A/N; Well, here goes.

Onset

Our story begins on a relatively quiet morning in Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh, where our protagonist-

"YES! My Plot Sense is tingling! That means it's finally time to begin my own journey! I'll be able to go out and get a Starter Pokemon, and then I'll get given a tutorial on how to catch Pokemon despite the fact that I already know how by some person who then follows it up by giving me Poke Balls…"

-was, contrary to most low-quality journey fanfiction, not sleeping. Rather, he was celebrating the start of this fanfic.

"…and I'll battle my rival again when he has obtained- Wait, all traditional Pokemon protagonists oversleep, don't they? Does that mean I've got to go back to sleep?"

Proving his talent for repeating things he's already heard (and that his knowledge of good fanfiction was sorely limited), Lucas collapsed back on his bed in disappointment. Pulling off his red beret, he covered his face with it. "…That sucks. How am I supposed to go back to sleep now after that adrenaline surge? I don't even have TV to watch, after that annoying but surprisingly plot-appropriate accident broke it…"

Downstairs, the door slammed open.

Lucas grinned. "Plot Sense, ahoy!"

Less than a minute later, Barry charged up the stairs to find Lucas sitting on his bed with a fully-packed rucksack next to him, and beret once again on his head.

"Well then rival-of-mine, are we going?"

Barry didn't miss a beat, used to his friend's idiosyncrasies after many years of knowing him. "Yes, now c'mon! If you're late I'm fining you ¥10 million!"

"Right!" Lucas replied, swinging himself off his bed. Grabbing his rucksack, he walked after Barry, only to crash into him as Barry suddenly changed direction, moving over to Lucas's desk.

"Is this a new PC?" the easily-distracted boy asked distractedly. Wow, redundant descriptions are redundant. Who writes this stuff again?.

Annoyed, Lucas grabbed him, and dragged him back down the stairs. "Come on, the plot's already started! This is no time to be getting distracted!"

At the entrance to the house, Barry shook off Lucas's hand, and shoved him back. (Gently, of course. They were friends after all.) "What was that all about? Anyway, we're going to see Professor Rowan, so come on! I'm going-" He paused, thinking. "Oh geeze, I forgot something!"

"Your bag," Lucas added helpfully.

"Yes, my bag! I'll meet you at my house then!" Barry saluted, turned and took off at a run, his scarf trailing behind him.

Lucas blinked, confused. "Wait, how can he run? I haven't gotten the Running Shoes yet! Usually he just walks really really fast!"

Well, this isn't entirely game mechanics you know.

"Does that mean I can run too?"

No, you have to move at the exact same speed you always do.

"Damn it!"

Behind him, his mother shook her head. "Boys these days…"

Three agonizingly slow minutes of walking later, Lucas arrived at Barry's house to see the door swinging wide open. Right before he entered, his Plot Sense went off, and he stepped to this side…

"Oomph! Lucas, what was that all about?"

…Only to receive proof that the Narrative Laws of Comedy trump any author-given abilities. Except when it's plot convenient.

Lucas glared up at the sky from his position on the floor. "Oh screw you,"

Blame the author, not me.

Barry looked over at him from a similar position. "Who're you talking to?"

"The narrator," Lucas said, as if that explained everything. "Which it does,"

Barry pushed himself back up. "Right, never mind that now. Let's get going! I'll be on the road, and if you're not there quick I'm fining you another ¥10 million!" He turned and charged off toward Route 201.

"Damn it…" Lucas groaned from his prone position. Pulling himself up and dusting off his blue jacket, he looked up at the sky. "…You know, you said you were the narrator…"

Yes?

"…Are you that Narrator?"

No, for two reasons. One, he's still hanging out with Juniper the younger in their version of Unova. Two, the author hasn't asked Missingno. Master if he could borrow him. Unfortunately, that means you're stuck with me.

"Well, that sucks." Lucas stretched, then looked around. "…I should probably get going before Barry gets annoyed and follows through on his threat, shouldn't I?"

"Wow, thanks for skipping that scene. That would have been really boring,"

Barry glared at him from the route. "Slowpoke. How long does it take to you to get here, even with talking at the sky?"

"I know, I walk so slowly. Give me a bit, and when we're inevitably sent back to Twinleaf to get permission for our journey, I'll probably get given the Running Shoes then," Lucas replied, face twisting in annoyance.

Barry nodded. "Makes sense, as much as anything you say does. Anyway, we both want to start our journey, correct?" He asked.

Lucas perked up immediately. "Yes! You found a way to get some Pokemon?"

Barry punched the air. "Remember that program on TV, the one with Professor Rowan?"

Lucas stared at him.

The blonde-haired trainer-hopeful lowered his hand. "…Oh yeah. Your TV was broken a while ago, wasn't it?" Lucas nodded. "Whoops…"

The beret-clad protagonist shook his head. "Never mind that, just give me the Cliff Notes version," he requested.

"The who version?"

Lucas facepalmed. "The quick and short version,"

"Right. Well, Rowan was talking about how important Pokemon were to people, and he's a Pokemon professor, so he'll have lots of Pokemon, right? So I was thinking, if he's got so many Pokemon, he'll give us some if we asked, right? So yeah, we're going to see him now!" Barry explained breathlessly.

Lucas nodded along to the rambling explanation. "Seems to fit the canon behaviour of Pokemon Professors, although they usually give them out to kids who live in the town that they do. But the problem is, where is his lab?"

Barry pointed excitedly to a sign that Lucas was sure hadn't been there a moment ago reading "Sandgem Town- Proud location of the Rowan Research Laboratory"

Lucas stared at it. "Well, that answers that," He turned back to Barry. "But the question is, how do we get to Sandgem? Somehow, there's nobody in our entire town that's a Pokemon Trainer or has Poke Balls, otherwise we'd have been out of here years ago."

Barry nodded, a frown briefly crossing his face. "I know, if Dad came home more often we'd have been off like a shot." He shook himself out of his recollections. "Either way, I've got a flawless way of getting us there, without a problem!"

Lucas looked at him warily, mindful of the way his Plot Sense was reacting to this decision. "Barry, your last flawless idea involved fifteen feet of rope, three rubber ducks and a fake Poke Ball, and ended up with us running for our lives from a pack of rabid Bidoof, my TV Tropes editing rights revoked, and no pizza for a month. Forgive me for feeling a little sceptical,"

Barry scratched his head sheepishly. "Ehehehe… But that's all in the past now, right?"

"No. Pizza. For. A. Month." Lucas growled.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it… Anyway, this idea really is flawless, so hear me out, okay?" Barry paused a second, then continued. "Well, you know how Pokemon will jump out at you if you walk in tall grass?" He gestured at a conveniently-placed patch of grass.

Lucas nodded warily.

"So what you do is, you scoot over to the other side of the grass before they realise you're there!" Barry grinned, his teeth gleaming in the way that's usually only managed by special effects.

"Barry, not only are your teeth scaring me, you've completely forgotten that I am only capable of moving at the speed of slightly warm molasses. This idea is really not as flawless as you seem to think," Lucas replied.

"Yep, brilliant idea isn't it?" Barry continued as if he hadn't heard Lucas at all. Probably offended by the teeth comment.

"Mmmhm, probably- Wait, Barry, get off!" Lucas yelled at the hyperactive trainer-prospect as he grabbed the jacket-wearing boy by the arm.

"On your marks…" Barry began.

"Aagh! Barry, stop!" Lucas tried and failed to get his friend off him as his Plot Sense went haywire.

"Get set…"

"This is revenge for dragging you downstairs earlier, isn't it?"

Barry grinned at him. "Aaaaand, G-"

"HOLD IT!"

Barry tripped over, flinging Lucas dangerously close to the patch of long grass. Picking themselves up, they both looked at Phoenix Wright- Erm, I mean, Professor Rowan, Barry recognizing him from the television and Lucas recognizing him because of the narration.

The old man looked at them, his grey eyes darting between the two. "You two… Neither of you two are carrying Pokémon. Correct?" He moved forward a step. "Then what is the meaning of going into that tall grass!?"

Barry stared at the Professor. The Professor stared back.

"Hey Lucas…" Barry muttered, out of the corner of his mouth. "This old guy… this is Professor Rowan, isn't it? What's he doing here…?"

The tree-named professor continued staring before turning his back on them. "…They tried to go into the tall grass, because they wanted Pokémon…" He whispered to himself, too low for anyone not reading the narration to hear, and raising questions about why he had asked what the two younger people behind him what they were doing. "Hm… What to do? Their world would surely change if they were to meet Pokémon, but is it right for me to put them on that path?" He turned back, to find Lucas seemingly staring at the sky, and Barry watching him mutely. "…You two. You truly love Pokémon, don't you?"

Lucas snapped his attention back to the elder man. "Well, of course. If there were no Pokémon, there would be absolutely no reason for us to be on this journey!"

"Me too!" Barry jumped in. "I love Pokémon, too!"

Rowan gave them a hard look. "I will ask you once again, do you truly love Pokémon?"

"What!? You can ask a hundred times, and the answer will never change! We both love Pokémon, right Lucas?"

Lucas nodded. "Without Pokémon, there would be no plot, and we'd all be recycled as Legend of Zelda fanfic characters most likely."

Rowan gave him a disturbed look. Barry sighed. "Don't worry, he gets like this sometimes…"

The old man stepped back slightly. "…A reckless kid who foolishly tries to drag his friend through tall grass without a Pokémon between them, and a kid who seems to think that life is a story… It worries me what people like that would do with Pokémon,"

Barry looked down. "Uh…Well, I uh… Well, forget about me, but give a Pokémon to my friend here! It was me who tried to drag him into the tall grass, and he's been wanting to leave on a journey for nearly as long as I've known him! Pretty much the only reason he's even sane is wanting to leave on a journey!"

Lucas looked momentarily offended. "I happen to be quite sane, thank you!"

"Lucas, you claim to listen to the narration of our lives. Most people wouldn't really consider that sane,"

Rowan gave him a look of approval. "How mature of you… Very well then! I will entrust the two of you with Pokémon. I do apologize for putting you through that excersise, but I wanted to be sure of you character before choosing to do this." He began to search through the pockets of his brown coat. "However! You must promise me that you will never so recklessly endanger yourselves again, understand?"

Both boys looked at each other, and then simultaneously nodded. "We promise,"

"Good! Now then… Hm?" He extracted his hands from his pockets, and began searching the inside of his coat. "Now, where…?"

"Professor!" a feminine voice called from the direction toward Lake Verity. Maya- Sorry, Dawn ran into view, clutching a large briefcase in her hands Now, I wonder why they're called still called briefcases no matter how large they are?

"Because of the way that lawyers use them to carry their case papers, also known commonly as briefs," Lucas explained helpfully to thin air. Huh, what do you know? This guy kind of is like Phoenix Wright…

Barry ignored him.

Lucas wilted. "I feel so ignored…"

Well, that's because you are. Deal with it.

Completely oblivious to the series of events happening behind them, Dawn and Professor Rowan were having a quiet argument.

"These Pokémon are hard to replace Professor. We shouldn't just be giving them away to random kids you find out in the Routes!"

"Hm! We exist side by side with Pokémon, Dawn," Rowan replied. He drew himself up, and swept his recently re-acquired briefcase around, drawing the attention of the two trainer-prospects. "There comes a time when people should meet Pokémon. This is a world that should be explored together, human side by side with Pokémon. For them, now is that time. This place, right here, right now!" He set the briefcase down, and opened it to a pocket with three Pokeballs inside. "Go on! Choose a Pokémon, there are three of them in here. One Grass, one Fire, and one Water. Pick one."

Barry practically teleported over next to the case. "Really?! Professor Rowan, I can't believe it! I'm so happy now, I can't keep a straight face!" he paused a moment, and grinned. "…Hey Lucas. You can choose first."

Lucas gave him a deadpan expression.

Barry's grin grew wider. "Hey, I'm practically a grown up. I have to show some class here."

Lucas shook his head, and walked over to the briefcase. Kneeling, he looked at the three labelled Pokeballs.

TURTWIG

CHIMCHAR

PIPLUP

Closing his eyes, Lucas reached out, and picked up a Poke Ball. Standing up, and moving back, he heard Barry pick up a Poke Ball too. "Then, I choose you!" Lucas opened his eyes at the same moment Barry continued. "I'm taking this Piplup!"

Blinking, Lucas looked down at the Poke Ball in his hands. It was indeed a Chimchar. How interesting.

Heedless of Lucas's inattention, Rowan began talking again. "Very well! Both of you have chosen a good Pokémon, it seems. Now listen well! The Pokémon you hold in your hands are unfamiliar with the world, a respect that they are similar to you in. As fellow newcomers to the world at large, I hope you'll do well together. If you have any difficulties, please come and see me at my lab in Sandgem Town." He looked in the direction of the aforementioned town. "And now, we'll be on our way. Come along, Dawn,"

Dawn blinked and then grabbed the briefcase before hurrying after him. "Professor! Wait for me, please!"

Lucas had the distinct impression that she had glared at him as she walked past.

Both new trainers watched them as they left. "Well, how do you like that? The Professor's really nice. On TV, he looked so scary…" There was a period of quiet, before Barry's face lit up into a grin. "Hehe… Lucas, we've both got Pokémon now!"

Lucas's face split into a similar grin as that fact sank in. "Yeah! That means the plot has finally begun!" Both trainers high-fived, before breaking into an impromptu celebration right in the middle of the Route.

Speaking of plot, why was I here this chapter? I know the first sections are always dialogue heavy, but this could have been completed by one of those automatic narration cues like most authors use.

"Hush, you. You'll ruin the moment!"

"Lucas, stop talking to the sky,"

The two trainers finally collapsed onto one of the many one-way ledges on the route, silly grins still plastered on their faces. Barry looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Hey, Lucas…"

The beret-clad trainer turned to look at him.

"We're Pokémon trainers now, right?"

Lucas's face split into a grin- this one far more savage.

"That means, there's only one thing to do. Are you up for this?"

Lucas stood up, and walked a fair distance away. "Rival, do you even need to ask?" he said, turning back to face him.

Barry closed his eyes, and fingered the Poke Ball he was carrying. "I've always wanted to say this…" His eyes snapped open. "Lucas, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

His opponent continued to grin. "Always,"

Both of them stared at each other. Then, as one, they flung their Poke Balls into the center of the makeshift arena. "Lucas/Barry! Let's go!"