Bruce scratched the back of his head. "We need to find the professor," he explained.

"Way to go, genius." Cornelia folded her arms over her chest in ever so slight frustration. "What next? The fact she's named after a flower? Wow, what a shocker."

"If she's even here, anyway," the scruffy haired boy finished his sentence, clearly ignoring her sentiments with an intention to bite back later. "I don't know where she is, so I can't guide you."

"Asshole," Cornelia muttered.

"Bitch," he retorted.

Cornelia walked towards the dusty office door. It didn't look like anybody had been here, or even deigned to clean it up, for years now. She opened the door and it creaked open. She got there in an immediate fashion.

"You didn't tell me there was a hole in the floor!" Bruce shouted at her, running to catch up from behind.

She ignored him and went in the small room, expecting him to follow her in at some point. On the desk were three bright red Pokeballs with small switches, clearly with the intent to be used. She tapped the switch of the one in the middle of the three, and out came a small animal. It had tinges of red all over its body, but its main fur colour was black.

"That's ace," she whispered. "Utterly mintox. I'm absolutely picking this one."

The animal turned its back to her and crawled back inside its ball. A figure loomed overhead which caused the girl to look up from the table. She flinched slightly, before a beaming face was revealed by the flick of a light switch.

The person tapped her on the shoulder and Cornelia flinched again.

"Madam... or Sir... i-it's not what it looks like! I swear I'm not trying to steal a Pokémon or something..." she looked down at the floor nervously.

"I'm quite aware. You're Cornelia, correct?"

The girl nodded in response, a somewhat nervous smile returning to her face.

"So, you're here to pick a starter Pokémon?" the figure inquired.

"Yeah! So you're... Professor Wattle?" She tilted her head to the side in curiosity.

"I am. These three Pokémon have been used as the starter Pokémon of this region for generations," Wattle explained to Cornelia, beaming as always. "By your reaction to the little Devifire in the middle Pokeball, I'm guessing that's who you'd pick?"

Cornelia nodded and smiled. "Professor, it looks so cool! Of course I'd pick it!"

Professor Wattle giggled and then continued, "I presume that the infamous young Bruce is to be your rival?"

"Yup, you hit the nail right on the head," Cornelia muttered, with her entire demeanour shifting to one of disdain. "He's an asshole."

"Is that why you let him trip in the hole, young trainer, instead of warning him?" The professor queried.

"Well, he should've been more careful, and less of an asshole," she told the beaming female professor bitterly. "This is an old wooden place. Of course there would be some kind of hole." She shrugged.

The beaming professor seemed slightly agitated at this. "When that boy gets to this place, let me know."

With a crash and some deafeningly loud grunts came the fabled Bruce, with his usual scruffy look. He wore an annoyed scowl on his pale face and glared daggers at the mahogany haired girl across from him. He could barely look the young professor in the eyes as he glared at his new found rival.

The professor wore a jolly look on her face, even though her usual demeanour had withered in recent years due to  an unfortunate and unprecedented circumstance. She'd had someone close to her abandon her and pressure her into doing certain things that she didn't want to do. She faced so much rejection for just simply being herself that she had become slightly closed off and distant in recent years.

"I'm going for the middle one, Devifire," Cornelia told Bruce flatly and shrugged.

"Bah, of course you are. Well, I'm not going easy on you, especially after letting me fall into that hole back there," the scruffy haired boy retorted bitterly, glaring at her.

"You're STILL moaning and groaning about that?! For fuck's sake, it's an old building!" the mahogany haired girl snapped back. "Of COURSE an old building in the middle of the city would need maintenance! It's dusty enough in here, so the fact that you didn't expect a hole in the floor just proves how well you know the area."

"And you chose to trust a sketchy old building!" The boy shouted at her. "What's that make you, huh?"

The professor rubbed at her temples, slightly bothered by the racket the two were making. "If you two are so mad at one another, why don't you have a Pokémon battle to settle things?" She suggested.

Both teenagers were happy at the prospect, gleefully planning out strategies in their heads.

"Hang on, Bruce doesn't have a starter yet," Cornelia remembered suddenly.

"You deserve a good throttling, Cornelia. Water is strong against fire," the boy in question mused to himself. "Hey Prof, what is the specialty water type of Soleil, and which ball is it in?"

"Ah! I see! You're being a good rival and making it challenging for Cornelia, eh?" Wattle thought aloud, beaming happily at the idea. "Definitely takes me back! Why don't you take Platipuddle, the one to your right?" She then glanced at them both. "If you both have a fearsome battle, I'll give both of you a Pokedex! Go!"

...
"Alright! Devifire, use Scratch!" The eager female teenager directed, flicking her hand towards the opposing Platipuddle.

"Devi!" The Pokémon charged towards the other Pokémon, who looked slightly timid, and scratched at it with its paws.

"Not so fast! Platipuddle, use Pound!" The male barked at the timid platypus-like Pokémon.

The Pokémon charged awkwardly towards the more intimidating fire type.

"Use bite on the Platipuddle, and quickly!" Cornelia ordered.

The small Pokemon opened its mouth and bit sharp fangs into the opposing Pokémon, returning to its trainer in glee. Slightly injured, the Platipuddle waddled towards its trainer, waiting for the next order. It had flinched.

"Platipuddle, Bubble Beam!" He told his injured Pokémon.

The Pokémon waddled up to its opponent and spat a beam of icy bubbles in its face, which was a super effective hit. This set the Pokémon back a fair bit. Fairly wet and injured, the Devifire ran back to its trainer.

"Devifire, Tail whip!"

"Platipuddle, Growl!"

Both Pokémon took turns weakening the other.

"Alright, now do a Scratch!" The mahogany haired Pokémon Trainer told her Devifire.

The Devifire scratched at the Platipuddle five times, weakening it significantly.

"Alright, Platipuddle, Devifire will be pretty weak by now. Go for another Bubble Beam!"

"Dodge!"

As the Devifire ducked to avoid the opposition's attack, a blast of high pressure water slammed right in its face. This forced Cornelia to withdraw it back into its ball.

"Told ya I wouldn't go easy on you," Bruce snarked at her.

"I was ABOUT to compliment your style, but I guess I'll save it," she muttered through gritted teeth.

"Should we nickname them?" Bruce asked.

"Sure," Cornelia replied. "Devifire, your name is now Nova."

"Platipuddle..." The boy murmured. "Your name is Aurora."

The Professor gave them a gleeful stare. "You earned these," she told the teenagers, handing them both blue and yellow gadgets. These were Soleilian Pokedexes.