---

Sully entered the reception of the Institute to find a lone desk sat amid a vast, open area. Behind the desk was a young woman, her black hair neatly tied up into a ponytail. She caught a glimpse of the young man entering the building and cast him a smile with her bright smile. Still taken aback by the sheer size of the Institute's building Sully was unaware of the receptionist try to grab his attention. She continued to smile a little longer before calling out to him.

"Excuse me sir. Can I help?" Her words snapped Sully back into the real world and he turned to looked her. He rubbed the back of his head and approached the desk. "I'm sorry," he said, "I just can't get over the size of this place."

The receptionist covered her mouth as she laughed trying not to seem rude. "It's okay. We get that reaction alot. While it's not the tallest building in Kanto it certainly covers the widest area. With the building itself and the grounds for the pokemon to roam in, it covers an area equal to a small city." Sully's jaw dropped as the sheer scale of the Institute was starting sink in. The receptionist giggled once more making Sully close his mouth.

"So I presume you're here for the trainer program?" Sully nodded in acknowledgement, he could feel his mouth getting dry as nerves started to set in. "So what's your name?" Sully provided a one word answer, the dryness of his mouth wouldn't let him say much more either way. "Sully." He took reached deep into his pocket and unwrapped a sweet, putting it in his mouth in a hope to stop his sudden onset drymouth.

With his response the receptionist focussed on the computer in front of her briefly, her fingers tapping away rapidly at the keyboard. When she was done she looked back to to him. "Ok great. So everything is in order with your registration. I'm just going to need you to head to the orientation room. If you head down the corridor to your right, follow the signs and they will take you to where you have to go." Casting a glance to his right Sully could see a long, brightly lit corridor. He turned back to the receptionist to bid her farewell. "Thank you for your help. Take care." As he turned to leave the receptionist spoke one last time, "It's no problem. Good luck on your journey."

Sully began to make his way through the corridors, stopping occassionally to peek through a window. One window kept his attention longer than the others however. Within it was a single scientist but he wasn't alone, the room was filled with pokemon eggs. As far as Sully could see the room kept going backward, endless rows of eggs being carefully looked after. Each was situated in a padded case with a name tag, but they were too far from the door to make any names out. After separating himself from the egg room he moved onward.

Rounding the last corner towards the orientation room caused Sully to stop still. The painted walls had made way for glass panels allowing Sully to see outside. He was presented with the sight of a wide open field flanked by thick forestry. At the far end of the field sat a small mountain that had a river running down it to a lake at the bottom. Across his entire line of sight were pokemon, their numbers nothing like anything he had seen before. Stepping forward towards the glass on one side Sully pressed his face against it trying to get as close as he could. The Institute had built what he could only describe as a Pokemon Utopia, a sanctuary for injured or discarded pokemon with it's own breeding program. This amazing... Lost to the world once again, Sully spent ten minutes staring out of the window. When he finally came round he walked the length of the corridor and entered the orientation room.

The room wasn't the biggest he had seen during his walk through the Institute but it was certainly as fancy. It was spotlessly clean from top to bottom, the tops of the tables cleared apart from two boxes. At the back of the room was a man wearing a white lab coat and behind him was a tube that disappeared into the ceiling above. "Welcome to orientation Sully." Hearing his name threw Sully for a moment before realising the receptionist would have passed on his details. "Hey there."

Gesturing to the boxes in front of him the scientist called Sully forward. "If you want to come over here were can get you set up and off to the waiting rooms." The soon to be trainer listened to the request and crossed the room, stopping opposite the table the scientist waited at. The man reached into a box and pulled out what was clearly a Pokedex, handing over to Sully.

"As promised in our letter here is your very own Pokedex. In addition to being a log of what pokemon you encounter it has additonal functionalities. It is a mobile telephone, GPS, diary, music player and has many functions. I could list them all for you now but you'd never get started on your journey." Sully looked down at the pokedex in front of him, sliding it open to reveal a simple menu to each function. "Seem's easy enough to use." The scientist smiled and continued on.

"Exactly. It has come pre-programmed to include the phone numbers of your emergency contacts and Professor Oak. In addition to this we have..." As the man spoke he pulled out a card from the other box, "...your OI Card. This will get you fed and transported anywhere in Kanto at no cost to yourself. In addition it can also be used to book you into hotels." Taking the card Sully gave it a once over before placing it into his wallet. Looking back up Sully was greeted by a handful of Pokedollars. "Take this courtesy of the Institute. It is entirely up to you how you spend it." Sully smiled as he placed the currency in hit wallet.

"Thanks for that. I can't believe of generous the Institute is being." The scientist smiled, moving to speak before he was interrupting by the sound of a buzzer. He turned around and grabbed hold of something from the tube behind him. Sully leant over to his left to catch a glimpse of what the scientist held, clearly making out the distinctive design of a pokeball. He felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of the small ball, as soon as he had it in his hand it meant he would then be a pokemon trainer.

The scientist spun back around to see Sully leaning awkwardly around him, laughing it off. "Excited are you?" Sully straightened up, looking around the room as a poor attempt to hide what he was doing. "Seeing as you can't wait i'll give you the honour of opening it up yourself." Reaching out the man placed the pokeball into Sully's hand, the weight of it not quite what he expected. He gave it a once over with his eyes before pressing the button on it. The ball opened and an arc of light erupted from it, striking the top of the table in front of him. As the light began to take form it started to become clearer just what Sully had gotten.

With the light now faded a small pokemon remained staring up at him with it's big eyes red eyes. The two looked back and for at each other for a brief moment as if both were stuck. Then in unison both let out a cry. "Yeeees!" shouted Sully, "An Axew!" With his excitement the Axew had yelled out it's own name as pokemon often did, before launching itself at Sully. It clawed onto his coat cimbing up it. Sully laughed as the small creature took a seat on his shoulder, reaching around the side of Sully's head to hold on. "It seems he likes you." The scientist was clearly stating the obvious, Axew had taken to Sully better than the young trainer could ever have hoped.

Sully turned his head slightly, being careful not to knock his new pokemon off his shoulder. "Hey Axew, my name is Sully." The pokemon jumped from Sully's shoulder with an overdramtic dive, flipping in the air. After it landed it threw a few punches into thin air. With it's last punch it struck a pose, looking back at Sully. The pokemon said it's name once before stopping the pose and taking a seat on the table. Sully laughed at Axew, "We are definitely going to get on well."

With Sully focussed on Axew the scientist received a phone called. It was only brief before he returned his phone to his jacket pocket. "Unfortunately i'm going to have to ask you to move on to one of our waiting rooms now Sully. The next trainer is here so if you could please exit through that door over there. I wish you and Axew luck on your journey." Sully nodded in recognition. "Come on then Axew lets go."

The pokemon leapt from the table and walked next to Sully towards the door he was directed to. As he passed through the door way a voice called to him form behind, "Don't forget to pick up your pokeballs from the table." Sully turned back to the man, "Thanks."

Just past the doorway was a table with packs of pokeballs on it, each pack with a name on it. Looking down at them Sully recognised the names as the other people selected for the program. He picked up his pack and placed it inside his coat. Once again he was in a corridor, this time it led to a small area with several doors. Each was numbered from one to six with an electronic sign above it. One to four said spaces while five and six said full. He looked down at Axew and spoke. "I'll let you pick the door Axew." The pokemon spoke before barreling towards door number three. It leapt up and twisted the door handle, it's momentum swinging the door open.

The room looked comfortable with its carpeted flooring and inviting seating. The walls were adorned with pictures of previous trainers who had gone through the trainer program in previous years. In between them was a large TV with the words 'PLEASE WAIT' emblazoned across it. Looking down to talk to Axew Sully was shocked to see him missing. He scouted the room before noticing the pokemon bounding towards a table in the far corner, the top of it covered in a range of snacks and sweets. "Hell yes!" Sully quickly crossed the room and began to stuff his face with the assortment of food. Axew leapt up next to him and started to tear into a selection of pokemon treats. Both paused for a second looking at each other, food smudged across both their faces. Without a word they returned to stuffing food into their mouths.

Minutes later both were led out on a couch nursing their overfilled stomachs. "You clearly like food as much as me." The Axew tried to speak it's name it response but instead let out a deep, wall shaking burp. The pair laughed before slowly drifting off into a deep sleep as they awaited the next arrival.

---

Lance was chilling in his apartment completely bored eating a slice of delicous pineapple deep dish pizza as he checking his email on his phone. He swiped away a bunch of emails from his job asking him to come at some social into the trash, but not before putting them into his spam filter. His pulse quickened when he saw a new email involving that contest he entered on a whim. It said that he'd won a spot and that a letter with some tickets to Kanto would be coming through the mail. Lance smiled as he took a big bite of his saucey pizza slice. Truthfully, he had forgotten about the contest due to his workload keeping him both busy and miserable.

He'd soon begin to start preparing for the trip as he both packed his bags and went on a shopping trip for stuff to go for this trip. The days would soon pass quickly but not without their own hardship, as his coworkers were both congratulating him and annoying him incessantly with questions about his plans.

"Hey Lance, you're gonna leave tomorrow. Come no tell us what are you planning for your adventure?" Mary one of his co-workers asked.

"I can tell you what I'd do-." Said John who was disappointed he didn't.

Lance interrupted with, "If I told you, that'd ruin the fun of the mystery wouldn't it?" He'd then finish working with his project group to squeeze out the finishing touches ahead of the deadline. As much as he was the least sociable in workplace they'd had to hand it to him that he was at least skilled in doing his job well and surprisingly quick. He then then idled around while waiting for his day to be over, eager to leave this overbearing workplace and get on the damn plane already.

Many hours later Lance found himself arriving in Pallet Town by ferry and made his way to very large building in the center of town. He adjusted his shades and slung his large backpack over his shoulder as he entered into the building ignoring everything in favor of getting this meeting or whatever they were going to do out of the way so he could start doing his own thing. "I'm here for the orientation or whatever thing we're supposed to do." He said to the receptionist.

"Thanks." He went on his way to find where he needed to go. Already this was starting to drag as he made his way through the nearly endless corridor that left him wondering why the hell did it needed to be shoved so far back. He wondered why they didn't go with the easy method of corralling them to some auditorium with a big speech and ceremony to go through before being set loose. Finally he saw a bunch of rooms where he'd be paired up with other people or something. Not wanting to walk anymore, he opened the first door and slumped into the chair listlessly as he started counting down the minutes he'd be waiting before this thing would start.

Malie glided her through the not-quite-angry-but-definitely-a-little-upset mob of Magnuses and Tims who had very much not recieved their admittance letter and were here to complain. Were Malie a more critical person, she'd have questioned how such an oversight was even possible considering this was, ostensibly, the biggest annual event in the entire Kanto region after the League finals. It was almost like this event had been organized by someone who didn't understand naming conventions or the importance of a home address. Malie, however, was in, and these people were not. That was all that really mattered in the end, right?

Nonchalantly parting the crowd, she emerged at the front gate before stopping and searching her pockets. Trainer passport, check. Letter of admission, also check. She flashed both to the security guard, who waved her through. Strolling into the lobby, she took stock of her surroundings as she approached the front desk.

"Hello, ma'am! Welcome to the Oak Institute, may I help you with anything?"

Malie continued staring at the vaulted ceiling. Was that Ferric-styled?

"Ma'am?"

"...Too harsh.", Malie mumbled, not bothering to make eye contact.

"I'm sorry?"

"There's no natural lighting in here, and the couches are only two seats wide and slanted towards the backboard...", Malie absentmindedly fingered the strap of her Slakoth-themed backpack, "...I wouldn't sleep here in a million years."

There was a brief pause as the receptionist regained her bearings.

"Ma'am, this is a waiting room. It's not the place for taking a nap."

"You can say that again. The decor here is really harshing my mellow. I think maybe if you repainted in a soft green it'd-"

"-Ma'am, are you here for the OI trainer program?", the receptionist interrupted through gritted teeth.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess I am. Malie Makana, from Alola."

"Thank you. Take the right corridor and you'll reach the orientation room."

Malie shuffled down the hallway with a yawn, eventually finding a room with a bunch of empty seats and some four-eyes who looked like he spent most of his time handing out six-packs of pokeballs. He cleared his throat, surreptitiously checking an electronic notepad.

"Hello there, and welcome to the world of Pokemon! My name is Professor Sumac, but people call me the Pokemon Professor! As I'm sure you know, this world is inhabited by-"

"-Cool, so I just grab these?", Malie said as she proceeded to ignore Professor Sumac and rummage through the boxes.

"I'm supposed to give those out, miss."

"...'Scool. Self service is the way of the future."

"Don't you... You know, want a Pokemon?"

"Oh, I brought my own."

Malie grabbed her bag and pulled upwards, revealing the Slakoth-themed backpack to be an actual, living Slakoth clinging to a regular bag. Of course, it moved so little you could hardly tell it apart from a stuffed toy.

Professor Sumac pinched his nose, sighed, and made a shooing motion towards the exit.

"Just- just pick a door, okay?"

"Cool."

Malie opened the door to Room 1, tripped on the threshold, and fell facefirst into the shag carpeting. She should probably have gotten up right away, but it was just so soft... Without a greeting or even acknowledgement of others in the same room, Malie and her pokemon quietly fell asleep.

There were distinctive sounds of rattling inside a dumpster, which happened to be located stern-side onboard a ship intended for the shuttling of other personages. One sailor, a gruff and rotund looking man who was dressed in white, cocked an eyebrow as he glanced at the dumpster. This dumpster was not the only one located in this section of the ship; it was one of many alongside other smaller containers. It would be clear to even a casual observer that this room was dedicated to the storage of trash until it could be proper disposed of. But this dumpster had made a set of distinctive rattling sounds. As such the Sailor had his attention focused upon it.

A man in an orange hard hat and a nondescript pair of overalls glanced over towards the sailor. "Hey, buddy." the man inquired as he began snapping fingers, "You daydreamin' again?" The sailor shook his head as he glanced at his partner in work. "No, but I heard something from it." The sailor reached towards his sized and grabbed his capsule device and began to flick it open, as he heard more rattling sounds come from the dumpster...

Turning the attention away from this scene and into the dumpster proper we could see the source of the disturbance among these rotting shrimp shells, styrofoam cups and other assorted garbage from leftovers. And the cause of that disturbance was Reporter Rebecca Pierce hunched underneath this cavalcade of debris slamming her palm against the pink spherical creature known as the Whismur. Pierce desperately tried to maintain two things here, keeping hold her microphone as to keep it from dirtying up any further and of course make sure that Whismur didn't shriek out as that would certainly get her caught. And she was not going to get caught, not here, not now.

"You little Crybaby." Rebecca growled out as Whismur again tried moving through the trash and away from the hand so he could properly show his fear. "Listen to me and listen goo-"

In the process of trying to stay keep her creature underwraps, Rebecca dropped her microphone.

"Oh come on!" Rebecca pouted before both hands to slam on Whismur's mouth. "I'm not going to let you get me caught as a stowaway; because that means I'll have to explain myself, maybe fight someone if worst comes to worst, aaaand pay for this. And I need my cash to maintain the website and the television channel so I can broadcast the truth."

Whismur's ears flickered as it began to look upwards. Rebecca grumbled out something incomprehensibly before slamming the ball down into the trash and digging deeper into it to hide.

...And back to the investigation we saw not the sailor opening the dumpster, but rather the hard-hatted colleague. With a wide gesture of the arm he gestured to the dumpster. "Come on and take a look." spoke the orange hatted man. The Sailor shrugged as he shrank his Pokeball back down to size and tromped over towards the dumpster. He leaned over it and began inspecting the debris which appeared to be nothing abnormal.

"Huh. Guess I must've heard some things." before slamming down the lid. The worker in overalls smiled as he patted the sailor on the back, "Hey it happens to us all, especially here. This part of the job gets boring buuut someone's gotta do it right?" The sailor let out a hearty guffaw as he nodded at his co-worker, "Yeah, hey when we finish up you want me to buy you a pop and do a practice battle?" Wordlessly replying the hard-hatted man gave a thumbs up.

After the suspected danger had passed, Rebecca began rummaging through the grime as she plucked out her microphone and began stroking it. "I'm so sorry that he had to make me drop you." Whismur sniffled a bit before moaning a little. Rebecca shot him a glare, "Don't you start crying now, we're almost off scot-free! All we got to do is sneak out and-"

However this particular bit of dialogue was interrupted by an action that wasn't suspected by Reporter Rebecca Pierce, as she alongside her Pokemon companion and the trash that they were hiding in was dumped outside the docks. Rebecca Pierce blinked as she glanced down for a moment processing what exactly was happening to her. Meanwhile, Whismur was yelling its little heart out while desperately hugging against Rebecca's leg in an attempt to get some sort of security. Pierce, after processing that this was not going to be pleasant, was also screaming her heart out as they made their descent to the trash island located on Kanto's bay.

Landing upon a pile of decaying matresses, and trashbags which immediately exploded upon impact which heavily stained Rebecca and her attire, the (freelance) reporter began shaking her head and standing back up. Rebecca looked towards the horizon as she saw the skyline of Kanto. Then she looked down to see what they would be traversing.

There was a large body of water. Rebecca sighed as she flicked a banana peel off her head and began brushing off as much sludge as she could from her shoulders. "...So we're going swimming!" Rebecca shouted with a determinate passion while Whismur sniffled a bit more.

...

Outside the Oak Institute was a small collective of people who were leaving the premises, obviously they were disgruntled, but Rebecca needed to know why. And so the interviewer not being dissuaded from being soaking wet from not-so-nice seawater and earlier trash shenanigans held out her microphone and began shoving it in front of everyone who was walking by.

"Hello! I'm Reporter Rebecca Pierce, would you spare some time for an interview!?" she eagerly exclaimed boundless with energy, but there were no takers. "Hello! I'm Reporter Rebecca Pierce, would you spare some time for an interview!?" she said again as she received dirty looks. And again for a third time she shoved a microphone in front of others and began her spiel. "Hello! I'm Reporter Rebecca Pierce, would you spare some time for an interview!?", she declared before her microphone was shoved by an bald man in a leather-jacket who had his eye twitching.

"Then why ain'tcha in that buildin kid!? STOP GLOATING!" He shoved past Rebecca Pierce as the Whimsur tried to hide behind one of Rebecca's legs. "HEY!" shouted out the reporter. Rebecca began walking towards the man in a stride of true ferocity, as Whimsur sensing the situation tried to pull on Rebecca's leg.

Glaring at the creature Rebecca then took a moment to glance at the Oak Institute behind her, "...Maaaaybe I've got a story here." And so she proceeded to enter the building with Whismur following behind.

"Welcome to the Oak Institu-" responded the receptionist before nearly gagging at Rebecca Pierce. "Euuuaagha, a-ahem. This place is a rather select an-" spoke the receptionist before Rebecca Pierce shoved a microphone near her and began.

"Hello! I'm Reporter Rebecca Pierce and I -" before she could even finish her introduction, Rebecca Pierce was interrupted by the receptionist who began frantically pointing down a hallway. She knew this name was one of the ones that were drawn today. While she might not have presented a letter, the receptionist knew one was enclosed to her, but more to the point the Receptionist was not wanting to deal with this woman for any longer than she had to. "Oh yes, you've been selected. Go down the hall please, an important man is waiting for you there."

Smiling at the success at obtaining this valid scoop, Rebecca spun on her heels and triumphantly marched down the hallway with Whismur in tow. The receptionist reached underneath the desk and grabbed an air-freshener before spraying it wildly around the area where Rebecca once stood.

....

Noting that another person had won the prestigious opportunity to collect a Pokemon, Professor Sumac smiled and began. Hello there, and welcome to the world of Pokemon! My name is Professor Sumac, but people call me the Pokemon Professor. As I'm sure you know, this world is inhabited by-"" Rebecca Pierce shoved a microphone fairly close to professor before bringing it back to herself.

"And how long have you been a professor?"

"I, what?"

"How long have you been a professor. Viewers and readers are probably interested in this."

"Three years, give or take, but I've only been here for a month. Ahem." The professor cleared his throat as he began from where he left off, "by Pokemon. We humans live alongside Pokemon as fr-" the statement was interrupted as Rebecca Pierce brought the microphone back to herself, "And what is your discipline and, what's in the box?"

"Oh well the box is why you are here, it contains a Pokemon and essential items for-" Rebecca Pierce shot a glance downwards, "Alright, I already got the crybaby." Whismur slowly looked from behind Pierce to the Professor. Rebecca grabbed a Pokedex and a card from the box as she spoke again, "So these are mine?"

"Well yes now can I-"

"Get back to the interview?! Alright! So we were going to talk about your discipline as a Professor..." Rebecca Pierce stated before, once again, Professor Sumac grabbed the bridge of his nose and pointed towards the door. "Why look at the time! I've got another individual coming, thank you for taking the time. I'm sure we'll finish this later!" began the Professor as he began shoving the girl out of the room, seemingly outraged that once again he was denied his time to give out the speech.

Rebecca Pierce pressed her face to the glass of the door and spoke, "Holding you to that!" And so she went down the corridor as Professor Sumdac slumped down against the door with his hands against his head.

"...Man I miss kids..."

And so Rebecca Pierce, with her creature in tow alongside the goodies obtained from the professor began passing numbered doors. She did not seem to show much reaction until she reached the Room Four, it appeared that the frame of it was scuffed. Sensing a potential scoop here, she swung open the door and held out her microphone.

"REPORTER REBECCA PIERCE, I'M HERE FOR A STORY!" she shouted out as she saw the room was empty, but it did have snacks. So she went inside and sat down in the chair closest to the door. Placing her microphone in her lap she began scrounging through the bowl of refreshments and eating. Glancing down she saw the Whismur salivating a little and decided to toss a few on the floor for her companion to eat.

A story was coming, and Reporter Rebecca Pierce was going to catch it!

Interacting with: @Menhir@Jerkchicken

Damian stood in place his nerves getting the best of him, to be honest he didn't expect to be called for the trainer program but of course irony took its place with him being the last pick. In front of the black haired boy stood the door to his mothers hospital room, embezzled on the door was a plaque reading 224. His hands and feet felt ice cold as he placed his hand on the door and attempted to twist. He knew after he saw his mother he wouldn't see her again for a while, he wouldn't be able to feel her warm embrace or give her a kiss on the cheek. The young man trembled in place as he bit his lip.

"Hurry up Dame! Before professor Oak changes her mind!"

His trance was immediately snapped By his younger sister pushing him threw the door. Looking out through the window, she turned back to her children with a smile. "I knew it was you two trouble makers outside. What took you two so long to open the door."

"U-Uh...I Um." he couldn't even form anywords he was so anxious.

Damian's mother began giggling at her son as he fumbled over his speech."You remind me of the first time your father tried talking to me. He was such a nervous wreck."

Being compared to his father seemed to do the trick, "Don't compare me to that traitor." In that moment he embraced his mother, he didn't want her to see him so weak in this moment. His eyes were a bit misty, "I got picked mom. They really picked me. I still can't believe it honestly." his eyes widened as his mother wrapped her arms around his body.

"I knew you would, you have a good heart. I've been prepared for this moment since you told me you would be entering the selection this year." She began playing in his hair remiscing on how big her boy has gotten, "You should get a move on.". Damian gave his mother a peck on the cheek before pulling himself out of her hug. He turned to his sister who was leaning against the wall with a malicious smirk.

"Mommas boy"

"So?!"

Mia held up her fist as she waited for her big brother to bump it but instead she got something different. Damian pulled his little sister into a tight hug which was very rare, they weren't big on being very affectionate to each other.

"I'll miss you too Mia, even though you are the biggest pain in my side...take care of mom in my absence please."

Mias eyes widened and her face turned a bit red as she was embarrassed."Alright alright will you let me go already! You're so embrasssing Dame!"

Shortly after he gave his final fairwells as he made his way to Slateport city to take the S.S. Tidal to Pallet town. He managed to pass the time watching the sailors battle with some Pokémon trainers aboard which made the boy think

"What if my Pokémon doesn't like me?"

His head sank before he decided to head to his room and clock in for the night at the thought. If he couldn't manage to get along with his partner in crime his whole journey would be for naught.

The following morning he had arrived in pallet town, with a large yawn he begangis track over to the oak institute. He didn't manage to get much shut eye and the bags that formed under his eyes clearly showed it. He managed to get some coffee from a nearby coffee shop to wake himself up as he traveled to the oak institute. Someway along the path all that was left was a thick brush of forest as he entered the large patch of land reserved for the Pokémon held in the institute. It was literally almost the size of Verdanturf town, these people had to be loaded!

At the front gate he could see a mob of bitter applicants who didn't make it in, he felt kinda bad that he was accepted in because he had a rather selfish reasoning behind entering the selection. Damian ducked his head through the crowd before showing proper identification at the security gate allowing him access. He could hear the mob booing him in which he responded by waving back at them before entering the waiting room. The first thing he noticed was...

That rancid smell! It made him vomit in his mouth a little, the young man held his nose before moving to the front desk where the woman was frantically spraying febreeze everywhere.

"I'm here for the Trainer program" his voice sounding extremely monotone. She signaled for him to go down a corridor and then to take a right. He bowed fowarded before moving down the hall and into the orientation room.

"Damian Grant reporting in" he let go of his nose as the smell wasn't nearly as strong. It seemed like the oak institute were rather lax when it came to Pokémon to the point where they let a Garbodor wander freely.

Professor Surmac greeted the boy before handing the boy a tray with an assortment of gadgets. Pokedex, OI trainer card, and some spare pokeballs. He even explained the functions in which Damian listened to unlike the others before him. The professor was so thankful to the point where he shook Damian's hands vigorously. He then walked over to a tube and handed Damian a pokeball.

"This is your partner in crime, let's hope your relationship is...electrifying."

No wonder nobody listened to this guy. Damian grabbed the pokeball before giving an awkward thanks and released the Pokémon from its ball. He noticed the prong like head the pokemon had first before meeting his partner eye to eye. Elekid let out a yawn as he had just woken up recently from, the yawn was contagious as Damian also opened his mouth wide and led out a tiresome sigh.

"Rough night? I'm damian, we will be partners from today moving forward." he said extending his hand. The hairs on his arm stood up as he moved closer to the electric type Pokémon. Elekid yawned once more before taking the boy's hand and shaking it.

Wow he is so relaxed and laid back only thing ruining this moment

Damian turned to professor Surmac he was starting rather intensively at the two. "How about we get out of here Elekid?" the yellow Pokémon nodded and the two walked to the first room along the wall. Not noticing woman plastered on the floor sleeping like a Snorlaz, Damian and elekid tripped over her leg and fell on top of her and her slakoth. The boy nearly crushed elekid, quickly he scooped his pokemon up into his arm as he broke the fall with his shoulder and crashed into the chairs in the room. Angered he began shouting at the girl who was laid out on the floor. He didn't care if he woke her up from her slumber.

"HEY! don't just lay down anywhere you please! If you didn't want to come here then you should've stayed in bed!" she has some nerve to be sleeping on the floor in the oak institute on a day like this. Even elekid was a bit upset by this woman he was shouting up a storm too."Bui bui Bui!" they were totally oblivious of the other trainer in the room as they let their rage take over.

It was a long trip from Orre to Kanto. But considering the invitation, it was worth it. No Snag balls, not as many gangs, and more pokemon, way more wild pokemon. And the offer of his own pokemon? Who in Orre could refuse something like that? It was nice that this institution also paid for his airplane ticket, although he wondered if they'd pay for anything else.

What was pretty interesting in Kanto, besides the land being full of pokemon, was all the mass transit. No need for a motor bike when trains were these. Magnus got a bit of a nap on the train ride to Pallet town, where he was supposed to meet this 'Oak' professor. He wasn't sure if Orre had a pokemon professor. They probably did, but considering the lack of pokemon there, they probably didn't do much. But there wasn't much use in thinking of that when Magnus had a whole new region to explore.

Now this Oak fellow... That was something different entirely. The introduction letter didn't say what he studied, beyond it being pokemon, but either way it would be interesting. Now why this was a lotto, Magnus couldn't figure out, but either way he was happy to be here. He made his way to the address The building itself looked fairly clean but wasn't that impressive on the outside. And the inside wasn't all that much either, but then there was no machinery everywhere or anything, but the open glass look was pretty decent.

After talking with the receptionist, Magnus made his way down to orientation. He was sure he wasn't the first one here considering the time, and he wasn't wrong when he saw a collection of pokeballs, some missing from professors table. He was a bit surprised that there wasn't anyone else here, but that made sense considering how fast orientation was. Getting a card, a pokedex, some pokeballs, and his new partner, then being directed to a room wasn't much of an orientation, but hey, they were expecting a lot of people.

While the orientation was fairly short and straightforward. In Orre, very few people had pokemon, and those that did had to worry about snag balls from the various gangs. Here, Magnus doubted any of that was an issue, especially considering just how much this institute was giving him and he assumed the other people. His new partner was something he had hoped for, a pokemon that basically was immune to snag balls and would eventually become a great buddy. And because of that, Magnus decided that he'd keep his new Ralts partner outside the pokeball unless absolutely necessary. AFter all, it would be nice to have a travel buddy.

Having his Ralts sit on his shoulder, Magnus took the first door on the left, the one with a #2. And apparently he was the first one here. Taking this oppertunity, Magnus sat down on the couch in front of the idle screen, and began to talk to his new partner to see if they could find some common ground and whatnot.

With a distinct "vwoort," a sleeping Abra and her trainer appeared in the lobby by teleportation. As Eddy drew near the reception counter, the woman watched him approach with abject dread. The lazy girl had been a handful, and the reporter had been worse. The guy in the sweatervest seemed okay, but quiet. The encounter with this one could go either way. There was that fancy-looking camera bag in addition to his backpack, as well as the fact the Abra was holding something under her arm and protecting it like it was her egg or something.

It was to her great relief when Eddy took out his Trainer's License and nodded. "Hey there. I'm Eddy Kaufman, she's Carrie. Where do I need to go for the trainer program?"

After the first two, the receptionist was confused. That was brief and courteous. No weirdness that was immediately apparent. In stunned silence, she pointed down the hall to Professor Sumac's office. Eddy gave a quick "thank you" before heading down, making his way straight for the office. As he entered, Sumac immediately launched into his spiel, taking out a Pokeball.

"Hello there, and welcome to the world of Pokemon! My name is Professor Sumac, but people call me the Pokemon Professor! As I'm sure you know, this world is inhabited by-"

Eddy was quick to interrupt, looking at Carrie before turning back to the professor. "...Dude. I'm 22. I got this speech when I was five. I'm pretty sure everyone got this speech when they were a kid."

The professor looked a bit flustered, tugging at his tie to loosen it. "But... but don't you want to learn about how people and Pok-"

Eddy, however, did not let up. "Like literally everyone else, I've been around Pokemon since I was born. So has pretty much everybody It'd be weirder if I hadn't."

Sumac scrambled to regain control of the conversation. So far, it just seemed like one of those days. "...Alright fine but don't you want your fi-"

Eddy reached down, and with a good deal of effort, picked up the Abra. for her part, Carrie snored a little louder. "I've been working with Carrie since I was twelve. Dude, there are literal preschoolers who have Pokemon."

Sumac finally threw up his hands in frustration, collapsing into the chair behind his desk. "...Just take your crap and go. I don't need to be reminded how pointless my job is."

Eddy sighed, feeling just a bit guilty. This couldn't have been what Sumac had expected when he became a professor. He sat down in the chair across the desk. "...Would listening to your speech make you feel better?"

"No! ...maybe a little."

---

Well, the speech had taken a while, but getting to go through it seemed to actually cheer the professor up a bit. And so it was that Eddy, Pokeballs and dex in hand, stepped into room 4 and immediately gagged before covering his nose.

"HOLY SHIT did someone butcher a tepig in here?!"

He stepped around the Whismur, taking a seat on the other side of the room from the smelly blonde girl. Still holding his nose, he turned the Pokedex to his partner to make sure it was working.

Abra- the Psi Pokemon. Average height 2'11". Average weight 43 lbs. It sleeps 18 hours a day. Even while sleeping, it uses various psychic powers, so you can't tell whether or not it's awake. It will teleport itself to treetops and pick and eat berries there while staying asleep. It senses impending attacks and teleports away to safety before the actual attacks can strike.

True to the dex's word, it seemed that while she was asleep she couldn't quite get the odor of garbage and investigative journalism that pervaded the room. She finally placed the object she'd been carrying around all day in her lap- a bowl full of milky-white creamy goodness- and psychically moved a spoon to shovel mashed potatoes into her mouth.

“What should I call you, huh?”

Dark green eyes met large yellow ones as Pokémon and trainer met each other for the first time. Samantha Riley leaned forward over the lab table, elbows resting on its surface and her chin supported by her cupped hands as she stared at her new partner. Sitting on the table in front of her was a small green quadruped with a brown shell on its back and a little leafy sprout on top of its head. And it was adorable.

Behind her a quiet, polite but clearly intended to be intrusive cough came from Professor Sumac as he tried to get her attention. “Uh, miss? I need you to head to one of the waiting rooms. We have other recipients arriving soon.”

Samantha didn’t seem to take any notice of the professor, continuing to stare at her new Pokémon while the grass type in turn gave her his rapt attention. “A cutie like this needs a cute name, don’t you agree? So let’s see.”

Professor Sumac pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. Why was everyone being so difficult today? Did whoever was in charge of picking the winners of this thing screen the applicants to find the most troublesome, strange or taxing individuals they could? It has all started so well with that boy and his Axew but then it had just gotten progressively worse as they day went on.

The tired girl, the one who smelled like wet garbage, the one who didn’t laugh at his jokes; it was just one trial after another. Not to mention that last young man who had made him question his entire reason for being here. And now there was this young woman who didn’t look like she was planning on leaving any time soon; he might have to deal with the next trainer while she was still in the room. At least she had let him finish his speech before requesting her Pokémon, though now that she was taking so much of his time he wished she had made him skip it like the rest.

“Oh for the love of- miss, I know this is a big moment and I appreciate that you are excited but can you please move to the waiting rooms?”

Remaining oblivious, Samantha continued to ponder this important and lasting decision. “Hmm, something simple would be good; short and sweet. Something that’s recognisable. Maybe something based off of Turtwig… no, Torterra! The name still has to work after you’ve grown all big and strong.”

Throwing his arms in the air Professor Sumac turned away and began to pace around the room while muttering loudly to himself. “I don’t know why I bother. I studied through eight years of hell at university to be able to call myself Professor, worked my ass off to get a position at the Oak Institute and spent all night practising that speech. Now I see why no one else wanted to do this, I thought greeting the new trainers would be fun. I should have known something was off when everyone was happy to let me do it.”

Samantha tapped a finger against her cheek, deep in thought as she tried to summon up a good name for her adorable Turtwig from the depths of her imagination. “Torterra, Torterra… Terra, Terra… Terry! I’ll call you Terry.”

“Wonderful. Please leave.”

Bouncing up from the table Samantha smiled wildly at her new Pokémon. “Yep, Terry it is. Now let’s get you out of here.” Stepped forward Samantha reached out and grabbed the Turtwig around the middle and lifted him off of the table before quickly transferring him to the ground. “Oof, you’re heavier than I thought. Guess I won’t be carrying you around very much.”

Walking towards the exit that Professor Sumac gestured her towards, Terry by her side, Samantha turned and gave the professor a happy wave before finally leaving. She followed the corridor, remembering to pick up her Pokeballs along the way, until she reached a small area where the room opened up and she was greeted with six numbered doors.

Picking one at random Samantha approached the door just to the right of the middle which had the numeral 4 above it. As she got closer she began to notice a rather pungent odour growing stronger the nearer she got until she was standing before it with her hand clamped over her nose against the stench. Cautiously pushing the door open she was hit by a wall of stink that almost made her recoil back.

“Oh god, what smells like a salty trash heap in here?”

Elekid had made a serious tactical blunder in joining his trainer's antics, one which became evident a few seconds later when Slakoth whipped around at lightning speed and slapped it into the wall with a heavy thump. Malie gave a muffled "I'm up, I'm up..." as she rolled face-up in response to the motion.

"Eyy~", she said, squinting and making finger gun gestures at the sweatervest kid and the intense-looking salaryman, her Slakoth already beginning to curl back up atop her exposed belly.

"How you doin, whatsyerface one and two? Don't bother gettin' up or anything, cuz I'm sure not."

---

Mark sighed as his boat came into dock in Pallet town. It had been a long journey on the ferry, since Mark opted not to get the train from the mainland of Johto, loving being on the water much more, even if he wasn't in it, and his journey time was increased. He disembarked, making sure he didn't leave any of his things on the boat - not hard, seeing as he only had one rucksack - and made his way to the laboratory where he was to receive his first pokémon.

Walking past the onlookers, some who seemed angry, Mark walked into the Oak Institute, and went up to the reception desk.

"Hi, I'm here for the trainer programme," Mark said to the person behind the desk, sliding over his ID and acceptance letter.

"Thank you very much, and welcome to the Oak Institute Trainer Programme, Mr Longfield," the receptionist said back to Mark, passing him back his documents. "If you just follow those signs to the orientation room, you can get off to starting your very own pokémon adventure."

"Thanks," Mark replied, and took his papers and went down the corridor.

As Mark made his way down to the room where he would receive the first pokémon of his very own, he looked to his sides, seeing eggs incubating, scientists researching, pokémon frolicking. It all amazed Mark, and he couldn't wait to pick up that first pokémon. Once he got to the room, he again showed his ID, and he was presented with a poké ball. He threw it up in the air, "Go! Pokémon!"

As Mark watched with excitement, a red glow appered from the poké ball, extending towards the ground. It formed a short silhouette until a pokémon appeared.

"Lotad" the pokémon said. Mark saw the pond lily on it's head and smiled even more, "Nice! A water pokémon!". Having no Lotads in Alto Mare city, as they were relevantly isolated, Mark didn't know much about them, and held his new pokédex up to scan it.

"Lotad, the Water Weed Pokémon. Lotad inhabit peaceful wetlands, like lakes and ponds." said the pokédex.

Mark bent down and rubbed his new pokémon on the water lily. "Heya, little guy, I'm your new trainer, Mark."

Lotad looked up at Mark, "Lotad"

Mark thanked the scientist who had given him everything, most importantly Lotad, and walked into the room with the number 2 on it. When he got in, he saw another trainer, sitting with another pokémon that Mark wasn't familiar with. Mark extended his hand to the boy, "Hi, I'm Mark, and this is my Lotad"

"One upon a time..." mumbled tall young man with bright red hair as he scribbled into a notebook. "Lived a young boy itching for adventure..." Continued the young man as he sat in his cabin on the cruise liner docked in Castelia Bay in Unova. "Argh! No no no! Too generic. No one wants to read that old school crap anymore." Victor Willows argued with himself as he scratched out the words heavily with the blue ink pen in his left hand. Sighing to himself he relented his efforts for the day and closed his notebook. Standing from the desk his room provided he stepped over to his bed to double check if he had forgotten anything in his backpack. Fresh set of clothes, check. Winter clothes, check. Swim trunks, check. Underwear, check. Extra socks...crap. To add insult to injury the sound of the ships horned blared from overhead signaling the ship's departure. "Looks like a trip to the on board gift shop is in order." Victor mumbled to himself as he scooped up his wallet and room key from the desk. "Yay! Adventure!" He mumbled dejectedly as he stepped out of his room. "What a great start to the novel. Our intrepid adventurer has forgotten his socks! Gasp, what ever shall he do?" Victor thought to himself as made his way through the halls of the ship.

A few days later Victor was stepping down the ramp in the shipyard outside Pallet Town. If it wasn't already evident on his face Victor was extremely excited. He was finally on his first day of his adventure. It had been 7 long years in the making, but he was finally going to be a true travelling trainer. The anticipation was killing him. The ten year old inside him wanted to burst out in a dead sprint for Professor Oaks lab, but he held true to himself. Overhearing a woman calling the attention of some elementary school kids to get in line for their tour of Pallet Town Victor took opportunity at free directions. Sure it took him longer to get to his destination due to having to trail behind so not to look like he was stalking kids, but he knew with as popular as the lab was they wouldn't at least pass by it. Besides he enjoyed what he could of the tour anyway. It was nice to see the hometown of one of the most popular trainers in the world. When they arrived to the lab Victor was in just as much awe as the kids. Sure he had been to Castelia City numerous times and the buildings there are really tall, but he had never see a building quite like the lab. Finally stepping past the kids to the gate they all noticed him and began to mumble shocked questions to one another. One finally spoke up.

"Hey mister! Are you a trainer?" A little blonde girl asked. Victor paused in handing the guard his ID and turned to the girl. "Not yet, but I will be thanks to the raffle." He mentioned. Hearing he won the raffle riled up the kids even more causing more kids to throw questions and excited suggestions. Like what pokemon did he ask for and what pokemon he should ask for and where he should or wanted to go. Victor was quickly overwhelmed until finally the teacher called everyone's attention using her Chatot's Hyper Voice. "Simmer down children simmer down. Let this gentleman go on his way I'm sure he is rather busy." Said the older woman with a reassuring smile towards Victor. He nodded thankfully and added, "Yes, I am actually a little late I think so I must get moving. Wish me luck." Victor then quickly made his way past all the kids, through the security, and towards the lab entrance. Once inside he was in awe once again seeing all the windows and halls leading to different departments in the lab. It took everything in Victor's power to stop himself from exploring every nook and cranny of the place merely settling for looking around and craning his neck around corners to see what he could see. "Um...excuse me sir." Said the receptionist vying for Victor's attention. "Are you here for the Trainers' Program?"

Turning toward the woman Victor smiled sheepishly being caught unawares. "Yes. Victor. Victor Willows." He said showing his ID and acceptance letter. "Lovely. Thank you for participating. Congratulations and good luck on your adventure. Orientation is down that hall third door on the left." She said offering a smile and pointing down a hall behind her. Victor returned the smile and merely nodded in response before making his way past her. Walking down the hall he saw more windows and doors. In one window he watched on as a baby Bulbasaur was born from an egg and tended to by a nurse and her Blissey. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Unable to look away he pulled out a notebook, different from the one he tended to on his trip to Kanto, and begun jotting down details and facts he remembered from his studies as a kid and made note to cross reference everything. Moving on he turned into the door he was directed to and found a man in a lab coat and a tired smile. Raising an inquisitive brow Victor walked inside. It looked like Professor Sumac, as he introduced himself, was having a bad day. Thankfully for him Victor happily allowed him to say his speech. For Victor it was nostalgic. It reminded him of Professor Bianca and her speech he heard at school when he was ten.

"Now it's time to meet your partner pokemon. You ready?" Asked the Professor with a much more genuine smile. Victor took a deep breath, let it out slow calming his nerves, and nodded with a excited grin. Turning around toward the pipe behind him the professor picked up the pokeball before handing it to Victor. Pushing the release button the ball opened in a flash of red light. A moment later a small furry Puppy Pokemon was standing on the counter. Seeing his new owner the pokemon barked and jumped into Victors arms happily licking his face. It was a Lillipup a pokemon native to Victor's home region of Unova. He was the perfect little fuzzball. Every adventurer needed a trusty sidekick and now Victor had..."Humphrey." Said Victor testing the name. The puppy stopped in its licking to look at his new master cocking it's little head adorably as if contemplating the name. Barking his approval Humphrey doubled in his licking efforts. After a few more minutes a happily fighting off Humphrey's assault Victor finally had enough. He hated doing it but it was time to draw the line. He grabbed the puppy by the scruff and looked him in the eye. "Hey that's enough. I love you too, but we are wasting the professor's time. We can play later okay? I promise." Victor offered. Humphrey looked down dejectedly then looked back up with the biggest of puppy dog eyes.

Victor started to feel bad that it lead to this then he realized what had happened. "Hey, I know that move I've seen it used before. Don't try lowering my attack with your Baby-Doll Eyes you goof leave that for the battle field not friends." Victor said reassuringly as he lovingly pet his partner showing he meant no harm. Smiling on to the new best friends Professor Sumac handed Victor his Pokedex, pokeballs, and OI card wishing him good luck before directing him towards the waiting rooms. Victor took the gear and thanked the professor as he scooped up Humphrey. Making his way to the waiting rooms he saw several were full already. Thankfully it was an easy choice as number two was his lucky number. Opening the door Victor saw there were two other occupants inside along side their pokemon. A spiky haired blonde guy with sharp features sat with a Ralts on his shoulder. He was being greeted by a red headed man with a Lotad. Victor let them be as the next thing he noticed was the smell of food. Following his nose Victor saw the table full of all kinds of treats for human and pokemon alike. Giving the other guys an acknowledging wave Victor stepped over to the table of food and grabbed a few bits of this and that before taking his seat and sharing with Humphrey. As they ate together it all started to really sink in. He was an official trainer and he was about to go on the adventure he'd always dreamed of since he was little.

Lance thought the girl had the right idea to go nap seeing as how long this taking to start. He too leaned back into the chair and started to try and take a nap. Such restfulness would be interrupted by the new guy waltzing in and spazzing out as he tripped over the girl with his pokemon, not only that but he also began yelling at her. Much to his surprise, he didn't expect for that slaking backpack to come alive and smack the little pokemon into the wall.

Lance was simply displeased with this newest addition as a cold shudder came over him. The thought that perhaps given his age he was assigned to these kids to be like a babysitter to them. Scowling through his shades, "You know kid, maybe you should practice looking at your surroundings instead of yelling at others for your mistake. It'll be good since we're gonna be outdoors. Anyway if you're go fight take outside the room, I want to rest and I got no interest playing babysitter with you two."

He then noticed from the corner of the eye that the girl who was napping pretty solidly was now getting up slowly. Rather slowly and much more relaxedly for someone who got tripped on. He didn't mind that much given how much this kid was spazzing out over nothing. She then spoke to them like nothing happened. "It's cool... Just wondering when are we going to start waiting in this room is kinda boring." He said to her. He then rifled through his backpack and took out an aluminum can. A "gashunk" could be heard as he cracked open a cold one and reclined into his seat. "The name's Lance Goodthrust by the way." He said casually in between sips.

Rebecca Pierce did not initially react to the first stunned exclamation of her hideous odor, nor to arrival of that boy. Whismur, however, took a good amount of care by skittering to the side while he kept his head down to the ground to devour the grimy covered snacks he was presented. However the girl did cock her head, alongside wringing out her tie a little releasing a blackened water onto the cushion of her chair, as she heard the noises from the PokeDex declaring factoids about a creature known as the 'Abra'. The investigative journalist knew she had something here. There was certainly a story from this, though the importance of it was unknown at this point in time.

As she grabbed her microphone and mentally preparing to batter the boy with questions, a newcomer had entered near the doorway. Whismur having just finished the dirtied snacks rose up as his ears twitched to this yelling about the state of her trainer's gross aroma. Springing up into action Rebecca Pierce took her microphone in one hand and pulled Samantha Riley into the room proper with the other.

"A REPORTER IS ALWAYS ON THE SCENT OF SCOOPS!" Rebecca Pierce howled out as her eyes began to twinkle with energy, as Whismur poked behind the chair shuddering. "NO MATTER HOW DIRTY THE LAUNDRY, NO MATTER HOW INSIGNIFICANT THE DETAILS, WE ALWAYS SEEK TO CARVE OUT THE REAL TRUTH FROM THE ROUGH OF USELESS FACTS!"

She held up her microphone to herself, "Hello! I'm Reporter Rebecca Pierce! You might know me from the website the 'Archipelago Digest', or if your local affiliate as long as it is a subsidiary of Hoenn TV, 'Piercing the Veil with Rebecca Pierce' at an hour most people refuse to deliver exclusive and topical information! Oh and for the both of you, I know you are wondering what that horrible smell is."

Rebecca Pierce paused for a moment as Whismur began to slightly more into sight from behind the furniture. "That smell is coming..." she waited for a dramatic amount of time, a short pause if you will, "From me! I obtained it during a session of investigative reporting; I never skimp when it comes to on-field reporting... not usually."

She gave a nasty look to Whismur who immediately retreated back behind the chair. "But that Crybaby..." snarled out Pierce as she continued on, "...began glowing a bright white during a filming session awhile back, which was ruining the shot, so I had to smack him several times before he stopped. Unfortunately for me I broke my filming device as it flew away during the correction to filming, so I can't guarantee you a spot on 'Piercing the Veil' but I can get you on Archipelago Digest!'

Rebecca began dashing between the room, as to properly get to Samantha and Eddy, as she began a barrage of questionings. "What's your name? Occupation? Purpose for being here? How did you get here? Are you aware of the cover-up regarding the Space Shuttle of Pewter? Or the cover-up about the -" Of course this frenetic pace of running, not that terribly long after swimming from the trash island to Pallet Town gave way to a bit of exhaustion.

Bent down forwards she began taking a moment to breath in and out. Whismur once again popped his head from behind the chair as she returned back to standing erect and once again wringing her tie of a lessened amount of murky water.

"The readers and viewers will be interested in your answers."

---

Sully awoke to see a pair of large blue eyes directly in front of his face, he instictively brought his hand across his body pushing the eyes away. "OI!" Rubbing at his eyes Sully sat up and looked at the direction of the shout. Stood in front of him was a girl, her hair long and curly, stretching down to the small of her back. It was an unnatural shade of purple, clearly dyed to suit her rather distinct style.

She cast a scathing glance at Sully, wagging her finger aggressively at him as she began to verbally tear into him. "Is that how you say hello? A slap to the face? Well I never!" Clamouring to try and get a word in Sully was met by an immoveable force of ranting. "I really cannot believe you would hit a woman! How can the Professor expect me to travel Kanto with you?!" Sully rubbed his forehead in frustration, turning to see his Axew rolling his eyes.

Eventually the tirade ceased. "Aren't you going to say something?" Sully tried to his best to hide the smile he could feel forming on his face, only managing to reduce it to a cheeky grin. "Are you smirking at me? You think this is funny?" The girls soft voice and hands on hips style of telling someone off was too much for Sully to handle. He finally broke into a rapturous laughter, clearly to the dismay of the girl.

"How can you possibly find this funny?!" Sully wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye before finally responding. "Look...you can't just put your face an inch away from someone as they're waking up because you're going to startle them." Judging by the girls face he could see that his words had registered with her common sensibility. "I don't actively seek out women to slap, you just startled me is all." The girls hands dropped from her hips and she rubbed the back of her neck.

"I guess it was pretty silly to be that close to you when you wake up. I was only trying to say hello." Sully stood up from the couch, his Axew doing the same. "Well let's start over and try to keep it slap free." The girls let out a muted laugh as a smile made it's way onto her face. She looked down as Sully extended out a hand to her. "My names Sully, pleased to meet you."

The girl shook Sully's hand and spoke. "I'm Celeste, I would say pleased to meet you but I did just get slapped." The pair shared a laugh before Axew started to prod at her leg. Celeste looked down to see Axew with his hand outstretched, the small pokemon not wanting to miss out on a handshake. Pulling her hand away from Sully's, Celeste knelt down and shook Axews's hand. "Hello there, my names Celeste." Axew said his name with a look of total and utter smugness, proud of himself for a reason only he knew.

With the introductions made the pair sat down with Axew returning to the table covered in food. "So what pokemon did you get?" Sully enquired, not seeing a pokemon with her. "Oh damn I nearly forgot." The girl shot up from the couch and launched the ball viciously across the room. "Wow you don't need to throw it like that!" Sully said as he mocked her. She turned and gave him a stiff jab into the arm before looking back at her ball. As the light emitted from it faded, there stood a Rhyhorn, half the small room now taken up by it's bulk. Both trainers looked at it with surprise as the pokemon turned to them. The trio shared glances of confusion for a brief moment before Celeste returned it to it's pokeball. "Maybe I should wait till we are out..."

There was then a monotonous tone emitted from the TV for several seconds before the face of Professor Oak appeared to reveal a message.

---

Magnus was busy talking with his new Ralts partner, trying to get a gauge on them. And while he couldn't understand his partner too well, he was at least trying to read their body language. This was fairly challenging too however, with the lack of visible eyes with Ralts and whatnot, but he got a bit of an air of sass at the least. While he was starting to talk about Orre, a new trainer came in with their partner, a Lotad. "Oh Hello. Mark was it? I'm Magnus." Magnus said, turning to face the newcomer and shaking his outstretched hand.

A few moments later, another person came into the room, this one with a pokemon Magnus wasn't that familiar with. This person had other things on their mind, only acknowledging the two before rushing at the snacks left on a nearby table. Looking at the food, Magnus figured a bite couldn't hurt and moved over to grab a few things before sitting back down. Tearing off a bit of one of the sweets, he gave the torn off half to his Ralts to much on while he did the same.

Curious as to the pokemon he wasn't familiar with, Magnus took out his new pokedex and used it to see what it was. The pokedex read back "Lillipup, the puppy pokemon. Though it is a very brave Pokémon, it's also smart enough to check its foe's strength and avoid battle." He doubted it was that smart, as it probably wouldn't recognize when it was snagged. As Magnus was eating another sweet, the screen flashed an image of professor Oak who gave a quick speech before giving them some sort of mission or something.

"Poaching? Never had that issue before." Magnus said, a bit curious as to how they were going to stop some poacher with fresh pokemon. But who knows, maybe these pokemon knew some moves he could be creative with until they got stronger.

A little yelp escape from Samantha as she was pulled into the room by a young woman wearing dirty wrinkled clothing; apparently she was the source of the stench because somehow the smell managed to intensify even more when she came closer. Cupping both hands over her nose and mouth Samantha stared transfixed as the girl screamed in her face, even as she wondered if she was going to need to change her shirt once this crazy person let go of her.

“O-oh, you’re a reporter? That’s… great!”

Unnoticed by either girl Terry wandered over to Rebecca and began to sniff around her feet in curiosity, something he very much seemed to regret as he immediately began spluttering and coughing before bounding away to hide under the food table.

Nodding along as Rebecca went into her introduction Samantha did her best to breathe through her mouth as she just tried to keep up with all the information. “Oh, so you’re from Hoenn? I’ve never been there. You’re on TV? Sorry, I’ve never heard of that show.” All the while she tried to back away from the self-described journalist without making it too obvious that she was doing so.

As Rebecca stopped to finally catch her breathe something she had said in the middle of her spiel caught Samantha’s attention. Something that was enough to make her lower her hands from over her nose and mouth and even make her step voluntarily forward till she was standing in front of the reporter again. “Wait, did you say you hit your Pokémon? Why would you do that, what’s the matter with you?”

Before she got an answer they were all interrupted by the TV. It suddenly blared to life to show the face of Professor Oak, who then began to deliver a message similar to the one which had enticed Samantha towards entering the lottery in the first place; adventures, journeying, seeing the world and gaining a new perspective on life. All of that good stuff.

But first, it seemed they would have a job to do.

Feeling her new Pokedex vibrate in her pocket Samantha turned back to the stink monster and pointed a finger at her dramatically. “I’m not done with you yet.” She reached into her pocket and retrieved the device, opening the new message to see what their first job was. “Viridian Forest?”

Interacting with: @Menhir@Jerkchicken

Elekid managed to put an arm up in time to block the blunt damage, it was set packing into the wall releasing a small grunt before regaining balance and sliding down to the floor safely. The Pokémon gave the slakoth a maliscious glare and did not take its eyes of the lazy pokemon.

Damian was still on the ground using the chairs to pull himself up to two feet, his sweater vest disoriented from falling. The only person who even heard what Damian said was Lance who instead of siding with him fired back at the young boy.

"Tsk, a Slakoth lying on the ground is expected but a human sleeping on the floor isn't normal by any means."

He watched as the main called him a kid and then cracked open a beer, the boy face palmed out of stress. Things were going so well! A little too well! This was expected, first elekid and slakoth then this girl sleeping on the floor, and now this guys is cracking open a beer. You would think people would be more professional about the OI program. The man sitting introduced himself as he sipped his beverage.

"Damian Grant"

Soon the tv mounted on the wall turned on and began playing a pre-recorded message welcoming the trainers into the OI program. Once the tv turned off the pokedex in his pocket pinged loudly indicating a message being recieved. Apparently this rag tag bunch would be designated as team red and would be heading to Dr.Aquarius on Cinnebar Island. After reading the message Damian placed a hand in each of his pants pockets looked over at elekid who has not broken eye contact with the Slakoth who most likely slept through the whole introduction.

The sweatervest boy turned to young woman who seemed to have been completely oblivious to what had happened while she slept or just decided to completely ignore it.

"It seems as though Elekid wants a battle with your Slakoth, lets have a match.

Malie herself up on one elbow and pulled out her buzzing pokedex, flipping the cover off and reading through the message as the sweatervest kid got mad about something.

"I dunno what your problem is, but I don't wanna fight nobody, 'kay? More importantly-", she started in her same dull monotone, turning her pokedex's screen to face the other two trainers and sort of limply shaking it in an attempt to show outrage, "-what the actual heck is this 'sposed to be? I joined this thing to get away from work, not fight career criminals. I totally feel like we're getting scammed! And this team name..."

Malie pushed herself up into what could generously be called a sitting position, as if to add emphasis. Slakoth tumbled down her stomach and came to a rest splayed out, upside-down against her thighs.

"...Like, seriously? 'Team Red'? That name is *distinctly* lacking in zazz. It is, in fact, a gaping abyss, utterly devoid of all zazz. If we're gonna be working our butts off I wanna be, like, Team Fire Red at least. Or Team Omega Ruby. Unno."

She cocked her head to make eye contact with Lance.

"Hey Lucian, we need a cool, ultra-zazzy name, pronto. You should, uh, do something about it. And maybe toss me a cold one, cuz I'm totally parched."