We stood in perfect unison, the flashing orbs changing colors and sparking.

"Nobunaga!" I yelled across the strange battle field. "Give up; this is your last castle!"

"Dragnor will never fall to you, Melissa! I will unite Ransei and meet the legendary pokémon!" His strong voice boomed back.

I looked down at my pokémon; a glaceon that I evolved from an eevee specifically for this battle. He's wrong, that's going to be me.

Of course, you're all wondering how I got here. It's a long story; you might not even stick with me through the whole thing, but it started about seven years ago, I was eight years old.

…

"But Mommy, I don't wanna move," I cried for the billionth time, pounding on the windows of the car.

"I told you Daddy got a better job here, now, how old are you?" She asked irritably, gripping the steering wheel.

She knew how old I was, "eight," I answered, hugging my special pillow.

"Yes. You are a big girl now, so you are too old to be pouting," she lectured, her eyes still on the road. I gave a small sigh and turned to the window. Bushes and trees scattered the areas around the road, which was a beaten dirt trail.

"Look, we're here," she suddenly said, pulling me out of my trance. A small sign stated we were in Little Root Town. Why did that sound so familiar? Mommy pulled up to a good sized house across from a rather large building. I caught a glimpse of the little sign in front of it; it read: Birch Laboratory.

"What is a 'laboratory'?" I asked, sounding out the syllables.

"That's where your Daddy will work for a man named Professor Birch," she answered, opening her door.

"What is a 'professor'?"

"Just go inside sweetie," she answered tiredly. Despite my sadness, I excitedly ran inside the new house past the moving trucks, still clutching my pillow. The living room looked normal enough, the TV and couch from the old house were there, and picture frames were on the fireplace mantel.

Once I thought I had explored the room enough, I moved on to the next one; the kitchen. As I was inspecting the sink, I heard heavy footsteps enter from another room, which I assumed to be the dining room.

I noticed it was someone carrying the fridge, but something was out of place. His fingers were purple. What? Purple fingers?! The person, or whatever was carrying it, turned to put the appliance down. And what it was nearly made me faint. Its whole body was purple, and muscled. Its mouth had two fangs sticking out, and red stripes covered its arms.

"Monster!" I cried, swatting it with my pillow. It looked surprised, and stumbled, sort of stepping on my foot. Red hot pain swept over the area, and stinging tears rolled down my face as I began to wail. I felt myself being picked up and gently rocked like a cradle. Through my bleary eyes, the monster took my shoe off and examined my foot. It looked fine, it wasn't puffy or anything, and I realized it didn't actually hurt that much. The thing put me back down and continued to move boxes.

"What happened? Did you see a spider or something?" Mommy asked, setting her purse down on a table. I hadn't noticed her come in.

"Um, no," the words left my mouth slowly, and I pointed in the direction it went. She followed my finger and bustled into the next room. A cry flew to my ears; Mommy must have had the same reaction. Right at this moment, Daddy walked in. He was wearing a funny looking white coat and his reading glasses.

"Daddy Daddy! There was a monster in here!" I cried, scampering into his arms. He hoisted me up onto his shoulder.

"Oh really?" he asked, amused.

"Yeah! It was really big," I blurted, using animated gestures. He looked like he was going to say something more when Mommy stomped in, lugging a confused monster behind her.

"Explain this, Scientific Guy!" She demanded, pointing at the thing. Daddy put me down, looking mildly surprised.

"That, my Darling, is a pokémon called machoke," he answered. Pokémon was my favorite thing to watch, but how could they be real? Mommy and Daddy began to argue in the background of my concentration. The two of them would bicker like best friends, but they rarely argued like this. My eight-year-old flightiness took over, and I instantly drowned them out with my own thoughts.

"We're in the Hoenn region," I thought out loud, coming to my conclusion. Mommy and Daddy looked back at me.

"Why don't you go say hello to all the neighbors," Daddy suggested, nudging me towards the door. I stumbled out of the room and heard Mommy's muffled voice.

"You want her to go outside and talk to strangers? What the hell is wrong with you?!" she accused.

"Don't worry, I already know everyone here," he answered, irritated. The two of them snapped at everything more often than usual since they were still in the process of quitting smoking. Once I had learned that it causes cancer at school, I convinced them to stop. But I knew they'd be back to normal soon.

As I walked out the door, bright sunlight warmed my skin and flower beds scattered the ground in patches. I continued outside tentatively, and chose to meet the people directly next door. I walked up their steps and stood there awkwardly for a few minutes. I nervously reached for the knocker and thumped on the door timidly. After a few seconds, I was about to leave when a woman with long brown hair opened the door.

"Oh, hello," she said, her voice warm and friendly, "who are you?"

"Um… I- I'm your new next door neighbor," Imanaged to choke out, looking at my feet.

"Oh! You're Mark and Sarah's kid, Melissa!" she exclaimed with recognition. "Come in, come in." I allowed her to guide me into her home. "This is my daughter, Sapphire," she said, gesturing to a younger girl with light brown hair in the frilliest dress I had ever seen.

"Hi!" Sapphire greeted me with only a small amount of shyness.

"Sapphire, this is Melissa, our new neighbor. Melissa, I think my son is upstairs, he's eight like you. Go say hello," she directed gently.

"Okay," I agreed bashfully, going to the stairs. I ambled into a room that had a bed with some sort of dinosaur pokémon sheets, a computer, and a small TV. This is probably his room. I glanced around to see if he was in there, and saw a pokeball lying on a rug. I leaned down to grab it. What is this?

"Hey!" Someone screamed loudly from behind me. I stiffened and nearly dropped the ball. I turned sharply and saw a boy with a head band, white hair and red eyes swiftly enter the room. "Who are you? What are you doing in my room? Why are you messing with that?!" He cried, snatching the sphere away.

"Too many questions," I mumbled, confused, "uh… my name is Melissa. Your mom told me to come up and find you, and that," I pointed to the pokeball, "made me curious." The boy watched at me suspiciously until some sort of recognition dawned on him.

"Oh yeah! You just moved next door! Dad said his new employee's wife and child were coming! Ah – I thought you'd be a boy," he burst out. And that was the moment all shyness and embarrassment was thrown out the window.

"What made you think I would be a boy?!" I bristled.

"No reason, I just assumed," he answered slyly. "Anyway, do you have a pokémon?"

"I just came here from America," I began before he cut me off.

"Then I'll go catch you one right now!" he said cheerily. "Oh, sorry, I can't. I promised my dad I'd help him with research. Well, see ya," he corrected himself, heading out of the room.

"Wait!" I called. He turned back around. "You never told me your name."

"Oh, right. My name's Brendan," he answered, then ran down the stairs. His hair was white, and his eyes were red… gosh it's weird here.