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“Alrighty then … this is … vandalism?” Knux looked at the wall of the house, tilting his head slightly to the side, as if trying to see what he was looking at the way the huffy old man next to him was. The scribbled paint job looked like a child's drawing. A kid's drawing of an awfully angry, huffy old man … a lot like Mr Daniel Robins standing right next to him. Oh, with a cup of coffee too.

“Yes!” The elderly man nearly exploded, “The little menace has been painting this town from top to bottom for the last age and no one's done anything about it! Not even the police!”

“... You've called the police?” That seemed rather extreme.

“YES! And they keep giving me some nonsense about 'more important work' and 'it's not doing any harm,' but I'm fed up with this nonsense! A man my age deserves peace and quiet; not an extra layer of paint to wash off of his home every morning!” Mr Robins was so worked up, Knux was a bit afraid the old man might have a heart attack … or throw his back out. Again.

“Well, I'll go and get that Smeargle for you sir, don't worry.” The young man tried to pacify the oldster, but the old coffee-drinker only grumbled: “Just get the darn thing out of town and away from my house!” before hobbling away, leaning on a cane.

Knux sighed when Robins was gone, then looked at the 'vulgar vandalism' again. The drawings really weren't half bad … and they were cute, he had to admit. “Well, come on out, Charmer! We need to get this show on the road!” He tossed one of the four pokemon-filled pokeballs he had, and a Charmander blasted out, looking like any other of the popular species … except, of course, Charmer had a small bump on his back. Knux still didn't know why his Charmander had that small bump while most others were smooth-backed, but the trainer had taken the pokemon to the pokemon center, and the nurses had reassured him that it was a natural growth. In fact, most Charmander had had the bump on them several years ago, but as time had passed, smooth-backed 'manders had been bred to become the norm. It was a perfectly natural thing; just a bit rare. The bump would disappear when Charmer evolved though, migrating to the fire pokemon's head as he became a Charmeleon.

Charmer took one look at his trainer, and sighed in a 'what do you want now?' fashion. Despite Knux's best attempts at making friends with his pokemon, the Charmander still gave him the cold shoulder more than once and a while. Especially when a battle wasn't anywhere in sight. “We're going to be looking for a Smeargle,” Knux explained, gesturing towards the graffiti/art, “and I thought with your gang background, you might know where a defacer of public property might hide out to avoid one very grumpy old dude.”

Charmer still looked less than thrilled, but also seemed a little interested. He did know his graffiti, after all. The lizard looked at the paint, then out at the town, walking off. Knux followed. Most of the buildings had at least one piece of art on them, the paint unwashed; unlike Mr Robin's home. The Snager actually found himself wondering at why specific bits of art were on each building. Here, a flower. There: a watering can. The house didn't have any sort of garden, but as they walked on, Knux saw a small hill with lots of wildflowers that looked well-cared-for, without a weed in sight. Charmer also made note of things, like a frowny face sketched on one home, or a plate of food drawn on another. The Charmander paused at the home with the artwork of food on it and stopped, pointing. “Char!”

“Hm?” Knux paused, looking at the indicated marker. “Food?” A little mental light-bulb went off and a smile spread across the trainer's features. “Yeah; good work Charmer. Let's take a look inside and see if anybody's home.” If the Smeargle knew the old man was a grouch and drank coffee, maybe someone who liked to cook might've been feeding the young, wild pokemon that currently ran amok in the town. The brunet walked around to a window to see if there was any movement inside before knocking on the door. What he saw inside almost made him not believe his luck: there was a rather plump bustling woman walking around with a large bowl of pasta. But what was really lucky was just who was sitting at the kitchen table; a pokemon with white fur, a Barrett-shaped top on it's head, and a long, paint-tipped tail. The 'artist' of the town: Smeargle. “Charmer, you were right!” Knux said, quickly leaving the window to head towards the front door. “The little guy's in there!” Knux only said 'little' because the pokemon looked young; too young to be on it's own, surely. Didn't Smeargle live in groups? Why was this one alone? Those questions went unanswered as Knux knocked politely on the door, waiting for the woman of the house to answer.

And she did, looking down at the trainer with a Charmander in tow, eyes narrowing a little as she crossed her thick arms. Knux only now noticed her plumpness wasn't all fat—it looked like the woman worked out. Better not get on her bad side. “Good day, Miss,” Knux began. It was always best to start off polite. Especially when the person you were talking to looked more than capable enough of pounding your face in. “Mr Robins told me about--” Slam!!! The door narrowly missed turning Knux's face into a flat surface as the trainer scrambled back, Charmer laughing quite a bit at it. “Oh 'ha, ha.' You try meeting the business end of a door ...” Knux grumbled, but was slight confused. Where had he gone wrong? He'd been perfectly polite and the door hadn't been slammed until he … mentioned ... Oh. Mr Robins. The brunet sighed to himself. “Well, at least now we know where the Smeargle is, right?”

“Char.” Charmer went back over to the window and scrambled up onto sill, before shaking his head in a negative manner. “Char.”

“What do you mean 'char?'” Knux walked over and also looked inside. The plate was licked clean of food, and the artist pokemon was gone. “Great … just, great. Come on Charmer, lest see if we can see where the Smeargle went to before the woman catches us at her window,” the trainer said, turning and looking around. The redpaint-tipped tail disappeared behind a home not too far away, prompting Knux to run. “There! Charmer, go around the other end and see if you can cut the Smeargle off!”

The Charmander rolled his blue eyes, but complied, running quickly around one side while Knux went around the other. The Smeargle looked between the two as they cornered it, tilting its head curiously. “Smear?”

“Ember!” Knux said to Charmer, hoping to catch the pokemon. With it's attack main attack, Sketch, a Smeargle would be useful in nearly any situation. His hopes were dashed, however, when the white beagle-ish pokemon leaped to the side, running straight into the home they were standing by through the doggie door. Needless to say, Knux—nearly getting hit with Ember himself—took a few moments to make sure he was just smoking and not burning anywhere. He'd hate to loose another backpack. “Charmer!” The Charmander knew what to do, and hurried into the doggie door as well. Knux waited tensely, waiting for sounds of commotion. One quiet minute passed by … two … five. “Charmer,” the trainer whispered, trying to get a look in through one or another of the windows, but had no luck. Most of them had the blinds drawn down to block out any peeping-trainers like himself. With a sigh, Knux went around to the front of the home and knocked on the door, remembering above all to not mention Mr Robins.

A man answered the door, raising an eyebrow at the unexpected visitor. “Can I help you?”

“Well,” Knux said, a bit surprised at the prevailing lack of activity within the home where the two pokemon had raced inside, “you see, I think my Charmander might be inside ...”

The man chuckled. “Oh, that one. He's with Rex and Marg in the kitchen. Care to come in?” The trainer dumbly nodded, walking inside the house and quickly noticing that there were quite a few chew toys about; probably for the canine that lived here. But there were also child toys around, showing that children probably lived in this house too. “Try to be quiet please; Annie and Amy are taking a nap. Summer Camp always wears them out,” the man added, and Knux nodded.

In no time at all they were inside the kitchen, where Knux found the Smeargle, Charmer, and a Houndour all eating lunch. The trainer couldn't help but feel a bit irked at the Charmander that was now stuffing its face. “So this is what you do when trying to weaken a pokemon so I can catch it?”

“Char.” Charmer stuck his tongue out at Knux, then took another bite of kibble. It was probably the Houndour's food they were all sharing, considering that this house obviously had a canine living in it. And because the dark dog pokemon had a collar around its neck with the name REX big and clear on the ID tags. Well, either way, if that was Rex, then the 'Marg' the man had been talking about was--

“Smeargle!” The artist pokemon said, surprised, then jumped from its seat at the table and into the man's arms. “Gll!” The civilian looked a bit accusingly Knux's way, and the trainer rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously.

“Um … yeah … I was told that Smeargle was a problem in this town and was going to try to … catch it ...” There was no getting around that fact.

The father frowned, but then rolled his eyes, patting the white pokemon on the head soothingly. “Let me guess; Daniel filed a complaint.”

Knux nodded. “Yes; Mr Robins was the one who posted the wanted add. But I think it's pretty clear you—and a lot of other folks—don't feel the same way about this Smeargle.”

The man shook his head. “I know Marg--” the pokemon perked its floppy ears at the mention of its given nicname, “--shouldn't be painting on buildings, but he's a wild pokemon. Smeargle use their paint to mark where they live; it's just what his species does.”

“So, he's not yours?” Knux asked, a bit surprised. From the way both pokemon and man were acting, he'd assumed the Smeargle must've secretly belonged to him.

“No; he comes over a lot and feed him, but he's more a community pet than anything. Though … seeing as Daniel has taken this so far, I'm sure you're not going to be the only one coming after Marg ...” The man looked sad, patting the Smeargle's head. Marg looked just as mournful, hugging the man's neck. “He's really become a part pf the family; Annie and Amy love her, and Rex likes the company. And this little one dosen't have a family group; Smeargle usually stay together, you know. Marg's so young, he doesn’t even have a print on his back yet,” the father pointed out, and Knux noted that it was true: the Smeargle's back was bear, without the usual paw print the species had there when they reached adulthood. Wherever the young pokemon had come from, it looked too young to be on its own.

Knux sat down and spoke a bit more with the man, even getting introduced to his two children—female twins—who played with all the pokemon present. Even Charmer couldn't help but play a bit, delighting the little girls. Knux really didn't want to take away the pokemon that was so obviously beloved by the community, but had no choice. It really was vandalizing the place, and he was sure Mr Robins would probably complain to the police enough that, eventually, they would detain the Smeargle themselves somehow.

But then, Knux remembered seeing a flyer in Pewter City on the way here; a poster on the wall advertising--

“I think … I may have a solution to this problem that will make everyone happy,” the trainer said, a slow smile growing on his face.

=A few days of working things out Later=

“So the vandal is gone?” Mr Robins said, with a slight hint of disbelief.

“Yup. That Smeargle isn't ever going to be painting your house again.”

“Yup isn't a word, youngster, and I don't want that scamp painting anyone’s homes again!”

Knux rolled his eyes, trying not to snicker when he saw Charmer on the ground looking up and doing the same. “Well, either way sir, the Smeargle isn't going to be bothering you or vandalizing your town again, and that's what you wanted, right?”

The old man huffed, nodded, and handed over the reward.

Knux took it with a thank-you—though grimacing at the coffee a little; he really wasn't a caffeine drinker, and that included soda—but he took what he got. Then, he went over to John's house: the man with the two daughters. He caught a lift with the man in the back of his car; they went north to Pewter City. Knux chatted pleasantly with the father while petting Rex the Houndour, the canine sticking his head out the vehicle window and taking in the breeze. The car ride wasn't long, and they parked out in front of the Pewter City Museum. There was a summer daycare their … and now, it came complete with arts-and-crafts. And an extra painting 'assistant teacher.'

“Smear!” The Smeargle said happily as they walked up, enthusiastically hugging John just like the two little girls on either side of him.

Knux grinned and Charmer looked satisfied with their work. He'd hoped the add for 'Help needed for Museum Summer Camp' would extend towards kid-friendly pokemon. And since Marg was obviously friendly—and a worker who only needed a good home, not cash pay—it had been easy enough to convince the museum workers to try the pokemon out. And John had quickly switched his girls' schedules around so they could visit their friend all summer long. The brunet turned to go, job done, but paused. On the Smeargle's back … there was a mushed human hand-print, obviously from some paint where a paw-print from it's family would've gone. Knux smiled to himself, and left with a final goodbye, getting on his hoverboard to head to the pokemon center where a Claydol would be waiting.

In a way, it was the perfect happy ending. Needless to say: Mission accomplished.