Chapter no.20

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They were greeted warmly by the clerk who worked by the register; she was a young woman with bright eyes, blonde hair, and a white uniform. She inquired, "What can I get you today?" while quite obviously directing the majority of her attention towards Ash rather than Misty.

Ash arched his eyebrow as he perused the items that were displayed on the illuminated menu that was mounted on the wall. There were of course all of the items that one could expect to find at such a location, such as cheeseburgers, fries, shakes, hotdogs, and other similar fare; however, the food was not the primary focus of Ash's business. Ash noticed that the prices that were displayed next to each item contained a few extra digits than necessary. His question was, "How are you able to charge that much for a meal?" "Do you not believe that your prices are a little bit... excessive?"

Misty inquired as to whether or not there was a scarcity of any kind.

The expression on the girl's face became sad as she looked at the athletes on the other side of the counter. She mumbled something under her breath as she nodded in the direction of the empty booths lined up along the wall. "I wish I could say no." But you absolutely nailed it. The town is experiencing a significant lack of food, which is creating a significant obstacle for the operation of this restaurant.

Misty told Ash that she had noticed it earlier when she went to replace the rations that they had consumed the previous day as well as the day before that. "The most expensive item that they had was food when I went to the store," said the speaker. She turned her attention to the cashier. "Does anybody have any idea what's going on with the shortage?"

She responded with "I don't know." "I believe that if someone did it, then someone would be attempting to fix it; however, I haven't heard anything about it on the news," she said. I only know one thing, and that is that the only people selling food around town are members of the Viridian Gym, and their prices are so high that it is forcing a lot of restaurants and grocery stores out of business.

"What?" Misty let out a squeak. When did the Viridian Gym first start working with customers in the retail sector?

The blonde cashier asked with her arms crossed, "Will you please not look at me?" It's the only thing I can say for certain at this point, but I believe that all of the farms and ranches in the area have stopped selling their produce to the grocery stores in town. They are all selling their wares to another person, but I have no idea who it is that they are selling to. Because they have been the only supplier for the past five months, the Gym must have stocked up on quite a bit of food. It wasn't too bad at first, but prices have been going up and up and up, and it seems like the majority of the money that people in Viridian earn now has to go towards the purchase of food.

She remarked in a sarcastic tone, "The Gym must be raking in the dough." The clerk then turned back to Ash and Misty and said, "So." "Is there anything else that the two of you would enjoy?"

As Ash placed an order, partly out of pity and partly because of the growling in his stomach, Misty fell silent. The clerk quickly relayed the order to the kitchen. Part of the reason Ash placed the order was because his stomach was growling. After the clerk informed them that it might be a little bit longer than expected, the trainers walked to an empty booth along one wall and sat opposite one another there. After going silent for a number of minutes, Ash came to the conclusion that his partner was experiencing some kind of difficulty. Despite this, he was unable to discern what it was.

As it became clear that Misty was not going to initiate a conversation, Ash leaned one elbow on the table, rested his cheek on his knuckles, and cast his gaze about the room, analysing the expressions on the faces of the other customers who were currently there. He was taken aback by the realisation that he missed Pikachu and Growlithe and found himself wishing that they were by his side. Grinning to himself, he thought to himself, "I'm really glad Growlithe is taking to me so well." He is a capable Pokémon, and when he evolves into Arcanine, he will be a formidable asset to the group.

The face of a woman with cropped hair the colour of ale caught Ash's attention as she made her way through the food court for the first time. She was able to meet his gaze, and for a brief moment, the two of them looked at each other while simultaneously examining one another. As soon as Ash became aware that he was behaving in an impolite manner, he averted his gaze, and the woman immediately proceeded to the lone counter in the restaurant to place an order.

When the woman approached his and Misty's booth, Ash watched her approach with only a moderate amount of interest. However, when she stopped right next to them and cleared her throat, Ash straightened up and paid more attention to what she was saying. Ash cast her a further cursory look before focusing his attention a little more intently on her and concluding that she must be in her early to mid-twenties at the earliest. She had an unusually pale complexion, and her eyes were a slightly off-color pale orange.

She inquired, "Do you mind if I sit here?"

The husky tone in her voice caught Ash off guard a little bit. "Uh, sure," he replied while taking a quick look around at the various empty tables. "Go ahead."

As she sat down next to Ash, who had moved his chair slightly to the side and turned to face Misty and the newcomer, she politely thanked him for his hospitality and replied, "Thank you." The lady introduced herself as Jennifer, nodding politely to Ash as she did so and beaming at Misty as she did so. "I am employed by the Viridian Police Department," the speaker said. Are the two of you new to the area?

Ash mentioned the police. He gave the pokeballs that were dangling from Jennifer's belt a sideways glance. He scolded himself for having such an oversight. He only looked a little further down her leg for a fraction of a second, and his eyes fell on the transition point between her short skirt and her thigh of ivory. "Not really," he responded quickly while making direct eye contact and looking up. We are just passing through at this time.

Misty emphasised, "We're only staying the night," which meant that their stay would be brief.

The officer responded with, "Ah, gotcha." It pains me to ask, but if you two wouldn't mind responding to a few questions for me, I'd really appreciate it.

"What?" Both Ash and Misty's questions were asked in unison, and they expressed the same level of surprise. In continuation, Misty stated, "we haven't done anything wrong."

Jennifer made a gesture of appeasement by raising her hands in the air and saying, "I don't suspect you have." "But I am heading up an investigation in town, and it is a new policy at the department to question anyone who is new to Viridian about what they might know about the growing food crisis." "But I am heading up an investigation in town, and it is a new policy at the department to question... I'm not going to get too personal; I'm just curious to find out if you have any information that might be able to assist us in some way.

While Misty pursed her lips, Ash spoke in a friendly manner. If that's all you need, I guess we can both answer a few questions together. "Well, if that's all you need..."

"Good," the officer said in response. "I need to know first and foremost if either of you have any information pertaining to the recent food shortages... do you have any knowledge about who the northern farmers are and who they might be selling to?"

Ash gave a satisfied shake of the head, knowing that, given Misty's withdrawn nature, he would have to do the majority of the talking at this juncture. He said, "Actually, my hometown is Pallet Town, which is located to the south of here." I've only been up north of Viridian once or twice, and even on those occasions, I didn't make it out to any of the plantations or farms.

"Alright," said Jennifer in her own independent manner. "Next question…"