There wasn’t a single cloud to be found in the azure sky. Sweat rolled down his face in rivulets, but Henry didn’t complain. He considered the sunshine a good omen; he’d start a new chapter in his life with the sun smiling down on him.

He hadn’t enjoyed the long boat ride from his native region of Kanto to Ilae’s main port town, but it would be worth it. Ilae was different from his hometown in a sense. There was a larger variety of Pokémon, for one thing. From the brochure, it seemed that the entire region was a sort of nature reserve for Pokémon. The fact that a new regional professor was setting up shop there was just an added bonus. Henry had been quick to apply for a position as his assistant.

Three months of probation, and he’d be free to travel the region. A completely new one, to boot.

Shincho Town, he decided, as he finally staggered into it, was comparable to Pallet. There were a few small buildings here and there; the spanking new one in the middle with solar panels installed had to be the lab.

With a quiet smile on his face as he shook off the last of the motion sickness, Henry walked up to the door and pushed it open.

*

“Mochi!” The girl with russet hair leaned over the railing to call down to her companion, her sapphire blue eyes dancing with excitement, and rightfully so. She had slaved labouriously over her work for the best part of three months. Her – and by extension, Henry’s – probation period was almost up.

“Don’t call me that, Faye!” came Henry’s groaned response as he ascended the staircase, but she could tell that he, too, was anticipating the day’s events.

The professor had told them the day before to meet him in his upstairs workroom; it had been almost three months since the day they’d started working with him, and it was about time that he needed them to be on the move. Half a month left, and he was going to present them with their starter Pokémon.

Faye beamed radiantly down at her male counterpart. “Just hurry up, a’ight? I wanna see what Prof Mi-Mi’s got in store for us!”

The traditional set of Fire, Water and Grass to choose from? But which set would he present to them? Ilae was not a region as much as a melting pot of cultures. From Kanto to Unova; a ‘Noah’s Ark’ of sorts, she’d say. The Combined Regional Council had agreed, many years ago, to forge a nature reserve for all Pokémon alike; as more regions breached the distance between continents and joined the council, more Pokémon would be transported over.

So which, of the five sets, would the Professor show them? But then again, if Henry were to choose a Grass starter, he’d have an unfair advantage – unless she chose Charmander. But she’d only be able to communicate with him when he evolved to his final form....

Stretching upwards to ease the kink in his back, Henry rubbed at the back of his neck and followed behind his ever effervescent colleague.