Chapter Four: Jubilife City and Family Trouble!
"Welcome to Jubilife City. How may I be of assistance today?" asked a woman as Devin and Chimchar reached the entrance to the city.
"Hello, who are you?" Devin asked.
"I'm one of the many tour guides found in Jubilife City," the lady responded. "Being the largest city in the Sinnoh reign, the city council has appointed tour guides be posted throughout the city. In Jubilife city you can find many pokémon centers, the trainers school, our famous T.V. station, the famous pokétech corporation, the Jubilife City pokémon contest, and much more. Is there anything I can help you find?
"Can you tell me where to find the nearest pokémon center?" Devin inquired. The tour guide showed Devin where a pokémon center was and gave him a map of the city. "Well... it's a lot bigger then the last pokémon center," Devin stated, standing in front of a very large skyscraper with a giant 'P' on it.
"May I help you?" the Nurse Joy behind the desk asked.
"Yeah, I'm wondering if you have any open rooms for the next couple of days? This city is too big to explore in one day," Devin smiled.
"We have plenty of free rooms. If I could just see your trainer's ID," Nurse Joy held her hand out. Devin froze, until he realized that his pokédex acted as his ID. He handed his pokédex to Nurse Joy and she placed it into a slot near the computer. "Devin from Twinleaf Town... you're now registered to stay with us as long as you need," Nurse Joy handed Devin's pokédex back to him.
"Thank you Nurse Joy," Devin politely replied. 'Guess I should call home,' Devin thought to himself as he walked over to the video phones and began calling his mother. "Hi mom," Devin said as his phone call connected.
"Hi sweetie! I see you made it all the way to Jubilife City, I'm very happy to see your're safe. Have you visited her yet?" his mother asked.
"Visited who?" Devin responded.
"Your sister, of course. She's working this summer at the pokémon nursery in Jubilife City. I thought you knew that? Isn't that why you weren't wondering where she was when you were home?" Devin's mother asked.
"I was just happy she wasn't there," Devin said under his breath.
"What was that sweetie?" his mother quickly said.
"Of course I knew that, mom!" Devin said frantically to cover up. "Gotta get going mom, bye!" Devin quickly hung up to prevent himself from saying the wrong thing. "Guess we'd better go see my sister, Chimchar."
"Chimchar?" Chimchar looked very puzzled.
"Yeah, I have a sister. Actually I have two... and a brother..." Devin responded.
"CHIMCHAR!?!" Chimchar looked angry.
"Sorry I didn't tell you little buddy. My brother is a year older than me and he went off on his trainer's journey when he was ten. We haven't heard much from him since then, last time he called he was somewhere in the Johto reign. My littlest sister is staying with our grandparents so she can attend trainers school in the Hoenn region, and my other little sister apparently works at the pokémon nursery here," Devin said nervously. Chimchar looked upset that Devin kept this from him, but he looked even more confused trying to keep up with where everyone was. "I come from a big family... Don't look at me like that... FINE! We'll go see her so you can meet her," Devin stated.
Devin and Chimchar left the pokémon center and looked at their new map. The pokémon nursery, according to the map, was only a few blocks from the pokémon center. The two of them began walking and it wasn't long before they arrived. The nursery was a small building, only two floors, and didn't look to be much of anything. As Devin entered, a bell rang that was attached to the front door. The first floor was a large area with a bunch of baby pokémon running around in a big open room. The room had a small desk near the front door, a staircase going upstairs, and a door into another room. Devin rang the bell at the front desk and a woman's voice screamed for him to hold on.
A young girl, only twelve years old, came down the stairs. She was average height for her age and had long dirty blond hair. She was wearing a pair of jean shorts and a black t-shirt with two pink stripes going vertical on both sides of the shirt. "DEVIN!" the girl ran to Devin and gave him a bear hug.
"How are you doing Danielle?" Devin asked.
"I'm doing great! But why are you here, shouldn't you be at school still?" Danielle asked.
"Actually, I dropped out in order to become a pokémon trainer... this is Chimchar. Chimchar, meet my sister Danielle." Chimchar jumped down from his spot and into Danielle's arms.
"Cute pokémon you have Devin," responded Danielle as a group of baby pokémon came running up to them. "These are my babies Devin. Well, not my babies, but the ones I take care of." Devin looked around at the group of pokémon. There was a Happiny, Igglybuff, Bonsly, and two Pichus. The group of pokémon all started shouting to get Chimchar's attention. Chimchar jumped down and ran off with the rest of the pokémon and they all began playing. "So... you're a trainer now?" Danielle asked quickly to get Devin's attention.
"Yeah. Funny how things turn out, right?" Devin responded. "Why don't you tell me a little about your job," he asked.
"Not much to it really. I just take care of these pokémon and try to get them adopted before they evolve. If they happen to evolve, then I take them to the trainers school and they are given to trainers. I do have one problem pokémon though..." Danielle pointed to the corner, where an Azurill was sitting alone. "That poor Azurill... it was found wandering the city a few months ago. It has stayed the longest at the nursery but hasn't made a single friend. It seems to be afraid of people and pokémon. It's a shame because it will evolve soon because of its age and be forced upon a trainer." Danielle looked very upset.
"Poor thing... Is there anything I can do?" Devin asked.
"Nothing I can think of... but here I go droning on about my problems. Tell me about your journey!" Danielle and Devin talked for hours until it got really late.
"I'd better get going sis, it's gotten pretty late," Devin stated.
"It was great seeing you! Stop by before you leave town, ok?" asked Danielle and Devin nodded as he headed back to the pokémon center with Chimchar.
"Chim, Chimchar." Chimchar couldn't stop talking on the way back to the pokémon center.
"I know Chimchar, I think she's a nice girl also. She is my sister after all." Devin and Chimchar walked into the pokémon center to witness everyone running around in a huge panic. "Nurse Joy, what's going on?!?" Devin said in a panic.
"The pokémon are in danger! Thieves are in the city and they are grabbing every pokémon they can get their hands on. They are going to all the pokémon centers, daycares, and nurseries in the city! We have to evacuate all pokémon immediately..." Before Nurse Joy could finish Devin had already ran out the door.
"Chimchar, Danielle's in trouble! You ready to lend a hand?" Devin asked as he ran faster than he ever has. Chimchar looked focused and nodded. It wasn't long before Devin and Chimchar reached the nursery that his sister worked at and the door had been knocked down. "Danielle!" shouted Devin as he ran in the door.
"Devin, Help me!" screamed Danielle, who was tied up on the floor. "The thieves just ran out the back with the pokémon, go after them!" she continued as Devin finished loosening the ropes and ran out the back.
"Stop right there!" he shouted as he faced two men loading up a truck with the baby pokémon. "Who are you?"
"You again?" one of the men said as he turned to Devin. "Where's your little girlfriend, kid?" the man asked.
"It's you two, from the forest. I thought I would be seeing you two again," shouted Devin.
"Seeing that you were able to beat us once, I guess we owe you an introduction. We're members of Team Galaxy, the greatest crime organization in all of Sinnoh. The name's Wedge, and this is my partner Biggs," said Wedge. Wedge was tall with shaggy brown hair and glasses. He wore the typical Team Galaxy uniform, mostly black with some yellow and white mixed in. The only notable thing about the uniforms was the yellow 'G' on the shirt because it is the Team Galaxy logo.
"This time you won't stop us kid," exclaimed Biggs as he grabbed for a pokéball. Biggs looked shorter than Wedge and was a little heavier. He had neon teal hair that went to his shoulders and wore the same Team Galaxy uniform. Both men looked to be in their later twenties or early thirties. "Stunky, I choose you! Keep loading the truck up Wedge, I can handle the kid."
"I'm not a kid! Chimchar, you ready?" Chimchar jumped from Devin's hood and faced Stunky. "We'll end this quick..." before Devin finished speaking a large group of bubbles exploded in front of Stunky.
Devin looked in the direction that the bubbles were coming from and he saw Breck running toward him with Piplup at his side. "Piplup, use bubble-beam again!" Breck shouted and Piplup jumped into the air and shot out more bubbles at Stunky who avoided them.
"Breck, what are you doing here?" asked Devin.
"I went to the pokémon center and Nurse Joy said that she was worried about a trainer with a Chimchar who apparently ran off after hearing about the thieves. So I put two and two together and realized it was probably you. I also remembered your mother talking about Danielle's summer job at this nursery, so I knew exactly where to look," Breck explained.
"Well, I'm glad you're here. I could use the help," stated Devin.
"I'll take care of this loser, you just get those pokémon free," ordered Breck.
"Right," confirmed Devin as he ran toward the back of the truck. "Let those pokémon go!"
Wedge was holding the last cage, which contained Azurill, and he threw it at the ground when Devin screamed at him. "You want this pathetic baby pokémon, then take it!" The cage door smashed open when it hit the ground and the small Azurill rolled out of it hurting itself. "The pathetic thing is less than a foot tall, what could the boss possibly want with such a loser. There are plenty of Marill in the world," Wedge shouted as he began laughing.
Devin walked over to Azurill and held it in his arms. He looked down at it and tears began forming in his eyes. "It's not fair," he said as tears dropped like rain onto Azurill. "It's not fair... the way you treat pokémon... It's going to end now!" Devin looked up at Wedge with more anger in his eyes than he has ever had in his whole life.
Azurill opened its eyes and gazed up at Devin. "I won't let you lay a finger on this pokémon! Chimchar, use flame wheel, melt all of the truck's tires!" Devin shouted orders as Chimchar spun into his flame wheel and did as Devin said. "You're not going anywhere!" Wedge looked scared by the look of rage Devin was giving him.
"Stunky, no!" Biggs returned his Stunky to its pokéball. "We'd better get out of here Wedge," Biggs said as he ran to his partner.
"We're not finished yet! Croagunk, use poison sting!" Wedge released his Croagunk and it immediately shot hundreds of needles at Devin.
"Don't worry Azurill, I won't let anything happen to you," Devin whispered to the baby pokémon as he held it tight and turned his back to the needles, shielding Azurill.
"Piplup, use bide!" Breck shouted an order out at his Piplub and the penguin pokémon jumped in between Devin and the oncoming attack. Piplup glowed white and took all of the attack, it looked pretty banged up. "Now release the built up energy!" Breck screamed another order at Piplup and it shot out a huge burst of energy at Team Galaxy. Wedge and Biggs were completely defeated but they ran off before the smoke from the attack could clear.
"That's one impressive attack Breck," said Devin, who looked grateful for Breck's quick thinking.
"Yeah, Piplup and I have been doing some training," Breck responded and Piplup nodded. "Piplup is pretty exhausted now, maybe we should stay one more night at the pokémon center before leaving town."
"We can head over together, right after we let all of these pokémon out of their cages. But wait... can't help but think we forgot something though..." Devin said as Breck and he released the pokémon from their cages.
"DEVIN!!! WHERE ARE YOU!!!" screamed Danielle who was still tied up inside of the nursery.
In the morning Breck and Devin said their goodbye and Breck headed out toward Oreburgh City. "We still have a lot to do before our first gym battle Chimchar. How about we go see how Danielle is doing, then we can go explore the city some more." Chimchar smiled and crawled into his spot.
"Danielle, are you here?" shouted Devin as he walked into the nursery.
"Hey big brother! Thanks a lot for your help last night. Breck and you really saved the day." she said as she came walking out from the back room. "All the pokémon seem to be settling down from all the excitement yesterday, and do you want to know something strange? Azurill actually let me feed him today. You must have made one heck of an impression on him, maybe you should take my job," Danielle smiled.
Azurill came bouncing from the other side of the room and leaped up at Devin, who caught the energetic little pokémon. "You seem to have a lot more energy than the other day, don't you little guy?" Devin smiled as he gave Azurill a hug.
"You know what Devin? I think you should adopt Azurill. I have never seen him react to someone like this before, it's a miracle!" Danielle screamed as she searched for Azurill's pokéball. "Here it is!" she shouted.
"Danielle, I'm not so sure I can take care of a baby pokémon right now... I can barely take care of myself." Azurill looked up at Devin and then licked his hand. 'He's so cute... how can I say no.' Devin thought as he reached out and took Azurill's pokéball from his sister.
Message from the Author:
Reviews/Comments/Suggestions are greatly appreciated. Sorry for taking so long on uploading another chapter. I went on vacation for a few days so I was unable to write. Hope you like this new chapter!