Chapter 5

"Sidestep the Tackle, Penguin!"

"Pip, pip!" Rebecca's Piplup quickly swerved in the air as the Shinx charged towards the little Pokémon, just barely missing her. Wasting no time, Penguin completed its spin and blew a stream of bubbles at the enemy Pokémon, who recoiled from the close proximity to the attack. Apparently, one of the bubbles got in his eyes, and Rebecca saw her chance.

"Let's do this!" She threw her first Poke Ball at the cowering Shinx, and after three clicks, it was captured. "Yeah, great work, Penguin!"

"Pip, pip…" she replied, waddling over to the Poke Ball containing her new friend. Behind Rebecca, John was clapping.

"Good work, you two. That was great!" He glanced down at his two Pokémon next to him. "Hey, don't do that…" he muttered, trying to separate his Chimchar and new Starly, before they clobbered each other. The two of them still held a certain grudge after the battle, and it seemed this Starly really did have a vicious streak to it. Rebecca couldn't help but smirk as the three of them bickered every couple of seconds along the trail. Boys will be boys, she mused, even if the boys in question are Pokémon. She looked at the Poke Ball that Piplup handed to her.

"Come on out, Gamma Ray!" In a flash of blue, the little Shinx appeared next to the Piplup, a grin crossing his face.

"Shi!" it cried, and Penguin immediately hugged him, much to his apparent surprise.

"Piplup!"

"Shinx…"

"Don't worry, Gamma Ray," she said, giggling, "She's just a hugger."

"Shinx."

"Ok," John announced, walking over to them as his Pokémon continued to bicker behind him. "We're almost to Jublife. The Center will be the third right, directly on the corner."

"Shouldn't be hard to find, then."

"Yep." A slap from behind him caught his attention. "Hey, what did I tell you two?!"

The Pokémon immediately froze, each one pointing at the other.

"Star!"

"Chim!"

"We're almost there. Just be patient." Right on cue, they could see the towering buildings of the city. "Here it is. Jublife City."

The place was easily ten times more massive than Sandgem and Twinleaf combined. Towering building all around, people bustling everywhere they looked, it was the biggest center of trade and communication in the region.

"I've been here once before," Rebecca said. "I was here with my dad when we moved here, when I was about two. I think the buildings seem even bigger now than back then…" She was still gazing at the tops of the towers when she noticed that she was nearly trampling a little Pokémon. "Oh, god! I'm sorry!"

The little red Pokémon had ran smack into her leg and had fallen on the ground. As it rose to its feet, John pulled out his Dex.

"Hey, I think that's a Magby."

"Really?" She glanced at the signature tuff on the Pokémon's burnt-red head. "I didn't think you could see Magby around here."

"You shouldn't…" he replied, scrolling through its page in his Pokedex. "Not on this side of Sinnoh, anyway…"

"Are you lost, little guy?"

"Magby…" His eyes drooped as it replied.

"Aw…" She pulled out her bag and began rummaging through it. "Let's see if I have any food for you…" As soon as she set her bag on the ground, the Magby's eyes grew huge. In the blink of an eye, it blew a few Embers in Rebecca's direction. "Ah!" Taking advantage of her involuntary movement backwards, he grabbed the bag and took off into the crowd of people.

"Hey!" John turned to his two Pokémon as well as her own. "Find that Magby! We'll catch up with you."

"Star!" The four Pokémon ran into the crowd in hot pursuit, running in between the people's legs.

"Come on!" he responded, pulling Rebecca to her feet and they took off. They pushed past people constantly; sometimes it was hard to see the little stub of Inferno's flame through the sea of passerby. They bolted past the Pokémon Center to their right, past the center of town, and followed the Pokémon into an alley to their left.

The two teenagers breathed a sigh of relief as they escaped the confines of the crowd, but were shocked to see no signs of any Pokémon in the dark stretch of road in front of them.

"Hey, where'd they go?" John asked aloud.

"Penguin! Shinx? Magby? Where's you all go?"

"Shinx!" "Chimchar!"

All four of their Pokémon appeared from behind a green metal trash bin, covered in bits of trash.

"You lost him?"

"Piplup…" Penguin drooped her head in shame.

"Wait a minute…" John muttered.

"What's up?"

"This doesn't make any sense," he replied. "This is a one-way alley, with no possible hiding places. Why would the Magby hide here, where the only escape routes available would be Pokémon sized?"

"Pokémon are smarter than a lot of people," she said mater-of-factly. "You'd be surprised."

"Yeah, I would, except Magby are baby Pokémon, not as developed as other Pokémon. After hatching from their Eggs, they wouldn't have that kind of thought process yet, not by their own accord." He turned to the row of trash bags next to him. "Isn't that right, kid?" He kicked one of the bags hard, and a small cry was heard.

"Ow! Watch it!" A young man popped out from behind the bags, with Rebecca's white bag slung over his shoulder. "Damn it, I was so close, too…"

"Who are you?" she inquired. "Give me my bag back!" The kid only smirked.

"You don't need to know who I am, now do you?" He snapped his fingers, and a Magby leapt out from his hiding place. "Mega Man and I will just walk away peacefully here, and we'll all be good."

"Not going to happen," John replied darkly. His Chimchar and Starly stood in front of him as he continued. "You and me. One-on-one, right now."

"How about that?" the kid chuckled. "Your boyfriend here's got some attitude to him." He brushed his dirty, blond hair out of his eyes. "You got a deal, dude. We'll smash you good."

John bent down to talk with his crew.

"I think Inferno should do this one."

"Star!" Raptor cried indignantly.

"Magby's a Fire-type, Raptor. I don't want you to get burned and lose because of that, all right?"

"Star…" John glanced at his Chimchar.

"You ready, buddy?"

"Chim."

"Let's go." He rose to his feet, and as Inferno took his place in front of John, Raptor went over to Penguin.

"Ready? Go!" The kid called out to his Magby. "Start with Smog, Mega Man!"

"Magby!" The little red Pokémon blew out several puffs of dark purple smoke at Inferno, blinding him as the smoke expanded.

"Don't open your eyes!" John reminded him. "Follow the heat and Scratch!"

"Chim." The chimp Pokémon squeezed his eyes shut, and quickly turned and slashed at what appeared to be empty space. The cry of an injured Pokémon confirmed that it was not.

"Turn the Smog against him with Ember!" After Inferno blew out some Embers, the air seemed to light up in flames and all the gas combusted in a matter of seconds. Both Pokémon and their Trainers recoiled from the heat, and when it simmered down, the trainer issued more commands.

"Knock him down, Mega Man!" The Magby instantly bolted towards the trash bags, and started knocking them down as Inferno tried to pursue.

"Don't follow!" Inferno grinded to a halt.

What to do? This Magby knows the terrain better than Inferno ever could, and Inferno can't take the blast from a move like that more than once. I need to get a leg up, but how? He's too high up… Wait a minute… That's it! "Inferno, land some Embers in the trash bin!"

"Chimchar!" He started to blow some Embers in the Magby's direction, and he and his Trainer instantly knew what was about to happen.

"Mega Man, get off of there!"

Too late. As soon as the Embers went into the bin, all the escaping gas erupted in flames like the Smog did, and Magby was knocked off as the blast engulfed him. However, Inferno had taken cover behind a discarded metal box, and was unaffected, while Mega Man fell to the ground and didn't get up immediately.

"Mega Man!" the kid cried, his cool demeanor completely gone. "Get up, buddy!" When the Pokémon didn't respond, he sighed, his hair falling back in front of his eyes. "Ok, you win." He took Rebecca's bag off his shoulder and threw it at him. "Here's your bag, you."

"Why DID you take my bag, anyway?" she inquired. "What was all that about?"

"Does it matter?" he snapped, cradling his unconscious Pokémon in his arms. "You won. It's over. Now, get out of here." As she looked at the damaged stat of her bag, she stopped him again.

"Wait!" Startled at the fierceness in her voice, he stopped again. "If you really wanted medicine, you could have just asked."

"Wh-what?" He spat out a fake laugh. "Yeah, sure. You would have also given me a Poke Ball to keep Mega Man in, so he doesn't have to get sick all the time, right? Yeah, right. Don't lie to me."

"Hey, what do you mean?" John asked, returning his Chimchar to his Poke Ball. "We're always willing to help." As he stared at the young man's cold eyes, they seemed to soften as he realized that John was serious.

"Wait… Do you really mean that?"

"Yeah, we do," Rebecca replied, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "We'll help you out, but only if you explain yourself."

"He looked at the two people he had just met, and his eyes seemed to light up.

"You're serious? God, yes! Thank you! Let's head to the Center first, and I'll tell you what I can." He started walking away, and as John and Rebecca followed him, he turned around while walking backwards. "By the way, as a much more formal introduction, my name is Luke. Welcome to my city."