Sun shone in through the window of the sleepy little hotel in Twinleaf town, rudely falling upon the face of Don, who grimaced at the unpleasant light. The teenager pushed himself up from his bed, eyes still closed, Morning already? he thought to himself, a low groan as he stretched his arms.

Slowly sliding around, his legs dropped from the bed and he opened his eyes, enough to see but still sleepily. He grabbed his Pokenav from the bed side table, checking the calendar.

"Guess that day has arrived after all," he mumbled to himself, slipping on his black jeans, "Might get some training in before picking my Pokemon up."

He stood up and began stretching for his everyday training, he hadn't missed his morning training sessions since he started them 8 years earlier, today was special but no exception.

"Grass, fire or water," he mumbled as he moved into lunges with his legs, "Grass, fire or water, grass, fire or water…"

People were only just arising from their slumber, however Don was already jogging down the quiet road towards where Professor Rowan was staying, the air was crisp and clean. Perhaps he would experience this sort of weather more often on his journey across Sinnoh, he could only hope anyway. But he would find out soon enough, as he finally arrived at Professor Rowans front door, lightly knocking at the door. It was a moment before Rowan answered the door, to Don's luck he was wide awake.

"Hm? Oh you must be Don, the late starter," Rowan concluded quickly, Don giving a humble nod, "Come in young man, I was just doing some research, which made me lose track of time I guess."

"Understandable sir, but rest is still important," Don said knowledgably.

"Well from what I hear you would know all too well," Rowan continued, "You did postpone your pokemon journey to further your martial arts training after all. How old are you now anyway?"

"Sixteen, I felt it be better if I run around the region at a more mature age and I didn't want to drop my martial arts training until I could memorize everything."

"True true, but perhaps now you can use your training experience with your new partner," he suggested, signaling towards three pokeballs in the room he lead Don into, "You have a choice out of three pokemon here, Turtwig, Chimchar or Piplup, grass, fire or water…"

Don had been thinking about his decision for years, and as with many things in his life he could not decide when he needed to. His eyes glanced from each pokeball and he carried out his habit for decision making. Don closed his eyes and raised his arm, allowing it to flop down freely on the bench. As he opened his eyes, he saw where his hand lay, closest to the left pokeball.

"This one," he chose confidently, "I will take Turtwig."

Rowan nodded and handed him the ball, from which Don released the small creature to meet his new partner. Turtwig, looked around and made a low sounding noise, Don bent down next to it and pet it's head.

"Hey Turtwig, I'm your partner," he said, Turtwig tilting it's head but smiling and rubbing its head against his leg.

"Well, he's all yours now Don," Rowan stated, picking something off a nearby table, "Here's your trainer card, and your pokedex, good luck."

Don accepted the items and strolled out of Rowans lab, Turtwig at his side. They reached the road and turned in the direction of Sandgem town, he needed to pick up some supplies from his home just outside the town before heading off on his journey.

…

Don walked into his home, admiring the pond to the side of his home as he entered. He greeted his parents and left Turtwig with them to get to know eachother whilst he went upstairs to his room.

After changing he looked into the mirror, seeing a tall boy looking back at him. He ruffled his short dark brown hair, and rubbed his thin layer of stubble, Don wasn't bothered shaving yet. He still wore his black jeans but changed shirts, now wearing a zip up long sleeved black shirt, his collar pulled towards his shoulders and his zip open a third of the way.

Don looked around for something to put over it, and saw his sleeveless gi top for his martial arts training, its black lapel a fraction faded but the rest still white. He slipped it on over the top and rolled up his black sleeves to his elbows.

He clipped his pokenav to his belt, his shirt hanging over it, still accessible through the side of his gi and his pokedex slipped into his pocket. His pokeballs he had bought earlier were on the bed, he clipped each one to special clips on his belt. Swinging his sling bag over his shoulder, the strap rested across his chest, the bag containing some necessary supplies. Finally he grabbed his pouch from his bed side table, slipping the clip over his pocket.

"Time to go," he told the mirror confidently, and rushing down to the kitchen. His parents were feeding Turtwig some food, and looking at their son up and down and smiling.

"Good luck Dante," his father said proudly, "Make a path for your sister."

Don chuckled and gave them both hugs, his sister was with some friends so he didn't get the chance to say goodbye, but he was always playing pranks on his sister, as big brothers do.

"I'll call sometime, don't worry," he said, his mother holding back tears, Don didn't know why she worried, he could take care of himself. He signaled to Turtwig and they exited his home and walked away from what was a steady life and into what would be an exciting journey.

…

Don and Turtwig had been training outside of Sandgem town for hours, slowly discovering the pokemons potential. He had discovered that Turtwig could perform Tackle, Razor Leaf and Bite, simple but effective.

"Turtwig, I want you to use Razor leaf on that tree and then use bite as soon as you finish firing those leaves!"

Turtwig complied and shot a flurry of leaves with a wave of his head, charging at the tree quickly after, ramming it with his head and staggering back. It sniffed angrily at it's failure, Don walked over and placed a hand on its shell.

"It's alright we can just try again later," he assured it, Turtwig looking down bashfully, "But perhaps we should go rest up in town yeah?"

Turtwig nodded happily and trotted alongside Don, as they strolled into Sandgem town. Don was particularly looking for a small café for him to get a bottle of water, one he could re-use for his trip.

"Hey! Guy with the Turtwig!" a voice exclaimed from behind him, "You seem half decent!"

Don turned to source of the noise, a boy, a year or so younger than him walked up, with a tough guy impression in his body language.

"You seem like a seasoned trainer, starting again like me I'm guessing?" he questioned, his eyebrows quizzical.

Don looked at Turtwig and back at the boy, "You could say that, I'm Don, and you?"

"I'm the guy who's gonna beat you!" he started laughing, Don just looked at him with an odd expression, "I'm Marty, I've traveled through Hoenn and thought I'd have a go at Sinnoh, see if I can beat more people."

At this he ran his fingers through his blonde hair and took a pokeball from his belt, throwing it at the ground. In a flash appeared a male Nidoran, "I'm not bothered to use my other pokemon right now, this one needs practice but could still beat your Turtwig."

"Shall we find out then?" Don questioned, stepping behind Turtwig whom stepped forward, tapping the ground with its feet.

"Nidoran! Use Tackle!" Nidoran ran forward towards Turtwig, but Turtwig stood to the side.

"Razor leaf, then tackle," Don said tactically, Turtwig followed orders but missed with the tackle.

"Poison sting!"

"Bite!"

Nidoran rushed forward and struck Turtwig with it's horn, Turtwig attempting to counter with a Bite but missing.

"Turtwig focus," Don encouraged, "Try again with what we practiced!"

Turtwig, nodded and lashed out with Razor leaf and ran forward, tackling Nidoran. Before Nidoran could recover from the last move, Turtwig ran in to use bite, clamping down on Nidoran with his jaws.

Nidoran cowered behind Marty, "Hey! Get back out there, you're not down yet!"

"You shouldn't have to force him, Nidoran doesn't want to continue…"

A disappointed look shot across Marty's face and he pulled his pokeball out, Nidoran disappearing into it. Don walked forward and offered a handshake.

"That was fun, I hope we can do this again," he politely said with a smile. Marty didn't accept the handshake, turning on his heel and walking away from Don without a word.

Don dropped his hand and shook his head, patting Turtwig's head instead, "Good job buddy, those hours of practice worked out didn't they?"

Turtwig cried out happily, Don returning him to it's pokeball for rest. He was about to walk away from where he and Marty did battle until he saw someone across the street looking his direction. A young girl, who seemed his age was looking over at him, smiling. Don gave a wave as she started walking over to him.

"Hi there! That was an amazing battle!" she said kindly, offering her hand out, "My name's Laura."

Don smiled and shook her hand, "I'm Don, it's nice to meet you Laura. That's a pretty name by the way."

Laura blushed, looking down and gently pushing her blonde hair out of her face, most was tied back but the front wasn't instead leaning on her glasses. Don had to look down at her, due to her height, he felt it unwise to point out her height.

"So, where are you from anyway?" Don asked, not sure what to say, conversations were not his skill, especially with girls.

"Oh um, I'm from Cherrygrove city in the Johto region," she stated, looking up at Don, "I'm a trainer but I'm a late starter but you seem like you've been training for years!"

"I have but not Pokemon, I just got my Turtwig today."

"Really? But you seem so good?"

"Nah, that's just what me and Turtwig practiced," Don chuckled lightly, "Um, how about we go talk at a pokemon centre? It's getting late and I need a place to stay…"

"Oh sure, lead the way."

"It's just there actually," Don pointed to a big white and red building not but a few buildings away. Laura giggled sheepishly and began walking with Don to the pokemon centre. As they entered they found a table with chairs, quickly claiming it before anyone else could.

"So tell me about yourself," they said simultaneously.

…

"So you came to Sinnoh just for the experience with Pokemon?" Don repeated after Laura, after they had talked for over an hour.

"Yeah me and Eevee traveled here a couple of days ago," she began, "I just want to see the world, make friends and have fun."

"Well that sounds fun, Eevee seems like a good choice too, I hear you have 7 options of what it will evolve into.'

"Seven? Really?" she asked, bewildered.

"Yeah but even then you need to think about it."

"True. So why did you start late? Ye know training pokemon?"

"Well when I turned 10 I wanted to continue my martial arts training, mainly til I got good, then until I got really good, then until I could memorize, now I'm 16 and I felt ready," he began.

"Ahh ok, well it took me until I turned 15 to bring up the courage to do this! But once I got here I realized I didn't have a clue where I would be going."

"Well you could always use a map couldn't you?" he asked plainly.

"Yeah I guess," Laura agreed looking at her glass of water. Don scrunched up his face when he said it, Say something else to her.

"Or maybe I could guide you through Sinnoh? I've been to a few places in the region," he offered on a whim.

"You'd do that for me?"

"Yeah well it would be a bit boring traveling by yourself through an entire region," he pointed out.

"Well that would be great, thank you! Although just to be safe I'll sleep on it."

Don nodded and watched her go off to a bedroom the Pokecentre provided, "Goodnight…" they said simultaneously.