"So, now who will go first?" Professor Oak glanced at the three infamous Kanto starters and then at the three young trainers who looked perplexed by his question.
After all, it was a big plus point if they can be the one to pick their starter first. No one wanted the Pokemon they had decided to choose to go to someone else.
And because of this reason, Gary quickly raised his hand.
"Grandpa, I want to go first."
"Um, do you two have any problems if Gary goes first?"
Professor Oak looked at both Leaf and Arthur and asked. Even though Gary was his grandson, he wanted to be fair to the other two. His fairness was one of the reasons he was so respected throughout the world.
"I don't have any problem."
"I'm fine with it too. Gary can go first."
Both Arthur and Leaf shook their heads and let Gary choose first.
Leaf didn't have a problem with it as she was still unsure about which Pokemon she wanted and as for Arthur, he already had an idea of which Pokemon Gary would choose and he was fine with it.
"I will choose Squirtle!"
And just like he had thought, Gary didn't hesitate and chose the water turtle Pokemon, Squirtle.
It was the same Pokemon he had in the anime and as Arthur already knew Gary since childhood, he was easily able to guess that he was going to choose Squirtle.
'That Squirtle will one day become a Blastoise.'
Seeing the Squirtle in Gary's arms, Arthur thought back to the battle Ash and Gary had in the Johto League Silver Conference. It was one of his favourite anime battles and also the fight where Ash has finally overcome his rival.
After Gary had chosen, there were only two starters left and Arthur let Leaf go before him.
"Are you sure about it?" Leaf asked as she tilted her head.
"Yeah, it's fine. Go first."
"Why are you giving me the chance to go first?"
As she had known Arthur since childhood, she knew that he was always aspiring to become a trainer. He worked hard for it since a very young age, but now he was giving away his chance to choose the starter before her.
This perplexed her, but Arthur simply shrugged and said.
"I already know which one you will choose. So, you can choose first."
"You know which one I will choose?"
"Yeah, I know you enough so it's easy to guess."
Arthur didn't think much while saying as it was just an excuse to fool her. After all, he can't say that he has information from his past life.
But Leaf took it differently.
'Even I don't know which one I want to choose yet he already knows…'
One thing that was different about this Leaf from the video games was that she was prone to misunderstanding things, especially when it comes to Arthur.
That's why, she blushed a little hearing that.
An inexplicable sense of joy burst into her heart, but she quickly calmed herself down and stepped up in front of the two remaining starters.
She crouched down a little and looked at the remaining Charmander and Bulbasaur. It was still hard for her to choose, but after thinking about it for a minute, she picked up the Bulbasaur, leaving the Charmander for Arthur.
"Professor, I want to choose Bulbasaur." Leaf said while stroking the Bulbasaur in her arms.
As starter Pokemons were trained to be extremely docile to their trainers, the Bulbasaur was quite obedient and he seemed quite happy about being picked by Leaf.
"That's a nice choice. Now, it only leaves Charmander which will go to Arthur." Professor Oak looked at him before asking. "You don't have any problems with taking up the Charmander right?"
"No, I wanted to choose Charmander from the start."
Arthur said as he walked towards the Charmander who was also looking at him.
Professor Oak also sighed with relief. There were many cases where a new trainer will not receive the Pokemon he wanted. It was a good thing for him that everyone had gotten the Pokemon they wanted.
Well, except for one person who was still not here…
"Char." Arthur softly pat Charmander's round head and it let out a cute soft growl. Although it looked like a cute lizard currently, Arthur knew that one day, it would become a mighty dragon-like creature.
"Charmander, me and you will surely reach the top one day."
"Charr."
Arthur already has a well thought plan on how he will train his Charmander and the first step was to gain its trust. As a starter Pokemon, it was already quite obedient to him.
But it would be different if they participated in a battle.
Although, they would still be able to communicate well, it won't be enough if Charmander can't trust his commands wholly.
That was also the reason why most trainers are never able to defeat all the gym leaders in a region. They will give up on their journeys at the starting because they won't be able to gain the full trust of their Pokemon.
Only some would be able to do it and eventually be able to participate in the leagues.
If Arthur wanted to be the top someday, the first thing would be to become a team with his Charmander and gain its trust.
The next thing was obviously the training and knowing how to train a Pokemon the right way was essential as a Pokemon can lose their aptitude if they are trained the wrong way.
For example, in the anime, Ash didn't learn to use his Pikachu's true potential until he was in the Hoenn region. That would have wasted a lot of Pikachu's potential if not for the plot armour of the main protagonist.
Arthur didn't have a plot armour, so he needed to be careful from the start.
Thankfully, he has a gift that would help him understand his Charmander's characteristics, abilities and aptitude and he would be able to train it the right way.
'Let's see your potential.'
Arthur thought in his mind and activated his 'golden finger' - the cheat that he had received when he had been reborn.
[Scanning… Charmander… Scanning completed...]
[The aptitude of this Pokemon is… Purple… It has the potential to become one of the strongest Pokemon…]
[Full status is being displaced now…]
Some words appeared in front of him as he activated his cheat on Charmander and a string of information came in his view.