Torino's UI pings, letter her know that she has been automatically added to a nearby player tutorial group. Oh. On this server I haven't done the tutorials. She spots her tutorial-mate, a young man in a dark black duster. He calls to her and she replies. "Me? I was on my way to Briarbane. What are you doing here?"

C0D13 appears next to her. "It looks like you are having trouble finding your destination! I have marked the road to Briarbane for you!" A huge dot appeared on her map, and fluorescent pink signs appeared in the overworld, guiding her Eastward and directly into a huge patch of grass with the words '[004] What's the Catch?' floating over it. The NPCs weren't always subtle in this game.

She looks Nero up and down. He appears to be dressed in end-game gear for a different RPG. "Are you new?" she asks with a welcoming smile. She nods over at the grass. "We will catch it together, okay? It is easy." She walks confidently towards the grass and there is an explosion of sound as a wild Pokemon jumps out and the battle begins.

The patch of tall grass is a swarm of disorganized action and overly-helpful advice. C0D13 buzzes around the Purrloin, highlighting weak points with flashing markers and filling the air with clickable popups for type charts and movesets. Mom gives out helpful tips in her bubbly, supportive voice. "Keep your elbow up! Aim for center mass!" she says, demonstrating with her Golden Pokeball.

Torino critiques Nero's battle technique, and her style definitely tilts more into the critical than the gently supportive. On the EU servers it is sink of swim, even for new players, and time spent coddling a newcomer is time that could be better spent finding warm shelter. "You need confidence my friend! That Ember would not keep you warm for a minute a blizzard! I need to see it burn like your passion!"

She makes a motion with her hands like she's growing the flame into a towering conflagration. "You must paint the battlefield with your will to succeed!"

"Just have fun, honey," says the communal Mom. "Battling is all about making new friends!"

"This is true. Those you fight alongside will remain fast friends always!"

Torino's words trigger something in the auto-party system and a popup appears in her UI.

Send a friend request to Nero?
[YES] [NO]

She taps yes, and C0D13 zips over to her.

"You've just sent your first friend request! Would you like a tour of the communication and party systems?"

"No thank you. We are battling a cat right now."

"Would you like to set a reminder for 5 minutes from now?"

"...No."

Torino watches C0D13 disappear, and turns her attention back to the battle. "Show me more fire!"

The shift in confidence in Nero's voice didn't seem to have had any real effect on Cyndaquil - nor did the increase in anger and frustration in the tone that gave the order. The little fire type was just as happy to shoot off an ember now as he had been before, his relaxed nature making him a good match for the far from calm trainer he'd been paired with. While Nero's emotions flexed up and down every five minutes, it took quite a lot of effort to rile Cyndaquil up at all. That allowed him to keep consistent even as his trainer varied, and to stop battles from getting out of hand on whatever emotional whim had ticked Nero off.

The ember struck its mark, the flame licking against the Purrloin's fur before the cat moved in close to scratch at the fire mouse's soft nose. His paws reached up to cover the claw marks automatically with a little squeak of upset at the pain, but he wouldn't let that stop him. Battles came with injuries after all - this just made him into even more of a warrior.

Now wholly focused on the battle at hand, the tips and guidance from COD13 and Mom seemed to fade out entirely - or else Nero shouting at them had actually done some good. Either way, he was able to pay attention at last to the actual battle, and the simple mechanics made for a simple learning curve. With minimal moves at his disposal for now, it made sense to stick to the one that was working and continue to chip down this Pokemon's health. He could look up what else Cyndaquil could do later, but for now, "Ember!" seemed to be working pretty well.

Finishing the catching segment of the tutorial with just Nero and then continuing the player interaction when it's done! ^-^

"That is it!" she says, clapping at his well-fought victory. "The first of many catches. And the cat suits you, do you not think? With the dark clothes and smoky eyes?" Torino grins at the brooding and sneaky aura that Nero and his new companion share. Some people say that pets and their owners look alike. Whether this is by chance or subconscious choice is unknown, but in this case she could put it down to a quirk of the random tutorial spawner.

"So what will you call it?" she asks, her eyes flicking to the Pokeball in Nero's hands. "I noticed that your Cyndaquil does not have a nickname. Is that normal for you?" She tilts her head to the side. Torino likes to give her Pokemon names that reminder her of her home, a warm and welcoming place. She names them after food, or after people in her life. There was little connecting the names outside of some vague thread to Torino herself.

She kneels down beside Cyndaquil and hold out a hand for it to smell. Like cats or dogs, Pokemon often respond better when they have a chance to get used to someone's presence. She beamed at the little fire Pokemon. "You did so good! Very strong fire. I could feel the heat from way back. I am sure you will grow to be wonderful and strong."

Thank you so much for waiting. Back to you Nero!

The clapping felt... kind of good actually. He almost wanted it to sound patronising, almost wanted an excuse to get mad about it, but he couldn't deny the way it fanned the pride in his chest into an even larger flame. Dumb game making him feel things...

As for the Pokemon suiting him... yeah, he couldn't deny that actually. It was one he vaguely recognised, and something at the back of his mind told him it might even be a dark type, or evolve into one perhaps? That would make it an extra good fit for him if true. He'd been expecting a Pidgey or Rattata, and while they would have been good experience too, he probably wouldn't have thought much of them as an additional teammate though. This one though... yeah, this Torino was right, it seemed like a good fit. "Yeah I guess," he replied, sounding a little awkward as he was forced to acknowledge his rather emo look. He'd felt very cool while designing his avatar, but hearing its features described back at him was a little embarrassing.

"What will I what?" Oh right, nicknames. "Oh, I don't usually... um... Are those really common here?" The NPCs in the old games had never nicknamed their Pokemon either (or at least not that the game showed you), and he'd never done much multiplayer stuff, so he was used to being surrounded by Pokemon without names. It had never felt weird not to nickname his own in those settings, but here? "I guess I just hadn't thought about it," he answered, though there was a clear hesitancy to his voice. After all, he wasn't against the concept of nicknames, he just... didn't feel particularly creative. And what if people thought his nicknames were stupid? It just gave them another thing to judge him for.

Cyndaquil took to this stranger far quicker than it seemed his trainer was doing. The small fire type sniffed the hand curiously as he was approached, before bouncing excitedly at the compliment, letting out little squeaks to show how pleased he was by the words. It had Nero snorting under his breath, amused at the display. They really did program a lot of personality in to these little guys, didn't they?

No worries Torino <3