Black Market? What is this 'Black Market'?

It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, and business was booming. For the common Pokémon, the market was a lovely place to barter and trade items for things more up their streets. For Crowley, he saw his little operation certainly not as smuggling, nosiree. It's just good trade. Yes, sir, I'll take your berries across the island. Of course, miss, I'd be happy to trade your heart scales for evolution stones for your brood. Please, it's nothing. Thank you for the gifts, honestly.

He thought he was brilliant.

The Seviper slithered his way as gracefully as he could with his noticeably large body between the stalls, his abnormally gold eyes flicking back and forth under his stylish shades as he searched for his destination.

The silvery Ninetales padded through the vibrant market, crimson eyes flashing back and forth, a genial smile spread across her muzzle. Lifting a paw to avoid some young pokemon scurrying past, evidently caught up in a game of tag, she watched somewhat wistfully after them. Despite her advancing age, she loved to go out for strolls, interact with others and generally browse stores - and for all that, a marketplace was perfect!

Inspecting some Cheri Berries and just thinking of all the wonderful pranks she could play with the spicy red fruits, she looked up as light reflected off a mirror. Her gaze shifted from her own greying reflection to a Seviper slithering past. Moving her voluminous tails aside to allow him past, she idly wondered what kind of curse would unwittingly descend on the unlucky individual to touch one of them. It could be noted that the populace was giving her her space as she moved past, especially around the nine fluffy extensions...

A Zangoose hissed threateningly at Crowley, and he hissed even more viciously back, but the Zangoose refrained from attacking. No doubt he remembered the rules of the marketplace. Crowley did his best to avoid conflict, due to the nature of his work, and so he slithered his way out of the situation, swinging his basket of goods out of the way as he passed the Ninetales's fluffy tails.

The basket clinked down onto the stall of a shifty Sableye. 'Good to ssssee you again,' Crowley greeted smoothly, his tongue licking out to taste the air as he spoke. 'It's been such a long time, hasn't it? The lady sends her regards.' He thought warily of the icy cold cave from which he'd retrieved this basket of glittering Ice Gems and the creepy, echoing voice of the Pokémon who had traded him the basket and a bag of fine, glittering ash someone had claimed came from the legendary Ho-Oh's fires in Johto for a string of pearls.

Seraphine flinched when a bout of hissing commenced behind her, dying out as quickly as it had started. Ugh, feuds. She rolled her eyes, and moved closer to the smell of a pleasant, aromatic...charcoal? It was something similar...ash, perhaps? It smelt heavenly, like one might imagine the residue of a fragrant, burnt strip of bark to smell. Her crimson orbs quickly caught sight of glittering gray powder in a basket, held by a Seviper sporting Dark Glasses. Heh, classy. The ash drew her like a Mothim to a flame, and she inched closer.

Crowley sorted the items in his basket, shifting the bag of ash to the left and crowding the Ice Gems to the right. 'Please, accept this fine gift as a token of our friendship,' Crowley said smoothly, looking over the brim of his glasses. The Sableye giggled a bit before she took the basket in her clawed hands and set it under her table. 'Thank you, Crowley. Oh, please, you must take this! For being such a good friend.' She slid him another basket, this one a shade of inky black and housing an old, old vase filled with some of the vilest, nastiest sludge one could ever hope to encounter. Crowley's grin grew wide. 'Aw, you old sap. You know me so well.' The Sableye giggled at him before she waved him off with her clawed hand, her eyes settling on Seraphina as she assumed her to be an actual customer. Crowley slithered out of the way enough to examine his new goods and make a plan.

The Ninetales could feel a shudder travel down her spine as the Sableye's beady (bejewelled?) gaze settled on her - something about the masked interest struck her as....sleazy. Coughing slightly, she stepped forward, shrinking back from the vile sludge - what was that?! - interest still fresh regarding the ash. She waited a few moments, pretending to be interested in other shiny trinkets, allowing the Seviper to pass out of ear shot before turning to the shopkeeper. With the Seviper went the vase, and for that the old Fire-type was thankful. She could bet that tar was likely flammable, and she envisioned an old Seviper skin - moulted, of course! - burning. The Black Sludge was something only Poison types could have an affinity towards. She let out a disgusted snort.

When it came to communicating, Seraphina could be a bit unique. "Excuse me, ma'am," She started off cordially enough, "Could I have a look at that ash you received a few minutes ago?" Mincing no words, she continued on right to the next part, "Hey now, hey now, hand over some and maybe I won't curse you, eh?" A mischievous grin spread across her maw, revealing twin rows of pearly teeth, and her blazing oculars flashed, flashing forth its own unsettling glance. She wasn't intending on stealing, certainly not! She wasn't the thieving kind. But the startled glances most gave upon a threat was worth the value of all the ash to her.

The Sableye gave her a sharp, glinting glare, the kind only a Pokémon who was used to fighting for her contraband was used to giving, and hissed. 'You didn't see nothin', sweetheart. What I have on the table is what I have to sell.'

Crowley heard the commotion behind him and turned to look, momentarily distracted from his prize.

"Oh?" Seraphina's eyes narrowed at the Sableye's response. It wasn't so much the loss of the ash that intrigued her - why was that ash off limits? That and the gems or something that she did, indeed, see. Was she buying and selling something illegal? Of course, only something illegal could be as putrid and foul as that sludge she saw back there. She suppressed a shudder and her lips parted slightly, giving the smaller dual type a peek at twin rows of pearly whites. A Black Market, was this?

As it stood, curiosity compelled Seraphina to probe further. She leaned closer, five of her tails curling around her body to stand in a row beside her face. No, she wasn't cursing the Sableye. "Let me tell you something, ma'am," The older Fire-type spoke calmly enough - patience came easily to those who had seen 474 birthdays. "You know how we practice social hierarchy?" The beginning might have been somewhat unexpected, but the Ninetales rambled on, "Us Fire types have a Fire hierarchy too," One of her tail tips ignited to a small, flickering flame. It glowed brightly, radiating heat, shining red-hot. It rose vertically, as of yet benign to the shopkeeper and her stall.

"This here is a regular flame. But go a step further, and you get this pretty lass," The second tail tip flickered into life, displaying an equally small blue flare. "It's a pretty well-known fact that blue fire is much quieter and calmer than red fire," The breath of her speech caused the little flame to shudder, but it persisted, refusing to be snuffed out of existence, "But they burn much hotter," She spoke in a low voice, almost a whisper. Was this all a set-up to a grand trick?

"Now burn other substances, and it becomes much more interesting. Higher up on the scales are purple and golden fire," Two of the last three tail tips ignited quietly, burning silently, while their red cousin snapped and crackled and popped. "But the most interesting," She brought her last tail tip closer to her muzzle, keeping it directly between herself and the Sableye. Was this not a wonderful science lesson?!

"Is the last one. Silver fire. The fire of the fae," Appearing almost ghostly, the pale flame arose and stood unwavering, seemingly cool to the touch. Unlike the others, it radiated no heat, gave off little light. It practically seemed like a mirage. "Hmm. A 'mon of your size wouldn't take more than a few seconds - five, maybe, at the most - to burn. Everything burns. Not even ashes will remain. Wonderful, is it not?" Her psychotic gin widened, and she crooned to the low, smouldering gray flame. All at once, all fires whiffed out of existence, and Seraphina's gaze shifted from her silver baby, lingering a while longer before relinquishing its hold on her fluffy tail and joining its brethren. The flame-wielder's gaze now rested on the Sableye, the point as of yet unstated. What did this crazy old Ninetales want?! The aging female leaned back, letting out a pent-up huff of blistering smoke, which harmlessly swirled in the wind, which carried it far away, to distant lands. Much like the ones the mysterious gems and ash had arrived from.

Her paw reached out, an she picked up a pretty brooch, polished to perfection, beginning to examine her reflection in it. "I don't suppose you have any bags? You know, one an old lady can use to sling over her aching shoulders and lighten her load?"

Hearing the commotion, Crowley turned around to watch and see what was going on. He coiled himself around his prize, as if he really thought someone was going to take his Black Sludge, and noticeably did not get involved.

What, coward? Pfft. Crowley wasn't a coward. No, he was just a smart little Seviper, because smart Sevipers knew that fire and poison really don't mix all that well. Much better to stay back and watch.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, from a more logical perspective, the Sableye was made of much tougher stuff. She couldn't blink, which was unfortunate, because the smoke was making her eyes water. Wordlessly, she set a flimsy grass-woven bag on the table. 'That'll cost ya three Oran berries, ma'am. And the brooch's worth a Dusk Stone or anything of equivalent value.' The last words were said in bored monotone, like they were memorised from a script, followed by a, 'I'm required to tell you that all damages to the stall must be compensated by the damager.'

Crowley snickered in what he thought was a quiet tone from where he was watching. The nerve! Ah, to be a Pokémon with no sh*ts to give, he mused.

Seraphina wrinkled her nose, all suspicions forgotten - but were they forgiven? "Ah, grass? You got one made of anything else? Rope? Hay? Fur? Caterpie Silk? Anything else?" She was nonplussed with the Sableye's reaction - why was her prank not working? Was she not scary enough? Hmm...

"I haven't got any Oran Berries, but I have a few Tanga berries. If nothing else..." She reached into her ruff fur and rolled out some small, shiny spheres. To all the world, they'd look like little frozen pellets of dew, as the light glinted off them, but they were dense, and opaque. The Ninetales bent to look at them closer and rolled some off the table, leaving three of the mysterious objects on the wooden surface. "I believe they're Pearls," She squinted closer - her aging eyesight was failing her. "Aye, nope. One of them is. The others are just shiny stones," Her nose was practically touching the pearl, and her heated breath was causing small drops of moisture to form on them.

"And what damage?" She grinned cheekily at the poor bored shopkeeper. All said and done, no loss if no one was intimidated. She wouldn't have minded apologizing to a traumatized Sableye, but the lady was clearly too tough for that. Ah well, it seems age was getting to her - she picked the wrong victim. Seraphina giggled - the wrong customer. Get it? No? Nevermind. "I'll even roast the berries for yah," She offered the dual type with a tilt of the head, the movement causing her attention to shift to the Seviper at the periphery of her vision. He was still here?

A snickering Seviper. A snarky snickering Seviper. Seraphina nearly burst out in laughter from her poor joke in worse humor, but she sufficed with watching the 'businessman' with a wary eye. Was she really attracting that much attention? All she did was light a few fires, cause a bit of smoke...oops. She rubbed a paw against the slightly sooty ceiling, cause the light dust to fall right off, peppering her platinum fur with flecks of black.

(Derp, used all my muse for my non-existent post xD Sorry)