Chapter Two

"I haven't seen you in at least a month, Korin. You've grown." Grandpa says as he greets Gary and I at the door.

"She's been spending all her time in the forest lately. She's just left really early in the morning and come back really late every day." Gary explains. Grandpa smiles as he leads us through to the dining room.

"Finally starting to train your Pokemon?" he asks, and I feel an involuntary frown crease my forehead. When I don't respond, Grandpa looks round at me. I shake my head. He sighs at my expression. "You really should give it a go, just once. You'll enjoy it, I'm sure." he says, and I shake my head again.

"I'll despise it, I'm sure." I respond, mimicking his tone.

"But you would be so good at it! You've seen how talented Gary is, and the two of you are more alike than you know." Grandpa says, and smiles at the identical disgusted expressions on our faces. We reach the dining room and Grandpa gestures for Gary and I to sit down. We do, as far as possible from each other, as Grandpa goes to get dinner out of the oven.

Grandpa comes back a minute later, carrying two trays, one with roast potatoes and the other with other roast vegetables. He frowns when he sees where Gary and I are sitting, but doesn't comment as he goes to get the plates with the roast beef. He brings them back, places them in front of us and sits down between us at an equal distance.

"Move along and sit a bit closer together. There's no need to pretend you don't know each other." he sighs. Gary slides his chair and plate along to sit next to Grandpa. Grandpa looks expectantly at me. I sigh and move across to sit beside him. "That's better." I frown and stab the beef on my plate, before reaching across and piling roast potatoes onto my plate, as well as other vegetables. I reach across and slap Gary's hand away from the gravy, taking it myself and pouring at least three quarters of what's in the jug on my dinner.

"Hey! Don't take all the gravy for yourself!" Gary says, reaching across and trying to grab it out of my hand. I turn to Grandpa.

"Would you like some gravy?" I ask him innocently, and I can tell from his face that he knows I'm only trying to annoy Gary.

"Let Gary have some first." he says, so I pour a bit more on my plate before handing it to Gary. He frowns when he sees how much is left.

"There's barely enough for one person!" he complains, and I smirk.

"Why don't you let Grandpa have it? He did cook dinner for us." I say, and Gary glares at me. Obviously sensing danger, Grandpa intervenes.

"No, no. I don't need any. You can have it, Gary." he says, picking up his knife and fork and slicing into one of his potatoes. Gary smiles gratefully at Grandpa and pours the remaining gravy over his food. He puts the now empty jug down and begins to eat. I follow suit, shoveling huge mouthfuls of potato, carrots and broccoli without cutting them first. Grandpa looks between me and Gary and sighs. I know he's comparing us, and his opinion of me is getting worse and worse, as Gary cuts his food into small pieces and chews slowly, whereas I just scoop up food on my fork and practically inhale it for all the chewing I do.

About half an hour passes before we are all finished eating. Grandpa takes the plates through to the kitchen before deciding to try yet again to convince me to become a Pokemon trainer. To help him persuade me, he brought out a couple of Pokemon he thought I would like.

"You really think I would want to own an Eevee?" I ask incredulously. "I'd rather just have Pokemon as friends, not because of their appearances or skills but because of their personalities." Gary snorts.

"Because you're so good at making friends." he says, shaking his head and smiling. I glare at him.

"I'm not friends with any people because I don't like people. I could make friends if I wanted." I say, and Gary nods slowly.

"Sure you could." he says, smirking, and gets up to leave the room, declaring that he's going to the toilet.

"What's the best way to make friends with people?" I ask Grandpa as soon as I'm sure Gary's out of earshot. Grandpa smiles as if he had been waiting for me to ask.

"Well, there is one thing that will make people find you much more interesting from the moment you meet them..." he begins, and I nod, signalling for him to continue. "Everyone loves a Pokemon trainer." I sigh.

"If it means I can prove Gary wrong and show him that I'm perfectly capable of making friends, then fine. I'll become a Pokemon trainer." I say dejectedly, and Grandpa beams.

"I knew you would give in one day!" he says cheerfully. "Which starter Pokemon would you like?"

"I'm fine with the two I've got now, thanks." I say.

"I'm sure I could have one transferred across by a Professor in another region..." Grandpa says, and I know he already knows what I want. I shake my head.

"I'm fine with what I've got." I say, and instantly regret it, because I've been desperate to have a Snivy for years.

"Okay, then. You can stick with your two. I see no problem with that." Grandpa says, still smiling. Gary comes back into the room.

"So you're a Pokemon trainer know?" he asks.

"How long were you standing outside the door for?" I ask, and Gary grins.

"The whole time. I didn't actually need the toilet, I just wanted to hear you ask Grandpa how to make friends, and there was no way you would do it if you thought I could hear." I pick up a cushion off the sofa and throw it at him. He chucks it back.

"Stop it, you two. You'll destroy my new cushions." Grandpa says, snatching the cushion back and placing it gently where I took it from. He glances at the clock. "You should probably head home now: it's getting late. I expect to see you here tomorrow, Korin, and you should be ready to start your journey." I nod and get up.

"Bye, Grandpa!" Gary and I say at exactly the same time as we leave the room and begin to walk home.

A/N: Hey! Another chapter done. I'm actually kind of surprised at how quickly I've written this so far... I hope you enjoyed the chapter!