Chapter 04
Jack's Travels
A new Enemy and a new Journey
Back in Cherrygrove Professor Oak explained how the Pokedex could tell him where certain Pokemon could be found once he unlocked their data, along with basic data, their sounds and their footprints. And Oak always got lost in his scientific discoveries on the relationship between Pokemon and humans, some of his explanations made Jack's head spin. He was heading for the exit of Cherrygrove City, towards route 29 and ultimately back to New Bark Town. But before he could take another step he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Jack turned his head, it was Oak, for a old man he had a pretty strong grip, he was studying a bush. Jack raised a brow "What is it Professor?" The professor plucks a berry from the bush and hands it to Jack "This is a pokemon berry, it works refreshing on Pokemon, hand it to your Rio, it will come in handy in future battles" Jack nods at the professors advice and hands the berry to Riolu "Here Rio, hang onto it" The Riolu happily took the berry and hid it in her thick fur. Jack turned to the professor "Now lets hurry, Elm sounded like he was in trouble!"
He turned around to take the road to route 29 but suddenly a man with shoulder long blond hair slams into Jack, making both men fall onto their rumps and Rio fell off Jack's shoulder, but he could catch Rio before she hit the ground, he looks up at the man "Hey! Watch it dude!" The other man gets up and brushes the dirt from his baggy pants, his green eyes glare at Jack "Don't dude me, loser. I am Zack, remember it! cause the next time you hear it, it will be on the news." Jack got up and held the small Riolu in his arms "Oh yeah? As what? The worlds greatest jerk?" Zack just smirked and then noticed Oak as well "Oh? We have a famous Professor here." Before Oak could answer Jack blurted out "What's it to you?" Zack turned back to Jack and shakes his head "Loser's should just shut their mouths, or maybe ill have to let my Pokemon shut it for you." Riolu jumps from Jack's arms and growls up at the rude trainer "Rrrrrio!"
Zack pulled out his Pokeball and sets free his Pokemon, it was the same Pokemon that had saved Jack and Riolu from a pack of Rattata, Jack pulls out his Pokedex and takes a picture, and was rewarded with data: "Totodile, the Big Jaw Pokemon, has the habit of biting anything with its developed jaws. Even his trainer needs to be careful!" Jack's eyes widened and exclaimed "Where did you get that?" Zack smirks, obviously pleased with Jack's surprise and brandished a Pokedex "I got it from Professor Elm, now less talk more fight! Totodile! Scratch attack!" The Pokemon reacted fast, jumping for Riolu. But Jack wasn't baffled "Rio! Dodge and then Quick Attack!" The Riolu dodged the Scratch ducking it and then tackling the Totodile and making it fly back but it lands on its feet easily "And because it was so good! Again! Quick Attack!" And Rio obeyed running faster then the eye could follow, but Zack had a order of his own "Totodile, when Riolu hits you grab it and scratch as much as you can."Jack wanted to yell out for Riolu to stop but it was too late. Riolu made impact with Totodile, but it held its ground and clings to Rio and starts scratching at her. Rio was whimpering and squirming, then Totodile let go and Zack yelled "Now spin! Show that Riolu how painful it can be to get hit with your tail!" Totodile spins and slams its tail into Riolu making it fall back, she then gets up and gets out the berry and eats it. The berry seemed to work wonders because Rio was up and standing and ready for more, for the first time Oak but in "Check your Pokedex! In battle it can tell you the level of your Pokemon as well as its attacks!" This was new to both Zack and Jack, both checked their Pokedex's Zack was done quicker though "Ok Totodile! Scratch again!" And as he was attacking Jack called "Rio! Use Counter!" Rio waited and gets hit by the scratch but then uses a well-aimed counter which makes the Totodile fall flat onto its back. It didn't seem like it would get up anymore.
Oak grinned as Zack called back his Totodile and frowns "I'll still be better then you! I just got this Pokemon, once im done training it you wont be able to touch it anymore" Jack wasn't listening he picked up his Riolu and held her close to his chest and mumbles "You did well Rio." The small Pokemon murrs and cuddles against Jack's chest, Zack was about to sneak off, but Oak stopped him "Not so fast boy. The rules of Pokemon battling clearly state that the loser has to give a monetary payment to the winner. So fess up." Jack turned to Zack as he pulled out his wallet and handed him 300 pokedollars and then he ran off. Jack pocketed the money and decided to stop at the Pokecenter before returning to New Bark Town
The travel through Route 29 was uneventful, besides Oak's constant ranting about how stupid it was of Elm to give a Pokemon AND a Pokedex to such a rowdy. He gave twelve promises that he would chew out Elm once they would reach his Lab. He never did....
Upon reaching te Lab they noticed something was off: The Lab was a mess, there was a broken window and papers were scattered everywhere. A Policeman was questioning Elm, the Pokemon Professor looked nervous. Oak and Jack walked up to the Policeman and Elm. Elm was the first to notice them and greet them "Oh hello Jack and.... Professor Oak? What are you doing here?" Professor Oak waved off his question and instead asked "What's going on here?" The Policeman answered the question "There was a break in, apparently a Pokedex and a Pokemon has been stolen by a blond haired boy" Oak turns to Jack and Jack to the Policeman "I fought a boy just like that, his name was Zack. Last time i saw him was in Cherrygrove City, heading for Route 30." The Policeman hastily scribbled that down and then puts the Notepad in his pocket. "Okay, thank you this will be very helpful, i will fax this data to every Police station in Johto. With that the Policeman left.
Jack handed Elm the package that Mr. Pokemon gave him and for that moment, all the hardships seemed forgotten as he tenderly took out the Pokemon Egg from the Parcel as he held it tenderly, Jack couldn't help himself "What's that?" Elm chuckles before answering his question "Why, my friend, it's an Egg obviously. Mr. Pokemon always sends me Eggs. This one was found near the ruins that are located in Sinnoh. We believe its a Pokemon Egg but we aren't really sure." Elm puts the egg into a container and then turns to Oak "I'm sorry for the delay, my friend. What's the matter?" Oak turns to Jack and nods "Show Elm the Pokemon you caught on Route 30" Jack just mumbles out how he didn't really catch it but just brings out his Ralts, which made Elm gasp "No! I already thought it was wierd, first a Riolu now a Ralts, at first i thought it was a unclassified trainer, but now two Pokemon in one day, that's too much of a coincidence" Jack then called back his Ralts and looked at the two Professors that seemed to be bickering, then they turned their attention to a big screen, while Professor Oak was hammering at the keyboard. Then the screen was divided four times. On the three screens, faces of Professors appeared while the fourth stayed blank: Professor Birch, Professor Rowan and Professor Juniper.
A long arguement begab between 5 of the greatest heads in the Pokemon World, Jack was lost half the time and all he understood was something about a 'Pokemon Migration Pattern'. After what seemed like hours they said their good-byes and the screen went blank again. Professor Elm and Professor Oak turned to Jack again and both seemed disturbed and Oak spoke "We believe that the Pokemon seem to be Migrating, certain Pokemon appear where they actually shouldn't." Elm continued where Oak left off "We need someone to investigate the Pattern, and if possible figure out why they are migrating" And now it was Professor Oak's turn again "So how about it?" Jack looked down to Rio, a chance to travel, maybe even another chance to beat the heck out of this 'Zack' person. He looked back up at the Professors eager faces and nods "I'm your man!"....
END OF CHAPTER 04