"And this should be the last of it..." Said Maverick as he got the last piece of mail. He closed the mailbox and glanced at the outside world of Sinnoh. It was a beautiful sight to see, really, despite being boring. The little pond in front their home shined brightly in the morning sun as a few Bidoof drank from it. He smiled at the sight.

Returning home, He saw Kimberly and John whispering to the other, with Kimberly giggling and what her husband said. Maverick rolled his eyes and looked at the TV screen, still seeing Infernape and Electivire battle it out. "Mom! Got the mail!" He called. Mom looked away from John and called Maverick over as Rika came from the hallway, holding a sandwich neatly wrapped in a paper towel.

"Ok, good. I was expecting something."

"Like what?"

"Stuff that you don't need to know about dear." The woman said shooing him away, leaving Maverick to eagerly watch the rest of the battle. Rika looked out the window, seeing another friend of hers, Alex, play with his house Pokémon, Glameow. It's been about 4 weeks since she last talked to Alex, so she decided to pay him a visit.

"Dad? I'll be heading outside to meet with Alex! Can you tell me who will win?"

"Sure, but don't go to 201! Wild Pokémon may be out today. It would be great if you had your own, but you don't so..." John replied looking at his daughter teasingly. Rika got the message and rolled her eyes at his mockery. Her old man was rubbing the fact that they don't have Pokémon in her face. He had his own so did her mother, Dad tells her that they're at the Pokémon lab in Sandgem town, but she hasn't seen them yet. She would have gotten her first Pokémon two years prior, but not only was she immature age wise, you would have to be 11 or older to get your first Pokémon, she also did not complete her schooling at the time which really got on her nerves. Schools only go up to the 8th grade, which she and Maverick graduated from a year ago. Not only that, when you reach sixth grade, you would have to do 3 years of Trainers school to make sure you know the basics of the Pokémon world to get your Pokémon. So these last few years of her life really got on her bad side.

"Okay, Dad! I'm off." She closed the front door behind her. She felt the refreshing breeze of this hot June day and she enjoyed it. And with that she took off towards her childhood friends home, eating her sandwich. It wasn't a long walk, just about two blocks away from her own. As she neared her destination, she began hearing laughter of another 13 year old boy and the purrs of his Glameow. Alex chuckled as Glameow jumped on his head, messing up his already unkempt hair, if that was even possible.

Rika stood at his doorway and sighed. 'Man, It's been a while since we talked. I hope he's not mad at me. I haven't seen him since we graduated from Trainer's school a month ago. I wonder how he's doing?' She thought, inwardly preparing herself for his endless scolding.

Rika smiled at the sight of the two. "Alex? Long time no see."

"Huh? Rika? Oh hey babe! I wondered when you'll come around and see little ol' me!" Alex smirked, putting Glameow down to his feet. The cat Pokémon was displeased at the action, so she started scratching his pants. Alex glanced at Glameow, sticking out his tongue. Rika merely rolled her eyes at her "nickname".

"Alex! I thought I already told you to stop calling me that!"

"Aw don't be that way Babe, you know we're dating." Alex said slyly. She grew annoyed.

"GRR! I ALREADY TOLD YOU WERE NOT DATING! AND I DO NOT LIKE YOU!" Rika shouted, blushing slightly at the comment he made. Alex laughed at her reaction.

"Well now. Calm down! I was only joking. Of course, there WAS that time when we were five!" He said in a sing song voice. Rika merely rolled her eyes, blushing a little more.

"Whatever!" She snapped. But truth be told, she did like him, but only a little. He doesn't have to know that though. Alex smiled, winning again by playing with her feelings. "But.. that's not why I'm here, Alex."

"Okay, what's up?"

"Well, I was feeling bored and I came to see you after 4 weeks. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess. Oh yeah, that reminds me... WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? BABE, IT HAS BEEN FOUR WEEKS, FOUR WEEKS OF BOREDOM. I DON'T LIKE BOREDOM, YOU KNOW THAT!" Alex shouted at Rika. Rika looked confused for a moment.

"Well then... why didn't you come to my house? I'm sure you wouldn't be bored with me around." Rika said, looking at the older boy. Even though she sometimes got annoyed by the boy to no end, she did enjoy flirting with him, but she doesn't know why.

"My family's been going to Johto for a bit and my Grandma been taking after me. But where is she? Snowpoint city. And I can't really go see you as I often did before." He explained. Rika nodded in understanding.

"The Sinnoh league is on!"

"WHAT!?" Alex roared. He then took off to her house. "Wait! Glameow is...! And now I'm left alone." Rika sighed. Glameow suddenly dashed towards Rika's house, leaving Rika behind.

"Might as well go on then..."

_____

"AND WITH THAT ELECTIVIRE IS DOWN! ASH WINS THE BATTLE!" The commentators roared as the battle finally finished with the epic standoff. The audience piled on to the arena and lifted Ash and Infernape in the air. "Infernape! We did it!" Ash said to the Pokémon as the crowd chanted his name. Maverick watched in awe as the future Pokémon master laughed along with his trusty partner. To say Maverick was shocked was a vast understatement. That was one of the most epic battles he seen all his life. John nodded and turned off the television as it went to commercials. "What do you think Maverick?"

"That was... unreal. Kind of like.. like a..like... words cannot find the emotion I'm feeling right now. I want to be like that someday! Being able to fight gym leaders, earning badges! Fighting in the Sinnoh league. Becoming champion! I want to become a Pokémon master! Just like Ash!" Maverick spoke excitedly. His father nodded at him. He felt his sons passion about the things he wanted to do in the future. Suddenly, the door slammed open.

"Sinnoh league!? Is it on!? Who won!?" Alex screamed. Rika and Glameow followed a few seconds after, out of breath.

"Ash won the battle! After Infernape's Blaze ability, they were unstoppable!"

Rika, after catching her breath, smiled at that. She never really liked Paul too much and she saw the way he acted towards his Pokémon, not really caring if they were hurt. And if they somehow lost the battle, he'd call them weak, or maybe release them into the wild after. That angered her in a way, thinking about the way people act towards Pokémon. Some of the humans are poachers as well, going as far as kid napping them for their own deeds. She swore if she saw anyone like that...

"Hey, Alex! You doing good?"

"Yes, Mr. Anderson, how are you?"

"Fine, thanks for asking."

"Oh yeah, Maverick, Rika, happy birthday to you guys. Your 13 now." Alex smiled. Maverick nodded. "Yeah, when's your birthday, Alex?" He asked.

Alex scratched his head. "October 8th is my birthday, and Glameow's is on the seventh. I find it weird that she was born a day before mine." He said, looking at his Mom's Pokémon. Glameow looked at his trainer and hugged her.

"Glam! Glameow!" The Pokémon said.

"Well lunch is almost ready, wanna eat now?"

"Sure, I'd love that. Thanks, Mr. Anderson."
___________

Later that evening
7:21 p.m.

(Maverick's point of view)
___________

"...Happy birthday to you!" Mom and the other sang happily. I couldn't help but smile at the scene. Rika looked at me, and then at the cake, making a gesture. I got what she was talking about and closed my eyes, making a wish. About a minute later, we opened up our eyes and blew the candles of our cake out, smiling. Mom took a picture of us blowing.

"Here! A knife for the cake. Cut it Maverick." Mom ordered. Grabbing the knife, I cut the rectangular treat with ease. Mom took a piece and put it on a plate for me. I bit the cake as I felt the soft Vanilla flakes cover my tongue, My jaw shuddered with pleasure as I ate the cake. Rika took her piece from her mother, her mouth having the same effect. I quickly finished my piece, satisfied for the moment. Alex came up to me and patted my shoulder.

"Hey, Mav! Look at your Thirteen year old body eating cake. Brings back memories." He smiled.

I rolled my eyes, smiling. "Dude. Your only 8 months older than me. You shouldn't be talking like that was thirty-five years ago!"

"Yeah, whatever Mav! So do you know what your getting?" He said, taking off his birthday hat. Well, now that he mentioned it, I'm not really sure what I was getting. I wanted to sneak and see, but that would be against the rules. Plus, I'm not supposed to know. That's the whole point of presents. "No... I'm not really sure. I'm not supposed to know." Alex nodded at that. Then I shot back. "Did you know what you were getting?"

"Oh yeah. I knew since a week before mine."

"Maverick! Rika? Want to open presents now? I think you might like them." Dad said. Rika madly dashed from wherever she was into the living room, Alex being quickly to follow. I swear, those two were made for each other. "Coming Dad!"

I sat next to Rika as mom set up the table. There being a gift bag for each of us, a box and 2 envelopes. "Well, this one is for Maverick." Mom said handing me a gift bag. "And this for Rika!" Dad said handing her the other. I opened up the bag to pull out whatever was in there. Something solid and two others soft. Curious, I glanced in and saw clothes, shoes and a backpack that seemed to have stuff in there. Rika already opened up the shoebox to see brand new running shoes. It had a magenta and black design and had a stripe going across the middle. I took out my box and opened up mine. It was virtually same design except mines was black and lime green. Then I proceeded to take out the clothing. It turned out to be a light black zip up hoodie with lime green short sleeves , a grey t-shirt with a black neckline, dark blue jeans and a belt which had 6 slots on the sides. Then I followed through with the backpack, which was dark blue and black. It had 2 pockets on the sides, 2 pockets in the middle where you can put stuff inside and an outside front pocket as well.

"Thanks mom, dad. I love it!" I said. Dad smiled at me. Rika also seemed to like her clothing as well. She had a light purple and royal blue zip up sweater with khaki jeans, instead of a back pack, she had a white and purple barrel bag, it was similar to Dawn's bag, that girl from the Wallace Cup. Alex smiled, saying it was decent. Now on to the boxes which were quite heavy. But dad said we would get that later. Envelopes it is then. Mom gave me mine and it had $3500p (Pokédollars) in it. "That's for your hard work in trainers school. Use it wisely." Mom advised me and Rika. "I second that. Over time you'll get more money but you'd better spend it like you barely have any money left." Dad said, adding on.

Mom suddenly put her hands behind her back as she got something from hammerspace. "This..." She said, pulling out two postcrads. Wait a minute, postcards? Does that mean-!

"-Is a postcard, Maverick and Rika. " She says happily. "As you may know your father and I were Pokémon trainers back in our day. Tomorrow is the new cycle that's starts every two years after the Sinnoh League. But your not actually allowed to start journeying until a day after the Sinnoh league ends. Which means on June 16th, 2014..."

I cannot believe my ears. After being cooped up in this tiny little town and Sandgem Town for 10 years, I'm finally allowed to start journeying!?

"The both of you, including you Alex, will be able to travel all of Sinnoh! Starting tomorrow, all starting Pokémon trainers all over Sinnoh will be on route 201 to receive their starting Pokémon. At 2 o'clock, a good friend of mine, Professor Rowan will be expecting you at the route. I want you to have everything you'll need to start your journeys tomorrow, so those boxes can wait until I see your Pokémon for confirmation. Alex your box is in my room. You can spend the night over if you'd want. I'll love to play with Glameow!" She said. Oh man, I think I'm going to drown in intense happiness.

Rika, Alex and I looked at each other.

"ALL RIGHT! WE'RE GETTING POKÉMON! WE'RE GONNA BE TRAINERS!" We all said together, high-fiving.

'Finally' I thought.

'I'm getting a Pokémon!'

.

.

.

_________

Original author's note for this chapter:

Hello again! I hope you've enjoyed the second chapter. Now we know more about our protagonists Maverick, Rika, and Alex.

The next chapter is going to be a dark one, so be aware of that.

Any suggestions or comments? Tell me what you think. And improvements to my writing style? I'd love to know, leave a comment so I could improve!

Remember to vote of you liked this chapter! Live long and Shine on!

~XDiamondX90