Every single day there was a new sensation. A new viral video spreading around the internet, a new song stuck in everyone's head. It wasn't too impressive nowadays to become a "big hit", because chances were the fame would be quick fleeting, and over with before you could blink.
Then there was Pokémon Go! This app had everyone bending over backwards, sometimes quite literally, running through cities and suburbs. People of all ages were walking around, phones out, in an attempt to fulfill their dreams of becoming Pokémon masters. As servers went up one by one around the world, this game dominated the charts internationally. So when the app finally became available in France, you can bet every cent in your piggybank that Adrien had it downloaded and ready to go.
The blonde was very proud of the avatar he had made for himself. He had successfully secured the username Chat Noir, and designed his character to look as close to himself as possible. Since there was no black hoodie, he went with the bright yellow one, with the all black pants, backpack, and headband, and the shoes with the tasteful stripe of green. The character itself had his bright blonde hair and green eyes.
Once his avatar was ready, it was time to pick his starter. Adrien grew up playing every version of Pokémon he could get his hands on. He had prepared his entire life for this moment. The second those three, first generation Pokémon appeared on his screen, he quickly tapped on Charmander. It was the obvious choice.
Despite it being ten o'clock at night, and not having patrol that night, Adrien quickly transformed himself into his superhero alter ego. With his cellphone in one hand, and his staff in the other, the masked boy launched himself over the skyline of Paris. He looked at the map on his phone, noticing the large number of blue cubes that littered the city. At large monuments and important buildings, he saw larger silver platforms. As he ran around the city from above, chasing the Pokémon he saw appearing in the "near by" tab, Chat Noir noticed these silver platforms slowly turning red, blue, and yellow. Those were the gyms.
A large grin appeared on Chat's face. Chasing Pokémon was definitely his calling. Screw modeling for his father's company, or fighting akuma, being a Pokémon master was obviously his destiny. It didn't even take an hour for him to have caught more pidgey's than he ever wanted to see in his life, but more importantly, level up as a trainer. He reached level five faster than he probably should have. When he did, he settled down on top of the Eiffel Tower, a spot that he knew was a gym. When he clicked on the large, currently red, gym he was presented with another choice all together, one he hadn't expected.
Select a team to join.
Chat Noir very carefully studied the different teams. Each of them had a short bio, clearly stating that they all stood for different qualities. Normally in this kind of situation he would pick his favorite color, but green just didn't seem to be an option in this game. He tried looking at the silhouettes of the team leaders. Another grin appeared on his face when he finally made his decision. He watched yellow flash over his screen, the shape of Zapdos appearing behind his avatar.
"Watch out Paris. Team Instinct's going to take this city by storm!"
It was no secrete that Marinette was a gamer. After participating in that competition a while back, she had become rather well known in the gaming community. Brawl games, RPGs, simulators. You name it, she's played it. Pokémon? Please. She learned how to read by playing Pokémon Blue Version. When she found out about Pokémon Go she was beyond excited. She was even more so the night it finally came out in France. She had been staring at her computer for weeks, watching memes and fanart coming from the United States, who had gotten it first, then the rest of Europe, before the servers were finally booted up in the Hexagon. She had it on her phone immediately.
Choosing the name LadyBug just felt natural at this point. There was no reason to pick a different name, and she figured someone would get a kick out of it when she started taking over every gym in Paris. Marinette designed her character to look a lot like her. She chose the hair with the blue tint, and the red outfit over black leggings, and black shoes. The backpack she chose was black and white. It was amusing how much it looked like her.
Marinette was extremely prepared to pick her starter when it came time for it. She had always been naturally drawn to water types, so choosing Squirtle was a no brainer. With her first Pokémon registered to her Pokédex, she was ready to explore the city.
Thankfully enough, it was her night to patrol. She immediately took to the rooftops as Ladybug. She launched herself to the top of Notre Dame, app open on her phone, and sat in her usual spot. From where she sat, she could look down and see how the number of people outside this late at night was definitely higher than a normal night. She could hear the excited shrieks, and see people standing in odd places, positioning their phones at their virtual targets. Since the population density was so high in Paris, and Notre Dame was a PokéStop, Ladybug just sat where she was. She learned very quickly the magic of lure modules. All she needed to do was sit in her usual spot, continue spinning the PokéStop when she could, and wait for the Pokémon to come to her. She could take a lazy patrol tonight after all. She doubted any of the happy-go-lucky nerds running around the city were about to get akumatized anyways.
The only time she decided to move around when when her lure module ran out, and she had an egg to hatch. Just like in the hand held games, eggs were hatched by walking around. She thought it was interesting that a specific distance was given. Five kilometers wasn't too long, especially as Ladybug. She could cover that easily.
By the end of the night she had caught and transferred many Pokémon. She had already evolved a rattata to a raticate, and a weedle to a kakuna, and hatched two eggs. Ladybug was rather pleased with herself. Reaching level five on her first night playing wasn't all that surprising to her considering just how far she had plunged herself into it from the get go. She knew what this meant.
Ladybug used her yo-yo to launch herself across to the nearest Pokémon gym, which happened to be above a fancy five-star restaurant. She clicked on the gym, which had already been claimed with blue.
Select a team to join.
Ladybug didn't hesitate to pick her team. She knew exactly which one she wanted. Ladybug couldn't exactly be seen in blue or yellow now could she? The large red symbol Moltres appeared behind her avatar as she selected her team.
"Valor huh? I like the sound of that."