Poor Rival, better known as the "Rival's/Blue's/Gary's Raticate Theory" or just "Raticate Theory", is a well-known theory story surrounding Pokémon Red and Blue.
In the games, the rival Blue Oak has a Ratatta and later a Raticate in his first few battles. Later on, the Raticate no longer appears in his team. What happened? Well, this theory theorizes that Red accidentally killed Blue's Raticate.
Blue's Pokémon received serious injuries in a battle with Red on the S.S. Anne, but Blue was unable to reach a Pokémon Center in time. After that, Blue concentrated his best on being a serious trainer and becoming the Pokémon League champion. However, this dream was crushed when Red defeated Blue and became the champion himself.
The theory is rarely taken seriously, but it is popular in dark fan-works and Nuzlocke runs.
This theory provides examples of:
- All Just a Dream: Alluded to in the final line of the story:His crushed dreams gave me an example of what he really is when his Raticate passed away. But who knows? Maybe he's a ghost that can't leave or just an orphan who lost his Raticate in a freak accident and can't stop thinking about it and never leaving until death itself can get rid of it.But that's how it goes or maybe it's just all in your head.
- Always Someone Better: Red is this to Blue. He always one-ups Blue. In the end, Blue's own grandfather scolds Blue while praising Red.
- Beneath the Mask: Blue hides his grief behind his attitude. He also secretly resents Red for killing his Pokémon.
- Coming of Age Story: While Blue leans towards a story of Innocence Lost, Red's part in the story leans towards this.
- Dark Fic: Red accidentally killed Blue's Raticate in a battle, leading to Innocence Lost for Blue.
- Innocence Lost: The theme of the theory is this. Blue's boyish snide attitude is torn apart as his Raticate is killed, his dreams are crushed, and his grandfather and guardian praises his rival instead.
- Parental Abandonment: Blue is explicitly an orphan, something implied but never throughly explored in canon.
- You Bastard!: The entire story is meant to make the reader re-examine the games with a new eye and make them feel bad for ruining a eleven-year old orphan's dreams.
