Mission Preparation (1/3)

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Izan held his chin as he looked over the details about Nidorino and Nidoran's condition.

Despite taking most of the attacks, Nidorino was the one with fewer injuries due to his evolution over Nidoran. Even if it wasn't for her brain injury, Nidorino would be the smarter choice for battling every single time.

For one thing, Nidoking had a higher offensive prowess than Nidoqueen. And even if he disregarded their innate abilities, this specific Nidoran would be at least somewhat averse to battling.

While Nidorino valiantly protected his sister, said sister was mercilessly beaten until unconsciousness.

His choice of whom to use was obvious.

Though, there was still one thing he had to deal with first.

"You think I can talk to Nidorino yet? If he's already good enough to bust through walls he should be good enough to hold a conversation, right?"

"Yes, but I would be careful about my words if I were you. Unlike other Pokemon, Nidorino has become even more aggressive after being awakened. It still could be trying to understand things and is just confused, but I have a feeling that's not the case."

"That's fine. I think I have an idea of what to say to him."

If shonen anime held any truth to them, he knew Nidorino wouldn't listen to him even a little bit until he showed he was trustworthy with actions rather than words.

He wasn't a shonen protagonist, though. It might be a low blow, but he knew exactly what to say to push Nidorino's buttons into action.

"Follow me, then." She stood up and began to walk away.

He looked over to his only willing Pokemon. "C'mon Sandshrew, let's g-"

Abruptly, an average-looking guy with brown hair wearing a dark blue hoodie, a red shirt underneath, and a bookbag appeared. He was rudely clearing his throat while staring at both of them.

[Image]

Nurse Joy paused in her step, turning around and watching the exchange.

"…Yes?" Izan said after a while of just staring at him.

"Excuse me for interrupting, but are you Izan Ritcher?" He said, holding a notice out with a smile on his face.

[F+ Class trainer with a 100% Mission Success…]

Blah blah blah, he knew what his own notice looked like. Besides the fact that he'd crossed out 'level five' and replaced it with 'level ten', nothing about it had changed.

"No, that's not me." Izan firmly answered.

"That's a relief… wait what? You're not Izan Ritcher?!" He glanced over to Sandshrew who was happily eating and ignoring them. "…Are you sure?"

Izan snorted. "I think I'd know my own name, jackass- ow!"

Nurse Joy had lightly hit him on the head. "Don't be an ass, Izan."

He frowned at Nurse Joy, but sighed and put his full attention on the random guy.

Truth be told, he didn't like the fact this random guy came up and interrupted them out of nowhere. Though, from an outside perspective, it might've looked like they were done interacting.

'And why is this guy smiling so confidently? It makes me want to bully him.'

"Yeah, I'm Izan. What's up?"

The guy's smile widened even further. "The name's Joel, but most people just call me Joe. My friends and I wanted another person to help us out with a C-Rank mission we're gonna be doing in a few days, and seeing as you've completed one before…"

"You want me to help out." Izan dryly finished.

"Yep! And with the mission having a low risk of battle, we figured you would be a good trump card, y'know?"

Izan squinted at him like he was stupid. Because he was. A C-Rank mission having a low risk of battle? The qualifications for a mission being C-Rank was literally that 'battle was expected'.

He opened his mouth to decline. There was no way he was going on a mission with this irritating guy.

But he paused as something popped into his head.

'Decision-making…'

Wouldn't the best way to get better decision-making skills be to put himself in a situation in which making split-second decisions are commonplace?

Where, if he made a wrong decision, it would have grave consequences.

It was risky, to travel and do a mission with someone he didn't trust with his safety, but being a trainer, in general, was risky.

"And what exactly is this mission?"

"Ah." He rummaged in his pocket, pulling out a crumbled-up piece of paper and laying it on the table. "You might not've known but there have been a few outbreaks of Diglett attacks for some reason. So…" He gestured to the paper placed on the table.

Izan read it and then read it again.

It was worded in a way that made it seem like a battle wouldn't be necessary, but to anyone who just thought about it for a second, it obviously would happen.

It was a scouting mission in order to find out the cause of the reason Digletts have been coming out and attacking in public. From witness reports, they've been unusually pissed off and have been indiscriminately stealing food and just raiding houses.

That explained the incident with the Nido siblings, at least. And it made sense why it was only a C-Rank instead of a B-Rank.

Instead of asking to suppress the Diglett population back into the caves, it explicitly said just to find out why they were so angry. And the fact that it was a mission issued by the local ACE trainers meant that part would be restated if anyone asked for a rank increase.

'…Cheapskates. They just don't wanna pay for a B-Rank.' He grumbled internally.

"I assume we'd be splitting the reward equally but you said you had friends who were joining. How many friends, exactly?"

"Just two others. Oh, but we can have introductions after you're done with… whatever you're doing."

Izan frowned. 'Four people means I'd get 2,500 at most and 750 at minimum. That's… not really worth it.'

But doing C-Ranks had other benefits than simply money. It would be beneficial to do C-Ranks even without any money if he looked at it from a certain angle.

He let out an explosive sigh. "Alright, I'll join. But yeah, I need to go take care of something first with Nurse Joy."

Joe's smile threatened to split his face. Izan wasn't sure if he was always this happy of a guy or was just acting.

"We'll be in the lobby for a while so take as long as you want. See ya!" Joe walked away without another word, meeting up with two girls.

Izan stared at them for a moment, his mind and face blank.

That guy gave him a weird feeling. Like they were connected on some esoteric level.

Then again, that same feeling persisted when he interacted with most Pokemon. Maybe the guy just reminded him of a dog or something?

The thought bubble popped when Nurse Joy poked him in the nose. His eyes locked onto the offending finger.

"Hello? Izan? Are we going or not?" She pouted. Somehow, her pout didn't look unnatural.

…Weird ass anime world.

He waved her finger off. "Let's go, then. Sandshrew?"

Sandshrew jumped on his shoulder immediately, having licked her bowl clean and put it away already.

He put his hands in his pants as they followed Nurse Joy into the back room. There were a ton of machines he'd never seen before in either life just sitting around.

In the middle of the room were a few glass units with one of them holding Nidoran inside. She, along with the Nidorino on the outside of the glass, was awake.

The moment they walked in, Nidorino stood up and jumped in front of the glass, growling and hissing directly at Izan.

*pbfttttt*

Sandshrew, in response, blew a raspberry at him.

'I sorta expected that reaction to me.' He shrugged.

"Nido~!" Nidoran seemed happy to see him, at least. He gave her a soft smile in return.

He leaned over to Nurse Joy first, whispering behind his hand. "Don't freak out about what I'm gonna say, I won't actually do it."

She raised an eyebrow at him, but still nodded and gestured for him to proceed.

Izan took a breath and then crouched to Nidorino's level. "Hey there. How ya been?"

Nidorino growled, showing its teeth as a warning.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. I take it you know what a trainer is? And that I'm your trainer?"

More growling ensued, and Nidorino's eyes emanated what he could only describe as killing intent. It made Izan shudder involuntarily.

'Was that [Leer]? That's sort of subtle for what it actually does.'

"Oh, so you don't want to be my Pokemon… That's fine. I'll release you back to the wild when you get all healed up. That sounds good to you?" He replied calmly.

Nidorino paused its hostility, looking at him in confusion. After staring at him for a few solid seconds, it calmly nodded.

"But if I can't get you to battle for me…" A wicked smile grew on his face, alerting Nidorino.

"I guess your sister will have to suffice, won't she?"

Nidorino's eyes widened in understanding. Its pupils constricted in rage.

---

->RQ: If you were in the Pokemon world, would you have a team of six? And what Pokemon would you go for realistically?

I would likely only have like three Pokemon. A Zangoose, Dodrio, and a Blissey. Maybe a Porygon or Ditto if I'm rich.

Found out the reason I write so slow is that I edit as I write. Makes it so a 30 minutes chapter takes two hours when I'm going back and forth fixing stuff and making other stuff sound better.

Almost finished five advance chapters.