---
Kanet Village, Sinnoh/5Y Ago
A familiar Oshawott rested peacefully in his bed. He seemed to be having a nice dream, a faint smile spread across his face. There were faint voices downstairs, seemingly discussing something. The voices downstairs only made the Oshawott more comfortable, lulling him into a deeper rest.
The peace and quiet was suddenly shattered, however, when his bedroom door flung open. The Oshawott's eyes open all of a sudden, throwing the covers off of himself in surprise. The Oshawott tried to look at who had opened his door, but could only see a fuzzy yellow figure standing in the blurred doorframe.
"What the—?" The Oshawott rubbed his eyes in a futile attempt to see his surroundings better, "Who's that, Jacob?"
"Ding, ding, ding!" The Pikachu exclaimed, running over and jumping on the Oshawott's bed, "Wakey-wakey Ollie!"
The shaking of the bed caused Oliver to fall off, landing on the floor, "Ow..." Oliver wore a slightly annoyed, yet amused expression as he lifted his face from the floor.
"Whoops, sorry..." Jacob peered over the edge of the bed with a nervous chuckle. The Pikachu grabbed a familiar container from Oliver's nightstand, passing it to him.
Oliver opened the small container before opening it and putting his contacts in. Blinking twice, he turned his attention to his best friend, "Thank you. Now what are you doing in here?"
"Your parents let me in!"
"Not how are you in here. Why are you in here, Jacob?"
"Oh. Right..." The Pikachu thought for a moment, "Well today's the competition, of course!"
"Wait, today? Today, today?"
"Ain't a better day than today!"
---
"Thanks for waking up Oliver, Jacob..." A familiar Primarina smiled as she watched the two young boys sit down at the table.
"No prob, Ms. Olivia!" Jacob grinned, "He was taking forever to get to the meetup spot so I went to check things out myself."
"Isn't that nice, Ollie?" Olivia looked over at her son.
Oliver's face was laid down on the table, a groggy voice coming from him, "Super nice..."
"So what are the rules this time?" Jacob asked the Oshawott, lightly tapping his foot on the chair he was sitting on in anticipation.
"So it says on this paper that this time, the competition will be played in teams of two..." Oliver read a paper, his pupils slowly moving down the paper as he read.
"What's the prize? The prize, Ollie!"
"The prize will be a year's supply of berries supplied by Mr. Peterson."
The Pikachu's eyes bulged, "You had me at food!"
"I didn't even say food— Woah!" Oliver had been pulled from his seat by Jacob, who excitedly dragged him out of the room and out of the house.
"Have fun, boys!" Olivia shouted after them.
---
After signing themselves up for the competition, Oliver and Jacob sat on a brick wall overlooking Drew's berry vendor. Jacob smiled with confidence, looking at the four crates of berries behind the vendor.
"See those?" Jacob pointed over at the wooden crates, "I think that's the prize. We're gonna win it all!"
Oliver chuckled before a berry suddenly hit the back of Jacob's head, knocking the Pikachu to the ground. Oliver gasped faintly and looked back to see where it had come from.
A Cranidos was standing there, a smirk on his face.
Jacob looked up from the ground to see a Gligar standing in front of him. The Pikachu's eyes immediately narrowed when he saw him.
The Gligar called to the Cranidos on the other side of the wall, "Nice shot, Roark!"
Oliver hopped down from the wall to help Jacob up, "What do you want from us, Randy?"
"Just checking out the competition..." The Gligar shrugged, "...Seems like there isn't much of it."
"You're competing too?" The Pikachu inquired, a bit of venom emanating from his vocal cords, "I won't let you two win, you know."
Randy laughed in his face, "You don't have to let us win, Chu-pid."
Jacob let out an irritated growl at the nickname, stepping towards the Gligar. Randy noticed this, and suddenly threw a punch at Jacob. The Pikachu noticed and just barely blocked the punch, feeling the immense weight behind it.
Sliding back, the Pikachu glared at Randy behind his raised arms, "His claws are pretty big... They hurt a bit...I can't fight him with only the moves I have now."
"Don't fall apart too quickly, don't want to end up like your dad."
His eyes suddenly widened, his pupils constricting in rage. It wasn't uncommon for the Pokémon of Kanet to know about Jacob's late father. He, his mother, and Oliver's parents all became integral in how Kanet operated after moving there. So integral, in fact, that nearly all of Kanet's inhabitants came to the funeral to mourn his father's passing. When his mother fell into a depression after the love of her life passed, many came to their house to support her and Jacob through the rough times.
Jacob thought about his mother, who had just began acting like herself again. There were no words to express the baffling feeling of seeing your own mother in such a state. The woman that gave life to you, the woman who taught you so much of the world, the same Sylveon that the Pikachu ran to whenever he was scared or sad.
It remained undecided how Jacob felt about that, yet it was clear that it had struck a nerve with him. His paws balled into tight fists as his eyes remained glued to the ground beneath his feet. His eyes flickered a familiar shade of orange for a moment before immediately turning back off, the light in his eyes dying with the flick of a switch.
While the orange color in his eyes didn't remain, blinding rage was enough to fuel him. Jacob tried to charge at Randy, but a familiar claw got in his way. It was Drew, who shot a light glance at the Pikachu.
Randy quickly jumped on top of the brick wall, ready to retreat, "Aw, guess the fun's over."
Flying away, the Gligar shot a cocky grin back at Jacob, catching his attention. He seemingly mimed a laughing motion, only irritating him greatly. Bursting at the seems with anger, Jacob clenched his teeth and let out a loud groan.
"Stupid Randy!" Jacob ranted, looking away, "Why'd you stop me, Drew?"
The Excadrill looked at his sharp, metallic claws, "Fighting before the competition is an easy way to get disqualified."
The Pikachu pouted stubbornly, "It would've been worth it... I hate those guys."
"Well now we have a chance to show them who's boss, right?" Oliver asked, walking up to his childhood friend.
Jacob's mood immediately shifted, a confident smile spreading across his face. With a quick paw-bump, the two were on their way back to where the competition would start. While Oliver thought he had successfully cheered his friend up, the instant he turned around, Jacob's face dawned a sharp glare, his cheeks sparking light amounts of electricity.
---
Wild Woods, Sinnoh
Jacob walked through the forest, a carefree swing in his arms as he moved. He had seemingly forgotten about his earlier interaction with Randy. Oliver was relieved by this, because it always has proved to be extremely difficult to pull his friend out of a rut. Now all they had to do was make it though the first round of the competition. The rules for this round were to find three different objects within the forest. A tree branch that measures exactly five inches, a Custap Berry, and a piece of plastic to clean up a bit around the forest.
The Oshawott looked ahead to Jacob, who seemed completely fine. But at a quick second glance, he noticed that the usual pep in his step seemed a tad bit odd. It seemed somehow forced, the swing of his arms stiff as well as his feet creating clear prints with the weight the Pikachu put down with each step. Was he still affected by what had happened earlier? Is so, what was he supposed to do about it?
Oliver had always known about how much and how ruthlessly Jacob had been bullied before he had even become formally introduced to the Pikachu, as he had previously heard about such a thing from the other Pokémon in Kanet. Despite their parents already knowing each other for quite some time, it had taken Oliver a few years before he could at least try breaking out of his shell and talking to him. From there, the rest was history.
Jacob meanwhile, was still replaying the previous events over and over in his mind. There was absolutely nothing he could do about what had happened. Somebody disrespected his own father, yet he hadn't even landed a single punch on him. This angered him, frustrated him. Was he always fated to be tormented by the bullies of his childhood for the rest of his life? He really needed to fulfill his promise to his mother so he and Oliver could get their journey underway.
The duo continued to walk, looking for the items that they needed to grab. Leaving no stone unturned and no tree unclimbed, the boys began to start looking more frantically as the time they had taken in the forest began to grow long.
Eventually, Oliver came across a particular tree. While there wasn't anything initially too different about the tree, Oliver's eyes soon widened a bit as his pupils looked over a particular area on the trunk of the tree, "Hey Jacob? Look at this..."
"Hold on!" Jacob called over to him, "I'm just turning this stone really quick!"
Approaching the Oshawott, Jacob was quickly able to see what was on the trunk of the tree. His ears perked faintly in curiosity, standing to the right of his best friend. The two stared in silence, not daring to ask what they were even looking at.
Oliver put his paw on the truck, his paw gently tracing down what had been inscribed on it. Somehow, he was able to feel something. He couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was, but whatever was represented, couldn't have been good in the slightest. Pain, agony, an undying whirlwind of unanswered questions.
"What... Is this...?" Oliver thought, examining the trunk of the tree.
On the trunk were the words, "We are alive!"
Beneath the words were a selection of crudely written letters around it.
"SBK S"
The last s was strangely spaced from the other three letters, also being the most crudely written s he had ever seen. The first s was completely fine, with a few mistakes here and there, but the last s separated from the others looked like it came from somebody barely able to write, or just learning how to. Couldn't come from somebody older than five.
Jacob suddenly let out a gasp, his head facing upwards into the thick leaves of the branches.
"Hey Ollie!" The Pikachu exclaimed, his eyes sparkling, "Up there, I've never seen that berry before, could it be what we're looking for?"
Snapping out of his thoughts and shaking his head, he soon followed the Pikachu's gaze. He could see a berry, as red as a human's apple, hung by its yellow stem on one of the branches high above their heads.
"That's it!" He exclaimed, "A Custap berry!"
Jacob pumped his paws into the air, "Item one, found!"
"Now we just have to retrieve it..." Oliver put a paw on his chin, trying to muster up a few ideas.
"I could try and climb it, but..." Jacob smiled nervously, "The first branch is too high up to reach. It'd be too hard."
Oliver's eyes drifted over to a few branches littering the ground, "If something's too hard, you're just not looking deep enough! I have an idea!"
"Really? Shoot, Ollie."
"First, we could bind some plant fibers nearby together to make a cohesive rope..." The Oshawott explained.
"On it!" Jacob was ready to run off, but suddenly stopped, "...How do you make plant fibers?"
"There are a bunch of ways to do it, but we don't need rope that strong. Meaning that we can make some rope out of the grass. Just make sure they're dry."
With that, Jacob rushed off to find long strands of grass.
Oliver took that time to think, "We need rope if this is gonna work... But I have no experience with making plant fiber ropes..."
Jacob soon returned with long strands of grass, which caught the Oshawott's attention, "Got some grass! Now how are we gonna make this plant fiber stuff?"
"Change of plans!" Oliver exclaimed, grabbing a few strands of grass out of his paws, "It's gonna be extremely weak as a rope, but these strands of grass will have to do, we don't have enough time!"
"Right! Go Ollie!" Jacob exclaimed cheerfully as he watched Oliver run around, gathering various materials for what he was trying to build. Oliver carefully weaved together some of the strands of grass, eventually making an item thicker than a simple blade of grass, but not enough to hold under pressure.
Oliver grabbed two large sticks, tying them together with the makeshift "rope" he had made.
"This should work..." The Oshawott reached the stick up towards the berry in the tree, struggling a bit with the weight which was distributed more to the other end of the stick. Planning on knocking the berry down from the tree, Oliver steadily approached the berry with the stick
The berry was then swiped by a blurry figure, flying past and breaking Oliver's stick in the process.
Utterly confused, the duo watched as the blur landed on a nearby branch with a cocky smirk. It was a familiar Gligar, who they weren't exactly happy to see.
"Randy!" The duo chorused.
Jacob snarled his he clenched his paws, obviously still not over what had happened earlier.
"Give that berry back, we found it first!" The Pikachu stepped forward, his cheeks sparking with electricity.
"Come and get it, Chu-pid!" Randy stuck his tongue out at him, beginning to fly away.
It was only a stupid nickname, why did it get him so angry whenever he was called that? Was it that chorus of laughter that followed the not-so-clever insulting name? Was it the demeaning nature of the name in of itself? Whatever it was, it was not appreciated.
Jacob quickly ran toward Randy, following behind him as the Gligar hopped from tree to tree, effortlessly gliding as he went. The Pikachu hopped off of a tree to get higher before launching a quick Thunderbolt at him.
Avoiding the attack, Randy landed on another branch, looking back at the duo before sloppily licking the Custap berry. This made the duo grimace in disgust, exchanging a quick glance with the other.
The two both shared the same sentiment, "I don't think we'll have that berry back..."
Jacob kicked a small pebble as he and Oliver walked back in the direction of Kanet Village. While the duo had managed to get the requested items fairly quickly after their interaction with Randy, the Pikachu was still fairly frustrated with the fact that they had pretty much lost to him in that situation.
Upon their return, the two realized that they were the second to last team that returned, with Randy and Roark standing there with cocky smirks on their faces. Far to their right was another team that was talking between themselves.
Once Oliver and Jacob had emerged from the forest, an airhorn went off to signal the end of the round. This instantly confirmed their suspicions. They had barely just made it through the round, the team just after them being eliminated from the competition.
---
The second round started soon after the first, the new objective being a height reaching competition. They had to venture back into Wild Woods and climb up the highest tree there in order to grab one of the two items from the top. One item for each team.
The three remaining teams all remained close to one another through the thick areas of the forest to avoid getting lost and falling behind.
As they walked, the three teams conversed with one another. Oliver was droning on about strategies for the progression of the competition, not noticing the gradual bubbling of Jacob's mindset. The Pikachu was getting fairly annoyed with what had been happening all day between himself and Randy.
At this point, he wanted nothing more but to see the pesky Gligar suffer.
Finally arriving at the large tree, Randy was the first to act, kicking a large amount of dirt from the ground into both teams. Coughing loudly, Jacob tried his best to rid his lungs of the dirt that he had accidentally inhaled.
"Ugh... That guy..." Jacob heard from his left. The Pikachu turned to see a Machop rubbing his eyes, "He's gonna pay for that..."
"You got that right!" Jacob exclaimed, clenching his paws.
"Do I hear an alliance forming?" A voice asked from behind the duo, surprising them. The Pikachu and Machop turned around to see a Misdreavus floating behind them, "What? That's the kind of energy I was getting from you two."
"Well it would be easier to get past this round..." Oliver chimed in.
"And we could beat Randy faster!" Jacob's eyes lit up as he looked between the Machop and Misdreavus, "What are your names, brave warriors?"
The Machop raised a hand, "Marshal."
"You can call me Aggie!" The Misdreavus grinned.
Jacob smiled in response, "I'm Jacob."
"Oliver, but sometimes I'm called Ollie."
"Now with that out of the way, let's go get that guy!" Aggie enthusiastically rocketed after Randy, flying up toward him.
The other three tried to follow, but were stopped when a familiar Cranidos stepped in front of them.
"Great, Randy's sidekick..." Marshal groaned, readying his fists for a fight.
Jacob's cheeks sparkled with electricity, "We can take him, the three of us."
Oliver swiped his trusty scalchop from his stomach, ready to battle, "No. Jacob, you go. Marshal and I will handle it."
Jacob looked at Oliver with a raised eyebrow, confused as to why he would suggest that. The Oshawott only looked back at him with a supportive smile and nod, which was all Jacob needed to know what was going on.
"Right!" Jacob quickly dashed past Roark and toward the large tree.
Meanwhile, Aggie was quickly catching up to Randy. She was able to see the two items left at the top of the tree that they needed to retrieve, two differently colored tennis balls. The Misdreavus reached for the tennis balls, getting within inches of the items.
Before she could touch them, Aggie was quickly attacked by Randy, who used his tail to whack her down. The Ghost type was sent careening towards the ground, groaning in pain. Jacob vaulted himself off of the tree to catch her and land on the ground.
Randy soon glided past them with a cocky snicker.
"You okay, Aggie?" The Pikachu asked with concern.
Even though beating Randy was his primary objective, he couldn't help but to take a moment and make sure his new friend was doing alright.
"He got me... But not this..." The Misdreavus looked at Jacob, opening her hands to reveal a blue tennis ball.
"Nice save!" Marshal exclaimed.
"Now let's not worry about me!" Aggie levitated out of Jacob's arms, "Let's go and get Randy and Roark!"
Oliver, Jacob, and Marshal nodded in agreement.
The trees and leaves whipping past their faces, the four charged forward to catch up to their enemies. Jacob in particular was running faster than he had ever ran, rage fueling his stamina to unseen levels.
Oliver had a bit of trouble keeping up with the three. As a kid, stamina was never his strong point, despite knowing unconventional ways to retain stamina while running. He was close enough to hear the screams of Jacob, letting him know the fact that they had caught up to Randy and Roark.
With one final sprint, Oliver tried his best to get ahead of the group and help Jacob.
The Pikachu quickly fired a Thunderbolt at the Gligar, prompting him to dodge, "You want a fight, Chu-pid?"
"You'd better believe it!" Jacob stopped to take a moment and glare at his bully, "I'm not alone anymore!"
Suddenly, a scalchop came flying out from Randy's left. Roark noticed this and quickly used his head to parry the weapon. He looked around to see where Oliver was, but couldn't find him amidst the thick forest.
Randy, as always, knew he was outnumbered, and nodded at Roark to signal their escape.
They weren't going to escape so easily, however, as Marshal quickly fell from the sky and delivered a Bullet Punch straight to the Gligar's head.
"Perfect shot!" Aggie exclaimed, having been the one to drop her friend onto Randy.
In the process of being hit, the Gligar dropped the red tennis ball that he had been holding. Marshall quickly grabbed the tennis ball and threw the blue tennis ball at Jacob, which he caught.
"You two, get out of here!"
Jacob tried to contest, "Wait, but—"
Oliver grabbed his best friend's paw, dragging the Pikachu away and toward the finish line.
For the third time that day, the Pikachu had felt defeated. This emotion was only solidified when Randy and Roark came out of the forest with the red tennis ball.
---
It was time. The final challenge. With two teams remaining and a year's supply of berries on the line, the teams headed back into the forest one last time. The challenge for this round was to race to the end of Wild Woods and back to the starting point. First team there would win the berries.
At this point, Jacob had completely forgotten about the berries, only focusing on beating Randy and Roark.
Suddenly, a raindrop hit the Pikachu's nose, snapping him out of his thoughts. It was raining. That didn't seem to lighten Jacob's mood any more. Oliver's head suddenly turned to look at is right, alerting the Pikachu as well.
"What's up?" Jacob asked.
Oliver replied, "I hear voices..."
The duo peered over a hill, where they could see Randy and Roark walking away from them. Jacob's expression instantly became more devious, as an idea began to come to him. Turning around, he could see a large boulder sitting there.
He was no Oliver, but he was sure that a steep, grassy hill plus rain littering the area would equal some serious distance, and he was willing to put that to the test.
"Jacob...?" The Oshawott saw his expression.
The Pikachu quickly made his way over to the boulder, exhaling softly, and beginning to push.
Oliver couldn't help but watch. There was no way that he was going to do what he was thinking of. Sure Randy and Roark have bothered Jacob in the past, but would that really come to doing something like this?
"Jacob, maybe we should keep—"
The water type begun to speak, but quickly stopped himself. Saying that Randy and Roark only bothered Jacob would be a cruel understatement. Jacob had his reasons, and he wasn't sure if he would interfere or not.
As Oliver put his paws down to his sides, he only watched as Jacob pushed the boulder down the tree.
The boulder slid down the slick incline before crashing into Randy and Roark, who were completely unaware of what had happened. The two were suddenly slammed against a tree, being pinned from the other side by the rock.
"What the!?" Randy looked at the boulder, "What the heck happened!?"
"Revenge is what happened, jerks!" Jacob, with the same cocky smile Randy had been shooting to him the entire day, stepped on top of the rocks.
The rain pouring down evolved into a storm, thunder crackling and booming around the forest, briefly illuminating the Electric type's face in the dark.
Oliver only watched from behind him, knowing that if things went too far, he would have to be the one to step in.
The Pikachu's cheeks sparked with electricity. This time there was no way to escape his Thunderbolt. The sparks from his cheeks jumped to the raindrops around them, increasing the range of his potential attack.
"Now... This is for all the years you bullied me!" Jacob bellowed, beginning to charge a Thunderbolt, "I'm not letting it slide any longer."
Before he could fire the attack, he felt a paw on his shoulder. It was Oliver, who lightly shook his head at him.
Understanding what his best friend was trying to say, he stopped, let out an exasperated exhale, and jumped off of the rock to walk away, "Right, we need to finish..."
"Wait we gotta move the boulder first, right?" Oliver jumped down and followed Jacob.
The Pikachu grinned, looking back at the stuck duo.
"They're not getting off that easy."