Trainer to Be

Chapter 17

"Pikachu?" I call out. He's got to be around here somewhere. We're approaching twenty minutes. I don't know what to do. What if we don't find him in time. Why do I care? He's been nothing but horrible to me the whole time we've known each other and he's caused nothing but trouble. He's a fucking nuisance. A nuisance that I can't imagine life without.

Brooke rolls her eyes. "He's not going to answer you know. He's probably gagged or something."

I stifle a laugh. "Gagged? Are you serious? He's a Pokémon for crying out loud. You watch way too much Netflix." Is she high? Who in their right mind would gag a Pokémon? "Pikachu?" I shout again.

"You're insane." Brooke responds snottily.

Twiddling my hair around my finger, I force a smile. "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Therefore, by definition, I am insane." She shakes her head and pulls a disgusted face. "You know what." I snap. "If you're going to be so up yourself, why did you even bother tagging along?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm just as good a trainer as you, if not better." She snaps back. This is why we're best friends. We both have such a short fuse that eventually we just blow up in each others faces. But our flames always die out together. "You don't stand a chance without me." She shoves me backwards and I slam into the unlocked door. It bursts open and I tumble onto the classroom floor.

I look up. On the other side of the room is a girl with short ginger hair. She's wearing a midnight blue t shirt and a black sleeveless jacket, black jeans and combat boots. Hanging around her neck is a moon necklace. I'd recognise her anywhere. "Nora?" I question. There's no way it's her. She's my friend. She wouldn't do this to me, right?

"Hello Leoni." The sides of her mouth turn up. "I bet you weren't expecting to see me here."

"Butter fingers!" I hear Pikachu's voice and my eyes divert to the corner of the room. He's slouched against the cupboard, an open cut on his leg. The blood pours down onto the wooden floor. He's in terrible shape. Why would Nora do this to him?

"Shut your trap." She produces a knife from her bag, it's stained with blood. Swiftly and accurately, she chucks it at Pikachu. It slices across his left ear, leaving another gash.

My hands clench into fists. "You monster! How could you do this to him? He hasn't done anything wrong!" When I first met Nora I thought she was a nice girl, clearly I was wrong. My fingers wrap around the Pokéball that Connor gave me. "I'll fight you. I'll fight all of you. Team Eclipse is going down, and you're going with them."

She giggles. "Bring it on Hayes." Turning to Brooke, she smirks. "Make that two against one. I'll wipe the floor with you two." Producing a Pokéball from her bag, she throws it against the ground and screams. "Go, Charmeleon." Charmeleon, huh? When did her weak ass Charmander evolve? If I remember correctly, that thing got destroyed in the tournament.

Brooke sniggers. "Please bitch, my Pokémon is going to clean the windows with you." How does that even work? Surely if you cleaned the windows with a dead body they'd just get more dirty. You are a bit stupid, aren't you Brooke? "Go, Leafeon." Leafeon? Really? She's facing a fire type Pokémon. She's going to get turned to ashes.

I guess that just leaves me. I take the dive ball out of my bag. Praying to any god that'll listen that Connor's Pokémon doesn't get too badly injured, I release the contents. Someone remind me to thank him later. My token Pokémon isn't just any weakling Pidgey or Weedle. He's actually gone and given me a Prinplup. I smile. "Go, Prinplup."

She sniggers. "You may have the type advantage Leoni, but I know that's not you're Pokémon. They're never going to listen to you."

"Oh yeah?" I can feel the anger boiling up inside me. How dare she hurt my Pokémon. Does she have any idea who she's messing with. I'm Leoni Hayes for crying out loud, queen of psychos. "Prinplup, use bubble beam." The concentrated laser of bubbles shoots across the room at a speed that could break the sound barrier. Charmeleon dodges sideways and is immediately hit by Leafeon's magical leaf attack. She topples over backwards and stays down for a few seconds before jumping back onto her feet. "Ready for another beatdown?" I smirk. Even though Nora's got the advantages, the type advantage over Brooke and the advantage over me due to the fact that Prinplup isn't mine, she's still no match for us. "Looks like we're going to be wiping the floor with you."

She shakes her head. "Don't get cocky. Charmeleon, use fire fang." Her fiery jaws sink into Leafeon's left leg. They buckle due to the pain and she falls to the ground. You can see the pain in Brooke's eyes. Good trainers have a strong bond with their Pokémon. Like, really strong. Strong enough that you can feel every bit of pain, not literally but emotionally. Apparently Brooke is a good trainer, who would've thought? "Again, Charmeleon. Finish her off."

Charmeleon prepares another blow, aiming directly at Leafeon's forehead. The hit would kill her. I have to warn Brooke. "Call her back." Brooke catches my eye and nods. She presses the button on the front of the Pokéball, bringing Leafeon safely back inside. "Use whirlpool." I scream. Prinplup thrusts his flipper forward and a pool of water appears directly underneath Charmeleon, the waves swirling around violently. Eventually she's thrown aside, knocked unconscious.

Nora's veins are about to pop out of her head. "Get up you piece of shit." She roars at her Pokémon. She doesn't move.

I smirk. "Looks like you've been bested. Now hand over my Pokémon before things get ugly."

"Not in a million years. Your Pikachu will be a valuable asset to Team Eclipse." She grabs his paw in her hand and drags him towards the door. "Ciao bitches. I'll see you in the afterlife." The door bursts open and Connor dashes into the room. He lands a kick straight in Nora's temple. She blacks out and falls to the ground.

"Connor." I pull him into a hug. Letting my tears soak his shoulder, I whisper. "You saved Pikachu."

He pats me on the shoulder. "Leoni, I have no idea what you're talking about." I gesture to Pikachu, trying to free his hand from the senseless Nora's grip. "Ah, I see what you mean."

"Alright, you can't leave me out of this group hug." Brooke bounds over and throws herself at us. We tumble to the ground, a ball of laughter. Ah happiness. It's a wonderful thing. Who am I kidding? I'm not into all that mushy stuff. That's just not me. I'm Leoni. The sarcastic queen. The slayer of the aero bar. This is my best friend Brooke. The clingy mess. The school's biggest Pokémon fan, apart from me. And this is my new friend Connor. The sore looser who somehow got my number. Somewhere down the hall is Hannah. The badass gym leader who actually plays by the rules. As much as I hate all that cliché film stuff, without these guys today wouldn't have been the same.

"Ahem." Oh yeah, and there's Pikachu. I scoop him up in my arms and squeeze him so hard I'm surprised his guts didn't start to fall out of his ears. "Hey Butter fingers." He wheezes. "I can't breathe."