"Sorry to keep you waiting!" The elderly gentleman called out with a warm smile as he entered the room. "Welcome to the world of pokemon hunters! My name is Professor Oak, but everyone calls me the Pokemon Professor. Before we go any further, I'd like to tell you a few thing you should know about this world! This world is inhabited by creatures know as pokemon. We humans live alongside pokemon in a sort of delicate symbiosis. At times we fight against each other, and at other times we work alongside each other. Some people raise pokemon as lifestock, so that we might eat. Now, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself..."

Of course this speech wasn't for your benefit, you've heard it, or some variation of it before. The man know as Oak was addressing three new hunters. A feisty lad from around town know as Philip, admiring his new Great sword and barely paying attention to a word his elder said. His buddy, Terry, a more shy boy, but one likely to actually listen to people, apparently had shown aptitude in the Psi Staff he now held horizontal in front of him with both hands. And a girl you don't recognize from being from Pallet. She has an air of refinement to her, but the effect is easily lost when she starts to stare daggers at Philip for being obnoxious, tighting her grip on the feather she weilds, barely restraining herself from shooting real daggers at him. When Oak asks her name, she replies with "Akichouko". He has to end up shortening it to Aki just to be able to address her.

These three children are why you are here. As Oak is a man that believes in hands on training, he always asks veteran hunters to escort newbies into battle on their first day. He had requested that these three be taken into the nearby Viridian Forest, where they could fight in relative safety against lowly Caterpies. The reason you've taken this mission is your own, but their is no backing down now, as you hear Oak rapping up.

"And these are the Hunters that will be escorting you. This is umm, and this er... what were your names again?"

Ingra leaned against the wall with her arms crossed and a bored expression on her face as Mr. Oak gave 'the speech'. This was not her idea of a worthwhile assignment after being out of commission for two months. Honestly, get your arm shattered one time and they put you on babysitting duty. In the history of the Hunter's Guild, only once had anyone actually had trouble with the Caterpie mission, supervision or no. This was beneath her. Oak continued with his little orientation, eventually getting the greenhorns to introduce themselves.

"Gesundheit." Ingra said under her breath as the girl gave her name.

With that out of the way, the professor began to explain the details of the mission the recruits would be undertaking, then... made an effort to introduce the chaperons. Oak was notoriously forgetful. On one occasion, he had forgotten the name of his own grandson, and he had actually believed another child who told him it was 'Fartsmell'. At least he wasn't as bad as Ingra's professor, who'd actually had the gall to ask whether she was a boy or a girl. Well, now that Mr. Oak had struck out, it was up to the hunters to introduce themselves. Ingra stood up straight, the light glinting off of her armor as it shifted. She placed a hand on her hip and pointed to herself with her thumb.

"Ingra Barston, at your service!" She declared, wearing a c*** grin. "Perhaps you've heard of me and my numerous, thrilling exploits."

Celica showed up late to the guild hoping to skip over the whole speech Oak would give. Unfortunately she arrived just in time to for him to give the speech. As Celica stood there listening to the dull speech she couldn't help but fidget. Every time she made a small movement her mechanical gloves clanked as they knocked into each other as she twiddling her thumbs. She finally got so bored she took off the massive gloves and allowed them to crash to the floor. After which she promptly sat on them. Once she was seated she crossed her arms.

She began to think about how she got stuck babysitting these newbies when she could be out actually helping people. The whole situation made her quite frustrated with her remaining family member. Scarlet was supposed to become a monster hunter today, But no...Scarlet had to back down. Celica couldn't be mad at her sister for that though, the hunter life wasn't easy.

Celica tuned back in just to hear Oak address the small girl. Celica let out a small chuckle at Ingra's comment. She had no idea who these other hunters were, but as long as they could hold their own in battle she didn't care. She began to fidget more as the speech went on. Finally the inevitable question arose. As the ancient hunter spoke first. Ingra Braston, Was what she called herself.

"Name's Celica." As Celica spoke she made a circle in the air hoping to speed things up. She just wanted to get out of boringville and get to fighting.

Sebastian waited patiently in the corner while Prof. Oak finished giving his speech. It was true, Oak was beginning to become forgetful in his old age but he was still one of the pokemon experts in the world. Honestly Sebastian didnt mind the babysitter mission, He knew he had to start somewhere even if it was escorting a couple newbies and an afternoon in the Viridian Forest sounded like a pretty good idea to him.
He stepped up with the other two hunters when Oak indicated them.
"My name's Sebastian Shu." He said smiling gently, before taking a step back to try to get the attention off of himself.

"Ah yes, I seem to recall your two names, ladies. Experience and natural talent. A good combination to have." He scratched his chin in thought for a moment. "And someone unassuming, always throws pokemon of guard and can make for a good scout. Now children although these veteran hunters are being sent with you and are there to protect and guide you, you are expected to fend for yourself once in the forest proper. Everyone else here has had to do similar, or worse. Now, I'll leave you folks alone, get to know each other and head out once you've prepared. Kids if you have any questions let these fine folks know. Ingrid, Celica, Sebastian, if you have any question, well, you can ask one of my aids."

With that he departed, leaving three hunters and three trainees. Philip was just as anxious as Celica, offering a small greeting before saying "Let's go!". Terry waved before trying to get Philip to make sure he had some potions and antidotes. Aki however put each of the hunters under inspection. Each one felt her cold judgemental gaze, scrutinizing them, only softening slightly on the fellow Feather Glaive user before speaking.

"I have a question. Why are they sending three of you with us, when this type of mission is usually 1 chaperone per 3 children?"

The two boys glanced over at this, and Philip gave a dismissing snort.

Blah, blah, blah, Same old, same old, same old, Natural Talent, I'll leave. That's all Celica heard of Oak's final last words.
Celica was extremely happy to get going and that the speech was over. She quickly put her giant weapons back on. Celica stood by the door as the children went through their routines. She was slightly warming up to the great sword user.

"I like you're attitude small fry." She commented after he spoke "you're the kind of person that Punches first and asks questions while punching."

Celica stared down at the small girl as she stared at each of them. When Aki finally asked the question Celica laughed. Celica put her gigantic hands on her hips.
"Well clearly, Professor Oak didn't think these two could handle it on their own. Now can we continue on or do want to continue wasting our time with pointless questions?"

"I think what fat hands here means to say is that it's nothing to worry about." Ingra spoke up. "It could've been a clerical error, or all of the more dangerous missions could be taken already, or most likely, the good professor forgot he'd already chosen a supervisor and accidentally asked for an extra one. Twice." She reassured the recruits, though she wasn't convinced herself.

It was true, having three hunters assigned to a task like this was unprecedented. It was entirely possible that there was a surprise waiting for them all in Viridian Forest. She briefly considered asking one of Oak's aids what the deal was, but decided against it. That might ruin the surprise.

"Still, best be on guard. Just because there are three of us doesn't mean you should slack off. Those Caterpies are a nasty bunch."

"You know what they say," Sebastian said quietly to the young glaive user, ignoring the insult from his colleague " the more the merrier. Besides this way we can each keep an eye on one of you if you three decide to split up."
Smiling at each of the young hunters in turn he left his perch in the corner of the room and walked towards the group.
"Im sure the Professor has his reasons."

The girl nodded to Ingra. Anyone one of her excuses could have been perfectly likely, so it was all Aki could do to accept them.

"While I'd love to split from at least half of the wonder twins over there." Aki sighed as she pointed over her shoulder with her thumb. "I think the best way to achieve that is to just do this mission properly. If I have any other questions I'll just ask along the way."

"Good! You're finally done! Lets get to adventuring!" The excited statement of Philip was enough to get the boy's blood pumping, his energy looking like it soon wouldn't be able to be contained by the wall of this room.

No special travel arrangements had been prepared for the trip so it was up to the older hunters to choose how and when to get to their destination. By foot, Viridian Forest was a day's trek, but hiring a carriage would cut down the travel time considerably, at the cost of about 500 moneys of the 1000 they had between them. Like any other vendor the carriage rental was located in the West Wing, however it was common practice to hire a carriage straight from the stables. Most civilians and hunters not needing items and repairs would use this method, as to avoid wasting time going to the West Wing first, which was often incredibly busy.

As it finally came time to leave Celica was basically overflowing with excitement. When the question about how they would get to the forest was brought to mind Celica had to think. Personally she wanted to get there as fast as possible making the carriage a good choice for that. Then she looked at the three trainees, if she was by herself she probably would've taken the carriage but these three were now her responsibility.
Celica began to think what she would do if her sister was in this bunch. Knowing she would want anymore harm than necessary to come to her sister, Celica let out a deep sigh. She knew that the best option would be to go through town and grab a couple of precautionary items rather than waste money on a carriage ride. She just needed to convince the other two that going through town and walking was the better option.

"Ok, Let's give Philip what he wants. He wants the whole adventuring experience. Plus we should stop at the town store for some items, given that we might piss off some little insects parents. I mean I don't mind fighting butterfrees or beedrills but I'm not to fond of being paralyzed or poisoned. The only downside is we'll have to deal with the brat longer than we want to." She motioned towards Aki when she said "brat".

The two other hunters seemed apathetic to Celica's statements, letting her lead the charge in this case. Even though Philip was overjoyed to hear he was going to get the full adventurer's experience, including a visit to the West Wing, he was disappointed when the group arrived to find the normally crowded merchant hall nearly devoid of visitors. What should have been a couple dozen people looking through the merchants' wares, bartering among themselves, or simply being swept up in the chaos, was only a pair of hunters speaking to Fennel, a guild researcher who waves as she sees you, the couple that runs the item shop, and the gentleman that would arrange for transport by carriage. Both the weapon and armor smiths were out due to participating in a smithing tournament in Pewter. Nurse Joy was making a house call to an elder in town, and Fauna, the woman responsible for caring for and loaning out the guild's trusted pokemon was simply no where to be found, not even a note explaining her absence.

Just like the cost of the carriage to Viridian, most hunters know the price of common items here by heart. A simple healing potion or paralysis cure costing 100 moneys, antidotes being cheeper at only 50, and all other items meant for curing specific ailments being 125. If they had any energy restoring Ethers, they'd be 300, however only Terry would be likely to need those, and had received a few for training purposes.

Sebastian quietly followed at the pack of their little group. He had been to the market several times before with his parents, though it had always been much more crowed than it was today. Not that Sebastian was complaining, he never really liked the press of bodies and roar of voices in the past and appreciated the relative quiet of the place today.
"We will probably need a couple health potions and at least one paralysis cure. We should probably get a few antidotes too seeing as how we are going into the forest." Sebastian said to the others, speaking only loud enough to be heard. He then went quite and waited for the others to make a decision.

Celica was a little disappointed in the lack of people at in the west wing. She was used to being bombarded with children wanting to know about her newest venture and quest. She missed hearing the roar of people talking about the newest gossip. Celica even missed the sounds of arguments as displeased customers made their cases for better bargains. She looked around at the familiar faces of the shopkeepers before realizing her squad was just standing there.
After Sebastian spoke about buying various things Celica let out a light sigh. It was becoming increasingly apparent that should have have to lead her useless teammates in even the most basic hunter needs. She shook her head before walking towards the items shop. Not only did see want to get a better look at what they had for sell and the prices but she wanted to try and get some assistance.

"Hey, Mr. McWoodpunch." Celica said as she greeted the shop keeper. After a brief smile and wave she continued. "I've been put in charge of leading around some new recruits. And, honestly, I'm running short on money. I was wondering if you guys would be kind enough to help us out. I could really use some potions or antidotes but anything you could spare so these recruits don't get hurt would be extremely helpful." Celica leaned on the counter smiling to the familiar shopkeepers. Celica knew they had to make a living but if they could spare anything or even mark down the prices a little it would be helpful for her and her crew.

“Yeah, alright. You… go buy whatever you think we need.” Ingra said absently, handing what little money she had to Sebastian before wandering off toward Fennel and the other hunters, whom she recognized.

“Why, hello there!” She said as she approached, no regard for whatever they’d been talking about. “Slow day, huh?"

"Nice try, little lady," The clerk replied. "But one of Oaks aides already came by to get supplies for a group of three youngsters. If you're really desperate for cash I can put a tab down for your party. I'll come out of any earnings you get before they get passed on to you. No interest or anything."

Mrs. McWoodpunch, overhearing the conversation between her husband and the girl, poked her head from around back and spoke up. "Hey, hun, we were going to start up that special tomorrow, maybe Celica there would like to get and early start. I wouldn't mind, if you don't."

The man scratched at his beard for a moment. Compared to his pretty little wife, the big dark skin man was rather unkempt, and was not someone that seemed like they belonged behind a counter at all. Everyone knew he was fair and stern, though, unlike his wife, which was a bit of a gambler, enough so she'd be likely to randomize the prices of items daily.

"Alright. So here's the deal. We're having a special for 1000. It's a single basic bag filled with 10 items at random. 9 of the items will be a random item from our normal stock, and 1 will be from our limited stock. That's stuff like Magma Cookies and the like that we have to ship in from far away." He crossed his arms before continuing. "Personally I wouldn't recommend it if you only want potions and antidotes, but I'll offer it anyways."

---

"Oh goodness yes! Makes it easier to find your friends though!" Fennel gushed as Ingra approached.

She was flanked to either side but a pair of hunters Ingra knew as Samuel and Allison, a twin sword user and long bow user. While they were a few years younger than her, they had already technically retired about 8 years back to start a family. They still took small jobs now and then, and one or the other were frequently the VIP for escort missions, due to the contacts they had made around the land.

"I prefer to see it as a busy day elsewhere." Samuel added in a muffled voice behind the black fabric that hid the bottom of his face.

In contrast to his firm stare Allison was sided much more with Fennel and added, "Yes, but is sure nice to be able to breathe in here from time to time," with a smile. "Come to chat about old, reliable weapon types, verses these newfangled contraptions hunters are taught to use now a days?"

If any of the adults cared to notice, Aki had broken of to follow Ingra, though she had remained silent about it.