Professor Oak's Laboratory

Well, this was the part that Sage Willows hadn’t been looking forward to. The dark haired brunette took in a deep breath one last time as she stood a dozen or so feet away from the front door of Pallet Town’s laboratory. Her and Osheen had already been over this a million times, but now the time was here to finally go through with it… and go inside.

With one last glance back in the direction of her fraternal twin, she turned forward and smoothed out the loose black and gold dress shirt she had worn for the occasion and stepped inside. The sliding glass double doors smoothly slid open and welcomed her into the large and spacious interior of Professor Oak’s lab. Wasn’t he the most esteemed professor in the world? Would the man even be here? —She hoped not. She hoped she’d get a common worker who handed trainers their starter Pokémon. Why was she doing this first again!?

Her heart was pounding, and she had half a mind to turn tail and run straight back out the double doors. However, the receptionist behind the lobby counter caught sight of her and smiled, and Sage knew… with dread bubbling in her stomach… that it was too late to pull back now.

“Hello,” She greeted a bit more stiffly than she had intended, her expression becoming a blank mask as she steeled her nerves and locked them up inside. “I’m here to receive a starter Pokémon?”

The receptionist was friendly and offered her a reassuring smile as she stood from her seat and gestured her to follow further into the laboratory. Despite the warm welcome, Sage still experienced the jitteriness of her nerves and the dreadful churn of her stomach as she obediently, and stiffly, followed. The uneasiness only intensified the moment the woman called out to Professor Oak himself.

Suddenly, Sage’s heart was thundering in her chest, and she was as stiff as a board, feeling frustrated that she had been sent in here alone when her sister knew how much trouble she had with all of this. She had never been the social one, and Osheen would have been the stand-in at this moment, all smiles, and friendliness, and Professor Oak would have liked her just fine.

“Hello!” When the Professor turned his attention onto her and the recepionist took her leave, Sage offered him a strained smile and then a nod of confirmation when he commented on her being excited for the journey. Inwardly, however, her mind screamed — no. She wasn’t. She would have rather been back home, living her normal life. But, parents always ensured that you couldn’t do what you wanted and instead had to do what they wanted.

Sage’s cerulean gaze roamed to the three pokéballs that Professor Oak gestured toward when he inquired if she had put any thought into who she would have liked. She had mulled over it quite a bit over the weeks prior to them setting off. But then the airplane ride into Kanto, from Kalos, had been horrendous and she had practically been vomitting the whole flight, wrought with motion sickness, and then plunged into a world of jittery nerves and so… well, she wasn’t as prepared as she would have liked to be.

She took in a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself and think for a moment. What had she thought about before the journey here? She had still been undecided over whether to get Squirtle or Bulbasaur. She had, for one, decided against the Charmander since his flaming tail and fire-based attacks seemed to be rather hazardous. But Squirtle was like a walking target… being so suseptible to grass-type moves and let’s face it, most of the earth was made up of forest and grasslands.

“U-Uh…,” He voice actually faltered a bit, as she felt pressed for time. “Yes. I’m thinking…” She pressed her lips firmly together and narrowed her gaze on the selection. Yeah, Squirtle would be a walking target, Charmander a fire hazard, and that left… “Bulbasaur.”

She offered a smile to the Professor, although one that still held a hint of uncertainty.

For such a renowned man, Sage realized that Professor Oak was rather… humble. He had been nothing but patient with her this entire time, and when he spoke he did so carefully and kindly. When he handed her the pokéball which held Bulbasaur he even offered her the opportunity to release the Pokémon to better acquaint herself with her choice and ensure she was confident with who she had chose in the end. That fact alone turned her cheeks a little scarlet, and she immediately broke eye contact with the older man to stare down at the red and white ball clutched within her grasp.

He reminded her of a grandfather, but she didn’t want to be so loose with her thoughts. After all, she was a nobody in the grand scheme of things. He would have seen thousands of would-be trainers after so many years in his line of work, and it was stupid for her to feel sentimental or emotional over a little show of kindness and patience. She couldn’t be so quick to decide a person’s persona from spending literally five minutes in his company. Why was she even thinking about this? Sh-She just needed to hurry and get out, but now she found herself in this awkward dilemma of expectation. She had let her uncertainly paint itself all over her face, and now she had landed in an even more awkward situation than before.

She wondered if she had the talent to lie her way out of it. She wasn’t as skilled in that department as her sister, Osheen. God, this was going to be hard…

Although, she did mumble out an ‘oh, okay’ when he held up a tray for her to retrieve some items from. She fumbled a little with picking them up, her nervousness betraying her. As one of the empty pokeballs popped out of her grasp and fell to the floor, she practically died of embarrassment inside, and immediately ducked down to pick it up..

At least it gave her the opportunity to be honest. “I-I’m just nervous,” She explained, her voice a small meep of a noise as she straightened back up, face as red as a tomato. “Thank you so much, Professor Oak. I, … I’m more than happy with choosing this Bulbasaur as my starter.”

After embarrassedly bidding the Pokémon Professor goodbye, and hearing anything he had to say in response, Sage headed out to the lobby and then to the exit by way of the sliding glass double doors.