Montagne Khastil
July 6 — Rivière Walk (Route 7), Kalos
[hr][/hr]
"Wha—non, I'm alright," Monty tried his best to play off his trepidation, even as his stiff legs gripped the Mudsdale's sides like he was riding one of those mechanical Tauros at a festival. Azumi said a lot of philisophical stuff that was lost on the criminal, but he at least sort of understood the stories about her Pokémon.
Rather, he understood the words she was saying, but the picture the woman painted was completely foreign to him. Growing up around Pokémon? Having their emotions intertwined with your own? Monty could hardly believe it.
"You have a lot in your corner, mademoiselle," he said after a moment. "None of the few people I grew up around were trainers. Honestly, I can't really imagine what having a partner would've been like when I was younger. It was sort of like...me against the world."
"But even now that I've got Oracle with me, we're not nearly as...close as you and your team." They were partners, sure, but it was more of a business relationship than anything. They didn't play, or cry together, or do any of the stuff Azumi described. "She's still fairly...untamed. She listens to me more consistently than when we first met, but I still can't really...control her. You've been doing this for a lot longer than I have—what do you think?"