Chapter 2

An Abra appeared behind Crystal. She thought back to when she was reading about Abras in school. When an Abra teleports more then itself, time, light, space and sound are distorted. She definitely heard Gold scream but the sound came before the owner did.

Four green clouds formed behind the Abra. The clouds swirled once. Electric sparks formed and made them look like miniature thunderclouds. The four drifted into each other and formed one big ominous cloud. Gold, Hiro, Totodile and a cyndaquil fell out of the cloud in that order. Gold fell headfirst on to the stage and opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out of his mouth. Crystal heard Silver mutter 'idiots' from under his breath.

"Good, you two are finally here," said the race official. He then walked over to the microphone in the middle of the stage. The new trainers sat down on the metal folding chairs.

"Hey Gold, how'd they get a stage out on the grass?" Hiro asked. Gold shushed him and picked Pyro off the ground. Crystal ignored the two and scanned the crowd for any signs of her former friends. All the chairs were filled except for three in the back. She sighed and returned chikorita back to its poke ball. She pulled her hands to her face and started to cry softly.

Gold saw a tear run down the girl's cheek. He leaned down to comfort her.

"Hey. Are you al-"

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen," the race official almost yelled into the microphone. "I'm afraid that you came for nothing."

Hundreds of confused and angry groans came from the ground. Gold and Hiro stood up, knocking their pokemon off their laps. Crystal wiped the tears from her eyes and looked both sad and confused. Silver who wasn't interested in what was happening before, stared at the man blankly.

"What do you mean they came here for nothing? Are you saying we're worthless?" Gold yelled. He didn't care that he raised his voice. He wasn't going to be called worthless, not after all the work he did to get this far. He and Hiro were not exactly A students. They had to work hard for a year to get this far. The official stepped backwards and told him to calm down.

"It's not that I think you're worthless. It's just that..," his didn't finish. His face looked grave. He turned back to his microphone and looked out to the crowd somberly.

"Due to an accident from a certain trainer, the president of the Pokemon Association died of a heart attack and intestinal trauma," he stared loathingly at Hiro. In that one moment, all the color drained out of Hiro's face. Gold shook his friend once. He didn't budge. Hiro started fights and joked a lot, but he would never murder someone.

"Without the president here, there is no one to confirm these four as trainers which makes this race null and void."

Silver rushed out of his chair and ran for the exit. His chair knocked over Crystal's. Gold caught her arm just before she fell to the ground. Two guards blocked the exit. Silver stepped backwards and threw a poke ball above them.

"Sneasel, icy wind!" The weasel pokemon shot a jet of ice crystals from its mouth. The poor guards were immediately frozen solid. Gold wondered what pokemon he got, he didn't take it out at the lab.

"What are you two idiots standing around for?" Crystal shrieked. "Unfreeze them with your cyndaquil."

The man from before came behind them.

"I'm afraid you're not authorized to use those pokemon without recognition from the president as stated in Paragraph 6, Article 3, sub section 7, sente- Hey get back here!" Gold had grabbed Crystal and Hiro by their arms and tore after Silver. Pyro jumped back onto Gold's head and Highfang bit Hiro on the leg for leaving him behind. Gold didn't care that he was breaking the law now. He was a trainer now damn it, and no one was gonna stop him now.

"Gold," Crystal started. She had to jog just to keep up with Gold tugging at her arm. "This isn't right, we have to go back."

Gold ignored her and kept following Silver. The red haired boy and his Sneasel led the group out of New Bark Town and deep into the woods. Silver grabbed a tree ranch and Sneasel did the same. The two jumped from tree to tree faster than Gold could sprint. In a matter of seconds, the two were gone, leaving Gold, Crystal and Hiro in a clearing.

Gold dropped the other two from his grip and sat down on a rock. Crystal sat down as well, to catch her breath. Hiro got on all fours and vomited on the grass.

"EEEWWWWW!" Gold and Crystal said simultaneously.

"Shut up... ugh... It's not everyday you find out you killed the key to your future... and sprint two miles..." he said.Gold tried to console his friend.

"You know it's not your fault."

Hiro didn't respond. Crystal strolled over to Gold and smacked him across the face. The force of her blow knocked Pyro off his head. It woke up and flared up the flames on its back.

"What was that for?" Gold questioned angrily. He massaged his right cheek. She stared down at him fiercely.

"Gold, you can't do this. We're uncertified trainers with technically stolen pokemon. We left without any supplies, no word to our parents, no experience, how do expect to live like this? The police will come after us." She didn't look furious, just concerned. Gold couldn't blame her; he took her and Hiro along with him without thinking.

Pyro walked over to Gold and glared up at Crystal. He looked down at it and smiled. He could make it in this world if he just had that cyndaquil beside him.

"Okay." Gold stood up, partly because the rock was beginning to hurt his butt.

"Okay, what?"

"Let's head to Cherrygrove City," Gold said. He let Pyro climb on to his shoulder this time.

"Didn't you listen to a word I-"

"Gold has a point," said Hiro. He stopped throwing up and retrieved Highfang back to its pokeball. "We ran away at the right time."

"What do you mean?"

"If the president really is dead then they would put the vice president in office in about three days. If we stop now and walk two days, we can register ourselves at the pokemon center," Hiro explained.

"Sounds good to me," Gold said. He then put his hand in the middle of their circle. "Until we get there we're partners."

"Partners," Hiro said. He put his hand in the center too.

Crystal was reluctant to agree with them. She was in the woods with two weirdos with the cops coming after her. She looked over her options and saw no other option but to temporarily stay with them.

"Sigh... partners.."