After entering the Pokémon world, you’ll hear about some news on the TV about a rumored red Gyarados that failed to appear. Ok, interesting. You’ll then have control of your character, leaving you free to move around.
A quick introduction to the controls: you can press the X button to bring up the menu, which right now allows you to check your Bag (view your items), check out your Trainer Card by selecting your name, Save your game, or choose Options to increase text speed and change a few other features. The A button is used for confirming or interacting with people or things, while the B button is used for canceling or going back in a menu. Lastly, the Y button can be used later on for a shortcut for registered Key Items.
That being said, head on over to the stairs and go down them to find your mom telling you that your friend, Barry, came looking for you a bit ago. He said it was an emergency, but you should know better, and if you don’t, now you do. Regardless, you’re going to have to find him, so head outside of your house and into the wide open world… or at least the small town of Twinleaf Town. You’ll be cautioned by your mom to avoid tall grass as wild Pokémon could attack, but, once again, you know better, you know you’ll eventually be running through it, so don’t pay her much mind.
Go to the house in the top-left part of town. The postbox outside says “Barry’s House,” so it’s pretty impressive that your friend is already a homeowner. As you approach the door, it will open and Barry will literally bump into you with a loud “thud!” He’ll tell you that he’s heading to the lake and will fine you [pd]1 million if you’re late! Yikes! Don’t worry, you know better by now, right? He also forgot something, so he’ll head back into his house.
Go upstairs to find Barry getting prepared. He’ll up his fine to [pd]10 million this time, so even though you know better, you’d better not keep him waiting. Leave the house and then go to the northern part of town.
Had you gone here earlier, you would have been told to go back to town, but now that you’ve spoken with Barry, you’re free to head north onto Route 201.
Route 201
As you enter Route 201, you’ll find Barry waiting for you and asking if you saw the report on the TV. He has the bright idea to think that the local lake has a mysterious Pokémon like that in it, so wants you to accompany him to the nearby lake, Lake Verity.
If you try to head to the east, Barry will remind you of what your mother said—which is pretty impressive, given he wasn’t in the room—that you shouldn’t go into the tall grass. Instead, just make your way to the west, over to Verity Lakefront.
Verity Lakefront
There’s really not much for you to do here other than walk to the west and then to the north. As you approach the entrance, Barry will exclaim his excitement to find a red Gyarados waiting in the lake, as if it’s that easy. You’ll then enter Lake Verity proper.
Lake Verity
Immediately upon entering the lake, Barry will spot some commotion going on. It’s the Professor and his assistant, talking about the lake, and with Dawn (or Lucas) asking how he’s enjoying being back in Sinnoh, since he was gone for the past four years.
The two will cross your paths and then leave the lake area.
Barry will guide you to the lakefront and will all of a sudden be less concerned about the tall grass than he was just a minute ago. He’ll also notice a briefcase, apparently left behind by the Professor and his assistant.
All of a sudden, two wild birds fly in to attack you and Barry! Uh-oh! Better grab a Pokémon to defend yourself with! Thank goodness there are three Poké Balls inside of the briefcase that was conveniently left there.
In all seriousness, this is one of the most important choices in the whole game: which starter Pokémon will you pick? There are three choices here: Turtwig, Chimchar, or Piplup.
Although all three are good in different ways, Piplup is probably the worst to use for newer players, which is definitely a bit atypical as the Water-type starters are usually pretty good regardless of which game they’re in. The reason for that is that Piplup learns very few worthwhile moves until shortly before getting your fifth Gym Badge. Its final evolution is really good, becoming a strong Water/Steel-type Pokémon, but it just will be a struggle getting there compared to the other two Pokémon, who both get good moves.
Turtwig is fairly slow but a lot more defensive and it even gets Earthquake naturally after evolving, while Chimchar is speedy and hits hard but tends to be a bit more fragile on the defensive side so you’ll have to be a bit careful with it. Stat-wise, Piplup is more of a Special attacker and is also a bit slow.
One other advantage to Chimchar is that there are very few Fire-type Pokémon in the SInnoh region! In fact, if you don’t pick Chimchar here, the only other Fire-type Pokémon you’ll have access to before beating the game are Ponyta and Rapidash. That’s literally it. That being said, you don’t necessarily need a Fire-type, so don’t make your decision solely on that.
After making your choice, you’ll immediately get flung into a battle against a wild Starly at level 2. It should be very easy to take down by just using your—well, Rowan’s—Pokémon’s attacking move: Pound, Scratch, or Tackle. Two or three hits should be enough to take it down.
Once the fight is over, Dawn (or Lucas) will come back and pick up the briefcase. She (or he) will ask if you used the Pokémon in there and will be worried about what the Professor will say. Uh oh! They’ll take the briefcase away and will… just let you two keep the Pokémon, apparently? Here’s hoping that you two end up being good samaritans, apparently.
Barry will then lead you all the way back to the entrance to the lake, but will then want you to lead from there back to Twinleaf Town.
Route 201
Head back to Route 201 and you’ll run into an old guy staring at you—err, the Professor. He’ll say he heard from his assistant that you used their Pokémon and will want to see them. He’ll then head off back to his lab without doing anything about it. His assistant will tell you to visit their lab later.
You’ll then be whisked back home to Twinleaf Town.
Twinleaf Town
You’ll talk with your mom about everything that happened, how you and Barry apparently almost died from two level 2 Starly, and she’ll tell you that the Professor you ran into is most likely Professor Rowan from Sandgem Town. She tells you that you need to visit him there and explain why you had to do what you did. She’ll give you a pair of Running Shoes, an item that allows you to run faster as long as you hold in the B button while walking. Very handy!
The shoes also have instructions, because all pairs of shoes should have instructions to tell you how to use them.
Alright, you’re now free to leave the house again. On top of that, you’re also free to return to Route 201 properly now that you have a Pokémon by your side.
Remember that you can examine your Pokémon (and, once you catch more, reorder them) by choosing the POKéMON option in the menu by pressing the X button.
Anyway, with that, head back to the north onto Route 201! Remember that you can come back to your home here and talk to your mom if ever you need healing, too.