"Anyway..." The male Ranger started. "You two can come with us, if you like. We're heading back to the city." He glanced at his partner and she nodded, though not without giving him a weird look in return.
"What, Valerie?" He asked her, a slight frown on his features.
She gestured to the children. "Mick, they're exhausted. You saw how the girl couldn't move. Do we really have-"
"You can stay with them then, if that's what you'd prefer. But I'm heading back to Viridian. Jenny needs to know what the end result was." The man made to turn and walk away, but Red could see the hesitation in his posture.
Red looked between the two and wondered if they were in a relationship and, if they were, what was breaking down in their relationship.
Imari noticed her friend was staring and she nudged him in the ribs. "Stop staring."
Before Red could reply, the Rangers seemed to come to an unspoken agreement and they started heading off together. The two friends were hard pressed to keep up. They hadn't been expecting the Rangers to set such a swift pace. As breathless as they were going to be, Red was still interested in the Rangers' Pokémon and decided to ask some questions about them.
"How did you meet your first partner?" The boy inquired, looking in awe at the Ampharos as he struggled to keep up.
Mick stopped at the same time Valerie did and glanced back at the boy. "Why are you so interested, boy? We're complete strangers to you and your female friend. You should be keeping your distance from us." The man was baffled as to why Red was so intrigued about his Pokémon. They were common, run of the mill creatures. Nothing unusual about them, right?
Red was taken aback at Mick's reaction to his question. What was wrong with learning new things about the different species of Pokémon? He wasn't doing anything wrong by asking. Red scratched his neck, feeling flustered. "..." The boy was speechless, but finally managed to come up with an answer.
"I'm sorry if you thought I was being nosy, sir. But I really like learning about Pokémon I haven't seen before. I didn't mean to offend you and, if I did, I apologize."
The man blinked at Red's apology and stammered, caught off guard himself. "No need to be sorry."
"Really, Mick?" Valerie spoke up, pulling at his arm. She could tell that the boy's apology was genuine and Mick brushing it off and telling the kid not to be sorry irked her to no end. "Stop it. Let the boy apologize and accept it. Or else." She glared daggers at her partner.
Surprisingly, it was enough to make him back down. "Oh, alright." Mick grumbled. By nature, he didn't like people apologizing to him. Apologies got underneath his skin when spoken by people who were too curious for their own good, but not everyone was as fake as that.