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Sinnoh Bound
by Sailor Chronos

Chapter Four: A Gathering of Friends

"Kojin, Ember!" Jack's Torchic spit fire at the Shinx that he had spotted on the side of the road. The Flash Pokémon adeptly dodged the attack and retaliated with a Tackle that knocked Kojin down. "Get up and Scratch!" This time the hit connected, leaving the Shinx disoriented. "PokéBall, go!" He threw a ball at the Shinx, and made his first official Sinnoh capture!

"Yay, Jack!" Heather cheered. "You did it on your first try."

Glowing with pride, he gazed at the PokéBall in his hand for a few moments. He now felt like a real Pokémon trainer, and it was such an amazing thing. After stowing the PokéBall on his belt with a grin he said, "I still don't see why I can't have all fighting types." Then he knelt and gave Kojin a piece of fruit as a reward.

"I never said you couldn't," Heather reminded him. "It's just a good idea to have a varied team so that you can handle whatever your opponent might throw at you. For example, I use mostly flying types. Someone with one strong electric type could take them all out very quickly, which is why I have Loki. If you have mostly fighting Pokémon, they'll be weak against flying or psychic types."

"But," Jack protested, "the type difference doesn't always make or break a match."

"That's true, but it's a good idea to consider it. The Gym Leader at Oreburgh City uses ground and rock types, so it's best to have a Pokémon that can use water moves."

"Yeah, but where can we find one? We're not near the ocean right now." They had continued north from Sandgem Town and planned to reach Jubilife City the next day. "And we won't be again until Veilstone City."

She waggled a finger at him and said playfully, "You're forgetting something, bro! There's a river that runs near Floaroma Town."

"But that's further north, isn't it? I don't want to backtrack all that way."

Heather sighed, and considered for a moment. "Then here's what we can do. There's no rule that says you have to go to the Gyms in order, although leaders have the right to refuse a challenge if they think you're not strong enough. Train your two fire types hard, and challenge the Gym at Eterna City, because the leader there uses grass types. By then you should have found a water Pokémon, and we can head south down Cycling Road to get back to Oreburgh."

"Sounds good to me!" He gave Heather a happy high-five.

After passing through Jubilife City and replenishing supplies, they continued northwards. It took almost a week to reach Floaroma Town, by which time Jack had battled many wild Pokémon and several trainers. Heather had caught a Starly and was training it and her Piplup quickly by orchestrating matches between them and her more experienced friends.

His Shinx, named Zera because Nurse Joy at the Jubilife Pokémon Center had identified her as female, proved she could handle her own type when they battled a trainer in Floaroma Town who had a Pichu.

"Tackle attack, now!" Zera charged at the tiny mouse.

The Pichu's trainer yelled her own order. "Thundershock!"

The lightning blew Zera off the ground, and although she landed on her feet, she couldn't move forward as the Pichu pressed its attack. Jack became concerned, since he knew that Zera wasn't a high enough level to use any electric moves yet. "Keep yourself grounded, Zera!" he called. "It's bound to run out of power soon!" Zera bared her teeth and crouched low, but her legs were shaking.

His opponent laughed. "You won't last much longer! My Pichu is the best!"

Nervousness set in, and his heart pounded. Perhaps he had made a mistake in using Zera for this? Then he noticed a strong aura forming around the Shinx, pulling the electricity in. Could she be using Charge? It was possible, but she had no way of releasing it and she would soon be overwhelmed. Unless... "Zera, remember what you've seen Loki do? Channel it back out! Do Thunderbolt!" It was a gamble that she could spontaneously learn the move, but otherwise they would lose.

Zera closed her eyes and cried out with the effort, but the electricity gathered around her mouth and lashed at the Pichu, knocking it out. Now discharged, she stood quivering and panting as Jack ran up and held her gently for support. "Great job, Zera!" he praised her. "You learned two moves! You deserve a good rest now; let's get you to Nurse Joy."

When he stood, cradling Zera in his arms, he noticed that the girl was already tending to her Pichu. "Great battle," she said with a respectful nod. "My name is Ariel. If you're ever back in town, could I challenge you again? I promise I'll be better next time!"

Jack flashed a smile at her. "It's a deal!"

The highlight of the day, though, happened later that afternoon. He and Heather explored the boardwalk outside the eastern end of town, where he battled a handful of fishermen who had Magikarp and Goldeen. Zera's newly discovered Thunderbolt prevailed time and time again. Then, just as they were about to head back to town for dinner, what should leap from the water but a Buizel!

"Cool, I want to catch it! Zera, let's go!"

"Jack, wait! She's too tired from battling those trainers, we can come back tomorrow."

"But-" Before he could object further, the Buizel made a face at him, leaped into the water again and disappeared. "Sis!" he yelled, stamping his foot with a pout. "You made me miss the Buizel!"

"It'll still be around tomorrow," she insisted, despite the annoyed glare he gave her. "A trainer needs to put their Pokémon's health first. If you had tried to battle that Buizel, more than likely you would have lost and Zera would have been hurt. Do you want that?"

"What I want," he said, suddenly angry at Heather for her interference, "is for you to stop coaching me once in a while and let me do my own thing. If I want your advice, I'll ask for it. If I make mistakes, I'll deal with them."

She sighed in exasperation, and then pursed her lips as she often did when she was thinking. "All right, Jack, I'm sorry. When we come back, you can battle the Buizel and I'll just watch."

The next morning, Jack was psyched as he and his sister returned to the place where they had seen the Buizel. He expected a long wait, since although a Pokémon might have been seen at a specific location, there was no guarantee that it would show up. Therefore it was a total surprise when a Buizel gracefully flew out of the water and landed on the walkway in front of him!

He wasted no time. "Zera, Tackle!" The attack didn't come close as the Buizel avoided it easily and followed up with several lashes of its tail, producing disorienting waves of sound. He barely heard Heather cry out behind him as he tried to keep his composure. This Buizel was fast! Catching it looked almost impossible; he saw that there was no way Zera could match its speed, and his other two Pokémon were weak against water.

No, it was too soon to give up. If he couldn't hit it, he would have to lure it in. "Do Leer, now!" Zera's eyes glowed and she stared down the Buizel, which had landed a short way away and was in the middle of pulling faces. But when it looked at Zera's menacing stance, it hesitated!

Time to go for the hit! "Thunderbolt!" The Buizel leaped up, but it wasn't quite fast enough this time and caught a glancing blow from the electricity. It twisted itself around and dove into the water.

For a few seconds, Jack worried if he might have missed his chance to catch it. He scanned the water carefully, looking for any ripples or telltale signs that the Buizel might be returning, but the water was calm. He was about to give up when a small area began to roil, and the Buizel shot out again, firing a Water Gun attack.

Hold on, water conducted electricity! "Zera, brace yourself!" Zera took the full force of the Water Gun and staggered, but remained standing. "Send a Thunderbolt through the water!" The Buizel was taken completely off-guard and took heavy damage before it cut off its attack, and it crashed down onto the boardwalk. Jack immediately threw a PokéBall, and spent several tense moments watching as it rocked, but the Buizel remained caught!

"All right, I caught a Buizel!" he shouted, lifting the PokéBall into the air triumphantly as Heather cheered from behind him. "See, sis, I said I could do it." Zera cavorted happily around his feet.

"Great job, bro! And that was quick thinking to use the Buizel's Water Gun against it. Coming up with things like that on the fly and taking your opponent by surprise is a big help in Gym battles."

Jack returned Zera to her ball. "Speaking of Gyms, I think we're almost ready. Which way do we go?"

Heather consulted their map. "From where we are, it's about the same distance back to Oreburgh as it is to Eterna City. There are two paths ahead; the longer one is through Eterna Forest which will give the opportunity to battle bug and grass-type Pokémon with your fire types."

"And you want to catch a Murkrow," he said with a sly grin. At her dismayed look he continued, "I saw you looking it up earlier."

"You got me," she admitted, shrugging. "Let's go, then!"