Pokémon: The Seeker's Tale (old)

[This is the original version of this story. The new and (hopefully) improved version can be found here: https://pastebin.com/kNpyFATA]


The Seeker’s Tale


	“Intruder alert! Intruder alert!”

	The Purrloin had hoped not to hear an alarm the instant she set foot on the grey pavement of the alleyway. Yet there it was, a high and singsong warning cry that echoed throughout the area, foiling any hope of a peaceful and unopposed entrance.

	“Just once,” the Purrloin grumbled, “I’d like to visit an alley and get a warm welcome for a change. That too much to ask?”

	 She sighed and dropped her stance to all fours, then tensed up in preparation of some sort of attack. She waited as the voice ceased its warning cry and the alley fell silent, but no attack came. Instead, all she saw was a Pidove, which hopped off a rooftop near the other end of the alley and swooped towards her. Before reaching her, the bird swerved upward and began to circle overhead, repeating the same cry she had heard before. She realized that he must have been the source of the first announcement. Knowing that, she felt a strong urge to leap up and swat him out of the air, but she decided against it. First impressions were important, after all, and attacking the denizens of this alley seemed like a bad idea.

	Even so, she made sure to voice her irritation. Looking up at the bird, she hissed, “Keep it down. No reason to freak out. I’m just taking a walk.”

	The Pidove stopped circling her and hovered in place above her head, remaining well out of reach of her claws. “That may be,” he said, “but it’s my job to let everyone know when somebody new comes into the alley. We can’t let anyone dangerous sneak up on us.”

	“I’m not dangerous,” said the Purrloin. “At least, not when I’m in a good mood, which I was until you started yelling.”

	At that, the Pidove flapped his wings harder and moved up a few inches away from the Purrloin, making her smirk. “But that’s not to say I’m looking for a fight,” she added. “I’m just exploring.”

	“Tell that to the Southpaws,” said the bird. “Which reminds me, they really should be here by now. What’s taking them so—oh, there they are! Stay put, cat, and keep your claws in.”

	The bird and the cat looked to see a trio of Pokémon rush around a corner of a building more than halfway down the alley. In their haste to round the corner, they began bumping into one another and almost fell in a heap. Irritated voices reverberated down the alley as they scolded each other for their recklessness, but they soon fell silent and refocused on running towards the newcomer beneath the hovering Pidove. As they drew nearer, the Purrloin saw they were a Poochyena, a Rockruff, and a Shinx. They all looked annoyed and had their eyes narrowed as they hurried towards her.

	“They’re not here to hurt you,” the Pidove told the Purrloin. “Unless you hurt them, of course. They’re the alley’s guards, and they just want to make sure you’re not trouble.”

	The Purrloin sat back on her haunches and relaxed as she watched the trio approach. Once they drew near, the Pidove flew over their heads and soared back up to the rooftop he had come from to begin with. The Purrloin watched him go before turning her attention back to the trio just in time to see them stop a few paces away. They stood in a row with the Poochyena in the middle, but the Dark-type dog soon took a step forward and addressed the Purrloin.

	“This is Dyad Alley,” said the Poochyena in a scratchy male voice. “State your name, if you’ve got one, and your business here, if you’ve got any.”

	“I’m Lavender,” the Purrloin answered flatly, “and I’m just exploring. I only came to this town recently, and I still haven’t seen all of it. I don’t want any trouble. I just wanted to check this alley out.”

	She waited to see how the trio would reply. For a few seconds, they remained silent and just watched her, as if trying to read her mind. Lavender tried to remember if Poochyena, Rockruff, or Shinx could learn Mind Reader, but she believed they could not, and hoped she was right.

	“I think she’s telling the truth,” said the Rockruff at last. She sounded rather quiet and calm, and continued, “I say we let her in.”

	“I agree,” said the Shinx. “Besides, if she does anything bad, we can stop her.”

	“That’s for sure,” the Poochyena said, grinning at Lavender widely enough to show off plenty of his sharp fangs. “Alright, you’re free to roam around the alley, Purrloin, but don’t cause any trouble. If you do, we’ll make you regret it.”

	As he spoke, his voice grew low and menacing. As he finished, Lavender yawned. The Poochyena growled angrily, then turned and stomped away, telling his companions to follow him. They did so, trotting down the alley and turning the corner around which they had emerged from earlier, albeit much more carefully this time. Lavender watched them go with a grin before getting to all fours and resuming her walk into the alley.

	Now that no Pokémon were accosting her, Lavender took the chance to examine the alley. She looked first at the buildings lining the way. They were all either two or three stories tall, much smaller than the giant structures that she had heard existed in human settlements elsewhere. Still, she found these buildings to be impressively tall. They were certainly bigger than anything she had known in the fields surrounding this town, which she had learned was called Faluspar. She had only come to the town a few weeks ago, when she left her lifelong home in the fields in favor of Faluspar Town, hoping to seek out adventure there—and, more importantly, treasure.

	But as she soon determined, this alley was clearly lacking in either. The only thing of note was a three-story building made of red brick ahead and to the left of her, which had a pair of large and complex black metal structures attached to its side. She knew these were called fire escapes, and she thought they could serve as a useful way to reach the various windows in the building’s wall, but she decided not to get ahead of herself. As she thought before, first impressions were indeed important, and she was not about to risk getting known as a thief. Not yet, at least.

	After looking at the buildings, Lavender focused on the alley itself. A few dumpsters and boxes were set against the walls, along with scattered rubbish, but for the most part the alley seemed rather clean and orderly. She saw no Pokémon in the open, other than the Pidove, who still sat perched on the roof he had flown to when the Southpaws confronted her. She began to wonder if any other Pokémon lived in the area besides the four she had seen.

	She only made it about halfway through the alley before she got her answer. From somewhere above and to the left of her came a feminine, mature, and smooth voice she did not recognize.

	“Well, you’re a new face! And from outside Faluspar, too. Even better!”

	Lavender stopped and looked for the source of the voice. She wondered how this individual could know she was not native to the town, but chose to ignore that for the time being and focus on finding the speaker. Thankfully, she was easy to spot. Standing in plain view on the bottom landing of the leftmost fire escape, next to a retractable ladder, was a Meowth with a grey coat, marking her as a native of distant Alola. Lavender had not expected to see a Pokémon from a land like that, and looked up at the Meowth with interest—partially due to her being Alolan, but also because she had no idea where this Pokémon had come from, or how she had gotten onto the fire escape in the short time Lavender had looked away from it. Two more questions to answer later, thought the Purrloin.

	“Alola!” the Meowth said in greeting as Lavender continued to watch her. “Say, if it’s not too much trouble, would you mind coming up here, ke ‘olu‘olu? I would send down this ladder to help you, but alas, it is not exactly designed for a Meowth to operate.”

	“I can find a way,” said Lavender, and indeed, she already had one in mind. The brick wall to which the fire escape was attached looked promising. She approached the wall and examined it closely. From what she could tell, it seemed like the bricks and the gaps between them could afford a good number of handholds and footholds, enough to scale the wall with enough skill and caution. Two things she had in abundance, so she thought.

	Lavender backed away from the wall, took a deep breath, then jumped at the wall and reached out. She caught hold of the tops of two bricks, and her feet found purchase atop two others. Though all the bricks were mostly flush with the mortar between them, they stood out enough to let her maintain her hold. She wasted no time in clambering up the wall until she was almost level with the bottom platform of the fire escape, and only a foot or two off to the side. After another deep breath, she pushed off from the wall at an angle and reached for the fire escape. She grabbed the edge less firmly than she had hoped, and she almost lost her grip as momentum swung her back and forth, but she held on with only a slight grimace as she waited for her swinging to cease.

	“Akahele!” said the Meowth, taking a step towards her. “Don’t fall! Do you need assistance?”

	“I’ve got it,” the Purrloin replied through clenched teeth. Once her swinging came to a stop, she pulled herself up with a grunt and got onto the landing at last. She sat still and took a few more deep breaths before standing up. When she did, the Meowth walked over to her and crossed her arms.

	“That was close,” she said. “Do you do that sort of thing often?”

	“It looked closer than it really was,” said the Purrloin. “And yeah, I climb like that a lot.”

	“Impressive,” the Meowth said. Then, with a smirk, she added: “But rather pupule, as well.”

	Lavender cocked her head and frowned. “I have no idea what that means.”

	The Meowth shrugged. “Maybe it is best you don’t. However, it certainly would be best if you know why I called you up here. Doubtless, you were wondering that too?” Lavender gave a nod, and the Meowth continued. “This is why: we rarely get malihini, or newcomers, in Dyad Alley. But I enjoy meeting these Pokémon and hearing their stories, especially if they hail from the wilds. And you do, based on your scent.”

	“My scent?” Lavender asked with a start. “What sce—”

	“And so,” the Meowth said quickly, “I was hoping we could simply take some time to talk story. Pokémon from the wilds always have such interesting tales to tell.”

	“Maybe others do,” Lavender said, “but I’m not so sure I have anything interesting to talk about.”

	“Oh, no need to act so modest. Just talk about anything—I’m always willing to listen to a Pokémon from the wilds. And besides, it would not be only you talking. I was planning to repay you by explaining more about this town of Faluspar, and especially Dyad Alley below. I live with my trainer on the uppermost floor of this building, you see, and he’s so busy that I often have time to myself to come out here and spark the alley. I know much about it and its residents.”

	“Well, I didn’t really have any other plans,” said Lavender, sitting down. “I wanted to explore the alley, but if you’re going to tell me about it, I guess I could just hear what you have to say instead. Let’s get talking.”

	The Meowth leaned against a pole of the fire escape’s railing and smiled at the Purrloin. “Maika‘i—good! By the way, I realize I never told you my name. ʻO Duchess koʻu inoa.”

	Lavender frowned. “Long name.”

	The Meowth paused in confusion, then gave a chuckle. “No, my name is simply Duchess. What I said means ‘my name is Duchess’.”

	“You should’ve just said that, then.”

	“E kala mai ia‘u,” said Duchess with a shrug. She quickly added, “I mean, sorry. If you are born and raised in Alola, you pick up on the language that the humans use there. Hearing them left its mark on me. I sometimes emulate their language on accident, so I apologize in advance for any confusion you may suffer as a result.”

	“Apology accepted, I guess,” said Lavender.

	“Mahalo.”

	“And right away, I’m back to being confused.”

	Duchess sighed. “That meant ‘thank you’,” she said. “Now, let’s get back on track: what is your name?”

	Lavender told her, and Duchess gave the Purrloin a smile in return. “That’s a nice name. Well, now that we’ve introduced ourselves, how about you tell me a bit more about yourself?”

	So began their chat. Lavender spoke of her life in the wilds, where she had lived with her parents, who were bred and later released by breeders in the Ranchlands to the south, after which they found a quiet patch of field where they could live peacefully. Lavender was born there, and as she grew older, so too did she grow tired of life in the fields. She eventually decided to go on an adventure to the nearby Faluspar Town, in order to become a seeker of adventure and anything else of interest. Duchess listened closely and asked some questions, always sure to encourage Lavender to keep talking.

	For Duchess’ part, she spoke at length about Alola and her life in Paniola Ranch. Humans bred her with the intent to raise her as a show Pokémon, though she never succeeded in that role. Then one day, a human visited the ranch to find an Alolan Meowth he could adopt as a companion. He took a liking to Duchess, as she did to him, so the breeders let him take her back to his home in Faluspar, where they lived happily together. But he frequently had to leave the apartment on business, so Duchess had a lot of time to herself. Whenever she did not spend it sleeping, she would spend it on the windowsill or the fire escape outside the apartment, where she could observe the alley and speak with its residents.

	“Believe me, it completely negates the boredom,” the Meowth added.

	Lavender listened with interest, for she enjoyed the opportunity to talk with someone casually. Yet, as they spoke, she could not shake the feeling that something about it was wrong. Duchess was acting quite friendly and open, and did not hesitate to reveal all this information about her past and encourage Lavender to do the same regarding her own history. Lavender had yet to meet a Pokémon so kind and candid in the town—most of them acted rather cold, if not outright hostile, towards her. She felt ill at ease, and half-believed Duchess was either hiding something or plotting something.

	As they spoke, Lavender nonchalantly glanced around at their surroundings, down at the alley and towards the windows of the building to which the fire escape was attached, trying to see if anything was amiss. But despite her lingering paranoia that the Meowth may be attempting to distract her from something, she saw nothing suspicious. The only interesting thing she noticed was the Pidove, who generally stayed on the same rooftop she had seen him on before, but occasionally took flight and circled above the alley. At one point, he dove down and entered the alley, then took to flying back and forth, apparently keeping watch for any newcomers or trouble. Lavender kept an eye on him as he flew, but he did not seem to care about the two cats talking on the fire escape. He passed them by without a word and returned to his perch. Once he landed, Lavender looked back to Duchess, who was smiling at her.

	“That was Birds Eye,” Duchess explained, having noticed Lavender’s attention turn to the bird. “He keeps watch for intruders and alerts the Southpaws, the alley’s guards, if he sees anyone suspicious enter the alley. But I believe you are well acquainted with such a process, considering what happened to you when you came here.”

	“You saw that?” asked Lavender.

	“Of course,” Duchess said, and her smile widened, turning slightly unsettling. “I see everything.”

	The cats stared at each other for a few moments, before Duchess assumed a straight face once more. Lavender hesitated before speaking up again. “It was kind of annoying to hear him yelling and stuff,” she said.

	“Well, he does know Uproar. His father was a Noctowl, and passed down the move, so Birds Eye’s voice can be loud and carry well when he wishes it. But I admit he can be a little too loud sometimes.”

	“Apparently. Hey, out of total curiosity: what would happen if I ate him?”

	Duchess opened her mouth to reply, took a moment to register what Lavender had just said, then promptly recoiled in horror. Meanwhile, Lavender kept a straight face. “Maybe you trained Pokémon don’t know this,” she said, “but in the wild, we’ve got to eat each other to live. That’s just how it is.”

	The Meowth quickly recovered from her shock, and said, “My surprise is not because I never heard of that sort of thing before. I have met other wild Pokémon before, and they have told me that they must eat their fellow Pokémon to survive. I understand that it is a fact of life for you.”

	“Then what was with the reaction?”

	“Because eating, or even just attacking, a resident of this alley is a very lolo thing to do. Lolo means stupid or crazy, by the way.”

	“How’s it stupid or crazy? He looks pretty plump—he’d make a great meal, even though getting through all his feathers would be annoying.”

	Lavender grinned mischievously, but Duchess only glared back. It was harsher than any look Lavender had received in a while, an effect emphasized by the way Duchess had only acted kind to her thus far. It was enough to make the Purrloin stop smiling and even lower her ears nervously.

	“The reason why it is stupid,” Duchess said slowly and quietly, “is because you wouldn’t make it out of here alive if you killed him. Let me tell you something important: the residents of this alley are like a big ʻohana.”

	“I don’t know what that—”

	Duchess held up a paw to silence Lavender. “Let me finish: ‘ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind. Everyone in this alley is family to one another. We are a pack, and we all help each other, especially when one of us is in danger. You’d best remember that before you cause trouble here in Dyad Alley. If you harm one pack member, such as Birds Eye, you will answer to them all. Including me.”

	The cats stared at one another again. Lavender slowly raised her ears and calmed down, and Duchess’ gaze seemed to soften as she did.

	“Seriously, though,” said the Meowth. “Remember that.”

	“I will, okay?” Lavender said quickly. “Sorry I asked if I could eat him. I didn’t know things were so strict around here. I’ll leave him alone, promise.”

	“Good. Now, what else shall we talk about?”

	As it happened, they still had a wide variety of things to discuss, now that the brief tension between them had ended. The two cats continued to chat about their lives and experiences, losing track of time as they drifted between various topics. Eventually, Duchess began to speak of the people in her apartment building. Lavender did not feel very interested for the most part, though she deigned to let Duchess keep talking. Eventually, the Meowth began speaking about the uppermost floor of the building.

	“The window to the right leads to my apartment,” said Duchess, pointing up at the window in question. “Or, more specifically, my trainer’s, as he owns it. But the one to the left of it is inhabited by a female human and her Pokémon, and I’ve heard some interesting rumors about them.”

	“What do you mean?” asked Lavender, trying to hide her disinterest.

	“Some Pokémon around town have seen the human going to Mount Lonesome, northwest of here, with her team of Pokémon. Have you heard of that mountain?”

	“If I have, I don’t remember much about it.”

	“Then allow me to explain why it’s special. Legends say that there are many treasures hidden deep within Mount Lonesome, and apparently, that human has been delving into the caves and gathering some of those valuables. What’s more, it would appear as though she has been successful, and brought back waiwai nui to her apartment there.”

	“What does—”

	“‘Waiwai nui’ means ‘great wealth’.”

	Lavender gasped and perked up her ears, but immediately settled down and tried to act nonchalant. “Really? Interesting,” she said quietly, though her heart still beat much quicker than usual.

	“You seem excited about it,” said Duchess with a frown.

	“Hey, wouldn’t you get excited after hearing about a big bunch of treasure nearby?”

	“You have a point. Indeed, it is interesting. And what is even more interesting is that nobody has tried to cockroach it yet.”

	“Cockroach? What’s a cockroach?”

	The Meowth shrugged. “I have no idea, but the humans back home in Paniola Ranch always used to say it to mean ‘steal’. Come to think of it, they would also say they get ‘chicken skin’ when they feel scared, but don’t ask me what a chicken is.”

	“Maybe it’s related to a Combusken, or a Blaziken, or something?” Lavender said, eager to change the subject and hide her excitement.

	“That may be,” said Duchess. “I remember seeing a breeder raising some of those Pokémon in Paniola, in small kid time. Speaking of breeding, do you know what kinds of Pokémon the humans raise in the Ranchlands? I have never heard much about that topic, but perhaps one whose parents hail from there can tell me something about it. I wonder if they’re the same as the ones raised in Paniola.”

	The Purrloin welcomed the change of topics, and began to explain and talk about the various Pokémon she knew the humans bred and raised in the Ranchlands. She felt glad to have something new to talk about, if only to take her mind off the treasure in the apartment so that she would not get too excited over it. But she still thought about it, and she barely heard anything of what Duchess said beyond that point. None of it mattered to her anymore.

	Lavender knew what she was going to do that night.


***


	The moon rose and so did Lavender. With equal parts speed and caution, she repeated the steps she had taken that morning to reach the fire escape, and had no more trouble scaling the brick wall than she had last time. Once she stood on the chilly metal grating, she took a few deep breaths of the cold night air to calm down and steel herself.

	She had returned to Dyad Alley and found it almost in darkness save for the light of the half-moon coming from the eastern sky. Streetlights only threw a fraction of their light into the alleyway and all windows facing it were dark. There were no Pokémon around, as far as she could tell. Birds Eye was not on his perch, Duchess was not on the fire escape, and the Southpaws were nowhere to be seen. Dark and empty. It was a perfect setting for a burglary.

	And yet, she wondered if she should commit one. The things she had been seeking were within her grasp: treasure lay at the top of this building, and she believed she could steal it without issue. But she knew that if she went any farther, she ran the risk of getting caught and punished. If she resisted the temptation and turned back now, nobody would know that she was here, or that she was planning to steal anything. However, that would make her miss out on what she had been seeking all this time.

	Filled with indecision, Lavender could not move for some time. Then a thought came to her. She remembered something her parents had told her in her youth years ago, when she still lived with them in the fields. They told her: the night is full of opportunity, but only for those bold enough to seek it. Those words rang true now. She finally had a perfect opportunity to acquire treasure, like she had wanted since before she ever set foot in Faluspar Town. Was she bold enough to take the chance?

	“If I wasn’t,” Lavender whispered, “I wouldn’t have come here. I won’t turn back.”

	With these words, she began moving again, and slowly and silently made her way up the stairs and platforms of the fire escape.

	A still silence lingered over all of Faluspar Town, and not even her footsteps and breathing dared to break it. Only her heartbeat made any noise, and she wondered if she should worry about anyone hearing it. Nonetheless, she kept climbing, though she shuddered slightly as a cold breeze blew against her. Her short fur did little to block its chill. She looked forward to when she could return to her shelter, where she could at least be out of the cold wind, but that would have to wait. She could not back down yet, not until she had done what she came here for.

	The Purrloin eventually reached the top landing of the fire escape, and eyed the two windows, one above the right side of the landing and the other above the left side. They were both bisected by a horizontal metal bar, and she saw that the bottom half of each could open by swinging inward, using the bar as a pivot. The right one, which led to Duchess’ apartment, was closed, but the left window was opened very slightly. Lavender could easily push it open farther and sneak inside.

	“That seems a bit too easy,” she said to herself, but she was not about to question a good thing. She assumed that the human in the apartment left the window open to let in the cool night air, never thinking anyone would sneak in—a fair assumption, considering that the fire escape was so tough to access from the ground.

	“Not tough enough to stop me,” Lavender thought with a grin as she stood below the window. “Yeah, this does look a bit suspicious, but I’ll be sure to stay on my guard. If anything goes wrong, I can just use Yawn and make my getaway.”

	 She took a moment to ready herself, then jumped up and grabbed the windowsill with both paws. She pulled herself up and balanced on the edge of the sill as she pushed the window open more, careful not to make any noise. Once it was ajar enough for her to slip through the opening, she did so and silently landed on the carpeted floor of the apartment. Now came the hard part: looking for treasure without getting caught.

	Lavender’s green eyes glowed as she examined the dim room in which she found herself. The first thing she noticed was that the room had one thing in common with the alley: an initial lack of anything notable. She had peeked into human dwellings before during her prior travels around the town, and this room did not look too different than those she had seen before. It was plainly furnished, and it certainly did not appear to have any treasure out in the open. Then again, she had never expected treasure to be easy to obtain. She would have to look harder.

	Lavender dropped down on all fours, perked up her ears, and noiselessly walked onward. She looked all around for anything valuable—or dangerous—as she prowled, but she did not understand most of what she saw. She always felt confused by the various objects humans liked to cram into their abodes, and she had given up on understanding what purpose they served. Besides, none of the objects in this room looked like treasure, so she had no reason to care about them. Even if they were valuable, they all seemed to be too large or heavy to take with her, so she felt it was best to ignore them.

	As she explored the room, she made note of two things in particular: straight ahead was a closed door, and diagonally forward and to the left was another door, though this one was ajar. As she looked at this door, something made her freeze. Her ears twitched as they detected something breathing, and it took her a moment to notice it was not herself. Instead, it came from the open door. Lavender took some time to listen to it. It was quiet and slow, and sounded like the breath of someone who was asleep. That gave her confidence enough to creep over to the doorway and peer inside.

	The doorway led to another room, lit only by moonlight coming in from a window in the wall to the left. With its dim light, she could tell that the room was just as plainly furnished as the previous one, though there were different types of furniture here. For instance, Lavender saw a large wooden object with a big blue cloth on top placed against the wall on the other side of the room. The Purrloin could detect a human’s scent from the object, along with the same breathing she had heard outside the room. She guessed there was a human, probably the same human Duchess had spoken of earlier, sleeping atop the object. However, the piece of furniture was high enough, and Lavender was so low to the ground, that she could not see the top and confirm her suspicions.

	Nonetheless, she knew that she had to be even more careful now. Any noise could awaken the sleeping human, and that was the last thing Lavender wanted. Keeping the human in mind, she scanned the room to determine if entering it was worth the risk. Her glowing eyes soon fell upon an item, slightly larger than her, made of black fabric and lying against the right side of the large wooden object. She recognized its purpose immediately: some humans wore packs like it on their backs in order to carry small items. She had a feeling it might have something good inside, though that hope might have only been born out of disappointment from the fact that she had yet to find any sign of treasure.

	The Purrloin snuck into the room, eager to peek inside the pack, but she stopped after taking just a few steps. At the base of the wooden object with the sleeping human on top was another, smaller object, this one round and brown. And, as Lavender noticed with a start, a Houndour lay atop it. Lavender held her breath and stared at the Pokémon. Its ears and snout twitched, but she could tell that it was asleep. Even so, Lavender waited a bit longer to see if it would awaken, and only after staying put for several minutes did she decide that the dog was out cold. Relieved, she noiselessly hurried across the room to the pack and examined it. To her surprise, the main pouch was unzipped.

	“Guess the human just never got around to closing it up,” she thought. “All the better for me. Let’s see what’s inside.”

	At first, it seemed as though the backpack held nothing good. It contained an array of items that a trainer might utilize, like potions and repels—useful for a trainer, but a Purrloin could not care less for them. Granted, Lavender knew that healing items like potions could be good for a Pokémon, but she never could figure out how to use them. Besides, it felt wrong to steal healing items from someone. Treasure had no immediate use, while potions could save lives, so she could not bring herself to take the potions. However, treasure was fair game, so she kept digging through the pouch in search of valuables, gently placing each non-treasure item she found on the floor beside her.

	Soon, something glinted in the tiny bit of moonlight that entered the open pouch of the backpack. Lavender’s glowing eyes went wide, and she continued emptying the backpack until the glinting object was revealed. Her heart skipped a beat. There lay a small, round, and smooth nugget of gold. And below it sat even more treasures: pure white pearls and roughly-shaped gems of various colors. It was more treasure in one place than she had seen in a long time.

	“Waiwai nui, indeed,” she said with a grin.


***


	A still-grinning Lavender left the room and returned to the windowsill, carrying her spoils with her. In her left paw she held a small pearl, and in the right a gold nugget, while her tail coiled around a large purple gem and held it tight. To her dismay, she could only carry a portion of her findings, and had to leave most of the treasure behind, but she felt marginally better about not robbing the human blind. She even made sure to replace all the other items in the backpack nice and neat.

	“I’m such a courteous burglar,” she thought.

	As she stood on the windowsill, she moved the nugget to her mouth and clenched it with her jaws. With her now-freed paw, she closed the window most of the way until it looked just like it had before she had opened it. Once that was done, she dropped down to the top platform of the fire escape, then took the nugget from her mouth and prepared to make her getaway.

	She took one step and froze. Something had changed since she entered the human’s room. The window to Duchess’ apartment was open now.

	An instant later, Duchess herself appeared on the windowsill, leaping up from inside the apartment. Lavender jumped and almost lost her grip on all her treasure, but she recovered quickly and lowered her stance instinctively, ready to react if the grey Meowth should lash out at her. But Duchess only stared down at the Purrloin, with eyes gleaming white just as Lavender’s own shone green. They stayed motionless and held each other’s bright gaze for a few moments more, until the Meowth finally hopped down from the windowsill and landed silently on the fire escape. She stood up and crossed her arms, still keeping her eyes on the Purrloin.

	“Alola,” said Duchess flatly. It was only a whisper, but in the silence of the night, it seemed like a shout. “I did not expect to see you out and about so late at night, Lavender. And not only that, but also carrying some fine treasure. Stolen, I presume?”

	The Purrloin narrowed her eyes and hissed at the Meowth. “Stolen?” she said through clenched teeth, keeping her voice low. “What makes you think they’re stolen? That’s just because I’m a Purrloin, isn’t it? You just assume everything a Purrloin has must be stolen! We’re totally incapable of earning things honestly, right? We’re all just a bunch of no-good thieves who—”

	“Kulikuli!” snapped Duchess. “That’s enough. Pa‘a ka waha, stop complaining and listen to me.”

	Lavender did so. Satisfied, Duchess kept talking. “You cockroached that treasure from the human in that apartment. Do not try to hide it. Remember what I told you this morning: I see everything.”

	“Do you now?”

	“I do. But let me ask you: why did you take that treasure?”

	The Purrloin began to answer, but realized that she could not figure out how to reply. She had never thought about why exactly she wanted the treasure until Duchess brought it up. Ever since she heard about it that morning, she wanted to take it. But she never knew why.

	“I guess I just wanted to,” Lavender replied slowly. “I don’t know why exactly. I just wanted it because it was there. I love collecting treasure—being able to seek out more of it is a big part of why I came to this town, after all.”

	“Is it? Then what do you do with treasure when you find it?”

	“I keep it. What else are you supposed to do with treasure?”

	“Sell it, trade it, gift it, anything! Waiwai does no good if you keep it to yourself.”

	“But keeping it to myself makes me happy.”

	To Lavender’s surprise, Duchess smirked. “Aue!” she said. “Does it now? In that case, prick up your ears and listen even more carefully, because I’m about to teach you something.”

	“This can’t be good,” Lavender muttered.

	Duchess chose to ignore her. She approached Lavender, and began: “You see, stealing is wrong, and—”

	Lavender groaned and rolled her eyes. “Oh, here we go. Look, I don’t have time for someone telling me what’s right and wrong and all that morality junk. Keep it to yourself.”

	“Don’t get an attitude with me,” said Duchess.

	“Sorry, ‘mom’,” Lavender said, making sure to pour as much sarcasm into her tone as possible. “But I really don’t care. Besides, I didn’t rob that human blind. And I’m pretty sure she can live with a couple treasures missing, right?”

	“That’s not the point. You can’t take things from people, be they human or Pokémon. It’s simply not right.”

	“Hey, you’d make sense if I took everything she owned, but I only took a few things. She probably won’t even notice they’re gone. But to me, they mean a lot. And besides, if she does notice, then maybe it’ll be a learning experience for her. This should teach her not to leave her window open at night.”

	“You think she was the one to leave it open?”

	Once again, Lavender almost dropped her treasures out of surprise. “Wait, she didn’t?”

	“Of course not! Nobody would leave their windows open at night in this town.”

	“But the window was open. Does that mean someone else tried to break in before me?”

	“Not exactly. It was what the humans call an ‘inside job’.”

	“Explain,” Lavender said with a frown.

	“I had a feeling you would try to cockroach that apartment as soon as I told you about the waiwai inside. I wanted to see if you truly would, so I hatched a plan. After we spoke, and you left, I stayed on the fire escape and kept an eye on the human and her Houndour, and waited to see if they left their apartment. They eventually did, and I went out to meet with them. Or, more specifically, with the Houndour.”

	“Why?”

	“All part of my plan. I talked to him and convinced him to open the window from the inside after the human went to sleep. He trusts me, and he owed me a favor anyway, so it was easy to convince him to do it, especially when I assured him it wouldn’t bring harm to him or his trainer. Then it was simply a matter of waiting until you returned and tried to enter the building.”

	The Purrloin frowned even more at this revelation. “So, you’re saying you set a trap for me,” she said. “That’s why that human’s window was open, and why you’re here now. You tempted me, then you waited for me, just so you could catch me in the act.”

	“Akamai!” said Duchess. “You’re a smart one.”

	“But why go to all that trouble?”

	“Because of what I’ve been trying to tell you all this time: stealing is wrong. And before you act apathetic and say ‘ainokea’ again, I should warn you that a mindset like that is very dangerous to hold here. Perhaps it is acceptable to steal and rob in the lands beyond the town, but things are different here. Let me ask you: do you remember when I said that the denizens of this alley form an ‘ohana together?”

	“I think so. You mentioned something like that when I said I wanted to eat Birds Eye—which I totally don’t want to do anymore, by the way!”

	“No need to worry. I believe you. Now, as I was saying: the Pokémon of Dyad Alley below us are all part of a group, a family, a pack. In fact, many Pokémon in this town are part of a pack of some kind. They organize like this in order to maintain some semblance of order here. We value order and peace, because Faluspar is a place where such things are fragile.”

	“What do you mean?”

	“Here, a great many Pokémon live in close proximity, and as such, they are bound to come into conflict. Sometimes they dispute over food or territory, or over petty differences... or perhaps tension may arise when one Pokémon tries to eat another.”

	“Okay, I get it!” Lavender hissed. “It was wrong of me to say I wanted to eat Birds Eye! Can we drop it now?”

	 “E kala mai ia‘u,” Duchess said with a grin. “Sorry. I could not resist. But I won’t bring it up again.”

	“Glad to hear it.”

	“Now, as I was saying: in order to prevent the chaos that we all abhor so, the Pokémon of Faluspar gather into packs. Each pack is an ‘ohana where everyone supports one another. Slights against one member of a pack are slights against the entire pack, and they thusly result in ponopono, or retribution, from the whole pack. This deters Pokémon from attacking, robbing, or otherwise harming one another. If the victim is part of a pack, the rest of the pack can band together to punish the culprit.”

	“That makes sense,” said Lavender. “But nobody’s ever told me about these packs before.”

	“Perhaps nobody else thought it was necessary to tell you about them,” Duchess said. “Packs are a fact of life here, so everyone assumes they are common knowledge, understood and recognized by all. Hence why I didn’t tell you about them earlier today, beyond the little bit I said about my ‘ohana. I assumed you knew about them already.”

	“Well, now I know. But I don’t see what it has to do with what I did. You’re talking about packs like they’re something only Pokémon have, but I didn’t do anything to a Pokémon. What I did only has to do with a human.”

	“Exactly. And that is still a problem, because we consider humans to have packs too. Or rather, one pack. All humans are a pack, as far as we’re concerned. As a result, robbing one human is a slight against all humans. And they could very well strike back against you.”

	Lavender shuddered in spite of herself. “Strike back? Does that happen often?”

	“Only sometimes,” Duchess replied. “Humans can react strongly if pushed too far, but they tend to leave us Pokémon alone. That’s not to say you can hurt humans and get away with it, though. Harming anyone, be they human or Pokémon, increases the disorder of this town, and as I said before, most Pokémon want to prevent that. So, what you have done is undesirable to us all, human and Pokémon alike.”

	“Okay, hold on. Just how much disorder do you think can come from taking a few tiny little pieces of treasure? I get what you’re saying about wanting to prevent chaos, but I think you’re blowing this out of proportion.”

	“I am not. Even taking a few items that belong to another Pokémon or human is enough to warrant retribution if someone found out about it.”

	Lavender took a slow step back. “Someone... like you?” she murmured.

	At last, the Purrloin realized that she was in trouble. Duchess had acted friendly and kind to her all this time, but now she had caught her in the act of robbing a human, and there was nothing stopping the Meowth from punishing her, or alerting others to what had happened. If what Duchess said was true, Lavender could very soon suffer the wrath of humans and Pokémon alike, which was far from how she had planned this brief raid to end.

	“Precisely,” said Duchess. “Someone like me. I know what you did, and I could easily tell the Pokémon down below about it. And I would be in the right if I did so. This little robbery of yours happened in their territory, above their alley, and that reflects badly on them. They failed to stop you, and that makes them look weak. I’m sure the Southpaws would love to do some ponopono and punish you for bringing that dishonor upon them.”

	Lavender shuddered once more, but not from the chilly night air. If the Southpaws learned what she had done, she did not doubt that they may chase her out of the town, if not hurt her, or perhaps even kill her. And she could not have that. She needed to remain in Faluspar—and stay alive, of course—if she was to continue seeking the adventure and treasures she dreamed about.

	“You wouldn’t really sic them on me, would you?” Lavender asked Duchess, taking on her most convincingly pleading tone. “I thought we were friends! We really got to know each other when we talked earlier today. You’re the first Pokémon I’ve met here that’s actually been friendly to me. Don’t do this to me.”

	Duchess let out a long sigh. “Hilinaʻi iaʻu—believe me—I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this. I was hoping you would agree with me from the beginning, and realize that returning the treasure is the right thing to do. But you refused to listen to morality, so perhaps fear of retribution, which is inevitable if you don’t undo what you have done, will be better motivation for you.”

	“But if I do return the treasure?”

	“If you perform the ponopono yourself, and set right what you did wrong, I’ll keep what happened here secret. But only if you return the waiwai to the human.”

	Lavender hesitated. She looked away from Duchess, unable to make eye contact with the Meowth. She gazed at the treasures in her paws, and glanced back at the gem held in her coiled tail. For the first time, she looked at them with fear and worry instead of hope and joy. They no longer held happiness for her. Instead, they held danger, and only by getting rid of them could she evade that danger. That seemed to be the only way. It was out of the question to ignore Duchess and take the treasure for herself, because if word got out that she had stolen from a human, every Pokémon in the town would turn on her in revenge for causing disorder and harming a human, judging by what Duchess had said.

	The Meowth did not take her eyes off the Purrloin as she hesitated and wavered. Duchess wanted Lavender to come to her own decision. Eventually, she did.

	“I guess you have a point,” Lavender said, slowly, at last. “I don’t have much of a choice. Things will get ugly if I take this treasure, so I’d better just put it back.”

	“I’m happy to hear you say so,” said Duchess, with a relieved sigh. “You’re doing the right thing here. For everyone.”

	“Everyone except me,” Lavender muttered. “I don’t get to keep this treasure.”

	“But you get to keep your life,” said Duchess. “And that is the most valuable treasure of all.”

	Lavender could not help but roll her eyes.

	“Now hemu and return the waiwai to the human,” said Duchess. “Quickly. Birds Eye is asleep now, but he may awaken at any time. I shall stay here and explain things to him if he awakens and sees us.”

	The Purrloin nodded and turned to the window of the apartment, but the Meowth spoke once more and made her stop.

	“Wait,” Duchess said. “There’s one more thing I want to say.”

	“What now?” Lavender groaned, looking over at her fellow cat.

	“You’re just doing this to save your own hide, right?”

	“Of course. I mean, like you said, my life’s the most important treasure of all. I can’t let it get damaged.”

	“I understand. But I don’t want you to do this only to save yourself. I want you to do this out of the goodness of your heart. Stealing will cause disorder, harm the human, and dishonor the residents of Dyad Alley. My ‘ohana. By refusing to take the human’s treasure, you are preventing that harm from coming to them. I want you to understand that you’re doing the right thing here, and I want that knowledge to be what drives you, not a selfish desire to save yourself.”

	Lavender turned to face Duchess. “Baby steps,” said the Purrloin, giving the Meowth a small grin. “Right now, I still just care about myself, and that’s the only reason why I’ll return this treasure. You can’t expect me to change my way of thinking so quickly. But maybe next time I think about stealing, I’ll decide against it—not to avoid getting punished for it, but to avoid hurting others. I’ll have to think about it more, though.”

	The Meowth returned Lavender’s smile. “Again, I understand. As I said before, perhaps wild Pokémon like you have different concepts of property and theft, and what the ‘right thing to do’ is. Changing your viewpoint may take time, but I hope you come to agree with me that it is important to be akahele—careful—and avoid bringing disorder and dishonor to the denizens of this town.”

	“Maybe one day,” said Lavender as she turned to the window of the apartment again. “Maybe one day.”

	She leaped up to the windowsill, carefully pushed the window open, and entered the room once more. Duchess watched her go, then turned her glowing eyes to the darkness below, looking for signs of trouble. The alley was just as silent and motionless as it usually was at night. Nobody was awake, and nobody but Duchess and Lavender would know what had happened between them. And yet, the Meowth grinned as she thought about how her efforts and her words may help Faluspar Town. It could take time for the Purrloin to change her ways, but Duchess had a feeling she would change eventually.

	“I just wish helping this town did not involve staying up so late,” Duchess murmured amidst a long yawn. “Aue. The things I do for this place.”


***


	In a dark and quiet alley much like Dyad, only several blocks to the southeast, Lavender slinked across cold cobblestone towards her home. It was not her first dwelling in the town; initially, she had lived in a small cave in the town’s sole park, a forested place of grass and hills on the banks of the river to the west. This new abode was more like a forward operating base for her seeking, a place where she could mount expeditions into the town from a more central and strategic location. Her fortress, her bastion, thrust into the heart of the town, the depths of unknown enemy territory. And as she rounded a dumpster, it finally came into view: a dirty cardboard box nestled in a corner made by the dumpster and the wall of a stone building. She might have grimaced at its shabby appearance any other night, but now she was just glad to be back safely.

	Lavender reached the box and tilted it so she could slip underneath, as its bottom was open, the flaps torn off at some point in the past. Once inside her makeshift abode, she sat in a corner and leaned back against a wall. A beam of pale moonlight slipped through a hole in the side of the box, illuminating its barren interior. The box was not empty, though: one piece of cobblestone in the center was loose, and covered a hollow where Lavender stored anything interesting she found (or, more rarely, stole) in Faluspar. She lifted this stone and peeked inside at the meager array of items, including foodstuffs like berries and kibble, along with a few shiny objects of various shapes and sizes that sparkled in the moonlight. She gazed upon them, then lowered the stone and leaned up against the wall again, her mouth set in a frown. Even the knowledge that her hoard was intact did not keep her from wanting to sulk after missing out on a potential new haul.

	She let out a long sigh and thought about what she had lost. That treasure would have been a splendid bit of loot, but she accepted that leaving it behind was better than risking retribution from the town’s Pokémon. Besides, Lavender had to admit that Duchess had a point when it came to the morality side of things. She had never been a fan of those who spouted moral lessons and tried to get others to act the way they thought was ethical, but if one of them made a logical case for their point of view, she listened. And Duchess made a good argument: it would be wrong to harm others and bring disorder to the town just to satisfy her own desire to possess shiny things. Even so, she still did not consider this the most important reason to obey Duchess and return the treasure. Saving herself from revenge was more important to her than doing what would benefit others, and she felt glad to have avoided riling up the denizens of Dyad Alley.

	But she still felt like sulking. And yet, another part wanted to smile, and that part soon won out. She finally smiled, then she grinned, and then she began to laugh quietly. After a few seconds of this, she fell silent and opened her mouth wide, then reached inside with a paw and felt around her teeth near the back. She felt something small and round lodged there, and took it out to examine it. It was a small pearl, flawlessly round and white, albeit covered in drool. She dried it off on her purple fur and smiled, because her plan had succeeded.

	While she had been returning the treasures to the human’s bag, she hid this one piece of treasure away, so that she could at least keep one prize for her efforts even if she lost the rest. Duchess had failed to notice the pearl, just as Lavender had hoped. And ideally, the human would not notice its absence either. It was such a small thing, and there were other pearls like it in the backpack. Plus, the items Lavender returned were far more valuable than the one little pearl. She wondered, what harm could come from taking it?

	“No harm at all,” said the Purrloin, looking over her lone treasure. “That human will probably just think she dropped it, or that she miscounted. And if not, it’ll never get traced to me. In the end, she keeps all her treasure except this one insignificant part, and I get to keep a little something for all the trouble I went through. I’d say that’s the best possible turnout for this outing.”

	Lavender continued to gaze at the little pearl. Another thought soon struck her, and made her smile grow even wider. “Plus, this proves something: it looks like Duchess doesn’t really see everything, now does she?”


[the end]