Chapter 2: A most important thing
Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly: The three starter Pokémon of the Paldea region. For the longest time in the history of the region, just having one of the three was a feat in itself. It was like a symbol of prestige, since not every Trainer was fortunate enough to receive one.
And yet, this was not the case for young Juliana. She already knew the director would be handing her a Pokémon, but she could've never anticipated it'd be a starter Pokémon. She was the luckiest girl in the world, she thought.
Still, despite how lucky she was to even be receiving a starter, she was beginning to fret. Whichever Pokémon she chose, it would surely change the course of her life forever. She had no idea which to choose.
Juliana had been standing over the three Pokémon presented in front of her for over a minute now, each of the trio all trying to look as presentable as possible to the girl since all three of them wanted her to choose them.
The water type Quaxly was doing some acrobatic flips in an effort to impress Juliana, but upon his third flip he stumbled and fell on his butt, which would've made the girl laugh if she weren't so stressed out as to who to choose.
Fuecoco, the fire type must've had the same idea as his water type counterpart, but instead of trying to attempt any cool flips he instead was exhaling some wicked steam from his nostrils, which even shot out some sparks of flame.
And then there was Sprigatito, the grass type. Who had walked up to Juliana's right leg proceeding to brush its head against her with a deep, relaxing purr. It tickled a bit as the Pokémon's fur grazed upon her skin.
Then there was of course Mom and Clavell who watched patiently awaiting her decision. Clavell specifically was watching intently.
"So, which will it be, Miss?" Naranja Academy's director asked. Both him and Mom's eyes taken off the three Pokémon and onto Juliana who was clearly dazzled.
"I-I got to choose... um, I mean, I choose Fue- no, Quax... um, but then again Spriga-" Juliana mumbled barely forming a coherent sentence.
"Could you please try and make your decision a little faster, hon?" Mom uttered beginning to feel embarrassed for her daughter. "I don't want the tea inside the house to get cold."
"Right, I mean... Right!" Juliana said preparing to make her final decision. She stood up straight and adjusted her tie. The three starter Pokémon all readied themselves in preparation to either be incredibly happy or sadly disappointed.
The girl took a deep breath before continuing. "Um... I choose—"
"You needn't worry yourself with that now, Ms. Juliana." Clavell said much to the surprise to the girl and her mother. They both looked up towards the director not entirely sure what to make of it.
"What do you mean?" Juliana instantly asked.
Clavell adjusted his glasses. "It is clear to me that the decision of who to choose for your first partner Pokémon is quite daunting. That's only natural, of course. It was rude of me to expect you to immediately know your answer; a choice such as this requires time, after all." The man spoke turning his attention to a distant house all the way at the far side of the dirt-filled road. "I'll be over at that house until you've found your resolve. Meet me there once you know for sure who you're going to choose."
Mom gave a bright smile putting her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Thank you, Mr. Clavell. My daughter can be indecisive at times, I... I mean, we appreciate you giving her more time to come to a decision."
Juliana looked at her mom before turning her attention back to the director. "Yeah! Seriously, thank you, Mr. Clavell!" She said giving a little head bow. "I promise I won't take too long to make up my mind, I'll be seeing you soon, okay."
"Please, take as long as you need." Clavell stated before turning around and walking towards the distance. "And thank you again for the tea, it was simply to die for!" He uttered giving a wave to Mom as he left.
"Shoot." Mom muttered with a realization; Juliana looked over to her mother who continued. "He never got to finish his tea... now I have to pour it out."
"Mamá!" Juliana cried, calling her attention to what was really important. "What am I supposed to do!? I think all three of them are equally awesome! How am I supposed to decide which one I want!?" The girl uttered pointing towards the three starter Pokémon.
"Hmm... well, it looks like Mr. Clavell is giving you some time to decide. But don't make him wait too long, hija. I'm surprised he's patient enough to let you have this much time to choose anyway." Mom responded not really giving her daughter an answer who started back blankly.
"Augh, that's not the answer I was hoping for!" Juliana voiced a bit let down. "C'mom mamá, which would you choose if you were in my shoes?"
"What, me?" Mom said surprised her daughter wanted that much input. It was then that the three Pokémon ran past Juliana startling her and ran up to Mother all gazing at her with puppy dog eyes.
At that moment, Mom realized the gravity of the situation.
Juliana smiled and crossed her arms. "See...? Not as easy as it looks."
"Um, well... I do know who I'd choose, but I can't tell you... because uh, well, it's your choice, not mine. I don't want to influence your decision; it should be yours alone." Mom explained her reasoning. Although deep down both her and Juliana both knew she was just making an excuse.
"Alright fine... fair enough." Juliana said with the starter Pokémon returning back to her side. She dropped her frown and regrew her earlier smile, crouching down to be closer to the little critters. "Well, I'm just happy to be around you guys, no hard feelings to whichever of you I choose, right?"
"Coco, Coco!" The fire type agreed happily.
"Quax, Quax!" The water starter uttered giving a thumbs-up.
"Tito, Sprigatito!" The grass starter said with a head nod.
Juliana got back up from her knees. "Okay, I think maybe a nice stroll over to that house at the end of the road Mr. Clavell mentioned would be just the thing I need to clear my mind!" The girl said with a left side torso stretch. "Well, see you later, mamá-"
Before she could take another step, her mother pinched her by the ear. "Aguanta! That can wait a second, hija. Don't forget someone needs to finish their breakfast."
"O-oh yeah, haha!" Juliana laughed racing back towards her house; the three-starter Pokémon following her inside.
Thankfully, the omelette she never got the chance to finish wasn't too cold. By the time she finished with it, as well as her carton of milk, she was ready to make her leave.
Her and her mom stood back outside the front door, Fuecoco, Quaxly, and Sprigatito still by Juliana's side awaiting her decision.
"So, before you leave, there's something I wanted to give you." Mom said, reaching into her back pockets much to the intrigue of Juliana. She stopped and pulled out something causing Juliana's eyes to light up.
In her hand, a sleek, modern-looking mobile device with a rectangular shape and a touchscreen display. The color was mostly orange, with a face logo on the back, a camera, and what almost appeared to be appendages on the sides of it.
"Woah, cool!" Juliana exclaimed as the device began to levitate from Mom's hands into her own. "You got me a Rotom Phone!? I can't believe you did that! This is incredible mamá!" She girlishly squealed grasping the phone in her arms.
"I know all the kids these days are asking their parents for one, and I figured if you're going to Naranja Academy, you'd be needing a smartphone of your own so you could contact me. Remember mi hija, I'm always just a phone call away." Mom said with a smile.
"Thanks mamá, I promise I'll call you every day while I'm there!" Juliana swore before taking her eyes off the phone towards the starters. "Honestly, I'm not sure what I'm more excited about, you guys, or this!" The girl joked as she waved the Rotom Phone in front of the Pokémon who gave a laugh.
"Apparently, it not only can do whatever regular smartphones can, but it also has a built-in Pokédex. The Rotom Store employee told me that there's an actual living Rotom inside that thing, but, well... who knows?"
Juliana ignored the implications of what her mother mentioned and instead rushed towards her mom's arms, the woman immediately accepting her embrace. "I'm really lucky you're my madre. I'm going to miss more than you can imagine." She said with her head sunk into her mom's shoulder.
"And I'm going to miss you too, bebé." Mom said with her eyes beginning to glisten with unshed tears. The moment was cut short however, when the mother and daughter heard the cry of a Pokémon behind them.
They both drew their eyes to their backs releasing each other from their hold. Only to see Skwovel who had leaped down from the open windowsill to greet Juliana from outside. He had landed in front of the three starter Pokémon not paying them much mind as it was Juliana who he had in his sight.
"Oh, and I'm going to miss you too, Skwovel, I promise, wherever I go, you'll always be in my heart." Juliana told the rodent Pokémon who leaped into her open arms with a cheerful cry. The girl hugged the Pokémon back knowing it'd be the last time she saw him for a while.
Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly all watched the soon-to-be Trainer and Pokémon as they embraced, all hoping for the chance to be as close with her one day as this Skwovel was.
"Take good care of mamá for me." Juliana said releasing Skwovel from her hold. "Can I trust you to do that?"
"Vel, Skwovel, Skwah!" The Cheeky Pokémon agreed giving Juliana all the affirmation she could ever need.
"Hehe, I'll take that as a yes." Juliana said releasing Skwovel who ran to the side of Mother. Both the two stood there and watched proud of the girl standing before them.
"Well, go get 'em tiger!" Mom finally said to which Juliana smiled turning back towards the starter Pokémon.
"Alright you three, what do you say we get this show on the road!?" Juliana asked the lot of them to which she received a collective cry from the three of them. And with that, it was time to head over towards the director.
Boom, that's chapter 2 for you! Sorry we didn't get to find out which Pokémon Juliana's going to choose. But in the next one I absolutely assure you guys we will.
Now, something I wanted to clear up, Juliana is not my created character from the games. Juliana is actually the official name for the female gen 9 protagonist. She's pretty new all things considered, so I don't expect her name to be as well-known as other Pokégirls like Dawn, May or the others. I think the guy's name is Florian IIRC. But the last name I used, Quintanilla, is entirely made up for the sake of this story. I chose to use the female protagonist for this story over the guy, since, well... I won't lie, I can't stand the look of the male protag, he just looks too derpy for my taste.
Alrighty, that concludes today's chapter. Stay tuned for the next one, cause we'll be meeting a certain new character who will no doubt be important for this series!