The next day was one of Satoshi's worst. Naturally, it was a Monday. Sakura had been waiting outside of Satoshi's house, slightly bruised and battered. She gave him an angry look. "Thanks for the help with the Pidgeys yesterday," she said dryly.
"Look, I'm sorry about that, but, why come here? Aren't we going to Ookido Hakase's lab today?"
"That's why I'm here, Satoshi. He didn't get a Bulbasaur, he received a Bulbasaur egg that won't hatch until tomorrow afternoon. So it looks like we've got two more days of school to suffer through," she suddenly noticed that his backpack seemed a little stretched, looking about to burst. "You're bringing your egg to school?" she demanded. "Why?"
"I talked to a trainer who was passing by yesterday evening. He said that it was going to hatch sometime today, and I don't want to miss that."
"Satoshi, get the egg out of your backpack. If you crush it in there, it's not the same thing as hatching."
Satoshi gave her a scowl. "Come on," he said. "We might as well get going, or we'll be late."
School was even worse than usual, and Satoshi wondered what could possibly be worse than what he was going through. The Lit and Math teachers were rather unhappy that he'd brought a Pokemon egg to school. Some of the students seemed upset too, including, for a reason Satoshi couldn't possibly understand, Takeru, the only one of his friends in this class.
At lunch, he found out. He was the first one of his group to arrive. Sitting down, he put the egg on a cushion he'd brought with him. Then he took out his lunch. Instantly seven other kids crammed at the table, asking if they could see his Pokemon egg, if it was going to hatch soon, if they could touch it, what kind it was, and many other questions. Satoshi wasn't happy. Sakura, sitting down beside him, began answering questions. Whenever someone reached out to touch the slightly quivering egg, she would slap his hand away, saying, "It's Satoshi's egg, not yours."
Satoshi saw Izumi approach, she, like Sakura had that morning, was looking at him angrily. "Thanks for letting us know that you weren't interested in coming to the movies, Satoshi," she said spitefully. "Since their policy is 'No refunds,' it's nice to know that you were willing to prevent us from spending money on your ticket."
"What are you talking about?" he demanded. "What movies?"
"Didn't your mother tell you?" Izumi asked. "She said did, and she thought that it was weird that you wouldn't-" She saw the egg for the first time. "Oh, I see you're busy. I take it that Sakura's completely beat up because of the Pokemon you had to go past to get that egg?"
Satoshi tried to protest that his mother hadn't mentioned the movies, that he'd been gone all day on the path to Viridian City. Izumi cut him off. "She told you while you were leaving. At least, that's what she said."
A vague memory of his mother shouting something at him entered his mind, but he hadn't listened. "Listen, Izumi, I'm-"
Izumi cut him off. "I take it you'd rather hang out with her, a girl you couldn't have known for much more than three days, instead of your best friends. Enjoy your Pokemon," she said coldly. "Because, it seems that our birthday present to you isn't necessary." She just turned around and walked away, angrily ignoring Satoshi's sputtering protests.
Cold realization hit Satoshi as Izumi sat down beside Junpei and Takeru a few tables away. Junpei was happily playing with the Izumi's Pikachu!
His egg was now rocking violently, and Sakura sighed. "I think she's just a little angry that you don't really need the present she was going to give you. She'll cool off in a few hours, and it'll all be normal tomorrow. One last summer day with your friends."
Sakura's words were soothing, and even the egg seemed to have been calmed by her words. Then, so suddenly Satoshi was sure he must have blinked and missed something, a small baby Pidgey was sitting in the middle of a piece of eggshell, calling desperately for food. Satoshi was ready, and he handed the bird some berries.
The baby Pidgey actually expanded with every mouthful. Satoshi was soon holding a happy, full Pidgey, asleep in the crook of his arm. Reaching awkwardly, Satoshi took the Pokeball two days ago out of his backpack. As he held the half-crimson sphere above the Pidgeys head and pressed a small button on one part of it, the sphere opened up, and the Pidgey disappeared into it.
The crowd of kids dispersed a little, the questions persisted. "Is this your first Pokemon?" "Are you an official trainer?" "Are you going to leave on an attempt to get into the League?" "Are you gonna try to be a gym leader?" The questions rolled off of both him and Sakura. Their quiet indifference sent most of the kids away, except for one.
One Ookido Shigeru, to be precise. "So, you've got a Pidgey, huh?" he said. "I've got a Spearow." He drew out a Pokeball of his own and lightly tossed it out onto the table. The Spearow gave a caw of delight, and looked around for a Pokemon to fight. The table was once again buzzing with attention, questions being asked of Shigeru. He grinned and answered every last one of them, attempting to make Satoshi look like an idiot.
Sakura muttered something under her breath. For a moment or two, Satoshi thought he heard singing, but not from Sakura. It ceased just as suddenly as it had come. The Spearow passed out on the table.
"Pathetic!" taunted one kid. "It just fell asleep for no reason."
"I can see it now," sneered another. "You'll be fighting the last gym leader, and all of a sudden, your Pokemon will just pass out, in front of everyone in the gym. You'll be a laughing stock!"
Laughter spread around the room. Shigeru scowled at his Pokemon, and held out his Pokeball, which emitted a red beam of light which surrounded the Spearow. With his Pokemon in its Pokeball, he left the room, muttering under his breath.
Sakura held up her Pokeball, and the same red light appeared, flashing under the table. She grinned at him. "He forgot that I have a Pokemon too."
"How did your Pokemon do that?"
"Don't you remember?" she asked. "I told you, it can sing other Pokemon to sleep. Not humans though. You might have noticed it, but everyone else was paying to much attention to Shigeru to hear it. So, the Spearow fell asleep, and no one is the wiser."
The rest of the day went without incident, and Satoshi forgot that his friends had been angry with him. He went home, found everything he'd want for his trip, and slept happily for the first time in a few days.
However, Sakura's prediction about Izumi's mood had been wrong. Incredibly wrong. When Satoshi got to lunch on his last day of school, Shigeru was sitting at his regular spot, talking to Izumi and Junpei. Takeru was absent. Junpei was hanging out with Pikachu, and was constantly talking to it happily. Satoshi approached them to chat, but Shigeru pointed at him, at Izumi and Junpei gave him such angry stares that Satoshi found Sakura and her gang and sat with them instead.
One girl was looking at Shigeru angrily. "He's the worst kid in this school. He's such a brat. He's trying to ruin your friendship with them, but you'll both be gone tomorrow, and when you get back, the anger will be gone."
Sakura nodded. "He'd seen us on Saturday, so he took your friends to the same place on Sunday. I think he threw that other rock, maybe he was even trying to hit you. It's okay though, Izumi is the only other person with a Pokemon in town, and she's too young to be a trainer. When you get back from your travels, you can be friends again. I mean, you'll have gotten all the badges by then. They'll probably even help you with the league."
For the rest of the day, Satoshi focused on that one image in his head. Of Izumi, Junpei, and Takeru cheering him on in the League. A trainer could give out four tickets. He'd give them to his three friends and his mother.
When he set off for Ookido Hakase's lab, Sakura accompanied him, although she had to stop off at home to get her Clefairy to show Ookido Hakase. Pidgey was safely in her Pokeball, Clefairy in his. Satoshi was sure it was a girl. They'd trained after school yesterday, and she'd shown more capability in defending than damaging. The two friends went happily to the Lab.
Their bubbles were burst. Junpei was standing there, holding a Pokeball that had an image of a Pikachu floating over it, and Shigeru was also present, Spearow on his shoulder. Sakura stopped. "Ookido Hakase," she said. "Didn't you say that I could pick the third trainer?"
The man who was standing there looked from Sakura to Satoshi and frowned. "Unfortunately for your friend here," he said. "The fact is, Junpei here is a year older than minimum age. Unless... how old is your friend?"
Sakura put her hand to her mouth. "His tenth birthday was just... just Saturday." She gave Satoshi an embarrassed look. "Oh, Satoshi," she whispered. "I'm so, so sorry." She took a step forward. "Ookido Hakase," she said. "What if I forfeited-"
"I'm afraid that that is impossible. Your trainer card is already filled out, and everything from name to gender would have to be changed."
Sakura looked to Satoshi with a pained expression on her face. "I'm really sorry. I've already been waiting a year."
Ookido Hakase turned to Satoshi. "Listen," he said, "Tell you what, I'll order the starter Pokemon of your choice, express delivery and you can set off tomorrow morning. Which one do you want?" He turned to the others without waiting for an answer. "First you choose Sakura, then Shigeru, then Junpei."
Ookido Hakase sat down at his computer, but Satoshi wasn't paying attention to him. He only had eyes for the three Pokemon. He was watching Sakura, who finally settled on Bulbasaur. Shigeru then chose a Squirtle. He turned to Sakura. "So, want to battle?"