Golden Rivals, Silver Friends

Chapter Five:

School Days

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My birthday falls on November 16th, while Satoshi's is on August 28th. Since I missed the September cutoff date for starting school, the two of us ended up in the same grade, even though our ages were at the extremes.

From kindergarten, the two of us were inseparable. There really weren't many other kids in Masara, but all of them in our grade were older and bigger than Satoshi. Ever since he was very young, everyone I knew had been protective of him. His mom, my grandpa, Nanami... and me. Hanako-san had always been convinced that Satoshi was too small or too fragile to play with the bigger kids, me excepted. As a result, he'd lived a pretty isolated life, and I was his only window out of it.

At school, it was no different. Satoshi was friendly enough, but I think it was the other kids who didn't include him in whatever they were doing. Since I couldn't just abandon my best friend (and at that thought, I wondered what could've possibly separated us), I'd stayed by his side all through that year. We did everything side by side. In fact, I'm pretty sure the teachers and other adults fondly reminisce about how they jokingly (and I think, accidentally) called us "Satoru" from time to time.

School in Masara is a little different from attending school in the other, bigger towns. First of all, there's usually only one class in each grade, so you're pretty much forced to know everyone. Second, you learn a lot about Pokémon. After all, who wouldn't want to learn from Ookido Hakase himself?

As it was, Grandpa occasionally paid visits to our school. Since I was now attending, those visits became more frequent, and one day, our kindergarten class got to visit his lab for a field trip. Of course, Satoshi and I weren't as excited as some of the others, seeing as how we'd been there a bazillion times before. Even so, I noticed that everyone's snacks seemed to disappear extra fast that morning, including Satoshi's.

We all trotted up the stairs to Grandpa's lab in a single file line... except for Satoshi and me, who went alongside each other in back, as always. When we got up to the top, everyone stared at the door in awe, until I got irritated and knocked on it, like I had so many times before. When Grandpa opened the door, he greeted us warmly, then invited us in.

Everyone kept staring with excitement at the everyday things I had grown up with! The stacks of books, the Poké Balls littering the desks, even murmuring about that moldy smell that comes with too many papers put away in storage. But Satoshi and I were waiting for the good part; the Pokémon. Finally, Grandpa announced, "Who would like to see a Pokémon up close?"

"We going to the field...?" Satoshi whispered to me. I shrugged, not really caring. We'd been to that field so many times now, I was sure that if the entire school group got lost, I'd be able to find a way back for us.

To our disappointment, Grandpa merely took us out to the back of his lab, where the grass was kept short and the Pokémon were very small, like the Pidgey we'd encountered before. Everyone began "aww"-ing over the Pokémon like Nidoran and Rattata, but Satoshi and I were bored. After all, even though we'd searched the big field through and through, we'd never seen a Pokémon bigger than us.

While the rest of the group was playing in Grandpa's little petting zoo, Satoshi and I wandered off, clambering over and through the fence (I was too big to fit under it now, and whatever I did, Satoshi copied).

"Where do you want to go?" I asked Satoshi. He shrugged, imitating me from earlier.

"We been everywhere. You think there's Pokémon here?" he asked, showing for the first time a shadow of doubt about this field.

"... of course I'm sure!" I said, starting to wonder myself. "We just have to find... what are you doing?"

Satoshi was reaching into his pockets, fumbling around for something. To my utter surprise, he drew out a cookie, our snack from that morning. "See? Pokémon food!" he announced proudly.

"Satoshi, that's not..."

"Come here, Pokémon!" he shouted, throwing the cookie into the grass. I sighed at the loss of a perfectly good snack. But before I could scold him further...

"Shigeru! Pokémon!"

Stunned, both of us stepped backward as out of the grass rose a giant, flaming horse! Judging from the ashes falling from its mane, Satoshi had hit it right in the head...

"Raaa!"

"Run, Satoshi!" Hurriedly, we scrambled back to where the others were, scratching our hands on the fence. Grandpa turned to us.

"Were you in that corral again?"

"Grampa! Big Pokémon! All on fire! Whooosh!" Satoshi yelped, panting, and all the while waving his arms around excitedly, trying to show how big that Pokémon had been.

"Fire?" the teacher repeated worriedly.

"Oh... that'll be that Rapidash that just got here..." Grandpa said, waving it off. Just then, the fire horse, the Rapidash, came ambling up to the fence, sticking its nose out and watching everyone carefully. Satoshi and I hid behind Grandpa, who merely laughed.

"Don't worry, boys. That's a gentle one," he reassured us. Walking over to pat its head, he started throwing out Pokémon facts. "Did you know that Rapidash can run at 150 miles an hour? It's just about the fastest thing alive!"

"Ooh..." our classmates murmured. Satoshi and I looked at each other. I was a little surprised when he frowned.

"What's wrong?" I asked, worried that he might have hurt himself climbing the wooden fence so quickly.

"No more Pokémon food..."

I blinked, then laughed. "Don't worry! Grandpa has tons of Pokémon food in the storage room!"

Satoshi brightened up. "Storage room!" The two of us tore off for where we knew the bags of Pokémon food were kept.

Grandpa suddenly noticed us running off. "Hey! You two! Come back here!..."

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The sun was warm and bright by now, the same brightness that came off of a Rapidash's fiery mane and tail. I smiled at the memory.

Virtually every kid loves Pokémon. There are so many different kinds, and each individual has its own personality, that it's hard not to find one that fits you. And you can never get bored with them, either; they're always changing and evolving, just like you do.

Changing...

Even though the day was sunny, I couldn't help but feel a cloud hanging over me. Ever since that first day, when I started thinking about that little itch in the back of my mind, it had felt like there was a huge weight hanging over me... I couldn't explain it, but it was starting to stress me out, like the tension and the dread before a huge test. My feet started moving a little faster, as if the journey home would bring me to some answers.

I thought. What else did I do in school?

'Pokémon Lessons!' Of course! I nearly smacked myself in the face.

Satoshi had loved Pokémon Lessons... Not being the type who was particularly good at sitting down and learning his times tables, he'd always been excited when we finally started learning about something that he enjoyed. Plus, I'd always been there to give him tips when he couldn't think of anything...

... although, thinking back, I'd really been the one with all of the knowledge...

I paused in my thoughts.

What had happened to that? Satoshi had always come to me for all of the answers he needed. He'd always trusted what I had to say, and even when I didn't know what was right, he made decisions based on my thoughts.

What happened? It would've taken something strong to break that trust...

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"Why do you always copy..."

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I froze, both inside and out. My mind instantly switched to a blank, and I couldn't move a muscle...

I started thinking about what I'd do once I got home, what I'd eat, how I'd let my Pokémon out into the corral, how I might fire up the old Super Nintendo and...

'Satoshi got a Super Nintendo for his eighth birthday...'

"Gah!" I shouted. Without knowing why, I took off running down the trail. Unfortunately, the trail was quite rocky and bumpy, and I nearly tripped. Sinking to my knees, and glad that no one could see me, I panted until I caught my breath. After a few minutes of rest and a blank mind, I slowly got up and kept walking.

Okay... Pokémon Lessons...

Glad to find something to keep my mind occupied, I kept walking...

... but I knew now.

Something had changed.

... someone had changed.