The morning sky was orange and clouds drifted gently by up there. Down on the ground, Arabelle's legs kept running.
She was not used to exercising thoroughly - quite the opposite, as girls of the family were expected to be still and calm, not physically fit. Gender roles. From what Arabelle could recall, she had not even once believed them to be actual things to follow. Just something mankind had made up.
The city was still calm this early in the morning. On purpose, she had chosen an early time to meet with professor Pine in the Pokémon Center. Still, she was a whole day behind the first trainers to go. Had she gone on the official date, it might have been too suspicious. At least the Warden had a faint idea of what the High Priestess to be wanted to do.
She wanted to train. Train herself, train her pokémon, train in any way possible. To become stronger than her male relatives and show the Silverklein family that they were wrong in forcing these confined roles upon the sexes.
Still, she had her doubts about her reasons. What if she was wrong? She hadn't really realized how difficult this quest might be yet. What if she was forced to give up along the way? Well... that's that. Then. Not now.
Now, the doors to the PokémonCenter slid open in front of her. The center was open 24/7. Of course. Trainers could come in with hurt pokémon at any time. If only humans were so easy to heal as pokémon were. But they were not beings of energy in the same way. Really strange, that. There were some scribblings on the matter in old texts that Arabelle had been forced to read as part of her homeschooling in the Order...
No. Not now!
Now, the white coat of the professor made her easy to distinguish as she leaned on the counter, talking to a nurse. She looked tired. Maybe this time of day was early even for hard working pokémon professors?
"Hello, madam professor," Arabelle announced her presence with, bowing ever so slightly as she came to a stop only a meter away from the older woman.
Pine turned to look at her with a slightly surprised face which then cracked up into a warm smile. "Hello there! You must be Arabelle Silverklein, am I-"
"Yes, you are correct, professor, but please, uh..." The girl stepped a little bit closer and looked around with a wrinkled forehead. "Keep it down, because I'm... Well... Not supposed to be here."
Pine looked at her carefully for a few seconds before sighing and smiling again. "I see. Don't you worry. I have met many aspiring trainers already, who set off yesterday on a journey they won't quite understand for some time. No one really understands what a journey I am asking of you. Yet, you all push on and bravely face new challenges every day..."
The professor was drifting off into her thoughts until Arabelle cleared her throat with an excusing smile that brought the woman back, apologizing.
"When I heard that a member of the Silverklein family was coming to take up my offer, I thought they were sending you with a full escort and under pompous conditions, haha... I see that it's not the case. Nevertheless, I have prepared a pokémon for you which I think your family would be proud to know that you owned."
She held out a shining pokéball, which Arabelle took with big eyes. She had never owned a pokémon for real before.
"Charmeleon is now yours. Treat it well and it will turn into a fantastic dragon. Fits your house, doesn't it?"
Arabelle could see that the professor thought she had matched her up well, so she didn't say anything. Just smiled. In reality though, dragons were kind of the opposite of what her Order liked. Dragons were fierce, dangerous mythical beings while their sky trio of legendary birds were majestic and wise in a more elegant way. At least according to the Order. But she would do her best. She had always been a bit fascinated by tales of dragon trainers anyways.