Pokemon Hopes & Dreams: Sinnoh Beginnings

Last thing to do before leaving is to get dressed for the occasion. Your parents packed enough clothes for the journey that you could always change later, but for making your first impression on your very first Pokémon and the Professor, you picked:

[ ] A dark blue coat with a snow-patterned scarf and gloves, matching your darker blue hair, Sinnoh is the chilliest of all the nearby regions after all.
[ ] A striped purple-and-black jacket over a white buttoned shirt and a black skirt, your fluffy lavender up in a ponytail with a black bow, trying to be fashionable.
[ ] A hot-pink jacket and black shorts lined in yellow, something more sporty for the outdoors environment, yet contrasting with you brunette bob, red headband and glasses.
[ ] A tasseled orange jacket above brown checkered flannel, your blue denim skirt and grey stockings contrasting them, your scruffy light brown hair, and your brown-and-red boots. Perfect for working with Pokémon.
[ ] Write-in.

(Underground background selected) Before you left, you did have one last item you consider, which you quickly took out of your PC Storage Box: A Fossil you'd found from all your time spent messing around in the Underground. You hadn't gotten the opportunity to revive it yet, so you figured it didn't technically count as your first Pokemon.

[ ] The Skull Fossil.
[ ] The Armour Fossil.
[ ] Cover.
[ ] Plume.
[ ] Jaw.
[ ] Sail.
[ ] Write-in (Note that some Fossils in Sinnoh may have 'tweaks' compared to normal).

You heartily called Bye to your parents as you raced down to your front door, your mother rushing over to give you one last farewell kiss, but your father barely budging from the couch with his head in a newspaper, only murmuring a "Bye Evelyn" in return.



Still being Winter, the hatched roofs of Solaceon Town were all covered in glittering powder snow, out of the corner of your eye you could even see a Cubchoo huddled near the trees, and a Hoothoot getting rudely knocked out of its sleep when a clump of snow fell from the branch above it. The peaceful morning air was broken for a second by a honking Mudbray on a nearby farm, a farmhand rushing out to attend it as you figured it still wasn't adapting to the change in weather from Alola.

But you couldn't let yourself be distracted too long, as the Professor would probably have little patience for a latecomer, given what you'd heard about his temperament. You headed eastward into a small grove that still took up half the town, as you'd heard he'd planned to meet you and your new peers in the local ruins.

"Solaceon's Ruins..." you could hear someone mutter, as you then turned your head to see this voice had come from a girl your age with shaggy blonde hair and a black jacket over a blue skirt. A girl you think you recognised from somewhere.
"Oh, hi there!" she turned around and giggled "Sorry, got distracted and didn't see you there. My name's Cynthia, and I'd guess you'd be Evelyn, right? I was told a spelunking prodigy was going to be joining us".

Nodding to confirm your identity, Cynthia smiled and then went on with "Have you heard of the Ruins of Alph in Johto? They say these ruins possess a spiritual similarity with them and the fabled Sinjoh- Oh, ah, sorry, I'm getting carried away again, you would've been told I'm a folklore student, right? Still, you could say we both have a common interest in what's dusty and buried, couldn't you-".

"We're here on a matter of business, not a socialisation event" Cynthia was cut then off by a cold, snarling voice belonging to a solemn blue-haired boy standing beneath the shade of the trees, who by him being your age and process of elimination you figured was the enigmatic Cyrus. Sheesh, no wonder you'd been told little about him, if this was what he acted like.

"Oh come on, you honestly think a Pokemon journey's supposed to be all business?" Cynthia spoke up against him, crossing her arms "This is a once-in-a-lifetime meeting you know, I don't want to coldly gloss over it".

"Sentimental attachment will only drag your little journey down," Cyrus sighed and looked away "I also don't know why the Professor insists on meeting us at these ruins, you'd assume a man of his learning would care far more for modern advances than obsolete relics".

Cynthia by now had to hold back how much she was ready to burst; you almost thought to jump in between them. "The-weight-of-our-past-means-nothing to you?" she seethed.

"Our past?" Cyrus scoffed "You seriously think my ancestors had time for meagre superstitions?".
But before you could act, Cynthia had thrown the PokeBall she already had, sending out a tiny yet voracious Gible to chomp right down on Cyrus' face, leaving the boy screaming.

"What in good blazes is going on here?!" an older, gruffer voice exclaimed from just out of your field of vision, belonging to a middle-aged mustachioed man in a lab coat, "Hmmph, says little of the Sinnoh region that a bunch of impudent squabblers are apparently its most promising prodigies" he scoffed.

Cynthia gasped and immediately recalled her Gible, leaving Cyrus tending to the bite marks all over his face. "Oh, ah, Professor Rowan, just er, having a heated debate, that's all" she tried to smile and look natural.

Rowan chose not to dignify that with a response, skipping ahead to say "Right then, Miss Cynthia, Master Cyrus, Miss Evelyn, as I'm trusting you know, you've been called here today to be entrusted with an invention straight from Kanto, the PokeDex. With it, you shall be given the privilege, nay, the purpose, of documenting all the Pokémon this Sinnoh region has to offer". He then took out three red, electronic booklets and handed one each to you, before he grumbled under his breath "Though to be honest, Oak may have set his expectations too high, our Sinnoh is so old that I doubt there's much left still to uncover".
Cynthia twitched a little as she heard that.

"Ahem, anyway..." Rowan spoke up again "To assist you in your task, you each shall have to opportunity to select a rare Pokemon to accompany you on your fact-finding task", opening a briefcase with three PokeBalls within.

"Well I've already got my own Starter, so it's only fair you choose first, Evelyn" Cynthia said and turned to you.

Cyrus at least admitted "The more tactical move would be to observe what Starters my peers have already chosen, to plan accordingly. So indeed, choose first".

[ ] Turtwig, the Tiny Leaf Pokemon.
[ ] Chimchar, the Chimp Pokemon.
[ ] Piplup, the Penguin Pokemon.

Nickname:
[ ] Write-in.
[ ] Don't bother.

(Note: Due to Sinnoese Forms, and later gen Pokemon introduced into Sinnoh, what wild Pokemon you'll later be able to catch will differ from the D/P/Pt usual, e.g. if you don't pick Chimchar you won't be stuck with Ponyta as your only other fire option.)