A/N: First of all, apologies for the lack of a chapter last weekend; I was pretty ill for a couple days. It's kind of funny though, for after this chapter upload I shall be having what is now a regularly occurring thing at the end of an act; another break. It's for the best anyway, with E3 starting this coming weekend, I probably wouldn't have found myself time to upload a chapter anyway.
In any case, without further ado, enjoy the latest chapter of Nanka's Pokémon Miiverse Adventure!
Nanka's Pokémon Miiverse Adventure Act 4 Continued Even Further!
Atop the Celadon store, Nanka looked to the strange telescope within her hands, lost in thought. Memories of recent days flash in her mind, as she inspected Giovanni's 'present.'
"Hey! Nanka!" The young but demanding voice of Vicky called out to the absentminded girl.
Nanka looked to the fellow trainer vacantly, mumbling, "Yes?"
Vicky ran a finger down Nanka's cut cheek, enthusiastically commenting, "Do you reckon this'll leave a scar? Cause that would look awesome!"
As the two girl's Pokémon ran about the rooftop of the towering Celadon department store, Nanka titled her head at her friend's question, barely hearing it through the fog of her thoughts, "Pardon?"
"Vicky!" Vicky's brother and unenthusiastic trainer escort, Ricky, piped up, "That's just plain rude! Don't remind Nanka here of her ordeal."
"Puhleeeaaase! Getting a wicked scar would totally make up being nabbed by Rockets." Vicky retorted, throwing only a glance towards her brother as she continued to admire Nanka's Persian inflicted cut.
Nanka began to chuckle nervously, "Eh-heh-heh-hee… y-yeah…"
As Nanka laughed nervously at the 'official' story of what had happened at the Rocket Hideout, she couldn't help but remember how events led to this.
After the fight with Giovanni, exhaustion finally caught with Nanka and her travelling companions, the group succumbing to sleep within the rapidly abandoned hideout. She was later awoken by an Officer Jenny, whom had 'rescued her' from the hideout, the police having been alerted to a mass exodus of Team Rocket members from the coincidentally named Rocket Game Corner.
A teenage girl found injured and asleep in a secret criminal lair; no was going to believe that she and her Pokémon had singlehandedly kicked out the Rockets.
Besides, Nanka did not want to take credit for the accomplishment.
"Hey! Nanka here's actually super-duper lucky!" Vicky stated, stars in her eyes. "She got to see the Swimsuit Vigilante in action!"
Apparently one of the Rockets escaping the gambling facility was overheard blaming 'that swimsuit girl again!' Nanka knew who, and his words spread as part of the official story.
Nanka was just an innocent and lost girl who stumbled into the sinister Team Rocket Hideout and was held captive; until she was saved by the brave and gorgeous 'Swimsuit Vigilante', who struck down every last Rocket grunt until they fled in droves. That was the official story being reported across Celadon City.
"Awww, I wish I got to see her as well! She's the coolest person ever!" Vicky swooned, spinning on a single foot as she daydreamed about her heroic role model. "I wonder if she has any gym badges; I bet she has, I don't know, ten badges!"
"Well aside from it being impossible to have more than eight Kanto badges," Ricky chuckled, unable to hide a smile, "I think we'd have heard of someone taking on the gyms in a swimsuit."
Nanka made no comment.
"Oh yeah! Speaking of gym badges, Nanka…" Vicky started to say as she pulled out a rainbow coloured badge, "…you should get yourself one of these."
"A rainbow badge?" Nanka replied, her battle-loving Pikachu running up to gaze at Celadon's official badge at the mere mention of it.
"Yeah! Pixy, Tricky, and Mickey got me it!" Vicky explained, her Vulpix, Doduo and Ratticate running over to her and holding their heads high with pride. "Now go beat that flower princess too, Nanka!"
After enjoying the relaxing company of friends, and having received some words of encouragement from Vicky, Nanka headed for the Pokémon Center. Try as she might, memories of the troubles in the Rocket Hideout plagued her mind, mainly her encounter with Rocket Boss. Upon reaching the Pokémon Center, Nanka placed the strange telescope into her PC and out of mind. For now, she would forget about all that happened with Giovanni and the Rockets; instead focusing on Celadon gym.
Even though a couple days had passed since the Rocket Hideout incident, most of Nanka's weren't in the mood for battling, still tuckered out. Nanka let them continue to rest, only taking those willing to go with her to the Gym.
"Pikkkaaa!" Jolt cheered in front of an audience of his Pokémon teammates.
"Jiiigggg! Melody cheered back.
Dusty cheered as well, but her quiet cheer went unheard. Popper and Devourer simply nodded.
"Of course, you would never sit out on a gym battle, would you Jolt?" Nanka commented, her eager Pikachu spinning around and shaking his head. "Well we best head to the gym then; I'm sure there are plenty of trainers we will have to deal with first."
Thus the young girl headed to the Celadon gym with her team of her Diglett, Butterfree, Weepinbell, Jigglypuff and as always, her Pikachu.
As Nanka approached the gym, she could smell a bountiful of floral aromas, along with spotting a bald elderly man peeking through the gym's windows.
"Heheh! This gym is great!" Nanka overheard the man chuckle. "It's full of women!"
"Whoa!" Nanka yelped as Melody ran between her legs and over to the old man.
"Puff, Puff?" Melody inquired as she tapped the window gazing man's knee. "Puff, Puff, Jigglypuff?"
The old man turned to Melody briefly, motioning with a slight head movement for the Jigglypuff to jump up and see for herself, which Melody did with glee. "Jigglllyyy, puff, puff, puff!"
"I know, right." The old man grinned, baring his few remaining yellow teeth. "It's paradise in there!"
"M-Melody?" Nanka called out to her Jigglypuff, worried about what kind of activity her sweet and innocent Pokémon was joining in with. "We need to ummm, get going."
Melody and the elderly 'gazer' turned to Nanka, the latter looking the Pallet Town girl up and down, though she was unaware of this due to the shades shielding his eyes.
After a few whistles and hums, the old man finally addressed Nanka, "I say you're at least five years too young for my eyes."
"H-Huh?" Nanka replied, having barely heard the elder's quiet muttering.
The elder then grinned, a chuckle wheezing by his missing teeth as he gave Nanka a thumbs up, "But I bet you'll be a real beaut then. Keep rockin' that miniskirt! You've fine legs growing and on a windy day you'll be makin' many a boy happy."
Nanka struggled to reply, stammering as an embarrassed blush quickly spread across her entire face, "W-wha? M-Mini, rock, h-hap…"
Steam whistled from the blushing girl as she quickly snatched up her Jigglypuff and fled to inside the Celadon gym as fast as she could.
Nanka had to earlier push the comments of Giovanni to the back of her mind, and now she had to do the same with the… inappropriate comments of the old man outside Celadon gym.
Fortunately, her first trainer battle for the right to challenge the gym leader proved a tough one, giving her something else to focus on. Unfortunately, the battle was indeed a tough one, with Popper and Dusty constantly being wrapped up in the vines of the Lass' Bellsprout and Weepinbell.
Nanka breathed a sigh of relief when her Pokémon overcame the wrap attacks, winning their respective battles, "That was a close one. Good job, both of you!"
Dusty shyly nodded, bashful from the praise, but Popper was strangely unresponsive.
"D-Digggg…" Popper murmured, going to nod, when his whole body when rigid and begun glowing brightly.
"P-Popper!?" Nanka gasped out in shock, but her worries turned to glee as she saw Diglett forming two additional bodies and growing ever so slightly taller, "Popper! Congratulations on evolving!"
"Trio, trio, trio!" Popper chanted as the light scattered from his new Dugtrio body.
Moving onto her next gym trainer battle, the very moment the trainer's Bellsprout landed on the grass, an unprompted Dusty scattered a sleep powder over the opposing grass type.
"Ohhhh! Why did you have to do that!?" The Beauty complained as her exciting Pokémon battle changed to a dull showcasing of her sleeping Pokémon.
"Dusty! That's wonderful!" Nanka praised her Butterfree, who as per usual, tried to hide away behind her wings. "I think we've both had enough of those wraps for one day."
In the midst of a lengthy battle of grass types, vines whipping back and forth between Devourer the Weepinbell and the Ivysaur pitted against him, the gym trainer called out to Nanka, "Hey! You should probably be careful about that Peeping Tom outside."
Surprised at the sudden conversation topic in the midst of battle, Nanka was a little slow in replying, "O-oh… so that's definitely what he was doing. He was… peeping."
"Yeah; we get a lot of gawkers, but he's persistent." The gym trainer explained, casting a vicious scowl towards the windows.
"Awww, she's so cute!"
"Super adorable!"
"I wish I had a Jigglypuff!"
The Celadon gym was filled with female trainers, cute lasses and pretty beauties, and just about every one of them utterly charmed by Melody. Melody giggled as she delighted in sweet smiles, loving gazes, and soft hugs.
An yet, Melody couldn't help but cast an empathetic gaze to the windows, where her new elderly friend gazed longingly at the paradise she was in. Moments like these made Melody ever so thankful she was born a Jigglypuff.
The barrage shot forth, the black pellets fast and numerous, sailing through the air like cannonballs. Jolt wasn't fast enough to dodge them all.
Picking himself off the ground, paws digging deep into the soil landscape of the garden-like battle arena, Jolt fired out a thunderbolt and dazed the battling Exeggcute. Jolt wasn't strong enough to take it out with one hit.
As Jolt continued to fight the cluster of mean faced eggs, whom were actually seeds, Jolt did not see them firing a barrage of ranged attacks at him.
He instead saw sharp claws, a smirking Persian, and a cut cheek. Every time he wasn't fast enough, every time he wasn't strong enough; he saw that Persian hurting Nanka.
Poking her head out of the gym door, Nanka looked by the windows and saw no sign of the peeping old man. Assuming he'd gone home or had been shooed off, the relieved girl stepped out of the gym with her Pikachu close behind.
"There were a lot of trainers, but we managed to beat them all in one day." Nanka said with a tired smile, coming across a ledge and walking around. "I suppose we should get in a bit of training before we challenge the gym leader tomorrow."
"Piii, Kachu." Jolt agreed with her, jumping over the ledge and getting ahead of Nanka.
'Thinking about it, I've still yet to think of who I should use against the gym leader.' Nanka mused, continuing down the quaint grassy path behind the grey city blocks of Celadon, each step slower as she thought more and more. 'Jolt wouldn't want to miss out and Dusty would be perfect against grass types, but who else…'
"Kachuuu!" Jolt shouted out, causing Nanka to snap out of her thoughts and ground to halt… right in front of the large bushes she was just about to walk into.
"T-they've grown back already?" Nanka exclaimed in disbelief, the obstructing bushes that she had cut back to get to the gym having once again blocked the pathway. 'If the bushes grow that quick then… oh dear, I'm going to have to bring Popper with me to cut them down.'
With that, Nanka's team for her battle against the Celadon gym leader was decided… even if one of them was hardly ideal for battles against grass types.
"Never again!" Nanka gasped, panting out in frustration. "We're never… training on Route 7… ever again!"
Dusty flew down to the ground wearily, nodding in agreement with her trainer.
The plan was to train during the day, then take on Erika that afternoon. Unfortunately, Nanka had forgotten the frustrations of Route 7's singing, whirlwind causing and teleporting Pokémon.
Having had numerous naps in the grass, her skirt flying up as people passed by and Pokémon pop in to scare her out of nowhere; she certainly remembered now!
As prepared as she felt she could be, Nanka and her trio of Pokémon made their way through the lush greenhouse, journeying to the centre of the gym. Uncharacteristically for her ground type, Popper the newly Dugtrio insisted on being in the lead, pushing and arguing with Jolt on the matter. Nanka and Dusty were more content with a leisurely walk, the young girl watching her Butterfree fly about and enjoy the scents and sights of the flowers.
Getting past large hedges blooming with flowers, the group saw a black haired lady in an elegant yellow kimono, carefully adjusting a flower arrangement.
The young lady turned her attention to Nanka, motioning with her pale hand for Nanka to sit, "Hello… lovely weather, isn't it?"
"Y-yes! It's very pleasant!"
Seeing a small cushion on the grassy soil, Nanka sat down upon it as the likewise seated lady carefully moved her flower vase away. The serene lady continued to look to Nanka with a quaint but loving smile, her eyes slowly closing, deep in contemplation.
'This must be the gym leader, Erika.' Nanka thought as she watched the beautiful kimono lady before her continue to concentrate. 'She seems so calm, so peaceful…'
The trainer and gym leader sat across from one another, relaxed in the tranquil environment of lovingly nurtured flowers. The two of them were so relaxed in fact, that they both drifted off to sleep… much to Jolt's annoyance.
"Piiikaaa!"
The sleeping trainers were both snapped out of their slumber by Jolt's sky bound thunderbolt; the sound of thunder crackling and roaring throughout the garden house.
"Oh dear, my apologies…" The kimono lady apologised, rubbing her eyes, "I must have dozed off."
"I'm sorry as well, miss." Nanka replied with a nervous laugh. "I kind of… also fell asleep."
The kimono lady smiled at Nanka's response, "Forgive me for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Erika, and I welcome you to Celadon gym."
"We teach flower arrangement here. Have you come for some lessons perhaps?" Erika inquired, presenting the vase full of flowers she had been working on.
"That does sound fun." Nanka replied, only to receive a gentle slap on the back of her leg from Jolt's tail. "B-but I, we actually came here to challenge you to a gym battle, miss Erika."
Erika once again placed the flower arrangement to the side, her smile ever present, "Very well. I am happy to accept your challenge as well."
It is well known that evolution results in many changes to Pokémon; sometimes affecting a Pokémon's personality. Given their new forms grant them new capabilities, sometimes drastically different, this is unsurprising.
Such changes are not always beneficial for a trainer though, to which Nanka was discovering as her Dugtrio persisted with burrowing into the ground, "Popper, please! Come back! Return, Popper!"
Having overheard conversations between some of the gym trainers that Erika often started her battles with Weepinbell, Nanka figured she could take advantage of said Pokémon's added poison typing and take it out with Popper. To her dismay, as she lead with her ground-type Dugtrio, the small bundle of walking vines was not part poison type.
Pitted against the pure grass type that was Tangela, Nanka tried to return Popper straight away, but her obedient soldier has since been promoted to a big-headed sergeant who thought he knew best. Popper ignored orders and dug into battle against the Tangela.
Erika watched the battle with drooping eyes, yet still taking into account all that was occurring, still instructing her Tangela when to defend and when to attack. The gym leader was half asleep and yet her Tangela's mega drain still timely struck and stunned the emerging Dugtrio.
"Popper, return already!" Nanka screamed out in annoyance, finally managing to return her now headstrong Dugtrio, and swapping him out for her Butterfree. "Go, Dusty!"
"Tangela, bind it." Erika said the very moment Dusty materialised, her Tangel shooting out her dark turquoise vines and ensnaring the unsuspecting Butterfree.
"F-frrreee!" Dusty screamed in shock.
"Dusty!" Nanka cried out as she watched her Butterfree struggle against the tightening vines, the lavender coloured bug being squeezed by the binding attack. "Dusty, try and release a sleep powder."
Dusty managed to wriggle her wings free from the bind, flapping out a sleep inducing powder. Erika's Tangela managed to dodge whilst keeping up her bind attack, but the second release of sleep powder managed to send the grass type into a slumber. Flying out of the loosened vines, Dusty proceeded to emit a blinding flash of light at the sleeping Tangela.
"Jolt! Dusty needs a break; could you-", Nanka didn't get chance to finish her sentence as Jolt leapt into battle, the Pikachu tagging out the injured Butterfree.
Jolt managed to run rings around the blinded Tangela. Her defences were strong, but being unable to prevent Jolt's numerous body slams meant that the grass type soon dropped down unconscious.
"Pika! Pika! Chuuu!" Jolt cheered proudly of his victory.
Nanka was happy for Jolt, but couldn't smile, not yet at least. She was worried; it had taken all three of her Pokémon just to take out Erika's Tangela. Jolt was left as her only uninjured Pokémon, and his electric typing was hardly the best match-up against the resistant grass types awaiting them.
"Jolt, come here for a second." Nanka called over to her Pikachu, who swiftly leapt over to her, wherein Nanka whispered into his ear some instructions.
With a quick nod, Jolt ran back into the centre of the arena, just in time for Erika to send out her Weepinbell. The gong ran for the battle to begin, and Jolt immediately used double team.
"W-Weep?" The Weepinbell stuttered with confusion as the Pikachu before her duplicated, holding off on her attack.
"Weepinbell, they are only illusions; strike the real one quickly." Erika pointed out with utter calmness, though she did frown when her Weepinbell's razor leaf struck an illusion.
Before long, an army of sixteen Pikachu's surrounded the Weepinbell, paralysing the panicking Pokémon and leaving her at Jolt's mercy.
Jolt had no mercy.
Jolt had managed to down both the Tangela and Weepinbell without a scratch, though the latter's frantic razor leaf attack had destroyed his army of illusions. Furthermore, his final opponent was Erika's Gloom, who was certainly not blinded by a bunch of flashes unlike Tangela.
"Jolt, try and paralyse Gloom with your thunder wave!" Nanka called, Jolt's cheeks buzzing the very moment the words reached his ears.
"Gloom, please put that Pikachu to sleep." Erika instructed, powders beginning to fall from the shaking Gloom's flower.
The attacks were launched; white running electricity crossing paths with descending green powder. Gloom was zapped by the waves and Jolt inhaled the sleep powder.
The Gloom tried to move, to aim her head and begin using her mega drain, but the electricity pulsing through her body halted all movement.
Jolt fell to all fours, struggling to keep his eyes open. Determined, he sluggishly moved his tail to his mouth… and then bit down.
The pain gave Jolt a burst of energy, snapping him awake. Sleep powder still trying to coax him to slumber, Jolt body slam into the Gloom was clumsy. The impact between the two woke Jolt up a teensy bit more, enough for him to finish the stunned Gloom off with a mighty thunderbolt.
Erika's Gloom fell to the floor, and Erika glumly hung her head, "Oh! I concede defeat!"
"Piiii… kaaa…" Jolt slurred, attempting a victory cheer, but instead began to fall backwards.
"Jolt!" Nanka called out as she skidded over to Jolt on her knees, her Pikachu falling onto her lap, sound asleep. "Jolt… you pushed yourself way too hard."
Nanka couldn't help but look down with a smile at her snoozing champion, "Thank you for your hard work, Jolt."
As Nanka petted her dozing starter, Erika congratulated them, "You are both remarkably strong. I certainly did not expect you to be able to turn the tide of battle with just your Pikachu, so it is well deserved that I confer upon you the rainbow badge."
"Thank you, Erika." Nanka replied, looking to the gym leader, before glancing over towards the vase of flowers from earlier. "Ummm, Miss Erika?"
"Hmmm?" Erika hummed, her pleased and tranquil smile ever present on her face.
"While my Pokémon are resting… I would very much like to take you up on your earlier offer; the flower arranging lessons I mean."
Erika clapped her hands, her small smile widening to a broad grin, laughter coming from her as she replied, "Certainly! Let us begin straight away!"
Nanka's Jolt was exhausted and Erika's Pokémon needed healing, so the two girls had a good couple of hours together, spending their time doing refined floristry.
"Oh, I almost forgot." Erika certainly perked up, retrieving a TM box from yellow kimono, passing it over to Nanka. "Defeating me also earns you the TM for Mega Drain."
With a flower still in hand, Nanka took the TM21 with the other, "Thank you very much. I wonder who I should teach it to?"
"As a grass move, Mega Drain naturally suits grass types very well." Erika suggested, whilst taking a flower out of her own arrangement and placing it within Nanka's, feeling it fit the composition better.
'Hmmm, I guess that would be Devourer then… he isn't the most sturdy of Pokémon, so it might be good for him to be able to heal himself.'
Jolt was bored.
For reasons that baffled him, after the exciting and thrilling gym battle, he awoke to Nanka playing with a bunch of flowers. They left soon after he woke up, but the problem was, Nanka dragged him back to the gym the next day to play with flowers again.
It appeared that his girly trainer was even being taught how to play with flowers; and not even in a particularly fun way either. All they were doing were placing them in vases and pots, slowly adding different or matching colours and varieties. Some of the others joined in; he expected Dusty and Melody to be interested, but was surprised to see Ribbon happily participating.
Jolt of course, did not participate. He slumped down, bored out of his mind and wishing they would get to their next destination already.
Jolt wished they were not at their next destination.
As he and Nanka stood before Pokémon Tower, fainted unearthly cries slipped through the buildings walls. Jolt started to appreciate the garden house of Celadon gym a lot more and the many benefits of flowers; such as using them as a food source or maybe even a distraction from g-g-ghosts.
Ghost loving Nanka had no excited smile on her face this time as she looked from the tower and down to the telescope in her hands. It was a 'Silph scope' according to the inscription on it, its exact purpose still a mystery to Nanka. With a look of determination, she walked on into the tower, followed by an apprehensive Jolt.
"I've left you a present…" Giovanni's words echoed in Nanka's mind as the shadows danced on the walls, crying sounds ringing as it formed an unidentifiable figure. "…I suggest you take a look at a ghost through that Silph scope."
Nanka raised the telescope to her eye, gazing at the shadowy figure through it. The figure shrieked as the shadows composing it's body were shredded from it, unveiling it's true form; Gastly.
"Oh… my… gosh." Nanka murmured, as she stopped looking through the telescope, surprised to see the poisonous gas Pokémon in it's now identifiable form. "Oh my gosh! It's a Gastly! A Gastly!"
"G-gaaasss…" The floating sphere of a ghost moaned, surprised at not just losing it's disguise, but also as to why the young girl before it was jumping with joy.
"C'mon Jolt, let's go catch ourselves a cute Gastly." Nanka proclaimed, only to look down and realise her trembling Pikachu was clinging to her leg in fear.
"Gyaaarrr!" Chu-Chu roared, facing down the quivering fiend who dared to come at his princess with ill intent.
Chu-Chu turned to check on his princess' safety, only to see an odd sight he couldn't quite comprehend. His brave and peerless captain was cowering with fear, unable to even look towards his spectral foe, whereas his princess smiled distantly, a disturbingly joyous expression akin to someone bewitched.
Chu-Chu realised that curses were at play here and, understanding how dire the situation was, grabbed his princess and captain to whisk them away to safety.
"Chu-Chu, I appreciate you trying to protect us…" Nanka addressed her bowing Gyarados, whom was taking great care to not damage any of the many tombstones with his large body, "…but I could of just caught a lovely Gastly just then."
Having seen the 'lovely Gastly', with it's gaseous body and large demon eyes, Chu-Chu was further convinced his princess had been afflicted with a wicked curse of sorts.
"All it would have taken is one bite and… wait, not bite…" It was at this moment that Nanka begun to realise that out of her team of travelling companions, having Jolt, Chu-Chu, Melody, Devourer, Venom and Arid accompany here… very few of them could actually hit a Ghost type.
"W-w-what was that about!?" Nanka shouted out, confused as to what had just occurred.
In the midst of realising her predicament, Nanka was approached by two vacant eyed Channelers. The white and red robed women groaned, Gastlys oozing out of their mouths, flying forth to attack Nanka.
With Arid's ground based dig attack and Melody's TM taught water gun, they managed to fend off the Gastlys, leaving two unconscious people on the floor.
Nanka made her way up to the fourth floor of the tower, feeling a mixture of worry and excitement.
When the defeated Channelers regained consciousness, they explained that they had been possessed. Team Rocket grunts had invaded the tower and been causing trouble recently, disturbing the spirits and making them both restless and mischievous.
Thus Nanka ventured through the tower, worried at being assaulted by the possessed trainers, but also thrilled at the prospect of seeing more spirits.
"Gaaassstlllyyysss!" The Channeler heard screamed; the voice of a girl, with a strangely happy tone.
Stepping away from her protective barrier, the Channeler peeked around the corner to find a girl and her Pikachu surrounded by Gastlys.
"Come child!" The Channeler said, springing into action as she ran over and grabbed the girls arm, pulling her and her clinging Pokémon away from the menacing spirits. "You'll be safe here."
"I… wanted to catch one." Nanka whispered under her breath, disheartened as she sat down within the safe spot. "T-thank you, though."
"I am glad you are safe, child. This barrier should continue to ward off the ghosts for many days, but I suggest you leave until the spirits have settled down." The grey haired channeler replied, checking upon the white chalked markings on the floor.
Whilst Nanka was disappointed in no longer being surrounded by ghosts, Jolt breathed a sigh of relief as white magic washed over him. The white magic showered the rest of the team as well, healing their ghost inflicted injuries and purifying them of potential dark magic. Arid was particularly grateful for the healing, being the main combatant against the dual ghost and poison type foes.
"I'm… going to catch one." Nanka announced with a burning resolve. "Question is; how should I go about catching one?"
Jolt had a look of dismay on his face, seeing Nanka ponder how she could add one of those dreaded ghost types to the team.
'Hmmm, I could just chase down a Gastly…' Nanka pondered, looking down into her yellow bag and seeing the various items within, '…but that hasn't worked so far. Maybe I could set up a trap…'
In the midst of her strategizing, Nanka gazed at the walls of the room, slowly noticing how the shadows shifted and moved regularly. It was as if they were alive, hues of purple amidst the walls, much like the ghost Pokémon she had been encountering.
To get herself a lovely ghost Nanka decided to keep quiet, carefully observing the shadows. With great restraint on her excitement, Nanka snuck through the cemetery, following shifting silhouettes and pained cries.
Nanka kept this up, tiptoeing her way to a corner of the cemetery where the shadows were converging into a large malevolent grin.
"Hauuunnn… teeerrr!" The large, purple ghost shrieked menacingly, her floating claws glowing with power.
Haunter was humiliated.
She'd planned to terrorize the foolish girl, scare her witless. Then she'd possess her, using her as a puppet as she went out to cause havoc among the humans.
Instead she found herself bested by a puffball, then sealed away. She hated the idea of serving a naïve lass, but she was honourable enough to respect the victor and the ancient traditions between Pokémon and human.
"I think I'll name yooouuu…" Nanka mused as Haunter's Pokéball vanished to the PC, "…Licker!"
Haunter would begrudging serve the naïve lass.
"I think that was the last one." Nanka thought aloud, as she left the freed Channeler to recover. "I wonder why all these ghosts are attacking and possessing people?"
Jolt managed a nod, as he looked around the ruined gravestones, fearful of what might pop up.
"Is it only because the Rockets ruined some of the gravestones? It looks like many were already starting to crumble." Nanka asked herself. "But why would… Giovanni want me to see this? Am I not grasping something?"
Nanka continued to ponder these questions as she went to ascend the stairs to the top floor… only to find her foot frozen before the first step.
"W-wha-Eeeep!" Nanka was flung away from the stone staircase, landing roughly against the wall.
"P-p-pika! Kachu?" Jolt dashed over to Nanka, helping her up as a large ghost materialised before the staircase.
"Be gone…" The feminine sounding ghost ordered between sobs, "Intruders… be gone!"
"O-oowww…" Nanka groaned as Jolt helped her sit up. "W-why is this ghost still…?"
As the gigantic ghost continued to sob, glaring at the duo, Nanka pulled out and looked through the Silph scope. As with all the other Gastlys and Haunters, the shadows were ripped away slowly, unveiling the ghost as… a Marowak?
"How is the ghost a Marowak?" Nanka yelped in alarm as the sight of skull wearing ground type Pokémon floating before her.
The Marowak simply stared at them, crying out from her fiery red eyes that brimmed and boiled with rage.
The weeping humanoid Pokémon vanished… then appeared above Nanka, descending with her bone club. Unable to react in time, Nanka only avoided the attack thanks to Jolt tackling her out of the way, both narrowly avoiding the heavy blow.
Nanka gathered her bearings to see the Marowak, by the now broken wall she had been sat up against, staring at her with a teary but hateful gaze.
"D-Devourer! We need your help!" Nanka shouted out as she sent out her Weepinbell.
Even as poison powder rained down upon the brown bodied ground type, the Marowak continue to leer towards Nanka and her Pokémon.
"N-now, Devourer! Use-," Nanka stopped when the Marowak vanished once again, quickly reappearing before Devourer and slamming down on him with an overhead swing of her bone club.
"Devourer!" Nanka cried out as her Weepinbell tried pushing the striking bone club away. "Quickly use mega drain! Hurry!"
To close to get away, the Marowak upset sobs turned to cries of pain as Devourer use his wrapping vines to drain health away from the Pokémon.
The Marowak backed away from Devourer, panting as it struggled to keep herself afloat. Her feet touched down to the floor and her cracked bone fell from her hands, her breathing slowly relaxing. The Marowak turned to face Nanka, her eyes now tearless.
"Maaarrr…" The Marowak cried, her voice echoing through the tower, as her transparent body started to glow, "ooowwwaaakkk!"
Bit by bit, the glowing parts of Marowak's body flew away, dissolving in the air. Calmly, the Marowak closed her eyes and vanished, departing from this world and onto the next.
Nanka watched the Marowak disappear from the land of the living, an unknown feeling of sadness washing over her. Feelings of pain, regret, loss… all touched her heart. She wasn't sure how, but as the heavy fog from the tower faded, she felt that the emotions coursing through her weren't her own.
"D-Devourer, J-Jo-Jolt, tha… thank"- Nanka stopped; unsure as to why she had started crying.
Nanka tried to talk to her Pokémon, but finding herself unable to utter a coherent word, instead embraced the two of them in a hug.
Nanka sat hugging Devourer and Jolt for several minutes, appreciating the warmth and comfort they provided. The hugging only stopped when Jolt's tolerance for receiving mushy affection ran out, gently pushing Nanka away.
"Sorry, Jolt." Nanka apologised quietly as she wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. "We… we should carry on now."
Nanka returned Devourer, and along with Jolt, made her way to the top floor of Pokémon Tower.
Nanka's vision was still blurry from her crying, but she could tell that the top floor of Pokémon Tower consisted of a lone, large hallway. At the other end of this hallway, absent of graves, she could three or perhaps four people.
"Stop right there!" The shortest person at the end of the room shouted with a familiar voice, turning towards Nanka, wherein she could see that the person was actually a Meowth.
"Prepare for trouble!" The familiar voice of the red haired lady next to the Pokémon chanted.
"Make it double!" The likewise familiar voice of the blue haired man joined in as he spun around.
"To protect the… world from… deva… station…"
Jessie stopped reciting the motto as both she and James looked towards their familiar adversary.
"H-hello again." Nanka replied with almost a whisper, her eyes red and puffy, with a gloomy smile spread across her face.
Jessie and James made their way over to Nanka, expressing concern as they asked, "Brat… have you been crying?"
Nanka quickly turned her head away, avoiding eye contact as she stuttered, "N-no, I… w-well, a little."
Meowth watched with growing annoyance as, despite Nanka's protests, James started using a handkerchief to wipe Nanka's face as Jessie comforted her with words and reassurance.
"Guys! She's tricking you again!" Meowth snapped.
Jessie and James looked over to Meowth, then back to Nanka, then to themselves as they realised what they were doing. The Team Rocket humans leapt away from Nanka, breathing sighs of relief as they 'escaped the trap.'
Nanka didn't even try to protest the accusation; she just sighed sadly.
"Prepare yourself, twerp! We're far tougher than before!" Meowth boasted.
Meowth stepped forward, grinning slyly as he readied a small bag he had brought with him, 'Heh! You're out of luck this time. I can't wait to see the look on your face as we pulverise your Pikachu with our rubber gadgets.'
"Gyaaarrr!" Chu-Chu roared, staring down at the far smaller Meowth.
"That's… that's not a Pikachu." Meowth mumbled, his eyes bulging from their sockets.
Chu-Chu had just been sent out by his captain and shown how these monsters had made their princess cry. There would be no mercy!
"Your Ekans and Koffing… I see they evolved." Nanka commented with as big of a smile as she could manage in her still troubled state.
"Y-yeah…" Jessie replied as her large hooded Arbok and James' dual headed Weezing came out, though the Rockets were presently distracted by the sight of Meowth's Gyarados bitten body lying on the floor, "…they did."
"They must be really strong now."
"Yeah…" Jessie and James replied as confidence swelled up in them, "They are!"
"They have gotten really strong." Nanka said as she squatted down besides Jolt, watching the Rocket trio flee with their fainted Pokémon. "Wouldn't you say so, Jolt?"
Jolt observed his injuries first, but then nodded, having had a far tougher time against them than in previous fights.
"Jolt… I know their Rockets; criminals and all…" Nanka began to ask, "…but is it wrong that I want to be friends with them?"
Jolt immediately shook his head.
"Hey!" A voice called out from the other end of the room. "You came to save me!"
Nanka and Jolt looked to the end of the room, noticing a bald elderly man with large fuzzy eyebrows tied to a statue.
"Oh!" Nanka gasped, rushing over to the captive. "How did you end up like this, sir?"
The elder looked to Nanka and Jolt, one of his bushy grey eyebrows rose, "You didn't know I was here?"
Nanka and Jolt nodded in unison.
The old man chuckled, "Then this is a lucky coincidence. My name is Mr Fuji."
"Nice to meet you, Mr Fuji." Nanka greeted the wrinkled, smiling man with a short bow. "I'm Nanka, and my Pikachu here is Jolt."
Mr Fuji nodded as Jolt got to work chewing through the ropes tying the elder, "Well thank you very much then, Nanka and Jolt."
"As for why I'm here…" Mr Fuji started to explain as he stood up, free from the now ruined ropes, "…I came here to calm the soul of Cubone's mother."
"Cubone's… mother?" Nanka repeated, the words causing her heart to ache, the foreign feelings that weren't her own resonating again.
"Yes… Mother Marowak is what we called her at the Pokémon House." Mr Fuji started to say, sadness taking over his happy face. "I could feel her spirit clinging onto this world, burning with hatred and anger. I came to help, hoping to calm her down… get her soul to rest."
Nanka was silent for a long while, taking a deep breath before she could muster a question, "Mr Fuji… please, could you tell me what happened to Mother Marowak?"
A/N: Thus Act 4 ends. When initially planning out NPMA and how I'd plot out the acts, I had originally set them to be once I beat each of the gym leaders. I felt that didn't flow quite so well for story purposes, with certain events tying well as an end of act moment. The Pokémon Tower and Mother Marrowak incidents in particular being the stuff perfect to end the chapter and acts on.
I've not too much to say about this chapter, rewriting it was an easy process. We're getting to the point where the story is detailed and in-depth enough that I don't feel I need to add much to it. There are very few new scenes here; there were a couple to transition from the Celadon gym to Nanka training, as well as a couple replacing question posts from the original upload. Otherwise, this is simply an enhanced version of the original chapter, rather than expanded. I'm thankful if that is going to be how it is in future; it makes it easier to rewrite at a time when work is getting a little busier.
Erika was my favourite of the Kanto Gym Leaders, so I enjoyed writing for her here. The Team Rocket trio are still the best characters in the anime and they translate well here; I think all of us have been in Nanka's position of wanting to be friends with them despite how they are criminals. The Mother Marowak incident was always a strong point in the anime, and whilst my battle in the game was an easy and boring affair, I hope the story writing did it some justice.
For the next act and chapters, Nanka will be cycling on with Fuchsia City as her destination. I hope you'll continue to enjoy Nanka's Pokémon Miiverse Adventure and look forward to the next chapter around the 16th/17th of June.