The denial died on her lips. As much as she wanted to pretend she'd never met the teen, she wanted to avoid causing a scene even more.

"Righ, uhh." The teen shifted uncomfortably in his sandals, looking a tad awkward. "I wanted to say I was." He paused and Tanya hoped he'd lose his nerve over whatever he wanted to say. "Kinda an ass the other day. It's been a-." He cut himself off and shook his head. "Well, it doesn't matter. So yeah…"

He trailed off and looked at her expectantly.

"I don't think it's me you should be apologizing to."

Her party had come out of it unscathed. Weathering a few insults for a couple of thousand PokeDollars was a good deal to her.

"I think it's better for everyone if I keep out of that part of the city," the kid spoke after some hesitation. "Anyways, Furfrou is fine." She hadn't been asking after its health. "The nurse read me the riot act. Turns out you need to tell the groomer you're planning on battling. They can use league-certified products rated for combat, they're pricier but that's not an issue."

Tanya glanced down quickly, wondering if she was wearing some manner of sign saying she wanted to have his conversion.

"That's nice," Tanya slid her legs off the pool chair and stood up, beckoning Carbink. "But we must be going now."

She gave no further explanation and her brow raised in irritation when he stood in front of her way with hands outstretched.

"Why the rush? It's not like there's much to do in this place." His words were a mixture of pleading and whining. "Speaking of, I didn't realize you were staying here. I'm surprised we haven't run into each other before."

He scrutinized her with a slight frown.

She had been prepared to meekly comply with the first hotel staff member who confronted her, but for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to do the same with the boy

"I've only recently arrived here," she chose her words carefully. "I've been rather busy recently with training."

The right side of his mouth pulled back and he regarded her with a queer expression.

"Figures you'd be one of those. Isn't it way too early to be gearing up for the circuit? I'm still gathering a team for my run."

It would be kicked off in a month or two, she hadn't looked up the date but it was impossible to stay completely ignorant with all the advertisements floating around.

"I have no intention of participating in that. I'm training for peace of mind."

As soon as the words finished leaving her lips, she determined enough had been said to politely diffuse the conversation and Tanya gave the boy a nod before sidestepping him.

Carbink and her made it several steps before the sound of slapping sandals heralded the teen catching up to her and matching her pace.

"Where's the shrimp?" The teen carried on, somehow missing every cue she'd given. "I mean Ralts."

Tanya felt Mimikyu tense and took decisive action, hugging the Mareep doll closer to her chest.

"Oh, sorry." The boy continued, heedless of how much danger he'd just been. "I didn't mean to upset you there."

Tanya released a breath as Mimikyu seemed to settle some. He was supposed to be the well-behaved one.

"She is resting. Ralts may be small in stature but judging someone by their size is foolish."

Mawile was half her height and could uproot trees, she'd like Ralts to gain some inches but with or without she could become a potent force multiplier.

"If you say so," the teen commented in a way that conveyed his lack of belief. "Probably for the best. You have to admit she's pretty creepy."

Aura reinforced her arms and she put the doll into a stranglehold. She could feel Mimikyu begging to struggle and she buried her into the fluff of the Mareep.

"Knock it off," Tanya gritted out in a low tone, her words muffled by the cloth. "Not here."

It was like everything she'd said went in one ear and out the other.

"Woah, woah," The boy said in an almost panicked voice. "I didn't mean to make you cr-"

Her head lifted from the Mareep's embrace and she regarded him with a steady-unblinking stare; the words died in his throat. She kept a tight hold on Mimikyu with one arm while the other stroked the doll's head awkwardly. She didn't know if the Pokemon responded well to this type of motivation but had to try something to pacify him.

"Nevermind…"

The boy looked to grow uncomfortable and she put him out of her mind, continuing back into the hotel while working on Mimikyu. What she was doing appeared to show positive results so she maintained course.

Stopping for a brief second, she decided to take a calculated risk and go for one of the staircases.

She ascended it smoothly and was disappointed to find it stopped at the second floor. Tanya began down a hallway, noting the conference-like rooms she passed along the way. She also noted her tag-along hadn't left.

"Carbink huh," the boy spoke, getting over whatever his hang-up was. "They're not really known for being battlers. Did your parents give it to you?"

"Bin?"

Her companion seemed to notice he'd become the subject of discussion. Carbink looked more puzzled than offended but she supposed that was his default position.

"Carbink struggles with offensive capabilities," the teen didn't look to be going anywhere and she was not about to cause a scene by running or telling him off. "We're working on correcting that but his defensive abilities are nothing to dismiss, many opponents would exhaust themselves before doing any meaningful damage."

Tanya's style was centered on maneuver warfare. Strike hard, strike fast, and, at all times, keep them guessing where you are. Being pinned down was synonymous with death.

Carbink on the other hand…could literally sit there and have his attacker pass out from exertion. It was rather infuriating to witness such a strategy succeed, especially when she was the one trying to hide how her arms felt like jello after blunting a spare knife on his hide.

Not that her aim was to hurt him to begin with, if that was the case she'd order Mawile to give it a go. No, he just always volunteered when she wanted to test things. She would have used a tree or boulder but those quickly became scarce resources near their camps…

"Sounds like a boring way to fight."

He commented with a dismissive attitude that Tanya found irritating.

"Are they meant to be entertaining? The point is to ensure victory, it doesn't matter what you do to obtain it."

Tanya began to suspect the boy was bereft of common sense.

"Unless you're doing Pokemon Contest, I guess not." The teen muttered, getting a strange look in his eye. "But you're still expected to put on some type of show. You can't just say no to all that."

Ah, perhaps she'd been too harsh. She hadn't realized that was a social norm.

There had been many times in her first and second world where she was similarly constrained by societal conventions. Despite not agreeing with them, she followed them dutifully. She didn't want to be the protruding nail that got hammered down.

Tanya wasn't keen on adding 'winning with flair' as a condition for victory, it was another compelling reason to never be an official trainer.

"For clarity, I'm much more concerned with the practical purposes of battling. I prefer some level of insurance when traveling, the roads can be hazardous."

She thought this world was more ridiculous by the day. Being accosted by a pack of dragons while being in such close proximity to a populous city was a frightening prospect. It made her wonder how safe the cities themselves actually were.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Honestly, not having a highly trained and capable team by your side at all times was beginning to look like an irresponsible move. They may have been a drag on expenses but the most valuable investment one could make was in securing the safety of one's life.

"Why not just take a plane or ferry? Those will get you to most places and if not you can always hire an escort."

It was a wonderful suggestion, had she a proper ID and an excess in funds. Tanya sincerely looked forward to the day she could sit in a first-class cabin and peacefully transit the continent.

As for now, she looked at Carbink, who'd gotten oddly quiet. He was keeping up with her but occasionally did a twirl with a silly smile on his face. She wasn't sure what had gotten into him but she used his previous words for the inspiration of her next explanation.

"Some of us prefer the journey over the destination," She was paraphrasing liberally and didn't believe a word that came out of her mouth. "If two people stood at the peak of a mountain and one was flown up there while the other hiked their way up, would you say they had the same view?"

Objectively, the answer was 'yes'. Her framing of the question was meant to trick him into thinking it was not and reinforce her excuse.

His brow furrowed and a frown overcame him. The teen's mouth parted multiple times without a word being uttered.

Tanya's eyes lit up as she spotted an elevator. It was strange to have one so far down the hallway but she must have missed the earlier ones. She readily pressed the up arrow and waited.

The numbers overhead ticked down steadily, showing its impending arrival.

"I think." He paused, unsure in his response. "They're different." He nodded, giving what she thought passed for an introspective expression on his face. "I've thought about this before, a lot actually. Kinda impossible not to do with my dad around, but never in this way. Yeah, I see what you're saying."

Leading the youth astray was not something an upstanding citizen should find pleasure in, but she couldn't help the small tinge of satisfaction from having her bait so thoroughly swallowed. Of course, that wasn't her problem. She gave a silent apology to the boy's family and entered the now-open elevator.

Her finger pressed against the gilded floor button. It didn't light up. She pressed it again to no effect. Several other ones were tried with similar results.

The button lights must have been broken, so much for this being a fancy hotel.

The teen stepped inside, glancing at her and then the row of unlit floor buttons. He pressed on one and it lit up accordingly.

"You're not actually staying here are you?"

Had she made a mistake? Why did it work for him?

She made a great effort to resist facepalming upon realizing the cause, there must be some sort of electronic pass needed to operate the elevator. She wouldn't have made the mistake had it a visible card reader but it must work on some wireless signal.

Living in a world more advanced than her first and second brought its own trials.

"Not exactly," she admitted with a sigh. "I was merely exploring and got lost."

Even she was not convinced by that statement but what more could she do?

"Huh." The boy eyed her quizzically, his gaze drifting down. "You know, I can't believe I didn't notice it before, but that does explain that."

She followed the finger and realized that for all the effort of donning a dress, she'd left her combat boots on.

Old habits died hard.

—

Tanya was never one to miss an opportunity. She'd jumped through many hoops in her life and tolerating unpleasant people was a skill she'd long since honed.

It was impressive in a sense, that she was reconsidering how badly she needed to be doing recon.

"I told you this place was lame, not sure why you wanted to visit so badly."

Theo, the teen who'd latched himself on to her, complained at the other end of the table they were sat at.

His reaction to finding out she'd been trespassing had been one of bemusement and interest. With little coaxing, he'd taken her up to the tenth floor and shown her around. It was a fairly basic layout but she took note of the service entrance. Sadly, he didn't have access to the thirteenth floor so she had to finally be satisfied with what she'd gotten.

What she hadn't accounted for was him following her outside. Didn't he have anything better to do? Regardless, she leveraged his presence into accessing one of the few places on her list that was open during the day.

By night their current venue served as a club but by day it doubled as a restaurant. The building was located adjacent to the boardwalk and overlooked the water. The rooftop was generally reserved for a certain type of clientele but evidently, her accomplice qualified well enough.

She sipped on her glass of water and looked at the setup. The tables were pushed up against the edges of the roof, with each being afforded a view of the city, the water, or both. At the center lay a dance floor with a DJ station being manned by a Loudred, they weren't native so she suspected that was another subtle sign of wealth.

Due to the time of day, the floor lay mostly bare but there were some older couples enjoying the early sun. Tanya kept an eye on the bouncing jewel attracting far more attention than she'd prefer. She let it slide, telling Carbink he couldn't dance seemed unnecessarily cruel to her.

Tanya had placed Mimikyu on her left with Ralts sitting on her right.

'Fight, Crush?'

Tanya brought a hand up and massaged her temple. Ralts had not only developed a nasty habit of treating everything and anything as a threat, but she seemed almost eager to preemptively eliminate them. Reminding herself of the Pokemon's trauma was the only reason she did not scold her.

"Eat your Poke Puff." Tanya grabbed a spoon and split off a small part of the cake-like confection to feed the Pokemon. "Open up."

The spoon delivered its contents and a strong feeling of being content was projected to her. A piece of it missed Ralts' mouth and fell beneath the table, only to be caught by Ralts' psychic ability and then ferried over to an awaiting claw. The claw retracted back into the doll unseen, their coordination was admirable.

Tanya used her free hand to take another sip of the water. All they were missing was Mawile but she thought it more likely than not her addition would end with the boy launched into the bay.

Presumably, as a token of goodwill, Theo had offered to pay for their visit. It wasn't yet noon so she wasn't hungry herself but when he ordered a Poke Puff for his Furfrou she couldn't find it in her to deny Ralts one. She needed the nutrition after all.

Said Furfrou, did not look overly pleased at their presence. It watched them with narrowed eyes and released a growl. It wasn't the first time it had done so.

"Furfrou." Theo bonked it on the nose, causing it to shake its head and look at him in askance. "Save that for the court."

It took a bite out of its own Poke Puff and raised its snout toward them.

"I would not be opposed to having a rematch." Those weren't words she expected to ever leave her mouth, in this context at least. "You did mention wanting one."

"I do, we will," Theo confirmed before shaking his head. "But you already have two Pokemon. I'd like to do a real two-on-two match next time. Besides, I think Furfrou and I have some work to do."

"Frou, Fur."

The poodle, now styled in a different but equally absurd hairdo, commented and she shoved the spoon back into Ralts' mouth before she could do anything regrettable.

It wasn't wrong, Ralts had gotten remarkably lucky. But they'd also not been idle this last week, Ralts may have had a long way to go but she had a trick or two to tide her over until then.

"Where did you get her again?" Theo asked while shifting back into his seat. "And does she really need a steak knife to eat that?"

Tanya blinked, only now noticing the knife that Ralts had procured.

"Give me that," She snatched it from the Pokemon who sent her a feeling of confusion. Tanya glanced around and saw an older gentleman look around questioningly; there was a plate of steak and eggs in front of him. She slipped it under a napkin and pretended not to notice as he signaled a waiter and requested a new one. "Ralts was just practicing. She's very dedicated and even trains when she really shouldn't be."

Despite stressing the 'shouldn't be', Ralts was preening at the praise. They'd already talked about respecting the property of others, the only time it was acceptable not to was when…

"Ralts, we're not fighting today." Tanya turned the Pokemon's head and made sure to meet the pink eyes. "Understand?"

'Yes, Mama.'

Tanya had thought she'd made that abundantly clear earlier but she supposed the clarification that they weren't prepping for one either was needed.

Theo looked to swallow a remark and she cast her eyes elsewhere while absentmindly feeding Ralts.

Truthfully, after the hotel she didn't need to see much of the other sites. All she had to do was understand how long the man spent in each one and the time it took to transit there from the hotel.

Still, she wasn't going to take shortcuts. If only to set a proper example for the rest of the team.

"You know you don't come off as someone who'd still play with dolls," Theo commented after some silence. "Good thing you got rid of the old one though, that one was nasty."

Her hand slammed on the table, grounding the knife that had begun to tremble. In the next instant, her foot stomped on a claw attempting to sneak its way under the table.

Did this idiot have a death wish?

Tanya's actions caused the boy to jump in his seat while the Furfrou tilted its head, unsure of what was going on.

"Right…" He started back up with some caution. "Are you hoping for a Mareep as your third? They show up on Route 12 sometimes but I know a guy who can get a good deal on one. Proper papers and everything. That's how I got Furfrou."

The dog-like Pokemon puffed out its chest and Tanya couldn't help but think that wasn't the ringing endorsement he thought it was.

"Thank you, but dealing with my current team is troublesome enough," Tanya responded with a reprimanding tone, and the two troublemakers took the cue to settle down. "They also tend to find me."

Theo shrugged, leaning back in his seat and taking a sip of his soda.

"If you say so, I'm still deciding what I want." He released a huff of frustration. "If I had known he had a Gible up for sale last week I would have jumped on it. Those things turn into a real beast when they grow up, pretty much guaranteed to get you a couple of badges."

What?

"Yeah, it was a private sale." Tanya had unintentionally spoken out loud and Theo went on to explain. "I told you how my dad's been in a bunch of meetings this week, right?" He had, Theo's father was in town for business and had dragged his son along as well. "One of the guys he's working with bought it for his son. Lucky bastard."

There was no way that was the same missing Gible, was it?

The pit forming in her stomach told her it probably was. As someone with knowledge of statistics, she struggled to grapple with this level of coincidence.

No, this reeked of enemy action.

She'd been complacent but this must be the workings of Being X again, dragging her into a mess that would leave her in desperate straights.

The joke was on him, there was a simple solution here.

Tanya rose, prepared to leave before any more could be heard.

"Bink?" Carbink rushed over, a hopeful look on his face as his ears wagged up and down. She wasn't sure how he had even overheard them from all the way over there. "Bin! Bin!"

Her feet stayed rooted in place at the sight of it, she wasn't sure why that was the case. Tanya didn't linger on it and grabbed his Pokeball, ready to recall him.

'Intelligence, good?'

Ralts tugged on her pant leg, staring up at her.

Tanya had once said how being willfully ignorant was an excuse to hide your incompetence. She couldn't quite remember telling Ralts that but she must have repeated it at some point.

To use her own words against her…

Tanya slumped back down into the seat and prompted the boy to elaborate on this supposed buyer. As she listened to what he had to say, she reinforced her decision to not get involved.

Unfortunately, she could not speak for the rest of her team.