As they followed a socially-inept scientist up a hill to meet a businessman impersonating a professor, the crowd hadn't even noticed Mariana Silva Camilo Coelho. Somehow, in this crowd of dull plebeians, no one had noticed the girl in her jewel-adorned, stupidly-expensive outfit.
Well, it was designed not to attract attention. And she was almost the shortest person there, and as such was purposely hanging a bit behind to avoid suffocating.
And as she realized, she actually was drawing a couple stares. Then again, by "no one", she of course meant "no one important".
Well, "relatively important".
OK, that's enough correcting myself for now, Mariana thought. She set her mind to the reason she came here, or rather (as she chided herself for correcting herself yet again), the reason she gave her parents to come here.
Supposedly, she, like this herd of commoners, had come to go on a Pokemon journey. First, they (untrained children, weary from travel) would be given a starter Pokemon. They would venture out into an unfamiliar wilderness far from home, train these Pokemon to capture wild Pokemon (and then train those Pokemon to capture other Pokemon, and so on. So Pokemon training is basically investment). Eventually they'd take part in a tournament to determine positions this "Professor Willow" was too cheap to find hired professionals for, as well as the champion. Then (she guessed) they'd do what they could've also done in, say, Kalos or Kanto, and take on the people they'd just lost to, and ultimately fail to beat the Pokemon League Champion.
The more Mariana thought about it, the more it seemed like volunteer work (setting up the Pokemon League, gaining nothing substantial/at all).
It puzzled her, why the opening of a new League was so entertaining a prospect to so many (her parents included), but the fact was that a new league in Saro would draw many people towards the region whether she understood why or not. And in fact, this was the actual reason she had come.
The Coelho family business, the Unicim Conglomerate, had already been eyeing the region with envy for a while, as rumors of legendary Pokemon had already made it a somewhat-popular tourist spot. But the D.E.P.T.H. corporation, owned by the Willow family, already had dominance over the island (understandable, as it was where their headquarters were), and undermining their control would cost more than it was worth.
But in a shortsighted attempt to draw more buyers onto the island and into D.E.P.T.H.'s grasp, Andrew Willow chose to have an entire new Pokemon League built in the Saro region. At first glance, it would seem like a good plan, but now Unicim was in prime position to strike.
Perhaps once this was over, D.E.P.T.H. would be so weakened that Unicim could simply acquire them in a friendly takeover. Mariana giggled at the thought, before forcing herself to return to her usual, false neutral-smile.
In the end, all she really came to Saro for was to set the foundation for such an event. Sabotaging D.E.P.T.H. operations would be simple, given the location of their headquarters, and her own, innate charisma.
Her only worry was that some other corporations might have had the exact same idea. Indeed, an international, free and all-expenses-paid trip to where your headquarters are is just a neon sign saying "Hit me, corporate spies!", in Mariana's opinion (herself being a perfect example).
These corporate spies could be anyone. It could be the Andre Bellamy impersonator. The person of unspecified gender. Professor Oak's lackey. Maybe even the tiny, pre-teen girl!
Mariana chuckled again at her own joke. No, no, no. Of everyone here, she's by far the least likely to be associated with any company, she guessed.
This girl was the only person shorter than Mariana in this crowd. Well, per se. The girl wasn't so much "in this crowd" as she was "following this crowd", and at an even greater distance than Mariana was. So Mariana couldn't help but wonder what reason she had to do so. Even if like me she doesn't want to suffocate, there's no reason to follow that far behind.
Eventually the crowd arrived at Willow's supposed Lab. The dullest, least aesthetic building in sight is Willow's lab? Color me surprised, Mariana scoffed. There was a windowless door leading into the building, matching the dull and uncreative tone the rest of the building conveyed. Reluctantly she entered behind the rest of the crowd, dreading being around so many.
And there he was, the soon-to-be bringer of his own family business's demise. He... seemed quite kind, and impeccably-dressed, actually. Come to think of it, from the point of view of anyone else in this building, an internationally-available, all-expenses-paid trip here was incredibly, absurdly generous of him. He seemed to almost emit an aura that shouted, "Welcome!"
Disliking him for the heinous crime of being a competitor, Mariana nevertheless respected the man's dedication to faking amicability, a dedication she shared.
It was difficult, even for her, to hate him in his presence, even when he used the same, tired speech every professor uses, told the crowd "I welcome you to the world of Pokemon" as if they were all newborns, and then made them wait even longer for their starter Pokemon, needing to go into another room to get them. Soon he wheeled them out and asked everyone to get into a single-file line.
When it was Mariana's turn, she did a quick glance over the selection. There were significantly less Pokeballs than there had been when Willow brought them out, as she was near the end of the line and most of the crowd had already picked.
Among the remaining Pokemon, though, there was one that it shocked her to see. In her limited knowledge of Pokemon, even she knew that Dratini was quite rare and would eventually become very powerful, so she was surprised that no one had taken the dragon-to-be yet. So she grabbed the Pokeball and walked away quickly to a corner of the room. She then peered into the Pokeball. Inside was a sleeping dragon.
It seemed the popular thing to do after picking a Pokemon was sending the new Pokemon out and nicknaming it. The room was stuffed already, though; her chosen Pokemon was the largest of the bunch, and she was wary of indirectly causing property damage. So, she resigned herself to waiting until she was outside to send the Dratini out. Despite herself, she actually felt disappointed.
She now needed to pick a nickname. What would be a suitable name for a Dratini? This Pokemon was to be her main protector on this perilous journey. Her first and best Pokemon, a pirate's first mate, the king's best and most trusted of knights.
"Lancelot," she said to the closed ball. "His name will be Lancelot." Inside the ball, Lancelot... well, seemed to react. It was hard to tell.
She took a moment to contemplate this new addition to her life. A couple moments, actually.
A few seconds later, when her cheek muscles begin to ache did she realize she was just standing there, grinning like an idiot. Worse, grinning like one of them. In clear sight of them! Oh God! She hurriedly wiped all emotion off of her face and reset it back to the default state of "diplomatic, false half-smile". At the same time, she made sure to reinforce in her own mind how she disliked everything having to do with these peasants. She wasn't one of them. She wasn't one of them!
In a few moments her mind reached status quo again. Relieved, Mariana cleared any leftover scraps of emotion from her thought process, focusing on her next task. Quietly clearing her throat, she placed Lancelot's Pokeball into her pocket, made herself presentable, smiling a half-smile and subtly keeping her head tilted back, and walked to Professor Willow.
Offering a handshake, in as amiable and pleasant a voice as she could muster, she exclaimed, "Bom dia, Professor Willow. It is a pleasure to finally meet you."