Kaminari twirls around in her desk chair, playing with her locks of brown hair and watching the ceiling as it spins above her. Her best friend, Cheren, pretends to read his book about the Elemental Apes, but Kaminari didn't have to look to know that he was peering over the novel at the box sitting on her desk. Both have the same question on their minds: Of all of Bianca's excuses for being late, I wonder which one she'll use today?
"Which one do you want to pick?" Cheren asks, not taking his analytic eyes off of the green bow which closes the box tightly. It calls out to him repeatedly, and it takes every fiber of his impatient being to keep his cool composure.
Kaminari continues to spin as she speaks, trying to hide the fact that she, too, is almost bursting with excitement. "I don't know." She responds plainly. "I'm not even sure what kinds of Pokémon are in there." Her cap slips off and she reaches to pick it up, but his next outburst startles her and captures her attention.
"You don't know? How can you live sixteen years, waiting eagerly to get a Pokémon, and not spend any of that time studying about them?" his loud, judgmental tone causes her to quickly scoop up her hat and whirl it at him faster than a Tranquil. The brim bounces off his arm and he yelps at the pain.
"Sorry I can't be a bookworm like you. I'm too busy having a life." She sneers. "Now give me my hat." Kaminari holds out her hand, expecting some rough fabric to be laid there.
"No." he smirks. "It's mine now." He places the cap on his head and bats his eyelashes in an attempt to mimic his friend. "I wonder what Pokémon are in that box?" he says in a high pitched, squeaky voice.
"You're going to wear a pink and white trainer hat on your journey? I don't think you can pull it off quite like I can." Kaminari retorts. "Now give it."
"Whatever." He tosses the accessory in Kaminari's direction. "It's useless to me, anyway. I'm the kind of person that people can look at and know that I am a trainer without frivolous Poké Ball accessories."
"You could really use a hat, Cheren." She settles the hat back neatly atop her hair. "It might finally bring down that cowlick of yours and keep you from catching on fire every time you travel outdoors." She scoffs.
He shakes his head. "So immature. So uneducated. So disappointing. How could someone as respectable as Professor Juniper trust you to care for another creature?" He raises his book back to his face once more. "Oh, it's because you never went to her lab to learn about your future partners or meet her. How inconsiderate of you."
Kaminari leaps from her chair and takes Cheren down to the floor with a headbutt to the stomach. He attempts to shove her off, but he's triggered her fury; they both know that it's too late now. "Take it back, Four-eyes!" she shouts, holding his limbs down and digging her nails into his wrists.
"Get off me, you barbaric idiot!" he yells, but she refuses to surrender without an apology. "Nari's mother! Get your daughter off of me!" he cries in the direction of the stairs. When footsteps are heard prancing up the steps, he yells "Help!" but is disappointed to see Bianca pop into the room, finally.
"Come on, you two!" she chirps cheerfully. "Today's not the day to dilly-dally; we're getting Pokémon!" she practically skips over to Kaminari's desk and kicks the still-spinning chair out of the way. The blonde plucks a note from the bow, scans over it, and discards it quickly with a huff.
Kaminari releases Cheren and stands, completely forgetting her conflict with him. "Says the one who probably swam to Kanto this morning just to waste our time." She strides back across the room to stand next to Bianca and stare at the red box with her. Kaminari trembles in excitement just standing so close to her future partner.
"What did the card say?" Cheren asks, brushing off the dust as he makes his way towards the desk.
"Oh, some nonsense about settling our choices politely. It seems like that advice went down the drain before you two even received it." She says, disapprovingly.
Kaminari rips the neatly tied bow from the box and flips the lid off to reveal three, shiny, red-and-white spheres. They glisten in the light of her lamp and reflect in the pupils of her admiring eyes. "Woah."
After a few seconds of the girls staring at their gifts in awe, Cheren breaks the silence of their gawking. "Well? What are you waiting for? Let's meet them." He grabs the ball closest to him and presses the button. The sphere opens and releases a beam of white energy, which shoots to the ground and takes the form of a little snake-like creature.
The green thing lets out a short battle cry before realizing he wasn't called out for a fight. It raises its chin and crosses its arms in disappointment. "Vy, Snivy."
Kaminari kneels next to it and lifts the tiny Pokémon in her palms. "This little guy looks cool."
As if she had just disrespected him somehow, the grass-type makes a "hmph" noise and leaps from her hands. He then chooses to slither up the back of Cheren and look down on her smugly from his shoulder, as if he had just traversed a massive mountain.
Cheren smirks and arcs his brow. "Snivy respects me much more- to no one's surprise. I'll be picking this one."
"Shut your trap." She mutters at the arrogant boy and narrows her eyes at his equally-conceited Pokémon.
"Ooooh, my turn!" Bianca cheers. She snatches a Pokéball and jams the button in, releasing an orange piglet next to Cheren. It's not surprising that the look of disapproval from the giant figure frightens the timid little piggy.
The poor Pokémon backs away slowly with her tail down and eyes wide. "T-tep, Tepig…" She backs into the arms of an ecstatic Bianca, who lifts her to eye level. The fire-type shakes in terror for a moment before relaxing and wagging its curly tail.
"Aww, it's so cute!" She squeals, exciting the pig. "She needs a nickname!"
"Call it Bacon." Kaminari laughs at her own suggestion while Bianca gasps at the thought and hugs her first Pokémon to her chest.
"How could you say such a thing, Nari!" she screeches. "Don't worry, little piggy, I won't let anyone hurt you."
"Nicknames? Phht, how childish can you get?" he murmurs under his breath. "Nari, don't you want to find out what's in the last Poké Ball, since you clearly don't know?"
"I WILL." She states indignantly as she rises. "And I'm sure this one won't be a suck-up, either..." she adds under her breath. Kaminari gently presses the button to release a blue otter with a scallop in his hand, ready to duel anyone who challenges its strength. the girl can't deny that its battle cry sounds outright adorable. The water-type's eyes sparkle in admiration as he stares up at his new trainer. He drops his scallop.
"Oshaaa…" he gawks. Kaminari laughs and scoops the Oshawott up.
"Hey, lil' guy. You wanna be my first Pokémon?" He tilts his head and nods quickly. "You're going be called… Tsunami." The otter gathers his scallop and holds it out in the air like a noble knight with a sword. "Looks like you've already warmed up to your name." Kaminari smiles gleefully at her first partner.
"Tsunami?" Cheren snickers. "Kind of a powerful name for such a weak Pokémon, isn't it?"
Both Kaminari and Tsunami are disgusted at the disrespectful comment. "Who are you calling weak? You cried out for Mommy just a minute ago, and it wasn't even your own mom!" Tsunami puts his paws on his hips and lets out a "Wott!" in agreement.
"Will you two quit bickering so we can battle?" Bianca says. "Inferpork is ready to fight!" The Tepig grunts her approval of a duel.
Kaminari and Tsunami both crack up at the name. Cheren and Snivy simply roll their eyes at the immature atmosphere of the room. "Inferpork?!" Kaminari shouts. "How is that better than Bacon?!"
Bianca's face turns Tepig-red. "I'm working on it…" Her gaze darts around the room, reflecting her embarrassment. Her partner nudges her in an effort to comfort the girl.
"Nari!" Cheren snaps, "You hurt her feelings. What do you have to say for yourself?" Kaminari wipes her eyes and sits up from rolling on the floor.
"Oshawott…" Tsunami puts his head and tail down, ashamed of his actions.
"No, it's okay. It made me realize how stupid that was." She stares down at her Tepig, who looks worried and concerned about her trainer. "For now on, I'll call you Tepig, okay?"
"Pig, Te-Tepig." She nods slowly and nuzzles her sad trainer once more.
"Well then..." Bianca perks up after merely a moment. "How about that battle?"
"But we're inside," Cheren reminds them, "If you wa-"
"You're on!" Kaminari stands and thrusts her hand out toward her opponent. Cheren shakes his head behind her as she shouts "Tackle!"
At his trainer's request, Tsunami rushes towards an unprepared Tepig, who jumps up on the table with the TV, knocking the device off the stand. "Hey! Get 'er, Tsunami!" The Oshawott follows the pig up the table and chases her to the very end.
"U-um, Tepig, use Tail Whip!" Bianca blurts. Tepig waves her tail like it's a white flag as she hops off the table, narrowly missing the Wii. She scrambles across the rugs and jumps up on the bed before she dives under the sheets in an attempt to hide. However, Tsunami is on her tail, and he squirms under the blanket after her.
A squeal emits from the sheets a second before Tepig tumbles out from under the covers and lands on her back. After a bit of shuffling to find the exit, Tsunami bursts out into the air and lands on Tepig hard. She squeaks and scoots away as Tsunami bounces off of her onto the rug. "Tepig, you can do this! Use Tackle!" Bianca cries passionately as she chews on her fingernails.
"Tsunami! Dodge and counter!" Kaminari commands confidently. Tepig charges at Tsunami like a wild boar, but Tsunami swiftly sidesteps just in time, allowing her to ram into the wall. While Tepig is dizzy, Tsunami jumps and tackles her from behind. The poor pig doesn't get up.
Bianca rushes to comfort her Pokémon. "Aww, sweet Tepig. Are you okay?" She peers over at her friend, who is holding out her hand for the Oshawott to smack. "Wow, you're already stronger than me…"
"Great job, Tsunami!" Kaminari cheers, oblivious to her best friend's sorrow yet again. Her partner blushes at the compliment and pounds at her open palm with his paw.
"Enough celebration. Take a look at what your Oshawott has done." Cheren scolds. Kaminari blinks and looks around at her room. There are footprints everywhere, her TV is broken on her ruffled rug, and pretty much the only thing still in place and intact is her Wii, amazingly. Mom's not going to be very happy…
"I knew this would happen." Cheren huffs. Snivy slithers down to stand on his foot and nods in agreement with his trainer.
"Alright, Cheren, now it's our turn. Loser has to clean my room. Will you and-" Kaminari squints down at Snivy "-your snake accept the challenge?"
"Gladly. I've nothing to worry about with speed on my side." He stomps as some sort of signal and Snivy dives off his other foot towards his opponent. Cheren then snaps and points at Tsunami. "Tackle!"
Snivy surges forward and takes Tsunami to the ground before pushing off of him to jump up on the defiled bed and await his next order. Immediately, Kaminari knows that Snivy is too quick for Tsunami to dodge any of his moves, but it doesn't look like he's as strong offensively as her Oshawott. "Okay, Tail Whip, Snivy!" Cheren commands. Snivy turns and waves his tail almost tauntingly.
"Now, Tsunami! Tackle!" Kaminari demands, but her Oshawott is already scrambling up the side of the bed. Tsunami leaps and practically belly-flops on Snivy just as he is turning back to his attacker. Snivy goes down, and Tsunami proceeds to jump on him repeatedly.
"Snivy! Dodge!" Snivy rolls out of the way of the next landing and slithers across the wall to the desk, where he shows Tsunami his forked tongue. "Now Tackle!"
"Stand your ground, Tsunami! Then Tackle!" Snivy shows off by climbing up the wall and across the ceiling to drop down on the Oshawott, who follows his trainer's orders trustingly by remaining still. Snivy smacks down on Tsunami, but now he's close enough to hit. As soon as he plunges off Tsunami and into the sea of blankets, the Oshawott chases after him, and right when Snivy spins to face him, he is tackled by thirteen pounds of pure power. Like Tepig, Snivy doesn't rise again.
Kaminari rushes over to Tsunami and scoops him up in her arms. "You're the best! Great job!"
"Oshaa…" he gushes and spreads his tiny arms for a hug.
"How could I lose? I had the advantage of speed and information on my side?" Cheren analyzes his situation. "Maybe I underestimated my opponent…" he rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Let me heal our Pokémon." He gathers the three starters and feeds them all sorts of medicine Kaminari has never seen before.
"Wow, thanks Che-" Bianca starts.
"Well, we'd best go down and explain that it was all Nari's fault." The boy speeds past the girls in a whirlwind and rushes down the stairs, with Snivy following close behind.
"Wait for me!" Bianca giggles and follows him out of the room with Tepig locked in her protective embrace.
"Hey! Cheren!" Kaminari calls angrily. She looks down at the Oshawott in her arms for a moment, relishing in the fact that she has a Pokémon now. Tsunami just tilts his head in innocent confusion. "Come on, lil' guy. Let's go."