September 27
Twinleaf Town

It was early morning in Sinnoh, the sun barely rising from the faint outline of Mt. Coronet off in the distance. A few white flakes of snow drifted lazily down to Earth, and light gray clouds scattered across the sky. Starly and Bidoof chattered with one another, before running off in opposite directions.

Deerling and Sawsbuck trudged silently through the thin blanket of snow, their brown and white pelt blending in with the background of trees and snow.

It could even be considered a peaceful morning, free of worry and stress. That is, until...

"Hey, you awake?!"

A gray-haired boy, in his late teens, sat up in his bed, pale eyes wide in fear. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw that it was just his friend Barry. He fell back onto his pillow, letting his eyes close once more. "Barry, it's too early for this... Can't you just go back to sleep?"

Barry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and miss out on everything? I don't think so— I'm not like you." He leaned his back along the wall beside Lucas's door and gazed silently out the widow. "Come on, Lucas. It's already snowing and I wanna get over to Sandgem Town before nightfall."

Lucas rolled over in his bed and snuggled deeper into the blankets. "Why not just go without me, then?" he mumbled.

"What? But that'd be so boring! I can't go there by myself!"

Lucas was about to comment, when the covers were suddenly pulled off of him. "Gah!" He quickly sat up again, goosebumps already forming on his limbs.

"Get up!" Barry told him again. "Come on, even your mom says you should go and travel the region." A smirk formed on his face as an idea came to him. "I'll be over at my house waiting for you. You have five minutes before I'm fining you ₽1,000!"

"Okay, okay! I'm up!" Lucas scrambled to his feet, just as Barry bolted out his door, snickering. The younger boy groaned and looked in his closet for an outfit to wear for now. He eventually settled on a pair of black pants and a red long-sleeved shirt. He grabbed his black-and-blue coat and white scarf and put those on too. He pulled out his white backpack and glanced at everything else in his closet.

Once every few years, Trainers would be given one of three Starter Pokémon if the Pokémon Professor seemed them worthy of such creatures. Trainers were to accept these Pokémon and journey across Sinnoh, taking notes, battling, and completing their Pokédex. Lucas would be lying if he said he wasn't excited; he'd been waiting for this for weeks. Though, he did wish he was able to sleep in some more.

He tossed a couple more pairs of pants and shirts for the warmer weather, as well as a red scarf. With his bag now pretty much packed, he threw on his red Poké Ball beret and shoved his gray shoes onto his feet. He zipped up his jacket and went to his door, grabbing the last few things he saw that he thought he might need.

"Well, look who's up early," Lucas's mom said as he walked down the stairs. Her eyebrow was raised in suspicion.

Johanna was a beautiful woman, with gray-brown hair and gray eyes that always lit up when she was happy. A retired Pokémon Contest star, she appeared much younger than she really was, though no one ever bothered to ask her age.

Lucas sighed. "Well... Barry kinda woke me up." He reached the bottom step and looked at her. "So I guess this is goodbye, huh?" He motioned to his backpack.

She tilted her head. "You grabbed your toothbrush, right?"

Her son blinked. "Huh? Mom, I—"

"Healthy teeth means a healthy you! Go get it!"

Lucas groaned, not bothering to remind her that he could just buy everything he needed when he arrived at Sandgem Town. He hurried up the stairs and returned a few seconds later. "Okay, I really kinda need to go now."

"Alright. Have fun, be safe." She turned away from him, hiding her failing attempt at trying not to smile.

"Wait, you aren't worried or anything? I thought..." Lucas trailed off, a slight frown on his face.

Johanna burst into laughter. "I'm only messing with you. Of course I'm worried, but I trust you and Professor Rowan. I know that you'll be safe."

Her son smiled, only to be trapped by his mom's arms as she hugged him tightly. "Th-thanks, Mom."

She kissed his forehead. "Of course. Oh, and you don't want to keep Barry waiting, do you?"

"That's right!" Lucas moved quickly to the front door and reached out to open it. "Bye, Mom! Love ya!"

"Don't forget to visit sometime!"

He nodded. "Got it!" He hurried outside, locking and closing the front door behind him.

The early winter temperatures hit his face as he stepped out, though it was still technically autumn. Lately the days have been getting shorter and shorter, and the temperature lower and lower. It wasn't that uncommon to already be getting snow, even though it was still September.

As he walked the short distance to Barry's home, he passed by several small Pokémon chattering throughout Twinleaf. He spotted a Pachirisu and Skwovet bickering over a collection of berries, before spotting Lucas and running off with half each.

"Nom?"

Lucas stopped and turned around, hearing the faint cry of a Pokémon. A Snom blinked up at him, snow powdered on its back. The teen smiled faintly and reached down to pet the small bug's head. "You're pretty cute," he murmured, causing the insect to close its eyes happily.

Lucas continued walking and arrived at Barry's front doorstep seconds later. He knocked on the door.

"Come on in!" Barry's mom called from the other side. She looked up from the kitchen counter as Lucas opened the door and entered. "Hello, Lucas! It's nice to see you."

He gave her a quick smile as a greeting. "Likewise. Um... is Barry..."

"Upstairs getting the last of his things ready," she told him, handing him a cup of hot cocoa. She sighed. "Honestly, that child... he'd lose his head if it wasn't attached to his body. He's always rushing into things, never once bothering to think things through..." She stopped and looked up at the dark-haired teen, not catching his awkward glances around the room. "At least you'll be there for him, won't you, Lucas? You'll keep him in check."

"I- right, Ms. Jun." Lucas quickly took a sip from his hot cocoa, hoping to finally not feel so out of place. He regretted it a second later as the scalding liquid burned the back of his throat.

"Please, just call me Marie," she told him. Luckily she was distracted from continuing as they both saw Barry running down the stairs.

"Lucas! You're la-" Before Barry could finish his thought, his shoe caught on the back of his heel and he fell forward, landing on the ground with a hard thud.

"Pffft." Lucas covered his mouth, trying to hide his smile of amusement. "What was that, Barry?" He couldn't stop the amused lilt in his voice.

Barry scrambled to his feet. "Hey, are you laughing?! I'm fining you for laughing at my misery!" He frowned at his younger friend, arms crossed. "But whatever. I suppose since your birthday is tomorrow, I'll let you go this one time."

Lucas flinched as he heard Barry's mom's gasp.

"It's your birthday tomorrow? Why didn't you say so?" She looked around. "I'll be right back!" She left to her room, leaving both boys alone in the living room area.

"Sorry..." Barry murmured, seeing Lucas's glare at him. "Should we just go..?"

"Yes." As much as Lucas loved being over at his friend's home, Ms. Jun was a bit too much for his comfort. She was nice and all, but she just talked forever. And she was always making Lucas uncomfortable with her monologues about her past and family.

The two quickly darted out of the house, carefully closing the front door behind them. They both shivered at the cold wind meeting them and tied their scarves around their necks.

"So, to Sandgem?" Barry asked. Lucas nodded in reply. "Do you have any ideas as to what Starter you'll choose?" He questioned as they began walking out of Twinleaf Town and towards Route 201.

"I'm not quite sure," Lucas admitted. "The penguin's pretty cute, and it would be really comfortable here in Sinnoh with all of the snow... Why? Which one will you get?"

"Piplup," Barry announced proudly. "I'm faster than you, so I'll obviously beat you to Sandgem and get Piplup first. I mean, who doesn't love Piplup?"

His friend raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? You wanna bet on that?"

"What, on me winning?" Barry smirked. "Lucas, I not that heartless!" He laughed as Lucas shoved him a few feet away.

"I think you're just scared," Lucas said, eyes bright with mischief. "You're a scared little Skitty who who doesn't want to race against your friend cause you know you'll lose."

Barry frowned, his face completely deadpan. "Lucas, I hate having to do this, but you leave me with no choice." The two had reached Route 201, and were close to a rather large patch of grass. Neither of them really payed any attention to it, though.

Barry walked closer, looking down at Lucas from their three inch height difference. And then, suddenly he grinned. "Threetwoonego!" He took off running immediately towards Sandgem Town, hardly giving Lucas any time to react.

"Wait!" Lucas began running after him. "Cheater!" He laughed as he chased his childhood friend, though that happiness was short lived.

"You two- STOP!"

——————
Lucas-
• Route 201
• Badges: N/A
• Pokémon: N/A

Heya, Zel here.
First off, I wanna say thank you for picking this up and choosing to read it. Whether you're someone who read the original Set in Stone, or a completely new reader, thank you. It really makes my day seeing people read my stories and actually enjoy them.
Also, this is going to be a FortuneShipping story. Just... wanted to make that clear.
And Lucas is a lot different personality-wise than he was originally in Set in Stone. As much as I loved the original story, his character was already too complicated for me to write, even at only five chapters in. I have bigger hopes for this one though, so hopefully it'll all work out.
Oh, and just so you know: this is mostly going to be Pokémon Platinum, though with a bit of DP thrown in, as well as my own things. Sinnoh is one of, if not the best region in my opinion. Can't wait for remakes-
A few more things: 1- since Gen 8 has recently come out, I'm going to have Pokémon from all generations and regions throughout Sinnoh. Lucas's Team will mainly stay the same as the one I have in Pearl, though other characters might have Pokémon from... Alola, for example. 2- some scenes in the first few chapters will basically just be copied and pasted from the original story, because there's just no reason to rewrite them... 3- chapters will vary in length. I don't want to have a set word count for each chapter, and then push myself to try to reach that number, like I am in FoG...

With all that out of the way, I will stop rambling on now. Sorry for this really long note, but there's a lot I needed to say.