The warm, summer gusts flowed through the town's ever-looming propellers, providing power to the buildings that lay within the area. I leaned against one of said windmills, staring at the town from a distance. My new green jacket whipped against the wind, and I raised my hand to block the sunlight from blinding me. A strange, nostalgically-familiar scent wafted into my nostrils, and I unconsciously smiled. This place reminded me quite a bit of home. I slowly and nonchalantly stepped forward, nodding towards the people who said hi. My sneakers scrunched against the dirt path as I walked, eventually stopping at the large building in front of me. The sun no longer in my eyes, I lowered my hand, then leaned forward a bit in surprise. Two other people were already in front of the lab - obviously they had arrived before me in hopes of getting early dibs on one of the starter Pokemon.

One of them was a boy, dark-haired, a pair of sharp-looking glasses donned on his nose. His expensive blue jacket betrayed his lineage; obviously he was part of one of the more wealthy families around here, not that a newcomer like me would know about that. A Pokeball already hung from his belt, and I raised my eyebrow... then lowered it. Of course he'd probably have a Pokemon already. My own family had an Espeon and Umbreon before I had even begun my journeys. I smiled as I thought back to my mother, and back to the eighteen Pokemon I had journeyed with before. I called them all often, teasing my mother about whether or not she was swamped under all these Pokemon to take care of. It was all in good fun, of course - I knew that Glacier, Erik, Iris, and the rest of my Pokemon would help her out as much as they could. Shaking myself out of my reverie, I looked to the one the boy was arguing with.

She was blonde, wearing a cute beret on her head. She wore a simple-looking dress and carried a purse. As I watched her berate the boy, she struggled to pull something out of the purse. She eventually got it out, nearly losing her balance, revealing it to be another Pokeball. She pressed the center button and opened it, letting out a tiny doglike Pokemon with a fuzzy face. The boy sighed dejectedly and opened his own Pokeball, revealing a purple cat with a scythe-like tail. Despite the obvious enmity between their two owners, the cat and dog pounced each other playfully, letting out happy barks and meows. Figuring I had wasted enough time watching, I strode forward, interrupting the feud with a wave of my hand.

"Hi!"

The pair silenced and glared daggers at me. I didn't shrink back.

"Y'know, when you've traveled as much as me, a simple look isn't going to get me to go away."

The pair kept glaring, then lowered their heads in defeat. The two Pokemon of theirs stopped wrestling with each other and scampered over to me, the Purrloin sniffing around me feet while the Lillipup jumped up against my leg. I knelt down to pet both Pokemon, and they both let out a pleased purr. I looked up to find the other two kneeling as well. Deciding to make acquaintances, I looked at the girl and smiled.

"What's your name, miss?" The girl looked back at me, then let out a stream of giggling.

"My name's Bianca!" Her words were nearly incomprehensible underneath the constant giggling, and I heard the boy audibly sigh in annoyance. I turned to him to ask his name, but he beat me to it.

"My name's Cheren. Pleased to meet you." He rubbed his temples with one hand, holding his other hand. I shook it firmly, then shook Bianca's waiting hand, who then spoke again. "And this..." She picked up her puppy, who yipped happily and licked her cheek. Her giggles grew louder, and she wiped her cheek on her sleeve. "...is Snuggles!"

I couldn't help but let out a laugh at the childish name. Even the corners of Cheren's mouth twitched upward. He knelt down and the cat leapt onto his shoulder, licking its paw. He proudly pointed to it, and it gave out a meow.

"This would be my Purrloin, Matthew." He poked it, and it bit down on his fingernail cutely. He pulled away, hissing quietly, and Bianca laughed loudly. Cheren sucked on his finger and shot a dirty look at Bianca, then gave Matthew a scolding glance. Matthew simply stared back with a ridiculously endearing look, and I gave him a pat, much to Cheren's displeasure. Suddenly, the door to the building opened, causing Bianca to stop laughing. We all stared at the one who had opened the door.

She was a tall, older woman, with bright red hair in an inexplicable hairstyle. Her white shirt and green skirt were covered by a giant white labcoat, and she gave us a small wave. "Hello! Bianca, Cheren!" She nodded towards both of them, then stopped at me. "And who might you be...?" I slowly put my hand out, my other hand in my jacket pocket.

"My name's Bill." The woman took my hand and shook it warmly. "And I'm guessing you're Professor Juniper?" She nodded, and I smiled. So this was the right place after all.

"I was told you were the one to go to about the Unova starter Pokemon?" She let go of my hand and walked back into the lab, beckoning all of us to come in. Cheren and Bianca stepped inside, their Pokemon trotting along behind them. After some slight hesitation (for what reason I don't know), I followed them inside.

Compared to the weather outside, the lab was quite cool inside, and I zipped up my jacket a bit. Stepping past Cheren and Bianca, I fell into stride with Professor Juniper, walking down a long hallway.

"So, Professor." I began. She stopped and poked her head into a room, talking to a hidden someone inside. I waited patiently, and her head reappeared, the door closing. We began to walk again, and she turned to me.

"Yes, Bill?" I placed a hand on my chin, rubbing my stubble. I'd need to shave soon.

"What exactly do you research? I've worked with Professor Rowan off in Sinnoh, so it'd be useful to know." At this, Cheren and Bianca looked at me with renewed interest, and Juniper raised her eyebrow.

"You've worked with Rowan before?" She stretched her arms. "That old coot… How's he doing?" She slid her hands into her labcoat's pockets – she was far more casual than Rowan was. "Ah, never mind. You can tell me about him later. Here we are!" The four of us stopped at a set of double-doors marked 'Main', and Juniper pushed open one of the doors, holding it for us. We stepped into the room, the door slamming closed behind us.

It was quite large, with a few familiar pieces of equipment around the room – the standard-issue healing machine beeped in the corner, and a large scanner stood dormant to the side. Cheren and Bianca stepped past me, but I took the time to take in the room. It was quite a bit like Rowan's lab back in Sinnoh. Juniper reached into a box and pulled out three Pokeballs covered in a Ball Capsule. One was marked with a pink-flower-petal seal, one was marked with a few fire-releasing seals, and the last was oddly covered in multiple colored bubble seals. Juniper silently pressed the button on each ball, releasing the Pokemon within with a burst of either petals, embers, or bubbles.

Now standing before us were three Pokemon – a green, bipedal… snake thing? A small orange pig, and a tiny white otter with a shell on its belly. The snake spat on the floor and crossed his leafy arms, tapping his foot impatiently. The pig let out an excited oink and began to run around our legs. The otter ran behind Juniper's legs and hid, shivering a little bit. She picked up the otter (eliciting a surprised "Osha!" out of it) and placed it back in front of her, only to have it hide behind her legs again. She sighed.

"These are our three starter Pokemon." She plucked a pen and tiny notebook out of her breast pocket, clicking the end of the pen. She pointed it towards the grass snake, who was indignantly looking away from the rest of us.

"That would be Snivy, the grass snake Pokemon." She saw him spit on the floor again and lightly tapped his head with the pen. He let out an annoyed "Sni" and turned towards us, a smug smirk on his face all the while. She turned towards the pig, who was still dashing around our legs.

"That little guy is Tepig, the fire pig Pokemon." He suddenly stopped and let out a loud cough, which manifested itself as a veritable dust cloud of black smoke, covering the little thing in soot. Bianca yelped loudly and pulled a handkerchief out of her purse, wiping the soot off of the thing vigorously. Juniper, Cheren and I chuckled, and she then looked down at the little otter, who was now staring out from behind her legs.

"This is Oshawott, the sea otter Pokemon." She tapped his back lightly to try and get him out from behind her, and the tiny thing slowly toddled out, staring directly at me with an expectant look. I knelt down, reaching my hand out. He slowly but surely stepped towards my hand, sniffing it, then grasped it with his tiny paw and shook it. As hard as I tried, I couldn't help but have my heart melt. I reached out with my other hand and swept the little otter up into a cradle-hold, and it clung to my shirt, shrieking. I could feel my face gain a sheepish look.

"Whoops." I began to rub its back to calm it down, and it soon ceased its yelling, being replaced with barely-audible breathing. The otter fell back into my cradle-hold, revealing it to be asleep, snoring cutely, sucking unconsciously on one of its paws. I looked up at Juniper, whose smile could have crossed the entire room. "I think I've chosen my starter."

She reached over and grabbed the bubble-adorned ball, placing it into a machine. There was a 'ka-chunk', and a second later, the ball reappeared, the Capsule removed. She took it back and handed it to me. I turned back to Bianca and Cheren. Bianca was flat on her back, laughing, the Tepig's tail tickling her side. It, along with Snuggles, if the wagging Lillipup tail was any indication, were exploring her purse, probably covering everything inside with soot. Juniper tapped the Tepig's head with her pen, and it jumped out, nose covered in what looked like glaze from a donut. Bianca sat up, then wiped the Tepig's nose with her now thoroughly-grimy handkerchief, and looked at Juniper and I.

"He got into my breakfast… sorry!" She grasped her purse and stood up, denying the pig and dog any more sweets, which was probably for the better. Cheren and Matthew, on the other hand, had gotten into a heated argument with the Snivy, who wasn't even actually responding; it simply stared at the two with a discerning look. The smug snake then leapt up (with surprising agility for one so small) and tackled Matthew out of his perch on Cheren's shoulder. Matthew landed fine, but was now hissing at the Snivy, who had resumed his foot-tapping and arm-crossing on top of Cheren's shoulder.

Juniper cleared her throat, then wrote a few things in her notebook. "So, have you thought of names?" I did a double-take and scratched my head. I actually hadn't thought of a name yet, and so I shook my head no. Cheren and Bianca, on the other hand, had already though of names.

"James." Cheren immediately stated, and the Snivy nodded in agreement. Bianca, on the other hand, patted the piglet's head and piped up with "Dusty!" which the Tepig seemed quite happy to agree with. All eyes turned to me, which caused me to look away, embarrassed. I stared at the Oshawott in my arms in thought, and a name came to me out of the blue.

"Cyan." I breathed out, and the otter let out an unconscious "Wott" in agreement. Juniper scribbled out a few hasty lines in her notebook, which I assumed to be our names, starter choices, and starter names, then sat down in a rolling chair and propelled herself to a computer, where she began to type furiously. A few minutes later, we heard three dings, and she pushed herself over to us, holding three small devices (which I assumed to be a standard-issue Pokedex) and two green cards. She handed Cheren and Bianca a card and device each, and she handed me a device as well.

"Those are your Trainer Licenses and Pokedexes. I'm certain you've heard the whole speal before, but I'll just cut it down – don't lose those." We nodded firmly, and she smiled. "Well then, you're free to go!" I stood up to leave, but Cheren pointed a finger at me.

"Hold it right there." I halted and turned on my heels. I couldn't help but smile – Cheren was pointed at me, a determined look on his face. But that wasn't the funny thing; James the Snivy was mimicking him from his shoulder.

"Why are you in such a rush? I want a battle." I dove into my bag and looked into my wallet. A meager five-hundred dollars was left in there – enough for a few meals, sure, but not if I lost a battle.

"Alright, if you're up for it. I hope you're okay with no prize money." Cheren nodded, signifying his agreement to those terms, and he led all three of us outside.