"Name: Lyle Crawford. Gender: Male. Age..."
"Y'know, you don't need to read it out." Lyle grinned at his friend.
"Then I can't distract you and make you put in stupid answers! C'mon, this application form is stupid anyway, you might as well TRY and make it interesting!" The boy sighed.
"Okay, let me catch up. Name: Andrew Foster. Gender: Male. Age: 17. Likes...this sounds like it's a dating form or something." Lyle sniggered and nodded.
"I know! I mean, look down the page: quirks, good habits, bad habits, general appearence...they can't NEED that for a bloody registration form!" Andrew shrugged.
"Where the Pokemon Board's concerned, who knows. C'mon, let's just keep going." Lyle flopped down onto the floor. The two boys were contained within a small room with darkened wooden walls and floors. The place looked fairly modern, with two bubble chairs and an oddly shaped bed being the only pieces of furniture in the room. The rest of the floor was occupied by various sheets of paper and magazines, with the occasional piece of clothing. Lyle picked up some trousers and put them under his head to create a cushion.
"You just finish yours, Andrew. I feel too lazy just now." Andrew rolled his eyes and continued.
"Okay. Likes...um, what do I like?"
"Pizza?" Lyle didn't sound as though he'd put too much thought into that answer, but Andrew scribbled it down.
"Anything else?"
"Umm...Pokemon?"
"Naw, that's too obvious. Umm...going new places...and one more for luck...sleep!" Lyle sat up looking incredulous.
"Sleep? Sleep is one of your favourite things?" Andrew nodded.
"Means I don't have to see your ugly mug. Unless it's a nightmare." Lyle shrugged and lay back down on the floor, gazing up at the ceiling. "Right. Dislikes...any su-"
"Work." Lyle replied almost instantly.
"That was quick." Andrew noted as he wrote down the answer.
"It's that obvious. You didn't even want to do this questionaire, said you wanted to do it for next year." Andrew put down his pencil and lay back in his bubble chair.
"Alright then, smart ass you fill out some more of yours!" Lyle sluggishly sat up again and reached for his application form.
"Bloody Pokemon Board perverts...likes being with friends and hiking. Seeking adventurous female who is also being abused by the Pokemon Board..." Andrew laughed at this while Lyle scribbled something out.
"You didn't actually put that, did you?" He asked.
"Maaaybe." Andrew burst out laughing again and almost fell off his bubble chair. "Right then, dislikes...let's be a rebel and say rules and work."
"You don't like those anyway." Andrew pointed out as he started rocking the bubble chair from side to side casually. He picked up his application form and started reading it. When he reached the bottom he groaned. "Aww great. It says you only have to do the ones with stars on them! That means..." He scanned the page. "Oh. We did have to do those. Hey...all of them are starred! Oh wait, except for appearence. Why do they need all this anyway?" Lyle scanned his application form.
"Oooh, it's for Pokemon compatibility! That makes sense, but it's still weird. Alright I'll make this quick. Quirks: Eccentric and weird humour."
"Got that right."
"Good habits: Dedicated." Andrew snorted. "Okay, dedicated to important things. Bad Habits: Not dedicated to anything else. Aaand done!" Lyle folded up his application form and put it in a plain envelope with an adress stamped on it. "You finish up yours." Andrew picked up his pencil and started scribbling frantically, muttering as he wrote.
"Quirks, quirks...ah I'll just copy yours."
"Hey!"
"They're the same anyway...good habits: tidy...bad habits: lazy. Done! Let's go post these!"
Dustwood Town is located to the south east of Toro Island. It's a small town with very little greenery and not a lot going for it. The only reason it exists at all is because it takes too long to get from Toro Station to Cendal City, the main city on the island. As a result of being so far afield, it was three weeks before the two boys received anything from the Pokemon Board.
Lyle gaped at the package he was holding in his stubby-fingered hands. His blue eyes shone with anticipation as he read the official looking writing, having to shake his shoulder length hair out of the way as he leaned in closer to the box. He jolted as someone pounded at his door. Grinning, he rushed towards it and threw it open, revealing a very exhausted Andrew. His chestnut eyes also showed his anticipation, though his brown hair was all over the place, giving the impression that he had run very, very fast.
"You got it, right?" Andrew wheezed, holding his package in his arms. Lyle nodded and let him come in. They raced up to Lyle's room and scrabbled at the sellotape between them and their new pokemon.
"Damn...sellotape..." Lyle snarled as he was forced to use his teeth. Eventually the two got their packages open and were reading the official letters contained inside.
Dear Trainer,
Thank you for applying with the Pokemon Board. You are now an official Majra Island Trainer and as such have access to Trainer discounts for transport between the islands, as well as a no fee charge in Pokemon Lodges across the island.
Also enclosed in this package is your PIA or Pokemon Information Assistant. This is an indispensible tool which allows you to view information about the island you are currently on, as well as tracking down other trainers, locating gyms and battle tents and much more. Your PIA also acts as your Trainer ID, so be sure to carry it around with you at all times.
Finally, there is also a Pokeball containing a Pokemon that matched in your compatibility application.
Good luck!
The Pokemon Board
"AWESOME!" Lyle looked up from his letter to see Andrew gawping at a Chikorita. The Chikorita was smiling at Andrew and occasionaly said its name, looking even happier as it did so. He eventually snapped out of his stupor to see Lyle looking bemused at them. "Haven't you seen what Pokemon you have yet? Go on!" Lyle looked down at his pokeball and opened it up, out of which came...
"A Teddiursa." Andrew burst out laughing. Lyle looked at his new pokemon for a few seconds before sighing with disappointment. The Teddiursa saw this and its lip started quivering. In a matter of seconds it had started bawling, and Lyle had to repeatedly pet it before Teddiursa calmed down.
"What gender's yours?" Andrew asked. "I checked Florasu and she's a girl."
"Florasu? You named your Chikorita Florasu?" Andrew nodded. Lyle rolled on the floor laughing, and after looking at Lyle for a few seconds, Teddiursa joined in. Andrew looked indignant.
"Alright then! You come up with something better for Teddiursa!" Lyle thought for a few seconds.
"Crescent!" Andrew sweatdropped.
"Yeah. That's original."
"What? It's a better name than Florasu!"
"Whatever. I'm going to start getting ready for when we leave tomorrow."
-
The day was spent packing and repacking in preparation for leaving the next day. Andrew spent most of his time staring at Florasu, while Lyle had to continually pet the attention-seeking Crescent, as she (Lyle had found out Crescent was a girl) had cried whenever Lyle had taken his eyes off her for a few seconds. When the next day finally came, it brought with it thick fog that enveloped the town. The two boys had said goodbye to their families and were now making their way along Route 7. Andrew and Lyle were struggling to see a few metres in front of them, though the fog was showing signs of dispersing.
"Man!" Lyle groaned. "I thought we'd leave to a sunny morning or something! Not fog!"
"Be grateful it's not raining," Andrew replied, looking through the pages of his PIA and reading about Cendal City. "It says that Cendal is the main city of Toro Island. From there we can get to all the different parts of the island...and if we want to get the first badge we should go to Nitelite City." Lyle gave a small laugh. "What?"
"Nitelite City...who comes up with these names?" Andrew made to answer, then shrugged and the two continued walking along Route 7.