Outside, I found Director Clavell watching my mom's flowerbeds. He seemed lost in thought as he twirled some of his hair between his fingers.

Why is this old guy so... cute?

Sudden movement overhead drew my attention to the birds flying over head. Small birds with grey plumage, but distinct red heads and black tail feathers.

"Fletchlings!" I pointed them out, startling Clavell.

He straightened his jostled attire and cleared his throat. "Ahh, are they... not native where you are from?"

"Uh... yeah." I nodded. It wasn't a lie, obviously. "I'm really excited to explore this new region."

"That's wonderful. Let me be the first to welcome you to Paldea, Miss Luciana." Clavell smiled warmly with a nod.

Paldea? Wow, this really is a region I've never heard of...

"I've forgotten, excuse me, but which region did you originate from?"

"Well... that's..." Crap, where are we from?

Before my bullet-sized sweat hit the ground, my mother interrupted with an answer, "Oh, we don't like to talk about the past... You know, her father... He..." I turned to see my mother dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

Something about that felt suspicious, but Pokemon was about as subtle as a cucaracha car horn. I had a hunch, but I guess the father of this body is confirmed dead.

"Right, right, my apologies." Director Clavell shifted uncomfortably as ten long seconds of silence passed by. He changed the subject. "Oh! Yes, that's right, I nearly forgot." He reached for his premier ball belt, which was honestly quite stylish and familiar.

I thought he was about to introduce me to a ride Pokemon, after all, this game had O-Power-like mechanics. Why not ride Pokemon? No offense to the Rotom-Bike... but I really hated it. Riding a bike is not the same as riding an actual Pokemon!

Sure, there was a Rotom in it or whatever, but... it wasn't a cool-looking giant dog or dragon or anything.

Say what you will about Pokemon Let's Go, because at least they understood the assignment.

Instead, his hand went to his pocket and he produced three regular pokeballs. I gasped and brought my hands to my mouth.

This was it!

He wasn't a professor, but this amazing man was presenting me with the starters!

Clavell casually tossed the balls into the air and from the capsules came some wondrous Pokemon. The first thing that drew my eye was the sassy duck with a crazy blue pompadour followed by the a very cute... crocodile? Alligator?

However, a most precious critter melted my heart immediately... a green cat!

I'm a simple man, I see a pet-like Pokemon, and I want it. Lillipup, glameow... even goldeen.

"These are sprigatito, fuecoco, and quaxly." Clavell gestured at each, who each in turn meowed, growled, and quacked.

Scratch that, I actually want all of them.

"Look at how sweet they are, mija! What great choices... I'm so jealous."

"There is some business I must attend to at the house down the street." Clavell pointed in a direction before turning his gaze back to me with an understanding gaze. "It can be hard to choose your first Pokemon, but, maybe if you go on a short walk with them all, you'll better understand which Pokemon you resonate with best."

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With that, Clavell took his leave of me, and my mother handed me a small lunch bag before kissing me on the forehead and going back inside the house.

I crouched down to give these guys a closer look. Each of these starters held their own unique, undeniable charm.

But in my hearts of hearts, I knew the sad truth.

I bet this duck isn't as popular as a fire crocodile or a weed cat.

Thankfully, the color scheme of each Pokemon made it obvious what typing they were. At least, I hoped it did.

Competitively speaking, probably only one of these Pokemon was actually any good. Personally, I'm not the best at competitive, but it does weigh on my mind from time to time. Since Pokemon are real here and I've never played this game, I was lacking one of the key cheats any good isekai protagonist had which was the knowledge and foresight of the entire plot and any random other things, like side quests and whatnot.

All I had to depend on was hunches and gut instinct, but it didn't steer me wrong in Sword and Shield.

Dying was, to be completely honest, the best thing that could have happened to me.

It means that I can really, truly experience this region completely blind!

"I bet they only added 400 new Pokemon in this game, huh?" I singsonged as I walked along the path with the three starters. As we walked, each starter seemed to really have its own personality.

Sprigatito and quaxly in particular kept trying to one up each other, both unyielding in their desire to be ahead.

Fuecoco seemed less interested in competition and more interested in the sky. It looked up, gazing at the clouds. Every time we locked eyes, however, it looked away with a soft coo.

Picking one will be hard... they are all so cute...

I grasped at my chest, willing my heart to steady its beat. Surely, there would be people willing to trade the other two starters I don't pick, right?

Wait... There's usually two versions of each game, so what if I can only see the Pokemon of the version I'm in?

I don't want to miss out on any Pokemon. What if there are no trainers willing to trade starters?

Arceus needed to make up for this shortcoming of Game Freak. With the advent of online trading, having separate games was mostly just an annoyance since the only real difference between games came with what box legendary you'd acquire, since the story hasn't really divulged into schemes since Ruby and Sapphire.

"Are you alright, Miss Luciana?" Clavell's voice pulled me from my racing thoughts and I realized I was standing in the courtyard of the mansion.

Besides Clavell was a young girl, probably as old as my current body was. She wore the same uniform as me, and she had of bangs dyed green along her forehead. But the thing I noticed most was...

I looked up at her. Like... really, I looked up.

Height-wise, I'm probably around 5'4", so not a complete shorty, but this girl had to be 5'11". Maybe even 6'!

"Hola!" This new girl took one of my hands and immediately started shaking it. "I heard you just moved here! Hi, hi. My name is Nemona. I'm student council president at Manzana and a champion. May I ask your name? Do you like to battle? What is your favorite strategy?"

Nemona's energy levels were through the roof, like someone who drank enough energy drinks to kill themselves. I tried not to let her overwhelm me, but I did stumble over my words. "I'm Luciana, um, and, I, uh, I like battling...? Synergy in teams, uh... is probably the best thing? Like rainy teams or trick room..."

The other girl was physically pulled away by Director Clavell, but I could see in her eyes the stars twinkling at my generic answer. Her gaze was both adorable and a little off-putting. She had the intensity of a yandere.

But I'm sure the Pokemon Company would never let Game Freak throw a yandere into a children's game.

"Miss Nemona, I beg you to calm down. The poor girl hasn't even had her first battle yet. I'm certain she isn't speaking from experience, but from what she's seen on Battle TV." Clavell chided Nemona, who sheepishly nodded. Something told me this scene between them probably played out a lot given Nemona's apparent excitement for battle.

Wait, didn't she introduce herself as a champion? That could only mean...

"Are you a Pokemon champion?" I asked, gawking.

Obviously, she is a rival trainer character, but isn't this the first time a rival starts off as a champion as opposed to just being blocked by the player character??

"Yup! I'm champion-ranked," Nemona thumbs at herself with a grin. "Not to brag, but I'm pretty high up in the rankings too. Sí!"

"Woah..."

"Goodness... I'll have two battle fanatics on my hands, won't I...?" I heard Clavell mutter to himself with a sigh. He cleared his throat to interrupt and asserted himself with his next statement. "What will you pick, Miss Luciana?"

"Hmmm..." I squatted down and looked at each of the starters, but I felt my gaze drift towards one in particular and couldn't contain my smile. "It's going to have to be the cat."

Picking the cat last time didn't backfire on me at all, Incineroar was one of the most polarizing starters they ever made when it came to competitive. I'm pretty sure it was on every single World's winning team since Intimidate Incineroar was made available.

Plus this grass cat is so freaking cute, I just can't help myself. Maybe Game Freak had the good sense to keep a cute quadraped on all fours.

Sprigatito hopped into my arms with a mew, nearly knocking me over. It rubbed its cute face against mine and I knew.

I had fallen in love with this adorable cat!