A/N: This shorter chapter marks the end of Act 3, and wherein I feel it is fitting to announce that I shall be taking another break. Uploads of NPMA will resume on 6/5/2018... or 13/5/2018; I'll see how things go. I'm still ahead of schedule with writing (well, rewriting), however there are two reasons for this break.
First, the upcoming Act 4 is the 2nd longest Act; spanning 4 chapters. It will take more dedication to ensure there is no break between any of the chapters that comprise Act 4. Secondly, whilst I hope to have completed the uploads of every NPMA chapter prior to 5/11/2018 (known as Guy Fawke's Night and also the date I first started NPMA back on the now defunct Miiverse), I feel it is even better if I don't rush things. A deadline helps keep me focused, but too strict of a deadline will cause me to rush things and not include or improve elements of NPMA that I'd like to do with this rewrite. I feel the latter is more important to ensure than meeting some arbitrary deadline.
I've kept you long enough with this lengthy Author Note; do go on and enjoy reading this latest chapter of NPMA!
Nanka's Pokémon Miiverse Adventure Act 3 Continued Further!
Nanka pondered upon her two options; an inner battle waging between her excited curiosity and her fearing concerns. Should she risk entering the pitch-black cave with only blips of Jolt's electricity to help her see or should she find a way to beat back all the darkness and brighten up her path forward? This was her question and she paced back and forth for so long outside the Rock Tunnel entrance, lost in thought, that Jolt eventually succumbed to sleep.
Jolt only woke up when his trainer loudly proclaimed, "Okay! We will search for a way to light up Rock Tunnel!"
"Piii-kaaa." Jolt groaned out, seemingly saying 'finally.'
"Excuse me, I don't suppose you would know where I could find a light bright enough to see my way through Rock Tunnel?"
Nanka had asked this question to every trainer along Route 9 she could find. Many of the trainers were heading for Rock Tunnel, so she figured at least one of them would be entering the tunnel with a light. It turned out that very few of them had a solution, several of them having attempted to navigate the tunnel with torches and lanterns, but for their light to be too weak to pierce the darkness.
"I don't know myself…" The Picknicker, the last trainer on Route 9 Nanka asked her question too, answered, "…but I know someone who does!"
The Picknicker gave Nanka directions to a house in Cerulean City, apparently belonging to man who created gym badges for a living.
After a gentle knock and a polite introduction, Nanka soon asked the badge maker if he knew of a way to brighten up Rock Tunnel, as she had been told.
The man nodded, "Y'know… those gym badges I make have amazing secrets. You have a Boulderbadge on you, right?"
Nanka was puzzled by the shift in subject, but nodded and listened all the same.
"Well the Boulderbadge will let you use Flash at any-time you desire; the only technique that can light up Rock Tunnel." The badge-maker explained.
"Flash? As in the Pokémon move" Nanka inquired as she pulled out her Boulderbadge and stared at it in amazement. "This badge can use a Pokémon move?"
"Not use, allow you to use." The badge-maker explained with a chuckle. "You still need to teach the HM to a Pokémon of yours. I hear the ol' Pokémon professor of Pallet Town hands out the HM to trainers if asked, helping them along through that tunnel."
Knowing where to go was great! Getting to where she needed to go was not so great. Even with a bicycle and the shortcut of Diglett's Cave, Nanka's trip from Route 10 to Pallet Town was long and exhausting.
The night sky greeted her as she spoke with her Pokémon companion, "On the bright side… it will be nice to be back home, won't it Jolt."
"Pi." Jolt murmured with a shrug, having never really stayed at the Chandler family's house long enough to call it his own home.
With lights out in almost all of the houses, Nanka made her way through her home town from memory alone. Jolt followed alongside her, droopy-eyed, too uninterested in the darkened surroundings to keep up his usual energy.
"Mum must have gone to bed already." Nanka mumbled as she looked up at her dark and quiet home. "We best not wake her."
Jolt nodded sluggishly, struggling to fight off sleep, as the two entered the peaceful abode.
As Nanka tip-toed across the room, past the table, she heard a creaking sound, "D-did you hear that, Jolt?"
Jolt was too sleepy to reply, as Nanka looked to-and-fro.
"I-it was probably noth"-Nanka had begun to say when someone leapt out from under the table.
"Welcome home, Poppet!" Nanka's Mum yelled as she hugged her surprised daughter.
"Piiikkkaaa!" Jolt yelped out in shock, also in turn releasing a Thundershock throughout the room.
After a few coughs from the lightning produced smoke, a woman with long green hair akin to Nanka's and dark green eyes very different to Nanka's chuckled, "And welcome home too, Jolt!"
"P-Pika." Jolt stammered out, turning his face away, embarrassed at his shocked reaction.
"H-hiii Muuummmyyy." Nanka mumbled from the floor, her candle-lit eyes spinning as her body jittered from the electrocution.
After the… incident in the night, that Nanka wouldn't soon let Jolt forget, Nanka ended up sleeping the night away rather than talking to her mother. The long awaited conversation with her mother about her own exciting adventure about Kanto so far was going to have to wait until the morning, wherein Nanka awoke to the familiar pale-pink walks of her bedroom.
"Huh…" Nanka mumbled out as she lazily scanned amongst her many cuddly toys, SNES game collection, and books on witchcraft. "…I'm not used to Jolt not waking me up."
Making her way downstairs in a sleeveless black dress, Nanka soon spotted her mother, her mum's Helioptile, and Jolt; all looking sweaty but refreshed.
"It's nice to know that Jolt here is more than willing to join us for our morning jog." Mrs Chandler teased her daughter, her face flushed but healthy.
"Y-you just wake up too early for me to join in." Nanka retorted with a blush as her own Pikachu snickered.
Before Nanka could respond to Jolt's laugh, her mum's Helioptile ran up to her, the yellow lizard jumping up and down around her. "Helio! Helio! Helio!"
"Awww; I missed you too, Heely." Nanka reassured the energetic Helioptile as she pet her on the head. "Thinking about it, I've got some new friends you'd love to meet."
Skipping up the stairs and back, with a quick wave to her Mum's ever-stoic Sudowoodo along the way, Nanka soon tossed all her Pokéballs into the air and sent out her current travelling companions. Helioptile's eyes lit up as she saw the Diglett, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Butterfree and Weepinbell all appear before her; running over to them and squealing with excitement.
"Wow, you've got quite a handful on you already, Poppet." Mrs Chandler commented, kneeling down to the dutifully standing Popper and the already yawning Venom. "I thought you'd be too focused on the scenery to search for Pokémon."
"Well… the professor did ask me to catch Pokémon and I really liked having the company." Nanka confessed with a giggle as she watched Melody chatting with Helioptile, and then watched bizarrely as Jolt dragged Melody by the ear away from Helioptile. "It also helps that Jolt keeps on wanting me to do Pokémon battles and weeellll, the more the merrier."
Nanka continued to introduce her Pokémon to her Mum's Pokémon; getting each of them to say hello to one another.
"So guys, I'm sure Heely has already introduced herself to you." Nanka remarked, continuing to use the nickname she called Helioptile by since she was a little kid. "But I'm sure you can see Soodwood over on the stairs."
All but Venom turned to look over at the stairway, noticing only a tree shaped coat rack, its branching arms holding onto their trainer's hat. Nanka giggled as her Pokémon continued to stare over at the stairs, failing to notice the Sudowoodo, when she felt something lift up her long hair.
Giggling, Nanka added, "An behind me you'll see the always playful Drifty."
Her Pokémon turned to see a small purple balloon using it's stringy arms to attempt to carry their trainer off to the underworld.
After introductions, Nanka started to recall to her mother all about her adventure so far. Nanka gushed about her travelling companions, making sure to include a mention of her currently boxed Sandshrew, and went on to describe the wondrous locations she'd been too. Of course, she once again left out any mention of her 'swimsuit vigilante' incident.
"Sounds like these Rockets are popping up everywhere these days." Mrs Chandler commented, grinning as she flexed an arm. "If you run into any more of those thugs Poppet, just give them a good thumping and I'm sure they'll leave you alone."
Nanka nervously giggled, always finding her Mother's lack of concern odd given her own tendency to fret, "I think I'd prefer to avoid them entirely, Mum."
"Y'know Poppet, I'm kind of jealous." Mrs Chandler mused, tapping a finger against her cup of black tea. "It's been so long since I went on my own adventures, across Kalos and Unova, Orre and Johto… I certainly never got to take a trip on any luxury cruise ship."
Nanka smiled, finding the scenario pleasant but strange, for her to be the one recalling her adventure's to her mum rather than the other way around.
"It'd have been nice if I was able to invite you as well." Nanka admitted between sips of tea. "I was lucky to get my invite, but I'm unsure how G-Man got his."
"G-Man was on board the ship with you!?" Mrs Chandler shrieked out with delight, emitting a squeal as her daughter slowly nodded. 'Oh I can picture it now; starry-eyes crossing on the deck, a ball-room dance to the sounds of a merry orchestra, hands gently grazing over another as the stars shine in the night sky…'
"We… got into a fight." Nanka added; unknowingly crushing her mother's imagined scenarios. "He seemed upset at something, but then again, he always wants to battle me when we meet."
"I'm… I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." Mrs Chandler said, sobbing internally at shattered expectations. "You're nothing but polite and sweet to him, so it's probably something personal he's dealing with.
"Hmmm, I guess." Nanka replied, worries for her childhood friend now popping back to her mind. "We can't help if we have our off days."
Moving away from the topic of G-Man, the mother and daughter continued to chat merrily until the afternoon, when Nanka once again set off on her adventure.
"Good afternoon, Professor Oak." Nanka greeted the stunned Professor.
"Nanka!? This is a surprise!" The Professor exclaimed with a growing smile. "Did you come to check how your Pokédex is coming along?"
"Ummm, actually, I heard you had a HM for Flash and was wondering if I could borrow it, please?" Nanka asked.
"Ohhh, you're heading into Rock Tunnel already." Professor Oak correctly assumed with a now broad grin. "You've gotten pretty far then; I knew you were the right sort of person to give a Pokédex to."
"Awww, I-I just like getting to see each new place as soon as I can." Nanka humbly, though truthfully, replied. "G-Man's also getting far; he always seems to be ahead of me."
The Professor sighed at this, shaking his head, "Of course he'd be ahead. That boy has no patience. I imagine my grandson has just gone storming through Rock Tunnel already without even so much as a flashlight."
Nanka couldn't help but notice the Professor's voice tinged with irritation as he bemoaned his grandson. "Never mind him though, you're in need of the HM for Flash. I know you'll use it."
Nanka chose not to bring this up as the Professor walked on over to a display cabinet in the lab; the tone reminded her much of G-Man's aboard the S.S. Anne. So instead she patiently waited for the Professor to return, which he did shortly, albeit still empty-handed.
"I seem to have run out of Flash HMs…" The Professor started to say slowly, recalling recent events, "…but I'm certain my aide currently has a few left over HMs. He's not here today, but I'll give you his address and you can go pick one up from him."
Nanka and Jolt began their trip to the Aide's house, walking on the outskirts of Viridian Forest, towards a row of quaint houses nestled between the cities of Viridian and Pewter.
Nanka was pondering on which city the houses were a part of, when a man called out to the travelling duo, "Hey, Nanka! Jolt! Remember me?"
The trainer and Pokémon turned to the plain, dark haired man in a lab-coat, his pleasant voice and unassuming face familiar, giving both of them a sense of deja-vu.
"I'm Professor Oak's Aide!" The cheery scientist replied, much to Nanka's relief.
"O-oh, yes! Yes you are. I-I wouldn't forget, ehehehee." Nanka replied weakly with a forced laugh.
'H-how did I forget? I saw him only a week ago.' Nanka began criticising herself internally, but then remembered, "Oh yes! Sir, I happened to have been looking for you."
"Really? Whatever for?" The intrigued Aide asked, though he then immediately snapped his fingers and said, "Aaahhh; I know! I'm betting you need HM05!"
Nanka and Jolt nodded.
"I'll be happy to give you it…" The Aide began to say, "…if you have caught at least ten kinds of Pokémon, that is."
"O-okay." Nanka agreed as she got out her Pokédex to show the Aide, but beginning to realise something as she presented the device. 'Jolt, Dusty, Venom, Arid, Devourer, Melody and Popper… that's only seven.'
"You have caught twelve kinds of Pokémon! Congratulations!" The Aide beamed, much to Nanka's surprise, and the Aide seemed to notice this as he followed up with. "When your Pokémon evolve, it counts as separate entries, thus you've had twelve different Pokémon."
With a sigh of relief, Nanka accepted her returning Pokédex and the much needed HM from the Aide, "Thank you very much."
Having finally obtained the HM, all she now had to do was figure out which of her Pokémon to teach the move to.
"So then…" Nanka started to say as she looked to her Pikachu, Butterfree and Jigglypuff lined up together, "…which of you three would like to learn how to Flash?"
At the mention of the word 'flash', Melody's large green eyes lit up, a slight blush on her face as she hummed.
"Piiikaaa." Jolt snapped at Melody, glaring at the Jigglypuff.
"Jiggly, Jig-Jig!" Melody retorted, glaring back at the Pikachu.
Nanka was oblivious to the argument going on between her two Pokémon, more so focused on Dusty the Butterfree, who had stepped forth and volunteered.
Nanka went on to teach Dusty the move Flash, replacing Harden for the light bringing technique. With it, Dusty would be able to guide her through Rock Tunnel.
As Nanka began to head off for Diglett's Cave, in route to Rock Tunnel, something nagged at her in the back of her mind.
"Did I forget something?" Nanka mumbled to herself, as her eyes wandered over the many path obscuring bushes about the place.
"Hmmm, I'll have to remember to come back here at some point." Nanka had mused, making a mental note.
That was what she had said a couple weeks ago, outside of the Pewter City Museum; a mental note she now remembered. With the help of her travelling companions, the steep ledges, large rocks and overgrown foliage in the way of entering the back door of the museum were easily taken care of.
"You can't sneak in the back way!" The Museum's receptionist snapped as Nanka walked into the mystery building.
Nanka let out a little 'eep' as she was spotted, her curiosity of what the second building was answered; somewhere she was apparently not supposed to be.
"S-sorry!" Nanka apologised, as she quickly headed for the exit.
As she reached the door though, a different member of staff called out to her, "Hold on a second, miss!"
Nanka stopped and spun around to see a scruffy haired but smartly dressed man, standing beside a pedestal, and gesturing for her to come on over. Nanka first looked over to the receptionist, nervous that he'd complain if he noticed that she hadn't left yet, but hurried over the calling staff member upon seeing the receptionist was looking away.
"Are you a travelling trainer?" The man asked with a whisper.
Nanka nodded, as Jolt stepped in front of her and spoke up, "Kachu? Pi!"
"Perfect!" The museum staff member said with a hushed voice, as he pulled off a chunk of fossilised tree sap from the pedestal.
Nanka and Jolt gazed at the clear, gold chunk of amber as the man began to explain, "I think that this chunk of amber contains Pokémon DNA… and that there might be a way to resurrect ancient Pokémon from it."
"Really!" Nanka gasped with excitement.
"I'm really glad you believe me." The staff member continued to whisper. "My colleagues just ignore me."
Jolt had at this point grabbed hold of the chunk of amber, inspecting it closer and trying to find the Pokémon inside it. Turning it up and down whilst squinting as much as possible wasn't helping him spot the amber-trapped Pokémon.
"So I have a favour to ask. Could you take this to the Cinnabar Island lab for it to be examined?" The staff member asked.
"I can do that, sir!" Nanka replied enthusiastically, curious about what Pokémon lay dormant in the amber.
"I best put this away for safe keeping." Nanka said to herself, after finally convincing Jolt to hand over the amber to her.
Nanka's yellow bag was stuffed full of so many items, that at this point, she couldn't have the strap over her shoulder and was carrying it with both arms. As she arrived at the Pokécenter, she realised that it was about time to resort her bag again.
"I really do wonder what these Moon Stones do?" Nanka asked herself as she pulled out her most recently found stone.
Even as she was cycling along Route 5, heading back to the Rock Tunnel entrance, Nanka continued to ponder as to what the Moon Stones were.
"Maybe they are evolution stones." Nanka pondered aloud, "Maybe I should try giving it to one of my Pokémon."
Nanka first looked to Jolt, who for some reason sternly refused, so she sent out Venom. Nanka then showed off the Moon Stone to Venom the Nidorina.
Venom squinted at the stone presented to her, and with unusual enthusiasm, pounced upon it. The stone began to glow, and this glow slowly engulfed Venom, her body beginning to change shape.
"I-it is an evolution stone!" Nanka shouted out as she shielded her eyes from the blinding light.
Once the glowing had stopped, both the Moon Stone and Nidorina were gone; Venom had evolved into a Nidoqueen!
Venom spread out her bulky blue arms, raised her head proudly to the sky... and yawned.
"Awww, Venom; that Moon Stone really did evolve you." Nanka said as she moved up to and hugged her scaly drill Pokémon.
The newly evolved Nidoqueen returned this hug... much to Nanka's discomfort.
"V-Venom... tight, too tight!" The trainer gasped from her Pokémon's strong embrace.
Nanka and Jolt stood outside Rock Tunnel, its dark entrance before them, barring even the slightest ray of light.
Despite her preparations, such as her Butterfree capable of illuminating the tunnel, Nanka was still nervous.
Jolt noticed this, tugging on his trainer's blue sock until she looked down to him, "Pika Pika Chu!"
Nanka smiled fondly at Jolt's battle-cry, nodding to her travelling companion.
A/N: Interesting fact; this chapter has been expanded quite a bit compared to the original version. The scene with Nanka and Professor Oak was much shorter, with far less hints to the fractured relationship with the Professor and his Grandson, whilst a ton of the scenes between Nanka and her mum are new here. I was originally not confident in how I should approach writing the scenes between a daughter and mother, nor was I sure of the character of Mrs Chandler back at the time, but I ended up tackling these matters by Act 8 of NPMA. Thanks to this Director's Cut, I was able to include my improve skills and knowledge earlier, by writing up some additional scenes between the two.
There's not much to say other than that, so... I hope enjoyed reading this latest chapter of Nanka's Pokémon Miiverse Adventure. Please look forward to the start of Act 4 of NPMA on the 6/5/2018... hopefully.