Pokemon: The Omega League

Aleph Town, To The Lab!

It took Jacques a few moments to notice he was being called, being somewhat distracted by the happy trainers leaving with their first Pokemon, giving a small smile before his name being mentioned snapped him out of his trance.

"Ah, bien! I-I mean, good! You're right, b-best not to keep him waiting or hold others up." The youth gave a timid nod and bow before swiftly following the aide, glancing back those still waiting.

"I, um, see you all soon, probably!"

Nick the photographer - No Pokemon out - Aleph Town, going into the laboratory.

Nick watched as another group of new trainers walked out of the laboratory with various Pokemon. The only one he recognized was Ralts, as a prior evolution of Gardevoir, which were famous enough that Nick knew of them. he took a quick picture of that group, then the aide pointed to him and the others near him, and he perked up. "Alright, here we go!" Nick said, pumping his fist in excitement. "You think the professor will allow photography inside?" he then wondered, already holding his camera ready even though he hadn't been given explicit permission yet.

Blaze: Aleph Town

As Blaze registered that her name was being called along with some of the others, her head slowwwly turned towards the group with a huge gaping smile on her face before she finally let out an excited squeal and punched the air in excitement.

"Yeah!! C'mon, let's go! Stop worrying over your dumb camera and GOOOOOOOOooooooooo!!" she crowed, grabbing Nick's arm rather forcefully and sprinting into the laboratory with him in tow. She screeched to a halt in front of the aide, remembering to release Nick's arm as she bounced in place and stared up at the lady with puppy eyes.

"C-Can we go in now can we go in pleasepleaseplease oh I'm so excited I'm sorry!!" she expressed in a jittery voice, before catching herself and taking a few deliberate deep breaths. "Phew... okay, sorry again...! Still excited...! Heart was beating too quick just now, hoo boy...!"

Edited by Enirboreh on Nov 29th 2022 at 12:06:13 PM

Joachim (Aleph Town)

Nodding in answer to the question directed at him, Joachim found it hard to get a word in edgewise due to everyone else talking so rapidly and excitedly that he found it easier to just keep his silence.

Once he was beckoned to enter and claim his companion, the young lad did so, taking a deep breath and exhaling in the process. "This is it, this is...it's happening."

As Nicklas rose his camera to take pictures, the four trainers glanced up. The girl with the Pidove nudged the others, then she grinned and raised up a V-for-victory sign with her hand. The boy raised his Ralts even higher. The boy with the Chinchou grinned and picked up his Chinchou, which cooed in excitement. Meanwhile the teenager glanced up and smirked a little into the camera, the Sizzlipede crawling up his leg to get into the shot. Once Nicklas lowered his camera, the four trainers continued forward, heading north towards Route 1.

"Meet us once you get your starters to share those pictures, okay?" the girl called to him before she left.

The four prospective trainers were directed by the aide indoors, who gave a warm smile to Blaze and nodded, gesturing towards the door. When the four entered, they would immediately notice that, while the building was rustic and old-fashioned on the outside, it was fairly high-tech on the inside. Machines hummed beside the walls while aides manned computers, typing away and glancing between the screens and some notepads they kept at their desks.

The moment the four trainers stepped forward towards the big doors near the back of the room, a Sentret scurried out from the doors, chirping excitedly.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming, I'm coming!" a deep male voice shouted out from the doors, and the doors swung open again to reveal the professor, looking exactly the same as he did in his commercial. The Sentret gestured to the four trainers, then hopped into the lab's back chamber.

"Ah, yes, welcome, welcome to my laboratory. I'm Professor Hawthorn," he greeted, offering his hand to each of them individually to shake. "I presume you're here to start your Pokemon journeys. What would your names be?" he asked.

Edited by AllHailThrall on Nov 30th 2022 at 5:05:50 AM

Aleph Town.

In the complete opposite of how...one fellow would-be trainer was reacting, Jack at least tried to sound encouraging.

"I...think they would've said if it was a problem before telling us to follow...or have signs up saying 'No camera...recorders allowed' or something, wouldn't they?"

Of course, Blaze's...overly energetic outburst led to the youth taking several more steps away from them just to be safe before giving a small nod in response to Joachim.

"Yep. I'm not sure how many of us are here to be trainers...or coordinators for those contests or just want a friend or pet...but it's just a matter of minut-"

...only to get cut off as they finally walked into the lab, finding themselves face-to-face with the professor and awkwardly shaking the man's hand.

"Er, um, Jacques Wearth, Professor. Or just Jack, if that would be easier."

Edited by TheRealWren on Nov 30th 2022 at 1:16:39 AM

Blaze: Hawthorn's Laboratory

"Wowwwww...!" Blaze exclaimed as they entered the laboratory, staring at all the fancy blinking lights and the cool machines and WHAT WAS THAT FLUFFY-

She clapped her hands over her mouth, squealed into them for a few moments, and then drew in a breath and regained her composure. Everything was fine! Just an adorable, ringtailed little rabbit thingy! She didn't want to steal it or anything! She'd be patient, wait for their options to be presented, and-

"Myname'sBlazeRhyssirI'veneverreallyseenPokemonbeforemyparentsaresuperstrictandscaredof'embutI'mHEREANDI'MSOHAPPY- it's very nice to meet you~!" she smiled happily as the Professor's hand came around to shake hers, which she did so with so much enthusiasm that it looked like she was pumping a handcar more than saying hello. Thankfully she remembered to let go and fumbled between saluting and waving before just giving up and clasping her hands behind her back in a casual manner. "I'm so glad I'm here! I wanna go out and see what kinds of cute 'n' cool Pokemon are out in the wild! Um, heh, I'm getting ahead of myself...!"

Was she still smiling? Oh, yup, she was still smiling. She had her eyes squeezed shut because of how nervous she was, and when she blinked them open everything looked green for a second. Hoo boy. She wasn't gonna survive today at this rate! She looked between the other three trainers, trying to judge how excited they were. It probably wasn't the same for them, since Pokemon were normal to people who weren't her. Right? Right.

Nick the photographer - No Pokemon out - Aleph Town, The professor's laboratory.

Nick raised an arm to wave to the departing group of trainers, just in time to have Blaze grab his other arm and drag him off to the lab with a sudden yelp of surprise.

As Jacques and Blaze introduced themselves to the professor- though Blaze talked so fast that Nick didn't clearly hear her name amongst all that- Nick took a moment to take a couple of photos of the laboratory, before it came to his turn. "Nicklas, that's without an o- why don't you just call me Nick actually," the photographer replied, taking and shaking the professor's hand for a moment. "Last name Bardak. I intend to be a Pokemon photographer," he added, holding the camera up with his other hand, as if it weren't obvious already.

Joachim (Professor Hawthorn's Laboratory)

Hearing everybody else introduce themselves gave Joachim a brief idea of what their personalities were like, and what he could expect if he traveled with them (he would need to remember to keep one person between him and Blaze at all times if they were in a group, thinking about it). Once it was his turn, he cleared and spoke up in a voice that suggested he wasn't used to public speaking.

"Joachim Lami, sir. I'm...well, I'm sort of still figuring out what I want to do, but I like to research Pokemon like my mom does."

Edited by Bored_Man on Nov 30th 2022 at 4:15:39 AM

Robert-Outside the Lab (!)

With an amused smile at the girl's excitement (I wonder what it would be like to see Pokemon as a novelty and not a fact?), Robert leaned on his cane, waiting. It would probably look exactly as he'd expected. Scientific equipment, a few assistants, and shiny machines as well as note boards covered with ideas and equations, maybe some Pokemon scampering around. However, the voice of the assistant startled him out of his reverie as the first four were invited inside. Rab shifted back to the other foot and almost drifted away again before he noticed that more people had arrived.

Still a little sore from his trip, Robert stepped forward and offered his hand to the newly arrived boys, feeling his walking stick creak very slightly. "Robert Deliese. Or just Rab works too. I'm interested in being a Trainer....but I'd also like to find something new out there." Did that sound pompous? It felt pompous.

Edited by Booky on Nov 30th 2022 at 2:06:26 AM

Kaden - Arrival in Aleph Town

Lagging behind the other arrival, very much taking his sweet leisurely time, was a boy with unkempt black hair and dressed in a matching shirt, white pants and some gray sneakers. He took one look at the lines ahead of him, stifling a yawn as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Maaaaan, figures. It's gonna take forever until I get my Pokemon...I even got out of bed early for this."

It was true. For once Kaden had been an early riser...which he had promptly squandered by walking at a pace that made a Snorlax look energetic. At least he'd gotten some good sightseeing in. But also...

He was still sleepy. And one wrong yawn slipping through, and not realizing that the person he'd been walking behind had stopped...1, 2 and 3 and... "Oof! Whoops!" Came his cry as he walked headfirst into Kara, stumbling back a few steps as he caught his balance again. As soon as he'd recovered, he went slightly red in the face, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish smile.

"Uhhh...sorry about that..."

Flint - Arrival outside of Hawthorne's Lab

From a different direction came an older newcomer, a black haired young man with mismatched eyes wearing a vest and slacks that looked more suited for working at a game center than for adventuring, in spite of this he carried a backpack filled with camping gear on his way toward the group of other would be trainers.

"Guess this is the place" he said mostly to himself while he sat his backpack down and tried not to think about how most of the group seemed to be younger than him or how that might be a little awkward. It's not like starting a pokemon journey 'late' was anything to be ashamed of, right?

Jacques, Prof. Hawthorn's Lab.

For a while, Jack nodded and listened, a smile on his face, only to notice Blaze looking at him and to realize that the other three explaining their reasons, causing him to nervously adjust his scarf to hide his lower face, going from being somewhat excited and eager to uneasy.

Especially since his reasons for being here weren't entirely his own, causing him to get even more anxious and worried as he fidgeted and tugged on the ends of his scarf.

"Oh, non...no, uh, well...I...guess being a trainer would be a start..."

"Ow!"

Kara definitely felt the sudden impact against the back of her head. Still, it was not terrible, so she managed to remain standing, rubbing the back of her head as she turned to face Kaden to assess the situation. From a first glance, he looked like he was alright, at least. A bit red in the face, probably from the impact, but not hurt. He did look like he could've used a couple extra hours in bed, though.

"Hey, no worries. It stung a bit, but I'm sure it'll pass in a couple minutes. You okay?"

Spying a new arrival setting down his backpack not too far away, the redhead just gave him a wave. In part in case he was shy so he wouldn't feel unwelcome in such a big group, and in part because it just felt like the right thing to do. Of course she promptly extended the same courtesy towards the other future trainers present too. And the ones on the way out.

Prof. Hawthorn warmly shook Jacques' hand, before he was suddenly grabbed and shaken wildly by the overly-excited Blaze.

"Ah, yes! Yes! It's very— it's very nice to meet you too miss, eh... Blaze, was it? I admire your enthusiasm!" he exclaimed, recomposing himself. "Well, being a Pokemon trainer means all the travelling and Pokemon sightseeing you want," he assured her, nodding and re-adjusting his glasses.

He turned towards Nick, shaking his hand. "All right, Nick. A photographer, you say? That's certainly an interesting goal. There are certainly many wonderful sights to see on an adventure with Pokemon. Would make great photographs in any scrapbook or album, my boy."

His eyes lit up when Joachim introduced himself and he shook the shy boy's hand warmly. "A prospective researcher? After my own heart, my boy! I can think of no better career path! I may be slightly biased, of course," he chuckled. "Anyway, where were we? Oh yes, we were going to introduce you to your Pokemon companions. Follow me," he told the group. He turned and walked through the doors towards a huge machine in the back wall. He pressed a button on the wall, and the wall opened up to reveal a series of tubes with dozens upon dozens of Poke Balls. Prof. Hawthorn pulled another Poke Ball off of his waist and tossed it into the air. With a bright flash of light, a Lucario appeared at Hawthorn's side.

"Now, in order to determine your perfect starter, my Pokemon is going to take a look at your aura. Aura is sort of like... your energy, your state of being, the sum of who you are. My Lucario here will then fetch you the partner that best matches your aura," Hawthorn explained. "Lucario! If you please."

Lucario grunted, nodding. It pointed it hand towards each of them, its eyes glowing a light shade of blue, as did its paw. Its head appendages floated up slightly and crackled with blue energy. It nodded a few more times, then stood focusing for a moment. With another grunt, it moved determinedly towards the machine, scanning the Poke Balls with its aura. It picked up a few Poke Balls, from seemingly random across the machine. As it reached for one of the Poke Balls, a different one rolled into its hand without it noticing, and it moved towards each of the four prospective trainers, handing each one a ball. The mismatched Poke Ball was handed to Nicklas.

"Go ahead, call upon your partner," Hawthorn stated, also not noticing the mix-up.

Edited by AllHailThrall on Nov 30th 2022 at 8:42:46 AM

Klarysa: Aleph Town

Klarysa lets out an audible sigh of relief once Blaze is out of earshot. That kid would have given her a headache even if she wasn't already on the brink of one. Speaking of which, she half-consciously sinks to the ground as some of the others leave, deciding to exert herself as little as possible and hope that makes the steadily building pain fade sooner.

Here come some more Trainers. Whoopee. Klarysa doesn't even bother to look in the direction of the late arrivals; she's not in the mood to interact with anyone. She just wants to lie here and hope her migraine's clearing up by the time the Prof's aides call to her.

Jacques, Prof. Hawthorn's Lab.

If the fact the rest were getting praised for their choices and pursuits and Jacques was just...a little jealous because of it, the scarf concealing his face kept it masked. That and the lack of 'choice' they had somewhat snapped him out of it.

"...Wait, what...?" Jacques tilted his head at not only the idea they didn't get a choice, but it was something that seemed difficult to define that'd determine their companion. "That's...certainly different from what I've heard..."

...At least it was enough of a reason to tell his parents when they asked why he hadn't chosen what they'd constantly wanted him to catch as he took the Pokeball handed to him and gave a polite bow and a curt 'Merci' to say his thanks before looking around the lab.

"There...is enough room here to be safe, yes? I know Pokemon can be all over the place in terms of stature and size..."

Jack took another glance down at the sphere in his hand. ...Couldn't quite tell if it was more metallic or some sort of fancy plastic polymer alloy...thing and as for what was inside...that just made him even more anxious that he had no clue. It would be something to match his 'aura', yet...

The anxiety and nervousness left him frozen to the spot, staring at the Pokeball.

Edited by TheRealWren on Dec 1st 2022 at 5:06:34 AM

Aleph Town, Adrian

Adrian let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding when the first group departed.

“Wow…”

He turned around slowly, noticing yet more new arrivals, to which he offers more general hellos.

Nick the photographer - An unnamed Galarian Zigzagoon out - Aleph Town, The professor's laboratory.

"We have one picked for us? Huh, that's different," Nick thought out loud, but wasn't complaining. He knew that back home, Professor Oak usually gave each new trainer two or three choices of their first Pokemon, at least so Nick had heard. Like some others, he was a bit old to be getting started on his Pokemon journey, but he didn't let that bother him.

Nick also did not see the mistake with the other pokeball, and took the one offered to him without issue. As Jack was wondering about if it was okay to bring out the Pokemon in the room, Nick went ahead and gave the pokeball a casual toss forward to bring out the creature inside, since the Professor had basically told them to. With a flash of light, a four legged creature, only just over a foot tall, covered in scruffy black and white fur appeared. The Galarian form Zigzagoon raised her head in mild confusion, facing away from Nick at that moment. "Ooh! I've never seen one of those before," he commented, looking at the Pokemon with a curious expression.

The Zigzagoon's ear twitched when Nick spoke, and she turned her head to look at him. He might have never seen her before, but she had seen him before, or at least she thought she did; she thus became quite irritated at the notion that he didn't remember her. She suddenly let out a couple of angry yaps, turning to face Nick while her fur puffed up somewhat in an attempt to look bigger. Then she started growling at him.

"W-whoa, easy now, I won't hurt'cha," Nick said, and slowly reached a hand towards the Zigzagoon. She made a biting motion towards his fingers, which didn't actually connect, but certainly succeeded in spooking him and making him pull his hand back. "Uh, is it... Supposed to be like this?" he couldn't help but ask, in a hesitant tone. The Zigzagoon kept growling at him.

Edited by FirockFinion on Dec 4th 2022 at 1:43:49 AM

Blaze: Hawthorn's Laboratory

"A Pokeball...?" Blaze gasped, clamping one hand over her mouth as she looked between the orb in her hand and the others in slight disbelief. She turned it over, studying it from every angle, before blanching as the Professor told them to... call upon their partner? What? How did that work-

"O-Oh, throw it! Okay, s-so long as it doesn't hurt the lil' guy..." she expressed, her brow creased with worry as she closed her eyes and threw the Pokeball on the ground. "GO! Uh, Poke- um, just GO!"

Thankfully, it worked. In a similar flash of light to Nicklas' Pokemon, a fluffy-tailed Vulpix stood in place, looking around as if mildly confused before bouncing and beginning to run around Blaze's legs in apparent glee. Shocked by this, Blaze lost her footing and fell solidly on her backside, only to be attacked by the happy Pokemon she had released—shouting for it to stop amidst frantic giggling before managing to finally grab it in her arms and look at it properly.

It gave her a happy... noise, for lack of a better word, and as it licked her nose she found herself laughing out loud.

"He's so CUUUTE!!"

Admittedly, she was a little tuned out to what was going on with her fellow trainers, so she didn't pick up on the fact that Nicklas' Pokemon was acting strangely, nor did she realise that Jacques had yet to even release his. But she was so ecstatic at not only meeting a Pokemon, but owning one for the first time, and she hugged the Vulpix like a teddy bear for a solid minute or so before she perked up and looked towards the Professor again.

"O-Oh! Does he have a name...? Or can I name him...? 'Cause I've got something in mind- unless he has one, I mean..."

Joachim (Hawthorn's Laboratory)

While he wasn't sure what having his Aura read entailed, Joachim stood at attention and allowed the Lucario to do its job, which then resulted in him being handed a Pokeball. Seeing that some others were getting to meet their companions, he looked at his own, and clicked the button before tossing the orb forward.

As a result, out popped a small black Pokemon with what looked like a cloak of sorts covering it, and upon noticing Joachim, it stared up at him with its beady eyes before nodding as if it found him acceptable.

"A Snorunt..." Joachim mused aloud, kneeling down to better inspect it, and trying to ascertain its gender without the professor telling him, but looked to be having some trouble doing so.

Jacques, Hawthorn's Laboratory.

It took a few more moments to notice his fellow travelers had already met their partners and with the professor seemingly having no issues with it, Jacques took a deep breath and tried to steady himself.

"O...Okay, here we go...!"

Lightly holding the Pokeball and giving a very careful throw, his reflexes were quick enough to catch it as it bounced back to him after releasing the Pokemon inside with a bright flash.

To say he wasn't expecting a tiny water mouse was an understatement, especially one that tried to perform a small twirl to show off, only to fall off balance and using it's tail to pick itself back up, yet still looking rather proud of herself...and leaving Jacques somewhat perplexed and tilting his head at the Pokemon that was supposed to be his partner.

The feeling seemed to a bit more hostile on the Azurill's end as they turned their head...or, well, body to the side, giving a small "Rill!" as if to go 'Hmph!', clearly not impressed and leaving the trainer at a loss for words for a moments.

"...Er, nice to meet you too? You certainly made quite a flashy introduction..."

It didn't take long for the Azurill to realize she was being praised, giving another twirl and giving a rather happy, 'Zuu!' in response and causing Jack to give a small smile back.

Prof. Hawthorn nodded at Jacques.

"We've taken the proper precautions, yes," he assured the boy. He chuckled at Blaze's enthusiasm and nodded at her. "You can name him whatever you like, he's yours now," he explained. His smile faded when he noticed how aggressively Nicklas' Zigzagoon was behaving towards him. "No... it's... not supposed to be like this," he said, warily. "Steady..." When Zigzagoon attempted to bite at him, he furrowed his brow. "Lucario!"

Lucario barked, and pointedly stepped in between the Zigzagoon and Nicklas. Its hands glowed with aura, and it glared at the Galarian Pokemon, which stepped back from the young trainer. The Professor moved towards Nicklas, snatching Zigzagoon's Poke Ball out from his hands and holding it up firmly.

"Return!" he shouted, shooting a red beam towards Zigzagoon, and it was transformed into energy and shot into the Poke Ball. Prof. Hawthorn looked at Lucario, frowning. "Look at his aura again. Make another selection." Lucario whined a bit, its aura appendages drooping slightly, before it took the Poke Ball and moved back towards the shelf. Prof. Hawthorn turned towards Nicklas. "I'm so sorry, that's never happened before. We're usually pretty good about matching trainers up with the right Pokemon."

By this point, Lucario had put away the other Poke Ball and grabbed a new one for Nicklas to take. The Aura Pokemon handed the new Poke Ball to the photographer, grunted and looked apologetic, then moved up beside its master again.

The professor moved towards a drawer and started rummaging through it, picking up a few red oblong rectangle-shaped machines, as well as a set of ping-pong ball sized spheres, beginning to separate them into sets of five as he watched Nicklas pull out his new Pokemon.

Edited by AllHailThrall on Dec 3rd 2022 at 3:05:32 PM

Nick the photographer - An unnamed Rockruff out - Aleph Town, The professor's laboratory.

"H-hey it's alright, everybody makes mistakes, right?" Nick said, and gave a shrug, even as his nerves were still a bit riled up. "Plus I'm not actually hurt, so... You know, don't be too hard on him," he added, casting a sympathetic look towards the Lucario, before turning his attention to the new pokeball.

"Okay... Let's try again," Nick muttered, and nervously tossed the ball forward. With another flash of light, a light brown colored dog of a Pokemon appeared, standing a little over a foot and a half tall. It took a moment to scratch behind its ear with a rear leg, before letting out a little, happy bark.

"Huh, it's like a Growlithe, but a bit smaller," Nick thought out loud, crouching down to get a closer look at the creature. The Rockruff looked towards him, let out another happy bark, then scampered over, stopping in front of the boy and looking intently at his camera. "You interested in my camera?" he asked, grabbing it with his hands and holding it forward, a bit closer to the Pokemon. The Rockruff stared right at the lens, and tilted its head, panting slightly as its tail wagged energetically.

While still holding the camera in front of the Rockruff, Nick took a moment to look over and see what the other three new trainers had for Pokemon. He recognized Vulpix as a Pokemon from his home region, and the Azurill looked similar to a Pokemon that he was vaguely familiar with, but the Snorunt was completely foreign to him. "Looks like everyone else is getting along fine with theirs," Nick said to nobody in particular.

Blaze: Hawthorn's Laboratory

"Whoa... okay! I-I'm gonna call him... um... wil— Willow!" Blaze exclaimed, earning an accepting yip from the Vulpix as it licked her face again. Making a few vaguely disgusted noises as she got up and wiped her face from the slobber, she grinned down happily at the Vulpix before letting it jump up into her arms and cradling it like it were a baby.

Willow seemed pleased, at any rate. Blaze looked like the cat who'd got the cream.

"I think I love the lil guy~" she replied to Nicklas, as if this fact wasn't blindingly obvious. "W-Wait, did I miss something? Did you get the wrong Pokemon for a sec...? That can happen...?"

She suddenly held Willow closer to her chest, a pout on her face.

"Well I'm not giving mine back, that's for sure! But... aww, the new one likes you! He's like a little puppy...~!"

It seemed like Blaze was incapable of sulking for long when there were cute animals in the room.