The Pokemon lab was a rather small, rectangular looking building. I had never seen other Pokemon labs in person, but from pictures I've seen, they were much bigger than this. Especially the Sycamore Lab in Lumiose City. Maybe it was bigger on the inside?

I started towards the metallic door, but I hesitated before I grabbed the door knob. I was still wondering if I really wanted to go through with this. That thought kept looming in my mind. I waved off the thought. I was going to do this. I grabbed the door knob, and twisted it. My hand just slipped through. I tried again, slipped through again. Locked. The door was locked. I stood there for a moment, before deciding to actually knock on the door. After teen seconds with no response, I knocked again. Twenty seconds, thirty seconds, seventy seconds. No response at all.

I walked around the building in an attempt to find a window. I peered over a window I was just barely tall enough to reach. No lights were on. Nobody was home. It was understandable I guess. It was still pretty early. I looked around the rest of the area. It seemed like a small, quiet town. There was a Pokemon Center just a block down. Maybe I could get some useful information?

This Pokemon Center was quite a bit smaller than the one in Jubilife. There were also far less people. There were probably about five people, including the Nurse Joy. She must have been really bored, because she jolted up immediately as I walked through the automatic glass doors.

"Hello!" she exclaimed. "Welcome! Is there anything I can help you with?"

I stood there for a second, trying to figure out what I should even ask. I didn't really know. Information on the professor would be nice. "Do you know where I can find the local professor? I'm a new trainer, and I heard I should head here," I asked, rather confused as to what to say. I'm not very good at planning what to say the second before I ask it.

"Did you check the lab? He's usually there studying Pokemon."

If I didn't check the lab I probably wouldn't be here. "That's kind of the problem. He's not there. I was hoping you would be able to help me..." That response probably came out a bit more rude than I intended. I could see the Nurse's expression change from kind, to a little less kind. Her smile just became slightly smaller. I wish I could redo that response now. I felt bad. "I don't know where else he'd be if he's not there," she replied. "Your best option is probably to just wait for him."

I sighed, and plopped down onto a couch. I suppose I'd wait here until the professor were to get back. The couch was hard and uncomfortable. I wasn't in the greatest of moods.

"Are you trying to find Professor Rowan?" I heard a female voice say. I looked up, and was met with a girl, probably eighteen or nineteen, with long, dark blue hair, and equally as dark blue eyes. "Do you know where I can find him?" I asked. "I do actually! I'm his lab assistant!" she exclaimed, a wide grin forming on her face. This helped my situation a lot.

"Oh, cool!" My mood started to lighten a bit. "Where is he?"

"I can take you to him now if you'd like. He's a twenty minute drive away,"

"Thanks, I just want to get my training journey started already. I'm Marcel by the way."

"Nice to meet you," she shook my hand. "My name is Dawn!"

Dawn started driving us to a place called Lake Verity. The professor was there to study some kind of Legendary Pokemon that supposedly lived there. As we were in the car, she started talking about her history with the professor.

"I've been his assistant for almost seven years now, and Legendary Pokemon have always been his fascination. Specifically the three who supposedly live in the Great Lakes of Sinnoh," Dawn was making some very interesting conversation. I've always liked talking about Pokemon that may or may not exist. "Those three Pokemon represent Emotion, Willpower, and Knowledge... Sorry, am I babbling too much?"

"I think it's pretty interesting how much you know about these Pokemon," I said, actually engrossed in what she was saying.

"If I told you that I was at Mount Coronet those six years ago during the Spear Pillar Crisis, would you believe me?"

"Probably not," I replied jokingly.

Dawn laughed. "Yeah, most people don't." I laughed too, then looked into her eyes. "...Wait, were you actually there?" I quickly asked in a serious tone. She looked back at me, then looked back at the road, then laughed. "Haha, no, of course not. I only wish I was there. Such a phenomenon for so many Legendary Pokemon to appear at one time, including the creators of space and time..." Dawn's smile slowly faded as she talked about the events. "We're almost there," she changed the subject. "I've been to Lake Verity quite a few times. Such a beautiful place, and the Pokemon you can find there are great! I remember catching my cute little Surskit there! ...Am I going on about useless stuff again? Anyway, I'll show you around the lake and help you find the professor!"

We both stepped out of the car, and the coolness of the air took me by surprise. It was rather warm weather, so now it just felt cold to me. "This is only the lakefront, so if you're feeling chilly, I'll warn you it's only gonna get colder," Dawn warned. I have a very low tolerance to the cold. I would much rather be in a tropical region than a snowy one. We started walking from the lakefront towards the lake, and it only got colder. I noticed goosebumps starting to form on my arms. I finally saw the lake come into view, and it was probably the biggest lake I'd ever seen. I don't think I could see the other side of it. If I could, it was only very faint. Great Lake was a very applicable title.

"The professor should be around here somewhere," Dawn chirped. She looked around before calling out, "Professor! Are you here?" No response was heard. "Let's walk around the lake, maybe we'll find him."

We walked around the general vicinity, as I was told trying to walk around the entire lake would take a good four hours or so on foot. I tried my best to stay as far away from the lake as possible because if I got any closer I would start to shiver.

Dawn kept calling the professors name, but we couldn't find him anywhere. After about twenty minutes of searching, Dawn started to get worried.

About five minutes later, we heard a car start to approach, and as it got closer, Dawn rolled up her eyes. The car came to a halt next to us, and Dawn approached it. The window rolled down to reveal an old looking man.

"Professor Rowan! You know you're not supposed to take a vehicle near the lake!" Dawn scolded. The man just stared back at her and calmly said, "I had to get to a farther part of the lake in a quicker manner. My old legs couldn't possibly go that far now,"

Dawn just rubbed her forehead and murmured something under her breath. She then looked back at me. "This is Marcel," she started. "He's been looking for you, so I took him here to try and find you. I think he needs a starter Pokemon,"

I quickly interrupted, "Actually no, I have a Pokemon! I just need to apply for a trainers license and a.-" I let out a quick sneeze, then continued. "And a P-Pokedex," I sniffled.

"Hop in the car son, let's head to my lab and we can get you set up right away." The old man said, rather sternly at that. I climbed into the car next to Dawn and we made our way back to the lab.

"FIRSTLY!" Professor Rowan's voice boomed. I was a bit taken aback at his voice. "These are your Pokeballs!" He held out five minimized Pokeballs in his hand, and gave them to me. "You use them to catch Pokemon, I trust you already knew that. Next!" He picked up an object that looked like a small, rectangular capsule from the table next to him. "This is your Pokedex! Use it to find the information of any Pokemon you may not be familiar with. It also stores your trainer information here, so in case you may not have your trainer ID, this will work as a substitute. Activate it by pressing this button here," he pushed a blue bottom on the otherwise completely red capsule. The upper part of the capsule raised up, and extended, revealing a glass screen, and a hologram display of text. "This newest design makes it easier for people to carry around in their pockets. Take a seat over there, and fill out the information while I finish this paper work."

I stuffed the Pokeballs in my bag, and trudged over to the seat. It was nice and comfortable. So nice I nearly fell asleep in it while filling out the tedious information the Pokedex was asking of me. It probably wasn't even that nice, but it just felt that way due to how sleep deprived I was.

The questions the Pokedex asked were questions I'd find when signing up for an online website. Name, date of birth, place of birth, current residence, and other such questions. However, after I filled out the questions, I was met with a screen that simply read 'STARTER INPUT'.

I stared blankly at the screen, and it stared back at me. I tapped on it a few times, but it was unresponsive. "Crap," I thought. "Did it break already?" I uselessly looked around the room to try and find the Professor, or Dawn.

Professor Rowan came back into the room. "Ah, you're done?" He questioned. I held up the pokedex for him to see. "What does this mean?" He looked at it, then held out his hand. "Give me your Pokemon's Pokeball."

I handed him the Pokeball which contained my bat scorpion thing. He grabbed it, then pressed the button in the center to minimize it. It shrunk with a tiny ping, and he flipped over the little Pokedex capsule to reveal a spherical groove in the back, perfect for a Pokeball. He inserted the ball into the groove, and more text popped up onto the screen. It read 'REGISTERING...' then information about my Pokemon popped up.

'0207- GLIGAR'
'FLYING SCORPION POKEMON'
'TYPE CLASSIFICATION- FLYING/GROUND'
'WEIGHT- 137.4 lbs'
'HEIGHT- 3'03"'

So that's what my Pokemon was. Quite literally a bat scorpion thing. The professor held out the Pokedex and Pokeball towards me. "Now that you're Pokemon is registered with your Pokedex, you can find out all the information about this specific Gligar." That was some pretty helpful information actually. I took back my Dex and browsed the information of my Gligar.

'KNOWN MOVES:
POISON STING
POISON JAB
SAND ATTACK'

There was also an option to set a nickname for the Pokemon. I didn't know if I wanted a nickname right now, mainly because I was horrible at coming up with them. What would even fit Gligar? 'Abomination', that was an accurate one. Dawn stepped into the room, and pointed to the doorway next to her. "Step into this room please!" She smiled.

I walked into the rather small room. There was only a chair and a camera. The back wall was draped with a navy blue tarp, and faced the camera. "Sit on that chair, and I'll get things ready..." I plopped myself into the chair, kicking my feet back and forth as I waited for Dawn to snap the picture. She seemed to be having some trouble getting it ready, and she decided to make some conversation so we weren't waiting in awkward silence. "Are you ready to begin your training?" she asked as she pressed a few buttons. They made tiny, faint beeping sounds. "I've been ready for five years. I think I'm ready for about anything this world will throw at me at this point." I said with confidence. "You really think so? Trust me when I say you can never be prepared for anything. I guarantee that. Also, age won't give you an advantage over the younger trainers,"

I thought about that for a second. I probably was just being way too over-confident. What was the most extreme thing that could happen anyway? Honestly, anything was possible with Pokemon. "Well, do you have any advice for a new trainer?"

"I do. First, don't listen to people who say to catch as many Pokemon as you can when you start. It'll only make your training process much harder. Catch more team members gradually. Second, don't get in over your head. Don't go into battles you know you can't win, or don't know you can win. You're Pokemon may be strong, but you don't know what the other Pokemon is capable of. Finally, don't be afraid to ask for help. No shame in asking other people to get you out of situations. Also, having a traveling companion is useful. There's power in numbers."

"Do you give that information to everyone?"

"I have to give it to you later anyways, you just asked first before I could, which saved me some time." That made the information just a little less valuable to me. "Do you have any information that you don't tell a hundred other trainers? Like, from personal-"

"Say cheese."

"-cheese! Personal experience from your training? Surely there's something else you can tell me."

I wanted to have an edge in any way over other trainers. If I were going to become a trainer, I would be the trainer other trainers wanted to be. That was my fantasy at least.

"Personal advice? Let's see..." Dawn pondered for a minute, before finally saying something. "Pokemon tend to be a real bitch after being caught. Don't be afraid to use any means necessary to get it on your side, even if that means having to beat it in a battle with yourself,"

"You had to beat a Pokemon in battle?"

"Pokemon don't bode well with being caught, unless it deems the trainer worthy," Dawn added. "Especially if you catch a Croagunk." I had no idea what a Croagunk was, but I took the advice anyway. "Follow me this way, the professor is probably done with your trainer paperwork."

We walked out of the small room, and the printer next to the room was whirring. Professor Rowan was at a desk, filling out some information on a computer. "You seem to be just about ready to begin training," the Professor started. "We just need your trainer card to print and we should be all set." Almost as if on cue, the printer stopped making noises, and a small card popped out. "Ah! There it is now!" He stood up from his chair and handed me the card. I grabbed it from his hand. "Thanks," I said.

"I uploaded a record of your trainer data to the computer, so any information you fill out on your Pokedex will never be lost. Now. Are you ready to begin Pokemon training Marcel?" He asked in a serious voice. I simply nodded. "I didn't quite catch that. Allow me to repeat. Are you ready to become Pokemon training Marcel?" He repeated, this time slower, and more stern. I got a little nervous with the way he stared at me, but I just nodded again, this time adding a "Y-yes sir! Er, professor!" He looked down at me, and a small smirk appeared on his face for what was less than a second, then his normal serious face came back. "Hmph. That's more like it. You're going to meet many kinds of Pokemon along your journey. Pokemon will act as your companions, protectors, but they'll only treat you the way that you treat them. Be sure to care for them, and they will do the same."

That speech sounded very practiced, like he's said it a million times before. But those words sent a chill down my spine. I was now officially licensed to own Pokemon, train them, collect badges, compete in the Pokemon League... It was finally a reality. My dream was finally a reality.

I seemed to have tuned out the rest of his speech. I was too excited. I just wanted to get out there and begin training Pokemon. As soon as he was done talking, Dawn led me out of the building. "Well, I wish you the best of luck on your journey," Dawn said. "What kind of trainer do you want to be anyway?"

I thought about that for a moment. I forgot most people become trainers for different reasons. Some to compete in the league, become breeders, contest winners, doctors, researchers... I guess Dawn became a researcher. "Competing in the league is definitely what I want to do. I've always loved watching Pokemon battles on TV, and my goal is to at least challenge a champion one day. I wouldn't even care if I lost. Just the honor of battling one is enough to satisfy me for life." I gushed. I was too excited.

Dawn smiled at me, then looked down at the ground. "You remind me so much of an old friend I had..." Her voice broke off. She looked away for a few seconds and she wiped her cheeks. She looked back at me, her cheeks now starting to flush red. "A-are you okay?" I quickly asked. "Did I do something?"

She smiled at me again. "No, no! You didn't do anything! You just... Aha, never mind... It's not important..." She reached for my head and ruffled my hair. "Get out there and kick some ass." She said to me, looking straight into my eyes. I couldn't help but smile at that. "I will, don't you worry about that."

I was a little confused, but I brushed it off, and after a goodbye, I turned in the direction of Route 202, and sprinted down the road.

Then I tripped and fell on my face.

What a way to start my journey. Sleep deprived, hungry, and with scratches on my face. And then I sneezed. Also possibly sick.