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She had never been in the Lilycove Department store before, but it was certainly nice to have a place to have everything she needed to purchase all in one place. Perhaps she could even find a few cute postcards to send to her family back home. After all, her mother was always begging her to send more photos and write more often.

A soft smile had begun to spread across her face as she began to walk across the department floor, only to stop right in her tracks as she watched some woman just shoving super potions straight into her jacket. Unsure how to react to the sight, she simply stared, hoping that being caught might make the woman put them back.

Instead, Ruby got a completely opposite reaction than what she was hoping for. The woman took one look at her and immediately began to run away, almost as if she was terrified. Hopeful that she could somehow convince the woman to put them back before she got herself in serious trouble, Ruby sent out her Gardevoir. The graceful blue pokemon spun around as she was summoned, her eyes slowly scanning the scene around them.

"Grace, follow that woman please." With a simple nod, the psychic pokemon used Teleport, the two of them blinking out of sight and appearing just down the floor, hopefully in the path of the potential shoplifter.

Notes: N/A

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Were just a few Super Potions worth this much hassle? Ruby covered her ears as soon as she commanded her Pokemon to Roar, luckily just in the nick of time. The intense sound echoed across the entire building, no doubt just drawing even more attention to herself than she already was.

It took her a few seconds to collect herself again, and it certainly seemed like Grace was a bit out of it as well. There was no way the two of them were going to catch up with them on foot, especially as she slammed outside. Giving her pokemon time to collect her thoughts, Ruby was quick to motion to outside the window, suddenly having a big brain moment. Grabbing onto Grace's hands incredibly tightly, she suddenly TELEPORTED directly outside.

Grace was able to support herself in the air with her psychic abilities, leaving Ruby practically hanging on desperately. This wasn't the first time the two had done this, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Luckily, outside they could actually see the thief desperately running down the fire escape. Was that... paper flying from her jacket? Confused, Ruby spoke up to her pokemon. "Bottom of the stairs, Grace. Corner them back into the store, if we can." Hopefully, the Lilycove Department Store's security could handle her if they went back inside.

With another nod, Grace TELEPORTED once more, the two of them blinking into existence at the bottom of the steps. While Grace still floated overhead somewhat, Ruby allowed herself to let go and actually drop to the ground. "Hey, quit running!"

Notes: N/A

[attr="class","merkI"]
This time, the attempt to just barrel past was expected. However, the Sand Attack certainly caused Ruby and her Pokemon quite an annoyance, especially paired with the startling Roar. She coughed a few times, waving her hand in front of her face in an attempt to clear the vision. By the time that it finally cleared up enough to see, all she could hear was the noise of the would-be thief running down into an alley.

Ruby let out a soft sigh, once again looking up at Grace as she grabbed her hand. Perhaps another one of her Pokemon would be better for this, but she couldn't exactly go and switch out right now. Until the thief used any moves to attack or hurt them, Ruby refused to do it either. "Come on, let's get into the air. Bird's eye view."

Grace suddenly wrapping both her arms around her trainer's waist to help keep her suspended, they suddenly TELEPORTED high into the air. Slowly walking on air, the Gardevoir scanned the crowd. There was certainly a lot of people out and about now. Fortunately, it seemed that while the thief had ditched their jacket, their hat pointed them out in a crowd pretty obviously. Just how badly were they trying to get away? Did they steal something worse than just potions? It was if she had robbed the entire store's vault with how desperately she seemed to be running away.

"Grace," Ruby spoke up again as their pokemon carried them through the air. "Talk with them, please. This running is just going to get them in even more trouble. Obviously, the security cameras probably saw her bolting out anyways." It was certainly difficult to run away from a psychic pokemon, at the very least. Or at least, Ruby hoped it was. Maybe the realization that they couldn't run would make them give up? She could dream.

The Gardevoir nodded, closing her eyes for a moment as she reached out with TELEPATHY, all the way down to the girl on the ground still running. Just pushing the thoughts into her head gently. Not so much words, as a more general 'feeling.' A polite request to stop running away.

Notes: N/A

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The woman froze up instantly, a fact that surprised Ruby. Even as her pokemon barked away at them, the trainer did nothing for a few seconds, simply returning the Poochyena to its Pokeball as she slumped onto the ground in an alleyway. Was it that simple? Surely there must be some strange trick afoot. Some sort of trap, or plan. And yet, there seemed to be nothing of the sort.

Ruby slowly descended from the sky by the arms of her Gardevoir, attempting to not make too much of a sight so that they had to deal with as little people as possible. As soon as her feet stepped foot on solid ground, however, the woman in front of her began to beg... for death.

Ruby didn't know what to say, simply stunned. What was this about Rocket? Did this woman seriously think that she was going to get killed? Or, more accurately, did she truly think Ruby of all people would harm her? The girl let out a long sigh, slowly stepping over towards the absolutely sobbing thief. It was hard to think of them as, some kind of crook, when they were literally just, completely helpless. She just felt, sad. Sad for this strange woman, whom she knew absolutely nothing about.

Slowly stepping over towards them, Ruby just placed a reassuring hand on their shoulder. "Hey... I'm not here to arrest you. I might be like, popular, but I can't arrest people. I'm just a normal civilian, like anyone else." Granted, one that had somehow ascended into fame and certainly had gained respect and influence because of it, but that wasn't important at the moment.

"Let's just, go return the stuff you stole, okay? Maybe I can help make sure you don't get in as much trouble, but.." She paused for a moment, eyes narrowing as she slowly kneeled down at the woman's side, speaking with a calm voice. "... Why were you stealing potions anyways? Is everything okay?" Certainly, it was hard to be anything else other than simply worried, for the attempted thief who was just sobbing and begging for death, as if they were already at death's door.

Notes: N/A

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It was hard to understand what the woman was saying through her tears and sobbing, but the nature of the theft was clear. It wasn't for some attempt at cash, or some unthought standard shoplifting, this was an emotional affair. This woman cared so much for her pokemon but struggled to afford to heal them after battles. It was impossible to be mad at someone who was shaking and crying, so violently, that she couldn't even stand. This was all just... some proper royal fuck up, that's what it was. Even catching the thief made her felt sad.

As the woman's Poochyena suddenly fell out of it's Pokeball, almost quite literally, Ruby glanced up to her Gardevoir. Silently, she mentally asked Grace to take the Poochyena to retrieve the goods from wherever they were stashed. The Gardevoir nodded its head, only to mentally communicate with the dog-like Pokemon, and hopefully, the two of them went off to return the goods.

Meanwhile, Ruby simply kneeled down. She wasn't the best at calming people, that was what her Indeedee was extremely useful for. However, this required her touch. With a soft sigh, Ruby would just gently reach over and place a hand on her shoulder, only to slide around and give the crying girl a soft hug. She'd let the girl cry for as long as she wanted to, but Ruby definitely wasn't shying from quietly shushing the girl, attempting to help her relax.

After about five minutes or so, whether the woman had stopped crying or not, Ruby would finally softly speak. "Ma'am... You love your Pokemon a lot, huh?" Her tone was quiet, giving a reassuring smile. Or at least, as best as she could. "I understand... why you did it. But that doesn't mean it was the right thing to do."

Sure, Ruby could buy the girl a few potions and send her on her way, but the problem would inevitably repeat. She didn't have enough money to keep buying them every time. It took a few seconds, but an idea eventually popped up into her head. "Ma'am... I have a solution. You, may or may, not know this. But healing things is, part of what I know how to do. If you promise to take really good care of it, I have a gift for you."

Eventually, Ruby would attempt to lead the crying woman to a Pokecenter, where she would give the girl a young Budew, caught quite a while ago back at her first Safari expedition. Regardless, it's move Life Dew would hopefully solve all her problems, and keep her out of trouble in the future.

The keyword being, hopefully.

Notes: N/A