intro post 8)

[0189d8cf]

[ A lone figure can be seen walking up the western beach of Ohritori, past Banyan Labs and towards Turnbloom, carrying a backpack and dressed warmly (beanie, turtleneck, cargo pants, gloves and boots) despite the tropical weather. They seem to be talking to themself, looking around with jerky, birdlike head movements, and poking at a classic Pokégear on their left arm. ]

"Now ain't this a pickle. Don't think I stumbled into weirdspace, don't think I'd be eligible to bubble up twice in a lifetime, but if this beach is in INDIGO I'll eat my hat. And that means... drat. The POKéGEAR's no use either. 'Area unknown'? Come on. It's not even doing anything interesting."

[ They over-enunciate the words "Indigo" and "Pokégear", as if each proper noun were its own sentence. ]

"Well! Nothing for it! Guess I'll hoof it 'til I meet someone to ask for directions."

[ With that, they start whistling a tune and continue on their way... ]

((OOC: Heh, been a long time since I wrote this character... or did LJRP at all, for that matter. But I saw advert posts about Faraway Place and decided I might as well dip my feet back in. Hi all! ))

Comments

[gold_drum]

Gold and Umbar both watch Mandy's shock with some amusement. Reactions like that never get old!

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's a common enough reaction," Umbar replies flippantly. "People often get surprised enough to swear out loud, so yours was a fairly mild reaction, honestly. Anyway, Mandy, was it? If I may ask, what do you do for a living?"

Umbar goes for casual small talk to hopefully gauge Mandy a bit more. Meanwhile, Gold's standing to the side, realizing it's time for boring adult talk and he's got nothing to contribute to it, so he waits quietly.

[0189d8cf]

[ Mandy seems to relax a little at the question. It's one they've answered many times before, and they comfortably slip back into the script for it. ]

Owner proprietor, JADE CITY RUMMAGE, on FOREST ROW in WEST CELADON. Used equipment bought and sold, bulk consumables, special orders in a pinch. Started out just as a POKéDEX repair shop. I'm mighty fond of the classic BILL's PC era stuff, before DEVON CORP standardized the protocols and made it all locked down and boring; I wanted to help folks who've still got their originals keep 'em up and running. But we've grown quite a bit since then. We're no CELADON DEPARTMENT STORE, of course, but we don't need to be. Proud of everyone on the team who made it happen.

[ They look a little wistful at that. ]

Hopefully they'll be able to manage the place without me. Given what your friend just said about DRIFTing and such, it might be quite a while before I can get back...

[ They shrug. ]

Well! Better look at the bright side. Maybe I'll rebuild the business here, once I get to the nearest town!

[gold_drum]

Umbar nods and smiles politely throughout Mandy's explanation, though he's a bit out of his element. Gold's staring with a completely blank face, even though he understands more of it than Umbar.

"...I see! So... you're speaking of COMPUTERS and the like, correct?" Umbar asks uncertainly, but keeps his polite smile. It seems Mandy's speaking style is a little infectious. "All this modern technology is a bit unfamiliar to me, to be honest, but it sounds like a wonderful shop!"

"So you like weird old Pokedexes?" Gold asks bluntly, then takes off his backbag and starts digging through it. "Mine's kinda like that, I guess! I thought it was normal, but..." he pauses, making a slightly troubled face (Professor Banyan told him it's fine to call him "Uncle Beni" but he's not yet comfortable with saying it...) before continuing. "Professor Banyan said it was so weird he couldn't update it, or something? He gave me a new Pokedex, but I've still got the old one..." He keeps digging through his bag, setting it down on the ground. Huh, were there this many items here before...?

Umbar looks at Gold, but it seems like he'll be at that for a while, so he turns back to continue his conversation with Mandy.

"I'm sure your business would find plenty of customers here," Umbar says brightly. "After all, with so many people from different worlds here, there must be many different kinds of... technologies? Machines? You know what I mean." He pauses, realizing something. "Oh, yes, I believe Gold forgot to mention it, but there are people from different worlds here." Probably an important thing to say to a newcomer.

[0189d8cf]

"Thank you, sir! Glad for your approval. And you're exactly right - used "computer stuff", especially portable stuff you might use in the field, have always been the core business. But before long we also branched out to basic travel equipment too, like tents and escape kits. And so many trainers come through CELADON's shopping district, almost any shop there can stock berries and REPELs and so on as a side hustle."

[ Mandy doesn't mention, of course, that they have a slight advantage when it comes to procuring those trainer-bait "bulk consumables". Speaking of which, they also notice the unusual amount of unpacking Gold is having to do. Mandy looks at the growing pile and tries to ballpark the numbers. 64, 96, 128... well! Perhaps that Pokédex he mentioned really is a pre-Devon model, and something accidentally bumped the scan button while they were talking? Gold mentioned he was from Johto, so would that make it a HANDY808? ]

"Haha, if he had trouble updating it with the local fauna, then I'll bet it's exactly the kind I'm nostalgic about! The first few generations of POKéDEXes still had the shortcuts PROF. OAK originally took to get his invention up and running... for instance, that it'd only hold 255 species at most. I can imagine the kind of problems PROF. BANYAN might've run into, trying to take it past that limit."

[ The mention of "different worlds" stops Mandy short, though. Once again, they're suddenly out of their depth; they'd heard rumors of that type of thing in other regions - Opelucid in Unova, or whatever that nonsense was with Team Rocket's brief expansion to Alola - but that kind of thing had never come to Kanto, as far as they knew, so they'd never bothered to investigate or think about it. Although... ]

"Now that you mention it, that would sure shine some light on a chat I had earlier, with a girl on the coast. I couldn't figure out what in the world she was talking about half the time, but if what she was talking about was her world, that stands to reason, doesn't it?"

[ Mandy finds their mind racing at the possibilities. Umbar's right; if this is a region where people might show up from anywhen and anywhere - even mutually exclusive anywheres - then that means spare parts become at once more obtainable and more precious. More importantly, Gold is proof that among those transplanted immigrants, there'll be active demand for the oldest equipment again... the kind that can still underflow or glitzerpop under the right conditions. They let just a little of that excitement show on their face. ]

"Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Gotta get into town and get myself situated first! No sense putting the cart before the MUDSDALE."

[gold_drum]

"Ah, I see! A store with many purposes, then," Umbar says, nodding. Berries and Repels he understands, better than computers. It all seems very... normal. Umbar still can't tell what exactly Mandy is, but they seem mostly harmless. Still, the odd, uncomfortable feeling of something not-quite-right lingers.

Though, when Mandy's attention is drawn to Gold's unpacking, Umbar takes a look too, and blinks. That's far too many copies of TM49 Fury Cutter for anyone to be carrying.

"...Gold, how did you come across those?" he asks, just in case. He doesn't know what Gold was up to before encountering him, after all, and it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that he'd acquire a few (or a lot) of extras.

"I didn't!" Gold says, annoyed. "I got one from Bugsy, I dunno why there's so many now!" He dumps an armload of them onto the ground. "Maybe I can sell them or something..." He keeps digging through his bag. Where the heck is that Pokedex?

"Yeah, the Professor said my Pokedex was all weird and like, weirdly programmed or something? And you're right, he said it didn't have space!" Gold grins, a bit awed at Mandy guessing totally right. "And it used a lot of the space it had for, like, useless stuff like changing the way it talks and, uh..." He tries to remember what Professor Banyan told him. "There was a lot of stuff for, like... making it not break when it encounters something weird? Failsaves? I dunno, it was complicated, but I bet you get it more than me."

While Gold is searching for his Pokedex, Umbar decides to not address the issue of the multiplied items quite yet, and continues the discussion with Mandy.

"That does sound likely. I've seen quite a few people from different worlds already, myself. For example, one girl who looked exactly like someone Gold knew, and who knew someone who looked exactly like Gold. It was quite the confusing conversation before they realized they were from different worlds!" Umbar chuckles at the memory. "So it's perhaps best not to take any assumptions for granted in this region." And as Umbar says it, he finds himself wondering if perhaps he should be taking his own advice. Maybe whatever is off about Mandy is simply normal wherever they're from. They do seem like just an ordinary shopkeeper, excited to follow their passion for their job.

"Found it!!" Gold shouts in triumph, interrupting Umbar's thoughts and anything else he was about to respnd to Mandy with. Gold stands up, Pokedex in hand. It is, as Mandy suspected, a HANDY808 model, or at least something that looks just like it on the outside. Gold opens up the Pokedex and stares at the screen, surprised. "Huh, that's weird. Hey, is this broken? What's it doing?" he asks, pushing the Pokedex into Mandy's hands, a little scared that he might've broken it on accident.

The Pokedex shows just a white screen, no UI, with black text in the middle stating "MISSING NUMBER encountered. Scan aborted. Please contact PROF. OAK for information."

1/2

[0189d8cf]

[ Mandy takes one glance at the screen and grimaces a bit. Best to get this cleared away quickly, just in case that word rings a bell for Gold's... still somewhat intimidating guardian. ]

Ah! Yep, sure seen this before, my old HANDY505'll do it too sometimes when it tries to scan something that doesn't register properly as a POKéMON. Just a moment...

[ Mandy fishes out a bit of wire from one of their innumerable cargo pants pockets and begins fiddling with something under a plastic cover. After a bit of effort, the Pokédex's screen goes blank and starts rebooting. They spend a few more tense moments waiting for the reboot, and then, once the UI returns, scrolling through the SEEN index to make sure the entries there look normal. Finally satisfied, Mandy breathes a sigh of relief and returns to their accustomed smile. ]

2/2

[0189d8cf]

There you go! Should be all better. Just make sure your POKéDEX is properly latched closed before you pack it away from now on; that way, you won't accidentally trigger scans when there's no POKéMON nearby. The good news is, if you do see an error like that, it's usually harmless. There's a little reset button under the battery cover, here —

[ Mandy indicates the spot, pointing at it with the bit of wire, and then closes up the Pokédex and hands it back to Gold with a grin. ]

— and if you just use a bent paperclip to poke it, it'll clear the error and restart the electronics. Right as rain!

1/2

[gold_drum]

Gold watches with curiosity as Mandy reboots the Pokedex, constantly standing on his toes and hopping a bit, trying to see it better.

"Whoaaa..." he says quietly in awe as he watches. He smiles when Mandy hands his Pokedex back. "Thanks..." He pauses, trying to think of what to call Mandy. Not mister or miss, so he settles on: "Mandy! So it works now?"

He points the Pokedex at Umbar and presses the scan button to test it right away.

2/2

[gold_drum]

"MISSING NUMBER encountered. Scan aborted. Please contact PROF. OAK for information," a mechanic voice rings out.

Both Gold and Umbar blink in confusion.

"That's weird. It used to scan Umbar right... And the voice is kinda different..." Gold mumbles to himself, pressing another button. "Oh! It went back to normal!" he says, expression brightening immediately, turning to show it to Mandy. The screen is showing the regular Pokedex UI, and the SEEN index looks normal too. "Look! There's no need for paperclips after all! Is that one of those failsaves?"

"How fortunate," Umbar says, leaning in closer to see it. "I do wonder why it did that again. Perhaps there's something in the air, affecting it?" He slowly looks at Mandy pointedly, before giving a friendly smile. "I'm sure our resident Pokedex expert has some guesses, hm?"

(Unbeknownst to either of them, the Professor Oak of Gold's world did a lot of research into glitch Pokemon and made sure his Pokedex never freezes fully around them. Also unknown to them, the sixth item in Gold's backpack is now his bicycle. Good thing backpacks can fit so many of the same item with no problem!)

1/2

[0189d8cf]

((ooc: oh, missingno-duped key items are funny. be prepared for it to look like there's only one bike... except if you take it out or deposit it in a PC, there's still one bike left over, Bartholomew Cubbins style!))

[ Mandy is this close to panicking. Gold wasn't even scanning them! He'd pointed his Pokédex at Umbar! Was it seriously doing some kind of 360 degree sweep whenever you activated it, just sort of scanning opportunistically? If it was a Professor Oak original, it would theoretically make sense - he was handing them out to new Trainers who might not know what to look for, so the device might as well scan everything if possible - but... gah. How to even handle this? ]

2/2

[0189d8cf]

[ No. No. They force themself to relax - at least outwardly - as much as possible. There's got to be some sort of plausible explanation they can suggest that won't give the whole game away. ]

"Well! It's. Certainly not the result I expected! Guess it's speculation time, then. No assumptions, like UMBAR said. Hm..."

[ Mandy snaps their fingers, coming up with an idea finally. ]

"...GOLD, when you first came to ULSAI, how long was it before you used that POKéDEX for the first time?

"The little I heard about ALOLA's trouble with the ULTRA BEASTS involved some people radiating some... weird energy after falling through a wormhole. Maybe it's detecting that on me, somehow, since I DRIFTed here an hour or two ago at most? I assume your POKéDEX has worked on at least some of the native POKéMON since you came here, so it'd have to be something left over from the journey itself, not just that the POKéMON you're scanning are from a different world than you."

[ Mandy is pretty sure it doesn't work that way, even if they never paid too much attention to all that Faller business; weren't those folks still attracting Ultra Beasts weeks later? But it'd be a way to correctly pin the issue on Mandy's own presence, without making it sound like something intrinsic to them. That is, unless Gold had used his Pokédex within the first couple hours after Drifting in. In that case, the fact that he didn't trip the failsafe himself, until now, would immediately debunk the theory. ]

[gold_drum]

((ooc: oh nice, schrodinger's multiplying bike. XD))

Ultra Beasts? Wormholes? Gold tilts his head. This is all way above his understanding, but he assumes Mandy knows what they're talking about.

"Umm... I did use my Pokedex after arriving though?" he says, a bit confused, but the memory of that first day here is still fresh in his mind. "I appeared on the beach, then met Nami, who mentioned some Pokemon I dunno, so I checked my Pokedex but it didn't know it either..." He recounts the events, mostly to himself, pondering. "I didn't scan anything though so maybe that woulda happened if I did."

"It sounds like a perfectly reasonable explanation," Umbar says brightly, having kept a close eye on Mandy's reactions throughout the conversation. He can't be certain, but he gets the feeling that Mandy's not a bad person at least, despite whatever secret they're clearly hiding. He'd be fine with dropping this and letting Mandy keep their facade up. Still, he can't help but ask "I don't suppose that energy could be responsible for that item in Gold's bag multiplying?" while pointing at the pile of TMs on the ground. At this point, he's just curious to see how Mandy talks their way out of this one.

[0189d8cf]

[ Okay. Umbar is going along with it. Gold is going along with Umbar. And so, Mandy gets their composure back just in time to not visibly react when Umbar asks the follow-up question. Does he already know? Did he know from the moment that 'dex said "MISSING NUMBER" out loud? Is he just toying with them? ]

[ ...even if so, Umbar isn't challenging the story where Gold can hear. That's good. It means, no matter what he suspects, he at least doesn't consider them an immediate threat, or a danger to Gold. That's... that's the most important thing here. They try to look casual and confident. They can do this. ]

"UMBAR, sir, despite some niche technical skills, I'm no PROFESSOR or scientist. Everything I know about ULTRA SPACE is stuff they said on the news, and they didn't mention anything like that. But if there was that type of side effect, I doubt they'd've brought it up. The FALLERs were already getting harassed by weird alien POKéMON; it'd just encourage regular humans to bother them too."

[ Mandy doesn't wince, but they want to. The theory sounds good. It makes sense at first glance. But it'd fall apart if you picked at it at all. If Ultra Space energy or whatever intrinsically wrote to possessions, then Ultern's locals would have noticed it; it'd be considered a normal part of Drifting. Since it isn't... this will probably be enough, in hindsight, to convince Umbar that something else is up, if he wasn't already convinced. Even if he doesn't think Mandy was deliberately fibbing. ]

[ Well! Nothing for it, but to see how he reacts, and whether Mandy's implicit argument – that "a person ambiently duplicating items" is the kind of anomaly best kept a secret, for that person's own sake – is enough to convince him to keep a lid on things. ]

[gold_drum]

"Ah, I see," Umbar says, non-committally. He can definitely see the holes in this theory, but he's willing to play dumb. "Well, I suppose I know nothing about this "Ultra Space" you talked about..." Though he has heard of Alola's anomalies, the name humans have given it isn't familiar to him, so he can technically claim that. "Your theory could just as well be true, as far as I know."

Unfortunately, while Umbar is perfectly willing to let it go, Gold has no reason to do so.

"Huh? No it can't," Gold says directly, looking at Umbar like he's being dumb. "I dunno about Ultra Space or Fallers or whatever, but I haven't seen any weird alien Pokemon and my items haven't multiplied when I meet a new person drifting to Ultern until now." He pauses, then looks at Mandy with a newfound shine in his eyes. "Wait, was that you? Do you have a secret special power to make more items??" Though he's excited, he makes sure to lower the volume of his voice, since it seems like a secret.

Umbar stands there silently with a complicated expression, a frozen, polite smile that is both awkward because of Gold's straightforwardness, and sharp because he's keeping an eye on what Mandy might do now that Gold may have discovered something they didn't want revealed.

[0189d8cf]

[ Mandy's smile freezes as soon as Gold speaks up. They don't even notice Umbar's awkward expression. They're already grasping their touque and trying with all their might to pull it so far down their head that they disappear inside it. (It's not working.) They begin muttering something to themself, which Umbar might notice means the same thing in two languages at once. ]

"...nononononono..."

[ Sixteen years. Sixteen years since the last time they were rumbled this badly. And all it took was an alternate universe's Oak making slightly different design decisions, and an unlucky break or two. There's nowhere to run. Word will get around unless these two take efforts to keep it secret. And how will they know what they need to keep secret? It's not just the out-of-bounds quantity write. Everything weird about this meeting has been hint after hint, and one of those hints might let the bigger picture slip, depending on what other people who Drifted here might already know. ]

[ Finally, Mandy manages to croak out an answer, glancing around them fitfully at the Route 1 walking path that runs past the house. ]

"Please. Can we please go someplace. Private. Just the three of us. Before I answer that. It's... it's personal."

[gold_drum]

When Mandy's smile freezes up, Gold immediately notices, and freezes a little himself. He knows expressions like this. He... might've said something he shouldn't have.

"Oh, um, it's okay, I'm not gonna..."

But then Mandy starts muttering to themself, and Gold shuts up. Oh no, oh crap. Were they having an attack of some kind? Was it Gold's fault? Of course it was Gold's fault, why wouldn't he ruin things? And Mandy was so nice too. Gold hated himself sometimes.

On the outside, Gold just stares at Mandy, expression a blank mask of no emotion, hand hovering, not daring to try and comfort Mandy. Umbar, too, watches, unsure what to do.

"Okay," Gold responds when Mandy finally speaks up, nodding, still expressionless. "I'm not gonna tell anyone. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry as well," Umbar says gently. "I may have prodded too much." He did notice Mandy seemingly speaking both human and Pokemon language at once, which is... not something he's encountered before. However, that's not important at the moment. Umbar glances at Gold, who doesn't seem to be ready to make decisions at the moment, and then turns back to Mandy. "How about we head to Professor Banyan's laboratory? He's out at the moment, so we should have privacy."

[0189d8cf]

"Thanks. You're... a good kid. Sharp."

[ Mandy gives a weak chuckle, and follows Umbar and Gold wherever "Professor Banyan's laboratory" happens to be. Now that it's inevitable, Mandy is... adjusting to the idea of somebody knowing their secret, and is trying to decide exactly how many of the blank spots to fill in. ]

"Does PROF. BANYAN have security cameras? Might want to explain it different, depending."

[gold_drum]

"No, I'm not," Gold states in response to the first comment, starting to head towards Professor Banyan's house, still visible from where they're standing. Umbar frowns, but Gold continues with "He's got some security cameras, yeah. I bet you could disable them."

"Ah... Gold?" Umbar says, a bit awkward, then points back at the pile of TM 49's lying on the ground where they'd all been standing earlier. "You left those behind."

"Oh, yeah, I'll grab them," Gold says, expression still unchanging, and rushes off to pick them up. Once he's out of hearing distance, Umbar turns to Mandy, leaning down to be face to face with them.

"As much as I feel sorry for you," Umbar whispers, "I'm sure you understand I must keep Gold as my first priority. So I'd like to state directly, if you misuse Gold's kindness in any way, you will die." He pauses, then chuckles, tension disappearing. There's a bit of laughter in his voice as he leans back a little and says "I'm sorry, that's a bit of an overstatement. I've just wanted to say that, that's all. You're in no real danger." He glances at Gold, expression turning somber. "I'm just worried about him."

[0189d8cf]

"No worries, kid. It's fine. I'll just explain with words, instead of making a show of it."

[ Mandy watches him run off, not paying attention to Umbar until startling as he leans down. They flinch at his threat, but don't react much more than that; they're sorta out of adrenaline at this point. ]

"UMBAR, sir, I'm glad you're looking out for him. Cross my heart, I don't wanna hurt the kid – I seem to have hit a nerve just now, and I'm sorry about that – but even if I had wanted to, I wouldn't dare."

[ They go quiet for a bit, thinking over how to phrase what they want to say next, so long as they've got Umbar alone. Normally, they wouldn't be so worried about folks stumbling into strange happenings accidentally. But after today, Umbar might take it personally if they neglected to pass along a warning... and if they told Gold directly, it'd put the idea in his head, which might be dangerous on its own – kids so often get the urge to do exactly what they were told not to do. So Mandy would have to cover it now, with Umbar alone, while they had the chance. ]

"Since you are lookin' out for him... well, this'll make more sense to you when we all sit down for our talk, but... there's other weird stuff out there – weird like I'm weird – that may not be as safe as little ol' me. If he goes to a GAME CORNER, you keep him away from the branded COIN CASEs, okay? Just keep the tokens in a bag or something. There's a... let's say a bad compatibility, potentially, with that POKéDEX of his. Wouldn't want him to trip over it by accident."

[gold_drum]

"I'm glad to hear it," Umbar says, then sighs. "Really, it's not personal at all... Or even about anything you did, right now. To be honest, my worries are more about him. I suppose I'm... being oversensitive. Don't worry about it."

Being a father figure to a human child, especially one as troubled as Gold, is difficult no matter how legendary one is.

Umbar listens to the warning about the Coin Case, and his worries grow by the word. Though Gold has luckily bypassed the Game Corner in Goldenrod without getting a Coin Case, and has no interest in trading real money for fake play money, Umbar isn't actually aware of that. In fact, he thinks a Coin Case sounds like something Gold might be very interested in. He glances at Gold, who's still gathering up TMs.

"...Just out of curiosity, if he did have a Coin Case already... Would you be able to tell? Is it a very noticable effect?" Umbar asks, very concerned.

[0189d8cf]

"Hm. I guess I can see why you'd worry, though. He's a sweet kid, but all of a sudden it's like he's stuck on a script. I'm still no expert on humans, even after all this time, but the only times I've seen that before... well, I get the sense he musta gone through something pretty bad, at some point, before you came along."

[ Mandy also keeps an eye on Gold, watching for signs that he's on his way back. If they're going to explain Coin Case resonance to Umbar, they'll have to make it quick. ]

"It's not a gradual thing, if that's what you mean. Anything that'll happen will happen all at once. What you specifically gotta look out for is this: if he plays recorded POKéMON CRYs from that POKéDEX, it'll set up... vibrations, let's say, in some COIN CASEs. The ones from GOLDENROD, I know are problems. The CELADON ones aren't. Dunno other regions. If he opens the CASE before the vibrations have died out... well, that's when the trouble starts. And it'll be the kind of trouble where you'll notice right away something's gone wrong - something unnatural - though there's too many factors for me to predict what, exactly. At that point... best you can do is get GOLD to fall asleep as soon as possible. That'll usually put things back to normal, if you do it fast enough, and if he's got a team member with HYPNOSIS to put him under who hasn't been taken out by the effect. But better to avoid the situation entirely, if you can. Ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, for things like this."

[gold_drum]

"Yes, you could say that..." Umbar says vaguely, not wanting to give any details on Gold's past. "He's managed to talk to us about some of it, which I believe is a good sign. But all I can really do is try and make sure his present is better than his past."

Umbar does also notice the way Mandy used the term 'humans' but isn't surprised. It just proves what he already suspected.

He listens to their explanation, expression grim.

"Goodness... Yes, that sounds worrying. But it's good to know it's not an instant problem simply from owning it, and can be prevented." He pauses to think. "So, in other words... If he plays Pokemon cries from the Pokedex, I should make sure he never opens the Coin Case? Until, perhaps, the next day or so? That shouldn't be too much of an issue." Umbar's certain he an distract Gold if that ever does happen. "Unfortunately our team can only cause Confusion, so prevention may be the only option."

In the meantime, Gold's done with his TM gathering, and is zipping up his bag and about to head over.

[0189d8cf]

"Yep, that should work. Probably don't even need a whole day of waiting; a couple hours would almost always be enough. But then, I can't blame you for wanting a safety buffer."

[ Mandy looks out at Gold coming back, and a wistful expression creeps onto their face. If these two are gonna be the ones who know... well, it could've been a lot worse. They manage a ghost of a smile, even, as Gold catches back up. A tired and somewhat defeated smile, but not a forced one. ]

"Alright. Lead the way, you two."

[gold_drum]

Umbar nods, but doesn't say anything as Gold's coming up closer. Gold gives Mandy a smile, too, but his seems to be a fake one, too happy to have changed so suddenly.

"Alright! Let's go!" Gold says with a bright grin, pointing at Professor Banyan's house, and starts heading that way with determination.

Umbar glances at Mandy, a somewhat meaningful look in his eyes, then follows along, walking. A walking Lugia is very much a less majestic sight than a flying or a swimming Lugia, but Umbar pads along, feet flapping, arms tucked behind his back.

When they arrive at Professor Banyan's lab (which is a regular-looking house covered in hibiscus, surrounded by a garden somebody clearly takes good care of, and has a rocking chair at the front deck) Gold turns to Umbar.

"You wanna go back in the Pokeball?" he asks. "You don't really fit inside otherwise."

"Ah, no, I think this conversation would be best had in person," Umbar says. Then, with no warning, a puff of silver feathers and shimmering soft light appears and fades in seconds, and in the Lugia's place there stands a human. "This will do," he says, voice unchanged.

"Oh, wow," Gold says, blinking. "You can do that too?" He doesn't sound too surprised, though.

1/2

[0189d8cf]

[ Mandy nods in response to Umbar's glance, and - as with many things they've encountered today - files Gold's eggshell smile away for later. Following along behind, they ponder that keeping a shop was, in a way, always human psychology on "easy mode"; people would explain what they want (though not always clearly or politely) and you'd either try to make it happen or else tell them "no". This type of thing... well. They'd already said their piece on it: they're glad this boy has Umbar, and the rest of his team, who'll have the time to get to know him well. In a sense, this sort of thing is the best argument for why teams exist, isn't it? That old story they like to tell in Sinnoh, about Pokémon being ready in the grasses, on the Routes, so the humans who really need their help can find them. ]