A man on stage paces back and forth before a large crowd. A grey hood obscuring all but a faint smile upon his face.

"You all have reason to live, yes?" He speaks smugly as he paces. "But as everyone knows, life is not infinite...in fact, it is depressingly short."

A few people in the crowd seem to be agreeing with the strange man and lean in to hear what he has to say.

"Yes, yes...so short is life. But, this is why I have come here today." The man says as his smile grows slightly. "What if I could tell you, that your lives don't have to come to such an abrupt end, that immortality is a possibility!"

Some members in the crowd stare skeptically while others grow even more interested.

"Many of you are likely to scoff at my words, and rightly so. What I say sounds mad! Impossible! Absolutely foolish!" The smile becomes a firm frown as the man stops his pacing and turns to the crowd. "But you are wrong, I am with a group of people that plan to make this fool's dream a reality. Not just that, but we have a way to do it!"

The man's confidence seems to radiate towards the crowd as many of them stand and begin to cheer.

"Of course, it isn't something that can be easily achieved. Many think our methods are extreme, our plans terrifying, and our goal unreachable. These nonbelievers selfishly deny our ascension to immortality merely to satisfy their morals!" The man points off stage as a group of people dressed in black drag a tied up man with a bag over his head between the aisles. "These monsters would deny you, your Pokemon, and even your children eternal life. Allow me to show you the face of our adversaries!" The hooded man rips the bag off of the tied man's face-
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Ian cut off the TV. Something about that speech simply made him sick. The rocking of the sea certainly didn't help either. A loud ding resounded throughout the ship.

"Attention all passengers, we will be arriving in Windshire shortly." The captain announced over the intercom. "Please prepare to depart."

Ian was thankful that the long voyage was almost finished and that he would once again be on land. Sneasel actually elected to stay in her pokeball for the majority of the trip, which had made the days of travel fairly lonely.

In less than an hour, the boat docked in the town that was fittingly called Windshire. The wind turbines that dotted the area gave the town a sense of modernity despite the rustic looking buildings. The crisp fall air had just a slight nip in it signifying the nearing winter.

As Ian walked off of the boat, he noticed a tall man with a Goodra. The man fit the description of professor Tsuga, slightly disheveled and carrying a bag of gear that Ian presumed was the gear his grandparents had asked for. The man quickly approached and tossed the gear to Ian.

"I'm very sorry I can't stay and introduce you to the region, Ian, but I have a very busy schedule today. There are many other trainers arriving today and I'll be meeting them all in the lab." Tsuga pointed at a large building with a pokeball in the center. "If you don't mind stopping by in about an hour, I'll be asking the other trainers to meet there."

"Okay?" Ian said as the man rushed off. He wasn't even sure how the man knew who he was immediately, but it didn't really matter. As confused as he was by the whole interaction, he had at least gotten what he came for.

Also disembarking from that same ship, was another trainer. Unlike the other one, though, this one let his partner be perched on his shoulder. It was a Gligar, one that the trainer nicknamed Glider. As his feet touched the soil of the Kosei region for the first time, Trey looked around himself with a wide grin and a look of wonder in his eyes, "Here we are, Glider. It's a whole new world." he said to the Glgar perched on his shoulder, who responded in the way only a Pokemon could, by saying its own name, though it did so happily, with an equally exited smile on its face.

This place was nothing like home. The Johto Region as a whole was always known for being one of the more old-fashioned regions. It's only real major city was Goldenrod City, while most of the other towns were more rural than anything else, dotted with shrines and practically divided into two halves by Mt. Mortar. But this place, this place was something else. The buildings had a rustic architecture to them that reminded him of home, but then there were those big turbines. There definitely wasn't anything like that back at home. Of course, this just proved that even right from this outset, this journey was gonna be one to remember, and Trey could hardly wait to get started on it.

But first, he had to find the laboratory of Professor Tsuga. He was told that Tsuga could help him get started with his journey across Kosei, and besides, getting to meet any of the world-famous Pokemon Professors was an opportunity that no trainer worth their salt would ever pass up. Then he spotted someone, a man who looked vaguely familiar handing off a package so someone else who was disembarking. Why did the man look so familiar? Then the recognition hit him like a ton of bricks. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small photo depicting the very man who had long since left, "Wait! Ah man... looks like I just missed him." lamented Trey, having started to run after the Professor but gave up when it was clear he would catch up to him.

"Oh well, I'm sure he'll be at his lab." Trey muttered to himself, only just now remembering that he was now standing next to someone, "Oh! Sorry if I startled you. I was supposed to meet that Professor when I got here but it looks like I just missed him. Name's Trey, and this is Glider, my partner."

"Hi there, yeah the guy just handed me some stuff, said he was busy, and ran off." Ian said in response. He didn't really expect to meet another trainer right off the bat.

"I'm Ian, and this is Sneasel." Ian said as he let Sneasel out of her Pokeball. The ice pokemon gave a light yawn and stretched herself out before taking a look at the other trainer and the Gligar before her. She stared skeptically at them for a moment then offered a simple nod at the pair. "I'm guessing you're one of the other trainers Tsuga mentioned, he said something about all of the trainers that are new to the region meeting him in his lab in about an hour."

A letter had arrived in the mail some time previously. It had been awhile, however, Lily was determined to arrive to her destination on time. A delay had occurred on the street. Some pesky moron with ideas of being her knight in shining armor had created, then attempted to extract her from a situation. Falling rocks, of all the crazy things. One had been about to hit her too, however, Ruby, the oddly colored blue haired ralts that traveled with her had been out of her Pokeball and had stopped the one rock that had been about to hit her. She shivered at the memory and tossed her single Pokeball up into the air and caught it again.

Ruby was too small to sit outside her pokeball during travel. Her body wasn't made for sitting on Lily's shoulder, and she couldn't keep up with her trainer's walking speed. That would change however, once Lily finally evolved. Kirlia would be more than capable of staying outside her pokeball all day and night if she so wished, and that would mean Lily would have someone to talk to on her travels. She smiled at the thought and let out a small sigh.

Eventually, she arrived at the town, and started heading towards the lab. She could see a few trainers disembarking from the boat in the harbor, and the letter she had received had said there would be others. Figuring it might be a good idea to at least learn a name or two, Lily sighed and headed over. Her eyes locked onto the sneasel for a second and she smiled. Pokémon were much better companions that people for the most part. She wouldn't mind having a sneasel of her own one day. Or a vulpix. Vulpix were beautiful.... She shook her head and stepped forward, interrupting the conversation of the two.

"Hello... I'm Lily. Are you two also headed to the lab?" Her voice was quiet, but strong. She wasn't nervous, she just didn't seem to want to waste words. "I believe there is a group of us, yes?"

"That's what I've been told." Ian said to the newcomer. "Anyway, Tsuga said to meet him there in an hour so I'm going to scope out the gym. I don't really know much about this region's Pokemon league, so there might be a few things I could find out."

With that, Ian began to walk away only to be tugged back by Sneasel. He could feel her glare without even looking.

"Yes, I know it's rude to just walk off, but I really want to explore a bit before the meeting." Ian explained hastily. Sneasel's response was to simply jab him lightly in the side. "Ah, jeez is that really necessary?" He asked only to be jabbed again. Ian sighed in resignation."Fine. Would either of you like to check out the gym? Apparently I can't go on my own."

Sneasel's satisfied grin was enough to cheer him up slightly, but the pair probably didn't look like professionals by any stretch.

"I wouldn't mind. I'd like to see if this is one I can challenge right now anyways." Lily doubted it. Ralts wasn't an overly strong pokemon, and it was still somewhat of a fresh catch. Besides, for the most part, Lily and Ruby had more or less just been friends and hung out. There had been very little training of any kind, so Ruby was far from battle ready.

"I wonder if there is a good place to train...." She said aloud, thinking. "Ah!" She pulled out her pokeball and released Ruby. "I suppose I should introduce you to my partner. This is Ruby" She gave a light bow, and the ends of her ginger red hair tickled the top of Ruby's head. Ruby gave a wave and a head bob, then looked up at Lily, sensing her trainer's slight discomfort with the number of people around.

Trying to cheer her up, Ruby tugged on Lily's pant leg. When Lily bent down, Ruby jumped up, catching the arm of her white dress and pulling herself up onto Lily's shoulder. Lily chuckled as Ruby took a seat there, and rubbed her hand on Ruby's head. "Little trouble maker aren't you sweetie?"

Hadraon sneezed nearly knocking Ralts of his head, much to its indignant trills. "Sorry Tal, I didn't think it'd be so sunny here." Tal let out one last moody trill and fell silent. "Aw don't be mad at me." Hadaron begged as he made his down onto land. "Tell you what, I'll buy you a pokepuff after we finish looking around alright?" He looked around at the town eagerly, it was time for the start of his journey. The first thing he was supposed to do was visit the lab, so he hurriedly made his way into town, making his way past a group of three people. He would've tried to make friends but he didn't want to be bothersome so he just kept moving. After all in his experience groups tended to like to stay with each other rather than make new friends. "Hang on Tal." he warned his Ralts before he started a light jog. Tal got a workout from it as well from trying to make sure he didn't lose his balance and fall off, and he didn't like being in a poke-ball very much so he just sat on Hadaron's head for the most part.

Haskell stood from his seat, grateful that someone had cut off the television. He hadn't been watching the screen, but Haskell heard what he could only guess were the ravings of a madman. He strode out onto the loading ramp of the ferry, and then on to the dock. The temperature was perfect for his winter outfit. It would save him having to stop somewhere to change into his lighter clothes.

Haskell spotted a trainer conversing with a rather scruffy looking man, and overheard something about meeting in a lab. Haskell surmised that the man must be the region's professor. He made a mental note of this lab meeting, it would probably be a good idea to stop there before starting his journey in Kosei.

Eevee's silver head emerged from within Haskell's backpack. She yawned with a squeak, then began looking around whilst adjusting to the sunlight. Eevee's gaze locked on to one of the many wind turbines around the city, and she hummed curiously. Haskell turned his head to see what had piqued her interest, and spoke as a smile drew across his face, "Beautiful machines. They're called wind turbines. You'll be seeing plenty of them around here."
They watched it spin for a short while, but Haskell soon remembered that they had places to be, and, realizing that there were several other trainers here, didn't particularly want to get stopped and play introductions.

Haskell eased past a small group of trainers that seemed to be doing just that, and felt glad not to be caught up in it. He paid little interest to their appearances or their Pokemon, instead keeping an eye out for this laboratory as he opened a gap between him and the crowd that had disembarked from the boat. However, Eevee had done the opposite, breaking from her gaze at the turbines above. She gave all of them a once-over as Haskell had passed by, but decided it wasn't necessary to get Haskell's attention. As much as he liked to distance himself from other random trainers, Eevee sometimes went out of her way to conveniently stop him near people who were likely to start up a conversation.

However, this time they really did have better things to do, and even if the other trainers had taken notice of them, Haskell wasn't going to stop now, she knew that well. Eevee let out a high-pitched sigh, and went back to her sight-seeing as Haskell pressed on through the town.

"Sounds great." replied Trey. By that point Glider had left its perch on his shoulder and was now on the ground, in the mood for stretching his legs a bit, "Glider and I were gonna head there ourselves later, anyway. Right buddy?" the Gligar looked up at his trainer and gave a happy nod of agreement. The girl who approached earlier, Lily, mentioned training. As she released her own Pokemon, a Ralts she called Ruby, Trey gave a small shrug and could only offer one answer to her question.

"Best way to train is to have yourself a good sparring partner. You could always have a go against one of us. Heck, Glider and me make a point to never turn down a challenge."

At around this point, a trainer silently passed them by, who also seemed to have a Ralts since he had one sitting atop his head. He didn't say anything though, so Trey decided not to be pushy and respectfully let the trainer pass without interruption. But there was another one shortly after that. In fact the only reason Trey could even tell he was a Trainer at all was because he spotted an Eevee peeking out at the group from the trainer's backpack. But the sight of that particular Eevee was pretty cool, seeing as how it was silver, a rare color for that species. Meant it was probably rare, and whoever that Trainer was they were super lucky to have found one.

"Whoa..." Trey said in a lowered voice when the trainer had gone, "...did you guys see that Eevee? I've heard of them being silver before, but that was the first time I've ever actually seen a silver one. So cool." he felt small kick at his shin, and he looked down at to see Glider giving him a jealous look, "Well, not as awesome as you, buddy. Never." the Gilgar then happily jumped back up on Trey's shoulder.

Sidine's braided locks of black hair dragged on the ground as she crawled through some bushes, her magnifying glass close to her face as she studied the earth beneath and in front of her for... something. Every so often, an excited whisper “Oh yes, yes, indeed! Perplexing!” came from her mouth. When she happened upon something particularly fascinating, she brought a finger up to her nose to take a long sniff of the residue. “Just to be safe.” She murmured, and smeared a long line of mud across one of her cheeks to join other dirt smudges left there previously.

She continued this way for awhile, having forgotten her original goal when she had first started on her journey to Windshire. It had been a long, arduous trip, but she had found ways of making it more interesting. Ramsey, on the other hand, simply plodded along behind her, a bored look across his face as he sampled the different types of plants and berries they came across. He'd bring berries for Sidine to eat throughout the day, just to remind his trainer that eating was somewhat of a necessity for living – something she forgot in her fervor.

She crawled along the ground, her magnifying glass still held to her eye as her cowlick popped out of the brush first, and then the rest of her body. She was hot on the trail of something amazing! She didn't notice the trainers nearby, nor their pokemon, as she continued down the road towards the Pokemon Lab on all fours.

Venipede glanced at the group, and then turned to follow his trainer in her pursuit. Though she was on her hands and knees, she was quite fast and Venipede had to shuffle his little legs faster than before to catch up to her.

"Well you certainly don't see that every day." Ian said as he watched somebody crawl on all fours in the direction of the lab. "I'm sure we'll get to meet that one at the lab later."

Ian and the other two trainers (sorry for just dragging y'all along, but there wasn't much else to do at this point) walked to a large building with its own wind turbine sticking out of the top. The red letters reading 'Gym' were plastered over the doorway and the sign a few feet away from the structure. For some reason, the outer walls of the gym were covered with graffiti. Instinctively, Ian attempted to walk through the automatic doors only to bump against them.

"Maybe it's closed?" He thought out loud as he gave the doors another try. In an attempt to confirm the gym's status he searched for any type of written sign or another indication that the gym was empty. Finding nothing, he turned to the other two and shrugged. "I guess nobody's home."

Sneasel was still inspecting the area around the gym to see if there was some kind of alternate way in, after a few seconds she returned and sighed with disappointment.

"I guess facing a gym as soon as we got here was a bit optimistic anyway." Ian said, patting Sneasel gently on the head.

Hadaron nearly tripped over a girl that was scuttling along the ground even faster than the venipede behind her, barely saving both himself and Tal from crashing into the ground. After he safely regained his footing and having successfully managed avoiding both the girl and her pokemon he spoke up, "Looking for something? And do you need a hand?" he asked offering the strange girl a hand up. Upon closer look she had dirt marks all over her face that even crawling didn't explain. Her long black hair was also getting all mattered with dirt, from what he knew of girls she'd probably spend a long time in the shower trying to get rid of that.

@Aphelion

Sidine blinked her eyes a few times, startled at the sudden human interaction. She had barely noticed Hadaron until he spoke up, but now he had her full attention. She took his proffered hand, more out of reflex than actually thinking about it. When she rose to her feet she pushed her glasses up her nose, and realized that they were smudged so badly she couldn't actually see Hadaron's features. She took them off quickly, wiping them clean on her colorful tank top, and then placed them back on her freckled face.

“Ah yes, much better indeed! Quite astute of you to notice, I am looking for something. Or rather, some-mon.” She chuckled at her own lame joke before glancing around at the area she was in. “Where in the blazes are we, sir? I do not remember happening upon a town...” Her eyes caught sight of one of the many spinning wind turbines before she put a dirty finger to her chin. “Ah yes, Windshire! How fortuitous. I believe introductions are at hand, sir. I am Sidine Damon, you may call me Sid however. And this is Ramsey.” She pointed at her Venipede as he crawled up the side of her body and took his spot on her back, his head just peeking over her shoulder. She leaned forward, and put her hand to her mouth. “You should probably call him Sir Ramsey, though...” She whispered conspiratorially, even though Venipede could hear everything she said.

“What adventure brings you to Windshire, sir?”

@Eklispe

Glider looked like he was about chirp a protest to what Ian had said, but thankfully Trey cut him off, "You're probably right. Looks like we'll just have come back some other time." he was disappointed, sure, but he still had the whole town, the Region itself even, to explore still so he wasn't about to let this get him down.

"So where exactly is the Lab, anyway?" Trey wondered aloud to himself, "I don't think we passed it by yet, so we can't be far from it, right?" he reasoned, coming to the conclusion that the lab must have been relatively close to the Gym. It made sense in his mind, at least.

Sid and Sir Ramsey hm? What an interesting pair. "I'm Hadaron and this," he said indicating the Ralts on his head, "Is Tal, we came here to start our pokemon journey in this region, I was planning on starting off by visiting the lab. My turn, why are you here? From you pokemon and the way you were snooping around I'd say you're an avid bug trainer but I couldn't guess more than that." Hadaron said curious to learn a little more about her. Tal leaned forward a little and peered inquisitively at Sid and her Venipede.

"It's not very far, it's that big building with the Pokeball over that way." Ian said pointing to the large building in the center the boat they had come from. "I guess we'd better head over there. Not much else to do in this place." The disappointment in Ian's voice was barely hidden, but it was quickly forgotten as he remembered that there would be plenty of gyms to challenge.

Ian brought up his map on his Pokegear to take a good look at the Kosei region, it was a large place, to be sure. But from Windshire it wasn't very clear which route would be the best to take. The two paths branched of in nearly opposite directons leading to Mesalon and Vareena respectively. While Mesalon seemed slightly closer, Vareena's grass type gym would give Sneasel a distinct advantage. Ian decided it'd be a good idea to wait until after the meeting at the lab to make a decision and closed his pokegear.

"Well, let's head over there then." Ian said before the group set off.

It wasn't very long before they were standing in front of the large building, the sign on the front clearly reading Pokemon Lab.

"It isn't a very creative name, but I guess it gets the message across."

(a small while later)

Several trainers were seated in the lobby waiting patiently for Professor Tsuga to arrive. As expected, the man was already running a few minutes late. several minutes later the door to Tsuga's office was flung open and the professor strode through looking as frazzled as ever.

"I'm glad to see you've all made it on time." Tsuga stated as he quickly glanced at his watch. A barely noticeable look of alarm flashed on his face as he saw the time. The professor shrugged hopelessly."Unfortunately, I was the one who arrived late. I'm sure you all have plenty of questions about this region and why it was so important for you all to be here for this...orientation."

"Well, yeah. From what I can tell all of us already have Pokemon and the usual travelling gear." Ian said. It felt kind of redundant to hold a meeting like this when most of the trainers were already ready to go and explore.

"Yes, well I'm actually rather glad that all of you do. You see, I've misplaced the pokeballs that would be holding your starting Pokemon otherwise." Tsuga said with a sigh. "But that's irrelevant, I had to get all of you here today to officially register you for the Kosei League, and answer any questions you have about it. You see, Kosei is a very dangerous place and to be certain that trainers can handle themselves in the more hazardous areas, many places require a gym badge to enter. I understand how inconvenient that may be, but between Team Tyrannical's sudden activity and the odd circumstances that have been occurring so frequently these past few months, it has become a necessity for trainers to prove their abilities and continuously grow stronger."

"Team what?" Ian asked, now slightly confused.

"Tyrannical, yes. I'm sure, you being from Orre, you are aware that there are many groups of criminals that like to band together and cause trouble." Tsuga said. "Needless to say, Tyrannical is no exception. They don't seem to be too aggressive in their actions, and their motives, if they have any, are far from clear. But it shouldn't be too much of an issue for you all. They don't seem to be too concerned about random trainers, and from what I've heard they aren't too keen about attacking children. If you don't mind, Ian, I'd prefer if you could keep all questions to yourselves until I'm finished."

Ian grumbled slightly to himself at the word 'children', but nodded all the same. He didn't like the sound of these Team Tyrannical people. While they probably weren't nearly as bad as Cipher, they would certainly be something to watch out for.

"Of course, despite all of its flaws, Kosei isn't at all a bad place. With its wide variety of Pokemon, trainers, and sights to see, it is a region full of adventure!" Tsuga said excitedly. It was obvious that this part of the presentation was all but rehearsed. As if to confirm this, Tsuga shuffled through his papers for a moment and once he found the sheet he was looking for, began speaking once more. "Well, I guess that's my presentation. If any of you have any questions before you leave, be sure to ask while we're all still here. I'm sure at least a few of you will share the same question."

@Eklispe

Sidine put her magnifying glass up to her eye as she peered at Ralts, but she froze when she heard what Hadaron had just said. A look of shocked realization spread across her face, her mouth forming into a large “O”. “Oh Metapods! The Lab! You're right, we must be going. We can't be late!” She beckoned to Hadaron as she began jogging in the direction of the lab, Ramsey clinging to her shoulder tightly to avoid falling off.



Sidine sat quietly for the majority of the Professor's presentation, occupying herself with wiping off her face and arms with a damp towel that became gradually more blackened with dirt. When the Professor was finally ready for questions, Sidine was more than ready to ask. “Why yes, Professor. I was curious as to a few of your points. Despite their obscure motives, couldn't Team Tyrannical still pose a threat if we were to obtain rare Pokemon during our travels? I have read up on villainous teams from other regions, and that seems to be their go-to tactic.” Sidine adjusted her glasses before continuing. “Would it not be better, in this case, to have trainers team up? For their own safety?”

Hadaron quickly followed after Sid not wanting to be left behind and they both arrived and had to wait several minutes with a couple of other trainers before the professor finally arrived and gave his presentation so to speak. Hadaron listened carefully eager to learn more about the region but was disappointing to find that they weren't told much. He was about to speak up when Sid began talking and covered the point he had been about to bring up. Though in hindsight the professor had never said they couldn't travel in groups, he simply hadn't recommended it. Hadaron agreed with Sid's points but decided to stay silent until the professor addressed the issue.

'Misplaced the Pokeballs?' Haskell thought,
'A bit unorthodox, this guy.'

He was seated along the back row, with Eevee curled up on his lap. He listened close to what the professor had to say. This business about a villainous team wasn't much different than what he'd heard about others in his travels, but he could tell by Tsuga's body language that something was off. There must be other details that the professor wasn't letting on about. Regardless, Haskell didn't ask any questions.

The idea of teaming up didn't excite Haskell very much, but after a bit of thought he decided that Eevee might appreciate having some other people around. Haskell spoke, "What do you think, Eevee? See anyone worth talking to?"

Eevee snapped out of her casual daydreaming and scanned around the room. There were a lot of choices, but nobody stood out to her immediately. She couldn't help but be indecisive, as Haskell had put her on the spot without warning. After a few minutes Eevee's face contorted in slight annoyance, then she buried her head under her tail.

Haskell raised an eyebrow, but quickly turned his attention back to the professor. He'd figure out the group situation later, but for now he was interested in hearing if Tsuga had anything more to say.

Tsuga grunted as he sorted nervously through his papers. "I knew I was forgetting something! That's one of the main reasons I needed you all to be here at the same time." Tsuga said. "Of course, while I would rather you all avoided getting Team Tyrannical's attention by seeking out rare pokemon, I couldn't possibly expect you to completely ignore your impulses and stay away from them altogether. Naturally, travelling in a large group could also garner more attention than necessary."

Tsuga brought out a large map of the Kosei region and placed it on a table.

"Directly East of here is the town of Vareena. The grass type gym leader, Nina, resides here. Then we have Mesalon to the North. This is where the Normal type gym, led by Kin, happens to be." Tsuga closed the map and adressed the group once more. "Both of these paths are perfectly viable for the start of your journeys. My advice would be to split up into two groups and head for either town."