My Name is Marcus: Sweet Scent

V. Just Looking Around

Cinderace skidded his feet across the floor, sliding and stopping right in front of Marcus and Marnie. He smiled wide with jazz hands shaking at his sides as he proudly displayed himself wearing a pair of black sports shades, a black cashmere and silk scarf, and a tan scally cap sitting atop his folded ears.

"Hey, looking good, bud!", Marcus remarked as Marnie giggled softly behind him. "You look like you're ready for a photoshoot or something.

Cinderace clasped his hands together and smiled a beggar's smile at his trainer.

Marcus chuckled. "You really want them, don't you?"

Cinderace nodded energetically, the cap on his head nearly falling off in the process.

"Alright, alright", Marcus relented, "I'll get 'em for you. But you're gonna have to wear them out and keep them on, I don't think I've got enough room in my bag for them right now."

Cinderace pumped his fist with excitement and glee before crossing his arms and striking a confident and stylish pose.

Marnie gave a light chuckle. Since first meeting the Striker Pokemon, she'd gotten used to seeing his energetic fighter's persona, and even a bit of his sassier side in his interactions with Marcus. This, however, was an entirely different side to him. "I never pegged ya to be so into fashion, Cinderace."

"Cinderace is a diva. In every sense of the word", Marcus remarked with a smirk. "But he works hard, so I'm willing to put up with it." He smiled at his posing Pokemon before letting his eyes wander around the aisle. "Come on, let's see what else they've got around here."

Marnie gave a nod and followed behind him. "Not gonna lie, Marcus, I never took ya as the type to be into clothes shopping and all."

"I wasn't always", he replied. "But once I started having to shop for different outfits to stay under the radar in public, I started realizing - ''Hey, I look good in designer clothes!'', and... yeah, what can I say, I'm hooked now", he chuckled. "Being champion has ruined me - I can never settle for a plain old three-fourths polo ever again."

Marnie chuckled. "So that's where Cinderace gets it from..."

Through their travels across Wyndon, the two trainers found themselves at one of the city's many boutiques. It wasn't the first place they'd thought about visiting - between the glowing ferris wheel looming above the skyline in the distance and the concert taking place in the city square just down the road, there were plenty of other things that caught their attention first and actively kept hold of it. However, as soon as Marcus laid eyes on the store's display window, he knew he wanted to check it out - all it took was a single mannequin wearing a Gengar t-shirt.

"I'm sorry sir", a store clerk said to Marcus as she returned to the store floor from the storage room, "it looks like we're fresh out of that one."

Marcus let out a disappointed sigh. "Yeah, that figures..."

The clerk smiled at him apologetically. "Do you have our store app on your phone? If you do, I can show you how to set it up so that you'll receive an alert to let you know when we've restocked that product."

"Nah, that's okay", Marcus replied - he sought to avoid any unnecessary phone notifications like the plague, as they tended to make him nervous. "I'm in the area often enough, I can just drop by periodically and see if it's available."

The clerk nodded. "Alrighty! Is there anything else I can help you two find in the meantime?"

"No thanks", Marcus replied as he shook his head. "I think we're just gonna have a look around."