Chapter 3: Ladies First

(Gina Ikeda)

Gina could not believe how busy she'd been. Ever since the Expo had started, it seemed all she did was assist people. It was a little irksome, since she very much wanted to go explore and partake in all her hard work. After the second day of this her mother requested that people not bother the children and instead ask help of the adults, which allowed Gina a bit more time to herself.

The week flew by in a flurry, far too fast for Gina's tastes. Soon it was the morning of the New Trainer Initiative, and Gina found herself milling about with the other kids disgustingly early in the morning, waiting in a haphazard mass for the adults to give them direction. They were shoved into lines at last, and now it was the waiting game.

It was a New Trainer Initiative tradition that the kids from the hosting city would allow the visitors a place in line before them. Gina had been expecting this and was not particularly bothered, if she didn't count the blazing sun that would tire her out quickly. She had been nervous that Professor Drake would run out of starters, but when she had voiced this concern, he smiled and shook his head. "We have twice what we need, Gina. Don't worry! Unless every single one of you decides on the exact same starter, we'll be fine."

Gina noticed with no surprise that Amaris was heading the line, completely disregarding etiquette. He was the topic of some annoyed discussion around her.

"Is that Amaris? Frick, why does he get to go up there, and we're back here? Spoiled ass."

Gina nodded vaguely in agreement, not really contributing to the talk behind her but glaring at Amaris' head and wishing it to set ablaze.

There was a tap on her shoulder from behind though, and she was forced to put a halt in her attempts to commit long-distance mental arson. It was Finn Michaels, a fellow twelve-year-old who had just barely missed the age limit cut-off last year at Cinnabar. Gina smiled at him and exchanged a thumbs up.

"Excited?" she asked, a dumb question.

"Oh, yeah. You?" Gina nodded. "What's your starter gonna be?" he continued.

"And let you get a type advantage over me? I don't think so!" She grinned slyly at him and he laughed.

"Well, I'm getting a Bulbasaur no matter what you say. Smartest choice!" A girl behind him murmured her agreement.

Gina felt an inner wiggle of discomfort, but she kept her smile in place. "Well, maybe I like a challenge."

Finn raised his eyebrows. "Charmander?" he asked, reading between the lines and finding the correct answer. "Cool."

Once I get past the first two Gyms, yeah, Gina thought. She tried not to let it worry her. "Thanks."

Amaris walked past them at that moment, and directed his self-satisfied smirk over to Gina as he tossed his new Pokéball in the air. Gina fought the urge to trip him, and behind her Finn sighed testily.

Their conversation tapered off from there, and it was all for the better. Gina and the others moved through the line in weird bursts, fast at times, then painfully slow at others. Either way the sun was very high now, and Gina was not interested in making small talk any longer. Adults passed out refreshments along the line, which was a life-saver. Gina finished her lemonade a little too fast and took to etching designs on the lip of her paper cup with her nail out of nerves. It seemed like forever before it was her turn; already people were battling their Pokémon around her. Gina was simultaneously thrilled and terrified.

When she walked into the air-conditioned comfort of the Oak Pokémon Research Center, Gina was stunned to see that only about an hour had gone by since the doors had first opened. She supposed her anxiousness had made it seem like so much more time. She passed the infamous copy machine and headed to the back of the lab, where Professor Drake was waiting for her.

"Gina," he said, grinning broadly at her. "How are you feeling today? Like a new trainer yet?"

"I will," Gina said, trying so hard to sound more cool and collected than she was, "once you give me a Charmander."

"Charmander it is," the professor said, giving her a warm smile. "I sort of thought you'd take that route. Not surprised in the slightest."

"Thanks," Gina said, actually meaning it that time. At times she had severely doubted her decision. Amaris in particular always made her second-guess herself. It was just an innate talent of his. He'd caused her to vacillate back and forth over her starter about nine times over the past year, but Gina just kept coming back to Charmander. She didn't know what it was; it could be something as complex as destiny or as mundane as seeing her Charmander watch every day.

Either way, Gina felt nothing of her leftover anxiety when Professor Drake presented her with the sphere of high-polished chrome a moment later. All that was left was an ecstatic feeling of energy rising higher and higher inside until it had nowhere to go but out. In a moment of sheer impulse, Gina took a step forward and hugged Professor Drake, who laughed heartily and hugged her back.

"Right then! Don't forget all about us here in Pallet when you're traveling the world."

"I won't," Gina said, grinning ear-to-ear and finding everything in the world funny and wonderful. She stayed long enough to sign a paper, program her thumbprint into her shiny red Pokédex, and then she was off through the double-doors into the hot summer sun, triumph on her face. She high-fived Finn as he passed her on his way to the professor.

Gina could not stop staring at it. It was three inches in diameter, sealed air-tight with a tiny round aiming laser set into the button in the front, a new feature to the fabulous device that was now hers. Gina did not see Amaris until she had just about run into him.

"Took you long enough," he said, unkind mirth in his teal eyes. He was clutching his Pokéball in one hand, his other arm resting at his side.

"That's because I let the people from out of town go first. The way you're supposed to," she retorted, narrowing her eyes and attempting to step past him.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Gina looked around as if for hidden cameras or the answer to a trick question. "Uh... I'm going away from you."

"Running from your first trainer battle? Tch, typical."

Gina had understood what he meant a second before he said it. She struggled not to, but her skin betrayed her and she flushed red, embarrassed to have missed that very obvious social cue. Here she thought she would take to training like a fish to water. She clearly had a long ways to go. "You could have just said so," she grumbled, taking a few steps back to clear an "arena" of space between them.

"What, and miss that fantastic display?" he said, grinning and also taking many steps back. "I think not."

Gina struggled to keep her composure. She had not even seen her Pokémon yet, and this was not how she imagined herself first meeting it. She was trying to figure out how to let it out and assure herself that the first thing Charmander would see would be her. She'd read it in a training book and wanted to do everything right.

Amaris raised an eyebrow as Gina contorted her arm in weird ways. "What are you doing?"

"This is the first time I've seen my Pokémon, as I'm sure you've gathered. I'd like to see it out of combat first."

Amaris wore an expression of absolute puzzlement, no parts sarcastic for a moment. He seemed genuinely confused. "... Why would you ever see your Pokémon outside of battle?" he asked, his brow furrowing.

Gina just stared at him, her expression as baffled as his. "You're not even being sarcastic. That's just, your real opinion. Wow." She shook her head and managed to hold the Pokéball away from her at arm's length and face the laser down to the ground. The angle would assure that Charmander emerged from the Pokéball facing her. While Amaris was still mulling over her actions, Gina took a deep breath and hit the button.

Red light began to form a sketchy shape. Gina's breath died in her throat as she watched. It almost hurt her eyes to comprehend the technological wonder before her. To her surprise, she could feel a small shift in the Pokéball as this happened; it was such a subtle difference, like the feeling of a dead battery versus a full one, almost imperceptible. Yet it was there. She felt the Pokéball deflate, somehow, as if it were becoming no more magical than any old hunk of metal. The wonder she had felt when receiving it just moments ago was being transferred out into the creature materializing before her.

Orange, was the first thing Gina thought. Of course she'd seen a Charmander before, in books and on TV, but nothing could have prepared her for the vivid colors and reality of the creature now. The Pokémon looked around it slowly, taking in her sneakers, the grass, and looking up at the sky behind her. She found it odd that it saved looking into her face for last.

Gina's eyebrows shot up into her bangs as she beheld the large pair of teal eyes that met hers. A wave of regret washed over her as she realized they were the precise shade of Amaris'.

Gina had been so wrapped up in staring at her new Pokémon that she had quite missed Amaris sending out his. She turned to face him, hoping for anything but what she saw. There was the small turquoise creature with large, intelligent eyes and a shining brown shell set into its back.

Of course. Of course Amaris would make the one choice that would give him an automatic type advantage over her.

It also did not help her mood that she was being laughed at. "What the hell is so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. It just figures that you'd make that choice," he said, covering his face with his hand briefly so all she could see was his grin. He lowered it a second later and stared at her incredulously, humor dripping from his voice. "Do you have any idea how difficult a time you'll have against Pewter's Leader? I thought I'd changed your mind about that last month."

Gina bit back quickly, but inside she was anything but confident. "Water-types aren't that tough. You'll be singing a different tune at Vermillion." She tried to spit the words out with venom, but it didn't sound right to her.

"You won't even make it that far," Amaris said, his sneer back in place now.

"Enough talk," Gina snarled, itching to wipe the floor with that smirk. "Time to back it up."

"My pleasure," Amaris answered coolly. Gina stood, balanced tensely on the knife's edge, waiting for Amaris to strike. When he did nothing, she fixed him with an accusatory glare. "Ladies first," he said simply, slipping his hands into his pockets. He added under his breath, "You'll need it."

This smug gesture tipped her over the edge. "Fine! Charmander!" The Pokémon fixed her with an unwavering stare. "Scratch attack!"

There was a faltering moment of hesitation where Gina was terrified that Charmander wouldn't obey. After those few seconds, though, the Pokémon fixed that stare onto Squirtle and, without any warning, leaped forward and slashed wildly at the small turtle's exposed underbelly. Angry red marks appeared on the cream-yellow skin.

Gina's face split into a smile as Charmander leapt back and flicked its tail from side to side in a gesture of what looked like contempt.

Amaris was unimpressed. "Tackle!"

Without that moment's hesitation that her Charmander had displayed, the turtle righted itself and slammed full-force into the lizard. The two went sailing, and Gina thought for a wild moment that they would slam into her. They stopped before they reached her though, and merely skidded to a painful-looking halt inches away. Squirtle was practically riding her struggling Charmander like a surfboard, a display of show-off bravado that reminded Gina instantly of the boy in front of her.

Charmander was livid. Without waiting for Gina's next command (which would have been Scratch again, anyway) it leapt forward and scratched viciously at the turtle—and didn't stop.

"Charmander!" Gina shouted, appalled at her Pokémon's lack of control. "Stop! That's cheating! Stop!"

Amaris scowled. "Can't you control your damn Pokémon?" he snapped, before turning his attention back to the fray. "Squirtle, Tackle it again! Let's end this sad excuse for a battle!"

Squirtle was more than happy to oblige, cocking its head back and ramming Charmander ruthlessly into the ground. Gina's Pokédex began to beep in her pocket. She pulled it out and looked through the viewfinder to see that Amaris' Squirtle still had over a third of its health. It was apparent this fight would not end in her favor. Gina aimed the tiny red laser, so like a sniper rifle, at her Pokémon. "Congrats," she said flatly, trying to be mature and collected like the four heavy-weight contenders from the Expo. She hoped she didn't sound as utterly defeated as she felt.

Red light engulfed Charmander, but right before its form vanished completely into the digital haze, its teal eyes sharply met her own again, as if saying, I could have won if you'd just let me!

Gina could have sworn she was imagining it, but didn't have time to think about it. Charmander vanished into the ball, and Gina realized it, with a sinking sensation in her gut. She'd just had, and lost, her very first Pokémon battle.

"That was pathetic," Amaris said, frowning at Squirtle as he recalled it. Gina knew he was talking about her, even though it sounded as if he was referring to her Charmander's performance.

Gina just wanted to get out of there. She turned over a few marks to Amaris for his win, which he accepted with an eye roll. Then she turned and started off towards Professor Drake's lab. No one else was in line now, and she could get Charmander healed there. It wounded her deeply to know that Amaris was watching her run to his uncle for treatment after her defeat.

The Pokéball felt different in her hand now. The light tingle that she'd mistakenly thought of as magical earlier did not seem so anymore. Now it just seemed like the hum of one very angry Pokémon buzzing about inside its entrapment, waiting impatiently for the next fight, and its next opportunity to utterly embarrass her again.

"Well, you're definitely not the first one to come here," the professor said as he handed Gina a paper cup of lemonade, which seemed like all there was to drink in Pallet Town right now. "People have been battling left and right today."

"Mmm," Gina muttered noncommittally, sipping from her cup. They shared more silence as her Pokémon, along with quite a few more, sat in the strange rejuvenation machine. After a moment, Professor Drake spoke up again.

"So, I take it Amaris was the one with whom you battled?"

"Gee," Gina said, not meaning to sound so sarcastic, "Whatever gave you that idea?"

Professor Drake smiled a little, and Gina could not find the meaning behind the expression. "Well, he had been waiting around for about an hour for you to be done getting your starter."

Gina frowned at the professor, a little baffled. "I thought he'd have wanted to just leave already, or fight as many people as possible."

"Nope," the professor said, checking on some Pokéballs and removing a few. He punched in numbers to a wall of switches and blinking lights, then came over to Gina again. "He's been, I suppose you could say 'lying in wait,' specifically for you."

Gina felt like the professor was implying something, but she had no idea what. "Good to know I'm his favorite person to torment," she grumbled, knowing that talking badly about the professor's nephew wasn't very mature, but not caring.

"Yes, well, Amaris does know what he wants," he said vaguely. "He'll be heading out soon too, I expect. Maybe after lunch."

Of course, Gina thought. Since that's when I'm planning to leave. He has to unknowingly ruin everything for me, after all. She was still enormously sore about the tarnishing of her first meeting with Charmander and would not be forgetting that any time soon.

Gina sighed and let herself feel miserably sorry for herself for a few more moments. In that span of time she watched trainers come in and claim their Pokéballs from Professor Drake's aides. She couldn't help scowling slightly whenever someone claimed a Squirtle. Finally Gina got up when Professor Drake motioned to her that her Pokémon was ready.

"So," he said, handing it to her, "you have one with a temper issue?"

"Oh, yeah," Gina said, sighing. "That's an understatement."

"They do tend to oversimplify the training process in a lot of books and movies," Professor Drake said, shaking his head. "Pokémon training takes a lot more work than is given credit to it."

"I'm starting to get that," Gina said, trying not to sound sulky and glum. "Well, do you have any final pointers?"

"All I can say is, treat your Pokémon like your equal. The more superior you behave to it…" Professor Drake trailed off, taking a chart and running his finger across it. "Ah. You have a male Charmander. Well, the more superior you behave to him, the less he will like you. Try to come to your own understanding... and remember, reinforcing positive actions is always a good place to start."

"Hah," Gina said. "Hopefully Charmander will actually have some positive actions for me to reinforce." She smiled at him though. "Thanks."

"No problem, Gina," he said, smiling and waving over another girl to return her Bulbasaur. "Oh, and," he began, hitting a few more buttons on the wall, then turning back to her, "Try not to let Amaris get to you too much."

Gina instead had to try not to openly grimace at the mention of the Professor's nephew. "Um... yeah," she said, unable to think of a better reply.

Professor Drake smiled one of those very knowing adult smiles, the kind that most others donned on her a lot but he rarely did. Gina frowned at him a little, but shrugged it off and headed out through the double-doors into the late afternoon, ready for what came next. Her bags were already packed, and all that was left was lunch and a very difficult goodbye.

After Gina double-checked the bags in her room, she found herself with a strange spot of anxiety she had not expected to feel. She dawdled, not wanting to face saying goodbye to her mother and starting off into the world. Through her window she could see many of the remaining trainers who had not left earlier in the day trailing out onto Route 1.

There was a knock at her door, and Gina knew it was no use. She'd been looking forward to this day her whole life, and there was no way her mom would really believe she would stall unless something was wrong. "Come in."

Gina thought she'd be able to keep it together fairly well, but just the tentative look on her mom's face did her in. She suddenly had to blink very rapidly and fight back a choking feeling in her throat, instantaneous emotional reactions that overwhelmed her. Her mom picked up on it and, bless her, made frantic and comical fanning motions at her own face. "No! No, no, stop that!" she said, laughing through her near-tears. "You'll get me started!"

Gina burst out laughing, glad the awkwardness had been cut, and gave her mother a hug. "Y'know how you've been asking me all week if I'm nervous? I am now."

"If I was any other mom, you know I'd be saying, 'oh, honey, you don't have to go! No one's forcing you!'" Gina smiled up at her and they took a short step back. "But I know you wouldn't forgive yourself if you didn't at least try for this."

Gina was not doing a good job keeping her composure. "Thanks, mom. Love you."

"Love you too. Now, come on. Lunch before I have to go to work."

Somehow Gina thought that after the first ten minutes of walking down Route 1, the excitement would wear off a little. So far she had been wrong. It felt like she'd given herself a steady drip of coffee through an IV. Every little thing seemed to be amazing, and it was even more amazing that she was walking this walk alone.

One thing she hadn't been prepared for was all the choices that lay before her. She'd assumed her path would be very linear and predictable: Viridian, Pewter, Cerulean, Vermillion, Celadon, Saffron, Fuchsia, Cinnabar, and back to Viridian. That was sort of "The Order," an unspoken dotted line trail that was supposed to spell success for trainers. Of course one could always go out of order, but she suspected few did.

It really wasn't that simple, though. Gina had to make five decisions in the span of ten minutes regarding her journey. Should she avoid the grass and get to Viridian first, to buy Pokéballs? Was she gutsy enough to battle wild Pokémon just for experience, and run the risk of Charmander disobeying? If she needed to heal it up, should she go back to Pallet (something she didn't really want) or forge forward to Viridian? How long should she linger in Route 1? Would she really be able to resist the Viridian City Gym when she saw it?

Gina shook her head. This trainer business was a lot of action, decisiveness, and boldness. She could tell she'd get tired of all the questions soon, but would not grow tired of her newfound freedom.

Forty minutes and one random Pidgey attack later, Gina arrived in Viridian.

Viridian City really was much larger than Pallet Town. Gina had visited on occasion with her mother, but had never been there alone. Now that she wasn't merely tagging along for a shopping trip she felt a sudden rush of freedom. She was truly able to do whatever the heck she wanted.

First thing was first; the PokéMart called to her.

The man working the counter sort of fell short of her expectations. She had expected a bright-eyed, helpful worker, ready to give her as much friendly advice as merchandise. He seemed exhausted and zombie-like though, and Gina found very soon that he was no good for conversation. He shortchanged her for her five Pokéballs and she had to show him the $1 mark he had given her in place of the $10 mark she should have gotten. He even glared at her for a second, like he suspected her of pulling a fast one on him, but eventually gave her the proper change. Gina had been eager to buy Antidotes and Potions as well, but decided she should wait until this guy was replaced by someone better on a different shift.

All-in-all, Viridian was full of exhausted people. It took Gina a while to remember that virtually all of the people who had come flooding into Pallet last week were rooming in Viridian for as much as a month beforehand. No wonder this city seemed utterly unimpressed with all the new trainers like herself. She supposed she should feel lucky she wasn't getting pelted with rocks.

Still undecided about how long she would stay here, Gina wound up checking into the bright green Pokémon Center. She couldn't decide if she liked the decor or wanted to puke when she saw it. The receptionist gave her a key-chain with the number fifteen in the center of a smiling Chansey's belly. "You're in luck, a lot of the new trainers have skipped us altogether and moved on to the Forest already."

Gina thanked the woman and dropped her things off. It was around there that the glamor of her journey started to wear off, just a little, in the wake of how endless her opportunities were. On one hand, it was freaking fantastic. On the other, she could not do much else other than sit there and be overwhelmed by how much she still had ahead of her. After a few moments of zoning out and absorbing it, Gina got up and packed a smaller bag with only the necessities: her five Pokéballs, a single spray bottle of Potion, a bottle of drinking water, her Pokédex and of course, Charmander. Gina felt a squirm of dread when she looked at his Pokéball. The Pidgey attack had gone well enough, but he seemed to have just wanted to blow off steam then. She wondered how he would handle now.

Back out in Route 1, Gina soon found out.

"Dammit! I said freaking Leer! Leer! Do you even know what that is? God!"

Charmander snorted steam out of his nostrils and actually rolled his eyes at her before proceeding to use Scratch attack on the female Nidoran instead. Gina felt like throwing something. She recalled Charmander before he could do more damage to the thing, which was looking scuffed up and dazed. Gina then aimed to the ground right beside the Pokémon and tossed the ball (a little too lightly as she found out.) It did not deploy and the Nidoran looked ready to make a break for it. Gina threw another much harder, and it hit the ground beside the Nidoran and absorbed it in red light. She couldn't see the light on the front of the Pokéball, but after waiting the allotted thirty seconds, and then another three full minutes, she approached it cautiously. It would be just like her to pick up the ball, thinking she had succeeded, and then suddenly have an armful of frantic, flailing Nidoran.

But no, it had been caught as far as she could tell. This was not the way she had pictured this moment. In her head she had imagined striking a pose and holding the Pokéball triumphantly to the sky, a big grin on her face. Lens flare would have hit the chrome at just the right angle and theme music would have started up in the background. Then for good measure, somewhere in the world, someone would kick Amaris in the gut.

Instead Gina fumbled to pull out her Pokédex, dropped it, picked it back up, and flipped it open. There were three notifications, and she clicked the topmost one that had an exclamation point beside it. "Nidoran (female) has been caught!" Gina's face broke into her first genuine, ridiculous grin since before her defeat by Amaris.

The second notification was from her mom. It was a text message that said: "Good luck, honey! This cost me 15 cents, so use only for emergencies. Call me from PKMN Centers or write, okay? Luv you!"

The third was a broadcast message from Professor Drake. "To all trainers: remember that the help menu is at the bottom of the scroll bar. Also, call Tech Support in your phonebook if you need help. The phonebook is the icon in the upper left. I'm swamped with calls and I can't help you all!"

Gina laughed and scrolled over to her Pokédex to read the information on Nidoran. There was a stunning amount of data, but she was more interested in the specific Nidoran she had just captured. Her Pokémon was fifteen pounds, a foot tall, and categorized as level four. She knew Growl and Tackle. Gina could not stop smiling.

While she was smiling, a Rattata attacked and she almost sent out her near-collapse Nidoran instead of Charmander. Charmander kicked its ass without allowing Gina to even consider catching the thing.

It was going to be a long journey.