Pokémon: Adventures in Sinnoh Chapter 14: Nosepass Rages and Ralts Changes!, a pokémon fanfic

Please expect more regular chapter updates over the coming months! (16/12/10)

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The sun was beginning to set as Nick hurriedly pushed at the numbers on the telephone set. The small public cabin they had used as a rest stop was not entirely comfortable, but more so than sleeping on the forest floor as they had for a few nights now. Pearl sat on the unkempt bed, stroking the Pokéball that contained the convalescing Wailmer. Tree branches, like grey, skeletal fingers, brushed gently across the grimy window.

'Yes?' came a voice at the other end of the line.

'Hi Professor, it's Nick. Pearl's here too.'

'To what do I owe the pleasure?' said Rowan.

'We had a run-in with Team Obsidia.'

'You did?' came the reply, the professor suddenly sounding more animated and concerned, 'What happened?'

Nick regaled him with the events of the previous days; how they had went into the caves below the fallen Cycling Road to discover Team Obsidia trying to capture the native wild Gible.

'Those bandits…' grumbled the old man, 'Are you both alright?'

'We're fine.' he replied. 'They told us that… that…'

He struggled to find the right words before Pearl grabbed the receiver from him.

'Elekid and my Wailmer are from a shipment of captured and stolen Pokémon. They all escaped across Sinnoh, and so there are now species lost in strange habitats.'

There was a silence.

'That could be dangerous.' affirmed Rowan. 'The lost Pokémon might become agitated and scared in unfamiliar surroundings. Anyone who approaches them might be in trouble. You're just lucky that the two that you encountered were friendly.'

'I understand.' nodded Pearl.

'Just be on your guard. Anyway, how are the Pokédexes coming along? And did Nick beat Gardenia?'

'Yeah!' exclaimed Nick from the window.

'Yes, he did, as you just heard,' replied Pearl, rolling her eyes, 'And we're seeing a lot of wild creatures on this route. We're just about to cross the base of Mount Coronet to get to Hearthome City.'

'Be careful on Coronet,' started Rown, exercising his wisdom, 'It's extremely dangerous at the top, but even the bottom isn't too safe. There are several ravines and high cliffs.'

'Yeah, we know.' replied Pearl, the corners of her lips almost lifting into a grin. Nick knew she was thinking about his attempt to catch Chingling. She made a few more monotonous expressions before hanging up the phone with a 'bye'.

'Shall we get going?' asked Nick.

'No, we'll decorate this place and settle down here.' sighed Pearl, picking up her bag and Pokéballs and walking out the door.

Nick scratched the back of his neck and followed.

The pebble spent several moments falling through the air before hitting the gushing waters below, almost invisible by the time it arrived at the surface. Nick watched it from over the side of the cliff and gulped. The road that went round the base of the mountain was as perilous as Rowan had promised, while Coronet itself loomed over them as though trying to distract their attention and cause a fall.

'We're so high up…' he whimpered.

'Well don't go near the edge!' she shouted, without turning around.

The cliff edge formed a path round the mountain, which they trekked with caution, the winds powerful but not fierce. Eventually, they reached a grass-covered plateau. Had he not been terrified at this point, he would have taken time to appreciate the breathtaking scenery; just over the distant hills, the tips of Hearthome's huge buildings could be seen, and to the south, the river spread out into the ocean. It felt like observing the whole world at once, and made him tremble with insignificance. He opened his mouth to speak to Pearl but then he caught sight of two figures approaching them from the opposite direction; a thick-skinned boy wearing worn, dusty clothes, a bob of orange hair hanging from his head. The other's clothes were either several sizes too big, or he had lost a lot of weight recently. His long, dark hair hung past his gaunt cheeks and perched on the shoulders of a leather jacket, the arms of which hung a few inches too far past his wrists. They stopped a few feet away from Nick and Pearl, and stared inquisitively.

'Can we help you?' asked Pearl, defensively.

'I'm Victor,' snorted the orange-haired boy, 'And this is Del.' he added, motioning to his friend, who nodded.

'Okay, thanks for letting us know.' she replied, starting to walk past them.

'What's the rush?' Victor asked.

'Well, I have no reason to talk to you, and I'm on my way to Hearthome City.'

Nick was slightly taken aback at the way she used 'I' and not 'we'.

'How about a Pokémon battle?' grinned Del.

Nick was almost positive he had seen Pearl's ears twitch as she heard these words. She stopped, took a breath, and turned to the shoddy-looking boys.

'You're on.'

She withdrew a Pokéball, but then Victor pointed to Nick.

'Him, too.'

Pearl looked round to her travel companion, who looked back, clueless.

'Well?' she piped.

'Well what?'

'A double battle.'

'You mean… battling together at the same time?' he asked, getting excited and nervous in equal measures. Pearl confirmed it, and the two teams faced off against each other, stepping back to each side of the spacious area. Nick looked to her for reassurance, but he received nothing. Their opponents threw Pokéballs into the air and, after the usual flash of light, a small but solid-looking black creature appeared, its ears pointing and protruding like its lower fangs. The other was a slightly-taller canine-like creature. It stood on two legs and its rabid eyes stared out from behind mask-like markings. Both Pokédex holders lifted their devices in the direction of these Pokémon.

'Munchlax,' stated Pearl's, regarding the first one, 'The Big Eater Pokémon. It consumes its weight daily to build its strength, and carries food under its fur.'

'Riolu.' continued Nick's of the second Pokémon. 'It is small but incredibly agile, and has the ability to sense and emanate emotions through auras.'

'A normal-type and a fighting-type.' muttered Pearl. 'Let's go!'

Nick had not decided which Pokémon to use by the time she had released Ralts onto the field. In a fluster, he threw the first one he grabbed from his pocket. Nosepass appeared, looking confused.

'Ha!' snorted Del, 'A rock-type against my fighting-type?'

Nick looked from the boy to Pearl, who shook her head in disparagement.

'Munchlax, Body Slam!' commanded Victor.

The tubby creature leapt towards Ralts, its eyes scrunched in determination.

'Teleport and counter.' nodded Pearl, her eyes closed in confidence.

Seconds before Munchlax hit it, her Pokémon vanished, reappearing behind its foe as it crashed into the ground, confused. Ralts tackled into the creature with a blue flash and it flew through the air.

That must have been some hit, to make Munchlax move that far… thought Nick. His mind was interrupted by Del.

'Force Palm, Riolu!'

No sooner had the words left the boys chapped lips than his Pokémon shot towards Nosepass. Nick's mind raced with worry; such a powerful fighting-type could easily knock out his Pokémon. Suddenly, however, a blue light surrounded Riolu and it was knocked off-course and into some nearby rocks. Nick stared in disbelief before looking round; Ralts was stood clutching its head, the same light that encapsulated Riolu emanating from its head.

'Lucky that I have a psychic-type to save you.' sighed Pearl, eyes still closed. 'Their powers are super-effective against fighters.'

'I'll take on the other one then.' decided Nick, switching places with his uppity companion. 'Nosepass, go get Munchlax!'

Munchlax had recovered from Ralts' attack and was stood firm before its trainer, fists clenched. Nosepass ran towards it before jumping to tackle but, when it made contact, sank a few inches into its foe's skin before being bounced away in a burst of energy. It landed at Nick's feet.

'Ha!' laughed Victor, 'That was Munchlax's Stockpile attack! Its defence is higher now, and so is its attack!'

'Hmmm…' gritted Nick.

'Now, Munchlax, go defeat it!'

Just as Nosepass corrected itself, the Big Eater's fist swung into it, followed by another punch, a spinning kick, and a tackle. Taking heavy damage, the rock-type soared into the air before falling onto its back, dazed.

'Nosepass!' cried Nick, tears of frustration forming in his eyes.

'Bet you wish you'd stuck with the psychic one now, huh?' sneered Victor.

Nick stared at his Pokémon, unable to react. Its eyes were half-focused on the clouds in the sky above, its arms and legs twitching. It had clearly been hurt badly.

'Nuu… paah…' it moaned.

The four trainers, even their opponents, all looked in a sad wonder. Victor almost looked like he regretted attacking so brutally. Nick could have sworn he saw a glimmer run from its eye down its stony side. It continued to stare at the sky, before rolling over slightly to look up at the enormous Mount Coronet. A slight beam of sunlight squeezed its way through the clouds and onto the scene. Nosepass began to twitch more and more rapidly, until its body was rocking violently. Nick was about to approach it as it looked as though it was in horrific pain, but it quickly jumped to its feet and raised its arms.

'NOOOOOOOOSE-PAAAAAAH!' it roared, before turning to Munchlax and glaring. Its foe took a step back in fear and Victor looked in disbelief. The rock-type growled, still trembling. Moments of silent staring passed, before Nosepass, betraying its weighty frame, dashed forwards and returned the flurry of hits it had received, tenfold. After its foe had been beaten up, several jagged stones materialised around the rock creature and shot into Munchlax. Nick looked on, horrified at what his Pokémon was doing.

'Nosepass, stop! That's enough!'

'Nuuuuu!' it bellowed, looking to the mountain again. It paid no attention to its trainer and seemed to have adopted new-found traits of confidence and aggressiveness.

'M-Munchlax!' whimpered Victor, recalling his defeated ally.

Nick looked to Pearl, hoping she would know what to do. He found her to be looking equally as horrified, but at him, not the Pokémon.

'Get it back in its Pokéball! It's out of control!'

Nick pointed the ball at the creature and the red ray beamed out at it. However, Nosepass leapt away from it; it obviously wanted to remain out in the open. It took a few attempts before he successfully withdrew it from battle.

'I don't… know what's wrong with it.' he mumbled. Victor was silent.

'I'll take care of them, bro!' declared Del, nodding to his friend before pointing at Ralts. 'Riolu, finish that thing off with Cross Chop!'

The blue creature barked, folded its arms in an X-shape, and leapt at Pearl's Pokémon, visible power surging around its fists.

'Protect yourself.' said Pearl, confidently.

A glowing sphere formed around the little Pokémon and Riolu bounced off, stunned by its own attack.

'Now use your…' began Pearl, but stopped when she noticed what was happening inside the protective orb. Ralts' whole body was shining brightly. Seconds later, its form began to change, and the Protect barrier shattered. A wave of psychic energy was released and spread over the whole scene, knocking Riolu into its trainer who fell to the ground. The grass blew rapidly while Nick and Victor yelped as their heads throbbed under the influence of what was going on.

'Ralts?' moaned Pearl through the glare. It was obvious that she had not expected or instructed this to happen. When the magnificent light dimmed, a different creature stood where her Pokémon had been.

'Kiiiiiir!' it chirped. It looked like Ralts, only now standing on two long, skinny legs, a pair of large, beautiful eyes peeking out from beneath its elongated headpiece. Pearl smiled as she took out her Pokédex.

'Kirlia, Ralts' evolved form. It draws from its trainers emotions to unleash powerful psychic-type attacks.'

'Hello, Kirlia.' smiled Pearl, bending down and placing a hand on its delicate shoulder. Seeing her this happy was almost as rare an occasion as seeing a Pokémon evolve. Nick grinned, admiring her new companion and secretly wishing he had a psychic-type of his own.

'Pah, what a dumb-looking animal!' spat Victor, his hair matted into his eyes with sweat. 'Let's ditch these bozos!'

With that, the two strange-looking boys ran off down the mountainside and into the distant forestry.

'Their heads are too full of sawdust to ever become great trainers like us.'

Nick instinctively jolted his head back and smiled in surprise at Pearl referring to him as a great trainer. She seemed to have realised she had made some sort of error in announcing this, and looked back to Kirlia, embarrassed. The Pokémon smiled and glowed, picking up on her pride.

'Kiiiiiiir!'

'Progress?' came the steel-like voice of the red-haired man, his silhouette standing in the doorway. The group of scientists turned in fear at his presence. Only one of them did not react, continuing to look into a wall-length, glass cylinder full of green liquid.

'Yes.' he finally replied, a dark smile linger on his face. The eerie light coming from the tank illuminated the nametag on his labcoat: Synn.

The man at the door approached him.

'The cloning system is fully operational, and the DNA trace acquired in the jungle has been introduced. Behold.' stated the scientist, almost whispering and gesturing towards the display.

'I see nothing.'

'Look… closer.'

Leaning forward and squinting his eyes, the man could make out a tiny object suspended in the fluid. To any other observer, it would have seemed unremarkable, but the man looked at it hungrily, scarred eyes widening slightly.

'It will take some time for it to grow fully – that is, of course, if it develops successfully.' stated Professor Synn, his smile fading.

'You had better see that it does – my money and ambition is going into this research. I will not see my dreams nullified.' replied the imposing man, his cold eyes glancing quickly at Synn before concentrating on the tiny specimen.

'The rarest of all Pokémon…'