The trainers that Irvine recognized from the night before were talking about Jack's plan and the possibility of breaking to eat lunch. That was good; he was never one to turn down a meal when it was offered. Despite his violent disposition and intense distrust of both humans and Pokemon alike, he had never lived in the wild before his first real contact with the former, which led to the development of some very bizarre habits even among normal home-raised Pokemon. Nobody could honestly describe him as a domestic creature, but he possessed a strangely agreeable stance towards regular feeding that seemed at odds with his otherwise vicious nature. Offering him food was one of the few ways that anyone but his own trainer could safely approach him, though he made no efforts to encourage it and the food often ended up stolen rather than given freely. It was, after all, one of the few things that couldn't be returned in the event that he was ever caught.<br/><br/>â€œ...Iâ€™m pretty sure I can convince this Professor to let me take a small group in. Of course, if anyone causes trouble Iâ€™ll just have Irvine shred them to ribbons; Iâ€™d be putting my academic honor on the line.â€<br/><br/>The thought of humans being forced to behave around<span style="font-style: italic">him</span>made Irvine smirk. He wasn't normally fond of acting the part of his trainer's thug, but Jack had a way of making sure that their interests were always closely aligned in one way or another. Unlike Othello, he wasn't above blatant displays of intimidation, which made him an obvious choice compared to the emphatically unintimidating Kicks or the impossibly oblivious Shades. Being the most capable member of his team also helped, but he didn't like his chances against some of the trainers that Jack was thinking about traveling with. They weren't all novices that he could handle by himself if things went poorly, like the youngsters from Pewter City - some of them represented an actual challenge, which would have excited him much more if he wasn't being trusted to either keep them in line or suffer through seven days of sitting idle in the blistering morning heat. After what Jack had said about Team Rocket expressing an interest in the mountain, though, he was more than prepared to fight his way in at the expense of everyone else there, if necessary.<br/><br/>â€œI mean, we really donâ€™t have any easy ways around. The woods are pretty thick around the base of the mountain, and beyond that the terrainâ€™s unforgiving as well. Hiking over isnâ€™t even worth considering.â€ Jack went on, trying to impress upon the rest of the group the seriousness of their circumstances. The caves running through Mt. Moon were largely regarded as the only reasonable path connecting Pewter and Cerulean for good reason, and the decision to not construct an official route cutting through the region's dense northern forests was not made lightly. Though many people disdained the circuitous roads that skirted through much of Kanto's geography, none could argue that they weren't constructed with the safety of its residents in mind.<br/><br/>â€œPokecenter works for me. What about you, Irvine? I figure youâ€™d like to get out of the sun for a while.â€<br/><br/>Choosing between waiting for the others to reach a consensus while slowly withering away in the sunlight and doing the same inside a packed building took Irvine all of two milliseconds. He was waiting impatiently at the doors before Jack was even halfway there, staring into the lobby and at the sizable crowds that had gathered to discuss the situation and come up with their own plans on how to handle it. The waiting area wasn't entirely full, but it was getting close. Locating a quiet spot would be out of the question.<br/><br/>â€œWell, it seems like weâ€™re gonna be with largely the same group as we go on from here. Might as well relax until we can actually get going. At worst weâ€™ll just have time to battle or train if weâ€™ve got to wait out the whole ceremony.â€<br/><br/>Irvine frowned disapprovingly at the suggestion. He would have preferred a chance to see the trainers battle before making any commitments about traveling with them, but it seemed like the decision wasn't his to make. Jack didn't seem very enthusiastic about trusting them either, but he had to have a good reason for putting his reputation, undeveloped though it was, on the line for a bunch of people he had only known for a single day. What made them worth the risk was beyond Irvine's understanding; the concept of altruism lost on him. He comforted himself with the knowledge that he stood to lose nothing but time if things didn't work out properly.<br/><br/>â€œ...Or we can go back and see if Brock will let us kick his ass again.â€<br/><br/>The joke, or so he hoped it was, was not received well. Irvine gave it a dismissive scoff and headed inside with Jack directly behind him.