Colours That You're Not Meant to Notice [Pokemon]

[5]

Florian stopped in his tracks. Something about the man at the counter seemed to make him pause. Kieran walked up next to him to see his expression. It wasn't quite fear on his face. Maybe something closer to confusion, as if he recognized the man somehow.

Now, within earshot, Kieran was involuntarily subject to the man's complaints to the cashier. "You are knowingly selling these, despite knowing they alter brain chemistry of humans and pokémon!?" exclaimed the blue-eyed man.

The cashier gave a monotone reply, "These are legally permitted TMs by the league. They only alter the brain chemistry of pokémon, not affecting people."

"And that is somehow acceptable to you!? This is a violation of pokémon autonomy!" The man shouted, his green hair swaying with every movement, as he raised his hand in the air, pointing to the sky indignantly, "This is the kind of thing that proves to me, this world is diseased!"

"I just work here, man. Are you buying something, or are you just here to yell?" The cashier said as Florian and Kieran started to try and walk past. The green-haired man immediately turned around, "I'm just here to buy some batteries."

Kieran and Florian warily looked up at the man. His rhetoric reminded of Team Fission, and though they hadn't directly harmed them, their presence would be a constant reminder of Lugh.

He wore a black dress shirt and white pants that could be best described as formal wear. "Uh... hi." Kieran finally said as they awkwardly stared at each other.

"Are you two trainers?" He asked the pair.

Florian nodded, and Kieran cautiously answered with a "Yes..?"

The man nodded, "My name is N. Good to meet you. I will get my batteries now." Immediately, he walked over to a nearby battery display, handed the cashier two ₽20 notes, and left.

The cashier was confused. "Who the hell uses paper cash anymore..?" Kieran was confused, too. He felt like his head was spinning.

"That guy talks too fast..." he said with a sigh as Florian nodded in agreement. Something felt strangely familiar about him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Kieran elected to ignore it for now.

After perusing some of the aisles, Kieran found what he was looking for. A rather light looking backpack. It would go well with the little poké ball pack he had on his waist.

Kieran was a little concerned about which colour to get at first, but there were only two colours available it turned out. Blue and pink. Pink definitely wasn't his colour, so he went with blue, the same colour as his poké ball pack.

Knowing where to find Florian, Kieran went to the TMs section and found Florian looking at two different TMs. As Kieran approached, before he could say a word, Florian shoved the tiny discs into his face.

Each packet containing the TMs had a label for what move it was. The orange disc read "Drain Punch," while the black disc read "Knock Off." Florian then pulled them back and gave a look to Kieran, indicating for him to decide which he should buy.

"I've read about a lot of champions using knock off when competing in serious events like the PWT... I think you should choose that!" Kieran suggested. Taking the suggestion, Florian put back "Drain Punch," and went up to the counter

Kieran followed after him and quickly handed the attendant his student ID. "I'm paying for it!" Florian looked quite surprised, more than Kieran expected.

"Alright, that'll be ₽1,100," the attendant said, typing in Kieran's name already. Kieran went cold. That was almost all of his money that he had in his account. In fact, it might've been more.