Ranya's POV

I thought that day couldn't get any worse; however, it only got better.

Let's go back to around 3 PM on dreary Saturday afternoon. I was stuck babysitting my 9-year-old cousin, Emily, while her parents were at some movie. Unfortunately, mine went as well, and it was rated R, so they refused to take Emily; landing me in the position of her babysitter. Usually, I wouldn't really mind babysitting, but Emily was different. It seemed that all she wanted to do was play Pokémon White, and she would not leave me alone. It was her favorite video game, and she wouldn't even put her DS Lite down to eat. I, on the other hand, absolutely despise Pokémon--well, despised. The franchise just made no sense to me. In my opinion, it was just so repetitive and boring. The anime was too; Ash annoyed the heck out of me. (He still does, to be honest, but that's besides the point.) I never bothered to read the manga, since I figure it was the same. Back to the subject on hand, Emily. She was extremely overprotective of her game and wouldn't allow anyone else to lay a finger on it. That was fine with me; I had no intentions of touching her game in the first place. But, as fate would have it, I did. And just a simple touch led me on the wildest adventure of my life.

After what felt like an eternity of me watching Emily play, she placed her DS next to her on the couch and stood up. "Ranya, I'll be right back. Remember, don't touch my game!" She reminded me, before running off in the direction of the bathroom. I rolled my eyes slightly; you'd think Emily would've learned I wasn't going to touch her game. Well, not on purpose, at least. From sitting in the same position for so long, my legs had started to fall asleep. Shifting around to wake them up, I somehow ended up reaching over and touching Emily's DS. Upon contact, there was a blue spark, an a slight stinging sensation in my hand where I touched the system. I immediately pulled my hand back, grabbing it in slight pain. I looked at the small pink device for a moment before coming to the conclusion that it was just a small electric shock due to friction. I'll never know if that was the case or not, but that soon became the last thing I was worried about.

Looking up, I discovered that I was no longer residing on the sofa--or even in my house, for that matter. My emotions quickly transitioned from from pain to confusion as I wondered where on Earth I was. I soon realized I was in the protagonist of the most recent Pokémon game's room. At this point, I assumed that this was all I dream. No one went to a movie, I was never babysitting Emily, and I was asleep in my bed. That was the only reasonable answer at the time, and I still wonder how the whole situation happened. I pinched myself, and it hurt--but that wasn't what surprised me. I was looking down at my right arm, where I had pinched it. My arm was 8-bit, and I was a sprite.

At this point, I was a bit weirded out. Usually I would've been awake right now, but then again, we don't really know how long dreams last in real-time. So I could only assume that I would soon wake up, or I had only been asleep for five seconds. Little did I know, I hadn't been asleep at all. Giving in to my apparent dream state, I looked around the room. A dark-haired guy with a strangely shaped ahoge whose name had slipped me was to my left, and the protagonist, Hilda, was to my right. Emily's player was named--you guessed it--Emily, but Hilda was the default name. Directly in front of the three of us was a table. On top of it was a blue box neatly wrapped with a green bow. I already knew that Pokémon were in it, and I'm assuming the others did too. I was about to say something when the familiar blonde wearing an oversized hat ran up the stairs. "Oh, shoot. Am I a little late again?" She said, a bit out of breath and tired. The guy with red glasses sighed, not exactly sounding annoyed, but as if they had been over this a million times before.

"Seriously, Bianca. I know you've had no sense of time for all these years, but....Today's the day we get a Pokémon from Professor Juniper!" He said, pushing his glasses up with his index finger. Stereotypical.

It was Bianca's turn to sigh, one that sounded like she was already tired of his talking and just wanted to get to the point. "I know, I know...Sorry, Ranya. Sorry, Hilda. Sorry, Cheren." She apologized quickly, walking over to the table. So, Cheren was his name...A bit girly, I thought, but said nothing about it. "Well, anyway! Ranya should go first, since it's her house." Bianca said excitedly, looking from me to the box. She kept doing so, and I realized she wasn't going to stop until I choose my first Pokémon.

Wondering why it was my house and not the player, Hilda's, I took a step forward. There was a note on top, which I just glanced at before placing it aside. I then took off the top of the box, looking inside. There were four Pokéballs, each with a name tag on them. From left to right there was Pikachu, Snivy, Tepig and Oshowatt. I realized Pikachu wasn't a starter in this game, and assumed that it was altered slightly because of my presence. And because of that, I chose his Pokéball. Holding it in my left hand, I took a step back so the others could choose their partners. Hilda then stepped forward, looking in the box. "What's up with you, Ranya? You haven't said a word all day." She asked, still looking in the box. After a moment, she chose a Pokéball and stepped back.

"Nothing. I'm just-" The first sentence I said within the last ten minutes was quickly cut off by the over-excited blonde. Uh, rude.

"Maybe she's just too excited to talk! This morning, I was so excited all I managed to say to my mom was a high-pitched squeal." She said with a giggle, bouncing forward. I heard a slight chuckle to my left and knew it came from Cheren. A moment later, Bianca stepped back as well with a Pokéball in her hand.

Now, only Cheren was left. He stepped forward as well. "That is exactly like you, Bianca. However, Ranya isn't exactly the...overly-excitable type like you, no offense." He said, grabbing the last ball without slight hesitance. He mumbled something about no one caring about whether he got a Pokémon he liked or not, but he wanted Snivy anyway.

"None taken." Both Bianca and I said in sync, and I popped the bubble gum I had nearly swallowed when I first found myself in this strange predicament. "You're right, Cheren. I couldn't be less excited, to be honest..." I murmured, although I didn't really care if my "friends" heard me. Then, Hilda said the words I hoped I would wake up before hearing:

"Well! Now that we've all gotten our Pokémon...Ranya, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"