Trainer to Be

Chapter 1

"Leoni! Come downstairs and meet the new neighbours!" Mum yells. I sigh and close my 3ds. I just got to a good part in the plot as well. Lillie and Nebby just got kidnapped. Why do the new neighbours have to come over now? I open my bedroom door and trudge down the stairs. I open the kitchen door. If I have to socialize there'd better be food. "Leoni, meet Mr Pine."

I look Mr Pine up and down. He has short brown hair and a moustache. He has green eyes, freckles and a pot belly. Looks like a nice guy, would be nice to have some pleasant neighbours for a change. "You must be Leoni." Hey says. I nod. I just want this to be over with so I can get back to playing Pokémon. "Your mum's said so much about you. I have a daughter who's about your age, you know. Maybe you two could be friends?" Man this guy talks way too much.

"Wouldn't that be nice Leoni?" Mum says, smiling at me. I roll my eyes. Why does she always expect me to socialize with people I don't care about? I promised Brooke I'd battle her tonight and this is wasting my time. Brooke's the only person who truly understands my love of Pokémon. She's also one of my only friends. I know, my social life is sad, everyone says that.

"Yeah, sure it would." I give her a look that says can I go now? She gives me the dirtiest look known to man. Well, that's my phone gone for the rest of the evening.

Mr Pine checks his watch. "Well, I should be going. I still have half a house to unpack and I don't think Nora's planning on helping."

"Oh, I'm sure Leoni will help." Mum says, beaming at Mr Pine. "Wouldn't you Leoni?" Yeah, because unpacking boxes is exactly what I was planning on doing with my weekend. She gives me a look that says you better help the poor man out young lady. I sigh, turn to Mr Pine and nod. I can't believe this is how I'm going to be wasting my time.

"Great, I'll see you tomorrow Leoni." He says. "It was lovely to meet you both." Mum shows Mr Pine to the door. I make my way to the treat cupboard and get an Aero. I unwrap the chocolate and take a bite. Well, that's twenty minutes I'm never going to get back.

I start to walk towards the stairs but mum stops me, locking the front door. "Stop right there young lady." I turn and face her, still eating the aero, damn this is one good aero. "You were so rude to our guest." Rude? I was hardly rude. I didn't say anything rude directly to him. "And you hardly said anything. Honestly Leoni, you need to learn to socialize more. You're only ten once, enjoy it." I am enjoying it, by playing as many video games as I can. And it's not like I'm allowed out the house anyway so I'm not sure what her problem is. I mean, I'm not even allowed in her front garden. I would give her a good old dose of sarcasm but my mouth is full of chocolate. I just nod and run off upstairs.

I close my bedroom door behind my and call Brooke. I put the call on speaker and open my 3ds again. I load up the festival plaza. Brooke answers the call. "Hey Leoni."

"Hey Brooke, you ready to battle yet?"

"Ready as I'll ever be. Are you on the festival plaza?"

"Of course." I load up online battle and select Brooke's name. I select my team: Torracat, Butterfree, Alolan Raichu, Seaking, Rhyhorn and Togepi. I wait for Brooke to select her team, this could take a while. Ten minutes? Twenty minutes? Who knows. I finish eating my aero and throw it at the bin, I miss. It's fine, I'm sure mum will pick it up later. "Are you done picking your team yet?"

"Not yet, I'm still choosing my last Pokémon." I roll my eyes, why is it always the last Pokémon? I get changed into my Togepi pyjamas. Togepi is my favourite Pokémon by far. They're just so damn cute. "And done." Brooke says.

"God finally, took you long enough."

"A girl's gotta take her time to prepare for victory."

The match starts. I send out my first Pokémon Torracat. Brooke sent out her first, Brionne. Torracat uses double kick. It's supposed to have normal effectiveness but it only gets rid of 16 HP. That's the thing about Brooke's Brionne, it's extremely over levelled because it's the only Pokémon she ever uses but all her others are extremely weak. Her Brionne uses aqua jet. It wipes out my Torracat in one hit. I send out Rhyhorn and use my Z move, it wipes out Brionne. This should be an easy win.

"Aww darn it, you won again."

"Well yeah, of course I did. Maybe you should try using more than one Pokémon in the main game."

"But then my Brionne won't be as strong."

I roll my eyes, this girl sees no reasoning. "Well yeah but once I beat your Brionne, which is pretty easy with a Z move, then it's an easy win because all your Pokémon are so weak."

"My Pokémon are not weak."

"Yes they are." I check the clock on the wall. I got it for my birthday last year, it's got all the Gen 1 eeveelutions on it. It's nine o'clock, past my bed time. All my friends are up until way past ten but mum says that's too late for someone as young as me. I wish I was a Pokémon trainer, they have no bedtime. "Anyway, I've gotta go. It's past my bedtime."

"Already?"

"You know what my mum's like Brooke. I'll call you tomorrow." I end the call without waiting for her to say bye, I'm a nice friend like that. I put my phone on charge and turn off my Pokéball lamp. I hug my Togepi plushy and try and sleep. I can't believe I have to help some old guy unpack boxes tomorrow, guess I'll have to deal with it.