ziggy murmured, but then seemed to be struck speechless.

"I have to say, though…" Sparks said, adopting a more serious tone, "I'm a little disappointed to see that you're still stealing things."

Ziggy frowned and whined, looking like a scolded cub.

"Still just trying to feed yourself, though…Right?"

He nodded pitifully.

"Are you hungry right now?"

Ziggy grimaced and nodded again. It looked like he was going to shed a tear.

Sparks reached forward and cupped the Buizel's chin, gently forcing him to look up into his eyes. "Then come with me," he said, plain and simple.

"Mm…?" Ziggy whined softly.

"I meant what I said last time, and I still mean it now. I want to help you, Ziggy. I want to make things better for you. You ran away last time and I still don't know why, and that really hurt me. It hurt because it made me feel like I'd failed." Sparks sighed softly and added, "When it comes to helping others, I hate failing."

"You…" Ziggy muttered, "You still…?"

"Absolutely. I don't want you to go back out there and risk getting beaten up by any more Machamp. You don't want that, do you?"

"N-no…"

"Come on, buddy. I can only look the other way when you steal things so many times…"

That seemed to strike a chord with the younger Pokémon. Before he could respond, though, he suddenly gasped and darted around so that he was hiding behind Sparks. The Raichu glanced around in confusion, wondering what had spooked him.

A moment later, a Persian casually strolled by. He gave the two of them a brief look, but otherwise did not pay attention to them at all. A few seconds later and he was gone. Sparks pursed his lips and turned back to look at Ziggy, who was cowering behind him and even trembling a little.

"Oh boy…" he bemoaned, "This is worse than I thought." Ziggy was still paying attention to the Persian's retreating form, so Sparks tapped him on the head. "Ziggy," he said firmly, "Will you come with me?"

Ziggy turned to look up at him. The expression he wore was different than their first meeting. There was just as much fear, but Sparks couldn't see as much distrust in the Buizel's eyes. He briefly glanced back in the general direction of the Machamp's stall, and Sparks figured he was thinking about what had just happened.

"Please, Ziggy, let me help you."

It took him another moment of silent contemplation but then, finally, Ziggy looked up at him once more and nodded softly.

Sparks smiled. "You'll let me help?"

"P…Please…" Ziggy whispered.

"Absolutely, buddy." Sparks then squatted down so that he was closer to eye level with the Buizel and gave him a comforting smile. "Just come with me, all right? We can make things better."

Ziggy didn't hesitate this time before nodding. He then paused, looking as if a thought occurred to him. "W…Will they…let me in…?"

Sparks tilted his head. "Hm? What do you mean?"

"I…" He bit his lip and glanced down. "I…I'm a thief…"

"Naw," Sparks shook his head, "In my mind, you're a thief but you're not a criminal. We don't let criminals in, no, but you'll be fine. Trust me. As long as you don't give us any reason to kick you out, we won't kick you out."

Ziggy looked up at him once again, and Sparks thought he saw just a glimmer of hope in the young Buizel's eyes. "Y…yeah…?"

Sparks nodded again. "Absolutely. We've helped plenty of Pokémon just like you."

He seemed to accept this and nodded softly once more. There was still an air of heavy anxiety and fear floating around him, but Sparks' altruistic actions before seemed to have earned his trust a tiny bit. He still looked wary, though. Sparks got the feeling that this wasn't the first time somebody had seemingly offered him something good, only for things to eventually turn sour.

Ziggy then stiffened and his eyes opened a little wider. He gave Sparks a questioning look and murmured, "Does…this mean I have…to…?"

Sparks already knew where that sentence was going. "Yes, we're gonna go clean off the mud."

Ziggy's breath briefly caught in his throat.

"I'm sorry, buddy," Sparks said sympathetically, "But if we don't wash it off now then we're just gonna have to wash it off later. I might be able to persuade Carmen to let you in like that, but it wouldn't be for very long. Besides, it's really not good for you. It can't be healthy."

"Mnn…" the Buizel whined, glancing away. Just like before, he looked a lot more stressed out now that the topic of him taking a bath had been brought up. Sparks still didn't understand it at all, but he tried to be more patient this time.

"So? What do you say?" Sparks asked him.

At first, Ziggy looked mildly panicked, as if he were caught on the spot. Then a look of thought crossed his expression for a moment. "Umm…?" he said as he turned to look at the Raichu, but trailed off with a questioning look.

"Sparks," he said, reminding Ziggy of his name.

"R-right… Sparks…D-do you promise?"

Sparks raised his eyebrows. "Hm? Promise what?"

Ziggy bit his lip, and then continued. "If I…I-If I wash off the…m-mud…Do you promise? D-do you still promise to…take me to the…" He swallowed a lump in his throat. "Do you promise to still help me?" he then blurted out.

Sparks was slightly taken aback by this question. "…What? Of course I do. You think I'm gonna…?" As he spoke, though, he saw the pleading, almost desperate expression on Ziggy's face and trailed off. For whatever reason, this was extremely important to him. "I do promise," he said, "This isn't going to change anything, I promise." He then chuckled and added, "I mean, unless you have something horribly racist spray-painted on your fur, I can't imagine any way that seeing what's under that mud is going to change my mind."

He had meant that statement as a joke, but Ziggy only bit his lip again. Did he have…? No, that would be ridiculous.

"C'mon, buddy," Sparks said, "It's gonna be okay. Just come with me."

Ziggy gulped nervously, but then nodded his head. "O-okay…"

Sparks then grabbed onto the Buizel's paw and started leading him back towards the beach. He took a straight path directly to the perimeter road, intending to get Ziggy away from the public eye as quickly as he could. They didn't run into many other Pokémon along the way, though the few they did pass by gave them a hard stare.

He heard Ziggy whimper quietly a few times when this happened.

Thankfully, they made it out of the city and down the road to the beach without incident. The beach was still unoccupied, so Sparks didn't hesitate to lead Ziggy down there. He then stood off to the side and gestured for Ziggy to get into the water.

Again, there was quite a bit of hesitation and fear in response. Ziggy looked at the water as if it could kill him with just a single touch. He was breathing heavily, looking like he was trying to calm himself down without much success.

"Do you want me to come in with you?" Sparks asked him, "I don't mind if you want me to support you."

Ziggy shook his head. "No, no. I-I'll do it…"

"Okay. Just let me know if I can help."

Sparks sat down on a piece of driftwood nearby and waited for Ziggy to get into the water. Ziggy looked like he was on the verge of tears, and Sparks almost spoke up again. However, before he did, Ziggy started marching slowly towards the water.

He flinched and hesitated when a wave hit his paws, and Sparks saw a shiver run through his body. He kept going, though, and slowly waded out into the surf. There was a frown etched across his muzzle, but he didn't stop.

The mud started to come off almost instantly, and started to cloud the water around him. It made it so that Sparks couldn't see anything beneath the surface, so all he could see was the mud-covered parts of the Buizel that were still above the surface. Ziggy kept going until he was up to his neck, and then started swimming. He went out a couple more metres, using the inflated ring around his neck to float.

He paused there, turning back to give Sparks an unsure look. Sparks gave him a friendly wave of encouragement. It seemed the Buizel could swim after all, and he didn't really seem afraid of the water itself. Honestly, Sparks was still at a loss as to what could be causing all of this strife.

Ziggy continued to float there for a few seconds, looking very unsure of himself. He shut his eyes tight for a couple of seconds. Sparks was about to call something out to him, but suddenly Ziggy took a deep breath, deflated his floatation ring, and dunked his head beneath the waves. Sparks leaned forward and squinted. He could just barely see Ziggy's silhouette beneath the surface, and it looked like he was using his paws to voraciously scrub the mud off of him. As a Water-Type, Ziggy would be able to hold his breath for a really long time underwater, and so would probably stay submerged until all of the mud was gone.

After a while, the silhouette started moving closer to the shore. Ziggy swam back to the point where he could stand up, and even swam a little further as if trying to prolong his time beneath the surface. He hesitated, remaining submerged for a few moments, but then finally breached the surface with a loud gasp for air.

Oh.

Oh, that made a lot more sense.

All of the mud had been cleaned off, finally revealing the Buizel underneath. He stood there in the shallow water, with only his head and floatation ring above the surface. Ziggy was looking up at Sparks, his expression shy and very nervous. Even though most of his body was still underwater, Sparks could already see what Ziggy had been hiding.

Where Sparks expected to see fur in a rich orange colour, like pretty much any other Buizel out there, he instead saw pale golden fur. The floatation ring, which was supposed to be yellow, was as white as Ziggy's eyes.

He was a different colour. As Ziggy eventually worked up the courage to slowly walk out of the water and back to shore, Sparks could see more golden fur across his whole body. Ziggy looked incredibly self-conscious, glancing away from Sparks bashfully now that his secret was revealed.

Pokémon, as a species, were very uniform when it came to their appearance. While there was some variation in pattern, size, texture and other things here and there, most of it was very minute and hard to spot. The biggest differences one could find between Pokémon of the same species, aside from gender dimorphism, was different heights. Statistically, if one were to gather a thousand Raichu into one room, they would all be the same in almost every way visually.

Seeing a Pokémon who had a completely different pigment was extremely rare. It was estimated that for at least every four thousand Pokémon of a given species, only one would be a different colour.

Sparks realized he was staring. "Ah, okay. Good," he said, "Got all of the mud off? That's good."

The frown on Ziggy's muzzle told volumes. He very slowly, very bashfully made his way across the beach towards Sparks. He looked incredibly upset. He couldn't bring himself to look at Sparks at all. The poor Buizel looked so depressed and anxious, and perhaps even a little ashamed. As he got closer, Sparks thought he looked like he was on the verge of tears again.

"Hey," he said, stepping forward to meet him, "Everything okay?"

A tiny whine bubbled up from his throat, but he said nothing.

"I'm a dummy," Sparks said, "I didn't think about bringing a towel or anything. We should get going before you catch a cold or something. Or…does that apply to Water-Types?"

Ziggy had been looking around anxiously, as if looking for onlookers who might see him in this uncovered state. After Sparks had spoken, though, his eyebrows shot up and he finally turned to look at the Raichu.

"Are you ready, buddy?" Sparks said jovially, "The Society's just up the hill from here. Let's go!"

"…Huh?" Ziggy murmured, looking stunned and confused.

Sparks turned to walk off, but Ziggy remained frozen on the spot. "You still comin'? We can stay here if you want, but it's not really the best day for a day at the beach." He punctuated his statement with a chuckle.

"I…" Ziggy murmured, fidgeting on the spot for a moment, "Y-yeah…Sure…" He looked like he was having difficulty processing something.

Sparks gestured for him to follow and said, "Let's go then! No time like the present."

With that, he set off. It took him a moment, but Ziggy started following him as he went back up the road towards the city. He ended up walking quite close behind Sparks, but he didn't mind. Every time he glanced back, the Buizel looked like he was in a state of disbelief. He allowed himself a silent chuckle at Ziggy's reaction, but a moment later he sighed.

While incredibly rare, Pokémon like Ziggy were not an unknown phenomenon. The official term for Pokémon like him was 'Alternately Coloured Pokémon', or 'ACP', and almost every species had at least one documented case of this. Some folks called them 'Different Coloured', or even just 'Colour Pokémon'. Most Pokémon colloquially called them 'Shiny Pokémon' because of a wide-spread misconception that Pokémon like him sparkled when they were in the sunshine.

Unfortunately, though, there was one other name for Pokémon like him. It was a name more prominently used than all the others.

'Freaks'.