Who's Watching?

[doug]

Doug finally reached the Professor's lab, her gum long gone by this point. As to be expected, the instructions she'd managed to get had led her in the entirely wrong direction. All part of the plot to make sure she was thwarted in her task. Her enemies knew no bounds when it came to seeking ways to destroy her. Doug was so wrapped up in her mental paranoia parade that she almost missed the sign for the lab a fourth time. She caught herself, swerving so that she was facing the door. What could she expect? Doug knew next to nothing about the person whose door she was about to knock on. Perhaps Professor Conifer was a mass murderer? Or a circus performer? Or, worst of all, what if they spent their free time licking envelopes? She shuddered, remembering the summer she'd spent doing that very activity.

Doug lowered her hand, there was certainly a better way to go about this. After all, squirrels could climb upside down couldn't they? She backed up, checking the building for footholds. With a running leap, Doug threw herself on the building and shimmied up, using windowsills and other such things for hand and footholds. Eventually, she found herself on the roof. It wasn't the nicest roof she'd ever seen, but Doug supposed it would have to do for now. The fancy building still had its fair share of pokepoop on top of it, and Doug crunched a fair few bird-pies before reaching the skylight. She peered inside, the harsh sunlight coming at just the right angle to partially obscure her vision of the room. She couldn't make out any envelopes, so that was a good sign, but that didn't mean much with the small amount she could see.

Doug sat back on her haunches and studied the skylight. It looked simple enough to open. She tested her theory, twisting open the skylight until it was open enough to climb through. Wait... how could she test that whoever was in there was the REAL Professor Conifer? "I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams full of blight!" Doug whispered down eerily, "Why do I come?" The words would surely evoke the correct response, figuring that any Professor worth their weight in pokeblocks would be able to respond correctly. A slight breeze wafted across the roof, and Doug hoped that someone would give an answer before she became too impatient. To amuse herself, she began counting the number of places nearby that could be bugged. The process was a long one, but important if she didn't want her enemies to know what she was doing.

[Professor Conifer]

The wind blew a cold, moist air as a shadow appeared in the distance. It got closer and closer to the lab, turning into a bright blue and purple, as the pokemon neared the building. When it reached its destination, the pokemon stopped and snorted while its passenger, a tall, black-haired woman, looked around, frowning as she checked the time.

"I coulda sworn I was late. Ranny, can you hear anything?" She asked, leaning down. The pokemon breathed deeply as it concentrated, and after awhile opened its eyes, looking up and growling. The woman held onto the pokemon tightly as it leaped up, landing on the roof of the building as it glared at Doug.

"Cune!" It barked as the woman gasped and put a hand to her mouth.

"Oh my goodness, what are you doing up here? Oh dear, come let's get down so we can get you your pokemon. Don't worry, Ranny won't bite. She's a nice Suicune." She said as the pokemon nodded slowly, leaning down to allow the girl on while the woman held out a hand.

[doug]

Doug had just finished checking for bugs that listened and had moved on to bugs that carried visuals when the sound of rushing air caught her attention. Her first instinct was to figure out what she was dealing with. Doug broke off her search for visual bugs and returned focus to her ears, listening to the way the wind moved. Almost... Almost... There! Her eyes snapped open just in time to watch the suicune and its rider leap onto the roof. Doug rolled out of the way to avoid being landed on by the blue and purple pokemon, coming up in a crouch before straightening herself.

As the rider spoke, Doug analyzed it and its pokemon through narrowed eyes. The woman was tall, with black hair, and wore a watch on one wrist. Was this Professor Conifer? Doug hadn't thought to get a description, but then again, others would know her weakness. She turned her attention to the pokemon, Ranny, the woman called it. Doug had heard tales of suicune when she'd visited the Johto region. Weren't they legendaries? What would a pokemon professor be doing riding a suicune? Her conspiracy senses tingled; if this was the Professor, than she had easy access to legendary pokemon, and those were dangerous enemies.

The woman had finished speaking, and was apparently waiting for Doug to climb onto the suicune. Too easy. Something had to be wrong here, but there was still the matter of getting her first pokemon. Alright, an alliance would be formed, for now. Doug dodged around the suicune, ignoring the proffered hand that the woman held out to her. Doug paused on the edge of the roof, "Death favors the meek," and powered down the side of the building as though it were the calmest set of rigging on the high seas.

She reached the bottom quickly and looked for the suicune and its rider. Once they were on the ground, Doug would gesture to the door, a mirthless smile about her lips. "You can welcome the ambush," Doug would watch for the woman supposedly entered the building, only following once she'd made at least fifteen sweeps of the door frame to make sure it wasn't booby trapped.

[Professor Conifer]

Professor Conifer and Ranny stared at the girl oddly, blinking every so often, as they let her into the lab, escorting her past all the lights and beeps of the equipment to a room in the back.

"Um, okay then. Hi, by the way! My name is Professor Conifer, and this is my friend Ranny. She ferries the pokemon here from my supplier, who happens to be her owner as well." Conifer said as she opened the door, letting Ranny and Doug walk through.

"So, here we are, the first step to your journey!" She chirped, walking over to a tall podium and opening 6 of the 9 pokeballs and releasing the pokemon inside.

"Alright, now it works differently depending on your goals. If you are hoping to be a coordinator or a breeder, you can have 2 pokemon, but if you are a trainer or a racer, and only get one. You can choose any pokemon from the 6 I just released, or one of the Mystery Pokeballs." She said, gesturing to the remaining, unopened capsules.

"Those 3 can have literally ANYTHING in them. The only catch is that once you open it, you are stuck with whatever comes out. My friend has a weird sense of humor like that, and tells all the pokemon she selects for me to imprint on whoever opens their ball. I've seen fantastic things come out of them, such as Mewtwo and Dialga and Lugia." She said as she stepped away while Ranny hugged the wall, watching Doug carefully.

"But I've also seen people get things like Magikarp and Sunkern, so choose wisely." She warned, nodding to the girl.

[doug]

So the woman claimed that she was indeed Professor Conifer. Doug raised an eyebrow as she was led through the lab, questioning how many of the seemingly innocent lights and dials could demolish a small country. Sure, the lab looked the part, but that mirror could certainly be a transparent plane of glass that a team of highly trained ninjas was waiting behind to jump out and cut off her pinky toe the moment she let her guard down. Doug glared at the mirror as she passed it, only paying the slightest attention to the words that were being spoken in her direction. A friend who was a breeder huh? Seemed to be an awfully convenient way to explain the suicune, if it even was a suicune. Doug glanced at it, searching for any signs that it might be a ditto in disguise.

She almost bumped into the Professor, who'd suddenly stopped. The woman had released six different pokemon and placed three purple pokeballs on the table. Doug narrowed her eyes at the purple pokeballs, weren't they supposed to be red? The woman's comment about goals caught her attention. The man in Hoenn had mentioned coaching races. Doug assumed the races featured pokemon, but there was something that struck her as odd about them. Why, when breeding, training, and coordinating were so strong, did racing hold so many people captive? It had to be a cover-up. "Racing will unveil its secrets," she muttered.

Doug turned her attention to the task at hand: choosing a starter. Her critical eyes peered out beneath her ball cap at the six pokemon in front of her. The tepig seemed to be eyeing her shiftily, the oshawott's ears were a tad too pointed for her liking, she could swear that the two bird pokemon were chittering her demise to each other, and both the bulbasaur and the larvitar seemed to be staring suspiciously off to the side. That only left the odd pokeballs. Doug began to murmur, working out which would be the best option, "The center is expected, so most would go right, but that's what they want you to do so go left, but they'll have known that you were going for the left so go middle, unless they assumed you'd go middle the entire time so go right. But wait, the left is opposite the dominant dominant hand so go for that, but that's not right, right is right..." Doug's scrutenous gaze bounced back and forth along the three pokeballs as she rambled, the justifications flying so quickly that it was possible that no one else in the room would be able to make out the individual words.

After what could only have been minutes of unintelligible ramblings, Doug reached out and closed her left hand around the rightmost pokeball. With an eyebrow raised, Doug pointed the pokeball off to the side and pressed the button. As the white light arched towards the ground, she watched carefully, a million theories about her starter flashing through her mind.

[Professor Conifer]

As the light faded, a tiny little pink pokemon stood in front of Doug, wagging its tail cutely while it smiled at her.

"Itty?" It asked, tilting it's head. Its large, 3-tipped ears moved back and forth as it listened to the sounds around it, and with a mewl it began to run around in circles, trying to catch its own tail. The shenanigans made it move slowly towards Doug until it crashed ninto her legs, ending up on its back with its feet wildly flailing in the air, meowing in a panicked voice. Professor Conifer giggled as her eyes flashed over the pokemon.

"That has got to be the most adorable Skitty I have ever seen." She cooed while Skitty continued flailing.

Pokemon Received:

Doug

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[atrb=width,160] PKMN'S NICKNAME Cute Charm, Female, 5 (Skitty) 25 HP 0 / 10 EXP Fake Out Tackle Growl Tail Whip Foresight Zen Headbutt Cuddly, Oblivious, Cheerful

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