[center][h2][color=4d94ff]Garret Beleau[/color][/h2] [hider=Team & Inventory] [sub]Sapphine the Vulpix lv 5 -- Inventory: 500 P 1 Potion [/sub] [/hider] [/center] [color=4d94ff]“I’ll be sure to pass the word along to Mama,”[/color] Garret replied loudly while Professor Evergreen told him of ice crystals and secret phenomenon in a hushed tone. It was interesting on the surface, but Garret realized that her own affection for the topic far out-paced his own. He was here for a pokémon! Thankfully, professor Evergreen picked up on his lack of enthusiasm and set the matter aside for later. She ushered Garret and the rest of the aspiring trainers down the hall. There was something eerie about this place. The combination lab-house brimmed with juxtaposed eccentricities, each piece of home furniture and lab equipment more intricate than the last. Monstrous ceiling vents swept the lab clean in two beats of a heart before retreating ominously back into their hidden nests. How could anyone be comfortable here, human or pokémon? Garret resolved to get his pokémon and get out, before he could be eaten by an evil piece of science disguised as a couch. Strangely, the furniture must have sensed Garret’s unease, for it avoided him almost entirely. As he walked about, everything seemed to slip away from him of its own accord. He was just considering how dangerous it would be to attempt to catch a piece of retreating equipment when Evergreen introduced the automated assistant ERIC. [color=6ecff6]“RIGHT THIS WAY, GENTLEMEN.”[/color] ERIC commanded in digital tone. Supply laden drones flew by as the party passed deeper into the lab. Garret had been here before, but that didn’t make the place any less unsettling. He had attempted to stump ERIC with a few riddles before; to Garret’s dismay the AI had quickly solved them all and even asked a couple of riddles back in return. Garret didn’t dare ask ERIC a question about pokémon--what if the AI knew more about pokémon than him? Garret’s thoughts were cut off as the group entered the barren pokémon registration room. The moment had come! Garret stepped up to his white tile on the wall and watched a blue laser ring scan him up and down. His unease slipped away, vanquished by excitement, and he accepted the registration. [color=6ecff6] GARRET BELEAU AGE: 16 SEX: M HEIGHT: 6’ 0” WEIGHT: …RECALIBRATING… [IS THIS CORRECT?][/color] Garret felt his feet lift and fall subtlely as his weight was recalibrated. He selected yes. [color=6ecff6]CALCULATING…[/color] Garret watched the pokéball form before his eyes. As it completed, he snatched the pokéball and held it close. [color=6ecff6]YOUR POKÉMON IS... VULPIX[/color] [color=4d94ff]“I won’t let you down...”[/color] [color=6ecff6][WILL YOU GIVE VULPIX ♀ A NAME?] [/color] [color=4d94ff]...Sapphine!”[/color] Even as he spoke the name, the machine logged the information. [color=6ecff6]CALCULATING…[/color] Hardly able to contain himself, Garret exclaimed to the new foreign trainer next to him, [color=4d94ff]“What are you waiting for? Our pokémon need some fresh air!”[/color] Garret held out the pokéball and opened it. A grid of red lines wavered in holograph for a moment and Sapphine the Vulpix formed before them. The pokémon leaned it’s two front paws forward, stretching her back and waving her tails as if waking up for the first time in the morning. “Vulpix!” Sapphine squeaked in a high pitch. [color=4d94ff]“You’re beautiful!!”[/color] Garret leaned down and hugged the startled Vulpix, who promptly began to squeeze and struggle backwards out of his enthusiastic grasp.