Drayda heard the Shinx's mewl and was happy that she wasn't losing it. However when the Shinx said she didn't want to play, Drayda's happy face of excitement died down to a bit of a frown. She didn't want to play? Why not? Was she shy? Was she hurt? Did she not feel good?
Her curious nature took the better of her and she asked. <Are you okay? Do you not feel good? Or do you feel like not playing right now?>
Despite the fact that she didn't know how anybody would feel like not playing, she begrudgingly had to realize that this was indeed a possibility.
As for Zuru, he was already trying to make fast friends with the Lillipup. He made a happy growl of sorts. Now he wanted to play Chase. He had been in his ball for awhile and he wanted to get his energy out. He looked over to see Drayda was a little upset and looked to the, obviously shy, Miley. He called out to her.
<Hey, Drayda. You can come play with us. The Shinx is not wanting to play. Don't force the poor thing.> He told her, not wanting to make the Shinx uncomfortable. He gave a reassuring nod towards the Shinx. Drayda looked sadly at Miley before her sadness turned into a happy grin as she bounded for Yuuki and Zuru.
Sally looked up at Nico and smiled and gave a little greeting in the form of a wave. She could tell that she was amazed by the way she was looking at her. But she wasn't strong, yet. She wasn't a Salamence, yet. She felt like she was undeserving of that look, but took it in regardless. It felt nice, so why squander that look?
Riley was listening to Nico, smiling as he was proven right. Of course, he was stronger than the first gym leader, so he was going to have to ask Cheren to be a bit tougher. As she asked if he had been here before, he looked at her with a big grin and heartily laughed, his laughter echoing out from the deepest recesses of his chest. A belly laugh, where his stomach was spasming like his diaphragm, following the motion of amusement. "Why, yes. I live here, of course. I used to ride these streets on my bike. Regrettably, it's not foldable, so I can't take it with me, but after my Pokemon start evolving, I doubt that I would need that silly old thing." Okay, he was now starting to get a little too open. Why did it feel right to tell her almost everything? Now he had this sudden urge to tell her about the rest of his Pokemon team. But no, he didn't want to. That would ruin the surprise, and all that effort to keep the rest of his team hidden would be for naught.
He then motioned for them to keep walking, as the Pokemon Center was now in view on their left. The streets were largely empty of cars, but there were plenty of kids their age and younger running and biking about with their Pokemon partners.
It almost seemed a bit more lively than usual, but being surrounded by many potential trainers filled Riley with pride and joy, especially from his own city. It just felt amazing to have so many people around, and know that he was probably the strongest one out of all of them. Hell, he had an evolved Pokemon already. How many trainers from his city have one of those?
Sadly, his less-than-stellar memories of his past cropped up, sending his happy fixture on his face crashing down into a stoic, distant look. He could just remember their smug faces as they beat him down, saying how he was weak and he didn't have a Pokemon yet, despite the fact that he was already in school. It didn't help that their Pokemon would join in on the fun, beating the poor kid until he was a rainbow. Of course, he never told his parents what happened nor did he tell Cheren, his teacher. Why didn't he? How different would it have been if he had told him? Any of them, instead of hiding behind a facade of "I can do this" and "this is my problem to face, not anybody else's" and "if I get help, then that would just confirm that I'm weak".
Suddenly, a bump on his leg lifted him out of his trance. He looked down to see Drayda had accidentally bumped into him as she bounded for Zuru and Yuuki. His smile came back and he looked at Nico, hoping she didn't see that look.