Ochre eased through the traffic in Celadon City. He had been in the city many times, since this is where they mainly did business for the ranch. They'd buy food for the pokémon here, and then they would come to the market to sell or donate them. Many times, Ochre had seen a Nidoran leave their ranch to become a ferocious Nidoking that would compete in the pokémon league.
But today was not a day for the family business. Today was all Ochre, and it was his first time embarking on a journey with his pokémon. Ochre had a dream of becoming a Pokémon Ranger one day, but in order to achieve that dream, he could no longer stay in Celadon City. While the city offered lots of opportunity, traveling would be one of the major aspects of his quest and he needed some way to prove himself.
This is where the residency at the Celadon Gym would come into play. Ochre was already seen as a gifted trainer. So much so, that Erika, the Celadon City Gym Leader, wanted him to come and train at her gym for a while. After he'd proven himself there, he was free to go off on whatever adventures he desired.
Ochre pulled up to the Celadon Gym and he and Tangela hopped out, as they went up to the information desk inside. A young girl about his age was standing behind the counter.
"Welcome to Celadon Gym! If you'll just fill out this information…," the young girl said before looking up and catching Ochre's eyes.
"Oh, Ochre!" She blushed, "We've been expecting you. I'll go ahead and let Erika know that you're here!"
The girl turned towards her monitor, and after what seemed like an eternity, Erika's flushed face appeared on the screen. "Sorry to bother you, Erika! Ochre just walked in the door."
Erika took a few breaths before responding. "That's… great!" She huffed, wiping the sweat off of her brow. "Send him on back, we'll go ahead and bring him in the work out with us." The phone clicked. The girl behind the counter giggled a little before pointing Ochre in the direction of the work out facilities.
"I thought this was a Pokémon Gym, Pascal. Not that kind of gym." Ochre remarked, toward his Tangela, who was waddling beside of him.
Ochre proceeded past the room that had "Battle Area" written above it. He stood for a moment in observation.
"I wish we could just go in there and start the real training." Ochre remarked.
"You'll need your basics first." A feminine voice called out behind him. Ochre spun around to see Erika herself standing in front of him. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail and she was dressed in black sweatpants and a sports bra that sported the Celadon City Gym logo, not her usual kimono that he'd so often seen her wearing during gym challenges. "You didn't think all I did was arrange flowers, did you?" Erika laughed, still saturated and somewhat pink in her face. She was around 35 years old, only about 10 years younger than his mother.
"You've grown up so much since I've last seen you!" Erika giggled to herself and she could tell Ochre was blushing. "How is Isabel doing?"
Ochre's face continued to turn a bright crimson as he answered. "She… she's fine." Pascal lightly smacked Ochre's back.
"You know, I've actually known your mother since I first became a gym leader." Erika said, as they continued down the hall.
"That's what she's always told me, but I never really knew much about it. I thought it was pretty cool that she knew a gym leader." Ochre replied.
"Well, I'll tell you more about it later. Let's just say I think it's 'pretty cool' that I know her." With a slight giggle, Erika opened the door to her workout facilities. The room was full of women, all dressed in a similar fashion to Erika. They were doing various exercises as well as their grass-type pokémon. One girl was doing pull-ups with her Bulbasaur, while another girl was over at a punching bag with her Gloom.
"Surprised?" Erika asked.
"Yeah, a little." Ochre replied, still red in the face.
"There's a lot more where this came from. Why don't you go in the locker room and change into a uniform? You belong here now." Erika smiled, pointed him to the locker room, and ran off back to work with another girl who was lifting weights.
Ochre proceeded into the locker room where he had his name written on one of the lockers with a smiley face next to it. He opened it up and inside were shorts and a tank similar to Erika's outfit, still with the same Celadon City Logo. Ochre changed and he and Pascal looked at each other before Pascal reached out a vine to give him a high-five. "We're here, Pascal! We're going to go all the way to the top!" Pascal let out a proud "Tangela!" before they both waddled out of the locker room and back to the workout facility.
Ochre sat himself down at a weight bench and started to adjust the weights before a young girl appeared before him, with a long, light brown ponytail.
"What do you think you're doing, Newbie?" she called out.
"I was uh, fixing to start working out." Ochre replied.
"You haven't even stretched yet! Let alone gotten the initial treatment." She yelled at him.
"Initial treatment?" Ochre asked.
Erika noticed the commotion and jogged over to Ochre. "I see you've met your partner!"
"Partner?!" The two yelled in unison before glaring at each other.
"Ochre, I'd like you to meet Jade. She arrived yesterday evening. Jade, this is Ochre." The two of them looked at each other, and immediately averted their eyes elsewhere while murmuring, "Nice to meet you…"
"You two are my newest residents, so you'll both be training together. I always pair up my resident trainers, and since you both have similar aspirations, you'll be sure to be accountable for the other." Erika grinned and snickered to herself as she could tell they did not meet in the best circumstances.
Ochre stood up and faced Jade. "So, what is the 'initial treatment'?" He asked before turning to face Erika.
Erika's face warped into a devious grin. "You're going to run around the battlefield 100 times!" She tilted her head to the side as her eyes grew wider.
Pascal looked at his feet and back up at Erika.
"You, too." She almost snapped toward the Tangela, who promptly ran back toward Ochre and hid behind his legs.