I was outside of the Pokèmon lab alongside Cheren chatting about our recent battle.
"And that's how I got I got kicked out of my own house. Based on a true story." I said in a sarcastic tone
"Yeah. I never knew that a human being could learn how to use leer..." Cheren replied with a chuckle "...I wonder what's keeping Bianca this time..."
"She said that she needed to go home or something. Maybe she left something behind or just felt like saying goodbye one more time." I said
"Psh..I bet she's spacing out like she usually does right about now. She's totally flighty... You mind going to her house to check up on her?"
"Eh. Sure thing Cheren. Wait right here."
Getting to Bianca's house was no issue at all. It was practically right in front of me from where I was standing. Our town was so small that you couldn't really call it a town. It was more so a small village seeing that there were only four buildings and twelve people living there. Everyone in the town was already free to open their door, so I entered without hesitation and witnessed the scene.
"No, no, a thousand times no!" Bianca's father yelled. Bianca herself being the victim of his scolding
"But...I'm...I'm a good trainer who's got a pokemon and everything! I can totally go on an adventure." She yelled as she stormed off in my direction. Once she noticed my presence, she stopped and nervously adjusted her hat. "Oh...It's ok...It's fine! I'll be waiting for you in front of the lab okay" She left as soon as she said that, barely able to look at me.
"Bianca..." I said aloud to myself
"What nonsense is this? How can my daughter, who knows nothing about the world, be going on a journey with pokemon?" Her dad asked both me and her mother
"I-I dunno. The same reason everyone else does I guess." I replied
"What do you know about anything Tj? Name one good reason for anyone at such a young age should go through something such as this!"
Hearing him ask me that triggered a memory within my mind all of the sudden. It was someone's voice faintly echoing within my mind.
"Tj...Promise me something..."
I cut off the memory right there and turned my head harshly at Bianca's father, surprising the both of them
"You shut your dirty mouth!" I said to him before walking out of the door and slammed it behind me.
"Tch. What does that old man know anyway?"
After calming down, I returned to lab to see Bianca and Cheren waiting for me. I looked at Bianca and winked, signifying that her secret's safe with me.
"OK! Let's go meet with the professor!" Cheren yelled as he ran into the lab. Me and Bianca rolled our eyes and followed.
Within the walls of the lab, Professor Juniper was waiting for us in her chair making the finishing touches on a few items she had prepared for us.
"Hi there! I've been waiting for you young people!" She said as she got up and walked towards us. "Let me introduce myself again. My name is..."
"Professor Juniper? We know your name." Cheren interrupted
"Yeah. We lived with you for ten years..."
"And were your apprentices for four..." Bianca and I added
"Come, come, children! This is not a time to take things lightly." Juniper replied. "This is a day to remember always, so it is best to behave with some formality."
"That being so, once again, my is Professor Juniper, and I am researching when and how creatures called pokèmon came into existence." She told us. "Now, before we begin, let me see your pokèmon for a couple of seconds
We gave her our pokèballs and watched her release them and inspected the three for a few seconds before the three immediately ran towards us
"I see! You three have already had a pokemon battle! (That's 4000 pokèdollars lost)"
"What was that Professor Juniper?" I asked
"U-uh...I said that that's must be why your pokemon have already begun to trust you!" She nervously replied. "By the way, would you like to give your pokemon a nickname?"
"No thanks. Snivy's regular name sounds good enough to me." Cheren replied
"I'm no good at coming up with names, so I'll just call him tepig." Bianca replied
I took a good look at my oshawott for a few seconds and remembered something about him. "Hey, oshawott and his evolutions use the shells like swords right?"
"Yes. Though impractical, their scalchops make effective weapons." Cheren answered
"Well if that's the case, I'm gonna name you Sora!" I said petting him on the head, him seeming to like the nickname
"Sora? Wait, isn't that the name of that kid from Kingdom Luvdisc? Why choose that for a nickname?" Cheren asked
"Think about it. They both use silly looking weapons and yet they still go around kicking butt. I dunno, it just made sense."
"Well I think it's an adorable name! Right Professor Juniper?" Bianca said
"Yes. That is such a great name for an oshawott!" Juniper replied. "Now for why I gave you all pokemon..."
"It's for the pokédex, right?" Cheren interrupted once again
"Once again, we've all worked under you for four years, you've told us all this already..." I added
"True, true, but it's the job of every professor to make sure that young trainers like yourselves know everything that you need to before sending you off on a journey such as this." Juniper replied. "But for the sake of time, let's drop the formalities just this once and get to the main point "Tj! Cheren! Bianca! You will go on a journey to complete the pokédex, will you not?"
We all agreed without hesitation, pleasing the professor greatly.
"All of you, thanks! You have given me the greatest possible answer!" She happily replied as she handed each of us a small rectangular device with a screen on top and the design of a pokeball on the bottom.
"Heh. Kinda looks like a gameboy when you really look at it." I said before pointing it at Sora
"Oshawott: The Sea Otter Pokémon. The scalchop on its stomach is made from the same material as claws. It detaches the scalchop for use as a blade."
"Next, I need to give you three a reminder on how how to meet pokemon. Please meet me at route1, OK?" She said to us before leaving
"S-since the professor asked us, it's OK to go on an adventure right?" Bianca asked. "I can explore and maybe find out what I want to do in life. I think I'd like that."
"Of course." Cheren replied. "We can travel however we want while we complete the pokédex."
"For some reason, my heart is pounding Tj. What are you and Sora going to do?" Bianca asked
"I'm not entirely sure, but whatever we do, I know it'll show everyone how good of a team we are!"
"Yeah, I'm finally a pokemon trainer. I'll have real battles with other trainers and get stronger, wait and see!" Cheren said to us both
Bianca and I laughed at how excited he was before I got up and left the lab, Sora following suit.
"Heeey! Tj, wait up!" Bianca yelled. She and Cheren right behind me.
After we got out of the lab, my mom was outside the door waiting for the three of us.
"Oh, there you are! I thought you three would never leave the lab!" Mom said to the three of us "I figured going on a journey through the entire region would require you three to want to keep these Town Maps. Take the with you!"
She handed the three of us a small blue and device. I thanked her and placed it into my bag.
"I'll take good care of it." Cheren said
"Th-thank you so much!" Bianca nervously added.
"As for your room Tj- Or what's left of it..."
"Mom, I can clean up before I go. It's really no big deal."
"M-me and Cheren will help! It was kinda our fault..."
"Excuse me- OUR?!"
"No need for any of you to worry. I'll take care of tidying up." Mom replied. "I don't want anything like a messy room keeping you three from taking your first big step into the world. You three worked far too hard to be stopped now. You three have a great trip you hear?"
Three of us nodded and waved goodbye as we headed off.
"Wait, Tj! Before you go..." Mom stopped me and handed me 4000 pokédollars. "This will be enough for you to buy some items in the next town."
"O-oh. Thanks so much mom. You sure you wanna give this to me."
"You don't need to worry about paying me back. I'll get it back soon enough~" She said before sighing. "You look just like your father did back when he first started his very own journey back in the Sinnoh Region... He would've loved to see you now."
"I'll be sure to call him when I get to the next town mom. No need to worry." I replied
She giggled and gave me a pat on the head. "Bon voyage son. Make sure that you and that oshawott become a team your father and I can be proud of."
"Okay mom. See ya!" I said running off to meet up with Cheren and Bianca.
"Tj! It's this way!" Bianca yelled at my direction.
"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late. I had to say goodbye to my mom real quick, so what's up?"
"Bianca says if we're going to start a journey together, she wants us all to take our first step at the same time."
Bianca grabbed my arm and pulled me inbetween the two of them. "Yeah! Let's all take our first step through route 1 together!"
"Okay, here we go you guys!" Cheren said as we prepared ourselves as if we were about to race each other
Bianca counted to three and we all started running to our very first destination. Our very first step into the unknown and inviting. Whatever would happen next, was now completely our choice.
Somewhere in the Sinnoh Region
?: Hm?
Call from Hilga
?: *giggles* So...
His journey finally begins~