"You can't do that!" a child's voice screamed. It was sunny outside, a light breeze rustling the leaves on the trees circling the playground. In the last week of summer everyone had gathered in the playground. Little Nik had rushed out of his house, ignoring his mother's wishes for him to apply another layer of sunscreen. With a drawstring bag in his hand he swung it along as he raced to the playground, ready to fight his Pokemon.

"Yes, I can!" another child, a blonde little girl with blue eyes, replied with the stamp of her foot. A red bow sat on the top of her head, the band nestled underneath her silky hair. Her below shoulder length hair was neatly parted in the middle, tucked back behind her small ears.

"No! It's my Onix!" the young, brown haired boy frowned, his little face scrunching up. He was a stubborn little boy for his age, he learned that from being the middle child. Many fights had ensued over his collectibles and in every one he had lost.

"Nik! Nik, hand it over. I won it fair and square, you know the rules," she stated, crossing her arms tightly as if the tighter they were crossed the more likely she would have her card back. It was hard to make herself sound like she had authority with her words sounding so high pitched and cute.

"Nuh-uh!" that was his very thorough argument. He picked up his thin card along with the rest of his collection and took off. The cards had a design of a white and red ball over a blue background on one side with a yellow 'Pokemon' logo. The other side depicted his favourite and now essentially 'stolen' Pokemon. He had won that card from his neighbour after a long and hard battle, and he wasn't about to let some girl take it from him! The girl collected her own cards from the ground and hurried after him.

"Come back here, Nik!" she whined, watching him escape down the sidewalk of their neighbourhood. His black and white sneakers had an advantage over her flimsy red dolly shoes her mother forced her into. Being nine years old she could hardly win a battle against the almighty ruler of the house. It didn't mean she wouldn't complain though.

She pumped her short legs along, trying to keep up with Nik, but stumbled. Her cards fell to the ground, scattering along the grey pavement. The girl huffed, her nose wrinkling before she crouched down to shuffle the cards into her arms again. When she rose again the 'assailant' was nowhere to be found.

Defeated, she sat at the edge of the sidewalk, her small feet tapping on the road. Her blue frock sat over her lap, slightly dirtied from her previous sitting on the playground. She wouldn't be able to catch him, and he certainly wouldn't give it up easy. Fortunately, she would only have to wait a week until school...but it was a very long week to her. As soon school would start she would smack him over the head and take what was rightfully hers. He would be a fool not to bring the cards to school since they were the new craze.

"Oh...my...god," she squealed, gripping the ends of her white touch screen phone. It had only been a few days but Caroline was glued to her phone constantly. She wasn't a gamer, she didn't even really play the silly little apps like 'flappy bird' and 'angry birds' or any of the birds for that matter, but this game was her dream come true. She always wanted to be the very best like no one ever was. She wanted to be a Pokemon trainer.

"What did you catch?!" her close friend, Elena, shuffled over to peer at her new Pokemon. To put it shortly, everyone was obsessed. Hardcore Pokemon fans, casual Pokemon fans and even non-fans were playing the game. Walking had never been quite so popular.

"I got another Jigglypuff!" the blonde jumped up and down on the spot, "I'm going to transfer it so I can power up Ralph!"

"...Ralph? You named your Jigglypuff...Ralph?" Elena laughed at the name, scoffing quietly.

"Yep, and Ralph is a cutie pie," Caroline scrunched up her face cutely, tapping the little Pokemon on her phone.

"The gym is close by, I want to fight," she continued, taking her friend's hand to lead her there. There was no argument, they were off to the gym.

Elena knew about Pokemon, she watched a few episodes growing up, but Caroline was on another level. She convinced her to watch the whole Indigo League series...all fifty two episodes. The girl was a Pokemon genius, rapping along to the song at the end. Half way through she had been entranced and found herself singing to the parts she knew, that was weird enough. But then Caroline bought the hat...and the game came out...and it was impossible not to tell they were playing the game.

They encountered the gym, a small park with a landmark statue. Once they had connected to the gym Caroline was ready to battle. Elena's character had not reached the level required so she took it upon herself to search the park for Pokemon. She wanted the thing that looked like a fox but a cute fox, Vollytrix or something.

"Aw man, what a jerk!" a couple kids complained, bickering amongst themselves. From what she gathered they had their gym taken over by someone else.

Caroline observed the gym on her phone and scoffed. An Onix was sat upon the top of it, red circles whizzing around the animated silver tower. She was reminded of the little boy who owed her that Onix trading card. She drew plans to get it back but when she returned to school he had moved away. Just her luck. Rumours were that he died, that he went to prison, all sorts, when really his parents took him back to England. That was her 'the one that got away' story, except the 'one' was a piece of card with a Pokemon on it.

"Pfft. Team Valor. Of course. Probably some asshole who wasted all of his money on getting that much CP," she laughed to herself, sitting on one of the four benches surrounding the statue. She would never choose team Valor; team Mystic represented her completely. She wasn't a buffoon who wanted to 'be the best', she was a true master, learning all about evolution and her Pokemon.

"You know as well as I do that's not how it works," heard a smug British voice.

Caroline stopped in her laugh, coughing awkwardly, "Excuse me?" She turned to the voice, a man sitting on another bench to the left side of the statue. He lifted his head, a handsome face appearing before her. It was like she had been transported back in time to that day she lost the Onix. It was weird, that of all the memories, that was one that stayed with her. He had rugged facial hair but still had the same blue eyes and somehow, it clicked.

"You have to catch the same Pokemon and transfer them to get candies to power them up. You're clearly a Mystic, so aren't you supposed to have knowledge on these things?" he answered, a grin pulling on his plump lips.

Caroline rolled her eyes and stood up, pointing at him, "And you! You were supposed to give me that Onix!"

His eyes blinked in confusion. What the hell? Who was this girl? And why did he owe her– oh yes. He racked his brain, studying the girl before him. Once she stamped her foot the memories came flooding back. His face was red when he returned home, losing a few cards on the way back but still clinging to the Onix.

Nik stood up to meet her aged, yet familiar, face with a grin, "Well, I couldn't very well give up my favourite Pokemon now could I?"

"Your favourite? I bet you're a loser who carries the card in his wallet like it's his child," she said arrogantly, snickering.

He chuckled and pulled out his wallet from his jeans' pockets, opening it to reveal the damaged Onix trading card in the little window, "Like this?"

Caroline gasped and lunged forward, forgetting her age for a moment, but Nik held it away.

"Give me my card," she grumbled, crossing her arms so much like she had done before.

"You want your card?" he smiled, holding back a smirk.

"Uhuh," she nodded firmly.

"Well, then I guess you can have it..." he began, pulling out the card to hand out. Alas, when she went to grab it, he moved it away for a second time.

"One date." Nik said simply.

"What?" Caroline questioned, frowning at the card in his hand.

"One date with me...and you get your card," he offered, smugness dripping from his words.

She looked him in the eyes, searching for something she wasn't sure of. They hadn't seen each other for many years, why would he want to take her on a date? After some moments of silence she groaned.

"Fine..." Caroline gave up, resting her hand on her forehead.

"Care! Care!" Elena came running, "I got to level five!" Her friend looked up, Nik turning his head in time.

Elena took in a breath before speaking, "I finally got to level five. I chose Instinct," she proclaimed proudly to her friend and the stranger.

Nik and Caroline exchanged glances, both pushing their lips out in an attempt to thwart their urges to make fun, but it was no use as the two burst into laughter.

"What?" Elena looked at the pair with an innocent, naive face.

Caroline sighed to phase out her laughter, resting a hand on her friend's shoulder, "Oh Elena...we can still be friends...but I will judge you forever."