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Litten would gnaw away at its quarry, fangs ablaze with embers, all the way up until the Pokémon succumbed to the attack. “Alright that’s enough Litten.” Tristen said. The fire cat got off the Tarountula, staring at the bug for a couple of seconds, giving it a couple of bats with its paw to make sure it was in fact out for the count. Sprigatito put itself out of hiding, staring in confusion then started to walk over to the Litten, a little cautious of its ‘senior’ cat, but was curious as the bug that decided to attack out of nowhere. Meanwhile, Tristen knelt over to help Rookidee try to peel the webbing off the bird. Rookidee was in a bit of a panic still, not caring to be restricted. “Rookidee! Calm down! Its just webs. It’ll come off, just hold still.” Tristen said as he went to take the webbing off of Rookidee. “Ugh, apparently its dinner time for a lot of Pokémon here, maybe. If I had known that it was there, I’d probably have to try to fight that thing as well. I think you probably could have if we weren’t caught off guard like that.” Tristen quickly shook his head a little, trying to get what remained of the ringing of Tristen’s ears to stop from Lechonk the proceeded to finally get the remaining webbings off of the bird. “There, you’re good. Come back in your Pokeball for now, okay?” Tristen then said, taking out Rookidee’s Pokeball and recalling the bird back to the ball.

Litten and Sprigatito was continuing to bat around the round spider, and in a odd case, apparently the two cats found common ground. Round things. The two cats started to bat around the Taroutula back and forth to each other while Tristen was trying to get the webbing off of the bird. “Litten! Sprigatito! Leave it alone before he gets a second wind out of nowhere.” The two cats perked up, looking at Tristen then leave it to Litten to bat the spider back to Sprigatito. Typical cat. Tristen sighed, taking out a Pokeball and recalling Litten back to his ball as well. “Come here, Sprigatito, we’re leaving.” Sprigatito then batted the spider one final time then ran back over towards Tristen. Tristen picked the Pokémon off the ground and then started to carry it off once again for Los Platos. As Tristen walked along, he started to notice he wasn’t seeing much anymore; the Lechonk must have sounded the alarm quite well. Tristen sighed for a little bit, then took out his SNAG to check the time. Might as well just go ahead off to Los Platos after all and get there before it became too late.

Tristen went off towards Los Platos, finally making it there with what he assumed with at least some time to spare. He noticed the ice cream stand was still making business here, but at this point, he was looking for a meal, not a treat. And…there didn’t seem to be anything here. That was a little disappointing. He was hoping at least one of the food carts here that could have provided that would still be open, but then again, it wasn’t like he actually studied what stayed open where in this little suburb or for how long. The carts were probably just here within town, probably only operated on certain days, for certain hours for as all he knew. Tristen didn’t really think anything of that possibility; his ignorance once again biting him in such a manner.

As Tristen passes by the ice cream cart, he did suddenly get a craving for the fizzy pop ice cream that he tried for the first time, a treat that Fela allowed him to get on her coin. It was something he wasn’t even sure that he was actually supposed to have, but it was good all the same. And close by to the cart, the long conversation which carried on for roughly an hour, on into the dark, where they had to call a Squakabilly Taxi to make a safer trip back to the academy. At least, for Fela, that is. Tristen would have been fine, incidentally. But it was all to keep up a façade. One to try to fit in with everyone in the academy.

Tristen walked the streets of Los Platos, making it to the farther end of the suburb, finding the Pokémon Center. Tristen didn’t think he needed to worry about getting Rookidee checked out after his battle and the one that Litten found himself in was completely one-sided, making the Tarountula think twice before ambushing the likes of Tristen or his Pokémon from now on. Tristen had a thought just to make a meal out of the things one could get from the Pokemart, and one certainly could in a pinch. Suddenly, he started to understand his adoptive father a little more; the Pokémon Centers back in Jhoto at the very least had some sort of cafeteria to wait around and converse in, and the food wasn’t bad at all, especially for what was effectively hospital food. There was just not exactly any convenience there with these ‘kiosks’ that his father would call them. Paldea was a whole other beast, though, with a whole other list of needs. And right at the moment, buying a pre-packaged sandwich and a small bag of chips didn’t sound all that appealing. Especially when he needs to feed his Pokémon as well here soon.

Tristen had to admit it, coming to Los Platos was probably a waste of time. Though, really? Probably wasn’t a bad thing. He needed some more time to adjust. Work up nerve still, albeit that much he was failing in as well. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. Though potentially he’d have to work through a celebrity status at this rate. Probably Nemona pestering him more than usual even more now, apart from the battle that he ended up having to skip out on for justifiable reasons. Though, what of Matteo? Matteo was livid with Tristen last he knew, and Tristen was fairly certain he was livid well before that whole mushroom and Ziton thing started to come in play.

“Nyao?” The Sprigatito meowed up towards Tristen as it still hung around in the Manetric hybrid’s arms. Tristen started to realize he was just standing there for a moment in deep contemplation; overly stressed of a day soon to come in matter of hours now. Sprigatito didn’t really understand it, still being young as it was and it would be before sometime he would.

“Sorry. Just…thinking about a lot of things.” Tristen said to the grassy cat. “Lets go back to Mezagoza and finally get something to eat, huh? I thought there might have still been a few carts to get to, but I guess they’re either haven’t been out today or weren’t coming out. We’ll just have to try again some other time out here. But hey, how are you liking it out here, huh? Different than the headquarters, huh?”

“Nyao!” The cat replied. It was a wonder to be out here, as a matter of fact. The cat if he could help it would roam the countryside with reckless abandon at this rate. Tristen just laughed a little and gave a few pets to Sprigatito, then started his way off back for Mezagoza. At the very least there he would for certain get something. Even the academy cafeteria would be an option, though he wouldn’t be able to see Ms. Picante until tomorrow though during lunch. Though maybe there would be students there he could socialize with? Maybe that wasn’t such a hot idea…but he still needed to get his Pokémon fed. Probably it was best just to hang out at a restaurant and just call it there. He probably would have went to the academy cafeteria and got something to go, but with the courtyard area for the most part being made off limits, more than likely due to what happened that couple of weeks ago, it probably wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Tristen would then start making the trek back to Mezagoza. As far as what he could tell, barring any wild Pokémon, he should make it by the time it got dark.

Tristen kept trying to work up his nerve, all the way back to Mezagoza. Once he passed through the front gates and started his way through town. He would make his way through the town, and finally settled on just something simple. Every Wich Way. Once there, he'd treat the Pokemon he had with him to the meal, something that Sprigatito started to realize that it honestly liked. And as much as he wanted to eat a lot more than what he did, it found out that there was a limit to ones own stomach. All in all though, it did make Tristen feel a bit better over what he was about to go through come tomorrow. Was he still ready? No, probably wasn't really ever going to be, because there were questions he had that he wasn't probably going to get the answer to until tomorrow. With a sigh, he'd finally leave the sandwich shop and make his way off to the academy, Sprigatito back in his arms once again.

Going right for the front doors, he ended up stopping for a second, hesitating. Indi was there at the door; though, he wasn't sure why he hesitated just then. Indi was fairly crucial giving him the heads up about Team Star coming after him like they did. In fact, in a matter of speaking, he owed a fair bit to the poison type trainer. In spite of the nasty vape smell, Tristen actually garnered a bit of respect for Indi. Maybe he could put his mind at ease? Worth a shot. He went closer to the doors, finally speaking up. "Hey Indi." Tristen spoke up to him. Might as well start peeling off that proverbial band-aid.

"It was from two weeks ago." Tristen said. "Zoroark hybrids, followed by Atticus, then a gigantic car in the courtyard." Tristen told Indi. "It was...a really crazy day that day. Um...speaking of, I kinda want to thank you, while I am thinking about it. You gave me the heads up about Team Star coming after me; it did make a lot of difference, you know." Tristen told him, sincere as he could be.

Tristen was trying to hide his confusion just then. He…did know that he was Team Snagem, didn’t he? He was certain everyone knew at this point. But he wasn’t bringing it up, especially when he led off with him being ‘out on sick leave’. Camp found out first hand by Sub coming in to apprehend Mela, Tristen told Fela and Penny outright, B and E unfortunately found out the hard way when the Zoroark hybrids decide to pick them as hostages. And at this point, he was mostly certain that Matteo would have known by proxy. The student body certainly by now would have known of Team Snagem’s involvement in dismantling the likes of Team Star, or at least for what they were at least, which putting Tristen in that proverbial equation wouldn’t be that too far fetched at this point, would it? Especially after showing off the kind of Pokémon he did in that tournament, that was including, but not limited to Indi himself who mostly got the business end of Rampardos. Tristen would leave that thought alone for now.

“I don’t know too much after what happened. I do know that Atticus would have been taken after I beat him in Mr. Clavell’s office.” Tristen said. “Uh, what…has been going on here over the past couple of weeks anyways?” Tristen then asked. In truth, he didn’t know too much beyond what Mr. Clavell told him earlier today, and what bits of info that he got from the Snagems. And none of them would know anything about what the students themselves would have clamored about.

Tristen listened intently to Indi as he started to briefly summarize the following days up to before Tristen’s arrival back in Paldea. If Tristen didn’t know better, Indi was still sympathetic to the likes of Team Star, even though he had left the likes of them. That said, this was a point where Tristen couldn’t hide his confusion any longer. It started to dawn on Tristen that there may have been some covering up that Tristen wasn’t aware of being a thing. The whole mushroom thing or the Ziton…that a lot of what transpired was squarely the fault of Team Star, but that was the official address made by Clavell? Then again, the more that Tristen thought about it, stuff like that would severely strain credulity on a normal day. Mushrooms that manipulated Team Star and an eldritch horror from beyond all in the same day? How does one make people understand that one? Normal people wouldn’t really get that. Even so, that had to have been certainly discussed between Team Snagem and the governing bodies of Paldea, wasn’t it? Did they make Team Star the fall guys in this? Not exactly helping improve the issue there…

Tristen’s train of thought then suddenly got derailed once Fela and the twins got brought up by Indi. Tristen sighed, then looked back at Indi. “I had the feeling that it wasn’t exactly going to be peaceful for Fela. She kinda got caught up in all of that a couple of weeks ago. Same with the twins. It was why I ended up in a fight with those Zoroark twins, they tried to take B and E hostage, and probably would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for the fact that the one who took them tried to impersonate Matteo and made Matteo too weird even for him and they couldn’t cover up their own smell with their illusions. It only went further downhill from there after I saved them.” Tristen said. “Truthfully, I’m kinda surprised that they’re acting like their usual selves. You should have seen them, Indi. They were really scared when I got to them. But when we realized the danger wasn’t really over, I had B and E run out of the school, along with everyone else. I was the one who pulled the fire alarm to get everyone out of the building. That was then Team Star finally attacked and I got in a fight with Atticus shortly after that.”

Hearing Mrs Raifort's statement, Beau would look towards the Spicy Herba Mystica he still had. Cramming the plant back inside his shirt, he would apply a puff of Powder to the incredibly powerful foliage. "Okay, no offense Teach. I am holding onto the newest piece of the spice rack until we figure out what exactly happened with the other ones. Especially since we got shipped out to help on an anonymous tip for this one."

Across the office, Reno would give a nod to Matteo as the young hybrid made to leave. "I'll make sure to get your message to him when he wakes up." He said, doing his best to actively give his focus to the poor infectee. Unfortunately, it wasn't three seconds later that Reno found his attention split in two as he heard both the Dark One answer from Eri and Beau's own little inclusion to the conversation with Raifort. Looking to his missing arm, Reno would curse his current lack of a SNAG to ask GRAY to look into the tip. But he did have at least one other thing he could pursue directly. Sidling over to where Eri and Tsuki were, he would speak up. "Hi there, Miss. So you say you were made to feel these feelings and thoughts about the Dark One. Do you remember any other thoughts or feelings that you ended up provided? Possibly about a temple or in regards to myself?" Reno questioned Eri, looking over to Tsuki for a potential assist if his questioning ended up feeling a lot more pointed than he intended.

Tristen had to resist grimacing at that point. Indi really didn’t get any word as to just who exactly Tristen is, did he? Especially if he was assuming that Tristen’s strength and power was all based on just his evolution. Sure, he got something from it, but a grand majority of it came from the hard work he been through under the Snagem banner. And his evolution itself only came by means of a freaky thunderstone that was used as a power source on any other day as opposed to instead of his age or anything at this point relatively arbitrary. It left him wondering now just how much did it get out about Tristen and Team Snagem. Should he try again? Keep it under wraps? It didn’t take long for Tristen to realize, no, perhaps he shouldn’t. Maybe instead take a page out of his adoptive father’s book, especially as of late when people recognize him as the noble hybrid: confirm, but don’t flaunt. Don’t bring it up. Try to put distance between it, if at all possible. Be honest about it if someone brings it up and be done with it. There were some that already knew at this point. Tristen already showed off that he had the capabilities in some regard to rival Nemona already, well, at least provided if she didn’t bring out that Quaquaval, at least. A grand majority would know that something was well amiss. Let them guess it. Sounded like a plan, at least.

As soon as Matteo became the topic, Tristen also instinctively looked back, but wondering what Indi was staring at. But then it made sense when Matteo got named dropped. All the same, Tristen stared to become a little bit intrigued. Matteo softened up perhaps since the incident, albeit still hit his rough patches, if his snapping of Fela had anything to say about it. Though it was weird. He was hard training so much that it even got Fela’s attention? Probably the incident bothered Matteo that much? Tristen could only guess at this point. “At least, I guess that his attention is on something constructive instead of being mad at the world, let alone me, all the time.” Tristen said to Indi. “But thanks for letting me know. Far as I know of, I still got the same schedule despite having been out for a couple of weeks. I’ll be seeing him in Home Ec during second period, so…I guess I’ll find out the hard way just how he is, really. What about you?” Tristen then asked, showing a little concern for him. “Did you make it through that incident and the couple weeks after okay?”