The professor finished talking, and the other trainers-to-be were beginning to move towards the waiting pokeballs, but to Ivan the world had already fallen away - he stood there, alone in the darkness of his mind, as the strangely euphoric trance engulfed him. Alright, he thought, his words roaring in the imaginary silence, This is it. Let's find my new partner. A small pinprick of light emerged from the black wall, and he reached for it instinctively, jerking back to life in something that vaguely resembled a walk.
As his hands closed around the light, it solidified and became more distinct - a sphere of red and white, small enough to be held in his palm - a pokeball. The cold metal sent chills along his spine, and he shakily pressed the button on the device, causing it to swell up to several times its previous size, now requiring his whole hand to hold it. The frigid sensation faded away, replaced with a calming warmth, no doubt the fires of the pokemon within as it slept peacefully, waiting for its release. "The time has come for you to shine, my friend," he announced, pulling all of his strength and confidence into this moment of truth, and opened the pokeball.
With that brilliant flash of white energy, the darkness vanished, and Ivan was back in the real world, standing in front of a rapidly coalescing form floating in midair. The borders straightened out into something more concrete, and finally energy turned into matter, and assumed the shape of a small bird-like creature, its ashy body dotted with glowing embers and a stream of fire trailing out behind in place of a tail, before flying around the room a few times and merrily squawking "Tiel!" a few times. As it returned to Ivan, he extended his right arm slowly, and the Pyratiel settled there carefully with one final flap of its wings and a cloud of cinders. He flinched mentally at the strength of its - no, she was female; he could see it in the glint of her eyes, that gentle, caring grace - her grip, so much so that the blood pressure in his forearm was starting to get cut off, and the flames of her tail were more intense than any fire he had ever been close to before.
Ivan reached his free hand out cautiously and, when the Pyratiel made no efforts to move away or otherwise convey "Hands off!", patted her head softly. He smiled, a wide, goofy grin, and said quietly, "Hello; my name is Ivan. I've so long for this moment, when you'd come to me. You will be my light in the darkness...Lumina."
