I choose--

They slowed their pace as they neared Lake Verity; Barry and Kanade exchanged their long overdue introductions. "Oh, I haven't told you my name? Well I'm the awesome Barry!" He pointed to his chest with a thumb and a grin from ear-to-ear; then he rambled on, proclaiming himself to be the best trainer that she'll ever meet. It seemed that the situation that happened in Sandgem was (somewhat) forgotten by Barry as he was back to his vibrant, old self. "What are you doing all the way over here in Sinnoh anyways?" he asked when Kanade told him that she was from Hoenn.

"I just wanted a challenge. Starting in Hoenn would have been too easy, seeing that I know that region pretty well." Kanade nodded, satisfied with her answer. Barry slightly frowned; he was hoping for more of an answer than that, but didn't press on any further.

Lighting up immediately afterwards, he and ran in front of Kanade, stopping her as she raised her eyebrow with inquiry. With one hand on his hip and the other pointing at Kanade, he shouted, "That makes you my rival then!"

"Ah... hah...?"

"That's right! I'm going to get my very first Pokémon too! But unlike you, I decided to stay in my home region!" He gave a other flashy grin, before running through the grass. The girl could've sworn she heard "last one there is a rotten Eggsecute!"

----

Somehow Kanade managed to get ahead of Barry as she marveled at the beautiful lake in front of her. The boy wasn't too far behind her as she heard him screaming "yeaaaaaah!" and ran past her, almost knocking her down for the third time today.

Paying no attention to Barry, she notice an older looking man with a white lab coat and silvery hair. When he turned around (probably due to Barry's loudness), his eyes sparkled with happiness as he looked at Barry and Kanade. His mustached wrinkled as he said, "You may call me Professor Rowan. I am the resident expert on Pokémon evolution in Sinnoh. I presume my assistant told you where to find me? Well, anyhow, you know me, I was up early this morning to continue my research first-hand as there is no other way for me!" He says with a hearty laugh.

Before Barry could demand the professor to show him the starter Pokémon, a group of Starly swarmed around Rowan and attacked. "Argghh!! These pesky Starly are always here to try and prevent me from reaching their nest." he says while reaching for his briefcase. "Drat! it's too far away. Ok then, the both of you, grab yourself one of the PokéBalls in my briefcase that's near you and use it to fend off these Starly. Quickly!"

The young trainers did not hesitate as they ran over to the briefcase. "Aaagh! Which one is which?" Barry shouted in panic as he reached for a random PokéBall and tossed it out. Kanade didn't see what Barry chose as she was too busy searching for her own Pokémon to use against the Starly. Unlike Barry, she wasn't going to choose any Pokémon-- it had to be the perfect one.

She noticed that every single PokéBall was marked with a symbol. She quickly glanced over a the PokéBalls marked with a dewdrop (not a big fan of water types), lightning bolt (I don't think this is Pikachu...); Where's the fire starter?, before her eyes landed on a PokéBall with a leaf marking on it. The girl gave up trying to search for the fire starter as she grabbed leaf-marked PokéBall and shouted, "I choose you!"

From the flash of light emerged a tiny leaf Pokémon in the shape of a turtle. It closed its eyes and stretched a bit (it was cramped in that PokéBall for far too long!) before looking around for the person that summoned it. "Turt?" It blinked at Kanade innocently before smiling up at her. Already, it was attached to her.

Kanade looked fixedly, her wide-open eyes with adoration, at the little Turtwig (it may not be a fire type, but it sure is cute!), before commanding, "Use tackle on the Starly!"

OOC: Kanta, if ur interested in the Fire-type, Chimchar, there's technically two in the briefcase so that you may still choose one as it's plainly obvious you know that Barry will also get a Chmchar. Just so you know.

Insidious_Dreamer wrote:OOC: Kanta, if ur interested in the Fire-type, Chimchar, there's technically two in the briefcase so that you may still choose one as it's plainly obvious you know that Barry will also get a Chmchar. Just so you know.

OOC: Yeah, I figured I could get Chimchar even if Barry will get one. I want Turtwig, definitely though (it really is cute...)! I just made that last part up to as a back story of how Kanade, fire Pokémon loving girl, didn't end up with a fire starter (because Barry had taken it!)

Without even blinking twice more, the little Turtwig, turned and raced at the Starly attacking the Professor with a Tackle that would surely end the little bird in one shot. But of course, the little thing had more resilience than that and took its attention away from the Professor and Tackled its way into the fight with the Grass-type, finding it quite painful to walk into the hard head it has.

Meanwhile, the other half of the fight was being handled by Barry and his newly-released Chimchar. "Right Chimchar, let's take this bird out, we have laces to be! Leer then Scratch."

The little orange monkey races over and stares the Flying-type right in the face as it scares the bajeebas out of it and then proceed to rake his nails right across its face. The response is a Tackle, pushing the Chimchar backwards. Both the Starly, still keeping one eye on their friends constantly bombarding the Professor, watch their opponents with their other eye.

OOC: If you knew me, you'd know how happy I am that you choose Turtwig, am a Grass fanatic. So yeah, it's cool also you get to choose the gender of your starter as well.

OOC: I apologize for my absence. Life gets kinda busy sometimes... ^^;; Thus! I return with a long post. (I like grass Pokémon a lot too. I just dislike that they have so many weaknesses ><)

In frustration, the stubborn Starlys rebounded Chimchar and Turtwig's attacks with assaults of their own. Turtwig and Chimchar took the tackle-attacks and tumbled in the opposite direction of the impact, until they smacked into each other. ("Hey, I'm gonna have to fine you $2,000,000 for that!" Barry shouted at the Starlys). The Pokémon's eyes were swirly for a second, before they shook off the dizziness from their collision. They glanced at each other and quickly realized that if they worked as a team, they would finish off the flying duo faster with minimum damage. Now if only the trainers would work together.

Kanade noticed this brief exchange between the two Pokémon as she turned towards Barry. At the same time, the boy seemed to be looking over at his new rival as well. He noticed that Kanade's face was void of any emotions, and cocked his head. While their concentrations were on each other, their Pokémon, Chimchar and Turtwig, waited for Barry and Kanade's commands, respectively.

"Hey what's with the serious look?" Barry inquired. Kanade almost wanted to face-palm at his inability to figure out what she was trying to tell him (or her inability to express her thoughts). Before she could explain to her rival what they were going to do, the Starlys were preparing to strike again with another tackle. Chimchar panicked as it still waited for an order.

"Turtwig, run in front of Chimchar and use withdraw," the girl quickly said. The little Turtwig quickly jumped in front of the fire Pokémon and tucked himself inside his shell. The birds rammed right into the turtle's shell; they backed off and winced in pain as they rubbed their beaks with their wings. Chimchar popped out from behind Turtwig's shell, and patted its grassy companion, signaling that it was safe to come back out.

Barry watched the Pokémon interact with each other and finally got the message. He clenched his fist and gave a huge, confident grin towards Kanade. "Ever double-battled before?"

Kanade hummed a bit. "I haven't," she answered blankly. "But hopefully, if we defeat these two, the other Starly will stop intimidating the professor..." she reminded Barry, and pointed in the old man's direction. The professor indeed, was still surrounded by the rest of the flock.

"Right." The attacking Starlys charged towards their opponents with rage. Before they could execute the move, Barry shouted to his Chimchar, "Use leer and scratch again!"

And at the same time, Kanade commanded to Turtwig, "Tackle from the front, turn around, and then tackle it again from the back!"

The battle rages on as the two finally work out that they can actually probably win this together. Barry, finally agreeing to help out on the team-work front, calls out another Leer and to follow with a Scratch. With Turtwig in tow, the Chimchar can do nothing but almost laugh as it plays on the defences of the in coming Starly, and stops it in its tracks while the Turtwig ploughs into the bird. Startled at the fact they are now ganging up on it, the Starly doesn't know what to do.

A Scratch later and a Tackle bringing up the rear, the Grass and Fire-types put fire inside the Starly out. Unable to continue any further, the Starly lies on the ground and doesn't move for a while. Seeing them gang up on its companion, the other Starly turns tail and runs, calling out to the ones pestering the Professor, and they all fly away, leaving them all alone.

*Turtwig gains a level*

"Well, that was unexpected," Said the Professor as he dusted down his jacket and fixed his pants. "Now, it seems I have dawdled here for too long. I must be back at the lab. And seeing as I have yet to find anything useful relating to the legend of the lake, I'll leave you two for now. Please be sure to come by my lab soon." He began to walk off, only to stop and turn again, hand behind his head. "Oh yes, can you please bring those Pokémon back with you? Only, make sure you take care of them first, they look a little tired after that ordeal. I would appreciate it very much." And with that, he was off.

"Hehe, well, now that he's out of the way, wanna test them out? I'll see you back in Twinleaf Town and we';ll battle it out there. Don't be late, or I'll have to fine you!" Barry said as he turned and walked in the direction of his home town.

With that, Kanade set out by herself, thinking she may as well fight Barry just to see how well he fought.

Proceed to Route 201