"We're live in five, people! Starters, you've got seven minutes!"

Everyone was in a scramble to get ready for the public exhibition. In a room on stage right, three Pokémon anxiously awaited their turn to wow the eager crowd. Not one soul other than the Professor and crew knew of their existence.

Grookey, the grass-type chimp, was quite curious. The Professor groomed him very well, but sometimes he had to be kept in check or he would go missing.

Scorbunny, the fire-type rabbit, was ecstatic. He was the most keen to impress, whether it was the Professor or the public. The secret almost got out because of him.

Sobble, the water-type chameleon, was nervous. He didn't take kindly to strangers, and it took a while for him to get used to his surroundings. The Professor and his fellow starters were his only friends.

In walked the Professor to check up on them. "Are you guys ready?"

Grookey nodded. Scorbunny leapt in the air. Sobble cowered.

"What's wrong, Sobble?"

Sobble was quiet. None of the Pokémon spoke, obviously. However, the Professor was an empathic man, and he knew that Sobble had his anxieties. He bent down to the tiny chameleon's level.

"Come on," he smiled, reaching out his finger. "There's nothing to be afraid of. You'll do fine."

Sobble was hesitant to reach out. He looked to his fellow starters. Grookey and Scorbunny flashed him encouraging smiles. With that consent, Sobble touched the Professor's finger. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. It was like a leaf that wouldn't break. It was like a fire that didn't hurt. It shared the tears of a wild reed. It was comforting.

"There now," the Professor gave a tickled laugh. "Do you feel ready now?"

Sobble dried his tears. He was ready.

"Camera crew ready! Take your positions, rookies! Scorbunny, you go live in two minutes!"

Scorbunny skipped to his spot at the stage director's request. Grookey leapt and climbed up to his spot. Sobble, on the other hand, wasn't about ready to let go of the Professor's finger.

"Come on, little guy, you have to go make everyone smile! I'll be here, I promise."

Even with the reassurance, Sobble was anxious. As the curtain lifted and the spokesman started addressing the audience, Sobble only felt even more upset.

"…And now everyone," the spokesman announced, "I'd like to introduce you to…our new starters!"

The crowd cheered as Scorbunny did what he did best. He parkoured up a large metal wheel and shot like a rocket to the sky, landing perfectly with a neat slide. He rubbed his nose and struck a pose, and there was much rejoicing from the crowd.

Sobble hid in an artificial fountain, and was supposed to appear at this point. However, he wouldn't blend out of his surroundings, and missed his cue.

"Sobble?" The Professor whispered from off-stage. "You're supposed to appear now."

Sobble didn't want to show his face. He couldn't live up to what Scorbunny just did. The crowd all liked him. How could they love a Pokémon as pathetic as him?

That's when Grookey played a prank. He made a loud noise, which spooked Sobble out of his hiding place. In a panic, Sobble ran in circles around the stage, nearly knocking over Scorbunny. The crowd laughed, and so did Grookey.

Grookey then scaled the walls to the visible top of the stage, and danced on top of a spire while waving to the crowd. As Sobble shuddered in embarrassment, the spokesman introduced them by their names. He didn't need to go over details, as the audience seemed to pick up on their personalities.

As soon as the curtain fell and everyone cheered for the last time, Sobble ran offstage in a fuss. His tears were so voluminous that they left puddles of water where he went. This angered the stage manager, who told the Professor to keep 'that wuss of a lizard' under control.

The Professor sighed. He knew Sobble wouldn't easily be comforted. He had to get evidence that people liked Sobble despite the embarrassing display he made onstage. He sent Grookey out for reconnaissance, hoping that he'd be a good monkey and come back with good news.

Outside, Grookey swung and leapt from rooftop to rooftop, hoping to find something that would comfort his miserable chameleon friend. He spotted a rather large crowd gathering around Scorbunny, who was posing for photos under the protection of armed guards. His fans were as lively as he was, if not more so. He leapt and swung over a couple blocks before the streets became less polluted with fans.

Here Grookey could hear the conversations of people from the audience. Many of these people had just finished getting photos of Scorbunny and were excited about picking him as their starter. He did pick up derivative opinions, however; a good number of voices, male and female, expressed a love for Grookey. This made his heart race with excitement.

However, not a single soul he eavesdropped on mentioned Sobble. He must have overheard a thousand people. Not one of them spoke about his poor friend. This made Grookey upset. Sobble, pitiful or not, was his friend. They were friends for weeks, and it didn't sit right with him that he wasn't sharing the attention. He had to keep searching.

He went as far as the outskirts of town, but conversations here became less about them and more about supper, evening pleasures and how beautiful the sky seemed to look. Grookey wasn't about to give up just yet. He had to keep searching.

By nightfall, he had surveyed nearly the whole town. He began to feel exhausted from maneuvering the city. Although it hurt him deeply to consider it, he had to go back to the studio. His friends had to be worried sick about him.

As he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, he thought he heard someone say, "Sobble."

His ears perked up. Had he finally found what he was looking for? He pursued the voice, until he came upon the window of a young girl. She had hair the color of soil and eyes like round, ripe hazelnuts. She was wearing a set of roomy magenta sleepwear, but she showed no signs of sleepiness. Grookey felt a strange warmth looking at this girl, the kind that reminded him of his first time meeting the Professor. He rapped on the window.

"Oh?" When the girl saw Grookey at her window, she rushed to to open it. "You're that Pokémon, aren't you? Grookey, right?"

Grookey nodded.

"You must be a long way from home," she smiled. "Where are your friends?"

Grookey couldn't speak, but the Professor did teach him how to act out gestures. He was able to explain the basic situation to her.

"I see," she sighed. "I hate to hear that he's so hurt. Say, how about you do something for me?"

She left the window for a moment, then returned with a sheet of paper. On one side of the sheet was a handwritten letter to Sobble, while on the other side was a hand-drawn picture of him. Grookey was taken aback by its exceptional quality. He almost believed it was Sobble on the paper.

"Take that to him," she requested. "That'll cheer him up."

Grookey nodded, and took off without a second to lose.

Back at the studio, Scorbunny returned backstage with a satisfied grin. He was so content with how well his performance went that he nearly forgot about Sobble. When he caught sight of the Professor, the situation all came back to him.

Scorbunny thought of himself as the elder brother of the group, taking charge of everything they did when the Professor wasn't around. Of course, he knew that such a relationship wouldn't last long as soon as they went public. They would be separated one day, and Sobble would be on his own.

Scorbunny found the Professor standing at the door by Sobble's room. He was having some trouble getting in. When the Professor spotted Scorbunny, he asked him to keep Sobble company while he went to look for Grookey, who was late. Scorbunny agreed.

While neither Scorbunny nor Sobble could speak as humans could, they still understood each other's cries. Scorbunny knocked on Sobble's door and inquired,

"Are you there, Sobble? It's me, Scorbunny."

"Go away," Sobble whimpered.

"Sobble, I'm worried about you. You're usually not sad for this long."

"You wouldn't understand."

"What wouldn't I understand?"

"You're famous. You like being the center of attention. Those humans laughed at me. They don't like me like they like you."

"Sobble," Scorbunny sighed, "You're taking this way too hard. Humans laugh when Pokémon make mistakes. They think we're all cute and stuff. I'm aware of that, so I'm not so bothered by it."

"Well, it bothers me."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. Can you please let me in?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you hurt my feelings."

"Since when did I do that?"

"Just go away!"

Scorbunny realized at this point that there wasn't much he could do. Sobble worked very differently from him. He hoped in his heart that the Professor would come up with something to calm him down. He was smart. He would find a way.

At that point a piece of paper grazed his floppy ears. He jumped and grabbed it, scanning its contents. It was an impressive picture of Sobble. He looked up, but he saw nothing above the rafters.

He turned over the page. On the back it read,

"Sobble,

You probably don't know me but I'm a fan of yours. When I saw you jump out of the fountain today and fall over, I thought you were the cutest thing. The other Pokémon were cute too, but there's something special about you. I hope you like this drawing I made of you. I think it brings out the best part of you. Even if no one else picks you as their starter, know that you'll always have a friend in me."

There was no signature. At first, Scorbunny was confused. Then he realized something. He went to look for a pencil. The Professor had taught him how to write his name for autographs. If he added something to the end of this note…maybe it would cheer Sobble up.

Just as he was about to write, he paused. Would it be honest to write his name on something that wasn't his? It was clear Sobble didn't care for him at the moment. He thought long and hard about it.

Moments later, Scorbunny slipped the paper under Sobble's door. He was sure that Sobble would feel better as soon as he read it.

Sobble woke up all moist and slimy. His entire bed was wet. He was lucky the whole room didn't flood. He still felt terrible after the events of the previous day. He didn't think he would ever feel better about it.

He noticed that someone had slipped a piece of paper under the door. It was probably the Professor telling him that breakfast was ready. He didn't have much of an appetite, but he thought the note would make great tissue paper.

When he picked it up, he dropped it in a near-instant. He thought he had just stared himself in a mirror. He had to look again to realize it was just a drawing. How lifelike was that drawing! The Professor could barely sketch crude depictions of him and his friends. Who could have made such art?

He turned it over. There was a great deal of human text here. Some of it was as elegant as the drawing, the other part was clearly the Professor's handwriting. He read this part:

"Sobble, we've been your friends since the beginning. You're a smart, sensitive, honest soul, and we love you for that. You may not think much of yourself, but the kind soul who drew this for you clearly knows what your best side looks like. If that's not evidence that someone in this world cares about you, wants you to do better, I don't know what is. I, in particular, am very proud of you. As much as I love all the Pokémon I've encountered in my travels and research, I don't think I've ever found a Pokémon like you. You're worth fighting for. You're worth protecting. Let us and this kind soul never let you forget that, even after your journey begins.

Lovingly,

Professor _, Pokémon Research & Development

Scorbunny

(handprint, clearly Grookey's)"

Sobble tried hard not to cry. He couldn't read half of the note, but what he could read made up for it. It was so moving that he had to drop the note again, jump on his sponge of a bed and cry. He never thought that someone would have loved him after that travesty of a performance. He felt elated, relieved that someone cared. So why was he crying?

"I'm such a crybaby," he laughed between his tears. "Someone likes me…someone really likes me!"

For the first time since he met the Professor, he laughed. His heart leapt like a child on Christmas Day. He had never felt so alive in his life. He had to share his happiness with everyone.

And share it he did.

A/N: Edit 3/18/19: Minor grammatical and descriptive edits. Normally I don't do substantive changes to any of my fics, but there was a small piece of feedback I thought would be worth acknowledging.