This was it. The day had finally come. After years of waiting it had come. My 16th birthday had finally arrived. To most, it was just another birthday, with the added benefit of becoming an adult (well one enough). But to me? It meant so much more. It meant everything. I've lived in the Hoenn region most of my life, moving from the Kanto region when I was six. My father was a gym leader in Kanto but was relocated as an advisor to the Devon Corporation's President on Pokémon-Human relationships. All with a free relocation, a hefty pay and access to one of the most powerful companies on Earth. It was an offer he couldn't refuse!
I lived in Littleroot Town with my mother and father, although my dad spent a lot of time in Rustboro City working with Mr Stone. He was a great man; smart and sophisticated, someone you could look up to. On the morning of my birthday I woke up early. Oblivious to the specialty of the day, I made no attempt to actually get up. After rubbing my eyes and a quick look at a nearby calendar I quickly realised the date. Excited, I shot up out of bed and went to my mirror. I looked in it, feeling immediately reinvigorated and woken up. I looked over myself in the mirror. I was a good looking kid; tall and fairly athletic. I followed my dad's side, standing at an exceptionally large 6ft 3 with a fairly muscular body. Nothing interesting or noticeable, but I could hold my own in a fight! Soon though, I wouldn't have to fight by myself. Today was special, because after 16 long years of waiting I could finally get my starter Pokémon from the local professor. Usually, your father would catch you your first Pokémon but as mine was around little, the local professor promised he'd give me one on my 16th birthday.
The professor of Littleroot Town was the talented Professor Birch. He specialised in rare Pokémon and evolution, and therefore had a large collection of Pokémon which he was very proud of. The agreement was that I'd receive one of these rare Pokémon on my 16th birthday, the age set by my mum. I quickly checked the clock: it read 10:43am. I was late! I hastily got dressed and ran downstairs. My mother sat there with a breakfast prepared for me. Sadly, this would go to waste. I was in too much of a rush to eat, which is saying something for me! I kissed my mother goodbye and fled out the door. She argued against my rush in vain and just laughed as I left.
As I reached the door to the Pokémon lab I practically burst through in excitement. The other scientists looked at me in a mixture of shock and askance. The professor looked at me in surprise and then deep regret.
"Oh, Will. It's-uh-it's you. Can I ask why you're here?" He said, as if trying to check if I'd remembered the day."
"I'm here to get my Pokémon, Professor! Remember?! You said today, on my birthday, you'd-"
"I know, Will. I know. It's just- there's something wrong with today." He said with an apologetic look.
"What? What's wrong?" Professor Birch sighed, turned around and rested his hands on his desk, and spoke:
"I don't have a Pokémon for you."
"Wh- what?" I asked in total shock.
"It's just- I was so into my research that I forgot and…" The professor was cut off by a loud crash and a cry, followed by more banging and a shout. We quickly ran around the corner of his office to see what all the commotion was about.
As we reached the source of the noise, I saw an unusual creature. It was kind of small, standing just under my waist and looked a bit like a humanoid dog or a jackal. Its main body was a dark blue with parts of its chest, hands, feet and face being black. It had large piercing red eyes and spikes on its hand and feet. It can't have been a native Pokémon to Hoenn, because I'd never seen or heard of it before, but something about it was… good, inviting. I felt a strong attachment to it, and considering I'd never seen such a thing before: this was very, very odd.
"What is going on here?!" Professor Birch shouted at his disgruntled employees. The sound of his shouts and orders were slowly drowned out as I lost focus on the situation. The unknown creature had stopped its actions and was instead staring right at me. I stared at it, losing all sense of time and of my surroundings. Its eyes were mesmerizing, they felt as though they belonged to someone I'd known and loved all my life; and yet, it was flawed. It was scared, imperfect, and uncertain. There was something wrong with the creature, and yet something so reassuring.
A few minutes had passed, yet it felt like hours and as I came to I noticed I was being stared at. Professor Birch and several of his scientists were staring at me in awe. They began to murmur and discuss among themselves, then the Professor spoke:
"That-You-Him?" he said in shock. He spent some time recomposing himself, then began to explain their shock:
"The reason this Pokémon was here is because we were researching it." He walked over to the dog-like Pokémon. "This is a Riolu from the Sinnoh region, a place far away from here, which is exceedingly rare. More so, it's very powerful. The special thing about this Pokémon is that it has the ability to manipulate the aura of living things; something we've been researching for a while now. We found out about Riolu's abilities and were attempting to learn of these, but we couldn't get through to it no matter what we did!" The Riolu was standing alert, fixated on Professor Birch as if it expected an assault.
"But you. It seems to accept you, and that's just what we need, right now." He looked up to me in hope "We want you to take the Riolu as your starter Pokémon; raise it, care for it, learn from it. All we ask is you update us with any changes you witness from the Pokémon."
I could have cried. After the shock of being told I couldn't become a trainer, I was suddenly given a powerful, rare one with whom I could take my journey with. It's all I ever wanted.