19 New Resolve (1/3)

[}-{]

"Admirable."

His voice reverberated through her body like an echo. A voice deserving of reverence that didn't match Izan at all. Aurora jerked back, her feet planted on the ground. Nidorino's bloodshot eyes abruptly cleared up.

It, however, stood adamantly.

She tried to reach out again to stop him, yet her body didn't listen. A primal part of her from ages long forgotten spoke to her. Somehow, she knew there was no point in intervening.

All would be well while he bathed the world in light.

*Click*

Aurora snapped out of her daze at the sound of the Pokeball clicking shut. She blinked as she watched him casually catch both Pokemon as if it was normal.

The entire exchange amazed her. How easily he dealt with an aggressive stage-two Pokemon. It was done so casually too, with a level of grace she could only hope to aspire to.

In no world was that normal. There was a reason people said cornered Pokemon were the scariest. Calming a bloodthirsty Pokemon on the verge of rampaging with nothing but a word?

That was unheard of for even high-rank trainers, much less a Youngster like Izan.

"I caught a Nidorino!" She jumped back again as he bounced into a stupid-looking pose, holding the Pokeball up high.

Turning around, he seemed normal again. "Alright, let's go before-" She stared. He noticed. "What?"

She stared harder. 'Did he really not see anything weird here?'

"What'd I do?"

She blinked. "Nothing, that was just impressive, is all." That's not what she wanted to say at all, but it would suffice for now.

He sent her that stupid grin he got often. "Nah, it wasn't much. We should get to the Pokemon Center though, these guys are hurt pretty badly."

Nodding dumbly, she returned Glaceon to her Luxury Ball. "Right."

"Let's go, Sandshrew!" He called out to his Pokemon.

Taking it in stride, she hopped onto Izan's shoulder. "Shrew!"

'And there's that, too. Their bond is unusually developed for a Pokemon he hasn't had for very long. It took months before Eevee let me even carry her.'

She squinted at his back as they started to walk to the center.

'Is he some sort of genius?' He tripped over a rock and nearly faceplanted. 'Or maybe he's just a lucky idiot?'

Whatever the case, it brought about a feeling she'd long forgotten. Motivation.

There was something odd about Izan. And she was motivated to figure it out.

[}-{]

After rushing back to the center, Joy took the two injured Pokemon in stride, immediately going to intensive care without a word.

The intensity of expression was enough to confidently tell him they'd be alright.

Though, for now, they had nothing to do but wait. Their plans were ruined by that whole fiasco and the training ground was wrecked by the battle.

"So… you're a generalist?" Arora tried to break the awkward atmosphere.

Izan was sitting next to her with his eyes closed, but he didn't open them. "Nah, I'm trying to be a ground-type specialist. Things just turned out that way."

It wasn't like he caught them out of a need for ground-type Pokemon. He more or less just wanted to get them healed and catching them was the easiest way.

Honestly, he was thinking about selling the female Nidoran. He'd have to consult the Nidorino before doing that though.

There'd be no point keeping Nidorino if it hated him, after all.

"Ah, I see. So you want to evolve both of those Pokemon into their final evolutions, correct?"

He furrowed his brows. "Eventually, yeah." Wasn't that obvious?

"That'd cost a lot of money, you know. Moon Stones aren't cheap. I think a low-quality one costs about 3,000 give or take."

His eyes snapped open. "Low-quality? What's the difference between low or high quality?" He didn't like the way her smile became predatory.

"Well, for one, the stone itself looks prettier." He rolled his eyes. Of course, she would focus on that. "And the higher quality the stone, the greater the energy mastery increases upon evolution."

He'd read about that, actually.

When a Pokemon evolves, it doesn't just burst into a bright light like the anime. It sheds, slowly gets bigger, eats more, things like that. And over time, it sort of shifts into the next evolution.

Sometimes Pokemon got 'stuck' in the middle of an evolution, but that was fairly rare. It usually only happened to Pokemon who was suddenly crippled or whose internal energy was disturbed during the evolution period.

Considering that it happened over multiple days, this didn't happen often as long as the trainer kept their Pokemon out of battle.

During that process, however, was the time a Pokemon's energy would surge out of control.

Their mastery over the base typings they had would increase depending on how well they were accommodated.

A Pokemon like Charmeleon would have their fire-type mastery increased by a stage, and if they didn't have it yet, they would develop flying-type mastery.

"Dammit, just another thing I didn't anticipate." He muttered. It was getting annoying to learn how complicated real Pokemon training really was.

Then again, leveling up by raiding entire ecosystems would make for a poor journey.

"Yes, the amount of funding you'll need for high-quality Pokemon truly is quite infuriating." She commented.

He didn't like her tone. Or that look. "What are you trying to get at? Just spit it out."

She mimicked that business pose he'd made before. "I have a proposition for you." Oh, here we go. "What do you think about me and you traveling together?"

He raised an eyebrow, shifting his posture. That was an idea.

It wasn't like he was opposed to traveling with others. While he wasn't the most social butterfly around, having a few friends here and there was nice.

The only real issue he could think of was twofold. One was pretty obvious. He wasn't the most social and got annoyed when he was pestered by people nonstop.

The other issue was a matter of keeping secrets. Though that could be solved by just splitting up during the day or waking up earlier to do secret things.

On top of that, he didn't need friends. His Pokemon would all have sapience, so he'd never truly be alone.

'She used the word proposition though. Like it was an offer of something besides simple companionship. Plus…'

"If you wanted to, you could just follow me around without consent. It's not like I'd attack you if you did, and you could just use the excuse that we happen to be traveling in the same direction." He pointed out.

That's what Misty did to Ash if he recalled. Though she had a reason to follow around the jackass that stole and wrecked her bike.

"That's true." She acknowledged. "Then, instead of a traveling companion, how about I become your manager."

"No." He instinctively replied. Her eyes widened in shock. "Wait, I just need a better explanation. When you say manager it sounds like you'll be controlling my next move or something."

She relaxed at that, settling more into her seat. "I think you misunderstand, in that case. My job would be to make your job easier. Organize a budget, inform you of recent news, register you for certain events, etc.

I'd take care of all the little details of being a trainer while you focus solely on getting stronger and reaching new heights."

At that, he relaxed considerably.

The whole point of him becoming a Pokemon trainer was so he could do whatever he wanted. So he could adventure. Having someone tell him where to go and what to do would defeat the purpose.

It would just feel like a normal old job, at that point.

"Truth be told, I don't need a manager. I'm fairly confident that I can take care of myself." And he didn't trust her that much.

The only thing she had going for her at the moment was the credibility of her surname. If he wanted a manager, there were smarter options.

Her lips thinned as she paused to think it over.

"But I have a question. I'll accept your 'proposition' if I like the answer, got it?"

She brightened up, fixing her posture to be straighter as she exuded an air of confidence. After taking a breath, she nodded.

'Here goes nothing.'

"Why do you want to be a trainer? I don't know if you realize, but being a Pokemon trainer is a lot of work. And you wanna add even more work on top of that, for some reason. I just don't get it." He admitted.

Her visage crumbled. With each word, she pulled into herself more and more. By the end, she looked downright timid. She frowned, and she frowned hard.

For the first time since he'd seen her, she looked lost.

"I…" She gulped. For a moment, he almost thought she was shaking. But just as it appeared, it went away.

"Aurora, take a breath, it's fine. You don't have to tell me your whole life story just for a job. Just omit the details."

She took a breath, visibly becoming calmer. "Right. Right, okay. To put it simply… I don't.

I don't want to be a trainer. But after some… things happened, I realized I didn't have anything I wanted to do in life. No grand purpose like everyone else.

So I took my older brother's advice.

If I didn't have anything I wanted to do, I'd just need to go find it. After taking a bunch of money, I ran away from home and came here. To rebuild my life from scratch.

Well, not scratch, I think I brought too much money for that, but you get the idea."

There wasn't anything he could think of in response to that. She was looking for a sense of purpose.

It was ironic if he thought about it. His sense of purpose was solidified the moment he woke up in this world, and she couldn't even find a trace of hers and she'd been born here.

Still, that didn't exactly inspire confidence in her management skills.

"So if doing stuff like management isn't what you want to do, why would you propose it?" It didn't make any sense to him.

Instead of responding, she opened her mouth before stopping herself and closing it, averting her eyes.

'Maybe her sense of purpose has something to do with following me around? Or just trainers in general? Haah, I can't stand being indirect.'

Seeing that she wouldn't respond, he continued.

"Fine. You can follow me like a lost puppy if you want." She looked up at him, surprised. The teasing seemed to fly right over her head. "But only after we both become D-Class trainers."

The entire conversation wouldn't matter if she couldn't even do that basic task. Without being a D-Class, she'd be unable to protect herself properly or even travel to the same places as him.

That only seemed to motivate her, though.

Her eyes burned with resolve. "Got it. We'll meet each other after the Rookie Recruitment, then." She put out her hand.

He clasped her hand firmly. "Right. See you after the… the what?"

'The fuck is a Rookie Recruitment?'

---

Random Question: This one's a bit different. Whose quote do you agree with the most? Karen, or the Gentleman?

"Strong Pokemon. Weak Pokemon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled should try to win with their favorites." -Karen, of the Elite Four.

"It's one thing to enjoy leisurely battles, but real battles can be a severe trial. Truly strong Trainers sometimes must be prepared to choose Pokemon that can win rather than their favorite Pokemon." -Gentleman, of the Battle Chateau.

Sidenote; I'm thinking about making a patre*on so I can get more chapters out without having to worry about time constraints. But for now... refer to my Author's Thoughts.