“Hi there! Welcome to the world of Pokemon!”
Hannah opened her eyes, blinked, and then took a look around with a confused look on her face. Where am I? What the heck is going on?
Maybe the voice that just spoke had some answers. Hannah blinked again before responding with a timid-sounding greeting of her own. “Er...hi?”
Soon enough, she found the speaker – a rather attractive looking woman with brown hair that appeared to be in her early thirties. Hannah thought she looked familiar somehow, but she wasn't quite sure why.
“My name is Professor Juniper! People call me the Pokemon Professor!” the woman said, before tossing the Pokeball she had been carrying around onto the ground. It bounced once, before it cracked open and released a fluffy rodent that had fur reminiscent of a fancy scarf. Upon its freedom, it promptly made a cheerful-sounding squeak.
“That's right! This world is widely inhabited by mysterious creatures called Pokemon!” Juniper continued.
Hannah glanced at the rodent briefly before giving a Juniper an odd-looking stare. “So I've heard. Can you tell me something I don't know? Like where the heck I am?”
Juniper went on, seemingly ignoring Hannah's suggestion. “Pokemon have mysterious powers. They come in many shapes and live in many different places.
“We humans live happily with Pokemon! Living and working together, we complement each other. We help each other out to accomplish difficult tasks. Having Pokemon battle one another is particularly popular, and it deepens the bonds between people and Pokemon.”
Juniper smiled and nodded. “And that is why I research Pokemon.”
“If I wanted to know about Pokemon, I could just watch the Discovery Channel or something,” Hannah rebutted, voice growing ever more annoyed. “Where the heck am I, and what the heck's going on?”
Juniper seemed to get the hint. “Well, that's enough from me... Could you tell me about yourself?”
Hannah sighed, wondering if getting an actual answer out of this woman was possible at all. “Fine,” she grumbled. “What do you want to know?”
“Are you a boy? Or a girl?”
Hannah's jaw dropped. She looked down, looking herself and her very obviously feminine build over. When she looked back up at Juniper, her face was contorted with disbelief.
“Are you blind? You should be able to tell just by looking at me!”
Juniper didn't seem fazed by Hannah's outburst. “You're a girl, right? I'd like to know your name. Please tell me.”
“Hannah.” The voice delivering this response was somewhat exasperated. First she tells me stuff I already know, then she gets confused about my gender. Hannah thought. I think there's a word to describe a person like this....
“Your name is Hannah? What a wonderful name! Now, could you tell me a little bit about your friend – the older boy who lives nearby? Would you mind telling me his name?”
“We just met a couple seconds ago, and already you're asking questions like that? You're starting to get a little creepy.” Hannah replied, but relented after another few moments' hesitation. “His name's Hugh.”
“Did I get that right?”
Hannah didn't even bother responding to that. She just gave Juniper yet another annoyed glare.
Juniper, again, looked hardly phased. She seemed remarkably patient; Hannah could at least give her that much.
“Hannah! I'm going to entrust you with a Pokemon. I'm sure you will be great partners!”
Finally, something I didn't know. Not exactly something I wanted answered, but it's something I didn't know.
Hannah decided that talking wasn't getting her anywhere. She simply resigned herself to smiling and nodding, being respectful like any other sixteen-year-old should be towards an elder.
“The moment you choose the Pokemon that will accompany you on your journey, your story will truly begin. During your journey, you will meet many Pokemon and people with different personalities and points of view. I really hope you learn what is important to you as a result of your travels...”
Hannah nodded. “Thanks for the well-wishes?” And thanks for going back to stating the obvious.
“That's right! Befriend new people and Pokemon and grow as a person! That's the most important goal of your journey! Let's go visit the world of Pokemon!”
Of course, Juniper couldn't leave without one more confusing statement. “But aren't we already in it?” Hannah asked. “Unless you teleported me to a completely different dimension to tell me all this....”
At this point, a loud beeping noise interrupted Hannah's sleep and roused her. With a grumble, she got herself out of bed and shut her alarm clock off. The time on it read “6:00.”
“Well, I guess that explains all the weirdness,” she muttered groggily to herself. “I suppose I needed the reminder about the gift today, but that could've gone a little better.”
She promptly went on to get dressed and carry out her early morning routine, mildly excited, yet mostly irritated that whoever it was that scheduled this meeting had to schedule it for an obscene hour in the morning. Seriously, she'd be more awake and less prone to doing something stupid if she could go do this at noon or something.
