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Maggie was seated at the front desk, ready to greet trainers as they came in for starter selection. She smiled brightly at the young fellow who entered looking all sorts of thrilled the be there, and that’s just what she liked to see! They had reactions of many varieties - some were scared, some were full of themselves...but this was a nice happy medium of polite but excited. Good combination! She picked up a clipboard full of forms, ”Sure thing, I’m Maggie and I’ll be assisting you today. If you can just fill this paperwork out.” she handed it across the counter to him, ”And we’ll get this ball rolling! As you go along there are some questions with asterisks if you can just verbalize them and get me up to speed on what I should know before we get started.”

With that she sat back in her chair and got onto the computer to pull up the spreadsheets and charts to check and see where would be the best place to go at the moment. Any given day rangers could be doing patrols of biomes with problem populations, doing training with new recruits in tester biomes, or just doing repairs to the environments to make them as quality as possible for the specimens they kept there. It looked like today they’d be going to a forested swamp biome.

The questions Brent would see were: name*, age, contact information, current or most recent occupation*, hometown*, experience with pokemon*, where those pokemon could be found now*, favorite types or species*, why are those your favorite*, least favorite type*, why*. While the way they went about the selection process was completely random, it was good to have those last pieces of information on hand, since they were a good indication of what kind of trainer they would be depending on just how they answered them. The last section explained how the selection process worked and had a place for a waiver to be signed in case of incident, clearing the ranger station of liability if a pokemon went on a rampage or the trainer messed up and did something wrong or to set them off, letting them know they’re not guaranteed a pokemon and can be denied at any time at the assisting ranger’s discretion. People did this at their own risk.

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Maggie listened as he gave the responses requested, unable to help the smile returned for his own as he spoke about his hometown - she’d heard of Oldale, it was on the smaller side of things, the kind of place where time moved a little more slowly - and his friend and the pokemon Mutt. ”Oh, it’s always a good day when I get to see pictures of puppies!” she said, clapping in rapid succession as she peered over the counter at the screen on his phone where sure enough the large doggy was all but covering the person she recognized to be Brent - but only barely since the pooch was huge at that point and took up most of the space in the photo.

”Well, actually Dratini is a dragon type. But it’s a common misconception for them to be water types since that’s their habitat. But those are all good answers about favorites and least favorites in my opinion. Especially with the personal connection to Mutt. If you’re all finished there we can head on up to the biome!” she said, briefly but politely letting him know he’d passed the brief interview that occurred before people were shown pokemon. They couldn’t let a random maniac back there after all!

”We’ll be going to the swamp biome. It’s a heavily forested area and if you’re not careful you’ll end up in the water. So be sure to stick to the path - it’s lit by lanterns to keep you on track. Just don’t stray and you’ll be alright.” she advised, picking up Todd’s pokeball to take with them in case it was needed. He was still recovering from a battle and she didn’t want to rouse him from his sleep time if they didn’t need him. She led the way back through a hall to the elevators and put in the code to get to the swamp biome.

The doors would open on the marshy landscape where it always seemed to be dark and creepy, vines dangling from the long branched trees that formed a canopy overhead. She took the first few steps forward and ducked as the sound of flapping wings zoomed by her head. She was a brave ranger but she wasn’t an idiot. If she needed to get out of the way of a pokemon then by golly she would! ”Wonder what that was….” she mused, taking a few more cautious steps forward along the path. The sound of beating wings was heard again before the Murkrow came into view from a cluster of trees growing up out of the murky water.

< Hwak! Hello! > she cawed, treading air as she watched the newcomers. They didn’t look like the usual swamp dwellers the bird was used to dealing with as unofficial tour guide of the biome. < Ya lost? > she asked.

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Maggie gave a little wave to the murkrow madame of the swamp biome, ”Hello, ma’am!” she greeted her, beaming and glad that they’d managed to luck out and get Brent a dark type since they were one of his favorites. It was always down to chance at the ranger station, so it was nice when things worked out this way.
It was perhaps unfortunate that he’d nearly been clobbered by the bird, but he would have to get used to such less than graceful entrances when he started his journey in the wild. Pokemon had a way of letting you know they were there in some unique ways! She could still remember the time a weedle fell out of a tree and got tangled in her hair. That had been a nightmare.

The monosyllabic greeting had her turning to look at Brent. Her heart sank a bit as she realized it was yet another person who didn’t know a lick of pokespeech. Most people who decided to make a career of caring for pokemon had at least some inkling of the ability. It wasn’t even that hard to pick up on if you were around pokemon enough. A little sigh was the only response she had for the moment - she couldn’t say much else as the murkrow began to squawk away a bit more, thinking he was just shy and not that he couldn’t understand her. < It’s okay honey, I don’t bite! Much! SQUAAAW SQUAW CAW CAAAW! > she chortled at her own joke. CC0066< Meowth got ya tongue? > she inquired, flying right up to him and landing on his shoulder, < Or maybe you’re hard of hearin hmmm? > she cawed a little louder into his ear, trying to make herself sound clearer.

”We’re actually here for him to find a starter!” Maggie interjected at last, hoping Brent didn’t mind how forward and at ease this murkrow was. ”And you’re the first pokemon to come along so you know what that means.” she said, knowing the murkrow had been here longer than she - the bird had hatched onsite a month before Maggie started a couple of years ago - and the dark bird knew the process of people getting ranger station starters. She was a friendly bird, maybe a bit overwhelming sometimes, but always meaning well.

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Maggie realized she’d misjudged. It seemed he had a good enough grasp of pokespeech after all. Oh, she felt better already! She watched as he gave the friendly bird little scritches under her chin where feathers met beak and couldn’t help but to beam at the pair of them. Yes, this would do quite nicely.

Murkrow gave another squawk of delight, < Oh-ho-ho, clever boy! Bite back! Caw-haw-haw! You’re a fun one! > she flapped her wings, taking to the air again with a nod before alighting onto a branch nearby. < Yes, I think I’d like that very much! It’s high time my apprentice took over the welcome wagon for the swamp anyway. Maggie, be a dear and pass along the news, would you? >

Maggie chuckled and nodded, handing Brent his starter pack and a pokeball to capture the Murkrow with.

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