A new breath of air

[hokutochan15]

The air was so incredibly crisp and fresh, that breathing a single breath of it filled her with so much new energy. The trees looked so beautiful and the mixture of oranges and reds made the pale golden eyes behind the black wire frames stand out brilliantly. Such was a gorgeous day, nothing could possibly seem to go wrong. A strong, cool, breeze came and seemed to caress her cheek, telling her that this day was indeed the day she was to begin her journey. She pulled back her ponytail of silver hair and headed forward.

A young female named Hokuto had found herself in the Jenta region for a little under an hour now and she had been checking the area out. What a nice region to begin in, she smiled to herself as she continued toward the lab. She knew it was going to be fantastic, watching a small Rattata scurry by with a berry in it's mouth and a Pidgey take from the tree branch above her. Today Hokuto sported heavier version of her normal attire, but wearing black instead of the normal red and white, hoping to contain any heat her body would hold.

It was sooner than she would have imagined, but she had come across the lab, her golden eyes taking the sight in and loving it all. She was determined to show herself to the world, and to her father, her brother and starting here at the lab was the first step to doing so. She took a breath and walked to the door, her heart beating in her chest, herself being slightly nervous. She gave the front door a knock and awaited the response she would hopefully receive.

[MorriganFearn]

Professor Cherry looked up from his latest experiment. Teaching fire pokemon to cook! Most of the charmander were coming along wonderfully, but the growlithe, tokoal and slugma complained about the lack of hands, and cyndaquil objected to using their own backs as stoves.

"Look, I'm just saying I want some scrambled eggs for breakfast," he told the latest complainer of the class.

<Yeah, well you can make 'em yourself,> the cyndaquil replied grumpily.

<Professor! Trainer at the door,> Hana hissed.

Feeling that this might be a better avenue to pursue, Professor Cherry rose creakily and left the kitchen to answer the door of the main lab.

"Hello, young lady. Are you here for a starter set?"

[hokutochan15]

The smallest step was taken back as the door opened up to show the appearance of whom Hokuto assumed would be the Professor. The girl's large golden eyes gave a blink, then twice as she instantly pulled back a large strand of her silvery hair that hair escaped from the loose ponytail and tucked it away behind her right ear. She gave one bow toward the man and afterward quickly regained her posture, standing firm and tall as she faced the man before her.


At the question that was asked, she gave the slightest hint of a smile that played delicately on her lips. She nodded, a few strands of silvery hair swaying along with the motion of her head.
"Um, yes sir...I have come in the hopes of getting my starter set...Cherry Sense- erm... Professor Cherry, I would guess?" She looked down for a moment, feeling her face burn bright red, as she realized what she had almost said.

'It's professor...professor...' She inwardly said to herself. She was so used to calling her teachers Sensei at home, but she knew she was elsewhere now and that might not go well with other people. Piercing her lips tightly, she looked back to the Professor, hoping the embarrassment was not too evident upon her pale face.

[MorriganFearn]

"Come on in, then," Professor Cherry told her, stepping back and opening the door widely to show a rather messy front room filled with magazines on the available desk space and a few computers, as well as many charts and maps on the walls. "Please, come on in and take a look at the chart on the wall, if you're still uncertain about your starter choice. We have all the major region starters here, plus a few other pokemon that you might like to have as your starter. If you've got a gender or a personality preference don't be afraid to ask -- our starter packs come with a variety of personalities and genders for Group One starters. The Group Two and three starters can vary greatly as far as personality is concerned, and gender, but we hope that everything works out for you, no matter what you get."

[hokutochan15]

The young female, stepped inside after she was offered, taking a quick glance around the lab and at the given chart, her long hair following with the swift motion of her head. She gave a short smile, thinking of the choices she was capable of taking from the list of group one starters. Her eyes stared at the list for a moment, her mind soon coming to a final decision and she nodded in reply to the Professor.

"Yes Professor...I do have a preference actually. I'd prefer to travel along with a male companion if that would be fine. One that is willing to work hard along my side. A Poochyena, if that is alright?"

[MorriganFearn]

<Sounds great!> said Hana, slithering over to the computer. <I'll just need your name, age, and then you're registered as soon as you recieve your starters and activate your pokedex. Not many people have chosen poochyena, so you should have a good group two and three starter choice from the league, just let me generate those.>

The Professor nodded in agreement, then waved his hand towards a table. "Now then, before I give you your starter package, I need you to choose which color Pokedex you want. We have quite a sellection, though the standard red is still our most popular color. We have red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, grey, white, and brown."

<Professor -- pokedexes are important and all, but she needs to know her options,> Haru commented sleepily. <I mean Jenta's a little different, and this girl might not always know the best place to train first. See,> the male snake addressed Hokuto, <a while back Jenta was broken up into smaller district regions based on the levels of pokemon found in those areas. This area of the lab is actually the meeting point of all these regional groups. So, it was decided that trainers should be able to start in any one of the group districts. To this end you'll get the other two starters, at level 25 and level 45, and the possibility to start off in a region-district with higher leveled pokemon, or perhaps a kind of terrain that you would prefer to explore and train in."

"Right," Professor Cherry sighed. "Leave the pokedexes for a minute, then."

He lead the girl to the large map of Jenta displayed on the wall. Professor Cherry prodded a dot near the west coast that was labeled "Jenta Laboratory". "This is where we are right now. As you can see, there are three routes leading away from it, one going east, one going south, and one going north. Each of them is effectively a single-group route, so choose one based on which of your starters you want to use first. However, you can still use your other Pokemon, as Jenta has a multitude of 'other places' you can train in."

He then dragged his finger along the eastbound route. "This is Route 1, a road that takes you east to Sapphire City. There are only Group 1 Pokemon here, so your poochyena will be seeing all the action. However, Pokemon with an advantage against Arisa's ice-types are few and far-between; lotad and shinx are popular choices to catch on route one, and if you have your group one pokemon out to train in the Underground Maze a mawile can be extremely useful against Arisa. She's very harsh on people fresh from the lab -- mainly because people seriously underestimate her low leveled pokemon. Unless you have a gym challenge team comprised solely of Pokemon with either an advantage offensively or defensively against ice-types and water-types, it's very hard to win on your first try."

The finger went back to the laboratory dot, then down along the southbound route. "This is Route 3, which takes you down south to Florak Town. It's a winding road that takes you through three different environments - great plains on top of some very trecherous cliffs, intersperced with forests. Along the way, you can catch flying-types to help you offensively and grass-types to help you defensively against Botan's grass-types. Botan herself is very kind, and polite. She does have a little thing against "modern day westernization" but that's more of a social rant for her, than a personal grudge."

Finally, he traced the roads back to the laboratory, then upwards. "Your last choice is Route 5. Route 5 takes you north to the Jentan mountain range, then inside the mountains via the Sunstone Tunnel. The first gym here is in the Settlement of Nga, which is underground and inside the mountains. There you will do battle against Bahati's steel-types. Naturally, I'd suggest your team have a fire-type and a ground-type, both of which are common among the rugged mountains, and you should have very few problems. I would recommend this route as well."

He turned to smile at Hokouto. "Now that you know your options, pick your pokedex, and give your personal information to Hana so she can register you officially."