Chapter Three: Starter Pokemon

Leigh pondered why she had placed herself in this position as she walked through Amethyst City, two twelve-year-olds trailing behind her. She had never been too keen of children, refusing the few babysitting job offers that she did receive. What was she doing here, wasting her time?

Then Leigh got an idea. She wasn't wasting her time. Her golden eyes glimmered with just a hint of malice.

"So, how'd you get that scar?" Leigh asked Kata in a bored voice, examining the long scar running down the side of her face. Kata didn't reply – she merely scowled at Leigh and then tried to hide her scar by placing her hair in front of it.

"She doesn't like to talk about it," Keiji explained, saying nothing more. Leigh looked around. They were no longer in the scummy neighborhood they had begun in – the sidewalks were in relatively good shape and there was no broken glass anywhere. There was a nice little community park to their right, complete with swing sets and see-saws. There was a boy of about ten showing off a Goldeen to a crowd of preschoolers with bored expressions on their faces. Leigh smirked. She had seen Pokemon much more extraordinary in her sixteen years of life – and by the looks on their faces, the preschoolers had too.

"Here we are," Leigh announced cheerfully. Kata and Keiji smiled, eyeing the large Pokemon laboratory in front of them. So this was where their journey began. It looked out of place next to all of the row houses that lined the straight streets. It was a large white building, just beyond the park they had passed. It was rather plain, resembling an oversized cracker box house. There was a small walkway leading up to the unremarkable front door. Over the black, swinging doors of the entrance, "Amethyst City Pokemon Lab" was written in large gold block lettering.

"Thanks," Keiji said to Leigh gratefully, "I think we should be able to find our way now." Keiji glanced past the laboratory and down the street, as if expecting to see Leigh beginning to make her way down it at any moment now. Kata breathed a sigh of relief – she was nervous enough about traveling this far with the strange girl.

"Actually," Leigh replied, "I was wondering if I could come along with you." She smiled as innocently as she could manage. Kata held her breath. Keiji couldn't possibly agree to travel any further with Leigh, could he? She would have to sleep with one eye open, making sure that the girl didn't try to rob or kill them!

"Why?" Keiji asked suspiciously. Kata was glad that her brother had finally seen the light – he should be suspicious. He should have been when they first crossed paths with this girl! If she was looking for an excuse to ruthlessly murder the twins, Keiji knocking her over might suffice as a motive.

"Well," said Leigh, pulling a small package out of her coat pocket, "I'm meant to deliver this to Silver Town. I thought some company couldn't hurt." Kata examined the package. It was about six inches long and two inches wide. It was wrapped neatly in brown paper, with white ribbon tied around it in a sloppy bow.

"Silver Town – that's the other side of the country!" exclaimed Keiji. Kata supposed she had named this town so that she could travel with them as long as possible. She eyed her twin nervously, hoping that he wasn't seriously considering bringing this girl along.

"Yes," said Leigh casually, "that's why I thought some company would be nice."

"…All right," replied Keiji after some hesitation with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. Kata shot a disapproving look to her brother who in turn ignored her, and the three of them walked into the lab without another word.

There was a tired man sitting at a long desk in the reception area. He had thinning chocolate brown hair streaked with gray. Keiji and Kata recognized him has Professor Magnolia – he was their father's friend, and the reason that they were getting Pokemon today. The professor looked up at the three with a weak smile. He had paperwork all over his desk, and the bags under his eyes indicated that he had been working on them through the night.

"Hello Kata, Keiji – and who is this?" inquired Professor Magnolia in a weary voice, gesturing towards Leigh. Leigh looked at the twins nervously, wondering if they were going to say her last name. The Paradise family had a bad reputation for obvious reasons, and she didn't want the professor to begin bad-mouthing her family.

"This is our friend Leigh," Keiji told the professor. Leigh wiped a drop of sweat off of her forehead. She was sweating because she was nervous, but everyone else in the room thought it was because she was wearing such a heavy jacket on such a beautifully warm day. She could feel the stare of the professor's eyes as he looked her over as he did a double-take of her eyes.

"Nice to meet you," he said weakly when he had finished and then returned to the papers he had been poring over.

A girl not much older than Leigh suddenly appeared from out of a long hallway in front of them. She smiled, baring huge, pearly white teeth. Her golden locks bounced as she approached Kata, Keiji and Leigh as though she was walking down a runway, her hips swaying from side to side furiously. Leigh didn't bother hiding a scowl as she looked over the girl's spotless complexion and perfect hourglass shape.

"Hello!" she said to them cheerfully, "my name is Daisy. Professor Magnolia said you would be coming; Kata, Keiji and…?"

"Leigh," Leigh grunted, anxious to get away from Daisy and her fake cheerfulness. Daisy ignored Leigh's unpleasant tone and continued to smile. It was becoming more creepy than welcoming. Daisy waited as if she expected one of them to speak, but no one did. Clearly Daisy's approach had rubbed each of them the wrong way.

"Right this way then!" Daisy said to break the awkward silence and began to lead them down the hall. They observed that all of the doors seemed to be closed except for one on the left hand side at the end of the hallway. Sure enough, that was where Daisy led them.

It was a huge room, swarming with ten to twelve year old children, walking around to various bins and staring at the pokeballs, then putting them down again and proceeding to look at others. There was another girl, who looked much grumpier than Daisy, who was breaking up a fight between two boys who, apparently, both wanted the same Pokemon. She wore an oversized sweater and plain black trousers. Her bright red hair stuck out in all the wrong places and her face looked like it was being eaten by bad acne and freckles. But nonetheless she didn't look like she ought to be crossed – the angry glint in her dull brown eyes was unmistakable.

"All of the pokeballs are labeled with the Pokemon they can contain. I'm afraid that most of the popular ones have been taken… but you can choose which ever you like that's left! Once you have decided what you want, Diana can help you," she said, her gaze drifting to the red-haired girl who was now breaking up a fight, giving her a look that showed she disapproved of her less-than-cheery behavior and un-Barbie-dollish appearance.

Kata and Keiji mumbled something that must have been a "thanks", but Leigh said nothing and walked into the room, the twins following closely behind her.

"I'll just… wait over here," Leigh said, gesturing to a corner of the room. She had no desire to walk amongst the over-zealous preteens who were swarming over the bins of pokeballs. If the twins dragged her along she would have a look on her face not unlike Diana's in no time at all. Kata and Keiji nodded and disappeared into the crowd of children.

Leigh sat down on the floor in the corner of the room, twiddling her thumbs until the twins returned about fifteen minutes later with gleaming red and white pokeballs in their hands. There was also a third person with them.

"Hello," Leigh said, "who's this?" She gestured to the boy who was standing next to Kata. He looked like a rainbow compared to Kata, who was wearing a plain black-and-white outfit. This boy was wearing a bright red vest over a yellow t-shirt which was just as bright. His blue jeans were blue enough to blind someone and his red sneakers and hat topped off the ensemble of primary colors. He had bright blue eyes and mousy brown hair, and he looked as if his excitement exceeded all of the other children's excitement put together.

"My name is Travis!" said the boy loudly in a high-pitched voice. He looked relieved to have spoken as if he would have burst if he had spoken a moment later. Even though he had only told Leigh his name, she knew that she was going to wish that they had never met very soon. Perhaps this was her father's motivation for robbing innocent people of their Pokemon – this boy's reaction to robbery, Leigh imagined, would be so astounding that she would cackle for days on end.

"Kata has told me all about how they're traveling with a sixteen-year-old!" he exclaimed, clearly impressed that she was sixteen. Leigh smirked – what would he think if he knew she was in the infamous Paradise team? He would probably be impressed with that, too. Then a horrible thought crossed Leigh's mind.

"He's not…?" Leigh breathed, but she stopped when Keiji inclined his head slowly, answering her question before she had even finished it. She snapped her mouth shut, eyeing Travis in horror. The little brat was going to be traveling with them. Leigh couldn't believe that any human being in their right mind would accept this kid into their traveling group with open arms. She supposed that this was Kata's will, judging by the way she was beaming at Travis happily.

"So what Pokemon did you guys get?" Leigh asked, trying to hide her disappointment that Travis was going to be joining them, looking at the pokeballs they held. She could read the labels on each one clearly, but wanted to know how they felt about their Pokemon and the nicknames they had given them.

"I got a Weedle!" Travis bragged as if it was a legendary. Leigh snorted. She then looked at Kata and Keiji, making it obvious that she was much more interested in what they had to say than what Travis did. Perhaps she was a little biased towards the kid, just a little… but unfortunately Leigh's first impressions were usually right.

"I have a Pidgey," Kata said, "I named her Candie." She smiled at her Pokeball, looking satisfied at what she had received. She had, however, noticed Leigh's reaction to what Travis had said and was now frowning at her. How dare she be so rude! If Kata had had it her way, Leigh wouldn't have been with them at all.

"I picked an Oddish named Fern," Keiji told Leigh, sounding bored. Leigh could tell that he had been hoping for something a little more extraordinary. "But I wish I had a Weedle instead!" he added sarcastically. Leigh sniggered – Kata shifted her frown to aim at her brother. Travis seemed to be completely oblivious to his sarcasm, though.

"Well, you can't have everything!" Travis said, stroking his pokeball lovingly. This confirmed Leigh's first impression – this kid was a total git. She hoped that he was dumb enough to get lost in the forest, whenever they entered one. By the look on Keiji's face, he shared her feelings.

"Tell Leigh what you named your Weedle!" Keiji said to Travis. Leigh braced herself for something incredibly dumb.

"Oh, I named him Bug-Master," Travis said casually. A strange, contorted smile formed on Leigh's face as she tried to hold back fits of laughter. She had guessed that it was going to be dumb, but not that dumb. Keiji wasn't doing as well as Leigh at hiding laughter, muffling his laughs by stuffing his face into his new bright red Pokedex that matched Travis' vest beautifully. Kata wasn't laughing, but glaring at Keiji as if he was teasing a crippled man. She was usually amused by his jokes, but not this time. Neither Keiji nor Leigh had given poor Travis a chance!

"Well I think it's a lovely name," Kata said sternly and turned on her heel, heading for the exit. Travis looked at Kata confusedly, obviously not understanding what she was upset about. This dumbfounded look nearly restarted Keiji's laughs, but he restrained himself by thinking about how angry Kata was with him.

"Don't you have to tell that girl…?" Leigh asked, glancing over at Diana, who was now scolding a pair of frightened eleven-year-old girls who were clutching each other as if they were bracing themselves for a tornado. The horrified expressions on their faces were priceless.

"Oh, we already did," Kata said, not bothering to turn around, and continued to leave. Leigh got up and followed Travis and Keiji out, relieved that she didn't have to face the wrath of Diana.

Professor Magnolia smiled and waved as they left the reception area, but no one noticed because Travis was babbling on about how he was going to become a Pokemon master with his Weedle. Leigh and Keiji both wondered why Kata liked him so much.

Leigh had now taken the lead and was taking them out of the city and into a deep valley that stretched to the horizon. It looked quite different from boring Amethyst City – there were stretches of wildflowers, bright green patches of tall grass, and Leigh thought she saw the glimmer of water somewhere in the distance. Perhaps they could lose Travis in the tall grass, Leigh mused.

As Travis continued to brag (Leigh was wondering how he could think up things to boost his ego so quickly), Keiji mumbled something of which the only words Leigh could make out were "Travis" and "bighead". Kata, however, was grinning madly at Travis, staring at him as if he was an amazing piece of art. Yeah, he's a piece of work, Leigh thought with a silent laugh as they descended into the valley. It was going to be a long day.