A small tap on the head with his Oranguru's fan notifies him that his partner has arrived - and it's someone his Oranguru had seen before, if that sense of Telepathic familiarity told him anything. Whoever it was grabbed his hand - about the same size as his, so were they about his age?

It's on hearing the voice that Hideo realized who it was, a wide smile on his face. Was it fate that these random dates kept pairing him up with people he knew? He wouldn't complain - he didn't mind spending time with people he already liked.

"Hoenn's a smaller region than I'd thought!" he said, shaking her hand. "But I don't mind a speed date with someone I know!"

And lucky him, Eris had brought up his gym progress anyways, so he was already prepared for this!

"I got my fifth badge pretty recently! Just one more and I could be allowed on the Elite Four!" He snickered a little - as if he'd settle for being on the Elite Four. "And I've gotten some pretty neat Pokemon lately! I got a ghostly horse Pokemon that lets me ride it around a lot! It's really fast, but I'm getting used to riding it pretty fast too."

But he couldn't keep this one-sided. "So how about you, Eris? You get any badges lately? Any cool new Pokemon?"

Eris Halla

Hideo could feel Eris wrap something around his wrist. A good luck charm, as she said - something he wouldn't dare turn back. "I'm sure I got the skills for it," he said, running his other hand along the bracelet, "but every little bit helps! I'll make sure to take good care of it!"

He could probably even keep it on as Champion!

"Yeah, taking care of a Meltan can be rough." Hideo lied back into his seat, still feeling over the good-luck bracelet. "Mine keeps eating any metal it finds. I have to keep a Pokemon with it all the time, or put it in a Pokeball. And my Zarude does not like going into the city, or dealing with any tech. My Rotomdex is afraid of being near them."

Heck, it wasn't even his own Rotomdex that his Zarude slapped away; Andy Blackadder 's Pokemon nearly ganged up on the Zarude after it did that to Andy's Rotomdex.

But thinking about that awkward day was something he'd rather not do - and Eris sounded pretty interested in his Spectrier. "Yeah, it's a Spectrier. It's not too scary once you get to know them; they're actually pretty shy!" It loved hiding in his shadow, even when he didn't know it.

Though his smile broke a little at that last part she mentioned. "That...isn't just a legend. Andy and I had encountered a couple, and after a few days of getting to know them, the one I got to know kicked me."

There was a slight pause as he thought back to that experience. "It was weird 'cause it didn't even hurt much. It even let me ride on top of it afterwards. I didn't even know it happened, but Rocky did, and he chased after us the whole way through." His poor Lycanroc was exhausted by the time it was over. "I thought he was just scared of me riding on a random Pokemon. When I got back, I went back to my body. Then it started to hurt."

Not at all what he'd expected being disembodied felt like. But there wasn't any lasting harm, so all's well that ends well. "Maybe you could meet them someday. I'm sure I could coax them out, maybe even let you ride on them for a bit." Preferably not as a disembodied soul.

Eris Halla

"No wonder mine went after my spare cane; it was the first one I ever had, so it's pretty old." Made sense it'd build up some rust. He'd just have to be extra careful that his current cane was as rustless as possible - or just keep his Meltan away from it.

Almost getting hurt by your own Pokemon was a different concern. "Legendary Pokemon are tougher to keep under control than I'd thought. Vines doesn't hurt me, but they've sometimes just taken me places under their arm, and I can't stop them."

Though one of those times indirectly led to him acquiring a Spectrier, so it wasn't all that bad. Though Vines was pretty rough when it came to letting him go, just dropping him on the ground.

On that topic, Eris still seemed curious about his Ghostly Horse Adventure™. She must've been concerned for his health; he would be too if he heard someone get kicked by a legendary horse.

"Dunno what a Dullyhan is, but I felt a bit sore afterwards. Nothing felt broken, and my Pokemon healed me up easy enough." He tapped his ribs just to be sure - no pain.

Unfortunately, the ringing of the bell signaled the end of their "date". "Guess that's it for now," Hideo sighed, his Oranguru helping him out of his chair. "I can tell you more about it some other time! Or I can just bring Grimm around so you can meet them!"

Hopefully it wouldn't involve any soul-separating kicks.

Eris Halla