Chapter 5

A Horse of a Similar Color

Pokéathlon: 2 days away
Contest: 3 days away

The Pokémon Center doors opened to a disappointed Eric walking in, slumped over. Squirtle didn't seem pleased either as he followed, and Nate had a hand on Eric's shoulder. "I can't believe it. A Bidoof?! In a Kanto pond?! How does that even make sense?" Eric demanded

"The Sinnoh migration," Nate said. "They came south from the Sinnoh Region after that Coronet incident a few years back."

Eric shook his head. "I get that," he said. "But in a pond?"

Nate chuckled in response. "Bidoof aren't the brightest bunch around. It probably forgot it wasn't breathing under that water."

"There's a scary thought," Eric said.

"Well, maybe you didn't find the Pokémon you were looking for, but at least you saved one from drowning in the-" Nate was interrupted when someone shorter plowed into him.

"S-sorry...Nate?" the girl asked. Nate looked down to see Rachel.

"Rachel!" he said. "What a surprise bumping into you here."

Eric shook his head. "If this is devolving into a bad pun-fest, I'll be heading upstairs to prepare for tomorrow. Thanks for your help, Nate. See you." With that, Eric and Squirtle dashed upstairs, Nurse Joy following them towards their room.

Rachel, now annoyed with Eric for leaving her there, began to try and formulate a sentence. "I'm-um, that is, right. Sorry about earlier and...all that."

Nate shrugged. "Don't sweat it. Just beware of steep hills."

Rachel shrugged. "Right."

"Anyway, I better get back to my room. I'll see you in the Pokéathlon, right?"

It hadn't before, but suddenly, the realization hit Rachel. She was going to have to compete against this guy, this rock-solid, highly trained Pokéthlete, in the competition in a few days. "R-right!" she said, attempting (but failing) to sound confident and in control. "I'll see you then."

When Nate walked up the stairs, Rachel slumped into a dining chair and sighed heavily. What was she going to do to beat this guy?


Chris exited the shower, wrapped a towel around himself, and went to his bed to pull sleeping clothes out to wear. Eric walked in, and Chris jumped down from his bunk, combat rolled into the bathroom, and slammed the door shut.

Eric rolled his eyes. "Chris, it's just me," he said.

"Oh," Chris replied, opening the door. He reached for his bag on the top bunk as Nurse Joy shut the door to their room once inside.

"Aaaah!" Chris screamed, falling over on the floor, trying to keep the towel from flying off. Eric burst into fits of laughter on his own bunk, trying to breathe between cackling. "D-D-"

"Nurse Joy! Why are you in here?!" the very self-conscious teenager demanded. Eric was still cackling, but managed to get a few words out. "Ditto...return..." A beam of red light enveloped Nurse Joy, and she was pulled into the Repeat Ball, and placed on the nightstand.

"That's not funny, Eric!" Chris said angrily as he stood up and locked the door to the room.

Calming down, Eric said, "First of all, yes, that was funny. Secondly, it wasn't my idea. Ditto sometimes likes to use its powers for evil."

The indignant Chris stood up and grabbed his clothes, grumbling as he slammed the door to the bathroom behind him. Eric was still chuckling as he shut off the light and went to sleep.

A cold splash of water shocked Rachel out of sleep. She instinctively lunged out of bed, tackling Chris, sending them both flying into the bedpost near Eric's feet. Screams of pain, surprise, and a few expletives were exchanged as Eric bolted awake, and reached for his glasses. For good measure, Rachel jumped on top of Chris and Rachel, causing them both to yelp. "Sheesh!" Eric yelled, cranky from having his sleep interrupted so rudely. "What the heck was...damn it, Ditto! Once and for all, get back in your ball!" The second Rachel dematerialized, allowing the other two to stand up.

"It's his fault!" Rachel yelled. "He thought it would be a great idea to throw water on me while I was sleeping!"

Chris was defiant. "You didn't have to use Take Down!" he shot back. "You weren't responding when I tried to wake you up gently!"

"Chris, why were you even trying to wake her up at all?" Eric said, having glanced at the clock. It was 8am, an oddly early hour for a lazy kid like Chris.

"Because my gym battle is today, and we need to go downstairs and eat now. Eric, you have that Pokémon food?"

Eric ran a hand through his messy hair, still groggy from sleep. "Yeah, but why are you in such a rush? The gym doesn't close until 9 tonight."

Rachel folded her arms. "Because he's impatient, impulsive, and irresponsible."

Eric smirked. "Nice assonance."

Chris looked perplexed. "Did you just say that she has a nice..."

"NO!" Rachel yelled, tackling Chris again. Eric simply shook his head. This was going to be a long day.


"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" Rachel confirmed. The three stood outside the Viridian City gym. "There's no way you're ready yet."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," an offended Chris shot back.

Eric shook his head. "You only have one Pokémon, and it suffers a severe disadvantage against the gym's type. Defensively, you're screwed, and offensively, you can't do much outside of low-level normal-type attacks. You need to catch more Pokémon if you're going to even have a chance at this."

"You guys really don't get it, do you?" Chris said, incredulous. "Pokémon and humans have a strong bond. Charmander and I have a strong bond. We work together, and we can defeat any opponent, overcome any obstacle, jump any hurdle. Isn't that what being a trainer is all about? Forging bonds with Pokémon, making waves, working together, overcoming the impossible?"

The Coordinator and the Pokéthlete glared at him for a few seconds before each reaching for a shoulder, then dragging him away from the gym kicking and screaming.

"What are you doing?!" Chris demanded as he was dumped into a patch of grass. Rachel loomed over him, while Eric had an ADHD moment and wandered away.

"You're going to catch a Pokémon. Or three. I don't care how many. You need to expand your team's typing and abilities before you challenge the Pewter Gym."

"What difference does it make to you?" Chris demanded.

"I don't want to hear you whine when you lose at the Pewter Gym just because you were too lazy to prepare!" Rachel yelled.

"What difference does it make to you?!" Chris repeated. "Besides, I'm the one who had to listen to you whine about embarassing yourself in front of some boy!"

"That has nothing to do with this!" Rachel yelled.

"You're still whining!"

"At least I can do something about my situation, Mr. I-refuse-to-catch-any-Pokémon-despite-wanting-to-be-a-Pokémon-Trainer!"

"I don't see YOU catching any new Pokémon, Miss I'm-going-to-destroy-half-of-Viridian-City-with-my-Bulbasaur!"

"I don't need to, since I can only enter one Pokémon in this Pokéathlon, Mr. I'm-going-to-lose-to-a-snobby-Staryu-trainer."

Before the argument could continue, a loud noise sheared through the yelling. It was the sound of a horse that rang through the environment. By the time Rachel and Chris managed to cover their ears, a shadow leapt over them, and intense heat could be felt. The horse, seemingly set aflame, landed several feet away, and turned around, revealing a beautiful Ponyta with Eric sitting on its back.

"So, what did Chris catch?" Eric asked. The other two trainers simply looked stunned.


"You are such a Pokémon hog!" Chris said. Other trainers in the Center took notice, but didn't stop.

Eric raised an eyebrow as he lifted his cup and took a sip of his cocoa. Setting the mug back down, he asked, "You mean like a Swinub, or are we talking a Grumpig? Maybe a Tepig?"

"You're taking all the good Pokémon for yourself! We just started our journey, and you already have three!" Chris pouted.

"And why is this a problem?" Rachel demanded. "The real problem here isn't that Eric is catching a lot of Pokémon, but rather, you're not catching enough. Or any."

"Black kettle in a glass house, anyone?" Chris mocked.

Rachel shook her head. "Pick an idiom and stick with it, please. If you want a Ponyta that badly, why not go out and find your own? Not that you need a second fire-type."

"The point is that he shouldn't be catching so many Pokémon! It's not right, you're supposed to catch them slowly over the course of your journey!"

"Says who?" Eric asked before taking another sip.

"Says all those dumb drama shows he watches on TV," Rachel said.

"Documentaries," Chris corrected.

"Dawson's Cresselia and The Gible Girls are NOT documentaries," Rachel insisted.

"Look, Chris, how I catch Pokémon and prepare for my Contest is going to be based on reason and logic," Eric said. "I need a strong team to be in a Contest, and you need a strong team to challenge Gyms. Whining isn't helping. Get out there and catch more Pokémon. We can't hold your hand forever."

Chris was defiant. "I never asked you to."

Eric shook his head. "No, but you did ask us to come watch your gym battle. But if we know for a fact you're going to lose because you're not ready, we don't want to waste our time watching you get slaughtered. We have our own events to prepare for. Get serious and do what you need to do. Just because I'm the oldest doesn't mean I'm here to be your mentor 24/7. Get your head in the game, or go home to Celadon." Eric stood up and walked out of the Center.

There was a few seconds of silence before Chris spoke again. "I know you guys are upset at me, but did that seem...?"

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, that sounded like something else besides you. We should probably give him a little space."


"Here, Pokémon. Be a good Pokémon and get in this Poké Ball."

The Starly responded to Chris' request by ever-so-politely picking up Charmander by the base of the tail, and dropping him on Chris' head, setting his jacket on fire.

Chris yelped and ripped his jacket off, stomping on it to put the fire out. "Charmander, use Ember again!" Charmander tried once more, but once again, the attack missed, as the agile Pokémon simply flew out of range.

Enraged, Chris yanked out his Pokédex to get a read on it:

"Starly, the Starling Pokémon, and the base form of Staravia and Staraptor. Starly travel in small flocks to avoid bickering, but can occasionally be found living and traveling alone. Starly's singing is considered to be annoying by most people."

"Eric would be annoyed that I didn't do that first...not that it helped at all." Chris picked up Charmander, surprising it. "Get ready," he said. When Starly flew overhead, he launched Charmander straight towards it. "Use Scratch!"

When Rachel approached to check on Chris, she found the odd scene of Chris, Charmander, and Starly all lying in a pile on the ground, dazed. "I don't even want to know," she said, grabbing an empty ball from Chris' bag, and dropping it on the Starly. Seconds later, Chris had "caught" the Starling Pokémon.


"She's absolutely beautiful," Nurse Joy said when she stepped outside the Center. Eric was brushing his new Ponyta, who couldn't be happier about the attention.

"Thanks," Eric said. "I just got her a little while ago, but she warmed up to me quickly. No fire-type pun intended." He continued to brush her, occasionally feeding her a Pokéblock.

"Are you entering the Contest?" she asked. "I think I remember overhearing you earlier."

Eric nodded. "Yeah. Only a few days left to prepare, but I'm still not sure which Pokémon to enter."

Nurse Joy smiled in her reassuring way. "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"Seriously, are we doing this again?!" Rachel demanded. "You just caught Starly, and I use the term 'caught' very loosely here, and haven't even tried battling yet. Are you seriously THAT intent upon losing your first gym match?"

"CLOSED?!" Chris yelled, completely ignoring Rachel.

Rachel pushed Chris to the side as she read the sign. Chris sat down at the top of the five-foot tall ledge in front of the gym. "The Viridian Gym is undergoing renovations," Rachel read out loud. "We apologize for the inconvenience." She scratched her head. "Wow, they didn't even put up an estimate for reopening."

"What am I supposed to do now?!" Chris demanded.

Rachel, suddenly infurated, kicked Chris in the back, sending him flying down the ledge to the ground. "GO TRAIN YOUR POKéMON!"