Shining Shadows

Will the Charizard

Chapter 6: A Learning Process

So, quick overview of what happened in the last chapter. Jet left, John took Sam in, and John's an alcoholic. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, been busy with school. Nintendo owns Pokémon, all OC's are mine for now. I'm done, here's your story.

"Boy, what are you doin'? You've been sitting on my front step for hours. Come on in."

I looked up at John, who was squatting on the step above me. "I don't know what to do, John. I don't know whether to still go to Sinnoh, or if I should stay behind. Minney's gone, and Jet's gone, I don't have any Pokémon. I can't catch any more, I can't weaken them first. I don't even have any money. I could sell my ferry ticket, but then I couldn't go and there'd be no point. I just don't know."

"Sam, why do you want to go to Sinnoh?" John looked at me, his one chocolate brown eye warm and friendly.

"I don't know anymore. Minney and I were going to be the best, you know? That was our only reason, it was the only reason we needed. We were going to show everyone back home that we weren't just a couple of idiots, that we could actually do something. Eventually, we were going to fight the Pokémon league. We had everything planned out, but know it's all gone." I felt like crying again, but thinking about it just made me feel too… empty to do anything.

"Sam, you convinced a nine year alcoholic to try and go sober a couple days ago. It probably ain't happening, I'm not perfect, but I'll be damned if I ain't trying. If you can stay confident in my drunk ass, I don't know you can't do. I know you could still do it if you tried."

I chewed on my lip, thinking. "Thanks John. Thanks for everything, really. I'll think about trying. I just don't know what I would do. I mean, I'll figure something out. I've lived on the same island my whole life. I just got to get off this island; it's like a prison for me. I'm going to go crazy if I can't go somewhere, you know?

John shook his head at me and laughed. "If this place is a prison to you, we have to get you out of here." He stood up and walked away chuckling.

I sat on the steps for another ten minutes, thinking. Can I still go to Sinnoh? Is it worth it? I need do decide. Now. Am I going to go? Really, it's still a possibility. It would take a lot of work, I'd have to train something from scratch, but it could be done. But I'd have nothing to work with, and any time I fought a Marill, would I be able to do it? Really what else would I have done? I made the obvious choice, and went off to find lunch.

I walked over to the bar, it wasn't very far, (lots of rhymes, all the times, Mr. grimes) just about six or seven blocks, and ordered my standard cheeseburger and coke. I meandered around, looking for anyone I knew, until I got my food and sat at my usual table. It was a booth in the front window, with a view out to the ocean. As I sat there, eating my deliciously greasy cheeseburger, I thought about how I was going to thank John for what he had done for me. It wasn't every day someone let me stay somewhere for free for a couple weeks. I could buy him lunch or something. No, that's not enough. It needs to be something more, something meaningful. I'll find something eventually.

I sat eating my cheeseburger, looking everywhere I could for John. Even if it wasn't enough, I felt buying John a meal would help somewhat. Oh. There he is. I spotted John up at the bar, drinking. Dammit. I finished what little was left of my meal and sat next to John at the bar.

"What happened to going sober?"

John sighed at me, his deep voice filling the quiet bar. "I think you're assuming too much, boy. Is there something wrong with a man drinking anything at all? I'm just having a glass of water, it ain't got any alcohol."

"Oh." Well I feel stupid. "Well, whatever it is, let me buy you one. You've been letting me stay at your place for weeks, I've got to do something."

"Sam, you do know water's free, right? I can fill this glass up right over there, and I won't be down anything. You could go fill this up for me."

I muttered something about lazy asses, making John laugh, but I filled his cup up anyway. I wouldn't feel right not doing it.

Suddenly, a voice of reason from a friend, "Sam, doesn't your boat leave in an hour?"

I looked up at the clock, thinking John was kidding. Oh. Shit. I ran up to the bar, dropped a ten in front of the bartender and sprinted back to the hotel. I threw all of my things into my backpack and ran back outside and straight into John.

"Whoa, slow down. I have a car, you know. Let me give you a lift." Oh thank Arceus.

"Thanks, John." Now that I had a chance of fixing my absent-minded mistakes, I could probably relax a bit.

We drove to the docks in near silence, until John broke the uneasy pause in a cracked voice. "Kid, take care of yourself, ok? If I see you on the news, it better be for something good, alright? Or else I'm coming over there to set you straight."

"Jeez, John. I'll stay out of trouble. Thanks, though." I realized that in the past several weeks, this man, who I had just met, had almost become family. He had been the nicest person here in New Saffron, and at this point was my only friend.

"Well, Sam, here's your stop. Don't want to be late." He stopped the car and I got out, picking my things out from the back.

I looked at John, not sure what to say. "Wait, are you crying? John, I'm coming back eventually. It's not for forever."

"I know. It's just that you remind me so much of him. My boy. Which is why I know you'll do well, just like him." I hope…

"John, thanks for everything, and your place will be the first I go to once I come back." I saw Blake standing on his boat motioning for me to hurry up, so I grabbed my bag and hurried to my ride out of the life I was used to, onto my new journey. As I was stepping in, I thought I felt something brush against my leg, but after a closer examination, nothing had been there, so I ignored it.

Hours later, with New Saffron far behind us, Blake finally came out of the cabin. He had gone inside almost immediately when we left, and hadn't come out until now.

"Want a pole?" Blake was holding out a fishing pole, fairly new, very nice looking. "If you catch something, I'll let you decide if we cook it or if you want to train it." I took him up and tossed the line out in the water.

Hours later, I had still caught nothing. There had been no bites, no nibbles, nothing. Blake had offered useless advice on multiple occasions, and I was about to give up when I felt a sharp tug on the pole.

I pulled up on the fishing hard as I could, and saw a blue and white snake erupt from the sea. I managed to pull it mid-jump onto the deck of the ship, and I saw it was a Dratini, water dripping off its tail, fairly young by the looks of it. Instantly worried, I turned to Blake. "You didn't put a hook on this did you? If I hurt this thing, we're screwed."

"No, it was just a really good piece of bait. The thing's tiny, ain't it? Aren't Dratini supposed to be six foot or something? This one's maybe three, and that might be pushing it."

"I'm still small 'cause I'm young, mister." The Dratini said, clearly telling the truth.

I crouched down next to the Dratini, trying not to scare it. "How old are you? Where are your parents?" I felt bad for catching such a young Pokémon, and I wanted to do the right thing for it, even if that meant getting rid of a rare catch.

"Well, my name's Charlie, mister. My parents are down there, but they won't miss me." Charlie looked sad; this was clearly a touchy subject. "They like all my brothers and sisters a lot more than me. Just because I'm a girl and smaller than everyone else they think I'm weak."

"You're a girl? I mean that's great, I just wasn't expect…" Charlie cut me off, tears shining in her violet eyes.

"Is it 'cause my name? Huh? Is it 'cause I'm little? Please don't hate me. I try real hard, honest." Oh jeez…

"Oh that's great Sam. You made her cry." Jet walked out of freaking nowhere, startling the heck out of me, and lay down around Charlie. "It's ok, sweetie. He's not a bad person, he just doesn't understand a lot of things."

"Wait, Jet?! Where the heck did you come from? How did you get here?"

"That's what I'd love to know." Blake chimed in. "I'm fine with it, but please let me know if you plan on boarding my ship."

"You call this a ship?" Jet snorted. "This is a hardly small boat. Besides, Charlie here is more important right now. How old are you sweetie?"

Charlie sniffled. "I'm two, for a Dratini. For a human, I'm six? I think. Humans are confusing." Charlie laid her head on Jet, and she appeared to be recovering from her outburst quite nicely.

"Well, Charlie, do you want to travel with me? I'm going to go off to somewhere called Sinnoh, I'm going to have an adventure." I motioned to Blake to get me a pokéball in case Charlie said yes. Jet just looked at me with a look of disbelief.

"Sam! She's two! You can't just ask her to go off with you! If Charlie goes, so do I, so you can't completely destroy her innocence." Jet turned back to Charlie, who already looked tired. I guess the kid hadn't slept in a little while.

"I guess. If you're gonna be there I'll go with Mr. Sam." Charlie gave a little yawn and went to sleep, still leaned up against Jet.

"Well, now that that's settled, catch it, kid." Blake gave me the pokéball expectantly. "It's sleeping, easy catch."

"What?! No, you won't! If you take advantage of the poor kid just sleeping here I swear I will leave you permanently when we get to Sinnoh, and take that Dratini with me." Jet stared at me, her rage showing in her eyes. She doesn't seem like one to not act on threats…

"Jet, hold on. I never said I was going to catch her while she was sleeping." Please don't freak out on me. Please.

"Damn foolish, if you ask me" Blake cut in.

"I didn't, but thank you" I said sarcastically. "Well, since nothing will be done with Charlie until she wakes up, I've got a few questions. How in the world did you get on here without anyone noticing?"

Jet rolled her eyes like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. "Sam, is the sun out?" Well yes, but "The sun makes shadows. I'm an Umbreon. I am the shadows. (I am the League of Shadows) It was simple. I found a shadow, I hid in it. Just another way I'm better than you." Jet laughed her usual, cold laugh, but this time there seemed to be a hint of actual amusement in it.

Ready to defend my species as best I could, I found a weak point for Jet, and used it in perhaps the worst way possible. "So Jet, if you're so perfect, what was that at that river? Just a minor slip? Are you normally not scared of water?"

Jet immediately looked less proud of herself, and was even visibly shaking. "Sam, please, please never mention the river again. Or what happened the night before. Water, I just can't get used to it. There wasn't ever anyone to teach me how to swim, so water scares me. There's just so much… all around the boat… for miles… oh god I might throw up." Jet closed her eyes as tight as she could and buried her head in-between her body and Charlie's. Oh shit I'm an asshole...

Blake shook his head in disbelief. "Sam, you are great at this. First you make a kid cry, and then you bring out someone's deepest fears while they're most vulnerable to them. Remind me to never go to you for emotional help."

"I didn't mean to do that! I just was tired of her 'I'm superior because I just am' thing and I wanted to do something! Jet, I'm sorry, that was terrible of me. I know you can't stand water, I just, I don't know."

Jet stayed in the same position, shivering, but she managed to respond. "First, if you ever do this again, I will hurt you. Badly. Second, I'm going to forgive you, so I can travel with you and Charlie. You owe me." I couldn't get any more out of her after this, and we traveled like this all the way to Sinnoh. I saw the mainland about half an hour before we actually landed in Sandgem.

"Wait, Blake, shouldn't we have landed somewhere near Canclave? Isn't this the south end of Sinnoh?" I thought about how Sinnoh was shaped for a second or two before Blake interrupted my thoughts.

"Well, to tell you the truth, we got lost. We're actually very lucky to have made it to Sinnoh at all. So, this is a great place to be, if you think about it." Blake started steering the boat closer to the dock, which appeared to have rotted 20 some years ago. This man. What the hell?

Jet immediately picked her head up and practically stared a hole into Blake's head. "We were lost? So we could have died out there, in the ocean, because you didn't know where you were going? I'm getting off. Right now. Charlie, wake up." Jet stood up and nudged Charlie awake, never taking her eyes off Blake.

Charlie yawned and un-curled herself. "What? Are we there yet Mister Sam?"

"Charlie, it's just Sam. And you do still want to come with me, right?"

Charlie nodded her head and sat expectantly. "I'm ok if I get put in a ball, if you take me out soon." I looked to Jet, who nodded in approval, to make sure she was ok.

I grabbed a pokéball from my pack and held it out to Charlie, who, after a failed attempt or two at balancing it on her nose, hit the end with her tail and disappeared in a flash of red.

"Jet, you rea.." I was interrupted then by a young looking boy, maybe eleven years old, ran up to us shouting.

"Wow! Is that a shiny Umbreon?! Is it yours? Can I have it? I want to catch it!" His over enthusiastic attitude seemed to only be matched by his sense of self-worth. His bright red hat and jacket screamed confidence, but I wasn't sure if he could back it up.

"Hey, kid, back off. Jet's going to travel with me. I haven't caught her yet, technically, but still. Jet, you ready?" The kid was a little irritating, but I basically ignored him and got another pokéball out.

Jet shook her head, though. "Not yet, Sam. I want to see him try to catch me. I have to have a little fun where I can." I shook my head in disbelief, but let her go.

Jet stepped forward and prepared herself to fight, but the kid surprised her by throwing a pokéball immediately, which Jet quickly knocked out of the air with a small shadow ball. "Oh, that hurts. You know where that hurts? Right here." Jet pushed her paw against her chest. "Did you ever learn how to catch Pokémon? I'm not that weak that I can just be caught." Jet looked down and pretended to be insulted. "Do you have anything else? At all?"

"Go, Turtwig!" The kid sent out a Turtwig, its shell shiny, without any apparent experience. "Use tackle!"

The Turtwig charged at Jet, who, expecting the attack, sidestepped and grabbed the Turtwig by the neck, firm enough to hold it in place but soft enough as to not draw blood. She took the Turtwig, deposited it at the kid's feet, and walked back. "Kid, slow down. Take it slow. I'll start. My name's Jet, what's yours?"

"I'm Henry! My goal is to be a Pokémon master and beat the elite four!"

"That's great, Henry, but I was talking to your Turtwig. Pokémon tend to be much more sensible than people when it comes to this whole fighting thing." Wait, what? I wasn't sure I should be insulted for my race or not.

"I never named my Turtwig. So he's just Turtwig. Now, enough ta…"

"My name's Rocky." Rocky the Turtwig looked up at Henry with an exasperated look on his face. "Just because you humans don't give us names doesn't mean we didn't have any previously. Ok, I've got my point out. I'll fight now."

Henry looked surprised, but he tried again. "Turtwig, I mean Rocky, use vine whip!"

Two long vines shot out from Rocky's shell and began to lash out at Jet, who dodged every time, even jumping off the vines onto the other occasionally. Rocky finally grabbed Jet by the ankle and held her aloft, and began a razor leaf attack. Just as the leaves were about to hit her, though, Jet disappeared. Rocky dropped the vines and searched for Jet, occasionally sending a vine whipping at something. Then, out of nowhere, Jet appeared behind Rocky and rammed into him. Rocky was startled and was flipped on his back, where he lay, kicking.

"What was that?" I asked Jet, confused as to what had just happened.

"Faint attack." Jet said. "Oldest trick in the book. No one ever expects it, you just disappear, and then you're right there behind them, or in their face. So, I believe we can agree that I've won?" She directed this last question at Henry, and then helped flip Rocky back over without looking for an answer.

Jet waltzed back over near me and was about to speak when a razor leaf whizzed past her ear. She looked back, an exasperated look on her face. "What the heck, Rocky? I would've thought you were smarter than that."

"Sorry, Jet. Henry told me to, I have to listen. So, no hard feelings about what's about to happen?" Henry the Turtwig looked genuinely sorry about the fight he was getting into.

Jet sighed, and then crouched, ready to jump into action. "I guess not. Let's go." She didn't wait for him to be ready, but started right off the bat with a quick attack, circling Rocky a few times, then dashing everywhere. Rocky looked for Jet, unable to keep track of where she went, until Henry began calling out commands.

"Rocky, use a razor leaf while she's in front of you! Watch for the black blur!" Rocky waited patiently, for just the right moment, and then let a flurry of leaves fly. Jet reversed direction, but not fast enough, and ran straight into the mass of leaves. She quickly picked herself up, and disappeared again. Rocky knew what was going on, however, and lashed out with his vines just as Jet appeared above him. Jet landed on the vines, and vaulted off, using them as a step to get higher. She then flipped around and sent a powerful shadow ball right into Rocky, who flew backwards into a tree, unconscious.

"Now, Sam, can you do the thing you do, with the ball? Let me out right out afterwards, and Charlie too, but yeah, I'm coming with you."

"Holy crap, Jet! How'd you do that? That was great! Not so much at the middle, but the end was great!" I had no idea she could fight like that. It was quite impressive, really.

"It's a learning process, Sam. It worked the first time; it worked even better the second. Now, with the pokéball?" She looked so calm about it, not like she was giving up her old life of freedom and, well whatever it was that she did.

I grabbed another pokéball out of my backpack, and held it out to Jet. Jet looked at it for a second and shook her head, but she bumped the button with her forehead and disappeared in a flash of red anyway.

Well, that's two. If I keep going at this rate, I'll have a full team in a week! I was trying not to dance in glee, I didn't want to look like that much of a dork.

I fulfilled my promise, and let Jet and Charlie out, and the three of us continued on to our next adventure.

So, what do you guys think about Charlie, or Jet's fear of the water? Anything I could improve? Please leave comments or suggestions on the reviews, and tell me why it sucked in a PM. Will the Charizard, out.