"Catch me if you can!" Sierra shouted over her shoulder. Then she slammed into something and hit the ground hard.

"Ow," she moaned as she sat up.

"Tell me about it," a voice said from behind her. "Look where you're going next time."

"Let it go Steph. She's obviously more eager to get her first Pokemon than we are."

Sierra turned to see a boy and girl behind her. They were both about her age. The girl, Steph, had blonde hair, brown eyes, and fair skin. Her friend looked Hispanic, with black hair, black eyes and tan skin.

"Sorry 'bout that," Sierra told them. She stood up. "I'm Sierra."

The boy stood and helped his friend to her feet. "I'm Francisco. This is Stephanie."

"Nice to meet yo-"

Suddenly Chase was next to her, panting. "That's what you get for running off without me," he told Sierra. Then he turned to Francisco and Stephanie. "I'm Chase. Sierra's companion."

"So you two are a couple?" Francisco asked.

Sierra's face turned red. "No, no. He meant traveling companion. I would never date him. I mean, he's nice and all but..."

"Gee, thanks," Chase said. "Anyway, do you two live here?"

"Yep," Stephanie told them. "Always have."

"Steph and I grew up here together," Francisco chimed in.

"Cool," Chase said. "And let me guess. Your moms wouldn't let you start your journey until you could drive."

"Yep."

They stood there for a moment before Stephanie asked Sierra, "You look like you've been training Pokemon for a while. Why are you going to the lab?"

"Well, I left my Pokemon in Unova. That's where Chase and I are from," Sierra explained. "I'm hoping Professor..." She looked at Chase for help.

"Elm."

"Professor Elm would let me have one."

Francisco thought for a moment. "He'll probably do that. Professor Elm's a nice guy."

"Good," Sierra said. She gestured towards the door of the lab. "After you two."

******************************************

The lab looked just like Sierra thought it would. It was essentially a house with a few extremely technological devices in the back room.

"Welcome!" a man in a lab coat said. "I'm assuming you two are Francisco and Stephanie."

"Yep," Stephanie told him. "And I'm assuming you're the Professor."

"That assumption would be correct," Professor Elm said. "But I thought it was only you two."

"Well, so did we." Francisco explained how they had run into (literally) Chase and Sierra outside the lab and Sierra's situation.

"Well," Professor Elm said. "I suppose if you three- erm, you said you have a Pokemon, correct?" he asked Chase.

"Yep, I have a Scyther I caught in Unova."

"Unova?" the Professor looked confused. "Scyther aren't native to that region."

"Well, he was pretty beat up when I caught him. Maybe he was flying across the region and got attacked."

"Hmm," Professor Elm muttered, deep in thought. "Anyways, as long as you all want different Pokemon, we should be okay. I happened to get an extra shipment today. It's like someone knew you two were coming!"

He led them over to one of the devices in the back of the lab. This one was cylindrical, with tubes and lights all around it. At the push of a button, the machine opened up in the middle, revealing three Pokeballs inside.

"These three Pokeballs hold the beginning of your Pokemon journey," Professor Elm told Francisco and Stephanie.

He picked up the first Pokeball and tossed it. It opened with a red flash, which materialized into a creature neither Chase or Sierra had seen before.

"This is Totodile," the Professor began. "The wa-"

"Water type." Stephanie interrupted. "Then there's Chikorita, the grass type."

"And Cyndaquil, the fire type." Francisco finished.

Chase smiled. Stephanie and Francisco reminded him of he and Sierra when they started their journey a few months ago.

"So, who's it going to be?" Professor Elm asked.

Francisco and Stephanie looked at Sierra.

"You two go first," she told them. "You grew up waiting for this."

Francisco turned to Stephanie. "You go ahead. Ladies first."

They exchanged a smile. "Well, I've had 16 years to think about this. I'll pick Cyndaquil."

Professor Elm handed her Cyndaquil's Pokeball. The fire type waddled over to her. Suddenly, she sneezed, and flames burst out of her back.

Sierra jumped back. "Since when do Pokemon do that!"

"Well, I remember Flare doing something similar." Chase told her.

"Yeah, but not from her back!"

The group shared a laugh (all except Sierra) until they heard a crash in the next room.