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As the news of Lumiose City's urban redevelopment plan started to spread around, the streets and shops began to see a sizable increase in the amount of clients they received, and few places exemplify this better than the Galerie de la Lune located in the Rouge District. The bustling shopping mall is packed with people and trainers who look around at the shops and boutiques, looking for anything that strikes their fancy or simply checking the prices while they walk across it.
One such trainer is Maelys, who goes from store to store on a shopping trip for a new outfit. The redhaired beauty walks around the shop with confidence, picking up shirts, jackets, skirts, leggings, boots, any piece that she likes before heading to the dressing room on the back, practically hogging the place with her pile of clothes to try them all on.
From the outside, people can hear her remarks as she tries the pieces, little phrases like "Cute", "Hm, not this", or "Oh, that's hot" are among the things that Mae lets out as she combines the clothes, trying to make the new outfit. Even when some other clients approach the dressing room she’s using and try to pressure her to be faster, Maelys simply ignores them as she is too focused on her task.
After a long while, she finally comes out of the room with the new set in hand, heading to the cashier to pay for it while leaving the rest of the picked clothes behind, the ones that she didn't like so much. She presents the clothes to the vendor as they check them: An open-back leather vest, a patterned red-and-black skirt with black leggings, and a pair of black boots with red strings.
The whole set costs her around a hundred thousand Pokedollars, which is a heavy hit to her pocket, but Maelys pays them regardless with a smile on her face. Once the transaction has been made, she takes the bags once again to the changing room to put on the clothes on the spot.
Dressed in the new outfit, Mae walks out of the store with a bright smile of satisfaction as she shows off on a little stroll, carrying her previous clothes on the bags from the store. She heads towards the nearest plaza, taking out her Rotom Phone along the way to take some selfies on the streets, posing cutely at the camera while it takes the photos, before sharing them on her social media.
"Just spent $100000 at Galerie de la Lune, how do I look? :D <3 <3", she adds as a message on the image before posting it. After that, she takes some more photos while she walks, and before long she can see the notifications for the answers she starts to receive.
"Someone is stuck in a Spinarak web behind you."
"You look amazing! <3 <3 <3 Wanna get coffee at Nouveau later?"
"I wonder if they're still breathing..."
"Your outfit is fantastic <3 I'd love to get some fashion tips from you sometimes."
"Damn! You look lovely :3 Mind if I invite you something to drink? Or maybe a battle? ;)"
"That guy got webbed AGAIN?"
"GUYS HELP THERE'S A MEGA STARMIE AT BLEU SECTOR 9"
"(Also, we should save the guy trapped)"
"My imagination got the better of me, never mind. That outfit looks great on you Mae."
Maelys laughs at some of the replies before basking in the compliments of the others, ignoring completely anything related to someone being trapped. She swears she didn't see anyone trapped. Moving from that, she starts to reply to the messages and invitations with a smile, enjoying the attention obtained by the new outfit.
However, whenever she looks at the amount spent on the clothes, the redhaired woman lets out a sigh. Though she's completely happy with her purchase, the thought of using that amount of money makes her feel a little down. She will recover, of course, she's sure of that, but it means that Maelys has to find some job or gig where to get it back.
While she wanders aimlessly through, thinking of ways to recover her spending funds and answering replies to her post, Mae becomes unaware that the sun is descending on the horizon as dusk settles in. And with night approaching, so do the battle zones established around Lumiose for the Z-A Tournament.
Without noticing, she ends up walking into one of those zones, and soon some guy blocks her path, forcing her out of her thoughts. "What do you want?"
"A battle, sweetie, what else?", says the trainer with a laugh. "You walked into a battle zone, you were looking for it."
"No, I didn't..." Maelys looks at the stranger, annoyed, before looking around the place. And unfortunately she does see the holographic barriers marking the zone as a battle one. "Ah, for Arceus' sake..."
"You know the rules, so take out your Pokemon." The pushy trainer pulls out a Scrafty to battle, while the redhaired woman lets out a frustrated sigh.
Without wasting another moment, Maelys calls on her shiny Lopunny to the battle and immediately Mega-evolves it, placing a hand on the accessory on her neck to trigger the change. "Lopunny, finish it quickly with a Close Combat."
The bunny Pokemon nods and jumps into action, giving their opponent no time to react as it unleashes a barrage of kicks onto the Scrafty, making it crash against a wall with the final hit and knocking it unconscious with just that.
"Hey, what was that for?!" The stranger tries to complain but the battle is quickly resolved, and Mae takes the chance to turn around and walk out of the battle zone with her Loppuny in tow, ignoring the shouts of the loser.
Once they are out, she thanks them before returning it to its Pokeball to rest. After that, Maelys takes a good look at her new clothes to make sure they are not dirty or anything, and once she's sure that all is good, she decides to make her way back to the hotel.
As she walks, paying more attention this time, she receives a message from one of her friends.
"Hey, girl! I saw the new outfit, looks hot! <3 I think I may have a gig for you, Mae! Wanna talk about it tomorrow? It involves good pay and free clothes! :3"
That last part gets Maelys' attention very quickly, so she stops to answer her friend with a big smile, and starts making plans for the next day. With that news, she hurries back to the hotel to have a better chat on the phone and take a good rest, excited at the possibility presented to her.