"Dandi! Come on! You don't want the professor to give away all the Pokemon, do you?" my brother yelled from downstairs.
I grumbled as I dragged my feet down the stairs, the smell of burned bacon hitting my nostrils. Mom never could cook well. As I got to the bottom, I saw my brother smirking at me, munching on some toast.
"Must you nag me when I'm this tired, Fern? I had trouble sleeping." I said as Mom placed my plate in front of me.
"Why? You're not nervous about a little Pokemon, are you?" Fern responded, clearly making fun of me.
"No," I snapped. "I was just so excited that I couldn't sleep. You were when you got you're first Pokemon."
"True, but it didn't deprive me of sleep."
"Don't worry honey," Mom smiled at me. "Just eat your breakfast, then we'll go over to the lab. Oh, I'm so proud of you!"
"Mom! I'm not a little kid anymore. You don't have to walk me to the lab like a child."
Eventually, I forced down Mom's rubbery eggs and extra extra crispy bacon and Fern and I made our way to Sandgem Town. It was a little embarrassing having to have my brother leading me through the tall grass, but that would soon be something I wouldn't have to worry about.
Sandgem Town was farther than I'd expected. We ran into practically a million Starley and even more Bidoof. By the time we got to the lab, I was about ready to strangle someone. Thank Arceus Fern didn't make any comments until-
"Good thing we didn't panic, huh?" Fern joked.
"Fern, I swear to Arceus-"
I was cut short by a voice calling us inside the lab. "Ah, you must be Dandelion. Come in! Come in!" the voice said.
As we looked up we saw a stern looking man with a bushy, white mustache. Professor Rowan, naturally.
Fern smiled and began walking up to the door saying, "Hello, Professor! It's been a while hasn't it? How are you?"
The professor looked confused for a moment. "And…you are…?"
"Professor! It's me, Fern Buckthorn! Don't you remember?" Fern looked genuinely hurt. I decided to chime in.
"Aaron Buckthorn's son? We moved here from the Hoenn Region?"
I could see the realization in his eyes. "Ah yes, now I remember. You were the trouble-maker. Never could keep your mouth shut."
Fern's face flushed as we stepped into the lab. It felt good to have him knocked down a peg for once. Inside, lab aides were scrambling around working various pieces of machinery. Towards the back there was a tall, pale-faced girl tapping her foot, an impatient look on her face.
"You kept me waiting, Grandad." she said, tossing her platinum-blonde hair to the side. Then she set her eyes on me and said a little too loudly, "Nice hair. You dye it yourself?"
I blushed. I hated it when people talked about my hair. It had a spring-green color that I got from my dad. The kids back in Hoenn would make fun of me for it.
"No, it's…naturally this color." I groaned through my teeth. I really didn't want to talk about this right now.
"Oh, well it's an...uh…interesting color." she responded.
The professor spoke up then.
"Gemelle, this is Dandelion. She's also getting her first pokemon today." He chuckled. "I guess you two can be rivals if you want."
Gemelle, as her name was apparently, looked like she was holding back a laugh. "That sounds like a hippie name." she said just loud enough so I could hear her.
I was fuming, but the professor didn't seem to hear her. Fern however, had heard her just fine.
"Do you have a problem with hippie names?" he asked, a challenging look in his eyes. Fern could be really scary when he wanted to be.
Gemelle gave a hearty "Hmph" and turned away, before making one final comment.
"Shame, he's cute too."
The professor beckoned us over to a table in the back of the room. On it were two pokeballs resting diagonally from each other.
"I apologize our third trainer isn't here. He had to get his pokemon early for good reason, I assure you." he motioned to the empty space where a third pokeball should have been.
"It's alright, Professor. We understand." I assured him, although Gemelle was rolling her eyes.
The professor nodded and picked up the two pokeballs. He said simply "I must warn you, these are very rare variants, so please take good care of them."
He pressed the buttons on the pokeballs and out came a fluffy, normal-type pokemon and a not-so-fluffy fighting-type pokemon. But, something was off.
"They're…the wrong color." I noted, confused.
Gemelle rolled her eyes again. That was really starting to get annoying.
The professor nodded. "These are what's called 'Shiny Pokemon'. They are extremely rare and hard to come by. I had a breeder in Solaceon Town get me these. Cost me a fortune, it did!"
He turned to the pokemon. "This is Buneary, the rabbit pokemon, and Riolu, the emanation pokemon. They are the two I have left." He then turned to Gemelle. "I'm going to let Dandelion pick fir-" But she was already picking up a squirming Riolu and returning it to its pokeball.
"Hmm. I guess you're getting Buneary then..." the professor commented irritably.
"Fine by me." I huffed. "It's not like I wanted Riolu, anyway!"
Gemelle snickered. "I hope you like Frustration. Buneary starts with the lowest friendship of any pokemon ever!"
It was then that I noticed the Buneary scowling at me. It crossed its arms and turned away. Great.
After dragging my pokemon out of the lab, Fern said his goodbye (after I insisted at least ten times that I was fine and he didn't need to baby me) and flew off on his Staraptor. Gemelle strided off in the direction of Jubilife City, and I could swear I heard her throwing a raspberry my way. How mature.
I looked down at the Buneary, who still looked less than thrilled to be my partner. I had the perfect name for her.
"Roses are thorny despite being pretty, so I think I'll call you Rose."
Rose looked up at me, as if to say, "Do I really have to go with her?"
"Well, Rose, let's start our adventure!"