A/N: So very sorry that this chapter took longer than usual to come out; there was quite bit more I wanted to add to it (as I will discuss later) and I've also been busy with a collab for the Grin Brothers channel. Hopefully it'll be worth you wait though as we finish off Act 7 with this... 21st Chapter I believe. Enjoy!

Nanka's Pokémon Miiverse Adventure Act 7 Continued Further!

With a few simple instructions, Amber was quick to arrive in Celadon City, causing quite the shock as the prehistoric Pokémon landed before the Celadon Pokécentre.

"Thank you very much, Amber." Nanka said as she carefully slid off her winged companion, ensuring she touched down on the ground with her uninjured foot first. "Would you like to join us for some shopping as well?"

"Aeeer…" Amber mumbled, tapping her sharp pearly teeth with an equally sharp claw, before shaking her head, "…ro. Aerodactyl!"

Placing Amber away in the PC, Nanka decided to take with her a group of Pokémon who would be more enthusiastic about a bit of shopping; Dusty, Devourer, Stretchy and Ion. Jolt naturally tagged along with her, and given she was shopping for Beauty, Nanka felt it right to take her introverted Vulpix along for the trip.

Nanka was certain they would have an enjoyable time… only to swiftly realise that she was completely at her Pokémon's mercy. Unable to walk properly without support, her Pokémon were there to help her, and in turn decide the direction she was going.

With a hand placed on her flying Butterfree's shoulder, Nanka was able to walk fine with Dusty's aid, though her planned first stop at the Wiseman's Gift Shop ended up with the trainer in a florist. With so many wonderful colours and aromas about her, Dusty was soon singing softly as she brushed up against the wide variety of potted flowers on display.

"Ummm, Dusty, we can't exactly buy and bring along a whole bunch of flowers with us." Nanka pointed out, much to Dusty's dismay. "Perhaps when our adventure in Kanto is over, we can buy some for the house, okay Dusty?"

With vines rising up to support her, Nanka was tugged along gently by a hopping Devourer, who naturally led her to a café. With little heed of her protests, Devourer pulled out a chair for Nanka to sit on; an offer she accepted, if only to rest up her foot some more.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have a bite to eat first." Nanka said, as she gazed at the menu, highlighting in her head the simpler and cheaper meals available. "What will you be having, Devourer?"

"We." Devourer replied, flipping the menu over for his trainer to see, every single meal now underlined with a marker pen.

"You're not having the whole menu." Nanka replied with a giggle, a contrast to the crushing disappointment Devourer experienced.

There was no way for Ion to reach up and support Nanka's wobbling walk, but luckily for him, Stretchy wanted to take Nanka to the exact same place; the clothes store. The Hitmonlee and Eevee fashionista's were soon scanning through the rows of girl clothes, picking out various assembles and holding them out over their cute trainer to picture how she would look in them.

'Oh no, at this rate, I'm going to end up a dress-up doll again.' Nanka cried inside, as admittedly very pretty clothes were thrust into her arms, her normal and fighting type Pokémon urging her to try them on.

For a short while, it seemed as if Nanka was going to be convinced to try on and purchase some new outfits, until Nanka saw the price tag. Ion and Stretchy's persuasion skills proved futile in the face of their trainer's stinginess, and the girl was soon led out of the store without a single purchase.

Nanka did however get to purchase exactly what she wanted; making her way to the Wiseman Gift Store and finally buying an evolutionary fire stone for her Vulpix. Enthusiastic about it, the young girl merrily showed if off to said Vulpix, whom was immediately transfixed by the stone's beauty. The usually shy Beauty wasted no time in boldly leaping up and snatching the stone away from Nanka.

The evolution reaction was immediate.

As Nanka made her way to the top of the shop, she was unsure how to feel about her new Ninetails. On the one hand, Beauty had rudely snatched the fire stone from her. On the other hand, as Beauty walked alongside her as support for her injured foot, Nanka noticed an increase in confidence in her larger and stronger fox.

"Heeey, Nanka!" A familiar voice called out, leading her to notice a couple of familiar faces in a familiar location.

"Vick-I mean, hello Vicky. Hello Ricky." Nanka greeted the sister and brother pair with a beaming smile.

As Ricky smiled and waved, Vicky shouted out excitedly, "How ya been Nanka!? I haven't seen you since Saffron!"

Nanka froze. Memories of their previous reunion at the gym came to mind; an awkward walk-in with her half dressed as a Sailor Moon character, leading to a hot blush rising up on her face.

"Y-yeah, how have you… ummm…" Ricky stuttered out, blushing and unable to look at Nanka, indicating that he was remembering their previous meeting as well.

"Y'know Nanka, there's no need to be embarrassed." Vicky reassured with a soothing voice as she walked over and placed a hand on Nanka's shoulder. "Cosplays cool with me."

'That's the least embarrassing part!' Nanka screamed internally.

Vicky looked to her blushing friend with a smile, though her expression soon shifted into an uncertain frown, "What? Is that's not what it's all about? Ummm, I'm cool with Sailor Moon too."

Despite her embarrassed state, Vicky's obliviousness forced a giggle out of Nanka's lips and when Ricky joined in with a chuckle, Nanka found herself laughing out loud. Vicky continued to remain confused, growing annoyed at whatever it was she didn't know about the situation, though she soon pushed it to the side upon noticing how much more relaxed Nanka was becoming.

"Awww, your Ninetails is so beautiful!" Vicky complimented with a wide grin, trying to stroke the shying away Beauty. "Doesn't like to be touch though does she? I hope my Pixy doesn't get like this when I evolve her."

"Don't worry, Beauty's always been like this." Nanka said with a relaxed smile, enjoying her time chatting away with her two friends, coincidentally in the very same place she first met them.

To further that coincidence, Vicky soon ended up complaining about being thirsty, issuing out a command for someone to fetch her a drink. Very much used to G-Man's own unintentionally impolite way of speaking, Nanka took this more as a question than an order and so happily went over to the vending machine.

"Vicky didn't seem to mind which drink I get her; she seems to like them all. Should I buy soda pop or lemondade though?" Nanka asked aloud as she stood before the vending machine.

"I'll buy some lemonade." Nanka decided as she inserted the Pokécoins into the vending machine. "I'll get some for all my companions as well."

Nanka somewhat regretted that latter decision, realising quite quickly just how many travelling companions she now had. Jolt was soon buried under nineteen cans of lemonade, his bravado attempt to show he could carry them all proving humorously difficult, whilst Nanka had a far easier time bringing over a can each for Vicky and Ricky.

With their Pokémon gathered around them and cans of lemonade in their hands, the three friends had a pleasant time chatting away on the store rooftop.

"So I couldn't choose between Cerulean City or Vermillion City so I talked to a bunch of people and they said"-Vicky paused for but a second to take a few mouthfuls of her lemonade-"they said you can't through Mt Moon to Pewter City by Cerulean City, so I figured I'd beat Cerulean Gym, then Vermillion Gym, then go through Diglett Cave to beat Viridian Gym and then…"

Talking of their plans for adventures and recalling the ones they already had.

"So of course, the first thing my sister did was run into the Gym, slip, then fall into the water."

Sharing jokes and having a good laugh with one another.

"Jolt did the same thing; are you sure he's not your brother Vicky?"

"Rock Tunnel was terrifying; I hope you had an easier time than I did." Nanka said to the brother and sister pair, not noticing that said sister was silently focused on a wall mounted clock.

"It was rough; luckily my Abra knew Flash. For the clever clogs she is, Vicky's plan was going to be to just follow along-"

"Brother, I need to go get something real quick, can I?" Vicky interrupted with a quiet tone, and seeing her brother open his mouth to ask a question, proceeded to continue with. "Nanka can come with me instead."

Ricky looked over to Nanka, the green haired teen nodding with a bright smile in agreement, so the older brother looked to his sister and nodded, "S-sure; don't take too long though. This is a lot of Pokémon to keep track of."

"So what is this thing you need to buy?" Nanka inquired with a curious hum as she followed Vicky down the stairway, one hand on the rails to ease her hurt foot.

"Ah, it's a secret, Naaan-ka." Vicky said in a sing-song way, then went right back to whistling as she headed towards a merchandise store.

Walking into the store and witnessing various toys and figurines, shelves full of children's playthings and TV show collectables, Nanka giggled, 'Ah, if it's a secret, she must be buying something for her brother; how sweet.'

Notes and coins splashed out onto the desk counter with a heavy thud, some making the light or jingling descent to the floor, where Vicky quickly nabbed them and tossed them back onto the counter.

'T-t-t-that must be at least two nuggets worth!' Nanka screamed in her head, shocked at how much money Vicky was spending for this one item, leading her to stutter out. "V-V-Vicky, it's nice and all you're willing to spend so much for a gift for your brother b-but… isn't this a bit much?"

Vicky turned to Nanka and blinked several times with her thick eyelash eyes, "This isn't for my brother."

"This is for me." Vicky announced with a squeal of enthusiasm as she was passed her purchased item, then quickly and proudly presented it to Nanka.

Nanka was immediately aghast with horror at the small figurine shown to her. Well-crafted plastic formed a tall pale-skinned lady; fingerless gloved hands on her hips and delivering a confident smile. Long green hair was sculpted out with exquisite care, flowing out behind the figure, managing to avoid touching the voluptuous body. A curvaceous body with ample thighs and breasts was barely clothed in dark blue material; a swimsuit designed in such a way that it split off from the neck and presented plentiful amounts of the woman's chest and belly, re-joining at the waist to thinly wrap around the woman's butt.

"Amazing isn't it!" Vicky shouted out with excitement, admiring the sexy figure from all angles. "It's one of the very first figurines of the Swimsuit Vigilante!"

'It's not supposed to me, it's not supposed to be me, it's not supposed to be me!' Nanka screamed in her, presenting Vicky with a frozen fake smile as she forced out, "Y-yeah… amazing…"

"The Vigilante's outfit is super cool but super skimpy, so I know my brother wouldn't let me buy one if he was around." Vicky explained as she poked the soft chest of her figurine. "Huh; I wonder why she's all plastic but her breasts are squishy."

'Aaaaaaaaahhhh…' Nanka cried inside, holding back tears.

In-between surprisingly fun prods of the figurine's bouncy breasts, Vicky noticed her teary eyed friend with a vacant gaze, 'Oh no… Nanka must be upset that she doesn't have a figurine as well.'

"N-Nanka, I'm sorry I couldn't get you a figurine as well." Vicky spoke up, holding out a folded set of clothes as she caught the older girl's attention. "But I got you something else; something we can do together."

Nanka hadn't had time to process what Vicky had said or given her, still trying to get over the horrors of the figure that was kind-of based off of her, when Vicky started dragging her over to the nearest changing rooms.

Ricky relaxed back on his chair, petting his Abra and humming a hymn, enjoying the brief respite from having to watch over his sister. Relaxing back even further, Ricky placed his travel weary feet on the metal table, absentmindedly gazing around at all the Pokémon about.

'They seem to be doing well.' Ricky noted, checking up on the two girl's Pokémon, when he heard a pair of energetic footsteps coming from the roof's stairs. 'Ah, that must be them.'

Ricky was about to call out to them only to see that it wasn't his sister and friend; instead two cheery school girls came up to the roof, chatting and giggling as the gentle breeze rustled their blouse-tied ribbon and blue skirts.

'Oh, thought that was them for a second.' Ricky thought as he looked away from the long green and black haired girls in sailor-style dress. 'Wait; green and black hair!?'

"Thanks for looking after our Pokémon, Ricky." Nanka called out, her previously worn black dress swapped out for a white and blue seifuku.

"Uh, yeah, su-"

"Lookie, lookie! We match!" Vicky shouted out excitedly, tugging on Nanka's arm until the teenager posed with her; bending forward together whilst performing a v for victory hand gesture. "Don't we look cute? A bunch of people kept saying that on our way back here."

"People… as in boys?" Ricky asked with narrow eyes; narrow eyes that seemed to darken when his younger sister nodded.

"One even came up and gave me a gift!" Vicky chirped, oblivious to the aura emanating from her older brother. "I've already got my own TM for Tri Attack though, so I let Nanka have it."

'For all his complaining, it looks like Ricky is actually quite the protective older brother.' Nanka mused as she looked to the aura emanating from Ricky. "How cute!"

"Putting that aside…" Ricky said, switching his focus from his sister to Nanka, "…did Nanka here want to dress up? The last such experience was… distressing, for her, an you can be very stubborn about things."

"No worries, Ricky; I don't mind at all." Nanka reassured, doing a little twirl, with Vicky imitating the very moment she saw Nanka do so. "It's quite nice to have matching uniforms and their cute too."

"I bet some of those boys thought we were sisters." Vicky chuckled, looking to Nanka with a wide smile, unaware that her mentioning of boys had restarted her brother's protective aura.

The rest of that Tuesday was spent hanging out with Vicky and Ricky, the two girls enjoying the rest of the day in their seifukus. Eventually the day came to an end though and they bid good bye, with the next day Nanka and Jolt returning to their own adventuring. Return being an apt word, as they headed back towards the Power Plant.

"I'm glad you're feeling better now, Chu-Chu." Nanka said to her happily Surfing Gyarados, before turning to face the Magneton hovering beside her. "An Hover, we'll be counting on you to guide us."

Hover titled his body in agreement, all three eyes displaying different levels of excitement for the trip ahead.

A wobbly Nanka walked slowly through the plantation; a trio of Jolt, Hover and Amber with her. Suddenly, an eerily familiar situation dawned upon them as a group of Voltorbs dropped down in front of them, already glowing with explosive power.

"Be caref-" Nanka had started to scream out, when Amber lunged for the Voltorbs, taking the full force of their group Self-Destruct. "Amber!"

"Arrr!" Amber replied, the explosion induced smoke soon clearing to reveal the battle-born Aerodactyl was barely harmed.

"O-oh… good, um… good job, Amber."

Nanka insisted her foot was fine, keen to walk on her own, but an impatient (and secretly worried) Jolt grew tired of Nanka's sluggish pace and many near-falls. Sending Keraton out of his Safari Ball, Nanka was soon riding atop her Rhyhorn at the insistence of her Pokémon.

During her Rhyhorn riding trip, Nanka discovered a TM; one that contained a move perfect for her tour-guiding Magneton. When enemy Magnemites came floating by, many attempting an assault on her team, their Thundershocks proved measly in comparison to Hover's almighty blast of Thunder.

"It's still very strange…" Nanka observed from atop Keraton, looking at the buzzing lights and moving mechanisms, "that this place still has power. I wonder why?"

The moment Keraton turned the corner, Nanka received her answer. Nesting in the generator room, in a bed made of wires was a large, yellow feathered bird with a long orange beak.

"Z-Zapdos!" Nanka exclaimed, quickly covering her mouth.

'What do I do? What do I do?' Nanka internally screamed as Zapdos' eyes begun to flicker open. 'Keraton's not fast enough to get away and I certainly can't run fast enough with an injured foot.'

"Zaaa…" The Zapdos mumbled, shuffling in it's nest until it faced Nanka, though it's droopy eyed gaze seemed to suggest it was in a state of such drowsiness that it failed to recognise anything or anyone it was looking at.

As Nanka panicked, muttering and mumbling in fright, Jolt was… uncertain. His battle-loving instincts urged him to charge at the thunderbolt shaped legendary before him… but a quick cast back to Nanka's injured foot had him pause; conflicted between believing he could win the fight and concern with how his friends would be caught up in it.

'M-maybe it's friendlier than Articuno…' Nanka thought to herself as she forced out a squeaky greeting, "G-good morning, Zapdos. Ummm, wonderful w-weather we're having, uh, isn't it?"

"Zap, zap, zap…" Zapdos mumbled before fully opening it's black ringed eyes and flapping it's sharp yellow wings, "Dos!"

Nanka suddenly found herself falling off of Keraton, her now trembling Rhyhorn having doubled over.

"K-Keraton!" Nanka screamed out in alarm, checking up on her downed Rhyhorn just as the screeching Zapdos flew towards them.

Nanka felt she had lived an eventful life. She had travelled across Kanto, defeated the nefarious Rockets, witnessed two legendary Pokémon up close and most of all, gained many wonderful travelling companions.

Now she was pinned down, her companions knocked aside as she gasped for breath; soon to meet her end. She had just one question on her mind though…

"W-why are you…" Nanka asked between bursts of laughter as Zapdos ran it's feather wings along her body, "…t-tickling me!?"

Nanka's guess that Zapdos was friendlier than the terrifying and territorial Articuno was correct. What she didn't predict in her most vividly imagined possibilities was that Zapdos was a comedian.

Keraton had doubled over earlier from laughter, finding what jokes the legendary bird of thunder was telling absolutely hilarious. The two were soon chatting away, merrily laughing regularly.

Zapdos wasn't all good though. The overwhelmingly powerful Pokémon was clearly used to every individual it met finding its jokes funny, or at least pretending to find them funny, so those who didn't laugh at it's jokes were tickled until they laughed.

Unfortunately for Nanka, she faced a language barrier. She had no idea when Zapdos was telling a joke or just politely conversing and so she was frequently the victim of Zapdos' tickle attacks. Jolt was the second most frequent victim, more often groaning at the jokes than laughing and then being punished with tickles accordingly.

As night came about and Zapdos turned in for the night, Keraton had to carry a breathless Nanka and Jolt out of the Power Plant.

"You know, Amber?" Nanka mumbled as she held onto her airborne Aerodactyl, gliding across the morning sky. "I'm so glad you don't have feathers."

This compliment confused Amber, but second passenger Jolt perfectly understood and agreed with this comment after their… ticklish night with Zapdos.

Nanka arrived at Cinnabar Island, heading first to the Laundromat. She soon had on her usual blue shirt and red skirt attire, now Muk-stench free.

"As you can see…" The red haired lady begun to explain as Nanka stood before a large hole in the wall, "…you don't need to find Blaine's secret key anymore."

"W-why would someone do this?" Nanka asked, as Jolt happily leapt into the building through the charred hole.

"Weeelllll, usually Blaine has trainers search the abandoned mansion and find a key to his gym as a test." The resident said. "But one boy got fed up of looking for it and had his Jolteon blow up the door."

"A b-boy with a, um, Jolteon..?" Nanka repeated, receiving a nod from the red-head and immediately concluding. 'That… kind of impatience certainly sounds like G-Man. I hope he at least apologised afterwards.'

"Kachuuu!" Jolt called out from within the gym, poking his grinning head out the hole and motioning energetically for her to come inside. "Pika, Pika, Pika, Piiii!"

"Oh, I'm coming Jolt!" Nanka called back, waving goodbye to the resident and following her Pikachu's speedy entrance through the broken hole in the wall.

Nanka stepped into the gym, immediately feeling a gentle updraft of heat coming from the tiled floor, accompanied by a faint rumbling sound. Both curious and nervous, Nanka decided to put her questions about the floor aside for the moment, focusing instead on the large metal door and guarding trainer just before her.

"H-eeeyyy nooowww, missy! It's quiz time in the quiz gyyymmmm!" The trainer announced with a great deal of enthusiasm, raising his voice as loud as he could without it becoming a shout. "Answer right and the door opens, answer wrong and it's a fight, fight, fight!"

Jolt and Amber began warming up, stretching their limbs as they prepared for battle. They weren't sure why Nanka was sat at a computer, or the metal buzzy box as Amber called it, nor did they care. The electric mouse and the dual rock-flying type Pokémon were simply focused on their upcoming battle, drooling in anticipation for a heated battle of fire and flames.

"Correct! Go right on through missy!" The Quiz Host declared with a snap of his fingers, the doors slowly beginning to open after said snap.

"Yay!" Nanka cheered, jumping out of the heated cushioned seat with joy. "C'mon Jolt. C'mon Amber. We don't need to fight this trainer now!"

Jolt and Amber were crestfallen.

Jolt dragged himself along, consistently disappointed as Nanka got question after question correct; in turn avoiding any battles.

"Does Poliwag evolve three times?" Nanka read off the computer terminal, a frown forming on her face. "Oh no… I've never really studied about Poliwags; I don't know the answer to this one."

Jolt's face lit up, hopes for his trainer to get the answer wrong and for him to get to fight rising.

"Hold on a minute… does any Pokémon evolve three times? I don't think so." Nanka suddenly realised, guessing her answer and guessing correctly.

Jolt remained crestfallen.

"Does TM28 contain the move Tombstoner?" Nanka read aloud. "Well, Tombstoner isn't a move so the answer is n"-Jolt suddenly jumped up and hit the yes button.

"Jolt!" Nanka shouted out as the screen flashed with 'SORRY! BAD CALL'

The nearby trainer adjusted his thick spectacles and then, without a word, sent out his Growlithe. Nanka could only sigh as Jolt leapt into battle, his usual eager sparks flying from his cheeks.

With Jolt swiftly defeating the final gym trainer, Nanka and her team had qualified for challenging the Cinnabar Gym Leader. Of course, Nanka needed to decide which Pokémon she would use for said battle and then prepare them with a healthy dose of training.

'Hmmm, where to train, where to train…' Nanka mused in her head, looking down to the now content Jolt, the one Pokémon she was guaranteed to be using for her upcoming gym battle. 'Let's focus on Jolt first; I need sparring partners or wild Pokémon who are swift and strong… I know!'

With an idea in mind, Nanka climbed aboard her Aerodactyl the next day and took off for Fuchsia city; more specifically the training grounds between the city and Cycling Road.

"It might not be bird, but that's a mighty set of wings you got there Nanka." The youngest of the bird keeper trio said as he admired Amber's hard skinned wings… from a safe distance. "Heard you beat the Fuchsia Gym real easy; congrats."

"I, um, wouldn't say it was easy…" Nanka mumbled, blushing at the compliment and fidgeting her feet, "…I certainly wouldn't have been able to do with it without all your help."

"An let me guess…" The older and sterner faced bird keeper spoke up, "…you need our help with the next gym battle too?"

"I-if you don't mind guys… pretty please?" Nanka asked, looking to the three bird keepers with hopeful eyes.

"Sure we'll help; ain't a problem." The younger teen immediately perked up, patting Nanka on the shoulder as he looked to his fellow flying type enthusiasts. "That's alright with you, eh brothers."

"Ku, Ku, Kukukooo!" The third bird keeper said with a flap of his arms and a rapidly nodding head… although he could also have been mimicking a pecking motion.

"Caaawww!" The crazy haired bird keeper crowed out as his Dodrio was struck down by a bolt of Thunder, an exhausted Jolt smiling to himself with satisfaction.

"Thank you very much, guys. I would say that's all the training Jolt we'll be needing, right Jolt?" Nanka asked her Pikachu, who nodded, though seemed somewhat distracted by his faintly glow cheeks. 'I still need to think of who else to use against the Gym Leader though. Let's see… I should let Chu-Chu rest up a little more… maybe Hover and Keraton, or there is Barker, Ion, Amber, Beauty; a lot of options.'

As Nanka pondered this question, Jolt focused on his glowing cheeks and paws. Relying on instinct, Jolt stuck his paws out in front and emitted a few tiny but very bright sparks. The sparks gravitated towards his paws, following them as he gently waved, in turn solidifying a sort of wall or screen of… light? It was odd, but cool.

After many thanks and good byes, Nanka left for the Pokémon centre with a yawn, the question of who to join Jolt in the Cinnabar Gym battle still on her mind. It was only after a peaceful night's sleep that she awoke with an answer in mind; Amber and Beauty. Having chosen to use her Aerodactyl and Ninetails in the fight, she briefly considered potential spots to train them, eventually settling on the Kanto Power Plant.

"Go Amber; bite down on that Voltorb!" Nanka cheered over the background noise of a laughing Rhyhorn and Zapdos. "I hope Keraton can continue to keep Zapdos company. It would be, um, difficult to train whilst being tickled."

"Piii-kachuuu!" Jolt cheered on Nanka's behalf, congratulating Amber and Beauty for having finished their training.

Nanka simply smiled at her fully prepared Pokémon. It had been a rough two days of practise at the plant and Nanka had gained quite a sore throat. Training wasn't the cause of that though; Nanka's sore throat was caused by fierce laughter, in turn caused by frequent tickle attacks from the resident Zapdos.

"Chu, Chu, Chu!" Jolt chanted as he hopped on ahead of Nanka, making his way to the end of the gym.

Nanka giggled, "I'm glad to see you're excited as ever, Jolt."

Jolt nodded as he continued his merry march forward, reaching the Gym Leader's room. The metal doors slid open, the Pokémon and trainer immediately being greeted by a wave of hot air.

"W-whoa…" Nanka winced as she entered the small, sweltering room akin to a sauna.

Within the small room was an elderly man, whom stood tall and proud in a white lab coat, unbothered in the slightest by the room's intense heat.

"Hah! I am Blaine, Gym Leader of Cinnabar!" The moustachioed scientist introduced himself without so much a single bead of sweat coming from him. "Congratulations on passing my quiz… though I'm surprised you got that last question wrong."

Nanka looked to her starter standing beside her and casted a subtle glare at him; her starter responding with a cheeky grin.

"In any case, you now face my fiery Pokémon and their intense heat!" Blaine declared as he reached under his lab coat. "You better have prepared yourself a burn heal!"

"Well, no, I have full heals but um…" Nanka started to say, but then turned to Jolt, "…well, never mind, gentleman first Jolt."

"Pikaaa!" Jolt cheered with delight as Nanka kept her promise, to allow him to fight first in the next gym battle; this battle.

The moment Jolt and Blaine's Ninetails touched down on the tile coded ring, the battle begun, with the Ninetails going from landing to charging in an instance. With a sudden burst of speed, the opposing Ninetails charged into Jolt with a Quick Attack, knocking him into the air.

"Jolt, let's set up a Light Screen first." Nanka yelled out to her airborne Pikachu.

Much like the Ninetails immediate attack, once Jolt landed he wasted no time in casting forth a wall of light; just in the nick of time as Blaine's Ninetails shot out a stream of fire with his Flamethrower. The fire struck Jolt, injuring him, but was significantly weakened the moment it came into contact with his Light Screen.

To Nanka's surprise, Blaine's Ninetails was surprisingly tough, withstanding Jolt's hit-and-run Body Slams. Even worse, thanks to a lucky Quick Attack knocking Jolt awkwardly into the wall, her Pikachu had been injured quite a bit.

"Jolt, come back please!" Nanka called out to Jolt as she sent out her own Ninetails. "Do it, Beauty!"

Blaine raised a brow as the Pikachu hobbled out of the ring, swapping place with the girl's Ninetails, "Unusual…"

As Jolt sat on the side-lines, nursing his twisted paw and sipping from a can of lemonade, he watched Beauty contend with the opposing Ninetails. Blaine's sharp eyed Ninetails was rougher and craftier in battle, but with a lone Confuse Ray, Beauty caused the opposing Ninetails to be bumping into every wall.

"That's fantastic, Beauty!" Nanka cheered. "Now take him down with a Quick Attack!"

"Ni." Beauty murmured, speeding towards Blaine's recovering Ninetails and knocking him out with the speedy ram attack.

"Piiikaaa!" Jolt cheered at Beauty's victory, crushing his empty lemonade can.

"Keep it going, Beauty!" Nanka added, her quiet Ninetails replying with but a lone yet confident nod.

"Hah! My spirit hasn't been defeated yet!" Blaine declared as he sent out a blazing unicorn, a Rapidash. "This is my choice!"

The speedy fire types began their battle, Beauty being slightly swifter and striking the milky-white Rapidash first with her Confuse Ray.

"Trap that Ninetails with your Fire Spin!" Blaine instructed his Rapidash.

His Rapidash managed to snap out of his confused state and begun running around Beauty, a trail of yellow-tinted fire following behind him.

"Beauty, get out of there! Quick!" Nanka exclaimed, her Ninetails quickly jumping at the Rapidash, jumping off of the Pokémon to avoid the large ring of fire. "Great! Now blast that Rapidash with your Flamethrower!"

The mid-air fired Flamethrower struck the Rapidash, its mightier flames snuffing out the weaker Embers the Rapidash tried to protect himself with. Blaine's Rapidash fell to the floor, unconscious and surrounded by his own ring of fire.

"Swapping out! Using Flamethrower on a Fire type! Unusual, but it clearly works." Blaine remarked as he returned his downed Rapidash. "Still... we can still do this!"

Blaine's next Pokémon looked like a large Growlithe; with a louder and fiercer roar to match, "Arcaniiine!"

"Oh, an Arcanine!" Nanka commented excitedly. 'I will have to ask Blaine how I can evolve my Barker after this match.'

"Yes, an Arcanine who shall use Take Down!" Blaine declared, the orange canine charging into Beauty with full force, knocking Beauty back to the other end of the room.

"Nineee!" Beauty roared out as she pelted the Arcanine with her Flamethrower, the opposing fire type withstanding the heated assault.

"Maybe try a Quick Attack instead!" Nanka suggested.

Beauty halted her Flamethrower and sped at the Arcanine with a Quick Attack, only to ping off his toughened body, a blue reflective wall surrounding the Arcanine.

"It's time to get serious!" Blaine proclaimed.

With a growl, Blaine's Arcanine bulked up, seemingly ignoring several of his prior injuries. Beauty unleashed a Flamethrower, but the Arcanine lunged through the fire and flames, knocking Beauty down with a Take Down.

"B-Beauty!" Nanka cried out as her Ninetails rolled along the charred tiled floor. "Try Confuse Ray again!"

Beauty continued to roll from the impact, but with a shift in momentum, rolled up onto her feet.

On her feet, Beauty fired out a Confuse Ray at the charging Arcanine, doing little to deter it. Beauty narrowly dodged the Take Down, but Blaine's Arcanine was soon coming back with a second Take Down attempt.

Beauty knew she couldn't move out of the way in time and so chose to close her eyes, bracing for the impact... when the Arcanine lunged past her, slamming hard into the wall. Slowly, Blaine's Arcanine fell down to the floor, fainted.

"We did it, Beauty!"

Nanka ran over to Beauty, arms open wide for a hug, but stopped just in front of her, "Hug?"

The introverted Ninetails looked unsure at first, but eventually gave a small nod, leading Nanka to wrap her arms gently around Beauty.

"I'm burned down to nothing; not even ashes remain!" Blaine sighed, disappointed as he returned his Arcanine.

"Chhhh…" Jolt sighed as well, disappointed to have done so little.

Nanka noticed this, and whilst hugging Beauty, turned to Jolt and added, "J-Jolt, you did great too! Your Light Screen really helped Beauty!"

As Nanka lifted her Pikachu's spirits up, the Gym Leader walked on over to her, saying "Well, it looks like you've earned this Volcano badge... and while I'm at it, you should have this TM as well."

Nanka let go of Beauty to receive her team's rewards.

"Um, Mr. Blaine... could I ask you a question?" Nanka asked with a voice barely above a whisper.

Blaine responded with just a nod, as questions flooded Nanka's mind. She wanted to ask about how to evolve Growlithe, ask about what happened at Pokémon Mansion, but one thought rose above all.

"Why is it so hot here!?" Nanka panted out as she continued to sweat.

Blaine chuckled, "Underfloor lava."

Nanka was proud of her victory and with a mind full of curious questions for the scientific quiz loving Gym Leader of Cinnabar, but was also uncomfortably sticky from sweat and very dehydrated, so she didn't stick around in the Gym for long. The moment she left the Gym, much to her surprise, her Aerodactyl popped out of her Pokéball… and she wasn't happy.

"Aerooo!" Amber screeched with rage as she chased Nanka.

"I'm sorry, Amber!" Nanka screamed out as she ran about the island, keeping away from her angry Aerodactyl. "I'm sorry you didn't get to fight!"

"Aerod-Aaaa!" Amber screamed out as it was frozen solid from Chu-Chu's newly taught Ice Beam, Nanka's loyal Gyarados having chosen to come out of his ball at the sound of his princesses screams.

"T-thank you, Chu-Chu." Nanka said to her Gyarados as she returned the frozen but still furious Amber. "I guess Jolt's not the only one who gets upset at not getting a chance to fight now, huh?"

Nanka and Chu-Chu shared a brief chuckle at this; Jolt found the comment less amusing.

A/N: I wanted to include quiz in the title, but I failed to find a fire or heat related word that started with q... so I hope you enjoyed this latest NPMA chapter; Parching Puzzle!

So what took this chapter so long to write up? Well that would be the shopping scene, which has been greatly expanded on in this director's cut. Along with taking the previously description-only segment of where Nanka's Pokémon took and expanding it into three individual and detailed segments, I also wanted to present more character interactions between Nanka and Vicky. This was in part due to wanting to have Nanka involved in more friendships, a similar reason as to why I included a new scene where she trains with the Bird Keeper Trio from before, but also in wanting to reference some NPMA artworks I've had commissioned. These include a drawing of the Swimsuit Vigilante, much like she has been described in this chapter, along with a drawing of both Nanka and Vicky in school girl uniforms; it's cute!

The rest of the chapter was much easier to write up; very little changed, though a few small segments had some expansion and extra details such as with the inclusion of the Bird Keeper Trio and the very last segment of this chapter. In regards to the legendary involved in this chapter, well my original plans for said Legendary was quite different. In my initial plans, the Legendaries would be able to shape-shift, and the Legendary of the chapter would have shown up in the chapter as a boy offering Nanka a tour around the Power Plant; whilst telling awful pun focused jokes and surprising the girl with tickles. Whilst I did end up keeping some aspects of this idea; the comedian role and tickles, I did drop the whole transformation aspect. I think it's for the best... mostly.

Things are going to get busier as the end of the year approaches, so between each Act completion I will be having two week breaks. As such, Act 8 shall begin uploading on the 14th October. This longer break should give me more time to add to the Act 8 chapters, fix errors, colour in drawings (for the other site) and edit stuff for my channel. I hope you don't mind the wait and I hope you enjoyed all the chapters you've read so far!