That night it was unbelievably hard for Quartz to go to sleep, knowing that tomorrow he would choose his starter pokémon the next day was unbelievable, to think that he had finally done it, beaten the PRT, was just astounding. He finally fell asleep around ten thirty pm. In the morning he woke up early at seven o'clock am, ate breakfast, dashed out the door and caught Lapis on her way to Professor Pine's pokémon lab. They stopped running immediately when they got close, after all, they had to show some dignity.
The lab was filled with the typical machines they learned about in the PRT School of Readiness, great name I know, but some that were there were specific to Professor Pine's field of research. Professor Pine studied the biology of pokémon, just how exactly they're able to make the attacks that they make and what's inside them. Quartz and Lapis walked down into the lab, and there he stood, Professor Pine, he was a regular sized man, with a light beard, a regular professor lab coat, and glasses. He was also balding a bit on his forehead and top head.
"Well, I see we have our next small group of trainers ready to get their next or first pokémon and head off on their very own journey, well I've already had to do this with a bunch of other younger pre-teens, so let's get started, what are your names? Just so if you become famous, I can say I know you personally, ha ha ha." started Prof. Pine.
"I'm Quartz, pleased to meet you sir." said Quartz.
"I'm Lapis, SOO excited to meet you professor!" said Lapis almost bursting open trying to hold in her excitement.
"Both fine first names, but surely you have last names?" said the professor.
"Oh yeah, mine's-"Quartz started, but the rest of his sentence was drowned out by the lab machine, only heard by Lapis, the professor, and his assistant next to him.
"Mine's Vendina!" said Lapis in that now permanent enthusiastic tone she had while she was in the lab.
"There we go! Now let me lead you to the thing that you've all been waiting for." said the prof.
They then walked through the lab, occasionally stopping at some pokémon DNA sampling machines to show Quartz and Lapis what some pokémon cells looked like. Then they finally reached what they had been waiting for all these years, their starter.
"Well, here we are, you would probably think we wouldn't have any of the starters left since more than eight other new trainers were in your shoes earlier this morning, well no, we actually stock in more than three, unlike every other region ever." said Professor Pine.
"So, let's get started, in this pokèball," started the prof. pointing at the first pokèball, "is the grass type, Snaklion, a snake with a sharp metal point on its tail, the best defensively and pretty okay in special defense. In this middle one we have Dratinsplash, a water type with dragon attributes, specializing in special attack and speed. Now obviously in the last one we have the fire type, Singebark, best stats being attack and special attack but having the lowest defense out of all three, so there we go, all three starters, now the choosing begins!" said the professor.
"Now remember, all of them are good choices, but this pokémon will be one of the main pokémon that will be with you for the rest of your journey. So choose carefully." said Professor Pine as he opened all three pokèballs letting the pokémon out.
Quartz took a good look at all of them, Singebark was showing off, growling and howling, but then it started to burn one of Professor Pine's machines to show off its power, which instantly leaded to Dratinsplash using water gun on the machine and Singebark as punishment. Snaklion was just slithering around the room, supposedly looking for any leftover scraps lying on the ground. Dratinsplash walked towards Quartz and started rubbing against Quartz' legs with the almost irresistible "cute eyes" on its face.
"Seems like Dratinsplash has really taken a liking to you Quartz, hasn't done that to anyone else this morning." said Pine.
Quartz had thought long and hard, but the way Dratinsplash was showing emotion for him made him make his decision easily.
"I'll take Dratinsplash." said Quartz, smiling down at the creature that was half the size of his leg.
Dratinsplash smiled back, and Quartz knew he had made the right decision, although he did feel bad that one of the other two wouldn't get chosen, they always had new trainers to look forward to, plus they would have Professor Pine and the other pokémon at the lab to have fun with.
Lapis was thinking hard too, both would be really good choices, but Singebark seemed to, well, CARE a bit more, Snaklion was nice and sweet looking, but Lapis thought that it wouldn't be as fun to have an adventure with. Plus Singebark was whimpering while looking at Lapis anyway, plus she had always wanted a dog pokémon as a pet.
"Alright, Singebark will be my first pokémon!" exclaimed Lapis.
Lapis, unlike Quartz, never had a pokémon, so Singebark was her first one. Sometimes she had here foolish jealousy, but she knew that Quartz and Magikan were made for each other.
"Well then, here's their pokèballs, both are males, Singebark has a tendancy to show off around other pokémon so that can get troublesome sometimes, and Dratinsplash has a determined nature. So, I suppose that's it, well I'll escort you to the exit and then you'll be off, it was nice meeting both of you and I must admit, out of all the beginners that came here this morning, you two feel by far the most promising." said Pine.
"Wait sir, don't we get a pokédex?" asked Quartz.
"Oh no, sorry but only a select few get pokedexes, and only a specific professor hands them out, plus, even if he was here, he wouldn't be allowed to give you one, Gabbro's government has banned them, they want our trainers to be the strongest and most resourceful so they banned them in order to get us to figure out the information ourselves." said Pine.
"Really, they banned the pokédex?" Quartz said, confused.
"Yep, our government is good and all, keeps crime to a minimum, keeps the GDP at a very good spot, but sometimes I think that they're a little to obsessed with making our trainers "the best" so they pull all this hardcore crap on us." said the professor.
"Oh well, anyway thanks a lot Professor, it was a pleasure meeting you." said Lapis.
"Nice meeting the both of you two! By the way, how about we register ourselves with our pokégears?" asked Pine.
"Sure that'd be a great idea!" said Lapis, probably with the thought that she could now call the regions professor and ask on advice in her head.
So they registered each other and Quartz and Lapis took their leave with their new pokémon, and went home to pack. At noon they were ready to go, at the edge of Kopaka town with their parents.
"Well son, I guess we'll see you in a few months, at least you finally passed that test so you can have this moment." said Quartz' dad.
"Dad you already admitted the PRT is a load of crap so you can't insult my age now." said Quartz.
"Anyways, take good care of yourself son, I'm proud that you're getting this opportunity." said his Dad, and he reached in for a hug.
"Just remember to take good care of yourself. Don't overwork it." said Quartz mother as she advised her son for the last time for a little while.
"You know I won't mom, besides you don't need to worry as you already asked Lapis to look out for me earlier..."
"Well still…. anyways have a good "journey" hopefully that fitness testing throughout your life will come in handy sometime throughout this thing."
"Of course it will this is the entire region of Gabbro we're talking about mom they'll come in handy sooner or later." reassured Quartz.
The goodbye went underway and Quartz made his way down to Lapis, who had already said her goodbyes and they slowly walked away from the town they had lived in all their lives.