Welcome to Camp Pikachu

by Alex Polan

  “Sure you do,” said Nisha. “You’re really good at helping your team come up with a plan.”

  “Yeah,” said Maddy. “You’re a good leader.”

  Marco felt heat rise to his cheeks, so he tried to make a joke. “What type of Pokémon does that make me?” he asked.

  Logan tossed a walnut into the air and caught it. “You’re not a Pokémon at all,” he said simply. “You’re a Trainer. You’re our Trainer.”

  Huh. Marco liked the sound of that.

  When they heard Professor Birch’s whistle, they hurried along the trail. It was almost time to start another round of capture the flag. But this time, Marco wasn’t nervous.

  “It’s weird,” he said, “but I feel like we already won the game.”

  Nisha nodded. “I kind of feel like that, too,” she said.

  “So if we already won,” said Logan, “we can just play for fun!” He jogged ahead up the trail and turned around to toss the walnut. “Heads up! Here’s the pitch!”

  He tossed the walnut to Marco, who caught it one-handed with a smile.