Gold stood in front of the Pokémon lab in his hometown of New Bark. Something was preventing him from taking a step further and entering the doors to receive his new Pokémon. He even knew which one he wanted. Then a red- haired guy, a little more six than feet tall, caught his eye, looking into the window of the building.

He had on a black long sleeved shirt, skinny leg jeans and black Converse with red laces to match his fiery, shoulder length hair that flipped out at the ends. On the top of his head was a little piece of hair that just wouldn't go down. Gold was puzzled. What was he staring at?

As Gold inched closer, he could hear the red head talking to himself.

".. is the famous Elm- laboratory.."

"Excuse me?" Gold smiled. The red head snapped his head around to glare down at the shorter boy. "Do you need help with something? Hi, I'm Gold. Well. That's what everyone calls me, anyway." He smiled, holding his hand out. The red head just looked at it, hesitant to slip his hand into the other boy's.

"Silver.." he slowed, not sure why he hadn't pushed this kid out of the way by now. He was bothersome, short, and had a swoop of black hair falling over his face from out of his baseball cap. His eyes were a lightish gray colour, and he had the innocence of a little kid, wearing a red sweater with a white collar, and black capris. Silver growled and came to his senses.

"Outta my way, kid. I have to go get my Pokémon." He pushed Gold "out of his way", before Gold grabbed his wrist and stopped him.

"Hey wait, what's the rush Silver? I'm going to get my Pokémon, too! I've always wanted a Cyndaquil. What about you?"

He snatched his arm back. "Totodile.."

"Awesome! Let's go-"

"Wait one second, Gold."

Gold spun around to look at him. "Yes?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. Silver got a little flustered, shaking his head in quick spurts and revving his mind back to the topic before he got distracted.

"I wasn't planning on receiving it, I came to take it by force." Silvers arms folded across his chest. It took Gold a minute to process what Silver was getting at. His light gray eyes widened in horror.

"You can't steal a Pokémon! Especially when Professor Elm is so willing to give new trainers their own Pokémon!"

"I can and I will, kid." He rolled his eyes.

"And stop calling me 'kid'! I'm 16 years old!" Gold pouted. Silver looked in the other direction.

"You could have fooled me."

"Oh? And how old are you, Silver?"

"19."

"Oh.." Gold looked down. "But you don't look it! You've got such a pretty face for someone your age!"

Silver could feel himself getting flustered again. "What is that supposed to mean? Ugh, you're just wasting my time." He burst into the doors of the laboratory with Gold quickly following.

"Hey wait up!"

Not again.. Silver collided his forehead to his hand with a quick slap! Noise.

The professor pulled himself away from his studies and greeted the two young boys.

"Hello, Ethan! Your mom called about you and said you'd stop by to pick up your first Pokémon." Elm adjusted his glasses.

"That's right! And this here is my friend Silver!" Gold slapped Silver's back hard, meaning for it to come off as friendly, but Silver lurched forwards at the force of the hand to his back. Gold just smiled.

"Right this way, boys." Elm led them to a table with three Pokéballs set on top of it.

"You go first.." Silver glanced down at the white tiles of the floor. Gold shrugged.

"Okay! I was gonna go first anyway!" he snatched the Pokéball that contained Cyndaquil. Silver's eyes shot up in frustration at the younger boy's impatience. "You're gonna take it, right?" Gold's eyes were warm. Silver looked in them for no more than 10 seconds, and that was enough to realize what he should be doing. Plus the sarcasm sort of helped. Silver couldn't resist proving people wrong. He took the Pokéball. Without stealing it. Gold did a slow clap. Silver growled and shut his eyes real tight.

I can't tell if he's making fun of me or not!

"Well done, boys!" Elm's voice broke into Silver's thoughts. "In no time at all, you two will be on the road to becoming Pokémon masters!"

Gold and Silver both looked at him doubtfully. Elm let out a nervous laugh.

"Well, at least challenge the Violet City gym. It's not too far out from here."

"Now you're thinking realistically. Come on, let's go Gold." Silver grabbed his hand to leave. "Thanks old man." He opened the door, then slammed it on the way out. All the while, he was dragging Gold around, thoughtlessly.

"Hey! Quit it, you're going to fast for me!" Gold whined, holding on to his cap so that it wouldn't fly off. Silver walked fast. Not to mention he was tall, so Gold's short legs couldn't keep up. Finally, Silver stopped. He bent down real close to Gold's face, so that they were at eye level. Silver's piercing red eyes cut daggers through Gold's carefree spirit. He was now suddenly nervous.

"Listen. You and me. We're rivals from this point on. No friendship. No nothing. Get it?"

"But why does it have to be that way?"

Silver was shocked, then tried to hide it by forcing a frown. That was the first time Gold actually sounded his age. Why did it have to be that way? Silver didn't really know the answer himself.

"It just does, okay?" He spat out, harshly.

"Okay.." Gold said in a small, helpless voice that made Silver feel guilty. His expression softened as he stood all the way up.

"Fine. You can follow me. But just until we reach Violet City. Then we go our separate ways. Besides, a wimp like you could easily get lost."

"Hey!" but before Gold could say another word, Silver was already walking.