Chapter 3.- Rise and Shine
by ampthenoiseIt was early in the morning.
The feral birds flew high into the air, the dungeons disrupted by the scouts doing their job.
“This is not just an excavation mission, you know?” A young pokemon─ a Hakamo-o, berated his partner. “You always go all starry-eyed with all this deep dive stuff, you’re gonna get us lost!”
A Milotic, slithering next to him, simply nodded, lost in thought.
“See? You’re even doing it now! Wake up!” He clapped his claws with force.
The sound was enough to bring the girl back to earth, “WHa─ Wuh? Oh, yeah! Let’s do this!”
“…we’re not even starting yet.”
“Oh? Then, what?”
The Hakamo-o sighed, “listen. For once, listen─ this is some high-grade mission, believe it or not! It may not look it, but getting first dive on a dungeon is enough for a single mon to become famous!” He curled his fists in front of him, “trust me, if we find it first, we’ll go up in ranks in no time!”
“Hehe, you say that I go all dreamy, but look at you! You’re basically getting lost again in the fame again!”
“Hmph, unlike you, I can come back down whenever I want!”
Getting near their tent, in a small grassland full of them, the hakamo-o took out a badge out of a bag, inspected it and then pocketed it again, opening the tent as he did. Inside were two beds made of straw, some more bags thrown around, some full with things, some completely empty, a map pinned on the side of the tent, and a basket with berries and fruits.
He took a rather big apple from the basket, and took a bit out of it, “still, seriously, we need to be quick about this─ Boss says we should be careful, but I say we make it quick─ If it’s only some pidgeys and Zigzagoons in the forest, I don’t think it’s going to be hard to deal with.”
“Hmhm,” the Milotic inspected the map. “Any good idea where to look when we’re given the go?”
“I was thinking over here,” he pointed at a river nearby, “If we get lost, we have water, and probably food.”
“Mhm, mhm,” She was still looking over the terrain.
“Or we could also start over here,” he pointed at an area more towards the east, “It’s a lot flatter, and should be easier to traverse, not to mention less trees.”
“Sounds good, yup.”
“Another option is─ Are you even listening?”
“Yeah! I’m listening, but I think I’ve got a better idea.”
“What? I don’t think it gets easier than a vast open clearing, though.”
“Exactly. Which is why I think we should head,” She pointed at an area far on the south of the river, “Here!”
“Wait, what? Why? It’s so far away, and there’s much better places to look for!”
“Exactly! Everyone’s going to be in those places, and if they’re already there, then it doesn’t matter if we’re there or not! We’re not going to get first dive!”
He stared, and sighed, “alright, fine, fine, maybe we should check in the south…”
“Awesome! Let’s go tell the Chief before anyone gets the idea─ Maybe he’ll let us spread out a bit more!”
With a grumble, he accepted, “fine. But you owe me one if you’re wrong!”
“Owe you what?”
“I don’t know! I’ll figure it out later!”
She laughed, biting a piece off a berry. “Maybe I could take you to the bakery, and see if there is some spice berry cake there!”
“Hey─ You don’t get to pick! You’ll enjoy it! You’re not supposed to enjoy it!”
They mingled and bickered through the morning, as food went down, and as the pile of berries disappeared…
“We should have not eaten all those berries…”
“You don’t say, huh!?”
The pair was now following the river to the south, map tight in the hakamo-o’s claws, a delicate yet strong practiced grip that did not break the paper. Dodging the trees, they sprinted their way through the forest─ Though, for them, it would be more akin to a nice, leisure jog.
As they glanced around, the bags on their sides a tad lighter, they sought to find the path south. Danger was non-existent here, none save for a few rather annoyed Zigzagoons─
“Did you have to hit them so hard?” her voice wavered a bit, as she kept her gaze forward, keeping track of any wild pokemon that could appear.
“Hey, they should know better at this point.”
“But they wouldn’t! There’s no way that they would know better─ We need to treat them─!”
“Oh, for crying out loud, Glimmer!” The Hakamo-o bellowed behind him, turning around to at least have his partner on his peripheral view. “We’ve been over this a thousand times! They’re just wild critters that don’t feel anything!”
“Noooo─ Don’t say that!” She springed over a fallen tree trunk, an elegant arc as she fell back to keeping up with the strolling pace. “You should nurture them! You could make them not feral! Give them time!”
Crack─ He struck hard, his kick sending flying─ “Oy, they’re just sacks of meat!” As he shouted back, wood splinters flew, steps booming as he ran, “again, I am not going to lose my poke once more because you wouldn’t shut up about ferals!” He kicked another stump as he rambled on.
She sighed. Even if it was of her own volition, she still wondered if it was actually a good idea to have joined up with Stone. He’s doing it again, even though I asked him not to…
Still, she didn’t falter, and kept her gaze forwards. Who knew what fate awaited her in the near future…
Nnnh…
Hnnnnrrghhh, wh… Wha…?
…Sniff. It’s warm.
It’s kinda warm. It’s cold, but it’s warm. Like, you know, when the bed’s all warm, but the room’s uber cold? Yeah, that. My leg’s touching something cold, my pillows are on top of me, and I’m pretty sure my bedsheets fell off, because─
I pat my chest, feeling fluff.
…That’s concerning. My cat’s sleeping on top of me again?
I pat my body up and down, feeling more fluff, more fluff, and… I poke my face. There’s… Eh?
Opening my eyes, there’s─ I don’t recognize this ceiling.
Look left, there’s a tiled floor and… am I inside a building?
Look right, and─ BLAZIKEN.
UH. OKAY. DOn’t panic, it’s alright! They’re asleep!
I take a deep breath, noting how they have their arm over…
Is. Is that my…?
It all comes rushing back.
Oh.
Oh.
Crud, I’m a pokemon, aren’t I?
I take another breath, it’s… this is concerning. I─ I think I’m fine, one second.
The t-shirt I was wearing is all pulled up in the top of my chest, so my belly and most of my torso is uncovered and showing… fluff, really, this is convenient, but annoying. The bedsheets─ When did I pull─ I pulled them away, huh. Almost all my body’s uncovered, and that includes Marcille. It’s weird, even as she’s wearing─ Whu─
She’s naked.
UUUUUUUUUHHHHHhhhhhhh, one moment.
Much like me, she’s covered in fluff─ feather fluff, head to toe. Or, er, head to claw. It’s not really all that weird, considering the fluff, but, c’mon, she’s naked. This is really we─ WHoah!
She pulls me closer, cuddling on me like a body pillow. Really, Marcille, why the hell do you do this to me? I know you’re probably just asleep, but still, this is weird. Feeling the feathers against the fur in my body, her body against mine, warmth─
Wait, is it just me or is it getting hot in here?
…Nope, it’s not me, I think we’re going to get a heat stroke, the both of us.
“Agh, Marcille, get up.” I whispered.
She mumbles in her sleep, mov─ ACK─!
She’s nuzzling me─
She’s nuzzling me.
“Marcille, Nnnn─!” I try to push her off of me, but she doesn’t budge. I can’t really push her off without waking her up! And if she does, she’s gonna wake up and─
Wait. Holy shit. I can wake her up without touching her!
Okay, I can do this, be smart about it.
You want to let go of Tristan~
You want to let go of Tristan~!
…nothing. Dam. Okay, uh, what else? I could, er, y’know, try and… She’s in a dream, isn’t she? I could try and convince her that….
Hmmm…
Better let go of the body pillow, Marcille~ It’d be embarrassing if someone saw you like that~
She stirs. Holy shit, she stirs.
She lets go, and─ “Hnn, tomorrow, body pillow…” mumbles something about a body pillow, let’s go! I’m free now!
I bolt upright, and step out─ Sheesh, the floor’s cold! And it feels weird! Still, I take a few steps, going towards one of the vending machines, and…
Lay down in front of it. The floor’s cold, and I’m kinda too hot right now…
I pant and… let my tongue hang, ugh, as I let the ground cool me off…
…
…I can’t believe I’m going to do this…
I pull the shirt off of me, tossing it to the extra blankets we didn’t use. Or, the extra blanket we didn’t use, mostly because Lloyd already used up about all of them.
Buy water, open and drink with… bowl, eugh, and now~ I feel refreshed! The cool water helps a lot, so I just let it go down, and… Ah~
…some time passes, and I get up. Where’s the…. Ah, bathroom, here we go. Time to wash up.
I go in and… yeah, that’s my face now…
…gods, I can’t get used to this…
The muzzle in the middle of my vision…
The big ears…
The face fluff…
…the skirt…
…at least the tail is cute.
Swish swish.
…
How do I even wash myself? I’ve got a ton of fur, and it’s going to be so annoying to wash off, I imagine.
…do I have to lick myself clean?
That is so gross.
That is so gross.
…gods, I can’t believe I’m doing this.
…
Huuurk─
Walking out of the bathroom has never been this awkward before.
In front of the vending machine is─ Oh. She’s naked.
Half-naked.
…
Marcille is tall.
Er─
She’s still wearing the pj pants, but is now topless─ Her feathers on full display, showing her muscles I didn’t see before.
…what? Did you think she’d have the, er, equipment a human would have? She’s a birb!
Well, she’s drinking from a bowl, much like yesterday, and she’s leaning into the machine. The bed we slept on is fully unmade, maybe she pushed off all the sheets.
Lloyd’s also messing with a different vending machine, the one with all the snacks. He yawns, pressing some buttons with the tip of his tail, the order─ A brownie, by the looks of it, falling out after a minute. He looks so weird without anything on─ The bags help a lot with looking relatively human, so he being… naked is super weird.
Growl.
…I should probably get something to eat too…
I approach the vending machines, “morning, you two…” My tone is… noticeably tired, not that it was wrong, anyway… I… well, the whole seeing myself in the mirror again thing soured my mood.
Marcille turns her head, “morning,” she yawns, eyes still closed, as she held the bowl with water. “It’s…” she opens her eyes. “Huh. Fluff.”
Wha─ “Huh?” I look at where she is staring─ Er, my chest? “Uh… Yeah? I, guess I have a ton of fluff now─”
She’s blushing. She looked to the side, embarrassed, “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry, I─ Er…”
I tilted my head, “Huh? Something wrong?”
“Er, well, I, that─ that was embarrassing. Sorry about that.”
“Pssh, I should be fine.” I waved my hand, tossing away the issue. Hand. Paw? “I, well… It’s weird, but, you know. Cope, seethe, etcetera, etcetera.” I chuckled.
She snorted, “Hey, I’m drinking water, don’t do that!”
We both laughed…
“Er… you two know how to…” Lloyd spoke up.
Me and Marcille looked over at him.
But he only stared back at me. “You’re not wearing clothes.”
…? Wh─ WOAH, SHIT─! “whAH! SHIT!” I covered my body as best as I could with my arms, and turned away, ears burning with embarrassment, “do we have spare shirts!?!?”
Marcille tilted her head, looking down at─ “Oh, OH, THAT’S JUST FUR─ ER, ONE SECOND!” She bolted towards the ‘clean clothes’ pile that I just now realized we had, bringing me a shirt and a pair of pants.
I nodded, grabbing the oversized shirt─ Yes! And putting it on, struggling a bit thanks to the fur. “Ghh, kinda uncomfy but it works. Thanks.”
She let out a breath, “ah, yeah, I…” but then she stared at my legs… “…that’s…”
“Er, I can’t wear pants, really… unless I somehow were to trim all this fur.” I pulled my… fur-skirt up and down, to prove the point. “And, honestly, the idea is making me uncomfortable, so…”
“Ugh, I, I’m sorry, I need a minute,” Lloyd spoke up, walking to the other side of the room, disgust and confusion in his voice. I didn’t pay it much mind.
She tilted her head to the side… “I suppose that’s fair… I don’t think I would like… Oh.” She suddenly realized she was topless right this moment.
…She─ Whoa, she bolted towards the clothes pile, putting on a shirt nearly in the blink of an eye.
“…well, you do have feathers, so it wasn’t all that much of an… er… right, I guess you’re right…”
She scratched at the shirt, “Augh, what are these made of? They’re so itchy…”
“I’m not sure, but yeah, they kinda itch.” I scratched at mine…
…
“…I really don’t wanna say this, but maybe we’re not supposed to wear these…”
She sighed, “I guessed pokemon never wear clothes in the anime because of that… I don’t, can─ can we talk about something else? Please?”
I nodded, “Can foxes eat chocolate?”
“…”
“I wanna eat brownies, but, y’know, chocolate is poisonous to dogs.”
“…”
“There was a movie where a Lucario eats chocolate, so maybe pokemon are fine…?”
She shrugged.
I sighed, “bell, risk it for the biscuit,” moving to where my stuff was, I grabbed my wallet and pulled out a few bills, trying to order the brownie.
One came out, and I grabbed it, opening it. The smell of─ Ough, the overwhelming smell of chocolate coming out of the bag. I eyed another brownie, noting that I had some leftover change…
Sure, why not. Coins go in, punch in the code…
…It’s not coming out─
It got stuck.
“Damn.”
“Damn.” Yeah, same, Mars.
…hm. “Er, you okay with me calling you Mars?”
“Eh? Oh, sure, if you’re okay with me calling you Trist.”
“Sure, hehe.” I liked that nickname.
“…think this is it!”
…hm? Is… that’s a voice.
I looked at the entrance, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary.
…nothing yet, but─
…no, there was something…
“…Stone, really, isn’t this exciting? This is so a human ruin! You can’t be not excited about that!” A soft, silky voice spoke─
“I can’t be bothered really─ What of it? Dungeons are weird, it’s probably not even─ …the hell’s that language?” Another voice, lower in tone, and a bit gravely─
Shit─!
I grabbed Mars by the arms, pulling her back towards the bathroom and covering her beak─
“Mm─ Mmmph!”
“Shh!” Crud, Lloyd!
He turned to me, eyes wide open─ Cool, he heard me─ HIDE!
He nodded, slithering away for cover in another set of bathrooms.
Pulling Mars back, we leaned into a wall, trying to listen in.
My ear twitched─ Dude, what─ “I swear, if we get lost in here. The idea is to just scout the place, we did it, now let’s go back!”
“Nu-uh! If we do that, we won’t get permission to explore it! I promise we won’t go too deep, just a peek!”
From the not-mechanical stairs, something appeared.
A tan-colored snake creature appeared, giant─ whoah, eyebrows? Pink feelers coming out of their eyebrows, reaching nearly halfway into the ground… considering that their head stood a bit around Mars’ current height, they were pretty long. “C’mon, look at all this! This might just be the best preserved human ruin out there!” Human ruin?
Another figure went down the stairs─ A dragon, standing tall on two legs, gray scales decorated with some yellow-colored ones, sticking out like natural jewelry. Or… maybe it’s more like armor? “Seriously, Glimmer! We’re not supposed to be here─ Look! Even the stairs aren’t right! Come on, I’m not usually the one to pull out, but can’t you see how distorted this place is?”
“Oh, come on! It’s just contemporary human architecture! Sure, it’s a bit more advanced than I recall, but it’s still human!”
“Still distorted.”
“Oh, shush! We’re making a huge discovery! Now, let’s─”
Thud.
The brownie. It finally fell off the place it was stuck on.
They both turned towards the source of the sound─ The vending machine.
The dragon gasped─ “Gah! What was that?”
The snake gasped─ “Whoah! What is that!”
I… That’s a dragon snake─ A Milotic! It’s… gods, it’s still so weird to see pokemon out and about…
She rushed with elegant swiftness towards the vending machine, “this machine─” She whispered, “It holds traditional human food! Or… well, maybe not, I do not recognize some of these… coverings? Shells?” Did she mean the bags the snacks were in? “Yeah! Bags!” Uh oh.
“C’mon, get out of there! This could be a trap!”
“There’s no way this is a trap! This looks like a nice place to rest! Literally!”
We both kept quiet, holding our breaths…
“Come, look! There’s food here!”
“Where?” He was now next to her, what??
She pointed at the machine─
SMACK─!
He punched it. “…Ow.”
“Ow? Did, did it hurt? Really?”
He nodded, shaking his fist, “shis thing is the hardest glass I’ve ever seen, sheesh. Props to these humans… I can still smell food from this so,” He then punched it again, to the same effect.
And as he was banging it, the milotic slithered away… towards the─ shit! Lloyd’s peeking from inside the bathroom!? Why!? To be fair, we’re also peeking from the bathroom, but he’s─ Shit, Lloyd, hide!
He looked at me, then looked around─
“Hey, you think there’s food this way?” Shit─ He’s walking over here! Maybe, er, maybe he goes to the other bathroom!
Er, “where do I hide.”…? I think Lloyd said that? He mouthed it, not making a sound.
“I don’t know!? Just, hide!” I mouthed back.
He gave me an odd look, and he─ Shit, stepped out!
Just as she was going in─!
“Ah─!” He bumped into─
“AH!” She bumped into─
“Who’s he─ AH─!” thE HAKAMO-O─!
“AH─!”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH─!!!!!!” Mars pulled back─ Forcing me to fall into her─!
THUD!
“OY─ OWCH!”
“DUNGEON FERALS!” He assumed a fighting stance─
“NONONONO, we’re not ferals! We’re good! Good!!!” I waved my arms, as I tried getting up.
“Lies! Ferals only know how to growl and bark!”
“Well, we’re talking, aren’t we!? We’re good then!”
“Oh. Sorry.” He put his fists donwn. “I kinda got carried away.”
“It’s fine.” Mars thumbs up him from under me.
“I’m trying to work on the anger issues.”
“You’re good.” I remark─
“GYAAAAAAAAA─ HAHAaaaaa─” Someone whimpere─ Lloyd!
We─ Oh, thanks─ The kommo-o helped me and Mars up, we got running for Lloyd and─
“GIANT SNAKE─!” He was.
“Please, calm down!” And she was.
Well, they’re…
They’re tangled like string.
“GET OFF ME─!” He was struggling, making the mess even worse.
“Please, just calm down! I can get us─!”
“SHE’S GONNA EAT MEEEEE─!” His tiny arms were flailing around, somewhere in this stringy mess.
Sigh.
Mars walked up, crouching to his head.
“This… this is your friend, right?”
I nodded.
She held Lloyd’s head, and─
SMACK─!
Smacked him, yeah.
He looked at her, mouth open, and his eyes on the verge of tears.
“Look, calm down, we can get you two out of this mess, but not until you calm down.”
He nodded, still whimpering.
“Alright. Er, you… mind telling me how?” She looked at the Milotic.
“Haha, one minute…”
Lloyd was still laying on the ground, like a waterhose being unused, stringy and honestly, kinda sad.
“Whew!” the Milotic cheered. That took a while, hm. “Thanks for that! Couldn’t have done that without you!”
“No problems, thanks for helping with…” Mars looked at Lloyd, still in the ground. “Well, he’ll be fine, really.”
Munching next to her was the kommo-o, “Munch, yeah, and thanks for the food!” He was munching away at the muffins…
Now I’m hungry and sad.
“Now, er, should we get introductions out of the way?” She tilted her head, “Hi! I’m Glimmer! Second member of team High Tide Breakers!”
“I’m, munch, Stone, the first member of the team, and the leader of it! We were─”
“Hush! We want to hear their names first!” She bonked his head with the tip of her tail, shutting him up.
“Ow, alright.” He then proceeded to idly stare at Mars, for some reason.
Hum. Weird names…
“Well…” Mars looked at me, nodding.
Wh─ Oi, don’t leave me to the sharks.
She nods again.
I shake my head.
She nodded more enthusiastically.
I closed my eyes, shaking my head no once more.
She clasped her claws, begging.
I nodded at her.
She shook her head, and
Hmrr. Fine. She looks cute when doing that.
I sigh, “I’m Felt, and, well, we’re, uh, civilians, yeah, kinda got lost.” I scratched the back of my head, awkwardly looking over at the milotic…
“We’ve been trying to keep it quiet since, er, we kinda had some less than savory individuals try to follow us, and we only recently shook them off. You can call me Ash. The sad one over there is Thistle.” Nice catch, Mars.
“They’ve been a real pain…” I sigh.
Glimmer nodded, “alright, then, you can stick around with us! We can make sure you two are safe, no questions asked!”
…? I feel like there’s a catch here.
“…just like that?” Mars thinks so too.
“Yup!”
“No strings attached?”
“Nope!”
“Is that allowed?”
“It’s how it’s done!”
Stone started wandering about, but I didn’t pay much attention to where he went.
Mars looked at me, and I looked at her back. “We, er, we don’t exactly… trust that, if you can forgive us…”
“Oh, it’s no issue! I can imagine your unsavory individuals have made your trust falter, haha.”
…what odd wording.
“Er…” Okay, that was… oddly easy.
Still, I don’t fully trust in the fact that this is going so smoothly, things never go smoothly. Well, not this smoothly. Things usually tend to go… poorly? Well, I don’t want to jinx myself, but in all honesty…
Mars walked away to try and get Lloyd off the ground… He mumbles something about not liking what happened.
I sighed, “still, thanks for all that. It’s been a long few days for us…”
“Aw, it’s no biggie! It’s what us rescuers do!”
“We’re not really rescuers, though, remember.” I hear from somewhere vaguely behind us, “We’re explorers.”
“We can still help other pokemon!”
“Yeah, but don’t go around stealing jobs, haha.” Stone wasn’t actually laughing.
“Still… What do?”
“Huh?”
“Er, we go back to your camp, and we resolve things just like that?”
She nodded, “Oh─! That reminds me, I need to check up on something, give me a minute,” and with that, she slithered away.
…Snakes are cool. Water snake, but still snake.
Talking about snakes, I walk to where Lloyd is sulking. “You okay?”
“I got tangled with a giant snake, what do you think?”
“Not okay, got it.”
“Still, you shouted ‘Snake lady’ super loud, I’m surprised you didn’t blow our cover,” Mars added.
“Well, I’m sorry, I’m not into the idea of being coiled up by a giant snake!”
“Settle down, she’s busy, but still around,” he really needs to slow down. Like, it’s bad, yeah, but it’s not that bad, in all honesty.
He huffed, “fine, but really, how ‘okay’ is it for a snake to─”
“We get it,” We both groaned.
“Still,” Mars continued, “let’s not blow our cover, aight?”
He sighed, “I’ll try.” Slithering back up, he held his head tall-ish, nearing somewhere in between Mars and I’s height. I have no idea if that’s how it is said, but I can’t be bothered.
“Still, what do?” I asked again, “do we just go with them? Settle down somewhere, and─!”
“Bad news, Stone!” Glimmer was once again in our vicinity, “we have to check the dungeon,” she giggled.
That caused the pokemon in question to─ “UGH, really? Well, they better give us some compensation.” I turned around to see him near the stairs, “welp, let’s just get this done, I’m heading in first, so you better go in, before we get too separated.” And without another word, he stepped down the stairs.
“Ah, wait!” She slithered behind him, “Er, I hope it’s not much to ask, but could you three follow us? It’s usually not a good idea to bring you here, but I, er, would rather have you in sight, this sector can be… well…”
“Dangerous? Sure, we can… stick around.” Mars answered.
I’m pretty sure Lloyd huffed, but for my part, “I’m good, let’s go.”
Glimmer sighed, “Agh, I’d love to check the machines for their food, but Stone is rushing real bad, come on, follow me!” she says, as if we hadn’t just come out of that place a day ago.
We follow, sighing as we go down into the dungeons once more…
“Say, are those comfy?”
“Eh?”
Glimmer has been eyeing the pj’s that Mars was wearing. I’ve been meaning to tell her that she should take them off, but how the hell do you tell a girl to take her pants off?
“Those are human made, aren’t they?” She was smiling.
“Er, well, yeah. We got lost when wandering about, and I found them in one of these here.” She pointed to the stores in general, not one in particular. “There was a lot of stuff, and this was the only comfortable one.”
“Huh? Why, too tight?” Glimmer tilted her head a little.
Mars looked at me, “Well…”
“Yeah, I’d say something like that. She broke a few, er, what are they called?” I feigned ignorance.
Mars stared daggers at me, briefly.
“Well, there are a few words for them,” Glimmer raised her head, eyes glinting when answering, “most are called pants, though.”
“Huh.” I feigned. “Well, she broke a few pants, since they were either too small or too tight. I guess humans are kinda small, aren’t they?” I tried to laugh, but it didn’t quite sound right, “Yeah, I have no idea.”
She used─ Oh! She used her eyebrow-feeler things to shrug! “Well, humans are surprisingly small when compared to some of the bigger bipedal pokemon! Tough, it really is hard to tell, since records vary wildly. There are records of adult humans being as tall as two and a half meters!”
“Huh. Real tall…”
She nodded, “yup! Oh, perhaps we can find some of their more traditional clothing─ Look! There are some right there!” She pointed with the feelers once more to another store in the distance, and she upped her pace to get there.
“Whoah, hey, wait up─ We are not scavenging right now! We have to get done with this dungeon!” Stone did not like the idea.
“Well, it won’t take long! I swear!”
Mars giggled, I smiled, and I’m pretty sure Lloyd just sighed audibly as all three of us started following her.
The store was, luckily or unluckily for some, open, with a door and everything. Going in, the store had more bog-standard clothing to sell, not much of note. Jeans, shirts, hoodies, the, well, all the stuff. Er, since this is basically AI generated, the clothes were wild. With little limits on what they looked like, there were a lot of misses, but the ones that were hits were, hoo boy, I’m gonna see if I can make one of this for myself. There was this purple one that had a fire pattern with a very light color difference on only one side. How even…? Well, whatever, I was going to keep it, or at least use it as reference.
I was doing something else. What was it?
Glimmer squealed somewhere near me, “these are so great! I can’t believe it─ actual human clothing!”
“Well,” Mars started, “Is it really? This place feels… too weird for things to be, like, all real.”
“Er, I guess? Still, real or not, they have basis on what actually is human clothing. Keeping a few’s fine.”
“Oh, is that so?” Mars’ attempt at sounding clueless was pretty accurate, if I’m being honest.
“Yeah? Well, the dungeons take the place and the things where it appears, and tries to replicate it in order to fill large spaces, combining common aspects and adding a little of variation when the clothes and items are generated!”
Huh, literally AI generated.
Mars smiled, “I’m guessing this will lead to a bunch of stuff that looks like nonsense.”
Glimmer, in the other hand, nodded, “yeah! Well, I think everything here looks nice, so it’s not much of a loss in my part!”
They both giggled, and I’m pretty sure I heard two sighs from somewhere behind me.
So, seeing as they began browsing through the clothes, I did too, keeping a close eye on the shirts and the hoodies.
…
The both of them had been talking for a while now, mostly Glimmer explaining some of the details of the clothes, and how they were made. She mostly believes clothes were done en-masse by rows and rows of pokemon working tirelessly, using a traditional method combined with modern techniques like assembly lines, sorta. She’s… not completely wrong, but I bet the people working on these back home don’t ‘work tirelessly’ to get everything right, I bet.
…still, I’m pretty sure that by this point, I’ve checked the same hoodie like three times already. “Er, shouldn’t we, like, try to go already?”
“Finally,” Lloyd groaned, “you’ve been here for hours now.”
“Thirty minutes,” Glimmer checked something inside her bag, “and─ Oh, whoah, we need to get out of here, he’s right─” She grabbed a bunch more of the clothes, stuffing a huge amount of them─
“Er, we can help you carry more, hold on.” Mars hopped over the counter, poking around looking for something in specific.
“You, you mean you will help, I can barely carry anyhting─”
I then got interrupted by a paper bag in my face. “Then help stuffing clothes in there!”
… “Sure. Lloyd, help?”
He sighed, slithering in.
“Stones, help carrying these too!”
He too, sighed and walked in the store.
“Sheesh,” Lloyd whispered to me as he got near, “women and their clothes will never change.”
“I mean,” I whispered back, “I’ve gone out of a shop with hands full of shopping bags too, so,” I shrugged.
He looked at me odd, but got to stuffing bags and bags with clothes with me.
Once we had several bags of admittedly random pieces of clothes, Mars and Stone came to us and grabbed a ton of them on their own. Did I say how strong her muscles looked? Because they look really solid, let me say. Not bulging-out kinda muscles. Just a nice, bishounen figure, with─ I’m gonna stop myself right there.
Lloyd looked over at Mars.
His gaze fell at her legs.
You start getting the weird thought, bud, and I’m putting all my bl fantasies in your head.
His gaze bolted at me.
“I mean it.” I said.
“You─”
“NOT enough Time~, come on! Let’s move!” With Stone behind her, Glimmer slithered out of the store.
0 Comments