New Discoveries (2/3)

[Words: 1,680]

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"And why should I care about the Black Market? It's not like I wanna buy any illegal supplements or something equally stupid."

He was bluffing, of course. All his knowledge was in general terms, so information about specific cultural things was always welcome. Plus, they probably sold Pokemon there that he couldn't get anywhere else.

Or even items that people sold but didn't understand. Maybe he could do the cliche thing like buying a raggedy old stick that secretly was a legendary sword.

Something like that.

"Is that so? You sure you don't want something… like this?" She pulled out an egg-shaped pearl of some sort from her bag. It glowed with wispy glowing colors. The most prominent being a murky burgundy color.

"And that is…?"

For the first time, she seemed taken aback. And more than a little smug. "You don't even know what this is? It's an Emera. Whose stupid now, stupid?"

Izan scoffed, taking out his Pokegear to look it up. "Yeah, whatever. What's 13 times 13?"

Her silent scowl was a good enough response. He had a suspicion she'd never gone to school before. Like, at all.

The information on the forums about Emera was… concerning, to say the least. It certainly explained why she thought he'd want them.

For one, they were banned. Like, super taboo banned. It was to the point that people raved that usage of Emeras was a major reason the gods abandoned them.

Oh, yeah, legendaries were considered gods. He already considered them gods but it was nice to see everyone else agreed. Those things were terrifying forces of nature.

Anyway, Emeras seemed to be the core of a Pokemon. They held all of the energy within them and solidified the Pokemon's consciousness. It was similar to the type gem he used before, but with ALL of the Pokemon's energy stored before it died.

However, the core only formed when a Pokemon gained sapience. So a Pokemon had to either bond with a human to get one or be strong enough to form their own.

The reason they were banned? War.

People in the past saw having their Pokemon absorb the Emera of a stronger Pokemon to be efficient for energy mastery. So trainers would hunt other trainers, hoping to kill their Pokemon and steal the Emeras within.

Usage of Emera's still wasn't banned in other regions like Orre, but it was most definitely banned in Kanto. And any other region within the league alliance.

There were more ethical alternatives anyway if what he was reading was right. People found out they could have the Pokemon fill body parts with energy like a type gem.

For Pokemon like Pidgeot, it could fill a few feathers with its main energy type per day. All the trainer had to do was pluck the feathers out and voila, you had a bastardized Emera. There were so many avenues for making money as a high-level Pokemon trainer, it seemed.

In comparison, Emeras just seemed barbaric, even if they stimulated more than one type.

"Well, at least I learned something from this. I don't think I want any of… those things, but the black market seems like a good idea."

"Why does everyone always look so disgusted when I take one of these out? I know they're illegal and sorta painful for Pokemon but it's not like I force it down their throat." She grumbled.

"Probably because the Pokemon needs to be sapient to form one. It creates a bad picture."

She looked at him with genuine confusion. "They need to be… what? And what's the difference between this and eating the Pokemon? They hunt each other in the wild anyway."

"Sapient, as in… never mind. The point is, it feels gross. With the amount of pain it puts the receiver in, and the benefits seeming too good to be true, it makes people feel like they're feeding the souls of Pokemon to each other."

As he continued talking, Izan could've sworn there was steam coming out of her ears. She didn't even look confused, just that nothing he said even registered.

Man, she was dull.

"Look. It's just bad, okay?" He affirmed, exasperated.

She shook her head. "Sure, whatever. So you interested?"

"I'm interested in the black market. Not… that. What do you want to know in exchange?"

"Nothing too crazy. Just how to increase my Pokemon's level faster. I've had Tyrogue for years, battling tons of Pokemon on the routes around here. In a few weeks, he didn't get nearly as strong as you claim Sandshrew is."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that all you're doing? Battling, that is. Nothing else?"

"For gaining levels? It's all I know. I can't use this Emera safely until Tyrogue is level 15 apparently so it's been a long time coming." The enthusiasm with which she said that was... sad.

She knew the exact level needed to use the Emera, which is very illegal, yet she doesn't even know her Pokemon needs basic exercise to level up.

'What a backward set of knowledge to have.' Izan internally scoffed.

Though it would explain why Joe decided to just randomly attack a horde of Rattata. If they, as a group, thought leveling was only possible through battle they should be underdeveloped compared to the time they put in.

Either way, it was a win-win for him. It was like explaining how to breathe in exchange for nuclear launch codes.

"Is that so? Agreed, then. I'll teach you how to train your Pokemon like a normal person. But you have to give me your information first."

She suddenly scowled. "What, why? You gonna rip me off or something?"

He kept his face and voice impassive. "Of course not. If I wanted to 'rip you off', I'd just blackmail you. You do know you have contraband, right?"

From her wide-eyed look, it seemed she hadn't thought of that. She probably didn't even think further than her initial scare tactic with the knife. It would be a tried and true method among teenagers, after all.

She grimaced, sticking out her hand. "See this is why I don't like you. I could just tell you were gonna be all... weird. Fine, we have a deal."

He shook her hand with a smirk, exaggeratedly wiping it off his shirt just to annoy her.

From her scoff, it worked.

Just in time, the bushes rustled as the deal was completed. From the underbrush came Sandshrew, running out carrying a bundle of berries in her stubby arms.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to tell her to go get berries for him.

"Shrew, San san!" She exaggeratedly offered him the berries, giving him a deceptively innocent look. It was adorable of course, but he wouldn't be fooled.

There was berry juice all over her face. She probably ate a whole bush before coming back.

He let out a fond sigh.

Crouching down, he took the berries and carefully put them in his pouch. Mostly Razz Berries from what he could tell.

"Thanks, Sandshrew you helped a ton." She beamed at him in response. "Though, could you maybe not eat so many next time?" To that, she looked away shyly.

At least she had the decency to look embarrassed. Then again…

"It's getting late in the day, so it's probably around dinner time. How about we talk about this later Robin?"

There was a look on her face he couldn't describe. "Yeah, whatever." But, indeed, whatever.

That wasn't a huge haul of berries or anything, but maybe separating from the group gave more benefits than he thought they would.

[+]

Robin grumbled to herself as she pulled her pants back up. No matter how many times she did so, taking a piss outside always felt gross.

It was the middle of the night too, so the random sounds in the forest couldn't help but unnerve her.

Turning around, she was just about to make her way back to camp when she heard a much closer, clear sound coming from Izan's tent.

She froze, hiding behind a tree to spy on him from afar.

Although she had a deal with him, she still didn't trust him. Her instincts were telling her he was dangerous. And her instincts were never wrong.

Well, her instincts told her Joe was dangerous too, but he was like a dog. As long as they were friends he wouldn't do anything to her. Or anyone else for that matter.

Even Lora wasn't that bad. She puffed up when backed into a corner, trying to make herself seem big, but she'd run away at any sense of danger.

A typical coward.

Izan, though, was like a lion. Everyone knew cats understood people. The fuckers just didn't care what you had to say, doing whatever they wanted. A sort of selfishness she couldn't get behind.

And there was a certain level of unpredictability from him she didn't like.

He did seem to like his Pokemon, but that was a given. Anyone who mistreated their Pokemon was scum.

She didn't need her instincts to tell her that.

So he wasn't scum as far as she could tell, but he wasn't a team player either.

That's why she needed to know why he was up in the middle of the night. Maybe it was paranoia but it was better safe than sorry.

He stood up, looking around before squinting in a random direction. Sighing, he slumped his shoulders.

With a faint "I knew it" spewed out, he started walking.

That was it? What did he know? Did he notice that her tent was empty? And how long was he going to be up? Was she just being stupid and he just had to take a piss too?

And dammit, now she was at an impasse. She could either follow him or go back to sleep and act like this never happened.

Oh, who was she kidding? She was way too curious.

Careful to stay behind trees and under the shade of the forest, she rushed after him.

A/N:

So, I've been thinking. For one, I think I'll stop adding unnecessary scenes. Like, I know every scene I wrote has a certain purpose, but sometimes I just really don't wanna write them so it slows me down.

Like, that battle with the Meowth gang? I was falling asleep writing that.

And I've been re-looking over my plot, and I now have a question.

The current list of regions he'll go to (not necessarily challenge, just go to) is Johto, Hoenn, and Kalos. Hoenn is for a certain blue-haired girl. Kalos for connections and training. And Johto because there's a ton of things over there he's connected to in one way or another.

Random Question: Any other regions you think he should go to? And if so, for what?