A/N: "Hello there! Welcome to the world of Pokémon! My name is HighKey_ Mars! People call me really nasty thing on this site but I ignore them! This world is inhabited by creatures called Pokemon, but you wouldn't be here reading this story unless you knew that! For some people, Pokemon are pets. Other use them for fights, which kind of sounds illegal to be honest! Myself… I just play the games and really love Pokemon Go! First, what is your name? Right! You're not actually in this story, it's about Sterling! This is my grandson. He's been your rival since you were a baby. …Erm, what is his name again? That's right! I remember now! His name is asshole, how could I forget! Your very own Pokemon legend is about to unfold or you'll get to see one! A world of dreams and adventures with Pokemon awaits! Let's go!"

Ok now to get serious, I love the show and game, I will be combining the two a bit, meaning you're going to see some people like Paul from the TV who was out here stat checking and releasing pokemon. The anime events are going to be mixed with the game events, if you have questions about it, just ask. Now let's get onto the story.

The sun was hidden behind a thick layer of clouds, so when he awoke, it was not to the bright sunny morning that he had hoped for. It was to a dark and chilly weathered day. He rubbed his eyes as he sat up in his head, his black spiky hair dropped down over his eyes without his hat on. Sliding out of bed, he slipped on the hat that he always wore, an old slightly faded Elite Four challenger hat that was given to him by his older brother.

The hat was still too big for his head, so he turned it around so that that brim of the hat was sliding down the back of his head and he put it on his head, making sure to scoop up as much hair as he could inside the hat.

Making his way to the bathroom, the cold floor made his steps a little lighter as to avoid pressing down on the icy surface. He quickly stepped into the bathroom and almost let out a sigh of relief upon standing on the warm fabric. He looked into the mirror and saw the source of his name, those piercing sterling gray eyes of his.

His mother said that she and his father had no idea what to name him. His brother had been named after their grandfather, but they were completely lost on how and what to name him until the faithful day of his birth. It had taken longer than expected, but upon being born, they said he opened his eyes and the gray orbs that stared back at them gave them the inspiration they needed to name him Sterling.

And if you asked Sterling, he would tell you that his name was much better than his brother's name in his opinion. Sterling over Embers in his opinion, no offense to his grandfather that his brother was named after.

Brushing his teeth, Sterling couldn't help but think about what today was and what it meant for him. He was officially ten years old and everyone knew what that meant. Being of age, he could approach Professor Elm about getting his very own Pokemon. He had dreamed about this moment for years to come.

But which one would he pick?

Chikorita who had probably the best starting stats of any of the three.

HP 45

Attack 49

Defense 65

Sp. Atk 49

Sp. Def 65

Speed 45

Total 318

But the first gym leader was Falkner, a guy known for using flying type pokemon. He would be at a terrible disadvantage if he dared to go with the cute little grass pokemon.

Cyndaquil

HP 39

Attack 52

Defense 43

Sp. Atk 60

Sp. Def 50

Speed 65

Total 309

Starting out as the weakest of the three, the little fire ferret had the most potential in his opinion. And with being a fire type, he would be given a strong advantage over 3 of the gym leaders while suffering no type disadvantage.

Totodile

HP 50

Attack 65

Defense 64

Sp. Atk 44

Sp. Def 48

Speed 43

Total 314

The tiny blue alligator was equally tough offensively and defensively, but there wasn't particular advantage to picking him, other than his raw attack and defense stats being higher than average, he was the most difficult to train as well. But there wasn't any disadvantage to picking him either, he had the potential to be the strongest of the three if trained correctly.

This was a difficult chose for him to make, he had to have a general idea of what he wanted. It would probably not go well if he didn't have a plan going into Prof Elm's lab. Washing his face, he walked out of the bathroom, forgetting about how cold the floor was before throwing on his plain black t-shirt, sliding off his PJ pants and pulling out a pair of light blue-ish gray shots and pulling them on.

Dropping to his butt on the ground, he pulled on black socks with the red stripes on them. Before shoving his feet into his red and black sneakers that went up above his ankles. They didn't have shoe laces, instead having adjustable straps.

This was it, he was about to start his pokemon journey and he felt a bubble of doubt build up inside of his stomach. Was he really ready to do this? His brother Embers had done the same thing he was trying to do at this time, but was he ready? He was not his brother despite what people would comment about their looks, could he do this? Only one way to find out.

Now that he was fully dressed, he hopped back up to his feet and he ran out the door, only stopping to lock the door behind him before he continued his sprint to Professor Elm's lab. But upon getting there, he found that there was a massive line of other young boys and girls.

An assistant was standing outside and he was counting people before he stopped and said "Sorry, we don't have enough pokemon for everyone. If you are not currently behind me, please go home until next month"

There was a massive series of groans and cries, but the thirty something odd kids did leave when the aid threw out a Machop that roared angrily.

"Sterling, what are you doing here?" asked the Aide

"It's my birthday" replied Sterling

"Wow, ten years old already? Where did the time go" commented the Aide before he noticed the sour look on Sterling's face, "Hey I know you were hoping to get your first pokemon today, but we've been having some issues with Team Rocket and them stealing pokeballs. Basically, they're trying to make it as hard as possible to anyone to get their hands on pokemon for obvious reasons"

Sterling was shocked to hear this, nobody in town had said anything about this type of shortage, but then again, this was the town you left to be a pokemon trainer.

"This isn't supposed to be shared with people, we don't want anyone to worry Sterling. But the professor has even reached out to Embers to see if he was close by. We haven't heard back from him yet though. Last we heard, he was on the Orange Islands. We don't know how long the mail will take to get to him" continued the Aide

"It must be pretty bad if you're willing to call back my brother" agreed Sterling, "What is the professor doing about it?"

"Elm is a rather busy, he's been trying to talk to Professor Oak about it. If we don't hear back from your brother, he's going to send his grandson out here to handle the situation" added the aide.

"Thanks for letting me know Eddie, but I should probably start heading back home. If I can't start my pokemon journey today, I will have to just wait until next month right?" asked Sterling

"Well maybe not" said Eddie as he thought about it, "With so many trainers not having pokeballs, there is so many more pokemon not native to our town making their way here. We can't catch them but this would be the best chance for us to study them. I can get you a pokedex to help us collect the data on the pokemon"

Sterling's eyes went wide and he nodded in agreement instantly, "That you so much Eddie"

"Don't mention it kid, wait here and I'll go get it for you a pokedex and some instructions on where to be and where and how to record things with the pokedex" said Eddie

Sterling was honestly disappointed, but this was as close to being a real trainer as he would get to be for the time being. Maybe when Embers came back, he would be able to talk his brother into giving him one of his pokemon.

Eddie came back and he handed Sterling a pamphlet and a red rectangular device.

"The pamphlet will explain how to use the pokedex and how to record the info into the pokedex in a manner that will allow it to sync with our main server back at the lab. The second pamphlet will tell you which areas are yours to roam around. A couple of other aides have similar tasks, you don't want to step on any toes"

Sterling nodded and accepted the position on the stop.

He would soon come to regret doing so, because sitting there for hours upon hours, doing nothing but watching the most boring pokemon that he had ever seen, was absolutely terrible. Hoothoot fluttering from one branch to the other, watching Pineco hang from said trees doing nothing was like watching paint dry. The Exeggcute were the most interesting of the group and that's just because they moved around the most.

On the rare day where he was assigned to watch over the water, the Magikarp did little more than splash about. The Tentacool ran away from him if he ever got to close. He had managed to log a grand total of five pokedex entries and it was absolutely meaningless. These were 5 of the most common and annoying pokemon in the world. He was doing nothing to bring about anything great in the world. His brother Embers had always made it seem so easy to be the best, like no one else ever was. He certainly was not putting his skills to the test by catching them all.

However, for all of his whining, he stuck with it. It was something to do and that made it worth doing because at the very least, he was working with pokemon. Which is more than a lot of the kids in the surrounding towns could say with the pokeball shortage.

But all of that was about to change, little did Sterling know. He arrived back him to from a long day of watching Metapods stand there and do nothing but use Harden over and over again. The battle had gone on so long, he was tempted to just punt one of them to make something happen.

Usually there was a couple of pieces in the mailbox, but today there was a small package left at his door.

"To Sterling, From Embers" read the label.

Picking it up and heading inside, Sterling slipped his finger into a gap and tugged alone the edge of the package, ripping through the soft parcel with ease.

Inside was a letter that he pulled out first and read, seeing his brother's handwriting on the paper.

To Sterling

Hey baby bro, I hope this letter arrives in time before you set off on your adventure like I did when I was 10 years old. I remember the experience of picking my first pokemon, it wasn't the one that I wanted but I was still so happy just to get one. In my travels, I've been all over in the past 5 years. Traveling to lands far and wide, meeting pokemon and making friends in the strangest of places.

I was hoping that this letter would have gotten to you before Elm gave you a pokemon because inside of the package is a pokemon, one that I want you to have, it should be your first pokemon. I know that I haven't returned home in a longtime, but it has nothing to do with you. I just don't fit in with the small town life and neither do you.

Love Always Embers

Sterling looked deeper inside of the package and saw that there in fact a pokeball inside of the packaging. Reaching into, he grabbed it and was shocked by how light the thing was before pulling it out and seeing the tiny orb in his palm.

Gulping, he hit the button in the middle of the ball and watched as it grew to a much larger side but was still pretty small.

Throwing the ball up into the air, the ball split with a bright white light that blinded Sterling and he closed his eyes. Upon opening them, before him was a pokemon like he had never seen before.

It was a small, blue, canine Pokémon. It has a black torso and legs, a blue tail, and a yellow collar. It has rounded bumps on the backs of its forepaws. It has a black "mask" and red eyes. It stands on its toes instead of its entire foot.

Sterling was unable to tell what it was and quickly pulled out his pokedex and scanned the nervous looking pokemon.

"Riolu, the Emanation Pokémon, It is sensitive to a special type of energy called Aura; however, it does not have the ability to fully use these powers, although it can still emanate these waves to communicate and sense them, albeit only in ripples. It has developed two black appendages that hang down from its head, which rise when Riolu reads or manipulates aura. It has even been seen that Riolu can sense and react to Aura before they even hatch. Like almost all Fighting-type Pokémon, Riolu naturally has superhuman strength, stamina, and endurance and is capable of making long journeys on foot in a short amount of time. It is a playful, energetic, and loyal Pokémon. It is not native to the Johto or Kanto regions" stated the pokedex

"Wow" commented Sterling before a large smile appeared on his face, "I love you"

Riolu gave a small nod and stepped forward to hold his paw out in front of him and it took Sterling a moment to realize that the pokemon wanted a small fist bump, which he gladly did.

He felt something bubble up inside of him and realized that he was a pokemon trainer, this was everything he wished for and it was finally happening.

A/N: ok that was chapter 1, that's all I got for you today.

If you play pokemon go, hmu, I play that a lot as well.

Until next time, HighKey_Mars out