Making your way in the world

[Red]

Finding the pokemon lab had been surprisingly easy. Unlike some of the little hole-in-the-wall offices Elizabeth had volunteered in during her residency, this place was gleaming as though it were new, standing out sharply amongst the more rustic surroundings of Priono, with it's simple old fashioned houses and relaxed atmosphere. She and Rhys had loved walking through the town, seeing all the people out and about with their pokemon. They were a little later than they had been planning to be with regards to arriving at Professor Pine's Pokemon Lab. The two of them had gotten a tad sidetracked helping a little girl with her pet rattata who had gotten a rather nasty thorn stuck in it's paw. They had patched the young pokemon up, wrapping it's paw and telling it's equally young owner to keep him off it for a day or two while it healed.

"So... This is it" Liz said as she stared up at the sign above the lab, brushing a stray bit of pink hair out of her face and then adjusting her glasses. "Shinier than I thought it was going to be" Rhys chuckled and leaned down to rest his head atop hers for a moment. "What did you think it was going to look like?" He asked. "Well, not quite so obviously different for one" She said "I'd imagined a bit more of a matching outer look even if it's shiny and modern inside". Rhys laughed "And this is why you should have paid a bit more attention to the background details of the pictures in those articles you read and not just the words and the attention grabbing bits of the images". Liz laughed right back, reaching up to push away the head of the tall meganium so she could walk through the door.

The soft sound of the doorbell was one which immediately took Elizabeth back to her childhood in the pokemon center of Firaka City. The sounds of the pokemon who lived around the lab, and the sharp clean scent of the lab, were all familiar comforting things from her childhood.

"Hello?" She called out, looking around to see if the professor was in at the moment. It was early afternoon now, rather than late morning when she had planned to be arriving. The professor surely had many demands upon his time.

[Birdybot]

Once Liz called a greeting, footsteps rushed towards her. Before long, she was greeted not by Professor Pine, but by a dark skinned woman, her Chatot-dæmon flying out in front of her before landing on her head, which was covered in braided hair. She wore a warm smile as she looked at Liz and Rhys, dark eyes welcoming. "Welcome to Pine Laboratory! I'm Melinda, and my dæmon's called Oscar," she introduced herself. The room was large and comfortable, with long sofas, bright posters, a few tables, filing cabinets, and some bookshelves. Melinda grabbed a laminated list showing pictures of all sorts of different Pokémon along with a little information about them from a table, and handed it to Liz. "Professor Pine is in the middle of something right now, but in the meantime, take a look at the Pokémon we can offer you as a starter. We can show you three of those, and if you want, three of any type you want, we'll just have to see which Pokémon we have available," she explained, hurrying off to find the Professor and leaving Liz and Rhys alone.

Five minutes later, Professor Pine entered the room, having left Melinda to keep an eye on the experiment he'd just set up. He was still in his white labcoat; he rarely bothered to take it off any more, especially since all the little starter Pokémon would just get his clothes dirty otherwise, as evidenced by the muddy pawprints dotted around the hem of the coat. His Noctowl-dæmon gave the Pokémon doctor a lazy hoot from his shoulder. "Sorry about the wait, I just needed to do something before I could leave the experiment I was working on alone. We're Professor Pine and Telepa," he introduced himself and his dæmon out of courtesy, knowing full well that most people heading in here already knew who he was. "Do you have any questions, or do you know which Pokémon you'd like as a starter? I can show you a few, no doubt Melinda's explained that already. Take your time," he said quickly yet calmly, watching her for her answer.

[Red]

Liz was a friendly person and she smiled at the woman who came bounding out to greet them and took no offence at the way Melinda and Oscar quickly hurried out again. Instead she looked down at the sheet she had been handed, immediately spotting three pokemon whom she would like to ask about. She had Rhys had long ago collected their thoughts about what they thought would be particularly suited to their needs, and a few whom they simply liked. Torchic, Houndour and Ralts were all on that mental list, and all on the list Liz now held in her hands.

"Hello Professor, Telepa" The woman held out her hand to shake with a smile "I'm Doctor Elizabeth Joy, and this Rhys. I've read some of your papers, your research is fascinating" Truthfully Elizabeth read the published works of most of the pokemon professors of the various regions and found them all fascinating. The sheer variety in what they studied was staggering and the things they learned excited the scholar in her as much as they did the part which saw the practical applications of such theories.

Liz set the list down on a convenient empty space on a table and said "I'd like to see Torchic, Houndour and Ralts. Females if at all possible please."

[Birdybot]

Professor Pine shook Liz's hand. "You're a doctor? Of medicine, or something else?" he asked. He himself had held the title of 'doctor' himself for a while, after his PhD and before he had been offered the position here as a Professor. "Thank you, it makes a change to see someone here who's read some of my work. Most new trainers don't know a thing about science," he grinned when she praised his papers. He could talk all day about them, but of course the priority here was to get her set up with her first Pokémon. He talked about research enough with other Professors and scientists, anyway. Giving out starter Pokémon and registering new trainers, coordinators and breeders was still enjoyable, though.

"Right, I'll see if we have any of those," he said, walking over to a filing cabinet and unlocking it. He then began rummaging around through a small pile of Pokéballs withing the drawer. He found a female Ralts and Houndour without much difficulty, but it was a little harder to locate a female Torchic; almost all of them were male. Finally, he turned back to Liz, three Pokéballs in hand triumphantly. "Hang on a sec, I think the Ralts is outside," he ran off to a door, which he held open with a foot as he slid open a glass door leading to a pen outside. He called for the Ralts, which hurried into the room, eager to meet what could be her new trainer. Pine hastily closed both doors and released the other two Pokémon.

The Ralts had already moved close to Liz, examining her silently. She gave her a wide smile, glancing back at the other two Pokémon. She seemed more interested in Liz and Rhys than her fellow Pokémon. Torchic moved up beside her and gave her a gentle nudge with a wing. Ralts looked at her and cocked her head to one side, puzzled, but Torchic just giggled at the Psychic type's confusion. She moved closer to Liz than Ralts, far more relaxed and confident than either of the other two Pokémon. ~Hello. Who are you?~ she asked, curious about these two strangers. The third Pokémon, the Houndour, stayed away from Liz. She slunk away from Pine, parking herself on a sofa where she watched Liz with slight interest. Her fur was a shade of blue rather than black; a shiny. This did not seem to mean anything to her in the slightest as she watched the goings-ons from a distance with her head on her paws, partly lazy, partly shy. "I can show you more Pokémon if you like," Professor Pine told Liz in case none of these three were what she was looking for.

[Red]

Liz couldn't help but smile at the triumphant look on the professor's face as he pulled three pokeballs from the cabinet he had been looking in. Clearly he had found what she had requested.If she were honest, she hadn't really expected that. Whilst Ralts and Houndour were typically an even split gender wise, Torchic were heavily skewed overall towards males over females. She had rather expected to be given an apology and a male torchic as a choice.

It was Rhys who answered the Torchic's question "I'm Rhys and my human is Liz. We're doctors." The tall meganium daemon leaned down so he could better look at the two pokemon who had approached them "We're looking for someone to come with us and help us in our work."

Liz crouched down so that she was closer to the two pokemon who had approached holding out her hands to the both of them. So far the Torchic was seeming like she would be the best fit, but she wanted to give the Ralts more of a chance as well. The Houndour was already being dismissed in her mind as a possibility. While another might have looked at her simply for the unusual nature of the colour of her fur, Liz had no interest in that. Whether the creature was shy, or simply lazy, she would not be a good partner in the path Liz wanted to take. They needed a pokemon who was bolder in nature, able to keep up with her and Rhys both mentally and physically, and willing to take on the taxing work they were to perform.

[Birdybot]

Houndour looked up when Rhys spoke. She still didn't seem too interested in them. Stretching, she remained where she was, content to simply watch what was going on rather than take part in any of it. Ralts was not as confident at Torchic, but did still seem interested in Liz. She was a little shy, more quiet, but very curious. At the mention of the two being doctors, she spoke before Torchic did. ~Doctors? That's a great profession. One of the most important ones, too,~ she nodded. Her voice was not very loud, but there was a tone of great interest there and she moved a little closer to Liz.

Torchic glanced back at Ralts as she spoke. She agreed with the little green Psychic type. Without doctors, the ill and wounded would die or suffer more lasting damage. There was one thing she couldn't understand, however. ~Why do you need a Pokémon to help you?~ she asked. Nurses occasionally had Chanseys, Blisseys or Audinos to help them, but a doctor? Sure, some Pokémon had healing moves, but the three here didn't seem like that. They could defend people, she supposed. Still, she was curious to know how Liz planned on using Pokémon to help her as a doctor. It was a new idea to her and she wanted to see how it would work.

[Red]

Liz laughed softly and reached out to pet the two pokemon as Rhys translated what they said. "I suppose it must seem a little odd, me looking at you rather than something more traditional." She shifted sideways a little to bump her shoulder against Rhys, a small gesture of familiarity with her daemon as she continued "I'm a Joy. It's rare for us to become anything other than nurses, and rare for our daemons to settle outside of the traditional healer pokemon" Chansey, Blissey and Audino were the standard fare of her family, though many in watery regions might also settle as Alomomola.

"Rhys and I, we're not interested in tradition. We wouldn't be here if we were. Later maybe, if one's interested in joining us, but right now..." The woman smiled at the two pokemon "We're looking for someone who can protect us if need be, but we're mostly looking for someone to keep us company on the road, whose willing to help out if needed. You don't have to know healing moves to be able to help others. There are many different ways the both of you could help us without ever having to think about what moves you might or might not learn."

[Birdybot]

Torchic, Ralts and Houndour all listened to what Liz said about her career diverging from tradition. Torchic was relieved to hear her say that it did not matter what moves she could learn. Her species were built for fighting and being quick, and as such she would not learn anything that would help heal anyone, instead quite the opposite. It sounded like an interesting life, being a doctor. Liz was going about it a strange way, which just made it sound all the more interesting. ~Whoever you pick, I hope going about being a doctor a different way helps develop your methods,~ she knew that if everyone just went about everything the same way it had always been done, nothing new would be learned and no advancements would be made. Liz's very different approach appealed to her, her eyes wide and keen to learn more.

Ralts still hung back a little. She knew that she would be of more help to an injured person or Pokémon than Torchic was, but she was wary of leaving the lab and diving into the unknown. Someone who followed the rules was more what she wanted, since she liked knowing what she was doing. Liz's ideas did not bring the same fascinated look to her face, rather made her frown. In all honesty, she didn't think Liz knew what she was doing and was concerned she would end up failing. ~What if that doesn't work out? If people haven't done it before, you don't know it'll work...~ she asked.

[Red]

Liz grinned at the interested look on the torchic's face, though from the frown which worked it's way onto the ralts face, she knew that the pyschic type might well not be the right choice personality wise for her. Rhys' translation of their words only made that feeling stronger.

"If no-one ever did anything different, we would never learn anything new" Liz told them. "I have a cousin in the orange islands who does something similar. She has a boat and she travels from island to island looking after pokemon who otherwise wouldn't have access to that kind of help. I'm just taking that same idea, and applying it to something a bit more intensive. There are pleanty of little towns and hamlets and places where there are people and pokemon but no nurse. It's the people like them, and the wild pokemon out of the routes, who I'm looking to help"

"Yes, this might end up as a spectacular failure in terms of advancing my profession" Liz was looking directly at the ralts as she said this "But, no matter how things turn out, I'll have done some good and helped some folks who otherwise might not have gotten any. As long as I can say that I've helped and done some good in the world, that's the bit that matters. And even if I fail, maybe, someday, someone might take a look and what I've done, and decide to try for themselves and succeed."

Liz glanced at Rhys and the Meganium nodded his head, knowing what Liz was thinking. Looking back at the two pokemon the woman said "Ralts. You're sweet, but I get the feeling that I'm not what you're looking for in a human, and you're not what I'm looking for a partner. I'm taking too many risks and challenging too many rules. I think perhaps you need someone whose looking for a quieter like than mine." Her blue gaze turned to Torchic "However, you, my dear, seem like we'd be a perfect fit. What do you say, want to come with us?"

[Birdybot]

Torchic did not like the sound of going by boat to loads of different islands, but that was simply because she did not like being so close to water. Exploring the region's lesser known places and helping out people in need at the same time seemed a lot better. A good way to live. Finding the Pokémon in need of help might be tricky at first, but if asked around on routes no doubt some Pokémon would point her in the direction of an ill friend or relative. Not to mention that if she became well-known and advertised herself, people might be able to call her from all parts of the region whenever they needed her help. It was all very exciting and new.

Ralts nodded, looking thoughtful as she considered those words. She still preferred to be sure of herself when she began something, hating failure. When Liz gently told her she was not the right option for her, she nodded, understanding. The woman was right, the life of a wandering doctor was not the one for her. A more sure trainer would come along some day to travel with her, and perhaps if not she might find comfort keeping a regular citizen company in their home. That would be nice. The outdoors did not generally agree with her.

Torchic jumped into the air and cried out in joy as she was asked to go with Liz and Rhys on their journey. She would be able to find out so much about what doctors did exactly! She might even be able to help people. That would be great. Due to her species, she had supposed that she would end up a strong battler, but perhaps her road would deter from the norm just as Liz's was. She could use her strength to help people in ways aside from protection, although how that would work was up to Liz. Nodding ecstatically, she exclaimed ~Yesyesyesyesyes! Thank you so much!~ which prompted Professor Pine to return Ralts and Houndour to their Pokéballs, storing them safely away while he fetched a small drawstring bag containing the items usually given out to new trainers along with Torchic's Pokéball. He handed there to Liz with a smile, offering her a form asking for details such as name, age, and hometown. "Right, you're all set now. If you could please just fill out this form and sign it so you can be registered as an official trainer. I'd rather not have to bother with them, but we need to keep track of who the Pokémon here are given to and the League like to know who's training Pokémon, whatever their career," he explained to her. "Then you'll be all done and you can be on your way. Good luck!"

Liz received a Torchic and a Starter Pack!

Name: Choice
Species: Torchic
Gender: Female
Level: 5
Ability: Blaze- When HP is below 1/3rd, Fire’s power increases to 1.5 times.
Attacks: Scratch, Growl, Egg move of choice
Personality: Choice

[img]http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/sprites/bw/255.png[/img]
[b]Name:[/b] [i]Choice[/i]
[b]Species:[/b] Torchic
[b]Gender:[/b] Female
[b]Level:[/b] 5
[b]Ability:[/b] Blaze- [i]When HP is below 1/3rd, Fire’s power increases to 1.5 times.[/i]
[b]Attacks:[/b] Scratch, Growl, Egg move of choice
[b]Personality:[/b] [i]Choice[/i]


Pokeball x 10


Potion x 6


Antidote x 4


Burn Heal x 4


Ice Heal x 4


Awakening x 4


Paralyze Heal x 4

[img]http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/rsitem004.png[/img]
[b]Pokeball[/b] [i]x 10[/i]

[img]http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/rsitem013.png[/img]
[b]Potion[/b] [i]x 6[/i]

[img]http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/rsitem014.png[/img]
[b]Antidote[/b] [i]x 4[/i]

[img]http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/rsitem015.png[/img]
[b]Burn Heal[/b] [i]x 4[/i]

[img]http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/rsitem016.png[/img]
[b]Ice Heal[/b] [i]x 4[/i]

[img]http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/rsitem017.png[/img]
[b]Awakening[/b] [i]x 4[/i]

[img]http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/rsitem018.png[/img]
[b]Paralyze Heal[/b] [i]x 4[/i]