By the Reigns [Starter-Complete]

[Alessio Cassano]

January 10th, Year 1, Morning

Stopping briefly to feel the cool morning breeze that whipped through his hair pulling strands back as it passed, Alessio closed his eyes just long enough to capture the sensation more readily, his mind ticking with the information he’d received this morning. While he knew Professor Quercus Oak from the many times he had frequented the lab as a place of study, Alessio’d learned the Ambassador was also giving out pokemon and items for those who had taken to the Mercenary path. He knew the woman only by name, but the way in which she supposedly chose what pokemon to give out to which trainer intrigued him more than he was willing to admit. He’d heard she analyzed people— looked into what records they had and their personalities to determine what pokemon to give. Considering he had no recorded past eight years ago and both he and Carmen had agreed not to speak of what happened prior to coming through the Legend Portal to anyone, he could only wonder what this Ambassador could look into.

She’d probably just find records of me punching holes in walls… A snort of disgust escaped from Alessio at the thought. While it didn’t completely sicken him to think someone would have that impression of him, considering he’d held the flower of hate gingerly in his hands numerous times and knew no amount of word play could change an opinion once made, the thought of being judged before even meeting someone was… stupid. A small ‘tch’ sound escaped from Alessio as he put the thought away deciding instead to head to the lab as he had intended to do from the start. Even if the professor was a bit… scatterbrained, he supposed would be the word, Alessio would deal better with that then being judged by some high and mighty woman who read into people. Alessio’s eyes narrowed in irritation at the last high and mighty person that had perpetuated in his memories for years. Forget I ever considered it… Alessio scowled as he continued to walk passing a few people rather quickly as he did so.

Moving even faster with less barriers in the way, the young man turned down the correct path to the lab knowing it well since having frequented it in recent years. It took him little time to actually get there, but as he pushed through the doors, Alessio didn't waste a minute. “Professor? Are you in?” he asked when not immediately seeing the man. Or out of your mind? The thought nearly made him smirk.

[EssGee]

As Alessio made his way down the hall, he may or may not have heard a young man's voice calling "...S-sir??" after him. As he neared the professor's door, it was very unlikely that he didn't hear the clacking of footsteps hurrying after him and the "Sir!" that accompanied it.

When he opened the doors, however, a hand grabbed his shoulder and yelled, "SIR!" Whatever fight-or-flight reaction this may have elicited in Alessio was thankfully suppressed both by recognition and just how.. absolutely harmless this boy looked. He couldn't have been more than fifteen, small and sickly-scrawny with a labcoat about two sizes too big and huge, bottle-thick glasses. Adding to it, in his free hand was a totally deadly clipboard and pen.

"Er uh.. A..Alexio.. right?" The boy had only been working at the lab for about four months and was still in the process of trying to learn the regulars's names, a process not made any easier by the sheer number of people who frequented the lab daily or the fact that he was better at names than the professor, and pretty well no one else. "Y-you need to sign in, s-sir.." He fumbled the pen to his other hand then, fighting with too-long sleeves to do so, and then offered both to Alessio.

Once that was done, he thanked the man and hurried back to his post at the front reception. Just as he was leaving, the professor walked in. "Oh hey, right on time!" Whether he was serious or joking would forever remain a mystery. "I've got some Pokemon I think you'll really like, Alberico." ...Yeah.

He pulled five PokeBalls from his coat pocket-- aha! he was getting more efficient at this! ..some days- and unleashed Alessio's choices.



"First up is Elgyem! You know, these guys were considered aliens back on PokeEarth, but some of our research has suggested they might actually have come from Mi-aro in the first place, meaning we may have had some connection to this planet before we ever came here! And speaking of coming here, it's extra interesting because now we're the aliens when you think about it-" He seemed to stop a bit abruptly before reminding himself aloud, "..You're not a researcher. Well anywho, Psychic-types are always useful to have around, and when these guys evolve, they get a sweet trench coat I thought you'd enjoy!" ..Yes. The professor just chose a Pokemon based almost purely on fashion.

"Next is Mankey! This one's actually a little better than most of its kind at holding its temper, but when it blows, boy does it blow! A lot of trainers might see that as a problem, but I thought you two might understand each other pretty well in that regard." Wait, what was Alessio's reasoning for not going to the Ambassador, again?

"If you'd rather have a calmer fighting-type, though, here's Machop! Just like you, it absolutely lives for training and exercise and will go stir-crazy if it goes without challenging itself for more than about half a day, if that. Though its incredible strength lends more to lifting than hitting for the moment, it's still a very strong and reliable partner to have out in the wild.

"For something a little different, we've got a Poochyena. It's clear to anyone how devoted you are to your sister, so I thought a Pokemon with such a strong pack mentality would suit you perfectly. They are matriarchal, which might make getting this little lady to fully trust you as her leader might be a little bit tricky, but just think of it as another challenge. Oh, and don't worry about her disobeying in battle; she's very well-trained. She just might come off a little headstrong at times is all.

"Finally, we've got Drowzee. Word through the grapevine is that you have nightmares pretty often. I'm a trained professional at a lot of things, but dreams aren't one of them. I couldn't begin to tell you how to 'actually' deal with that even if I knew the cause, but I can tell you how to cheat~! It's long been well documented that Drowzee can eat the dreams of their trainers, meaning nice, peaceful sleep! Of course, it means no chance of good dreams either, but unlike Munna at least they don't tend to have much preference for the type of dreams they're eating. And you'll need to find another time to let Drowzee rest if you're going to have it up eating most of the night, so it's a bit of a trade-off there. But fortunately, you'll have two Pokemon right away, so you'd have at least the one whenever Drowzee is resting."

He nodded.. then continued a bit atypically. "There was actually a runner-up here, too, in the form of Espurr. With its constantly barely holding back blasting everything for a hundred yards in every direction, I thought it might rub off on you and help you learn to better restrain yourself too." Of course, then he'd realized- by which he meant an assistant who'd fortunately been in the room at the time happened to overhear his thinking aloud and pointed out to him- that this could go rather badly if it had the inverse effect... "..But, you know, they're pretty common over in New Pallet and all." Yes. That was the reason.

Suddenly visibly remembering, he fumbled in his other coat pocket for a second before handing Alessio a pamplet. "But right! This shows all the more traditional starters I currently have in stock, too, if you're interested in seeing any of them. Remember, you can have two Pokemon, but only one can come from the pamphlet. Or both from the five in front of you, either way."

[Alessio Cassano]

Too focused on the goal at hand, Alessio had forgotten to sign in, and even as the sound of feet and voice reached his ears, he ignored it— that was up until the hand reached his shoulder and the voice blared in his ears. Alessio froze. His features blanched, and his pulse shot through the clouds and back in under a second. It took everything in him not to turn and punch whatever had just snagged him, his muscles tightening and already threatening it. Bristled and tensed, Alessio sucked in a deep amount of air before turning fully to meet the stare of the boy. Upon seeing who it was, Alessio exhaled, his emerald eyes reflecting a forced plasticity despite the tension that still loomed from being startled. Though he knew the boy was harmless, or at least looked the part of something that would probably rather spend its life under a rock than meet violence, it still took Alessio a few more seconds to calm down.

“Alessio,” was the correction given, Alessio’s voice taking on more of an Italian accent than it normally had when he spoke. Upon hearing the explanation as to why he had been stopped, Alessio mentally groaned wondering how he had forgotten. Rather than say anything, the man took both pen and clip board and wrote out his first and middle name rather than first and surname- considering he wanted not even a mentioning of the Cassano family on any form of documentation. If anyone asked why his and his sister’s “surnames” were different, he’d give one of the only outright truthful pieces of information about his past: they were half siblings. Not many people asked anyways considering first names seemed to be more common to share among the younger generations than full names.

Watching as the boy left, Alessio didn’t get a chance to sigh before a voice caught his ears and his head turned to meet the professor. An attempt at a half smile was given. “Good morning, professor,” was the simple reply to the note on time, a pleasant enough greeting in itself. The mix up of his name, however, earned a press of lips. It was less accurate than the mix up of ‘Alexio’ but at least it was in the ball park of Italian names—and at least it wasn’t Alice. “Alessio,” he corrected briefly before the professor released the pokemon that he could choose from and began explaining each.

The Elgyem theory was interesting enough, Alessio supposed- though the reasoning behind the choice of pokemon was… odd. For a brief moment, Alessio felt self-conscious, the very trench coat he wore during cooler weather being indeed on him at the moment. Shifting his stance a little to the right, Alessio shifted his gaze to the Mankey— only to deadpan a little at the explanation. That… that… Alessio had no words or thoughts to accurately describe the feeling that persisted from that.

The Machop was more of a consideration than the Mankey considering the reasoning was less of a jab at his emotions. He did like working out and could appreciate a pokemon that pushed himself –er- or herself. The explanation of the reasoning behind Poochyena, however, earned a startled sort of blush before Alessio had a chance to temper his expression any. Raising a cold hand and rubbing it at the junction between his skull and mandible with a thumb and allowing his fingers to curl in front of his lips, Alessio shifted his gaze sideways as though he were considering it instead of trying to hide his face till it cooled off. He’d seen a Poochyena in the area around town, and though he didn’t know their exact rarity, he knew if he truly wanted one, he could catch one with enough persistence. He was not still blushing – all of you can go die in a corner! Alessio froze at his own thought realizing that there wasn’t and probably shouldn’t be anyone in his head so the word choice of ‘all’ perturbed him a little.

Shortly thereafter, panic jumped into Alessio’s veins as the professor explained why the last pokemon was a choice, and he physically fidgeted a little where he stood. Who’d been telling who about his nightmares? Carmen? Would she have… no she wouldn’t— would she? As the professor went on, Alessio calmed a little. The man didn’t know the cause, didn’t know the dreams that plagued him or anything even close to it- just that they were there… Though it didn’t completely alleviate the panic, it did soothe the young man just a little..... The thought of having no dreams though was something else entirely, however. No nightmares, nothing to wreck his sleep, no any of that was more than a little nice. It’d be a miracle- hah not really a miracle per say but something delightfully unexpected at the very least. Even with the possible problem of when to let the Drowzee rest if it stayed up all night to ensure he didn’t dream, the pros of finally having a restful night outweighed the cons. He’d take that one with him at the very least.

The mention of a runner up earned a blink of surprise and a small head tilt causing a few hairs to slide sideways. An Espurr? The reasoning behind it caused yet another deadpan the only clear look in Alessio's eyes being of dry disdain, and Alessio fought irritation at the note of his anger. It would do little good to prove that he wasn’t capable of keeping self-control. Ever still, his hand twitched in his pockets.

Taking the pamphlet as it was handed to him, Alessio stared down at it looking over the various starters. Torchic caught his eye- though mostly because it happened to be one of the first starters he had learned about when finally starting to more regularly go to ‘trainer’s school’. Snivy was interesting as well, though now that he thought about it… or maybe Fennekin or … Staring at the last row for a moment, Alessio tried to remember the name of the only pokemon with a x1 still under it. “Professor… I’m having a bit of trouble remembering exactly what this is,” he stated flipping the pamphlet over so that the professor could see the strange nested pokemon.

[EssGee]

The professor should have had a feeling which would be inquired about, but found himself legitimately surprised. "Oh, that's a Limbkin! It's a species discovered post-Portal that we've been working on domesticating. Would you like to see the one I have in stock?"

((Apologies for short post, muse-killing circumstances hit about half a sentence in. :[))

[Alessio Cassano]

What exactly drew his interest in the particular pokemon, Alessio knew not. While it might have simply been the fact that it looked a tad more foreign than the starters he had seen before and the fact that he couldn’t remember much if anything about the pokemon even as the species name was given by the professor, Alessio’s interest hadn’t been disengaged by this logic. Glancing up to the professor, Alessio gave a brief nod. “Yes, I’d like to see it,” he replied glancing briefly down at the picture again wondering if maybe it was just that particular photo that made it stand out to him. Either way, he’d see upon it being produced.

[EssGee]

"Sure thing~" The professor began digging through a few drawers then before producing a Pokeball and releasing-- Treecko? ..That wasn't right. He quickly recalled it and pulled out a different ball marked with a slightly different leaf marking. Ah yes, that was Limbkin!



"LEEEEEEM~!" the little duck-like creature squawked out, striking a sort of 'ta-da' pose- in which tiny nubby wings briefly became visible at the edges of its nest. Afterward, though, it settled down into a rather calm posture with a contented smile. "Limkin~"

Seeing the hatchling show off, the others decided to try drawing Alessio's attention as well. Machop struck a few powerful flexing poses. Mankey side-eyed Machop for a moment, then struck just two more controlled martial arts looking poses, holding them longer than Machop's quick changes. Poochyena took a bit of a playful stance, though in a fairly aggressive way, looking as though it wanted to instigate a play-fight versus any kind of games. Elgyem... kept starting to move like it was going to do something, then.. stopping and thinking it over again. Oh maybe--... no. Not that either. ...Elgyem just stood there kind of awkwardly. Meanwhile, Drowzee's eyes narrowed as it sort of leaned in toward Alessio, licking its... more than its lips. A long tongue stretched up far enough to touch the top of it's small trunk, twisting and sliding around to lick the full underside of it and coming back up the other side before flicking off its face momentarily and retracting. After that, it just gave Alessio a grin that may not have been appropriate for small children.

[Alessio Cassano]

Watching as the professor shifted through drawers, Alessio set his thumbs in his pockets and waited patiently- or what he could only assume was patiently. Almost ironically, Alessio could be surprisingly patient despite his sometimes short fuse. He could wait consistently for the right moment—though it might also just have been the fact that the professor was looking for a pokemon that might have the honor of being one of his first pokemon. When the Treecko was released, Alessio blinked, about to protest when the professor caught himself and released the correct pokemon. Upon seeing the strange nest duck egg pokemon, Alessio couldn’t but wonder if the egg was a part of the actual pokemon- like Togepi was, or whether it was just… a very interesting choice of hat. Alessio didn’t wear hats. They messed up his hair. Moving on then. The cry from the Limbkin and the pose was amusing enough, and a small snort escaped from Alessio shortly before the duck settled.

The young man had been about to ask what moves the particular pokemon knew when movement caught his eye. Glancing sideways to watch the various pokemon show off- or at least try to in one form or another, he smirked. Of course you all want to go with me his confidence jeered riiiiiight up until he’d finally settled on looking at the Drowzee again. The tongue-trunk-uhm-whatever-else caused Alessio to blanch rather quickly. W-w-why was it doing that? Muscles in the young man’s neck became visible as he tried to not outright grimace. That was…interesting- no it really wasn’t and was more uncomfortable and disgusting. Alessio’s smile twitched a little as he reconsidered taking that particular pokemon with him. Even if it had respective pros he wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to … sleep around such a thing. Then again, he’d slept in a manor filled with vile people for years- though in that case he’d had some safety with the ability to lock his door.

Alessio’s eyes glanced away, a feeling lingering in him as he found himself staring at the Elgyem instead. He didn’t think they had the same pros of sleep powers that the Drowzee did, and it certainly wasn’t doing anything to really catch his attention, but… Alessio glanced at the Machop again and then the Mankey and then finally the Poochyena. This was altogether much more difficult than he’d initially thought it would be. However, he was neither going to falter or act rashly. Poochyena was too common- even if she did appear to be a cute thing. Maybe he’d go catch one just because. Mankey… well, even if it hadn’t been picked for a reason he particularly liked, it had some promise- though Elgyem might be more useful as a cornerstone Psychic pokemon later on… and maybe the prospect of a trench coat were… interesting at the very least. Machop could certainly evolve into some serious muscle, but he himself was already confident in his own physical strength. And the Limbkin was indeed going with him. He’d decided on that.

Eenie meanie miney moe catch a Pyroar by the toe Alessio’s mind ticked with the familiar tune Carmen used when choosing menial things, and he had to shake it before he made a stupid decision based solely on that. He had to think……“I’ll take the Limbkin and the Elgyem,” he stated slowly after a moment glancing at the professor with nothing short of a confident look now on his features. Alessio had surprised himself- and his fourth walling writer, but he didn't regret the decision even after a few seconds had passed.

[EssGee]

"Ah, excellent!" exclaimed the professor, handing him the appropriate PokeBalls. Meanwhile, the chosen Pokemon each gave their own excited- and in Elgyem's case stunned- reactions, and those left behind seemed disappointed but understanding.. aside from Drowzee, who aside from frowning very profusely appeared... hungry... Huh.

The professor referred to a small pile of items then. "Please, take this X-Gear." Recently, the new trainer program had been approved in their request for greater supplies of X-Gears, allowing them to start giving them out to all trainers rather than just including them as an option. "And choose any two of these items." In the pile was a Tool Bag, a Canteen, an X-Gear's Print Chip, a Mortar and Pestle, and.. was that a plank of wood? Was that supposed to be part of the pile or did he just happen to dump the items on it? It was really unclear whether the better question was why Oak had a random plank on his desk if it wasn't part of the pile or what he thought a trainer would want with a single plank if it was.

[Alessio Cassano]

Fingers closed around the pokeballs as they were given, and thumbs rolled along the bottom of the pokeballs before Alessio shrunk them down and set them in his pockets deciding to leave his new pokemon out for now. A sparkle came to otherwise dusty green eyes as Alessio took the X-Gear and slid it onto his wrist. He had seen how expensive they were in the shops and couldn’t help but smirk a little to himself as he glanced down at it given free of charge.

Two more options? Alessio glanced up again to stare at the various things laid out. The Tool Bag briefly interested him considering it could change the sizes of things…which could be useful when traveling. The Canteen was also useful in that regard. He knew the Print Chip was expensive- even if he had never really taken an interest in taking pictures…which would require a Photo Chip anyways. Eh… the Photo Chip’s not as expensive is it? Alessio mentally squinted in his mind trying to remember what he had seen in the window of that one store. Ah, it did no good, he couldn’t remember on glancing. Ever still, he knew the Print chip was expensive… Did he even really want to print out pictures anyways? Not at the moment. If he had been more interested in alchemy, the Mortar and Pestal might have interested him more… and ….why was there a plank of wood? An eyebrow raised as Alessio briefly glanced at the professor before down again. Maybe he expects me to use it as a weapon. Alessio nearly laughed. Nearly.

When it doubt, go with the most expensive thing- or what he thought was the most expensive thing, anyways.

“I’ll take the Print Chip and the Tool Bag,” he finally decided aloud reaching for the Print Chip to set it in the X-Gear before shouldering the Tool Bag. Glancing at his new pokemon and then the professor, Alessio gave one of the few bows he’d ever done- and even then it was more of a head nod. “Thank you.” Was that really Alessio’s voice speaking such words? Well then.

[EssGee]

The professor nodded, then retrieved another small bag. "In here are six PokeBalls and a potion," he explained, handing it over to Alessio. Also, inside the tool bag he would eventually find a paint brush, but Oak didn't find that information relevant to give at the moment. "And.. I believe that's it! Best of luck to you on your travels, then!" And with that, he ushered Alessio toward the door.