How Bad Could It Be?

[Lee]

Honestly? How bad could it possibly be? He'd gone through this experience once, and he was still alive.

Of course, he had known exactly which pokemon were there, and none of them had happened to be ghosts. He hoped the Shuppet wasn't out and running around. Floating around. He'd probably make a bad impression then.

But he did know which one he wanted. The problem was getting it, since he'd heard the Professor here didn't like giving away rare pokemon. And while Sandshrew wasn't a rare pokemon in Kanto, or even Johto....It was apparantly a rare pokemon in Jenta.

Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door, anxious. Not only because he was nervous, but because he wanted a pokemon companion /before/ night came again. Spending a single night without a pokemon by his side was horrifying. Terrifying.

He'd been certian something was going to kill him, while he was in that hotel room. He'd had bad experiences. One involved a hotel room, a Team Rocket member, a Misdrevious, and a friend who had previously ravaged the room and neglected to tell him about that, so he'd spent the night in terror of the gouges in the bathroom. Until the Team Rocket member had sent the ghost pokemon into his room, then he'd spent the night in a gibbering mess of Misdrevious-inspired terror.

Yea. Long story.

[Nyaa-Neko]

Professor Cherry opened the door to see a rather wide-eyed boy. "Oh, you must be Zach, eh?" He grinned, opening the door wider for the new trainer to come in. "Come to get your first Pokemon, start in the land of Jenta, that sort of thing? Well, welcome, boy, I haven't gotten many new trainers recently...have a look around!"

The lab was pretty devoid of life...or so it seemed. Aside from four Pokemon out of their Pokeballs, the rest were on shelves inside their own little spherical contraptions.

The two of the four Pokemon were Ekans, named Haru and Hana, and were inside a cage, asleep. They belonged to the professor.

The other two, however, were just outside, running freely, to get a bit of exercise. Both ran (or floated) up to Zach.

One, a Sandshrew, glanced up at the new trainer. "<Hi!>" She chirped. "<Who are you? Where did you come from? Why are you here?>"

The other floated down from above. "<Now, dear, this young man is probably here for a Pokemon.>" This Pokemon glanced warmly at Zach with her two-tone eyes. "<Good afternoon, dear, did you make your trip without any mishaps? Oh, I do hope so,>" she spoke, her voice warm...unusual for a Shuppet.

[Lee]

Zach did have a look around, after a somewhat cheerful "Hi!" to the Professor.

He had time to take notice of the two Ekans, before being distracted by the Sandshrew. "Oh, I-I-I-I-I-" After stuttering for some time he faded off of the sentence, staring at the next pokemon to catch his eye.

A Shuppet.

Nevermind that the Shuppet was nice-looking (To everyone else), and was polite and genuinely seemed to care about Zach (To other people). Nope.

To Zach she was horrifying. Not to say that he hated her. Merely that he was terrified of her. Nice-looking transformed to murderous ghost of doom, politeness changed to an interest in her future dinner, and caring changed into interest in how best to cook her newest meal.

He froze, literally. In fact, it seemed he had forgotten to breath for a little bit, as his face took on an oddly pale hue, until it became noticable he'd simply gone extremly pale in shock. His eyes were wide, his mouth half-open, and he was staring at the Shuppet with shock.

He stayed like that for some time, before finally moving his mouth though no words came out. Then they did come, "G-G-Ghost. Ghost!"

[Nyaa-Neko]

The Shuppet seemed to miss the stuttering, and floated closer. "<Oh dear! Are you okay? Are you having trouble breathing? Come on, now, would you like to sit down, maybe have a glass of water?>"

The Sandshrew glanced up at the professor. "<What's going on?>" She asked, wanting to know.

Professor Cherry furrowed his brow and stepped towards Zach, lightly pushing away the motherly Shuppet. "Now, son, there's no need to be afraid of the Shuppet, here. She's as nice as could be, and won't hurt you."

[Lee]

Zach stared at the Shuppet while she spoke, only regaining the ability to move and speak once Professor Cherry stepped foward. Zach made sure the Professor was between him and the Shuppet, before attempting to explain.

"...I know, but that doesn't matter...I just don't...like...Ghost pokemon." He was still nervous and jumpy, but who could blame him? One of his worst fears was inside the same room with him. Though luckily it wasn't a Misdrevious. That would've been a problem.

Yes. It was a very good thing he had decided to come at noon today. Not only was it a nice sunny day, it was day. Coming in here at dusk, or early morning would have been a problem. Ghost pokemon were even scarier then.

He shoved his hands into his pockets, staring down at the ground. He really didn't like being afraid of ghosts-But he was. Just like he was afraid of the dark. It would've been okay if he were little, five, even ten. But no. He was fifteen. Fifteen year old boys were not supposed to be afraid of the dark. Ghosts, maybe, but not the dark. And even if they were afraid of ghosts, they shouldn't freeze up at the site of one.

[Nyaa-Neko]

The Shuppet still hovered near Zach, but Professor Cherry calmly led the boy into the center of the laboratory, directly underneath the bright overhead lights. "That's okay, boy, we get a lot of kids with fears of certain Pokemon." He tried to make the Shuppet go to another part of the lab, but she stubbornly refused to leave Zach until she knew if he was alright.

She really didn't understand that she was making him like this.

Meanwhile, the Sandshrew kept running up and almost tripping the professor and Zach (unintentionally, of course) in an attempt to see what was going on.

[Lee]

Despite the Sandshrew, Zach managed to stay on his feet, and even more amazing, his eyes rarely left the Shuppet. He gulped, but couldn't make any words come to his mind to say, and so ended up just staring at her again.

She was even creepier now, stalking him like this. Why couldn't she just leave him alone? ""Least I'm not alone..." He tried to keep the Professor between him and the Shuppet, although what good that would do against a ghost pokemon he did know.

[Nyaa-Neko]

Professor Cherry finally returned from the back room he'd shuffled off to, a Pokeball in his hand. "Now, Shuppet, what did I tell you about being too possesive of new trainers? I think he's one of those boys who doesn't like ghost Pokemon."

The Shuppet sighed sadly, and floated back over to the professor. The Pokeball he held tapped her not-exactly-solid head, and she disappeared into it with a flash of dull red light.

Looking sympathetically at Zach, Professor Cherry gave one of his standard zany grins. "Sorry 'bout that, boy. Sometimes I don't know what goes on in that girl's head." He shook his own, causing his Einstein-like hair to flap around.

He cleared his throat. "Now then, I'm sure you heard about the new starter process in Jenta? You get three Pokemon, one for each group. You can pick your Group 1 Pokemon, from that list over there." A gnarly old finger jabbed the air in the direction of one of the lists posted on the wall. "The other two Pokemon, your level 25 Group 2 Pokemon and your level 45 Group 3 Pokemon, are randomly assigned."

"So, boy," he began with a grin, "what sort of Pokemon would you like for your Group 1, hm?"

[Lee]

((Ahahahaha, his name is Zach. -points to reference of Lee))

Zach relaxed quite visibly, sighing in relief, as the Shuppet went into the pokeball. Now he could actually think, although his eyes darted around occasionally, as if on the alert for more ghost pokemon.

"Ah, a Sandshrew please." He'd already looked at the list-he'd done that when he'd come in. And though the system was a bit strange to him, he could figure it out easily enough. Maybe it would even be fun.

Although he was beginning to think this Professor was a bit 'cooky'.

[Nyaa-Neko]

((*cough* *modifies* I have no idea what you're talking about...

...Did I get all of them? -_-;;; ))

"A Sandshrew?" Professor Cherry mused in a rough voice, stroking his chin. "Ah, they seem to be growing in popularity, these days. Good thing we got a good breeder set up for 'em, seeing as they're quite rare 'round Jenta. Good Pokemon, Sandshrew is," he muttered.

His brown shoes tapped on the floor for a moment as he began to walk away, but then he turned around. "Any particular personality you're lookin' for, boy? Or would you like the Sandshrew right 'ere?" As he pointed at the Sandshrew on the floor, who, seeing as the new boy was ignoring her, had begun the process of poking around the computers.

Professor Cherry rolled his eyes, and grunted as he picked up the mole. "Curious one, this girl is," he muttered, setting her back down on the tile with a groan. "Ah, my back...I'm gettin' too old for lifting heavy weights."

The Sandshrew looked up at the professor with large eyes. "<How heavy am I?>"

[Lee]

((Since the professor seems to have a habit of referring to him as 'boy', yup, you did. ^^ -innocent look- Now then...what were we talking about?))

Zach didn't have any particular idea of what personality you would want for a pokemon. In Kanto and Johto, they have you your choices, and then they gave you the pokemon. So the question unbalanced him, before he recovered.

"I'll take her, I think." She seemed like she'd be lively to be around, and like she was the kind of pokemon that you could grow attached to easily. Even if she annoyed you occasionally, but Zach had a high tolerance for being annoyed. You had to when you were constantly mistaken for a girl, even when it was usually on purpose.

"Sandshrew are rare here?" That was new information...He hadn't thought the pokemon could be rare anywhere! "Rattata aren't, are they?" If they were...Well, it would be the end of the world. How could there ever be a place where Rattata weren't common?

[Nyaa-Neko]

"<Oh? I have a trainer? You're my trainer?>" The Sandshrew asked, walking quickly in circles around Zach. "<What's your name? Where are you from?>"

The professor grinned. "Yes, Sandshrew are a little rare. But don't worry, you'll find plenty of Rattata if you choose to leave her via Route 1. Now then, hold on for a moment, and I'll get 'er Pokeball, your other two Pokemon, and your other things." Professor Cherry then shuffled off, entering a back room out of Zach's line of vision.

A few crashes, muffled curses, and a strange screech were heard before he reemerged, his hair possibly looking even more wild and unruly.

"'Ere you go, boy," he said in as kind a manner one could muster after entering The Back Room (of Death and Clutter). A slim, (biodegradable!) brown package fell into Zach's hands. "Inside you'll find the two Pokeballs containing your other two Pokemon, five empty Pokeballs, a bag of assorted berries, and a regulation wallet with 5000 pyen. Oh, and here-" he handed Zach a Pokeball. "This is the 'ball for your Sandshrew."

He paused, and thought to himself for a second. "I think we still have red," Professor Cherry mused roughly before focusing back on Zach. "Now, one last thing before you're off, boy; what color Pokedex would ya be liking? We have red, light and dark blue, green, purple, grey, brown, black, yellow, and orange."

((OOC: Basically you're almost done. I'll give you your stats and stuff in my next post, after which you can leave. And you may start on either Route 1, Route 3, or Route 5, depending on the group/Pokemon you want to use. So far, nobody's gone to Routes 3 or 5 yet. T_T ))

[Lee]

OoC: -does ini mini miny mo for 2 or 3- I want to be different. XD

IC: Zach answered the Sandshrew's questions as he waited for the Professor to come back, although the sounds from the back room were slightly frightening. "I'm Zach, I'm from Johto, and yes, now I'm your trainer."

Before the Sandshrew could think of more questions, the Professor had returned, and given him a package. Curiously he peered at the brown package, wondering what was in the other two pokeballs. He decided he might as well ask, after he answered Professor Cherry's question.

"Uh...grey, I guess. What are the other two pokemon?"

[Nyaa-Neko]

"Grey it is, then." The professor dropped the grey Pokedex into Zach's outstretched hands.

"Now then," he grumbled, shooing the boy out the door. "You have three choices of where you can go. Route 1 is full of Group 1 Pokemon, and is a sort of grassy area with the road next to a stream. It'll take you to Sapphire City in the east, where Arisa has her ice gym. Or, you can take the road south, down Route 3, which boasts three sort of environments: rocky areas, patches of forest, and grassy meadows. It's home to a lot of Group 2's, and it'll take you to Florak Town, where you can fight Botan's grass-types. The final option is Route 5, a route partly going up a mountain in a rockier area, then it connects up to Sunstone Tunnel to take you inside the mountain to the Settlement of Nga. It's an amazing city, and Bahati, the steel-type gym leader, has been my good friend for many years."

He then paused. "Oh, and I think I gave you our shiny Zangoose - he's a powerful one, and he'll serve you well as your Group 3 Pokemon. I honestly can't remember who goes with him..."

Only after Zach was out the door and on his merry way did he remember. "Oh dear," Professor Cherry sighed worriedly. "I gave him that Mewforsaken Shuppet..."

He sighed again, and went to go feed Haru and Hana. "Oh well, at least she's not our problem anymore."

"<Hehe, yeah,>" Haru agreed in his hoarse voice. Hana just ate her food.

"I hope he'll do okay."

((OOC: Aaaaaand...here are your stats!

Sandshrew
Level: 5
Group: 1
Gender: female
Nickname: whatever
Ability: Sand Veil: increases evasion in a sandstorm
Attacks: Scratch
Personality: She's a curious one. She asks a lot of questions, and when she gets her answers, she just thinks more up. But she's nice, and willing to help...once she knows all about what she needs to do.

Shuppet
Level: 25
Group: 2
Gender: female
Nickname: whatever
Ability: Insomnia: can't be put to sleep
Attacks: Screech, Night Shade, Curse, Spite
Personality: Motherly to the point of scary. She cares deeply for her trainer, and won't rest until she knows he is okay. She tries to comfort him when he runs away (from her), and likes to make sure his hair is okay, and that he's eating right.

Zangoose
Level: 45
Group: 3
Gender: male
Nickname: whatever
Notes: shiny
Ability: Immunity: can't be poisoned
Attacks: Swords Dance, Crush Claw, Fury Cutter, Pursuit
Personality: He's a smart one, and often makes suggestions to Zach about battle strategy and routes to take while traveling. He loves logic and number puzzles (like sudoku), and always likes to think about things logically. He also likes to travel, and see new places.

Just tell me if I forgot something...but it's off to either Route 1, 3, or 5 with you! ^_^ ))

[Lee]

OoC: Nahaha. Much fun. -wanders off to a route- Hm...Hard choice. Five or Three? -asks friend-