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Post by Professor Victoria Yew on Jul 9, 2020 15:33:11 GMT
time: day, midmorning weather: clear characters involved: Professor Victoria Yew , Percy Wright Professor Yew Things had slowed down a little at the Lab, as the first wave of eager trainers-to-be received their starters. But business was still booming, if somewhat hectic, and several people sat in the waiting room when Professor Yew opened the door and asked for her next appointment: "Percy Wright? You're here to choose a starter?"Helping people choose their starters was always interesting, and sometimes represented a high point in the professor's day, a chance to get away from paperwork and administrative responsibilities. She loved seeing new partners get to know each other, watching how quickly they tended to hit it off. how can we claim to understand something we've never experienced?
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Post by Percy Wright on Jul 9, 2020 19:48:10 GMT
Percy's anxiety is through the roof as he sits in the lab's waiting room -- he fiddles with his hands, stares at whatever happens to adorn the walls, and deliberately does not look at any of the other trainers. One of them had started a conversation with another, clearly excited for their big day, and he doesn't want to risk getting roped into their animated discussion.
He's so wound up that he nearly shoots out of his chair when the door opens, cheeks flushed red as he grips the edge of his seat as if to physically anchor himself to the spot.
She's addressing him, and every word of his carefully planned introduction evaporates. Instead, he looks at her, blanches, and quickly averts his gaze.
"O-Oh, um, yes, ma'am." Under pressure, he defaults to how he'd speak to his mother. "Do I call you 'Professor'?
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Post by Professor Victoria Yew on Jul 10, 2020 1:00:23 GMT
Professor Yew The professor smiled, trying to set Percy at ease. He was hardly the first new trainer to come through here with a case of nerves, after all. "Yes, my name is Professor Victoria Yew, but 'Professor' or 'Professor Yew' is fine. If you'd come with me?"She led him back through the door through which she'd come, down a corridor to their starter-assignment room: a rather large, bare room with white walls and floor. Its only furnishings were two chairs sitting next to a device on the wall that cradled six Pokeballs in padded slots. Beside the device, a screen currently sat dark. how can we claim to understand something we've never experienced?
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Post by Percy Wright on Jul 10, 2020 12:02:24 GMT
The Professor's smile is mildly encouraging; his mother certainly never smiled, and she was the one woman he'd had the most contact with. Not that the men in his life smiled either -- Percy smiles back, a gesture that looks pinched and awkward.
It's somewhat of a relief to be led away from the -- under Percy's standards -- crowded waiting room, and he follows at a distance into the indicated room.
He notes the two chairs, wonders if he's meant to sit, but is immediately distracted by the group of pokeballs in the device. His stomach flutters with a different kind of energy, a nervous excitement.
"Those are the Pokemon?" he guesses, and then adds a quick, "Professor?"
Just in case.
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Post by Professor Victoria Yew on Jul 11, 2020 1:53:25 GMT
Professor Yew The professor nodded. "We have six Pokemon for you to choose your new partner from. Feel free to take a seat -- I'll go through them with you."Sitting down herself, the professor activated the screen and began to move through a slideshow of the available Pokemon. As each Pokemon appeared onscreen, the cup under its Pokeball lit up. "We have ... Bidoof, Fletchling, Rockruff, Ponyta, Makuhita, and Zubat."The professor sat back, considering the selection, which she hadn't reviewed beforehand. Not a bad group to choose from -- tending towards more common Pokemon, but any of them could make a good partner. how can we claim to understand something we've never experienced? | | | | | | Bidoof | Fletchling | Rockruff | Ponyta | Makuhita | Zubat | male | female | male | male | female | female |
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Post by Percy Wright on Jul 11, 2020 18:54:56 GMT
None of the Pokemon have names that he recognizes... but then, his memory isn't the best. As a visual learner, he'd struggled with his older brother's history books and relied mostly upon old artist depictions of what Pokemon looked like.
Then, of course, there were the Pokemon in Gladegloom that he'd actually seen. He didn't know their names.
"Are any of those ghost-types?"
Percy's nerves and default formality is lost to a moment of excitement. He's pretty sure the first Pokemon he'd seen was some kind of ghost. Naturally, he was drawn to the idea of discovering one of the species that had led him to undertake such a journey in the first place.
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Post by Professor Victoria Yew on Jul 12, 2020 0:36:15 GMT
Professor Yew The professor shook her head. "No. Bidoof is Normal, Fletchling is Normal/Flying, Rockruff is Rock, Ponyta is Fire, Makuhita is Fighting, and Zubat is Flying/Poison."It was too bad that she couldn't provide a Pokemon in his preferred type, if that was why he'd asked. But the Lab didn't take requests -- that could all-too-quickly become a nightmare. "Do you like Ghost-type Pokemon? I can provide a few tips on where they've been seen so you could go try to catch some, once you choose your starter."In the professor's mind, Ghost-types tended to be a bit difficult to handle, not an ideal fit for a beginner. But if that was what he liked, then that was what he liked. how can we claim to understand something we've never experienced?
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Post by Percy Wright on Jul 12, 2020 15:30:40 GMT
Percy's lip twitches fondly as he recalls his first encounter with a Pokemon in the Gladegloom forest. He nods at the question. "I think the first Pokemon I ever saw was some kind of ghost. It kept vanishing and reappearing."
He's pretty sure it was playing games with him.
But if none of the Pokemon available were Ghost-type, then he'd need to choose the next best thing. Unfortunately for Percy, he had no idea what that was. He knew of Grass, Ghost, and Dark-types due to his family's proximity to the forest; the book that had been passed down through his family for generations spoke of the Pokemon that once roamed the forest.
A Fire-type sounded like a nightmare for beginners -- what if he set something aflame accidentally? -- and Normal-types sounded too... well, normal. He likes the idea of some Pokemon having two types instead of one, so that left...
"Could I meet the Zubat?"
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Post by Professor Victoria Yew on Jul 13, 2020 0:21:21 GMT
Professor Yew "Hm, interesting. That does sound like a Ghost type, though there are some Psychic types that can teleport as well -- Abra, for example, is known for teleporting away whenever a trainer attempts to catch it. What did it look like?"The professor considered Percy's request for a second. She wasn't in the practice of letting Pokemon out of their Pokeballs until the new trainer had actually selected them, but it made sense -- this way they'd know if the Zubat's personality was incompatible with Percy's before that decision became irreversible. So she nodded. "Sure, let's meet her."She picked up the Zubat's Pokeball and released the Pokemon inside, which appeared in a flash of red light. how can we claim to understand something we've never experienced? // Since the Zubat will be your Pokemon if Percy picks it, I'll let you control it.
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Post by Percy Wright on Jul 13, 2020 3:37:58 GMT
Psychic-types? He's never heard of those before, and tilts his head curiously. When asked to describe the Pokemon he'd seen, however, Percy nods eagerly.
"Kind of like a tree stump?" That could very well mean it was a Grass-type Pokemon, of course. Maybe Wood-type, if such a thing existed? "But like, moving around and stuff. It had red eyes, I think."
Percy's brown eyes widen and fill with wonder at the sight of the Zubat, who appears from her pokeball in a flash of red light and a blur of blue-and-purple. The first thing Percy notices is that her very large mouth and sharp teeth, and then he notices something else.
"How does she see?"
He seems baffled by the Zubat's lack of eyes, but -- almost as if to demonstrate that she didn't need them -- Zubat focuses on him without trouble and promptly lands on his head. He laughs, startled, and his eyes roll up as he tries to look up at her.
"She's adorable..."
There's a strong fondness in his voice; any disappointment about her typing seems forgotten.
// went with a ghost-type that fit a forest theme but can edit if it doesn't work!
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Post by Professor Victoria Yew on Jul 14, 2020 17:32:56 GMT
Professor Yew "That sounds like a Phantump," the professor said, flipping through the Pokedex on her tablet. "Where did you see it?"Such data might be useful to the Lab -- they were still gathering information on Pokemon's new ranges, and studying how the distribution of wild Pokemon had changed between their original presence and their return. Perhaps with enough study they'd even glean some insight into what had happened to all the Pokemon. But for now the professor needed to help Percy with his starter, not get lost in thoughts about distribution ranges. She smiled, watching the Zubat interact with Percy. "Zubats echolocate -- they send out pulses of sound, then listen to how the sound bounces off objects around them. It's a fascinating way of navigating the world, shared by a few other Pokemon -- and used in sonar. So you like her?"how can we claim to understand something we've never experienced? // That's fine!
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Post by Percy Wright on Jul 14, 2020 19:22:52 GMT
"Oh! Um, Gladegloom!"
He blushes under the realisation that perhaps he should have led with that; yet another side-effect of dealing mostly with family who'd been born and raised in the same tiny sphere in which he'd lived most of his life.
"I stopped following it when it started to get too far in..."
He's not sure if the rumours surrounding the forest are true, and he'd not been keen on finding out.
He listens with evident fascination as the Professor describes Zubat's use of sonar -- who knew his partner would be so unique? The realisation that he's already considering her as his makes him smile shyly, ducking his head -- upon which Zubat still perched, digging in to avoid being jostled -- and nodding.
"I don't think I need to meet the others," he admits. "I think I'm set on her."
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Post by Professor Victoria Yew on Jul 15, 2020 16:08:15 GMT
Professor Yew The professor nodded. "That makes sense. We have early reports of some Ghost types showing up in Gladegloom ... so it wouldn't be a bad place to try to catch one, if you're still interested. But be careful. I probably don't have to tell you that it's a good thing you stopped following as it got too far in -- and some Ghost-types will deliberately lead people astray. They can be quite mischievous, even malevolent."Watching Percy and his Zubat, the professor smiled. "I'm glad you've found your partner. Here, you'll need this as well."From a pocket of her white coat, the professor took one of the business cards she'd had made to give out to new trainers. It included her phone number, some information about the Lab, and how to download the Pokedex app that could tell Percy more about any Pokemon he encountered. how can we claim to understand something we've never experienced? Congratulations on your starter! Please copy and paste the following statblock into a new post on your character's tracker. Zubat // Level 1 // female Max HP | Attack | Defense | Speed | 8
| 7 | 8 | 11 |
Ability: Inner Focus - Zubat never flinches. Held item: none Moves: Absorb, Supersonic [img alt="Zubat" src="https://img.pokemondb.net/artwork/zubat.jpg" style="max-width:100%;max-height:200px;"]
[a href="https://pokemondb.net/pokedex/zubat"]Zubat[/a] // Level 1 // female
[table][tbody][tr][td style="padding:3px;"][b]Max HP[/b][/td][td style="padding:3px;"][b]Attack[/b][/td][td style="padding:3px;"][b]Defense[/b][/td][td style="padding:3px;"][b]Speed[/b][/td][/tr][tr][td style="padding:3px;"]8 [/td][td style="padding:3px;"]7[/td][td style="padding:3px;"]8[/td][td style="padding:3px;"]11[/td][/tr][/tbody][/table] [b]Ability:[/b] Inner Focus - Zubat never flinches. [b]Held item:[/b] none [b]Moves:[/b] Absorb, Supersonic
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Post by Percy Wright on Jul 15, 2020 18:03:47 GMT
Percy nods; he'd grown up with his brothers telling him ghost stories to frighten him whenever his parents asked him to forage in the wood, and had thus developed a cautious approach.
"I'll be careful," he promises.
He's already thinking about a route he can take back to Gladegloom if he wants to go catch a Ghost-type in the future... but he has to focus on getting to know his Zubat, first! He didn't want her to feel as if she wasn't important.
He reads the business card when it's handed to him, silently mouthing the words as he goes. Hopefully, the app would work on the dinosaur that was his phone -- a hand-me-down from one of his brothers.
"Thank you, so much." he insists, shy. "This really means a lot to me."
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Post by Professor Victoria Yew on Jul 16, 2020 16:13:19 GMT
Professor Yew The professor nodded. "I trust that you will. And Zubat will do her best to keep you safe -- be sure to do the same for her."She wasn't really worried. The trainers she'd run across so far tended to be very responsible -- the Lab did vet them before offering them starters, after all, and they wouldn't pick someone who showed signs of being an unsuitable caretaker. Even the trainers who'd received their Pokeballs through means other than the Lab seemed quite devoted to the well-being of their Pokemon. Professor Yew smiled at Percy's thanks. "You're very welcome -- it's my job, after all. I'm here to help, so if you need anything, please let me know. You have my number."|FINISHED| how can we claim to understand something we've never experienced?
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