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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]The Blackwing Bazaar may have been a well-lit gateway to the underworld, but being a den of thieves didn't mean they had to be a bunch of scrooges. In fact, they were actually feeling quite festive lately! The apocalypse had been canceled, and Hoenn could settle down from imminent doom to its usual state of distant, lingering doom. Progress![break][break]

Hustle and bustle were no strangers to the Bazaar. The darkness of its exterior was always contrasted by the flash and flair of its inside. It was just that now the flash and flair was dyed in red and green. Tricked out lights lined the walls, rigged to blink and flash along with whatever live entertainment was currently on stage. Vendors slashed their prices to holiday-friendly discounts (often after raising them, because c'mon, they needed to make some cash here!) Flyers hung up on the walls advertised what would apparently be a wrestling match between Santa and the Grinch, the mysterious silhouettes of what Pokemon they'd use plastered behind them.[break][break]

The mood inside was as festive as the trappings surrounding it. Punks that usually took issue with one another struck up Christmas truces, too glad that they were still alive to gripe about old grudges. An old karaoke machine that Isaac's Rotom had salvaged whirred to life, the crown jewel of an ongoing holiday karaoke competition. There was honor among thieves and goodwill among men, and it was rare to find a face without a smile plastered on it.[break][break]

A shame the establishment's very founder wasn't feeling the joy.[break][break]

Don't get him wrong. Isaac was doing a great job at feigning smiles. With everyone around the bazaar busy with their own merriment, and the skull mask obscuring the subtleties of his facial features, it was actually pretty easy. All he had to do was turn up the corners of his mouth when eyes were on him and, boom! Instant smile.[break][break]

It wasn't that he wasn't happy. He had a lot to be happy about. The establishment he'd set up months ago was becoming quite the underground hit. The Hoenn region was going to live to see another day. The holidays were approaching, and no matter how much he had lost, he had people he cared about to spend them with. But scars, physical and emotional alike, were still all too fresh. And in the fallout of his adrenaline crash, he found himself thinking more than he ever had before.[break][break]

So this was his life. What's next?

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