Hm, not many people reading this. Is it that bad? Oh well. For those of you who are reading this, I thank you.

Very little action, if any, in this chapter. But prepare to meet Ethan, Peter, and their Pokemon.

I don't own Pokemon.

Here goes.

Chapter 3: Quite a Pair

The sun rose over Viridian City, dispelling the shrouds of darkness from the previous night. The sun filtered through the multi-colored window of the second floor room of a mansion that sat on the outskirts of the town. As the light fell on the face of a sleeping boy his eyes fluttered open and he yawned. Rubbing his eyes with one hand, the boy reached over to his night stand and grabbed his glasses. They were pretty thick, but not over-the-top. As he placed the glasses on his face he sat on the edge of his bed, letting out a mighty yawn. He then stood up, stretched, and made his bed. He smiled as he flattened the covers.

To think, this is the last time I'll do this for awhile. Finishing up, the boy reached under the bed and pulled out a set of clothes. Quickly changing out of his pajamas, the boy pulled on his red shirt and tan shorts, and then stepped in front of his wall mirror.

He had brown hair that was outrageously curly, attesting to the fact that the teen had never seen a comb in his life. He was quite pale, but not sickly so. He was of medium height and considerably skinny, but nobody could accuse him of being anorexic. Smiling at his reflection, the brown haired teen proceeded to kick the still form that was lying on the ground in front of him.

"Come on, Ethan, wake up! You don't want to miss the big day, do you?" The form the teen was kicking happened to be another teenaged boy, who was currently sleeping on the floor. On the boys stomach was a curled up Pokemon. Its body was a yellowish-green color, and it had one large, vibrant green leaf on its head. It muttered softly as it slept, uttering a word with each exhale.

"Chika…chika…chika…" The curly haired teen smiled at the sleeping Pokemon, but quickly frowned as Ethan spoke.

"Five more minutes." Snorting, the teen whacked his friend in the head, forcing the boy to wake up.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" As Ethan snapped upright from his rude awakening, the sleeping Pokemon was knocked off, giving it an equally rude awakening. Before Peter could respond to his friend, the Pokemon got to its feet, positively fuming.

"Chikorita rita chika!" Ethan stared at his Chikorita and pointed at the boy who had smacked him.

"Don't blame me! Peter's the one who smacked me!" The Chikorita's anger shifted easily from Ethan to Peter, making the brown haired teen take a step back.

"Easy there, Chikorita. Don't do anything rash. I was just trying to wake you two up for the big day. Ethan would have slept right through it if I hadn't done something." Chikorita huffed, but was forced to accept Peter's words as fact.

Smiling at his Pokemon, Ethan proceeded to stand up and stretch. There was no need for him to change, as he was already fully dressed in a dark blue shirt and jeans. His brown hair was almost none existent on the sides of his head, and he had only about a quarter-of an inch on top. His skin was a deep olive color, made sharper by the paleness of Peter. He was basically the same height as Peter, but had a little more weight on his bones. As he brushed off his pants he turned to Peter.

"Do you think breakfast is ready? I'm starving!" As if on cue, a beep came form the intercom on the wall.

"Master Peter, Master Ethan, your breakfasts are ready." Smiling, Peter pressed the talk button.

"Thank you, Paul. We'll be right down."

"Very good, sir." Peter turned to Ethan, who was currently patting Chikorita's head.

"You ready to go?" Ethan stood up and gave his friend a look.

"Since I first woke up. Let's roll."

…..

Peter and Ethan walked into the kitchen a moment later to the sweet aroma of their breakfasts. Peter's personal chefs had outdone themselves yet again. On the table lay two helpings of mushroom and ham omelets, two short stacks of pancakes, buttered toast, and two glasses of milk. Ethan's eyes lit up.

"This is why I love staying at your house, Peter. You live the freaking charmed life." Peter shrugged.

"Having a father who's the CEO of one of the largest Oil Companies in Kanto doesn't hurt as far as my pocket's concerned." Ethan smirked.

"My stomach agrees." The brown haired teen looked down as his Chikorita walked up next to him, sniffing the air appreciatively. There was a sound of metal grinding on metal, causing the trio to look over at the butler. The man turned away from his task, holding in his hand an open can and a stylized silver bowl.

"For the Mistress Chikorita, might I suggest this can of imported Pokemon food?" The grass-type Pokemon jumped up and down happily, rushing over to the butler as the elderly man placed her breakfast on the ground. Ethan sighed.

"Not very loyal, is she?" Chikorita shot Ethan a playful look before turning back to her food. Shrugging, Ethan and Peter took their places at the table and began to eat. It tasted a thousand times better than it smelled, which was saying something. Ethan practically moaned.

"This is so frigging good. Thanks, Paul." The butler smiled at the brown haired youth.

"Thank you, Master Ethan. Have you two decided when you shall be departing?" Peter answered.

"We were going to leave after we had all had breakfast. We planned to stop by the Pokemon Center so I could say goodbye to Nurse Joy, seeing as I volunteered there a lot." Ethan nodded in agreement before shoving another helping of pancake into his mouth. A sudden thought struck him as he chewed.

"Hey, Pedah, whered your Pogamon?" Peter's eyes widened when he deciphered what his friend had said.

"Hey, yeah! Paul, have you seen him?" Before the butler could answer, the door to the pool opened up, and in walked the answer. It closely resembled a small crocodile, only it had several red scales along its back, a yellow v-shape on its chest, and, most importantly, it stood on two legs. It smiled at Peter as it walked in.

"Dile!" Its voice sounded as if it was gargling, but Peter didn't mind.

"Good morning, Totodile, did you sleep well?" The blue Pokemon nodded its head fiercely, nearly throwing itself off-balance. Peter smiled as he watched his new friend, the events of yesterday running through his mind.

…..

Ethan ecstatically opened the package, his face matching that of a kid's at Christmas. The plain brown paper gradually fell away, revealing its contents: a poke ball. Ethan's smile, which had been large before, threatened to break his face at this point.

"You…you guys actually caught me one? Is it…?" Ethan looked up at the view screen he was talking to. Rather, he was using the view screen to talk to someone else, namely his parents. The man and women on the other end of the line beamed at their joyous son. They both were wearing the garb one would picture Pokemon archeologists in. The mother answered her sons' half finished question.

"Yes, Ethan, it is. Your father and I lost about a day of dig time looking around the forest for that, but it was worth it to see the look on your face." When the brown haired teen failed to come up with a response, his father steeped in.

"Why don't you let her out and say hello, son?" Shaking himself out of his brain lapse, Ethan nodded and grabbed the poke ball. He called out as he threw it.

"Come on out, Chikorita!" The ball burst open, releasing the grass Pokemon. Ethan smiled at the fully-materialized Pokemon, realizing for the first time that he now had a Pokemon of his own. He walked over to his new Chikorita, getting down on one knee and looking into her eyes.

"Hey there, Chikorita, I'm Ethan. I'm your master. Am I acceptable?" The grass Pokemon smiled and jumped on Ethan, nuzzling his face. The brown skinned boy laughed.

"It looks like she likes you, Ethan." Ethan and Chikorita looked back at the view screen to see his parents smiling at the pair. As Ethan stood up, he took Chikorita into his arms and sat back in front of the screen. The look on his face was priceless.

"Thank you guys so much!" His parents simply smiled.

"Are you going to tell her what you guys are going to do?" Ethan's eyes widened.

"Oh yeah!" He turned to his new Chikorita. "Chikorita, it's my dream to win the Pokemon League Championship here in Kanto. I know that with you by my side, we'll be able to assemble a team and attain that goal. Are you with me?" Chikorita smiled and nodded.

"Chika!" Ethan's parents laughed.

"I'm sure you two will do great. Now you and Peter take care on your journey, alright?" Ethan smiled and nodded.

"We will, don't worry. I'll talk to you guys later. I love you!" Ethan's parents smiled as they began to disconnect.

"We love you, too." They chorused as the screen shut off. Ethan smiled at Chikorita, patted her head, and then placed her on the ground. A sudden voice made him whirl around.

"You think that thing and petty dreams are going to make you Pokemon League Champ? Ha!" The voice came from a tall, gangly, skinny teen with straight and somewhat greasy brown hair that almost reached his shoulders. His voice was at once nasally and sounded as if he had too much saliva in his mouth. His face was arranged so that he seemed to be permanently smirking, an irritating feature that made many people dislike him without ever knowing him. Not that getting to know them would have improved their opinion of him. HE seemed to have a permanent chip on his shoulder, telling himself that the only way to get others to like them is to be better than him. The only things wrong with his theory are that, one; he really wasn't good enough to be better than others, and two; it was this attitude, plus his total inadequateness when it came to talking to others, that drove people away. This teen was Peter's brother, Steven, who was older than the pair of teens by a year. As such, he had already been no his Pokemon journey for a year, even reaching the Pokemon League Championships. He made it all the way to the top sixteen before being utterly humiliated. It was something Peter and Ethan pointed out when Steven was being a jack off. Which was most of the time.

"If I remember correctly, you didn't fair that well." Steven glared at the younger teen, practically daring him to continue. Of course, threats from Steven had never fazed Ethan before, or anybody else for that matter. "What was that battle like again? Didn't the guy only use two Pokemon to take down all six of yours?" Steven's face turned blood red, but Ethan couldn't tell if it was from anger or embarrassment.

"That wasn't my fault! My stupid Pokemon completely threw off my plan of attack! How in the world could a water type lose to a Graveller?" As Ethan was about to respond, Peter walked in with an answer.

"Maybe because its trainer sucks?" Ethan and Peter laughed as Steven's face turned a shade redder.

"No! It's because that Pokemon was weak and always will be! I can't believe I trade my Gloom for this thing." As he spoke, Steven pulled a poke ball out of his pocket, enlarged it, and released its occupant. When the Pokemon materialized, it was Totodile. Peter smiled at the little crocodile, as it had always been his favorite Pokemon. However, Steven did not share his brother's feelings. Totodile looked everywhere but his trainer as the older boy ranted.

"You single-handedly threw off my entire battle plan, you know that?" Totodile's head hung low and it looked at its feet. Steven then pulled out another poke ball and held it in front off the blue crocodile's face.

"This is the Pokemon you should try and be more like." Without further delay, the greasy haired trainer released the Pokemon inside. The creature that appeared was a blue turtle that came up to Peter's midsection. It had two wing-like appendages where ears might be, and it wore a smirk quite similar to its master. This was Steven's Wartortle, which had evolved from the Squirtle that the teen had started out with. Peter remembered that Squirtle well, as it had thoroughly enjoyed tormenting the curly haired teen. He could tell from looking at it now that it hadn't changed one bit. Steven smiled as he looked at his shelled Pokemon.

"Wartortle is the best Pokemon I have. He's strong, dependable, and smart; basically everything you're not." Wartortle chuckled as Totodile's head nearly touched the ground, tears threatening to seep out from behind shut eyes. Peter couldn't take it anymore.

"Cut it out, Steven. It's not Totodile's fault you're a lousy trainer." Steven glared at his brother, briefly giving Totodile some respite.

"A lousy trainer, am I? Beating all eight gym leaders and finishing in the top sixteen in the Championships makes me a lousy trainer?" Peter crossed his arms.

"It does when you get thrashed by two Pokemon." Steven practically snarled.

"It's not my fault. Because Totodile couldn't take down a Graveller, my plan was shot to heck. I used five of my Pokemon before I used Wartortle, because I was saving him as my ace in the hole. He took out that Graveller no problem, which is more than I can say for Totodile. But because I had no other Pokemon to switch with Wartortle, he was forced to fight an Ivysaur, knowing full well he had no backup. What was I supposed to do, genius?" The greasy haired trainer whirled back to Totodile.

"And it's your entire fault!" At this, Ethan had had enough.

"Alright, cut it out. You obviously don't like Totodile, so why not release it and let it get away from you?" Steven snorted at this.

"Um, maybe because it would only prove that I traded my Gloom for nothing?" A sudden idea popped into Peter's head.

"Then why don't you give me Totodile? What could be better for you than sabotaging your brother's future by starting him out with such a bad Pokemon?" Peter had expected his brother to respond with a flat-out no. Instead, he got something else.

"For once you make sense, Peter." Without so much as a good-bye, Steven tossed Totodile's poke ball to Peter and walked out the door, Wartortle right on his heel. Just as Steven reached the door, he called out over his shoulder.

"I'll see you at the Pokemon League Championships. If you guys even make it that far." Without another word, Steven and his Wartortle were out the door and gone. After a moment of stunned silence, Peter walked over to Totodile, who was currently sobbing quietly. Peter wrapped his arm around the Pokemon.

"Hey there, Totodile, calm down. I'm your trainer now, and I promise I'll treat you much better than Steven. I'm sure that, with both of us working hard, we'll be able to beat the pants off of Steven and his team. Right?" Totodile looked up into the smiling face of its new trainer. The Pokemon had never received such praising words, or ever seen a truly friendly smile like that. It immediately won the Pokemon over.

"Dile!" The Pokemon raised his hand into the air, and Peter completed the high five. Ethan and Chikorita smiled.

"Alright!"

"Chika!"

…..

Peter was brought out of his reverie by Totodile sitting down in the seat next to him, where it promptly began to swing its feet back and forth. It was clearly anxious to get going, and the looks Ethan and Chikorita were sharing showed they wanted to as well. Peter took a deep breath and stood up.

"Well, I guess we should get going." At these words, Totodile let out an excited yell and fell out of his chair. Laughing quietly, Chikorita walked over and helped the energetic crocodile to his feet, causing Totodile to blush slightly.

"Dile dile." Chikorita smiled and winked at the bashful Pokemon, causing him to blush even harder. Ethan laughed at his grass-type's antics.

"Come on, Chikorita. Don't do that to Totodile." The green Pokemon looked to her master, an innocent expression plastered on her face.

"Chika rita chikorita?" Ethan gazed somewhat sternly at her.

"Oh yes you are. Now leave the poor guy alone and let's hit the road." Chikorita smiled and ran back over to her master, leaving the still blushing Totodile to compose himself. Peter smiled and walked over to his butler.

"Well, Paul, this is it. What are you going to do with yourself now that both Steven and I are on the road?" The elderly man smiled.

"I guess I'll finally get a vacation." Peter and Paul laughed at this before the butler took the teen into a hug. "Do take care of yourself, Master Peter. I didn't spend all these years just to watch you stumble here." Peter smiled at his butler as they broke the hug.

"Don't worry, Paul. Now that I've got Totodile and Ethan's got Chikorita, I don't think anything will be able to stop us. I'll be sure to keep in touch." Paul smiled and nodded.

"Be sure that you do. And take care, the both of you."

…..

Five minutes later Peter and Ethan were out the front door and on the road, both of their Pokemon walking next to them. The sun shone brightly down on the group as they proceeded, seeming to say that they could expect great things to come. Ethan looked over to Peter as they walked.

"So, we're going to the Pokemon Center first, right?" Peter nodded.

"Yeah, we are. I've got to say good-bye to Nurse Joy and Chansey. I did volunteer there for quite some time." Ethan smiled at his friend as he replied.

"Yeah, I know. You used to not be able to hang out because you were over there. I guess it's only right you say goodbye to them." Chikorita, who wanted to stay out of her poke ball to enjoy the sun, looked up at her trainer.

"Chika ritarita?" Ethan smiled down at this Pokemon.

"That's right, Chikorita. After that, we're going to go to the Gym here and win our first badge." The grass type got a determined look on her face and nodded her agreement. Peter looked down at his Totodile.

"Same goes for us, right buddy?" Totodile, who had decided that walking around would help it become stronger, nodded furiously. Peter laughed. "That's the spirit." The teen's laughter spread to the rest of the group when the still nodding Totodile tripped over its own feet and tumbled to the ground. Smiling, Chikorita helped him up once again, but didn't do anything to further embarrass the clumsy croc.

….

Fifteen minutes later the door to the Viridian City Pokemon Center chimed as it opened, letting in the cheerful group. Once the doors closed behind them, Peter called out.

"Nurse Joy, are you here?" As if on cue, the door behind the counter swung open, and out stepped Nurse Joy. However, Peter could tell something was wrong. The usually smiling Nurse wore an expression of great concern on her face.

"Oh, Peter, I'm glad you're here. About five minutes before you got here a boy about your age stumbled in with two severely injured Pokemon. The boy himself, however, was in much worse shape." Peter and Ethan glanced at each other before turning back to Nurse Joy.

"What happened? Is he ok?" Ethan had asked the question, causing the Nurse to seemingly notice him for the first time.

"Yes, he's doing alright now, to answer your first question. As to your first, from what I could gather, it appeared he and the Pokemon had come under attack by a flock of Spearow and Fearow." The two teens cringed.

"That doesn't sound too good." Nurse Joy shook her head, turning back to Peter.

"It isn't. But he and his Pokemon are ok now. They're in the medical bay, which is why I'm glad you're here, Peter. Could you do me a favor and go check on them? Chansey and I are swamped right now." The teen in question looked over at his friend, who shrugged.

"It won't hurt to put of the battle for a little longer." Peter smiled and nodded, then turned back to Nurse Joy.

"No problem, Nurse Joy." The pink haired woman smiled.

"Thank you, Peter. You're such a help." Smiling, Peter and Ethan, along with their Pokemon, made their way to Medical Bay to check on this Mystery Boy.

…..

Well, there it is. Who could the Mystery Boy possibly be? As if you don't know.

Well, if you have any questions/suggestions/flames/reviews/praise/anything else, the review button is right down there.

Hopefully will have the next installment early next week, but definitely by next Friday!

Thanks again for reading this, and see you next time!