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The Poké ball burst and the white beam of light streamed from it. The light condensed around a fairly small shape, then vanished as it had with Onix. The Pokémon that stood before him was not impressive in terms of size, like the Onix, nor was it majestic like Ash's Charizard. And it didn't need to be. To Aden, it was perfect.
The body form was clearly canine, but not exactly wolf-like. It was not as large as a wolf, but closer to a medium sized dog. The proportions were also wrong for a wolf. The Pokémon was more lean-muscled, with longer legs and a narrow snout, like a coyote. The ears were upright, but much too large for its head, reminiscent of a fennec fox. The tail was short, almost nonexistent, and covered with an abundance of bushy fur.
But these were all secondary observations. The first thing that caught his attention was that the animal was yellow, an impossible sunflower yellow that made golden retrievers unworthy of the name. A ruff of white fur surrounded its neck like a collar. The fur was medium length on the body and short on the legs and head, which would have been otherwise unremarkable had it not stood straight on end, clustering into spike like formations, especially around the bushy tail. The Pokémon glowed bright enough to rival the fire, not simply because of its color, but because of the sparks of blue-white electricity that danced among the spikes of its fur. It shook itself, as if it were wet, and turned its head to Aden. Its black eyes glistened, intelligent and cunning, as it examined him.
"A Jolteon," Aden said, when he found his voice again. He was glad it was a Pokémon he was familiar with. "Wow he's…stunning." The Jolteon looked wary as it eyed the trainers that peered at him, sparks jumping from its fur. It occurred to Aden that he didn't know how he knew the Pokémon was male…but somehow he knew with absolute certainty.
"Didn't know Jiro had a Jolteon in his inventory. Must be a new acquisition. Glad he gave you a Seeker though. We need more of those," Brock said.
"Seeker? Oh, right, electric and psychic types. Good at finding holes," Aden remembered, not taking his eyes off the Jolteon.
"See? You're catching on. Electric types aren't exactly common, and Pokémon are a hell of a lot harder to catch now, if not impossible, so we're short-handed when it comes to Seekers. Misty's Starmie is a psychic type, but he's pretty much useless for moving around on land. Rai—I mean Pikachu has been our main Seeker. Does a good job, too." Brock patted the Raichu's head; it made a contented squeaking noise in response. Aden was infinitely glad that Pokémon didn't repeatedly state their own names in real life. That never made much sense to him when he watched the anime. After all, he didn't call dogs "Barks" or cows "Moos," so why should Pokémon be named that way?
"Looks like a nice specimen. Healthy. Mind if I take a look at him, Aden?"
Misty's lip turned up in disgust. "You make it sound like you want to examine the poor thing's insides."
He shrugged. "You know me. If things ever get back to normal, I'd like to become a Pokémon breeder, like I was trying to do before the world went haywire." Brock squat down to the Jolteon's eye level, and reached his hand out. Aden felt an unexplained flash of anger, dissipating as quickly as it had appeared. The Pokémon's head whipped around; its body stiffened.
"Brock, don't!" Aden warned. The Jolteon growled and lunged forward, clamping around Brock's hand. Brock yelled, then went into convulsions as electricity coursed through him. His eyes rolled back in his head. Pikachu let out a squeak of surprise, the Charizard jumped to its feet, and the Onix reared up, shaking the earth. "No! Stop!" he yelled at the Jolteon, command in his tone. The Jolteon glanced at him, seemingly at war with itself, and in a moment that seemed like forever, it released Brock's hand. Brock crumpled to the ground, motionless.
The trainers surrounded him, concern written in their features. The Onix brought its massive head down to Brock's level, nudging his limp body. Dawn pushed the rocky head aside. It moaned, a deep rumbling sound. "Get out of the way, Onix. Let me work." She pressed two fingers to the dark skin of his throat, feeling for his carotid artery.
"He has a pulse. Quick, someone get the Parlyz Heal and a Potion from my pack, and hurry," Dawn said. Misty retrieved two small bottles, like tiny aerosol cans, and handed them to Dawn. She shook the first can, a gold and white one, then pried Brock's mouth open and sprayed the contents of the bottle inside. A few tense moments passed, then Brock coughed, his chest shaking. Misty seemed to let out a breath she was holding.
"Thank god," she exhaled. "He's breathing."
"Are you with me Brock?" Dawn said in her firm but soft voice. His eyes fluttered, he gave a weak nod. "Can you move?" Brock's hands clenched. He gritted his teeth.
"Not…well. But yes," he said weakly.
"Good, the Parlyz Heal is working. Should take full effect soon. Open your mouth for me, you need Potion." He waved Dawn's hand away.
"Don't. We don't have a lot left. I'll be ok."
"Brock, don't be stupid. We'll find a way to get more. Open your damn mouth," Misty said. Brock gave up then, and Dawn sprayed the aerosol from a purple and white can. He relaxed almost instantaneously. The Onix breathed a sigh of relief and settled again, laying its head by its trainer's body.
"Get that Jolteon back in its ball, Aden," Ash said angrily. "There's something wrong with it." The Raichu eyed the Jolteon suspiciously, whipping its long tail, but the Jolteon backed up a few steps and stood in place, shaking its head violently. Aden felt confused. But he had no reason to be confused. Then it occurred to him. I'm not confused. The Jolteon is. Somehow, I'm feeling its emotions.
"Jolteon." The glowing dog looked up at him, attentive. Aden approached it, slowly. Ash realized what he was doing.
"What're you crazy? Put it back in its ball!" he shouted. Aden ignored him and inched closer, his eyes locked on the dark pools in the canine's face. His hand got closer to its head. The Jolteon's lips peeled back, showing long white teeth. Flickers of blue electricity jumped between the sharp fangs. Again, Aden felt anger that was not his own course through him, wild and raw. He'd never felt anything like it.
"No," Aden said steadily. The anger in the dog's eyes wavered, and its lips drooped, ever so slightly. He didn't understand what was happening here. Didn't know why he could feel what this Pokémon did. But it had listened to him we he told it to let go of Brock. It had no reason to. But maybe it would work again. Ash had lapsed into silence. Dawn and Misty were looking over now as well.
"I said no." And he closed the gap. His hand touched the fur on the top of the Jolteon's head…and nothing happened. The fur was stiff and coarse, and the static that came from it made the fine blonde hairs on his arm stand on end. But the Jolteon was still. It didn't break eye contact with Aden, but its face relaxed. The long ears drooped, plastered submissively against its head. Aden felt the confusion again…and then, a twinge of fear. The anger started to well up in the Jolteon's eyes again. "It's ok. No one's going to hurt you."
The eyes calmed. And they stayed that way. The Jolteon whimpered and sat on its haunches. It didn't move from that position.
"Aden…that was amazing," Brock said, his voice back at full strength. He was propped up on one elbow, no longer looking like he was on the brink of death. Whatever medicines they had must be damn near magical if they worked that quickly. "That Jolteon was feral. And now it's…not. I mean look at it."
"I don't get it. It's one of Jiro's Pokémon. It should be immune to Suecra's influence," Ash said. Brock shook his head.
"Jiro caught it before Pokemon became almost impossible to deal with, but clearly he didn't do anything with it after that. It was unbonded," Brock said.
"Unbonded? He sent him out here with an unbonded Pokemon? He didn't do that with the other two othersiders. He's lucky he didn't let that thing out without us around—" Misty started.
"Uh. Mist?" Ash stopped her mid-rant. "Aden calmed it down on his own. The only one it hurt was Brock."
"And on top of that, it's bonded," Brock said.
"That's impossible," Dawn said. "No one's been able to form a bond with a Pokémon since the first hole. And it takes weeks—"
"Trust me, Dawn, it's bonded. I was going to be a Pokémon breeder, remember? I've studied Pokémon behavior for a while, and I know a bonded Pokémon when I see one," Brock asserted.
"Could have fooled me. If you had read its behavior just a little better before, you wouldn't have needed emergency medical attention just now," Misty criticized.
"I wasn't expecting Jiro to send him with an unbonded Pokémon. It must have been the last one he had left. Probably didn't have the time to bond it," Brock defended.
"Then he shouldn't have sent it at all. It was stu—" Misty started.
"Guys? Would you mind including me?" Aden put in. "Bonding? Someone explain?" The group focused on him, as if just noticing he was there.
"It's like taming, but on a deeper level," Brock said. He seemed to be the designated teacher of the group. "You see, Aden, when Pokémon are first caught, they're rebellious and stubborn. To be trainable, a bond has to be formed. The time it takes for that to happen varies from a few weeks to a few years, depending on the Pokémon species."
Ash picked up the explanation. "The "bond" forms in a single moment, and it changes Pokémon. Before the bond, they're more like animals than humans. But after…they can understand human speech, their intelligence increases, and more importantly, they can obey human commands."
"But Aden…after Pokémon started getting violent, no one's been able to form new bonds. Not only did you do just that, but the bond was almost instantaneous. How did you do it?" Dawn said in utter disbelief.
The Jolteon looked at her from its sitting position with its head cocked and its ears pricked forward. Its face was tranquil and alert.
"I-I don't know…" Aden said.