23 Mission Preparation (2/3)

[}-{]

Nidorino pushed off the ground in a sprint, enraged, attempting to tackle Izan and prick him with its fatal poison.

Sadly, it was still injured. It winced at the pain, tripped, and fell on its face. Izan expected this, putting up his hands in mock surprise and submission.

"Woah, Woah, calm down Nidorino."

Nidorino growled in response, looking up at him with disdain even as it sat there on the floor.

'Let's get this started, then.'

"I get it, you're angry, but let's look at this with a calm mindset. Do you really think I'm gonna hurt your sister?" He reasoned.

Nidorino doubled its efforts to stand up, outright snapping its jaws and occasionally flickering with energy. It was too hopped up on drugs to really fight, though.

"Oh c'mon, now you're just being ridiculous. I mean, look at my Sandshrew here. She's in pristine condition and you don't see her complaining. Why would it be any different than with Nidoran? Or with you?"

Momentarily, Nidorino paused. Its eyes flickered to Sandshrew who was busy sticking her tongue out at him. Seeing that she got some attention, she started to flex and make bodybuilding poses.

'Who even taught her that? Did she get it from watching me? …Cringe.'

Nidorino calmed down at the sight of her, but its deadpan eyes didn't seem impressed. "Rino." It huffed.

'Credibility wasn't enough, but at least it calmed it down. Maybe emotion?'

"That's not enough for you? I don't even really see why you distrust me. Am I not your savior? Technically? You'd really maul your savior to death in a fit of paranoia?"

Nidorino's eyes gained a killing intent so sharp Izan almost assumed it somehow learned [Glare] instead of [Leer].

'Alright, I can already tell emotion isn't gonna do shit. Logic it is.'

He sighed. "Well, if that's how you're going to be… I'm sorry but I lied. You only really have two choices here."

Nidorino narrowed his eyes.

"When you woke up, you've been oddly 'aware' of things, haven't you? Like you're only truly seeing things for the first time, right?"

It tried to hide its surprise, but it was unsuccessful as Izan was watching its expression carefully. Nidorino nodded.

"That is called awakening. Sadly, a Pokemon whose awakened is too dangerous to be let loose. There are others like you in the wild who are awakened, but they did so on their own. They are old and have years of experience. They can make smart decisions."

He pointed at the rabbit-like Pokemon. "You, however, are not old. You have barely any experience. Human rules state that you cannot be released in the first place."

This time, Nidorino didn't even try. Its eyes widened after hearing Izan's words.

"Now, I'm not saying you can't go back to living without seeing another human in your life. I'm just saying that if you really want to do so, you'll have to live in an enclosure. One that's monitored by humans, whether you see them or not."

"So you're at a crossroad. You can either stay with me, the guy who saved you, and become stronger, battle, or train. Or you can go live in an enclosure monitored by unknown people. Surrounded by a society of equally 'aware' Pokemon. You'll be at their mercy, too." Izan concluded.

It was the truth, of course, but it wasn't the whole truth. By enclosure, it meant there was an entire archipelago that was held behind a barrier.

Izan even had a theory it was the place where the Mystery Dungeon games took place. Besides the elements, it was a relatively peaceful place.

But either way, it was the choice itself that was to Izan's advantage.

It was the choice between being in the hands of some unknown force or trusting the guy in front of you.

Besides the most basic persuasion tactics that Izan knew of, using logic, emotion, and credibility, he also used one of the most common fears known to man.

The fear of the unknown.

Nidorino looked down and then looked to his sister who was watching everything with an oblivious face. She just seemed happy to be there.

It seemed indecisive.

Izan stood up, dusting off his pants. "Well, I'll give you a few days to think about your choice. It's not like you can train in that state anyway, much less battle."

"Nido…" Nidorino muttered, contemplative.

Turning around, Izan walked out the door, calling out behind him. "Thanks again, Nurse Joy. I have something to talk with you about later."

"Mmm." Nurse Joy hummed, noncommittal. She didn't seem too happy with him at the moment.

Or maybe she was in shock? He couldn't tell with her blank expression.

Either way, it didn't matter whether she approved or not. It wasn't like he was hurting anyone. Plus he was gonna put both Nidorino and Nidoran on a timer.

If they didn't trust or like him by a certain point, then he'd release both of them to that island. He wanted his Pokemon to be partners. Friends. He couldn't trust his back to someone whose waiting for an opportunity to stab him in it.

He may have acted like it, but he wasn't that much of a bastard.

[}-{]

"Why exactly do you keep looking at me like that? Do I know you?"

"Huh?" Izan said, stunned. "Oh, sorry, you just… reminded me of someone."

The girl lightly rolled her eyes and looked away. She was a plain girl all things considered with her white hoodie and black jeans. Well, her face was plain. Her features, that being her golden eyes, blonde hair, and freckles, were all pretty distinct.

He'd been looking at her with disgust since he sat down. She looked like the spitting image of Rachel from Tower of God.

She was polite though and didn't deserve that comparison or his disgust.

Staring for a little more, he shook his head. "Sorry, can we start over? I wasn't really listening."

The other girl sighed, shaking her head. "This guy seems hopeless, Joe, do we really need him?"

She was a redhead with green eyes and also wearing a brown hoodie. Now that he thought about it, they were all wearing hoodies.

[Image]

Then again, pullover hoodies are a superior form of clothing. He couldn't complain.

Joe sighed. "We talked about this already. Yes, we need him. Even with Lora's 'failsafe' Diglett's cave is still dangerous. He's the highest level trainer we could work with for extra protection."

"Are you sure? He doesn't exactly look like a strong trainer."

"And what does a strong trainer even look like, Robin?" He argued, looking at her like she was dumb.

"I don't know, but it ain't him!"

Izan looked down at his skinny body. 'I mean, she's not wrong but…'

"You know I'm still here, right? Comments like that hurt people's feelings, ya know."

Robin, the redhead, glared at Izan for a moment but just let out an explosive sigh when he didn't do anything but stare blankly back at her.

Joe clapped. "Look, how about we just do introductions again? I'll start. My name is Joe and I'm an F-Class trainer. I've got three Pokemon, three Meowth, all around level six."

'...Three Meowth? Is he doing a Pickup team or something?'

All of them looked toward Robin who looked at all of them for a full three seconds before deciding to reply.

She crossed her arms and sat back in her seat. "Robin. No shit I'm an F-Class like you lot. I've got two of the little fuckers. My Tyrogue is level seven and my Pidgey is level four."

"Oh, you're a generalist?" Izan asked.

She scowled. "Yeah, what it's to you?"

"I was just curious, is all. And you?" He moved on to the Rachel-lookalike. There was no point in antagonizing the rude one.

She gave him a courtesy smile. "It's nice to meet you, Izan. My name is Lora, as you've heard, and I but one Pokemon."

She snapped her fingers and a green ball of a bird appeared on her head.

"Natu here is still level five, sadly." She finished, scratching under Natu's chin. Despite its expression not changing one bit, he could tell it enjoyed the affection.

"I'm Izan. I've got two other Pokemon but it's… complicated. Sandshrew here is level ten-"

"Ten?! I thought you were an F-Class trainer?" Robin blurted out.

"I… am? She's only two levels higher than your Pokemon." He answered confusedly.

If she was doing normal workouts a day without much battling, that'd take only a few weeks to catch up.

Both girls' stares were heavy and calculative. Joe was just staring at all of them, confused by the sudden change in atmosphere.

"…Right. Well, what's the plan?" Izan said after a moment of awkwardness.

It was awkward for him at least. Whatever they were thinking didn't matter to him.

Joe took the opportunity to speak instantly. "There's not really a plan, to be honest. We're just gonna go there as a group and find out the cause. If it gets dicey, Lora's Natu can teleport us away. That's actually why you're here. It takes a while to charge up [Teleport] so we needed Pokemon that can take a hit to stall for time."

Izan himself was planning to ask Nurse Joy to borrow her Mr.Mime, having the same idea. With that out of the way, he needed just a few more things in place before going.

The girls, however, were still silent, blatantly staring at Izan. The awkwardness from before came back full throttle.

"…I see. Well, if that's all." He took out a piece of paper from his backpack and stood up. "Call me when it's time to go."

Walking away, he waved over his shoulder at the quick 'See ya, then.' Joe sent him.

Now that he and Sandshrew had been fixed up, they had a bit more training to do.

---

Late post, I know. Forgot to post cuz I was playing Wynncraft all day.