In all of Time and Space - Unova RP

Claudia wandered out of the house with a cheerful, "Byee!" to her mother and a quick wave. She carried with her a pale blue bag which no doubt stored some impressive amount of possessions in it. Claudia's long red hair hung loose, flowing out behind her as she skipped down the road of Nuvema Town and headed towards Professor Juniper's laboratory.
Today was the day she was going to start her Pokemon journey. Today was the day where she would finally get a Pokemon of her own!
Grinning to herself, she once again went through the three Pokemon that most new trainers in Unova chose from when they started their journeys.

There was Snivy, the grass type. Lithe, nimble and pretty cool by starter standards.
Secondly there was Tepig, the fire type. Tepig was kinda cute in Claudia's opinion, but having seen some of it's evolutions, she was less than keen to choose one. A previous run in with a trainer's angry Emboar had put her off of them and to be honest she still found it hard to be around them.
Last but not least, there was Oshawott, the water type. The first time Claudia had seen an Oshawott she had literally squealed at how adorable it looked. She couldn't believe it actually evolved into such a strong looking Pokemon.

Claudia was snapped from her thoughts when she realized that she had reached the laboratory. Gently, she knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer.

So far, Gabriel's day had been a wee bit insane. He had woken up, practically bounced off the walls out of sheer excitement, and then composed himself, heading down to Professor Juniper's lab. Of course, along the way he made a spur of the moment decision to buy a cabbage from a passing man's cart. Looking back on that, not his wisest moment. Ah well, hindsight's twenty-twenty.

Afterwards, he had made a detour and lost said cabbage. Honestly, it was rather disappointing. Oh yeah! Back to how he got into the lab. After what he has decided to call 'The Great Cabbage Debacle', Gabriel trudged to the laboratory. And then promptly squeed over all three of the Pokemon. Not that he would ever admit that.

So right about now, Gabriel is playing with each Pokemon in order to decide which one is the most awesome of the three.

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Professor Juniper exhaled in a relieved manner. Gabriel really needed to be entertained or else he was just a handful! Of course, just as she was about to sit down there was a knock upon her door. With a sigh she walked over and opened the door, hair unkempt and frizzy, eyes looking just a bit crazed and overall seeming resigned. "Oh yes! Claudia come in." She stepped back, revealing the cause of her disheveled appearance; The self proclaimed 'master trickster.'

Claudia smiled as she stepped inside, "Morning professor!"
As she wandered across the laboratory she blinked at Gabriel, giving him a small wave.
"Hi there!" she grinned, fairly happy to meet someone new, despite her habit of not trusting people too well. Claudia herself didn't know where her un-trusting attitude came from, but her mother pinned it on her father disappearing. In all likeliness, that was most likely the cause, since the fear of having someone up and leave her like that again probably wasn't the most pleasant.

Gabriel flashed Claudia a wicked grin. Ohhh new meat. He began neatly forming prank ideas while turning his head back down towards the Pokemon scurrying around his lap. After a moment he picked up the Oshawott and scratched it's head. It made a face. Gabe snickered. "This one has attitude. I can dig it." He sat the water type back down and stood, dusting off his pants. "Alright then, Prof! I'll take Oshawott!"

Professor Juniper half smiled before handing Gabriel the Oshawott's pokeball. "Take this as well." The writer of this paragraph cba to explain pokedexes so Professor Juniper simply handed one to Gabe. At this he winked and gave another devilish smile; pretty much the only kind he did.

Although he was now set with a pokemon and all of the things he would need (minus one cabbage), Gabriel decided to stick around. More fun to poke and prod at the new person.

Claudia blinked at Gabriel's grin before turning back to the Pokemon. With only Snivy and Tepig left, she knew the decision wouldn't be entirely hard.
"I'll choose Snivy," she told the Professor. The Pokemon in question wandered over to Claudia, looking up at her as if analyzing her. After a few moments, the grass type seemed satisfied and nodded to itself.
"Vy!" it waved.
Claudia chuckled slightly, "Nice to meet you too I guess!"

Professer Juniper came over with the Snivy's Pokeball along with another Pokedex for Claudia. Claudia, being a tech enthusiast along with her many other habits, loves and talents, didn't need an explanation. Nor did she want one. She much preferred to figure it out by herself.
"Alrighty then. I guess we're setting out now then," she chuckled before looking up at Juniper.

"Do you two want to give nicknames to your Pokemon?" she asked, "Oshawott here is male, whereas your Snivy, Claudia, is female."

Claudia blinked and looked back at her Snivy who was currently stood with her eyes closed and her arms crossed matter-of-factly.
"Sni-vy," she grinned, opening her eyes just a crack to watch her new trainer's reaction.
Claudia merely grinned too, quite liking this turn of events.
"Awesome!" she laughed, "So what to name you...."

After a few moments of deliberation, Claudia chose the name Laurel. The Snivy seemed to like it, giving it an approving nod as Claudia suggested it.
"Sorted, then. What say we get going before the sun goes down?" she chuckled. It was still early morning, so luckily there was no danger of the sun setting just yet. However, Laurel looked eager to leave and Claudia had made a few steps towards the door before Professor Juniper had stopped her.

"Hold on. I have something else for you..."
She handed Claudia five Pokeballs before moving over to Gabriel and giving him five Pokeballs too.
"These are to catch other Pokemon. You'll find instructions on how to catch Pokemon on your Pokedex. And if you find that confusing, you can always call me on your cross-transciever."
With a nod, she smiled at both new trainers.
"I guess with that, I bid you good luck on your new journeys!"

Gabriel gave a crooked smile before stashing the pokeballs away in the black backpack he carried around. After a moment or two of quiet and intense deliberation, he decided on the name Ichorous. It made him feel clever. With a happy hum he suggested the name to the Oshawott who seemed appeased and promptly clambered up his arm and settled inside of the bookbag.

Gabriel chuckled a bit and turned to Claudia. "Well then. A whole world to explore. Where are you going to begin?" He grinned before continuing, "I wouldn't mind having a travel companion. After all, things get so dull when you're alone~" He held out his hand as if to shake on it.

Claudia smiled at the professor.
"Thanks!" she grinned before tucking the five Pokeballs away in a pocket inside her bag. She kept her Pokedex tucked in one of the pockets in her hoodie so that she could look at it later. Laurel was looking curiously at part of Claudia's bag that had been skillfully made so that it could hold a violin and prevent any damage to the instrument. The Grass Snake Pokemon seemed to wonder what was inside.

Claudia turned to head towards the door but then stopped and bent down to let Laurel climb up onto her shoulder. She blinked as Gabriel started talking to her and looked back at him. She had entirely intended to travel on her own, at least for the beginning of her journey.

"I don't know about you.. but I plan on starting out on Route 1," she chuckled before walking over to him. Having a travelling companion might not be fun, and if it turned out she didn't like the guy, she could always explain to him later that she wanted to continue on alone.
After another moment's contemplation, she took Gabriel's hand and shook it.
"But I guess a companion wouldn't be so bad," she smiled.
"The name's Claudia by the way. Claudia Rosenthal."

Gabriel brightened considerably. "Sweet!" He dropped her hand and skipped forwards. "Route 1 eh? I suppose that's the most logical start." He stuck his tongue out at logic. Literally and metaphorically. "I'm Gabriel. Gabriel Winchester!" Ichorous made a noise oddly like that of a large rodent before grabbing Gabe's pants leg with his tiny paws. He now sounded impatient as his yanked on his trainer's clothing. Gabriel sighed dramatically before continuing to walk forwards. He was going to get to know this Claudia. Afterwards, he was going to prank her pants off.

Claudia shrugged, once again chuckling at Gabriel before she headed for the door. With one last wave to Professor Juniper she left the laboratory and began wandering down the path towards Route 1. This was truly the beginning of her journey... and Gabe's too. She glanced towards Laurel who was still perched neatly on her shoulder, and smiled.
As she finally reached Route one, she turned to Gabriel.
"So what are you planning to do on your journey?" she asked, pausing at the beginning of the Route to ask the question.

Gabriel hummed for a moment before answering. " As gay as it sounds, I'd like to compete in contests. Pokemon Gyms aren't really my thing." He wrinkled up his nose. "I don't have anything to prove by being the oaf-like battler of them all." And that was that. Actually, that's exactly how Gabriel had reasoned with himself after being asked that same question a few years back.

Ichorous wiggled around inside of Gabe's backpack where he had returned after urging the duo out of the door. His head popped out as he stated his opinion on contests. "Ooosha! Wott!(Contests show true skill! Of course, I'm full of raw talent~)"

Gabriel decided to take this as affirmation. "You?"

"I'd like to compete in contests too. I've always preferred them to gym battles," she smiled. Well at least she and Gabriel could agree on something; Contests were much better than Gym Battles. Claudia had always preferred contests as she loved the way the co-ordinators would bring out the beauty in their Pokemon. Even ones that were deemed 'ugly' by general standards.

Laurel blinked and looked at Ichorous as he claimed that he was full of raw talent. She rolled her eyes with a short, quiet "Vy" before looking ahead once more. It appeared that Laurel considered herself to be the more skillful out of the two starter Pokemon.

"My only problem is... I wouldn't know who to compete with... since the contests in Unova are all tag contests... partnered ones. Unless..." Claudia paused at that thought. She had only just met Gabriel after all. She didn't know whether he would hinder her in a battle, or an appeal....

"Well, we could always give it a shot." Gabriel grinned, seeing what Claudia was hinting at. Various appeals ran about in his mind that would use Grass and Water typings to their advantage. "It isn't as if I've got anyone jumping to be my partner anyway." Ichorous snorted and made a snide remark under his breath, ducking back into the bookbag. Gabe pouted and shook the backpack. He could tell from the Oshawott's tone that it wasn't a good thing he had said. Of course, if asked he would just say that he's the Pokemon Whisperer.

"I guess we could," she replied. It wouldn't hurt. If they were a bad match, then she could find someone else... if they weren't, then all the better! Claudia wondered what appeals they would be able to pull off with Water and Grass type moves.
Grinning to herself, Claudia looked to Laurel, who seemed to somehow realize what Claudia was about to do. She then turned to Gabriel, her voice intending to snap him out of his thoughts.
"I challenge you to a battle!"

Gabriel jumped at the sudden loudness and sharpness of Claudia's words. Upon hearing them, however, he grinned, only a tiny bit mischievous this time. "Go, Ichorous!" He yelled after having sat his backpack on the ground and letting the Oshawott crawl out.

Ichorous padded over until he was a few feet in front of Gabe. He growled a bit and wiggled his rear, excited and anxious all at once.

While Ichorous was preparing himself, Gabriel's mind was racing. What moves would the Snivy have tucked away? How could he counter and show off both his fighting and contest capabilities? He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, eager to begin.

Laurel needed no command to be ready for the battle. She hopped off of Claudia's shoulder, landing gently.
"Si, Snivy?" (You ready for this?) she smiled mischievously to the Oshawott. Claudia meanwhile, used her Pokedex to scan Laurel's moves.

"Alrighty then. Let's see what you've got. Keep on your toes, Laurel. Use Leer."

The Snivy nodded and blinked before Leering at the Oshawott, attempting to scare it into lowering it's attack power.