Complementaries
“Dear, could you grab the wooden Totodiles for me?”
Payapa grabbed an armful without complaint, but one fell and clattered to the floor. A sharp look from her mother was all she received, and nothing more. It could have been worse, and it could have happened in the presence of her father. Happily, this was not the case today. She bent down and grabbed the little trinket, nearly dropping another.
“It would go a lot quicker if you just made two trips, dear. There’s no need to take it all in one go like that.”
Payapa considered this, but ignored it. She didn’t really want to be helping stock the day’s items to begin with. It was likely that she wasn’t even going to be allowed to help sell to customers that day, anyway. Thus she was bored by the task. What use was it stocking everything if she wasn’t going to be selling it? Someone else could do such boring work. Well, that’s what she’d have liked. Anana was unavailable; currently, the more respectful daughter was going over some things with their father (What things? Merchant things, things Payapa wasn’t privy to quite yet.)
So, she was stuck doing boring stocking, learning all about the systems of organization that led to more money flowing into the hands of the Kecleon family. That was always the goal.
Letting her mind wander, Payapa decided that she would always get someone else to deal with that crap when she had her own store. (And it wasn’t really a question of if, but when. It was actually a little bold to dream such, considering that their parents hadn’t even decided she was worth training alongside Anana yet.)
Eventually, after a few more trips of awkwardly carrying boxes and stacks of things to her mother, Payapa was done with her duty that morning. In truth, she could have stayed and helped actually arrange the items on the shelves, make sure everything looked nice before the main shop opened-- but she was hardly interested. What was the point? She didn’t really care how it all looked if she wasn’t even going to get to help run the place.
She was vaguely aware that this made her look lazy in the eyes of her parents, perpetuating their decision to favor training Anana in salesmanship, but it didn’t really affect her decision much. If anything, it only gave a slight pause to her step before she left the building.
And so the day was hers! The entire rest of the day was free to her to do with as she pleased. Anana wouldn’t have that luxury until maybe the afternoon, after the busy noon shift was over and their father took over selling by himself. Or their mother. This was more and more the case lately, as there were often things to be done and overlooked in some little village their father also managed. It was just big enough that it was a good place for shipments to pass through on their way to Alomomola City: a quaint little place called Tao Village. Payapa didn’t figure she’d like it very much, as the city had really captured her heart. So many Pokemon! So many things to do! There was really never any end to the entertainment that could be found in the city, and this tickled her childish sense of wonder greatly.
After wandering around for a bit, Payapa left the pier. It was a nice pier and all, and housed a lot of different stores along its length, but she knew them all too well to be very interested in any of them at the moment. She decided that perhaps she would find someone to play with until Anana was done with her own work for the day.
Payapa didn’t really have any particular friends she could call on to want to spend time with her; she only really knew of some kids from the rough neighborhood who sometimes would throw a ball with her, or maybe play in constructed forts near their shanty homes. She had a suspicion, one that had started to insidiously creep its way into the back of her mind, that these kids didn’t particularly care for her. It was hard to place, but she felt that this assessment was more-or-less correct. She wanted to be trusting like many small children often are, but had started rather early to pick apart motivations... making it incredibly difficult to be a friend without some level of reservation.
But these creeping thoughts didn’t matter so much when she just wanted someone to play with for a few hours. So, she dismissed them and carried on.
The foreign merchants lining the streets--having done business with her parents countless times--recognized Payapa and nodded as she passed. She acknowledged them with a half grin. The day was still hers, so she could afford smiles to those boring adults.
Eventually, as she reached the poorer area of the city, she noticed something in particular. There was a Pichu with a little green cloth tied around his head like a bandana, and this fellow was standing very high up on a pile of discarded wood and pieces of houses. Much rubble lined the base of this mountain of refuse, and Payapa was sure that if a fall was taken from the top to the bottom, someone would have a very unpleasant morning.
Luckily, this kid knew what he was doing. He made a giant leap, and just when Payapa was certain this kid was crazy, a Taillow darted out of nowhere and caught the Pichu on its back. It was smaller than the Pichu even, and still this tiny bird had managed such a feat. Someone had confidence, apparently, and rightfully so.
While she didn’t particularly know these kids, Payapa thought she might have a good time with them. Maybe she’d spot the other kids she normally played with while they were out and about. But first, she needed to get their attention.
As the pair made their way around the sky, something snapped the underside of the Taillow’s belly and the force caused the Pichu to go flying and into the dirt. The Taillow had nearly crashed, but avoided it at the last moment with a sharp u-turn away from some rotting wood jutting out of the earth.
The Pichu was understandably confused. And annoyed. “Gail!” he cried out in a squeaky voice (that was incredibly hard to take seriously.) “You tryin to kill me, eh? What was that?!”
This “Gail” was irked too. “It wasn’t my fault, Chulo! Something smacked me!” She flitted around near her friend when she spotted a very conspicuous Kecleon. “It was you!” she cried, landing next to Chulo.
Payapa grinned. “I want a ride too! But you gotta be more careful than that, or someone could knock you around like I did. So I’d say your speed needs some work, prolly.”
This sent Gail into a little flurry of rage. “What’s your problem?! You wanna make me crash? What’s your deal you little snot? Get out of here!” she shrieked, hopping forward and puffing her chest out. If the intent was to make her look more intimidating, it didn’t really particularly work. All she managed to do was look a little bit puffier. “You’re too fat to ride anyway, you’d break my back!”
Payapa’s good mood held steadfast until that last remark cracked it a bit. She would have figured out a way to get a ride out of the girl, but now she just kind of wanted to beat them both up.
Chulo didn’t say anything, merely watched. He seemed to be racking his brain for something, trying to recall some life-saving piece of information. Finally, recognition washed over his face, and he whispered something to Gail. Payapa couldn’t quite make it out, but she was getting pretty steamed.
Whatever Chulo had said to Gail had shifted her demeanor entirely, however. Gail did a complete 180 in a matter of moments. “Just playin’ around. I’ll give you a ride if you want.”
Payapa was caught off guard. What had changed? She wasn’t entirely sure, but didn’t dwell on it lest the little bird change its mind. Flying was something she had always liked, and finally someone was going to let her in on this awesome experience. She made a mental note to gloat about this later to Anana. She made a second mental note to remember to leave these two behind before Anana was done working so that she wouldn’t have the chance to ride as well, for what fun would it be to gloat if her sister had also gotten to fly?
Payapa approached the two without visible caution, though she was eyeing them warily. Just in case. Gail seemed to be eyeing her just as warily. The Pichu extended a paw in friendly greeting as she got close enough to them, though, and dispelled the tense atmosphere. “Hey chica, I’m Chulo. This is Gail. What brings you out to our little place?” There was something about the way he said the words, something that implied she wasn’t supposed to be here in their territory. Or perhaps she had imagined this subtext.
She shrugged it off and introduced herself. “Well, I’m Payapa. I’m just looking to play and stuff. My sister’s busy til like, I dunno, noon or something. You guys know Rionna? She has a cool ball.”
Chulo’s eyes widened. “You know that kid? She doesn’t really talk to a whole lot of us...”
Gail fluttered her wings a little. “She’s kinda weird. Whaddya do with her?”
Payapa considered this. “I dunno, sometimes we try to hit the ball over stuff. We practice a lot of moves and stuff together. It’s kinda fun. Why? What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s quiet and weird!” Chulo answered hastily. As if in afterthought upon realizing those reasons weren’t very adequate, he added, “Plus, she always finds us in hide and seek. I feel like she prolly cheats or something, it’s garbage.”
Payapa took this as a personal challenge and leaned forward aggressively, as if to close the gap between her and the other two. “I didn’t know she played that game! I bet I could beat her, I’m pretty much the best at it.” It was easy to state such a thing with confidence. Kecleon were, as many knew, able to turn invisible at whim. Except for a small stripe across their belly, that was.
Chulo furrowed his brow. “You really think so? She’s never lost a game, y’know. This chica’s got some mad skills, I don’t think you’d be winning.”
Agitated now, Payapa’s tail uncurled and whipped around erratically. “I’m the best, I’m telling you! I’m even better than my sister. She’s no good at fighting or hiding or anything like that. But I am. I’m awesome at it.”
Gail looked uneasy. Chulo continued on anyway in the same manner. “Nah, I’m tellin ya, I’ll even bet on it. I bet you... a whole box of berries that this Rionna’s gonna blow you outta the water. She’s got some way.”
Payapa instantly ate up this bet. “Uh huh, whatever! Sure, I’ll bet that. I’ve never lost a game. Never.”
However, Chulo still wasn’t shaken or moved at all by her confidence. In fact, he looked delighted that she had taken him up on this challenge. It was then that she realized that despite her confidence, he had bet anyway, and that they probably had nothing to offer in exchange. But they would surely bother her to death for the food in the event that she actually... No, that was stupid to think. She wasn’t going to lose. What was a better trump card than near-complete invisibility? There was really no way to cheat against that. As a matter of fact, it was more likely that she would be branded the cheater here, despite using a natural ability.
