Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Sam and Eva

Chapter 12 - The Prep

As we arrived in the closest town (being called Fal 'oh), Sam and Rou still hadn't said anything about what had happened earlier. It seemed they were giving each other the silent treatment. I knew it was only a matter of time before one of them needed to say something, but I didn't want to start anything right now.

We entered the town to find it was fairly small, a couple window shops and stores, a motel, and a little dock. We decided to stop inside a place to pick up more food before we look for snow gear. I was just glad they let me in this time. It sure is better not looking like a feral!

The interior of the shop was tidy, with items displayed on shelves and piled in bins. It almost reminded me of those cheap dollar-store places my mom would bring me to as a kid.

We bought a lot of aspear berries, because apparently they warm you up or something. I guess that will help us from the cold? Sam also picked out some Yache berries.

After purchasing those (Sam paid for them while Rou just watched), we headed to the next building over. This was a clothes store.... I thought until we walked inside.

Inside were rows and rows of different colored cloths, with different sections varying of types and textures. At a front desk was a hamster-like Pokémon called a Bidoof. There was a Leavanny working on a large piece of cloth behind him. Bidoof are normal type Pokémon like me, and Leavanny are bug and grass type. It's... hard to describe what they look like. They are almost 4 feet tall (I think) and they are like yellow stick figures with antennae, and they are almost completely covered in leaves.

I walked up to the Bidoof, him in the middle of some kind of paperwork. He greeted me without even looking up. "Yes?" He asked in a faintly nasal tone.

"Hi, we are trying to hike the tallest mountain here. What do you have that can get us there warmly for cheap?"

"For cheap?" The Bidoof almost choked as he looked at the three of us. "Up the mountain? Hohoo! Leevan, get a load of these jokers! Hohoo!!"

The Bidoof had gestured over to the Leavanny behind him and he was now laughing. 'Leevan' looked up from her work and rolled her eyes at the overgrown hamster. "Sue, settle down. If they want to hike the mountain, let them hike it."

Sue? The name of a male Bidoof? Gosh, maybe they have different naming rules here?

Leevan stood up and walked over to us. I wasn't really expecting to get laughed at so rudely, but then again, maybe things weren't as cartoonish as I thought. I mean, there wasn't really an example of cartoon logic I'd seen yet, and I have been stuck here for a few weeks now...

I cast that thought away to think about later.

"I don't know how familiar you three are with how we make clothes in this region," Leevan said, eying Sam. "But one size doesn't fit all, as you know. So in this region, many of us make clothing by using specific premade patterns. This way, we can just add other pieces to better fit the shape of the Pokémon.

"Oh, that makes sense!" Sam said. "That way, a four-legged coat fit for an Espeon could fit a Ponyta just fine if it was larger!"

"Yes, exactly." She said, slightly surprised at Sam's depth of understanding. "And maybe needing to extend the legs a bit."

This made some sense to me. If there really are so many different kinds of Pokémon, it makes sense that they would need to keep clothing stores flexible.

"The time and effort to fit them together, however, is tedious." She continued. "That is why you won't find many clothing 'mons who are willing to sell cheap."

"Not that everyone always needs clothing." Rou piped up, picking at a feather with his beak. "Honestly most Pokémon buy them out of looks or necessity."