"Ugh, can we be done already? I would like to read now. We've scrubbed this place down as much as possible with what we've got. The kitchen and the dining area are done, except some repainting and new floorboards." I groaned. "How long have we been working on this crap?"

Ben checked the time on his Styler. "Well, good news... We can go to the market like you wanted."

I ran my hands through my hair, ignoring how the muscles in my arm were sore from all of the deep scrubbing we did on the floors. The layer of dust was so thick that it had started to fuse into the floor and it was really hard to get out. "Ben, I thought I said we should only go to the market around lun— Wait, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"That we spent half a day scrubbing floors?" Ben finished, untying his apron and letting it drop to the floor. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

Throwing off my apron, I balled it up and threw it into the scrubbed pantry, not really caring that I didn't put it where it belonged. "Ben, what time is it?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"About 3:30."

"Ben," I seethed. "We wasted a day playing maid."

"And look at what a good job we did!" Ben motioned to the kitchen that was, admittedly, in a much better condition.

"There's a time and a place for everything Ben, but not now! Especially when we have things we need to do!" I said, mostly irritated from hunger and exhaustion. And my lack of sleep certainly wasn't helping my mood either.

"Yeah, I get that. But I can't help but want to fix it up, you know?" He shrugged. "Anyways, let's go. I'll even buy you lunch." He said with a laugh.

"What a gentleman, buying me lunch and stuff! You know how much I love food." I playfully raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to seduce me?"

He sputtered. "Oh my Arceus! What the hell, Summer?" His face started to turn pink.

"Y'know, it may be working." I teased. Ben made a choked noise, not unlike the noise Keith made when Kate embarrasses him. "The fastest way to a girl's heart is through food, after all."

Ben recovered quickly. "Really? I thought it was between the fourth and fifth rib." He quipped.

I chortled at that. "You're an ass."

"So I've been told." He smirked back. He offered me his arm with a mock bow. "Shall we make our way to the market, m'lady?"

My skin tingled at the word 'lady', but I pushed the lingering thought of Scratchy and Smooth out of my mind, lest they think I'm trying to summon them again. I gave him a curtsy before looping my arm in his. "We shall!"

Our Pokemon were too tired to come with us, so it was just me, Ben, and Yuka (who was actually quite energized, all things considered.) We made our way to a lady who was selling soaps. One that caught my eye was one in the shape of Entei. The soap smelled like chamomile and chickory coffee. It was nice and calming. I picked it up and traced my hand along the edges of the soap. There was another one, I noticed. It was a Celebi soap! That one was lavender and rosemary. There was one for Raikou, too, but that one seemed to have crumbled.

The lady noticed me examining them. "Oh! I see you like them, huh? I made them myself." She started. "I made all of the legendaries I could think of and I'm selling them as a set for $15."

Needless to say, I was a sucker for nice smelling soap and bought it. Hey, we needed soap for cleaning anyways.

There was someone selling shirts with various Pokemon designs, or Pokemon-inspired dresses. I had to say that I was particularly fond of the Pichu cocktail dress because it reminded me of Yuka. Speaking of Yuka, I should see if I can find her a ukelele since the other was destroyed in the ruins.

I looked over many vendors and found no sign of a ukelele anywhere, though I did see an instrument called an erhu. How do you have an instrument that I've never heard of, but don't even have a simple uke?

I was looking for a new pair of casual clothes and just bought two pairs for Ben and I so that we wouldn't have to worry about ruining our Ranger uniform when we were repairing the mansion. Because that's something that we're apparently going to be doing from now on.

Stuffing my recent purchases in my Ranger bag, I started looking for Ben. I found him cornered by a particularly pushy vendor who was trying to get him to buy baby supplies, to which Ben continued to insist that he didn't need.

"Listen, sir, I need to pay for my daughter to go to Sophian Island. Next week is her birthday and—" The vendor said, trying to hand Ben what looked like a baby sling. "The only thing I can sell is this stuff I no longer have any use for."

I slipped the man $40 and the man's face broke into a grin. "Tell your daughter I said happy birthday." I told him. He nodded and brought out all of the baby stuff. My Arceus, there was so much. I certainly got more than $40 worth of unnecessary baby stuff, so he must've been very desperate to get his daughter to Sophian Island.

Well, there's always a lot of rooms at the mansion to shove this into. Maybe one day whoever lives in there could use that stuff. Or if Jet finds it hard to walk, we could just stuff him into a baby sling. Jet's so prideful that he would probably refuse to be put in there, though.

Regardless, Ben looked thankful I had gotten the vendor off of him, but he didn't look too happy at our useless purchase. Well, whatever. At least most of the stuff looked to be in good condition.

Enjoy!~