“E-er, well.. I s’pose that’s true. But ya never know- sometimes strangers tell those kinda lies for no reason.” He.. thought he better stop since he was kind of describing himself and how he lies about his involvement with Magma. Or rather tries very hard to hide it, especially from strangers. He hoped robots didn’t have the power to see through lies! That would be.. scary. 

He ended up blushing just a bit from that. “I.. thank ya. That’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me lately. Warms my heart..” It was hard to remember the last time someone told him they thought he could accomplish something. Maybe after the whole Magma thing, he will go back to school.. who knows. 

After a bit of digging, he managed to happen upon the stone that Ai found in his scan. “Oh- Oh!! There it is!” It was just the tip so it was hard to tell what sort of stone it was. But he had to remain patient; if he tried to rush it, he could end up damaging the stone. A bit more digging and he managed to pop it out of the wall rather easily. His eyes immediately lit up. “A fire stone.. Oh my gosh.. I’ve– I’ve been lookin’ for one o’ these! Arceus, I thought I was gonna have to buy one o’ these expensive suckers! Ha!” He was kind of doing a little jig at this point, with how happy he was with this one find. He looked to Ai with a big grin on his face. “Thank you so much for helpin’ me find this beaut!” He honestly wasn’t expecting an evolutionary stone.. He just thought he’d find something pretty looking that he could put on display in his secret base. But this.. his vulpix Cinnamon could evolve with this. Though, he’d wait until she was ready of course..

“Woah woah wait– your creator’s name was Adrian too? Wow!” He seemed to be pretty excited about a simple fact as that, probably enamored by the fact there was an Adrian out there that was smart enough to build a robot that looked exactly like a human. However, he soon furrowed his brow. “You sure ya ain’t pullin’ my leg? I mean.. this all is almost too cool to be true..” It sounded like a prank his coworkers back at the base might play on him.

He thought for a moment. “Y’know, I’m not entirely sure.. I never finished high school an’ I haven’t had a chance to try again. Or.. I’m not sure how the process even works.. Rustboro’s got some pretty good schools there, I might try there first- Though I’d definitely like somethin’ closer to my actual home in Sinnoh.”

He seemed to be amazed yet again at that notion. “Wow.. that’s so neat-” He watches as Ai outlines some spots, his eyebrows raising. “R-really? Oh gosh-” He gripped his tools a bit excitedly as he comes over to inspect one of the spots Ai outlined. If there actually was a cool rock in there, that’d be the ultimate proof that Ai was who he said he was. He was getting giddy just thinking about what sort of rock it was though, if there was one there. He started chiseling away at that section, keeping a careful eye so that he didn’t accidentally damage the rock he was digging up.

       : ⁅ ☣ ⁆ : –   The parasite just looked over at the creature before him. Disgust was written all over his face as he just glared into the other’s eyes. A phone was risen, up high enough for the AI to read the text.

                          ⎾  Sweets should not be soiled with concrete.                                Stranger tastes like concrete. ⏌

“Really? Oh gosh..” He didn’t think about a person that actually made the A.I. “Woah.. does your creator live in Hoenn? It’d be super cool if I could meet someone like that! They must be super smart-” He tilts his head a bit. “Ah, so like do ya cry an’ sweat an’ stuff too?” He furrowed his brow, looking off a bit. “Actually.. that’s prolly a bit personal, sorry..” He rubbed his neck. “I’m jus’ curious is all- I ain’t ever thought I’d meet an actual robot in my life! Er, one that’s as smart as you anyways- kinda like how they are in the movies.. I thought it’d be more likely I’d meet a legendary pokemon or somethin’.”

He glances over at Ai, now rather curiously watching the other. “Really? A pokemon professor..” He’s only usually seen movies with robots that wanted to destroy mankind or something else, well.. evil. So coming across a robot that helped people and pokemon and even wanted to be a professor was so uplifting. “That’s a good goal! I’m glad you’re helpin’ both people an’ pokemon.. I ah.. Someday I was hopin’ I could be a geologist or somethin’..” He blushes a bit out of embarrassment as he turns his attention back to looking for rocks. He might have been on his way to doing that if he didn’t have to drop out of school.. now he’s in Team Magma and just trying to get by.

He perked up however when Ai mentioned having found some rocks. “Ah- really?? In the walls? You can see through ‘em?” Must be those cool robot powers. Or.. were they programs..? He didn’t know, the whole concept of there being such a human-like robot astounded him. “Ah- I don’t.. usually go diggin’ in the walls for ‘em so I just got a hammer an’ chisel..” He thinks for a moment. “Though if I did that, maybe I’d get ripped..” He pulls his backpack off so he can pull out a hammer and chisel; they weren’t very big and also weren’t super impressive tools since he didn’t have the money to get better ones. They looked best for chipping off small stones. “Dunno how good these’d get into the walls..”

“Ah yeah, I s’pose, sorta like how we don’t really think ‘bout talkin’ huh? We jus’ learn it so soon that we don’t really think ‘bout it.” He straightened up a bit from his rock searching position. “No kiddin’?? Artificial intelligence… a robot huh?” He thought that made sense considering the way the other guy talked and all the things he seemed to know. You could practically see the wheels turning in his mind. Sure, he made a wild guess but he wasn’t expecting to be right. Well… almost right. Aliens and robots are kind of in the same category aren’t they? “Y’look so much like a person..” was all he managed to think of to say.

He felt a little self conscious however, thinking a robot must have better things to do than look for rocks with him in some cave. But at the same time, he was rather flattered that the other did choose to do so. He’ll have to find the coolest rock ever to make sure it was worth it to have such a cool companion with him! With a determined expression he went searching away again, keeping an eye out for any extraordinary rocks. “Do ya regularly check out caves to make sure they’re safe for explorin’?”

“Really? Huh.. guess I never really thought ‘bout it before. That’s a real neat thing for ya to have though I guess.” He tilts his head a bit, curious as to why Ai spoke the way he did, like he wasn’t human himself. “Is there a reason ya sorta talk ‘bout yourself like you’re different than everyone else?” He lowers his voice, as though he’s getting secretive. “Are you.. an alien or somethin’? That’s cool with me if ya are-” he whispers. “It’s okay, I can keep secrets real good.”

He lights up at that comment. “Really? Aw sweet- that spells a formula for a rock jackpot! A.. rockpot!” He’s already begun poking around on the ground and in between stalagmites and boulders looking for anything cool and unusual.” He looks up to Ai. “Oh- that’s cool dude, if ya wanna just lemme know if ya see anythin’ that don’t look normal, just lemme know! The weirder lookin’ it is, the more rare it’s bound to be!”

      ❝ just thought i would double check. ❞ 

Keyruka followed behind, swaying her arms forward and back as she did so. Her blue hues would wander, scanning over the area that surrounded them as she listened to him speak.

      ❝ a professor? the way i see it, anyone can be a professor if they          put the work forth to achieve it! i’m sure you’d make a great professor. ❞

Man, Ai talked kinda weird for someone who was - oh. Oh maybe Unovan WASN’T his first language? Okay. Don’t pick on him for that, then.

“No, but like. Even if you know where one is doesn’t mean you’ll get there in time before the sun goes down. Pikachu are pretty fast but can you even keep up with him? My slowest is a Munna and even she can out speed me sometimes.” 

“Aw, really..? Do ya gotta be born into it then?” Programmed was just another way to say it was hereditary right? He was still getting used to the way this guy talked. “Oh really? Dude, that’d be amazing! I mean if ya don’t mind doin’ somethin’ like that, that is. Remind me to get your number an’ we can meet up sometime and just chill or somethin’. Ya seem like a nice guy.”

He lit up a bit as Ai stepped aside for them. “Oh yeah- Thanks man! C’mon Lavender-” The pokemon chirped and followed after her trainer, who shuffled on forward deeper into the cave. As they got deeper in, he fished a little mini flashlight out of one of the pockets on his shorts so he could see a bit. “I love the formations..” he pondered aloud, looking at some of the stalactites, careful not to shine the flashlight directly on any wild bat pokemon that might be sleeping up there. Lavender busied herself by crawling along the wall and sniffing at the air. She used her supersonic occasionally to ‘see’ further in the cave and watch for hostile pokemon. “I wonder if there’d be any rare stones around? Those’d probably be way deep in huh?”

SOME DAYS he finds himself craving the mindless background noise of people. This is life and he has to recognise it as a fact no matter how far he’s removed himself from this world. So in between his busy schedule that has him travelling across oceans and continents in the span of days, he takes a seat in a humble looking café and lets it all sink in. He’s in the middle of reading a newspaper, the paper crinkling in hands as he turns each page, when a shadow disturbs the tranquillity of the moment. 

“And you thought I’d be interested in conversation in the first place.” He doesn’t even bother in hiding his irritation. This is a reminder on why he prefers the SOLITUDE of his office to a bustling and crowded café. Not only that, but he detests small talk. “What makes you think that you’d have anything to say that I’d want to hear?”

Impressive. Was all she could think about during Ai’s rambling. While listening close to him she eventually calmed down and was able to turn to face him again, eyebrows raised to signify her awe. She wasn’t too sure how to respond to it and simply thought for a moment. She should be thinking about the game too but really she was thinking about how was it possibly to hold this amount of information over something small as how they played a game. Granted, she met intelligent humans before but this was different. It felt different. Something wasn’t right.

“How.. calculative of you.” Was what she finally said, staring right at the man in front of her, any sign of her previous embarrassment fully gone. “Even I wouldn’t have.. put much thought into this.. I.. guess I have.. no choice but to believe you when you say.. I win, hm..? Or.. do you have.. another theory you wish to.. propose.”