25 Awkward Adventure (1/3)

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"If you're planning on evolving Snorunt into a Frosslass, do you really need a Jynx?" Izan asked.

He and Aurora were walking around the city, going to different shops beside the Pokemart.

Still, the only thing he picked up was a traveling kit, rations, and a berry pouch.

An insulated container that could fit 99 of each known berry via spatial technology that cost only 300 Pokedollars? That was a steal and a half!

The science of it made absolutely no sense to him, and it probably never would. Something to do with [Minimize], perhaps?

She didn't buy much either. Just clothes. Mostly blue and white, he'd noticed.

"Of course! Having a psychic type will be a huge help with communicating with my team." She answered matter-of-factly. "…Plus, Smoochum is pretty cute."

She muttered that last part.

"Sure it's pretty cute but Jynx is… not. Not cute at all." He lamented.

"You're just looking at things from the wrong angle. Jynx is a lovely lady with a voluptuous figure. Don't insult Jynx because your eyes are bad."

He stopped walking and stared at her. 'Did… did she just defend Jynx's looks? Jynx???'

"My eyes are bad? Mine?! You must need new glasses!" Izan exaggeratedly picked up Sandshrew off his shoulder, holding her close to Aurora's face. "Look at her! Jynx is an abomination in comparison with my Sandshrew!"

The blush on Sandshrew's face was explosive, to the point where he almost thought he saw steam coming off her. Still, she put her hands on her hips and pointed her nose up.

"What does Sandshrew have to do with this?!"

"Credibility!"

"Credibility? Have you seen my Pokemon?! They're the epitome of cuteness! And beauty!"

"Well-"

The sound of the Pokemon theme song interrupted their very serious and absolutely real argument.

Someone was calling him on his Pokegear. An unknown number at that.

"Sorry, one second."

Izan clicked his Pokegear at the unknown number. "What's up?"

The voice on the other side was one he was sort of expecting. It'd been three days, after all. "Yo, Izan! How busy are ya? We were gonna meet up on the exit to Route 11 in like an hour."

Yep, it was Joe.

He gestured to Aurora before answering, and she waved him off in response. Didn't want to just ditch her out of the blue.

"Nah, I'm not that busy. Just got finished shopping for travel gear, actually. That exit is east of the city, right?"

"Yep!! Take your time though, you've got a whooole hour. I'm gonna be here with the Meowth squad working on our secret technique!"

"If it's a secret technique, why would you randomly tell me about it…?"

"Cause if no one knows about it, it loses its mystique! And then no one would try and learn it because they wouldn't know about it! A secret no one knows about is pretty boring."

Izan internally sighed. 'This guy…'

"Sure, man. Whatever you say. See you in an hour, then."

"See ya!!"

*Click*

He let out the sigh he'd been holding inside. He wasn't sure yet, but it was obvious that guy was always like this. Loud, boisterous, friendly.

…Headache inducing.

Seriously, he really needed to just talk at a normal level. Why did he have to scream for every single sentence?

"So, was that him?" Aurora asked seriously, any hint of previous playfulness gone.

"Yeah, that was him." He hadn't explained the mission to her in detail, but he did tell her the gist of things.

She, too, thought it was a bad idea.

"Are you sure about this? It might seem like nothing but this could end really badly." Her voice was laced with concern.

He knew that. It was a really bad idea in hindsight to do the mission, especially with people who didn't trust him and didn't try to hide their dislike of him.

But… after thinking about it, he realized all the reasons he had before for going on the mission were just excuses. Things he told himself to hide the main reason.

That reason? A feeling.

After whatever happened with the Nido-siblings, he'd finally been able to summon that strange power up on command.

His eyes could only turn orange at the moment, but it was enough for him. When he did it, his body was filled with way more power than he had any right to.

He didn't really test it much besides knowing that he could turn it off and on now. The most he did was kick an oak tree.

The tree… cracked.

There was even an indent where his foot had gone. And there was no pain in his foot at all.

It was exhilarating to have that much power at any given moment, but he was skeptical of using it whenever he wanted. An irritating feeling that he could only describe as 'With great power, comes great responsibility'.

Like the power itself was telling him not to misuse it.

And that feeling, one that came from his power trying to tell him something, stood straight up when Joe was around.

Izan realized that his power didn't really like him. It worked with him, probably because it had to, but it didn't really care for doing so. Maybe it felt he was unworthy? He didn't know.

But with Joe, it liked him. Like, a lot.

And he wanted to know why.

"No, I'm not sure. I've got a gut feeling but that's all it is. A feeling."

She studied his face for a moment with a frown, before letting out a sigh of her own.

"I think I get it. You're curious too, huh?" She muttered that last part.

'What is that supposed to mean?'

"Either way, I have a request for you. If I don't come back within 48 hours, call the authorities, would ya? Police, ACE, whoever. Dying isn't pleasant, ya know."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Uh, yeah, I was gonna do that anyway. That's just common sense."

He shrugged, sharing a sad smile. "Fair enough."

[}-{]

The atmosphere was awkward as they walked through the passage on Route 11. It was a quiet ordeal, with only the occasional lone trainer walking past them.

Though, each trainer always made sure not to look at them directly. Most likely intimidated by a group.

Lora, the Rachel clone, was simply walking along happily ignoring the atmosphere and people alike. The small smile on her face was sort of annoying.

Robin didn't even try to hide her suspicions. She was blatantly staring at him the whole walk.

He opened his eyes wide and initiated a staring contest without saying it. He smiled when she stopped blinking, taking the challenge in stride.

There wasn't a chance in hell for him to win.

Joe, on the other hand, had been looking around the group utterly confused by the awkwardness. It wasn't that awkward for Izan, who didn't plan on talking much anyway, but Joe kept trying to initiate conversation only for them to trail off.

Probably trying to make it seem natural, Joe slowed his walking speed to match up with Robin, whispering to her with a very confused face.

Izan raised an eyebrow when Robin pointed her fingers at her eyes, and then at him, making the 'I'm watching you' gesture.

Then she proceeded to turn to Joe and explain something to him exasperatedly.

'They seem close. Closer than with Lora, at least. She hasn't even batted an eye at any of us since we started walking.'

Suddenly, Joe's voice called out loudly toward Izan.

"Hey Izan, are you gonna betray us or something?!"

'What.'

"What."

Joe continued as if he hadn't just asked a really dumb question. "You know, like, beat us up, trap us underground and take all our stuff? You planning on doing any of that?"

Izan blinked. "…No?"

"See! Izan seems like a pretty good guy. And even if he isn't… I've got you two to help me beat him up, right?" Joe laughed triumphantly at his conclusion.

'…'

Izan slowly looked up to the sky. It was a beautiful day outside.

'…I refuse. This can't be possible. There's no one who could possibly be this stupid. Or naive.'

Even Lora took a moment from her blissful walk to look at Joe like he was an idiot. Robin… blushed? Didn't expect that.

'A crush, perhaps? Good for him, I guess.'

Joe's confident laughter was cut off as all four heard the sound of bushes rustling. Immediately, their stance changed, becoming vigilant and watching the bush intently.

'What's up with them?' He couldn't help but think.

The people guarding never allowed Pokemon that were confrontational into the city or the sanctioned routes.

That was the main reason they were on the mission at the moment. If it were any other Pokemon, they'd be easily able to deal with them.

But Diglett traveled underground. And if a barrier or something similar got in their way, they'd simply go right under it.

Nonchalantly, five Rattata walked out of the shaking bushes, eyeing the group, before turning to keep walking.

'Heh. If this were the games, that'd be a horde battle right there.'

Suddenly, three Pokeballs soared through the air exploding into light and summoning three cats.

"I call dibs! Come on out Meowth Squad and use [Scratch]!"