Forums Region Story Chapter 2 - “Rivals”

”This won’t do.” said Jax as he dropped his backpack on the bed. It was filled to the brim, and he hadn’t even packed his most essential items. “Great.” He said, his voice rich in sarcasm. He knew it was going to be a tough journey, there weren’t many poke rest stops between his small town and the closest city with a gym, and he couldn’t fit all the things he thought he ‘needed’. It wasn’t unheard of for 10 year old boys to set off on a journey to become Pokemon trainers, and try to become the Champion, but a champion was only crowned once-in-a-lifetime pretty much, and Jax had almost no hope of becoming one. Truth be told he didn’t even really like Pokémon, he liked the house-pet ones, like evees, or arcanines, but he didn’t care much for the feathery or scaley ones. So why would he go on a Pokémon journey if he didn’t like Pokémon? Arlo. The boy that drove him to such determination. His childhood ‘friend’. They’d been friends for as long as Jax could remember, yet Jax always kept a secret from Arlo. He was jealous of Arlo. A prodigy; he always excelled at everything, sports, school, even the popular Pokémon TCG card game. Jax was always in Arlo’s shadow. But now was his chance to prove to Arlo- no, everyone that he could be the best. “You’ll be late!” His father shouted from down stairs. “Professor Pine said to be there at 8:00 sharp, Y’know.” “Almost ready!” Replied Jax in an irritated tone, even though he was no where close to being finished packing. He took out his playing cards, yo-yo, and some other trinkets, threw in the rest of his favorite clothes and called it quites.

He parked his bike at the Prof. Pine’s Pokémon daycare entrance, and looked at his watch. 6:17. He ran through the facility as fast as he could, and in the lab he saw Prof. Pine, and beside him, Arlo. “Ah, there you are Jax. I already gave your Pokémon to someone else.” Said Prof. Pine with a frown. “R-really?” Said Jax trembling. “AH-HA” Pine let out a bellowing laugh. He always amused himself more than he did anyone else. “No young man, I’m teasing, there’s still a Pokémon for you to choose.” Assured Pine. Jax stood beside Arlo, though he they said nothing to each other. Jax could see the determination and excitement in his eyes. “You have 3 Pokémon to choose from: A squirtle, cyndaquil, or treeko. One of them is actually a rare shiny, though you’ll have to figure out which!” Exclaimed Pine. “Arlo, you pick first.” “I’ve been thinking on it for a few days now, and I think I’ll choose treeko, I think we’d have the most synergy.” Said Arlo confidently. Jax was sweating, this was the most important decision of his life, and he hadn’t even considered which to choose. “Um…I’ll go with this one.” He said picking up the pokeball, not even knowing which was inside. He opened his pokeball, and out came a small squirtle that just yawned, and retracted into it’s shell. ‘Of course..’ Jax thought to himself. A scaley-probably-slimey lazy little Pokémon, that was, in fact, NOT shiny. Arlo let out his SHINY treeko. “Nice to meet you treeko! From now on we’re lifelong friends.” The energetic treeko let out a joyful noise, and climbed onto his backpack. “Just my luck, he got the good one.” Thought Jax. “Here are are your Pokédex’s.” Said Pine as he handed them each a red device. “Now, you boys best run along if you want to make it to the gym before the end of the week.”

They walked down the road in silence, Jax knew Arlo felt the tension between them, even though Arlo didn’t know why it was there. “You okay?” Said Arlo finally breaking the silence. “Yup.” Said Jax curtly. “Well…Do you like your Pokémon? Squirtles are pretty cute.” Said Arlo trying to be cheerful. “He’s fine I guess.” Said Jax with a lack of enthusiasm. “How about we have a battle..?” Challenged Arlo.

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