Chapter 26

Chapter 26- Shopping 

The next morning Ed and Cynthia were in a bustling mall of Verdanturf town. The event that will happen this morning is one of the nightmares Ed didn't want to return to. That he got a motto until his second adulthood, no until his death. 

Professor Oak's family visited the family again as they were discussing different topics such as the present situation of each region, the ancient sites, and the newly discovered pokemons. Ed and Cynthia were interested and were eager to listen but Ralia asked the duo to do some shopping.

Ed proposed dividing the list on what they need to buy between the two of them so that they could efficiently buy and save some time. 

With their pokemon on their side the two roamed the mall. Cynthia couldn't call out Gible due to Gible being a rare pokemon in Hoenn and also to not gather unwanted attention. So her partner was Ralts on this task. vendors were familiar with Ralts due to him being brought by Macy around the town and being the deputy gym leader of Verdanturf town and Macy was a local star. 

On the other hand Ed has Roselia and Spinarak as his partners for shopping with their guardian. They have two guardian pokemon , Golduck and Breelom, and since they're planning to divide the task the two pokemon choose who to guard. 

Cynthia's guardian was Ralia's Golduck while Ed's guardian was Macy's Breloom. Both pokemon were Elite rank pokemon. 

As someone who has experienced shopping in his past life except for the part when he was young where he was left behind to line up at the counter. 

Looking at the list to buy Ed immediately went to the place to buy them. 

In the Seafood area, Ed went to the place to buy the four item in the list. Which was the same in his past life such as seaweed and fish but there is an additional Slowpoke tail and a pincer of Kingler. 

'I remember that in the anime and game that slowpoke tail was delicious but I couldn't believe that the price was so expensive, is this really the normal price?' Ed contemplated as he saw that the price of a slowpoke tail is 7,000 poke dollars and that was only half a kilo. 

'Those elders really want us to buy expensive items. In the list it asks for 3 kilos which totalled 21,000 pokedollars. Heavens, that's almost half of the given money.' 

Due to the slowpoke tail being in the list and the elders giving them 50,000 pokedollars each Ed couldn't help but question the common sense of his elders. After all, both him and Cynthia were still kids, having Ed who was still 6 years old and 11 years old for Cynthia. 

While he was evaluating if the price was really worth it for him to buy, Ed smelled something being cooked, making him drool so he looked to where the smell come from and saw a stall grilling something. So he went closer and saw a slowpoke tail being cooked above the grill. 

He inspected the stall and saw the price. It was 6000 per half a kilo but they only sell cooked slowpoke tail or else Ed would buy it here. Not only was the price based on the weight but it also came with the additional fee having a max of 14, 000 pokedollars if it was one kilo. 

'Hmmm… Even though I can eat later but I want to try it now, right trade!' 

"Um, uncle, do you accept trade?" Ed asked the stall owner as he was thinking of doing a trade. 

"Oh hello kid" The owner looked at Ed and he saw Breloom beside Ed. He was familiar with Breloom as the pokemon was one of the pokemon Macy owned. Macy wasn't famous due to her strength or because she is the deputy gym leader, she became renowned because she was the one protecting the town becoming the guardian second to the elders. 

The owner was one of the people Macy and Azim, he was one of the childhood playmates of Azim and he was living in the town since his birth. He was one of the people who disagree when Macy took the mantle of the town's gym leader and not someone they knew. But their perception changed when Macy protected the town alone against a level 3 stampede.

Note: 

I added levels for the stampede

Level 1 Green: Small number of pokemon (50-100 pokemons) and with levels below 30 

Level 2 Yellow: Led by a Quasi-Elite pokemon

Level 3 Orange: Led by Elite to Champion rank pokemon

Level 4 Red: Led by Master rank or above pokemon

Level 5 Black: Have a Grandmaster rank or above pokemon attacking

The owner was thankful to Macy as she and her pokemon saved his family and the Breloom who was with Ed was the one who save him and his family. His family idolized Breloom and that he caught a Shroomish which was now the playmate of his daughter along with her Skitty. 

"You want to trade for the slowpoke tail? What are you going to trade for one tail? Right kid call me uncle David" David asked as he introduced himself. 

"Hello uncle David, I am Ed. How about an evolution stone uncle?" Ed answered as he was contemplating what to trade as aside for pokeballs and medicines he has many evolutionary stones in his inventory. 

"Stone? Could I take a look?" David asked even though he wanted to give away the slowpoke tail but he was curious about the stones Ed would trade and if he or his family could use the stone he was willing to trade. 

Ed showed a dusk stone and a moon stone, he chose the two stones as he saw Umbreon, Skitty and Murkrow sleeping behind the man. Ed was amazed how these pokemons were still sleeping against this alluring smell. The two stones were for Skitty which evolved to moon stone and Murkrow who evolved through Dusk stone. 

Umbreon

Type: Dark

Level: 49

Gender: Male

Aptitude: Gold 2

Ability: Synchronize

Skitty

Type: Normal

Level: 40

Gender: Female

Aptitude: Silver III

Ability: Wonder Skin

Murkrow

Type: Flying/ Dark

Level: 41

Gender: Male

Aptitude: Silver II

Ability: Insomnia

When David saw the two stones he was amazed thinking about how rich Macy's family is to give away evolutionary stones to a kid. Familiar with evolutionary stones as he was on the trade in the past he could see that the two stones were of high quality that could fetch up at a high price. 

"Sure then kid let's do the trade, four slowpoke tail to your two stones" 

"Come on uncle, I feel I'm at a loss here. How about 3 slowpoke tails for one stone?" 

David was irked when he heard Ed's proposal as he could remember those scammers he kicked out in the market. But hearing Ed's proposal he accepted it as he already planned to give away a slowpoke tail and now they're trading and Ed's item was a high quality stone which has a higher value than two slowpoke tails. 

"Sure I accept" He fetched six slowpoke tails and Ed gave the two stones. 

When he received the tails, Ed immediately put the tip of the tail in his mouth. When the part touched his tongue his eyes widened as it was delicious, he couldn't explain as it tasted sweet, a little sourness, and spicy maybe due to the spice. 

He immediately finished one slowpoke tail for a few seconds. He gave one slowpoke tail to Spinarak, Roselia and Breloom didn't like eating meat. 

After he ate another tail he was already full so he looked at the remaining three slowpoke tails and remembered about his cousin Cynthia, Ralts, and Golduck so he saved the tails for them. 

He continued on his task as he looked for the ingredients in his list. After 30 minutes even though he will be lost he could asked someone, so in the duration at that time he already bought 10 items in his list.

On the side of Cynthia; Ralts, Golduck and the owner stared at Cynthia. While Ed already bought most of the items in his list Cynthia was still staring at the two Ice cream in front of her. Her look was like a look of contemplating a life changing decision. 

As she couldn't decide what flavor to pick as her list stated to choose between two flavor and didn't specify what flavor to choose which made Cynthia uncertain what to choose. 

—-----

At the same time when Ed and Cynthia start dividing the things to shop the adults continued their discussion when Grandpa Jin searched for Cynthia. So he asked Ralia who was still having an exchange with professor Oak, Grandma Talya, Carolina, and Green. 

"Oh, sorry for disturbing you guys. Ralia, where is Cynthia?" Grandpa Jin asked

"Cynthia? She went to shop with Ed. I asked her to do the shopping as Macy's has a challenger in the gym." Ralia answered 

"Sho-Shopping? Cynthia?" Grandpa Jin asked again for clarification as he stuttered when he connected Cynthia's name with shopping. 

"Yes! What are you thinking? Are you putting fault on your grandchild again?" Carolina said as she glared at Grandpa Jin. 

"What are you talking about mom?" Ralia asked

"Your idiot father blame your daughter when they returned home late from shopping some snacks" 

'Because you're not the one with Cynthia at that time! Ed oh Poor boy his first grocery task is down to waiting for Cynthia for many hours.' Grandpa Jin roared in his mind but couldn't fight against his wife. He could only pray that Ed could survive waiting for Cynthia to decide what to buy 

"Okay then, you guys continue" Grandpa Jin gave up and sighed as he left the room. 

Ralia, who heard her mother's scolding, contemplates as she knows that her father won't put blame on Cynthia no matter what problem. So the one who had a problem was Cynthia in regards to buying something. 

—--

After talking with his wife and daughter, Grandpa Jin went to the living room and was about to sit when the door opened. 

The one who opened the door was Sonia and Argus who came home from Kalos. 

"Uncle Jin!"

"Sonia Argus welcome home" Grandpa Jin greeted the couple

"Where's Ed uncle?" The two immediately searched for their son 

"Ah, your son was instructed to go shopping with Cynthia" Jin answered the couple's queries of the couple. 

"Ed? Ed went to shop? Just the two of them?" Argus asked with nervousness in his voice

"Hm? What's the problem?" Grandpa Jin asked

"That.. Ed has bad sense of direction and he would always lost his way" Argus answered

When Grandpa Jin heard this he couldn't help but feel nervous as the two who were assigned were the two kids which was a practice and preparation when they decided to travel. But the two had problematic characteristics that made him nervous. 

He then remembered how his wife and his relatives buy their groceries. One example was his brother Yun who would buy anything that could catch his eyes and his wife who like Cynthia has a decision disorder regarding flavors or needs but most of them would turn into bright person if it comes to pokemon or history. 

'Next time I would do all the groceries' Grandpa Jin sighed then he look at the couple in front of him and saw that there is someone with them. 

It was a little girl who was at the same age as Ed. She has a dark grey hair and grey blue eyes. 

"Is she your child!?" Grandpa Jin exclaimed as he look at the girl. She has the same eyes as Sonia without the lightgreen tint which is blue but Sonia has a combination of grey. She has the same hair and face as Argus. 

On the other hand Ed has a Light black colored hair hich he got from his father but his eyes were the same as the little girl except like Sonia and the other Williams has a gray eyes. 

"Is she Ed's twin?" Grandpa Jin asked as he examined the girl. 

Hearing this Sonia smiled as she introduce the little girl. 

"We wish to Uncle that she's our daughter but she was the daughter of our late friend. Her name was Diantha and we are now her adoptive parents" 

—----

1st person view

1 hour passed since I and Cynthia started their grocery task. I already bought all the things in his list. 

Now I'm searching for that big cousin of mine. Maybe she was already done with her parts. 

Looking at the crowd in front of me I finally remembered that I really hate chaotic and crowded place. 

I slowly walked past to the stall I visited as I was retracing my steps. After five stalls I passed I finally saw my cousin. 

But what confused me is the emotions he felt on Ralts and Golduck. It was helplessness and an emotion that wanted to give up for Ralts. While Golduck was reigning his temper. 

When Golduck saw that me and my group was getting closer, I saw Breloom look at Golduck and smirked which added fuel to the fire as Golduck, who was already near the end of his patient, was annoyed and taunted by Breloom. 

As I didn't want to get between the two Elite pokemon, I called out Cynthia. 

"Hmm.. Should I choose an Oran berry as it was cheap and could have more quantity or the Sitrus berry?" I could hear her mumbling as she was questioning herself. I looked at the store owner who was holding a camera, and Ralts tugged my shirt pointing behind me. He turned around and saw the crowd looking at Cynthia. 

"Sis, are you done?" I asked her as the crowd was looking at us. She had a serious face as she looked at the two berries. 

"Oh? Ed? You're done?" She looked at me as she snapped out of her brainstorming mode. 

"Yeah, how about you sis?" 

"Already? You're fast, I only bought two." 

Looking at my cousin's surprised face I suddenly feel nervous. 

"Ju-just two?" 

But it was already an hour, is her list hard? No, I remembered that her list is about vegetables, berries, and desserts. 

I look at Cynthia before looking at Ralts who has been sighing since he arrived. 

"Is there a problem sis?" 

"Yes, I couldn't choose between the two" 

"Can I look at the list?" 

Cynthia nod and gave me the list and I saw that the list asked about both berries but she was busy contemplating what to choose. 

"Sis, the list states about buying 40 of each berries." 

"What? Really?" I saw her shocked face and I couldn't help but want to pinch her. 

"Yes" 

Cynthia was not the only one who was shocked but also the owner, Ralts, and especially Golduck. 

Golduck froze when he heard what I said. 

I could see the shock on Golduck's face. I remember that in terms of buying Cynthia on the anime had a problem in regards to making a decision on what to buy. But is it really that bad?

I immediately bought 40 of each berries and decided to help Cynthia. It was already an hour but she only bought two of her to buy list. 

After buying five more items we are already close to finishing our task. I don't see any problem as we bought the things we need to buy without the undecided sickness of Cynthia. Maybe she only has this sickness if it comes to dessert, mostly Ice cream. 

Now we are in the grocery store, I couldn't believe that there's a grocery store or else I wouldn't be lost and running around the market draining my energy. 

"Ed" Cynthia called me. 

"Yes sis?" 

"The line here is so long, how about you line first while I buy the thing we will buy" Cynthia proposed and Ed was familiar with it. In his past life he would always be someone lining up if the grocery's crowded. 

Tired from running around I readily accept her proposal "Sure then"

 We're here in the grocery store as it was the only place where we can find Distilled Water, Lemonade, and other beverages in a plastic bottle. I really thought that they had a vending machine. 

But this proposal was one of the worst decisions I had in my second childhood. I waited for one hour, Yes ONE HOUR for Cynthia to buy drinks. I was already close to the counter for 10 times even with the number of customers lining up. 

So I went to search for Cynthia only to see her holding two bottles of mineral water. She was serious as she looked at the two bottles. 

"Sis!" 

When Cynthia heard me calling she look at me

"Ed?" 

"Sis it was already One hour and it's almost noon" 

"Really?" 

"What's the problem?" I asked her as she had a serious face on her. 

"Its that I can't decide which water to choose, is it a distilled tap water or a spring water" Hearing this I don't see any difference with the two as for both were just water. 

"Why choose?" I asked her because if I would buy a bottle of water I would always buy the cheapest one. But when she heard my question she glared at me. 

"Why? It's because for Daisy and Violet, you boys really don't know about safety and health. Earlier you were always buying without thinking. As long as they're on the list you would buy them without choosing, hmph you really need to fix that habit of yours." 

I was shocked as I watched Cynthia walk and went to line up. 

'Isn't she the one with a problem here?' 

When we returned home Cynthia told the elders about my habit of just buying things without thinking that was scolded by the two grandmas. 

Grandpa Jin and Uncle Alan look at me with pity. 

Hell!!! I'm n

ot the one with the problem, it was her!!! 

I went from waiting for hours for Cynthia to do her groceries to being scolded by the two grandmas for a few minutes. One misery to another. 

Next time I wouldn't do grocery shopping with Cynthia.