Alright, so some quick info. I'm aging the characters up a bit from 10 to around 16ish. I just, I feel weird writing about an 18 year old running around and battling a bunch of pre-teens. Seems really mean and creepy to me. So, Barry and Dawn get a free aging, no extra fees. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Misadventures

I don't remember anything going through the portal a second time. I guess it was a different kind of portal since no one mentioned any reports of teenagers falling from the sky. I remember waking up though. I mean, who could forget a wake up like that.

My head was swimming, slowly coming back to consciousness. There was a buzzing sound, one that started out soft and quickly escalated to annoying. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, the noise got louder and louder. And slowly, to my horror, I started to pick out words. Oh my god, that's somebodies voice I thought.

"-never thought in a million years that I'd find somebody lying in the middle of the route like this, were you attacked by a pokemon? No, that can't be right, pokemon only live in the tall grass, we're still way to close to town for that to happen, which means I still don't know how you got here and – hey are you waking up?" the voice said. I groaned, knowing that now that he's noticed I'm awake I'm gonna have to talk to this guy.

I opened my eyes and immediately closed them. SUN! Sun is bad! I thought, eyes tearing up from looking directly into the golden globe in the sky. Well, at least I know it's daytime. Pushing myself up, I blinked quickly until my eyes refocused, drawing my attention to the dirt path I was sitting in. Looking ahead, the path led down to a forest farther down the hill I was on.

"You are awake!" I suddenly remembered that I wasn't alone and looked to see who was chatting with an unconscious person instead of getting help. What I saw made my jaw drop.

"B-Barry!?" I asked, staring straight into the amber eyes of the rival from Pokemon Diamond. Wow, I'm actually in the game world I thought. Let's see, blonde hair spiked into weird horns, check. Orange and white striped shirt, check. Green tie, check. Obnoxious personality, check and check.

The blonde seemed as surprised as I was to my reaction. "You know who I am?" he said slowly. "That's amazing! I mean, I know I'm going to be the greatest trainer of all time, but to have people outside of Twinleaf that know me, wow!" he exclaimed, gushing about his new "fame". I breathed a sigh of relief. Good thing he's not to bright, otherwise I'd already be in deep.

I decided to roll with the way things were going. "Uh, yeah! I'm from Sandgem Town and I came over because someone mentioned that you were the best trainer in town." I said. "Guess I didn't make it through the route in one piece." I mumbled, playing up the sheepish role.

He took to it like a fish on a line. "That's awesome! I mean, not the you getting attacked part, the you hearing about me part! Well, you already know my name. What's yours?" he said, getting to his feet and offering his hand. I remembered I was sitting in the dirt and gladly took it, standing up myself. I was surprised to find that he was only a little shorter than me. Being 6 feet myself, I had thought he would be a lot shorter than he was.

"I'm Nick." I said, shaking his hand quickly before letting it fall. I looked around and saw a bunch of buildings behind Barry on the horizon. Must be Twinleaf Town I thought. "Sooooo, what are you doing out here Barry? I didn't expect to see you 'til I was in town." I asked. I was genuinely curious. The game was already going off the rails with the story. I mean, it's not like Barry's programed to say these things.

"Oh right!" Barry practically shouted, all his energy back again in an instant. "I saw this awesome TV show about a red Gyarados in Johto's Lake of Rage and I thought 'I wonder if Lake Verity has something cool like that in it?' and I ran out of the house to go see and I found you on the road here!" he said, mouth running a mile a minute. It was difficult to keep track of what he was saying, but I had played through the games enough times to get the idea of it.

"That's a great idea!" I said. "I heard a rumor that there's a legendary pokemon there!" Of course, I already knew about Mesprit, but I didn't want to ruin the fun for him. "Let's check it out!" Anything to get this tutorial over with, I already know how to play the games I thought.

We set out down the path towards the forest. It probably didn't take to long for us to get there, but Barry never stopped talking the entire way and the minutes seemed to drag on and on. Finally, we arrived at a T in the road. A sign pointed both ways, telling us that the lake was left, and Sandgem town was right.

"Oh!" Barry said suddenly. I paused, already leading the way left. "I just realized! We can't capture the legendary pokemon without our own pokemon!" The look on his face showed that he genuinely just thought of this.

I sighed. "Well, how are we gonna get pokemon? It's not like they're lying around." I asked, fed up with the whole thing.

"Easy!" Barry replied, pointing towards Sandgem Town. "We'll go get some from Prof. Rowan. He just came back from a trip and I'm sure he'll give us some starter pokemon!" He was already halfway down the path before I grabbed him by the back of his collar.

"Hold on man, we can't go that way." I said. Barry gave me a questioning look. I sighed again (which was quickly becoming a common occurrence) and pointed to the tall grass ahead. "Wild pokemon. Bad for people without pokemon." I said slowly, making sure he understood.

Barry nodded and I let go, his brow furrowing in deep thought. After a few moments, he snapped his fingers. "I've got it!" he shouted. "If we run really fast, the wild pokemon can't get us!" My jaw practically dropped again. He can't be serious? I thought, but the thought wasn't even finished before Barry was heading full sprint for the tall grass. I chased after him, if only to stop him from getting himself killed.

"STOP!" a deep voice thundered through the forest. Barry stopped immediately, inches from the grass. My reflexes were a little slower and I crashed into him, both of us tumbling to the ground. As we untangled ourselves, a shadow passed over us. I looked up to see an older gentleman, with spiky gray hair and a thick mustache. Prof. Rowan! I thought.

"Just what do you two think you're doing?" Rowan asked. His voice was calm and gruff, but the air of authority was evident. Even though I knew he wasn't real, I still felt ashamed and looked down at my shoes.

"Sorry sir. We just wanted our pokemon." Barry said, his voice unusually quiet and timid for him. I glanced over and saw that he was also looking down at his shoes.

We stood in silence for a while, the only real noise being Rowan grunting and murmuring to himself. I caught occasional snipits of it but nothing really evident. Something about "...responsibility..." and "...boys there age..." Finally, he nodded. "Very well then. I shall give you your pokemon now."

Our heads snapped up, the both of us with excited looks in our eyes. I couldn't help it. I always got this feeling when getting a pokemon.

Rowan turned around, looking over his shoulder. "Dawn, be a dear and-" he stopped mid-sentence. I looked around him and saw that there was no one there. "Oh dear, where could she have gone?" Rowan asked no one in particular.

"Prof. Rowan!" a call came. We looked farther down the path and saw a pink blob moving towards us. As she got closer, the blob morphed into a teenage girl, wearing a pink coat and a white beanie. Dawn I thought to myself. I noticed the briefcase she was carrying.

"You forgot your briefcase at the lake Professor!" Dawn said as she caught up, holding the object in question up briefly. "What would you have done if I hadn't noticed?" Dawn asked, trying to look sternly at the older man.

Rowan merely ruffled his mustache a bit. "I thank you Dawn for retrieving it. Now, these young boys wish to receive their pokemon. Kindly open the case for them." Rowan said, gesturing to the two of us. I guess Dawn hadn't noticed us standing there because she jumped a little when she looked over.

"Oh!" she squeaked. "I'm sorry! Let me introduce myself. My name's Dawn Platinum." she said, bowing slightly. "And you are...?" She looked from me to Barry and back again.

"I'm Nick." I said simply. "This is...Barry." I said, trying not to laugh at the expression on Barry's face when I glanced at him. He's totally staring at her! I thought. He looked like he had just fallen in love, just blatantly staring at Dawn with his mouth hanging open. I decided to throw him a bone. "Uh, hello? Earth to Barry?" I said, lightly punching him on the shoulder.

That seemed to snap him out of it. "Wha-who-wha?" he said, looking around wildly. Dawn giggled as I just smiled, shaking my head. "You're a real charmer man." I said, patting him on the back.

Dawn giggled again, before grabbing the suitcase more securely. "So, you two wanted pokemon, right?" she asked, opening the metal case and holding it in front of us. "We only have three here, one of each. If you'd like to have the same one, we can escort you back to the lab in Sandgem."

I glanced over at Barry who was staring at the pokeballs with the same expression he gave Dawn. "uh, I think we're okay." I said, looking at the balls myself. I know exactly who I want for this so-called challenge I thought, reaching out and grabbing the ball on the left. Barry shook his head again, snapping out of his trance and snatched up the middle ball.

"Congratulations on your choice." Rowan said. "Why don't you let the little critters out, get to know them." he suggested, taking a few steps back. Dawn hastily closed the briefcase and joined him, giving Barry and I plenty of room.

"Alright, go Chimchar!" Barry roared, throwing the ball high in the sky. I almost lost sight of it when it popped open, a beam of red light spilling down to the ground. The light condensed and formed the rough shape of a monkey before disappearing, leaving behind the Chimchar. He was roughly a foot tall, orange fur all over except for his chest, face and limbs. A ball of fire flickered on his backside instead of a tail, and the fur on top of his head moved around in the rough shape of a flame as well, the beginnings of an Infernapes flaming hair.

"Cooooool!" Barry said, catching the falling pokeball effortlessly and crouching down to ogle his new companion. The Chimchar yawned and stretched, looking around. He caught a glimpse of Barry over his shoulder and jumped away, clearly frightened by the blonde being so close. He watched Barry for a moment, a look of curiosity on his face. He looked over at Rowan who gave him a nod. That seemed to mean something to Chimchar because suddenly he ran over to Barry, climbing up to sit on the teens shoulder and pulling lightly at his hair.

"Hahaha! Ow!" Barry winced as Chimchar yanked a little to hard. "I like him!" Barry declared, grabbing the little monkey and hugging him tight. Barry looked up at me. "Why don't you let yours out too Nick?" he asked, the monkey moving back to his shoulder and nodding next to him.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. "Alright, I'm interested to meet him too." I said. My heart started pounding. I get to see a pokemon for real! Like, up close! This is so freaking cool! I tossed my ball lightly into the air, in stark contrast to Barry's epic throw. "Come on out Turtwig!" I called.

A flash of red later and a large turtle was standing on the path. His skin was light green and he had a brown shell. A small plant was growing out of his head, which had two leaves. Unlike Chimchar, Turtwig had an immediate reaction to being out of his ball. He looked around in all directions, as if expecting some kind of predator to swoop down on him. Catching sight of Rowan. The Turtwig ran towards him. It stopped in front of him and chirped, beaming up at the old man. Rowan knelt down and scratched the grass-types head, whispering something to it. Turtwig tilted his head to the side, apparently confused. Rowan picked him up and spun him around, pointing towards me. Turtwig looked at me, squeaked, and ran behind Rowan.

Barry burst into laughter. "Aw, the little guy's scared." Dawn said, kneeling down next to Rowan, who had an amused look on his face. "This Turtwig is a little shy." she said to me before moving her hand out to try and coax him forward. "Come on little one, Nick won't hurt you."

I decided to try and adopt her tactics. Kneeling down a few steps away from them, I held out my own hand. "Hey little guy." I said softly. "C'mere. I'm not gonna bite. I just want to be your friend."

Something about the way I talked seemed to convince Turtwig I wasn't a threat. He slowly walked around Rowan's legs and came towards me. I kept my hand out and stayed still. The turtle took a few more steps, and sniffed my hand. Apparently finding it acceptable, he rubbed against it.

"Well done boy." Rowan said, getting to his feet. "That Turtwig will be fine in your care."

It was quiet for a while after that, until Barry broke the silence.

"Hey Nick, how about a battle?"

I looked up, currently on my back and playing with Turtwig. Barry was standing a short ways away from me, Chimchar in front. The fire-type looked ready to go, the fire on his tail billowing. I looked back at Turtwig, the upside down view giving the turtle a curious appearance. "What do you think, ready to go?" I asked. I knew I couldn't refuse the challenge, but I wanted to make sure Turtwig was okay.

In response, the grass-type ran around me, facing the monkey and nodding his head, a fierce look in his eyes. I grinned and climbed to my feet, adopting a wide stance like Barry.

"What happened to that scaredy-cat from before? Nevermind, I like this version of Turtwig better." Barry said, a devilish grin on his face. "Let's get it started!"

The battle wasn't as fierce as I thought it would be. Then again, I shouldn't have expected much from two brand new starter pokemon. Barry ordered Chimchar to use Leer, while I told Turtwig to use Tackle. Chimchar countered the blow with a Scratch attack. It was back and forth for a while, Barry switching between offense and defense while I urged Turtwig to keep the offense up. I knew the turtles natural defense would keep him in the game longer than Chimchar, despite the Leers. In the end, I was right, and Turtwig stood before an unconscious Chimchar, head raised in triumph.

"Excellent job, the both of you." Rowan said. I grinned and returned Turtwig to his pokeball. Barry did the same, whispering encouragement to his fallen friend. "Now, it's getting a bit late so you two should head on home." The professor started down the path towards Sandgem, not even stopping at the tall grass. "Oh, and please come by my Lab tomorrow. I'll finish your trainer registration there." he said. Dawn quickly followed him, saying goodbye as she left.

Barry grinned at me. "You may have won the first round, but I'm still the greatest trainer in Sinnoh! Don't forget that Nick! I'll beat you next time!" he said. The tone of his voice was good-natured, like someone on the best sports team after loosing a close game.

I smiled back. "I'll remember that." I said, turning towards Twinleaf. "Mind if I crash at your place? Turtwig's to tired to get me back home." In reality, I didn't have a place to sleep, so I figured I'd ask.

"Sure no problem!" Barry said cheerfully and we set off back to Twinleaf. As we walked, I wondered about the situation I found myself. In the game I played, we didn't get the starter pokemon until we reached Lake Verity. But here, we got them on Route 201. On top of that, Barry wanted a battle right off the bat. I wonder what else is different.

Alright, quick explaining time. Nick the character played up to Pokemon Diamond. In his universe, the third game of the series and the remakes, never came out. Thus, he has no idea about the changes in Platinum version, or the changes in the other games I'll be playing. Figured it would stop him from being a Mary Sue when it came to game knowledge. As always, please remember to rate and review and I'll see you later. Peace =P