An involuntary purr made its way right out of his chest - which, huh, interesting, he could purr with this avatar, good to know - when the Purrloin stood up and started rubbing up against his legs, showcasing her approval. "Such a gorgeous kitten," he cooed to her softly, bending himself down to offer her another stroke down her back, turning his hand so that she could rub up against it as she wished - far be it from Adrien to think to tell a cat how she wished to be pet.

Golden eyes glanced back up, waiting for the answer for a long moment before they narrowed slightly, the swish of his tail giving away his suspicions. So it was something the other Trainer didn't want to tell him. Interesting... Perhaps he didn't even know. Would that have made the Purrloin his starter? Ugh, if he'd known that, he might have reset his character until he actually got something more suitable than the little Water-type that was his own-

His ears shot up at the question. "E-eh?!?!?" he vocalized at the question, staring wide-eyed at the other. "What do you mean 'what's with the ears and stuff'?" Sure, it was an older design, but the base of it hadn't changed very much. He was still recognizable, and he shared the same name, for goodness' sake! "What kind of a cat doesn't have ears and a tail?!?!?"

Nero

"Oh, you're a pretty thing, aren't you now?" Adrien cooed, as though the Purrloin were a real flesh-and-blood cat rather than a bundle of programmed pixels rubbing up against his hand, the Trainer turning his hand to rub his fingers right along the spot that she was directing him to. "Such a gorgeous girl."

(Shut up, okay, he loved Liepard, they were probably one of his favorite Pokemon right next to Persian, even if his mascot was a Skitty and he was rather fond of them too.)

And.

Holy crap. Holy crap he really didn't know. Adrien stared blankly at the other for a long moment before he drew himself up slowly, like a cat slinking out of an alleyway looking for a little bit of petting from a stranger, and pressed his fingertips to his chest. "I am Cheshired Kat, and that very much makes me a cat, thank you very much," he insisted with all the same gravity and confidence as the self-same Cheshire Cat he'd named himself after. "I'll forgive you this once, for not knowing, but this kind of charm doesn't come naturally, you know!" He grinned then, smugly. "Oh, and for the record? I'm the kind of cat who can do juuuuust fine taking down the Elite Four with a Skitty, by the way."

Nero

Actually the idea of evolving her into a Liepard and immediately telling her to attack this player was growing on him. He was pretty sure owned Pokemon couldn't attack other players in this game, but the temptation to find out was hard to resist.

The blank stare he received for his comment only worried Nero more. Why was this a shock to him? Did he... did he really think he was a cat? Like in real life, did he go around on all fours and meow at people? He'd read about people who did that - granted on Reddit so the truth behind the story was debatable - but he'd never expected to actually meet one. It was technically harmless of course so it wasn't like he felt threatened at all by this knowledge. He was more just... very confused.

"It... doesn't though," he replied as the player provided what he seemed to think was evidence as to why he was in fact a cat but which Nero thought was gibberish. Obviously he wasn't going to get through to him though, so he should just walk away and give up, but some sort of stubbornness wrapped up as 'rationality' was stopping him from doing so. Besides, the Kat player was just adding more information that he needed to decipher, like saying his charm didn't come naturally? "Are you saying you're like... artificially a cat?" In the game sure, but did he mean like, surgery or something? Was that a thing? That was probably a thing, everything was a thing if you had enough money for it.

He wasn't even going to touch the Elite 4 thing. That was actually a claim he could believe, people did weird challenges in the games all the time, but the assurance that he was a cat that could do it was just starting to give Nero a headache.

Cheshired Kat <3 | He will def google him after this play session and then just be more confused I'm sure

Oh God, he was starting to sing.

Nero had never been known for his patience, and honestly, the fact that he'd stuck around for this long trying to figure out what this stranger meant was evidence of his growth over his recent play sessions. At least within the game anyway - he doubted he was any less tempestuous outside of it yet, but maybe it would do him some good in the long run too. For now though, the singing was a step too far, and when it was paired with yet more riddles that showed no intent of actually helping him to understand through his relatively polite questions, he was officially done with this.

"Fine, fuck you too, dude," he grumbled back, officially annoyed at how unhelpful this person was being. Next time he wouldn't bother to try and understand, he'd just judge and walk away, as he intended to do now. He signalled for his Purrloin to come back towards him, and she followed the command, trotting back to his heels as Nero turned to march away. "Good luck with the next Tauros," he threw back over his shoulder as the pair of them walked away... and just out of spite, he pulled his Pokemon party up in front of him on his U.I. This guy liked cats, huh? Liked Purrloin specifically? So let's just take that away from him then, that'd probably evoke some sort of emotional reaction, right?

A few buttons were pressed, and as they walked away, a bright flash of light overcame Purrloin... and a Liepard walked away in her place.

Cheshired Kat <3