Introducing... the fourth chapter of Ino's Pokémon Journey: Sinnoh! Now, the 'review' list' will be posted in the bottom of this chapter, as I don't want to spoil some things that will happen this chapter! ^_^ The surprise I mentioned lat chapter? It is this chapter! Two updated in one day! Yeah! Ahem... *clears throat* Without further ado, may chapter four begin!
Disclaimer: I do not own either Naruto or Pokémon.
The group was looking at the tall grass that was siding them on the path as they walked, occasionally seeing Pokémon dash out of it and enter another patch of tall grass. A bird Pokémon flew out of the forest and circled the tall grass. It kept calling, "Star!"
Emma pointed at the bird Pokémon and explained, "That's a Starly. They're pretty common around here, along with Bidoof."
Ino observed and said, "It seems to be looking for something."
Just then, they heard a cry. It said, "Ralts! Ra!" The group turned to look at a patch of tall grass that was rustling. The Pokémon that stumbled out looked like a small child that was garbed in a white robe and had a green helmet covering the top half of it's face. It also had a pair of red horns sprouting from the front and back side of the helmet. It was bruised and battered all over. The Starly cried and flew straight towards the Ralts, making Ino gasp. Ino ran towards the Ralts and shielded it with her body. The Starly flew by, Pecking Ino's back, before leaving.
Ino whispered, "Are you okay?"
The Ralts was trembling and holding on to Ino, but it nodded.
Emmax ran to Ino's side and asked, "Ino! Are you and the Ralts okay?"
Ino nodded, "I'll just have a little bruise from that Starly's Peck. Ralts seems to be okay too, but it needs to go to a Pokémon Center as soon as possible."
Emmax nodded and helped Ino- who was cradling Ralts in one of her arms- up.
"Let's go! Sandgem Town has a Pokémon Center," Emma said, "We will have to ask a Trainer if they could help us fend off Pokémon since we have to go through a small field of grass before entering Sandgem Town."
"I see one over there! I will ask him," Hinata offered, "I will be back in a moment."
Hinata ran off to talk to the boy who was standing in front of the field of tall grass. After a while, she ran back, telling the group that the boy was willing to help them. The boy was talking to his Shinx as the group walked up to him.
He smiled and informed, "I was just telling Sparky what we were going to do! We should line up, with me in the back and Sparky in the front. When we reach the end, Sparky will wait in the tall grass until all of you are out before joining us again. Is that plan okay?"
The group nodded. Ino heard Naruto ask Sakura "Why can't we just jump along the trees and land on the other side?" and saw Sakura shoot Naruto a deadly glare that obviously said "Shut up, you dolt!"
Ino was in the middle of the line, since she was holding the injured Ralts. As the group moved through the tall grass, Ralts kept tensing and then relaxing, all the way until they all were out of the tall grass. Emma proceeded to thank the boy.
"It was no problem," The boy replied, "My name is Toshiro and I'm from Sandgem Town. It was a pleasure helping you out. I hope to see all of you again!"
Toshiro walked into Sandgem Town, waving back, his white hair shifting in the late morning breeze. Emma smiled after him. Then she pointed to a building that had a sign that said "Pokémon Lab" and started walking towards it.
Emmax called, "Emma, I'm going to go with Ino to the Pokémon Center! Take everyone with you!"
"Are you all okay with that," Emma asked and everyone nodded, "Then let's go in and introduce ourselves!"
As Emma and the group went into the Pokémon Lab, Emmax and Ino walked to the building with the red roof and a pokéball symbol above the door. The sliding doors opened and the two walked in, seeing several people milling about, talking or just sitting. Emmax led her to a counter where a pink haired lady in a nurse's outfit warmly greeted them.
"Hello. My name is Joy. You can call me Nurse Joy. I am in charge of this Pokémon Center," Joy introduced, "Is your Pokémon hurt? Let me take care of it."
Ino replied, "Um. This is not my Pokémon. I found it injured in Route 201. I was wondering if you could help it?"
Nurse Joy smiled, "How kind of you! Yes, I can help it! Come and follow me! Chansey, watch the front desk for me!"
As the three walked towards a corridor, Ino saw an egg shaped pink Pokémon holding a egg in a pouch and a wearing a nurse's hat walking to the counter.
How fitting for Nurse Joy, Ino thought.
They walked through the corridor, stopping at a room with a soft bed. Nurse Joy told Ino to put Ralts on the bed. Ino did as Nurse Joy asked and Ralts sighed as it was put on the bed. Nurse Joy then hooked Ralts up with a scan and sprayed something on Ralts. When she was done, Ralts was asleep and she walked up to Ino.
"Ralts will be fine now," Nurse Joy informed, "She is sleeping and will wake up in a few hours. You can come back then."
Ino smiled, "Thanks for your help, Nurse Joy… Wait. Did you say 'she'?"
Nurse Joy nodded, "This Ralts is a female. I can tell between the genders of a Pokémon, even if they look the same in both genders. It's something we Nurses are good at."
Ino smiled again and thanked Nurse Joy before walking out of the Center with Emmax.
Emmax said, "Let's go to the Lab. I bet the others are waiting for us!"
~XXX~
The two jogged to the lab, which was a three-minute walk away. As they entered, they saw the whole group standing around a late middle-aged man with a white beard, hair, and long sideburns. By the man's side was Toshiro, who waved at them as they entered the building.
The man turned and said, "Ah! You two must be the ones that Emma said would be late. My name is Rowan. I'm better known as Pokémon Professor Rowan. Come and join us."
The two walked to stand with the group.
"Now that everyone is here, I will start giving out some Pokémon," Rowan explained, "Since there are much more of you than I expected, everyone besides Emma and Emmax will get to choose a Pokémon from the list I am about to hand you."
Emma and Emmax stepped forward.
"For Emma, your requested Pokémon was a female Eevee. Emmax, your requested Pokémon was a male Ralts. I will present you two your Pokémon now."
The two took their pokéballs and thanked Professor Rowan. Everyone else went to get the list of Pokémon from Toshiro. Everyone except Ino. She stood behind her friends, the image of the Ralts she recently saved popping up in her mind. Everyone clustered together, discussing about which Pokémon they should pick.
Toshiro walked up to Ino and asked, "Don't you want one? We have quite a lot of Pokémon that want Trainers."
Ino shook her head and politely declined the offer. Toshiro gave her a small lopsided smile before shrugging and turning away.
"Wait," Ino called out, "Why are you here, though? I thought that you were just some Trainer?"
"You really thought that? Well," Toshiro chuckled, "I'm Prof. Rowan's assistant. Rowan is my father, by the way."
"Really?"
"Yeah. We both have white hair, due to the same genes."
"Oh. I thought that it was because of old age."
"He's younger than he looks."
"I thought that statement only applied to young people. I think that he looks like he's in his late forties."
"Well, you're certainly observant for a girl your age."
"Did you think that I spent all my time styling my hair and making shopping trips to a city?"
Looking flustered, Toshiro hastily added, "No! You look pretty… I was trying to s-say…"
"…Are you trying to hit on me?"
"Uh… well, are you sure you don't want a Pokémon?"
"Hey, Ino! Oh," Emmax interrupted, "it's nice to see you again, Toshiro. What were you two talking about?"
The white and blond haired teens said 'Nothing.' stereophonically. Toshiro mumbled a 'Good to see you again, too.' before walking away. Ino blushed faintly as Emmax looked after him for a while with a confused expression before turning back to Ino, a grin plastered on his face.
"So… what a coincidence! I requested for a male Ralts and you ended up saving a female Ralts on the way here! Anyways, everyone else got their Pokémon and we should be going soon," Emmax said.
Ino smiled at him and nodded.
"Everyone, can you please gather," Professor Rowan announced, "I have a request for all of you."
Professor Rowan side-stepped to show a table that had twelve gadgets that resembled a rectangular phone- the best analogy Ino could come up with, as she wasn't familiar with most of the advanced technologies the world of Pokémon had.
Sai asked, "What's that?"
"This, Mister Sai, is a Pokédex," Professor Rowan explained, "It will automatically record the information of any wild Pokémon that you encounter whose information is already in the database. It can do various activities- such as give you your Pokémon's moves, contact other Pokédex holders that you have registered, or display areas where a certain Pokémon might reside in. My request is for you all to take a Pokédex and travel the continent, meeting as much Pokémon as you can so that the Pokédex will fill in information on new Pokémon and check other entries."
Everyone- besides Emmax, Emma, Toshiro, and Professor Rowan- once again clustered together, discussing their choices in hushed tones. After several minutes, they decided that they could go and help Rowan with his Pokédex. The group turned back to the four native Sinnohans (A/N: If that's the right word?) and told the Professor that they agreed to his request.
"That is great news! Line up so you can take your Pokédexes. I have Pokédexes that are available in every color- as long it is not a pairing of colors or rainbow-colored."
Everyone proceeded to take their Pokédexes and after a brief thanks to Rowan and Toshiro, walked outside. However, when Ino walked out the door, she got slammed to the ground by a teen that had blonde hair that was- weirdly- sticking up on the sides, looking like horns. He looked to be six feet and was wearing an orange and white striped shirt and brown pants. He held a shoulder strap Bag that was kind of designed like Emmax's Bag.
"Oh man! I'm so sorry," The boy exclaimed as he helped Ino up, "I wasn't paying attention and I'm in a rush! My name is Balthazar! It was nice falling with you! I gotta go!"
With that frantic introduction, he ran into the Pokémon Lab. Ino brushed the dirt off her as the group held back laughs- well, Sai and Neji just smirked a bit. A girl with dark blue hair that was similar to Hinata's, but held back with a braid, and a red mini skirt/dress, along with knee high pink boots and a pink duffle-like Bag that was hung over her shoulder jogged gracefully towards the group.
"Have you seen a boy rush by around here," She asked.
Ino pointed to the closing door behind her and replied, "Yeah. I had a smashing encounter with him. Balthazar, I believe that was what he said his name was. Who are you, though?"
The girl bowed politely and introduced, "My name is Platinum Berlitz. The boy that just passed by was Balthazar Berlitz, my cousin. He lacks many mannerisms, but is good-natured. I apologize for any antics he might have caused. We are here to see Professor Rowan. It was a pleasure meeting you…?"
The girl trailed off, waiting for Ino's reply.
"Oh, I'm Ino. Ino Yamanaka."
"It was nice meeting you, Miss Yamanaka," Platinum said before bowing once more, smiling, and walking into the Pokémon Lab.
As Ino turned to look at the group, she saw a pink, egg-shaped blob waddling towards them and creased her eyebrows in confusion. As the pink blob drew closer, she saw that it was the Chansey from the Pokémon Center. When the Chansey reached Ino, she- the Pokémon seemed like a she to Ino- handed Ino a letter. Ino read the letter, which said:
Trainer Yamanaka,
The Ralts in my care that you brought in has recovered. However, she apparently refuses to leave. I am asking if you would be willing to stop by and encourage her to leave. I am hoping to see you in an hour or I will have to be forced to sedate her and return her to the wild. Thank you and hope to see you soon.
Nurse Joy of Sandgem Town
Ino sighed and relayed the letter's contents to the group.
Emmax said, "I think that you should go and see the Ralts. I think that Gensō- my Ralts- would like to see her, too."
As if to accentuate Emmax's statement, Gensō rattled in his pokéball. Ino nodded and started walking toward the Pokémon Center, with the rest in tow.
~XXX~
When Ino entered the Pokémon Center, which appeared to be empty, she could hear a Pokémon crying 'Ralts! Ralt!'
Ino walked towards the hallway that held the injured Pokémon with Emmax behind her, the rest of the group and Chansey just coming in the Center. When Ino entered Ralts's room, Ralts jumped off the bed and landed on her, Ino making an oof sound. Ralts hugged Ino tightly around the neck as Nurse Joy rose from her seat by the bedside, walking over to the pair of teens.
"Well, you're finally here," Nurse Joy said with a smile, "This Ralts seemed to be waiting for you, so I sent Chansey to receive you."
"That's okay, Joy," Ino replied. "Ralts, you should go back home. I'm sure that your family is waiting for you."
Ralts shook her head and Gensō rattled in his pokéball once more. As Emmax muttered 'Okay, Gensō. I'll let you out!' and released Gensō, Ralts jumped from Ino's arms and ran over to hug Gensō.
"Oh, my," Nurse Joy exclaimed, "They might be siblings!"
Ino grinned at the heart-warming sight in front of her and asked, "Ralts, is Gensō your brother?"
After Ralts nodded, Nurse Joy proposed, "Why not take her with you on your journey, Ino? I bet that she would like to be with you and Gensō."
With that, the Nurse handed Ino a pokéball.
Ino looked at Ralts and said, "Is this okay? Would you mind going with me, your brother, and my friends?"
Ralts nodded vigorously and Ino tossed the pokéball, which sucked Ralts in after making contact with her green head. It shook once before Gensō levitated it to Ino's hands. Ino thanked Gensō and sent out Ralts again.
Ralts looked up at her curiously and Ino explained, "I want to nickname you. It'll be easier than just calling you 'Ralts' all the time. How do you like Kokoro? It means 'mind'."
Kokoro smiled and nodded before hugging Ino's leg.
Emmax grinned before asking, "Nurse Joy, do you think that you know a place for me, my friends, and their Pokémon to spend the night?"
"No worries," Nurse Joy said, "You're already here, aren't you all?"
The teens and their Ralts smiled.
Character Bio
Trainer: Personality
Pokémon name- Nickname- Gender; Personality
Ino Yamanaka: Confident, kind, outspoken, not afraid to speak her mind, cheerful, and self-conscious.
Pokémon :
Ralts- Kokoro (female); Confident
Sakura Haruno: Quick tempered, relatively relatively kind, cheerful, gentle, positive, sensitive at times, and has a strong will.
Pokémon:
Ponyta- Honoo (male); Protective
Hinata Hyūga: Timid, soft-spoken, polite, kind, empathetic, dislikes fighting and competition, very logical.
Pokémon:
Budew- Kaika (female); Timid.
Neji Hyūga: Serious, mature, extreme self-control, calm, and observing.
Pokémon:
Snover- Furīzu (male); Capable of taking hits.
Shikamaru Nara: Unenthusiastic, dislikes fighting, laid back, extremely intelligent.
Pokémon:
Sneasel- Waru (female); Sneaky.
Temari: Overbearing, not afraid to speak her mind, blunt, but caring. Values peace.
Pokémon:
Starly- Tobu (female); Agile.
Sai: Occasionally nervous, curious, kind, courteous, friendly.
Pokémon:
Togepi- Jiyū (male); Curious.
Naruto Uzumaki: Bold, loud, hyperactive, impatient, impulsive, inattentive, caring, hard-working, confident.
Pokémon:
Pichu- Shōgeki (female); Reckless.
Emmax Sutā: Caring, strong, kind, brave, calm, intelligent, sometimes aloof, respectful.
Pokémon: Ralts- Gensō (male); Brave.
Emma Sutā: Curious, tough, caring, somewhat impulsive, confident, hard-working, rational, brave.
Pokémon: Eevee- Karu (female); Calm.
1) Kokoro was found in Route 201 because she was looking for Gensō, who she sensed nearby. The Starly attacked her because she accidentally broke the Starly's nest when her head hit a small, weak tree, causing the nest to fall behind her.
2) The group will split into small groups and set off soon.
3) When I said 'regular clothes' last chapter, I meant their clothes before the war started- such as Ino's mid-riff purple shirt and skirt (her normal/ninja attire) and Neji's white robes.
4) I will list their Pokedex colors and Pokémon (English translation) names below:
Emmax: Blood red
Emma: Pink
Ino: Purple (like her outfit)
Shikamaru: Brown
Sai: Black
Sakura: Yellow
Temari: Sky blue
Naruto: Orange (fitting, as seeing his horrible taste when it comes to clothes XD)
Hinata: Meadow green
Neji: White
~XXX~
Kokoro means 'mind'
Honoo means 'blaze'
Kaika means 'bloom'
Furīzu means 'freeze'
Waru means 'evil'
Tobu means 'fly'
Jiyū means 'freedom'
Shōgeki means 'shock'
Gensō means 'illusion'
Karu means 'light'
5) The trainers will have 'specializations' in the Pokémon they choose. This will be detailed next chapter.
I really hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to Review! A cookie to anyone who reviews (assuming you like them, because i know I do! XD)