I never actually thought that I could hate anyone, especially someone like Red. Truthfully, I had always been jealous of him, especially when we were kids. He never spoke much and yet he was top of the class, just barely surpassing me. I never considered him as a friend, but we occasionally bumped into each other in the hall or along the small roads of Pallet Town. When Grandpa Oak first told me that Red and I would be starting our Pokemon journey on the same day, I wasn't surprised. He was my rival in school, so why wouldn't he be my rival during our adventures through Kanto? However, I was surprised at how quickly he had bonded with the stubborn Pikachu Grandpa had caught only the day before our first battle. I don't know exactly what it was, but maybe it was his calm demeanor that made that Pikachu trust him enough to take out my Eevee on the first try. And here I thought I could beat him just from the fact that I thought his Pokemon wouldn't even listen to him.
But all that jealousy, and even some admiration, was left in the past. Every time we battled he beat me, over and over again, and each time my admiration for him died a little bit more. He was making me feel inadequate as a trainer, and deep inside myself I felt like I was letting my Pokemon down. I kept telling them about how we would be the strongest team in Kanto and beat the Elite Four and become the new Champions! But at the rate I was going against Red, that fact was quickly dissolving into a distant, silly dream. As much as I tried to turn those defeats into positive lessons, I realized that it eventually got to the point where I didn't even want to see Red anymore. My admiration was lost and my jealousy was growing at a fantastic rate, but there was no way that I could actually hate a person.
But once again, I was wrong.
The S.S. Anne had docked in Vermillion City and would only be there for a short while, and I knew that I could get some good training in before taking on the electric gym. I had beaten everyone on board, and turned down the hall to go back to the city. But as luck would have it, as soon as I turned a corner, I ran into Red.
I couldn't say no, I couldn't try to get past him. He was my rival, and I knew that we had to battle each other. Maybe this could finally be the battle that I would win with my recently leveled Pokemon! I challenged him to a battle, sending out my Spearow, Sandshrew, Raticate, and Eevee. As usual, Red didn't say anything. His only response was to send out his Pokemon as well, and it was then that I knew I had made a big mistake by trying to challenge him. His team was not only diverse, but they looked powerful, looking like they had to be in at least their mid-twenties. I muttered to my team to be strong, but I could detect their nervousness about Red's team. His Pikachu had definitely grown stronger, and joining his team were Butterfree, Pidgeotto, and even an Ivysaur and a Charmeleon. Where did he even find those two?
But I needed to focus. If I believed that we could defeat Red, my Pokemon would believe as well! Spearow went first, but was quickly taken down in one hit thanks to Pikachu's thunderbolt. Next went Sandshrew, but Ivysaur's vine whip had taken care of it. Eevee, my very first Pokemon, was quick. Butterfree had tried to paralyze it, but Eevee avoided it easily and countered with multiple sand attacks. Without saying a word, Red silently called back Butterfree to be replaced with Pidgeotto. The bird was fast and powerful, knocking out Eevee after a few strong gusts. I was down to my final Pokemon, Raticate. It looked confident, and I could feel it. But Red sent out Charmeleon, and the look on its face even scared me a bit. It looked like it was the strongest on the team behind Pikachu.
Raticate moved in first with a quick attack before attacking again with hyper fang. Charmeleon looked weaker; hyper fang was a pretty powerful move. Raticate ran in with a quick attack to finish it off, but Charmeleon leaped out of the way with impressive speed. Before Raticate could react, Charmeleon landed down on it from above and pinned it to the ground. It used ember, the heat from its mouth so powerful that I could feel it. It was then that I noticed Raticate struggling violently, and I could hear its cries of what sounded like pain. I ordered Red to call off his Charmeleon before I rushed over to pick it up. Its fur was scorched and charred and its eyes were closed. Without saying anything to Red, I quickly got off the ship and ran to the Pokemon Center.
The rest of the day was a huge rush that I barely remember happening. When I had brought in Raticate, I didn't even have time to explain what had happened before Nurse Joy and a few Chanseys took it into a back room. After another Chansey healed my other team members, we just sat in the waiting room. Eevee, Sandshrew, and Spearow obviously knew something was terribly wrong; they wouldn't stop pacing and giving me worried looks. I only sat in a chair and thought about earlier. Why had Red's Charmeleon acted like it had? Why hadn't Red called it off first? The Charmeleon was strong, yes, but I couldn't help but think that maybe it was too strong. It felt as if he hadn't had it long enough to gain its trust despite gaining Pikachu's trust within minutes of receiving it.
I sat with these thoughts for hours before Nurse Joy finally came out of the room to tell me the state of Raticate. But I knew from the look on her face that it wouldn't be good news. Thankfully, she didn't beat around the bush when she told me that Raticate was in critical condition and would have to stay at the center for a while. I asked to go see it, and after a moment's hesitation she allowed me to pass with my Pokemon right behind me. It was then that I realized why she hadn't answered right away; I was barely able to stand the sight of my partner.
It was bad enough that it was laying in a containment chamber with IV tubes hiding underneath the bandages that it wore all over its body. After closer inspection and a quick debriefing from Nurse Joy, I learned that the burn it had sustained had not only burned at the fur, but also traveled deep into the skin tissue and would leave severe scarring. A fair amount of bones were also broken, no doubt from the Charmeleon landing on it from a good height. The bite marks (I didn't even notice that it had bitten Raticate in my haste to get it off) were so deep that it had lost a lot of blood, and if it survived the marks would be there permanently. I flinched when I noticed that she said "if."
She told me that I wouldn't be able to take it with me, but if I decided to keep travelling she would have the other Nurses keep me up to date. I thought about it for a long time. Raticate had been the first Pokemon I had caught in the wild as a Rattata, so it was no question that we had developed a strong friendship on our journey. I wanted, no, needed to keep travelling through Kanto. I hadn't even gotten my third gym badge yet! There was no way that it would be able to travel in its current condition, but I also couldn't wait for its long recovery so it could travel with me again. I finally decided that I would keep travelling and hope for Raticate to heal.
A month later I had gotten stronger, and added Shellder and Vulpix to my team along with Spearow evolving into Fearow. I was still worried about my old teammate; every city that I stopped at, I would go to the Pokemon Center everyday to find out about Raticate's condition. It was never any better. I hated the day when I finally arrived in Lavender Town. The whole town and the people in it had this depressing air around it, and the dreaded Pokemon Tower wasn't helping. The feel of the town was made even worse when I stopped into the Pokemon Center to heal up my team after an endless trek through the Rock Tunnel.
When I walked up to the desk I could already tell that something was wrong from the look on Nurse Joy's face. She asked me if my name was Blue Oak, and when I responded with a nod she quickly healed my Pokemon and led me to the back room. She explained how the Pokemon Center in Vermillion City had transported Raticate to this center, but I was barely listening. All I knew was that my Raticate was right behind those doors, and this was probably going to be the last time I saw it.
Nothing had changed about how it had looked before, except that it was laying on a bed and its breathing had quickened. Nurse Joy left me alone and I sent out my Pokemon. While Vulpix and Shellder had never met Raticate, I thought that everyone should be able to say goodbye, especially Eevee, Sandshrew, and Fearow. We all had solemn looks on our faces as I pulled up a chair and stared down at my old partner. Despite the pained look on its face, it managed to open its eyes and look at everyone. I was able to tell it how the nurses had done everything they could to make it better, and how great of a team member it had been. I started crying only a little bit before my other Pokemon did. I apologized that I couldn't do anything to help it, but it stared at me with a forgiving look. It said its name one last time before closing its eyes forever.
No one spoke a word for the next few hours as Nurse Joy and some Chanseys wrapped up Raticate in a blanket and handed it to me. I instantly headed toward the Pokemon Tower with my team following my footsteps and Raticate's heavy, limp body in my arms. To say that I was upset is an understatement. I was upset, angry, and frustrated at myself and at Red. If only I hadn't challenged him to that battle on the ship. If only he had more control over that Charmeleon. But I couldn't change anything now.
We walked up the first flight of steps and found an empty spot away from some of the other graves. Despite being a building the ground on the upper floors was built so that dirt covered the cement flooring about five feet under. As I held Raticate in my arms, Sandshrew automatically dug a hole into the ground. I hugged my old partner one more time before placing it into the ground and piling the dirt on top of it. A grave attendant walked over and asked me what I wanted to put on the tombstone. I spoke my first words since saying goodbye to Raticate, telling her that I wanted its name and my name along with saying how great of a partner it had been.
The attendant gave me her condolences before leaving the six of us to mourn. Eevee seemed to be shaken up the most, and I couldn't blame it. While it had been the first Pokemon I had received from my grandfather, it had helped me fight and capture a Rattata, my first wild capture. Eevee had known it as long as I had, with Fearow coming in a close second. As Eevee sat in my lap and I petted it calmly, I swore to myself that I would never let this happen again. I would become stronger, I would become the Pokemon League Champion, and I would defeat Red.