The intimidating man shook Tino's hand, "B'rwl'd." He almost growled. Tino considered this for a few moments before deciding to guess that the stranger had just introduced himself. He laughed nervously at the man's forehead, "Ahaha… Berwald? That's a nice name. So, partners?" At Berwald's stiff nod, Tino sighed with relief. At least he didn't have to worry about getting robbed when Berwald was around, but then again, the larger man might be scarier than potential robbers could ever hope to be in their wildest dreams. He certainly looked like he could do some damage to somebody, even without pokemon. One of his biceps was almost equal to both of Tino's.
A screech of feedback jerked Tino's attention back to where Kiku Honda was standing, he apologized again before continuing, "Also, this year, we'll be trying something different, we're going to have you go out and catch your first pokemon, rather than simply handing you a poke ball. We're hoping that this will help you form a closer bond with your first pokemon. Please line up at the tables on either side of the room to be registered and given your training pokemon." At this, Honda gestured to the sides of the room, where tables loaded with stacks of paper were standing. Clerks sat behind them, waiting for the stampede to begin. They didn't have to wait long. As soon as the announcement was made hordes of people swamped the tables, Tino stayed back with the reserved Berwald. It wasn't like they were going to run out of forms or anything, right?
A while later after filling out the enormous packet involving becoming a licensed trainer, Tino almost wished that they had run out of the forms. Then he wouldn't have writer's cramp in his right hand so badly. Wringing his hand out and stepping up to claim his temporary pokemon, Tino wondered what kind of pokemon he should go for. Maybe a Mudkip? He kind of liked Mudkips… The pair was lead outside to a large forested area that had been enclosed in a fence to prevent the pokemon inside from escaping. After having a list of safety requirements rattled off to them, Tino and Berwald were unceremoniously shoved into the enclosure and told to go wild. "Umm, Berwald?" Tino asked hesitantly. At the teen's look, he continued, "Do you think we should head for the trees?"
"S'pose so." Was the blonde's reply. He immediately started striding towards said trees, and Tino had to struggle to keep up, almost jogging. The reached the shade, and Tino was almost panting, though he was determined not to show this to his tall companion. Suddenly, now that Tino was in the shadows of the trees, they seemed much more oppressive, almost spooky. He shivered at the sudden coolness. The stocked land must have had pokemon, right? It could have fooled Tino, they walked for what seemed like a long time without even hearing a slight, "Pika, pika." Or anything for that matter. Then, suddenly, a blob of ooze dropped from a tree in front of them before landing on the ground in front of them. It was a sort of pinkish white for a moment, and uttered a single, "Ditto.." Before congealing into a small shape, almost similar to an eevee, but more square.
The pokemon had curly white fur, and a rectangular-ish shaped head, with small squared ears and small black glittering eyes. It yipped and wagged its stumpy tail at Tino. He winced. It was so… Weird! It didn't look like any pokemon that he'd ever seen, but maybe it was a new kind? In any case, he wanted it. Despite its weirdness, the thing was somehow cute. Tino hesitantly threw down the pokeball he'd been given, and barely caught it on its way back up. (Hey! This trainer stuff was hard to get used to!) A flash of light appeared, and then was replaced with a small blue creature. A chikorita of all things. It growled out its customary, "Chikorita! Chik!"
Before Tino said, "Umm… Use…" He looked down at the list of moves shown on the back of the pokeball. "Use tackle please!" He finally decided after deliberating through the four moves. His temporary pokemon rushed the furry white pokemon and tackled it. The attacked pokemon fell down with a whimper. "Hey! Stop it!" He yelled at the chikorita. It immediately stopped and looked back at him, waiting for instructions, he supposed. I suppose I could just use a pokeball, it's not like they're super expensive… Tino thought, before returning the chikorita to its pokeball and taking out one of his own. How does this thing work…? He thought before accidentally pressing the small button in the center, luckily the ball was facing the white pokemon, and red light soon engulfed it. Tino had been lead to believe that there was usually at least a slight struggle in capturing a pokemon, there wasn't this time. The lights on the surface of the pokeball simply proceeded in their order. One, two three, bing! The pokeball quietly announced that the capture was successful. Now to find out exactly what this thing was… Tino released the pokemon from its red and white capsule and pulled out his Pokedex, he activated the identification feature of the electronic book.
"Error, error. Pokemon species unknown. Have a nice da- brrzzt." The device fizzled out, its screen going black. Tino frowned.
"Just what are ya, little guy?" He asked, as he scratched its head. "Oh! Maybe I can ask Berwald! He seems smart, he wears glasses after all!" This seemed perfectly logical to Tino. "Berwald!" He called out, his partner had ran off in the middle of the capture, presumably to get his own first pokemon.
There was a slight rustling in the bushes to Tino's right, and Berwald stood up. "Y's?" He asked, "Wh't is 't T'no?" He held a pokeball with the same three dots lit up that Tino's had. Apparently, he'd already made his first capture… In the bushes? Whatever. Tino's had dropped from a tree, so it wasn't like he could talk about unusual origins of pokemon captures.
"Ehh… Got any idea what my pokemon is?" Tino asked abashedly. His cheeks pinked a little bit at the slight embarrassment of not having a clue. In answer, Berwald pulled out a thick book of paper. "What's that?" Tino asked curiously.
"D'ch't'm's k'y." Was the answer he got. More confused than before, Tino craned his neck to see Berwald going through what looked like an identification process.
"Well, what's it say?" Tino asked curiously when the tall blond stopped his finger's motion down the paper.
"N'thin'." Berwald said, looking at his book as if something was wrong with it, "Th't's a n'w k'nd o' p'k'm'n."
"Oh." Was all Tino could think of to say.