Chapter 37: New addition

Ark and Jenny had spent the early hours of the morning getting ready to head out. While he did not really need Jenny to accompany him, he found the idea of them spending more alone time together very pleasant.

"Hop in, we will be going back to the area from yesterday. That's the last place I saw it"

Ark climbed into the boat and held out his hand to help Jenny mount the small wooden boat. Luckily it had received only minor damages from the Seaking yesterday otherwise they would have had to swim.

"Thank you. By the way, are you serious about it being a 'Shiny Shellder' or whatever you called it"

Jenny mounted the boat as she questioned Ark with clear suspicion. Although she had developed a deep trust in Ark, she also had heard from the man himself about how rare these variants were.

"It could have been a mistake on my part, but I believe it is. I guess it's fate that with you, my first Pokémon will also be gold"

He replied with a bright smile as he blew off Jennys suspicions. The truth is that he only caught a glance at the Shellder before he had to swim away, so it was highly possible that his eyes were playing tricks on him.

The pair rode out towards the same spot as yesterday. It took them only roughly 5 minutes before they were in the vicinity of where Ark popped up.

He grabbed his diving gear and prepared to dive in.

Jenny watched from the side, she could not directly help him, but she was prepared to administer first aid if anything happened.

"Be careful Ark. Even if it is a rare Pokémon, it is not worth endangering your life"

Ark smiled at the concern in Jenny's voice but did not reply. He knew that in the future, he would probably do some really reckless and stupid things to get the Pokémon he wanted.

"I'm off, I will be up in a bit"

With those parting words, Ark dove into the water like an anchor.

Scanning his surroundings, Ark was met by the same magnificent sight as yesterday. The vibrant, neon lake plants swayed gently as the various water Pokémon swam side by side in harmony. Although he could not see far, he knew that it was a water Pokémon utopia.

Slapping his cheeks, Ark pushed the irrelevant thoughts to the back of his mind as he left tourist mode and returned to trainer mode. He needed to find his way back to the area he shot out from. It seems that his estimation above water was slightly off.

Minutes went by with no sign of the area. He was now on the outskirts of the lake plant fields, thus the surroundings were much darker. Thankfully, this aligned a lot more with his memories than earlier.

Ark pushed forward into the darkness, until he saw a familiar set of rocks. They seemed to be the rocks the Seaking was fighting around. Realising this, Ark sped up as he torpedoed towards them.

As he got closer, Ark saw a slight sparkle atop one of the rocks. A hungry smile emerged upon Arks face as he guessed the identity of that sparkle.

His guess proved to be correct as he saw a slightly injured Shell laid on the rock. It's shell was closed and showed no signs of moving.

"I guess it is healing after the beating it took yesterday"

He approached the Shellder at a steady pace, trying to be careful not to startle it. Grabbing onto Sylphs Pokeball, he unleashed Sylph. As soon as he saw Sylphs panicked appearance, Ark said a command.

"Sylph use 'Confusion' and keep hold of Shellder until I say otherwise.

Although confused, Sylph carried out Arks commands as Ark grabbed hold of Sylph and launched them both upwards. The Shellder was dragged upwards and out of the water along with them.

In the boat, Jenny had been watching the waters surface patiently for Ark to come up with good news. She stretched her body as she recalled last night, a tinge of red appearing on her cheeks.

Suddenly, she was broken from her fantasies as three objects came shooting out of the water.

Ark swam to the boat with Sylph grabbing onto his neck, while a still shut Shellder was hovering above them. It was a surreal sight, one that likely had never been seen before.

Climbing into the boat, Ark hugged Sylph who still had control over the hovering Shellder.

"Thank you Sylph! I know it was pretty insane calling you out underwater, but it was the only way I could think of getting it"

Jenny watched the interaction between the two with did belief. From what she could gather, Ark had done a dangerous stunt just because he couldn't come up with another way.

"Ark... Why did you not try fishing?"

He froze. He had just done something stupid because it was his 'only choice' but it turns out that he was just being dumb...

"Ugh... I'm sorry. I got over excited about getting another team member and completely jumped the gun"

He rested his palm on his face as he internally berated himself.

After, Ark turned his attention to the floating Shellder. Ordering Sylph to lower it and cancel her attack before walking over to it. No matter how close he got to it, it did not open it's shell.

"Hmm it seems the Shellder took more damage than I thought"

Reaching into his backpack, Ark pulled out his sole free Pokeball and tapped it against the Shellder. The figure of the Shellder faded into the ball as it shut tight. Arks eyes stared at the shaking ball, his heart thumped rapidly every time it moved.

*Ding*

An energetic sound was heard as the ball ceased all movement. A bright smile bloomed on Arks face as he felt the meaning of that sound.

"I got it! Sylph! We have a new team member!"

Contrary to Arks energetic celebration, Sylph sat by his feet with a stoic expression. It seemed that she was nowhere near as excited as Ark. Sensing the situation, Ark cleared his throat as he noticed he had embarrassed himself in front of Jenny. He never usually acted so shamefully, however the impact of catching his second Pokémon and it being a shiny had overwhelmed him.

"My, that was an adorable display. I would say the trip was worth it just for that"

Jenny said as she stifled a laugh. Despite her joking, she found the behaviour to be charming even if it was a bit of an overreaction.

Deciding to ignore her words, Ark cleared his throat as he put away his new team members ball.

"Right, let's head back. We have a lot to do"

Hearing Arks words, Jenny looked away as another deep red blush threatened to appear. Arks mouth curled into a teasing smile as relief consumed him from hopefully removing all thought away from his celebration.

Sylph watched the two with a confused expression. Deciding not to question it, she jumped up next to Ark who was now sitting and seated herself on his right. Fatigue consumed her as she had spent two days expending lots of energy, so she laid her head on Arks thigh before heading to sleep.

A gentle smile appeared on the faces of Jenny and Ark as they watched Sylph. He swore to himself that he would take Sylph to the PokeCenter immediately when they returned.

The boat ride passed by uneventfully as they rode in silence. A clear tension was brewing between them as night grew closer. Looks of anticipation and nervousness flickered on their faces.