The Pokemon Bandit – Short Story by Jordan Flores

It was a beautiful winter morning, crystal white snow trickling down onto the front yard. I would’ve been joyous if it wasn’t for the fact that it was a school morning. I was slightly sweating from being bundled up in a sweatshirt and coat in the warm house for too long, mostly because I’ve been waiting for my mom to finish getting ready to drop me off to school. My mom and I headed outside to make our way to the car. My fluffy, red hat itches my forehead, so I take it off as soon as I get into the backseat. Looking at the hat in my hands, I thought of the long day ahead of me.

“Ok, you’re all set”, my mom said as she put the car into park in front of the school. I put my hat back on. “Ok, love you!” I said. “Love you too, have a good day at school!” she said. The car behind us let out a long honk. “I will”, I said while closing the door behind me. I entered my classroom, everyone was talking in their seats, and others were putting stuff away in their cubbies.

As I was putting my coat up on the cubby hanger, my friend approached me. “Yo, look what I got yesterday!” he said enthusiastically. I paused in shock, my eyes opened and my mouth dropped in disbelief. He had a massive Pokemon card of a Charizard EX!.

Charizard was a fire breathing dragon that seemed like he could just fly out the card because it was so big. At that moment, I knew I had to have it. “How did you get that?” I asked. “I’m friends with my neighbor’s kid, and he didn’t want it anymore, something about him being too old for it now”. It almost seemed too good to be true. He put the card into his backpack in the cubby next to me.

I slowly walked to my seat, looking back at his backpack, already trying to develop a plan. After recess, everyone was still electric from all the playing in the snow. I put my coat and hat back into my cubby. No sign of my friend. Confused, I scanned the class. “He must be in the bathroom”. My heart was thumping, “it’s now or never”, I thought to myself. I slowly unzipped the front pocket, hoping it was there, and nothing. I looked back to see if anyone was looking at me. The coast was still clear, I tried unzipping the big pocket in his backpack, two seconds at a time, transitioning from being in my backpack to unzipping his.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I got it open, the card was glowing gold off the reflections from the bag. I quickly took it and zipped up the backpack. My hands were sweaty. I was in my seat, constantly looking around the classroom to see if anyone was looking at me suspiciously. Everyone was talking with their friends, no one knew what I just did. I put the card in my backpack.

My friend came back from the bathroom afterwards. Still happy, he would soon come to a haunting realization. And it’d be my fault. I felt guilty, but there was no turning back now – it was too late. The end of school finally came. I never ran so fast to my mom’s car. I was relieved, I got away with it, not knowing if it was a good or bad thing. This won’t become a habit, I thought to myself.

A couple of months later, me and my friends were trading toys during outdoor recess. The day before, we made up a plan to bring our best toys for trading and borrowing. We were under a yellow slide, trying to keep inconspicuous to the teachers monitoring us during recess. It was cold, and we were in the shade. Cold air slapped us in the face, but it was worth it, this was serious business.

In the end, I let him borrow a Winter Soldier action figure. It was my favorite toy, and I boasted about having it, saying it was a “Limited edition”. Not knowing if that was true or not. You could move its arms and legs, and make a bunch of cool poses with it. We arranged that he’d bring it back to me in a week. Trusting him, I had no doubt that he’d give it back.

When the following week rolled around, he said that he “Forgot it at his house”. I was bummed because I was looking forward to playing with it again. I was suspicious, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. The next day was the same excuse, and the next day, then the next. Eventually I accepted that I probably wouldn’t see it again.

It got me thinking about the friend I stole the Pokemon card from, how he must have felt when he noticed it was missing. It was karma, and a valuable lesson. A lesson about trust, a lesson about life, a lesson that impacted me forever.

Karma keeps count – what you do to others will come back. So, treat people the way you would want to be treated. When I am about to do something with, or for someone – I ask myself, “If someone did this to me, would I be okay with it? “If I got caught doing this, would it be okay?” If these answers are negative, then you probably shouldn’t do it. You have to be smart with your actions, as every action brings about a reaction. Ever since that day, I realized I messed up in taking something that did not belong to me, and I made a promise to never put myself in that position again.

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