The morning sun filters through the curtains of your childhood bedroom in Bloomveil Town. Your alarm - a recorded Pidgey cry - jolts you awake. Today's the day. Professor Cedar's assistant delivered your trainer card yesterday: your photo, your name, a blank space where badges will fill in.
You swing your legs out of bed and catch your reflection in the mirror across the room. Same face as always - for now. Everyone in Bloomveil knows the stories. Trainers who come back from the League... different. The badges change you, they say. Some laugh it off as superstition. Others won't talk about it at all.
Your Pokegear buzzes with a message from Mom: "Professor Cedar is waiting at the lab! Don't keep her waiting. She mentioned something about the starter selection ritual today. And please, change out of your pajamas first."
Selection ritual? You glance down - a plain t-shirt and boxers, comfortable and decidedly masculine. Your closet holds your usual fare: jeans, hoodies, sneakers.
But wait - there's a small package on your desk, wrapped in pale pink paper with no return address. A sticker on the front reads: "Every journey begins with a first step. Some steps are harder to take back."
What do you do?
- Open the mysterious package first, then get dressed.
- Get dressed in your normal clothes and head straight to Professor Cedar's lab.
- Check your Pokegear for any messages or local news before leaving.
- Look around your room - anything else worth taking or noting before you go?