Zack sighed as he looked at the Rhyhorn tracks Eve had stumbled upon, though he would love to catch a Rhyhorn Eve was still inexperienced and at a type disadvantage. Rhyhorns rock body would prove impossible for his small pokemons attacks. He crouched down and lifted Eve into his arms before heading further down the trail. He was looking forward to reaching Haden City, it would be his first time in town since starting his travels. In the week since he had lost to Dexter he had battled three more trainers, like him they were just starting out on their journey.

He beat two of the three and managed to regain some of the pride he lost against Dexter. After his fight with Dexter Zack had stopped relying on sheer brute force and had started using Eve's less direct attacks. He thought he would finally manage to catch a pokemon now but all the ones they caught traces of were to strong for her or long gone. As Zack forced his way through a bush with Eve still in his arms he finally caught sight of the city. It was more sprawled out than Stormstone, with its clustered skyscrapers, but Zack thought he could get used to the large suburban area.

After making his way to the pokemon center and having a routine check up done on Eve by the blonde haired nurse who was on duty, he began exploring the town with Eve trotting excitedly beside him. He was just passing by a bakery when all of a sudden a small spiky pink pokemon shot out with a loaf of bread in it's mouth. Zack watched it pass by amazed at the brazen pokemon until the owner of the bakery burst through the door after shouting a string of profanities that would have made a sailor blush. "Darn Nidoran thats the fifth loaf this week." The baker muttered before noticing Zack and silently cursing himself for shouting like that in front of a kid.

"Sorry about my language kid, its just that pokemon has been getting in my shop and stealing bread, it wouldn't be so bad if he was just taking a loaf but he destroys a lot of my other breads." The baker explained to him before heading back inside to clean up the store that Zack could now see was a mess. Zack was wondering what had happened to have Nidoran break in and steal food since according to his guide book it was a very gentle pokemon. He also considered going after it to catch it but he figured it was already to far gone. Then Zack realized he could have Eve track it, though she wasn't the most reliable pokemon for the job.

He looked down expecting Eve to be nearby and was shocked to find that she had wandered off. Zack began to panic as he called out her name several times without receiving a reply. He broke into a run shouting her name as he ran, if he got hurt because he hadn't been paying attention he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. Then finally after what seemed like an eternity he heard Eve's muffled reply. Following the sound he rounded an corner panting. He was so glad to have found Eve that for a second he didn't realize that she had a peice of bread in her mouth and was running wildly to avoid the male Nidorans attacks.

His worry abated he called out to Eve, "Sand Attack!" She responded to the call by swiftly brushing her thick tail acoss the ground to throw dirt into the Nidorans eyes. With the pokemon no longer attacking her Eve rushed over to Zack and dropped the bread at his feet. "Alright thanks, but now back to the battle girl. Use Swift and follow it up with a Quick Attack." He told her. She turned around sharply as a yellow sphere of energy formed in her mouth before exploding into a multitude of stars thats surged past the still blinded Nidoran leaving small cuts across his small frame. Eve followed the stars in a quick rush aiming to her enemy hard in the side. The Nidorans ears twitched and he turned his head in the direction of which Eve was approaching as his horn glowed purple.

"Eve break!" Zack called the drilled command for dodging as the Nidoran shot its Poison Sting Attack. Eve broke to her left barely avoiding coming into contact with the toxic missile. The Nidoran had finally shaken most of the dirt from its eyes and was looking at Eve angrily, Zack had to admit it definitely look as docile as the guide book said it was. He opened his pokedex hoping it had something useful to say that the book had left out. It however only chimed in to say that unlike most pokemon Nidoran had the most difference between its male and female species.

Zack was begining to think the pokedex was only useful because it could pull up his captured pokemons stats, since its generalized information was almost always unhelpful. "Eve lure it in with a Tail Whip then Bite it." He ordered, putting his pokedex back in his pocket. Eve responded by raisng and shaking her tail at the Nidoran, it seemed to work at enraging it and causing it to charge. Eve took advantage of the reckless charge to jump onto its back and bite into Nidorans ears. The small pink rabbit pokemon shook violently trying to throw Eve off but to no avail.

Finally the exhausted pokemon dropped to the ground. Eve jumped down and ran over to Zack her face asking if she did a good job. "You did great Eve." He said as he bent down and scratched behind her ears. Then remembering his earlier idea he pulled an empty pokeball from his belt and tossed it at the Nidoran that was converted into a red energy as the pokeball struck and absorbed it. The pokeball shook from side to side a few times before halting with a chime. Zack picked up the pokeball and held it at eye level before jumping and shouting, "Alright we caught a Nidoran!" "Vee?" Eve asked cocking her head to the side wondering why her master was jumping up and down for no reason.