Charlie paused and flinched as Apple completely and utterly drew a blank on him. Freezing up for a moment, his face slowly drained of colour as his mind began to move over a million miles an hour in mounting panic. 

What was this? What was happening? Had he come all this way for nothing? Had this all been a bad joke at his expense? 

“Oh, Professor! This is the one I recruited! His name’s Charlie! I thought he’d make an excellent replacement - he was off doing his own research when I found him, you know. I suppose I forgot to mention him? My mistake.”


Or, as he turned to notice the dark-skinned, one-eyed man who’d just about jumped him at the entrance to Santalune Forest about a week ago, it seemed he was the victim of a simple misunderstanding. 

“... Y-yeah, I guess so,” Charlie said with a sigh of relief as Apple acknowledged the situation and made the comment about Phil. The panic that had been building up in his head slowly deflated, replaced with dark thoughts about Apple’s assistant. [i]That jerk.[/i] “Sorry for the confusion, and thanks again!” And with that and an uneasy smile as Apple commented on her fondness for Ghost-types, Charlie began to fade into the background as her assistant spoke up again. 

Finishing his sweep of the immediate surroundings, Phil faded back into existence next to Charlie, and joined his trainer in looking over the growing group. Out of the four who were already gathered besides Apple and B, three looked around the same age as Charlie; the remaining girl seemed at least a few years older. Judging by how close she was standing to the two researchers compared to the others, it seemed she was familiar with them; another assistant to Apple, perhaps? The other children stood out far less; both of the boys seemed as quiet as Charlie himself, though the other girl seemed more standoffish than quiet. 

A moment later, Charlie found himself distracted by the ‘thud’ of something falling to the ground; and turned to see a girl with blue hair arrive, stammering out a greeting before her attention seemed captured by Phil.

Realizing he was being stared at, the Gastly grinned; but Charlie’s attention was more concerned with Professor Apple as she rose to address them all. As she started her brief speech, Charlie nodded along somewhat unconsciously; Apple was an up-and-coming in the world of Pokémon research, and the various news sources about Lumiose had her career fairly well-documented. 

What caught him by some surprise, though, was when the older girl he’d noticed standing near Apple and B introduced herself and revealed that she’d be coming along with them. Seemed like he’d been right about her being one of Apple’s assistants, but the absence of a Pokémon around her was interesting; he could understand the other children his age only just now receiving their starters, but surely Lynda would have had a Pokémon of her own by now if she was interested in a journey like this? Judging by the absence of a third Pokémon at the table alongside the Aron and the Unown, and the number of Pokéballs at the table, it didn’t seem like she was in the same position as Charlie. 

“Anyone mind if I go next?” As if on cue, Charlie heard Lynda posing a rhetorical question and turned to see her leaning over the selection of Pokéballs; it seemed that the two other boys had already chosen theirs, leaving the girls to take the remaining three. The brown-haired boy with the purple scarf seemed to have chosen a small Dragon-type- an Axew, if Charlie wasn’t mistaken- whilst there was no mistaking that blonde in the jacket had a Ralts. Despite his half-attempt to fade into the background, Charlie couldn’t help but smile as he saw how happy the previously-quiet pair were as they met their partners for the first time; and he heard Phil hiss as the ghost made his way over towards the blonde boy with the Ralts. 

Lynda, meanwhile, took the leftmost Pokéball from her position over the table; and in a moment far less dramatic than Sully and Reeman’s hesitation in sending out their starters, pressed down on the button on the front right away, the lower half swinging open to reveal her choice. 

Almost immediately as the red light cleared and the contents of the ball materialized, she saw the small blue creature staring up at her. She blinked, and then it blinked in turn, watching her carefully as she crouched down to get a better look. 

“Not bad.” With a content nod, she extended a hand to pat the Totodile on the head; watching with interest as it blinked again in response, still observing her fairly impassively. “How’s it going, little fella?”