TITUS
After having spent the majority of the night setting up the libraries unit for Gabby to use, Titus ended up going to sleep finally around midnight.
What woke him was the sound of electronic pages flipping, and he rolls over to see Gabby, still reading.
He reads the clock; Six AM.
"Did you get any sleep?" He croaks, and Gabby nods, a smile showing from within her shell.
"Good." He kisses her forehead, standing up, and heading out to use the washroom, not bothering to throw a shirt on.
He opens his door, and comes face to face with someone.
"Whoa!" He falls, onto his rear end and moans.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" It's a mans voice, and he looks up to get a good look at who barged into his dorm.
His hair is a bright silver, and his moustache matches. His eyebrows are also silver, but make him look quite threatening. He's wearing a lab coat, and has a briefcase by his side.
Titus recognizes this man instantly.
"P-Professor!" He stands bowing, and the man laughs.
"Go throw a shirt on, son. I'll wait out here!" He sits on one of the chairs in the den area, and Titus quickly runs back to the room.
"Shel?" Gabby asks, looking confused.
"Professor Rowan is HERE!" He whispers, and Gabby jumps up, shaking herself clean, before walking tall out of the room, Titus soon behind.
"What a gorgeous pokemon..." The Professor thinks aloud, stroking the top of Gabby's shell, and she giggles.
"Thats Gabriella, but we call her Gabby. She was my starter." Titus explains, flicking the switch on the coffee maker.
"Wonderful. I always admire trainers who start out with a hard type. Especially Dragon and Ghost."
"My brothers starter is a Misdreavus, and oddly enough, it knows Hypnosis." Rowans ears perk up at that.
"Really? What an interesting concept..."
"I believe it has something to do with her genetics, that maybe, somewhere up her family tree, a Psychic was bred in and caused the abnormality to form." Titus explains, and the Professor looks at him with wide eyes.
"What? Did I say something wrong?" He asks, wringing his hands in his lap, terrified he had just made the older man angry, but Rowan just laughs.
"No, no, my dear boy! In fact, I couldn't have said it better myself! Most impressive!" He guffaws, and Titus can't help but to smile.
So he hadn't made the Professor angry, but IMPRESSED him!
"Thank you, sir." He bows his head, and the Professor smiles.
"I have a proposition for you, son." Titus looks up, instantly scared again.
"A-and what would that be, P-Professor?" He asks, grabbing two cups of coffee and handing one to the older man.
"Thank you. Now, I've heard rumours that you were able to teach your starter to read. Is that correct?" His face isn't serious, but his tone stops Titus dead in his tracks.
"Um... Yes. Though it took many years for her to be as comfortable with literature as she is now."
"Splendid! A little Starly also told me you were interested in studying to be a Professor?"
Titus wasn't sure how to react to one of his idols mentioning his life long dream, so he just nodded.
"My proposition is a simple one; I want you to come work for me in Sandgem town. You will study there, on site, and work with me as my personal assistant."
Titus chokes on his coffee, getting it all over his shirt.
Rowan hands him a handkerchief from his pocket, smiling.
"Sir! I... I don't..."
"Well? Spit it out, son! Is that a yes or a no?"
"Y-Yes! Yes sir! Thank you, sir!" Rowan shakes his hand, laughing.
"Amazing! I will have the arrangements set up with the headmistress immediately!" He stands, bowing, and quickly leaves.
Titus and Gabby both look back and forth from the door to each other.
The door barely shuts before they start cheering and laughing.
OTIS
Otis wakes up early, looking around his dorm room.
He hadn't signed out for the night, so he had to come back before the morning.
He gently peeks over the edge of his bed, to see Wen and the Budew, curled up with each other in the basket, and he smiles.
His aunt had let him bring the Budew back, on the promise that he would take it to the infirmary as soon as he got up, so he does just that.
After a quick shower and change of clothes, Otis slides the basket gently onto his arm, and heads for the infirmary on the third floor.
"What happened?" The Nurse asks quietly, so as to not wake the two slumbering pokemon up.
"A group of Staraptors attacked her, I was able to jump in before things got worse." The nurse critically looks him up and down at that, and he brushes her off.
"I wasn't hit at all, just this little girl." The nurse nods, satisfied that Otis isn't bleeding anywhere, and takes the basket.
Wen wakes up, gently floating out of the basket and onto Otis' shoulder.
"Hey you! How are you feeling?" She giggles quietly, and she sounds quite tired, but Otis can tell that she's floating way easier than the night before, so he was grateful for that.
The nurse gently lifts the small grass type out of the basket, placing her gently on an examination table.
"Whoever did these stitches was quite skilled. These are near perfect!" The nurse intones, and Otis nods.
"That was my aunt and Johanna." the nurse nods again, finishing her quick exam.
"Well, it looks like your aunt got everything under control in a timely and clean matter, so I'm glad to say that, given a week or two, her photosynthesis will have her in tip top shape! Just remember, lots of sun!" She hands the basket back, the grass type finally yawning as she wakes up.
After thanking the nurse profusely, he heads back out, going straight for the courtyard.
He runs into Titus on the way, and... Gabby?!
"Whoa! Look at you!" He bends, kissing the dragon type, and she giggles.
"I would love to stop and chat, little bro, but the trip starts in ten minutes!" He hugs his brother quickly, taking off down the corridor, Gabby ambling along behind him.
"Trip? Already?" He laughs, shaking his head and continuing.
They make it outside, and catch a glimpse of Titus as an Alakazam takes him, Avary, and a few other kids away with a Teleport.
"Here we go! Doctors orders!" He takes Budew out, setting her on the picnic table, which is already warm from the morning sun, and she sighs.
He watches, mouth agape, as she opens her bud atop her head, and he notices the vibrant red and blue petals.
She smiles, releasing a sweet scent that sends Otis' mind reeling in delight.
He sits, watching her as she moves about in the sun.
"Say, what do you want to do now?" He asks her, and she tilts her head, confused.
"Well, we can take you back to where you live, if you wanted-" Her eyes go wide and she shakes her head violently, almost throwing herself off the table.
"Whoa! Okay, calm down! The other option is you could come with me..." He trails off, but smiles when she nods vigorously.
"Are you sure? You would be considered a trained pokemon..." She nods again, and he takes the empty pokeball off his belt, the one he had brought just in case.
She smiles, tapping her nose to the button before he has a chance to stop her, and she gets sucked into the ball.
TITUS
The Alakazam drops the group gently onto the squishy path in front of the Great Marsh, and Avary gasps as they approach.
"I've never been here..." She whispers, taking pictures with her little camera and smiling.
They approach the front desk, where an attendant goes over the basic rules;
No battling allowed.
You only get 30 Safari Balls, but unlimited bait.
The month is March, so the theme for the pokemon is Kalos, meaning that there are wild Kalos pokemon in as well as the normal bunch.
Everyone gets little napsacks of balls and bait, and they head into the marsh.
Avary instantly grabs Titus' arm, taking him along a narrow path.
"W-whoa! I though you've never been here!" Titus stutters, trying to keep up with the girl ahead of him.
"I haven't!" She replies cheerily.
"Then where are we going?"
"Not sure!" She replies, even more cheerily than the last, and he sighs, giving up and continuing to follow her.
He scans the area as they walk, and he notices tonnes of pokemon, splashing around in puddles and mud, bigger pokemon carrying smaller ones.
"Isn't this so cool?" Avary whispers, pointing to where a small group of Fletchling are chirping and playing in the air like fish in water, graceful and precise.
Titus can only nod, and he looks up to see that the roof of the entire marsh is a glass dome, ad the morning sun is starting to filter through.
Avary smiles, letting her hair down and running her hands through it as she enjoys the sun on her face, and Titus watches with a dumb expression on his face.
She turns to him, and he quickly recovers, smiling at her as he points in a random direction; down a dark path set in between some trees and boulders.
"Good idea!" She grabs his arm, dragging him along, and he sighs. He did this one to himself.
Thankfully the path is short, but winding, and they soon end up in a small clearing, set against the far wall of the Great Marsh. There is a good sized pond in the middle, and its dark, showing no signs of the bottom, though the odd group of bubbles rumble to the top occasionally.
"I bet there's a strong pokemon in there!" Avary laughs, pointing and gently stirring the water with her foot.
"Lets not make it mad..." Titus says, terrified that something vicious is going to explode out at any second.
"I'm sure it's fine!" But even as she finishes her sentence, theres a low rumbling noise.
Titus grabs her arm, throwing her behind him, and he watches the pond.
More and more bubbles are now rushing to the top of the pond, and Titus sees something coming out of the water, something huge and...
Water spouts out the top as the pokemon lunges out from the pond, and Avary screams.