Pokémon: Chaos and Command

Chapter 54: Hard Choices, Stronger Wills

An hour or so had passed. Abaeze, Jazmine, Cherri and Irin had taken themselves to the Abame Megamart. The trio never had a chance to explore it properly the first time, but taking a proper look it was massive. So many floors and rows of shops that looked like they went on for miles. It looked like it had everything everywhere, all at once. Jazmine not having her things was a double edged sword, she wouldn't be able to buy anything but if she had access to her money she would probably blow it all here. Even Cherri had to rely solely on his own strength of will, merchandise galore of the Haunter line was a constant in any region and it would take every fibre of his being to not indulge himself.

Abaeze was the only one able to resist the temptation of wanton spending, he had more important things and people to spend his money on so only more pragmatic wares caught his attention. Irin gave them time to split, so Abaeze and Cherri could venture through this labyrinth of a shopping centre.

"Alright, we meet back here in one hour! Don't mind if you stick with me, right Jazmine? If there's somethin' that catches your eye then maybe I can get it for ya!"

"Good to me."

"An hour... got it!"

"See you around!"

Abaeze and Cherri split, whilst Jazmine stuck with Irin. Irin looked down at Jaz and gave her a reassuring grin, Jazmine unable to help but smile back. The Gym Leader was about to take the lead, before someone noticed her. Granted, she stands out in a crowd like a sore thumb, so it should've been expected.

"Is that the Iron Maiden?"

Someone else chimed in.

"It is! It's Irin Ole!"

With the recent attack on Abame this was still a quiet day for the Megamart, yet Irin still managed to get hounded by a crowd of fans. Jazmine somehow found herself the furthest away from Irin, simply having to look on as Irin tried to manage the situation.

"L-Let's just keep it civil okay? I'd loooove to talk to you all but I'm on official business okay?"

The crowd didn't seem to budge, they were too enamored by her presence.

"You protected us against that giant serpent Pokémon that showed up, you really must be that strong huh?"

"Don't downplay her like that! She battled Team Nerve's leader and made him run away! I bet she's stronger than the Champion King!"

"Put her in any other region and she'd become champion in a day! Not to mention-"

Irin closed her eyes and took a shorr breath.

"Sorry everyone but I'm kinda busy, maybe next time okay?"

Jazmine suddenly felt a chill run down her back. She felt slightly light in her head and instinctively felt a need to yawn, though she was better off than the others. The crowd began to lower to the ground, some trying to get to the nearest seat while others simply opted to go straight down to the floor.

Within seconds, they were all asleep. When Irin opened her eyes Jazmine saw a red glow. Irin did this. The latter looked at Jazmine's surprised look, before trying to ease her mind.

"I guess I never explained how my Arankàn Drive works huh? I drain the vigour of things around me. In my "prime" - if you wanna call it that - you could say my lethargy on life was so strong I literally sucked the motivation from my surroundings. Oh! Uh, don't worry about them they're just asleep! When you don't have exposure to this stuff it affects you more, but they'll only be out for a couple minutes!

H-Hey don't gimme that look! I don't deal well with crowds when I'm not ready for them!"

Jaz was giving Irin quite the judgemental side eye.