Trainer to Be

Chapter 3

I walk over to the table where Brooke is sat. She's tucking into a tuna sandwich. I sit down opposite her and fish the Pokéball out of my pocket. I place it down on the table in between us. Brooke looks at it and then looks at me, I think she's confused. "Brooke, the most awesome thing happened this weekend." I say, getting my sandwiches out of my bag. I've got cheese spread, bleurgh. "I was at Mr Pine's house, or should I call him Professor Pine, helping him unpack boxes. And I dropped one of the boxes and hundreds of Pokéballs fell out. There was a Pikachu in one of the, a real life Pikachu. I mean sure, it's a bit sarcastic, but it's a god damn Pikachu! But what kind of friend would I be if I let you miss out? So I got you this Pokéball. It has a real life Pokémon in it Brooke! Can you believe it?"

Brooke shakes her head. "No Leoni, I can't believe it."

"W... What?"

"Think about it Leoni." Brooke says. "Pokémon is a game franchise that was imagined by people at Nintendo. There is absolutely no chance of it being real. This is obviously just merch."

I'm gobsmacked. I can't believe that my best friend, one of the school's biggest Pokémon fans, doesn't believe me. "It is true. I'll prove it to you."

"Good luck with that." Brooke gets up, bins the crusts and exits the cafeteria. At the exact same time Nora enters. She walks over to where I'm sat and sits down where Brooke just came from.

"Hi Leoni." She says, getting a bag of crisps out of her bag. "How's Pikachu doing?"

"Alright, I haven't actually let him out of his Pokéball yet." I shrug.

"Typical." She laughs. "Well, I'm heading off to the first gym this weekend, want to join me?"

First gym? I've lived in this town all my life and never have I seen a Pokémon gym? "What do you mean?" I ask.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to explain." Nora says. "The Pokémon world likes to keep itself a secret so key places, such as gyms and Pokémon centres, disguise themselves as normal places. The gym closest to here is disguised as a fish shop." She must mean Oh My Cod! The number of times I've visited that place and I've never thought anything was up. "Gym leader Hannah is said to be top notch." I assume she's a water type gym leader considering it's a fish shop. With my Pikachu, an electric type, this should be an easy win.

"I'll be there."

"Cool, I'll meet you at your house on Friday after school." That means I have until Friday to convince Brooke that Pokémon are real.

After school on a Monday and what am I doing? Waiting for my best friend on the school field, Pokéball in hand. I see Brooke approaching me from the other side of the field. "Leoni, I swear to god if this is about that Pokémon malarkey..."

"Trust me, it is." I say, releasing Pikachu from his Pokéball. "Well I never, isn't this the most wonderful place to train. Not a Pokémon in sight. How am I going to level up here, can I ask?"

Brooke is gobsmacked. "You... Pikachu... Real..." Just form the sentence for god's sake. It's not difficult, we've been speaking since we were one year old. "You weren't lying." Of course I wasn't. Name one time when I've lied.

"So, do you want to Pokémon now?" I ask. What is it with Brooke and all this prove it crap?

"Yes, please." I hand Brooke the Pokéball and she releases the Pokémon. On the grass next to her is an Eevee. "Omg..." Brooke says. I wonder which Eeveelution she's going to pick.

"Anyway. Nora and I are going to the first gym this weekend. Would you like to join us?"

Brooke looks puzzled. "First gym? I've lived in this town all my life and I've never seen a Pokémon gym."

"That's because they look slightly different to the games." I say. "You'll see when we get there."

"I'll take your word for it."

I bring Pikachu back into his Pokéball. "No! No! No! I'm not going back in there!" He cries as it closes. I shake my head. Brooke does the same.

"Hey, how come your Pokémon can talk but mine can't?" She asks.

"I don't know." I reply. "But most of the time I wish he didn't."

"I heard that." I hear from inside the Pokéball. Brooke and I exchange glances and we both burst out laughing. I can't wait for this weekend.