Chapter Five; Training Begins

"Which poke food did you give them this morning?"

"The ones labeled for them."

Misty sighed. "You didn't even notice that they were ALL bulbasaur food?"

Tia stared up at her for a moment, then turned to look at her pokemon, most of whom were nursing stomach aches. "They were? Why weren't they in the right jars?"

"Because, Tia, you're supposed to be able to tell. If the jars are mixed up, you're supposed to go to Brock and say, 'This isn't food for water pokemon, there's not enough salt or meat in it, and they're allergic to this kind of fiber.' You need to know all the needs of your pokemon and be able to cater to them. This isn't Rocket Academy, Tia. This is the real world. Where pokemon have needs, not just you."

Tia looked down at her feet, biting her lip. "I.I'm sorry. May I please take them to the Pokecenter?

Misty nodded and smiled. "Now THAT'S the attitude I want. Get them fixed up as quickly as possible." Tia gathered up her pokemon and headed for the door. "Don't forget to buy some more of that Antidote 4-C for your Wooper!" Misty called after her. "He's still got that cough!"

She turned and walked to the kitchen, where Brock was preparing lunch. He tossed her a roll, and she sat down at the counter.

"Tough day already, huh?"

"Yeah," said Misty, swallowing her first bite. "Tia failed the food thing. I can't understand it. I know those pokemon have been having specialized food right from the egg, she really cares about them and can afford it without any problems. So why can't she tell the difference between the foods?"

Brock grabbed a roll for himself and sat down across from her. "Maybe she hasn't been the one feeding them."

"What do you mean? She stole them or something? She may be trained as a Rocket, but she wouldn't do that."

"No, I know she wouldn't. I'm not saying that. But she's really rich, right? Her whole family probably is. So maybe at home she has someone who does that stuff for her. Feeds her pokemon, washes her clothes, that sort of thing."

Misty poured herself some juice, frowning. "She can't be THAT rich."

"Why not?" Brock watched her as Misty capped the juice and sat back down. "Maybe the question we should be asking is, 'where is Tia from?' She said something about people not wanting her here. What if there's someone looking for her?"

"Hmm." Misty sighed, looking out the window. Tia, she saw, was talking to one of the many boys in the town who had fallen for her. Everyone loved the girl - surely someone missed her? "I'll look into it. Make some discreet inquiries, ask Tia about her past."

"Good," said Brock, nodding and getting up. "I'm glad that's settled. The burgers would've started to burn if we'd been worrying about pretty young students any longer."

Misty laughed, and went to help Tia give Wooper his medicine.