An AbsolUtely Amazing Luxray Costume
A request from Niven over on FA.
Thomas checked his watch; he had been waiting for Markus for twenty minutes. His friend always seemed to be punctually late; he heard a knock on his front door. Thomas sighed and pulled his sleeve down, "Coming." He walked towards the door and pulled it open; there stood his friend dressed in a dark ensemble. "Hey man, sorry for taking so long." Thomas scratched the side of his head, "It's alright, but you should really learn to be on time." The two stood on the opposite sides of the door dressed completely differently; Thomas was dressed in a black jacket and black pants with flashes of yellow on them while Markus was dressed in a white shirt with dark slacks.
"So can I come in?" Markus asked, Thomas stepped aside and let his friend in. Markus took a chair from the kitchen table and Thomas slipped into the chair opposite him, "So why did you call me Thomas?" Markus questioned, Thomas slipped a paper out of his jacket and put it on the table. Markus picked up the paper and looked it over, "Pokémon costumes?" Thomas nodded, "I heard that this place has some seriously good costumes, we have been on the lookout for good costumes since our last Pokémon Club get together." Markus scratched his face for a second, "How much do they cost?" Thomas shrugged, "I didn't hear."
Markus glanced at the paper again, "How did you hear about this... Costume Poké?" Thomas pulled a note out of the same pocket, "Our old friend Brixton contacted me." Markus's eyes widened, "Brixton? Nobody has heard from him for two months." Thomas nodded, "Believe me, I'm as surprised as you." Markus thought over the proposition for a moment, "Alright, when will we go?" Thomas checked his watch, "Why not now? It's only four thirty five; we can easily make it there and back home before seven." Markus nodded, "Alright, let's get going."
As the pair walked out of the house they heard a roaring noise overhead, the pair looked up to see a Charizard flying overhead. "Looks like that Costume Poké has a flying ad." Thomas said, Markus smirked and nodded. The pair walked down the stairs and walked through the street, they passed by Pokémon trainers having battles with each other. One particularly brutal match had a Rypherior using Rock Blast on a Raichu, "Poor Raichu, it didn't have a chance." Thomas muttered as they passed by, Thomas had always loved electric types. His favorite Pokémon was Luxray by far, but he had never really had the chance to be a trainer to one.
As they walked further along they saw a Snorlax fighting against an Arcanine, as the Arcanine prepped a Fire Blast the Snorlax used a Mega Punch on the Fire type. Arcanine was immediately taken out by the punch, Markus cheered on the Pokémon. Unlike Markus who was an Electric type lover, his friend was a Normal type trainer. Markus had never really told Thomas who his favorite Pokémon had been though, Thomas and Markus after watching the fights entered the main town square.
They both heard the barking of an Jolteon, they glanced over to see a cheery Jolteon jumping around the square. Around the Pokémon's neck was an ad for the Costume Poké, "Wow, look at that Jolteon move." The Jolteon was sprinting around to groups of people to flash its sign to them; it obviously loved its job. As it sprinted past the pair sparks of lightning flew off of its quills, the sparks bounced on the ground in a glimmer of yellow. Thomas smiled; he had always loved the sight of electricity for some reason.
After a few minutes of watching the Pokémon Markus finally pulled Thomas away, after a few minutes of being lost in some back alleyways they finally found the street they were looking for. "Poroto Street, we found it." Thomas recited the name off of the sign; the pair looked around to see shady figures standing around with their dark types. As the pair walked down the street they suddenly heard a voice, "Hey you two, what do you think you are doing?" They both looked to see a large looking man approaching them, "There's a tax if you want to come through here."
The man grinned as he held his hand out to them; Thomas nearly gagged as he caught a whiff of the man's putrid breath. Thomas and Markus looked at each other, they both started to dig into their wallets when suddenly they heard the call of a Pokémon. "Hera!" Suddenly a small form smacked into the brute, "Oof!" They heard the air rush out of him as he was hit, they both gaped at the figure that had saved them. A Heracross untangled itself from the huge man's body; it looked at the pair with a big smile. "Hera!" It motioned its hand as if to say to follow it.
The pair glanced at each other and followed the Pokémon, as they followed it they heard the chiming of a bell, as they finally reached the source of the bell they saw that it was a Chimecho. Markus and Thomas looked at the sign above a door and saw that It was the Costume Poké, "I guess this Pokémon knew why we came." Markus grinned as he said, the Heracross grinned at the pair as if it knew them. They walked into the store behind the bug Pokémon and walked into a costume wonderland, as they looked around in awe they saw costumes of Pokémon's of every type.
A voice suddenly interrupted the quiet of the room, "Welcome new customers!" The pair jumped at the loud voice, a man walked out from behind a shelf of costumes. "I'm assuming you two are Markus and Thomas?" They both nodded slowly, "How did you know who we are?" Markus asked cautiously, the man smiled and laughed. "Your friend Brixton told me all about you two; you see he is very important to this store." Thomas cocked his eyebrow, "He is? I haven't seen Brixton for a long time, where is he right now?" A knowing smile passed over the man's lips, "Oh he's here, he's just attending to something at the moment."
Thomas frowned, "Ah alright, well then since you know who we are can I ask you who you are?" The man held his hand out, "My name is Dorom, I am the owner of the Costume Poké." Thomas and Markus shook his hand; the pair glanced around the room. "So we were wondering if you might be able to get us a pair of costumes." Markus asked which Dorom smiled to, "I think I can help you two with that." He showed the pair around the store and showed them to costumes around the room, after twenty minutes both had found the costume that they desired.
Markus had picked up an Absol costume while Markus had found a Luxray costume; both seemed very pleased with their choice. Markus was so pleased that he wanted to put the costume on right at that moment, "I was wondering if you had a dressing room?" He asked Dorom, a strange glint appeared in Dorom's eye as he smiled. "Oh of course, it's right through that door." Thomas glanced at his watch and noticed that it was almost seven, "Come on Markus we don't have time for this." His friend waved his hand at him, "Don't worry about me man, why don't you go home I'll see you tomorrow."
Thomas thought about it for a moment, "Are you sure?" Markus nodded, Thomas waved to his friend and Dorom and then left for home. As he left he glanced back as Markus went into the dressing room with his suit. That night Thomas hung up his new suit and slipped into his bed, right before he went to sleep he tried calling Markus. For some reason the phone went right to voicemail which rarely happened, Thomas just assumed that Markus had gotten home late and had decided to turn in early.
The next morning Thomas woke up and tried calling his friend again, once again he only reached Markus's voicemail. Thomas finally made up his mind and grabbed his Luxray suit, "I think I'll go see Markus and show off my suit to him in person." Thomas slipped off his clothes and quickly looked over his new suit; it seemed to be made of a rubbery material. He started to pull the suit on, as it slid onto his skin he shivered as he felt the cold material. After a few minutes he finished putting on the suit, it fit him like a glove.
Thomas walked over to his bathroom and looked in the mirror; he was shocked at how realistic the suit actually was. If he didn't know any better he would think that he was a real Luxray. He then smiled; he really did look like a Luxray. Thomas slipped out of his front door and started down the stairs, as he passed trainers on the street they all did a double take at him. Halfway up the street he heard the voice of a Pokémon, he glanced down and saw an Absol standing next to him. "Oh, hello there. What do you want?" The white Pokémon seemed to be looking at him in recognition, "I'm not a real Luxray, I'm a human."
Thomas felt stupid for explaining this to the Pokémon; the Absol didn't seem to care though it pushed up against his leg and tried to push him in a direction. "What is it?" He questioned the insistent Pokémon, then he realized that on its back was a sign. It was yet another Costume Poké ad, "No I don't need to go there, that's where I got my costume." He tried to walk away from the Absol but it followed him, as he tried to get away he realized that it was becoming harder to walk up right. After a few moments of stumbling away from the persistent Pokémon he fell forward onto his hands, Thomas started to stand up but found that he felt comfortable in his current position.
He glanced back at the Absol it now stood at the same level as him, it looked at him in satisfaction. As if this was its plan the whole time, Thomas wanted to get angry at the Pokémon but found that he couldn't. In fact he found that he seemed happy, happier than any sane person should be. As he glanced back at his body he realized that the rubbery material that the suit had been made out of seemed to be gone, it was now a real coat of fur. His thick coat of fur, this fact seemed to excite the transforming man more than it should have.
Thomas's mind was also in flux, he found memories of his past fleeing him. The memories were instead being replaced with those of a life of servitude to his master, Dorom his master. Dorom had trained him to be an electricity source, wait no that wasn't right. Thomas was a human not a Luxray; he was a human who trained Pokémon not the one who was being trained. But that's not right; he was a loyal Luxray to his master Dorom one who with his fellow Pokémon followed the man.
No his name was Thomas; he was a human... wasn't he? Maybe he was a Luxray, no that's right. He is Tom the Luxray, a strong Luxray with the privilege of powering the Costume Poké. Tom blinked a few times and looked around; sparks came off of his black mane. Why was he in the street and not in the Costume Poké? He then noticed his friend Marko, that's right the two had been helping build up popularity for the store. Now was the time to get back to work, Tom barked farewell to his friend and ran off towards the Costume Poké.
For a second in Absol Markus's old personality rose up and watched in horror as his friend became a Luxray, but then he remembered that he was Marko the Absol. Not a human, he looked around and started to show off his sign again for his master. Dorom back in the store smiled as Tom ran into the store barked a greeting to him and ran upstairs to power up the store, Brix the Heracross smiled as his friend passed them by. "Good job Brix on telling me about those old friends of yours, now not only am I getting more publicity. But I also no longer need to pay for electricity; I have a self-sufficient store. Thank you Brix."
The Heracross hummed in happiness at being able to please his master, as the Pokémon hummed his master prepared more costumes for his next customers.