Lucas watched as Minzy let go of his hand, their handshake over. The idea of a handshake still seemed weird to Lucas, but it did seem comforting, oddly enough. While he was thinking this, Minzy reached down and patted Skip on his head, complimenting him in the process. The act was very nice, as many people merely talked, while their bodies were still. It felt like lying to him.

Once she had finished petting Skip, Minzy proceeded to introduce her pokemon; a tynamo named Frey, and an unnamed squirtle she had just gotten, still in it's pokeball. Frey was 'cool' himself, and seemed fairly happy. The squirtle reminded Lucas that he should get a starter pokemon as well. Now that he had a pokedex, it would seem silly not to get one. Shifting from his thoughts, he noticed that Minzy had stepped back a bit. From the looks of it, she intended to not be 'all over him'. He hadn't minded her talking, as listening to some people could be relaxing. However, this did give him an opportunity to get one of the pokeballs. He was about to head on over to grab one, when he realized he should probably explain what he was doing before leaving.

"Um... I'll be right back". He could have explained a bit better, but he couldn't find the right words. Lucas headed over to the starters, and realized he didn't know which one he would pick. He decided to let Skip decide, and motioned for him to pick. Skip seemed to pause for a bit before picking out one of the pokeballs. Lucas raised an eyebrow at the mudkip's choice. He had expected Skip to pick a water type like himself. Not the type he was weak to. Picking up the pokeball containing the snivy, it dawned on him that he just picked up a new partner to travel with him. It felt amazing. He walked back to Minzy feeling a bit euphoric. But he kept his feelings in check as he apologized for leaving abruptly.

"Sorry about that..." Before he continued, he was struck with an idea. He held out snivy's pokeball in front of him "Erm... want to introduce our... um... new partners?" He wanted to let the snivy out, but it would be awkward to do it in front of Minzy suddenly. Also, the starters wouldn't be as alone in their feelings of curiosity towards their new trainers.

"Okay!" Minzy beamed, and tossed her Pokeball, up into the air. It opened in a flash of red light, the Squirtle inside landing neatly on the floor.

Alright, so maybe that was a little flashy. But to be fair-- that was how Andy had always done it! And it did look cool!

The Squirtle looked up at her, eyes bright with curiosity, and she reached down to pick him up, careful to hold him out of Frey's range. A water type and an electric type… oh dear. She'd better be careful with these two.

"What should I name him?" she wondered out loud. "Uh… Shelldon? Shellby? Samson?"

Squirtle seemed rather unimpressed. Okay, maybe no more shell puns, then.

"Um…" she tried again. "Captain?"

Well, he looked like he liked that one better. She smiled. "Okay, we'll go with that!"

Captain was just so cool. Minzy giggled, and hugged him to her: not too tight, but certainly not loosely enough to drop him.

"My name is Barnabas. I got my delightful Roxy a bit back. But the Professor lacked pokedexes when I was here." Barnabas introduced himself, peering around the room with a confident gaze. Professor Snowbell's name was said with noticeable disdain. Professor Snowbell had retreated to the back room of the laboratory... If he doesn't like kids, then did he choose this job?The professor was full of mysteries, but Barnabas just wasn't interested enough to sole any of them. He observed everyone's natures. Amelia's timidness seemed to contrast with Sigurd's outgoing nature... While Nero's stern demeanor might be shell-shocked by Andre's flamboyant forwardness. Although everyone was either cute or pretty, Andre's sense of fashion was a bit out there for Barnabas's tastes. He observed the starters that everyone had chosen. His Charmeleon, Roxy, curiously peered around at the new pokemon as they emerged from their pokeballs.

Lucas seemed a bit awkward. But that might be remedied over time if he got to know his fellow trainers better. This group seemed plenty rowdy enough without adding any new additions. Boisterous was fine, as well as exciting. He certainly wouldn't have wanted to be stuck with a bunch of obnoxious people who were forced to be here[like Professor Snowbell].

"After you all get your starters and pokedexes, you probably want to get out of here quickly." Barnabas advised them all wisely. The Professor's lab wasn't the best place to socialize. With his arrogance and short temper, Snowbell could get aggravated easily at times. The last thing Barnabas wanted was for someone like Lucas or Amelia to get their feelings hurt if the Professor decided to come back and snap at them all for being so loud. "Oh! Why don't some of you try battling each other?" Barnabas questioned. "It's definitely good to get some experience before you head out to the big kid leagues." Barnabas had already challenged the first gym and beaten it. Gradually, he expected that most of the people in here would try to beat the Pokemon League. It was a common goal among many trainers.

Amelia flinched when Sigurd's hand moved towards her again, but she received a pleasant surprise when he only ruffled her hair. She looked up at him, her expression somewhat confused. No one had ever done that to her before, and while she didn't mind it, she didn't like how it messed with her hair. She was happy she kept it short, since it was easy for her to straighten it out after he was done messing with it.
"You... you don't have to. You didn't know, so it's not really your fault." She said before Barnabas suggested they all get out of the laboratory. She wasn't against that but now she had another concern, which came to her mind after seeing everyone show off their starter pokemon.." But... I don't have a pokeball to keep Litwick in. Can I get one before we leave?"



Joshua heard some noise from the lab and sat up, letting out a yawn. He knew Professor Snowbell well, and he knew that sooner or later the newbies would leave on their own or get kicked out. Getting to his feet, he got a good stretch and waited to see what would happen. Whatever it might be, it should be fun.

Nero was startled by the sudden appearance of a flamboyant figure; dressed in... odd clothes to say the least and carrying with himself a similarly odd attitude, the first thing Nero realized about this boy was that they certainly wouldn't get along. Identifying the french grettings, Nero instinctively brought a hand up - pushing the boy back, while taking two steps back away from him, all to avoid the attempt of what seemed to be a kiss. No matter what sort of culture he had, no one would ever get so uncomfortably close to Nero - it was simply... uncomfortable.

The boy moved his other hand towards his belt, placing the pokéball he held, containing his newly found Cyndaquil, in the second slot. Eevee's black, neatly designed pokéball was in the first slot. With narrowed eyes and furrowed brows, Nero gave the boy in front of him a look-over, taking note of his appearance, clothes... What was he doing in here? He certainly didn't look like a trainer, neither someone who wanted to be a trainer. Hell, he introduced himself as a star.

"I have absolutely no idea of who you are... And, neither do I care."

The words came off with a dangerously dry tone, but Nero wasn't being an ass on purpose. He simply judged on first impression, a mistake he kept repeating. And to him, Andre's first impression was the one of a wannabe trainer: Someone who truly desired to become powerful, but wouldn't ever succeed.

"Now, if you'll excuse me..."

As he spun around to face the laboratory's door, the young trainer began to walk away without another word, ready to begin his adventure, finally. He already knew what to do: Strengthen his bond with Cyndaquil, eventually gaining it's trust, by training. Naturally.

Unless someone interrupted him, that is.

Lucas watched as Minzy tossed the pokeball in the air after agreeing. He had never thought of releasing a pokemon like that. It was showy, but it did look cool. He also released his starter, but it a much simpler manner. The snivy popped out of the pokeball, seeming a bit lost. The entire situation must have been so confusing to the snake pokemon. Lucas knelt down closer to the starter, and tried to explain what was going on.

"Hi. Um... my name is Lucas, and this here is Skip". For Lucas, talking to pokemon felt more natural than talking to humans, but introductions always felt awkward.

"Erm... We hope you'd like to join us on our journey. We don't really have a destination, but we'll find one eventually". The snivy seemed to get what was going on and nodded it's head, looking much happier. Lucas couldn't help but feel happier as well.

"Thank you! I'm sure we'll have good times together, um," Lucas paused in thought before continuing. "Is it okay if I give you a name to go by?" The snivy seemed to have no qualms about it, so Lucas continued. The snivy appeared to be female, so... "Um, would 'Vista' work?" A nod from the snivy, Vista, answered him. First try successes felt good.

Lucas stood up and looked over to Minzy briefly. She had the squirtle, Captain, if he heard right, in her arms. He was about to grab her attention, when he heard the assistant talk. Barnabas briefly introduced himself to everyone, and advised them to go outside. Judging from his expression, it would be wise to go out. Lucas walked over to Minzy, and hesitantly tapped her shoulder.

"Er, we should probably, um, listen to him". Lucas glanced at Skip and Vista on either side of him, and waited to for Minzy to follow him outside.

This girl really needed to get out of her shell if she wanted to get anywhere in life as a trainer. How will she be able to respond when she has her first battle? When the pressure and inexperience starts to come down on her? It's even tougher for someone as young as her to be out in the world all on her own, especially when she's afraid of loud sounds and has a hard time being around other people. What was she thinking coming out here? "I know I don't have too, but I want to. And I think your stomach wants it too." He teased her lightly before turning to look back at this Barnabas guy who told everyone in the lab that they should leave lest they would be given the boot by Professor Tightass, I mean Snowbell.

There sure were some interesting characters. There was Mr. I'm so outrageously Kalos that I would meet my mistress outside a wine and escargot shop while waiting on a moped. His sense of fashion was certainly...unique. Sigurd wasn't exactly sure why this guy was dressed the way he was nor did he understand where in the world that would be fashionable in, but hey, to each their own. Then there was that stuck up looking teenager with glasses. He didn't know what his deal was though he really needed to pull that stick up his rear and smile. Then there was Barnabas, a guy so feminine that when Sigurd first saw him the Aerosmith song Dude Looks like a Lady blasted in his head. Barnabas seemed pleasant enough so he wasn't going to judge him by his looks...though secretly Sigurd thought that Barnabas could probably pull drag off very well.

"A battle huh? I like the idea of that?" He grinned widely at the prospect of his first battle. Oh yeah, he nearly forgot about his Piplup! He scooped the little one into his arms and smiled softly. "Say, what do you think I should name you? I got it, how about Brunhilda?"

"Pip piplup!" The small bird nodded happily at the new name that it received.

Sigurd laughed happily and noticed a jealous glare from Rusty. "Oh come on, you're not being replaced."

"Hmph, scrap." The Scraggy crossed his arms and turned his head away from Sig.

Lucas wanted to go outside? Oh, but they hadn't even met any of the other trainers! Still, though, everyone seemed to be leaving already, so Minzy shrugged. "Alright!" she chirps, and started to follow Lucas outside. Should she battle someone? Well, she'd like to... but maybe not Lucas. After all, she didn't want to jeopardise their blossoming friendship.

Wait-- actually, she really wanted to battle the guy with the Cleffa. She stopped in her tracks. "Wait," she blurted out. "There are so many trainers here, and we're trainers now too! We should take this opportunity! Lucas, want to be my partner for a double battle? We could ask some of those people to battle us!"

She shuffled her feet awkwardly, and added, "Um. Could we ask that guy from Kalos to battle us? He has a Cleffa, and..." Her voice trailed off. How the heck was she supposed to explain that she really, really liked Cleffas? She bit her lip. Liking such a girly Pokemon wasn't cool at all, but...

Whatever. She shook it off and continued. "Oh, and we should go outside to battle! Wouldn't want to accidentally mess up the lab!" She laughed nervously. The Professor made her nervous, actually, and she really didn't want to risk his ire.

Amelia looked back towards Sigurd when she said that even though he knew he didn't have to buy her a meal, he simply wanted to. He also brought up that her stomach wanted a meal as well. Before she could even reply, her stomach let out another grumble, as if agreeing with Sigurd. Mumbling something that sounded like some thanks, she move over to Sigurd and waited from him to lead the way while her Litwick, which still needed a pokeball to call home, moved up to her right shoulder and stayed there, watching their surroundings.



Joshua watched as someone finally came out of the Lab. A boy, probably a few years younger them himself, with glasses and an expression that could belong to a Golurk. In other words, it seemed to lack any sort of emotion. Though the boy did give off an aura of annoyance. Maybe he didn't like to Professor (which really wouldn't be surprising given the man's attitude) or maybe he didn't like the other trainers in there. Well, time to see what he was like.
"By the look on your face, the Prof chewed you out real good. Either that or you just hate being around other people. If you're gonna be a trainer, you might wanna get used to being around them, cause you will be, one way or another." He said to the boy, his tone casual.

It took a few minutes from the laboratory to Route - 1, where Nero's journey would officially start. This place didn't had many strong pokémon, with the handful bug and grass types, Nero would certainly have an idea of how strong his Cyndaquil was. "So, Vee. Let's meet our new partner, hmm?"

The Eevee nodded it's head, leaping off from Nero's shoulder and into the ground. The boy picked up the Cyndaquil's pokéball, releasing it right after, the pokémon came out sniffing the air, seemingly curious. It moved slowly around;

"Quil? Quil!"

"Eeeeve, Vee!"

"Getting acquainted, eh?" A wide smile played in Nero's lips as he leaned down and gave the Cyndaquil a pat on the head. The pokémon accepted it, but was a bit timid. "No need to be shy, Cyndaquil. We have plenty of time to learn how to trust one another - now though, would you like to battle?"

The pokémon nodded it's head, flames erupted from his back. It seemed to be quite willing. "Great, let's get to it, then!"

After a bit of searching and dwelving around into the tall grass, Nero eventually found some wild pokémon: A Zangoose. Not exactly what Nero was looking for, those were quite difficult - some became exceptionally powerful in the wild by fighting Seviper. No matter, this one didn't look particularly threatening, it was in a cautious stance, with it's ears up - and on all fours. However, as soon as Cyndaquil moved closer and tried to intimidate it with large flames erupting from it's back, the Zangoose stood on it's back legs, claws coming out of his front paws...

"Alright, our first battle together, eh, Cyndaquil?! Let's go!"

Sigurd chuckled at Amelia's stomach being much more honest than she was. Even if her was mumbled, he was glad that she finally accepted his offer though now he was curious. Did this child have any money with her? Did her parents give her any card to use to pay for meals or any gear at all? Just what was going on with her?

The moment they walked out they saw young man around Sigurd's age or a bit older talking to the antisocial kid. "Yo, if you're here for a starter and a pokedex then you're out of luck. I don't think that grump is going to be talking to anyone anytime soon."

Amelia followed after Sigurd, stopping when looking up when she heard him talking to someone. She noticed the one boy that had gotten to the shortly after her and another boy, a total stranger, talking to each other.

Joshua looked up at Sigurd and gave the man a smile.
"Howdy there." He said." No I'm not here for a starter or a dex. I just wanted to see who all the new trainers were. Maybe challenge y'all to a battle and see what my competition is like. Though to be fair, a one-on-one battle wouldn't turn out well for you... how about you all come out here and challenge me instead. Make things a little more fair.

Though the little lady there doesn't look like she's in for a battle? You wanna sit out miss?"

Amelia simply nodded

"Alright, shuffle your way outside, everyone." Barnabas said lightly. It was clear that Professor Snowbell would rather be left alone rather than have a bunch of rowdy kids messing up the equilibrium he had set up in his lab. The sun was climbing up higher in the sky, and Barnabas narrowed his eyes against its harsh glare. Roxy followed him loyally. Once outside, Barnabas made sure to observe the interactions of all of the new trainers. He patted Roxy on the head as she tugged on his sleeve, but he nodded down at her. She definitely wanted to battle. However, she still seemed to be above the power level of some of the newer pokemon. The jolly Charmeleon gazed around at her fellow pokemon with a sense of eagerness. The stiff and bold trainer Nero seemed to have split from the group to go off on his own. His loss. Barnabas resisted the urge to huff. "We could do a double battle." Barnabas suggested aloud to all of the new trainers, wanting to make sure that they were all comfortable with the environment around them.

@Trainer N@Joshua Tamashii@Joshua Tamashii@Trainer N

"Heh, you sound very sure of yourself." Sigurd commented on confident Joshua was of his strength. Seems like this guy has some experience of being trainer, well anyone has more trainer than Sigurd a this point. Still he wanted to see how strong he was to begin with so he certainly wasn't going to back down from this, not by a long shot. "I'll take you on any day." Brunhilda the Piplup fidgeted in his arms with excitement just to go ahead and battle along with Rusty the Scraggy, who was growling at Joshua. Before they could even battle, Barnabas suggested a double battle, something that only made Sigurd's blood rush even further with excitement. "I'm up for that! How about you team up with that guy and I'll team up with...." Just who was he going to team up with?

"A double battle sounds like fun." Joshua said, laughing a bit." Team up with whoever you want. I'll take everyone on, be is a battle royale, a double battle, or a single battle. Even a sky battle would be fun."

Moving away from the group, Joshua stopped once they were a good distance away and took out two pokeballs.
"Murkrow, Froakie, arise!" He said, tossing the balls up into the air. They opened up and the usual beams of light came out and hit the ground. When the vanished, the two Pokémon would be there, ready for battle.

"Froakie!"

"Murkrow, Mur."

@Joshua Tamashii
Oh this guy really made his blood rush! Even if he was experienced he certainly wasn't going to let him stand up and say that he can take two against one on as if it was nothing. Sigurd couldn't help but to have a wide, almost thuggish grin spread across his face. "Oh boy, I'm gonna really have to put my all into it." Once they were far enough from the group, he felt a tension in the air that he never had experienced before. Why was he feeling so nervous? Was this the rush coursing through his veins the anticipation of a battle? "Let's get this show on the road! Go, Rusty, Brunhilda!"

The Scrggy and Piplup jumped in front of him, raring to go.

"Scrag!"

"Piplup!"

"So we have a very interesting match up here, don't we?" Joshua said." We both have a water type Pokémon but then you have a Dark/Fighting-type Pokémon while I have a Dark/Flying type. Advantage to me it would seem."

He took just a second to analyze the situation. This would be rather interesting.
"Froakie, use Smokescreen!"

"Froak!" The frog-like Pokémon said before jumping into the air. It opened it's mouth and exhaled a cloud of thick smoke, which surrounded Sigurd's Pokémon and blocked everyone's view.

As Lucas walked with Minzy outside, he listened to her bring up the idea of having a battle. A double battle at that! Lucas had never been in a battle before with another person before, having only battled wild pokemon. He had seen battles from the league on television, but it would be very different actually participating in one. Needless to say, he was hesitant. He looked down at Skip and Vista for help on what to do, only to see they seemed... excited at the idea. Well, one of the best ways to learn something is to do it, so Lucas decided to try.

As they got outside, a new person was on the scene, brimming with confidence. He was offering a battle with whoever wanted to join. Actually, it seemed that almost everyone wanted to battle in some form now that they were outside. Even Barnabas wanted to join in! Though, now that he was looking, the boy with the eevee wasn't there. He must have headed out already.

Minzy offered the idea of battling the flamboyant Kalos boy, which was an interesting choice, to say the least. Though, from what she said, it seemed more like she wanted to see the clefa in action, which made more sense. Meanwhile, a battle was already beginning to form. Lucas felt a headache begin to nag his conscious. There were way to much going on out here, and trying to take it all in was taking a toll on his mind. He couldn't decide what to do... almost. What he did decide was to let Minzy decide.

"Er, whatever, um, works for you, will... work for me" It felt a bit like shoving his problems onto Minzy, but he'd probably mess something up if he tried to do something. This seemed like the best option.

Whatever worked for Minzy would work for Lucas? Well, she could handle that! Minzy had absolutely no problems with taking charge.

"Okay!" she chirped. "Be right back!"

She bounded inside, coming face to face with the Kalos guy, and was struck once again by how... pretty he was. He was so fashionable! Actually, she had to admit that she kind of admired that. Minzy herself didn't really know how to dress up. She practically wore the same pair of cargo shorts every day.

"Excuse me!" she said. "My name's Minzy! I was wondering, uh, would you like to battle me and my friend Lucas? A double battle? With a partner of your choice?"

She smiled, a little awkwardly. Lucas was waiting outside, so they'd have to head back out again to battle... evidently someone else had come up with a similar idea, because she'd seen another double battle getting started. The younger looking boy in the glasses, the shy one, he'd seemed really into it!

A little stand-offish, though.