A/N: Chapter Three is for ColaVixen Inc who has given me some of the best reviews EVER! They're like candy, really: a small sweet treat. Even more reviews by other people would be awesome too!

Chapter Three: Bianca

"Bianca, you're first," Professor Juniper said. She motioned to the table where our pokedices had been resting a minute ago. My snivy slinked down from her newly-chosen spot as a kerchief around my neck and stood on the spot professor Juniper had indicated.

Snivy looked up to the professor with her big brown eyes and gave two long blinks as if to ask the professor not to hurt her.

"May I have your pokedex, please?" Professor Juniper asked me. I handed the cheery green device to her. She deftly plugged one end of a black cord to the pokedex and the other to a laptop balacked on three reams of paper and a dictionary.

The pokedex hummed slightly and shifted on.

"I am required by law to read these next questions verbatim: Are you male or female?"

"I am female," I answered.

I looked over at the others as Professor Juniper continued to ask more questions. Hilbert had hopped p on a table and was busy scrubbing his boot with an old cloth. Cheren was flipping through his pocket pad where I knew he had scribbled various notes on the pokemon found around Nuvema Town and the nearby islands and sandbars. Hilda had released her blitzle from his pokeball and was busy rubbing its poil. This blitzle was oddly marked, its head was bald instead of the usual plain black and there was a tiny snip of black on the muzzle.

"Thank you." Professor Juniper said. I shifted focus back to what she was doing as she dug in one of the table drawers. She found a sterile syringe after a few moments. She looked through the biodegradable plastic wrapping at the wide bore needle, verifying all pieces were there before breaking the seal. "If you could please hold your snivy tightly while the microchip is inserted, that would be most helpful," the professor said.

She showed me how to do it. My left arm curled over Snivy's head and my right arm cradled her body with that hand between her front legs, supporting her chest. My left hand rubbed Snivy's head in smooth, soothing circles as Professor Juniper readied the chip.

"She may jump a bit, so hang on to her," Professor Juniper instructed. I nodded. The reaction was brief and, with a glare at the professor, Snivy shook herself out, sending a spray of fine fur needles everywhere. She then returned to her spot on my shoulder and began to preen.

"If you plan on evolving her at all," the professor said, "please check into a pokémon center afterwards to make sure the chip was not dislodged during the process." She finished typing the serial number for the microchip into the laptop and slammed the return button.

Professor Juniper disconnected the cord and slid my pokedex shut. She handed it to me. "Thank you, professor," I said.

"You are quite welcome. The charge on your dex should last a few weeks, but top it off at a pokecenter when you have the chance."

The Professor took a disinfectant wipe and ran it quickly over the empty spot on the table. "Cheren, you're next."

The three others took fifteen minutes total. It would have been shorter, but Hilda's blitzle did not like the idea of shots at all and hid underneath one of the far tables, where it was hard to reach him.

We four walked out of the lab after our registration and I could barely contain my excitement. "We did it!" I squealed. We're finally trainers." Cheren glared at me. "Sorry," I said. "I may have been a little too excited."

I checked my green travel bag one more time before we finally headed out of town. I had two potions left over from my set that I bought the other day (the other four had gone to healing our pokemon after the Great Indoor Battle Fiasco), a lemonade and sandwich for lunch, a bit of pokemon chow for my dear snivy and a set of extra clothes in my bag for changing weather. I was ready to go.

"Hilda, Hilbert! Cheren! Bianca!" a voice cried from behind us. "Wait." I spun around to see who it was. The voice had been female, so I knew that it wasen't Papa at least, but I knew it could possibly be my mother, dragging me back home after changing her mind again.

It was not. Hilbert and Hilda's mom walked briskly to catch up with us. "I completely forgot our presents to you." She withdrew four chunky watches from her purse. We as your parents got you all going away gifts: cross-transceivers!" She distributed them to us. "Since it is a special occasion, you each have a premier ball to do with as you wish, too."

Each cross-transceiver matched a pokedex in color: red, pearl-red, green and blue. Hanging from the black leather strap was a pokeball with silver casing. The internal framework that I could see had been painted red. A thin chain passed through a tiny loop on the top of the ball where an anchor had been welded.

"Be sure to call us as you can." She smiled and started back to the city. Hilda and Hilbert looked at each other with their twin thing eyes and simultaneously rushed her to give their mother a big hug goodbye.

I clamped my Cross-Transceiver around the bag strap hanging across my chest and waited for the hugging to end.

I saw that Cheren had decided that family time was not for him. He began to walk down the path on route one. "Cheren, wait." I called. "You can't leave now."

"Why not?" he asked. He didn't stop, he just kept walking down the lane towards Accumula town in the far distance.

"We got our pokémon together; we should start our journey together too," I insisted. Snivy must have understood what I was trying to say because one of her vines wrapped around Cheren's wrist and she would not let him go.

"Fine," he sighed. "I'll wait."

Hilbert and Hilda had finished their goodbyes and turned to head down to route one. I snagged Hilbert's then Hilda's arm and looped them around mine. "We start together." I announced. Cheren hesitated slightly and then grabbed Hilda's hand.

We set off on our adventure, passing the wooden sign hammered into the ground:

Route One

Please do not litter.

Thank you!