With everything prepared, they packed up the goods to sell, locked up the house, and left for Gambitville which was a good half hour's walk from home. They had just reached town just as the stars began to slowly glimmer in the sky, and quickly stopped by the local store marked "SUNDRIES" to make their coin. Mike never noticed it until now, but below the first word, he could see the words "Agave Subsidaries," alongside what looked like a red kecleon silhouette. "Wait... isn't that...? No way..." Was it related to a certain someone back in Tao Village? But before he could ponder it further, Syrup yelled at him to hurry inside before the store closed, and hurried he did.

It didn't take too long, the shopkeeper wanted to close up for the night so the transaction was made with little effort and Syrup was given her blood money--a fairly generous amount, at that. Pelts and beef were hard to come by in this area, and it was usually easy to tell when a greenhorn hunter wanted to die by proclaiming he/she would attempt taking down a nomading Tauros or Miltank. By then, either you get lucky or you get dead, because most sorely underestimate the raw power of a Tauros and get trampled or gored. The same went to Miltank who were more skilled with their fighting stances and would beat you until you were more than just 'black and blue.'

Syrup busted through the saloon's doors and shouted out joyfully, "Hey Donny pal!! Where are ya?! I got someone very special I wanna show ya!" as if she expected her loud voice to be drowned out by the chatter of the many people drinking and card playing and whatnot from the late night business. But, to her surprise, she and Mike were the only ones in the Saloon. "Woah woah, where the heck is everyone tonight???"

"Oh... hello Syrup..." Donahue peeked out from below the counter, startled by Syrup's glorious entrance. "Savannah's sick tonight, so she couldn't do her show..."

"Figures. They don't have a dame to listen to her crooning tonight... er, no offense there Donny... I hope she gets well soon!" Syrup was a little aggravated, she enjoyed being around company-- especially those she didn't know.

"Thanks, I greatly appreciate your sentiments there, my daughter is doing better already with your wishes... ah, Syrup? Who was it you wanted to show me to??" Donahue rose up from beneath the counter ready and willing to look at whatever man Syrup had fallen in love with.

"Here, it's my son! He's gotten old enough to stand his own ground in town, and he just came back from work to boot! I wanna give him the ol' experience I had in here! Say hi, Mikey-boy!" Syrup sidled to the right to show a young Charmander shorter than her, and wearing her own hat.

Donahue was a little perplexed, but not as much as to make a hypocrite out of him. "This is your son? Aha... that is... interesting!" Donahue laughed as hard as he could try.

"Khaw haw haw... don't be so dumb Donny boy! You're really cute when ya try ta laugh like that!" Syrup saw right through his good will and had a good laugh at that, it was that one aspect of Donahue she couldn't help but find to be absolutely adorable. If he wasn't so prickly, she would right up give him a smooch. "It's okay, I have an actual daughter of my own too, but she's outta town for the moment. Say, since the joint's all to ourselves tonight, how about you whip up some of yer hometown cooking, and heaping piles of it? I'm sure this will cover it!" Syrup tossed the little leather bag full of money straight to Donahue's counter, intending to spend all of it.

"Ah!! Thank you very much, of course I'd be glad to cook as much as you want for you! Please, go have a seat yourselves, and... what would you like specifically?" Donahue grabbed the bag and placed it underneath the counter, and rushed straight to his kitchen.

"Ah gosh... Lo mein... egg twist... Sechii-- I'UNNO those names are too fancy for me. Just gimme double of everything on that menu!" Syrup grabbed a seat and sat down in a posture that wasn't proper table manners. Mike was slightly embarrassed in the way she spread her legs like that, but at least nobody else was around to see... wait, did she always sit like that in the past?! Oh man... Mike just wanted to eat as well, so he pulled up a chair and sat opposite to where Syrup was seated.

"Ah yes! Of course! Gladly! Off I go!" Donahue rushed into the kitchen and began cooking with his oriental determination. He was glad that Syrup enjoyed his foreign cooking. He would always cook the same old regular food that the Gambitville inhabitants were used to, but Syrup was one of the very few who loved his natural cooking the most.

After a couple of minutes, Donahue arrived to the two's table with a large platter of dishes Mike had never seen before. A lot of noodles and vegetables, but barely any shredded beef or chicken in them. Couldn't hurt to try, I guess.

"Ah! That was just the first part of the menu, the second to pair that will be here shortly! Enjoy!" Donahue ran back into the kitchen to gladly cook more of the same that he just made, he knew this was barely enough for Syrup to be satisfied with, and perhaps maybe her son too.

"All right! Let's dig in!" Syrup picked up a fork that were placed right next to a pair of what looked like small wooden sticks used for shish-ka-bob. They were always included with the meal, but Syrup never cared enough to know what they were for, all that mattered at the moment was eating, which she was already midway into.

Mike was eating the food way slower than Syrup was shoveling into her mouth, but it tasted fantastic. This was a taste he never experienced before in his life, it was really good! But just as he continued eating, his mother would take breaks from loudly slurping, munching, and gnashing the food as she quickly swallowed it, and would say a few words. "Mikey-boy, you better eat faster than that or else I'll eat everything in the table before you even get a chance to! Lighten up and just dig in, okay??"

Mike was just too used to eating conservatively back in Tao Village; when one barely had an allowance, one didn't have the luxury of eating quite as much food as he could right at that very moment. But that was back there, and this is home... and with that thought he began eating at the same pace he would in his childhood, and joyfully ate and ate . The food here was too good to not be eaten, and Mike was starving, he aimed to at least reach at least half of his mother's voracious appetite.

That only took two hours before the dinner was completely devoured. Mike could barely eat only a quarter of the food before it went down Syrup's gullet. At least it was a new personal record for him...

"Ahhh, man, that stuff hits the spot all the time, but we gotta 'git goin', otherwise I'm gonna just keep eating more food here and break the chair! C'mon mikey-boy!" Syrup slowly rose up from her seat carefully and grabbed the apron she untied during dinner to give way to her engorged belly, and walked out. "Thanks for the meal, and we'll see you again sometime soon, Donny-boy!"

Mike slowly got off the chair and proceeded to follow his pleasantly plump mother out the door, but he had to at least make a small bow to Donahue before leaving. "Thanks! It was really tasty, and I'm glad to have met you!" Mike could've bowed a little more, but it was hard to with all the food in his stomach, he was looking forward to walking for a half an hour home. He just wanted to rest... Oh well.

"A-ah... you too..." Donahue was less than reluctant to clean the pile of plates equivalent to the amount of a regular bustling night's worth on the table, but he was glad to see Syrup's face again. Even if she was rude, mannerless, and downright dirty, she always looked out for him and saved his spikes from being trimmed more than a couple of times.

As Mike and Syrup walked home, they were getting drowsy from having all that food sit in their stomach. It was hard to even be doing anything other than just falling asleep underneath the night sky, but that was too dangerous to do so in the middle of nowhere... so in order to keep awake, Syrup began a small conversation with Mike.

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Part 5 of "Reprieve" by

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