I am Erika, the grass pokemon trainer.  I run the gym in Celadon city.  Nothing 
really special happened in my life except this most important day…  Most of you 
know the beginning.  Anyway, here you go:

“Griiiiiiiiiimmeeeeeeer!”
I was 5 and alone in a small room.  A Grimer was standing before me and I was 
very scared.  I screamed and begged for help.  No answer.  How frightful.
“Glooooooom!”
After what seemed to be a eternity, I heard an answer to my screams.  It was a 
Gloom who made the Grimer run away with of its stinky scent!  
“Thank you!  Thank you!”, I told the pokemon.   
“Glooooooooooom!”
“You seem nice!  Wanna be my friend?”
Gloom nodded.
“Great!  You must be tired after chasing all this Grimer.  Follow me, I’ll 
prepare you a meal.”
Gloom nodded again and it followed me to my bedroom.
“Do you want to sit down while I prepare your meal, Mr. Gloom?”
It sat down and waited patiently, until I told it the meal was ready.  The meal 
wasn’t very gastronomic, as you will notice.  It was only whipped cream that I 
took from my refrigerator with candies, but Gloom seemed to like it!
“How is it?”
“Gloooooooooooom!”
“Can’t you say anything else that “Glooooom”?”
Gloom shook its head to mean “no”. 
“I see…  But you like my meal, right?”
Gloom nodded.  I smiled.  
“I’m happy you like it.  Hey, do you want to be my best friend?”
Gloom nodded.  I hugged it!  I was so happy to have a friend, I didn’t had too 
much friends when I was young…  Gloom seemed to be very happy too.  But the 
moment did not last long…  My mother entered the room.  My mother was probably 
the second most scary person I ever knew, the first being that Grimer…
“Erika, have you seen the whipped cream?  AAAAHHHHHHH!  What is that thing?”, 
she shouted.
“It’s Gloom, my best friend!  He saved me from a Grimer.”
My mom looked disgusted.  
“You’re too young to have a pokemon and I don’t want such a thing in my house!”
“No, I’m not too young!  I’m a big girl now!”
“Get that pokemon away from me, now!”, she said with look which has always 
scared me so much..
“No, it’s my friend.”, I said bravely. 
Replying to my mother was a enormous act of courage for me.  But she seemed not 
to care about me, finally having found a friend.  She tried to take Gloom away 
from me, but wasn’t able to, because she couldn’t smell it…  
“That beast stinks!  I’ll call someone that will take that monster away!”
When I heard those words she said about my friend, I began to cry.  Then, I 
became so angry that I shouted at her.
“He’s not a monster!”
My mom ignored me and took the phone.  She locked me in my room until a guy with 
a Tangela entered.
“It’s that Pokemon!, my mother said while pointing at Gloom.  Please take it 
away!”
“Tangela, use wine whip on that Pokemon!”, said the man very coldly.
And the wines went around Gloom.  The Tangela took Gloom.  It cried.
“Nooooooooooooooo!  Don’t go!”, I shouted, half-angry, half-sad.
The man with the Tangela seemed to care about me either.  He catched Gloom in a 
pokeball.  Then, when my omther was busy somewhere else, he had a word with me.
“I’ll bring the Gloom to you, when you get to stay in another house.  Call me 
when you move from your mom’s house and I’ll
give you your Gloom!”
I stopped crying.  The man was nice and seemed to be honest.  At first, he 
didn’t seemed to be that nice, but know that I talked with him, he was very 
different from what I thought he was.
“Thanks a lot, sir!”
“You’re welcome.  I saw that you were very attached to this pokemon.”
He went outside.  Gloom and I continued to cried.  I stopped when my mother 
began to shout.
“I DON’T WANT TO SEE ANY OTHER CREATURE LIKE THAT IN MY HOUSE EVER AGAIN!  AND 
STOP CRYING!!!!”
I was so afraid of her.  She couldn’t understand how I felt about loosing my 
best friend…  Even though I barely knew it, I liked Gloom a lot…

So that’s how the most important day ended.  When I became a gym leader, I was 
so happy to see a man with a Gloom and a Tangela
knocking on my gym’s door.  I thanked the man and he gave me Gloom!  Now, Gloom 
and I are now the best friends ever!  My life is about friendship and trust 
toward my pokemon, that’s how my life’s like!