Puty tat
Todays the day….I had to wait another couple weeks before things calmed down a little but it did eventually after a whole bunch of high profile men and women were torn off their pedestal to appease the public….kinda….there's still a few protests going on…but it's pretty peaceful for now and I want to check out the black market…
With reluctance and bleariness I make my way out of my "room" and see machoke was already cooking up something on the hot plates, the room smelling like a good breakfast should.
With hands rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I ask
"How long till it's done mate?"
"Maaaaa"
He turns around from his task and indicates with his giant meaty palms facing toward me with both hand showing 10 hulking calloused digits
"10 minutes?"
"Chhhooo"
He nods in the affirmative and turns back to cook whatever he was cooking and I slowly shuffle toward the "bathroom to try and liven up a bit for the morning.
I wouldn't be heading into town till lunch time but I wanted to get a head start on the day despite loathing mornings because I need to get my thoughts together and double check where my heads at
After a quick shower and getting changed into something more comfortable for brekky I sit down to some bacon, eggs and sausage courtesy of chef machoke who's now starting to dish up all my mons food for the morning as we were all crowding around the lounge while I lean forward to the small coffee table to support the weight of my knife and fork..
My first thought while taking a bite of the eggs on toast was if I wanted to keep the arrangement I have planned out for this trip.
I'm about to walk into a place I really shouldn't be in a kids body so I'm probably going to attract some attention being as small as I am. But luckily size doesn't matter when you have a big bejeweled mountain lion who would rip dozens of men into itty bitty pieces if they looked at me the wrong way…
From what I've heard is it's considered "polite" to only have out Pokemon out when in the black market to avoid needless provocation and that mon can't be some gigantic behemoth taking up half the area…it's more about showing you have a weapon and you mean business…an implied threat if you will..
And this info is from almost a year ago so I don't know if it's still accurate but I'm guessing it should be… but the "market" never closes, sure it's more active of a night time but everything is still running during the day and supposedly it's a little safer..
Truthfully Slowpoke would be the best pokemon to have out with me even if he isn't necessarily the strongest at the moment….I mean he's up there, but he hasn't evolved yet. Although he is competing with evolved mons and still able to put boot to ass if they don't give him the respect he deserves….but as for a mon that sends a message? As dangerous as I know Slowpoke is, he doesn't scream "don't fuck me with" like a giant tiger that can rend steel with it claws…
I'm kinda having second thoughts and wondering if this is a good idea…I mean it's just asking for trouble and I'm not really hurting for money right now…I could wait…..no…. I'll have to get my feet wet eventually and I promised myself I would check it out as soon as I had a Persian and Machoke, so….I'm doing this…
I'm brought out of my musings by Becky who shuffles out rubbing her eyes followed by Marill and Nidoran who were looking for something to eat if the way the zeroed on onto my other mons eating is any indication…
"Nnn-mornin…"
"Morning beck….what's on the agenda today?"
She drags herself over to the "kitchen" and pulls out some cereal, bowl and a jug of milk before sitting them there and grabbing some kibble for her mons and fills up their bowls, obviously not feeling like cooking a strong morning meal for her protectors….
She wanders over next to me and plops down and starts filling her bowl, thankfully cereal first like a normal person and tiredly speaks
"….uhh not much, bit of light training with the gang and then a trip north with butterfree to get lessons from some of the older and experienced butterfree….I'm pretty sure one of them has teleport, so yeah…that's my day, what about you?"
"Ehh, Heading into town about lunch to check a few things out, it'll probably take up most of my day"
She just nods slowly as we continue to eat our morning meal in peace as all the Pokémon finish their own and return their dishes to the sink…
I spend the next few hours trying and almost succeeding to talk myself out of this frankly ridiculous risk I'm about to take with excuses that made me second guess myself at every thought..
It's not like I want to live a life of "crime" but I don't really have much of a choice in the matter at this point if I want to get ahead in life.
The power dynamic is so far tilted in this world compared to my old one and I was never really ambitious back there and truthfully I'm not very ambitious now, I just want to be safe and in this world safety comes from personal power…
Political power is one thing, especially back on earth with political figures getting away with crimes left right and centre with no one being able to do anyone about it because they controlled more people so what could you do?
But here? One guy could bring down cities maybe even countries with a few little red and white spheres he keeps in his pockets, they could have their magic animals rip an army apart and there's probably nothing anyone could do if his animals are strong enough…so power is in the hands of those who can train their "animals" the best….
But all I really want is a bit of property and nice house in a "safe" area to live quietly without having to live paycheque to paycheque to scrape by….and being a dirty little 10 year old orphan with "no education" my prospects are grim, so crime it is…
I won't be able to do it forever, everyone gets caught eventually, I'm just hoping to be able to have my "career" off the ground and tenable by the time I quit and hopefully not be caught….
And the black market is less of a hot issue compared to burglary even if it is technically more dangerous. Considering there are black markets all over kanto and they aren't hard to find so I'm guessing the league has a hand in it some how and don't go looking for people who just "use" the black market if you don't make too many waves….being a named burglar though? I already have a Jenny with a justice boner trying to sniff me out….
So I'm rushing to stockpile as much money as I can before I turn 16 and hit the road to look for some place to settle, because if rumours are to be believed, beginner trainers without family support have a rough few years in beginning with the low paying jobs and minimal support…doesn't matter if you're a good trainer with decent mons, unless someone picks you up to sponsor you, you gotta jump through a bunch of hoops to legally make minimum wage so….and truthfully I don't want to be sponsored, it's more or less a handicap if you can support yourself without their help…
But…
It's finally time to get into town and I'm ready with my red hoodie, long black trousers, black sneakers and a full faced Persian mask with a voice changer glued to the inside near the mouth, nothing showing on me except the fact I'm a child…or maybe a dwarf? Are there dwarfs in this world? I've never seen one…
I'm only using a normal backpack, no way in hell am I walking into a den of murderers and thieves with a 400-600k bag being as small as I am, that would be just stupid…
I'm bringing the whole crew, no reason not to and once everyone is balled but Slowpoke who teleports us to an abandoned alley about 10 minutes walk from an entrance to the underground market is….
I ball Slowpoke and release Persian who almost towers over me and give him a pat on the neck as he looks around for anything suspicious…
"Alright buddy, it's game time….this is only scouting and seeing where we could make a living while we lie low in between jobs as you know….you remember what I told you?"
He turns to face me and purrs and rubs his head against mine….I'll take that as a yes
"Alright let's get it"
We walk out of the alley and I look around to see nothing but dilapidated and shoddy buildings in need of serious maintenance with very few people on the streets who turn to look my way, possibly planning something seeing a lone child in worst part of town dressed in nice clothes and without adult supervision only to drop that potential line of thinking seeing the gigantic cat gazing their way while looming over me protectively…
I make my way south along a trash covered street and see people in windows every now and then, the windows in question usually broken and the occasional ratatta scurrying just out of sight..
Walking down the street toward the market I have both hands in my front pouch pocket with each hand on a pokeball, machoke and Slowpoke incase I hear something I don't like and can bring 'em out instantly…
I finally come upon a mid sized warehouse that has seen better days with grey concrete walls and a wooden roof that looks like it would barely keep out the weather….this is it…
I take a minute to look around and silently psych myself up as Persian is looking around with borderline apathy but if you looked closer you could tell he was tense and ready to move at a moments notice…
With one final deep breath I head for the warehouse door that has a dull yellow grey colour with paint chips flaking off to see that it's a swinging door….again with another deep breath I grab the door handle turning it and push the door that grinds open making a painful amount of noise….I wince but let Persian take the lead as we head inside…
What greets us is large nearly empty room with grey concrete walls with different doors connected to different parts of the room and 3 fluorescent tubed lights illuminating a gruff looking older man with a cigarette sitting at a desk that looked to be falling apart and said man reading a book about hunting wailord …
The man glances our way seemingly uninterested in me but his eyes rest on Persian who just looks back at him with disinterest but again I know he would tear the man in half if he even looked like a threat to me…
There's a bit of a standoff for a second and again I'm having massive second thoughts about it before I say fuck it and make my way over to the man and stand before his desk…Persian no more than half a step from me the entire time, not taking his eyes off the man while wary of the room at the same time…
I stand in front of him barely able to see over the desk and again we just stare at each other, both of us waiting for the other to speak first and as I was about to break the silence he opens up..
"...whadya want kid…."
I reply in my heavily modified voice, sounding suspiciously close to darth Vader
"I…uggghh….heard you got some merchandise downstairs I could take a look at…"
I got the same "passcode" from 3 separate people nearly a year ago for a pack of smokes per person and I have no idea if it's changed but I'm hoping it didn't….
This place isn't the only way into the black market but it's one of the only consistent ones that came up when I was digging around for rumours when I was hustling my stolen goods back in the orphanage days..
"….that right?…."
The man with greying stubble, dressed in semi business casual attire with a white business shirt rolled up to his elbows, black trousers and comfy looking black sneakers eyes Persian instead of looking at me….his gaze bores into Persian with a bit of intensity but somehow a complete lack of emotion on his face….
"….that's a nasty looking cat you got there kid….looks like he would rip my throat out the second I twitch the wrong way…"
He finally looks away from Persian who was seemingly getting agitated at the guy, knowing he probably shouldn't keep pushing it and looks at me..
"….fifty bucks…"
I pull one hand out of my front pouch that has been in a death grip on machokes pokeball since I got in here and reach into my pocket and fished out a 100$ note before slapping it on the table, causing the man's eyebrow to raise
"We don't do change kid.."
"I'm looking to make a little money down there, possibly do some mon hunting….wondering if you'd be so kind as to point me in the right direction.."
He smirks a little before reaching over slowly to grab the money, not making big movements in front of the predator that's focused on him..
"You're looking for the hunters lodge, head straight out till you hit cloud 9 and take a left, you'll find what you're looking for if you keep goin…."
He nodes to the left to indicate at one of the doors behind him
"Third door on the left….press 391….."
I look at the door and back to him before giving him a nod and make my way over only for him to fall out before I open the door…
"….hey kid…"
I turn around
"Yeah?"
"….a word of advice, don't trust anyone down there and keep away from the areas without light….that pussy cat of your looks tough but I can guarantee you that there's tougher down there if you go looking for trouble…."
"….thanks…."
I turn back and open the door only to be met with small room with what looked like an open elevator waiting…I send Persian in first and have him jump a few times to check if it's safe before stepping in myself….it might sound like animal testing…and it kinda is….but I know Persian could rip through those doors without much trouble if it came down to it…
Stepping inside I see a button pad on the side ranging from 0-9 and figured out what the guy meant…hoping this wasn't some elaborate trap to rob people and with I punch in the numbers only for a *ding!* to freak both me and the very on alert persian out before the doors close and the elevator starts dropping…
It's only about 20 seconds before the ding jumps scares us both again due to us both being so on edge before the doors open again…it felt like eternity though…
What hits us in the face was the sound of crowds of people moving, talking, yelling and everything in between, it just sounded….busy…
Persian and myself step out of the elevator to see a mini city that's clearly underground full of life and a proportional amount of sketchy looking people, some wearing masks, some not but pretty much everyone I see I front of me looks about how you would expect them to…
Where I came out looked like some sort of flea market? Tables and road side stores set up everywhere with people shouting to sell their "wares". probably either fake or stolen because why else would they be selling shit in an apparently literal underground flea market..
I notice more than a few people stop to stare at me with seemingly with greed in their eyes only to have that greed cool down once they see Persian hovering over me like a mother hen….having a Pokémon is a deterrent in general but my Persian? He was a specimen…way bigger than your average puty tat with the muscle and angry face to match…
Of course all of those sketchy people looking my way had Pokémon of their own…a few spearow, ekans, ratatta and even a raticate or two but I'm guessing it might not be worth the fight to rob a kid with something like that backing you up if my particular Persian was on my side I guess….
I take a step out and try to memorise my surroundings and see a straight shot up the street, apparently the direction of the place I was looking for but….I was always a sucker for a flea market….you can always find cool shit there…so….it wouldn't hurt to just look around right?