Chapter 11 – the start of a farm.

James' mum walked along the hallway, pausing every few steps to look into the cages on either side of her. She was at the pound, looking for a dog to surprise James with. With her was a member of the staff, who was suggesting pretty much every single Pokemon for her to take.

"That one would make a great pet-"

"What's this one called?" She asked, kneeling down to look into the large cell, at the back of which a large yellow and blue Pokemon was lying.

"That's an old Manectric," He told her, "You don't want that, it was brought up by some Pokemon trainer, no idea how it got here, but it's too old to fight and it's too restless to be a good pet."

"Poor old thing." She said, before standing up, her mind made.

"I'm home." James said, walking into the once haunted house in which his family now lived. After they had escaped from Team Aqua, the group decided to head back to Fortree for a while, despite the fact that they hadn't visited a single gym on their trip. The group – which now included Brendan – had made use of James and Wally's Kirlias and their Teleports, and had gotten back to the city in a second. Latios however, wasn't with them, as James had more or less released it. It still technically belonged to him, and he still carried its Master ball, however he had decided to give it complete freedom.

"James!" His mum said, coming round the corner and hugging her son. "Did you get many badges?"

"Nope, not one." James said, brightly.

"Oh," His mother said, slightly confused, "And who's this?" She was looking at Brendan, who had decided to come back to Fortree with the rest of them.

"Brendan, a friend of mine, can he stay with us for a few days? We'll be heading out again soon."

"You can stay as long as you like."

"Thanks," Brendan said, stepping through the door, "Hey James, you didn't tell me you had a dog."

"Surprise, dear!" His mum said, as James spotted the very old looking Manectric lying on the floor. "I got it for you; the man at the pound said it was an ex-battler, it might know some tricks."

"It looks ancient." James said, walking over to the dog and kneeling down. The Pokémon raised its head slowly, before putting it back on the ground.

"It looks like it has arthritis." Brendan said. Suddenly Eevee's ball opened, and the evolution Pokémon appeared next to James. It took a few steps closer to Manectric, before the Pokémon raised its head again, scaring Eevee. However, then the electric type reached out and started to lick Eevee's fur, making it purr.

"Awe," His mum said, watching them, "I bet you two are hungry. You better get a good night's sleep tonight, I think your father will want you to go out into the forest to help him tomorrow." The two boys groaned.

Sure enough, the next day, the two teenagers were escorted into the rainforest by James' father. They had only brought a few Pokémon – James' Grovyle and Manectric, and Brendan's Pidgeot – with them, so the rest could have a nice, well earned, relaxing day.

"Why are we out here, again?" James asked.

"Tropius, my dear boy." His dad told him, "We need to find a nice big herd, then you need to capture the bull. Once we have the bull tamed then the rest of the herd will stay near the property."

"Unless a new bull takes charge." Brendan pointed out. At this James' dad stoped in his tracks, lost for words.

"Let's capture them all." James said.

"How?" Brendan asked.

"Capture the bull, then the herd will probably let us capture it." James said, before bringing out a pokeball. "Grovyle, come on out!" The grass type appeared. "Find us a herd of Tropius." Grovyle cried out, before running into the forest. It somehow knew exactly where everything was in the rain forest, and would take little time to find the herd.

After about half an hour, they had found them. The herd had settled in a small clearing in the forest, and, although they could obviously sense the people, the tropius did not stir. They continued about their business, eating fruit that, to a person, was disgusting.

"So which is the bull?" James asked.

"I'm guessing that one." Brendan said, pointing. Toward the middle of the group, there sat an utterly huge tropius, twice the size of the rest. Also different about it, was the areas on which normal Tropius were brown, such as the neck and legs, were on the bull dark green. "Good luck with that." Brendan said, patting James on the shoulder.

"Go on son." His dad said.

"I hate you both." James said, stepping into the clearing. Grovyle followed, showing absolutely no fear. "Give it a Bullet Seed." James told his Pokémon, and Grovyle responded, shooting a barrage of seeds straight at the bull. When they hit, the massive Pokémon rocked backward, and for a second James thought that it would go down with a single attack. Then the bull came down, his legs slamming the ground and making it shake.

"Look out!" Brendan yelled from behind them, and James looked quickly at the bull to see a Solar Beam collecting in its mouth, the members of the herd hurrying to get out of the way. Tropius let loose, and the beam of light shot forward, knocking Grovyle clean off its feet and throwing it down some metres away, unconscious.

"Return; Go, Manectric!" James threw his newest Pokémon's ball, and his electric type immerged. Tropius roared; and James couldn't help thinking about how frail and old Manectric looked against the bull. "Thunderbolt!" James yelled, and Manectric let loose a feeble bolt of electricity, which barely reached the bull. It shook the attack off, before coming charging. James ran out of the way, however Manectric didn't move.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" James roared at it. However the dog didn't move. James pulled out his pokeball and recalled it, just as Tropius would have trampled the Pokémon.

"James," Brendan called, "Get it to use Thunderbolt on itself, it might be able to give itself energy."

"That doesn't even make sense!" James called back, before throwing the Pokémon back out. "Hit yourself with Thunderbolt!" Suddenly the air around Manectric was full of sparks, which, after a few seconds, began to grow. The Pokémon shook itself out, and turned to face Tropius. "It worked," James breathed. "USE SPARK!"

Manectric took off like a bolt of lightning, sprinting toward the Tropius at tremendous speed, sparks flashing around it; before slamming into its target. The electric type rubbed up against its opponent, the close range electricity bursts shocking it. James pulled out a pokeball, throwing it into the air. The ball landed on the back of the huge creature, and it was suddenly sucked up in a flash of red light. The captured Pokémon flew back to James, who smiled, thinking about one of his newest Pokémon. Not Tropius, but Manectric. He was going to enjoy battling with that one.