Alex woke up later than usual. Usually Arcanine woke him up, though she was still fast asleep. Instead, he found Espeon sitting on his chest, mewing in his face.
"Finally awake huh? What would you do without me?" Espeon snarked. "It's time for my breakfast."
Alex sighed and sat up, causing Espeon to jump off. He stood up and stretched, his head feeling much better than last night. He walked around, looking for a pen and paper, trying not to snoop. Finally finding some, he wrote a note: "Gone for breakfast, be back soon." He stuck the note to Arcanine and headed out the door. Espeon stuck close to his heels. Alex pulled out his phone and quickly found a bagel shop that also served pokebread. On the walk there, he let his mind wander.
----
Alex exited the bagel shop with his breakfast in one hand, and a huge bag with many loaves of pokebread in the other. He figured Arcanine would be starving when she woke up. Espeon resolved to snatch some when Alex wasn't looking. He already had his in the shop, but, well, Arcanine was getting way more.
Sitting at one of the shop's outdoor tables, he noticed a group of three people furiously discussing something. They were in the direction he was heading anyway, so Alex tried to catch what they were talking about.
"... and that just proves it! At the debate, someone was trying to defend them, and they still attacked!" Exclaimed one particularly angry woman. The man sitting next to her seemed to agree with the rant.
"Right! This just shows you can't fix people like that!" a man violently agreed. The third member of the group sat quietly, a concerned look on her face.
Alex felt angry. These people weren't just wrong morally, they were wrong logically. Alex felt a little bolder than usual after yesterday's events. "Don't do it," Espeon warned telepathically. Alex ignored him. These people were deciding the fates of others' lives based on a logical fallacy.
"I respect your right to an opinion, but your logic is broken. The debate wasn't over whether these people existed or would attack, it was over whether they can grow as people and be rehabilitated," Alex firmly interjected.
"Yeah, what makes you so knowledgeable, hotshot?" The angry woman responded. The other woman at the table sighed with a resigned expression.
"You don't have to be an engineer to know a plane without wings won't fly," Alex shot back. "Your argument is broken." Espeon sighed. This was not how you convince other people to join your side.
"You calling me stupid? You want to go a few rounds?" the man challenged Alex.
"I don't need to fight you to prove I'm right," Alex said as he turned to walk away. He could tell this wasn't going anywhere.
"He thinks he's better than us," Alex heard the man say as he walked away.
Suddenly a boulder the size of a basketball flew by Alex's head, entering his vision from behind. He could hear the wind whistling as it narrowly missed his ear. "You're lucky I'm watching your back," Espeon told him. Alex knew then that he had made a mistake. He acted impulsively and out of character and it nearly earned him another trip to the hospital.
Alex turned around to see the angry woman standing up behind her graveler. The quiet one was tugging on her arm, trying to get her to stand down. The man looked at her in shock. "You tried to kill me!" Alex exclaimed, alarmed. Espeon was facing the graveler in a fighting stance.
"It wasn't supposed- I didn't mean- It was supposed to be smaller-" the woman stammered. "Whatever! You think you can just walk away from us like that?!"
The quiet woman, trying to de-escalate gave up on the angry one's arm. "I think everyone should just calm down. My name is Sandra," she said, moving to stand in between the two pokemon. "This is Mark," she said, indicating the man frozen in surprise. "And this is Amy," she said, indicating the angry one with the graveler. "What's your name?" she asked calmly.
"I'm Alex," he said, still ready to defend himself.
"There, isn't that better?" Sandra said, trying to help everyone relax. "Now Amy?" she asked her friend. It seemed almost routine.
"I'm sorry for nearly smashing your head," Amy said, resigned. After a look from Sandra, she corrected: "I'm sorry for trying to smash your head."
Alex sighed and responded, "I'm sorry for interjecting, I've been a bit on edge lately."