In the excitement of the festival, next to no one noticed a small man in black weave through the crowds, ducking, dodging and hiding whenever anyone coincidentally looked his way. The figure following was far less shy. The large green mantis pokemon stalked through the crowds, growling at no one in particular and keeping its arm blades close in case anyone wanted a fight. No one ever did, but he could always hope.
Alain looked around at one point, watching the festival unfold in front of him. Everyone seemed so...happy. How did they make all this stuff? Did they work together? If so, it was pretty impressive. Its a shame that it couldn't last forever...
Exo on the other hand, couldn't care less. He never really liked being out in the day, especially around people. Alain kept away from people because he was nervous, Exo kept away from them because he just hated most people. Alain was an exception, and of course, he wasn't completely human anyway...
Exo growled at another person, and Alain turned around. He was about to chastise his friend, but his tongue caught in his throat, so instead, he just gave him a hard look. Exo got the idea, and lowered his head. If he could speak, he would probably be muttering under his breath in some way.
Alain had been walking for a very long time, and his legs were starting to ache. Looking around, he noticed a cafe on the corner. Strolling over to it, he slowly went in and sat at a table. Exo perched next to him. Alain reached into his bag, and pulled out a small tub. He opened it, and pulled out a berry, which he placed on the table. Exo poked it with his claw, lifting it into his mouth. Alain took other other berry in the tub, and drained it with his powers, before crushing the husk into dust with his fist.
"Can i help you, sir?"
Alain squeaked as a waitress walked up to him, asking him a question. He nearly fell off his chair. Exo, ever the helpful scyther, growled at the waitress, lifting his claws slightly. The waitress was just as shocked as Alain was, taking several steps back and nearly falling over a table. Several people at the cafe looked up and stared, some wondering if they could intervene.
"I...I...Im sorry!" said Alain quickly. "Hes a little jumpy at times, he wouldn't hurt any..."
But the waitress had gone. Alain looked at Exo again, his face completely neutral. Exo looked a little sheepish, but showed no inclination to apologise. Picking up his bag, he hurried outside, their gazes on him feeling like daggers in his flesh.
He ran about a block away, before finally stopping, and staring back at Exo.
"Why did you do that? She didn't mean any harm...You could tell that she didnt mean any harm..." His voice trailed off. He didnt know what to say. He never knew what to say at times like this. Did anything he said to Exo actually sink in? Maybe it would have stopped him being such a jerk...
Exo pointed to Alain's bag, then to the festival.
Alain looked down, then at Exo again. "You think i...oh. I suppose that's not a bad idea." Walking over to a less crowded part of the street, he found a corner to set up his easel. He didn't have many paints, he could very rarely afford them. Usually Exo "found" his art equipment for him. He never really wanted to know how he "found" them.
SO he began. He decided to just paint the crowd at the festival, and eventually, he got so into it that he didn't notice time go by. He was vaguely aware of Exo wandering around, hopping on top of building and poking him from time to time, but he didn't react to any of it.
It could have been several hours, or just a few minutes, but finally, he stood back from his work. It was certainly one of his better ones, he always worked better when he was alone and no one was...
He looked up, and saw a group of people, all surrounding him, watching him paint. How long had they been there? They were watching him! Oh arceus, why were they doing that?! What did they want? Had he done something wrong?
One of the crowd walked up to him, and looked at his painting. Exo growled at her, but she evidently didn't hear or care. "its pretty good." she said. Alain tried to shrink into his seat, but couldn't go any further.
"Its really good, actually." she said. "Do you have your paintings in a gallery?" she looked at him. Exo was close to brandishing his claws, but he caught Alain's eye and he settled down slightly.
"Er..." he whispered. "N...no, actually. I'm not good enough to get in one of those..."
"Why don't you try?" She asked. "Is it because you are an avatar?" She then said simply, causing Alain to fall off his chair and nearly break his nose against the hard floor. Exo raised his blades, causing the entire crowd to take a step back. Alain flailed his arms around to signal Exo to cut it out, and the scyther slowly lowered his blades, sulking in his corner.
"Er...yeah, i'm the avatar of..." he stopped there. Telling people he was the avatar of the embodiment of destruction never went well.
"If you are an avatar..." she said, "I've heard there's a dinner for them at the Ritzy Raichu restaurant, just across town. They haven't shut up about it since they were announced." Alain shot up to his feet, packing away his paints and easel. "Er...thanks." he whispered, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. "I...er...have to go now. Bye."
Running past the crowd, with Exo following him, he thought. A dinner for avatars? He had never met another avatar before. In all honesty, he had sometimes wondered if they even existed, and he was the only one. A chance to meet one...and actually eat normal food. With his mouth. Instead of just draining it with his powers.
"Wait, how DO i eat with my mouth...never mind, ill just copy how exo eats."
He then turned around, and wondered where he was supposed to go to find this ritzy raichu.
___
After much wandering around, hunting for signs, and Exo "finding" a map, Alain finally found the restaurant. There was a porygon-Z in front of the door, and Alain slowly walked up to it.
"Er...um...hi!" he said cheerfully, waving slightly. "I'm here for the...avatar dinner. Because im...you know, an avatar. The Yveltal one. Please may i go in?"