Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Quenched Torch

Chapter 41: Long Way Aways

"Why, good morning, Treecko!" Kecleon piped from his store window. "What might I do for you today?"

As the sun peeked out over Impetus Town, the three of us stood in front of the Kecleons' humble shop. With our schedule going along swimmingly so far, we'd decided to go ahead with today being a shopping day. While we probably wouldn't be needing anything in terms of dungeon materials, our list was still long regardless. First things first, though, we needed food. Aside from our noticeable lack of regular food, I'd noticed that a couple of our berries were starting to grow all moldy, so replacing them was of priority.

As for what I'd heard Arden and May discussing yesterday... well, I honestly didn't have it in me to really worry about it for long. I mean, sure, Arden knew there was a human involved in all this, but he hadn't mentioned me, had he? Honestly, I was just getting used to all this, so at this point, I'd just brushed most of my concerns from that conversation aside.

If I was causing the Quilava that much stress, though...

'Hrm. Might have to look into that in the future.'

As Rye told the green shopkeeper of our needs, his purple partner gave me a sideways glance, his scales taking on a bit of a paler hue as he shifted in place uncomfortably. I gritted my teeth, knowing where this was probably going; I hadn't forgotten when I'd been politely shooed away by the two that one time. However, after a minute, Purple just nervously pursed his lips and averted his gaze, staying at the counter as Green headed into the back. I blinked once or twice as I watched him stand there.

'Huh... well, that's an improvement.'

Before long, Green emerged from the back and handed Rye a sack that a quick look showed to be full of various berries and foodstuffs.

"That'll be 900 Poké. Remember if you need to put all this anywhere, there's always the Durants next door," the shopkeeper said, pointing to a tall dirt mound next foor teeming with metallic-looking insects crawling in and out. "Their tunnels go down a hundred feet, they're the safest storage business this part of Gray Proper, and their services are free for everyone on the Guild!"

As the nearest of the Durants gave a bit too perfectly timed wave at the clearly premeditated pitch, Rye cleared his throat.

"Uh, w-we'll check them out some time. Thank you," he said, pushing a few coins onto the counter. With that, we filed out of the line and headed back to town square as Rye looked over the berries we'd bought.

"Okay, alright. Uh, we have, like, three thousand Poké, I guess we can grab rope, supplies for c-camping, and, uh, scissors," he said. Mavy and I gave him a confused look.

"Wha?" I asked.

"W-well, Mavy's still gotta shave, right?" Rye said. Mavy bit back what sounded like a swear, but managed to keep his cool.

"Ain't gotta do nothing. You wouldn't want poor little me goin' buck naked on your lil' expedition; I mean, Pa always... uh..."

The Zigzagoon faltered as he zigzagged along, his face becoming distant for a moment before he quietly cleared his throat.

"So, uh, where we goin', then?" he asked.

"There's a bunch of merchants at the bend on Stonecutter Road. Impetus Town's a Guild town, so I think we'll find what we need. Th-they might not be, uh, used to you, Beck, so j-just stay close, alright?" Rye said. I nodded, waddling along as we headed through town square and onto an unassuming street.

Before long, the road took a sudden forty-five degree turn to the left, where I found myself surrounded by colorful awnings lining the street and the shopkeepers under them selling their wares. I inched towards Rye as the vendors shouted their usual marketer rhetoric.