Penny stood at the figurine stall with a hand against his chest, nervously watching the little girl beside him and the Ralts she held by the hand.
It was mostly the little girl. With her hands on her hips, she glared at him so fiercely that he instinctively felt one more word would get him tossed out like trash.
"Um... I saw it first. First come, first served. You have to get in line!"
Penny clenched his fists and pushed past his nerves. He had worked hard to finish his morning tasks and come all the way from Mesagoza just to buy this. He had to get it!
But Latias felt she was in the right. She and Ralts had reached the stall first. They were simply too short for Penny to notice. By the rules, they should get to buy it first...
She couldn't say any of that, though. Using Telepathy to tell him would reveal that she was a Pokémon in disguise, and that would cause serious trouble.
Luckily, Mingyou arrived behind her just then. She immediately clung to his leg, making it clear that the short, bespectacled person whose gender she couldn't tell had set his sights on the Kricketune Man Figurine Ralts wanted.
"Ralts..."
Ralts really wanted it...
Once Mingyou understood what had happened, he scratched his head and turned to Penny with a smile. "Since my little sister reached this stall first, we should be the ones to buy it."
"No... I've been watching this limited-edition Kricketune Figurine for days!"
Penny shook his head. He clearly wasn't willing to give up, but dragging out the standoff would only waste both sides' time.
After some hesitation, he made an offer. "I'll give you a 1:16-scale Palafin Figurine if you let me have the Kricketune Man Figurine.