I Wanna Ruin Our Friendship [Starting]

[Valerie Turner]

Valerie finally made her way to Port City. She had lived in New Pallet her entire life, and this big city was such a new experience! Was the air fresher or was that just a new perspective? Valerie wasn't certain. She made her way up the streets, intending to go to the Emissary; she had heard that the lab was where most people went, and she wanted to be unique in her way. Unique without attracting too much attention to herself. She didn't know much about any Pokemon yet, just the Oddish she had worked with once, and she had no idea what to expect whether she went to the Laboratory or the Emissary or went out and just got her own damn Pokemon. This would be a brand-new experience. Somehow, thinking this gave her a sense of deja-vu, but she shook it off.
Valerie paused before the building. Was this.. the right place? She couldn't be sure, all of the buildings seemed to look the same, but she steeled herself and decided to just open the door to find out before her nerves failed her and she panicked and left. In she went!

[EssGee]

A shopkeeper greeted Valerie as she entered, and it quickly became apparent that this was a tannery of sorts, judging by all the hides and leather products lining the walls and racks. Fortunately, the woman was very understanding and politely directed Valerie in the direction of the Emissary: the very large octogonal practically-glowing-from-reflected-sunlight building was pretty clearly visible from here, and hard to miss once pointed out.

Fortunately it wasn't much farther, and it didn't take Valerie long to get there and check in with the clerk. A few more minutes after that, and she was directed to a moderately sized room lined with a few desks and bookshelves around the edges but largely empty in the middle. An middle-aged woman built much like Valerie stood at one of the shelves, seeming to straighten some books.

She turned to face the girl with a serious but not unwelcoming expression. "You're a little bit late," she commented. "I've got your choices right here, though." She pulled a handful of PokéBalls from her pocket and released the creatures within.



"So then. First up is one you might recognize. Your parents called ahead of your arrival and offered a little extra insight. With any luck you'll find this little boy far better than.. Buddy, was it?" Not quite, but considering that was better than the good professor did with most people's names, the ambassador wasn't looking too shabby. The Buneary looked up to Valerie with solemn, hopeful eyes, moving a paw to his mouth either from nervousness or to intentionally look cute.

"Another cute option is Skitty. Like you, it can get startled pretty easily at times, but its high energy is infectious- or so I've been told." It didn't look like it had rubbed off much on Ms. Nguyen, but you know. Professionalism and all. "Perhaps it could help you come out of your shell a bit." As if accentuating her point, the Skitty began chasing its tail, stopping every few seconds to strike a play-fight pose toward Valerie before noticing its tail again, ad infinitum.

"Last on the Normal-type line-up is Patrat. Though often overlooked, it is actually a very useful Pokemon, especially after evolution; and since your application mentioned something about being unaware of your surroundings-" it hadn't actually been worded quite like that, but..- "its watchful eye could serve you well." Patrat crossed its arms and nodded firmly, as if letting Valerie know that it had her back.

"Getting more off the beaten path, there's Basculin. It's a Pokemon that shares your occasionally short temper, so whether that helps you understand each other or you end up helping each other overcome it, hopefully the end result will be good. It doesn't evolve, so in exchange for less growth in the long run it has the benefit of being a bit stronger at low levels than those that do, making it pretty useful for a novice trainer." Something seemed.. a little bit off about this Basculin, but it was hard to place exactly what. It gave Valerie a look that seemed either questioning or judgmental.. or maybe a bit of both? Either way those eyes were pretty crazy. I did seem like serious business though.

"Finally, we're back to cuter choices with Smoochum. Psychics are always useful, though this is certainly the lower end of that spectrum. And, well, it sounded like you might appreciate a Pokemon with a sense of 'fashion'. Smoochum and Jynx sort of look like they're wearing makeup, so.." The ambassador.. shrugged. The most powerful, capable, sure-of-herself woman in the entire world just.. shrugged. That probably didn't mean a lot to Valerie, but had any of her assistants seen her they would have known immediately how much the ambassador had struggled finding a good line-up on this time- though whether that was anything to do with Valerie or general stress or other outside circumstances would remain a complete mystery. At any rate, the Smoochum in question gave a little spin ending in a bow, then came up to wink at Valerie.

From the same pocket of her pinstriped blazer Anita produced a small pamplet that was offered to Valerie. "If you prefer, you can also look over these; the professor has marked which ones he has in stock. As a mercernary, you may choose up to two Pokemon, though only one of them is allowed to come from that pamphlet."

[Valerie Turner]

Valerie was startled when she walked into the wrong building, and became more and more nervous as she approached the actual Emissary building. She was nervous to the point of taking an extra five or so minutes standing outside of the doors trying to control her breathing so she wouldn't hyperventilate. "No pressure, just choosing your partner Pokemon that you'll be using for the rest of your career, no pressure at all..!" she breathed. After finally calming down enough, she took a single deep breath and walked inside, trying to look brave and ready to choose. She succeeded in instead looking like she had a stick somewhere unsavory and couldn't wait to go somewhere private to have it removed.
She went to greet the woman, but was interrupted by the accusation of being late.
"Sorry.." she mumbled, wiping her hands on the bottom of her shirt. She hadn't even known her hands could sweat until just now. As the nice lady showed Valerie her choices of Pokemon, she found herself wondering how in the world she would choose! They were all pretty adorable, and she could pick two of them, but which ones? Should she go with two that would be friends easily, or two that she liked by appearance alone, or maybe two that were opposite personalities that might balance each other and make things interesting? She had no idea. Or maybe she should choose two Pokemon with different types to cover the weakness of one with the strength of the other?
She found her mind had gone blank on the subject of Pokemon types and how to tell what type one might be, so she panicked a little more until the lady told her the type of each as it appeared. Psychic sounded like an interesting type, maybe she should choose Smoochum? On the other hand, maybe the Skitty would be more her style. She did have the cat Pokemon printed on her backpack, after all. "Uh..." She was less panicky now and more confused. Which should she pick, really? Then of course she was handed a pamphlet with even more choices on it. "Oh geeze..." More confusion as she tried to figure out if she wanted one of the ones on the page.
"Um... What is this one?" She chose one seemingly at random and pointed it out on the paper, indicating the blue frog. "And this one?" Her curiosity replaced her confusion, but only a little. The second Pokemon she pointed out was the green snake-lizard-thing with yellow marks. Perhaps she should have done a bit more research before she began, she realized as she stared uncomprehendingly at the pictures of the Pokemon. She didn't know any of these ones!

[EssGee]

The ambassador looked to the book to see the Pokemon at which Valerie was pointing, then simply nodded and headed over to a little machine against one wall. She pushed a few buttons, and after about thirty seconds two PokeBalls materialized- one marked with a green and yellow leaf a one marked with some bubbles.

She introduced them as they were released. "This is a Snivy," she said of the snake, who cocked and eye-..ridge? at Valerie, then shrugged non-chalantly. "They're pretty versatile and reliable partners, though they do lose their legs in their final stage, so be aware if slithery things creep you out." That may not have seemed like much issue to many people, but those people would be surprised how many times trainers had returned a Servine or Serperior after finding they weren't comfortable with it after all. It wasn't common by any means, but one of the most consistent reasons for a starter to be returned.

"And this is a Froakie." The frog gave Valerie large hope-filled eyes and fluffed the cotton-looking foamy 'scarf' around its neck as if trying to contain its excitement and/or make itself look cuter. "..Right. Those are called frubbles, by the way. Most people seem to enjoy that." She looked less amused herself, though upon watching closely one might have seen a slight smirk cross her features when the word was said. "They're surprisingly sticky, so be careful if you pet it. At any rate, they tend to be agile and stealthy.. though this one in particular seems more energetic than most.." Well, maybe it would grow out of it, or maybe it would have a harder time with stealth, but as long as they got along, right..?

[OOC: Yes, that is canonically what they are called in English. Frubbles.]

[Valerie Turner]

"Okay, okay... so... This one's a Grass-type, right? And this one is Water-type.." Valerie was thinking aloud, though not intentionally. She began to calm down a little after the ambassador told her that the Froakie's bubbles were called 'frubbles', it was adorable enough to give her a small smile. It was still a tough decision, of course, and she really wished she could take the Froakie and the Snivy, but the lady had said she could only take one of the pamphlet Pokemon and she couldn't expect to be an exception to any rules.
She would have felt bad for taking up the ambassador's time if she had any thought to spare for the idea. She was entirely focused on her current decision, nervously assessing all of the Pokemon in turn. Which ones to pick? She thought about all of the situations she could come up with in her head and ran through them with each of the pairs she thought would work well, like Skitty with Smoochum and Basculin with Snivy and Buneary with Froakie.. She finally decided to just pick the two that she liked the best and to roll with it. Maybe it would work out, maybe it wouldn't, but she would never get her journey going standing in an office staring at Pokemon that didn't belong to her! After a few more moments of silent decision, she took a deep breath.
"I will take Skitty and Snivy." She sounded very confident, then seemed to shrink a little. "...I think.." Then she shook her head. "Yes. I will take Skitty and Snivy." A thousand 'but what-if-' thoughts ran through her head and she ignored them all. This was it, this was what she was choosing, and there were no take-backs. She wanted to name them right then and there to solidify the decision, but she had.. no idea what genders the pair were.

[EssGee]

The ambassador had nodded to confirm Valerie's observations, maintaining her professional air just enough to resist the small urge to roll her eyes. There were only three types classic starters came in, after all, at least excluding Bulbasaur's odd poison; and with only a few iffier examples most of them were pretty well color-coded. ...Not to say that their being color-coded wasn't still a bit weird. Anita had even wondered a time or two if that had been part of the initial criteria for gaining their status, to make it easier for even the most experienced trainers to remember... At any rate.

She snapped out of her contemplation in time to hear Valerie making her decision. "Excellent," she commented simply, recalling the others and moving on. "Next, take this X-Gear. It's already got a Holo Chip with my number registered," she said, handing the device to Valerie.

"You can also have two things from here." She went to a long desk and pulled open a drawer that stretched the full width of it. Laid out neatly inside- wow they really WERE getting more organized about this, sort of- were one each of:

- An iron short sword in a weapon sheathe.
- A mortar and pestle set.
- A canteen.
- A first aid kit.
- A slightly battered fishing rod.

[Valerie Turner]

Valerie took the offered X-Gear, pocketing it to look at later, then approached the opened drawer. Oh, dear lord, more choices? This would be much easier than choosing Pokemon, as she knew she could probably buy whatever items she didn't pick at a later time, but which ones would be better for her initial travelling? She ruled out the sword right away, knowing full well she wouldn't be comfortable using a weapon of any sort, least of all a sword. Something like that required training and skill she simply didn't have and was not currently planning on obtaining. The mortar and pestle.. Yes, she would be able to use that, more than likely, so she took that right away before she could change her mind. And one other thing.. The canteen would be an obvious choice, but the first aid kit and fishing rod would also be fairly nice to have. She knew she could catch Pokemon with the rod, but a first aid kit or canteen might keep her more alive. Thinking about it, she might actually be able to make poultices and things of that nature with the mortar and pestle, and it wasn't likely she would be venturing into any desert anytime soon, probably, so the fishing rod would actually be a great choice. She picked it up and looked at the ambassador. "Thank you," she said, sounding slightly sheepish. Sorry I took so long to decide, it's just a really big decision!"

[EssGee]

Anita nodded gracefully. "Of course, it's no trouble. Fortunately, though, there are no more decisions from here." She smiled. "As a final parting give, take these." She handed Valerie a small sack, inside which she'd find six PokeBalls and two potions. "Best of luck on your journey, young trainer." And with that, she showed Valerie the door.

[Valerie Turner]

Valerie thought it was a lovely door, but didn't think it appropriate to mention. She gave a final smile and a little, "Thank you," before moving through the offered door and leaving the Emissary to begin her journey for real. She hoped her choices had been good ones, but it was far too late to worry about that now.