A/N: So, this is my go at a novelization of Pokémon Platinum. I really just wanted to find a story with Lucas as the main character. Of course, I've found some, but none that are complete so I decided to just post one of my own. As you may notice, despite this being a Platinum novelization, I chose to use the DP opening instead because I thought it worked as a better way to do it.

P/S: I decided that I wanted to add Lucas and Barry's first battle to the end of this chapter because I couldn't find a good way for that to flow into the rest of the second chapter. Hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon; it's the property of Game Freak.

Chapter 1: Trial By Starly

For what would probably be one of the most important days of his life, Lucas's morning began like any other. He woke up at six thirty on the dot, washed up and got dressed in half an hour, then plopped down in front of his PC to check out the news.

He'd barely finished reading an article on the return of Professor Rowan, Sinnoh's leading pokémon researcher, from his travels in Kanto when his best friend, Barry, barged in through his door, just like he would any other day of the week. This time, however, the boy didn't bother with greeting his friend and rushed to the TV remote on his bed, flicking the device on. After flicking through a few channels, he finally found what he was looking for: a report from Johto on an enraged red gyarados.

When the report was finished, Barry switched the television off and gave Lucas an expectant look. In response, the boy cheekily scratched at the back of his head and said, "Hearing about a red gyarados is cool and all, but it's not like shiny pokémon are unheard of or anything."

"That's not the point!" Barry shouted, shaking his head profusely.

"Oh. Then what is?" Lucas questioned, used to how loud and excitable his best friend could be, even in the morning.

"It was in a lake!" He exclaimed, like that changed everything.

In response, Lucas just blinked for a few seconds, trying to understand why his friend was excited to find that a water type did in fact, live in water. "Yes, Barry, it was found in a lake; a body of water. You know, like most water types."

"And don't we have our own lake just around the corner? We could go searching for a rare pokémon there, or better yet, catch the guardian of the lake!"

Now that Lucas could actually see the point in what Barry was saying, he wasn't sure he wanted to. Mesprit, the legendary pokémon said to reside in Lake Verity, was revered as a guardian deity by most of Twinleaf Town. More than just them worshipped the pokémon, of course. It was a whole religion, with all three of the lake guardians at the center of it. Either way, while he himself didn't actually worship the pokémon, many of the people involved in his life did, including his mother. To them, the idea of capturing, or even attempting to capture, the pokémon was probably as sacrilegious as you could get, and they'd definitely be branded heretics. Lucas voiced these concerns, and in turn, Barry waved them off. "It's not like they'll actually figure anything out unless we capture it, and then they can't really do anything about it."

Barry's nonchalance was off-putting, to say the least, but nothing Lucas could say would actually change his friend's one track mind. Lucas, being the good friend he was, would join him, despite whatever consequences their stupidity brought. Even so, if he was going to go down, he wouldn't without a fight. "What about pokéballs? I doubt you've been able to sneak out and buy any strong enough to capture it without weakening it first."

At that, the hyperactive blonde grinned and produced a dozen or so black and yellow Ultra Balls from his pockets, all miniaturized for efficiency. "My dad left his stash in one of his drawers last time he visited. I took as many as I could without making it too obvious." He explained, handing Lucas about half of them.

At that point, there was little Lucas could actually say in return, so he just gave up and sighed, acting as though he hadn't already decided to join in on Barry's little stint. Someone had to make sure the teen didn't end up getting killed, and Lucas was probably the only person in town actually capable of tolerating the blonde's inability to sit still. With a nod, Lucas affirmed that he was on board, and Barry jumped excitedly before dashing out the door, probably to wait for him at the town entrance.

The black haired teen could only shake his head and chuckle about what he'd gotten dragged into this time. After getting that out of his system, he headed out his room and down the stairs to find his mother, Johanna, in the kitchen, cooking breakfast as she watched one of those old sitcoms she loved so much. As he made it down the bottom step he greeted, "Hey mom."

"Good morning." She chirped without breaking concentration from either of her activities.

"Barry and I are heading out to Lake Verity. Him to do Barry-things and me to make sure he doesn't get hurt." Lucas announced as he slipped on his shoes and, after thinking over it, his jacket. He could probably make it without one, even in the early September weather, but he preferred to not feel like he was on the verge of freezing.

"Alright, honey. Don't forget to watch out for yourself, too."

With that done the teen was ready to leave when his mom called his name one more time. He turned to look at her and found that she'd finally looked up from what she was doing. "Don't go wandering into the tall grass. It's dangerous when you don't have any pokémon with you." She warned seriously, and Lucas could only nod, not that he'd been planning to do so in the first place. Content with his answer, Johanna went back to her cooking, leaving her son to his own devices.

Lucas stepped out into the morning's cool air, taking it on with a smile on his face. He'd been smart to bring his jacket, as it was a bit colder than usual, but he didn't mind it much. The cold was nothing new to him, and he'd grown to like the feel of it. After getting his fill of the air, he walked over to the town entrance where, as expected, Barry stood to wait for him. The blonde look quite annoyed with him, though, and muttered, "Next time you make me wait for so long I'm fining you a million poké dollars."

Then the two walked over to the lake, discussing and forming something at least resembling a plan. In the end, they decided that the best course of action was probably to wait and see if the pokémon would show up. Lucas was somewhat surprised that Barry even agreed to his plan, but he supposed that they both knew there was not much they could do to grab Mesprits's attention short of hopping into the freezing water and nearly drowning. If he was being honest, Lucas half expected that Barry would suggest such a plan, but it seemed that at least the threat of hypothermia was enough to get the boy to sit for a while. That was probably worth remembering for later.

Once the two boys had their plan set and agreed on, they started up some small chat about interesting things they'd found recently. Lucas's mind went back to that earlier article on Professor Rowan, and he brought it up. The two of them often kept tabs on the professor, in part because he only lived one short route away and also because he was probably their best bet for getting a pokémon any time soon. Sure, their mothers could order them starters through the Sinnoh League's Starter Program, but the deliveries were known to sometimes take months, and the selection was limited to common pokémon that could probably found even on routes close to town. Professor Rowan, however, as a certified regional professor, held the three rare pokémon that made up Sinnoh's starter trio: Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup.

As the two discussed these things they didn't notice the two people walking in the opposite direction from them until it was almost too late. At the last second, Lucas noticed what was up and pulled Barry aside to let the two pass.

"Thank you very much, gentleman." The first, an old, white-haired man in a long brown coat, thanked them before continuing on. Lucas couldn't quite put his hand on it, but something about the man's appearance felt familiar to him.

"Thank you very much." The man's companion, a bluenette around their age, echoed.

When the two were out of earshot, Lucas commented, "That old guy looks really familiar."

"I dunno. All old guys look pretty similar to me." His friend shrugged, and Lucas sighed. Such a Barry-like answer that was

They dropped the subject and continued on to the lake area. The both of them had visited the lake many times before, so the temperature drop as they neared the lake barely even fazed them, though Barry did have to extend the sleeves of his shirt. For a while, the two just stood around, waiting as they'd planned, when Barry pointed to a nearby tree and asked, "Hey, what's that?"

Before Lucas could give an answer, the boy had already dashed off to where the tree and whatever had caught his attention was. He had half a mind to warn him about the dangers of going into tall grass without any pokémon, but curiosity took over and Lucas joined him, though he walked carefully so as to not accidentally rouse any wild pokémon.

When he made it to Barry's side, he found him standing over a brown briefcase with the name "Professor Rowan" written on it. For a few seconds, Lucas just stared at it, then it all clicked and he remembered why the man had seemed familiar.

"I remember now! That old guy…"

"…Was Professor Rowan!" His friend finished, and the two looked to each other with looks of surprise and excitement all over their faces. Before they could even think of what to do with such information, a chorus of chirps erupted from being them, where a pair of wild starly flew out, shocking them both. The two birds dove towards the teenage boys, and neither looked friendly in the slightest.

Lucas cursed under his breath and ducked low, barely avoiding a beak to the face. Barry followed his lead a second later.

"What are we gonna do?!" Barry screeched in Lucas's ear, making the teen flinch a little in response.

"I don't know!" He answered with an irritated shout of his own. Never again would he give in and go along with one of Barry's stupid ideas! His mom had even warned him about this, for Arceus sake!

The teens continued in their struggle to not get mercilessly pecked at by a pair of starly. As they dodged around the small space, Lucas bumped into the professor's briefcase, and it fell open, revealing three Poké Balls, each with tiny symbols on them to indicate their type; fire, water, or grass. Realizing the opportunity presented to them, Lucas picked up two balls at random and tossed one to Barry. The blonde noticed just in time to catch the sphere, and immediately released the pokémon from inside. Lucas followed suit right after, and two pokémon appeared in a flash of white light. The one which Barry had released was a small orange imp with a fire tail, and from Lucas's ball came a green turtle with a brown shell and a sprout on its head.

When the two pokémon fully materialized, both of the opposing starly flew backward, giving the teens and their pokémon room to breathe.

"This is so awesome," Barry muttered in disbelief. Lucas couldn't help but nod in agreement.

This was probably the closest they'd ever been to handling their own pokémon, even if they couldn't rightfully say that the pokémon were theirs. They had more pressing concerns at the moment, however. The starly had approached like before, except they looked ready to fight their new opponents. Barry was the first to react, and called out, "Go get 'em, uh…"

"It's a Chimchar," Lucas offered, "and my guy's a Turtwig."

"Thanks. Go get 'em, Chimchar!" The imp cheered in agreement and charged towards its opponent, scratching at it with small claws.

Meanwhile, Lucas and the Turtwig were taking things slow and steady. The teen doubted the turtle's ability to go after a starly in the air, so he waited for it to come after them. When it did and began to peck at him, Turtwig lurched forwards and slammed into the bird with a powerful tackle attack, sending it flying back. It regained its balance midair and repeated the same attack that it had attempted before, but much faster. Before Lucas could give the order, Turtwig retreated into his shell, taking little damage as the starly tired itself out attacking him. Once the bird let up its attack, Lucas ordered, "Tackle it hard!"

Turtwig complied and tackled one more time, this time with enough force to send the starly skidding across the ground. For a few moments, it struggled to rise, but exhaustion took over and it fainted instead.

With a single glance, Lucas noted that Barry and Chimchar had similar results, though their enemy looked to have been roughed up way more than his own. Nonetheless, they'd taken down their assailants, and as Barry and Chimchar hopped around and cheered, Lucas knelt down to pet Turtwig's head. The grass type seemed to appreciate the petting and nuzzled against his hand to get the most out of it that he could.

The moment was ruined, however, when a female voice interjected. "What are you doing?"

Lucas and Barry stiffened and stood up, looking over to see that the one asking was none other than the bluenette that had been waking with the professor, looking quite peeved. "Well, it's a bit complicated…" Lucas began to say when Barry interrupted and shouted, "We're innocent, I swear!"

Lucas shot him a dirty look, and once Barry realized what he'd done, he gave him a sheepish look. Of course, none of what they said (or what they hadn't gotten a chance to say) convinced the girl of their innocence, and out was starting to frustrate her. She opened her mouth to lecture the two ongoing into things that weren't theirs when Professor Rowan appeared from behind, saying, "What's taking you so long to grab my briefcase, Dawn?"

The old man halted his approach at the sight of two guilty looking teens with his Pokémon and his assistant looking as if she was ready to blow a fuse. "What's going on?" He asked gruffly, putting on a stem face so that they all knew he meant business.

"I came to retrieve your briefcase and found these two playing around with two of the pokémon from inside it." Dawn accused, pointing a finger at the two.

"Hold on! We weren't just playing around. We came and found your briefcase over at this tree when a pair of wild starly attacked us. I bumped into your suitcase and these Poké Balls fell out so I figured we might as well use anything available to make it out of the situation safely." Lucas explained, gesturing around the area to help prove his point.

The old man followed Lucas's pointed finger to the two pokémon and sighed asking for Dawn to go heal the fainted birds back to consciousness. She obeyed his request without protest, though she did shoot him an odd look. While his assistant went and did that, Professor Rowan approached the two suspects, sternly looking them over, up and down. Not knowing what to do, Lucas and Barry both stood with their backs straight, trying to look confident and as though their legs weren't on the verge of wobbling like jelly.

"What're your names?" The professor asked when his evaluation of them was done.

"I'm Lucas Dime, and this is my friend, Barry Pearl," Lucas announced gulping slightly, thinking that he was asking so he could have a name to give the authorities.

What he didn't expect, though, was for the old man's eyes tip go wide in what looked like a realization. "Do you two attend Earl's Trainer School? In Jubilife City?" He asked, with less gruffness in his town than before.

The two boys nodded again, and Rowan's eyes went even wider than before. "Have you heard about us?" Barry asked when he got sick of sitting on the side and staying quiet.

"Yes, I have. I've been keeping tabs on the two of you for a while now. If I remember right, you two have some of the school's highest scores in battling and other pokémon related subjects, even among the higher grades and older students. Not to mention your parents, with rich histories in terms of battling." The professor recounted from memory, shocking the two boys even further. Never in a million years did they think that Professor Rowan would be keeping tabs on them.

"That means things are going according to plan." He continued, muttering that part under his breath, though both boys were close enough to hear him.

"What plan?" Lucas questioned impatiently, channeling his inner Barry.

"I've been thinking about giving away my pokémon to young trainers, among other things, and you two are at the top of my list," Rowan revealed, and the teens struggled to contain their excitement. Or Lucas did. Barry was already bouncing on his heels.

"So does that mean…" Lucas trailed off, not even sure he could finish the sentence without losing his composure.

"Well, these two seem to like you," the professor glanced down at the Pokémon at their feet, both of whom looked comfortable with the two, before continuing, "So I don't see the problem."

The moment those words left his mouth, Barry began hopping about, and despite himself, Lucas joined in. Professor Rowan gave a small smile at the excited boys then walked past the two to retrieve his still open briefcase and the last of his three pokémon. Once done with that, he returned to where he'd been standing before. "I have more things that I'd like to talk to you two about at my lab, but I'll be busy for the next few days, so come to Sandgem three days from now." He announced, and the boys stopped their cheering momentarily to nod.

With that, the professor left, Dawn at his heels. Both starly had been properly treated by her, and they retreated soon after regaining consciousness, knowing that they could be taken down easily. When they were finally far enough away from the lake to not be heard, Dawn asked, "Are you sure it was a good idea to just give them such rare Pokémon? Even if you've had your eye on them for a while, they did recklessly wander into the tall grass and use Pokémon that they didn't own."

"While they were reckless in what they did, I'm confident that they'll mature through learning of the responsibility of owning pokémon. And I'm sure that their parents will give them an earful about it later." The professor replied.

The two continued on their way to the lab in silence, until the professor held out the last Poké Ball, Piplup's, to Dawn. As expected, she only shot him a surprised look. Keeping his face straight, he explained, "I never told you this, but aside from those two, you were also at the top of my list for giving away a pokémon. Now that the other two have theirs, I think it's only befitting you get your own. Besides, Piplup has always seemed to have a soft spot for you."

At his explanation, Dawn took the ball and looked at it deeply, almost as though she could see inside of it. Then, a soft smile graced her lips as she lowered the ball and walked on with the professor, a new pep in her step. The professor almost chuckled at the sight but held his composure. He still had his reputation as the stern-faced professor to keep up.

"So you got this little guy after stepping into a patch of tall grass -which I warned you not to do- and getting attacked by some wild starly. Then the professor let you keep him because of your scores in school." Johanna summarized her son's story, as they ate breakfast together at the table.

A single "Yup" was her only reply, and she took what she got. While she definitely felt the urge to chew her son out for being reckless, that could wait for later. After all, she too was excited to know that her son now had a pokémon of his own. On that note…

"I suppose that means you'll be leaving to start your journey soon." She commented, opting to skip beating around the bush.

Even so, the suddenness of it surprised Lucas so much that he choked on his food, forcing him to beat on his chest to help it go down. Once he could breathe again, Lucas replied, "I guess I will. I'll wait to really do anything serious until I see what Professor Rowan asked us to meet with him for, but otherwise, yeah."

Despite how eager Lucas was to go out on a journey, he hesitated at the thought of leaving his mom all on her own. She had her pokémon, yes, and tons of people knew her considering her popularity, but other than Mrs. Pearl next, he was the only person that truly kept her company at home. His father had disappeared years ago, during a time Lucas struggled to remember, so it'd just been the two of them for all that time. As he mulled over this, Johanna sensed her son's inner turmoil and spoke up. "I know that you're worried about leaving me alone and everything, but I promise you that I'll be fine. The town's people are all friendly and I have my pokémon around the house as well."

Her attempts to reassure him fell flat, but Lucas knew that worrying would just make things worse harder for both of them, so he gave her a resolute nod. Johanna smiled at the sight of her son trying his best to stay strong for the both of them, proud of the fifteen-year-old she'd raised.

The atmosphere between them was all but ruined by a series of loud knocks on their door. Only one person would come to their house in the morning and knock that hard. Lucas rose from his seat, finishing off the last bit of egg on his plate, and opened the door to find Barry with Chimchar perched on his shoulder. Before he could open the door completely, the blond stood tall and took a deep breath for the announcement he was about to make.

"Lucas, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

"What?"

"What do you mean what?" Barry cried, flailing his arms about. From his shoulder, Chimchar flailed his arms in a startlingly accurate imitation of his trainer.

"I mean, we only got our Pokémon half an hour ago. Shouldn't we wait a bit longer to actually battle?" Lucas replied calmly.

"Well, why not? Wouldn't battling help us get along better with our Pokémon? Plus this'll be our first trainer and rival battle! You can't actually expect for me to not be super hyped for this! I bet you are, too!" The blond exclaimed.

Lucas facepalmed in the face of his friend's impatience, though he failed to hide the growing grin on his face. He couldn't lie; he was most definitely looking forward to facing Barry as well. He had also made a good point about it helping them to connect with their pokémon, though both he and Chimchar looked comfortable with one another already.

"Alright, I'll take you up on your challenge." He conceded after a few more seconds of thought, calling for Turtwig to come out of the house. The turtle waddled out of the house at his trainer's command, making his way to Lucas's leg.

"Let's get this show on the road!" Barry cheered, pumping his fists.

"Let's,"

The two walked a couple of feet away from Lucas's house until they were both far enough to not risk damaging it and far enough apart from each other to actually battle.

"Show them what we've got, Chimchar!" Barry cheered,

"You've got this, Turtwig," Lucas called.

Both starters growled in response to their trainers' calls, making their forward onto the makeshift battlefield, getting low and ready to charge at a moment's notice.

Never one to wait, Barry gave the first command. "Use Scratch!"

Chimchar complied without a moment's hesitation and sprang forward toward Turtwig, claws outstretched as he began to rake at the turtle. Turtwig barely flinched and took the attack head-on, showing little to no signs of injury. When Chimchar noticed how little damage he was doing, he darted backward, though not fast enough to fully avoid a tackle attack via Lucas's order.

"Leer at him!" He shouted, and on command the small imp leered unnervingly at Turtwig, baring his teeth to show off how sharp the fangs were. In response, the turtle retreated into its shell, but Lucas couldn't tell if it was a fearful reaction or one with the knowledge that it would raise his defenses. Nonetheless, it did give the teen an idea, and he ordered his Pokémon to continue withdrawing just like that. The idea was to prey on Barry and the monkey's impatience, much in the same way they had when facing the starly earlier.

To his surprise, Barry didn't take the bait and instead ordered for Chimchar to continue leering until Turtwig poked its head out. That put Lucas in a tight spot, where he was forced to consider the consequences of dragging the battle out for a long time versus switching tactics and going on the offensive. In the end, Chimchar decided for both trainers and charged at Turtwig once more, keeping the leer on his face.

Unexpectedly, Turtwig left his shell and met the imp's charge with a tackle. Soon enough, the battle turned into a test of stamina, with Chimchar clawing all over Turtwig's face as the turtle rammed its head into it. Lucas and Barry, while shocked by the turn of events, took it in stride and switched to cheering their partners on as they tackled, scratched, and leered at each other. If Lucas was being honest, he'd expected things to devolve into such, considering how inexperienced the trainers and Pokémon were at giving and obeying commands respectively. Still, it was exciting to watch the two's brawl, even if it had become more of a glorified bar fight between their pets.

In the end, Turtwig outlasted the imp, and with one last tackle sent the chimp to the floor. Barry yelped as his pokémon fell, while Lucas ran up to Turtwig to pet the little guy, congratulating him on a job well done.

"You did great out there. Don't know why you left your shell at the end, but it worked out, I guess."

As he and his pokémon basked in the after victory glow, Johanna approached the two boys with a Potion in each hand.

"I thought you boys might want to use these," She remarked, handing one to each of them. In a minute, Chimchar was back up, albeit much less excited than before. Barry also seemed to be in a worse mood after losing, but in seconds his near contagious grin reappeared.

"You won fair and square this time, but next time I'll be the one winning!" He shouted before running off back to his house with Chimchar in tow.

"Leave it to Barry to get right back on his feet so quickly after a loss," Lucas muttered quietly, as he administered one last spray of his Potion onto Turtwig's leg.

"He wouldn't be himself if he didn't," Johanna commented from the side, "But on that note, congratulations on winning. There's no better way to start a journey than with a win, I say."

A/N: Please review this first chapter and tell me if you have any ideas for how I can improve my writing. Thank you and enjoy your day.