Deruta City. A simple name for one of the stable mega-cities. This one in particular was built on top of a delta, settled on top of what remained of the Okavango Delta post meteor-strike. If you were to stay in the center, you would've been none the wiser, the beautiful marble architecture, adorned with an inordinate amount of ornate details, and well maintained infrastructure hiding the problems. Police patrolled the streets, being ever friendly to the locals, all of whom were human. If you peered outside of the city center, however, you'd soon find that this all came at a cost.

The city center was surrounded by imposing walls, energy fields preventing entrance and exit without authorization. The buildings surrounding these walls looked alright, although they were certainly not as impressive, made of more commonly available materials, such as concrete. Mostly concrete, actually. Just beyond these buildings however, was an impoverished community. These buildings throughout the city were all concrete blocks made as cheaply as possible. It was clear the money had run out for these buildings, as many were patched up using things like wood, rusted metals, and even mud bricks. Plenty of them had long since collapsed, not lasting more than 5 years before they had simply fallen apart into rubble. Plenty were left without power, having to rely on neighbors or communal power stations. Indeed, the corrupt had cut deals to divert money away from city mainteniance to pay for their vanity projects.

What was most unusual was that the corrupt had simply stopped there. Unlike most other cities, elite still saw value in trying to appease their Pokehuman population. The police, less frequent than in the core of the city, still did their best to maintain order along the rest of the city. The result was, in spite of ever high tensions, relatively low crime rate. The homicide rate were low, businesses started all the time - though staying open was an entirely different matter - and there were few rebel groups trying to operate within the city. The revived were even able to create their own emergency services, the corrupt not bothering to try to stifle their attempts.

Sure, they had their vocal critics of this, and many who went over the line. Some called for genocide against these aberrations. Several thought that allowing the revived to start their own EMS systems made their rule less legitimate. A select few tried to enslave these Pokehumans. They were ignored by the rest of the city's corrupt, and gave the Pokehumans a blank check on what they wanted to do about these individuals. These individuals tended to not last long, leaving less competition for the corrupt to enjoy their unfairly gained wealth.

Though, for all the stability that Deruta offered, not all of its 21 million "innocent" inhabitants could be law abiding. There were many reasons to steal. The home just collapsed and they needed something to kickstart the funding of a new home, they're starving on the streets, they are a kleptomaniac, or someone else just robbed them and they need to make a payment to the mafia. Then sometimes, just sometimes, their entire Pokehuman form was built around compulsory thievery.

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With a hunch in my back, I made my way down the rubble-lined streets, humming a dumb, annoying tune I heard over the radio last night. It's so dumb, I lost some sleep over it. I yawned, taking my charcoal black hand to cover it. To no one in particular, I mumbled "'scuse me," the words slurring out of my mouth. It would take a moment before I parted my hand from my mouth, a second yawn threatening to overtake me. Was there a Drowsee on the street or something? I didn't think I lost that much sleep!

Whatever, I should check on what I've got. I grabbed ahold of my tail, and loosened the muscles, peering inside. From my trip so far, I've got plenty of rebar, a couple of plastic bits and bobs, some wires, a couple of fridge magnets a nearly full roll of old solder, and even a whole damn toaster. A toaster and solder! Who the hell just abandons those!? The solder's lead too, not the cheap tin crap. I'm gonna enjoy myself some toasted bread tonight, once I get this toaster repaired! Y'know, with this in mind, I think I could probably tolerate this tune for a little longer...

My eyes caught a flash to the left of me. I blinked once, before a sound was heard. My ears snapped to the sharp sound first, followed by my face following along. It was the unmistakable sound of metal scraping across asphalt, and it came from that manhole cover. I backed up slowly. It was probably just a mainteniance worker who encountered a block sewer. I'll spook him when he gets out! As I thought about how I was going to prank the worker, he managed to get the cover open with a grunt. It slid across the ground, snapping me back to reality. What came out of the sewer was not really what I was expecting. A white shirt, stained with sweat, a navy blue hoodie, denim shorts, a pair of aviators and some very nice looking boots covered in dust... Where's his protective gear, his mask? Don't these guys usually wear suspenders? Hoodies are very weird to wear down there. He must not be a worker, but why would he be down there?

It seemed that I wasn't the only one confused, as his face locked onto on mine. Neh... I hate it when they do that. There was a very long silence, before he finally spoke up.

"Oh," his voice was gruff, holding the slightest hint of anger. "Where the hell am I?"

"Well, you're on Fruta Seno," I answered. His face refused to turn away from mine. I could see his black orbs peering at my soul. Please stop.

"Fuckin'... Where?" His angered tone seemed to devolve into pure confusion. Stop looking at me!

"You know, where the food businesses used to be before they got relocated to the agicultural district?" STOP!

"No, I don't. I've never heard of Fruta Seno." His face finally turned away. Oh thank you! THANK you! He scanned his surroundings, pivoting his head away from me. "This place looks like a war zone..."

He said more things, of course. Something about a cave and a furry convention came up in his rambling. However, my attention was no longer fixated on what he said, as I stared down at his boots. Those were such nice boots, practically brand new aside from the dust on them, and maybe a scuff on the sides. My own shoes are fine, but they're a bit ragged, like the rest of my attire. These ones even look like the right size to replace them. He didn't properly tie them either, this would be easy.

With my priority set, I looked up just as he finally rested his vision on me. I flat tired my own shoes, loosening them up. Show time! He opened his mouth to say something, only for my left leg to give out. My hands briefly glowed as I stumbled right into him, the silly human giving out a yelp and my shoes slipping off in the process.

YOINK!

I hastily stuffed my shoes into my tail, putting on my new boots. Ah, this feels just right~! I quickly retied the knots to make sure that my attire couldn't be taken from me, as I looked up, the human recovering from his own stumble. He looked down upon me, as I tied the boots. And I swear, the MOMENT I started feeling like I had just gotten away with it, he had to open his mouth!

"Wait, are those my boots?" His angry voice had returned.

I let out a slack jawed "uh." HE'LL NEVER GET THEM BACK! With a giggle, I took off running. "Catch me if you can, I've got new boots!" Oh, and did he try. I could hear him, he sounded like a stampede of elements right behind me! Oh, this was going to be fun!

I took him left, right, down Mason, up Hajime, through the Road to Center all the way to the gates, and down practically every alleyway I could find. To his credit, he was doing a fairly nice job keeping up with me, which was a pleasant surprise. I could tell that he was clearly not cut out for the nearly mile long chase though, and was beginning to pant. Hah! Almost a clean get-away! I just have to go through this alleyway, and I should be able to finally stop making him my responsibility.

CRUNCH.

I turned to look at the source of the noise. I stepped on a bottle, its shards now laid scattered across the alleyway. I hadn't counted on the human getting one last push and being so close behind me. It spooked me when he turned the corner.

My shock quickly turned to dread as I realized what was about to happen. I feebly cried out "wait! Stop!"