~Soutarou POV~
The group finally wrapped up as Kaede and Blissey finished healing up the group's Pokemon. Dawn and Hilda split off and agreed to meet the rest of the group later. Misty and Soutarou continued to bicker as they walked towards the city to do some shopping and whatnot. Before Kaede finally made a comment softly in Soutarou's ear and said, "Soutarou… I have a bad feeling about that Dawn girl."
Soutarou glanced towards her and asked, "You know her?"
Kaede half nodded before whispering, "No. But I've met Platinum Berlitz… And not only do they look the same… They dressed the same… Worse than that… I get the same feeling from this girl… It's like she has the same aura which shouldn't be possible…"
Kaede cast a subtle glance at Soutarou telling him all he needed to know before continuing, "Especially considering she's dead, much like Dawn said… What she didn't mention and I suppose she shouldn't mention is that Platinum went insane and killed herself… The Berlitz family hid most of the information, but from what I remember after her death they went through her items and found a notebook from before her death… and all that was in there was… Well…"
"An unknown name written in ancient characters or rather Hisuian characters in blood. Her blood. Over and over again. Along with one translatable name… Akari. Just two names, one translatable and another un-translatable. Though I have a pretty good idea as to what the name was… Still that's right…"
"It's that name you mentioned… Akari… What's getting me is this girl, Dawn, also reacted to it… A bit too strong in my opinion… You might not have noticed, but her eyes turned crazed and she even pulled out a hidden Pokeball, not a league registered one the moment you mentioned those names… I know it wasn't registered because I pulled up her profile while she was chatting with Yellow… None of her pokeballs match that ball she pulled out… She would've attacked you there and then, but that Hilda girl stopped her with some signal."
"It's also possible that it's a sore spot for her… But she didn't seem to mind you saying the names at all… It's more like… Like because you were the one that said it."
Soutarou's eyes flashed before muttering back, "I see. Ignore it. She's not openly hostile, nor can we do anything. She's the heir to the Berlitz family. That's a family that's much older than my Morita Family and their roots are too deep. Forget the League even the villain groups wouldn't dare mess with them."
Kaede sighed and then said, "We should test… You know…. Test her and find out what's going on… In fact you should test her… When we meet up for that shopping trip… I'll get Misty to separate that Hilda girl… and I'll be nearby…"
Soutarou paused and stopped walking for a moment before looking back up. Kaede and Soutarou both shared a glance and nodded at each other. Misty caught bits and pieces of their whispering and tightened her fingers over her Pokeball and glanced back with sharp eyes. While Yellow just cluelessly held Chuchu in her arms, while Froggy nuzzled against her cheek while perched on her shoulder, as for Chicky he was standing on her shoulder as if it were the crow's nest of a pirate ship.
Kaede glanced at Misty and shook her head before saying to Soutarou, "Your luck is really shitty you know?"
Soutarou half-smiled and said, "Can't be that bad I still have you guys. Right?"
Kaede smiled and nudged her elbow at him before Misty muttered, "Smooth talker."
Yellow blushed despite not understanding much else of the conversation she did understand that last part. Yellow finally built up the courage and asked, "Soutarou… What does Kaede mean?"
Soutarou smirked and said with a wink, "It just means some crazy women like the way I look and what to make me a piece of personal art rather than letting me be the public work I'm meant to be."
Misty rolled her eyes while Kaede shrugged and muttered, "Technically not a wrong statement."
Yellow whispered, "I don't think they're so crazy… Soutarou looks pretty good afterall…"
Soutarou's face turned red and he just coughed and started speeding up before turning his head back slightly and saying, "What are you guys waiting for? Hurry up!"
Kaede chuckled while Misty straight just said, "Heh."
Yellow being Yellow just tilted her head slightly to the side in confusion, before getting dragged by Misty and Kaede to catch up to the speed walking Soutarou. Soutarou of course slowed down once the girls caught up, but pretended nothing had just happened. Soutarou coughed before saying, "In all seriousness though Misty, Yellow I'll leave it up to you. Kaede and I will separate Dawn. Kaede, how much do you know about ancient Hisui?"
Kaede raised an eyebrow and said, "Not much other than the story of the Hero of Darkness and the Story of Zoroark."
Soutarou made "you what?" face and just closed his eyes and then opened them in with a comedic expression of "you're serious?" To which Kaede said, "As expected your knowledge… Nevermind. I'll just tell you. Long ago in ancient Sinnoh, now known as Hisui, a great catastrophe of the greatest caliber fell upon the land, a complete spatial collapse caused by the greatest evil, the devourer of light, an unknown being of tremendous strength. From the ancient peoples of Sinnoh one man took the risk and rushed forwards and into the vortex of space to prevent a complete collapse of the Pokemon World as we know it and challenged the great evil aided by five friends-"
Misty suddenly interrupted and said, "Oh wait I know this story!"
Kaede glared at her and Misty smiled warily before continuing, "As I was saying, aided by friends, the man charged forwards and fought the beast of unimaginable power in a time where Pokemon were seen as monsters. Through an arduous battle that lasted three days and three nights the Hero and his party came victorious through the power of bonds and brought peace to the land."
"Or so the story should've ended… Instead the man's partner and strongest pokemon in the battle, Zoroark, nearly gave its life in trying to defeat the great evil. With his partner on its deathbed the man called to the almighty Sinnoh, Arceus, and at the price of his own life revived his partner. Giving birth to the Hero of Darkness, Zoroark who to this day is said to protect Sinnoh from foreign dangers as the man's last wish was for the Pokemon World to be safe."
"That's the common version of the story and that story has been around for nearly a thousand years. We only recently found ancient ruins that support this story. Regardless, that's the story."
Soutarou wordlessly stared at Kaede who stared back at him with an intensity with neither saying anything. Soutarou nodded his head before Misty said, "So how does a children's fairy tale and the slightly sadder religious version mean anything to us?"
Soutarou and Kaede just sighed and Kaede said, "Don't worry about it, we'll explain it one day."
Soutarou and Kaede reprepared and set themselves up to be ready for battle at a moments notice, while Kaede also hid away some of her pokeballs to sell the disguise of relaxing. Kaede also dressed up a bit more demure and elegant while Soutarou switched out of his trainer outfit to something that suited his stature for once. Getting into a fitted black dress shirt layered beneath a deep red vest and matching tie, all neatly tucked beneath a long, tailored black coat with a crimson lining that draped around him like a stage performer's cloak. He slipped on a pair of black gloves and added a few subtle but striking accessories, thin silver chains hanging from his vest, and a small pendant at his collar, giving him the air of a refined gentleman rather than a wandering trainer. The entire outfit carried a dramatic yet composed elegance, reminiscent of a stage magician or aristocratic illusionist, its black and crimson palette lending him a commanding, theatrical presence that contrasted sharply with the practicality of his usual attire.
Not to mention how his raven black hair and golden eyes popped in contrast to his outfit. Kaede's vibe also matched with her semi-formal pink coded outfit that took bits from her previous style, while following Soutarou's mystical fashion. Misty and Yellow seeing this sighed and changed as well into blue & orange and yellow mystical semi-formal coded outfits respectively.
Soutarou slightly loosened his tie, sharpening his eyes and saying with that confident smile that he put on sometimes, "How do I look?"
Kaede's eyes glanced over at him not offering any comment, but glancing back a bit. While Misty nodded and held her fingers out as if framing Soutarou in a picture. On the other hand Yellow just blushed and said, "I-it looks good…"
Soutarou bowed slightly before taking Kaede's gloved hand and Misty's hand and locking eyes with Yellow saying, "Shall we?"
Kaede and Misty rolled their eyes while Yellow lost herself in Soutarou's deep amber gold eyes, before Misty shook her a bit and whispered, "Come on Yellow!"
They quickly found themselves in the M. Corp high fashion boutique where Dawn and Hilda were already waiting, with Hilda being in her trainer outfit, but Dawn being dressed in a light purple princess gown wearing white gloves and crystal heels along with a diamond tiara asking the store clerk how much it was and asking Hilda how it looked.
Everyone including the store clerk who was helping Dawn locked onto Soutarou's figure. Soutarou walked over to Dawn with a small bow before she curtsied with a bright smile on her face looking at Soutarou's outfit. She looked lost before her eyes looked up at Soutarou and locked eyes with him and her gaze became somewhat hazy, before she slightly shook herself and covered her mouth politely saying with a slight flush, "You look wonderful, Soutarou…"
Soutarou smirked at her and winked at Hilda before telling the Clerk to get out an outfit Hilda as well so she doesn't feel left out, the Clerk looked a bit bewildered before swiftly nodding after regaining her composure.
Soutarou then turned back towards Dawn and said, "You look quite elegant yourself Dawn. I'd dear say if we were at a ball or a gala I'd ask for a dance-."
Dawn snapped back at him in a surprising bit of subtle frustration, "Who says that you can't ask for one right now?"
Hilda shook herself and blinked her eyes before tugging her ear in a sort of signal. Only for Dawn to not even notice, keeping her eyes on Soutarou.
Soutarou narrowed his eyes, but maintained his sharp and confident smile saying, "Well… We'll need a bit more space and you'll have to forgive me for not paying attention in my dance lessons."
Soutarou snapped his fingers and the manager, who'd just been told of Soutarou's arrival along with a picture of who he was, quickly explained to his workers that this was a VVIP and that the store was now closed down for other customers, if they wanted to dance they were to clear the floor for them and let them do as they please. So the moment Soutarou snapped his fingers the staff cleared the floor with such practiced ease and speed it seemed like the floor was meant for dancing.
Soutarou smiled and questioned, "Better?"
Dawn bobbed her head a bit, saying, "Much better."
Dawn moved her hand upwards as if offering it to Soutarou. while on the side Misty was biting the hem of her dress in sheer anger, while Kaede had a dark face, and Yellow's eyes turned unreadable. Hilda on the other hand had a note pad out and was sketching the scene.
Soutarou reached towards her hand, doing his best to maintain etiquette from those old british movies, before gently placing his hand under hers saying, "May I have this dance milady?"
Dawn smiled and the two curtsied each other once more, before looking a little confused trying to figure out what to do. Dawn sighed a bit and grabbed Soutarou's hands placing one on her waist and the other at the back of her shoulder and whispering, "Just try not to step on my feet. We'll go easy."
Dawn looked over at the clerk and politely said a song name that Soutarou couldn't even claim to understand and suddenly a classical tune started with Soutarou watching Dawn's footwork and quickly falling into rhythm using his Aura subconsciously to follow her patterns which Dawn noticed, but didn't say anything.
As the pair danced even the stoic Hilda who didn't care much for what was going on started cursing internally, as everyone thought
As the dance finished Dawn neither was out of breath, but for some reason Kaede and Misty were panting with bloodshot eyes looking like they wanted to throw hands with Dawn right then and there. Which for some reason made Dawn look even more pleased from the corner of her eye before she turned to Soutarou and suddenly tightened his tie and said, "You have a talent for dancing, though you need a bit of work on the etiquette… Like how your hand is traveling a bit low right now."
Soutarou's face flushed and he instantly let go of her with his hands up in surrender before Dawn's eyes turned menacing, his tie suddenly got chokingly tight before he simply heard the command, "Put your hands back. I didn't tell you to let go."
Soutarou smiled awkwardly before gently placing his hands back higher than earlier making sure not to touch anything he shouldn't.
'Hey! You can't blame me… You- I- nevermind. I totally got sucked into her pace there for a moment… and I revealed my aura. Worse that weird feeling got stronger, not to mention the way a crazy girl looks at you after meeting you for the second time? Ok maybe I'm a dec- extraordinarily handsome young master who probably meets her marriage criteria, but still. Even as a woman of status, in this misogynistic society where men are still largely in charge of business and women like Dawn of status, regardless of their talent as a trainer, are expected to settle down and become a caretaker….
'Which mind you is totally messed up, I think women should do whatever the hell they want. Want to be a trainer? Do it. Want to spoil me silly and be my sugar mama? I'm down. Want to marry a girl? Go for, in fact send me a video of the first night please. Want to dominate me in bed? Let's do it right now! Anyways, where was I? Women's rights, pokemon world failures and why strong women like champion Cynthia and Lorelei end up single just so they can have their freedom.'
'In all seriousness Dawn really shouldn't be this… dazzled by me… It's like I used the move Attract on her. Which in theory I really can do, but still the facts are that I didn't use it!'
'So then why is she making that expression?!?!'