Deceptive Ambition

The morning air was crisp with the new arrival of the coming autumn days, with the warm sun to rival, it felt as if the air was still and the temperature of the air had swayed neither way. A crisp wind blew through the air, following the route that leads the way to a small suburban town. Pallet Town was beginning to wake, especially its younger folk. A Fearow flew through the air, cawing down below at its younger Spearow brethren, causing them to flap their wings away from their perch and follow it, away from town, closer to the woods. In this morning world of Pokemon, all was peaceful, with a gentle understanding between humans and creatures… except for one boy.

A fairly average red alarm clock had its arms rested at 8:15, and was beeping endlessly, growing louder and louder. The constant metronome of the beeping made it sound as if it would eventually beep so loud that the neighbors would hear the monstrosity. A pale hand came down hard on a black button that protruded on top of it, smack dab in the middle. A muffled groan sounded from a bed with a thick green blanket with a white trim. Whoever had made the sound had clearly concealed their self underneath a pillow, with a musical note design.

The boy knew this was the day that he would be receiving his first Pokemon, but what he couldn’t help but fret about was… he wasn’t even sure he wanted to be a trainer, or if he even wanted his own Pokemon for that matter. Pokemon, to be honest, rather frightened him to a point. To make it simple, he was just uncertain. Under his covers, he told himself he was just over thinking everything. He was worrying too much. People often started their journeys at the age of ten, to his surprise, and he was a year overdue and he didn’t even have a Pokemon… but soon he will.

The boy dragged himself from the covers out of his bed. Revealing his clear pale skin, devoid of acne, and snow white hair that stuck out everywhere from all sides; when he was wet or taking a shower, the hair would be laid flat just above his shoulder blades. He had yet to open his icy blue eyes, in fear of the new morning light blinding him first thing in the morning. Ah well, he would have to open them eventually. He opened his eyes, and put his hand in front of his face, shielding his face from a small stream of harsh light that stared through his window. The air was cool where he was, and unlike some would expect, he wasn’t on the first floor, upstairs, but they managed to alter the basement into a bedroom for him. He walked over to a wall near the door of his room and grabbed a marker.

He layed his hair flat by setting his hand on his head and marked a line to what he figured was his approximate height. He turned around to check but frowned to see a 4’4½”. He had hardly grown an inch since last month. His mother kept on telling him he would grow, but that was hardly evident. He looked around his room, which was rather well decorated. The carpet was white and from the ceiling was an airplane model that he and his dad made together one evening. The walls were adorned with deep brown mahogany holding books and other trinkets. Inside the drawers were his clothes. There was a desk beside his bed that had a lamp and that God forsaken clock he had there…

“Sean,” called an enthusiastic masculine voice from upstairs, “come on up and eat some breakfast. Then go and get dressed, you know what day it is!”

Unlike a normal family, they would have told him to take a shower, however, his hair. Not that it gets ruined or anything, but it gets really frizzy and annoying and you have to constantly brush it for ten minutes for it to stay right. Besides… he did just take a shower last night, and it’s not like he went anywhere dirty after that. Sean opened the door and jogged his way upstairs, adorned in nothing but a white shirt and sky blue pajamas and socks. He met his dad after following a hallway into the kitchen, who wore a black tank top, ragged jeans and socks as well. He was the one where Sean had received his albinism trait. Not that Sean blamed him for being albino, and he didn’t even consider it a bad thing. He was just unthankful for the trait that he was often made fun of for.

“Hey there killer,” his father joked as he watched his son warily walk into the kitchen and pulled a chair from the table. “I remember when I got my first Pokemon.” His father grabbed a bowl from a cabinet and poured him some fruity cereal and poured the milk in after it.
“What was it?” Sean asked as he grabbed the spoon that his dad handed to him. “The Pokemon, I mean.”

“Ah, it was a fine one alright. A Seal. After a long time of training it evolved into a Dewgong…”

“I don’t see it around anymore,” Sean remarked, “where is it now?”

His father’s eyes dimmed. While he often appreciated his son’s curiosity and questions, he showed no share of enthusiasm as he often did with his son. Sean sensed his distress, and sunk back into his seat, slowly shoving spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth. His father’s lips had finally moved.

“…She died. Long ago in a fight there was no chance of winning.”

“What happened?” Sean said. He honestly didn’t want to ask this question and see his father look back on his memories, seeing the look of remorse on his face. But… he just couldn’t help it. His curiosity was overwhelming. His father didn’t seem to want to answer, momentarily upsetting Sean’s thirst for knowledge. But there was no harm in telling, it seemed, and this was indeed long ago.

“It was a long time ago. Against a group of…” he bit his lip. “…unruly trainers – but they’re long gone by now.” He added in hastily. “She died nobly, trying to defend me.”

“I’m sorry…” Sean murmured.

But his father set a firm hand on his shoulder and slowly turns his grim face into a smile of approval.
“You’re becoming a fine young man, Sean.” He reassured him. “And this is a day to remember! There’s no need in getting all upset. Now chop, chop. Finish your breakfast and go get dressed.”

The morning proceeded exactly as that. He finished his breakfast hastily and went to go get dressed for the event. He put on a warm white sweater with no design crocheted in – one of those with a similar fabric to a shirt and had a thin hood naturally sewed in. Underneath was a bright blue shirt, sky blue, or cyan, whatever you want to call it. He wore dark blue jeans, faded around his knees and white sneakers with a good amount of support in the soles.

He had no gloves that many trainers seem to glamorize. He had three rubber bands on his wrist that he always carried around for no particular reason, but no gloves. His sleeves were pushed up just above his elbows for a comfortable position. He had his backpack slung around one shoulder. He didn’t really need it for he wasn’t going on his journey just yet, but from what he heard, this was being hosted at Oak’s farm. There was Pokemon there and while he was a bit afraid of them, he also found them… rather fascinating, really. So he wanted to bring along a notebook and a pencil. Inside were some rather accurate sketches of Pokemon that he had found around town. Mostly just rodents and birds, and it would be interesting to draw something that posed more of a challenge. Something like a Tauros or a Golduck maybe. Or maybe even a Vileplume!

Ah well, there was no need getting all hyped up if there was the chance he wasn’t going to see any Pokemon, especially with a sudden influx of kids charging towards the ranch. He walked out the door to see that barely anyone populated the streets, and the more he thought about it, the more he reconsidered. Maybe it’s too early for them to open? Maybe they were open, but Sean was certain he was going to feel rather weird being the first one to be there. So instead, he sat on his porch and watched the town slowly develop activity. There was no doubt going to be another kid enrolled in this program coming by within the next ten minutes…
Right?

It’s not like they all came from Pallet Town, though… people from all over the world were coming to this event.

The crisp and salty sea moved lazily over the foam encrusted lapping waves of the mysterious blue ocean. Tentacools bobbed on the surface here and there, not bothering to chase the shoals of magikarp that swam about and occasionally splashed pointlessly on the surface when they came to close to something. The cool breeze was cut in half by a small ferry which cut through the water like a little knife through hard butter. Even the lazy Wingul were moving more quickly than this boat, they occasionally gave raucous calls as though they were laughing at the ridiculous machine only to be broken up by a lumbering Peliper as it carted its load of caught Magikarp to wherever it was going to eat them.

A girl was leaning on the rail at the rear of the boat looking back over the foamy trail the boat had grudgingly created on the ocean surface. Her long, flowing Mahogany brown hair floated and curled in the wind created by the moving boat. Occasionally some of it would float into her face and then one of her slender hands, with a faint ripple of upper arm muscles, would gently reach up and brush it away so that her grey eyes, replete with their golden brown speckles, could gaze out into the sea.
It would have been such a beautiful picture, perhaps one quoted as a desire for a long gone home.

If it weren’t for the fact that she had the most obvious bored expression on possible.

Kate Fletcher had always enjoyed exploring, she was like her missing father in that respect. And though she’d initially disliked being sent to boarding school in Castelia, in the distant Unova Region, she had come to enjoy the many freedoms she’d subsequently gained. Only to be cooped up at home again. Then finally she’d been able to escape onto an adventure of her own and now she was being held up by this stupid boat, which she’d been on all night as well. Stupid boat.

Sighing she rested her hands further out on the rail and her hands seemed to glow as the slightly bronzed skin was bathed in the cool morning sun. A slight contrast to her unmarked lilac hoody with its full pouch pocket, it kept the wind off her because underneath she wore a tank top and in hindsight that probably wasn’t the best of ideas.
The white pleated skirt she was wearing, which didn’t quite reach her knees, rippled and tugged in the wind, flapping against her leggings which ran under her casual knee boots.

Kate brushed her hair out of her eyes and turned at the call of, “Land ‘ho!” from the crew man at the front of the boat.
“Finally… Slow boat…” She breathed with excitement and headed inside to collect her shoulder bag which had her things in it. Moments later the pilot of the small ferry was crying out that Pallet Town had been reached.
Kate disembarked from the boat which was only stopping at the pathetic excuse for a dock at the south end of Pallet Town because it was en route to another port another passenger wanted to reach.
Breathing in Kate smiled with relief as she looked around at the town which was beginning to come to life. She flexed her fingers as she pulled on some fingerless gloves to ward off some of the morning chill before looking around for the lab she was meant to head to for this Pokémon event.

Cho long woke as usual. That is, with a start. He almost never slept properly, what he experienced was more akin to a battle-nap. His body was still, and his mind wasnt active, but every one of his senses was on high alert. He wondered what had awoken him this time, and at this unholy hour. Spearow. It figured. He had had more than enough of them since he had left Saffron for adventures in pokemon. His grandmother had actually insisted upon it. What had he said again? Something like "Maybe being responsible for another life will whip some sense and responsibility into you, you lazy failure of a man!" He was sure it had been meant lovingly. Now he was just walking/skipping along this country lane, hoping fervently it was the correct one. The sky was very pretty out here......

Mason had been on the damned boat for so long, he'd almost forgotten where he'd come from to begin with. There was nowhere to ROAM, nowhere to WANDER. He'd pissed off his fair share of the crew, angry at his ventures into areas he probably shouldn't have been, and it wasn't until they threatened to lock him up in the brig that he finally stopped.

What hell that would've been. He wasn't claustrophobic as much as he hated being chained up, enslaved, bound to anyone or anything. He'd pondered on whether or not he should keep his Pokemon in a ball when he got one. It seemed too cruel, he thought, to keep something so wondrous trapped. He wasn't much to spend time with people, but he remembered raking lawns and shoveling waste for hours to get the chance to walk his neighbors Charamander around for a while. He'd been convered in first degree burns for a while, but it was well worth it.

Since that age, he'd been obsessed with the creatures. When he wasn't jogging or wandering, or stuck in school, he'd been doing everything he could to find out more about them. The library devoured, the internet scoured, every person in town who owned one assuaged. He even attempted to raise money to visit a nearby gym at one point, but his family wasn't the most economically sound, and he called it off when he realized how much his parents would have to work for it.

But now, as he left the ramp and felt sand under his feet, fresh air filling his lungs..ah. Wonderful. He almost laid down and kissed the dirt. Never again am I going on a boat.

Leon Sanders. Boy did he like his name. But as he walked off of the boat from the Orange Islands he figured he would like it a whole lot more when he became a pokemon legend. They would have it everywhere, the boy who caught Arceus with a single pokeball. Oh and then they would know his name. Everyone would know his name.
But alas, he needed to get his first pokemon before he did any legend searching. Oh how he hoped it would be a powerful normal pokemon. Most people would laugh after that, but not him. Everyone else maybe, but not him.
No, he stood on the small beach near the south of Pallet Town, a boat behind him, with several other passengers coming off as well. He opened his bag and pulled out the hat which the crew had the audacity to laugh at him for. They also laughed at the rest of his clothes. No one wore white after labor day they said. Lies... He wore white everyday. And he was definitely not no one.
Not to mention if they had been actually watching the boat, they might have gotten here faster. Oh if he had a powerful normal pokemon, he would show their water types... He would show them all.
"You'll regret your jokes! All of you." He yelled, just loud enough for a couple people to hear, but not the Sailors. He walked down the beach towards the direction he thought the event was taking place. He saw others heading that way as well, more than most of Pallet town saw any other day of the year. The chance to participate in something awesome like this was unlikely but so many arrived. "Day one of the Story to find Arceus." He had this in the bag.

A Spearow on the window fluttered its wings and chirped, announcing to the world that today was a fine day, as far as it was concerned. A few bugs and discarded food from the street below filled its claws. While that may not have seemed like much to anyone else, the Spearow was happy and content with simple pleasures.

On the other side of the window, a young boy slept in a room stacked with electronics on one side, the other sides being more or less taken up by the bed or the walk-in closet. The boy wasn't one for simple pleasures.

Outside the window, a Braviary swooped out of the sky and nabbed the Spearow on the way down, with only a startled squawk to show that anything had happened.

The boy also wasn't one for philosophical object lessons.

The sudden absence of birdsong woke Mytho from his slumber. He swung himself out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen. His parents were at work, as usual. He was greeted by his mother's Tranquill, which sat on the table with a piece of paper sticking out from under its fluffed feathers. His mother had had that bird as long as she'd had him - longer, for all he knew - and he could tell they had a special bond. That is, if by "special bond" he meant "known each other so long that they'd started to look like each other." Their hair/feathers sort of matched, and they both had basically the same expression... it was weird.

Mytho gently pulled the warm paper out from under the bird.

"Son, congratulations on getting your first pokemon today! We're so proud! Sorry we couldn't be there to see you off, but duty calls! There's bacon in the fridge. Fix yourself some toast to go with, and you can tell us all about it when you get home. Love, your parents."

He set the note down. There wasn't much to say to that. Business as usual, really.

The Tranquill watched as Mytho took the now-cool bacon out of the fridge and started munching on a strip while he put two slices of toast in. When it was done, he put some jelly on it and took it into his room to eat.

~~~~~

Some time later, he emerged from the bathroom, donned his hat with a flourish, and headed out the door. He really had no idea what was going to happen from here, but his parents said it would be good for him. He usually listened to their rare bits of advice, though, so it couldn't be that bad...

Cho long was really not sure he was on the right road, staring about fervently hoping too see something besides the blank faces of houses, maybe a person going to the pokemon pick-up or a sign to that effect.

Wait...... Who (or what) was that? It looked like a small beam of light.....

Upon further inspection (he ran up, hopped the porch fence, and stood behind the light), he discovered that it was a boy about his age. It was a odd sort of boy, all white. As if all the color had been sucked right out of him. He was staring intensely at the boy from right behind him, hoping that he wouldnt notice.

"Ab, come on," a small, pale girl who seemed to be the epitome of any child that would be expected to live in Lavender Town whined, attempting to tug the sheets away from the big lump in the bed she was standing at the foot of. The lump wasn't having any of that, of course; it was pulling back with just about equal force, obviously not making an actual effort to get Cam to let go of the blankets. If she'd been able to see his face, she would have noticed that he was smiling.

"Why are you waking me up so early?" her cousin groaned, a tousled shock of jet black hair appearing from beneath the covers, followed by the face of a very tired-looking young man of about twenty-four. There was the slightest bit of stubble shadowing his jaw, and his hazel eyes were narrowed slightly against the light.

Cam rolled her eyes dramatically and succeeded in wrenching the sheets away from him. "You have to take me to Pallet Town so I can get my first Pokemon, stupid!"

Abner laughed. "I know, kiddo, I was just kidding. Let me get dressed, would ya'?" He dragged himself out of bed and stretched, standing up to his full height of 5'10", then ruffled Camryn's hair and gently pushed her towards the door. She stood outside his room obediently, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, and immediately squealed with delight when he shuffled out of the room, pulling a black t-shirt over his head.

"Did you say bye to mum yet?" he asked, following her downstairs, "You're probably not gonna see her for a little while."

"Yeah. I'm ready to go right now! Come onnnn!"

"Okay, okay. Outside."

"How are we getting there?"

"Milo."

Milo, it turned out, was Abner's Flygon, which meant of course that the two were flying to Pallet Town. It wasn't a particularly long trip, but Abner still managed to get Camryn even more psyched up than she already was by telling her about his early days as a trainer.

When they finally touched down at their destination, Cam hopped right off the Flygon but Abner stayed on its back. When asked why, he smiled. "Can't be following you around. This is your journey. Good luck, Cammie. Gimme a call if you get in any trouble, okay?"

"Yes, sir! Bye!" After hugging her brother and his Pokemon, Cam raced off to find the lab, although she didn't get very far before getting lost. Pallet Town was about the same size as Lavender Town, but it didn't have the giant tower and there were a lot more houses. Oh goodness. Looks like she'd just have to wander until she either found it or found someone who knew where it was....

Sean, during that time has space out nearly entirely. He blinked his eyes to a state of consciousness and suddenly became aware of how town was coming alive. The arrival of the boat, and a couple of kids here and there... it seems as if it was the time that everyone was finally coming to participate in the event. Sean yawned and stretched as he stood up from the steps and began walking towards the farm, which was clearly signaled by the windmill slowly but steadily rotating in place. A small smile had crept up on his face as he came to the realization that he would be finally able to obtain his first Pokemon, one that he would be attached to the very beginning of it's life and vice versa. Except, well, Sean was born about eleven years ago. But that was beside the point, and that point does not include thinking about such silly little details.

Oh look, someone with a Flygon! Oh man, it was so cool! He had hoped he would get one some day. Or perhaps even today? Before he could think much of it, it flew off with a person on it. Which was a shame, that was the coolest Pokemon he has ever seen! Then he began thinking about could happen after he obtained his Pokemon.

He wondered what his life in the future would be like, and how it would change. Surely, nothing could go wrong on such a wonderful day, and really, what are the odds of something bad happening to him rather than all of the other young adventurers? His life should be fairly uneventful.

After walking a bit, Cam noticed a kid with really pale skin who she was pretty sure she'd caught a glimpse of upon arriving. She figured he probably knew where he was going, as his stride had a good deal of confidence in it, and immediately adjusted her course so she was following him. She soon caught sight of the windmill as well. That had to be where they were headed, right?

She had inadvertently sped up her pace upon becoming aware of her destination and was now visible to Sean in his peripheral vision, not that she knew that. She was intent on remaining unseen, as she was a little afraid of what the people here would be like. Abner had mentioned a lot of really mean young trainers in his stories, after all.

Leon crested a fairly large hill, which was more like a bump compared to mountains that could be seen in the far distance. But as he crested the said hill his gaze fell upon the windmill which turned gracefully. It was still a ways there so he figured he should not dawdle. Thus he began to walk just a bit faster. A flygon could be seen just ahead as it landed and then took off. A rider could be seen on said flygon, which was not that strange. Leon was not sure what he was feeling, was it hate or perhaps just awe that he felt? "It is HATE. I am sure of it. A dragon is a worthless pokemon, what pokemon was weak to itself? That is just dumb!" He grumbled to himself as he strode down the long road to the Windmill atop the hill. He was nearly in Pallet Town now, with the windmill of the pokemon lab looking down upon him. He reached a dirt road, on which others had begun to travel upon, he followed it as well. "I have begun the road to my Destiny! Arceus awaits, thus I shall not delay her any longer." He spoke starting to speed up until he was going the same speed as everyone else. Onwards!

Cho long suddenly found himself among a long, loose, and seemingly random assortment of kids, some older or younger than him, but all about his age. Boy, if his grandmother could see this... What was that phrase she used? Something about unsupervised children being the minions of Satan? Oh well, he was just glad she wasnt here. He figured that everyone else would be heading to that big windmill too, and hopefully they were all going so they could ride on the big propeller-thing, like he was going there too do. He put on a burst on speed, running full tilt past the other kids so he could get there first.

"YAHOOOOOOO!!!!|

Kate didn’t wander much, she rarely ‘just wandered’. When you explored as much as she had you quickly learned to build up mental maps of areas just by walking through it once. It was for this reason that she soon concluded that the Windmill was probably the next place she should be looking for the lab. Pallet Town was a fair size compared to her home village but she’d been to Castelia and this looked like a backwater farm compared to that wondrous city. Of course it probably was a backwater.
The other reason she came to the conclusion about the windmill is because she saw a girl dropped off by a Flygon, her mother had looked after one once and she hadn’t found it particularly impressive. This girl quickly started following a couple of local boys who appeared to be decked out in budding trainers gear and were all heading towards the Windmill.
She decided to tag along behind the really pale boy, who looked like he was a pair of pink eyes away from being an albino, and the pale young girl. She was probably visible to at least the girl, if not that boy as well.

Sweet mother of... that had been loud. Camryn flinched visibly when a boy shouted and ran ahead like an idiot. She wondered if he knew how much of a fool he was making of himself as she paused a moment, cautiously watching him get further and further away. If not for the brief lull in her own movement, she probably would have never noticed the girl trailing behind her and that really pale kid with the white hair.

Um. How did socialization work? Aunt Dina had told her to make friends, after all, and this girl seemed... quiet? That was a good word. And she liked quiet. But yeah, she'd never really been around other kids her age, so all she did was stared kind of awkwardly at the girl for a moment before hastily shuffling forward again.

Sean jumped slightly as he paced himself towards the farmland before another child around his age rocketed off in that direction. His face maintained a shocked expression for a couple more seconds before he managed to calm himself down. Strange. He had never seen this kid in Pallet Town before... did he even know where he was going?

His ear's picked up a couple of other people walking behind him. Um. Well, to be honest, he felt kind of odd. Strange. Whatever, whatever. Just act like a normal kid, walk nonchalantly... don't even pay attention to them. He wanted to turn around to see who was there, but... what if someone said hi? What was he going to do then? Oh... he was just so awkward around people. He forced himself to turn his head around and his eyes picked up two feminine figures. His head immediately shot back in front of him and he swallowed down the lump of nervousness in his throat. Oh, and he thought it couldn't get any worse. They were both girls. Girls are people too, of course. But for some reason he was always so nervous. How does he even talk to girls anyway? Sometimes they were like an entirely different specie...

Sean continued along the path up a hill. The grass around the farm land was as green and fresh and lush as it could get. The steps that cut up the hill were made of a granite cobblestone with cement in between each rock. Each step brought him closer to his first Pokemon, and the anticipation was killing him. Could he say the same for the people behind the operation?


Beside the farm was a set of a couple buildings. The main entrance, which had a sign that said "knock before entering" on the outside, led to a small office like building, and inside was a dim room lit by a single light bulb. A young looking man was writing down on a piece of paper as fast as he possibly could it seemed. He tossed the note aside and pulled out a drawer full of files all labeled by years and each section was categorized alphabetically by the name scribbled on each one. He took out all the files under this year and spread them across the desk. Just by looking at the general amount, he could that at least seven children had applied. The man sighed. The numbers were growing painstakingly smaller each year, and it was all thanks to that damned criminal organization stationed in Kanto.

He looked at the watch on his wrist and paused. It was almost nine o' clock. He turned on all the lights in the dim room and it suddenly flashed alive. The man threw his hand in front of his face and cringed, after being so adjusted to the dark. The light had shown that the man's black hair was messy and unkempt. It could easily reach down to his shoulders or perhaps a few inches below if he straightened it out. Stubble was layed out across his face, and he had dark bags under his amber eyes. He was only adorned in a white t-shirt, dark baggy jeans, and a pair of ripped up sneakers. His hair contrasted with his pale skin and his thin looking frame.

Every year... he studied more, and ate less. Even sleep was hard to come by.

Cho managed to get all the way to the top of the stairs before he was all tuckered out from the full on sprint. The building was right there, and he wanted someone else to go through first anyway. That way if there were any pit traps or axe murderers behind the door, their death would serve to warn him. In the meantime, it was nice on this farm, and so he sat down and started drawing pictures of some pokemon he knew in the dirt. There was a grimer, a ekans, an voltorb. He wanted to draw the really cool pokemon his neighbors back in Saffron had had, but it was really mean and he didnt want its drawing to scratch him.

Scritch, scratch, he continued to doodle until the other children started to arrive, at which point he jumped straight up from cross-legged to standing and just stood there smiling at them like he had been taught to do for politenesses sake.

Kate realised that the girl had noticed her and as she did so the boy in front of her turned around, took one look at her and instantly whipped his head back to the front. Kate frowned at this, though she’d lived in Castelia City she wasn’t an expert on people’s behaviour and frankly she doubted she ever would be.

“Hello!” She called out to the two of them approaching the girl and settling down to walk at the same pace beside her. “Hello.” She said again, to the girl this time, “My name’s Kate. You’re here for the pokemon as well?”

Oh. Oh gosh. Cam blushed profusely and tried not to totally freak out when Kate introduced herself; she hadn't been expecting that to happen at all. She really couldn't do social things without Abner around. Ack. How even?

Right. Words.

"Uh, hi... Yes, I'm here for the Pokemon," she muttered shyly, kind of moving some of her hair in front of her face with a little twitch of her neck, "I'm Camryn, but you can call me Cam, I guess. I mean if you want..." She managed a really awkward smile.

As Mytho left the house, he saw his upstairs neighbor's Braviary eating a dead Spearow. He really should keep that thing better contained. There was a very good reason that their Tranquill stayed inside.


A few hours later, he arrived in Pallet Town on the handlebars of a fellow traveler's bike. He waved to the man who had given him a ride, then set out to find wherever it was people were gathering for the pokemon. As he came in, he saw a flygon land in a particular direction, then come back. That may have been related to where he wanted to go, so he headed for its landing spot. Then he saw the windmill, which was a pretty certain indicator that he was close to the pokemon farm.

Finding a bunch of other kids, he simply hung around near the back of the group and followed along.

Kate smiled slightly at Camryn’s shyness. It wasn’t a nasty or mocking smile but a friendly, slightly amused, smile.
“It’s nice to meet you Cam. It’s okay, no need to be shy.” Kate told her with a sort of open quality which almost seemed to encourage friendliness.
“Are you looking forward to getting a pokemon?”

Well Pokemon were at least something Cam could relate to. Abner's had been her best friends since she was little, and just thinking about the fact that she'd have one of her own soon made her feel a little bit braver. Maybe this would be a little less terrifying and impossible than she'd thought it would be. She actually brightened up a little at Kate's question, although she kept her eyes downcast and picked somewhat nervously at a loose thread on her dress.

"Yeah, I love Pokemon," she said with a lot more confidence than she'd had a second ago, "What kind are you hoping you'll get?" A question. What a huge risk. Oh goshhhh.

Kate noticed that while Cam was still nervous, picking at a loose thread on her dress and still keeping her eyes downcast but she was a brightening up a little bit and when she spoke she had much more confidence in her voice now.

"Yeah, I love Pokemon! What kind are you hoping you'll get?" The girl asked her.
"Ah... That's a tough one." Kate replied, smiling slightly again as she thought. "I guess I don't really mind what type it is. My mother and I raised a lot and she's raised even more, a lot of them were what many would say are the 'cool' or 'interesting' types. I guess they were until I realised that their personalities often made them difficult and finickity." Kate lapsed into silence slightly while she thought again.
"I suppose as long as it was a more steady type that liked new experiences but wasn't out of control I would get along well with it." She said finally, "So, that's enough on my tastes. What would you like to get?"

Sean couldn't help but look back as the two girls spoke to each other. They were talking about Pokemon? A small part of him wanted to hop in and join the conversation, but... what if they didn't want him in their discussion? Girls around his age tended to be a little mean and didn't want boys in their conversations... he was fine the way he is now. Anyways, what kind of Pokemon did he want anyways? A flying Pokemon would be cool... he was always fascinated with Doduos and how their heads work together, and despite that they're a flying Pokemon, they don't actually fly. He found that fascinating for some reason. He was too captivated in his thoughts that he didn't pay attention as his foot stubbed something on the base of the hill and tripped on the steps that led upward, landing on his arm. "Gah!"

Agh, dammit! Woops... he wasn't supposed to say that. Or think that? Thinking about it was okay, right? Anyways, it had only hurt for the moment he landed, and it was bound to feel sore later on, but... it was okay for now. He looked up and saw a large amount of steps running upwards to the laboratory. He didn't realize how far he actually came. Maybe listening in on their conversation distracted him?

...

The man in the building sighed as he heard footsteps just outside the door. Looks like they were already coming. He took a look at his watch and realized it was only a minute until official opening time. Well they could wait for another fifty or so seconds...

Cho had gotten tired of waiting for the other kids, so he jumped back down the steps and started heading back towards them. They were probably talking about the pokemon they were about to recieve. Cho had thought of nothing else since he grandma packed him off. He noted that the girls were talking, so he approached the boy so they could talk. It was that odd white boy.

He approached avalanche-boy from the front, and didnt slow down at all until he was just 2 feet away and then he started walking backwards so that they could talk more normally. Cho had been trained for this manner of social interaction, and so extended his hand and put on a smile and said: "Hello. My name is Cho Long, whats yours?"