Chapter 05

After finally finding the shop holding the auction of a rare trading card for the gecko person, our mission started running more smoothly. Like all the pieces were finally falling into place.

The jellyfish person, the first one we talked to earlier today, didn’t agree to let Tank Top or I participate in the auction because of the test he did on me earlier.

Although, that’s as much as an admission he is the one selling the elusive Felis trading card. That fact was enough for us.

Our exchange with him wasn’t completed yet when we relayed the information to the gecko person, however. He still had to head there to confirm and make his bid.

“If the shopkeeper asks how you found out, tell him it’s your friend running that clothing store who told us”, I said to him because I was afraid the jellyfish person might bar him from participating, too, if it was mentioned it was us who gave him the info.

He returned fifteen minutes later with the biggest grin on his face.

“I got it”, he said.

Then he showed us the thing, which is enclosed in a transparent case for a single card.

There laid a rectangular photograph of… a silhouette.

The same silhouette the gecko person claimed was Felis. But, it’s somehow labeled with six moons, which I would assume would make it an SSR or higher in Earth gacha game terms.

The gecko person seemed happy about it, though. He went on a gleeful speech about Felis, but I had to cut him short after ten minutes to complete our deal with him.

It was his turn to give us what we wanted. We had done what he had asked so we could pay the amount of five Big Macs in exchange for the information of who would tell us where the shop selling rare and endangered species is.

Which, conveniently enough, is actually him.

“Of course, I didn’t tell you the first time”, he explained. “Otherwise, you would have known, if not at least gotten a clue for free I had the information you were looking for!”

I held back the urge to choke this money-grubbing gecko. There was no doubt in my mind he was going to charge us for the answer to our next question. I also wanted to take out my frustration of realizing I should have continued my pursuit of the thief who stole my junior.

But, he continued, “I’m feeling generous today so I’m going to take you there for free, as a bonus.”

The intrusive thoughts in my head immediately dissipated.

He brought us to the livestock street and led us to a store with those tall cages that kept large creatures. After introducing us to the shopkeeper, who looked like a Xenomorph from the Aliens movie series, the gecko person said his goodbyes and thanks to Tank Top and I.

It was then that I started filming again with my smartphone.

The Xenomorph look-alike, who was wearing an apron with what looks like an udder imprinted on the front, silently led the two of us behind the giant cages. There was a large red and white tent standing there.

Tank Top and I have passed through this particular shop multiple times earlier and we never noticed it. It wasn’t like the tent was completely hidden behind the humongous creatures inside the cages as we could still take a peek past through the gaps from where we are. But, I would guess all the happenings in the busy street would help obscure it as well. It probably helped that it didn’t look anything suspicious or out of place. If you simply stumbled upon this place by accident, you’d probably think it was a mere storage tent.

After showing us the entrance, which is simply the flap of the tent, the Xenomorph look-alike headed back to the storefront.

The inside had dim lighting. There were rows and columns of cages on both sides of the aisle, making it seem like an abandoned prison. The atmosphere was quite dour.

The cages varied in sizes. Some of them were small enough to put a house cat in and were stacked on top of each other. Some were half my size and seemingly square shaped or close. Some were around two or three meters tall with different lengths.

“Is this it?” I asked Tank Top as I scanned the cages while filming. While seemingly half of them were empty, some of them still contained varying creatures.

No, he answered. These are indeed rare creatures, but more so their pedigree instead of species. These are still common livestock.

“Wait, so the info we got was wrong?”

Let us see what’s further in, he suggested. You should keep rolling in case we find some evidence.

The tent was only big enough to hold three aisles that’s probably around ten meters long each. I captured everything on camera, but we found nothing damning.

Perhaps, we may find something if we speak with the shopkeeper, he said.

“The Xenomorph?”

Pardon me?

“I mean, you want to interrogate the guy outside?”

No. At least, not yet. I surmise this store is minded by a different person, he said as he pointed to the other end of the tent.

There were crates on the other side of the tent from the entrance, perpendicular to the aisles. But, on the corner of the far left side, there was a small counter.

The counter was seemingly unmanned, however. We approached it regardless, hoping the shopkeeper was simply sitting behind it, if not as tall as the counter and was not visible from the aisle.

As we got closer, we started noticing nobody was really behind it. Although, we were hearing voices from behind the crates distinct from the noise of the crowd outside as they sounded closer.

We couldn’t see what was in the gap behind the crates as there was a curtain obscuring the view.

“Anyone there?” I tried calling.

But, the voices continued their conversation.

“Excuse me! There’s customers out here!” I tried again, thinking I wasn’t heard the first time.

After that, we could hear the voices getting nearer. And, the closer they got, the more we gained the impression it was an argument between two people.

“I keep telling you, I’m not taking that!” one voice said. “We don’t even know what that is, let alone know if we’re going to find a buyer!”

“But, it’s a rare species”, the other voice said. “It’s some form of creature that’s kept as a pet inside the skin! Surely, you can sell it to some rich weirdo!”

A hand then came halfway out through the gap of the curtain, and the first voice replied, “Look, we’ll talk later. I have customers right now.”

Out then came a human-sized blue lizard standing upright.

“Sorry for the wait”, he said to us.

He was the first voice.

But, before we could talk to him, the person he was conversing with followed him from behind the curtain.

“I’m not done talking to you!” he exclaimed, but then froze as he saw me.

The second voice was a brown dinosaur-like being who is half my size. On his hand was a small glass cage, and in it was a thing that looks like a flaccid penis.

He was the thief who stole my junior, and he was trying to fence it just now.

Simultaneously, I jumped at him as he tried to flee back into the curtain.

I just missed tackling him by an inch so I chased him into the back of the store.

There were more cages in there, but, even though I hadn’t let go of my smartphone and stopped filming, I wasn’t interested in what’s in them. Chasing the dino person was more urgent for me, especially now that I’ve seen my stolen thing is in his hands.

Midway through the aisle leading to the back exit, I managed to get near the robber.

When he noticed that, he suddenly stopped, dropped his shoulder and tried to barge at me.

I had expected he would try to attack as he had done all three times I’ve caught up to him before in a chase, so I managed to dodge.

As he had slowed down, I tackled him to the ground. Instinctively. Thoughtlessly. Recklessly.

It caused him to drop the case he was holding as the glass smashed on the stone ground. The shards and my junior spilled all over the floor.

My first thought was to try and reach for my junior, but that proved to be my second mistake.

The dino person quickly picked himself up off the ground. But, before running away, he stood above my junior and looked down at me.

“You want this stupid thing back?!” he asked.

Without even hesitating, and without mercy, he stepped on my junior. Not even in an erotic kind of way. He simply stomped on it violently and squashed it like a bug.

“MY DIIIIIIIIIICK!!!” I cried.

“I can’t even sell the damned thing, you can have it back”, were his parting words for me as he fled out the tent.

After that, everything seemed like a blur to me.

The mission of finding evidence of a black market for endangered species was somehow a success. Tank Top smoothed things out with the shopkeeper and took the lead by pretending we were looking for a rare creature, which they did have stored in that back area of the tent. 

Meanwhile, I was like a mindless drone filming the entire encounter.

The next thing I knew, Goldy and the rest of the crew were congratulating us for a job well done back at their ship. There is now enough evidence to show the powers that be so they could shut down the biggest illegal market in this part of the universe.

“What… is the matter… with… the Earthling?” Goldy asked Tank Top as they noticed I wasn’t into the celebrations.

Remember the thing that was stolen from him back at the bar? Tank Top answered, but continued the explanation by pointing to what I was holding in my hands..

“So he got it back”, Streillaeth commented. “What’s he crying for?”

That snapped me back and I snapped at Streillaeth for comment.

“What am I crying for?” I asked rhetorically. “What am I crying for?!”

“This thing I’m holding is a very precious part of me!” I ranted. “I was hoping it could be reattached to me once I got it back, but it’s no longer possible now!”

Streillaeth flinched a bit, seemingly taken aback, but said nothing more.

I then dropped to my knees and actually started crying. My tears fell on the mangled corpse of my junior which I held up close to my face with both hands.

“We can still restore it, you know?” The Pillbug Lady chimed in.

“Wha-?” I dumbfoundedly muttered as snot dripped from my nose.

“We can restore that thing and reattach it to you”, she reiterated.

Evidently, they did have the technology to do it. I made a full recovery and it seemed like my junior getting detached from me never happened at all as it had the same features and performed the same functions.

A happy ending for all of us!

Well, it could have been better when the Pillbug Lady said it was not possible to enlarge it.

“We would need to manipulate your DNA to do that”, she explained. “And there are too many risks and unknowns to do it safely.”

I couldn’t do anything else but to accept it. But, at least it was still a happy ending.

Or, so it seemed to me at the time.

The next day, Marie called me and asked to meet up. I dressed up in my best casual outfit and wore some expensive cologne. Packed with a couple sticks of chewing gum and a few condoms, I set out to meet her at our designated place. It wasn’t our first date yet, but I took them with me inside my wallet just in case as I had a good feeling about this sudden meeting.

But, when we met, her face wore an expression of guilt and regret.

“I’m sorry to say this before we even have our first date, but I can’t see you anymore!” she said.

“W-what? Why?” I asked, genuinely surprised.

“There were strange movements of the stars last night”, she explained. “And it says romance with you is going to be a bad idea!”

“Wait a sec, didn’t you say we were fated together by the stars?”

“Y-yes, but, like I said, the stars aligned differently last night. Whatever predictions there were before has changed, and now you’re the worst partner I will have if I started dating you.”

I stood there frozen. I couldn’t think of anything to react to her reasoning.

“I’m really sorry, but we can still be friends”, she said as she left me without waiting for a reply.

I wanted to ask her if the stars moving from their place in our sky were possible in such a short amount of time. But then I realized she or the astrologer she’s subscribed to may have seen the spaceship I was in last night and mistook it as a star.

I didn’t know what to feel after this realization.

Come Monday the following week, Chris was laughing her ass off when I told her about this.