"I bet my charmander can beat your stupid bulbasaur!" Charles heard as he and Sugar passed through the ever growing crowd of 10 year olds who just got their pokemon. Charles noticed a massive clump of kids around one other trainer. Charles politely pushed through a few people to see... A person he had never met before in his life. The kid in the center had spiky brown hair and wore a blue long sleeve shirt, "whoever this is, they are pretty popular," Charles said mostly to himself as he witnessed a whole parade of girls cheer for him.
"Pretty popular?!" A familiar voice squeaked. Charles winced at the mere sound of his 'friend's voice.
"You know this person Joey?" Charles asked turning. Joey was your typical 10 year old boy. His blue baseball cap was turned around so the bill was in the back, his yellow short sleeve shirt somehow managed to be both blinding and bland, and his shorts were just like the ones that weird kid who was obsessed with shorts wore. Joey was probably the most annoying kid in all of the Viridian city and the last thing he needed was any opportunity to brag about winning.
"Know him? Heck I practically worship him!" Joey said, still with an annoying look of superiority. "What kind of rock do you have to be living under to not know who Gary Oak is?" He smirked. Charles looked at Sugar as if to ask, 'do you know who this guy is?' Sugar shook his head as if to answer the question. Charles looked back at Joey and asked.
"Who is Gary Oak?" Joey's expression only shifted into a more annoying face and responded with.
"Only one of the greatest trainers to ever walk the earth." He said with a mix of admiration for Gary and mockery to Charles. Charles couldn't help but laugh.
"My mom would beg to differ, but I don't have time to stand around and watch what pokemon Gary has, I am too busy looking for 3 opponents." He said, turning away from the crowd and walking off. Joey ran quickly after him.
"NOT SO FAST, Charles! I happen to have gotten my first pokemon today too, and I think to start my undoubtably long chain of victories, I will start with you, and your little bug. What do you think of that?" The youngster gloated. Charles sighed and looked at Sugar, who had a look of readiness capable of moving a small rat. Luckily for Sugar, Joey was just in the middle of saying, "GO RATTATA!" In a less than graceful manner, Joey lobbed the ball at the ground, producing a purple rat. Charles shrugged his shoulders and responded with.
"Go Sugar!" He said, extending his arm for the caterpie to inch across, then hop off onto the floor. The two pokemon stared each other down, just waiting for an order from one of the two trainers. Joey began to tap his foot impatiently.
"Aren't you going to tell your caterpie to do something..?" Joey asked as if it were extremely obvious. In truth, Charles had never actually watched or even been close to a pokemon battle. Needless to say, he wasn't exactly prepared. Charles looked clueless and Joey could tell. After a heavy sigh and some grumbling about how he has to do everything himself he said, "Okay, since I am letting you take the first move, you need to tell your pokemon to do something... So... Tell it to use 'Tackle'" Joey called to his opponent. Charles looked at Sugar and said very unsurely.
"Sugar, use tackle!" Sugar lunged forward, slamming his head into the rat's soft belly, sending Joey's pokemon reeling backwards. "Woah! Nice one Sugar, you did that like you have done that before!" Charles said with enthusiasm. Joey smacked his forehead with his palm in frustration.
"Yea, probably because they use these kinds of moves in the wild to defend themselves!" He grouched. "Rattata, use tail whip!" The rattata trotted over and gently rubbed his tail across Sugar's face. Sugar shuddered and shivered and lowered to the ground. Charles tilted his head.
"Well that was a waste of a move, it didn't do much..." He said observantly. Joey could only laugh. Charles just shrugged, maybe Joey is just weird and think you are supposed to make the enemy pokemon sleep. "Sugar, use tackle again!" Sugar did as he was told and rammed into Joey's rattata. Joey grimaced.
"Rattata, use another tail whip!" He said, a bit less confidently this time. Rattata stumbled over and rubbed his tail on Sugar again. Charles really couldn't understand why anyone would use a move so useless, but he supposed a win was a win.
"Alright Sugar, use tackle...again... Hey Joey, do these guys get more moves? Or am I just going to be stuck saying 'tackle' for the rest of the time I train this guy." As Sugar went and carried out his command. Joey answered.
"Yea, they will usually show you that they learned a new move by using it on nothing or one of your own pokemon. Rattata, another tail whip!" The rattata was now bruised from all the tackles, but still valiantly rubbed his tail on the attack worm. Charles smiled.
"Sugar, use another move," Sugar turned to Charles like he was crazy but did as he was told. Suddenly a spray of string shot from Sugar and wrapped around the rat's feet. Joey nodded.
"Yea... That was string shot, it only slows down rattata, it's pretty much useless." He grinned, all Charles could do was point out what he thought.
"Well yea, but so is 'tailwhip'..." Charles said in defense of Sugar. Joey made a face that somehow made him look even more agitating.
"Oh is it...? RATTATA, USE TACKLE!" The rattata attempted to run over but couldn't really with all the string, but managed to ram into Sugar, launching him all the way back to Charles's feet. Joey began to laugh hysterically and chant.
"I WIN, I WIN, I WIN, I WIN, I WIN, I WIN" Charles looked horrified down at his caterpie. Somehow one tackle from that rat bruised the entirety of Sugar's face and body. Charles bent down to pick him up but Sugar hobbled up and walked back to the Rattata. Joey stopped chanting, he stopped talking, he was speechless. He finally got the words out. "Rattata, use tackle!" Rattata tried walking over but got tangled up in strings. Charles saw this was his chance.
"SUGAR, USE TACKLE!" Sugar with one last burst of energy, slammed into the rattata, it only rolled a few inches away. Both trainers were silently watching the rattata...And...It collapsed to the ground. Joey stared at his fainted rattata in horror. Charles smiled and held out a paper and pencil.
"Would you please sign this paper saying I won against you?" He grinned. Joey snatched the paper and glared at Charles while signing.
"Mark my word Charles, I will be your rival, and I will defeat you!" He said, finishing his signature. He scooped up his rattata and ran off to the ground and scuttled off to the pokecenter. Charles beamed with pride for his caterpie. Sugar chirped happily back at his owner and scurried back up his leg. Charles pat Sugar on the head and marched towards the pokecenter behind Joey. "1 down, 2 to go..."