The remaining five decided to split up and search the field for their own starters. There were so many running, walking, and sitting around that any inclination towards any of the three that they had to pick from just yesterday was starting to fly out the window. Who know what they might find today?
Partial to the strategy utilized by grass types, Gretchen kept an eye out for green colored Pokemon. There were so many all about, so much that part of her wanted to stop and study each one, but she would be here for months if she did. Ideally, Gretchen hoped to find a Bulbasaur. It was her go to starter, and never failed her. However, the only glance she had at one was when spotted one following Guru Kid back inside.
She looked around again, and spotted a pale green quadruped Pokemon making its way out of the bushes that lined the fence. It was small green buds around its neck, as well as a healthy green leaf sprouting out of its head. It began to attempting pulling at some of the berries growing on the bush. When that didn't work, it settled with resting on the grass and stretching out its leaf towards the sun.
"A Pokemon directly utilizing photosynthesis," she pondered. "That could be quite useful." Gretchen walked through the crowd and approached the small green creature. She stayed as quiet as possible to not startle it. It did, however, wake up from its brief nap when her shadow blocked the sunlight. Seeing that it was not alone anymore, it jumped back onto it's stubby little legs.
"It's okay! I didn't mean to interrupt your nap," She said. "Please don't run away." Gretchen knelt down, and luckily, it didn't run off. "I'm looking for a starter to join me on my adventure with my friends. I was hoping that you would join me."
"Chiko?" The Pokemon tilted its head.
"You didn't understand a word I said, did you?" Gretchen asked, halfheartedly. "Right. . .would you like to travel with me? You're quite adorable, and it can be fun."
"Chika!"
Gretchen was taken aback with the small Pokemon jumped into her arms and nuzzled against her.
ZZZ
Going in, Spinelli didn't have any preference to any of the starters she knew of. Sure, between the three types, she liked fire types, but did she like Charizard? Not really, but good luck to Vince or whatever. There were plenty of others to pick from with what she saw, why stick to what she was used to?
"Ahh! What a cutie!" Spinelli cringed at the squeal of Ashley A's voice. The ringleader of the bane of her existence held a small black cat with red fur on its face and stripes on its legs in her arms. The other Ashley's gathered around to coo and pet Ashley A's chosen starter.
It was clear that the Pokemon did not like this attention, and squirmed in her arms, trying to get away. A few well placed scratched and thrashing made Ashley A shriek and drop it. The small can ran, surprisingly towards Spinelli. It ducked, hiding behind her boots, and hissed towards the four girls.
"Hey, little guy," she said crouching down. Rather than pick him up, she scratched the top of the Pokemon's head. "You don't like those girls either, huh? Can't say I blame you." She looked over to the four of them. Ashley B, T, and Q were trying fix Ashley A's hands that took the brunt of the damage. "She'll be fine. You might want to find a better place to hide if you don't want a trainer." She stood back up and continued searching for her starters. Three steps into it, and a small weight landed on her shoulders. "What the-!"
She reached up and pulled of the same black cat.
"What's your deal?" She asked. "You don't want to come with me, do you?" The Pokemon meowed in response. "I dunno. . ." The kitten jumped out her hands and back onto her shoulders. "Okay, okay! I guess you're my starter, then. Besides, we already have something in common."
She looked back at the Ashley's again. They already moved on to search for another starter.
ZZZ
"Dad said to get a strong one," Gus said. As he walked through the yard, he looked around at the other kids picking their starter. Most of them, he never saw most of them before. If they were anything like the show, the water types would be blue, the grass types green, and the red types red or orange.
Out of the three, he felt safest with a grass type. Fire could burn you, and Water could easily drown you. Grass, at worst, would cause some sort of allergic reaction, but his knowledge of first aid nullified his fears of that. So, as far as he knew, a grass type would be the best for him.
He spotted a green turtle-like Pokemon with a brown shell and a twig growing out of its head.
"A turtle! That would be perfect!" Gus said. He began to make his way over to the Pokemon, until he saw it run over to Phil. He watched the cub scout pick it up, pat its head, and walk back inside. "Guess I'm not getting that one. . ." Sighing, he started looking again.
Scanning the yard, he spotted a small yellow Pokemon scatter under a bench on the edge of the yard with an armful of food. Curious, he walked over to it past all the other kids. Kneeling down, he looked under. He was a small, mostly yellow Pokemon, with triangle shaped ears and the fur on the tips and around its neck were black. A red circle sat on each of its cheeks. Its tail was small and black with a single arch.
'It sort of looks like a Pikachu, but smaller,' he thought. "Hi there," Gus said. That got the Pokemon's attention as it turned to him. It jumped up and guarded its collection of berries. "Don't worry! I was just wondering why you were hiding under here." Gus reached out for it, but the small creature shocked him.
"Chu!" It cried out, releasing a small electric jolt from its cheeks. Gus pulled back. It didn't hurt more that a strong static shock, but it was still a surprise. Looking back, Gus saw that the Pokemon was panting after that small attack.
"You didn't hurt yourself, did you?" Gus asked. "You should do inside if you are. I'm sure professor Kelso can help you." The small yellow Pokemon went back on the defense, guarding its collection on berries. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. Are you hding here to none of the other Pokemon will take your food?" Gus stood back up. Spotting a few colorful berries in the bushes around, he picked a few and crouched back down to peak under the bench. "Here. You can have these."
The Pokemon hesitated, looking back and forth between what it had gathered and what was in his hands. Eventually it crawled over to Gus, sniffed the berries in his hands, and took one.
"Hey, how about you come with me? I'd make sure you'd have plenty of food," Gus offered. "I'd take real good care of you, too." The Pokemon looked at the berry it was eating and Gus. He quickly munched the last of its snack before running into Gu's arms.
"Chu~" It's cried, snuggling into his shirt.
"Thanks for deciding to come with me! We're going to make it all the way to the elite four, okay buddy?"
"How about I call you. . ..Shocker? Since you shocked me a few minutes ago," Gus said. The Pokemon cried out in joy. "Great! Now let's go find the others. . ."
ZZZ
As soon as Vince stepped in the backyard, he scanned the area for any sign of a Charmander. A bit of orange, a flaming tail, anything! He quickly learned that those two criteria wasn't specific enough. Maybe they were gone already. He wasn't the only one who knew how cool Charizard was.
"C'mon, there's gotta be at least ONE left," He muttered, walking through the yard.
"Watch out!" Someone shouted. Vince looked up and saw a soccer ball flying through the air. He caught it with ease, and looked around for who could possibly be playing soccer in a yard this crowded. He paused, noticing how small the ball actually was; at least half the size of a normal soccer bunny.
"Bun-bun!" A Pokemon cried as it run up to him. A bipedal rabbit, it had mostly white fur, with orange and red at the tips of its ears and ends of its feet.
"Is this yours?" Vince asked.
"Bun!" The Pokemon said, reaching up for the ball.
"Alright, here." Vince tossed the ball over to the Pokemon, who, instead of catching it, bounced it back and forth on its feet. "Hey, that's pretty cool."
The rabbit Pokemon switched from its feet to bouncing the ball on the top of it's head. After a few bounces, it was sent right towards Vince. He easily bounced it on one foot, more like a hacky sack than a soccer ball.
By the look of things, there were no more Charmanders to be chosen. As cool as he thought they were, having a starter he could play soccer with sounded even better. Besides, if the tips of it's ears and toes were anything to go off of, it was still a fire type.
"Do you want to come travel with me?" Vince asked. He kicked the ball back over. "I like soccer, too."
The Pokemon seemed preoccupied with bouncing the ball on its head again. Vince, feeling slightly discouraged, started to walk away. He was only stopped when the ball was kicked in front of his feet.
"Scorbunny!" The Pokemon cried as it stepped in front of him.
"So you'll come with me?" Vince asked. The bunny nodded. "Awesome!"
Vince held his hand up for a high five, and the Pokemon jumped up to give him one.
ZZ
In the rush to get him out the house, Mikey didn't get the chance to sit down and eat his breakfast. His parents practically pushed him out the door, and shoved a packed up breakfast for him to eat along the way. Now, finally getting a chance to sit down, he opened the Tupperware container. Eggs and sausage wrapped in a pancake, one of his favorites.
The others were out and about picking their starters, but Mikey was more relaxed about the process. His starter might even come up to him, and then they'll start their long journey, travelling the region and gaining even more friends on the way. As he ate, he watched the other kids run around, looking at all the interesting Pokemon he never seen before. Well, technically, he never seen ANY Pokemon before. It was all so interesting to see.
"Mun?"
Mikey felt a tug at his shirt while in the middle of a pancake. He looked to his left and saw a teal Pokemon with a round head and large pointy ears. It had a cream colored spot on it's chest and the bottom half of its face.
"Hello," Mikey said. "Who are you?"
"Munch.. ." The Pokemon pointed at his food.
"Oh, you want some of my food," Mikey said. "Sure, I'll share with you."
He held the contained down, allowing the strange new Pokemon to take one of the pancake rolls. They sat there in the grass together, enjoying a packed breakfast.
"Do you like it?" Mikey asked. "My mom makes the best food." The Pokemon nodded with a mouthful. "I'm not the best cook, but I'm sure when I'll travel I'll get to try all kinds of foods. Would you like to come with me?"
"Lax?" The Pokemon pointed at itself.
"Yeah, you. The two of us can be great friends, and I'm sure my friends will like you," he offered.
"Munchlax!" The creature cried.
ZZZ
Though TJ didn't have any particular favoritism with any of the starters he knew about, he played the game with a Squirtle, so he figured that would be the best. He spotted a small pond where what looked to be a lot of Water types playing in and around, and headed over to look. When he finally reached it, he saw Cornchip Girl on her knee's looking over the edge of the water.
"Hey Cornchip," He greeted. "What are you looking for?"
"My necklace broke off and fell into the water," Cornchip explained. "I asked my starter to jump in and look for it."
"You already picked one? Which one is it?"
"A Squirtle," she said proudly. "I love Water Types."
"Oh. I was kinda hoping on getting a Squirtle. . ."
"I'm sorry, but there might be another one around," said Cornchip Girl. "You never know."
"Squirt!" The two of them looked at the water to see a Squirtle swimming right in front of them. It held a small necklace in its hand up for Theresa.
"You found it! Thank you!" After drying it off, she hooked it around he neck again. The Squirtle climbed out of the water shook itself dry before standing up on its back legs. "Let's go, Mr. Bubbles. I'll see you later, TJ. Tell the others I said hi!"
Looking back at the pond, TJ kept an eye out for another Squirtle. He saw plenty of other blue colored Pokemon that looked to be Water types, but none of them were the one he was looking for, or caught his eye. His hopes of getting one began to dwindle.
"Maybe I should get a fire type, instead," he mumbled.
Speaking of which, as he turned to look elsewhere, a Pokemon came up to the pond. It cupped some water into its hands for a drink. A small orange monkey Pokemon with a flame on its butt and a swirl of fur on its head.
"Woah, a monkey. That'd be an awesome starter." TJ kneeled down. The Pokemon fell back from surprise when it noticed him. "Hey, I didn't mean to scare you." He held out a hand to help the small monkey back up. "Would you like to be my starter? You look cool, and it'll be fun. And I can hear the 'monkey boy' jokes now. . ."
The Pokemon flicked the remaining drops of water in its hands towards his face. TJ wiped his face dry while the orange monkey laughed at him.
"Very funny," he said. "So will you come?"
After rolling around laughing, the small orange monkey jumped up and sat on his shoulders.
"I take that as a yes."
He was the last one to meet up with his friends and their chosen starters near the back door. None of them had a starter that they recognized from the games or show, but that was part of the fun, wasn't it?
"What happened to getting a Charmander, Vince?" Spinelli asked with a smirk.
"Hey, it's not my fault this little guy is cooler," he defended. "I can't believe you picked a cat."
"He picked me. He ran away from Ashley A, so we already have something in common." She reached up and scratched her starters head. "I have no idea what's he's called, thought."
"None of us know what our starters are," said Gretchen. She and Gus held their starters in their arms. "Since we all have one, we should head back in. Mr. Kelso might know what they're called."
The others agreed and headed back inside the lab.