Pallet Town

When Osheen questioned her on Squirtle, Sage’s grin became sheepish as she glanced toward her once more. “I said that I was leaning toward getting a Squirtle.” She corrected and explained, “But, I decided against it in the very end because I felt like it was too disadvantages. Squirtle would be weak to grass-types and that’s pretty much what’s all around us.”

Their conversation was cutt off by Osheen's pokémon, however. It instantly grew hyper and started to run circles around Osheen, to which her sister then began trying to follow it, turning in circles as well. It was quite the sight to behold, and one that caused Sage to raise an eyebrow at her. “I think mine is hyper.” She commented, and Sage agreed.

Watching Osheen attempt to pet her Bulbasaur just ended in her pokémon actually snubbing her and resuming the laps it was running. Sage grinned, and looked back to her own pokémon, who seemed very gentle and docile in nature. Her pokémon was very accepting of her right away, and Sage hesitantly and carefully tested her luck, reaching out to grasp her baby dinosaur around its midsection and then lifted it up into her arms to cradle it like a baby.

”Bulba saur.” She seemed to be very happy with the affection and looked around, wide-eyed, toward the other Bulbasaur who was still running laps.

“Looks like mine’s a real cutie,” She pointed out with a grin.

Sage moved to go and sit on the park bench she had previously occupied, with her Bulbasaur still in her arms, as she listened to Osheen talk about what she had promised Professor Oak. “I certainly hope you would treat your Pokémon good no matter what!” Sage laughed and joked easily in return while her sister scooped up her pokémon without a second thought. Sage was surprised that the Bulbasaur was so accepting of it, considering its mischievous and hyper activity.

“I’m not sure if I got a girl or a boy,” Osheen pointed out and moved to retrieve her PokéDex while accidentally dropping a ball from her bag. The sight reminded Sage, unpleasantly, of the blunder she had done in front of Professor Oak, and it filled her with an inner dread and embarrassment over her own stupidity.

“See! My starter is super handy.” Osheen praised almost instantly, when her Bulbasaur had used two vines, that had sprouted from the seed planted on its back, to pick up the ball for her. However, as soon as Osheen tried to grab it, her starter lifted it out of her reach. “W-We’re just playing.”

“Oh boy,” Sage laughed. “Looks like you got a little mischievous fellow.”

Sage retrieved her own PokéDex in order to turn it on and read the information about her own starter, revealing that it was a female. “Hmm, the PokéDex says that the green bulb on a Bulbasaur’s back is actually a seed and needs lots of sunlight to flourish and grow. And,” She continued to read, looking up at Osheen as she finished. “That the seed is where Bulbasaur gets most of its energy and nutrients, rather than from actual food.”

“So it’s pretty much a plant,” Osheen pointed out, summing up the description in one sentence. Sage chuckled and felt it was an appropriate summary and rather accurate. When Osheen asked her what her Bulbasaur’s personality was, Sage glanced down at her PokéDex to see, but her sister didn’t give her a chance to answer and instead carried on by revealing her own starter’s personality. Although, it was something Sage was used to — Osheen did it all the time.

“I think it means… like… naughty?” Sage commented a bit unsurely. “Like, mischievous?” She tried to explain further, although she wasn’t entirely sure if that was the correct meaning behind the word.

“My Bulbasaur is gentle and stubborn.” She pointed out, and glanced down at her pokémon, which was obediently sitting within her lap appearing relaxed and content. She wasn’t really sure what the “stubborn” entailed. She hadn’t seen that side of her Pokémon yet. She was also surprised that the PokéDex was able to read their personality. That was rather handy, she supposed.

Sage decided to go ahead and place her Bulbasaur next to her on the bench. She felt bad since the pokémon seemed to be so content where it was, but she had a hard time with having animals or creatures on her for extended periods of time because she became stressed with the need to give them attention and do what they wanted. Unfortunately, Bulbasaur did look a little upset when she was placed down beside her and taken off of her lap, but she tried to steel herself and just… create that needed space.

“Haha, if I was a Pokémon I’d be like human human, human human!” Osheen abruptly burst out in a laugh and Sage inwardly groaned, smacking her face with her hand. Sometimes, she swore, Osheen said the “darndest” things! Her fraternal twin moved to sit down on the bench with her, her Bulbasaur still happily in her lap, causing Sage even more stress and anxiety, as she glanced toward her own starter who was kind of just… sitting there… watching them. Ugh. She gave her a good pat down on her head while Osheen pulled out a book that she had brought with names.

“I already have an idea for my Bulbasaur. I was thinking something that means flower.” Sage admitted with a grin.

Osheen completely misunderstood what she had been saying and assumed that she had wanted to name her Bulbasaur… flower!? Sage immediately made a face of disbelief, her mouth slightly agape as she stared at her in annoyed shock. “No!” She interrupted, but did burst into laughter, so… annoyingly flabbergasted at Osheen’s assumption. “Why would I ever name any of my Pokémon FLOWER!?” She vented and threw both of her hands up. “Why would you even think that!” She accused further with an incredulous laugh.

Osheen cut her off and began to wave the book between them as she interjected about how she hadn’t thought that she was going to name her “flower”. “I thought you had thought of a name that meant flower already and were just going to give that to her!”

“You literally said that the name flower sounded like a good name because it could mean gentle!” Sage argued incredulously. Meanwhile, her Bulbasaur, who was most definitely not going to be named Flower, looked between the two of them as they argued with a wide-eyed expression.

Sage let out a sigh as she listened to her sister deny what she had said, and then explain what she had actually meant. A lot of time, Osheen meant one thing but something else entirely came out of her mouth. This time, she supposed it was a little bit more understandable where the mixup had come from. To her surprise, Osheen’s Bulbasaur actually chimed in to tease her trainer as well, and the pokémon’s involvement caused Sage to laugh and Osheen to pout out a grumpy; “You’re supposed to be on my side”.

“All right,” Sage easily agreed when Osheen opened the book back up before them. “What about you? Do you have an idea for a meaning? How are you going to pick?”

Sage listened as Osheen first explained the obvious, but then laughed at her comment about needing to be able to pronounce it. Yes, Osheen would have to be able to pronounce on her first attempt or she would forever say the name wrong, from now until forever. “It says she has good perseverance,” Osheen pointed out again as she began to go down the list of names starting with A. “And that means strength… hummm… maybe Athena?”

Sage laughed again, only because the name immediately pulled up a mental image of some sort of female amazon warrior — like Wonder Woman.

“Oh, what about Dalia!” Osheen pointed out and had somehow gotten to the D’s very quickly. Although, she had pronounced the name correctly on the first try, so that was a bonus. Until she went on to explain that the name meant flower, along with mysterious, and a femme fatale, and suddenly Sage thought that it was a suggestion for her Bulbasaur? Since the meaning was “flower”.

However, Osheen quickly cleared the confusion; “F-For my Pokémon,” She explained. “It’d be cool if both their names went with flowers since they do have a big flower seed on their backs!”

“I’m surprised that Dalia means toughness, it doesn’t sound like it.” Sage commented on the name and chuckled as she added, “It sounds like a delicate little flower.”

Osheen expressed her own opinion on the name, feeling like Dalia sounded strong and like a warrior. Her Bulbasaur made a sound that sounded more like a burp than acceptance, but Osheen immediately took it as such; “See even she likes it”.

Sage laughed, both of her eyebrows raising, but she felt fine with the name if Osheen wanted to name her Bulbasaur that. Although, she would always see it as a feminine and delicate name rather than the powerful, warrior, name Osheen heard from its pronunciation. She also found herself curious as well as to what the actual flower looked like. It was kind of sad that they didn’t have any technology on them and could only rely on a book.

“Why don’t we head over to the Pokémon Center and use one of their PCs to look it up?” She suggested, but held up her hand to correct herself right away. “After I pick out some names to look up myself.”

Sage took the book that Osheen handed her and began to look through the names, specifically in search of names that had some connection to flowers. While she did so, Osheen set her Bulbasaur — now officially named Dalia — onto the ground and told her that she could run around and play. Thinking back on it, apparently Dalia’s personality hadn’t been hyper after all.

Sage continued to search through the names in the book while Osheen rested and Dalia ventured over to “bulbasaur” at her own Pokémon. Her Bulbasaur seemed to hesitate for a moment and look to Sage, but Sage’s attention was focused entirely on the book and names, so after a moment the Bulbasaur ended up patting her on the leg; “Bulba.”

Sage glanced up to look toward her starter, and then Dalia who had come over wanting to play. “Oh,” She stated, placed the book down, and picked her starter up in order to place her down onto the ground. “There you go,” She chuckled and pet her on the head before straightening and returning to her book.

She came across a few names, but not many, as she studied the book, and it actually took her quite a long time to say anything at all. It wasn’t until she reached the very last page that she finally glanced up and looked to Osheen. “Hmm. I think I like Wisteria.” She closed the book shut, always so picky on names, and then stood from the park bench. “All right, let’s go see what the flowers look like!”

Osheen complimented the name she had picked out and seemed to genuinely like it a lot. Sage hadn’t noticed how Dalia had been burying Osheen’s feet in dirt, and continued to have no knowledge of it as her sister also stood up and linked her arm with hers. “Come on you two, we’re going to show you the flowers your names are based off of,” Osheen told their Pokémon, and Sage’s gaze riveted to them where they were both hovering on the pathway looking like two miniture dino-dogs. Her Bulbasaur, Wisteria, didn’t hesitate to bound forward and take a place beside her, her large, round, head peering upward to watch them and follow.

“Ah, okay,” Sage mumbled to herself as Osheen began to pull her forward and they all started down Pallet. The town was actually rather small, even though they were in the downtown heart of it. Aside from the Laboratory and Town Hall, which was decorated with cobblestone pathways, the rest of everything else was paved in dirt. Most of the vehicles in the area were ancient, some looking as though they probably hadn’t worked in years.

But, as the two of them rounded a tall building as they ventured down the dirt sidewalk, an area that had been hidden from them prior opened up. Across from the Laboratory and Town Hall, at what looked to be the town’s supermarket, was a festival of some sort. Although, it was very small and humble in size, decorated with a colorful banner and a scattering of tied down balloons of different colors.

Beyond a couple of women, who looked to be apart of the event, were fenced in gates that housed only the few Pokémon that now remained. “What’s that?” Sage instantly questioned, surprised by the sight. “Are they having some sort of event?”

Osheen abruptly gasped and soon after revealed that the receptionist in the Laboratory had actually told her about this event. The fact that her twin had forgotten all about it caused Sage to immediately face-palm. “They’re giving away free Pokémon and items to trainers!” Osheen explained to her in an antsy sort of voice, and even Sage was surprised by the reveal, and felt a small bloom of excitement simmer to life inside of her. Free Pokémon and items? “The lady in their said that you can get a fire-type or a feline Pokémon.”

“We have to get one before they are all gone!” Osheen pressured, tugging on her arm, as she danced around in place. From the sight of the event, it looked as though it were reaching the end, with only a handful of Pokémon left for the give-away. Still, optimistically, Sage wondered with a bit of a smile if there’d be anything that’d interest them?

“All right. But no fire Pokémon!’ Sage told her right away, wagging her finger at her younger sister before they began to head over to the event together and greet one of the two women that were in charge of it.