Mai looked around her room. Everything she new and grew up with would
soon be a distant memory.  Today was the start of her pokemon journey.
Mai stretched her arms wide.  She made sure to close her door and her
blinds before taking off her shirt and putting on a new bra.  The shirt
she chose to wear was green with a daisy on it.  She had her spandex
black tube top under her short, body-hugging green shirt.  Che chose to
wear black, baggy pants with a belt hanging off to the side of her hip.
She packed 5 of the same type of shirts and 5 of the same pairs of
pants.  She also packed 5 sleeping outfits.  She packed 1 outfit for
special occasions and an emergency kit.  The kit included bug spray,
aspirin, cough drops, throat lozenges, ice packs, band-aids and bandages
for any type of sprain.  She packed pokemon medicine that included 2
potions, 2 antidotes, 2 paralyze heals, 2 burn heals, 2 ice heals, and 2
awakenings.  She also packed her new toothbrush and toothpaste.  She
packed a foldable tent to sleep in along with a sleeping bag if she
can't find a Pokemon Center.  Mai remembered the 5 pokeballs that her
mother, Janine, had given her two years back, before she became ill.
Mai had been helping her mother recover from the cancer that had struck
her.  But Mai's mother has slowly recovered so finally, two years later,
Mai is leaving on her journey.  Mai remembers back on those hard times,
but she smiles knowing that her mother is fine and that if she gets ill
again, that she will call on the pokegear.  Mai takes the pokeballs off
of her dresser and puts three in her pack.  The other two, she leaves in
her hand and heads downstairs.

"Oh Mai, honestly!  How can you wear an outfit like that AND be late
coming down for your meeting with the professor?  You kept your friend,
Kimori, waiting too!" Janine said to Mai.  If you did not know the
relationship between Mai and her mother, you might think this was a bad
argument.  But this was just their way of saying to each other, "Next
time try not to be late."  "I'm sorry mom, I won't be late next time.
(cough cough).  I was only taking the extra time to bring Shiushi and
Celie down" Mai explained. "Well, thank you for bringing them down.  At
least I didn't need to remind you" Janine said warmly.  "But I think you
should do something about that cough.  You've been coughing like that
for weeks!"  "I have a cold, mom!"  Mai said in a
'you-know-I-won't-do-anything-about-it' tone.

As the two walked into the entrance hall, they were greeted by Professor
Wood and Kimori.  "Hello, Professor!  Hey Kimori."  Mai said to her
guests.  "Kimori did very well on her registration test to qualify her
into the league.  I'm afraid you didn't do well enough to pass the test
though, Mai.  I'm very sorry."  Professor Wood said as they sat down.
Mai started to cry silently.  "I'm only joking, Mai!  You passed with
flying colors!" the Professor said, clearly enjoying himself.  "You did
better than me!  You are really good at pokemon, Mai!", Kimori said.
"Professor!  Kimori!  That wasn't nice!".  But the tension in the room
was lowered by both the professor's and Kimori's good humor.  "Why don't
you swing by my lab and pick your first pokemon?  I'm sure you are eager
to get going, and Kimori has her starter already.  Kimori, why don't you
show Mai your pokemon?"  Mai watched as Kimori, that lucky rich girl,
take out a gold-plated pokeball with the work 'Star' on it.  he circle
in the middle of the pokeball had a tyny sapphire in it.  Out from the
pokeball popped a little pokemon.  It was blue, and it sparkled like the
sapphire on the ball.  It was a Squirtle.  "Why is it sparkly like
that?" Mai asked in wonder.  "Ah ... yes," the Professor explained.
"This is what my big rush is.  I've been a breeder for years, and I have
found that if I breed a certain type of pokemon with another, I can
count on getting a sparkly pokemon like this one here. Some of these
rare pokemon are found in the wild, but not many.  I have 5 new, shiny
pokemon that I hope for you to see.  Let's go to the lab!"

As the three headed for the lab, Mai remembered that she left her pack
home!  "My pack!" Mai said, but Janine did remember the pack and was
handing it to Mai when a Spearow swooped down and grabbed it.  But the
pack was so heavy that the Spearow fell with the bag and fainted.  Mai
took out a free pokeball.  "Pokeball go!" said Mai as the ball opened,
sucked up Spearow, and then closed again.  Everyone watched as the ball
jiggled.  As the ball stopped wiggling, Mai said, "Gee, I guess it's a
good thing my pack is so heavy, right?"  And with that, she picked up
the ball and walked on to the lab.

Author's Note:  I don't own pokemon and I am brainstorming w/my friend,
Baby Pichu, to get ideas for my fanfic.