This was it. Neil was finally going to start his Pokémon journey as he took a deep breath and sprinted out of his house. But while moving along, he failed to notice a young girl in his path. And sure enough, he wound up bumping into her and falling down, grunting, "Hey! Watch where you're going!"
"Excuse you, you were the one that ran into me!" Felicia pushed herself off the ground and pointed angrily at the boy that had run into her from behind. She huffed and just walked away from the boy. She had an appointment at the Pokémon Lab and needed to get there in time. "Stupid boys, why can't they look where they run?" she muttered as she reached the lab and went inside.
A young woman turned and smiled, saying, "Oh, hey there. You must be Felicia. You're here for your Pokémon, right?"
"Yes, I am. Thank you for giving me a starter Pokémon." Felicia bowed to the woman and gave her a big smile. The young girl had been looking forward to getting her own Pokémon for a while now and she could barely contain herself from jumping around like a maniac. "Can I see the starters, please? I don't want to make a choice just based off appearance or how cute the Pokémon is." She asked shyly and shuffled a bit with her feet to hide her embarrassment. She sure hoped that that boy that had run into her wouldn't come to get his own Pokémon today.
"Of course," the woman, Professor Jenna, replied, "There should be another joining us shortly, but I think I can start you off right-" "Hey, sorry I'm late," came a familiar male voice from the entrance, "I ran into some rude person on the way h-" his eyes widening as he stared at Felicia with his jaw dropped.
"A rude person?" Felicia pointed at the newcomer with contained anger in her light green eyes. "How unfortunate. I had the exact same pleasure just a little while ago. A boy that ran into me from behind and then he shouted it was my fault." She spoke with a false cheerfulness and placed a mocking smile on her face. The bluenette didn't feel like looking at the boy any longer and turned to the woman. "I am sorry, Professor Jenna. Can we just go and pick the starters? I am afraid I need to go soon." She looked at the boy from the corner of her eyes and shoot him a small glare as she waited.
Neil narrowed his eyelids and followed as well, Jenna saying, "Well, come on. You're gonna love them, I just know it." Soon enough, she showed them to a room full of Pokeballs and said, "There's a wide assortment here. Normally, professors only offer three starters, but I have starters from every region there is. This might just take a while," Neil's eyes sparkling.
"Maman always says that while I was born into a family with Water Pokémon Trainers, I always had more fire. So I would like to look at the Fire-staters first." Felicia walked toward the assorted Poke Balls and hovered over the balls carefully. She had narrowed her choices down to Cyndaquil, Fennekin, and Litten. Grabbing the balls that contained those three Pokémon, she first released the Cyndaquil and it appeared in a bright white light. The little mouse Pokémon took one look at her and blew out a smokescreen in Felicia's face as she tried to crouch down to meet the Cyndaquil's eye level better. The young girl had a coughing fit and scrambled to locate the ball to put the Pokémon away. "Well, definitely not this one." She murmured, recalling the Fire-type in its ball and placed it back.
Neil, all the while, looked through every type. But only one caught his interest, a blue seal with a clown nose, Popplio. As such, he released her and asked, "Hello, what's your name?" Popplio barking at him and clapping her hands, the boy saying, "Well, I got my starter."
The meeting with the Fennekin went infinitely better and soon the little orange fox was cuddling in the arms of her new trainer. Felicia walked up to the professor with a gentle smile on her face. "I think that Morgana and I will be great partners, in time. Yep, she is it for me." She beamed and the little fox yipped before licking her trainer on the cheek.
Jenna smiled wide and said, "Oh, that's great," Neil saying, "I'm gonna call you Yumi," Popplio barking happily as the professor handed both trainers five Pokeballs each along with a Pokédex and said, "Well, best of luck to you both."
"Thank you, Professor!" Felicia took the items and after putting them away, she said her goodbyes to the professor quickly before turning to leave. She ignored the other new trainer completely. As she walked out of the lab, she started thinking about what she would be doing now. She wanted to show Morgana of to her parents, but ber hometown was a few days away. On her way there, however, she was going to get across the first gym on her way there. The bluenette looked forward to showing her parents her first badge. Maybe she could take some time to get that badge before heading home. "Hey, Morgana, do you like to battle? I do, and I want to be the best battler in my family." She looked down at the Fennekin and the fox was looking thoughtfully. "Just think about it, alright? We have a few days until we reach the city the first gym is in." Felicia put down her starter, together they made their way to the edge of town slowly, wishing to avoid the boy.
"Fenn?" Morgana heard it first and started wriggling in Felicia's arms. "Morgana? What is wrong?" The bluenette tried to hold the Fennekin still and failed. The fox jumped down and ran off towards where she had thought the sound had come from. "Wait up! Morgana!" Felicia ran after her Pokémon as fast as she could and soon they came upon the sight of an injured Zigzagoon. Felicia gasped slightly as she took in the sight and immediately grabbed her bag to get out bandages and potions to help the poor thing. Morgana had walked closer to the Zigzagoon and was cooing over him, trying to find out where he was hurt.
"Hey, what are you doing!?" came a voice from behind Felicia. Two strangers in black outfits stood there as a female barked, "Get away from our new Pokémon if you know what's good for you!"
"You are completely daft if you think that I would let you take him! He is injured and needs medical help!" She shouted back at the mystery figures. Felicia gritted her teeth and Morgana began growling loudly at the two strangers. The orange fox barked loudly and shot a warning Ember at the feet of the female. "I suggest you leave without the Zigzagoon." Felicia growled softly.
"Please, this is nothing for Team Shadow," the woman remarked as she sent in a Corphish. Her male partner nodded and summoned a Growlith, both Pokémon more than ready for battle.
'Crap, this might be a bit too much to take on all by myself. Not to mention that Morgana cannot take on that Corphish.' Felicia thought, she quickly scanned the area around her and she knew that if she ran with the Zigzagoon, it would be hard, but she had a chance. She slowly inched closer to the Zigzagoon and felt Morgana close to her. The fox felt intimidated by the fact that she was outnumbered.
