FicWad

The day you got your pokemon was supposed to be a cheery day, with sparkling leaves, beautiful flowers, warm sun, and happiness everywhere. That's what it always was in the movies after all, and any book you read, any game you played. But was it the truth? No. This Ericka found out much to her dismay, and her twin brother's, Zach.

You see, on the day the twins were to get their pokemon, the sky was a dark grey and dumping buckets of rain onto anything not under cover, the leaves were dim and heavy with droplets, flowers drooped with heavy burdens of more water, and everything was either dismal, irritable, or angry. It was much to Zach's distress that Ericka was of the sort that was irritable-At least it wasn't angry, as dismal Zach very well may have run for the hills, locked himself in his room, or taken refuge behind the pet of the family, young Molly, whom wouldn't let Ericka harm him, and neither would Ericka harm her. All of this at the expense of waiting another year to get a starter pokemon, despite the desperate want to get one today.

Fortunately, this was not the case. Zach was free to get a pokemon, at the mere cost of putting up with a (scary) irritable sister. This was a small price to pay, and he paid it willingly, despite meaning he had to get dressed and ready in five minutes, choke down breakfast in a downpour of rain, and nearly kill himself with exertion slogging through ankle-deep mud to get the lab of Professor Birch in New Bark Town. The fact that they were from Cherrygrove City hadn't registered in Ericka's mind, and even she had begun to regret the break-neck pace she had set to get to New Bark Town in the course of thirty minutes. The only good thing about the weather was that most of the pokemon that normally would have ambushed them were taking refuge in the secret places they took refuge in.

It is to be noted that by the time they reached the doors, and protection from the rain, of the pokemon lab, both were fully soaked despite rain coats, which would have been forgotten in their packing had they not needed them for the first day. Erika's hair, pulled into a ponytail that was brought together at the end of the waist-length dark brown hair, had escaped the tie en route, and now clung to the back of her pale pink rain jacket in a way that reminded Zach of pencil scribbles of a four year old. The bottom of a white shirt was soaked and transparent-The top of her dark pink, knee length skirt was easily seen. Her shoes, white tennis, were now a muddy color which would no doubt cause her no end of irritation later in the day. The only reason her hair didn't conceal her face was because it was stuck quite firmly to the back of her jacket, and the dark pink bandanna tied about her forehead was still doing it's job firmly, despite many trials. Zach looked away from her own appearance when dark, angry, brown eyes flickered in his direction as she knocked on the door.

This left him free to inspect his own state of affairs, and he was only slightly better off than his sister. His hair, though tied back firmly in a braid hastily in the morning, was just as soaked (and just as long), resting on the back of his blue jacket in a heavy dead weight. His shirt was unseen, as the dark brown object of clothing was completely hidden in his longer rain jacket, and therefore, was also completely dry. He wore khaki pants with enough pockets to pack his entire backpack into (figuratively speaking), and the bottoms of them were splattered with mud that covered black tennis. Had he looked into a mirror at this point in time, he would have seen that his normally bright green eyes were a dreary grey-green, and thoroughly frightened-He was with his unpredictable sister after all.

"Oh, you got here despite the rain. Come on in, dry off some." Professor Birch had opened the door while Zach was busy assessing both his and Ericka's appearances, and he followed suit of his twin, scraping the bottom of his shoes clean of mud, and followed Professor Birch into the lab. The floor was already covered in mud, as assistants and Birch himself had been leaving the lab on missions of some sort or other, and so the two of them didn't feel too bad about trekking more mud into his lab.

He lead them into a back room, where a few pokeballs were resting on a table, although only one of them was currently used-The rest of the starter pokemon were taking the time to converse with each other and play. Zach looked on with slight apprehension, counting off the pokemon he knew. There were the three original starters, Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, along with Torchik, Mudkip, and a Pichu. Not counting the one pokemon that remained in the pokeball.

The Professor, at this point in time, left the two starters alone with the pokemon, and (In Zach's mind) completely oblivious to the imminent peril they were in. Ericka seemed oblivious to this as well as she immediately waded into the group of pokemon, careful of where she put her feet, and started to talk to the creatures, leaving Zach to fend for himself.

Wondering if maybe the pokemon in the pokeball was in it because it was a savage monster, he decided not to attempt to find out what it was, and instead followed his sister with hesitant steps, sitting down cross-legged a bit away from her and watching cautiously as a few of the pokemon broke away from the now excited group surrounding his sister, who had a flair for making friends with pokemon.

He couldn't help but believe they were hoping he had the same ability, which was sadly untrue. In all truth, he was slightly afraid of many of them because they were more evolved than he was. He, after all, couldn't shoot bubbles out of his mouth, or use his puny frame in a devastating tackle. That's why he was getting a starter pokemon-Because it would be able to.

Of the pokemon surrounding his twin, only two made it to him with curious expressions on their faces. The Pichu and Squirtle, both of which made inquiring noises that he tried his best to answer. "Uh...Hello...I'm, uh, Zach." This seemed to amuse the Squirtle as it immediately broke down in a hysterical fit of laughter, falling onto its back with no notice of the action at all. Reddening Zach tapped his fingers against each other, taking note that a pokemon had just laughed at him. The Pichu seemed to be less of a joker, as she berated the Squirtle with a sharp tongue, and then turned to berate Zach. The poor boy was left feeling very confused, as he didn't know what he had done to earn the berating, was now slightly more afraid of the Pichu than the others, and felt embarrassed whenever he looked at the Squirtle, who broke down into fits of laughter whenever eye contact was made.

Perhaps it was the commotion that aroused the pokemon inside the pokeball, but none-the-less a flash of red light heralded the arrival of it, forming into the shape of a Chikorita, who looked around, and decided the area in most danger of erupting into some sort of trouble was that of near Zach, as the Pichu was beginning to spark dangerously and berate in a tempest both Zach and the Squirtle, the latter of which was still laughing, and the former still looking as confused and frightened.

Heading over there, he confirmed that the Pichu was about to unwittingly shock both the human and water-type, and gave a sharp "Chiko!" at her, which abruptly stopped her words, and the Squirtle's laughter. Both looking a little guilty, they wandered back towards the safer trainer-to-be, after the Squirtle received the aid of the Chikorita in getting off his back.

Zach was very much out of his depth, eyeing the Chikorita with something akin to distrust, but much more resembling fear. It had to be the one that had been in the pokeball, as Zach hadn't seen him when he walked in, and he'd counted the pokemon-They were equal to that of the unused pokeballs. So this grass-type was the savage monster. Therefore it must be feared at all costs, which the pokemon seemed to pick up, as it gave what could only be an amused glance at him, and quite deliberately jumped into his lap and began to fall asleep. Whether Zach was willing or no, the Chikorita would be traveling with him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

In the happy-happy section of the room, the clamoring pokemon were all trying to get Ericka's attention at once. The pink-crazed girl laughed, trying to give attention to each of the pokemon in turn, although the Torchik was more physical about getting her attention, often pecking her when he didn't get petted enough. She'd decided that fire was out of the question-She didn't want to frighten Zach to badly, and ordering an Ember attack at her brother's pokemon would probably send him cowering into a corner. This wasn't true of course, but given Zach's disposition after frightening (And this counted as frightening) experiences, it probably would happen.

That left the Pichu, whom she didn't choose to choose because the little pokemon was a rule-maker and rule-follower, and Ericka didn't do much of either. Then there was the Bulbasaur, who was a bit to solemn for her, and the Squirtle, who was a bit to humorous, as she didn't think it would be a good idea to break into fits of hysterical laughter in the midst of a battle, which she firmly believed the Squirtle would do. No, she decided to choose the Mudkip, who didn't mind having a good time, but wasn't going to let it get out of hand. The little male pokemon was, at this moment, eyeing her with hope, and she smiled as she stood. "Alright fellow's. I've made my choice, and I'm very sorry for those I don't choose-But there will be more trainers, and ones more suited to you, I should think. Mudkip, would you mind traveling with me?"

As the pokemon didn't, of course, she picked it up as the rest clamored good-byes, or went off to sulk. Walking back to the door, she stopped to kick, somewhat gently, Zach in the back. "Come on. I'm assuming you chose the Chikorita, so let's go get our pokedex's and head out. I'll meet up with you at Cherrygrove, so we can show Mum and Dad our pokemon-I think Dad might be a bit disappointed in you. I'm fairly certain he was hoping you'd choose a more...Manly pokemon."

Zach had stood up, which required him to pick up the Chikorita who was now sleeping, and juggle the pokeball that belonged to him in the crook of his elbow. "That hurt. And what do you mean by manly? Chikorita is a perfectly manly pokemon."

Ericka shrugged, "'Eh, I'm not going to bother. Dad'll tell you no doubt, after he's finished listing off how proud he is of you for conquering your fears and all. C'mon."

Glaring at his sister behind her back, he followed her out of the door and into the main lab, where Professor Birch waited. Standing up he grinned, striding towards them with two pokedex's in one hand, and the other free to clap them on their backs. "Ah, made your choices then? Mudkip and Chikorita-Good pokemon, good pokemon! Here ya go, now you're no doubt in a rush to go off and start your journey, but let me tell you-The path isn't going to be easy, so you'd best be prepared. So, to be nice, I'll be giving you five pokeballs apiece and a potion apiece. Now then, off you go!"

Both of them had conveniently forgotten that it was down pouring, and so unwittingly walked out into a shower unprepared. Nearly dropping his Chikorita, who had woken up at the first splashes of rain, Zach bent his head against the onslaught of rain, and dropping the pokeballs he'd been balancing in his arms, and would've dropped the pokedex, if he hadn't been holding it with his mouth. Chikorita hopped down to make it easier for him, since he enjoyed the rain anyways, and Zach put the pokedex and pokeballs into one of his many pockets, stashing the potion he had managed to keep hold of into another.

Ericka hadn't dropped anything with the mere reason that the happy Mudkip had been holding her pokedex with his front feet, she had stashed her pokeballs in the pocket of her rain jacket, and the potion had disappeared into her bag before they came outside. She laughed at Zach, and kept going, since they weren't going to be going with each other through the route. Ericka didn't want to be stuck with her scared brother on the first steps, as he'd probably scare all the pokemon away, and Zach didn't want to be stuck with his sister, because she'd inspect every nook and cranny, even if it was dark and dangerous.

Thus the two of them started off on their own, into an adventure which would either make them stronger, or reduce them to sniveling wimps.