The Shiny Shinx

As Max and Bonnie continue on their journey, they begin to experiment with the Jade Orb. Specifically, what it does to Max when he tries to leave it behind. Over the next few days of their travels, Max would take the Orb out of the bag and stuff it in various different places. Then, he and Bonnie would try to leave it behind. But every time they did, Max's head would begin to hurt, and he'd have an increasing urge to go back for it. Eventually, he always succumbs to it, much to his frustration.

Eventually, after another week of traveling, the pair come to terms with the fact that they won't be rid of the Orb until Lumiose, at best. The two make plans for how to hand the Orb over to Sycamore or even Ash, in such a way that the Orb will not want to call Max back to it. So far, they haven't thought of anything that could work, but they still haven't even made it to Coumarine yet, so they have plenty of time to think of something.

When they aren't planning ways to get rid of the Orb, the two are doing what they normally do. Max is writing in his notebook and Bonnie is training her pokémon for their 4th badge. They are doing just that this evening, although Bonnie keeps getting distracted by Max's Observant State. Which is alright, because Max keeps looking over at her while she trains. In fact, he's so distracted, that he almost misses the strange pokémon approaching him. But when he spots it, he nearly jumps out of his skin.

As he looks at it. It looks like a Shinx, but it can't be. It's the wrong colour. Instead of its electric blue fur, this Shinx was a striking yellow. Max stares in amazement at it, then silently calls Bonnie over. Bonnie approaches and sees the Shinx. She squeals with delight at the sight and tries to approach. But the Shinx notices them and panics, before running away. "What was that?" she asks. Max shrugs. "I have no idea," he replies. "But that was so cool! A new coloured pokémon! I think I've heard of those actually!"

"So, why don't we ask Ammon or Sycamore?" Bonnie asks. Max nods. "That's a good idea," he says, before pulling out his navigation devices and searching through them. "There's a Pokémon Centre not far from here," he tells her. "We can get there in the morning and call one of them." Bonnie agrees, then goes back to training. But before she starts, she turns and asks Max, "If we run into that Shinx again, who's going to catch it?" Max looks up from his notebook. "You can," he says. "After all, you want a team of electric types, and Shinx is an electric type." Bonnie cheers and hugs him for a few seconds before going back to training, leaving Max a bit pink in the face.

The next morning, the two clean up their campsite quickly and head off in the direction of the Pokémon Centre Max found on his Nav the night before. Along the way, the two keep their eyes peeled for the different coloured Shinx, just in case they get a chance to see it again. Bonnie has a pokéball at the ready too. She really wants to befriend it. But unfortunately, they don't run into it again on their way to the centre.

They arrive at the Centre and head for the first free phone they could find. They can use their Rotom Phones, but the service in that forest is appalling, so it's just easier to use one of the ones available in the Centres. Max gets there first and dials in the number for Ammon's company. The phone rings a few times, before he picks up. "Well, hello Max and Bonnie," he says when he sees them. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" "We saw something strange out in the wilderness," Max explains. "And we were hoping you'd know what it was." Ammon leans forward with interest in his chair. "What did you see?" he asks. "We saw a weird Shinx!" Bonnie explains. "It looked exactly like a Shinx, except its fur was yellow instead of blue!"

Ammon seems really interested at this. "Did you really?" he asks. "That's quite lucky! Did you manage to catch it?" The two shake their heads. "It got scared when I approached it," Bonnie explains. "We didn't even have time to snap a picture." Ammon looks a bit disappointed at this. "I'm not surprised," he tells them. "You just encountered a Shiny pokémon. They are exceptionally rare, and as a result are prizes for pokémon poachers. No doubt it's had some bad run-ins with people before meeting you."

Now, Max is very interested in Ammon's words. He leans forward in the seat eagerly. "Did you say, 'Shiny pokémon'?" he asks. Ammon nods, chuckling a bit. "I see your analyst's instincts are kicking in," he says. "Yes, I said Shiny pokémon. However, these poor creatures aren't natural." "What?" asks Bonnie. "What do you mean?" Ammon thinks about how to phrase this for a few seconds. "The colouring of Shiny pokémon's fur isn't some class of variant, or a rare gene," he explains. "The colouring was triggered by cruel experiments in Johto years ago. A crime syndicate called Team Rocket sent out massive volumes of radio waves, which caused the discolouration."

Both Max's and Bonnie's faces darken at the mention of Team Rocket, which Ammon notices. "Oh?" he says. "Do you know Team Rocket?" The two of them nod. "We had a few run-ins with them in the past," says Max. "So, they're behind this guy's strange colour?" Ammon nods. "Yes and no," he says. "They were behind the strange colouring first appearing. However, these pokémon have since bred, so this guy you found was no doubt born like this. But they are still very rare, and very valuable for poachers. So, if you see this Shinx again, I recommend you catch it. Otherwise, some awful poacher will get there first."

Bonnie nods determinedly, then the two end the call. "So, do you want to go back and find this guy?" Max asks. "Oh, you know I do!" Bonnie replies, before taking his hand and dragging him out of the Centre and back to where they spotted the Shiny Shinx the night before. They begin scouring the trees and bushes, hoping to find that distinct gold and black fur coat that the shiny had. But it's clear that Ammon is right, this pokémon doesn't like people.

The two search for hours, hoping to find it, but no luck. Max is beginning to get bored and is about to suggest to Bonnie that they just give up, when he hears the distress cry of a pokémon. His head snaps up and he looks around. "Did you hear something?" Bonnie asks him. Max strains his ears to listen and hears the cry again. "This way!" he tells Bonnie and the two of them start running in the direction of the cry. As they run, the two pull out pokéballs, ready to do battle with whoever was trying to poach this pokémon.

They burst through a clump of trees to see what was happening. As Max thought, it was a group of people trying to pin down the Shiny Shinx. However, to their surprise, and great annoyance, it was Team Terra trying to catch it. A small band of them to be exact. Max thinks that their leader, a beefy man with shaggy black hair and beard, looks somewhat familiar, but he can't quite place how. But then, the leader starts speaking. "Oi, clear off!" he shouts. "We saw this thing first, so it's ours!" At the sound of his voice, the memory clicks.

"You're the Team Terra agents who got blasted away by Ammon in Shalour last month!" he says. The agent stops and gives Max a once over. "I knew you looked familiar!" he says. "You're the runt who's been giving us trouble over the past few months! You gave our admin quite the slip too. But once I, Sub-Admin F, bring you and the Jade Orb in, I'll be rewarded handsomely!" Then, he snaps his fingers, and his agents send out their pokémon.

The Shiny Shinx looks absolutely terrified. It looks around, trying to find a way to escape. Once it deems there isn't one, it decides that the two children are its safest option and runs behind them. Seeing the Shinx look so frightened of the agents fills Bonnie with rage. "Can't you lot see how much you're scaring it?!" she demands. "Why don't you clear off before we make you!" Max nods and readies Treecko's ball. F just grunts with amusement and he and his troops send out their own pokémon. "There's too many of them," says Max. "We're going to have to make a run for it." Bonnie nods and turns to the Shiny Shinx.

"Hey," she says softly, while Max keeps Team Terra busy with Treecko and Pyroar. "I know you're very mistrustful with humans, and you have every right to be. But these guys are bad people who want to hurt you, while Max and I want to protect you. Will you allow me to carry you away from them. I promise I'll let you go the moment it's safe." Shinx looks at her, then at Max, then at the people he's fighting. It sniffs Bonnie's outstretched arm, then jumps into it, shaking violently. "I've got him Max!" Bonnie shouts. "Let's go!"

Max nods and returns his two pokémon, then he and Bonnie make a break for it. "Stop them you idiots!" F shouts, and the agents of Team Terra run after them. The two kids run as fast as they can through the trees, desperate to make it to the pathway before Team Terra can reach them. Max summons Treecko and has him use vine whip to knock a few branches off and delay the agents, and Bonnie has Fennekin do the same but with scratch.

Eventually, the two can see the road right in front of them. They're about to make it to the road when they feel heavy weight on their backs and hit the ground. The Shinx falls out of Bonnie's hands and runs a bit, before coming to a stop and turns to look at the two who saved him. Bonnie and Max are pinned to the ground, with F on top of Max, trying to wrestle his bag off of him. "Go!" Bonnie shouts to him. "Run! Get out of here! Stay safe! We'll be fine!" Shinx turns to run, but then looks back.

The human girl and her mate had saved him, and now he was going to run away. Guilt courses through him at the thought of that, so he instead runs back to the agents and rams into the one on top of Bonnie using spark. Then, he tackles F as hard as he can, freeing Max from his clutches. He clambers back into Bonnie's arms and the two humans make a break for the road once again. F knows he can't follow them without running the risk of being arrested, so instead he shouts after them, "You haven't seen the last of us Max Maple! Team Terra will have the Jade Orb, if we have to rip it from your corpse!"

Frightened by that threat, Max and Bonnie increase their speed until they reach the Pokémon Centre. Bonnie places Shinx on the counter and explains what happened. Then, Bonnie reassures Shinx that the nurse will take good care of him. Shinx seems a bit doubtful but agrees to go along with her and get healed. Sure enough, in no time at all he's returned to Bonnie, all healed up. Bonnie brings him over to where Max is sitting and pulls out her team. Max does the same with his. Then, Bonnie explains to Shinx what she does, with help from her team, and asks Shinx if he'd like to join them.

Shinx looks at each of the pokémon and speaks with them in turn. While he does this, Bonnie takes a ball out and places it in front of him. Shinx sniffs it, then bops the button with his nose, pulling him into the ball. It shakes three times, then settles. Bonnie cheers and lets Shinx out, giving him a small hug. "Welcome to the team Shinx!" she says happily. Max smiles at the sight, then subtly takes a picture of it. Perhaps he'll set that as his wallpaper later.