Guys, I'm not gonna lie: I forgot yesterday was Easter. I only remembered like two days before, because every day just feels the same now! And that made me realize I forgot to write an Easter story. But, since I have so much time on my hands now, I was able to work on one and it's only a day late! Doesn't really matter at this point, right?

So, not only is this an Easter story, but it also reflects the beginning of Aiden and Sam's rivalry! You've seen how they used to get along as kids, so how exactly did they become rivals? There was definitely a tipping point, and this is it!

Aiden and Michelle: 4 years old

Sam: 5 years old


Hunting for a Rival

Aiden stood up on his toes, scanning the sea of children out in the open field. Misty quickly took notice of this and smirked, kneeling down beside the boy.

"Are you trying to find Sam?" Misty asked knowingly.

"Yeah!" Aiden cried, turning towards her mother. "We always look for eggs together!"

Misty giggled and stood back up straight. "I'm sure he's with his parents and Professor Oak! I'll keep an eye out for them, too."

"But Mommy, they can't start the egg hunt until I find Sam!" Aiden fretted.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Misty assured the boy. "I promise we'll find him before it starts!"

While her brother eagerly looked for his friend, Michelle held onto her father's hand, tentatively looking around at all of the other kids. When she saw just how many there were, she squeezed his hand more tightly and inched closer to his leg.

Glancing down, Ash smiled sympathetically at his daughter. "What's wrong, Michelle? You nervous?"

The little girl looked up at him and frowned as she nodded her head.

"There's no reason to be nervous!" Ash cooed. "You know all about the egg hunt! You're like a veteran now. You could totally show all these other kids how it's done!"

Michelle shrugged and began pulling at the eyelet trimmed skirt of her blue dress.

"Pipikachu…" Pikachu murmured, watching carefully from Ash's shoulder.

Sighing, Ash offered, "do you want me to look for the eggs with you?"

Michelle's face finally lit up as she replied with a joyful, "yeah!"

Ash smiled weakly at his young daughter. The first two years she'd participated in the egg hunt, she had refused to do anything until he went with her. They were now on the third year, and Ash was hoping Michelle would want to venture out on her own. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy helping Michelle out; he had lots of fun, in fact! But it was hard to watch her fail to socialize with other kids her own age, the way Aiden was able to so effortlessly. He also knew he should've probably tried a little harder to get Michelle to do just that, but it broke his heart to see her so uncomfortable, and he just couldn't push her.

It sure wasn't easy being such a softy.

"Oh! Sam!"

"Aiden, wait!"

Ash looked over his shoulder just in time to see Aiden bolting away from his mother. Groaning, Ash handed Michelle off to Misty before promising her, "I'll go catch him."

"Thank you," Misty sighed, lifting Michelle up in her arms. "I know you're not a runner, but I'm holding onto you!"

"Okay, Mommy," Michelle murmured, earning a laugh from her mother.

Ash, meanwhile, was in hot pursuit of Aiden, but also trying his best to avoid trampling any children in the process, which was considerably slowing him down. Narrowing his eyes, Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder and started running as soon as he hit the ground.

"Great idea, buddy!" Ash crowed. He knew Pikachu would be able to reach Aiden a lot faster, and without running anyone over.

Within a matter of seconds, Pikachu had caught up with Aiden and was standing by the boy's side, keeping a watchful eye on the child as he chattered away to an equally excited Sam.

"Thanks, Pikachu," Ash breathed, grinning at his partner before scowling at his son. "Hey, Aiden! You can't just run off like that! It's super crowded here!"

"But Daddy, I saw Sam!" Aiden cried, pointing at the young, irritated looking Oak boy for proof.

"I know, but you should've told Mommy before you went anywhere," Ash sighed. "Don't do that again, okay?"

"Okay," Aiden grumbled, looking rather bashful. "Sorry, Daddy."

Ash smiled and nodded his head, showing the boy that all was forgiven. He then turned towards Sam and greeted, "hey, Sam! Are you getting excited for the egg hunt, too?"

"Uh huh!" Sam confirmed, dropping his sour look. "It's gonna be awesome! Me and Aiden are gonna find the most eggs again!"

Aiden rapidly nodded his head in agreement.

"That's great!" Ash chuckled. "You boys stay together, alright?"

Both children affirmed this, and Ash felt comfortable taking Pikachu back with hm and walking away towards Misty, missing Sam's devious smirk behind his head.

"Were you and Pikachu able to wrangle him up?" Misty asked, referring to their rambunctious son.

"Yep," Ash confirmed. "At least he's with Sam. But I did tell him not to pull that kind of stunt again."

"Thank you," Misty breathed. "He's so sweet; I just wish he wouldn't cause so much trouble!"

"It's just in his nature," Ash chuckled, taking Michelle back from Misty. "Just like it's in Michelle's nature to be sweet but quiet!"

Michelle giggled and snuggled against Ash's chest. "Help me find eggs, Daddy!"

"I will, princess," Ash assured her, almost immediately feeling Misty's glare on him.

"Ash, again?" Misty groaned.

"Aw, Mist, you should've seen her little face before!" Ash groaned. "She was so nervous."

"And she's going to be nervous forever if you keep giving into her like that," Misty patiently reminded her husband.

After a moment's hesitation, Ash admitted, "that's fair. But it is a holiday! I'll try again when it's…not a holiday?"

Misty smirked and shook her head. "Very convincing."

Placing Michelle on the ground, Ash knelt down beside her and pumped his fist. "Come on, Shelly! Let's go find as many eggs as we can!"

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu cheered.

"Yay!" Michelle giggled, jumping up and down.

"What a cute little team," Misty giggled, knowing there was no point in trying to keep Ash from helping Michelle out. "You three have fun! I'll go hang out with Grammy in the meantime. Come find us when you're done, kay?"

"Kay, Mommy!" Michelle chirped before once again grabbing her father's hand. "Daddy, let's go!"

"I'm coming!" Ash chuckled, standing back up. "You sure can be assertive when there's something you want, huh?"

"Uh huh," Michelle squeaked, not understanding what her father meant.

"She's my daughter, of course she can," Misty remarked, winking at Ash.

XXX

As soon as the egg hunt had begun, Sam and Aiden were hot on the trail to find as many eggs as they possibly could.

The two boys never strayed too far from one another, wanting to make sure they could always meet up and compare just how many eggs they'd gotten. Both were remarkably fast and were able to beat out a lot of the other kids just by speed alone.

Aiden, however, was gifted with a skill that Sam was not: the ability to scale just about anything. His parents often called him a little Mankey, and it was a pretty fair assessment. Aiden had been climbing trees almost as soon as he could walk, and he'd only gotten better at it over time.

The organizers of the annual Pallet Town Easter Egg Hunt often hid eggs in slightly higher or more difficult areas for the older kids, but those tended to be the most alluring to Aiden. And, in many cases, he was able to acquire them more easily than kids even twice his age.

He was currently staring up at a large oak tree, where a bright blue egg was nestled between two branches. Grinning, Aiden hooked his red wicker basket on his elbow and embraced the tree's trunk, kicking off the ground and quickly inching his way upwards.

A pair of Pidgey were nestled in the tree, shredding up leaves with their beaks until the plastic egg caught their attention. One of them hopped down the branch towards it, while the second Pidgey followed. They both quietly observed the curious oval before chirping and pecking at it. Aiden pulled himself up just then and was amazed when he found himself face-to-face with the tiny bird Pokémon.

"Whoa, cool!" He marveled, his eyes widening.

The two Pidgey looked up from the egg and stared right back at Aiden, whose grin managed to grow. At this point, he was almost more transfixed by the Pokémon than he was by the egg hunt.

"Hey, Aiden!"

The little boy looked down and found Sam staring up at him with a frown on his face.

"Sam!" Aiden crowed. "Check out the Pidgey up here!"

"Pidgey?" Sam repeated before scoffing, "those things are everywhere! Grab the egg instead!"

Aiden frowned and turned back towards the Pokémon. "Sorry, guys, but I need this!"

He reached out for the plastic egg, which alarmed the Pidgey and caused them to ruffle their feathers before pecking at Aiden's hand. The boy yelped and quickly withdrew his hand, his left arm losing its grip on the tree trunk and sending him tumbling to the ground. Aiden landed with a thud, groaning in pain as Sam scurried over to him.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah…" Aiden moaned.

"Did you get the egg?!" Sam cried.

Aiden held up his right hand, revealing the plastic egg. Sam grinned and snatched it from Aiden's grasp, causing the younger boy to sit up straight. "Hey!" He scrambled to his feet and ran after Sam, who was casually walking away and depositing the egg in his basket. "I found that egg!"

"Yeah, and I took it," Sam easily replied with a smirk. "You snooze you lose!"

Aiden furrowed his brow. Sam had never talked to him like that before. It definitely didn't make Aiden feel too good.

"Well…the next time you find an egg, can I have it?" Aiden tried, tilting his head.

Sam's eyes grew comically wide. "What?! No way!"

"Why not?!" Aiden cried.

Sighing as though he were annoyed by the question, Sam elaborated, "I'm older than you, Aiden. So, I know a lot more! And that means you gotta listen to me."

A low growl emitted from Aiden's throat. He absolutely hated being told what to do…and Sam knew it, too! Aiden had no idea why Sam was acting so different all of a sudden.

When he looked back ahead, however, Aiden's brown eyes immediately locked onto another plastic egg, this one orange in color. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Sam had noticed it as well. The two boys locked eyes and glared at one another before taking off and racing towards the egg. Each one inched ahead of the other, trying to run faster and faster in order to beat the other. Aiden, however, soon came up with what he believed was a genius idea; one that Sam wouldn't be able to beat.

The boy took one more long stride before taking a running leap and sliding across the grass, just like he did in baseball. He stopped just short of the egg, however, and had to scramble back up to his knees to try and reach the egg. Sam, meanwhile, tripped over his own feet trying to catch up and landed directly on top of Aiden, cutting his valiant attempt to claim the egg himself short.

"Hey, you messed me up!" Aiden shouted.

"No, you messed me up!" Sam yelled back.

The two boys began to wrestle with one another, completely forgetting about the plastic egg that sat above their heads. While they were totally preoccupied, another little hand reached out and grabbed the egg, punctuating the steal with an airy giggle.

"I did it! I got the egg!"

Aiden and Sam both ceased their fighting and looked up, their mouths falling open.

"Michelle!" Aiden shrieked, jumping up and sending Sam tumbling off of him.

The young redhead soon noticed her brother and tilted her head. "What're you guys doing?"

"We were trying to get that egg!" Sam growled, pointing up at the orange oval in Michelle's hand. "Hand it over!"

Michelle took a quick glance at the plastic egg before looking back down at Sam. "No."

"What?!" Sam hissed.

"I got it fair," Michelle scoffed. "It's not my fault you were busy fighting!"

"Michelle, you found a…what happened here?"

Ash and Pikachu emerged from a nearby clearing, their eyes locked squarely on the wild-looking Aiden and Sam.

Looking over her shoulder, Michelle smirked and announced, "I found them like this!" Holding up the orange egg, she continued, "they were fighting over this, and I took it!"

"Fighting?" Ash repeated. "Really?"

Sam growled and jumped to his feet. "Fine, whatever! You can have that one. I'll go find an even better egg!"

And with that, the brunet boy stomped off without another word.

"That was…weird," Ash muttered before walking over to Aiden and picking him up, getting the boy back on his feet as he eyed the grass and dirt stains embedded in his blue checkered shirt and navy shorts. "Are you okay, buddy?"

Aiden frowned and folded his arms. "No. Sam was being really bossy and mean!"

Ash made an unsure noise. "That's strange. You guys have always gotten along so well!"

"He kept saying he's older so I gotta listen to him," Aiden grumbled. "That's not true, right, Daddy?"

"No," Ash refuted. "He's not a grown up, after all."

Obvious relief washed over Aiden. "Good!"

Ash chuckled at his son's reaction. "Hey, it's okay! Friends have fights sometimes, but you're still friends!"

This led to Aiden scrunching up his nose. "Huh? Sam and I aren't friends anymore!"

Ash's face fell. "What?"

"We're not friends now," Aiden reiterated, his brow creasing. "We're rivals!"

"Rivals?!" Ash repeated, his voice raising an octave.

"Pi-ka…" Pikachu muttered.

"I hafta be better than Sam," Aiden declared, balling his little hand into a fist. "I'm gonna be stronger and faster and cooler, too!"

Michelle raised an eyebrow and glanced at her father.

"Man…" Ash sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "And I thought all the stains were gonna be the hardest thing to explain to your mother…"


I figure the rivalry would sort of just...happen. It's kind of easy to forget that Sam is pretty much an entire year older than Aiden and Michelle, meaning he starts school first and begins interacting with older kids sooner. This kind of sets off a change in his personality, leading to the clash with Aiden (basically, because he thinks Aiden is "too young" for him at this point and Sam has kind of just realized he can use Aiden to his advantage, but the very different personalities ultimately get in the way of that).

Don't worry; just like Ash and Gary, Aiden and Sam will outgrow their rivalry and become friends again...eventually ;)