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Description
      The Skitty skipped through the doorway and slammed it shut to block out the cold then glanced around the room. Her two teammates were in a corner; the young Sneasel was curled up in a corner asleep, as usual, and the Mankey was sitting next to him with one paw on the others head. The small cat frowned. It annoyed her that Maurice had bonded so well with Silver, and she hadn't.

     She crossed the room and cleared her throat. Immediately, Maurice gently woke Silver up and the young Sneasel blinked slightly disgruntled. It seemed like all the Dark type did since joining the team was take naps. Not anymore, thought Coco.

     "As I'm sure you heard, Kyurem has decided to have Tao Village host a party," she announced, pacing. The two nodded. "We're going to help with set up, and try to make some contacts. I personally don't think we've made contact with anyone we'd want to give gifts to, although I suppose you'd want to get something for your sisters, and Maurice will find someone to give to." She continued, moving towards a cabinet and rummaging around with her tail. She dug out some money and placed some in both Maurice and Silver's hands. "Here's your spending money. Maurice at some point I want you helping with decorating and Silver, you help with the ice sculpture. If you need me, I'll be at PK's shop selling gifts."

     The three Pokémon left the building and stood outside. There was a long pause before Silver hesitantly headed towards the fountain in the village square where a group of Ice types had gathered. Maurice moved towards the Medical Tent but Coco grabbed his arm. "That Rogue Team with the Ninetales," she hissed. "Nothing for them until I get a proper apology for what she called me." The Mankey nodded hesitantly, thinking about the Poochyena on the team.

     "Okay, madam," he said. She let go and the Mankey moved slowly towards the Spinda Café. The Skitty then turned and headed to the Merchant Hub.

     *****

     "Present tiiiiiime," the Purrloin called, dropping a generic sack at the edge of the woods. Since most of Slasher's old gang had left for Tao Village, the three had decided to live on the outskirts of Creeping Forest in a String Shot nest Leilani had made.

     "Eh, what?" a young Sneasel replied jumping down from a tree. "Oh, augh, that's. Did ya get this from the dump?" The cat nodded, and the other Dark type let out a screech of disgust. "Why? We got money from stealin' from that old stash."

     "I've always found that handmade gifts are nicer, Miss Ice," the third member of the, a Sewaddle, said sliding down. "Our materials are less than desirable, but I'm sure with some cleaning up they'll be fine."

      "Yeah," scoffed Ice, rolling her eyes, as she looked at their team leader, who had dove head first into the bag and was sorting through rotting food and odd, broken objects. "I'm goin' to town to help with that ice dragon thing, 'kay?" The Sneasel began backing out.

      "But don't you wanna help make giiiiiiiifts? You're getting something for your siblings, riiiiiight?" Sly replied peaking out of the bag, a half eaten berry sliding down his face.

      "Not garbage."

     "Well fine, be a spoil spoooooort, Ice Cream. Leelee and I will have fun on our own," the Purrloin replied and dove into the bag again as the Sneasel lunged at him.

     "Please don't start any fights while you're in town Miss Ice," Leilani replied as she began examining some of the items lying in the snow. With that the Sneasel scampered off.

     Eventually she reached the Village Center in Tao Village and looked around. She recognized Silver using Ice Beam to build the basic shape of the wing. The project looked half way finished, and Ice considered sneaking into the dojo. The young Sneasel found the idea of a building where she was supposed to get into to fights appealing, and had meant to visit since she first heard about it.

     "Are you here to help?" another Sneasel asked. He had a green scarf and a set of distinct claw scars on his cheek. Ice stared up and wondered how he got them. "I don't remember seeing you when I helped the Merchants with recruiting. I'm Rhodes, leader of the Pathfinders. What's your name?"

    "Ice, Rogue Team Mischief," she added pulling on the bandana she was wearing. It wasn't really a Rogue team item, but everyone else on her team wore one. "What are we makin' this skull, sculpty, thing for?"

     "The sculpture? It's Sorbet's party, but he can't fit inside the Café, but with the sculpture, he can control it and make it like he's there," Rhodes replied glancing towards the dragon on the other side of the fountain. "Do you want to work on the top of his head?"

     Ice nodded and playfully whacked her older brother on the head before hopping up onto she sculpture's back then neck and extending her claws. Her brother rolled his eyes at her.

    "Try to make it look like him," Rhodes called. Ice groaned and stared at the Dragon type. This was going to be hard, she thought as she began carefully shaving ice off of one side to resemble one of the gaps for his eyes and jaw.

      Ice began spacing out as she worked. She'd make some casual swipes to chip away parts of the sculpture, then look around and size up the other Pokémon. Most of the other Sneasel were average size, which meant they were a few inches taller. A lot of them looked like they had experience.

      "Careful or you'll cut off one of the eye ridges," Silver said. He was standing on the fountain to work on the front areas of the face because more Pokémon had headed to the wings.

     "Ehh? Bored," she replied, earning an eye roll. "So how's your stupid cat team leader?"

     "Bossy. Yours?"

     "Hate 'im. I don't know why he's team leader. Lee's smarter an' a better fighter, Sly just plays with garbage and gives nicknames to people."

     "Really? You're complaining about nicknames? Coco knows I can't stand large groups and would rather stay home when she goes 'networking' but drags me along anyways."

     "He named me after food," Ice replied shaping an eye ridge with a particularly violent Slash and sending a piece flying into the face of another Sneasel, who looked up and growled at her. "If you wanna do somethin' about it, meet me in the dojo after this!" she snapped.

     "Sorry, she's really…immature. We're working on teaching her manners," Silver called to the other Sneasel, who turned away and resumed work. "Self control. Ice, it really isn't that hard to do."

     "What good is that?"

    "You wouldn't get into so many fights."

    "I like my fights, it shows that I'm not goin' soft like you are."

    Silver didn't say anything for a long time. "I'm better here."

    "Huh?"

    "The nightmares I used to have stopped," he mumbled. "I get regular meals, and I don't have to fight. Aren't things better for you to?"

     Ice looked at her work and decided that the right side of the face was done well enough and rearranged herself so she was sitting on the neck and leaned over to examine the left. "I hear the Rogue missions are better than the jobs Slasher gave me, an' I'm getting' well fed too. But the stupid cat. He's just so annoyin' and nutty."

     "You got guard duty because you picked a fight with too many Pokémon to be trusted with anything involving stealth, and you were never made a bodyguard because Slasher thought you'd try to fight whoever he negotiated with. Besides, I don't see what's the big deal about Sly. He's eccentric, but he seems to be giving you a freer rein than Slasher, Coco, or Frost would."

     "That still don't mean that I can't call him whatever I want, or take some swipes at him when Lee ain't lookin'" Ice glanced back at Silver who was giving her a shocked look. "He didn't wanna settle the nickname thing by fightin', and this is the only way I could think of to stop him."

     "Your mind must be truly narrow and obsessed with violence to think those are the only ways," a deep voice rumbled, making Silver jump and Ice fall off the sculpture while other Sneasels stepped back. "I'm sorry. This looked almost finished, and I couldn't help overhearing your argument. Your grievance with your team leader is that he named you after food? There are more important things in life than one little name. I myself have been named after food."

    Ice shook snow off of herself and looked up at the ice sculpture. "I told the stupid cat to stop, and just cause Lee let's him call her LeeLee don't mean I should let him call me Ice Cream," she snapped.

    "Do you insult him like that regularly?" Sorbet asked. Ice nodded. "Perhaps that's why he won't stop. Why don't you using derogatory names for him until after the party ends and see if your situation changes? That could even double as your gift to him."

     "Dero, derog, roggity?" Ice mumbled.

    "He means stop calling him stupid," Silver cut in. "I'm sorry, my sister isn't the sharpest set of claws." Ice extended her own claws, and he turned back to say, "when it comes to thinking."

    "Stupid, ok, I can do that. One of the older Sneasels taught me all sorts of words before he left," Ice replied. "And I'm pretty sure they were insults, since he always yelled 'em after I did somethin' stupid."

    "No insults at all, young one," the dragon sculpture said. "It will be a lesson in manners and maturity."

    "Maturity?" she asked.

    "Maturity," Silver repeated, as he paused to come up with the perfect words. "It means knowledge of how to act in battle. Act really smart and strategic too." Out of the corner of his eye he saw the real dragon staring at him from across the fountain. "Why don't you show off your maturity and help out your teammates with something without insulting or attacking either of them?"

    Ice nodded and moved over to ask Rhodes if she could leave, while Silver scampered over to the Kyurem to see what he wanted. "You are aware that that's now what maturity means?" Sorbet rumbled as he turned to look at the much smaller Dark type.

     "It's the best way to deal with her sometimes. Our older sister always glorified fighting when talking to her, and now Ice is obsessed with it. She thinks being the best fighter is like being a good person."

    "Regardless, your lies will catch up with you, and from the way you talk, answering to your sisters and your team leader when it happens will be unpleasant," the dragon rumbled before laying his head on his claws. Silver nodded and moved back to continue working on the sculpture.

***

      "So, what are we doin'?" asked Ice. The Sneasel was dangling, bored, from a branch above one of her teammates. In the time she spent working on the ice sculpture, the Purrloin and Sewaddle had sorted and cleaned a large amount of garbage, and what they had deemed unusable was being returned by Sly, leaving Leilani to sift through a pile of miscellaneous pieces of broken glass, wood, and metal, occasionally stopping to examine stained fabric to see what parts were salvageable.

     "Like I said, we're planning on making all of the gifts we're giving. As for the what, we're planning on using the garbage, my String Shot, and your Ice Beam to make little knick-knacks, just decorations really," she replied. "Would you like to help sort?"

     "Kay," Ice replied and hopped down. She began sorting the broken glass and metal into piles by color. She was later joined by Sly, while Leilani kept working on the fabric. Finally, everything was sorted.

      "Soooo, the Captain, what should we get him?" Sly asked, flipping a particularly shiny piece of glass around with his paws. "He's a pirate, so he likes treasure. Treasure is shiiiiiiiny. Then, we use the shiny stuff, aaaaand, make a belt for holding stuuuuuuuuuff. LeeLee will have a lot of work to do for that one, since she has to weave the belt and sew some pouches for it." The Sewaddle immediately began working on the larger pieces and sewing them into a bag while Sly continued.

     "Then Team Suledin, uhh. I only talked to Sully, and we didn't talk about interests or wants. Maybe we could get them something they can hang in their home. A shiny dangly thing to go by a window. Add some pretty coloooors. Ice Creeeeeeam, freeze some random stuff and LeeLee can hang it, and I say that's all the team projects we need. Then I wanna get something for Vertigo and Sully. I wanna make Vertigo a bow tie, since Hops and Jones have one, but not hiiiiim. And Sully. Uh, what do girls liiiiike?"

     "I like fightin'" Ice offered as she picked out bits of metal and glass.

     "It really depends. For example, unlike Miss Ice, I prefer sewing and reading," Leiliani added as she finished sewing a pouch. "I noticed that she has a ribbon on one of her horns. It's a bit of mess, I'm not sure if she likes it that way, but you could make her something like that, maybe for the other horn?"

      "Ok," Sly replied jumping into the small pile of fabric. "And what about your other stuff?"

     "Hmmm," Leilani mused as she worked on another pouch. "I'd love to get Mister Chrysanthos, Mister Winston, and Ms. Sherri something. They don't need accessories, maybe some exterior decorations and volunteering at the shop. Poor Mister Chrysanthos seems to have gotten some kind of sickness since we picked up Miss Ice's bandana."

      "Sis and Bro weren't really into gifts. Sis works, and Bro likes to nap," Ice replied stumped. The trio began working for a long time in silence before Ice had an idea. "Ehh, you said the Medical Tent was boring, so maybe one of those things we're makin' for your friends?"

     "That sounds very nice," Leilani replied. "Maybe a pillow for your brother? I can show you how to sew one if you want, although we'll need some fluff to put in side."

    "Ok," Ice replied, as she moved closer to her teammate.

***

    "Hey, I worked on the ice sculpture," Silver muttered, twitching a bit as he moved next to Coco in the Merchant Booth. "Do you want me to help here? Fetch stuff for you?"

    "Perfect, as soon as we agree on a price this team would like five Oran Berries," she replied. "Guild Leader Gunpowder recently ordered a large amount, so our stocks are greatly depleted. If you can't pay full price, you'll have to go somewhere else. Oh wait, this is the only place in the village selling anything. Maybe if you walk all the way to Tao Ranch, you'll get a lower price."

     "But we have a lot more friends who we want to get gifts for," replied a Pokémon Silver couldn't see from where he was standing. "Can't you lower it a little?"

    "I'm deeply sorry," Coco lied, "but if you can't pay the full price, you can't purchase them. Perhaps less berries?"

    "Pleeeease. Please, please."

    "Well, I suppose I could lower it down to exactly the same price I told you it cost," she hissed. "We have a very long line, and we don't want you to waste our time or any of the other customers. If you don't leave or come to an agreement, I'll have my teammate escort you out. He used to be in Slasher's Gang, so it may not be pleasant."

      "Fine," the other Pokémon stood up and placed a pile of coins onto the counter.

    Silver pretended to fumble with the small box of berries and so he could bend down to Coco. "Please don't do that," he asked blankly.

     "Thank you very much," Coco purred, picking up the coins with her tail and placing them in a box next to her. Silver frowned; his complaint obviously hadn't been heard. "If you're willing to pay extra, Silver here can gift wrap it for you."

     A few more coins landed on the counter, and an almost manically grinning Coco added them to the box, purring with pleasure and waving the team over to the side to wait and beckoning to her next victims with her tail. Silver, meanwhile, struggled with paper and ribbons until the box was covered and handed it over to the first Pokémon, who was busy complaining about Coco's hard bargaining with his teammate.

     The rest of the day passed with more transactions that Silver didn't pay much attention to, and with more Pokémon than Silver cared to get to know. From what he had gathered that day, Coco's method of selling consisted of repeating the listed price in an increasingly snobbish matter until her customer caved into paying full price or offering a favor to her, in the latter incident, Coco would use some of her own money to cover the cost. Silver meanwhile slowly mastered the art of gift wrapping and finally managed to do a neat job concealing an object's shape without making a lumpy mess.

    "Great job," Coco purred to Silver as the two carried the box of gold they had gathered inside to the Merchant Hut to hand it over to Shroomsworth for counting. "I needed an extra pair of paws to handle the gift wrapping faster."

     Silver nodded as the two entered. PK and Shroomsworth were waiting. The Sneasel set the box on the table in the center of the room. The two began counting and the gestured for the other Merchants to leave.

Description
      The Skitty skipped through the doorway and slammed it shut to block out the cold then glanced around the room. Her two teammates were in a corner; the young Sneasel was curled up in a corner asleep, as usual, and the Mankey was sitting next to him with one paw on the others head. The small cat frowned. It annoyed her that Maurice had bonded so well with Silver, and she hadn't.

     She crossed the room and cleared her throat. Immediately, Maurice gently woke Silver up and the young Sneasel blinked slightly disgruntled. It seemed like all the Dark type did since joining the team was take naps. Not anymore, thought Coco.

     "As I'm sure you heard, Kyurem has decided to have Tao Village host a party," she announced, pacing. The two nodded. "We're going to help with set up, and try to make some contacts. I personally don't think we've made contact with anyone we'd want to give gifts to, although I suppose you'd want to get something for your sisters, and Maurice will find someone to give to." She continued, moving towards a cabinet and rummaging around with her tail. She dug out some money and placed some in both Maurice and Silver's hands. "Here's your spending money. Maurice at some point I want you helping with decorating and Silver, you help with the ice sculpture. If you need me, I'll be at PK's shop selling gifts."

     The three Pokémon left the building and stood outside. There was a long pause before Silver hesitantly headed towards the fountain in the village square where a group of Ice types had gathered. Maurice moved towards the Medical Tent but Coco grabbed his arm. "That Rogue Team with the Ninetales," she hissed. "Nothing for them until I get a proper apology for what she called me." The Mankey nodded hesitantly, thinking about the Poochyena on the team.

     "Okay, madam," he said. She let go and the Mankey moved slowly towards the Spinda Café. The Skitty then turned and headed to the Merchant Hub.

     *****

     "Present tiiiiiime," the Purrloin called, dropping a generic sack at the edge of the woods. Since most of Slasher's old gang had left for Tao Village, the three had decided to live on the outskirts of Creeping Forest in a String Shot nest Leilani had made.

     "Eh, what?" a young Sneasel replied jumping down from a tree. "Oh, augh, that's. Did ya get this from the dump?" The cat nodded, and the other Dark type let out a screech of disgust. "Why? We got money from stealin' from that old stash."

     "I've always found that handmade gifts are nicer, Miss Ice," the third member of the, a Sewaddle, said sliding down. "Our materials are less than desirable, but I'm sure with some cleaning up they'll be fine."

      "Yeah," scoffed Ice, rolling her eyes, as she looked at their team leader, who had dove head first into the bag and was sorting through rotting food and odd, broken objects. "I'm goin' to town to help with that ice dragon thing, 'kay?" The Sneasel began backing out.

      "But don't you wanna help make giiiiiiiifts? You're getting something for your siblings, riiiiiight?" Sly replied peaking out of the bag, a half eaten berry sliding down his face.

      "Not garbage."

     "Well fine, be a spoil spoooooort, Ice Cream. Leelee and I will have fun on our own," the Purrloin replied and dove into the bag again as the Sneasel lunged at him.

     "Please don't start any fights while you're in town Miss Ice," Leilani replied as she began examining some of the items lying in the snow. With that the Sneasel scampered off.

     Eventually she reached the Village Center in Tao Village and looked around. She recognized Silver using Ice Beam to build the basic shape of the wing. The project looked half way finished, and Ice considered sneaking into the dojo. The young Sneasel found the idea of a building where she was supposed to get into to fights appealing, and had meant to visit since she first heard about it.

     "Are you here to help?" another Sneasel asked. He had a green scarf and a set of distinct claw scars on his cheek. Ice stared up and wondered how he got them. "I don't remember seeing you when I helped the Merchants with recruiting. I'm Rhodes, leader of the Pathfinders. What's your name?"

    "Ice, Rogue Team Mischief," she added pulling on the bandana she was wearing. It wasn't really a Rogue team item, but everyone else on her team wore one. "What are we makin' this skull, sculpty, thing for?"

     "The sculpture? It's Sorbet's party, but he can't fit inside the Café, but with the sculpture, he can control it and make it like he's there," Rhodes replied glancing towards the dragon on the other side of the fountain. "Do you want to work on the top of his head?"

     Ice nodded and playfully whacked her older brother on the head before hopping up onto she sculpture's back then neck and extending her claws. Her brother rolled his eyes at her.

    "Try to make it look like him," Rhodes called. Ice groaned and stared at the Dragon type. This was going to be hard, she thought as she began carefully shaving ice off of one side to resemble one of the gaps for his eyes and jaw.

      Ice began spacing out as she worked. She'd make some casual swipes to chip away parts of the sculpture, then look around and size up the other Pokémon. Most of the other Sneasel were average size, which meant they were a few inches taller. A lot of them looked like they had experience.

      "Careful or you'll cut off one of the eye ridges," Silver said. He was standing on the fountain to work on the front areas of the face because more Pokémon had headed to the wings.

     "Ehh? Bored," she replied, earning an eye roll. "So how's your stupid cat team leader?"

     "Bossy. Yours?"

     "Hate 'im. I don't know why he's team leader. Lee's smarter an' a better fighter, Sly just plays with garbage and gives nicknames to people."

     "Really? You're complaining about nicknames? Coco knows I can't stand large groups and would rather stay home when she goes 'networking' but drags me along anyways."

     "He named me after food," Ice replied shaping an eye ridge with a particularly violent Slash and sending a piece flying into the face of another Sneasel, who looked up and growled at her. "If you wanna do somethin' about it, meet me in the dojo after this!" she snapped.

     "Sorry, she's really…immature. We're working on teaching her manners," Silver called to the other Sneasel, who turned away and resumed work. "Self control. Ice, it really isn't that hard to do."

     "What good is that?"

    "You wouldn't get into so many fights."

    "I like my fights, it shows that I'm not goin' soft like you are."

    Silver didn't say anything for a long time. "I'm better here."

    "Huh?"

    "The nightmares I used to have stopped," he mumbled. "I get regular meals, and I don't have to fight. Aren't things better for you to?"

     Ice looked at her work and decided that the right side of the face was done well enough and rearranged herself so she was sitting on the neck and leaned over to examine the left. "I hear the Rogue missions are better than the jobs Slasher gave me, an' I'm getting' well fed too. But the stupid cat. He's just so annoyin' and nutty."

     "You got guard duty because you picked a fight with too many Pokémon to be trusted with anything involving stealth, and you were never made a bodyguard because Slasher thought you'd try to fight whoever he negotiated with. Besides, I don't see what's the big deal about Sly. He's eccentric, but he seems to be giving you a freer rein than Slasher, Coco, or Frost would."

     "That still don't mean that I can't call him whatever I want, or take some swipes at him when Lee ain't lookin'" Ice glanced back at Silver who was giving her a shocked look. "He didn't wanna settle the nickname thing by fightin', and this is the only way I could think of to stop him."

     "Your mind must be truly narrow and obsessed with violence to think those are the only ways," a deep voice rumbled, making Silver jump and Ice fall off the sculpture while other Sneasels stepped back. "I'm sorry. This looked almost finished, and I couldn't help overhearing your argument. Your grievance with your team leader is that he named you after food? There are more important things in life than one little name. I myself have been named after food."

    Ice shook snow off of herself and looked up at the ice sculpture. "I told the stupid cat to stop, and just cause Lee let's him call her LeeLee don't mean I should let him call me Ice Cream," she snapped.

    "Do you insult him like that regularly?" Sorbet asked. Ice nodded. "Perhaps that's why he won't stop. Why don't you using derogatory names for him until after the party ends and see if your situation changes? That could even double as your gift to him."

     "Dero, derog, roggity?" Ice mumbled.

    "He means stop calling him stupid," Silver cut in. "I'm sorry, my sister isn't the sharpest set of claws." Ice extended her own claws, and he turned back to say, "when it comes to thinking."

    "Stupid, ok, I can do that. One of the older Sneasels taught me all sorts of words before he left," Ice replied. "And I'm pretty sure they were insults, since he always yelled 'em after I did somethin' stupid."

    "No insults at all, young one," the dragon sculpture said. "It will be a lesson in manners and maturity."

    "Maturity?" she asked.

    "Maturity," Silver repeated, as he paused to come up with the perfect words. "It means knowledge of how to act in battle. Act really smart and strategic too." Out of the corner of his eye he saw the real dragon staring at him from across the fountain. "Why don't you show off your maturity and help out your teammates with something without insulting or attacking either of them?"

    Ice nodded and moved over to ask Rhodes if she could leave, while Silver scampered over to the Kyurem to see what he wanted. "You are aware that that's now what maturity means?" Sorbet rumbled as he turned to look at the much smaller Dark type.

     "It's the best way to deal with her sometimes. Our older sister always glorified fighting when talking to her, and now Ice is obsessed with it. She thinks being the best fighter is like being a good person."

    "Regardless, your lies will catch up with you, and from the way you talk, answering to your sisters and your team leader when it happens will be unpleasant," the dragon rumbled before laying his head on his claws. Silver nodded and moved back to continue working on the sculpture.

***

      "So, what are we doin'?" asked Ice. The Sneasel was dangling, bored, from a branch above one of her teammates. In the time she spent working on the ice sculpture, the Purrloin and Sewaddle had sorted and cleaned a large amount of garbage, and what they had deemed unusable was being returned by Sly, leaving Leilani to sift through a pile of miscellaneous pieces of broken glass, wood, and metal, occasionally stopping to examine stained fabric to see what parts were salvageable.

     "Like I said, we're planning on making all of the gifts we're giving. As for the what, we're planning on using the garbage, my String Shot, and your Ice Beam to make little knick-knacks, just decorations really," she replied. "Would you like to help sort?"

     "Kay," Ice replied and hopped down. She began sorting the broken glass and metal into piles by color. She was later joined by Sly, while Leilani kept working on the fabric. Finally, everything was sorted.

      "Soooo, the Captain, what should we get him?" Sly asked, flipping a particularly shiny piece of glass around with his paws. "He's a pirate, so he likes treasure. Treasure is shiiiiiiiny. Then, we use the shiny stuff, aaaaand, make a belt for holding stuuuuuuuuuff. LeeLee will have a lot of work to do for that one, since she has to weave the belt and sew some pouches for it." The Sewaddle immediately began working on the larger pieces and sewing them into a bag while Sly continued.

     "Then Team Suledin, uhh. I only talked to Sully, and we didn't talk about interests or wants. Maybe we could get them something they can hang in their home. A shiny dangly thing to go by a window. Add some pretty coloooors. Ice Creeeeeeam, freeze some random stuff and LeeLee can hang it, and I say that's all the team projects we need. Then I wanna get something for Vertigo and Sully. I wanna make Vertigo a bow tie, since Hops and Jones have one, but not hiiiiim. And Sully. Uh, what do girls liiiiike?"

     "I like fightin'" Ice offered as she picked out bits of metal and glass.

     "It really depends. For example, unlike Miss Ice, I prefer sewing and reading," Leiliani added as she finished sewing a pouch. "I noticed that she has a ribbon on one of her horns. It's a bit of mess, I'm not sure if she likes it that way, but you could make her something like that, maybe for the other horn?"

      "Ok," Sly replied jumping into the small pile of fabric. "And what about your other stuff?"

     "Hmmm," Leilani mused as she worked on another pouch. "I'd love to get Mister Chrysanthos, Mister Winston, and Ms. Sherri something. They don't need accessories, maybe some exterior decorations and volunteering at the shop. Poor Mister Chrysanthos seems to have gotten some kind of sickness since we picked up Miss Ice's bandana."

      "Sis and Bro weren't really into gifts. Sis works, and Bro likes to nap," Ice replied stumped. The trio began working for a long time in silence before Ice had an idea. "Ehh, you said the Medical Tent was boring, so maybe one of those things we're makin' for your friends?"

     "That sounds very nice," Leilani replied. "Maybe a pillow for your brother? I can show you how to sew one if you want, although we'll need some fluff to put in side."

    "Ok," Ice replied, as she moved closer to her teammate.

***

    "Hey, I worked on the ice sculpture," Silver muttered, twitching a bit as he moved next to Coco in the Merchant Booth. "Do you want me to help here? Fetch stuff for you?"

    "Perfect, as soon as we agree on a price this team would like five Oran Berries," she replied. "Guild Leader Gunpowder recently ordered a large amount, so our stocks are greatly depleted. If you can't pay full price, you'll have to go somewhere else. Oh wait, this is the only place in the village selling anything. Maybe if you walk all the way to Tao Ranch, you'll get a lower price."

     "But we have a lot more friends who we want to get gifts for," replied a Pokémon Silver couldn't see from where he was standing. "Can't you lower it a little?"

    "I'm deeply sorry," Coco lied, "but if you can't pay the full price, you can't purchase them. Perhaps less berries?"

    "Pleeeease. Please, please."

    "Well, I suppose I could lower it down to exactly the same price I told you it cost," she hissed. "We have a very long line, and we don't want you to waste our time or any of the other customers. If you don't leave or come to an agreement, I'll have my teammate escort you out. He used to be in Slasher's Gang, so it may not be pleasant."

      "Fine," the other Pokémon stood up and placed a pile of coins onto the counter.

    Silver pretended to fumble with the small box of berries and so he could bend down to Coco. "Please don't do that," he asked blankly.

     "Thank you very much," Coco purred, picking up the coins with her tail and placing them in a box next to her. Silver frowned; his complaint obviously hadn't been heard. "If you're willing to pay extra, Silver here can gift wrap it for you."

     A few more coins landed on the counter, and an almost manically grinning Coco added them to the box, purring with pleasure and waving the team over to the side to wait and beckoning to her next victims with her tail. Silver, meanwhile, struggled with paper and ribbons until the box was covered and handed it over to the first Pokémon, who was busy complaining about Coco's hard bargaining with his teammate.

     The rest of the day passed with more transactions that Silver didn't pay much attention to, and with more Pokémon than Silver cared to get to know. From what he had gathered that day, Coco's method of selling consisted of repeating the listed price in an increasingly snobbish matter until her customer caved into paying full price or offering a favor to her, in the latter incident, Coco would use some of her own money to cover the cost. Silver meanwhile slowly mastered the art of gift wrapping and finally managed to do a neat job concealing an object's shape without making a lumpy mess.

    "Great job," Coco purred to Silver as the two carried the box of gold they had gathered inside to the Merchant Hut to hand it over to Shroomsworth for counting. "I needed an extra pair of paws to handle the gift wrapping faster."

     Silver nodded as the two entered. PK and Shroomsworth were waiting. The Sneasel set the box on the table in the center of the room. The two began counting and the gestured for the other Merchants to leave.