After a quick stop at the pokémon centre to heal their pokémon, Jovi and Emili returned to Emili's house. Acri hadn't seen the fight with the shadow zigzagoon as she was working on another novel, but she had heard all the commotion outside. She had intended to ask Emili what had happened when she came back in. Jovi and Emili weren't bothered at all by any other trainers while they were walking back; everyone else was too shocked by what had happened. When Jovi and Emili arrived at Emili's house, Acri was already outside waiting outside. When she saw Jovi, she just smiled and waved to greet her,
"Ah, hello Jovi. This is a surprise visit." Acri greeted.
"Hi Acri, nice to see you." Jovi greeted.
"Hi mother." Emili said.
"Would you like a drink Jovi?" Acri asked.
"I'd love one." Jovi replied. Emili and Jovi walked into the house and sat down at the dining room table. The dining room was pretty much in front of the front door. There was a gas cooker and a fridge near the dining table and a workbench on the opposite side. The workbench had the standard equipment found in a kitchen: sink, cupboards, draws etc. There was a doorway to the right that led to the lounge area. Acri was pouring a couple of glasses of Orange juice for Emili and Jovi while the two were sitting at the table. Jovi took the poké ball that contained the shadow zigzagoon that she had just snagged and placed it on the table. She still felt a little guilty about taking the pokémon but knew that she had to take it, as there was no other way. She also knew that she would have to get over these guilt attacks, otherwise she would end up not snagging any more shadow pokémon that may have been created. Acri finished preparing the glasses of Orange juice and gave the glasses to Jovi and Emili. While she was doing this, she noticed the poké ball on the table.
"Is that a new pokémon?" Acri asked.
"Yeah." Jovi replied.
"What is it?"
"It's a zigzagoon." Emili replied.
"Shadow." Jovi added.
"A shadow pokémon!" Acri exclaimed.
"Yeah. I had to take it back from a thug near the Krabby club."
"Are you sure it was a shadow?" Jovi pointed to the aura catcher attached to her head.
"Shadow pokémon exclude a dark aura that is not normally visible. This device allows me to see those auras."
"Is that the Snag machine your brother used 3 years ago?"
"Yeah. Krane predicted that shadow pokémon would come back. That's probably why this wasn't dismantled."
"What are you going to do now?" Emili asked.
"The zigzagoon will needs to be purified. It's far too violent right now." Jovi replied.
"Violent?" Acri asked. To prove her point, Jovi opened the poké ball and allowed the zigzagoon to come out. As soon as it was out, it looked around its surroundings while growling. Jovi let Plipli and Mimi out as well as a precaution.
"Plipli, Mimi, if zigzagoon goes wild, I'll need you two to thundershock it, ok?" Jovi asked. Plipli and Mimi squeaked affectionately and turned to look at the zigzagoon, which was still growling at Acri.
"It certainly sounds aggressive." Acri muttered. As soon as she spoke, the zigzagoon barked and tried to leap at her, only to be shocked by Mimi. It turned around and growled menacingly at Mimi. Plipli glared at the zigzagoon and prepared to unleash a thundershock at it.
"Zigzagoon, stop that!" Jovi shouted. The zigzagoon looked at Jovi and growled again, but it didn't try and lunge at her. At that point, a thought occurred to Acri. She ran out of the room and ran upstairs.
"Where's Acri going?" Jovi asked. Emili just shrugged while taking a sip of her Orange Juice. Jovi took a sip from her glass. The shadow zigzagoon eventually calmed down but didn't show any signs of affection at all. Acri suddenly came back into the room with a small sponge like case with three holes on one side. There was a button under each of the holes. She gave the case to Jovi, who didn't know what the case was.
"What is this?" Jovi asked.
"That's a cologne case. Rubbing pokémon with the various cents is supposed to make them happier. I heard it also helps purify shadow pokémon." Acri replied.
"How did you get that mum?" Emili asked.
"I picked it up when I went to Agate village about a month ago."
"How does it work"? Jovi asked.
"Each of the holes contains a scent. You push a button underneath one of the holes and then squeeze the case to release the scent. There's currently one of each scent in the case. Try it on the zigzagoon." Jovi pushed the left-hand side button and squeezed the case. Green foam oozed out of the hole. Jovi then rubbed this foam over the zigzagoon, slightly worried about how it would react to the treatment. To her surprise, the zigzagoon laid down on its front and stopped growling immediately. It became relaxed completely as Jovi rubbed it with the scent.
"Wow, it's enjoying this." Jovi said.
"You can buy scents for that case at the poké mart in Agate village if you run out. Rubbing with scents should help you purify any shadows that you catch." Acri added.
"Thanks Acri." Jovi recalled the zigzagoon into its poké ball. Plipli and Mimi were sniffing the air, which still smelt of the scent that Jovi had used.
"Don't worry you two, I'll massage you two later." Jovi said, recalling them into their poké balls. She then finished her Orange Juice and stood up from her chair.
"I'd better head back to the lab and report back to Krane." Jovi said.
"I understand. If there are any more shadows, you'll need to take them back." Acri replied.
"Where will you be going after that?" Emili asked.
"Probably to the ruins of the Cipher key lair to see what's there." Jovi replied.
"Well, good luck, and come to visit some time."
"Sure will."
Jovi left Emili and Acri's house and went to the poké mart to browse around a little before she went off. She didn't need anything but she was curious as to what the shop actually stocked. There were a variety of different potions and other healing items. She also found packets of poké snacks. These were very popular, as people were still going out and catching pokémon at the poké spots. It had recently been discovered that five pokémon appeared at each spot. At the rock spot, meditte and makuhita had been seen. The Cave spot was now being visited by misdreavus and duskull. Sudowodo and farfetch'd had been seen at the Oasis spot. Jovi wanted to buy some poké snacks but she didn't have the money to do so. Naps hadn't given her any prize money for her victory. She turned around to leave when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. A sudden chill went down her back. She had no idea of who was behind her. She cautiously looked around, prepared to pull out her pokémon to defend herself, and sighed with relief when she saw the herbalist behind her. Her munchlax was standing next to her.
"Miss, please don't do that to me." Jovi said.
"Sorry little lady." The herbalist replied.
"Anyway, did you want me for something?"
"You're the trainer that took that shadow pokémon aren't you?"
"Yeah."
"Good, I need to ask you a favour."
"What is this favour?"
"I've finally come to realise that I'm too old to cope with my herb shop and looking after this little glutton."
"Your munchlax?"
"Him, yeah. He's just too much trouble for me."
"What can I do to help?"
"I'd like you to take it off my hands. I'm sure that it would be much happier with you and going around the region rather than being stuck with me. It would also make my life much easier."
"How does he cause you trouble?"
"Whenever I go out to get some herbs, he wonders away and I often find him scoffing other people's poké snacks."
"I see, can't keep an eye on him eh?"
"No I can't. That's why I need you to take him off my hands."
"Munchlax!" The munchlax exclaimed.
"I don't know much about munchlax, but I'll try and look after it." Jovi said.
"Thank you. I don't know much either, but I've heard that it evolves into snorlax" The herbalist replied.
"Thanks for the information. I'll take good care of munchlax here."
"You are really helping me out here, so I'll give you a gift." The Herbalist gave Jovi munchlax's poké ball and a bag full of herbal pokémon medicines, including heal powders, energy roots and revival herbs. Jovi looked through the bag at all the herbal remedies.
"These are for pokémon aren't they?"
"Yes. They are very effective medicines."
"Thank you."
"I'll see you whenever then. Take care of munchlax for me."
"I will. Ready munchlax?" The munchlax looked up at Jovi and squeaked. Jovi smiled and called it into the poké ball. The herbalist then walked away while Jovi left the poké mart to return to the lab.
After receiving the munchlax from the herbalist, Jovi returned to the pokémon HQ lab. A lot of things had happened at Gateon port and she had to report back to Krane on what had happened. When she arrived at the lab, the first place she went to was the main office. Just as she had hoped, Krane was there with Lily. They both noticed Jovi enter the room and turned to greet her.
"Welcome back Jovi." Lily greeted.
"Hi mother." Jovi replied.
"What were the results of your investigation?" Krane asked.
"Positive. There are some new shadow pokémon around. My friend Emili told me about one of them."
"Did you see it?"
"Yes. It was a shadow zigzagoon. I was able to catch it with the snag machine and he was taken away by the authorities."
"That's good, but if there's one shadow pokémon, there's bound to be others."
"The owner was a thug that we saw in the port. He stole the pokémon from a scientist he met at the ruins of the Cipher key lair."
"That would indicate that Cipher are coming back."
"That's not all I found out. He also said that he had heard rumours about another XD class shadow." Both Lily and Krane gasped at the thought of another XD shadow. Jovi's brother had been able to capture the XD lugia last time, but there was no telling what this new XD was, but it did give Krane a thought.
"That may be linked to the attack last night."
"What attack?"
"It was on the news while you were gone. A train passing through the area was attacked by something last night. The train driver said something about a strange creature with four thin arms stopping the train. It kept on changing form as well."
"That's not like any pokémon I know. It could be a ditto though."
"It might be. The important thing is that the train was carrying a large amount of pokémon."
"Just like what happened to the S.S. Libra." Lily added.
"That happened to the S.S. Libra?" Jovi asked.
"Yes. Your brother found it in the middle of the desert."
"Then where would that train be?"
"Who knows, but all those shadows on that train could be changed into shadow pokémon unless we act fast."
"Jovi, we want you to go to the ruined Cipher key lair and find out if it's been reactivated. If it has, you'll need to shut it down again." Krane said.
"While you're doing that, we'll contact Eagun at Agate village to tell him about the shadow zigzagoon." Lily added.
"Right." Jovi replied.
"We'll also get to work in reactivating the purify chamber while you're gone. It should be up and running when you get back."
"Ok. But where is the Cipher key lair?" Lily unfolded a map of the orre region and laid it out on the desk.
"It's about here. It's quite a distance from here." Lily pointed to a point on the far east of the map as she said this.
"Ok. I'll head there and have a look around."
"Just… be careful."
"I will Lily."
