[@LuckyBlackCat]
"Yeah, is having been given a Pokeball and Pokedex still an option?"

Hmm, I don't want people to have to re-write their biographies, just because of this change. I'd LIKE all new trainers to go to Labs to get started, BUT it can also be [i]implied[/i] that whomever gifts these things to trainers got them from a Lab. 

I'm going to say, yes, being given a Pokedex/Pokeball from someone is fine, but if your character came from a location that doesn't normally have a Lab, maybe they can reference which Lab it came from within some IC post? Idk, honestly, it's not super important. I'd rather not worry about it too much.