Seeing Professor Juniper look her way, Bianca hurried forward a step and bowed, nervous yet expectant. "Hello, Professor Juniper! I-I'm Bianca. Sorry for the trouble. I'm here to receive my Starter Pokémon!"
"Your father already told me." After looking her up and down a few times, Professor Juniper nodded with a smile. "I already know about your situation, and I've prepared a Pokémon for you. Now, please follow me."
As she spoke, Professor Juniper came out from behind her desk and gestured to Xia You and the others. "You're all Makomo's friends, aren't you? If you're interested, you're welcome to come and witness it too. After all, it's always a pleasure to see a Pokémon Trainer meet their first partner."
Apart from Xia You, everyone was naturally very interested. After all, just as Professor Juniper had said, all sorts of things could happen when new Pokémon Trainers met their Starter Pokémon, some heartwarming and others unexpected. But Xia You had seen it several times already, so he wasn't particularly interested.
"You all go ahead. Professor Juniper, would you mind if I looked around here?"
"Of course not. Please, feel free."
Nodding to Xia You, Professor Juniper led the way out, taking Bianca, Cheryl, and Dawn to the Research Lab where the Pokémon were kept. Seeing that Xia You wanted to look around, Makomo volunteered to stay behind.
"I know this place well, so let me be your guide!"
Xia You shook his head gently. "No, no need. I imagine you haven't seen a new Pokémon Trainer receive their Starter Pokémon before. It's quite a nice sight, so you should go along and see it."
To his surprise, Makomo waved a hand.
"It's fine. I've actually been here many times before, and I've seen plenty of newcomers receive their Pokémon. I've