Humbling Experience (3/3)

Holding his head in his hands while he sat in the Pokemon Center, Izan waited and subconsciously bounced his leg.

He was thoroughly rattled.

Ever since Sandshrew had come along, his previous anxiety had been washed away. Like he wasn't in another world with a shaky foundation for life.

He was calm. Tranquil, even, when Sandshrew was around.

But now? That connection was gone. After rushing back to the Pokemon Center, she was put straight into intensive care.

Her hide's natural armor wasn't enough to stop the damage. Even if it absorbed and distributed the blows, the force had to go somewhere.

Something about internal damage. That was about as far as he heard before almost passing out.

Life once again felt uncertain. Sandshrew could actually die. And in his mind, it was all because of-

"Izan, calm down. She'll be fine, trust me," Serebyi's voice drifted in from the sideline.

His leg bouncing stopped. His eye twitched.

For a split second, there was an urge of primal anger that surged under the surface.

But instead of letting it out, he simply huffed through his nose.

"You want me to trust you? After… that?" He asked, his voice laden with malice yet sounding eerily calm.

For a moment she looked surprised at his tone, before she took a step back, bowing at a ninety-degree angle.

"I'm sorry! Truly, I am." She continued to look down as she spoke. "I thought that she could handle it. Plus there was the Leech Seed and I read once that Sandshrew's hide could repel any-"

As she continued to ramble, Izan's rage began to feed the energy within his body. Just her presence was pissing him off, knowing she didn't even try to help.

Even after the fight was over, she just watched him as he ran, not even offering a lift. A B-Class trainer without a single mount Pokemon? Bullshit.

"No." He cut her off.

"N-no?" She looked up at him in surprise, noticing he still hadn't looked at her.

Izan sighed.

"I get it. You're sorry. That doesn't change the fact that Sandshrew is hurt. You probably have a million rational reasons why I should forgive you, and you'd most likely be right. But…"

He looked up at her finally, the iris in his eyes pulsing with a foreign orange glow. The veins connected to his eyes protruded outwards, making his visage even more severe.

"I'm not exactly rational at the moment." He droned with a tone of finality.

With a concerned look, she studied his face for a solid minute before apparently finding what she was looking for as she stood up from her bow.

Her entire posture changed, along with her lack of a facial expression, like she dropped a mask she'd been wearing for hours.

She smirked. "I give up. No matter how many times I try and no matter who I emulate, you somehow always see through me. I'll admit I messed up this time around but you're more perceptive than you think."

She seemed amused for some reason if that smirk was anything to go by.

Izan scrunched up his nose in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Nothing." She shook her head, placing the TM scroll on the table. "The TM inside is Sandstorm. I've also already turned in the Fearow job and donated all the money to your profile. Goodbye for now, Izan."

Turning around, she swiftly made her way to the door. Izan blinked in confusion, processing her words slowly.

"Ah, and one more thing." She paused at the door, ignoring the looks she got for blocking the entrance. "It might seem impossible, but avoid Team Rocket please."

And then she was gone.

A few seconds passed before Izan slumped in his seat as his eyes flickered from their glowing orange back to simple dark brown.

He clenched his fist as he stared at his hands.

'What… is this?'

That feeling. That… energy. Time and time again it appeared without notice, whenever he needed it.

And each time it did, it became more evident to him. Like obtaining a new sense. Or the feeling of developing muscles needed for something arbitrary like wiggling the ears.

Still, as he focused on it and attempted to push it forward, it didn't even slightly budge. Though, that was progress in and of itself. He couldn't even feel it before unless it showed itself.

'Well if it's not a golden finger like in those stories, then it's probably psychic power or aura.' He figured.

The dark yellow of the scroll caught his eye and the table, distracting him from that.

'No point in thinking about that. Right now, I need to worry about Sandshrew.'

He wanted to believe she wouldn't die. A few heal pulses should make her mostly healed internally but the issue was that there were things heal pulse didn't fix.

According to Nurse Joy, who humored him because he was stressing out too much, Heal Pulse simply sped up the natural regeneration of its target.

Luckily the long-term problems that came with speeding up one's regeneration were absent because of the way the move functioned.

Izan sighed. He was glad health care was free because he didn't trust himself to not just throw all his money at Nurse Joy until Sandshrew was better.

'Speaking of money…' Izan took out his Pokegear and went to his account to see how much money he made from that job. It better have been-

His eyebrows raised to his hairline.

[Name: Izan Ritcher]

[Missions Completed: 0 F-Rank, 0 D-Rank, 1 C-Rank, 0 B-Rank, 0 A-Rank, 0 S-Rank]

[Age: 14]

[Birthplace: Vermillion City, Kanto]

[Trainer License: F+]

[Badges: 0] - [Ribbons: 0]

[Carry Limit: 3]

[Owned Pokemon: 1] - [Average Team Level: 5]

[(Private) Money: 5,730₽]

There were multiple other things scattered on his profile, like an icon that indicated his 1 Pokemon was a Sandshrew, but pretty much all of it could be private if he wanted.

But focusing on the last thing on his profile, he acquiesced that it was a good sum of money.

Not enough to warrant the amount of danger that Sandshrew got into, but then again the task most likely wasn't for him. It was a job that someone like Serebyi was supposed to take on.

With the amount of money that he made from that one mission, he could boost Sandshrew's training and quality of life quite a bit.

And if he did more of those missions or even just small ones on his level, he could probably fund things he normally wouldn't be able to.

It made sense that Youngsters did a 'ton of tasks a day'.

To that end, he made his way to the board in the back of the Pokemon Center. It was one of the things he initially ignored when he walked in his first time in the center.

Something he hadn't expected to see in this world: A quest board.

As he stared at all the tasks put up ripe for the taking, an idea passed through his head. Something that appealed to him greatly.

It was a slightly risky move, but one that would benefit them after this devastating loss.

Taking a piece of paper from the stack on a table, he began writing down his request.

---

A/N: In order to make things easier to digest, I'm gonna be changing some information and keeping track of certain things in the auxiliary chapters.

Mostly just stuff about how rankings and stuff works, etc. It will be mostly the same, just some terms will be changed.

Oh, and if you have any suggestions or comments, or questions, let me know. Otherwise, I'm just gonna obliviously bulldoze onward.