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”Nope, all skill baby!” Jack said proudly, Toshi’s subtle joke completely lost on him. But in complete and total fairness, it was getting pretty chaotic in there with all the people and conversations all at once. So maybe one might forgive Jack for missing a detail or two. Speaking of missing things, Jack almost completely didn’t notice when Stiles replied to his answer about Giants Watch. But he managed to catch it before it was too late.

”Yeah, if you say so…” He said, not entirely convinced a trip into the caves would be all that fun. Then again, having grown up around them, it was little wonder that Jack would find the caves boring as opposed to a tourist visiting the area for the first time. Ah, the ancient dichotomy of tourists versus locals! In any case, Sparkplug’s Poke Ball finally appeared to calm down a bit so Jack relaxed his grip on it.

”Sorry to scold at ya, buddy.” He murmured to himself, ”But them’s the rules. The professor said no shenanigans in the lab, and I’m pretty sure she meant it.”

And right about then was when Jack spotted the brown-and-cream-colored fur of a Mankey’s paw trying to tap Sparkplug’s Poke Ball, ”Whoa, careful little guy.” Jack said, hosting the ball up a little more out of the Pokemon’s reach, ”Sparkplug’s in one of his moods right now and I’d hate to see someone get caught by one of his shocks.”

A girl approached moments later to scoop the Mankey up into her arms. This had to be the little guy’s trainer, Jack assumed. She called the Mankey Hiddy and reprimanded him a tiny bit, then apologized before seemingly requesting a battle later, ”Stress relief, huh? Yeah, I can see that. Though I gotta warn you, Sparkplug’s idea of stress relief is beating the tar out of an opponent, haha! But hey, if you don’t mind a little battling then I’m always game for it.”

After a moment he finally realized he forgot to introduce himself and stuck his hand out awkwardly. ”Jackson Bridge.” He said, ”Jack for the short. And the feisty little electric devil in this Poke Ball is Sparkplug. He’s, uh, temperamental sometimes. But I’ve heard that’s common among Electric and Fire types. Something about the way their electrical or heat energy surges through their body, or so I’ve read.”

Hazel's brilliant plan of "if I can't see them they can't see me" was going well... for all of about two minutes. She tensed up when she felt the hand at her back, thoughts running through her brain so fast that she felt her head was just full of static. Was she in the way? Was someone trying to get her attention? Was she successfully hiding in plain sight and someone else just happened to brush against her?

Slowly she turned to look over her shoulder, but when she saw the brown hair, soft features, and gentle smile of the woman behind her Hazel very nearly started tearing up. A-a-a-a mature lady!! It was a complex feeling; relief at having someone that seemed friendly and reliable reach out to her, but also embarrassment that she'd apparently come across as a helpless teen that needed an adult to save them... well, that second part was pretty much the truth though.

"Um, y-yes, I am," Hazel replied. So Professor Camphor had hired people like Miss Miharu and still had accepted Hazel's own application? She hadn't embellished herself too much on it, right...? Her various resumes were never meant to see the light of day, so sometimes she got carried away with them, but she didn't recall doing that this time.

When Miharu bowed it took Hazel a couple of seconds to recognize what she was doing, and then hastily follow suit with a much deeper one. Hopefully she was doing it right, she didn't know a lot about those island customs. "Thank you! I-I mean, nice t-to meet you too!"

She also bowed to Hiddy, after shrinking away slightly at the Mankey's loud greeting. And of course the thought of giving her own name had pretty much slipped entirely from her mind. Thankfully the professor's assistant still knew who she was. As Pix came over to tap Hazel, startling her out of her bowing, she watched it run back to Frieda and gave both the woman and her Impidimp a small, shaky smile.

"Ah, n-no, he didn't, I'm... good..." Hazel trailed off as she spoke, voice drowned by the crowd until they started to follow after the celebrity. At that point Hazel shuffled in closer to the rest of the group, her hands clasped tightly together in front of her. She listened to Frieda give them a quick run down before she turned to lead all of them out of the airport and into the city streets.

Walking through a big city? Also very stressful. Hazel was immensely grateful that she had a group to travel with, backs to keep sight of, as otherwise she was sure she would have gotten lost. The skyscrapers and huge throngs of people moving on the side walks and cross walks was so unlike her hometown. She'd seen busy places like this in movies, but experiencing the real thing was very overwhelming. There was a brief moment when Hazel felt the urge to reach out and take hold of Frieda or Miharu's sleeve in order to make sure she didn't get separated, but she successfully resisted. She was way too old for that. As long as she kept everyone in sight, she would be fine.

While the group walked, craning their necks to take in the sights, a few looked back at Hazel who unsurprisingly was taking up the rear. The boy with the split personality gave her a little wave, but Hazel quickly averted her eyes by throwing her gaze to several places that weren't his face. She did return the wave, a very brief and nervous gesture, just in case one of his personalities was a psycho murderer who would target anyone that slighted him even over the most mundane things. His Budew was given a slightly more enthusiastic wave, being a small and cute Pokémon.

To Hazel's shock, at one point the blonde pretty boy slowed to her pace and began talking to her. This made Hazel fidget, wringing her hands together as she wondered just what she'd been doing to draw his attention. She suddenly stopped her fidgeting, and all brain function, when he said that she looked like a Zigzagoon and that Zigzagoons were cute. So he was calling her cute? Somehow her feet kept walking, but her eyes were wide and her face blank save for a dusting of pink on her cheeks. Whatever else the boy was saying sounded like gibberish as her brain clouded over...

...

...

Wait, no, of course he wasn't saying she was cute. That would be silly. They'd just met, and Hazel was definitely not cute. He must have just wanted to ensure her that the comparison wasn't negative. She nodded to herself, and then the sounds of the city filtered back into clarity.

"...recommend finding one that can use the move Extreme Speed. Not sure how hard it would be to find one..." the boy was saying. She'd missed a chunk of his rambling, but tried to pay attention after that. Once she figured out that he wasn't so much trying to talk to her as at her, she was a little less nervous. She then nodded along to his words, keeping a mental note of his suggestions. Although she wasn't sure if she'd go as far as seeking out a breeder, since she didn't have much money. How uncommon were Zigzagoon and Linoone around here, she wondered? And then promptly unwondered. She probably wasn't actually going to do this whole Pokémon thing in the first place!

When the group was in the lab proper, and then squeezed in further by a whole other group entering on top of the one that was already there, Hazel stuck herself to the wall to give everyone else some space and to just listen and absorb everyone else's conversation. She was generally content to do this, keep out of sight and listen to everyone else having fun. She noted Frieda's comments about the routes out of town and Bjyerlfal itself, though she paled slightly when the lab assistant said it was full of Ghost-types. Didn't that mean the city was actually pretty dangerous? Had a ton of people died here or something?! Or was there something hidden somewhere that attracted the spooky Pokémon, like some sort of spectral vortex style gate to the Reverse World?!

With resolve not to find out, Hazel made mental note to leave Bjyerlfal by dusk.

She continued listening in, her tension gradually loosening as the multitude of conversations went on around her. She did not have super hearing, as she was pretty sure the thing about other sense getting sharper if one dulls was just an old wive's tale, but she was decently good at sorting out various voices from each other. And since this was a public space, she didn't have to feel about about eavesdropping. Once Hazel had a handle on most of the motley assembly of prospective trainers' antics, she allowed herself a small, amused smile at some of them. There were a few quieter, standoffish people among the group, but they seemed to be the minority. Most of them seemed like a lot of fun, including the Pokémon that had come with a few of them.

Then Frieda called for everyone's attention and left to fetch the Professor, which had Hazel stiffening up again.