Vanishing Act {Pokemon Mystery Dungeon}

4: Intolerant Air

Nia

A hot flash of irritation flooded her body, and with an angry expression, she took a step forward to confront the Cubone. Her journey was about to begin- she could not have any interferences. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Sage had donned a deadly serious look, and she felt him put his arm out to block her from advancing any closer to the Cubone.

"Try me again, Meowstic. I need to get to Lively Town and those Sleep Seeds are my ticket out of here," Nia growled, glaring at the psychic type and feeling the jaws on the back of her head open and close in anticipation of a fight.

Sage shook his head and sighed, keeping his arm out in front of the Mawile. "Look, Mawile. You shouldn't do that here. Breathe for a second and look around."

His voice came in a breathy whisper, lacing whisps of violent caution into his speech. Curiosity won Nia over, but she retained an angry look on her face as her red eyes scanned the surroundings.

The resounding chatter of the plaza had died to silence, and many pokemon had ceased their movement or activity to stare at the Kecleon Mart. No, rather, they were staring at Nia. What felt like thousands of pairs of eyes crawled eerily on her skin, each pair hiding the faintest traces of shock and nervousness in their multicolored depths. The image engraved into her mind, appearing even if she closed her eyes. She dropped her angry composure and stepped back, holding her elbows. With her anger vanished, Nia felt the tension in the air, buzzing with the power of millions of volts of electricity. Self-consciousness rolled over her in cold waves, even as the pokemon slowly began to resume their normal activity.

Goosebumps trailed from her back and to her arms, prompting Nia to look at Sage. "W-why were they staring." The concern came out sounding like a statement, and empty demand.

Pity fell into the Meowstic's eyes, and he crossed his arms and looked back over his shoulder at the Pokemon now mulling absentmindedly around the plaza. "This world isn't very kind to Pokemon like you. You must have grown up in a great place to not have experienced that until now."

"Pokemon like me?" Nia inquired, removing her hands from her elbows and running them down her torso and hips as if she were analyzing herself.

"Wow, you really did have a sheltered childhood," Sage muttered, resuming a speaking voice but keeping it low. "Yes, Pokemon like you. I'm not one to judge Pokemon based on their species, but I'm probably one of the rare ones. Mawiles are notorious for picking fights and violently ripping apart their enemies whenever they don't get their way. What scares a lot of Pokemon is that most Mawile are super sweet and caring up front, but they almost always have ulterior motives."

The most basic definition of judging a book by its cover.

"But I wasn't talking to any of those pokemon in the plaza," she protested, feeling her expression fall into one of concern and panic for her own safety.

The Meowstic must have noted her demeanor change, because he seemed to lace sympathy, though it sounded rather forced, into his tone. "Well sure, but you certainly looked like you were about to attack the Cubone or Kecleon. All of them there wanted to see you fight so they can spread even more rumors."

A couple of paces forward, the green Kecleon at the counter threw his hands up and concluded his conversation with Gait, seemingly reluctant to let him go. However, after one moment, he waved in Sage's direction, inviting him over. The blue psychic type obliged, not turning to see if Nia followed him.

Nia did follow him, but she parted ways a meter or two from the counter and turned her sights on Gait. More irritation flooded her system, but she desperately fought the feeling as the image of the eyes of the plaza pokemon seared her mind once again. The emotion quelled to a glowing ember in her stomach, still alight, but pushed away for the time being.